ARAB TIMES, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013
SUBCONTINENT
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Italian defence boss resigns over India bribe scandal
India puts $750m chopper deal on hold NEW DELHI, Feb 15, (Agencies): India’s Defense Ministry said Friday that it has put a $750 million contract to purchase helicopters from Italian company Finmeccanica on hold amid allegations that bribes were paid to obtain it. The ministry said a formal notice has been sent to Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland helicopter division seeking cancellation of the contract. The company has a week to respond to the Indian notice. “With today’s show cause notice, the operation of the contract has been put on hold. The company has been asked to reply to the notice in seven days,” the ministry said in a statement. India signed the contract with AgustaWestland for the purchase of 12 helicopters in February 2010. Three of the helicopters were delivered in December. India has launched its own investigation into the 60 million euro ($750 million) deal after the Italian defense and aerospace giant’s chief executive was arrested in Milan on Tuesday on charges he paid bribes to obtain the contract. Giuseppe Orsi, CEO of Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, chief of AgustaWestland, are being investigated on charges they paid bribes in India. Indian Defense Ministry officials have said the contract includes an integrity clause against bribery or the use of undue influence. Under the terms of the clause, if any person or the company is found to have bribed officials or made any kind of payoff, the agreement can be scrapped and the firm blacklisted.
20 tents gutted: official
Tent fire kills priest at India’s Kumbh festival NEW DELHI, Feb 15, (AFP): A fire at India’s massive Kumbh Mela festival killed a Hindu priest in the second deadly tragedy to mar the gathering in a week, officials said on Friday. “Fire broke out in one of the tents when some priests were cooking. The tent caught fire and spread swiftly,” said R. S. Rathore, an administrator at the festival in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. “Twenty tents were gutted and one priest has died,” he told AFP. Rathore said that strict instructions had been issued beforehand against lighting fires in tents at the festival,
which at its height last Sunday drew a crowd of 30 million people, making it the world’s largest gathering. Thirty-six people were killed on Sunday night in a crush at a train station in the town of Allahabad as pilgrims headed home from the Kumbh Mela. The 55-day festival on the banks of the River Ganges has seen tens of millions of Hindus take a dip in the sacred waters in a bid to cleanse them of their sins. The Kumbh Mela, which ends in March, takes place every 12 years in Allahabad while smaller events are held every three years in other locations around India.
The Defense Ministry has already put on hold the delivery of the remaining nine helicopters. Italian prosecutors suspect that kickbacks worth around 10 percent of the deal or 50 million euros ($68 million) were paid to Indian officials to ensure AgustaWestland won the contract, press reports say. The latest move by the defence ministry is seen as an attempt by the government to contain the fall-out from the
corruption scandal ahead of elections in the first half of next year. Defence Minister A.K. Antony ordered an Indian police investigation on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the head of Italian defence and aerospace giant Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, resigned on Friday in a bribery scandal over the sale of helicopters to India as investigators questioned him in prison.
Indian troops kill Pakistani soldier near Kashmir border Strict curfew imposed in most of Kashmir SRINAGAR, India, Feb 15, (Agencies): Indian troops shot dead a Pakistani soldier along the de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region in the first deadly exchange since a truce was agreed a month ago, officials said Friday.
Pakistani killed in car crash with US diplomat
Provincial leader survives assassination bid northeast of Peshawar, which is on the edge of Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt, known as a haunt of Taleban and al-Qaeda linked militants. The umbrella Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) faction said it was behind the attempt on Hoti’s life as well as a series of bombings in the northwest on Thursday that killed at least 16 people. “We claim responsibility for today’s attack on Chief Minister Hoti. We also claim responsibility for yesterday’s attacks,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. “Be sure that we will carry out more such
Jamaat supporters attack securitymen
4 die in Dhaka war crimes protest DHAKA, Feb 15, (AFP): Clashes between Bangladeshi police and hardline Islamists killed four people Friday during a new round of protests over war crimes trials as the unrest spread to the country’s main tourist resort. Police said violence erupted at Tarabunia in the southeastern Cox’s Bazaar region as 5,000 supporters of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party took to the streets to protest at the trials of their leaders by a governmentappointed court. Jamaat supporters armed with homemade firearms and bombs and stones attacked the security forces who retaliated with gunfire, said police officers.
“So far four people have died in the clashes,” Nur Jahan, a local police officer, told AFP. A district administrator said three of the deceased were Jamaat supporters. “There were up to 5,000 protesters. They suddenly attacked us with homemade guns and bombs. We fired back in self defence,” local police chief Jashim Uddin told AFP, adding three of the dead were shot. At least 13 people have now died during clashes over the ongoing trials in which a host of senior Jamaat figures — including the party’s leader and deputy leader — are being tried over their role in the 1971 independence war.
