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Lanka ends truce with Tigers
Security forces on alert
Norway regrets decision
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‘Devolution package to end conflict soon’
Mush preferred Scotland Yard to US help
Scotland Yard probe won’t do: Zardari
Sharif open to coalition with PPP
Taliban issues ultimatum to Pak
Obama grabs Iowa lead from Edwards, Hillary third
Indian student killed in US mishap
Rejected novel wins UK prize
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Lanka ends truce with Tigers
The Sri Lankan government on Thursday gave formal notice of its intention to withdraw from the 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement (CFA) with Tamil Tigers to the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Tore Hathrem, setting the pace for an escalation in violence between the two sides. The notice came a day after the Sri Lanka cabinet decided to end the CFA as Tamil Tigers began escalating violence in and around Colombo as well as in other parts of the country. Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama gave notice on Thursday on behalf of the government which, according to the terms of the agreement, have to be given 14 days ahead of the day it ends. There was no immediate reaction from the Tigers but the LTTE leader Vellapulai Prabhakaran in his annual Hero’s Day speech on November 27 said both the Norwegians and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) have remained silent while the government violated the CFA and accused the Rajapaksa administration of abandoning the CFA and pushing ahead with a military solution to the problem of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
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Security forces on alert
Colombo, Januaary 3 “The army, navy and air force have been put on the alert in the country after the decision to abrogate the ceasefire agreement though we have been on the vigil as the Tigers have stepped up attacks”, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said. Attributing the decision to withdraw from the ceasefire to violations of the agreement by LTTE, cabinet minister Kehellya Rambukwella said: “The ceasefire must have been violated by the LTTE more than 10,000 times.” “The cabinet decision will be put into practice by using the terms and conditions of the ceasefire agreement itself,” the minister added. Navy spokesman D.K.P Dasanayake said the navy was ready to take up any challenges. Police spokesman N.K. Ellangakoon told PTI that the law and order machinery has been beefed up. According to a report, the cabinet has entrusted the task of notifying the Norwegian facilitators regarding the government’s decision to the Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanyaka.
— PTI
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Colombo, January 3 “I regret that the government is taking this serious step,” Norwegian environment and international development minister Erik Solheim said. “This comes on top of the increasingly frequent acts of violence perpetrated by both parties, and I am deeply concerned that the violence and hostilities will now escalate even further”, he said in a statement. He said the pullout could force the withdrawal of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, an independent Nordic group monitoring the hostilities. “The termination of the agreement will primarily affect the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) as its mandate is set out in the agreement. It may therefore be necessary to withdraw the mission,” he said. “This would weaken efforts to protect the civilian population, which would be most regrettable,” said Solheim. In 2000, Norway was formally invited by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge to act as facilitator in the peace process in the country. The invitation was renewed by President Rajapakse in January, 2006. Under the Norwegian-brokered truce agreement, it was said that the accord “shall remain in force until notice of termination is given by either party to the Royal Norwegian government”. — PTI
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‘Devolution package to end conflict soon’
Colombo, January 3 “We are targeting to complete the report and submitting it to President Mahinda Rajapaksa this month,” chairman of the All-Party Representative Committee Tissa Vitarana said. Vitarana, who is also the minister for science and technology, said: “I am hopeful that Indian Prime Minister will visit Sri Lanka.” According to an Indian high commission official, the Sri Lankan government has extended an invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the island country and that it has been accepted in principle.
— PTI
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Mush preferred Scotland Yard to US help
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf shunned an offer of help from the United States when he turned to Britain’s Scotland Yard for help investigating Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
The FBI has offered to help Pakistani officials with a forensics investigation into Bhutto’s assassination. The former Prime Minister was killed in Rawalpindi on December 27. State department spokesman Sean McCormack on Wednesday reiterated the US offer. “We stand ready to assist if we are requested to do so. If we can provide technical assistance and that is wanted, of course we are going to do so,” he said. McCormack said that if the Pakistanis seek US help “we’re going to offer it up and make sure that we are-we actually follow through on that pledge.” But a spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington said the government in Islamabad had not asked for American assistance. “No request for help was made to the US government,” the spokesman for the embassy said on the condition of anonymity. “Scotland Yard is a very professional team.” Musharraf, whose close relationship with the United States has cost him support in his home country and made him the target of assassins, now appears to be keeping his American friends at a distance. In exchange for its support in the US-led war on terror, Pakistan has been rewarded with over a billion dollars in American aid. All that money has done little to win the hearts and minds of most Pakistanis. In fact, many surveys find growing anti-Americanism in a population that is increasingly coming under the grip of radical Islam. Bruce Riedel at the Brookings Institution suggested the Pakistanis are wary of American involvement. “Musharraf recognises that given the environment in Pakistan today, American help will not be seen as very credible,” Riedel said. “Scotland Yard is more politically neutral than having the Americans involved.” Riedel said both the Bush administration as well as the Musharraf government might also be concerned about answering several delicate questions. “For Musharraf there is the question of why Benazir was not provided more security. For the Bush administration it is whether the President pushed Musharraf enough to provide her with more security,” he said. “Both Musharraf and Bush will be reluctant to have these questions opened.” Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party has demanded that Musharraf allow a United Nations investigation similar to the kind that probed the assassination for Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Following the failed October 18 assassination attempt against Bhutto in Karachi, the PPP had asked for an investigation by Scotland Yard and the FBI. “Now,” PPP spokesperson Sherry Rehman said in a phone interview with The Tribune, “The tragedy is of such a magnitude we want a UN probe.” She said Scotland Yard “could be a part” of the UN probe.
