22
Pakistan-Bangladesh-sri lanka
Asian Voice - Saturday 24th December 2011
Sri Lankan army commanders In focus Afghan rape victim freed 'assassinated surrendering Tamils' Colombo: Sri Lankan army commanders were ordered by the country's leaders to assassinate surrendering Tamils in the final phase of the long and brutal civil war, according to a senior former military officer. The claims are contained in a sworn deposition made by a career officer who rose to the rank of major general before he fled the country in fear of his life to seek asylum in the United States. He is the highest ranking person to assert that atrocities against Tamil rebels and civilians were sanctioned at the highest echelons of the government. The source had the highest security clearance and close contact with some of the army's most powerful figures. His testimony contradicted a governmentappointed commission, which concluded that Sri
Lanka's military did not intentionally target civilians. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission report, which was released last week, said some isolated allegations of civilian abuses by security forces needed to be investigated further, suggesting that any violations could only have resulted from soldiers who were not following orders. That assertion flew in
the face of an extensive United Nations report that accused the government of deliberately shelling civilian areas and possibly killing tens of thousands of people in the final months. In his deposition, the major general says that he was informed that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the defence secretary and brother of President Mahindra Rajapaksa, passed on "some instruc-
53 kids chained in Pak madrassa freed Islamabad: Pakistani police rescued 53 madrassa students, some as young as seven, who had been chained in the basement of a Karachi seminary, unearthing gruesome tales of dungeon torture and visits by Pakistani Taliban instructors, who some claimed were starting to prepare them to join the terror group's jihad on the Afghan front. After the raid on the seminary, Pakistani police said they were probing the institution's possible links to terrorist groups. Pakistani authorities have long suspected that some of these seminaries are involved in brainwashing students to join violent extremists, including the Taliban operating in the country's tribal northwest. "We are being made mujahideen here. We are being made Taliban here. They say you should get
training... we will send you to fight," a student told Pakistan's Geo TV. The disclosure forced Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik to order a thorough probe into the Zakariya madrassa's role in training the children, sent there by poor families for religious education, to
become terrorist fighters. Pakistan police said the chained students rescued from a Karachi madrassa were beaten and barely fed and that they have begun investigations into the seminary links to violent militant groups. "The rescued students included kids as young as
seven and 21 teenagers,'' a police officer said. He said most victims had signs of torture and developed wounds from the chains. The police arrested some clerics, but the head cleric, who had arrived recently from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa, bordering Afghanistan, and his four accomplices managed to flee. A rescued student told reporters that he had been kept confined for 30 days. "I did not see the sky or the sun even once," he told reporters at a police station, where the students were questioned and then handed over to their relatives. He said their captors whipped them with belts and forced them to beg for food. Another student said he was kept chained in the basement for the past month. "They also tortured me severely during this period. I was beaten with sticks."
tions to a field commander to get rid of those LTTE [Tamil Tiger] cadres [who] are surrendering without adhering to normal procedures". Such an order, he said, "should come from either the secretary of the defence, with the knowledge of the president involved. He also has to be kept informed. The commanders could not undertake such decisions." It has been estimated that 20,000 people or more died in the closing months of the civil war in 2009. The source, whose name has been withheld, confirmed that assassinating Tamil Tigers who had been captured or surrendered became "standard operating procedure" as the Sri Lankan military forces closed in on the last rebel resistance on a strip of land on the island's northeastern coast.
Zardari returns to Pakistan Karachi: Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, has returned home on Sunday after completing his medical treatment in Dubai. His special plane, equipped with medical facilities, landed at the PAF base Masroor in Karachi. Zardari was accompanied by his daughter, Asifa Bhutto Zardari. Senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leaders welcomed him at the airport. The medical team accompanying Zardari declared him completely fit to resume his official duties. Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had dispelled claims of a rift between the country's military establishment and the government following a meeting with army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and a telephone conversation with Zardari. Sources had earlier said that Zardari's core team made the decision to return to Pakistan. Sources said Zardari would rest at Bilawal House till December 26.