Pakistani official said Friday. The embassy said in a statement that the accident happened on Thursday evening in the Pakistani capital. The employee’s vehicle collided with a motorcycle carrying two Pakistani citizens, injuring both men. One of the men later died from his injuries. The second is receiving medical treatment. The American diplomat was treated for minor injuries and released, the embassy said. “The US Embassy wishes to extend its heartfelt condolences to the families affected by this tragedy,” the statement said. “We have and will continue to cooperate fully with the appropriate Pakistani authorities on the investigation.”
Also: SRINAGAR, India: Authorities re-introduced a strict curfew across most of Indian-controlled Kashmir ahead of Friday prayers, as residents simmered with anger over the secret execution of a Kashmiri man in the Indian capital. Police drove through the streets of Srinagar, the main city, ordering residents to stay indoors. Despite the curfew, clashes and protests broke out in several places, police said.
US, UN urge free polls in Maldives WASHINGTON, Feb 15, (AFP): The United States and the United Nations called Thursday for free elections in the Maldives, after the Indian Ocean archipelago’s former leader took refuge in the Indian embassy. “We urge all sides to remain calm, reject the use of violence and avoid rhetoric that could increase tensions,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. The United Nations echoed her comments.
In this Feb 2, 2013 photo, Pakistani driver makes his way through slums of Karachi, Pakistan. Pakistan youth leader Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi has an innovative plan to counter the relentless message of violence spewed forth by radical Islamic groups in the country and is stealing a trick from their playbook to do it. (AP)
‘... not a bullet’
An Indian army spokesman said that the soldier had been killed in a firefight in which one Indian soldier was also wounded, and an AK47 rifle was discovered by his side when the body was recovered.
“We detected some suspicious movement yesterday near the LoC (Line of Control) inside our territory and the challengers from our side fired and in the ensuing firefight he was killed,” Lieutenant Colonel Rajesh Kalia, a spokesman for the Indian army’s northern command, told AFP. “At that time we did not know he was a Pakistani soldier. We killed an infiltrator,” the spokesman added. The Pakistani military condemned the killing, saying the soldier had become lost and crossed the LoC “inadvertently” and that civilians at the scene had seen him being questioned by the Indians. “We condemn such an inhuman and brutal act of killing our soldier after he had identified himself and explained his position,” a spokesman said. “This is not the first such event. We have returned Indian soldiers in the past, who had similarly strayed.” The spokesman later confirmed that the Indians had handed the soldier’s body to the Pakistani army. Pakistan’s foreign ministry demanded an investigation into the incident. “Pakistan calls upon the Government of India to carry out a thorough investigation into this unfortunate incident and to ensure that such incidents do not recur,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. It was the first fatal exchange between troops in the region since the two armies agreed a Kashmiri students shout slogans during a protest against the execution of a Kashmiri Mohammed Afzal Guru and continuous curfew in the ceasefire on Jan 16. Kashmir valley, in New Delhi, India, Feb 15. Authorities re-introduced a strict curfew across most of Indian-controlled Kashmir ahead of Friday Pakistan has asked India to prayers, as residents simmered with anger over the secret execution of Guru in the Indian capital. Guru had been convicted of involvement carry out a thorough investigain a 2001 attack on India’s parliament that killed 14 including five gunmen. (AP) tion into the incident and ensure it does not recur. But the Indians blamed the Pakistani soldier, saying he had begun firing when confronted by their troops. Lt Col Rajesh Kalia, a spokesman for the Indian army in Kashmir, said the soldier was killed in a firefight with Indian PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 15, (Agencies): “The target of the attack was the chief min- attacks.” troops in which an Indian soldier The chief minister of a restive northwestern ister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He and other Meanwhile, an American diplomat in was injured. He said Indian Pakistani province on the frontline of the fight associates remained safe in the attack,” he Pakistan got in a car crash with two Pakistanis troops had seen “suspicious against homegrown militants survived a told AFP. on a motorcycle that resulted in the death of a movement” in the Nowshera secTaleban suicide bombing assassination bid on Mardan lies around 50 kms (30 miles) Pakistani civilian, the US Embassy and a tor of the line of control.
Friday. Ameer Haider Khan Hoti was travelling to a political rally when the attacker threw a grenade at his car before blowing himself up, senior local official Zaka Ullah told AFP, but no one was hurt. The attack came less than two months after the Pakistani Taleban killed Hoti’s number two Bashir Bilour in a suicide bombing at a political meeting in Peshawar, the main city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is frequently hit by shootings and bombings. Danishwar Khan, police chief for Mardan, where the attack took place, confirmed it was a suicide bombing.
