------------------------------------------------------------------- DAWN WIRE SERVICE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 23 Feb 2002 Issue : 08/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------
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CONTENTS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS + US intervention can ease tension, says Musharraf + Pakistan disbanding ISI's units: NYT + New Delhi has started arms race, says FO + Troops not to be withdrawn soon, says Fernandes + Gillani threatens to sue minister + India already rejected cooperation offer: FO + Police on trail of Jawwad in Pearl case + Suspects escaped before raids: Pearl kidnapping + Pearl case: FBI team arrives in Lahore + Punjab police pick up 34 in Pearl case + Balance of power to be ensured: Musharraf + NA seats further increased to 357 + UAE lifts visa ban on Pakistanis + Benazir to return, contest polls: Zia + SC turns down Asif's Eid plea + Zardari's remand extended in BMW reference + Treason case against PPP leaders adjourned + Four rockets found near airport --------------------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMY + Pakistan to get $60m monthly for logistics: Shaukat + Al Qaeda used hawala system to send money to Gulf, says US paper --------------------------------------- EDITORIALS & FEATURES + Kashmir Ardeshir Cowasjee + Can Musharraf be a 'legitimate' president? Ashraf Mumtaz + The spirit of Hamas Ayaz Amir + What goes around, comes around Irfan Husain ----------- SPORTS + Hooper gains consolation victory for West Indies + New Zealand manager to revisit Pakistan + Shoaib not reported in Sharjah: ICC + Shahbaz brings special flavour to World Cup
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS 20020220 ------------------------------------------------------------------- US intervention can ease tension, says Musharraf ------------------------------------------------------------------- LAHORE, Feb 19: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said that the United States help could quickly reduce tensions between Pakistan and India. "With the help of US facilitation, the de-escalation in tension between India and Pakistan may take place in May-June," Gen Musharraf told a gathering of journalists, writers and intellectuals at the Governor's House. However, he added: "We have no problem in maintaining our heavy deterrence on our international borders with India." The country, Gen Musharraf said, was moving in the right direction according to the program chalked out by his government. He said the government had worked out a strategy to bring Madaris in the mainstream of the education system so that they could play due role in the nation-building process. The president said that the whole scheme had been formulated to promote sectarian harmony and tolerance besides providing option to the Madressah students to join profession of their choice. -AFP/APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020221 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan disbanding ISI's units: NYT ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Masood Haider NEW YORK, Feb 20: Pakistan has begun to disband two major units of its powerful intelligence service that had close links to Islamic militants in Afghanistan and Kashmir, the New York Times said quoting senior Pakistani military and intelligence officials. The paper said that the change has not been publicly announced. But the officials described it as one of the most significant shifts emerging from Pakistan's decision to align itself with the West during the crisis in Afghanistan and to reduce ties with Islamic groups there and in Kashmir. The officials told the Times that the move would result in the transfer of perhaps 40 per cent of forces assigned to the secretive organization, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which draws its manpower from the military. The agency's size is an official secret, but some officials said the cut could amount to at least 4,000 people, from a force of perhaps 10,000. Last month, President Pervez Musharraf pledged in a speech that his country would fight terrorism in all its forms. Since then, his government has banned several Islamic groups and has announced the arrests of about 2,000 activists. The changes described within the intelligence service would be an even more tangible sign of his resolve. The changes were described by the officials as highly sensitive. The organization, whose headquarters here is surrounded by brick walls and guard towers, is one of the country's most powerful forces, and quests by the American government and forces within Pakistan for its reform have until now been rebuffed. The senior officers of Afghanistan and Kashmir units have already been transferred, and the others are being ordered to return to other military units, officials told the paper. None have been disciplined, but the United States has requested permission to interview several dozens of them to learn more about their ties to the militants. That request is still being weighed by the Pakistani authorities, several officials said. Working closely with the American Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistan's intelligence agency established close ties with Islamic groups in Afghanistan during the 1980s, at the time of the American-backed effort to support the Mujahideen forces working to oust the Soviet occupation force. While the Afghanistan department appears to have been shut down entirely, the officials indicated that it is proving more difficult to cut off what has been a steady flow of covert intelligence and other support for Mujahideen in Kashmir. Closing down the Afghan unit is a signal that Pakistan intends to support the new government in Afghanistan and serves Gen Musharraf's purpose of curtailing support for the Islamic militant movements in Pakistan that provided strong support for the Taliban, the paper said. As early as 1988, under the government of Benazir Bhutto, a commission led by the Air Force chief, Marshal Zuilfikar Ali Khan, warned that the intelligence organization had the makings of a de facto government. Over the last decade, it has been credited with making and breaking of political careers and with causing civilian governments to fall. Gen Musharraf, who took power in 1999, has long had close relations with many officers within the agency. But in October, at the time he agreed to break relations with the Taliban, he also dismissed the agency's chief and later sidelined several others, in a first attempt to sever connections with Islamic groups in Afghanistan and Kashmir the paper said. Our reporter from Islamabad adds: The Foreign Office has strongly refuted a report carried by the New York Times claiming that two sections of Interservice Intelligence Agency concerning Kashmir and Afghanistan has been wound up. Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Khan, when contacted termed these reports "totally rubbish" and baseless that Kashmir and Afghanistan sections of ISI had been closed down. The report carried by the US paper had claimed 4,000 defence personnel attached with these two sections had been sent back to their respective units. The report was based on unnamed high officials. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020219 ------------------------------------------------------------------- New Delhi has started arms race, says FO ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Hasan Akhtar ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: Pakistan expressed alarm at the "relentless pursuit to acquisition" of foreign defence equipment by India far beyond its genuine needs, causing an arms race in South Asia and raising military tensions in the already volatile region. The foreign office spokesman stated this in reply to a question about India's efforts for acquiring more sophisticated weaponry from the United Sates and the current visit to New Delhi of the head of US armed forces, Gen Richard Myers. On his arrival, Mr Myers, had spoken of warming military ties between the two countries in fight against global terrorism. Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes, who is slated to meet the American general, said last week: "We are looking at acquiring more sophisticated weaponry from the US which other nations are not in a position to produce and deliver at short notice". Spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had raised the security issues concerning South Asia with the US leadership during his last week's talks in Washington. He said India had started unnecessarily an arms race and tension in the region, particularly at a time when both countries should be putting all their resources for alleviation of poverty and improving the condition of health and education, and for development projects rather than in arms race. As regards the outcome of the president's recent Washington visit, the spokesman recalled that Gen Musharraf had himself indicated its success. He said Washington and Islamabad had agreed to revive the joint consultative group where Pakistan's defence requirements would be considered. Answering another question, the spokesman said that unfortunately there was no reduction in tension on borders, and added that only when the Indian government agreed to a phased withdrawal of forces from the border and Pakistan followed likewise, one could expect lowering of tension. He pointed out that Pakistan had to deploy its forces only in response to India's massive deployment of its troops. He regretted that India had not positively responded to Pakistan's repeated calls for the troop withdrawal and resumption of dialogue to resolve the contentious issues. He, however, hoped that New Delhi would agree to resume negotiations. APP Adds: He described as fictitious news reports carried by Indian newspapers about Omar Shaikh's involvement in acts of terrorism in India, including attack on parliament and shooting in Kolkata. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020220 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Troops not to be withdrawn soon, says Fernandes ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Jawed Naqvi NEW DELHI, Feb 19: India said it did not plan to pull back its troops from the Pakistan border until Islamabad complied with key conditions set by New Delhi. India has asked Pakistan to repatriate more than a dozen alleged criminals and terrorists it says are sheltered by Islamabad, and has set other conditions too to resume normal ties, that include a complete cessation of cross-border raids by militants in Kashmir. In an indication of the continuing approach towards its neighbour, New Delhi mounted more pressure on Islamabad when the foreign ministry summoned Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Jaleel Abbas Jilani, seeking details of the reported confessions by Sheikh Omar Saeed in which he has claimed a role in the Dec 13 attack on the Parliament House and in the subsequent attack on the American Center in Kolkata. Ruling out any immediate pullback of troops from the border till Islamabad fulfilled New Delhi's conditions, Fernandes sought to dispel fears that prolonged forward deployment was leading to fatigue setting in among the forces. "The forces have been moved to the border in a certain situation when India had set some conditions, which have not yet been fulfilled. The troops will remain there till these are fulfilled and a final decision is reached," Fernandes told reporters. Ruling out early talks with Pakistan, the Prime Minister said India was not against dialogue but "if talks are going to end in an attack, then what is the use of such an exercise". DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020221 ------------------------------------------------------------------- India already rejected cooperation offer: FO ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: A Foreign Office spokesman said India had already rejected Islamabad's offer for cooperation regarding Dec 13 terrorist attack on the Indian parliament. He was responding to queries about the Indian request for sharing of information revealed by Ahmed Omar Sheikh to Pakistani authorities. The spokesman recalled that immediately after the Dec 13 terrorist attack, Pakistan had offered cooperation to India, including a joint inquiry into the incident. "India not only rejected this offer but also refused to share any evidence relating to the attack with Pakistan," he added. The spokesman pointed out that the investigation regarding the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl was in progress. "Mr Sheikh was in custody and was being questioned in that connection," he added. However, the spokesman said, the Sindh police had already denied the speculative reports appearing in a section of the Pakistan press regarding the so-called "revelations". -APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020223 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Gillani threatens to sue minister ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Arshad Sharif ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Shaikh Mubarik Shah Gillani, the man Daniel Pearl had sought to meet before being kidnapped and who was released on the intervention of the High Court, is now under investigation for his alleged links to Al Qaeda and for money laundering from the US into Pakistan and vice versa. Dawn learnt from senior interior ministry sources that Gillani, who remained elusive in the Daniel Pearl case and was a prime suspect before the confessional statement of British national Sheikh Omar in the case, is under "discreet" investigation. Gillani, talking to Dawn, termed the kidnapping episode a Zionist plot to get his organization and educational institute declared as terrorist outfits and a conspiracy against the ISI. He denied any association with Al Fuqra and said he did not favour jihad against the US. "What they are trying to prove is that Richard Reid is Al Qaeda man. If they prove that he is my mureed (follower), then they would have an excuse to proceed against all the 10,000-15,000 people who are my followers in America. So, this is the main conspiracy," he said. "Daniel is a secret service agent," Gillani had alleged a day before the confirmation of the death of the Wall Street Journal reporter. The US intelligence agencies have, however, denied the allegations of the kidnappers that Daniel was an undercover agent. Gillani said he would be suing Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar for saying that he (Gillani) had links with India. Gillani, contrary to the claims of IG Police Syed Kamal Shah, said he had presented himself before the Rawalpindi police after his name was linked to the kidnapping. He said his contributions to the Kashmir cause since 1947 and then to the Afghan Jihad were on record. Questioning the foreign minister's statement which, according to Mr Sattar, was made on the basis of information obtained by the police from the itemized bill of the mobile telephones, the former ISI operative and close friend of Gillani, Khalid Khawaja, said: "How could they release Shah Sahib if he was in touch with Indian ministers and all that?" According to the sources, the US, after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, is also investigating the association of Al Fuqra with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. According to US diplomatic sources, the investigative mechanism would look into all possibilities without ruling out any, however remote it may seem. "Besides the initial focus on the International Islamic Front for Jihad against the US and Israel, led by Osama bin Laden, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which is a member of Osama's front and which was declared by the US as an international terrorist organization in October, 1997, the Jamaat-ul-Fuqra, another Pakistan-based organization with known presence in the US, but with no previously known links with Osama, are also under probe," US diplomatic sources said. The US authorities are now focussing on the alleged money laundering network of Al Fuqra in collaboration with Pakistani officials, the sources said. During joint investigation by the FBI and the Karachi police officials, Gillani was asked if he knew one of his followers had tried to blow up the American airliner. Denying that Richard Reid was one of his followers, Gillani told Dawn: "They wanted to move against Muslims in all the 22 states of America but they wanted an excuse, a legal one, so they sent Richard Reid to Afghanistan. He went there, met a few people and went back. Then they found 10 grams of explosives in his shoes which can't even blow up the seat of an aeroplane. Then he is keeping silent. What the foreign journalists are doing is taking his pictures from city to city and saying that this person is a mureed of Gillani. I don't have mureeds (followers)." Joining in the conversation, the former ISI operative said: "For us, Daniel is small part of the conspiracy who just came in between. The real conspiracy started much before that because the American agencies wanted to get to Shah Sahib because he was spreading Islam in the US and that is their main problem." Gillani, whose disciples live in 22 different states of America, in response to a question as to how he was being implicated in the conspiracy, said: "Try to understand the conspiracy. I have given a book to my lawyer, Target Islam, which says the documents prove that the aim of the Zionists is to divide Pakistan into four republics. And this project is very well-known to the people here as well. Last year (2001) I told my students to hold a rally in America. Then the US embassy in Islamabad called someone (name not disclosed) to the embassy and tried to bribe him to sign a statement that Sheikh Mubarik is a terrorist and he could have the whole briefcase." The former operative, interjecting in the conversation, alleged that during 2001 the CIA and FBI operatives in the US embassy in Islamabad had wanted one of Gillani's followers to sign a statement against Gillani. "First, they threatened him, gave him a lie- detector test and them tried to bribe him by showing him a briefcase full of hundred-dollar notes. They wanted him to sign the statement that Mubarik Shah Gillani's followers would do something in America." Disassociating himself from Daniel Pearl's kidnapping, Gillani questioned: "Why did Daniel Pearl go to Bahawalpur to the house of Masood Azhar? Answering the question himself, he said: "He went there so that he is seen there, so that somebody sees him, follows him and might abduct him. And then he wrote my name in the diary that he would be seeing me like this and then leave the diary at home and then he is abducted." Gillani said that from Jan 18 till 26 he had been in Garhi Habibullah, supervising the establishment of a school. When he read in the newspapers that his name was being associated with the kidnapping, he had called up his son who conveyed him the message of a colonel and a few other people that it would be better that he (Gillani) turned himself over to the police. "On 26th, I called my son and he told me that a colonel had come and he and other people recommended that I go and talk to the police and tell them I know nothing about Daniel Pearl. I didn't know who Daniel was," he said. According to Gillani, the Rawalpindi police agreed that he was not involved in the kidnapping but requested him to proceed to Karachi as there was pressure from the US authorities. The sources said that during interrogation Gillani asked the officials to contact senior officials in the government to know about his services for the country but the investigators did not think it appropriate to get in touch with the "government contacts" as information was not related to the investigation in the kidnapping case. Defending the allegations against him, Gillani told Dawn: "Muslims are being projected as terrorists whereas they are not. They think the increasing population of Muslims is becoming a threat to America." Recounting his services for the national cause, Gillani said: "When the Afghan Jihad came, I was encouraged by Gen Zia-ul-Haq and at that time the Americans accepted the fact that I hold jihad conferences in America and in other countries. So I participated. In that process, the Jewish Defence League was able to do many things and frame us wrongfully." Gillani claimed that both the governments of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir had requested him to mobilize his university students to project the cause of Kashmir in America through media by holding rallies and informing the public. So Kashmir-American Friendship Society was formed nine years ago but its activities were not liked by the American government." Recalling his association with the Kashmir cause, Gillani said: "I planted the flag of Pakistan in Srinagar on 15th August 1947. My back still caries the signs of the lashes I received from the state police for that act. My family (the Gillanis) have a lot of followers in Kashmir." Gillani claimed that in 1947 Nawab Mamdot had made him commander of the junior national guard and in 1948, when Kashmir was attacked, he was Air Raid Commander. Later, Gillani said, he met Lt-Gen Bakhtiar Rana and also president Ayub. President Ayub, he said, had patronized him in establishing the Climbers Club of Pakistan. "For fifty years, students from all the colleges of this country, including cadets from the PMA and cadets from military college, Jehlum, were trained by me and some of them became Special Services Group Commandos," he claimed. Gillani, dispelling the impression that his students were involved in anti-state activities in the US, as claimed by the US State Department, said the US authorities had tried to involve his university in every incident which had happened on the US soil. For instance, he said, a very famous scholar of Islam, Ismail Farooqi, had been shot dead in 1984 in Pennsylvania and they blamed us, alleging we did not like him. But when the murderer was caught, he said, it was revealed that the assassin was hired by JDL, the Jewish Defence League. Dispelling the impression that he left the US shortly after the first attack on the World Trade Center during 1993, Gillani said that after 1990 he had never gone to the US. Criticizing the incumbent military regime for becoming a tool in the hands of the US administration, Gillani said: "For the enemies of Islam, the holy Quran is a book of terrorist. Islam is a religion of terrorism. Muslims are terrorists. It is a Zionist conspiracy and for that they want computerized ID cards so that they have data on each and every person." The former ISI operative, who is said to be instrumental in convincing Mubarik Shah Gillani to present himself before the authorities and who was also considered a suspect in the case, told Dawn that the conspirators had planned that Shah Sahib would not come out and like in the case of Osama they would create such a scare that nobody would speak on his behalf and they could fulfil their aims. In response to a question, the former ISI operative said: "Many people think that the ISI has planted me into it to do something and I am its agent. It's a great conspiracy and it is the duty of the media to find out those Pakistani officials and semi-official sources who are feeding wrong stories to the foreign media. This way we will be doing a service to our nation and our clergy because it is a conspiracy against the ISI and Shah Sahib." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020221 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Police on trail of Jawwad in Pearl case ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Feb 20: The police investigations into the disappearance of US journalist Daniel Pearl could not make any breakthrough, but the provincial administration insisted they were making progress. A spokesman for the Sindh Home Department said they had found clues to tracing the locations of individuals believed to have information about Mr Pearl's whereabouts. Punjab Police are also working to arrest Amjad Farooqui and Hashim alias Arif, he added. Sources said the police had started looking for another suspect, identified as Jawwad Shaikh, who was believed to be one of the captors. The police had checked the record of flights abroad with the help of national and foreign airlines and found that Jawwad Shaikh and Dr Javed Iqbal were booked on Feb 9, 2001, for Riyadh by Saudi Airline (SV-737). The sources said Dr Javed Iqbal flew to Saudi Arabia but Jawwad Shaikh missed the flight. The police believed he was present in the country. The sources declined to divulge more details, saying the police had started a hunt for Jawwad, whose arrest could be the key to recovering Mr Pearl. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020218 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Suspects escaped before raids: Pearl kidnapping ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Nadeem Saeed MULTAN, Feb 17: Some of the 'most wanted sectarian terrorists' of a banned militant outfit escaped a couple of days ahead of police raids on their hideouts in Vehari, sources told Dawn. The Vehari police conducted three raids on different places simultaneously. It forced entry into a cyber cafe - Al-Ilm academy and internet club - in the city and took into custody its owner, Qari Rana Zulfiqar, his brother Ateequr Rehman, Naeem, Mushtaq, Tahir and others. Similarly, the police raided the house of Ijaz alias Jajji Tarar, a wanted militant who died some time ago, and picked his father Anwar Tarar. The police also went to the house of wanted alleged terrorist Sheraz and in his absence took his father Ata Muhammad alias Fauji into custody. As the Vehari arrests coincided with the arrests of alleged terrorists in other parts of the province in connection with the Daniel Pearl kidnapping, it seemed that the Punjab police had launched a crackdown to find a clue to the captors of the American journalist. Multan range police DIG Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry, however, refuted that the arrests in Vehari had any link with the Pearl case. "We raided the places to arrest some wanted men," he added, saying, "Karachi police had not sought any help from Multan police." A senior police source in Vehari told Dawn that the police had conducted some raids in search of Fayyaz Tarar alias Fayyazy, younger brother of Jaji Tarar carrying headmoney of Rs1 million, and Sheraz, who was also wanted in a number of high-profile cases of sectarian killings in the area. He said the Al-Ilm Internet club had been under scrutiny for the last two months, even before the pearl episode. "In fact we had information that the internet club was a place where activists of a militant organization were used to meet, communicate and plan their strategy," he said. He said a gang of terrorists, affiliated to the banned militant outfit of Riaz Basra, comprising Shakeel Anwar, Fayyazy Tarar, Sheraz, Saleem, Abdullah, Javed Commando and Javed was reportedly involve in recent spree of terrorist acts in Bahawalpur, Lodhran and Vehari. "According to our investigation, the gang is involved in Saddiq Kanju murder case and the massacre of over a dozen worshippers in a Bahawalpur church," he asserted, emphasizing the "arrests of Fayyazy Tarar and Sheraz would be a needed breakthrough to break the network of terrorists in this part of the country." He said though Karachi police had not asked them for any specific assistance in the Pearl case, they (local police) would surely interrogate the arrested on this aspect as well to find any clue in the light of intelligence reports that the Shakeel Anwar gang had been to Karachi for a while and indulged there in criminal and terrorist activities. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020218 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl case: FBI team arrives in Lahore ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter LAHORE, Feb 17: A three-member team of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is in the city for the last two days to follow up the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl, it is reliably learnt. The sources identified the FBI team members as Mr Thomas Anderson, Mr John Marthred and Mr Aedigare. Lahore range DIG Javed Noor said: "None of them has so far contacted us." He even claimed that their presence was also not in his knowledge. About Daniel Pearl kidnapping case, the DIG said that everything related to the case was being done by Karachi police. No fresh raid has so far been conducted in Lahore at least, he added. The sources said that the three FBI officials were also the part of nine-member team that visited the city on the arrest of Omar Sheikh, the prime suspect in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter. "The team questioned Omar soon after his surrender." They said that some members of the nine-man team escorted Omar to Karachi and rest of them flew back to Islamabad. The three FBI officials staying currently in Lahore are among those who had escorted Omar to Karachi, the sources said and believed that they had returned from Karachi with some leads they had found from the interrogation of Omar. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020217 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Punjab police pick up 34 in Pearl case ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Tariq Saeed and Gulzar Baig TOBA TEK SINGH, Feb 16: The Punjab police picked up 34 people from Toba Tek Singh and Vehari in a bid to trace Amjad Hussain Farooqui, whom Sheikh Omar, prime suspect in the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl, described as 'go-between.' A resident of Toba Tek Singh district, Farooqui had reportedly taken away Pearl. Being interrogated at some unknown place, the arrested include Farooqui's brothers Mohammad Javed and Mohammad Amer, and village prayer leaders Ghulam Akbar and Qari Mohammad Ramzan. They are said to have apprised the investigation officers that last time Amjad was seen in the village in 1988 when he was an activist of a religious organisation and was given the job of collecting donations. A source told Dawn that after the police operation most of his relatives had left the village. However, five more police teams are conducting raids in various parts of the district in search of Farooqui. Another source said nine of the arrested had been released after preliminary investigation. District police chief Amer Zulfiqar Khan was, however, tight- lipped, and said: "Whenever there is any news in this regard, local newsmen will be informed." Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, meanwhile, told newsmen in Lahore that two more suspects had been arrested from Toba Tek Singh. "They are being questioned by the relevant authorities that would give further lead to the investigators, assisted by two members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)," the minister added. VEHARI: Sources identified some of the arrested as Qazi Rana Zulfiqar, Ateequr Rehman, Tasleem, Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohammad Tahir, Mohammad Anwer Tarar, Sheraz, Fiaz Ahmed and Mohammad Munir. Sources said almost all the arrested belonged to the outlawed Jaish-i-Mohammad and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan. They were reportedly driven to an unknown place for investigation. When Dawn contacted the police officials, they did not disclose the number and names of the arrested. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020222 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Balance of power to be ensured: Musharraf ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said that check and balance "on all power brokers" of the country would be ensured to have genuine democracy after the October election. "Unfortunately the president, the prime minister and the chief of the army staff had been misusing their powers in the past, (but) this will not happen any more," the president asserted. "I will make sure that national interest will remain supreme as against personal or party interest," he told reporters. In reply to a question, the president said he had never stated that he was in favour of increasing the powers of the president or curtailing the powers of the prime minister. "All I want is the balance in the powers of all the power brokers". He also said that the government was considering removing the condition of graduation set for those aspiring to contest the election for the National Assembly. Personally, the president maintained, he was in favour of retaining the condition as it was necessary to strengthen political and democratic institutions. Asked that since the majority of people were illiterate and did not have the knowledge of computers the condition of graduation should be dropped, the president replied: "I have no knowledge of computers, but I believe that the condition of B.A is necessary." The president pointed out that people of Balochistan were in favour of the graduation condition as it would ensure replacement of the tribal system and bring new educated blood to politics. "Yet we are considering doing away with the condition because people are demanding it." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020221 ------------------------------------------------------------------- NA seats further increased to 357 ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Rafaqat Ali ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The government has decided to further increase the number of seats for the National Assembly from 350 to 357, allocating three more seats to the NWFP, and one each to Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Islamabad. Official sources said the decision was made at a meeting presided over by President Pervez Musharraf. The meeting was convened to resolve the dispute that had arisen after the Election Commission had rejected the Jan 16 allocation of seats by the National Reconstruction Bureau, increasing the number of seats from 237 to 350. It was decided that Islamabad, which had been allocated one seat even though its population had increased manifold, would now have two NA seats. Similarly, Punjab will now have 148 NA seats, Sindh 60, NWFP 35, and Balochistan 15. Reserved seats for women and technocrats will also be re-adjusted. The seats for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas would remain 12. The government will soon promulgate a provisional constitutional order to give legal cover to the electoral reforms, that is the joint electorate system and abolition of special seats for minorities. The meeting also considered the issue of Anti-Terrorism Courts and decided that the federal government would move the Supreme Court for vacation of the interim injunctions passed by the Lahore High Court last week. The LHC had stayed the setting up of the ATCs that had proposed army officers on the bench. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020219 ------------------------------------------------------------------- UAE lifts visa ban on Pakistanis ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Syed Rashid Husain RIYADH, Feb 18: The ban on issuance of new visas to Pakistani nationals in the UAE, imposed after Sept 11 events, has been lifted. All types of UAE visa - visit, employment, transit or residence - are now being issued to Pakistani nationals, the local press here reported quoting Col Saeed Mattar bin Bleila, director of the Dubai Naturalization and Residence Department. Col. Saeed told newsmen that his department was accepting visa applications from Pakistani nationals, adding that at present there were no official restrictions on issuing any visa to citizens of any country with whom the UAE had diplomatic and friendly ties. The UAE had stopped issuing new entry visas to Pakistani and Afghan nationals after the Sept 11 events. The national security authorities were reported to have issued a circular to all the concerned departments and officials last week, lifting the restrictions. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020222 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Benazir to return, contest polls: Zia ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter LAHORE, Feb 21: Pakistan People's Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto would return to Pakistan before the elections and take part in the polls scheduled for October, PPP's Punjab president Qasim Zia said. Speaking at a news conference at the office of provincial information secretary, Naveed Chaudhry, he said so far there was no law barring Ms Bhutto from contesting the elections. He said the PPP chairperson was not afraid of being arrested or imprisoned. She would return at an appropriate time before the elections, he said, adding that no date had been set for the purpose. The PPP, he said, was preparing itself for the elections and its mass mobilization campaign was going on. "It is the exclusive prerogative of the electorate to bring someone to power or reject him in polls. It is beyond the competence of any government to keep any leader out of the electoral process," the PPP leader argued when a reporter invited his attention to an official spokesman's statement that Ms Bhutto stood no chance of assuming power in the future. He said the PPP, like other parties in the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, was demanding arrangements for free and fair general elections. He said the PPP had already expressed reservations about the local elections held under the military government. He vehemently denied press reports that the PPP chairperson had held a meeting with President Musharraf during the latter's visit to the United States. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020221 ------------------------------------------------------------------- SC turns down Asif's Eid plea ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The Supreme Court turned down the request of Asif Zardari that he should be allowed to celebrate Eid with his parents in Karachi. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad, and Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq, dismissed the application, saying that it would set a bad precedent in which every accused would ask that he should be allowed to celebrate Eid with his family. Asif Zardari, in his application, through Farooq H. Naek, held that his parents were residing permanently in Karachi, who are old, and suffering from various ailments. He said that his mother was bedridden and unable to travel and his father was under house arrest. Asif Zardari desired to celebrate Eid with his parents. "This desire is based on the fact that life and death is ordained by Almighty Allah and one is unaware as to what future holds for him," he contended. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020221 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Zardari's remand extended in BMW reference ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The Accountability Court No: III extended the remand of Asif Ali Zardari for another eight days and directed the prosecution to produce the accused on March 1 in the BMW case. Farooq Naek, advocate, who appeared on behalf of the accused, requested the accountability court to direct the prosecution to submit the reference against Asif Zardari, in the BMW case so that the defence could know about the nature of the allegations. Similarly, the Accountability Court No: II also adjourned the hearing in the ARY Gold case for March 1. The case pertains to a contract to the ARY Gold Traders for the import of gold and silver in Pakistan, which allegedly resulted in the loss of Rs1.82 billion to the government kitty during the period from March 1995 to September 1997. In the BMW case, the prosecution accused Asif Ali Zardari of impersonating himself as student by importing a 1993 model armoured luxury vehicle in the name of a student with intent to evade duties. With the import of the vehicle, the national exchequer was incurred a loss Rs10 million during the second tenure Benazir government. APP ADDS: An accountability court has adjourned the hearing of Steel Mills corruption reference against Asif Zardari. The accountability court had adjourned because the accused had moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) alleging that the certain amendments had been made in the original reference. The Lahore High Court has appointed a person to verify whether the changes were made in the original reference and further proceedings in the case would start on the receipt of the said report. Farooq Naek is the defence counsel in the said case. This reference was filed against the accused by the Ehtesaab Bureau, set up by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government in the Ehtsaab Bench of the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench. The reference was transferred to the accountability court following the dismissal of the PML (N) government in October 1999. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020219 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Treason case against PPP leaders adjourned ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Feb 18: Special Judge Syed Kauser Ali Shah Bukhari of Suppression of Terrorist Activities (STA) Court, East, adjourned the hearing of a treason case against former PPP leader Masroor Ahsan and others after recording the statement of a prosecution witnesses. The case against Mr Ahsan and 22 other PPP workers, including Mir Shahnawaz Bhutto and Mir Murtaza Bhutto, was registered in 1981 by the Ferozabad police for allegedly conspiring and attempting to wage war against Pakistan and collecting weapons under section 121, 121-A and 122 of the Pakistan Penal Code. It was alleged that the accused persons in active connivance of one another had entered into a conspiracy to wage war against Pakistan "by means of criminal force or show of criminal force to the Federal Government". The judge fixed March 9 for the next hearing after the statement of Sub-inspector Muhammed Mubeen, who submitted before the court that the four out of 133 prosecution witnesses, cited in the final charge sheet, were untraceable. With the deposition of the police official, the prosecution has so far examined seven witnesses in the court during the past 19 years. During these years nine accused persons - Mir Shahnawaz Bhutto and Mir Murtaza Bhutto, sons of the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Islamuddin Changa, Salamullah Tipu, Rehmatullah Anjum, Ghulam Mustafa Baloch, Ilyas Siddiqui, Agha Ashfaq and Manzar Alam - died. Ten other accused persons - Sohail Sethi, Najme Alam, Ikram Qaimkhani, Nisar Qureshi, Saifullah Khalid, Nasir Jamal, Arshad Ali Khan, Maulana Javed Naumani and Qadir Bux Jatoi - are absconding and they have been declared proclaimed offender in the case. Only four accused - Masroor Ahsan, Masood Hasan, Aftab Ahmed Memon and Hanif Ahmed Patel - are on bail and facing the trial. They all appeared in the court. Earlier, the court had dismissed an application filed for the acquittal of Masroor Ahsan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020219 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Four rockets found near airport ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Feb 18: Police said they found four live rockets planted on a wooden frame with timing devices and aimed at the airport. A police spokesman said that during investigation into an explosion caused by a rocket at a Shah Faisal Colony house, information about the four rockets lying in an open plot in the proximity of the airport was received. The police rushed to the spot with the ASFs Bomb Disposal Squad and defused the 197mm rockets. An improvised timing device was connected to each of the rockets, he said. The police had started questioning of the people living in the adjoining localities for a clue to suspects. The police sources said that one of the five rockets had been launched that had hit the house of Imtiaz in Shah Faisal Colony and left one man injured and the house and some vehicles damaged. They said that the rest of the rockets could not be launched as their detonator did not work due to low battery.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY 20020217 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan to get $60m monthly for logistics: Shaukat ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: Pakistan will be charging monthly bills of roughly $60 million for whatever logistic support it extends to the United States as long as its forces stay here. "We will bill them monthly for certain things under the ACSA (acquisition and cross services agreement)," Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz told a news conference. "The total amount due from them (USA) is around $300 million," said the minister, stressing that this should not be mixed up with $1 billion debt waiver. He parried questions about specifics of the charges and facilities, including air bases, saying the defence ministry calculated the amount through a formula under the ACSA. Finance Secretary Younas Khan explained that this included all - fuel, water, etc., that varied from month to month and the bill was forwarded to relevant agency of the US. "We are following it up," said the minister when asked about the recovery of this amount, and added that finance ministry's role was that of a collecting agency only. He also parried questions that country's deficit had gone up to around Rs25 billion in the post- Sept 11 era because of the increase in defence budget and revenue shortfall and there was still a gap of Rs10 billion. He went on repeating that "we are not imposing war tax and would bridge the deficit within budgetary limits." Shaukat said the IMF (international monetary fund) had agreed to revise the budget deficit target from 5.3 per cent to 5.7 per cent of the GDP (gross domestic product). The US debt of $2.8 billion to Pakistan, he said, would come down to $1.8 billion as $1 billion stood written off. The US government would waive $200 million from their budget under their present value accounting system but this would take $1 billion off the table from Pakistan's debt, subject to approval from the US congress, he elaborated. "We are not concerned with their budget procedures that will cost them $200 million but this will waive our $1 billion debt," the minister said. To a question whether this waiver related to official development assistance (ODA) or non-ODA, he said it was not yet clear but most probably it would be from the ODA which constituted about 80 per cent of the total debt to Pakistan. He explained that certain allocations in the US budget 2003, including $200 million aid-in- grant for Pakistan's education sector, was other than $1 billion debt write-off. Shaukat said Pakistan's reserves stood at $5.0019 billion as of Friday night - net cash with the SBP at $3.2787 billion and deposits of $1.7332 billion. Pakistan, he said, had "very smooth review" with the IMF mission that would now submit its report to the board and hopefully the whole process would be completed by the end of March. A revenue target of Rs414 billion, he added, had been agreed to, including direct taxes of Rs146.5 billion, up from Rs142.4 billion under the earlier target of Rs429.9 billion. The direct tax target included Rs47.1 billion for excise duty, Rs50.5 billion under customs and Rs170 billion under sales tax. Shaukat said all requirements under the PRGF (poverty reduction and growth facility) except revenue target have been met, and added, though sales tax target was up from Rs152 billion last year to Rs170 million this year, major delta in this sector was because of reduction in the sale of oil products. Referring to President Gen Musharraf's meetings with US authorities and donors in Washington, the minister said everybody praised Pakistan for its economic policies and agreed that all the requirements had been met except for factors that were out of its control. The president of the World Bank who expressed strong support for Pakistan's economic policies would be visiting Pakistan in May this year as a guest of President Musharraf, he observed. Pakistan, Shaukat said, was in discussions with the WB over a number of programs but structural adjustment program- II (SAP-II) and central board of revenue (CBR) reforms program were in the advanced stages. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020218 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Al Qaeda used hawala system to send money to Gulf, says US paper ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Feb 17: The Pakistani link with Taliban\Al Qaeda operations continues to be highlighted in one form or another in the American media. The Washington Post carried a report claiming how, just as the United States and its allies swept toward Afghanistan's main cities last autumn, the Taliban and Al Qaeda network "sent waves of couriers with bars of gold and bundles of dollars across the porous border into Pakistan," with their transactions centred in Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates. In small shops and businesses along the border, the money and gold, taken from Afghanistan's banks and national coffers, were collected and moved by trusted Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives to Karachi, according to the paper. Then, using couriers and the virtually untraceable "hawala" money transfer system, they transferred millions of dollars to Dubai, where the assets were converted into gold bullion. "The riches of the Taliban and Al Qaeda were subsequently scattered around the world - including some that went to the United States - through a financial structure that has been little affected by the international efforts to seize suspected terrorist assets," the paper asserted. Al Qaeda also used diamonds purchased in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, tanzanite from Tanzania and other commodities to make money and hide assets. But gold played a uniquely important role in the group's financial structure, investigators and intelligence sources quoted by the Post said, because it is a global currency. Pakistan financial authorities, the paper claims, say $2 million to $3 million a day is usually hand-carried by couriers from Karachi to Dubai, mostly to buy gold. Late last year that amount increased significantly as money was moved out of Afghanistan, they said. Pakistan and US officials estimate that about $10 million from Afghanistan was taken out by courier over three weeks in late November and early December. The Taliban fled Kabul late on Nov. 12 and abandoned Kandahar on Dec. 7. One of the couriers of cash and gold to Dubai was the Taliban Consul-general in Karachi, Kaka Zada, who took at least one shipment of $600,000 to Dubai in the last week of November, according to two Pakistani sources who witnessed him carrying the money. The WP report says US investigators, led by the Customs Service, have begun poring over transactions of some of Dubai's largest and most prestigious gold brokerages for possible links to the movement of Al Qaeda or Taliban money, and have found unusual gold shipments into the United States after September 11. The Pakistan-owned ARY Gold also figured in the Post story, which says: "A Customs official said that as part of efforts to 'investigate terrorist financing,' the agency was 'scrutinizing movements of gold by several companies, including ARY Gold,' one of Dubai's largest and most prestigious gold bullion and jewellery dealers. "ARY's cramped headquarters is located in the heart of Dubai's gold market - an area several blocks square, filled with stores that sell little else. Abdul Razzak, the Pakistan owner of ARY Gold, strongly denied knowingly doing business with the Taliban or Al Qaeda. "I am a God-fearing person, but all my life I have been afraid of religious people like the Taliban," said Razzak. "I wouldn't like to deal with Taliban people, and we don't like Taliban people. If you say you want 100 kilos [220 pounds] of gold, I can give you that wherever you want in 12 hours. What you do with it is your business," he said. The Post recalls that in 1998, Pakistani investigators looking into government corruption found two cheques, each for $5 million, allegedly paid by ARY Gold in 1994 to Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of then-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, to secure a two-year monopoly on gold imports to Pakistan. While acknowledging he held the monopoly and shipped $500 million in gold to Pakistan from 1994 to 1996, Razzak said that he had paid no bribes and that "enemies" had falsified the bank documents. Razzak was cleared of criminal charges in Dubai but still faces charges in Pakistan from that case, Pakistan authorities said. The "financial architecture" built by Al Qaeda was modelled, according to French, Pakistani and American investigators, on the collapsed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). "The BCCI was founded by Pakistanis and bankrolled largely by leaders of the UAE. In the 1980s it was used to launder drug money, harbour terrorist funds and buy illegal weapons. Its collapse in 1991 was a major global financial scandal... The CIA used BCCI to funnel millions of dollars to the fighters battling the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Osama had accounts in the bank. The bank also specialized in dealing in commodities such as diamonds and gold," the paper said. The Post cites a 70-page French intelligence report, outlining some details of the network. "The financial network of bin Laden, as well as his network of investments, is similar to the network put in place in the 1980s by BCCI for its fraudulent operations, often with the same people (former directors and cadres of the bank and its affiliates, arms merchants oil merchants, Saudi investors). "The dominant trait of bin Laden's operations is that of a terrorist network backed up by a vast financial structure." The paper goes on to say US agencies are looking into these ties because "they just make so much sense, and so few people from BCCI ever went to jail. BCCI was the mother and father of terrorist financing operations." The report identifies dozens of companies and individuals who were involved with BCCI and were found to be dealing with Osama bin Laden after the bank collapsed. Many went on to work in banks and charities identified by the United States and others as supporting Al Qaeda.Back to the top
EDITORIALS & FEATURES 20020217 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Kashmir ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ardeshir Cowasjee How many times do we all find ourselves at a gathering addressed by a retired or serving member of our armed forces who boasts that one Pakistani soldier can take on four Indian soldiers only to be interrupted by a hawk in the audience with a correction - no, one of ours can take on not four, but five of theirs? How many times do the history textbooks used in our schools reiterate that Pakistan has fought gloriously and won two wars against India? Our schoolchildren are never taught that we have fought only to suffer. Today, could the Pakistan army march into Kashmir and conquer the disputed territory which most Pakistanis claim to be theirs and impose our will? The answer, of course, is no. Could we name any world power which would support us in a war against India? The answer, once again, is no. Can we hope that the moral, diplomatic and political support (which we are told is the sole aid we afford to the people of Indian occupied Kashmir) will help them in any way to gain their freedom? No. We have been on the same tack for half a century, getting nowhere, so surely the time has come to change course. Kashmir is in the blood of every Pakistani, we are told. But should it be Kashmir in our blood or Pakistan in our blood? Now, in the world of today Kashmir is not the only conflict area. Let us take one area of conflict in the Far East, the 'Northern Territories' of the Pacific, consisting principally of four of the Kurile islands located off the north-east coast of the Nemuro Penninsula of Hokkaido, Japan - Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashiri and Etorofu. Russia occupies them, Japan claims them. The Kuriles have been the subject of claims and counter-claims, conflict and treaties since the mid-19th century. Japan and Russia first established diplomatic relations in 1855 and national boundaries between the two were drawn. According to the Shimoda Treaty, the Kurile Islands were to belong to Russia and the island of Sakhalin was to be a mixed settlement divided between the two countries. Niggling problems arose as regards Sakhalin and it was decided to make a clear cut division, Russia calling for a division at the 48th parallel and Japan at the 50th parallel, but neither side could come to terms. In 1875 another treaty was concluded by which Russia agreed that Japan would hand over title to the Sakhalin island to Russia and in return Russia would hand over to Japan the Kurile islands. In 1904, Japan and Russia went to war over Manchuria and other regional interests. Contrary to world expectations, Japan was able to wage active and persistent operations, as a result of which Russian troops sustained a humiliating defeat. The Japanese government, realizing that the continuation of the war with Russia would be beyond their military and financial potentialities, secretly but officially asked the US to take the initiative for the reconciliation of the two sides. Fearful of further