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Nepal calls truce with Maoists
113 die in Armenian plane
crash
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Pakistan rape survivor honoured at UN
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Nepal calls truce with Maoists
Kathmandu, May 3 Moving swiftly after its formation yesterday, the seven-member cabinet held its second meeting today to make an official announcement of ceasefire, triggering joy and exultation nationwide. The ministers also cancelled the controversial local elections held by King Gyanendra in February, in which only 21 per cent voters had taken part and most of the parties had stayed away. Adhering to its decision to review the undemocratic and illegal decisions taken by King Gyanendra since October 2002, when he dismissed then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the ministers also decided to abolish the posts of regional and zonal administrators created by the King after his coup last year. One of the major parties in the government, the Communist party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), today formed a team to start talks with the Maoists, the government and members of civil society in a move to facilitate the peace process and holding elections to write a new constitution for Nepal. “We have asked the Maoists to respond to our decision honourably,” Gopal Man Shrestha, newly appointed physical planning and works minister, said. Newly appointed Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula told reporters yesterday that the government would also mull releasing Maoist leaders held in prisons in Nepal and India. —
IANS
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113 die in Armenian plane
crash
Moscow, May 3 The Airbus A-320, which belonged to Armenian airline Armavia, disappeared from radar screens at 7 am this morning (8:30 IST) from the shore and crashed while heading towards Alder airport near the city of Sochi, a spokesman for Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said. The plane disappeared from radar screens during a flight from Yerevan to Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea in southern Russia. All 105 passengers, including five children and eight crew members, were killed. “The only thing we know is that when the crew asked for permission to land, the air controller in Sochi responded that bad weather meant this was not yet possible,” chief of Armenian Airlines Gayane Davtyan was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti “Contact with the crew was lost at 600 meters, when the plane went to circle for a second time,” he said. Russian emergency services pressed 23 rescue ships into service to search for bodies.
Twenty-seven bodies have been so far recovered. Rescue teams are battling against heavy rain and high seas.
— PTI
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Hamas’ failure will hurt Israel: Palestinian lawmaker
A US-led effort to block financial aid to the Palestinian people is yet another example of the hypocrisy of the West and will eventually end up hurting Israel, according to a prominent Palestinian lawmaker.
On a visit to Washington last week, US-educated Ziad Abu Amr, an independent representing Gaza City in the Palestinian Legislative Council, said Palestinians were surprised by the US reaction to a Hamas-led government. “The Bush administration wanted a democratic election, but they don’t want to accept the democratic outcome,” he said, adding the Palestinian people “do not appreciate the financial pressure.” Dr Abu Amr admitted that many people didn’t expect a landslide victory for the Hamas in the elections in January, but said that contrary to expectations including his own, the vote was untarnished. After the elections, President George W. Bush described Hamas’ triumph as a rejection of the “status quo” and a repudiation of the corrupt old guard. “There’s something healthy about a system that does that,” Mr Bush said at the time. He reiterated that he would not work with Hamas until it renounces its goal of destroying Israel and disarms its militias. Hamas’ refusal to accept either demand precipitated a crisis that has led to a freeze of foreign aid and protests in the Palestinian territories by security personnel who have not been paid for months. At a press conference earlier this year, Mr Bush was asked whether by supporting an international boycott of the Hamas-led government, the US was punishing the Palestinian people for exercising their democratic rights that he had called for in the Middle East. “This new democracy that is emerging in the Palestinian territories must understand that you can’t have a political party that also has got an armed wing to it; that democracies yield peace,” Mr Bush said. “They have got parts of their platform that will make it impossible for them to be a peaceful partner,” Mr Bush added. Dr Abu Amr said for peace to prevail the US must act as an “honest broker.” “I don’t think the way it has conducted itself has brought us any closer to peace. A biased attitude will contribute to the failure of the peace process,” he said. The suspension of foreign aid is exacerbating internal tensions among Palestinians. “Hamas is having a difficult time transforming from a resistance group to a leadership role. Fatah, too, is facing similar problems — it is finding it tough to give up power after all these years and serve as a good opposition group,” Dr Abu Amr said. Despite all its troubles, Dr Abu Amr predicted Hamas would not give up power. “A voluntary resignation will be construed as a failure,” he said, adding, “Hamas is seen as a model by Islamic movements in other countries - they don’t want to see Hamas leave.” Hamas also cannot afford to go back to being a resistance group, he said, since one of the reasons it participated in elections was that it sought political legitimacy. According to the State Department, Hamas receives some funding from Iran but primarily relies on donations from Palestinian expatriates around the world and private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Some fund raising also takes place in Western Europe and North America. Dr Abu Amr said these meagre donations were not be enough to sustain the Palestinian people. He warned that the situation in the Gaza Strip was deteriorating and the economic hardship caused to the Palestinian people could lead to a breakdown of security in the region. “A collapse of security will not serve the Israelis,” he said. “Was the suspension of financial aid the right thing to do?” he asked. “Palestinian society is very fragile. We cannot take this pressure.” One of four independents in the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr Abu Amr noted that it was the poor performance and corruption of the Fatah party that led to Hamas’ election victory. “If Hamas fails, people will attribute it to the unfair policies of the US and the West,” he warned.
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Pakistan rape survivor honoured at UN
United Nations, May 3 “I think it is fair to say that anyone who has the moral courage and internal strength to turn such a brutal attack into a weapon to defend others in a similar position is a hero indeed and is worthy of our deepest respect and admiration,” UN Under Secretary General for Communications Shashi Tharoor said yesterday as he introduced Mukhtaran Mai. She was invited by Secretary General Kofi Annan and Pakistan’s UN Mission. Tharoor noted that after her 2002 ordeal in the rural village of Meerwala in Punjab province, Mai, with the support of her immediate family, her imam and some journalists, moved to ensure her attackers face the full force of the law. “Since then, she has demonstrated that she is a woman of enormous courage and conviction, by turning her horrible experience into a rallying cry against the violence and injustice that is perpetrated against disadvantaged women in many parts of the world,” Tharoor added. Mai was gang-raped on the orders of a tribal council as punishment for her brother’s alleged affair with a woman from another tribe. Her case and her high-profile quest to bring her rapists to justice attracted extensive international attention, much to the embarrassment of the Pakistani authorities. —
AFP
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Kaavya’s novel withdrawn
New York, May 3 “Little, Brown and Company will not be publishing a revised edition of ‘How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life’ by Kaavya Viswanathan, nor will we publish the second book under contract,” Michael Pietsch, Little Brown’s senior vice-president and publisher, said in a statement yesterday. Little, Brown, which had withdrawn the book last week, declined further comment. The decision caps a stunning downfall for the 19-year-old Viswanathan, a Harvard sophomore with a reported six-figure book deal whose novel came out in March to widespread attention. — AP
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