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National Day marred by Falungong protesters BEIJING, Oct 1: Chinese police detained hundreds of members of the outlawed falungong cult who.....more
Pak press stifled ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: Following the Army crackdown on the offices of the daily ‘Dawn’ in Karachi......more
Russia, India could MOSCOW, Oct 1: Russian President Vladimir Putin, ahead of his four-day visit to New Delhi begin.....more |
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World
conservationists meet to set global agenda LONDON, Oct 1: Environmentalists, politicians and scientists will hammer out a global agenda to....more
PML divided about ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: The central leadership of deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif’s party....more
Pope names church’s VATICAN CITY, Oct 1: Pope John Paul II added the first Chinese catholics to the .....more Chotta Rajan to ask BANGKOK, Oct 1: Bombay underworld don Chotta Rajan, who is recuperating in a hospital here...more |
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China’s National Day marred by Falungong protesters BEIJING, Oct 1: Chinese police detained hundreds of members of the outlawed falungong cult who staged protests against the Government at the jam-packed Tiananmen Square here today, the 51st anniversary of the communist nation’s founding. According to western television reports, police detained several hundred falungong members, who staged peaceful protests against the Government crackdown on the semi-religious sect which China says is an ‘evil cult.’ It said uniformed and plainclothes police kicked and punched the protesters as they dragged them onto buses, waiting to transport protesters to detention centres. When the protests broke out, the Tiananmen Square, China’s political heart, was crammed with domestic and foreign tourists, who are visiting the capital on the occasion of the China’s National Day. The Government has given a week-long public holiday to over 1.2 billion chinese to mark the occasion but the protests and violence stunned the tourists, who were busy admiring the floral displays set up for the day. Falungong members have staged similar protests on other important national days since July last year when the Communist Party-led Chinese Government outlawed the group. Falungong, which mixes meditation and slow-motion Chinese exercise with teachings of Buddhist and Taoist religions, first rattled the ruling Communist Party by staging a flash sit-in in front of Zhongnanhai, the seat of the Chinese Central Government and Communist Party here in April 1999. (PTI) |
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Pak press stifled by military rule ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: Following the Army crackdown on the offices of the daily ‘Dawn’ in Karachi, a sense of insecurity has gripped the Pakistani media which feels that like all military dictators General Parvez Musharraf too might be becoming impatient with journalists. From allegations of ‘Lifafa Journalism’ to crackdowns by the military, Pakistani media has faced all kinds of pressures in General Musharraf’s rule and now feels stifled fearing that the tough measures might prove too costly for the Government as well as the media. There is a growing feeling in the media here that like all military dictators, Gen Musharraf too might be becoming impatient with the freedom the Pakistani media enjoys. Media circles here say that given the nature of the regime and the unfettered powers the general enjoys, he could always choose to crackdown on the institution. However, some observers here put the blame on the General’s media managers. "They are trying to shift the blame onto the press and perhaps are egging the general on to hide their own incompetence. This is a dangerous policy and the general must not concede to this tactic," said a senior journalist who wished to remain anonymous fearing action by the military. Gen Musharraf’s comments about Pakistani media during his recent US visit are being viewed here with concern and taken seriously as indicative of the Government’s plan to take harsh measures against independent opinion. Gen Musharraf had at a press conference in New York recently charged Pakistani journalists with corruption, unpatriotic behaviour and incompetence. He also said there was money at work in some cases. "I say to myself either such journalists are fools or they are working for vested interests. People write deliberately wrong stories either for money or for political reasons or for some other reason." Most journalists here resented the comments made by Gen Musharraf and said ‘Lifafa Journalism’ (envelope journalism referring to journalists accepting bribe) was actually encouraged by Pakistan’s Information Ministry. However Gen Musharraf said that did not happen any more. "There is no longer Lifafa Journalism as we don’t have funds," he said. According to Pakistan’s Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and other representative bodies, the Information Ministry exists only to promote corruption in the profession. The Chief Executive should be asked about the disbursement of the huge secret fund that the ministry has at its disposal. In addition to the Information Ministry other agencies that seek to cultivate journalists include the ISI, the MI, the IB, police, special branch and so on. "The fact is the ISI and other Government agencies have selected journalists on their payrolls who plant stories that suit official interests, ‘Lifafa’ Journalism could not thrive without Government patronage." (UNI) |
