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Updated on October 25, 2002 |
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--- South Asian News, August 26, 2002 ---(International)
In Kashmir 11 people have been killed in the latest attacks by suspected Islamic militants ahead of crucial elections. India rules out prospects of improving relations with Pakistan in the face of continuing terrorism from across the border. Pakistan plans to build four new surface warships with China's help. In Editorial news, read about the consequence of the new changes in the constitution of Pakistan.
Africa
N/A
Americas
N/A
Asia-Pacific
* India rules out improving ties with Pakistan (Xinhuanet)
* Pakistan to hold elections in peaceful environment (Xinhuanet)
* New Delhi denies playing "big brother" role in South Asia (Channel News Asia) (The Malaya Star)
* Two suspected insurgents killed in Kathmandu bomb blast (Xinhuanet)
* Hindus, Muslims turn to prayer for rain in drought-hit India (Channel News Asia)
* Two killed in bomb explosion in Nepal (Japan Today)
* India's most wanted bandit said to have kidnapped former minister (Channel News Asia)
* 11 killed, 30 hurt in Bangladesh bus collision (Japan Today)
Europe
* Four dead in Kashmir attack. (BBC) (Ananova)
* 11 die in Kashmir attack (Times Online) (Telegraph)
* Indian president signs electoral law (BBC)
* Clerics Run In Pakistan Election (Guardian)
* Indian bandit 'strikes again' (BBC)
Middle East
* Army commander says LoC 'normal' (Arab News) (Theran Times)
* Kulsoom files papers; MQM changes approach (Arab News)
* Musharraf 'backs Bin Laden allies' (Gulf Daily News)
* Indian woman dies in Kashmir battle (Gulf Daily News)
* Bin Laden's days 'are numbered' (Gulf Daily News)
* Lanka to lift ban on rebels (Gulf Daily News)
* India is not playing "big brotherly" role in South Asia: Sinha (IRNA)
* Pakistan reiterates call for India to pull back forces (IRNA)
Editorial/Opinion
* The General's power play (Time)
Business/Technology
* Pakistan plans to build warships (The Malaya Star)
* ADB preparing $2.4B Pakistan poverty alleviation strategy (IRNA)
* Hard times for India's bad borrowers (Asian Times)
Africa
N/A
Americas
N/A
Asia-Pacific
* India rules out improving ties with Pakistan
India Monday ruled out prospects of improving relations with Pakistan in the face of continued "terrorism from across the border." "The prospect of improvement of relations with our neighbor Pakistan, unfortunately, cannot be realized in the face of the continued support provided by it to terrorism directed at India," External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told a press conference. India had repeatedly told Pakistan to end its sponsorship of "terrorism" so that a conducive environment could be created for resumption of bilateral dialogue, said Sinha, who returned home after a visit to Nepal and Bangladesh. "Pakistan's commitments to permanently end infiltration and cross-border terrorism have not been fulfilled and indeed the battery of false allegations accusing India of certain actions in the Gultari sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in recent days, only confirms Pakistan's unscrupulous use of falseinformation to meet its diplomatic ends," Sinha said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/26/content_538804.htm
* Pakistan to hold elections in peaceful environment
The Pakistani government is determined to hold the October general elections in a peaceful andcongenial environment, a government official said Monday. Federal Minister for Information and Media Development Nisar A.Memon made the statement in a meeting with newsmen in Lahore on Monday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. However, Memon said, "The government won't allow unscrupulous and anti-state elements to pollute the peaceful atmosphere; they may create pre-election disturbances and disrupt law and order in the society."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/26/content_538745.htm
* New Delhi denies playing "big brother" role in South Asia
Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha has wrapped up a two-day visit to Bangladesh by pledging that India will help its neighbour improve its international profile.He also denied allegations that India is playing 'big brother' in South Asia, saying its relations with Dhaka would be on an equal footing.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/17106/1/.html
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/8/26/asia/bigbro&sec=asia
* Two suspected insurgents killed in Kathmandu bomb blast
Kathmandu -- Two suspected anti-government insurgents were killed and four neighbors injured Sunday afternoon when a powerful bomb exploded in a room in Kathmandu.The blast occurred at about 4:30 p.m. (local time) Sunday afternoon at a rented house in the western part of Kathmandu, which badly damaged the first floor of the two-storied house, the state-run Radio Nepal quoted the unnamed security official who inspected the blast site as saying Monday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/26/content_538213.htm
* Hindus, Muslims turn to prayer for rain in drought-hit India
India's worst drought in years has prompted a rush of prayer offerings. Devotees cutting across the religious divide are paying obeisance hoping to please the rain god.Drought battered Indians are nowadays are taking rituals that supposedly appease the rain god seriously.Hit by the worst dry spell in a decade, Hindu believers are thronging before the deity, making offerings to Lord Shiva's phallus - a symbol of the fertility cult.And invoking heavenly blessings are both the ordinary and the powerful.One among them is Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, India's new Vice- President.The veteran BJP leader has been praying for rains in the desert state of Rajasthan.The western Indian state has been hit by a drought for the fourth year in a row.The state has received only a tenth of the 85 mm of annual rainfall. A third of the crop has not even been sown.Also seeking divine intervention are the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh. For many the intensity of such a drought has come after forty years and so have the prayers.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/17127/1/.html
* Two killed in bomb explosion in Nepal
Kathmandu -- Two suspected Maoist rebels were killed when a bomb they were assembling exploded in Kathmandu on Sunday afternoon, injuring four neighbors, police said Monday.No one has claimed responsibility for the blast at around 4:45 p.m. in a rented house in Sitapaila in the western end of Kathmandu, but the police said investigations indicated the two dead people were Maoist rebels.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=227773
* India's most wanted bandit said to have kidnapped former minister
Suspected members of a gang led by India's most wanted bandit M Veerappan may have struck again.Police believe the gang is behind the kidnapping of former state minister H Nagappa on Sunday.He was dragged out of his car in Mysore district, about 200 kilometres south of Bangalore, as he returned home from a public meeting.Bangalore police are now planning an appropriate course of action against the bandit.Veerappan, who has a bounty of over US$82,000 on his head, is believed to be hiding in Tamil Nadu state..He is wanted for over 100 murders and for elephant poaching.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/17112/1/.html
* 11 killed, 30 hurt in Bangladesh bus collision
Dhaka -- At least 11 people, including six women, died and 30 others were injured when two buses collided on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway on Sunday, police said.The accident occurred around 1:30 p.m. in Comilla, about 100 kilometers southeast of the capital, when a bus from Comilla hit a Chittagong-bound bus from Dhaka, they said.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=227749
Europe
* Four dead in Kashmir attack.
The authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir say suspected militants raided the home of a Muslim police officer, killing four members of his family, on Sunday night.
Police said the gang barged into the constable's house, firing indiscriminately, while he was out on duty. They killed his father, brother, nephew and sister-in-law.