Yousuf Raza Gilani asks US to respect Pak's 'red lines' Islamabad: The US must respect Pakistan's 'red lines' and give a guarantee that there will be no transgression of the country's borders in order to regain Islamabad's cooperation in the war on terrorism, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday. Gilani made the remarks during a meeting with US Ambassador Cameron Munter, who "emphasised that both Pakistan and the US should fully cooperate to fight the menace of terrorism," said a statement from the Premier's office. Pakistan "wanted to work with the US to defeat
the common enemy" of terrorism, Gilani said. "The prime minister, however, made it clear to the Ambassador that Pakistan's red lines should be respected, adding that the US must ensure respect for the national
sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan with the guarantee of nonoccurrence of the transgression of Pakistan's frontiers in future," the statement said. Anti-terrorism cooperation between the two countries has virtually stopped after a cross-border NATO air strike on two military posts killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26. Pakistan closed all NATO supply routes and forced US personnel to vacate Shamsi airbase, which was used by IAoperated drones. Gilani had referred to Pakistan's 'red lines' for
cooperating with the US while making a policy statement in parliament on Thursday. He had said the conditions included "sovereign equality and mutual respect, no unilateral actions inside Pakistan or against Pakistan and no transgression of our territorial frontiers." The Premier told the US envoy that "it was his primary responsibility to safeguard Pakistan's dignity and honour." In a reference to the NATO air strike, he said: "Respect for sovereignty and nonrepeat of unilateral action were the very minimum that Pakistan expected."
Kabul: An Afghan woman who was jailed for "forced adultery" after a relative raped her, then pardoned following an international outcry over the case, has been released nearly two weeks after a judicial panel said she could go free, her lawyer said. "She was released last night," said lawyer Kimberley Motley. "She's happy that she's in a safer place. "Sex outside marriage - even in cases of rape - is one of several "moral crimes" for which women are imprisoned in Afghanistan. Gulnaz, now 21, was attacked by her cousin's husband in 2009 and then given a two-year sentence for "adultery by force". She gave birth to a daughter behind bars.
Aid 'freeze' to Pakistan can be waived: US Washington: As the US Congress agreed to freeze close to $700 million in aid to Pakistan, the Obama administration sought to assure its estranged ally that the legislation merely includes a reporting requirement and that too could be waived. The freeze provision is part of a giant $662 billion defence budget for fiscal 2012 passed by US Senate by 86-13 votes last week, a day after the US House of Representatives approved it by 283-136 votes. It will now be sent to President Barack Obama, who has said he would reluctantly sign it after months of fighting over the handling of suspected terrorists, especially those who are US citizens.
Build ties like India does, Pak tells Afghanistan New York: Citing the "enormous maturity" shown by India in dealing with Indo-Pak issues, Pakistan has advised Afghanistan to "take a leaf out of the Indian book" and learn about building ties, instead of engaging in an "accusatory game" towards it. Even if a "leaf falls on the grass in Afghanistan", president Hamid Karzai points a finger towards Islamabad saying the "Pakistanis must have done it", Pakistan's ambassador to the UN Abdullah Hussain Haroon said. "It does not work that way. I think India would be a good example for Karzai to follow in which he should realize that this accusatory game gets no where," he said.
Pak honours Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor Islamabad: The ancestral homes of Bollywood legends Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar will be given the status of national heritage sites, a provincial minister said. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister of KhyberPakhtunkhwa province, said both actors were a "source of pride for our land" as they were born in Peshawar and steps would be taken to protect their homes in the famous Qissa Khwani Bazar. Hussain made the remarks while interacting with the media during a visit to the erstwhile homes of the Bollywood stars.
Fonseka loses appeal against jail term Colombo: A Sri Lankan Appeal Court rejected former Army chief Sarath Fonseka’s plea against his 30-month jail term. The Appeal Court in a unanimous decision upheld the verdict of the court martial which sentenced Mr Fonseka in September of 2010. The military court martial found Mr Fonseka guilty of following wrong procedure in procurements when he headed the Army between 2005 and 2009. Mr Fonseka was also sentenced to a three year prison term by the High Court last month for newspaper comments that surrendering LTTE rebels had been killed on the orders of the Defence Secretary Gotabhya Rajapaksa.
Mob kills 10 suspected pirates in Bangladesh Dhanka: Bangladesh police say fishermen have beaten to death 10 suspected pirates who were wounded in a gunfight with security forces. Local police chief Bashir Ahmed says the wounded men were being brought to a police station late when hundreds of angry fishermen snatched them from police and beat them to death. He said that police were far outnumbered by the mob and could not save the suspected pirates.
5 Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by Lankan navy Rameswaram: In the second such incident in over two weeks, five fishermen from Tamil Nadu were taken into custody by Sri Lankan naval force personnel when they were fishing near Katchatheevu, officials said. Fisheries department officials said the Lankan navy chased fishermen who had put to sea in 711 boats and rounded up three boats. However, fishermen in two boats managed to escape but five fishermen in the third boat were taken into custody. The Lankan navy also seized their boat and took the fishermen to Sri Lanka, officials said.
Pak court probes Zardari's knowledge of memo Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court began a hearing on whether president Asif Ali Zardari knew of a secret memo to Washington that has raised tensions between the government and the military. Zardari's sudden departure on Dec. 6 was gleefully portrayed by his critics as the flight of a guilty man from the country, and there was feverish speculation about his health.