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Year 1  Issue 39  Thursday, 12.04.12

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FREE BABAR AHMAD Abu Hamza can be extradited to US

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Respect to follow Galloway’s success Targets Bradford in council elections

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Human Rights Court

Abu Hamza and MI6 asset and London Bombing mastermind HaroonAswat (right) in London cab and in meeting.

Radical cleric can be sent to US to face terrorism charges, along with four other men held in Britain

Nazia Ahmad: ‘This should not have taken eight years of incarceration without charge’ Abu Hamza, the wahabi radical cleric (A known MI6 asset) who became the face of violent extremism in Britain, can be extradited to the US to face terrorism charges, the European court of human rights has ruled.The court in

Strasbourg said the human rights of Hamza and four other men held in Britain – Babar Ahmad, Syed TalhaAhsan, Adel Abdel Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz – would not be violated if sent to the US to stand trial. European judges

Twelve candidates will stand for election to city council after surge of interest in wake of byelection victory Respect to follow Galloway’s success and a growth in interest among young Asian people in the city to win a swathe of seats on the council.

The 12 candidates, two of whom are Asian women, were hastily selected by the Respect leadership after a surge of local interest including what Respect described as hundreds of applications, including some from former party members. Labour and the Liberal Democrats are fielding 30 candidates, one for every ward. Labour holds 44 seats, just short of an overall majority. The Respect party will cover more than a third of the wards in which seats are up for election.

Respect will not be fielding a single candidate outside Bradford.

That means that the fortunes of the Liberal Democrats will be the main focus of attention in Huddersfield-based Kirklees Council and at the Halifax headquarters of the Calderdale local authority.

Respect is also backing a directly elected mayor for the city in the referendum being held on the same day as the council elections. If Bradford votes yes, the election for the city’s mayor will be held in November.

Panic in Indonesia as 8.6 quake hits off

decided they needed more information about the mental health of HaroonAswat, an aide to Hamza, before reaching a decision on him.

The ruling clears the last realistic obstacle to Continued on page 2 >>

page 30 >>

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NEWS

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

Cameron seeks chances in arms-hungry Japan

UK Prime Minister David Cameron begins a tour of Japan and Southeast Asia vowing to explore opportunities the region offers to bolster Britain’s sluggish economy.

Defense business tops his Tokyo agenda British PM David Cameron walks past Japanese honor guard upon his arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo yesterday. AFP photo British PM David Cameron walks past Japanese honor guard upon his arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo yesterday. AFP photo British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Tokyo yesterday hoping to open Japan’s potentially lucrative defense market for firms from Britain.

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

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cooperation, for instance in the area of helicopters and other defense equipment,” Cameron told the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in London ahead of the visit.

Britain is keen to become “Japan’s partner of choice” alongside Tokyo’s major ally the United States for defence industry collaboration, he separately told Kyodo News.

Cameron, who has headed Britain’s coalition government since May 2010, arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport shortly afternoon.

His two-day trip will include a brief meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and an audience with Emperor Akihito, before he goes on to a quick tour of Southeast Asia scheduled to end on April 1.

Cameron is being accompanied by a delegation of British business leaders, including defense contractors eyeing joint development programs with

Japanese firms.

End of ban Noda is thought to be keen to forge a defense partnership with his British counterpart after Tokyo

loosened its decades-old selfimposed ban on weapons exports.

The expected agreement would make Britain only the second country to have any kind of defense collaboration with Japan, after the United States.

The ban, lifted in December, had prevented Japanese firms from joining multinational weapons projects, other than with the United States, and left Tokyo with little choice in where it bought its hardware.

The easing of export restrictions means Japanese companies are now able to supply parts to foreign contractors, for example in Britain, who will be hoping to leverage their more advanced weaponry technology and sell finished products to Tokyo.

Japan in December chose to buy the US-developed F-35 stealth jet for its next-generation fighter over the Eurofighter Typhoon, in a deal

that is estimated to be worth $4.7 billion.

Japan, whose industries took years to recover after World War II, declared in 1967 that it would tightly control its foreign weapons sales.

But China’s rise and East Asia’s changing security environment -- as highlighted by the expected launch in the coming days of a North Korean rocket -- have nudged policymakers into the change.

Cameron will also visit the headquarters of Nissan Motors, which recently decided to build a new hatchback compact car in Britain, in a 125 million pound ($200 million) investment, aided by a 9.3 million pound grant from London.

The new vehicle, called “Invitation”, will be built at Nissan’s Sunderland plant in northeast England from mid-2013.

Abu Hamza can be extradited to US

Continued from page 01 >>

Hamza’s extradition.

The men have the right to appeal to the grand chamber of the European court and have three months to make an application.

Family of Babar Ahmad respond to Europe Ruling on Extradition to the US “We are very disappointed with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights. While the decision deals with the issue of prison conditions in the US, the fundamental question remains as to why this matter has even got to Strasbourg and why Babar even needs to be extradited to the US.” “There has been a serious abuse of process with the police completely mishandling the evidence seized from Babar’s home by sending it to the US before the CPS could take a view on it.”

“Babar is a British citizen accused of a crime said to have been committed in the UK and all the evidence against him was gathered in this country. Nevertheless, British justice appears to have been subcontracted to the US. This should be immediately rectified by putting Babar on trial in the UK and ordering a full public inquiry into the matter.”

“Our Member of Parliament MrSadiq Khan has now written to the Attorney General to ask why his predecessor Lord Goldsmith and the CPS misled us all by stating in 2006 that there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute him in this country when they had not even seen all the evidence.”

“Babar has already been imprisoned without a trial for almost 8 years, something he described in his recent interview to BBC as “the most unimaginable type of psychological torture.””

“Following the recent petition signed by almost 150,000 members of the British public asking for Babar to be tried in the UK and numerous cross party MPs asking for a change in the extradition treaty, we call on our government

to listen to the British public and its elected officials and to put Babar on trial in his own country without any further delay.”

To arrange an interview, email info@ freebabarahmad.com or telephone 07585355581.

You can also visit www.freebabarahmad.com or the official Facebook page https://www. facebook.com/FreeBabarAhmad.

Babar Ahmad’s sister said they would appeal the ruling. An appeal has only a slim chance of success, but it could delay extradition for months.

Nazia Ahmad, 27, younger sister of Babar Ahmad, was 18 when her brother was taken away to prison. He has been there ever since.

Now, having just turned 27, she is still yet to see him charged with any offence. Her main question is not whether he should face trial, but why it has taken this long.

“My brother has been living in limbo for the last eight years and so have we,” she said. “Someone who commits a murder and is given 35 years in jail at least knows when they will be going home, what they are convicted of. Babar has not known what will happen to him tomorrow, in a year, in two years, in eight. It is the worst type of psychological torture.

“To spend eight years in prison to fight to stay in Britain would perhaps be worth it if he had won.

But to still have to be transported to America, it is not fair. He is happy to stand trial so he can have his day in court, answer the allegations and see the evidence.

“Imagine someone came to you one day and said ‘on this day, we believe that you did something.

We are not going to show you any evidence and we have not charged you with anything, but get on a plane and go to a foreign country to stand trial’ – and perhaps never see the light of day again.

“This should not have taken eight years of incarceration without charge. Our appeal could even take up to another couple of years. The authorities can’t put them on the plane for another three months, so Babar is certainly in prison for at least that long before he even knows where he will end up next.

“It has been a very long battle, we have tried anything and everything in our means to stop this from happening. It should never have got this far, it should have been resolved long before this, at least he wouldn’t have had to spend eight years in prison before he even faces any charges.

“It has been a long, difficult fight. We have had ups and downs and we have had glimmers of hope. When Babar won compensation for the assault, for example. As a family, we are going to keep fighting to the end, we are going to be there for Babar.

“He will have to go to America and be kept in solitary confinement for his trial, we do not know how long that will be. There have been a series of appeals and the case has gone through the courts but, if they were going to tell him to go to America anyway, why did it have to take this long?

“My brother has been held without charge for the longest stretch in modern British history.

It is shocking to think that the government is happy for him to sit in prison for that long without ever hearing the charges against him.

People talk about how much the BBC interview cost the taxpayer but how much has it cost to keep him in prison?

“We, the family, want to know if the Met Police passed all of the evidence to the Americans and if the CPS saw all of the evidence.”

HamjaAhsan, the younger brother of TalhaAhsan, told The Independent that his family first heard about the ruling through Continued on page 05 >>

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

NEWS

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UK hid police racism for a decade In the wake of recent revelations about widespread racism in British police, a “buried” report shows that the top ranks knew of the malpractice for at least eight years but did nothing to stop it.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday that they are investigating 20 police officers and one staff for suspected racism while eight officers and a civilian staff have been suspended in connection with issue.

This comes as The Guardian reported Brian Paddick, a Liberal Democrat running for London mayoral elections who was a Met commander in 2004, had in a confidential report warned the Met top brass that illegal use of stop and search powers against African-Caribbean people would lead to a “racial hatred” scandal for the police.

This is while earlier comments by current Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe shed further light on how deeply racism goes within the force.

“For years the Met leadership have been refusing to admit it. In 2004 it was obvious we had a problem with racism, but nothing was done about it. If the Met had addressed stop and search, the chances of the riots happening would have been lessened,” Hogan-Howe said back in January.

The Met currently also faces two legal challenges over its discriminatory use of section

Saudiato execute 25 Indonesian maids for alleged crimes The Saudi Arabian regime has ruled to execute 25 Indonesian maids working in the kingdom over alleged crimes, a report says.According to a report published by Lebanese AdDiyar Arabic daily on Sunday, 22

other Indonesian maids have been acquitted and deported from the kingdom.Meanwhile, the Indonesian government plans to send a delegation to Riyadh for negotiations over the death sentences.Indonesian Embassy officials in Riyadh say six of the maids sentenced to death worked in the capital.About 1,700 Indonesian nationals are in prison in Saudi Arabia, the Indonesian Embassy says.The embassy has also called on Saudi officials to allow the visiting delegation from Jakarta to meet the Indonesian convicts.

According to a report published in Indonesian newspaper The Presidential Post, a total of 167 Indonesian nationals are on death row, and 11 others had also been sentenced to death in different

countries including Saudi Arabia recently. Most Indonesian nationals sentenced to death had committed either serious criminal offenses or implicated on baseless grounds.

Some 117 are in death row in Malaysia, 20 in China, 25 in Saudi Arabia, and two in Singapore. They can always be acquitted if these countries find them not guilty or a royal pardon is granted, said Pramutyo.

The preferred method of execution in Saudi Arabia is a public beheading by sword, followed by crucifixion.

60 stop and search, which does not require reasonable suspicion and has been outlawed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The scandal follows speculations that the Met suspends officers to prevent them from facing the courts.

Such speculations gain force in the context of reports in the British media of figures that show the Met has fired just one

officer out of 120 convicted of racism in more than a decade (1999 to 2011).

Another six were forced to resign while 21 were fined to put a lid on the police corruption in Britain.

The statistics were only revealed after the Met admitted it has suspended eight officers for racist behavior.

This is while senior black police officers say the ignorance of racism goes back before 2004

to the police killing of a black man, Stephen Lawrence, in 1999 which caused a chaos of institutional racism accusations for the police.

“Like so many things, it lands on deaf ears until such a time as a free press - the media - get hold of it and forces people into action,” founder of the Met Black Police Association Leroy Logan said.

Anonymous takes down UK Home Office website

Notorious hacktivist group Anonymous has taken down the UK Home Office website. The group owned up to the attack via Twitter, saying it was launched over “draconian surveillance proposals.” ­The Home Office, whose website returned to normal around midnight GMT, confirmed the attack.

“We are aware of some reports that the Home Office website may be the subject of an online protest. We have put all potential measures in place and will be monitoring the situation very closely,” the spokesperson said.

The group also claims it had launched a cyberattack on the websites of the British Prime Minister and the UK Ministry of Justice “for continued derogation of civil liberties.”

However, both websites seem to be operating normally at the moment.

British security agencies are pushing for a law which would allow police to monitor text messages, phone calls and emails of their citizens, as well as websites visited, Facebook and Twitter exchanges, and even online game chats. More than $3 billion over the first decade alone is the extraordinary sum the British taxpayer may have to pay to be legally spied upon should the bill be passed.

The bill is aimed at finding potential terrorists and criminals in the name of protecting British

citizens. However, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office, an independent watchdog upholding information rights in the public interest, once implemented, the bill may lead to innocents being wrongly identified as criminals or, worse still, terrorists.

The plan is expected to be announced in May in the Queen’s Speech and is said to have been prepared by the Home Office in collaboration with home security service MI5, the foreign intelligence service MI6 and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – the body responsible for signals intelligence and information assurance for UK’s government and armed forces.

Anonymous also said in their tweets they had launched the action

in support of Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon and TVShack creator Richard O’Dwyer, who face extradition from the UK to the United States.

“You should not give UK citizens to foreign countries without evidence.

If an offence happened in the UK, so should the trial,” said one of the tweets claiming to be from Anonymous.

The group has become increasingly associated with international “hacktivism”, staging protests and high-profile cyberattacks.

Anonymous has carried out attacks on scores of organizations, political parties and governments across the world, including the White House, CIA, FBI, China’s government websites and others.

NEWS

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EDITORIAL

Babar Ahmad and the injustice

In the eight years Ahmad has been locked up without charge

Supporters of a British citizen who has spent eight years imprisoned without charge demanded a full inquiry into the alleged mishandling of his case by British prosecutors.

Babar Ahmad, who is wanted by the US on alleged terror charges, remains incarcerated at Long Lartin prison where he is fighting extradition.

His supporters argue that he should either be tried in this country, where the alleged offence was said to have been committed, or released.

Earlier this week in a BBC interview from a high-security prison with Babar Ahmad, who is wanted for extradition to the US on terror charges, confronts the government, yet again, with a case full of embarrassing questions for the Metropolitan police. And for the justice minister, Ken Clarke, it highlights the challenge of how to justify holding a man in a maximum security prison for eight years when he faces no charges in the UK. Clarke may be quietly praying that next Tuesday the European court of human rights will rule that Ahmad cannot be extradited to the US, and British courts therefore can after all hear the case.

Ahmad had no illusions that the interview was his “last chance to convince the authorities,” and he directly asked the director of public prosecutions to put him on trial in the UK here and now, as his family have requested on countless occasions.

At the centre of the US case against Ahmad is evidence that was not seen by the British legal authorities before it was sent to the US .

The Metropolitan police – the very body that took the evidence and sent it straight to the US without showing it to the Crown Prosecution Service – had inflicted more than 70 separate injuries on Ahmad during his earlier arrest in late 2003, when he was released without charge. Did anyone think at the time that to extradite him to the US under the new fast-track procedures would conveniently get the problem of his attempts at redress from the police safely out of

the way?

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has repeatedly maintained that there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute Mr Ahmad for any crime in this country.

But last November the CPS admitted that it had reviewed only “some of the material” gathered during searches of his house and office, with most of the evidence handed directly to the US authorities without the CPS seeing it.

The Free Babar Ahmad (FBA) Campaign is urging all supporters to write to Attorney General Dominic Grieve to demand a full public inquiry into what it described as a “serious and unprecedented abuse of process.”

In the years Ahmad has been locked up, he has lost his marriage and his job. The UK has meanwhile prosecuted several people for terrorism-related offences involving extremist websites, some of them the very websites, hosted in the US, at the centre of the allegations against Ahmad, his lawyers say.

The US and UK extradition laws introduced by the Labour party after 9/11 have become a major concern in parliament, and this case highlights it again.

Ahmad’s words from prison are an unforgettable indictment of the British system that has failed him, through incompetence and Islamophobia.

“Eight years without trial is like living on death row. It’s like you are living every day for a tomorrow that might or might not come. And it has been very, very difficult…

Detention without trial is the most unimaginable type of psychological torture.”

Ahmad’s case is not unique in Britain today, and its impact on others has been devastating.

A memorable Confucius saying: A disciple asked Confucius, “Do cultivated people value courage.”

Confucius say, “Cultivated people consider justice foremost. When cultivated people have courage without justice they become rebellious. When petty people have courage without justice they become brigands.”

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

‘You’re not welcome’: teachers vote to ban Ofsted

NUT conference calls for boycott of inspections and tests in protest at government changes Ofsted inspectors could be barred from classrooms across thecountry after teachers voted overwhelmingly to boycott the inspection body.Teachers’ leaders are especially angry at changes being introduced by the new Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, which seem to make it harder for schools to make the grade.

The executive of the National Union of Teachers will now examine the proposals after teachers spoke out about the stress and damage to morale caused by the inspection regime, at the union’s annual

conference in Torquay.

The National Union of Teachers has resolved to strike in defence of national pay and conditions if the government goes ahead with plans to introduce local pay.

The education secretary, Michael Gove, has asked the School Teachers’ Review Body – which deals with pay and conditions – to look at the possibilities for making pay more “market-facing” and how to “strengthen the link” between pay and performance.

The NUT unanimously backed a motion at its annual conference in Torquay to ballot for a national strike if the government goes ahead with the plans for further “pay flexibility”, which come on

the back of a two-year pay freeze and pay rises capped at 1% for a further two years, and which the union says is a further step towards the fragmentation and privatisation of state education.

Anger at a phalanx of government policies which members see as a wholesale attack on public services and the profession led to one delegate calling for the union to mobilise to help topple the “dictatorial” government before 2015.

Delegates vowed to act to defend national pay and conditions, arguing that teaching is a national service locally delivered and national rates should be maintained.

Swiss want to “democratise” UN Security Council

Switzerland and four other states have submitted a draft resolution with proposals for improving the working methods of the United Nations’ most powerful organ.

The aim of the reforms submitted to the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday by the “Small 5” group (S5) – Switzerland, Costa Rica, Jordan, Liechtenstein and Singapore – is to make the Security Council more open, transparent and efficient.

The Security Council should also include those UN member states that are not part of the Council more closely in its deliberations, it said.

The vast majority of UN member states are not represented on the Security Council. Nevertheless, all member States are obliged to implement the Council’s decisions.

More transparency and a better inclusion of non-members in the whole decision-making process would result in greater political acceptance and lead to better implementation of the Council’s decisions, said Paul Seger, Swiss ambassador to the UN in New York.

Referring to the S5 initiative, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter said in a press statement there was “a legitimate concern to be better informed about the Council’s decision-making process and to have the possibility to be involved in it. This demand is in line with Swiss policy on the UN, which gives priority to institutional reforms and human security for the coming years”.

More accessible

The draft resolution proposes that the Security Council make more of its meetings public and thus accessible to non-members. In particular, those states affected by conflict and those that provide troops for peacekeeping operations should be more closely involved in the Council’s decisionmaking.

It also asks for limits to be placed on the use of the veto in the Security Council. Specifically, the five permanent members with veto power – the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain – should renounce the use of the veto in cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Various UN member states were consulted on an informal level on the S5 reform proposals. Having received mostly positive responses, the proposals were submitted in the form of an official draft resolution to the General Assembly.

In the coming weeks the draft resolution will be debated and decided upon – “we hope sometime in May”, Seger said.

Not legally binding A resolution adopted by the General Assembly is not legally binding on the Security Council. It can, however, create political pressure.

It is not the first time the S5 group is taking up the issue. A previous draft resolution submitted in 2006 led to a number of improvements in the Security Council’s working methods. For example, more open debates were introduced and a more intensive exchange was developed with other UN bodies such as the Peacebuilding Commission.

“Our reform proposals are concrete and pragmatic steps designed to improve the work of the Security Council and its cooperation with the General Assembly. They can be implemented today without the need for any amendment of the UN Charter,” Seger said.

This is in contrast to the “major” reform proposals on the composition and enlargement of the Security Council, which have been the subject of debate for 20 years but so far have failed to produce results.

NEWS

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

A suicide car bomber killed at least 40 people on Sunday morning on a busy road in the Nigerian city of Kaduna, after apparently turning away from churches holding Easter services.

The blast left charred motorcycles and debris strewn across a major road, where many gather to eat at informal restaurants and buy black-market petrol.

Nearby hotels and homes had their windows blown out and roofs torn away by the force of the explosion.

Two churches were badly damaged as churchgoers worshipped at an Easter service, the possible target of the bomber. Witnesses said it appeared that the car attempted to enter the compound of the churches, but was blocked by barriers in the street and turned away by a security guard.

“We were in the holy communion service and I was exhorting my people and all of a sudden, we heard a loud noise that shattered all our windows and doors, destroyed our fans and some of our equipment

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in the church,” Pastor Joshua Raji said.

