South Asia Tribune

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Holi celebrations in Be See page 25 >>

Year 2

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Issue 03

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Thursday, 02.08.12

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British Muslims Fighting in Syria

“Fighters for Islamic law, the Shari’a, Syria force.” Are they shria4uk Militants?

The British government has launched a probe after the revelation that Radical Islamists with “British accents” are among the coalition forces and some British Muslims of Pakistani origin have joined extremist groups in Syria to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al Assad.

British journalist John Cantlie and Jeroen Oerlemans, who were captured and held for a week at an extremist training camp in northwestern Syria, revealed the extremists were British with “Birmingham and South London accents”, reports the Daily Times.

The accounts by two Western journalists released from captivity in a jihadist camp in northern Syria last week tally with numerous other sources in the area, describing a

new wave of young jihadists, including British men with London and Birmingham accents, crossing the Turkish border to fight the regime in Syria, often at odds with indigenous Syrian rebels.

British photographer John Cantlie and a Dutch national, Jeroen Oerlemans, were freed last Thursday in an FSA rescue raid after being threatened with execution during their detention by a group of up to 100 young jihadists

from North Africa, Britain and the Caucasus. “I don’t think they were al-Qa’ida, they seemed too amateurish for that,” Mr Oerlemans said after his release. “They said, ‘We are not alContinued on page 4 >>

Dewani still a suicide risk, UK court told

Dewani ‘Needs A Year’ Before Extradition

The accusation that he murdered his wife on honeymoon is hanging over Shrien Dewani like “the sword of Damocles”.

The judge presiding over the case of Shrien Dewani in a UK court has adjourned the case to 18 September to consider psychiatric reports from experts, according to reports.

Defence lawyer Clare Montgomery QC asked the Westminster Magistrates Court for the case to be put on hold for a year to enable her client to recover from depression, the BBC reported.

But the case was only adjourned until September, to allow for

updated medical evidence to be put before the court.

Chief magistrate Howard Riddle said he wanted to see updated evidence before considering a longer adjournment.

Tuesday’s hearing was supposed to determine whether Dewani, who is accused of masterminding the murder of his wife Anni while on honeymoon in Cape Town in November 2010, was healthy enough to be extradited to South Africa.

According to an ITV news report, Dewani’s defence quoted his psychiatrist as saying that he had made some progress with his mental health, remains on drug treatment and is in Continued on page 7 >>

NEWS

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

UN envoy in Myanmar amid threat of ethnic cleansing against Muslims

A United Nations human rights expert began a weeklong visit to Myanmar on Monday by focusing on deadly strife between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya that shook a western area in June.

Tomas Ojea Quintana met with the minister of border affairs for a briefing on the situation in northwestern Rakhine state. At least 78 people were killed and tens of thousands made homeless when their dwellings were burned.

Although the violence apparently crested in June, human rights groups and several Islamic nations have recently called for an outside investigation and protection for the Rohingya community, saying it faces continuing abuse.

Senior Myanmar officials issued a strong defense of their handling of the issue Monday, with Foreign Publisher Salah Bu Khamas (UAE) Sabha Khan (UK)

Minister Wunnna Maung Lwin insisting that the government had “exercised maximum restraint in order to restore law and

of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pashtun origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the eighth century.

order.” Quintana has said that Myanmar, ruled by former Army Lieutenant General Thein Sein, who became president last year, is facing “ongoing human rights challenges.” “We do not know what they will discuss. But, of course, the Rakhine state situation will be the main issue,” a Myanmarese

Earlier in the month, Sein said the nearly-one-million-strong Rohingya population should be put in camps and sent across the border to Bangladesh.

“We will send them away if any third country would accept them,” he announced on July 19. “This is what we are thinking is the

— which rights groups say mostly targeted the Rohingya — as one of the “challenges” facing Myanmar despite recent political reforms.

Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as one of its ethnic groups and many in the country consider them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The United Nations says there are about 800,000 Rohingya in Myanmar and considers them to be among the most persecuted people in the world.

Quintana’s evaluation is likely to be regarded as a yardstick for measuring reforms undertaken by elected President Thein Sein after decades of repressive military rule.

The human right groups Amnesty International recently said the Rohingya are increasingly being hit with targeted attacks that have included killings, rape and physical abuse. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been asked by member states including Tunisia

government official said.

The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, whom, it claims, are not natives and classifies them as illegal migrants, although, the Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants

solution to the issue.”

Quintana plans to visit the area on Tuesday and told reporters he would reserve comment until after his trip.

In a pre-arrival statement, he mentioned the violence in Rakhine

and Iran to press for measures to help the Rohingya, whom they say face systematic repression.

At a news conference, Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunnna Maung Lwin said his country “totally rejects the attempts by

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some quarters to politicize and internationalize this situation as a religious issue.”

“The Myanmar government strongly rejects the accusations by some quarters that abuses and excessive use of force were made by the authorities in dealing with the situation,” he said, adding that “The situation is now returning to normal.”

The U.N. has a direct interest in the Rakhine issue because five workers for the world body’s refugee agency are among 858 people still detained by authorities in connection with the unrest. Five other workers for international aid agencies are also in detention.

Border Affairs Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Htay, also at the news conference, insisted the aid workers “were involved with violence.”

“They were not concerned with U.N. responsibilities,” he said.

“They themselves were involved in setting fire to villages. We have the evidence and we have witnesses and they are being put on trial.”

He said many Muslim clerics had “closely monitored and ordered and persuaded people to carry out assaults and burn houses.”

Thein Htay also blamed the political plans of “some external elements” — whom he didn’t name — for the trouble. It appeared to be a reference to Bangladesh, from where Myanmar claims the Rohingya sneak into Myanmar.

Earlier Monday, Quintana visited Yangon’s infamous Insein Prison, where he said he interviewed prisoners of conscience. His trip will also include meetings with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and government officials.

Shafilea Ahmed murder trial judge tells jury put aside ‘feelings of sympathy and revulsion’ The judge in the Shafilea Ahmed murder trial has warned a jury to put aside any “feelings of sympathy and revulsion” when they retire to consider their verdicts after a threemonth trial.

Mr Justice Roderick Evans began summing up the case at Chester crown court on Tuesday of Shafilea’s parents, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, who are jointly accused of murdering their 17-year-old daughter at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.

He told the jury: “Put aside any feelings of sympathy and revulsion.

Discuss the evidence coolly and calmly.” He told them there was no

“special way” or “secret formula” to reaching a verdict, and he urged them to rely on their common sense.

“You come here from different backgrounds, brought at random,” he said. “You all have different life experiences and you all have common

sense. The way to decide is ordinary, everyday common sense, and if you do that I have every confidence.”

Shafilea’s body was found on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria in February 2004, six months after she disappeared.

The prosecution claims she was murdered by her parents because she brought shame on the family with her desire to lead a “westernised” lifestyle.

Shafilea’s sister Alesha gave evidence at the trial, claiming she and the rest of her siblings witnessed the killing at the family home in Liverpool Road.

Taxi driver Mr Ahmed, 52, denies murder, saying Shafilea ran away from home in the middle of the night and he never saw her again.

Mrs Ahmed, 49, also denies murder, but told the jury she saw her husband beat her eldest child and she believes he killed her.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

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Mitt Romney would support Israeli military strike against Iran, says aide

US presidential candidate to say in speech in Israel that stopping Iran’s nuclear arms capability must be ‘highest priority’ US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would support an Israeli decision to use military force to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, one of his seniors aide has said.

Mr Romney yesterday met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on the second leg of a trip to display his foreign policy credentials in his race to unseat President Barack Obama in this year’s election.

Shortly before talks with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Romney’s senior national security aide, Dan Senor, told reporters travelling with the candidate: “If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that [nuclear] capability, the governor would respect that decision.”

The comment seemed to put Mr Romney at odds with Mr Obama’s efforts to press Israel to avoid any preemptive strike before tough Western sanctions against Iran run their course.

Mr Senor later expanded on his

remarks, saying Mr Romney felt “we should employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course”.

It was Mr Romney’s “fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so” and “no option should be excluded”, Mr Senor said, adding that “Romney recognises Israel’s right to defend itself, and that it is right for America to stand with it”.

Standing beside Mr Netanyahu at the Israeli leader’s office, Mr Romney said only that Iran’s effort to become a nuclear power “is one which I take with great seriousness”.

The failure of talks between Iran and six world powers to secure a breakthrough in curbing what the West fears is a drive to develop nuclear weapons has raised international concern that Israel may opt for a goit-alone military strike.

Iran insists its project is for peaceful purposes.

“We have to be honest that sanctions have not set back the Tehran program one iota and that a strong military threat coupled with sanctions are needed to have a chance to change the situation,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Israel, widely assumed to be the

Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state, has warned it is only a matter of time before Iran’s nuclear programme achieves a “zone of immunity” in which bombs will not be able to effectively strike uranium enrichment facilities buried deep underground.

Though Washington has been pressing Israel not to launch a solo strike on Iran, Mr Obama has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to curb Iran’s nuclear drive.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said yesterday that Mr Obama’s national security adviser had briefed Mr Netanyahu on a US contingency plan

to attack Iran. A senior Israeli official denied the report.

In an effort that appeared timed to upstage Mr Romney’s visit to Israel, Mr Obama signed a measure on Friday to strengthen US-Israeli military ties and defence secretary Leon Panetta is expected to visit Israel later this week.

Mr Romney’s visit to Israel gives him the opportunity to appeal to both Jewish voters and pro-Israel evangelical voters and contrast himself with Mr Obama, who has a strained relationship with the Israeli prime minister.

Warsi cleared of expenses fiddle The Conservative Party says its co-chairman Baroness Warsi has been cleared of allegations she wrongly claimed Parliamentary expenses.

Baroness Warsi’s claims were probed by the Lord Commissioner for Standards.

It was alleged that in 2008 she claimed overnight expenses for staying in London while

living rent-free.

Last month she was cleared of a breach of the ministerial code after being accompanied by a business associate on an official visit to Pakistan.

In a statement, Lady Warsi said she was “delighted” to draw a line under the matter.

Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “pleased” the allegations had

been dismissed and it cleared the way for Lady Warsi to lead the Tory campaign for the election of police and crime commissioners later this year.

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EDITORIAL

Fear of Syrian Chemical Weapons May Trigger War

As the world’s eyes are on the London Olympics, the situation in Syria is escalating and its ramifications go well beyond another story of “as called Arab Spring” uprising.

The former UN ambassador John Bolton is still looking for Iraq’s WMD, only this time he thinks they are in Syria. And like in Iraq, he wants the U.S. military to secure them.

Israel prepares for battle to secure chemical weapons , Sources close to the Israel Defense Force told FoxNews.com soldiers have been put on standby and are ready to move, while civilian demand for gas masks has jumped 66 percent over the last few weeks from 2,200 to 3,700 per day. The fears center around the prospect of Hezbollah getting Syrian chemical weapons .

Reports out of the Middle East suggest the Assad regime has removed chemical weapons from their main depots, triggering speculation that Damascus may be considering their use against the rebellion sweeping across that country.

It appears that in the current ‘fog of war’ the Syrian administration has made a tactical blunder of accepting that it possesses chemical weapons. All these years there was only speculation about Syria’s possession of such weapons, but now the state has officially accepted it. Later on last Monday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying, “When the Foreign Ministry spokesman says that Syria will not use chemical weapons against its people… this doesn’t mean that Syria has such weapons in the first place.”

Syria failed to ‘learn’ from the recent history of the Iraq conflict. The US had invaded Iraq on the pretext of WMD threats. By accepting the presence of such weapons now, Syria has ended up compromising the ‘potency’ of chemical weapons and also let go of the ‘deniability’ option. It could have used them discreetly and subsequently could have kept the deniability option open or could have even blamed the opposing forces! Now, with Syria accepting that it is a chemical weapon state, the mere presence of such weapons could be used as a reason to invade the country. It is also important to note that any chemical weapon use by Syria would also make it difficult for China, Russia, and Iran to continue their support for the Bashar Assad regime. Syria has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), one of the most successful disarmament conventions.

Washington has warned the regime against doing so but some Middle Eastern sources say the move was intended to protect them from possible seizure by rebel elements.

However, Sky News reported on Saturday that “intelligence sources,” claimed the weapons had been moved to the Homs Region. Homs is both the center and primary recruiting ground of the current anti-regime rebellion and where military forces of current Syrian President. If Sky News’ sources are accurate, the weapons are being positioned for potential use against the rebels. The threat from chemical weapons has been looming large over West Asia and adjoining regions since the January 2011 uprising in Egypt. Particularly, in the case of Libya, fears were raised about the possibility of

the use of such weapons.

Little is known about Syria’s chemical arsenal and the regime has never employed them. It is expected that the Syrian inventory could contain several thousand aerial bombs filled mostly with the chemical agent Sarin, and between 50 and 100 ballistic missile warheads.

Most analysts believe Syria developed the weapons to deter Israel from employing its nuclear inventory. What is clear; however, is that Syria’s sudden movement of its chemical weapons indicates the regime is becoming increasingly insecure about its future and at least considering what it must do to survive.

In so doing, Assad has also presented the international community, particularly the UN, with a need to determine its future course as well. Hopefully, Assad’s calculations will err on the side of moral pragmatism. Unfortunately, that is a choice desperate dictatorships rarely make.

The war is close by and, whenever an Arab dictator falls, anxiety spreads throughout Israel.

Meanwhile there are also intelligence reports circulating through Europe’s capitals that maintain that the Syrians have already prepared some of their poison gas for deployment.

According to these reports, individual chemical weapons have been made ready for combat so that they only need to be mounted on launching systems, such as a Scud missile or a special military transport aircraft. However, no one can say how credible or reliable these various intelligence reports are.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed last week that it would be a casus belli if chemical weapons fell into the hands of Hezbollah. By saying that neither Israel nor the US could accept this, Netanyahu indirectly confirmed speculation that the US could give Israel a free hand to attack a Hezbollah convoy transporting chemical weapons from Syria to Lebanon.

“If we have information that Hezbollah or al-Qaida are about to put hands on nonconventional weapons, we will spare no effort in preventing this,” adds Danny Yatom, a former chief of the Mossad. He adds that even airstrikes on a weapons depot could not be ruled out if Hezbollah was about to get its hands on poison gas.

This was confirmed last week by a high-ranking official from Jerusalem: “If the Syrians pull out their missiles, arm them with chemical warheads or leave them to Hezbollah, this would be seen as a reason to attack Syria -even if it led to a war. A country has to maintain its red lines.”

Presently, there are only two violators of the chemical weapons convention, namely, the United States and Russia. They have failed to keep their promise of destroying their own chemical weapons stockpiles and may take 10 to 12 years more to do so. It is an irony that one of them backs the present Syrian government while the other opposes it. It is also important to note that any chemical weapon use by Syria would also make it difficult for China, Russia, and Iran to continue their support for the Bashar Assad regime.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

British Muslims Fighting in Syria Continued from page 1 >>

Qa’ida, but al-Qa’ida is down the road’.” “One of the black jihadists freaked out and shouted: ‘These are journalists and now they will see we are preparing an international jihad in this place.‘” Oerlemans told NRC Handelsblatt newspaper. He said that none of the fighters were Syrian. “My life was saved by the same Pakistani boy who spoke English. He convinced the others that it would be against Islam for me to make it hurt. “ “They all claimed they came from countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh and Chechnya and they said there was some vague ‘emir’ at the head of the group.”

About 40 per cent of the militants spoke English.

In fact, several apparently talked with recognizable

regional British accents, from Birmingham and London. Mr. Cantlie has not yet spoken of his ordeal, but Mr. Oerlemans told Dutch media that some of the gang, which is reported to have been

between 30 and 100 strong, had “Birmingham accents”.

A source close to the incident told The Sunday Telegraph that there possibly at least six men with British-sounding voices, including one with a heavy south London accent.

Just week before Olympics ceremony British authorities have made a series of arrests in connection with terror plots against the Olympics.

Others, like Islamic convert Richard Dart, were arrested for separate plots against London targets.

Dart is reportedly a follower of London-based MI6 asset and demoniser of Islam so called cleric a demoniser of Islam Anjem Choudary.

“The Olympics is about division. It’s about separation,” Choudary told CBN News.

When asked if he and his followers would have a presence at the games, Choudary answered, “We will have a huge presence, wherever the people are gathering for the celebrations or watching the events.”

Choudary said that true Muslims should oppose

the Olympics. British authorities are concerned that some will do much more than that.

Among those they’ve been monitoring is a suspected al Qaeda terrorist who’s visited the Olympic site at least five times.

Anjem Choudry, MI5 & The Far Right – Whats The Connection?

Anjem Choudhry who does not know Arabic and he also defines Islam as there is a place for Violence in Islam. Anjem Choudry and his

collection of organisations, Hizb Tahrir, AlMuhajiroun, or whichever front they are using these days Shariah4Belgium And Sharia4UK portray Muslims as a threat in order to continue government policies of war in Muslim countries, as well as inciting divisions in society. Anjem Choudary in a recent interview on CNN revealed violent attacks are a “peaceful” warning to countries like US and Israel. He also admits to encouraging Muslims in the US to carry these kind of attacks.

Anjem Choudary came to public attention in 1999, when the Sunday Telegraph identified him as playing an instrumental role in the recruitment of Muslim trainees leaving Britain to fight abroad.

He told the newspaper “before they go abroad to fight, the volunteers are trained in Britain.

Some of the training does involve guns and live ammunition”.

Even mainstream commentators like Jon Gaunt have described Anjem Choudary as “probably an MI5 agent” because he appears so much like a James Bond villain.

Choudary founded another Islamic group, al-Muhajiroun, with Omar Bakri Muhammed, who admitted in 1998 he shares a special relationship with British intelligence.

It should be noted that authors Sean O’Neill and Daniel McGrory have documented a special relationship between Islamist leaders, including Abu Hamza al-Masri and Abu Qatada, and British intelligence.

The British Secret Service, MI6, protected Haroon Rashid Aswat, the alleged mastermind of the 7/7 London bombings, according to counterterrorism expert John Loftus. Aswat was affiliated with al-Muhajiroun. In 2004, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed said British intelligence handles all Islamist groups of note in the United Kingdom including the Muslim Brotherhood, the UK Islamic Mission, al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, Iranian opposition groups, and the Iranian Ahlul Bait groups in Britain.

The Muslim Brotherhood was corrupted early on by British intelligence, and later by the CIA. According to CIA agent Miles Copeland, the agency began working with the Brotherhood in the 1950s. This signaled the beginning of an alliance between the traditional regimes and mass Islamic movements against Arab nationalism.

NEWS

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

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Arab prince threatened with 50,000-volt Taser gun on British Airways flight for being drunk • The 28-year-old is believed to be a relative of Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa

An Arab prince was thrown off a plane by police officers armed with 50,000 volt Taser guns because he was drunk.

The 28-year-old, believed to be a close relative of Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, had boarded a Boeing 777 at London Heathrow airport when he began shouting and complaining about the poor service on the BA125 flight to Doha, Qatar via Bahrain.

Members of the crew were forced to call the police who arrived with stun guns after he stormed the flight deck and refused to go back to his seat, The Sun reported.

The billionaire was then dragged off the plane and taken to a West London police station near the airport where his DNA, mugshot and fingerprints were taken.

A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident had

happened.

She said: ‘We were called at 10.34am on Sunday July 22 to an outward bound flight to Doha, Qatar, via Bahrain at London Heathrow after a man was reported to be causing a disturbance. ‘A man who is 28 was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and failing to comply with the instructions of the cabin crew. He was taken to a west London police station and bailed to a date in September.’

Human rights campaigners have criticised King Hamad in the past whose regime has been accused of violently repressing pro-democracy activists

Controversial Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa attended Friday’s Olympic Opening Ceremony despite protest.

President of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sport (SCYS) and President of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa attended Friday’s Olympic Opening Ceremony and, earlier, a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen. London Evening Standard reported as “Controversial characters attending Danny Boyle’s show will include Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev, Bahrain’s Prince Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa and Rwandan president

Paul Kagame.”

BAHRAIN’s delegation last night attended a memorable opening ceremony of the summer Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London.

