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Poles mourn death of Pope
Man who shot at Pope grief stricken
World mourns Pope’s demise
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Indo-Pak back-channel diplomacy gains momentum
44 US troops wounded in Iraq
9 soldiers killed in Taliban attack
Terri Schiavo cremated
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Poles mourn death of Pope
Krakow (Poland), April 3 A bright sun shone on a sombre crowd of thousands who gathered for an open mass in Krakow where Karol Wojtyla was archbishop from 1964 to 1978. Police said some 200,000 were expected to attend the mass, which marked the first of six days of national mourning. In the capital Warsaw, hundreds of tearful people flocked to mass, spreading daffodils in squares and in front of churches. “It is as if Poland lost its mother, because he looked after Poland as a mother looks after her family,” said Lech Walesa, who was a close friend of the Pope and led the peaceful revolution that brought down Communism in the 1980s. In the southern town of Wadowice, where the Pope was born in 1920, grief was palpable at a crowded basilica as thousands of residents and visitors gathered to light candles and pray. The Pope has an iconic status in Poland and other central European nations for helping them shake-off communism and rejoin the European mainstream after half a century of domination by Moscow. Some church leaders sought to reassure the mourning nation, reminding them that the long-suffering Pope has passed to a better life and his legacy will remain with them. “Now we have to stand on our own feet,” said father Michal Czajkowski, a prominent priest and an associate of John Paul. “Thanks to the Pope, our place in Europe and the world is secure.” John Paul’s first visit as Pope to then communist Poland in 1979 drew millions of people on to the streets. His sermons inspired Poles to challenge their communist rulers and was a major factor behind the rise a year later of Solidarity, which won power in 1989, and helped trigger the fall of the entire Soviet bloc. WARSAW: Polish Nobel peace laureate and former president Lech Walesa urged the world not to “waste” one of the most important achievements of Pope John Paul II, whom he credited with putting an end to a divided Europe.
— Reuters, AFP |
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Man who shot at Pope grief stricken
Istanbul, April 3 “He is extremely saddened, he is in grief. He loved the Pope,” said Adnan Agca. “They developed a personal friendship while Mehmet Ali was (imprisoned) in Italy, and they had announced their brotherhood. “The Pope showed my brother and the rest of our family closeness. He was a great man,” Adnan Agca said, adding he and his mother were received by the Pope six times at the Vatican over the years. The Pope forgave his assailant during a meeting in his Italian prison cell in 1983, two years after Agca shot at the Pope.
— Reuters |
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World mourns Pope’s demise
London, April 3 Church security guards said nearly 4,000 persons attended a requiem mass, including Prime Minister’s wife Cherie Blair. The Queen was represented by Lord and Lady Camoys. Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor paid tribute to “a great man, a great Christian and a great Pope”. “His powerful message was the dignity of every human person from the beginning of life to the very end,” he said. Those who did not make it into the cathedral listened to the service outside on loudspeakers. CAIRO:
Muslims, Christians and Jews across the Middle East expressed sorrow on Sunday on the death of Pope John Paul II, who many in the region credit with demanding religious tolerance and opposing the Iraq and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. From Egypt to Iran, government officials, religious leaders and ordinary citizens praised the Pope as a man of peace who brought his message to the Middle East in 2000 during his acclaimed Holy Land tour, the first by a pontiff in 36 years. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed Israel’s sorrow at the demise of the Pope, calling him a “man of peace” and “a friend of Israel”. ISTANBUL:
The head of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Bartholomew I, voiced grief over the death of Pope John Paul II, hailing him as a “man of vision” who worked for improved ties between the long-divided Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. JAKARTA:
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-populated nation, also mourned the death of Pope John Paul II, expressing hope his successor would follow in his footsteps and champion for global peace. BEIRUT:
Bells tolled from Catholic Churches in Lebanon in mourning for Pope John Paul II who called for peaceful coexistence in a country which suffered 15 years of sectarian bloodshed. “Lebanon which is going through a moment of great sadness shares the deep pain of the church and the world” over the Pope’s death, said President Emile Lahoud, a Maronite Christian.
— Reuters, AP |
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Bush may attend funeral
Washington, April 3 The funeral is likely to take place on or after Thursday, according to reports. No US President has attended a Pope’s funeral before. Bush is not a Catholic. John F. Kennedy was the only Catholic US President. At that time, distrust between Catholics and the majority non-Catholics in the USA was so great that Kennedy had to assured the public during his presidential campaign that if elected, he would follow his own policy and would not allow the Papacy to influence him in any way. That distrust has now largely disappeared and Pope John Paul II is especially admired because of his role in sparking the popular revolution through Solidarity in Poland that finally resulted in the disintegration of the Soviet Union into its component states — US dream during the cold
war. — PTI |
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Indo-Pak back-channel diplomacy gains momentum
Islamabad April 3 While from Pakistan it will be National Security Council Secretary-General and the President's confidant Tariq Aziz, it is not clear yet who will represent the Indian side. According to one report, it could be Satish Lambah, Convener of the Indian National Security Advisory Board and a former High Commissioner to Pakistan. The meeting, expected to take place in Dubai, is aimed at drawing up an agenda for President Musharraf's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of a one-day cricket match that the President is going there to witness. Preparations for the Musharraf-Manmohan Singh meeting are already under way at both ends to see in which areas progress can be made. Although it will not be a structured dialogue, on top of the menu will be the Kashmir issue and the Baglihar dam dispute, sources said. The hype created in the two countries about the President's visit has put pressure on the leadership in the two countries to show some significant outcome of their second meeting. The President is scheduled to leave for India on a three-day visit on April 16. His mother will accompany him on the special invitation of the Indian Prime Minister. President Musharraf last met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 24, 2004, on the fringes of the UN General Assembly session in New York. It is believed that since then the two leaders have kept in touch through back channel to keep the peace process going. Although on the official front it may seem ‘‘all quiet’’ on the question of finding possible solutions to the Kashmir issue, discussions between the two countries are continuing through unofficial channels, it is learnt. President Musharraf has also been in touch with India's ruling Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi through a common friend, sources close to the President say. |
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44 US troops wounded in Iraq
Baghdad, April 3 Most of the injuries were light, but several were serious, according to Lieut Col Guy Rudisill, spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq. All of the wounded were being treated at the prison’s medical facility. “There are 44 US soldiers injured, but only a few of those are serious,” Rudisill said, adding that there was no increase in the number of wounded detainees, 12 of whom were hurt in the well-organised attack, one of them severely. A group of between 40 and 60 insurgents attacked the prison after dark, ramming a suicide car bomb into a perimeter building, he said. Another car bomb detonated shortly afterwards, as US troops were tending to the wounded from the first. Then rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, small arms and other weapons were fired at the extensive prison complex on the western outskirts of Baghdad. US forces called in air and armoured support and engaged the insurgents for around an hour, officers said.
— Reuters |
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9 soldiers killed in Taliban attack
Kandahar, April 3 A western security source in Kandahar linked the attack to an ongoing counter-narcotics drive in the Helmand province and said security was deteriorating there.
— AFP |
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Terri Schiavo cremated
Tampa, (USA) April 3 The cremation was carried out yesterday according to a court order issued on Tuesday establishing that Michael Schiavo had the right to make such decisions, said his lawyer, George Felos. He said plans for burying her ashes in Pennsylvania, where she grew up, had not yet been completed. Terri Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, had wanted to bury their daughter in Pinellas County so they could visit her grave. Terri Schiavo (41) died on Thursday after the removal of the feeding tube that had kept her alive since 1990, when she suffered brain damage that court-appointed doctors determined had placed her in a persistent vegetative state.
— AP |
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