W O R L D

Taliban bars girls from schools in Pak
Islamabad, December 25
On the pattern they followed in Afghanistan, Taliban militants in Pakistan's restive north-western Swat valley have banned girls from attending schools, warning that any violators would face death. The move comes in the wake of a terror campaign by Taliban targeting girls' schools in the region with more than 100 such schools being blown up or torched.

Pope ushers in Xmas at the Vatican
Vatican City, December 25
Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Christmas at the Vatican as he led the celebrations of midnight mass in the splendour of St Peter’s Basilica early today.

Children bring offerings as Pope Benedict XVI leads the Christmas mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Wednesday. — Reuters 

Barack Obama gets highest approval rating
Washington, December 25
Its surely merry Christmas for Barack Obama with Santa raining goodies, this time in the form of an all-time high rating of 82 per cent Americans approving his handling of presidential transition. Obama's approval is higher than George W Bush's 65 per cent approval rating during his transition eight years ago with Bill Clinton at 67 percent in 1992. — PTI

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister and chief of the Awami League party Sheikh Hasina Wajed (centre) holds up the party symbol, a boat, with other officials during an election rally in Dhaka on Thursday. The nation will hold its first elections in seven years on December 29. — AFP

Bill Clinton may be special envoy to India, Pak
London, December 25
Former US President Bill Clinton may be Secretary of State-designate Hillary's special envoy for India and Pakistan even as she is believed to be forming a "hit squad" of diplomats for the world's trouble spots.

Lahore Blast
India ‘not informed’ about arrest of any Indian
Islamabad, December 25
India has not been informed about the reported arrest of an alleged national of the country in connection with a car-bomb attack in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, a senior official of its mission here said today.

Computerised voters’ list of B’desh ready, says UN
United Nations, December 25
The first-ever computerised voter list, with photographs of more than 80 million electors in Bangladesh, is ready ahead of the December 29 parliamentary election, the United Nations, which helped to compile it, has said.

Proposal to declare insurgents as martyrs
Just five months after the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) formed a coalition government in August, 2008, it has been working for the welfare of the party leaders and cadres rather than to the people.

Harold Pinter

Playwright Harold Pinter dead
London, December 25 
British playwright and Nobel laureate Harold Pinter, famous for his brooding, unforgiving portrayals of domestic life, has died, British media reported today. Pinter, 78, who had been suffering from cancer, died yesterday. 

Taliban bars girls from schools in Pak

Islamabad, December 25
On the pattern they followed in Afghanistan, Taliban militants in Pakistan's restive north-western Swat valley have banned girls from attending schools, warning that any violators would face death. The move comes in the wake of a terror campaign by Taliban targeting girls' schools in the region with more than 100 such schools being blown up or torched.

“You have untill January 15 to stop sending girls to schools after which we will blow up the schools,” Shah Dauran, a deputy of Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban commander in Swat, held out the ultimatum on the militants' clandestine run FM radio channel.

Girls can no longer be admitted by government or private educational institutions, he dictated. Dauran threatened to blow up all schools that violated the ban and said schools providing education to girls would be forced to close.

Any person violating the ban will face harsh action, he said. Prior to issuing this dictum, Taliban in several towns and villages of Swat had either barred girls from attending schools or directed teachers to ensure that they came to schools in burqas. Reports said dozens of schools have either been destroyed or closed through out Swat valley, where Pakistani forces are supposedly undertaking an operation against the militants.

Not content with barring girls going to schools, the militants have also launched efforts to "Islamise" the curriculum of schools and have begun targeting state-run schools as part of their campaign.

So effective was the Taliban dictum that the NWFP government had to launch an advertisement campaign in newspapers in June-July asking militants to stop blowing up schools.

But it had little or no impact, neither did the efforts of residents of Swat, who had tried to oppose the militant campaign against girls' schools. Taliban commanders like Fazlullah have said that female education is "un-Islamic". The militants have also targeted shops selling music and movies, barber shops and cyber cafes. Fazlullah has been leading a violent campaign for the imposition of Shariat or Islamic law in Swat.

After his followers established a parallel administration in some 60 villages in the region, security forces launched a crackdown in October last year. According to official figures, Swat has 1580 schools registered, with most of them labelled as Pakistan's top schools. — PTI 

Pope ushers in Xmas at the Vatican

Vatican City, December 25
Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Christmas at the Vatican as he led the celebrations of midnight mass in the splendour of St Peter’s Basilica early today. Dressed in white and golden vestments, the 81-year-old Benedict walked in a procession up the main aisle, smiling and stopping several times to shake outstretched hands and bless children.