Headed by Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and president of the Bahrain Olympic Committee Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Bahrainis were among thousands of athletes who witnessed the ceremony and its theme ‘Isles of Wonder’.

The 13-member athlete Bahraini delegation were present at the Olympic Stadium in London where 10,000 volunteers, cast and crew have been rehearsing day and night

over the last few months to make the opening ceremony a success.

The ceremony kicked off with the sound of the largest harmonically tuned bell in Europe, produced by the Whitechapel Foundry, and the Stadium was transformed into the British countryside for opening scene ‘Green and Pleasant’, which included real farmyard animals.

At the heart of the ceremony is the athletes’ parade, a procession of the participating teams in the Stadium, where Bahraini shooter Azza Al Qasmi hoisted her nation’s flag high.

Meanwhile, Earlier Bahrain Foreign Affairs minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa visited the Olympic Village earlier yesterday and ahead of the opening ceremony.

Accompanied by BOC general secretary Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Bahrain International Circuit chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Shaikh Khalid toured the village facilities and met with members of the Bahrain delegation.

Obama releases $70 million in military aid for Israel

US defense law to equip Israel with refueling jets Legislation aiming to enhance US-Israeli security cooperation was more than an attempt by Obama to upstage Romney; it allows Israel to buy equipment that could facilitate Iran strike Ehud Barak praises the administration’s decision, calls it evidence of ‘consistent support’ on part of White House and Congress

As Mitt Romney prepares to travel to Israel this weekend, President Obama announced today that he is releasing an additional $70 million in military aid for Israel.

The new funding is intended to help Israel boost production of a short-range rocket defense system, known as Iron Dome. “This is a program that has been critical in terms of providing security and safety for Israeli families. It is a program that has been tested and has prevented missile strikes inside of Israel… We’re going to be able to lock in that funding to assure that that program continues and that

we are standing by our friends in Israel when it comes to these kinds of attacks,” Obama told reporters in the Oval Office today.

As he reiterated his administration’s commitment to Israel, the president flubbed the amount of new aid, initially giving the correct $70 million figure and later saying it was actually $70 billion.

The president made the announcement as he signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act. “What this legislation does is bring together all the outstanding cooperation that we have seen

really at an unprecedented level between our two countries to underscore our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security,”

Obama explained.

The White House maintains the timing of announcement and bill signing was not intended to

upstage Romney’s foreign trip.

“This was a historical landmark in the defense relations between the US and Israel,” said Amos Gilad, the director of policy and politicalmilitary affairs at the Defense Ministry. The legislation, knowns as the “United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012,” allows Israel to purchase American KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft for the first time. Thus far, the Bush and Obama administrations refused to sell planes of this kind to the Jewish state, primarily in order to bar it from launching a massive aerial strike on Iran.

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NEWS

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

US presented Israel with an Iran strike plan, newspaper reports

THE Obama administration’s top security official has briefed Israel’s Prime Minister on US plans for a possible attack on Iran, an Israeli newspaper reports.

The Haaretz Daily says National Security Adviser Tom Donilon sought to reassure Israel that Washington is prepared to act militarily should diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program.

Haaretz said today that Donilon detailed the plans to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a visit to Israel earlier this month.

An Israeli government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment

A US Embassy spokesman could not be reached.

Both Israel and the US believe Iran’s program is aimed at developing bombs, and not for peaceful

purposes as Tehran claims.

US policy so far has focused on sanctions and diplomacy.

Panetta heads to Mideast; Syria high on the agenda

Meanwhile US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta began a five-day Mideast trip Sunday to consult with the new Islamist leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and to meet with longstanding allies Israel and Jordan.

High on the agenda at each stop is expected to be the accelerating crisis in Syria.

President Barack Obama signed a measure on Friday to strengthen U.S.-Israeli military ties, a move that could score points with American Jewish voters on the eve of Republican rival Mitt Romney’s highly publicized visit to Israel.

Obama also used the White House bill-signing ceremony to announce he was releasing $70 million in approved funding for Israel’s shortrange rocket shield known as “Iron

Dome,” a project backed strongly by the powerful U.S. pro-Israel lobby.

His reaffirmation of an “unshakeable commitment” to Israel’s security appeared timed to upstage Romney, who has accused the president of undermining Washington’s relationship with its No. 1 partner in the Middle East.

The White House denied it was an election-year maneuver, even though senior administration officials have lavished attention on Israel in recent weeks.

Romney, whose Olympics-week tour of London has been plagued by diplomatic stumbles, will travel on Saturday to Jerusalem and meet on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had a strained relationship with Obama.

of Saif al-Dawla, which were seized by rebels last week.

Aleppo is Syria’s commercial hub, and is seen as a critical city for both the regime and the opposition.

Rebels are believed to control between a third and half of the neighborhoods in Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy fighting and explosions there, including fighting in

the Bab al-Hadeed, al-Zahraa and alArqoub neighborhoods.

Sarkis Kassargian, a local reporter for Al-Khabar TV, told RT, “The rebels were controlling the area of Salaheddine.

They’ve moved out of the area, and the Syrian army is in control of the region now.”

Aleppo-based opposition activist Mohammed Saeed told AP that around 200 fighters entered the city early Sunday to join the 1,000 fighters who poured into the city over the past few days.

Saeed also said rebels have received “a new batch of weapons and ammunition,” but declined to say from where.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has called on regional powers to stop supporting the Syrian opposition, arguing that the power vacuum which would open up should the government in Damascus fall would result in dire consequences for the whole region.

But while the Iranian government calls on other countries to stop supporting the rebels, the head of the opposition Syrian National Council is sending a different message.

According to AFP, Abdulbaset Sayda urged “Arab brothers and friends to support the Free Syrian Army.”

“We want weapons that would stop tanks and jet fighters. That is what we want,” Sayda said in a news conference.

During his visit, Muallem said that Syria was committed to Kofi Annan’s six-point plan to end 16 months of violence in the country.

The plan calls for a ceasefire – something that has been widely ignored by both sides – as the first stage in the transition to ending the violence.

It also calls for access to aid, the release of detained people, freedom of movement for journalists, and the freedom to protest peacefully.

Fighting escalates in Aleppo as Syrian FM seeks Iranian support

As fighting continues in the Syrian city of Aleppo, the country’s Foreign Minister is seeking support from Iran.

During Sunday’s visit to Tehran, Walid al-Muallem accused Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar of conspiring against Syrians.

Muallem said his country is “capable of defending itself and that the latest attack of foreign pressure in Aleppo will be deflected,” while speaking at a news conference with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi.

Fighting between rebel and government forces escalated on Sunday, just as Salehi expressed doubts that a managed Syrian power transition would ever work. According to Reuters, he called the very idea an “illusion.”

“Thinking naively and wrongly that if there is a power vacuum perhaps in Syria and if there is a transition of power in Syria, simply another government

will come to power, that I think is just a dream,” Salehi said.

According to reports from Al Arabiya, Muallem said, “We believe that all the anti-Syrian forces have gathered in Aleppo to fight the government…and they will definitely be defeated.”

Intense fighting continued in Aleppo on Sunday, as government troops aimed to regain control in the southwestern neighborhoods of Salaheddine and parts

‘Psycho’ Stapleton gets life in prison

A killer who labelled himself as a "Psycho" after murdering an Indian student has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years.

Kiaran Stapleton walked up to stranger Anuj Bidve, 23, in the street in Salford and shot him in the head at point blank range.

Stapleton, 21, had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but a jury at Manchester Crown Court rejected that argument and convicted him of murder.

Witnesses to the murder say Stapleton laughed as he stood over the body of his victim before he ran off.

He also found amusement in police interviews over the murder and regularly grinned and laughed throughout his five-

week murder trial.

The defendant beamed as he came into court for the verdict and again towards a family member as he was led from the dock.

Following the verdict, Mr Bidve's father, Subhash, said the antics of Stapleton "openly

laughed at the memory of our son".

He said he believed Stapleton should never be released from prison.

His son had arrived in the UK to study micro-electronics at Lancaster University and was visiting Manchester with a group of friends last Christmas.

They left their hotel in the early hours of Boxing Day to queue early for the sales when their paths crossed with Stapleton's.

He calmly walked across the road and repeatedly asked for the time, when someone finally answered he pulled a handgun out of his pocket and fired one shot to Mr Bidve's left temple.

Stapleton told one psychologist in prison that he picked out his victim because "he had the biggest head", the court heard.

The defendant's callousness and audacity was stark in the days he remained at large after the shooting.

First he booked into a hotel which overlooked the crime scene in Ordsall Lane to keep pace with the investigation and revel in the chaos he had created.

Then he went to a tattoo parlour and had a teardrop design placed below his right eye -

a symbol used by some gangs to mark that the wearer has killed someone.

After he was arrested and charged with murder he made his first appearance at Manchester Magistrates' Court and gave his name as "Psycho Stapleton".

Mr Justice King said Stapleton would only be released if he was considered to no longer pose a danger to the public.

7

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

Olympic visa scam accused comes out of hiding

The main accused in the Olympic visa scandal, Abid Chaudhry, came out of hiding after his brother’s death on Saturday.

Talking to media representatives, Chaudhry alleged the scandal had badly impacted the health of his elder brother Arif Chaudhry, who passed had away after a heart attack.

He said his family had been in constant agony since the start of the scandal.

“The tension even took my brother’s life,” he said, pleading the government and judiciary for justice.

He had gone into hiding after a joint investigation team of FIA and NADRA launched a crackdown.

Visa scam: Rehman Malik directs FIA not to arrest Abid Chaudhry

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to not arrest Abid Chaudhry, a central character in the UK visa scam who is associated with the Dream Land travel agency, DawnNews reported. Malik reportedly directed FIA authorities to investigate the matter and present a report on it without arresting Chaudhry.

He ordered a report on the subject to be presented before

him by Saturday evening and directed authorities to not harass Chaudhry.

Chaudhry’s name came to the fore when a British tabloid, The Sun, claimed to have unearthed a ‘UK visa scam’.

The Sun’s report revolved around an undercover investigator and a network of Pakistani agents – Malik Bashir and company known for sending people abroad on

have no record of a visa application being made in association with passport No BD1876301.”

UK high commissioner asserts trust in Pakistan

forged documents – with alleged links to the passport and identity card offices.

The paper said the officials first provided its undercover investigator with a genuine Pakistani passport in a false name.

The information was backed by a footage of Abid Chaudhry (Dream Land’s travel agent) claiming how for around £7,000 he could get its man a two-month visa…and smuggle him into London 2012 as part of Pakistan’s Olympic squad.

the following decisions were taken in the meeting: Provision of 150 vehicles to FIA to cater the investigation, persecution and other needs, the workforce will be increased and 5,000 employees at various levels will be recruited, revival of Link offices of FIA abroad, the status of FIA Academy will be raised at University level and the Secretary Interior was directed to ensure that FIA employees will get salary package committed with them last year.

Malik given briefing on visa scam

Rehman Malik was also briefed

by Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of Nadra and FIA, the progress pertaining to the alleged visa scandal. The Minister for Interior showed satisfaction on the investigations. FIA DG Muhammad Anwar Virk briefed

Federal Minister for Interior Senator A Rehman Malik here on Friday chaired a high level meeting, in which matters pertaining to FIA operations, administration

and performance were discussed.

Secretary Interior, Additional Secretary Interior, DG FIA, DG Immigration and Passports, DG Nadra and senior officers of FIA and the Ministry attended the meeting.

During the meeting it was felt that provision of additional workforce and transport including strengthening the prosecution wing of FIA a must. In this regard,

Federal Minister for Interior about the performance of FIA. Minister for Interior directed him to further improve the performance of FIA especially to control human smuggling and drug trafficking.

Earlier, Faisal Karim Kundi, Deputy Speaker, National Assembly called on Federal Minister for Interior and congratulated him on talking the oath of Federal Minister. He also discussed problems of his area

The undercover man, whose name was purportedly ‘Asad Ali’ could have obtained the NIC and passport of one ‘Muhammad Ali Asad’ – who has an entirely different date of birth and place of birth.

While the names are fairly similar, Ali Asad was born in Sahiwal not Lahore.

British High Commissioner in Pakistan Adam Thomson assured that the UK trusted Pakistan’s passport issuance system and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and added there was no evidence of anyone travelling to Britain as part of the Olympic visa scandal.

He said the visa scandal issue was of global significance; however, Britain was satisfied with Pakistan’s visa and passport issuance mechanisms. “We are satisfied with the passport issuance system of NADRA and no country is free of defect,” he stated.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday at the National Press Club (NPC), Thomson said that anyone who was part of the national sports delegation going to take part in UK Olympic had to apply months in advance. “Each and every thing was checked and there was no chance to proceed to the UK on fake documents,” he said.

In its reply to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), however, the UK Border Agency stated: “In response to your fax dated July 25, 2012 … we have a record of a working holiday maker visa being issued to Muhammad Ali Asad, s/o Muhammad Anwar Siddiqui (Date of Birth November 8, 1977). It was issued to passport No J609802 on April 25, 2002; valid until April 25, 2004. [We]

He accepted that incidents of fake visa seekers were at its high and that last year they found 4,000 fake travelling documents and passports.

He said that every country has visa scam incidents. “We don’t claim to be perfect ourselves of course. There are flaws in passport issuance but it does not mean the whole country is responsible for one incident,’’ he added.

related to Nadra and passports. The Minister for Interior announced that a new passport office will be established in Tank, which will be inaugurated by the Federal Minister for Interior himself after Eid-ul-Fitr.

Olympic ‘visa scam’: Confusion persists despite NADRA clarification

Dewani ‘Needs A Year’ Before Extradition

<< Continued from page 1 compulsory detention in a psychiatric unit until May 2013.

With both his mental conditions - a depressive illness and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - he has moved from a severe to a moderate diagnosis, the court was reportedly told on

Tuesday.

He remains at risk of suicide, though this is decreasing. His recovery is slow and they argue that it will be impeded by more court hearings at this time.

Dewani’s defence told the court that his best prospects of

recovery were if there was an adjournment of 12 months, the court was told.

Dewani remains, according to his psychiatrist, unable to give an account of himself, with his memory loss possibly linked to his PTSD condition, the court was reportedly told.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

Fake ‘attack Iran’ story, distraction from Mossad’s exposed spying program : Press TV

Israeli media is reporting that the US and Israel have shared attack plans for Iran, expecting the P5+1 talks to fail, but this report has been fabricated says insiders.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz made the claim that preemptive strike plans on Iran’s nuclear sites were shared between Prime Minister Netanyahu and US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon two weeks ago and that the message was that should upcoming P5+1 talks fail military action will become necessary.

A senior Israeli official though denies that such an exchange has taken place. We do know however that special bunker buster bombs have been built specifically for bombing of Iran’s underground nuclear plants according to statements from the Secretary of the US Air force.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Franklin Lamb, international lawyer from Beirut to get his opinion on the legitimacy and seriousness of the claim and why it was made or what it is covering up. The following is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: I’d like to get your assessment in other reports of the US getting ready for a military attack on Iran. We’ve gotten many such reports

in the past, is this one more serious do you think or is this again political posturing because of the November elections?

Lamb: Well I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s absolutely a fake story. According to a contact who has sent an email from the US Senate of Foreign Relations Committee, that story is another hoax.

It’s designed by the Israelis who are on the defensive because the Syrian chaos is taking pressure off Iran.

It’s designed as Mitt Romney, the

choice now of the Zionist lobby for the coming election, which remember is only three months away, over Obama.

And even though Obama was forced on Friday as you saw to stand in front of the AIPAC who are foreign agents of a foreign government and sign over another 70 million dollars under campaign pressure, this tactic is aimed at also the American taxpayers and the Obama administration to force concessions before the coming election.

So I think it’s another psychological warfare kind of ploy by the Israelis.

And the second point I was told from the Senate of Foreign Relations Committee source is that Friday or Saturday’s early report by the CIA that the Israeli intelligence has been hacking the CIA station chief in Tel Aviv and in fact has done that consistently.

I think this effort is trying to squelch that story that will be of concern, no doubt, to the American tax payers as it spreads through the media.

So I think this is one of those boilerroom real quick response stories to grab some headlines from the Israelis.

Lieberman, who you showed on your program, absolutely failed you know… last week before the EU as he ran around and visited ten countries, paid for by the American taxpayers, to try to put Hezbollah on the terrorist list and the EU turned him down.

So I think the Zionist regime is cornered; they’re feeling the pressure and so they lash out with this kind of fake story, which is now being

reported.

Press TV: Then why would the US be arming many of these Persian Gulf monarchies as well as Israel of course under the guise of a “threat” from Iran?

Lamb: I missed the first part of the question, but I think I understand the gist of it... For the Americans of course the bottom line isn’t regime change in Syria. That, they presume will happen, but the bottom line is neutralizing and defeating in a sense diplomatically and militarily, Iran.

And so using the Saudis to help this and to fund this has been the policy of the US for years and that’s why we see so much involvement today here in Lebanon with Saudi money arranging to buy votes not in the American election, but the Lebanese election that will happen on schedule presumable early next year.

I think the alliance between the American administration, the Saudis and even the Israelis and the [Persian] Gulf countries is as strong as ever and given the opportunity they see in Syria it may even become stronger yet.

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international

Thursday, 02.08.12

Power: Half of India in dark 60 crore people affected Over 20 states in power crisis as 3 grids collapse

The country faced a major power crisis for the second consecutive day on Tuesday as three grids serving Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern regions failed this afternoon, leading to 200 coal miners getting trapped in West Bengal and throwing normal life out of gear in 20 states and 2 union territories.

As the grids collapsed around 1 PM, miners in Eastern Coalfields

got trapped in Sodepur and Satgram in Burdwan districts of West Bengal, according to

officials who said rescue efforts are on.

“All miners are safe and they have been moved to well ventilated areas inside the underground mines. Rescue operations are on,” General Manager, Technical, Eastern Coalfields (ECL), Niladri Roy said.

“We are trying to rescue them.

There is no threat to their lives.

We have provided them with adequate food and water,” he added.

Meanwhile, 65 miners were reportedly trapped in Jharkhand

Continued on page 26 >>

Chidambaram back as Finance Minister, Shinde gets Home

Home Minister P Chidambaram will be the next Finance Minister of India; on Tuesday, his predecessor and now President of India Pranab Mukherjee signed a notification effecting the change, sources said.

Sushil Kumar Shinde, who is the power minister, will get Mr Chidambaram’s portfolio of the

Home Ministry while Corporate Affairs minister Veerappa Moily will take additional charge of the Power Ministry.

This is the third time Mr Chidambaram will assume the role of Finance Minister. He first Continued on page 10 >>

Election Commission makes voter lists public The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday made the voter lists public and available for correction, report.

Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad, Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim said the people wanted a change and that the ECP would do its best so that no objections could be raised over its role during the elections.

Ebrahim moreover said that no one would be able to vote without a computerised national identity card, adding that, the minimum voting age was 18 years.

He said the ECP had prepared the voter lists in a manner that no

objections could be raised over them.

The CEC said that the public could now get information on voting simply by sending an SMS message.

Ebrahim said the ECP and Nadra’s use of latest technology in its operations was commendable, adding that, changes could still be made to voter lists. He further said that 84360000 voters had been registered and that the ECP was working in collaboration with the Nadra for this purpose.

The CEC said that the lists were prepared comprehensively and after house-to-house visits.

India train fire: As many as 47 dead

As many as 47 people have been killed in a fire on a passenger train traveling in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

As many as 47 people have been killed and 28 injured in a fire on a passenger train traveling in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Investigators found charred remains of passengers still in their

sleeping berths and were having difficulties identifying them report.

The AP also reported that a railway station worker noticed the burning car as the train — traveling

overnight from New Delhi to the southeastern city of Chennai — passed through the town of Nellore at about 4 a.m. Once the alarm was raised, the train was stopped and Continued on page 28 >>

SAARC

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Saarc international I Thursday 02 August 2012

Govt committed to early rehabilitation of 2005 earthquake victims: PM

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that the PPP led coalition government is firmly committed to early restoration and rehabilitation of all the victims of October 2005 earthquake.

