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Ahmad Tibi members of Israel ‘s Knesset: Harming al-Aqsa will lead to global jihad.

Israel breaches the truce, keeps Gaza under fire, death toll rises Several buildings on fire following latest Israeli airstrike

‘Death of Palestinian boy raises Gaza death toll to 27’

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, just after few hours when Israel reached an “understanding” with Gaza militants to end four days of deadly clashes in the Gaza strip, Israeli airstrikes hit the Al Whaidi orchard in Al Nafaq street. The Al Matbouli store for plastic & wood was also hit, and the building has extensive damage after a fire broke out following the airstrike.

Eyewitnesses have reported that 3 houses also caught fire, however, they were evacuated and no injuries have been reported. Egyptian truce efforts appeared to stall, as both sides said they were willing to keep fighting. Israeli Warplanes bombed a timber workshop in Gaza City at dawn on Wednesday. Locals said that Israeli ‘F-16’ warplanes lunched missiles at the timber workshop, located in the tunnel Street in Gaza. The Israeli shelling resulted in a complete destruction and

flames of fire. The resident went in panic and shock as the explosion was so huge.

No injuries were reported. There were no reports of injuries but that the incidence in the ranks of citizens due to the severity of the explosion. firefighters , rescue crews and ambulances were all rushed to the scene and gave a hand to the people there. Israeli artillery shelled the eastern areas of the Gaza Strip without reported injuries. The raid comes after twenty-four hours of truce declaration between the Palestinian resistance factions and Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel would keep striking those trying to harm Israeli civilians and that Israel is “ready to broaden its operation.” Gaza militants insisted that Israel stop firing first and that it promise to halt airstrikes guarantee Israel is unlikely to give.

A seven-year-old Palestinian boy in

the Gaza Strip has died from wounds sustained during an IDF strike on terrorist operations in the coastal

territory this past weekend, Gaza news portal Al Resalah reported, raising the Continued on page 29 >>

NEWS

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

Cameron and Obama to agree Afghan combat role timetable Obama, Cameron to focus on foreign threats

Plans for UK and US forces to leave their lead combat role in Afghanistan next year, are expected to be agreed

by David Cameron and Barack Obama during the UK PM’s three day Washington visit. President Obama has said there will be no “rush for the exits” in Afghanistan.

But the two leaders are expected to agree that Afghan forces should take over a lead combat role by mid-2013.

Tensions over Iran and the violence in Syria will also be high on the agenda. Mr Cameron arrives later on Tuesday. Mr Cameron made his first official visit to the US as prime minister in July 2010. The latest meeting comes ahead of Nato and 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.

1st Floor, Avenue Appt., Near Sheth. R. J. J. High School, Tithal Road, Valsad - 396001 Gujarat, India Phone +91 2632 222209 / 222211 Fax: +91 2632 222212 Post Box No. 98 /108 United Arab Emirates Office S.K. Group of Companies P.O. Box 9021, Karama Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 2659970, 3359929; Fax: +971 4 2659971, 3341609 www.sk-groupofcompanies.com Managing Editor & CEO Mohammad Shahid Khan Group Editorial Managers Gulzar Khan (India) Abdul Khalique (Pakistan) Editorial Board UK Frances Brunner FYI Tribune team Adrian Fellar Misbah Khan Reema Shah Rohma Khan Keziah-Ann Abakah Art Department UK Ali Ansar (Art Director) Md. Reazul Islam

G8 summits.

They are expected to focus during the three-day visit on the timing of handover of the lead security responsibility throughout the country to Afghan forces during 2013.

This will allow allied troops to step back into a support role in the fight against the Taleban and begin the process of returning home by the previously-agreed target of the end of 2014.

An announcement on the date for transition to Afghan control is not expected until Nato’s Chicago summit in May. Nato agreed at a previous summit in Lisbon in 2010 that home-grown forces would take the lead responsibility for security by the end of 2013, but there was some speculation today that this could be

Cameron arrives in Washington for talks with Obama on Iran, Afghanistan

brought forward to the summer of next year.

Mr Cameron wants to ensure that the UK and US are “in lockstep”

RBS and Lloyds cut 2,000 jobs

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, the banks bailed out by the taxpayer, have been attacked for cutting about 2,000 jobs.

Call for Government to intervene as banks transfer jobs to India LLOYDS Banking Group and RBS were today attacked for making “brutal” cuts of over 1,700 jobs and transferring 300 posts to India.

Lloyds is cutting 1,300 jobs, while RBS is axing 464 posts, unions were told.

Unite and Accord said it was another “black day” for the finance industry and questioned why the Government was not intervening.

David Fleming, Unite national officer, said: “The announcement of 1,764 job cuts in these taxpayersupported institutions today is truly brutal. How can there be any justification for the Government not intervening as these much needed jobs are lost from our struggling economy? To learn that 300 jobs are being transferred to a low wage economy adds insult to injury.

“Once more these banks are attacking some of their lowest paid staff to achieve cost savings. Today is yet another devastating day for bank workers as they witness these institutions pressing ahead with massive job cuts, without any consideration as to the consequences for these individuals, their families and the economy as a whole.”

Mr Fleming added: “Only last week we saw massive bonuses being announced for the top bankers in these companies, yet now they have the audacity to claim

efficiency savings are essential. Instead of taking away a worker’s livelihood these banks should focus on adjusting and correcting the mind-blowing bonuses at the top of the organisation.”

Unite said RBS, which is 82% taxpayer funded, is to cut 464 staff from its Private Banking Direct, including the closure of an office in Bristol and losses in other areas including Wimbledon, Leeds and Edinburgh.

RBS said: “We are working hard to rebuild RBS in order to repay taxpayers for their support and having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of this process.

“We strive at all times to be open and honest about the tough choices we are making and we remain committed to providing our customers with the same high level of service as we make changes to our Private Banking Direct structure.

“We will do all we can to support our people, offer redeployment opportunities wherever possible and keep compulsory redundancies to an absolute minimum.”

Unite said that since the start of the financial crisis, Lloyds has cut some 28,600 workers and RBS around 26,000.

Lloyds said the job losses were part of its previouslyannounced strategic review and would affect its group operations, executive functions, wholesale and insurance divisions.

The bank, which is 40% owned by the taxpayer, said it would work through the job losses with staff in a “careful and sensitive way”, using natural turnover and redeployment where possible.

“Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort,” the bank said in a statement.

Ged Nichols, general secretary of Accord, said: “This is a black day for Lloyds employees. Over 30,000 Lloyds employees have lost their jobs since the bank was created with the takeover of HBOS three years ago and today LBG has announced that a further 1,600 roles will be ‘removed’, over 1,300 of them through redundancy, including over 300 off-shored to India.

“These employees are paying the price for the failure of others, as the Financial Services Authority’s report into the collapse of HBOS made clear last week.

over the handling of the sensitive conclusion to an operation which will have lasted 13 years by the time international troops are pulled out.

Mr Cameron and Mr Obama used a joint article in the Washington Post today to declare that they are “proud of the progress our troops have made in dismantling al Qaida, breaking the Taleban’s momentum and training Afghan forces”.

The three-day visit will also be a celebration of the close relationship between the US and Britain, with a star-studded state dinner at the White House, a trip on Air Force One for the two leaders to watch a basketball game in Ohio, and public appearances for Samantha Cameron with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Israeli Likud Party Calls to Storm al-Aqsa Mosque

Translation The Likud Members of the Likud Center Along with the thousands of party members Led by Reb’ Moshe Feiglin Chairman of the Likud Leadership Are invited to make aliyah to [go up] the Temple Mount. To thank and praise the Creator of this World. To declare that healthy leadership. [sic] Its beginning is in the complete control of Temple Mount.

Cleansing the place of the enemies of Israel, the land thieves, and building the Temple on the ruins of the mosques.

Without Any Fear Whatsoever We shall meet on Sunday, 19 Shvat, near the top of the Maimonides Gate at 8:00 a.m.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

NEWS

UK Rape survey shock

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One in ten women say they have been attacked... a third have been sexually assaulted and 80 PER CENT are too scared to report it • True number of women who have been raped may be as high as 2.3million • Concern over low conviction rate and shame mean few cases are reported The shocking scale of rape in Britain was exposed today after a study suggested that 80 per cent of victims are too scared to report attacks.

One in ten women say they have been raped while a third claim they have been sexually assaulted, according to a new poll.

But more than four in five of the victims did not report the attack to police due to concerns over low conviction rates, embarrassment and shame, the figures showed. ciety to start believing you too.”

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) welcomed the campaign, saying rape and sexual assault were dreadful crimes which were “often difficult for someone to report because of fear, shame and embarrassment”.

Allison Saunders, the chief crown prosecutor for CPS London, said: “I support the message of the We Believe You campaign, its aim to

raise awareness of the extent of these crimes, and to challenge preconceptions.

“As a society we need to be aware of the myths and stereotypes that members of the public who become jury members may hold and which have the potential to influence court outcomes and ultimately lives.

“We need to challenge these myths

and stereotypes which prejudge victims and add to their ordeal.”

She said prosecutors have done a lot of work to dispel the stereotypes and that the situation was improving.

Ms Saunders added: “I am determined to ensure that victims are confident in coming forward and reporting these crimes and I believe the MumsNet campaign

will help us to achieve this.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said rape was “one of the most difficult offences police and prosecutors deal with”.

Chief Constable Dave Whatton, the Acpo lead for rape and serious sexual offences, said: “We are really pleased that we have seen an increase in the confidence of survivors of rape to come forward over the last couple of years that is reflected in the increasing numbers of recorded offences of rape, but recognise that this is still the tip of the iceberg of all victims.

“The investigations are complex and the need for joint working to ensure successful convictions is critical.

“There has been significant improvements over recent years in the way victims of rape are treated.

“Improvements in specialist training of officers and better

access to sexual assault referral centres have assisted the policing response and that of our partners in health and the voluntary sector.

“But I know that there is no room for complacency.” :: A total of 1,609 women chose to complete the survey by the Mumsnet Insight team online between February and March.

Who’s in UK? One in five Brits clueless

MORE than one in five adult Brits do not know which countries make up the United Kingdom, a shock study shows.

Glasgow, with its shipbuilding and industrial heartlands, is rarely confused with the leafy blue-rinse home counties of England.

But more than a third of people in a new survey believe the city formerly known as the second city of the empire is encircled by the affluent areas.

Almost 34% of people said Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham lay close to the home counties in the poll for luxury tour specialists Journeys of Distinction It also found more than half of British adults (58.6%) confessed they believe Britain’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis, Mount Everest and Snowdon are in England. And 53% of those questioned have no clue where The Queen’s Scottish home, Balmoral, is based.

And just over 20%admit they do not know how many countries are actually in the UK while one in five Brits confessed they don’t know where in the UK Britain’s legendary seaside resort, Blackpool, is located.

Ten per cent of those polled had no idea that the huge Angel of the North is even in the UK, let alone

in the north-east of England.

Almost 25% thought Australia’s iconic Ayers Rock is actually in Britain, while one in 20 confessed they had absolutely no clue that Stonehenge is also based here in the UK. The poll was timed to coincide with a year in which London hosts the Olympics and the Queen launches celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee.

Nearly six in ten think England’s highest peak is Ben Nevis,

Snowdon — or even MOUNT EVEREST. It is Scafell Pike.

And one in three believe the Home Counties surround

either Manchester, Glasgow or Birmingham. They surround London.

Meanwhile, one in 20 have no idea Stonehenge is in Britain — and almost a quarter named Australia’s famed Ayers Rock as a UK landmark.

The poll of 2,000 was carried out by tour firm Journeys of Distinction. Managing Director Karen Gee said: “We were astounded.”

The firm said the internet may be partly to blame, with instant answers so readily available that people feel no need to “store” any knowledge in their brains.

NEWS

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EDITORIAL

‘Al-Aqsa in Great danger’ Why Israel attacked Gaza

Israel has been launching deadly airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Friday, killing more than 25 Palestinians and injuring 80 of others.

This is while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the army could expand its operations if rocket fire continued. “The Israeli army is prepared to expand its activities, and will continue its activities as long as necessary,” he told MPs from his rightwing Likud party, hailing the Jewish state’s “crushing offensive abilities.”

The first Israeli missile sped down to its target, scorching the Gaza earth and everything in between. Palestinians collected the body parts of new martyrs, while Israeli media celebrated the demise of terrorists.

Then, another set of missiles rained down, Then a third, and a forth, and so on. The death count began on March 9 and escalated through the day, On Monday 25 members of the Hammad family have been injured in the past hour after an Israeli missile hit their home. 17 of the injured are women and children.

Everyone was asleep when their house was hit. Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza for a fourth day on Monday, killing six more Palestinians, as a teenager died in a mystery blast, raising the death toll so far to 25. Monday’s firing rose to more than 200 the number of rockets fired at the Jewish state over the past 72 hours, although the casualties have been minimal with just four people hurt over the weekend.

In these situations, Western media is usually clueless or complicit. Sometimes it’s both. The Israeli army was cited readily by many media outlets without challenge Al Jazeera reported that some of the victims were decapitated, a familiar scene in most of Israel’s unforgiving atrocities.

Hillary Clinton only condemned the “rocket fire from Gaza by terrorists into southern Israel.” She later joined her counterparts from the European Union, Russia and the United Nations for a meeting of the so-called Quartet of Middle East players, which “expressed serious concern for the recent escalation.” Then The Chinese government Monday called on Israel to stop its airstrikes on Gaza, demanding an immediate cease-fire, and at last a ceasefire is in place between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza after four days of deadly clashes.

The incessant Israeli provocations would not have been enough to end the months-long truce. Palestinians know that Israeli provocations are often, if not always, politically motivated.

But why did Israel decide to ignite trouble again?

Is it only Israel’s Iron Dome test exercise?

Israel’s latest assault on Gaza began with a missile strike killing Zuhair Qaisi. His assassination was justified on the grounds that it “foiled a major terror attack,” the Jerusalem Post claimed. The Jerusalem Post also reported: Assessments ahead of the decision to bomb the car carrying

Zuhair Qaisi predicted that around 100 rockets could be fired into Israel during each day of the round of violence expected to erupt. This was a price the government felt it was capable of paying.

So was this the point of the exercise?

Assassinate a militant leader in order to trigger a significant reprisal with rocket attacks in order to then test the Iron Dome batteries in battlefield conditions? NO….

Last week in an article published in The Haaretz, Yehuda Bauer warned “Iran’s nuclear facilities are not the same as Auschwitz. Is it possible to drop an atomic bomb on Israel? Of course it is possible.

Of course, an error of one degree or less would end up destroying Jerusalem’s AlAqsa mosque,” On 23 February, Jewish settlers attacked the court of the Al-Aqsa Mosque while under the protection of the Israeli security forces, which prevented hundreds of Palestinian worshipers from accessing the Mosque to protect it from the extremists. The latest assault on the AlAqsa Mosque, second of its kind in less than a month. The settlers came in part from the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arbaa near Hebron, which is considered to be a hotbed of Jewish extremism. Earlier, calls were issued calling on “Jews who love the land of Israel” to March to the “Temple Mount” in order to “redeem it from Arab occupiers.”

On Monday head of Quds Supreme Court Yusuf Ade’is warned about the Zionist regime’s plots to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque through artificial earthquakes.

He further cautioned that officials and rabbis of Zionist settlements have recently attended a series of overt and covert meetings coordinated with Israeli defense ministry to work out plans to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Building Third Temple on ruins of AlAqsa Mosque.

Recently a conference of ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jews in West Jerusalem has called for the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the building of the “third temple” on its ruins. Ultra-orthodox Hasidim have become more active in recent weeks, targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque, desecrating it and working towards its “Judaization”.

According to them , Islam would never accept the building of a Jewish Temple over this location. Orthodox Judaism, the ones in favor of building a Temple would not accept the “Dome of the Rock”. So either Islam defeats the Jews or Israel defeats Islam. According to Zion the bible tells them that Israel will build the Temple. Once the “Dome of the Rock” is removed, only then could a Jewish Temple be built. Zion also fears that for the Dome of the Rock to be removed a significant event must take place.

This event will pit the Islamic world against Israel. Zionist claim Israel will vanquish the armies of Islam in a coming battle foretold in the Bible. And before the Temple can be rebuilt the “Dome of the Rock” must be demolished, before this, Islam as a threat to Israel will be eliminated.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

UK’s Foreign Secretary faces lawsuit over Pakistan drone strikes

Lawyers for the family of man killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan said they would take legal action against Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday, accusing him of complicity in strikes they say broke international laws.

London law firm Leigh Day & Co said it had “credible,” evidence that Hague oversaw a policy of passing intelligence to US forces planning attacks against in Pakistan. It plans to issue formal proceedings against Hague at the High Court in London on behalf of Noor, whose father died in a drone attack last year.

Malik Daud Khan was part of a local “jirga”, or council of holding a meeting in the tribal areas of northwest when a missile fired from a drone hit the group, the firm said.

Attacks by pilotless US aircraft

have become a key weapon in President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism strategy in and officials say they have helped to weaken al Qaeda’s in the region.

However, the attacks have become a source of friction between Washington and Islamabad and have angered many who see them as a breach of their sovereignty and the frequent civilian deaths.

Leigh Day & Co will argue that those involved in armed can only claim immunity from criminal law if they are “lawful combatants” taking part in an “international armed”.

Khan’s lawyers will say that staff working at UK Government Headquarters (GCHQ) in southwest England’s main

intelligence monitoring centre, may have broken the law. As civilians, they are not classed as combatants and be prosecuted, the law firm said.

They will also say that Pakistan is not involved in a conflict.

“There is credible, unchallenged evidence that (Hague) is operating a policy of passing intelligence to officials or of the US government and that he considers such to be in ‘strict accordance’ with the law,” Richard, head of human rights at Leigh Day, said in a statement.

“If this is the case, the Secretary of State has one or more of the principles of international law immunity for those involved in armed attacks on behalf a state.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said it did not comment on legal proceedings. Asked whether Britain helps the States in drone attacks, the spokesman added: “We don’t comment on intelligence matters”.

A key ally of Washington in neighbouring Afghanistan, Britain has around 9,500 soldiers in country. The deaths of six British soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday brought the British death toll to more than 400.

COUNCIL tenants will be able to buy their homes and get up to £75,000 off the market price, ministers will reveal this week. The Sun Reports The current discount will be trebled across the UK and quadrupled in London. It means the price of homes will be slashed by as much as half after five years’ tenancy.

According to The Sun Housing Minister Grant Shapps will announce the new deal as part of an effort to revive the Right To Buy scheme launched

by Margaret Thatcher in the 80s.

Its aim is to reverse years of declining discounts under Labour. Mr Shapps will say: “Labour never really could stomach people aspiring to own their own homes and so they took delight in vindictively slashing the right to buy discounts until they were virtually meaningless.”

Under the shake-up, tenants with five years residency will qualify for a 35 per cent discount. They get an extra one per cent for every added year — up to a maximum discount of £75,000. Those in flats will get 50 per cent off after five years, with two per cent added yearly.

There were fewer than 3,700 council house sales

compared to a peak of 84,000 a decade ago.

Only 66 per cent of homes are now owned by those who live in them — compared to a peak of 71 per cent nine years ago.

The cash raised from sales will be spent building new council houses.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

NEWS

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President al-Assad Meeting Annan

Syria Ready to Make Successful any Sincere Efforts to Find Solution to Events Syrian President Bashar alAssad on Saturday said Syria is ready to make successful any sincere efforts to find a solution to the events taking place in Syria, adding that the success of any efforts require first studying what is happening on the ground instead of relying on the virtual space that is promoted by some regional and international countries to distort the facts and give a picture contrary to what Syria is undergoing.

Syrian President Bashar alAssad has told visiting UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that no political dialogue can succeed in his country while “armed terrorist groups” are operating.

Mr Assad said Syria would back “any honest effort to find a solution”.

The UN said Mr Annan’s task was to call for an immediate ceasefire by the army and the opposition.

As Mr Annan arrived, there were reports of fresh army shelling of the north-western city of Idlib.

Earlier, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said “limited

progress” had been made on aid but much

needed.

more was

Coca-Cola and Pepsi cut level of ‘cancer’ chemical A study has show links between the chemical and risks of cancer in mice and rats COCA-Cola and Pepsi say they have lowered levels of a chemical in caramel colouring which has been found to cause cancer in lab tests.

The move allows the companies to avoid having to label products with a cancer warning due to a California law setting safe levels of 4-methylimidazole.

Both drinkmakers said their popular and highly secretive recipes will not be altered but that caramel suppliers have been asked to reduce 4-MEI levels in California, a change that will eventually spread across the United States and - at least in Coke’s case around the world.

“We are NOT changing our recipe; or our formula,” Coca-Cola Company spokesman Ben Sheidler said in an email.

“What we did do is direct our caramel suppliers to make a manufacturing process modification in order to reduce the level of 4-MEI in our caramel so as to meet the requirement set by the state of California’s Proposition 65.”

For its part, PepsiCo said its beverages “are and always will be safe for consumption.”

“Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns. There is no scientific evidence that 4-MEI in foods and beverages is a threat to human health,” it added.