As a choir intoned a Psalm, the Pope sprinkled incense on the central altar under Bernini's towering bronze baldachin before opening the service with the traditional wish for peace in Latin: "Pax vobis" ("Peace be with you").

The faithful responded: "Et cum spiritu tuo." ("And also with you.") Thousands of pilgrims, Romans and tourists packed the basilica for the midnight service. For those unable to enter, there were giant screens set up in St Peter's Square.

Earlier yesterday, Benedict appeared briefly at his studio window to bless the crowd in the chilly square and light a single candle as a sign of peace.

Before the Pope appeared in his darkened studio to light the flame, the Vatican's No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the gesture was an invitation to all to pray for peace and think of those who are less fortunate. — AP

Bill Clinton may be special envoy to India, Pak

London, December 25
Former US President Bill Clinton may be Secretary of State-designate Hillary's special envoy for India and Pakistan even as she is believed to be forming a "hit squad" of diplomats for the world's trouble spots.

Hillary Clinton has suggested her husband Bill as an envoy for the Indian subcontinent, where the situation has turned volatile in the aftermath of the Mumbai mayhem, because of his troubleshooting experience, the 'Daily Mail' reported. Bill Clinton had used several envoys during his two-term in office, with Richard Holbrooke the best-known for his key roles in brokering peace deals in the Middle East and the Balkans.

The diplomats who will form the spearhead of the US State Department as Hillary Clinton takes office on January 20, would be sent to all the troubled places across the globe to try to prevent conflicts from breaking out.

Holbrooke is among the names being mentioned as a possible envoy either for Afghanistan or Iran. The name of Martin Indyk, a former US Ambassador to Israel, is also doing rounds for a diplomatic post, the British newspaper said. Quoting insiders, it also said that Hillary Clinton, determined to wrestle power back from Pentagon, which under President George W Bush played a dominant role in government, has dipped into her husband's former team for two advisers.

Jacob Lew, Budget Director in Clinton administration, has been given the job of ensuring that the State Department is not under-funded, as Clinton wants extra money for diplomatic corps across the world. — PTI 

Lahore Blast
India ‘not informed’ about arrest of any Indian

Islamabad, December 25
India has not been informed about the reported arrest of an alleged national of the country in connection with a car-bomb attack in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, a senior official of its mission here said today.

"We have not been informed in any manner by the Pakistani authorities about the arrest of any Indian citizen in Lahore. All we have seen are the media reports in this regard," the official of the Indian High Commission said. TV news channels reported last night that an alleged Indian national had been arrested in connection with the car-bomb blast in a government officers’ residential complex in Lahore earlier in the day, which killed a woman and injured four persons. — PTI 

Computerised voters’ list of B’desh ready, says UN

United Nations, December 25
The first-ever computerised voter list, with photographs of more than 80 million electors in Bangladesh, is ready ahead of the December 29 parliamentary election, the United Nations, which helped to compile it, has said.

The list took 11 months to be compiled and has been audited by the Washington-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). "An independent audit of the list by IFES has concluded that the list was compiled with a 'high degree of accuracy', and no 'ghost voters' were found," the UN Development Programme said in a statement yesterday. "We are pleased that the current voter list has passed the scrutiny of an independent team of auditors because a credible voter list is an essential ingredient for all free and fair elections," UN Resident Coordinator Renata Dessallien said, the upcoming election represents an historic opportunity for Bangladesh in re-establishing democracy. — PTI 

Proposal to declare insurgents as martyrs
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

Just five months after the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) formed a coalition government in August, 2008, it has been working for the welfare of the party leaders and cadres rather than to the people.

According to minister for agriculture and cooperative and leader of the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta on Wednesday tabled a proposal at the Cabinet meeting to declare around 8,000 persons killed during the decade-long Maoist insurgency as martyrs of the country in the first phase.

He said home minister Bamdev Gautam had presented a proposal of 7,900 names, who were killed during1996 to 2006 Maoist violent war as martyrs so that the coalition government would be able to provide Rs 1 million each to the victims’ families as compensation.

The names were collected from all district committees of former rebels, he said. “However, most of the names in the list are individuals’ nom de guerre and not their real names without mentioning their fathers’ names and permanent address either.” In accordance with the existing practice, the government has to provide Rs 1 million to each of the martyrs’ family if the government declares anyone as Martyr.

Meanwhile, the main opposition party in the Constituent Assembly Nepali Congress Leader Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said if the government decision was true to declare their cadres as martyrs it was wrong because it did not abide by the universal definition of martyrs.

He also claimed that the former rebels were trying to glorify the “bloody-warfare” unleashed by the Maoists. He said they were misusing state funds by compensating their dead cadres’ families with Rs 1 million each.

Playwright Harold Pinter dead