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Lib Dems anti-Islam rants: Put pork restaurant
next to mosque
In a local by-election to be held this Thursday local
Lib Dem candidate Dave Stones will be allowed to
stand by in spite of repeatedly and shockingly anti-
Islamic remarks.
In one message referring to the site of a religious
centre in New York, Mr Stones posted: Regarding
the mosque being built near ground zero. I say let
them build it. But then, across the street we should
put a topless bar called You Mecca Me Hot and
next to that a gay bar called The Turban Cowboy
and next to that a Pork Rib restaurant called Iraq-
O-Ribs and next to that...a...check-cashing place
called ...Iran out of Money then well see whos
tolerant. Stone goes on to encourage others to copy,
paste and pass on to others.
Im not aware if he has apologised for this particular
rancid rant against Muslims, but two things are very
absent: Frist, what does the local Lib Dem party
think of having such a representative and even
more importantly what does the Lib Dem Leader
Nick Clegg have to say on the subject ? .
Are they both content that he is their representative?
Just last week Nick Clegg was very quick to condemn
Diane Abbott MP for her clumsy semantic mistake
when she forgot to use the word Some, before
saying white people try and divide and rule Black
people. Today, Cleggs non response is, frankly,
deafening.
The local MP Mr Blenkinsop has said, The idea that
he could be involved in Redcar and Cleveland local
government disgusts me when he has shown such a
lack of respect towards its Muslim residents, many
of whom are my constituents.
Anti Islamic Lib
Dem Candidate:
Dave Stones
A talk organised yesterday by
the Queen Mary University
Atheism, Secularism and
Humanism Society on Sharia
Law and Human Rights had
to be cancelled after threats of
violence.
Five minutes before the talk was
due to start a man burst into the
room holding a camera phone
and for some seconds stood
Threats of violence force cancellation
of university talk on sharia law
Muslim man threatens students at debate
Britain, probably safer than most
countries in the world, may not seem so
to Indians right now after two horric
murder incidents recently and the
arrest of an Indian teacher in Oxford.
Perhaps this is a coincidence but
parents wondering whether to send
their children to the UK for higher
studies after the horric Anuj Bidve
killing in Salford wont be encouraged
by what happened to Avtar Kolar last
Wednesday.
A third man was arrested on suspicion
of murdering the parents of a police
ofcer. The suspect, 37, was held at
lunchtime on Monday.
Avtar Kolar, 62, and his wife Carole,
58, were found in Handsworth Wood,
Birmingham, last Wednesday. One
suspect, aged 24, was arrested on
Friday and freed on bail. A second
man, 41, was released without charge.
DETECTIVES probing the double
murders of a Birmingham couple found
dead by their policeman son have ruled
out gold robbery as a motive. In the
wake of the murders, there were fears
among some residents that homes in
the area were being targeted by violent
thieves hunting highly valuable Asian
gold.
Detectives investigating the murder of
the parents of a police ofcer have been
granted extra time to question a third
man over their deaths.
Vile crime
Mr and Mrs Kolar, who had been
married for 40 years, were found at
the Friary Road property by their son
Jason, who is a West Midlands Police
Birmingham double murder

Britain, probably safer than most countries in the world, may not
seem so to Indians right now.

Avtar and Carole Kolar: Police granted more time to quiz suspect

Third man held for murders

Victorias hair salon, which the tragic couple had owned in Kingstanding.
Continued on page 2 >>
Continued on page 2 >>
King of Screen
NEWS 2
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
Publisher
Salah Bu Khamas (UAE)
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Ali Ansar (Art Director)
Md. Reazul Islam
UK deputy PM:
Settlements are vandalism
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick
Clegg said that Israeli settlements
in the West Bank are deliberate
vandalism, underlining the UK
governments hardening line,
British The Jewish Chronicles
website reported Monday.
Speaking alongside Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas during his visit to the UK,
Clegg condemned continuous
settlement building in the
strongest possible terms.
Abbas welcomed the ofcial
remarks, according to the report.
He was in London ahead of
negotiations between Israeli and
Palestinian delegations in Amman,
Jordan.
The UK has been consistently
critical regarding Israeli settlement
plans, including those in areas
of east Jerusalem past the Green
Line.
Clegg speaks alongside PA President Abbas
prior to Israeli-Palestinian talks in Amman.
Birmingham double murder
ofcer. Post-mortem examinations revealed
both died as a result of blunt-force trauma to
the head, each sustaining a number of blows.
A police spokeswoman said: Specialist
forensic investigators remain at the address
carrying out thorough examinations and
detectives and local neighbourhood ofcers
continue to conduct local inquiries.
Detectives have said they are looking into a
number of lines of inquiry, including a rise in
burglaries and gold thefts in the area.
Det Supt Richard Baker, who is leading a team
of more than 60 ofcers assigned to the case,
has said a possible link between Jason Kolars
position with the force and his parents death
was not a signicant line of inquiry.
Crimestoppers said the double murder was a
vile crime and has put up a 10,000 reward
for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of those responsible.
lming the faces of all those in
the room. He shouted listen up all of
you, I am recording this, I have your
faces on lm now, and I know where
some of you live, at that moment he
aggressively pushed the phone in
someones face and then said and if I
hear that anything is said against the
holy Prophet Mohammed, I will hunt
you down. He then left the room.
The incident took place on Monday
evening at a meeting organised
by the Atheism, Secularism and
Humanism Society at Queen Mary
University in London. Enquiries by
Tower Hamlets police are ongoing.
A Scotland Yard spokesperson said:
Police were called at approximately
19:00 on Monday 16 January to a
building on Mile End Road following
a report of a man being threatened
by another man. Ofcers attended
and the victim was spoken to.
Threats of violence force cancellation of university talk on sharia
A retired doctor accused of trafcking an African
woman into the UK to work as her slave for
more than three years has been acquitted after a
retrial. Saeeda Khan, 69, was said to have treated
Mwanahamisi Mruke like an animal, forcing her
to sleep on the oor at her 500,000 home in
Harrow, northwest London.
She was said to have paid her 10 a month to work
from 5am to midnight and deprived of property.
Prosecutor Caroline Haughey claimed Khan had
treated Ms Mruke, 48, as a piece of property
after bringing her to Britain from Tanzania.
Khan:retired medic cleared of
modern day slavery charge
A trainee electrician accused of savagely beating
a TV executive and leaving him to die in the boot
of a burning car today (Weds) insisted he had no
motive to kill him. Harinder Shoker, 20, told jurors
he was close friends with victim Gagandip Singh
but admitted he was concerned about his attitude
towards women. The 21-year-old sexually assaulted
co-accused medical student Mundil Mahil around
six months before his death on February 26 last
year, the Old Bailey heard. His body was found in
the burning remains of a Mercedes in Blackheath,
southeast London, just hours after he was allegedly
attacked by Shoker, also known as Ravi, and Darren
Peters, also 20, at Mahils Brighton home.
Shoker: electrician accused
of burning car murder
Two soldiers arrested over claims they
abused boy and girl and showed lm to
colleagues, Sun newspaper reports
Military police have launched an
investigation into claims that British
soldiers abused two children during
their tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defence conrmed an
inquiry had begun into two soldiers
from the Mercian Battle Group, which
is serving a six-month stint in the
country.
The Sun newspaper reported that the
men, who were from lower ranks, had
been arrested for allegedly abusing a
boy and a girl, who were aged about 10.
The soldiers are said to have lmed
separate incidents then showed the
footage to other servicemen on their
laptop computers.
Colleagues complained about their
behaviour and the pair were arrested
and several laptops seized, the Sun
said.
It reported one source as saying what
the military had to establish is whether
we are looking at sexual predatory
behaviour or totally ill-judged larking
about.
It is believed to be the rst time British
soldiers in Afghanistan have been
accused of this kind of abuse.
The MoD said the matter was being
taken extremely seriously.
We are aware that an allegation has been
made concerning alleged inappropriate
behaviour by two servicemen in
Afghanistan, the MoD said. He added,
We take any such allegation extremely
seriously. It would be inappropriate to
comment further while an investigation
is ongoing.
The allegations came just days after video
footage emerged apparently showing US Marines
urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban ghters.
Ofcial gures have revealed that
the unemployment rate in Britain
is set to hit new records in 2012,
with public sector civil servants
expected to be hit the hardest.
Britains Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development
(CIPD) has warned that an
additional 120,000 British workers
will lose their jobs in 2012 bringing
the number of the British jobless to
a record high of 2.85 million.
The unemployment rate in the
UK is already at a 17-year high of
8.3% with 2.64 million people out
of work and is expected to reach
8.8% in 2012.
Moreover, the CIPD has predicted
that UKs unemployment rate may
hit 2.9 million in 2013 and may not
fall below 2.5 million by the end of
the current decade.
Unemployment in the coming
year will be rising from a much
higher starting point, so the UK
jobs market in 2012 will be weaker
than at any time since the recession
of the early 1990s, said John
Philpott, chief economic adviser at
the CIPD.
Furthermore, the CIPD warned
against the continuation of severe
pay restraint and productivity
stagnation, depicting a gloomier
picture for Britains workforce than
what they went through during the
recession of 2008-9.
Shadow work and pensions
minister Ian Austin also criticized
the British government saying as
we go into 2012 it is crystal clear
that this government is failing to
get people off benets and into
work.
UK unemployment
set to hit new records
UK troops arrested over Afghanistan child abuse claims
<< Continued from page 1
<< Continued from page 1
NEWS
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
3
Shaikh Hamad is the rst Arab leader
to publicly suggest foreign intervention
in Syria
Arab troops should be deployed to
Syria to stop the killing there, Qatars
Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al
Thani has told in an interview to US
broadcaster CBS.
To a question whether he favoured Arab
nations intervening in Syria, Shaikh
Hamad said For such a situation to
stop the killing...some troops should
go to stop the killing.
Shaikh Hamad is the rst Arab leader
to publicly suggest foreign intervention
in Syria, where the uprising against
President Bashar Al Assad is now in its
tenth month.
Speaking about his own inuence on
the uprisings in the Arab world, he
said: We are supporting the people of
those countries ... [who are] asking for
justice and dignity.
Qatar Emir urges Arab
troops deployed to Syria
The Tehran funeral Jan. 13 of
a nuclear scientist blown up by
a hit man saw the ruling clergy
urge Iranians to rally behind it at
a forthcoming election and face
down Western threats against
Irans nuclear program.
In a mood of high emotion in a
city increasingly beset by U.S.
and European sanctions and fears
of war with Israel and the West,
hundreds of chanting mourners
carried the ag-draped cofn of
Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, killed
Jan. 11 by a motorcycle assassin in
rush-hour trafc.
Death to America! Death to
Israel! roared the crowd streaming
away from weekly prayers at
Tehran University, where the
dead man was hailed as a martyr
in the tradition of Imam Hussein,
a revered gure for Irans Shiite
branch of Islam.
State radio described the 32-year-
old chemical engineer, whose
driver was also buried Jan. 13, as
having worked on procurement
for the uranium enrichment plant
at Natanz. This disclosure may
strengthen suspicions that he was
targeted by Israeli and Western
agencies, who say some covert
Iranian purchases conrm their
skepticism of Tehrans assertion
that it is not seeking to develop
atom bombs.
The IRNA state news agency
said Saturday that Irans Foreign
Ministry has sent a diplomatic
letter to the U.S. saying that it has
evidence and reliable information
that the CIA provided guidance,
support and planning to assassins
directly involved in Roshans
killing.
The U.S. has denied any role in the
assassination.
Iran delivered the letter to the
Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which
looks after U.S. interests in the
country. Iran and the U.S. have
had no diplomatic relations since
the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
IRNA also reported that Iran
delivered a letter to Britain
accusing London of having an
obvious role in the killing. It
said that a series of assassinations
began after British intelligence
chief John Sawers hinted in 2010
at intelligence operations against
the Islamic Republic.
British media have quoted Sawers
as saying that intelligence-led
operations were needed to make
it more difcult for countries like
Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
Britains Foreign Ofce has
condemned the killing of civilians.
Israeli ofcials, in contrast, have
hinted at covert campaigns against
Iran without directly admitting
involvement.
Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, said the abominable
and cowardly killing was
committed with the planning or
support of the intelligence services
of the CIA and Mossad of the
United States and Israel. He said
in a statement his country would
continue with determination its
nuclear activities, which Western
governments suspect mask a drive
for a weapons capability despite
Tehrans repeated denials.
Some media close to Irans
conservatives have called for
retaliation against Israeli
ofcials. The Iranian government
has demanded the U.N. Security
Council condemn the terrorist
killing. The U.S. has strongly
denied it had anything to do
with the assassination, although
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
said: We have some ideas as to
who might be involved.
The prime suspect is widely seen
as Israel, as it was in the murders
of three other Iranian scientists
in similar circumstances over the
past two years. Israel, though,
has a policy of not commenting
on intelligence matters, although
a military spokesman, Brig.
Gen. Yoav Mordechai, on his
ofcial Facebook page said: I am
denitely not shedding a tear over
Ahmadi Roshans killing.
Israeli media also highlighted
comments just before the attack
by the Israeli chief of General
Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, who
said 2012 would see things which
happen to them [the Iranians]
in an unnatural way. Irans
government has written a letter
demanding U.N. Security Council
condemnation of the assassination,
which it said was backed by
unnamed foreign quarters. On
whether Israel was involved in the
Jan. 11 assassination, President
Shimon Peres told CNN Jan. 13,
Not to the best of my knowledge.
U.S. President Barack Obama
spoke with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu the day after
the scientists murder to discuss
developments in Iran.
Iran buries a top scientist Tehran
says was killed by Israel and the
US as part of a covert campaign
against its nuclear program. Both
deny the accusations but a top
US ofcial says they have some
ideas as to who might have been
involved.
Iran vows retaliation
against Israel for scientist
The opponents of [Irans Islamic] Revolution and the nations progress should have no doubt that the punitive
response to the US, the Zionist regime (Israel) and their criminal accomplices will be delivered in an opportune
time, Irans Press TV quoted deputy armed forces chief, Brig.-Gen. Massoud Jazayeri as saying on Sunday.
Dead scientists funeral sees anger at US, Israel
Iran buries a top scientist Tehran says was killed by Israel and the US as part of a covert campaign against its nuclear
program. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says they have some ideas as to who might have been involved
London: Around 90 percent of
Britains top companies have no
women bosses, according to a
parliament report.
A parliament written answer
obtained by former Treasury
spokesman Matthew Oakeshott
said there was no woman executive
director in 310 of the top 350
companies in the country, The Sun
reported. Only 43 women are working in
other senior roles.
Oakeshott, a Liberal Democrat member
of the House of Lords, said: Britains
big businesses are an old boys club.
90 percent British rms
have no women bosses
4
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
EDITORIAL
If the US wont strike
rst, the Israelis will
The spring of 2012 appears to be critical for
the Middle East. Not only in Jerusalem and in
Washington but everywhere it seems the smell
of gunpowder is in the air.
Kenneth S. Brower has estimated Israel has as
many as 400 nuclear weapons. These can be
launched from land, sea and air, giving Israel
a second strike option even if much of the
country is destroyed.
According to a Haaretz report Iran has material
for 1 to 2 atom bombs Olli Heinonen, IAEAs
leading experts on Iran, says the Islamic
Republic now possessed three tons of low-
enriched uranium. In theory, it is enough to
make one or two nuclear arms.
Even at the lowest estimates Israel possesses
enough nuclear weapons to destroy every major
Middle Eastern city several times over. Like the
U.S. and Russia, the Israeli nuclear threat is
based on a triad of delivery systems: long-range
bombers, ballistic missiles and submarines,
with which it can target all of Europe and the
Middle East, and much of Asia and Africa.
The Israeli nuclear bomber eet consists of 25
F-15-E and 102 highly modied F-16-I ghter-
bombers with a reported range of nearly 4,500
kilometersenough to y from Israel to Iran
and back.
The Israeli ballistic missile arsenal consists of
approximately 100 Jericho-1 and 50 Jericho-2
missiles. The Jericho-1 missile has a range of
over 500 kilometers and can reach Damascus
or Cairo. According to the widely respected
Janes Intelligence Review, the Jericho-2 has
an extended range of approximately 5,000
kilometers .
The third leg of the triad consists of ve Dolphin-
Class submarines .These super-sophisticated
diesel-powered subs, built for Israel by the
Germans, have an extended range of about
8,000 kilometers.
In 2000, an Israeli submarine successfully
launched a cruise missile that destroyed a target
more than 900 miles away. Israel currently is
stationing its submarines in the Persian Gulf
and the Red Seatargeting Iran.
Israel believes Iran itself has not yet decided
whether to make a nuclear bomb. Israel Defense
Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel was very
far off from a decision about an attack on Iran
over its nuclear program.
Russia would regard any military intervention
linked to Irans nuclear programme as a
threat to its own security, Moscows departing
ambassador to NATO warned: if Iran is
involved in any military action, its a direct
threat to our security.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that
U.S. defense leaders are increasingly concerned
that Israel is preparing to take military action
against Iran, over U.S. objections, and have
stepped up contingency planning to safeguard
U.S. facilities in the region in case of a conict.
Both American and Israeli ofcials say that the
decision to postpone a massive joint missile drill
scheduled for this spring has nothing to do with
hostilities with Iran, although insiders suggest
something quite the contrary. Israeli sources
say that the decision to postpone the drill does
not come as a joint agreement between Tehran
and Washington, but is rather a decisions from
Netanyahu himself who has become worried by
Americas lack of aggression against Iran as of
late. Sources suggest that Israel and Iran are at
the zero hour, and if the US wont strike rst,
the Israelis will.
NEWS
US, Israel in open rift over Iran
Big joint military drill cancelled
Iran could face UK military action over nuclear programme, says Hague
US-Israeli discord over action
against Iran went into overdrive
Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White
House called off Austere Challenge
12, the biggest joint war game the
US and Israel have every staged,
ready to go in spring, in reprisal for
a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime
Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early
morning radio interview. He said
the United States was hesitant over
sanctions against Irans central
bank and oil for fear of a spike in
oil prices.
Meanwhile British Foreign
secretary William Hague said in an
interview that Britain has not ruled
out military action against Iran but is
focused on trying to secure peaceful
negotiations, The foreign secretary
insisted all options remained on the
table in relation to what he called
Tehrans increasingly dangerous
development of nuclear weapons.
But he said the UK was not
advocating military action and was
instead intensifying sanctions in a
bid to bring the Islamic republic to
the negotiating table.
We have never ruled anything
out. We have not ruled out any
option, or supporting any option.
We believe all options should be on
the table, that is part of the pressure
on Iran, Hague told Sky News.
But we are clearly not calling
for or advocating military action.
We are advocating meaningful
negotiations, if Iran will enter into
them, and the increasing pressure
of sanctions to try to get some
exibility from Iran.
The row between Washington
and Jerusalem is now in the open,
undoubtedly causing celebration
in Tehran. The exercise was
ofcially postponed from spring
2012 to the last quarter of the
year over budgetary constraints
an obvious diplomatic locution
for cancellation. It was issued
urgently at an unusually early
hour Washington time, say
sources, to underscore the Obama
administrations total disassociation
from any preparations to strike
Iran and to stress its position that
if an attack took place, Israel alone
would be accountable.
Israels Deputy Prime minister
further inamed one of the most
acute disagreements in the history
of US-Israeli relations over the
Obama administrations objections
to an Israel military action against
Irans nuclear sites in any shape or
form. Israels Vice Prime Minister
Moshe Yaalon says election-
year considerations behind U.S.
Presidents caution over tough Iran
sanctions.
Yaalon ventured into tricky
terrain when he pointed out that
US Congress had shown resolve by
enacting legislation for sanctions
with real bite. But the White House
hesitated. He went on to say: A
military operation is the last resort,
but Israel must be ready to defend
itself.
Military sources report that a
third aircraft carrier and strike
group, the USS Abraham Lincoln,
is also on its way to the Persian
Gulf.
This massive military buildup
indicates that either President
Obama rates the odds of an Israel
attack as high and is bolstering
the defenses of US military assets
against Iranian reprisals - or,
alternatively, that the United States
intends to beat Israel to the draw
and attack Iran itself.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan Emergency ofcials
say at least one person has died in a re at the
largest mosque in Central Asia, in the capital
of Kazakhstan.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said
Sundays re spread over an area of 800
square meters (8,600 square feet) inside the
Khazret Sultan mosque in Astana.
Laborers at the site of the 17,500 square-meter
(188,000 square-foot) mosque, which was still
under construction, said they heard screams
from a man trapped inside the building.
Central Asias largest mosque ravaged by re
NEWS 5
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
The world dollar standards death
certicate arrives in the mail this
week. The Bank of England - the
Old Lady of Threadneedle Street
- one of the most staid, cautious,
and dignied entities in the world
of monetary policy - signals that
the duciary currency standard
ushered in on August 15, 1971
is, empirically measured, far
inferior to the (dilute form of
the) gold standard erected at
Bretton Woods. Fellow Forbes.
com columnist Charles Kadlec
thoroughly reprises and analyzes
the facts submitted to a candid
world by the Bank of England in
a paper to be ofcially published
December 20, 2011.
The Bank of Englands Financial
Stability Paper No. 13, Reform
of the International Monetary
and Financial System, reported
at Bloomberg BusinessWeek and
reviewed here, is being seen by
many monetary policy observers
around the world as the
coroners report on the death
of the world dollar standard.
Whats next? Presciently, at the
watershed October 5-6 Heritage
Foundation Conference on a
Stable Dollar: Why We Need It
and How to Achieve It, Forbes
editor-in-chief Steve Forbes
called for escalating the discourse
from whether we should restore
the gold standard to how to do
so. The oodgates open.