While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion fell on Boko Haram,

tensions around Kaduna, a region on the dividing line between Nigeria’s largely Christian south and Muslim north.

Churches have been increasingly

suicide bombing in Madalla near Nigeria’s capital killed at least 44 people.

Police and soldiers quickly cordoned off the blast site, though

the radical Islamist sect blamed for hundreds of killings in the country this year alone. Some fear the attack could further inflame

targeted by violence on holy days in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people of Christians and Muslims. A Christmas Day

citizens looked on at the flames and damage.

Boko Haram is waging an increasingly bloody fight against

Revealed: Recent quakes in US ‘almost certainly man-made’ A US Geological Survey research team says a remarkable increase in earthquake occurrence in the US in the past decade is “almost certainly man-made.”

­ ccording to the study by USGS, oil and natural gas A extraction activity have possibly provoked a series of recent earthquakes from Alabama to the Northern Rockies.

However, USGS authors did not estimate a direct causeeffect relationship between oil and gas activity and earthquakes.

“It remains to be determined how they are related to either changes in extraction methodologies or the rate of oil and gas production,” says the abstract for USGS study, published by the Seismological Society of America.

However they gave a possible explanation for it. They relate it to drilling, which requires the disposal of millions of gallons of wastewater for each well. The number of wells drilled has increased over the past decade.

A recent series of earthquakes in north-eastern Ohio, the latest and largest being on New Year’s Eve, has prompted that state’s Department of Natural Resources to close or suspend development by natural gas drillers of five deep wastewater disposal wells pending an investigation into

well impact on increased seismic activity in the area.

Earthquakes have been linked to so-called injection wells in other states. For example, Arkansas imposed a permanent moratorium on disposal wells in an approximately 1,200 square-mile area, due to enhanced seismic activity near the Fayetteville Shale.

“The acceleration in activity that began in 2009 appears to involve a combination of source regions of oil and gas production, including the Guy, Arkansas, region, and in central and southern Oklahoma. Horton, et al. (2012) provided strong evidence linking the Guy, AK, activity to deep waste water injection wells,” the study says.

The research team led by USGS geophysicist William Ellsworth, says the frequency of earthquakes began rising in 2001 across a broad swath of the country between Alabama and Montana and culminated “in a six-fold increase over 20th century levels in 2011.”

Meanwhile, according to the federal Energy Information Administration, shale gas production grew, on average, nearly 50 per cent a year from 2006 to 2010.

security agencies and the public.

More than 380 people have been killed in violence blamed on the sect this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

The group has attacked both Christians and Muslims, as well as the United Nations’ headquarters in Nigeria, while rejecting efforts to begin indirect peace talks with Nigeria’s government.

The near-daily attacks by the sect – and Nigeria’s weak central government’s inability to thwart them, despite public promises – have sparked anger and fear about the group’s reach. The United Kingdom and the United States warned its citizens living in the country that violence was likely over the Easter holiday. Nigeria’s government dismissed the warning, with local newspapers quoting presidential spokesman Reuben Abati as saying: “Easter will be peaceful for all.”

Britain’s Africa minister, Henry Bellingham, condemned the attack, calling it a “horrific act”.

Abu Hamza can be extradited to US Continued from page 02 >>

Twitter and had been in tears for much of the day.

“After five years of prison visits with no trial, my parents find it deeply upsetting, but still have strength and resolve,” he said.

“We shouldn’t let America dominate us unfairly and unjustly – they have been abusive with their power in Guantanamo,” he added. “The US prison system with 25 per cent of the world’s prisoners and five per cent of the world’s population is a disturbing phenomenon in itself. Talha would be held pre-trial in solitary confinement for a long period of time, maybe up to three years. He has already spent more than five years in detention without trial. This reprehensible and unacceptable. We say if he has done anything wrong - fine, prove it in a British court.”

He said the family were particularly upset that Talha and Babar Ahmad’s case had been lumped together with that of Abu Hamza and two people accused of helping to coordinate the 1998 embassy bombs in Africa.

“I am disturbed and abhor the misleading phrase “Abu Hamza& Others” used by Theresa May as a misleading cover soundbyte and front to the injustice done to Babar Ahmad and my brother. “The Others” are cases with different circumstances.”

He said his family had received messages of support from others who have been involved in extradition fights including the families of Gary McKinnon, Richard O’Dwyer and Christopher Tappin.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

UK fertility clinic founder ‘fathered 600 children’

BertoldWiesner set up the controversial London Barton clinic with his wife Mary Bartons in the 1940s Only select members of the couple’s friends were chosen as donors to help women conceive 1,500 babies Two biological sons have found 18 others conceived at clinic - 12 were fathered by DrWiesner A PIONEERING British scientist who set up a controversial London fertility clinic with his wife in the 1940s may have fathered up to 600 children, according to research from two men who have discovered they are his biological sons.

Barry Stevens, a documentary film-maker from Canada, and David Gollancz, a Londonbased barrister, say that on the basis of recent DNA tests DrBertoldWiesner made up to two-thirds of the clinic’s total sperm donations.

In 2007, DNA tests on 18 people who had been conceived at the clinic between 1943 and 1962 showed that 12 of the group two-thirds - were DrWiesner’s children, The (London) Sunday Times reported.

Using these results, Mr Stevens and MrGollancz believe that Wiesner, who died in 1972, must

have fathered as many as 600 children.

“A conservative estimate is that he would have been making 20 donations a year,” MrGollancz said.

“Using standard figures for the number of live births which result, including allowances for twins and miscarriages, I estimate that he is responsible for between 300 and 600 children.”

That figure would dwarf previous records. Last year it emerged that one

anonymous sperm donor in the US had fathered 150 children.

The Barton Clinic, set up

by DrWiesner, a biologist, and his wife Mary Barton, a doctor, has long been surrounded by controversy because it was believed to have used sperm donations drawn from their small circle of academic friends.

In 2001, it was revealed Derek Richter, a neuro-chemist, fathered more than 100 of the clinic’s children.

After the British Medical Journal published an article from the couple on their work in 1945, a peer in Britain’s House of Lords denounced their activity as “the work of Beelzebub” and the then Archbishop of Canterbury called for their clinic to be outlawed.

Read more: http://www.news. com.au/world/uk-fertilityclinic-founder-fathered-600children/story-e6frfkz91226321603085#ixzz1rUkSgh8g

‘Israeli regime pursues ethnic cleansing agenda’

The holy city of Jerusalem (al-Quds) is flooded with Christian pilgrims from around the world in Easter time while Palestinian Christians have no access to the holy sites.

For over a decade, the Israeli civil administration in the occupied Palestinian territories has denied free access to Palestinians wishing to visit Jerusalem (al-Quds) at its own discretion.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Rev. Stephen Sizer, vicar at Christ Church, to share his opinion on this issue.

The following is a rough transcript of the interview.

Press TV: A very brief reaction to Ibrahim’s piece there.

Sizer: Yes, it is very troubling. I was there just a few weeks ago and I was able to visit the holy sites in Jerusalem, going through those checkpoints you saw, just waving my British passport and I thought it is very upsetting that my brothers and sisters who live there in BeitJala just a walking distance from Jerusalem are unable to do the same because

they were Palestinians. It is a deep injustice.

Press TV: Of course the reverent we saw in that film said it should be a place for all. Why aren’t we seeing that?

Sizer: Well regressively Israel is following a strategy and an agenda to ethnically cleanse the territory that it wishes to colonize and that is essentially around Jerusalem. It wants to deny the Palestinians for rather self-determination, a separate state. And it wishes to hold on to Jerusalem and the surrounding villages.

So therefore Palestinians quote as they were now on the wrong side of the separation barrier, the apartheid wall have no access to their holy sites other than through obtaining a permit. But less than one percent of the Christians are able to get a permit. They tend to be the elderly, the married and if you saw those young ladies, they are single, they are young and it is very difficult for them to get permits.

Press TV: The initiative, Christ at the

checkpoint, how is that trying to shed a light to what happens specially around Easter when so many people want to visit there for very spiritual and faith base reasons.

Sizer: Well many do, the tragedy is that many Christians visit the holy land and the holy sites at Easter but they are oblivious to the presence of an indigenous church. They go with their cameras and their Bibles and have a wonderful spiritual experience and they are ignorant of the existence of an indigenous church that has been 2,000 years.

And so this is the second conference

we have held in Bethlehem, Christ at the checkpoint. We had Palestinian political leaders, religious leaders and international spokesman participating as well as 300 locals and about 300 internationals coming together at the checkpoint in Bethlehem to understand and listen to the police of a local Christian to be heard, to be understood and to be in solidarity with them and speaking and advocating for them in the West about injustices and about the hopes for reconciliation in the future but that can only be achieved through justice. Justice must come first.

Press TV: What has been the reaction to this both on the ground and when those who were there take that message onto their home countries?

Sizer: Several. It is heartening to see the empowerment that we saw among the Palestinian Christians. They feel encouraged and strengthened by our presence there. Back home we find many Christians in the West say well we did not know, we did not know this is happening.

And so we can tell our testimony, tell our story and inform them. Because once you see the truth, you see those pictures is hard to un-see it. It is hard to turn your heart away from suffering when you see it.

The third response sadly from the Zionist lobby is to target us, to demonize us and to try to silence the message that we are sharing.

Press TV: But this message, one of faith, one of solidarity isn’t it a universal message?

Sizer: It is a universal message but the religious message which the Israeli, the Zionist wish to perpetrate is a very racist agenda. It is the belief

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

7

NEWS

Education is our Right

RAKHI SACHDEV

Mr Michael Gove as being Education Secretary palpably thinks he has students’ interests at heart. This week, controversy ignited over his plans to let universities make the decision to decide the content of A-levels, effectively to create more challenging, more difficult, more demanding exams. He believes that A-Levels were ‘failing to stretch pupils’ and that students when beginning their undergraduate degree at university didn’t encompass the correct knowledge or skills to take on the demands of what is involved in the degree of their choice. Being an A-level student myself, I can confirm that these exams are no feat without plenty of hard work. They are not a ‘walk in the park’. Leading university academics have told Gove that A-Levels do not prepare students well enough for university. So, there needs to be more ‘academic rigour and zest’? Well, these proposals are failing to remember one thing. Pupils who sit A-levels do not always decide to go onto further education. When was it written in stone that the only

Rakhi Sachdev This year, sport is more significant than ever. With the London Olympics soon approaching, many are feeling a sort of nationalistic pride in the sport and competition we are able to provide. However, this week and weekend, the UK has been using sport as a means to raise money. To raise hope and awareness. Sport and charity both have huge power to bring people to together, and, indubitably, Sport Relief is fantastic in what the charity sets out to do and achieve. The money raised is spent in Britain and across the world for those who are less unfortunate, whether that be transforming the lives of the people in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities, or perhaps those living with poor mental or physical health, is used to aid these citizens.

Additionally,

many

heart-

function of sitting A-levels was to receive a ticket for admission into university? Those who feel

university isn’t quite the path they want to take have not been included in the picture.

wrenching issues are tackled internationally too. One such issue is the poor health in Africa. 1 child in every 7 does not live to see their fifth birthday. Yes it is truly upsetting and, perhaps, some would say too morbid, however this is the reality. This is only one of many international crises that Sport Relief is endeavouring to tackle. Basic healthcare is inaccessible, and yet if communities had it, diseases like Malaria, which are preventable, would be defeated.

every day… mothers with children are lining up all morning and in the afternoon.’ In Kenya alone, 1.5 million children are being targeted for these essential vaccinations. Such a simple medical requirement. Who would have though it would be so difficult to obtain?

Unfortunately, for many families in Africa, this is the case. On the other side of the continent in Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest countries, illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia will kill these poor children. Nonetheless, from this year’s Sport Relief campaign, £2.5m is hoping to be raised which will solely go towards children’s vaccines. This contribution will be matched by the Bill & Melinda

Many of us take vaccines for granted, however in one of Nairobi’s teeming slums, mothers gather outside dozens of health clinics, each one carrying an infant. They are eagerly in hope that their child will acquire a life-saving vaccine. As Josephine Odanga, an emergency health officer with UNICEF in Kenya states: ‘These clinics are busy

As Dr Bousted, leader of the ATL teachers’ union stated, ‘… universities have a useful role to play in deciding what should be tested at A level, but A levels need to test more than just the ability to go to university’. The teaching profession haven’t been consulted about these initiatives, and as Dr Bousted’s comment highlights, not all teachers simply agree.

Additionally, Peter Chairman, chairman of the private school group, the ‘Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ conference’ pointed out that it would be ‘most unwise to give universities total control’. Why should it be up to the universities to decide the content of exams, of the students who will not be attending these institutions of higher education?

Firstly it’ll de- incentivise pupils who may struggle with ‘universityridden’ A-levels. Besides this, the question-setting responsibilities would be handed to academics from Russell Group universities; the UK’s 24 leading research institutions. Only 1 in 5 British students attend a Russell Group university. So pupils would be made to sit exams in which they would have to meet very high academic standards regardless of wanting to attend one of these

Gates Foundation, just two of many of the philanthropists of our world, making a total donation of £5m to the Gavi Alliance, a publicprivate international health

24 universities, or they fail? This is indeed becoming quite ‘elitist’, as Julia Neal, teacher and former president of the ATL rightly states.

Elitism needs to be driven out of our higher education system, not driven in. We are not living in the 60’s; pupils from less successful schools should not have to feel intimidated For those who do wish to attend University, these initiative may prove to be beneficial, however they do fail to take into account those who want to enter the job market after their A-level exams.

And really, many undergraduates today do not seem to be falling out of university, and are coping with their degrees. Yes, first year students are perhaps being given extra classes so as get them ‘up to scratch’ with their chosen subject.

Yet, Whilst this may be tiresome for lecturers, it proves that students are arriving on the same university courses from a variety of educational, and it highlights a diversity.

Please, Mr Gove, do have sympathy. A-Levels are not the easiest and do provide enough hardship for us Year 12 and 13 students…!

partnership. This money will help fund their immunisation work in Africa. £5 alone could pay for a vaccine that will protect a child against five deadly diseases.

In the Gavi Alliance’s first decade, 288 million children have been immunised against life-threatening diseases. More than 5 million future deaths have been prevented.

Now it’s time to increase the numbers.

Sport and charity are coming together as a powerful force.

Add human aid and together all 3 components can create an immeasurable amount of help.

It may take time. It may take perseverance and determination.

Nevertheless, with plenty of optimism and hope, the children of tomorrow can and will be saved.

NEWS

8

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

ENTERTAINMENT

DEBATE

She’s a lady?

Keziah-Ann Abakah

As Tom Jones so eloquently put it “She always knows her place, she’s got style she’s got grace she’s a winner, talking about my little lady ...”

Claudette Colbert. This name may raise eyebrows, elicit smiles of recognition from a rare few and for most beg the question “Who?” Claudette Colbert was and will forever be remembered as one of Hollywood’s most adored leading lady’s. It is not her reverting beauty, nor here timeless acting that most remember Colbert for but in fact her iconic scene in the 1934 film ‘It happened one night’ for in this scene Colbert did what no decent women in her time dared to, Claudette pushed the enveloped, Claudette broke the mould, Claudette shocked the world, Claudette stuck out her leg.

That’s right, in 1934 for the

infamous hitchhiking scene Claudette pulled her skirt above her knee below her waist line, stuck out her foot, stopped traffic and got herself and her companion a ride. For this Colbert became a scarlet lettered woman famed and haunted for doing something so indecent which leads one to ask this. If in 1934 it was indecent for a woman to show her bare leg what have the women of the modern age digressed to?

In the day an age we now live the Modern women leaves very little to the imagination. Look no further than Miami to see scantily clad women walking up and down South beach. Look to LA where legally women are aloud to socialise within society wearing no more than a bikini top or look to Hollywood’s leading ladies and see the visually stunning skin baring dresses with which they parade the red carpet.

To the women of the 1930’s the

21st century women no longer holds her body sacred, no longer takes into account what it is to be modest and no longer values her body. So we modern women show a little, a little lot of skin, we wear revealing clothes and at times we shock the world with the daring amount of skin we expose but at the days end the modern women bears a statement with each revealing piece she wears.

This is me, this is who I am and i’m proud of the way God has made me. Revealing skin does not necessarily mean that you’re a woman with no morals you’re just a women who’s not ashamed of her body. The next time you see a woman you deem to be scantily clad or a woman you think is showing too much skin take a second out of time to ask yourself is this woman proud of her body or have the values of a woman digressed?

‘I want to dance like a Bollywood actor’

After the 600 odd runs he pulled off last season at the Indian Premier League, Chris Gayle has become one of the most wanted men in the team.th all the fuss around him, getting to talk to the tall Jamaican is near impossible; but once you do, you won’t be disappointed by his spot on humour.

FASHION

ADVICE

Summer is around the corner and although it may not seem like it; England’s notorious unpredictable weather will catch us off guard. So, get your summer wardrobes ready by stocking up on this seasons must haves.

Top £34.00 www. topshop.com

Skirt £40.00 www. riverisland.com

Dress £40.00 www. riverisland.com

Shoes £25.00 www.topshop.com

Metrolife got to interact with the cricketer when he had come to launch a new range of merchandise, and surprisingly, he admitted that his secret ambition is to be an actor. “And not just any actor, I want to be a Bollywood actor.

It would be a fun thing to do. Maybe not the hero but I wouldn’t mind taking on the co-star role — like the hero’s friend. I really want to dance like a Bollywood actor,” he says with a big smile.

Ask him if he is serious about it and he shrugs and says, “Why not?

People have seen me do everything in front of the camera and they have liked it. Plus if I weren’t a cricketer today, I am sure I would be an actor or in the entertainment sector.”

Trousers £14.99 www. hm.com/gb

Dress; £48.00 www.next.com

BY Misbah Khan

Dear Miss R My ex girlfriend’s mum just passed away. She is devastated and all alone. I am unsure of my feelings for her but I want to be there for her. Each time I try to go see her she tells me no (over the phone) yet she is asking me where I am at and constantly calling. She has also asked me to help with selling her mom’s stuff and whatnot but keeps on wanting to put it off. I feel like she wants space but I see her falling apart.

What should I do?

Jeff Dear Jeff Your ex-girlfriend is in a very bad position emotionally so you should give her all the support that she needs without taking advantage of her. Right now you need to be a good friend to her and let her come to terms with the situation, after that you can confront her about any feelings you might have for her.

Dear Miss R I find that approaching guys is hard for me, but I have had a crush on this guy for months and I like him a lot. I know my best friend told him when I first liked him, but he had a girlfriend then. We talk all the time and he has even expressed some intimate stuff about himself and how he does not approach girls often. I want to tell him I like him still, I am afraid of rejection. If he says no, it could end our friendship. What should I do?

Anonymous Dear Anonymous You should not be afraid to share your feelings with this guy and tell him exactly how you feel. It is likely that he may also have feelings for you and if not then you can still be friends and it may even bring you closer. It is better to speak out and get rejected as you will always meet new people and boys rather than forever ask yourself that one question: what if?

Miss R

9

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Saarc international I Thursday 12 April 2012

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Thursday, 12.04.12

international

NarendraModi acquitted in Gujarat riots case

An investigation team appointed by India’s Supreme Court has found no evidence against Gujarat’s chief minister over deadly anti-Muslim riots in the state a decade ago, a court said Tuesday.

NarendraModi has been accused by rights groups of having turned a blind eye to the violence that swept the state in 2002 and claimed as many as 2,000 lives, and of failing to bring to justice the perpetrators of the killings.

“According to the Special Investigation Team, no offence has been established against” Modi or any of the 57 others listed in the complaint, the magisterial court said, reported by the Press Trust of India.

The announcement was a boost for Modi, a prominent member of the Hindu nationalist BharatiyaJanata

Party (BJP) and seen as a potential candidate to be India’s prime minister in the 2014 general elections.

The complaint had been filed by ZakiaJafri, widow of a former Congress Muslim lawmaker, EshanJafri, who was burnt to death along with 68 other people by a mob in a housing colony in Gujarat.

ZakiaJafri had filed a complaint against Modi, his ministerial colleagues, top police officials and members of the BJP, accusing them of conspiracy in the riots and the Supreme Court ordered an inquiry into the allegations.

Modi’s lawyer called the allegations against his client “absurd.”The decision by the Special Investigation Team comes as Modi is set to run for a fourth term in office in elections in the western state, known as one

of India’s most industrialised, due to be held later this year.