This, he said, during a briefing by the Earthquake Rehabilitation and

Under the present government, it has completed over 8600 projects six times more compared to 2008 due to allocation of Rs. 83 billion in 4 years. This, the Prime Minister said speaks volumes of the commitment and priority placed by this government for the

Regulatory Authority (ERRA) at the Prime Minister’s House here in Islamabad on Monday.

The Prime Minister said that when the present government took over, ERRA had completed barely 1627 projects against its total portfolio of 14000 projects.

early rehabilitation of October 2005 earthquake victims.

The Prime Minister recalled that the devastating earth quake of October 2005, rejuvenated the nation and created a new fervor which mobalized the entire nation to come to the help and rescue of

their fellow citizens.

The Prime Minister said that the most significant challenge today is to strategize sustainable development through reconstruction and rehabilitation

The Prime Minister said that it was necessary for ERRA to come up to the expectations of the calamity hit people as they envisage ERRA’s performance not as mere obligation but a spirit of serving

work in the affected areas to convert the adversity into an opportunity by adopting humanitarian approach in line with the manifesto of the government.

the humanity. The Prime Minister maintained that he expected completion of all the projects at various stages of completion on fast track basis.

Electronic balloting for overseas Pakistanis as $40 a vote if it facilitates postal balloting for expatriate Pakistanis.

Dual nationalities: ANP conditionally drops opposition to legislation The Awami National Party (ANP) has withdrawn its objection to dual national Pakistanis becoming members of parliament but with a condition – all dual nationals should relinquish their secondary citizenship after being elected.

The new position taken by the government’s key ally, both at the centre and in two provinces, is much milder than the hard-line position it previous had on the issue when it forced the postponement of a constitutional amendment in parliament.

The ANP’s willingness to support dual nationals as parliamentarians may end a deadlock on a constitutional amendment to allow expats to become MPs. The development took place during the meeting of a parliamentary committee when members from the ANP endorsed recommendations of the panel it sent to the government, which suggests allowing overseas Pakistanis to become lawmakers.

The National Assembly Standing

Committee on Overseas Pakistanis met on Friday to frame recommendations on the proposed constitutional amendment the government had introduced in parliament – aimed at allowing expats to contest elections.

The government’s move came after the Supreme Court disqualified several members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies because of their dual nationalities. The most prominent among them is Rehman Malik.

But the opposition from ANP forced the government to postpone its passage because it lacked the required two-thirds majority.

Talking to reporters, the

parliamentary panel’s chairperson Muhammad Jadam Mangrio said that the committee had decided to forward its recommendations to the government that dual nationals should be allowed to become parliamentarians — including being members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies.

But according to the draft suggestions agreed at the meeting, the panel would not support propositions of dual nationals holding important public offices like the president, prime minister, chief ministers, governors or even cabinet members.

Another member of the committee, Engineer Usman Tarakai, said the panel also recommended the government to initiate the system of electronic balloting for overseas Pakistanis.

The proposal was made after an official of the Election Commission of Pakistan told the committee that the government would have to bear an exorbitant cost of $40 a vote if it facilitates postal balloting for expatriate Pakistanis.

The Prime Minister expressed concern over the delay in the construction of new Balakot City Development project and directed ERRA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to resolve the issues relating to the project within ten days and come up with concrete suggestion to move ahead with the project.

The meeting was attended by Secretary of Finance Mr. Abdul Wajid Rana, Secretary EAD Mr. Javed Iqbal, Secretary Planning & Development Mr. Javed Malik, Additional Secretary Planning & Development Mr. Haseeb Akhtar, Chief Secretary KPK Mr. Ghulam Dastagir, Chief Secretary AJ&K Mr. M Shahzad Arbab, Chairman ERRA Mr. Hamid Yar Hiraj, Deputy Chairman ERRA Maj. Gen M Azeem Asif, COS ERRA, Brig Syed Wajid Raza, DG Finance ERRA, Mr. M. Anwar Khan Rana, and other senior officers.

Chidambaram back as Finance Minister, Shinde gets Home

held the position in 1996 in the United Front government and later became finance minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2004, led by Manmohan Singh, who is credited with India’s first major round of economic reforms in 1991.

Along with Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao, his handling of the economy helped India avoid the worst of the global financial crisis that followed the late 2008 collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The Congress also needs to decide and announce, before Parliament meets next week, who will replace Mr Mukherjee as Leader of the Lok Sabha. There has been a demand from some Congressmen that two-term MP Rahul Gandhi be elevated to that role. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to take a decision soon; among those whose names have reportedly been considered is Mr Shinde.

Parliament sits next week for the monsoon session and the government had indicated that before the session began, that it would fill the important Finance Ministry. The Prime Minister has held interim charge for a little over a month now, but was clear that the job needed a full-time minister with the economy struggling with slow growth and high inflation.

Following the re-allocation, however, much noise can be expected from the opposition benches. The BJP-led opposition has targeted Mr Chidambaram, even boycotting him in Parliament, or what it alleges is his role in the 2G scam.

That dates back to 2008, when Mr Chidambaram was finance minister.

In the face of such vociferous opposition, Mr Chidambaram’s appointment as Finance Minister indicates that his party backs him to the hilt. It is also being seen as an indication of a shift in policy. The biggest criticism of the UPA 2 government, and the finance ministry under Mr Mukherjee, has been what is called its policy paralysis. Mr Chidambaram’s appointment will be interpreted as a thumbs up to reforms, seen as critical by industry.

Mr Shinde has suddenly been the man in the hot seat over the last two days, with the Northern Grid collapsing yesterday, plunging 300 million people in darkness and then three grids – Northern, Eastern and North Eastern – collapsing today, leaving 19 states and 600 million people without power. If he is appointed Home Minister, Mr Shinde is likely to confront crises more frequently. It is a much bigger appointment and will come to him despite the Adarsh scam cloud and an average performance as power minister. But Mr Shinde, apart from being a veteran Congressman, is also a prominent Dalit leader.

This exercise is being looked at more as a re-allocation of tasks and a bigger cabinet reshuffle is expected in a couple of months.

Mr Chidambaram first became Finance Minister in 1996 as part of the shortlived United Front government. He later returned to the Finance Ministry in 2004 when the United Progressive Alliance came to power.

Continued from page 9 >>

Saarc international I Thursday 02 August 2012

SAARC

11

WEEKLY REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN NEWS

U.S. Fund to Rebuild Afghanistan Is Criticized

Two years ago, as the final pieces of the Obama administration’s troop surge were moving into place in southern Afghanistan, American officials identified a handful of infrastructure projects that they hoped would build popular support for the Afghan government in the Taliban’s heartland. The Pentagon and State Department secured $400

million from Congress for what was christened the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund and drew up plans for seven projects, five of them aimed at increasing the electricity supply in southern Afghanistan to light shops and power factories. The projects were to be completed by mid-2013, just as the NATO combat mission was to wind down.

Mosque explosion kill 5 people in Uruzgan province According to local authorities in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan, at least five people including an Afghan judge was killed following an explosion in

militants have so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.

Local officials blame Taliban group for such incidents as the Taliban fighters frequently use

Yet as the remaining surge forces prepare to leave Afghanistan, significant work on five of the seven projects has not yet begun and is unlikely to be completed until well after the NATO mission ends in 2014, according to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the government agency charged with documenting how billions of dollars

in American reconstruction funds are being spent.

As a result, a program that was intended to bring soldiers and civilians together to buttress the Obama administration’s counterinsurgency strategy could end up undercutting it, according to the report, which is released Monday. The difficulties the report describes provide insight into why the results of the surge have

appeared ambiguous and the broader American-led reconstruction effort in Afghanistan has often foundered, despite the nearly $90 billion that Congress has appropriated for it over the past decade.

The American Embassy and military command in Kabul, in a joint statement, rebutted the report’s findings, saying that officials had engaged in a “rigorous process” of reviewing and refining the infrastructure projects.

The projects “have signaled to the Afghan population the U.S. government’s long-term commitment to Afghanistan,” the statement said.

The inspector general reached a starkly different conclusion: the potential help for counterinsurgency efforts envisioned by officials is “based on completed projects that are years away from completion.”

Afghan president warns of corruption crackdown

this province.

The officials further added the incident took place early Monday morning in Tarinkot district after an explosive device went off in a mosque, killing the Afghan judge Taj Mohammad and four civilians.

No group including the Taliban

explosive devices as the weapon of their choice to target Afghan and coalition security forces and Afghan government officials.

This comes as the district chief for Chak was asssassinated by unknown gunmen in Maidan Wardak province on Sunday.

Afghan police officer jailed over espionage charges to Iran

An Afghan court in western Afghanistan sentenced an Afghan police officer to 16 years jail over espionage charges to a neighboring country.

Ghulam Rassoul chief of the primary court said the Afghan police officer was accused of national treason.

The officials did not diclose

further information regarding the exact nation to which the accused Afghan police officer was providing information however a local official speaking on the condition of anonymity said he has been accused of providing information to neighboring Iran.

The court verdict against the accused police officer was not final and Afghan officials said he has the right to appeal for the reconsideration of the court verdict in next court hearings.

This comes as a number of Afghan security and government officials have been arrested over espionage charges to neighboring Pakistan and Iran during the recent years. another Afghan national was also sentenced to 16 years jail over espionage charges to neighboring Iran.

Afghanistan’s Western-backed President Hamid Karzai admitted Thursday that his government was corrupt and issued a sweeping directive for reform ahead of the withdrawal of international troops in 2014.

Karzai’s move came just weeks after donor nations pledged $16 billion for Afghanistan to prevent the country from sliding back into turmoil when foreign combat forces depart but called on Kabul to implement reforms to fight graft.

“Despite major achievements... we have confronted problems in governance, the fight against corruption, strengthening the rule of law and economic selfsufficiency,” Karzai said in a statement.

The president -- who has faced accusations he is part of the problem rather than its solution -- called on the Supreme Court to “work on and finalise all the cases regarding administrative corruption, land-grabbing... within six months”.

“The high-ranking officials of the government should distance themselves from supporting the criminals, law-breakers (and) corrupt officials... regardless of the government post or authority of such persons,” he said.

More than 10 years after a US-led invasion led to billions of dollars in aid flowing into one of the world’s

poorest countries, Afghanistan ranks among the most corrupt nations in the world.

NATO has some 130,000 troops in the country fighting an insurgency

by Taliban Islamists, but they are due to withdraw by the end of 2014 and there are widespread fears that civil war could follow their departure.

In an attempt to prevent that, the 50 NATO-led countries involved in the war pledged $4.1 billion dollars in annual security aid at a summit in Chicago in May, while in Tokyo earlier this month donor nations said they would provide $16 billion in civilian aid through 2015 -- with several pre-conditions, including a clampdown on corruption.

In his statement, Karzai called on the finance ministry to “prepare and implement within two months the plan for the follow-up of commitments made in the Tokyo conference”.

Karzai’s move comes amid local media reports that he is planning to shuffle his cabinet -- a highly sensitive issue in a country riven by ethnic and ideological divides.

Endemic corruption has been fuelled by the cash that has poured into the country in the decade since the US-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime for harbouring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.

And while the Afghan government admits corruption is rife within its ranks, it has also in the past pointed a finger at the contract systems of the international community.

“All government institutions are emphatically instructed to seriously avoid signing construction, logistic (and) services contracts with highranking officials and the people they support,” Karzai said.

“Such an action will be regarded as a crime and the perpetrators will be prosecuted,” he said.

But as NATO combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan, desperately needed cash is already making its own way out -- $4.6 billion left through Kabul airport in 2011, almost double the amount in the previous year, the finance ministry says.

The scandal-plagued Kabul Bank, the country’s largest private lender, almost collapsed in 2010, with owners including one of Karzai’s brothers accused of pocketing $900 million in illegal loans.

SAARC

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Saarc international I Thursday 02 August 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF BANGLADESH NEWS

Dhaka should work directly with Washington: Mozena

The US ambassador in Dhaka, Dan W Mozena, on Saturday said that Bangladesh should create a good climate in bilateral relations favourable to Washington to get GSP facility and duty-free access of its product to the US market.

‘The issue of the GSP facility and dutyfree access of Bangladeshi products to the US market is a totally political process. So I advise the government to work with the US government directly,’ he said at a discussion at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

‘Pursuing the ambassador on this issue is just wasting your time.’

The DCCI organised the meeting on US-Bangladesh bilateral trade. The organisation’s president Asif Ibrahim read out the keynote paper on the issue.

Business leaders and economists at the meeting urged the US government to continue with the generalised system of preference facility and duty-free access of Bangladeshi products to the

US market and to import products other than apparels.

Mozena hinted that Bangladesh should sign the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa) with the United States to get GSP and duty-free access.

‘After four years of negotiation on Ticfa, there is a perception in the United States that Bangladesh would not sign Ticfa and walk back from its international labour obligations,’ he said.

Bangladesh should send a strong message to the United States that it does support labour rights and there would be no more labour rights violation in the country, he said.

Bangladesh can, however, file a petition with the US congress on GSP facility and duty-free access as a US labour rights organisation AFLCIO applied to the US Trade Representative to cancel GSP facility for Bangladesh over an allegation of labour rights violation, he said.

US ambassador also expressed his disappointment that Bangladesh and the World Bank could not reach a solution to the problem over financing the Padma bridge project.

‘I am deeply disappointed that both parties were not able to find ways to come up with a resolution on the issue,’ he said at the discussion.

Mozena hoped that Bangladesh and the World Bank would find a solution as efforts were on to do so.

He termed the Padma bridge vital for

Bangladesh as the bridge would link the country’s southwest to the the capital and contribute to economic growth.

Mozena also expressed concern about political instability and uncertainty, corruption, law and order, and labour

Bangladesh PM for greater contract with UK parliamentarians

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told Al Jazeera that her country cannot afford to accommodate more Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.

During an interview to Al Jazeera in London on Friday Hasina said this.

The statement follows reports that Bangladeshi authorities have been rejecting many of the asylum seekers.

Sheikh Hasina defended the policy, saying Bangladesh is already

The Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has underlined the importance of greater institutional contact between the parliamentarians of Bangladesh and Britain to further strengthen historic relations between the two countries.

Sheikh Hasina, now in London to attend opening ceremony of Olympic Games 2012, expressed this view when leader of the opposition and Labour Party leader Edward Samuel Miliband called on the prime minister

at her hotel suite in London Friday afternoon.

PM’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told the news agency that the prime minister apprised Miliband of the latest political situation of Bangladesh as well as the political processes, functioning of Jatiya Sangsad and her government’s continuous stride to strengthen institutions related to

democratic governance and the rule of law.

She also informed the Labour Party leader of the development achieved

by Bangladesh over the last few years in different sectors including food production, health and education, information and communication technology and poverty reduction.

Hasina said British Labour Party and Bangladesh Awami League share a history and commonality in objectives and approach. So, both parties may

formalise institutional linkage through better engagement in future, she said.

She thanked the British Labour Party leader for his continued interest in Bangladesh and support to its people for development and flourishing democracy. She mentioned the support of British government for holding a free and fair election in 2008.

‘In continuation of those free

and fair polls, our government is making relentless efforts to keep the country’s electoral process completely neutral and free from government interference,’ she said.

Referring to the elections held in Bangladesh in the last three and a half years, she said all the polls at local and national levels were held peacefully without any influence of the government. All future election in Bangladesh will also be held in a free, fair and neutral manner, she said.

Acknowledging the popularity of Labour Party among British Bangladeshis, the prime minister praised Miliband’s leadership in revamping his party within British politics.

In this regard, she mentioned election of first-ever Bangladesh origin British citizen Rushanara Ali as a member of the House of Commons, her (PM’s) niece Rezwana Siddiqui Tulip as a councilor of London, and others as mayor and councillors in two boroughs of London City.

Labour Party leader Douglas Alexander and Rushanara Ali accompanied Miliband during the meeting. Foreign minister Dipu Moni, ambassadorat-large M Ziauddin and Bangladesh ambassador in London M Sayeedur Rahman Khan, were present.

Earlier, noted journalist and writer Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury met the prime minister.

Rehana, youngest daughter of Sheikh

issues, and stressed the need for addressing the issues to boost export to the US market and attract more investments in Bangladesh from the United States. ‘Investors hate instability.’

‘Bangladesh has some other challenges in attracting FDI such as inadequate infrastructure, including port facilities, weak transport system, shortage of energy and power and prolonged bureaucratic process.

The government has to improve port facilities, communications and transport system, especially the Dhaka–Chittagong Highway which is a big barrier for investors, energy and power generation, transparency and corruption issues, he said.

Bangladesh can’t help Rohingya: PM

Hasina says her country can not afford to accommodate more refugees

overpopulated. There are already about 300,000 Rohingya living in refugee camps in the country.

Hasina said that it is not her country’s responsibility to help all of the refugees.

Here is the interview posted by Al Jazeera on its website: Hasina: It is up to their government, so you should put pressure or you should talk to the Myanmar government not to Bangladesh. It is not the Bangladesh people’s responsibility, right?

Al Jazeera: These are people in a desperate humanitarian situation and surely there are basic principles, human principles, moral principles, that compel you to help them.

Hasina: Bangladesh is already an overpopulated country, we cannot bear this burden. You should realise that.

But now things are okay. Things are improving, so no refugees are coming.

Al Jazeera: But in the last two months, we have seen the pictures ourselves, Bangladeshi guards physically turning people back, returning them to danger…

Hasina: No, listen, listen, Bangladeshi guards, they behaved humanitarianly; they provided food for them, medicine for them, they provided money and they just allowed them to return to their own home.

Al Jazeera: Not allow but they forced them to return….

Hasina: No, it is not true. They did not force them, rather they pursued them that, ‘you should go back to your own country,’ and they went back.

Al Jazeera: PM, you know full well that they are being persecuted in their own country, they tried to run away and they were refused entry to your country.

Hasina: Well, why we should allow to enter our country? We just pursue them, and we provided them all, everything what they needed. Why you are asking these questions? You should ask these questions to the Myanmar government. It is not our responsibility, it is their responsibility.

Al Jazeera: And have you ever expressed concern to the government of Myanmar about how the Rohingya are treated in Arakan province?

Hasina: Of course, we do.

Al Jazeera: And what do they say?

Hasina: Well, they are creating congenial atmosphere, they are providing all the assistance everything.

Al Jazeera: Do you actually believe that?

Hasina: Yes, why not?

Al Jazeera: Do you think, the Rohingya are treated fairly in Arakan province?

Hasina: Ah, I told you that it is their citizen! So, it is up to them.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BHUTAN NEWS

Power failure: Delhi Metro services resume after electricity supply from Bhutan Services on all six lines of the Delhi Metro resumed by 8.45 a.m. after almost three hours of disruption due to tripping of the power supply across northern India, an official said here on Monday.

“Services in all the six lines became normal by 8.45 a.m. We are receiving hydel power from Bhutan on priority basis,” a Delhi Metro official said.

He added that Delhi Metro was amongst the emergency services, including the Prime Minister’s residence and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), being provided power.

“We were unable to operate any of the lines for an hour from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. due to tripping of power supply. At 7 a.m. we restored 25 percent of the trains on all the lines, and now all the trains are plying as usual,” the official added.

The Northern Grid failure also caused power cuts in most parts of Delhi. Delhi Metro normally operates over 2,700 trips a day, covering about 70,000 km and carrying around 1.8 million passengers on week days.

Thousands of commuters faced severe hardship in the morning hours on Monday when Delhi Metro services were largely

disrupted owing to a major failure in the Northern Grid that supplies power to the modern transport system.

The train services are expected to

be restored after 9 am on all lines except the Gurgaon corridor, which might take some more time, they said.

As majority of the trains were taken off services due to power failure, the frequency of trains became an all-time low of 20 minutes on a few corridors in the first few hours in the morning, people were stranded at several Metro stations.

Sources said that though the failure in the Northern Grid is

expected to be rectified only in the evening, Delhi Metro was getting hydel power from Bhutan on priority basis along with power from AIIMS and Prime Minister’s

House to run the services.

As services were not available in the morning, people were forced to take over-crowded buses and auto rickshaws. Passengers alleged that there were no proper announcements about the power failure at Metro stations.

