Sri Lankan president ends minister’s anti-U.N. fast

July 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday ordered a cabinet minister to end a hunger strike against a U.N. war crimes panel, part of a five-day protest that hurt ties with the world body and the West.

The president arrived outside the U.N. compound in Colombo, and offered water to a supine Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who was in the third day of a “fast unto death” to get U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to relent.

The president made no public comment and a spokesman said he would not make a statement. Earlier in the day, medics had given an intravenous saline drip to Weerawansa, a nationalist ally of the president who gained popularity with anti-Western rhetoric.

“Don’t try to force me to stop. Not even the president can force me. Only Ban Ki-moon can stop this,” Weerawansa said then.

After Rajapaksa arrived, Weerawansa was taken away in an ambulance. Hunger strikes are a common tactic to bring attention to a cause in Sri Lanka and south Asia, but rarely end in death.

Sri Lanka’s relations with the world body and Western nations have been strained since it destroyed the separatist Tamil Tigers and won a 25-year conflict in May 2009, a victory that drew military praise but equal criticism over civilian deaths.

Weerawansa has been laying in front of the U.N. compound since Thursday, two days after police tried to escort trapped U.N. staff out until the minister got the president’s brother, Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to stop the officers.

Ban reacted angrily to the protest, recalling the U.N. country chief for talks and ordering the immediate closure of a regional U.N. office sited in Colombo, which local U.N. staff said had already been downsized for a planned move.

On Friday, the United States, European Union and seven European countries said the government’s handling of the protest could harm its international reputation.

Ban’s appointment of a three-member panel to advise him on “accountability issues” sparked fury from the government, which views the action as a prelude to the full probe demanded by human rights groups over thousands of civilian deaths.

Rajapaksa blames the West for applying double standards to Sri Lanka’s fight to destroy a group on U.S. and EU terrorism lists. The government says Ban’s panel violates its sovereignty, because it has its own commission probing the war.

Sri Lankan allies Russia and China both have criticized the panel as unnecessary. Rajapaksa denies soldiers committed any crimes and says the casualty figures are inflated.

Ban insists the panel is merely to advise him on international best practices for post-conflict reconciliation, and has no investigative mandate.

(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Andrew Caballero-Reynolds; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Sri Lankan president ends minister’s anti-UN fast

July 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

COLOMBO, July 10 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday ordered a cabinet minister to end a hunger strike against a U.N. war crimes panel, part of a five-day protest that hurt ties with the world body and the West.

The president arrived outside the U.N. compound in Colombo, and offered water to a supine Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who was in the third day of a “fast unto death” to get U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to relent.

The president made no public comment and a spokesman said he would not make a statement. Earlier in the day, medics had given an intravenous saline drip to Weerawansa, a nationalist ally of the president who gained popularity with anti-Western rhetoric.

“Don’t try to force me to stop. Not even the president can force me. Only Ban Ki-moon can stop this,” Weerawansa said then.

After Rajapaksa arrived, Weerawansa was taken away in an ambulance. Hunger strikes are a common tactic to bring attention to a cause in Sri Lanka and south Asia, but rarely end in death.

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For a related Q+A click on [nSGE66809V]

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Sri Lanka’s relations with the world body and Western nations have been strained since it destroyed the separatist Tamil Tigers and won a 25-year conflict in May 2009, a victory that drew military praise but equal criticism over civilian deaths.

Weerawansa has been laying in front of the U.N. compound since Thursday, two days after police tried to escort trapped U.N. staff out until the minister got the president’s brother, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to stop the officers.

Ban reacted angrily to the protest, recalling the U.N. country chief for talks and ordering the immediate closure of a regional U.N. office sited in Colombo, which local U.N. staff said had already been downsized for a planned move. [nN08108801]

On Friday, the United States, European Union and seven European countries said the government’s handling of the protest could harm its international reputation. [nSGE6682BC]

Ban’s appointment of a three-member panel to advise him on “accountability issues” sparked fury from the government, which views the action as a prelude to the full probe demanded by human rights groups over thousands of civilian deaths.

Rajapaksa blames the West for applying double standards to Sri Lanka’s fight to destroy a group on U.S. and EU terrorism lists. The government says Ban’s panel violates its sovereignty, because it has its own commission probing the war.

Sri Lankan allies Russia and China both have criticised the panel as unnecessary. Rajapaksa denies soldiers committed any crimes and says the casualty figures are inflated.

Ban insists the panel is merely to advise him on international best practices for post-conflict reconciliation, and has no investigative mandate. (Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Andrew Caballero-Reynolds; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Afghanistan sees Pakistan border trade deal in weeks

July 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Afghanistan expects to sign a trade agreement with Pakistan this month in a move which could boost stability, but only if its neighbor drops opposition to forward-traffic with India, business leaders said on Saturday.