No militant group has said it carried out the attack in Poonch district, but Indian officials say they think the aim.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2216456.stm
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_657421.html?menu=
* 11 die in Kashmir attack
At least 11 people have been killed in Kashmir in the latest attacks by suspected Islamic militants ahead of crucial elections in the troubled region. Islamic separatists fighting in the Indian part of the divided Himalayan province have vowed to disrupt the state elections that start next month. Guerrillas gunned down four people in Surankot village; paramilitary forces killed three rebels and lost one soldier in a gun battle in Milyal Kupwara; and three civilians were shot dead in the Kashmir Valley.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/08/26/ukash.xml&sSheet=/portal/2002/08/26/ixport.html
* Indian president signs electoral law
The Indian President, APJ Abdul Kalam, has finally signed a new ordinance on electoral reforms. This follows the decision by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's cabinet on Saturday to once again ask the president to sign the ordinance into law. The President had earlier returned the ordinance to the central government seeking clarification on a number of points. Mr Kalam is believed to have queried a provision which removes the need for election candidates to reveal criminal convictions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2215680.stm
* Clerics Run In Pakistan Election
Anti-American clerics, pro-military government politicians and a twice-deposed prime minister are among the thousands who have filed nomination papers to run in parliamentary elections intended to restore democracy to Pakistan. Some of the anti-government parties who filed papers by Monday's deadline indicated they might be willing to form alliances that would give them a parliamentary majority. That would enable them to fight unpopular constitutional amendments that military President Gen. Pervez Musharraf recently enacted to extend his rule and increase his power.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-1971297,00.html
* Indian bandit 'strikes again'
India's most wanted bandit, Veerappan, has kidnapped a politician in the southern state of Karnataka, the authorities say. Police said a number of armed men, led by the fugitive himself, attacked the home of H Nagappa, a former state minister, late on Sunday night. The authorities say the bandit has sent them an audio cassette, but have yet to disclose its contents. Mr Nagappa, 63, was at his village home in the district of Chamarajanagar, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the state capital, Bangalore, when the attack took place.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2216488.stm
Middle East
* Army commander says LoC 'normal'
India and Pakistan are exchanging daily fire on the Line of Control (LoC) dividing their armies in the north, but fighting has gone down dramatically since June, the Indian Army commander for the region said. Lt. Gen. Rajinder Singh also said in an interview with Reuters that militants from Afghanistan had been brought into forward positions on the Pakistani side of the line during May and June, but had since been pulled back. Singh, head of the 14th Corps, said 200 to 300 rounds of artillery were being exchanged daily in the area under his command covering the LoC, in the Himalayan region of Ladakh.
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=18076
http:///Detailview.asp?Keyword=India&Da=8/26/2002&Cat=4&Num=6
* Kulsoom files papers; MQM changes approach
Barring a few, most of the heavy weights filed nomination papers for the national and provincial assemblies, elections for which are due on Oct. 10, officials said. They include Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of the exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, the former Punjab chief minister, who recently was elected president of the Pakistan Muslim League (party), revived by his brother after 40 years in 1990. Yet another former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto too has filed for seats reserved for women. She had earlier submitted her documents from the two Larkana seats. The strategy looks obvious. Both the PML and PPP leaders want to exert maximum pressure on the military regime of President Pervez Musharraf.
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=18077
* Musharraf 'backs Bin Laden allies'
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, yesterday accused President General Pervez Musharraf of deceiving the West by "allying with the generals who supported Osama bin Laden''. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, she said: "Musharraf claims to be the ally of the West. But he is also allying with the same generals who supported Bin Laden. "His policies fuelled the war on terrorism and also tension on the border with India, which could lead, eventually, to a nuclear war."
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30964&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25159
* Indian woman dies in Kashmir battle
An Indian woman was killed in Kashmir as Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged heavy fire, an Indian defence official said yesterday, a day after a top US diplomat ended his peace mission to the region. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said yesterday India-Pakistan tensions had eased in the past two months, despite fresh reports of violence in disputed Kashmir during his two-day peace mission. The defence official said Indian and Pakistani troops traded heavy mortar fire in Rajouri, Batalik and Yaldoor sectors in the Jammu and Kashmir state.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30966&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25159
* Bin Laden's days 'are numbered'
US Central Command chief Tommy Franks, the supreme commander of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said yesterday that if Osama bin Laden was still alive, his capture or death was "only a matter of time. We have not seen convincing proof that Bin Laden ... is dead and so I think that what we do is to continue to confirm or deny intelligence reports that we get," Franks told US servicemen at the Bagram air base north of Kabul. "Now am I going to say where I think he is now, no I'm not because I wouldn't want to give anybody any sort of alert. "I actually don't know whether he is alive or dead, but I do know that a great many nations on this planet are very interested in the man.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30961&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25159
* Lanka to lift ban on rebels
Sri Lanka announced Sunday it would lift a ban on Tamil Tiger rebels for one month from September 6, formalising a condition the guerillas demanded ahead of peace negotiations in Thailand. State-run Rupavahini television station said the government would re-impose the proscription if the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) abruptly ended the talks. "It (the ban) will be lifted for one month from September 6...and it can be re-imposed if the talks break down or the LTTE decides to leave the talks," the television station said, quoting the government.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30971&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25159
* India is not playing "big brotherly" role in South Asia: Sinha
India's External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha denied on Sunday that India was playing a "big brother" in South Asia and pledged that bilateral relations with Bangladesh would be on an equal footing, reported the local media on Monday. Sinha, who returned Sunday night from a two-day visit to Dhaka, his first ever to Bangladesh, said at a luncheon meeting with a select
group of editors on Sunday in Dhaka that "India is indeed a big country in all aspects in comparison to Bangladesh, but I can assure we will maintain bilateral ties on the basis of equality and as sovereign countries." Sinha, who held talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and other Bangladeshi leaders, said "the two governments agreed that they will cooperate by joining the international community's war against global terrorism, particularly its manifestation in our region."
