Factbox: What are the major issues between India and Pakistan?

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The talks between S.M. Krishna of India and Shah Mehmood Qureshi of Pakistan are widely seen as the first step in trying to revive a peace process broken off in the wake of the attacks on India’s financial capital.

Here are some of the main issues between the neighbors:

SECURITY

For India, security is the top issue. It has refused to resume a series of talks known as the composite dialogue until Pakistan takes more action against Pakistan-based militant groups.

In particular, India wants Pakistan to show it is serious in reining in the militants behind the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed.

This is complicated by Indian suspicions that the Pakistan security establishment backed the militants in some way. On the eve of the talks, Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai escalated the charges and directly blamed Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency for the attacks.

“It was not just a peripheral role,” he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper. “They were literally controlling and coordinating it from the beginning till the end.”

For its part, Pakistan accuses India of backing separatists in its Baluchistan province and providing weapons and funding to Pakistan Taliban groups, charges India denies.

KASHMIR

The divided, mostly Muslim Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the heart of hostility between the neighbors and was the cause of two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. The third was over the founding of Bangladesh.

Separatists began an insurgency against Indian rule in 1989 — a movement almost immediately backed by Pakistan — and since then tens of thousands of people have been killed. Most fighters want all of Kashmir to become part of Pakistan but many ordinary Kashmiris want independence from both India and Pakistan.

Krishna and Qureshi will have to sidestep another danger — getting bogged down in a blame game over ongoing anti-government protests in a part of Kashmir held by India.

Violent anti-government protests have swept India-controlled Kashmir for almost a month. The region is under an army lockdown.

WATER

The two countries disagree over use of the water flowing down rivers that rise in Indian Kashmir and run into the Indus river basin in Pakistan.

The use of the water is governed by the 1960 Indus Water Treaty under which India was granted the use of water from three eastern rivers, and Pakistan the use of three western rivers.

Pakistan says India is unfairly diverting water with the upstream construction of barrages and dams. India denies the charge.

SIACHEN

Indian and Pakistani forces have faced off against each other in mountains above the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram range, the world’s highest battlefield, since 1984.

The two sides have been trying to find a solution that would allow them to withdraw troops, but India says it is unwilling to bring its forces down until Pakistan officially authenticates the positions they hold.

Pakistan has said it is willing to do so but on the condition that it is not a final endorsement of India’s claim over the glacier, a source of meltwater for Pakistan’s rivers.

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan has become a major source of friction, although Indian and Pakistani differences over Pakistan’s western neighbor have not been a part of their official talks.

The two countries have long competed for influence there and Pakistan is deeply suspicious of a rise in India’s presence after the fall of the Islamabad-backed Taliban government in 2001.

It accuses India of using Afghanistan as a base to create problems inside Pakistan, including backing separatists in its Baluchistan province. India denies the accusations, saying its focus is on development.

This rivalry is complicating U.S.-led efforts to end an intensifying Taliban insurgency and bring stability to Afghanistan more than eight years after the Taliban were ousted.

(Compiled by Chris Allbritton and Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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FACTBOX-What are the major issues between India and Pakistan?

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – The foreign ministers of nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India are holding their first substantive talks since the Mumbai attacks of 2008 in Islamabad on Thursday. [ID:nSGE66D0EY]

The talks between S.M. Krishna of India and Shah Mehmood Qureshi of Pakistan are widely seen as the first step in trying to revive a peace process broken off in the wake of the attacks on India’s financial capital.

Here are some of the main issues between the neighbours:

SECURITY

For India, security is the top issue. It has refused to resume a series of talks known as the composite dialogue until Pakistan takes more action against Pakistan-based militant groups.

In particular, India wants Pakistan to show it is serious in reining in the militants behind the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed.

This is complicated by Indian suspicions that the Pakistan security establishment backed the militants in some way. On the eve of the talks, Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai escalated the charges and directly blamed Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency for the attacks.

“It was not just a peripheral role,” he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper. “They were literally controlling and coordinating it from the beginning till the end.”

For its part, Pakistan accuses India of backing separatists in its Baluchistan province and providing weapons and funding to Pakistan Taliban groups, charges India denies.

KASHMIR

The divided, mostly Muslim Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the heart of hostility between the neighbours and was the cause of two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. The third was over the founding of Bangladesh.

