updated 6-11-04
PAKISTAN
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| 11-23-99 - DREAM - I went to visit my sons Ken and Tom who were college
age, somewhere between 19 and 21. (In real life they are 40 and 41 years
old) The house was perfectly clean when I got there and they were in their
room studying. I could only see their right arms as they sat at their desk.
They both wore red and black plaid flannel long sleeved shirts. I was amazed
how clean the house was, the livingroom floor was grass green shag rug. Their
father's new girlfriend, who was tall and thin with black hair was there
visiting also. I got upset that she knew more about what they were doing
than I did. I found out that my son Ken had bought tickets for him and his
wife Debe to fly to Pakistan as part of a fact finding group at 6 p.m. the
same day. (The visit was taking place about 8 a.m.) He was going as part
of a war prevention group. Ken came and stood in front of me as he told me
that he had bought the tickets. I never saw his face... only the red and
black paid shirt and blue jeans. He said he had gotten a ticket with
a coupon for Debe because it wasn't known yet if wives could go along.
I was very upset that this was happening and the black haired woman said, "We've known this was going to happen for a whole year already." I then saw a newspaper article in the newspaper. It was on page 2 near the center fold in a long narrow column. The headline said, "A FACT FINDING GROUP HEADING TO PAKISTAN." The article was about the group going to study the situation and try to prevent a war. I was so upset by this news I woke up with a horrible headache in the back of my head. Strange thing... it only lasted 10 minutes. The name Kenneth means "Royal Obligation" and the name Deborah means "bee". (Bees sting) (Thomas...who wasn't going along means 'twin'. (Recall "doubting Thomas" from the Bible".) |
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| DREAM - 8-18-2001 - I was sitting in a small office, observing a man
in his 30's teach a young 10 year old boy how to do simple bookkeeping.
Everything that was purchased had a receipt and the amount was written in a ledger book. Then the boss would come over and initial both the receipt and the line in the book to show that he had seen both of them. A reference was made as to how old 58 years old seems to an 18 year old girl and how long it takes to get to that age. Then when the 58 years old person looks back at when they were 18, it seems like only yesterday. A woman came in with a load of groceries she had just purchased. (On television, she plays the part of the Palace innkeeper on One Life to Live) She said, "I just paid $1,000 for food that is going to cost $4780 later. (That's an increase of 478%) I marveled that she could know the price would increase that much in the future. Back at the workbench where the man was sitting on a high stool, he said to us, "The parts are starting to come in now for the machine I will build." I was then shown a machine that traced lines on a long strip of paper that showed 'future' sound. Again, I marveled at the possibility of a machine that could sense ' future ' sound. I looked at the strip of paper and the huge dark bulge in the noise level the machine was measuring in the future. As I woke up, a male voice said, "Pakistan is preparing now for a future war. It would behoove others to prepare as well." |
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NEWS
Friday August 17 6:33 AM ET Six Killed in Violence in India's Restive Kashmir JAMMU, India (Reuters) - Six people have been killed in two separate incidents in India's revolt-racked Kashmir region where violence has soared since last month's fruitless talks between India and Pakistan, police said on Friday. A police spokesman said Indian border guards early on Friday killed three guerrillas who had sneaked into Indian-administered Kashmir from Pakistan. The militants were killed near the international border in Jammu district's Sudhwaan area, 25 miles southwest of Jammu, the winter capital of the strife-torn Himalayan state. In another incident, three people including two soldiers were killed on Thursday evening in a clash between securitymen and Muslim separatist rebels in Udhampur district, about 40 miles east of Jammu. Police said a commander of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, Abu Saifulla, was killed in the incident. Violence has surged in Kashmir since the summit between the leaders of India and Pakistan ended in deadlock over the Kashmir dispute. India blames Pakistan for backing the rebels in the Himalayan region. Pakistan denies the accusation and says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to the separatists. The two nuclear-capable neighbors have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947. Authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in the region since the rebellion broke out in late 1989. Separatists put the toll closer to 80,000.
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| Saturday August 18 10:00 AM ET
Germ Warfare Negotiators Give Up By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer GENEVA (AP) - Negotiators from 60 countries labored late into the night to salvage six years of work to create a way to enforce a ban on germ warfare - but hit an impasse early Saturday over assigning blame for the breakdown, diplomats said. Cuba and Iran led nonaligned nations in seeking to fix blame on the United States, which shocked fellow negotiators at the start of the four-week round of talks by declaring a draft proposal unacceptable and refusing to negotiate further on it. The Western group of nations refused to blame the United States in a final report on the talks. ``Unfortunately, because of this issue, it was impossible to agree on the whole of the report,'' said Tibor Toth, the Hungarian diplomat who has been chairing the negotiations since they began in January 1995. ``We were very, very close.'' Diplomats said the focus now shifts to this fall's U.N. General Assembly. Parts of the draft protocol will be preserved for possible negotiations in the future, Toth said. Negotiators have been trying to put teeth into the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, a Cold War-era treaty that lacks a mechanism to enforce the ban - in part because no one seriously thought any country would try to use germ warfare. Iraq's germ warfare arsenal in the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) prompted nations to begin talks on creating a way to enforce the ban. Most of the countries had accepted the compromise text put forward by Toth. But six key nations - China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Cuba and Iran - said there would have to be some modifications. Those negotiations never got under way. At the start of this round of talks, the United States abruptly rejected the 210-page draft protocol that was six years in the making, saying it would be ineffective in stopping countries from developing biological weapons. The United States said the proposal, which includes limited inspections of biotech industries and defense facilities, would pose risks to U.S. national security and to commercial secrets of the U.S. biotech industry, the largest in world. Washington promised to come up with other ideas on how to enforce the ban on germ warfare, and many delegates said they were awaiting those proposals. Meanwhile, negotiators got stuck writing the report on the talks, usually a routine process - an indication of how deeply divided they remain. The nonaligned nations dropped their demand that blame be stated in the report itself, but insisted that the national speeches delivered during the session - including the U.S. denunciation of the compromise - be attached to the report. The next step is liable to be the U.N. General Assembly meeting this fall, said Toth. The assembly has routinely passed a resolution supporting efforts to enforce the ban on biological weapons. ``It will be a continuation of this discussion in a different forum. The U.N. General Assembly is not a negotiating forum,'' he said. Toth said he has had no indication that any countries are considering a move recommended by some disarmament campaigners who have urged the world to bypass the United States and create an enforcement mechanism as they did last month with an agreement to fight global warming after Washington withdrew. Another chance for advancement comes in November, when the 143 nations that have ratified the accord gather in Geneva to review what has happened over the past five years, Toth said. ``Hopefully there will have to be some ideas how to overcome an impasse, because there is a certain impasse - it is absolutely clear,'' he said. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
| Wednesday August 15 8:36 AM ET
Kashmir Violence Overshadows Indian Anniversary By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India marked Independence Day in characteristic fashion Wednesday, slamming old foe Pakistan over disputed Kashmir where separatist violence killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens. With security tight at flashpoints around the country, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (news - web sites) accused Pakistan's military ruler of wrecking peace hopes by harping on Kashmir when the two men met for summit talks last month. ``We believe in friendship of the people of the two countries and all-round relations, but Pervez Musharraf was not interested in this,'' Vajpayee said. ``He came with a one-point agenda of Kashmir and he wanted to...call terrorists 'freedom fighters'. All this was not acceptable to us. ``Pakistan should stop believing it can gain Kashmir through terrorism,'' said the prime minister, speaking from behind a bullet-proof glass screen on the soaring ramparts of the 17th-century Red Fort in the Indian capital as the country marked its 55th Independence Day. The two countries were born at midnight, August 15, 1947, when the former British colony was partitioned into mostly Hindu India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan. Within months, they were fighting over Kashmir, the first of their three wars since independence. And Wednesday, the bloodshed continued. Separatist guerrillas killed seven people, including five Hindus, in Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir state where violence has surged since the summit. A grenade explosion in Indian Kashmir's Kupwara district on the border with Pakistan wounded 18 people, including some children, just as they ended an independence day function. The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility. A land mine went off later in the remote Doda region wounding seven policemen on patrol duty. A district commissioner narrowly escaped another land mine which exploded in Anantnag district. STRIKE CALL Indian forces killed three rebels in a gunbattle in the Poonch region, some 155 miles north of Jammu, winter capital of the state. Srinagar, Kashmir's main city, was deserted but for the troops who patrolled the streets after the region's main separatist alliance called for a strike. The July 15-16 summit in the Indian city of Agra -- the first between the nuclear-capable neighbors in more than two years -- ended without even a joint declaration. Vajpayee pointed to the post-Agra rash of violence by Islamic guerrillas in Indian Kashmir that has killed some 300 people, many of them civilians in Hindu-dominated Jammu province. ``What kind of jihad (holy war) is this? Whose freedom struggle is this? Whose battle are these militants fighting? ``As far as talks with Pakistan are concerned, India wants to continue with the peace process. But in Jammu and Kashmir, we will spare no effort to crush Pakistan-backed terrorism.'' Islamabad denies sponsoring the 12-year-old insurgency against Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, saying it provides only moral and diplomatic support to an indigenous struggle for self-determination. Watched by millions on a live television broadcast, Vajpayee unfurled a petal-filled Indian tricolor at the fort, where -- until 1947 -- the Union Jack had proclaimed a British dominion. Pakistan celebrated its independence anniversary on Tuesday. Authorities tightened security around New Delhi, Kashmir and the insurgency-racked northeastern corner of the country to stave off the customary Independence Day attacks by guerrillas, who had -- as usual -- called for a boycott of the festivities. Ethnic minority guerrillas struck in the northeastern state of Tripura killing three people Tuesday night, police said. Air Force choppers buzzed over the Red Fort, police marksmen watched from nearby rooftops and a sea of security force personnel kept close watch on the crowd amid fears militants could launch suicide bomb attacks. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved |
| Monday August 13 3:11 PM ET
Pakistan Market Bombing Kills Three QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - A powerful bomb ripped through a crowded market in the province of Baluchistan Monday, killing three people and injuring 16 others, police said. The bomb, the second to rock Pakistan in as many days, was hidden in a bicycle parked in a crowded shopping area in Quetta, the Baluchistan provincial capital. There was no claim of responsibility for the explosion. ``It's too early to say who was behind the explosion, but we are investigating every possibility,'' said Quetta Police Chief Syed Kamal Shah. Last Saturday in Gujrat in eastern Punjab province a powerful bomb killed seven people, most of them children. The bomb destroyed a school van, killing five members of the same family. Another seven people were injured in that explosion. No one took responsibility for that explosion and so far no arrests have been made. Dozens of deadly bombings have rocked Pakistan in recent months. Pakistan routinely blames its uneasy neighbor India. The two countries also blame each other for acts of sabotage. India and Pakistan have fought three wars in the last 54 years - two of them over the disputed Kashmir (news - web sites) region. Both countries claim the entire Kashmir, which is divided between the two.
