Pak-Indonesia Defence Agreement in the offing
APP, Islamabad

Indonesian Defence Minister Pumomo Yusgianto endorsed the proposal that the defence forces of the two countries (Pakistan Indonesia) should promote opportunities for bilateral collaboration for use of indigenously developed weapon systems.
He said, during his meeting with Ambassador Sanaullah, who called on him in Jakarta to discuss finalization of proposed Defence Agreement between two countries, said a message received here Thursday.
The Ambassador expressed gratitude for inviting Pakistan Defence Minister to Jakarta for signing of the agreement, and to discuss other projects of mutual interest.
There are wide prospects for taking joint ventures at public and private level for enhancing bilateral trade, he added.
Earlier, while presenting his letter of credence the Secretary General ASEAN Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Ambassador Sanaullah said, Pakistan will enhance its presence further in ASEAN region and cooperate with the organization with a view of becoming its full partner, full dialogue partnership framework would enable both sides to boost multi sector cooperation, he said.
Ambassador Sanaullah noted that ASEAN has emerged as a big economic voice in the region, bringing prosperity, investment and respect to its Member States, and in the process, effectively strengthened the global free trade regime.
In welcoming Ambassador Sanaullah's appointment, Dr Surin expressed his appreciation for Pakistan's commitment and good intention to enhance interaction and relations with ASEAN. Since the entry into force of the ASEAN charter, ASEAN has welcomed Ambassadors to ASEAN from non-ASEAN Member States and relevant inter-governmental organizations.

  Pakistan, Afghanistan sign MoUs on enhancing interaction in diverse fields

APP, Islamabad

Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday signed Memoranda of Understanding on strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing interaction in diverse fields.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Afghan President Hamid Karzai witnessed the signing ceremony as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Afghan counterpart Dr. Zalmai Rasoul inked the documents.
Earlier Prime Minister Gilani and President Karzai held one-on-one meeting focussing on jointly fighting terrorism, strengthening bilateral ties and ways to address regional issues related to peace and security. Gilani stressed for enhanced interaction between the two countries to better cope with the issues of terrorism and extremism.
He said the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan were of great importance and termed terrorism as a common challenge to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He said Pakistan was determined to fight militancy to the end, which was a long drawn battle and there were no quick solutions to this problem.
Afghan President Karzai urged for a partnership which allows realization of the full potential of human and natural resources and want greater connectivity, more trade and economic cooperation.
He called for new development projects and investments in the two countries driven by energy corridors in the region. Karzai thanked for Pakistan's support and efforts for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Later, the delegation-level talks were held between the two countries.

  Experts on WMD taking part in US-S.Korea war games
AFP, Seoul

US experts in weapons of mass destruction are taking part in a military exercise simulating an attack by North Korea on South Korea, the US commander in the South said Thursday.
The communist North has bitterly denounced the US-South Korean exercise as a preparation for a nuclear attack, and vowed to respond to any aggression with its atomic weapons.
The visiting experts are from a team called Task Force Elimination, of the Maryland-based 20th Support Command.
US commander General Walter Sharp said they brought unique WMD expertise to the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle drill, in which 18,000 American troops and 20,000 Koreans are taking part. "They are here for this exercise and if we ever went to war, they would naturally come also," he told a press conference.
Sharp said troops from both countries have a shared responsibility for locating, securing and eliminating weapons of mass destruction in case of a North Korean attack.
The general said the exercise tests US and South Korean capabilities "to be prepared to fight and win if we had to go to war today". But the US and South Korea insist it is purely defensive.
The North has staged two atomic weapons tests and has thousands of conventionally-armed missiles deployed near the inter-Korean border.
South Korea's defence ministry says its neighbour also has between 2,500-5,000 tons of chemical weapons.

  Thailand deploys 50,000-strong force ahead of protests
AFP, Bangkok

Thai authorities Thursday began deploying 50,000 troops on the streets of Bangkok ahead of rallies by anti-government protesters that they fear could turn violent, the deputy prime minister said.
The demonstrations by the so-called "Red Shirts," who support fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, begins Friday-two weeks after the kingdom's top court confiscated 1.4 billion dollars of the tycoon's assets. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is overseeing the security operation, said "full deployment" began Thursday of 30,000 soldiers, 10,000 police and 10,000 civilian volunteer forces.
"If protesters intrude into army bases or police stations, the government will use armed force to crack down immediately, as we consider them terrorists," he told reporters.
The government has invoked a tough internal security act that allows it to call out troops, impose curfews and ban gatherings.
Checkpoints are being set up in and around Bangkok to search protesters for weapons as they arrive from the provinces, mainly their strongholds in the rural north. The Reds, who resent what they see as an elitist and undemocratic government, say they expect up to 600,000 people to attend the main rally on Sunday but insist it will be peaceful.
The government estimates that closer to 100,000 will turn up.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva warned Wednesday that there could be "sabotage", while Thailand's main airport, which was besieged by protesters in 2008, said it had made contingency plans for the rallies.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) said it too had prepared measures to ensure that trading was not affected between March 12 and 15.
Thirty-three countries have issued some form of warning to visitors to the kingdom because of the protests, a spokesman for the Tourism Authority of Thailand told AFP.

