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Law to take its normal NEW DELHI, Nov 27: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf ....more S-E Asia looks North MANILA, Nov 27: Asian leaders gathered in the Philippines today for a ....more ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, in ..more |
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LTTE release 7 soldiers through ICRC COLOMBO, Nov 27: Sri Lanka’s LTTE marked ‘heroes week’ with the...more Internet a tool for MEXICO CITY, Nov 27: Eleven years ago when Brazilian activist Chico...more China suspends licence BEIJING, Nov 27: China has ordered immediate suspension of operations....more India pledges funds for UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27: India has pledged more than 6.6 million dollars ...more ASEAN economic ministers agree to work together MANILA, Nov 27: ASEAN Economic Ministers have agreed to work together .....more |
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Law to take its normal course in Sharif trial: Gen Musharraf NEW DELHI, Nov 27: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has asserted that he is not vindictive towards deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif, facing charges of treason and hijacking, and favoured law to take its normal course. Asked if ousted Pakistani Premier receives death penalty, would he implement it, Musharraf, in an interview to be published in the latest issue of ‘Time’ magazine, evaded a direct reply observing I haven’t really thought about it. Let the legal process take its course. I am not at all vindictive toward him (Sharif). These are legal issues which are taking their normal course. I am not interfering at all. Nothing is hidden. If there are some people who start to sympathise with him, let it happen, Musharraf said. Sharif yesterday had accused Gen Musharraf of launching personal vendetta against him and trying to wreck him psychologically and finish him politically. Musharraf ruled out considering holding a referendum at the moment and said my priority is devolution of power. Let’s stabilise the democratic institutions first. When we are delivering, when there is better governance, when there is justice for the poor, economic advancement, provincial harmony—the people will see and the honeymoon will continue, he said. The military ruler, who deposed Sharif in a bloodless coup on October 12, made it clear that Army role in Government would not cease. They (Army) have always played a role because they are the only stable institution in Pakistan. On normalising relations with India, Musharraf harped on the oft-repeated Pakistani contention that Kashmir was the core issue. We have fought wars over it, and every day there is an exchange of fire along the Line of Control. We have to resolve all our issues with India. That is the only way this region can progress economically. But can we do anything without progress on Kashmir? no, it is just not realistic, Gen Musharraf observed. Asked whether he favoured a new approach to end the over five-decade long impasse, Musharraf bluntly stated that there was no question of putting aside the Kashmir issue. People are dying in Kashmir, and I go happy and smiling and grinning to meet all the Indian leaders? He asked and went on to add I am not like that. I can’t do that. If there is some tension in my heart, it is on my face. About US suprisingly being the only major Western power that had not come out strongly against the military takeover, he said I am grateful to President Bill Clinton and the United States for the very realistic stand they have taken. Stating that he would surely consider signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Musharraf said but first we need to develop a national consensus. (PTI) |
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S-E Asia looks North for 21st century MANILA, Nov 27: Asian leaders gathered in the Philippines today for a summit that could be a springboard for the establishment of a regional common market. Presidents and Prime Ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung at a series of weekend summits. With their economies emerging from two-and-a-half years of crisis, the leaders might be expected to be complacent. But currency crashes, recessions and political turmoil since 1997 have weakened the region and forced Governments to rethink their old economic and diplomatic assumptions. A draft "surveillance report" prepared for the ASEAN leaders and obtained by Reuters today highlighted one problem: "As ASEAN has been focusing on recovering from crisis, competition from other countries within Asia and outside has continued to intensify," the report said. In response, Southeast Asian ministers and their Northeast Asian counterparts are contemplating expanding regional cooperation far more widely than previously anticipated and the first steps in this direction could be endorsed this weekend. ASEAN — comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — has become more interdependent during the regional financial crisis and sees this cooperation as one way to regain high growth rates of previous years. The vision is for a common market encompassing the tiger economies of Southeast Asia and their three Northern neighbours, later a common currency and perhaps even a common foreign policy. Stung by criticism that it was slow to respond to the carnage in East Timor and unable to deal effectively with regional problems, ASEAN is gradually dumping a