South Asia Tribune

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festival 12th international film See page 18

Year 2  Issue 21  Thursday, 06.12.12

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Harun Yahaya said : Gaza ‘Rocket Attacks Stupid and Pointless’ Urged Hamas and Islamic Jihad to Stop and focus on Messiah What Harun Yaha has written could have come out of Mossad or Israel

Harun Yahya is Lying -

Sheikh Imran Hosein Exposes Is Harun Yahaya on Zion Agenda?

Harun Yahaya Claim Imam Mehdi (as) will bring Democracy and wealth for every one In an Islamic Lecture gathering in Malaysia Shiekh Imran Hosien was asked about Harun Yahaya he replied that what Harun Yaha has written could have come out of Mossad or

Israel because of similarity of thoughts and he accused Harun Yahaya of hiding behind the pen name and regarding his book of Imam Mehdi and end time , and I think he must have written hundreds of books in order to put on this one, that was the 99 or 95 % to dazzle the world and this was the poison to slip in the five

What about Israel’s nuclear weapons?

Israel might have as many as 400 nuclear weapons by the late 1990s On Wednesday Israel has rebuffed a UN call to adhere to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open itself to international inspectors, calling the suggestion a “meaningless mechanical vote” of a body that “lost all its credibility regarding Israel.”

The question is “Why does the press follow every jot and tittle of Iran’s nuclear program, but we never see any stories about Israel’s nuclear weapons capability?”

It’s a fair question. Going back 10 years into Post archives, I could Continued on page 16 >>

percent poison. That when Nabi Eisa (as) will return as Muslims believe he will return as Prophet (SAW) has prophesised that he will return that the Jews will believe in him and the Christian would believe in him , and since Muslims already believe in him Continued on page 3 >>

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

Israel pushing ahead with new settlement plans, despite world pressure Palestinian threatens ICC action over settlement plans

Palestinian warns that it may file war crimes charges against Israel with International Crimes Court if it refuses to halt east Jerusalem construction plans Higher Planning Council meeting Wednesday to deliberate plans for 3,400 new homes in the E-1 corridor between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem; construction plans have led to unprecedented diplomatic tensions between Israel and European states. The Higher Planning Council of the Israel Defense Forces’ Civil Administration in the West Bank met Wednesday morning to push ahead with plans to construct 3,400 new homes in the E-1 corridor between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem, despite

the international pressure on Israel to reverse the decision. The plan includes the construction of a commercial center and educational establishments to be built around the Shai District Police station, in addition to 2,000 housing

on an especially sensitive piece of land outside Jerusalem known as E1, are “especially damaging” to prospects for a resumption in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and run counter to longstanding US policy.

Publisher Salah Bu Khamas (UAE) Sabha Khan (UK) UK Office 10 Courtenay Road, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 7ND UK Phone: +44 20 8904 0619 Fax: +44 20 8181 7575 info@satribune.co.uk India Office Satya Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. C/O Satya Group.

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units.

Any further discussion on the plan will warrant the approval of the coordinator of government activities in the territories.

The Obama administration has harshly criticised its top Mideast ally, Israel, over new settlement construction plans in areas the Palestinians claim for a future state.

The State Department said the plans, notably one to begin preliminary work

its settlements in the West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cautioned Wednesday.

Speaking to Palestinian journalists in his Ramallah office, Abbas said that the Palestinian leadership has been in contact with several international parties to prevent Israel from implementing its plan.

“If that happens, we will resort to all legitimate and legal methods,” Abbas

Merkel to warn Netanyahu: Promote peace process or face world seclusion Benjamin Netanyahu to meet German chancellor in Berlin on Wednesday evening. With Israel and European Union states embroiled in a diplomatic crisis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday night in Berlin.

Netanyahu said that Merkel likely

thought she was promoting peace by not voting against the unilateral Palestinian move at the UN, but, in fact, “the opposite has happened. After the UN vote, the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas has made efforts to unite with the terrorists of Hamas.”

The prime minister said that Merkel had “encouraged the Palestinians to harden their position and not to enter negotiations.”

Netanyahu’s comments came as the European Union summoned Israel’s ambassador to discuss the bloc’s concerns over Israeli plans to expand

said, hinting at the possibility that the PA may lodge a complaint against Israel with the UN’s International Criminal Court. “There is what we could do and say to prevent this dangerous decision.”

Abbas said that all Israeli measures on the ground must be removed “because international law forbids the occupation from taking any action in the lands of an occupied state.”

Today, Abbas added, “We are an occupied state and the 4th Geneva Convention applies to us as a nonmember observer state in the UN General Assembly.”

Fake Sheikh MI6 Assets: Calling Jinnah a Traitor & Pak Army anti Islam

Calling Pakistanis to rise up against Government and Jinnah a Traitor and Pakistani forces have apostatized from Islam soon Sharia project for Pakistan MI6 assets Anjum Chaudhry and Omer Bakri issued Pakistan Resolution for the implementation of Shariah4Pakistan The known deamonisers of Islam with new name Shariah4Pakistan declared in a resolution that 1) Zardari and his government are apostate regimes, who are enemies of Islam and Muslims.

2) They declared that the only system which Muslims will ever accept in Pakistan (and anywhere else) is that of the Shari’ah.

3) They declare that the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah was in fact a traitor and an enemy of Islam and Muslims, who divided the Muslims of India on the directions of his British masters

4) They declared that the case of Malala Yousafzai has been exploited by the Pakistani regime in order to further their own evil agenda.

They also urged the Muslims of Pakistan to rise up and take what is rightfully theirs i.e. the authority, from the oppressive Zardari regime. Muslims should reject Democracy altogether and insist only on obeying one Khalifah. Shaia4Pakistan declared in their resolution that the Pakistani Army

and other security agencies (such as the ISI, Police, Rangers, Frontier Corps etc.) of Pakistan who fight against Muslims in tribal areas and Swat, or who arrest and hand over Muslims to the US, or who torture the Muslims or who provide bases to the Crusaders’ armies (American, British etc.) or who guard the Crusaders’ (American, British etc.) supply routes to Afghanistan, have apostatized from Islam.

The Shariah4Pakistan team made the

following announcement as a result of communications between Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid and Omar Bakri Muhammad; this announcement has also taken into consideration the heightened security implications of the conference as well as the refusal of the Pakistani regime to issue visas to key speakers. So they decided that in the interests of all those concerned that the conference on Friday, 30th November 2012 will be postponed.

With regards to Fatwa against Pakistani girl Malala they claim that After having carefully studied the case of Malala Yousafzai in detail, Omar Bakri Muhammad would also like to state that he did not find evidence proving her apostasy and therefore we do not believe she should have been targeted based on the evidence available. They also said that In the run up to the Pakistani general elections in March/April 2013 the Shariah4Pakistan team will launch planned shariah projects .

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

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Harun Yahya is Lying - Sheikh Imran Hosein

Continued from page 1 >> that when NABI Eisa AS will return .

According to this fancy full fairy land theory of Harun Yahaya, Christian and Jews and Muslims are going to embrace each other in a fraternity, A wonderful fraternity , and since we are going to have this lovely fraternity of Christian , Jews and Muslims at the End Time why should we not do it now ? Or in other words why don’t you be friends with Israel?

This is False. This is not the correct interpretation of the Quran. When Nabi Eisa (as) return , he said he spoke in front of some 200 Jews in a synagogue in New Jersey and I quoted this verse of the Quran that When he will return You will have to believe in him you don’t have choice in the matter, and when you do believe in him at that time it will be of no benefit for you ,for you he will give evidence against you and you will go into the Hell fire. I don’t know where I got the courage for but when the lecture finished they surrounded me.

Of course they never invited me again but they (Jews )wanted to know why should forced to believes in something we don’t believe in and we reject and my answer was at that time the veils will be removed of your eyes and the same as when Firoun when he was drowning he realised he was not God but it was late and then he said I now believe in your God of Banu Israel so similarly at that time JEWS will also recognise as what they were holding on to is falsehood and what Jews have rejected and fought against and they tyrannised and terrorised and oppressed and it’s a truth. So now they will die swallowing their own vomit and having to accept which they have rejected and you will pay the price. And on judgment day he will give evidence against them and they will got Hell fire. So the actual event of the return of Nabi Eisa (as) is not a wonderful fraternity but rather the divine punishment will be coming to those who have rejected the truth and who supported this , but not all Jews and al Christians are like that .

So instead of Harun Yahaya talking about a wonderful fraternity, which is what the Mossad desire. Harun Yahaya should quote the Hadith that at that time the stones and trees will speak. One will never hear Harun Yahaya quoting that Hadith NO...

And stone will say O Muslim there is

a Jew hiding behind me come and kill him Harun Yahaya : Gaza ‘Rocket Attacks Stupid and Pointless’ Urged Hammas and Islamic Jihad to Stopand focus on Messiah During recent attack on Gaza Adnan Oktar urged Hamas and Islamic Jihad on his TV show to stop the

NAME IS ADNAN” CLAIM BY HARUN YAHAYA AND THERE IS A DESCENDANT OF ALI BY THE NAME OF ADNAN OKTAR (HARUN YAHYA), A SAYYID OF BOTH HASSANI AND HUSSEINI LIKE IMAM BAQIR (RA) Harun Yaha says “I will support all

adviser to several Turkish politicians, and received endorsements from across the Arab world including Saudi Arabia and Dubai, where his stalls feature prominently at book fairs. He has also proved a fascinating subject for the Western media, offering allexpenses-paid flights to Istanbul to

rocket fire and focus on the Messiah.

Adnan Oktar is urging Hamas and Islamic Jihad on his A9TV satellite television talk show to stop the rocket fire from Gaza and instead focus on calling for the Messiah. said last week in response to an article about Israel’s current Operation Pillar of Defense, detailing the IAF’s attacks on Gaza to silence the rocket fire against southern Israeli communities, “What Israel must do is constantly ask Allah for Moshiach, for the coming of the King Messiah.

And do you know Mashiach: The Jews Messiah or for Muslims Anti Christ and he will declare himself to be the 12th Imam or Madhi and according to Hadith The Jewish Messiah - Is he the Dajjal(Anti-Christ), Some of the

sincere Freemasons who love Allah and support Him and Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) right down to the wire. They will always be honored. And I will always support Jews and Christians who love Allah. Muslims who love Allah, be they Alawites, Bektashis or whatever, are the jewels in our crown, insha’Allah. “ Adnan Okthar (http://harunyahya. com/en/works/152591/ Freemasonry) Adnan Oktar (pen name: Harun Yahya) is claimed on his web page to be a ‘world renown and respected scholar’ who has devoted himself to writing about scientific and faithrelated subjects such as the theory of evolution and miracles of God. He is further described by supporters as a respected ‘scientist’ who has publications in incredibly diverse

any journalist wishing to interview him, and making himself available for radio interview whenever required. From daily newspapers in Egypt and Bosnia to influential satellite TV stations like al-Jazeera and (the Iran-funded) Press TV, to small Muslim broadcasters in the West like Radio Ummah and Radio Ramadan, the American journalist Nathan Schneider argued, to judge Yahya’s message on its scientific content alone misses the point: “its power, for those who are not scientifically literate, lies in its vision of redemption.” Since then Oktar has become an ardent proponent of interfaith dialogue, attempting to unify believers of all stripes against the corrupting influence of Darwinism, which he now holds responsible for Fascism, anti-

Jews are expecting two Messiahs for them in the End Times. They refer to first Messiah as Son of Joseph and the second Messiah as Son of David.

Harun yahya aka Adnan oktar claims that name of mahdi (a.s) is Adnan “HAZRAT ALI REVEALS IN AL-QASIDAT AL-URJUZAH THAT OUR PROPHET’S (SAAS)

areas of interest (actually he is not a university graduate). Operating from Istanbul, Yahya is the founder of the Science Research Foundation, an impressive publishing empire that boasts more than 60 websites dedicated to his writings. Over the past decades he has served as an

Semitism and the Holocaust. Most recently, he has been talking about the “Turkish-Islamic Union”, which would bring peace to the entire Muslim world under the leadership of Turkey.

Oktar’s ideological and political promiscuity seem to support the

claim that he has no genuine beliefs at all, and merely opportunistically jumps on issues which will further his notoriety, following the lead of smarter followers. As one former follower told me, “We had something to please everybody: Ataturk, namaz (prayer), creationism and, if need be, cocaine.”

This man a ignorant but who write his books? He doesn’t say more that INSHALLAH OR MASHALLAH even when it’s not required he says these words to act or pretend as he is a Muslim.

He dances with model women in in his TV every week.

On 21 March 2011, Oktar started television broadcasting on A9 satellite channel where his interviews and night lectures are broadcast live.

Famouse scholars Dr Zakir Naek ,

Sheikh Yusuf Estes and executive director of Huda TV and PEACE TV Imam Jamaan Alzahrani are among those who praise Harun Yaha and called he writes great things for Dawah? Also said Mahdi means to give hidyah and every day we serve in this way !!!!

A list prepared by Jordanian research institute constitutes 500 those Muslim personalities who own the ability to influence political and economic affairs of Muslim countries. Oktar, Adnan name also was included like last year in the field of Science yet he was also criticized for His antics on his TV station, which include dancing to popular pop songs, have lost him much respect and credibility. Adnan Oktar has been included among the list of figures active in the field of science and technology in the book The 500 Most Influential Muslims, published by Georgetown University in USA. Reuters, the world’s leading news agency, carried a report on the book on its web site on November 17, 2009, headed “POLL: The world’s top 500 Muslims?” Tom Heneghan, from the Reuters Paris office, sought an answer to the question “Who is Continued on page 4 >>

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EDITORIAL

A “systematic” campaign to “appropriate” Muslim monuments.

December 6, marks the 20th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It was on December 6, 1992 that the Masjid was razed, marking a new chapter in India’s tumultuous history. Many events have overtaken the demolition and India has moved on, but the scars remain.

‘whatever happened has happened and let’s move on and make a temple or hospital there’. Even if its walls are demolished, the land remains a mosque,” he says.

Given this, it isn’t surprising that some fringe groups succeeded in stirring up passions.

Now the Charminar/ temple row. The

Before December 1992, the BJP had never formed a government at the Centre. Since then, it has formed governments, either on its own or as part of a coalition, twice at the Centre (1998 and 1999) and several times across states.

A year after the mosque was demolished, the BJP won the elections to the Delhi assembly in 1993, and followed up with victories in Gujarat and Maharashtra. And its finest hour was to come when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, its most accomplished leader, formed the government at the Centre in 1998 and then, more enduringly (it lasted a full five-year term) in 1999—the first time an alternative to the Congress actually succeeded in surviving its full tenure.

But things could turn ugly again.

Abdul Hafeez, 78, a local resident who has been running a school in Faizabad since 1952, says both Hindus and Muslims are unhappy with the court’s decision. “A Muslim cannot forget his masjid. His religion teaches him that. He will never say that

Council of Indian Muslims (U.K.) on Wednesday expressed concern over the Charminar/temple row, calling it a part of a “systematic” campaign to “appropriate” Muslim monuments.

“The Babri Mosque was the first casualty of this campaign. It was pulled down in full media gaze and now a similar drama is unfolding at Charminar in Hyderabad,” it said in a statement on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Munaf Zeena, general secretary of the Council, said “hundreds” of historic mosques had been declared protected monuments “barring Muslims from praying in them… Attempts to deface Muslim monuments and occupy the land belonging to Waqf properties is a serious issue that serves a constant reminder of the ongoing discrimination against and denial of justice to the community. This is a matter of principle and everyone who believes in coexistence and plurality of the Indian society must stand against it.”

Indian Member of Parliament

Asaduddin Owaisi has said the Muslims will never give up even an inch of the land of the demolished Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. The president of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) said Muslims were betrayed at every step in the Babri Masjid case and felt that justice should be done to ensure peace and law and order in the country.

Giving a detailed account of the case, the MP from Hyderabad advised Muslims to pray for the success of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) in the legal battle.

The AIMPLB has challenged, in the Supreme Court, the Sep 30, 2010 verdict of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, which directed that the 2.77-acre disputed land be divided in three parts among Hindus and Muslims. Of this, two parts go to Hindu organisations, while the remaining one-third will go to the Muslims.

Owaisi drew a parallel between installation of idols in Babri Masjid and the construction of an illegal temple in the precincts of the historic Charminar.

He alleged that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) colluded with “communal forces” to allow the temple to come up, in blatant violation of the rules for protection of heritage monuments.

United Muslim Action Committee convenor Abdul Rahim Quraishi said secularism and justice were “murdered” with the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He said Muslims would never forget that tragedy.

It is apparent that 20 years after the cataclysmic events of 6 December, once again tensions between Hindus and Muslims are on the rise. Unlike last time, though, it does not appear to be inspired by the BJP. Identity politics based on religion may have run its course, but fresh fault lines are visible.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

Harun Yahya is Lying - Sheikh Imran Hosein

Harun Yahaya TV A9 also broadcasted an interview with Pakistani politician Imran Khan.

Continued from page 01 >>

the most influential Muslim in the world?” by publishing a new poll. Some 2 million people voted in the poll, with 41% of respondents replying “Adnan Oktar” and 2% “Harun Yahya,” thus declaring Mr. Oktar to be the most influential Muslim in the world.

All our girls possess the same Islamic moral values and the same

superiority, quality and beauty in their behavior, speech and reactions that befit a Muslim women: Harun Yahya From his web site some frequently asked questions :Why do you broadcast with non-Muslim women? Is that religiously appropriate?

A: We host people of all faiths and beliefs on our program. We strive to show them, in both words and deeds, the beauties of Islamic moral

Pakistan : Snooker victory The victory of Muhammad Asif at the International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Championships is one of those moments where all of us can take pride at the noteworthy achievements of our own people, while reflecting on the lack of official support given to budding sportspeople. That Pakistanis occasionally manage to shine on the international stage is all the more remarkable given the absence of support for all sports other than cricket. Asif has now established himself as the premier amateur snooker player in the world and for this, the accolades and money should now start pouring in.

Before his victory, he was given a stipend equalling about $80 a month; hopefully, that will now be increased.

We should, however, question the way government officials treat sports as just another public relations opportunity, lining up to associate themselves with winners who did it all on their own. The more responsible way of promoting sports would be to use this money to train sportspeople and ensure they can

earn a living. This would give our budding sportspeople the opportunity to develop their skills without having to worry about how they will be able to earn a living. Asif is a poster boy for individual achievement but for us to achieve sustained victories in the world of snooker and other sports requires a concerted national effort.

The challenge for Pakistan is to channel this new-found love for snooker into a long-term interest rather than have it be another passing fad. For that, the crowds will have to show up at national events and corporate sponsorship will have to be bolstered. Even more importantly, sports need to be funded and encouraged at the school level, where the stars of tomorrow can be identified and nurtured. As a country, we have taken pride at the individual brilliance shown by our sportspeople. Now is the time to channel this talent in a more organised manner and make ourselves a true powerhouse on the world stage.

values and how a true Muslim should be. The aim of preaching the word is to invite people who know nothing about Islamic moral values to truth and beauty. If an incorrect conception along the lines of “I will not speak to or meet with people who do not live by Islam” is adopted, then one fails to properly discharge the duty of preaching made obligatory for all Muslims in the Qur’an.