California voters passed Proposition 65 in 1986, and the law aims to protect state residents from “chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to

inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals.”

A California court ruled in December that 4-MEI could be listed as a known carcinogen under Prop 65.

The state set a 29-microgram benchmark for 4-MEI in products.

Anything that may expose consumers to a daily level higher than that must carry a warning label.

According to the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a recent

dosing in mice - 2,900 cans of cola every day for 70 years - that served as the basis for California’s decision.

“The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health,” the ABA said.

“In fact, findings of regulatory agencies worldwide, including the US Food and Drug Administration, European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, consider caramel colouring safe for use in foods and beverages.”

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the CSPI consumer group, countered that argument by noting that the International Agency for

sampling of Coke and Pepsi drink cans in the Washington area showed levels ranging between 103 and 153 micrograms.

But beverage industry leaders, including the American Beverage Association, argued the evidence of a cancer link is limited to one study in mice and is not recognised by major US, European and Canadian health agencies.

The ABA added that a person would need to drink massive amounts of cola to reach a risk level similar to the

Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organisation, last year concluded that 4-MEI was an animal carcinogen and probably a human carcinogen.

“They (Coke and Pepsi) have said that forever, that the amounts don’t pose a safety risk,” he said in an interview.

Alcohol: 8 oz “Coco Cola Improved” was scrawled by hand on page 188, above a list of ingredients. My dad asked Everett if he thought it was the original formula for Coke. “I believe it is,” Everett told

him. This is that formula: Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams USP Citric acid: 3 oz Caffeine: 1 oz Sugar: 30 # Water: 2.5 gal Lime juice: 2 pints (1 qrt) Vanilla: 1 oz Caramel: 1.5 oz or more to color The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup) Alcohol: 8 oz Orange oil: 20 drops Lemon oil: 30 drops Nutmeg oil: 10 drops Coriander: 5 drops Neroli: 10 drops Cinnamon: 10 drops The secret recipe: ‘Merchandise 7X’ Is a great deal of self-propagated myth surrounding the Coca-Cola recipe and its “Merchandise 7X” combination of flavourings, which is apparently privy to just two executives who are not allowed to fly in the same plane in case the secret goes down with them.

Last year an American radio presenter tracked down a 1979 article in an Atlanta newspaper which revealed nutmeg, neroli and even coriander were ingredients.

The original recipe from 1886 has been changed several times. Cocaine was replaced by caffeine in 1904. But the most controversial change was in 1985, when the company introduced New Coke with a sweeter taste. The product bombed, lasting just three months before the original was reinstated.

Calls for reform that began with pro-democracy protests a year ago have degenerated into violence that has brought Syria to the brink of civil war.

The UN says more than 7,500 people have died as a result of the violence.

President al-Assad’s remarks came during his meeting with UN Secretary General’s envoy Kofi Annan and the accompanying delegation.

The President was briefed

by Annan on his preliminary vision on the situation in Syria, with the UN Secretary General’s envoy stressing his commitment to work fairly, neutrally and independently, as well as his rejection to foreign interference in the Syrian affairs and his belief in a peaceful solution.

Israel’s threats violate IAEA’s charter: Iran

ran’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh on Thursday in Vienna said continuous threat of Israeli aggression against Iran’s nuclear facilities violated IAEA resolutions.

“The resolution 533 in 1990 considers any attack or threat of attack against nuclear institutions or facilities as violation of the United Nations charter, statute of the IAEA and international law,” Soltanieh told reporters on the sideline of a IAEA meeting of board of governors.

Israel was continuously violating this resolution therefore violating United Nations charter, the ambassador said.

“It’s regrettable that the UN Security Council has no action on the base of this resolution and the IAEA has not done its responsibility appropriately to it,” he said.

He also noted that five Iranian nuclear scientists and academicians have been targeted by terrorist attacks since 2000. According to Soltanieh, the assassinations were obvious violation of the charter of the United Nations.

The ambassador reaffirmed that Iran’s nuclear program was for peaceful purpose. “All nuclear activities of Iran, of course, are thoroughly of peaceful purpose. Iran has not and is not persuing nuclear weapons,” he said.

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NEWS

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

US ‘tells Russia to warn Iran of last chance’

Iranian ultimatum: Yield now or be attacked by year’s end

US-led military strikes against Iran are inevitable this year if Tehran does not give ground at multilateral talks next month over its nuclear programme, according to diplomatic sources in Moscow.

The US wants Russia to deliver a message to Iran: Tehran has one last chance for talks. If it is wasted, an attack will happen in a matter of months, according to Russian diplomatic sources.

The threat was voiced by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in New York on Monday, a diplomatic insider told Kommersant daily.

“The invasion will happen before year’s end. The Israelis are de facto blackmailing Obama.

They’ve put him in this interesting position – either he supports the

war or looses the support of the Jewish lobby,” the diplomat told the Russian newspaper.

The source said Washington has given Tehran one last chance to solve the conflict peacefully and wants Moscow to deliver the message. Iran has to make progress with the P5+1 group, which consists of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.

UK unemployment rises by 28,000 to 2.67m, ONS reports

Jobless total soars to near 17-year high

UK unemployment rose by 28,000 to 2.67 million during the three months to January, with the unemployment rate at 8.4%, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Unemployment amongst women accounted for most of the increase. The number of private sector jobs being created climbed to almost 230,000.

But experts said there were growing fears about “underemployed” Brits forced to take temp jobs or lower salaries as they struggle to land a full-time job.

Britain’s part-time workforce swelled to almost 7.9million in the three months.

And the number of people forced into part-time jobs because they cannot find a full-time role has hit 1.4million — the highest since records began. Pay is rising by just 1.7 per cent.

The Office for National Statistics added that youth unemployment rose by 16,000 to 1.04million.

And the number of over 50s out of work has climbed to 428,000.

SCOTLAND’S jobless total is continuing to rise, the latest figures today show. Unemployment increased by 6,000, to 234,000 between November last year and January. The Scottish unemployment rate is 8.7 per cent, above the UK average of 8.4 per cent.

The number of people in work has also fallen by 11,000 over the the same period and now stands at 2,463,000.

The Scottish Government says the employment rate in Scotland is higher than the UK as a whole for the sixteenth consecutive month, with the rate at 70.8 per cent in Scotland compared to 70.3 per cent in the UK.

The group is to negotiate Iran’s controversial nuclear program with Iranian officials sometime in April. The exact timing and place of the talks are still under consideration. The negotiators want clarity from Iran over the potential militarization of its nuclear program. They also demand access for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to a suspected nuclear

site in Parchin.

Such an inspection took place in 2005 and nothing suspicious was found. But now the nuclear watchdog believes Iran is using the military complex to test technology needed to trigger a nuclear device. IAEA monitors were barred form visiting part of the facility during their latest visit, prompting accusations that Iran may be trying to cover-up

evidence of wrong-doing. Tehran dismissed the allegations and promised to let inspectors in.

When asked about the reported American ultimatum, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov criticized the “last chance” rhetoric.

“Speaking in this way is unprofessional. There is no such thing as a last chance. It’s an issue of political will, and Russia does everything to foster such will rather than let it wane,” he told the newspaper.

The diplomat added that the negative trend in the conflict is apparent, suggesting that “those tempted to use military force should restrain themselves and search for a diplomatic solution.”

“A war will not solve any problems, but will create a million new ones,” Ryabkov warned.

“Israeli Blood Is No Purer Than Palestinian Blood”

Palestine children traumatized

by Israeli jail: report

Of the hundreds of Palestinian children locked in Israeli jails each year, the vast majority suffer nightmares, bed-wetting and anxiety after their release, Save the Children said in a report published on Tuesday.

The charity said that since 2000, the Israeli army had detained more than 8,000 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and prosecuted children as young as 12 in military courts, most of them suspected of rock-throwing.

Ninety-eight percent of detained children reported being subjected to violence, either physical or verbal, by Israeli soldiers, the charity’s program adviser Eyad al-Araj told a news conference in the West Bank, an ordeal that left psychological scars on almost all of them.

“Over 90 percent of these children suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder,” al-Araj said.

The report on Israeli detention of Palestinians under the age of 18 is based on a survey of 292 children who had been held and released by Israel.

Last year, 2,301 children were taken into custody, down from 3,470 in 2010, according to data collected by the Palestinian rights group Defense for Children International (DCI). There are currently 170 Palestinian minors in Israeli jails, DCI said.

“Detention has a devastating impact on children, their families and their societies,” said the report.

“Children suffer from effects including post-traumatic stress disorder, fear of leaving the house, in addition to psychological symptoms such as anxiety attacks and nightmares. Families become overprotective and refuse to let children out of the house,” it said.

Military courts The Israeli army says that rock throwing is a serious offence that can cause injury or death.

“Palestinian boys, sometimes as young as 13 or 14 engage in stone throwing by hand or sling shot on Israeli cars, or army vehicles,” said Arye Shalitar, an Israeli military spokesman.

“It sounds like the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is just arresting kids, but people don’t understand that these kids are very violent. Instead of playing soccer they are endangering the lives of Israelis.”

Speaking at the news conference, Saudamini Siegrist, head of UNICEF’s child protection program, criticized Israel’s use of military courts to try Palestinian minors. “Nowhere else are children systematically tried before military courts and tribunals so unsuited with the protection of their rights,” he said.

Ahmad Dsouqi said he was arrested at his home in the Jalazon refugee camp near Ramallah in a late night raid last year. He was 16 at the time.

“A big group of armed Israeli soldiers barged into our home, woke me up and dragged me out of bed. They handcuffed me, blind-folded me and threw me into their jeep,” Dsouqi told Reuters.

He was beaten during lengthy interrogations, not allowed to go outside and eventually forced to confess that he had thrown stones at Israeli soldiers, he said.

“The interrogators used to leave me in the interrogation room alone, handcuffed for long periods of time to pressure me to confess.”

Dsouqi was sentenced to 18 months in jail, but served half that when he was released during a prisoner exchange.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

7

NEWS

Final Solution to BAN the BOOZE? RAKHI SACHDEV Alcohol has indubitably become a recurring motif in the news during the past couple of years. From hearing reports of health problems that ‘more than two glasses of wine a day’ can cause, to observing short newsreels of our British youth regurgitating on our streets, booze has no longer become part of a social culture. It is now cited as a ‘Binging’ culture. For ‘no longer’ do Government want to accept the consequences of binge drinking.

Once again, David Cameron ‘vows’ to tackle the outrageous scandal that has become prevalent in our country, A large proportion of people ‘celebrate’ the fact Friday’s arrived with elation. Being the end of the week, bars and pubs begin to overflow with people, as do the alcohol beverages. What starts out as social drinking with a few co-workers or a group of friends at 7pm, soon becomes an overindulgence by midnight. People enter the early hours of Saturday morning heedless of their actions and their surroundings. Inhibitions are reduced and ‘reckless’ behaviour soon begins to occur.

Within the last decade, there

Rakhi Sachdev Whilst that means that we have an opportunity to involve ourselves in the political processes that directly affect us, such as who and what policies govern our country, it also means we embrace the issue of civil liberties. Freedoms of speech, of religion, of thought, are all of paramount importance.

In living in a democratic society, we then should also be free of corruption. We should be able to trust the superior power, the police force, for example- those we are dependent on to create a secure, safe country free from violent act, with its foundations lying in racism, discrimination, prejudices. Unfortunately, being ‘free’ is an ideal. Whilst we are able to embrace many freedoms, it can be said that certain individuals don’t feel so liberated in our society. Stephen Lawrence wasn’t free. He lived in a society

has been a “frightening growth” in the number of people thinking drinking like ‘no tomorrow’ in

society could total. Alcohol abuse costs the NHS £2.7bn alone.

In tackling the ‘scandal’ of

be tougher and in the forthcoming strategy, want to recommend a higher minimum price for drink.

public is acceptable, in a way that wreck lives, cause fear to spread and also increase crime. More than this, Cameron suggests that between £17bn and £22bn a year is what alcohol-related costs to

drunkenness, proposals are soon coming into play. An introduction of a ban on the sale of alcohol below cost price (less than the tax paid on it) is to arrive in England and Wales from 6 April. Yet, ministers want to

All this would mean is an increase in price which alcohol would have to be sold for. But the upshot of doing isn’t hunky-dory for many.

There are always economic difficulties when proposing

Britain is a Democracy where his colour defined him.

Forget the person he was and the characteristics he embodied, judgements were made solely on his colour. He was looked at, deemed ‘dirty’ and murdered. In an ideal world, the case would have been investigated into, his killers found guilty and the Lawrence family now living with the knowledge that justice has prevailed. Unfortunately, 19 years later the case isn’t closed and the Lawrence family aren’t at peace.

Three of his murderers are still at large, and more than this, there has now been a new revelation that alleged police corruption took place in the investigation. One of the leading detectives, John Davidson, was widely suspected of being a ‘major player’ in a corruption ring, operating as a professional

organised crime organisation.

The files highlighting the details of the officer’s alleged criminality were held back from the public as well as the Lawrence family’s legal team, resulting in the family now demanding that the Metropolitan Police justify why it never showed them the files or revealed their existence. Prevarications? Check.

Cover-ups? Check. When it was thought that institutional racism was the worst to occur in this investigation, evidence from the Scotland Yard files regarding Davidson illustrates the failure of the police force to act ‘by the book.’ This all may be shocking enough, however the accusation that a crooked relationship between Detective Sergeant John Davidson and the gangster father of one of the prime suspects may have had a bearing on the

investigation is more alarming still. And what adds even more fuel to the fire is that the Met’s anti-corruption officers knew of the alleged links and deliberately kept them back from the public inquiry.

Well, here is corruption served on a plate. So far, the Met is sticking to the line that though there is evidence that DC Davidson was corrupt, there is nothing to link his activities to the Lawrence case. Is this really good enough?

The Lawrence family definitely aren’t going to accept it.

The police investigation into who murdered Stephen Lawrence was flawed from the beginning.

It simply is a stain on British society and British justice. It definitely isn’t over yet; yes progress has been made, as two of the five people involved in

regulations regarding money.

Higher taxation would palpably be damaging to pub-goers, community pubs and brewers, costing thousands of vital jobs. As it is, the job market is precarious.

Moreover, a minimum price on alcohol would penalise all drinkers, not just those who cause or have problems.

Any solution, which is implemented, is going to hurt.

Whether that be the small proportion of people that have become the cause for want of innovation by the Government, or those who earn a living on selling alcohol. Cameron’s solutions are a result of the detriment it could be causing to the economy. Yet, excessive booze is also detrimental to the health of the people who drink themselves silly. Thus, there does definitely need to be a final solution to rid the ‘binging’ culture.

Perhaps Simon Antrobus, chief executive of alcohol treatment charity ‘Addaction’, is correct in stating that ‘Addressing the root cause of someone’s problems is… the most effective way to tackle their drinking.’

Let’s just hope David Cameron uses the extra money received on raising alcohol wisely then. To solve the problem once and for all.

the involved in the killings have been found guilty, but with this new revelation, there is certainly more to investigate alongside the three remaining culprits. The fact that new information regarding the police is now coming to light does show progress in one aspect of our society- it shows that now, nearly 2 decades later, failures aren’t going to be accepted, or taken lightly. Racism is taken more seriously. Yet, the question that remains is why, in 1993, when Britain was a democratic country too, was racism not as significant then? And why has it taken 19 years for corruption within the superior powers to be taken a stand against? It may indicate growth and development occurring within our society, yet democracy is democracy at the end of the day. If freedom is seen as highly significant, then it shouldn’t be coming into play now, in our 21st century.

NEWS

8

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

ENTERTAINMENT

DEBATE

Known Knowing Know

Keziah-Ann Abakah

Knowledge, a single word with the ability to shift the mindset of thousands, test the resolve of the most intellectual and cause the narrowest minded of people to think twice. Man’s thirst for knowledge can be traced back to the very beginning of time when we were a primitive race with minds that were not yet fully developed and a sense of curiosity that was never truly stated. In retrospect we’re still pretty much the same. Subsiding all hearsay ad biased view I wish to ask quite simple if truly there is such a thing as too much knowledge?

Unbeknownst to most individuals since the year 2003 there has been in existence an internet based society who call themselves Anonymous. There motto ‘We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.’ There cause ‘To unveil what most wish to

remain hidden as an outlet to do as we wish which we would not be able to do in regular society’. The group has sparked controversy world wide for their publication of various documents and articles in association to Government and Presidential related matters. The group’s use of Guy Fawkes masks, their declaration as internet activists and their title as one of the three successors to WikiLeaks has also added to speculation as to whether or not their intentions are as pure as they seem.

In condensed form the members of Anonymous just like the creators of WikiLeaks feel that it is their duty and right to share information with the everyday man that Politicians, World leaders, Official and most often Government workers don’t want us to know. Which brings us back to the topic of whether or not there is such a thing as too much information. On one hand

you have those who say that ignorance is bliss, why uncover what we already roughly know to be in play. It is general knowledge that no person in Political power is a Saint, no World leader, no Government worker and no high ranking Official is as pure as virgin snow so why dig and then expose their dirty laundry when we more or less already knew that it was there.

The opposing hand states that knowledge is power. Why should we be kept in the dark about the mistruths, lies and foul play going on within our society, As human beings it is within our rights to know what is going on in the world around us. We deserve to now the truth in its entirety, we deserve to know the raw unrefined facts and we deserve to know what would have otherwise been kept concealed.

So truly, is there such a thing as too much knowledge?

Panjabi Hit Squad is truly

‘World Famous’

After the huge global success of their last two singles ‘Miss Soniyeh’ and ‘Dil Mera’, the amazing Panjabi Hit Squad proudly announce the release of their long awaited album ‘World Famous’.

The album showcases the duo’s commitment to delivering new and classic sounds all packaged and

FASHION

stamped by the inimitable Panjabi Hit Squad.

Expect some outrageous collaborations with Richa Sharma, Raghav, Saini Surinder, Jaspinder Narula and the squads very own songstress Alyssia amongst others!

The album will be available via iTunes and as physical CD’s in selected stores from the 15th March 2012.

The ‘Dil Mera’ single featuring Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has exploded into an enormous hit globally and reached number one on the iTunes World Music chart even before the accompanying video was released!

The video features the beautiful Sabeeka Imam who recently played the lead girl in the Brit Asian movie ‘7 Welcome To London’.

ADVICE

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Dear Miss R, Recently I’ve been feeling very hungry and my appetite has increased vastly. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference however my mum has been hinting at me for a while that I’ve put on a bit of weight. My mum is always saying things like so to me so I chose to ignore her however a few people in school have also been making snide comments at my weight. I’m not usually worried about weight issues however these comments are making me very self-conscious and are slowly gnawing at my selfesteem. I don’t think I should stop eating as much but not quite sure as to what else to do?

Food lover

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Dear Food lover, First of all you should be confident in your own skin and not be worried about what others are saying. You can pull anything of with confidence. However, it is important that you are not eating unhealthy and are keeping to a balanced diet as many young people nowadays are facing obesity.

So make sure that when you are hungry you do not only eat junk food but also get your fruits and vegetables in there. That way you will be healthy and also be filling you appetite. Also if you feel that you are putting on unwanted weight then you could try exercising for example a dance class or even just going for walks. This will bring your confidence up and also keep you fit and healthy.

Miss R

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9

aarc S

Saarc international I Thursday 15 March 2012

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international

Thursday, 15.03.12

Bombers Strike Twice in Southern Afghanistan

Two deadly explosions struck in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, claiming at least nine lives in the second day of violence since an American soldier went on a rampage and killed 16 civilians. In the city of Kandahar, a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near an Afghan intelligence directorate office, killing one security official and wounding two other officials and a civilian, the Kandahar governor’s office said. In a separate attack in Helmand Province, a roadside bomb struck a minivan at about 1 a.m., destroying the vehicle and killing eight people, Dawoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said.

The people in the minivan were

returning home from a picnic and included three members of one family, officials said.

“The land mine was so powerful it mingled the body parts of

On Tuesday, President Obama pledged that a thorough investigation would be conducted into Sunday’s rampage. Mr. Obama said that

the victims with the car parts, making it difficult to recognize the bodies,” Mr. Ahmadi said.

the Pentagon would follow the facts “wherever they lead us,” though he offered no new

details about the identity of the soldier or the circumstances of the attack.

Mr. Obama insisted that the furor stirred up by the shootings would not alter the policy or timetable of the United States as it winds down the war in Afghanistan.

Wednesday’s attacks came hours after Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, the first by a senior member of the Obama administration since the shootings.

Panetta was due to meet President Hamid Karzai and local leaders in the south in a bid to reassure Afghans after Sunday’s horrific violence when a US Army sergeant allegedly went house to house killing Afghans in the Panjwayi district of southern Kandahar province.

Voters want an Afghan endgame, admits Cameron as he warns British will leave country a far from perfect democracy

last night as he warned we will leave the country far from a ‘perfect democracy’.

The Prime Minister, who will discuss plans to bring back thousands of troops early next year with U.S. President Barack Obama in the Oval Office today, said the Afghan government would soon have to take responsibility for security itself.

Mr Cameron is expected to sketch out an exit strategy from Afghanistan with President Obama ahead of a Nato summit in May. Pressure has been building since the deaths of six British soldiers in a roadside explosion last week and the alleged killing of 16 civilians, including nine children, by a renegade U.S. soldier on Sunday.

