W O R L D

Holbrooke allays Pak fears
President Barack Obama’s administration on Monday sought to assure Pakistan that the grand welcome reserved for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington this week should in no way be interpreted as a “diminution of the importance” the US attaches to Islamabad.

Philippines imposes Emergency after massacre
Ampatuan, November 24
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed two southern provinces and a city under emergency rule on Tuesday after 24 people were killed in the worst-ever election related violence in the country. "There is an urgent need to prevent and suppress the occurrence of several other incidents of lawless violence,” Cerge Remonde, the president’s press secretary, told reporters.

Protesters with face masks of German Chancellor Angela Merkel (centre), French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and British PM Gordon Brown take part in a protest on climate change ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, in front of the European Council in Brussels. — AP/PTI

Pakistan army guns down 21 militants
Peshawar/Islamabad, November 24
Backed by attack helicopters and powerful artillery guns, Pakistan Army today launched a new offensive near the Khyber tribal region killing 21 militants and capturing six others. The offensive was launched to blunt the Taliban’s capability to initiate suicide attacks in Peshawar.

China executes two in tainted milk scandal
Beijing, November 24
China today executed two people for their role in a tainted milk scandal, that killed at least six children and further sullied the made-in-China brand.

Rajapaksa may face Fonseka in Prez poll
President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced a presidential election for January next year, two years before his six-year term comes to an end. Rajapaksa could be pitted against Lanka’s former Army chief General Sarath Fonseka.

Holbrooke allays Pak fears
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

President Barack Obama’s administration on Monday sought to assure Pakistan that the grand welcome reserved for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington this week should in no way be interpreted as a “diminution of the importance” the US attaches to Islamabad.

Richard Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, told reporters at a hurriedly convened press conference at the State Department that it was “entirely appropriate that someone has to have the first trip.” A few blocks away, Singh was being feted by the cream of the US and Indian business community. The White House pulled out all the stops to welcome Singh at an official ceremony on Tuesday morning. And in the evening, Obama was scheduled to host

a state dinner for the prime minister under a giant tent constructed on the South Lawn of the presidential mansion. Holbrooke acknowledged the significance of a state dinner, describing it as a “very big deal.” In a bid to allay Pakistani unease over fuss made of India, Holbrooke said, “It in no way should be read as a diminution.”

The envoy said the US seeks to improve its relations with Pakistan, China and India. This was not a zero-sum game, he said, adding, every country benefits from improvement in the area. Asked whether he favoured a US role in improving ties between New Delhi and Islamabad, Holbrooke said, “Our role is to assist both of them in different ways, according to their own desires and their own view of their own sovereignty.”

He reiterated that the US thinks that “good relations between the US and India, and good relations between the US and Pakistan are not incompatible, and that we are not going to get involved in negotiating these kinds of things.”

On the question of engaging in dialogue with what certain quarters in Washington refer to as the “good Taliban,” Holbrooke said there have been no direct meetings between American officials and the Taliban. “We are not having direct contacts with the Taliban,” Holbrooke insisted. New Delhi has opposed any effort to reach out to certain sections of the Taliban maintaining that there is no such thing as a “good Taliban.”

In his remarks to the US-India Business Council on Monday, Singh had urged the US to stay the course in Afghanistan and said “any premature talk of exit” would only embolden terrorists. He welcomed “the commitment and involvement of the world communities to promote peace and stability and progress” in the country, but added, “I sincerely hope that the world community will have the wisdom to stay engaged in that process... any premature talk of exit will only embolden the terrorist elements to not only destabilise only our part of the world but civilised worlds everywhere.” During his time in Washington, Singh said he will “explore what more can be done for the two countries” to work together. 

Philippines imposes Emergency after massacre

Ampatuan, November 24
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed two southern provinces and a city under emergency rule on Tuesday after 24 people were killed in the worst-ever election related violence in the country.

"There is an urgent need to prevent and suppress the occurrence of several other incidents of lawless violence,” Cerge Remonde, the president’s press secretary, told reporters. The provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City will be under an indefinite state of emergency, which gives the military and police wide powers of arrest and detention.