Why do the women who appear on your broadcasts all look like one another, and are all very beautiful? And why are the men all very handsome?

A: The reason why they give the impression of resembling one another is that they all possess the same Islamic moral values and the same superiority, quality and beauty in their behavior, speech and reactions that befit a Muslim woman.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

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Dewani murder case

extradition hearing postponed until next summer

o Dewani, 33, is being treated for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder while facing extradition to South Africa o The court heard that he has ‘adapted poorly’ to treatment o He is accused of ordering the murder of his wife Anni Dewani on their honeymoon in Cape Town o His extradition has been halted as he is suffering severe mental disorders THE family of tragic honeymoon bride Anni Dewani yesterday reacted with fury after her husband, who denies hiring a hitman to murder her, was given six more months to recover from the shock of her death.

Murder suspect Shrien Dewani is said to be terrified of travelling in a car and spends his days playing computer games while facing extradition to South Africa.

He denies hiring a hitman to murder his new wife and told police he escaped from the window of a cab in South Africa minutes before his 28-year-old wife was shot.

A judge in London was told he was not fit to face extradition to South Africa because of depression and post traumatic stress.

But Anni’s 62-year-old father Vinod Hindocha said: ‘What about my mental health and that of my family? I am not sure who is going to crack first. Anni’s mother and I have never had a proper night’s sleep since Anni was taken from us.

‘The wheels of British justice turn very slowly but we will continue to have faith in the system.’

Dewani, 33, is currently being treated in a secure mental health hospital for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) so he can be extradited to face charges of his new wife’s murder.

Anni, 28, was shot when a taxi

Shrien Dewani, who is wanted in South Africa over wife’s killing, is withdrawn and too terrified to travel by car, court told

the couple were travelling in was hijacked in Gugulethu township on the outskirts of Cape Town in November 2010.

Dewani’s condition has worsened, making him a ‘husk of a man’, his lawyer Clare Montgomery told Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

She said: ‘He cannot travel by car as he has a severe reaction, he doesn’t want to get into a travelling car or go outside. Ashok said: ‘He is leaving for South Africa tomorrow to make sure that justice is being done, we hope that justice will be done for us.’

Outside court Anni’s uncle, Ashok Hindocha, said the delay would mean another “eight months of torture”. He said: “British justice has taken too much time.”

Hindocha said Mrs Dewani’s father, Vinod Hindocha, who also attended the hearing in London, will fly to South Africa, where the gunman who killed Anni, Xolile Mngeni, will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Dewani has strongly denied any involvement in the murder of his 28-year-old wife, which took place in November 2010.

Speaking about the final hearing date he said: ‘It is eight months of torture for our family, we have no other choice but to accept what the court says, but to wait.’

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It is alleged that Dewani paid cab driver Zola Tongo to arrange the

hit whilst on honeymoon in Cape Town in November 2010. Their car

was hijacked as it passed through the township of Gugulethu.

Tongo then ordered out Dewani but Anni was driven off by Xolile Mngeni and Mziwamadoda Qwabe who robbed her mobile phone, white gold diamond bracelet, Armani wristwatch and handbag before she was killed with a single shot wound to her neck.

Tongo’s middleman Monde Mbolombo and hijacker Qwabe admitted their roles in plea bargains in which they agreed to testify against the care home boss and received lighter sentences.

Terminally ill hitman Mngeni was found guilty last month of firing the shot which killed the Swedish engineer.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

Kate Middleton Baby this Christmas!

Will and Kate expecting a baby, UK palace confirms Infant will shake up 300 years of royal history

Britain doesn’t have to wait any longer: Prince William’s wife, Kate, is pregnant.

St. James’s Palace made the announcement Monday, saying that the Duchess of Cambridge — formerly Kate Middleton — has a severe form of morning sickness and is currently in a London hospital. William was at his wife’s side.

The news drew congratulations from around the world, with the hashtag “royalbaby” trending globally on Twitter.

The couple’s first child will be third in line to the throne — behind William and his father, Prince Charles — leapfrogging the gregarious Prince Harry and possibly setting up the first scenario in which a female heir could benefit from new gender rules about succession.

The palace would not say how far along the 30-year-old duchess is, only that she has not yet reached the 12-week mark.

Kate and William’s baby will ultimately accede to the throne regardless of its sex after changes in the rules of royal succession.

In a break with more than 300 years of English constitutional tradition, laws that

would have passed the crown to the oldest male heir of the Duke of Cambridge will not apply.

And there were reports yesterday that even Queen Elizabeth herself did not know about the pregnancy and was only told because Kate had to be rushed to hospital due to her morning sickness.

Under the previous rules, any male child born to the couple would have taken precedence in the order of succession over older sisters.

That would have meant that were next year’s child to be female, her place in the line of succession could have been taken by a younger brother.

The laws required to change the succession rules have not yet been passed, but ministers insist that a political agreement David Cameron made with other Commonwealth leaders last year is enough.

At a Commonwealth summit in Perth, Australia, Mr Cameron last year agreed in principle that succession rules will be changed across the Queen’s Realms, the 16 nations where the queen is head of state.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, last month told MPs that there has been a “de facto” change in the succession rules.

“The change to the rule came into effect from the point of the Perth conference last year,” he said. “A de facto change has already been introduced pending the legal changes that now need to be made.”

Ms Middleton’s extreme morning sickness has given rise to speculation that she may be carrying twins, since hyperemesis gravidarum is associated with multiple births.

Twins have never been born into prominent positions in the British line of succession before.

However, were she to bear two – or more – children next year, the first to be born would

take a higher place in the line.

Last year, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

Before the birth, there was speculation that Princess Mary would have a Caesarean delivery, leading to reports that the presiding doctor would effectively be choosing the babies’ position in the line of succession.

However, the babies were delivered without surgery. The boy, Prince Vincent, was delivered around 25 minutes before his sister, Princess Josephine.

Succession The law on the royal succession in Britain is often referred to as the Act of Settlement, but the rules are actually set down in several different pieces of legislation passed in the 17th and 18th Centuries. They include the Act of Settlement, the Bill of Rights, the

Royal Marriages Act and Princess Sophia’s Precedence Act. William and Kate will do their utmost to give their son or daughter as normal an upbringing as possible. William has often spoken of how important it was for him to be treated like everyone else.

He relished the time he spent away from the media at university and in the armed forces.

Kate too, although also from a wealthy background, has been praised for her downto-earth approach. The youngster will, however, grow up, just as William did, with the knowledge that they will one day wear the crown.

A private education beckons and possibly a stint at boarding school. William went to Eton and Kate to Marlborough College in Wiltshire.

The child’s milestones – from their first day at school to their first public engagement – may well be recorded by the media and a barrage of photographers just like William experienced.

Yet William and Kate could decide to keep all such things private in a bid to offer as much protection to their child as possible.

Their recent experience will have made them all the more wary of guarding their private lives. Kate was pictured topless while sunbathing on holiday in a remote French chateau after being snapped by a photographer using a long lens.

Summer holidays will often be spent with the family in the Scottish countryside up at Balmoral.

Christmases will partly be at Sandringham in Norfolk with the royals, and trips to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle will expose the youngsters to opulent surroundings. (© Daily Telegraph, London)

US ultimatum averted Iranian-Pakistani warships’ drill in Port Sudan

Iranian and Pakistani warships had planned a joint Red Sea drill to start Friday, Nov. 30 in Port Sudan. It was rumored in Khartoum that the Pakistani Shashmir carrying nuclear arms or nuclear-related equipment had docked Thursday ready to meet two Iranian warships. Washington then warned Tehran that the USIranian nuclear talks due to open Saturday, Dec. 1, would be called off, if this first ever joint drill between a Muslim nuclear power and a close nuclear candidate went ahead.

Mean while the spokesman of the Armed Forces, Col. Al-Sawarmi

Khalid Saad, announced that a Pakistani warship would visit PortSudan harbor on November 29 and due to stay for two days.

He said that other two Iranian warships would also visit Port-Sudan

harbor on November 30 and would stay at the harbor for three days within the military maritime cooperation.

In a statement to SUNA, Col. AlSawarmi said that this work comes as part of the naval military cooperation

between Sudan and all countries in the world.

He said that the reasons for stay of these ships at Port-Sudan harbor include getting fuel and other logistic materials, adding that the three ships

would open their doors for visits by the public.

A Pakistani warship docked at PortSudan harbor in eastern Sudan on Thursday.

A ceremony and military parade have been organized by the Sudanese Navy in reception of the Pakistani warship.

Few weeks ago, two Iranian warships docked at Port-Sudan shortly after an aerial attack against Al-Yarmouk arms factory complex in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, which Israel claimed was producing arms to back the Palestinian Hamas movement with Iranian support.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

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U.N. to Israel: Open nuclear program to inspection General Assembly approves resolution calling on Israel to open its nuclear program for IAEA inspection, join NPT

The resolution, approved by a vote of 174-6 with 6 abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty “without further delay” and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Those voting “no” were Israel, the US, Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.

Resolutions adopted by the 193member General Assembly are not

legally binding but they do reflect world opinion and carry moral and political weight.

Israel refuses to confirm or deny it has nuclear bombs though it is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal. It has refused to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, along with three nuclear weapon states - India, Pakistan and North Korea.

The conference’s main sponsors are the US, Russia and Britain.

British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt has said it is being postponed, not cancelled.

While the United States voted against the resolution, it voted in favor of two paragraphs in it that were put to separate votes.

Both support universal adherence to the NPT, and call on those countries that aren’t parties to ratify it “at the earliest date.” The only “no” votes on those paragraphs were Israel and India.

UN pulls out of Syria as Assad denies chemical weapons plot

NATO warns Syria not to use chemical weapons Obama warns al-Assad against chemical weapons, declares ‘the world is watching’

Any use of chemical weapons

by Syria’s government would prompt immediate response, NATO chief Rasmussen warns The United Nations has suspended operations in Syria and begun withdrawing its non-essential staff as the civil conflict raged and the regime of the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, was prompted to promise it would never use chemical weapons against its own people.

A UN spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said on Monday the organisation was suspending its Syria missions indefinitely, amid fresh bloodshed in the war that has already claimed

an estimated 41,000 lives since starting in March last year.

The UN pullout coincided with

an immediate international response, NATO’s chief warned on Tuesday, saying the chemical

weapons, if they were available, under any circumstances against its people,” the foreign ministry

the US voicing concerns that Mr Assad’s forces might be weighing up the use of chemical weapons.

Any use of chemical weapons by Syria’s government would prompt

threat made it urgent for the alliance to send Patriot missiles to Turkey.

“Syria has stressed repeatedly that it will not use these types of

said.

Syria ‘preparing to use chemical weapons’ President Assad’s forces are preparing to use chemical weapons,

judging by evidence of increased activity at a number of sites, The Times. and also Obama warns Assad against use of chemical weapons.

“The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable and if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable,” US president warns.

The latest developments at the UN came after the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, warned Turkey that the NATO deployment of Patriot missiles along its border with Syria could exacerbate tensions.

He met the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an Istanbul summit that failed to yield a common response to Syria’s conflict.

Mr Putin said Russia is not necessarily a supporter of the Syrian regime but was concerned about how it would be replaced. ‘’We are not inveterate defenders of the current regime in Syria,’’ Mr Putin was quoted as saying by Russian state television. ‘’Other things worry us, like what will happen in the future.’’

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

Palestinian Recognition Marks Triumph over Israel

Following UN vote on Palestine, Israel may now find itself at The Hague What will UN recognition mean for Palestine?

THE UNITED Nations (UN) General Assembly vote to recognize Palestine as a nonmember “observer state” sparked celebrations in the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank--and bitter complaints from Israel and its devoted ally, the U.S. Following the UN’s decision last Thursday, Palestine may contact the court’s prosecutor once again, asking for a hearing on the crimes that are being committed in its territory. The court’s prosecutor may well rule that in light of Palestine’s recognition as a state, the court has authority to hear the case.

If Palestine should complain to the court, Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the court’s statute may be at the center of the case. This article states, in part: “The transfer, directly or indirectly, by an occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” is a war crime.

This statute is the continuation of a rule in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel’s past claims that the rule did not apply in the territories may be rejected: The International Court of Justice, also in The Hague, settles legal disputes between countries and gives advisory opinions. When this court gave its advisory opinion over the separation barrier, it ruled that contrary to Israel’s position, the Fourth Geneva Convention applied in the territories, including the prohibition against building settlements in occupied territory. This ruling has even greater force now that Palestine has been recognized as a state.

Many Palestinians and their supporters connected the vote with the cease-fire

agreement one week earlier that ended Israel’s latest onslaught against Gaza-as twin signs that the decades-long battle for Palestinian liberation has

in the UN General Assembly was celebrated as a rebuke to the Israeli and U.S. governments, which both opposed even observer status. Neither actually has anything to fear from the outcome of the vote. But the two Palestinian victories--especially the Gaza cease-fire--show that the U.S.

prospects than it has in more than a generation.

But the U.S. nevertheless backed Israeli opposition to the observer status vote.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice argued that Palestinians would be worse off for daring to seek recognition: “Today’s grand pronouncements will

gained new momentum in a Middle East reshaped by the Arab Spring upheavals of the last two years.

In concrete terms, the cease-fire deal is far more important. Israel was forced to give up unprecedented concessions

and Israel are scrambling to contend with a realignment of forces in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab revolutions.

The upheavals across North Africa and the Middle East have pried apart the

soon fade, and the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed, save that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded.”

The irony of such complaints is that

to Palestinian demands in negotiations brokered by the U.S. and Egypt-including a promise to ease the Israeli and U.S. economic blockade imposed on Gaza since 2006. By contrast, UN recognition of an “observer state” presided over by the Palestinian Authority is symbolic at best.

Nevertheless, the lopsided margin

network of alliances that Washington has used to exert its dominance for decades--leaving the U.S. and its Israeli watchdog more isolated and exposed as imperialist oppressors who are opposed by the vast majority of people in the region. In the context of the wider pan-Arab uprising, the cause of Palestinian liberation enjoys better

Israel and the U.S. are attacking the initiative of a PA leadership under President Mahmoud Abbas that has embraced the U.S.-brokered “peace process” and made historic concessions on Palestinian demands in pursuit of a “two-state” solution. Meanwhile, Israel used the cover of negotiations to carry out countless massacres and targeted

assassinations, and to nearly double the number of Israeli settlers.

Under the Oslo “peace process,” the PA has become a caretaker of Israeli interests, particularly with its opposition to Hamas, the Islamist party that won elections in 2006 for the Palestinian Legislative Council and that dominates Gaza. As Abunimah writes: The Abbas PA’s record of collaboration with Israel, against the interests of the Palestinian people is long, shameful and well documented. It includes plotting secretly with Israel, the U.S. and the former Mubarak regime in Egypt to overthrow the elected Hamas-led Palestinian Authority after 2006, colluding with Israel to bury the Goldstone report into Israel’s war crimes in Gaza in 2008-09, begging Israel not to release Palestinian prisoners so as not to give credit to Hamas, and more recently, Abbas’ public renunciation of the Palestinian right of return, a reflection of his longstanding position in negotiations.

Abbas has already shown that little will change because of the UN vote.

For example, supporters of gaining UN observer status had claimed that at least the PA could become a signatory to the Rome Treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), raising the possibility of criminal charges against Israeli officials responsible for war crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank.

Yet one day after the vote, Abbas reaffirmed his continued deference to Israel on this issue: “We now have the right to appeal to the ICC, but we are not going to do it now and will not do it except in the case of Israeli aggression.”

In other words, Abbas conceded that the PA wouldn’t pursue one of a very few possibly meaningful consequences of gaining observer status. And if the ruins of Gaza after another Israeli assault or the promise to expand settlements in the West Bank don’t count as “Israeli aggression,” it’s hard to imagine what does.

Britain’s Financial Times reports that Hamas is now recognized as “a legitimate regional player”: Hamas may still be listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the EU, but few dare to treat it that way now. In the Arab and Muslim world, Hamas lost its pariah status long ago: Continued on page 11 >>

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

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UK govt considering tax clampdown on Google and Amazon

The British Government will explore an internationally coordinated new tax made specifically to capture the earnings of Internet giants, including Amazon and Google.

The Treasury wants to work with other jurisdictions, including the US and continental Europe, to close the loophole that allows webbased companies to avoid millions of pounds of tax on earnings around the world.

According to the Telegraph, the Chancellor is expected to appoint a tax expert to lead a consultation into the practicalities of a new levy following public and political criticism of the low levels of tax paid by some of the biggest companies operating in Britain.

More pressure for reform will come from the Public Accounts Committee which is publishing its report into Britain’s treatment of international earnings, the report said.

The Parliamentary Committee has accused Google, Amazon and Starbucks of being ‘immoral’ in paying low levels of corporation tax, the report added.

According to the report, in evidence to the Committee, it

emerged that Amazon recorded 2.9 billion pounds sales last year,

but declared Amazon.co.uk sales of just 207 million pounds.

Over three years, the UK division has paid 2.3 million pounds corporation tax on 7.1 billion pounds sales, the report said.

According to the report, Google paid six million pounds corporation tax on 2.5 billion pounds of UK revenues in 2011.

Last week Matt Brittin, chief executive of Google UK, said that MPs were blaming companies for a

system that they had designed.

“Google plays by the rules set by politicians,” he said, adding: “The only people who really have choices are politicians who set the tax rates.

According to the report, the Treasury is planning to unveil a new ‘information sharing’ agreement with Britain’s Crown Dependencies under which the governments of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man will pass on details of accounts and investment trusts held in their jurisdictions.

Experts have said that the clampdown on British territories is ‘low-hanging fruit’ but taxing webbased companies is far harder, the report added.

Indian couple convicted in Norway for alleged child abuse

A Norway court has convicted an Indian couple for alleged child abuse. The police have accused the couple, who is from Andhra Pradesh, of “gross or repeated maltreatment of their children by threats, violence”. Indian software professional and his wife were today held guilty of “serious child abuse” and sentenced to jail terms for 18 months and 15 months respectively.

Chandrasekhar Vallabhaneni and his wife Anupama, who were arrested by the police last month, were convicted for gross or repeated maltreatment of their child/children by threats, violence or other wrong. They have a couple of days to go in for appeal.

“Oslo District Court has found an Indian couple guilty on several counts of child abuse. In the view of the Court, the couple deliberately burned their son’s leg with a hot spoon or similar object with the result that the child had burn marks measuring approximately 3 x 5 centimetres,” an official statement said. Justifying the arrest and charges, Kurt Lir, head of prosecution, Oslo Police department, had told the news agency that “there were burn marks and scars on the body of the child, who has also been beaten by the belt.”

The Court said it has been proven that on one occasion the parents had even threatened to brand their son’s tongue with a hot spoon.

