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Arab TV channel steals CAIRO, Oct 11: An increasingly number of people in the Arab world and beyond are tuning in to the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera channel, once known ........more Musharraf
reiterates ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has reiterated that the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance...more US
wanted terrorist WASHINGTON, Oct 11: A new 22-man list of the United States’ "most wanted terrorists".....more Sri
Lanka to go to COLOMBO, Oct 11: Sri Lanka will go to the polls on December five to elect the 225-member legislature after President Chandrika Kumaratunga late last night dissolved the Parliament......more |
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Malaysian Muslim Party scorns arrest of teachers KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11: Malaysia’s main Muslim opposition party said today the arrest of six suspected Muslim militants this week was a political.......more Laden
‘owns, operates’ WASHINGTON, Oct 11: Highlighting the pervasive influence that America’s most wanted man Osama Bin Laden and.....more US
troops in Uzbekistan WASHINGTON, Oct 11: Troops from the US 10th Mountain Division, sent to Central Asia as part of the US military build up against Afghanistan......more US says $ 5 mln for Bin Laden a reward, not bounty WASHINGTON, Oct 11:The United States offered five million dollars for information on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and 21 other accused terrorists, but denied it had placed a bounty on the man President George .......more |
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Arab TV channel steals show in war on terror CAIRO, Oct 11: An increasingly number of people in the Arab world and beyond are tuning in to the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera channel, once known as the "enfant terrible" of the mideast region’s satellite stations, for news about ongoing US-led strikes against targets in Afghanistan. One of the reasons for its popularity is the channel’s excellent access to people and places in Afghanistan, including to the Taliban leaders, whom the US accuses of supporting and harbouring Saudi millionaire turned terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden, its prime suspect in the devastating September 11 in the US. Even before the US and British attacks on targets in Afghanistan began last Sunday, a few people outside the Arab world, including some in the US, had began to take interest in Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the US-led war against terrorism Secretary of State Colin Powell reportedly expressed displeasure during a recent meeting in Washington with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, suggesting that if Al-Jazeera was going to cover the war, it should also project the US point of view. In fact, Al-Jazeera was among the first networks to broadcast reports that the attack was underway and the first to capture live pictures of the October seven air strikes on Afghanistan. The expulsion of western journalists from Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan evidently gave Al-Jazeera, whose correspondent was among a handful of reporters allowed to continue operating in the country, an edge over the other major networks. "We now have an Arab network that competes in newsmaking. We were the only channel that broadcast the beginning of the war and its progression live," Mohammed Jasem Al-Ali, the channel’s director told the London-based Al-Hayat Tuesday. In addition to reporting the strikes and giving Taliban officials time on its airwaves, Al-Jazzera surprised the world by broadcasting a pre-recorded video showing Bin Laden and his key associates, delivering diatribes against the US and its allies shortly after the attacks began. The tape was later relayed by scores of networks around the world, including those based in the US, and although US officials were not entirely pleased that it provided members of Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network with an opportunity to get their message across to a wider audience, President George W Bush apparently watched the tape. "His reaction was first that this is much bigger than any one person. This is not a war against Osama Bin Laden, this is a war against terrorists," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. This, however, was not the first time that Bin Laden has favoured Al-Jazeera to get across his message. More recently, he has sent tapes of training sessions and other material such as press releases to the channel. "The Al-Qaeda needs a medium to present its point of view and it chose Al-Jazeera without fear or hesitation," said Al-Jazeera’s Al-Ali. "They brought the tape to our offices as the attacks began and we broadcast it live from Kabul," he added, referring to the latest tape. Nevertheless, it was through controversial broadcasts such as this one that and that the channel began attracting attention to itself. The station was created by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, by decree in 1996 shortly after he ousted his father in a bloodless coup. Since then, it has become increasingly vocal, taking stands unpopular with countries in the region on a broad range of issues, including relations with Israel, Iraq, civil society and democracy, prompting an outcry from most leaders in the region, who claimed that the channel was specifically directed against their Governments. Most of the complaints stem from the panel discussion programmes such as Al-Itijah Al-Muaqas (opposite direction) and Akhtar Min Rayi (more than one opinion), which generally feature members of banned opposition groups. For instance, Kuwait was angered a couple of years ago when one programme featured an Iraqi official successfully out-debating his Kuwaiti counterpart. Jordan briefly closed down the channel’s offices in response to a programme featuring Jordanians debating the merits of the peace process with Israel. Meanwhile, Egypt accused the channel of distorting its history after Al-Jazeera aired a programme about the 1973 war with israel with Israeli guests taking part. Egypt