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LTTE spokesman, sea wing deputy killed
Osama not alive: Zardari
Pak army determined to cleanse Swat of extremists
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52 militants killed
Indian student beaten, robbed
Madhesi leader: There is no Indian interference
Indian flavour in Zuma’s cabinet
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LTTE spokesman, sea wing deputy killed
Two senior LTTE cadres were reported killed on Monday as the military and the LTTE traded charges of causing large-scale casualties among civilians still trapped in the so called “no fire zone” in the northern Mullaitivu district over the weekend by using heavy weapons. Pro LTTE websites reported that shelling by the military caused at least 2,000 civilian deaths, a claim dismissed outright by the military, which accused the LTTE of causing casualties by firing upon civilians fleeing the area. An UN spokesman in Colombo was quoted by local news websites as saying that more than 100 children had died along with many civilians in fighting over the weekend. Meanwhile, the LTTE Military wing Spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan, who sustained serious injuries during fighting on Sunday, was reported dead yesterday. The other dead senior LTTE cadre was identified as Second-In-Command of the LTTE Sea Tiger Wing Cheliyan, who was killed in a confrontation also in the Mullaitivu area. As the fighting intensified, the Defence Secretary Ghothabaya Rajapaksa said the army was now in the final stage of the offensive and there was absolutely no way the Tigers could get out of this trap. He said that nothing could be as ridiculous as a claim of over 2,000 civilians being killed in a single barrage. “The army couldn’t have mounted a large-scale artillery assault without the international community knowing it, he said. Had they employed satellites to monitor the area of operations, they would have known the ground situation, he said. PTI adds: Three bodies of LTTE rebels killed during the fighting were found in subsequent search operations. The Army also made a haul of large quantities of arms and ammunition from the Kanchikudichchiaru area. Troops operating in close proximity to the newly declared "Civilian Safe Zone (CSZ)" have further continued their ground advances to rescue the civilian hostages held by the LTTE rebels yesterday, the ministry said. The army's electronic monitoring devices have picked up rebel conversations, which indicate that key leaders of the LTTE are now leading the battle. The decisive battle is likely to confront Sri Lankan forces in the Vellamullivaikkal area, where they believe that the LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran is holed up with his top aides. As conflicting reports emerge on civilian casualties, a military spokesman claimed that a fresh batch of more than 1,500 civilians had crossed over to the government-controlled areas yesterday. But UN estimates that there are still 50,000 civilians trapped in the fast shrinking 2square km area still held by the Tigers in Mullaitivu. A body of LTTE rebel killed in fighting was uncovered along with 3 pieces of T-56 assault riffles Over 1,500 civilians crossed over to the government controlled areas yesterday (10), the military sources said. The internally displaced persons being transported to Pulmoddai via sea will be housed at this centre until they can be sent to welfare centres in Vavuniya, he said.
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Osama not alive: Zardari
Washington, May 11 “I’ve said before that he (Osama)… I don’t think he’s alive,” Zardari told NBC news channel in an interview when asked “where is Osama bin Laden?” “I have a strong feeling and I have sole reason to believe that, because I’ve asked my counterparts in the American intelligence agencies and they haven’t heard (from) him since seven years,” he said. Asked whether Pakistan was “not actively” hunting for Osama, Zardari said the world was looking for the fugitive al-Qaida leader. “I think the world is looking for him, and we are part of the world’s lookout brigade,” he said. The last audiotape purported to be from bin Laden surfaced in March but CIA has not confirmed that the voice belonged to him. US officials have claimed that bin Laden could be hiding in the mountainous region along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. — PTI
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Pak army determined to cleanse Swat of extremists
Early this month, Pakistan army launched an all-out offensive in the troubled Swat and adjoining districts and is currently engaged in deadly fighting with the Taliban and their allies. The present campaign is qualitatively different in many respects from several similar previous expeditions that remained inconclusive and did little damage to the insurgents who overran the picturesque valley about two years ago.
The military establishment this time appears to be deeply committed and determined to eliminate extremists and militants - a task for which it finds an amazingly favourable environment as never before. Apart from Western approval, the political will displayed by the government against the backdrop of a remarkable upswing of public support across the nation in revulsion to the brutal ways of the militants, have all combined to turn the tide in favour of the army operation. Former military Dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf launched an operation in Swat in November 2007 by sending nearly 10,000 troops to the area. He lacked popular support and met fierce resistance from the militants who enjoyed implicit backing from the local population by enforcing a speedy justice system. There was very little fighting as army units resorted to only artillery shelling or aerial bombing by gunships that caused substantial collateral damage generating wide anger and resentment among local people. The militants extended their hold to almost entire Swat, totally demoralised the administration and law enforcement agencies, including police and para-military Frontier Constabulary (FC). While the writ of the government evaporated, the militants were joined by all types of religious fanatics, criminals and foreign elements who killed influential political figures, looted properties and banks, burned schools and disrupted social and economic life in the area. Under these appalling conditions, the provincial government in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) struck a controversial deal on February 16 with a popular cleric, Sufi Mohammad, ostensibly to buy peace and restore government writ. Sufi had been conducting a sustained but peaceful movement for enforcement of Shariah laws in the area since 1990s and exercised considerable influence over the militants whose main leader Maulana Fazlullah was also his son-in-law. But the deal was viewed by liberal lobbies in the country and the West as capitulation to forces preaching medieval and distorted concepts of Islam. Though the deal did restore temporary calm and normalcy in the area, it emboldened the militants who refused to lay down arms. Instead, they extended their hold on adjoining districts of Buner and Dir, only 60 km from the capital Islamabad, raising worldwide alarm over a possible Taliban takeover of the nuclear Pakistan. The militants had also established links with the Taliban insurgents in tribal areas led by Baitullah Mehsud. On April 26, in Dir area they attacked an army convoy killing two soldiers that proved the last straw. The army swung into action and launched attacks to drive out militants from the area. The national mood has also dramatically swung in support of the military operation because of huge blunders committed by militants. Although the provincial government set up qazi courts after President Asif Zardari reluctantly promulgated the Nizame Adl Regulation (NRA) for this purpose, Sufi Mohammad refused to accept government nominees as qazis or judges. He also publicly denounced as un-Islamic democracy, constitution, parliament, superior judiciary and women's movement outside their homes. There was a universal revulsion in the country. The images of a young girl being flogged by Taliban aroused worldwide outrage. Amid clear orders from the government and demonstration of rare national harmony in support of the latest campaign, military operations are taking place in three districts that stretch over some 400 square miles (1,036 square km) against estimated 7,000 militants. The army has voiced confidence it would be able to crush the uprising in Swat. But fierce battles and aerial bombing have exacted a terrible human cost in shape of massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from the conflict areas. Already, more than a quarter million have taken refuge in hastily established camps and houses of relatives while more displaced persons are streaming in by the thousands. The UNHCR fears that the number may touch a million. The government has allocated meager resources to provide relief and shelter and is seeking international assistance to overcome the impending human disaster.
