|
|
Musharraf hostage ISLAMABAD, Oct 13: Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, reached the second anniversary of his seizure of power yesterday with his ........more Pakistan
says US ISLAMABAD, Oct 13: Pakistan has said it has allowed the US use of its two airports only for undertaking search and rescue operation, while a....more Cheney
suspects NEW YORK, Oct 13: A fourth case of the potential germ warfare agent Anthrax was discovered in the United States yesterday and U S Vice....more Would-be
Saudi NEW YORK, Oct 13: A fabulously wealthy Saudi Arabian prince has said that he was "very surprised" when his 10 million dollar gift for New York ......more |
|
Kiev admits Ukrainian KIEV, Oct 13: Ukrainian Defence Minister Olexander Kuzmuk today acknowledged that a Ukrainian missile sent a Russian airliner crashing into .......more US
House passes WASHINGTON, Oct 13: The U S House of Representatives has passed a White House-backed bill to expand the powers of law enforcement in .....more US
may strike on Taliban NEW DELHI, Oct 13: The United States-led coalition should shift their air strikes from Taliban military infrastructure in and around Kabul to targets on......more ‘Pak
backing to WASHINGTON, Oct 13: Islamabad’s military and financial support to Kashmiri militant groups has placed the US "in a difficult position between......more |
 |
 |
Musharraf hostage to war on second coup anniversary ISLAMABAD, Oct 13: Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, reached the second anniversary of his seizure of power yesterday with his future hostage to the high-risk war in neighbouring Afghanistan. Although Musharraf has so far faced only limited domestic protests against his abrupt withdrawal of support for Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, the Pakistani capital today sports detachments of troops and Sandbag-reinforced bunkers near intersections and sensitive buildings. "In the general public there is an apprehension that what is happening in Afghanistan may have a fallout in Pakistan," Major-General Rashid Qureshi, the Government spokesman, told Reuters after the country was swept this week by unfounded rumours of a coup against Musharraf. If the man who came to power himself in a coup can survive the U S -led war against Afghanistan without serious internal problems, he is likely to emerge a vastly strengthened ruler with solid backing abroad and unquestioned dominance at home. According to Musharraf’s timetable for a return to democracy — greeted with scepticism when outlined in August but now praised by foreign Governments — elections for a restored parliament will be held in one year. The 58-year-old General intends to stay on as a powerful President. If, instead, he becomes a victim of the conflict to force the Taliban to hand over Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden, suspected by Washington of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States, Pakistan would face an unstable future. The evidence so far points to his survival. Five people died in demonstrations in the first two days after U S and British bombing of Afghanistan began on Sunday in retaliation for last month’s attacks, but protests dwindled as the week went on. However, the Government said it would tolerate no violent protests after midday prayers on Friday, which creates a natural concentration of people. It threatened any of the more than two million Afghan refugees in Pakistan with deportation if they participated. U S Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is due in Pakistan next week, revealed on Thursday the unease about a country that is vital to the United States for pursuing the war against the Taliban. "Our view is that the consolidation of stability in Pakistan has been quicker and greater than we had originally expected and better than the Government of Pakistan had expected originally," Powell said in Washington. "The confidence with which President Musharraf is moving forward, the alacrity with which he welcomed the visit of the Secretary, also did indicate to me that to the extent there are tensions — and there are — they’re manageable." Foremost among the sources of tension are the demonstrations called by pro-Taliban Islamic leaders, angered that Musharraf has sided with the United States and abandoned the Taliban leaders Pakistan once helped to power. There have also been heavy economic costs to Pakistan. The World Bank estimated in advance of a visit to Washington this week by Pakistan’s Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz, that the damage this year alone would be at least 1 billion. Set against that, Governments around the world have showered grants on Musharraf’s Government, rescheduled debt and lifted sanctions imposed on Pakistan during more than a decade of increasing isolation. Aziz has begun discussing new aid from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the U S Government. While Pakistan’s economic performance under Musharraf would have drawn support in any case, now it is considered urgent to show backing for a man who had once been shunned for seizing power. "We have been immensely impressed by Pakistan’s reform program which started two years ago," World Bank president James Wolfensohn said in a statement for Thursday’s meeting with Aziz. "Of course, right now, as the country faces a particularly challenging period, we will be there to help it keep that reform program on track." The aid lavished on Musharraf for switching support from the Taliban to Washington will give him vital breathing space to try to reshape an economy seemingly caught in a downward spiral. Provided he can keep a lid on the political pressures building up as a result of the war, Musharraf should also be able to cement the power he seized when former Prime Minister Nawas Sharif tried to fire him as Army Chief two years ago. This week he strengthened his hold over the armed forces, reshuffling senior staff to sideline Generals who backed his coup but were considered sympathetic to the Taliban and Islamic militants at home. And if the Islamic parties fail to show the strength they have claimed, Musharraf will come out of this crisis with a more powerful Central Government. In a country where the Government has seemed unable to enforce its will, whether in taxation or law enforcement, that may be the most important prize in the balance as Musharraf watches the war next door. (REUTERS) |