A long deadlock over Afghan demands for transit of exports to India via Pakistan through the sensitive Wagah land route was close to ending, clearing the way for Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) within weeks, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce director Abdul Qadir Bahman told Reuters.

“It is not yet certain, but we have very strong hopes differences have been overcome,” Bahman said.

Landlocked Afghanistan is dependent upon transit countries for its foreign trade, with Pakistan having the nearest seaport. More exports would help President Hamid Karzai counter a Taliban insurgency by improving economic conditions.

Almost 50 per cent of Afghanistan’s trade is with its five neighbors Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan is worth more than $1 billion.

But trade is very one-sided, the World Bank says, consisting for the most part by imports from Pakistan, as compared to very little formal Afghan exports.

Bahman said both sides would hold an eighth round of talks before an international conference in Kabul later this month in which donor countries and Karzai’s government will try to chart a path forward for the conflict-torn country.

“The main point is access to the sea for exports to India,” he said, promising a deal would also help combat the current thriving blackmarket trade between the two countries.

“If we sign this agreement, it will decrease that because we will have found a way for everyone to carry out business without any problems,” Bahman said.

Afghanistan, due to its strategic geographic position, hopes to become a regional transit hub for trade with Central Asia as well as South Asia, the Middle East and China, if the security situation in the country can be stabilized.

U.S. and NATO forces are currently preparing a major offensive against the Taliban in its southern strongholds, although the danger of the eastern border was underscored on Saturday when 11 Pakistanis were killed by insurgents as they entered Afghanistan.

Transit to Afghanistan through Pakistan is currently governed by the 1965 Afghan Transit Trade Agreement which specifies ports, routes, transport and customs transit procedures.

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed on the need for a new agreement to give Afghanistan sea access and provide Pakistan with direct routes to Central Asia.

But Pakistan says Afghanistan is refusing to agree to customs duty on Afghan cargo in Karachi and other measures to combat illegal smuggling such as compulsory licensing, bank credit guarantees and quarantine restrictions.

(Editing by David Fox)

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Afghanistan sees Pakistan border trade deal in weeks

July 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KABUL, July 10 (Reuters) – Afghanistan expects to sign a trade agreement with Pakistan this month in a move which could boost stability, but only if its neighbour drops opposition to forward-traffic with India, business leaders said on Saturday.

A long deadlock over Afghan demands for transit of exports to India via Pakistan through the sensitive Wagah land route was close to ending, clearing the way for Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) within weeks, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce director Abdul Qadir Bahman told Reuters.

“It is not yet certain, but we have very strong hopes differences have been overcome,” Bahman said.

Landlocked Afghanistan is dependent upon transit countries for its foreign trade, with Pakistan having the nearest seaport. More exports would help President Hamid Karzai counter a Taliban insurgency by improving economic conditions. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For more on Afghanistan click [ID:nAFPAK]

or see link.reuters.com/syx62d

Afghan blog: blogs.reuters.com/afghanistan/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> Almost 50 per cent of Afghanistan’s trade is with its five neighbours Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan is worth more than $1 billion.

But trade is very one-sided, the World Bank says, consisting for the most part by imports from Pakistan, as compared to very little formal Afghan exports.

Bahman said both sides would hold an eighth round of talks before an international conference in Kabul later this month in which donor countries and Karzai’s government will try to chart a path forward for the conflict-torn country.

“The main point is access to the sea for exports to India,” he said, promising a deal would also help combat the current thriving blackmarket trade between the two countries.

“If we sign this agreement, it will decrease that because we will have found a way for everyone to carry out business without any problems,” Bahman said.

Afghanistan, due to its strategic geographic position, hopes to become a regional transit hub for trade with Central Asia as well as South Asia, the Middle East and China, if the security situation in the country can be stabilised.

U.S. and NATO forces are currently preparing a major offensive against the Taliban in its southern strongholds, although the danger of the eastern border was underscored on Saturday when 11 Pakistanis were killed by insurgents as they entered Afghanistan. [ID:nSGE669GBL]

Transit to Afghanistan through Pakistan is currently governed by the 1965 Afghan Transit Trade Agreement which specifies ports, routes, transport and customs transit procedures.

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed on the need for a new agreement to give Afghanistan sea access and provide Pakistan with direct routes to Central Asia.

But Pakistan says Afghanistan is refusing to agree to customs duty on Afghan cargo in Karachi and other measures to combat illegal smuggling such as compulsory licencing, bank credit guarantees and quarantine restrictions. (Editing by David Fox) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here)

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Q&A: Why the attention on Pakistan’s Chashma nuclear complex?

