W O R L D

Nitin Garg’s killing figures in world media
‘Racist’ cartoon in Delhi-based daily annoys Aussies
On the same day that a KFC advertisement, criticised in the United States for being racist, was defended as only reflecting the ‘Australian sense of humour’, a ‘racist’ cartoon which appeared in a Delhi-based newspaper has been severely condemned by Australia’s acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard as ‘offensive’.

India has legitimate concern for peace in region: Holbrooke
Richard Holbrooke, whose appointment last year as US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan created some unease in New Delhi following talk that India may be added to his portfolio, on Thursday said he never sought the additional responsibility and that it was not his job to negotiate issues between India and Pakistan.

Halt drone attacks: Pak
During a meeting with a delegation of US senators, Pakistan’s top civil and military leadership disagreed on the efficacy of drone attacks while calling for their halt on plea that these undermined “the national consensus” that supported the war against militancy.

Politicians unite to end crisis in Nepal
In an effort to break the political deadlock in Nepal, top leaders of the ruling and opposition parties in the country have formed a high-level mechanism. Leaders of the three major political parties of the country, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, constituted the mechanism under the convenorship of Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala.

Dr Raj Shah takes over as USAID chief
As a younger man, Dr Raj Shah had boarded a flight from the US to India for a 24-hour visit. The sole purpose of the visit was to propose to his future wife at the Taj Mahal. He matched that athleticism when he scaled the 14,400-foot Mt Ranier, considered by seasoned mountaineers to be one of the most difficult climbs in the US. The peak combines the challenges of a treacherous glacier with the unpredictability of an active volcano. 

 

Nitin Garg’s killing figures in world media
‘Racist’ cartoon in Delhi-based daily annoys Aussies
Dinesh Kumar writes from Melbourne

On the same day that a KFC advertisement, criticised in the United States for being racist, was defended as only reflecting the ‘Australian sense of humour’, a ‘racist’ cartoon which appeared in a Delhi-based newspaper has been severely condemned by Australia’s acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard as ‘offensive’.

The cartoon depicts a Victorian police officer in a Ku Klux Klan hood saying ‘we are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime’. Ironically, in a marked contrast to Gillard’s emotional outburst, the Victorian police responded with relative restraint saying that this would not slowdown their efforts to track down the killer of 21-year-old Nitin Garg who was fatally stabbed while walking through a city park on Saturday night.

Gillard, who interestingly conceded to have not seen the cartoon, said: “Any suggestion of the kind is deeply offensive and I would condemn the making of such comment”. “The police”, she added, “was doing an outstanding job in cracking down on crime and increasing Indian students’ safety”. Gillard, who is also the federal education minister, belongs to a constituency in Melbourne. Gillard’s reaction appears to be somewhat excessive keeping in view that like India, Australia is a democracy with a fiercely independent media.

In Melbourne, Victorian deputy commissioner of police Kieran Walshe said even though some officers were offended by the cartoon, the police remained focused on finding Nitin’s killer. “We are absolutely committed and we have a focus to investigating and solving this crime, as we do for any major crime that occurs in Victoria,” he said adding, “We have a strong relationship with the Indian community and I know that the Indian community supports the work that the Victoria police is doing.’’

The crime situation in India came in for adverse comment from Victoria’s police chief commissioner Simon Overland who claimed that Indians were safer in Australia than in India. “There are over 33,000 murders in India every year; 8,000 of those are actually brides being killed because the dowry’s not sufficient,” he said. A more strident police union leader Greg Davies warned that the cartoon could stir up racial hatred in an already volatile situation.

Reverberations of Nitin’s death have been felt across the world with newspapers and radio stations as far as the US, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, the UAE, China and Malaysia using expressions such as ‘hate crime’, ‘racism’ ‘common trend’ and ‘not acceptable’ in their news reports and comments on the killing.