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Scotland Yard probe won’t do: Zardari
Islamabad, January 3 At a press conference after the joint meeting of the party central executive committee and federal council at Naudero yesterday, Zardari, while condemning postponement of the general elections till February 18, said the PPP will fully participate in the rescheduled elections and would not allow the “rulers to flee”. He warned of severe consequences if the polls were rigged. He announced a six-member committee to decide about inviting an inquiry, commission of the UN. The committee includes Sherry Rehman, Senator Latif Khosa, Farooq A. Naek, Begum Abida Hussain and others. He berated the government for not calling in Scotland Yard after the first attack on Benazir Bhutto in Karachi after she returned home from self-exile. The party committee appointed to facilitate the demand for a UN inquiry was trying to include all new videotapes available and government statements regarding the December 27 tragedy.
— UNI
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Sharif open to coalition with PPP
Former premier Nawaz Sharif has not ruled out the possibility of forming a national government, adding that even if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wins, it would consider a coalition government with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Nawaz, who has been barred from contesting elections, parried questions in a TV interview on who will be the prime ministerial candidate if his party wins the elections, hinting that he could be one by entering the National Assembly through by-elections. “Why not? Let the opposition of the country move together on the road of democracy and rid the country of the curse of dictatorship. All of us can do a better job rather than doing it single-handedly,” he said. The PML-N leader said he would not work with President Pervez Musharraf if his party comes to power. “There is no doubt that Musharraf ... is a huge problem himself. Thus, there is no question of working with him,” Nawaz said. Major parties not consulted by Pak EC
Except for the JUI of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, all major opposition parties have criticised the postponement of elections and refuted the Election Commission’s claim that they were consulted. They reiterated their demand for a government of national consensus and an independent Election Commission. They said the commission accepted Musharraf’s dictation and its notification had been prepared in the presidency two days before the commission met to consider the question of postponement. Political observers said the Election Commission could have easily replaced the material that was burned during rioting in the aftermath of Bhutto’s murder. Though PPP condemned the delay, but officials here said its vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim was taken into confidence during his two-day stay in Islamabad. One online service claimed that Fahim even met Musharraf. PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar denied the report. Bhutto’s e-mail a dying decaration?
Law experts are divided over the question whether slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's e-mail message to the CNN holding President Pervez Musharraf responsible if she is killed, can be legally treated as a dying declaration to implicate him in the murder. The e-mail written by Bhutto to her lobbyist in Washington, Mark Siegel, on October 26 could only be used as supporting evidence during the judicial proceedings of her murder and is not a dying declaration, say legal experts. Many experts term it as a statement made by Bhutto regarding apprehension of her murder and do not recognise it as strictly a dying declaration. The PPP lawyers are, however, consistently calling it a dying declaration and say that one such declaration of late Steel Mills chairman Sajjad Hussain was also used against Asif Ali Zardari by the Shaukat Aziz government. Zardari has vowed to register a report on the basis of the e-mail and another letter she wrote to Musharraf naming three persons, including civil intelligence chief and former Chief Ministers Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Arbab Rahim, for conspiring to kill her. Benazir’s photos, stamps in demand
Her popularity having increased manifold after the assassination, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's photographs and news articles are in high demand. Newspapers published after her demise on December 28 are being sold as historical documents and “people loved her because she was the voice of many”, said Qamber Zaidi. He is a collector of rare stamps with Bhutto's images, newspapers, post cards and her famous quotations selling online at his store on ebay.