  Nepal peace process at ‘serious point’: UN
AFP, Shaktikhor, Nepal

Nepal's peace process is at a "very serious point", the United Nations' top political official said Thursday, urging party leaders to act on pledges made at the end of the war. B. Lynn Pascoe said he was concerned that the peace process had stalled, three and a half years after the decade-long conflict between Maoist guerrillas and the state came to a close.
"We do see things at a very serious point here, the process is just not moving the way it should be," he told journalists after meeting Maoist army commanders at a cantonment, 175 kilometres (110 miles) south of Kathmandu.
"I'm here to see what we can do to push the process along by emphasising that it is very important to move and it's time to take action," said Pascoe, the UN under-secretary-general for political affairs. More than 16,000 people were killed in Nepal's conflict, and Pascoe warned there was a "danger of moving backwards", pointing out that 50 percent of countries return to war within 10 years of a peace agreement being signed. He called for action on the integration of more than 19,000 Maoist soldiers currently living in UN-monitored cantonments across the country into the regular army. The integration is a key tenet of the peace agreement, but military leaders have repeatedly resisted the move. Pascoe also stressed the importance of completing the country's new constitution, although he conceded that doing so by a May 28 deadline would be a "tall order". Lawmakers began debating the constitution in 2008, when the first post-war elections were held and the country's 240-year-old Hindu monarchy was abolished.

  Myanmar’s Suu Kyi urges response to ‘unjust’ law
AFP, Yangon

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday called on Myanmar's people to give a united response to an "unjust" election law, her lawyer Nyan Win told AFP.
"The people and political forces have to respond united to such an unjust law," Suu Kyi said, according to Nyan Win, after he visited the democracy icon at her house. "She didn't think such a repressive law would come out."
Under new election legislation Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi faces exclusion from her own National League for Democracy (NLD) party and is not allowed to stand in elections this year on the grounds that she is a serving prisoner.
Myanmar lets Suu Kyi's party reopen offices
Reuters adds: Myanmar's military government has allowed the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to reopen regional branch offices that have been closed since May 2003, a party spokesman said on Thursday.
"So far as we have heard, about 100 branch offices have been reopened across the country, effective Wednesday," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Law bars Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi from voting
AP adds: Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from running in upcoming elections and won't even be allowed to vote, according to laws published Thursday.
The junta has also formally invalidated her party's landslide win in the last polls, held two decades ago.
Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, has described the new laws as "repressive" and "unjust," but remains committed to carrying on her political work, Nyan Win, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party said.

  SLanka's former army chief 'to face three charges'
AFP, Colombo

Former Sri Lankan army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka will face three charges in a military court, including "conduct unbecoming an officer," a source said Thursday.
"There will be three charges against him," said the military source, who declined to be named.
In addition to the "conduct unbecoming" charge, he will also be accused of maintaining contact with opposition politicians while being head of the army and unfairly granting an arms tender to a company run by his son-in-law.
The source made no mention of allegations related to plotting a coup or planning the assassination of President Mahinda Rajapakse -- accusations which have been made against Fonseka by some members of the ruling party.
Three major generals have been appointed by army commander Jagath Jayasuriya to hear the charges against Fonseka, 59, who was arrested two weeks after losing the January 26 presidential election to Rajapakse.
Fonseka is being held at a naval detention centre in Colombo since his arrest on February 8.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is the president's younger brother, has said that Fonseka could be sentenced to five years in prison.

