Pak exposed during Kargil: Study

ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: Contrary to the perception of its planners that Kargil would force India to accept a changed loc advantageous to Pakistan, the conflict "deepened the already brewing distrust" between Pakitan’s political and military establishment, an American study said here today.

The conflict also "brought to the surface the absence of consensus among the highest echelons of Pakistan’s political and strategic decision-making and affected Pakistan’s politics and society in many ways," observed the study titled, "the cause and consequences of the 1999 limited war in Kargil."

Conducted by the US Government backed centre for contemporary conflict, the study said, "Kargil was an attempt on the part of Pakistan Army for regime sustenance by creating a war-like situation with India.

"The political impact of the Kargil was a deepening of mistrust between the Army and the political establishment, which ultimately led to the ouster of the elected Government," excerpts of the study published by Pakistan’s weekly

Director of the Centre Dr. Peter R Lavoy said Pakistan’s strategy was based on the premise that due to the new nuclear factor, international pressure would force the cessation of hostilities, leaving Pakistan in an advantageous position.

But when Pakistan approached China and then the US for support after the fighting started, "China adopted a neutral posture, whereas the US Government gave a conditional commitment for mediation after Islamabad withdrew to its side of the Line of Control."

Moreover, Pakistan military’s behaviour and Islamabad’s diplomatic efforts were "contradictory and inconsistent, and, ineffective." India, on the other hand, managed to launch military measures involving all three armed services, with consistent and coherent diplomacy, said the study, sponsored by the US Secretary of Defence.

Kargil, it noted, also produced tensions between the military and religious groups, raised questions about the responsibility and reliability of the Pakistani state among the comity of nations and damaged the professional reputation of Pakistan Army which was later portrayed as a "rogue Army."

Lastly, it said by deliberately keeping the public in the dark about the Government’s involvement in the Kargil conflict, Pakistan Government’s political strategy had an adverse societal impact - it was exacerbated by the Government disowning the remains of dead Northern Light Infantry (NLI) soldiers which caused resentment among their families.

Participants who took part in the study have agreed that the coup led by President Pervez Musharraf was in a large degree the result of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s handling of the Kargil conflict and that the Prime Minister was aware of the Kargil operation.

However, Sharif has repeatedly claimed that the military high command had kept him in the dark while advancing towards the Line of Control.

The study also quoted Pakistani analyst, Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, as saying "there is sharp divergence of viewpoints on Kargil conflict within Pakistan’s official and non-official circles. Officials still view Kargil as a diplomatic success for Pakistan, which, they claimed, resulted in the internationalisation of Kashmir. (PTI)

Computer experts wonder whether sapphire
worm came from Hong Kong

HONG KONG, Jan 27: Computer experts tried today to determine if a virus-like attack on the internet over the weekend originated in Hong Kong, as the President of South Korea, the hardest hit nation, ordered officials to safeguard that nation’s computer networks.

A US internet executive said disruptions appeared first in Hong Kong before spreading to other pacific RIM nations and then onto the United States and Europe.

The Government-funded Hong Kong computer emergency response team was investigating but said it would be hard to find out where the sapphire worm had come from.

"Checking the origin of the worm is like finding which part of a river a drop of water comes from," said SC Leung, senior consultant with the Hong Kong computer team.

The Washington Post reported that experts who studied the worm found references in its coding to honker, a Chinese hacker group believed to operate in mainland China and possibly in Hong Kong.

The worm could have been timed for release during the Asian day and cropped up in Hong Kong when people began using their computers on Saturday, said Tom Ohlsson, a Vice President at Matrix Netsystems, which monitors internet performance.

But that does not necessarily mean it was launched from Hong Kong, he said by telephone from boulder, Colorado.

Unlike most viruses and worms, it spread directly through network connections and did not e-mail as a carrier. In South Korea, it shut down internet access for millions of computer users.

South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung ordered officials to safeguard the nation’s internet system against more attacks, said his chief spokeswoman, Park Sun-Sook.

The cyber terror response team at South Korea’s national police agency launched an investigation, but team leader Yang Keun-Won said today it was unclear whether officials could locate the origin of the worm.

Internet service in South Korea was "stable" though not at 100 percent early today, said woo do-shik, a spokesman for South Korea’s Information and Communication Ministry.

Even as some experts sought the origin of the worm, others expressed worries that too many system managers are only fixing problems as they occur, rather than putting up a strong defence ahead of time to prevent repeats.

The sapphire worm exploited a vulnerability in some Microsoft Corp. software that was discovered in July and could have been stopped with software updates for its SQL server 2000 software.

The system is used mostly by businesses and Government but many users had not updated their software with the patch in time to avoid the latest worm.

Two previous major outbreaks, code red and Nimda, also exploited known problems for which patches were available.

