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90 killed as Al Qaeda suicide squads strike Riyadh

          Riyadh, May 13: Suspected Al Qaeda suicide bombers struck Saudi Arabian Capital city of Riyadh on Tuesday night, killing more than 90 people, including 10 to 12 Americans, according to US State Department officials. Cars packed with explosives rammed through housing compounds for Westerners before midnight, leaving behind a trail of rubble and mangled vehicles in their wake. The attacks took place just two weeks after the US pulled out troops from the kingdom following the defeat of Saddam Hussein in neighbouring Iraq.  (Contd)

PM on a week-long holiday in Manali

          Manali, May 13: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Tuesday arrived for a week-long holiday at Manali hill resort in northern Himachal Pradesh. Vajpayee was received at the airport by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and other dignitaries. He would be spending his vacation with his foster daughter Namita Bhattacharya and other members of the family. Thousands of policemen have been mobilized in Manali to provide a tight security cover to the prime minister. Special telephone lines have also been installed at his farm house.

         According to an agency report, Vajpayee said talks between India and Pakistan could not begin till cross-border terrorism is put to an end and terrorist infrastructure in that country dismantled. Last month, Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali spoke over telephone in a bid to improve relations. Both countries have since announced resumption of full diplomatic ties and restoration of air links.

Pakistan denies move to 'freeze' Kashmir issue (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, May 13: Pakistan will not agree to "freeze" the Kashmir issue in preference to economic and commercial relations in any possible future talks on normalization of relations with India. This was stated by Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan during his weekly briefing on Monday when he stressed that talks with India would be composite where all contentious issues, topped by Jammu and Kashmir as the core issue, would be taken up together by both sides. He explained that a step-by-step approach to the talks implied that the issues would be discussed at various tiers by officials.

          Khan refuted suggestions that Islamabad might "freeze" the Kashmir issue and instead take up economic and commercial relations first to revive bilateral relations with India. For Islamabad, he said, the Kashmir dispute remained as the core issue, adding that the Kashmir issue "has to be resolved by the people of Kashmir principally in accordance with their wishes and that is the whole core point of the Kashmir dispute". The spokesman said that President Pervez Musharraf's projected official visit to Washington at the invitation of President George W Bush early next month would lead to a comprehensive dialogue between the two leaders without any fixed agenda. He indicated the talks would obviously include bilateral relations, relations between Islamabad and New Delhi, the fight against terrorism, and the regional scenario.

          When asked about various news reports concerning a new Pakistani high commissioner in New Delhi, Khan said there had been no decision yet though the matter was under consideration. He urged the media to avoid indulging in "kite-flying". Khan said Pakistan was waiting for "a signal" from New Delhi for a dialogue to start and Islamabad was all set for a resumption of talks after a lapse of 17 months. He hoped that the talks would start very soon.

Jihad only way to pressurize India, say Pak militants (Go To Top)

          Lahore, May 13: Harkat-ul-Mujahideen is one militant group which does not feel optimistic about new Indo-Pak peace moves. "This time will be no different from the failed efforts of the past", according to a source in HUM which attended a meeting of other militant groups at Muzzaffarabad in PoK on Monday, reports Gulf News. This statement eches the views shared by the other groups and elements within establishment circles, who say "jihad" is essential to "keep pressure" on India.

          The newspaper also quoted sources as saying that "this pressure is also on Musharraf" to keep the jihad going. Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, former head of the Lashkar-e-Taiyaba, said in Lahore that the recent talks offer from India was an attempt to work out the US agenda in the region. "America wants to get control of some peaks in Kashmir to monitor the area and to put pressure in the region. It wants to solve this long-standing issue between Pakistan and India for its own interests," he reportedly said.

          Saeed declared: "Mujahideen are not bound to leave the jihad on Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri's request", adding that instead of talking about the issue with a few politicians, the government should take the whole nation into confidence. He also claimed that he was "reflecting the opinion of most jihadis" involved in the cause. "All the nation is raising its voice for the legitimate right of Kashmiris but the rulers are speaking for Americans. The Pakistani government should keep in mind the prime interest of the country, not of any other power," Saeed said.

          Jihad, according to Saeed, is the only way to bring India to the negotiating table and force it to act according to the UN resolutions. Summer is the season of jihad as Mujahideen launch vigorous attacks during this period, he stressed. A middle rung leader of the Badrul Mujahideen emphasised that "we are committed to fighting for Kashmiris at all costs." Gulf News further quoted sources as suggesting that other rebel groups, at the meeting of commanders, also underlined that they were "ready to fight on" and saw the approaching summer as "the right time for this." At the Lahore meeting, leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) also rejected the peace moves, and said "only jihad could guarantee world peace."

Infiltration a little down, says Fernandes (Go To Top)

          Bangalore, May 13: Defence Minister George Fernandes said on Tuesday infiltration from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir had come down. Speaking to reporters in Bangalore after attending a function of the golden jubilee of state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Fernandes said he wasn't sure if it could go up in future. "I have always said that infiltration has its ups and downs. At the moment it is a little down but that does not mean that tomorrow it may not go up," he said.

          Fernandes' statement came a week after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, on his visit to the sub-continent, said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had promised to close down all militant training camps in Pakistan-controlled-Kashmir. India insists infiltration must stop completely and Pakistan dismantle militant training camps before the resumption of any dialogue between the nuclear neighbours.

Tape 'indicates' Saddam may be alive (Go To Top)

          Sydney, May 13: Is Saddam Hussein still alive? Well, may be. A cassette tape acquired by the Age provides a cautious affirmation upon careful analysis. There is a better than 50 per cent chance that the voice on the tape, purporting to contain a recent address by him to the Iraqi people, is that of the dictator, according to Melbourne linguist Fethi Mansouri, senior lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at Deakin University.