The decision came after an Indian court convicted 23 people on Monday over the massacre of nearly two dozen Muslims during the riots in Gujarat state.

Some 31 Muslims were found guilty last year on murder and conspiracy charges for the train attack in which 59 Hindu devotees were killed that sparked the anti-Muslim riots.

Hindu mobs seeking revenge rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods in several cities across Gujarat during three days of bloodshed.

Modi got another boost last year when a US Congressional research paper hailed his governance track record and called him the “likely” prime ministerial candidate for the BJP in the 2014 national elections.

Zardari told to work more to win ‘India’s love’, says Pak media Pak foreign minister may be axed President Asif Ali Zardari’s “private spiritual journey” to India ended with “a tame nudge” from the hosts who asked him to “work more to win their love,” Pakistani media said today about his short trip to Delhi and Ajmer.

Photographs of MrZardari shaking hands with the Indian Prime Minister were on the front pages of most Pakistani papers.

The Dawn said the President “enjoyed a sumptuous lunch... with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before offering prayers at the shrine of KhwajaMoinuddinChishti in Ajmer, but his day-long officially ‘private’ visit to India ended with a tame nudge from the hosts who effectively asked him...to work more to win their love.”

MrZardari had lunch with the Prime Minister during a quick stopover in Delhi during what was described as a “private visit” to the country. MrZardari and his 23-yearold son, Bilawal, then visited the Ajmer dargah. In 2005, Bilawal’s mother and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had visited the dargah with MrZardari.

The Express Tribune said in its report that Dr Singh had accepted MrZardari’s invitation to visit Pakistan while stressing that for any real progress in relations, Pakistan must take action against terrorists like Hafiz Saeed, the man India holds responsible for the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.

MrSaeed is the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

Continued on page 10 >>

SAARC

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Saarc international I Thursday 12 April 2012

US says ready to help settle Siachen dispute

The United States said on Monday that it was ready to help India and Pakistan resolve their differences over the Siachen glacier where an avalanche caused the death of 139 Pakistani soldiers during the weekend.

At a regular briefing at the State Department, spokesperson Victoria Nuland also said that the United States had sent a rescue team to the region on Pakistan’s request.

“We have made clear to both India and Pakistan that we are prepared to be supportive in any way that might be helpful,” said the US official when a reporter asked if the United States was

willing to go beyond the rescue operation and help India and

Rescuers concentrate search for Siachen avalanche victims

Rescuers searching for 135 people buried under a huge avalanche at a Pakistani army camp are concentrating the efforts on five points at the site, the military said on Tuesday.

A huge wall of snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier base high in the mountains in Kashmir early Saturday morning, smothering an area of one square kilometre (a third of a square mile).

Experts say there is little chance of finding any survivors.

The military said more than 450 people are taking part in relief efforts —up from 286 late on Monday —aided by mechanical earth movers, bulldozers and excavators, and work is focusing on certain key areas.

“Five points have been identified on the site where rescue work is in progress,” the military said in a statement.

“Two points are being dug with equipment while three points are

being dug manually.”

Photographs released by the military, on Tuesday, showed diggers and rescuers at work on an almost featureless expanse of dirty grey snow and ice, with no trace visible of the camp that had been the 6th Northern Light Infantry headquarters.

Retired Pakistani Colonel Sher Khan, a mountaineering expert, suggested the devastation may have been caused by a landslide rather than an avalanche.

“For me it was a huge landslide provoked by a cloud burst, not an avalanche,” he told AFP. “In this case a huge flood of water is coming down from the sky and creates a lot of mud and loose earth on the mountain. Mostly boulders, mud and water ran down the mountain.”

Specialist teams from the United States, Switzerland and Germany have arrived in Pakistan to help with the search.

Pakistan find a peaceful solution to this issue.“But primarily we

see this being settled by dialogue between them,” MsNuland added, repeating the traditional US stance that they could only play a role in an India-Pakistan dispute if both parties asked them to do so.

India strongly opposes thirdparty assistance in its disputes with Pakistan, stalling all international offers for help.

“At the request of the government of Pakistan, the US government did deploy an eightman US military alpine searchand-rescue team from Kabul to Islamabad,” MsNuland said.

She said the team arrived on Sunday and was still in Islamabad, awaiting instructions

to deploy in Siachen. “We’re discussing with the Pakistani military how best they might be used,” the US official said.

“But we stand by to assist, and to my knowledge we haven’t had any additional requests from Pakistan.”

“The Pakistanis actually invited US military into their country?” a reporter asked.

“Yes. Yes,” said the US official. “This was obviously a humanitarian request, a horrible situation with the avalanche.

We felt it was important to respond to their request. As I said, they haven’t left Islamabad yet, but they’re ready to help,” MsNuland said.

Zardari told to work more to win ‘India’s love’, says Pak media Continued from page 9 >> “Under JuD’s shadow, Singh accepts Pakistan invitation,” read the headline in The Express Tribune.

The same paper in its editorial praised the PPP-led government for the “way it has repaired relations from the nadir of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, when war seemed a very realistic possibility.”

It said, “Rather than try to be overly ambitious, the government has cautiously taken small steps towards lasting peace, with trade and regular high-level meetings inching the process forward.”

The News, in an editorial titled “A ‘private’ visit,” noted that this was the first visit by a Pakistani head of state to India in seven years and said it was not easy to arrange meetings between the two countries, whose leaders usually hold talks on the margins of international diplomatic events.

“This visit, although it was not explicitly stated, was about consolidating the confidence-building measures that have been cautiously embarked upon by the business communities of both states in the last year,” the editorial said, referring to Pakistan’s plans to give India Most Favoured Nation-status by next year.

The News and Pakistan Today, in their editorials, noted the criticism within Pakistan of the expenses on the visit

by Zardari, who was accompanied by a sizeable entourage that included his son and Pakistan People’s Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who does not enjoy any state position. The size of the Presidential delegation and the cost of transporting it had led some to question whether the visit was really a “private” one, the dailies said.

Pak foreign minister may be axed Days after Pakistan’s foreign minister HinaRabbaniKhar contradicted

President Asif Ali Zardari during a meeting with a visiting US diplomat, speculation is rife that her portfolio may be changed.

The speculation of the change was sparked by remarks of Prime Minister YousufRazaGilani four days after the meeting.

Gilani took the top brass in the Foreign Ministry by surprise by saying during an interaction with reporters at his home in Lahore that a “fresh team” would carry forward talks with India to resolve outstanding issues like the Kashmir.

Reporters who attended the interaction did not make much of the remarks and Gilani did not explain what he meant by the term “fresh team”.

The US delegation led by deputy secretary of state Thomas Nides was taken by surprise when Khar publicly contradicted the President during a meeting held at the governor’s House in Lahore on April 4, diplomatic sources said.

Zardari was then camping in the capital of Punjab province to interact with workers of his Pakistan People’s Party. Nides raised the crucial issue of Pakistan’s participation in a conference on Afghanistan to be held at Chicago in May, and Zardari said his government was amenable to discussing the matter if Washington extended a formal invitation, the sources said.

At this point, Khar intervened and said the issue could not be taken up till a joint session of parliament completed an ongoing review of Pakistan-US relations, the sources said.

Any discussion on the Chicago conference could be held only after the review, she was quoted as saying.

The sources said the US delegation was surprised by the “argumentative” tone adopted by Khar in the presence of the

President, who is perceived as the PPP’s main decision-maker on crucial foreign policy issues.the remarks immediately triggered speculation in the Foreign Office that Khar’s portfolio could be changed during an upcoming cabinet reshuffle.

Gilani and other PPP leaders have said a cabinet reshuffle will be carried out soon with an eye on the general election scheduled for early next year.

Speculation is doing the rounds in the Foreign Office that Khar may be given a new portfolio in the cabinet reshuffle and a new Foreign Minister would lead talks with New Delhi, The News daily reported today.

President Asif Ali Zardari will administer the oath, while the oath taking ceremony will also be attended by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and some federal ministers later today.

According to sources, Senator Sughra Imam’s name was also on the list of new federal ministers to be appointed, but she was yet to take the oath.

Moreover, Former Law Minister Maula Bux Chandio would be assigned a new portfolio, added the sources.

However, keeping in mind earlier news reports on speculation that Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar might lose her portfolio, sources said that she has succeeded in holding on to her ministry.

A Foreign Office spokesperson had earlier said that the foreign minister’s removal from her current post was “nothing but speculation and groundless to the core.”

Also on Wednesday, the prime minister conferred the status of Federal Minister on Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US. A notification was issued in this regard by the Cabinet Division on Wednesday evening.

Saarc international I Thursday 12 April 2012

SAARC

11

WEEKLY REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN NEWS

Afghanistan announces satellite tender

Less than two decades ago, Taliban made bonfires of film reels outside Kabul’s cinemas, banned television & condemned weather forecasting as sorcery.

Now, govt that replaced them is seeking a partner to take country’s communications industry into space.

Afghanistan hopes its first satellite will improve television coverage in rural areas and internet access across the country, a project that is political as much as commercial as insurgents and the government vie for influence and support.

“We will start the installation process of the satellite very soon,” Amir ZaiSangin, the minister of communication and information technology, was quoted as saying

by Afghanistan’s Tolo television.

“It’s our priority to solve broadcasting issues and bring all our districts under coverage.”

Kabul’s crowded media scene today is a far cry from the days

when a ban on photography and TV meant few even knew what their Taliban leaders looked like.

Now, Afghanistan’s press is among the region’s most free, and dozens of channels compete for audiences, showing everything from hard news to cooking programmes and religious discussions. Dubbed Indian and

Turkish soap operas are among the most popular programmes, with flashes of cleavage and bare midriff, shoulder or leg pixelated out to meet local sensitivities.

There are so many competing channels, many believed to be funded by powerful Afghan leaders or the country’s various international allies and

supporters, that the country is facing a shortage of frequencies for them, Sangin said.

The satellite launch, in tandem with a shift to digital broadcasting from analogue transmission, should resolve the problem, he added.

It should also help with internet access. Three decades of war have torn apart Afghan infrastructure. Telephone cables and broadcasting antennae have been destroyed along with roads and power lines. Internet access is largely via satellite, but it is slow and expensive, and fewer than one in 10 Afghans are online.

The Taliban has embraced modern communication since its fall from power, but an insurgent spokesman declined to comment on the plans for a satellite.

The progress of television and the internet in Afghanistan will be limited by the progress of other government departments. Many

rural areas have little electricity, few tarmac roads, and few jobs for villagers to earn money.

But telecommunications officials say that the satellite will not be a drain on Afghanistan’s already fragile finances, because the country has been awarded an orbital slot that should attract commercial partners.

“We would like to make a partnership with an international satellite company to launch an Afghan satellite,” said Abdul MalakNazari, a board member on Afghanistan’s telecoms regulator, which is handling the tender process.

“The company will be selected through a process of procurement … they will surely pay for the satellite,” he told the Guardian.

He declined to say how much investment would be needed, but the cheapest satellites sell for hundreds of millions of dollars, and putting them into orbit costs tens of millions more.

Afghanistan, US sign deal on night raids ‘No attacks’ launched from

The United States and Afghanistan signed an agreement Sunday putting Afghans in charge of special operations, including controversial night raids on Afghan homes that have been a major source of contention between the two sides.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and the U.S. commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, signed the deal at a ceremony in Kabul.

The agreement appears to give Afghan authorities veto power over planned operations. It sets up an Afghan Operational Coordination Group that will approve special operations, which will be conducted

by Afghan forces with support from U.S. forces “in accordance with Afghan laws.” It also states that U.S.

forces will join Afghan security forces entering private residences “only as required or requested.”

The agreement also gives Afghan authorities more say in the treatment of detainees.

Wardak said Sunday that special operations will now be “Afghanowned” and conducted by a special contingent of forces from the defense and interior ministries, and the national security directorate.

General Allen said the agreement marks a “significant milestone” in advancing Afghan sovereignty and in shared efforts to formalize a long-term U.S.-Afghan strategic partnership.

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, called the agreement “an important illustration of our

commitment to Afghan sovereignty and of our strong partnership as we move forward to completing the transition of responsibility for Afghanistan’s security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had called repeatedly for an end to all international night raids, saying they are provocative when carried out by foreign forces. But NATO commanders have said the operations have proven extremely effective in apprehending Taliban insurgents and al-Qaida commanders.

There is growing sensitivity in Afghanistan over the presence of foreign troops after a series of incidents, including the killing of 17 Afghan villagers – for which a U.S. soldier was charged – and the inadvertent burning of copies of the Quran at a NATO base.

U.S. officials hope Kabul and Washington will be able to reach a strategic partnership agreement in time for next month’s NATO summit in Chicago. The deal will govern relations between the two countries after the scheduled 2014 pullout of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan after 2014

Afghan soil will not be used to launch attacks against any country after foreign troops withdraw, the war-torn nation’s foreign minister told Al-Jazeera in an interview, excerpts of which were received by AFP on Friday.

“Afghan soil will not be used against any country in the region,” ZalmaiRassoul said, when asked if the United States would be allowed to continue drone attacks on Pakistan after all foreign combat troops withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

“The presence of the remaining forces in Afghanistan is for training, equipping and securing Afghanistan’s security.

It has been mentioned, it is going to be mentioned, that this force is not for use against any neighbours in the region,” Rassoul told the Doha-based television channel.

The US drone war on Islamist militants in Pakistan is one of the major sticking points in Washington’s relations with

Islamabad, which reached their lowest point last year when airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November, six months after a covert US raid killed Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan responded by shutting its Afghan border to Nato supplies and evicting US personnel from an air base reportedly used as a hub by US drones.

US President Barack Obama in January confirmed for the first time that US drones target Taliban and al Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil, but American officials do not discuss details of the covert programme.

According to an AFP tally, 45 US missile strikes were reported in Pakistan’s tribal belt in 2009, the year Obama took office, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.

The Al-Jazeera interview, in which the Afghan foreign minister reiterated his desire to improve long-strained relations with neighbouring Pakistan, is due to be broadcast on Saturday.

SAARC

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Saarc international I Thursday 12 April 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF BANGLADESH NEWS

Bangladesh Population BNP demands PM’s resignation now 14.80cr The country’s population now stands at 14.80 crore, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) said after verifying and adjusting the findings of fifth census, private TV channel ATN Bangla reports.

After the Population and Housing Census 2011, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) put the number of population at 14.23 crore, which was 1.8 crore more

than a decade ago.

The preliminary results of the census did not tally with the figures projected the previous year by different United Nations bodies and government high-ups.

Debates and confusions regarding

the population count arose when United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in its 2010 world population report said Bangladesh’s population that

BNP’s readiness for talks with government

Ruling party should respond positively Our foreign friends have been eager to see the ruling party and the opposition thrash out their differences on ways to hold the next general election. They are only echoing the sentiments of the civil society and the people of the country.

US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met the prime minister and on Friday she called on the leader of the opposition.

In her meeting with the US under-secretary, Begum Khaleda Zia told Ms. Sherman that her party is willing to engage with the ruling party on the ways and means of putting an end to the current stalemate in politics.

Now that the opposition is seemingly willing to work out the modalities of ensuring a participatory election, it is for the government to respond positively to the suggestion. Such a response should in all logic lead to the creation of a premise on which the two sides can get to work.

What the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP must now do is have Sheikh Hasina

and Khaleda Zia nominate their representatives to initiate talks as a way of exploring the ground and then follow through with negotiations on a more senior as well as substantive level.

The process can be undertaken at two levels, first at the informal and then at the formal. And it must include concrete proposals from both sides toward finding a methodology on which the general elections scheduled for early 2014 can be held. One hardly needs to be reminded of the absolute necessity of a swift, meaningful resolution of the crisis.

It is important since elections, with the crucial role they play in underpinning democracy, must bring into their fold all political parties. Only that will ensure a meaningful continuation of the pluralistic process. With the elections less than two years away, the time is here and now for the political classes to comprehend the grave need for an end to confrontation. That is what the national interest, now and in the times ahead, demands.

year was around 16.44 crore. The government criticised the report for being inaccurate.

However, in its The State of the World Population 2011 report, the UNFPA in October 2011 put the number of Bangladesh’s population at 15.05 crore.

According to the preliminary findings of the fifth census released on July 16, 2011, the annual growth rate is 1.34 percent.

The census findings put the number of people living in every square kilometre is 964, compared to 834 in 2001.The latest census, fifth of its kind, also reveals that average size of household decreased in last 10 years, as families have become smaller.

Currently, household size is 4.4 persons, compared to 4.8 in 2001 and 5.5 in 1991.

In the 2001 census, Bangladesh had 12.43 crore people.

Saying that the World Bank has found evidence of corruption in the Padma bridge project, the main opposition BNP has asked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.

“Talking on the allegations of corruption in the Padma bridge project, the prime minister had said earlier, “Let the World Bank prove the allegations.”. The World Bank has found proof for this allegation,” said a resolution of BNP national executive committee meeting held on Sunday night.

“It was proposed in the meeting that the prime minister should resign immediately taking responsibility of the corruption,” the resolution added.

Copy of the resolutions taken at the meeting was made available during a press conference Monday. BNP acting Secretary General MirzaFakhrul Islam Alamgir addressed the briefing organised at the party’s central

office at Nayapaltan.

A number of new banks have been approved to please the leaders and their relatives of ruling Awami League-led grand alliance, ProthomAlo quoted Fakhrul as saying.

He also demanded disclosure how those who received permission to start new banks earned the money over the last three years.

The central bank on Sunday gave the go-ahead for six new private banks, all linked with either lawmakers of ruling Awami League and Jatiya Party or influential persons.

Next budget to be 17pc bigger It’s not ambitious target, says Muhith; economists for proper aid utilisation, streamlining taxation

Staff Correspondent: The national budget of 2012-13 will be about 17 percent bigger than the current one, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.

The next fiscal year’s allocation will be nearly Tk 1,90,000crore, up from Tk 1,63,000 crore budget of this fiscal year, he said.

The minister also said his target is to keep the budget deficit below 5 percent in the upcoming FY. “The Tk 1,90,000crore budget is not an ambitious one,” Muhith said while briefing journalists after a pre-budget meeting with economists at the state guesthouse Padma in Dhaka.

“The next budget should be more than Tk 2,00,000crore to provide citizens with the necessary facilities.”

In the next budget, he said, the government will mainly focus on institutional reforms and productivity of the investment. The government will seek to increase income from non-NBR (National Board of Revenue) revenue sources to meet its expenditure.

The minister said economists at the meeting suggested proper utilisation of foreign aids so that economy gets the proper boost.

A group of economists belonging to different think tanks also suggested the minister fix a minimum tax for Tax Identification Number holders as many of the TIN owners evade taxes.

Muhith said currently the number of TIN holders could be around 50 lakh, but only 8 lakh people pay taxes regularly. Many eligible persons dodge taxes by using loopholes in the TIN system.

He said the economists did not discuss anything on black money in the meeting. But they recommended formulating a coal policy and rationalising subsidies in sectors like education, food and export.

The economists suggested the minister devise a unified subsidy policy as the government does not have specific estimate of subsidies that make a big dent in its yearly spending.

At the meet, they also spoke for strengthening foreign trades, which generate 60 percent income of the country.

The experts stressed the need for education reforms through bringing changes in curricula and teaching methods, the finance minister said.

He added in the next budget the government will lay emphasis on

housing for the low-income people and introducing a viable transport system.

Muhith also said the economists suggested rationalising the property taxes as the prices of land increased manifold over the last few decades.

As an example, Muhith said, many people bought a piece of land at the capital’s posh area at Tk 20,000 years ago, but they are paying the property tax at the earlier rate, although land prices have already crossed crores.

“So, we have a plan to rationalise the wealth tax in the next budget.”

When his attention was drawn to giving licence to new banks, Muhith said the government did not issue any licence to any new bank yet, although the central bank has already recommended three.

“Bangladesh Bank suggests a lot to the finance ministry, but all suggestions are not considered. A total of 49 applications were submitted to the finance ministry for new banks,” he said.

Economists from different organisations including Policy Research Institute, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and Bangladesh Economic Association attended the meeting.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BHUTAN NEWS

Poor storage worsens declining crop production

For want of any storage facility, farmers in the east hang ears of maize from the ceiling . They say they are losing substantial amount of harvested crops to rodents and insects.

A flurry of agricultural activity in the villages marks the onset of the spring season for farmer Sherab, who owns one-third of an acre of land. The food produced from this plot of land is insufficient for his family even when the harvest is good. But good harvests are hard to expect, with unpredictable rainfall and wild animal depredation.

