 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Kashmir Autonomy Debate Gets Serious
New Delhi - Lawmakers in Jammu and Kashmir have voted for a radical measure of autonomy for the state, giving rise to fears among some that this could lead to the eventual separation of India's troubled province. Defying Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's alliance to which it belongs, state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's National Conference (NC) party has got legislative approval for its demand to revert the province to its pre-1953 status when New Delhi had control over just foreign affairs, defence and communications. The state assembly has now asked New Delhi to act on the former's resolution accepting the report of a special panel set up to suggest an appropriate measure of autonomy for the state. The panel had backed the NC's demand for pre-1953 status.
Tension Surrounds Unveiling of Allende Monument
SANTIAGO - Chile's president Ricardo Lagos has unveiled a monument in honour of former president Salvador Allende in the capital amid the tense climate of protests led by leftist groups that lack representation in Congress.
The monument has been placed in front of the government palace, known as 'La Moneda,' where socialist president Allende is thought to have taken his own life during the coup d'etat led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet on September 11, 1973.
The unveiling ceremony, held on Monday and attended by national and foreign government officials saw demonstrators protesting an accord reached by the human rights dialogue panel earlier this month and called for more criminal charges to be brought against Pinochet.
Allende's widow, Hortensia Bussi, his daughter, socialist legislator Isabel Allende, and several officials protected themselves with umbrellas against the coins, eggs, fruit and other objects thrown by the protesters - mostly activists from the Communist Party and other leftist groups who do not hold parliamentary seats.
President Lagos, the Allende family members, Santiago mayor Jaime Ravinet, senator Ricardo Núñez, president of the Socialist Party (PS), and Spaniard José Bono, president of the Castilla-La Mancha Autonomous Community, led the ceremony that brought a 3,000-strong audience to the Plaza of the Constitution.
The monument to Allende is in addition to others already erected on the plaza to former presidents: the late Jorge Alessandri (1958- 1964) and the late Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970), thus completing the trio of Chilean governments that served prior to the interruption of democracy resulting from the Pinochet coup.
Zapatistas Back no Presidential Candidate
MEXICO CITY (IPS) - The grassroots of the Zapatista guerrilla movement in the Mexican state of Chiapas will go to the ballot box on July 2 with no instructions or agreements on how to vote, frustrated by the governing party and, according to the Ministry of Defence, under reduced military watch.
''The electoral moment is not the moment of the Zapatistas,'' but the guerrillas will not get in the way of the general elections nor the setting up of voting stations in the Chiapas area, stated sub-commander Marcos, leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN).
''Democracy is not limited to elections,'' though the voting process is ''an important part of democracy,'' as long as it is clean, fair and plural, traits the EZLN says are not fully present under the current system.
Three other rebel groups that have appeared since December 1994, during president Ernesto Zedillo's term - organisations the government considers to be ''common criminals'' - have not issued statements on next Sunday's elections, but political observers rule out the possibility that there will be any guerrilla- instigated incidents on election day.
Sources from the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), however, warned that optimal conditions are lacking for the balloting process in several areas of the south-eastern state of Chiapas, where, since 1994, the EZLN and military have maintained a tense truce, under a large deployment of government troops.
The EZLN took up arms six years ago in the name of indigenous rights, engaging the military in a couple weeks of battle, though a tenuous peace has reigned since.
Read TerraViva
The IPS renowned international newspaper will publish a special edition in Geneva, at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (Copenhagen+5). Follow the conference on line day by day from June 26 through July 1, with exclusive reports by a team of 13 IPS journalists from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and Latin America.
A selection of the IPS Coverage from Geneva will also be carried by TerraViva Daily Journal (New York) and TerraViva Europe (Brussels),.
Has the world lived up to its 1996 commitments..?
Solidarity 2000 starting 17th of June!
MS's big summer event Solidarity 2000 will start very soon now, with a week-long variety of debates and arrangements. The activities range from encounters between young people from Balkan, Africa and Central America to big conferences on the planet's social development and environment.
Judge by yourself:
The 1996 Copenhagen Social Summit final report in English, French and Spanish.