wednesday, MAY 5, 2010 BAISHAKH 22, 1417, JAMADIuL AWAL 19, 1431 Hijri

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Leading News

BCL factional clashes in DU and Barisal Polytechnic
At least 25 activists injured: AL infighting in Kushtia

UNB, Dhaka

25 people were injured in clashes between rival groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) in Dhaka University (DU) and Barisal Polytechnic Institute on Tuesday.
At least 10 activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League were injured in a factional fight on Dhaka University campus Tuesday. Campus sources said two rival groups of BCL clashed with sharp and lethal weapons for establishing supremacy in Hajee Mohammad Mohsin Hall in the morning.
At least 2 cocktails were burst and sounds of some gunshots heard during the clash. Police entered the hall premises along with Proctor Saiful Islam Khan and brought the situation under control.
Those injured are Enamul Haq, Ziaur Rahman, Rahmat Ullah, Monir, Enamul, Belal Hossain, Liton, Masum, Milon and Sahin. Badly wounded Ziaur Rahman and Monir were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Meanwhile, rival groups of BCL clashed with sharp weapons in Polytechnic Institute for establishing supremacy left at least 15 activists injured on Tuesday.
Of the injured, 3rd year student Sabuj, 2nd year student Subir and 1st year student Reaz of the institute were admitted to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in a serious condition. Witnesses said Imran Hossain group demonstrated on the campus against BCL unit president Abdur Razzak accusing him of corruption, terrorism and Eve teasing.
That angered Razzak who mobilized supporters and launched attack on the rivals with sharp weapons in presence of police leaving 15 BCL activists injured. Panic strike general students left the campus. The attackers also raided hostels and indiscriminately beat the inmates.
Additional police rushed from the Kotwali thana who brought the situation under control. Campus sources said share of tender money is the main reason of factional fight.
Another report from Kushtia said rival groups of Awami League led by Mannan Biswas and Altab Molla engaged in a series of clashes on Tuesday in Bangshitala village of sadar upazila.
Witnesses said 50 houses were damaged and valuables and cattle looted during the clash heightening tension in adjacent villages.
Assistant Police Super C A Halim confirmed the incident. He said rivalry of two groups in the ruling party has been continuing for long. District AL secretary Azgar Ali and Kumarkhali upazila chairman Abdur Rouf were set to settle the dispute in an arbitration meeting on May 7. But the groups renewed the clash on Tuesday. Some 42 persons involved in the clash were arrested, said the police officer.

 516 more ‘political cases’ being dropped
4,687 cases selected for withdrawal: 2 against BNP, 2 JP, 1 lawyers, 1 Proshika, all others against AL

TBT Report

The government on Tuesday decided to drop 516 more 'politically motivated' cases as the charges were leveled against the mostly present ruling-party persons during the immediate-past interim regime or the previous BNP-led coalition on political considerations.
The decision was taken at the 17th meeting of the inter-ministerial committee formed to review the cases filed with the intention of political harassment. With the new recommendations, the number of cases so far dropped in the turnaround rose to 4,687.
Most of those whose cases were recommended for withdrawal belong to the ruling party and its front organizations, triggering resentment in the opposition BNP circles as its leaders are also bearing loads of such cases on charges of graft that had taken place during their rule. The scrutiny committee on October 13 in its eighth meeting recommended dropping one case against opposition leader Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman and one corruption case against former president and Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad MP. Earlier on August 26, one case against BNP leader Moudud Ahmed was also withdrawn. Among the 669 cases recommended for quashing on 9 March in the 14th meeting the committee recommended withdrawal of a case filed against a group of eminent lawyers of the country including Dr Kamal Hossain, Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmud, Barrister Tania Amir and Advocate Subrata Chowdhury.
BSS adds: The government on Tuesday May 4 recommended withdrawal of 516 more cases filed against mostly political leaders during the army backed caretaker government on political grounds. Advocate Kamrul said the committee after long discussion suggested the withdrawal of 516 cases filed under the CrPC and BPC after rejecting 115 cases as those were not filed with political motivation and malafide intention. The committee also instructed the authorities to place 333 cases again before the next committee meeting.
The committee recommended withdrawal of a case filed against ruling party lawmaker from Dhaka's Demra area Habibur Rahman Molla, one case against Jatiya Party (JP) Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader, MP, one against former Awami League lawmaker Dr HBM Iqbal, three cases against former AL MP Haji Mohammad Selim, a case against Sayeed Khokon, the only son of former mayor of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Mohammad Hanif, and another case against former chairman of Proshika Dr Kazi Faruqur Ahmed.
Replying to a question, Advocate Qamrul Islam said they had so far received 9,274 cases from different Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and the committee recommended the withdrawal of 4,687 cases of them, including 258 of the ACC.

 Khaleda expresses no confidence in another HC division bench

UNB, Dhaka

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has again submitted a petition expressing no confidence in the High Court division bench comprising Justice M Imman Ali and Justice Obaidul Hassan set by the Chief Justice for rule hearing on the pending writ petition over her disputed Dhaka cantonment house.
As the matter came up for hearing before the bench Tuesday the counsel for Khaleda submitted the plea of no confidence and prayed for posting the matter to the Chief Justice for constitution of another division bench for disposal of the writ petition.
The bench fixed tomorrow (Wednesday) for hearing on the petition.
Emerging from the court, Khaldea'a counsel Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, MP, told the reporters that that his client apprehended that she would not get evenhanded justice from the bench, as it is already "influenced" by the Attorney General, the chief law officer of the government.
Earlier, on March 18, when the long pending rule came up for hearing before an HC division bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, Khaleda through her lawyer communicated her notion of no confidence in the bench for hearing of the case.
After hearing both sides, the bench sent the matter to the Chief Justice for order, saying "such submission by the counsel is unprecedented."
Later, the Chief Justice constituted another division bench headed by Justice M Imman Ali for disposal of the case.
On May 27 last year, the High Court upon a writ petition filed by Khaleda Zia issued a rule asking the government to explain why the impugned May 24 house-vacating notice should not be declared illegal and in violation of the petitioner's fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The High Court had also stayed operation of the notice that asked ex-premier Khaleda Zia to makeover her leasehold Dhaka cantonment house to government authorities.

  Another police officer of city killed
After SI Goutam Sarkar, now SI Mizanur Rahman

UNB, Dhaka

Police sub-inspector Mizanur Rahman of Ramna Police Station was found dead at Charpara road crossing in Mirzapur upazila of Tangail district Tuesday morning.
Officer-in-Charge (O/C) of Ramna police station Shibly Noman told UNB that Mizan was on patrol duty in Nayatola of Madhubag in the city Monday night.
He said at around 3 am today (Tuesday) Mizan deposited his firearm and ammunition at Madhubag police outpost and told his colleagues that he was going to toilet. Since then SI Mizan was missing.
Noman said Mizan's body with marks of multiple injuries was found at about 7:30 am today. He is believed to have been strangulated to death. He hails from Pirojpur of Madhupur upazila in Tangail district.
Mizan is the second police casualty within 13 days after another SI Goutam was shot dead in old Dhaka on April 20.

    ECNEC approves 10 development projects involving Tk 1853 crore

UNB, Dhaka

The Executive Committee on the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved 10 development projects involving Tk 1853 crore including extension of Madani Avenue in Baridhara of the city to ease traffic jam.
Of the total project costs, Tk 1483 crore will come from the government exchequer and Tk 370 crore as project assistance.
ECNEC chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave the approval at its 32nd meeting of the current fiscal year. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister AK Khandaker said the 5.71 km eastward extension of Madani Avenue (Pragati Sarani intersection to Balu River) is designed to ease traffic congestion in the capital. This project, he said, will be implemented by the Housing and Public Works Ministry at a cost of Tk 225 crore to be entirely borne by the government with the project tenure being April 2010 to September 2012.
Khandaker said there was no discussion in the meeting about the progress of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) but he hoped that the progress of ADP implementation would be better in the current fiscal.
The approved projects also include upgrading the Barisal Textile Institute to Abdur Rab Serniabad Textile Engineering College (Tk 60 crore).
"The name of the college has been changed to honour a renowned politician of Barisal," said the Planning Minister.

   CCC election
EC asks prospective candidates to remove colour posters

UNB, Dhaka

The Election Commission on Tuesday asked the prospective candidates of the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) election to remove their colored posters within a week at their own cost.
The Election Commission is planning to announce the schedule of the CCC election next week to hold the polls within June 24.
The EC in a meeting (Tuesday) discussed the code of conducts of the CCC election and decided that the prospective candidates, who will not remove the colored posters before the election schedule is declared, will not be permitted to take part in the polls.
Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain gave the warning while talking to the reporters at his EC office.
He said the mayoral candidates will be allowed to campaign through private television channels, but they would have to inform the Commission about the duration and cost of TV campaign so no amount is spent beyond the limitation.
Sakhawat also said the candidates would have to be careful not to block the roads during their election campaigns.
He said that the EC took the decision of holding the CCC polls with the consent of the Local Government Ministry.
The commission, at its meeting on Sunday, also decided to deploy the army to ensure free and fair elections.

Back Page

PM requests ROK to increase import of Bangladeshi products

UNB, Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged Republic of Korea (ROK) to increase import of various products from Bangladesh and to make investment here in larger volume.
The Prime Minister made the request when newly appointed ROK Ambassador in Dhaka Taiyoung Cho paid a courtesy call on her at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Tuesday morning. The Prime Minister welcomed the new Ambassador and congratulated him on his appointment.
Among other issues, the Ambassador discussed with the Prime Minister about her upcoming visit to Seoul and various programmes of the visit, said Prime Minister's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad. On human resource issues, the Prime Minister hoped that ROK will recruit more Bangladeshi people in the future.
The Prime Minister and the South Korean Ambassador also exchanged views over bilateral trade and business between the two friendly countries.
As importance of preserving mother languages came up in the discussion, Sheikh Hasina told the ROK envoy about the newly established International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka. A lot of research works will be done at the institute to preserve languages of the world, she said, adding that the Korean language will also be preserved through significant research at the institute.
Necessity of increasing trade and investment bet-ween Dhaka and Seoul was also discussed during the meeting.
The Prime Minister and the ROK envoy also laid emphasis on closer economic cooperation through exchange of frequent contacts and visits. They hoped that the existing bilateral relations between the two countries will be further strengthened in future.

   HC asks authorities to deploy police to save Buriganga
UNB, Dhaka

The High Court on Tuesday asked the government to deploy police on the banks of the Buriganga to prevent disposing wastes into the river.
A HC division bench comprising Justice M Momtaz Uddin Ahmed and Justice Naima Haider also asked the government to form a monitoring committee to keep the Buriganga free from pollution. The bench asked the chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), the Director General of the Directorate of Environment, and the Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police to form the committee and submit a follow-up report in this regard within four weeks.
The court passed the directives upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a rights watchdog.
Passing the orders, the HC bench issued a rule upon the government to explain in four weeks why the inaction to protect the Buriganga from pollution should not be declared illegal. Advocate Manzill Murshid appeared for the PIL writ petitioner.

