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By Syed M.Aslam
 Mar 05 - 11, 2001

*** "THE WORLD MUST give protection to the Palestinian people, who live under the occupation of a state that carries out terrorism against the Palestinian people."

(Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat commenting on the threats by leader of Jewish settler calling for the assassination of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat)

*** "THE GEORGE W. BUSH Quote of the day."

(US late-night television host Jay Leno ridiculing US President's grammar in a speech delivered at an education event which said, "You teach a child to read and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test")

*** "SOME AFRICANS themselves have made mistakes. They now throw their weight around as a majority . . . However harsh apartheid was, these groups found a niche for themselves. With (the end of apartheid), the insecurity that grips minority groups is worsening."

(Former South African president Nelson Mandella scolding the country's black elite, including members of the ruling African National Congress, for being arrogant and widening the race gap)

*** "EVEN IF there wasn't criminal activity, it certainly was unseemly to pardon the No. 6 wanted fugitive in the world."

(Republican Congressman Dan Burton heading of House of Representatives government reform committee investigating whether fugitive financier Marc Rich made donations to former president Bill Clinton's presidential library)

*** "THIS REPORT EQUATES the victim and the executioner. Resistance of occupation is not the same as actions carried out by the occupier and trying to equate the two is unfair."

(Palestinian justice minister Freih Abu Meddein resenting reference to 'terrorism' in the report issued by the US State Department criticising use of excessive force by Israel)

*** "ON THE CONTRARY, we are hearing stupid statements from (US Secretary of State Colin Powell) talking about clever sanctions, as if he confessed that all what had been going on since 1990 is stupid."

(Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed Al Sahhaf scoffing at 'smart sanctions' and demanding total lifting of embargo)

*** "WHEN YOU HAVE a national crisis of this sort in the countryside, it makes playing part of the democratic process very difficult."

(Richard Burge, chief executive of Countryside Alliance rural campaign, asking the government to shelve plans for a possible spring election to avoid spreading an already massive breakout of foot-and-mouth infection in the livestock in the UK)

*** "WHEN I SAID I had a near-death experience, they said, 'Well, this is a kinder, gentler Farrakhan.' The hell he is."

(Firebrand US Black Muslim nationalist leader Louis Farrakhan mocking those who thought a major surgery had soften him while delivering annual speech honouring the founders of his Nation of Islam group)

*** "IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE that while the US State Department promotes human rights, the US Department of Commerce has approved export licenses to countries that our government documents as committing torture."

(Amnesty International spokesman demanding a ban on the sales of torture weapons such as electroshock, leg irons and serrated thumb cuffs designed to tear flesh if a detainee tries to get free disguised as 'crime control equipment.' The US granted export licenses for sales valued at $ 97 million since 1997)

*** "WHY SHOULD THE PEOPLE of Pakistan be forced to live at sub-human levels for no fault of their own?"

(Former minister J. Salik announcing to commit suicide in front of headquarters of the World Bank on February 26 next year if his campaign to write off Pakistan's debts fails)

*** "THE GOAL being set is 'expose yourself and you will be able to achieve something.' I want to reverse this statement and say that 'my physique is not my asset, but my intellect is.'"

(Indian Information Minister Sushma Swaraj defending her decision to ban advertisements of Wrangler jeans on state-controlled television network for being 'distasteful and degrading to women')