Separatists began an insurgency against Indian rule in 1989 — a movement almost immediately backed by Pakistan — and since then tens of thousands of people have been killed. Most fighters want all of Kashmir to become part of Pakistan but many ordinary Kashmiris want independence from both India and Pakistan.

Krishna and Qureshi will have to sidestep another danger — getting bogged down in a blame game over ongoing anti-government protests in a part of Kashmir held by India.

Violent anti-government protests have swept India-controlled Kashmir for almost a month. The region is under an army lockdown.

WATER

The two countries disagree over use of the water flowing down rivers that rise in Indian Kashmir and run into the Indus river basin in Pakistan.

The use of the water is governed by the 1960 Indus Water Treaty under which India was granted the use of water from three eastern rivers, and Pakistan the use of three western rivers.

Pakistan says India is unfairly diverting water with the upstream construction of barrages and dams. India denies the charge.

SIACHEN

Indian and Pakistani forces have faced off against each other in mountains above the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram range, the world’s highest battlefield, since 1984.

The two sides have been trying to find a solution that would allow them to withdraw troops, but India says it is unwilling to bring its forces down until Pakistan officially authenticates the positions they hold.

Pakistan has said it is willing to do so but on the condition that it is not a final endorsement of India’s claim over the glacier, a source of meltwater for Pakistan’s rivers.

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan has become a major source of friction, although Indian and Pakistani differences over Pakistan’s western neighbour have not been a part of their official talks.

The two countries have long competed for influence there and Pakistan is deeply suspicious of a rise in India’s presence after the fall of the Islamabad-backed Taliban government in 2001.

It accuses India of using Afghanistan as a base to create problems inside Pakistan, including backing separatists in its Baluchistan province. India denies the accusations, saying its focus is on development.

This rivalry is complicating U.S.-led efforts to end an intensifying Taliban insurgency and bring stability to Afghanistan more than eight years after the Taliban were ousted. (Compiled by Chris Allbritton and Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad; Editing by Sugita Katyal) (For more coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here)

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FACTBOX-What are the issues between India and Pakistan?

June 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – The top diplomats of nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India hold their second meeting in three months on Thursday in Islamabad amid continuing efforts to normalise relations strained by the Mumbai attacks of 2008.

Here are some of the main problems between the neighbours.

SECURITY

For India, security is the top issue. It has refused to resume a series of talks known as the composite dialogue until Pakistan takes more action against Pakistan-based militant groups.

In particular, India wants Pakistan to show it is serious in reining in the militants behind the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed.

Pakistan accuses India of backing separatists in its Baluchistan province and providing weapons and funding to Pakistan Taliban groups, charges India denies.

KASHMIR

The mostly Muslim Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the heart of hostility between the neighbours and was the cause of two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 (the third was over the founding of Bangladesh).

Separatists backed by Pakistan began an insurgency against Indian rule in 1989 and since then tens of thousands of people have been killed. Most fighters want Kashmir to become part of Pakistan but many ordinary Kashmiris want independence from both India and Pakistan.

WATER

The two countries disagree over use of the water flowing down rivers which rise in Indian Kashmir and run into the Indus river basin in Pakistan.

The use of the water is governed by the 1960 Indus Water Treaty under which India was granted the use of water from three eastern rivers, and Pakistan the use of three western rivers.

Pakistan says India is unfairly diverting water with the upstream construction of barrages and dams. India denies the charge.

SIACHEN

Indian and Pakistani forces have faced off against each other in mountains above the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram range, in the world’s highest battlefield, since 1984.

The two sides have been trying to find a solution that would allow them to withdraw troops, but India says it is unwilling to bring its forces down until Pakistan officially authenticates the positions they hold.

Pakistan has said it is willing to do so but on the condition that it is not a final endorsement of India’s claim over the glacier, an important source of meltwater for Pakistan’s rivers.

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan has become a major source of friction although Indian and Pakistani differences over Pakistan’s western neighbour have not been a part of their official talks.

The two countries have long competed for influence there and Pakistan is deeply suspicious of a rise in India’s presence after the fall of the Islamabad-backed Taliban government in 2001.

It accuses India of using Afghanistan as a base to create problems inside Pakistan, including backing separatists in its Baluchistan province. India denies the accusations, saying its focus is on development.