In the second half of 2011
monetary policy scholars,
policy virtuosi, nanciers and
activists have issued over half
a dozen books and important
monographs on the very subject
heralded by Forbes whose call
was seconded by Heritages
president, Dr. Ed Feulner in an
inuential Washington Times
op-ed:
Thats why we should welcome a
debate about the role of the Fed
and what our monetary policy
should be. But we have to ask the
right questions. ... Should we x
the dollar price of gold? ... If the
defect is ination and an unstable
dollar, asks Lewis Lehrman of
the Lehrman Institute, what is
the remedy? We cant answer
that without a robust and full
discussion. Lets hope the hard
questions being asked now about
the Fed touch off a much-needed
debate.
This, together with ongoing
efforts by The Lehrman Institute
and by its strategic partner, the
American Principles Project
(with both of which this writer
has a professional association)
laid the groundwork for another
critical development: putting
monetary reform at the core of
the agenda of the conservative
movement. The largest and
most inuential umbrella
group of conservativism is the
Conservative Action Project.
This convened 100 leading
conservatives at a summit this
month. President Reagans
Counselor and the 75th Attorney
General of the United States,
Edwin Meese, III, presided and
the Project issued, last week,
A Conservative Consensus for
2012.
This, which fairly may be
considered the consensus
conservative platform, calls for
Growth, Family, Strength and
Accountability. The rst element
of the very rst item on the agenda
includes a call to encourage
sound monetary policy, thereby
helping the economy grow
and create more jobs. Many
conservatives take these words
to mean going forward to gold.
But how?
Earlier this autumn, Lewis E.
Lehrman published the fruit of
40 years of study and thought,
study that began with his tutelage
by French monetary statesman
Jacques Rueff, of The True Gold
Standard - A Monetary Reform
Plan Without Ofcial Reserve
Currencies. It was lauded by
TV journalist Lou Dobbs as a
compelling read and a compelling
architecture for a way forward,
by Federalist Society co-founder
and Bradley Foundation Genius
Award winner David McIntosh
as a must read for policy
makers, by nancial journalist
James Grant as The answer,
brilliantly expounded.... The
New York Suns Seth Lipsky
summarized its essence:
... a transition in which, on the
date that Congress authorizes
the resumption of unrestricted
convertibility between dollars
and gold, Federal Reserve Bank
notes and American dollar bank
demand deposits would be
redeemable in gold on demand
at the statutory gold parity, ...
the minting by the Treasury
and authorized private mints of
what Mr. Lehrman calls legal
tender gold coin in appropriate
denominations, free of any and
all taxation, ... an international
monetary conference to provide
for the deliberate termination
of the dollar-based ofcial
reserve currency system and
the consolidation and refunding
of foreign ofcial dollar
reserves,... the establishment
by the conference of gold as the
sole means by which nations
would settle residual balance of
payments decits, ... and steps
to uphold stable exchange rates
and free and fair trade - based on
the mutual convertibility to gold
of major currencies.
Other noteworthy works on how
to restore the gold standard
promptly followed. These include
monographs by George Mason
Universitys Prof. Lawrence
H. White recently presented
at the 29th Annual Monetary
Conference of the Cato Institute,
entitled Making the Transition
to a New Gold Standard, and
extensive and erudite testimony
shortly preceding Lehrmans book
by Dr. Lawrence Parks, executive
director of the Foundation for
the Advancement of Monetary
Education, at a September
13 hearing of Dr. Ron Pauls
subcommittee on Domestic
Monetary Policy entitled Road
Map to Sound Money.
In addition, nancial analyst
James Rickards Currency Wars:
The Making of the Next Global
Crisis is receiving signicant
popular attention and bestseller
status, Detlev Schlichters Paper
Money Collapse, and we see the
publication of Paul Nathans The
New Gold Standard, a new edition
of prominent libertarian (and
rocket scientist) Dave Redicks
Monetary Revolution USA and,
now, the keenly anticipated
Fixing the Dollar Now: Why US
Money Lost Its Integrity and
How We Can Restore It by Dr.
Judy Shelton.
Dr. Shelton is a frequent
contributor to The Wall Street
Journals editorial page and was
a participant in both the Heritage
and Cato conferences (as well,
with Forbes, Lehrman and Jimmy
Kemp at Atlas Foundations own
monetary panel conducted at its
annual Liberty Forum). She has
an international following and is
respected by powerful legislative
ofcials in Washington, D.C.
Shelton rst won worldwide
credibility by being among the rst
to precisely predict the time and
manner of implosion of the Soviet
Union in her iconic work The
Coming Soviet Crash. Sheltons
work The Money Meltdown was
praised by Publishers Weekly as
masterful.
Shelton has surpassed herself
in Fixing the Dollar Now. This
work aptly was called by Weekly
Standard founder/editor (and
gold standard proponent)
William Kristol bold and
practical, sophisticated and
straightforward. It lays out
the alpha - the Constitutional
underpinnings - and omega
- nancial integrity, stability,
and prosperity - of why the gold
standard now is a must.
Shelton:
What would it take to set up
a genuine gold standard with
a working mechanism for
converting US dollars into gold
on demand? The rst step would
be to address current federal
legal tender laws.... The next
major step toward achieving
gold convertibility would be to
dene the US dollar as a xed
weight of gold.
Such a major change from
our current practice presents
signicant challenges in
managing the transition. ... Still,
the advantages of forging an
inviolable link between the value
of US money and gold through
xed convertibility seem to
make it well worth tackling the
difculties. ... Gold convertibility
of the dollar would reassert
the early principles embedded
in both the Constitution and
the Coinage Act with regard
to establishing a money unit
dened as a precise weight of
gold or silver. ... Calling for
an international monetary
conference would reassure the
United States trading partners
that their cooperation is
welcomed, even solicited.
At the same time, given the
pre-eminent role of the dollar
in global nancial markets, it
would be seen as an important
step toward achieving radical
international monetary reform.
The world dollar system
has been pronounced, now
almost ofcially, a failure.
The main surprise is that the
pronouncement took so long.
The call by Steve Forbes for
a discussion about how to
restore gold, and the work
of monetary savants such as
Lehrman, Shelton, and White
laying out precisely how, could
not be more timely - or needed.
Public pollsters show gold to be
extraordinarily popular with
voters. Monetary reform is at
the core of the conservative
consensus. Presidential aspirants
are taking note. Anticipate
legislation.
Onward to gold - and
prosperity.
The death certicate of the
paper dollar: Where to next?
A series of unexplained noises are
being reported across the globe and
the frequency of these events appear
to be increasing. The sounds range in
description from bizarre and creepy
to industrial and mechanical. The
sounds appear to be omni-directional
and seem to have no single traced
source of origin or horizontal source
of degree graduation- leaving one
with the impression they are coming
from directly overhead or directly
underneath the earth. The videos
below are reports of the unexplained
acoustic phenomenon. Are these
sounds omens of an impending
disaster, or the deep-churching in
the Earth indication the lithosphere
is becoming unsettled, mistpouffers,
or something else? You decide.
What are they? Mysterious unexplained
noises now being reported across the globe
NEWS
6 South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel
Jimmie Cummings said: The
behaviour depicted in this video is
reprehensible and is not in keeping
with the values of U.S. Armed Forces.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain
John Kirby said the video was deeply
troubling: Whoever it is, and whatever
the circumstances, which we know
is under investigation, it is egregious
behaviour.
An eye-opening video clip that made
it online may cause a scandal on
par with what erupted with the Abu
Ghraib photographs of 2004. Now US
Marines have been caught on lm -
urinating on dead Afghans.
A 40-second excerpt of the clip has
managed to make it on the Web where
viewers can watch four US Marines
on patrol in Afghanistan allegedly
urinating on the corpses of deceased
Afghan men. The victims identities
are unclear in this incident, but
according to a note included with the
uploaded le, the US servicemen were
members of the Marine Scout Sniper
Team 4 and the 3rd Battalion 2nd
Marines from Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina. The group was dispatched
to the northern Helmand Province
in Afghanistan during the summer of
2011.
A clip of US troops urinating on
Afghans in civilian clothes shocked
the Internet on Wednesday.
Ten years after beginning military
operations in Afghanistan, the US
military still maintains an active
presence there, making it the longest
continuous war in American history.
President Obama has vowed to bring
back troops in full by 2014, but this
event could cause widespread outrage
against the military operation, with
the latest incident increasing tensions
unmatched since the Abu Ghraib
scandal.
Earlier in the War on Terror,
American troops were caught grossly
mishandling prisoners at the Abu
Ghraib detention facility in Baghdad,
Iraq, humiliating, injuring and
subjecting them to clearly inhumane
conditions that resulted in at least
one death. Nearly eight years later,
the event and the photographs and
videos to come out of it are among the
most notorious notches in terms of
Americas inability to control its own
military in the policing of the world.
In the Abu Ghraib incidents, US troops
were revealed to torture and chastise
prisoners who were serving as living
detainees within the institutes walls.
In the latest clip, however, Americans
are shown not just disrespecting the
alleged enemy, but failing to honor
those that lost their lives in the name
of war.
One of the American servicemen is
heard in the clip announcing, Have
a great day, buddy, while he relieves
himself on the body of a slain Afghan.
Golden like a shower sniggers
another.
Three slain Afghans lay bloodied
while American servicemen
urinate on their bodies.
According to Camp Lejeunes ofcial
US military website, its mission is
to maintain combat-ready units
for expeditionary deployment. In
October 2011, the Marine Corps
nished a $20 million investment in
Camp Lejeune, in turn transitioning
the facility into a 32,000-square-foot
recreation of Afghan turf.
In the Marine Corps, we call this
graduate-level training, Col. Dan
Lecce, commander of the camp, told
the News & Observer back then.
Now, however, the US Marine Corps
will investigate how the troops got
away with this despicable act and
try to nip the blowback in the bud
before tensions between the US and
Afghanistan worsen anymore.
While the exact identities of the victims
are not known at this time, the three
corpses are clad in civilian clothes,
not military uniforms. One man, who
seems to be the youngest of the pack,
is donned in a blood-soaked shirt.
The group is laid out in clear terrain
sheltered by bushes an adjacent to
a wheelbarrow, which could mean
that the men were ambushed while
participating in civilian activity.
After the video went viral authorities
have responded with a quick rebuttal.
While we have not yet veried
the origin or authenticity of this
video, the actions portrayed are not
consistent with our core values and
are not indicative of the character of
the Marines in our Corps.
On YouTube, one viewer of the clip
writes, Thanks fellas, you just pissed
away everything me and my boys
fought for.
An early 2010 incident in which a gang
of US troops opened re and killed
Afghan civilians landed charges for
at least four of them. Although they
have admitted guilt in the so-called
thrill kill massacre, Staff Sergeant
Calvin Gibbs could be free in as soon
as 10 years despite being found guilty
of 15 counts, including three charges
of premeditated murder.
Only one month ago, Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta told troops at
the US base in Pakika province that
the war in Afghanistan has been a
difcult and complicated relationship
. . . but it is an important relationship,
and it is one that we have to continue
to work at.
PREVIOUS U.S.
ARMY SCANDALS
Iraqs Abu Ghraib prisoner
abuse scandal in 2004 saw U.S.
troops photographing themselves
humiliating and intimidating
detainees. Ringleader Charles
Graner and six other members of the
Maryland-based 372nd Military Police
Company were charged in 2004 with
abusing detainees. Graner stacked
prisoners into a pyramid, knocked
one of them out with a head punch
and ordered prisoners to perform
lewd acts on themselves while soldiers
took pictures. Last August the war
criminal became the last Abu Ghraib
defendant to be released from military
prison and received the longest jail
sentence.
An attack in Haditha in November 2005
when a U.S. squad killed 24 Iraqis,
including women and children had
further tainted Americas reputation.
Sergeant Frank Wuterich faces nine
counts of voluntary manslaughter and
is the last defendant in the biggest and
lengthiest criminal case against U.S.
troops to arise from the Iraq War.
The new video is certain to deepen
concerns in the Muslim world about
U.S. troops fostered by various
controversial videos and photos.
Those include WikiLeaks release of a
classied video showing a 2007 U.S.
helicopter attack that killed a dozen
people in Iraq.
And not forgetting the disclosure that
U.S. soldiers killed unarmed civilians
in Afghanistans Kandahar province
in 2010.Photos published in March by
two magazines showed soldiers posing
with the bloodied corpse of an Afghan
boy they had just killed.
First they killed the Afghans with mortars, and they
then urinated on their bodies. We strongly condemn
this inhumane action by the wild American soldiers
Taliban spokesman
This act by American soldiers is
simply inhumane and condemnable
in the strongest possible terms
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
US troops dele dead Afghans on camera
Seminar on Sleep View and Habit A case
study of Bangladeshi living in East London: on
the 24 January 2012 organised by ETHOS UK.
ETHOS UK organised a seminar on Sleep View and Habit A case study of Bangladeshi
living in East London: on 24 January 2012 at the St Georges Church Halls, Woodford
Avenue/Gants Hill Crescent, Gants Hill, Ilford, Essex, IG2 6XG.
Sleep is a regular matter in our life. It is so regular that we dont usually need to think
very much about sleep. Its routine. Perhaps that is why we do not ask why do we
sleep? In this paper our main aim is to investigate knowledge, habit and conditions of
a particular segment of people living in east London.
Presentation will start at 14.00 hours and lunch will be served at the courtesy of Ethos
UK from 13.15 to 14.00 hours. The event will be close at 15.30.
NEWS
7 South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
Rickie Sehgal -- chairman of the British Asian
Conservative Link (BACL) -- said donors could
dine with the prime minister and raise any
issue they wanted, the Daily Mail reported on
Sunday.
Those who pay 10,000 pounds a year get
Camerons mobile, Sehgal told an undercover
reporter.
When confronted about his claims, Sehgal
said he was highly embarrassed to have
been caught boasting, which he said he
had exaggerated to impress the undercover
reporter.
Sehgal was sacked from the party Saturday
after senior ofcials studied the evidence.
Sehgal was recently photographed whispering
into the Prime Ministers ear at the Tories
Winter Ball, where tickets cost up to 1,000
pounds.
The BACL website features pictures of Sehgal
with senior ofcials, including Home Secretary
Theresa May, Attorney General Dominic Grieve
and International Development Secretary
Andrew Mitchell as well as London Mayor
Boris Johnson.
The daily began the investigation following
a tip-off from a legal source who said Asian
businessmen were using BACL to gain access
to Tory ministers.
An undercover reporter posing as a
businessman met Sehgal and said he was keen
to join the BACLs exclusive 1000 Club, which
the website claimed could give members access
to ministers and MPs for business and personal
benets.
The meeting took place at the headquarters of
Sehgals IT company, Transputec Computers
Plc, in northwest London.
Sehgal claimed he had access to Cameron
to the extent that he can lobby on behalf
of parliamentary candidates with an Asian
background.
By association with BACL, we take advantage
of positive discrimination that exists today to
say there arent enough Bangladeshi MPs. I
might go straight to the prime minister, or the
central party, Sehgal said.
He also boasted of links to other ministers,
especially Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord
Andrew Feldman, the joint chairs of the party.
He said links to the pair gave him access to
Cameron.
He claimed he knew all Asian Tory politicians,
including Priti Patel, MP from Witham, and
Alok Sharma, MP from Reading West, both of
whom were helped by BACL in their election
campaigns.
Sehgal is the managing director of Transputec
Computers Plc. Transputec has IT contracts
with both BACL and the ministry of justice.
The company has an annual turnover of 20
million pounds, and reported 375,000 pounds
in prots last year.
Its parent company, Investact, is registered in
the Isle of Man. Sehgals wife Pramilla, 52, is
listed as a secretary of the Transputec company,
while his younger brother Sunil, 48, is listed as
a director.
Sehgal is a graduate in computer science
and physics from Chelsea College, London
University. He and his wife and their two
children, aged 25 and 23, live in a country
house in Iver, Buckinghamshire.
When confronted with the evidence of his
conversation, Sehgal said he was highly
embarrassed.
We meet politicians because we are a political
organisation, to have lunches, dinner, things
like that. In that context, you would be able to
meet, he said.
He said the club of donors was a reference to
the fact that BACL was being turned into a
new organisation, the Conservative Friends of
India (CFI), which is expected to be launched
by Cameron in the House of Commons later
this year.
It has been indicated to me that he (Cameron)
would potentially be launching the CFI. That
would be the rst point that there would be
any contact with him, said Sehgal.
Sehgal admitted he had exaggerated his
inuence to impress the reporter, and it
was completely wrong to say the prime
ministers phone number could be bought.
It doesnt happen. I was boasting. There are
many other people that we know who would
just like to part with money and go and talk
to Cameron, whoever it is, and actually that
does not exist in reality. I myself dont get to
have lunch with Cameron, he said.
I did not want him to think that direct access
is provided, because it isnt. David Cameron
and I dont really know each other. Please
dont think of me as a crook or anything like
that, Sehgal said.
A Conservative spokesman said: BACL is an
organisation independent of the Conservative
Party and Sehgal had no authority to make
these patently absurd suggestions. They were
made without the knowledge or approval
of anyone in the party and, as he has since
admitted, they were nothing more than idle
boasts.
Pay me 10,000 pounds for
access to British PM
In a major cash-for-access scandal, a 50-year-old Indian-origin Conservative Party activist and fund-raiser was thrown out of the party after he was caught
boasting in a video that he could provide Prime Minister David Camerons personal mobile phone number or a dinner with him for 10,000 pounds.
Asian Tory fundraiser tells MoS reporter he can supply PMs mobile number to donors
He also claims he can arrange meetings with PM and Tory chairmen Baroness Warsi and Lord Feldman
Offers meeting with Theresa May to discuss relaxing immigration laws
The Arab League is divided in its
Syria observer mission as Algeria
defends the President Bashar
al-Assad regime despite Qatars
erce criticism
The Arab League (AL) said that
very soon more observers would
be sent to Syria although two
monitors have quit the mission.
Adnan al-Khodair, head of the
ALs monitoring operation room
in Cairo, said in a statement that
the observers were continuing
their work early in six places in
Syria.
The operation room has received
reports from the observer
delegation about what they saw
and heard in Syria. The observer
ofce also received complaints
from Syrian nationals, he added.
Khodair said on Thursday that
an Algerian and a Sudanese have
quit the observer delegation for
different reasons.
Currently, there are 163 observers
in Syria.
The AL ministerial committee
on Syria decided to give the
observers enough time to fulll
their mission. Head of the observer
mission, Sudanese Moustafa al-
Dabi, is expected to submit his
report by January 19 to AL chief
Nabil al-Arabi.
The Arab League is divided over
Syria, with Qatar as the most
vocal critic and Algeria defending
steps taken by Damascus, as two
further monitors quit their duty in
the mission.
Algerias foreign minister said on
Jan. 12 that Syrias government
had taken steps to defuse the crisis
in the country and was taking up
arms against the opposition that
threatened wider violence. The
comments by Mourad Medelci
at a U.N. news conference
highlighted differences among
Arab states over the 10-month-old
Arab League confused and divided
over Syria mission
Continued on page 08>>
NEWS 8
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
As the west tightens sanctions and ratchets
up pressure on Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
has struck back at the United States in an
unusual manner by touring through Latin
America. The Iranian leader was in Venezuela
where he received political support from
Hugo Chvez and Ahmadinejad moved
on to Nicaragua where he attended the
inauguration of Daniel Ortega, a Sandinista
hero of the 1979 revolution who was recently
reelected to a third presidential term.
The agreeable reception from Chvez
and Ortega comes at a welcome time for
Ahmadinejad, whose country has become
increasingly isolated diplomatically.
Needless to say, however, the U.S. has not
been amused by such geopolitical theater.
The Obama administration remarked that
Ahmadinejads trip was a sign of desperation.
We are making absolutely clear to countries
around the world that now is not the time
to be deepening ties, not security ties, not
economic ties, with Iran, warned State
Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Sounding the Alarm Bell
over Ahmadinejad
As part of its charm offensive in Latin
America, Iran has opened an embassy in
Nicaragua and says it will invest $1 billion in
agriculture projects in addition to building
a deep water port in the small Central
American nation. In addition, the Islamic
Republic will grant a loan for a hydroelectric
plant. Nicaragua belongs to Chvezs left-
leaning ALBA alliance in Latin America,
and currently Iran enjoys observer status
in the group. In Teheran recently, ALBA
member states set up a trade exhibition of
their products and Ahmadinejad no less
showed up to the event. Thankful for Irans
largesse, ALBA nations have responded in
kind by defending Irans right to pursue an
ostensibly peaceful nuclear program.
Predictably, Republican lawmakers have
sounded the alarm bell about Ahmadinejads
trip to Central America, a region which
the U.S. likes to call its own backyard.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the
chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, has remarked that Ahmadinejad
is conducting a tour of tyrants which
demonstrates Irans expanding interest in
Latin America.
From Bolaos to Ortega
Judging from secret State Department cables
recently released by whistle-blowing outt
WikiLeaks, the situation in Central America
was quite different just a few short years
ago and the U.S. had a willing diplomatic
partner in the conservative government of
Enrique Bolaos.
With Ortegas second reelection in late 2006,
however, alarm bells started to go off at the
U.S. Embassy. The U.S. Ambassador Paul
Trivelli noted that while Ortega needs us
much more than we need him, and the new
Nicaraguan leader relied on U.S. assistance
programs and much-needed foreign
investment, nevertheless the Sandinista
might strike a more independent foreign
policy toward Iran. While predecessor
Bolaos had worked closely with the
International Monetary Fund and World
Bank, Ortega struck a number of economic
agreements with Ahmadinejad.
