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US-India partners WASHINGTON, Oct 3: Close on the heels of the declaration by Secretary of State Colin Powell that the US was going after terrorism worldwide,.......more "CIA,
US commandos NEW DELHI, Oct 3: A small team of CIA operatives and American commandos have slipped into Northern Afghanistan and established a...more Fear
of plague war WASHINGTON, Oct 3: After watching apocalyptic fireballs devour thousands of lives on September 11, millions of Americans are gripped by....more ‘Bring
back the king’, KHOJA BAHAWUDDIN (AFGHANISTAN), Oct 3: "Bring back the king" Afghans today urged, after hearing news that deposed monarch Mohammad .......more |
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Bangladesh elections DHAKA, Oct 3: Outgoing Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may have to pay a highly personal as well as a political price for Monday’s overwhelming election defeat. ........more Suspected
hijacker BERLIN, Oct 3: Mohammed Atta, the man believed to have steered the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, pledged to die a good Muslim and . .....more US
fight will include WASHINGTON, Oct 3: In the clearest ever support to India on the issue of Pakistan-backed terrorism after the September 11 strikes, the United .........more Taliban
with a small ‘T’ CHITRAL (PAKISTAN), Oct 3: It was a hot, lazy morning at the Jamia mosque in Chitral, high in Pakistan’s mountainous........more |
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US-India partners in fight against terrorism: Jaswant WASHINGTON, Oct 3: Close on the heels of the declaration by Secretary of State Colin Powell that the US was going after terrorism worldwide, including the kind affecting India, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today said that tackling insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir was very much a part of the US agenda in its fight against terrorism. Winding up his two-day visit to the US, Mr Singh told newspersons here that the pronouncements by us officials, particularly President George Bush, were categorical and clear that their fight against terrorism is global . The objective in the immediate term might be Al Queda, but that itself had many organisations within Pakistan who were operating in India, not just in Jammu and Kashmir. He said he had no doubt in his mind that as the fight against terrorism progressed, there would be no way the US could give up the battle midway. Earlier talking to newspersons after holding talks with Mr Singh, Mr Powell had said the US was going after terrorism in a comprehensive way, not just in the present instance of Al-Qaida and Osama Bin Laden but terrorism as it affected nations around the world, including the kind of terrorism affecting India. Mr Singh said his discussions with Mr Bush, Mr Powell and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had been fruitful and he was entirely satisfied with the parleys at every level. There was a clear understanding of the complexities of the situation and the challenges. "It was made clear that India’s approach, from the very beginning, had been that there is no such thing as ‘good terrorism and bad terrorism’. There could be no characterisation that what happened on September 11 is bad because it targeted the US and what has been happening in India is ‘acceptable’," he said. Asked if he had sought US help to combat terrorism in India, he said India’s fight against terrorism did not start on September 11. India had been fighting terrorism for decades on its own and would continue to do so. What India expected of the US was much greater understanding of the situation. "That is help enough for India," he said. He said the US knew that the terrorist organisations operating in Pakistan were part of the overall umbrella of the Al Queda. He said the retraction by the Jaish-e-Mohammad of its claim for responsibility for the Kashmir bomb blast had as much value as the statements of the Taliban. Mr Singh said the US had already shared with India evidence implicating Osama Bin Laden and the Al Queda in the September 11 attacks. Stating that he was not free to share it with the media, he, however, said that he was entirely satisfied with what had been presented. As for the US lifting sanctions against Pakistan to enable the country to get military assistance, he said it was a determination that the US had to make and this was not the first time that US was providing military assistance. It had a very limited purpose, he said, and India did not want to complicate the US’ ‘short term management of the situation provided you have clear understanding of the long term requirements of the situation’. He said he thought the United States of 2001 was not the same as the America of the 1980s. "As citizens of the US, the Indian American community must ‘stand up for your country’, he said. He suggested that the community set up an India international fund against terrorism to help victims of terrorism ‘anywhere in the world’. He reiterated that the US had not sought and India had not offered