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| Tuesday August 14 6:28 PM ET
Musharraf Bans Two Pakistani Groups By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - President Pervez Musharraf declared war on extremists Tuesday, banning two militant religious groups and announcing a harsh new anti-terrorist law. Pakistan has been rocked by dozens of deadly attacks by rival Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The groups have assaulted places of worship and targeted individuals, including professionals with no known affiliation with religious groups. Hundreds have been killed in recent years. ``We want to stop this ethnic and sectarian violence. We want it stopped now,'' said Musharraf in televised speech to mark Pakistan's Independence Day. Musharraf banned the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a violent Sunni group whose leader is believed to be hiding in neighboring Afghanistan. He also outlawed the Sipah-e-Mohammed, a Shiite group. The groups have been accused of assaults on mosques, funerals and drive-by shootings. Musharraf, a general who seized power in a coup in 1999 and has declared himself president, also issued a warning to two other groups - Sipah-e-Sahaba, a militant Sunni group, and Tehrik-e-Jafria, an extremist Shiite Muslim organization. Musharraf said the new anti-terrorist law, which took effect on Tuesday, gives additional powers to the judiciary and to the police, including in the search for weapons. Previous governments have shied away from outlawing militant Islamic groups largely because their members are well-armed and likely to incite people against the government. Some groups vowed to resist any government ban. The Shiite Muslim Sipah-e-Mohammed group spokesman Akmal Naqvi said they fight the government's ban in court. ``We are being victimized. We will not close down. We will go to court. Our members will resist,'' Naqvi told The Associated Press. The Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba, or Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet, warned the government against banning their group. Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Inqilabi, a spokesman for the organization, blamed the violence on Iran training and arming Shiite Muslims. Militant Sunni Muslims have been accused of killing several Iranians in Pakistan. ``Pakistan is confronted by sectarian and ethnic extremists,'' said Musharraf. ``Our society has become an intolerant society and unfortunately innocent people are being killed.'' Most of the victims have been minority Shiites. Musharraf lamented the murder last month of Shaukat Mirza, head of Pakistan State Oil Co., the country's largest oil firm. Police said Mirza was shot dead because he was a Shiite, although he had no affiliation with any religious group. Most of Pakistan's 140 million people are Sunni Muslims who get along with their Shiite brethren. However, well-armed and violent groups belonging to both sects have emerged in Pakistan in recent years, and they routinely attack each other. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| Monday August 13 3:53 PM ET
U.S., Chinese Missile Talks in Beijing Next Week WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. experts will have talks in Beijing next week on possible violations of a Chinese pledge not to proliferate ballistic missiles, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said on Monday. The U.S. inter-agency delegation, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Vann Van Diepen, will meet their Chinese counterparts on Aug. 23 and possibly Aug. 24, he said. He added: ``The two sides will use these talks to discuss missile nonproliferation, including implementation of the Nov. 2000 missile non-proliferation arrangement. ``China committed (in 2000) to not assist any country in any way in developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and to put in place comprehensive missile-related export controls.'' The Washington Times newspaper reported last week that the government-owned China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corp (CMEC) sent a dozen shipments of missile components to Pakistan by truck this year, in violation of the November 2000 agreement. The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the report as ''slander'' and renewed the non-proliferation pledge. The State Department declined to comment on the substance of the report but said it was reluctant to impose sanctions on Chinese companies that export missile technologies, in the hope that the Chinese government will fulfill the pledge. Reeker also said U.S. officials have not yet had a chance to explain to the Chinese their own estimates of how much the United States should pay China for costs associated with recovering its EP-3 surveillance plane from Hainan island. The official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday that China had rejected as unacceptable a U.S. offer to pay $34,576 in support costs for the retrieval operation. China had asked for about $1 million but Washington said that was too much. Reeker said: ``We'll try to arrange a meeting in Beijing, at which time we can provide our official response and the rationale for our calculation of those costs.'' Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Saturday August 11 1:20 PM ET
100 Killed in Kashmir Since Summit By BINOO JOSHI, Associated Press Writer JAMMU, India (AP) - Violence in Kashmir has killed 100 civilians and hundreds more combatants since a historic summit between the leaders of India and Pakistan ended a month ago with no agreement on how to stop the fighting, police said. India's Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf ended the three-day summit on July 16 without any joint statement or major progress toward ending 53 years of bloodshed in Kashmir. Gunfire raged across the line dividing Kashmir into Pakistani- and Indian-held regions even as Musharraf arrived in New Delhi for the talks. Indian police said Friday that 100 civilians have been killed since the summit, including Hindus on pilgrimage, commuters at a train station, shepherds in their fields, and young Muslim men seized from their homes by security forces. In addition to the civilians, the army and police estimate that more than 35 security force members, and 135 to 450 militants have died in the past month. India and Pakistan each claim the entire Kashmir, divided by a 20-year-old cease-fire line, and they have fought two wars over it. About a dozen militant groups, constituting no more than 3,500 fighters at any one time, have been battling since 1989 to separate Jammu-Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state, from India. India accuses Pakistan of arming the militants and helping them cross the frontier. Pakistan denies it gives them material aid, but calls them freedom fighters. The Islamic militants and the Indian security forces trade charges over who is responsible for the civilian deaths. ``We are like sacrificial lambs. Militants come and kill us and we live only to hear one massacre after another,'' said Chaplok Singh, who was injured but survived when gunmen attacked his village of Shrunti Dhar on Aug. 3. Fifteen Hindus were killed. After his hospital treatment is complete, he is afraid to go home. ``I have come out alive. I don't want to go back to die,'' said Singh. Hindus, who make up 40 percent of the 700,000 people in his district, are particularly fearful because they say militants have attacked weddings and funerals. There are approximately 500,000 army troops and tens of thousands of police and paramilitary troops in the state, unable to stop the guerrilla infiltration across mountains, dense forests and deep ravines. In a two-story mud house in Kralapora, six miles west of Srinagar, the state's summer capital, Muslim women and children sat mourning the death of Abdul Rashid Rather, alias Jehangir. His family said he was no longer fighting for the Pakistan-based Hezb-ul Mujahedeen when he was arrested, and turned up dead this week. Rather, 30, was killed in custody, says his mother Khatija, 70. ``He was arrested in a telephone booth by plainclothes security personnel from the special group and later killed in a fake encounter in Badgam area,'' she said. In Kashmir's murky atmosphere, even the number of dead is in dispute. More than 30,000 people have died since 1989, says India's government. Human rights groups say the number is twice that. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| Saturday August 11 10:15 AM ET
Pakistan Condemns Israeli Move on East Jerusalem Arafat: Israeli Missile Attack "A Dangerous Escalation'' - (ABCNEWS.com) ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan joined other nations on Saturday in condemning Israel's takeover of the Palestinian headquarters in East Jerusalem, saying it was a ``dangerous escalation'' and a setback to hopes for a peace process revival. ``The international community must take immediate steps to restrain Israel from exacerbating an already tense situation in the Middle East,'' a Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement said. Pakistan, which does not recognize the state of Israel, said Israel must be asked to immediately return Orient House and other offices to Palestinian control. On Friday, Israeli police took over Orient House, the main Jerusalem office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and reoccupied the Palestinian governor's building in the nearby village of Abu Dis. ``Israel's seizure of PA (Palestinian Authority (news - web sites)) headquarters is a blatant violation of the Oslo Peace Accords,'' the Foreign Ministry statement said. At least 674 people -- 513 Palestinians, 147 Israelis and 14 Israeli Arabs -- have been killed since the start of a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank last September. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Saturday August 11 9:44 AM ET
Pakistan Bomb Blast Kills Seven, Wounds Seven ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Seven people were killed and seven others wounded, one of them seriously, by a bomb explosion on Saturday in Gujrat in Pakistan's Punjab province, ambulance workers and police said. A senior police official said three men, a woman and three children were killed by the blast, which occurred in front of a private school as it closed and children were leaving. Gujrat, a district bordering the restive Jammu area in Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir state, is located 100 miles south of Islamabad. ``It's terrorism, what else could it be?'' Muhammad Riaz Ahmed, senior superintendent of police, told Reuters by telephone. Two children had been taken to hospital in critical condition with head injuries, and one of them had died later, he said. The other six injured people were not in immediate danger. Police said the bomb went off in a motorcycle rickshaw at 1:20 p.m. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, the latest in a series of explosions across Pakistan that have killed scores of people this year. Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf vowed this month to control spiraling violence in the country after the murder of a high-profile businessman in the port city of Karachi last month shocked the nation. The government has said it plans to introduce stringent laws to deal with political, sectarian and ethnic violence. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Friday August 10 1:33 PM ET
Kashmir Under Siege, India, Pakistan Stick to Guns Kashmir Dispute By Sheikh Mushtaq SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Grenade attacks and gun battles rocked Kashmir on Friday as Indian forces, newly granted sweeping powers to crack down on Muslim rebels, geared up for more violence when India celebrates Independence Day next week. Eight people died and 23 were wounded even as Indian and Pakistani officials held their first, tentative meeting since a summit last month that failed to break a deadlock between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the long-disputed frontier region. Four separate grenade attacks left one civilian dead and 23 injured across the Himalayan state. Seven people, including a policeman and two rebels, were killed in two separate shootouts. More than 250 people have died in violence since the summit collapsed on July 16. But the two countries showed little sign of rapprochement and set no date for another top-level meeting. Indian Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh told parliament in New Delhi that Pakistan's ``compulsive and perpetual hostility'' stood in the way of friendly ties. ``It is for Pakistan to choose what kind of relations it wants with India,'' said Singh, who also holds the defense portfolio. ``We for our part do not covet an inch of Pakistan territory. We bear no enmity to the people of Pakistan.'' Islamabad denies Indian accusations that it is directly involved in the Kashmir revolt but favors holding a referendum that it hopes would see Kashmiris opt to join Muslim Pakistan. Indian Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer and her Pakistani counterpart, Inamul Haq, said their meeting on the sidelines of a conference of south Asian states in Sri Lanka was a continuation of a process started at last month's summit. Haq said the hour-long meeting in Colombo had been positive. MAXIMUM SECURITY In Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, the paramilitary Border Security Force said its troops had thwarted a rebel plan to disrupt India's August 15 Independence Day celebrations when they raided militant hideouts and seized six rockets, three anti-tank grenades and a large quantity of arms and ammunition. ``We have taken many security measures ahead of August 15 celebrations. Cordon and search operations, surprise checks and frisking have been stepped up,'' Rudra Pal Singh, a senior paramilitary official in Kashmir, told Reuters. Security officials, on maximum alert, said they were taking no chances ahead of Independence Day in the state, where a dozen separatist groups have been fighting Indian rule since 1989. On Thursday, the Indian government granted troops sweeping powers to arrest, detain or shoot insurgents following a series of attacks on civilians in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region of India's only Muslim-majority state. Under pressure from its Hindu nationalist ranks and from political opponents to control the violence, the government has now put all but the Buddhist-dominated province of Ladakh in the mountainous north under the ``Disturbed Areas Act.'' The Disturbed Areas Act has been in force for a decade in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley where the rebellion began. The government's new move came after a surge of separatist attacks, including a shootout on Tuesday night at the heavily guarded railway station in Jammu in which 13 people died. Last month, guerrillas massacred 15 Hindu civilians in the Doda region in Jammu province. But the granting of the new powers drew fire from the media, and commentators said they were unlikely to deter guerrillas. Worse, newspapers said, the government could be playing into the hands of militants and alienating public opinion. More than 30,000 people have died in the revolt. Separatist groups place the death toll closer to 80,000. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Saturday August 11 11:11 AM ET
Muslim Rebels Plan Suicide Hit on India PM -Report NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Muslim Kashmiri rebels plan suicide attacks on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his cabinet during next week's Indian independence celebrations, a senior police officer was quoted as saying on Saturday. The United News of India agency quoted special commissioner R.S. Gupta as saying four militants from a group fighting to split Kashmir (news - web sites) from Hindu-dominated India had disclosed the hit-list after being arrested in New Delhi on July 29. Gupta said Home (interior) Minister Lal Krishna Advani was also among cabinet members targeted for suicide attacks by the separatist Hizbul Mujahideen group around August 15, when India marks the 54th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule. Indian paramilitary forces have launched a crackdown against rebels in Kashmir ahead of Independence Day, a period when rebels have traditionally launched attacks. Violence across the frontier region bordering Pakistan has surged since Vajpayee and Islamabad's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, failed to make progress on their dispute over Kashmir at a summit between the two nuclear powers last month. Pakistan denies India charges that it is fomenting revolt in the Muslim-majority state, where Indian authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in the past 12 years. Separatist groups put the death toll closer to 80,000. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Thursday August 9 9:37 AM ET
