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2 Palestinian envoys freed from Abu Ghraib prison Israeli missiles kill senior Hamas leader
Top Sunni cleric shot in Karachi |
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Kashmir problem no border dispute: Pak War memorial for WW II veterans Bangladesh plans return of 1,000 officials Gold rush in Germany
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2 Palestinian envoys freed from Abu Ghraib prison Baghdad, May 30 “I went to Abu Ghraib to meet them yesterday. I saw the cells. Ninety men held in one barrack,” Dalil al-Qusous told Reuters. “The Americans have no respect for diplomacy. When they came out it was emotional. They said they thought they would never make it out.” Najah Abdel Rahman, 53,then Palestinian charge d’affaires, and commercial attache Mounir Soubhi, in his mid forties, were held in the Abu Ghraib prison for alleged illegal possession of weapons and suspicion of links to terrorism, Qusous said. US officials today said they had no comment. The USA said at the time that all diplomats lost immunity after the fall of Saddam Hussein in April last year and Washington did not recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the representative of a sovereign state. But Qusous called the detentions a blatant disregard for diplomatic immunity in the name of US President George W. Bush’s war on terror. The diplomats’ odyssey began on May 28, 2003 when employees arrived at the embassy in the morning. Qusous fled when he saw the Americans rounding up people. He later learned that the Americans had arrested the two diplomats and 10 other people, including embassy security guards and Iraqi gardeners. “There were five Kalashnikov rifles and five pistols. These were weapons that we had for 15 years as protection in the embassy during Saddam’s time,” said Qusous. He said the two diplomats were handcuffed and surrounded by barbed wire outside the embassy building, where a soldier described them as ‘’terrorists’’. They were taken to a detention facility at Baghdad airport where they slept on the ground outdoors, and were later moved to Abu Ghraib. Qusous said the diplomats did not experience the same trauma that some Iraqi inmates did at the hands of the Americans but he stressed that they faced generally poor conditions. The veteran diplomat, who will return to his job as cultural attache when Abdel Rahman is fit enough to take up his post again, said the Palestinian experience at Abu Ghraib suggests anyone is vulnerable to American detention in Iraq. “They just arrest anybody they want,” he said, sitting in his embassy building with a dusty flag. The US occupation has not been kind to Palestinians. Nearly 300 Palestinian families were evicted from their homes after the invasion. Mohammed Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front who masterminded a deadly 1985 Italian cruise ship hijacking, died in US custody in March. Qusous said the Americans are currently holding 15 Palestinian students on the same allegations that sent the two diplomats to jail. Qusous said the diplomats, who were born in Iraq after their parents were displaced in 1948 from what is now Israel, were in bad shape and needed to undergo medical tests. For the last year he has worked with the Palestinian Authority and a senior Arab diplomat in Baghdad to win their release. A former Palestinian Prime Minister delivered a letter to Bush to plead on their behalf, he said. “I met with Richard Jones (the US deputy administrator in Iraq). He told me they were held in relation to terrorism. That was all he would say,” said Qusous. |
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Israeli missiles kill senior Hamas leader Gaza, May 30 Hamas sources identified the commander as Wael Nassar and said he and one of the other slain militants masterminded a May 11 ambush in which six Israeli soldiers were blown up when their troop carrier rolled over a mine during a raid into Gaza City. Palestinian medics said seven civilians, including a woman and two children, were wounded in the missile strike into Gaza City’s Zeitoun district, an Islamist militant hotbed and target of the recent army incursion. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the missile strike, saying it had eliminated two senior militants responsible for planning suicide bombings and other attacks that had killed numerous Israeli soldiers and civilians. Witnesses said Nassar and a Hamas military-wing comrade riding with him on his motorcycle were killed by the first missile. Another missile crashed close by seconds later, killing another Hamas man walking nearby. Hamas militants crowded into the mortuary that took in the three bodies, some of them kneeling to weep while others fired their rifles furiously in the air, shouting Allahu Akbar (‘’God is Greatest’’) and vowing revenge.