bases for attacks against Afghanistan. As for Pakistan putting forth and securing many demands from the US for its help in combating terrorism, Mr Singh said if Pakistan wanted to bargain freedom of action for money, it was that country s choice. Earlier, Mr Powell said the US, in the first instance, was going after the Al-Qaida network in its various manifestations and Usama Bin Laden and his lieutenants who are in Afghanistan. Calling the bomb blast in Jammu and Kashmir a terrible, heinous act that killed innocent civilians, Mr Powell said, this is this kind of terrorism that we (US and India) are united against. Answering a question, Mr Singh said that if the leadership of Pakistan were to abandon the path of violence and terrorism and join the rest of the international community in its ‘fight against this evil’, it would be a development that India would welcome. (UNI) |
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"CIA, US commandos set up base in North Afghanistan" NEW DELHI, Oct 3: A small team of CIA operatives and American commandos have slipped into Northern Afghanistan and established a "semi-permanent" base there to track down Osama Bin Laden, even as the US was reported to be considering providing Pakistan choppers, intelligence equipment and blast-proof doors for nuclear facilities to Islamabad, according to media reports. The CIA operatives and commandos have "established a semi-permanent base in territory controlled by Afghan rebels (Northern Alliance), where the US also maintains an intelligence listening post," western news agency, Knight Ridder, said. "Black hawk helicopters are ferrying squads and equipment to the camp from neighbouring Uzbekistan," the agency said quoting unnamed US officials, who added that the mission "is a possible prelude to wider military action". It said this scouting mission, which would primarily seek information on whereabouts of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, was being "run by the counter terrorism center at CIA headquarters in Langley and the Army commandos are assigned to it on a temporary basis." The teams were using MH-60k black hawk helicopters, which can operate under pitch-dark conditions and in adverse weather, it said. Meanwhile, ‘Dawn’ and ‘The News International’ Dailies said the US was considering offering sophisticated gunships, helicopters and intelligence equipment, besides blast-proof doors for Pakistan’s nuclear facilities to guard against any sabotage. "US Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin had shown willingness to put together a 75 million dollar package for Islamabad for helping it to improve its surveillance along the porous border," `Dawn’ said. The daily quoted officials as saying that the Government had "not fully made up its mind" on the type of equipment it would need on an emergency basis, but added that it could include helicopters and high-tech intelligence equipment to prevent infiltration through the 2,500 km long rugged terrain along the Pak-Afghan border. ‘The News International’, in a report quoting USA today, said the Bush administration was considering providing Pakistan with blast-proof doors for its nuclear facilities "to guard it in times of trouble". The US "has special forces teams or emergency nuclear search outfits ready to be dispatched to the region should Pakistan lose control of any nuclear weapons," it said quoting Bruce Blair, President of the Center for Defense Information. While considering "ways to safeguard Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal within the bounds of global treaties, US strategists are having sleepless nights thinking about potential scenarios about the fate of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, should the political and military crisis deepen", it added. (PTI) |
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Fear of plague war lingers in US WASHINGTON, Oct 3: After watching apocalyptic fireballs devour thousands of lives on September 11, millions of Americans are gripped by the fear of an even worse doomsday disaster - germ warfare. In the calm before the storm of looming military strikes in Afghanistan, the new horror scenario is the spectre of a biological weapons attack by the invisible enemy who may still be lurking in the United States. Suddenly, a society that focussed on purified spring water, antibacterial soap and biotech’s promise of long, disease-free lives shudders as it faces the medieval threat of mass epidemic. The idea of chemical and nuclear attacks may be chilling, but the official new worst-case scenario focuses on bugs like air-borne anthrax bacteria, which are fatal in 90 per cent of untreated cases, or the deadly smallpox virus, which was officially eradicated more than 20 years ago but may live on in secret terrorist laboratories. Spooked by the keen interest shown by the suicide-killers in crop-duster planes and hazardous-materials trucks, and fearful that anthrax bacteria or smallpox virus may be spread over their cities, many Americans have rushed to stock up on gas masks and antibiotics. "Women I know in New York and Washington debate whether to order Israeli vs. Marine Corps Gas Masks, and half-hour lightweight gas Masks vs. 400-dollar eight-hour gas masks, baby gas masks and pet gas masks, with the same meticulous attention they gave to ordering no-fat-no-foam-no-whip lattes in more innocent days," columnist Maureen Dowd observed in the New York Times. Until recently the preserve of policy wonks and hollywood screenwriters, the concept of disease as a weapon is now the talk of a nation whose security bubble has burst. It dominates dinner table conversations, online gallows humour and the covers of news magazines that offer advice on how to "protect your family from bioterrorism". The words "homeland security" no longer seem like an archaic World War II reference. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s warning of a "clear and present danger" sounds less like a tom clancy novel and more like grim reality. Bio-war experts making the rounds of TV and radio share disturbing information, like the idea that the cutting-edge aerosol technology developed to fill supermarkets aisles with the wholesome aroma of freshly baked french sticks could theoretically spread invisible clouds of deadly spores with three-day incubation periods. Biological warfare isn’t new to the americas. The conquistadors’ advance force of "superbugs" - cultivated accidentally by european civilisations that had for millennia lived in close proximity to livestock - decimated millions in the new world who had never even seen the newcomers. During the Indian wars of the 1700s, colonists gave smallpox-infected blankets to Indians, decimating entire tribes. In fact, biological warfare litters the history books - from the medieval armies that catapulted the corpses of plague victims at their enemies to the top-secret research conducted in cold war laboratories. In the Soviet Union, accidental anthrax release killed 68 people in 1979. The 1972 biological weapons convention outlawed their use, but rogue-nations including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and North Korea are on the list of countries suspected of still dabbling with the microscopic killers. The most dangerous hands they could now fall into may be the warriors of terror, with allegiance to no country and enough fanaticism to court their own destruction as a form of religious salvation. The CIA warned earlier this year that terrorist groups were scouring the internet to find biological and other weapons of mass destruction, and that suspected master terrorist Osama Bin Laden had declared their acquisition a "religious duty". Ominiously, spy satellites have photographed dead livestock around one of his camps. Despite the fears, calmer voices are seeking to prevent hysteria. Experts point out that using killer bugs effectively requires extensive know-how on keeping the agent alive and spreading it under the right atmospheric conditions. Plague bugs quickly degrade when exposed to the sun, and humidity makes anthrax spores clump together, experts point out. The Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo reportedly failed in eight attempts to release anthrax and botulism in Tokyo. "I don’t think the American people should be scared into believing that they have to have a gas mask," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a recent TV interview. He volunteered the fact that he doesn’t own a gas mask himself. The health chief said eight US staging areas are each stocked with 50 tons of vaccines, antibiotics, gas masks and ventilators, and 7,000 medical personnel on stand-by to respond to any crisis within hours. "We’ve got to make sure that people understand that they’re safe," he said. "We’re prepared to take care of any contingency, any consequence that develops from any kind of bioterrorism attack." According to a newsweek poll, 46 per cent of Americans don’t believe that their Government can handle disaster. (DPA) |
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‘Bring back the king’, say desperate Afghanis KHOJA BAHAWUDDIN (AFGHANISTAN), Oct 3: "Bring back the king" Afghans today urged, after hearing news that deposed monarch Mohammad Zahir Shah would work with the opposition Northern Alliance in trying to form a Government. But the unanimous cry seemed more one of desperation from a war-weary people than of realistic expectations that the ex-king can help his country solve its deep internal divisions and shed its image as the world’s Pariah state. Many of the traders, refugees and soldiers in the bleak, sun-parched northeastern town of Khoja Bahawuddin are too young to remember much about the days under the king. He has lived in exile in Rome since he was overthrown by a cousin in 1973 and, while he has ruled out a restoration of the monarchy, has offered to play a role in establishing a transitional Government if the ruling Taliban militia is deposed. The Northern Alliance, with the blessing of the west, is fighting the hardline Islamic Taliban that the United States says is harbouring the main suspect behind the September 11 attacks — Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden. "I agree with