A Nepalese woman receives tilak or vermilion powder mixed with rice, on her forehead from a priest as her child looks outside a Hindu temple meant for Goddess Saraswati to mark Saraswati Puja festival, in Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb 15. Saraswati Puja is a special day for students when they show their respect to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and learning. Children are given their first writing and reading lessons during this festival. (AP)
Bangladeshi activists participate in a candle light vigil demanding the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah and others convicted of war crimes during the nation’s independence war in 1971, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Feb 14. They urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to review a verdict sentencing the senior leader of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party to life in prison for killings and other crimes. (AP)
Eye-catching rickshaws promote peace in Pakistan KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 15, (AP): Pakistani youth leader Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi has a plan to counter the relentless message of violence spewed forth by radical Islamic groups in his country - and he is stealing a gimmick from the hard-liners’ own playbook to do it. His weapon: the threewheeled motorized rickshaws that buzz along Pakistan’s streets carrying paying customers. Radical Islamists have long used the rickshaws as a canvas to market slogans in support of religious warfare in neighboring India and Afghanistan and to foster hatred against the United States. Zaidi is turning that strategy on its head with a fleet of rickshaws emblazoned with peace slogans and decorated with colorful designs similar to those found on many trucks and buses in the country. Peace “We need to take back this romanticized art form and use it for peace sloganeering and conflict resolution,” said Zaidi, head of the Pakistan Youth Alliance. Pakistan could certainly do with more peace. Domestic Taleban militants and their allies have waged a bloody insurgency across the country in recent years that has killed thousands of people. The nation is also home to many militants who have focused their fight on US-led forces in Afghanistan and have battled India for control of the disputed territory of Kashmir. Zaidi chose to begin his “peace rickshaw” project in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, a swirling cauldron of 18 million people wracked by ethnic, political and sectarian violence. Over 2,000 people were murdered last year in the city, located on Pakistan’s southern coast. The Pakistan Youth Alliance held workshops with over 200 students in some of Karachi’s most conflict-prone areas to come up with designs and slogans for the rickshaws. Common Some take common Urdu street expressions, such as “Hey dude, don’t tease,” and give them a peaceful twist: “Hey dude, don’t fight.” Others cite snippets of Sufi poems, phrases from Islam’s holy book, the Holy Quran, or messages of interfaith harmony: “Respecting other religions brings respect for your religion.” One of the most direct is: “I’m driving a rickshaw, not a bullet.” To produce eye-catching designs for the rickshaws, Zaidi’s organization enlisted the help of a truck artist in Karachi, Nusrat Iqbal, a celebrity in his field because
he once decorated a bus in London and a tram in Sydney. With initial funding of nearly $25,000 from a donor who did not wish to be credited, the group has decorated five rickshaws so far and has plans for 50 more in Karachi. It hopes to spread the fleet to Pakistan’s other major cities as it gets more funding. “I agreed to work on the program because everyone needs to do their part to spread peace and love in the country,” said Iqbal, standing outside his small shop in the middle of a truck yard in Karachi’s dusty and poor Sohrab Goth area. Hard-line Islamic groups such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa have long used rickshaws to promote their message, minus the colorful decorations. The group is believed to be a front for a militant organization that carried out attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people. Many rickshaws in the eastern city of Lahore, where Jamaat-ud-Dawa is based, carry anti-India messages sponsored by the group, such as “War against India will continue until the liberation of Kashmir.” Slogans Jamaat-ud-Dawa pays the drivers about $5 each to carry their slogans, said Zaidi. The Pakistan Youth Alliance pays about $100 to decorate each rickshaw and is appealing to drivers to participate in the campaign by telling them they will attract more customers. While buses and trucks across Pakistan are often festooned with flowers, tigers, peacocks and other images made with colorful paint, stickers and metalwork, many rickshaws are relatively unadorned. Iqbal, the rickshaw artist, used similarly eye-catching decorations with a propeace twist. One was covered with white and orange peace symbols, with the words “Peace Not Pieces” painted on the front in English. Another has images of local newspaper articles discussing violence in the country that are overlaid with colorful flowers and slogans preaching peace. Some have signs that light up at night that say “Aman Sawari,” or “Peace Rickshaw,” along with a steel heart with wings that says “Love, Peace, Tolerance.” Mohammed Salahuddin, a driver of one of the peace rickshaws, says the campaign has been good for his business. “People like the design and choose my rickshaw over others when they have a choice,” he said.