Islamic Militants Threaten U.N. By AMIR ZIA, Associated Press Writer ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A powerful alliance of Islamic militant groups threatened on Thursday to stop U.N. monitors from being deployed along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan and announced a series of rallies to protest the move. Pakistan's religious leaders warned that it would be impossible for the Pakistani government to protect the U.N. monitors, who would be deployed to stop weapons shipments allegedly being sent to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. ``We condemn the United Nations for targeting the Taliban's Islamic government,'' the Afghan Defense Council, an umbrella of Pakistan's leading religious political parties and Islamic militant groups, said in a statement. The alliance said its members will stage countrywide rallies, starting Aug. 19 in the capital, Islamabad, in an attempt to stop the Pakistani government from permitting the deployment of U.N. monitors. Many of these organizations are heavily armed and enjoy large followings in Pakistan's deeply conservative and tribal regions that border Afghanistan. As a result, the alliance can pose a serious challenge to the military-led government. ``People of Pakistan won't tolerate their presence. If the army tries to provide them protection, it will be like declaring war on its own people,'' warned Fazle-ur Rehman, who heads the conservative Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (Organization of Islamic Clerics). ``It is a direct interference in our internal matters,'' said Sami-ul Haq, who leads the Afghan Defense Council, set up to support neighboring Afghanistan's Taliban rulers against U.N. sanctions, imposed earlier this year. The alliance urged Islamic nations and China to recognize the Taliban government, and said the sanctions are meant to destabilize the Taliban because it follows true Islam. The sanctions impose an arms embargo against the Taliban, who rule roughly 95 percent of Afghanistan. Pakistan, considered the Taliban's staunchest ally, has been accused of sending weapons and military advisers to aid the Taliban in its war against a northern-based opposition. The U.N. sanctions do not impose an arms embargo against the opposition, which is believed to be receiving military supplies from Iran, Russia and several Central Asian states. U.N. sanctions were imposed to press the Taliban to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden for trial in connection with the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa that killed 224 people. Last month, the U.N. Security Council approved the use of U.N. monitors to help enforce sanctions against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. The United Nations is to send 15 experts to countries bordering Afghanistan - China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - to help enforce the sanctions. It wasn't clear when the monitors would be dispatched. Several large banners declaring bin Laden a hero of Islam adorned the hotel in Islamabad, where the religious leaders held their meeting. While Pakistan has criticized the one-sided arms embargo as fueling the civil war in Afghanistan, Islamabad says it will abide by the U.N. Security Council decision. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| Wednesday August 8 12:42 PM ET
China Defends Itself on Missiles By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer BEIJING (AP) - President Jiang Zemin told visiting U.S. senators Wednesday that China has ``kept to the letter'' of promises not to export missile technology to Pakistan and other countries, one of the lawmakers said. Jiang said China doesn't want to see North Korea develop a long-range missile capability, said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden said missile proliferation was one of many issues raised in a two-hour meeting with the Chinese president. They also discussed Taiwan, religious freedom, legal reform and China's recent detention of Chinese-born scholars and writers with U.S. ties, he said. Biden's four-member delegation also talked with Defense Minister Chi Haotian and other officials in meetings they said totaled four hours in the seaside resort of Beidaihe, where Chinese leaders are holding an annual policymaking gathering. Accompanying Biden were fellow senators Paul Sarbanes, D-Md.; Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.; and Arlen Specter, R-Pa. They stopped in Taiwan earlier in their six-day trip and plan to visit South Korea. Biden said they asked Jiang about new allegations that Beijing has sold missile technology to Pakistan, breaking a promise last year not to encourage weapons proliferation by making such sales. ``He was very formal in saying that China has kept to the letter of all its agreements, and we agreed to disagree,'' Biden said. ``He made the point that he didn't want to see an arms race.'' Jiang ``specifically indicated he did not want to see North Korea obtain a ... long-range missile capability,'' Biden said. A Chinese company identified by a U.S. newspaper as the seller of missile components to Pakistan denied the allegation Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corp. insisted it was involved in legitimate engineering projects, Xinhua said. It said the company described the reports by the Washington Times as ``groundless and a sheer fabrication.'' The senators described their talks with Jiang as amicable and candid, though Biden said other officials were ``mildly recalcitrant, in terms of their attitude about everything in China was perfect and basically everything in America was imperfect.'' Delegation members said they emphasized to Jiang a direct link between weapons proliferation and U.S. trade and economic ties. Specter said he had noted that when Congress last October gave China permanent normal access to U.S. import markets, he opposed it out of concern that Beijing was supplying missile technology to Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Specter said lawmakers support closer trade and economic ties to China, ``but we wouldn't do it if our national interests were threatened by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.'' The senators said they discussed with Jiang the recent detentions of academics and writers - some of them American citizens - and the lack of legal protections in the Chinese legal system. Jiang ``was very candid in saying that China's judicial system left much to be desired and needed to be worked on,'' Biden said. Specter said they also raised the issue of religious freedom and China's often violent, 2-year-old crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement. He said Jiang responded that the group was a dangerous cult that had destroyed more than 1,000 families. ``That was one point where we did not see eye-to-eye,'' the senator said. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| Monday August 6 11:07 AM ET
India Says Pakistan Steps Up Kashmir Border Firing By Sheikh Mushtaq SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian authorities on Monday blamed Pakistan for a sharp rise in firing along the disputed Kashmir border and increased militant violence that has left hundreds of civilians dead. ``Pakistani troops have intensified firing on the border and stepped up terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir notwithstanding their continued talk of peace with India,'' the spokesman for the Government of Jammu and Kashmir said in a statement. The spokesman said rebels had killed 527 civilians between January and July this year. Militants abducted 235 people and killed 91 of them during the same period. ``Unable to fight security forces on one hand and realizing unachievable objects of their so-called Jihad, on the other, the pro-Pakistan militants are picking up soft targets and killing more and more innocent people,'' the government statement said. Separatist violence in Kashmir has increased since last month's inconclusive summit between India and Pakistan. The statement said in July alone, Pakistani troops fired across the Kashmir border at least 690 times. ``While 854 such incidents took place in the first six months of the current year ... In these incidents 13 people were killed and 34 injured,'' the spokesman said in the statement. The 470 mile Line of Control or cease-fire line divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. According to police more than 200 people including 128 rebels have been killed since the end of the summit. The statement said militancy related violence had increased sharply, adding that 2,506 incidents of violence had been reported in the restive state between January and July, compared to 1,632 in the corresponding period a year ago. India, which controls 45 percent of Kashmir, accuses Pakistan of arming and aiding Kashmiri militants. Pakistan denies the charge and says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to the separatists in its third of the territory. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947. At least a dozen militant groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. Authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in the region since a rebellion broke out in late 1989. Separatists put the toll closer to 80,000. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Sunday August 5 10:10 AM ET
Islamic Militants, Indian Army Clash By QAISER MIRZA, Associated Press Writer SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Three Islamic militants, including a top commander of a Pakistan-based group, were killed Sunday in two separate shootouts in Kashmir (news - web sites), the army said. Abdul Rashid Rather, a commander of the Hezb-ul Mujahedeen guerrillas, was shot and killed early Sunday, said Col. S.D.S. Hayer, an army spokesman in Srinagar. Rather's family said, however, that government forces arrested him Saturday and later killed him on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. Hezb-ul Mujahedeen is among more than a dozen Islamic militant groups seeking Kashmir's independence from India. Human rights groups say at least 60,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began in 1989. The army also said Sunday that two Islamic militants belonging to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba rebel group were killed after sneaking into an Indian army camp in Khandwara, 55 miles north of Srinagar. There were no army casualties, Hayer said. But Abu Osama, a spokesman for the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, telephoned The Associated Press office in Srinagar and said the group had killed or wounded 10 soldiers in the attack on the Khandwara camp. Two of the three wars fought by India and Pakistan since the two South Asian nations gained independence from Britain in 1947 have been over control of the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Islamic guerrillas have stepped up attacks on India since Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf failed to agree at a summit last month on how to settle the Kashmir dispute. The two leaders are expected to meet again next month in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| Monday August 6 3:51 PM ET
US Reluctant to Sanction China Arms Tech Exporters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is reluctant to impose sanctions on Chinese companies that export missile technologies, in the hope that the Chinese government will carry out a pledge to introduce effective export controls, the State Department said on Monday. Spokesman Richard Boucher was responding to a Washington Times report that a state-run Chinese company has sent a dozen shipments of missile components to Pakistan this year. The China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corp. supplied the missile components for Pakistan's Shaheen-1 and Shaheen-2 missile programs, the newspaper said, citing intelligence officials. A U.S. satellite detected the latest shipment as it arrived by truck at the mountainous Chinese-Pakistani border on May 1, The Washington Times said. Boucher declined to confirm or deny the report of the shipments, which would violate a Chinese pledge in November 2000 not to help any country developing ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear warheads. But he added: ``The (U.S.) laws involved have sanctions against entities that engage in certain transfers. That is certainly not our preferred course, although we would certainly follow U.S. law if it came to that. ``But first and foremost, what we want to see is (the) Chinese abide by this agreement and implement their new system of controls effectively. They told us when we were in Beijing that they were serious about doing that, that they were engaged in the process of establishing a new system of export controls.'' The United States is looking forward to talks with Chinese experts on technology transfers but no date has been set. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that Washington has seen mixed results from the Chinese pledge. Boucher declined to elaborate on what the Chinese government has and has not done to implement it. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Thursday August 2 11:47 AM ET
U.S. Renews Bin Laden Surrender Demand to Taliban By Tahir Ikram ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - The United States Thursday renewed its demand to Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to expel Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden for trial, and also urged Pakistan to return to civilian rule as soon as possible. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca said in a statement she reiterated the demand for bin Laden's surrender in a meeting in Islamabad Thursday with Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef. She said matters discussed at the meeting included security-related issues such as a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted Monday for monitoring the existing U.N. sanctions against Taliban. ``I reiterated that the monitoring mechanism and the sanctions themselves would not be necessary if the Taliban simply complied with the (council) resolutions by closing terrorist training camps and sending Osama bin Laden to a country where he can be brought to justice,'' Rocca said. Bin Laden is accused of masterminding the August 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people. Rocca, in Pakistan on the last leg of a South Asian trip that included India and Nepal, said the visit would help shape the thinking of President Bush (news - web sites)'s administration about the region. ``The administration is looking at where to go with each of the countries of the region,'' she told reporters. Rocca said her first meeting with Zaeef was part of the U.S. dialogue process with the Taliban and other Afghan factions to convey ``ongoing concerns about events in Afghanistan.'' ``I pointed out that Taliban policies and practices have often obstructed the delivery of aid to the needy Afghan people and asked him to press Kabul and Kandahar to ensure a better working environment for aid workers in Afghanistan...,'' she added. U.N. and other relief agencies have often complained of harassment by ``foreign guests'' -- an implied reference to the presence of Arab militants in Afghanistan -- and also of curbs imposed by the ultra-strict Taliban's religious police. Zaeef told Reuters he told Rocca that the Taliban wanted to resolve the bin Laden issue through dialogue with Washington. ``We should continue to talk about this issue because we have always considered talks as the best way of finding solutions,'' he said. ``I told the U.S. official in clear terms that we do not consider America as an enemy. America should also not consider us as an enemy and should not adopt an inimical policy,'' the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press agency quoted Zaeef as saying. PAKISTAN Rocca, during her five-day stay in Pakistan, met military President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, senior ministers and officials to discuss a wide range of issues, including nuclear proliferation, Afghanistan, and an early return to civilian rule. ``We would like to see Pakistan resume, as soon as possible, a system of democratic, constitutional, government in which civilians elected in free and fair elections are in charge. ``We would also like to see political parties allowed to function freely, including the ability to assemble publicly without fear of arrest,'' Rocca said in another statement. Musharraf took power in a bloodless October 1999 army coup but has promised to hold elections by October 2002 under a Supreme Court ruling that validated his military takeover. He is expected to announce a plan for a return to democracy later this month. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
HOSTAGES RELEASED -
Hijackers Vanish Into Afghan Desert
By KATHY GANNON
.c The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Jan. 1, 00) - The five hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane vanished into the desert of southern Afghanistan and by this morning had crossed the border into a neighboring country, according to a Taliban official.