   Nahid for social movement against eve-teasing
UNB, Dhaka

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Tuesday stressed the need for creating a fresh social movement against eve-teasing to ensure a congenial atmosphere for girls in educational institutions.
"If we are able to raise our voice en masse against the eve-teasing through introducing a social movement, the culprits will be afraid to commit their crime and law enforcing agencies can also play a key role in removing eve-teasing," the Minister said while exchanging views with editors of the news outlets, cultural activists and civil society members at his office on Tuesday noon. He said that the government has already pledged to establish women's rights and the government will keep its pledge by stopping eve-teasing and ensuring women's rights.
Nahid vowed that the government is going to take strong measures to control eve-teasing and rid the country of this social disease.
"Stern action will be taken against the eve-teasers. We have already negotiated with the Home Ministry to enforce the existing laws in this regard. If we think that new laws are necessary, we will enact new laws to stop eve-teasing," he said.
He said the government is planning to observe a day to resist eve-teasing in the country to create awareness among the people.
Nahid also stressed the need for raising moral consensus and changing views to motivate the young generation and to build a prosperous country.
He sought cooperation from media to play a significant role in establishing a country free from eve-teasing. He also said that the government is working hard to ensure transparency and accountability for establishing good governance in the education sector.
BSS adds: Minister for Information and Culture Abul Kalam Azad spoke at the meeting held in the conference room of the education ministry.
Begum Kabori Sarwar, MP, Begum Tarana Halim, MP, Information Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, editor of the Samakal Golam Sarwar, editor of the Kaler Kantha Abed Khan, editor of the Bangladesh Observer Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, editor of The Bangladesh Today Barrister Syed Sajjad Ahmed, managing director of Channel-I Faridur Reza Sagar, advisory editor of the Independent Golam Tahaboor, acting editor of the Sangbad Khondoker Muniruzzaman, joint editor of the Prothom Alo Abdul Qayyum Mukul, cultural activists Syed Hasan Imam, Ramendu Mazumder, Ilyas Kanchan and Mamun ar Rashid were, among others, who participated in the discussion.

   Amu confirms Matin was Islami Chhatra Sangha activist
UNB,Dhaka

Awami League leader Amir Hossain Amu MP on Tuesday confirmed that Investigation Officer for probing crim-es against humanity Abdul Matin was an activist of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan.
Amu was elected Vice-president of BM College students union in 1963 defeating Matin, a nominee of Islami Chhatra Sangha, in the election. "He (Matin) was very much involved in Islami Chhatra Sangha activities," Amu told UNB Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters at his office in the old High Court building on Tuesday, Matin disagreed with the Law Minister's recent remarks that charge sheets against some perpetrators of crimes against humanity in 1971 will be submitted this month to the International (Crimes) Tribunal.
"I didn't give any such assurance at the meeting" that reviewed the progress of the trial process. The meeting was attended by the Law Minister, Home Minister, and panel of prosecutors and investigation officers.
Replying to a question, Matin said they have contacted different countries through the Foreign Ministry to collect evidence and information about the atrocities committed by local lackeys of the Pakistani occupation forces during the nine-month war of liberation in 1971. But they have not got any response till date. He again said that necessary logistics support has not been provided by the government that hampers the investigation process.
"I have been provided with an old car but without fuel… even no police escort has yet been provided."
The under-pressure inve-stigator clarified that he is not the chief of the investigation team. "I am simply a member of the team."
About his job status, Matin said he has not received his monthly pay. A retired additional secretary, Matin said he was assured of the secretary status with similar salary and privileges. "I won't accept any salary if it is less than that of a secretary," he said.

   One more killed in ‘encounter’
28 extra-judicial killings in 4 months

TBT Report

A regional commander of outlawed Gonobahani was killed in 'encounter' between his cohorts and Police at Kalabaria village under Mirpur upazila in Kushtia Monday night taking the total of such extra judicial killings to 120 in nine months from August 1, 2009 to May 4, 2010. With this 28 extra judicial killings took place in the year of 2010.
According to BSS, a regional commander of outlawed Gonobahani of Kushtia district was killed in an encounter with police late Monday night, police sources said. The victim was identified as Alim Biswas alias Alim, 32, a notorious criminal of Mirpur area of the district.
The sources said, being informed that the terrorist group was holding a meeting near the Kalabaria village under Mirpur upazila, the members of the law enforcing agency surrounded the area. Sensing the presence of the police, the Gonobahani members opened fire on the them. The police also returned fire in self- defense triggering the gunfight. At one stage Alim was killed.
Police recovered one LG, five rounds of rifle bullets, five shells of bullet and five cocktails from the spot.
The last incident of crossfire killing took place in Barisal on May 3, 2010. On that occasion a notorious terrorist was killed in 'shootout' between his cohorts and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at Kaunia BISCIC Textile area in the Barisal town early Monday.
The unlawful killings are taking place despite mounting protests by human rights activists, civil society members and political parties and repeated assurances of the government that such killings would be stopped and actions would be taken against those found responsible.
RAB DG recently said as many as 622 people were killed in 'crossfire' since the formation of RAB on March 26, 2004.

   H1N1 pandemic vaccination prog underway
UNB, Dhaka

The H1N1 pandemic vaccination program began Tuesday targeting 15.6 million people who fall within the priority groups for vaccination against H1N1 pandemic influenza.
As par National Plan of Action for Pandemic Influenza Vaccination and in accordance with WHO recommendations, the priority groups include healthcare providers, pregnant women and those aged above 6 months with chronic medical conditions.
Minister for Health and Family Welfare Professor AFM Ruhal Haque, along with other health officials and representatives of UN agencies and development partners, launched the vaccination campaign and received the first shots of pandemic influenza H1N1 vaccine at a city hotel today. WHO is providing emergency supplies of the vaccine to 95 low and middle-income countries and would not otherwise be able to secure supplies. WHO plans to provide enough doses to inoculate up to 10 percent of the population of these countries. WHO estimates that in the first year, this will entail about 200 million doses of vaccine, plus ancillary products such as syringes and safety boxes.
The US government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated thirty million vaccines worldwide, part of which would be available for Bangladesh in this vaccination campaign.
The US government has also provided 2,625,600 syringes and 30,200 safety boxes to Bangladesh to ensure that these vaccines are appropriately positioned in targeted areas.

Editorial

State of Private universities

According to an agency report published in this paper on Tuesday: None of country's private universities fulfils all the criteria required for registration under the Private University Act. They lack their own campus, faculty members, library or laboratory facilities. The 1992 legislation stipulates that every private university should have five acres of land and be housed on a permanent campus within five years of operation. Some universities have obtained land in the suburb of Dhaka, but the only one to have started on its permanent campus is the North South University (NSU). Noted educationist Prof Muzaffar Ahmad accused a section of private universities of being interested only in earning money rather building proper infrastructures. They are not universities, they are merely tutorial homes, he said.
Most of the new private institutions still operate on temporary sites. Some do not even rent their own buildings but share space on a shift basis with other private educational establishments. Bangladesh University, for example, shares space with Mohammadpur Preparatory School. Others run alongside garment factories and commercial firms. "Because universities do not have adequate space of their own, many have refrained from buying books and laboratory equipment," an educational expert claimed.
Much has been said at different times about the irregularities and education business in the private universities, but little remedy has been achieved. It is alleged that the government has given in to the pressure of the private university owners as in the absence of a stringent law it will not be possible to prevent the owners from indulging in education commerce and deceiving the students. The state of country's private universities is far from satisfactory as most of the private universities have virtually turned into brisk business centres instead of seats of quality education as they are run mainly on commercial basis. Except a few, most of the private universities do not have even own campus, labs, sufficient class rooms, library facilities, educational equipment and even adequate number of teachers. Academic and other facilities in most of the private universities are inadequate and that gross irregularities are practiced there for commercial gains.
It goes without saying that most of the country's private universities prefer maximizing profits to improving quality of education. In our country, the public universities are unable to accommodate the growing number of students. Taking the chance of this situation there has been a mushroom growth of private universities. A total of 51 private universities are now operating in the country and a section of them are engaged in education business to earn quick money and allegedly nvolved even in malpractices like sales of certificates. Although children of the well-off section living in urban areas are getting opportunities of higher education in private universities, the children of rural people are getting deprived of. The main reason is that the guardians cannot afford the educational cost of their children in these private universities.
President Zillur Rahman recently asked the authorities of the private universities to ensure quality of education instead of running them as 'commercial institutions'. He asked them not to turn their institution into commercial venture and also maintain the standards of education. He also called upon the Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to prepare annual assessment report about academic standard of the private universities for greater interest of the nation. Mentioning that the private universities have been created to cater to needs of the country, President Zillur said that only except a few, questions arose among the people about the quality of education provided by most of the private universities.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said recently, the government is relentlessly working to ensure quality education in all private universities. The Private University Act 2010 is being formulated for bringing transparency and accountability in private university activities, he said. The sooner this is done, the better.

  Freeing the rivers

At long last the four rivers around the capital Dhaka are going to be freed from encroachment and illegal establishments. This hope has been raised as the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a High Court (HC) verdict that ordered eviction of all constructions inside the four rivers around Dhaka city. The HC verdict stands as the Appellate Division dismissed appeal petitions brought by seven business establishments challenging the order. The full court of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice M Fazlul Karim upheld the High Court decision after hearing the petitions. A High Court bench on a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) on June 26 last year pronounced the verdict ordering the authorities to remove all constructions inside the rivers Buriganga, Sitalakhya, Balu and Turag. It also asked them to take steps to bring back the rivers to their original shapes by demarcating the areas.
Earlier, last year the High Court had directed the government to take steps to stop encroachment, earth-filling, and construction of illegal structures on the Buriganga, Turag, Balu, and Shitalakhya rivers. Following the issuance of the HC directive, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had instructed the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to stop encroachment on rivers. In short, the government, the parliament and the Court all stand for saving the rivers from pollution and grabbing. Specially the Monday's verdict of the Supreme Court have removed all legal barriers and paved the way for evicting illegal constructions in the four rivers around the city. It is hoped now that the task will be accomplished without any delay or negligence. The removal of illegal establishments are expected to go a long way in protecting the public interest by saving the rivers around Dhaka from illegal encroachment by river grabbers.

Analysis

SAARC and bilateral issues

Bilateral disputes and contentious issues were excluded from the SAARC framework on the insistence of India, which feared that the smaller countries of the region might form a united front to overrule India.

Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan

The Charter of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) excludes discussion on 'bilateral disputes and contentious issues', yet, on more than one occasion during the last about a decade and a half, the group's summit meetings have made critical contributions towards lessening bilateral tensions in the region through diplomacy on the sidelines. The latest example is the productive outcome of the meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the 16th summit in Thimphu (Bhutan). Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quereshi has described the meeting as "warm, engaging and cordial", and said that the outcome of the meeting was beyond expectations.
This is not the first time that the informal sideline diplomacy of SAARC summits has succeeded in breaking the Pakistan-India deadlock over bilateral issues. The initiative on the stalled peace process and resumption of the Composite Dialogue in 2004 was also the result of a meeting between Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf and then Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on the sidelines of the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad. The Composite Dialogue had remained suspended due to the Kargil episode in 1999. The Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting in Islamabad was itself facilitated by the famous handshake of General Musharraf with Vajpayee during the 11th Summit of SAARC in Kathmandu in 2002. Before that, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Inder Kumar Gujral had been able to end in 1997 a four-year hiatus in communication between Pakistan and India, by holding informal discussions in Male. The understanding reached between the two prime ministers at Male led to the resumption of Pakistan-India structured talks on eight subjects that now form baskets of the Composite Dialogue process that had been suspended since the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November 2008.
The sideline diplomacy of SAARC summits has not only been helpful in restarting the reconciliation process between Pakistan and India, it has also played an important role in defusing the tensions between India on the one hand, and Nepal and Sri Lanka on the other, caused due to the alleged Indian role in their internal affairs. Former President of Sri Lanka, J Jayawardene was so bitter about the Indian tactics of pressure and arm-twisting on the Tamil Tigers' issue that he had refused to participate in SAARC summits. Similarly, Nepal was angry on India's dubious role of secretly arming the Maoists while pretending to side with the Nepali government. In both cases, SAARC leaders played an active role on the sidelines of SAARC summits in bringing about reconciliation between the two sides.
In fact, sideline diplomacy of the SAARC summits has become so useful and regular that it has prompted growing demands from within SAARC circles, especially from the smaller countries of the region, that this practice should be institutionalised. The need for such an arrangement is badly felt because SAARC does not have any dispute resolution mechanism. It was formed with a clear objective of promoting economic, social and cultural cooperation among the member countries with a view to raising the standard of living of the people of the region. Hitherto, almost all the successful agreements reached under SAARC fall in the economic, social and cultural fields. Progress on the political issues has been absent due to the presence of a strategic discord between India and its smaller neighbours, especially disputes with Pakistan. Bilateral disputes and contentious issues were excluded from the SAARC framework on the insistence of India, which feared that the smaller countries of the region might form a united front to overrule India. The principle of unanimity in the decision making process was also included for the same reason.
But the persistence of bilateral disputes, particularly Pakistan-India differences, has proved to be the biggest obstacle in the way of forward movement of the SAARC process. The least developed countries of the region, such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives, which have greater stakes in the progress of SAARC, are wary of tension between the region's two nuclear-armed neighbouring states. These countries have always urged Pakistan and India to narrow down their differences and not to allow their bilateral disputes to block the progress of the SAARC process. It has also been suggested that SAARC should have a separate mechanism for discussing matters relating to peace and security on the pattern of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), but since it will require Indian willingness to reach a unanimous decision, such an arrangement does not seem to be a possibility in the near future. As an alternative, the smaller member countries of SAARC take full advantage of the presence of heads of state/government at annual summits of the regional grouping to work for reducing bilateral tensions among the member countries. As reports from Thimpu have indicated, the Gilani-Singh meeting and the resultant breakthrough between Pakistan and India on the resumption of the suspended peace process was largely the result of behind-the-scenes efforts of the smaller member states of SAARC.
The presence of observer states at the summits, whose number has dramatically increased over the last two decades, has also helped transform the environment of SAARC into one more conducive for moving towards the narrowing down of bilateral differences among the member countries. As the international profile of SAARC rises with the growth in the number of observer states, the incentives for peace, reconciliation and cooperation among the countries of South Asia also gain strength, particularly towards finding solutions to bilateral disputes, which undermine regional cooperation.
Despite the fact that bilateral disputes and contentious issues remain outside the framework of SAARC, the organisation has proved helpful in facilitating the movement towards the resolution of these disputes through interaction between the participating heads of state/government on the sidelines of its annual summits. The successful outcome of such meetings has not only increased the importance of such informal diplomacy, it has also provided SAARC a new role for dealing with hitherto intractable bilateral issues.


The writer is a professor of International Relations at Sargodha University. He can be reached at rashid_khan192@yahoo.com

  India closes ranks with Hamid Karzai

The talks in Delhi have made it quite clear that India will remain an effective partner for the Afghan government in the difficult period ahead, no matter the vicissitudes of the United States' AfPak diplomacy.
 
M.K. Bhadrakumar

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai's two-day visit to New Delhi last week took place at a defining moment in the Afghan civil war. Mr. Karzai is about to embark on a crucial peace and reconciliation project. He just completed talks in three important regional capitals - Islamabad, Tehran and Beijing - explaining his strategy, for the success of which he needs the understanding from the regional powers. Tehran and Beijing were forthcoming in their support of the Afghan government whereas Islamabad views him as a rival claimant to piloting the peace process.
Secondly, "Afghanisation" is set to surge to the centre stage. The foreign minister-level meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) held in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, on April 23 officially set in motion a process to roll back the alliance's operations in Afghanistan. While this would be a natural process and not a "run for the exit," as NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen put it, the political reality is that the western allies have reached agreement on basic guidelines for commencing the hand-over of responsibility for security to the Afghan forces on a case-by-case basis within this year. The international conference, slated to be held in Kabul in June, will further "tweak" the NATO's approach. Mr. Karzai formally invited India to take part in the conference.
The talks in Delhi have made it quite clear that India will remain an effective partner for the Afghan government in the difficult period ahead no matter the vicissitudes of the United States' AfPak diplomacy; the worsening security situation inside Afghanistan; the Pakistani military's undisguised power projection for "strategic depth"; and, least of all, the physical threat from Pakistani agents to the Indian presence in Afghanistan.
Dr. Singh summed up that his discussions with Mr. Karzai were "extremely productive." Delhi underlined their strategic character by including Defence Minister A.K. Antony in the Indian delegation at the talks. Dr. Singh pointedly articulated India's "deep admiration" for Mr. Karzai's "courageous leadership in difficult times," probably administering a word of advice to the Barack Obama administration to have a sense of proportions in judging the highly complex Afghan political situation. Broadly speaking, the Indian viewpoint has been consistently that there is an organic linkage between creating an enabling security environment and setting high yardsticks about an expansion of the footprint of the Afghan government or its accelerated progress on governance issues.
Interestingly, a lowering of the anti-Karzai rhetoric and grandstanding is of late visible in certain quarters within the Obama administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conspicuously voiced a rethink recently. The big question, however, is how far down the ladder Ms Clinton's fair-minded estimation trickles down. Delhi would very much hope that her helpful words translate as U.S. policies on the ground in the aftermath of Mr. Karzai's visit to Washington on May 10-14 - although a systematic Pakistani attempt to queer the pitch of the visit is already afoot.
Two topics dominated Mr. Karzai's talks in Delhi - placing India's development and strategic partnership with Afghanistan within the "Afghanisation" process and, secondly, India's perspectives on the "reintegration" and reconciliation of the Taliban. Dr. Singh said, "India is ready to augment its assistance for capacity building and for its skills and human resource development to help strengthen public institutions in Afghanistan." India's assistance for Afghanistan already touches a massive figure of $1.3 billion. India can train Afghan specialists in various fields, provide training and equipment to the Afghan army and cooperate in a range of counter-terrorism and counter-narcotic activities. However, Delhi would be aware that any military deployment in Afghanistan is bound to be a potentially exhausting military mission and needs to be avoided. The Indian stance is strikingly similar to that of Russia or China, which also refuse to get militarily involved in Afghanistan. The challenge facing Indian diplomacy will be to figure out how economic expansion can be the key element of India's security strategy in Afghanistan. Arguably, emulating China's model, which places emphasis on making investments in resource-based projects will be a step forward for India. This could be done in collaboration with Afghan partners.
Without doubt, Mr. Karzai's visit helped to further refine the Indian thinking apropos the contours of an Afghan settlement. The Indian thinking rests on the following assessments. One, India regards the forthcoming jirga (tribal assembly) in May in Kabul and the Afghan parliamentary elections in September to be "important milestones." Delhi agrees with Mr. Karzai's stance that in order for these processes to be legitimate and enduring, they should be Afghan-led. Two, these political processes can be optimal only if they go hand in hand with the international community's long term commitment to stability, peace and development in Afghanistan.
Three, the deterioration in the security situation is a hard reality and it needs to be firmly tackled on a priority basis within Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan, where the syndicate of terrorist organisations and other extremist groups operating in the region enjoy support and sustenance. Towards this end, apart from the NATO's surge, the Afghan security forces should be enlarged and developed in a professional manner and provided with adequate resources, combat equipment and enablers and training.
It would appear that Mr. Karzai allayed the Indian apprehensions regarding the strategy of "reintegration" of the Taliban. Delhi takes a cautious view of the process since in its view the Taliban may exploit the political space to capture power with Pakistani support, creating a fait accompli for the region, which was how the ISI implemented a phase-by-phase agenda of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan during 1994-97. Therefore, Delhi would expect the reintegration process to be "tackled with prudence, the benefit of hindsight, foresight and caution." Also, Delhi stresses that any integration process should be "inclusive and transparent," which is predicated on the assessment that Afghanistan is a plural society and the majority opinion is not only vehemently against the Taliban's extremist ideology but also staunchly opposes any role for the outsiders to covertly dictate peace.
Mr. Karzai shared his thinking apropos the upcoming jirga with Dr. Singh and it appears that there are no serious contradictions between the two sides. Significantly, Mr. Karzai made it a point to underline "our common struggle against terrorism and extremism." The joint statement also underlined the two countries' "determi-nation… to combat the forces of terrorism which pose a particular threat to the region."
There has been a latent sense of uneasiness among sections of the Indian strategic community that Mr. Karzai appeared to be in a mood to "compromise" or "appease" the Taliban in a self-seeking manner in anticipation of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Much of this misperception stemmed from the western propaganda - often pre-cooked in the ISI's kitchen - intended to dissimulate or to create an impression that Mr. Karzai is raring to go to accommodate the Taliban leadership and if anything at all is holding him back, it is only Mr. Obama's scepticism about the reconciliation strategy.
Delhi seems to understand well enough that what is unfolding is rather a grim struggle for the control of the Afghan peace process itself. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Karzai insists on his prerogative as the elected head of state to lead his country's peace process. On the contrary, Pakistani military would like to cast Mr. Karzai as merely one of the Afghan protagonists. Ostensibly, the Pakistani military wishes to work exclusively with the U.S. to reconcile the Taliban but in reality it wishes to seize control of the peace process or to dominate it, while extracting concessions from Washington in the form of military and economic aid. The Pakistani military banks on exploiting Mr.Obama's haste to effect a drawdown of the U.S. combat troops by mid-2011.
The ISI has not only shed its "strategic ambiguity" regarding its nexus with the Taliban but of late openly flaunts its influence with the hardline "Quetta Shura" and the Haqqani network, making it clear that Rawalpindi is capable of torpedoing any peace process which is left to the Afghans. Ironically, this nexus with elements expressly banned by the United Nations (at the instance of the George W. Bush administration) ought to make Pakistan a rogue state but the U.S. has been pragmatic about it and instead chooses to solicit the Pakistani military's help. An added factor is that influential figures within Mr. Obama's AfPak team who are vestiges of the Afghan jihad, enjoy old links with the Pakistani security establishment and willingly subserve the ISI's agenda pitting Mr. Karzai as the "problem" in any national reconciliation process.
Curiously, this political theatre is unfolding against a backdrop where "almost all Afghans, including Karzai's Pashtun supporters, the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance and even the Taliban oppose any major role for the ISI," to quote Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani commentator, in a recent article in the Washington Post. Quite obviously, the Pakistani military's control of the foreign and security policies is at a high level in Islamabad. Delhi will do well to figure out that Mr. Karzai deserves all the support he needs at this juncture.