          The tape, handed to Age correspondent Ed O'Loughlin, was a 15- minute speech with a tired-sounding voice calling on Iraqis to wage an underground war against the US-led occupying forces "to face these invaders and kick them out from Iraq". It includes specific references to events since the fall of the regime and makes the claim: "I am talking to you from inside great Iraq." O'Loughlin played the tape to more than a dozen Iraqis, including a judge, a professor of law and a former acquaintance of Saddam Hussein in exile. Most were overwhelmingly of the opinion that the voice and rhetoric were very similar or identical to those of the erstwhile strongman.

          In Melbourne last week, Dr Mansouri conducted a number of laboratory tests on the tape, comparing it with a control sample of a Saddam speech. He subjected the tape to spectrogram and amplitude analysis and judgement by Arabic speakers and expert phoneticians. His conclusions were that all the various analyses indicate strong similarities between the voices on the two tapes "in terms of rhetorical choices, tone of speech, accent and intensity".

Severe heat wave grips Orissa (Go To Top)

          Bhubaneswar, May 13: A severe heat wave sweeping Orissa has reportedly claimed at least three lives over the last few weeks. The temperature has been hovering between 42 and 45 degrees Celsius in many regions including Titilagarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Bolangir. Ground water levels have fallen in several places, causing shortage of drinking water. With temperatures soaring, residents in state capital Bhubaneswar said they find it difficult to venture out of their houses. "For the past two to three days, it's been really hot here. It gets worse in the afternoons. We find it difficult to venture out of the house in this scorching heat," said SK Mishra, a resident. A 65-year-old man reportedly died due to sunstroke in Nayagarh district last week. Two more deaths were reported later from the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur and the western district of Dhenkanal. In 1999, 2000 and 2001 the number of heat wave deaths were 91, 29 and 25 respectively.

CMs discuss Sarkaria panel recommendations (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, May 13: Chief ministers from seven states and representatives from two states attended the standing committee meeting of the Inter-State Council presided over by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani. The meeting deliberated on the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission which had spelt out the power sharing equation between the states and the federal government.

          Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Advani said chief ministers demanded scrapping of Article 365 which envisages federal action against states flouting its orders. Articles 256 and 257 of Constitution empower the federal government to give directions to state governments on all issues. But the federal government's directions are binding on states under Article 365. "Failure to comply with any directions of the union government under articles 256 and 257 can be regarded by the Central government as breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state. So one opinion was that you delete article 365. Articles 256 and 257 should remain. Secondly, the central government should be empowered to issue directions but 365 should not be there and omit it," said Advani.

          Advani said the meeting also decided to accept Sarkaria Commission's recommendation to have prior consultation with the state governments before deploying armed forces suo moto in aid of civil power. "I think that the Constitution as it is today is fine. The responsibilities not even in respect of external aggression but even in respect of internal disturbances, the central government can not absolve it of its duties and furthermore the Sarkaria Commission has recommended that states must be consulted. We agree to this," said Advani.

          Of the 247 recommendations made by the Commission, the council has already taken decisions on 230 recommendations. The remaining 17 recommendations relating to administrative relations, emergency provisions and deployment of armed forces were discussed during the meeting. Most of the states demanded their rights to be protected, in case of a confrontation with the federal government.

Free monthly phone calls restored (Go To Top)

           New Delhi, May 13: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) on Tuesday announced a partial rollback in telephone tariffs by increasing the number of free calls per month. While BSNL increased free calls from 50 to 75 for rural subscribers and 30 to 50 for urban subscribers, MTNL announced 60 free calls against 30. BSNL also halved landline call charges to cellphones to Rs 1.20 per minute instead of Rs 1.20 for 30 seconds. However, there would be no change in MTNL's tariff for calls from landline to cellphone.

Al Qaeda suicide squads strike Riyadh (Go To Top)

          (Contd) US Secretary of State Colin Powell on arrival here from Jordan said he saw Al Qaeda hand in the blasts and said: "Terrorism is the number one priority of all of us and we will not rest until we have dealt with this threat to all of us." Powell said the attacks had the hallmarks of Saudi-born Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities. Powell added that 10 Americans and many more foreigners were among the dead.

          A Saudi medical source said earlier at least 25 people had been killed. The statement gave a breakdown of the victims' nationalities as follows: two Jordanian children, two Filipinos, one Lebanese, one Swiss, seven Saudis and seven Americans. "Twenty people were killed in the car bombs in Riyadh last night," said an Interior Ministry statement read out on state television. "Nine charred bodies were also found at the sites and they are believed to be those of the terrorists." The statement also said 194 people had been wounded in the simultaneous massive car bomb blasts.

          There had been warnings of attacks on Westerners in the kingdom. Al Qaeda has been accused of previous bombings in pursuit of demands that non-Muslim American troops leave Saudi soil. Australia said one of its citizens was also killed.

          Prince Nayef linked the blasts to a fugitive group of 19 suspected Al Qaeda sympathisers, mainly Saudis, who disappeared in the Saudi capital on May 6. The Interior Ministry said police had also found a huge cache of explosives, hand grenades, ammunition and machineguns. A US official who declined to be identified said there had been at least four bombs. Witnesses earlier said they had heard three blasts, which sent fire balls into the night sky above the Gharnata, Ishbiliya and Cordoba compounds. The official's count included a housing compound for a joint Western-Saudi company.

          Cars and pickup trucks, badly twisted and still smouldering, littered the three compounds which housed villas and four-storey blocks. Many balconies were blown off, their truncated steel girders jutting out. The bombs gouged massive holes in walls and brought down roofs.