July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari visits China from Tuesday, following mounting signs that Chinese companies are moving ahead with plans to build two reactors at the Chashma nuclear complex in Punjab province.

Here is an explanation about those plans and why some other governments are concerned.

WHAT IS THE CHASHMA COMPLEX?

Chashma in Pakistan’s Punjab province is the site of a nuclear power complex built using Chinese expertise and designs. One 300 megawatt pressurized water reactor began commercial operation in 2000, and Chinese companies are building another one likely to be finished in 2011 or 2012.

Chinese nuclear companies have also unveiled plans to build another two bigger reactors at Chashma in coming years. They have not issued detailed information about when they will start, but contracts have been signed and financing is being secured.

WHY IS CHINA HELPING BUILD MORE REACTORS THERE?

Converging foreign policy and commercial motives appear to be driving China’s decision.

Pakistan is a long-standing partner of China, and Beijing believes it is important to back Pakistan to counter Indian regional dominance. It is also wary of growing U.S. sway across South Asia.

Pakistan faces increasing power shortages, and demand is likely to keep growing quickly as the country’s population expands.

There’s also a commercial pull, said Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Chinese nuclear companies want to win foreign markets, and for now Pakistan is virtually the only “springboard” they have to hone their skills abroad and nurture the expertise that they hope will later find customers in other parts of the world.

ARE THERE NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION RISKS?

In theory, Pakistan could at some later date take spent fuel from Chashma to reprocess for plutonium that could be used for nuclear weapons.

In practice, however, the International Atomic Energy Agency keeps safeguards at Chashma to prevent that happening, said Hibbs. China would keep control of the spent fuel to ensure it is not at risk of diversion to weapons programs, he said.

“There would be no connection between the fuel and reactors provided by China and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program,” he said.

SO WHAT ARE OTHER GOVERNMENTS WORRIED ABOUT?

Some of the worry is about Pakistan, and some is about the integrity of nuclear non-proliferation rules. There are those, including many commentators in India, who say Pakistan is so dogged by instability and militant pressures that it should not receive nuclear technology, which could be the target of attacks.

Also, leading Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan was an important illicit broker of nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, and critics say that is another reason to worry.

The more broadly shared worry is that, however safe Chashma may be, expanding the nuclear complex there could be a fresh blow to the integrity of nuclear non-proliferation rules.

Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons, and both countries refuse to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would oblige them to scrap those weapons.

The NPT rules say that if countries not authorized to possess nuclear weapons want to receive nuclear materials from countries adhering to the Treaty, they should accept comprehensive safeguard agreements for their nuclear activities.

WHAT CAN THEY DO?

For now, the main arena for addressing this issue is the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 46-member body that seeks to ensure nuclear exports are not diverted to non-peaceful purposes.

To receive nuclear exports, nations that are not one of the five officially recognized atomic weapons states must usually place all their nuclear activities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, say NSG rules.

When the United States sealed its nuclear agreement with India in 2008, it won a waiver from that rule from the NSG after contentious negotiations. Washington and other governments have said China should at least seek a similar exemption for the planned reactors in Pakistan.

But there is little likelihood of all 46 member governments of the NSG voting in favor of a waiver, and this is a group that operates by consensus, said Hibbs.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Boffins find mystery seafaring ancestor in the Philippines

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, June 04 (ANI): Anthropologists have discovered a foot bone during an excavation of Callao cave in Luzon, which has led to researchers’ claim that humans reached the islands off south-east Asia at least tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

Armand Mijares of the University of the Philippines Diliman, and his colleagues insist the bone is definitely human, and they are provisionally calling it a lightly built modern human.

Mijares pointed out that its shape was unusual, and its size fell within the ranges of Homo habilis and Homo floresiensis.

It suggests that humans arrived on Luzon, the largest and northernmost major island in the Philippines, at least 67,000 years ago.

“The arrival of people in Australia 50,000 to 60,000 years ago is a good comparison,” New Scientist quoted expedition member Florent Detroit of the National Museum for Natural History in Paris, France, as saying.

“It seems coherent for us to think that in; south-east Asia and Australia, humans had sea-faring capabilities by 60,000 to 70,000 years ago.” (ANI)

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‘Headley not a sticking point between India and US’

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A top Obama Administration’s official has denied that Mumbai terror attacks suspect David Coleman Headley of late has emerged as a sticking point of relationship between India and the US.

“I don’t think it’s a sticking point. I think that we’ve got a good dialogue and I think we’ll work out a way forward,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told reporters at a news conference yesterday.

“We are very pleased that the United States and India have been able to cooperate very closely on this critical and very complex issue.

“We continue to work very hard with our Indian counterparts to move forward on that. But I don’t have anything more to say,” Blake said.