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Russia, India could combat terrorism together: Putin MOSCOW, Oct 1: Russian President Vladimir Putin, ahead of his four-day visit to New Delhi beginning tomorrow, has said that India and Russia could combat international terrorism and religious extremism effectively by pooling their efforts, RTR television reported. "Informational exchanges, political support and joint decision-making on any manifestation of extremism could effectively weaken international terrorist groups," Putin told Indian media yesterday, broadcast by the Russian state-run channel. "Russia and India are natural partners and allies," he told the journalists. Russia has been fighting Islamic separatism in the breakaway Republic of Chechnya and has accused the Taliban militia in Afghanistan of financing and training the rebels, where as India is facing Pakistan sponsored Muslim insurgency in Kashmir. Deputy head of the Presidential administration, Sergei Prikhodko, said that Russia and India "may cooperate" on the Afghan problem, as there was evidence that militants fighting in Kashmir, Itar-Tass reported today. (AFP) |
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World conservationists meet to set global agenda LONDON, Oct 1: Environmentalists, politicians and scientists will hammer out a global agenda to save endangered species and preserve the world’s ecosystems at an international conservation conference in Jordan this week. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) said its eight-day congress will bring together 2,500 delegates from 140 countries in the biggest gathering of its kind in West Asia and one of the largest since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It will set out a programme, with a list of measurable, time-bound actions, designed to slow or reverse the extinction of 11,046 threatened mammals, birds and plants, to preserve marine and coastal environments, combat global warming and to manage the world’s precious water resources. "The congress will be setting a programme for the next four years for things which will happen in 181 countries," Maritta Koch-Weser, the Director General of the Swiss-based IUCN, said in a telephone interview. "The combination of people power, political clout and scientific knowledge is a powerful one. This meeting will give us a unique opportunity to set the conservation and sustainable development agenda for the coming years," she added. The IUCN congress, held every three years, plans to continue where other conservation and environmental conferences left off. "What the earth summit in 1992 decided still needs to be implemented in large measure and we hope to contribute to that," said Koch-Weser, without giving details of any specific measures or how they will be funded. She says the IUCN’s unique structure, which includes 112 Government agencies, 735 NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) and about 10,000 experts, adds to its effectiveness because it bridges the public and private sectors. "We are the only institution in the international system which has Government as formal members and NGOs. There is no other organisation in the international system that has civil society and Government under one group." The theme of the October 4-11 meeting in Amman is "ecospace" — the protection of the environment as a prerequisite for social, economic and political security. Dr Steve Edwards, one of the co-ordinators of the meeting, said resolutions adopted at previous assemblies have sparked important changes. "We expect the Amman congress to result in concrete measures to address the loss of biodiversity," he said. Central to the meeting will be proposals to save species on the IUCN’s red list of threatened animals, the most comprehensive scientific assessment of vulnerable species. Managing water resources, a sensitive issue in West Asia, will also be high on the agenda. Increases in water usage by 2025 are expected to lead to water shortages in at least 18 countries. By 2050 an estimated four billion people will be affected by water shortages, increasing tensions over the management and allocation of man’s most basic need. "We need systems that will ensure the long-term maintenance of vital resources," said Koch-Weser. (REUTERS) |
