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Tough going for scribes in Lanka
Nepal Maoists hell-bent to sack Army chief
US worried over Pak nukes getting into Taliban hands
33 militant groups identified in B’desh
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300 Taliban militants set to attack Pak cities
‘Diabetic Prabhakaran will rather die than give in’
81 die of swine flu in Mexico
Find some other place
for Eelam, Lanka to Jaya
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Tough going for scribes in Lanka
Colombo, April 26 The equations of journalists who fail to tow the government hard-line stance against the Tigers have been labeled “terrorists” by senior government officials and this has raised the level of insecurity of media personnel. Several journalists have been killed, some abducted and many others have left the country in fear of their lives in the past two years. Many who remain feel that avoiding stepping on the toes of the military establishment is the best course to follow in the interests of the country as well as their personal well being. The finger of suspicion for many of the instances of attacks on media personnel had been pointed in the direction of the government and what is troubling is the lack of progress into investigations into many such attacks. The high profile killing of the Editor of a leading Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunga after being shot on his way to office on a busy Colombo suburban highway in early January remains unsolved till today. As is the arson attack on a popular private television station “Sirasa” which is noted for it’s anti-government stance. Tamil journalists, particularly, have been at the receiving end of threats, intimidation and harassment in the current scenario, accused of being sympathetic toward the LTTE. In the most recent case N. Vidyatharan, the chief editor of a Tamil daily, Sudar Oli, was arrested by the police in late February soon after the LTTE carried out an air attack on Colombo saying he had assisted the Tigers with information to carry out the attack. However last Friday, a local Magistrate released the editor, after two months in detention, as the police said they had no evidence to link him to the Tigers. Vidyatharan said the he plans to serialise his ordeal while in police custody in his paper starting Monday. Similarly a female Tamil journalist, who was arrested for her alleged connections to the Tigers, was released by the country’s Supreme Court last year after it was proven she was being held without creditable charges. And although there is no official censorship in place, many journalists have resorted to self censorship to stay out of trouble. They also feel that at a moment when the military is on the verge of wiping out the LTTE, sticking to the officially line is the best thing to do.
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Nepal Maoists hell-bent to sack Army chief
An informal meeting of the unified CPN (Maoist) ministers on Sunday, after reaching a consensus among the major political parties, has decided to take action against Chief of Army Staff of Nepal Army Rukmangud Katawal.
Even after receiving cold shoulder from both the ruling coalition partners and opposition parties in the Constituent Assembly, including diplomatic crops, an emergency meeting called by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Maoist ministers urged the prime minister to negotiate with the CPN-UML, the second largest coalition partner and the Nepali Congress, the main opposition party to garner their support. "The government will take action against Katawal at any cost," finance minister and senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai said. Bhattarai also claimed that both the NC and UML, who have already expressed their resentment against the Maoist’s move, would support the move to uphold the civilian supremacy. Another Maoist leader and minister, Janardan Sharma, said the next cabinet meeting to be held in a day or two would sack Katawal. Earlier, the secretariat meeting of the Maoists had urged the government not to retract from its move to uphold the civilian supremacy. Meanwhile, the UML standing committee (SC) members have been divided over the issue on whether to lend support to the Maoists move or not. However, majority of SC members (out of 11) have opposed the government’s move, whereas party chairman Jhalanath Khanal and Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam stood in favour of the Maoists. As a result, the UML has chosen a middle path and decided to urge the government to forge national consensus before taking any decision in this regard. It may be recalled that at least 20 political parties from a total of 24 in the Constituent Assembly have already made their univocal stance against the Maoist’s move, urging the government to roll it back to make the ongoing peace process and constitution drafting process a success. Earlier, Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood, who arrived in Kathmandu on Saturday after holding a two-day long consultation in New Delhi on Sunday, met Prime Minister Dahal and suggested the latter to forge a national consensus before taking any decision. He also urged Dahal not to break the chain of command in the army by sacking Katawal from his post.
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US worried over Pak nukes getting into Taliban hands
Washington, April 26 The unchecked advances of Taliban which moved to about 100 km of Islamabad by taking control of Burner district just outside the capital region has stunned the Obama administration. Reacting to the Taliban’s march towards other Pakistani cities from their stronghold in Swat, Clinton said the US could even contemplate that and let that go on any further. “One of our concerns, which we’ve raised with the Pakistani government and military is that if the worst, the unthinkable were to happen, and this advancing Taliban encouraged and supported by the Al-Qaida and other extremists were to essentially topple the government for failure to beat them back - then they would have the keys to the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan,” Clinton told Fox News. However, Clinton said the US had been assured by the Pakistani authorities and the military that their nuclear weapons were in “safe” hands. —
PTI
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33 militant groups identified in B’desh
Bangladesh has identified at least 33 active Islamic terrorist groups operating in the country, but only four of them are banned. Last month, a home ministry report, prepared during the last caretaker government, identified 12 militant groups but the new Awami League cabinet sent back the report saying that it was incomplete. State minister for the Home Minister Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj said the list would be updated to include more groups, as the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has identified 33 militant groups active in Bangladesh, according to a report by The Daily Star newspaper. The 12 outfits mentioned in the earlier report are: Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami, Bangladesh (HUJI-B), Hizbut Towhid, Ulama Anjuman al Baiyenat, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Islami Democratic Party, Islami Samaj, Touhid Trust, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Shahadat-e-al-Hikma, Tamira ud-Din Bangladesh (Hizb-e-Abu Omar) and Allahr Dal. Only four of these organisations- JMB, HUJI-B, JMJB and Shahadat-e-al-Hikma- are banned. The junior home minister did not divulge the names of the six NGOs. This comes hot on the heels of the discovery of a small arms and ammunition factory in a madrasa and the NGO Green Crescent, a British-funded NGO office in the southern district of Bhola. The government has also cracked down on the unregistered Qaumi madrasas following the incident, pushing to register around 5,400 of these institutions that are outside the official purview.
