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Zawahiri is new Qaida chief
Foreign Secretary-level talks |
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Pakistan army chief is ‘fighting to survive’
Oxford
celebrates 400 years of links with India
First-ever suicide bomber attacks Nigerian capital
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Cairo, June 16 Al-Zawahiri, 59, one of the founders of Al-Qaida, has played a defining role in the militant group for more than a decade as Laden’s deputy. Even before the announcement, he had been widely regarded as the organisation’s de facto leader and public face. The announcement, dated June 2011 but which surfaced today on the jihadist sites, said the decision to appoint al-Zawahiri, who is carrying a $25 million reward on his head, was made to pay respect to the “righteous martyrs” and to honour the legacy of Laden. “Hereby the General Command of the Qaida al-Jihad, and after the end of the consultations, we declare that Sheikh Dr Abu Muhammad Ayman al-Zawahiri (May God bless him) will take over the responsibility of command of the group,” CNN quoted the statement as saying. The statement said under Zawahiri’s leadership Al-Qaida would relentlessly pursue its “jihad” (holy war) against the United States and Israel. “We seek with the aid of God to call for the religion of truth and incite our nation to fight ... by carrying out jihad against the apostate invaders ... with their head being crusader America and its servant Israel, and whoever supports them,” said the statement. The fight would continue “until all invading armies leave the land of Islam”. The extremist network affirmed that it would not “recognise any legitimacy of the so-called state of Israel.” “We will not accept or adhere to any agreement or accord that recognises it (Israel) or that robs a mile from Palestine, whether it is the United Nations controlled by top criminals or any other organisation”. Al-Zawahiri is believed to run Al-Qaida operations from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. Al-Zawahiri had issued a eulogy for bin Laden last week saying Al-Qaida’s leader had terrified the US when he was alive and would continue to do so in death. He appeared in a white Arab robe and turban, a Kalashnikov at his side, in the 28-minute video posted on jihadist online forum. “We will pursue the jihad until we expel the invaders from Muslim lands,” he had said. Laden was killed in a US raid on his compound in Abbottabad near Islamabad on May 2. — PTI
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Foreign Secretary-level talks
Islamabad, June 16 Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua told a weekly news briefing that Islamabad was in communication with New Delhi to firm up dates for Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao’s visit to Pakistan later this month for talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir. Asked if Pakistan would be open to discussing fresh evidence on the Mumbai attacks during the Foreign Secretary-level talks, Janjua said the agenda for the upcoming meeting “is very clearly the three (issues) that have been indicated” - peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and friendly exchanges. Counter-terrorism issues have already been discussed during a meeting of the Interior and Home Secretaries held earlier this year, she said. “Whatever India provides us as fresh evidence or as information is sent to the Interior Ministry, which examines it based on ground realities,” she said. Responding to an Indian move to focus on fresh evidence linking the ISI to the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan’s Foreign Office yesterday said it was imperative to address the “core issue” of Kashmir in the upcoming dialogue. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said on Monday that the nexus between the ISI and the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks, highlighted during Tahawwur Rana’s recent trial in Chicago, will be taken up during the forthcoming talks. Responding to a question, Janjua said Pakistan is “desirous of a purposeful and result-oriented dialogue with India for sustainable peace and development in South Asia”. Pakistan has had a “very substantive engagement” with India since the dialogue process was revived earlier this year, she added. “The most important thing is that the governments of India and Pakistan have agreed that the only way forward is through dialogue and that is a very substantive point of progress within the region,” Janjua said. The government and leadership of Pakistan have clearly stated that peace between the two countries is critical for development in the region, she said. “For that, we need to have a substantive dialogue with India on all issues and... those discussions are on track,” Janjua said. Confidence-building measures currently being implemented by the two countries in Kashmir require a review, she said. — PTI
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Pakistan army chief is ‘fighting to survive’ Washington, June 16 Kayani, who has led the army since 2007, “faces such intense discontent over what is seen as his cozy relationship with the United States that a colonels’ coup, while unlikely, was not out of the question,” The New York Times said today, quoting a “well-informed” Pakistani, who has seen the General in recent weeks, as well as an American military official involved with Pakistan for many years. Another newspaper The Washington Post quoted unnamed US officials as saying Kayani “is fighting to survive. His corps commanders are very strongly anti-US right now, so he has to appease them.” The Times quoting unidentified Pakistanis who follow the army closely said the Pakistani army is essentially run by consensus among 11 top commanders, known as the Corps Commanders, and almost all of them, if not all, were demanding that Kayani get much tougher with the Americans, even edging toward a break. Washington, with its own hard line against Pakistan, had pushed Kayani into a defensive crouch, along with his troops, and if the general was pushed out, the US would face a more uncompromising anti-American army chief, the Pakistani said. To repair the reputation of the army, and to ensure his own survival, Kayani made an extraordinary tour of more than a dozen garrisons, mess halls and other institutions in the six weeks since the May 2 raid that killed bin Laden. His goal was to rally support among his rank-and-file troops, who are almost uniformly anti-American, according to participants and people briefed on the sessions, the daily reported. During a long session in late May at the National Defence University, the premier academy in Islamabad, one officer got up after Kayani’s address and challenged his policy of cooperation with the United States. The officer asked, “If they don’t trust us, how can we trust them?” according to Shaukaut Qadri, a retired army brigadier who was briefed on the session. Gen Kayani essentially responded, “We can’t,” Qadri said. The daily said discipline has become a worry, as has an open rebellion in the middle ranks of officers, particularly as rumours circulate that some enlisted men have questioned whether Gen Kayani and his partner, ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, should remain in their jobs. —
PTI
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Oxford celebrates 400 years of links with India
Oxford, June 16 Oxford, better known by poet Matthew Arnold’s description as a ‘city of dreaming spires’, has been home to thousands of Indian students since the late 19th century, including leading lights such as Manmohan Singh, Indira Gandhi, Amitav Ghosh, Cornelia Sorabji and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. In the current academic year, there are 363 Indian students, mostly postgraduates studying social sciences. Indian students are the sixth largest national group at the university, Ruth Collier, Head of Information at the university, told PTI today. There are 1,100 Oxford alumni currently in India, while Indian academics at the university number 84, Collier said. Besides, there are extensive research and collaborative links between the university and India. The one-day event tomorrow will include a cricket match, presentations by leading scholars on India, a concert and a reception at the Ashmolean Museum. Noted historian Ramachandra Guha will present a keynote address on the topic, ‘Why India is the world’s most interesting country’, while Lord Chris Patten, chancellor, will recount the ‘enduring relationship’ between India and Oxford. Patten said the university had four for the day: “to communicate to invited guests and the wider public the breadth of Oxford-India connections through people, research, and historical/artistic treasures; to re-engage with and energise alumni interested in India, to bring together researchers from across the university working on India, and to lay the foundation for new and expanded links with India”. Oxford links with India go back a long way in history. The first recorded Englishman to arrive in India was from Oxford (Father Thomas Stephens from New College, in 1579). His letters lay the foundation of Anglo-Indian literature. — PTI
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First-ever suicide bomber attacks Nigerian capital
Abuja, June 16 Red Cross workers said the wounded were taken to the hospital for medical attention. "I can confirm that a suicide bomber was killed but may not be able to give you more casualty figure for the time being," the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency said. But a spokesman of the police told the media here that the bomber and a traffic policeman were killed by the explosions. — PTI
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Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon-turned-jihadist ideologue, was today named the new chief of Al-Qaida to succeed its slain leader Osama bin Laden, with the militant group pledging to “relentlessly pursue” its “jihad” against its arch-enemies, the US and Israel.