 Iran warns ‘corrupt’ powers against destabilising Gulf
AFP, Tehran

Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned "corrupt" powers on Thursday against destabilising the Gulf as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited the United Arab Emirates.
"We must ensure our own security in the Persian Gulf, which is the Gulf of friendship and brotherhood," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas broadcast by state television.
"The Iranian people will not allow corrupt world powers to create unrest in the Persian Gulf," said Ahmadinejad, alluding to the Western troop presence in the region.
"What are you doing in our region?, Why have you sent your armies to our area? If you think you can control the oil of Iraq and the Persian Gulf, you are mistaken. The youth of our region will cut off your hands." With US troops in most of its neighbours, Iran has repeatedly called for a withdrawal of all foreign forces from the region.
During a visit to neighbouring Afgha-nistan on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad told a joint news conference with his counterpart Hamid Karzai that he did "not see the presence of foreign military forces in Afghanistan as a solution for peace in Afghanistan."
"The question is what are you doing here in this region?" he asked in allusion to the US defence secretary who was in Afghanistan visiting the troops.
"You are 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) away on the other side of the world. You are on the other side of the world. What are you doing here? This is a serious question."
His comments drew an appeal from Washington for Tehran to play a "constructive role" in the region and a plea from Karzai for Afghanistan to be spared becoming a proxy battleground for larger powers.

  PM Maliki leads Iraq vote in two provinces
Reuters, Baghdad

Preliminary results from Iraq's national election began to trickle in on Thursday, showing Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ahead in the country's largely Shi'ite south.
Preliminary results from the electoral commission, the first to be released, showed Maliki ahead in Najaf and Babil provinces south of Baghdad.
But full initial results from across Iraq's 18 provinces, including areas where support is expected to be strong for Maliki's rivals, were still unknown four days after a national election Iraqis hoped would bring stable government and help end years of sectarian conflict as U.S. troops ready to leave.
Officials at Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said full initial results, which are to be made public when 30 percent of the vote is counted, may be released later on Thursday. Final results may take weeks.
They are anxiously awaited by foreign oil companies making plans to invest billions of dollars and vault Iraq into the top echelon of global producers, and by Washington policymakers as the United States prepares to formally end combat operations by the end of August and leave the country before 2012.
The IHEC results showed Maliki's State of Law coalition with 124,734 votes in the two provinces with at least 30 percent of votes counted, followed by 103,583 for a mainly Shi'ite rival, the Iraqi National Alliance. A secular, cross-sectarian list headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi got 40,916 votes. That list is expected to do well in Sunni areas in north and western Iraq.

  Gulf states wary of both Iran’s nukes and punitive sanctions

AFP, Riyadh

Gulf states are worried about Iran going nuclear, but equally fret about a dangerous confrontation that could arise from more sanctions and military threats against Tehran, analysts say.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was in the Gulf Wednesday and Thursday seeking support for a new round of UN sanctions to press Tehran to halt its drive to acquire nuclear weapons capability.
Gates told Saudi King Abdullah, Crown Prince and Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, and other top security officials that Iran had "largely rebuffed" US overtures for a conciliatory dialogue, and that Washington was now focused on ramping up pressure on Tehran, according to a US defence official. Gates was only the latest of several high level US visitors, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who have pounded the path to Riyadh to sell Saudi leaders on more pressure on Tehran.
But Saudis and other Gulf states remain dubious about whether heightened economic sanctions would be supported by enough countries to be effective, and whether they would have the right impact on Tehran.
"We have a shared interest in preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power," said Mustafa Alani, research director at the Gulf Research Centre, a Dubai think-tank.
However, he said, "We don't recognise economic sanctions as going to change the Iranians' mind." "If there are sanctions, it will accelerate their nuclear programme." Gulf states support is crucial, both to put real economic pressure on Iran-through trade and financial measures-and to ensure no disruption to global energy needs by a possible cutoff of Iranian oil exports.

  Biden implores Israel, Palestinians to make peace
AP, Tel Aviv, Israel

US Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday implored Israelis and Palestinians to move beyond a diplomatic spat that has marred his trip to the region, urging the sides to waste no time in resolving their decades-old conflict despite daunting obstacles.
Biden used conciliatory language as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the area in an apparent attempt to get past the uproar sparked by an Israeli plan for new settlement construction in disputed east Jerusalem. The Israeli announcement - seen as a slap in the face to Biden - drew a sharp condemnation from the vice president as well as a Palestinian threat to withdraw from U.S.-mediated peace talks before they even begin. The 22-nation Arab League, which gave Abbas the backing to resume talks with Israel, has recommended withdrawing support for indirect talks in the wake of the Israeli settlement plan.
Biden's speech appeared aimed at not letting the row with Israel derail the Obama administration's latest drive for Mideast peace. However, the vice president's effusive praise for the Jewish state - saying the U.S. has "no better friend" than Israel - could disappoint those who had hoped he would talk tougher in the wake of the new settlement plan. Speaking at Tel Aviv University, Biden said the sides must get down to the business of making peace.
Arab League chief says Mideast talks off
Reuters adds: Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Wednesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had told him he would not enter indirect talks with Israel, only days after the Palestinian side had agreed to the contacts.
The about-turn puts on hold U.S. efforts to bring together Israel and the Palestinians in so-called proximity talks. The proposed talks, the Palestinian chief negotiator said this week, were a "last chance" to keep the Middle East peace process alive.