“I am not in a position to,” Blake said when asked if he can say that whether the US is going to give India access to Headley, the US national of Pakistani origin who has been arrested by the FBI on charges of being involved in the planning of the Mumbai terrorist attack.

Indian investigating authorities have been seeking access to Headley so that they could interrogate him on his role in the Mumbai terrorist attack, that killed more than 160 people in November 2008.

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South Korea to punish North, seeks U.N. support

May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

South Korea said on Monday it would punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, with China coming under heavy pressure to rein in the hermit state as tension on the peninsula rises to its highest in years.

In a nationally televised speech, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he would take the issue to the U.N. Security Council whose past sanctions are already sapping what little energy the ruined North Korean economy has left.

Fears the escalating rhetoric could turn into open conflict on the divided Korean peninsula has weighed on investors in the South, Asia’s fourth biggest economy.

The won fell more than two percent to an eight-month low in early trading, though it later recovered a little with traders seeing the rhetoric as falling well short of any threat of a military response.

“I solemnly urge the authorities of North Korea … to apologise immediately to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the international community,” President Lee Myung-bak said in a nationally televised address.

Late last week, a team of international investigators accused North Korea of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.

“North Korea’s goal is to instigate division and conflict,” said Lee, speaking from the country’s war memorial in the capital Seoul. “It is now time for the North Korean regime to change.”

His government banned all trade, investment and visits with North Korea.

In what may alarm Pyongyang as much as anything, its wealthy neighbour said it also plans to reduce the number of workers in a joint factory park just inside the North which has long been an important source of income for the North Korean leadership.

Much of the diplomatic focus will be on China, the only major power to support North Korea and which earlier this month — to the annoyance of the South — hosted a rare overseas visit by the North’s sickly looking leader Kim Jong-il.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit herself to Beijing, urged China to cooperate on the challenge posed by the sinking of the Cheonan.

The United States is pressing China to join international condemnation of North Korea.

Beijing has so far avoided joining in the blame of Pyongyang, saying it will make its own assessment of why the ship sank.

Analysts say Beijing is terrified of any action that might cause the already shaky North to collapse, sending chaos across into its territory and, perhaps even more worrying, leading to U.S. troops moving up the peninsula right up to its border.

That means China is likely to be reluctant to support more sanctions against the North, whose economy is already in tatters.

TRADE ALREADY FALLING

A South Korean government report said the North’s foreign sanctions-hit trade fell 10 percent last year and could fall further this year, forcing it to depend even more on China to prop up its economy.

Lee said the South reserved the right to defend itself if Pyongyang wages aggression. The North said much the same to its neighbour last week when it denied involvement in the sinking.

Local financial markets took some relief from Lee’s comments which steered clear of any suggestion of military retaliation.

South Korean stocks and the won slightly cut losses while treasury bond futures extended gains as traders played down the chance the tensions with the North would develop enough to spark a massive capital flight.

“It’s not that tensions with North Korea will be cleared up in one day but the speech was worded in such a way as to help reduce investors’ jitters,” said Yoon Yeo-sam, a fixed-income analyst at Daewoo Securities.

Kwak Joong-bo, a market analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities, echoed that view.

“South, North tension is certainly not positive, but given historical trends, losses that markets suffer over this will be brief, unless a drastic situation takes hold. By drastic, I mean war. I do not think war is likely though,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Yoo Choonsik; Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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South Korea to take ship case to U.N.

May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

South Korea on Monday cut off trade and access to its waters to North Korea and demanded Pyongyang apologise for the sinking of a naval ship which has pushed tension on the peninsula to its highest in years.

In a nationally televised speech, President Lee Myung-bak said he would take the issue to the U.N. Security Council.

Fears the escalating rhetoric could turn into open conflict on the divided Korean peninsula has weighed on investors in the South, Asia’s fourth biggest economy.

The won fell more than two percent to an eight-month low in early trading, though it later recovered a little.

“I solemnly urge the authorities of North Korea … to apologise immediately to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the international community,” President Lee Myung-bak said in a nationally televised address.

Late last week, a team of international investigators accused North Korea of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.

“North Korea’s goal is to instigate division and conflict,” said Lee, speaking from the country’s war memorial in the capital Seoul. “It is now time for the North Korean regime to change.”

Lee said the South reserved the right to defend itself if Pyongyang wages aggression. The North said much the same to its neighbour last week when it denied involvement in the sinking.

As expected, he said Seoul would take the issue to the U.N. Security Council which it hopes will impose more sanctions on the reclusive state.

South Korea will also cut off all remaining trade with the North and barred its commercial ships from entering South Korean waters.

AID FOR CHILDREN

He promised to continue aid for North Korean children and stopped short of shutting down a joint factory park inside the North, the only remaining significant economic relationship between the two Koreas.