Turning up the heat, Trivelli met with
Ortegas new Finance Minister to declare
that U.S. investors had begun questioning
what sort of economic model the new
government plans to pursue. Defensively,
the Nicaraguans countered that they would
be willing to work with the IMF and World
Bank, but the overriding objective of the
Ortega administration is to reduce poverty.
In a testy follow up meeting with U.S.
diplomats, the new President of Nicaraguas
Central Bank reassured Trivelli that
his country would pursue prudent
macroeconomic policy as a way of sending the
right signals to investors. Recent economic
agreements with Iran, the Nicaraguan
noted, werent a reection of Sandinista
foreign policy but rather represented an
acknowledgment that Nicaragua depends
upon the largesse of the Islamic Republic
for oil.
Lingering Suspicions over
Financial Transactions
The wikileaks cables suggest that the
Americans lacked hard evidence about
Iranian intentions, but were still paranoid
that Ortega would branch out and conduct a
more independent foreign policy.
What really seems to have concerned Trivelli
and his peers was the possibility that Iran
might displace U.S. nancial inuence in
Nicaragua. The ambassador remarked that
U.S. nancial institutions Citibank and GE
Financial maintained a controlling interest
in two of Nicaraguas top four banks, and
an American owned a controlling interest
in a third. HSBC meanwhile had recently
purchased another bank with operations in
Nicaragua.
Shortly after being reelected, however Ortega
made disturbing comments contrasting
Iranian promises of unconditional
assistance with the targeted projects
of western donors. In an effort to head
off Ahmadinejad, U.S. ofcials warned
Nicaragua not to do any business with
Iranian nancial entities.
The documents suggest that Ortega became
more and more combative toward the U.S.
over Iran and relations became testy. In 2009,
the Nicaraguans said the region was losing
patience with the Obama administration
and expected the U.S. to move faster to
change development policies and increase
aid to the region. Deantly, Ortega asserted
the right of Nicaragua to develop relations
with whomever we want as a sovereign
country. One Nicaraguan ofcial railed that
we dont accept the imperialism of the U.S.
to say who is good and who is bad, and
Nicaragua would continue to pursue deeper
relations with Iran regardless of the U.S.
position.
Nevertheless, as Ahmadinejad continues
his tour in Nicaragua and elsewhere, we
can probably expect the usual saber rattling
from U.S. ofcials and the mainstream
media making the case that Iran represents
a true threat to the hemisphere. The bottom
line, however, is this: though U.S. diplomats
would like to make alarmist claims about
Irans footprint in Central America, the
evidence is pretty thin thus far. That
wont stop hyperbolic statements from the
Republicans and others, however, who still
regard Nicaragua as a virtual U.S. enclave.
WikiLeaks Reveals U.S. Fears of
Nicaraguan-Iranian Rapprochement
anti-government uprising in Syria, which an Arab League
monitoring mission is currently investigating.
The government has taken some steps. Perhaps not
enough, but some steps in the sense that there has been
a withdrawal of heavy weapons from the cities that are
having problems now, Medelci said.
Qatar, however, is critical whether the Arab League mission
is meaningful any longer. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh
Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who heads the Arab League
committee on Syria, said doubts were growing about the
effectiveness of the monitors.
I could not see up until now a successful mission, frankly
speaking, he told a joint news conference with U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington. We
hope we solve it, as we say, in the house of the Arabs, but
right now the Syrian government is not helping us.
Any admission that the monitoring mission has failed
will pile pressure on the Arab League to refer Syria to the
U.N. Security Council, although a Western diplomat there
said Algeria, Iraq and Egypt were likely to oppose such a
step. Western powers say Russia, a long-standing ally of
Damascus, has blocked any tough moves by the council
against Damascus and only a direct appeal by the League
could shift Moscows view.
The killings continued in Syria, including a French
journalist, despite the Arab Leagues presence. However,
Medelci said the shooting was coming from both sides,
and that the opposition had prevented the Arab League
mission from reaching neighborhoods it controlled.
The Arab Leagues head of the Syria observer mission
Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi, raised
particular concern because he served in key security
positions under Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is
wanted for crimes against humanity in Darfur. That raised
questions about whether Arab League member states, with
some of the worlds poorest human rights records, were t
for the mission to monitor Syrias compliance with a peace
plan.
The observers also faced accusations that the Syrian
government is interfering in their work. Team member
Anwer al-Malek quit, telling Al-Jazeera of his disgust that
the al-Assad regime was committing war crimes against
its own people. The mission was a farce, and the observers
have been fooled, he said. Al-Dabi said in a statement that
al-Maleks comments were baseless and that he had not
left his hotel for six days because he said he was sick.
The Arab League chief, Nabil Elaraby said that Syrian
President Bashar al-Assads regime was either not
complying or only partially complying with an Arab League
plan that Syria signed last month to end its crackdown.
We are very concerned because there were certain
commitments that were not complied with, he said in
Cairo, where the League is based. If this continues, it may
turn into civil war.
The U.N. estimates more than 5,000 people have been
killed since the uprising began in March 2011.
Arab League confused and divided over Syria mission
Continued from page 07 >>
9
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
aarc
S
international
Thursday, 19.01.12
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There is no harm in writing a letter to the Swiss
authorities. He enjoys immunity in Pakistan and abroad
as long as he is president,
Embattled prime minister is not guilty of contempt of
court but should bow to pressure and ask Switzerland to
reopen graft cases against the president, his lawyer said
Wednesday.
The comments from Aitzaz Ahsan are the clearest
indication yet that Yousuf Raza Gilani may step back
from the brink of further confrontation with the judiciary
when he is summoned before Pakistans top court on
Thursday.
The Supreme Court has initiated contempt of court
proceedings against Gilani, exasperated by the
governments refusal to write to the Swiss asking them
to re-open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari
since an amnesty expired in 2009.
Asif Ali Zardari has complete immunity as president,
Ahsan told reporters.
There is no harm in writing a letter to the Swiss
authorities. He enjoys immunity in Pakistan and abroad
as long as he is president, he added.
Gilanis decision to appoint Ahsan as his lawyer has been
seen as a reconciliatory gesture to the judiciary, which has
been on a collision course with the government that most
believe will force early elections this year.
Ahsan said he did not believe Gilani would be convicted.
I dont think the prime minister has committed contempt
of court by not writing the letter. Through my arguments
I will try to convince the court that the prime minister is
not guilty of contempt.
Ahsan said that his stance regarding presidential
immunity and the writing of a letter to Swiss authorities
has always been very clear.
He said that former ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf did
not have immunity from prosecution because the cases
registered against him were civil in nature.
When asked how he would defend his client before the
bench hearing the contempt of court notice against the
premier, the barrister said that there should remain some
suspense regarding his take on the matter.
Last year, a Swiss prosecutor said that it would be impossible
to reopen a case against Zardari, as he has immunity.
Despite expressing complete neutrality on the graft
cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and terming it
an internal matter, the government of Switzerland has
said that they will always be ready to cooperate with
other states requesting mutual legal assistance through
established channels.
Responding to written queries by The Express Tribune,
the Swiss Embassy in Islamabad stated that: Contrary to
Gilani not guilty of contempt: Aitzaz
Switzerland ready to cooperate in Zardari graft cases
Britain will have to provide Afghanistan
with 165 million a year after troops leave
to ensure the country does not collapse,
according to a report by an inuential think
tank.
Afghanistan will take 30 years to develop
into proper democratic state
Afghanistan will take another 30 years to
develop into a properly democratic state,
Natos senior civilian representative has
said.
Sir Simon Gass, a British diplomat, said
the country has gone through 30 years of
disastrous conict which has destroyed
infrastructure and institutions.
It will take decades to recover from the
destruction that was wrought over that
period of time, he added.
Referring to a World Bank report about
countries emerging from prolonged conict,
Sir Simon said they do not have strong
institutions, democratic values, rule of law
or lack of corruption.
Those are not values that can be delivered
in a short period of time. Typically they take
30 years or so in countries coming out of
conict, he added.
Sir Simon told the Royal United Services
Institute (RUSI) in London that we should
not judge Afghanistan by standards we
would not expect of many of Afghanistans
neighbours.
Without the cash the edgling democracy
in Afghanistan will be in serious doubt
with the re-emergence of the Taliban
Afghanistan needs 165 million a
year from Britain after troops leave
Continued on page 10 >>
Continued on page 10 >>
10
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
SAARC
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani received applause from
PPP leaders on Monday night
for his earlier speech in the NA
& was assured of complete party
backing when he would appear
before the Supreme Court on
Thursday to answer a contempt
of court notice.
PPPs senior members, including
a number of federal ministers,
assured the prime minister at
a meeting, presided over by
President Asif Ali Zardari, that
the party will stand behind him in
adopting a stance that is correct,
respectful and constitutional.
Presidential spokesman
Farhatullah Khan Babar told
reporters after the meeting held
in the Presidency that the PPP
leaders had also appreciated the
support extended to leaders of
the government and the party by
all coalition partners and thanked
them for it.
He said the meeting held in the
Presidency reiterated condence
in the leadership of President
Zardari and Prime Minister
Gilani, who also attended it.
Mr Babar said the meeting
reviewed the current situation
and discussed ways and means
of overcoming the challenges
faced by the party and the
government.
Sources in the PPP told Dawn that
the main purpose of the meeting
was to devise a strategy for the
prime minister`s appearance
before a seven-judge SC bench
hearing the NRO implementation
case.
The PPPs information secretary
Qamar Zaman Kaira refused
to give details of the strategy
prepared by the party for
Thursday. Why should I share
my partys plan? How are you
asking this question and why
should I tell you anything which
is secret?.
Similarly, when asked whether
the prime minister and his party
would march to the Supreme
Court in a procession, the
presidential spokesman said he
could not disclose details butonly
say that the party did not plan
to make the occasion a show of
strength.
Earlier talking to reporters
outside the Parliament House,
Information Minister Firdous
Ashiq Awan said all cabinet
members would accompany the
prime minister to the court. She
said the resolution adopted in the
National Assembly was aimed at
strengthening parliament and
not degrading any institution.
The meeting at the Presidency
was attended by President
Zardaris sister Faryal Talpur,
Leader of the House in Senate
Nayyar Bokhari, Makhdoom
Amin Fahim, Chaudhry Ahmed
Mukhtar, Rehman Malik, Mir
Hazar Khan Bijrani, Manzoor
Wattoo, Syed Khursheed Shah,
Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Syed
Naveed Qamar, Babar Awan, Raza
Rabbani, Jahangir Badar, Faisal
Raza Abidi, Sardar Ali Khan,
Nazar Gondal, Qamar Zaman
Kaira, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Rana
Farooq Saeed Khan, Rukhsana
Bangash, Fouzia Habib, Mehreen
Anwar Raja and Farhatullah
Babar.
Core committee stands behind
embattled leadership
The Pakistani Taliban claimed
responsibilty for the Tuesday
killing of Pakistani reporter
Mukarram Khan Aatif, who worked
for the Voice of America. Aatif was
assassinated in Shabqadar, a small
town located in the violence-hit
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Aatif was assassinated in
Shabqadar, a small town located
in the violence-hit Khyber-
Pakhtunkhwa province, not far
from Peshawar.
Witnesses and local police say
that Aatif was attending evening
prayers when two assailants on a
motorbike arrived at the mosque.
One of them entered the building,
they say, and shot Aatif in the
head and chest before escaping
the scene.
The slain reporter, in his mid 40s
and a native of the Mohman tribal
agency bordering Afghanistan,
was rushed in critical condition
to a hospital, where he later died
from his injuries.
Friends and relatives and that death
threats from Taliban militants had
forced the slain reporter and his
family to abandon their hometown
and move to Shabqadar.
Soon after news of his death
surfaced, local and international
media groups condemned his
killing as a act an terrorism. Imtiaz
Alam, secretary-general of South
Asia Free Media Association, a
regional media watchdog, called
for a probe.
The government must investigate
and nd the culprits and also
compensate the family, Alam
said. And I expect more killings
in Pakistan, and journalists are
now leaving country under threat
from all kinds of actors, especially
the extremists.
Pakistani information minister
Firdous Ashiq Awan said the
government will conduct a
thorough and transparent
investigation into the incident and
promised nancial assistance to
the victims family.
It is really a very sad incident
and I condemn it from the core
of my heart. Awan said. I assure
his family and all the media that
we have to really interrogate and
go for a transparent inquiry, and
I am sure that we will be able to
nd some facts related to this
incident.
The minister added that Pakistans
ongoing war against Taliban-
led extremists has exposed the
entire society to revenge terrorist
attacks.
In addition to ling reports
for Deewa Radio, the Voice of
Americas Pashto language service,
Mukarram Khan Aatif also worked
for Dunya TV, a privately-run local
television station.
Critics insist that not only
militants but Pakistani security
agencies are also behind deadly
attacks on journalists. The failure
of the Pakistani authorities to
bring elements involved in such
attacks to justice, they say, has
emboldened those fearful of
increasingly independent media.
According to Reporters Without
Borders, at least 10 reporters were
killed in Pakistan in 2011, making
it the deadliest nation in the world
for journalists.
SAFMA condemns target
killing of Pakistani journalist
Continued from page 9 >>
misperceptions, Swiss banking regulation is no obstacle for authorities to
prosecute. It was regularly lifted in all kinds of investigations including
tax offences and money laundering cases.
However, one thing is clear: There are no criminal proceedings pending against
President Zardari or former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after a Swiss investigating
magistrate handed down a six-month suspended sentence against the couple.
One thing must be clearly understood. Contrary to common perception, the
Supreme Court is not asking the government to write a letter to re-open criminal
proceedings against anyone, claried prominent lawyer Abid Hasan Minto.
Pakistans government was never party to criminal proceedings against the
Swiss companies SGS and Cotecna. Those proceedings were started by the Swiss
government on their own initiative since both the companies are Swiss. Once the
charges of money-laundering were proven, then the Pakistani government asked
the Swiss government to return the $60 million frozen in the name of those Swiss
companies, added Minto.
When the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was signed by former
president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, Pakistans government led a petition
asking to withdraw the application regarding the frozen money. And now the
court is asking to revive that application if possible, said Minto.
However, there is a time-barring factor here. It is believed that if the Swiss cases
are not revived by April, they would be rendered dead and then they cannot be
revived. That is why the court is pressing the government to write the application
now. Both the SGS and Cotecna are shipment inspection rms who were hired by
late Bhuttos government in 1995 to check imports for quality. Money-laundering
speculations surfaced when it was reported in the media that the couple had
deposited kickbacks worth millions in two alleged front off-shore companies. The
party, President Zardari and Bhutto, during her lifetime, vehemently denied the
charges. The Pakistan Peoples Party termed the whole saga a political witch-hunt.
In a recent interview, President Zardari categorically stated that his government
would never ask the Swiss government to re-open the matter.
Gilani not guilty of contempt: Aitzaz
Afghanistan needs 165 million a
year from Britain after troops leave
inevitable, the report by the Royal United Services Institute said. The
price of supporting the Kabul government and paying wages to the Afghan National
Army could cost Britain 5 billion if, as expected, it continues to assist the country for
another three decades. There was an urgent requirement to decide very soon what
measures needed to be taken to shore up stability after the majority of Western troops
withdraw in 2014. The very fact that the Taliban remain active and potent raises
concern: the fear is that the withdrawal of ISAF (International Security Assistance
Force) will provide the Taliban with an opportunity to re-establish their inuence over
large swathes of territory in Afghanistan, said the report jointly written by the Indian-
based Vivekananda International Foundation.
SAARC Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
11
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
AFGHANISTAN NEWS
The inauguration ceremony for the
worlds largest hand written Holy Quran
was formally launched in presence of high
level Afghan government delegation,
key religious gures, religious clerics,
scholars & a huge audience of the
Afghans in capital Kabul.
The inauguration ceremony was also
accompanied by opening of Hakim Nasir
Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center and
arts exhibition displaying the history of
Khurasan.
The initiative for the art of the worlds
largest Holy Quran was proposed and
sponsored by His Highness Alhaj Syed
Mansoor Naderi, a well known religious
personality and leader of the Shia
Ismailies in Afghanistan.
The drawing and painting work of
the worlds largest Holy Quran was
completed in almost 5 years, under the
supervision of Hakim Nasir Khusraw
Balkhis talented artist.
The composition work was started in
September 2004 and was completed in
September 2009, with at least two years
of continuous work for the shafting and
archiving work.
The calligraphy work has been done
on 218 pages, having a dimension of 228
cm length and 155 cm width. All the 30
parts of the Holy Quran has been done
in 30 different designs.
His Highness Syed Mansoor Naderi
while speaking during the inauguration
described the completion of the art as
a major achievement for the Afghan
nation and all Muslims in the world.
In the meantime the second deputy
for president Hamid Karzai Mohammad
Karim Khalili conveyed his message for
the inauguration of the worlds largest
Holy Quran Calligraphy and opening
of the Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi
Cultural Center. He said the completion
of the worlds largest Holy Quran
calligraphy is a major achievement
for the Afghan nation and conveyed
his congratulations remarks for His
Highness Syed Mansoor Naderi.
The inauguration ceremony was
also accompanied by the appreciation
remarks from Nematullah Shahrani
Afghan presidential palace adviser and
religious cleric. He also spoke on the
history of Khurasan and urged for more
steps for further recognition of Nasir
Khusraw Balkhi.
Worlds largest Holy Quran calligraphy inaugurated in Kabul
According to local
authorities in north-
eastern Badakhshan
province, avalanche
incident has killed at
least 15 people in this
province.
The ofcials further
added, the incident
took place in Raghistan, Kohistan,
Yawaran and Eshkashim regions of
Badakhshan province.
A local ofcial in the central city
of Faizabad said, a village was
completely covered by avalanche in
Eshkashim.
According to reports, at least
70,000 people were living in the
village of Zich, which was struck
with the avalanche however the
exact number of people stuck inside
the snow has not clear yet.
The ofcials also said that the
rescue team has started to their
operations but there are no reports
regarding the progress of the rescue
operations.
The ofcials have also formed an
emergency meeting to discuss
further steps for the prevention of
the region which are threatened by
avalanche.
Reports in the central regions of
Afghanistan suggests that several
highways and roads have been
closed as a result of heavy snow.
At least 15 killed in Badakhshan
avalanche breakups
At least 159 reconciled militants were
nancially supported by provincial
high peace council in northern Baghlan
province.
Abdul Samad Stanekzai chief of the
provincial high peace council committee
for northern Baghlan province while
speaking during a press conference on
Sunday said, the militants who joined
peace process and surrendered to
Afghan government will be nancially
supported by provincial high peace
council committee. Each commander
of the militants will receive 10,000
Afghani rupees while each reconciled
militants corpse will received 5,000
Afghani rupees.
Mr. Stanekzai further added, high
peace council committee in northern
Baghlan province had considered
nancial support for the reconciled
militants for three months.
He also said, the high peace council
committee in northern Baghlan
province is struggling to implement
various small and large development
projects in this province in a bid to
create working opportunities for the
reconciled militants.
This comes as a number of the
reconciled militants cricitized the
Afghan government for being reckless
in resolving their issues and the Afghan
government has failed to fulll their
promises which they committed while
the militants surrendered to Afghan
government.
Reconciled militants receive
nancial support in Baghlan
In a country where insurgents have
for years attacked and killed people
working for the government or the
international community, a small
army of vaccination teams connected
to both have gone through some of
the most dangerous areas, mostly
safely.
Appointed by the government, paid
for by international agencies, and
given free passage by the Taliban, the
Global Polio Eradication Initiatives
65,000 volunteers and workers had
seemed to have nearly wiped out the
disease - until recently.
After years of steady decline, only
25 polio cases were reported in the
country in 2010, prompting one
international health care ofcial to
declare that Afghans are heroes.
Then last year, the number tripled
to 76, ofcials said. Polio is highly
contagious and specialists say that
each detected case is an indicator
of hundreds of silent ones, mainly
children with mild infections who
become carriers.
Polio is now considered endemic
only to Afghanistan and neighboring
Pakistan - where cases also increased
last year - and in northern Nigeria.
This is a national tragedy to end up
with a major polio outbreak, said Dr.
Bruce Aylward, the polio coordinator
for the World Health Organization.
President Hamid Karzai yesterday
in effect blamed the Taliban. Those
who stand in the way of vaccination
are the true enemies of our childrens
future, he said.
Polio cases triple in Afghanistan; Karzai
blames Taliban resistance to vaccines
SAARC
12
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
BANGLADESH NEWS
UKs Secretary of State for
International Development
Andrew Mitchell MPStar Online
Report
UKs Secretary of State for
International Development
Andrew Mitchell MP has arrived in
Dhaka on a three-day ofcial visit
to Bangladesh.
Mitchell will highlight the
planned scale-up of Britains aid
programme in Bangladesh and the
British governments commitment
to results, value for money and
transparency.
He will meet Prime Minister
Sheikha Hasina, government
ofcials, political leaders,
development partners, and ofcials
of non-government organisations,
said a British High Commission
press release.
During his visit, Mitchell will
reiterate the UKs partnership with
Bangladesh, discuss the countrys
governance and economy, and
highlight the opportunities for
growth and development.
The UK, through the Department
for International Development
(DFID), is the largest bilateral
grant donor in Bangladesh and has
set ambitious goals for its support
to the country over the next three
years.