The hijackers presumably went to Pakistan, the nearest country and the only one they could easily reach within the 10 hours they were given to get out of Afghanistan under a deal struck Friday afternoon.
Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said today that the five hijackers were Pakistanis - though he gave no information about how Indian officials learned the nationalities of the hijackers, who wore masks.
The tense eight-day standoff ended with the deal Friday in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. All 155 hostages were freed and were flown to New Delhi, India.
The hijackers sped out of the airport in several vehicles, taking three Muslim militants freed from Indian jails and one hostage - a soldier from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement.
''The Taliban hostage has come back to Kandahar and (the hijackers) have gone from the country,'' Taliban spokesman Rehnatullah Aga said today.
Aga declined to say where the hijackers went, but the only realistic possibility was that the group drove for several hours to the border with Pakistan, where there are countless places to cross the frontier on foot.
Singh said an Afghan official had revealed that the hijackers headed for southwestern Pakistan.
''I have with me a statement of the Taliban information minister that all five hijackers, along with the terrorists, have left for Quetta, Pakistan,'' Singh said.
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban officials have said that the agreement to free the hostages involved not revealing where the hijackers had gone. Taliban officials insisted today that they were sticking to the agreement after Singh made his comments at a press conference.
''I'm sure we will hear something in a few days,'' said Erick de Mul, the U.N. representative to Afghanistan. ''I'm sure they will be spotted somewhere. They can't just evaporate.''
The Taliban initially had been reluctant to get involved in negotiations with the hijackers, and when the crisis ended Friday, the movement hurried the men out of Afghan territory, sending an armed group of soldiers with the hijackers.
Pakistan strongly denounced the hijacking, but it has little control over its western border, which may have been used as an escape route.
Taliban authorities said they did not know the names or nationalities of the hijackers, though they acted in support of Kashmir militants who are fighting to end Indian rule of the Himalayan territory.
The hijacking demonstrated the volatile nature of the long-running dispute over Kashmir, the leading source of friction between India and Pakistan. Both nations hold part of Kashmir and claim all of it.
India and Pakistan traded recriminations during the latest hijacking crisis, placing further strain on already bad relations.
Singh said today that the hijackers had wired the plane to explode and may have kept rifles, pistols and grenades in the cargo hold ''from the beginning.'' He would give not further details.
The plane on which the hostages were held left the airport at Kandahar this morning and headed back to India after authorities had completed repairs and checked for any potential problems.
AP-NY-01-01-00 0727EST
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Hostages Recovering From Hijacking
By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM
.c The Associated Press
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - As freed hostages recovered from their eight-day hijacking nightmare, India's foreign minister said today that their captors had wired their jet to explode and possibly kept extra weapons in the cargo hold.
Despite a joyful and relieved welcome for the 155 passengers and crew from the hijacked Indian Airlines jet, some predicted today that India would pay a heavy price for swapping the release of three Muslim militants for their freedom.
After receiving the three militants Friday, the hijackers fled the airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where they had been holding the plane, and disappeared into the desert. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia said today they had left the country.
Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said the five hijackers were Pakistanis. The identity of the hijackers - who wore masks - has not been clear, and Singh did not specify how he knew they were Pakistani.
Singh also said the five hijackers had crossed into southwestern Pakistan to the town of Quetta, citing information he said he received from a Taliban official. The Taliban have not announced publicly which country the hijackers fled to. There was no immediate reaction to the allegations from Pakistan.
Freed crew members said the plane had been wired with enough explosives to blow it up, Singh said.
A pilot who flew the hijacked plane back to India said on television that departure was delayed ``because there were explosives on board.'' But the hijacked plane's captain, Devi Sharan, told The Associated Press today he did not know about any explosives.
The hijackers may have also had AK47 automatic rifles, pistols and grenades hidden in the cargo hold ``from the beginning,'' he said. On Dec. 26, two days into the seizure, the hijackers got access to the cargo and suddenly appeared with more sophisticated weapons, Singh said.
With joy and tears, the freed hostages were welcomed back Friday evening by a huge crowd of relatives, friends and well-wishers at New Delhi's international airport.
``It was very suffocating inside. I feel great to be able to look at the sun again,'' said Himanshu Sharma, 12, who was held hostage with his parents and 9-year-old brother.
The only American hostage, Jeanne Moore of Bakersfield, Calif., was in good health, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Corwin.
``We were scared a lot - we never knew what was going to happen to us,'' Moore, a special education teacher, was quoted as saying in today's Los Angeles Times. ``It was a very interesting study in people.''
Moore's son, Jim, a Bakersfield police officer, left for India on Friday upon news of his mother's release.
Kanwar Thukral, who had a childhood friend on board the flight, said he had mixed feelings about the Indian government's decision to swap the militants for the hostages' release.
``I think releasing these prisoners will give a boost to the militant movement. It will be a crutch for the militants. They know now they can always hold the government hostage,'' Thukral said. ``I guess the government had only one option. But I still wish the militants had not been released.''
In a New Year's Eve message to the nation, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the deal was in the nation's long-term interest. ``India shall not spare any effort to thwart the phenomenon of terrorism,'' he said.
The issue of Kashmir is a focus of nationalist feeling in India. The territory has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence in 1947. India has been battling Muslim insurgents in the part under its control, who demand either independence or union with Pakistan.
Masood Azhar, a leader of Harkat ul-Ansar, a group on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations, was the best known of the three men released. In addition, the Indians freed Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, chief commander of the rebel group Ul-Umar Mujahideen, and Ahmad Omar Sayed Sheikh, who was held in a New Delhi prison.
In the first three days of the hijacking, the passengers said, they were given half of an orange for breakfast and lunch. Later, they were given hard bread.
The Indian Airlines plane was headed to New Delhi from Katmandu, Nepal, when the hijackers took control on Dec. 24, carrying pistols, grenades and knives. One Indian passenger was killed shortly after the plane was seized.
The plane hopped from Amritsar, India, to Lahore, Pakistan, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates before finally landing in Kandahar on Christmas Day.
When it originally took off from Katmandu, the plane was carrying 178 passengers and 11 crew members. The passengers included 150 Indians, eight Nepalese, one Canadian, one American, four Swiss, four Spaniards, one Belgian, one Japanese, one Australian, two French citizens and one Italian. Four passengers were not listed by nationality.
Captors freed 27 hostages and unloaded Katyal's body during the stopover in the Emirates, and another passenger had been released for medical reasons.
AP-NY-01-01-00 1250EST
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Hijackers Expected To Free Hostages
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Indian negotiators agreed to free two Islamic militants and a cleric in exchange for the release of 155 hostages held aboard a hijacked Indian Airlines jet, India's government said today. At the airport in Kandahar, four empty buses were moved on to the tarmac, near the hijacked plane. Officials did not immediately give a reason. But it was widely believed the move was intended to prepare for the possible release of the hostages. The three freed prisoners all had connections to ongoing unrest in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Progress in Talks With Hijackers
By AMIR ZIA
.c The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Dec. 30, 99) - Talks between negotiators and hijackers holding 155 hostages went ''very well'' on Thursday, a senior official said, after a show of military force by militiamen of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, who surrounded the Indian Airlines plane with tanks and rocket launchers.
''We are optimistic,'' Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, Taliban's foreign minister, told reporters in southern Kandahar, where the plane containing the hostages and five hijackers has been sitting on the tarmac since last weekend.
But as temperatures dropped below freezing on Friday, the engines on the plane inexplicably shut down, cutting the heating to those on board.
The aircraft endured a grueling series of takeoffs and landings after it was hijacked on Dec. 24. It already has been repaired once by Indian technicians, who arrived in Kandahar from New Delhi with the seven-member negotiating team that has been trying to end the protracted crisis.
Diplomats at the airport say the Indian negotiators have indicated they are willing to release some militants. The hijackers have demanded the release of 35 Kashmiri fighters and a Pakistani-born Kashmiri activist, diplomats and Taliban officials said.
''They are still negotiating on the numbers of prisoners,'' Muttawakil said earlier.
On Thursday, the hijackers allowed a cancer patient to leave the aircraft for 90 minutes to receive treatment at a Taliban military hospital. The Indian national, identified as Simon Berara, was seen returning to the plane in an ambulance, slowly climbing the aircraft's stairs and disappearing inside.
He was the second ailing passenger to be taken from the aircraft since it landed in Kandahar on Saturday. The Taliban have apparently warned the hijackers that they would be held responsible if any passenger dies, regardless of the cause, said A.R. Ghanashyam, an Indian diplomat in Kandahar.
Negotiations resumed late Thursday morning after dozens of Taliban soldiers in pickup trucks roared onto the airport's tarmac. They were accompanied by a tank equipped with rocket launchers and a truck with two men carrying anti-aircraft missiles.
Muttawakil said the exercise was for security, but it was the first show of the Taliban's military might since the aircraft landed in Afghanistan on Saturday.
The standoff is connected to ongoing unrest in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan. Muslim militants have been waging an insurgency in Indian-held Kashmir, demanding either independence for the Muslim-majority region or union with Pakistan.
The first sign of progress since the hijacking began came Wednesday, when the Taliban persuaded the hijackers to drop demands for a $200 million ransom and the body of a Kashmiri militant. Officials of Taliban, a Muslim fundamentalist movement that controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan, convinced the hijackers that the demands went against Islamic teachings, Muttawakil said.
Muttawakil also said the Taliban's patience with the standoff was wearing thin. He said the Taliban would make the hijackers leave Afghanistan soon, though he did not say how or when that might happen.
Indian negotiators opened talks with the hijackers on Monday, four days into the standoff, after they threatened to kill more hostages. New Delhi has come under heavy pressure from the hostages' relatives and supporters to bring an end to the crisis. Most of the hostages are Indian.
Indian officials have said there are five hijackers. Armed with grenades, pistols and knives, they seized Flight 814 some 40 minutes after it took off from Katmandu, Nepal, on a scheduled flight to New Delhi on Friday. The plane made stops in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before landing in Afghanistan the next day.
The captors, who have killed one passenger, unloaded his body and freed 27 hostages during a stopover in the Emirates.
Passengers who have been released said the hijackers stabbed passenger Rippan Katyal after he disobeyed orders not to look at them.
One more passenger, a diabetic Indian named Anil Khurana, was released Sunday. He returned to India on Thursday to a rousing welcome from hundreds of people in New Delhi.
The plane's original 178 passengers included 150 Indians, eight Nepalese, one Canadian, one American, four Swiss, four Spaniards, one Belgian, one Japanese, one Australian, two French citizens and one Italian. Four passengers were not listed by nationality.