The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, this week reported that the stabbing murder of Nitin had occurred “in the wake of a wave of attacks upon Indian students in Australia last year”. In an editorial, Gulf News of the United Arab Emirates said, “motive based on hatred” was “the common trend” in a number of attacks in urban Australia recently. “This trend is simply unacceptable,” the paper said.

“Law enforcement authorities and judicial officials at state and federal level in Australia must take every possible measure to ensure these hate crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. There can be no velvet glove treatment for those who commit heinous crimes.”

The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Irish Times, the Voice of America and The New Zealand Herald were among other publications that also produced their own reports on the situation, while The Malaysian Sun published its report under the headline “Australian Government unable to stop crime against Indians.” 

India has legitimate concern for peace in region: Holbrooke
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

Richard Holbrooke, whose appointment last year as US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan created some unease in New Delhi following talk that India may be added to his portfolio, on Thursday said he never sought the additional responsibility and that it was not his job to negotiate issues between India and Pakistan.

Speaking at Brookings Institution, Holbrooke, whose hard-charging manner earned him the sobriquet "Bulldozer," acknowledged the "unique relationship" between the two South Asian neighbours. "We have to respect that," he said. He emphasised that his job did not include India and described last year's controversy as a misunderstanding. "I never sought to be the representative or envoy for India," he said. "It is a great country on its own. We have an excellent ambassador there - Tim Roemer - and he represents us, and we have a wide range of bilateral relationships which would not under any circumstances involve me."

Holbrooke said he kept Indian officials fully informed on his activities through regular meetings with Meera Shankar, India's ambassador in Washington, and recurring trips to India. “Everyone understands that India has a legitimate concern for what happens in the region. But I am not negotiating issues between India and Pakistan. That is not my job and nor is it something that would be productive if I were to undertake it," the envoy said. Holbrooke will be travelling to Pakistan next week.

He noted that the US values its relationships with both India and Pakistan and described as a "legacy of the past" the argument that the US favour one country over the other. “I do not believe it is justified by the policies we are taking right now,” he said. Holbrooke's remarks should allay the concerns of those in New Delhi who worried that President Barack Obama's administration has reintroduced a hyphen in Washington's relationship with New Delhi and Islamabad.

Discussing US policy in Afghanistan, Holbrooke said it was essential that this policy provide an opportunity for those people fighting with the Taliban who are not members of Al-Qaida and do not share the Taliban leadership's militant ideology to rejoin the political process. He estimated that 60-70 per cent of the people fighting in the Taliban's ranks would fall into this category. He suggested these people could have taken to extremism out of a sense of injustice, personal grievances or because it was part of the Afghan tradition that they fought outsiders.

“It is absolutely imperative that we deal with this issue. If we don't deal with it, success will elude us,” Holbrooke maintained. He noted that many members of the political establishment in Kabul today were former members of the Taliban. "They are in the National Assembly, they are in the government, they are outspoken." He said former Taliban fighters should not be allowed to feel trapped in a no man's land.

On the eve of the Afghan elections last year, Holbrooke had stated that the process would be not be flawless. But the extent of the electoral fraud took even critics by surprise. Holbrooke affirmed his faith in Karzai, describing him as the legitimately elected president of Afghanistan. He pointed out that among Karzai's Cabinet ministers who have been confirmed there are some excellent ministers the US is very comfortable working with.

While praising Pakistan as a key ally in the war against extremists, Holbrooke said the US was deeply concerned about the activities of the Haqqani and Hekmatyar groups along the Afghan-Pakistan border. US intelligence sources say the Pakistani military offensives in the border region have not harmed these networks and some even speculate that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency is continuing to support these militants.

The Pakistani military has collaborated and cooperated with the US military in some information-sharing activities which, Holbrooke said, produced beneficial results. But mindful of the anti-US sentiment in Pakistan, he emphasised that there were no American troops in Pakistan. "We do not do fighting in Pakistan," he said.

Halt drone attacks: Pak
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

During a meeting with a delegation of US senators, Pakistan’s top civil and military leadership disagreed on the efficacy of drone attacks while calling for their halt on plea that these undermined “the national consensus” that supported the war against militancy.

