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INTERNATIONAL
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Nationalists blame Pakistan for bombing in India Security forces put on high alert at airports, train stations, markets PUNE: India said it would wait for the findings of an investigation into this weekend’s bakery bombing before responding to Hindu nationalists’ demands to cancel upcoming peace talks with Pakistan, amid suspicions Islamic militants plotted the attack. The explosion Saturday, caused by a bomb left in an unattended bag at a venue popular with tourists, killed nine people and wounded 60. It was the first major terrorist attack in India since the 2008 Mumbai massacre when Pakistan-based militants ran amok in the country’s financial hub. Security forces were immediately put on high alert at airports, train stations and markets across India. The bombing came just a day after nuclear rivals India and Pakistan set a date for their first formal dialogue since the Mumbai attacks prompted New Delhi to suspend wide-ranging talks aimed at normalizing relations after six decades of hostility. On Sunday, Hindu nationalist leaders blamed the attack in the western city of Pune on majorityMuslim Pakistan and demanded the
government call off the talks, scheduled for Feb 25 in New Delhi. Arun Jaitley of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party said India shouldn’t restart peace talks until Pakistan stops allowing terrorists to base themselves there and punishes those involved in the Mumbai attacks. “Terrorism and talks can’t coexist,” Jaitley said. Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said he would wait for the forensic experts’ report on the bombing before commenting on the opposition demand. In Pakistan, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani denounced the blast and indicated his government still wants the new talks to go ahead. “We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” Gilani told reporters. The blast ripped open the German Bakery in Pune, 125 miles southeast of Mumbai. Thick patches of blood and severed limbs littered the popular hangout, which is close to the Osho Ashram, a popular meditation retreat, and a Jewish center officials say were previously scouted by a terrorist suspect now detained in
PUNE: Indian police inspect the site of an explosion outside a German Bakery business close to the Osho Ashram in Pune. — AP
27 Taleban killed in west HEART: Afghan police said yesterday that an anti-Taleban operation in the relatively peaceful west of the country had killed 27 militants, as a USled offensive in the south faced stiff resistance. Afghan police, supported by international forces, launched an operation against Taleban in the Bakwa district of Farah province on Sunday, provincial police chief Mohammad Faqir Askar said. “So far 27 Taleban have been killed and another five, including their commander Mullah Abdul Bari, have been arrested,” Askar said, adding that the operation was continuing. Two heroin-processing laboratories had also been destroyed, he said. Meanwhile, the Afghan military said yesterday that US-led troops had taken almost full control of a Taleban bastion at the centre of a massive ground and air assault that was in its third day. The offensive is the first major test of US President Barack Obama’s strategy to reverse the Taleban insurgency and end the eight-year war, and one of the biggest since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taleban. US Marines were leading 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan troops in the ground and air operation designed to clear the Taleban from the Marjah region of the southern province of Helmand and make way for Western-backed authorities. So far at least 12 Afghan civilians and two NATO soldiers have been killed in Operation Mushtarak (“Together” in Dari). Another five NATO soldiers have died elsewhere in southern Afghanistan since the assault began Saturday. Speaking to AFP behind the front line in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, a senior Afghan general said troops had captured nearly all the targeted territory in the Marjah and Nad Ali areas of Helmand. “All of the areas of Marjah and Nad Ali have been taken by combined forces. They are under our control, almost all Nad Ali and Marjah,” said General Aminullah Patiani, the senior
Taleban bastion ‘almost’ under control
MARJAH: Members of the F Company (Fire Support) 1 Royal Welsh take position during operation “Moshtarak” in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. — AP Afghan commander in Operation Mushtarak. “The Taleban have left the areas, but the threat from IEDs remains,” he said, referring to improvised explosive devices, which have become the biggest killer of NATO troops in Afghanistan. In Kabul, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan defence ministry spokesman said: “Marjah has been almost cleared and our forces are in control. “There are some small-scale, sporadic firefights. We are mostly busy with clearing the area of IEDs. The operation is nearing its end,” he added. Despite upbeat assessments from Western leaders and military commanders, however, a spokesman for the US Marines urged caution. “There is still fighting in certain areas of Marjah. We have found very little opposition but
there have been a couple of difficult areas where the Marines have met stiff resistance,” said Marines spokesman Captain Abe Sipe. In some villages around Marjah, the Taleban were “standing and holding” and combined forces were under gun and rocket-propelled grenade attack, he said. An AFP photographer on the outskirts of Marjah said Sunday that troops had advanced painstakingly, coming under Taleban fire and hunting for IEDs, as they sought to reassure residents that they were in the area to stay. Obama has ordered the deployment of over 50,000 American troops to Afghanistan since taking office in January 2009, with the final reinforcements due to bring to 150,000 the total number of US and NATO-led troops in the country