Japanese expansion, US President Theodore Roosevelt at once agreed to be a mediator. He considered that the best solution for the United States would be a condition of mutual balance between Japanese and Russian forces and not for one side to win. So, in 1905 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a peace treaty was signed, according to which all previous agreements and treaties were to be annulled and the southern half of Sakhalin island was ceded by Russia to Japan. Thanks to his contribution as a mediator during the conclusion of the peace agreement, Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. >From the mid-1920s, southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles assumed extreme strategic importance for Japan. They built numerous military bases on the islands, and on November 26, 1941, it was from Kasatka Bay on Iturup island from where an aircraft carrier formation set sail to attack Pearl Harbour. At the Yalta conference of 1945, Josef Stalin asked that at the end of the war the Kuriles and southern Sakhalin be returned to Russia. US President Franklin Roosevelt felt there would be no difficulty in this happening provided the USSR entered the war against Japan. This it did. Three days after the Japanese surrendered, the Soviets landed on the Kuriles, occupied them and by 1946 they were declared the property of the Soviet state. Japan was not a participant at Yalta - it was still waging war - and it attaches no relevance to the agreement made there. Russia holds that the agreement reached at Yalta is legally binding. In the mid-1950s, the Soviet Union agreed to hand over two of the islands to Japan, an agreement on which it reneged later when Japan signed a mutual cooperation and security agreement with the United States giving them the right to use their forces in any region of the Far East from Japanese territory. In the 1960s Japan started persistently demanding not only two islands but four. No final decision between the two countries was arrived at and the question remained unresolved with the Soviets still in possession of the islands. However, in 1969, all school maps in Japan mark the Kurils as Japanese territory, and since 1971 each February 7 is celebrated in Japan as the 'Day of the Northern Territories'. The situation always has been and remains highly complicated. Each side and its supporters air their own diverse views. But since 1945, Japan and Russia, though not having officially signed a peace treaty, have not gone to war, or threatened war. Today's position, as described by the Japanese government, is that the two countries are talking. In October 1993, President Boris Yeltsin visited Japan, drank saki, his hosts drank vodka, and they talked. At the end of 1994 the first deputy prime minister of Russia went to Japan and the two sides talked again. In April 1996, on the occasion of the Moscow Nuclear Safety Summit, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Yeltsin again talked. In 1997, a Japan-Russia summit was held on the occasion of the Denver Summit and the Russians and Japanese talked, and agreed to continue talking, which they consistently have done. In March 2001, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori visited Irkutsk and he and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked and agreed that a peace treaty should be concluded to resolve the issue of the four islands. Based on results so far achieved, the two countries continue to engage in vigorous negotiations to find a solution acceptable to both. Are we, Pakistan, now finally on the right tack? On the second day of his visit to Washington last week, President General Pervez Musharraf reiterated his determination to turn Pakistan into a "dynamic, liberal, progressive, peaceful and genuinely democratic Muslim country." Well done ! If we do manage to be 'turned', this should solve all our problems, including one main irritant - the issue of Kashmir. As for democracy, in 1997 the then democratic prime minister of Pakistan, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, took it upon himself to order that the Supreme Court be stormed by his democratic militants. The laws of this land and its courts were unable to convict him for his act. Yesterday morning we read how Chaudhry Shujaat, erstwhile democratic stalwart of Nawaz Sharif and his interior minister, stormed the parliament building and disrupted the working of the Public Accounts Committee - and this is the democrat who, it is said, is one of the main contenders to be selected as prime minister after the elections of October, 2002. Does he not warrant disqualification from even standing in the coming elections? To have democracy, the people of this country, all of them, must have respect for law and order and law and order will have to be imposed. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020220 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Can Musharraf be a 'legitimate' president? ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ashraf Mumtaz LAHORE, Feb 19: Gen Pervez Musharraf has various options to become president for the next five years, the simplest and easiest of them being an amendment to the constitution providing that he will be the first head of state after the ensuing elections, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Abid Hasan Minto said. However, Advocate Akram Sheikh, another former president of the SCBA, is of the view that no constitutional method is available to Gen Musharraf to become a legitimate president. Mr Minto told Dawn the constitutional method of electing a president was through parliament and the provincial assemblies, which formed the Electoral College. But, he said, the forum was available only to the candidates meeting the qualifications and incurring no disqualifications laid down in the constitution. Gen Musharraf, he said, did not fall in this category of candidates as being a serving general he could not take part in any election. To gain eligibility to become a candidate, Mr Minto said, he would have to amend the constitution, but such a course might kick off a new controversy whether a constitutional amendment to pave the way for Gen Musharraf's candidacy was within the parameters laid down by the Supreme Court judgement to bring any change to the basic law. Another method available to Gen Musharraf, he said, was that of a referendum, as resorted to by the late Gen Ziaul Haq. An overwhelming majority of people had not taken part in the December 1984 referendum, though the general still became the president, Mr Minto said. Gen Musharraf, he believed, had a different political and social attitude and was, therefore, unlikely to take such a "blatant" step. Instead, he said, a straight amendment could be made to the constitution laying down that Gen Musharraf would be the first president after the elections. In such an eventuality, he said, there would be no need for election to the top office. To 'democratize' the decision, he said, Gen Musharraf could obtain an approval from parliament. Election though local councils, Mr Minto said, was yet another passability. Such a course, though in conflict with the parliamentary system, he said, would amount almost to a direct election. The former Supreme Court Bar chief said since Gen Musharraf talked of striking a balance in the powers of the president and the Prime Minister, he could choose this route, since it offered a broader electoral college. Asked whether Gen Musharraf would be justified in seeking his election as president in the light of the parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in its May 2000 judgement validating the military take-over, Mr Minto said the general could argue that it would not be possible for him to implement his agenda unless he was in the saddle. In such situations, he said, reaction of the people and the attitude of political parties mattered most. In his opinion there was very little chance of significant resistance since all political parties were seeking adjustments. There was also no possibility of public agitation as people were more interested in the solution of their problems than the modalities used by somebody to have himself elected as president. He did not think that political parties would be able to oppose Gen Musharraf in their election campaign. Doing so would amount to contradicting the basis of their own participation in the elections under the "amended laws." Mr Akram Sheikh said that the Supreme Court had not allowed Gen Musharraf to make any amendment to the constitution, which changed its basis structure. Change of the electoral college for the president would be a fundamental change, not permissible under the apex court's judgment in the Syed Zafar Ali Shah case. This, he said, meant that Gen Musharraf could not have himself elected through a referendum either. Asked why Gen Musharraf could not opt for a referendum if it was a legitimate route for Gen Ziaul Haq, Mr Sheikh said not everything resorted to by the late Gen Zia had been fair and proper. He contended that a person elected president through a referendum could not be a symbol of the federation. Such a mode, he said, would also be questionable in the light of the Supreme Court verdict which had validated the military intervention. The local councils could also not be used as the electoral college for the president as the apex court had disallowed such a change in the constitution. Gen Musharraf, he said, could not seek election through parliament, as he was not qualified for the candidature. "All constitutional doors are closed for Gen Musharraf to have himself elected as president. As for the extra-constitutional avenues, they'll have to be validated by the parliament." Some political leaders say that in view of the tough positions taken by political parties against Gen Musharraf's status as president, it would not be easy to get enlist their support. Those extending support to the general at a later stage will be negating the position they have so far adhered to. All major parties taking part in the Dec 27 all party conference and the parties in the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy are opposed to the extra-constitutional steps taken so far by the military government. They demand that Gen Musharraf should step down as president and wind up the National Security Council. They also insist that the general has no right to amend the constitution, notwithstanding the Supreme Court's judgement to the contrary. Some people say that the candidates taking part in the October elections may be asked to file a declaration along with their nomination papers that in case they are elected, they'll not oppose Gen Musharraf as president. The idea is, however, still at the embryonic stage. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020222 ------------------------------------------------------------------- The spirit of Hamas ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ayaz Amir While the United States under the bizarre leadership of George Bush reads a lesson in misguided arrogance to the rest of the world, the Palestinian resistance, so long ineffectual, is demonstrating another lesson: that no matter what the odds, the spirit of resistance, once alive, is not easily crushed by bullets and tanks. Israel was the land of David. Under the weight of its armour - provided and held in place by its great provider, the United States - it has become the land of Goliath while the Palestinians find themselves in the role of David. On the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and indeed within Israel proper received wisdom is being defied. Taking advantage of September 11, Sharon was hoping to crush the Palestinians once and for all. Had it only been up to the discredited Arafat, Sharon might well have succeeded. But the torch of resistance has passed to a newer generation - led by the likes of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Brigade, the PFLP. The more force Israel uses, the stiffer becomes Palestinian resistance. When set against the deep silence emanating from the rest of the Muslim world, this struggle looks all the more striking. Tactics developed by Hezbollah in South Lebanon are now being tried on the Palestinian territories. Instead of targeting civilians, military targets are being hit. Just as David was not expected to hit Goliath on the forehead, the Palestinians were not supposed to hit anything as strong as an Israeli tank. But they have. They have also hit soldiers. Within Israel more and more voices are questioning the wisdom of a policy which, instead of destroying Palestinian resolve, is breeding more violence. But Israel is yet to get the measure of what it is up against. The ultimate affliction is death. If a people, reduced to despair, overcome the fear of death, as so many Palestinians have, it is they who become invincible, not the tanks of their oppressors. Haven't we seen the same thing happening before? In Algeria, Vietnam and a hundred other battlefields resolve (and better tactics, let us not forget) triumphed over brute force and mere firepower. Just because America possesses unparalleled technological superiority, it does not mean that the rules of human conduct stand altogether altered. What should one do in the face of oppression and injustice? Stand up to it or meekly accept it? What drove the Palestinians to violence? The futility of trying to talk peace with the Israelis. At Oslo the Palestinians got a truncated peace. Israel has been reluctant to give them even that. By any yardstick of international law, Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal. Yet successive Israeli governments, ever keen to create new facts on the ground, have protected them. What should the Palestinians do? What drove the Kashmiris to take up the gun? Not the ISI, as popular legend in India would have everyone believe, but the futility of expecting justice from India. For the Palestinians as much as for the Kashmiris, the gun was the tactic of last resort, taken up when everything else had failed. Both Israel and India have sought to exploit September 11, the one by trying to crush the Palestinians, the other by driving Pakistan into a corner over militancy in Kashmir. The Israelis have clearly failed in their aim, the Indians have partially succeeded because a weak Pakistan, afraid of losing American favour, for all practical purposes has ditched the Kashmiri resistance. In this turnaround, Pakistan is thrice at fault. First it tried to take over the Kashmiri jihad which it shouldn't have. Then it was guilty of mismanagement, especially in the last two years, by making a public spectacle of jihad. Iran and Syria support the Palestinian resistance. But they don't proclaim their support from the housetops. Discretion of this sort has never come easily to us. Just as we made a spectacle of our nuclear programme, proclaiming its prowess before all and sundry, we did the same with Kashmir, thus blowing our cover and exposing our involvement. We also lacked the courage of our convictions. When the US turned the screws on us, and India started a military build-up on our borders, we panicked and cracked down on the very forces we had till then encouraged. Caving in to American pressure was nothing new for us. We have done it all the time. Succumbing to Indian pressure in this manner was a novel experience. Why did we do this? To what purpose or gain? The US has praised General Musharraf to the skies, as well it might because he unquestioningly accepted every demand put to him. Since American support matters in a country where begging and looking up to foreigners are the leading national pastimes, Gen Musharraf no doubt has emerged a stronger figure from these events. But what, apart from crumbs, has the country gained from this show of unblinking loyalty? Money can compensate for a loss of dignity, at least to some extent. This is the bargain every man strikes when he enters into the service of another. But great services rendered, as done by Pakistan, in return for very little reflects smartly neither on the country nor its rulers. Of course there is no shortage of people in Pakistan who say we had no choice but to submit because refusal would have meant diverting American wrath in our direction. For foolish fears not even Hakim Luqman had a remedy. But for argument's sake even if we accept that this threat was real, we should have looked it in the eye. Our main problem has never been Kashmir, Afghanistan, too much religion or even a lack of money. It has been a want of spirit and national dignity. We only talk big. We have never learnt to act big. Suffering is often a great catharsis. Such is the history of the human race that only through wars and revolutions has the steel of a nation been tempered. Western civilization is as much a story of science and inventiveness as of wars of greed and conquest. The making of America, the birth of the first nation-states in Europe, the making of Germany, the rise of Japan, all took place to the steady beat of martial drums. We are a flabby nation which has never been through much (defeat in East Pakistan having taken place at a distance). Defying America, or at least not succumbing to its threats and blackmail so readily, would have done us good. But this is water under the bridge. Let us retrieve what we still can from our headlong retreat. Even as we adjust to the new circumstances let us honour and not revile those who were true to their beliefs and put their lives at stake for the freedom of Kashmir. They did not invent violence there. They reacted to Indian oppression. What would we have had them do? It is easy saying Kashmir runs in our blood, as most of us are wont to do. It is harder laying our lives on the line. We are the victims of a foolish logic in Pakistan. We think that the resources spent in defence of the Kashmir cause are resources taken away from economic development. We can be at total peace with India today and yet, such has become the state of our nation, national resources will still be diverted to preserving the privileges and lifestyles of the richer classes. Is it because of Kashmir that there is one education system for the rich and another for the poor? Is it because of Kashmir that nothing gets taught in our colleges and universities and no research is done? In Europe imperialism and the industrial revolution marched hand-in-hand. While being at war nations have not forgotten how to be inventive and resourceful at the same time. Thus has the human race advanced. Is it because of Kashmir that the rich in Pakistan live one way and the poor another? Is our corruption and maladministration because of Kashmir? And now that we have turned the word 'jihadi' almost into a term of abuse, does it mean that all our problems will disappear and we will soon enter a brave new world? Only a nation whose soul is tempered can reach out for the stars. Nations bent to the habits of servitude can amount to nothing even if all the world's oil wells are placed at their disposal. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020223 ------------------------------------------------------------------- What goes around, comes around ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Irfan Husain Sympathy, like a welcome, wears thin with abuse. While much of the world shared America's grief after the horror of September 11 and was largely supportive of its campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, very few people are cheering President Bush on as he prepares to battle his "axis of evil." The truth is that the first phase of America's "war against terrorism" was not seriously opposed because of the odious nature of its enemies. Neither Mulla Omar's Taliban nor Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda had succeeded in winning hearts and minds as the former oppressed their fellow Afghans and the latter spread death and distress in many countries. Given the ugly nature of both organizations as well as the symbiotic relationship between them, not many tears were shed as they were bombed into oblivion. Even when evidence of significant casualties among innocent Afghans started piling up, many of us considered this a sad but necessary price for getting rid of this malign cancer that had begun infecting the body politic of Pakistan. Even though we all knew the so-called coalition was in reality a fig-leaf for the mighty American forces that pounded the Taliban into submission and dispersed and destroyed Al Qaeda, we played along with the innocent deception as we thought that in this case, the Americans had a moral justification for the use of overwhelming force. But now that the Afghan campaign is virtually over, we find ourselves on the verge of a series of American-initiated wars without end. Although the United States is militarily more than capable of waging them without allies, it will nevertheless seek international support despite the feeble protests over Bush's "axis of evil" speech. Currently, even Tony Blair, that most allied of allies, is distancing himself from the extreme American position. Nevertheless, once the shooting stats, there is no doubt that the mantra of "If you aren't with us, you are against us" will be invoked and many reluctant countries will fall in line. It is an indisputable fact that the American preponderance over the rest of the world has reached a point where it can afford to act unilaterally anywhere. The United States today spends 40% of the entire world's defence expenditure on its armed forces; and this will go up if Bush's request for an increase of $43 billion for the defence budget is approved by Congress. Any one of its several naval battle groups can devastate entire continents; and there are currently three of them near our shores. In terms of sheer firepower as well as military technology, the Americans now outgun the rest of the world put together. Does this mean that everybody else has been reduced to the status of targets, neutral spectators or fawning assistants? It is clear that the stunning success of its campaign in Afghanistan has bred a kind of hubris in Washington. The right-wing cabal surrounding Bush and dominating the defence department has seen that they have succeeded in meeting most of their war aims without any losses to speak of. Equally importantly, the feared explosion of anger in the streets of Muslim countries turned out to be a damp squib. Now, by drawing a bead on Iraq, Iran and North Korea, the Bush administration is seeking to complete its global dominance. The thing these countries have in common is not terrorism but a track record of defiance of the American diktat. And here lies the major difference between Afghanistan and the "axis of evil": while much of the world was convinced of Al Qaeda's hand in the September 11 attacks, nobody really believes that Tehran, Baghdad or Pyongyang was involved. It would appear that Iraq is first on the list for its alleged attempts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Considering that Saddam Hussein was supplied with all kinds of western