  Police, military crackdown in Tibet on anniversary
AFP, Beijing

Chinese security forces have stepped up a crackdown in Tibet's capital Lhasa, two years after protests marking a failed 1959 uprising erupted in deadly violence, the police and reports said Thursday.
The "strike hard storm" began earlier this month and is aimed at cracking down on Tibetan independence activities and ordinary crime, a policeman at the city's Niangre precinct told AFP by phone.
"I don't know when we will end this campaign, but it could be at the end of March when this matter is over," said the policeman, who refused to identify himself, referring to the sensitive anniversaries.
As of March 3, more than 1,500 extra police and security personnel had been deployed, with more than 4,100 rented apartments or homes inspected, according to the Lhasa Evening News.
More than 400 people have been rounded up, but only 14 of them have been formally arrested on unspecified charges, the report said.
"We must clear our eyes, clench our fists, grip our weapons and firmly prevent and severely strike at every separatist or destructive activity that harms national security and social stability," the Tibet Daily quoted Zhang Yixiong, the region's deputy Communist Party secretary, as saying this week.
"Officers and soldiers are working hard to uphold social stability, safeguard socialist law, the basic interests of the people and the unity of the motherland." Police are carrying out identification checks of the city's migrant population as well as increasing routine traffic stops, it said.
Residents had told AFP on Wednesday that the number of police patrols had been increased in recent days.
An uprising against Chinese rule of the Buddhist Himalayan region erupted on March 10, 1959 but was crushed by China within weeks, forcing the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, to flee into exile.
Protests took place on the anniversary of the uprising in 2008, escalating in subsequent days into violent riots across Tibet and neighbouring regions with significant populations of ethnic Tibetans.

  Democrats, White House close in on health bill
AP, Washington

A final agreement nearly in hand, President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders are about to embark on one last sales job that will determine the outcome of the president's signature health care overhaul.
It will come down to a phenomenal effort by congressional leaders and the White House to win over skittish lawmakers after a year of incendiary debate, even as Obama keeps up campaign-style appe-arances designed to fire up public support. A closed-door meeting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office Wednesday evening moved congressional leaders and administration officials close to agreement on such issues as additional subsidies to help lower-income families purchase health insurance and more aid for states under the Medicaid program for low-income Americans.
Democrats still need to see a final cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office - and want to ensure it stays around $950 billion over 10 years - but they made plans to begin to read the bill to rank-and-file Democrats at a caucus meeting Thursday.
"We're going to get started," Pelosi, D-Calif., said after her meeting with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other key officials. Some unanswered questions remain, Pelosi said, "but we're hoping that we'll get those answered over the course of the reading. It's not much."
"I'm very pleased about where we are," she said.
Obama invited members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to meet with him Thursday at the White House to discuss the health legislation. The White House also said Obama would travel to northeastern Ohio on Monday for an appearance near the hometown of an uninsured cancer patient named Natoma Canfield, whom the president has made a symbol of the need for reform.

  Libya demands diplomatic concessions from Swiss
AP, Geneva

A senior official from Libya called on Switzerland to make concessions in the ongoing diplomatic dispute between the countries, saying Thursday that a travel ban on leader Moammar Gadhafi was a "big humiliation" to the African country.
The remarks by Libya's acting U.N. ambassador in Geneva downplayed hopes that a compromise could be reached.
Ibrahim Aldredi said Switzerland needed to take a number of steps to resolve the diplomatic tussle, which spawned from the arrest in Switzerland of Gadhafi's son in 2008. It has now affected most of Europe as a result of retaliatory travel sanctions from Tripoli. Aldredi demanded charges against the Geneva policemen who arrested Hannibal Gadhafi and his wife for allegedly beating up their servants. He also said the Swiss must find out who leaked mug shots of Hannibal after the arrest, and urged Switzerland to recommit to an international tribunal with the power to award compensation to the Gadhafi family.
The travel restrictions on Libya's leader, his son and nearly 200 other senior officials and family members must also be dropped, Aldredi said, reading out about 50 names of the sanctioned individuals, including the current U.N. General Assembly president.
"This ban was taken for political reasons," he said through a translator. "It is a big humiliation to the symbols and people of Libya."
The Swiss government declined to comment on Aldredi's news conference, the first given by a Libyan official in Switzerland since the crisis started. Aldredi spoke a day after Libya's U.N. ambassador in New York, Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgham, also blamed the Swiss for starting and worsening an unnecessary dispute in a similarly unusual event.