This rivalry is complicating U.S.-led efforts to end an intensifying Taliban insurgency and bring stability to Afghanistan more than eight years after the Taliban were ousted.

(Compiled by Chris Allbritton and Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad)

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Suspect held in Yemen over raid that killed 11

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Yemeni security forces Sunday arrested the head of the group suspected of carrying out an attack on a police building in the southern city of Aden which killed 11 people, the Defense Ministry said.

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Yemen blamed al Qaeda for Saturday’s attack in which gunmen wearing military uniforms raided a police headquarters in the port of Aden, killing seven security officers, three women and a 7-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.

“Security bodies in Aden succeeded in arresting the leader of the terrorist group which carried out the attack on the political security (police) building, killing a number of people and officers, women and children,” a ministry website said.

It identified him as Ghodel Naji, who it said belong to terrorist groups and had “a long history of terror and crime” and was also wanted for an armed bank robbery last year.

Yemen is struggling to curb a separatist movement in the south and to cement a ceasefire with Shi’ite rebels in the north. It is under international pressure to quell domestic conflicts to focus on a growing al Qaeda presence in the country.

A day before Saturday’s attack, al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to a state crackdown against it in eastern Yemen, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.

Yemen, a neighbor of oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since a Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a U.S.-bound airliner in December.

POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN AMBUSH

In a separate incident, suspected southern separatists ambushed and killed two Yemeni police officers on a routine patrol Sunday, despite a deal for calm in the flashpoint city of Dalea, provincial officials and state media said.

Separatists had agreed a deal two days earlier to end a weeks-long government siege of the city, with the government promising to remove roadblocks and the separatists agreeing to pull gunmen out of strategic points, the officials said.

Yemen’s Western allies and Saudi Arabia fear a resurgent al Qaeda wing could exploit unrest and use Yemen as a base for attacks in the region and beyond.

The separatist movement in the south has gathered steam in recent months, with deaths on both sides, while a separate civil war with Shi’ite rebels subsides in a northern corner of the Arabian Peninsula state.

Tension has grown in Dalea, with government forces surrounding the city shelling separatist positions in town earlier this month and engaging in gun battles with secessionists.

After Sunday’s ambush, in which suspected separatists set fire to a military vehicle after shooting dead the two police officers inside, security forces combed the city for the perpetrators. There was no immediate word on any arrests.

North and South Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen’s oil facilities are located, complain northerners have used unification to seize their resources and discriminate against them.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Cynthia Johnston and Firouz Sedarat; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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Suspect held in Yemen over raid that killed 11

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SANAA, June 20 (Reuters) – Yemeni security forces on Sunday arrested the head of the group suspected of carrying out an attack on a police building in the southern city of Aden which killed 11 people, the Defence Ministry said.

Yemen blamed al Qaeda for Saturday’s attack in which gunmen wearing military uniforms raided a police headquarters in the port of Aden, killing seven security officers, three women and a 7-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.

“Security bodies in Aden succeeded in arresting the leader of the terrorist group which carried out the attack on the political security (police) building, killing a number of people and officers, women and children,” a ministry website said.

It identified him as Ghodel Naji, who it said belong to terrorist groups and had “a long history of terror and crime” and was also wanted for an armed bank robbery last year.

Yemen is struggling to curb a separatist movement in the south and to cement a ceasefire with Shi’ite rebels in the north. It is under international pressure to quell domestic conflicts to focus on a growing al Qaeda presence in the country.

A day before Saturday’s attack, al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to a state crackdown against it in eastern Yemen, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.

Yemen, a neighbour of oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since a Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a U.S.-bound airliner in December.

POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN AMBUSH

In a separate incident, suspected southern separatists ambushed and killed two Yemeni police officers on a routine patrol on Sunday, despite a deal for calm in the flashpoint city of Dalea, provincial officials and state media said.

Separatists had agreed a deal two days earlier to end a weeks-long government siege of the city, with the government promising to remove roadblocks and the separatists agreeing to pull gunmen out of strategic points, the officials said.

Yemen’s Western allies and Saudi Arabia fear a resurgent al Qaeda wing could exploit unrest and use Yemen as a base for attacks in the region and beyond.

The separatist movement in the south has gathered steam in recent months, with deaths on both sides, while a separate civil war with Shi’ite rebels subsides in a northern corner of the Arabian Peninsula state.