( The writer is a former Indian diplomat.)

Viewpoints

British election becomes a beauty contest

Poor Brown has missed the boat. He will likely become a footnote in history as a mediocre leader who was never elected into office.

Linda Heard

If Brits prefer to be led by smooth pretty boys without a jot of experience, they'll get what they deserve
If Britain's Bulldog Sir Winston Churchill were around today I doubt he could get his ample form into Number Ten. He would be considered too rotund, too grumpy and there would be complaints about his polluting the atmosphere with Havanas. And the same goes for cloth cap Harold Wilson who would be attacked for his poor dress sense along with his penchant to drench all his meals in HP Sauce.
The game has been changed by 24/7 news networks together with the cult of celebrity that put style before substance. Voters nowadays haven't got the time or the inclination to delve into a prime ministerial candidate's soul. As long as he's youngish, contemporary, has the right image, knows how to sell himself and is a slick talker he's in with a chance. If he happens to have a trophy wife on his arm and a couple of cute kids so much the better. As for his policies, who really cares?
Americanism has contaminated British politics. There was a time when candidates remained fairly low key whereas now they take to US-style campaign trails and take part in televised debates. This isn't Gordon Brown's scene and just two days before the parliamentary vote it looks like poor Brown has missed the boat. He will likely become a footnote in history as a mediocre leader who was never elected into office.
If Brown is pipped at the post by the fresh-faced Conservative leader David Cameron - as most polls predict - he has to be the unluckiest politician on earth. First of all, Tony Blair reneged on his pact with Brown to step down midway during Labour's tenure to make way for his friend. When Blair finally caved to pressure to resign, Brown inherited an unpopular government marred by the Iraq blunder. He has since been plagued by one misfortunate after the other from floods to mad cow disease, terrorist attacks, a parliamentary expenses scandal and, of course, the global economy downturn that resulted in a collapse of the banking system. None of this was Brown's doing.
In truth, Brown guided his nation through those crises superbly proving to be a pair of safe hands. In 2008, he was even credited by experts for saving the world from economic doom by encouraging fiscal stimuli, low interest rates, and bank bailouts. As soon as he offered British banks temporary unlimited funding to prevent a run on deposits, other countries followed suit. Britain still has major problems not least the ballooning debt set to reach £1.1 trillion next year but until now Brown has managed to keep the economy afloat and has pulled the UK out of recession, albeit barely.
But there is one thing he hasn't managed to do that is to win the hearts and minds of the British people. He doesn't have Blair's energy and powers of persuasion. He doesn't possess the manufactured charm of Cameron or Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. He hates doing walkabouts kissing babies and when he forces a smile he comes across as slightly weird. He's a clean-living, honest, non-materialistic, principled family man who all his life has tried to the right thing. He adores his wife and two sons and still tears up when he talks about the premature baby girl who died in his arms when she was just ten days old. You won't see him on the lecture route raking it in when he waves goodbye to Downing Street. He's not interested in plumping up his bank balance or so he says. Instead, he intends working on behalf of charitable organizations. I believe him.
Until last week, Brown was still in with a fighting chance. An encounter with a 66-year-old grandmother has probably put the kybosh on his hopes. A Sky News microphone picked up a private conversation with an aide when he referred to the lifelong Labour Party supporter as "that bigoted woman" because she asked uncomfortable questions on the topic of immigration.
Naturally, the media made a meal out of the gaffe when Blair nipped around to the shocked woman's house to shower her with apologies from "a penitent sinner" (his words, not mine). In the event, his attempt at damage control failed. She refused to join him for a friendly photo opportunity and couldn't even offer him a cup of tea because she had run out of milk. A photo of Brown speaking on the radio later that day depicts a sad and weary figure. In just a few unguarded seconds, he had managed to alienate the anti-immigration crowd while his subsequent apology had angered those in favor. Once again, Lady Luck - with more than a little help from Sky News together with his own negligent aides - had slapped him in
the face.
Pundits and polls predict a three-horse race on Thursday when British voters cast their ballots with Cameron's Tories in the lead, followed by Clegg's Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party's Brown in last place. The narrow margins between each of the three parties could result in a hung Parliament when Nick Clegg would emerge as "kingmaker."
It's not clear which way he will jump. He's so far been tight-lipped apart from saying that neither side will garner his party's support unless they sign up to his "Fairness Agenda" that will raise the lowest income tax threshold to £10,000 and filch the treasury shortfall from the wealthy. Clegg also wants to give an amnesty to illegal immigrants already in Britain and wants to scrap Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent as being unnecessary and costly - both issues on which his rivals will be loath to compromise.
It's no surprise that Cameron and Clegg are forging ahead. There are both clones of Blair when he became Britain's youngest prime minister in 1997 except the former appeals to the well-heeled while the latter has packaged himself as a champion of the poor. As for Blair who has stayed on the peripheries of the campaign, the fickle media has written him off as past his sell-by date.
An article in the Telegraph last week headed "Why does Tony Blair look so old and frail?" refers to Blair as "shrunken," "scrawny" and "wizened." Politics in Britain is nasty and brutal. In the event that Thursday marks that nice Brown's swansong, he's well out of it. If Britons prefer to be led by smooth pretty boys without a jot of experience in government, they'll get what they deserve.

  Insurgents on the rise?

The situation is rapidly evolving in the region with grave consequences for Pakistan. It is a test for the country's leadership to steer Pakistan to safe shores.

Mahmood Shah   

Pakistan is caught in the eye of the storm in the international war on terror. Those involved in this war are reassessing their respective roles after mixed results over the last eight years with many pluses and minuses.
The situation is rapidly evolving in the region with grave consequences for Pakistan. It is a test for the country's leadership to steer Pakistan to safe shores.
A chequered course has been followed over the last eight years but it was only in 2008 and 2009 that the government realised the seriousness of the situation and decided to confront the monster of terrorism head-on.
It was the media which, by exposing the ideas, character and actions of the terrorists swung public opinion, against anti-state elements and forced the government to act.
In 2009 the armed forces of Pakistan, in a major reorientation, carried out well-conceived operations in Malakand division and South Waziristan Agency, besides some minor operations in Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram and Orakzai agencies. These operations broke the back of militancy and forced the militants to retreat.
Due to the success of these operations the armed forces and the government won accolades both internally and internationally. Because of this and some other factors, the pressure on Pakistan has eased and there is greater realisation regarding Pakistan's role in the war internationally.
It is no coincidence that the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have published no conspiracy theories about Pakistan for the last three to four months. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's change in attitude at the recently held Saarc conference is also due to Pakistan's improved international profile.
And yet there is no room for complacency. The situation on the ground is that most of the militant leadership has not been apprehended. In the case of South Waziristan most of the fighters have escaped to neighbouring North Waziristan. The operation in Orakzai has turned into a slow slog.
The terrorists, after a brief pause, have again started attacking 'soft targets' in Kohat, Quetta and Peshawar. The insurgents - through targeted killings and suicide attacks in Swat - are reminding the inhabitants that they are not very far away. North Waziristan, particularly Mir Ali sub-division, is becoming a new hub for all sorts of insurgents. Understandably, the army is overstretched and can't be everywhere. But if the operational momentum of 2009 is not maintained in 2010, then the gains made will be untenable.
The solution lies with the political government both at the federal and provincial levels, which has so far been busy with the 18th Amendment including changing the name of the province, the NRO, etc. It is time that the government came forward to shoulder its responsibilities alongside the army. The army has been in Swat for too long. It cannot catch each and every insurgent both in Swat and South Waziristan.
Once the operation is wrapped up it is time for local traditions and the local administration - including the local police - to take over. Policing and development activities are not the army's function. Similarly it's not the job of the army to arrange school functions, sporting events or musical programmes. The political leadership and administration need to come up and shoulder their responsibilities, no matter how challenging the task may be.
It's time for the Fata administration to end its long vacation. It must also be coerced into closing down the Fata Development Authority (FDA). There is already a planning and development department in the Fata secretariat. The administration is fooling no one but itself. The army must facilitate the induction of a civil administration because it is basically the civil administration which has to deal with issues on the ground.
So far the political leadership and administration have confined themselves to issuing statements after a suicide attack. But it's really action on the ground which counts and they must come forward to relieve troops for operational tasks and must not expect them to run their administration.
North Waziristan is becoming a new home for anti-state elements and it is only a question of time before the militants become fully operational against the Pakistani state. If the kidnapping of Sultan Amir Tarar (also known as Col Imam), British-born Pakistani journalist Asad Qureshi and the killing of retired squadron leader Khalid Khawaja is deeply analysed, it would appear that Hafiz Gul Bahadur or the TTP for that matter are not that strong and might not be able to prevent a similar incident from taking place in future.
The group calling itself Asian Tigers might signal new trouble for Pakistan. This group reportedly consists of disgruntled elements from the so-called Punjabi Taliban and some expelled elements from the TTP. If they recruit foreigners present in North Waziristan, the situation could become extremely dangerous.
North Waziristan's location, geography and tribal mix present a very challenging situation for a military operation. And one would like to avoid committing one's own troops for an operation if it can be helped. But as time passes an operation in North Waziristan will become a requirement and the army may have to bite the bullet again here.
An operation in North Waziristan will need a large number of troops. But as they say: how does one eat an elephant? Dissect it into manageable pieces and eat it. A roller operation all over North Waziristan may not be necessary. The clearance and control of Mir Ali along with some areas of Shiva tehsil may be enough. This will also consolidate our grip on the Mehsud area.
The year 2010 is very crucial for Pakistan and the foreign forces in Afghanistan. The US will be assessing, at the end of the year, whether it should start pulling out in 2011 and Pakistan should be aiming at regaining control of its tribal areas.


The writer is an ex-brigadier, ex-secretary Fata and ex-home secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
mahmoodshah@mahmoodshah.com

  A US-China strategic understanding

Before anyone concludes that US-China ties are warming up, it is worth noting that the two countries have starkly different views on how to manage their relationship.

