The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 25

fcVe are not frightened -we are all ciieljratins We are happy that India can now defeat Pakistan -Studtnt SECTION Macpherson B3 Entertainment BU WEDNESDAY. MAY 13. 1998 FOREIGN EDITOR: RAYMOND BEAUCHEMIN 987-2457 Pakistan ready to test own nukes India's blast triggers worldwide criticism; Canada pulls commissioner; U.S. weighs sanctions Mil I 11 1 i tion, feelings were completely different in India. Celebratory firecrackers exploded in New Delhi and congratulatory telegrams to the government poured in from villages across the country In Pokaran, near the site of the nuclear tests, villagers were reveling yesterday, recovered from their alarm Monday when the explosions rocked the ground.

Hundreds had poured out of their houses, fearing an earthquake. "We are not frightened we are all celebrating. We are happy that India can now defeat Pakistan," said Anek Kanwar Rathor, a student. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to proceed with such testing when he briefly held power in 1996, but his minority coalition government fell before the necessary technical preparations could be made, sources said yesterday. Asked why this government had tested when previous ones had not, Pramod Mahajan, a Vajpayee aide, replied: "You needed a bold prime minister to take a decision." India's stock markets, however, reacted adversely to the possibility that foreign donors and lenders would cut off funds in response to the tests.

The Bombay Stock Exchange, the benchmark Indian stock index, fell by 1.9 per cent, and the National Stock Exchange, India's largest, was off 2.1 per cent. CALL TO ACTION In Pakistan, calls for action rang through the Senate. Some lawmakers demanded that the government sign a defence pact with longtime ally China, which has been accused of supplying Pakistan with the material to build nuclear bombs of its own and the missiles to deliver them. Pakistanis united across the political spectrum from liberals like former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to right-wing religious leaders to urge the government to quickly explode a nuclear device. The Karachi Stock Market plunged over 34 points yesterday, with investors fearing that Pakistan would conduct a retaliatory test and be slapped with international sanctions.

SOUTHAM NEWS, THE WASHINGTON POST AND KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT APReuter ISLAMABAD Goaded by India's test blasts, Pakistan said yesterday it is ready to test a nuclear device itself and match its neighbour's nuclear buildup move for move. "We in Pakistan will maintain a balance with India in all fields," said Foreign Minister Gohard Ayub in declaring "we are in a headlong arms race on the subcontinent" India set off three nuclear devices in its northwestern desert Monday, 24 years after its last test blasts, and declared itself capable of making nuclear weapons alarming and enraging Pakistan in particular, with which it has fought three wars. India tried to contain the diplomatic fallout by having its cabinet pledge that it "remains committed to a speedy process of nuclear disarmament." But the surprise tests prompted Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand to withdraw their ambassadors yesterday. U.S., CANADIAN SANCTIONS Prime Minister Jean Chretien told reporters Canada is considering sanctions against India. Officials refused to elaborate.

However, they said they expect the issue will be discussed in the next few days when Chretien meets British Prime Minister Tony Blair, European Commission President Jacques Santer and other leaders of the G8 industrialized countries, who are meeting in England this weekend. In Ottawa, Reform foreign-affairs critic Bob Mills and New Democrat Bill Blaikie said Canada has a special responsibility to show leadership on the issue since it supplied some of the nuclear technology used by India in 1974 to conduct its first nuclear test. Blaikie said recalling the high com-', tnissioner is a "meaningless gesture" )f Canada won't simultaneously announce an end to all exports of nuclear technology, such as the imminent sale of CANDU reactors to Turkey Canada installed a CIRUS research in India in 1956 and two CAN-' DU reactors during the 1960s. Spent fuel (plutonium) from the CIRUS reactor was used in India's first nuclear device, tested in 1974. Canada then withdrew Jrom nuclear cooperation with India.

6 ri i- y- '1 hK: LMm tomm 1 imfnri a hannpr that rpaHs "fVnthini? is more UriJJciiitrst: fii ii wi 1 1 1 1 ic.i yesterday in front of the Indian embassy in Tokyo. KUJI iAiAMAKA, Ar dancerous than nuclear" at a rally loans to that country's government. Cutting off direct U.S. aid would have little effect; India gets only about $40 million a year in direct aid and receives little military training assistance, according to the White House and the Pentagon. But sanctions against international aid could have a more severe effect.

India is the largest borrower from the World Bank, already owing $40 billion and scheduled to take another $3 billion in loans and credits this year. And while the United States does not control international financial institutions, it has great influence over them. Despite the international condemna imposing sanctions for up to 30 days, but mandates them after that without exception. The law is aimed at deterring the spread of nuclear weapons to any country beyond the five known nuclear powers of the United States, China, Great Britain, France and Russia. It orders the president to act against any other country that detonates a nuclear weapon by: Stopping U.S.

foreign aid or credit except for humanitarian aid or food. Stopping arms sales or military aid. Opposing any aid from international financial institutions like the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. Prohibiting U.S. banks from making security men in a guard house.

The head of Fox, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, is said to have spent more than $220 million in 1996 on Fox Baja, the first new film studio to be built on the west coast of North America for many years. Popotla Beach, only three hours from Los Angeles and just south of the tourist resort of Rosarito, seemed a reasonable site. Land and labour were cheap and the Mexican authorities "We now the this we go?" Film studio a dud for its Bafa neighbours President Bill Clinton promised to impose economic sanctions, as required by U.S. law. And aides said the blasts also raised questions about Clinton's scheduled trip to India next fall.

