Peace talks pick up pace as India, Pak skirt blocks

: India and Pakistan on Wednesday pressed ahead with their peace engagement, steering 

around contentious issues -- particularly Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism -- that bedevil their ties.


Erasing the scars of last July, when their foreign ministers clashed in full public view in Islamabad, India and Pakistan on Wednesday managed the rare feat of speaking in one voice. They agreed to invest in a relationship of "trust and mutually beneficial cooperation".


It wasn`t easy given differences over the usual stumbling blocks that cropped up during the meeting between foreign minister S M Krishna (78), and his young counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar (34), but the two sides worked around them successfully enough for foreign secretary Nirupama Rao to later declare that the "fog has now lifted'' over the relationship.


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Khar too raised hopes when she described the relationship as entering a new era and stated that the mindset of people in both the countries had changed, allowing ties to move in the right direction. In terms of deliverables, a number of CBMs to enhance cross-LoC trade and travel were announced.


"It is our desire to make the dialogue process uninterrupted and uninterruptible," Khar said after the meeting, summing up the determination to stay engaged. The restraint was evident at the press conference of the two foreign secretaries where neither rose to the bait of provocative questions.


Talks did not start on a very promising note though. The meeting started with Krishna strongly expressing displeasure to the Pakistani delegation over Khar`s meeting with separatist Hurriyat leaders on Tuesday evening ahead of the official talks.


Krishna wanted to know what was the locus standi of the Hurriyat as they were not representative of the people of India. He also took exception to the press statement Pakistan High Commission issued after the meeting with separatists.


Khar promptly assured Krishna that she did not intend to give offence to India.


The two sides did not let the issue overshadow talks even in public. Rao confirmed that India had expressed concern over the meeting and that it reflected divergences. "We have a different point of view from Pakistan on the meeting and we have expressed our concern frankly and candidly," she said. But she also emphasized that the neighbours had the political will to work together.


Rao`s counterpart Salman Bashir also spoke in a conciliatory vein. He said the meeting with Hurriyat should not be construed as an attempt to cast shadow over the talks, adding that Pakistan`s intention was to reach out in the interest of democratic polity.


Sources said the Pakistanis chose not to be prickly also when Krishna forcefully raised the lack of credible effort to punish the 26/11 masterminds, and continuing hate propaganda against India by the sorts of Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed.


"We have made attempts to infuse the dialogue with the Thimphu spirit," Rao said referring to the meeting between PM Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan last year when they paved the way for re-engagement.


Krishna also raised the confessions made by Pakistani-American Lashkar operative David Headley during the trial of another accused Tahawwur Rana in Chicago about the role of ISI but the Pakistanis quickly assured that they would investigate the matter.


Terror and J&K were discussed at length and this manifested itself in the joint statement which called for eliminating terror in all its forms and, on J&K, spoke of finding a "peaceful solution by narrowing divergences and building convergences". They also agreed for a continued discussion on J&K in a purposeful and forward-looking manner.


Rao said there was "cautious optimism" in India-Pak relations. Krishna stated that things were "on the right track". The two foreign ministers decided to meet again in the first half of 2012. "This is indeed a new era of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, and it is our desire... to make it an uninterrupted and an uninterruptible process," Khar said.


"There has been a mindset change in the people of the two countries that we must acknowledge," she added. Khar showed remarkable maturity for her age when during the joint press briefing after the talks, she resisted all temptations to play to the gallery by mentioning the K-word even though it figured prominently in the joint statement.


Bashir too said after the talks that the two countries needed to make a conscious effort to be respectful to each other to maintain the momentum and ensure deeper level of engagement. "Either of us should not seek advantage over the other as we go for a deeper level of engagement. It is also not appropriate to read into what is said and what is not. We have to understand that this is a work in progress," said Bashir.


After the talks, when asked if the Hurriyat meeting was an attempt to establish "parallel" structures in the bilateral relationship, Rao said as far as India was concerned, there was only a "bilateral structure" between the two governments to address all issues. Hurriyat leaders had insisted before Khar in the meeting on Tuesday that Kashmiris too be made a part of the dialogue between India and Pakistan.

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Syria: cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad given travel ban

A cousin of the Syrian president has been banned from traveling abroad as the government says it is investigated the violence gripping the country.

Bashar al-Assad, Syrian President 

 

  

The move appears to be an attempt by Bashar al-Assad to show that he is serious about investigating the bloodshed.