The disruption in services came as a jolt to thousands of officegoers who depend on Metro to reach their workplace without any hassle. Delhi Metro carries around 18 lakh passengers a day.

Bhutan focuses on preventing Hepatitis B

With more than 700 cases annually, it’s the most dominant type in the country Concerned with the fluctuating

number of cases it sees every year; Bhutan joined the world yesterday to observe World Hepatitis Day. On an average, about 770 cases of viral Hepatitis were seen annually in Bhutan in the last seven years.

Themed “It’s closer than you think,” health ministry officials said Bhutan’s focus is on Hepatitis B, which is dominant in the country.

Bhutan introduced Hepatitis B vaccine into its immunisation schedule in 1997, which in 2003 was combined in the tetravalent vaccine with diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines. In 2009,

His Majesty grants land Kidu to people of Wangdue

it was replaced with pentavalent vaccine.

Health officials said pentavalent vaccine is effective when an infant is below one year. “There are two forms of vaccines, one is the birth dose which is given within 24 hours after birth called the monovalent Hepatitis B vaccine,” an official said. “In the other form, three doses are integrated with pentavalent vaccine which should be given in the sixth, 10th and 14th week after birth.”

“If vaccination is not done on time, infants are prone to diseases like malaria, measles, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and tuberculosis among others,” the official said.

Of the 15,000 babies born annually including stillbirths, health ministry had targeted to vaccinate 13,693 babies last year. They achieved 93.4 percent with 12,796 babies receiving the complete dose. The ministry is targeting to immunise more than 95 percent this year.

Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck granted 1,989 acres of land as Kidu to the people of Wangdue Dzongkhag. In Wangdue, there are a total of 8,211 land cases.

In addition to granting the land, the excess land cost will be waived. Those who have already paid the cost shall be reimbursed.

The Kidu in Wangdue in excess land is 2,752 acres of land and a total cost of Nu 28.4 million. The total excess land Kidu in the dzongkhag was 7,610 acres, including chhuzhing excess of 4,857 acres Granting the Kidu, His Majesty said the Kidu was granted so that the people’s lives are made easier and in the hope that they will utilize the land to bring great benefit to the lives of their children and grandchildren.

His Majesty told the people that he understands the difficulties of life in rural Bhutan. “Homes have to be built, families must be looked after and children must be put to school. The simple task of buying CGI sheets for the roof of a small house is an immense undertaking in remote villages,” His Majesty said. A king’s sacred duty, His Majesty said, is looking after the wellbeing and Kidu of the people. “I pray that my people will utilize to the fullest the Kidu I strive to bring to them, and ensure that its benefits accrue, not only to them but to the future generations,” His Majesty said. “I do so wholeheartedly in the knowledge that this land Kidu is going to none other than our humble, hardworking and committed farmers. I am most happy if it is of benefit to them, the back bone of our nation.”

Bhutan’s first woman dzongda (governor) makes history

Ngawang Pem, the chief human resource officer in the agriculture ministry, has been appointed as the dzongda (governor) of Tsirang, making her the first woman dzongda in Bhutan.

“I have mixed feelings about it, because I’m excited for this opportunity but, at the same time, I’m anxious whether I’ll be able to do my job up to the mark,” Ngawang Pem said in an interview last evening.

She received her appointment earlier in the afternoon, when His Majesty appointed three other dzongdas on the recommendation of prime minister,

based on nominations of the royal civil service commission.

From Kanglung in Trashigang, Ngawang Pem graduated from Sherubtse with a Bachelors of Arts degree in the summer of 1993. She joined the civil service in February 1994 as a trainee officer in home ministry’s administration and finance division. She was promoted to assistant personnel officer a year later, and then as assistant director.

She went for her Master’s in Public Policy in 2004.

On returning in 2006, she served as the chief human resource officer in the home ministry for four years, and another two years in the agriculture ministry.

Ngawang Pem said she was anticipating this event for the past three to four years, after she was nominated for the third time for this post.

With 18 years of experience behind her, Ngawang Pem, 41, is nervous yet ready to step into what has always been men’s shoes. “I’ll be working on the public level with public issues, rather than human resource that I’ve been doing until now,” she said.

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Saarc international I Thursday 02 August 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF INDIA NEWS

Court convicts 22, acquits 61 in Deepda Darwaza riots case

Twenty one of 22 people found guilty in the Deepda Darwaza 2002 Gujarat riots case have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

One, a policeman, has been handed a one-year jail term for dereliction of duty. A former BJP MLA, Prahlad Gosa, is among 61 people acquitted.

On February 28, 2002, an entire family of 11, including two children, were hacked to death by a rioting mob at Deepda Darwaza area of Visnagar town in Mehsana district. The bodies were then set on fire.

Of the 22 people convicted earlier this morning, 21 were found guilty of attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC); none was convicted for murder under Section 302.

The police inspector, MK Patel, was held guilty of dereliction of duty.

The judge gave the former BJP MLA, Mr Gosa, the benefit of doubt while acquitting him.

Charges had initially been framed against 83 accused, including three women, but the court later allowed the application of complainant Mohammad Iqbal Baloch, listing the Mr Gosa and the policeman Mr Patel, as additional accused in the case, taking the total number to 85.

Later, one accused was found to be a minor and one died during trial.

The Deepda Darwaza massacre is one of the nine cases, including the Godhra train burning case, that was investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on orders of the Supreme Court. It is the second case of rioting where among the accused there are three women who were charged with murder and other crimes. Former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani and other two women were tried in the Naroda Patiya case, verdict

in which is expected next month.

During the course of trial, the court had examined 167 witnesses, out of whom 12 were prime witnesses.

Among the accused in the Deepda Darwaza case, three were women who had been charged with murder and other crimes, but they were also acquitted.

Earlier, all 83 accused were charged under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempted murder), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing

hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 325 (causing grievous hurt with deadly weapons), 367 (kidnapping in order to cause grievous hurt) of Indian Penal Code among other sections.

Deepda Darwaza is one of the nine cases, including the Godhra train burning case, that was probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on orders of the Supreme Court.

Hazare begins fast, demands passage of Jan Lokpal bill

Septuagenarian social activist Anna Hazare began an indefinite fast against corruption here Sunday brushing away concerns about his health, saying people would not let him die till the Jan Lokpal bill for setting up an ombudsman was passed.

Hazare, 75, began his fast at 10.30 a.m. at the Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital, very near the seat of the Indian government. It is his third indefinite fast in the capital in just over a year. The soldier-turned-activist’s 12-day long-fast in August last year had attracted massive following and forced the government to get working on a Lokpal bill.

Some 350 others, including three Team Anna members, have been fasting at the site since Wednesday.

Fifteen of them had to be hospitalized after their condition deteriorated.

Addressing the crowd of a few thousands, Hazare said: “I am ready to sacrifice my life for the cause. I am confident that people will not let me die.”

“People will not let me die till Jan Lokpal bill is passed,” said Hazare as his supporters cheered. He also said that though India was a democracy, the people had forgotten the real meaning of the word and it was time to awaken the people for a return to real people’s power.

“They (politicians) are servants and we people are the owners; but the picture today is that people have become the servant and the politicians are the owner,” he thundered to loud cheers.

“This movement is to awaken the people,” Hazare said. Hazare denied accusations that Team Anna was

deviating from its stated aim of getting the Jan Lokpal Bill passed in parliament. “It is the government which is moving away from its path.

Our main demand is to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed.”

He quickly added that as long as all 15 ministers in the Manmohan Singh government who Hazare alleges are corrupt remain in parliament, the Lokpal Bill will not be passed.

He also touched on yoga guru Baba Ramdev sharing the dais with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, saying: “I do not want to be dragged into this muddy debate”, and then warned: “Don’t try to divide us.”

He added immediately that if he saw the movement becoming directionless “I will stop it right there.” Later Hazare launched a book titled “Swaraj” by Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, who is also on fast at the venue.

Besides Kejriwal, two other team members on fast are Manish Sisodia, and Gopal Rai. Earlier, Hazare used diplomatic language to criticise Saturday’s surprise protest by some of his supporters outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence.

He said the protest was a reaction by people angry with the government.

However he advised his supporters to “think before doing any such things” in future. The crowds appeared to be more Sunday compared to earlier

days. While the crowd was largely dominated by youngsters, the elderly also turned up in huge numbers.

Shilpa Gupta, an Anna supporter, told IANS: “I was not able to come the last four days. I decided to come to Jantar Mantar today to join the fight against corruption.”

Harkishan Gupta, a 69-year-old retired government official, told IANS: “The government can say anything it wants to, but the fact is that somebody has been keeping up this fight against corruption.”

A group of young chartered accountants have volunteered to manage the donations for India Against Corruption, run by Team Anna members, at the venue.

Saksham Mittal, 32, an accountant with a private firm, said he could not join the movement last August “but this time I did not want to miss the opportunity,” Mittal said.

The Lokpal Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in the winter session last year, but got stuck in the Rajya Sabha and was referred to a parliamentary select committee. It was expected to be tabled during the budget session but was not. Team Anna members are demanding that their version of the bill be incorporated and passed by parliament.

Team Anna has permission to fast at Jantar Mantar till Aug 8, the day the parliament’s monsoon session is expected to begin.

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Assam Violence: Manmohan Singh Visits RiotHit Kokrajhar, Assures Full Support to Victims

Prime Minister Manmoahn Singh reached out to the victims of Assam riots in relief camps on Saturday and assured that the Centre will do everything possible to help the victims.

PM Manmohan Singh meeting victims of violence in Kokrajhar relief camp in Assam “I have come here to share your sorrow and pain. This is a time for healing,” said Singh, while meeting the victims of Assam ethnic riots that lasted for a week.

“My government will do everything possible to help the victims. We are here to talk to the people directly”.

The Prime Minister reached the riot-hit Kokrajhar on an IAF chopper after his helicopter returned to the Lokopriyo Bordoloi

International Airport in Ghuwati, just minutes after its take off.

Initially, the airport officials informed that the PM’s chopper was called back due to bad weather

Imran Khan awarded honorary fellowship by Royal College of Physicians

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has been awarded an honorary fellowship by

the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) in recognition for his contribution to cancer services.

The fellowship has been awarded for his contribution through the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre. The RCPE is a professional membership organisation with a membership of over 10,000 “fellows” in 91 countries. Imran Khan founded Shaukat Khanum on December 29, 1994. The inspiration for the hospital and research centre came after the death of his mother, Mrs Shaukat Khanum, due to cancer.

The trust uses donations to help patients with cancer through the application of modern methods of curative and palliative therapy free of cost.

but reports suggested that the chopper encountered a technical problem.

The Prime Minister reached the relief camps in Kokrajhar by an

Padma Bridge a must: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that if the expatriate Bangladeshis send more remittance, there will be no need to collect subscriptions to build the multi-purpose Padma Bridge.

‘If we could liberate the country and put the war criminals in the dock, why won’t we be able to build a bridge? The Padma Bridge must be built,’ she said at a discussion after an iftar party hosted by the UK chapter of Awami League at Park Plaza Hotel in Westminster on Saturday evening.

Recounting the contribution of the Bangladeshi expatriates in the UK, Hasina said England is the birthplace of all movements in Bangladesh.

‘From this city of London Rehana and I had protested against the assassination of Bangabandhu in

Zardari invites Singh to visit Pakistan

President Asif Ali Zardari formally invites the Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan, an official said, the latest sign that tensions are easing between the two countries.

“I can confirm that President Asif Ali Zardari has sent a letter to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and invited him to visit Pakistan,” Zardari’s spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, told AFP. “The letter has been sent through the High Commission (of Pakistan in India) and the president also invited PM Manmohan Singh to visit his ancestral hometown in Pakistan.”

It was not immediately clear when the visit would take place,

but the Press Trust of India news agency suggested that it could be

IAF aircraft. The Prime Minister’s office is expected to give further details about the aircraft problem.

While talking to the reporters at Kokrajhar relief camps, the PM said,

“This is no time for recriminations, we need to first help the people to rehabilitate and bring peace” Kokrajhar district was the epicentre of Assam riots, which killed over 50 people besides leaving about 2 lakh homeless. Since last week, villagers have taken shelter at the relief camps fearing a meltdown.

Besides state forces, army and Centre parliamentary forces have also been deployed across the affected villages on standby to prevent any further rioting incidents. No fresh rioting incidents were reported since Thursday. As the state gradually getting back to its normalcy, the officials have eased the indefinite curfew in the morning but the night curfew still remains.

November.

The invitation is the latest bid by the neighbours to normalise relations.

The nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars since independence in 1947, but in 2010 resumed a fragile and slow-moving peace process suspended by the 2008 Mumbai attacks blamed on Pakistani gunmen.

Earlier this month, Indian cricket chiefs invited Pakistan for a series in December-January -- the rivals’ first in five years.

Cricket ties were also severed after the Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people in India’s financial capital.

1980 and launched the movement for democracy in Bangladesh in cooperation with expatriate Bangladeshis,’ she said.

Hasina expressed her gratitude to leaders and workers of UK Awami League and the expatriates for encouraging her to return to Bangladesh in 2007 when the then caretaker government did not want her back.

Inviting investment from the expatriate Bangladeshis, she said they can invest in sectors like food processing and small- and mediumscale industries.

Hasina said the country has been divided into seven economic zones for encouraging foreign investment and the opening of foreign currency accounts has been eased.

Besides, she said Expatriate Welfare Bank has been established and approval given to set up three NRB banks in Bangladesh.

She said since the expatriate Bangladeshis are engaged in the restaurant business in UK, they can invest in spice processing factories in Bangladesh and meet their own

demand. The Bangladesh Bank is giving loans at only 4.5 per cent interest for establishment of spice factories.

Hasina praised the Bangladeshi restaurant owners in UK for sending a huge amount of remittance to Bangladesh.

She assured the people from Sylhet, now living in the UK, that direct London-Sylhet air flights would be introduced soon.

She reiterated her government’s pledge to turn Bangladesh into a middle-income economy by 2021.

UK Awami League president Sultan Sharif presided over the discussion.

Awami League general secretary and LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam, foreign minister Dipu Moni, Labour Party MPs Vallery Vaz and Mike Gaipse, ex- Minister Jerald Kafman, Sylhet AL general secretary Shafiqur Rahman MP and European AL president Anil Das Gupta were among those who spoke at the function.

Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeev Wajed Joy and Sheikh Rehana’s daughter labour councillor Tulip Siddique were present on the occasion.

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The opening ceremony of the London 2012 South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

Olympic Games starts at the Olympic Stadium in London, Britain, July 27, 2012

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth declared the London Olympics open after playing a cameo role in a dizzying ceremony designed to highlight the grandeur and eccentricities of the nation that invented modern sport.

Children’s voices intertwining from the four corners of her United Kingdom ushered in an exuberant historical pageant of meadows, steel mills and megapixels before an audience of 60,000 in the Olympic Stadium and a probable billion television viewers around the globe.

Many of them gasped at the sight of the 86-yearold queen, marking her Diamond Jubilee this year, putting aside royal reserve in a video where she stepped onto a helicopter with James Bond actor Daniel Craig to be carried aloft from Buckingham Palace.

A film clip showed doubles of her and Bond skydiving towards the stadium and, moments later, she made her entrance in person.

“Great Britain was the cradle of modern sport,” International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge told reporters. “You invented modern sport in the second half of the 19th century.”

To underline the point, Bradley Wiggins, crowned five days earlier as Britain’s first winner of the Tour de France and hoping to add more road cycling gold in London, tolled the world’s largest tuned bell to begin the ceremony.

David Beckham, the English soccer icon who helped to convince the IOC to grant London the Games, sped down the Thames in a speedboat bearing the Olympic flame on the penultimate leg of a torch relay that inspired many ordinary people around Britain.

And in one moment of simple drama, the stadium fell silent as five giant, incandescent Olympic rings, symbolically forged from British steel mills, were lifted slowly out of the stadium by weather balloons, destined for the stratosphere.

More than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries will compete in 26 sports over 17 days of competition in the only city to have staged the modern Games three

times.

Most of them were there for the traditional alphabetical parade of the national teams, not least the athletes from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen

“Over recent months, many in these islands have watched with growing excitement the journey of the Olympic torch around the United Kingdom. As the torch has passed through villages and towns, it has

sweep through British history by grassing over the arena in a depiction of the pastoral idyll mythologized by the romantic poet William Blake as “England’s green and pleasant land”.

Idyll turned swiftly to inferno as the Industrial Revolution’s “dark Satanic mills” burst from the ground, before those same mills forged the last of five giant rings that interlocked and were carried aloft by balloons.

Many sequences turned the entire stadium into a vast video screen made up of tens of thousands of “pixels” attached to the seats. One giant message, unveiled by Tim Berners-Lee, British inventor of the

was his priority.

Suicide attacks on London on July 7, 2005, the day after London was awarded the Games, killed 52 people. This year the Games will mark the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich massacre, when 11 Israeli Olympic team members were killed by Palestinian militants.

“This is the biggest security operation in our peacetime history, bar none,” Cameron said, “and we are leaving nothing to chance.”

Archery world record Although no medals will be awarded until Saturday, the women’s soccer tournament started on Wednesday, and on Friday South Korean archers set the first world records of the Games.

Im Dong-hyun, who suffers from severe myopia and just aims at “a blob of yellow colour”, broke his own 72-arrow world record with a score of 699 out of a possible 720, leading his two colleagues to a record combined score as well.

The Games’ first medals will be decided in the women’s 10 meters air rifle final on Saturday, with the big action coming in the men’s cycling road race, where world champion Mark Cavendish is favorite to become Britain’s first gold medallist.

In the evening, Americans Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are scheduled to line up for a classic confrontation in the men’s 400 meters individual medley final.

Phelps, competing in seven events after winning a

record eight gold medals four years ago in Beijing, is bidding to become the first swimmer to win gold in the same discipline three times in a row.

“This is going to be a special race,” said Gregg Troy, head coach of the American men’s team. “I can’t imagine a better way to promote our sport than a race like this on the first day.”

Chinese shooter Yi Siling shot down the first London Olympics gold medal in women’s 10-meter air rifle Saturday with a score of 502.9 points on Saturday.

London Olympics 2012: Fear of further empty seats at Olympic venues is due to threats of attack?

Olympic opening ceremony scenes axed over security fears

competing in their first Olympics since their peoples overthrew autocrats in Arab Spring revolutions.

Brunei and Qatar were led in by their countries’ first ever female Olympians and so, along with Saudi Arabia, ended their status as the only countries to

drawn people together as families and communities.

“To me, this spirit of togetherness is a most important part of the Olympic ideal. And the British people can be proud of the part they have played in keeping the spirit alive.”

exclude women from their teams.

Royal role At a reception earlier in the day, the queen spelled out the role played by her family after the Olympics were revived in Athens in 1896.

“This will be the third London Olympiad. My great grandfather opened the 1908 Games at White City.

My father opened the 1948 Games at Wembley Stadium. And, later this evening, I will take pleasure in declaring open the 2012 London Olympic Games at Stratford in the east of London,” she said.

The opening show, costing an estimated 27 million pounds ($42 million), was inspired by William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”, his late-life meditation on age and mortality.

Children were center-stage throughout, starting from the moment when live pictures of junior choirs singing in the landscapes of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were beamed into the stadium’s giant screens, four traditional songs woven together into a musical tapestry of Britain.

Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle began his

world wide web, read “This is for Everyone”.

The performance included surreal and often humorous references to British achievements, especially in social reform and the arts, and was due

to conclude with a performance by former Beatle Paul McCartney.

Until the last few days, media coverage had been dominated by security firm G4S’s admission that it could not provide enough guards for Olympic venues.

Thousands of extra soldiers had to be deployed at the last minute, despite the company’s multi-milliondollar contract from the government.