— Reuters |
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Top Sunni cleric shot in Karachi
Karachi, May 30 Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, who had called for a “jihad” against the United States after invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was fatally wounded, police sources said. His son, another relative, a bodyguard and a driver were also hit. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack or whether it was a sectarian killing. “As soon as we sat in the car, we heard gun shots and we immediately ducked,” the cleric’s relative, Rafiuddin, told reporters. “I felt strong pain in my leg, I had been shot and then I saw Mufti Shamzai covered in blood.” Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq, while condemning the act, said “This is purely a terrorist act by those who want anarchy and chaos and who want to create sectarian tensions”. Provincial security adviser Aftab Sheikh said it had been known Shamzai’s life was under threat and the government had provided him with armed bodyguards. “It was a targeted killing and according to our information about 10 to 12 persons were involved,” he said. “It is a continuation of the recent acts of violence and terrorism.” The crackle of gunfire was heard after violent demonstrations broke out in several parts of Karachi. Small groups of Shamzai’s followers came out on the streets, pelting vehicles with stones and burning tyres. According to information, thousands of people, many carrying batons, had gathered near Shamzai’s Islamic school, located in a central commercial area, and had set fire to two banks, several shops and a petrol station. “There is a lot of smoke in the air from the burning tyres and building, glass is scattered all around from damaged vehicles, and people are really charged,” he said. “There is heavy shelling of tear gas and police fired gun shots in the air to disperse the crowd,” another witness said. A doctor at one hospital said two protesters had been brought in with gunshot wounds and six policemen injured by stones. Ishratul Ibad, governor of the Sindh province, appealed for calm. “I appeal to the people and to his supporters as well, we all equally share the grief, but cooperate with us and we will certainly catch his killers,” Ibad said on Geo television. Shamzai belonged to the Deobandi School of Islamic thought, which has provided thousands of fighters to the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. Several Pakistani Islamic militant groups considered him their spiritual leader. His school, Jamiat-ul-Uloom-il-Islamaiyyah, also known as Banuri town, taught many students who went on to become important members of the Taliban regime in Kabul. Two senior clerics of the seminary were also murdered in 1998 and 1999. Shamzai led a delegation of Pakistani clerics and intelligence officials to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar with a message from the government soon after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. At the time, militant sources had said Shamzai held a separate meeting with Omar to assure him of the support of Pakistani clerics, against the wishes of President Pervez Musharraf’s government.
— Reuters  |
Kashmir
problem no border dispute: Pak Islamabad, May 30 “The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is not a border issue and it is not about empty spaces. It is about the aspirations and the political future of the 13 million Kashmiris living in a territory that is roughly 85,000 sq miles,” Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan was quoted as saying by the APP news agency. He said the “advisability” of modelling the Indo-Pak engagement along the lines of Sino-India talks had “logical fallacies.” While the Sino-India model may be good in its own right, it bore no comparisons to the Indo-Pak differences over Kashmir, he said, while reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to continue the dialogue process. “A quest for a solution to the problem is the key to a genuine detente, a sustainable rapprochement, and a peaceful neighbourhood,” Mr Khan said, adding that “the question is not of putting the Kashmir issue on the backburner or the front-burner, the object is that it cannot be swept under the carpet. The challenge is to inject vision and statesmanship into the dialogue process, invest it with a strong political will and pursue it on the basis of reciprocity in order to break the deadlock and find lasting solutions.” On Mr Natwar Singh’s remarks that the Simla Agreement constituted the basis for the Indo-Pak relations, Mr Khan said, “If invocation of the Simla Agreement was meant to maintain the status quo then that is not suggesting a solution but is a way of perpetuating the problem.” He said the status quo is part of the problem. “It is not a solution. It is not a question of which instrument is to be invoked selectively by which party,” he said and recalled that there were the UN Security Council resolutions which, he claimed, gave a clear blueprint of a solution.
— PTI |
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Abdullah urges Centre to hold talks London, May 30 “I request India that they discuss with every single soul, whether Hurriyat or other parties and make every effort to see that the discussions are fruitful,” Mr Abdullah said while addressing a two-day conference of International Kashmir Alliance (IKA)here last evening. On the continuing violence in the state which has claimed nearly a lakh lives so far, Mr Abdullah said: “It seems to be unsolvable. There is a false climate of normalcy. It is lull before storm. Today you have visitors in Kashmir. “But one bomb blast and all of them will run as if they never existed. Our total economy is dependent on tourism and we have nothing else.” On the issue of having a soft border with Pakistan, he said “We too want the border to open with Pakistan. But will that happen as Pakistan has put a condition that those passing the Line of Control must have UN passport.”
— PTI |
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Natwar, Dixit friends of Pak, says Khokhar Islamabad, May 30 “I am not apprehensive of anyone. Mr Natwar Singh and Mr J.N. Dixit are known to us and they have sent positive messages,” the Daily Times quoted Mr Khokhar as saying. Talking to journalists here on Friday, he said the new government in India had just assumed power and they needed some time to take up their responsibilities. He said he did not foresee a breakdown of the proposed dialogue with India. “Since the leaders of both countries are sincere about pursuing the peace dialogue, there is no possibility of any breakdown in the talks,” the Foreign Secretary added. He said he was anticipating an invitation from his Indian counterpart Shashank to have a secretary-level meeting in June.