Authorities have increased security at Indian airports since the hijacking. On Thursday, police arrested a man trying to carry a pistol and live ammunition onto a commercial jetliner in Gauhati in northeastern India. The man, who said he was a businessman in the United States, was remanded to custody.
AP-NY-12-30-99 2226EST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hijackers Release One Passenger
By AMIR ZIA
.c The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Dec. 30, 99) - Hijackers of an Indian Airlines jetliner released an ailing passenger today, and negotiators reportedly haggled with the captors over the release of some Kashmiri militants.
Taliban soldiers with rocket launchers encircled the plane, parked on an airport tarmac in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, but officials said they did not plan an assault on the aircraft, which had 159 people on board after today's hostage release.
The passenger, the second to be released since the aircraft landed in Kandahar on Saturday, was taken from the airplane and put into an ambulance while negotiations were halted. A Taliban official said the man suffered from a form of cancer and would receive treatment, then was expected to be returned to the aircraft.
The Taliban have apparently warned the hijackers that they would be held responsible if any passenger dies, regardless of cause, A.R. Ghanashyam, an Indian diplomat in Kandahar, told The Associated Press.
''The Taliban told the hijackers that if anyone dies on the plane as a result of violence or sickness, they would hold them responsible, and perhaps that is why they released this passenger,'' he said. The captors killed one passenger during the hijacking's early hours, before the plane reached Afghanistan.
Earlier this morning, Indian negotiators resumed talks with the hijackers via radio from the control tower. The Taliban's foreign minister said they were negotiating over how many Kashmiri militants could be freed by India to end the hijacking.
''They are still negotiating on the numbers of prisoners,'' Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said.
But so far the hijackers have refused to budge on their demand for the release of 35 Kashmiri fighters and a Pakistani-born Kashmiri activist, diplomats and Taliban officials said. All are being held in Indian jails.
Diplomats at the airport in Kandahar said the Indian negotiators have indicated they are willing to release some militants. The diplomats, who were at the site to assess the conditions of their nationals held hostage on board the aircraft, spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were concerned about compromising the negotiations.
The standoff is related to ongoing unrest in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan. Muslim militants have been waging an insurgency in Indian-held Kashmir, demanding either independence for the Muslim-majority region or union with Pakistan. Along with the 35 militants, the hijackers seek the release of a Muslim cleric, Masood Azhar, arrested in 1994 by India as a reported leader of the Kashmiri fighters.
The first big breakthrough since the jet was hijacked Friday came Wednesday when the Taliban persuaded the hijackers to drop their demands for a $200 million ransom and the body of a Kashmiri militant.
Meanwhile, the Taliban surrounded the parked jet today with dozens of soldiers and a truck with a rocket launcher mounted on the rear. Another truck carrying a U.S.-made anti-aircraft Stinger missile was deployed near the aircraft.
Muttawakil said the deployment of troops was purely for security. ''We are not planning any operation,'' he said. The Stinger, he said, was en route to northern Afghanistan to be used in the fight against opposition forces.
On Wednesday, Muttawakil said the Taliban's patience with the standoff was wearing thin.
''If the two sides are unable to solve their problems, soon the Taliban will force the hijackers to leave Afghanistan,'' Muttawakil said. He did not say how the Taliban would make them leave or when.
The Taliban, who initially refused to get involved in the negotiations and asked the United Nations and India to handle the task, agreed to intercede Wednesday at the request of the Indian negotiators.
Taliban officials convinced the hijackers that demanding a ransom and exhuming a body are against Islamic teachings, Muttawakil said.
''In fact, the Taliban see the whole process of hijacking and holding people for ransom as against Islam,'' Muttawakil told reporters at the Kandahar airport. The hijackers refused Taliban requests that they free women, children and sick passengers, he said.
Indian negotiators opened talks with the hijackers late Monday, four days into the standoff, after the hijackers threatened to kill more hostages. New Delhi has come under heavy pressure from relatives and supporters of the hostages to bring an end to the crisis. Most of the hostages are Indian.
Indian officials have said there are five hijackers. Armed with grenades, pistols and knives, they seized Flight 814 some 40 minutes after it took off from Katmandu, Nepal, on a scheduled flight to New Delhi on Friday. The hijacked plane made stops in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before landing in Afghanistan on Saturday.
Passengers who have been released said the hijackers stabbed passenger Rippan Katyal after he disobeyed orders not to look at them. The captors freed 27 hostages and unloaded Katyal's body during a stopover in the Emirates. One more passenger, a diabetic Indian was released Sunday.
The plane was carrying 178 passengers and 11 crew members when it took off Friday. The passengers included 150 Indians, eight Nepalese, one Canadian, one American, four Swiss, four Spaniards, one Belgian, one Japanese, one Australian, two French citizens and one Italian. Four passengers were not listed by nationality.
AP-NY-12-30-99 0657EST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
India Air Hijackers Drop Demand for Money
By AMIR ZIA
.c The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Dec. 29, 99) - The hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane dropped their demands today for $200 million and the return of body of a Kashmiri militant, a possible breakthrough in negotiations aimed at ending a six-day hijacking, the Taliban's foreign minister said.
Officials of Afghanistan's Taliban militia interceded at the request of the Indian negotiators, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil told reporters at the Kandahar airport. They convinced the negotiators to drop the demand for money saying it violated the tenets of Islam, as did removing a body from its burial ground, he said.
On Tuesday, the hijackers insisted on $200 million, the release of 35 Kashmiri militants and a Pakistani cleric from Indian jails, and the body of a militant Kashmiri killed earlier this year.
Muttawakil said the hijackers have refused to lower the number of Kashmiri fighters they want released from jail. They also are insisting on freedom for Masood Azhar, the ideologue of the Harkat ul-Ansar, an Islamic militant group active in Kashmir and on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations.
Azhar's group has tried several times to use kidnappings as a way of freeing him, but have failed. The most famous of the attempts was the kidnapping in 1995 of six Western tourists. One was killed, one escaped and four are still missing and now feared dead.
Muslim militants have been waging an insurgency in Indian-held Kashmir, demanding either independence for the Himalayan state or union with Islamic Pakistan.
Muttawakil repeated today the position the Taliban took early in the hostage crisis that it will not allow the aircraft to remain here indefinitely.
``If the two sides are unable to solve their problems soon, the Taliban will force the hijackers to leave Afghanistan,'' he said.
On Monday, the hijackers threatened to start killing passengers. It was then that India agreed to negotiate with them, sending a seven-member negotiation team as well doctors, nurses, technicians and a replacement flight crew.
At least one hostage has been killed since the crisis began Friday.
``Talks are making progress. Negotiations are give and take,'' said A.R. Ghanashyam, an Indian diplomat in Kandahar. ``We are not talking about details until the negotiations have finished.''
The mood on the plane appeared to be improving. Earlier this week, soldiers from Afghanistan's Taliban militia who delivered food to the hostages said the smell inside was strong and unpleasant, a sign that people had been sick.
However, hostages recently were seen passing the time playing cards, chess and board games, a Taliban soldier who boarded the plane said today. The soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was one of several Taliban members who were allowed on board the aircraft Tuesday to collect the garbage and clean the toilets.
``They seemed to be relaxed,'' he said. The passengers apparently were allowed to remove the blindfolds they reportedly had been forced to wear.
The International Red Cross and United Nations have erected emergency medical tents near the aircraft to be ready when the ordeal ends and passengers are released, their representatives at the airport said.
The U.N. Coordinator for Afghanistan, Erick de Mul, said in Pakistan today that the hijackers' increased demands did not bode well for an early end to the hijacking.
De Mul, who returned to Pakistan from Kandahar on Tuesday after talking for two days with the hijackers, said ``they seem to be quite committed. They also seem to have prepared themselves for the possibility that this could go on for some time.''
Earlier, de Mul said the hijackers were becoming increasingly agitated.
He said they ``were lucid, they seemed rational,'' but that they had become ``abrupt'' in talks Monday. ``The longer it lasts the level of irritation worsens,'' he said.
The plane's engines shut down for 12 hours Tuesday, halting negotiations and leaving an opened door as the only ventilation.
Medicines from the Red Cross have been supplied to a passenger on board who is a doctor. The medicines are mostly to treat muscular pains from being confined for so long, pain killers and heart medicine.
Indian officials have said there are five hijackers. Armed with grenades, pistols and knives, they seized Flight 814 some 40 minutes after it took off from Katmandu, Nepal, on a scheduled flight to New Delhi, India on Friday. It made stops in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before landing in Afghanistan on Saturday.
At the stopover in the Emirates, the captors freed 27 hostages and unloaded the body of Rippan Katyal. The hijackers stabbed him, released passengers said, because he disobeyed their orders not to look at them.
Another passenger, an Indian, was released Sunday for medical reasons.
The plane was carrying 178 passengers and 11 crew members when it took off Friday. The passengers included 150 Indians, eight Nepalese, one Canadian, one American, four Swiss, four Spaniards, one Belgian, one Japanese, one Australian, two French and one Italian. Four passengers were not listed by nationality.
AP-NY-12-29-99 0907EST
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India anxiously awaits fate of hostages in hijack
By Sanjeev Miglani
NEW DELHI, Dec 29, 99 (Reuters) - India watched with mounting disbelief and trepidation on Wednesday as at least 154 people entered their sixth day of captivity on a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in Afghanistan.
Many of the hostages' distraught relatives, who had at first accused the government of endangering lives by indecision, waited anxiously as negotiations continued with the air pirates in the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar.
``For the moment, the public mood has stopped deteriorating,'' said Kanti Bajpai, who teaches international relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University. ``The start of negotiations has sort of held peoples' hands. It is now wait and watch.''
India began talks with the five or six hijackers, who are still unidentified, on Monday night, three days after they commandeered flight IC-814 on a run from Kathmandu to New Delhi.
The Airbus-300 made stops in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, where 27 passengers mostly women and children were released, before ending its odyssey in Afghanistan with 154 or 155 hostages thought to remain on board.
Across the country, as rolling television news channels images beam every twist and turn of the hostages' ordeal into peoples' homes, Indians have been praying for their safe return.
``Oscillating between hope, despair,'' said the Hindustan Times newspaper after the hijackers raised the stakes on Monday, saying New Delhi must release 35 militants and pay a $200 million ransom to end the ordeal.
In the first days of the hijack drama, angry relatives stormed government news conferences and clashed with police, blaming the government of bureaucratic bungling and insensitivity.
MOOD SOFTENS
Since then, the mood has softened and relatives are placing their faith in the negotiations.
``All of us should stand behind the government... they are negotiating. Give them time,'' Sanjeev Chibber, who has emerged as a spokesman for the relatives.
Another relative said the hijackers' new demands were clearly unjustified.
``We are with the government and want that the government should not bow to these damands and find out an alternative way to secure the release of passengers,'' said Ajit Gupta, whose brother and sister are among the captives.
Indian columnists trained their guns on the 11-week-old coalition government for failing to tackle militancy, and derided Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's resolve to tackle terrorism head-on.
``We are nothing but sitting ducks for the terrorists,'' the Indian Express said in a scathing editorial. ``The pathetic image of the hijacked Airbus in Kandahar has come to symbolise the abysmal state of the nation's security.''
Vajpayee had said on his return to office in October that there would be ``zero tolerance'' on terrorism.
``It is not zero tolerance Mr Prime Minister that is in evidence, but total tolerance. Anything goes. Here is a nation of one billion that has become a sitting duck for the masked man with the hand grenade or the Ak-47,'' the Express said.
