W O R L D

International economic forum to bail out Pak
The international economic forum “Friends of Pakistan” in a preliminary meeting here defined parameters and set priorities for the conference planned in Abu Dhabi next month for helping Pakistan overcome its current financial problems.

• Zardari to visit Saudi Arabia on Nov 4

Iran outlaws execution of juvenile offenders
Human rights organisations have praised Iran for announcing an end to the widely condemned practice of juvenile executions - a decision which should spare the lives of 130 youths on death row.

Panel to decide Maoists’ induction into army
Just 80 days after the formation of the government under the Maoist leadership, the Left-dominated government of Nepal is likely to expedite the stalled peace process by integrating the CPN-Maoist’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into the Nepal army.

NC rebuffs Prachanda’s offer to join govt
Nepali Congress (NC) president and former Prime Minister Girija PrasadKoirala, leader of the main opposition party in the Constituent Assembly, gave a cold shoulder to Maoist chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s offer to the NC to join the Maoist-led government.

Crew in hijacked vessel freed
Kuala Lumpur, October 21
Armed Somali men, helping out coast guards in the African waters, have managed to free an Indian cargo ship with 13 sailors on board, after it was hijacked by pirates off the northern coast of Somalia.

International economic forum to bail out Pak
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

The international economic forum “Friends of Pakistan” in a preliminary meeting here defined parameters and set priorities for the conference planned in Abu Dhabi next month for helping Pakistan overcome its current financial problems.

The meeting reaffirmed commitment to save Pakistan’s economy from free fall but also made it clear that a framework for promising any kind of cash aid would come only after a thorough assessment of Pakistan’s reform programme. The assistance will be in the form of a ‘strategic support’ for Pakistan.

“It is not going to be a cash advance for Pakistan,” US assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher, who also attended the meeting told mediapersons. He also said it was going to be a ‘strategic process’ in which Friends of Pakistan would look into what the Pakistan government was doing, what it was planning and how could those efforts be supplemented. He said his country was cognizant of the enormity of economic and security challenges confronting Pakistan and its assistance was targeted to enable Pakistan deal with its woes.

President Asif Zardari presided over the meeting attended by representatives from the US, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, China, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Ahead of the crucial Abu Dhabi meeting, the US and the United Arab Emirates have been working behind the scenes with other governments for the success of the forum comprising some of the richest nations of the world.

Zardari said Pakistan was a safe place for investment and terrorism wais a global dilemma and not only the problem of Pakistan. He reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to fight terrorism and said the country could not be strengthened without dealing with violence.

Zardari to visit Saudi Arabia on Nov 4

President Asif Zardari will visit Saudi Arabia on November 4-5 on the invitation of Saudi Monarch Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, indicating a thaw in some strains that had apparently emerged recently. Zardari will also visit Qatar and Kuwait while returning from Riyadh. The visit will take place against the backdrop of Pakistan’s dire economic situation. Presidential aides said the itinerary of the trip was being firmed up and would be announced in a couple of days. The visit will pave the way for an early meeting of the ‘Friends of Pakistan’ planned in Abu Dhabi next month. Saudi Arabia had abstained at the inaugural meeting in New York on September 26. The forum was set up to help Pakistan overcome its economic problems.

Iran outlaws execution of juvenile offenders
Anne Penketh

Human rights organisations have praised Iran for announcing an end to the widely condemned practice of juvenile executions - a decision which should spare the lives of 130 youths on death row. A senior Iranian judiciary official issued a directive to judges to abolish the death sentences for juvenile offenders, and replace them with life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

Hossein Zabhi, Assistant Attorney for Judicial Affairs, told the state-run Iranian news agency that in addition to commuting the death sentence "in cases of good behaviour and signs of rehabilitation, juvenile offenders may qualify for conditional release under Islamic compassion guidelines".

"This decision is long overdue given that Iran leads the world in executing juvenile offenders, and it is a significant step towards honouring international law," said Hadi Ghaemi, the US-based coordinator of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. He called for an immediate halt to all pending executions of youths aged under 18.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which along with activists inside Iran have campaigned for years on the issue, welcomed the move. In Iran, the Noble Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has been among those pressing authorities to abolish the death penalty for juveniles. However, the decision is not yet legally binding as it needs to be ratified by the Iranian parliament and Ghaemi cautioned that the judiciary had in 2004 issued a similar directive which was largely ignored by judges.

Six juvenile offenders have been arrested so far this year.

Since January 2005, Iran has been responsible for 26 of the 32 known executions of juvenile offenders world-wide, despite being a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Only a handful of other states are defying international law by executing youths under 18 - Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan and Sudan.

— By arrangement with The Independent

Panel to decide Maoists’ induction into army
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

NC rebuffs Prachanda’s offer to join govt
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

Nepali Congress (NC) president and former Prime Minister Girija PrasadKoirala, leader of the main opposition party in the Constituent Assembly, gave a cold shoulder to Maoist chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s offer to the NC to join the Maoist-led government. While meeting with Dahal Monday evening at his residence, Koirala said the NC would cooperate with the government in the constitution drafting process and taking the peace process to a logical end by staying outside the government.

Prime Minister and Maoist chairman Dahal, alias Prachanda, who had become critical against the NC immediately after he was elected to the post of Prime Minister earlier, has softened toward the NC and urged Koirala to participate in his government to make the ongoing peace and the constitution writing process a success.

Crew in hijacked vessel freed

Kuala Lumpur, October 21
Armed Somali men, helping out coast guards in the African waters, have managed to free an Indian cargo ship with 13 sailors on board, after it was hijacked by pirates off the northern coast of Somalia.

Four of the armed pirates, who had come in speedboats to hijack the Indian cargo vessel, have been captured in the encounter, a senior minister from Somalia was quoted as saying. There were no reports of any injuries.

Earlier today, an official of the International Maritime Bureau here said pirates seized the ship which was en route to Somalia and hijacked it south of Socotra island over the weekend. — PTI