convention of non-interference in their neighbours "internal affairs". "In the past these were issues exclusively for the Governments of those countries. But the crisis certainly has changed that perception," Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan told Reuters. "The crisis has convinced everybody that issues that used to be seen as internal and sensitive can have implications for the region as a whole," he said in an interview. Asian Governments want increasingly to address issues as a region and hope this weekend to ink an agreement settling a dispute over right to the potentially oil-rich spratly islands in the South China sea, claimed by China and four ASEAN states. China has said it will not be rushed into that deal and analysts have said there are many barriers to greater regional integration, not least rivalry between the region’s two major powerhouses China and Japan, and the Korean conflict. But economic imperatives do allow for strange bedfellows. "Regular cooperation as embodied by ASEAN has made quite some progress," a senior Japanese official told reporters, speaking about Tokyo’s stand on more regional cooperation. "It seems to be spilling over to North Asia, which is a welcome thing. But it is still in its incipient phase." But he said Japan was positive towards the idea: "As far as Japan is concerned, it does provide us with a new opportunity to open a new vista in our Asian policy." For ASEAN, economically resurgent after the 1997/98 crisis, regional cooperation is vital for maintaining buoyancy. "Our future depends on our relations with our neighbours," Philippine Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu said yesterday. "We are subjected to external pressure that we may not be able to control. That is why there is need to look at what China is going to do, what Japan is going to do, what South Korea is going to do." (REUTERS) |
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ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, in his first interaction with a politician since the October 12 coup, has held a meeting with Ajmal Khattak, noted Pathan leader and former president of Awami National Party (ANP). The Chief Executive, at the two-hour meeting at Garrison Officers’ Club in Peshawar on Thursday, discussed some agenda with the Pathan leader with an intention of creating political consensus, the ‘News’ english daily reported quoting Khattak. An eight-point agenda was discussed during the meeting held at the initiative of Gen Musharraf, Khattak said, adding we held talks with an open mind and the Chief Executive expressed his desire to continue such meetings in future. Refusing to disclose whether Gen Musharraf had made any offer to him, Khattak said it appeared that he wanted to create an atmosphere of political consensus in the country. Khattak yesterday visited the veteran Pathan leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan at his residence in Charsadda and briefed him about his meeting with the Army ruler. The meeting was also attended by ANP national president Asfandyar Wali and its provincial president and Wali Khan’s wife Nasim Wali Khan. The meeting between Gen Musharraf and the ANP leader is being given much significance by the political analysts here. ANP was a former ally of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and had fought the February 1997 election together. But later they fell apart with anp becoming a bitter critic of the Sharif Government. (PTI) |
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LTTE release 7 soldiers through ICRC COLOMBO, Nov 27: Sri Lanka’s LTTE marked ‘heroes week’ with the release of seven soldiers, held by them, today through the ICRC, officials said. The LTTE handed over the soldiers to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) at Puthukkudiriruppu, which will hand them over to the military, the officials said. An ICRC spokeman said the seven men would be brought to the Government-held town of Vavuniya, 260 km North of here, later today. The soldiers were freed by the LTTE as a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the ‘heroes week’ celebrations during which the Tigers commemorate thousands of their cadres killed. The LTTE had said that the troopers were among a group who surrendered during intense fighting earlier this month. The LTTE’s underground ‘Voice of tigers’ radio did not say how many more prisoners the outfit still held. It said areas held by tigers were decorated with their red and orange flags and coloured posters of their supremo V Prabhakaran, who turned 45 yesterday. (PTI) |
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Internet a tool for democracy? MEXICO CITY, Nov 27: Eleven years ago when Brazilian activist Chico Mendes was murdered while battling for peoples’ land rights in the amazon, telegrams and faxes poured into the Brazilian Government offices demanding the arrest and prosecution of his killers - even before local media had carried the story. Mendes was assassinated on December 22 1988, near the Peruvian border. Within an hour of the news reaching Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Rio De Janeiro it was being relayed worldwide by Electronic Mail (E-Mail). The ensuing worldwide pressure forced Government to arrest and convict the killers. But that was long before the Internet and E- Mail explosion that is radically changing virtually every facet of the way most people communicate and spend their daily life. The last 15 years also have seen the growth of a vibrant NGO community in the South that is having a profound impact on development thinking and practice. The result of the convergence of these two forces may have a major implication on the world’s democratic institutions. ‘I think the internet is a valuable lobbying platform, however I do not think it is quite there yet,’ notes Brenda Leeuwenberg consultant with New Zealand communications company Spunk Media. ‘As the technology becomes more widespread, more ‘in our homes’ - it will become a more powerful tool for the masses - and subsequently a lobbying platform for developing nations.’ The first internet-based human rights group, Derechos, uses cyberspace from Argentina to expose human rights violations and collect information. Part of its work includes bringing to trial former members of the Argentine military of the 1976-82 dictatorship accused of human rights violations, genocide and terrorism. Most commonly used is E-Mail which makes communication between NGOs cheap and easy, and allows for better co-ordination of actions. When encrypted, E-Mail messages are even more secure from interception. ‘Derechos encrypts particularly confidential messages that go between Spain and Argentina, to stop the Argentine intelligence forces from being able to read them and so try to jeopardise the trial,’ says the global internet liberty campaign. Lobby groups such as the international NGO network ‘jubilee 2000’ now use E-Mail to distribute action alerts calling for letters to be written on behalf of specific issues. Jubilee 2000 has achieved tremendous global impact, even receiving mention from the Bretton Woods Institutions in its campaign to rid the poorest nations of their debt burden. It now boasts the support of Pope John Paul II, pop star Bono and a string of other global luminaries. ‘In my country it works very well when launching solidarity campaigns and also issue-oriented campaigns like the jubilee 2000. The local branches of green peace and Amnesty International and other local Human Rights Organisations do work a lot using internet tools,’ says Argentine journalist Dafne Plou. Argentina has nearly one million of the world’s 180 million internet users. Cyber-cafes and public booths are becoming popular in a Latin American nation that relatively is new to the internet revolution. ‘I don’t think that organising the support for jubilee 2000 could have been so fast and successful if it hadn’t been for the new information technologies. It would have taken much longer and it would have been harder to get to the key people. ‘Sometimes I find that it’s easier for people to read and answer their E-Mails - even if they do so at 1:00 a.m. - than to get them on the phone’, says Plou. But the biggest show of force of the power of Internet lobbying takes place next week in what is billed as a historic confrontation between corporate rule and civil society at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Seattle November 30 to December 3. The biggest demonstration against global capitalism is expected to attract tens of thousands of political activists from 70 countries and activists say it is an important milestone in the development of new communication technologies as instruments for change. Not long ago, trade issues were the preserve of technocrats and economic science gurus but not anymore. The global impact of the WTO trade regimes has come under sharp focus from NGOs all over the world setting up web pages and E-Mail campaigns around trade issues. Teach-ins, workshops, street theatre and debates will further educate and inform those who gather in Seattle. But either because Governments in developing countries are not aware of the power of new information technologies or are ignoring these tools they are still to develop comprehensive policies for their promotion. West Asia has only 900,000 internet users, Africa has 1.1 million while Latin America has 5.2 million - developing regions in desperate need of communication tools. Countries such as Afghanistan and China have actively sought to thwart internet use by their citizens. In Haiti, the closure by presidential order of the country’s first and largest internet service provider, Alpha network communications, in September caused an outcry on the internet citizens in the form of letters to the president and the country’s embassies. A growing form of internet protest is the use of electronic civil disobedience systems such as floodnet. The Zapatista tactical floodnet for example targets an institution or symbol of Mexican Neo-liberalism on a particular day, reloading the website several times a minute and inundating it with access requests, rendering it inoperable. At no other point in history has a communications medium been adopted so quickly and had such impact on society as the Internet. ‘Since its political birth in the 1996 elections, the Internet has grown from campaign novelty to a communications tool ready to take its place alongside traditional media as a proven way to reach, involve and sway voters in the 2000 elections,’ notes a U.S. political study. ‘In 1998, voters looked to the web for unmediated political information and to participate in local campaigns. Not since the days of the town meeting have voters had as much access to the political process as they do today through the internet.’ Voters have 24-hour access to candidate information and no longer need to wait for the morning newspaper. They can view what they want, when they want, for as long as they want. They also have the opportunity, at the click of a mouse to directly voice themselves or volunteer campaign contributions. In Canada, British Columbia, a tiny province of 4 million ushered in an act in 1996 which, when the internet becomes as freely as available as the telephone will introduce electronic direct democracy. The recall and initiative act enables the recall of any member of the provincial legislature including the premier. It is presently known as direct democracy but in a matter of years will take electronic dimensions. The internet offers ‘an unprecedented opportunity to reconnect people to the political process - by helping people become more informed citizens, by helping our elected representatives to be more responsive to those citizens, and by engaging more people in public policy discussions and debate,’ says Steve Case, chairman of America online. (IPS) |
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China suspends licence of shipping company BEIJING, Nov 27: China has ordered immediate suspension of operations by the state-owned Yanda shipping company, whose vessel was involved in China’s worst shipping tragedy on Wednesday, resulting in nearly 280 deaths. The Ministry of Communications has ordered suspension of operations by the Yanda shipping company for restructuring, the China daily said, quoting Government sources. Wednesday’s accident was the second involving a ship operated by Yanda. Last month another ship, Shenglu caught flames and sank near the port city of Dalian, leaving one person dead and another missing. Survivors said many passengers jumped to their deaths in the icy waters off Yantai, in East China’s Shandong province where the 9,000-tonne Dashun split open and sank. Despite the efforts of thousands of soldiers, police, local people and air surveillance along a 45-km-long coastline during the past two days, only 22 people could be rescued. The ship, Dashun was carrying 302 people — 262 passengers and a crew of 40, The official Xinhua news agency said. However, China daily yesterday reported that the ill-fated ship had 336 people — 295 passengers and a crew of 41. It has been confirmed that 22 people have been rescued, with 119 reported dead and the rest still missing, China daily said, adding that the possibility of finding any more survivors was slim because of the sub-zero temperature in the area. (PTI) |
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India pledges funds for UN programmes, agencies UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27: India has pledged more than 6.6 million dollars and over Rs 40 million for various programmes and agencies of the United Nations. Making the pledge at the United Nations pledging conference for developmental activities, Indian Ambassador to the United Nations Kamlesh Sharma said development cannot thrive on fare of words alone and it is essential that adequate resources become available for promoting growth and development. Reduction in the funding of operational activities for development is clearly an unfortunate dimension of widespread indifference to development cooperation and multilateralism among donor countries, Sharma stressed. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gets maximum — 4.5 million dollars, followed by World Food Progamme (WFP) which gets 1.92 million dollars for the biennium 1999-2000 in terms of tea, coffee, wheat and dried fish, while the UNICEF has been promised Rs 31 million. Pointing out that as a developing nation, India has regularly contributed to various un funds within the constraints of its limited resources, Sharma said, we recognise the crucial importance of adequately funding the organisation. Lack of required resources on a predictable basis, he emphasised, would impact adversely on the conduct of programmes of activities of these funds and agencies. India, he said, strongly believes that immediate remedial steps are necessary to improve funding of operational activities to place them on a secure, predictable and assured basis. (PTI) |
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ASEAN economic ministers agree to work together MANILA, Nov 27: ASEAN Economic Ministers have agreed to work together to come out with a common agenda that will serve the collective interests of the economy of the region, a move intended to take the member nations on the path of economic recovery. Thailand Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwam told newsmen here yesterday that the Economic Ministers have resolved import and economic and financial issues and presented challenges that await approval by the ASEAN leaders who are gathering here for their annual summit beginning here tomorrow. For the first time, the Finance and Economic Ministers have come together as reflection of a deep realization that from now on they are committed to work closely as a group, giving much emphasis on economic and financial cooperation, the Thai Minister said. The group agreed to coordinate effectively as the financial crisis had awakened them about the realities brought about by the impact of the said crisis, he added. From now on, we cannot live in isolation. Instead, we will work and coordinate together and have promised to contribute to each others’ sustainable growth, Pitsuwam stressed. He identified the human resources development as one of the major important issue in order to prepare the region for future growth and development by working on homegrown technology. (PNA) |
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