Counter-terrorism chiefs have played down fears of a major attack on the Games, and Prime Minister David Cameron said that a safe and secure Olympics

March Last year Sky Television reported Terrorists could use a “blended attack” to simultaneously hit physical targets and cyber systems during the London Olympic Games, a security expert has warned. Weeks earlier, the Sunday Times claimed Al Qaeda was believed to be planning an Olympics attack. Quoting unnamed intelligence sources, a recruited Norwegian Muslim allegedly intended “to hijack a US passenger plane and crash it on a suicide mission.” Later The Sunday Times published an inflammatory propaganda piece. It headlined “Israel fears Iran attack at Games,” saying: London is militarized with thousands of troops, police and private security guards.

Information suggesting a potential terrorist attack is lacking. The Times based its report on what Israeli officials claim, real or otherwise. The Sunday Times reported Israeli officials have warned that an Iranian terror squad in Europe may be planning to attack its athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games, sparking the largest security operation in peacetime Britain, The Sunday Times reports further that “panic rooms have been installed beneath the stadium as a haven for VIPs and spectators in the event of an attack.”

Rapier and Starstreak surface-to-air missiles are to be deployed at sites around

London in order to defend the Olympic Games from an airborne terrorist attack, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.

Britain’s defense secretary has confirmed the six sites that will host surface-to-air missiles as part of security measures to protect the Games.

MI5 and New Scotland Yard are reportedly thought to have raised their threat

million Olympic opening ceremony show has been cut by half an hour, claims The Sun. In the wake of the G4S security snafu, a London 2012 source said the cuts had been ordered because more time was now needed to get the crowd in and out of the stadium. Half-a-million Olympic football tickets have been withdrawn from sale as London 2012 organisers have been forced

Olympic organisers have brought in soldiers to fill the empty seats that have been blighting some Olympic venues . Lord Coe revealed members of the military are being brought in at the last minute and students and teachers from the local area are also being invited to watch various sporting events.

The move comes after hundreds of seats

assessment in light of the terrorist attack in Bulgaria on Wednesday. The Mossad, says the Sunday Times, “is hunting a group of white Europeans who are thought to have converted to Islam and to be working with the Iranian Quds force and Hezbollah, the terrorist group backed by Tehran. Hyping non-existent London threats advance the ball for more Middle East war. But all threats and fear created one visible result and that was empty seats.

DANNY BOYLE’S controversial £27

to admit that there will be swathes of empty seats at matches outside the capital, reports The Independent. With a million tickets still unsold Locog has decided to close off some parts of the grounds that are most undersold, including the entire top tier of Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Despite pulling the tickets, Locog claimed it was “delighted” with demand and said they had sold more football tickets than the organisers of Euro 2012.

were left unfilled this weekend at a number of events including swimming, rowing, tennis and basketball.

At some venues, seats in the accreditted “Olympic family” areas, which often with the best views, have gone unused. The seats are reserved for groups including officials, sports federations, athletes and sponsors.

Lord Coe said he refused to “name and shame” the people who did not turn up and instead was looking at new ways to

get people from local communities along to watch the games including selling more tickets online, some at heavily discounted prices.

He said: “We can clearly sell more tickets, which we did yesterday (Saturday). We sold something like 1,000 tickets over three sessions. The other thing is we can tactically upgrade and move people.”

“I don’t think you will be seeing this as an issue, long-term through the Games.”

The head of the British Olympic Association has called for new measures to avoid swathes of empty seats at some of the most popular events during the London Games.

Lord Moynihan wants to bring in a 30minute rule on ticketing so that people who fail to turn up on time lose their seats.

“We need every seat filled,” he said. “We owe it to the team, we owe it to British sports fans the length and breadth of he country.”

Games boss Lord Coe has urged that the seating row be kept in perspective, saying it was early days and steps could be taken to tackle the problem.

He also insisted it was wrong to blame sponsors as they only accounted for 8% of tickets, while 75% were in the hands of the public.

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Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and daughter Upinder Singh ...

Don’t employ children: Gursharan

Individuals need to come forward and report about child abuse as it is difficult for the government and rights groups to tackle the issue alone, said Gursharan Kaur, wife of the Prime Minister, at a national summit to ban all forms of child labour held in Delhi on Saturday.

“We have to wake up. We have to make sure that no one employs children,” said Kaur at this summit organised by Save The Children. She added that it is unfortunate to know that over 40 million children are working as labourers across India. “This is mainly because of poverty which needs to be addressed,” she said.

Shanta Sinha, chairperson of nNational Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said that many urban families believe they were doing children a favour by hiring them as domestic help.

“However, they are not doing any favour

to the child as the child is captive and entrapped in that home,” she said.

Children who were working as labourers shared their previous experience. Arjun, 14, who is now studying in class 9, used to plough fields where he was exposed to pesticides and would skip lunch to complete the work.

Many are abused

Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and daughter Upinder Singh on their way to the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Sunday.

PM announces Rs 300cr relief for victims of Assam

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday announced a Rs 300crore special central assistance for relief and rehabilitation of people affected and displaced in the four riot-hit districts of Bodoland after visiting two relief camps near Kokrajhar.

The PM said he would also order a probe into the trigger for the ethnic and communal clashes.

“We must also address the causes of the conflict. If the conflict has been instigated, the guilty must be punished. I will order an inquiry and the Centre will work closely with the state,” he said.

The PM visited two relief camps in the vicinity of Kokrajhar town — one housing Muslims and the other having Bodo inmates. “I am very sad,” he said, after visiting the relief camp at Bhotgaon. He added, “It will take a few days to restore complete normalcy. This conflict iss desh ke mathe par kalangk (a blot on nation).”

The situation in the four worst-

hit districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Bongaigaon and Dhubri remained calm for the third day on Saturday but the tension was as high after eight more bodies were recovered. The death toll now at 53 in the violence that erupted on July 20. The number of inmates in the 270 relief camps has also increased to four lakhs on Saturday.

The assistance package includes Rs 100 crore for relief and rehabilitation efforts, another Rs 100 crore as special plan assistance for development in the affected areas and Rs 100 crore more under Indira Awas Yojana.

Singh also announced Rs 2 lakh for families of those who died in the violence and Rs 50,000 to those injured from the PM’s National Relief Fund. He said Rs 30,000 would be given to rebuild houses that have been completely damaged and Rs 20,000 for the partially damaged ones.

Ranjita, a 15-year-old girl who had worked as a domestic help in Bangalore was physically tortured. She somehow gathered courage to call her village and was rescued by some activists.

“My father was a drunkard and my mother used to run the house with whatever she could earn but even I had to begin working to support my family,” she said.

Children expressed their unhappiness over parents’ pressure towards making them work at an early age.

“We want to study like other children do. We want better lives,” a child said.

Actor Farooq Sheikh expressed his concern over the country not doing enough towards eradicating child labour. “India’s problems are varied and vast but why do we need to remind and be reminded of child rights? We are referring to the future of the country and we have no right to play with their lives,” he said.

Bhuvan Ribhu, advocate and activist added that the Child Labour Prohibition Act should include education as an elementary part of the act to ensure their safety.

Children presented a memorandum to Shanta Sinha asking her to ensure that all villages have schools and playgrounds for a better future for children from financially weaker backgrounds.

Indian cabinet clears Bangladesh border pact Stalled since September last year, a constitutional amendment to ratify the India-Bangladesh boundary agreement gets the nod from the Cabinet committee on security (CCS) and is likely to be placed before Parliament in the monsoon session.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is looking to push through one of his big-ticket foreign policy initiatives, a bid to seal the Indian and Bangladeshi positions on enclaves and areas under adverse possession. Singh and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina had signed the land boundary agreement (LBA) in Dhaka last year.

An updated version of the IndiraMujib agreement of 1974, the accord’s ratification will require a constitutional amendment of Article 368. While the Teesta water treaty — blocked by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee — raised a lot of heat, the LBA has greater strategic importance for the neighbours.

If the LBA makes it through Parliament, it will be a boost for bilateral ties and ease the pressure on the Hasina government as India’s inability to proceed with the Teesta treaty led to considerable heartburn in Bangladesh.

Government works for consensus While the government looks to concretize the land boundary agreement (LBA) reached by PM Manmohan Singh and

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina last year, the political climate in India is fragile enough for uncertainty to cloud the positive nature of the endeavour.

West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram. The constitutional amendment will have to be passed by two-thirds of members “present and voting”

For the agreement to pass muster, the BJP has to be on board as without the main opposition, the constitutional amendment may not succeed. Sources said the government has been assiduously working with the BJP to ensure support, and the effort will be intensified in coming days as the government plans to engage with the saffron outfit’s leadership.

and ratified by state legislatures.

The Parliamentary and legislative processes are subject to disruption, but Singh needs to make some strenuous efforts in the coming months. The LBA will not only change contours of India’s map, but will be the first resolved boundary with any neighbour. The agreement will formalize status quo on enclaves and areas under adverse possession, entailing neither transfer of territory nor people.Around 53,000 people residing in the enclaves, who have just been counted in the first ever census in these areas, will get the citizenship of the country they are living in.

Mamata Banerjee will have to be taken into confidence too, and sources said foreign minister S M Krishna had been assigned the task who is likely to travel to Kolkata.

India and Bangladesh share a 4,096km land boundary covering

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OIC must take immediate stance on Muslim killing in Myanmar: Iran MP

UN Urges Inquiry over Rohingya Killings

Blasting the military crackdown on Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma’s Arakan state, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has called for an independent investigation into rising claims of abuses by security forces amid reports that some 80,000 people have been displaced in the recent inter-communal clashes.

“We have been receiving a stream of reports from independent sources alleging discriminatory and arbitrary

nations to unite against the crackdown on Myanmarese Muslims, saying the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should announce its stance on this issue as soon as possible.

responses by security forces, and even their instigation of and involvement in clashes,” said Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the BBC reported on Saturday, July 28.

“Reports indicate that the initial swift response of the authorities to the communal violence may have turned into a crackdown targeting Muslims, in particular members of the Rohingya community.”

An Iranian lawmaker has urged Muslim

“The Organization of Islamic Cooperation and all international institutions should take a swift, serious and firm action to put an end to this genocide [in Myanmar],” Rouhollah Beigi said on Saturday.

Muslim world, but an issue for all free and justice-seeking peoples of the world.”

Sectarian violence plagued the western Arakan state last month after the killing of 10 Muslims in an attack by Buddhist vigilantes on their bus.

The attack came following the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman, for which Buddhists blame Muslims.

The violence has left dozens of people dead and tens of thousands homeless.

resume work, but fear for their safety,” spokesman Andrej Mahecic said.

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled their homes after ethnic tensions rocked the western state of Arakan.

Observers have said that Burmese monks were seen blocking international aid to Muslim refugees, who fled their homes in the recent bout of violence.

Muslim Pressures Getting an increased attention from

western Arakan state has long been a concern of the global Muslim community.

But attention has intensified in recent weeks after longstanding tensions erupted between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists.

Amnesty International said Friday that Rohingya Muslims are increasingly being hit with targeted attacks that have included killings, rape and physical

The meaningful silence of the United Nations and other international bodies toward crimes committed by the extremist Buddhists has led to widespread massacre of oppressed [Rohingya] Muslims in

The official death toll of the rioting and its aftermath has been put at 78, although the real figure may be much higher.

Questioning the official death toll, Pillay welcomed a government decision to allow

the Muslim world, Rohngya plight has received support from Muslim groups worldwide who increased pressure on the Burmese government to stop human rights abuses.

abuse.

Condemning the anti-Muslim abuses, Iran termed the conflict as a religiously inspired “genocide.”

Several groups have also joined the

a UN envoy access to Rakhine state next week, but said it was “no substitute for a fully-fledged independent investigation”.

Pillay’s comments followed the announcement of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) that about 80,000 people have been displaced following intercommunal violence in and around the towns of Sittwe and Maungdaw.

“Some displaced Muslims tell UNHCR staff they would also like to go home to

“This is an issue around which Burmese or ethnically Burman nationals rally around, and that is part of the problem,” Jim Della-Giacoma of the International Crisis Group told Voice of America on Friday.

“So any sort of threats from outside groups would only enforce or harden that nationalism and definitely not help the problem.”

The plight of the Muslims in Burma’s

conversation, including the Pakistani Taliban, which on Thursday threatened to attack Burma to avenge the abuses against the Rohingya population.

Despite the rejection from some prominent Rohingyas, Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, an NGO that monitors Rohingya issues, said that Burma’s military reportedly arrested 38 Muslim religious leaders in northern Rakhine state Thursday following Taliban threats.

“It appears that [the Burmese military] has responded in arresting a number of imams and mullahs from Maungdaw and Buthidaung along the border with Bangladesh,” said Lewa.

Described by the UN as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, Burma’s ethnic-Bengali Muslims, generally known as the Rohingyas, are facing a catalogue of discrimination in their homeland They have been denied citizenship rights since an amendment to the citizenship laws in 1982 and are treated as illegal immigrants in their own home.

The Burmese government as well as the Buddhist majority refuse to recognize the term “Rohingya”, referring to them as “Bengalis”.

Myanmar, he added.

The Iranian lawmaker emphasized that all Muslim nations across the world are duty-bound to defend Muslims in Myanmar, saying, “The catastrophe in Myanmar is not only an issue for the

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF PAKISTAN NEWS

Arsalan Iftikhar counsel expresses no-trust in JIT

Expressing no-trust on the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing into Malik Riaz-Arsalan Iftikhar graft case, the counsel for Arsalan Iftikhar has demanded a probe into the matter under the supervision of some retired bureaucrat or a retired judge of impeccable credentials and character.

A review petition was already pending with the Supreme Court of Pakistan where the composition as well as credibility of the members of JIT and its head was questioned.

Since the constitution of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) by National Accountability Bureau to

Zardari eyes rule in Punjab

President Asif Ali Zardari Sunday declared Sindh as fortress of the PPP and vowed to rule Punjab after upcoming general election, which he said will be ‘free and fair’ and held on time.

Addressing party workers at the residence of PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) leader Manzoor Wasaan, in Kot DG area of Khairpur district that he

them a new PPP loyalist”, he boasted.

He also boasted of surviving the intense heat and torture of jails he had suffered, quipping that “even the keys of my former jail cell were in my possession”.

Referring to the criticism on the present government, Zardari said, “There have been conspiracies against our government but we have

probe Malik Riaz-Arsalan Iftikhar graft case, Arsalan Iftikhar had not only challenged the legality of the JIT under NAB but also questioned the credibility of the team members.

The counsel of Arsalan Iftikhar had challenged the constitution of JIT under National Accountability Ordinance in the Supreme Court terming the whole exercise as illegal and beyond the purview of the NAB. Earlier, he had served legal notice on NAB Chairman to refrain him from constituting Joint Investigation Team on the direction of Attorney General of Pakistan, but his objection was overruled by Chairman NAB on the ground that JIT was constituted in the light of the Supreme Court’s order in the case. Sources close to Arsalan

Iftikhar informed reporters that all the members in the Joint Investigation Team constituted under Director General, Financial Crimes Investigation Wing (FCIW) Malik Kousar Iqbal, one way or the other, were under the influence of the complainant against him Malik Riaz Hussain, so the findings of investigation into the matter could not be trustworthy.

These sources further said that the head of the JIT Malik Kousar Iqbal is the close confidante of Attorney General of Pakistan and his allegiance with PPP is well established.

Senior lawyer Sardar Ishaq, who is counsel of Arsalan Iftikhar in the case declined to comment on the matter taking the plea as the matter is subjudice before the apex court so he could not comment on

it.

However, he confirmed that they had challenged the legality of the JIT as well as its impartiality.

Sources close to Arsalan Iftikhar, however, said that they would prove the bias of the JIT before the apex court as the Joint Investigation Team head was clearly leaning in favour of property mogul Malik Riaz Hussain.

Pointing out the affectionate treatment of JIT towards Malik Riaz these sources said that after the recording of the statement of Malik Riaz, the JIT had given him time till July 26th to furnish more evidence and proofs of his allegations against Arsalan Iftikhar but Malik Riaz did not furnish the documents by that date and now to facilitate him Joint Investigation Team has given him another chance to present the same on July 30th.

Similarly, the language of the notices served on him and his son-in-law showed as if they were not accused and just acquainted with the case and just providing evidence whereas the apex court had clearly dubbed Arsalan Iftikhar, Malik Riaz and his sonin-law Salman Ahmed as accused in the case.

US won’t blacklist Haqqanis for safe exit visited after four years, Zardari said their political struggle will continue but this will not hinder the election schedule.

President Zardari claimed that the PPP would succeed in the next general elections with an overwhelming majority in all the four provinces of the country. “Free and fair election in Pakistan is my promise to you and I know PPP will do well this time as well.” The PPP believed in democratic system and never used backdoors to come into power, he added.

“Next time the chief minister of Punjab would be a PPP jiyala,” Zardari vowed while commenting on the political tussle between the PPP and the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz). He said he would personally lead their government in Punjab after the election success.

“Had I wanted I could have refused the Punjab government to Mian Nawaz Sharif even this time,” he scoffed.

Affirming that national politics was within his foresight, he announced that “this political war will continue”.

Zardari also jeered at those who, he said, had worked for the ouster of former PM Gilani. But “I have given

faced them with dedication and the support of the masses.” He said the government was being targeted through ‘TV politics’ and some elements criticise the government without any justification in their talk shows. Their opponents have panicked after seeing PPP’s popularity, he added.

“We are satisfied with our performance and getting the support from the masses.” Despite international economic crisis and effects of economic meltdown, the economy made progress during the tenure of the PPP government, he claimed.

“The country is now self-sufficient in food and exporting wheat. Pakistan was importing wheat when the PPP came into power four and half years ago.”

Zardari said he knows that the people are facing problems like shortage of water, electricity and jobs but assured that the government has taken a number of steps which would resolve these problems in near future. While thanking the people of Khairpur “for always standing by the PPP”, he said that “supporting his party means supporting Pakistan”.

Despite repeated accusation of terrorism the US will not declare the Haqqani Network a terrorist entity, not in the interest of regional peace and stability but for safe exit of US troops from Afghanistan.

Background discussions with diplomats and security analysts suggest that US is currently in contact with the Haqqani Network to secure guarantees that they would stop targeting the US troops in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan would not react even if the US declares the Haqqani Network a terrorist organisation but would want that all the Afghan resistance groups including the Haqqanis are pushed into the peace process,” a senior Pakistan diplomat told The Nation.

He was of the view that Haqqanis, being Afghan citizens, operate from within Afghanistan and they have no presence in Pakistan. Pakistan supports Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process and is committed to facilitate it to make it fruitful process, he added.

Some foreign policy experts and security analysts believe that Pakistan do not have much leverage when it comes to Haqqanis as they operate independently.

But they said that “like other resistance groups, including Afghan Taliban, Haqqanis are equally key stakeholders in Afghanistan”.

They believe that it is a complex situation where besides al-Qaeda, Afghan Taliban and other resistance groups like Haqqanis were operating in Afghanistan.

They questioned the intention and combat capacity of Afghan and US-led forces in sorting out non-state entities like these and their continued accusations against Pakistan, which itself is victim of terrorism.

“The US-led foreign troops together with Afghan security forces should have overcome this challenge by now. But their policies’ ineptness, partly because of their political compulsions, has rendered them ineffective,” a security analyst who wished not to be named maintained.

Pakistan they believe has been doing it best to contain the defunct TTP and its remnants who always find refuge in Pak-Afghan border whenever Pakistani security forces launch operations. In return, the TTP and its Afghan associates have been mounting fatal attacks on Pakistani security forces from across the border.

“Therefore, there is a greater need for a meaningful reconciliation process in Afghanistan to resolve this problem collectively,” sources said, adding that measures like counter terrorism or military solutions would not help in establishing lasting peace and stability.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF MALDIVE NEWS

Gayoom expresses “frustration” over Maldives marine reserve “foreign influence” in inquiry commission

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has said that he will not accept that the toppling of former President Nasheed’s government on February 7 was a coup d’état, even if the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI)’s report came to such a conclusion.

After giving a statement to the CNI, Gayoom in a press conference held at the office of his Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), stated that he had seen the recording of the video in which ousted President Nasheed publicly resigned, and said that it was not made “under duress” and that therefore it was very clear that it “was not a coup” Gayoom said that there was no point in Nasheed claiming that it is “a coup” after he had resigned in accordance with the constitution.