Mitchell will visit UK-funded
projects in urban and remote
areas to see for himself how UK
aid is helping Bangladesh meet the
challenges of urbanisation, climate
change and social exclusion.
Prior to his arrival, Mitchell said:
Aid spent well has the power to
transform lives. I am delighted
to be in Bangladesh and see for
myself the difference that UK aid
is making to the lives of the poor.
UK steps up aid for
Bangladesh
The medical board, formed to
check the physical condition of
detained former Jamaat-e-Islami
ameer Ghulam Azam, released
him from hospital stating that he
is stable.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib
Medical University (BSMMU) has
already sent the medical boards
recommendation to the jail
authorities.
Cardiology specialist Sajal Krishna
Banerjee, a member of the medical
board said they had handed their
nal report to BSMMU Director
Brig Gen Abdul Majid Bhuiyan.
In the nal report, the medial
board said that there is no need to
keep Ghulam Azam any more at the
prison cell of BSMMU, he said.
Brig Gen Majid, who is from the
medical corps of Bangladesh Army,
said around 4:00pm they sent a
letter to the inspector general of
prisons to take a decision on taking
Ghulam Azam back to jail.
Responding to a query, he said the
medical board has also detected
a small piece of stone in his gall
bladder incidentally through an
ultrasoungram.
The BSMMU director, however,
said they have already consulted
with hepatobiliary specialists who
opined that this is not very much
harmful and there is no scope to
treat it in such old age.
Asked, IG-Prisons Brig Gen
Ashraful Islam Khan said he was
yet to receive the letter sent by the
BSMMU.
We will take a decision after
receiving the letter, he said while
talking to The Daily Star.
International Crimes Tribunal
sent Ghulam Azam to jail on
Wednesday after he had appeared
before it in connection with crimes
against humanity during the 1971
Liberation War.
The jail authorities, however, sent
the 89-year-old to the BSMMU
prison cell later that day. BSMMU
formed the three-member medical
board to check his health.
Ghulam Azam has been charged
with 62 counts of crimes against
humanity at the International
Crimes Tribunal.
Ghulam Azam released from hospital
Medical board nally says he is stable
Bangladesh has decided to open Chilahati-Haldibari
rail link latest by December 2012 for easier
connectivity with Bhutan and Nepal through India.
This route is likely to be the fth route agreed upon
as transit points between these two countries.
According to a Railway Board ofcial, Hashimara
station in India is hardly 182-km away from
Bangladeshs Chilahati station. Incidentally,
Hashimara station is located on Bhutan border as
well. Passengers can reach Hashimara in about three
hours through the proposed Chilahati-Haldibari
route, he said. According to him, Jogbani station
in India is located only 40-km away from Haldibari
and about 52-km away from Bangladeshs Chilahati.
The proposed rail link could facilitate passengers
from Jogbani bordering Nepal to pass through New
Jalpaiguri and Katihar route as well, he said.
Incidentally, the two countries already have
four other railway transit points between them:
Rahanpur (Chapainawabganj)-Singhabad, Birol
(Dinajpur)-Radhikapur, Darsana (Kushtia)-Gede
and Kulaura (Moulvibazar)-Mahishashan.
The opening of the rail link between Chilahati and
Haldibari will be a revival of old rail link which was
operational till 1965, sources said and added the
transit route connecting India and Bangladesh was
abandoned following the Indo-Pak war in 1965.
According to the Board ofcial, railway ministry
has asked the Bangladesh rail authority to provide a
detailed plan so that the new rail link could be thrown
open in the larger interest of people of both the
countries. Railways has also sought the time frame
in which Bangladesh wants to complete the work of
opening the new rail link with India, he said.
According to sources, Bangladesh railways will
have to construct about 7.5-km new rail lines from
Chilahati to reach the border while Indian Railways
will have to build 4.5-km new track from its border
to Haldibari station.
It may be recalled that both the countries had inked a
pact last year during Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasinas
visit to the country for opening new rail links with
Bangladesh for cultural exchange and various activities
between the two countries, sources said. Though the joint
declaration between the two countries did not mention
this particular route, they later realized that opening
of this route would facilitate movement of people from
both the countries as well trade and commerce, sources
said and added the proposed route would revive easy
regional connectivity among members of the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).
Bangladesh to open new raillink to Bhutan, Nepal
Dhaka: The Bangladeshi
government has signed a $290
million nancing agreement with
the World Bank for the countrys
second Local Governance Support
Project, said the Washington-
based lender.
The project will continue
to support Bangladeshs
decentralisation efforts through
provision of direct block grants
to Union Councils, the lowest tier
of local government system in the
South Asian country, for nancing
local priorities, Xinhua quoted a
world bank statement as saying.
With its nationwide coverage to all
4,504 Union Councils, the project
would benet 86 percent of the
countrys population or nearly
130 million people, it said.
The project would also provide
increased discretionary resources
and introduce performance based
grants in addition to expanding
the amounts and coverage of
direct block grants, said the
statement.
The project will channel 30 percent
of funds to schemes prioritised by
the women and would support
formation of Womens Forum at
the sub-district level, it added.
Bangladesh signs $290 mn deal with World Bank
SAARC
13
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
BHUTAN NEWS
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CEO
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Asif Ghazali
Kismat Radio
Transport vision 2040: Given the
current rate at which vehicles are
being imported into the country,
about 800 a month, and the limited
road infrastructure available, it could
take an entire hour to drive from the
centre of Thimphu to the end of the
expressway in Babesa, a distance of six
kms, by 2020.
To address this scenario, the
government has come up with a master
plan, on the verge of cabinet approval.
The transport vision 2040 will serve
as a master plan to address such
emerging and forecasted transport
problems by providing the government
with an integrated strategic vision to
provide the entire population with a
safe, reliable, affordable, convenient,
cost-effective, and environmentally
friendly transport system.
To achieve this a number of changes will
be required starting with the formation
of a single agency responsible for
transport. This agency, most probably
a department of transport, with several
other agencies, such as department
of roads, Road Safety and Transport
Authority (RSTA), and possibly even
the trafc police merging under a
single existing ministry.
Such a move will be required to
eliminate the existing problem of a lack
of coordination in transport planning,
information and communications
secretary, Dasho Kinley Dorji said.
Many ministries and several agencies
currently had different transport
responsibilities, causing lack of
coordination, he said.
He described an earlier experience
as an example, where a no left turn
signboard at a dangerous intersection
had taken between four to ve months
to be placed.
He said that rstly RSTA required
approval from MoIC, then RSTA
required another approval from
the city corporation, which in turn
required an approval from the works
and human settlement ministry, which
it was under at that time. RSTA then
required an approval from the trafc
police, which required clearance from
the home ministry. So there are
obvious reasons for a need for change
to take place, Dasho Kinley Dorji
said.
Dasho Kinley Dorji said that the vision
is timely as a critical point has been
reached. He said the beginnings of
problems that would arise without
a planned transport strategy are
emerging, such as trafc congestion
and the stress and unhappiness
associated with it, higher fuel
consumption, overloading of trucks
and the damage caused to existing
roads.
He said that the transport visions
purpose is to de-stress and depollute,
make transport more efcient and an
enabler for businesses.
He said that in March, the urban
transport component of the vision
would move into its second stage.
He said that a study looking at the
movement of people in Thimphu, such
as of students, ofce goers, etc., had
been completed, and that a basic plan
is ready to be implemented.
The plan includes 40-seater buses
moving between north and south
Thimphu, with up to 15 stops in
between. At these stops, smaller feeder
buses, of the kind currently operated
by Bhutan Post, would branch out,
connecting the upper parts of Thimphu
like Motithang. As an additional value,
the buses may be battery operated and
so environmentally friendly.
The transport vision would also
require that this urban transport
system seamlessly integrates into other
sectors of transport, for instance to the
inter-district sector, allowing travellers
to use the urban transport system to
get to a bus terminal where they can
catch a bus to another dzongkhag, for
instance, Paro, where upon arrival, an
urban public transport network would
be available to the airport, allowing
the traveller to even catch a ight or
receive guests.
A single agency to
manage transport
The Bogamati area is located in the Indo-
Bhutan border 30 km off Goreswar. It
lies between the two ranges of hills
at the foothills of the Bhutan border.
The Bogamati hilly area completely
belongs to the newly created Baksa
district in BTAD. Communication is
easy through the Goreswar-Sukla-
Uporkhuti (Bholajhar) PWD road
and Nagrijuli-Ambarish Nagar PWD
road in Baksa district. It is situated
5 km away from Ambarish Nagar
bazar chowk. There are no settlers
near Bogamati due to the large, thick
forest with big trees/bushes growing
close together and also the presence of
various wild animals
in the area. A natural gift of the
Bogamati spot is the panoramic
view of mountains and a wide
area of land beside the river
Barnadi, which originates from
one of the Bhutan hills and
ows through the
two ridges of
the hills. It
divides into
three tributaries,
namely Mala,
Deuchunga and
Jabra (i.e Puthimari),
the banks of which are
covered with soft white
sand. Besides, there are
two irrigation channels
namely Jabra (Deuchunga)
and Puthimari, constructed at
the initiative of the Sukla Irrigation
Project, Goreswar subdivision
ofce. Ganesh Kachari, EM, Suklai
Serfang constituency of Baksa
district, formally inaugurated the
Bogamati tourist and picnicker spot
recently. Kachari in his inaugural
speech said that with the help of MP
fund of Biswajit Daimary, MP (RS), a
Buddha statue would be constructed
soon at Bogamati with a view to attract
the people of Bhutan. The Deuchunga
PWD road and the tourist guest house
would be constructed here with the help
of the world Bank fund this year with a
view to provide better facilities to the
tourists as well as the picnickers.
Tourist spot opened at Bogamati
SAARC
14
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
The United Nations and leading
world organizations celebrated
Indias rst polio free year and
termed it as a major milestone in
their ght against this dreaded
disease.
The World Health Organisation
(WHO) Director-General Margaret
Chan, termed it as the greatest
public health achievement of India,
the Bill Gates, of Bill and Milinda
Gates Foundation described it as a
major milestone in the global ght
against polio.
This is a major milestone in the
global ght against polio. Children
in India are now protected against
this debilitating, but preventable
disease, bringing us one step closer
to saving and improving the lives of
all children, Mr. Gates said.
Mr. Gates in particular congratulated
the Prime Minister, Manmohan
Singh, the Union Health Minister,
Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the Chief
Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
West Bengal on this achievement.
This success is the result of Indian
Governments hard work and
great partnerships with Rotary
International, Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention, WHO
and UNICEF as well as millions
of volunteers, health workers and
community leaders, said the Seattle-
based foundation.
Celebrating the occasion, the World
Health Organisation said, if all
pending samples for the virus test
negative, India once regarded as
the worlds epicentre for polio will
become free of the disease for the
rst time in its history, reducing the
number of polio-endemic countries
to three: Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Nigeria.
Indias success is arguably its
greatest public health achievement
and has provided a global
opportunity to push for the end
of polio, WHO Director General,
Margaret Chan said.
U.N. Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
Executive Director Anthony Lake
attributed Indias remarkable
progress to strong leadership
at a national and state level,
which pushed for the launch of a
comprehensive polio eradication
programme that enabled very poor
and populous states to have high
immunization coverage.
Indias achievement is proof
positive that we can eradicate
polio even in the most challenging
environments in fact, it is only
by targeting these areas that we can
defeat this evil disease, Mr. Lake
said.
Headquartered in the U.S., Rotary
International, which was majorly
involved in the polio-eradication
campaign in India, termed it as a
major milestone in the global effort
to eradicate the crippling disease
polio.
With the support of their Rotary
brothers and sisters around the
world, Indian Rotarians have
worked diligently month after
month, year after year, to help
organise and carry out the National
Immunisation Days that reach
millions of children with the oral
polio vaccine, Rotary International
president, Karlan Banneker, said.
Since then, the incidence of polio
has plummeted by more than 99
per cent, from more than 350,000
cases a year to only 604 in 2011.
The 12-month milestone in India
where the last reported case was
a two-year-old girl in West Bengal
on Jan 13, 2011 continues the
progress of 2010, when the country
recorded only 42 polio cases out
of 1,352 worldwide. However, UN
health ofcials still felt the need of
being vigilant. In spite of the current
progress, WHO warned that there
is no room for complacency.
It is a very welcome milestone, but
it is not the end of the road, WHOs
spokesperson for the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative, Sonia Bari,
told the UN Radio.
Ms. Bari said the Indian
Government must remain vigilant
and respond very rapidly to guard
itself against any importation of
polio from other countries.
Polio free year, Indias greatest
public health achievement: WHO
Former president and chief of
the All Pakistan Muslim League
General Pervez Musharraf says
that he is reasonably sure that
the military will not resort to a
coup but will support the army if it
takes over, Indian newspaper The
Hindustan Times has reported.
I dont think the army intends to
take over. The environment is not
at all conducive for the army to do
so. I think the army understands
that, Musharraf told Indian
journalist Karan Thapar at CNN-
IBNs show Devils Advocate.
But in the event of a choice between
the civilian government or the
military, Musharraf categorically
stated he will side with the
institution that he served until
he shed the uniform to become
the president of Pakistan. Ive
been an armyman and I can never
imagine being against the army
I am with the army, I will stand by
the army.
Alliance with PTI
Musharraf, whose newly-found
party the APML recently organised
a lukewarm rally in Karachi, said
he was open for an alliance with
cricketer-turned-politician Imran
Khans Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf,
but will not serve under him if
elected to power.
If they [the PTI] want an alliance,
certainly I would like to have an
alliance. We have to come with a
third political option because the
two political options presently
and in the past have been tried
and failed there is a need of
coalition of forces which can bring
about that third political option
which can deliver to Pakistan,
Musharraf, who intends to return
to Pakistan from self-exile later
this month, said.
He said he was aware of people in
Imrans party who keep saying that
they will not get into an alliance
with him. But they dont have
a vision, they dont understand
what they are talking about. They
go into the eld and lose and then
(people) choose the same party.
Then Pakistan suffers, he said.
He vehemently rejected suggestions
of serving under Imran, if the
alliance came to power. I cannot
serve under him. I can be outside
I cannot be serving under anyone,
the former military ruler said.
Will stand by army if it takes over, says Musharraf
Open for an alliance with Imran Khans party
SAARC
15
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
INDIA NEWS
New Delhi, Jan 16: Taking the
extreme step over the age-
controversy, Indian Army chief,
VK Singh nally sued the central
government after ling a writ
petition in the Supreme Court.
Calling his battle against the
government as battle of honour,
General Singh moved the apex court
to settle the controversy surrounding
his date of birth. The decision of the
court will also bring solution for the
succession problem in the army.
Here it can be recalled that the
Defence Ministry had rejected his
statutory complaint to change his
date of birth from May 10, 1950 to
May 10, 1951 a step which would
have given him an extra ten months
in ofce.
However, General Singh claimed
that his birth of year is 1951 and
he will ght the against the central
government not for extra tenure
but for honour which believed to
have been marred following the
controversy.
Age-row: Army Chief VK Singh
sues Indian Govt, moves SC
India and China are due to begin
a fresh round of talks aimed at
resolving a long-running dispute
over their Himalayan border.
A number of areas along the border
between the two countries are in
dispute and the nations fought a
brief war in 1962.
Numerous rounds of border talks
have been held to try to resolve the
issues.
China protested when Indian
PM Manmohan Singh visited
Arunachal Pradesh during his
2009 election campaign.
Last November Chinas
ambassador to India became
involved in a heated exchange over
a map that showed parts of India
within Chinas border.
State Councillor Dai Bing-guo, who
is leading the Chinese delegation
at the talks, said the two countries
must put aside their differences
and seize a golden period to grow
China-India relations.
There does not exist such a thing as
Chinas attempt to attack India or
suppress Indias development, he
wrote in an article which appeared
in The Hindu newspaper.
The world has enough space
for China and India to achieve
common development, as there
are so many areas for us to work
together, he wrote.
The Indian delegation at the talks is
being led by the National Security
Advisor Shivshankar Menon.
Indias external affairs ministry
said in a statement that the two
sides will also hold talks on a a
wide range of bilateral, regional
and global issues of mutual
interest.
Both sides have previously claimed
the other is occupying parts of its
land.
While India has accused China of
occupying territory in Kashmir,
Beijing has laid claim to territory
in the north-east Indian state of
Arunachal Pradesh.
India and China to begin border talks
In a relief to former Union
Minister Sukh Ram, sentenced
to three years in jail in a 1993
telecom scam, the Supreme Court
on Monday extended his interim
bail till August 7.
A Bench headed by Justice P.
Sathasivam also granted relief
to former bureaucrat Runu
Ghosh and Hyderabad-based
businessman P. Rama Rao, who
are also convicted in the same case.
The Bench listed the appeals led
by all there accused challenging
their conviction and sentence to
August 7.
The apex court had earlier issued
notice to CBI on January 9 while
granting interim bail to all three
accused which was expiring
Monday.
The CBI, however, has not led its
reply in the case and on a query
by the Bench, Additional Solicitor
General Vivek Tankha said he was
unaware whether the agency would
le an appeal in the case or not.
Mr. Tankha said he will take
instructions from the agency.
Mr. Sukh Ram was granted interim
bail by the apex court after he had
surrendered before a trial court to
serve his three year sentence in the
scam case.
Mr. Ghosh and Mr. Rao had also
surrendered to serve their two and
three-year jail terms respectively.
Earlier on December 21 last year,
the Delhi High Court had upheld
the lower courts 2002 judgement
holding Mr. Sukh Ram, Mr. Ghosh
and Mr. Rao guilty of being part of
a criminal conspiracy to defraud
the state exchequer by awarding a
telecom equipment supply contract
to Hyderabads Advanced Radio
Masts which had supplied inferior
goods at a higher rate to the DoT.
Sukh Rams bail
extended till August 7
T
ouring Congress
strongholds of Amethi and
Rae Bareli in the run-up
to U.P. Assembly polls, Priyanka
Gandhi on Tuesday said she has not
decided yet whether to campaign
for the party, but made it clear that
she will do anything to help her
brother Rahul.
I have not decided yet... So far
I am here in Amethi and Rae Bareli
and my brother and I will talk to each
other and decide, Ms. Priyanka told
reporters in Rae Bareli.
I will do anything to help my
brother... whatever is required of
me. I will do whatever he requires
me to do. He knows to what extent
he can require me, she said.
Replying to questions, Ms.
Priyanka, said, For now, I am
going to oversee the elections in
these constituencies which fall in
our Parliamentary constituencies
and then, after that, we will see if
Rahul wants me to campaign, I will
campaign.
Talking to workers of a private
factory which has been closed for
the past two years, she said efforts
were on to nd a way out.
Its election time so I am not
allowed to give them any promises,
but we have been working on it
for two years...We are thinking of
other solutions...somebody else
to come and open a new one, she
said, adding that the workers had
been demanding help to restart the
factory.
Priyanka to campaign if Rahul wants
South Asias economic growth is seen
to have slumped in 2011, dragged down
by a slowing India, according to United
Nations World Economic Situations
and Prospects 2012 report. Real gross
domestic product (GDP) growth in
South Asia is estimated to have slowed
to 6.5% last year from 7.2% in 2010,
with India having decelerated sharply
to 7.6% from 9% expansion.
A combination of domestic and
external factors has reined in the
worlds second-fastest growing
economy, which constitutes almost
80% of South Asias GDP.
Though Indias economy is mainly
driven by domestic demand, its
dependence on volatile capital
inows makes it more vulnerable
to any double-dip than other South
Asian economies, the recession in
Europe and the US report pointed
out. This, along with the lack of scal
and monetary space, increases the
downside risks for Indian economic
growth.
The smaller economies in South Asia
are relatively insulated from the rest of
the world, in terms of both trade channels
and capital inows. In contrast, Indias
economy is more integrated with the
rest of the world, said Nagesh Kumar,
chief economist at the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacic (Escap).
Slowing India drags South Asia growth down
16 South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012 17 South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
Muhammad Ali in Islam

American boxer, Three times World
Heavyweight Champion, embraced
Islam in 1965.
I have had many nice moments in my
life. But the feelings I had while standing
on Mount Arafat (just outside Makka,
Saudi Arabia) on the day of the Hajj
(the Muslim pilgrimage), was the most
unique. I felt exalted by the indescribable
spiritual atmosphere there as over one
and a half million pilgrims invoked God
to forgive them for their sins and bestow
on them His choicest blessings.
It was an exhilarating experience to see
people belonging to different colours,
races and nationalities, kings, heads of
state and ordinary men from very poor
countries all clad in two simple white
sheets praying to God without any sense
of either pride or inferiority.
It was a practical manifestation of the
concept of equality in Islam.
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus
Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942) is a retired
American boxer and three-time World
Heavyweight Champion, who is
widely considered one of the greatest
heavyweight championship boxers of
all time. As an amateur, he won a gold
medal in the light heavyweight division
at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
After turning professional, he went on to
become the rst boxer to win the lineal
heavyweight championship three times.
After winning the championship from
Liston in 1964, Clay revealed that he was
a member of the Nation of Islam (often
called the Black Muslims at the time) and
the Nation gave Clay the name Cassius
X, discarding his surname as a symbol
of his ancestors enslavement, as had
been done by other Nation members.
On Friday, March 6, 1964, Malcolm X
took Clay on a guided tour of the United
Nations building (for a second time).
Malcolm X announced that Clay would
be granted his X. That same night,
Elijah Muhammad recorded a statement
over the phone to be played over the radio
that Clay would be renamed Muhammad
(one who is worthy of praise) Ali (fourth
rightly guided caliph). Only a few
journalists (most notably Howard Cosell)
accepted it at that time. Venerable boxing
announcer Don Dunphy addressed the
champion by his adopted name, as did
British reporters. The adoption of this
name symbolized his new identity as a
member of the Nation of Islam.