Wenran Jiang

Relations between the United States and China have been at a low point in recent months. Tensions over US arms sales to Taiwan, President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, disputes over the value of China's currency, a supposed snub of Obama by Chinese leaders at December's Copenhagen climate summit, and the rupture between Google and China have all played a role.
But President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington for the nuclear security summit, which followed a phone conversation between him and Obama, has set the stage for a serious and calm exchange of views on a range of bilateral and international issues, including Iran's nuclear programme. This calming of the diplomatic atmosphere was helped considerably by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delaying his report to Congress on whether or not China is a currency manipulator. Geithner even made a quick stop in Beijing on April 8 to meet Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, prompting reports that China may let the renminbi float more flexibly.
Nevertheless, before anyone concludes that US-China ties are warming up, it is worth noting that the two countries have starkly different views on how to manage their relationship.
Take the recent Obama-Hu telephone conversation. Reports in the US following the hour-long exchange praised it as a turning point in bilateral relations, and headlines emphasized that Obama worked on Hu to achieve a common stand in sanctioning Iran over its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Yet Chinese news releases gave no indication of such a "breakthrough." Instead, they stressed Hu's demand that the US side "properly handle" the Taiwan and Tibet issues, which represent China's "core interests". There was not even a mention that the two leaders discussed Iran, other than one line saying that they exchanged views on international issues of common concern.
Such discrepancies reflect a broader perception gap. On the American side, the emerging consensus is that the Obama administration began its term committed to working closely with China on a range of issues. It took extra steps in not being openly critical of China's currency policy, launched the high-profile US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, delayed a meeting with the Dalai Lama prior to Obama's China trip, and showed substantial patience with China's concerns at the Copenhagen conference.
But that conciliatory approach, which brought down on Obama domestic criticism, did not seem to be appreciated by the Chinese. Instead, China displayed sharp anger at the US arms sale to Taiwan, something that has been going on for decades, and to Obama's low-key meeting with the Dalai Lama. Many in the Obama administration now ask: what is the point of being nice when there are no obvious benefits?
On the Chinese side, the initial accommodating approach by Obama, although met with a level of caution and scepticism, was perceived as an inevitable reflection of China's rise and more equal status with the US. After all, many argue, China continues to buy US treasury bonds and now shoulders the largest amount of US debt, thus financing whatever the Americans are doing, from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to health care reform at home.
China has played a vital role in getting the global economy onto a speedier path to recovery, thanks to its effective stimulus package. China is also expected to help resolve the nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran, two counties that are hostile to the US but less of a threat to China. So China's leaders felt a sense of betrayal when Obama, shortly after his positive visit to Beijing, went ahead with the arms sales to Taiwan and the meeting with the Dalai Lama. Many mainstream, liberal-minded Chinese academics complain that there is no fresh US approach to China. Rather, these are old policies that do not accommodate China's new status or respond to "Chinese kindness".
The problem is not a lack of communication channels. Both countries have interacted with each other for almost four decades. There are no language problems, few cultural barriers, and plenty of conferences and personal correspondence. We have seen elegant op-eds written on both sides, more or less articulating how one side is right and the other side wrong. The end result? They talk past each other rather than with each other. The fundamental issue in today's US-China relations is the strategic visions that both governments are developing to cope with China's rise. Americans tend to think that what is good for America must be good for the world. But China - and much of the world, for that matter - may not agree. Chinese leaders, for their part, tend to believe that nothing matters much if it is not good for China in the first place.
Both countries must acknowledge that they have their own domestic and foreign policy priorities. Some may be shared; some not. Others may conflict. To accommodate and bridge their different interests, the US and China need to engage in more than just frank discussions. Tangible strategic concessions from both sides must be made in order to promote cooperation and avoid confrontation.


The writer is chair of the China Institute at the University of Alberta and senior fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He is a former Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington DC. ©Project Syndicate, 2010. www.project-syndicate.org

International

US should end discrimination towards Pak to ink civil nuke deal: Qureshi

ANI, Islamabad

Reiterating the country's long standing demand, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the United States must end its 'discriminatory' behaviour and enter into a civil nuclear deal to help it address the massive energy crisis prevailing in the country.
During a meeting with US Congressman Howard Burman, Qureshi said Washington must help Islamabad to resurrect the sluggish economy and issues like the huge electricity and water crises, The Dawn reports.
Qureshi told Burman that the counter-terrorism efforts would not achieve the desired results unless the US provides monetary assistance it has pledged under the Kerry-Lugar Bill and Coalition Support Fund (CSF).
Meanwhile, the US has released the final instalment of 467 million dollars under the CSF as reimbursement for Pakistan for the cost incurred during the counterinsurgency operation in 2009.
The CSF was established by the United States in 2001 to support 27 nations, including Pakistan, for some of the costs they incurred in anti-terror operations. Since 2001, Washington has reimbursed approximately 7.2 billion to various countries.
In addition to the CSF, Pakistan has received a total of four billion dollars in civilian and security assistance from the US over the last three years.

   India to sentence Mumbai siege gunman Thursday
AP, Mumbai, India

An Indian judge said he would decide Thursday whether to sentence to death the only surviving gunman in the bloody 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Judge M.L. Tahaliyani held a sentencing hearing for Mohammed Ajmal Kasab on Tuesday, a day after convicting the 22-year-old Pakistani of murder and waging war against India for his role in the attacks that claimed 166 lives in the nation's financial capital.
Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked for the death penalty, which is rarely handed down in India.
"It would be a mockery of justice if the death penalty is not imposed," he said.
Drawing on ancient Indian epics, Shakespeare and Urdu poetry in his wide-ranging plea, Nikam said Kasab's crimes were so heinous they defied language.
"My vocabulary falls too short," he said. "The only word known to me is 'mad dog.'" He said Kasab had enjoyed the act of killing and shown no remorse, making him beyond reform.
"It is better to keep a snake out of the world than in it," he said, one of many occasions on which he compared Kasab unfavorably with an animal.
Later Nikam drew laughter from the judge and assembled press corps by saying, "I feel the comparison of Ajmal Kasab with a poisonous snake is unjust somewhat toward the snake."
He also said a death sentence would act as a deterrent to would-be terrorists. A lesser sentence, he said, means India "will continue to remain a soft target."
India blames a Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, for masterminding the attacks. In his verdict, the judge said Kasab was a member of the group and his handlers were in Pakistan.

  India wants to bridge trust deficit, says minister
AP, New Delhi

As an Indian court convicted 20 Pakistanis in absentia for the 2008 Mumbai massacre, New Delhi expressed the hope on Monday that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would help remove the trust deficit dogging the two countries by acting against some of the perpetrators believed to be at large in his country.
Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna's statement in parliament came before the special anti-terror court passed its judgment in Mumbai, and he may have helped pre-empt a potentially incendiary reaction that some mob-like TV channels were trying to induce.
Mr Krishna told both houses of parliament in a suo motu statement that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who met Mr Gilani in Thimphu had "a cordial and frank discussion" with him. "(Dr Singh) told him that if the trust deficit between India and Pakistan can be eliminated all issues can be resolved through dialogue," Mr Krishna said.
"Good neighbourly relations between India and Pakistan were in the interest of both our countries as well as in the interest of peace, stability and development in the region."
The Indian prime minister had reiterated New Delhi's "serious concerns on terrorism emanating from Pakistan," and urged Mr Gilani to "expedite action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack. He was assured that Pakistan was serious about bringing these perpetrators to book."

 Iran says plans new war games, photographed US ship
Reuters, Tehran

Iran announced new naval war games on Tuesday and revealed that one of its military aircraft had photographed a U.S. aircraft carrier, a day after Washington said Tehran was challenging its sea power in the Middle East.
The plane flew over the carrier in the Sea of Oman and took pictures of it, a senior Iranian commander was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Navy commander Habibollah Sayari did not say when the incident took place, but suggested that the U.S. ship's crew had objected to the Iranian action.
Iran also announced that it would start eight days of war games in the Gulf and the Sea of Oman on Wednesday.
The planned naval manoeuvres coincide with rising tension between Iran and the West, which says Tehran's nuclear work is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies this.
Sayari spoke a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Iran was challenging U.S. naval power in the Middle East with an array of offensive and defensive weapons.
Fars, a semi-official Iranian news agency, quoted Sayari as saying an Iranian S-27 aircraft had photographed the U.S. ship and that it was the navy's "duty and right" to identify foreign vessels in the area.
"Despite the objection of this (U.S.) vessel, we reiterate firmly that doing this is our definite right," he said.
Al Alam, Iran's Arabic-language satellite television station, quoted him as saying the scheduled war games would display the Iranian navy's defence capability.
They would take place less than two weeks after Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards staged four days of manoeuvres in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial for global oil supplies.
Last month, the Pentagon said U.S. military action against Iran remained an option even as Washington pursues diplomacy and sanctions to halt the country's atomic activities.
Iran often announces advances in its military capabilities and tests weaponry in an apparent attempt to show its readiness for any strikes by Israel or the United States.
In exercises held in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz between April 22 and 25, official media said the Guards tested missiles and a new speedboat capable of destroying enemy ships.

  Police stop Muslim woman wearing veil in Italy
BBC Online

A woman visiting a post office in Novara, north-western Italy, has been stopped by police for wearing an Islamic veil covering her face. A police official told the AFP news agency the woman would have to pay a 500-euro (£430) fine.
It is the first such police action since Novara brought in a by-law in January banning clothing preventing immediate identification in public. The city is run by the anti-immigration Northern League.
The party is a powerful junior coalition partner in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's national government.
'Not tolerated'
Novara Mayor Massimo Giordano said the by-law was meant to deter women from covering themselves with the veil in public.
"But unfortunately it is apparently not yet clear to everyone that clothes preventing the wearer's identification can be tolerated at home but not in public places, in schools, on buses or in post offices," he said, according to the Italian state news agency Ansa.
"There are still some people that refuse to understand that our community in Novara does not accept and does not want people going around wearing the burka."
He said the by-law was "the only tool at our disposal to stop behaviour that makes the already difficult process of integration even harder". The woman, described as a Tunisian national, was apparently visiting the post office with her husband when she was stopped by police.
When her husband refused to let her be identified by male officers, they called in a female colleague, AFP reported.

  Man held in NYC car bomb attack to appear in court
AP, New York

A Pakistan-born U.S. citizen accused of driving a bomb-laden SUV into Times Square and parking it on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theaters was to appear in court Tuesday to face charges that he tried to set off a massive fireball and kill Americans, federal authorities said.
The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was taken into custody late Monday by FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives at Kennedy Airport while trying to board a flight to Dubai, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials. He was identified by customs agents and stopped before boarding, Holder said early Tuesday in Washington.
U.S. authorities "will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice," Holder said, suggesting additional suspects are being sought.
Shahzad, 30, is a naturalized U.S. citizen and had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he had a wife, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation into the failed car bombing.
The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan was handling the case and said Shahzad would appear in court Tuesday, but the charges were not made public. FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Conn., early Tuesday, said agent Kimberly Mertz, who wouldn't answer questions about the search.
Pakistan offers help
In Pakistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said authorities had not been formally asked for help in the probe. "When the request comes, we will cooperate with the U.S. government," he told the AP. "We will cooperate with the United States in identifying this individual and bringing him to justice," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters.

  Iran summons UAE envoy over islands spat
Reuters, Tehran

Iran summoned the United Arab Emirates charge d'affaires in Tehran over a war of words about three Gulf islands that both countries claim as their territory, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
"The UAE's charge d'affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry and was issued a stern warning," Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters at a weekly press briefing in response to a question.
"There was also a meeting held in the UAE, and they were conveyed the displeasure of our officials towards their unmeasured statements," he said.
The UAE's highest diplomatic representative in Tehran is its ambassador.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan last month compared Iran's control of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb islands to Israel's occupation of Arab territories since 1967.
Tehran called the comments "brazen and impudent". But Sheikh Abdullah repeated the comments in the Palestinian town of Ramallah, calling for Iran to end its "occupation".
Arab states broadly back the UAE claim to the islands, which lie close to shipping lanes used for oil and gas export.
The UAE and non-Arab Iran have strong trade relations but diplomatic ties have been strained after Iran installed maritime offices on one of the disputed islands in 2008. Another source of diplomatic friction is Iran's nuclear energy programme.
Gulf Arab governments share U.S. fears that Iran could become a nuclear weapons state.
Analysts say small Gulf Arab states offering facilities to the U.S. military could become Iranian targets if the nuclear dispute turns into a military confrontation.