Tension has grown in Dalea, with government forces surrounding the city shelling separatist positions in town earlier this month and engaging in gun battles with secessionists.

After Sunday’s ambush, in which suspected separatists set fire to a military vehicle after shooting dead the two police officers inside, security forces combed the city for the perpetrators. There was no immediate word on any arrests.

North and South Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen’s oil facilities are located, complain northerners have used unification to seize their resources and discriminate against them. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Cynthia Johnston and Firouz Sedarat; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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Suspect held in Yemen over raid that killed 11

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SANAA, June 20 (Reuters) – Yemeni security forces on Sunday arrested the head of the group suspected of carrying out an attack on a police building in the southern city of Aden which killed 11 people, the Defence Ministry said.

Yemen blamed al Qaeda for Saturday’s attack in which gunmen wearing military uniforms raided a police headquarters in the port of Aden, killing seven security officers, three women and a 7-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.

“Security bodies in Aden succeeded in arresting the leader of the terrorist group which carried out the attack on the political security (police) building, killing a number of people and officers, women and children,” a ministry website said.

It identified him as Ghodel Naji, who it said belong to terrorist groups and had “a long history of terror and crime” and was also wanted for an armed bank robbery last year.

Yemen is struggling to curb a separatist movement in the south and to cement a ceasefire with Shi’ite rebels in the north. It is under international pressure to quell domestic conflicts to focus on a growing al Qaeda presence in the country.

A day before Saturday’s attack, al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to a state crackdown against it in eastern Yemen, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.

Yemen, a neighbour of oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since a Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a U.S.-bound airliner in December.

POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN AMBUSH

In a separate incident, suspected southern separatists ambushed and killed two Yemeni police officers on a routine patrol on Sunday, despite a deal for calm in the flashpoint city of Dalea, provincial officials and state media said.

Separatists had agreed a deal two days earlier to end a weeks-long government siege of the city, with the government promising to remove roadblocks and the separatists agreeing to pull gunmen out of strategic points, the officials said.

Yemen’s Western allies and Saudi Arabia fear a resurgent al Qaeda wing could exploit unrest and use Yemen as a base for attacks in the region and beyond.

The separatist movement in the south has gathered steam in recent months, with deaths on both sides, while a separate civil war with Shi’ite rebels subsides in a northern corner of the Arabian Peninsula state.

Tension has grown in Dalea, with government forces surrounding the city shelling separatist positions in town earlier this month and engaging in gun battles with secessionists.

After Sunday’s ambush, in which suspected separatists set fire to a military vehicle after shooting dead the two police officers inside, security forces combed the city for the perpetrators. There was no immediate word on any arrests.

North and South Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen’s oil facilities are located, complain northerners have used unification to seize their resources and discriminate against them. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Cynthia Johnston and Firouz Sedarat; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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Flemish separatists claim victory in Belgium

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 13 (Reuters) – The Flemish separatist N-VA party claimed victory after Belgium’s parliamentary election on Sunday and projections showed they were on course to gain the most seats in the lower house.

“The N-VA has won the election today. We stand before you with a party that has some 30 percent (of the Flemish vote),” N-VA leader Bart De Wever told cheering supporters.

TV projections showed the N-VA would also be the biggest party in Belgium as a whole.

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CPI(M) seeks special package for J-K farmers

June 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Jun 6 (PTI) CPI(M) in Jammu and Kashmir today demanded from the Centre a special package for rehabilitation of farmers and cattle owners who suffered extensive losses due to inclement weather conditions in the state. “I urge the state government to project the losses before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the state so that special financial assistance from the Centre could be assured for providing relief to the affected people,” state Secretary of CPI(M) M Y Tarigami said in a statement.

He appealed to the government to prepare a contingency plan to ensure timely relief to the affected and to minimise the losses. Tarigami said crop insurance scheme that was recently announced for the state be implemented during the monsoons and stressed for inclusion of horticulture sector under the scheme.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be on a two-day visit to Kashmir from tomorrow during which he is expected to renew the offer for talks with separatists and review the progress in the Round Table peace initiative and development work being undertaken in the state.

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FEATURE – Sorely missed: Foreign tourists shy away from Yemen

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The ancient alleys of Sanaa are still bustling. Shoppers mingle, traders peddle their wares and children play in the street, all to a cacophonous backdrop of roaring motorbikes and honking cars.