Local financial markets took some relief from Lee’s comments which steered clear of any suggestion of military retaliation.

South Korean stocks and the won slightly cut losses while treasury bond futures extended gains as traders played down the chance the tensions with the North would develop enough to spark a massive capital flight.

“It’s not that tensions with North Korea will be cleared up in one day but the speech was worded in such a way as to help reduce investors’ jitters,” said Yoon Yeo-sam, a fixed-income analyst at Daewoo Securities.

Kwak Joong-bo, a market analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities, echoed that view.

“South, North tension is certainly not positive, but given historical trends, losses that markets suffer over this will be brief, unless a drastic situation takes hold. By drastic, I mean war. I do not think war is likely though,” he said. [ID:nTOE64M02F]

The moves by the South will, however, further tighten the squeeze on North Korea’s economy, already badly hit by mismanagement and international sanctions for past nuclear and missile tests.

Perhaps mindful of going too far in his condemnation of the North, Lee in his speech did not name North Korea’s hardline leader Kim Jong-il who many believe sanctioned, if not ordered, the attack on the Cheonan.

South Korea can be sure of a sympathetic hearing from permanent U.N. Security Council members the United States and Britain, both of which sent officials to help the investigation into the sinking.

WINNING OVER CHINA

Much more difficult will to be to win over China, which effectively bankrolls North Korea’s ruined economy and has so far declined to be drawn on the question of blame over the sinking.

Chinese premier Win Jiabao will hold talks with Lee in Seoul late this week.

Washington, struggling to keep its own relations with China on an even keel, has called for an “international response” to the sinking. It has yet to specify what that might mean.

The U.N. sanctions North Korea already faces for past nuclear and missile tests are sapping what little bounce is left in a crippled economy that can barely feed the population and has relied heavily on weapons exports to earn foreign currency.

Analysts say China is willing to prop up the North Korean government rather than risk the isolated state’s implosion spilling across its border and may be unwilling to further sanction Pyongyang.

(Additional reporting by Yoo Choonsik; Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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US officials believe Shahzad used “Hawala” system to finance Times Square plot

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, May 14 (ANI): US officials probing the bungled Times Square bombing plot, have established that Faisal Shahzad, the American civilian of Pakistan origin accused of masterminding the terror plot, had used the “Hawala” system to get money for his nefarious plans.

The Hawala system, which is famous in South Asia, is a courier system used by terrorists and criminals to conceal the flow of money without raising alarms among the law enforcement agencies.

CBS News quoted officials involved in the probe as saying that it was unclear whether Shahzad used the Hawala system in part or totally in obtaining financing for the botched attack, including the purchase of the SUV, and his ticket to Dubai from Kennedy Airport to escape the US agencies.

Meanwhile, in another major development in the case, US security agencies detained three suspicious men, all from Pakistan, in connection with Times Square bombing plot in raids conducted across several locations in Boston suburbs.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Customs Enforcement agents executed search warrants in various locations in the Northeast.

Raids were conducted in Boston suburbs, where two suspects were apprehended while the third arrest was made from Maine.

Another man having links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who claims that he assisted Shahzad, was nabbed by Pakistani security agencies earlier. (ANI)

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US officials believe Shahzad used “Hawala” system to finance Times Square plot

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, May 14 (ANI): US officials probing the bungled Times Square bombing plot, have established that Faisal Shahzad, the American civilian of Pakistan origin accused of masterminding the terror plot, had used the “Hawala” system to get money for his nefarious plans.

The Hawala system, which is famous in South Asia, is a courier system used by terrorists and criminals to conceal the flow of money without raising alarms among the law enforcement agencies.

CBS News quoted officials involved in the probe as saying that it was unclear whether Shahzad used the Hawala system in part or totally in obtaining financing for the botched attack, including the purchase of the SUV, and his ticket to Dubai from Kennedy Airport to escape the US agencies.

Meanwhile, in another major development in the case, US security agencies detained three suspicious men, all from Pakistan, in connection with Times Square bombing plot in raids conducted across several locations in Boston suburbs.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Customs Enforcement agents executed search warrants in various locations in the Northeast.

Raids were conducted in Boston suburbs, where two suspects were apprehended while the third arrest was made from Maine.

Another man having links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who claims that he assisted Shahzad, was nabbed by Pakistani security agencies earlier. (ANI)

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Three Pak men arrested in NY over alleged links to Times Square bombing plot

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York , May 14 (ANI): US security agencies have detained three suspicious men, all from Pakistan, in connection with the botched Times Square bombing plot in raids conducted across several locations in Boston suburbs.

According to Fox News, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Customs Enforcement agents executed search warrants in various locations in the Northeast.

Raids were conducted in Boston suburbs, where two suspects were apprehended while the third arrest was made from Maine.