State-run SANA news agency said the ban was imposed on Brig. Gen. Atef Najib, who ran the security department in the southern province of Daraa.

The uprising erupted there in mid-March after the arrest of 15 teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti.

Judge Mohammed Deeb al-Muqatran of the Special Judicial Committee says the travel ban is precautionary in order for Najib to be available for questioning. 

Al-Muqatran was quoted as saying on Monday that "no one has immunity, whoever he is."

On Sunday a mass grave containing the bodies of at least 10 soldiers was discovered by Syrian troops in a town stormed by government forces in the north of the country. 


At least four of the corpses in the grave, found outside the military police headquarters in the town of Jisr al-Shughour, near the Turkish border, had been decapitated or struck on the head by an axe, according to those present.
The government claimed the bodies, all still in uniform, were evidence of an attack by "armed gangs" on security forces it said claimed 120 lives last week.
But residents and some defecting soldiers who have fled over the border claimed that the dead were local recruits shot by their officers for refusing to open fire on peaceful protesters. 

They also claimed that the army, which moved in under cover from helicopters and tank fire, had used brutal tactics to recapture the town at the weekend.
"The soldiers told us that they would kick us into the sea," Mohammed Migdem, 60, told The Daily Telegraph, waving his arms angrily.


"They killed my uncle's son and I helped lift several dead bodies into cars with my own hands. There is a war going on in Syria against the people."
Witnesses also described how they had seen two boys trying to escape who were killed by fire from government tanks.
The unrest in Syria has claimed 1,500 lives since March, according to human rights groups, with no sign that the regime is managing to deter opposition.
There were even demonstrations at the weekend in the capital, Damascus.
Britain, France and America have led international criticism of the violence, but lack of support from the Arab League has made outside intervention likely.
China and Russia have also so far opposed a motion of condemnation at the United Nations.
"There is no prospect of getting through the UN a resolution such as the UN resolution 1973 on Libya," William Hague, the foreign secretary, said on Sky News. That resolution authorised the no-fly zone currently in place against Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
"In the case of Libya there was a clear call from the Arab League for action, and that was a transformative intervention. There is no such call in the case of Syria."
Mr Hague added that Syria was "undoubtedly being assisted by the Iranian government" through supplying "equipment" and advising how to crush protests.

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NATO strike kills civilians: Libya govt

  Libyan officials said some seven civilians were killed in a NATO air strike in eastern Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday morning.



"There was intentional and deliberate targeting of the civilian houses," deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told reporters at the site. "This is another sign of the brutality of the West."

There were heaps of rubble and chunks of shattered concrete at the scene, which a large crowd of what appeared to be local residents were helping to clear.

On previous occasions when reporters have been taken to see fresh air strikes, the ruins of shattered buildings would typically still be smoking so soon after being hit. There did not appear to be any smoke at the site the Libyan said was targeted by NATO on Sunday morning.

If confirmed, the incident would be a blow to NATO's campaign which is aiding rebels fighting the government of Muammar Gaddafi at a time when the Western alliance is debating how to sustain its mission.

At a local hospital, reporters were shown three bodies, including a child, which government officials said were people killed in the air strike.

One of the bodies was covered with debris and dust. Reporters were also shown a wounded child.

"Basically, this is another night of murder, terror and horror in Tripoli caused by NATO," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told  at the hospital. Five families were living in the building which was hit, he said.

It could not be immediately verified whether the three bodies had come from the destroyed building in the Arada district. Arada is a neighbourhood in the Souq al-Juma district, which is known for anti-Gaddafi sentiment.

Two weeks ago, Libyan government officials were accused by a staff member at the same hospital in a note passed to journalists of falsely labelling a child hurt in a car crash as the victim of a NATO attack.

The incident occurred just over 24 hours after the Libyan government accused NATO of specifically targeting civilians.

After four months of civil war, rebels control much of the east of Libya, the area around the western port city of Misrata and much of the Western Mountain region stretching to the border with Tunisia.

