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To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (45560)	2/1/2004 3:25:10 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

123 Iranian MPs resign, call hardliners ‘Taliban’ TEHRAN: A group of 123 Iranian reformist MPs resigned on Sunday in protest at the mass barring of candidates from forthcoming elections, plunging the Islamic republic into one of its worst-ever crises amid what were supposed to be 25th anniversary celebrations. In a damning statement read out during a stormy Majlis session carried live on national radio, the deputies accused powerful hardliners of seeking to impose a Taliban-style religious dictatorship. “We cannot continue to be present in a parliament that is not capable of defending the rights of the people and which is unable to prevent elections in which the people cannot choose their representatives,” they said. The statement, read out by prominent reformist MPs Mohsen Mirdamadi and Rajab-Ali Mazroui, accused conservatives of “installing an Islam comparable to that of the Taliban” — a cutting jibe given Shiite Muslim Iran’s hatred of the ousted Sunni fundamentalist Afghan militia.. The hardliners behind the mass barring of election candidates from the February 20 polls were also labelled as “traitors”. “We will not participate in this election,” the deputies wrote in their statement. Parliamentary sources said 123 deputies had submitted signed copies of the letter. In a symbolic move, the resignations coincided with the hour and day of the return from exile 25 years ago of Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Iran is currently gearing up for official celebrations marking the 1979 revolution. After being swamped with resignation letters, pro-reform Majlis speaker Mehdi Karubi admitted the three-week-old crisis had hit a dead-end and appealed for the Islamic republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step in. “We are in a deadlock,” Karubi said. “The Supreme Guide must intervene to solve this problem.” Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state, and he directly or indirectly appoints all 12 members of the Guardians Council, the political vetting body that has disqualified large numbers of reformists from standing in the Majlis elections. The supreme leader had already intervened in the bitter crisis, by telling the Guardians Council — a body fiercely opposed to the reformists’ bid to shake up the way Iran is run — to be less stringent. —Agencies

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (45560)	2/4/2004 5:09:25 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50167

Dr.A.Q.Khan confess responsibility for nukes technology seeks clemency from President Pervez Musharraf. The founder of Pakistan's nuclear programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, accepted full responsibility for all leaks of Pakistani nuclear data Wednesday and sought clemency from President Pervez Musharraf, a government statement said. Khan "has accepted full responsibility for all the nuclear proliferation activities which were conducted by him during the period in which he was at the helm of affairs of the Khan Research Laboratories, the statement said. Khan had also "submitted his mercy petition to the president and requested for clemency," it said. Musharraf was to consult the National Command Authority, the top decision-making body on Pakistan's nuclear and missile programme, before deciding whether to accept Khan's plea for mercy, the statement said. Pakistan television showed an interview with Khan who said he had told the president "what had happened." "I gave him the background what was happening and what had happaned," Khan told PTV. "He (Musharraf) appreciated the frankness with which I gave him the details and insh'allah (God willing) he will discuss with the cabinet, with the prime minister, with other colleagues and then he will take a decision how to proceed and close this matter." Musharraf said the entire nation had been "severely traumatised by the unfortunate events in the last months," a reference to the investigation into nuclear leaks by Pakistani scientists to Iran, Libya and North Korea.