Japan said it was considering suspending its $1 billion in annual aid. Russian President Boris Yeltsin condemned the blasts and held a "long and detailed" discussion with Clinton on the need for nuclear non-proliferation, Interfax news agency reported. Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov said Moscow was unlikely to back any sanctions against India. The Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1994 allows Clinton to delay their homes under expansion plans by the studio owners, 20th Century Fox. Other residents say they will fight pressure for them to sell, and have staged protests outside the plant, which was recently fortified with a large cinder-block construction that locals have branded the "Berlin Wall." "What's it worth: your livelihood, your family, your culture, your place?" said Juan Valencia, whose family owns a nearby restaurant.

"I know I'm not giving it up." He said that chlorine discharges from the studio's massive tank are creating a submarine desert along the curving coastline for up to 2 kilometres to the south. "I'm a skin diver. I go down there now, and everything is burned by the chemicals "he said. The locals blame the chlorine for a big drop in catches, and say that only 2 tons of the fish known as liso were landed in 1997 compared with 15 tons in a normal year. "Fox is not a good neighbour to us," snapped fisherman Manuel Hernandez, during a recent protest as work on the new wall was being completed.

The demonstration was filmed by armed IN MORGUE rent here, but studio wants land. Where will Basket-seller's husband Mexico do not regard the studio as an economic boon. Rosa Feliciano came to Popotla three years ago from the eroded moonscape of southern Mexico's Mixtec mountains. She sells handmade baskets to tourists just across the road from Fox Baja. We came because here we thought it would be better for the children," said the small Indian woman.

Her husband, Miguel Simon, said: Nothinc crows anv more where we come from. It does not rain and there is little water." But he points out: "We rent here, but now the studio wants this land. Where will we go?" Florentino Ventura, who, like many Mexicans, came north recently to seek his fortune amid the roaquiladoras (foreign-owned assembly plants) in the Tijuana area nearby, found well-paid employment for a while as a carpenter's assistant on the Titanic sets. But when the movie was completed, the work dried up. were more than amenable to the project.

Subsidized water and electricity are provided by a Baja California government pledged to accommodate the movie moguls. Since Titanic was completed, Steven Spielberg Is reported to have leased Fox Baja for a film project, and many of Hollywood's "water" movies are likely to use its facilities. But some of the poor people who have moved to the area in recent years to escape hardship in depressed parts following the 1994 peso collapse in Mexico's new Hollywood-style film studio, which turned out last year's huge box-office success, is not proving to be such a hit with some of its neighbours. They fear it could destroy their homes and livelihoods. JOHN ROSS Gemini News Service POPOTLA BEACH, Mexico Members of a fishing community in north-.

west Mexico are resisting expansion plans by a new film studio that com-' pleted work last year on the Oscar-winning blockbuster Titanic. The disaster movie, which has beaten box-office records, has proved little more than disastrous to the Popotla Beach fishing co-operative, according to families living near the Hollywood-style Baja Studios. They say chemical discharge from the enormous tank used in the filming of Titanic has killed local marine life, while 10 families have already lost MOURNING i I I Some of the Mexicans who have found work at the studios say they are involved at the low-tech end of the operation laying footpaths, for instance, for the minimum wage of a little more than $3 a clay. However, Juan Tintos Funke, Baja California's secretary of tourism, insisted: "Baja Studios is a job multiplier." He is also head of the local authority's new film commission, and explained: "Our job is to facilitate filming. The message is that if you want to make a movie here, we will help you." Critics say such help has enabled Fox to circumvent rules barring foreign ownership of sites in the coastal zone within 50 kilometres of the United States border.

They point out that a locally registered partner company lent its name to the land purchase. Union activity in and around the studio is also said to be kept to a minimum by the Baja California government. "Fox Baja is just like every Tijuana maquiladora," said maverick Hollywood director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). "Murdoch has gone there to break the unions specifically the Teamsters." operation will speed up the task. Annan met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz for a half hour in Paris to discuss developments since a Feb.

23 accord under which Iraq agreed to open all sites to weajxms insiiectors, including President Saddam Hussein's palaces. MORE WORLD NEWS Canada House gets native blessing. htm-A 17 No progress in Balkans. Yyjc? A 18 Four killed in air crash. A19 Brit aid Tor N.

Ireland. Vane A20 Iran's changing race. liue A2I Albright defends U.S. role in Mideast peace talks. Ihige A23 New alternative to estrogen in hormone replacement, hwe A2I raq agreement made Russia to start scaling back probe 'WiSAy'.

is i 'AY fihi. 4, if Source says U.S., ROBERT H. RE1D Associated I'rvss UNITED NATIONS The United Slates and Russia have reached tentative agreement on a Security Council statement outlining conditions for scaling back nuclear inspections in Iraq, diplomatic sources said yesterday. The sources, speaking on condit ion of anonymity, said the agreement calls for the international Atomic Energy Agency to provide the Security Council with a status nort on the Iraqi nuclear program in July- two months ahead of schedule. If the July report concludes that Iraq has answered nil outstanding questions regarding Its nuclear program, the council could endorse a shift from wide-ranging inspections to ongoing monitoring and surveillance of Iraqi nuclear facilities, the sources said.

Otherwise, the sources added, the council would wait until the next IAEA report in Octolter. Russia has been pressing for the council to endorse the shift now. The United States wanted the council to wait until OctoluT to decide. One source said the United States would circulate a draft statement in the Security Council today. If the rest of the 15 members agree as expected, the statement could be formally adopted this week.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday he was "satisfied" that Iraq was complying with UN inspectors trying to determine that Iraq has destroyed its chemical and biological weapons and long range missiles. He expressed hope the new co- ANDY ZAPATA, AFP Relatives of Gcnero Hatalao Rrieve over his body in a morgue in La-gayan, northern Philippines. Hatalao was a candidate for village counselor and one of 50 people killed in election-related violence in the Philippines this week..