Lack of rain last year led to crop failure in many villages. But even when rainfall is timely and abundant, farmers like Sherab will never know how much they can harvest in the end as the crop loss to wild animals remains a major problem in the villages.

The farmers’ woes never end here.

They continue to lose harvested crops to pests like rodents and insects because of lack of adequate storage facilities. The farmers estimate that they could be losing between 20 and 40 percent of what they manage to save from marauding wild animals to rodents and insects. This loss estimated by

the farmers matches with the postharvest loss of food crop estimated

by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, which is between 15 and 40 percent.

Sherab stores his crops in jute sacks, which are easily destroyed

by rodents, insects and fungus.

He said this kind of food storage used to be a major food security issue when the farmers depended solely on home food production for sustenance. Today, this is no longer a major concern because the farmers have other means of sustenance.

ShumarGupLepo said the decreasing crop production is

made worse by substantial loss of harvested crops due to lack of proper storage facilities.

“The combined effect of wild animal depredation of crops, unpredictable weather, pests and abundance of livelihood opportunities elsewhere has led to precarious food sufficiency situation,” he said. This means that most farmers may not have enough food to last for about a month or two from their home production, the gup said.

This situation, GupLepo said, prompted him to raise the issue of never-ending research on finding a solution to damage of crops by wild animals in the recently concluded DzongkhagTshogdu (DT). He said, “The last DT asked the government how long the research would drag on because it had been going on for a long time, and we still seem to have no clue. This challenge at the production as well as post-harvest stage must be addressed seriously if we are ever to talk of food selfsufficiency.”

The farmers say that even as crop production continues to decline, food crops will always remain integral to their livelihood.

Therefore, there is a need to find ways to enhance crop production

and storage.

For the farmers of Pemagatshel and Samdrupjongkhar, there is hope. National Post Harvest Centre (NPHC) has begun promoting improved maize and potato storage on a bigger scale from this year in the two dzongkhags.

Dorji Tenzin of NPHC in Pemagatshel said 20 improved potato stores at the household level will be built this year in Gonpung village under ShumarGewog and five improved maize stores in KharGewog. He said the dzongkhag agriculture sector had identified the farmers.

The farmers were given training on crop storage before giving them inputs worth Nu 80,000 to 90,000.

In Samdrupjongkhar, 20 improved potato stores and one maize store will be built before June in Martshala and Dewathang.

Dorji Tenzin said these crop storage units will substantially reduce loss of food crops from an estimated high of 40 percent. He said, “Reduced production meant that preventable loss must be curbed. Hence, the need for proper storage arises.”

A farmer from Gonpung said

proper storage for potatoes is a must. He said that at times, the loss can be total.

For those in the lower valley, where maize storage is being promoted, people have some reservation about silos supplied in the past.

One of the first grain silos was supplied to a farmer’s group in Nangkor village. Today, the silo is empty with people refusing to store their maize in it when it failed to live up to its reputation.

Dorji Tenzin said the improved maize store NHPC is promoting now is different from silos and it has been proven to be effective in local conditions. Besides, the stores are also meant for individual households unlike huge silos, which are designed to store community production.

Worldwide, it is estimated that nearly one-third of all food crop produced for home consumption gets lost or wasted. It is said that food losses occurring at the production, harvest, post-harvest and processing stages are a serious problem in developing countries.

This problem is compounded by poor infrastructure, low levels of technology and low investments in food production system.

Dependence on Indian workers drain rupee

Bhutan today is hiring at least 55,551 workers from India. The rupee crisis in the country has brought to light another side of Bhutan’s dependence on India.

The country’s booming construction industry is heavily dependent on India for workers.

Ministry of Labour and Human Resources recently reported that Bhutan is currently hiring 55,551 Indian workers. The wages paid to each one of them get converted into rupee.

Rupee spent on expatriate workers According to the 2010 and 2011 annual report of Royal Monetary Authority (RMA), the huge expatriate labour force imported to work in the construction industry has been one of the major causes for rupee outflow. The report says that the worth of import of construction and installation-related services, mostly from India, increased to Nu 1.2 billion between 2010 and 2011.

Such services, related to the development and maintainance of major hydropower projects, constituted 22.9 percent of the total service imports for the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the construction of new hydropower projects has also resulted in an increase in the import of other business services in engineering and other technical fields.

The overall deficit in other business services like accounting and architecture increased to Nu 800.5 million between 2010 and 2011.

The boom in hydropower, private construction and other such activities has increased the inflow of expatriate workers resulting in a huge increase in payments made to them.

It amounted to Nu 2.2 billion in the 20102011 financial year, which is an increase of 75 percent from the previous year.

By the end of 2009-2010 financial year, the import of construction and installation-related services from India reached Nu 1 billion.

The services constituted 24.4 percent of total service imports. They were mostly imported for building and maintenance of Chukha and Punatsangchhu hydropower projects.

Additionally, the deficit on other business services in line with the overall economic activity expanded to Nu 637.9 million.

Labour payment problems After RMA, the Central Bank, tightened rupee withdrawals from the banks, some industries in the country have faced difficulties in paying their labourers.

A senior official at Tashi Group of Companies said that one of the problems the company is facing due to the rupee crunch is payment for

contract labourers and contract employees from India.

Apart from some 10 percent of contract employees from India, Tashi Group employs around 40 labourers for packaging and loading, who want to be paid in rupee.

The construction industry, meanwhile, has been hit hard by the rupee crunch since it mostly depends on Indian labourers.

The general secretary of Construction Association of Bhutan, ChekuDrukpa, said the association will discuss the issue during the next round of meeting with Construction Development Board (CDB). “We have no other way of working on this but to take it up with the government through CDB,” he said.

The manager of Phuentshum Foreign Workers Recruitment Agent in Phuentsholing, Durga Raj Gurung, said that, since the rupee crisis started, it has been hard for them to supply the required number of labourers on time.

The agent supplies labourers from Falakata and Cooch Bihar in India. Contractors pay the agent in ngultrums, but Indian suppliers have to be paid in rupees.

Shortage of Bhutanese workers In 2001, a survey done by the then Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with

Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, UNDP and World Bank showed shortage of skilled field workers as well as managers in the country. The survey covered 100 organisations in the private sector.

The survey pointed out that the main reasons for poor human resource development effort in those companies were lack of incentives from the government, foreign workers being recruited on contract, and availability of trained workers from neighbouring countries.

The 2010 human resource development report said that Bhutan’s dependence on foreign labourers was mainly because Bhutanese people did not want to do low skill, laborious jobs that are low paying.

According to a job prospecting exercise conducted by the labour ministry, by 2013, there will be a high demand for elementary occupations and craft and related trade workers. Elementary occupations mainly include skilled and unskilled labourers.

There will also be requirements for higher managerial posts, professionals and technicians with specific skill requirements.

It has been estimated that between 2009 and 2013, Bhutan will need 16,359 workers in the construction sector – 15,163 men and 1,196 women.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF INDIA NEWS

SC grants bail to Pakistani microbiologist Chishty jailed in Ajmer Eighty-year-old ailing Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed KhaleelChishty, serving life term in an Ajmer jail in Rajasthan in a murder case of 1992, was on Monday granted bail by the Supreme Court.

A bench of justices P. Sathasivam and J. Chelameswar granted him the reprieve, considering his old age and the fact that he has been held up in India for the last 20 years after a murder case was lodged against him when he came on a visit to Ajmer.

The court also agreed to hear Chishty’s plea to allow him to go back to Karachi and asked him to file a separate application for it. The bench, however, asked Chishty not to leave Ajmer till further orders.

“We are satisfied that a case is made out for enlargement on bail,” the bench said while passing the order.

Chishty was granted bail a day after his case was discussed between the

authorities of the two countries during Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visit to India.

During a visit to Ajmer in 1992 to meet his ailing mother, Chishty had got embroiled in a dispute and, in the melee, one of his neighbours was shot dead, while Chishty’s nephew got injured.

Chishty was eventually held guilty in the murder case and was awarded life sentence case by an Ajmer sessions court after the trial which lasted 18 years trial.

He had been granted bail by the sessions court during the trial but was ordered not to leave Ajmer. He was re-arrested after his conviction to serve the sentence.

Born in Ajmer in a prosperous family of ‘khadims,’ Chishty was studying in Pakistan at the time of Independence and chose to stay on there and become its citizen.

Army Chief says no notification needed, no clarification sought In his first major interview since the controversy over the alleged unauthorised movement of Army units in January broke out, Army Chief told The Hindu on Friday that these were “routine exercises” for which there was no requirement to “notify” the govt.

He also categorically rejected any link between the troop exercises and his petition on the date of birth issue in the Supreme Court, calling it “fables of a sick mind.”

General Singh spoke to The Hindu at Nepal Army’s 11th Brigade base, right before his return to Delhi after a twoday visit.

The Army Chief termed the report on the troop movement, which appeared in The Indian Express on Wednesday, “absurd and deplorable.” Asked who could be behind it, he said, “There are so many theories doing the rounds.

There was a newspaper story which said it was being done at the behest of a central minister. Sections of the bureaucracy can be feeding wrong inputs. They have made a mountain out of a molehill … God knows who all may be involved, nor do I want to waste time thinking about it.”

Referring to an interview he had given to The Week in March, he said, “I had mentioned it last month itself that, you know, tomorrow there will be exercises — and a big story will be made out of it.”

So did he have an inkling of the story that eventually appeared? “It is like

this. When there is general suspicion, you can do anything. Funny ideas can be planted.”

On the facts of the report itself, General Singh said these were “routine exercises.” Asked if the Army had notified the government, he replied, “Notify for what? What was happening?

We keep doing this so many times.”

Responding to a question whether the civilian authority on the night of January 16 — the date of the reported movement — had asked him for a clarification, General Singh said, “It was not like that. No clarification was asked for. These were routine issues.

I don’t think one or two units should ever bother anyone. It was not as if the whole of the armoured division was marching towards Delhi. This is just a figment of imagination.”

General Singh rejected any link between the timing of the troop exercises, and his petition regarding his date of birth in the Supreme Court. “How is there any connection?” When pointed out that there were suggestions that the movement was meant to ‘scare’ the government or exert pressure, he responded, “You have gone to the Supreme Court. What is there to scare the government for? These are fables of a sick mind. Anyone who makes a connection needs to see a psychiatrist.

I had followed the laid down norms of a democratic constitution and gone to the SC. Where is the doubt left?”

Following his arrest for his alleged role in the 1992 murder case in Ajmer, the sessions court had granted him bail a few days later but had ordered him not to leave the city.

Chishty, who suffers from various ailments, including those of heart and hearing, had lived in his brother’s poultry farm till his conviction.

Chishty’s case came to light when Justice MarkandeyaKatju, the then Supreme Court judge, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging that the Pakistani national be pardoned on humanitarian grounds.

Chishty, who was an eminent professor of virology in Karachi Medical College, holds a PhD from Edinburgh University.

Gujarat court convicts 23 for Ode massacre A sessions court here on Monday convicted 23 people and acquitted as many others for want of evidence in connection with the Ode village massacre in 2002 post-Godhra riots.

The verdict was delivered by the district and sessions court Judge Poonam Singh. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence later.

The riot case was probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court.

Twentythree people, including women and children of the minority community, were burnt to death in a house in PirwaliBhagol area of Ode village on March one, 2002, following the Godhra train burning incident.

In total, there were 47 accused in the case, however, one of them had died during the course of trial.

Special public prosecutor P.N. Parmar said more than 150 witnesses have been examined, while over 170 documentary evidences have been placed before the court.

The trial began in the end of 2009 and was on the verge of completion when the then judge hearing the case resigned in May 2011 citing personal reasons. Following this, Judge Singh was appointed and all the arguments were made afresh before her.

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Nuke sub heads Indian weapons buying spree

India is joining the elite club of nations having submarines capable of deploying nuclear weapons as it leases an Akula class boat from Russia.

The INS Chakra II is heading to its new home as New Dehli indicates it’s become a lucrative but demanding arms customer.

The Chakra II makes India the world’s sixth country after US, Russia, France, UK and China to operate nuclear equipped submarines, has greatly boosted India’s underwater combat arm. Until now 14 ageing conventional diesel-electric submarines were at India’s disposal. According to the contract, India takes the submarine on a 10 year lease for $900 million. India is also looking to get a second nuclear submarine, but it hasn’t decided when. The country is even flirting with the idea of building its own.

“India has decided it’s not interested in buyerseller relationships any more, which used to be beneficiary for older suppliers. Now India is trying to develop capacities to be able to move towards some kind of self-reliance in terms of technology and human resources,” says NandanUnnikrishnan, Vice President for Observer Research Foundation’s Centre for International Relations.

The state of the country’s military has come under the spotlight after the outgoing Indian

army chief Gen. V. K. Singh claimed he was offered a hefty bribe to support a contract from a European company. He’s also been reported to have written to the Prime Minister warning that the country’s defence preparedness is very poor.

According to a new report by Jane’s, India will miss its own target of buying 70% of its defence equipment locally due to a lack of local capability combined with bureaucracy and corruption.

The country is planning to change this.

“No less than 35 percent of any new contract that is signed should now be sourced and manufactured in India. Secondly, India is restricting foreign participation in joint ventures to 26 per cent. So the controlling stake will be with an Indian entity.

However, currently India doesn’t have the capacity to be self-reliant and buying from abroad will of course continue” says NandanUnnikrishnan.

It means that some $137 billion of the $195 billion India plans to spend on defense equipment between 2013 and 2022 will go to foreign firms.

And Russia is one of the first to offer its services. According to Viktor Komardin, the Deputy Head of Russia’s Rosoboronexport delegation at the recent Defexpo Indian defense show, India plans to buy Russian

weaponry worth up to $3bln annually.

Russia-India current military technical cooperation portfolio amounts to $10.5bln with Russia seeking to beat last year’s record, selling weaponry for $13bln.

“Russia has traditionally been very close to India, with the two countries cooperation in different sectors. In the military Russia is a time-honored partner in terms of servicing of existing weaponry as well as acquiring new ones. So Russia will definitely remain to play a key role,” says SreeramChaulia, a professor at India’s Jindal School of International Affairs.Until now up to 85 per cent of the weaponry has been bought from the Soviet Union and then Russia NandanUnnikrishnan sounds less optimistic though, saying that grabbing lucrative Indian contracts will not be as easy as before.

“Russia understands well Indian needs, but India has other sources of supply with some other countries now offering types of weaponry Russia does not possess, like the A26 aircraft. The contract went to the French for a very simple reason – Russia doesn’t have this aircraft, and India will not buy empty promises.”

Competition is on the increase due to many new players which emerged following the country’s economic growth and as a result more money for the development of the

military.

“There’s an attempt from the Indian government to acquire weaponry from Israel and European countries, as well as the US in a bid to diversify, and find the most cost-effective source of supply and not remain entirely dependent on Russia. A French company has recently got a contract, which was quite a surprise, to supply fighter jets. There’s been also bidding from the British for that. The U.S. is also trying hard to get lucrative contracts”, continues Dr. SreeramChaulia.

As a result of the recent scandal four foreign companies and two Indian companies have been banned for doing business with the Indian military for ten years. And future contracts are expected to be under significant scrutiny.

Dr. Chaulia stresses that “India doesn’t have domestic weapons production of significant value. In the long-run it will need to involve the private sector in this, but they still need foreign expertise with more transparency of competitive bidding, the problem which has been revealed by the recent corruption scandal. So far it’s hard to predict who will get this new pie due to a lack of transparency, but India definitely has trust in its traditional suppliers, with an aspiration for a balanced list of foreign partners. ”

India invests $11 Row over Dilip Kumar’s ancestral home in Pakistan billion in Afghan

A move by Pakistani authorities to acquire iconic Indian actor Dilip Kumar’s ancestral home in Peshawar for a sizeable sum of money has triggered a row involving several persons who have laid claim to the property.

The government of KhyberPakhtunkhwa province recently announced plans to acquire the house in MohallahKhudadad area of the historical QissaKhawni Bazar so that it can be preserved as a national heritage site.

Ikramullah, who currently occupies the house, told a news conference in Peshawar yesterday that he alone has

the rights to the property. He rejected claims of ownership by several persons, saying they were looking for an easy way of getting cheap publicity.

He further said Dilip Kumar’s father GhulamSarwar bought the house when its previous owner, GulJee, put it up for sale in 1943.

Sarwar subsequently sold the house to YaqoobQureshi in 1944.

Qureshi died in 1981 and his son Muhammad Badshah put up the house for sale in 2005.At that time, Haji Lal Muhammad, a partner of Ikramullah, purchased the property for Rs 5.5 million.

Ikramullah said after Badshah received the money, he delayed the registration of the house in Haji Lal’s name.

He said he then approached a civil court to get possession and the certificate of ownership of the house. He argued that Dilip Kumar or his relatives had no right to the property because Sarwar had sold it over six decades ago.

natural resources India the largest regional provider of humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Afghanistan is roposing what may become Afghanistan’s biggest foreign investment: $11 billion to build an iron mine, steel mill and railroad.

India has already played a vital role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan in the past one decade after the fall of the Taliban regime, having spent $1.5 billion on Afghan roads, power lines, schools and the parliament Raja Mohan, a senior fellow at the independent Center for Policy Research in New Delhi quoted by the Tampa Bay Times said, “India is showing its commitment to an unprecedented ambition and role in Afghanistan.”

Mr. Mohan further added, “Stabilizing the northwest of the subcontinent, Afghanistan and Pakistan, is absolutely India’s top foreign policy priority, because most of our threats come from there.”

India’s planned Afghan iron mine would help companies such as Jindal Steel & Power and RashtriyaIspat Nigam by giving them shares in an estimated 1.8

billion tons of ore, for which global prices have more than doubled in the past three years. Afghanistan may see its geographic and economic isolation reduced as India follows China in promising money to build the country’s first major railroads.

As Afghan anger over the shooting of 17 civilians by an American soldier last month increases calls for an accelerated U.S. exit, India is seeking to position itself as a rival to China in investment in Afghanistan and as an anti-Taliban force to help the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Ali Jalali, a professor at the U.S. National Defense University in Washington and a former Afghan interior minister said, “The Indian and Chinese investments will contribute to Afghanistan’s stability” as the U.S. withdraws its main combat forces between now and 2014.

“They not only will bring jobs and infrastructure, but these two powerful governments will have a greater direct interest in seeing that all actors in Afghanistan behave moderately,” Jalali said in New Delhi.

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Islamabad Fashion Week: It’s all about making a statement For its second successive year, the Islamabad Fashion Week was experimental and playful.

An infusion of diverse ideas came full circle at the Pak-China Centre on Tuesday with western cuts, bold colours and unusual design– each designer making their own statement.

The line-up on the opening day included fashion students of GIFT University, Gujrat, who displayed their thesis. Meanwhile, Qamar’s “We construct to reconstruct” used pre-manufactured garments to construct his pieces. The cuts were western with four pieces.

SamraRayasat dared to show phases of life which lead to suicide through her collection, “The Painful Realities of Life”

four pieces were dark-black, red and purple. She used wooden

cane baskets upside down and styled them as head gear.

Next up, TamsilaYaqoob’s collection “Immaculate Souls” was centered on western-cut gowns in varying hues of pink, purple, blue and crème. Three of them were long-ankle length floaty gowns, while one was a slim-fit gown with a ruffled top.

FarazAbid’s chic hoardings were an interesting concept with models parading as billboards, but lacked finesse.

Two designers from Lakahi Silk Mills, NaeemFazal and TehzibMuzammal revolved around eastern cuts. A white lehnga with old-fashioned

zarikaam and printed silk was a far cry than most modern bridal wear.

The makeup was by JugnuWasim and the whole event was choreographed

by Pomme. Overall the male models commanded the runway with their attitude while females slouched, speaking in between.

The event was however marred by power cuts and other glitches, which stylist Tariq Amin said were taking place since it was the first day of the event.v

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NEWS

Over 2,000 Indian Sikh pilgrims arrive in Pakistan

Over 2,000 Sikh pilgrims from India arrived in Pakistan Tuesday to participate in 10-day celebrations marking the Baisakhi festival. Evacuee Trust Property Board chairman AsifHashmi, Pakistan Sikh GurdwaraPrabhandhak Committee chief Sardar Sham Singh and other officials greeted the ‘yatris’ at the Wagah border.

“More than 2,000 Indian Sikhs arrived today on three special trains,” ETPB

spokesman AmirHashmi told PTI. He said the Board, which is responsible for maintaining the shrines and properties of minority communities, had made special arrangements for the lodging and security of the pilgrims.