President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani during meetings with a US delegation, led by former US presidential candidate and Republican Senator John McCain, asked the US to transfer the drone technology and share intelligence with Pakistan to combat militants.

McCain told reporters here that the US respects Pakistan’s viewpoint, but felt that the usage of drones against militants had been very effective in deterring and eliminating several senior Al-Qaida leaders.

The delegation flew to Islamabad yesterday; a day after US missile attacks killed at least 13 militants in north Waziristan on the Afghan border.

McCain said the use of such drone strikes against militants in tribal areas was an effective part of the US strategy and should continue. He said the collateral damage of civilians was regrettable and should be avoided as much as possible.

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the President is in his meeting with the delegation that “drone attacks on Pakistani territory undermined the national consensus supporting the war on militancy raised questions of sovereignty”.

President Zardari also sought a early release of $1.2 billion arrears in the Coalition Support Fund and called for restricting US forces’ operation to the Afghanistan side only.

Politicians unite to end crisis in Nepal
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

In an effort to break the political deadlock in Nepal, top leaders of the ruling and opposition parties in the country have formed a high-level mechanism. Leaders of the three major political parties of the country, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, constituted the mechanism under the convenorship of Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala.

After holding a meeting at Koirala’s residence in Maharajgunj on Friday, Maoists’ chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal and Koirala agreed to announce the mechanism.

Speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, Khanal said: “We have formed a three-member ‘high-level political mechanism’ under Koirala’s leadership, which will be responsible to sort out the surfaced differences among the political parties and expedite the constitution drafting process to take the stalled peace process to a logical end.” PM Madhav Kumar Nepal has reportedly expressed his resentment against their unilateral decision without making clear about the terms of reference of the mechanism.

Dr Raj Shah takes over as USAID chief
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

As a younger man, Dr Raj Shah had boarded a flight from the US to India for a 24-hour visit. The sole purpose of the visit was to propose to his future wife at the Taj Mahal. He matched that athleticism when he scaled the 14,400-foot Mt Ranier, considered by seasoned mountaineers to be one of the most difficult climbs in the US. The peak combines the challenges of a treacherous glacier with the unpredictability of an active volcano. Yet these accomplishments pale in comparison to the task Dr Shah faces at the helm of the US Agency for International Development, a key component in a larger effort by President Barack Obama's administration to repair America's image overseas.

Shah, 36, the son of Indian immigrants, was sworn in as administrator of US Aid for International Development (USAID) at a ceremony in Washington on Friday. Administering the oath, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made special mention of Shah's success while wooing his wife, Shivam Mallick Shah, and climbing Mt Ranier. "That may be the best preparation Raj has for working in Washington these days," Clinton joked. She said she believed Shah would be the "transformational leader" USAID has been waiting for.

Clinton noted humorously that after a speech earlier this week a member of the audience came up to her and asked her: “Does Raj know what he’s getting into, how much work he has ahead of him?” Clinton responded: "Oh, he totally gets it, and he is more than ready." The appointment makes Shah the highest-ranked Indian American in the Obama administration. Shah's wife is no less accomplished than her husband. Last year, Obama named Shivam Mallick Shah to a top position in the Department of Education.

The Obama administration's stringent vetting process resulted in the top USAID position lying vacant for almost a year. Clinton had openly voiced frustration with the high bar for candidates.

Shah's wife, their children -— son Sajan and daughter Amna — were among those who looked on proudly as he took the oath. Clinton described Shah as "a passionate, visionary, experienced development expert at the helm." She said she was thrilled that he would "provide the leadership that is needed today as we not only work in partnership on so many of the issues that we care deeply about, but that we continue to elevate the role of development in our foreign policy."

Clinton said Shah brought an unwavering belief that anything was possible. She said: “Yet he also brings the humility instilled by his family. He carries with him the enduring images of his first trip to India as a boy with his parents, both immigrants from that country.”