In the press conference, Gayoom stated that during the session with the CNI, he also highlighted two things that “frustrated” him about the commission.

One reason for the frustrations was, he explained, the inclusion o a representative of ousted President Nasheed in the commission, following

“foreign” influence.

“The reason that frustrates me is that if this commission has a representative of Nasheed there should be a representative of mine too. That is because on many previous occasions Nasheed has repeatedly made false accusations towards me, both in the Maldives and outside, that the change [of power] was a revolution that I brought in,” Gayoom said.

“Where is justice when there is someone in this commission who supports Nasheed’s claims?” the expresident questioned.

Gayoom claimed that it would only be fair that he have his “own representative if Nasheed gets to have one”.

His second cause of frustration, Gayoom said, was that the CNI was mandated to look into the events that took place from January 14 to February 8.

He stated that the “change” that took place on February 7 was the result of Nasheed’s “unlawful” and “unIslamic” actions carried out, that had “angered a lot of citizens”, and contended that this would be clear if the CNI looked into what Nasheed had done after assuming presidency in 2008.

Gayoom during the press conference also shared some of the questions that the CNI posed to him during the session, and the responses he offered.

When the CNI had asked him what he thought would bring an end to the ongoing political instability in the country, Gayoom said told the commission the solution was for Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to stop their “extremist” actions and pave the way for negotiations.

The whole of the Maldives will become the first country in the world to become a marine reserve in a move scheduled to happen by 2017.

Marine reserve status for all

President Waheed, who made the commitment while addressing the recent Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development said, “This commitment reflects our

1,192 islands is likely to attract international investment in pilot schemes to explore new approaches to conservation and sustainability.

A number of islands in the Maldives are Biosphere Reserves.

In July 2011 Baa Atoll, which consists of 75 islands, was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and the Government is working to ensure it maintains this status. It is a model that can be replicated throughout the rest of the Maldives.

respect for our unique natural environment. We have taken these measures to protect our coral reefs, lagoons, coral islands and coral sand beaches. The Maldives will take any action necessary to ensure our future.”

Canada condemns Maldives Maldives court dismisses case against ex-president govt’s “politically motivated Maldives court refuses to try former president on charges of illegally detaining top judge threats to arrest its opponents”

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird has issued a statement expressing “deep concern” over ongoing political tensions in the Maldives, in particular the government’s “politically motivated threats to arrest its opponents.”

As Canada’s foreign minister, Baird is a member of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), the international body’s democracy and human rights arm that suspended the Maldives following the controversial transfer of power on February 7, and was behind the strengthening of President Mohamed Waheed’s Commission of National Inquiry (CNI).

“It is clear that the arrests of senior officials of the Nasheed government

are politically motivated. Such actions are completely unacceptable and must be reversed,” Baird stated.

Canada’s statement on the state of the Maldives is among the most strongly-worded issued by another nation following the political turmoil of February 7, with the exception of Timor Leste (East Timor).

“It should be of concern to the World that extremist elements abusively invoking Islam were instrumental in stirring up violent demonstrations, religious intolerance and social upheaval as the coup d’état set in motion,” Ramos-Horta said at the time.

President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza said the Canadian Foreign Minister’s statement was “based on misinformation” as “no arrests have been made and all political opponents are free to conduct their protests every day.”

Riza suggested that the statement was based on information “received only from one side”.

A court in the Maldives on Monday refused to try former President Mohamed Nasheed, saying it has no authority to do so, after prosecutors charged him with illegally detaining a senior judge earlier this year.

Deputy Prosecutor Hussain Shameem said his office received a letter from the court explaining that it has no jurisdiction because of its location. Prosecutors had filed the case outside to capital in what they said was an attempt to avoid conflict of interest. Shameem said prosecutors are now considering alternatives.

Nasheed was charged earlier this month with ordering the judge’s secret detention in January.

Nasheed had accused the judge of political favouritism and corruption.

The arrest sparked weeks of public protests. Nasheed lost the support of the military and police and resigned in February. He has since insisted that he was ousted in a coup and his supporters are holding daily protests calling for an early election.

Separately, police said Monday that

they have summoned Nasheed for questioning over a taped telephone conversation with a party official in which he allegedly instructed her to gather a group of people to attack the police.

Police spokesman Hassaan Haneef said Nasheed has been asked to appear on Thursday.

Nasheed’s spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor called the summons an attempt to intimidate Nasheed because of the protests and accused police of trying to link a recent killing of a policeman to his

Maldivian Democratic Party.

“The government is blaming MDP and especially Nasheed for all social disturbances,” Ghafoor said.

He said Nasheed would honour the summons.

Maldives held its first multiparty election in 2008 in which Nasheed became president.

Read more: http://www. montrealgazette.com/news/ world/Maldives+court+refuses+ former+president+charges+ille gally+detaining/7010623/story. html#ixzz2279CEVQy

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF NEPAL NEWS

Nepal records increase in tiger population

In encouraging news on the wildlife front, Nepal has witnessed a jump in tiger population over the last two years during which the numbers of the wild cat went up from 155 to 176.

The latest tiger count made public by WWF Nepal shows an increase of 21 tigers since 2010, an increase of 15 percent.

The rapidly dwindling population of the tigers has turned out to be a major worry for wildlife conservationists around the world, including in Nepal. In 2000, Nepal was home to over 350 tigers, but the numbers plunged to 121 in 2008.

The latest report brings some good news to conservationists and authorities who have been trying to fight the menace of poaching.

As per the newly published report of the tiger census released on the occasion of World Tiger Day, the greatest increase in numbers has been recorded by the Bardiya National Park situated in western Nepal in the last four years.

Since 2008, the number of tigers more than

doubled to 37 — 15 male and 22 female — in Bardiya National Park, where only 18 tigers were found in 2008.

“We are very much encouraged by the increase in tiger population. If all the tiger habitats of Nepal can be protected like the one in Bardiya we will be able to double the tiger population by 2020 as per the global target,” WWF’s Country Representative Anil Manandhar said.

Besides, the Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve situated in the far west of Nepal is home to 10 tigers — 6 female and 4 male, according to the latest census.

Another 129 tigers are found in the Chitawan

National Park, making a total count of 176 tigers.

The census was carried out by Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation with the support of WWF Nepal through the latest technology of camera trapping.

As part of efforts to boost awareness measures, WWF has roped in top Nepali actor Rajesh Hamal as the WWF Nepal’s Goodwill Ambassador for conservation.

“We need to focus on conserving the tiger habitat and ensuring abundant availability of their prey species,” Manandhar said.

The anti-poaching activities need to be strengthened so as to control wildlife trade, he pointed out. Nepal is home to Royal Bengal Tiger or panthera tigris-tigris in scientific term, which is popularly known as Pate Bagh in the local language.

The Bengal Tiger’s total population has declined to 3,200 in the wild and their population is mainly confined to few pockets in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan, according to WWF Nepal.

China sees Nepal’s bright future despite impasse

China’s Ambassador to Nepal Yang Houlan has expressed great optimism and confidence about Nepal’s future as well as Sino-Nepal relations.

“I am highly optimistic about the future of Nepal which is a land of great potential,” the Chinese ambassador who began to assume his duties in Nepali capital Kathmandu last June said at the celebration of his successful completion of one-year tenure on Sunday. According to the Chinese envoy, industrious people, beautiful scenery, rich cultural and natural resources and unique geographical advantages all point to opportunities for Nepal, although this Himalayan nation is suffering from prolonged political uncertainty after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly (CA) on May 27 this year.

Stating that being located between two emerging economies of China and India can be a driving force for Nepal’s development, Ambassador Yang urged Nepal to make use of such a sound opportunity.

One Indian among 15 NEPAL: Road traffic accidents on the rise killed in Nepal accident At least 15 people, including an Indian, were killed when a jeep they were travelling in veered off some 100 metres down the road in western Nepal’s Palpa district early Saturday.

Earlier reports had said that all those killed were Indians. However, the police later confirmed that the victims included 14 Nepalese and an Indian.

The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu also confirmed that only one Indian was among those killed.

Nine women, two men and four children were killed when the jeep

them to Ridi in Gulmi district of western Nepal when the accident took place, police said.

A team of police led by Deputy Superintendent Mira Chaudhary has been dispatched to the accident site. on 15 July At least 34 Indians were among the 39 pilgrims who were killed on Sunday when tragedy struck their overcrowded bus that skidded off a slippery road and plunged into a swollen canal in southern Nepal.

At least 55 people were killed in two accidents last week in Nepal, a mountainous nation where roads

fell down the road on a slope at Jorte of Deurali Bhire area of Palpa district, police said.

Two injured passengers have been shifted to Lumbini Medical College for treatment, police said.

The passenger had hired the jeep for a pilgrimage to the local Rishikesh temple in western Nepal, they said. The jeep was taking

and vehicles are often poorly maintained. Monsoon season is a particularly dangerous time for road travel in the country.

Authorities say 15 people were killed when a passenger van drove off a remote road and plunged into a river in western Nepal. It was at least the third road disaster in the country in a week.

Some 130 major accidents and thousands of minor ones are reported every day in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, says the country’s Traffic Directorate. At this rate, the roads are as deadly as the decade-long civil war that ended in 2006 after killing almost 18,000 people.

Rajju Shakya, 19, was driving her scooter to university in the capital last year. “There was a turning point at the junction. I switched on my sidelight and waited. Something hit from behind and I can’t remember anything else,” she said. Shakya lost both her legs below the knee as a result.

“The road traffic accident rate is frightening… The number of vehicles is increasing… The roads are narrow, and we don’t have enough space to expand these roads,” said Ashim Bajracharya, a senior lecturer in the architecture and urban planning department at Tribhuvan University’s Institute of Engineering, located in the capital.

The Word Health Organization’s (WHO) most recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study reported road traffic accidents as one of the fastest growing “epidemics” in the Southeast Asian region.

Most of the world’s road fatalities occur in low and middle-income countries, which have less registered vehicles, according to WHO. The growing number of vehicles in Kathmandu has far outstripped road capacity, resulting in congestion that

was fatal at times, Bajracharya said.

“The accident rate is particularly high among teenagers, so we have decided to submit a proposal to change the legal age to drive two-wheeled vehicles from 16 to 18,” Ganesh Raj Rai, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Traffic Directorate, told IRIN. The directorate is working with the Higher Secondary Schools’ Association Nepal to reach teenage drivers.

A UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) report in 2011 estimated that road traffic accidents in Nepal had increased fourfold in the last decade, leading to 1,734 fatalities nationwide in 2009-10.

Almost half of the people who die in road accidents are pedestrians, cyclists, or people on motor scooters and motorbikes, and many studies indicate that this proportion can be higher in poorer countries.

Nepal has built about 7,000

kilometres of roads nationwide in the past decade, according to the World Bank, but this still leaves more than half the population without access to all-weather roads.

Although the Traffic Directorate is implementing an accelerated roadbuilding campaign, there is little awareness or information about traffic rules and road safety, which is part of problem.

“A new six-lane [13km] highway has been built in between Kathmandu and Bhaktapur [where] a large number of accidents were reported in less than a year. The government does not make the public aware about its new plans and this is where the problem resides,” said Kichah Chitrakar, chief executive of a local private engineering company, Development E-fort Nepal.

The Traffic Directorate is planning to introduce road safety education in schools, and said it is making awareness campaigns a priority.

Saarc international I Thursday 02 August 2012

SAARC

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF SRILANKA NEWS

Tamil returned after Sri Lanka complaint

THE first Tamil man to be deported from Australia since the end of the Sri Lankan war was returned a week after Sri Lanka’s navy chief complained to Australia’s high commissioner of double standards in the treatment of Sinhalese and Tamil asylum-seekers.

The Australian has learned that a reported clash between High Commissioner Robyn Mudie and ViceAdmiral Somathilake Dissanayake at a July 18 meeting in Colombo was sparked by accusations the federal government’s favourable treatment of Tamils over Sinhalese was encouraging the continued movement of boats.

Tamil asylum-seeker Dayan Anthony had been in the care of his Melbournebased sister and brother-in-law since December 2010 and his family have claimed that notice of his deportation, and his removal back into detention last week, came without warning.

Senior Sri Lankan navy officials said yesterday they believed the conversation between the navy chief and the commissioner might have contributed to Mr Anthony’s deportation.

Ms Mudie told The Australian yesterday

she was unable to comment on official meetings.

But a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship told The Australian yesterday that Mr Anthony’s removal had been “under way for

sides to fully co-operate to stamp out people-smuggling.

“I am sure your high commissioner here in Colombo must have taken it seriously because it is the commander making the accusation,” Commodore Attygalle said

“It is a token measure your government has done but I think it’s not really going to suffice.”

Mr Anthony flew back into Colombo early Thursday morning in the custody of Australian immigration officials and

weeks”.

“These are very, very long processes.

They do not happen in a matter of days. We need to get travel documents and flight clearances. We need to make sure the escorts are available. This is a removal that had been planned for many weeks.”

Sri Lankan navy operations director N. Attygalle confirmed to The Australian the navy chief had raised the issue with Ms Mudie at their meeting two weeks ago, where the two are also reported to have traded barbs over failures by both

yesterday.

“Maybe that was one of a number of contributing factors (that led to his deportation).”

But Commodore Attygalle added that the federal government still needed to show more mettle on returning failed Tamil asylum-seekers, and that deporting just one man was little more than a token measure that would not stop the boats.

“Ninety-nine per cent of (Sri Lankan) asylum-seekers to Australia are Tamils so they needed to signal that they will not be accepted.

was handed over to the Sri Lankan authorities. He was held for questioning for 16 hours before fronting a government press conference to recant all previous claims of torture against authorities there.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority have complained of their systematic persecution by Sinhalese-dominated governments since the island nation gained independence from Britain in 1948.

While the Sri Lankan government is now de-mining and funnelling development

Sri Lanka stops third asylum seeker boat in two days Sri Lanka Navy urges Australia to deport asylum seekers back

SRI Lanka’s navy has arrested 61 would-be asylum seekers heading to Australia and seized their fishing trawler, in the third incident of its kind in just two days.

The navy intercepted the latest vessel carrying illegal immigrants off the island’s eastern coast overnight and were escorting the boat to the naval port of Trincomalee, 260 kilometres

northeast of the capital Colombo.

“This boat had 61 men heading for Australia,” a navy official said.

The latest detection came a day after 131 people were arrested in two separate incidents of trying to leave the island illegally, police said.

The number of Sri Lankans detained on charges of illegally trying to leave the country has reached more than 315 over the past week.

Australia is facing a steady influx of asylum seekers arriving by boat, many of whom use Indonesia as a transit hub, boarding leaky wooden vessels there after fleeing their homes countries.

Some 94 people are believed to have drowned after two boats sank in recent weeks.

While most boats originate in

Indonesia, there has been a recent spike in attempted crossings from Sri Lanka.

Australia wants to deter boat people by transferring them to Malaysia for processing, in exchange for accepting thousands of Malaysia’s registered refugees for resettlement.

But the Gillard government has so far been unable to pass the necessary legislation through parliament.

money to the war-ravaged and former Tamil Tiger-held north, the UN said last November it was still “seriously concerned about the continued and consistent allegations of the widespread use of torture” in police custody.

This week, Tamil diaspora communities across the world mark the 29th anniversary of the 1983 riots -- know as Black July -- where hundreds of Sri Lankan Tamils were killed in violence triggered by reports of Tamil Tiger attacks against the military in the north.

Until early 2010, more than six months after the Sri Lankan military vanquished the Tamil Tiger resistance in a bloody final crackdown in the country’s north, Australia prioritised acceptance of Tamil refugees. But in April of that year then prime minister Kevin Rudd suspended for three months all Sri Lankan asylum applications while Australia considered the “changed circumstances” in that country.

A number of Sri Lankans have been deported since war ended in May 2009, and at least one remains behind bars in Sri Lanka on people-smuggling charges, but Mr Anthony is understood to be the first Tamil.

President directs to evacuate encroachers

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday instructed the authorities to take measures to evacuate unauthorised settlers in forest reserves, dried up areas of tanks and catchment areas irrespective of their positions.

He made this observation at the special Kurunegala District Development Committee meeting at the Wayamba Cooperative Rural Bank auditorium, Kurunegala yesterday.

President Rajapaksa told officials to evacuate settlers in the Elephant Corridor and find a lasting solution to the human-elephant conflict.

The President said nobody has the right to take over state land forcibly.

He said he has received many complaints that encroachers have settled in forest reserves and dried up areas of tanks and catchment areas.

The President said these encroachers have to be evacuated for the benefit of the entire country. President Rajapaksa said Kurunegala and Puttalam districts were suffering due to a water shortage and the government was taking measures to address the issue.

A farmer participating at the meeting

said they cultivated in dried up and catchment areas as there was no adequate water for cultivation. The President in response said the tanks provide water to lands cultivated extending to 400 to 500 acres and these water resources should not be interrupted.

He instructed the authorities to renovate the tanks across the country and take measures to resettle the unauthorised settlers.

The President said more than 500 acres of forest reserves in the Kurunegala district have been encroached on making the human – elephant conflict severe. The people in Elephant Corridors too should be evacuated and settled outside the electric fences to minimise the

conflict, President Rajapaksa said.

He instructed the authorities to set up tanks in forest reserves and also create a conducive environment for elephants to roam. The President also instructed the authorities to complete the buildings, roads and bridges abandoned halfway, before commencing other projects. He said foundation stones should not be laid if projects cannot be completed.

President Rajapaksa also instructed officials to design plans of projects on the money allocated and not to abandon half way after designing massive projects. Officers said among many achievements, the Deduru Oya Project which will address the water issue in the area, is more than 75 percent complete.

NEWS

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Saarc international I Thursday 02 August 2012

Foreign investment in Pakistan declines sharply for 4th straight year

The business community on Sunday expressed grave concern over sharp decline in foreign investment that posted a massive decline for the fourth consecutive year mainly due to executive-judiciary tussle, energy crisis, adverse law and order situation, lack of infrastructure and instability in the economic policies.

FDI narrowed down by 50 percent during the last fiscal year 2011-12 (FY12) as compared to fiscal year 2010-11 (FY11).

Trade bodies’ representatives, manufacturers and financial experts have stated that rising tussle between executives and judiciary is hitting hard the entire economy and posing risk for new investment, which needed to be tackled through separation of constitutional and general courts and by adopting comprehensive policy approach, involving trade and industry in the country.

“Tension between judiciary and government has hindered the foreign investment. The situation of lower courts is also very bad, as the higher courts are indulged in

hundreds of political cases, having no time to revamp the overall judicial system at lower level,” said APAT general secretary Naim Mir. Presently, more than 60 per cent cases at higher courts are regarding executive, how the judiciary will get time to take issues of common man, he questioned.

He said the extortion mafia has been given free hand while both the government as well as the judiciary are quite spectators as no one is taking action against the rising incidents of extortion from traders.

The investors scared of the fact that govt never follows the directives of the courts, which may put their investment at risk in Pakistan, as they cannot approach the court in any dispute.

He said that traders’ community has started to dislike democracy owing to corruption and ineligibility of politicians. “At the same time the government should ensure that all institutions remain immune to any sort of undue interference as this will help improve quality of governance without which foreign

SAARC Chamber pushes for visa ease to boost trade

An industry body of South Asian businessmen has written to Home Minister P Chidambaram seeking relaxation of visa norms between India and Pakistan to encourage trade and investments between the countries.

In a letter to Chidambaram, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Vikramjit Sahney said the present SAARC visa exemption scheme (SVES) is “extremely restrictive” on the movement of Indian and Pakistani businessmen.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) members are - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.

“Visa liberalisation between India and Pakistan are important to boost trade and investment between the countries. Already both the sides

have taken so many steps to boost economic ties,” Sahney said.

He suggested there should be no police reporting for people over the age of 70 years for visas.

He said the recent developments between the governments of India and Pakistan have given clear indication of the desire to enhance business relations and larger peopleto-people contacts, especially the business community.

“Unfortunately, the present SVES is extremely restrictive on the movement of the Indian and Pakistani businessmen...,” Sahney added.