“The Court also found that it had been proven that the parents had on several occasions hit the child with a belt or similar object and that they had on one occasion threatened to burn their son on his tongue with a hot spoon. The proven abuse took place over a period of six to seven months and therefore falls under section 219, first paragraph, of the Penal Code on repeated maltreatment.

The jail terms of 18 months for the father and 15 months for the mother were proposed by the prosecution.

“One of the parents received an unconditional prison sentence of 18 months, and the other an unconditional prison sentence of 15 months. This is in line with the sentences proposed by the prosecution. The verdict can be appealed to the Borgarting Court of Appeal,” the statement said.

The counsel for the couple indicated that they will challenge the verdict.

“It has been proved that the couple has burnt their child with

a hot spoon, apart from beating and threatening him,” Kurt Lir, Head of Prosecution, Oslo Police Department, told PTI. He also said prosecution was “satisfied” with the Court verdict.

Reacting to the Court verdict, Indian officials in the Ministry of External Affairs said,”our embassy in Norway has been in touch with the Indian nationals involved in the case.

“Even during the course of their detention the Consular Officer has been in touch with them. We will continue to render necessary

consular assistance and will be in touch with their lawyer,” they said.

Family members of the Indian couple, Chandrashekhar and Anupama Vallabhaneni convicted by an Oslo court on child abuse charges, on Tuesday expressed their disappointment over the verdict saying it violates child rights and sought intervention of the Government.

“We will now appeal in the higher court. We also request the Indian Government to intervene,” Chandrasekhar’s nephew Sailendra told reporters in Hyderabad.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

Morsi’s way ‘out’

President Morsi needs an exit before it is too late, President Mohamed Morsi is expected to take to the airwaves today and address the nation — not just his Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi followers, to whom he spoke last Friday — and convince them he is committed to reconciliation.

The text of Morsi’s message was still being pondered on Wednesday. Its aim, though, was clear — to contain reactions to the constitutional declaration issued last Thursday in which Morsi effectively neutered the judiciary at a time when, courtesy of an earlier constitutional declaration, he already holds all legislative and executive power.

The president’s advisors and other informed sources agree Morsi will not rescind the constitutional declaration. What he will do depends on who is talking. Some say the most likely scenario is an early referendum on the controversial draft constitution being finalised by a Constituent Assembly that has lost a third of its members and as a consequence is dominated more than ever by Islamists. The move, they say, has the advantage of speeding up the de facto elimination of the constitutional declaration which places Morsi’s presidential decrees beyond judicial review.

Other scenarios revolve around the same trade off, exchanging a widely rejected constitutional declaration for a controversial constitution.

Sources say the president, as well as his Salafi allies, have refused alternatives, including a temporary and downsized constitution or a temporary re-introduction of the bulk of the 1971 constitution, despite the fact that Morsi’s constitutional declaration provoked the largest demonstration Tahrir Square has seen since the downfall of Hosni Mubarak.

But if the president’s supporters are adamant, so too the crowds packing Tahrir Square on Tuesday evening: they rejected any tradeoff between Morsi’s constitutional declaration and a constitution many fear is designed to limit the freedom of women, Copts and other minorities.

“He can forget it. If that is what he is planning then he should spare himself the effort,” said Maha, a mechanical engineer and member of the Constitution Party.

What Morsi needs to do, she says, is withdraw his constitutional declaration and accept whatever ruling the Administrative Court delivers on the fate of the Constituent Assembly.

“If Morsi comes out to tell us we have to accept one unacceptable

of towns made the feelings of at least some of the demonstrators crystal clear.

If Morsi does not find a way out of the current quagmire soon, argues lawyer, activist and founding member of the Egyptian Current Islam Lotfi, then his presidency is

the responsibility for the current stalemate.

“They need to be open to working out an exit scenario that will eliminate any dictatorial attempts on the part of the president or the current political majority but that also takes into account the impact

Islamists’ social and political hegemony.

Members of the Constituent Assembly belonging to the FJP spoke on Tuesday and Wednesday of attempts to convince members who had withdrawn from the constitution drafting committee to rejoin and vote on the final text. The grand sheikh of Al-Azhar joined in the appeals though as Al-Ahram Weekly went to press the majority of those who had withdrawn said they stood by their decision.

Morsi is pondering his options under growing pressures: a nation grieving over the loss of lives of young demonstrators and frustrated by the disappointing performance of the government; state bodies that have never bowed in full to the authority of the Muslim Brotherhood president; a unified opposition that is threatening a civil disobedience; a declining economy; growing concern among Islamists that their popularity is waning and increased apprehensiveness among Western states that Egypt is courting instability in an already fragile

alternative or another that’s equally unacceptable then we will simply tell him that we have no interest in his offers. If he cannot offer anything better then we have no interest in him… He can leave as Mubarak left,” said Amal, a teacher with no partisan affiliation.

Chants calling on Morsi to step down were not the loudest in Tahrir Square, though they could be heard in Cairo as well as other governorates which witnessed violent clashes. And the fact that offices of both the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), were attacked in a number

in danger of sinking.

Lotfi does not believe the constitutional declaration is the sole cause of Morsi’s current woes: it merely compounded existing problems.

“Despite concerns over the performance of the president we all know his removal will aggravate an already volatile situation. There will be severe consequences, economic and otherwise,” says Lotfi. It is therefore up to the president to work out a pathway that leads Egypt away from the brink.

Lotfi does not exempt Morsi’s political adversaries of some of

of any further procrastination on stability,” says Lotfi. But, he adds, the president, as head of the executive, “and the one that came up with this constitutional declaration”, must take the lead in exiting the quagmire.

Lawyer and activist Nasser Amin worries that Morsi is not seeking a way out of the current crisis but rather looking for ways to overcome hurdles to imposing “an Islamist constitution”. By attempting to exchange his constitutional declaration for the rushed imposition of the draft constitution, says Amin, Morsi hopes to pave the way for the

region.

“It is not an easy situation but Morsi got us here by insisting on a fully Islamist government, by excluding other national forces and by failing to live up to the expectations of the nation when it comes to transparency and reforms,” says Maha. “He made the problem and he is the one who has to come up with the solution.”

“Whatever choices he makes Morsi needs to avoid offering too little too late. He must be aware of the pace of the public opinion and not to repeat Mubarak’s mistake. We all know where it led Mubarak.”

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

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Rs. 2,490 crore of tax exemption to political parties in five years

Ten main political parties of the country together had a whopping Rs. 2,490 crore of tax-exempted income in the last five years, according to information from the Income Tax department through a Right to Information plea.

Of this the ruling, Congress and the main Opposition party BJP have cornered more than 80 per cent.

The figures of political parties’ income in this period received under the RTI does not include the donations or income below Rs. 20,000 and hence a large number of small individual donations are not incorporated into it. The Congress had a tax-exempted income to the tune of Rs. 1385.36 crore, more than double of the BJP, which

recorded a tax-exempted income of Rs. 682 crore in the period between 2007-08 to 2011-12.

BJP ally JDU’s tax free income in this period except the year 200809 has been Rs. 15.51 crore.

BSP recorded an income of Rs. 147.18 crore in three financial years 2007-08, 08-09 and 11-12. The party filed incomplete return in

North Korea ‘confirms’ unicorn’s lair

Korean news agency say they have ‘recently reconfirmed’ the lair of one of the unicorns ridden by the ancient King Tongmyong Normally, North Korea’s official state news agency is the place to go for reports ranging from the reclusive totalitarian state’s unparalleled scientific achievements to the limitless love which its inhabitants reserve for

their successive leaders.

Yet in what appears to be a genuine world exclusive, the inimitable Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has now broken the incredible news that archaeologists in Pyongyang have discovered a unicorn’s lair.

Or rather, the report says that they have “recently reconfirmed” the lair of one of the unicorns ridden by the ancient Korean King Tongmyong, founder of a kingdom which ruled parts of China and the Korean peninsula from the the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD. The KCNA goes on to state that the location happens to be 200 metres from a temple in the North Korean capital, adding: “A rectangular rock carved with words “Unicorn Lair” stands in front of the lair.”

“The carved words are believed to date back to the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392),” says the report.

Archaeologists from the Academy of Social Sciences at North Korea’s History Institute were credited with making the discovery.

The news story comes days after eyebrows were raised by another news story relating to the state officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

On that occasion, it was the online version of China’s Communist party newspaper which hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un as the sexiest man alive – not realising it was satire.

2009-10 and had no tax-exempted income in 2010-11.

Sharad Pawar’s NCP had a taxexempted income of Rs. 141.34 crore in the five years from 2007 to 2012.

According to the information from the IT department, CPI-M recorded an income of Rs. 85.61 crore in four years in this period while it had nil

income in 2008-09.

CPI’s income in two financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10 is pegged at Rs. 28.47 crore.

JD(S) had an earning of Rs. 7.16 crore in two financial years of 2009-10 while Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had a tax-exempted earning of Rs. 2.55 crore in four years from 2007 to 2011.

Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) earned Rs. 2.85 crore in three years from 2008 to 2011.

The information came through a petition filed by Hisar based RTI activist Ramesh Verma before the Income Tax department.

1. Political parties are exempted from tax on their income through section 13 A of IT Act 1961. They have to however, maintain a book of account for donations or income above Rs. 20,000.

Palestinian Recognition Marks Triumph over Israel

Continued from page 8 >> its leaders have long been welcome guests in royal palaces and presidential residences from Turkey to Qatar and from Tunisia to Jordan...In the end, Hamas appears to have forced Israel, the U.S. and others to engage with it largely on its terms--as a powerful political force that will no longer be ignored.

Meanwhile, the regional realignment in the Middle East has left Israel more isolated. The Egyptian Revolution of February 2011 toppled Hosni Mubarak, whose dictatorial regime was crucial to enforcing the subjugation of Gaza.

Egypt is now led by President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that gave rise to Hamas in the late 1980s.

Likewise, Turkey, also once a close ally of Israel, can now be counted among Hamas’ allies--Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Israel’s assault on Gaza as “ethnic cleansing” and “terrorism.”

So even as many Palestinians welcomed the PA initiative for “observer state” recognition, the political framework that the PA has accepted for two decades--of negotiations and continual concessions under the rubric of the Oslo “peace process,” with the goal of a “two state” solution--is crumbling.

When Palestinians and their supporters celebrate the Gaza cease-fire, they are celebrating the determination of a resistance in Gaza that has inspired

hope for an alternative to endless Israeli violence and endless PA surrender.

The potential for Palestinians to achieve much more than “nonmember observer status” at the UN is much clearer today--and should inspire all our struggles for justice and freedom, in the Middle East and around the world.

Both Israel and the US were adamantly opposed, but the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday granted the Palestinians non-member observer status, essentially an official recognition of a Palestinian state. The European Union was unable to find a common line, and Germany abstained as expected.

Palestine’s Abbas to visit Turkey to deliver ‘special thanks’ for support at UN Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to visit Turkey on Monday to deliver his “special thanks” for Ankara’s support for Palestinians’ UN statehood bid. Speaking at a reception in New York, Abbas thanked Turkish leaders for standing by the Palestinians in their quest for statehood recognition in the UN. Recognition of Palestine will also be celebrated by a reception organized by the Palestinian Embassy in Ankara next week.

The Palestinian Authority’s status at the UN was upgraded with a 138-9 vote at the 193-member UN General Assembly on Thursday.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

Abbas Upon Arrival in Ramallah:

“Now, We Have a State” Abbas on return from UN: The future is ours

President Mahmoud Abbas returned from New York, where he won a UN vote to admit Palestine, to cheering crowds in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday.

Buoyed by the UN General Assembly vote to recognize Palestine as a non-member state, Abbas told thousands assembled outside the presidential compound: “We are now a state.”

“The date Nov 29. is now considered a critical moment in Palestinian history,” Abbas said.

“The world is with us, and history is with us, God is with us and the future is ours,” he told the crowds.

East Jerusalem is now secured as the capital of the Palestinian state, he said, promising the vote would change many facts on the ground.

The vote for Palestine by 138 countries shows the forces of war, settlements and occupation have become even more isolated in the world, he continued.

Abbas said up until the last moment he was under pressure to change the content of his speech, but he refused.

Now, he said, there are several other issues waiting to be achieved, including reconciliation with Hamas. He thanked Palestinian parties for standing behind him with the UN bid.

After UN vote, Israel to suspend PA funds

Israeli Finance Minister Steinitz says won’t transfer tax payments to Palestinians in response to UN bid. ‘I’ll use the money to offset their debt to the Electric Corp,’ he states. PM Netanyahu: We’ll continue building in Jerusalem Israeli government continues

to punish Palestinians over UN bid: Israeli Finance Minister Steinitz stated Sunday morning that he would not transfer the tax payments collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority this month.

Israel rejects ‘Palestine,’ takes punitive action Israel’s government on Sunday voted to officially reject last week’s UN General Assembly

affirmed that his government will continue settlement construction in every place, in West Bank and East Jerusalem it considers “strategic”, following Palestine winning UN status recognition vote at the United Nations.

He said that settlement construction will continue in East Jerusalem and other areas that Israel considers as essential

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told his fellow ministers that he would be withholding more than $100 million in tax revenues collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in response to the UN vote.

Steinitz noted that the Palestinian Authority owes Israel an even larger amount in unpaid electrical bills, so he will put the money

vote recognizing “Palestine” as a sovereign state, and took several punitive measures such as withholding tax revenues and approving more Jewish “settlement” housing.

Netanyahu: We will Continue Building Settlements Everywhere Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting on Sunday,

for its security, stressing that his government refuses the decision of the United Nations to recognize Palestine as non-member state.

“The state of Palestine will not be established without reaching security arrangements, without recognizing the Jewish identity of Israel and without ending the conflict by the Palestinian side,” said Netanyahu.

toward covering that debt.

Netanyahu indicated that he is still ready for a negotiated peace settlement that includes the real establishment of a Palestinian Arab state, but only after Israel’s conditions are met: “There will be no Palestinian state until Israel is recognized as a Jewish state alongside a resolution to end the conflict.”

Britain and France condemned on Saturday a plan by Israel to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, saying international confidence in its desire to make peace with the Palestinians was at risk. The United States, one of just eight countries to vote alongside Israel against the Palestinians at the UN General Assembly, said the latest expansion plan was counterproductive to any resumption of direct peace talks stalled for two years.

France, which voted with the Palestinians, and Britain, which abstained, had tougher censure for Israel, which wants to keep all of Jerusalem and swathes of West Bank settlements under any future peace accord. Most powers view the settlements as illegal for taking in land captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

“If implemented, these plans would alter the situation on the ground on a scale that makes the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.

“They would undermine Israel’s international reputation and create doubts about its stated commitment to achieving peace with the Palestinians.”

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the last Israeli decision of constructing new settlements in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, emphasizing that such actions justify the urgency to lodge this dossier with UN Security Council.

One of the areas under Continued on page 13 >>

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Palestinians deserve more than non-member status

By Rashid Shahin

Up until the last moment, the United States and Israel were doing their utmost to change the positions of other countries, and to dilute the significance of the Palestinian step to upgrade the status of Palestine to non-member state observer status.

Since the Palestinians announced their intention to go to the UN, many Western countries, including the US, did everything possible to convince Palestinian leaders to drop the move, or at least postpone such a step.

In their contacts with the Palestinian leadership, European ministers, in particular the British, acted against the values and traditions to which Europe subscribes, values that call for freedom and human rights for all human beings around the globe.

It is obvious that some European politicians have not overcome what happened during and after World War II. It is also clear that the Europeans have different attitudes to their governments.

This contradiction in the relationship between the peoples and governments in Europe is due to the absence or lack of statesmen like Churchill and Charles de Gaulle.

It is hard for Palestinians to understand why America, the UK and Germany were trying to frustrate the Palestinian move.

Palestinians consider the positions of these countries shameful, especially the UK, whom they judge not only responsible for the

tragedy of the Palestinian people but revealing its immoral, inhuman and even hostile attitudes to Arabs and Muslims in general.

In 1947, Palestine was under

of the Palestinian state was and still never has been put into practice.

Now, Britain, which the Palestinians consider the power

in an inhuman way, or are the victims of war crimes or crimes against humanity have the right to go to The Hague.

Such rights cannot be divisible or

the British Mandate when it was decided to divide Palestine into two states through the unfair Resolution 181, when 33 states encouraged, incited and in some cases threatened by the US and the UK, voted for the partition of Palestine, with 13 against and 10 abstentions.

Sixty-four years ago, part of the resolution was implemented: this part was the establishment of the State of Israel, while the other part which concerns the establishment

behind their catastrophe, was against the idea of Palestine going to the UN to seek new status.

According to the BBC, the official position of the UK was that it would abstain from the vote unless the Palestinians promised to meet its condition which was “to seek public assurance by the Palestinians” that they will not use the new status to go to The Hague.

All peoples of the world who are suffering oppression and treated

ignored because of color, origin, religion, race or any other reason, it can’t be granted to the Jews or to the Serbians and banned for the Palestinians.

Equal rights for the people of the world is the core principle of democracy; demanding that anybody not to practice his rights is immoral and smacks of hypocrisy.

Imagine that it was Israel who demanded to go to The Hague for any reason? It would be difficult to

see any of these politicians daring to ask her not to go.

Since Israel is a democratic state and allegedly never commits a war crime or crime against humanity, why are the Israeli leaders worried that Palestine will be part of the International Criminal Court-ICC-.

It is not easy for the Palestinians to understand the hostile attitude of the UK, especially when the UK and other Western countries keep demanding Palestinians abandon violence and respect international laws and conventions.

Palestinians wonder how they can trust the Western countries when they speak about a real independent state with full sovereignty, while opposing the symbolic step to have observer status.

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, who joined the Friends of Israel Society when he was only 16, will not understand the words of an old Palestinian man who was among thousands of Palestinians celebrating the event in the yard of the Nativity Church where Jesus was born.

The old Palestinian was saying, “Zionist leaders were betting on the fact that old Palestinians would die and new generations would forget.”

The old man added, “Palestine will never be another Andalusia, there is much difference between here and there; here it is our land, it is the land of our ancestors, but there it was the land of others, we were the invaders, that is why the Arabs left.

“Palestine is not Andalusia; we were born here and we die here.”

The author is a Palestinian journalist based in Bethlehem.

Abbas on return from UN: The future is ours Continued from page 12 >> consideration for the new homes is Ma’ale Adumim, a settlement of 40,000 inhabitants that separates East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

Hagit Ofran, head of the Settlement Watch project at Peace Now, told Al Jazeera that the announcement would not mean immediate construction. “There is no plan ready for implementation,” she said. “In order to build, they must approve plans.”

About 500,000 Israeli settlers live in more than 100 illegally-built towns and cities in the West Bank and East Jersualem. Palestinian officials said on Sunday that, despite Israel threatening to increase building if Palestine went to the UN, the new houses were in line with normal annual build numbers.

Manifest desire

Hague’s French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, spoke of E1 as “the new colonization zone” and said the Israeli expansion plan could “drain the confidence needed for a return to dialogue”.

