By Syed M.Aslam
Dec
10 -16 , 2001
*** "LET THOSE WHO remain deprived of
freedom and inalienable rights, enjoy them. Let those who have long
cherished the desire for freedom, taste it. Let those who are still
denied their right of self-determination, whether in Palestine or in
Kashmir, be finally given the opportunity to realize it."
(Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN, Shamshad Ahmad,
asking the international community for action against Israel for its
use of brutal and indiscriminate force against the innocent
Palestinians)
*** "I AGREE with the overwhelming
population of the United States that we have a formal democracy, but
not a functional democracy. The political system is in the hands of a
small right-wing group which creates the candidates and manipulates
their election. This group decides which are the issues that must be
debated and addressed."
(US intellectual and critic of American foreign
policy, Noam Chomsky, explaining the real base of power in the US
saying that business controls power in the US)
*** "... is worth between Rs 60,000
million to Rs 100,000 million."
(Estimated market price of the jewellery collection
of former Nizam of Hyderabad which was purchased by the Indian
government for a mere Rs 2,180 million in 1995)
*** "THERE WAS uniform appreciation of
the constructive role played by India all along."
(India's special envoy to Afghanistan, S.K. Lambah,
who led a foreign ministry delegation to Kabul to set up a office
there)
*** "WE BELIEVE that no single country
can protect itself by just erecting a fence, no matter how high the
fence, no matter whether it is a part of one alliance or another given
today's threat."
(Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov stressing
that his country does not intend to join NATO but is willing to forge
closer ties with the US-led alliance "to the extent that the
alliance itself is ready for that")
*** "THE GOVERNMENT wants to jail people
not for what they've done, but for what the Home Secretary suspects
they might have done or might do in the future. That punches hole in
our basic constitutional protections."
(Spokesman of Britain's leading human rights group
Liberty, Roger Bingham, criticizing the new anti-terrorism laws
proposed by the ruling Labour Government)
*** "WE WANT PEOPLE ACROSS the country
to be aware that the behaviour of this international business is
simply unacceptable."
(Member of the London Assembly and a participant of
a demonstration, Darren Johnson, accusing oil giant Esso of sabotaging
efforts to reduce global warming. The demonstrations organized by
environmental activists said the company refuses to deny that the use
of fossil fuels contribute to climate change and also accused it
refusing to invest in renewable energy resources)
*** "... a weak criminal justice system,
if armed with draconian law, is only likely to end up victimizing the
socially and politically marginalized or those who are perceived as a
threat to those with the power to influence the criminal justice
system."
(Human rights watchdog Amnesty International urging
Indian political parties not to give parliamentary approval to a
controversial anti-terrorism ordinance and should instead work to
strengthen the criminal justice system)
*** "... What they are doing is to say
if you fear there could be a veto of your action, you are entitled to
act independently of the Security Council."
(Former South African President Nelson Mandela
saying that the bypassing of the United Nations by the US and UK is
extremely dangerous because it spreads chaos into international
affairs)
|
