Iraq: No Amnesty for Mass Murderers U.S. and U.K. Should Not Offer Immunity for Information

(New York, July 3, 2003) -- U.S. and U.K. officials should not offer former senior Iraqi leaders amnesty or immunity from prosecution in exchange for providing information on Saddam Hussein or weapons of mass destruction, Human Rights Watch said today.

In letters to U.S. President George W. Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony
Blair, Human Rights Watch said that offering amnesty to those responsible for
the worst crimes would be inconsistent with the United States' and United
Kingdom's international legal obligations and could undermine efforts to
promote the rule of law and stability in Iraq.

"Amnesty for those Iraqi leaders who committed genocide, war crimes, or crimes
against humanity would be a devastating affront to the victims of the former
Iraqi government," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's
international justice program. "Amnesty deals would signal that justice for
the world's most heinous crimes can be brushed aside when it suits governments
to do so."

In outlining the reasons why the United States and United Kingdom went to war
in Iraq, both governments cited human rights abuses committed by Saddam
Hussein's regime and the need to hold perpetrators accountable. Past
experiences with transitional governments have shown that ensuring justice for
past abuses is an important component in building respect for the rule of law
and securing peace and stability.

"Prosecuting only those senior Iraqi officials who do not provide useful
information would be hypocritical and would cast serious doubts about the
coalition authorities' proclaimed commitment to justice," said Dicker.

Discussions have been underway between the coalition authorities, the United
Nations, Iraqi jurists, and non-governmental organizations on how to best hold
perpetrators of past crimes accountable. Human Rights Watch and others have
called on U.N. Special Representative for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello to
establish a U.N. Commission of Experts to determine the most appropriate
mechanisms for delivering justice for the former Iraqi leadership's crimes and
coordinating evidence collection and preservation.

"Once you start giving amnesties to the top people, efforts to achieve
accountability will certainly be undermined," said Dicker.

For years, Human Rights Watch has advocated justice for past crimes of the
Iraqi leadership. During Ba'ath Party rule, that leadership perpetrated
crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture,
"disappearances," and summary and arbitrary executions. In the genocidal 1988
"Anfal" campaign, more than 100,000 Kurds were trucked to remote sites and
executed. In the 1980s, the Iraqi government forcefully expelled over half a
million Shi'a to Iran after separating out and imprisoning an estimated 50,000
to 70,000 Shi'a men and boys, most of whom remain unaccounted for. Since the
late 1970s, at least 290,000 people "disappeared" in Iraq.

TELEPHONES AND INTERNET AT RAILWAY STATIONS

The Ministry of Railways has issued detailed guidelines to the Zonal Railways for provision of railway stations through which travelers at stations can communicate with their near and dear ones on payment of usual charges.

The RailTel Corporation of India, a public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Railways, has already set up an Internet Kiosk at platform 12 of New Delhi Station and will set up 200 such Kiosks at various stations in the first phase. Later, similar facilities will be set up at all the railway stations.

Internet facility in one of the trains is proposed to be set up shortly.Meanwhile, telephone services are available in four pairs of Shatabdi Express trains. These are : 2005/2006 New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express, 2011/2012 New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express 2013/2014 New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express and 2029/2030 New Delhi Delhi-Amritsar Swarna Shatabdi Express.

OIL PSUs RECORD Rs. 23,250 CRORE PROFIT IN 2002-03 MARKING AN INCREASE OF 83 PER CENT

NPMP AWARDS GIVEN AWAY FOR EXCELLENCE IN PETROLEUM SECTOR

Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas complemented the 12 oil PSUs under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for outstanding performance in the year 2002-03. Describing the year as a watershed for the oil industry, Naik said that the sector was deregulated on 1.4.2002 with the dismantling of Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM). The oil sector has been opened up for competition in all spheres which include exploration and production, refining, marketing of products and pipeline. Ram Naik informed that during the first year post-APM, the net profits of oil PSUs registered an impressive increase of 83 per cent to Rs. 23,250 crore from Rs. 12,700 crore in 2001-02. Speaking at the NPMP Award Ceremony organised by National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP) here today Naik said that in combined net profit of PSUs in 2002-03 is 4 ½ times of the paid up capital of Rs.5200 crore. He exhorted the oil PSUs to come good while facing the challenge of maintaining these excellent figures of profitability in future. The Minister explained that the benefits of competititon and de-regulation were passed on to the consuerms in the form reduction in prices of petrol and diesel, (4 times) marking a departure from earlier practice when prices of these products never came down. Oil PSUs did not increase the prices of LPG and Kerosene in the interest of consumers in household sector and the consumers from weaker sections of the society even in the face of volatility in international market.

Dwelling upon the performances of individual companies Ram Naik informed that ONGC has increased its profit to Rs. 10,500 crore, becoming the first corporate in the history of India to cross the figure of Rs. 10,000 crore in profitability. Indian Oil has increased its profit by more than 100% to Rs. 6,115 crore. The profit of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has increased by 95% to Rs. 1,537 crore. Gail (India) Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) have also shown large increase in profits. In percentage term it is the smaller companies which have shown the largest increase in profitability. An example of the biggest turn around in corporate history may be Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (BRPL), which has turned from a net loss of Rs. (-) 199 crore to a profit of Rs. 178 crore. The profitability of Kochi Refineries Limited (KRL) has gone up by 563%, Chennai Petroleum (CPCL) by 375% and Engineers India Limited (EIL) by 175%. Naik emphasised that such results for the oil sector have been mainly due to higher refining margins and increased refinery throughput from 95.3% to 98.3% for downstream companies and increased crude production by one million tonnes (4%) and natural gas production by 9% for upstream companies.

The Minister also gave credit to the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for the excellent results to which policy decisions of the Government have also contributed. He said that some of the government’s decisions include the smooth dismantling of APM, international prices for indigenous crude, excise duty relief to North-east refinery and turn-around of BRPL which was allotted additional supply of one million tonnes of Ravva crude. Petroleum Secretary B.K. Chaurvedi called upon the oil companies to always think ahead of time to remain competitive. Additional Secretary M.S. Srinivasan also spoke on the occasion.

Following are the recipients of the NPMP Awards for Excellence 2001-02, in various categories:

1. Oil India Limited for Human Resource Management

2. ONGC for Finance Management

3. GAIL for Project Management (above Rs. 100 crore) for its Lanco-Kondapalle pipeline Project in Andhra Pradesh

4. IOC for Project Management (between Rs. 10 crore and Rs. 100 crore) for its Standby Sulphur Recovery Unit (SSRU) at Panipat Refinery

5. Padam Singh GM (P), ONGC and Rajesh Kumar, Engineering Officer of BPCL shared Creativity & Innovation – Individual Category Award

6. A. Soni, Director (Technical) EIL and his team and Dr. D.K. Tuli, Chief Research Manager, IOC and his team jointly for the Creativity & Innovation – Team Category Award

7. IOC for Women’s Development (Commendation)

8. IOC and Numaligarh Refinery Limited for Information Technology (Commendation)

9. Ajay Razdan, IOC for Creativity and Innovation – individual category (Certificate of Recognition)

10. T. Peethambaram, BPCL and his team; Dr. T.G. Kulkarni, DGM (R&D) and his team from OIL; Padam Singh, GM (P) and his team from ONGC; N. Ramanathan, Territory Manager and his team from BPCL and George Paul, Regional Manager and his team from BPCL for Creativity and Innovation – Team category (Certificate of Recognition)

A comparative chart of performance of Oil PSUs during the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 is annexed herewith as Annexure-I.