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300 Taliban militants set to attack Pak cities
Islamabad, April 26 The five Taliban commanders would supervise the terrorist operations planned by Mehsud and the Taliban Himayat Tehrik in these cities, Interior Ministry sources told The News daily. The Taliban commanders who had left North Waziristan on the mission were identified by intelligence agencies as Shikaari, Inayatullah, Walid, Mujahid and Abdali, the sources said. A security official said the Taliban commanders had left North Waziristan Agency for Islamabad on April 11 along with an explosives-laden Toyota Corolla car with the registration number IDG-8720. The sources, quoting an intelligence report, said about 300 terrorists and suicide bombers would reach Islamabad with the five commanders. However, law enforcement agencies were unaware whether the militants had reached their destination or postponed their operation, the official said. Interior Secretary Kamal Shah confirmed the report and said foolproof security measures had been adopted to thwart the threats. —
PTI
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‘Diabetic Prabhakaran will rather die than give in’
London/ Pudukudiyyurippu,April 26 The Sri Lankan government has urged Prabhakaran to surrender and end the fighting in which thousands of civilians have died. But most generals and officials privately say that only the death of the Tamil Tigers’ leader will end the long war. “Sri Lanka lost so many fighters and civilians and Prabhakaran is responsible for all this. I used to say to him, “Why did you kill all those people?” He’s a very horrible man. He has to be eliminated,” The Sunday Telegraph quoted Colonel Karuna, as saying. Colonel Karuna, who joined the LTTE as a child soldier, rose to become Prabhakaran’s number two before defecting to the government. He tore the movement apart when he left, taking with him around a third of the LTTE fighters, in 2006. He also provided vital intelligence, which has helped the Lankan Army to bring the LTTE to their knees and was rewarded by being granted control of a large part of the island’s east, which he has run ruthlessly as his own fiefdom. He split from the Tigers because he feared assassination at the hands of Prabhakaran, who for years had any potential rival killed speaking at his heavily fortified headquarters in Colombo, Colonel Karuna said: “I am number one on the LTTE’s hit list. Prabhakaran hates me.” Reports have said Prabhakaran’s son, Charles Anthony, has escaped by submarine and it is possible that the leader may attempt the same. Prabhakaran is a diabetic and may not withstand the rigours of an escape bid by a submarine, a British newspaper has claimed. The possibility is that the Tamil Tigers’ leader will fight till his death instead of surrendering, ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ newspaper quoted his former right-hand man Colonel Karuna as saying. However, if Prabhakaran did get out, “he could find a welcome in the overseas Tamil Diaspora”. Colonel Karuna said, “In exile, he could expect to live well. He is a billionaire after stealing money intended for the Tamil cause.” — Agencies
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81 die of swine flu in Mexico
Mexico City, April 26 Mexicans huddled in their homes while US hospitals tracked patients with flu symptoms and other countries imposed health checks at airports as the World Health Organisation warned the virus had the potential to become a pandemic. The epidemic has snowballed into a monster headache for Mexico, already grappling with a violent drug war and economic slowdown, and has quickly become one of the biggest global health scares in years. In New Zealand, 10 pupils from an Auckland school party that had returned from Mexico were being treated for influenza symptoms in what the health authorities said was a likely case of swine flu, although they added none was seriously ill. The WHO declared the flu a “public health event of international concern”. WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan urged greater worldwide surveillance for any unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness. “(We are) monitoring minute by minute the evolution of this problem across the whole country,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon said as health officials counted suspected infections in six states from the tropical south to the northern border. While all the deaths so far have been in Mexico, the flu is spreading in the United States. Eleven cases were confirmed in California, Kansas and Texas, and eight schoolchildren in New York City caught a type A influenza virus that health officials say is likely to be the swine flu. —
Reuters
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Find some other place
for Eelam, Lanka to Jaya
Colombo, April 26 “I don’t know what these people are talking about...I think she must find some other place to give Eelam but not in Sri Lanka,” defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said. He also took objection to Jayalalithaa’s allegation that the video footage provided by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, who recently visited the IDP centre in Wavuniya in eastern Sri Lanka, showed that the Tamils were being treated badly by the government. —
PTI
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