The two leaders are treading a tightrope as they seek to balance growing disillusionment with the conflict by voters at home with the need not to encourage Taliban fighters with the

David Cameron admitted people want ‘an endgame’ for Britain’s role in Afghanistan

notion that allied forces are on the point of ‘cutting and running’.

NEWS

10

Saarc international I Thursday 15 March 2012

Wife Betrayed Osama Out of Jealousy -Report

Osama bin Laden may have been betrayed to the US by a jealous wife who was angered by his preference towards a younger woman, a new claim.

There was reportedly a poisonous mistrust between Osama’s three wives towards the end, with the oldest of them being accused of betraying him to US intelligence.

Earlier La Vanguardia, a Spanish newspaper, reported that bin Laden believed he would be betrayed within his close circle and would enter paradise as a martyr.

Brigadier Shaukat Qadir, a retired Pakistani army officer, has researched the late al-Qaida leader, describing him as a feeble figure, struggling with the onset of dementia aged just 54 and unable to keep the women in his life from quarreling in his compound.

According to Qadir, Osama bin Laden’s family got on well for years, but things changed in March 2011 when bin Laden’s older Saudi wife, Khairiah, unexpectedly turned up for the first time since the family was separated in late 2001.

“The younger two wives had lived together happily. It was only when Khairiah arrived that these other two had a problem with her,”Qadir has explained, as cited by The Daily Telegraph.

The brigadier is convinced Khairiah betrayed her husband, since she was jealous of Amal Abdulfattah, a Yemeni wife whom Osama married back in 1999 when she was just 19.

It’s another debate whether Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan May last year, when U.S. commandos raided. As Benazir Bhutto (2007) and earlier Madeline Albright claimed that Osama was captured or killed earlier than the recent US claim. That is another fact that Osama Bin Laden family was living at that house and some got killed and a wife was also injured during US marines high tech attack. Later US claimed the body of Osama Bin Laden was buried under sea and also another wiki leak email disclosed it was not.

Now instead of investigating how and who brought Osama Bin Laden family to Pakistan, Pakistan has charged Osama bin Laden’s three widows with illegally entering and living in the country, the interior minister said last Thursday reports CBC. The Pakistani minister never disclosed if they were living illegally too despite former dictator Mushraff have disclosed in his book about Abbotabad hideout.

The three women have been in Pakistani detention since May last year, when U.S. commandos raided the house where they, bin Laden and

several of their children were staying.

The commandos shot and killed bin Laden, and then buried his body at sea.

Rehman Malik said the three had been charged in court, but he did not say when. It was unclear if they had a lawyer.

He said their children were free to leave Pakistan, but could stay with their mothers for the duration of the trial despite they were also entered illegally.

A senior Western diplomat told CBS News on condition of anonymity that the charges against bin Laden’s

wives may be the result of pressure on Pakistan to keep them in the country.

“It is quite plausible that the Saudis want these people in Pakistan, away from the public eye,” the diplomat said. “Once they return to Saudi Arabia, they may become a headache

for the Saudis, especially if they speak out on events surrounding Osama bin Laden’s killing.”

A second senior Western diplomat said the news was “not surprising.”

“My impression for some time has

been that there are many people who would not like Osama bin Laden’s family members to go public on the circumstances surrounding his killing.”

One of the women is known to be from Yemen, another from Saudi Arabia.

The nationality of the third woman is unclear.

In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia, Syria; they were divorced before September 11, 2001.

Bin Laden’s other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1990s), Khairiah Sabar (married 1985), Siham Sabar (married 1987), and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000).

Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony. Bin Laden fathered

between 20 and 26 children with his wives.

Many of bin Laden’s children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks and as of 2010 Iranian authorities reportedly continue to

control their movement.

In a report published in Daily Telegraph , Osama bin Laden apologised to his children for neglecting them as he devoted himself to holy war in a will

written after he escaped from US forces in Afghanistan.

Brig. Shaukat Qadir, a retired Pakistani army officer who spent months researching the events and says he was given rare access to transcripts of Pakistani intelligence’s interrogation of bin Laden’s youngest wife, who was detained in the raid, paints a picture of bin Laden living in a house divided, with wives driven by suspicions.

On the top floor, sharing his bedroom, was his youngest wife and favorite.

The trouble came when his eldest wife showed up and moved into the bedroom on the floor below.

Others in the family, crammed into the three-story villa compound where bin Laden would eventually be killed in a May 2 U.S. raid, were convinced that the eldest wife intended to betray the al Qaeda leader.

Qadir was also given rare entry into

The 54-year-old bin Laden himself seemed aged beyond his years, with suspected kidney or stomach diseases, and there were worries over his mental health, Qadir said he was told by ISI officials and an al Qaeda member he interviewed in the border regions.

Bin Laden lived and died on the third floor. One room he shared with his youngest wife, Amal Ahmed AbdelFatah al-Sada, a Yemeni who was 19 when she married the al Qaeda leader in 1999. Another wife, Siham Saber, lived in another room on the same floor that also served as a computer room, Qadir told The arrival of his eldest wife, Saudiborn Khairiah Saber, in early 2011 stirred up the household, Amal said in her ISI interrogation, according to Qadir.

There was already bad blood between Khairiah, who married bin Laden in the late 1980s, and Amal because of

the villa, which was sealed after the raid and demolished last month.

Pictures he took, which he allowed The Associated Press to see, showed the villa’s main staircase, splattered with blood. Other pictures show windows protected by iron grills and the 20foot high walls around the villa.

Qadir’s research gives one of the most extensive descriptions of the arrangements in bin Laden’s hideout.

His account is based on accounts by an official of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency who escorted him on a tour of the villa, the interrogation transcription he was allowed to read, and interviews with other ISI officials and al Qaeda-linked militants and tribesmen in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

Osama bin Laden in Pakistan’s children and grandchildren , from left to right, respectively, Fatima bin Laden’s grandson (5 years), Abdullah (12 years old ), Hamza (7 years), as well as children born Osama bin Laden and 5 wife Amal Hussein (age 3), the Zhana Bo (5 years), Ibrahim (8 years) The compound where bin Laden lived since mid-2005 was a crowded place, with 28 residents -- including bin Laden, his three wives, eight of his children and five of his grandchildren.

The bin Laden children ranged in age from his 24-year-old son Khaled, who was killed in the raid, to a 3-year-old born during their time in Abbottabad.

Bin Laden’s courier, the courier’s brother and their wives and children also lived in the compound.

bin Laden’s favoritism for the younger Yemeni woman, Qadir said he was told by tribal leaders who knew the family.

Even ISI officials who questioned Khairiah after the raid were daunted

by her.

“She is so aggressive that she borders on being intimidating,” Qadir said he was told by an ISI interrogator.

Amal stayed close to bin Laden as he fled Afghanistan into Pakistan following the 2001 U.S. invasion.

She took an active role in arranging protection for him and bin Laden wanted her by his side, the tribal leaders told Qadir.

Khairiah fled Afghanistan in 2001 into Iran along with other bin Laden relatives and al Qaeda figures. She and others were held under house arrest in Iran until 2010, when Tehran let them leave in a swap for an Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Pakistan’s frontier city of Peshawar.

Khairiah showed up at Abbottabad in February or March 2011 and moved into the villa’s second floor, Amal told her interrogators.

Khalid, bin Laden’s son with Siham, was suspicious, according to Amal’s account.

Continued on page 31 >>

Saarc international I Thursday 15 March 2012

SAARC

11

WEEKLY REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN NEWS

U.S. Sergeant Is Said to Kill 16 Civilians in Afghanistan

US soldier who killed villagers should be put on trial in Afghanistan, parliament demands

A US soldier who went on a shooting spree that killed 16 villagers in their homes should be put on public trial in Afghanistan, the parliament has said, as the Taliban vowed revenge.

Nine children were among the dead after an American soldier stalked from home to home, attacking civilians in a rural stretch of southern Afghanistan, Afghan and American officials said.

President Obama, on damage control, talked with Karzai on the phone and promised to investigate.

In a statement, Mr. Obama called the killings “tragic” and

“shocking.” He also tried to paint it as an isolated incident -- saying the attack “does not represent the exceptional character of our military.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he was “saddened that a U.S. service member is ... involved.”

Stalking from home to home, a United States Army sergeant methodically killed at least 16

civilians, 9 of them children, in a rural stretch of southern Afghanistan on Sunday, igniting fears of a new wave of antiAmerican hostility, Afghan and

American officials said. Coming after a period of deepening public outrage, spurred by the Quran burning by American personnel last month and an earlier video showing American Marines urinating on dead militants, the possibility of a violent reaction to the killings added to a sense of siege here among Western personnel. Officials described growing concern over a cascade

of missteps and offenses that has cast doubt on the ability of NATO personnel to carry out their mission and has left troops and trainers increasingly vulnerable to violence

by Afghans seeking revenge. The shooter was a conventional soldier assigned to support a special operations unit of either Green Berets or Navy SEALs engaged in a village stability operation. He was a sergeant, married with two children, who had served three tours in Iraq and began his first deployment to Afghanistan in December, according to a senior U.S. official. The Pentagon has a

U.S. and Afghanistan Agree on Prisoner Transfer as Part of Long-Term Agreement Seeking to break an impasse on a broader strategic arrangement, the United States agreed Friday to greatly accelerate its transfer of imprisoned insurgents to Afghan government control, but will retain a veto over which ones can be released, American officials said. Gen. John R. Allen, the American military commander, and Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Afghan defense minister, signed the compromise agreement in what diplomats described as a breakthrough in negotiations over a long-term military partnership.

The memorandum of understanding officially hands over nominal control of detainees to an Afghan official immediately, but allows for a six-month period of transition to full Afghan control of the detainees, American officials said.

For now, American officials will maintain day-to-day custody of

the 3,200 detainees, most of them suspected of being Taliban insurgents, although the detention facility in Parwan where they are held would be managed by an Afghan officer.

“The Afghan authorities will have no command of American military forces,” said an American diplomat involved in the negotiations.

During the transition, custody of the American-held prisoners would gradually be shifted to Afghan authority, with the first 500 prisoners to be transferred within 45 days, according to American military and diplomatic officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity as a

matter of policy.

The move to speed up the transfer is a major concession to the Afghans, but the veto power, which would last as long as American troops are in Afghanistan, addresses American worries that Taliban fighters would be released prematurely and return to the battlefield. In order for a detainee to be released, both General Allen and Mr. Wardak would have to agree, American officials said.

They said the United States would also continue to monitor treatment of the prisoners in an attempt to prevent human rights abuses prevalent in many Afghan prisons.

suspect - an Army sergeant based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Wash.

This was his first tour in

Afghanistan, but he had served several times in Iraq. He was part of what’s called a village stabilization operation in Afghanistan, where troops work to develop close ties with village leaders.

According to one report, he’s 38 years old, married, and has two children. Another report claims he recently suffered a mental breakdown. CBS News has not

been able to verify either of these reports.

Joint Base Lewis McChord has a history with troubled soldiers.

Afghanistan Suspect’s Base Had 2010 Killing Case Joint Base Lewis-McChord is one of the largest military installations in the U.S., and one that has seen its share of controversies and violence in the past few years.

Home to about 100,000 military and civilian personnel, the base has suffered a spate of suicides among soldiers back from war. The Army is investigating whether doctors at Lewis-McChord’s Madigan Army Medical Center were urged to consider the cost of providing benefits when reviewing diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Most famously, four LewisMcChord soldiers were convicted in the deliberate thrill killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010.

Three Polish Soldiers Acquitted Of Afghan War Crimes

Four Polish soldiers acquitted last year of killing eight civilians in Afghanistan are to face a second trial. The eight civilians, including women and children, died in the village of Nangar Khel when Polish troops opened fire on a wedding party in August 2007.

Military prosecutors appealed to the Polish supreme court after seven soldiers were cleared of war crimes in June last year.

The judge has upheld the acquittal of three of the soldiers.

Three young children were among those killed when Polish soldiers,

members of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), attacked the village in Paktika province, south-eastern Afghanistan, with mortar rounds and automatic weapons.

In June of last year, a Polish court cleared the seven soldiers of war crimes, but prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court.

All the soldiers have pleaded not guilty in the case, which marks the first time Polish soldiers have been accused of violating international war conventions.

SAARC

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Saarc international I Thursday 15 March 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF BANGLADESH NEWS

Thousands join anti-government rally in Bangladesh

Khaleda announces 16-party coalition

Tens of thousands of people joined an opposition rally in Bangladesh’s capital on Monday to demand that a nonpartisan caretaker government oversee the next general election.

Riot police surrounded the rally but no clashes were reported.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its Islamist ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, are demanding the restoration of a constitutional provision that required incumbent governments to transfer power to a neutral caretaker administration to conduct polls.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) says hundreds of its members have already been arrested.

The BNP wants the government to step down and hold new elections under a neutral caretaker administration.

Zia said her alliance will stage a nationwide general strike on March 29 and will escalate its protests if the system is not restored by June 11.

“We will announce a series of

protests across the country if the government fails to accept our demand,” Zia told the cheering crowd.

General strikes are a common opposition tactic in Bangladesh to highlight demands and embarrass the government.

The ruling Awami League has already rejected the idea. The next national election is due to be held by early 2014.

Under the previous system, at the end of an elected government’s term, a caretaker administration would take over to ensure that

elections were conducted in an impartial manner.

The BNP believes elections overseen by the incumbent government would not be free or fair and has said it will not take part in the next elections if the caretaker government system is not restored.

Arrests At least 15,000 policemen and border guards had been deployed in the capital, Dhaka’s deputy police commissioner told reporters.

The BNP says hundreds of their supporters have been arrested

in the last few days all across the country.

It also accused the government of preventing many more from joining the rally by cancelling bus and ferry services to Dhaka The BNP chairperson on Monday announced expansion of the four-party alliance to a 16-party combine from the Naya Paltan rally.

“Given the current political situation,” Khaleda Zia said, “the four-party alliance needs to be expanded to protect independence, sovereignty and democracy of the

country and to add momentum to the ongoing (anti-government) movement.”

She, however, did not call any name of the combine party. But a leader of ally Jamaat-e-Islami had said on Sunday the new coalition would be called Sammilito Ganotantrik Jote. Names of the parties who have joined forces were not announced, either.

But from the Naya Paltan rally, it was clear that Khelafat Majlish, Jamieti Olama Islam, Liberal Democratic Party, Bangladesh Kallan Party, Jatiya Gonotantrik Party, National People’s Party, Bangladesh Labour Party, National Democratic Party, Bangladesh National Awami Party, Muslim League, Islamic Party, and National Awami Party (Bhashani) will be inducted into the present four-party alliance of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote (Amini faction), and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP).

Leaders of those parties were present on the stage and greeted Khaleda on her arrival.

BD exports to India to cross $1.0b President pardons

For the first time in history, Bangladesh’s exports to India will cross the $1 billion mark in a 12-month period next July, a top Indian official has said at a conference jointly held by Indian Council of World Affairs and Association of Asia Scholars.

India’s National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon said Friday India last year trimmed its sensitive list under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement in a dramatic move benefiting Least Developed Countries in its neighbourhood.

“As a result, I am told that Bangladesh’s exports to India will cross the $ 1 billion mark in a twelve-month period in July for the first time in history,” he said, delivering the keynote address in the inaugural session of the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi.

Indian Council of World Affairs and Association of Asia Scholars are jointly holding the conference.

Menon said that South Asia had emerged as one of the fastest growing sub-regions in the world with an average rate of growth of eight per cent sustained over the past five years.

“Intra-regional trade within South Asia has begun to grow and has doubled over the past five years. We are therefore at a point where it is increasingly evident

a criminal twice

to all the countries in South Asia that there are substantial costs to not moving forward by lowering tariffs, minimising sensitive lists, and tackling non-tariff barriers. Each government has taken significant actions in the recent past,” he added.

Menon, who earlier served as foreign secretary of India, said the perception of South Asia as the least integrated region in terms of trade ignored the wide variation in the experiences of the member states.

“The fact is that intra-regional trade as a proportion of total trade varies widely for the countries in South Asia.

For Nepal it is as high as 60.5 per cent, for Sri Lanka 18.9 per cent, for Pakistan 6.6 per cent and for India only 2.7 per cent. But this variation also tells us how great the potential is, and why intra-regional trade is growing faster than South Asia’s trade with the rest of

the world,” he said.

He also pointed out that the official figures certainly underestimated the real magnitude of trade taking place between S Asian countries, whether clandestinely or through third countries.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the real figure for India-Pakistan trade could be almost three times greater than the official figures of almost $ 3 billion. It is an open secret that most India-Bangladesh trade is not reflected in the official figures, he observed.

The national security advisor has the dubious distinction of a relatively high level of informal trade flows unrecorded and un-reflected in official trade statistics. “This suggests that natural complementarities do exist between South Asian economies and have already been identified and acted upon,” he added.

The president has granted mercy to convicted killer AHM Biplob for the second time in seven months. This time, Biplob’s life sentence in each of two murder cases has been reduced to a 10-year imprisonment.

Biplob is the son of Abu Taher, an Awami League leader and mayor of Laxmipur municipality.

Earlier in July last year, Biplob was pardoned by President Zillur Rahman in the advocate Nurul Islam murder case, in which he was given death sentence.

A home ministry source yesterday said Biplob was given life term in each of BNP activist Kamal murder case of 2001 and Shibir activist Mohsin murder case of 2000.

The ministry on February 8 issued a letter, stating that the president being kind has reduced the life term convictions of AHM Biplob (inmate no-2009/A) to 10 years rigorous imprisonment, effective from the date of the jail warrant.

The president has also pardoned Biplob’s associate Babor, who had also been awarded life sentence in the Kamal murder case. His sentence has been reduced by seven years, added

the source, requesting anonymity.

The two are now serving their jail terms in Laxmipur jail.

Biplob had been convicted in absentia in all the three cases. After being on the run for more than 10 years, he surrendered before a court on April 6 last year.

His father then filed mercy petitions to the president, following which the latter granted Biplob clemency in the Nurul Islam murder case last year, said the source.

The incident drew widespread criticism from different sections, including rights groups, legal experts and the media.

Babor, who was the secretary of Laxmipur Chhatra League, was convicted in 2004, said his brother Saiful Hasan Palash, himself president of Laxmipur Jubo League.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BHUTAN NEWS

Bhutan Braces for Tourism Will it change an exotic kingdom?

Bhutan is fast emerging as a popular destination in a world hungry for new and exotic locales, but the growth of the country’s tourism sector threatens to undermine the culture for which the kingdom is famous.

Best known for measuring national development with its Gross National Happiness Index, Bhutan now wants the tourism sector to play a larger role in national development. Over the past four decades tourism has followed a policy of “high value, low volume” visitors. The government sets a daily all-encompassing US$250 tariff for each traveller, which is intended to limit the number of travelers but still attract significant foreign exchange.

“The government is taking a very good

initiative to promote tourism in a way that we don’t want a lot of people in one go,” explained Tshering Tobgay, who owns a resort in the popular

Rush to clear out accounts Banks in the country’s commercial hub, Phuentsholing, were busier than usual yesterday, as hundreds of merchants from the adjoining Indian town of Jaigaon crowded the tellers to close their bank accounts, and transfer balances .

In a tit for tat measure, Jaigaon merchants’association decided not to accept ngultrums.

Although non-resident nonBhutanese have until March 15 to close accounts, according to the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) circular, most chose to do it yesterday, so that the transfer to their accounts in India is in INR (Indian rupee).

“We were told that, if we close our accounts from Monday, March 12, we’ll be given the balance in ngultrum,” a Jaigaon shopkeeper said.

“What’ll we do with ngultrum and where’ll we invest? It isn’t going to be accepted anywhere else in India,” the fishmonger said.

“Everything happened immediately that we didn’t get time to raise the issue.”

In Phuentsholing town and in Jaigaon, people stood around in groups discussing the RMA’s sudden decision, and the subsequent response from the Jaigaon business community.

While Bhutanese discussed why

ngultrum was not being accepted in Jaigaon, non-Bhutanese tried to figure why they were not being allowed to hold an account in Bhutanese banks. “I don’t know how I’ll send money to my family, because my savings are in ngultrum,” a non-Bhutanese mechanic said. “I don’t know where to take my 200,000 ngultrum I saved so far.”

The banks, however, refused to divulge the number of accounts being closed and the amount of INR being transferred.

In response to the RMA’s circular, the Jaigaon merchant association decided to stop accepting the ngultrum, following a meeting with members of the association on Saturday, March 10.

According to a press release from the association’s president, BL Bardia, the association resolved that, in view of present situation occurring due to non-issue policy of bank draft, real time gross settlement system (RTGS), and exchange of ngultrum into Indian rupee (INR), the businessmen of Jaigaon were compelled not to accept ngultrum further.

The press release stated that this would continue until the Bhutanese government comes with a suitable decision. “We respect the law of Bhutan government and Bhutan currency and it should be viceversa,” the president mentioned.

“We hope suitable decision will be taken, keeping in view of the outstanding Indo-Bhutan relation.”

tourist destination of Paro.