Search warrants related to the failed New York bombing plot were also executed in Camden County, and on Long Island in New York.

Confirming the arrest of three people, Attorney General Eric Holder said the men have links with Faisal Shahzad, the confessed bomb plotter, but the exact nature of those connections are still unclear.

“There”s at least a basis to believe that one of the things that they did was provide him with funds,” Holder said.

Officials said the New England men have been arrested on “administrative charges” related to immigration violations.

Sources said the arrested men may have “unwittingly assisted in some capacity”, infact they believe that Shahzad may have duped the men into providing money.

US officials are also investigating the possibility of Shahzad using the ‘Hawala” system to get money for his terror plot.

“Hawala”, which is famous in South Asia, is an informal value transfer system in which money does not pass through the banking system, instead funds are transferred to an operator in one country, and corresponding funds, less any fees, are sent to recipients in another country.

Earlier, US officials claimed that Pakistani security agencies have arrested a man having links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who claims that he assisted Shahzad.

American officials declined to identify the suspect, but said US investigators have direct access to him, and described him as a facilitator for the TTP. (ANI)

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US carefully reviewing China plan to build N-plants in Pak

May 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The United States has said that it is carefully reviewing the Chinese decision to build two nuclear power plants in Pakistan and asked the atomic power countries to honour their non-proliferation commitments.

“I think this is something that is still under discussion among all of us. Obviously it’s important from our perspective that all countries live up to their commitments,” US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said at the Brookings Institute – a Washington-based think tank.

Despite reservations from the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the China Nuclear Corporation has agreed to finance two additional civilian reactors in Pakistan.

“The Chinese have argued that it’s grandfathered. This is something that we haven’t I think reached a final conclusion on. But it’s something we’re obviously looking at very carefully,” Steinberg said in response to a question.

“I think it’s important to scrupulously honour these nonproliferation commitments. So we’ll want to continue to engage on the question, about whether this is permitted under the understandings of the IAEA,” Steinberg said.

The top State Department official said the United States has intensified its discussion with China on its role in South Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan in particular.

While Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has been to Beijing several times, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake held US-China Strategic Sub-Dialogue on South Asia early this month.

“We have had an intensified conversation with China on these issues. Ambassador Holbrooke has been to Beijing several times. We’ve had conversations both in Beijing and elsewhere. The Chinese have participated in a number of the multilateral

meetings involving Afghanistan. And I think our objectives are largely coincident in Afghanistan,” he said.

“I think we all seek a stable Afghanistan that’s has an inclusive government that’s responsive to its people; and a particular concern to both of us, that it does not harbour violent extremists that can pose a threat to the United States, Afghanistan’s neighbours and the international community as a whole. So I think that the basic framework within which we approach these things does have a shared set of interests,” Steinberg said.

Welcoming Chinese economic investment in Afghanistan, the US official said creating jobs and economic opportunity is part of a long-term strategy for creating a stable Afghanistan, creating alternatives to illicit production of narcotics and other sources of income for the Afghan people.

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FBI team swoops into Pak to probe Shahzad’s botched terror plot trail

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 8 (ANI): A special Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team has reached Pakistan to probe links between confessed New York bomb plotter Faisal Shahzad and terror groups operating from that country, and also to look into the possibility of whether the Times Square bombing plot was financed by these banned outfits or not.

According to a US official privy to the investigations, a probe is on to determine the source of money Shahzad put into use to plot the failed bombing.

A former official briefed on the investigations, while speaking on conditions of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said Shahzad may also have obtained the money through ‘Hawala’, an informal money-transfer network popular in South Asia and the Middle East.

“There is a lot of money. To get that kind of money, the theory is you have someone help you move it,” The Washington Post quoted a senior law enforcement official, as saying.

He also disclosed that Shahzad had brought with himself about 80,000 dollars to the US during foreign trips he made between 1999 to 2008.

As the investigation continues, US officials are verifying Shahzad’s claims of meeting top leaders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had claimed responsibility for the failed attack but backtracked later.

A senior Pakistani official, who is associated with the probe, said that as of now there was no evidence to prove that Shahzad had met TTP chieftain Hakeemullah Mehsud, but there are strong indications that 30-year old bomber was in touch with Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM), the banned Al-Qaeda linked terror groups which primarily focuses on India. (ANI)

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US unlikely to consider across-the-board change in policy with Pak

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 6 (ANI): The arrest of a Pakistani American for his role in the botched Times Square car bombing plot will not stop the United States from continuing to follow its flawed policy vis-à-vis Pakistan.

According to one analysis, Washington is unlikely to press for an across the board clampdown on terrorists so long as it continues to exaggerate its own dependence on Pakistan to the exclusion of others in the region.

