Jan 03, 2000
*** "IT’S VERY fishy that whenever there could be
an international focus on Kashmir, something is done which discredits our cause
indirectly. President Clinton is coming to India early next year [2000] and this
happens."
(Umer Farooq, chief cleric and a leader of the main Muslim separatist
forum in Indian held Kashmir, denouncing hijacking of Indian Airlines plane)
*** "LIFE EXPECTANCY fell from 66 in 1993 to 58.5 in
1997. Infant mortality rose from 31 per 1,000 in 1989 to 97 per 1,000 in 1997. Average
annual salary dropped from $ 335 in 1988 to $ 24 this year. Average shop prices rocketed
850 times in 1990-95. Incidences of low birth-weight babies (under 2.5 kilos) rose from 4
per cent in 1990 to about 25 per cent in 1997. Death rate for mothers increased from 50
per 100,000 live births in 1989 to 117 in 1997. An estimated 250 people a day die as a
result of sanctions."
(Statistics depicting the suffering caused to Iraqis by UN lead
sanctions)
*** "YOU CANNOT fight pollution with mere slogans . .
. No one is taking responsibility for the problem."
(Residents of Iranian capital, Tehran, commenting on the critical
pollution forcing them to don masks and seek medical aid)
*** "THAT’S FIGHTING words . . . Don’t talk
to me being unmusical because I can beat you up on that one."
(US singer Barry Manilow calling the British press ‘brutal’
over coverage of his performances as ‘unmusical’)
*** "IF I AM fined more than 10 pounds I will refuse
to pay it and I am prepared to go to prison if necessary."
(Bruce Robertson, owner of a chain of shopping centres in Cornwall,
southwest England, refusing to obey laws which require selling of unpackaged goods in
metric measurements from January 1, 2000)
*** "MOTHERS WHO feel their children are giving them
grey hairs may not be far from the truth."
(Findings of a research conducted by scientists at University College
London which say that ‘children can damage your health to cut your life short)
*** "THIS INCIDENT is full of unknown mysterious
factors and it is a bit different from ordinary hijacking cases."
(Minoru Kubota, the Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan, commenting on the
hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane)
*** "MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, Margaret Thatcher, Henry
Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush: we are going to invite them to
tell the world why they supported the Khymer Rouge."
(Benson Samay, a Cambodian lawyer, defending Khymer Rouge military
leader Ta Mok, saying that he would summon a host of Western leaders, including three
former US presidents, to give evidence at a ‘killing field’genocide trial)
*** "THE KURDISH adventurer bested the Crusaders not
only in battle, but in manners."
(Time magazine paying tribute to great Muslim warrior Sultan Salahuddin
Ayubi)
*** " . . . CHRISTIANITY WAS dominant, but the
liveliest culture was Muslim. Europe was yet to acquire from Arabs the basics of public
hygiene and health, the navigators instruments that would one day tale its galleons to the
ends of the earth, the very zero and notation that would enable its scientists to
calculate; even much of its own Greek past."
(Tributes paid to Muslims which helped renaissance of Europe by The
Economist, London)
*** "A GROWING disillusionment with Christianity is
only part of the explanation. There is growing perception that if you’re black, then
this is something that is in your DNA."
(Dorothy Ferebee, administrator of a Yoroba— the historical faith
of young black America— centre explaining why blacks are turning to the religion)
*** "WITH DUE respect to the secretary general, he
does not have the required competence to know what Iraq needs in terms of goods and
services."
(Iraqi newspaper Ath-Thawra questioning the impartiality of the UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan following his multiple declarations favouring the US policy
to slap sanctions and arms inspections)
Edited by Syed M. Aslam