Tobgay says the policy has avoided the excesses of mass tourism.

“This is a small country, we don’t [want] a lot of tourism to come in and spoil our culture and heritage likewise [sic] in other countries,” he says.

In 1974 Bhutan opened its doors for the first time to the outside world, welcoming fewer than 300 visitors to the isolated kingdom. Tourism today contributes more than US$2 million in annual revenue and the government hopes to boost arrivals to 100,000 by 2013.

“Tourism occupies one of the key priorities and attention of the government because of its potential

to contribute toward a more equitable socio-economic development in terms of alleviation of poverty issues and employment generation,” said Kesang Wangdi, director general of Bhutan’s Tourism Council.

Although Bhutan’s GDP is among the highest in South Asia, one-third of the population is poor. Wangdi says that tourism can support local community development by improving the lives of everyday people such as taxi drivers and horse owners. But the strategy has also raised concerns. The tourism industry brings in is the secondhighest foreign exchange earnings to hydro electricity sales to India.

“With the exception of hydropower

we don’t have any other viable industry. So tourism is getting a lot of attention, but we also have to be careful that too much expectation is not put on tourism to solve all the issues,” says Thuji Dorji Nadik, also from the tourism council.

Bhutan’s latest tourist marketing slogan is “happiness is a place.” The capital Thimphu and western city of Paro are the most important centers for tourism, with a sacred Buddhist monastery overlooking the Paro valley a must-see destination.

“There is almost a ‘Bhutan myth’ that is as much perception as it is reality,” says Rick Antonson, president of Tourism Vancouver.

“A significant challenge for Bhutan will be the pressure from mainstream tourism investors and developers [who] would willing be mere profiteers from the Bhutan image and in the course of five years could tarnish the reputation,” he says.

With tourism demand increasing, the national carrier DrukAir recently purchased an additional aircraft, adding to a fleet of six. The airline has also launched domestic services, but additional infrastructure will be needed to meet rising demand, says resort manager Julie Beattie.

In memory of Tsunami victims Their Majesties offered prayers at the Changangkha Lhakhang yesterday in memory of the victims of the devastating 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

Their Majesties were joined by the PM, senior government officials and the Japanese community.

His Majesty yesterday joined the Japanese community in Thimphu to observe the first anniversary of the devastating 2011 earthquake and Tsunami that devastated the northeast coast of Japan.

Accompanied by Her Majesty the Queen, prime minister and finance minister, the King offered solemn prayers and lit butter lamps at the 12th century Changangkha lhakhang in memory of some 20,000 victims.

They then united with the JOCV and JICA volunteers to pause for a moment of silence, which Japanese across the globe observed and that solidarity expanded to those of the land of the rising sun.

In a letter to the Emperor of Japan, His Majesty the King expressed confidence that Japan would rise stronger from any adversity.

“It was humbling for me to confirm this in the eyes of thousands of people I came across as I travelled briefly, yet intensively, through Japan last year,” the letter stated.

The resident representative of JICA, Tom Nitta, who was leading the Japanese community for the memorial ceremony said about 16,000 people died and more than 3,000 remain unaccounted after the magnitude 9.0 quake struck the land of the rising sun.

The earthquake struck about 400km northeast of Tokyo and following which, an immense surge of water

enveloped the northeastern coast.

The Tsunami swept away cars, ships, and buildings, crushing the coastal communities.

It also triggered a serious nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Thousands of people were evacuated as radiation leaked from the plant.

In November 2011 during the state visit to Japan, His Majesty, accompanied by Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck visited Fukushima to meet the people and offer prayers for the victims of the twin disasters.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF INDIA NEWS

White paper on black money likely in budget session: Govt Maintains no authentic estimate of the quantum of illicit wealth

The government on Tuesday said it is likely to table a white paper on black money during the ongoing budget session of parliament, but maintained that there is no authentic estimate of the quantum of illicit wealth.

“The white paper is likely to be brought during the budget session,” minister of state for finance S S Palanimanickam informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The white paper is expected to contain information regarding black money stashed abroad by Indians.

Replying to a query on the recent statement of CBI director A P Singh on the quantum of illicit funds deposited abroad, Palanimanickam said, “...in this regard, it is submitted that there is no authentic estimate of quantum of Indian

money stashed in foreign banks”.

Singh recently stated that around USD 500 billion (Rs 24.5 lakh crore) of Indian money is stashed in foreign banks.

“The CBI director has clarified that as regards the amount of illegal money, the estimate of around USD 500 billion of illegal money was in context of reporting of the matter in the supreme court on July 4, 2011...,” the minister said.

Food bill to cover just 66% of India’s hungry

With 230 million people undernourished, the country awaits some comprehensive policy intervention from the government to tackle this haunting crisis. One of the most logical measures would be to provide a fixed amount of foodgrain to all citizens.

But wouldn’t the costs be enormous, ask sceptics? The Center for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), a Delhibased think tank, crunched all the numbers and came up with the answer. It would take Rs 1.85 lakh crore every year to provide 24 crore households with adequate monthly food grains. This assumes that each household will be sold 23 kg rice at Rs.3 per kg, about 12 kg wheat at Rs.2 per kg and millets at Rs.1 per kg every month.

At present, the monthly food subsidy provided by the government is about Rs. 60,573 crore (as per 2011-12 Budget Estimates). So the government will have to mobilize Rs 1.25 crore in addition to this.

But, here’s the rub: the government has provided for just Rs 79,800 crore in the proposed draft National Food Security Bill.

That is about two-thirds of what is actually needed.

CBGA researchers say that what the government is planning is to make available food grain at low prices only to certain ‘targeted’ sections, that is, the below-poverty-line population. “Dividing households into “priority” and “general” category and not universalizing the distribution of grains, seems to be a step backwards,” says CBGA. This is because the poverty line is pegged very low at Rs. 25 per day in rural areas and Rs.32 in urban areas. A large number of people are technically above this line but in reality are very poor. Also, the poverty line surveys are ten years old, and they missed out on thousands of people.

Given the widespread hunger and malnutrition, the government will have to get serious and “take the bull by the horns”, says CBGA.

The supreme court, inter alia, had observed, “there are reports and analysis generated by government of India itself which place the amount of such unaccounted monies at astronomical levels”.

He said a study has been commissioned to estimate the quantum of unaccounted income inside and outside the country and its ramification on national security on the basis of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Finance.

“The study is estimated to be completed...

by September 2012,” Palanimanickam added.

Replying to a debate on Adjournment Motion on black money during the last winter session, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said a white paper on the illicit funds will be issued.

Curfew continues in Rajouri after clashes, 3 detained

Curfew continued for the third day today in the border town of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir even as authorities detained three more persons for violating the restrictions imposed.

“The curfew is being continued for the third consecutive day today in Rajouri without any relaxation,” SSP Vijay Singh Sambyal said.

No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the district so far and the situation is under control, he said, adding that three persons have been detained for violating curfew restrictions last evening. Additional security personnel have been deployed in sensitive areas of the town to maintain peace and tranquillity, he added.

Communal tension has gripped the border town of Rajouri in Jammu prompting the administration to

impose indefinite curfew on Thursday to prevent further clashes in the area.

Police have registered four cases and arrested 14 people so far to bring situation under control. Tension started soon after the ‘hate speech’

by VHP leader Praveen Togadia a few days ago prompting police to lodge a case under RPC section 153 (A) against him.

Tension again gripped the area when people held procession and torched the effigy of Togadia at the City Chowk.

However, the situation turned violent when a religious procession was stoned by some miscreants which created a serious situation in the area.

Sensing trouble, the police immediately imposed curfew in the town to prevent the situation from slipping into chaos.

The police and paramilitary forces were deployed in strength to prevent any untoward incident in the area.

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Bangladesh ferry accident toll rises to 105 Bangladesh rescuers attempt to raise sunken ferry

Rescue workers and divers in Bangladesh pulled dozens of bodies today from the wreckage of a ferry that sank after being hit by an oil barge, as the death toll rose to 105.

Recovery workers are trying to raise the wreckage of a ferry that capsized on a river in Bangladesh while carrying about 200 people, hoping their efforts will reveal the fate of dozens of passengers still missing.

The ferry collided with a cargo boat and capsized in darkness on Tuesday morning, sending hundreds of people into the Meghna River, just south of the capital, Dhaka. Local police chief

The death toll climbed to 66 on Wednesday after villagers and rescuers found more bodies floating near the scene of the accident,

found cradling her baby’s body, Khan said.

Local police chief Mohammad Shahabuddin Khan said about 35

ferry, he said.

He said the dead included a young woman found cradling her baby’s lifeless body.

“The death toll is likely to rise as more bodies are feared trapped inside,” Khan said. “We will get a better picture of the casualties once

Mohammad Shahabuddin Khan said about 35 survivors were plucked out of the water, while local media reported another 40 managed to swim to shore.

according to rescue official Mahfuzul Haque. Divers had recovered 31 bodies from inside the sunken ferry the day before.

The dead included a young woman

people were rescued after the ferry sank on the Meghna River after colliding with a cargo boat early in the morning. Divers have recovered 31 kbodies from inside the sunken

the sunken ferry is pulled out of the water.”

Khan could not specify exactly how many people were still missing, but said “many of those listed missing are feared dead.”

Israel ready to help India check Ganga pollution

Will provide technological knowhow in collaboration with the IITs

Israel has offered to help India clean up the river Ganga by providing the technological knowhow. “The Indian municipal bodies have to think about the local ecosystem and local needs, and then Israeli companies can fit into those projects,” head of environmental science and ecology section of the Israeli ministry of trade and labour Yehonatan Bar-Yosef told Governance Now in an interview here on Wednesday.

Israel hopes to enter into an accord with the Indian government for the project.

“Next month, we may sign a memorandum of understanding with India. The IITs are seeking technological collaboration with us,” he added.

Bar-Yosef advocated treating India’s holiest river at the source of pollution itself. “You need to map the pollution sources and conduct very intensive investigation at there,” he said.

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been at the forefront of planning environmental management of the river for a complete restoration. The river is 2,510 km long and provides sustenance

to 45 crore people through its course through several north Indian states and Bangladesh.

Bar-Yosef also held that Indian policy makers should not get discouraged at the size of the plan. “It is a very challenging project but possible,” he said.

Revered by the Hindus, the river has been in desperate need of cleaning. The government plans to pump in Rs 15,000 crores to be spent in the next ten years in efforts to check and reverse the pollution the river currently endures. In 2011, India got a $ 1 billion loan from World Bank to finance the first major clean up phase.

A study conducted by the Uttarakhand

Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) slotted river water into four categories: A — fit for drinking, B — fit for bathing, C — for agriculture, and D — for excessive pollution level. UEPPCB gave the rive a category D ranking.

In 2009, the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) was set up as the nodal agency to oversee the planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authorities which would ensure effective abatement of pollution and conservation of the river.

However, few members of NGRBA resigned recently accusing the government of being insensitive and insincere towards cleaning the river.

One of the divers, Mohammad Alauddin, said there were still bodies inside the sunken ferry, some of them buried under cargo.

Hundreds of anxious people, many of them weeping, gathered near the scene of the accident to look for their loved ones.

The MV Shariatpur-1 was travelling to the capital, Dhaka, from neighbouring Shariatpur district to the southwest. The accident site is in Munshiganj district, about 32 kilometres south of Dhaka.

Dulal Dewan, a survivor, described a scene of chaos as the ferry collided with the other ship.

“I was awakened with a big jolt,” said the businessman, who was asleep on the top deck when the collision occurred. “I jumped into the river in darkness as the ferry started going down.”

“In minutes there were screams all around,” he said. “People were shouting for help.”

Dewan said he was rescued by a nearby boat, but eight other family members travelling with him were still unaccounted for.

Estimates varied as to how many people were on board the ferry.

Government not backing drone strikes: Rabbani

Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani on Wednesday said that drone attacks carried out by the United States in the tribal region has no tacit approval from the PPP-led government.

Rabbani said the use of unmanned predators was allowed by the military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

While addressing a seminar here, the PPP stalwart said the Balochistan issue has become critical and stressed for the need to resolve the matter through negotiations with the Baloch leaders.

“The federal intelligence agencies working in Balochistan should work hand in hand with the provincial government,” he added.

After the passage of the 18th Amendment, he said, 85 per cent of resources had been shifted to provinces.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

‘Inna Lillahi wa ‘Inna ‘Ilayhi Raji’un - Allahu Akbar May Allah Subhana wa Ta’ ala grant the Shuhada Jannatul Firdaus, and ease it for their families, loved ones and anyone around them. Allahumma Ameen ya Rabbil ‘Alameen.

A newly released report says Israel is considering the use of US-made white phosphorus shells in its probable future attack on the Gaza Strip.

25 family members injured as Israeli air strike hits their home

25 members of the Hammad family have been injured in the past hour after an Israeli missile hit their home.

17 of the injured are women and children.

Everyone was asleep when their house was hit.

The house which belong to Hammad family has engulfed in flames.

The Palestinian Red Crescent headquarters in Jabalia in northern Gaza sustained severe damage in the attack.

The injured have been brought to the Kamal Awad hospital amid panic scenes.

Other explosions have been reported in Khan Younis, and 2 civilians have been injured in an attack in Shejaeyah east of Gaza.

In the past 72 hours across Gaza, Israeli airstrikes have killed 21 Palestinians, and injured over 60 others.

A motorcycle was attacked early this morning in Qarara east of Khan Younis, killing 24-year old Rafat Abu Eid. Meanwhile, Salman Abu Metleg, 24-year old man killed in a drone attack in Abasan east of Khan

Younis. A 15 year old boy has also died from injuries received in an explosion.

2 houses, including a 4-story building was directly hit injuring over 35 family members. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society headquarters in Jabalia sustained severe damage in the same attack.

In 2 seperate Drone attacks on Sunday, a 12 year old boy was killed in Jabalia, and in Gaza city, a 60 year old man also died.

Earlier on Sunday, in the Al Zaytoon area in eastern Gaza. 2 others were injured in continuing airstrikes on Gaza. In the attack, Ahmad Deeb Salem was killed.

Only 2 days ago he was married.

Israeli air raids killed at least one person and injured 2 others in Rafah in the south of the Gaza strip earlier on Saturday. Their motorcycle was hit by a missile

fired from a drone The latest deaths came as Israeli drones fired missiles in Khan Younis killing Mansour Abu Nusaira and Hussein Hamad earlier that morning.

Israeli troops have opened fire at the funeral procession of some of those killed last night. 4 people have been shot and injured at the cemetery.

Last night Israeli warplanes hit the Palestinian legislative council, and 3 people were killed in this attack…

In an air raid in central Gaza city on Friday night, missiles hit a garage in Yarmouk Street. 4 people have been injured in this attack.

Another aid raid targeted a house in northern Gaza.

A statement from EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the bloc “is following with concern the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and in the south of Israel”.

“I very much deplore the loss of civilian life. It is essential to avoid further escalation and I urge all

sides to re-establish calm.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned the rockets fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the murders.

Clinton said in a meeting with Opposition leader Tzipi Livni in New York that “Israel has the right to defend itself” France also called for restraint and a return to calm in a statement issued by foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

Paris was “greatly concerned by the new episode of violence in Gaza and southern Israel,” especially as civilians were at risk, the statement said.

“We condemn the firing of rockets and the humanitarian consequences of this violence and deplore the civilian casualties,” it added.

“A massacre” Truce with Israel is over Death toll climbs after Israeli raids on Gaza

‘Dangerous escalation’

The increase is violence alarmed world powers trying to bring peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis back on track.

Medics say more than 17 Palestinians have been killed and a dozen injured after Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Iron Dome intercepts Gaza rockets over Ashdod, as escalation continues for third day Some people have real distorted views about the Rockets from Gaza – myths

which are being launched mainly by Israeli and zionist biased media itself.

A truce was violated. Talking about myths the truce is the biggest propaganda and myth itself for the facts are, Israel is violating, attacking Palestine, Palestinians and their rights, lives, properties and pounding Gaza on daily basis by air, from naval ships and artillery over land.

Palestine has a right of self-defense.

Whether Israel likes this or not, the disproportional violence with which it is “responding” after triggering the selfdefense while attacking Palestine every hour in any way possible is appalling and murderous. Now in 3 days, 17 people have been killed.

According to a report published by the Jerusalem Post on Thursday, Israeli military officials are discussing whether “M825A1” white phosphorus shells should be used in a future ground operation in Gaza.

Israel used a number of M825A1 shells during the December 2008-January 2009

At least one more Palestinian was wounded in the early Sunday raid in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip .

A Palestinian riding a motorcycle was killed and two others were wounded on

war against Gaza.

The M825A1 shells explode in midair and create smoke screens to mask the movement of troops on the ground or their position.

If used as an offensive incendiary weapon, white phosphorus can cause lifethreatening burns.

The latest report comes almost a month after the chief of staff of the Israeli military, Lt. General Benny Gantz, said on the third anniversary of the Gaza War that Tel Aviv will “sooner or later” need to launch a “significant operation” against the Gaza Strip.

More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli war against Gaza.

Residents still live in what is known to be the “world’s largest open-air prison” as Israel remains in full control of the airspace, territorial waters and border crossings of Gaza.

A 12-year-old boy been killed in a fresh Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from Israeli attacks to 18 since Friday, according to Palestinian medical sources.

Saturday afternoon in an Israeli air raid close to the southern town of Rafah near the border with Egypt .

Two men also on a motorbike were killed earlier the same day in another raid on the town of Khan Yunis, medics said.

In a statement on Saturday, the Israeli army said: “The targeting is in direct response to the rocket fire at Israeli communities in southern Israel.

“Over the past 24 hours, over 45 rockets have hit communities in southern Israelinjuring four people, one severely, one moderately and two lightly.”

An air raid late on Friday struck down three Palestinians after an Apache helicopter fired rockets that hit a house and a car, medics told Al Jazeera. The Palestinian Authority condemned the strikes, saying it had created a “negative environment” that would “escalate the circle of violence in the region,” according to a statement released by the official Palestinian WAFA news agency.

Hamas Rejects BBC Claims, Vows to Give Crushing Response to Israeli Aggression against Iran Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior official of the Palestinian Hamas movement, strongly rejected a recent BBC report which quoted him as saying that Hamas would take no action in case of an Israeli invasion of Iran, and warned that any Israel or US attack on Iran will be reciprocated by Hamas’s

crushing response to the Zionists.

Hamas will give a crushing response to not only the Zionists but also to “whoever helping them” in such an attack.

BBC Persian’s website alleged in a report on Wednesday that the No. 2 Hamas official in the Gaza Strip has assured that his movement would not take any action in the face of an Israeli attack on Iran. AlZahar strongly rejected the BBC claim as unfounded and a lie.

“Retaliation with utmost power is the position of Hamas with regard to a Zionist war on Iran,” Zahar told FNA on Wednesday afternoon. Zahar rejected the possibility of any Israeli aggression against Iran, but meantime, reiterated that IDF conducts three strikes in Gaza

overnight and Sunday morning, killing two Palestinians; Iron Dome has intercepted more than 30 rockets since Friday. Iron Dome anti-rocket battery in action, March 11, 2012.

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Head of Quds Supreme Court Warns about Zionists’ Plots to Destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque

Head of Quds Supreme Court Yusuf Ade’is warned about the Zionist regime’s plots to destroy the alAqsa Mosque through artificial earthquakes.

“This action (creating artificial earthquake) is not difficult for the Zionist regime since the drilling operations around the (al-Aqsa) Mosque has worn off the foundations of the Mosque’s building,” Ade’is told FNA on Saturday.

He further cautioned that officials and rabbis of Zionist settlements have recently attended a series

of overt and covert meetings coordinated with Israeli defense ministry to work out plans to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque.

In light of the Arab and Muslim world’s passive stance, the Zionist regime takes any action it wants very freely and breaks sanctuaries and Judaizes the Quds city without being questioned by the international community.

In April 2011, the Al Aqsa Foundation for Islamic Endowment (Waqf) and Heritage reported that the Israeli Authorities are going on

with their excavations under the Al Aqsa Mosque to create a network of tunnels under and around the very important mosque.

The foundation stated that occupation is penetrating areas beneath the mosque and its surroundings through excavations that have been escalated during the last few months.

The foundation added that the excavations and digging are also being conducted under the Al Boraq Wall near the Moghrabi Gate (Bab Al Magharba), Al Silsila Gate (Gate

of the Chain), and Al Mat-hara Gate.

A senior Palestinian journalist in an article last month stressed that protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque from fanatic Zionist Jews is a vital responsibility of every Muslim.

In an editorial in Al-Jazeerah website, Khalid Amayreh called on Muslims to protect Islam’s holy places in the Holy Quds (Jerusalem).

“Attacking or destroying or burning the Islamic house of worship of 1400 years would spark off religious wars between Muslims and Jews, wars that would only end when the redeemer

or Jewish Messiah appears,” he said in the article.

Palestinian officials have repeatedly warned that the Israeli Quds municipality continues its attempts to Judaize East Quds (Jerusalem) through the renaming of Arab street names and monuments in the city.

