|
|
Coup,
Kargil make it an ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: For Pakistan, 1999 was probably the most eventful ....more China hopes for quick BEIJING, Dec 28: China today condemned the hijacking of an Indian ..more
Hijacking of IA
plane ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: Pakistan’s Army ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf ...more
US calls for immediate WASHINGTON, Dec 28: The US has termed the hijacking......more |
|
Japan urges
India to put TOKYO, Dec 28: Japan today condemned the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane as an unacceptable, inhuman criminal act and urged India to put priority on the safety of hostages in its negotiations with hijackers.....more
UNP rejects Kumaratunga’s invitation to join Govt COLOMBO, Dec 28: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s efforts to form a National Government with the opposition United National Party (UNP) in a bid to find a political solution to the ethnic problem has suffered a major set back with UNP firmly rejecting her invitation......more France strongly PARIS, Dec 28: France today strongly condemned the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane and urged the safe release of the hostages without any .....more NEW DELHI, Dec 28: A strong europe with a common currency appeared on the scene in the last year of the millennium which saw side-stepping of .....more |
 |
Coup, Kargil make it an eventful year for Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: For Pakistan, 1999 was probably the most eventful year in its 52-year history, beginning with what promised to be the best of relations with India which turned sour after the Kargil incursions backed by Islamabad leading to a mini-scale war with New Delhi. The year also saw Pakistan witnessing yet another army coup, putting a question mark on the future of democracy in the country. Nawaz Sharif, who emerged as Pakistan’s most powerful Prime Minister ever, saw his democratically-elected government being overthrown by Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf. The Premier was accused of treason and kidnaping, which if proved could lead to his death sentence. Incidentally, 1999 proved eventful for Sharif right from the beginning as it saw him escape an abortive bid on his life in the very first week of the year. February witnessed him welcoming his Indian counterpart A B Vajpayee to Lahore, which the latter undertook on the newly launched bus service between the two countries, and signing the Lahore Declaration but also saying that Islamabad did not need a certificate of recognition from India. Vajpayee’s bus journey to Lahore was probably the best example of the brief Indo-Pak bonhomie which overshadowed even Zia-ul Haq’s famous cricket diplomacy in the 1980s. The honeymoon had started a month earlier when the BJP-led Government, braving threats from ally Shiv-Sena, allowed a Pakistani cricket team to play on Indian soil after more than a decade and the Sharif Government also let the Wasim Akram-led team to cross over and raise hopes of friendship. Pakistan’s willingness to have friendly ties with India proved a farce as barely three weeks after welcoming Vajpayee on the Atari-Wagah Border, Sharif attended a crucial meeting with Musharraf and drove to the ISI headquarters to get a briefing on Pakistan’s misadventure in the Drass-Kargil heights in Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, it was later revealed that when Sharif and Vajpayee were engaged in the historic Lahore Summit, Pakistani-backed intruders were already sitting atop Drass-Kargil heights without the knowledge of the Indian Army. Ironically, the outcome of the Lahore Summit raised hopes of better Indo-Pak relations as both Sharif and Vajpayee vowed to further intensify their efforts to resolve all bilateral disputes, including Kashmir, and also set out parameters for holding dialogue on building a strategic restraint regime. But the tension started building up from the second week of April when India carried out the flight test of medium range Agni missile, drawing a strong reaction from Islamabad. Pakistan expectedly carried out the flight test of its own medium range Ghauri Missile three days after the Agni test and went one step ahead the very next day by carrying out another flight test of its Shaheen missile. (PTI) |
|
China hopes for quick end to hijacking ordeal BEIJING, Dec 28: China today condemned the hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet and hoped for a quick end to the five-day ordeal. The Chinese Government is firmly opposed to and condemns all forms of terrorist activities, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters. We hope the hijacking incident will be put to an end as soon as possible, she added. Hijackers seized the New Delhi-bound flight on Friday after it left Kathmandu. The plane then bounced from India to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before stopping in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Hijackers are demanding India free several jailed Kashmiri separatists. (AP) |
|