But system administrators have trouble keeping up with the numerous vulnerabilities that are reported, and patches can take time to install and sometimes cause their own problems. (AP)

UK says Iraq hiding weapons ahead of Blix report

LONDON, Jan 27: Britain said today Iraq was hiding banned weapons, spying on UN arms inspectors and hindering their movements, stressing that non-cooperation amounted to a breach of a UN resolution on disarmament.

Just hours before arms inspectors report to the United Nations Security Council, Britain said they did not have to come up with proof of weapons of mass destruction.

"We don’t have to find a ‘smoking gun’," Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman told a news briefing.

"Non-cooperation is designed to be at the very core of (UN resolution) 1441...We know we are not getting the cooperation that 1441 says we have to get from Iraq," he said, while adding that it was for the inspectors to decide if Iraq was in breach.

Earlier, British officials briefed journalists on intelligence they said proved their case, though they gave no indication as to the source of their information.

They made clear Britain is prepared to make the case that Iraq is in breach of Security Council resolutions.

Officials said they had shared intelligence with the inspectors which showed Iraq was hiding chemical warfare munitions, missile engines and secret documents about weapons programmes.

In one case, missile parts were squirreled out of a production site in November before inspectors arrived.

Blair’s spokesman listed banned weapons, including chemical warfare agent and nerve gas, that he said the UN knew President Saddam Hussein was harbouring at the end of the 1990s.

"These aren’t things you just lose like a pair of house keys around a house," the spokesman said. "Our information is that he has implemented that strategy of dispersal." Britain has also told the inspectors that Iraq was spying on them, bugging hotel rooms and even staging fake car accidents and other diversions to keep them from reaching certain sites, the officials said.

The briefings give a foretaste of the arguments Britain and the United States will make after chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed Elbaradei report to the UN later today.

Blair’s spokesman declined, however, to comment on whether Britain would back another deadline for Iraq to come clean on suspected weapons, as some allies have proposed.

Blix, whose remit covers missiles, chemical and biological weapons, is expected to say Iraq has not been fully cooperative with inspections. Elbaradei, who covers nuclear weapons as head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, will say his inspections need more time to be conclusive.

In the absence of a "smoking gun", London and Washington may face a difficult task in persuading sceptical Security Council members and their own increasingly wary publics that war is justified.

The British officials said their intelligence also showed Iraqi scientists had been threatened with harm if they cooperated with inspectors or showed them documents.

No Iraqi scientist has agreed to be interviewed alone with the inspectors.

The officials said the Iraqi leadership had already begun looking for "an escape route" and funnelling assets abroad.

Iraq denies it has an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, or that its leaders would seek asylum abroad. (AGENCIES)

Iraq hasn’t accepted disarmement

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27: Iraq hasn’t "genuinely," accepted disarmement, Blix tells Security Council.

Iraq is cooperating on access but not substance, Blix tells Security Council. (AGENCIES)

UN inspectors should have more time in Iraq: Annan

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the UN Security Council on Monday to give weapons inspectors in Iraq more time to do their work and said he expected the Council would do so.

"If they do need time, they should be given the time to do their work," Annan told reporters as he arrived at UN headquarters.

The arms experts should be given a "reasonable amount of time," he said. "I’m not saying forever," he said.

He said he also expected Iraq’s leaders to cooperate more fully with the inspectors.

"They expect a more proactive engagement, and I hope the Iraqis will do what the inspectors have asked them to do," he said.

He spoke as chief UN Weapons Inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed Elbaradei prepared to deliver a key report to the Council on Iraqi disarmament. (AGENCIES)

Mortal remains of IGP consigned to flames,
US condemns killing

KATHMANDU, Jan 27: Mortal remains of the Inspector General of Police Krishna Mohan Shrestha and his wife Nudup, who were shot dead by suspected Maoist rebels yesterday, were consigned to flames at Pashupatinath Aryaghat this afternoon.

Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, leaders of various political parties and other eminent personalities paid their last respects to the IGP and his wife.

Security officials have initiated the preliminary investigations into the murder.

The IGP, his wife and his bodyguard Assistant Sub-Inspector Surya Regmi were shot dead by an armed gang of five persons, suspected to be Maoists, when they were out for a walk near their home at Bagdol Pattiya of Lalipur at 0730 hrs yesterday.

Earlier, Maoists Commander of Bhaktapur district Krishna Hari Sainju was arrested from a house near the incident site at bagdole in Lalitpur district on the outskirts of Kathmandu, state-run radio Nepal said, quoting the security officials.

Sainju, who was injured in leg after the killing, was hiding in a nearby house after the killing. After the arrest, he was admitted at Birendra Police Hospital in Maharajgunj.

The Maoists have not taken the responsibility on the killing of Mr Shrestha, however, officials said it was their act.

The Government, major political parties, human rights activists and people of various walks of life have condemned the killing of Mr Shrestha.

Meanwhile, a US Embassy release today said the "Embassy deplores the murder of the IGP, his wife Nudup and bodyguard".

"Mr Shrestha was a selfless public servant, who dedicated his life to his country and mrs shrestha was a gifted teacher."