As part of what the municipality calls “infrastructure restoration and area development”, authorities fenced off areas around the city’s historic Damascus Gate to do name and landscape changes as part of the Judaizing of the city.

Drones no more, Pakistan tells US

Pakistan has told the White House it no longer will permit U.S. drones to use its airspace to attack militants and collect intelligence on al-Qaeda and other groups, according to officials involved in the talks.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the drone program is classified, called the use of unmanned aerial vehicles such as San Diego-based General Atomics’ MQ-1 Predator and its MQ-9 Reaper a critical element in the Obama administration’s anti-terrorism strategy.

Eliminating drone missions would “contribute to a resurgence of extremist groups operating in the tribal areas” along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, Peter Singer, author of “Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century,” said in an interview.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Sherry Rehman, met Vice President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Antony Blinken on March 9 and told him that Pakistan’s political parties have agreed that the drone flights over Pakistan must end, officials involved said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

Pakistan’s sovereignty over its airspace and the civilian casualties that have resulted from drone strikes are emotional issues in Pakistan, where public opinion heavily

favors terminating drone missions, Pakistani officials say.

The U.S. will try to reach an accommodation with Pakistani leaders, two American officials said. The U.S. gave Pakistan $4.4 billion in economic assistance, counterinsurgency funding and military reimbursements in 2010, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Essential Strategy The only chance for a compromise, Pakistani officials said, may be if the U.S. agrees to share intelligence and coordinate strikes first, a strategy Pakistan has long advocated. The U.S. has resisted giving information to Pakistan in advance because of fears that some in Pakistan’s security forces might warn the targets of impending strikes.

The drone program, which President Barack Obama acknowledged publicly for the first time in January, has been part of U.S. counterterrorism strategy in Pakistan since

2004, officials and counter-terrorism experts say. The administration authorized 53 drone attacks in 2009 and 117 in 2010, compared with 35 in 2008 under former President George W. Bush, according to Bill Roggio, a U.S. military analyst whose website, the Long War Journal, maintains a database of the campaign.

‘Key Leadership’ The drone program is “critical,” because it provides better real-time surveillance and reconnaissance than satellite imagery does, Seth Jones, a senior political scientist in Washington for the Santa Monica, California-based RAND Corporation research institute, said in an interview.

“If it is used selectively,” it can help both the U.S. and Pakistan by taking out “key leadership” of alQaeda and other groups such as Tehrik-i-Taliban of Pakistan, which poses a greater threat to Pakistan than it does to the U.S., said Jones, a former representative of the U.S.

Special Operations Command at the Pentagon.

Singer said that “for several years, Pakistan has openly said, ‘How dare you violate our sovereignty,’ but it turned out the CIA was flying from Pakistani bases with Pakistan’s permission.”

This time, it’s possible “they really mean it,” after a series of high-profile disputes have damaged relations, said Singer, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at The Brookings Institution in Washington.

Frayed by Controversies U.S. officials are being dispatched to meet with Rehman today to discuss the dispute over drone missions and other sticking points in an alliance frayed by numerous controversies.

Those have included the U.S. raid to kill Osama bin Laden without first informing the Pakistani government and the killing of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor.

The security relationship has been virtually frozen since Nov. 26, when

U.S. helicopters from Afghanistan fired on border posts, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. In protest, Pakistan closed its border to the resupply of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and suspended much military and intelligence cooperation.

While drone attacks have continued this year, their frequency has waned. As of March 10, the U.S. had conducted eight attacks, an average of one every nine days, compared with one strike ever six days in 2011, according to Roggio.

The border attack spurred Pakistan’s political parties to form a parliamentary committee to review the U.S. relationship. A decision on whether to permit drone missions is one of the most anticipated elements of the review, which has not been made public.

Panel’s Recommendations Pakistani officials said the committee will present its recommendations to a closed session of parliament as early as March 19, and lawmakers will have an opportunity to debate and amend the recommendations.

Pakistan’s leaders are expected to share the review with the U.S. by the end of this month, officials on both sides said.

If the U.S. were to continue flying drone missions without Pakistani permission, some Pakistani military officials suggested last year that Pakistan would be within its rights to shoot them down.

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Worldwide celebrations: His Holiness Dr Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin

Dawoodi Bohra leader turns 101

Dawoodi Bohras gathered in mosques on the eve of the birthday of their spiritual leader, the 52nd Dai-elMutlaq, his holiness Dr Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin. Tuesday, the 20th of Rabi ul Akhir (as per the Dawoodi Bohra calendar) marks the completion of 101 years. The birthday was celebrated simply with Bohra men and women singing hymns in his praise after which all congressions prayed for his long life and health.

Men and women streamed out of mosques for salawat which consisted of a sandwich and sweetened milk.

The longest living spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community to date, Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin’s age and abilities are something of a miracle to his community.

Up till his last birthday, Syedna Burhanuddin could still deliver heartwrenching majalis to his people. To be able to speak lucidly and eloquently at the age of 100 has always been perceived as one of the signs of piety and goodness by his followers.

On this day a grander function, which

them on Sunday morning.

The procession also comprised of people riding on camels, bands and the Burhani Ambulance Corps.

They arrived at the mosque amidst

will include a minimum five-course meal in the traditional Bohra fashion in all Dawoodi Bohra mosques.

Saifee.”

The ceremony takes its name from the founder of this tradition, the late

Rasm-e-Saifee: Smiles and joy at Bohra mass wedding

Syedna Tahir Saifuddin, the father of His Holiness Dr Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin (TUS) who is the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community.

This practice was established around 50 years ago to avoid heavy wedding expenses. The event itself is a consequence of the happiness of another upcoming event, the 101st

Dawoodi Bohras arrive at Tahiri mosque amidst rousing cheers to commence the mass weddings known as ‘Rasm-e-Saifee’.

Dawoodi Bohra bridegrooms made their way towards the Tahiri mosque on horses as a cool breeze blew past

rousing cheers to commence the mass weddings, known as “Rasm-e-

birthday of the 52nd Dai-el-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra community, His Holiness Dr Burhanuddin, thus it is believed that the weddings on Rasme-Saifee have higher benedictions bestowed upon them.

Around 41 couples tied the nuptial knot in the presence of family and friends.

the president of Dawoodi Bohra Jamaat of Karachi, solemnised their nikkah. After each nikkah, a Bohra-styled golden sehra was tied to the head. Each bride was led to a garlanded chair on the first floor and covered with a red sequined dupatta while she watched her husband-tobe say his vows on the ground floor.

gave gifts but also provided for the stage decorations, a photographer and video making facilities. After the nikkah refreshments were offered in the traditional style.

As one of the bridegrooms, Ibrahim Shabbir, made his rounds of hugs and congratulations, I asked him why he had opted for the Rasm-e-Saifee. “It

All the women wore colourful ridas (Bohra-syled abayas) but the brides could be distinguished by their expressions of excitement, tinged with nervousness, and the tikas or matha pattis (jewellery) on their foreheads.

The bridegrooms who dotted the mosque were easily distinguishable

After that they were smothered with hugs and congratulated while the organisers called to the next bride.

After each nikkah, each couple was given a present by the community – a rida and a purse for the bride, and a thaal, a kundli and a chillum chilottia for the bridegroom. A thaal

was a family decision for me … the facilities offered made everything convenient and easy.”

While for a new bride, Mrs Shabbir Abbas Sodawaterwala, her motherin-law put the idea forth and so far the experience had been great.

Another, Fatima Burhan, smiled as

with their golden turbans, called feta, with the single white feather, known as kalgi.

In their white embroidered sherwani, they took turns to go up to the stage, where Janab Norruddin Bhai Saheb,

is a very large round tray out of which the Dawoodi Bohras traditionally eat, the kundli is its stand and the a chillum chilottia is used to wash the hands of guests sitting around the thaal. The community not only

she brushed tears away from her eyes.

“Being a part of Rasm-e-Saifee means that I have all the blessings of Syedna Burhannuddin (TUS),” she said, as she moved on to accept felicitations from the people.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF PAKISTAN NEWS

Four years on: The National Assembly, in retrospect ...

Completing its four-year tenure, the 13th National Assembly (NA) passed a total of 50 resolutions and 91 ordinances during its four parliamentary years with private members taking the lead in legislation-making — with the next session.

Private members of the lower house emerged as the major contributors of legislative business since the house passed 147 private member bills as compared to the 95 governmentsponsored bills since March 17, 2008. The same trend dominated last year when 40 private member bills were moved as compared to the 27 government-sponsored bills.

Strengthening democracy: Tall claims?

The passage of the 20th Constitutional Amendment in February this year was dubbed by both the government and opposition a step towards “strengthening of democracy”. Though the government managed a unanimous approval in the lower house of

parliament after several hectic rounds of negotiations with the opposition, it could not manage to get a unanimous approval from the Senate.

The 20th Amendment – third by the incumbent government – has laid down the scheme of installing a caretaker setup and empowered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding free, fair and transparent election in the future.

In agreement during times of peril In addition to legislative business, the lower house condemned through unanimous resolutions blatant interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs by the US through a Congressional hearing on Balochistan.

The government also managed to sail through the NA a pro-democracy resolution amid a standoff between the civil and military leadership in the wake

of the Memogate scandal but failed to garner the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – to have a unanimous approval.

Corruption-free services, implementation of previous resolutions and decisions of judiciary, elimination load-shedding, controlling inflation, creating employment opportunities were the demands of the PML-N which the government rejected.

Agreeing to disagree However, the parliamentary year which started on March 16, 2011 could not bring any change for the muchtrumpeted National Accountability Commission Bill, which is lying with the house’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice since 2009 — the government and main opposition could not reach an agreement to overcome their tussle.

The PML-N had submitted four dissenting notes on the bill which relate to the retrospective applicability of this law, eligibility for appointing the

head of the proposed accountability commission, “immunity” proposed for a holder of public office for any wrongdoing committed in “good faith” and repeal of the clause allowing the government to ask foreign countries to freeze accounts and assets of a person involved in a corruption case.

The PML-N has requested to send the bill to the house for a vote with its dissenting notes, but Chairperson Begum Naseem Akhter Chaudhry says the bill would be presented in the NA after the committee achieves consensus.

The female factor During the year, women legislators continued to mark their presence, asserting themselves in their lawmaking and oversight roles. Female parliamentarians materialised efforts of civil society and rights organisations to bring justice to victims of acid attacks after the lower house passed a bill proposing strict punishment for perpetrators of the heinous crime.

Pakistan: Drone ‘kills five’ in South Waziristan

U.S. drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan’s tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 people, including two senior commanders of the Pakistan Taliban, security and intelligence officials said.

In the first strike, a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Birmal area of the South Waziristan tribal region, killing eight, Reuters reported.

Among the dead were Shams Ullah and Amir Hamza, senior commanders of a faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led by Maulvi Nazir, one of the most influential militant leaders in the region.

Seven suspected militants were killed in the second attack later in the day, when a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Sara Khawra area, which straddles the border between North Waziristan and South Waziristan.

A drone strike on March 9 had killed at least 12 militants. A US drone had fired three missiles on a vehicle in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan, which is a stronghold of militants belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks in late 2010 showed that Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders privately supported U.S.

drone attacks, despite public condemnation in a country where the U.S. alliance is hugely unpopular.

President Barack Obama in January confirmed for the first time that U.S. drones target militants on Pakistani soil, but American officials do not discuss details of the covert program.

But the attacks fuel anti-American resentment in Pakistan, whose relations with the US nosedived over the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden last May and air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

The New America Foundation think-tank in Washington says drone strikes have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in Pakistan in the past eight years.

SC seeks names of MPs SHC orders protective custody having dual nationality for Faryal Shah, husband

ECP says parliamentarians are reluctant to disclose their names due to fear of disqualification.

A three member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard a petition regarding disqualification of lawmakers holding dual nationality.

Syed Mahmood Akhtar had filed a writ petition

under Article 184’s Sub Section 3, citing media reports that more than 35 legislators including Rehman Malik, Ch Zahid Iqbal and Ch Iftikhar Nazir were holding dual nationality. The petitioner had requested the court to ask the Election Commission of Pakistan to submit complete record of these lawmakers and declare them disqualify. Election Commission Joint Secretary Sher Afgan informed the court that the Chief Election commission was in Karachi therefore time should be granted to submit the reply. He said that the candidates did not reveal their dual nationality as the commission had banned to contest election with dual nationality.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till March 29 and directed all the parties to submit replies.

The Sindh High Court, hearing the case of Faryal Shah (Rinkle Kumari), has ordered that the girl and her husband be given into the protective custody of the police, report.

Faryal and her husband Naveed Shah were summoned to the court today along with their lawyer, while some members of Faryal’s family also appeared before the court with their lawyer.

The bench said that the couple either be sent into police custody or to Darul Aman as Faryal’s family has been constantly protesting.

But, they gave out a short order of sending the couple to the police, and also ordered that tight security be provided to them.

The couple has also been summoned

by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad

Chaudhry in the Supreme Court on March 26, when he will announce his verdict. Faryal’s uncle Raj Kumar also appealed to the court that Faryal be sent back to her family as she has been missing since a very long time.

Faryal has repeatedly told the media that she converted to Islam of her own will, while her family has constantly blamed the Pirs of Dargah Bharchoondi in Sukkur of abducting her and forcefully converting and marrying her.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF MALDIVE NEWS

Another video of Nasheed at Army HQ leaked Another video of former President Mohamed Nasheed’s furious reactions inside Army Head Quarters (HQ) on the day of the transfer of power has been leaked on social media networks today.

Prior to the less than two minute video leaked today, two other videos had also been leaked, recorded when Nasheed had been inside Army HQ on February 7.

However the latest video has by far the clearest images and audio and had been recorded by someone who had been right beside the officers inside army HQ.

The video leaked today presumably shows the moments following former

President Mohamed Nasheed’s entry inside the barracks after meeting with

the police officers protesting at the Republic Square.

The video shows former President Mohamed Nasheed and former Defence Minister Thalhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu ordering “Hey come out with the shields” at the army officers to head outside and control the crowd.

“Why are you all so calm, go control the crowd” Tholhath said “Do you want the army to be humiliated in front of the police”.

The video shows former President Nasheed ordering “Go deal with the situation, the whole country is

in chaos, murmuring command or whatever…”

The video shows him pacing furiously while army officers are seen heading out of army HQ. The video also shows former chief of defence force Moosa Ali Jaleel instructing the officers out of the army HQ “Quickly quickly quickly.. make it quick”.

Dhaandhoo MP Mohamed Riyaz is also seen at the scene urging the officers out of army HQ. At the end of the clip former foreign minister Ahmed Naseem is also seen encouraging the officers “You all should never do this… you can achieve this”.

Military detention case of Judge will be sent to PG soon: Police

Maldives Police Service (MPS) has said that the case of the arbitrary arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdullah Mohamed during the regime of former President Mohamed Nasheed will be sent to the Prosecutor General soon.

Police Media Official, Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that the investigation of the Police on the case of the former government’s arbitrary arrest of the senior judge of the Criminal Court is almost finished. He noted that the Police have not received any cooperation of the ex-President in the investigation.

Shiyam said that the attempts of the Police to take the testimony

of ex-President Nasheed have been unsuccessful so far. He said that the Police gave Nasheed the opportunity to give the testimony at any time and any place convenient for him but he has denied the Police from giving any support in the investigation.

Despite this the Police will file the case at the Prosecutor General’s office against all involved in the arbitrary arrest without any exception, said Shiyam Former Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleygefaanu was summoned to the Police headquarters in relation to the case but he used his right to remain silent.

Although the Police have the

authority to arrest ex-President Nasheed under a court warrant to investigate the case, the Police have not done so. Police Commissioner Abdullah Riyaz said that he does not believe that anyone should be arrested to investigate the case.

During the last days of Nasheed’s regime, the government compromised the independence of the judiciary by arbitrarily arresting and holding in isolated detention, Senior Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed. Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz, Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu, Attorney General Abdulla Muizzu, Maldives Lawyers Association, Human Rights Commission of Maldives, and top lawyers around the

Japan hands over solar panel project to Maldives government

The ‘Project for Clean Energy Promotion in Male’ which is a project which promotes rooftop based grid connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Male granted by the Japanese government has been handed over to the current administration.

At a ceremony held at Hiriya School the Japanese ambassador to the Maldives Nobuhito Hobo signed the scheme over to the Maldivian government which was then accepted by President Dr Mohamed

Waheed Hassan Manik.

Under the first phase of the project of $11 million, solar PV systems were installed at the roof tops of the president’s office, youth centre, Hiriya school, Thaajuddheen school and the panels were connected to a State Electric Company Limited network.

Speaking at the ceremony the president said that renewable energy can be produced from wind and waves in the Maldives but that it would be easier to produce solar

energy.

Given that a considerable amount of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on importing diesel energy production, renewable sources need to be expanded.

To do so the Maldives needs the help of foreign investors and the president assured the government will do everything necessary to secure funds.

He acknowledged the assistance received by the Japanese government on several occasions and thanked the country for its generosity.

The ceremony also observed a moment of silence in commemoration of the anniversary of the deadly tsunami that struck Japan last year.

The ceremony was attended by government dignitaries.

country called the act a violation of the constitution and laws.

According to legal experts, Judge Abdulla’s arrest on January 16th 2012, constitute gross violations of several Sections of the Constitution by President Nasheed, Home Minister Afeef, Defence Minister Tholhath, Police Commissioner Faseeh and Chief of Defence Forces Moosa Jaleel.

Excitement Builds Up for Asia Cup Cricket Live and Exclusive on Zee Café with English commentary

Zee Café’s extraordinary cricket offering is back!

Starting this weekend is the magnanimous Asia Cup 2012, exclusively in the UK on Zee Café with English commentary.

Zee Café continues to delight cricket fans with regular live and exclusive international cricket. Watch out for the Pakistan v Bangladesh series coming up next month, only on Zee Café, with lots more action throughout the rest of the year. Zee Café is available on Sky 846 as part of the Zee Pack, which also offers popular drama serials and reality shows, including Dance India Dance. In this special pack you can also enjoy premiere Bollywood movies on Zee Cinema, including the Europe TV premiere of Players coming up on 31 March.

ASIA CUP 2012 Date Match Sun Mar 11 1st Match Bangladesh v Pakistan Tue Mar 13 2nd Match India v Sri Lanka Thu Mar 15 3rd Match Pakistan v Sri Lanka Fri Mar 16 4th Match Bangladesh v India Sun Mar 18 5th Match India v Pakistan Tue Mar 20 6th Match Bangladesh v Sri Lanka Thu Mar 22 Final

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF NEPAL NEWS

Nepal PM Baburam Bhattarai seeks Indian investment in Nepal’s hydropower sector

Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today invited Indian businessmen to invest in this country’s hydropower sector and promised to create a conducive environment for them.

“Nepal government will focus its attention on developing the hydropower sector which will not only boost economic development of the country but also accelerate the overall development,” Bhattarai said, inaugurating the Hydropower Summit 2012 here.

He said the government would focus on exploiting the huge potential of hydropower of Nepal once the sixyear-long peace process concludes.

Development of hydropower can overcome the current power shortage in the country, speed up tourism and agriculture development, and enhance

production capability of the country through rapid industrialisation, Bhattarai pointed out.

He also asked Indian investors to invest in the hydropower sector of the country, promising that a conducive environment would be created for foreign investment and all woes of the

investors would be addressed.

Minister for Water Resources Posta Bahadur Bogati said the government of Nepal accords special priority to the storage type of hydropower project and expressed his commitment to construct medium range power projects like the Upper Karnali and Arun Third

Projects, currently being considered

by Indian power companies GMR and Sutlaj, by signing power purchase agreements.

Minister for Irrigation Mahendra Yadav underlined the need to further enhance cooperation between Nepal and India on developing hydropower

projects that would help minimise water- related disasters and provide irrigation benefits to both the countries.

He also hailed government of India for providing financial assistance to build embankments in various rivers in southern Nepal.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad said that Indian investors are willing to make huge investments in Nepal’s hydropower sector once favourable conditions are created. He said the development of hydropower sector will not only benefit Nepal economically but will also help in reducing carbon emission in the entire South Asian region.

Hydropower development can create new employment opportunities, enhance economic development and also reduce trade imbalance of Nepal, he noted.

Baidya camp builds up ‘resign PM’ call Action sought against Bista

The hardline faction of the UCPN (Maoist) led by Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has demanded Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s immediate resignation.

The faction said the Maoist-led government has deviated from the party’s official line and has demonstrated “needless flexibility” with the “expansionists” and “imperialists”.

After a two-day meeting, the Baidya camp on Tuesday also threatened to launch stern protests both in parliament and the streets if the party continued to ignore the official policy. The faction said it will unveil different street programmes soon to press Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and PM Bhattarai against “compromising on the party’s core ideology with other parties.”

According to leaders, the main issues to be raised through the street protests include national

independence, pro-people constitution and hike in prices of daily commodities. The meeting concluded that as the party chairman failed to implement the party’s official agenda, the faction must take steps on that front.

The hardliners’ tough stance is, however, unlikely to affect the process of integrating Maoist combatants in the Nepal Army.

“Despite our reservations, the integration process has reached its final stage and I don’t think the process will stop now, whatever the party’s official stance,” Baidya told an interaction at the Reporter’s Club.