The orders were issued as troops, using shovels and bare hands, dug up hastily covered graves on a grassy hillside in Maguindanao to recover the victims of the massacre on Monday. A Reuters photographer at the scene saw 22 bodies with bullet and hack wounds. Some of the dead men had their hands tied behind their back and one of the women was pregnant. Eight of those found dead were local journalists.

They were part of a group of 40 people abducted by gunmen when on their way to file a candidate's nomination to contest the governorship in elections next May. The army said it had found 24 bodies and was searching for the others. “We are expecting that more bodies will be recovered today,” Lt-Colonel Romeo Brawner, military spokesman, told reporters in Manila.

The election process for the May 2010 national polls began last week with the filing of candidacies for more than 17,800 national and local positions. Elections in the Philippines are usually marred by violence, especially in the south, where security forces are battling communist rebels, Islamic radicals and clan rivalries. Arroyo ordered extra troops to the region and sacked the Maguindanao provincial police chief.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said investigations would be completed within a couple of days and arrests made. “There are no sacred cows,” he told television. “It is going to be a direct investigation of the crimes committed. We have some information about specific names, not just those who ordered this thing, but also those who committed it.”

Military officials said the dead included Genalyn Tiamzon-Mangudadatu, who was on the way to file the nomination of Esmael, her husband, to contest the governorship of Maguindanao against Datu Andal Ampatuan, the head of a powerful local family.

The town near where the massacre took place bears the name of the family. Ampatuan has been elected governor of Maguindanao three times previously, always unopposed, although he resigned from the post earlier this year, apparently to circumvent term limits on elected officials.

One of his sons is the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, an area which covers six provinces, and the family is politically allied to Arroyo. None of the Ampatuans made any comment to local or foreign media. — Reuters 

Pakistan army guns down 21 militants

Peshawar/Islamabad, November 24
Backed by attack helicopters and powerful artillery guns, Pakistan Army today launched a new offensive near the Khyber tribal region killing 21 militants and capturing six others. The offensive was launched to blunt the Taliban’s capability to initiate suicide attacks in Peshawar.

Ground forces of para-military frontier corps spearheaded the assault to strike militants of the banned Lashkar-e-Islam group, a Taliban ally in the restive Bara region through which passes the main highway to Afghan capital Kabul.

Fifteen militants were killed and six apprehended in heavy fighting in Bara area as forces entered a number of villages to hunt down Lashkar-e-Islam group. A senior Army officer said the offensive was aimed to capture mountain heights and strategic locations from the militants who had been using these to mount suicide attacks on Peshawar.

The provincial capital of the NWFP and surrounding areas have suffered a wave of bombings recently that has killed more than 300 persons.

Further north in the Khar region of the lawless NWFP the troops imposed curfew and counterattacked the militants after 50 Taliban fighters attacked Army and frontier corps check-posts in Landi Kotal, at the base of the famous Khyber Pass. — PTI 

China executes two in tainted milk scandal

Beijing, November 24
China today executed two people for their role in a tainted milk scandal, that killed at least six children and further sullied the made-in-China brand.

Nearly 300,000 children fell ill last year after drinking milk intentionally laced with melamine, a toxic industrial compound that can give a fake positive on protein tests, sold mainly by the now bankrupt Sanlu Group.

A total of 21 Sanlu executives and middlemen were tried and sentenced in January by a court for their involvement in the case. Xinhua news agency, citing a court statement, said Zhang Yujun was executed “for the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means”, while Geng Jinping was convicted of producing and selling toxic food. — Reuters

Rajapaksa may face Fonseka in Prez poll
Chandani Kirinde writes from Colombo

President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced a presidential election for January next year, two years before his six-year term comes to an end. Rajapaksa could be pitted against Lanka’s former Army chief General Sarath Fonseka.

The proclamation calling the election was made public on Tuesday as opposition parties were working out modalities to field General Fonseka as their common candidate to take on President Rajapaksa in the poll, which is tipped to be held in January-end.

The third largest political party in the country the Marxists People’s Liberation Front or JVP said they would back Fonseka to be the next President of the country and would join with other opposition parties to defeat the incumbent.

Fonseka and Rajapaksa, who worked together to defeat the LTTE have fallen out with the former Army Commander saying he has been ill-treated by the President since the military victory in May this year.