Police and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers personnel will provide security to the pilgrims and gurdwaras, he said. Amreet Singh Jawana, the leader of the Indian delegation, told reporters at Wagah that

the Sikhs felt as if they were coming home because their holy places were in Pakistan and the people of the country gave them a lot of love. The people of both India and Pakistan want peace, Jawana said. The Sikhs travelled from the border to Lahore before setting off for GurdwaraPanja Sahib at Hasanabdal, where they will stay till April 13.

After that, they will leave for GurdwaraJanamsthan at Nankana

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Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak. The pilgrims will return to Lahore on April 16 and visit GurdawaraDera Sahib. They will visit other gurdwaras before returning to India on April 20.

The ETPB completed the renovation and decoration of several gurdwarasahead of the festival. Extra rooms have been built at some gurdwaras to accommodate the yatris. Thousands of Sikhs from across Pakistan will also join the festivities.

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Pakistan, India to go step by step to peace

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agree in New Delhi to adopt a step-by-step approach to resolve bilateral differences and build on recently improved ties in their relations.

“We have a number of issues and we are willing to find tactical, pragmatic solutions to all those issues; that’s the message that President Zardari and I wish to convey,” Mr Singh said in the brief public statement the leaders made after meeting at the Indian prime minister’s residence.

Relations between India and Pakistan should become normal as it was their common desire, said Mr Singh adding that he had accepted an invitation from MrZardari to visit Pakistan soon.

“We would like to have better relations with India. We have spoken on all topics that we could have spoken about and we are hoping to meet on Pakistani soil very soon,” said MrZardari, the first Pakistani president to visit India in seven years.

Despite the intractable nature of their differences, the two leaders stressed the importance of maintaining the dialogue that began haltingly last year after

used the stopover to interact with Indian leaders and advance the process of normalising mutual ties.

Indian officials said Mr Singh and MrZardari noted the progress

the bitterness following the 2008 strike on Bombay (Mumbai) by 10 Pakistani gunmen in which 165 people died.

Although on a private trip to visit a revered Muslim shrine at Ajmer in western India, MrZardari and his 40-member entourage, which included senior Pakistani officials,

made in facilitating bilateral trade and agreed to improve people-topeople contact through liberalised visa regulations.

India is also likely to offer powerstrapped Pakistan electricity and petroleum products across the western Punjab frontier.

Analysts from both countries

agreed that lasting peace between Pakistan and India would also aid the perilous transition in Afghanistan after the majority of Nato and US combat forces leave the war-torn region, as planned in 2014.

The neighbours, who have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and an 11-week-long border skirmish in 1999 that threatened to escalate into nuclear war, aim to resume the “composite dialogue” last held in May 2008.

Launched in 2004, it focused broadly on eight contentious issues. These included the northern disputed Kashmir province divided between the two sides but claimed by both, unresolved maritime boundaries, cross-border terrorism, narcotics smuggling, nuclear and conventional military confidence-building measures and economic co-operation.

Disputed frontiers in the marshy Sir Creek region alongside the Arabian Sea and the 28-year- old military stand-off along the 21,000ft-high northern Siachen glacier were also

part of the dialogue that made incremental progress before being terminated after the Bombay attack.

MrZardari insisted that the dispute over Siachen must be resolved – this is where a massive avalanche at the weekend buried some 135 Pakistani soldiers.

Siachen is often described as the world’s highest battlefield, a snowy “moonscape” where thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops have been stationed since 1984 with scores dying each year from harsh and inclement weather rather than in battle.

MrZardari was also accompanied by his son,BilawalZardari Bhutto (24) who stood behind the leaders at the briefing in what commentators said was an indication of his developing role in Pakistani politics.

Mr Bhutto heads Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party but, since his mother Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007, has remained in the background, studying at Oxford and returning only recently to Pakistan.

India the only country in Asian region with current account deficit For nearly three years, every policy-maker has been claiming credit for India escaping the misery caused by the 2008 credit crisis due to the deft handling of the situation by administrators.

Now, a crisis is brewing that is making many recall the year 1991 when India pledged gold to save its skin.

The current crisis, however, is not due to any global shock, but is mostly the doing of policymakers. Alarm bells are not ringing yet in the corridors of Raisina Hill, but there are murmurs on Mint Street after the Reserve Bank of India released the quarterly balance of payments report on March 30. For the first time since Lehman Brothers collapsed, the balance of payments fell into the deficit zone. The current account deficit (CAD) - the net position of cross-border trade and services - crossed 4% of the gross domestic products (GDP), when 3% is considered to be the ‘lakshmanrekha’.

These times are eerily similar to the worst the nation faced in

more than two decades - at least economically. But the cacophony over the slowing economic growth rate, taxes and corporate profitability is drowning what should have been the hot topic

economy.

“In 1991, the global situation was relatively more reassuring,” said SamiranChakraborty, head of India Research, Standard Chartered Bank.

driven by surging oil imports, among others. Crude prices surged because of the MiddleEast crisis.

With demand being priceinelastic, curtailing imports was

of debate - worsening external balances.

This is not 1991. Indian economy is many times bigger. Trade is up multiple times. Actors are many and instruments are numerous. However, the impact of the worsening situation will probably be more severe than it was in the gloomiest days since the state occupied the commanding heights of the

“But, now, India’s openness has increased substantially. So, in that sense, any shock in the global economy will have a large impact on the domestic sector.

Hence, we are kind of worried about the balance of pay ments despite numbers being relatively better than 1991.” Two decades ago, the current account deficit was close to 4% of GDP due to a sharp rise in the import bill

difficult and, at the same time, exports, too, were slow to rise.

The government depreciated the rupee by 24% in a matter of three days to regain the export competitiveness.

It borrowed $2.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund and pledged 67 tonnes of gold with Bank of England and the Union Bank of Switzerland and raised another $600 million,

since there were no foreign investments flowing in.

Twenty-one years later, the discussions among economists, currency traders and experts are almost similar. Are we into the next big crisis?

Two factors are converging to whipsaw investors and the economy - there is extraordinary demand for goods from an overheated economy, and exports growth is slowing as Europe and the US are still crawling back to growth. “If it does not adjust, then we are in for another round of depreciation,” said AbheekBarua, chief economist at HDFC Bank. The Indian rupee, which was the best performer in the first two months of the year, has surrendered half the gains and will probably end a loser if overseas fund flows do not improve. There are already calls for some special schemes like the once famous Resurgent India Bonds, or the India Millennium Bonds - which, by itself, is an indication that the economy is almost where it was in the early 1990s.

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India close to opening all domestic sectors to Pakistan

India is close to opening all domestic sectors except a few like defence, atomic energy and space to foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan, a move that could help build confidence in normalising cross-border trade.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is said to have approved a commerce ministry proposal to amend rules under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema), 1999, which bars all forms of investment from Pakistan. The move could lead to the Reserve Bank of India notifying the changes so that the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) could issue a press note allowing such investments, experts said.

Fema, which took effect in 2000, governs all foreign exchange transactions in India and specifically bars transactions from Pakistan. “A non-resident entity (other than a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated

in Pakistan) can invest in India, subject to the FDI policy,” says Fema.

FDI from Pakistan may debut as a special dispensation similar to FDI from Bangladesh. Currently, citizens of Bangladesh or entities incorporated there can invest only under the government route.

Delhi, Islamabad to relax visa norms

India and Pakistan are working towards easing movement between businessmen of the two countries.

The move is likely to reduce nontariff barriers between India and Pakistan and facilitate smoother trade and economic ties.

The neighbours are working on a mechanism to issue multipleentry and reporting-free visas for businessmen as part of reducing non-tariff barriers for greater trade and economic ties, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, MrShahid Malik, said here on Monday.

He was speaking at a meeting organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). The new visa agreement will facilitate multiple-entries for businessmen from both sides on no-reporting

basis for one year at a time.

This issue was also discussed on Sunday during the meeting between Pakistan’s President, MrAsif Ali Zardari, and the Prime Minister, DrManmohan Singh.

“I hope it will be signed formally soon between home secretaries of both countries. In the next two days, the commerce secretaries of Pakistan and India will also sort out other non-tariff barriers which have already been identified,” Mr Malik said.

The move is likely to reduce nontariff barriers between India and Pakistan and facilitate smoother trade and economic ties.

Also, Mr Malik said Pakistan will grant India the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status by the end of this year.

When asked, a finance ministry official said: “FDI from Pakistan will become conditional. It will be approved on a case-tocase basis in consultation with other ministries.” However, all proposals will be routed through the foreign investment promotion board to maintain an extra level of check and to address security

concerns, the official said.

Trade experts see the move more as a step to strengthen trade ties and not necessarily to attract major investments.

“Allowing FDI from Pakistan is expected to build pressure on its government. The move may help further liberalise trade between the two nations and help a lot of Indian companies who see business potential in Pakistan,” said an analyst.

Trade between India and Pakistan was $2.7 billion in 2010-11, but there are no two-way investments so far. Pakistan is yet to to grant the most favoured nation status to India. The decision on easing FDI norms follows the recent visit of a business delegation from India to Pakistan led by commerce minister Anand Sharma.

According to Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo of Al-riaz Agencies and the former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce

and Industry, India and Pakistan must open their borders for trade and investment for both sides to thrive. “We have common interests and common agenda in many sectors; then why should we allow any third country to take advantage of the volatile situation and exploit our sentiments. We should become the big economic powers of Asia,’’ he said.

Recently, the Pakistani Cabinet approved a proposal to ease trade with India by switching to a negative list based import regime (though the negative list was of 1,200 items as against a proposed negative list of 636 accommodating concerns of certain sectors such as textiles).

It was followed up with the promise of granting India the MFN trade status by the yearend, though Ismalabad claimed that several concerns remained over non-tariff barriers faced by Pakistani exporters.

Pakistan to double India tea imports by 2015 Pakistan is targeting to double its tea imports from India by 2015 — from 24 million kg in 2011 to 50 million kg. A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed between the Indian Tea Association and the Pakistan Tea Association (PTA) on Tuesday.

The managing partner of PTA, Mohammad Hanif Janoo, said here at a press conference that besides the South Indian teas, consumers in his country were keen to try out other types of CTC teas from Assam and Dooars.

The delegation also attended a tea-tasting session.

“We believe that this will open up opportunity for trade, in general,

between the two countries,” ITA Chairman C. S. Bedi said. This was the first visit by a Pakistani tea delegation since 2007.

Pakistan is one of the top three tea importing nations with a consumption of 220 million kg and an official import of 120 million kg. Its main supplier is

Kenya.

On the demand by Indian tea exporters to get the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, Mr Janoo said that other than countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka all other exporting countries had to pay the tariff.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF PAKISTAN NEWS

Pakistan, India talk peace over lunch Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood side-by-side in New Delhi on Sunday at the highest-level meeting on each other’s soil in seven years as the nuclear-armed foes seek to normalise ties.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood side-by-side in New Delhi on Sunday at the highest-level meeting on each other’s soil in seven years as the nuclear-armed foes seek to normalise ties.

Pakistan and India’s diplomatic dance is being closely watched by the US, which hopes a reduction in tensions might help bolster stability in Afghanistan, which has long served as a proxy battleground between the two countries.

China said it welcomed Pakistan and India’s efforts to boost their ties. “Better ties between Pakistan and India, two nuclear-armed heavyweight neighbours on the south Asian subcontinent, will benefit both countries and regional stability,” said a commentary in Xinhua, China’s official news agency. “The two countries’ efforts in warming up their ties certainly are welcomed and applauded by the international community including China, which neighbours both nations and maintains significant ties with them.”

MrZardari had lunch with Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, in New Delhi on Sunday before both men jointly addressed reporters.

“The relations between India and Pakistan should become normal. That is our common desire,” said Mr Singh.

“We have a number of issues and we are willing to find tactical, pragmatic solutions to [them].”

MrZardari said Pakistan wanted better relations. “We are hoping to

Pakistan at a convenient date.

“We would like to have better relations with India. We have spoken on all topics that we could have spoken about and we are hoping to meet on Pakistani soil very soon,” Zardari said as the two men emerged from Singh’s residence.

meet on Pakistani soil very soon,” he said. The Pakistani president later offered prayers at the shrine of a Sufi Muslim saint in the western Indian city of Ajmer.

Relations have warmed since Pakistan promised its neighbour most favoured nation trade status last year, although a $10 million bounty offered by Washington for a Pakistani Islamist blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai has stirred old grievances.

Without giving details, the two leaders said they discussed a wide range of issues during a “fruitful” meeting before sharing lunch. Singh said he hoped to make his first visit to

On his first visit to India as part of the 40-member delegation, Zardari’s son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, stood behind the leaders at the briefing, possibly a sign of his growing role in politics.

“Relations between India and Pakistan should become normal. That’s our common desire,” Singh said. “We have a number of issues and we are willing to find tactical, pragmatic solutions to all those issues and that’s the message that president Zardari and I would wish to convey.”

Zardari’s visit proceeded as rescue teams, backed by helicopters and sniffer dogs, searched for 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians engulfed

‘No hope, no chance at all’ for Pakistan avalanche victims The Pakistan military on Sunday dug through snow, boulders and slush in an increasingly desperate search for 135 people buried in an avalanche, as hopes faded of finding any survivors.

Nearly 36 hours after a wall of snow crashed into a remote army camp high up in the mountains of Kashmir, rescuers were yet to recover any survivors or even bodies from the Siachen Glacier, where Pakistani and Indian troops face off.

The camp was engulfed between 5am and 6am on Saturday -- perhaps when some were sleeping -- by a mass of snow, stones, mud and slush more than 1 000m wide and 25m high, the military said in a statement.

About 180 military personnel and 60 civilian rescuers were braving freezing temperatures at the inhospitable site close to the de facto border with India, an area known as the world’s highest battlefield, the military said.

Experts familiar with the glacier said there was little hope of finding survivors -- the military said overnight that 135 people were missing from the camp, including 124 soldiers from the sixth Northern Light Infantry battalion.”There is no hope, there is no chance at all,” mountaineering expert Colonel Sher Khan said.

“You can survive only in the first five to 10 minutes,” said Khan. “The casualties in avalanches occur due to pressure of heavy weight, extreme cold and lack of oxygen.”

Rescue operations The powerful army chief General AshfaqKayani visited the epicentre of the disaster and “supervised rescue operations himself”, the military said.

“The avalanche of such a magnitude was unprecedented in last 20 years of this Battalion Headquarters existence at Gayari,” he said.

by an avalanche on Saturday near the 6,000-metre-high (18,500-foot) Siachen glacier in Kashmir -- known as the world’s highest battlefield.

India and Pakistan fought two wars over Siachen and hundreds have died there, mostly from the inhospitable conditions.

India has yet to comment on the disaster.

ISLAMIST SHADOW The continued freedom of Islamist Hafiz Saeed, suspected of masterminding an attack by Pakistanbased gunmen on India’s financial capital, Mumbai, in 2008 that killed 166 people, caused some friction in the days before the meeting.

India is furious Pakistan has not detained Saeed, despite handing over a dossier of evidence against him. Pakistan Prime Minister YousufRazaGilani said on Friday that anyone with concrete proof to prosecute Saeed should present it to the courts.

And with Zardari and Singh both suffering major domestic problems, prospects are low for fixing the complex stand-off over disputed Kashmir, the trigger of two of three wars between the two countries since independence from Britain in 1947.

Lasting Pakistan-India peace would go a long way to smoothing a perilous transition in Afghanistan as most NATO combat forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014.

India and Pakistan fought their most recent war in 1999, shortly after both

sides declared they possessed nuclear weapons. Hundreds died on the disputed border in Kashmir before Pakistani troops and militants were forced to withdraw.

Zardari is also due to visit the shrine in western India of a revered Sufi Muslim saint seen as a symbol of harmony between South Asia’s often competing religions.

Born in a village in what is now Pakistan, Singh has pushed for peace during his two terms in office, but his efforts were knocked off track by the 2008 ouster of former President Pervez Musharraf, with whom he had built trust.

The three-day rampage by 10 Pakistani gunmen in Mumbai later that year derailed the peace process - aimed at finding a solution to Kashmir and other feuds along one of the world’s most heavily armed borders. Talks only resumed a year ago.

Informal meetings, during international cricket matches, or in this case before Zardari’s pilgrimage to the Sufi shrine, have become the hallmark of Singh’s diplomacy.

In November, Singh met Gilani in the Maldives and promised to open a new chapter in their troubled history.

Hopes are focused on resolving the conflict at the Siachen glacier and a dispute over an oil-rich river estuary called Sir Creek.

Musharraf, the last Pakistani head of state to visit India in 2005, has said both issues were as good as fixed while he was in office.

SiachenGlacier:rescuers recover soldiers’ bodies Helicopters, sniffer dogs and troops deployed to Siachen Glacier to find up to 150 soldiers buried in Kashmir army base

Rescuers have recovered a number of bodies after an avalanche hit a Pakistani army base in the disputed Kashmir region, burying up to 150 soldiers in 80ft of snow.

Helicopters, sniffer dogs and troops have been deployed to the remote Siachen Glacier on the Indian border in the Himalayas, according to the Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas.

Military and television reports from Pakistan suggested between 100 and 150 soldiers were buried.

The avalanche hit a battalion headquarters in the glacier’s Gayari sector at 5.45am on Saturday, according to Abbas.

He told the BBC: “Some bodies have been recovered but it’s too early to say how many have survived and how many bodies have been recovered.”

He said people were praying the rescue operation would be successful and that it was extremely rare for an avalanche to reach the army base.

Siachen is on the northern tip of the divided Kashmir region claimed by both India and Pakistan. Both

countries station thousands of troops there, who brave cold temperatures, altitude sickness and high winds for months at a time. Troops have been deployed at elevations of up to 6,700 metres (22,000ft) and have fought intermittently since 1984, though the area has been quiet since a ceasefire in 2003. The glacier is known as the world’s highest battlefield.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF MALDIVE NEWS

No question of chairperson’s legitimacy: Hisaan The MDP legal team have stressed that though Civil Court had declared that the interim chairperson of the party Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik had no authority to sign legal case papers on behalf of MDP, the legitimacy of the interim chairperson was not in question.

HisaanHussain, who is leading the case of the dismantling of the MDP protest camp at the surfers point area by the security forces, added that the Civil Court ruling had not questioned the legitimacy of the interim chairperson but had highlighted an oversight in the minutes of the party.

“The process of electing a chairperson had been carried out in accordance with the basic regulation and congress regulations of the party. The Court had only highlighted an oversight in

within a specified period.

However, the party’s minutes had failed to note the appointment of Moosa as the interim chairperson.

Some have perceived the action of MDP to resubmit the case without filing for review of the Civil Court’s ruling, as questioning the legitimacy of Moosa as the interim chairperson.

MDP President Dr Ibrahim Didi had signed and resubmitted the case in court yesterday, after the Civil Court had dismissed the case on the the minutes,” she said.

“We haven’t questioned the legitimacy of the chairperson.”

Despite Hisaan’s statement, MDP’s rules of governance stipulate that if an official decision is made by the party, it must be noted in the minutes

Budget being sent to Parliament for revision

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad said today that this year’s budget was being forwarded to the Parliament to be revised.

Speaking to Haveeru, Jihad said the budget can only be revised after review by the Finance Committee of the Parliament.

He added that he can only partake in the committee’s discussions after obtaining

approval from the Parliament for his minister’s nomination. “We must revise the budget. The decision to revise the budget was made to harmonize the state revenue with expenditure. However, the level of cut back on expenditure can only be made after discussions in the committee,” Minister added.

grounds that the interim chairperson of the party Moosa did not hold the authority to file cases on behalf of MDP. The Civil Court ruling basically stated that the minutes of the MDP National Congress held on January 18, 2011 showed that voting had taken place to elect an interim chairperson for the party, however as per Article 15 (b) of the party’s basic regulation it is not verified that an interim chairperson had been elected.

MDP take to the streets demanding early polls

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) took to the streets in protest calling for early presidential elections again last night. Large numbers of MDP supporters took part in the protest which commenced from Usfasgandu area at 9.00 last night.

The protest which was divided into two factions had protested throughout the capital Male, starting from Henveiru to Maafannu and ended the protest back at the Usfasgandu area.

The protesters had stopped near the residences of government officials and called for their immediate resignation, including

the residence of Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim.

MDP supporters had also briefly gathered near the residence of Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid and called on him to assume

office till an early presidential poll could be held.