arms and technology in his decade-long war against Iran, and nobody in Washington or London turned a hair when he used poison gas against Iranians and his own Kurds, it seems a bit hypocritical to use this as a pretext. In any case, UN inspectors have spent nearly a decade trying to locate any weapons not destroyed in the Gulf War; if such weapons are still concealed, these inspectors should be sacked for incompetence. If and when a campaign against Iraq is launched, it will be far longer and bloodier than the one against the Taliban rabble, specially as its stated aim is 'regime change'. As the collateral damage rises, so will the temperature in Arab streets. This anger is likely to turn against the corrupt leaders in much of the Arab world who rely on American support to stay in power. But so confident are Bush and his advisers that they and their creatures in the Middle East will ride out the storm that they are seemingly going ahead with planning the Iraqi campaign. And given the general apathy in the face of the Israeli excesses being committed against Palestinians, the Americans might well be right in their calculation. But as the Israelis are learning to their cost, overwhelming military superiority is not always enough to win a war, specially when the victims are close enough to retaliate. Both the Gulf War and the Afghan campaign were waged far from American shores, giving the losers little opportunity to strike back. This is particularly true in the new strategy of using precision-guided munitions launched from a distance. However, most military planners have absorbed the lessons from these campaigns and will be thinking of dispersing and concealing potential targets. The most crucial lesson strategists will have learned is that a conventional set-piece battle against American forces is tantamount to suicide. Without the counterweight of a competing superpower like the ex-Soviet Union, the Americans are indeed masters of all they survey, having attained "full-spectrum dominance" over the rest of the world. The question before those wishing to challenge this hegemony is how to strike at America without becoming sitting ducks themselves. They will no doubt conclude that a kind of global guerrilla warfare against "soft" American targets of the kind waged by Al Qaeda is the only option. It will be ironic if the "war against terrorism" and the threatened campaign against the "axis of evil" give rise to a greater wave of terrorist attacks against American targets.
SPORTS 20020218 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hooper gains consolation victory for West Indies ------------------------------------------------------------------- SHARJAH, Feb 17: Carl Hooper played a captain's knock of 112 not out as the West Indies gained a consolation 110-run victory over Pakistan in the third and final one-dayer. Hooper's seventh one-day century helped the West Indies pile up 260-5, before Pakistan were shot out for 150 in 40.2 overs in the inconsequential last match. Hooper smashed eight boundaries and four sixes, sharing a 154-run stand for the fifth wicket with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (67), after the West Indies were reduced to 61-4. Pakistani captain Waqar Younis claimed two wickets, including the one of Darren Ganga off the third ball of the match. Faced with a target of 5.22 runs an over under lights, Pakistan never recovered after the early loss of openers Shahid Afridi and Naved Latif. Afridi was caught at square-leg off Pedro Collins in the second over and Naved Latif fell in the third, trapped leg- before by Mervyn Dillon. Half the Pakistani side was back in the pavilion by the 23rd over with only 86 on the board. Shoaib Malik, who hit an unbeaten century Friday, made 37 when he was sixth out, bowled by Hooper, to make it 91-6. Inzamam-ul-Haq, dropped to number seven due to his poor form, appeared to be settling in when he was bowled for 21, trying to play a reverse sweep off part-time spinner Chris Gayle. Gayle also took the last three wickets, including Rashid Latif for 37, to finish with a career-best 4-19. Pakistan return home Tuesday to prepare for the final of the Asian Test Championship against Sri Lanka, scheduled to start in Lahore March 6. The West Indies next host India for five Tests and as many internationals from April 11. -AFP/Reuters DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020219 ------------------------------------------------------------------- New Zealand manager to revisit Pakistan ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sports Reporter KARACHI, Feb 18: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said it has decided to send Black Caps managers Jeff Crowe to assess the situation in Pakistan before deciding on rescheduling the cancelled tour. According to a media statement, Crowe will arrive in Pakistan immediately after the one-day series against England and will return prior to the first Test. The five-match one-day series concludes on Feb 26 at Dunedin. The first Test begins March 13 at Christchurch. NZC said the offer to send a envoy to Pakistan was made by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). "The Board has decided to accept an invitation from the Pakistan Cricket Board provided concerns about player safety can be satisfied." NZC said Crowe would investigate any issues that might hinder the tour of Pakistan between April 20 and May 18. The proposed tour would encompass two or three Tests and three one-day internationals. Martin Snedden, the NZC chief executive, said: "New Zealand Cricket has received assurances from the Pakistan Cricket Board and directly from the Pakistan Government that player safety will not be compromised while the team is in Pakistan. "We believe it would also be sensible to send our own envoy to Pakistan to discuss security arrangements. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020220 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shoaib not reported in Sharjah: ICC ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sports Reporter KARACHI, Feb 19: The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the officials of the Sharjah Test series have not expressed any concerns on the bowling action of Shoaib Akhtar. "So far, there has been no report from Sharjah about Shoaib Akhtar's action," the ICC said in a statement to Dawn. There were serious doubts about the future of Shoaib, particularly after Darrell Hair was appointed ICC umpire for the second Test. Hair blew the whistle on Shoaib when he reported him for a suspect bowling action during the Perth Test in 1999. Since then, Shoaib has been reported twice - both last year - and faces the possibility of being banned from international cricket for a year. However, team sources did confirm that an ICC umpire and match referee did see Shoaib's action in slow motions. Nevertheless, not reporting his action to the ICC leads to the conclusion that two ICC umpires and Mike Denness have officially given clean sheet to the controversial fast bowler who did bowl pretty well in the desert city. The PCB chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia last week had expressed fears that Shoaib would be reported again, particularly after he started taking wickets and the World Cup just round the corner. Tauqir had further threatened that if Shoaib was reported or called, the team would be withdrawn from the field and the tour would be aborted immediately. However, aborting tour seems highly unlikely as Pakistan's next off-shore assignment is in September in Sri Lanka (ICC KnockOut tournament) and the crucial African safari that leads up to next February's World Cup. Former Test umpire Mahboob Shah who is also the chairman of the National Umpiring Council, however, said both the umpires were entitled to call or report any bowler for suspect bowling action. "Although the square-leg umpire is in better position to judge the bowling action, either umpire can report the matter to the match referee," he said. He was commenting on the basis that from April, both third country umpires would officiate Test matches. In Sharjah, Shoaib bowled from Hair's end. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020223 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shahbaz brings special flavour to World Cup: ------------------------------------------------------------------- KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22: Veteran Shahbaz Ahmed hopes to turn the clock back by eight years as he comes out of retirement to lead Pakistan's campaign in field hockey's World Cup. The mercurial 36-year-old makes a comeback to the international arena at an age when others would be happy to bask in past glory and leave the stage to younger, fitter players. But Shahbaz is not taking his return lightly. He wants to spearhead Pakistan's fifth World Cup title, just as he had done in Sydney way back in 1994. Then, he was the star striker who ran circles around the rival defence. Now older and wiser, Shahbaz prefers to marshall his players from the midfield, creating moves and making spaces for the juniors. "I know there are many who feel I am too old to play the World Cup, but I am serious about this one," said the oldest player in the 16- nation tournament. "Frankly, I have nothing to prove to anyone. But there is the itch to go out there and help Pakistan win the World Cup again." If Pakistani manager Khalid Khokhar is to be believed, Shahbaz could emerge as the star of the tournament. "Don't write the man off," Khokhar warned. I compare him to salt which gives good taste and flavour to food. Shahbaz adds flavour to the Pakistan team. "We would be bland without him. His presence alone is enough to inspire team-mates to give their best." Not only did Shahbaz put aside the rustiness of a two-year retirement, he also took up the mantle of coach alongside former international Hanif Khan. Khokhar said having Shahbaz as a player- coach had it's advantages. "We do not have to shout from the sidelines now," the manager said. "Shahbaz is there to take charge. He is the commander of the team." Pakistan, who also won the World Cup in 1971, 1978 and 1982, finished fifth in the last edition in the Netherlands in 1998. Pakistan came fourth in the Sydney Olympics, but showed they would be a force to reckon with in the World Cup by winning a six-nation tournament here last month. "The important thing is to finish among the top two in the league group and make the semi-finals," Shahbaz said. "Then anything can happen." Pakistan are drawn in Pool 'A' - widely regarded as the group of death due the calibre of competition - alongside defending champions Holland, strong challengers Germany and Argentina, Spain, South Africa, Belgium and New Zealand. The relatively easier Pool 'B' has Pakistan's arch-rivals India, Australia, South Korea, Japan, England, Poland, Cuba and hosts Malaysia. "It does not matter which pool you are in, the competition will be very tough for all," Shahbaz said. "This tournament could spring many surprises." Pakistan take on South Africa in their first match Sunday.-AFP ------------------------------------------------------------------- You can subscribe to DWS by sending an email to <subscribe.dws@dawn.com>, with the following text in the BODY of your message: subscribe dws To unsubscribe, send an email to <unsubscribe.dws@dawn.com>, with the following in the BODY of you message: unsubscribe dws ------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to the top.
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