10A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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WORLD
THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2003
Himalayan nations test nuclear missiles
The Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan and India conducted tit-fat-tat nuclear-capable missile tests yesterday, pushing their decades-old conflict to the fore with a whoosh of steel and a payload of charged invective.
The United States may be focused on the war in Iraq, but the dual missile tests served as a reminder that the world's other conflicts continue.
India yesterday also accused Pakistan of having a hand in this week's murder of 24 Hindus in disputed Kashmir, and the two countries exchanged heavy artillery across the cease-fire line dividing the Himalayan province between them.
Pakistan condemned the massacre by suspected Islamic separatists and called for an independent inquiry. Analysts in Pakistan said they feared New Delhi might be trying to take advantage of the U.S.war in Iraq to ratchet up tensions over Kashmir.
"There is always the danger that India will try something while the United States' attention is on Iraq. We would be foolish not to be wary," Shireen Mazari, head of Pakistan's Institute of Strategic Study, said after yesterday's tests. "If the international community does not come down hard on India, tension could rise."
Ironically, one of the only things Pakistan and India have agreed on recently is their opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Leaders of both countries have called for a quick end to the conflict while avoiding outright criticism of Washington.
The South Asian rivals have fought three wars since gaining
independence from Britain in 1947 — two of them over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
Tension spiked following a December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed Islamic militants and Pakistan's spy agency. Pakistan denied the charge.
Both sides rushed hundreds of thousands of troops to the border, raising fear of a nuclear exchange, before the conflict was averted amid intense international diplomacy.
Most of the troops have withdrawn, but missile tests, charged rhetoric and diplomatic expulsions continue.
Yesterday, India fired first — announcing it shot off a Prithvi missile from its Chandipur testing range in the eastern state of Orissa. The missile has a range of 95 miles and can carry a nuclear payload.
Pakistan followed hours later with an announcement that it tested its Abdali surface-to-surface missile, which has a range of 132 miles with similar nuclear capabilities. Officials would not give details about where or when the test was conducted.
Pakistani officials complained that India had fired the Prithvi without prior warning—a breach of the normal etiquette in South Asia's complex game of nuclear bravado.
Khan said India was informed Tuesday of Pakistan's plans to conduct its missile test
Monday's massacre in Nadiimarg, a village in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, was one of the worst attacks on Hindus in the long Kashmir conflict.
Planes attack vehicles leaving Basra
The Associated Press
Warplanes attacked a convoy of Iraqi armored vehicles leaving Basra under cover of sandstorms yesterday, raising hopes that British ground troops could soon enter a city feared on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. Iraq claimed American missiles killed 14 civilians in Baghdad.
The possibility of a major battle loomed south of the capital as a second, far larger, Iraqi column of vehicles moved in the direction of American forces aiming for Saddam Hussein's seat of power.
One week into the war, the first substantial delivery of humanitarian supplies rolled into southern Iraq, greeted at the border by hungry children.
"This war is far from over," President Bush said in a quick trip to the Florida headquarters of U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing the war. Still, he said victory was only a matter of time.
The Iraqis countered with a military communique of their own — nothing like Bush's assessment — reporting an unbroken string of successes.
adding, "There will be a day of reckoning for the Iraqi regime, and that day is drawing near."
For the second straight day, swirling sandstorms hampered American units. The bombing campaign was crimped, as well, but Baghdad television was knocked off the air for several hours, and explosions were heard, as well, near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the north.
Harriers and Tornado jets flying out of Kuwait attacked the Iraqi convoy leaving Basra, a city of more than 1 million people in southern Iraq, according to a British military source. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the column included as many as 120 vehicles, tanks and other armored vehicles.
Irregular Iraqi troops have prevented British troops from entering Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and site of a reported uprising by local civilians against Saddam's defenders. International aid officials have repeatedly expressed fears of an outbreak of disease, given the interruption of power and water supplies.
The British hit Iraqi positions in the city overnight, and said they had silenced the mortar fire being directed their way and possibly at civilians in the city.
Details were sketchy, as well about Iraqi troop movements to the north. Some officials said a huge convoy of perhaps 1,000 vehicles and members of Saddam's elite Republican Guard had been moving south, in the direction of Marines making their way toward the capital of Baghdad.
But Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, briefing reporters in Qatar, said, "We've not seen any significant movements of the type of force" described. He added,
though, there were "local positionings and survival positionings" of various units.
Intelligence officials offered a different possibility, that paramilitary fighters, so-called Fedayeen, had been moving in recent days, traveling in pickup trucks, SUVs and other civilian vehicles.
U. S. officials blame the Fedayeen units for much of the resistance that has hampered the American-led advance through Iraq, accusing them of faking surrender only to shoot Americans, using human shields or enforcing discipline among regular Iraqi army troops who may be less willing to fight.
One Defense Department official said commanders were surprised by the Fedayeen's capability and that, as a result, military commanders were changing their tactics, making a great effort to defeat the Fedayeen, rather than bypass them on the way to Baghdad.
Peru's ex-president on most-wanted list
The Associated Press
PARIS — Interpol put Peru's disgraced former president, Alberto Fujimori, on its most-wanted list yesterday, issuing a "red notice" calling for the exiled leader's arrest and extradition on murder and kidnapping charges in Peru.
The move by the international police agency does not carry the force of an arrest warrant. But it could put further pressure on Japan, where Fujimori fled to escape a corruption scandal in 2000 and is protected from extradition by his Japanese citizenship.
Fujimori, who as president closed down Congress and gave the army sweeping powers in a successful campaign against
Maoist guerrillas, faces murder charges for allegedly authorizing death squads who massacred suspected rebel sympathizers in the 1990s.
"Because Interpol was familiar with the underlying charges brought against Mr. Fujimori, the organization was able to satisfy itself quickly that all the relevant legal requirements for a 'red notice' request had been satisfied by Peru," the Lyon-based police agency said in a statement.
The notice, which was requested by Peru, means Fujimori's appearance, identity and details of the charges against him will be posted on Interpol's Web site. The "red notice" status puts Fujimori on Interpol's equivalent of a most-wanted list.
Fujimori took office in 1990 and launched a harsh but victorious military crackdown against the leftist Shining Path guerrilla group. But he was criticized for anti-democratic moves, alleged human rights abuses and rampant corruption.
Fujimori, who was born in Peru to Japanese immigrants, fled to Japan in November 2000 as scandal toppled his decade-long regime. Peru has pushed for Fujimori's extradition, but Japanese officials originally argued that his Japanese citizenship — established after his arrival — protected him.
Since then, however, Tokyo has requested a Japanese translation of the Peruvian criminal charges and other documents from Lima as a condition for
considering the request. Peru has not yet provided the paperwork.
The Japanese government had no official reaction to the Interpol notice late yesterday, but a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity the measure was not legally binding.
Since arriving in Tokyo, Fujimori has become something of a celebrity, with his love life detailed in the tabloids. The local media have speculated Fujimori, who formed close ties with Tokyo during his 1990-2000 presidency, could even seek political office in Japan.
Fujimori has used his "From Tokyo" Web site to claim he is the target of political persecution and to argue that the accusations lack proof and credible witnesses.
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