In 1975, after performing Hajj, he
joined the mainstream Islam, Sunni.
He is deeply committed to his faith and
prays ve times a day and fasts during
Ramadan though sometimes because of
his health he isnt always able to fulll
that. His adherence to Islam is certainly
not blind and his spirituality extends
beyond only Muslims in a concern for all
people. Muhammad Ali in Islam evolved
from belief in a man-god (and we seek
refuge from such belief) and from belief
in a self-proclaimed messenger, into one
who came to understand that the basic
foundation of his religion, Islam, is that
Nothing deserves to be worshipped
except Allah (the Creator), alone, who
has no partners, and that Prophet
Muhammad (born in 570, died in 632)
is the last Messenger of Allah. In 1975,
Elijah Muhammad died, and with him
died the incorrect beliefs which had been
ascribedtobothhe andFardMuhammad.
Muhammad Ali learned
that his past beliefs had some false
elements, mixed in with some very good
socially uplifting elements, so he dropped
the false parts, kept the good, and
moved into more mainstream, orthodox
Islam. No longer can he be blamed for
harboring anti-white rhetoric or racially
inammatory teachings. Those days are
long gone and Muhammad Ali in Islam
has a new meaning. It is belief in the
Oneness of God, in His Angels, in His
Books, in His Messengers (all of them), in
the Day of Judgment, and in the Ultimate
Will of God. That is Islam. And it is in this
light and this light, alone, that we must
now view Muhammad Ali in Islam.
Muhammad Ali
Celebrates
70th Birthday
18 Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012 NEWS
The funeral prayers of the youngest
Microsoft Certied Professional was
offered in Lahore on Sunday and
her remains are now being taken to
Faisalabad for the burial, DawnNews
reported.
Prayers for Arfa Karim were offered
at Cavalry Ground, where the Chief
Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif
was also present along with a large
number of crowds belonging to
different age groups.
Her dead body was shifted to
Faisalabad from Lahore after offering
of funeral prayer at Cavalry Ground
Lahore on Sunday Morning.
In Faisalabad, Army ofcials, local
politicians, Arfas class fellows and
many other citizens and children of
school attended her funeral prayer at
D ground.
Arfa went into coma on November
22, and Microsofts founder Bill
Gates took special interest in her
treatment and set up an international
panel of doctors for her treatment.
The panel perpetually kept in
contact with Pakistani physicians via
teleconference.
The young girl made headlines when
she was named the youngest Microsoft
Certied Professional (MCP). She
was also invited by Bill Gates to visit
Microsofts headquarters in the US.
Born in 1995, Arfa had earned the
Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the eld
of science and technology and the
Salam Pakistan Youth Award in 2005
for her achievements. Arfa is also the
youngest recipient of the Presidents
Award for Pride of Performance.
Arfa also earned her rst ight
certicate by ying a plane at a ying
club in Dubai at the age of 10, and
was invited by Microsoft in 2006 to
be a keynote speaker at the Tech-Ed
Developers Conference, where she
was the only Pakistani among over
5,000 developers.
The sudden demise of Arfa triggered a
wave of sorrow in the country. Prime
Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani, President
Asif Ali Zardari, chief ministers,
governors of the provinces and
others paid tribute to her and offered
their condolences upon her death.
Jamaat-e-Islami head Syed Munawar
Hasan and Karachi chief Mohammad
Hussain Mehanti also expressed
grief at the death. Muttahida Qaumi
Movement chief Altaf Hussain said
in a statement that Pakistan has lost
precious talent in Arfa Karim. He
expressed grief at Arfas demise and
has sympathised with the bereaved
family members and prayed for Arfas
soul.
In what could simply be described
as an enormous loss for Pakistan,
Arfa Karim, the worlds youngest
Microsoft Certied Professional
(MCP), Saturday night, lost the battle
of life after remaining admitted at
Combined Military Hospital for 26
days .
Pakistan mourns young genius
Arfa Karims demise
UK Cabinet Minister Baroness Warsi
met with the Archbishop of Karachi at St
Patricks Cathedral and visited the Jesus and
Mary Convent in Clifton in the city. Baroness
Warsi highlighted the important work the
Christian community is doing in Pakistan.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said it was an honour
to meet the Archbishop of Karachi and Sister
Berchmans, Benazir Bhuttos former teacher
at the Jesus and Mary Convent. She said she
was heartened and inspired to learn about
her 58 years of service to women in Pakistan
and added that her work is an outstanding
example of powerful role faith can play
in the world. Commenting further on the
Enhanced Strategic Dialogue, Baroness
Warsi added whether it is on trade and the
economy, or through culture and education,
we are serious about building a long-term
unbreakable partnership with Pakistan for
generations ahead.
The Minister also met with Abdul Sattar
Edhi, the head of Edhi Foundation in Karachi
to highlight the charitable work of the largest
welfare organisation in Pakistan.
Pakistan good for British
businesses to invest
KARACHI: Pakistan is a good place for British
businesses to invest and has a potential to be
the primary target for all British brands that
want to benet from this relatively untapped
market.
UK Minister of State for Trade and
Investment Lord Green and UK Cabinet
Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi visiting
a new shopping centre in Karachi said UK
government was fully committed to building
on the bilateral trade relationship between
our two countries.
UK advocates market access to European
Union and strongly supports European
Commissions proposal to extend GSP Plus
eligibility to Pakistan, said Green.
Encouraging more British companies,
including those in the retail sector, to consider
Pakistan as an investment destination will
be key to achieving this, he added.
British retail company Debenhams will open
its rst shop in April this year in Karachi.
Green said, This new store represents
further progress towards our goal of
increasing the 1.9 billion pounds worth of
trade that already ows between our two
countries every year.
Negotiations are ongoing and European
parliaments draft report has welcomed
extension of GSP Plus. There is further
potential for developing bilateral trade as
UK consumers become more aware of what
Pakistan has to offer, he said.
He said UK exports in goods to Pakistan
showed double-digit level of growth over last
year and noted Pakistans exports to UK rose
by 17 percent from January to October with
particularly strong growth in textiles.
UK is top destination in Europe for Pakistans
exports and also largest European investor
in Pakistan of international businesses
operating here, one in six is British.
He said one of most important areas where
UK and Pakistan could work together to
ensure future prosperity is education.
There are more students for O and A Levels
in Pakistan-some 170,000 than anywhere
outside of UK.
There are around 30,000 Pakistani students
in UK. Prime Minister David Cameron was
able to announce 650 million pounds for
education in Pakistan during his visit last
year which will help to get more than four
million children into schools, help recruit
and train 90,000 teachers and provide six
million sets of text books.
Ms Warsi said, It is a British company that is
opening up the rst international department
store in Pakistan. UK retail companies are
up there with the best in the world, so I hope
many more will look to invest in and create
jobs in Pakistan.
We are already making great progress in
our goal of increasing trade between our
two countries, with double-digit rises in
both directions in the last year, but we are
ambitious and keen to do more, she added.
British Deputy High Commissioner and
Director UKTI Francis Campbell said UKTI
is delighted to work with Team A Ventures in
helping Debenhams achieve this milestone.
The 27,000 sq foot store will be Pakistans
rst international departmental store.
Debenhams will be joining other British
brands in Pakistan like Next, Mothercare,
Early Learning Centre, Accesorise and
Monsoonto bring popular goods to a growing
market.
Yasin Paracha from Team A Ventures
Pakistan, the franchisee of Debenhams in
Pakistan also attended the launch event.
Debenhams General Manager Adnan
Hamid said Debenhams, with a portfolio of
internationally renowned fashion designers,
65 franchises around the world, was here to
change lifestyles.
In an enthusiastic market like Pakistan, it
is going to get bigger and better, the perfect
international offering for an extremely
prospective local market.
Warsi applauds the Christian
community in Pakistan
SAARC 19
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
The ultra-religious groups are
gaining increasing power in Israel,
where the radical rabbis are
exerting inuence and pressure.
The Zionists in the west who
also exert a powerful inuence
through lobbies like AIPAC and
the Israel lobby have capitalized
on promoting Israel as the only
democracy in the Middle East yet
little is exposed about the realities
of the country. Israel already
known as an apartheid state now
increasingly resembles Iran and
Saudi Arabia instead of Europe.
It is a country where there is no
civil marriage, and rabbis are the
only authority on weddings and
divorces. It is also a country where
ultra-orthodox schoolchildren
are not taught mathematics or
English, where every kindergarten
and every military battalion has a
rabbi, and where an infrastructure
minister wants to place power
plants under the supervision of
rabbis so that even electricity will
be in compliance with religious
purity laws. The other main
demand of the ultra orthodox is
that there should be a segregation
of the sexes.
They are demanding a gender
separation in public -- in elections,
on buses and in the street there
have also been many incidences
that buses passing from these
orthodox inhabited areas have
been pelted with stones all in the
name of a morality. Until now, this
trend has been most noticeable
in Jerusalem, in Beit Shemesh
and in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv,
the countrys ultra-orthodox
strongholds and increasingly
spreading to areas where secular
Israelis dominate. The tactics
these fundamentalists used to
attack Palestinian women and
children is now being aimed at
secular Israelis.
Even a former head of the Mossad
Israels foreign intelligence agency
has warned of the growing threat
from ultra-orthodox groups.
According to an article by
Juliane von Mittelstaedt on
The Growing Inuence of the
Ultra Orthodox in Israel, The
odd coexistence of religion and
democracy in the Jewish state
was long unproblematic. But now
the consequences are becoming
clear, the signs of fatigue of an
overstressed country, a country
that is both a democracy and an
occupying power, a high-tech
nation in which a portion of the
population still lives as if it were
the 19th century, and a country
that accepts immigrants from
around the world, provided they
are Jews, while at the same time
mercilessly deporting refugees.
As such, the settlers are, on the
one hand, increasingly exhibiting
a Messianic nationalism while, on
the other hand, the ultra-orthodox
pursue a fundamentalism hostile
to the state.
Mittelstaedt interviews Naomi
Machfud who wants to cover up
her face, her mouth, her nose
and her eyes with a veil. A black
veil without even a vision slit and
reveals nothing which she argues
is the pinnacle of modesty, the
closest a person can get to God.
Machfud, a 30-year-old woman
with six children wears a wool
robe, an apron, a blouse, three
oor-length corduroy skirts, a
black skirt and trousers. She has
a piece of black wool material
wrapped loosely around her head.
Underneath it is a tight, black veil,
and underneath that is a pale pink
veil, not a single hair is visible.
Machfud is one of a growing
number of women who are referred
to as the Taliban whereas they
refer
She lives in a settlement in the
West Bank, but she dresses as if
she lives in Afghanistan. Machfud
claims that there are thousands
of women like her and they are
usually found in Jerusalems
ultra-orthodox Meah Shearim
neighborhood, black shapeless
gures holding the hands of their
daughters who are dressed in the
same manner.
Orthodox Jewish women wear
long-sleeved blouses and skirts
and they cover their hair, but this
doesnt go far enough for Machfud.
She says that this dress code is
still too fashionable. According to
the Taliban these women attract
looks that should be reserved for
the husband and this she believes
leads to sin, and as long as there is
sin the Messiah cannot appear.
The ultra orthodox want to
eradicate sin in Israel to create
pure conditions for the promised
Messiah to appear.
According to both women, the
gender should disappear from
public. They should not go out,
and they should not speak with
strangers on the street and as
the majority of Israelis dont
understand this, which is why
they argue we are building a
parallel system. The two women
do not talk to men, and they leave
the room when a man comes in.
And they are determined to see
their daughters follow in their
footsteps.
For decades, the male leaders of
the ultra-orthodox have talked
about nothing but modesty, says
Hebrew University sociologist
Tamar El Or. No matter what,
women are always being lectured
on morality, and even the most
devout must listen, morning, noon
and night, to how they, with their
femininity, bring sin to men.
There is a growing movement
amongst women who want to
cover up and according to El Or,
this obsession with virtue is also
a rebellion against husbands and
rabbis, with women now choosing
to dene their bodies and their
faith themselves.
The Taliban women of Israel
Amir Khan-Lamont Peterson hearing
cancelled as appeal withdrawn
controversial ght last month.
Amir Khans promoters claim they withdrew their
appeal over the controversial defeat to Lamont
Peterson because they feared the IBF hearing
would be one-sided and not fully transparent.
Khan, along with father Shah and business
manager Asif Vali, had own to America ahead
of the hearing in New Jersey, only for it to be
cancelled at the 11th hour. Golden Boy Promotions
released a statement outlining their reasons and
chief executive Richard Schaefer has revealed they
feared they would not get a fair hearing. Two men
central to Khans complaints - referee Joe Cooper
and WBS supervisor Michael Welsh - would not be
present at the hearing. Cooper has been accused
by Khan of unfairly docking him two points in
the split decision loss, while Welsh was the man
seen being approached and allegedly interfered
with by mystery man Mustafa Ameen, who had
no apparent reason to be there. A statement from
Golden Boy read: Due to the fact that there was
only to be partial representation of ght ofcials
who were involved with the December 10, 2011
Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson bout at tomorrows
scheduled appeal hearing of the ghts outcome
before the International Boxing Federation (IBF),
Golden Boy Promotions and Team Khan have
decided to withdraw their appeal and focus their
full attention on Amirs next ght.
Continued on page 31 >>
SAARC
20
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
PAKISTAN NEWS
Hakimullah might have been
killed in a drone strike that took
place on January 12 in the Datta
Khel area of North Waziristan
Agency that had targeted a vehicle,
killing six people, according to the
US media.
Pakistani ofcials arent sure about
Hakimullahs death but TTP says
hes alive.
Its not the rst time Hakimullah
has been reported dead. In
2010, Pakistani and US ofcials
had claimed that the TTP chief
was killed in a drone strike in
Waziristan. But a few days later
TTP released a video showing
Hakimullah alive.
About the Jan 12 drone strike,
Pakistani intelligence ofcials said
they had intercepted militant radio
communications indicating that
Hakimullah may have been killed.
It is not yet 100 per cent sure
that Hakimullah was killed but we
are investigating the matter, the
ofcials told reporters.
However, the newly appointed TTP
spokesperson for South Waziristan,
Asimullah Asim, denied the
reported death of his groups chief,
claiming that Hakimullah was not
in the area where the drone strike
had hit.
Our Ameer (chief) is very much
alive and in full contact with his
men, he told The Express Tribune
by phone from somewhere in the
tribal belt.
Deadly drones: Hakimullah Mehsud is dead again
If one is to believe the American media, Hakimullah Mehsud, the young,
ferocious chief of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is dead again.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan
issued a contempt of court notice to
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
on Monday and directed him to
appear personally before the bench
on January 19, News report .
During the proceedings, National
Accountability Bureau (NAB)
Chairman Fasih Bokhari tendered an
unconditional apology to the court,
on which the court said that a written
apology should be submitted.
Speaking to the media after the
hearing, Federal Law Minister
Maula Bux Chandio said that he will
inform the government about the
courts verdict and admitted that the
contempt notice is not something to
be taken lightly.
Earlier, the apex court resumed
the proceedings of the National
Reconciliation Ordianance (NRO)
implementation case and ordered
Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul
Haq to seek replies from the
government.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa observed
that the courts orders were not being
taken seriously.
AG informed the court that he had
forwarded the courts orders but
a reply has not yet been received.
Justice Nasirul Mulk replied that the
court had ordered the AG to bring a
reply, not just forward the orders.
Earlier, a seven-member bench
hearing the case had deferred the
proceedings till 11 am due to the
absence of the AG.
Additional Prosecutor General
KK Agha had informed the seven-
member bench that the AG might
have gone to the commission hearing
the Memogate case.
Justice Nasirul Mulk observed that
the bench knew about AG Haqs
application for adjustment of the
case, but he should have been present
to inform the court about how long he
wanted the hearing to be adjourned.
After consultation, the bench put off
the matter for the attorney general.
Earlier, Haq had led an application
for the adjustment of the NRO case
before the chief justice, but he was
asked to raise the same question
either before the bench hearing the
case or the commission probing into
Memogate scandal.
Proceedings of NRO and Memogate
cases are being carried forward
simultaneously and the AG has to be
present in both the hearings.
The AG had approached the chief
justice to adjust the date of hearings.
He informed the chief justice that he
would have a hard time attending
the memo commission proceedings
and the NRO case at the same time.
The seven-member bench of the
Supreme Court comprised Justice
Mulk, Justice Khosa, Justice Sarmad
Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal
Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry,
Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice
Muhammad Ather Saeed.
The apex court is expected to deliver
its nal verdict today (Monday).
The hype reached a fever pitch on
January 10 when a bench chaired
by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa gave
six options against the government
for non-compliance in the NRO
implementation case, including
disqualication for Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gilani and President
Asif Ali Zardari.
The bench had earlier formulated six
options for itself to exercise in case
the executive failed to implement the
court order.
Option 1: Disqualication
Reading out the nine-page order
inside the courtroom, Justice Asif
Saeed Khosa imputed dishonesty
to the prime minister for failing to
keep his oath on protection of the
Constitution. Elaborating upon the
prime ministers role, the bench said
Article 190 made it obligatory upon
him to comply with the Supreme
Courts verdict in letter and spirit.
The bench said it has the option of
recording adverse ndings against
the prime minister, which could
permanently block him from getting
elected as a member of Parliament.
The president and the law minister
also seem to have breached their
oaths too and could very well share
the fate of the prime minister, the
court stated.
Option 2: Contempt proceedings
The bench said the prime minister and
the law minister could face contempt
proceedings for persistently,
obstinately and contumaciously
resisting to implement the judgment.
A possible conviction may entail a
disqualication from being elected
as a member of parliament for ve
years, the bench warned.
Option 3: Commission implements
NRO
Highlighting its powers under Article
187, coupled with the Supreme Court
Rules, 1980, the bench stated that
it may appoint a commission to
execute the relevant parts of the NRO
judgment.
Option 4: Claim immunity
Referring to protection to the
president, the prime minister and
the federal minister under Article
248 of the Constitution, the bench
said anyone claiming immunity
should raise it before the court. If
anybody wishes to be heard on that
question then an opportunity may be
afforded to him in that respect before
exercise of any of these options, the
bench held.
Option 5: Action against NAB chief
The bench observed that the NAB
Chairman Fasih Bokhari deed court
directions on taking action against
those responsible for appointing
Ahmed Riaz Sheikh as additional
director FIA, and Adnan A Khwaja
as managing director OGDCL. While
appointing them, the authorities had
ignored the fact that their convictions
stood restored after the court ruled
against the NRO.
Besides, the chairman did not take
any action against former attorney
general Malik Muhammad Qayyum,
who had misused his authority
in writing a letter to the Swiss
authorities for withdrawal of cases
against the president. The bench
said chairmans inaction fell in the
ambit of misconduct and attracted
the provisions of NAB ordinance on
removal from ofce.
Option 6: Leave it to the people
In sharp contrast to its other options,
the bench said it could leave the matter
up to the judgment of the people or
their representatives in parliament to
deal with the delinquents.
NRO verdict: SC issues contempt of
court notice to Gilani
Advocate Akram Shaikh, counsel for
US businessman Mansoor Ijaz, on
Monday told the commission set up
to probe on the memo issue that Ijaz
would be able to appear before it on
or after Jan 25. The commission met
under the chairmanship of Justice
Qazi Faez Essa.
During the meeting, Justice Essa said:
Our patience should not be put to
testwhen will Mansoor Ijaz appear
before the commission?
Shaikh apprised the commission of
Ijazs reservations over travelling to
Pakistan. He said statements regarding
registration of treason cases against
Ijaz and the sacking of the defence
secretary were also causes for concern
for the American businessman.
Shaikh said Ijaz was also getting
threats from certain quarters and
that the ongoing complications in
Pakistans civil-military relations
were also a source of security issues
for him.
Moreover, Attorney-General Maulvi
Anwarul Haq told the commission
that Haqqanis old BlackBerry phone
had been lost in the United States.
Ijaz may appear before
commission on or after
Jan 25: Sheikh
SAARC
21
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
MALDIVE NEWS
President Nasheed has informally discussed
with the Islamic ministry to investigate the
accusations against the government of trying to
promote anti-Islamic activities in the country.
Islamic Minister, Dr. Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari
said that President Nasheed had called late last
evening and indicated that the ministry is being
assigned the task. But as we are yet to receive an
ofcial document, we do not consider that the
task has been ofcially assigned, Dr. Bari said.
Once the document is received we can determine
the extent of the investigation required, the
Minister added.
Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair conrmed
the discussion had taken place and said that the
administrative work required in carrying out
such an investigation by the Islamic ministry is
currently being arranged.
Zuhair also said that these accusations have been
on going since 2003 and was even investigated
by a British company in the name of Operation
Druid in 2007 during the President Maumoons
government.
Back then it was Dr. Hassan Saeed, who
announced that the ndings showed that MDP
did not promote any other religion besides
Islam, but now its his party that leads the anti-
Islamic accusations against the government
Zuhair added.
Islamic Ministry to investigate anti-Islamic
accusations against the government
Police has summoned Criminal
court Chief Judge Abdulla
Mohamed at 8.30 tonight.
Media ofcial from the court
Ahmed Mohamed Manik said that
the police have stated that the
Judge is being brought in for questioning
with regard to an ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile Vice President of
Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP)
Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed
has also been summoned to the
police making this the fourth
police summon in ve days.
