At a time when the major ruling and opposition parties in Nepal have been locking horns over the contentious issues on integration and rehabilitation of Maoist fighters, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday urged all political parties to continue working together to make the ongoing peace process a success.

Applauding the recent government decision to form a five-member army integration special committee (AISC) to supervise, integrate and rehabilitate Maoist combatants confined in UN-monitored cantonment sites, the visiting UNSG Ban said: “The most immediate challenge ahead is to integrate and rehabilitate Maoist combatants.”

Speaking at a press conference organised by the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) before leaving for Lumbini to visit the birth place of Lord Buddha, and leave for Bangladesh wrapping up his 22-hour tour in Nepal, Ban urged the parties to narrow down their differences over the rehabilitation and reintegration of the former rebels’ fighters, seen as key to the peace process, and begin its “important work” as soon as possible.

“I also call on the government to move quickly on the formal discharge of minors and disqualified combatants,” he said.

Of total 32,250 registered Maoist fighters, the UNMIN-led joint monitoring coordinating committee had verified 19692 as eligible combatants, whereas rest of the others including 2,973 minors were disqualified on various reasons, but yet to be discharged from the cantonment sites.

He also said that the UN Peace-building Fund has already released $10 million to the UN Peace Fund for Nepal to finance the local peace-building programs and also to held reintegrate former combatants, generate youth employment and put other measures in place.

Immediately after the formation of AISC on Tuesday to prepare a report for the reintegration and rehabilitation of Maoist fighters, Nepali Congress, the main opposition party in the Constituent Assembly including other Madhes-based parties-Terai Madhes Democratic Party and Nepal Sadbhavana Party-had expressed resentment and asked the government to scrap the AISC as it was not formed in due process.

Earlier, while interacting with the Constituent Assembly members at the International Convention Centre in Kathmandu, Ban also called on the coalition government to maintain cohesion while continuing to work with parties outside the government in a spirit of cooperation.

London, November 1
Oil-rich Gulf states should contribute to stabilise the financial system and help countries hit by global economic crisis, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said here today.

Speaking at the start of a four-day tour of the region, Brown said restoring stability around the world would benefit wealthy oil-producing countries.

“Everybody has got a part to play in solving this world downturn and I think the oil-rich states will want to play their part,” Brown said in an interview with Sky News.

“Their interest is in a stable energy price, not in the massive volatility we have seen where oil prices have shot up and then come down again. Their interest too is in a well-functioning global economy.”

It calls for greater co-ordination of monetary and fiscal policy, improving lending between banks and helping struggling countries with a crisis fund, he added.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs extra money if it is to create a facility to help struggling countries.

“The Saudis and other countries in the Gulf states are very important,” he added. “They are the countries with oil revenues; they are the countries that need to help.”

Brown's tour precedes a global summit in Washington on November 15 which will seek to reform the international financial system.

The former finance minister will be joined on the tour by business minister Peter Mandelson, energy minister Ed Miliband and a business delegation. — Reuters

Islamabad, November 1
The Pakistani authorities have freed 21 Taliban fighters in exchange for an equal number of security personnel and civilians kidnapped by militants following months of secret negotiations brokered by tribal elders.

The militants freed by the authorities yesterday included some Lieutenants of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud. They were being held in jails in Peshawar, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, a security official said.

Sources told The News daily that the Taliban fighters were handed over to a ‘jirga’ or tribal council that took them to the Makeen area in the restive South Waziristan tribal region, where Mehsud and other key Taliban commanders welcomed them.

Most of the released militants belonged to the Mehsud tribe.

In exchange, the militants freed 19 paramilitary personnel and two non-combatants they had kidnapped several months ago in South Waziristan and Mohmand tribal regions.

An official told Dawn newspaper that 16 troopers and two civilians, who supplied rations to security forces, were set free at Nawazkot in South Waziristan. Supporters of Mehsud captured them on January 15. — PTI

Washington, November 1
Voicing concern over the stability of the “fledgling” government in Islamabad, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has said Pakistan needs to be convinced that its “biggest threat” is not India, but militants within its own borders.

“Now you’ve got a fledgling democratic government (in Pakistan). We have to support their efforts to democratise. That means, by the way, not just providing military aid, it means helping them to provide concrete solutions to the poverty and lack of education that exists in Pakistan. So I want to increase non-military aid to Pakistan,” he told CNN.

Asked how worried he was about the stability of Pakistani government as it seemed Al-Qaida was going after the new leadership post-Pervez Musharraf, Obama said: “Well, I am concerned about it.” “This was one of the problems with our previous strategy where there was a lot of resentment that built up as a consequence of our support of President Musharraf there who had squelched democracy,” he said in an interview to CNN’s Situation Room.

About Afghanistan, Obama said, “We’re still going to have expenditures” there “because we need to hunt down (Osama) bin Laden and Al-Qaida and put them finally out of business.”