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52 militants killed
Islamabad, May 11 With most of the civilians having left the battle zone, the army used heavy guns to dislodge well dug-in militants, who still control Mingora, the main town of Swat valley. According to army estimates, more than 5,000 Taliban fighters are in Swat and adjoining Dir and Buner districts. “The operation against Taliban is making headway...in the last 24 hours, 52 militants have been killed and five wounded in heavy exchange of fire,” a military statement said. Chief Military Spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said army was operating with more freedom as during the nine-hour pause in fighting most of the trapped civilians had been taken to safe camps. According to the UN estimates, over 360,000 persons had escaped from Dir, Swat and Buner. Though the army put Taliban death toll to around 400-500, Interior Minister Rahman Malik said 700 militants have been killed and asserted that “the operation will continue till the last Taliban militant is eliminated.” Malik, who was part of President Asif Ali Zardari’s delegation for a trilateral summit with the Afghan and US Presidents in Washington, said 20 soldiers were killed and 29 others injured in the operations so far. Much of the latest fighting occurred along the periphery of Swat and Shangla, a neighbouring district. Abbas said at least 140 bodies of alleged militants were discovered at a terrorist training camp in Shangla. Reports said militants from Swat were moving into Shangla apparently to escape heavy bombardment by the army. In violence elsewhere in northwest Pakistan, at least 10 persons were killed and more than 15 others, including women, were injured today when a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car at a paramilitary checkpoint in the restive Darra Adam Khel region. The attacker rammed his car into vehicles that had stopped near a Frontier Corps checkpoint, killing eight civilians and two security personnel, officials said. — PTI
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Madhesi leader: There is no Indian interference
Kathmandu, May 11 Upendra Yadav, the president of the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF), whose support is crucial to put together a new government, rejected United CPN-Maoist allegation that the giant southern neighbour was interfering in Nepal’s internal politics and taking sides in Maoists Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’s move to fire General Rukmangad Katawal. Nepal’s political parties have failed to end the deadlock over the formation of a new government after Prachanda resigned following the reinstatement of General Katawal by President Ram Baran Yadav. “Instead of blaming others for interference we should look inside,” said Yadav, whose MPRF party with 53 lawmakers in the 601-Constituent Assembly hold the key to the formation of a new coalition to end the political crisis in the country. The UCPN-Maoist should have consulted with other political parties while dealing with the issue of the national army and the police, which was agreed upon between the Maoists and the parties in written form, he pointed out. “If we Nepalese people quarrel among ourselves at home then we should not blame foreign powers for our fate,” Yadav told Madhesi leader blamed the Maoists for the unilateral decision to sack the army chief that had created a constitutional crisis in the country. It was a mistake on the part of the Maoists to take such a decision unilaterally, he said, adding President Ram Baran Yadav’s step to interfere in the affairs of the executive was also a mistake. In reply to another question, the Madhesi leader said India should let Nepalese people decide their own fate and we need New Delhi’s good wishes for our prosperity and taking the peace process to a conclusion as well as drafting the constitution. Calling for the formation of a government on national consensus, Yadav underlined that his party would only support a coalition, which would give top priority to the issues linked to the ethnic people living in the plains bordering India. “Our party is committed to the issue of Madhesi people, therefore, we will support an alliance, which will address the Madhesi people’s problem and the setting up of a federal structure,” the Foreign Minister stressed. Flaying the Maoists, the MPRF chief said they had lost credibility after the release of the controversial video of Prachanda in which he had admitted that his party had inflated the combatants numbers and their participation in the peace process was a strategy to capture power. — PTI
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Indian flavour in Zuma’s cabinet
India may have reason to be pleased with South African President Jacob Zuma's choice of cabinet ministers, who were sworn in here Monday. Zuma himself took his oath at a public inauguration on Saturday.
Former ambassador to India, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, has been appointed Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. Two Indian origin persons have been given key economic affairs portfolios. Pravin Gordhan will be Finance Minister and Ebrahim Patel will be Minister of Economic Development. Defence ties between India and South Africa are considered to be important. The responsibility in this respect has gone to Lindiwe Sisulu, a former intelligence minister.
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