“I call upon the Israeli authorities to abstain from any decision in this direction and to manifest clearly their desire to restart negotiations,” Fabius said in a statement.

Israel says Thursday’s upgrade of the Palestinians’ status at the United Nations to “non-member state” from “entity” could allow them to sidestep disputes such as territorial demarcation that should be addressed in negotiations.

The Israelis were further incensed by what they deemed an inflammatory UN speech by President Mahmoud Abbas, and said the upgrade resolution neglected Israel’s security and need for its own sovereignty to be recognized.

The Israeli settlement plan was disclosed to the media

by officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative government who spoke on condition of anonymity, a reticence suggesting the expansion had not been formally finalized.

Asked about the plan on Israel’s Channel 2 television on Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon denied it was in response to the Palestinians’ UN upgrade. “We are building, and we will continue to build, in accordance with our interest, not in accordance with the reaction of anyone else,” Ayalon said.

Interviewed separately on Channel 2, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that, if implemented, the Israeli settlement plan would be “most detrimental” to peace prospects.

“The challenge to all of us now is to use what happened two days ago (UN upgrade), to build on it, rather than spend too much time either, you know, thinking ‘This is the end of the road’, which it isn’t, from our point of view, or continue to sulk about it and express protestation and anger,” he said.

NEWS

14

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

Blast near home of Malala’s friend, one killed The blast occurred behind the home of Kainat Ahmed

A bomb went off in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday near the home of a girl who was injured in the Taliban attack on teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai, killing a woman and injuring seven others.

The explosion occurred early Tuesday morning in Mohammad Nazir’s house, destroying half of the house. Soon after the explosion, neighbours rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Saidu Group of Hospital.

The deceased woman was identified as

Wara Bibi who was a guest at A policeman collecting evidence from the site after a blast the house, while the injured near the house of Kainat, friend of Malala Yousafzai in Swat.

“The guardian of the house is working include four women and two in Saudi Arabia and majority of the children. people living in the house are children

An injured person is being treated in the hospital after a blast near the house of Kainat, friend of Malala Yousafzai in Swat

and women. The blast occurred at six in the morning which destroyed 70% of the house,” a neighbour Fazal Hakim told reporters.

It was earlier speculated that a bomb was planted by militants near Kainat’s house in the Makan Bagha area of Mingora district, but according to District Police Officer Gul Afzal Khan, the explosion occurred due to gas leakage and was not a terrorism attempt.

A relative of the family Fazal Wahab told The Express Tribune that there has been frequent gas loadshedding in the area, and people burn fire wood as fuel to cook food.

“We really don’t know whether the blast occurred due to some explosive devices or due to gas leakage.”

Following the incident, police and security forces reached the spot, cordoned off the area and launched an investigation into the matter.

Kainat just recently returned to school and despite trauma from the shooting, was very excited about it.

She was injured when Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members shot Malala Yousufzai, a 15-year-old child activist, who is currently recovering in a UK hospital.

When Sachin Tendulkar encountered Osama

“I was spending some time with my children in a swimming pool when I saw some movement behind the curtains upstairs and heard camera clicks. I did not have to guess as he could be none other than Suman,” said Sachin Tendulkar talking

about a snap that finds a proud place in the book.

While visiting a hospital in Pakistan, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar encountered a child whose name made the master tremble with fear. The kid’s name was Osama -

the same as that of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.

One would come across many such

Yuvraj Singh at a glittering ceremony here Sunday.

The book captures some rare and

anecdotes about Tendulkar’s life in “The Peak” - a book by sports photojournalist Suman Chattopadhyay which was launched by cricketer

memorable moments of Tendulkar’s life through Chattopadhyay’s lens and the stories behind them in the master’s own words.

“I was spending some time with my children in a swimming pool when I saw some movement behind the curtains upstairs and heard camera clicks. I did not have to guess as he could be none other than Suman,” said Tendulkar talking about a snap that finds a proud place in the book.

“Suman is among those few persons who have seen me from close quarters since my early days.

I happen to carry a photograph taken by him, wherever I travel,” added Tendulkar.

The photograph is of a young Tendulkar lying on the lap of his parents and adorns the cover of the book.

The peak has been scripted by journalist Sunandan Lele and has a foreword by former India cricketer Anil Kumble recapitulating his long association with Tendulkar.

It also has special quotes by cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev as also iconic singer Asha Bhosle.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

NEWS

15

Pakistani Company asked and Deoband issued a fatwa against appointment of Muslim women as receptionist

Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa against appointment of Muslim women as receptionists, calling it illegal and against sharia law.

The founders of the Deobandi movement were influenced by the Wahhabi movement.

The fatwa was issued after a query on November 29 from a Pakistan-based company asking if it could appoint a Muslim woman as a receptionist.

Darul Uloom said, “Muslim women working in offices as receptionist is un-Islamic because Muslim women are not allowed to appear before men without veil.”

Meanwhile, Mufti Zulfikar Ali, Muslim cleric and president of UP Imam organisation, upheld the fatwa and said Muslim women can work in institutions after wearing the veil but the work of a receptionist is to constantly interact with people, which

should not be practised.

The seminary recently also issued fatwas (religious decree) against the wearing of jeans and transplanting and dyeing of hair in black.

fatwa). In response to a query on wearing of jeans by women, especially in cold countries in Western Europe, the seminary has made it clear that “jeans pants and shirts are against the shariat (Islamic rules)”. “The physical

it should not be put on by the menfolk also.

“It is barred for men as well. Women, who want to look as men, are cursed”, the fatwa went on to say.

On a query on dyeing one’s hair in black, the

These fatwas have been issued in response to three different queries, according to the Darul Uloom’s Darul Ifta (department of

structure (curves) of the body is reflected if one puts on a jeans. Wearing them by a woman is a sin”, the fatwa said adding that

fatwa said that any other colour other than black is permissible. “Use of black hair dye is un-Islamic”, it said.

Zee editors’ case: Chairman Subhash Chandra ready to join probe

Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra’s lawyer RK Handoo on Monday informed the Delhi Police that he was ready to join probe in the case involving the arrest of two senior editors of Zee News.

The letter sent by Mr Handoo to the Assistant Commissioner of Police is attached herewith:

Zee News disappointed with denial of bail to its Editors on “preliminary technical grounds without consideration of merits”

Zee News Ltd has strongly opposed the denial of bail to its two Editors – Sudhir Choudhary (Zee News) and Samir

Ahluwalia (Zee Business) in connection with a case relating to a series of exposes in the Coalgate scam involving Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal. Both the editors would have exposed Mr Jindal’s efforts to silence the media’s coverage of Coalgate through Rs 100 crore-advertisement contracts.

Zee News Ltd stated that it sees today’s proceedings as another of the several coordinated efforts to muzzle the truth and harass the journalists to deter them from uncovering the Rs 1.86 lakh crore Coalgate Scam. The CAG has listed Mr Naveen Jindal promoted JSPL as the primary beneficiary in the Coalgate scam.

“We are disappointed but confident that justice will prevail as the two Editors are innocent. We hope to succeed in the superior court,” Rebecca John, Zee News Counsel, said. “Today’s order is only on preliminary technical grounds and without consideration of merits,” RK Handoo, counsel, stated.

Zee News considers the entire episode of arrests of Zee Editors and the deliberate delay and denial of their bail since last week as a subversion of honest journalism and an

attempt to prejudice and defame Zee News Ltd and deliberately divert attention from JSPL’s wrongdoings in the scam. Mr Jindal has a history of unfairly targeting those who dare to confront him with the truth.

Both the Editors of Zee News Ltd were arrested by the Delhi Police on November 27. The Editors were first sent to two days’ police custody after the arrest and then on November 30, they were sent to 14day judicial custody. On December 1, the court had pulled up the Delhi Police for the curious absence of the Public Prosecutor and the Investigating Officer from the court while the bail applications of Zee News Editors were posted for hearing.

Zee has reiterated that the arrests are unwarranted, illegal and an attack on the freedom of the press. The arrests also have been strongly critiqued by various senior thought leaders from the media, civil society and governance.

Zee News Ltd is undeterred by such diversionary tactics adopted by Mr Jindal and JSPL and would stay focused on unravelling the ultimate truth in the Coalgate scam.

NEWS

16

Saarc international I Thursday 06 December 2012

Israel might have as many as 400 nuclear weapons by the late 1990s

Diagram of some of the Dimona nuclear reactor, according to the information and photos provided by Mordechai Vanunu newspaper The Sunday Times, the British in 1986

Continued from page 1 >> not find any in-depth reporting on Israeli nuclear capabilities, although national security writer Walter Pincus has touched on it many times in his articles and columns.

Israel is working on improving its nuclear weapons capabilities, according to a report by the independent Trident commission in the United Kingdom that was published in the Guardian newspaper on Monday. According to the report in the Guardian 2011, the world’s nuclear states are planning to spend more than $800 billion in the coming years to modernize and upgrade their nuclear arsenals. The United States itself will spend $700 billion dollars on such projects.

Other countries that will reportedly invest in upgrading their nuclear arsenals are Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Israel, France and Britain. US taxpayers have contributed more to the Israeli defense budget than Israeli taxpayers. Since 2009, that amount is more than $11 billion.

American taxpayers give Israel over $3 billion per year (over $8 million per day).

First, Israel refuses to acknowledge publicly that it has nuclear weapons.

The U.S. government also officially does not acknowledge the existence of such a program. Israel’s official position, as reiterated by Aaron Sagui, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in US, is that “Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. Israel supports a Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction following the attainment of peace.” The “introduce” language is purposefully vague, but experts say it means that Israel will not openly test a weapon or declare publicly that it has one.

According to Avner Cohen, a professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California who has written two books about this subject, this formulation was born

in the mid-1960s in Israel and was the foundation of a still-secret 1969 agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and President Richard Nixon, reached when the United States became sure that Israel possessed nuclear bombs.

to foreign correspondents working there, too.

Another problem, Cohen said, is that relatively few people have overall knowledge of the Israeli program and no one leaks. Those in the program certainly do not leak; it is a crime to

President John Kennedy vigorously tried to prevent Israel from obtaining the bomb; President Lyndon Johnson did so to a much lesser extent.

But once it was a done deal, Nixon and every president since has not pressed Israel to officially disclose its capabilities or to sign the NonProliferation Treaty. In return, Israel agrees to keep its nuclear weapons unacknowledged and low-profile.

Because Israel has not signed the treaty, it is under no legal obligation to submit its major nuclear facility at Dimona to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections.

Iran, in contrast, did sign the treaty and thus agrees to periodic inspections. IAEA inspectors are regularly in Iran, but the core of the current dispute is that Tehran is not letting them have unfettered access to all of the country’s nuclear installations.

Furthermore, although Israel has an aggressive media, it still has military censors that can and do prevent publication of material on Israel’s nuclear forces. Censorship applies

do so. The last time an Israeli insider leaked, in 1986, nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped

by Israeli agents in Italy, taken home to trial, convicted and served 18 years in jail, much of it in solitary confinement.

And perhaps most important, Americans don’t leak about the Israeli nuclear program either.

Cohen said information about Israeli nuclear capabilities is some of the most compartmentalized and secret information the U.S. government holds, far more secret than information about Iran, for example. U.S. nuclear researchers, Cohen said, have been reprimanded by their agencies for talking about it openly.

George Perkovich, director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said there are benign and not-so-benign reasons that U.S. officials are so tight-lipped.

The United States and Israel are allies and friends. “Do you ‘out’ your friends?” he asked.

Among the less benign reasons U.S. sources don’t leak is that it can hurt your career. Said Perkovich: “It’s like all things having to do with Israel and the United States. If you want to get ahead, you don’t talk about it; you don’t criticize Israel, you protect Israel. You don’t talk about illegal settlements on the West Bank even though everyone knows they are there.”

The sipri.org reports says Israel continues to maintain its longstanding policy of nuclear opacity, neither officially confirming nor denying that it possesses nuclear weapons.1 However, Israel is widely believed to have used the heavywater research reactor at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, near Dimona, to produce plutonium for a nuclear weapon arsenal. There is little publicly available information about the Dimona reactor’s operating history. According to one estimate, it could have produced 690–950 kilograms of weapon-grade plutonium as of 2011.

According to Federation of Scientist FAS.org : The actual size and composition of Israel’s nuclear stockpile is uncertain and the subject of many - often conflicting - estimates and reports. It is widely reported that Israel had two bombs in 1967, and that Prime Minister Eshkol ordered them armed in Israel’s first nuclear alert during the Six-Day War. It is also reported that, fearing defeat in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israelis assembled 13 twentykiloton atomic bombs.

Plutonium production reactor at Dimona:

Israel spends on the entire nuclear project more than a billion dollars a year.

Dimona nuclear reactor to produce plutonium reactor is used to produce atomic bombs. The reactor was purchased from France as part of a secret agreement Suez War (1956), in which the IDF conquered the Sinai for France and Britain.

Establishment began late in 1957 or early 1958 and was completed in 1962., He began to operate (become critical) in 1963. In January 2012, media reports indicated that the Israel Atomic Energy Commission had decided to, at least temporarily, shut down the reactor.

This reactor fueled by natural uranium and heavy water base.

French (through Alsace) provided reactor with a capacity of 24-26 mega - watts, that Israel secretly increased - initially to 70 mega - watts, then a capacity of up to 150 mega - watts.

Israel tried to argue that the reactor is used for all kinds of civilian targets for peaceful purposes - but not to build nuclear weapons. It was all a lie. Even water desalination and development of the Negev were recruited to disguise the true role.

Thus, Ben-Gurion in the Knesset on December 21, 1960 when exposed to anything reactor (from the book by Avner Cohen “Israel and the Bomb”, page 128): Development of the Negev, we see vocation heads next decade require scientific research multi sided, and for this purpose Kamen Beer Sheva Institute of Scientific Research bloom and flora and fauna of the desert, and the like - so we are currently building a research reactor with a capacity of 24,000 pounds watt thermal serve needs of industry, agriculture , Medicine and Science, to train scientists and Israeli technique to build future nuclear power plant, as we assume, in 10 to 15 years.

Research reactor in the Negev we build now will not be completed before three or four years. This reactor, the reactor American, is intended solely for peaceful purposes, and was built under the direction of Israeli experts.

End Trainees will be open to other countries, and is similar reactor in helping the Government of Canada to establish in India, although our smaller reactor power.

Needless to say, apart from the power of the reactor, although Ben-Gurion’s said is true (and then secretly increased power due to the low amount of plutonium produced, barely enough to build a nuclear bomb.) Ben Gurion was not satisfied with this false statement: “On another query, presented by MK Dr. Yunichman opposition Freedom Movement, the source of the news of the atomic bomb production touch off Israeli, Ben-Gurion replied: ‘This knowledge source of false knowingly or unknowingly” (from “The government of Israel announces”

by Gideon Spiro, “Vanunu and the Bomb”, page 148).

Continued on page 17 >>

17

COMMENT

Saarc international I Thursday 06 December 2012

Israel might have as many as 400 nuclear weapons by the late 1990s

Continued from page 17 >> The first nuclear accident in Israel was established before the reactor.

It was in 1956-1957 that scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot.

Radioactive material leaked out.

Leak was discovered late. Radiation very high level was found in the laboratory and the bodies of the workers. High radiation was also found in young scientists, objects which touched and beds children “reported” Ma’ariv “the first time only in 2006, On December 14, 1966 accident occurred Dimona critical one worker was killed and the entire area was contaminated (The accident happened in unit 36 Institute 2).

Apparently the accident was caused by the incorrect use alcohol to clean the steam caused the explosion. It took weeks to clean up the area and the reactor was closed for several months. Exact details of the accident has not been released, the scope, the radiation levels emitted and the reasons for its occurrence.

In 1982, a small explosion occurred in the reactor as a result of leaking hydrogen. The blast was blown engineer was near, but he was not injured and leaked radiation.

Early 90s large fire broke reactor and is disabled for a long period.

Here, too, which was not published to the public. Recently safety concerns about this 40-year-old reactor have been reported. In 2004, as a preventive measure, Israeli authorities distributed potassium iodide anti-radiation tablets to thousands of residents living nearby In 1994, following the large amounts of rain fell at the Dimona reactor pool water overflowed the drainage of the reactor to the small crater nearby - water was suspected that contaminated radiation. Yossi Sarid, who was then Minister of the Environment tried to go there with experts and journalists from Israel and abroad. November 1998 reported that Israel is burying nuclear waste in Mauritania in Africa with a secret agreement with the local government - waste for money. According to testimony, aircraft carrying radioactive waste from Israel landed at Tidjikdja north country, and ships with nuclear waste from Israel docked at the port of the capital of Mauritania. The government denied it outright. However, a year later, in November 1999, established the Muslim Mauritania and Israel full diplomatic ties (economic ties only after 1996).

Reactor from the beginning was part of a secret project of the Ministry of Defense and the Office of the Prime Minister. He was never designed to produce electricity (power by Ben Gurion), and built for research. He

never was open and obvious not visited academics from around the

was supported by the French.

Reactor building (From an article by Alon Ben David on Channel 10)

world. Nor reactor was used for industry, agriculture or medicine - and purpose from the beginning was the same: to produce plutonium from building nuclear bombs.

According to Vanunu, the reactor produced about 40 kg of plutonium per year. Estimate is that half of the 70 Israeli produced about 200 kilograms of plutonium, up to half of the 80s Israel already has produced about 350 kilograms of plutonium.

Vanunu provided information indicates that Israel used about 4.5 kg of plutonium bomb, namely with a database of 300-200 nuclear bombs and nuclear weapons.

Reactor building (From an article by Alon Ben David on Channel 10) Institute 1 is the core of the reactor, the building with the silver dome (height 20 meters).

3 Institute - Institute which produce the fuel rods drives the reactor and lithium 6 used component of the bomb.

Institute 4 - Treatment Institute at The reactor’s radioactive waste buried in the ground before.

5 Institute - Institute in expecting the reactor’s fuel rods aluminum.

Institute 6 - power plant that provides electricity to the reactor.

Institute 8 - laboratory where Israel produces enriched uranium, like plutonium can be used as fissile material for a bomb. To produce uranium gas centrifuges.

9 Institute - Institute laser uranium enrichment, a unique Israeli invention.

10 Institute - Institute for the production of depleted uranium, an important component for the production of armor-piercing shells.

Institute 2 - a long building (60 meters by 24 meters) between two floors with no windows. Below the two-story has another six floors which Israel established secret plutonium separation plant designed to produce atomic bombs. In recent years, it turned out that this project

60s American inspectors visited the first floor of the Institute 2. They saw the restaurant and offices. Special wall built hid from them the elevator descended down into the ground.

2 Institute of trucks bringing the processed uranium rods reactor.

Through the great doors crane grabs the bars and pulls them into the largest production 4 levels deep.

The rods dipped in tanks of nitric acid and simmer about 30 hours.