Similar to other MDP protests, large numbers of women had participated in last night’s protest.

Dunya meets Commonwealth Police calls Amnesty Int’l to be more responsible Secretary General

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs DunyaMaumoon has yesterday met with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma as part of her official visit to the United Kingdom.

Foreign Ministry said that at the meeting the State Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to working closely with the Commonwealth to implement the recommendations made by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to end the present political strife in the Maldives.

“The Government of Maldives echoes the Commonwealth’s call for all political parties to put aside partisan difference and engage in dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the political developments in the Maldives” said State Minister Maumoon, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Ms. Maumoon also spoke of the appointment of the Commonwealth Special Envoy.

“The Government viewed the appointment of Sir Donald McKinnon as an opportunity to strengthen

its Democratic institutions; with such a distinguished background in diplomacy, we worked closely with Sir Donald, benefitting from his expertise.” said State Minister.

The State Minister and Secretary General also spoke of the technical assistance the Commonwealth was providing to the Independent Commission of Enquiry.

Dunya expressed the government’s gratitude for this support and hoped that the findings of the Commission would allow the Maldives to move forward constructively and address the necessary steps to be taken in order to achieve National Unity.

State Minister’s meeting with the Secretary General was the first of many engagements scheduled during her official visit to the United Kingdom, Foreign Ministry further said.

Government has revealed that the Commonwealth had agreed to hold off pressing for early presidential polls till the Enquiry Commission’s report into the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power is issued.

Maldives Police Service has called the Amnesty International to be more responsible when reporting news about the Police.

In view of the report of the Amnesty International based on the allegations of three women who were detained on March 19 who accused the Police of sexually harassing them while in detention, Deputy Head Sub Inspector of Police Custodial Department Dr. Hassan Umar said that they have reviewed the names of the people who were arrested on March 19 and found that the three people mentioned in the reports were among those detained on that date but they never raised such an issue on that day.

Dr. Hassan said that there were many positive issues noted regarding the Dhoonidhoo detainment procedure on that day. He assured that no detainee was taken to solitary confinement and harassed either sexually or physically.

In yesterday’s news conference, Custodial Department’s Head

Chief Inspector of Police Hussein Rasheed said that the Amnesty’s report was based on the accusations of the three detainees.

He informed that the Police are now currently investigating these accusations.

He said that those arrested were detained following the procedures of detainment and the Police acted professionally. He said that this is clear and that the Police did not use violence on those detained.

Hussein said that the report of the Amnesty was compiled very irresponsibly. He said that it is suspected that the accusations were made to achieve a political motive.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF NEPAL NEWS

Farewell to arms commences over again

The process of bidding adieu to Maoist combatants opting for the second phase of voluntary retirement has started in all PLA cantonments across the country on Tuesday.

Though their farewell programme was supposed to commence yesterday, it could not happen as the top PLA commanders were spotted in Kathmandu to prepare the final list of the combatants opting for retirement and integration.

However, for today, Monitoring teams deputed by the Secretariat of the Special Committee (for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of

Maoist combatants) are all set to handover account payee cheques and travel allowances to combatants opting for voluntary retirement.

Pashupati income public

It has been learnt that 94 fighters of Rolpa’sDahaban-based Fifth Division have chosen voluntary retirement.

As per the agreement forged among big wigs, those opting for voluntary retirement would be sent home with cheques, while the remaining from 9,705 would be brought under NA’s command for integration.

Presently, 9,705 PLA combatants are billeted in 15 camps after 7,365 excombatants took voluntary retirement in January.

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal absent?

A meeting of the major three political parties—the UCPNMaoist, CPN-UML, NC-scheduled to take place today morning A meeting of the major three political parties—the UCPNMaoist, CPN-UML, NC-scheduled to take place today morning, is likely to see the rescheduling, citing the nonattendance of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the capital.

The meeting which has been called at a hotel in Dhulikhel for today has a good chance to see the deferment, for Prachanda is at Bhairahawa, said a privy source to Tuesday’s three party meet.

Nepali Congress (NC) President SushilKoirala returned to Kathmandu on Monday evening for tuesday’s meeting having wrapped his districts visit.

The weather in Bhairahawa is

foggy which is influencing flights to Kathmandu, and at the same time today’s three party meet, said a Maoist leader.

Today’s meeting has been called to resolve the thorny issues attached to integration process including rank harmonization, standards and norms, education, bridge course and training to be provided to combatants.

Bond sought from minister’s PA in graft case

On the first day of transparency of monetary offerings to the Pashupatinath temple on Sunday, the never-known daily income of the shrine stood around Rs 111,000.

At this rate, regardless of special celebrations, the gross annual income of the country’s most

popular Hindu pilgrimage could cross Rs 40 million.

Sunday’s collection includes offerings made during the morning and afternoon prayers only. The evening (after 2 pm) offerings will be separately counted and made public on Monday morning.

The Special Court on Monday sought a bail of Rs 50,000 from Nagendra Prasad Yadav, a personal assistant of State Minister for Forests LaxmanMehata, in a corruption case.

Yadav was arrested on February 29 by the antigraft body Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) from a restaurant in Kathmandu

on charge of receiving Rs 50,000 as bribe. He has been accused of accepting the kickback in order to facilitate compensation to the Mugu people who were displaced from the Rara National Park Area.

After conducting an initial hearing in the case, Special Court judges GauriBahadurKarki and Om Prakash Mishra ruled that

the evidences put forth by the CIAA shows that Yadav accepted the amount as bribe from plaintiff KhadgaBahadurShahi irrespective of his claim that the money was borrowed.

The judges ruled that Yadav can be released on bail as per the existing anti-corruption laws. He, however, will be kept in custody if he fails to deposit the bail bond.

Prime Minister in Clean-up Campaign PM should resign if peace process fails

Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai inaugurated the National Volunteer Campaign-2068 by cleaning up garbage before the Constituent Assembly (CA) building at New Baneswor on Friday.

While opening the clean-up campaign, Prime Minister DrBhattarai swept the area off for five minutes.

Also involved in the clean-up campaign are Local Development Minister, Prime Minister’s wife, Chief Secretary including government officials, Nepal Police, Nepal Army, students and members of general public.

Various areas in Kathmandu will be cleaned up under the campaign that begins Friday through April 12.

Addressing the campaign, the Prime Minister said the campaign has been conducted to initiate culture of doing own works by oneself.

He expressed confidence that the campaign will help raise feeling of volunteerism among Nepali people.

Stressing that efforts should be exerted to build clean Nepal alongside the campaign of making prosperous and

new Nepal, calling for concerned efforts from all sides to make the campaign a success.

Minister for Local Development Top BahadurRayamajhi informed public that the campaign was introduced as an awareness building drive, adding it will get continuity.

Nepali Congress President SushilKoirala today said Prime Minister BaburamBhattarai should resign from the post if peace process could not be concluded by mid-April.

Speaking at a mass meet organised by Nepali Congress Nawalparasi in the headquarters Parasi, Koirala said statute would be drafted only after the conclusion of peace process.

Koirala warned, “Peace process should be concluded by mid-April at any cost.” He further said that Congress was ready to go for federalism, but if one tries to impose ethnic federalism then it would split the country.

“Congress will not allow dividing the country in the name of federalism,” he added.

On forms of governance, the NC leader said, “Prime Minister and President should not be directly elected.” He was of the opinion that directly elected chiefs would impose dictatorship, and Congress would not let the dictators rule the country again.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF SRILANKA NEWS

Wheels move to minimise accidents

The Motor Traffic Department is set to unveil several new measures to minimise road accidents in the country. Motor Traffic Department Commissioner General S H Harischandra said these measures will be implemented with the help of the Police.

The Motor Traffic Department is set to unveil several new measures to minimise road accidents in the country. These include the removal of vehicles from roads which are unsuitable for use, a point system to evaluate traffic offences, improved quality control tests on vehicles, awareness programmes for drivers and pedestrians and better training at driving schools.

Motor Traffic Department Commissioner General S H Harischandra said these measures will be implemented with the help of the Police.

According to the Commissioner, steps will also be taken to enhance

manpower at the department to support the above measures. The department recruited 52 new motor vehicle examiners recently. They are slated to undergo a comprehensive training shortly.

Around 100 -150 road accidents occur daily of which 45 percent are serious.

Harischandra said vehicles not properly maintained and those categorised as unsuitable to ply on

According to statistics released by the Police, at least six people die daily in road tragedies. Over 80 percent accidents occur due to carelessness.

the roads, will be removed and their revenue licence withdrawn.

The revenue licence of vehicles categorised as not up to required

Country on road to prosperity, development The UPFA govt led by President MahindaRajapaksa will complete its second year in office tomorrow.

The govt created history by securing an overwhelming majority close to almost two thirds in the 14th Parliament at the general election on April 8, 2010.

The UPFA’s victory saw the beginning of a new era focusing on the country’s development 11 months after the country achieved victory over terrorism.

The government’s accelerated development drive with special emphasis on empowering low income groups is in line with the MahindaChinthana Forward Vision. Its victory at the 2010 general election left an indelible imprint on Sri Lanka’s political

map.

The people have reposed their whole- hearted confidence in the government’s development drive at the election by relegating the Opposition into oblivion.

The people through enthroning the people - friendly UPFA

government in 2010 administered a death blow to vicious elements who stood in the government’s way towards prosperity and development.

The government with a strong Parliament succeeded in pushing the country forward in terms of development. A number of mega - development projects were implemented by the government with special focus on making low income groups economically

viable.

The Economic Development Ministry launched the DiviNegumaprogramme to uplift the living standards of low income families. Many families in rural and suburban areas have started projects to cultivate food crops in their home gardens under this programme and its success resulted in a sharp decline in vegetable prices in the local market.

The government has implemented a host of mega - development projects, including ports, expressways, irrigation schemes and power generation projects which will give tremendous impetus to the country’s economic development.

Many projects are on the verge of being completed. The country has recorded a tremendous economic development during the past two years.

The economy of the country also recorded a growth of 8.3 percent last year as against eight percent in 2010.

The Census and Statistics Department said that the 8.3 growth rate recorded last year is the highest ever Gross Domestic Product achieved since independence in the country.

maintenance standards will only be restored if the owners upgrade their vehicles to expected standards and prove it to the authorities.

The department is also planning to introduce a point system to evaluate traffic offences which would be captured in the drivers’ licences designed according to the state-ofthe-art smart card technology. This would store driver information, including points gained for traffic offences.

According to Harischandra, if a driver exceeds a stipulated mark (24 points within two years - not finalised) his or her driving licence will be withdrawn until corrective measures have been taken.

“This will encourage drivers to obey road rules and minimise traffic violations,” Harischandra said.

He said special focus will be laid on enhancing awareness programmes for both drivers and pedestrians and improving training standards at

driving schools.

The commissioner identified three areas, the driver, condition of the vehicle and road standard - as the three key elements which lead to an accident.

“We cannot do much to change the road environment. However, we can make a difference in the quality of driving standards and the vehicle and to this end we will do our best,” he added. Harischandra said the underlying cause of a majority of accidents was carelessness. The commissioner added that both the driver and pedestrian had a responsibility to correct their faulty practices.

He stressed the proposed measures will be strictly implemented to minimise accidents and create a set of disciplined drivers.

In 2010, the year for which the latest statistics are available, 2,721 people died and 26,847 people were injured in road accidents.

SL has the right-Shavendra UN Deputy permanent representative of Sri Lanka Major General Shavendra Silva has said that Sri Lanka has the right to express views with regard to the United Nations since, it is a member country.

Speaking at an event held at the UN- Sri Lanka peace keeping forces training center in Kukulegama, Major General Silva also said that the Sri Lankan peace keeping forces are unique in comparison to those of other countries.

Sri Lankan soldiers have successfully engaged in peace keeping missions in many part of the world and the Sri Lankan Security Forces used indigenous strategies and manpower to eliminate terrorism from the island. Sri Lanka has not imported tactics from foreign countries in this regard, he has said.

‘SL taking unique steps to expedite reconciliation’

The govt is taking unique & durable measures to expedite the reconciliation process in aftermath of the protracted conflict that impeded the country’s progress for over 30yrs, Irrigation & Water Resources Management Minister NimalSiripala de Silva said.

Addressing the 126th session of the Inter Parliamentary Union in Kampala,Uganda on Wednesday, the minister said all communities are enjoying the benefits of peace after defeating the ruthless separatist movement - the LTTE. He assured that Sri Lanka will not allow terrorists to saw seeds of terrorism in the Sri Lankan soil again.

The minister who is heading the government delegation explained in detail to the participating parliamentary members about the efforts made by the government under the leadership of President MahindaRajapaksa to restore Sri Lanka’s ethnic harmony and reconciliation.

“All Sri Lankans are now enjoying the benefits of peace dawned after defeating the ruthless terrorism and assured that Sri Lanka will not allow to raise the ugly head of terrorism again in this beautiful island in the Indian ocean”, he stressed.

BUSINESS

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Saarc international I Thursday 12 April 2012

China says India, Pakistan ties will help it

China has praised Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India saying better ties between the “two nuclear- armed heavyweight neighbors” will bring about regional stability.

Beijing is closely watching the visit because it has implications on its own interests involving terrorism and the Siachen glacier that touches Karakoram Highway connecting China with Pakistan.

The State-run Xinhua news agency issued a candid analysis explaining how better ties between India and Pakistan would serve China’s interest. It will help bring down military expenditure by the two countries and help China’s

modernization drive as the focus would shift to business, the commentary said.

It said peaceful coexistence between the two countries is “indispensable for regional stability, which is vital for regional prosperity and China’s modernization drive.

Efforts towards improvement in India-Pakistan ties “certainly are welcomed and applauded by the international community including China.” It said.

China last week dropped its support for Pakistan’s antiterrorism efforts. It said six terrorists operating in western China have been trained in a “South Asian country” without

N. India tea growers brew plan to raise share in Pakistan Tea growers in North India will explore ways to sell more of their produce to a Pakistan delegation visiting the city next week. Traditionally, Pakistan has been a buyer of low quality and low-priced South Indian teas.

The growers, while playing host to a tea delegation, will try to increase the share of Assam, Dooars, Darjeeling and Terai teas that the neighbouring country buys.

In 2011 (January-December) , India exported 23.64 million kg (mkg) of tea to Pakistan and the share of North Indian varieties was a meagre 0.91 million kg.

The picture was better in 2010 when the share was 1.4 mkg out of a total of 20.35 mkg .

Traditionally, Pakistan has been a buyer of low quality and low-priced South Indian teas.

The 13-member tea delegation will be headed by Mr Mohammed HanifJanoo, Chairman of Pakistan Tea Association. The representatives of Unilever Pakistan and Tapal Group, a major tea trading group, among others, too will be present, it is learnt.

Except two from Peshawar, all other delegation members will be from Karachi.

The delegation will have meetings with producers, exporters, traders and brokers and also the Chairman of Tea Board, Mr M.G.V.K. Bhanu.

There will also be a tea tasting session at the Nilhat House, the headquarter of J Thomas & Company Pvt Ltd. The delegation members, before leaving for Kochi, will also attend the customary annual tea trade dinner to be hosted by Indian Tea Association.

Pakistan is the world’s second largest importer of tea.

It buys 126 mkg every year. UK tops the list importing 128 mkg annually. Kenyan teas account for the bulk of the its imports.

With the demand for quality and high priced tea rising in Pakistan, exporters of high quality North Indian teas are looking forward to the emerging segment.

Once Pakistan grants the most favoured nation status for trade with India, it could be possible to export larger volumes teas, particularly the North Indian varieties.

“We propose to showcase good varieties of Dooars and Terai along with the traditionally high quality Assam and Darjeeling,” Mr C.S. Bedi, Chairman of Indian Tea Association, told Business Line.

“We believe discerning Pakistani tea drinkers could well opt for Dooars and Terai varieties if Darjeeling and Assam prove to be too expensive to them,” he said.

specifically naming Pakistan.

The move leaves Pakistan in a vulnerable situation because it was

This is the second time in one year that Zardari is using the cover of religious visit to push for

counting on Chinese support after its recent troubled with the US on the issue of terrorism.

political diplomacy. He observed Id and prayed at a mosque in the Chinese city of Urumqi along with

his son and two daughter in August last year after local leaders blamed Pakistan as the source of terrorists causing bloodshed in the border province of Xinjiang.

“China wants to further boost ties with both countries, and is happy to witness continuous improvement of the Pakistan-India ties,” Xinhua said in its analysis.

The commentary noted that the two countries have fought three wars engaged in a “tit-for-tat nuclear test race” in 1998. This is interesting because China has planned and erected nuclear power plants in Pakistan although there is no clear evidence that Beijing supported its bomb program.

India, China cashing in on Iran sanctions

Iran’s two major oil buyer — India and China — now appear to be seeking to take advantage of the international sanctions against the Islamic republic by forcing concessions from Tehran, a latest Congressional report has claimed.

“India has used the payments difficulties to force concessions from Iran, including an Iranian acceptance of payment for about 45 per cent of the oil sales in rupees, India’s local currency, but which is not convertible,” the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said.

“The remainder might be settled through barter trade or Indian investment in Iran, and some might be settled in gold.

The Iranian concessions have made it attractive for India to refuse U.S. efforts to persuade it to cut its oil purchases from the baseline level of about 350,000 barrels a day,” it said.

As the name suggests, CRS is the independent bi-partisan research wing of the U.S. Congress, comprising experts of various fields.

CRS prepares reports on different issues for the information of U.S. lawmakers.

“Like India, China appears to be seeking to take advantage of the sanctions for its own purposes, and in so doing signalling to Iran that it disapproves of its behaviour,” said the nearly 80-page report titled Iran Sanctions.

“China has said it will not significantly reduce its oil purchases from their 2011 average level of about 550,000 barrels a day, despite the threat of the U.S. sanctions. Oil industry observers say that China cut its oil buys from Iran by about 50 per cent for January, 2012, apparently in an attempt to force Iran to discount the oil it sells to China,” it said.

“The reduction could have been caused by a disagreement between Iran and Unipec, one of China’s top importers — a disagreement reportedly resolved in mid-February, 2012, and which is likely to cause China’s imports from Iran to return to baseline levels. Some reports

in late March, 2012, suggested another Chinese refiner, Sinopec, might cut its purchases from Iran,” it said.

CRS said South Korea is known to be actively negotiating with the United States to achieve an exemption.

“The three other large Iranian oil buyers — China, India, and Turkey — have not pledged to cut oil purchases from Iran. In addition, trade that is conducted in cash or barter arrangements would not risk sanctions under the provision,” it said.

“With the payments mechanisms largely closed or closing, India’s position on whether it will cooperate with a broader oil embargo on Iran remains in doubt as of late March, 2012,” the report said, adding that India’s record of cooperation with multilateral sanctions against Iran was mixed.

“India has generally been considered friendly toward Iran, and many experts were surprised when India’s central bank, in late December 2010, announced that it would no longer use a regional body, the Asian Clearing Union, to handle transactions with Iran,” the reports said.

“The Asian Clearing Union, based in Tehran, was set up in the 1970s by the United Nations to ease commerce among Asian nations. There have been allegations in recent years that Iran might be using the Clearing Union to handle transactions so as to avoid limitations imposed by European and other banks, and India’s move followed President (Barack) Obama’s visit there in November, 2010,” it said.

“With India’s purchases of about 350,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil (about $11billion worth of oil in 2011) made difficult by the move, in February, 2011, India and Iran agreed to use an Iranian bank, Europaisch-IranischeHandelsbank (EIH) to clear the payments,” it said.

On May 23, 2011, the EU named EIH and about 100 other entities as Iran proliferation-related activities, rendering India and Iran again in search of an

alternative payments mechanism.

With about $6.3 billion in oil payments due Iran building up in an escrow account, in July, 2011, Tehran threatened to reduce or cut off entirely oil shipments to India.

In late July, 2011, the two identified Turkey’s Halkbank as an acceptable processor and on September 4, 2011, Iran’s Central Bank Governor said India had fully settled its debt.

The U.S. law sanctioning dealings with Iran’s Central Bank led Halkbank in January, 2012, to express the view that it might not be able to continue handling payments to Iran, the report said.

According to CRS, Iran’s oil sales for March have fallen dramatically from prior levels.

“Once the EU embargo is fully implemented, Iran’s oil sales might fall by as much as 40 per cent (one million barrels a day reduction out of 2.5 million barrels a day of sales). Iran is widely assessed as unable to economically sustain that level of lost oil sales,” it said. The signs of economic pressure on Iran are multiplying, it said, adding that the value of Iran’s rial had dropped precipitously since December, 2011.

