BEIJING, Nov 13: Suspecting that China may have broken its pledge and transferred sensitive missile technology to Pakistan and Iran, a top US arms control official has quizzed Beijing on its strong and clandestine links with missile development programme of the Islamabad and Tehran.........more

UN panel deplores
India’s nuke tests,
Delhi terms it coercive

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 13: India and Pakistan stood virtually isolated in the U N Disarmament and International Security Committee as it approved by an overwhelming majority a resolution strongly deploring nuclear tests by the two, drawing sharp reaction from New Delhi which termed it as coercive. ........more

Christians call upon Pak PM
to withdraw Shariat bill

ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: Christians in Pakistan have appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to withdraw his Shariat bill and complained that they have been receiving........more

UN panel deplores N-tests, India says
resolution is coercive

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 13: India today termed as coercive a draft resolution passed by a UN disarmament committee which strongly deplored nuclear tests by India and Pakistan and asked the two neighbours to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Without naming India and Pakistan, the UN Disarmament and International Security Committee adopted by 98 to six votes, a draft resolution expressing grave concern and strongly deploring the recent nuclear tests in South Asia.

Thirty-one countries abstained from the voting, while Bhutan, Benin, Zambia and Zimbabwe along with India and Pakistan voted against the resolution which now goes to the General Assembly.

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cuba, Ghana, Israel, Kenya, Libya, Maldives, Sudan and Tanzania were among those who abstained.

The resolution, sponsored by Australia, Canada and New Zealand, was voted on after a series of amendments moved by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe were either withdrawn or were blocked by procedural mechanism.

The amendments were aimed at broadening the scope of the resolution to condemn all nuclear tests, delete the mention of South Asia and demand ban on laboratory and subcritical tests.

Terming the resolution as coercive, India’s envoy to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) Savitri Kunadi said the measure did not address the broader issues of nuclear testing but only focus on the tests conducted in May this year.

As each amendment was brought, supporters of the resolution moved a counter no action motion to successfully block a vote on the amendment, a procedure which Indian Ambassador Satyabrata Pal described as undemocratic and unacceptable in any Parliamentary democracy.

India has done everything possible to reconcile its own security needs with the general wish of the international community to see an end to nuclear testing. The way forward should be to work together. Recriminations or attempts to isolate any country such as through this resolution do not help, Kunadi told the delegates.

Though the resolution is not enforceable, the debate saw a heated exchange among delegates.

A section of delegates also questioned the intention of the nuclear weapons states when they are conducting laboratory and subcritical tests and continuing to improve their weapons.

We may recall that since the dawn of the nuclear age there have been more than two thousand nuclear tests. This is first time that this committee is being asked to approve a resolution which is discriminatory in its approach and its objective is not to treat all relevant aspects of nuclear testing but to isolate the two countries, India and Pakistan, Kunadi said.

The Council resolution, she said, was tendentious in its intentions and discriminatory in its perspective and, contrary to the provision of charter, was adopted without giving India an opportunity to participate in the Council’s discussions. (PTI)

Indonesian soldiers fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon and beat some of the student protesters last evening with rattan batons in an order to disperse tens of thousands of the demonstrators.

Jakarta police spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Aritonang, said one police officer died from injuries after he fell from a truck.

Most of the wounded students suffered light injuries to their heads and legs.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 students from dozens of universities and colleges took part in the protests, news reports said.

The situation in Jakarta, the capital city with a population of about 10 million people, was extremely tense today as the students threatened to continue with a bigger demonstration on the final day of a four-day special session of the people’s consultative Assembly (MPR).

The students were demanding the resignation of President B J Habibie and the dissolution of the Assembly because of ties to ousted President Suharto and his regime.

The protesters also insisted they would oppose the special session unless Suharto was brought to trial for corruption. They also called for an immediate end to the armed forces’ role in the nation’s politics and society.

Yesterday’s clashes marked the increased bloodshedding in the second consecutive day of violence. At least 16 people were injured in clashes late Wednesday afternoon.

Government authorities further tightened security, setting up additional roadblocks as roads near the Parliament building remained closed. About 1,000 members of the MPR were taking part in a the special four-day legislative session in the Parliament building. It was the first such session since Suharto was forced to leave office last May.

The session, which was scheduled to conclude today, debated political reforms.

Members of the Assembly have said the most contentious issue was whether the MPR would agree to issue a separate decree to accelerate investigations into alleged corruption by Suharto. (DPA)

Agya Rinpoche, one of the eight top Tibetan Lamas, was in the United States but it was not clear whether he was seeking asylum, the London-based Tibetan Information Network (TIN) said in a statement here.

The date of his departure was not known and he has since refused to speak to the press in the United States, the statement said.

Agya Rinpoche, 48, is head of Kumbum Monastery at Ginghai in Northwest China. He is also vice-chairman of the Buddhist Association of China.

The Association said it knew of no voyage to the United States.

We have heard that he is in the United States but we do not know if it is true, added a spokesman for the All China Youth Federation, of which Hichagya Rinpoche is also a vice-president.

The TIN said the Lama had been pressed by the Chinese Government to accept the boy chosen by Beijing as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama at Kumbum Monastery. The Panchen Lama is the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. (AFP)

BEIJING, Nov 13: Suspecting that China may have broken its pledge and transferred sensitive missile technology to Pakistan and Iran, a top US arms control official has quizzed Beijing on its strong and clandestine links with missile development programme of the Islamabad and Tehran.

America’s concern over the issue of missile proliferation and China’s alleged role in this sensitive issue was discussed at length by US Under-Secretary of State John Holum with senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, diplomatic sources said today.

Despite Beijing’s repeated assertion that it has not sold or transferred missile technology to other countries, doubts persists about China’s actual role in the escalation of tensions in South Asia, North Asia and the Persian Gulf with Pakistan, North Korea and Iran testing ballistic missiles this year, they said.

The US suspects China may have broken its pledge and transferred sensitive missile technology to Pakistan and Iran, they said.

Holum, who is Washington’s top arms control and international security affairs official, had two days of detailed discussions with Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Deguang on arms control and non-proliferation efforts, official reports said.

Sources said much of Holum’s discussions veered around Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s promise to President Bill Clinton at their June 27 summit here during which he assured to consider China joining the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a treaty controlling exports of missiles and the technology used to manufacture them.

The two sides also discussed North Korea’s recent launch of a ‘rocket’ over Japan and its implications on the security of the region, especially on the Korean peninsula.

The official Xinhua news agency reports that Foreign Minister Tang expressed hope that Sino-US relations will witness stable and sound development.

He also noted their expanded bilateral consultations and cooperation in many major issues related to both international and regional stability and security. (PTI)

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