V The faction also said it will take a tough stance on constitution drafting.

The Dahal faction, however, said the hardliners’ demand for the PM’s resignation is aimed at destabilising the peace and constitution writing processes.

“The Baidya faction wants to derail the peace and constitution writing processes. There is no possibility of the government changing at a time when positive dialogue is taking place,” Politburo member Haribol Gajurel, who is close to Dahal, told the Post. The hardline leaders said the party leadership failed to implement decisions taken by the Central Committee (CC) on national unity government, organisational reshuffling and launching a movement of ‘national independence’.

Sources said Dahal and Bhattarai are reluctant to implement a decision taken by a January16 CC meeting that includes launching protests against the southern neighbour and border encroachment.

“We will launch a publicity campaign against foreign interference and border encroachment and demand that the Peace and Friendship Treaty be scrapped,” Baidya said.

Majority of lawmakers speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary State Affairs Committee today demanded action against Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Lokendra Bista Magar for ‘damaging country’s reputation by travelling abroad without a visa’.

Lawmakers said Bista, who is also the coordinator of the Tribhuvan International Airport Security Committee, made a blunder by flying off to Abu Dhabi en route to Germany without even checking whether he had got the visa.

The minister was stuck, reportedly for about 53 hours, at immigration at the Abu Dhabi airport of the United Arab Emirates on March 5. He was in Abu Dhabi in transit to Germany where he was scheduled to take part in an international fair.

Minister Bista’s ‘detention’ in Abu Dhabi airport had created quite a stir here in the country, though later it was found that immigration officials

had arranged a hotel for him and his wife at the airport itself after finding that Minister Bista did not have a visa to fly to Germany.

The House panel today invited home secretary, a deputy superintendent of police on duty at TIA when Minister Bista flew and chief of the Department of Immigration at TIA to furnish clarifications on the visa debacle.

Home ministry officials admitted that there had been some lapses on the part of immigration officials as the minister had arrived late and could have missed his flight if he was delayed further.

PM gears up for Madhesis’ NA entry

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Thursday directed Defence Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar and Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun to start within seven days the process of recruiting Madhesi youths in the Nepal Army.

The Supreme court had on December 26 issued an interim order asking the government to halt the groupwise entry of the Madhesis in the

Army.

“The court has only stayed groupwise entry of Madhesi youths. As such, there will be no legal hurdles in going about the recruitment process on the basis of existing laws,” leader of the Madhesi Janaadhikar ForumGanatantrik Raj Kishore Yadav quoted Prime Minister Bhattarai as saying in a meeting.

PM Bhattarai also directed the

Finance Minister to arrange for funds for the recruitment drive.

He also directed Pun to make available finances to open up schools in native places of Madhes movement martyrs and to build postal roads.

In the meeting, the Maoist party also assured the Madhesis that the news constitution to be had will guarantee federalism.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF SRILANKA NEWS

Lanka’s growth rate to be lowered

Sri Lanka’s economic growth for 2012 is expected to be lowered to 7.2 per cent from a projected 8 per cent with an announcement on the lower growth (GDP) rate due on Tuesday, banking analysts said yesterday.

They said the decision was to be made at a meeting of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank (CB) chaired by Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and attended by Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera who is also a member of the Monetary Board. At this meeting the CB’s monthly statement on monetary policy would be released and the announcement of the lower GDP figure made. No other changes including interest rates are expected in the announcement.

Mr. Cabraal, who has returned from a visit to Qatar where he led a delegation of bankers to induce investments

from the fastest growing economy in the Middle East, was not available for comment.

The lower rate against 8.2 per cent GDP growth in 2011 comes in the backdrop of an external economic crisis in Europe and the US, and acute financial problems at home.

The Treasury has urged government ministries and departments to cut spending and save on energy costs as debts rise particularly for institutions like the debt-ridden Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board with both increasing fuel and power tariffs.

The analysts, who declined to be named, said reasons for the lower growth forecast was due to lending restrictions on banks aimed at reducing nonessential imports, a rising US dollar

Sri Lankan Buddhist monks protest against UN human rights resolution proposed by US

Hundreds of Buddhist monks on Wednesday marched in Sri Lanka’s capital to urge the United States to withdraw its support for a proposed U.N. rights body resolution on alleged abuses during the country’s civil war.

The monks blocked traffic on a main road as they marched from a Buddhist temple to the U.S. Embassy. Five were

allowed to enter the building and deliver a letter that called on the U.S. not to “inconvenience and embarrass” Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s government has organized protests against the proposed resolution, which calls on Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of abuses by both government troops and ethnic Tamil rebels in the final months of the war in 2009. The U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva is expected to vote on it next week.

According to a U.N. report, tens of thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians may have been killed in the final months of the 25-year civil war. It said most of the deaths occurred due to shell fire by government forces.

and depreciation of the rupee which are all expected to reduce economic activity while troubled economies in the West would hurt Sri Lankan exports, particularly garments.

When the 2012 growth forecast of 8 per cent was made by the CB in January, top Sri Lankan economists

questioned the wisdom of such a high growth projection when the country’s other trading partners were lowering economic growth figures.

“It doesn’t make sense to project high growth when all our key buyers (garment-buying countries) have lowered their forecasts due to a global

financial crisis,” one economist said, adding that the CB plan to lower growth rates proved that “what we have been saying is correct (and these views should not be ignored or ridiculed)”.

Meanwhile the delegation of mostly bankers led by Mr. Cabraal and including representatives from Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, Sampath Bank, Commercial Bank and Seylan Bank visited Qatar last week to tap into the enormous resource of funds for investment in Sri Lanka.

“Qatar has been reducing its exposure in Europe and looking for other investment opportunities. Local banks are trying to get a slice of these funds for investment in treasury bills and bonds and other investment avenues,” a banker who was in the delegation said.

Don’t seek exclusive rights to Sri Lanka, India told

New Delhi : India should not feel uncomfortable with Chinese presence in Sri Lanka as there is “plenty of room for both”, said a Sri Lankan MP and adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

He said India should not try to seek “exclusive rights to Sri Lanka”.

Rajiva Wijesinha, who was in Dehli Wednesday on his way to Nepal, said, “India should not feel uncomfortable” about China’s growing presence in Sri Lanka.

“We are good friends with both India and China,” Wijesinha told IANS in an interview.

“And there is plenty of room for both.”

Wijesinha, who studied at Oxford University and has worked as a professor, said Sri Lanka’s geographical position makes it attractive for both the countries, “but (seeking) exclusive rights to Sri Lanka is a waste of time”.

“Not at all, not at all,” said Wijesinha when asked whether India should begin to worry about the projects

being undertaken by China in the island nation.

Citing the example of Hambantota port, he said: “We first offered its development to India. When it didn’t go ahead, it was given to China.”

The port is located in Hambantota, one of the lowest per capita income regions in Sri Lanka, and the port will be an important catalyst for major economic development. The total estimated construction cost of Phase 1 of the project is $361 million, out of which 85 percent has been funded by the Ex-Im Bank of China.

The professor said that now India is “moving quickly” and working at the Kankesanturai port in the north.

U.S. court dismisses case against -President Rajapaksa Rajapakse granted immunity in suit brought by relatives of Tamil Tigers and aid worker killed during civil war A US judge threw out a lawsuit against Sri Lanka’s president on Wednesday over killings allegedly carried out by his forces during the country’s ethnic civil war.

US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that she must dismiss the suit against President Mahinda Rajapakse because the Obama administration says he is immune from the litigation as a foreign head of state.

“The court does not take this step lightly,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote.

“The plaintiffs’ complaint contains shocking allegations

of human rights abuses and violations of United States and international law.

“The court’s dismissal of this case is in no way a reflection of the merits of plaintiffs’ claims or defendant’s defences.

“Rather, two centuries of case law and basic constitutional and

statutory principles prevent this court from allowing plaintiffs’ complaint to move forward at this time.”

The suit was brought by relatives of Tamil Tiger minorities and a humanitarian worker who was assisting them. The plaintiffs claim all were killed by government

security forces under Rajapakse’s control.

Government forces defeated the Tamil insurgency in 2009 to end more than 25 years of bloody civil war in which between 80,000 and 100,000 people are believed to have died.

The separatists had been fighting to create an independent Tamil state after decades of marginalisation by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.

The families sued Rajapakse under the Torture Victim Protection Act passed by Congress in 1992 that says “any individual” who uses their authority to carry out extrajudicial killing is liable for

wrongful death and can be ordered to pay damages to survivors.

The families argued a head of state could not be immune from suits brought under the act because it refers to “any individual”.

But Kollar-Kotelly said congressional records make it clear that lawmakers intended heads of state to be immune if the State Department declares them to be.

“This court is not in a position to second-guess the executive’s determination that in this case, the nation’s foreign policy interests will be best served by granting defendant Rajapakse head of state immunity while he is in office,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote.

BUSINESS

24

Saarc international I Thursday 08 March 2012

Government to lift ban on cotton exports

India, the world’s second-biggest cotton producer, scrapped a oneweek-old ban on exports of the fiber after protests from growers, traders and China, the nation’s largest customer. Prices dropped.

“Keeping in view the interests of the farmers, industry, trade, a balanced view has been considered by the Group of Ministers to roll back the ban,” Trade Minister Anand Sharma said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

The ministry will publish details for repealing the March 5 ban today, Sharma said. India barred exports to secure domestic supplies after sales exceeded the government’s estimate of the country’s exportable surplus.

The resumption of international sales may add to global supplies and pressure futures, which have fallen 55 percent in New York in the past year.

“This will help farmers get a higher price immediately, at least 10 percent more, and encourage cotton planting for next year,” Dhiren Sheth, president of the Cotton Association of India, said in a phone interview yesterday.

“The government decision will help avoid disputes and arbitration in international markets.”

The May-delivery contract dropped as much as 0.9 percent to 88.01 cents a pound in on ICE Futures U.S. before trading at 88.38 cents at 10:21 a.m.

Singapore time. The ban drove prices up by the daily limit on March 5, and to 94.24 cents the following day, the

highest level since Feb. 17. They fell 0.9 percent on March 9.

International Trade India suspended sales after shipments

pressure to withdraw the curbs after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the prohibition would hurt planting prospects and an industry

surged to about 9.4 million bales, more than the surplus of 8.4 million bales estimated by the government.

Traders had registered to ship 12 million bales, the Textile Ministry said.

The government came under

group in China said the move damaged international trade.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reversed another policy in December.

The government on Dec. 7 suspended a decision to allow as much as 51 percent overseas ownership

Seeking new trade partners, Iran eyes Pakistan

Iran and Pakistan are negotiating a barter deal in which Pakistan would supply up to 22 million tons of wheat in return for discounted electricity and petroleum products, Pakistani business leaders involved in the talks said.

The proposal is part of a broader trade package being pursued by the neighboring states as Iran scrambles to find new suppliers to replace trading partners scared away by U.S. sanctions that have made it increasingly difficult to trade with Tehran.

While Iran and Pakistan haven’t been major trading partners historically, economic ties between the two nations are growing stronger — particularly with the construction of a pipeline to carry Iranian natural gas to energy-starved Pakistan that is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.

The Pakistani government has vowed to go ahead with the pipeline project — despite repeated warnings from Washington that it would violate U.S. sanctions — because its economy has been hamstrung by major shortages in electricity and gas supplies.

Pakistan’s enhanced ties with Iran have irked U.S. officials and contributed to tensions between Washington and Islamabad, impeding U.S. efforts to enlist Pakistan’s help in finding a peace deal in neighboring Afghanistan.

Iran is locked in a confrontation with the United States and Western powers over its nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon, while Iran insists it’s for peaceful purposes. Since the imposition of harsher U.S. and European sanctions in recent months — aimed at choking off Iran’s international oil sales — Iran has offered energy products to Pakistan on increasingly softer terms.

Having completed its section of the natural gas pipeline, Iran

has offered Pakistan the $250 million it needs to finance its section. Tehran also has offered to increase oil exports to Pakistan while deferring payment — a favor Pakistan’s major suppliers, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have declined to grant — and has proposed to pay for Pakistani food exports with discounted electricity and petroleum products.

The pipeline figures to increase the volume of bilateral trade sharply. Official trade in Pakistani rice and Iranian petrochemicals — the main products each supplies to the other — totaled $1.2 billion in the financial year ending in June 2011, although informal trade and cross-border smuggling are common.

The wheat deal was floated last month by the Iranian deputy minister for trade, Abbas Ghobadi, in talks at the Karachi chamber of commerce and industry, Pakistan’s largest business association. The president of the association in this southern port city, Mian Abrar Ahmed, said that Iran planned to export wheat products, a sign that Tehran is trying to raise foreign currency.

of multibrand retail stores after protests by opposition and some allies paralyzed parliament. Singh vowed in a December interview to pursue the proposals after regional elections.

The world will have a record trade surplus of 2 million bales of 480 pounds (218 kilograms) if India exported all the cotton registered, Morgan Stanley analysts led by

the China Cotton Association said on March 8. The association, supervised

by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, “hopes that the Indian government revokes the incorrect policy,” it said.

The group is the country’s biggest trade body for the fiber and has farmers, cooperatives and users as members, its website said.

The Liverpool, England-based International Cotton Association,

Hussein Allidina said in an e-mailed report on March 9. The brokerage lowered its 2011-2012 price estimate to 90 cents a pound from $1, citing weak global demand.

‘Detrimental Impact’ The ban damages international trade,

which handles contract arbitration, has said the prohibition will “have a major, detrimental impact” on global trade. India is set to supply 17 percent of global exports in 2011-2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.

India pitches for integrating South Asian economies India pitches for integration amongst Asian, and especially South Asian, economies in a big way, as both External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon address the issue at separate forums.

Krishna, who was speaking at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, said that integration with India’s neighbours is one of the most significant challenges facing New Delhi’s current foreign policy.

“In our immediate neighbourhood of South Asia, India has been driven by the vision of encouraging regional integration to bring about peace and prosperity for more than one and a half billion people living in this region.

As a part of this vision, India has been implementing a policy of asymmetric engagement in providing greater market access to our neighbours, which enables integration in a mutually beneficial manner.

This is one of the most significant challenges facing our foreign policy today,” he said while delivering a speech on “India’s External

Environment and Current Foreign Policy Challenges”.

Menon, while speaking at the Asia Relations conference at Sapru House here, said that South Asian countries must not let “political differences” stop the process of South Asian integration. “It certainly means that we must not let political differences and fears stop the processes of South Asian integration.

At the same time, states in the subregion must begin to meaningfully address and resolve the political issues and disputes that divide them,” he said while speaking on “Transforming South Asia: Imperatives for action”. The conference was organised by Indian Council of World Affairs and Association of Asian Scholars.

Saarc international I Thursday 08 March 2012

ENTERTAINMENT

25

Vidya Balan shines in Kahaani Big B gets The movie has collected Rs 13.5 crore in just four days

Vidya Balan has done it again. She has given yet another hit solely on the merit of her fabulous acting skills.

After winning over critics and fans alike with meaty performances in films like ‘Ishqiya’ ‘No One Killed Jessica’ and ‘The Dirty Picture’, she has scored once again with the woman-centric film ‘Kahaani’ that released last week.

A pregnant woman travels from London to Kolkata to search for her missing husband Kahani Review

Direction: Sujoy Ghosh Production: Boundscript Motion Pictures Pvt. Ltd, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Pen India Pvt. Ltd Cast: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Indraneil Sengupta, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Darshan Jariwala, Saswata Chatterjee Music: Vishal-Shekhar Rating: * * * * Plot: Arnab Bagchi arrives in Kolkata

from London for a two-week work related visit. During his stay in the city, he is constantly in touch with his wife Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan). However, all of a sudden communication between Vidya and Arnab ceases. Left with no other choice, Vidya arrives in Kolkata, in a pregnant condition, to search for her missing husband.

Sub-inspector Rana (Parambrata

Chattopadhyay) helps Vidya as she struggles to find any trace of her missing husband. So, what exactly happened with Arnab? Is there something more than meets the eye?

Review: Let’s face it. There has been a dearth of quality edge-of-the-seat thrillers in Bollywood. In the last five years or so, only Johnny Gaddar (2007), Race (2008), A Wednesday (2008) and Maharathi (2008) have managed to impress in that genre. But finally, there comes a new addition in the list in the form of Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani, an applaud-worthy effort having all the necessary elements needed for a quality suspense thriller.

Script is the most vital department in any flick of this genre. Ghosh, Suresh

Nair and Advaita seem to understand this well as their writing manages to grip the audience from start to end.

You instantly become a part of Vidya’s quest in finding her missing husband.

Elements like twist, thrill, amusement, humour as well as shock are peppered very intelligently throughout. Since there’s unpredictability in plenty, it becomes a kind of a roller-coaster ride for the viewer.

But that’s not all; there is also a strong emotional connect which does the important task of making sure the audience feels for the central character.

In such films, it is absolutely necessary for the climax to have a satisfying effect. No matter how good your efforts

promoting their hit single ‘Chandni Oh Meri Chandni’, from a remake of the Sri-Devi classic film Char Din Ki Chandni, which released on the 9th of March 2012, and performing at private shows said they were ‘blown away’ to meet David Guetta.

RDB, who have previously composed tracks for hit Bollywood films such as Namastey London, Singh is Kinng, Kambakkhtq Ishq, Yamla Pagla Deewana and Speedy Singhs, have produced for some of Britain’s biggest

Amitabh Bachchan outside his residence on Sunday to greet his fans.

The megastar tweeted that he has recovered well after his surgeries.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan appeared to have recovered well from his abdominal surgeries when he came out to greet his fans and thanked them for their “love and enthusiasm”. The 69-year-old, in a white kurta pyajama, Sunday addressed the well-wishers gathered outside his home Jalsa.

“God bless the well wishers. God bless them for their permanence in my life.

God bless their consistency, their love and enthusiasm. I am indebted for life. It is a debt I shall never be able to repay; the one burden that shall remain with me unattended. One burden that shall make me happy,” Amitabh posted on his blog.

The megastar was operated upon last month and is currently recuperating at his home here. He is advised complete rest by his doctors with restricted movement and diet.

International bhangra queen nindy kaur set to shine with new single featuring popular canadian producers culture shock

are in the first 80-90% of the film, it proves to be a waste if the end suspense becomes predictable. Thankfully in the case of Kahaani, that doesn’t happen

as the final twist and the truth related to Arnab Bagchi takes the audience by surprise and shock. Job well done!

Having said all this, few incidents in the later part of the second half become complicated. Therefore, a section of the audience might have trouble grasping the events in this period.

Bollywood hit makers RDB meet superstar dj david guetta to talk musical collaborations and hit singles!

Bhangra-Urban legends RDB thrilled onlookers when they met up with superstar music maestro David Guetta in India this weekend, who was in the country to perform three exclusive gigs for his many fans in the Subcontinent.

If sources are to be believed, insiders mentioned a discussion took place in regards to a possible music collaboration between Guetta and RDB. The RDB boys, who are in India

better, comes out to greet fans

fresh Urban talent, including their new exciting signing Parichay, who has performed the lead vocals along with singer Sunidhi Chauhan on the track ‘Chandni Oh Meri Chandni’. A remixed version of the track is sung by Parichay and Bollywood songstress Nindy Kaur, famed for her edgy Urban-Bhangra infused songs and her collaborations on some of Bollywood’s biggest films including ‘Aloo Chaat’, ‘Kambakkth Ishq’ and ‘Speedy Singhs’.Nindy is also gearing up for the release of her eagerly awaited new single “Save The World,” a pure adrenaline, feel-good dance anthem for 2012, featuring famed Canadian producers Culture Shock, who have previously worked with Lady Gaga and Rihanna.

International music icon and Bollywood songstress Nindy Kaur is raising the bar with the launch of her new single “Save The World,” a pure adrenaline, feel-good dance anthem of 2012. The song will be available for exclusive download from iTunes on March 14th, 2012. Appealing to the masses, “Save The World” boasts a unique fusion of an uptempo and addictive mainstream dance rhythm with Nindy’s trademark Punjabi kick, making it a global dance floor hit.

Famed for her lead vocals on Bollywood chart- t o p p e r s Kambakkht Ishq, Aloo Chaat, Yamla Pagla Deewana and Char Din Ki Chandni, with international music stalwarts RDB, alongside her urban smash-hits Akhian, Deewani and 2 Seater, Nindy has taken the steps to solo stardom and the result is her rising status as the one to watch star of 2012.

Nindy Kaur has successfully released her first two hit singles from her debut solo album, Nindypendent, which entered straight into the number one spot on the Indian music charts. Now, “Save The World” marks Nindy’s first collaboration outside the RDB camp, collaborating with Culture Shock, who have previously worked with artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Sean Paul and Nicole Sherzinger for Bollywood and Desi-inspired official remixes of their tracks. “Save The World” will also be featured on Nindypendent as a remix version, set for release this Summer.

In speaking about her solo project, Nindy: “My fans will notice that this is the first time I’m collaborating outside the RDB camp; but the aim is to pursue my own solo career, which has always been a dream. This is the first of many and I can’t wait to take the stage and shine as a solo artist. And yes, with that said, we are working on my own world tour which is coming soon. Working with Culture Shock on this track has been an amazing experience.

