Urumqi (China), July 6
In the deadliest communal riots in China in three decades, at least 140 people were killed and 828 injured in its strategic northwest region bordering India where protesters from the ethnic Muslim Uygur community clashed with Han Chinese, prompting a massive police crackdown.

“While 57 people were confirmed dead on the scene of the clash, others succumbed to their injuries at a hospital,” a spokesman of the regional government told the media about last night’s orgy of violence in Urumqi, the capital of oil-rich Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which accounts for a sixth of China’s territory. He said the death toll “would still be climbing”.

“It was like a war zone here, with many bodies of ethnic Han people lying on the road,” said Huang Yabo, Deputy Director of the Urumqi police.

Rioters burnt 261 vehicles, including 190 buses, 10 taxis and two police cars. Over 200 shops and homes were destroyed in the riots.

The riots in Urumqi, a sprawling city of 2.3 million, some 3,270 kms west of Beijing, followed a recent protest against the government’s handling of a clash between Han Chinese and Uygur workers at a toy factory in Shaoguan city in southern China’s booming Guangdong Province in June where two Uygur workers had died. The violence erupted after an initially peaceful demonstration went out of control with violent protesters smashing vehicles and clashing with police. Uygur exile groups alleged that the violence started only after police launched a violent crackdown.

“After the (Shaoguan) incident, the three forces (groups engaged in separatism, terrorism and religious extremism) abroad connived and seized it as an opportunity to attack us, inciting street protests,” Governor of Xinjiang, Nuer Baikeli, a Uygur, said on state-run TV. The latest riots are the worst to have hit the region, marked by a history of unrest and separatist movements. The Xinjiang police has arrested several hundred, including over 10 key figures, who fanned the unrest yesterday, and was still looking for about 90 other key figures who were involved in the riots.

Security in downtown Urqumqi streets and at key installations has been tightened to prevent large-scale riots. — PTI

The Supreme Court on Monday returned government's constitutional petitions with objections that challenged the release of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

India accused the JuD and its parent outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba of involvement in the Mumbai carnage of November 26 last year. The petitions by the federal and the Punjab government were submitted on Saturday through the office of the Supreme Court registrar. Pakistan has been under pressure from India and the West to detain Hafiz Saeed ever since he was released by the Lahore High Court.

India blamed Pakistan of not demonstrating enough seriousness in bringing to justice the handlers and planners of terrorist attacks that played havoc in Mumbai. It has put the responsibility on the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an organisation founded by Hafiz Saeed that is active in India-held Kashmir. Shortly before the Pakistan government banned the LeT, Hafiz Saeed formed the JuD, which is apparently engaged in charity activities.

India has kept on hold resumption of composite dialogue with Pakistan and cited Hafiz Saeed's release as further argument against such revival. The Pakistan government filed the appeal ahead of an upcoming meeting next week between Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of NAM summit in Sharmul Shaikh (Eqypt) ostensibly to remove a major irritant in the way of resumption of dialogue with India.

Deputy Attorney General Shah Khawar told reporters that the registrar had returned the petitions as they challenged only the release of Saeed and his close aide Col (retired) Nazir Ahmed on the orders of the Lahore High Court.

The office of the registrar said two other JuD leaders Amir Hamza and Mufti Abdur Rehman who were originally party to the matter should also be included in the petitions, Khawar said.

Hamza and Rehman, detained along with Saeed in December last year in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, were freed first by a judicial review board in May but the government kept Saeed under detention using preventive laws. The Lahore Court later ordered his release saying there was no evidence that Saeed was involved in the Mumbai attack or any other terrorist acts.

Khawar said the petitions would be submitted again after removing the technical flaws. 

Moscow, July 6
US President Barack Obama arrived here today on a maiden visit to Russia to ‘reset’ the damaged bilateral ties and sign new accords, including a landmark arms reduction treaty to replace a Cold War era nuclear pact.

He is accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia.

Several documents, including framework accord on arms reduction and transit of US troops to Afghanistan via Russian territory are expected to be signed later today.

Moscow welcomed the First Family with an unusual mid-summer chill with temperature dropping to 12 degrees.

Later today, Obama is scheduled to hold five hours of formal and informal talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and address a joint press conference in the Kremlin.

The first day will conclude with a private dinner hosted by Medvedev family at their country retreat near Moscow.

During his three-day stay in Moscow, Obama would hold a US-Russia summit meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, besides meeting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and former President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Earlier in an interview to a Russian media outlet, Obama said he was looking forward to explore with Moscow the possibilities of cooperation on economic and defence issues besides on dealing with terrorism and issues like Iran.

“What I said coming in is that I wanted to press the reset button on relations between the US and Russia,” he said in Washington. Obama said his first step would be to provide a framework for replacing the Cold War-era missile treaty START.

“My goal is that both countries reduce their nuclear stockpiles in a way that doesn’t leave either country with an advantage, but reduces tensions and the expense of maintaining such high nuclear stockpiles,” he had said. — PTI

The Legislature-Parliament session resumed on Monday after the major ruling parties -- the Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) and Nepali Congress -- and opposition party Unified CPN-(Maoist) reached an understanding to resume the proceedings by ending two months long deadlock.

However, Maoists have set a pre-condition before the government that it must address their issues regarding controversial decision made by the President, Dr Ram Baran Yadav, to retain the sacked Chief of Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal and uphold civilian supremacy within a month.

Addressing the House session Monday evening, Maoists Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said his party decided to allow the House proceedings resume and let the government present its annual budget for the next fiscal year.

“I request the prime minister to address our demands through political consensus. If the government fails to address our genuine agenda about the President Yadav’s unconstitutional move and uphold civilian supremacy within a month, we will intensify a fresh movement against the government in and outside parliament,” Dahal said

Dahal, who had stepped down from the government on May 4 expressing serious resentment against the President’s move to retain Katawal, on Monday tried to justify his decision saying that he resigned from the government to avoid possible untoward confrontation and shatter the desire of the regressive elements that want to push the country into further conflict.