Pipe system draws water, including uranium and plutonium. Chemical processes separated ingredients, baked in the oven which leaves little ball of 130 grams of plutonium, 1.7 kg of plutonium per week. Single bomb required amount of more than four kilograms of plutonium.

From level 2 Institute 2 can be viewed on a special balcony process established distinguished guests Terrace Balcony Golda machine.

Level 4 produce a substance called tritium, used to make bombs thermo - nuclear bombs more powerful than ordinary atomic bomb. In addition to producing at second bomb two essential materials: Lithium and Ditorium.

All these components are taken to level 5 unit known as mm 2, Department of Metals 2, and here are complex with a nuclear bomb.

Beyond money and technical knowledge that Israel obtained from the French, plutonium production reactor needs a steady supply of natural uranium and heavy water for cooling the core. France provided Israel with a small amount of uranium and 4 tons of heavy water (made in USA), U.S. has provided Israel with four additional tons of heavy water in 1963 - three years after discovering through the U2 planes that Israel secretly built nuclear reactor in Dimona bombmaking.

Dimona reactor also produces lithium-6 is used for the production

of thermo nuclear bombs. 220 kg lithium-6 Daotrid were produced until the mid-80s - the amount sufficient to produce 35 nuclear bombs contributed.

Israel could potentially have produced a few dozen nuclear warheads in the period 1970-1980, and is thought to have produced sufficient fissile material to build 100 to 200 warheads by the mid-1990s. In 1986 descriptions

and photographs of Israeli nuclear warheads were published in the London Sunday Times of a purported underground bomb factory at the Dimona nuclear reactor. The photographs were taken by Mordechai Vanunu, a dismissed Israeli nuclear technician. His information led some experts to conclude that Israel had a stockpile of 100 to 200 nuclear devices at that time.

By the late 1990s the U.S. Intelligence Community estimated that Israel possessed between 75-130 weapons, based on production estimates. The stockpile would certainly include warheads for mobile Jericho-1 and Jericho-2 missiles, as well as bombs for Israeli aircraft, and may include other tactical nuclear weapons of various types. Some published estimates even claimed that Israel might have as many as 400 nuclear weapons by the late 1990s. We believe these numbers are exaggerated, and that Israel’s nuclear weapons inventory may include less than 100 nuclear weapons. Stockpiled plutonium could be used to build additional weapons if so decided.

£20,000 fine for takeaway boss who killed rat

THE owner of an Indian takeaway restaurant in south London has stunned health inspectors by clubbing a rat to death in front of them.

The Independent newspaper reports that environmental health inspectors from Wandsworth council were checking out the kitchen of the New Chutney Express in Tooting.

WHEN a rat appeared in the takeaway , owner Rajakumar Rajalingam bludgeoned it to death in front of horrified inspectors, Kingston Crown Court heard.

More rats appeared, droppings were found on food shelves and gnawed chicken bones were also discovered.

Rajalingam must pay £20,000 in fines and costs.

In shocking scenes inspectors from Wandsworth Council were left recoiling in horror as Rajakumar Rajalingam killed a rodent in front of them. And despite his best efforts to

quell the untimely infestation, officers watched as more rats appeared…

Rajalingam admitted a string of food hygiene breaches and a trading standards offence at Kingston Crown Court last week. Passing sentence the judge described the takeaway owner’s actions as “disgraceful”…He added he had “brought the restaurant business into disrepute” and put the “public at risk of serious illness”…

Rajalingam, who had previously faced legal action from Wandsworth Council in 2007 for selling counterfeit champagne, was also fined £5,000 for selling fake Jacob’s Creek wine in his shop.

The council’s spokesman on consumer protection Cllr Jonathan Cook said: “This was a shocking catalogue of hygiene and food safety breaches. These premises were in a truly appalling state and posed an unacceptable danger to public health.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Bollywood rules at Marrakesh marks 12th international film festival

Despite the cold and rain there was a warm reception for the stars treading the red carpet at start of the Marrakesh international film festival. Movie fans turned out in force for the curtain-raiser of the event in the Moroccan city which continues to go from strength to strength, year on year.

prince charming” Shah Rukh Khan whipped thousands of Moroccans into a frenzy at the Marrakesh film festival when he danced to the tunes of movie songs at the Jamaa El Fna square.

Khan, 47, popularly known as “King

Khan”, was cheered at the square -- a mecca of tourism in Morocco -- where a giant screen was installed to show a preview of his latest Hindi movie, “Jab Tak Hain Jaan” (Till My Last Breath).

In its 12th edition, the festival which runs until December 8 in this ochre city, is presenting a “special tribute” to Indian cinema as it celebrates its centenary.

“I am pleased to present the star, the icon, the demigod of Indian cinema, Shah Rukh Khan,” said an organiser as the arrival of the star sparked a roar from young fans, who braved gloomy and cold weather to catch a glimpse of him.

Khan, who acted in some 80 films, was specially invited for the festival in Morocco, where Bollywood films rank alongside Egyptian movies in popularity.

A true showman, he warmed up the atmosphere with more than half-anhour song and dance performance on stage that had the crowds screaming in appreciation.

Later festival organisers screened a preview of “Jab Tak Hain Jaan,” directed by legendary Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra who died in October in Mumbai, the home of India’s Hindi-language movie industry, after more than five decades of movie career.

Khan had acted in several box-office hit movies produced and directed by Chopra such as “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge”, “Dil To Paagal Hai” and “Darr”.

He has also taken lead roles in other

blockbusters such as “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” and “Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham” directed by another popular

Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar.

“This is the first time I am seeing Shah Rukh Khan. This is a dream. He

was two feet away from me. He is so simple and modest,” Khadija Ariba, a young student, told AFP.

“I know all his films. They talk of love, injustice, humanity... things that we speak of. He is the prince of most girls.”

For many fans it was an “unforgettable” experience at Jamaa El Fna. “We watch movies on satellite channels and some movie theatres.

But to be present here on Jamaa El Fna is unforgettable for me,” said Ouadie El Ouwad.

Ranked in 2001 as part of the World Heritage List by UNESCO, Jamaa El Fna -- site of the April 28, 2011 bombing that killed 17 people -- was teeming with joyful fans -- mostly students and employees -- who cheered Khan.

“I left my workplace at 5 pm to see Shah Rukh Khan from close, but once here the place was already packed with people,” said Ahmed, 32, a carpenter.

“What I like most are his songs. And

I have a friend, who speaks very good Hindi which he learned by watching his movies,” he said as he straddled his motorcycle.

Fifteen films are in the race for the top prize at the festival, including “Touch of the Light” by Taiwanese Chang Jung-Chi, “The Attack” by FrenchLebanese Ziad Doueiri and “Like a Lion” by Samuel Collardey of France.

The festival’s jury comprises of Canadian Marie-Josee Croze, American James Gray, Moroccan Jillali Ferhati and French Lambert Wilson.

On Friday the festival kicked off with a special ovation for French actress Isabelle Huppert.

Saarc international I Thursday 06 December 2012

IN CINEMAS 20th DECEMBER IN 3D & 2D

Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) directs LIFE OF PI, based upon Yann Martel’s beloved book, which went on to become one of the biggest publishing events of the past decade. An epic adventure of magical realism, LIFE OF PI follows the story of a young man’s incredible survival at sea

(The Namesake). Yann Martel’s novel has been adapted into a screen play by David Magee (Finding Neverland), produced

by Ang Lee, Gil Netter (Water for Elephants), David Womark

against almost impossible odds.

A remarkable breakthrough in the use of 3D technology, PI will take audiences on an emotionally captivating journey that will

(Stardust), co-produced by David Lee. Cinematography by Claudio Miranda (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), editing by Tim Squyres (Crouching Tiger Hidden

inspire, touch and transport them to a place of discovery they will be unable to forget.

LIFE OF PI stars newcomer Suraj

Dragon). Production Design by David Gropman (Date Night), music by Mychael Danna (Little Miss Sunshine).

Sharma as Pi, Gerard Depardieu (Cyrano de Bergerac), Rafe Spall (Prometheus), Irrfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire) and Tabu

LIFE OF PI will open in the UK and Ireland on December 20 in 3D & 2D, distributed by Twentieth Century Fox.

aarc S

19

Saarc international I Thursday 06 December 2012

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international

Thursday, 06.12.12

Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan lead

India stands 4th in terrorist attack statistics - report As a target for terrorists, U.S. ranks No. 41 in world The United States is not the biggest terrorist target on the planet, ranking 41st on a new index tracking global terrorism trends released Wednesday that ranks 158 nations according to the severity of terrorist activity within their borders, plus the death, destruction and economic damage that accompanies it.

New index called Global Terrorism Index (GTI) prepared by Australian think tank revealed on 4 December 2012 that India, Afghanistan and Pakistan were the most

terrorism-hit nations in 2011.

GTI was released by Australia-based Institute for Economics & Peace and it ranked various countries based on the data collected from Global Terrorism Database, which in turn is operated by a group at University of Maryland.

GTI revealed that India, Afghanistan and Pakistan accounted for 11 percent, 10 percent and 12 percent of global terrorist events respectively from time period 2002 to 2009.

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Philippines: Typhoon Bopha death toll rises Death toll in Philippine typhoon exceeds 280, hundreds missing

Stunned parents searching for missing children examined a row of mudstained bodies covered with banana leaves while survivors dried their soaked belongings on roadsides on Wednesday, a day after a powerful typhoon killed more than 280 people in the southern Philippines.

Officials fear more bodies may be found as rescuers reach hard-hit areas that were isolated by landslides, floods and downed communications.

At least 151 people died in the worsthit province of Compostela Valley when Typhoon Bopha lashed the region Tuesday, including 78 villagers and soldiers who perished in a flash

flood that swamped two emergency shelters and a military camp, provincial spokeswoman Fe Maestre said.

About 80 people survived the deluge in New Bataan town with injuries, but between 50 and 319 others re-

main missing, according to varying estimates by government officials and the army.

“These are whole families, six or seven names with the same surnames. It is saddening to think entire families

have been washed away,” Interior Secretary Roxas said.

“There is hardly any structure that is undamaged,” he said in an interview over ABS-CBN television.

“We need to rush to these areas body

bags, medicines, dry clothes and most importantly tents, because survivors are living out in the open,” Social Welfare Secretary Soliman told AFP. Ramos said 279 other people were still missing, while 339 others were treated for injuries.

About 178,000 people remained huddled in evacuation centres, mostly crowded schoolhouses, gyms and other government buildings, officials said.

Meanwhile, rescue personnel still struggled to reach areas cut off by the storm where many more casualties might be found. President Benigno Aquino said he hoped the country was Continued on page 20 >>

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Bangladesh 13th from bottom in corruption Pakistan scored 27 points to be ranked next to Bangladesh, while India scored 36 points to stay at 94th

Bangladesh have been put 24 places lower at 144 in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2012.

The Berlin-based watchdog announced the list on Wednesday.

Last year, arranged in a good-to-bad sequence considering 183 countries and their conditions, the index had Bangladesh at 120th position. This year, the list has 176 countries.

Counting backwards, Bangladesh is 13th most corruption-wrecked

country. It held the same rank even last year.

The Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) gave details of the ranking mechanism of the index at a press conference at the BRAC Inn Centre here.

TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman told the press conference, “Bangladesh has moved

downward as it scored less. This is a worrisome scenario.”

Bangladesh scored 26 out of 100 points this year. Out of 10 last year, Bangladesh had scored 2.7 points or 27 out of 100.

Although the position has not changed, the vastness of corruption in Bangladesh showed an increase.

The TIB blamed issues like allegation of graft in the Padma bridge project, Hall-Mark loan scam and the cashscandal-hit railways for the country’s

‘failure to improve’ on the scale. TIB Trustee Board Chairperson Sultana Kamal was among others present at the conference.

According to the list, the countries with least corruption are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand. Each of them has scored 90 points.

New Zealand had topped the list of corruption-free countries last year.

Afghanistan, Korea and Somalia are at the bottom of the list with 8 points each.

Bangladesh had been the most corrupt country from 2001 to 2005.

Bhutan topped the list of South Asian countries with least corruption scoring 63 points. Pakistan scored 27 points to be ranked next to Bangladesh, while India scored 36 points to stay at 94th position.

The Transparency International releases the index every year. It says the index is not a subject to prove but to estimate the scale of corruption.

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Pak military intelligence ‘gathering Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan lead information on journalists’

Pakistan’s Military Intelligence has launched a nationwide drive to gather information on journalists and columnists, with operatives going doorto-door to ascertain details about their religion, passports and bank account numbers as part of a “verification process”.

The intelligence operatives have approached journalists with a two-page form in Urdu to gather information on them, The News daily reported today.

The names of nearly 100 well-known media personalities, including women

journalists, including four currently working with The News, the daily said.

Mariana Baabar, a correspondent with The News, wrote she was approached yesterday by two “polite” officials, who identified themselves as Military Intelligence operatives and said they had visited her home several times but were unable to meet her.

The operatives also sought her help in locating phone numbers and the address of another journalist.

The Military Intelligence is currently headed by a two-star general, Maj

The figures revealed that there were 529 terrorist incidents in 2011 and they had tolled lives of 402 people, injuring 687 people. The numbers were higher in 2006 to 2010 time period when the number of casulties averaged greater than 600 people per year, rising to 735 people in 2009 and 772 in 2010.

In the year 2011, India, Pakistan, Russia as well as Middle East were most affected by terrorism. Out of 159 countries that were surveyed, India ranked number 4. Iraq was at the first position followed by Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen respectively.

The GTI showed that terrorism in the world started escalating after an increase in Iraq war. Consequently, it was followed by increasing terrorism in Afghanistan and later in Pakistan after 18 months.

The index also revealed that merely 31 countries out of surveyed 159 did not expereince a single terrorist attack since 2001.

The number of terrorist attacks each year has more than quadrupled in the decade since September 11, 2001, a study released on Tuesday said, with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan the most affected.

The number of annual deaths in attacks, however, peaked in 2007 – the height of the Iraq conflict – and has been falling ever since. The survey reported 7,473 fatalities in 2011, 25% down on 2007. That figure included dead suicide bombers and other attackers.

Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen were the five countries most affected by terrorism in descending order, it said, based on a measure giving weightings to number of attacks, fatalities and injuries and level of property damage.

The upswing in attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan only occurred after the Iraq war, the study showed, coming at largely the same time as heightened US-backed military campaigns there by NATO and the Pakistani government respectively. The findings suggested foreign powers should think twice before intervening militarily, Killelea said, even

in countries such as Syria, already seeing widespread bloodshed. Unless the conflict was brought to a swift end, terror attacks might actually increase, he said.

The greatest deterioration in 2011 took place in Syria and Yemen, the report said. Yemen has seen a dramatic upsurge in al Qaeda-linked activity in recent years, while Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have increasingly turned to suicide attacks and bombings. Of the 158 countries surveyed, only 31 had not experienced a single event classified as a “terrorist act” since 2001, the report said.

Even when the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington were taken into account, North America remained the leastaffected region over the period studied.

Western Europeans were 19 times more likely to die in a terrorist attack than North Americans, the report said. Aside from the United States – whose rating improved sharply over the decade as the casualties of 2001 were no longer factored in – the greatest improvements were seen in Algeria and Colombia.

Philippines: Typhoon Bopha death toll rises

journalists who live on their own and a columnist who is a sitting member of Parliament, are on the list of persons on whom information is being gathered, the report said.

Selected journalists and columnists living in Rawalpindi come under the jurisdiction of the army’s 10 Corps, the report quoted Military Intelligence officials as saying.

A two-member team is assigned to gather personal details from these

Gen Naushad Ahmed Kayani, who was nominated by army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

After reading dozens of questions on the two-page form, Baabar wrote at the end of the questionnaire, in the space provided for remarks: “As a working journalist, the Constitution and the laws of the land do not oblige me to provide the Military Intelligence with such personal and intimate information.”

learning from its frequent natural disasters, including the roughly 20 cyclones that hit each year. “Any single casualty is a cause for distress. Our aim must always be about finding ways to lessen them,” he told reporters in Manila, while pointing out the “big difference” in casualty counts compared with previous storms. The more than 500 dead or missing in Bopha was still below the 1,200 deaths from tropical storm Washi, which hit in December last year, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless in Mindanao, he said. Aquino said the government was investigating why an army patrol base in New Bataan, which was washed away in the flash floods, had been located in a flood-prone area. Officials were also checking reports that an evacuation centre there was among the structures wiped out in the floods, the president added.

“According to survivors, there is a small lake on the mountain that gave way so the waters flowed down, not just along the rivers ... but all across, like a waterfall, bringing a slurry that covered the whole town,” Roxas said.

One shelter there had caved in during the typhoon, forcing the people inside to flee to an even smaller building, he said. Bopha was the most powerful of the 16 storms to pummel the Philippines this year, though Mindanao is not usually on the front line.

Regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paniza said three soldiers taking part in rescue operations were killed in New Bataan, with eight others from the same unit among the missing. “It is quite sad and tragic. They were actually there to be ready to help our countrymen who may be in trouble,” Roxas said.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN NEWS

Cross-border attacks from Afghanistan

BORDER tensions are running high between Pakistan and Afghanistan with a continued spate of violence emanating from the Afghan side.

The firing of around 20 mortar shells by Afghanistan into Pakistan’s territory that landed near Angoor Adda and Zobha Pahaar areas despite signing of cross – border agreements between the two countries indicates how deep the mistrust has become.

That no casualty was reported was nothing short of a miracle given the extent of damage done by previous such attacks.

Despite notifying the Afghan and International Security Assistance Force at least 52 times, no tangible action has been taken. Hundreds of Pakistani security personnel

and border forces have been killed during the border attacks that add to the already soaring figures of casualty rate of the Pakistani security forces.

Sanctuaries in Kunar, Nuristan

and adjacent areas near the Pakistani borders are among the strongest shelters the terrorists have established for themselves so far.

It would not be wrong to say that

they pose a greater threat to peace in South Asia with an across the border extended reach. Housing key militants such as Maulana Fazlullah, Faqeer Muhammad, Abdul Wali, Hakeemullah and

many more, operations against them ought to have been launched before embarking on the impossible task of reconciliation.

Furthermore, the actions taken by the Afghan government by banning Pakistani newspapers speaks volume of the animosity that it harbours for Pakistan.

The accusations made by the Afghans regarding Pakistan’s role in counterterrorism campaign holds no weight whatsoever.

The delegation of the high peace council visiting Pakistan has been entertained by Pakistanis and has released more than a dozen Afghan Taliban to support the peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban. This clearly shows that Pakistan is still committed to bringing peace into the region. It is time others also realised the fact.

US military deaths in Post-American Afghanistan: Afghanistan at 2,031 options, proposals

As of Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012, at least 2,031 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.

The AP count is one less than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST. At least 1,694 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 118

more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action.

The AP count of total OEF casualties outside of Afghanistan is four more than the department’s tally.

The Defense Department also counts three military civilian deaths.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 18,071 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department.