Hijacking of IA plane ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: Pakistan’s Army ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf today accused India of implicating Islamabad in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane and also dismissed as fabricated reports that four of the hijackers had been identified as Pakistani nationals. In an interview to CNN here, Musharraf for the first time came out against India on the whole episode and alleged that the whole incident might have been staged by India with an ulterior motive as part of New Delhi’s propaganda against Pakistan. Is that to smear Pakistan? Musharraf questioned when he was asked to comment on the reports from India that four of the hijackers were Pakistani nationals, and said, I don’t think that is correct. This is all fabricated, he said offering Prime Minister A B Vajpayee all cooperation to resolve the crisis. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar had earlier accused India of the staging the whole hijacking drama saying it was manufactured by the Indian authorities to malign Pakistan before the international community and was part of a campaign which New Delhi had launched against the military regime after the October 12 coup. Gen Musharraf’s comments came following his apparent hardening of attitude towards India. Yesterday he had declared that his Government had changed its policy on the Kashmir issue and now it would resolve the matter first before discussing anything with New Delhi. I want to reiterate that there is a change in the policy with India. Earlier we used to say that we will negotiate all issues including Kashmir, but now we will discuss the Kashmir issue first, he was quoted as saying by the official APP news agency during a visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) capital Muzaffarabad. If there is a dialogue with India, it will be on Kashmir, he had said. The bilateral dialogue between the two countries has been under suspension for more than a year now as the relations between them strained after the Kargil crisis in May-June. (PTI) |
|
US calls for immediate release of hostages WASHINGTON, Dec 28: The US has termed the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane as an inhuman terrorist act and demanded immediate release of all the 154 hostages inside the aircraft now parked in Afghanistan’s Kandahar. Calling for the immediate release of the hostages, the White House yesterday urged the Taliban authorities to give their full cooperation with the Indian team now in Kandahar. The US Government is in close touch with both the Indian and Pakistani Governments as well as United Nations representatives in this matter, White House National Security Council spokesman Jim Fallin said. The State Department, in a similar statement, noted that among those whose release from Indian detention the hijackers were demanding was Maulvi Masood Azhar, who was affiliated to the Pakistan-based Harkat-Ul-Ansar which had been designated by the US Government as a terrorist organisation. We welcome the news that an Indian team is in Kandahar and call on the Taliban authorities to give them full cooperation. Ending the hijacking without further loss of life is our goal and we hope the Governments involved will work towards the same objective, Fallin said. Although the US Government is not now playing an operational role, we understand that the UN is making extensive preparations for contingencies at Kandahar airport, he said. Asked whether President Bill Clinton was being kept informed of the situation, Fallin said, the administration is well aware of the situation and is closely tracking the developments. State Department acting spokesman Philip T Reeker said in a statement, the US Government condemns in the strongest terms the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight C-814 and the holding of 154 passengers as hostages since December 24. We consider this terrorist act inhuman and we call for the immediate and safe release of all the hostages, he said, adding, we understand from press accounts that the hijackers are demanding the release of a number of individuals in detention in India. These include Masood Azhar, whose release was the objective of an earlier terrorist kidnapping in Kashmir. Azhar was affiliated with the Harkat-Ul-Ansar, a group now known as the Harkat-Ul-Mujahideen and designated by the US Government as ‘a foreign terrorist organisation’, he said. Welcoming start of talks between the Indian negotiating team and the hijackers, he said, we call on the Taliban authority and the Governments of the region to work together in close coordination to end this hijacking and to restrict their public comments to those that serve this objective. We also welcome UN preparations for contingencies at the Kandahar airport. We will remain in close contact with the Governments of India and Pakistan as well as with UN representatives, he said. (PTI) |
|