Police are investigating Dr. Jameels
comments against the government.
Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla
Mohamed summoned to police
Maldives Media Council (MMC) has said that
even though the constitution has given media
independence in the broadest terms, politics is
trying to inuence and control the media and
journalists. A press release by the media council
yesterday stated that politicians have repeatedly
warned and threatened the media and also
have tried to discredit the independent media
networks in the eyes of the public.
We worry that sometimes the words and
actions of some politicians cause difculties for
journalists working within the boundaries of the
law to gather information and present it to the
public the press release stated.
The council also stated that in a multi-party
democracy some media will praise and support
the government whilst some would investigate
and accuse government actions.
It was unacceptable to attack and threaten
journalists who oppose the government rather
than face or answer accusations by the media,
the council added.
Politics trying to inuence
media: Maldives Media Council
Maldives Media Council: MMC has said that politics is
trying to inuence and control the media and
Police have released Vice President
of Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) Dr.
Mohamed Jameel Ahmed tonight
following an order by the Criminal
Court for the immediate release of
Dr. Jameel.
The court order stated that of the
section 125 of the penal code under
which Dr. Jameel was arrested states
that a person can be punished for
making a fabricated statement or
repeats a statement whose basis
cannot be proven was in direct
conict with article 27 and 66
where the former states that every
citizen have the freedom to express
his conscience and thoughts orally
or in writing, unless prohibited by
law in the interest of protecting
the countrys sovereignty of the
Maldives, of maintaining public
order and of protecting the basic
tenets of Islam and hence the penal
code section was deemed invalid.
Dr. Jameel was summoned to
the police last night making it
his fourth police summon in ve
days and subsequently arrested
and transferred to Dhoonidhoo
detention facility.
Dr. Jameel who had been briey
detained the previous night was
later released following an order by
the criminal court issued by Judge
Abdulla Mohamed.
Police were investigating
slanderous allegations by Dr.
Jameel against the government.
Speaking to the media after his
release, Dr. Jameel said the incident
further exposed the feeble policies
of the government and attempts to
violate the constitutional right to
freedom of expression to protect the
tenets of Islam and the sovereignty
of the nation.
Meanwhile Criminal Courts Chief
Judge Abdulla Mohamed still
remain in custody after the Maldives
National Defense Force (MNDF)
had stormed Judge Abdullas
home and arrested him last night.
Police had summoned Judge
Abdulla last night but a High Court
order had instructed him to ignore
the summon till the matter could be
investigated further.
MNDF had refused to accept orders
from both the High Court and the
Supreme Court for the immediate
release of Judge Abdulla last night.
After the MNDF had failed to
comply with the High Courts order
to present Judge Abdulla to court
this afternoon the hearing went
ahead in his absence.
Following the deliberate disregard
of court orders, judicial and
constitutional law Criminal
court has issued an order to the
Prosecutor General to investigate
and take action against the Chief
of Defence Force and anyone else
involved within 3 days.
Similar to last night, opposition
members had gathered near the
Maldives Monetary Authority
(MMA) and the republic square and
called for the immediate release of
Judge Abdulla and the protection of
the constitution.
The protests turned violent after
protestors clashed with police
where stones and bottles were
hurled at the police and road blocks
were tossed out to sea. Police had
sought the assistance of the MNDF
after failed attempts to control the
crowd.
Maldives courts boycott sessions to
protest chief justices arrest
SAARC
22
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
NEPAL NEWS
Amid speculations of growing
Chinese inuence in Nepal, Chinese
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, during
his short ofcial visit to Nepal,
encouraged the continuation of
Nepals traditional and cordial
relations with India.
A guest at the luncheon that Prime
Minister Baburam Bhattarai had
hosted in Premier Wens honour at
Singha Durbar quoted the Chinese
leader as saying that Beijing wishes
to see the continuation of Nepals
warm and friendly ties with India,
pointing that relations between
China and India are also deepening.
Top leaders of major parties political
parties Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the
UCPN-Maoist, Sushil Koirala of the
Nepali Congress, Jhala Nath Khanal of
the CPN-UML and Mahantha Thakur
of the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party
Speaker Subas Nembang were
among those present at the luncheon.
Nepal should have no hesitation in
maintaining relations with any other
countries in its own way and China
will fully encourage that, the source
quoted Wen.
Talking to this daily later, Deputy
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Narayan Kaji Shrestha and PMs
aide Biswodip Pandey had held this
position during talks with PM and
political leaders.
Leading a brood of 11 ministers,
including foreign, commerce and
energy ministers, Wen had touched
down at the Tribhuvan International
Airport on an ofcial visit at 11.45
am. After receiving a 19-gun salute
from the Nepali Army, Wen held
talks with PM Bhattarai. Issues
of bilateral concern gured in the
delegation-level talks that followed.
Nepal reiterated that there is
only one China in the world. Both
Taiwan and Tibet are integral parts
of the Chinese territory, a joint
communiqu issued later said.
Nepal rmly supports Chinas efforts
to uphold state sovereignty, national
unity and territorial integrity, and
does not allow any forces to use
its territory for any anti-China or
separatist activities.
Appreciating Nepals one-China
policy, Wen said his country is keenly
following political developments
in Nepal and wants it to conclude
the peace process and promulgate
a permanent constitution at the
soonest with its own efforts.
Bhattarai said Nepal needs Chinese
assistance for socioeconomic
transformation through various
development projects after the
completion of transition. Jiabao
reacted positively.
During the luncheon, top leaders of
all parties apprised China of their
commitment to an early conclusion
of peace and constitution-making
processes on the basis of consensus.
The parties, according to Shrestha,
made it clear that all political parties
in Nepal take Tibet as an integral
part of China.
The prime ministerial talks,
delegation-level talks, signing of as
many as eight bilateral agreements
and the luncheon all took place at
the Prime Ministers Ofce in Singha
Durbar in a space of three hours.
Wen also paid a courtesy call on
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav at
Shital Niwas before leaving for Qatar
on a six-day ofcial tour of Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and UAE at 4 pm.
After Wens departure, DPM Shrestha
held a press meet at the VVIP lounge
of the TIA, where he apologised to
the media for the inconveniences
they faced in gathering information
about the closely-guarded visit.
Shrestha expressed hope that the
visit will take Nepal-China relations
to new heights.
China wants Nepal-India
relations to grow: Wen
Police investigations have revealed
that the plot to abduct businessman
Pawan Sanghai was hatched in the
Kusunti-based house of former
minister and Constituent Assembly
(CA) member Shyam Sundar
Gupta.
It has also been revealed that Gupta
played a double role and himself
collected ransom from Sanghais
family, while also pretending to
mediate between the two parties.
Gupta was arrested from
his residence in Sidhartha
municipality-5, Rupandehi, on
Monday. The Kathmandu District
Court on Tuesday remanded him in
four-day custody.
Sanghai, 55, was abducted on
December 22 from Kamaladi and
freed after 20 days on January 11
after he paid Rs 8.5 million to his
abductors. Based on telephone
conversation records between
the abductors and Gupta and
interrogation of Akash Lama of
Kavre and Jit Bahadur Golay,
the police found that Gupta
masterminded the plot and sent
out Lama, Golay and a few others to
execute his plan.
At a press meet on Monday, the
Metropolitan Police Crime Division
(MPCD) made public its preliminary
report, the recorded telephone
conversations and the abductors
statements.
Sanghai abduction: Gupta the mastermind,
court sends him in custody
China on Saturday agreed to
provide Nepal with $119 million
in aid during a surprise visit to the
tiny Himalayan nation by Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao.
Tirtha Wagle, the Nepalese
foreign ministry spokesman, said
the countries signed agreements
under which Beijing will provide
economic and technical assistance
and strengthen Nepals police.
Nepal is home to thousands of
Tibetan exiles, and the government
has worked to suppress anti-China
sentiment there.
Wen had planned to visit Nepal last
month, but that trip was canceled
for undisclosed reasons. This visit
came ahead of a Middle East trip
by the premier, and was kept secret
until a few hours before he arrived.
China has built highways and
nanced other development
projects in Nepal, which is looking
for increased nancial assistance
and investment as it recovers from
years of insurgency and political
uncertainty.
Nepal is looking for Chinas help
in developing a small airport at
Pokhara, a tourist resort, into
an international airport, and in
building mountain highways and a
hydropower plant.
China offers $119
million in aid to Nepal
Enjoy the sneak peak Curtain Raiser and Red Carpet
free on Zing, Sky 789 and the main extravaganza on
Zee TV, Sky 788:
Curtain Raiser 4th Feb @ 7pm on Zing
Red Carpet 5th Feb @ 7pm on Zing & Zee TV
Main Event 5th Feb @ 7:30pm on Zee TV
SAARC
23
WEEKLY REVIEW OF
SRILANKA NEWS
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
Addressing a long-standing issue
raised by Sri Lankans, India has
agreed to work on faster repatriation
of Sri Lankan shermen who get
stranded in Indian waters.
The Centre could not give this
assurance on its own and hence,
involved the States where the majority
of these shermen are arrested
either when they are indulging in
poaching or stranded because of
mechanical failure of their boats.
States, led by Tamil Nadu, have
evolved a mechanism to repatriate
genuine shermen. Andhra Pradesh,
Odisha, and the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands too have set in
motion the process to create such
mechanisms.
The fourth meeting of the India-
Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on
Fisheries held here expanded on the
gains made in the March 2011 New
Delhi round. The Joint Working Group
agreed to meet every six months to
sort out outstanding issues.
The two sides agreed to enhance
cooperation that would allow
both countries to pursue their
shing activity in a safe, secure
and sustainable manner, including
discouraging shermen from using
destructive shing methods. They
also discussed measures for the
expeditious release of bona de
shermen from both countries, a
joint statement said.
Dialogue to continue
Both sides noted the importance
of an ongoing engagement between
shermen and shermens
associations in India and Sri Lanka.
They agreed to encourage a continued
dialogue process between the
shermen communities of the two
countries through regular meetings.
In this context, it was agreed
that a delegation of shermens
representatives from Sri Lanka would
visit India at the earliest in 2012, it
added.
The Sri Lankan delegation was led by
Kshenuka Senewiratne, Additional
Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs
of Sri Lanka and the Indian delegation
by Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Joint
Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs
of India. The 11-member Indian
delegation had representatives from
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and a
host of agencies, including the Indian
Coast Guard.
India, Sri Lanka to work on
faster repatriation of shermen
Sri Lanka: Sri Lankas ethnic minority
Tamil party rejected a government-
appointed commissions report on
the countrys civil war because it
lacked witness protections and failed
to meet international investigative
standards.
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation
Commission cleared government
forces of deliberately targeting
civilians, while saying isolated
cases needed further investigation,
and it accused the defeated Tamil
Tiger rebels of routinely violating
international humanitarian law.
Earlier last year, a UN-appointed
panel said serious abuse allegations
on both sides were credible and
warranted an international inquiry.
Sri Lankas government appointed its
own commission under pressure and
with its report in hand, is expected to
argue now that international inquiry
is unnecessary.
The Tamil National Alliance, the
main political party representing
the ethnic minority, said the report
by the LLRC ``failed to fulll the
expectations of the Tamil community,
while also falling dramatically short
of international standards.
Sri Lanka ethnic Tamil party
rejects war report
The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad
bin Khalifa Al Thani and Sri
Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa wintnessing the signing
of agreements between the two
countries in Colombo yesterday. The
agreements were signed by Qatars
Minister of State for International
Cooperation H E Dr Khalid bin
Mohammad Al Attiyah and Sri
Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris.
Colombo: Qatar and Sri Lanka
signed a number of agreements
during the visit of the Emir H H
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
to the island nation. The agreements
signed include those on bilateral
trade and technical cooperation,
cultural cooperation, and legal
cooperation.
Memorandums of Understanding
(MoU) on tourism, education,
higher education, and scientic
research were also signed between
the two governments. Moreover,
MoUs on civil aviation, setting up
of a high joint committee between
Qatar and Sri Lanka as well as
a MoU on bilateral investment
between Qatar Holding and the
Board of Investment of Sri Lanka
were also signed.
Qatar Sri Lanka sign a
slew of agreements
The Indian government yesterday
said that the Lessons Learnt
and Reconciliation Commission
(LLRC) has many constructive
recommendations which would lead
to genuine national reconciliation.
Addressing the media in Colombo
visiting Indian External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna said
that Sri Lanka government is
committed to implement the LLRC
recommendations.
He said that the efforts that were
taken to end the three-decades
conict should now be employed
towards the creation of genuine
reconciliation and India is always
ready to assist Sri Lanka in this
respect too.
We are ready to help in whatever
way we can in a spirit of cooperation
and goodwill , he added.
Krishna said that the Sri Lankan
government has on many occasions
conveyed to India that it would
work for a lasting solution based on
the 13th Amendment.
He said that India expects the
discussion between the Sri Lankan
government and the Tamil National
Alliance (TNA) would pave way for
the settlement of the ethnic issue.
Krishna added that President
Mahinda Rajapaksa assured
him that he would be committed
to a settlement based on the 13
amendment and plus approach
when he raised the issue with him
yesterday morning. Touching on
the shermens issue, the visiting
Foreign Minister added that no
force should be used on shermen.
He said that the shermens issues
need to be addressed with utmost
care and they should be treated in a
humane manner.
Meanwhile, an Indian High
Commission press release quoted
Indian External Affairs Minister S
M Krishna as saying at the media
interaction:
I am pleased to be in Sri Lanka
again. At the outset, I would like
to express my sincere gratitude to
Minister Prof. Peiris and the Sri
Lankan Government for the warm
hospitality extended to me and to
my delegation.
Earlier, I had the opportunity
to call on President Mahinda
Rajapaksa. We had a useful
exchange of views on ways to
take the bilateral relationship
forward. With Minister Peiris,
we had the opportunity to review
progress in various areas, including
trade, services and investment,
development cooperation, science
and technology, culture and
education. I am satised that the
projects under our development
partnership have progressed well
since my last visit.
LLRC report, basis for reconciliation - Krishna
SPECIAL FEATURE
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
24
With Standard and Poors decision to
punish nine euro-zone countries with
downgrades and to strip France and
Austria of their AAA ratings, Germany
is likely to face additional burdens
in the euro bailout fund in order to
ensure cheap lending to save the
common currency. Some are calling for
Chancellor Angela Merkel to abandon
plans for a tax cut in Germany.
The eurozone lurched further into
chaos as France was downgraded by a
top credit rating agency and talks on
a crucial deal to restructure Greeces
unsustainable public debt burden broke
down.
The value of the euro fell sharply and
stock markets in Europe and America
witnessed a late selling spree after
reports spread that Standard & Poors
was about to downgrade one of the
economic pillars of the single currency.
France was joined by Austria in losing
the coveted AAA rating last night
and they were among nine European
countries to be downgraded, including
Spain, Italy and Portugal. Markets also
reacted badly to an announcement
from a global banking lobby group that
efforts to persuade Greeces private
creditors to agree to a steep reduction
in the size of the countrys debts had
failed.
David Cameron may be forced to stump
up 15billion of British cash to help
deal with the -eurozone crisis.
Thats 50 per cent higher than the
10billion Government prediction last
year and would amount to about 600
per household in Britain.
It comes amid renewed fears that
stockmarkets will plunge this week after
talks to resolve the nancial meltdown
in Greece broke down over plans for its
creditors to take a 50 per cent loss in a
bid to keep the country using the euro.
The huge loan could leave PM David
Cameron facing a fresh rebellion from
Tory MPs who ercely oppose pumping
more cash into the struggling economies
of Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
Only Four Euro-Zone Countries Still
Retain AAA Ratings
In an interview given to French public
TV station France 2 on Friday night,
Finance Minister Francois Baroin
sought to minimize the potential
damage. It is not the ratings agencies
that dictate Frances policies, he said.
He also called on people to remain
calm, stating that while losing the
AAA rating is not good news, it is
not a catastrophe. France retains an
excellent rating, he said.
Black Friday for
euro crisis
BRITAINS economy is most likely
already in recession as the countrys
recovery is hampered by the growing
eurozone crisis, experts have warned.
The Ernst & Young ITEM Club and the
Centre for Economics and Business
Research (Cebr) both believe that gross
domestic product (GDP) shrank in the
nal quarter of last year and will fall
again in the rst three months of 2012.
A recession is dened as two consecutive
quarters of contracting output.
The prospects for the economy in the
UK are closely tied to the fate of the
eurozone, according to both reports,
which is hitting the export trade so
crucial to the countrys recovery.
The warnings come shortly after
France, the second biggest economy in
the eurozone, saw its AAA credit rating
downgraded by Standard & Poors
(S&P), in a move which signals more
troubles for the single currency bloc.
Yesterday, in his rst public appearance
since the downgrade, French president
Nicolas Sarkozy avoided mention of
the loss of the prized AAA status, but
called for courage, calm and unity to
overcome the nancial crisis, and he
promised new reforms.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary William
Hague said the downgrades required
Britain to redouble our efforts to
boost economic growth.
He claimed the renewed questions over
the credit-worthiness of countries,
including France, also demonstrated
the importance of the coalition
governments decit reduction
strategy.
Meanwhile, the CEBR revised down
its forecast for growth for 2012 as a
whole from 0.7% growth as predicted
last October to a decline of 0.4% with
a risk of a more serious decline of 1.1%
if developments in the eurozone are
worse than feared.
Douglas McWilliams, one of the reports
authors and chief executive of the CEBR,
said: We take no pleasure in outlining
such a bleak forecast. But the world is
going through a fundamental change
where previously poor economies are
industrialising fast.
S&P stripped France of its gold-plated
AAA credit rating on Friday, and also
lowered the long-term ratings on
Austria, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia,
by one notch.
The rating levels for Cyprus, Italy,
Portugal and Spain were dropped two
notches.
There was no change for Belgium,
Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland,
Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
A Treasury spokeswoman said: The
uncertainty in the euro area continues
to have a chilling effect on the UK as well
as elsewhere, but there are reasons to
be optimistic: business surveys showed
the UK service and construction sectors
strengthening at the end of 2011, and
the governments credible scal plan is
helping keep UK interest rates at record
lows.
UK already in recession, as eurozone crisis hits exports
Eurozone crisis hitting UK exports
Ernst & Young Item club predicts 0.2% growth for 2012
Centre for Economic and Business Research forecasts 0.4% decline
Pakistan is exploring the option of
importing locomotives from India
to overcome a severe shortage
which has badly affected freight and
passenger operations of Pakistan
Railways.
Informed sources told reporters on
Monday that import of locomotives
from India was one of the options the
government was currently studying.
Among other options under
consideration is an offer by
International Finance Corporation
(IFC), a commercial arm of the World
Bank, to participate in a public-
private partnership to meet Pakistan
Railways` eet shortage and import
of locomotives from China, Germany
and the United States.
The idea of locomotives` import
from India has come from a Karachi-
based company named Pemcon
International Constructors which
has reported that `all technical
aspects of acceptability of Indian
locomotives have already been
agreed between Rites Ltd, the
export wing of Indian Railways, and
Pakistan Railways a couple of years
ago` Pakistan Railways, the sources
said, was arranging a meeting on Feb
2 in New Delhi of all relevant Indian
stakeholders, including senior
ofcials of the Indian Ministry of
External Affairs, Ministry of Indian
Railways, chairman of Indian
Railways, Rites Ltd and Pakistani
High Commission.The two sides
are expected to discuss nalisation
of a `dry leasing agreement` for
locomotives` import.
The sources said that Minister for
Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour
and Minister for Foreign Affairs
Hina Rabbani Khar had already
given a go-ahead for the talks to
determine how many locomotives
could be made available by Rites
Ltd of India Ofcials said the IFC
had also expressed its interest to
get involved in potential private
sector investment in the PR through
infrastructure project development
facility (IPDF) of the ministry of
nance and Railways` newly created
PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP)
depart-ment.
The PPP process involves developing
the railways` sector on a commercial
basis through an increased role of the
private sector in the operation and
management of locomotives. The
IFC is offering an advisory role as
well as investment in the railways.
The number of operational
locomotives of the Pakistan Railways
has drastically come down just to 149
from 528 in a matter of a few years.
The PR`s overdraft has exceeded
Rs40 billion, debt liability touched
Rs26 billion and operational losses
stood at Rs6 billion as of December
15, 2011, forcing the prime minister
to put an indenite moratorium on
repayment of PR`s interest pay-
ments.
The prime minister had directed the
ministry of nance to instruct the
State Bank of Pakistan to withhold at
source deductions till such time as it
is agreed that PR`s nancial position
permitted interest repayments.
Simultaneously, the PR has sought
immediate disposal of railways`
lands for generating funds to upgrade
railways` operations for survival and
long-term sustainability.
Pakistan likely to import railway
engines from India
ENTERTAINMENT
Saarc international I Thursday 19 January 2012
25
International talk show queen Oprah
Winfrey chose to go truly Indian on
her maiden India visit as she draped
an orange and golden sari as she went
to meet Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai
and her newborn, nicknamed Beti B,
Monday night. Winfrey, who hosted
Aishwarya and Abhishek on her
popular talk show in 2009, arrived
here Monday.
If sources are to be believed, meeting
Beti B, who was born Nov 14 last year,
was among the rst things Winfrey
wanted to do upon her arrival.
So, even before heading for a private
party organised in her honour at
socialite Parmeshwar Godrejs
residence, Winfrey decided to make
a trip to the Bachchan residence
to meet Ash and the baby at their
residence Jalsa in Juhu. The media
parked outside Jalsa could only
catch a glimpse of the 57-year-old as
she entered the house around 8.15
p.m. She kept to the traditional look
by teaming up her sari with golden
bangles. Winfrey left the house around
9.30 p.m. and that too in a car, driven
by megastar Amitabh Bachchan.