was further infuriated when the channel hosted London-based "convicted Egyptian terrorists" Yassir Sirri and Adel Abdel Meguid, something which required getting visas to Qatar. Cairo accused Doha of violating arab agreements about harbouring terrorists - a new bureau was later opened in London to spare Qatar further embarrassments. Even with it high production standards and journalistic values, there are limits, however, to what the station can broadcast. There have been neither reports about local qatari politics nor interviews with the deposed emir and, Al-Jezeera officials confirmed that as a general policy, the station tends to respect the sensibilities of its larger neighbour, Saudi Arabia. Despite successfully antagonizing nearly every Government with its hard hitting reporting and controversial guests on news shows, Al- Jazeera continues to be recognized as pretty much the best thing going in the Arabic language news field. (DPA) |
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Musharraf reiterates Pak’s reservation against NA ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has reiterated that the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance should not have any role in the post-attack set-up in Afghanistan, media reports said here today. "We will not accept the northern alliance and I have told everybody that it should even not be allowed to enter Kabul," Gen Mushrraf said after addressing a cabinet meeting here yesterday, according to The News. Spelling out the bottom line of his Government’s post-strikes Afghan policy, he said there should be no room for any ‘imposed’ political dispensation in Afghanistan. According to the newspaper, Gen Musharraf said he would talk in length on the subject with US Secretary of State Colin Powell when the latter would visit Pakistan later this week. "I find a clear understanding and appreciation amongst the coalition partners of the need to facilitate the installation of a broad-based political dispensation in Afghanistan representing all ethnic groups with due consideration of their demographic composition," the news quoted the President as saying. Gen Musharraf did not rule out the option of bringing in deposed King Zahir Shah or any other broad-based arrangement. Commenting on the ongoing strikes, he said there should be efforts to avoid civilian casualties and chaos,. The President said he had received assurances from the United States and Britain that the strikes will not be targeted against civilians and that every effort will be made to prevent loss of civilian lives. The newspaper said Gen Musharraf briefed the cabinet on the present crisis, including of his contacts with world leaders. He also told them about his meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the telephonic call he had with President George W Bush last Sunday. The News said Gen Musharraf told the cabinet that Pakistan will continue to provide information, air space and all possible help to combat terrorism. "We have a desire and wish for an orderly transition ensuring unity, stability and peace in Afghanistan.... No operation against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has taken place or is taking place from Pakistan," he was quoted by the newspaper. (UNI) |
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US wanted terrorist list shines spotlight on Iran WASHINGTON, Oct 11: A new 22-man list of the United States’ "most wanted terrorists" highlights Iran’s alleged links to guerrilla groups more than any other nation’s apart from Afghanistan, US experts have said. Of those on the list, as many as seven are widely thought to be in Iran, compared with one in Iraq and the rest in Afghanistan, according to Vince Cannistraro, chief of CIA counter terrorist operations from 1988 to September 1990. In response to hijacked plane attacks on America, the United States has launched what it calls a war on terrorism against groups it believes have a global reach as well as nations that help them. Patrick Clawson, Director of Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, agreed that seven on the new list, broken down by five major attacks on US interests in the 1980s and the 1990s, may be in Iran and one — Abdul Rahman Yasin — in Iraq. "The list contains a substantial number of terrorists who are suspected to be in Iran," said Kenneth Katzman, an expert on Islamic guerrilla groups at the nonpartisan congressional research service. "It does not suggest to me that the administration, with this list, is laying out a case for pursuing Iraq" in the next phase of the multi-pronged, US-led military campaign launched Sunday in Afghanistan, which protects the prime suspect for the hijack attacks, he said. Some US opinion leaders have urged the administration to make Iraqi President Saddam Hussein the next target in what President George W Bush has vowed will be a "sustained, comprehensive, relentless" campaign. The administration put the UN Security Council on notice on Tuesday that the United States, acting in self-defense after the Sept. 11 attacks killed about 5,600 people, may take "further actions with respect to other organizations and other states." The new list of "known terrorists" featured Osama Bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, in which four airliners were crashed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. Bin Laden, already on the FBI’s regular "10 most-wanted fugitives" list, was included among the 22 for his indictment in the 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people. Also listed for their alleged Embassy-bombing roles were 12 indicted Bin Laden co-conspirators, including Muhammad Atef and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. They appeared in a videotape with Bin Laden broadcast on Sunday within hours of the first US-led airstrikes on Afghanistan. Also probably in Afghanistan, according to Cannistraro, is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is included on the list of 22. He was indicted in the southern district of New York for his role in a January 1995 plot to blow up 12 jumbo jets flying Asia-Pacific routes. Laurie Mylroie, author of "Study of revenge: Saddam Hussein’s unfinished war against America," said Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had been in Qatar after the airliner bombing plot. The United States failed to persuade qatar to give him up, she said, citing US intelligence officials. The sole person on the list known to be in Iraq was Bloomington, Indiana-born Yasin, a dual US-Iraqi national indicted in the southern district of New York in the Feb. 26, 1993, bombing that killed six people in the first attack on New York’s World Trade Center. Yasin fled the United States to Iraq after being questioned by the FBI about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Stephen Somerstein, Yasin’s lawyer, said Yasin, who denied any involvement in the bombing, "Is living a very ordinary life with his family" in Iraq. (REUTERS) |
