W O R L D

Life term for Canada bomb plotter
Toronto, January 19
The mastermind of a failed Al-Qaida-inspired homegrown terror plot to "cripple" Canada by setting off truck bombs in front of the country's main stock exchange, a military base and even the Parliament House has been sentenced to life.

Indian battles to die as ‘devout’ Hindu in UK
London, January 19
An ethnic Indian has taken his battle to die as a devout Hindu to an appeal court after a local authority in the UK ruled against allowing open-air cremations according to ancient religious rituals.
Davender Ghai reacts as he leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday. — AP/PTI

Gen Kapoor in Nepal amid protests by Maoists
Indian Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor arrived in Kathmandu today, the capital city of Himalayan nation, on his four-day goodwill visit. Gen Kapoor, who arrived in Kathmandu, leading six-member Indian delegation at the invitation of Nepal Army Chief Gen Chhatraman Singh Gurung, was received by the Nepal Army’s second-in-command General Toran Jung Bahadur Singh at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

570 Indians in Pak prisons
Islamabad, January 19
A total of 570 Indian nationals, most of them fishermen, are currently in Pakistani jails while 848 Pakistanis are in Indian prisons, minister of state for foreign affairs Malik Amad Khan said today. Sixty Indian civilians and 510 fishermen are being held in Pakistani jails, Khan said while replying to a question in the senate.

Prez Poll: War of words dominates campaigning in Lanka
With less than a week to go before Sri Lanka’s crucial presidential elections and as campaigning winds down, the two main candidates, incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the country’s former Army Commander General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka have focused more on trading allegations of corruption and name calling against each other than focus on important issues confronting the people of the country.

China rejects India’s hacking charges
Beijing, January 19
China today dismissed as “groundless” India’s charge that its hackers had attempted to break into sensitive Indian government computers, a week after US Internet giant Google levelled a similar allegation against it. “I can say that these accusations are groundless,” foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.

Wen: China, India partners, not opponents
Beijing, January 19
China and India were not “competitive opponents”, rather they were “cooperative partners”, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said today as he assured that Beijing would make efforts to narrow the bilateral trade deficit. “Only if China and India achieve common development and prosperity could we have a real Asia century,” Wen told Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma. 

 

Life term for Canada bomb plotter

Toronto, January 19
The mastermind of a failed Al-Qaida-inspired homegrown terror plot to "cripple" Canada by setting off truck bombs in front of the country's main stock exchange, a military base and even the Parliament House has been sentenced to life.

Zakaria Amara, who planned a series of bomb attacks intended to "cripple" Canada, bowed his head as Justice Bruce Durno issued the verdict yesterday on what he called an "exceptional" case. Twenty-four-year-old Jordanian-born Canadian citizen Amara had pleaded guilty in October to co-leading a militant group dubbed as the "Toronto 18", consist of 18 Muslims, mostly of Pakistani origin. The targets included a military base also."The offences have left a permanent scar in this area. Had the bombs exploded, that scar would have been even more severe," Judge Durno said.

Amara will be eligible for parole in six-and-a-half years. He pleaded guilty late last year to lead the 2006 bomb plot that targeted the Toronto Stock Exchange, a downtown CSIS site and a military base between Toronto and Ottawa. Employed as a gas station attendant, Amara organised a terrorist training camp at north of Toronto and urged recruits to aid his planned jihad.

Months later, the terrorist group splintered and a breakaway faction began to talk of storming the Parliament. Amara's plan involved packing three rented U-Haul trucks with explosives made with metal chips to cause more deaths and detonating them at the three targets on a mid-November morning in 2006. Amara told an undercover police agent he had already built and tested the electronic detonators.

After his arrest in June 2006, a police search of Amara's home revealed a bomb manual, $12,000 in cash and a variety of extremist literature, including 'The Book of Jihad'. His computer hard drive contained satellite photos of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and instructional videos on bomb-making. At his sentencing hearing last week, Amara issued an open apology to Canadians, acknowledging he deserves their complete and absolute contempt, but asserting a hope for eventual redemption.

