Pakistan’s Army battles criticism and Al-Qaeda in border hunt

TARIQ POST, PAKISTAN, Oct 28: For Mohammad Saleem, one of 30 soldiers stationed at this desolate army post in Pakistan’s southwest, life revolves around binoculars and his Kalashnikov assault rifle as he scours the Afghan hills for movement.

This military outpost on the Pakistan-Afghan border - 2,309 metres above sea level - is one of 307 that Pakistan’s army mans to prevent the movement of terrorists and smugglers to and from Afghanistan.

The majority of these posts, all one kilometre apart, are spread out across the 1,200-kilometre-long stretch of border that Pakistan’s Balochistan province shares with Afghanistan’s Zabul, Paktia and Paktika provinces.

Though part of Pakistan, the army never treaded Balochistan’s hills until after September 11, 2001. The attacks on New York and Washington forced the Government to enter the semi-autonomous tribal territory to prevent Al-Qaeda terrorists and Taliban survivors from taking shelter in the region.

The United States is confident Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is committed to cracking down on cross-border activity, US officials say.

However, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage questioned recently the determination of others in his Government at halting the flow from Pakistan’s remote tribal region.

"President Musharraf is genuine when he assists us in the tribal area, and he has from his side of the border," Armitage said. "But I do not think that affection for working with us extends up and down the rank and file of the Pakistani security community."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also regularly raised his concerns with US officials about the border efforts.

Afghanistan has in recent months witnessed a new wave of anti-Government attacks, which also prompted the United Nations late last week to suspend aid and relief activities in its four eastern and southern provinces.

Afghan authorities allege that radical Muslims are using Pakistani soil to prepare and carry out attacks inside Afghanistan, a charge authorities across the border dismiss.

Pakistan’s military says it has done its best to curtail the once unimpeded flow across the porous demarkation.

"The only objective is to stop the cross-border movement whether they are terrorists or smugglers," said General Sadaqat Ali Shah, the chief of the frontier corps during a briefing at Ghati Cheena post.

Another 30-plus soldiers led by Colonel Mohammad Razi brave dusty cold winds and loneliness here around the clock to monitor the region.

"I must salute my soldiers and officers who are holding out here despite the harsh and inhospitable conditions, and for having been instrumental in arresting 52 foreigners and 63 Pakistani suspects in the last two years," General Shah told DPA.

Since the US-led coalition unleashed its "war against terrorism" and co-opted Pakistan for logistical support in September 2001, Islamabad has arrested and turned over more than 510 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters from the border region, officials say.

Besides new checkpoints and the construction of 15 forts for administrative purposes, authorities also fenced 41 kilometres of critical border areas in and around the vast Chamman plane to deter people and vehicles carrying "undesirable elements" from entering or leaving Pakistan.

Search lights and barbed-wire barriers at Chamman, the last border stop before Afghanistan, and 1.8 metre high mud embankments also reinforce the fight against terrorism.

For many civilians the extra security measures are burdensome.

"We are now facing a lot of difficulties, at times we have to wait here for hours before we can enter or leave Pakistan," said Alam Jan, a Pakistani shopkeeper who commutes between Chamman and Spin Boldak in Afghanistan.

Tribes living or working in either parts of the border region are issued "red passes" to commute between the two towns. Scrutiny is stricter and people without proper documents or with dubious papers are subjected to intensive questioning.

"This obviously leads to cribbing by people who earlier had almost a free run across the border," said a Chamman resident.

Pakistan’s army undertook a similar measures in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) by moving as close to the border as possible, and establishing more than 100 new check points along Afghan territory.

Currently, at least 50,000 Pakistani military and paramilitary troops are deployed along the Afghan border in the NWFP and the Balochistan province.

"We have done whatever we could with our limited resources, but we definitely need much more assistance, both in cash and kind, to maintain the effectiveness of the anti-terror war," said General Shaukat Sultan, a Pakistan army spokesman.

He said Pakistan has done whatever it could with available resources to plug the long and porous border.

"Friendly countries like the US and other members of the anti-terrorism coalition have provided new surveillance equipment, night-vision devices, and also provided some aviation support to guard the borders, and that has improved our efficiency," Sultan told DPA. (DPA)

Iran says it warned of Al-Qaeda’s ‘fanatic nature’

UNITED NATION, Oct 28: Defending its handling of terror networks, Iran told the United Nations it had warned the world of the "fanatic nature" of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda networks long before anyone else, according to a report.

Iran submitted the report to a UN Security Council sanctions

committee on Afghanistan about a month ago. But an extensive list of suspected Taliban or Al-Qaeda associates accompanying the document was only delivered several days ago, said Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, chairman of the panel.

