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Wali Khan Jr hails Manmohan’s peace initiatives US vetoes UN resolution against Israel Israeli airstrikes continue |
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Sharif knew about Kargil: Musharraf LTTE kill 22 soldiers
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Wali Khan Jr hails Manmohan’s peace initiatives Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his coalition government have got the thumbs up from across the border for their efforts to sustain peace, harmony and stability in South Asia, and particularly with Pakistan, in spite of the massive devastation caused to life and property in Srinagar and Mumbai by bomb blasts by terrorists this week. The praise has come from none other than the President of the Awami National Party in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, Asfandyar Wali Khan, the grandson of the Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Asfandyar Wali Khan said that he was hopeful about the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan continuing in spite of this week's bomb tragedy and pessimistic suggestions in certain quarters that the process was in tatters. ‘‘There are elements who will seek to prevent peace, harmony and stability. These elements will always operate at a selfish level, and will attempt to dictate terms. I am happy with the approach adopted by Dr Manmohan Singh. The peace process should go on,’’ Khan told ANI TV. Expressing his regret over the bomb blasts and his condolences to the bereaved, Khan further went on to explain that, ‘‘wherever there is a status quo, and there was demand for change, you can expect opposition to it.’’ An outstanding reference of this, he said, was there for all to see in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). ‘‘There is a disquiet in the Federally Administered Areas of Pakistan (FATA), mainly in South and North Waziristan, where the locals are resisting the Pakistan Army. I feel if a complex issue like Afghanistan can be solved through Jirgas (Tribal Councils), why not in Waziristan, why is there this use of force?’’ he asked. When cornered over the reported presence of foreign mercenaries in Waziristan, Wali Khan said: ‘‘The locals who are resisting the mighty Pakistan Army cannot be called foreigners. They are those people who migrated to the FATA areas during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979-1980. It has been more than two decades since these Tajiks and Uzbeks are staying here. They have all their relations here, how can you ask them to leave.’’ Elaborating on the demand for a separate Pakhtunkhwa province, Khan said:
‘‘We are the North West Frontier Province of an undivided India, not of Pakistan, We don't accept this name which is given by the
Britishers. Thus the original name of our province should be restored, i.e. Pakhtunkhwa which means the ‘Land of
Pakhtuns’’’. ‘‘We should also get more provincial autonomy at par with Punjab. This is what the
Sindhis, the Balochis and the Saraikees are demanding,’’ he added. Laying stress on peace and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, he said:
‘‘History suggests that peace in Afghanistan is essential for the progress of India, Pakistan and the rest of South Asia.’’ Commenting on India and Pakistan's efforts to take their normalisation and peace forward through a series of confidence-building measures
(CBMs), Wali Khan said it was indeed a laudable effort, but added that similar exercises should be carried out on Pakistan's frontiers with Afghanistan. ‘‘We have a shared history of over 60 years. I have talked and repeatedly advocated the need for softening the Durand Line. There should be more people-to-people contact. If you can start a bus service between Amritsar and Lahore, then why can't we have a similar bus service between Peshawar and Jallalabad or between Quetta and
Kandahar,’’ he said. ‘‘Today is the time of open borders. If we can't do what has been done in Europe, we can at least provide the people with a chance to cross borders and meet each other. If borders are open, if people meet, there is a sweetness to it," Wali Khan said. On what were his expectations from the 2007 elections in Pakistan, Asfandyar Wali Khan said that he was hoping for a smooth poll under the Musharraf regime, but predicted disaster if any element of doubt crept in. ‘‘I feel that all will go well. If the 2007 elections in Pakistan are not conducted with transparency or fairness, the consequences for the future of Pakistan will be disastrous.