Since a fierce conflict in northern Kashmir this summer that left more than 400 Indian soldiers dead, Kashmiri separatists have launched a series of daring attacks on Indian army installations in Jammu and Kashmir.
04:27 12-29-99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S. Denounces Hijacking
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - (December 27, 1999) The State Department urged India and Pakistan on Monday to stop criticizing each other and to work together for the release of 160 hostages held aboard a parked Indian Airlines plane in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The department denounced the jetliner's hijacking as terrorism and an inhuman act. It said Maulana Masood Azhar, whose release reportedly was among several sought by the hijackers, is affiliated with Harakat ul-Mujahideen, a group known formerly as Harakat ul-Ansar and designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
The hijackers are thought to be independence fighters from Kashmir, the contentious region between India and Pakistan.
In a statement, the department urged the Taliban, the group that controls most of Afghanistan, and governments in the area to cooperate in closely coordinated efforts to end the hijacking. Officials, the statement said, should ``restrict their public comments to those that serve this objective.''
Although India and Pakistan were not named in the statement, they were understood to be the target of the admonition.
The plane's passengers and crew have been held captive since Friday, and the hijackers threatened Monday to begin killing them. Moving to end the standoff, Indian negotiators flew to Afghanistan and opened talks with the hijackers.
The U.S. statement, by Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman, condemned ``in strongest terms'' the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 and holding of the 160 hostages.
``Obviously, the hijackers are responsible for the safety of the hostages they are holding,'' it said.
AP-NY-12-27-99 1718EST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hijackers Holding 160 Passengers
By HAROON RASHID
.c The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Dec. 26, 99) - As 160 passengers still trapped on a hijacked Indian Airlines jet sat in deteriorating conditions Sunday, a United Nations official negotiated with the captors for more than an hour, securing the release of just one passenger.
Troops from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia delivered food to passengers and reported that the air in the plane ''is very bad ... it smells like people have been sick,'' said Mohammed Khiber, a civil aviation authority spokesman.
The shades in the plane remained drawn and the engines were running, Afghani officials said.
The plane, which landed Saturday in Kandahar after making brief stops in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, was surrounded in the late afternoon by several Taliban vehicles. Soldiers, who had earlier circled the aircraft had been removed.
Erick de Mul, the U.N. coordinator for Afghanistan, negotiated with the hijackers by radio for more than an hour Sunday. He managed only to secure the release of an Indian passenger, identified as Anil Khurana.
Khurana, a diabetic who had required medical treatment a day earlier, was the first passenger released since the captors freed 27 hostages and unloaded the body of one slain passenger during a stopover in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
Appearing gaunt and tired, Khurana refused to speak to reporters and buried his head beneath a blanket when a photographer tried to take his picture at the airport. Khurana has said he will not return to India until all the remaining passengers and crew, including his brother, are released.
The plane has been refueled and is free to leave, Taliban's Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil told The Associated Press.
De Mul flew from Pakistan to the southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban headquarters, earlier Sunday. He is heading a three-person U.N. delegation there.
''The United Nations people negotiated with the hijackers but without any result,'' Muttawakil said.
Russia on Sunday urged that a special session of the U.N. Security Council be held to discuss the hijacking. The earliest such a meeting could be held is Monday.
''It is necessary for the Security Council members to discuss the dangerous situation in the region,'' Russia's first deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Gennady Gatilov, told the ITAR-Tass news agency.
The Taliban sought the United Nations' assistance after the hijackers demanded the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, a Pakistani religious leader, and several Kashmiri fighters. All are in prison in India.
Indian officials have said there are five hijackers. Armed with grenades, pistols and knives, they seized the plane about 40 minutes after it took off from Nepal heading for New Delhi, India on Friday. It snaked across western Asia and into the Middle East, stopping at several airports and being turned away by several countries before making its latest stop in southern Afghanistan.
One of the hijackers is reportedly Azhar's brother and has been identified as Ibrahim.
In Pakistan, Azhar's father denied Ibrahim was involved, saying he was in Saudi Arabia performing the Islamic pilgrimage known as Umra.
''We have nothing to do with the hijacking. We condemn this and feel sorry for the people on the plane,'' said Allah Baksh Sabir Azhar, a retired school teacher.
The jet's engines remained running Sunday because the Taliban did not have the equipment needed to restart them if they were turned off, Afghani Aviation Minister Akhtar Manzoor said.
Muslim militant secessionists have been waging a bitter and protracted insurgency in Indian-held Kashmir, demanding either outright independence for the Himalayan state or union with Islamic Pakistan.
Azhar, who traveled to India in 1992 to help the militants, is from Bawahalpur in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province. He was arrested in 1994 and is being held in a high security jail in Indian-held Kashmir.
A Muslim cleric, Azhar was the ideologue of the Harkat ul-Ansar, a group on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations. The group is believed to have its training camps in Afghanistan.
In 1995, the organization kidnapped five foreign trekkers and tried to bargain their lives for Azhar's freedom. One, a Norwegian, was found decapitated and the other four are still missing and believed dead.
The plane was carrying 178 passengers and 11 crew members when it took off Friday. The passengers included 150 Indians, eight Nepalese, one Canadian, one American, four Swiss, four Spaniards, one Belgian, one Japanese, one Australian, two French and one Italian. Four passengers were not listed by nationality.
The released hostages told doctors and officials in New Delhi that the slain man was Rippan Katyal, who had been returning from a honeymoon in Nepal. His bride, Rachna, remained on the plane.
AP-NY-12-26-99 1740EST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hijacked Jet Is Refueled in Afghanistan
By AMIR SHAH
.c The Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (Dec. 25, 99) - Hijackers who took an Indian Airlines jet on a harrowing journey hopscotching South Asia and the Middle East received food and fuel in Afghanistan, where they held the plane with as many as 161 people on board.
The hijackers, whose identity was not known, killed at least one passenger, releasing his body during a stopover in the United Arab Emirates on Friday before flying to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar this morning.
The Taliban militia, which rules most of Afghanistan, refueled the jet today and gave the hijackers and their captives food, but said they wanted them to take off again. India, however, was reportedly trying to persuade the Taliban to keep them on the ground and find a way to end to the hijacking.
``We want the aircraft to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible,'' Taliban spokesman Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil told The Associated Press in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
This afternoon, the hijackers, speaking through the pilot, asked the airport control tower to set up a meeting with the Taliban leadership. The Taliban, however, refused any meeting, said a control tower official, who related the conversation to The Associated Press.
The hijackers released no ransom demands and their motives were unknown. A UAE official, Gen. Atiq Juma said two of them were Sikhs, though he did not specify how that was known.
The plane's terrifying odyssey began 40 minutes after it took off from Nepal's capital Katmandu for the Indian capital New Delhi on Friday with 189 people on board. The hijackers, reportedly armed with grenades, knives and pistols, ordered the plane diverted to Pakistan.
Denied permission to land in the Pakistani city of Lahore, the plane landed at the north Indian city of Amritsar, where it stayed 40 minutes. It then returned to Lahore and made an emergency landing without permission. Pakistani officials gave the hijackers food and fuel.
The hijackers next tried to fly to Kabul, but were told a night landing there was impossible. They were also refused permission at Muscat, the capital of the Gulf country of Oman. The plane then landed at an Air Force base in the UAE.
In the Emirates, the hijackers released 27 hostages - mostly women and children - and the body of a dead man before heading for Afghanistan, where it landed around 17 hours after leaving Nepal.
Hong Kong-based Star TV identified the slain man as a 25-year-old who was on his honeymoon in Katmandu. His wife reportedly remained on board. The Times of India said many of the passengers were honeymooners returning from Nepal.
One of the women freed in Dubai, Pooja Tyagi, said the hijackers ordered passengers to cover their eyes with their clothes, according to her brother-in-law. Tyagi said the slain man was knifed to death after looking twice at the hijackers, said the brother-in-law, a Delhi University professor, V.K. Tyagi.
Mrs. Tyagi also said the hijackers spoke Hindi, but she could not make out their nationality.
More than 100 relatives and friends of the passengers spent a sleepless night at New Delhi's airport, tracking the plane as it hopscotched the region.
The Taliban spokesman, Muttawakkil, said the Taliban allowed the plane to land at Kandahar on a request by Indian officials. ``The pilot is very tired, they told us,'' he said.
He said officials had refueled the plane and provided fuel after demands from the hijackers. An airport official said the hijackers had thrown a note with the demands out of the cockpit.
An Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Taliban have been asked to try to put an end to the hijacking, but not at the risk of the passengers. Taliban and Indian officials are discussing whether it is possible to ``secure the safe release of the passengers and crew and lead toward the termination of the hijacking,'' he said.
In India, news agencies reported that a previously unknown group called the Islamic Salvation Front called the New Delhi airport control room early today and claimed responsibility. The reports said the caller demanded the release of two imprisoned members of a militant Muslim group, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, based in Pakistan, which has been battling for independence of Indian-ruled Kashmir.
But a Lashkar-e-Tayyaba spokesman Abdullah Mutazir denied the group had any role and condemned the hijacking.
In Potomac, Md., the Sikh Council on Religion and Education issued a statement today condemning the hijacking as a ``reprehensible act of terrorism,'' but underlined that it was not confirmed that Sikhs were involved.
Militant Sikhs, whose religion is rooted in both Islam and Hinduism, have waged campaigns of assassinations and bombings against the Indian government in the last two decades. The number of attacks have declined in recent years after government crackdowns.
Originally, there were 178 passengers and 11 crew members on board.
The passengers included 150 Indians, eight Nepalese, one Canadian, one American, four Swiss, four Spaniards, one Belgian, one Japanese, one Austrian, two French and one Italian. Four passengers were not listed by nationality.
AP-NY-12-25-99 0704EST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four Killed in Indian Air Hijacking
Plane Landed in Lahore, Pakistan
By MUNIR AHMED
.c The Associated Press
LAHORE, Pakistan (Dec. 24, 99) - Hijackers today seized an Indian Airlines plane carrying 189 people and killed four people on board before landing in Lahore, Pakistan, an Indian official said.
The A300 Airbus, with 178 passengers and 11 crew members, was on a scheduled flight from Katmandu, Nepal to New Delhi when it was hijacked.
After the Pakistani government rejected an initial request to land in Lahore, the plane touched down at the airport in the Indian city of Amritsar, and spent 40 minutes on the ground.
It then took off again and landed in Lahore, said India's aviation secretary Ravinder Gupta.
In Lahore, authorities were trying to negotiate with the hijackers, officials at the airport said.
The hijackers have asked for medical assistance, water and refueling, Gupta said.
Gupta said he did not know how the four passengers were killed, but Press Trust of India reported from Amritsar airport that they had been shot. Pakistani officials would not confirm that anyone had been killed or injured.
It was not clear whether the pilot had permission before it finally landed in Lahore. Eyewitnesses said the lights of the airport had been turned off immediately before the aircraft landed. The aircraft had circled Lahore several times before touching down.
Brajesh Misra, the Indian prime minister's security adviser, said India had asked the Pakistani authorities to allow the plane to land.
Authorities were trying to determine the identity of the hijackers, he said.
''The hijackers obviously belong to a terrorist outfit,'' he said, emerging from a crisis meeting of top government officials.
Press Trust of India said they were heavily armed with grenades and revolvers and assault rifles.
The hijackers were speaking in Hindi, the predominant language of northern India, the agency reported.
There were reports of gunfire.
At the Lahore Airport, army soldiers with automatic weapons moved quickly to seal the grounds. Dozens of passengers were ushered outside the airport.
Ambulances and fire trucks roared through the airport gates and on to the darkened tarmac.
The lights throughout the airport remained off.