Abhishek sat beside his father in
the front seat, while Aishwarya and
Winfrey sat behind.
Oprah drapes sari to meet Ash, Beti B
The Asian Beats Chart show will be rst
programme of its kind to be broadcast
on mainstream television
Box TV, a joint venture between Channel
4 and Bauer Media, has conrmed it will
be telecasting the rst ever Asian music
chart show on mainstream TV.
The two-hour programme will be known
as The Asian Beats Chart celebrating
the best in British Asian Music and
beyond, featuring rising stars such as
SonnaRele, Raxstar, Arjun and K.E. It
will be hosted by MawaanRizwan and
Amira Kai (pictured)
Aadil Rasheed, former music industry
guru and conceptual catalyst behind the
show said, The Asian Beats Chart is
important for the long term development
of artists in this genre in the UK. It is great
to be working with Box TV to deliver this
ground-breaking show which will give
Asian artists a real chance at reaching
mainstream TV audiences in the UK.
First UK Asian Music
show on mainstream TV
Shah Rukh Khan bagged two
awards at the Screen Awards
recently and the superstar is
happy not only for himself but
also for his kids who he says
are also his competitors.
It feels nice to win awards. There is
a sense of competition with my kids
because they win prizes for racing,
taekwondo, riding etc. So Ill go
home and show my kids that even I
have won two awards, the 46-year-
old actor said at the awards function.
He bagged popular choice best actor
for Don 2 and best jodi (couple)
award for his pairing with Priyanka
Chopra.
Meanwhile, Khan had two releases
last year and both the lms RA.
One and Don 2 crossed the Rs1
billion mark (Dh71 million) at the
box ofce.
He said he does not work for money
and added: Hopefully, this year too
Ill work with the same motive and
not count numbers. Telephones have
numbers and not actors, producers.
Khan is currently working on Yash
Chopras next untitled lm with
Katrina Kaif. He is also co-producing
Student Of the Year with Karan
Johar.

The List Of Winners At 18th Colors
Screen Awards
The 18th Colors Screen Awards
show hosted by Shahrukh Khan,
Sajid Khan, Shahid Kapoor was
a total entertainment with lots
of stunning performances from
the actors from Bollywod. During
this event, singing Legend Asha
Bhosle was honored with life-time
achievement award.Here is the
list of Colors Screen Awards 2011
Winners.
Best Actor Ranbir Kapoor
(Rockstar)
Best Actress Vidya Balan (The
Dirty Picture)
Best Film The Dirty Picture
and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Director Milan Luthria
(The Dirty Picture)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Saif Ali Khan (Aarakshan)
Best Actress in a Supporting
Role Aditi Rao Hydari (Yeh Saali
Zindagi)
Best Actor in a
Negative Role (Male)
Prashant Narayan
(Murder 2)
Best Actor in a
Negative Role (Female)
Priyanka Chopra (7
Khoon Maaf)
Best Actor in a Comic
Role Pitobash (Shor
In The City)
Popular Choice Best Actor
Shahrukh Khan (Don 2)
Popular Choice Best Actress
Deepika Padukone (Desi Boyz)
Best Ensemble Cast Hrithik
Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Abhay Deol,
Farhan Akhtar, Kalki Koechlin
(Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Best Child Artist Partho Gupte
(Stanley Ka Dabba)
Best Actor on Debut Divyendu
(Pyar ka Panchnama)
Best Actress on Debut Parineeti
Chopra (Ladies vs Ricky Bahl)
Best Debut Director Bejoy
Nambiar (Shaitan)
Best Music A R Rahman
(Rockstar)
Best Background Score Ranjit
Barot (Shaitan)
Best Playback Singer (Male)
Mohit Chauhan (Sadda Haq
Rockstar)
Best Playback Singer (Female)
Shreya Ghoshal (Ooh la la The
Dirty Picture)
Performer of the Year Ekta
Kapoor
Jodi Award Shah Rukh Khan &
Priyanka Chopra
Best Lyrics Prasoon Joshi
(Achcha Lagta Hai Aarakshan)
Best Story Akshat Verma (Delhi
Belly)
Best Screenplay Akshat Verma
(Delhi Belly)
Best Dialogue Farhan Akhtar,
Javed Akhtar (Zindagi Na Milegi
Dobara) and Rajat Arora (The Dirty
Picture)
Best Editing Huzefa
Lokhandwala (Delhi Belly)
Best Sound Design Kunal
Sharma (Shaitan)
Best Cinematography R Madhi
(Shaitan)
Best Special effects Red
Chillies (Ra One)
Best Production Design
Shashank Tere (Delhi Belly)
Best Choreography Bosco
Caesar (Senorita Zindagi Na
Milegi Dobara)
Best Action Ra One
Best Costume Niharika Khan
and Moiz Kapadia (The Dirty
Picture)
King of Screen
Shah Rukh Khan bagged two
awards at the Screen Awards
COMMENT
26
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
The Paper Money is the Biggest
rip-off in human history , but
the digital money will be an even
bigger rip-off , Sheikh Imran
Hosein predicts that the elite
will collapse the dollar by 2012 ,
exactly as Pastor Lindsey Williams
revealed recently that his sources
amongst the elite will kill the
dollar and the Euro by 2012 and
will replace it probably with some
kind of digital money backed by
gold in order to make it acceptable
by the people
I suspect that this is precisely
the kind of colossal world-
wide distraction that the US
Government would actively seek to
exploit for riding the wave of white
American resentment against
the simultaneous collapse of the
US dollar that would now take
place. While impoverished black
America would certainly suffer
from the demise of the US dollar,
it is wealthy white America that
would really suffer the loss of most
of its wealth. That loss of wealth
would take place in consequence
of substitute money being offered
to replace the demonetized dollar
at an exchange rate of about
5 cents to the dollar. One can
now understand why the sharks
around the world are busy buying
as much gold as they can, while the
helpless innocent sardines remain
waiting to be sacriced at Israels
messianic altar. In fact, thanks to
the US Federal Reserve, history is
repeating itself. The Feds did it to
the American people in April 1931
and they are poised to do it again
today.
Our study of the subject of Dajjal
the false Messiah or Anti-Christ,
as well as Gog and Magog, led us to
the conclusion, more than 15 years
ago, that the US dollar must one
day collapse in order to make way
for a new international monetary
system. That new monetary system
would eventually be based on
invisible and intangible electronic
money that would be controlled by
an international banking system
largely under the control of Jews
of European extract. Those who
control the new post-Bretton
Woods international monetary
system would then use it to Israels
advantage and on Israels behalf.
Israels control over the money-
system of the world would in turn
assist in delivering to Israel the
status of third and last ruling State
in the world.
If and when the events described
above do occur they are likely to
have a positive impact for Islam
since they would separate the
grain from the husk Muslim.
The ranks of the grain who would
support or join the armed Islamic
resistance against aggression,
oppression and occupation, would
dramatically increase. Also, just as
important, the grain would nally
realize the bogus and fraudulent
nature of western-created money
and would now be willing to wage
the effort to recover the use of the
gold Dinar and silver Dirham as
money.
The husk, from captain to cook,
would continue to worship at the
altar of a US visa, Green Card and
Passport, and would continue
their efforts to migrate to the
lands of milk and honey. They
would consider their residence in
western countries to be equivalent
to residence in paradise, and
would scornfully reject any call to
go back home to hell in Pakistan.
Some of them, still in the queue
waiting to go to America, would
even acquire a perfect American
accent without ever setting foot on
American soil.
It must be particularly hurtful to
that westernized and secularized
elite, both in and out of Pakistan,
that essays such as this should be
penned by scholars of Islam who
are unafraid to proclaim the truth
in the faces of the worlds greatest
tyrants.
In fact this separation of grain
from husk Muslims is already
taking place and it would accelerate
as the real reasons for Obamas
Afghan surge are realized.
The enemies who are now waging
war on Islam have miscalculated.
They have underestimated
Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him) who prophesied that
a Muslim army would liberate
the Holy Land from Jewish
oppression. Every grain Muslim
knows that the army would come
out of Khorasan, and that the
North West of Pakistan is a part of
ancient Khorasan.
MOMENT OF TRUTH AND DEATH OF THE US DOLLAR
Shiekh
Imran
Hossein
Tribune Comment
The British Pakistan Foundations mission is to support Pakistan by encouraging Governments,
Charities and People to adopt intelligent ways of improving social and economic development
Objectives
To build a professional organization that is
secular, transparent, credible, and accountable
To identify powerful, sustainable and scalable
initiatives and promote them by mobilizing
intellectual and nancial resources
To provide the BPF charter mark to Pakistan
related charities that pass strict certication
procedures
To engage and coordinate the efforts of the
British Pakistan community and friends
To improve Pakistans image through cultural
and community exchanges and interactions
BPF acts as a connector of resources and need.
BPFs approach
By taking a holistic
approach BPF
identifies the
highest priority
needs, develops
an action plan to
meet those needs
and brings
together relevant
individuals and
organizations to
execute the plan.
BPF
Government
Individuals
Corporations
Experts
NGOs
Academics
Local NGOs
Local
corporations
Social
entrepreneurs
Community
leaders
Local
government
Pakistan target market
Pakistan-based partners
UK Donors UK Expertise
International
Agencies
BPF is reaching out to the community through
multiple channels
Social media
Newsletter
Website
300k raised at inaugural gala to support flood
relief efforts
BPFs inaugural gala in October 2010 was attended by over 500 members of the
Pakistani British community and Friends of Pakistan featuring William Hague,
Pakistan Foreign Secretary, James Caan from Dragons Den and other keynote
speakers
Program partners
Development partners in education:
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Development partners:
COMMENT
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
27
Shabana Syed
A surge of war propaganda against
Iran is ooding through western
media outlets with a hope to
poison the psyche of its people and
momentarily justify the need for
another war. The same poison that
numbed a nation temporarily through
fabricated reports of weapons of mass
destruction and led to millions of
innocent deaths not only of Iraqis but
also western soldiers who later found
out they had participated in an illegal
war built on lies.
Washington and Israel have been
instigating regime change and
now its the turn of Iran and Syria.
Israel wants regional supremacy
while Washington wants global
hegemony and control of the worlds
resources. Both have intensied
destabilization tactics in many
countries, with fake accusations
economic sanctions, isolation, covert
and direct confrontation and as
recently witnessed in Iran targeted
assassinations.
An article in Foreign Policy magazine
revealed CIA memos clarifying how
Israeli Mossad agents posed as
American spies to recruit members of
the terrorist organization Jundallah
to ght their covert war against Iran
with an aim for a US/Iran war. The
aim was to let Iranians think that
the US was behind extreme terrorist
attacks in their country and this
would create a situation that could
provoke Iran to take belligerent
action resulting in war.
Russian Security Council Secretary
Nikolay Patrushev stated that the
threat of a US attack against Iran
heavily supported by the US Israel
lobby is escalating. Patrushev, who
served as Director of Russias Federal
Security Service, the FSB from 1999
to 2008 has warned that the two
reasons for war with Iran are as
false as the reasons for war with
Iraq, and believes that a false ag
attack by Israel will be used to blame
Iran and used as a pretext for another
defensive war .
Accusing Iran of developing nuclear
weapons with no credible evidence
certainly has not convinced the world,
however it hasnt stopped the Zionist
owned media to continue beating the
drums of war.
As history has shown, the rst casualty
of war is not only the truth but also
a free press. However the twisted
phenomena practiced in the Western
media is to abhor censorship but at
the same time omit the truth. The
main trend after 9/11 has been not to
question government policies while
at the same time omit the facts that
do not fall in line with our reality.
The media is continuing the same
narrative it used in the Iraq war,
camouaging and distorting the
truth. No front page reports about
ongoing war games in the Persian
Gulf or the massive deployment of
troops which have been dispatched to
the Middle East or the redeployment
of US and allied troops previously
stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Nine thousand US troops have been
dispatched to Israel to participate in
what is described by the Israeli press
as the largest joint air defense war
exercise in Israeli history
According to Michel Chossudovsky,
economist and director of the Centre
for Research on Globalisation the
broader implications of this war
have not been addressed. He argues:
People are led to believe that war is
part of a humanitarian mandate and
that both Iran as well as Irans allies
namely China and Russia constitutes
an unrelenting threat to global
security and western democracy.
He explains: the most advanced
weapons system is used and Americas
wars are never presented as killing
operations resulting in extensive
civilian casualties. With this mindset
realities are turned upside down.
War becomes peace. The lie becomes
the truth. The humanitarian mandate
of the Pentagon and NATO cannot be
challenged.
According to Chussodovsky the
Global Strike concept, centralized
and coordinated by US Strategic
Command (STRATCOM) had been
planned since 2003. It should also
be noted that by 2003 there was a
powerful cabal of Zionists and Neo
Cons in control of US policies, which
had already taken the country to war
with Iraq and Afghanistan.
The only difference this time around
is that Iran is not Iraq, Afghanistan or
Libya. Iran is a country of 80 million
people and a major military and
economic power with huge global
oil and gas reserves. If war was to
break out between Iran and West, it
would trigger a third world war with
catastrophic casualties extending
from the Mediterranean to Russian
and China.
The Russian government has warned
the US and NATO that should Iran
get drawn into any political or military
hardships, this will be a direct threat
to our national security, signifying
that Russia will stand by Iran.
According to reports Iran has an
advanced Russian S 300 air defense
system and is equipped with medium
and long range missile capabilities:
The Shahab 3 and Sejjil missiles
have a range of approximately 2,000
km which can enable them to strike
targets in Israel.
Any aerial attacks against Iran could
result in missile attacks directed
against Israel as well as US military
basis in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and
Afghanistan. As the conict escalates
a land war could follow with Turkey
playing a strategic military role on
behalf of US and Israel.
The Revolutionary Guards, Irans
elite forces, constitute about
120,000 while Iran has a signicant
paramilitary force of several million
men and women.
The war would also involve Irans
allies like Syria and Hezbollah in
Lebanon, Iran has over the years
increased military aid to both.
More importantly Russia and China
will be actively involved. Both
countries have felt an increasing
encroachment by US and NATO.
Russia is threatened through the
European Union with US-NATO
AMD targeted at major Russian
cities, while China is surrounded by
US military bases, from the Korean
peninsula to the South China Sea.
The whole conict will be taking place
at a time where the US is bankrupt
and suffering the worst economic
crisis ever. Due to a massive increase
in defense spending and further social
economic cutbacks there will not only
be conict internationally but also
domestically. The Americans are also
waking up to the fact that taxpayers
money is going to Israels wars while
their own children have no future.
The clash of civilizations may nally
be taking place on all fronts and may
be this is what Israel and the neo
cons have been planning, that out of
the ashes of a destroyed civilization a
new world order will emerge.
Why does the US want to
attack Iran?
The US has never found Iran to be
any threat to America however it is
Israeli pressure that kept bringing
the issue to the forefront. As recent
evidence has revealed Mossad has
been continuing subversive activities
for many years in Iran.
According to Joshua Blakeney, a
journalist and activist: I dont believe
it (US Middle East policy) is motivated
primarily by oil interests. The war in
Iraq, the attempts to destabilize Iran,
I think they are rst and foremost
inspired by Tel Aviv because the US
oil policy traditionally in the Middle
East was one of fomenting stability
for oil markets by propping up
existing regimes,
So, I think its crazy for the US to be
alienating and estranging Iran when
the US obvious antagonists are Russia
and China and therefore Iran would
be an obvious ally. What interest does
the US have in risking the Straits of
Hormuz being closed? How is that
benecial to US oil interests? I think
since 9/11 weve seen a tectonic shift
in US Middle East policy, one thats
dictated by Israel.
The idea put forward by Jonathan
Cook in his book Blood and Religion,
claries Israels actions. He argues
that Israel is a pseudo-democracy
whose systematic oppression of the
Palestinian people was inherent in
the Zionist program to establish a
Greater Israel, an expanded military
state where only Jewish blood and
religion counts.
In his new book, Israel and the Clash
of Civilizations, he argues that the
Iraq war was as much a Zionist as an
American undertaking and that it was
inspired in no small degree by the
US/Zionist ambition to sow discord
in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
He also explains how in the 1980s, the
Jewish states security establishment
developed ideas about dissolving
other Middle Eastern states through
a policy of nurturing ethnic and
religious conict. That such a
policy was bound to promote Islamic
radicalism was seen by Zionist
strategists as positively desirable,
and as recent studies have revealed
those fuelling Islamophobia and
hatred against Muslims have been
Zionist backed groups and media,
their aim is to create enough hatred
against Muslims so that there is an
eventual clash of civilsations.
As the built up to war escalates, Israel
is busy planning its own expansionist
agenda. In October 1990, when the
Crisis in the Persian Gulf between
the Allied Forces and Iraq was
heating up an incident took place
in Jerusalem which was not widely
reported, fundamentalist Jews took
the opportunity of world attention
being focused on the Gulf crisis and
attempted to lay a foundation stone
for the Third Temple on the Temple
Mount. According to Jewish religious
Israels Plan a clash of civilizations
Continued on page 29 >>
First step war with Iran
Jamil Omar
The ultimate case against any government is its
performance in ofce and its highest court is the
elections. Let the people decide the fate of the PPP
and its leadership

Iqbal Balis hunger strike in Islamabad was a
milestone in the lawyers movement. When
Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Chaudhry invited Bali
to personally thank him for his support, Bali
characteristically replied: You do not have to thank
me. I did it for democracy and the rule of law, not
for you. Bali passed away soon afterwards, probably
from complications resulting from his long hunger
strike. Were he around, Bali would surely have raised
his voice against the
Supreme Courts
recent order in the
NRO case. He may
well have addressed
the CJ directly in
his typical fashion as
follows:
My dear Chaudhry
sahib, I am writing
to record my great
disappointment in you
and your honourable
brothers. When you were down and out the nation
stood by you because you symbolised democracy
and the rule of law. But ever since your restoration
you have chosen to implement justice in a very
slanted manner. You have consistently, some say
deliberately, targeted a democratically elected
civilian government while overlooking a host of
other agrant cases of political corruption. In this
singular pursuit you have cast aside all restraint and
resorted to extreme judicial activism.
The stated justication for your actions is (to)
uphold and maintain the dignity of the court
and to salvage and restore the delicately poised
constitutional balance in accord with the norms
of constitutional democracy. Sounds great, but I
wonder by what stretch of judicial imagination your
famous order to x the price of sugar at Rs 46 per
kg can be considered as upholding the dignity of the
court or seen as an attempt to restore constitutional
balance. Through hindsight, it now seems to be a
deliberate interference in the work of the executive
with the intention to undermine its authority and
thereby wreck the constitutional balance. May I
respectfully submit that the honour of our courts
and the cause of justice in our land would have been
better served had you implemented urgently needed
judicial reforms in order to ensure cheap and quick
justice, rid the courts of corruption and clear the cases
backlog, and you should have ensured transparency,
merit and objectivity in the appointment of judges
and checked the growing hooliganism of the lawyers
community.
It is interesting to hear you speak of constitutional
democracy, for this is exactly where your elite
brotherhood may ultimately cause most harm.
Remember that famous Freudian slip that escaped
from the mouth of one of your own brothers in
open court: We cannot allow parliament to declare
Pakistan a secular state. Mr Jinnah must have
turned in his grave at this. If the recent order is
anything to go by, it reads like a medieval Qazis
fatwa, basing itself more on scriptures than sense.
Its rambling, repetitive and tendentious text is full of
unwarranted conclusions and unproven allegations.
Prosecuting a democratically elected government
on the basis of such an order would cause serious
political turmoil anywhere; in todays Pakistan it
may well be a historic tragedy.
The Supreme Court order indicts the government for
its general contemptuous attitude and two specic
failures: NAB did not investigate in-depth the wrong
appointments of Adnan Khawaja and Ahmad Riaz
Sheikh or take action against Malik Mohammad
Qayyum, and the federal government did not write
to the Swiss authorities. Basing themselves merely
on this your brothers have drawn a very broad
conclusion: Such an attitude, approach and conduct
prima facie shows that the
co-chairperson of
the said political
party, the prime
minister and
federal minister
for law have
allowed loyalty
to a political
party and its
decisions to
o u t w e i g h
and outrun
their loyalty to the state and their
inviolable obligation to obey the constitution and
all its commands.
Democracies are a far from perfect system and
conicts of interest between state institutions are
not uncommon. Sometimes they arise on account
of personalities and at other times on account of the
law itself, as was vividly demonstrated in the state
of Florida during the 2000 US elections. Mature
nations resolve such conicts through mutual
accommodation and consensus; others sink into
mutually destructive turf wars. Today, Pakistan
seems to be headed for an unnecessary collision
between the Supreme Court and parliament. Prima
facie there is not much of a case for toppling an
elected government but then in Pakistan given proper
support from the right quarters, our judiciary has
hanged an elected prime minister, and hence there
is ample room for concern.
Pakistan is faced with a foreboding scenario that can
easily turn ugly. A few individual whims can easily
transform the six options mentioned in the Supreme
Court order into another non-negotiable six points.
To avoid a tragedy resulting from our own naivety,
let us heed the words of a local sage who recently
wrote: The people are familiar with the strong case
against the militarys encroachment in the political
domain; no less strong is the argument against the
judiciarys intervention in politics. What may be
legally permissible is often politically wrong and laws
are at best silent on the kind of give and take without
which governance by consensus is not possible.