— ANI
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US vetoes UN resolution against Israel United Nations, July 14 US Ambassador John Bolton said the veto was a response to the “Passage would have undermined the Ten of the 15-member council voted in favour of the proposed resolution, drafted by Qatar, while four abstained. The vetoed resolution had condemned Israel’s retaliatory assault and called for an end to military operations and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops. It also condemned the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and Shalit’s abduction. The United States, Israel’s staunchest ally, last used its veto in the Security Council in October 2004, to block a similar draft demanding that Israel end military operations in northern Gaza and withdraw from the area. — AFP
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Lebanon/Beirut, July 14 Lebanese guerrillas retaliated for the airstrikes, firing Katyusha rockets into two settlements in northern Israel. Three persons were killed and 55 wounded in the Israeli airstrikes, the police said. Beirut airport officials said one of their three runways was hit by two Israeli missiles at mid-morning. The airport had been closed since Israeli fighter-bombers struck its runways yesterday. The overnight death toll brought to 61 the number of people killed since Wednesday when Israel began retaliating for the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas in a raid across the southern Lebanese border. One of the fatalities was a Hezbollah guerrilla, according to the militant group. Police said 60 civilians had been killed and 170 wounded. Israel’s offensive had several goals: to pressure Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers, to push the guerrilla group away from Israel’s northern border and to exact a price from Lebanon’s government for allowing Hezbollah to operate freely in the south. In today’s attack, rockets hit the Israeli settlements of Nurit and Ezen Menahem but caused no casualties. Meanwhile according to a Reuters report from Jakarta Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, lashed out at Israel today for military actions that have killed civilians, and urged the disputing parties to get back to the negotiating table. Asked about escalating violence in which Israel is now battling militants in both Gaza and Lebanon, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said, ‘‘We deplore the unilateral acts conducted by Israel which have left many victims, including innocent civilians’’. ‘‘What we have witnessed in the past few weeks are certainly disproportionate reactions using Israeli military might,’’ Wirajuda told reporters. — AP/Reuters
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Sharif knew about Kargil: Musharraf Islamabad, July 14 Mr Nawaz Sharif, the then Pakistan Prime Minister, had been briefed on the Kargil operation 15 days ahead of Mr Vajpayee’s journey to Lahore, President Musharraf, who was then the Army Chief, said in a television interview. The Pakistan President’s disclosures came in reaction to Mr Sharif’s recent claims that he was in the dark about the Kargil operation and that he had first come to know about it when Prime Minister Vajpayee had telephoned him from New Delhi to ask “Mr Prime Minister, what is happening?” General Musharraf told Pakistani news channel ‘Business Plus’ that Mr Sharif was informed about Kargil at a briefing at Kel frontlines in Northern Areas, which took place on February 5, 1999. He presented a “pictorial evidence” of Mr Sharif’s visit to Kel located south of Kargil and his briefing there by the army high command on that day. General Musharraf held out four photographs showing Mr Sharif’s visit to Kel frontlines, saying, “Look at these pictures. In one of these pictures, I am receiving Mr Sharif, in another he is being briefed by Commander Mehmood at Kel who later became DG ISI, while in yet another, he is addressing the troops there. All these pictures were taken on the same day,” he told the channel, according to Daily Times which published excerpts of the interview. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that General Pervez Musharraf had kept him in total darkness about the Kargil Operations. Speaking to Chaudhry Ahsan Iqbal, the PML-N’s Information Secretary, over the phone, he said that if he were ever to reveal the realities of Kargil, the whole nation would react with surprise. Strongly criticising General Musharraf for maligning him, Mr Sharif was quoted by The Nation as saying that the alleged briefing given at that time by General Musharraf was for a Muzaffarabad -Kel Azad Kashmir road project, since the original Kel road was under constant fire from across the Line of Control. — PTI, ANI
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LTTE kill 22 soldiers
Colombo, July 14 Kayal Viliyan, a senior rebel in the Tigers’ eastern political office in the district of Batticaloa, said around 60 troops entered the Tiger territory in an area the military say is government-held, and were surrounded by about 200 rebels. “We have found 22 bodies, and we are still searching,” he said by phone from Batticaloa.
— Reuters
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