Japan urges India to put priority on hostages’ safety TOKYO, Dec 28: Japan today condemned the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane as an unacceptable, inhuman criminal act and urged India to put priority on the safety of hostages in its negotiations with hijackers. We have asked the Indian Government through high-level contacts to put priority on the safety of crew members and passengers in its efforts for resolving the hijacking incident, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono told reporters here. We strongly deplored the hijacking incident, and hope for an early and safe release of all hostages, he said. We strongly condemn any such hijacking as an inexcusable ... And unacceptable, inhuman criminal act. Among the 154 hostages still being held in the plane, now stationed in Afghanistan’s Kandahar, is a Japanese woman. Kono said the woman’s family has asked that her name not be disclosed, according to the Kyodo news agency. Japan is working with its utmost efforts and will send a mission from the Japanese Embassy in Pakistan to Kandahar, Kono said. (PTI) |
|
UNP rejects Kumaratunga’s invitation to join Govt COLOMBO, Dec 28: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s efforts to form a National Government with the opposition United National Party (UNP) in a bid to find a political solution to the ethnic problem has suffered a major set back with UNP firmly rejecting her invitation. A combined meeting of UNP’s Working Committee and Parliamentary party yesterday decided on an emphatic no to Kumaratunga’s oral invitation to UNP Ranil Wickramasinghe to join her new Government. Kumaratunga had urged Wickramasinghe to join her Government after she defeated him in last week’s presidential polls. However, she has not given any formal invitation to him as she left for London immediately after being sworn in for treatment of her eye which was hurt in the suicide bomb attack at an election rally on December 18. Even as it rejected the President’s proposal to join the Government, the UNP unanimously decided to support any meaningful steps taken by her Government to solve the ethnic conflict, a party spokesman said. After two-and-a-half hours of intense discussions on the issue, the Working Committee and the Parliamentary Party decided to reject the proposal to join the Cabinet, he said, adding that no one spoke in favour of the President’s offer to form a National Government. UNP’s decision is very much in line with the Wickramasinghe’s recent remarks that he preferred to extend support to Kumaratunga’s peace moves from outside the Government and at the same time preferred to wait till he received any concrete proposals from her. Meanwhile, even as the latest development has taken place, senior UNP leaders have openly admitted to the local media that several party MPs were currently engaged in secret discussions with the ruling People’s Alliance (PA) to cross over to the Government. Five dissident UNP members left the party last month and formed an alternative UNP group in Parliament, two of them being made ministers in Kumaratunga’s cabinet. Media reports here said ten more UNP MPs were ready to cross over. A senior minister and a close confidante of Kumaratunga yesterday said the Government was planning to table a new bill in Parliament to permit members to cross over to other parties. It would enable the disgruntled UNP MPs to overcome all legal hurdles while crossing the floor. Though the UNP leaders openly admit to the prospect of more of their MPs joining Kumaratunga in the coming weeks, nobody from the party has challenged the leadership of Wickramasinghe, under whom the party had not been able to win a singe election since he became its head in 1994. The spokesman said there was no serious threat to his leadership and none of the leaders and parliamentarians who attended the meeting yesterday questioned Wickramasinghe’s leadership. (PTI) |
|
France strongly condemns hijacking PARIS, Dec 28: France today strongly condemned the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane and urged the safe release of the hostages without any delay. France strongly condemns the terrorist act by pirates in the air responsible for hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters here. He said the French Consul in Islamabad had already gone to Kandahar and the country’s Embassies in Pakistan, India and Nepal were closely monitoring the situation. The hijacking episode should end as soon as possible, he stressed. Confirming that one Frenchman was among the 154 hostages in the plane now stationed in the Afghan city of Kandahar, he said French officials were continuing with their queries with Indian Airlines if there were any other French citizen on board. However, he refused to comment on taking the issue to the United Nations Security Council, and said, at this time, the main thing is the mission of assistance for humanitarian ends which the UN coordinator for Afghanistan is undertaking on the spot. (PTI) |
|
|