Nepal's aviation minister said the plane was seized after it crossed into Indian airspace. The India-Nepal border is about 175 miles from Katmandu.
Indian officials said the plane was running low on fuel, and the hijackers threatened to kill passengers if it were not allowed to land.
Press Trust said the hijackers demanded that the plane be refueled, threatening of blow it up if anyone other than fuel tankers approached.
The Nepalese minister said the plane took off with enough fuel to stay in the air more than 2 1-2 hours. The flight from Katmandu to Delhi is about one hour long.
Nepal had stepped up security more than three months ago upon receiving a security threat, said the minister, Narayan Singh Pun, speaking to reporters in Katmandu.
AP-NY-12-24-99 1036EST
| Pakistan Suspect Commits Suicide
By MUNIR AHMED .c The Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - (December 7, 1999)A man being interrogated in connection with the serial killing of 100 children died Tuesday in police custody. Police said he leapt from a second story window, but government officals quickly arrested four officers in the case. Before plunging to his death, Mohammed Ishaq had reportedly confessed to supplying the confessed killer, Javed Iqbal, with the chemicals he allegedly used to dispose of the bodies of the children. Iqbal himself remains at large. In addition to the arrests, federal officials ordered a judicial inquiry into Ishaq's death, Punjab state's chief secretary, Hafeez Randhawa, told The Associated Press. Police arrested Deputy Superintendent of Police Tariq Kambow, assistant sub-inspector Shahid Murad and two other junior officers in connection with Ishaq's death, Randhawa said. He refused to say why the policemen were arrested. Last week Iqbal, 40, wrote a letter to police in Lahore saying he had sexually assaulted and killed 100 children between the ages of 7 and 16. Instructions in his letter led police to a blue drum in which they found the remains of two bodies that had been eroded by acid. Police also found pictures of Iqbal's alleged victims along with a pile of clothes, apparently from his victims. Nearly 70 children have been identified by parents and relatives who filed through the police station in Lahore, many weeping and wailing when they saw a picture of their child or clothing they recognized. Most of the victims were among Pakistan's poorest, many of them children who had been begging on the streets. Police have not found the other bodies. Frustrated by the lack of progress in arresting Iqbal, the army-appointed governor of Punjab state, retired Gen. Mohammed Safdar, has removed two senior policemen from their jobs, Randhawa said. AP-NY-12-07-99 1720EDT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Man Admits Killing Kids in Pakistan By MUNIR AHMED .c The Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -(December 4, 1999) Police in this Pakistani city were searching for a man who sent them a confession letter claiming he killed 100 children - and leading them to snapshots he said he took of all the victims. Two days ago, police received a letter from a man who identified himself as Javed Iqbal. In the letter, Iqbal said he sexually assaulted the 100 children before killing them. He said he is a trained chemical engineer, and that he used chemicals to dispose of the bodies. Through instructions in his letter, Iqbal led police to a large blue barrel in a home in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, where they found the remains of two bodies. He also led police to pictures and clothes of the 100 children he said he killed. Police have not found any more bodies yet. But parents or relatives of 57 of the children have recognized clothing or identified pictures left by the alleged killer, police spokesman Riaz Shafqat said. Police are trying to identify the other children. Today, the faces of the dozens of children stared out at parents who arrived at a police station in eastern Lahore to see if their children's pictures or clothes were among the collection. Sophia Satar doubled over crying, clutching a small white shirt. ``My God. It's my boy's,'' she kept repeating. Her 12-year-old son Imran disappeared in October. ``He went out in the afternoon and never returned,'' Satar cried. ``We called the police. We searched everywhere.'' Hafeez Khan rummaged through the clothes on a table in the police station. He picked up a shirt and pants and said they belonged to his 7-year-old son Amir. ``But I still hope and I pray he is alive,'' he said. Some of the children whose picture or clothes were identified by relatives were among the city's poorest, Shafqat said. Some were beggars, and others were among the army of children in Pakistan who work on the streets selling goods. Still others had left home and never returned, he said. Pictures and stories about the children dominated the front pages of Urdu-language newspapers today as police issued an appeal for assistance. ``We are working around the clock to try to find this man and identify the other children,'' Shafqat said. In the letter sent to police, Iqbal said he killed the children after being wrongly picked up by police and badly beaten while in custody. The letter said he went on a killing rampage in retaliation for the police abuse. He threatened to kill himself by jumping into the Ravi River, which runs through Lahore. Police said they have not found any evidence of a body in the river. In October, a 42-year-old drifter in Colombia confessed to killing 140 children during a five-year rampage, authorities there said. AP-NY-12-04-99 0626EDT |
.
| Explosions Rock Downtown Islamabad
Rockets Hit Near U.S. Embassy, U.N. Building By AMIR ZIA (AP) ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Nov. 12, 99) - In what appeared to be a coordinated attack, seven rockets exploded today near the U.S. Embassy, the U.N. building, an American cultural center and downtown government buildings, officials said. At least six people were wounded, but no Americans were hurt, a U.S. official said. The blasts, which happened within a period of two minutes, caused no major damage, officials said. All the explosions struck at some distance from the buildings in relatively uncrowded places, police said. ''These are rockets fired from cars by unidentified people who have managed to flee,'' said a senior city official, Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Ali Khan. There was no claim of responsibility for the blasts. The blasts came as the United Nations and the United States are in a showdown with Afghanistan, Pakistan's neighbor, over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, who allegedly masterminded the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last year. The bombings left 224 people dead. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and its supporters elsewhere - including some Muslim groups in Pakistan - have warned the United Nations not to impose sanctions on Afghanistan, as the world body has promised to do unless bin Laden is turned over for trial. The attacks came two days before the U.N.'s deadline for Afghanistan's leadership to turn over bin Laden, who has lived there for several years. But the reclusive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, condemned the Islamabad explosions in a statement from the southern Afghan city of Kanadhar. ''This act of terrorism is aimed to create misunderstanding between Afghanistan and rest of the world, specially to hurt Afghanistan's relations with Pakistan,'' Omar said. ''The incident is also aimed to create more complications between Afghanistan and the United States.'' Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, had no immediate comment on the identity of the attackers in an interview with The Associated Press. He said the attack is under investigation, and the government would take unspecified measures in response. ''We have just initiated some actions,'' he said. ''This is something which has happened, and it is quite serious. Officials are investigating. They will come back to me and report, and only then I would like to comment.'' The explosions all happened in the center of the capital. The explosion that hit near the U.N. building was near a Citibank branch. Another blast struck near the World Bank building. Three blasts occurred near Pakistani government buildings, less than a half-mile from Parliament and its adjacent President House. Before today, there had been little unrest in Pakistan since Musharraf ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a coup last month. Pakistan is one of only three countries that recognize Afghanistan's Taliban government, which rules almost 90 percent of the country. But in his first public statement after seizing power, Musharraf had signaled a shift in Pakistan's unequivocal support of the Taliban religious rulers, appearing to suggest that they share power with their opponents. After the explosions, hundreds of people gathered outside the U.S. Information Services cultural center, known as the American Center, to watch a car burning there. A blackened rocket launcher could be seen inside the car, and witnesses reported seeing rockets fired from cars just before the explosions occurred. ''Two of the explosions were near the American Center and the U.S. Embassy,'' center spokesman Mark Wentworth said. ''All the Americans are safe.'' Behind the U.S. Embassy, a U.N. car was burning. ''I saw the car jump five to 10 yards after the blast, but luckily no one was close to it,'' witness Anjum Ahmed said. A student who identified himself only as Hussain said he was inside the library at the American Center when he heard the explosion and joined dozens of others in a rush outside to see what had happened. Police and paramilitary troops patrolled the streets and searched vehicles. They erected barricades and pushed away onlookers, warning of the possibility of more explosions. Sirens wailed from police cars, ambulances and fire trucks racing through the streets. Plumes of smoke rose in several areas. AP-NY-11-12-99 0822EST |
August, 1999 - ARMAGEDDON - REVELATION 9:16 - THE WARRIORS COMETH
July, 1999 - From Ecology News Service - Nostradamus quatrain also says the King of Terror brings back the King of the Mongols, a world leader who will wage decades of world war among the power blocs of nations. Paulus suggests the King of the Mongols might be an Islamic military- religious figure, known as the “Mahdi”. Other students of Nostradamus suggest that the entire quatrain the King of Terror and the King of the Mongols refers to this war-like world leader who first appears on the public scene in September 1999. One Nostradamus scholar believes the Kings of this quatrain refer to Islamic nuclear missiles in a Pakistan-Indian or other war. Another interpretation raises the spectre of a war launched by the Chinese (“Mongols”). The Taiwan-China confrontation began, coincidentally on July 9, 1999. Still other observers believe the “King of Terror” refers to electromagnetic pulse (“EMP) mood management and mind control weapons that can affect the moods of target human populations. These same EMP weapons can be used for tectonic warfare - triggering earthquakes in a target enemy's territory. Perhaps the great Taiwan earthquake(s) that defused this face-off were in fact triggered by acts of tectonic warfare?
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http://www.skypub.com/sights/images/s99pre2.gif
... which is a detailed map of the path of totality of the solar eclipse across the most densely populated urban centers of Europe on August 11 1999.
From "Lands End" in Britain, past the plain of Salisbury and Stonehenge, across the channel to France home of ancient Aquitaine and Gaul, home of Merovingian Kings of the Middle Ages, crossing the Loire, across the Ardennes forest, through Bavaria, near the seats of power of the German Kings, Germany, Switzerland is almost entirely covered, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, across the black sea into Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan...ALL will be touched by the moon's darkest shadow!
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August, 1999 - Aleister Crowley conducted a ritual at August 12, 1943 (the date of the historic Philadelphia/Montauk-Project) at a stonecircle in Lands End, Cornwall, called "Men-An-Tol" (http://www.henge.demon.co.uk/cornwall/menantol.html). The ritual should produce a line of "rough water" between this point and Montauk-Point/Long Island across the Atlantic Ocean.
(If you don't possess the book look at: http://www.v-j-enterprises.com/montauk.html
At Men-An-Tol there stands a stone with a hole (called "quoit") where you can crawl through. The point is that the path of the eclipse is exactly this line across the Atlantic Ocean:
It starts at +41.04° north / -64.58° west in the Atlantic Ocean some 300 miles east of Long Island (exactly the very same latitude of Montauk Point which is precise +41.04° north). It than "climbs up" across the Atlantic Ocean to +50.10° north / -6° west (that is the peak of the curve at Lands End, Cornwall, 11:11 MET). I.e., the eclipse describes a curve: first climbing up with its peak at Cornwall, than descending through France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Black Sea, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and finally India - ending in the Bay of Bengal at +17.35° north / +87.09° east (that is approx. the longitude of Mount Everest).
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April 15, 1999 - Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on missile tests in Pakistan and India:
The race to develop warheads and missiles under a climate of rivalry and nationalism can undermine the peace and stability of the South Asia region in one fell swoop. We are deeply concerned about the nuclear weapons race being waged by India and Pakistan and we urge them to halt further development and testing of missiles.
In the face of economic crises, nations are squandering money and people on development of nuclear weapons and missiles. That is a paradox of the modern world.
India and Pakistan deserve denunciation. At the same time, however, we hasten to observe that the United States and four other nuclear powers also bear responsibility for this situation. By their negligence in working to abolish nuclear weapons, they have, in a way, contributed to South Asia's nuclear arms race.
The United States, which has called on India and Pakistan to stop their nuclear development, has not yet ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
The Japanese government must maintain presistent pressure on the two countries to give up development of nuclear weapons and missiles. The suspension of economic assistance will have to be maintained until they change their attitude.