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Libyan rebels edge westwards out of Misrata

 

Libyan rebels edged slowly beyond their western stronghold of Misrata toward Tripoli, but faced supply shortages after shelling from Muammar Gaddafi forces hit a key refinery in the city. Any fighting over Zlitan would bring the rebellion closer to the capital Tripoli, the Libyan leader's stronghold which lies 200 km (124 miles) west of Misrata. A doctor in a field hospital to the west of Libya's third largest city said two rebels had been killed and a dozen wounded after the two sides traded heavy artillery fire. Rebels from Misrata say tribal sensitivities prevent them from attacking Zlitan, and they are instead waiting for local inhabitants to rise up. Late Monday, six rockets hit generators at the refinery near Misrata port leaving them heavily damaged. An engineer on site said it was unclear how long it would take to repair. The fighting east of Tripoli came during a lull in NATO bombardment of the Libyan capital. State television reported the alliance had bombarded targets in Al Jufrah in the center of the country. A rebel spokesman in Zintan, in the rebel-held Western Mountains range southwest of Tripoli, said the town had been quiet after being subjected to its heaviest bombardment by pro-Gaddafi forces in several weeks Sunday. "Today has been the quietest day for Zintan in three months, although we started to hear in the evening loud blasts coming from the east." he said. "We buried (on Monday) the 10 martyrs who were killed after Sunday's clashes."

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Hillary warns Africa of 'new colonialism'

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday warned Africa of a creeping "new colonialism" from foreign investors and governments interested only in extracting the continent's natural resources to enrich themselves and not the African people.
Hillary said that African leaders must ensure that foreign projects are sustainable and benefit all their citizens, not only elites. A day earlier, she cautioned that China's massive investments and business interests in Africa need to be closely watched so that the African people are not taken advantage of.
"It is easy, and we saw that during colonial times, it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave," Clinton said. "And when you leave, you don't leave much behind for the people who are there. We don't want to see a new colonialism in Africa."
Clinton said the United States didn't want foreign governments and investors to fail in Africa, but they should also give back to the local communities.
"We want them to do well, but also we want them to do good," she said.
"We don't want them to undermine good governance, we don't want them to basically deal with just the top elites, and frankly too often pay for their concessions or their opportunities to invest."
Clinton said that American development aid and infrastructure projects come with good governance conditions and that the Obama administration is interested in Africa and the African people. Their success, she said, is in the long-term interest of both the African people and the US.
She spoke in a pan-African television interview in the Zambian capital. Clinton is the first secretary of state to visit Zambia since Henry Kissinger came in 1976.

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Start of Afghan transition on track for July: NATO

Plans are on track for Afghan forces to take charge of security in seven areas of Afghanistan from late July with a second phase of the handover starting in December, NATO commanders said on Thursday. Major-General Tim Evans, a senior British officer with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), on a video link from Afghanistan, said the first set of areas would start transferring from ISAF to Afghan control on July 20. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in March that seven areas would be included in the initial phase of transition, the first step in a long process due to end with the withdrawal of all foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Karzai has said the transition would begin in the Afghan month of Saratan, which runs from June 22 to July 22 on the Western calendar, but has not given an exact date. Lieutenant-General David Rodriguez, the second most senior US commander in Afghanistan, speaking on the same video conference with reporters, said the Afghan government was "walking through all the plans and preparations now" for the first phase of transition. Afghan authorities had begun "face-to-face meetings down at the local level" in preparation for the handover and were very satisfied with ISAF's plans to support the transition, he said. "They are already looking forward to the next group (of areas for transition) that will be announced in the fall and initiate the process in December," said Rodriguez, commander of day-to-day operations for the 150,000-strong NATO-led force. TROOP DRAWDOWN The move is part of NATO's strategy to hand over responsibility to an expanding Afghan force gradually, allowing reductions in foreign forces currently battling Taliban insurgents. President Barack Obama is expected to announce soon he will bring home a sizable number of the 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan starting in July. The relatively peaceful provinces of Bamiyan and Panjshir, the western city of Herat, areas around the capital Kabul and part of eastern Laghman province are among the first areas to be handed over. Also on the transition list are Mazar-i-Sharif in the north and Lashkar Gah, capital of volatile southern Helmand province. Evans said the transition did not mean that all British troops in Lashkar Gah would suddenly leave in July. "We've got to make sure we still support the Afghan forces," he said. But if conditions allowed, troops from areas that had been handed over would be moved to help other areas progress toward transition, he said. Evans also said that the level of violence during this year's "fighting season" was likely to be "as high if not higher than last year" because ISAF forces were pursuing insurgents. NATO had anticipated that the insurgents might concentrate on areas singled out for transition to Afghan control, he said. Osama bin Laden's killing in a US raid in Pakistan last month has fueled calls in the United States for a faster drawdown of troops. Rodriguez said the al Qaeda leader's death had so far had no discernible effect on the ground, although he hoped bin Laden's influence on the Taliban would now decline.

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