In the analytical piece, what comes out is that unless the US suffers another major attack, it is likely to look the other way, or at best give lip service to the terrorism threat emanating from South Asia.

The analysis, however, warns that it would be dangerous to admit and to conclude that “lone wolf” threats are over.

“It is better to assume that there are more such lone wolves lurking around somewhere. The man (Shahzad) was apprehended at the last minute, very much in the style of movies and in fortuitous circumstances. Had he booked himself on an earlier flight, he might have escaped,” the analysis says.

“The fear of a successful attempt the next time is real. Should such an attack be successful the next time, American reaction would have to be in the extreme,” it adds.

US intelligence agencies have their work cut out.

Did Shahzad have someone backing him or not? With US intelligence and law enforcement agencies being clueless on this score, the implication is that there are enough ‘converts’ to jihad in the US and West that it would make the authorities start looking hard.

There are many unanswered questions and more will emerge as the investigations continue, the analysis says, and adds that there will be two immediate reactions in the US.

. There will be increased general suspicion or even racial tension against Pakistanis or persons of Pakistani origin, and secondly,

. The authorities are also likely to become stricter in their scrutiny of people going and coming from Pakistan. There will be stricter immigration and migration checks.

Third, publicly there will be more questions asked of the Obama administration about the wisdom of co-operating with a government (Pakistan) whose people were now threatening innocent Americans.

The author of the analysis believes that US policies towards Pakistan won’t see much change.

“There will be the usual remonstrations and finger wagging, but ultimately the Pakistanis will declare helplessness owing to the bloody mindedness of the Indians. Pakistan will use this opportunity to press even more strongly on their key India specific demands (Kashmir and now water, reducing Indian presence and role in Afghanistan, getting a Pak friendly or anti-Indian leadership in Kabul, nuclear, delivery of more weapons ostensibly for CI ops). The US will continue to push for effective Pak Army action in North Waziristan, heightened intelligence co-operation and role for CIA, increased drone strikes and so on,” he concludes. (ANI)

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US must push Pak to deal ‘unambiguously’ with terrorists targeting India, world: Curtis

May 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 5 (ANI): Even though Faisal Shehzad, who has been accused of plotting the failed Times Square bombing, has claimed that he was acting ‘alone’ and not on behalf of any terror organisation, US policymakers have their task cut out, which is to convince Pakistan to deal firmly and unambiguously with all extremist organisations operating from its soil, including the ones targeting India.

According to Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow for South Asia in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, Washington must make Islamabad take tangible action against all extremist organisation operating from terror hot beds situated in the country’s lawless tribal regions.

Curtis stressed that Pakistan cannot make distinctions among terror groups, which it had been doing so far.

“The increasing fluidity and cross-pollination of the different terrorist groups in Pakistan makes it no longer possible to make distinctions between those groups targeting India and those targeting the rest of the world, including Pakistan itself,” Curtis said.

She noted that due to the fact that several terror attacks and plots in the US, Europe and India in the last five years have had a Pakistani link, the focus of the investigations needs to turn to Shahzad’s activities during his five-month stay in Pakistan, which may have been critical in both motivating and technically preparing him to carry out the attempted attack.

The case of David Coleman Headley, who scouted sites for November 2008 Mumbai attacks and was arrested in Chicago in October 2009, is a prime example of the need for U.S. investigators to run down leads inside Pakistan, Curtis said.

She, however, said that although it is too early to speculate on Shahzad’s connections to international terrorist networks, it is clear that the U.S. will need to work closely with Pakistan’s authorities to run down any leads inside that country. (ANI)

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Venom website hopes cut snake bite deaths

May 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 5 (ANI): A website has been launched by the World Health Organisation which it hopes will help cut the estimated 100,000 deaths caused annually by poisonous snakes.

The UN health agency said that the site has a database of approved anti-venoms to treat the 2.5 million people who suffer venomous bites each year.

According to WHO, many anti-venoms are inappropriate and have led to a loss of confidence among doctors and patients, reports The Scotsman.

“The regions that are most in need are sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South-east Asia,” said Ana Padilla, a snake venom expert at WHO.

WHO”s co-ordinator for medicine safety, Dr Lembit Rago, said if the proper anti-venom is administered in time many deaths and serious consequences from snake bites can be prevented. (ANI)

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India tells Pak that terrorism holding back talks progress

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Thimphu, Apr 29 (ANI): India told Pakistan on Thursday that terrorism is stalling progress of the bilateral talks process, and added that there is a need for both countries to pay attention to reducing the existing trust deficit.

During a significant 50-minute meeting held at Bhutan House here on the sidelines of the XVIth SAARC Summit, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh told his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani that terrorism is holding back progress in Indo-Pak ties.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said Prime Minister Singh particularly mentioned India’s concerns over Pakistan’s tardy progress in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to justice.