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Sri Lanka to go to polls on December 5 COLOMBO, Oct 11: Sri Lanka will go to the polls on December five to elect the 225-member legislature after President Chandrika Kumaratunga late last night dissolved the Parliament following defection of 13 MPs from her Government. This is the third election in the last three years. While the 12 million electorate exercised their franchise in December 1999 to chose a President, the 2000 and 2001 elections were held for their parliamentary representatives. In an anticipated face-saving move, the President dissolved Parliament in the face of growing defections from her Peoples’ Alliance (PA) Government which was to face an opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion today. With the cross-over of nine PA parliamentarians and four Ceylon Workers Congress members, the ruling party’s strength was reduced to 107 in a house of 225. The midnight dissolution order came exactly one year after the 2000 general election held on October ten last year. The President took the decision in terms of the powers vested under Article 70 (1) of the Constitution in her after extensive discussions on the current political situation with the PA parliamentary group last night, official sources said. By dissolving Parliament, the President has called for a general election on December five and the next Parliament will meet on January one next year. The dissolution of Parliament and schedule for December five election were announced in an extraordinary gazette. Accordingly, nominations for the next general election will be accepted between October 20 and 27. Following consultations with her close confidants, Mrs Kumaratunga presided over a late night meeting of party members where a majority of them requested dissolution of Parliament and a snap general election. Ironically, the downfall of her Government came as her most trusted lieutenant, former minister S B Dissanayake, fell out with her and joined opposition ranks. In June, the Government was reduced to a minority when the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), a coalition partner of the PA, withdrew support from the Government. Though the main opposition -United National Party (UNP) - had moved a no-confidence motion, President prorogued Parliament for two months. Early this month, the UNP brought a no-confidence motion for a second time. The Government parliamentary group last night unanimously decided to extend their full support to the president in any of her action, including dissolution of the house, official sources said. Addressing the group, she said the PA would rise again despite the conspiracies hatched by the defectors and opposition. She further said the crossing over of nine PA parliamentarians to the opposition had purged the party of corrupt elements. "They left the party solely for money and I am glad that such corrupt elements have left us," the President said. The Peoples Alliance is a conglomeration of eight political parties, including the Ceylon Workers Congress whose leader and minister Arumugam Thondaman resigned yesterday. (UNI) |
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Malaysian Muslim Party scorns arrest of teachers KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11: Malaysia’s main Muslim opposition party said today the arrest of six suspected Muslim militants this week was a political ploy by the Government aimed at currying favour with Washington. Police picked up the six men, most of them teachers at Islamic schools, yesterday under a tough security law on suspicion of belonging to an Afghan-inspired militant group. But a senior official from the Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) derided the Government’s reason for arresting the six under the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial. "The argument that these men were trained in Afghanistan and so therefore, they must be militant is totally ridiculous," said PAS youth leader, Mahfuz Omar. "If the police really want to prove their case against the detainees, they should produce them in open court. Otherwise, this is nothing but a political ploy," he said. Police spokesman Benjamin Hasbie said the five religious school teachers and a trader were suspected of activities detrimental to national security and were detained "to enable a thorough investigation into their involvement" in militancy. Another PAS official said the Government was trying to win favour with the united states by being seen as taking a tough stand in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States. "We have heard about 23 countries having arrested people connected to terrorism and I’m sure Malaysia wants to be seen as one of those, and at this point in time, I think that’s what the Government is doing," PAS Central Committee member Mohd Hatta Ramli told Reuters. The Government of mostly Muslim Malaysia launched a crackdown on Islamic militants before last month’s attacks on New York and Washington. In early August police locked up 10 men, accusing them of belonging to a group called the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) group, which is seeking to establish a purer Islamic state in Malaysia. (REUTERS) |