In May, India and Pakistan had failed to ink the much-anticipated liberalised visa regime and merely agreed to do it an an early date after Islamabad insisted on political participation.

He also asked Chidambaram to consider the chamber’s proposal to increase visa from 100 to 500 for businessmen from each SAARC member country for one year.

“The current SVES is restrictive and needs to be rationalised and liberalised. The new policy does not truly reflect the aspirations of the Heads of States of the governments of SAARC nations,” he said.

Sahney said out of about 12,000 SVES issued in a year under various categories, only 2,000 have been allocated for businessmen.

investment cannot be attracted”, he maintained. He urged the government to broaden the tax net by bringing the agriculture and services sectors into the tax net to enhance tax-to-GDP ratio. Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) like PIA, Railways and Pakistan Steel Mills, generating a loss of Rs400 billion annually should be managed professionally or be privatized to avoid the huge loss to the national exchequer.

LCCI former vice president Aftab

Ahmed Vohra said that a number of sectors in Pakistan including infrastructure development, coal, energy, agriculture, livestock, textiles and pharmaceutical offered lucrative investment opportunities to foreign investors but unfortunately due to absence of a proper marketing strategy those opportunities were unattended even that day.

The taxes of traders and manufacturers should not be wasted on bailout packages of Public Sector

Enterprises (PSEs), he added.

All Pakistan Hardware Merchants Association central chairman Usman Ghani said that severest-ever energy shortfall, bad law and order situation, institutional fragility and the political instability were the major factors keeping the foreign investors away. He feared that the fall in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was likely to affect adversely the country’s economic growth therefore the government should adopt remedial measures to reverse this trend and to attract foreign investment.

At the same time the slow government response to deal with aggravating energy crisis was also spoiling not only the local investment scenario but also sending a very negative signal to potential foreign investors. He said that a special committee comprising members of the Parliament, trade bodies and manufacturers’ associations’ representatives should be formed to identify the solutions to attract foreign investment that is a prerequisite to economic growth.

B’desh visa on arrival, duty free access to 100 items for Nepal Bangladesh says it is providing ‘visa on arrival’ facility to Nepalis, apart from duty free access to around 100 primary commodities that are mainly agriculture products like fruits and vegetables.

During the fourth secretarial level talks between Nepal and Bangladesh in Kathmandu, Dhaka informed Nepal that it has already circulated its immigration the new policy to provide visa on arrival to Nepali nationals.

In South Asia, Nepalis do not need a visa to visit India. However, other South Asian countries might also follow suit, as the free movement of people in the region is key for South Asia’s integration to promote intra-regional trade and tourism.

Bangladesh will be the second country to provide visa on arrival to Nepalis besides Singapore.

“Dhaka has also provided Nepal duty free access to around 100 primary commodities too,” according to joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Naindra Prasad Upadhaya.

Nepal has sought duty free access to agriculture products — like tomatoes and lentils without any duty as lentil has been Nepal’s biggest exports to Bangladesh — but exporters have been facing difficulties despite huge demand because of high duty.

Both sides also discussed on trade

facilitation, customs and immediate implementation of quarantine facility on the border to expedite bilateral trade, he said, adding that the talks are heading towards a positive direction.

“We discussed on early implementation of quarantine, cold storage and store house on border points, apart from full-fledged operation of Kakarbhitta-Panitanki-PhulbariBanglabandh corridor to allow Nepali trucks up to the Banglabandh port,” said Upadhaya, who is leading the technical committee that will finalise the transit issue.

Nepal has also been facing hurdles in promoting trade and tourism with Bangladesh — the third largest export destination of Nepal after India and the United States — due to lack of proper connectivity between the two South Asian nations.

“The visiting delegation has also agreed to provide additional rail corridor to Nepal through Rohanpur-

Singhabad broadgauge line to boost bilateral trade and transit but Nepal needs to enter into an agreement with India to take its benefit,” he added.

Despite the tremendous potential for expansion and diversification, the volume of bilateral trade has not seen much improvement lately.

Nepal exported goods worth Rs 3.47 billion in the last fiscal year, whereas imports from Bangladesh were worth Rs 1.10 billion.

Nepal mainly exports lentils, oil cakes, cardamom, wheat, vegetable seeds, and noodles to Bangladesh, and imports industrial raw materials, chemicals, fabrics and textile materials, jute products, and electric and electronic items.

A 15-member Nepali delegation led by the commerce secretary Lalmani Joshi and the eight-member Bangladesh delegation led by the commerce secretary Md Ghulam Hussain will hold talks tomorrow as well to further boost bilateral ties.

Saarc international I Thursday 02 August 2012

ENTERTAINMENT

Holi celebrations in Berlin

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People throw colored powder into the air during the Holi Festival in Berlin, Germany.

People throw coloured powder in the air during Holi festival celebrations in Berlin, July 29, 2012. Holi, also known as the festival of colours, is a festival celebrated in India and other Hindu countries that in its original form heralds the beginning of spring.

The Berlin event brought Indian Djs,

multi-colored powder at the Berlin Holi festival.

Holi is original an Indian religious festival. The event, which is primarily celebrated in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and several other countries, is also known as Phagwah and Festival of Colors. The festival is

DJs, acrobatics and dancing.

Thousands of partygoers were able to buy the powedered pain for two euros. They then proceeded to cover each other from head to toe in the paint. To ensure things didn’t get too out of hand, only 3,000 people were allowed to participate.

The ritual of throwing the colored powder has become popular all over

Amitabh Bachchan carries Olympic torch in London The star carried the Olympic flame during the relay leg between The City of London and the borough of Southwark. the world. Some festivals have spread to the US, the UK, Mauritus, and more. This was the first time that the festival came to Berlin, Germany.

acrobatics and dance to the German capital. Berlin got a bit colorful over the weekend. On Sunday, those in the German capital celebrated Holi, the festival of colors.

On Sunday, about 3,000 people joined in the fun by throwing around

typically celebrated in the beginning of spring as a way to say goodbye to winter, but those in Berlin decided to bring the colorful event to the country on July 29. In addition to colorful powder being tossed around, the festival featured Indian

Kareena irks director friends The promos of Heroine are out and Kareena Kapoor is riding high on all the praise she is getting. And one man she cannot stop thanking is her director Madhur Bhandarkar.

Recently, the actress said, “I have worked with some of the best directors in the industry but my journey wouldn’t have been complete without Madhur Bhandarkar.” She also added that Heroine is the most important film of her career. But her special

treatment and choicest praise for Madhur doesn’t seem to have gone down well with her other director buddies like Karan Johar and Imtiaz Ali. Considering these directors have also given the actress successful films at different points in the career, their reaction is not surprising.

“You see, every film an actor does is important. Right now, Kareena is tremendously excited about her role in Heroine, so it’s obvious that she

will thank Madhur for giving her a film that will give her career a new direction,” says our source from the unit. “All actors wait for that one film that gives them the chance to bring out their best on screen. Kareena’s excitement is being misconstrued. She hasn’t changed camps. But her director friends have been feeling left out,” the source continues. When it comes to watching her words, looks like this heroine still has room for learning.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

Pakistan, US sign Nato convoy deal

Pakistan on Tuesday signed a deal with the United States governing arrangements for Nato convoys travelling to Afghanistan, seeking to draw a line under a seven-month border blockade.

Islamabad agreed to reopen land routes for Nato goods on July 3 after ordering the longest border closure of the 10-year war in neighbouring Afghanistan in protest at botched US air raids that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

The agreement is part of efforts by the “war on terror” allies to patch up their fractious relationship, which plunged into crisis last year over the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan and the air strikes.

It comes just one day before the head of Pakistani intelligence, Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-

Islam, begins a three-day visit to Washington for talks with the head of the CIA, which has been interpreted as another sign of a gradual rapprochement.

Under the agreement inked in Rawalpindi, the home of Pakistan’s

powerful military, the United States will release $1.1 billion under the Coalition Support Fund to reimburse the troubled nation for fighting militants within its borders.

Officials at the ceremony gave

no details of the Memorandum of Understanding or MoU, nor did they release a copy at a news conference.

Guidelines laid out by the Pakistani parliament earlier this year insisted that in future no weapons and ammunition be transported through the country, though Western officials say this never happened in the first place.

A Pakistani security official said the agreement gave Islamabad the right to refuse or reject any shipment and special radio chips would be fitted to containers for monitoring.

Richard Hoagland, the deputy US ambassador to Islamabad who signed the agreement on behalf of Washington, hailed it as a “demonstration of increased transparency and openness”

between the two governments.

The Pakistan government relented in its blockade after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sorry for the air raid deaths, but few supply trucks have made it across the border in the weeks since then.

Officials closed the Torkham border crossing, the quickest route to Kabul from the port city of Karachi, to Nato traffic on Thursday over security fears.

The Pakistani Taliban have vowed to attack Nato supplies and last Tuesday, one of the truck drivers was shot dead in the northwestern town of Jamrud.

Pakistani Defence Secretary Asif Yasin Malik, who attended the ceremony, said the deal would contribute to the stability of the region and hailed it as a “landmark event”.

President visits Hathagala India successfully tests Raja Maha Viharaya supersonic cruise missile

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday inspected the Hungama, Hathagala Raja Maha Viharaya which was vandalised by treasure hunters recently.

The Vihara Mandiraya of the historic Hathagala Viharaya was vandalised by treasure hunters

causing extensive damage to the ancient Buddha statue.

The President also met the temple’s Chief Incumbent Ven Pallegama Sri Jinarathana Thera.

On his way back, President Rajapaksa visited a dansela in Ambalantota organised by the public to provide meals for devotees attending the Esela Perehera of the Ruhunu Katharagama Maha Devalaya. The President spent time talking to the people who visited the dansela.

India test-fired BrahMos cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore, on Sunday.

While the scientists associated with the programme described the test as successful, sources said the test failed to meet all mission parameters.

The missile, jointly developed by India and Russia, was launched from the launching complex-III of the ITR at about 10.35 am in full operational configuration. “After take off, the missile went vertically and fell down into the sea before reaching its pre-coordinated target. The test was not a cent percent success,” a source told TOI. The ITR authorities, however, claimed that the launch was perfect and the missile met all mission objectives. “The test was conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and it was an experimental trial. It was successful in an experimental point of view,” said ITR director MVKV Prasad.

Sources said the test was part of the development trials of the missile, which has already been inducted into the Army and the Navy. The objective of the mission was to evaluate some of the newer sub-systems produced by the Indian industry. The two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and Navy and the Air-Force version is in the final stage of trial, he said.

Power: Half of India in dark 60 crore people affected

Continued from page 9 >> mines after the power failure, said Bharat Coking Coal chief Tapas Kumar Lahiry.

In Delhi, Metro commuters were trapped inside the tunnels for sometime as trains came to a halt as electricity supplies got snapped.

‘Restoration by 7 PM’ The Centre blamed overdrawal by states in the Eastern region for Tuesday’s grid collapse. Power Grid Corp promised normalcy would be restored by 7 PM. We are trying to restore (power to normalcy) all over the country by midnight,” Power Grid Corp chief R N Nayak said.

At present, the Northern Grid is getting power from Gwalior and Agra substations as well as from three hydel projects - Tehri and Vishnu Prayag in Uttarakhand and Nathpa Jhakri plant in Himachal Pradesh, he said.

According to Nayak, about 9,000 to 10,000 MW have been restored so far across all the three regions, where is demand is around 55,000 MW. When asked about the possible reasons

for the grids’ failures, Nayak said, “Some sections might have caused tripping but it is difficult to give you anything at this time.

We are trying to fix the problem”.

Except for few areas in Kolkata and Delhi, and Narora (Uttar Pradesh), the entire regions were affected, he said.

At the time of failure, Northern Grid’s demand was about 32,400 MW, Eastern Grid (12,000 MW) and North Eastern Grid (1,100 MW), respectively.

The states affected included Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan and Assam and Union Territory of Chandigarh, covering more than half of the population.

Trains worst affected In Kolkata, Metro Rail services were unaffected, according to state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The state government declared holiday in its offices after 3 PM. The Railways network across major parts of the country was among the worst hit services, as trains, other than those running

on diesel engine, stopped midway.

Assam witnessed large-scale power cuts throughout the state. In Orissa also, train services were hit.

Metro services hit again Delhi’s lifeline, Metro rail, came to a standstill yet again on Tuesday afternoon after services were suspended for two hours due to collapse of the Northern Power Grid, inconveniencing commuters.

As the power grid collapsed at around 1 PM, Delhi Metro trains stopped on tracks, some inside tunnels, due to non- supply of power and passengers stuck in the trains were evacuated immediately. Nine trains stopped inside tunnels after power failure but they were brought to the near-by stations and all passengers were evacuated.

The services, which were suspended a little after 1 PM was restored at around 3 PM with minimum frequency after partial restoration of supply from the Northern Grid.

As the grid failed, Delhi Metro officials closed down all stations and evacuated passengers from the premises with help

from CISF personnel, who guard the installations. Public announcements were made at stations about the power failure and suspension of services.

People who were stuck inside the trains narrated their tale of woe after they were brought to stations and evacuated. “Partial services restored on all lines with a frequency of ten minutes to begin with from 1450 hours,” a Delhi Metro spokesman said.

One of world’s biggest blackout The Northern Grid, which collapsed on Monday and was restored after 15 hours, again tripped on Tuesday. The Eastern and North-Eastern transmission lines too failed by afternoon, worsening the power situation in the country when it is facing drought-like situation in most parts.

“Some sections are creating problems by overdrawing power,” Power Grid CMD R.N. Nayak said.

This is probably the first time that three grids have collapsed simultaneously. The crisis left 620 million people without power in one of the world’s biggest-ever blackouts.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

NEWS

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Mystery woman identified as post-graduate from Bangalore

A day after India’s angry protest over an unidentified lady gatecrashing into the contingent’s march past at the Opening Ceremony, London Games Organising Committee Chief Sebastian Coe today said that the “mystery woman” was just a cast member of the gala show and there was no security risk to the team.

An angry Indian acting Chef-de-Mission P K Muralidharan Raja had shot off a letter on this embarrassing issue to the London Games organisers last night in protest against the incident even as media reports claimed to have identified the “mystery woman”.

Coe sought to cool down the frayed tempers among the Indians, saying that he would meet with the Indian delegation to discuss the matter. “She was a cast member who clearly got slightly overexcited. She shouldn’t have been there,” Coe said.

Coe insisted that the unidentified woman posed no danger to the Indian team or the proceedings because, as a cast member for the opening ceremony, she had to go through all the security checks that everyone else does to get into the Olympic Stadium.

“She shouldn’t have been in the opening ceremony. But don’t run away with the idea that she walked in off the street,” he said.

A day after photos of the ‘mystery woman’ appeared in newspapers and went viral on social networking sites, a newspaper claimed to have identified the young lady as Madhura Honey, a post-graduate from Bangalore.

A Newspaper , quoting sources, said that her friend from the college was also baffled seeing her with the Indian contingent. She has been

living in London and before she went with the Indian team, she had displayed her Olympic passes on her Facebook account. But once this became an issue, she had deactivated her Facebook account.

Raja had earlier said that the Indian contingent would wait for an official confirmation about the identity of the woman.

“I am also aware of these reports. But I can’t comment on newspaper reports. We want something from the organisers. We have submitted the letter expressing our strong resentment on the matter to the organisers last night,” Raja said.

The young lady in red shirt and blue trouser was seen leading the Indian contingent in the march past alongside Beijing Games bronze medallist Sushil Kumar and her unwanted

presence has not gone down well with the Indians, who had no clue as to who she was.

The Indians are understandably agitated that a person who was not part of the delegation was allowed to accompany the team and hog the limelight in the process. “She had no business to walk with the Indian contingent and we are taking up the issue with the organisers. We don’t know who she is and why she was allowed to walk in. It is a shame that she was with the athletes in the march past,” Raja had said yesterday.

“We were initially told that she would accompany the contingent till the track but she went on to take the entire lap. There was another man also but he stayed back and did not enter the stadium.

“We have taken strong exception to this. The march past is for the athletes and officials attached to the contingent. We are totally taken by surprise how a person could just intrude into the track,” he added.

The lady’s presence had created a flutter on the day of the opening ceremony itself and the Indian mediamen covering the Games had sought clarification from the team management.

The Indians have fielded 81 athletes, the largest ever in the history of the Games, but only 40 athletes and around 11 officials participated in the parade at the opening ceremony, which showcased Great Britain’s rich heritage combined with dazzling fireworks and stunning visual effects.

COMMENT

Crippled Pakistan

Jaswant Singh NEW DELHI – The problems and dilemmas confronting Pakistan’s leadership – including a deepening vortex of mutual suspicions, sectarian killings, and brazen terrorism – are almost too numerous to count.

And that leadership – whether civilian, military, and also the now politically active judiciary – has proven congenitally ineffective, leaving the country with a broken economy and a paralyzed political system.

Illustration by Paul Lachine Central to the world’s concerns about the region is the complex

reality of the two Taliban movements – one in Afghanistan, over which Pakistan’s powerful Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence has a great deal of control, and one in Pakistan itself, which is waging an increasingly vicious guerrilla war against the Pakistani government. With the United States and NATO due to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, there is a real possibility that the Taliban will not only regain power there, but will also turn Pakistan into a truly failed state.

Encouragingly, after a gap of seven months when no military supplies could reach Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass – a cutoff that followed the death of Pakistani soldiers at the hands of NATO troops firing across the border – NATO trucks in early July were finally allowed to cross again. Somewhat guardedly, US Secretary of State Hillary

Clinton announced: “(Pakistani) Foreign Minister (Hina Rabbani) Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives. We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military.” Her affirmation of commitment to preventing such an event in the future appears to have sufficed to re-open the border to NATO’s resupply through Pakistan.

This self-defeating crisis is now over, but can both sides really prevent further deterioration in their complex, mutually dependent relationship? This question matters principally because Pakistan’s quest for national identity and territorial security is rooted in existential fear of its neighbors.

Unfortunately, as Michael Krepon of the Stimson Center, an American foreign-policy think tank, observes, official Pakistani tactics sustain the country’s “isolation and decline.” Moreover, America’s tactics, Krepon argues, heighten “its estrangement with Pakistan.

Continued on page 28 >>

SPECIAL FEATURE

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

Walking on water can make people invincible

As it turns out, walking on water is not that difficult. The success of this undertaking depends on how much corn flour starch you have. If you have enough of this substance, you can easily impress your friends with a simple but a very effective trick that can be a highlight of any pool party.

Strictly speaking, it was a pool party that started it all. A video posted on YouTube showed people walking on water in a pool. Nevertheless, scientists from the University of Chicago unraveled the trick at once.

They paid attention to the fact that the people walking on the pool were moving in a strange way. They were not actually walking - they were moving in small jumps, as if they were trying to hit the water surface with their feet.

A closer look at the video also revealed that the water itself was acting strangely too. The water was like a trampoline, tossing the people up after every jump. This led researchers to suggest that the “magicians” somehow turned the water surface in the so-called nonNewtonian fluid.

The non-Newtonian fluid is a suspension that includes large particles (common dirt is an example). Due to the presence of large particles, the fluid may exhibit unusual properties and behave like

an elastic solid body, for example.

This is exactly what happened to the water surface in the video.

The researchers conducted a simple experiment. They added a certain amount of cornstarch in a bowl of water. After the paste evenly distributed over the surface, they hit the surface several times with a metal rod. The effect was strange, but quite predictable: the suspension was actively pushing the rod away.

Afterwards, the scientists lowered their hands in the solution several times. In this case, the human hand was passing through the surface - it was drowning. “If you tried to hit the suspension, you could simply break your wrist,” Scott Waitukaitis, a physicist with the University of Chicago said.

Continued from page 27 >> As long as current policies remain fixed, new points of contention seem inevitable between Pakistan, its neighbors, and the United States.”

The big question across South Asia is whether or not the withdrawal of US/NATO troops will attenuate Pakistan’s dilemmas or deepen them. Much will depend on how Pakistan addresses its internal turbulence, as well as how the situation in Afghanistan evolves. Many Pakistanis, including Sartaz Aziz, a former foreign minister who sees a policy vacuum, are not sanguine.