She said India laid stress on the fact that there has been an increase in cross-border terror, and added that Prime Minister Singh had expressed his deep concern over the activities and free movement of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

Rao said that Prime Minister Gilani responded by saying that Pakistan is serious about tackling terror and is taking all steps under the laws of the land to bring to book the perpetrators of 26/11.

Saeed is wanted by India as the prime suspect for the 26/11 attacks.

Rao said that while no joint statement was issued after the talks, both sides would meet as soon as possible at the Foreign Ministers and Secretaries level.

She also said that both Dr. Singh and Mr. Gilani had decided that channels of dialogue should be kept open to restore “trust and confidence” in the bilateral relationship.

“The Prime Ministers held very good talks in a free and frank manner. They agreed that cooperation between the two countries is vital for the people of South Asia to realize their destiny,” Rao told reporters.

“Prime Minister expressed India’s concern over the slow progress of Mumbai trial in Pakistan to Prime Minister Gilani,” Ms. Rao said.

This was their first meeting after their dialogue in Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt on July 16, 2009.

Rao said both leaders first met accompanied by their respective delegations. This was followed by a one-on-one meeting and then again by another meeting with the respective delegations present.

Rao said that Dr. Singh had told Mr. Gilani that India is willing to discuss all issues of mutual concern through dialogue.

At a separate interaction with the media, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the meeting between the two leaders ended on a positive note and he would be meeting his Indian counterpart S. M. Krishna soon.

He also welcomed Home Minister P. Chidambaram to Islamabad on June 26 for the SAARC Home Minister’s conference.

Qureshi claimed that the meeting has “changed the climate” between the two countries.

Asked whether Foreign Ministers-level talks amounted to a resumption of the suspended Composite Dialogue process between both nations, Rao said: “I do not want to get into details about the nomenclature of the talks.”

She also declined to go into the details of the issues that would figure in the talks, saying “all concerns” would be discussed.

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For Pakistan, Kashmir is a matter of life and death : JUI-F

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Karachi, Apr.29 (ANI): Describing the Kashmir issue as a matter of ‘life and death’ for Pakistan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman has reiterated Islamabad’s long standing demand of resolving the Kashmir issues in accordance with the United Nations (UN) resolutions.

Speaking during a seminar titled: “Kashmiris Right of Self Determination”, Rahman said Kashmir was of utmost importance for Pakistan.

Citing China’s claims over Taiwan, he said Pakistan should also follow Beijing’s approach while dealing with the Kashmir issues.

“China has been single-mindedly pursuing its case for Taiwan.Much can be learnt from Chinese experience. Unfortunately Pakistan’s foreign policy is not truly reflective of consistency that a matter like Kashmir deserves and requires,” The Nation quoted Rahman, as saying.

“The people of Kashmir enlivened Kashmiri movement with their sacrifices but the Shimla Pact diluted the very international nature of Kashmir dispute. There have been several solutions for the Kashmir problem but the best one will be one that is based upon peaceful accommodation between the two countries,” he added.

Rahman said that post 9/11, Pakistan’s Kashmir policy had suffered great setbacks, and that it has now become a question of Pakistan’s survival.

“Today this problem was no longer Kashmir oriented. It is now a problem of Pakistan’s existence for Pakistan’s agriculture has been facing direct consequences of water terrorism by India,” he said.

Speaking during the seminar, Dr. Moonis Ahmar, chairman Department of International Relations, Karachi University, described the Kashmir issue as a ‘human’ problem.

Ahmar emphasized upon a peaceful solution for the Kashmir problem, saying its solution could fundamentally alter the lives of more than one billion people in South Asia.

“Practical measures should be taken towards the direction of Kashmir’s resolution because the absence of peace has proved to be detrimental to the common interests of common people of the region,” he said. (ANI)

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SAARC Summit: Peace imperative for regional development, says Gilani

April 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Thimpu, Apr.28 (ANI): Stressing that peace is imperative for regional development, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that stabilising the region and establishing peace were his countries top priorities.

Addressing the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit here, Gilani called for both individual and collective efforts for poverty alleviation, establishment of peace, promotion of health and education in the region.

Gilani said terrorism has become an international phenomenon and it has affected South Asia the most, and pointed out that the SAARC countries will have to fight the menace of terrorism together.

He said that the region can become a global economy engine, but for that to happen a greater coordination for inter-regional trade among the countries is required.

Gilani also called to redouble efforts to conserve eco resources of the region, and said that area-wise mitigation of issue must be assessed in the summit.

Highlighting the need of water conservation, Gilani emphasizedon the role of regional cooperation over the issue. (ANI)

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