The committee’s task is to enforce an embargo on travel and arms deals and a freeze on the financial assets of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and its associates by compiling a list of suspects.

The Iranian list includes 78 names of people detained or deported from Iran to their countries of origin and about 2,300 names of people who crossed the border from Pakistan, including refugees, and were sent back.

Another 147 names have been submitted to the committee by Iran and will circulate among the 15 Council members to see if they will be put on the Security Council’s consolidated list, Munoz said.

As Afghanistan’s neighbor, Iran had for years opposed the former Taliban rulers, which harbored Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Still, US counterterrorism officials say a handful of senior Al-Qaeda operatives fled to Iran after the Afghan war and may have a relationship with a military unit linked to Tehran’s religious hard-liners.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran did not authorize any sort of activity by the Taliban, Osama bin Laden or Al-Qaeda in its territory from the early days of their domination over Afghanistan due to their sectarian, reactionary and fanatic nature," the Tehran Government said in the report.

"Moreover, proper warnings were issued by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the international community regarding the threat they posed against regional and international peace and security," the report said.

In Washington, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said Iran should turn over members of Al-Qaeda to the United States and not just publicize a list of them.

"Iran has in the past turned over some Al-Qaeda to third countries. However, frankly, we’re not aware of any particular progress with regards to the Al-Qaeda who are currently in detention," Boucher said.

"And the Iranians have previously stated that that includes senior Al-Qaeda officials," he added.

So far, the UN committee’s list includes about 123 people and 98 groups or businesses associated with Al-Qaeda and another 151 people linked to the Taliban. Most of the names have been submitted by the United States, which has to agree before anyone can remove a suspect from the Roster.

An independent UN panel has criticized the list, saying it contains many misspellings and was compiled with little due process. At the moment, any Security Council member can put anyone on the list, with recourse for the accused difficult. (AGENCIES)

El AI airlines equips planes with anti-missile defence systems

JERUSALEM, Oct 28: Israel’s El AI airlines has installed anti-missle defence systems in some of its commercial aircraft, Israeli media reported today.

The systems are a civilian variation of those already used in military planes, the reports said. Installation of the devices, designed by Israel aircraft industries, costs about 750,000 dollars per aircraft.

The first systems added to planes were financed by the Israeli Government, while El AI will be responsible for paying for any new installations, the reports added. The new system is expected to increase airline ticket prices.

On Friday, an El Al flight was diverted in Canada from Toronto’s international airport to nearby Hamilton, following an unspecified security threat. (DPA)

Now China plans to send three people into space

BEIJING, Oct 28: Basking in glory after its first manned space launch, China has set its sights on putting three people into space for a week, the China news service said today.

A space official who worked on the October 15-16 voyage that made China only the third country to rocket a person into space, said preparations were under way for the next in the Shenzhou, or "divine ship", series, the semi-official news agency said.

The Shenzhou VI was expected to blast off within the next two years, it reported.

The Shenzhou V, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei, circled earth 14 times during a 21-hour trip more than 40 years after the Soviet Union and the United States became the first and second countries to put a man into space. (AGENCIES)

Former US Commerce Chief backs China on currency

BEIJING, Oct 28: China is right to resist a quick revaluation of its yuan currency, a move that could cost jobs and rock its already rickety financial system, former US Commerce Secretary Michael Kantor said on Tuesday.

Addressing a financial forum in Beijing, Kantor’s comments came as current Commerce Secretary Don Evans, also in China’s capital, delivered tough words on a ballooning trade imbalance with China.

Many US politicians and manufacturers have said China’s policy of keeping the yuan pegged at around 8.28 to one dollar gives Chinese exports an unfair price advantage and makes it tough for US goods to compete.

Kantor, Commerce Chief during the Clinton administration and now head of global trade practice at a law firm in Washington, voiced support for China’s go-slow approach to freeing up the currency, also called the renminbi.

"A rapid, unplanned revaluation upwards, the inevitable result of floating the renminbi, would increase the burden of renminbi-denominated debt, making the balance sheet problem of Chinese banks and state-owned enterprises harder to correct," Kantor said.

It could also fuel unemployment and drag on China’s economy, which could in turn curtail chinese imports of US products, Kantor said.

"A rapid revaluation of the renminbi is not in the best interests of China, or the best interests of the Asian economy or the best interests of the world economy," he said.

China and other Asian countries were also helping to finance the US federal budget deficit by using the dollars they earned from exports to buy US treasury bills, he said.