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Laden ‘owns, operates’ Taliban: CIA WASHINGTON, Oct 11: Highlighting the pervasive influence that America’s most wanted man Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda forces exert within Afghanistan, US intelligence agencies have concluded that the fugitive "owns and operates" the ruling Taliban militia, The Washington Post said today. Quoting intelligence information presented recently to President George W Bush and his senior National Security Advisers, the newspaper said Bin Laden had provided an estimated 100 million dollars in cash and military assistance to the Taliban over the last five years, making him the single greatest supporter of the Afghan regime. Bin Laden’s military units also provided the Taliban with some of its most committed and effective assault forces, the newspaper said. It quoted sources as saying that a key component of the US war on terrorism — drying up Bin Laden’s sources of money — was designed to drive a wedge between the Taliban and Bin Laden in addition to reducing the funding available to the fugitive for future terrorist attacks. The newspaper said locating Bin Laden in the mountainous Afghan terrain remained problematic with intelligence reports saying the fugitive still changed locations frequently, at times using an ambulance as cover — all under the protection of the Taliban militia. They said he often spent the night in natural or man-made caves located in mountains. "It’s like chasing one particular rabbit in the entire state of West Virginia," according to an official. The Washington Post, quoting the sources, said the CIA was developing some imaginative and novel — and even risky —techniques to pin down Bin Laden’s location. "The problem," it quoted an official as saying, "is that we get where he was, rather than where he will be." The sources said the money provided by Bin Laden to the Taliban since he arrived in Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996 had been directly traced to his entities through banking and other transfers. The news report said according to US officials, Bin Laden, 44, a member of an extended Saudi family, received a personal inheritance of 30 million dollars when his father died in a plane crash in 1968. But sources said the money he had been providing to the Taliban did not come from his personal fortune. The money came from three primary sources: legal and illegal businesses or front companies Bin Laden operated directly or indirectly tribute payments he received from several Persian Gulf states, companies or individuals that gave him funds so he and his Al Qaeda supporters stayed out of or minimize activities in their countries and entities that were masked as charities, according to the newspaper. The news report, quoting a senior source, said the United States already had some evidence that one of Bin Laden’s key lieutenants was starting to hurt for money as a result of the financial squeeze put on by the US and its allies since the September 11 terrorist attacks. But another source said the administration did not expect any near-term impact from the efforts to dry up Bin Laden’s financial support, because his financial network was so large and because expenses for operating Al Qaeda were generally low. In the past, Al Qaeda operatives had often held low-paying jobs or resorted to petty crime to finance their expenses. "There is going to be no instant gratification," the source said, according to The Washington Post. Bin Laden had also given the Taliban military equipment, training and some of his best fighters for the battle against the Northern Alliance, the opposition coalition trying to topple the Taliban. When Bin Laden first moved to Afghanistan from Sudan, he gave the fledgling Taliban militia 3 million dollars at a critical time in the country’s civil war, and was closely involved in the Taliban’s subsequent ascent to power, the newspaper said. It said the Taliban’s protection and shelter for Bin Laden have been a key reason US intelligence and military forces had not been able to locate him. The news report, quoting US officials, said members of the Taliban often travelled in Bin Laden’s retinue and US intelligence had information that he often used decoy caravans when he switched locations and frequently gathered women and children around him, increasing the possibility that a US attack on him could result in the killing or wounding of innocent civilians. Bin Laden’s entourage is small, 25 people or fewer, sources said. He has no headquarters, though US intelligence identified the location of a house he no longer used. The newspaper said satellite photography of the Afghan mountains presented even experienced photo interpreters a daunting task because, as one senior official put it, "one Afghanistan mountain looks like every other Afghanistan mountain." US intelligence had few, if any, good human sources in Afghanistan, and information that came through various tribes or factions generally turned out to be unreliable, The Washington Post said. According to a senior administration official, "it’s a treacherous country with treacherous people who buy and sell loyalties." The newspaper said US intelligence agencies believed Bin Laden’s videotaped remarks released Sunday shortly after the US airstrikes began were recorded at least several days earlier. The tape apparently had been pre-positioned with the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news network with instructions or an agreement that it should not be made available until the bombing began. It said when Bin Laden was in Sudan from 1991 to 1996, he played much the same role with the Government in Khartoum as he did now in Afghanistan. During his years in Sudan, Bin Laden provided "some direct financial support to the Government," a senior intelligence official said yesterday. He also contributed funds to the military industrial corporation, a collection of industrial companies run by the military regime to support the defense industry in Sudan, the news report said. Bin Laden’s aid to the Sudanese military gained his Al Qaeda operatives assistance from Sudan’s Army and its intelligence arm in the transportation of weapons to other countries. Given Bin Laden’s pattern in Sudan and Afghanistan over the past decade, one senior administration official said a central US strategy can be reduced to four words: "Dry up the money", the newspaper said. (UNI) |
