Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. Pakistani militaiy ousts government by Kathy Gannon Associated Press Islamabad, Pakistan — In an apparent coup, Pak istani troops took over state-run media today, closed airports and announced the democratically elected gov ernment had been removed after the prime minister tried to fire the powerful army chief. A message that scrolled across the television screen said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government had been ousted. It said army chief of staff Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, who had been fired hours before by Sharif, would address the nation in a broadcast speech, j, Troops cordoned off the prime minister in his res ’ idence in Islamabad, took over the houses of several other top ministers and seized other government build ings. Sharif fired Musharraf while the military leader was on a visit to Sri Lanka. Musharraf flew back to Pakistan and was met by a large contingent of soldiers at the airport in the southern city of Karachi. Musharraf was in Karachi’s seized television build ing preparing to deliver his speech, the army informa tion office said As troops moved through the main cities, many Pak istanis danced in the streets and waved flags, celebrat ing the apparent ouster of a government that had be come increasingly unpopular. Instability in Pakistan would heighten tensions in South Asia, home of the world’s two newest nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, which clashed earlier this year in a dispute over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir. India’s army went on a state of high alert along the border, a senior officer in India’s northern command in Kashmir said on condition of anonymity. Before the army announcement, U.S. State De partment spokesman James Rubin said: “If there has been a coup, we would obviously seek the earliest pos sible restoration of democracy in Pakistan.” Asked if the situation in Islamabad had raised con cerns about control of nuclear weapons technologies in Pakistan, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said: “No concern like that has been raised to me.” In New Delhi, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpay ee held a crisis meeting with his top security and for eign policy advisers. The reports from Pakistan “are causing grave concern,” said Vajpayee’s spokesman, Ashok Tandon. Earlier in the day in Islamabad, Sharif announced Musharraf’s removal and appeared on national televi sion shaking the hand of his replacement, Gen. Zia Ud din, head of the country’s secret service. Within hours, the army was fanning out in the capital and other cities. Soldiers leaped over the fence around the central TV building in Islamabad and seized it, witnesses said. Troops surrounded and closed Islamabad Interna tional Airport, while others were seen taking over the houses of several top ministers, including Foreign Min ister Sartaj Aziz and Information Minister Mushahid Hussein. International phone lines out of the capital were cut, while television began broadcasting nationalistic songs and footage of Pakistani troops and heavy armor in pa rades. A bank holiday was declared for Wednesday, ap parently to prevent a run on the currency. In Lahore, soldiers in jeeps and trucks took up po sitions on the main road and at government buildings. There also were reports that army trucks were mov ing toward the airport in Lahore, the Punjab provincial capital. In recent weeks, there have been reports of a yawn ing rift between the army and the civilian govern ment. The enmity between Sharif and Musharraf deep ened this summer when the prime minister ordered mil itants to withdraw from Indian territory in the Kaigil region of Kashmir, ending a bitter two-month border dispute with India. Musharraf had reportedly orchestrated the incur sion into Kashmir, and the withdrawal of the militants was seen as a humiliation to Pakistan’s military. President Clinton pressured Sharif to bring about the withdrawal amid fears the fighting would escalate into an all-out war between the two nuclear rivals. The powerful army has ruled Pakistan for 25 of its 52-year history, and army takeovers have occurred re peatedly. But democratically elected governments have been in place since 1985. Outside the seized television building in Islamabad, more than 400 people danced, waved flags and shout ed, “Long live the army.” I__!■■■_i_ Special to the Gamecock Members of the religious party Pakistan People’s Movement distribute sweets while holding a poster of the group’s leader, Tahirul Qadri, to celebrate the dismissal of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government on Tuesday. ▼ T m T 1 t y* Ml • bducators nope evolimon will cnange over time by Anjetta McQueen Associated Press Washington — Like many high school science teachers, Ken Bingman makes evolution the keystone of his bi ology lessons in his Kansas classroom. He has always taught that life on Earth developed from single-celled organisms over about 3.5 billion years. And no state law can require that he teach students about creationism, a Bible-based view of human origin. The Supreme Court made that clear in 1987. “You can’t teach the facts of biolo I . —--— gy diiu avuiu evuiuuuu, 5cuu uinguuui, a teacher at Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park, Kan. Yet the matter is far from settled. In three states—Alabama, Kentucky and Kansas — this issue has been cloud ed by state boards or education depart ments dropping the word “evolution” from science standards or replacing it with plirases such as “change over time.” Crit ics say the decisions have the effect of giving school districts the option of in troducing creationism into their class rooms alongside evolution. A fourth, Col orado, has dropped questions on evolution 11U111 dMdllUOlUlZ-eU Lt»l ILglVC5 oLUUUlllo Such actions could leave science teach eis caught in the middle, particularly tliosc in small districts where creationism ad vocates are better organized to exert mon influence over local board decisions “It boils down to individual teachers how intimidated do they feel, how mucf pressure do they feel from the principa or the local school board regardless of thi decision made at the state board level,’ said Eric Wheaton, assistant to the di rector of the National Center for Scienci Education, a group in El Cerrito, Calif, which supports a continuing focus on evo luuuii in M,ieuce itaauiid. Creationists counter that the recent state actions giving school districts the option of teaching an alternate view are small, yet fair and certainly no cause for alarm. “Science is the search for truth. I say we must consider this alternative,” said ! Duane Gish, associate director and vice : president of the Institute for Creation Re search, a creationism organization based in El Cajon, Calif. ■ National science standards require the , teaching of evolution, but these guide lines are almost always voluntary for states. u.in. welcomes daoy d dimon by Alex Dragicevic Associated Press SARAJEVO — In this city where more than 1,600 children died in three years of war, a boy bom at 2 minutes past mid night today was welcomed as the six bil lionth living member of the human race. U.N. demographers chose today as the day the world’s population hit the 6 billion mark, and the first child bom here was to be designated by the visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the sym bolic Baby Six Billion. “I heard others talking about a six bil lionth baby, but I found out from the doc tors that it’s mine,” said Fatima Nevic, who gave birth to the 8-pound boy at Sarajevo’s hospital. “I still don’t know what name he will ‘ have. Regardless of whether he’s the six billionth baby or not, I’m a happy moth er,” she said. According to the United Nations, the world’s population has doubled since 1960. There are more than 1 billion peo ple between the ages of 15 and 24, just entering their reproductive years. In China — the world’s most popu lous country with a a controversial one child policy — there was to be a cere mony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In Congo, the government is choos ing four babies to symbolize the day of six billion, and the U.N. Population Fund is giving each of them a crib. 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