bringing back the Shah," said Jamakhan, a 40-year-old salesman selling scarves and Afghan hats in a stall in the primitive market place. "We must wait for the american attack, and then he should come back," he said, as the dry grey dust that coats the dirt roads and fields swirled in a blinding storm. A crowd of bearded locals dressed in their pakul hats and long cloaks gathered around to hear the debate. Many like Jamakhan are refugees who have been forced from their homes by recent fighting. Supporters say the former king can play a unifying role by bringing together Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic mix. But for millions of people impoverished and displaced by a decade-long soviet invasion and civil war that has lasted nearly as long, it is the basics that count. "My life here is appalling," said Kheder, a 60-year-old cobbler sitting on the road waiting for business. His stall is an overturned box, some thread, a needle and polish, and a few cracked and broken plastic shoes. "I am a refugee from Khoji ghad and came here one year ago. I cannot make enough mending shoes, the Taliban burned my home and fields. I want to go home with my family." He makes 100,000 Afghanis, or about 80 US cents on a good day, and nothing on a bad one. "I remember the times of Zahir Shah. I would love him to come back and build peace." Afghani specialists and opposition officials expect no miracles from the former monarch, but hope that he can help bridge ethnic divisions through a special council of elders —or Loya Jirga — for which he has called. "He will use his influence and introduce people, who are influential, to the council," Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the foreign minister for the opposition, told a news briefing yesterday. Of the council he added: "In the immediate term it will be good news for the people of Afghanistan that people from all sections of society and ethical backgrounds are coming together to find a lasting solution to the problems in Afghanistan." Expectations are higher than normal, but in the brutal bleakness of this northern Afghan town, wishful thinking is understandable. (REUTERS) |
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Bangladesh elections bring more than defeat for Hasina DHAKA, Oct 3: Outgoing Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may have to pay a highly personal as well as a political price for Monday’s overwhelming election defeat. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of her bitter personal foe, Begum Khaleda Zia, is poised to secure an unprecedented two-thirds majority with her right-wing allies that will allow her to change the constitution. The women rarely exchange so much as a word, although their economic policies are as similar as the tragic family histories that propelled them into politics to defend competing legacies. But Khaleda will now have the power to take a swipe at Hasina by revoking her constitutional guarantee of life-long special security — a product of that tragic history which Khaleda argued against while in opposition. Hasina, for her part, alleges that among Khaleda’s radical Islamic allies are people who opposed Bangladesh’s 1971 independence drive from Pakistan under her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and who later tried to protect those who killed him and most of their family in a 1975 Army coup. Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana were out of the country at the time, but she says the killers are still pursuing them. Twelve former Army officers, all honoured by a previous bnp Government, some with overseas diplomatic assignments, were convicted for Mujib’s killing during Hasina’s rule and sentenced to death. Four are in Bangladeshi jails but others are still abroad. Newspapers said they might ask Khaleda for a Presidential pardon and return home. "If they become free, Hasina’s life could be endangered," one analyst said. Many of Hasina’s efforts to preserve Mujib’s legacy may be undone if Khaleda’s Government decides to rename the hundreds of major and minor installations including a river bridge and universities that Hasina has named after her father. "There may be many more surprises and shocks in store for Hasina," said a political analyst who asked not to be named. Khaleda has a legacy of her own to guard, having been forced to take over the leadership of the BNP, founded by her husband and former Army chief and President Ziaur Rahman, after he was killed in a mutiny in 1981. Analysts say the Islamic hardliners who are her allies may push her to shun secularism and impose strict Islamic rule in Bangladesh, one of the world’s most populous Muslim countries, with 130 million people. She may also balance out an emphasis on neighbouring India in foreign policy by paying more attention to Islamic states. A treaty Hasina signed with tribal rebels to end a protracted insurgency in southeastern Chittagong hill tracts could also come under review by Khaleda’s administration. But analysts say she is unlikely to depart radically from Hasina’s economic policy, which focused on poverty alleviation, higher literacy, shelter for the homeless, more employment and increased trade with neighbours. She, like Hasina, is expected to try to keep the armed forces in good humour in an effort to keep them out of politics. Generals ruled Bangladesh for nearly 15 years after Mujib’s death, and are still a dominant force in society and politics. (REUTERS) |