To advertise call 020 8904 0619

Russia is interested in NATO’s strategy after 2014 for when the withdrawal of the coalition forces from Afghanistan is planned. Other countries which have interests in Afghanistan would also like to receive an answer to the question raised by the Russian Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko in Brussels.

As you know, Afghanistan is often called a crossroads between the East and the West. For the time being, Americans either remain undecided over the number of the remaining contingent or are unwilling to make this information public. According to “The Wall Street Journal”, the figure is 10,000 servicemen. The Pentagon gives another figure – 25,000. In any case, this is far less than the current NATO contingent that numbers nearly 70,000. Editor-in -Chief of the magazine “Russia In Global Affairs” Fyodor Lukyanov says.

“They would like to pull out their main forces and to leave sufficient forces there so that they could feel confident.

Hence – new attempts to reveal the socalled moderate Taliban fighters. After Obama’s re-election a boost was given to this process. Americans want to stay in Afghanistan as a guarantee that their interests will be taken into consideration there. Naturally, nobody knows what will turn out of this. Their bases are being strengthened there, and all this is an object of continued suspicions

that Americans will stay for long there.

Explaining their conduct, Americans say that this is something they always do to settle in a new place. What is true nobody knows. I think that Russia will receive an answer to the above-mentioned question in time. Obama’s administration does not want to aggravate the situation.”

Whatever the answer, it is rather doubtful that Russia will share with Americans the responsibility for the situation in Afghanistan after 2014, including both individually and within the framework of military-political unions of which it is a member. However, it will provide logistics support. The significance of the so-called northern route to transport both the forces and cargoes of the coalition forces in Afghanistan via Russia will only grow in the future.

Moscow is calling for making efforts to prevent Afghanistan from turning into a hotbed of international terrorism once

again and does not want it to remain a world drug lab.

Remodeling of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, a considerable reduction of the Western coalition’s contingents and the handover of responsibility for security in Afghanistan to the local authorities – all this will inevitably lead to changes. There is reason to believe that the country will face a new outbreak of a civil war as a result of which Taliban fighters inspired by the long-awaited victory would come to power in Kabul with Pakistan’s support. Americans will have to reach an agreement with them and also to compete with China that has serious economic and geopolitical interests in Afghanistan. And as regards Russia, it does not want the political temperature in Central Asia to overcome the critical point of self-ignition, when a word dropped by somebody may trigger a fire storm on the continent.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BANGLADESH NEWS

Jamaat blasts cocktails, vandalise bus in city

Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir blasted at least seven cocktails at the city’s Karwan Bazar Monday afternoon a day ahead of their countrywide hartal.

of Paltan Police Station, told The Daily Star.

Apart from the capital, the leaders and activists of Jamaat and Shibir also brought out processions and

the evening in Ranirbandar area under Chirirbandar upazila.

The clash left at least 15 people including an upazila level Jamaat leader injured, reports our

Earlier around 5:50pm, the Jamaat-Shibir activists vandalised a bus at Jatrabari crossing in the city. They also tried to set fire to the vehicle.

Police said a group of 40 to 50 Jamaat-Shibir men brought out a sudden procession in the area and vandalised the bus and torched two tyres, Gazi Mozammel Hossain, deputy commissioner (Wari Division), told The Daily Star.

The law enforcers dispersed the processionists and picked three of them up, official said.

Meanwhile, police arrested at least 20 Jamaat-Shibir activists in different areas at the city’s Paltan on charge of creating anarchy, Golam Sarwar, officer-in-charge

clashed with police at different parts of the country on Monday.

In Dinajpur, traffic movement with Dinajpur and other districts halted for several hours as JamaatShibir men clashed with police in

Dinajpur correspondent.

Police fired at least 15 tear shells and 10 rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the activists, police said.

Chirirbandar police said the clash ensued when police intercepted a

Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir blasted at least seven cocktails at the city’s Karwan Bazar Monday afternoon a day ahead of their countrywide hartal.

Shortly before 7:00pm, the prohartal activists set fire to three tyres on the Farmgate-Shahbagh road at Karwan Bazar, creating panic among the commuters and locals in the area, witnesses said.

Following the incident, a readymade garments factory and other business establishments were shut in the area.

The witnesses added that three to four youths aged between 25 and 26 blasted the cocktails and set the tyres on fire.

Protests, clashes continue in Ashulia

Ashulia garment workers engaged in clashes with police at several places for the second consecutive day on Monday.

At least 35 factories have been called shut for the day.

Ashulia Industrial Police Director Golam Raouf told bdnews24. com clashes began when workers attempted to block the Dhaka-Tangail highway at Jamgora bus stand in the morning. But police dispersed them using force.

However, later protests and clashes spread out to Jirabo, Kathgora, Pukurpar, Narasinghapur, Beron, Bipail and Jamgora areas.

The Industrial Police Director said traffic on the highway had been severely affected.

procession brought out by Jamaat and Shibir men at Ranirbandar Bazaar near Dinajpur-Dhaka highway around 6:15pm.

In response, the activists pelted brickbats at the police, said Md Tariqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Chirirbandar Police Station.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has declared a countrywide dawn-todusk hartal for Tuesday demanding cancellation of what they termed ‘farcical trial in the name of war crimes trial’ and release of detained party high-ups.

Shafiqur Rahman, acting secretary general of Jamaat, in a press release said the party called the hartal demanding withdrawal of ‘false’ cases against party high-ups and their release from detention.

Their demands also include restoration of the caretaker government system and control of the skyrocketing prices of essentials, the press release said.

PM questions demos in December

“We are trying to bring the situation under control ... we have deployed Industrial Police all over the industrial area.”

Thousands of garment workers from the factories in Ashulia staged

demonstrations and clashed with police in Savar’s Jamgora Bus Stand area on Sunday.

About 100 of them were injured in the clashes, while most of the factories in the industrial zone were announced shut for the day.

Workers in the Ashulia industrial belt have been demonstrating since the death of at least 110 fellow workers in the worst-ever factory fire on Nov 24 at the Tazreen Fashions Limited. They have staged demonstrations on every business day since last Monday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the nation on Monday to thwart those trying to spoil Bangladesh’s spirit of independence.

She inaugurated ruling Awami League’s month-long programme to mark the Victory Day and questioned the objective of the movement of the opposition in this month.

“The people of Bangladesh will have to raise their voice against those who have laundered money, who want to erase the history of the Liberation War, who create militancy, who try to spoil the spirit of the War and the country’s independence,” she said.

“We must build a wall to stop their violent acts so that they will not be able to bite once more,” she said.

The Prime Minister criticised BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for announcing the programme to block the roads across the country on Dec 9 demanding election under a non-party caretaker government.

“The BNP chief, the Leader of

the Opposition, has announced demonstration in the month of December and will announce a monthlong programme. What is her movement for? Against whom?”

“Is it to protect the war criminals?”

Hasina asked and answered herself, “For the defeated forces who had surrendered in this month.”

Khaleda picked up December as she wanted to join hands with the ‘defeated forces’, the Awami League President alleged.

“I’ve given the responsibilities to the people of the country to try this,” she added.

Hasina inaugurated the programme standing on the ‘Stage of Victory’ beside the Shikha Chirantan at the Suhrawardy Udyan.

Referring to the rules between the death of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 and Awami League’s return to power in 1996, she said, “They tried to oppress the people of Bangladesh for 21 years. They couldn’t and they

won’t be able to do that again.”

The Awami League started the day with the Prime Minister placing wreaths on the mural of Sheikh Mujib on Road 32 of Dhanmondi in the morning.

Hasina reached the venue around 3:30pm. She inaugurated the programme by releasing balloons and pigeons after the national anthem was played. Artists of the Sammilito Sangskritik Jote presented a song Bijoy Nishan Urchhe Oi. Awami League’s Cultural Affairs Secretary Asaduzzaman Noor recited Ekti Kobita Lekha Hobe, a poem of Nirmalendu Goon on Sheikh Mujib.

Ministers, leaders of Awami League and its associate organisations and cultural personalities attended the programme.

Law-enforcing agencies threw a security blanket over the area.

Awami League Presidium Member and Deputy Leader of Parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury recalled the regimes after the death of Sheikh Mujib and the return of Hasina.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BHUTAN NEWS

1,000 Australian scholarships awarded Bhutanese students who won scholarships this year with Australian, RCSC and Labour officials at a pre-departure briefing on December 3 in Thimphu Australia has granted 1,000 scholarships to Bhutanese in a wide variety of fields so far, the 44 Bhutanese professionals who would undergo their Masters in Australian Universities next year were told during a pre-departure briefing on December 3 in Thimphu.

Civil service commission’s commissioner Sangay Dorji told award recipients that Australia Awards target emerging leaders in Bhutan and provide them with skills and knowledge to drive change

and influence economic and social development.

Australia’s Charge d’Affaires Dr Lachlan Strahan said Australia is proud to have granted these awards that “underscore Australia’s commitment in working with Bhutan to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”

From 2014, the percentage of Australia Awards for private sector will increase to 40 percent from the 30 percent today.

The Australia Awards are an important part of Australia’s investment in education, providing long and short-term study and professional development opportunities to citizens from

developing countries around the globe.

Australia’s development assistance to Bhutan has grown steadily in recent years, reaching A $11M in 2012-13, with a main focus on human resource development.

Australian government’s assistance to Bhutan started in the 1960s

when Bhutan received trucks from Australia.

Australian assistance subsequently covered the Bhutan-Australia Sheep and Wool Project, air navigation equipment for Paro airport and many others including the Scholarships Program.

In its efforts to contribute to the

human resource development of Bhutan, the Australian government is contributing AUD1.4M over four years to develop institutional capacity of Royal Institute of Management through establishing Masters courses in public and business administrations.

Australia has been providing support to the World Food Program in Bhutan for over a decade now and Australia’s post-earthquake assistance through UNICEF in 2010 has enabled reconstruction of basic school services in eastern Bhutan.

Australia will establish a volunteers program in Bhutan and the first set of volunteers are likely to reach Bhutan by early 2013.

Covered with bright paintings depicting stories from Buddhism, the walls are an enlightening study.

Crimson clad monks move in groups, speaking in hushed voices.

Seated in the prayer hall, in the flickering light of a hundred yak butter lamps, I stare at the shining faces of the golden Buddhas. The monks in claret robes chant from their scriptures. It is a world of spiritual rejuvenation.

Later, I stroll around the river bank.

Irrigated by the two mighty rivers, the Punakha valley is the `rice bowl

of Bhutan’, with both red and white rice grown in the valley.

Arriving back at Thimphu, we gorge on Bhutanese cuisine. The ema datshi, Bhutanese national dish, is a combination of cheese and green chillies, eaten with red rice.

At Paro, the next morning, we visit the ruins of Drukgyel dzong, from where the Bhutanese soldiers pushed back the marauding Tibetans in the 17th century.

It is a grim reminder of a not so peaceful past of the country.

Contrasted to the reminder of wars, Kitchu Lhakhang, a 7th century temple is a picture of serenity.

By the bank of Pa Chhu, stands the Paro Dzong, a fortress-monastery, overlooking Paro valley. A quaint wooden bridge leads to the impressive dzong which owes its international fame to the movie Little Buddha.

When at Bhutan, one shouldn’t skip the arduous climb to the Tiger’s Nest or the Taktsang monastery that hangs on the rock face at a height of 10,000 feet.

This is where the famous Guru Rimpoche arrived from Tibet on a flying tigress. The jungle trail takes one through pine and rhododendron trees and the trek takes 2 to 4 hours.

The next day, it was time to say goodbye to the “land of smiling faces“. “Tashi Delek (good luck),“ said our guide, Karma, as he waved me into the tiny airport at Paro.

Once again I clambered onboard to undertake the magical flight over clouds and snow-capped peaks.

Mystical land of monasteries

Bhutan is a land brimming with monasteries, smiling people, mighty mountains, gurgling rivers and fluttering prayer flags.

And staring at the faces of the golden Buddhas, lit by a hundred yak butter lamps, you’ll discover the world of spiritual rejuvenation The precarious, heart in-the mouth landing at the narrow strip at Paro came as an anticlimax to the flight in the tiny Druk Air airplane.

Minutes earlier, we were gushing over the majestic view of the icecapped Himalayan range.

Little wonder, the landing at Paro is considered one of the toughest ones in the world.

Group of nuns at the Taktsang monastery, Bhutan, 1904 The tiny Himalayan kingdom is known by many names. `Land of Thunder Dragon’, `Land of Happiness’, `Kingdom of Druk Yul’ and the `Last Shangrila’, but to me it came as a mystical land brimming with monasteries, dzongs, smiling people, and bounteous beauty .

It is also a country with a capital that has a single main road, no traffic lights and a skyscape dotted with traditional architectural marvels.

It turned out to be a country surrounded by spectacular mountains, gurgling rivers, and fluttering prayer flags.

The capital, Thimphu, turned out to be a sleepy town populated with men and women clad in traditional gho and kira.

Eager to check out the city, we made our way to the Tashichhodzong

that dates back to the 17th century.

Situated on the banks of the Wang Chhu, this fortress houses the administrative offices as well as a monastery.

With beautiful painted walls, elaborate murals and halls, it houses the throne room of the King.

The next morning, we leave for Punakha at the crack of dawn.

The drive winding through forests ablaze with bright rhododendron blooms, magnolias and blue poppy strewn rock faces is pleasant.

We halt at Dachu La pass, which boasts of a 360 degree view of the Himalayan range.

108 chortens flanked by thousands of fluttering prayer flags greet our eyes as we halt for pictures.

A couple of hours later, we reach Punakha, which was the ancient capital of Bhutan. Sited at the confluence of two rivers Mo Chhu and Po Chhu (Mother and Father River), it is a serene place. Set against mountains, the Punakha dzong is a beautiful piece of architecture.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF INDIA NEWS

Congress issues 18-point ‘chargesheet’ against Modi

Gujarat Congress on Monday, issued an 18-point ‘chargesheet’ against Narendra Modi government accusing it of practising loot, corruption and adopting antipeople policies in the poll bound state.

It also alleged that BJP led government has lost faith of the people of Gujarat.

“The available data collected through different sources including queries under RTI Acts, shows that the Modi government has only made tall claims of development before the people, while depriving them in reality,” said Leader of

Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil while addressing media here.

Congress leadership today released the ‘chargesheet’ carrying 18 points

against Chief Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government, including that of misleading the people of the state in the name of development, safety, providing affordable housing, health, education, amongst others.

The party came out with the ‘chargesheet’ against Modi Gujarat CM releases BJP?s election manifesto in Ahmedabad.

Terming claim of Modi that he was responsible for the ‘widespread’ development in the state as an insult to six crore Gujaratis, Gohil said, “Development has been DNA of Gujarat and if there is any such development had taken place in

the state, credit should go to the people.”

“The present Chief Minister has hurt the feelings of Gujaratis by taking undue credit for himself for the development of the state, which in-fact is a result of hard-work and commitment of each and every citizen of Gujarat,” he said.

He also claimed that before Modi took over state had an enriching history of high economic growth rate and during 1960-1980 growth rate of GDP in the state remained in two digits, while in 1975-76 growth rate was of 28.50 per cent which was highest in the state.

BSP, SP keep Centre Forcible sex with wife doesn’t guessing on FDI vote amount to marital rape: Court

Lok Sabha takes up discussion tomorrow on the FDI issue with a provision for voting on Wednesday

Ahead of the debate and vote in Parliament, outside UPA allies-BSP and SP--today kept the government guessing on their support on the issue of FDI in retail.

As Lok Sabha takes up discussion tomorrow on the FDI issue with a provision for voting on Wednesday, BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav sent mixed signals but government expressed confidence it has the numbers and will win the floor test.

Addressing a press conference here, she gave indications that she could support the FDI policy by noting some positive points of the FDI policy but still refused to disclose her strategy.

“BSP’s decision on voting will be disclosed on the floor of Parliament when the issue comes up for voting. ....The only plus point of this policy of the Centre is that if a state does

not not want to implement the FDI policy then it will not not be forcefully imposed on that state.

“Our party has taken serious note of this. Our party is also seriously thinking whether it should be standing with those parties that encourage communal forces, Mayawati said.

BSP has 21 members in Lok Sabha and 15 in Rajya Sabha, where government needs the positive vote of both the parties to defeat the Opposition motion. The SP has 22 members in Lok Sabha and 5 in Rajya Sabha.

Mayawati’s remarks today are seen as an attempt to put pressure on the government to promise early passage of the Constitution amendment bill providing for reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government service, an issue the SP is strongly opposed to.

A man has been discharged by a Delhi court of charges of raping his wife on the ground that having sexual relation with his spouse, even forcibly, does not amount to “marital rape.” District Judge JR Aryan let off accused Hazi Ahmed Saeed, agreeing with his counsel’s submission that the Indian Penal Code does not recognise any concept of “marital rape.”

“Defence counsel rightly argued that IPC does not recognise any such concept of martial rape. If complainant was a legally-wedded wife of accused,

the sexual intercourse with her by accused would not constitute offence of rape even if it was by force or against her wishes,” the court said.

The court remanded the case back to a magisterial court as rest of the alleged offences, including those of causing hurt, criminal intimidation and theft, for which the accused was charge-sheeted, were triable by a magistrate.

The case was committed to the district judge after the charge sheet was filed by the police as the offence of rape was tried by sessions court.

The woman had filed the case in 2007 alleging that after her first husband’s death, accused Saeed started visiting her and by expressing sympathy, he asked her to marry him. She had told the court that she married Saeed in February 2006, but later she came to know that the accused had married her only to grab her property which was then sold by him and his four sons.

The police had said in its charge sheet that Saeed had maintained physical relations with the complainant after their marriage and it could be a possibility that those physical relations were against her consent and wish.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF PAKISTAN NEWS

SC forms judicial commission to probe Lal Masjid operation

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has constituted a judicial commission to probe the 2007 Lal Masjid operation – a government crackdown on a controversial pro-Taliban mosque in the capital which ended in a bloody eight-day siege killing at least 58 Pakistani troops and seminary students.

“Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed today that police have failed to satisfy the court and ordered a judicial commission to probe the matter,” said Tariq Asad, a lawyer involved in the case.

The pro-Taliban mosque, with the radical Maulana Abdul Aziz leading several armed seminary students,

had announced the establishment of a parallel judicial system, vowing to enforce Islamic Shariah laws in the federal capital and threatening to unleash a wave of suicide bombers if the government took any action to counter it.

A military raid in July 2007 under then president Pervez Musharraf eventually overcame the armed militants.

However, several questions regarding the operation were left unanswered.

The Supreme Court took up the case the same year to demand answers to several questionable aspects of the siege, including the legality of the operation and the large number of civilian deaths in the raid.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, continued hearing the case here on Tuesday.

During the proceedings, a report prepared by Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police Tahir Alam Khan was presented before the court.

After reviewing progress achieved so far in the investigation on the case, the bench appointed senior judge of the Federal Shariat Court, Shahzado Shaikh, to head the judicial commission.