NEW DELHI, Dec 28: A strong europe with a common currency appeared on the scene in the last year of the millennium which saw side-stepping of UN as NATO bombed Yugoslavia and Russia defied international pressure to beat Chechen rebels into submission. US President Bill Clinton survived impeachment but disarmament process took a back seat as US senate failed to ratify Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Syria and Israel sought to put hostility behind them under the dispensation of a new Israeli premier. Indo-Pak relations, which began on a positive note with the signing of Lahore declaration and visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the historic bus, soon reached a record low with Kargil. A military coup and dismissal of elected Government in Pakistan further dashed all hopes of talking peace. Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga survived an assassination bid to get re-elected, but apartheid leader Nelson Mandela bowed out of power and Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed his desire to retire. The Tiny Isle of Macao returned to China and Panama Canal was handed over to the Carribean nation but East Timorese overwhemingly voted to separate from Indonesia in not an altogether peaceful referendum. Malaysia’s beleaguered Prime Minister Mathahir Mohammad narrowly won elections, but the Cocoa producing country of ivory coast witnessed a military takeover on Christmas eve. A not-too happy christmas, also for thousands of Venezualans and Europeans who perished in torrential rains and Gales sweeping the Northern coast of France, Germany and Switzerland. But Kosovo was the biggest trauma. A 78-day NATO bombing campaign battered Yugoslavia and tested NATO’s solidarity. Close to 970,000 ethnic Albanians were driven from their homes in Kosovo. Milosevic became the first head of state to be indicted for war crimes by an international court. As the world was grappling with Kosovo, rampages in East Timor started by pro-Indonesian militia which was enraged by East Timor’s refusal of autonomy plan. In Chechnya, thousands of people were displaced due to Russian attacks aimed at Islamic rebels. Russian President Yeltsin who at one time was threatened with impeachment, finally decided to bow out of politics but not before dismissing two Prime Ministers. In the parliamentary elections in December, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin regained power, a nod for continuing the Chechen war. A strong Europe, however, emerged with the Euro, which made a strong debut on the foreign exchange markets and emerged as a challenge to the dollar. Clinton who was earlier in the year acquitted of impeachment charges by the senate, however, failed to convince the senate to ratify the CTBT. It came as a breather to India and Pakistan as Clinton had all the year been asking the two to sign the treaty. Another defeat for the US came at the WTO, when the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle collapsed following sharp differences among members over labour standards, export subsidies, biotechnology and other issues. However, US was able to improve relations with North Korea and announced partial lifting of sanctions against it. It also eased sanctions against Cuba. But skirmishes with Iraq continued. A major strain in the US-Chinese relations also eased when the two agreed to the entry of Beijing in WTO. India and US made substantial progress on nuclear non-proliferation issues and the latter lifted post-Pokhran sanctions on 51 Indian entities. Sino-Indian talks were also held for the first time after Pokhran and the two sides decided to set up a security dialogue mechanism. India also signed a seven-year transit treaty with Nepal, besides investment promotion agreements with Morocco and Uzbekistan. But Indo-Pak relations, which started on a strong footing took at nose-dive with Kargil and later the military takeover of Islamabad dashed all hopes of peace between the two neighbours The elected Government of Nawaz Sharif was dismissed by Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf who imposed emergency and dismissed provincial Governments, put in place an Anti-Corruption Act to bring to book bank loan defaulters and economic offenders. Sharif was put to trial and even faces death if charges of murder and against him treason are proved. The military takeover was condemned by all, commonwealth even suspended Pakistan indefinitely and SAARC postponed its 11th summit in its wake. But Nigeria emerged from 15 years of military rule and in Ireland rival parties agreed to share power. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak was elected for the fourth time as president, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defeated, and Italian premier D’Alema resigned while ivory coast President was dismissed in a coup. A veil was drawn on the last vestige of colonialism on Dec 19 when the tiny gambling enclave of Macao was handed back to China by Portugal after more than four decades. The new Israeli Government tried to revive the peace process in West Asia and even hold talks with long-time opponent Syria. But natural disasters - be it earthquakes, floods or torrential rains - claimed thousands, leaving lakhs homeless. Two disasters in Turkey claimed over 17,000 lives, over 2000 died in a quake in Taiwan while a quake in Athens claimed more than 60 lives. An Egyptair jet crashed killing 217 of the massachusetts coast. Kennedy Jr, son of former US President John F Kennedy died along with his wife and sister-in-law was killed in a plane crash. Conflicts and disasters notwithstanding, the year however, came to a close with an uncertainity - waiting with what Y2K-the millennium bug- had in store for it. (PTI) |
|