Iranian leaders had admitted that Iran was virtually cut off from the international banking system and was increasingly trading through barter arrangements rather than hard currency exchange, it said.

“The pullout from Iran by major international firms has slowed Iran’s efforts to modernise its energy sector and other sectors, rendering Iran unable to increase its oil production above 4.1 million barrels a day. Still, Iran has small amounts of natural gas exports; it had none at all before Iran opened its fields to foreign investment in 1996.

Still, relatively high world oil prices have reduced some of the effects of the sanctions,” CRS added.

Saarc international I Thursday 12 April 2012

ENTERTAINMENT

Big B to undergo CT scan Amitabh Bachchan’s fine, requests media to stop the chase

Two months after his abdominal surgery, Amitabh Bachchan is in pain again and has been advised by his doctors to undergo a CT scan.

Amitabh Bachchanclarifies, his visit to the doctor was just another visit, nothing to worry about.

Micro Blogging sites have become the main ‘news source’ for media more than the fans. On Monday night Amitabh Bachchan tweeted about him undergoing CT Scan

owing to the ‘excruciating pain’ he felt.

Fleet of reporters and photographers gathered outside his house at 6AM on Tuesday morning to enquire about his health. The superstar was surprised to see the media galore and asked

his security what happened. When Amitabh got to know his tweet had led to various conclusions about his deteriorating health, he blogged again to clear the assumptions.

“So last night just after I had finished with the Blog, I rose from my desk to get to bed, but excruciating pain, stopped me in my tracks and I found it difficult to walk to stand to sit to lie down.

Quite horrendous ! This was not there post operation even”, Big B posted on his blog last night.

He further added, “I have no answer. But tomorrow there should be one as I prepare for a CT Scan, after devouring a large bottle or bottles of that yellow fluid” Not one to take any pain as a set back, SrBachchan went for his regular workout to the gym. He tweeted, “Pain be damned .. I am off to the gym .. If you have to go down, go down in style !!”

Not just that Big B was up by 6 am today to go and dub for his makeup artist Deepak Sawant’s Bhojpuri film before heading for his CT scan.

Big B is likely to undergo a CTscan at the Seven Hills Hospital, Andheri East, in Mumbai today.

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Madhuri Dixit confirmed for DedhIshqiya

For those who felt that the ‘dhakdhak’ has been missing from Bollywood, here’s the good news that all of you had been waiting for with bated breath.

News is that Madhur Dixit has now signed on the dotted line for DedhIshqiya, the sequel of Vishal Bhardwaj’sIshqiya. This film will be directed by AbhishekChaubey, who also directed Ishqiya.

Reports state that while VidyaBalan won’t be featuring in the sequel, KangnaRanaut has been added to the cast and that the two male leads Naseeruddin Shah and ArshadWarsi have been retained from the original.

DedhIshqiya is about the adventures of Arshad and Naseer and takes off from where Ishqiya ended. And Madhuri will be playing Shahi Begum, a grey character and has been paired opposite Naseeruddin Shah.

An insider stated that the shoot of the film will start from May.

Second baby or films: What’s on Aishwarya Rai’s mind?

AishwaryaRaiBachchan had to let go MadhurBhandrakar’s dream project ‘Heroine’ because of her pregnancy. On November 16, 2011, Aishwarya delivered a baby girl, which almost became national news. Now, everyone is eager to know whether Ash will take a break from Bollywood or making a comeback is on her mind.

Aishwarya is one of the highest paid celebrity endorsers. She is already the face of cosmetic brand L’Oreal and watch brand Longines. Latest media reports claim that AishwaryaRai is all set to sign an endorsement deal with a leading India based jewelry brand. She will be seen with Amitabh Bachchan in the advertisements.

And Aishwarya is supposed to get Rs 10 crore for the same. Official announcement of the deal is expected soon.

When Ash’s husband AbhishekBachchan was asked about her comeback, he said, “As and when she wants to come back, is completely her decision. As and when she decides, when she sees a script she is inspired by - the decision is entirely hers. Currently she is very happy playing mom.”

From glamorous Bollywood parties, weddings to award functions, Aishwarya stepped out many times after delivering the baby. She also made a professional

appearance lately. Aishwarya was seen at a Dubai event hosted by Longines.

Many sources claimed that Beti B also accompanied Aishwarya to Dubai, but no one could get a glimpse of her. Now, Aishwarya is likely to attend the Cannes International Film Festival as well.

Many reports about Aishwarya keen to have a second baby soon are doing the rounds these days. However, there seems to be no meat in the stories as Aishwarya seems pretty eager to be back at work.

Apparently, Aishwarya has no plans of following in her mother-in-law Jaya Bachchan’s footsteps, who took a long break from Bollywood to take care of her family.

It is being said that AishwaryaRai may make her comeback with a southern film.

So far, she has done five south Indian films. If the shooting schedule matches with Aishwarya’s convenience, she may take up the offer. Lately, Aishwarya also participated in the television show ‘India’s Glam Diva’ along with other topnotch actresses.

Aishwarya gained a lot of weight during pregnancy. So, first of all she will have to shed those extra pounds if she is planning to get back to work. After all, she can’t wear lose fitted Anarkali suits in all the films.

NEWS

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

Troop pullout begins, Mualllem tells Lavrov

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2nd R) and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem (2nd L) speak during their meeting in Moscow April 10, 2012.

Syria’s foreign minister told Moscow , Damascus has started withdrawing troops in line with Kofi Annan’s peace plan but Russia said the regime should implement the initiative more decisively.The rare visit by the veteran Foreign Minister WalidMuallem to Moscow coincided with a deadline under the Annan plan for Syria to withdraw forces from protest cities. “I told my Russian colleague of the steps Syria is taking to show its goodwill for the implementation of the Annan plan,” Muallem said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “We have already withdrawn military units from different Syrian provinces.”He added that a ceasefire should begin “simultaneously” with the arrival of international observers.

Muallem said Damascus wanted guarantees from Annan, “not from terrorists.” He also said that Annan told him in a recent telephone call that a ceasefire would be followed by disarming of the rebels. Meanwhile, the opposition Syrian National Council spokeswoman BasmaQadmani said yesterday that new conditions set by the Damascus regime was

“unacceptable.”

Syria ceasefire plan ‘still on the table’ – Annan Activist reports contradict the Syrian government’s claims, alleging escalating violence across the country. Clashes between regime forces and antigovernment activists killed over 160 people on Monday and a total of 1,000 in the last eight days since the peace plan was

first announced, say opposition groups.

Later in the day UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council in a letter that the regime had not pulled troops and heavy military equipment out

of cities and towns by Tuesday as promised. But he said there is still time to halt violence by Thursday morning, reports the Associated Press.

“On the question of whether the plan is succeeding or failing, I believe it is a bit too early to say that the plan has failed. The plan is still on the table,” the envoy told a press conference in Turkey.

The White House said that there were no signs that the regime was abiding by its withdrawal pledge.

France branded the reassurances coming from Damascus as “a new expression of a flagrant and unacceptable lie” that “shows a degree of impunity against which the international community absolutely must act.”

British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Damascus of

Annan appealed on both sides to stop violence immediately, without preconditions.

Earlier, the international community voiced doubt over Syria’s compliance with Annan’s road-map.

using the cease-fire deadline “as a cover for intensified military efforts to crush Syria’s opposition.”

Many fear that if the six-point peace plan fails, Syria will plunge into civil war.

Assad and the opposition are currently locked in a stalemate.

The regime has demanded a written guarantee from the rebels to stop fighting, a request that has been categorically refused by the opposition.

On Monday the conflict spilt over into neighboring Turkey, where Syrian troops were reported to have fired across the border, killing one and injuring five people. The Turkish government denounced the attacks and said it would take unspecified steps if the mayhem continued in Syria, summoning Syria’s envoy to Ankara. ­Annan’s Syria plan ‘flawed’? ­Both sides in the Syrian conflict lack sincerity in their claims that they want to bring the bloodshed to an end, says Mark Almond, a visiting professor of international relations at Bilkent University, Turkey.

“I think [Annan’s ceasefire map] was a flawed plan,” Professor Almond told RT. “It was not simultaneous. The government has to stop shooting on Tuesday, but the others can carry on until Thursday. It is highly improbable that the government’s troops faced by the rebels in the hills around them are going to stop shooting back.”

Professor Almond does not believe the fight in Syria will finish this week. The opposition and the government “have no other intention than to win or fight till the bitter end,” he says.

COMMENT

The mercenaries who war in Syria Altamiro Borges The Syrian National Council, an institution that brings together groups opposed to President Bashar Al-Assad, announced this weekend that the rebel soldiers in the country will be paid with financial assistance from “Western nations.” The decision, taken at a conference in Turkey, proves what everyone already knew: there is foreign interference in an internal conflict.

“The SNC will be responsible for payments of fixed salaries for all officers, soldiers and others who are members of the Free Syrian Army,” said the chairman, BurhanGhalioun, at the conference.

According to a BBC report, “delegates at

the conference affirmed that the rich Arab Gulf countries would contribute millions of dollars each month to the funds of the SNC.”

to give the rebel group survival. The Syrian government also criticized U.S. interference. Hillary Clinton confirmed for the first time the Yankee government sent military equipment to the mercenaries.

Hillary Clinton confirmed for the first time the Yankee government sent military equipment to the mercenaries.

Brazil acts as an “observer” For the government of Bashar al-Assad, the conference that met in Istanbul joined together the “enemies of Syria.” Damascus ensures that the uprising is about to be defeated and that foreign aid is intended

The conference brought together 83 countries. Russia, China and Iran, among others, did not attend and criticized their decisions. But Brazil was present as an “observer.” The UN says more than 9,000 people have died since the conflict began.

The decisions of the meeting in Turkey tend to further exacerbate the internal conflict, increasing the death toll in Syria.

“We want to topple Assad” Elliott Abrams, former security adviser to the White House said, “there is no diplomatic solution to the downfall of Assad” and the U.S. must fund the mercenaries. For him, “arming the rebels will also have a political and psychological impact, helping the morale of the rebels and helping to convince many that are on the fence that we really want to topple Assad.”

Ed. No shame amongst arrogant pigs.

Lisa Karpova Pravda.Ru

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

COMMENT

Palestinian Land Day

Dr Gideon Polya March 30 is Palestinian Land Day (Yawm al Ard) on which Palestinians and all decent folk around the world mark the ethnic cleansing of 90% of Palestine by rZionist-run Apartheid Israel. Israel responded by shooting Palestinian protestors in the West Bank and Gaza, killing 1 and injuring 300. The Australian ABC (the equivalent of the UK BBC) reported “Medics in the Gaza Strip said the soldiers used live fire to prevent protesters from approaching the border of the coastal enclave. The protests were much quieter than last year, when Israeli forces fired on hundreds of people who scaled the border fence from Syria and Lebanon, killing 11 people” (ABC News, “Palestinian killed in West Bank Land Day rallies”, 31 March 2012).

On 30 March 1976 a mass strike was called by the Palestinian National Committee for the Protection of Palestinian Lands in Israel after Israeli authorities adumbrated the further confiscation of thousands of acres of Palestinian land in Galilee and making them closed military zones i.e. further moves in the “Judaisation” of Galilee. Palestinians protested peacefully but the Israeli authorities sent military and police into striking Palestinian villages.

In response to stone throwing by Palestinian villagers the Israelis opened fire on unarmed Palestinian protestors, killing 6 and wounding hundreds. Many were arrested and curfews were imposed on a number of villages and towns. 30 March has been subsequently commemorated as Palestinian Land Day to mark what is now the alienation and ethnic cleansing of about 90% of historical Palestine by the genocidal racist Zionists.

Australians For Palestine (AFP), which ”seeks to dispel the myths and disinformation about Palestine in Australia” has written thus on the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine [detailed maps provided] (2012): “Background. For Palestinians, their land is their identity and this has been taken away from them in ever-increasing amounts since the United Nations decided to partition historic Palestine in 1947. The, the total area of historic Palestine was 6.5 million acres, with only a mere

370,000 acres under Jewish control.

The Palestinians , who formed the majority population, owned some 2.25 million acres under various titles with the rest came under the Islamic trust (waqf) and what we would call today “state land”.

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

The UN Partition, which divided the land into 56 per cent for the Jewish State, 43 per cent for the Arab State with Jerusalem designated as an International Zone, never eventuated. Instead, the forcible dispossession of Palestinians began even for Israel was declared a state in 1948. Jewish Zionist leaders knew that Israel’s existence could only be assured by ridding it of the indigenous Palestinian population.

Zionist militia groups used physical and psychological terror tactics to force Palestinians to flee their homes in towns and villages and then took control of 5 million acres of land.

Some 400 Palestinian villages and towns were ethnically cleansed, but the Palestinians never thought for a moment that they would become “permanent” refugees. To obliterate any evidence of these villages, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) planted hundreds of thousands of non-native trees in their place. In effect, the new State of Israel took a further 22 per cent of Palestinian land, and to this day, has denied the indigenous Palestinians their right if return.

Israel’s illegal land grabs are continuing. Since the 1967 war, when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians have been victims of a new wave of land expropriations and have witnessed the demolition of their homes and the razing of their farmlands to make way for illegal Israeli settlements, military posts, the Wall and Israelionly freeways The Palestinians who remained living in what had become Israel also feel the effects of Israel’s illegal land policies that favor Jewish citizens. For six decades Israel has refused to allow any new towns or villages to accommodate the growth rate of Palestinians. A 1961 law, which states that the JNF exists :for the purpose of settling Jews on such lands and properties”, blatantly discriminates on the basis if ethnicity” (see Australians For Palestine (AFP) and Women For Palestine (Melbourne), “Palestinian Land Day [Yawm al Ard]”, Briefing Paper, 30 March 2012).

However the ethnic cleansing of Palestine goes well beyond the removal of Palestinians from 90% of historical Palestine. Thus the Syrian Golan Heights that has been occupied by Apartheid Israel since 1967 has been almost completely ethnically cleansed of it’s formerly about 150,000 inhabitants. In 1880 there were about 0.5 million Indigenous Palestinians and of the

25,000 Jews in Palestine half were immigrants. Palestinian casualties of war violence total about 80,000 since 1948 and about 100,000 since 1936. However one must also consider avoidable Palestinian deaths from war-, expulsion- and occupation-imposed deprivation that now total about 1.9 million since 1948. Palestinian refugees total about 7 million. This has been a Palestinian Genocide as defined

by Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention.

In contrast, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry: “From 1920

to even live in Palestine. There are 5.9 million Jewish Israelis and 0.3 million non-Jewish and nonArab Israelis (Google “Palestinian Genocide”: and see the recent book “The Plight of the Palestinians”).

Each year Israel passively kills about 3,000 Occupied Palestinian infants, passively murders about 5,600 Occupied Palestinians through deprivation and violently kills another circa 600 Occupied Palestinians. Decent anti-racists around the World must Boycott Apartheid Israel and its racist supporters just as it successfully

through 1999, a total of 2,500 residents of Mandatory Palestine and, since 1948, the State of Israel fell victims to hostile enemy action; in most cases, terrorist attacks” and “1,218 people have been killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000”.

The race-based, Zionist-run State of Israel is a democracy by genocide.

Of about 12 million Palestinians only the adults of 1.6 million Palestinian Israelis (21% of the Israeli population) can vote for the government ruling all of Palestine plus part of Lebanon and a nearcompletely ethnically cleansed part of Syria, albeit as third class citizens.

1.6 million Occupied Palestinians are abusively confined to the Gaza Concentration Camp and 2.7 million Occupied Palestinians live under highly abusive military rule in West Bank Bantustans. About 6 million Palestinians are forbidden

boycotted Apartheid Israelsupported Apartheid South Africa after the Sharpeville Massacre (69 Africans killed) (Google “Boycott Apartheid Israel” ).

The genocidal evil of Zionism extends well beyond Palestine to the Zionist-backed US War on Muslims that has killed 12 million Muslims since 1990 in a swathe of countries from Somalia to Pakistan, the breakdown of post-1990 violent deaths and avoidable deaths from war-imposed deprivation being 4.6 million (Iraq, 1990-2012), 5.6 million (Afghanistan, 2001-2012), 2.2 million (Somalia, 1992-2012, 0.15 million (Palestine, 1990-2012) and 0.1 million (Libya, 2011-2012).

The above estimates are consonant with under-5 infant deaths totaling 2.0 million (Iraq, 1990-2012), 2.9 million (Afghanistan, 2001-2012), 1.3 million (Somalia, 1992-2012), 0.1 million (Palestine, 1990-2012)

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and data not yet available (Libya, 2011-2012)(90% avoidable and due to US Alliance war crimes in gross contravention of the Geneva Convention) and refugees totaling 5-6 million (Iraq, 1990-2012), 3-4 million (Afghanistan, 2001-2012), 2 million (Somalia, 1992-2012), 7 million (Palestine, 1990-2012) and 1.3 million (Libya, 2011-2012) (Google “Muslim Holocaust, Muslim Genocide”).

The Zionists have also egregiously subverted and perverted the Western democracies (for very detailed account sent to Australia media, MPs and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) (see .”50 Ways Racist Zionists & Israeli State Terrorism threaten Australia & YOUR country too “, Bellaciao, 14 March 2010).

In Australia, the pro-Zionist, slavishly pro-US major parties (*the Liberal-National Party Coalition and Labor, aka the Lib-Labs) support spending billions of dollars on religious schools, including those brainwashing children against the words of outstanding Jewish American scholar Professor Jared Diamond who in his best-selling book “Collapse” (Prologue, p10, Penguin edition) enunciated the “moral principle, namely that it is morally wrong for one people to dispossess, subjugate, or exterminate another people” – an injunction grossly violated by racist Zionist (RZ)run Apartheid Israel and its racist, genocide-committing and genocideignoring US Alliance backers.

Further, in Apartheid Israelsupporting Australia (that treats its Indigenous Australian Aboriginals as badly as Israel treats Indigenous Palestinians), donations to the Jewish National Fund (intimately involved in the Palestinian Genocide) are tax deductible, whereas sending a donation to an orphanage in the Gaza Concentration Camp could attract a punishment of up to life imprisonment under Australia’s racially-motivated anti-terrorism laws (see “Anti-Terrorism Act 2005″, Wikipedia ).

COMMENT

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

The siege of innocent people in Gilgit&Baltistan

Ali Ashraf Khan While Baluchistan, Fata and Karachi are burning, Supreme Court is busy investigating the memogate and others, the parliament tries to find a solution for new US-Pakistan relations by suggesting to extend legal protection to CIA Operatives and Contractors, and the people of Pakistan are upset about the latest rise in petrol prices hardly any attention is given to the killing of Shias in Gilgit by Sunnis from Chilas and Kohistan that cost the lives of almost forty to fifty people who were traveling by road on the KKH. Gilgit is under curfew for the last five days, Skardu is under large-scale agitation and families are locked in their homes with no ration available because the road via Chilas is the only way for supply to this area, which is almost under siege.This northern-most part of our country and their people who are Pakistani patriots since day one when the self liberated this area from the Dogra Raj and formed an Independent government known as Frontier Government with Raja Shah Raees Khan as its first President, but later when they offered this territory to be included into Pakistan under Karachi treaty, the then Government of Pakistan’s appointed one SardarMohdAlam as the Political Agent and ever since then the legitimate rights of people have been neglected by successive governments, even today the decoration of a province of Gilgit&Baltistan looks more a political stunt then a real development as the area has not been given the shape of a province as is required under the law. It won’t be out of place to recall that when General ZiaulHaq imposed martial law in 1977 this area was made the Martial Law Zone E bringing it at par with Pakistan’s other four provinces, while Azad Kashmir was not brought under martial law administration.

While the Kashmir conflict is an ongoing problem between India and Pakistan this territory has been falsely implicated into this conflict because the plebiscite which is outstanding for Jammu & Kashmir according to several UN resolutions has been given by the people of Gilgit and Baltistan in 1947 when they revolted against the Dogra Raj and Gilgit was liberated by Muslim officers of Dogra army which moved from Bhonji and set the residency on fire and arrested the Dogra Governor

Brigadier Ghansara Singh and the people of Baltistan waged a war of liberation and physical fought and pushed the Hindu Dogra army across the famous passes of Daras, Zojila, Kargil, Leh, Zangsaker, Soro and six month long fight by Padam party.

inside Indian held Kashmir, a grave act of treachery in the words of General Akbar Khan as explained in his book “The raiders in Kashmir.” While these brave fighters had already cut the only communication line between India and Laddakh. Now India has

inter marriages and were living in complete harmony before that since the military rule of ZiaulHaq when this area was dragged into the Afghan war, which has taken hundreds of innocent lives due to Lashker attacks from Chillas.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, let the people

The unique gallantry of Balti fighters was recognized later on by senior army officers that the faced the Dogra forces with just matchless guns and forced them to run from Baltistan’s important posts. The battle of PadamPari

constructed an all weather metal road for smooth communication linking India with Laddakh.