Suspected US drone kills 3 in Pakistan MIR ALI: A suspected US drone fired a missile at a vehicle in Pakistan’s volatile northwest yesterday, killing three people in the second such strike in as many days in an area dominated by militants who regularly attack US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, officials and residents said. President Barack Obama has stepped up the use of missile strikes in Pakistan’s lawless tribal area since taking office, partly in response to the Pakistani government’s reluctance to target Taleban militants who are not deemed a direct threat to the state. The vehicle hit Monday was traveling through the North Waziristan tribal area, a region inhabited by militants who helped orchestrate the Dec 30 suicide bombing against a remote CIA base in Afghanistan that killed seven
of the agency’s employees. Yahya Khan, a schoolteacher in Tapi village where yesterday’s strike occurred, said he saw a drone fire a missile and went to inspect the damaged vehicle with one of his students. “We saw the car had turned into pieces,” said the student, Sabir Nawaz. “We saw at least two bodies.” Local government official Wazir Gul said three people were killed and he identified them as militants. Pakistani intelligence officials provided conflicting accounts of the nature of the blast and the identities of those killed. Two officials confirmed the drone strike and said it killed three militants. Two others said the vehicle hit a land mine and could not confirm the identities of the three killed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
talk to the media. The US is thought to have launched more than a dozen missile strikes in North and South Waziristan since the CIA attack, including one on Jan. 14 that Pakistani and US officials believe mortally wounded Pakistani Taleban leader Hakimullah Mehsud. A US missile strike also killed Mehsud’s predecessor in August. The Taleban continue to deny Mehsud is dead but have failed to provide evidence he is alive. The US does not talk publicly about the secret CIArun drone program in Pakistan, but officials say privately that the strikes have killed several senior Taleban and Al-Qaeda leaders. Pakistani officials regularly protest the strikes as violations of the country’s sovereignty. But US officials say privately that the government supports the program. — AP
by August. Western commanders say Mushtarak seeks to implement counter-insurgency tactics drawn up by ground commander General Stanley McChrystal in order to push out militants and pave the way for Afghan sovereignty. Afghan officials say they have a government-in-waiting ready to sweep in and set up institutional services and security that will ensure the Taleban do not return. Intrinsic to the strategy is the need to limit civilian casualties in a bid to foster public confidence. The Red Cross has warned that war casualties rose in the build-up to the highly publicized offensive. NATO on Sunday acknowledged responsibility for the deaths of 12 Afghans who were killed when two rockets missed their target and landed on a compound as troops came under
fire in Nad Ali district, where Marjah is located. McChrystal apologized for the deaths as US national security adviser James Jones said the offensive was going well after the first 24 hours. British military spokesman Major General Gordon Messenger said British commanders were also “very much of the view this has gone according to plan”. Of the seven NATO soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan since the start of the offensive, at least four have been American and two British. In a statement released by the Taleban, a commander named Mullah Abdul Rezaq Akhund was quoted condemning the offensive as a public relations stunt “to give some prestige to the defeated and failed military commander... McChrystal”. — Agencies
Lankan lawyers slam govt over crackdown COLOMBO: Lawyers in Sri Lanka accused the government yesterday of illegally suppressing protests at the arrest of former army chief Sarath Fonseka. Thousands of people taking part in peaceful protests have been attacked by pro-government supporters despite the presence of armed police, the independent Lawyers for Democracy said in a statement. “We were shocked to witness that protesters were first attacked by hooligans and thugs who were provided protection by the police. Subsequently the same peaceful protesters were beaten by the police,” the lawyers said. Thousands took to the streets to protest against the arrest of Fonseka, who lost a January 26
presidential election to the incumbent Mahinda Rajapakse. Smaller protests were continuing yesterday. Two weeks after the election, Fonseka was arrested for plotting a coup when he was army chief. The lawyers said peoples’ right to protest and expression guaranteed by the constitution were “severely undermined by the law enforcement authorities and supporters of the government”. On Sunday, the heads of Sri Lanka’s influential Buddhist clergy backed opposition demands for the immediate release of Fonseka, a decorated war hero who helped crush Tamil Tiger rebels and their 37-year separatist campaign in May. — AFP
the US officials said one or two people posing as customers left a backpack containing a bomb in the bakery that exploded at 7:30 pm Saturday after a waiter apparently attempted to open it. Two foreigners - one Iranian and an Italian - were among those killed in the blast, said Satyapal Singh, the city police commissioner. Twelve foreigners were wounded - five Iranians, one Yemeni, two Sudanese, two Nepalese and one each from Germany and Taiwan. Police and forensic experts cordoned off the blast site and searched the debris for clues, but Singh said Sunday police were yet to detain any suspects. The bakery is about 200 yards from the meditation center that Home Secretary GK Pillai said had been surveyed by David Headley, who is facing charges in Chicago for allegedly scouting targets for the November 2008 Mumbai attack. Another senior official said Headley had also observed the Chabad House Jewish center near the bakery. The center’s rabbi, Betzalel