But the problem is deeper than an absence of effective leadership. As Pakistani journalist Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur has put it, “[W]hen states are formed on an artificial basis of contrived nationhood or on the basis of religion, as was the case with Pakistan, Israel, and Yugoslavia, they of necessity turn into…states dominated by militarist ideology.” Furthermore, “Pakistan, by claiming to be the legatee of the glory of Islam burdened itself with heavy historical baggage.”

But could it have done otherwise? The elite of Pakistan, Ali Talpur continues, “subscribing to a statist and militarist ideology,” became “the self-appointed defenders of Islam,” and “even the

Once the hypothesis was confirmed, the researchers decided to find out why the suspension of water and cornstarch behaves this way and not another. To do this, they repeated the experiment, but used X-rays to analyze the structure of the solution.

It turned out that an impact on the water surface causes the particles of starch suspended in the liquid come together very quickly. The phenomenon occurs because of the influence of tension forces.

This process is very similar to the formation of a snowdrift in front of a to snowplow. The сondensation that occurs on the water surface is so strong that can repel objects with the force of stiletto heels pressing on the asphalt.

When the impact on the suspension is soft and smooth, the particles simply do not have time to quickly stick together to create condensation. This is the reason why the hand passes through the surface.

Based on the X-ray analysis, the researchers designed a computer model of the process, which showed: the sharper the attack on the surface of the suspension, the harder it will push away “the offender”. In other words, a safe walk on the surface of the mixture of water and cornstarch will not work even on high heels, but a skipping run is quite possible.

The researchers say the discovery of the mechanism of behavior of starch and water may help engineers create “liquid” body armor. It should be a

Crippled Pakistan brigands of Islamic history” were accorded the status of heroes, creating an illusion of invincibility and grandeur that is “not in any way in keeping with reality.”

Here, successive US governments have compounded South Asia’s problems by pursuing only their own national interests, at an incalculable cost to the natural, organic growth of the region’s countries.

Without Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran acting in concert, no lasting solutions can be found; they certainly cannot be imposed unilaterally by the US and NATO. Thus, a dilemma arises: the presence of US/NATO forces in Afghanistan is not in harmony with the natural urges and balance of the region. After all, Afghanistan can remain only where it is, with or without US troops, which is why its future will remain an issue of great concern to Pakistan (and to India). How are these countries to harmonize their own national interests and priorities with those of the Western powers?

According to Kamran Shafi, a retired Pakistani army officer, Pakistan “has lost the trust of most, if not all of our friends.”

Indeed, even Pakistan’s “brotherly” Saudi Arabia has extradited to India the

man blamed by the Indians as one of the masterminds of the horrific terror attacks on Mumbai in November 2008.

In promoting and pursuing terrorism as an instrument of state policy, Pakistan seems intent on never regaining that trust, without which peace, unseen in South Asia since the partition of British India in 1947, is impossible.

South Asia now seems condemned to something akin to a 100-year war. But, unlike Europe’s Hundred Years’ War, this struggle is shadowed by the potential for mutually assured destruction. Given the potent Pakistani and Indian nuclear arsenals, the war could be very short indeed.

Jaswant Singh is the only person to have served as India’s finance minister (1996, 2002-2004), foreign minister (19982004), and defense minister (2000-2001).

While in office, he launched the first freetrade agreement (with Sri Lanka) in South Asia’s history, initiated India’s most daring diplomatic opening to Pakistan, revitalized relations with the US, and reoriented the Indian military, abandoning its Sovietinspired doctrines and weaponry for close ties with the West. His most recent book is Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence. …

suspension consisting of liquid and poly-parafenilen terephthalamide (better known under the name Kevlar). The properties of this vest will make it superior to all modern body armor - it will be several times stronger and lighter.

At the same time physicists say that experiments with Kevlar suspensions may not be successful.

After all, the properties that can be observed in some solutions may not appear at all in the other suspensions, especially when it comes to non-Newtonian fluids, the properties of which are unique.

For example, no one knows why cornstarch begins to thicken as a result of an impact, but the suspension of peat in swamps, or ketchup, on the contrary, resolve.

India train fire: As many as 47 dead

Continued from page 9 >> the car was detached from the rest of the train to stop the fire from spreading. Passengers were then evacuated.

According to the New York Daily News, passengers said the fire moved quickly through the car.

“We woke up suddenly when the train came to a halt. That’s when we noticed the fire at one end of the coach and shouted out. People were still sleeping, but once they realized the danger they scrambled to the door,” said Shantanu, a passenger in the car. “By the time we got out of the door, the coach was completely on fire.” He said firefighters sprayed water over the fire, but the train car was gutted.

Train accidents in India have killed 1,220 people in the past five years, reported BBC News. India’s railway is made up of 9,000 passenger trains and carries 18 million passengers every day.

Authorities say the rescue operation is continuing and the death toll is likely to rise.

Citing District Collector B. Sridhar. At least 22 injured people have been taken to hospital.

Sridhar said an electrical short circuit was believed to have been the cause of the fire, and most of the passengers were asleep when the incident occurred early on Monday.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

COMMENT

29

Robert Fisk: Syrian war of lies and hypocrisy

The West’s real target here is not Assad’s brutal regime but his ally, Iran, and its nuclear weapons

Robert Fisk Has there ever been a Middle Eastern war of such hypocrisy?

A war of such cowardice and such mean morality, of such false rhetoric and such public humiliation? I’m not talking about the physical victims of the Syrian tragedy. I’m referring to the utter lies and mendacity of our masters and our own public opinion – eastern as well as western – in response to the slaughter, a vicious pantomime more worthy of Swiftian satire than Tolstoy or Shakespeare.

While Qatar and Saudi Arabia arm and fund the rebels of Syria to overthrow Bashar alAssad’s Alawite/Shia-Baathist dictatorship, Washington mutters not a word of criticism against them. President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, say they want a democracy in Syria. But Qatar is an autocracy and Saudi Arabia is among the most pernicious of caliphate-kinglydictatorships in the Arab world.

Rulers of both states inherit power from their families – just as Bashar has done – and Saudi Arabia is an ally of the Salafist-Wahabi rebels in Syria, just as it was the most fervent supporter of the medieval Taliban during Afghanistan’s dark ages.

Indeed, 15 of the 19 hijacker-mass murderers of 11 September, 2001, came from Saudi Arabia – after which, of course, we bombed Afghanistan. The Saudis are repressing their own Shia minority just as they now wish to destroy the Alawite-Shia minority of Syria.

And we believe Saudi Arabia wants to set up a democracy in Syria?

Then we have the Shia Hezbollah party/militia in Lebanon, right hand of Shia Iran and supporter of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. For 30 years, Hezbollah has defended the oppressed Shias of southern

Lebanon against Israeli aggression.

They have presented themselves as the defenders of Palestinian rights in the West Bank and Gaza. But faced with the slow collapse of their ruthless ally in Syria, they have lost their tongue. Not a word have they uttered – nor their princely Sayed Hassan Nasrallah – about the rape and mass murder of Syrian civilians by Bashar’s soldiers and “Shabiha” militia.

Then we have the heroes of America – La Clinton, the Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, and Obama himself.

Clinton issues a “stern warning” to Assad. Panetta – the same man who repeated to the last US forces in Iraq that old lie about Saddam’s connection to 9/11 – announces that things are “spiralling out of control” in Syria. They have been doing that for at least six months.

Has he just realised? And then Obama told us last week that “given the regime’s stockpile of nuclear weapons, we will continue to make it clear to Assad … that the world is watching”. Now, was it not a County Cork newspaper called the Skibbereen Eagle, fearful of Russia’s designs on China, which declared that it was “keeping an eye … on the Tsar of Russia”? Now it is Obama’s turn to emphasise how little clout he has in the mighty conflicts of the world. How Bashar must be shaking in his boots.

But what US administration would really want to see Bashar’s atrocious archives of torture opened to our gaze? Why, only a few years ago, the Bush administration was sending Muslims to Damascus for Bashar’s torturers to tear their fingernails out for information, imprisoned at the US government’s request in the very hell-hole which Syrian rebels blew to bits last week. Western embassies dutifully supplied the prisoners’ tormentors with questions for the victims.

Bashar, you see, was our baby.

Then there’s that neighbouring country which owes us so much gratitude: Iraq. Last week, it suffered in one day 29 bombing attacks in 19 cities, killing 111 civilian and wounding another 235.

The same day, Syria’s bloodbath consumed about the same number of innocents. But Iraq was “down the page” from Syria, buried “below the fold”, as we journalists say; because, of course, we gave freedom to Iraq, Jeffersonian democracy, etc, etc, didn’t we? So this slaughter to the east of Syria

didn’t have quite the same impact, did it? Nothing we did in 2003 led to Iraq’s suffering today. Right?

And talking of journalism, who in BBC World News decided that even the preparations for the Olympics should take precedence all last week over Syrian outrages?

British newspapers and the BBC in Britain will naturally lead with the Olympics as a local story. But in a lamentable decision, the BBC – broadcasting “world” news to the world – also decided that the passage of the Olympic flame was more important than dying Syrian children, even when it has its own courageous reporter sending his despatches directly from Aleppo.

Then, of course, there’s us, our dear liberal selves who are so quick to fill the streets of London in protest at the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians. Rightly so, of course.

When our political leaders are happy to condemn Arabs for their savagery but too timid to utter a word of the mildest criticism when the Israeli army commits crimes against humanity – or watches its allies do it in Lebanon – ordinary people have to remind the world that they are not as timid as the politicians. But when the scorecard of death in Syria reaches 15,000 or 19,000 – perhaps 14 times as many fatalities as in Israel’s savage 2008-2009 onslaught on Gaza – scarcely a single protester, save for Syrian expatriates abroad, walks the streets to condemn these crimes against humanity. Israel’s crimes have not been on this scale since 1948. Rightly or wrongly, the message that goes out is simple: we demand justice and the right to life for Arabs if they are butchered by the West and its Israeli allies; but

not when they are being butchered by their fellow Arabs.

And all the while, we forget the “big” truth. That this is an attempt to crush the Syrian dictatorship not because of our love for Syrians or our hatred of our former friend Bashar al-Assad, or because of our outrage at Russia, whose place in the pantheon of hypocrites is clear when we watch its reaction to all the little Stalingrads across Syria. No, this is all about Iran and our desire to crush the Islamic Republic and its infernal nuclear plans – if they exist – and has nothing to do with human rights or the right to life or the death of Syrian babies. Quelle horreur!

Printed in the Independent.

Robert Fisk is a multiple award-winning journalist on the Middle East, based in Beirut.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

Live Snake Massage to Lower Stress

Massage By Snakes

Most of the resorts are named like that call our mind as the atmosphere of happiness and tranquility. But the spa in the small village of Talma Elazar in northern Israel bears a proud name “Farm carnivorous plants.” Not everyone dare to Visit this unusual spa,lets take a look why?

An Israeli health and beauty spa is offering a creepy new service for its customers - Snake Massage. For just $80 you can have large slithering reptiles such as California and Florida king snakes, corn snakes

and milk snakes, wriggle down your back and up your spine and across your face. If you don’t freak out, it can be soothing experience, as the spa owner Ada Barak will tell you.

Barak figured out several years ago that heavy king and corn snakes produce a relaxing kneading sensation. She says that once people get over any initial misgivings, they find physical contact with the snakes to be stress relieving.

“Some people said that holding the snakes made them feel better, relaxed,” she said “One old lady said it was soothing, like a cold

compress.”

The size of the snakes depends on

the type of massage - the larger ones are said to alleviate deeper

muscle tensions and the smaller ones create a ‘fluttering’ effect.

All are the snakes used are nonvenomous. Oh! What a relief.

Compromise reached in Saudi judo row after boycott threat

A compromise has been reached that will allow a Saudi Arabian athlete banned from wearing the hijab at London 2012 to compete after her father had threatened to withdraw her from the Olympics.

One of Saudi Arabia’s two female Olympic team members will be allowed to compete in the judo while wearing a headscarf after a compromise was reached, the International Olympic Committee said .

Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani will compete after Saudi Arabia’s Olympic Committee reached

an agreement with the International Judo Federation following talks yesterday.

It comes after Marius Vizer, the Austrian president of the sport’s world governing body, said last week that Shahrkhani would not be allowed to wear a headscarf to compete for safety reasons.

But Mark Adams, communications director of the International Olympic Committee, said: ‘’I can confirm that the federation and the National Olympic Committee met yesterday.

They have a solution that works for all

parties involved.’’

Asked what the solution involved, he

said: ‘’As you know, the judo federation in Asia does allow for some headscarves,

it is a version that is safety compliant but also allows for cultural sensitivity.

NEWS

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

31

G4S Olympic security guard faces sack after calling soldier who had served in Afghanistan a ‘baby killer’ : The Sun

• Asian guard is also said to have spat at the serviceman during confrontation • Pair were working at the archery contest at Lord’s Cricket Ground • G4S has begun urgent internal investigation into claims The G4S worker is reported to have “flipped” during a London 2012 archery competition at the Lord’s cricket ground, “screaming” at a veteran of the Afghan war.

The firm are now conducting an urgent investigation into the matter, with the security guard facing the sack.

A source told the Sun newspaper the guard, believed to be of Asian heritage, was “ranting and raving” at the soldier, leaving him in “no doubt” he was accusing him of being responsible for the death of children in Afghanistan.

An unnamed witness said: “He was trying to defuse the situation but the guard was going crazy. He spat at the soldier and screamed at him. He was calling him a baby killer.”

He added that the soldier, from 35 Engineers, remained “ice cool” despite the provocation, with the guard eventually being removed by colleagues. A spokesman for G4S confirmed an investigation into the incident was already underway.

Scotland Yard yesterday said no criminal allegations had been made.

G4S added the soldier had asked to search the guard prior to the incident, during the Italy vs United States archery contest, but did not disclose why.

The firm said: “We are urgently investigating allegations that a security officer spat on the ground in front of a soldier and insulted him after he was searched.

Manchester Evening News is reporting that a G4S security guard has been sacked after he was found sleeping on the job. The worker was spotted in a staff entrance of the Worsley Marriott Hotel in Salford, which will host football teams including Team GB. The worker was sacked on the spot after bosses deemed his behaviour as ‘unacceptable’.

Spare Olympic tickets First medal for India at Games to go back on sale

Locog is now monitoring the number of tickets used after an abundance of empty seats at the weekend, and will put returned tickets on sale the night before events.

The Olympics organising committee was criticised after spectators pointed out empty seats at some events that had been billed as “sold out”.

Locog said an extra 3,000 tickets went on sale on Sunday night after they were returned by sports federations and accredited groups who were not intending to use them. Around 600 of those tickets were for Monday’s gymnastics events, 700 for beach volleyball, and the remainder for swimming, equestrian and handball. All were snapped up by Monday morning.

Prime Minster David Cameron said the empty seats were “disappointing” and London Mayor Boris Johnson

said there had been discussion on “how to crack the ticketing problem” when ministers met in the Cabinet Office this morning.

We’re doing this session by session talking to accredited groups…and asking whether we can release [tickets], for the different sessions, back into the public pot. Where we can, we’re going to release those the

night before and put them up for sale. Jackie Brock-Doyle, Locog Speaking on Monday, Locog’s Jackie Brock-Doyle said it was approaching the issue of ticket sales on a “case by case basis”, and was in close contact with accredited groups - such as the media - and sports federations to find out how many tickets would not be used the following day.

“We’re doing this session by session talking to accredited groups…and asking whether we can release [tickets], for the different sessions, back into the public pot,” she said.

“Where we can, we’re going to release those the night before and put them up for sale.”

But she added that ticket selling is “not an exact science”, pointing out that seats at Sunday’s basketball and swimming events were completely filled.

Gagan Narang wins bronze in 10m air rifle event at London Olympics.

Bronze medalist India’s Gagan Narang (R) celebrates with Gold medalist Romania’s Alin George Moldoveanu (C) celebrates and silver medalist Italy’s Niccolo Campriani on the podium at the end of the men’s 10m air rifle final during the London Olympics.

Drugs Body: Chinese Swim Medallist Is ‘Clean’ Continued from page 32 >>

The World Doping Agency has said a gold medal-winning Chinese swimmer who sparked an international row after being accused of cheating has passed her drugs tests.

The news came through the British Olympics Association (BOA), responding to an allegation from an American coach who suggested Ye Shiwen, 16, won her race with the help of drugs.

Ye has denied doping and says her results come from hard work and training. The accusations sparked anger in China.

Olympic officials, other swimmers and former athletes also hit out at the doping suggestion, warning that any competitor should be judged innocent until proven guilty.

BOA chairman Lord Moynihan said: “We know how on top of the game Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) are

and Wada have passed her as clean. That’s the end of the story.

“And it is regrettable there is so much speculation out there. I don’t like it. I think it is wrong.

It was not Ye Shiwen’s winning time that aroused John Leonard’s suspicion, or even her age. The 16-year-old Ye swam the final of the 400m individual medley (IM) in a new world record of 4min 28.43sec, seven seconds faster than she had gone in the 2011 World Championship final.

Chinese gold medallist swimmer Ye Shiwen has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, after a US swim coach described her world-record win as “disturbing” and “unbelievable”. American swimming coach and executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, John Leonard, said the 16-year-old’s performance in the London 2012 Games was “suspicious”.

He said it was very hard to believe that Ye could swim faster than world number one, US swimmer Ryan Lochte, in her final lap.

“The one thing I will say is that history in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I will put quotation marks around this, ‘unbelievable’, history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved.

“That last 100m was reminiscent of some old East German swimmers, for people who have been around a while. It was reminiscent of the 400m individual medley by a young Irish woman in Atlanta.”

Irish swimmer Michelle Smith was banned for two years after testing positive for anabolic steroids following her win in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Leonard added: “Any time someone has looked like superwoman in the history of our sport they have later been found guilty of doping.”

32

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 02 August 2012

Drugs Body: Chinese Swim Medallist Is ‘Clean’

Olympic and anti-doping chiefs intervene in a row over the recordbreaking performance of Ye Shiwen, insisting she is ‘clean’.

Swimmer Ye Shiwen’s world record ‘disturbing’ Continued on page 31 >>

SAT

Sports

India clinch Sri Lanka ODI series

Sri Lanka’s 200 came in 259 balls.

But for the antics of Malinga and Herath, who put together 32 in three overs, Sri Lanka would have been in even worse shape.

Upul Tharanga (51), Lahiru Thirimanne (47) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (42) were the main scorers for Sri Lanka, while part-time spinner Manoj Tiwary bagged four wickets for India.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 251-8 in 50 overs; India 255-4 in 42.2 overs.

India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the fourth one-day international in Colombo on Tuesday to gain an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Virat Kohli (128 not out) anchored the batting yet again, and a benchwarmer of the series, Manoj Tiwary, who finally got a look in, ripped through the Sri Lankan batting, to win the fourth one-day, and with it, the series for India.

Kohli’s outstanding innings, with 12 fours and one six, provided the

start with the bat, with opener Upul Tharanga having scored 51, parttime bowler Manoj Tiwary was the key man in the Indian attack by taking 4-61.

It was not all plain sailing for the visitors, though, as they lost a wicket without a run on the board.

Gautam Gambhir, who made a magnificent 102 in the third oneday international, was dismissed after just five deliveries when Lasith Malinga’s renowned swinging yorker unhinged his middle stump.

base for the tourists to power past Sri Lanka’s total of 251-8.

India’s emphatic victory was achieved in 42.2 overs. The scoreline read 255 for 4 in 42.2 overs. India now have an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the series. The last match will be played at Pallekele.

Suresh Raina made an unbeaten half-century as India achieved a 252-run target with more than seven overs to spare in the daynight match.

Although the hosts made a strong

Virender Sehwag and Kohli soon had a calming effect on the Indian top order with a valuable 48-run alliance.

Sehwag had ghosted menacingly on to 34 before his attempted flick to legside off Angelo Mathews was skilfully caught by substitute fielder Sachithra Senanayake.

Much was expected of Rohit Sharma, but he again disappointed with the bat when adjudged lbw off a Nuwan Pradeep delivery for just four.

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