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June 11, 1998 (In a radio Interview) Gordon Michael Scallion: The changes will occur, in my opinion. If we take ourselves out of it and just look at the Earth and the planets as they go through cycles.....just look at it from THAT perspective. We tend to want, as a human race, to control everything. We would like to believe that we can control the weather, and in many cases that is totally possible. We can do that, but at what cost? In other words, when you're taking the cycle of a sentient being and you're modifying it, do we really negate it or does that energy then shift some other place and then become worse? You know, rather than respecting the land.....respect and technology ..... we've got to stop beaming microenergies into the atmosphere, stop detonating nuclear bombs. You know, a really interesting thing happened. Pakistan and India fired off a whole series of atomic bombs.
Art Bell: I know.
Gordon Michael Scallion: Now, what I found really interesting is the earthquake activity that occurred right afterward.
Art Bell: In Afghanistan, I found it interesting, too, and I also found very interesting that none of the American media.....NONE of them, Gordon, commented on the correlation between the Pakistani series and the quake in Afghanistan. Nobody said a word.
Gordon Michael Sccallion: It's not a popular thing. We're more interested in a Soap Opera, that we are in taking control of our lives, our families and our cities. We're fixed on anything that takes us away from ourselves, because if we have to stop and really look at what we're doing and how we're each part of it, then we have to take some kind of action. You know, we are responsible collectively and individually for everything that's going on. We can place the blame on government and right-wings and left-wings and so on, but we really have to look into what we can do individually. What can you do in your community? Are you a part of the community process for elected officials? Are you active in your school with your children? These things are the greatest things, that I've seen, to bring about change. And I think, in the end, while it IS inevitable, in my opinion, that these things will occur, many communities, I think, will fare fairly well in these changes. And, we're going to find that.....I mean, we have files of literally tens of thousands of letters from people who have moved. I had so many people from Japan.....we have a very large audience in Japan.....and also people from the Northridge area who have moved out of there, just prior. They had been exposed to something I had said, and their own dreams and intuitions said, "Get Out!" You HAVE to listen within. If the inner voice in you says, "None of this is true, it's not going to happen," then you need to follow whatever that is. However, if it says, "You should prepare and do some basic things, some self-sufficiency and survival things," then I think that regardless of what happens you're going to be in the right place at the right time.
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1998 - by Branton - These specific troops that will remove pre-identified civilians from given areas and will confiscate firearms, "subversive elements", remove certain groups for political and/or religious reasons [targeted groups will be gun owners, certain religious groups, and other groups or organizations considered detrimental to the "peacekeeping" or "peace-restoring" missions of an occupying force, or the objectives of the current government body]; these troops will make massive use of mechanized infantry, assault units, light infantry units, MPs, and they all will be connected with the Special United Nations Task Forces.
These "special units" will consist of Rhodesians, East Germans, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Estonians, Afghans, Pakistanis, Ghurkas and South Africans, brought in from countries that, of late, had professional armies which no longer exist, or have downscaled their force structure, and have provided a surplus of military troops for the opposition; and been placed under the auspices of the U.N. for "special activated operations". Such troops will be useful for such operations because they will not have families here, and they have been secreted and sequestered aboard remote NON-ACTIVE MILITARY RESERVATIONS to keep them away from the civilian population and from discovery.
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5/20/97 South Asian leaders agree to form free trade zone. Male, The Maldives - South Asian leaders, met to discuss strengthening their economic alliance and agreed to form a free-trade zone by 2001, India’s Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral said. India is the largest member, and also included is Pakistan.
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1997 - From (Educate Yourself )Consider the exponential increase in strong earthquakes (over 6.0 Richter) in 1997 alone around the Pacific Rim: China (January), Indonesia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Aleutian Islands, Japan, Iran (May), Pakistan (May), Marianna Islands (May), Bangladesh (May), the list goes on and on.
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DECEMBER 13, 78TH DAY OF 9/16/96 ECLIPSE by Timestar
BLUE MAGNETIC STORM
Volcanic and earthquake activity in the Pacific and Mexico will be triggered for the next 26 days (December 6 through January 8). Mt. Popocateptl and an underwater volcano off the Oregon Coast were indicated by the Butte, Nebraska crop circle. This will affect California and Oregon on longitudes 120-123, indicating San Francisco and Portland. HAARP may be activated between December 13 and January 4.
Astrocartography: Electromagnetic and explosive events through Alaska and Hawaii in the west and Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in the east are emphasized.
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Pakistan co-pilot reports similar incident to TWA 800
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996
The FBI is investigating a report that the co-pilot of a Pakistani plane saw "something unusual in the sky".
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 712 had just taken off from John F. Kennedy Airport when the co-pilot reported seeing "a strange streak of light".
The plane was on a flight path similar to that taken by TWA Flight 800, which crashed just after take-off last July.
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1995 - The 9 nations voting against the recent U.N. Human Rights Commission moratorium on executions were: China, Rwanda, Indonesia, South Korea, Sudan, Bostswana, Pakistan, Congo and the United States.
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April 19, 1995 - An official in the Saudi Arabian Intelligence Service reported on April 19, 1995, and possibly earlier, that Iraq had hired seven Pakistani mercenaries, all veterans of the Afghanistan War, to bomb targets in the United States, one of which was the Alfred P. Murrah Building. D.E. 2191 at 3 (Exhibit "A"). A former Chief of Counterterrorism Operations for the Central Intelligence Agency provided this information to the United States government and described his source as "responsible for developing intelligence to help prevent the Royal Family from becoming victims of a terrorist attack." Id.
Thus, this information is not only facially credible, it is highly credible. The Director of Saudi Arabian Intelligence is the King's own son. There is no reason for such a high ranking official in the Saudi Arabian intelligence community to pass on such information if it is not true (or if there no reasonable basis to believe it is not true). On the contrary, the information has a strong indicia of reliability because of the extreme embarrassment to Saudi Arabia if the information is in fact false or unverifiable. It should be noted as well that the information provided to the defense by the government indicates that there are possibly two sources of this information. The FBI reports describe the source of the significant portions of this material are in the public record either through media account or court proceedings.
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1994 - ECHELON - About 80 per cent of the messages intercepted at Kojarena are sent automatically from its Dictionary computer to the CIA or the NSA, without ever being seen or read in Australia. Although it is under Australian command, the station - like its controversial counterpart at Pine Gap - employs American and British staff in key posts.
Among the ``collection requirements" that the Kojarena Dictionary is told to look for are North Korean economic, diplomatic and military messages and data, Japanese trade ministry plans, and Pakistani developments in nuclear weapons technology and testing. In return, Australia can ask for information collected at other Echelon stations to be sent to Canberra.
A second and larger, although not so technologically sophisticated DSD satellite station, has been built at Shoal Bay, Northern Territory. At Shoal Bay, nine satellite tracking dishes are locked into regional communications satellites, including systems covering Indonesia and south-west Asia.
International and governmental concern about the UKUSA Echelon system has grown dramatically since 1996, when New Zealand writer Nicky Hager revealed intimate details of how it operated. New Zealand runs an Echelon satellite interception site at Waihopai, near Blenheim, South Island. Codenamed ``Flintlock", the Waihopai station is half the size of Kojarena and its sister NSA base at Yakima, Washington, which also covers Pacific rim states. Waihopai's task is to monitor two Pacific communications satellites, and intercept all communications from and between the South Pacific islands.
Like other Echelon stations, the Waihopai installation is protected by electrified fences, intruder detectors and infra-red cameras. A year after publishing his book, Hager and New Zealand TV reporter John Campbell mounted a daring raid on Waihopai, carrying a TV camera and a stepladder. From open, high windows, they then filmed into and inside its operations centre.
They were astonished to see that it operated completely automatically.
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There is a worldwide conspiracy being orchestrated by a group of genetically-related individuals which include many of the very wealthy, politically powerful, and corporate elite of the world, as well as members of the so-called Black Nobility of Europe whose goal is to create a One World Government, stripped of nationalistic and regional boundaries, that is obedient to their agenda. Their intention is to effect complete control over every human being on the planet and dramatically reduce the world's population, especially in resouce-rich, but poor and undeveloped countries like Africa. They manifest their agenda through the skillful manipulation of human emotions, especially fear and anguish.
The NWO is dominated by international bankers and by the big pharmaceutical cartels and other major multinational corporations. The Royal Family of England, the House of Windsor seems to be the titular head of this tribe, but by no means makes all the decisions connected with the vast web of influence and intrigue exerted by these secretive elites. Queen Elizabeth II sits at the head of an organization known as the Committe of 300 which is the planning committee of elites that plan and decide on what will be written in the world's history books.
The Club of Rome is one of the more powerful implementation/enforcement arms working under the Committee of 300. The United Nations, along with all the agencies working under the UN umbrella, like The World Health Organization (WHO), are full time players in this scheme. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the UN is the New World Order. Similarly, NATO is a military tool of the NWO. The Committee of 300 decreed that there must be a smaller population in the world. A slow destruction of millions of people, which are called "surplus population," is under way, along with the removal of leaders who stand in the way of the planned objectives.
The NWO has advanced to the point that only certain hand-picked individuals, groomed from childhood, are even eligible to become the prime minister or president of countries like Great Britain or The United States. It didn't matter whether Bill Clinton of Bob Dole won the Presidency in 1996, the results would have been the same. Both men are playing on the same team for the same ball club. Anyone who isn't a team player is taken out: i.e. President Kennedy, Ali Bhutto (Pakistan), and Aldo Moro (Italy).
The late Aldo Moro, Prime Minister of Italy, opposed "zero growth" and population reductions planned. It became known from a close friend of Moro that he was being threatened while he was still the U.S. Secretary of State. Prime Minister Moro was killed during a kidnapping in 1978. Several witnesses at the trial testified that they knew of a high-level U.S. plot to kill Moro.
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1951 -- Assassination of Ali Razmara of Iran, Riad Al-Sulh and Abdullah of Jordan and Ali Knah Liaquat of Pakistan. Army simulated germ warfare project in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Approximate date CBS begins active cooperation with CIA. McCord moves from FBI to CIA. North Korean brainwashing of American prisoners begins. Time magazine popularizes the term brainwashing.
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Predicted by Juan Paul - 1898 - That the third world war (WW-III) shall happen in 00 (year 2000?) with the assassination of a leader in the Middle Eastern country. The war shall peaked in 2002 where a northern western country (USA / Russia?) can no longer tolerate the self-sacrifice detonation and terrorism of the middle east country towards its sovereign. World War III shall involve a total of 125 nations and last 9 years!!
WW-III in Far East shall begin with the nuclear bombing of the largest country in Asia (China?) against a small defector nation of which it had been at odds with for the past 50 years (Taiwan?). The Fourth and Final (Fifth) nuclear bombing shall occur in the populated nation that had just experienced a bloody revolution (Indonesia?). A total of 1,000,000 human lives shall perish in this country alone and due to poverty this nation will subsequently take control of 3 other neighboring countries (Singapore? Malaysia? Brunei?) and rule for the next 15 years. A migrant origin shall that over the leadership on the 16th year and the nation (Indonesia?) will eventually break-apart into 8 major states with governor presiding in each internal affairs.
Two countries from the Indian continent (India Pakistan) shall be at war. However no nuclear bombing is expected and no victory is insight. A foreign power (UNSCOM?) shall rule both these two countries for 8 years where that on this continent shall be separated into 3 nations towards the end of WW-III
Source: National Archive of The unexplained Phenomenon (Spain)
Submitted by: Antares <antares@tm.net.my>
| Date:
June 10, 2004 at 15:28:20 From: Bren, Subject: I was in a "war" somewhere in Europe |
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