Kupchik, told Israel’s Army Radio station that four months earlier, Pune police warned him of possible attacks and stationed a guard around the clock at the center. “We are not worried,” Kupchik said. “We sleep here and eat here and hope for the best.” Saturday’s bombing was the first major terrorist strike in India since 10 Pakistanbased gunmen rampaged through hotels and a train station in the financial hub of Mumbai for 60 hours in November 2008, killing 166 people. Some 15 months on, and ties between India and Pakistan appear to be warming, although there are still occasional skirmishes on their disputed border in the Himalayan region of Kashmir over which the South Asian neighbors have fought two wars. The Indian army accused Pakistani soldiers of unprovoked firing at Indian positions on the cease-fire line late Saturday using automatic guns and rockets for nearly two hours. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan’s army. — AP
What is Pakistan’s latest judicial dispute about? Pakistani lawyers boycotted courts yesterday in a protest against unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari, who is in a dispute with the Supreme Court over the appointment of judges. On Saturday, a Supreme Court panel blocked an order from Zardari issued earlier that day appointing two judges, one to the Supreme Court and the other as chief justice of the high court in the city of Lahore. Following are some questions and answers about the dispute. WHAT IS THE ROW ABOUT? Zardari issued an order on Saturday appointing two judges, one as a judge of the Supreme Court and the other as chief justice of the high court in the city of Lahore. Hours later, the Supreme Court suspended the order on the grounds that Zardari had apparently violated the constitution by not consulting Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. WHAT ARE THE RULES? The constitution says judges shall be appointed by the president after consultation with the chief justice. The constitution defines “consultation” as discussion and deliberation which, except in respect to the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts, shall not be binding on the president. WHAT IS THE DANGER FOR ZARDARI? The row comes two months after the Supreme Court threw out an amnesty that had protected Zardari, several top aides and thousands of political activists and civil servants, mostly from old corruption charges. Zardari denies any wrongdoing and says the old charges from the 1990s were politically motivated. Although Zardari cannot be prosecuted as he is
protected by presidential immunity, he is likely to face legal challenges to his 2008 election as president on the grounds that the old charges made him ineligible. His row with the Supreme Court over the appointments could spur the court into more vigorous action on the cases challenging his immunity. Scattered protests, both against the president and in favor of him, broke out on Sunday and lawyers boycotted courts yesterday in a show of opposition to the president. At the same time, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, who had been largely supportive of the government, denounced the president on Sunday as “the biggest threat to democracy”. He also said Pakistan’s rulers wanted “to hide their corruption” by targeting the judiciary, Dawn newspaper reported. Sharif could call for street protests against the president. Zardari, husband of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has failed to match his wife’s popularity, but a ruling coalition led by his party has a comfortable majority in parliament. The row could blow over if Zardari backed down and left the appointment of judges to the chief justice. HOW DO INVESTORS SEE THE RISK? Investors in Pakistani stocks have become largely used to militant violence, especially in the remote northwest along the Afghan border. But stocks fell yesterday as investors worried about the potentially destabilizing judicial dispute. Dealers said the political uncertainty was likely to keep foreign investors away and they could start selling if the dispute intensified. At 1040 GMT, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark 100-share index was down 1.07 percent at 9,701.250. — Reuters
Nepalese president scraps virgin farewell KATHMANDU: Nepal’s head of state yesterday dispensed with a centuries-old tradition of having five virgin girls bid him goodbye as he left on a foreign visit, an aide said. Heads of state in Nepal have traditionally been seen off by five pre-pubescent girls representing the Hindu goddesses Durga, Sarshwati, Laxmi, Radha and Annapurna who perform religious rituals to bring success. They are presented with traditional marigold garlands in a ceremony designed to bring good fortune to the departing leader. But Rajendra Dahal, spokesman for President Ram Baran Yadav, said: “The president felt sorry for the students who used to have to wait outside in the sun for hours, so he scrapped the tradition.” Yadav, who took over as head of state following the abolition of Nepal’s 240-year-old Hindu monarchy in 2008 by the then Maoist government, left Monday for India where he will spend four days on a “goodwill visit”, Dahal said. The trip to India is his first foreign visit as president.
India has long been Nepal’s closest ally and main trading partner, but relations became strained when the Maoist party formed a government in 2008 following a surprise election win. Their leader broke with tradition by visiting China before India, and the ultra-leftists-now in opposition-have since accused New Delhi of interfering in Nepal’s affairs. Yadav will meet his Indian counterpart and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a visit aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries, his spokesman said. “This is purely a goodwill visit. President Ram Baran Yadav will seek to strengthen the mutual understanding between the two neighbors and will extend the good wishes of the Nepalese people to the Indian people,” said Dahal. Yadav, Nepal’s first president, will be accompanied on his trip by Nepal’s Tourism Minister, Sharad Singh Bhandari, as the government seeks to boost the number of visitors to the impoverished Himalayan nation. — AFP
KATHMANDU: In this file photo, Nepal’s then Crown Prince Paras (center) and Crown Princess Himani (second left) receive flowers from a group of five children during a ceremony prior to their departure for China at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. — AFP