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PML divided about ‘coup’ anniversary ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: The central leadership of deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League (PML) is divided over what united course they ought to adopt on October 12 when military Government completes its first year in power. The Nawaz loyalists are planning to stage protest rallies while the anti-Nawaz camp is showing lukewarm interest in such a move. Mian Mohammad Azhar, the main rebel leader who spearheaded a forceful campaign against Sharif family, has justified the military action of 12th October saying there were more than sufficient grounds created by the deposed Prime Minister for the armed forces to intervene as a last resort. However, Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of Nawaz Sharif, has decided to condemn the military action by observing a black day on October 12, 2000. She will address a meeting of party’s deposed member of National Assemblies and members of Provincial Assemblies belonging to Islamabad and Rawalpindi here on October 2. The meeting, according to the party sources, will also finalise arrangements to observe the black day on 12th October. Some senior party leaders are also expected to attend the meeting. (PTI) |
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Pope names church’s first
Chinese born VATICAN CITY, Oct 1: Pope John Paul II added the first Chinese catholics to the growing roll of saints today, declaring 120 Chinese catholics and foreign missionaries martyrs in the church’s five-century - and ongoing - struggle in China. China’s state-run Church bitterly protested the canonisation of the 87 Chinese and 33 foreign missionaries as a "public humiliation." But John Paul, looking wan and tired on a rainy morning in St Peter’s Square, insisted "the celebration is not the time to make judgments." "The church only at those martyrs are an example of courage and coherence for all of us, and give honour to the noble Chinese people," John Paul said. The canonisation falls on China’s national day celebrating the 51st anniversary of communist rule in China. The timing especially angered Beijing, which is combatting underground catholic churches and other banned spiritual movements it sees as a challenge to its authority. Most of the 120 martyrs named today died in the anti-western, anti-Christian boxer rebellion of 100 years ago. China today still views the boxer rebellion as heroic resistance to imperial forces - and the slain missionaries and Chinese catholics as servants of the imperialists. A yellow banner draped from St Peter’s Basilica proclaimed them "sacred martyrs." "We express our indignation at this distortion of history," bishop Fu Tieshan of China’s state-run church said in an interview shown today on China central television’s overseas service. Ethnic Chinese catholics assembled from around the world for the ceremony, joining a damp throng of thousands of other clerics, nuns and scarfed pilgrims under umbrellas. "This should be a subject of glory and pride for the whole Chinese people," said the Rev Anthony Chen, a China-born priest retired from the Chicago diocese. "It’s an honor, to me." Chen said he hoped the canonisation would be an occasion for reflection that would draw both sides in the China-Vatican split closer together. But for China, it appeared only to widen the rift. China broke ties with the vatican in 1951 and forbids worship outside the state-run church. (AP) |
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Chotta Rajan to ask Thai not to deport him BANGKOK, Oct 1: Bombay underworld don Chotta Rajan, who is recuperating in a hospital here after a murderous assault on him on September 15, is to petition the Thai Prime Minister’s Office tomorrow against being forced to go back to india. As a three-member Mumbai Police team arrives here to help Thai police in investigating the murderous assault on Rajan and seek his extradition, his lawyer Sirichai Piyaphichetkul said Rajan alias Vijay Kadam will request the Thai Government that he should be allowed to leave the country and not forced to go back to India. "Let Rajan decide where he wants to go, he has the right to go to any country because he is not a criminal," the lawyer told reporters. Rajan who is wanted by the Mumbai Police in connection with a number of criminal cases, was shot and seriously injured in an apartment here on September 15 by a group of eight gunmen. His associate Michael D’Souza alias Rohit Verma was killed and his (Verma’s) wife Sangeeta Sharma injured in the attack. Though there is no extradition treaty between India and Thailand, police here say they have the right to send anyone back to his country if there are sufficient grounds to prove that he committed a crime there. A close aide of Rajan said the mafia don does not want to go back to India and if New Delhi applies for his extradition he will fight the case as music director Nadeem, alleged to be involved in Gulsham Kumar’s murder, had done in London. On Friday Rajan, who had been brought before the court to testify in the murderous attack on him, had said that he wanted to return to India to surrender to authorities. His aide claimed that the mafia boss was not into extortion but conducted his own private court and that is how he made money. The aide said that Rajan was keen to stay in Thailand and set up a business. He would probably go out of Bangkok to recuperate and then return here. (PTI) |
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