Feb 14, 2000
*** "CONVERSION OF information into evidence for
prosecution purposes is difficult ... We don’t have capable prosecutors and
investigators of white collar crime."
(Gen Pervez Musharraf explaining the two major reasons for the
seemingly slow process of accountability by the military government)
*** "LOTS OF things are subconscious in Austria ...
It’s no coincidence that this is where Sigmund Freud, master of the subconscious,
made his name. There is no nostalgia, people simply think they’re living in the
past."
(Austrian writer and publicist Richard Brem on the catapulting of the
far right Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider into power. Joerg intends to change the image
of Austria from that of a small republic in the heart of Europe to a country which will
play a much greater role in the European, and world, politics)
*** "THERE WILL be no more expectations of American
money or Russia helping America out around the world."
(Anatoly Utkin, an adviser to Russian parliament Duma’s Foreign
Affairs Committee on the shifting of policy from emphasis on foreign affairs to a greater
focus on domestic affairs by President Putin)
*** "TORTURE IS routine in every of India’s 25
states . . . the Indian government has murdered 125,000 Sikhs, 200,000 Christians in
Nagaland since 1947 and over 600,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988."
(Handbills distributed at demonstration staged by the Sikh community
outside the Indian High Commission in London. The demonstration coincided with the
Republic Day of India which fell on January 26)
*** "AFTER MY first several visits it was sort of like
Elvis, there were sightings all over the country. But what it did do is create a fear in
the civil service that they started treating everybody as a king because they didn’t
know if the next guy standing in line might be the king so that had a tremendous
effect."
(Jordan’s King Abdullah saying his disguised visits has turned him
into becoming like late US singer Elvis Presley— ‘The King’ of rock n roll.
Though he died in 1977, many Elvis fans believe that he is still alive and his sightings
have been regularly reported across the US and the world)
*** "IT IS a hell of a lot of money to say no to, but
we decided it wasn’t for us."
(Benny Anderson, member of 1970s chart topping pop group ABBA, on
turning down a $ 1 billion offer to the quartet for getting reunited after 17 years)
*** "THE IRA believes that this crisis can be averted
and the issue of arms can be resolved. This will not be on British or Unionist terms nor
will it be advanced by British legislative threats."
(Statement issued by the Irish Republican Army saying that though it is
firmly committed to the faltering peace process in Northern Ireland it would not be
bullied into disarming on anybody else’s terms)
*** "ANY OPPOSITION to making public the report is
bogus. Militants in Jammu and Kashmir are now attcking the army units. Their deployments
are no longer secret. I feel the Indian army is trying to hide its failures in the Kargil
sector."
(N. Kanju, the former editor of Indian army mouthpiece, Sainik
Samachar, commenting on Army’s opposition to make public the Central Vigilance
Commission’s report on last year’s Kargil war in Indian occuppied Kashmir)
*** "ARE THESE prospects strengthened or weakened if
Clinton Humiliates Pakistan? . . . Maybe, then it will make sense for us to advise Clinton
to also put Islamabad on his itinerary."
(Commentary in Indian Express arguing that President Clinton’s
visit to Pakistan would be in the interest of India. Indian media thinks that the US
President may visit Pakistan during his South Asian trip next month)
*** "IT BASICALLY says nobody is safe, if Yahoo can be
taken down with all the resources behind them."
(Concerns expressed by the chief technology officer of a
California-based IT security company on the electronic attack by hackers which jammed the
most popular website on the Internet, Yahoo, for hours)
Edited by Syed M. Aslam