Keeping I A Rehmans above wise and timely counsel
in mind, the judiciary and the government need to
arrive at a consensus. A closer look at the six options
suggests that an accommodation may be reached
along the following lines:
Option one bases itself on religion and laws thrust
upon the constitution by General Ziaul Haq to
decree ex parte that the prime minister is not an
honest person and therefore unt to hold ofce.
Similar allegations have also been levelled against
the president and the law minister.
This is unnecessarily confrontational. As the court
has chosen to make Allah a party to the dispute, may
I humbly suggest that this option be left to the will
of the Almighty.
Option two recommends initiating contempt of court
proceedings against the prime minister, law minister
and law secretary and possible disqualications.
The government should submit and the court should
pardon matters of contempt.
Option three recommends the appointment of a
commission to implement court orders. The Swiss
Court issue should be deferred while the president
enjoys immunity. The remaining court orders to be
implemented by the government.
Option four requires the president to request the
court to decide on his immunity.
The presidents immunity in matters under review
should be proclaimed by the court.
Option ve requires the chairman NAB to be
removed for misconduct; further investigations into
wrongdoings of others involved need to be looked
into.
Appoint a new consensus gure as NAB chairman,
follow this by a Truth and Reconciliation exercise
covering all related matters, especially those
pertaining to improper appointments/promotions,
etc.
Option six explores the possibility of showing
judicial restraint and leaving the matter to the better
judgement of the people or their representatives
in parliament to appropriately deal with the
delinquent.
Political delinquents are best dealt with politically.
Let the people decide, hold early elections.
In conclusion, let me repeat that the ultimate case
against any government is its performance in ofce
and its highest court is the elections. Let the people
decide the fate of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)
and its leadership. Meanwhile, Mr Nawaz Sharif
should ght his battles in the political arena and not
resort to undemocratic ways to topple governments
or keep a hold on the Senate and Imran Khan should
desist from his favourite hobby of hawai (aerial)-
ring.
The writer is co-President Awami Party. He can be
reached at alberuni123@hotmail.com
To the Chief Justice,
without prejudice-
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
28
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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
29 NEWS
FRANCE Standard & Poors swept
the debt-ridden European continent
with punishing credit downgrades last
week stripping France of its coveted
AAA status and dropping Italy even
lower. Germany retained its top-
notch rating, but Portugals debt
was consigned to junk. In all, S&P,
which took away the United States
AAA rating last summer, lowered the
ratings of nine countries, complicating
Europes efforts to nd a way out of a
debt crisis that still threatens to cause
worldwide economic harm. Austria
also lost its AAA status, Italy and Spain
fell by two notches, and S&P also cut
ratings on Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia and
Slovenia. The downgrades on more
than half of the countries that use the
euro could drive up yields on European
government debt as investors demand
more compensation for holding bonds
deemed to be riskier.
Higher borrowing costs would put more
nancial pressure on countries already
contending with heavy debt burdens.
In our view, the policy initiatives taken
by European policymakers in recent
weeks may be insufcient to fully
address ongoing systemic stresses in
the eurozone, S&P said in a statement.
Stocks fell Friday as downgrade rumors
reached the trading oors of Europe
and the United States.
Financial markets in turmoil as
downgrades spread across Eurozone
CHIANG MAI - The Obama
administration restored full
diplomatic relations with Myanmar,
moving swiftly to reward the
military-backed government for
reforms that include a cease-re with
ethnic insurgents and the release of
political prisoners.
The move came only six weeks after
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton made a historic visit that
highlighted Washingtons attempts
to reengage with a strategic Asian
nation that remains under strict
sanctions for its dismal human rights
record.
The White House was eager for
rapprochement partly to pull the
resource-rich country out of Chinas
political and economic orbit. Clinton
ew to the capital, Naypyidaw,
shortly after President Obama
announced a pivot in U.S. military
and diplomatic policy to reassure
allies in the Asia-Pacic region who
are nervous about Chinas increasing
assertiveness.
Diplomatic relations with Myanmar
were kept to a minimal level over the
last two decades but never severed.
The administration now will send an
ambassador to the country for the
rst time since 1990, and it invited
the Myanmar government to send an
envoy to Washington.
Obama has hailed Myanmars
progress on several fronts, especially
the announced release of 651
prisoners. Although U.S. ofcials
could not conrm the total, or the
identities of those released, they
said it included some pro-democracy
leaders who had languished in prison
since authorities in Myanmar, which
is also known as Burma, crushed
peaceful antigovernment protests in
1988.
In a statement, Obama called Fridays
release a substantial step forward
for democratic reform.
Much more remains to be done to
meet the aspirations of the Burmese
people, he said, but the United
States is committed to continuing our
engagement with the government.
All trends are shifting to the
Pacic, Chairman of the US Joint
Chiefs of Staff General Martin
Dempsey said after President Barack
Obama presented the US new
defence strategy on 5 January at the
Pentagon. Our strategic challenges
will largely emanate out of the Pacic
region.
Chinas response to Sustaining US
Global Leadership: Priorities for
21st Century Defense, an ofcial
declaration of intent regarding
future US defence policy, has so
far been somewhat muted. Despite
being described as the greatest
threat to security in the Asia-Pacic
region, the ofcial response from the
Ministry of National Defence (MND)
in Beijing was restrained.
There is a movement towards
greater peace and stability across
the Asia-Pacic region, MND
spokesman Geng Yansheng said in
a statement on 9 January. We urge
the US to follow the prevailing trend,
take an objective and balanced view
of China and its military, and behave
cautiously and in a manner conducive
to developing good relations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Liu Weimin was less diplomatic.
Responding to the reports claim that
the growth of Chinas military power
must be accompanied by greater
clarity of its strategic intentions in
order to avoid causing friction in
the region, Liu said in comments
quoted by the ofcial Xinhua news
agency that the accusation against
China in this document is groundless
and untrustworthy.
The US report goes on to emphasise
the importance of maintaining
regional access and the ability to
operate freely in keeping with our
treaty obligations and international
law - a phrase that along with other
elements of the report is directed at
Chinas development of anti-access/
area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities
such as the much-referenced but
little-known Dong-Feng 21 (DF-21
or CSS-5) anti-ship ballistic missile.
China also unleashed some of its
more vehement commentators
in the state-managed media. The
Global Times argued in an editorial
that China should strengthen its
long-range strike abilities and put
more deterrence on the US, as well
as siding with Iran, whose existence
and stance form a strong check
against the US. The Liberation
Army Daily the Chinese Armys
ofcial newspaper - published a
commentary by Major General
Luo Yuan in which he accused the
US of returning to a Cold War
mentality.
Casting our eyes around we can see
that the US has been bolstering its
ve major military alliances in the
Asia-Pacic region and is adjusting
the positioning of its ve major
military base clusters, while also
seeking more entry rights for military
bases around China, Gen Luo wrote
in comments translated by Reuters.
Who can believe that [the US is] not
directing this at China?
While such a response is
understandable - were Beijing to
publish a similar policy document
the US would be outraged - the
Pentagon report is in many ways
just a codication of what the US
has already started to do. Secretary
of Defense Leon Panettas trip
to the Asia-Pacic region in late
2011 was designed to outline the
realignment of US force posture to
counter Chinas military expansion
and reassure US allies. Conrming
that trend, the report emphasises
building on Washingtons mature
military alliances with Japan and
South Korea and establishing or
re-establishing similar relations
with the Philippines, Indonesia and
Vietnam.
Obamas new strategy makes greater
mention of India, describing it as an
anchor for US security interests in
the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
Whether Delhi is willing to parlay
these military sales into a permanent
role within a loose US-led alliance
of democratic Asia-Pacic nations
perhaps depends more on Chinese
actions than those of the US.
India is alive to the possibility of
encirclement by Beijing in the form
of military bases in the Seychelles,
Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Chinas
all-weather friend Pakistan, the
prism through which India views
most of its defence policy.
Unless the fear of a string of pearls
as this encirclement theory has
been tagged becomes a reality,
then New Delhi may prefer to keep
the US at arms length. It is all very
well for Washington to see India as
an anchor in the IOR, but New Delhi
may not want the accompanying
chain.
US Nervous about China restores
diplomatic relations with Mynamar
doctrines Israeli plan to dominate
and control the Mideast involves
demolishing Masjid Al Aqsa
which is Islams third holiest site
and built on an area that Jews
believe is where their messiah
will descend to lead them.
The Jews are aware that Islam
would never accept the building
of a Jewish Temple over the
desecrated ruins of the mosque;
therefore more underhand
methods are being used. Since the
rst attempt to lay a foundation
for the future temple, the Israeli
state has been carrying excavation
works all around the Dome of the
Rock. The Al Aqsa Foundation
for Islamic Endowment (Waqf)
and Heritage has warned that
Israel is targeting the mosque
by weakening its foundations
through constant digging and
excavations in the hope that
the Mosque will collapse on
its own. Jewish religious texts
believe that in order for Israel to
become a world power it has to
rst demolish Al Aqsa purify the
area and build the Jewish third
temple.
Jewish scriptures have
prophesized that Israel will build
the Temple but in order to do
that, rst a signicant event must
take place, and it is this event
which will bring the Islamic
world against Israel and result in
Jews vanquishing the armies of
Islam in the coming battle.
Israel is armed to the teeth with
nuclear weapons and pushing for
war. Is it Israels hope that a war
with Iran will divert attention so
that the Dome of the rock can be
destroyed and the Temple can be
built? And is this the signicant
event that will bring the Islamic
world against Israel?
The Temple is essential to
orthodox Jews as it is where
the supposed promised Messiah
(Mashiach) will descend and
restore the position of the Chosen
People above the goyim and
other lesser beings to supremely
rule the world
Over 34 years ago, an American
called John Henshaw wrote
about the dangers of Zionism
and its rule of Washington and
the Mideast. He said: The
metamorphosis of tiny Israel
from a midget to a giant is in
the making. The grand design
of Judaic-Zionist expansionist
doctrine is to seize all the oil-
rich lands from the shores of the
Euphrates to the banks of the
Nile.
rst step war with Iran
Continued from page 27
NEWS South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
30
Have you heard of Blue Monday? If
no, then it is important for you to
know that today is blue Monday. It
is believed that the third Monday of
January is depressing for most of
the people. There is a psychological
reason behind people feeling sad
on third Monday of January.
It is believed that by third Monday
of January, most of the people
give up their New Year resolution
and even forget to take in proper
exercise for the well being of the
body. Mr. Arnall, from the Cardiff
University, discovered blue
Monday six years ago.
According to Telegraph It was
supposed to be the Monday of all
Mondays, when youre more than
justied for having a serious case
of the Mondays. And it was
supposed to be long over.
Except that no one seems able to
agree on the exact date of Blue
Monday, the day considered
the most depressing day of the
year. Was it yesterday, the third
Monday of January, which is the
most often-sited date? Or is it
Jan. 23, the Monday in the last
full week of January? Or could it
have happened as far back as Jan.
1, which is the shortest day of the
month?
The third Monday of January has
been awarded the gloomy title due
to a combination of post-Christmas
blues, cold dark nights and the
arrival of unpaid credit card bills
reports the Daily Telegraph .
It all adds up to a workplace
malaise that could be costing
businesses as much as 93 billion
in lost productivity, according to
the University of Exeter.
The research comes as a number
of celebrity chefs today revealed
our-based recipes designed to
help people banish the blues.
According to psychologist Cliff
Arnall, today is when most people
are at their lowest ebb, a scientic
formula he came up with based
on the length of time until next
Christmas, holiday debt and the
likelihood of giving up New Years
resolutions.
There are some experts who call
Mr. Arnalls theory stupid and
meaningless. However, while
supporting the concept of blue
Monday, Arnall said, Motivational
levels also tend to be quite low
at this time of year. Youve got
something called the hibernation
effect, when people tend to be
more lethargic, they eat more than
they really need.
The confusion likely stems
from Blue Mondays dubious
beginnings. The day was chosen
in 2005 by Cardiff University
lecturer and psychologist Cliff
Arnall, who was asked to identify
the most depressing day of the
year for U.K.s Sky Travel as a way
to market vacations.
Arnall based the date on a
calculation that included gloomy
weather, post-holiday debt and low
motivational levels. He admitted
in 2010 that the calculation is
meaningless. But the practice of
marking the day continues, partly
because it cant be denied that the
cold, damp January weather really
affects people.
Cases of seasonal affective
disorder, where the weather
triggers depression, do tend to
peak around this time of year,
said psychiatrist and University of
Toronto lecturer Mark Berber.
There is some truth to the fact
that we do get low moods in mid-
January, but the idea that theres a
particular day and a particular way
of equating the severity of the low
mood I think thats somewhat
far-fetched, he said.
Part of why people feel so down
at this time of year is because of
the sense of loss that comes with
the dissipation of feelings of good
cheer, excitement and hope during
the post-Christmas period. In
addition, that holiday overspending
nally comes home to roost during
the month of January. This is a
very difcult time of year. Its hard
to get motivated and, on top of that,
we all have to tighten our belts,
both nancially and physically,
said Laurie Campbell, executive
director of Credit Canada.
Mid-January until March is the
busiest time of year for the credit
consulting agency for this very
reason, she said.
Financial issues can trigger stress,
depression, marital problems,
addiction problems, and health
problems in individuals, said
Campbell.
So to say that nancial issues
can cause this to be an even more
difcult time of year is certainly
valid, added Campbell.
Maintaining relationships with
family and friends beyond the
holidays is the best way to deal
with January winter blues, said
Berber.
Exercising, having sex and going
to the theatre may also help
boost your mood, according to a
recent U.K. study, conducted by
Apple and the London School of
Economics. The study, called the
Mappiness project, asked 45,000
smart phone users to record their
levels of happiness and location
throughout 2011. After studying
the three million responses, the
happiest day was determined to be
April 29, the day Prince William
married Catherine Middleton. The
lowest day, was 8 p.m. on Jan. 31,
which was, of course, a Monday.
Blue Monday is most depressing
day of the year, research claims
This Monday day was Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year, new research has claimed.
By Gilad Atzmon
The Arab hackers attack on
Israel escalated . The Israeli Stock
Exchanges and El Als sites collapsed
on Monday. The hackers say that it is
within their capability to crash every
Israeli server.
If Israel apologises to the people of
the Gaza genocide, we may reduce the
attacks, said Saudi Hacker OxOmar
to Ynet in an interview via email.
I want to harm Israel in any way
possible. Hitting Israel in the pocket
is certainly where it hurts. Ill Make
the Israeli authorities cry warned
OxOmar who operates from Mexico.
OxOmar wasnt very happy with
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister
Danny Ayalon, who called the Hackers
attacks an act of terrorism. Ayalon
also warned that hackers may have to
bear the consequences. He obviously
referred to Israeli vengeance. But
OxOmar seems to be resilient, If
the Israeli authorities, and especially
Danny Ayalon, apologise to me and
the people in Gaza, I may reduce
my attacks, he said. Ayalon has to
apologise for threatening to kill me,
and Israel should also apologise for
the massacre in Sabra and Shatila.
Needless to say that the Jewish State
is pretty devastated by the Idea that
a bunch of indigenous Arabs are far
more technologically advanced than
its own chosen cyber pirates.
I guess that this Cyber attack on
Israel is a clear warning to Britain
and America. Every cyber tactic
implemented against Israel could
easily be employed against Britain,
America or any other Western State
or institution. If Israeli banks are
vulnerable, there is no reason to
suspect that HBSC or Lloyds are
much safer.
Israel is under Cyber Attack
Corruption is the most severe
constraint in job creation in India,
a World Bank report on More and
Better Jobs in South Asia has said.
The report studies the creation and
growth of jobs and wages across the
eight South Asian countries.
The report, which studies the creation
and growth of jobs and wages across
the eight South Asian countries
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka said that between 2000
and 2010, these countries created an
average of 800,000 jobs a month,
which is now expected to rise to 1.2
million a month for the next few
decades.
That, however, could be at risk as
rms in South Asia face a number of
constraints, with political instability,
access to electricity and corruption
topping the list.
India reports the highest incidence
of bribes among South Asian nations
for obtaining operating licences and
construction permits.
Firms in India report spending an
average of 2.2% of sales on informal
payments and an average 8.1% of
managers time dealing with the
government, the report said. The
manufacturing sector in India is more
constrained by corruption than the
services sector, paying 4.9% of sales
to and devoting 12.6% of managers
time to bribes, the report said. The
highest incidence of bribes occurs
in grant of construction permits, tax
meetings, operating licences and
electrical connections, the report
added.
Corruption in the countrys 14 high-
income states is the biggest constraint
in the business environment,
compared to electricity being the
biggest constraint in the remaining
18 low-income states, the report said.
Nepal second most corrupt
country in South Asia
KATHMANDU: Nepal is the second
most corrupt country in South Asia
after Afghanistan, with Bhutan being
the least corrupt in the region, if one
goes by the Corruption Perception
Index- 2011 released by Berlin-based
Transparency International today.
According to TI, the worlds most
credible measure of domestic and
public sector corruption, Nepal is
ranked 154th with a score of 2.2.
It was ranked 146th last year. The
index had scored 183 countries and
territories from 0 (highly corrupt) to
10 (very clean) based on perceived
levels of public sector corruption.
Two thirds of the ranked countries
have scored less than ve.
A press statement issued by Bishnu
Bahadur KC, chairperson, TI-Nepal,
states that any country that scores
less than three shows that corruption
is all-pervasive there.
In South Asia, Bhutan has scored
5.7 followed by Sri Lanka 3.3,
India 3.1, Bangladesh 2.7, Maldives
2.5, Pakistan 2.5, Nepal 2.2 and
Afghanistan 1.5.
The index is based on expert
assessment and data from six
international surveys commissioned
by six independent institutions,
covering issues such as access
to information, bribery of public
ofcials, kickbacks in public
procurement, and the enforcement
of anti-corruption laws and their
outcome, action against the corrupt,
political corruption, and bribery in
export and import of goods.
The cause of rampant corruption
in public sectors has been attributed
to the governments lethargic
performance to control the nancial
crime in political transition. It
reects the lack of will power and
commitment on the part of the
government and political parties to
maintain good governance and that
anti-graft bodies failed in their job,
said KC.
New Zealand ranks rst with a score
of 9.5, followed by Finland and
Denmark. Somalia and North Korea
(included in the Index for the rst
time) gure last on the index, with a
score of 1.0 each.
TI adds that protests around the
world, often fuelled by corruption and
economic instability, clearly show
citizens feel their leaders and public
institutions are neither transparent
nor accountable enough.
Homegrown graft at a glance
CIAA indicted 34 incumbent and
former ofcials of Nepal Police,
including three former IGs, in a high-
prole corruption amounting Rs. 28.81
crores in the procurement of Armoured
Personnel Carriers and logistics for the
personnel deputed for the peacekeeping
mission under the United Nations ag
in Darfur of Sudan
Supreme Court convicted Nepali
Congress leader Chiranjeevi Wagle
of corruption and slapped on him
18-month imprisonment and Rs 40.6
million ne
SC slapped 18-month jail term and
Rs 14 million ne on former chief
of erstwhile Royal Nepal Airlines
Corporation Ramagya Prasad
Chaturvedi on corruption charges
Four lawmakers charged with
corruption and abuse of power and
authority for selling diplomatic
passports for monetary gains
Corruption top threat to South
Asia jobs: World Bank
SPECIAL FEATURE
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
31
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 19 January 2012
Published by Saarc International Ltd, Suite 101, 10 Courtenay Road, London HA9 7ND. UK Telephone:020 8904 0619 Fax: 020 8181 7575 E-mail: info@satribune.co.uk
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32
Indian opener Gautam Gambhir said Tuesday a change
of captain for the fourth Test against Australia would not
banish his sides problems and urged the whole team to
raise its game.
The Indian camp conrmed opener Virender Sehwag
would take over the captaincy from suspended M.S.
Dhoni for the Test in Adelaide, which starts next Tuesday
and is the nal match of the series.
Australia has already won the series after emphatic
victories in the rst three Tests, and the last match is a
chance for India to redeem themselves.
Gambhir said he was condent Sehwag would do a good
job as skipper but conceded that would not count for
much if the rest of the team continued to perform badly.
New captain cant work miracles: Gambhir
Amir Khan will face Lamont Peterson again
on Wednesday at the International Boxing
Federation hearing in New York into their
Amir Khan-Lamont Peterson hearing
cancelled as appeal withdrawn
Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal admitted that
his preparations were marked with emphasis
on bowling to left-handers as he ripped through
the England batting line-up on the opening day
of the 1st Test in Dubai.
Pakistan on top after opening day following off-
spinners career-best 7 for 55.
First Test, Dubai International Stadium, day
two:
England 192 v Pakistan 288-7
Pakistan opener Mohammad Hafeez and
Taufeeq Umar cracked half centuries to put
on a 114 runs partnership and help their team
post 138 for 2 by lunch on the second day of
the rst Test at the Dubai International Cricket
Stadium
England claimed two late wickets to restrict
Pakistan to 288-7 by the end of an attritional
second day of the rst Test in Dubai.
Graeme Swann and James Anderson removed
Misbah-ul-Haq, who made a patient 52, and
Abdur Rehman respectively in the nal two overs
to give the tourists renewed hope after theyd
toiled away manfully in tough conditions.
Stuart Broad had earlier picked up two quick
scalps as England, dismissed for 192 in their
rst innings, relied on their bowlers to stay
alive.
Mohammad Hafeez top-scored for Pakistan
with 88 and although it was slow going for long
periods, they still ended proceedings with a
lead of 96.
Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal
rips through England in rst
cricket Test in Dubai
Continued on page 19 >>
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