|
Pakistan
says US allowed use of airports ISLAMABAD, Oct 13: Pakistan has said it has allowed the US use of its two airports only for undertaking search and rescue operation, while a prominent religious party in the country called for "gherao" of one of the airbases tomorrow. "Yes, Jacobabad and Pasni Airports have been allowed to be used by the US-led coalition, but only for search and rescue operation to help pull out their injured troops from Afghanistan," Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said. "Our airports and other facilities have been provided for non-combat role," he told the daily `Dawn’, adding Pakistan was not offering permanent military bases to the US coalition like in the Gulf war during which Kuwait and several other countries provided operational bases for American forces. He said the permission to US troops to use the airports for emergency purposes was in line with its decision to provide airspace, logistics and intelligence to get hold of terrorists in Afghanistan. "But this is a limited permission and is not aimed at allowing them to launch attacks in Afghanistan from our air or land bases," he said adding the us-led coalition, would vacate Pakistan’s airports as soon the anti-terror campaign ended. Meanwhile, a provincial leader of Jamat-e-Islami has given a call to his partymen to gherao Jacobabad Airport. Moulana Abdul Ghafur Haidri also announced a nationwide strike tomorrow. "I will announce a date later to surround the Pasni Airport" located in Baluchistan Province, the daily quoted him as saying. The newspaper said Jacobabad Airport was humming with activity with US military planes frequently landing and taking off. Some of the planes that landed were identified as C-130 transport planes which were used for the movement of troops and equipment. While the town suffered a blackout last night, civil and military authorities have vacated a number of people living near the airport, it said. Elaborating on the Government stand, Haider said the international coalition had to launch air strikes on Afghanistan due to Taliban’s "illogical and unrealistic stand". "I have been to Afghanistan three times recently and tried to convince the Taliban to hand over terrorists to the USA, but I could not achieve any thing due to their hardened attitude," he said. He said "we have shown the Taliban sufficient proof of Osama bin Laden’s involvement in terrorist attacks but they were just adamant to listen to anything, hence attack on them which has been supported by the international community." He said a number of wanted Pakistani criminals and terrorists were given refuge in Afghanistan by Taliban. "And they are not being sent back to Pakistan," he said. (PTI) |
|
Cheney suspects Laden link in Anthrax cases NEW YORK, Oct 13: A fourth case of the potential germ warfare agent Anthrax was discovered in the United States yesterday and U S Vice President Dick Cheney said there could be links between the cases and Osama bin Laden. Hours after officials said an employee of NBC-TV nightly news program tested positive for skin anthrax, Cheney said in a TV interview that although there was not enough evidence to positively pin down a connection to the chief suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States, the cases of anthrax in Florida and New York were "suspicious." "I think the only responsible thing for US to do is proceed on the basis that it could be linked," Cheney said on PBS’ "newshour." He said the United States had ample evidence that Bin Laden’s followers were trained in how to spread biological and chemical weapons. In Nevada, a branch of software giant Microsoft Corp. In Reno received a suspicious letter filled with pornography that tested "presumptively" positive for anthrax bacteria, but more tests were being conducted, officials said. The U S postal service warned employees and customers to be careful when handling suspicious packages. The NBC employee was the fourth case of confirmed exposure to the bacteria at a media company since last month’s attack on America, prompting the U S health system to go on alert for possible biological assault. But fears that a letter received by a New York Times journalist at her office also contained anthrax receded after the company said on Friday night that white powder in the envelope tested negative for harmful bacteria. But the newspaper company said further tests were being run. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said on CNN that more complex tests would be conducted by the centers for disease control and prevention. "One preliminary test that has been done indicates negative for anthrax. But that is not final," Giuliani said. Similar letters The FBI said the envelopes sent to the New York Times on Friday and to NBC in late September were both postmarked St Petersburg, Florida, and included similar letters. "These were addressed to the two media outlets, they were addressed to the individuals and we are not going to provide anything as to the actual contents of the letter," Barry Mawn, head of the FBI in New York, said at a news conference (on) last evening. "There are some similarities between the two. I’m not going to tell what was said in the letters." The United Nations also was inspecting unidentified powder sent through the mail, staff members were told late on Friday. One was opened and thrown out by a woman employee, working at an U N -affiliated agency outside the main compound and she was being tested, a staff member said. Another package with powder was detected in the main U N Mailroom on Friday and sent out for analysis. "Our routine screening of the mails turned up an envelope that appeared suspicious," U N spokesman Fred Eckhard said. The skin anthrax afflicting the woman employee of the NBC TV nightly news program anchored by Tom Brokaw was not as dangerous as the inhaled version of the anthrax bacteria that killed a 63-year-old employee of American media inc. In boca Raton, Florida, and was found in two other employees at the same company. Nbc news later said that the letter was addressed to Brokaw, who said the woman was a member of his personal staff. Giuliani said the nbc employee, who was not identified, first told authorities of potential exposure sept. 28 and "appears to be recovering completely." He said "employees close to the letters" have been given the antibiotic cipro. At the New York Times, journalist Judith Miller, co-author of a book on bioterrorism, received an envelope containing a powdery substance. The company said its newsroom was evacuated for air testing but no one was hurt. (REUTERS) |
|
Would-be Saudi donor defends comments on US policy NEW YORK, Oct 13: A fabulously wealthy Saudi Arabian prince has said that he was "very surprised" when his 10 million dollar gift for New York victims of terrorism was refused this week. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal had met Thursday with New York city Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center to present a check for his donation. But a statement about U S foreign policy in the Middle East prompted Giuliani to order the refusal of the gift for families of victims in the September 11 attacks. "I think the Mayor misunderstood the mission that we tried to establish," said Prince Alwaleed, in a live interview with broadcaster CNN yesterday. "I always respected Mr Giuliani, before the incident and during the incident, and even right now. I admire him. I admire what he did there. "I felt very much sorry for (the terrorism that) took place over there. This horrendous crime that took place could never be justified by any act, by anyone. "I thought that I had the chance to bridge the gap between the arab world, the Muslim world and Saudi Arabia specifically, and New York. Because, after this horrendous act that took place in New York, inevitably, some of the bridges had been broken. I thought I could be playing a role in getting things closer between our community and New York." He described his connections to New York, where he attended graduate school and has large investments of his vast wealth, having been recently estimated to be the world’s sixth wealthiest person. "I am very much attached to the United States, especially New York," he said. Prince Alwaleed said that he had not expected the reaction to his statement, which was released through a press release at the end of the eight-hour visit in the city. "I understand that American free speech is something paramount over there, especially in New York," he said. His statement had said: "At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the Government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause." The prince defended the statement last night. "I think it’s very important for the United States - I speak as a friend, very close friend, to the United States - to acknowledge that there’s a big problem, at least," he said. "For the United States to go and fight Taliban and fight bin Laden, they have all the right to do that, and I’m backing them all the way. "However, it is very important to go and face, too, to really extract the roots of the problem. The roots of the problem are found in Palestine. The message has to be conveyed to America. Although, in the short term, they may not comprehend that very well, but as a friend of the United States, it’s my duty and responsibility to convey that message to America, openly." Giuliani, was interviewed separately on CNN last night. "The reason that I didn’t take the money was that the press release that he issued after he spoke to me, which had never been cleared with me and I didn’t know about, said that we should rethink american foreign policy," he said. "And then, made references to the fact, he believed, that the Israelis were slaughtering Palestinians. "It seems to me that what he was trying to do was to link this dreadful, awful terrorist attack on the World Trade Center to his view of what was going on in the Middle East." Giuliani said that he did not agree with Alwaleed’s view of the situation in the Middle East region. "Even if I did, I would not think that you should link the two things," said Giuliani. "I think part of the problem that we face is this sort of justification that’s constantly made and moral equivalent that we make between democracy and terrorist states. ... It seemed to me that this would be the wrong kind of money to take if it’s being premised on ideas like that." (DPA) |
|
