*** "The people
of Kashmir are not a party to these (1949 UN Resolutions and 1972 Pakistan-India Simla
Accord) agreements (on the issue and status of the Line of Control) nor do they feel
obliged to comply with interim arrangements that freeze the fulfilment of their rights and
aspirations."
(Memorandum addressed to British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, by
Kashmiri parties in the UK rejecting attempts to transform the Line of Control into an
international border)
*** "Pakistan should not compromise on nonsense. The
door should be slammed on India until they realise that sports and politics are two
different things."
(Former Pakistani captain, Intikhab Alam, hitting out at and agreeing
with Indian players demanding severing cricketing relations with Pakistan over the Kargil
conflict)
*** "I will give whatever is left of my life for the
upliftment of the poor . . . If I have my way, there will be no poor Filipino."
(Former First Lady, Imelda Marcos, celebrating her 70th birthday. The
glittering three-day event was attended by 3,000 guests)
*** "As we reached our destination at a height of
14,000 feet a voice on our radio set speaking in Punjabi invited us to climb up and join
the boys from Fifth Punjab Regiment for tea and snacks. We were cold so we climbed . . .
straight into machinegun fire."
(An Indian soldier, recollecting how he and his colleagues were lured
into an ambush which killed six troops at point blank range in Kaksar region of Indian
occupied Kashmir)
*** "India cannot carry on taking casualties at this
rate . . . Something has to give and very soon . . . We may have to start thinking of
crossing the Line of Control."
(Former Indian army chief, Vishwanath Sharma, explaining why New Delhi
is under pressure to open new fronts with Pakistan)
*** "How a man could accept a Nobel peace prize after
being responsible for bombing the life out of a neutral country (Cambodia), for extending
a war well beyond the necessary (Vietnam), and for destabilisng a democratically elected
Marxist government (Allende’s in Chile). Didn’t you feel a fraud?"
(Jeremy Paxman, host of BBC radio programme ‘Start The Week’,
inviting former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s comment which infuriated him
to leave the studio in the middle of the talk)
*** "People say they are impressed by the courage
shown by Osama bin Laden in challenging and defying the United States and speaking out for
the oppressed Muslims."
(Finding of a survey in remote Dir Region of Pakistan bordering with
Afghanistan which revealed that Osama has become the most popular name for new born boys)
*** "This is the political equivalent of bombing the
supply lines . . . There is only so much political money out there, and every dollar that
goes to [Bush] is a dollar that doesn’t go anywhere else."
(A political analyst on US presidential hopeful Geore W. Bush fund
raising figures which surpassed all his rivals. To date Bush has raked $ 36.3 million in
donations compared to $ 18.2 million by Al Gore, the sitting Vice President)
*** "We will at least make an appeal [to the
mujahideen]. Whether they will respond or not will depend largely on how the international
community addresses their concerns."
(Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz on return from talks between U.S.
President Clinton and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Washington)
*** "Malaria is the leading health problem in Africa
south of Sahara today. Almost all the 550 million people in the region run the risk of
malaria. The disease attacks between 270 and 480 million people and kills between 1.5 to
2.7 million people each year."
(WHO report highlighting shortage of funds for its Roll Back Malaria
project in Africa and saying that it needs $ 2 billion to implement the project)
*** "We reject any appeal by Pakistan to vacate our
positions. Our struggle in the Kargil-Dras sector will continue until the last drop of our
blood. We will not vacate the positions."
Mohammad Salahuddin, chief of the United Front which represents 15 Kashmiri
organisations whose fighters hold strategic peaks in Indian-held Kashmir)