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Suspected hijacker pledged to die a good Muslim BERLIN, Oct 3: Mohammed Atta, the man believed to have steered the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, pledged to die a good Muslim and ordered that no women should be present at his burial, according to a leaked copy of his will. The will, found together with a four-page letter in a piece of luggage belonging to the suspected suicide hijacker at Boston’s Logan Airport, was written in April 1996 and contains strict instructions on how Atta’s death should be treated. FBI sources in Washington said such a will was not being released in the US capital on Tuesday. "No one should cry for me, scream or tear his clothes and beat his face — those are foolish gestures," says the will, translated into German and printed by news magazine Der Spiegel. "Neither pregnant women nor unclean people should say goodbye to me — I reject that." The will follows publication last week by US Attorney General John Ashcroft of a letter containing Islamic prayers and instructions linking the suspected hijackers on three of four planes that crashed in deadly suicide attacks on September 11. The letter contained warnings to fellow hijackers to know the plan well and a pledge of allegiance to death. Atta’s will is a list of 18 instructions. Number eight reads: "Those who wash my body must be good Muslims. And there should not be too many people, unless it is absolutely necessary." Number nine says: "He who washes my body around my genitals should wear gloves so that I am not touched there." Atta also writes: "My clothes must be of three pieces of white material, but not of silk or any other expensive material." Another instruction says: "Women must not be present at my funeral or go to my grave at any later date." Atta requests that during his burial earth should be thrown on his body three times with the words: ‘You come from dust, you are dust and you return to dust. And from the dust a new person will be created.’ "After that everyone should call god’s name and testify that I died as a Muslim, believing in god’s religion. All who take part in my burial should pray for my forgiveness," the will said. The Egyptian spent eight years as a student at Hamburg’s Technical University, where he graduated with top marks for a dissertation on "city planning in the Syrian town of Aleppo". Some who remember Atta in Hamburg said that the only remarkable thing about him was that he avoided alcohol and women — he wouldn’t even shake a woman’s hand. Atta’s will also says: "People should stay at my grave for an hour so that I can enjoy their company. An animal should then be sacrificed and the meat be distributed among the needy." The passenger manifest showed that Atta, a pilot, was on board American Airlines Flight 11, the first of two to hit the World Trade Center on September 11. More than 5,700 people are dead or missing in the attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon and the crash of a fourth hijacked jet in Pennsylvania. (REUTERS) |
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US fight will include terrorism in India WASHINGTON, Oct 3: In the clearest ever support to India on the issue of Pakistan-backed terrorism after the September 11 strikes, the United States has said that it will fight the menace in a comprehensive way to include the kind of terrorism that affects India. Washington’s backing came after a meeting External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had with Secretary of State Colin Powell last night on the US initiative of global fight against terrorism. "We are against terrorism. This (attack on the Assembly) was an act of terror ... It is this kind of terrorism that we are united against," Powell told reporters with singh by his side. He described the car bomb attack in front of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly as a "terrible terrorist act". Powell said that US fight against terrorism was not just against Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network but elsewhere also, including India. "We are going after terrorism in a comprehensive way, not just in the present instance of Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden but terrorism as that affects nations around the world, to include the kind of terrorism that affects India," he said. Powell said that US would use "many tools" in its campaign against terrorism. "We are going to use financial, intelligence, law enforcement, diplomatic and political tools to accomplish the mission," he said. Powell thanked Singh for the support that India and its people have given to the US in this time of difficulty. Singh said terrorism was the antithesis of the values —democracy, free speech and freedom