Kiev admits Ukrainian missile downed Russian airliner KIEV, Oct 13: Ukrainian Defence Minister Olexander Kuzmuk today acknowledged that a Ukrainian missile sent a Russian airliner crashing into the Black Sea on October 4, with the death of all 76 passengers and crew. "We know we are implicated" in the mid-air explosion that brought the plane down, the minister told reporters, adding that the exact cause of the tragedy had not yet been established. Russian investigators yesterday concluded that the TU-154 airliner flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk had been hit by a missile warhead. "The Commission will continue to examine the plane’s wreckage and the steel remains of the missile’s payload ... To determine the type of missile and its trajectory," Security Council chief Vladimir Rushailo, who led the investigation, told Interfax news agency. (AFP) |
|
US House passes Bush-backed anti-terror bill WASHINGTON, Oct 13: The U S House of Representatives has passed a White House-backed bill to expand the powers of law enforcement in President George W Bush’s war against terrorism. The 337-79 house vote came a day after the Senate marked the one-month anniversary of the September. 11 attack on the United States, which killed nearly 5,400 people, by approving a similar measure, 96-1. Differences between the two bills include a Senate money-laundering provision that the House Republican leadership refused to adopt. Also, the Senate bill includes no expiration or "sunsets" for expanded wiretapping and other law enforcement powers while under the house measure they are in force for a maximum five years. These differences must be resolved before a final bill is sent to Bush to sign into law. At the White House yesterday, Bush said in a statement: "I urge the Congress to quickly get the bill to my desk. We must strengthen the hand of law enforcement to help safeguard America and prevent future attacks — and we must do it now." Both the House and Senate measures would expand the authority of law enforcement to wiretap suspected terrorists, share intelligence information about them, prosecute those who knowingly harbor terrorists and track their internet movements. While critics complain these powers could be abused and trample civil liberties, proponents said the bill would provide a balance between law enforcement and individual rights. "A good Government makes the people secure while preserving their freedom and that is what this bill does," said House Republican leader Richard Armey of Texas. U S Attorney General John Ashcroft first offered the administration’s own anti-terrorism package more than three weeks ago, and the house and Senate each scaled it down, eliminating sections seen as unconstitutional. Changes included dropping a provision that would have allowed for the indefinite detention without charges of foreigners deemed security risks. As rewritten, such persons could be held for up to seven days and then either be formally charged or have deportation proceedings begun against them. The House and Senate bills would also: — Make it unlawful to knowingly harbor a terrorist. — Authorize "roving wiretaps." This would grant court orders to wiretap any phone a suspected foreign terrorist might use rather than a specific phone. Many suspects now frustrate law enforcement by constantly switching phones. In the house bill, this would expire or "sunset," in three years. The executive branch could extend it another two years at its own discretion. The Senate version has no expiration. — Make it easier for U S criminal investigators and intelligence officers to share intelligence information. In the house bill this would carry the same "sunset" provision as the wiretap measure while the senate bill again has no "sunset." — Allow law enforcement to obtain a subpoena to get from internet providers records about the e-mail transmissions of suspected terrorists. A chief difference between the two bills is that the Senate measure, unlike the house one, contains a provision to toughen U S laws against money laundering. The provision is part of an effort to target the financial networks that may have supported the Sept. 11 attacks on American landmarks. Another difference is the Senate bill has no "sunsets." An earlier House bill had a two-year "sunset." But the White House asked that it be increased to up to five years. The House Republican leadership, to the outrage of many democrats who fear future abuses of the new laws, complied. Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, said on Friday he favors some time limits on the new laws. But he vowed no anti-terrorism bill would win final approval in his chamber without the money-laundering provision. "You can’t deal with counter-terrorism if you don’t deal with money laundering," Daschle said. "It must be done, and we will insist that it be done." House Republicans leaders declined to include the money-laundering provision in their bill, saying they did not have time to do so. But they said the provision would be brought up separately as its own bill as early as next week. Daschle and others fear that if separated from the anti-terrorism bill, the money-laundering measure may stall or be watered down in the face of intense lobbying from the U S banking industry. "If it’s a separate bill it has got very little chance of passing this year," said Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, a key backer of the legislation. "The House leadership has never supported this kind of legislation and we think it’s dead if that happens." Money laundering involves moving illicit funds through a series of financial institutions or accounts to disguise their origin, ownership or ultimate purpose. The Senate bill would bar U S banks from dealing with shadowy foreign "shell" banks, make them keep better records on foreign account holders and require closer review of some so-called correspondent accounts.(REUTERS) |