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US troops in Uzbekistan know for versatility WASHINGTON, Oct 11: Troops from the US 10th Mountain Division, sent to Central Asia as part of the US military build up against Afghanistan, come from an illustrious line and bring versatility to this unconventional conflict. The soldiers deployed to Uzbekistan, on Afghanistan’s northern border, could be key to coordinating any ground action now that days of bombing raids have secured US air supremacy, military analysts said yesterday. "They are the jack of all trades ... They can fight on mountain ridges and down in valleys, they can cross rivers, they can be sent by helicopters or truck," Charles Heyman, editor of Jane’s World Army, told Reuters. "They give the military planners lots of options and by putting them in Uzbekistan it gets the Taliban guessing," he added. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban are hiding Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant suspected of masterminding the September eleven Kamikaze attacks and the prime target of the US campaign. A US defense official said last week that 1,000 soldiers from the division were on their way to Uzbekistan, the landlocked former Soviet Republic which borders rugged and mountainous Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has agreed to allow u s forces to use an air base, but only, initially at least, for humanitarian and rescue operations. "The 10th Mountain Division is designed for the specific mission of dealing with rough terrain, using mountains for the purpose of both defense and offense," said Anthony Cordesman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The modern-day incarnation of the unit is classified as light infantry but still bears the name and colors of the original division, whose troops skied and rock-climbed their way to some noted successes during world war two. The original 10th mountain division, formed from volunteer mountaineers and skiers, trained at altitudes of 4,000 metres. They had to rock-climb carrying 41 kg backpacks and ski 32 km a day, wearing unwieldy wooden skis strapped to their army boots. "It was a little bit of hell ... It was a test of physical endurance. There were cases of frostbite and snow blindness," veteran Earl Clark said of the toughest training assignment, known as the D-series. But the training paid off. Under cover of night on February eight, 1945 troops scaled the 460 metre-high Riva Bidge in Italy, a natural barrier which the Germans had assumed impassable. This victory handed the allies a key location and paved the way for a series of other successes. (REUTERS) |
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US says $ 5 mln for Bin Laden a reward, not bounty WASHINGTON, Oct 11:The United States offered five million dollars for information on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and 21 other accused terrorists, but denied it had placed a bounty on the man President George W Bush said last month he wanted "dead or alive." "We’re paying for information on their whereabouts. We want the information. We don’t want the head," a senior State Department official told reporters yesterday after Bush unveiled the program at FBI headquarters. The official denied the money was offered to bring the fugitives in "dead or alive," But said the reward of up to five million dollars was designed to appeal to anyone who knows the whereabouts of the 22, all believed to be overseas. "These people we’re looking for to put in jail," another official said. The officials predicted the reward would dramatically increase the chances the 22 would be apprehended. Law enforcement officials said all 22 already were charged in the United States for various attacks, such as the 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Africa, that occurred well before the Sept. 11 hijacked plane crashes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed more than 5,500 people. They said some of the 22 defendants, including Bin Laden, who the United States says masterminded last month’s attacks, have been linked to the suicide plane crashes. Some of the 22 have been tied to some of the 19 hijackers, they said. The five million dollars reward for Bin Laden, who already was on the FBI’s list of ten most wanted fugitives for his role in the bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people, previously had existed, the officials said. But they said the State Department now was prepared to pay out rewards that conceivably could reach as much as 110 million dollars for information leading to the capture of all 22. Appearing with Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose agency runs the reward program, said the money would be paid for "information that thwarts a terrorist attack on American or other interests or brings a terrorist to justice." He said: "It gives US millions of additional pairs of eyes and ears to be on the lookout. It puts potential informants in every place a terrorist might try to operate or to hide." Some of the 22 were part of the leadership of Bin Laden’s radical Muslim Al Qaeda network, Powell said. "They have blood on their hands from September 11th and from other acts against America in Kenya, Tanzania and Yemen," he said. Yemen was a reference to last year’s bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 US servicemen. Asked whether the US Government’s real goal was to kill Bin Laden in the military strikes on Afghanistan rather than put him on trial, one law enforcement official said, "our job is to investigate and prosecute. Our mission is to find out the truth." While the 19 hijackers may be dead, their support network in the United States or overseas must be broken up or else there will be new attacks, officials said. The State Department now has about 25 million available for its rewards program, and Congress is considering giving even more money, the officials said. They said they planned to publicize the program and noted the number of visits to the State Department’s web site at www.Dssrewards.Net has gone from 4,000 a day to 250,000 a day since September 11. (REUTERS) |
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