  UK leaders make frantic final push for votes
Reuters, London

Britain's political leaders planned to campaign through the night on Tuesday in a final push for votes, two days before a parliamentary election that opinion polls suggest will be the closest in nearly 20 years.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party, in power since 1997, trails the opposition Conservatives by seven or eight points before the May 6 vote, according to the latest polls.
That could give David Cameron's centre-right party a slim majority in parliament or leave him just short of taking overall control of the lower house, depending on how the votes are spread across Britain's 650 electoral districts.
Cameron, keen to end his party's 13 years in opposition and secure a solid majority, will campaign overnight on Tuesday, seeking support from the third of voters said to still be undecided.
Brown, expected to match Cameron's unprecedented campaign marathon, said he would "take full responsibility" if Labour loses on Thursday, but stressed his centre-left party was still in the race.
"I still think there are thousands of people who have still to make up their minds," Brown said in an interview with GMTV, a breakfast television programme.
His attempt to win a fourth consecutive election for Labour was undermined by one of his candidates who described him in a local newspaper interview as "the worst prime minister ever", in part due to his crime and immigration policies.
Manish Sood, standing for election in Norfolk, eastern England, told Sky News he stood by his comments: "All the policies he is bringing in are a total disaster."

  Ash closes Irish, UK airports; summer chaos feared
Reuters, Dublin

Airports in Ireland and parts of Britain were closed again for hours on Tuesday because of the cloud of volcanic ash drifting south from Iceland that wreaked havoc on European air travel last month.
Flights in much of continental Europe were operating as normal and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said it would allow flights to resume from Irish airports from 1200 GMT after a closure lasting six hours.
However, the IAA said northerly winds forecast for the coming days could bring more clouds of ash from the Icelandic eruption and disruption for passengers this week. "We could be faced with this periodically during the summer," IAA Chief Executive Eamonn Brennan said. "We are probably facing a summer of uncertainty due to this ash cloud."
The IAA had closed airports from 0600 GMT until 1200 GMT due to risk of ash ingestion in aircraft engines, although overflights of Ireland from Britain and continental Europe had not been banned. Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said a no-fly zone was in place in the west of Scotland and Northern Ireland, from 0700 (0600 GMT) until at least 1300 (1200 GMT).

  US says nuclear arsenal includes 5,113 warheads
Reuters, Washington

The United States disclosed for the first time on Monday the current size of its nuclear arsenal, lifting the veil on once top-secret numbers in an effort to bolster non-proliferation efforts.
The Pentagon said it had a total of 5,113 warheads in its nuclear stockpile at the end of September, down 84 percent from a peak of 31,225 in 1967. The arsenal stood at 22,217 warheads when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
The figure includes warheads that are operationally deployed, kept in active reserve and held in inactive storage. But it does not include "several thousand" warheads that are now retired and awaiting dismantlement, the Pentagon said.
"The United States is showing that it is being increasingly transparent," a senior U.S. defense official told reporters at the Pentagon. "It's part of our commitment ... to set the stage for strength in non-proliferation and for further arms control."
The official declined to offer the Pentagon's estimate for Russia's arsenal and renewed calls for greater transparency by China, saying there was "little visibility" when it came to Beijing's nuclear program.
The United States is also pushing for a new round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
By releasing the data during the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, analysts said the United States was trying to show it is cutting its arsenal so as to help persuade other states to tighten the global non-proliferation regime.
"It is hugely important for the United States to be able to say, 'Look we are living up to our obligations under the NPT," said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.

Business/Economy

GP shares sink on earning report
BSS, Dhaka

Grameenphone (GP) shares plunged on Tuesday on the stock market following its first quarter's financial report, which apparently frustrated investors on a large scale. The issue suffered over 6 per cent loss on both Dhaka and Chittagong bourses when many rushed for selling.
The issue on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) closed at Taka 292 from Monday's close of Taka 311.80 when it slid to Taka 295 at close on Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) from Taka 311.50 on the previous day's terminal transaction.
The price fall gravely influenced the price indices of DSE and CSE. The general index on DSE declined over 1 percent or 59 points to 5534.65 when CSE index sank to 10474.10, 1.35 percent or over 144 points lower than Monday's close.
GP, the lone company listed under telecommunication sector, announced its quarterly account, showing earning per share (EPS) of Taka 2.34 for the January-March quarter of this year.
Some stockbrokers said the declared EPS was much lower than the expectations of the investors, most of whom were anticipating the EPS of at least Taka 5.
But, the unaudited quarterly accounts of the company showed a net profit after tax of Taka 315.73 crore when the consolidated basic EPS stood at Taka 2.34. The net profit and the EPS, however, were significantly higher from Taka 228.26 crore and Taka 1.88 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

 ‘Raise allocations for local govt institutions’
BSS, Dhaka

Speakers at a discussion here on Tuesday called for raising allocations for the local government institutions through expanding their activities and specifying their responsibilities as per the constituency.
In support of their call, they urged the government to implement its election manifesto also the finance minister to fulfil his commitment given in the last budget speech for decentralization of administration and economic empowerment of the local government institutions.
The discussion on "National Budget and Local Government" was held at the conference room of National Press Club, organized by the Governance Advocacy Forum, a platform of 35 organizations.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Land Ministry AKM Mozammel Haque was the chief guest while Advocate Sanjida Khanam MP, UNDP's advisor on Local Government Affairs Dr Tofail Ahmed and Managing Editor of the Daily Samakal Md Abu Sayeed Khan were special guests.
Professor M M Akash of Dhaka University presented a keynote paper at the discussion.
Secretary General of the Local Government Association Shameem Al Rajee, General Secretary of Bangladesh Union Parishad Forum Ataharul Islam Bulbul and Upazila Parishad Chairmen Sultan Ahmed Khan and AKM Shariful Islam also spoke on the occasion.

  Debt-hit Greece chases still spends billions on weapons
AFP, Athens

Greece is one of Europe's biggest weapons purchasers but despite its economic crisis cannot cut the multi-billion dollar bill without securing a full peace with arch-rival Turkey, analysts said.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to visit Greece next week underscoring progress made in bilateral relations, but Greece is still buying warplanes, submarines and weapons even as it accepts a 110 billion euro international rescue.
A warning to the Greeks to reconsider their priorities came from International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn who noted Sunday that military spending would be "clearly reduced" under the bailout.
In February, the defence ministry said that because of the "urgency" of the debt crisis it hoped to cut about 700 million euros of arms spending this year.
Greek Defence Minister Evangelos Venizelos has said the defence budget, including armed forces wages, would be six billion euros this year, or 2.8 percent of national output.
Athens spent the same amount on arms purchases in 2008 according to NATO, a higher percentage of output than France and Britain.
"It would be ideal to be able to drastically cut military spending but this is something that can only be done simultaneously with Turkey," said a Greek government source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Greece is burdened by the cost of armaments stemming from the threat of Turkey," Defence Minister Venizelos said recently.
"The layout of our forces is based on a threat evaluation with only one name," he said. "No matter how fast things move, for the next years, we have to live with (this) situation," the minister said.
Greece and Turkey have been fighting wars since the days of the Byzantine Empire and nearly came to blows as recently as 1996 over an uninhabited string of islets in the Aegean Sea.
But under pressure from international markets, the IMF and European Union, the government has shown that it is ready to cast taboos aside if it can save a penny in the process.
In March, the country held a scaled-back Independence Day parade without tanks, planes and missiles for the first time in over three decades to save around two million euros in operational costs.
Each warplane overflight costs 35,000 euros, a defence ministry source said at the time.

  FBCCI, Pakistan NDU discuss bilateral trade, economy issues

UNB, Dhaka

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President Annisul Huq on Tuesday said that globalization has brought in many challenges and opportunities for the private enterprises.
He said this while addressing a delegation of Pakistan National Defence University (NDU) at FBCCI. The FBCCI president said that his organization was playing a pivotal role through dialogues, consultations and interactions with the government to improve the environment for doing business.
A 19-member delegation of Pakistan NDU led by Brigadier Muhammad Tauqeer Ahmed attended the meeting. Officers of Pakistan, Nigeria, UK, and Oman were present in the meeting. The meeting was chaired by FBCCI President Annisul Huq. The FBCCI president appreciated the Pakistan NDU members for their interest to interact and share knowledge with the private sector of Bangladesh.
He discussed the role of FBCCI as well as the recent state of the Bangladesh economy, its performance, policy environment and investment opportunities. He said that the private sector has already demonstrated its capability and buoyancy in the economy. He also informed his audience of the private sector's rising share in investment, employment, export, etc.

  India to restrict mining in forests
AFP, New Delhi

India is set to prevent top mining firms from tapping 35 percent of the country's coal reserves due to environmental concerns in forested areas, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
The decision to make the reserves "off-limits" is part of plans to better regulate the mining industry, which has paid scant attention to environmental rules in the past, the report said.
"I cannot, in clear conscience, clear these projects in the 'no-go areas,'" minister Jairam Ramesh told the newspaper in an interview.
The deposits are located in some of India's most densely forested and biologically rich and diverse regions that are inhabited by poor tribal people-areas that are also strongholds of Maoist insurgents.
India could no longer afford to approve every proposed mine, Ramesh said, adding: "There are areas where mining has clearly exceeded the carrying capacity."
This means privately held firms like Essar-which has just listed in London-Reliance and Adani, besides state-owned Coal India, will be prevented from accessing the deposits.
Some of the projects had received approval "in principle" several years ago to mine in areas now to be declared off-limits, the report said.
Ramesh admitted his new plan would mean Asia's third-largest economy would have to import more coal, but insisted the decision was crucial to save India's natural habitats.

  Spain, Portugal not comparable to Greece
AFP, Rome

The head of the OECD on Tuesday said the economies of Spain and Portugal's were not comparable to that of Greece as the Spanish stockmarket shed more than three percentage points amid fears of downgrades to the nation's credit rating.
Comparisons between Greece on the one hand and Spain and Portugal on the other "do not reflect reality," Angel Gurria, Secretary General for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, told journalists in Rome.
"Spain has a debt-to-GDP ratio about half that of Greece more or less, so obviously (it is) a completely different situation. Spain had four or five years of surpluses before the crisis," he said. Greece's debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is 115.1 percent, compared to just 53.2 percent in Spain.
"I think that we should be very careful and very responsible in order to avoid comparisons that don't apply," Gurria said.
Standard & Poor's last week lowered Spain's long-term sovereign credit rating to AA from AA+ on prospects that its recession could further weaken public finances.
On Tuesday the benchmark Ibex-35 share index shed 3.27 percent to 10,082.10 points shortly after noon (1000 GMT) with shares in Spain's biggest bank, Santander, and the country's second-largest bank, BBVA down by over four percent.