Baba Kahn is a great producer; and when you’re in the studio with Lomaticc & Sunny Brown, magic is bound to happen. It didn’t feel like we were working together for the first time; there was great musical chemistry!”

Born and raised in the UK on the traditional sound of Bhangra music, Nindy Kaur is a household name in India, and a well known leading playback singer in Bollywood. Signed to independent label Three Records, Nindy’s sound mixes traditional Bhangra beats with elements of mainstream dance, R’n’B and Pop. As well as her solo projects, Nindy also regularly collaborates with international urban chart toppers RDB and together they are known as the Indian version of The Black Eyed Peas. She is also an ambassador for the International Indian Film Awards (IIFA), the Indian equivalent to the prestigious Oscars, where she has performed her debut single, Akhian, to a global audience of over 60 million during the awards ceremony.

COMMENT

26

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

Islam, Murabaha and Fixed Deposits

Islam has declared war on the moneylender who demands interest. It did so in the very last divine revelation (al-Baqarah, 2:279) to come down in the Holy Qur’an. Here is that last revelation: “O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury (i.e., the interest due on a fixed deposit, or on any other loan on interest), if ye are indeed believers.” If ye do it not (i.e. if you persist in your claim or demand for the interest due to you), then take notice of (a declaration of) war from Allah and His Messenger: but if ye turn away (from such claim or demand), then you are entitled to the return of your capital sum (placed in the fixed deposit or otherwise lent); do not enter into (such) unjust transactions, nor allow yourselves to be subjected to such.

If (you forgo the interest due to you and then find) the debtor in a difficulty (in respect of returning the capital sum that was lent to him on interest), grant him time till it is easy for him to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew.

And (in this matter in particular, i.e., lending money on interest) fear the Day when ye shall be brought back to Allah.

Then shall every soul be paid what it earned, and none shall be

dealt with unjustly.’ (Qur’an, alBaqarah, 2:278-281) I Can Not Afford To Buy A Car Or House Without Asking The Bank, How Do I Escape Riba?

I Can Not Afford To Buy A Car Or House Without Asking The Bank, How Do I Escape Riba? ...

“You can if you want, go the way of the world. Let me tell you my way: I’ve attended 5 Universities.

I was a Diplomat in the foreign service of my country (Trinidad).

I gave up that job.

Many Pakistanis told me I was a fool; only a fool will give up a job of a Diplomat to become a Mullah.

If I didn’t give up that job, I couldn’t be today with you (preaching Islam).

So there are things in life that money can not buy. I am now almost 70 years of age.

I never had a house. In 2005 I built the ground floor of my home with 1 bedroom. And then just before I left Trinidad (early 2011) to come on this lecture tour I was able to build the upper floor with 2 other bedrooms.

That’s how houses were build long time ago. I didn’t go to a bank to borrow money to build a house, no.

I lived in a rented apartment.

I lived in New York for 10 years... in a small cubby apartments.

Couldn’t afford (anything better).

Shiekh Imran Hossein

Tribune Comment But I did that to remain faithful to Islam....

I left New York in 2011 after having lived in the United States for 12 years.

The car I was driving was worth $500.

So there is that way which is the way of the world; you want a big job, you want a big house, you need a big car, go ahead and borrow your money on interest.

And when you’re in the Hellfire, don’t call me. Don’t call me on the phone, don’t send an email from Jahannam.

Or you can go the other way.

The other way is, even if I have to give up house, and give up car and give up job, give up my home and give up my town, and flee to a cave in the mountain, I would prefer to

do that. But I’m not giving up my Deen (Islam).”

If We Can Fast For Allah, Why Can’t We Live For Allah?

“When I fast, I fast for you (Allah). I give up food for your sake. I give up drink for your sake.

So Allah sends a message to him. Every day you’re fasting, that message comes to your... heart.

‘IF YOU CAN FAST FOR ME, WHY CAN’T YOU LIVE FOR ME?’ He (Allah) says so, ‘Qul, Innassalati Wanusuki, Wamahya ya Wa mamati, lillahir Rabbil ‘Alamin’ ‘Say: Verily my prayer, and my service of sacrifice, my very living and my dying, all is for you’.

But not for the fella in Brooklyn.

The fella in Brooklyn says, ‘Lord, everything for you but not my Green Card., you see that US citizenship, I need that passport.’

If anything in this world is dearer to you than Allah, then you are worshipping that, not Allah.

They are going to say I’m a terrorist now. Because anyone who lives for Allah, are prepared to die for Allah.

If a man is prepared to die for Allah, you can never defeat him.

You can kill him. You can send him to Guantanmo. You can silence him. You can throw him out of your country. You can do what you want with him, but you can

not defeat him. Because someone who is prepared to die for Allah is prepared to die for the truth.

And the truth can not be defeated.

That’s power. No nuclear weapon in the world can destroy that power. “ How Does Dajjal Communicate And Give Orders To His Followers From Another Dimension of Time?

“At the very end of the Qur’an Allah warns us about ... ‘Allazee Yuwaswisu Fee Sooduri-nnas.

Min-alJinnati Wannas.’

(Who whispers into the hearts of men. From among the Jinn and the men) It is inspiring or puting thoughts and ideas into the heart and as a consequence these people believe that these are their own thoughts.

He (Dajjal) does this (communicates to his followers) through Shayatin. Shayatin is plural of Shaitan (Satan).

Prophet (SA) said that the Shayatin are going to be raised with Dajjal. This Hadith is in Kanzul Ummal. And these Shayatin are going to do something very interesting. They are going to take forms of human beings who died....

From this Hadith we know the link with Dajjal and Shayatin.”

Afghanistan: Another NATO massacre

NATO calls him a “rogue” soldier who snapped after having a breakdown and then (sigh) out come the violins and the apologies (what a drag eh?), well, expressions of “regret”.

Rogue? After peeing on corpses, burning the Koran, urinating in food, sodomizing Islamic prisoners and setting dogs on people? This is not a one-off. It’s another NATO massacre.

The pathetic acting of the NATO spokespersons on camera makes you want to throw up. The representatives of the same organization that masterminded massive breaches of international law, which perpetrated acts of murder and slaughter against civilians across the globe, have the audacity to look the camera in the eye and say they regret the loss of civilian lives in Afghanistan.

In “civilian lives” read NINE CHILDREN and at least THREE WOMEN, slaughtered by yet another American coward who went on the rampage last night, murdering eleven people in one house, moving on to another and murdering four more then one in another house. Sixteen civilians, 9 of whom were children and at least four other civilians injured and hospitalised is the tally of this maniac.

Let us remember NATO for what NATO is and let us remember what NATO has done in recent years. Supposedly a defensive

organization formed to counter any aggressive ambitions of the Warsaw Pact (which was always a defensive alliance itself), NATO gave guarantees to the latter that it would not encroach eastwards. What happened? It encroached eastwards.

So do we believe a word NATO says? Like we believe the siren-songs of a desperate heroin consumer in the last stages of withdrawal but then again, NATO and heroin have had a little romance in Afghanistan, as we can see, or rather used to see, before they were removed from the Net, in those photos which showed US soldiers apparently standing guard over opium poppy-fields. They also removed the videos of US aircraft burning fields of cereals in Iraq in the 1990s.

If today’s massacre were a one-off, then fair enough, it was a soldier who snapped. But even then, you do not waltz into a foreign country and let loose this type of lunatic on

the civilian population. If you train a man and give him an automatic weapon, you are accountable and it is hoped the USA will produce lawyers who will sue their administration or Pentagon on behalf of the victims’ families.

However, it was not a one-off. It comes as the latest in a string of demonic and barbaric acts by NATO, the organization responsible for the illegal act of slaughter in Iraq against every fibre of international law. Who was it that detained people illegally? Who was it that urinated in their food? Who forced Moslems to eat pork? Who set dogs on people who had been kidnapped?

Who sodomized Moslems while under detention? Who forced Moslems to lie in piles and commit sadistic and perverted sexual acts upon one another? Who lied about the casus belli in Iraq? Who lied about the casus belli in Libya? Who is lying about Syria? Who is lying about Iran? Who tortured people?

Who had people tortured on CIA flights and on CIA camps overseas and on CIA vessels?

Who holds detainees at Guantanamo illegally, without due legal process, without even an accusation? For years?

Who trained terrorists in Libya and then used them to commit the most horrific acts against women and children? Who let loose gangs of racists and rapists and murderers in

Libya? Who is behind the arming of terrorists in Syria in a re-run of Libya? How many massacres of wedding parties has NATO committed in Afghanistan?

What about the urinating on corpses, what about the burning of the Koran? What about the US driver who rammed into civilian vehicles provoking countless victims?

In fact, rather than issuing lame “oh dear, sorry!” comments, after failing to say anything when the grandchildren of Colonel Gaddafi had freedom and democracy imposed upon them from 30,000 feet, why doesn’t NATO admit it has lost its way, that it is losing in Afghanistan, that the only way it extricated itself from Iraq was by paying “insurgents” not to attack, as indeed it is paying the Talebaan not to attack in Afghanistan, and pack up its bags and f*ck off back home, cowed, cowering and hated by the entire world community?

The world has had enough of NATO and its murderous policies, invasions, bombings, strafing of civilian structures with military hardware, interference in the affairs of sovereign states and massacres. NATO is the enemy of humanity. Nato Is a Terrorist Organization.

An Activist is a Terrorist who buys NATO arms; a Terrorist is an Activist who does not.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

COMMENT

27

Israel Terror Bombs Gaza

by Stephen Lendman

Imagine living years under deplorable isolated siege conditions. Imagine also enduring regular Israeli land, sea and air attacks.

Gazan resistance groups launch Grad missiles, home-made rockets, and mortar shells in selfdefense. Israel calls them “unprovoked” attacks.

Palestinian freedom fighters vow to continue their liberating struggle. Under international law, it’s their right, and for them a duty.

The latest Israeli attacks came Friday and Saturday. Expect more to follow. Deaths so far number at least 18. Many others were injured, some seriously, according to Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya. Israel falsely claimed only militants and weapons manufacturing sites were struck.

Israel often launches strikes to provoke responses. Hamas was maliciously blamed for initiating attacks. Israel’s blame game targets victims. Aggression’s called self-defense.

Freedom fighters are called terrorists. World leaders don’t intervene to stop cold-blooded IDF murder.

Four members of one family were killed. Israel treats civilians like combatants. Crimes of war and against humanity are committed regularly.

This time in response, Popular Resistance Committees member Abu Mojahid declared an end of truce and vowed revenge.

The latest incident began when Israeli air strikes killed Zuhir al-Qaisi, Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) secretary-general. PRC member Mahmoud Hanani was also killed.

Both men died when two IDF missiles struck their car.

Hanani was released last October as part of the Shalit prisoner swap deal. Israel spuriously claimed al-Qaisi masterminded an August 2011 attack killing eight Israelis, a 2008 incident claiming two more, and planned another on Israel’s border with Gaza.

Unilaterally maintaining truce for months, Hamas’ interior ministry called Israel’s “Zionist escalation an unjustified crime. It comes as part of the destabilization of a stable security situation in the Gaza Strip. We hold the international community fully responsible for the attacks.”

It added that Palestinians have the right to selfdefense against Israeli aggression. International law permits it.

A PA statement condemned Israel’s attacks for “escalat(ing) the circle of violence in the region.”

Al-Qassam Brigades officials “mourn(ed) the martyr Zuhir al-Qaisi and martyr Mahmud Hanani and (said) their blood will not be wasted. The enemy’s crime will be a curse on him.”

US Weapons Killing Palestinians The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a “national coalition of more than 380 groups.” They work together “to end US support for Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.”

On March 6, its policy paper titled, “US Military Aid to Israel” explained that weapons and munitions supplied kill Palestinian civilians.

National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner said “U.S. military aid to Israel is a policy that is running on autopilot and must be reconsidered.”

“U.S. weapons provided to Israel at taxpayer

expense make the U.S. complicit in Israel’s human rights abuses of Palestinians living under Israel’s 44-year military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip and defeat U.S. foreign policy objectives of halting Israeli settlement expansion, ending Israeli military occupation, and establishing a just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

Israel gets more US aid than all other nations combined. Through 2008, it exceeds $100 billion based on official figures. In fact, they way understate true amounts supplied.

What Israel wants it gets. Included are stateof-the art weapons, munitions and technology, as well as direct financial aid for Israel’s defense industry, emergency supplemental appropriations, and much more.

Regular increases provide more, despite planned deficit reducing budget cuts. Israel’s not affected. Supplying its killing machine takes precedence. As a result, thousands of innocent

of internationally recognized human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, and the security of person, unless such assistance will directly benefit the needy people in such country.”

The Leahy Law in the 2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (Sec. 8092 of PL 106-259) states: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to support any training program involving a unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of Defense has received credible information from the Department of State that a member of such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights, unless all necessary corrective steps have been taken.”

Palestinian men, women and children suffer and die. It’s the American way.

The Campaign’s report said evidence shows Israel commits human rights abuses with US weapons. Supplying them violates US laws.

They include the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and 1976 Arms Export Control Act (AECA).

AECA permits military related sales only for defense or internal security. FAA prohibits aiding governments that engage: “in a consistent pattern of gross violations

The 2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act prohibits funding foreign security forces that commit gross human rights violations unless its government “is taking effective measures to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice.”

Israel commits appalling human rights abuses.

Washington rewards its crimes. Regular pledges assure whatever more Israel wants, even when US interests are harmed. At issue is generating instability, violence and wars to advance America’s imperium along with Israel’s

regional aims.

As a result, Palestinians and Arabs throughout the Middle East suffer and die. No end of conflict looks imminent. Nothing so far is able to stop both countries and NATO partners from ravaging North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. US taxpayers pick up the tab.

Daily West Bank Israeli Crimes The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documents them in weekly reports. Its most recent one replicates most others. In the week ending March 8, Israeli forces conducted 71 lawless incursions in West Bank communities and another in Gaza.

Forty Palestinian civilians were arrested, including 13 children. Peaceful protests are attacked violently. Dozens are injured. At times, deaths occur. Settlers assault Palestinians and destroy their property with impunity.

In mid-February, Gaza’s health minister, Dr. Bassem Naim, declared a state of emergency caused by acute power and fuel shortages.

On March 8, a health ministry press release added a pharmaceutical crisis. Hundreds of vital medications are running out. Lives are at stake.

The ministry appealed to international relief and health organizations for help. Israel supplies little or none. So far, solutions for recurring crises remain elusive. For patients in dire need of care, they’re running out of time and luck.

Israel suffocates 1.7 million Gazans ruthlessly.

Incursions, bombings, and other forms of violence compound harsh conditions. Those most vulnerable suffer most.

A Final Comment On March 10, Gaza City crowds joined mourners burying their dead. They include freedom fighters Israel killed. Families paid their last respects.

They viewed covered bodies torn to pieces. They chanted slogans wanting retaliation. Getting it won’t bring back loved ones.

Palestinians throughout the Territories lose theirs regularly. Some die. Others are abused and imprisoned lawlessly.

After nearly 45 years of occupation, their liberating struggle continues. They won’t ever stop working for it, nor should supporters weaken in their resolve to help.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.

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US talks military intervention in Syria -report

Washington has allegedly opened discussions with allies on possible military intervention in Syria, as foreign ministers from the UN Security Council nations meet to discuss the Syrian conflict. ¬The Washington Post cites unnamed officials who confirm behind the scenes talks will address arming Syria’s opposition, sending troops to protect a humanitarian corridor and an airstrike.

However, the US officially insisted they currently rule out an option of any military involvement in Syria’s internal conflict.

The allies nevertheless remain deeply divided over the scope of any intervention, how and when it would happen, and who would participate, reports the newspaper.

Over the weekend, UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan held two meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The negotiations failed to reach any tangible results.

The Syrian leader rejected a proposal for a dialogue with the opposition and made it clear it would not be

Misinformed

Mississippi Voters: Obama’s a Muslim

open while “armed terrorist groups were still operating in the country.”

The former UN chief however said he “feels optimistic.”

The legitimacy of any military options under international law remains highly questionable, with Russia and China having vetoed UN Security Council resolution.

On February 4, Russia and China vetoed the UNSC resolution condemning the Syrian regime’s continuous crackdown on the opposition. The move upset the international community, but Moscow and Beijing said the resolution was unbalanced. While calling on Damascus to end the

violence, it did not send the same message to the Syrian opposition.

Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the 15 Security Council nations are due attend an open SC meeting on Monday to assess the aftermath and scope of a year of Arab uprisings.

The Syrian conflict is also expected to be discussed.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are to meet separately as the two countries have serious differences in the approach to the Damascus crisis solution.

Secret Warning of Military Strike Against Syria Issued?

Several news sources are reporting

the sudden withdraw China, France and Canada and other nations of foreign nationals, airline flights, diplomats and embassy staff from Syria.

News reports keep coming in of various agencies, companies, workers and diplomatic staff from several countries suddenly evacuating from Syria in an ominous repeat of events that occurred just before the NATO bombing of Libya.

China reports they are evacuating all of their personal, except those needed to protect oil equipment so they are not caught in a off-guard in situation where they have to perform a mass emergency mass evacuation

Moody’s: Greece has defaulted

Many in the South are not still convinced that President Obama is a Christian. A survey by Public Policy Polling reveals that a majority of Republicans in Alabama and

Mississippi—states with primary elections on Tuesday—believe the president is a Muslim. Fortyfive percent of Republican voters in Alabama think Obama is a Muslim, while 4 1 percent are “unsure.” Only 14 percent believe he is Christian. In Mississippi, belief in the President’s supposed Muslim faith is even stronger. Fifty-two percent of Republicans there think Obama is Muslim, while 36 percent are unsure and only 12 believe he is Christian.

Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said late Friday that it considers Greece to have defaulted on its debt hours after the Greek authorities and eurozone officials confirmed Greece’s debt swap deal will proceed.

The rating decision came after investors holding 85.8 per cent of Greece’s private debt on Thursday had agreed to participate in the country’s 206 billion euros (about 270 billion U.S. dollars) debt exchange deal, slashing about 100 billion debt from its debt pile.

“According to Moody’s definitions, this exchange represents a ‘distressed exchange’, and therefore a debt default,” the rating agency said in a statement on its website.

“This is because the exchange amounts to a diminished financial obligation relative to the original obligation, and the exchange has the effect of allowing Greece to avoid payment default in the future,” it added.

Under the debt swap deal, private Greek bondholders would agree to a 53.5 percent haircut on the face value of their Greek bonds in return for a cash payment equivalent to 15 per cent of their original holding and newly issued Greek

bonds worth 31.5 per cent of their old bonds.

Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday in a statement that Greece had met all conditions for receiving the second bailout loans and Greece will activate the Collective Action Clauses (CACs) to force holders of bonds governed

by Greek law to participate in the swap deal.

Moody’s said its announcement “has no implications for Greece’s issuer rating, which remains C,” and stressed it “does not use a ‘Default’ or ‘Selective Default’ rating, but rather maintains ratings on securities in default that are indicative of the magnitude of expected losses to investors.”

The rating agency said it will revisit Greece’s rating in due course to assess the impact of the exchange on the sustainability of Greece’s debt burden together with other relevant factors, including Greece’s likely compliance with measures that are a condition of external support and its growth prospects.

Moody’s rating decision came hours after another international rating agency Fitch downgraded Greece’s long- term foreign- and local-currency rating to “Restricted Default.”

like they did in Libya.

Reports of similar evacuations orders are also coming out of Canada, where the government has also announced stiff sanctions against Libya and issued a declaration of support for the rebels saying Assad must go.

Air-France has just reported that all Syria flights are “suspended until further notice” after cancelling two flights earlier in the week, blaming the cancellations on the “ongoing protests” in Syria. The news comes after France just shut down its embassy services and order evacuations similar to Canada.

The new reports today follow reports out of the UK within the last week issuing orders for the same evacuation of diplomats and embassy services, while ordering citizens to return home.

The US had orders similar manners in February.

Here is a concise round-up of the news reports: ABC News reports that the Chinese have pulled there workers from Syria.

Rushdie to return to India despite threats British author Sir Salman Rushdie is due to speak at a conference in the Indian capital, Delhi, on Friday. Organisers have announced, two months after death threats forced him to pull out of a literature festival in the country. Rushdie, whose 1988 novel The Satanic Verses is still banned in India for allegedly blaspheming Muslims, is due to address the India Today Conclave in New Delhi on Friday afternoon, event officials said on Tuesday. The author withdrew from the Jaipur Literature Festival in January after Islamic hardliners threatened to disrupt the gathering and police told him assassins from the Mumbai underworld were plotting to kill him.The 64-year-old writer, who was born in Mumbai, spent a decade in hiding after Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for his death over The Satanic Verses. According to the conference website, Rushdie’s one-hour appearance on Friday will be titled “The Liberty Verses - I am What I am and That’s All That I am”.

“I can confirm Mr Rushdie will be attending in person,” an event official said on Tuesday, declining to give her name.

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Israel breaches the truce, keeps Gaza under fire, death toll rises

Continued from page 1 >> death toll of last weekend’s spasm of violence between Gaza and Israel to 27. Palestinian medical crews confirmed that “the causality toll of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip from the last Friday’s afternoon reached 112.