— ANI |
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War memorial for WW II veterans Washington, May 30 Bush, flanked by former President Bill Clinton and Democrat Presidential hopeful John Kerry, inaugurated the National World War II Memorial yesterday. Thousands of war veterans, some in wheel chairs and wearing medals awarded to them six decades ago, and their families were also present on the occasion. Many broke into tears as Bush recalled that over 400,000 men and women in uniform perished in the war while 16 million wore the uniform. Steering clear of any statements on Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush said, “The years of World War II were a hard, heroic and gallant time in the life of our country. When it mattered most, an entire generation of Americans showed the finest qualities of our nation and of humanity”. “There was a time, in the years before the war, when many earnest and educated people believed that democracy was finished. Men who considered themselves learned and civilised came to believe that free institutions must give way to the severe doctrines and stern discipline of a regimented society,” he said.
— PTI |
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Bangladesh plans return of 1,000 officials Dhaka, May 30 Letters have been sent to the known addresses of the officials who went missing in foreign countries, including Australia and the United States, the Bangla-language tabloid Manabzamin said. It said some of them may have decided to stay abroad for political reasons, but the absence of 1,000 officials had hurt the functioning of the government at home. The government plans to initiate action against the missing employees it finds, such as forcing them to retire, said the report, which quoted officials in Dhaka.
— AFP |
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rush in Germany Hamburg, May 30 In Katzhuette, a former Communist region of high unemployment, locals say inquiries have poured in from around the world about the chances of staking a claim to pan the streams. Officials, however, are convinced there is nothing but a few flakes left and say anyone is welcome to check for free. Mr Heinz Martin (64) was actually searching for deer antlers when he saw the glinting object in water near the town, 180 km east of Frankfurt. After taking it home, he suspected it might not be real, or might have been planted as a publicity stunt. But geologists confirmed it was the real thing, and word began to spread. After all, the nugget assayed at 9.64 gm of pure gold, Germany’s biggest gold find in 200 years. Mr Wilfried Machold, Mayor of Katzhuette, reckons it is no big deal. ‘’People have been panning for gold in our streams for decades, but no one ever became wealthy from it,’’ he said. Mr Martin’s nugget, 2.2 cm long and about the size of a euro cent, is only of modest value. ‘’Going by the price on the London gold market, it’s worth less than 100 euros,’’ said Mr Michael Schade, a geologist who operates a private ‘’gold museum’’ with his wife Karin in another town, Theuern, and who first confirmed the find to Martin earlier this month. There have been suggestions that a collector might pay up to 1,000 euros for the nugget because it is German, but there has been no sale. Mr Martin and wife Liane have told reporters they plan to keep the nugget as a family memento after displaying it in a local museum.
— DPA |
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Diana’s butler to tell tale on stage London, May 30 Paul Burrell, who described himself as Diana’s “rock’’ during her troubled marriage to and subsequent divorce from heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, has already become a best seller with his tell-all book, “A Royal Duty’’. He is now planning to stage a one-man show “Paul Burrell: In His Own Words’’ at the upmarket Theatre Royal in London’s Drury Lane on June 20. “In sharing my memories with a theatre audience, I want to illustrate her magic, explain the truths and dispel the myths,’’ he said. “I am greatly looking forward to the evening, and explaining what has happened to me — both the good and the bad,’’ he added in a statement issued through a publicity company. Diana died in a Paris car crash in August 1997, sending Britons into a frenzy of mourning. Burrell was put on trial in 2002 charged with stealing hundreds of her belongings but the charges were dramatically dropped when Queen Elizabeth suddenly remembered he had told her he was keeping them safe. The move prompted speculation Burrell had secrets-a-plenty to spill — a theory proved right in a subsequent series of newspaper articles and then in his book. He has since kept up a steady trickle of accusations including, most recently, a charge that Diana claimed that Prince Charles made a secret pact with his father to dump her just five years into their marriage. He also said she believed there was a plot to kill her in a car crash months before her death. His revelations have brought him a fortune — the book has sold 600,000 copies in hardback and is about to be issued in paperback. He was reputedly paid a six-figure sum by the Daily Mirror newspaper.
— Reuters |
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