But there is one thing that is almost entirely missing from the oldest and most picturesque part of the Yemeni capital: tourists.

“We have had no clients for a year and a half,” said Madeleine Schaffner from France, who, together with her Yemeni husband, has been running a tour operator for the past 12 years.

This week’s kidnapping of two U.S. tourists by armed tribesmen near the capital was another nail in the coffin for the badly needed tourist industry of this impoverished country, said tour guide Mohammad al-Hubaishi.

“That’s it — 99 percent of tourism has stopped as a result of the kidnappings,” he said.

“The government needs to take harsher measures. If they were in place, then nobody would do it.”

Hubaishi, who has worked in tourism for the last 20 years, was himself kidnapped in Shabwa in 2006, when he was held hostage along with French tourists for 16 days — long by Yemeni standards, where most abductions last just a few days.

Yemen, bordering the world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, surged to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemeni arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Yemen is also witnessing rising violence between government forces and southern separatists; and a truce reached in February with northern Shi’ite rebels who have been fighting the government on and off since 2004 is looking fragile.

Kidnappings of foreigners and Yemenis are common in Yemen, where hostages are often used by disgruntled tribesmen to press demands on authorities.

Most kidnappings are resolved within days with no harm to the hostages, but some have had violent endings. In an unexplained incident, a group of nine foreigners were kidnapped in the northern region of Saada last June, of which three women — two Germans and a South Korean — were later found dead.

YEMEN LOVERS STAY AWAY

Yemen’s struggling economy is badly in need of revenues from tourism, which contribute 3 percent of GDP. The country offers visitors rich historical sites, rugged mountains and pristine beaches. But a number of violent incidents have scared many off.

In 2008, an al Qaeda suicide bomber killed four south Korean tourists and their Yemeni guides while visiting Shibam, a UNESCO World Heritage site dubbed the “Manhattan of the Desert” for its 16th-century tower houses rising up to 16 storeys high.

In January 2008, gunmen killed two Belgian women; and in July 2007, a car bomb killed seven Spaniards in Maarib, a region to the east of the capital.

Some of the European embassies in Sanaa tried to keep travel advice on Yemen positive for as long as possible, a Western diplomat said, but the deteriorating security situation had eventually made this impossible.

There are still plenty of foreigners in Sanaa, but most are residents who work in Yemen. The visitors who come often have professional or family reasons for their trip.

“I am never scared, I don’t know why, but I am never scared,” said Segolene Belier, who was on her fourth visit to Yemen and planning to set up a private aid organisation.

“I live in Paris, I tell myself that I can be blown up there also,” she said, sipping tea in a cafe on the edge of Sanaa’s old city.

Tighter visa restrictions for visitors to Yemen, imposed after it was revealed that the Nigerian behind the December attempt to blow up a plane bound for Detroit had visited Yemen not long before, significantly cut the number of tourists.

Britons were among those who could previously get visas on arrival, but must now apply at Yemeni embassies at home.

“At the beginning it was affecting us. All the agencies and the institutions — they were not ready for this procedure. Now it is getting easier,” said Soraya Abu Monassar, general manager of the Burj Al Salam, a popular hotel housed in one of the old city’s iconic tall buildings.

She said most of the clients of her hotel, which boasts spectacular views of Sanaa and the surrounding mountains, were professionals working for government and non-government organisations.

For Yemen, where more than 40 percent of the 23 million population live on under $2 a day and more than half the young men are out of work, the loss of revenue to an industry estimated to be worth $900 million last year is another huge blow.

“This is a very, very big problem for Yemen. A lot of people work in tourism, it’s one of the only jobs here,” Schaffner said. Asked what she can do to save her business, she shrugged and said: “We wait. We wait.”

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Blast in south Russia: at least 4 killed, 39 injured

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

An explosion near a concert hall killed four people and injured 39 others in the southern Russian city of Stavropol today, with authorities saying they were probing the possibility of a terror angle into the blast.

The explosive device went off outside the House of Culture and Sports in the city, the capital of the region bordering the volatile North Caucasus.

According to the local authorities four women were killed in the blast, which took place near the hall where Caucasian dances were taught, a agency said.

The state-run Rossiya TV said that a terror angle was being probed, although the authorities have not ruled out that blast could have been triggered by business rivals as one of the cafe’s was badly damaged.