It is due to the cowardly and unimaginative policy of Pakistani rulers that the people inhabiting this territory have been kept

of Gilgit and Baltistan down by refusing them the status of a full fledged province of Pakistan in 1974 and the same has been done by all successive governments including the sitting one. During Junejo rule Prime Minister

will be remembered as a war of spiritually charged fighters against the Indian Dogra army so much so that Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan himself honoured the survivors after the unfortunate cease fire declaration and withdrawal of troops from

pending and have never been given due attention. For many years Gilgit-Baltistan has been misused as a playground of secret agencies, who have used religion to further their ulterior motives and have created shia-sunni conflicts among the local communities who have

had designated advisors from Gilgit&Baltistan with observer status in the Senate of Pakistan and even Benazir government had given the same status, which was later discontinued.

While a lot is being done in the name of confidence building

measures between India & Pakistan, even compromising our vital national interest and long standing stand on Kashmir, which was considered a lifeline for Pakistan. Now it appears that India has a strong backing of Israel and US and is using pressure on us to accept Indian hegemony in the sub-continent. It is even so that we are going to be losers in Afghanistan inspite of the complete destruction of our socioeconomic infrastructure due to our involvement in the American proxy war for terrorism, after that so much water has flown down the bridge that our sovereignty, unity and solidarity appears to be compromised on India factor.

In the name of confidence building measure Pakistan had to provide relief to Kashmiri people where some five or six border crossing points have been opened for communication between Azad Kashmir and Indian Occupied Kashmir, while Gilgit-Baltistan has been neglected. Why not open two points on the old route between Baltistan and Kargil towards Laddakh so that people have easy access to food and other items of essential need in times like this.

This would be a real confidence building measure between the two countries, while another alternate route would be to provide quick access ability and relief from China through KKH from Denyur Bridge to Baltistan area. Will the Chief Justice please take notice of this on humanitarian grounds or do poor and patriotic people have no say before these forums in Pakistan?

As a matter of fact our rulers have less regard for the population of Pakistan as many incidents including the handling of the Kashmir conflict shows. Just yesterday an avalanche buried 135 people at Siachen glacier base camp that is called the highest battlefield of the world that Indians have forcibly occupied, but Kargil was unconditionally got vacated from us under Washington Accord of July 1999 without Indian presence in Washington.

No survivors and only few bodies have been recovered until now and Army command has announced that only a miracle could now help. Why after 63 years people are allowed to die in an area that is so dangerous and hostile to human life that fighting is rather with nature than with any enemy?

God bless us all.

Ali Ashraf Khan

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

RELIGION

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How to make your Husband happy?

The following article is a summary of the book “How to Make Your Husband Happy”

by Sheikh Mohammed AbdelhaleemHamed.

1. Beautiful Reception After returning from work, school, travel, or whatever has separated you, Begin with a good greeting.

Meet him with a cheerful face Beautify and perfume yourself Start with good news and delay any bad news until he has rested Receive him with loving and yearning sentences Make hard efforts for excellence of the food & having it ready on time.

your husband and encouraging him to do intercourse, e.g. after returning from a travel, weekends, etc.

5. Satisfaction With What Allah (subhaanahuwata’aalaa) Has Allotted You shouldn’t be depressed because your husband is poor or works in a simple job You should look at poor, sick, and handicapped people and remember Allah (subhaanahuwata’aalaa) for all that was given to you.

You should remember that

appreciates?”

8. Devotion and Loyalty In particular in times of calamities in your husband’s body or business e.g. an accident or a bankruptcy Supporting him through your own work, money, and properties if needed.

9. Compliance to Him In all what he commands you, unless it is prohibited (Haram) In Islam, the husband is the leader of the family, and the wife is his support and consultant.

2. Beautify and Soften the Voice For your husband only, it shouldn’t be used in front of non-mahram men (men who can marry you if you were unmarried) 3. Smelling Good and Physical Beautification Take good care of your body and fitness.

Put on nice and attractive clothes and perfumes.

Bathe regularly and, after the monthly period, remove any blood traces or bad smells.

Avoid that your husband observes you in dirty clothes or rough shape Avoid prohibited types of ornamentation, e.g. tatoos Use the types of perfumes, colors, and clothes that the husband likes Change hair style, perfumes, etc. from time to time However with these things you should avoid excessiveness and, of course only act as such in front of mahrem men and women.

4. Intercourse Hasten for intercourse when your husband feels compulsion for it.

Keep your body clean and smelling good as possible including cleaning yourself of released fluids during intercourse.

Exchange loving phrases with your husband.

Leave your husband to fully satisfy his desire.

Choose suitable times and good occasions for exciting

real wealth lies in faith and piety.

6. Indifference to Worldly Things You should not consider this world as your hope and interest.

You should not ask your husband for many unnecessary things.

Asceticism does not mean not to enjoy what is good and permissible (Halal), but it means that one should look forward to the Hereafter and utilize whatever Allah SWT gave them to achieve paradise (AlJannah).

Encourage your husband to reduce expenses and save some money in order to give charity and feed poor and needy people.

7. Appreciation By the saying of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihiwasallam), the majority of people in Hell were women because they were ungrateful and deny the good done to them.

The result of being grateful is that your husband will love you more and will do his best to please you in more ways The result of being ungrateful is that your husband will be disappointed and will start asking himself: “Why should I do good to her, if she never

10. Pleasing Him If He Is Angry First off, try to avoid what will guarantee his anger. But if it happens that you can’t, then try to appease him as follows: If you were mistaken, then apologize If he was mistaken then: Keep still instead of arguing or Yield you right or Wait until he is no longer angry and discuss the matter peacefully with him.

If he was angry because of external reasons then: Keep silent until his anger goes Find excuses for him, e.g. tired, problems at work, someone insulted him Do not ask many questions and insist on knowing what happened e.g.

1) You should tell me what happened!

2) I must know what made you so angry!

3) You are hiding something, and I have the right to know!

11. Guardianship While He is Absent Protect yourself from any prohibited relations Keep the secrets of the family, particularly intercourse and things that the husbands don’t

like other people to know.

Take care of the house and children.

Take care of his money and properties Do not go out of your house without his permission and put on full hijaab Refuse people whom he does not like to come over Do not allow any nonmahram man to be alone with you in any place Be good with his parents and relatives in his absence 12. Showing Respect for his Family and Friends You should welcome his guests and try to please them, especially his parents.

You should avoid problems as much as you can with his relatives.

You should avoid putting him is a position where he had to choose between his mother and his wife Show good hospitality for his guests by arranging a nice place for them to sit in, perfection of food, welcoming their wives, etc.

Encourage him to visit his relatives and invite them to your home Phone his parents and sisters, send letters to them, buy gifts for them, support them in calamities, etc...

13. Admirable Jealousy Jealousy is a sign for wife’s love for her husband but it should be kept within the limits of Islam, e.g. not insulting or backbiting others disrespecting them, etc…

You should not follow or create unfounded doubts.

14. Patience and Emotional Support Be patient when you face poverty and strained circumstances.

When you face calamities and disasters that may happen to you, your husband, his and your children, relatives or properties, e.g. diseases, accidents, death, etc.

When facing hardships in Da’wah (imprisonment, getting fired, arrested etc.

Be patient and encourage him to keep on the path of Allah and remind him of Paradise.

When he mistreats you, counteract his ill-treatment by good treatment.

15. Support in Obedience to Allah, Da’wah and Jihad Cooperate with your husband and remind him of different

obligatory and voluntary worships.

Encourage him to pray at night.

Listen and reciting the Qur’aan individually and with your husband.

Listen to Islamic tapes and songs individually and with your husband.

Remember Allah subhaanahuwata’aalaa, much, particularly after Fajr and before Maghrib.

Share in arranging Da’wah activities for women and children.

Learn Islamic rules (ahkaam) and good manners (‘adab) for women.

Support your husband’s activities by encouraging him, offering wise opinions, soothing his pains, etc.

Yielding some of your rights and a part of your time with your husband for Da’wah Encourage him to go for Jihad when needed and remind him that you and children will be in the preservation of Allah, subhaanahuwata’aalaa.

16. Good Housekeeping Keep it clean, decorated and well arranged Change house arrangements from time to time to avoid boredom Perfect food (preparation) and prepare healthy foods Learn all the necessary skills for managing the house, e.g. sewing Learn how to raise children properly and in an Islamic way.

17. Preservation of Finances and the Family Do not spend from his money, even for charity without his permission unless you are sure that he agrees on this.

Protect his house, car, etc. while he is absent.

Keep the children in good shape, clean clothes, etc. Take care of their nutrition, health, education, manners, etc. Teach them Islam and tell them the stories of the Prophets and companions.

Finally, please make Du’a for the writer; Sheikh Mohammad AbdelhaleemHamed for the translator brother Abu Talhah, and for the reviewer, brother Adam Qurashi. Remember this is not a perfect translation so forgive us our faults and correct our errors. Muslim Students’ Association University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada

NEWS

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

Panic in Indonesia as 8.6 quake hits off India downgrades all tsunami warnings after Indonesia earthquake

vChaos reigned in streets as many towns along the coast line were full of shoppers stocking up before the traditional New Year on Friday.

Locals poured from their homes screaming “God is great” as they searched frantically for family members.

“Sirens and Quran recitals from mosques are everywhere,” said a spokesman for the Indonesia’s disaster management agency.

Patients ran out of hospitals, some with drips still attached to their arms.

In schools, children were terrified as teachers started an evacuation.

Timbang Pangaribuan told El Shinta radio a guest of his hotel was injured as he jumped from the window of his room.

A strong 8.2 aftershock nearly three hours later sparked a new wave of panic. Electricity and telephone lines were down in several areas. Even more people fled the coast after the government issued a fresh tsunami warning.

India withdrew a national tsunami alert issued after huge earthquakes

after the quakes, including in Aceh, the closest province and the area decimated by the disaster eight years ago.

However, some areas close to the epicentre are remote so it could take some time to find out if there was any damage.

Many people were frightened of further tremors.

“It’s dark out here but I am scared to go home,” said Mila, a 41-year-old woman taking refuge in the grand mosque in the town of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.

“I just want to stay alert because I fear there will be more quakes coming.

We are human, it is only natural that

struck off Indonesia on Wednesday, the Indian tsunami warning centre said.

“Thankfully, the danger has passed,” a scientist at the centre told Reuters.

Disaster officials had earlier warned waves as high as 3.9 meters could hit parts of Andoman and Nicobar islands.

A few thousand people were evacuated from the more vulnerable islands, a police official said.

Indonesia said it was checking for damage and casualties but remarkably, no such reports had been received for several hours

we have fear, but I really wish we will all be safe.”

Waves of up to one metre (3.3 feet) high were seen near islands off Aceh, but Indonesia cancelled a warning for fresh tsunamis. It said the worst-hit area was the thinly populated island of Simeulue, off Aceh’s southern coast.

The first quake struck at 0838 GMT and an 8.2 magnitude aftershock just over two hours later, at 1043 GMT. Two more strong aftershocks hit later.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also withdrew

A powerful 8.6 magnitude earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks struck off Indonesia on Wednesday, sending people scurrying from buildings as far away as southern India, but there seemed little risk of a disastrous tsunami as in 2004.

tsunami warnings for the entire Indian Ocean after keeping them in force for several hours.

“Level readings now indicate that the threat has diminished or is over for most areas,” the agency’s bulletin said.

Thailand and India also withdrew tsunami warnings.

Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India were all badly hit in 2004. At least 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean countries were killed in the Boxing Day disaster that year, including 170,000 in and around Aceh alone.

Last year, an earthquake and tsunami

survey said. The first was at a depth of 20.5 miles (33 km).

Indonesia’s disaster management agency said power failed in Aceh province and people were gathering on high ground as sirens warned of the danger.

“The electricity is down, there are traffic jams to access higher ground.

Sirens and Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere,” said Sutopo, spokesman for the agency.

“The warning system worked,” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

Warning sirens also rang out across

gathering in mosques in Banda Aceh.

Many others were on the streets, holding crying children.

In the city of Medan, a hospital evacuated patients, who were wheeled out on beds and in wheelchairs.

Wednesday’s quakes were felt as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in southern India, hundreds of office workers in the city of Bangalore left their buildings while the port of Chennai closed down because of tsunami fears.

The quakes were in roughly in the same area as the 2004 quake, which was at a depth of 18 miles (30 km) along a fault line running under the Indian Ocean, off western Indonesia and up into the Bay of Bengal.

Experts said Wednesday quakes were a “strike-slip” fault, meaning a more horizontal shift of the ground under the sea as opposed to a sudden vertical shift, and less risk of a large displacement of water triggering a tsunami.

“The nature of the sideways rupture and sideways movement is not predisposed to cause a bad tsunami, so almost certainly, the crisis has been avoided,” said David Rothery, an expert at the Open University in the UK The quakes were also felt in Sri Lanka, where office workers in the capital, Colombo, fled their offices.

Mahinda Amaraweera, Sri Lanka’s

off Japan’s northeastern coast killed at least 23,000 people and triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years after waves battered a nuclear power station.

On Wednesday, people near the coast in six Thai provinces were ordered to move to higher ground. Authorities shut down the international airport in the Thai beach resort province of Phuket.

The quakes were about 300 miles (500 km) southwest of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra island, the US Geological

the Thai island of Phuket, a tourist hotspot that was one of the worst hit areas in the 2004 tsunami.

“Guests from expensive hotels overlooking Phuket’s beaches were evacuated to the hills behind and local people were driving away in cars and on motorcycles. Everyone seemed quite calm, the warning had been issued well in advance,” freelance journalist Apichai Thonoy told Reuters by telephone.

Out on the streets Indonesian television showed people

minister for disaster management, called for calm while advising people near the coast to seek safety.

“I urge the people not to panic. We have time if there is a tsunami going to come. So please evacuate if you are in the coastal area and move to safer places,” Amaraweera told a private television channel.

In Bangladesh, where two tremors were felt, authorities said there appeared to be no threat of a tsunami.

Australia also said there was no threat of a tsunami there.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

NEWS

31

Continued from page 32 >>

India star Yuvraj Singh pleased to be back home after cancer treatment expressed his gratitude for their wishes.”I am feeling well at the moment and very soon I will be back on the field. I have missed homemade food and my mother has prepared lots of it. I am especially looking forward to eating gobhikaparatha,” said the left-hander.

He spent some time in London after being released from the Boston Institute of Cancer Research.

Yuvraj’s mother Shabnam received him at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and the cricketer arrived at his residence in a convoy of vehicles. He even shared some light-hearted conversation with media persons and fans, saying: “I wanted to come out of my car but you people did not allow me to do so. I am thanking all of you for your presence and support.”

Shabnam was delighted to have her son back at home.

“With the grace of God, my son has won the battle with cancer; I am very happy and am sure that the entire nation is as well,” she said.

Double Wisden honour for Sangakkara

Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara has been chosen as both one of the Five Cricketers of the Year and the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2011 in the 2012 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, it was announced Wednesday.

The 34-year-old Sangakkara, one of the outstanding batsmen of his generation and for much of his career a top-class wicketkeeper as well, became the first man to receive both awards since Wisden, ‘cricket’s bible’, started naming a leading cricketer of the year in 2004.

In 2011, no-one else came close to the 2,267 runs Sangakkara scored in all international cricket, and he is now the only man to have topped 1,000 runs in Tests and one-day internationals in a single year on three separate occasions.

The left-hander also captained Sri Lanka to the World Cup final, where they were beaten by co-hosts India in Mumbai.

Off the field, he also received worldwide praise for giving a deeply heartfelt MCC Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s which caused shockwaves in his homeland when he called for the end of political interference in Sri Lankan cricket.

Sangakkara’s career Test record of over 9,000 runs in 108 matches

with 28 hundreds at an average of nearly 55 stands comparison with all but a handful of cricket’s greatest batsmen.

Wisden, published every year since 1864, is widely regarded as cricket’s leading reference work.

The Five Cricketers of the Year, chosen solely by the editor of Wisden — the 2012 edition is English cricket journalist’s Lawrence Booth’s first as editor — is an award that dates back to 1889.

Among the other four recipients for their performances in 2011 were the England Test duo of run-hungry opener Alastair Cook, who made 294 against India at Edgbaston, and pace bowling all-rounder Tim Bresnan, yet to be on the losing side in a Test match.

Lancashire captain Glen Chapple was also honoured after leading the Old Traffordbased club to their first outright County Championship title in 77 years, as was fellow seamer Alan Richardson, who took 73 First Division wickets to help Worcestershire avoid relegation.

No one can be chosen as one of the Cricketers of the Year, based primarily on a player’s influence upon the previous English season, more than once.

Cricket: Snubbing Pakistan for India tour taking part in the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September-October, and then host England for four Tests in November-December.

Bangladesh, who were due to tour Pakistan this month, look set to pull out of the reported deal where Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Zaka Ashraf would endorse Kamal’s nomination for the post of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Vice-President in return for a tour of Pakistan.

Despite a satisfied security team and Kamal’s approval after it visited Pakistan, the tour is likely to be scrapped despite PCB’s all-out efforts to guarantee high-level security to the tourists.

Pakistan-Bangladesh relations to suffer: PCB Meanwhile, cricket relations between Pakistan

and Bangladesh will be reconsidered if the latter decides not to tour Pakistan for the series, said Ashraf.

Talking to the media in Lahore, Ashraf said that it will be decided before the ICC meeting whether Bangladesh will be touring Pakistan or not. Ashraf refused to name other nations that Pakistan has invited to tour the country, saying that there were those who did not want to see international cricket in the country and were trying to stop others as well.

Commenting on India touring Pakistan, the chairman said that the tour is still pending and if India wants Pakistan to tour their country first then they should announce a plan for it.

We may have to reconsider ties with BCB: Zaka Ashraf Afghanistan played three ODIs in Pakistan year, becoming the first country to tour since gunmen killed several police officers and a bus driver in

their attack on a Sri Lanka team bus during a test in Lahore three years ago.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 April 2012

India star Yuvraj Singh pleased to be back home after cancer treatment It was an emotional homecoming for Yuvraj Singh as Gurgaon residents assembled in large numbers to cheer the dashing allrounder at his DLF, Phase I residence on Monday on his arrival after undergoing

treatment for gem cell cancer. Dressed in red and showing no sign of any weakness, Yuvraj waved at his numerous supporters gathered outside his residence and Continued on page 31 >>

SAT

Sports

Cricket: Snubbing Pakistan for India tour Bangladesh may play their maiden Test series in India later this year, according to the the country’s cricket board.

India have not hosted Bangladesh for a Test match since the Tigers gained full status in 2000. The reasons have reportedly been low earnings for the hosts in terms of sponsors given Bangladesh’s low status in Test cricket.

The Tigers’ only visits to India have been for One-Day Internationals. India have played seven Tests in Bangladesh, including the inaugural match in Dhaka in November 2000, but remain the only Test-playing nation yet to welcome the Bangladeshis at home.

BCCI assured BCB of series: Kamal The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief Mustafa Kamal informed his colleagues in the BCB that he had been assured by his Indian counterpart Narayanaswamy Srinivasan that India will host Bangladesh this year. Kamal met Srinivasan on the sidelines of the Indian Premier League and he had ‘received assurance that India will host Bangladesh for a full tour later this year’, said a BCB statement.

There was no immediate comment from the Board Of Control For Cricket In India on the matter, and it remained unclear how India will accommodate Bangladesh in their crowded schedule — India are due to host New Zealand in August-September for three Tests before Continued on page 31 >>

We may have to reconsider ties with BCB: Zaka Ashraf The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman says future cricketing ties with Bangladesh will depend on whether it becomes the first test-playing country to tour since the deadly gunmen attacks in 2009.

Zaka Ashraf says ”we will have to reconsider our cricketing relations if they don’t come” to play either two one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match or three ODIs later this month or in early May. The Bangladesh Cricket Board is

yet to receive clearance from its government after submitting a security report on Pakistan.

Continued on page 31 >>

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