  ASEAN, not China & India, leading destination of US FDI
PTI, Washington

The 10-nation regional block of Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN), and not China and India, is the leading destination of America's foreign direct investment, a top US trade official has said.
"I will bet if you were asked whether ASEAN, China, or India is the leading destination for US foreign direct investment, most of you would choose China and a few would guess India.
But ASEAN is far and away the leading destination of US FDI - - with three times more than China, and nearly 10 times more than India," the US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said yesterday.
In his remarks at the US-ASEAN Economic Ministers Road Show luncheon at Seattle, Kirk said that US-ASEAN investment relations are strong.
"ASEAN countries together are the United States' fifth largest trading partner, with over USD 200 billion in goods and services trade in 2008. ASEAN is also a key export market for US goods, together ranking 4th among total export markets in 2009," he said. "In addition, ASEAN presents a significant export market for our farmers and ranchers, with over USD 6 billion worth of agricultural exports to the region in 2009.
With all 10 ASEAN economies expected to experience positive economic growth in 2010 and a population of nearly 600 million people, the dynamic economies of ASEAN offer growing market potential for American businesses both large and small," Kirk said. -
The US Trade Representative said that the United States is negotiating a new Trans-Pacific Partnership that will expand US opportunities in the Asia-Pacific under a high-standard, 21st century agreement.

  Tourists hit by Maoist shutdown in Nepal
AFP, Kathmandu

Buses ferried stranded tourists out of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on Tuesday and shopkeepers said their premises had been attacked as Maoist protesters enforced the third day of a general strike.
Talks between the Maoist party, which has the largest number of seats in parliament, and the ruling coalition have failed to make a breakthrough since opposition supporters massed in the city at the weekend.
Much of the country has been paralysed as the left-wing former rebels try to force the government to resign in a stand-off that threatens the Himalayan nation's fragile peace process.
Buses carrying stranded tourists were allowed through Maoist roadblocks to the airport, witnesses said, adding that protesters checked that all passengers were foreigners.
"We have been organising a shuttle bus service for tourists, to evacuate those who want to leave the country," Sarad Pradhan, a spokesman at the Nepal Tourism Board, told AFP.

National

Syndicate dashes boro farmers’ hope over bumper output in NW-region

BSS, Rajshahi

In spite of bumper production the boro farmers could not be happy due to low price of their newly harvested paddy than that of the price fixed by the government everywhere in the country's northwestern region.
According to concern sources, a section of businessmen syndicate has become active with appearance of the newly harvested paddy in the local hats and bazaars depriving the farmers from getting fair price.
The farmers who started harvesting early-from late April-are all happy at the prospect of a bumper boro output but the marginal ones have now become frustrated as they are being failed to get the price of their hard-earned crops fixed by the government. The paddy price fixed at Tk 17 per kilogram while rice at Tk 25 for public procurement encouraged the farmers at a greater extent.
Meanwhile, the paddy is being sold at Taka from 500 to 550 per 40- kilogram mound based on variety and quality at the local hats and bazaars, which is discouraging for the farmers. Montu Chowdhury, a farmer of Kalma village under Tanore Upazila, told BSS that the businessmen are not following the government fixed price.
For their personal benefit, he said the businessmen reduced the paddy price through strengthening their manipulated business network since very beginning of the season.
In this regard, he mentioned that most of the marginal farmers cultivate paddy after borrowing money from the landlords and other local moneylenders.
So, they are bound to repay the loan with the sale proceeds just after harvesting the paddy, he added. He, however, said the public procurement has not started as yet.
Taking advantages of the situation, the dishonest businessmen and millers became active for procuring paddy in less money for making their fortune.
Anukul Mali, a farmer of Shuripukur village under Manda upazila of Naogaon district, said that he had produced paddy on one bigha of land with loan money of Taka 3,000 from a local money-lender and he is being forced to repay the money with exorbitant interest. Now, he said, "I am facing an awkward position with the harvested paddy as the local market price is not expected".
Meanwhile, the Food Department has set a target of procuring 6.61 lakh metric tons of rice and 52,144 tons of paddy through its 182 Local Supply Depots (LSD) and three Central Supply Depots (CSD) in 16 districts of the region during the current procurement season. Regional Controller of Food Sirajul Islam told BSS that a total of 11,559 mills would be brought under the public contract for supplying rice in the region.

  Sensational information on organized crimes in N-dists
BSS, Naogaon

Badalgachi Thana police Monday arrested leader of an organized gang of inter-district criminals involved with killings, abductions, extortions, murders, dacoities and other crimes in different northern districts, police said.
The arrested criminal was identified as Akhter Ferdous Rana, 30, son of Abdus Samad Master of village Boalia under Sadar upazila of Naogaon and he has provided names of his inter-district accomplices to police during primary interrogation.
Timber traders Roich Molla of Araji Naogaon and his partner Bakul Hossain of Mirat village in Naogaon went to Paharpur Bazaar under Badalgachi upazila here on Sunday afternoon for purchasing timbers.
Suddenly, Akhter Ferdous Rana phoned over to Roich and proposed for purchasing huge quantities of quality timbers from him and asked Roich to appear in front of the main gate of the Paharpur Buddhist Bihar.
Roich and Bakul went there when Rana asked them to get on his motorbike and started for 'showing' the timbers and soon reached at Jamalganj Rail Station area in Akkelpur upazila of nearby Joypurhat district.
After reaching at Jamalganj, more criminals appeared there and forced Roich to inform his nearer to come with Taka three lakh as ransom by 3 am on Monday for their release.
Roich had to talk over mobile phone to his maternal uncle Tarikul Islam Sajib of Shekherpukur village in Naogaon, narrated the situation and asked to come with the ransom money timely for their release.
Tarikul soon rushed to Badalgachi Thana and informed the matter to OC Abdur Rashid at about 12:30 midnights when the OC formed two operation teams including one with white dresses and conducted a raid with the assistances of Joypurhat police.
After reaching at Jamalganj at 3 am Monday, Tarikul talked to Rana when Rana marched forward for taking the ransom money and the policemen in disguise quickly arrested him.

  Compensation for affected potato farmers demanded
BSS, Rangpur

Rangpur district unit of Jatiyo Krishak Samity (JKS) Monday demanded immediate probe and proper compensations for the affected potato growers from Moulana Basir Cold Storage.
Leaders of the JKS and farmers' representatives also gheraoed office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and submitted a memorandum with six-point demands including inclusion of the farmers' representative in the probe committee.
The processionists submitted the memorandum to DC of Rangpur BM Enamul Haque at his office to realize their demands and also sought for compensation for the farmers' rotten and secretly sold potatoes by the cold storage owner.
Secretary of Rangpur unit Workers' Party Nazrul Islam Hokkani, Presidium member Kazi Mazirul Islam Litan, district President of JKS Sirajul Islam, Secretary Jahurul Haque, Publicity Secretary Ashok Sarker and farmers' leader Joynal Abedin were present. The speakers on the occasion said that the farmers deposited a total of 80,000 sacs potato, mostly quality seed potato, with due charges for preservation in the Moulana Basir Cold Storage in Hajirhat area under Sadar upazila in the district.

  Bumper production of wheat in Thakurgaon
BSS, Thakurgaon

A bumper production of wheat has brought smile on the faces of the farmers of Thakurgaon district.
Department Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources said this year the average production of wheat was 3.19 tons per hectare against the target of 2.30 tons fixed by the department. The total production in the district stood at 1,69,070 tons while the target was 1,21,900 tons, up by 47,170 tons.

  Khaleda greets noted journalist Foyez Ahmed on his 82nd
birth anniversary

UNB, Dhaka

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia Tuesday greeted noted journalist Foyez Ahmed on the occasion of his 82nd birth anniversary.
On behalf of Khaleda Zia, BNP assistant office secretary Shamimur Rahman and BNP chairperson's press wing member Shamsuddin Didar handed over a bouquet from Khaleda to Foyez Ahemd at his Dhanmondi residence in the afternoon.
The elderly journalist was glad and emotional as Khaleda remembered him despite her busy schedule.
Foyez Ahmed recalled his initiative to bring the two top political leaders Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia together into an anti-autocratic movement against Ershad regime in 1990.

  9,84,000 hectares of land to be brought under Rabi cultivation in Khulna division

BSS, Jessore

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has undertaken a massive programme to bring 9,84,000 hectares of land under Rabi crop cultivation in the districts under Khulna division in the current season.
The 10 districts are Jessore, Narail, Jhenaidah, Magura, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat.
Under the programme, Boro paddy wheat, sweet potato, maize, potato, ground nut, various vegetables and pulses will be cultivated.
DAE sources said a total of 6,03,953 hectares have been brought under Irri-Boro cultivation programme in the region this season with a production target 24,01,125 metric tonnes of paddy.
Vegetables will be cultivated on 69,310 hectares with a production target 11,08,960 tonnes, wheat on 67,362 hectares with a target 61,669 tonnes, maize on 43,343 hectares with a target of 2,81,712 tonnes, potato on 14,316 hectares with a production target 2,36,197 tonnes, mustard on 65,485 hectares with a target 65,485 tonnes, different varieties of pulse especially musur on 40,270 hectares, mug on 827 hectares tones, khesari on 22,495 hectares and sesame on 20,793 hectares with a production target 21,833 metric tonnes.
A large number of farmers have engaged themselves in vegetables farming as cash crops and many are growing plant and leafy vegetables on a commercial basis.

  Trial of war criminals
Gallantry award recipient FFs express solidarity

BSS, Dhaka

"Ketabprapta Muktijoddha Foundation - 1971", an organization of the gallantry award recipient freedom fighters Tuesday expressed its total solidarity with the ongoing process of the trial of war criminals.
"We congratulate the present government and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for taking the bold decision to try the perpetrators of crime against humanity who were involved in genocide, killing, arson, looting and other offences during the war of liberation," said a foundation press release signed by its general secretary Major (retd) Wakal Hasan, Bir Protik.
The foundation called upon the concerned sections of the society as well as individuals to help hold the trial of the war criminals by supplying necessary documents, information and evidence against those collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces who were involved in crimes against humanity.
It said although 38 years have elapsed, the trial of the war criminals would be a bright example of Sheikh Hasina's government of materialising the election pledges. By holding the trial of the war criminals, the nation would be freed from one of its worst stigma, it added.

  Punishment to killers of Jubo League leader demanded
BSS, Netrakona

Several hundreds of workers and leaders of Netrakona district Jubo League brought out a large procession in the town here on Monday night demanding exemplary punishment to killers of Sapan Juwarder, a former president of the district Jubo League.
Sapan Juwarder was shot dead by a group of unidentified gunmen in Teribazar area of the town in November 28, 2001.
The processionists paraded different roads in the town chanting various slogans called upon the administration to bring all the killers of Sapan to book.
The district Jubo League workers and leaders brought out the procession after hearing the news that ATM Mustafa Chunnu, an accused of Sapan Juwarder murder case, was handed over to Shahbag police in the capital Dhaka by local people, the Jubo League office sources said.

  23 held in Joypurhat
BSS, Joypurhat

Police separate anti-crime drives arrested 23 persons including notorious drug-peddlers from different places of five upazilas of the district during the last 48 hours till Tuesday morning.
Police sources said the arrested persons were absconding warrantees, cheats, thieves, extortionists, drug-peddlers, accused persons in different cases and other anti-social elements.
Police also recovered 10 bottles of contraband Indian phensidyl and other illegal goods during the period.
The arrested persons were sent to jail, the sources said.