Police has been ordered to hand over all documents relating to the case to the one-man commission, which will be tasked to answer these questions:

What were the reasons behind the Lal Masjid operation? How many civilians and security personnel were killed in the operation? Were all the dead identified and bodies handed over to their loved ones? Were the victims’ families paid the compensation promised by the government? Was any legal action initiated against those who carried out the operation? With the available evidence, is it possible to identify those responsible for the casualties during the siege and the raid on the mosque?

The commission has been directed to present its report in a period of 45 days.

Critics say the apex court’s move could fan further tensions between

the judiciary and the army.

Political analyst Hasan Askari said it was unclear what the commission could achieve other than to provide militant groups with a forum and reprimand the then government, given that Musharraf is no longer in power or in Pakistan.

“It’s their desire to be populist, they know they’ll get support on this from the Islamists, the right wing and it also goes against the army,” Askari told AFP. “The army is already unhappy with the judiciary so the judiciary is hitting in all directions and it is causing political uncertainty in an already uncertain and confused political system,” he added.

Former Dictator General Musharraf wants martial law in Karachi

The leaders of different political parties have opposed the idea of former army chief Pervez Musharraf, who suggested to appoint military general as martial law administrator to launch operation against criminals as well as to cleanse city of illegal weapons.

“The military should not come in the front and the Rangers under an Army General act to cleanse the City from weapons,” former military ruler said. The Supreme Court and the government should extend full support to the military, he added. Musharraf said that an unbiased operation was necessary to deweaponise Karachi and the political parties should remain impartial during the difficult task of freeing the City from weapons.

He said that he did not raised allegation against any party but he was referring towards the extremists elements promoting religious hatred and terrorism in the city.

“Karachi is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and any loss to this City proved detrimental to entire industrial and trade activities,” he cautioned. Musharraf said that during his tenure, Karachi was the city of lights. However, the poor governance of the present rulers and their ill-conceived policies as well as inability to surmount challenges has shattered peace in the City, he added. All the parties were on the same page of across the board severe action against

the criminals. Former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf recently floated his suggestion by imposing imposition of martial law.

Former President and military ruler has emphasised on the political parties and government to extend their support for military operation in Karachi.

However, the leaders of the different political parties while talking to The Nation out rightly rejected the idea of imposing martial law as well as calling the military for operation in the economic hub of country.

When contacted, ANP’s provincial general secretary Bashir Jan differed with the suggestion of the former military chief Pervez Musharraf regarding imposing of martial law for launching an operation in the city.

ANP leader while reiterating his party’s old

stance demanded that army should be called in under Article 190 of constitution to help the civilian administration to launch an operation in Karachi. “We oppose the idea of imposing martial law, but support calling the army to work under the supervision of civilian administration for operation in Karachi’, ANP’s leader said, arguing that there is no any wrong thing to military operation, like government did in Swat, Lalakand and other areas of the KP. He censured the Pervez Musharraf of advocating for imposing martial rule in Karachi, saying that law and order worsened in martial law regime of Musharraf.

MQM leader and MNA Waseem Akhtar also termed the suggestion of imposing martial law in Karachi an illogical idea. He said that MQM rejects the proposal of the former military ruler.

“Imposing martial law is not a solution to the problems as Pakistan is already suffering due to bad things of the military regimes,” MQM leader opined, adding that during the situation in Musharraf regime remained worst.

Opposing the idea, MQM leader said that what benefits had military operations brought in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Balochistan provinces, law and order situation still deteriorated. Ruling PPP’s leader Senator Saeed Ghani supported the views of MQM’s leader, terming the idea of calling army and imposing martial law an illogical suggestion. Opposing

any army operation in Karachi, the PPP leader said that operation will worsen the situation further as it was not possible to launch military operation in the city of Karachi, which hosts population of 20 million people. He claimed that the targeted action by police and rangers already in the process in the city as law enforcement agencies through their coordinated efforts achieving nabbing criminals in different areas, which proved positive results in the city.

PPP’s Senator opined that the military operations in past did not bring results, terming the idea of former army chief for imposing martial and launching military operation as ridiculous.

PML-N leader Saleem Zia also opposed the imposing of martial law, demanding across the board operation against the criminals in the city.

He said that government lacks will of power, there is no any possibility of improvement in law and order because government busy in loot and plunder of national exchequer.

PML-Q’s provincial general secretary and advisor to CM for relief department Haleem Adil Shaikh criticized the suggestion of the Musharraf, saying that country went back 20 years during the martial law of Pervez Musharraf. He demanded for end of political interference in the police, which automatically result in achieving improvement in the law and order.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF MALDIVE NEWS

Singapore court to hear Maldives plea on GMR

Hearing comes a day before the deadline to vacate airport; Indian govt says monitoring situation closely The Maldives government has appealed against a stay order granted by the Singapore high court on its decision to terminate an airport contract awarded to a consortium comprising India’s GMR Infrastructure Ltd and a Malaysian firm.

The matter is slated to be heard on Thursday and the outcome will be critical in closing the legal options there before the two warring parties.

It will come two days before the Maldives government’s 8 December deadline to GMR to vacate the airport.

“Tomorrow, the case is coming for hearing before the chief justice of Singapore. We expect that the decision of the Singapore high court will be upheld,” Sidharth Kapur, chief financial officer of GMR Airports,

said on Wednesday, referring to the stay granted by the high court on Monday.

The dispute settlement court had stayed an order by the Maldives cancelling the $500 million (Rs.2,730 crore today) contract awarded to the GMR consortium that runs the Male airport.

GMR Male International Airport

GMR row: India warns Maldives of dire outcomes if legal course not followed

Taken by “surprise” over GMR issue, India has conveyed to Maldives that it will have serious consequences on the bilateral ties as it is considering a “series of options”, including slowing down cooperative programmes, if legal course is not followed.

India acknowledges that the Maldivian government’s decision to cancel GMR’s contract for building Male airport is a domestic issue but it is upset over “antiIndia sentiment being whipped up” in connection with the issue there.

Sources said the possibility of some external forces playing a role in the cancellation of the airport contract cannot be ruled out even though there was no clear evidence of Chinese angle so far.

India has conveyed to Maldives that the matter should be addressed legally.

However, if the Maldivian government chooses to “flout” the legal option and an anti-India atmosphere continues to be whipped up, it will have “serious consequences” for the bilateral relations,

the sources said.

In this context, India is considering a “series of options”, like slowing down the cooperative programme, they said, adding the impact could be felt on all aspects of the bilateral ties, including defence cooperation.

This comes against the backdrop of Maldivian government’s refusal to accept Singapore court’s stay on cancellation of the contract.

The cancellation of the contract came as a “suprise” to India, the sources said, adding the issue of any wrongdoing, as alleged, was never raised by Maldives during a series of contacts between leaders and officials of the two countries over last one year.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his visit to Male in November last year, met two opposition leaders but this subject was never raised even though some “fringe parties” had been creating controversy over the issue, the sources said.

Pvt. Ltd, a consortium of GMR and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, won the bid to operate and modernize the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport after an international competitive bidding among six shortlisted contenders conducted by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, in 2010.

The GMR-led grouping says it has

spent about $230 million on the airport.

Masood Imad, media secretary to the Maldives president, had said that “the government’s decision is very clear. It is non-reversible and non-negotiable”, after the Singapore order.

It was not clear whether the 8 December deadline would mean that

the 110 Indians working at the airport would have to leave by the midnight on 7 December, a GMR official said.

The penalty for the cancellation of the airport contract is still to be worked out, the person added.

“We appeal to the government of the Maldives not to use any force,” Kapur said. “If there is any force, it will be very unfortunate. It will impact India’s interests.”

The issue has escalated into a diplomatic row between India and the Maldives.

India on Tuesday asked the Maldives to ensure that the rule of law “is upheld and principles and tenets of democracy are maintained. We will continue to monitor the situation closely”.

GMR runs airports at Delhi, Hyderabad and Istanbul. Its shares closed at Rs.20.05 on Wednesday on BSE, up 4.16%, after touching a lifetime low of Rs.16.75 last week.

Maldives threatens to seize airport

India’s reputation as a place to do business has soured in recent years as the government’s unpredictable policies and vicious domestic politics have created headaches for foreign companies such as Vodafone, Telenor and Cairn Energy.

Now an Indian company – Bangalorebased GMR Infrastructure, has been snared by similar circumstances in India’s backyard, the Maldives, where the government has threatened to seize control of the country’s main international airport, operated by GMR, by Saturday GMR row: Maldives minister tries to pacify India In outreach diplomacy aimed at pacifying India, Maldives’ Foreign Minister Abdul Samad Abdullah Tuesday rang up External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and explained the reasons behind his government’s decision to cancel the airport contract given to Indian firm GMR. The Maldives minister explained legal and other reasons that were used as rationale for cancellation of the project, said official sources.

The sources added that Abdullah sought India’s understanding and hoped it will not hurt bilateral ties.

He conveyed to Khurshid that a detailed communication on the GMR

issue will be sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon, said the sources.

Khurshid conveyed India’s displeasure at the decision on the GMR project and underlined that the scrapping of the biggest single Indian FDI in the Maldives will negatively impact bilateral trade ties and the larger relationship.

He also stressed that legal ways should be found to resolve the stalemate.

In a move to put pressure on Male, India has yet to disburse $25 million budgetary support to the Maldives and is keeping all its options open as levers to pressure the Indian Ocean island, better known for pristine beaches and exotic resorts.

The Maldives government Monday decided to take control of the

international airport despite a Singapore court staying the suspension of the contract given to India’s GMRled consortium.

The High Court of Singapore suspended the Maldives government’s decision last week to terminate the $500 million contract awarded to the consortium for developing the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport at Male.

The Maldives government, however, has chosen to defy the court order.

“We will continue the airport takeover and Inshallah next Saturday onwards MACL (state-controlled Maldives Airport Company Ltd.) will be running the airport,” Defence Minister and acting Transport Minister Mohamed Nazim told reporters in Male Monday.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF NEPAL NEWS

Nepal’s supreme court left with only seven judges to work

Nepal’s Supreme Court with a total strength of 24 justices-permanent and temporary- has now been left with just seven after five temporary justices retired on Wednesday.

Justices Bharat Raj Upreti, Baidyanath Upadhyay, Tark Raj Bhatta, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Dr Bharat Bahadur Karki and Kamal Narayan Das who were appointed for two years had their term expired today.

The Judicial Council meeting on Tuesday failed to take any decision for the re-appointment of temporary justices, citing the need of new legislation for this thereby

compelling the five justices to leave the court.

The daily case list maintained at the SC website deleted the names of all five justice but their names and photos are still in place.

The meeting of the Council was held at the residence of the Prime Minister as he is taking charge of the Law Ministry too.

The SC with ten benches often runs single, division and full benches, adding more than 300 cases and writ petitions in a day.

Justice Bhatta is retiring on age limit while Upadhyay and Karki would return to the appellate courts from

where they were brought to the SC. Justices Upreti and Dr Karki and Das had entered the SC from teaching and legal practice.

If law sees no change, another temporary justice Prakash Wasti too will retire within a month.

However, the Judicial Council says necessary law was likely to be passed within three days in the form of an Ordinance because no parliamentary hearing was needed for this. RSS - See more at: http://www. nepalireporter.com/nepalssupreme-court-left-with-onlyseven-judges-to-work/#sthash. g8iYw3WY.dpuf

Nepal girls in mass Hindu PM candidate Wednesday: Kanya Puja prayer ceremony NC tells UCPN (Maoist), UML

More than 11,000 girls have taken part in a mass Hindu prayer ceremony in western Nepal, which organisers say is one of the biggest of its kind ever to be held in the country.

The traditional Kanya Puja ceremony honours girls as incarnations of the Goddess Bhagawati.

It included girls from different ethnic communities and castes.

Organisers say the aim is to dismantle the caste system and spread a message of equality and social harmony.

Many girls taking part in the ceremony at Ramnagar in Nawalparasi district wore school uniforms and performed Hindu

devotions and chants.

“It is our Vedic tradition to offer Puja [Hindu devotions] to kanya [girls] who are regarded as incarnations of Goddess Bhagawati,” festival organising chief Bharat Raj Poudel said.

The Kanya Puja is to be followed by the two-week-long Mahayagya - another Hindu ritual which is typically performed by priests using fires to carry out symbolic sacrifices.

The main objective of the Mahayagya, according to organisers, is to preserve Hindu traditions, philosophy and values of life.

Priests from neighbouring India have been invited to this programme.

Formerly a Hindu kingdom, Nepal was transformed into a secular republic six years ago.

Nepal ranked 141st in corruption index

Nepal is ranked in the 141st place among 176 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), according to Transparency International (TI), a global corruption watchdog.

According to a TI report released on

Wednesday, Nepal has a score of 27 in CPI. The score of zero is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 as the least corrupt.

The report said the score secured by Nepal shows that government, state, political

parties and political leadership are not serious about controlling corruption in the country. India is ranked 94 in the list with the score of 36 and China 80 with the score of 39. Pakistan is also ranked in the 139th position alongside Nepal with the score 27. Afghanistan and Bangladesh (26) are the only South Asian countries that are more corrupt than Nepal in the region. Sri Lanka has scored 40 while Bhutan 64.

TI said that lack of accountable leadership and effective public institutions in these countries underscore the need to take a much stronger stance against corruption.

A meeting of the three major parties – UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML – held at the secretariat of the Special Committee on supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of former Maoist combatants has concluded, on Tuesday.

Exiting from the meeting, NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula said Maoist and UML leaders showed readiness to accept a consensus PM from his party and that they asked to name the party´s prime ministerial candidate to lead consensus government.

Sitaula added they maintained NC will finalize the name of the party´s PM candidate in its central working committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday. The Maoist party´s Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said his party will accept a candidate from any party which pins faith in democracy, republic and the institution of constituent assembly.

UML leader KP Oli said they dwelt on ways to forge consensus and expressed his optimism that now there will soon be a turn of events in a positive direction. The meeting, also attended by PM Baburam Bhattarai took place, with only two days now remaining before the extended deadline for consensus government expires.

Nepal: Sushil from NC is likely next PM, reports

Who is the Prime Ministerial candidate from the Nepali Congress, asked Pushpa Kamal of Unified Maoists at the world recognized “infamous three-party syndicate” meeting held on Tuesday December, 2012. “We need to make a deal with him”, he said and continued, “We want to talk to him directly”. Dictatorial overtone. The UML leaders too insisted the Nepali Congress to provide its prime ministerial candidate; revealed Krishna Situala of Nepali Congress said further, we will proposed our candidate on Wednesday. Sitaula is of Sudan, Darfur

scandal fame. He is yet to awarded penal actions, opine matured observers.

Naryana Kaji of Unified Maoists told the media, “The NC candidate must be someone who is totally dedicated to the republican order and is also committed to hold the Constituent Assembly election.”

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF SRILANKA NEWS

India gifts 175 boats and fishing equipment to Sri Lanka IDPs

India under a grant assistance to Sri Lanka has donated 175 boats and fishing equipment worth 71 million rupees to the Internally Displaced Personas (IDPs) in Mannar in Northern Province.

The High Commissioner of India Ashok K. Kantha visited Mannar District in the Northern Province on Sunday (December 02) and handed over 175 boats with one outboard motor each and twelve fishing nets to 350 beneficiaries.

The boats were handed over to the northern fishermen in the presence of Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, and Minister of Industries and Commerce Rishad Bathiyutheen.

In his remarks, the High Commissioner highlighted that India’s assistance to the Sri Lankan people has evolved taking into

account the immediate needs and requirements as articulated by the Sri Lankan government.

India’s assistance, which focused on emergency relief assistance towards the end of the armed conflict and in its immediate aftermath, has gradually focused on the resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

India is also working on a project to strengthen the existing fishnet

factory at Gurunagar, Jaffna by supplying equipment at a cost of 152 million rupees, which would result in substantial employment generation.

The subsequent requirements of reconstruction are being addressed through the flagship Indian housing project, the Northern Railway reconstruction project and other infrastructural development initiatives. In parallel, several

small development projects have been implemented to promote livelihood generation activities and the gifting of 175 fishing boats is a part of efforts to rejuvenate the economy of the Northern Province.

Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, pointed out that the hallmark of Indian assistance was that all her support to Sri Lanka has come

in the form of grant assistance.

He thanked the Government of India for implementing several livelihood projects, including the grand housing project involving construction of 50,000 houses for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Rishad Bathiyutheen, Minister of Industries and Commerce, also thanked India for the continuous support extended to implement a variety of projects aimed at resettlement of the IDPs in the conflict-affected areas and restoration of their livelihoods.

The handing over ceremony was also graced by Governor of Northern Province G.A. Chandrasiri, MP Hunais Farook, Musali Pradesiya Sabha Chairman W.M.Ehiyan, and several other senior officials.

Sri Lanka’s chief justice faces impeachment Protest commences in Jaffna against arrest of students charges in Parliament amid protests Sri Lankan judiciary wants impartial inquiry of chief justice

Sri Lanka’s judges on Monday demanded an impartial inquiry into charges against the chief justice that have created a standoff between the judiciary and President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government.

The parliamentary select committee (PSC) probing the impeachment motion against Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake commenced sittings in parliament this morning amidst protests in many parts of the country in support and against the impeachment process.

Heavy security was deployed around the Supreme Court complex in Hultsdorf this morning due to protests organized by lawyers and members of the civil society against the impeachment process.

Catholic and Buddhist priests were also gathered outside the Supreme Court complex protesting against the impeachment proceedings and in support of the Chief Justice.

Meanwhile, governing party supporters held a protest on parliament road near the parliament roundabout against the Chief Justice and in support of the impeachment

proceedings.

The protest resulted in the police closing down parliament road to traffic.

Chief Justice, Dr. Bandaranayake is currently in the parliamentary complex to go before the PSC. Dr. Bandaranayake, country’s first female Chief Justice, is charged with 14 counts including failing to adequately declare her assets, improper conduct, misusing power and influencing the process of

delivery of justice.

The 11-member PSC comprising 7 government and 4 opposition legislators has summoned the Chief Justice to show cause regarding the charges against her.

The PSC is meeting for the second time today following its first sitting on November 23rd. The Chief Justice has been asked to submit written responses to the charges against her today. However local media reported that she has asked for more time to respond to the charges.

The 54-year-old top judge will be represented by a team of attorneys led by President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva on the advice from her law firm Neelakandan and Neelakandan.

President’s Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetty, Saliya Peiris, Sugath Caldera, Riyad Ameen and Eraj de Silva will comprise the legal team.

Meanwhile, the opposition members of the PSC in a letter to the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa have requested to suspend PSC proceedings at least by one month during the parliament vacation period after the budget debate.

Protesters have gathered since the morning by the Jaffna main bus stand, condemning the arrest and intimidation of Jaffna University students by the Sri Lankan military and police.

Organised by the students and the Tamil National People’s Front, the protest has been supported by a wide range of political figures, such as TNA MPs as well as civil society activists.