http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml
* Pakistan reiterates call for India to pull back forces
Pakistan Monday reiterated its demand that India should pull back its troops from the border with Pakistan, saying with the Indian forces deployed in an "offensive posture" along the Pakistani frontier the security situation between the two countries might deteriorate. "Nothing is happening to warrant such a deployment (by the Indians)," Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told a weekly press briefing. Pakistan and India have massed their troops along their common border since December last year, in a tension that has triggered fears they hostile neighbours might plunge into a war. He said tension has lowered but with the Indian troops massed along the border the capability for the situation to bounce back was still there.
http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml
Editorial
* The General's power play
One of the cardinal rules of battle is to capture the high ground and blast away at the enemy below. Perhaps remembering his days as an army commando, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan is employing the same tactic on his country's politicians. On Aug. 21, he clamped 29 new amendments onto Pakistan's Constitution- legal alterations that his critics say are designed to make his lofty position unassailable. Among the new laws of the land is one ensuring that Musharraf, who toppled the civilian government in a 1999 military coup, will rule for another five years. Another amendment sets up a National Security Council, packed with Musharraf's military and civilian appointees, which will oversee the next elected Prime Minister and his cabinet.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,,00.html
Business/Technology
* Pakistan plans to build warships
After launching its first domestically manufactured submarine on Saturday, Pakistan is seeking China's co-operation in the building of four new surface warships, local media reported. According to a front page report yesterday in the English language Dawn daily, Pakistan's military government has given the go-ahead for construction of four 2,500-ton F-22 P type frigates. The report cited Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza as saying Islamabad now wanted to negotiate a deal with China "on a transfer of technology basis."
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/8/26/asia/pakship&sec=asia
* ADB preparing $2.4B Pakistan poverty alleviation strategy
The Asian Development Bank is preparing a 2.4 billion assistance package for Pakistan for poverty alleviation, energy, communication, good governance and targeted projects for women development. This was stated by the Country Director of the Bank Mr. Marshuk Ali Shah while releasing ADB's Country Strategy and Programme for the next three years. He said for sustainable pro-poor economic growth the bank will provide assistance policy reforms and investment projects in key economic sectors. This will not only accelerate economic growth but would also ensure that the poor derive maximum benefit. As 75 percent of Pakistan's poor live in rural areas, the Bank's target assistance will focus on increasing agriculture productivity and diversification, increasing non-farm employment opportunities and improvement of communications and rural roads.
http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml
* Hard times for India's bad borrowers
For years, Indian banking and institutional lenders have had a major complaint; they were criticized for their inability to control their burgeoning non-performing assets (bad debt lump), currently estimated to be anywhere from US$17 billion to $34 billion as per Ernst & Young estimates, but when it came to recovery and reducing bad debts, they had little power. Despite strict laws for willful loan defaulters, red tape in the Indian administration undercut the statute's usefulness and made sure that Indian lenders and financial institutions, particularly the state-owned ones, couldn't bite but just bark. But all that is going to change now. To expedite recovery of loans and bring down the non-performing asset level of the Indian banking and financial sector, the government on July 20 introduced a new law that promises to make it much easier to recover bad loans from willful defaulters.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DH24Df01.html
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---South Asian News, August 26, 2002 ---(International)
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