Sports

West Indies through to Super Eights
AFP, Providence

West Indies won through to the second round Super Eights of the World Twenty20 after beating England by eight wickets in a match turned on its head by rain here on Monday.
England made a challenging total of 191 for five, featuring 55 from former Ireland batsman Eoin Morgan, after being sent in to bat by West Indies captain Chris Gayle.
But rain, which had interrupted Sri Lanka's victory over Zimbabwe earlier here Monday, effectively rendered that score meaningless. Instead, the West Indies were left with a revised target of 60 in six overs under the Duckworth/ Lewis method for rain-affected matches and they got home with a ball to spare.
England now have a winner-takes-all clash against Ireland, who suffered a 70-run Group D thrashing by the West Indies last week, here on Tuesday to decide which team will join the hosts in the Super Eights.
Paul Collingwood, England's Twenty20 captain, made no attempt to hide his feelings. "Obviously we are very, very frustrated. I thought the boys played what was a fantastic game today," he told Sky Sports 1.
"I think 95 percent of the time when you put 191 runs on the board you are going to win the game. "Somehow Duckworth/ Lewis seems to bring that equation down a fair bit. "I don't know what equation you should have but you shouldn't have that one. "It does get very frustrating as a team when you've pretty much played a very good game there and you still come out losers," the all-rounder added.
"We wanted to win both games, but we have to win tomorrow (Tuesday)."
There was a brief moment of worry for the West Indies when off-spinner Graeme Swann took two wickets in two deliveries to leave the home side 42 for two in the fourth over.
Opening batsman Gayle was caught at short mid-wicket before Kieron Pollard was stumped by debutant wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter. But Shivnarine Chander-paul (15 not out) and Andre Fletcher (12 not out) saw the West Indies to victory with a ball to spare as they scored the eight runs they needed off the last over, from fast bowler Stuart Broad.
Gayle said local knowledge had encouraged him to field first.
"The locals are very right about the weather," he said. "The rain actually fell in our favour, which was unfortunate for England."
But Gayle said the way his bowlers had been punished by England's batsmen had left the team with plenty to ponder. "We have got to go back to the drawing board, but give credit where it's due and England's batsmen batted very well," he said. "We need to look on the areas where we went wrong." Left-hander Morgan faced just 35 balls and struck three sixes and six fours. Together with Luke Wright, unbeaten on 45 off 27 balls, he put on 95 for the fifth wicket.
England started well thanks to their new South Africa born opening pair of Michael Lumb and Kieswetter.
Lumb, on his international debut, took 16 off one Ravi Rampaul over. Fast bowler Rampaul's three overs cost a hugely expensive 52 runs in total. But in-form West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy, the man-of-the-match, checked England's progress with two wickets in the tenth over, bowling Collingwood for six and inducing Kevin Pietersen (24) to hole out to midwicket. With England 88 for four at the halfway mark, Morgan and Wright consolidated before going for their shots, with England scoring 76 runs in the final five overs of their innings.

  Bangladesh League
Dhaka Mohammedan dumps Brothers Union 3-0

TBT report

Dhaka Mohammedan Spor-ting Club dished out a 3-0 drubbing to city rival Brothers Union in the Bang-ladesh Football League at Bangabandhu National Sta-dium in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Dami started scoring for Dhaka Mohammedan after 25 minutes to give the Black and Whites a 1-0 lead before the break.
Dhaka Mohammedan consolidated its victory scoring two goals more after the change of ends. Zahid Hasan Ameli doubled the Mohammedan's advantage six minutes after the restart, while Bukola stretched the lead 3-0 with his 70th-minute strike.
Today's match: Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra vs Biani Bazar Sporting Club (Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka), Feni Soccer Club vs Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society (Feni Stadium), Chittagong Abahani vs Shuktara Jubo Sangsad (MA Aziz Stadium, Chittagong).

   Asian best teams face off Aussies in Malaysia
AFP, Ipoh

Asia's best hockey teams will line up against world champion Australia at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, which starts in Malaysia's north on Thursday.
Asian champions South Korea head the regional cast along with India, Pakistan, Malaysia and China. Former African champions Egypt are the seventh team in the fray.
The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, the first major international tournament since the World Cup in New Delhi ended in March, will shine a spotlight on the changes made by teams that played there. The Kookaburras, who are the world's number-one team following their thrilling 2-1 victory over Germany in the World Cup finals, will see two players make their debut - Tim Deavin and Trent Mitton.
A number of other young players like Matt Gohdes, Jason Wilson, Glenn Simpson and Ian Burcher have also been included.
"We have purposefully chosen a young squad for this tournament. It will go a long way in exposing our squad to a number of quality teams, giving us even more experience and help add to the depth of our squad," said coach Ric Charlesworth.
The younger players will be well balanced by veterans such as Grant Schubert, Russell Ford and Kiel Brown.
South Korea, which finished sixth at the World Cup, have only won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup once, in 1996, but have made the finals five times.
Like all the Asian teams in the tournament, the Koreans are starting their preparations for the Asian Games, which will be held in Guangzhou, China in November.
The Asian Games is the first step for teams in the region to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. Only the gold medal winner will gain an automatic berth while the others have to go through a qualifying process.
For India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Australia, the Commonwealth Games is another major assignment waiting for them in October in New Delhi.
"There is still a lot of work to be done and the eighth place finish in the World Cup is just the starting point," said India's coach Jose Brasa.

  India's football coach Bob Houghton resigns
AFP, New Delhi

India's football coach Bob Houghton has resigned over the delay in extending his contract beyond the Asian Cup next January, reports said on Tuesday.
Houghton, 62, sent his resignation to the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) this week while on holiday in South Africa, the Times of India said.
"Bob's biggest complaint is the breach of contract on the part of the federation," the Kolkata-based Telegraph cited unnamed sources as saying.
"A particular AIFF official began negotiating with some FIFA agents for a new coach to be appointed after the Asian Cup. He really wanted to stay but things were made increasingly difficult for him." AIFF president Praful Patel, a federal minister, was trying to convince the English-man to withdraw his resignation ahead of a meeting of the federation's executive committee in New Delhi on Friday, reports said.
But an AIFF official denied the coach had quit.
"I have no knowledge of Houghton's resignation," the federation's senior vice-president Subroto Dutta told the Telegraph.
"A final call on his demands will be taken in the executive committee meeting."
Houghton, who took over as the Indian coach in June, 2006, has also demanded a raise of 10,000 dollars to his monthly salary of 20,000 dollars, the Telegraph said.
He was also unhappy with the slow progress of preparations for the 2011 Asian Cup where India, ranked 132 in the world, are pitted against strong teams like Australia, South Korea and Bahrain.

  Blackburn stuns Gunners with comeback win
AFP, Blackburn

Blackburn Rovers came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 at Ewood Park on Monday and leave third place in the English Premier League up for grabs.
David Dunn cancelled out Robin van Persie's opener before captain Christopher Samba scored the winner to stun the visitors.
A win for Arsenal would have confirmed third place in the Premier League and direct qualification for the Champions League group stage.
But north London rivals Tottenham can now move to two points behind them if they win at Manchester City on Wednesday, meaning Spurs could pinch third place should they win and Arsenal lose in Sunday's final round of matches.
The win saw Blackburn overtake Fulham, Sunder-land and Stoke and move into 10th place in the table.
Netherlands striker van Persie put Arsenal ahead in the 13th minute with his first goal since October 31 following his five-month ankle injury lay-off.
But midfielder Dunn levelled in the 44th minute with a tap-in at the far post as the Gunners failed to deal with a Rovers corner, and Congolese centre-back Samba scored the winner with a 68th-minute header.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said his goalkeeper Lucasz Fabianski had been impeded both times. "Their main purpose every time is to stop the goalkeeper, not go for the ball, and both times for both goals that happened," he said. "I think he had no chance as a goalkeeper, he was pushed every time."
Rovers manager Sam Allardyce admitted targeting the Poland stopper.
"We know their weakness is balls into the box and certainly the goalkeeper of late, so we did that positively and in the end it has paid off for us with two goals and we've managed to win the game and finish the season at home with a fantastic victory against Arsenal," he said.
Carlos Vela wasted an early chance for the visitors, sliding it wide before Fabianski made a good save from a Morten Gamst Pedersen free kick.
Van Persie took an Arsenal corner which was cleared for another corner, this time taken by Samir Nasri. His set-piece was flicked on by Bacary Sagna at the near post, with van Persie heading the ball into an empty net at the back post.
It was the Dutchman's eighth goal in eight games against Blackburn - more than he has notched against any other Premier League side.
Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson kept out a van Persie free kick on the half-hour mark. And it was from another corner that the hosts equalised.
Pedersen's left-wing set-piece dropped to Ryan Nelsen. The New Zealand defender played a low ball to Keith Andrews, whose cross evaded Armand Traore, allowing Dunn to score with a simple finish at the far post.
Pedersen was at the heart of Blackburn's best attacks and he was downed in the penalty box by Sol Campbell but referee Martin Atkinson gave only a corner.
Wenger sent on Andrey Arshavin for the ineffective Vela in a bid to force a winner but within a minute Rovers were ahead.
Pedersen fired a corner into the box and Fabianski, surrounded by Blackburn players, failed to get to the ball.
The Rovers tactic worked as Samba was able to head in from three yards out. Both sides then went on the attack but the hosts held out to move themselves into the top half of the table and give the Gunners extra reasons to hope Spurs do not win Wednesday's clash with Manchester City.

  Mickelson eyes passing Tiger for top spot
AFP, Florida

Masters champion Phil Mickelson can move past Tiger Woods to become world number one by winning this week's 1.71 million-dollar top prize at the US PGA Players Championship.
The 39-year-old US left-hander could end a five-year rankings reign by Woods with a victory if Woods, a 14-time major champion who is coming off a sex scandal and five-month layoff, finishes outside the top five at the Players.
Mickelson is at a career-best second in the rankings while the American just behind him, Steve Stricker, announced Monday he was pulling out of the 9.5 million-dollar tournament at TPC Sawgrass because of a sore right shoulder.
Mickelson, a four-time major champion, captured his third Masters title last month and last weekend settled for second behind Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy to put himself in position to pass Woods, who missed the cut last week.
Only 12 men have held the top spot since the world rankings were instituted in 1986.
After missing the cut for only the sixth time in his pro career, Woods took part in a rare Monday practice, playing the front nine at Sawgrass with Jay Haas and Australian Rod Pampling.
Pampling said Woods felt his own game has improved after the worst 36-hole score of his career last week at Quail Hollow, where he missed the cut by eight shots after a second-round 79, his second-worst pro round.
"(Woods) said it's a lot better than what it was last week," Pampling said. "Early on he hit a couple really solid tee shots. I don't think he hit any of those last week.
"I'm sure he's a lot happier with the way his game is. That's all it takes. If he starts feeling happy with how he's doing out there, he'll be right up there again."
Haas said Woods was experimenting and studying the course, adding, "I wouldn't take too much into what he did."