“A terrorist attack is being considered as one of the versions of what occurred,” city administration civil defense chief Boris Skripka was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti.

Stavropol lies on the north of the volatile Caucasus region, and borders on restive Chechnya and Daghestan, where frequent attacks are carried out by Chechen separatists against the security forces.

At least 50 people were killed and over 100 injured in March this year when two women suicide bombers blew themselves up at two different locations inside the Moscow Metro during the morning rush hour. The Metro bomers hailed from Daghestan.

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China lifts ban on Internet services of Xianjiang after ten months

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Urumqi (China), May 14 (ANI): Believe it or not, it took China ten months to restore Internet services in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The reason given by the authorities was the instability that prevailed in the area after a riot broke out.

Xinjiang dwellers now feel that this restoration of the Internet signals a reinstatement of the State’s confidence in the social stability of the region.

The move comes as a relief for the seven million Netizens inhabiting the region, as it will end their virtual isolation.

Authorities had banned the Internet after it was discovered that separatists and rabble-rousers had used the Internet, phone calls and text messages to spread havoc.

In a document released by its press office, Xinjiang”s regional government said Internet services were “fully resumed,” meaning netizens in Xinjiang were able to browse the web, chat online and put up postings again, Xinhua reports.

Resumption of Internet services was in line with maintaining stability and boosting social and economic development in Xinjiang, as well as the residents having access to information, the document said. (ANI)

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Training provided to census-takers in Kashmir Valley

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Srinagar, May 7 (ANI): As part of the preparations for the Population Census 2011, preliminary training sessions are being organized in the Kashmir Valley.

Around 3,200 employees of the state government from Srinagar and Ganderbal districts and Handwara Tehsil (block), attended the training sessions in various centers across the state.

“The training for the census started on May 5. There will be a refresher course on May 12. At the moment, the enumerators, supervisors and other staff involved number up to 3,000 in district Srinagar. We have provided training to supervisors and enumerators at 22 training centers,” said Mukhtar Aziz, Census Officer.

Along with the census-training, trainees were also briefed to motivate locals to participate in the census.

“Training will help in increasing efficiency of our work. We were taught the procedure to fill in forms and other formalities, so that when we go to the field we fill in the right information,” said Haneef, a trainee.

The 2011 census will start on May 15 in the state.

Around 33,000 employees of the state government would carry the two-phased census process.

As per the census of 2001, the population of Jammu and Kashmir was somewhat above of 10 million.

During the last census in 2001 the separatists had called for the boycott of the census but this time round, all political groups are supporting it, and are asking people to participate in it. (ANI)

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Canada will not allow Khalistani movement from its soil: Obhrai

April 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Vowing to crush the activities of Sikh terrorist organisations in the country, a top Foreign Ministry official said Canada will not allow its soil to be used by the separatists.

“The government of Canada will not tolerate any separatist Sikh organisation that poses a threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India,” Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs told PTI.

Obhrai was commenting on recent concerns expressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his counterpart Prime Minister Stephen Harper over growing support by Canadian Sikhs for militants in Punjab.

Ujjal Dosanjh, a former Liberal cabinet minister and onetime British Columbia premier, has said Sikh extremism was on the rise in some parts of the country and nothing was being done about it.

That militancy is worse now, he said, than a generation ago when extremists blew up an Air India flight, killing 329 people, most of them Canadians.

Ironically, Dosanjh said separatist extremism is more entrenched in some Canadian Sikh communities than in Punjab, the Indian region where the Khalistan movement named after the theoretical Sikh country originated.

“It’s getting worse,” Globe and Mail quoted Dosanjh as saying.

“The number of people who have continued to perpetuate that kind of hatred has become smaller, but more consistent and more long-lasting,” he said.

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Blast in Yemeni prison allows 40 prisoners to escape

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Thu, Apr 1 03:43 PM

A bomb exploded in a prison in the southern Yemeni province of Dalea on Thursday, injuring four inmates and allowing around 40 prisoners to escape, a government official said.

Witnesses and southern media said all those who fled the police jail belonged to Yemen’s southern secessionist movement, which opposes the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Recent months have seen increasingly violent clashes between separatists and security forces, and analysts say impoverished Yemen could face a sustained insurgency from southerners unless the government seriously addresses their grievances.

