W O R L D

Nepali Congress leader arrested
Kathmandu, February 10
A senior Nepali Congress leader was arrested today from the airport here while he was about to board a domestic flight to the east of the kingdom on the way to his home.

Great expectations from Bush visit
T he White House said yesterday that President George W. Bush was looking forward to his visit to India and eager to build upon “what has been an improving relationship.” But, analysts cautioned that the high expectations of the trip, both in Washington and New Delhi, are unrealistic and need to be brought down a notch.

Pakhtoon-Baluch convention today
Peshawar, February 10
A grand Pakhtoon-Baluch tribal convention, to be held here from Saturday, is likely to see prominent Pakhtoon and Baluch leaders endorsing a call for the elimination of the infamous British-made Durand Line with the objective of creating a Greater Baluchistan.

Shias protest in Skardu
Gilgit, February 10
Shia protesters continue to block the strategically-located Gilgit-Skardu and the Gilgit-Hunza roads a day after Muharram over Islamabad’s decision to incarcerate senior Shia cleric Agha Rahat Kazmi.

Video

Pakistanis protest against cartoons. (28k, 56k)

Nepali Congress leader arrested

Kathmandu, February 10
A senior Nepali Congress leader was arrested today from the airport here while he was about to board a domestic flight to the east of the kingdom on the way to his home.

Nepali Congress spokesman Krishna Sitaula was arrested from the domestic wing of the Tribhuvan International Airport here without any reason, the party said.

He was arrested when he was about to board a flight to Biratnagar in eastern Nepal, it said.

Mr Sitaula’s arrest follows calls by the international community, including the US, for the release of all political prisoners. Over 1,000 political activists were arrested from different parts of the country ahead of and during the municipal poll for protesting against the elections.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has expressed concern over the alleged torture and detention of students for protesting against the poll.

It was especially concerned for the life of Yagya Raj Pant, a student who was allegedly beaten up by the police after his arrest on January 26, a statement said.

Amnesty International had also written to the government and the diplomatic community here regarding the student’s condition.

On February 6, the Kathmandu District Court had ordered the medical examination of Pant.

Though he was taken to a hospital, he was not treated because he could not afford the medical costs, despite Nepal’s Torture Compensation Act requiring the government to provide medical treatment to the victim. — PTI

Great expectations from Bush visit
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

The White House said yesterday that President George W. Bush was looking forward to his visit to India and eager to build upon “what has been an improving relationship.” But, analysts cautioned that the high expectations of the trip, both in Washington and New Delhi, are unrealistic and need to be brought down a notch.

Mr Bush, who is expected to visit India in early March, has a “good relationship” with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said White House spokesman, Mr Scott McClellan. “Historically, there have been some issues in the relationship between the United States and India, but we’ve worked to change that and have close relations with India.”

The enthusiastic rhetoric from the White House comes in the backdrop of tedious discussions between American and Indian officials who are struggling to propel forward a civilian nuclear agreement, which at present appears mired in controversy.

Mr Ronen Sen, India’s Ambassador to the USA, rushed to New Delhi earlier this week for discussions on India’s plan to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities. Members of the US Congress have indicated that they want to see a plan that is “credible, transparent and defensible from a non-proliferation standpoint” before they can change the US law to allow nuclear cooperation with India.

Mr Sen is expected back in Washington later in the week and will likely brief the Americans about the Department of Atomic Energy’s concerns about placing the fast-breeder reactors in the civilian complex, said a source who closely interacts with both US and Indian officials engaged in defence and nuclear negotiations.

“What New Delhi is now trying to do is to see if the differences between the Department of Atomic Energy and what the US expectations are can be bridged to a point where India can have a joint negotiating position and see if it can get the US to agree to the new terms,” the source said.

Mr Sunil Khilnani, Director of South Asia studies programme at the John Hopkins School of International Studies in Washington, pointed out that expectations of Mr Bush’s visit are “very high, perhaps too high” and that it would be wise to “dampen these slightly.”

“There is much attention to the civil nuclear agreement, and whether this will be confirmed,” he told The Tribune. Admitting a lot rode on this agreement, he added, “it’s important for getting India acknowledged as a full nuclear power, and for India’s long-term energy security.” But, Dr Khilnani said, “it would be a mistake to see a temporary delay or setback to this as somehow vitiating the visit.”

Anupam Srivastava, Director of the Asia programme at the University of Georgia, said if the nuclear deal did not reach the level of the US Congress by the time Mr Bush visits, “then not much will be made of the deal publicly, but internally it will in some ways limit the scope of collaboration and the intensity of collaboration that they are planning in other spheres.”

“This is a deal on which both countries have staked their global reputation and the US has as much to lose, if not more in terms of global reputation if the deal falls through,” he told The Tribune, adding, “It will also strengthen the hands of the non-proliferation lobby in the US by showing that India is not a country with which you can work efficiently and effectively on transformational politics that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has enunciated.”

Pakhtoon-Baluch convention today

Peshawar, February 10
A grand Pakhtoon-Baluch tribal convention, to be held here from Saturday, is likely to see prominent Pakhtoon and Baluch leaders endorsing a call for the elimination of the infamous British-made Durand Line with the objective of creating a Greater Baluchistan.

Disclosing this, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Asfandyar Wali Khan said the Pakhtoon nation was passing through a critical phase of its history, and therefore, the ANP had decided to convene the tribal convention to devise a strategy to counter the ongoing Pakistan military operations in Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Mr Khan, who was speaking days after successfully engineering a merger between his ANP and the Paktoonkhawa Qaumi Party (PQP) led by Afzal Khan Lala, was quoted by the Frontier Post as saying that the almost two-month-long military operation in the tribal areas of Baluchistan and the NWFP was a “conspiracy against Pakhtoon nation."

He further went on to say that if the Pakistan Government could negotiate with India on the disputed Kashmir issue, he saw no reason why Islamabad “could not enter into or work for a dialogue-based solution to resolve the crisis in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)” of Pakistan. — ANI

Shias protest in Skardu