Earlier, one of the other conspirators was handed a 12 year sentence this morning for his participation in a plot to bomb several key targets in and around the city. Saad Gaya, 21, showed little reaction as Justice Bruce Durno read out the sentence, but smiled slightly at supporters as he exited the courtroom.

In his decision, Judge Durno acknowledged Gaya did not play a leading role in the 2006 bomb plot. "Saad Gaya was not the prime mover in the plan...he took detailed orders," the judge said. With time served taken into account on a two-for-one basis, and a small amount of extra credit given for Gaya's 14 months in solitary confinement, he has four-and-a-half years left to serve. Gaya, who was born in Montreal to parents from Pakistan, told the police after his arrest that the goal of the terrorist plot was to push Canadian troops out of Afghanistan. — PTI

Indian battles to die as ‘devout’ Hindu in UK

London, January 19
An ethnic Indian has taken his battle to die as a devout Hindu to an appeal court after a local authority in the UK ruled against allowing open-air cremations according to ancient religious rituals.

Seventyone-year-old Davender Ghai from Tyneside wants the right to burn funeral pyres in accordance with Hindu religious and cultural beliefs.

He is approaching an appeal court in a three-year battle to overturn a decision by Newcastle city council, which denied him a licence for a pyre because it was unlawful under the 1930 Cremation Act, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper.

The high court last May upheld the local authority's ruling and justified the prohibition. The Hindu community in the UK was outraged by comments of Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who supported the legislation prohibiting an open pyre funeral.

Straw, intervened in the case, contending that the legislation was not incompatible with Ghai's human rights and that the decision was justified on the grounds of public health, public safety, public health and public morals.

"To suggest a practice which has been carried out for thousands of years and still is by 800 million Hindus in India is somehow 'abhorrent' is insensitive and very unhelpful. No one, including Baba Ghai, has ever suggested doing outdoor cremations in public," the Hindu Forum of Britain reacted angrily to Straw's remarks. Hindus constitute the third largest religious group in the UK, and there is potentially significant demand for open-air cremations. — PTI

Gen Kapoor in Nepal amid protests by Maoists
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

Indian Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor arrived in Kathmandu today, the capital city of Himalayan nation, on his four-day goodwill visit. Gen Kapoor, who arrived in Kathmandu leading six-member Indian delegation at the invitation of Nepal Army Chief Gen Chhatraman Singh Gurung, was received by the Nepal Army’s second-in command General Toran Jung Bahadur Singh at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

Meanwhile, the main opposition party Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists that has been protesting against the Indian government demanding to withdraw its security forces from Nepalese territories allegedly encroached by them in different bordering areas, including Kalapani of Darchula district in far western Nepal, the tri-junction in Nepal-India and China and recent controversial media report about Kapoor’s remarks on Maoists combatants.

A group of Maoists cadres affiliated with its paramilitary sister organisation of Young Communist League, who gathered in front of the main gate of the international airport and other parts of the Kathmandu valley chanted slogans against India and Kapoor, particularly by displaying banner that read “Go back home”.

Meanwhile, the Nepal police arrested seven Maoists cadres from the airport on charge of protesting against Kapoor. Later, they have been released. The Maoists that boycotted the Parliament session yesterday has been protesting against the media report that Kapoor had given statement against the Maoists proposal to integrate their combatants into the Nepal Army in a bulk.

Immediately after he arrived in Kathmandu, Gen Kapoor offered garland to the martyrs at the Army Pavilion and called on Chief of Army Staff Gurung at the latter’s office. During his stay, President Ram Baran Yadav would confer the title of Honorary General of the Nepal Army on Gen Kapoor. Gen. Kapoor is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari and senior NA officials. He is scheduled to return on January 22.

570 Indians in Pak prisons

Islamabad, January 19
A total of 570 Indian nationals, most of them fishermen, are currently in Pakistani jails while 848 Pakistanis are in Indian prisons, minister of state for foreign affairs Malik Amad Khan said today. Sixty Indian civilians and 510 fishermen are being held in Pakistani jails, Khan said while replying to a question in the senate.

36 await release

Lahore: Thirty-six Indians, who have completed their sentences in Pakistani jails, will have to remain behind bars for another month as the government has not finalised arrangements for their deportation.