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Taliban issues ultimatum to Pak
Islamabad, January 3 The Tehrik Taliban-e-Pakistan, which was formed in December with Mehsud as its commander, had given the government two days to end military operations at Swat in the North West Frontier Province and pull out all security forces from the area. It warned to “expand its actions from Waziristan to Kohistan and settled districts” if its demand was not met. Maulvi Muhammad Omar, a spokesman for the group, told the Dawn by telephone yesterday that an earlier deadline for withdrawing troops had lapsed in December, but the militants had not resumed their activities because the nation was mourning the killing of Bhutto. “Now we extend the deadline for two days and ask the government to withdraw troops and halt the operation in Swat. Otherwise, we will attack the government everywhere and it will be an all-out war,” he warned. — PTI
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Pak sets free four Palestinian hijackers Islamabad, January 3 The hijackers, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, were set free from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and put on an international flight to the Gulf region, local TV channels reported. A group of Palestinians hijacked a Pan Am Boeing 747 carrying 400 passengers while it was being parked at the apron in Karachi in September 1986. The cockpit crew escaped through the emergency hatch but senior flight purser Bhanot stayed on helping passengers escape. Twenty-two persons, including Bhanot, died when Pakistani commandos stormed the flight to end the 16-hour siege. Bhanot was awarded Ashok Chakra posthumously by the Indian government. She was at that time the youngest and till date the only woman Ashok Chakra awardee. The Palestinians were handed down the death penalty during the regime of late Gen Zia-ul-Haq for hijacking the plane. One of the hijackers, who was injured in the commando operation, died in jail. The sentence of the others was later converted to life imprisonment in 1988 when slain premier Benazir Bhutto was in power.
— PTI
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Obama grabs Iowa lead from Edwards, Hillary third
Iowa, January 3 Obama and Edwards gained ground overnight in the tracking poll, and Clinton fell four points to third place -- a finish that, if it held, would deal a dramatic setback to the one-time democratic
front-runner. Obama was at 31 per cent among likely democratic caucus-goers, Edwards at 27 per cent and Clinton 24 per cent. No other democrat was in double digits. In the republican race, Mike Huckabee expanded his lead to six points, 31 to 25 per cent, over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the one-time leader in Iowa who has attacked Huckabee for his record as Arkansas Governor. Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson is in third place in the republican race at 11 per cent and Arizona senator John McCain slipped two points to 10 per cent. Texas’ Ron Paul also registered 10 per cent. “There is a clear Clinton fade,” pollster John Zogby said. “None of it has been dramatic, but it has been steady.” He said Clinton, a New York senator, was losing ground to
Obama, an Illinois senator, among democrats -- as opposed to independents -- and self-described liberals. “Under any circumstance, a 31-27-24 spread is still very close,” he said of the margins for the top three democratic contenders. “Edwards is right in the mix and he has made gains too.” About 6 per cent of republicans and 5 per cent of democrats remain undecided, leaving room for late swings. The rolling poll of 905 likely democratic caucus-goers and 914 likely republican caucus-goers was taken Sunday through Wednesday and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points for each party. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was fourth with 7 per cent and Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was at 5 per cent. Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd was at 1 per cent and Ohio’s Dennis Kucinich was under 1 per cent.
— Reuters
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Indian student killed in US mishap
New York, January 3 Sweety Mazumdar (25) of Kolkata and Apsana Giri (26) of Kathmandu were killed when the van carrying students of the Bowling Green State University in Ohio State crashed early Wednesday morning as they were returning from a new year trip to Chicago. All other students were males and were either not injured or suffered minor injuries but Indiana State Police Cpl Derek Fisher could not say if the weather contributed to the crash. The women, who were fatally injured, were ejected from the van as it overturned and rolled over several times. One of them was struck by another oncoming vehicle and the other was found underneath the van after emergency officials used winch to roll the van upright, fire department spokesman said. The accident occurred around 12:20 hours. One of the students died on the spot and the other was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital in Fort Wayne, about 70 km from the scene of accident. University President Sidney Ribeau extended “deepest condolences” to the families of the students killed in the tragic accident. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them, with the five other students involved in the accident, and with our international community in this time of sadness.”
— PTI
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Rejected novel wins UK prize
London, January 3 Catherine O’Flynn (37) joined the likes of H G Wells, William Golding, Graham Greene and J K Rowling by finding spectacular success after a string of rejections when her mystery story, “What Was Lost”, took the First Novel prize at the Costa Book Awards last night. “The War of the Worlds” by Wells, Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” and “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame, all faced initial rejection. Rowling, whose Harry Potter books have now been read by more than 350 million people, was turned down by publishers before she was picked up by Bloomsbury.
— PTI
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