Oct 23, 1999
*** "ABSOLUTELY, WE have always had a special
relationship with China."
(Chief Executive of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf’s reply to
foreign journalist's question whether the breed of his two pet Pekinese dogs give clues to
his future foreign policies)
*** "IN MY VIEW any talk of peace remains hollow if
Israel continues to occupy Arab territory. If there is going to be peace, there must be a
complete withdrawal from those areas by areas— from the Golan Heights, from South
Lebanon and from the West Bank"
(Former South African president Nelson Mandela said during his visit to
occuppied Jerusalem)
*** "THE INSTINCT to support democrats and condemn
military coups is correct, yet it is worth remembering that not all elected leaders are
democrats and not all generals are villains."
(Excerpt from the cover story ran by ‘The Economist" about
the military takeover in Pakistan)
*** "TO MY CHILDREN in this homeland, I ask you to go
back to work. Don’t do anything emotional because in this podium, you see your mother
standing."
(Newly elected Indonesian vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri, urged
her supporters to abstain from agitation. Her surprise loss to Abdurrahman Wahid for the
presidency earlier sparked violent protests in the country)
*** "$ 26.5 billion. $ 14.5 billion"
(Arms sold and bought by the US in 1998. The US was the top arms seller
as well as buyer last year, according to a report published by the International Institute
of Strategic Studies)
*** "THE JUDICIARY must be made accountable because
without honest and efficient judges neither basic human rights can be protected nor
corruption can be rooted out."
(Cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan urging starting of
accountability process of the judiciary to restore public confidence)
*** "THIS IS a momemtous day for knowledge seekers
everywhere . . . Purchasing Encyclopaedia Britannica was once a major milestone in a
family’s life, but today we are fulfilling our promise to make it more accessible to
more people worldwide."
(Don Yannias, chief executive of Britannica.com. Inc., on placing the
whole 32-volume encyclopaedia free-of-charge on the internet)
*** "THE RULE . . . puts parents in control over the
information collected from their children online, and is flexible enough to accommodate
the many business practices and technological changes occurring on the Internet."
(Robert Pitofsky, chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission,
announcing new rules which will require commercial Internet websites to obtain consent
from either parents or school officials before collecting, using or transferring any
personal information on children under 13 years old)
*** "IT’S RACIST and discriminatory."
(Zenaida Angara-Collins, Philippine consul general to Hong Kong,
reacting to the plan of the local government of Hong Kong to impose 20 per cent tax on
Filipino domestic helpers)
*** "THEY TOO are part of God’s creation. They
too are God’s stewards. I impart my blessing to all your efforts and struggle for
true development, justice and peace."
(Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin extending support to a group of
disgruntled farmers who marched on Manila to fight president John Estrada’s plan to
change the Constitution)
*** "INDIA IS likely to face a serious nuclear
accident in the not too distant future. I am not permitted to discuss the specifics
openly, but suffice to say that the degree of automation and cross-checks on safety in our
older plants are very minimal and one cannot assert at all that an accident like the one
which occurred in Japan will not happen in India."
(Former chief of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India, A.
Gopalakrishnan, who said that a report prepared in 1995 listed 130 defects in various
nuclear installations)
Edited by Syed M. Aslam