The sources elaborated stating that “25 were killed, 87 wounded; three school students, four of the elderly and a child girl were among them.” 7 years old Birka Salama al-Maghrabi was injured in an Israeli air strike in an eastern part of Gaza City, the largest city in the Palestinian territories.

After 5th days (Wednesday) of indiscriminate pounding and targeted assassinations, Gaza buries the latest shuhada of yesterday’s attacks on Gaza. In 5 days time, 27 people we’re slained. As Israel’s propaganda machine works overtime to justify the attacks as retaliation for a swarm of 200 “Rockets from Gaza” fired in an attempt to selfdefense (which is a right by law) after Israel initiated the attacks on Gaza, denying and hiding themselves behind the response of resistance.

Resistance. In World War II the world used to call resistance heroes.

But not in Palestine. Yet it has a right to self-defense and the resistance

remains the sole reason Palestine has survived so far at all and did not succumb to the genocide by Israel to which it is subjected since 1948. The US and its allies Britain and France have actively supported ‘Arab Spring’

uprisings against regimes, yet do nothing to help a people battling an illegal occupation for more than 40 years. Arab governments are similarly guilty of neglecting the Palestinian cause; it’s as though it’s been written-off as a hopeless case.

The words “Palestinian terror” are never far from the lips of Israeli spokespersons and propagandists but if the truth be told Israel is one of the most prolific perpetrators of

terror our planet has ever known.

Israel to deploy fourth battery of anti-rocket system within weeks Israel to deploy troops in Gaza: Speaking to troops during a tour of the army’s Gaza Division on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak estimated that the additional battery will be deployed “within two, maybe three weeks.” Senior IAF officials said they would accelerate the deployment of the fourth Iron Dome battery if the recent escalation in rocket attacks against southern Israel continues, Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported Tuesday.

Nasrallah : Israel ‘tested’ Gaza factions ahead of possible Iran strike Meanwhile Hezbollah leader meets top Islamist group figures in Lebanon; according to local newspaper, they said Israel instigated latest round of violence in south to gauge terrorists’ readiness to take part in regional conflict According to the report, published Wednesday, During the meeting, which took place before the ceasefire between Israel and the armed factions in Gaza went into effect, they said Israel instigating the violence in order to test the Palestinian t groups’ readiness to engage in a conflict with Israel in case a regional war breaks out following an attack on Iran.

Arab MKs: Harming al-Aqsa will lead to global jihad Arab-Israeli lawmakers (Knesset Member) Ahmad Tibi members of Israel ‘s Knesset who is taking part in the International Conference for Defense of Jerusalem in Qatar as representatives of Palestine told the Qatari news agency that the Al-Aqsa is in danger and it is the responsibility of the Arab nations and Islam to save it before it’s too late. Harming the mosque will lead to a war of global Islamic jihad.” He also warned against a third Intifada.

Representatives from 70 countries are taking part in the conference, as well as a representative on behalf of the UN secretary general.

Global March to Jerusalem against Israeli Massacres In solidarity with Palestinians, Global March is called all people to join Palestinians and supporters. Global March on March 30, 2012, the march to Jerusalem or to the nearest possible points in neighboring countries to protest Israeli apartheid and ethnic

cleansing. Global March is called to demand access to Jerusalem for all peoples; to uphold Palestinian rights under international law, including all refugees’ right of return; and the end to Israeli attacks on the Palestinians of Gaza.

International law, including all refugees’ right of return; and the end to Israeli attacks on the Palestinians of Gaza. The Global March to Jerusalem is calling for freedom for Jerusalem and its people, to end Israeli policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Join in solidarity with their peaceful

protest, outside the Israeli Embassy on the 30th March at 5pm in London.

Called by: Palestinian Forum in Britain, Association of Palestinian Community, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, Islamic Forum in Europe, British Muslim Initiative and Friends of Al Aqsa.

Belgian Muslim leaders urge calm after mosque attack

Imam dies trying to save worshipper after axe-wielding attacker stormed into Belgian mosque and set it alight • Father-of-four Abdullah Dado, 46, died from smoke inhalation after blaze • Speculation attack linked to tensions between Shiites and Sunnis

Belgium’s Muslim leaders called for calm on Tuesday after an attack on a mosque in a suburb of Brussels killed the imam and injured another man shortly after evening prayers.

Belgian media reported that the attacker was a member of the Salafists, a strict order within the Sunni branch of Islam, and said the incident was linked to tensions within the Muslim community. This could not be independently verified.

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo condemned Monday’s incident in which an unidentified man armed with an axe and a knife entered a Shi’ite mosque in the district of Anderlecht and ignited a can of fuel, setting the building ablaze.

The imam, named by police as Sheikh Abdallah Dadou, died from inhaling toxic fumes. The second man escaped

with minor injuries, authorities said.

Around 10 people were in the mosque when the attacker entered, police said. The assailant was overwhelmed and detained until authorities arrived.

“My first thoughts go out to the victim and those close to him, and I strictly condemn the violence used,” Di Rupo said.

The head of Belgium’s Muslim community, Semsettin Ugurlu, issued a statement calling for calm. Around five percent of Belgium’s 11 million people are Muslim.

“The Muslim executive of Belgium invites Muslims to unite their efforts and improve dialogue between all cultural strands of the community,” Ugurlu said.

The Brussels public prosecutor said authorities were still trying to confirm the identity of the suspect and the motive.

After the attack, a crowd gathered outside the mosque but there were no disturbances.

Belgium mosque attacked with petrol bomb A mosque near Brussels was attacked with Molotov cocktails and its imam died trying to extinguish the flames, Belgian newspapers reported on Monday night.

A second person was injured in the attack.

The newspapers quoted police as saying a suspect was detained after the attack in Anderlecht and a large crowd of people gathered in front of the mosque. Police were not immediately reachable for comment.

Belgium has a Muslim population of about 500,000 out of a population of nearly 11 million.

Derniere Heure said the victim, 46, was treated by emergency services at the scene but died of smoke inhalation.

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Revival of international cricket: Uncertainty over Bangladesh series continues “But the security threat cannot be ignored. I am not alone in deciding the tour as there are many other officials from the government who are involved in reaching a conclusion.

“A report is yet to be finalised and anything on touring Pakistan will be decided by the end of this month.”

Pakistan have not hosted an international series since March 2009 after an attack on the Sri Lanka team left members of the touring party injured.

Pakistan beat Bangladesh in Asia Cup Opener

Mohammad Hafeez and Umar Gul starred in Pakistan’s 14-run win over Bangladesh in the Asia The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) gave a setback to hopes of revival of international cricket in Pakistan, objecting to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executives Committee’s (CEC) decision to recommend non-neutral officials for a proposed series between the two countries.

‘No Pak tour without ICC umpires’ The ICC CEC had agreed to recommend nonneutrals to officiate in the series, which is yet to be finalised, in case security apprehensions do not allow the sport’s world governing body to sends its own officials to Pakistan.

The ICC added that “a special dispensation to depart from the Standard Playing Conditions to allow non-neutral match officials to participate in the matches would be required from the ICC Board.”

However, responding to the development, the BCB President Mustafa Kamal told a press conference in Dhaka that the board will not compromise on the ICC’s rules for the proposed series.

Pakistan beat Bangladesh in Asia Cup Opener “We will not play the series without neutral umpires,” said Kamal while responding to a query. “We will only send the team if the series is played as per the ICC rules.”

He further said that the BCB will not confirm the tour without the ICC’s clearance, although the governing body stated that giving clearance was not in its domain and depends on the participating countries.

“The ICC must play its role as a member body.

We are not going there without the ICC and our government’s clearance.”

The development comes as a shock as Pakistan bids to revive international cricket.

Only last week Kamal gave a thumbs-up to security arrangements in the country when a delegation from Bangladesh visited Pakistan ahead of the proposed series.

“I want to help Pakistan revive international cricket. I promised the security team visit and I went there.

India Face Pakistan On May 31 In Azlan Shah Cup Hockey

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will face off on May 31 in the 31st edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in the Malaysian city of Ipoh.

The tournament, which will be held from May 24 to June 3, will present Pakistan with their last opportunity to test their mettle ahead of the Olympic Games which take place in London from July 27 to August 12.

The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh will be a seventeam affair led by world No. 4 ranked Britain.

The other five invited teams are also in the top 10 while hosts Malaysia are the lowest ranked at number 13.

Britain are followed by sixth-ranked South Korea, New Zealand (7th), Pakistan (8), Argentina, (9) and India (10).

The tournament will serve as a warm-up for the London Olympic Games starting on July 27.

The teams will also benefit from playing on the

new blue turf, which is similar to the one at the Olympics. Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Argentina have already booked their Olympic berths.

The Koreans and Malaysians play in the Dublin qualifier in March and are seeded to meet in the final. Only the winner will make it to the Olympics.

Malaysian Hockey Confedera-tion (MHC) secretary Maninderjit Singh said they are glad that the teams for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup have been finalised.

“The tournament will be the perfect preparation for the teams going to London. I am sure they will send their best players,” he said.

World champions Australia, who are regulars in the tournament, are unable to make it this time.

Holland, Germany and Spain, who make up the top 10, are also unavailable.

During the tournament, Pakistan will also face the likes of New Zealand, Argentina, South Korea and Great Britian.

Pakistan will play Argentina in its opening match of Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament on May 24 at Ipoh,Malaysia.

Pakistan will take on New Zealand in its second match on May 27, South Korea on May 28,Malaysia on May 30 and India on May 31,England on June 2.

On June 3 classification matches for 5th/6th, 3rd/4th places and the final will be played.

Cup opener at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here on Sunday.

Openers Hafeez (89) and Nasir Ahmed (54) helped Pakistan get 262 for eight with Umar Gul (39) providing the late burst. Pace spearhead Gul

then picked up three wickets in Bangladesh’s 241 all out as Shakib Al Hasan’s valiant 64 went in vain.

Bangladesh skipper Hasan ran out of partners as his team lost the last five wickets for 17 runs, bowled out with 11 balls to spare. Hasan shared 89 runs for the sixth wicket with Nassir Hossain after Tamim Iqbal struck a gritty 64 at the top of the order.

Earlier, Pakistan collapsed to 198 for seven from 160 for one before Gul’s 25-ball cameo saved them the blushes.

Hafeez and Ahmed forged 135 runs for the opening wicket after Bangladesh put the opposition in.

All-rounder Hasan (2/41) and medium pacer

Shahadat Hussain (3/53) triggered the Pakistan collapse.

India face Sri Lanka in the second match on Tuesday.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

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Continued from page 32 >>

Pakistan’s flair up against Sri Lankan consistency Asia Cup: India beat Sri Lanka by 50 runs

Their openers notched up good scores against Bangladesh but the experienced middle-order comprising the likes of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul Haq failed to fire.

The bowling too was unimpressive against a side which is considered a minnow at the international level. Pace spearhead Umar Gul was expensive and would have to get his act together quickly as his form is crucial to the team’s

chances.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, also have major bowling issues to deal with. Their bowling attack, sans Lasith Malinga, came a cropper on a placid track and allowed the Indians to plunder runs in the lung-opener.

Malinga is expected to be back for Thursday’s match after being ironically left out on Tuesday due to his tendency to concede runs against India.

On the batting front too, there

BCCI refutes fixing allegations: BCCI media reports.”

Reports suggest that the ICC have in fact launched an inquiry into the betting probe which involves millions of pounds.

This accusation comes within weeks of Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield’s imprisonment. Westfield became the first cricketer to be put behind the bars after he confessed to taking money to fix a game in September 2009.

On being pressed by a reporter, Shukla said: “I have already told you how we take cognisance of the matter.”

The ‘Sunday Times’ newspaper carried out a sting operation on a Delhi—based bookie, who claimed that the Indian bookmakers are fixing the results of England county games and international fixtures and they are using a Bollywood actress as a honeytrap to recruit players from

countries. The report also said that India’s semi—final match in last year’s World Cup was rigged.

The ICC is said to have launched an inquiry into the report, which suggested that the bookmakers offer thousands of pounds to the players.

About 44,000 pounds to batsmen for slow scoring, 50,000 pounds for bowlers who concede runs and 750,000 pounds for a player or official who can guarantee a match outcome.

Just a few weeks ago, former Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield became the first English cricketer to be jailed for corruption after he admitted taking money to fix a match against Durham in September 2009.

Last year, three Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir - were jailed in Britain for ‘spot—fixing’ in a 2010 Test match against England.

Wife Betrayed Osama Out of Jealosy -Report Continued from page 10 >> He repeatedly asked Khairiah why she had come. At one point, she told him, “I have one final duty to perform for my husband.” Khalid immediately told his father what she had said and warned that she intended to betray him.

Amal, who shared Khalid’s fears, said bin Laden was also suspicious but was unconcerned, acting as if fate would decide, according to Qadir’s recounting of the interrogation transcript.

There is no evidence Khairiah had any role in bin Laden’s end. Accounts by Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials since the May 2 raid have made no mention of her. Instead, U.S. officials have said the courier inadvertently led the CIA to the Abbottabad villa after they uncovered him in a monitored phone call.

The courier, a Pakistani known by his pseudonym Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, lived with his wife and four children on the villa’s first floor. His brother, his wife and three children lived in a guest house in the compound. Al-Kuwaiti, his brother and the brother’s wife were killed in the raid.

Bin Laden had two marriages before Khairiah that ended in divorce and had more than 20 children with his various wives.

Amal gave her interrogators details on bin Laden’s movements after fleeing

Afghanistan. Her account underscored that bin Laden did not stay long in Pakistan’s tribal-run regions on the border where the United States long presumed he was holed up.

She and bin Laden hid for several months in 2002 in Salman Talab, a suburb of Kohat, a northwest Pakistani border town.

There bin Laden was visited at least once

by Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind arrested in Rawalpindi on March 1, 2003.

Amal said they moved constantly to avoid being spotted for several months in South Waziristan, a border region. In 2004, she and other family members went to Shangla, a town in the Swat Valley, 80 miles northwest of the capital Islamabad.

Bin Laden joined them by doubling back through Afghanistan because it was feared he could be identified if he crossed Pakistan.

Later in 2004, they moved to Haripur, only 20 miles from Islamabad, according to the interrogation transcripts. After several months there, they moved in the summer of 2005 to the villa in Abbottabad, a town 30 miles from the capital and home to a large military base.

ISI officials contacted by the AP refused to comment on Qadir’s account. The wives and bin Laden family members who were in the villa during the raid remain in Pakistani custody.

are concerns as the chase went haywire after skipper Mahela Jayawardene’s dismissal. The explosive Tillakaratne Dilshan would hold the key to a big score and the four-time champions would hope he fires after a rather disappointing start to the tournament.

For a batting order that runs till number nine, the effort against India was not good enough.

“Three-hundred, I thought, was gettable on this wicket,” Jayawardene said after the defeat on Tuesday.

“We batted really well but we made quite a few mistakes [too], and that has probably cost us the game.”

What also hurt Sri Lanka was the absence of their two attacking all-rounders -- Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera -both of whom are out injured.

former skipper Kumar Sangakkara made 65. They duo added valuable 94 runs for the second wicket and kept Sri Lanka on course.

But Sangakkar’s dismissal in the 36th over triggered a collapse and Sri Lanka slumped from 196 for three to 216 for seven. The Sri Lankan middle-order had to blame itself for the miserable performance as the batsmen got starts but couldn’t convert them intio big scores.

Earlier, asked to bat first, India rode the brilliance of Gambhir (100) and Kohli while captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (46) and Suresh Raina (22) quickly added 78 runs for the unbroken fourth-wicket stand to get the team past the 300-run mark.

India lost Sachin Tendulkar (6) early and Gambhir and Kohli took some time to settle down before opening their arms. The Delhi boys rotated the strike well to put the Sri Lanka fielders under pressure.

Kohli scored his second successive

century after a splendid 133 against the Sri Lanka in Hobart, where India chased down a mammoth 321 in 36.4 overs. The young lad played another flawless innings against the Sri Lankans, smashing seven fours in his 120-ball stay.

Gambhir, however, was lucky as he survived twice before getting his ninth ODI century.He survived a dropped catch on 32 and a run out when on 94 with Dinesh Chandimal being the culprit and on both the occasion.

Gambhir was caught at long on trying to hoist Farveez Maharoof while Kohli two balls later was caught at extra cover with the score on 226 in 42.5 overs.

Dhoni and Raina gave India the much needed impetus. Raina carted Suranga Lakmal for 12 runs in the 47th over, while Dhoni plundered Nuwan Kulasekara for 17 runs the very next over to bring up the 50-run partnership between the two in just 30 balls.

The city of Dubai is built on foundations that are steeped in history and tradition. From the evocative Dubai Museum to the spectacular Jumeirah Mosque, and from the breathtaking Bastakiya to the imperious Heritage Village. There are many mysteries waiting to be unravelled. Explore Dubai at your pace and relive great traditions from day gone by.

DEFINITELYDUBAI.COM

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 15 March 2012

BCCI refutes fixing allegations: BCCI

On Monday, the Indian cricket board refuted claims that the India-Pakistan semifinal in the 2011 World Cup was fixed.

In a sting operation carried out by The Sunday Times, a Delhi-based bookie said that the India-Pakistan game on March 30 game last year in Mohali was indeed rigged.

“Newspapers can publish anything, unless we get something concrete from an agency or ICC, I don’t thing it would be appropriate to react to it,” said BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla.

“We haven’t got anything from ICC, unless we get it from some police agency, it would be inappropriate to react to Continued on page 31 >>

SAT

Sports

Asia Cup: India beat Sri Lanka by 50 runs

Pakistan’s flair up against Sri Lankan consistency

The ever-so-unpredictable Pakistan face their first big test of the tournament when they take on an injury-hit Sri Lankan team, which was outclassed by India in its lung-opener, in an Asia Cup league match on Thursday.

Pakistan started their campaign on a winning note by beating Bangladesh even though it was a close shave for them given the home team’s fighting performance in a steep chase.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, failed in the chasing job against India.

Faced with a mammoth 304, the islanders fell short by 50 runs despite the fact that they have a batting order that runs deep and was

expected to click in the familiar sub-continental environs.

But for the sheer unpredictability of Pakistan, both the teams seem quite a match for each other on paper.

Even Pakistan has a long batting order to boast off and they have the destructive Shahid Afridi, who can snatch a game but, like his team, is not consistent enough.

He can be the game-changer one day but can also be a complete letdown the next. But Pakistan can bank on his leg-break bowling which comes in handy almost always.

Continued on page 31 >>

Irfan Pathan took four wickets and Ravichandran Ashwin and Vinay Kumar claimed three each to help India beat Sri Lanka by 50 runs in the second match of the Asia Cup yesterday.

India defeated Sri Lanka by 50 runs in the second ODI of the Asia Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here Tuesday.

Chasing 305, Sri Lanka were all out for 254 runs in 45.1 overs.

Mahela Jayawardene was the top scorer with 78, while Kumar Sangakkara made 65. For India, Irfan Pathan picked up for for 32.

Riding on centuries from Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, India defeated Sri Lanka by 50 runs in

the second ODI of the Asia Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here Tuesday.

A double century stand of 205 runs for the second wicket between Gambhir (100) and Man of the Match Kohli (108) took India to a competitive 304 for three in 50 overs.

India’s left arm pacer Irfan Pathan bagged four for 32 while Praveen Kumar and offie Ravichandran Ashwin shared six wickets to bowl out Sri Lanka for 254 in 45.1 overs.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene top scored for Sri Lanka with a quickfire 78 of 59 balls while Continued on page 31 >>

Sri Lankan Cricket Board confirms DRS will be used in England series

• Expensive Hot Spot technology will not be available • Andrew Strauss expecting tough physical challenge The Umpire Decision Review System will be used in Sri Lanka’s two-Test series with England, but the expensive Hot Spot technology will not be available.

The set-up, which means Snickometer will be used to determine edges, is the same as the one used for Sri Lanka’s series against Australia in 2011. Hawk-Eye will be used for ball tracking.

Last year the ICC removed the mandatory requirements for the DRS, leaving choices over technology to the boards participating in a series. The Sri Lankan Cricket Board

is facing severe financial problems, with its debt estimated to be at least £38m.

Sri Lanka and England will play two Tests from 26 March, with the team director Andy Flower warning his players to expect another exacting trial by spin, despite the poor recent

Test match form of their opponents.

Andrew Strauss Warns About Sri Lankan Heat England captain Andrew Strauss has warned his team that they must take steps to acclimatise properly as they prepare for the Test series in Sri Lanka.

Temperatures are expected to pass 30 degrees centigrade, or the high 80s in Fahrenheit, and Strauss believes conditions will be tougher than on the recent visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where England were beaten 3-0 by Pakistan in the Tests there.

“The conditions here are very different to Dubai,” said Strauss, who has not played in a Test in Sri Lanka before.

“There’s a lot more humidity and the heat is much more of a factor out here. Hopefully once the Tests start, we’ll be very much on top of

it,” he added.

The First Test is in Galle on the 26th of March 26 - with the second to be played in Colombo from April 3rd.

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