North and South Yemen united in 1990, but many in the south — home to most of Yemen’s oil industry — complain northerners have seized resources and discriminate against them.

Elsewhere in Yemen’s south, an activist was shot dead and three others were injured when security forces dispersed a protest in the city of Radfan in Lahej province.

Western countries and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa; writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; editing by Andrew Roche)

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Blast in Yemeni prison allows 40 prisoners to escape

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – A bomb exploded in a prison in the southern Yemeni province of Dalea on Thursday, injuring four inmates and allowing around 40 prisoners to escape, a government official said.

World

Witnesses and southern media said all those who fled the police jail belonged to Yemen’s southern secessionist movement, which opposes the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Recent months have seen increasingly violent clashes between separatists and security forces, and analysts say impoverished Yemen could face a sustained insurgency from southerners unless the government seriously addresses their grievances.

North and South Yemen united in 1990, but many in the south — home to most of Yemen’s oil industry — complain northerners have seized resources and discriminate against them.

Elsewhere in Yemen’s south, an activist was shot dead and three others were injured when security forces dispersed a protest in the city of Radfan in Lahej province.

Western countries and neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa; writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; editing by Andrew Roche)

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Bomb rocks town in Russia’s Dagestan – report

March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Wed, Mar 31 11:14 AM

A bomb exploded in the centre of the town of Kizlyar in Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Wednesday, causing casualties, Itar-Tass news agency quoted police as saying.

The blast occurred near a cinema, the agency said. It gave no further details.

On Monday, twin suicide bombings killed 39 people on Moscow’s metro underground rail network.

The deadliest attack in the Russian capital in six years fuelled fears of a broader offensive by rebels based in the North Caucasus and underscored the Kremlin’s failure to keep militants in check.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who led Moscow into a war against Chechen separatists in 1999 that sealed his rise to power, said on Tuesday that those behind the bombings must be scraped “from the bottom of the sewers” and exposed.

Moscow observed a day of mourning on Tuesday for the victims of the blasts, which authorities said were set off by female suicide bombers linked to the North Caucasus — a string of heavily Muslim provinces that includes Chechnya.

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov, editing by Ralph Gowling)

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Yemen says launches more air strikes on al Qaeda

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Yemen carried out air strikes against what they said were al Qaeda targets in the south for a second day on Monday, and authorities in the north recovered the remains of five people whose identities were being checked.

World

There were no immediate reports of casualties following three strikes in Abyan province, where the government was targeting militants who may have been hiding in mountains dotted with caves, local officials and residents told Reuters.

“The air forces targeted with three raids the district of Lawdar in Abyan where there are believed to be al Qaeda elements,” a local official told Reuters.

Abyan, where the state says it has been hunting al Qaeda, has seen an escalation in violence between southern separatists and government forces in recent weeks.

The government carried out a similar air strike there on Sunday, killing two top al Qaeda militants it said were planning attacks, although there was conflicting information about the death toll.

Yemen shot to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Western allies and neighboring oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability on multiple fronts in the impoverished country to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.

Southern opposition activists say Sanaa has been trying to link the separatist movement with al Qaeda, hoping to build support for its fight against domestic political foes.

Human Rights Watch has urged Sanaa to use caution when targeting militants to avoid civilian casualties, citing a December air strike against al Qaeda in south Yemen that Sanaa later acknowledged also killed more than 42 civilians.

BODIES FOUND IN NORTH

In northern Yemen, five bodies were recovered on Sunday and Monday after a Yemeni tribesman found several body parts in the Jawf province and handed them over to the authorities, a local source said.

The bodies were not thought to belong to a group of Europeans taken hostage last year, although the Defense Ministry said the government would conduct DNA tests to determine their identities.

A German family of five and a Briton are missing in Yemen, held by kidnappers who the government believes have links to al Qaeda.

The missing Europeans were among a group of nine foreigners kidnapped in the neighboring northern region of Saada last June, of which three women — two Germans and a South Korean — were later found dead.

“Information so far is that the bodies do not belong to the hostages,” a government official told Reuters. The Yemeni Defense Ministry’s online newspaper said the bodies were believed to be of Somalis.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that at the moment there was no way of saying who the people were.

“We must, however, of course be braced for anything,” Westerwelle said, adding German officials were also looking into the matter.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, which occurred in an area where Shi’ite rebels have been fighting government troops on and off since 2004.