of individuals — India shared with the US. "Our commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States of America for these values, in this fight against terrorism, is in no fashion any less than anyone else’s," Singh said. "There is no such thing as good terrorism and bad terrorism. It is not as if what happened in New York or the Pentagon on September 11 were bad because it targeted the United States of America and whatever targets India is `accepted terrorism’. That is (also) quite clearly the understanding of the US or its approach," Singh told reporters at the Indian Embassy here after the meeting. Singh said he was satisfied with the discussions he had with the American leaders over the past two days. He felt that "there is a much clearer understanding of the complexities of the situation and the challenges that democracies face. We have, in addition to many detailed agreements, also agreed to remain in constant touch." Jaswant Singh left for London from where he will go to Berlin before reaching home later this week. (PTI) |
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Taliban with a small ‘T’ dream of Afghan Jihad CHITRAL (PAKISTAN), Oct 3: It was a hot, lazy morning at the Jamia mosque in Chitral, high in Pakistan’s mountainous north, and the teenage boys here to learn the Koran were talking more about Afghanistan than about Allah. "The Americans will attack Afghanistan and all Muslims will go to fight against them," Mohammad Karim, a sharp-eyed boy with a whispy beard, declared with a certain bravado. "Yes, Jihad (holy war)" others sitting in the circle chimed in, pointing to the Afghan border only 60 km (40 miles) to the west. "Amreeka Murdabad (death to America)," they murmured. Then something their Koran training never prepared them for happened. An American reporter sat down with them and began asking each one if he really was ready to go fight. "I’m ready," one piped up, adjusting his prayer cap. "Me, too," another said, grinning. Boys sitting in other circles with teachers stole furtive glances over to the discussion, but then buried their faces back in the Koran. When his turn came, Attaullah hesitated before blurting out, "It’s dangerous there. I don’t want a war. Islam is a peace-loving religion." Slowly, others backpedalled too, despite the efforts of an older boy named Saidullah to end this talk with the infidel and herd the students back to their Koran readings. "Stop talking to that American" he shouted in the local Khowar dialect, rather than the Urdu they were speaking. "Doesn’t he know the Jews did it? the Jews destroyed the World Trade Center to get America to start a war against Islam." The youngest boys, maybe about 10 or so, watched in fascination, even if they could not follow the whole discussion in Urdu, Pakistan’s national language. One waif nibbled absent-mindedly at a corner of his koran as he listened to the bigger boys talk war. These are Taliban (Koran students) with a small "T" — poor Muslim boys whiling away their days at the Madrassa (religious school) at the local mosque like millions of others around Pakistan who have no other school to go to. Pakistani Madrassas have earned a bad name abroad ever since the Afghan Taliban, a movement of fire-and-brimstone fundamentalists, transformed seemingly overnight from studying at hardline Koran schools at refugee camps in this country to seizing power in Kabul in 1996. Their draconian rule, including barring females from work and school and destroying unique Buddhist art from the pre-Islamic past, made them world Pariahs even before September 11. From that day on, their most famous "guest", Saudi-born Osama Bin Laden, has been Washington’s prime suspect in the attacks in the United States and Afghanistan looks scheduled for a US-led attack to punish it for harbouring him. Chitral’s Taliban talk about the World Trade Center attack as if it were a video game, although a few, like Attaullah, 17, call it "terrorism" and denounce it. They’re not very sure about the details of the current crisis, especially what to do with Bin Laden. "Maybe he should leave Afghanistan, but he can’t come here and no other Muslim country would take him," Hazarded Rahimullah. "He didn’t do it, but he’s dangerous." "Maybe he can hide in a cave and the americans won’t find him," another chipped in. Zakaria, one of the older boys, ended the discussion with a classic Deus Ex Machina. "God will come and take him far away to safety," he intoned. Little heads nodded all around. Another of the bigger boys, Ahmad, said no US soldier would ever leave Afghanistan alive. "We hear there are ladies in the American Army — we won’t hurt them," he added. A little redhead named Aziz, one of the Few Afghan refugees at the Madrassa, danced around outside the mosque singing "Jihad" and "Death to America." When told the reporter he just spoke to was American, he scampered away howling "watch out danger" "I don’t have a Kalashnikov, Aziz," I protested. "But your Government will give you a bomb," he shouted back, grinning and shaking his finger. (REUTERS) |
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