Mrs. Shrestha was a teacher at Lincoln School, an American School in Kathmandu, for over 18 years.

"We mourn the loss of our friends and condemn the senseless violence that took their life. We extend heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims." (UNI)

Peaceful solution to Iraq crisis still possible: EU President

BRUSSELS, Jan 27: A "peaceful" solution to the Iraq crisis is still possible, the European Union’s Greek Presidency said today.

"The next few days will be critical. Our objective remains full disarmament," Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou told reporters at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers here.

"A peaceful resolution is a possibility, if the UN Resolution (1441) is complied with," he said, referring to the UN Security Council resolution in November that mandated UN arms inspectors to re-enter Iraq. (AFP)

Israelis want tough, peacemaking leader,says Clinton

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, Jan 27: Former US President Bill Clinton said today that Israelis wanted both a tough leader and a peacemaker and it was up to Ariel Sharon to see if he could combine both qualities if he wins re-election.

Hawkish Prime Minister Sharon has a commanding lead in opinion polls on the eve tomorrow’s general election in Israel.

"If Mr Sharon is re-elected, as the polls indicate he will be, whether it’s good or bad for peace depends on what he decides to do," Clinton told Reuters in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"Because actually what the Israelis would most like is a very far-reaching peace plan, more or less like the one I proposed at the end of my term, but one that is implemented by a really tough Government that can be trusted to look after Israel’s security."

Clinton said the past problem in Israeli politics was that peacemakers had not been seen by voters as strong enough to deliver, while tough leaders had not been willing to make peace with the Palestinians.

"He (Sharon) is going to have to see if he can blend both those elements. So far the only people that did it were the two labour general Prime Ministers, (Yitzhak) Rabin and (Ehud) Barak," Clinton said, while adding that former Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also deserved much credit.

Clinton worked strenuously but ultimately in vain for a Middle East breakthrough during his presidency.

"What the Israelis want is somebody who’ll be very far-reaching on peace but very tough in protecting Israel while it’s being carried out and the enemies of peace are attacking Israel," he said.

Clinton said peace in the West Asia must be a crucial ingredient in the US-led war on terror.

"The absence of an effective peace process in the Middle East fuels the resentment of radical Islam around the world. It makes people at the margins vulnerable to the extremist claims, and they use it to try to convert people to terror and build supporters of terror in other places," he said. (AGENCIES)

UN human rights chief names Envoy for Cuba

GENEVA, Jan 27: UN human rights chief Sergio Vieira De Mello named today an Envoy who will report on Cuba’s much-criticised human rights situation.

French Magistrate Christine Chanet will report her findings at the UN Commission for Human Rights’ annual session starting on March 17.

Last year the Commission passed a resolution to send a special Envoy to monitor Cuba’s progress in improving its rights record.

The Communist island’s one-party political system is frequently criticised for repressing freedom of expression and jailing opposition activists. However Havana cites its internationally acclaimed education and health care as evidence of its commitment to human rights.

There was no immediate word on whether President Fidel Castro’s Government would agree to the visit, which the Geneva-based Commission called for at its last meeting.

"The High Commissioner (for human rights) has informed the cubans, but there is still no word," said Jose-Luis Diaz, a spokesman at the High Commissioner’s office.

Last year’s resolution to monitor Cuba’s human rights marked the first time Latin American countries had taken the lead in attacking their Caribbean neighbour.

Cuba angrily denounced the countries as "judases" and said they had been subjected to "ferocious" pressure by Washington, which has maintained a trade embargo on cuba since soon after castro came to power in 1959.

The Commission urged cuba to put as much effort into strengthening human rights as it had into improving social policies.

Chanet was president of the Human Rights Committee, which oversees the UN charter on social and political rights but is not connected to the Commission, in 1997 and 1998. She still sits on the Geneva body. (AGENCIES)

France sees no reason to stop Iraq inspections

BRUSSELS, Jan 27: French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin said today there was nothing to justify a shift away from the view that UN Weapons Inspectors should continue their work in Iraq.

He, like German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, said the European Union’s statement earlier welcoming the inspectors’ "intention to continue and intensify their operations" meant the bloc was seeking more time for the UN inspection process.

"There is between the Europeans a common position and joint principles," he told reporters. "As long as the inspectors can progress...There is every reason to follow that path."

"We are in a phase of cooperation and nothing justifies today that we change our posture."

France and Germany closed ranks last week to demand more time for the weapons inspectors to do their work, exasperating the United States, which says Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is running out of time to give up alleged weapons of mass destruction.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington’s closest ally amid preparations for a possible US-led strike on Iraq, said at the weekend that inspections should continue "for a bit longer". But diplomats said the EU statement only implicitly suggested that the inspectors should be given more time.

Villepin, commenting on US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s statement yesterday that there was a link between Iraq and the Al Qaeda network, said: "We don’t have any element going in that direction". (AGENCIES)

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