That conflict, which drew in oil exporter Saudi Arabia in November, appears to have calmed down following a ceasefire agreement but analysts say peace is unlikely to last.

The Shi’ite rebels have denied carrying out the kidnapping.

(Additional reporting by Mohamed Sudam in Sanaa and Thorsten Severin in Berlin; writing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Cynthia Johnston; editing by Noah Barkin)

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Xinjiang separatists are doomed to fail, says Chinese President

August 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Uygur (China), Aug. 26 (ANI): Chinese President Hu Jintao, who made his first trip to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region since last month’s deadly riot, has warned the separatists that they are “doomed to fail”.

The July 5 riot, which killed 197 people and injured more than 1,600, were masterminded by the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism both at home and abroad, he said.

“The separatists don’t have the people’s hearts and are doomed to fail. Their sabotage activities will not shake the stable development of reforms in Xinjiang,” China Daily quoted Hu, as saying.

The president promised that more solid measures would be taken to beef up economic growth and social development in Xinjiang, and to improve the living and production conditions of the people of various ethnic groups.

Hu congratulated the armed forces, militia and police for their role in ending the July 5 riot in Urumqi, saying: “The key to our work in Xinjiang is to properly handle development and stability.”

He added that the success in quelling the riot and maintaining stability in Xinjiang fully demonstrated the power of the Party and the people as well as the strength of solidarity among ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

“Neither will they (separatists) sway the Xinjiang people’s determination to build a prosperous and harmonious socialist Xinjiang,” he said. (ANI)

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Kashmir Martyrs’ Day observed in Valley

July 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Srinagar, July 13 (AN): Youme Shuhada-e-Kashmir or, the Kashmir Martyrs’ Day was observed here on Monday in memory of 23 Kashmiris who died in 1931 while fighting against Dogra rule.

Various Kashmiri leaders including State Chief Omar Abdullah, New and Renewable Energy Minister and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah paid tributes to the 13 martyrs by offering flowers and garlands on the graves.

Main Opposition leader in the J-K State Assembly and President of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti also visited the Mazar-e-Shuhada (martyrs’ graveyard) and paid tributes to the martyrs.

Mehbooba, on this occasion, urged people to take steps for the sake of the Kashmir and appealed to make the State a place of dignity, peace and love.

To pay tribute to civilians who sacrificed their lives during last 20 years, the occasion was being observed.

Meanwhile, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chief of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, a separatist group, had called a shutdown and a march in memory of those who had laid down their lives in 1931.

Administrative authorities had to impose a curfew in Srinagar ahead of a ‘Lal Chowk march’ called by the separatists and police opened fire on people protesting outside Srinagar’s Central Jail.

Demonstrators had gathered in front of the jail when the trial of a youth Abdul Qadeer accused of involvement in a case of agitation was going on inside the jail. (ANI)

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Radio Pakistan still hopes to revive Khalistan agitation

July 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Abohar, July 13 (ANI): Radio Pakistan in its latest broadcast has attempted to provoke communal sentiments in Punjab.

In its Punjabi Darbar programme, it mentioned about the Blue Star Operation of 1984 and blamed the Akalis for not showing unity in reviving the issue.

Radio Pakistan’s anti-India propaganda and attempt to provoke people have been contested by Prof. Gurdeep Singh, a Sikh Scholar and Rajinder Singh, a village head, in Abohar.

“Sikh religion is beyond politics. The Sixth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Hargobind planned the Akal Takht right in front of Shri Harmander Sahab and the staircase of Akal Takht was constructed from Shri Harmander Sahab, so to make the world know how above the Sikh religion is from politics,” said Prof. Gurdeep Singh, a Sikh scholar,

“There is no discrimination Hindus and Sikhs in India. Pakistan radio wants to create tensions between Hindus and Sikhs. But people here are now well aware of Pakistan’s propaganda. A number of Sikhs have sacrificed their lives for the country. The Sikhs are given equal respect like other religions in the country,” said Rajinder Singh, a village head.

Broadcasters of Radio Pakistan must remember Indian listeners switch on to their channel just to hear the good music of Pakistan and not to their anti-India propaganda.

The four-day Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation ordered by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove Sikh separatists who were amassing weapons in the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

It was launched in response to a deterioration of law and order in the Indian state of Punjab. (ANI)

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