During the wide-ranging interview, he spoke both about foreign and domestic policy challenges and priorities but gave the impression that his focus, if elected in the November 4 polls, would be in addressing the economic woes and the mess America finds itself in. — PTI

London, November 1
Chief Justice of India (CJI) K.G. Balakrishnan has said the UK law firms could be allowed to operate in India, but a final decision in the matter would have to be taken by the Indian Bar Council.

“I don't think the Indian Bar Council can continue to resist (the proposal to allow foreign law firms to operate in India),” the CJI said here yesterday, while delivering a keynote address on ‘Judicial Reforms in India’, organised by the Indo-EU Business Forum.

Asked if the UK law firms would be allowed to do transactional work with the objective of facilitating foreign investment in India and to advise the foreign investors, Justice Balakrishnan said, “Discussion between the Bar Council of India and its British counterpart has started. It may happen shortly and it will be helpful.”

India's High Commissioner to the UK, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, who spoke on the occasion, referred to the opening of legal system in India, saying, “Of course it is going to happen.” He said he was present during a meeting between Indian law minister H.R. Bharadwaj and Britain's secretary for justice, Jack Straw, when the issue had figured prominently.

Justice Balakrishnan also dwelt at length on the large number of cases pending in Indian courts and steps taken to deal with the issue.

Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court voiced concern over the heavy backlog of cases in various Indian courts and felt unless something was done about it, “the whole judicial system may get crushed under the weight of arrears.”

“The need today is for some effective measures consistent with the demands of justice, equity and fair-play to accelerate the disposal of cases and clear the arrears.” At the same time, he cautioned, care must also be taken against undue speed or haste as “this would be substituting one evil for another.”

Vijay Goel, founder of the Indo-EU Business Forum, said the Forum had been receiving queries from Indian corporate houses regarding acquisition of British companies. — PTI

Colombo, November 1
At least 29 LTTE militants, including 14 sea Tigers, were killed today in a fierce clash with the Sri Lankan Navy off the northern coast of the island nation during which six rebel boats were also destroyed.

“An attempt by a flotilla of Tiger boats to attack naval personnel on duty in the sea between Nagarkovil and Point Pedro was thwarted when sailors engaged the enemy boats, destroying at least four of them and killing 14 Tigers early this morning,” the defence ministry said.

The sea battle started when the sailors spotted a fleet of suspicious boats. The Navy Fast Attack Craft then identified the LTTE vessels, probably laden with explosives in order to carry out a clandestine terrorist operation, officials said.

Sri Lankan Navy’s elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and Rapid Action Boat Squadron (RABS) destroyed four LTTE vessels, killing 14 rebels, including seven LTTE suicide cadres, in the northern sea off Nagarkovil, the navy said.

The SBS and RABS personnel opened heavy fire after intercepting LTTE boats, immobilising their fleeing attempt. Sixteen LTTE sea Tigers were also wounded in the clash, the navy said, adding five sailors sustained injuries too. Officials said at least five senior sea Tigers were among the dead rebels.

Giving cover fire to the navy, Air Force fighter jets destroyed two LTTE boats at the landing point in Championpattu and Point Pedro in Jaffna. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Terkel dead
CHICAGO: Studs Terkel (96), a broadcaster, activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose best-selling oral histories celebrated the common people he liked to call the “non-celebrated,” died. Dan Terkell said his father died at home on Friday, and described his death as ‘peaceful, no agony.’ He won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for “The Good War”. — AP

Cheetah breaks free on plane
ATLANTA: A Delta baggage worker got a bit of a fright before Halloween when she opened a jetliner’s cargo door and found a cheetah running loose amid the luggage. Two cheetahs were being flown in the cargo area of a Boeing 757 passenger flight from Oregon to Atlanta on Thursday when one escaped from its cage. The airline summoned help from Zoo Atlanta, and experts rushed to a closed airport hangar and tranquillised the escaped animal and took both big cats to the zoo. — AP

Indian officials in Pak
Islamabad: The Indian government has curtailed the service tenure of its diplomatic officials in Pakistan from three to two years. The step has been taken ostensibly in view of uncertain security situation in the country, ARY OneWorld reported here. According to the channel, the Indian government has also advised its diplomatic officials not to keep their families with them during their stay in Pakistan. — TNS

Pak clocks revert
Islamabad: Clocks across the country were reverted back one hour as daylight saving time ended on the night between Friday and Saturday. According to a notification by the interior ministry, the government had turned clocks ahead one hour on June 1 to avail an extra hour of daylight to conserve energy as the country was going through a severe power shortage. The government claims the measure saved about 250 mw of power though most business centres and shops defied orders to close by 8 pm. — TNS

Satyajit Ray Award
LONDON: The 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Award has gone to the Italian film “Mid-August Lunch”, written and directed by Gianni di Gregorio, one of Italy’s most celebrated screenwriters. The Satyajit Ray Foundation gives an annual award at the LFF to a first feature reflecting the artistry, compassion and humanity of Ray’s own work. — IANS