The Federal Review Board yesterday extended the detention of a total of 47 foreigners for 90 days because the government is yet to complete formalities for their deportation. — PTI

Prez Poll: War of words dominates campaigning in Lanka
Chandani Kirinde writes from Colombo

With less than a week to go before Sri Lanka’s crucial presidential elections and as campaigning winds down, the two main candidates, incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the country’s former Army Commander General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka have focused more on trading allegations of corruption and name calling against each other than focus on important issues confronting the people of the country.

The main focus of Fonseka’s campaign has been against corruption and nepotism in the Rajapaksa government but the government on its part turned the tables on the opposition candidate by bringing charges of corruption against Fonseka and his son-in-law and also accused him of attempting to bribe the ruling party MPs offering them large amount of cash in exchange for the support.

However, while most allegations remain unsubstantiated to a large extent, they have become a part of the negative campaigning that has became the hallmark of this campaign where the two men pitted against one another today.

That camaraderie long forgotten, the names of family members of Rajapaksa as well as Fonseka have also become fair game in the intense campaign that has gripped the country which most analysts say will see a close finish on election day.

Supporters of Rajapaksa have started harping on the “race card” as well; Sri Lankan politicians have played time and again to win the support of the Sinhalese majority.

This time, minus the presence of the LTTE, the government has pounced on an alleged secret agreement between Fonseka and the main Tamil political parties in the Parliament, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Political analysts in the country have also far refrained from saying who would emerge winner in the polls on January 26. Fonseka seems to command the support of those in the urban areas and among Tamils and Muslim minorities while the rural Sinhalese, who are mainly Buddhists, seem to favour the President.

China rejects India’s hacking charges

Beijing, January 19
China today dismissed as “groundless” India’s charge that its hackers had attempted to break into sensitive Indian government computers, a week after US Internet giant Google levelled a similar allegation against it. “I can say that these accusations are groundless,” foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters when asked to comment on National Security Adviser MK Narayanan’s reported comments that Chinese hackers might be involved in a December 15 attempt to penetrate Indian government computers, including that of his office.

“The Chinese government is firmly against hacking activities and will deal with relevant cases in accordance with the law,” Ma said.

He also claimed that China itself was the “biggest victim” of hacking activities.

Narayanan had told The Times of London that his office and other government departments were targeted on December 15, the same date when Google reported cyber attacks originating from China. He said the attack came in the form of an e-mail with a PDF attachment containing ‘Trojan’ virus which allows a hacker to access a computer remotely and download or delete files.

“People seem to be fairly sure it was the Chinese. It is difficult to find the exact source but this is the main suspicion. It seems well-founded,” he was quoted as saying.

Google had last week threatened to shut down its operations in China after uncovering hacking attempts into e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. — PTI

Wen: China, India partners, not opponents

Beijing, January 19
China and India were not “competitive opponents”, rather they were “cooperative partners”, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said today as he assured that Beijing would make efforts to narrow the bilateral trade deficit. “Only if China and India achieve common development and prosperity could we have a real Asia century,” Wen told Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, when the latter called on him.

India ran a big trade gap with China in 2008-09, with imports exceeding exports by about $7 billion. During that year, China was India’s largest trade partner.

The premier said his country would work with India to boost good-neighbourly friendship, increase coordination in major international issues, and expand cooperation in trade, investment and other sectors in line with the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

“China would do its part in working towards this objective (reducing trade gap),” a statement by the Indian government quoting Wen, said.

Earlier, addressing the Joint Economic Group (JEG) meeting, held after a gap of four years, Sharma expressed India’s desire to expand exports to China.

Sharma impressed on China to increase IT/ITES import to address the trade imbalance. India also asked for removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to Indian power plant equipment.

Sharma also asked China to do away with restrictions on import of basmati rice, fruits and vegetables. He sought rights for Indian TV channels and import of more Indian films by the Chinese.

Rejects New Delhi’s hacking charge

China on Tuesday dismissed as “groundless” India’s charge that its hackers had attempted to break into sensitive Indian government computers, a week after US Internet giant Google levelled a similar allegation against it. — PTI