"If China and Japan were to reverse course, they would start selling treasury securities and that could drive interest rates even higher," he said. (AGENCIES)

Nature helps heal Israeli youth after suicide bombings

MOSHAV ZANOAH, ISREAL, Oct 28: The Israeli teenagers scrambled over rocks and ducked under overhanging branches much like any other youngsters on a nature hike.

But accompanying the group were therapists and counsellors trained to deal with children who have lost a close family member in a Palestinian suicide bombing or shooting attack.

The girls and boys trekking through the desert in the Judean hills outside Jerusalem immigrated to Israel from Russia or Ethiopia. The deaths of a mother, father or sibling in west Asia violence were tragic introductions to their adopted land.

A three-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood, in which more than 100 suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Israel’s shopping malls, restaurants, buses and cafes, has taken its toll on the country’s youth.

A nationwide survey of schools found that six percent of Israel’s two million children are suffering from Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD), with another up to 12 percent displaying partial symptoms, said psychologist Danny Brom.

In Jerusalem alone, more than 40 percent of the city’s children know personally someone who was killed or maimed in a suicide bombing or actually witnessed an attack. Another 20 percent were at the site just before or after the bombing.

"The exposure is huge," said Brom, Director of the Israel center for the treatment of psychotrauma, who opened the country’s first walk-in crisis clinic in April.

The violence has affected children on both sides of the conflict.

Surveys in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have shown that more than 55 percent of Palestinian children have started developing PTSD, manifested by aggressive or regressive behaviour, sleeping difficulties, loss of appetite and depression.

The United Nation’s children’s agency UNICEF says that parents report behavioural changes among 80 percent of children living in Palestinian areas.

"Children and youth are the soft spot for all of us," said ruth bar-on, head of Selah-Israel crisis management center that helps immigrants to Israel deal with the new reality of violence. (AGENCIES)

US rape, murder rates up slightly in 2002

WASHINGTON, Oct 28: The number of reported rapes and murders in the United States increased in 2002 but the overall number of violent crimes dropped nearly 1 percent from the previous year, the FBI said today.

The number of forcible rapes reported to police increased 4.7 percent to 95,136, and murders rose 1 percent to 16,204 compared with 2001, the FBI said in its annual report on crime in the United States.

The overall number of violent crimes — which include rape, murder, robbery and aggravated assault — reported to police dropped by just under 1 percent in 2002. In the last 10 years the number has decreased nearly 26 percent.

The number of so-called property crimes, which include burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft, was nearly the same as in 2001 and down 14.5 percent compared with 1993, the report said. (AGENCIES)

US worried about aid organisations leaving Iraq

WASHINGTON, Oct 28: US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned that a withdrawal of aid organizations from Iraq after a devastating attack on Baghdad’s Red Cross offices would be a victory for terrorists.

"If they are driven out, then the terrorists win," Powell told reporters yesterday.

Earlier yesterday, suicide attacks on the headquarters of the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) and Iraqi police facilities left up to 34 people dead.

The United Nations recently withdrew most of its staff after a lethal attack on its offices in August.

"Today was a difficult day," Powell said. "We don’t know if it’s a spike as a result of the beginning of Ramadan or whether it is something that we’ll see continue."

Powell said it was "of concern" that contractors and aid groups would leave.

"We hope that contractors, NGOs and the ICRC and the UN will make a considered assessment of their security situation, and hope they can find it appropriate to stay," Powell said. "They are needed." (DPA)

Three space station crewmen head for home

ASTANA, Oct 28: Three crewmen disengaged their capsule from the international space station and headed for a landing in Kazakhstan’s Steppes today, with Russian experts determined they will touch down softly on target.

Russian Yuri Malenchenko, American Edward Lu and Pedro Duque of Spain were due to touch down in their Soyuz TMA-2 capsule at about 5:40 AM Moscow time (0240 GMT). Technicians say they have taken action to guard against the rough "ballistic" landing endured by the last team to return from the ISS.

"The space capsule has just separated from the international space station," Colonel Mikhail Polukhin, coordinator of the Russian operation to recover the capsule, said in the Kazakh capital Astana before heading for the landing site.

General Vladimir Popov, commander of Russian space rescuers, said: "What happened last time may occur once in 1,000 space flights." He was speaking by satellite telephone from their base in Arkalyk — 330 Km southwest of the Kazakh capital Astana.

This time, rescuers have been put on alert in the kazakh industrial city of Karaganda and at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Soviet-era facility where most Russian launches take place.

"We are completely sure everything will work fine...And we are monitoring weather conditions at the landing site to avoid contingencies," Popov said.

On May 4, a similar Soyuz capsule carrying US astronauts Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit and Russian Nikolai Budarin landed hundreds of kilometres off target in the steppe due to a technical Glitch that caused early re-entry. (AGENCIES)

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