Four students - Paralingam Tharshananth (Secretary of the Jaffna Students Union), Ganesamurthy Sudarsan (Medical Faculty Student), Kangasundaraswamy

Janamejeyanth (Arts Union President) and Sanmugam Solomon (Final year Science Faculty Student) were arrested last week, after students at the university attempted to mark Tamil remembrance day on the 27th November with candles.

To advertise call 020 8904 0619

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Congress meet in Jaipur January to chalk out poll agenda

Rahul Gandhi The Congress will hold a brain-storming session in Jaipur January 18-20 next year to set the

party’s political and economic agenda for future challenges ahead of the next general election, party sources said on Sunday.

Before that, the party’s de facto number two - Rahul Gandhi - could be officially named so during the much-awaited All-India Congress Committee reshuffle, said the sources.

Congress sources said the AICC session is expected to bring Rahul Gandhi’s ideas centrestage as he now heads the party’s coordination committee for the next Lok Sabha poll.

The 2013 session comes a decade after the last one held in Shimla in 2003, which was followed by the Congress romping back to power in 2004 and forming the United Progressive Alliance government at the centre.

This will be the third AICC session since Sonia Gandhi became Congress chief in 1998 and headed the Pachmarhi session in Madhya

Pradesh the same year.

Interestingly, the Congress did not hold any such meet before the 2009 general elections, in which it returned to power with a stronger mandate than 2004.

The 2013 session follows from a grand public rally in Delhi on November 4 addressed by top Congress leadership, including Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A few days later, the party held a dialogue session at Surajkund, near Delhi, to thrash out a road map for the 2014 general election.

While the November 9 ‘samvad baithak’ was a small gathering of around 60 people, including senior party leaders and Congress ministers, the Jaipur session will see around 300 senior leaders from all over the country, including state unit heads, MPs, legislators, chief ministers and

union cabinet members.

According to party sources, while the first two days of the Jaipur ‘chintan shivir’ will be spent discussing the political and economic situation, the final day will be devoted to an AlCC session, where around 1,200 delegates are expected to endorse key ideas that emerge from the brainstorming.

According to party sources, issues like prepoll alliances, manifesto and government programmes and communications and publicity besides the economic challenges before the country will dominate the deliberations.

Party sources said plans for a ‘chintan shivir’ were in the pipeline for the past one year but the event could not be organised as the UPAII was busy battling the various political crises triggered by a slew of corruption charges against the government.

MQM’s clamour over delimitation

The Supreme Court’s (SC’s) strictures against the monopoly of any single party over Karachi is what has rubbed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief the wrong way. Hence Altaf Hussain’s diatribe against the judiciary, accusing it of attempting to impose a judicial martial law in the country. The tone of the MQM leader while addressing a huge gathering at the Jinnah Ground, Karachi from London, was stern and once again resonated with a warning that Karachi is not something that could be manoeuvred without the consent of the largest party in the metropolis.

In its recent ruling, the Supreme Court (SC) has asked for delimitation of Karachi’s constituencies, primarily to deal with the law and order situation in the city. A similar order was passed earlier as well in 2011 by the SC. However, then the word monopoly was never used. Like all other orders by the court on the situation in Karachi, this order too had been sidelined and had little effect on the law enforcers. But now with elections round the corner and Karachi along with four other districts of Sindh being in the pocket of the MQM after the adoption of the Sindh People’s Local Government Act (SPLGA), any move to newly delimit Karachi could make MQM lose what it has earned through the hasty adoption of the SPLGA. Altaf Hussain argues that according to the Delimitation of Constituencies Act 1974, delimitation is dependent upon a fresh census. The last census in the country was held in 1998 and resultantly in 2002 the constituencies of the National and provincial Assemblies were delimited.

the seven constituencies of Karachi overlap current district boundaries, becoming a cause of duplication of votes and more so of violence before and during elections on the issue of crossing others’ ‘domain’. The menace of the Bhatta mafia (extortion), emanates from this very fact as well.

Land grabbers, another mafia, makes use of these deliberately flawed demarcations to their advantage. Such a complex matrix of problems and Altaf Hussain does not want it solved?

Altaf Hussain has to think rationally in terms of Karachi. There may be

He also argues why only Karachi should be subjected to the process of delimitation. If it is a matter of law and order, then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is far more restless, so is Balochistan.

delimitation of constituencies the job of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). On the other hand, every other party at the national and provincial level has welcomed the decision of

The exercise should be replicated there as well, if not throughout the country.

The word monopoly, he further says, singles out MQM and suggests that Karachi has been purposefully destabilised and made hostage by one party. He even advised the SC to refrain from getting into the territories of other institutions and called the

the court and been swift in submitting their responses to the ECP on ways and means to go about this process.

An inescapable truth is that Karachi has morphed into a city divided on clear ethnic lines, making certain parts of the city literally no-go areas while giving others the image of a state within the state. It is also a fact that

problems of a heinous nature in KP, but the way bodies fall daily in Karachi and businesses are looted at gunpoint, KP is far removed from such a level of chaos. The judiciary might be going above board in deciding the fate of the country. However, for democracy to actually survive in Pakistan, the cleansing of the election process is very important. For a change, keeping mollycoddling of the MQM by the PPP aside, let the country savour the real taste of free and fair elections, even if that calls for a change in the electoral complexion of Karachi. *

Jamaat won’t be allowed to hold rally: Mohiuddin Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir on Sunday said Jamaat-eIslami will not be allowed to hold its Monday’s rally in the capital as it did not get permission from police.

“So far I know, they (Jamaat) did not apply to DMP for permission to hold the rally,” Alamgir told journalists after a meeting of National Committee to Protect Smuggling at the secretariat.

He added that the party will not be allowed to stage rallies anywhere in the country.

Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Police told The Daily Star due to security concern police did not gave permission to Jamaat for holding the rally.

On the other hand, Jamaat claimed that it applied to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police for the permission.

Shafiqur Rahman, assistant secretary

general of Dhaka city unit Jamaat, alleged that they applied the DMP to prior to their all scheduled rallies for last two years, but never got permission. He however hoped to get permission this time.

Jamaat on November 29 declared to hold a rally at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on Monday.

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6 Sindh MPAs resign over dual nationality Six members of the Sindh Assembly resigned from their offices on Saturday to avoid being disqualified by the Election Commission for not submitting their affidavits regarding dual nationalities.

Those who resigned include Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, Sindh IT Minister Raza Haroon, Sindh Sports Minister Mohammad Ali Shah, Sindh Technical Education and Mines and Minerals Minister Sadiq Memon, and assembly members Askari Taqvi and Abdul Moiz Siddiqui.

Their resignations have been

Hindu temple demolished: Zardari demands report on Mandir

Taking note of the reported demolishing of a Hindu temple in Karachi, President Asif Ali Zardari has directed authorities concerned to submit a report in this regard, according to a press release on Sunday.

According to presidential

spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar, the President expressed concern over the incident and directed the authorities to ensure no community was discriminated against in any manner.

President Zardari reiterated the government’s commitment to

safeguard the rights of minorities in the country, a press release quoted him as stated.

Background The houses in Soldier Bazaar which were demolished on Saturday used to be spaces where 40 people built their lives and nurtured their children. Now, they are nothing more than debris which the homeless will use as pillows as they sleep under the open sky.

Around three or four houses and a century-old temple, the Shri Rama Pir Mandir, were demolished by a private builder. The swift operation seemed to have emerged out of the blue and caught the residents unawares.

“We are protesting against the injustice by staying out on the streets. We won’t leave or move in with our relatives,” said Kaali Das, an elder of the community. “We will sit on the road till our temples and houses are rebuilt.”

No decision by Home Ministry on Afzal Guru yet: Home Minister

The Home Ministry has not yet taken any decision on the mercy petition of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru. Afzal Guru Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Tuesday that the file related to the mercy petition of Guru, returned

by President Pranab Mukherjee for review by him, was still with the Home Ministry.

“So far, the file (Guru’s) is with the Home Ministry. It has not come to me yet. So far, I have seen only one file of mercy petition and that was of (26/11 terrorist) Ajmal Kasab,” he told reporters here.

Kasab was hanged in Yerawada jail in Pune on November 21.

Earlier, both Delhi government and the Home Ministry had recommended that Guru’s mercy petition, filed by his wife, be rejected by the President.

However, after Shinde took charge as Home Minister on August 1, the file

was sent back by the President for a review by Shinde.

Asked whether any tension or emotion arose along the Indo-Pak border following the hanging of Kasab, Shinde said, “When you do your duty you keep aside emotion and do your duty.”

accepted by Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khoro. Haroon and Mohammad Ali Shah belong to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement while Murad Ali Shah and Sadiq Memon are members of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.

The Election Commission of Pakistan’s deadline to file affidavits expired on Friday. As many as 16 lawmakers from the national and provincial assemblies have failed to file their affidavits.

The ministers who resigned are likely to be made advisers and will be given charges of their respective ministries.

India ranked 94th in Corruption Perception Index ratings says Transparency International India

Among the major global economies, US ranked 19, Japan and Britain tied for 17th place and France was at 22

India’s image on tackling corruption has not improved with Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) placing it at 94th rank out of 176 nations this year.

Though India was ranked at 95th position last year, the international watchdog said it has started evaluating the positions through a different formula beginning this year and hence this cannot be compared to last year’s ranking.

However, the last year’s rank of 95 would be 96 if it is calculated using the new methodology which implies there was a “slight improvement” in the index.

This year, India has a score of 36 out of 100 on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) which is a result of an average of 10 studies including World Bank’s Country Performance and Institutional Assessment and Global Insight Country Risk Ratings.

India was ranked 72 among 180 countries for the first time in 2007 and since then the country’s rankings have been showing a decline. While India was placed at 87 in 2010, the position was 95 in 2011.

This year, India is ranked below neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and China, while Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh fared much worse than India

when it came to corruption in public sector undertakings.

Sri Lanka, which is slowly limping back to normalcy after a threedecade civil war, is ranked at 79 while China is ranked at 80.

Denmark is placed at the top spot with a score of 90 while Finland and New Zealand follow very closely. Countries that occupy the bottom ranks in the index are Myanmar, Sudan Afghanistan, Somalia and North Korea.

“Corruption is a hydra-headed monster and governments have to make efforts to tackle it from all sides. This can only happen if all stakeholders work together,” said P S Bawa, Chair of Transparency International India.

Anupama Jha, Executive Director of Transparency International India, listed the efforts being taken by the watchdog to create awareness about corruption among people and steps being implemented to curb the menace.

According to the 2012 CPI, majority of the 183 countries scores less than 50 -- a clear indication that corruption is perceived to be rampant world wide.

S K Agarwal, Co-chair of Transparency International India, hoped that the “Supreme Court will soon deliver its verdict on a PIL on debarring criminals from contesting elections”.

This year, the Transparency International has updated its CPI methodology allowing for year-over-year comparisons for all editions published from this year.

Saarc international I Thursday 06 December 2012

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Risk at heart of debate on withdrawal from Afghanistan

The debate over how many US troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014 comes down to risky business.

There is a risk that leaving too few troops after 2014 would stop or stall the already slow development of the Afghan army and police, whose competence — and that of the Afghan government as a whole — is crucial to ending the war successfully.

On the other hand, keeping too many foreign troops beyond 2014 might only prolong Afghanistan’s dependence upon them, while Western forces absorb even more casualties. Perhaps the greatest risk is that a wrong calculation by the United States on troop levels could enable the Taliban and affiliated insurgents to regain lost territory and influence.

President Obama has pledged to wind down the 11-year-old war, even as Congress presses for an accelerated withdrawal. The intent, approved by NATO in 2010, is to remove combat forces by the end of 2014 but to continue yet-to-bedefined security assistance.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has described the broad outlines of a post-2014 plan that amounts to a scaled-down version of what US and NATO forces are already doing: fighting terrorists, training and assisting the Afghan forces, and providing logistical support.

Panetta won’t say how many forces would be needed for that set of

missions, but analysts estimate as many as 10,000 to 15,000.

Military commanders have laid out options for a post-2014 force ranging from about 6,000 to 15,000, and Panetta and other members of Obama’s national security team are debating that issue now, with a decision expected by the end of the year.

But the final number for the end of 2014, and how quickly the military gets to that level, depends on how the White House assesses

devastating attack on America.

There are currently about 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan, and commanders would like to maintain as big a force as possible through most of 2013. But others argue that as support for the war continues to erode in Congress and across America, significant cuts must be made next year.

A Pew Research Center poll in early October found that 60 percent of respondents favored removing US troops from Afghanistan as soon

in place and then fall off a cliff at the end of 2014,’’ former Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy said in an interview. ‘‘You want to gradually step down your residual presence so you have confidence in it, and so you’ve had a chance to work through some of the issues and challenges that emerge as we go into the latter stages of transition.’’

Flournoy, who has been mentioned as a possible defense secretary after Panetta steps down, said

the political and military risks of having too few troops there to keep the terrorists at bay, or having too many to satisfy war-weary and budget-conscious Americans.

Underlying that debate is perhaps the starkest risk — that by pulling out troops too quickly, Obama would become the president who lost the war and enabled another

as possible, with 35 percent saying they should stay until the country is stable. That’s a nearly complete reversal from a September 2008 Pew Research poll that showed 33 percent wanted troops out as soon as possible and 61 percent said they should stay until the country has stabilized. ‘‘You don’t want to keep everything

the military will probably reduce the force in several steps next year, leaving time between cuts to reposition troops. Any substantial reductions will probably take place early in the year and again toward the fall, so the military can maintain a consistent strength during the peak fighting season that runs from roughly April to

Continued on page 31 >>

World snooker champion Muhammad Asif receives warm welcome

media at the airport, Asif credited the officials of Pakistan Snooker Association and his parents for winning the title.

“There was no one to guide me during the competition, but I held my nerves and kept myself cool to win the title,” said the 30-yearold player, who participated in the event without any coach or official along.

Asif who faced funds shortage urged

the government to provide facilities for promotion of snooker in the country.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf congratulated Asif saying “the whole nation is proud of your victory and wishes you many more in future as well.”

The chief minister of the Punjab province announced a cash award of one million rupees (10,420 U.S. dollars).

Tigers gain 2-0 lead

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain), Mominul Haque, Mashrafe Mortaza, Sohag Gazi, Abdur Razzak and Rubel Hossain.

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy (Captain), Devon Thomas, Dwayne Smith, Andre Russell, Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine.

Paceman Rampaul was the best among the tourists, finishing with a careerbest 5-49.

October. ‘‘It’s very hard to be repositioning your force as you’re fighting. So they’ll argue for having a plateau during the fighting season and then taking a steeper drawdown,’’ Flournoy said.

The troop totals also depend on several outside factors, including the commitment of NATO partners and the desires of the Afghan government.

So far, Obama has revealed little of his thinking about the drawdown.

But during an October presidential debate he signaled an inclination for a deep reduction, saying, ‘‘There’s no reason why Americans should die when Afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country.’’

Panetta’s description this week of the three missions he would like US troops to continue after 2014 suggests a need for a fairly substantial presence.

Some experts argue that the United States would have to maintain as many as 30,000 troops in order to continue targeting the terror groups that could regain territory and once again become a threat to Western nations.

Military analysts Frederick and Kimberly Kagan lay out a case for keeping such a large counterterrorism force, complete with drones, airstrikes, and special operations forces bolstered by enough support troops to provide protection on the bases.

Pak players won’t attend private parties during Indian tour: PCB

The Pakistan Cricket Board has laid some strict guidelines for its players for the upcoming tour of India which includes restrictions on attending private dinner parties and not entertaining any friends at the team hotel.

“There are certain security protocols that we have taken. The players won’t entertain any requests from friends or fans to attend private dinner parties.

They have also been intimated that they can’t entertain any guests in their hotel rooms,” PCB spokesperson and GM (Media affairs) Nadeem Sarwar said during an exclusive interaction.

Sarwar, along with Ehsan Sadiq (Director, Security & Vigilance, PCB), Usman Walha (Manager, International Cricket Operations) have come to recce the five venues Kolkata, Bangalore,

Chennai, Delhi and Ahmedabad for the 12-day trip.

Sarwar said that one shouldn’t read too much into the security protocol.

“Not entertaining guests in hotel rooms rule was also followed during World T20 in Sri Lanka. About dinner parties, if there is a function by Government of India or Pakistan High Commission, it’s our duty to attend but players won’t be allowed to attend

any random dinner parties.

Sarwar informed that around 50 high-profile VIP’s including Parliamentarians, well-known actors, singers and industrialists will be attending the matches as PCB’s guests.

“This is a new start and the PCB is really hopeful that both countries will be able to write a memorable chapter which is befitting to our cricketing history.”

The PCB team will also be discussing about the security of their fans.

“We will be speaking to the relevant police authorities and the BCCI whether there can be a provision for having a police beat near the designated Fans’ Hotel so that our fans can go and get their security check done in each of the cities,” he stated.

32

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 06 December 2012

World snooker champion Muhammad Asif receives warm welcome

Mohammad Asif returned home to a hero’s welcome on Tuesday after clinching the world amateur snooker title.

Asif, who held off England’s Gary Wilson 10-8 in Sunday’s final in the Bulgarian capital

Sofia, was warmly greeted by hundreds of fans, officials and relatives at the Jinnah International Airport in the southern port city of Karachi.

Talking to Continued on page 31 >>

SAT

Sports

Anamul Haque stars in Bangladesh’s biggest one-day win over West Indies

Tigers gain 2-0 lead

Bangladesh beat West Indies by 160 runs in 2nd ODI wickets while Mashrafe Mortaza, Mahmudullah and Naeem Islam took one wicket each. Andre Russell was run out.

Earlier, the Tigers beat the tourists by seven wickets in the opening match in Khulna on November 30.

The West Indies cricket team arrived on a month-long tour in Dhaka on

Bangladesh’s opener Anamul Haque shows his delight after reaching his maiden ODI century during the second ODI match against West Indies at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna on Sunday.

Anamul Haque registered his maiden ODI century as Bangladesh beat West Indies by 160 runs in the second one-day international in Khulna on Sunday, to gain a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Winning the toss, Caribbeans captain Darren Sammy invited Bangladesh to bat at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna.

lost two quick wickets of Tamim Iqbal (5) and Naeem Islam (6) scoring only 21 runs.

Later, Anamul made a 174-run partnership with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim to help their team to a competitive total.

Mushfiqur scored 79 (87) that featured eight boundaries and one six while Mominul Haque added 31 off 29 and Mashrafe Mortaza scored a quick 18 runs from only six balls.

West Indies bowlers Ravi Rampaul grabbed five wickets while Andre Russell took one wicket.

Chasing the target of 293-run, West

Bangladesh scored 292 runs losing six wickets in the stipulated 50 overs depending on a rapid century by opener Anamul.

Anamul made 120 off 145 balls, featuring 13 boundaries and two sixes.

In the early morning, Bangladesh

Indies lost both the openers Chris Gayle and Lendl Simmons early scoring only 32 runs.

The tourists lost its wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 132 runs in 31.1 overs.

Bangladesh bowler Sohag Gazi and Abdur Razzak captured three

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