|
US may strike on Taliban frontlines along Tajikistan NEW DELHI, Oct 13: The United States-led coalition should shift their air strikes from Taliban military infrastructure in and around Kabul to targets on or behind the front lines on Tajikistan border which would facilitate the advancing of Norther Alliance at the gates of Kabul, reports prestigious Janes Defence Weekly. Such a breakout could also see an advance on the city of Kunduz and possibly the key northern centre of Mazar-e Sharif, the report said. With the bulk of UF forces - estimated to total some 12,000-15,000 personnel in the northeast - concentrated on fronts screening Taloqan and close to supply lines from neighbouring Tajikistan, such a thrust will be logistically far easier than a push towards Kabul. "If US_led coalition air strikes shift from Taliban military infrastructure in and around Kabul to targets on or behind the front lines, a Northern Alliance advance to the gates of the Kabul within a few days is entirely possible," the report said. Whether Washington will wish to facilitate such an advance remains unclear. However, Pakistan, which earlier supported the almost entirely ethnic-Pushtun Taliban, has expressed strong opposition to an occupation of Kabul by Northern Alliance forces. The report said as US-led coalition air strikes continue to degrade the Taliban’s military infrastructure throughout Afghanistan, the opposition Northern Alliance is preparing to swing to the offensive both north of the Hindu Kush range and south of the mountains towards the capital Kabul. The report said logistically and politically, a northern offensive against weakened Taliban forces will be far easier and may well come sooner than a push south of the Hindu Kush toward Kabul. Alliance forces are assembling along the front lines west of the Kokcha river for a breakout that will first aim to recapture Taloqan - which was lost to Taliban forces in September last year - and then push south-west along a key north-south supply line towards Ishkamish and Nahrin. Senior alliance sources told Janes that they were in contact with some Taliban commanders in the city and were hoping for a change of power from within the city rather than needing to secure it through a military offensive. A force of around 1,000 fighters has been assembled to ensure security following the anticipated collapse of Taliban power in Kabul, the sources said.(PTI) |
|
‘Pak backing to Kashmiri militants puts US in tough position’ WASHINGTON, Oct 13: Islamabad’s military and financial support to Kashmiri militant groups has placed the US "in a difficult position between India and Pakistan", both allies in America’s fight against terrorism. The US "badly needs" Pakistani support for its global alliance against terrorism, and has secured it. "But while the Western world applauds Pakistan for its stance, the country remains a dangerous crucible for extremists prosecuting a Jehad of their own," the Wall Street Journal said in a dispatch from Rawalpindi. As a result, "Secretary of State Colin Powell will have to walk this diplomatic high wire" on his visit to India and Pakistan, it said. The report said his "mission" to the two countries suggests a new urgency for the West in trying to resolve "one of the world’s most intractable disputes." A score of militant Muslim groups "sponsor and carry out brutal acts of terror in Kashmir. Pakistan openly gives moral support to some of these groups. Western diplomats and former Pakistani intelligence officials say Pakistan also gives financial and covert military support to a few of the groups, though Pakistan denies this," the Journal said. It quoted a house of representatives task force on terrorism as saying in 1993 that Pakistan was sponsoring and promoting separatism and terrorism, "primarily in Kashmir, as a strategic and long-term programme." Many of the anti-India fighters are young men who are trained in Afghanistan with American weapons left over from the anti-Soviet war, in some cases in training camps run by terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Director of Pakistan Government think-tank, Institute of Strategic Studies, Shireen Mazari, has admitted to Pakistan’s backing of the militant groups saying the "Pakistan Government exerts an influence on these Mujahedeen groups." The paper noted that when the Pakistani foreign office condemned the recent bomb blast outside the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, "it did so with an edge." Pakistan had termed the blast "reprehensible" and said it was aimed at "maligning the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their self-determination." The daily said "such varnish... Suggests an implicit support for the brutal methods in a forgotten region at a time when all eyes are turned westward on Afghanistan." Pakistani Government’s support to the Kashmiri militants is suggested by a Pakistan army doctor who says that he sometimes treated wounded "Mujahideen" and the army provides covering fire for incursions into India launched by militant groups, it said. When the US considered branding Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism, the paper says, Pakistan Government simply moved Kashmiri militant groups to Eastern Afghanistan. It shifted responsibility for their training to the Jamaat-e-Islami. As to president Pervez Musharraf’s role, it quoted diplomatic sources as saying "although he banned radical organisations months ago and recently placed a virulent pro-Taliban religious leader under house arrest, his Government has been reluctant to crack down on groups supporting the Kashmiri cause or to attack their sources of funding." (PTI) |
|
|
