W O R L D

Obama: Af-Pak border still Al-Qaida epicentre
Washington, January 11
The Pakistan-Afghanistan border remains the epicentre of Al-Qaida activities, US President Barack Obama has said, ruling out sending troops to Yemen where the group had become a concern of late.

7 army checkpoints in Balochistan abolished
The government has abolished seven army checkpoints in Balochistan as part of its larger plan to withdraw most of military units engaged in operations against Baloch insurgents.

Prachanda hints at India’s hand in king’s murder
The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Prachanda has hinted that India was behind the death of late King Birendra.

18 die in Mexico drug violence
Ciudad Juarez, January 11
Officials said 18 people were killed over the weekend in northern Mexico, eight of them in Ciudad Juarez, where the murder rate has already more than doubled this year compared to 2009.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa greets Buddhist monks as he hands over his election manifesto during its launch in Colombo on Monday. — AP/PTI

Sentenced Tamil scribe gets bail
Colombo, January 11
A senior Sri Lankan Tamil journalist, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for having links to the LTTE, was today granted bail on health grounds.

Oz Attacks
Victim’s wife questions
Melbourne, January 11
Wife of Jaspreet Singh, the Indian who was allegedly set ablaze here by a group of four men last week, has questioned reports that claim his injuries could be self-inflicted.

Headley’s hearing deferred
Chicago, January 11
The status hearing of David Coleman Headley, charged with conspiracy in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, scheduled in a court here tomorrow has been postponed till February 23.

Obama: Af-Pak border still Al-Qaida epicentre

Washington, January 11
The Pakistan-Afghanistan border remains the epicentre of Al-Qaida activities, US President Barack Obama has said, ruling out sending troops to Yemen where the group had become a concern of late.

“The border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan remains the epicentre of Al-Qaida," Obama said in an interview to People magazine, the excerpts of which were released today.

At the same time, he acknowledged that Qaida's branch in Yemen had become "a more serious problem", but ruled out sending troops to Yemen at this point of time. “I have no intention of sending US boots on the ground in these regions,” Obama said.

“I have every intention of working with our international partners in lawless areas around the globe to make sure that we're keeping the American people safe,” Obama said.

US has currently deployed a large number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, with Obama saying the war’s focus is the latter country. The number of US soldiers in Afghanistan was set to cross the 100,000 mark.

Al-Qaida's activities in Yemen came to prominence following the failed attempt to bomb a US plane by a Nigerian national, whose responsibility was later claimed by Al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula, which has its base in Yemen.

The President's words were echoed by his top military generals too and the CENTCOM Commander General, David Petraeus, told CNN that Af-Pak, not Yemen, remained the most important location for the war against Al-Qaida. “I don't think it (Yemen) is the most important (location for the war against Al-Qaida),” Petraeus said.

“That would likely still be the western Pakistan, Afghanistan border area, but certainly a very important area, in an area where, again, it has been resurgent… Somalia another one like that, at a time when Al-Qaida has suffered severe reverses in Saudi Arabia, been reduced considerably in Iraq, and indeed, even in the western areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan,” he said.

Ruling out the prospect of sending troops to Yemen, he said: “We would always want a host nation to deal with a problem itself. We want to help. We're providing assistance.” The US asked the Yemen government to crack down on the Al-Qaida network and pledged assistance following the failed Christmas Day attack.

“So we're going to provide more assistance in the course of this year than we did last year,” Petraeus said.

Noting that Yemen was a sovereign country, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “We have great respect for the President there in terms of his judgement, in terms of what he needs to do.”

Mullen told CNN that given the relatively small but "agile, very capable, cunning" militants who have "studied us" were active against the US, it does take "larger.

7 army checkpoints in Balochistan abolished
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

The government has abolished seven army checkpoints in Balochistan as part of its larger plan to withdraw most of military units engaged in operations against Baloch insurgents.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Gwadar that the checkpoints have been removed in accordance with the Balochistan package launched by the federal government last month to redress grievances of the most-backward but strategic province of the country.

He said the Paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel would be deployed at Kohlu and Sui, the two trouble spots inhabited by Marri and Bugti nationalist tribes, soon after the return of the army personnel from the areas.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Nadra Registration Centre in Gwadar, Malik said the federal government wanted inclusion of maximum youth from Balochistan in the security forces and law-enforcement agencies to maintain peace in the province.

He announced to deploy an assistant director and two inspectors at the Customs checkpoint here and another assistant director at the checkpoint on the Pak-Iran border.

Malik said the people of Makran working in Muscat could only enter their home districts in Balochistan after showing Pakistani passports. He said the government had given special relaxation to the youth of Balochistan so that they could join police and other law-enforcement agencies by relaxing the condition of matriculation to middle class certificate.

He said Rs 230 million would be allocated for the provision of natural gas in Gwadar for which a committee had been formed to compile recommendations.

Prachanda hints at India’s hand in king’s murder
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Prachanda has hinted that India was behind the death of late King Birendra. He also suspected that the US and India could have been involved the murder of then CPN-UML general secretary and popular Communist leader Madan Kumar Bhandari way back in 1993.

Addressing party cadres in Kathmandu, Prachanda glorified late King Birendra, describing him as a true nationalist monarch who had floated a proposal to declare Nepal a peace zone and garnered support from 112 nations across the world except India. “As he tried to purchase arms from China, which was against India’s interest in the early 90s, India imposed border restrictions,” Prachanda said.

Talking about the Maoists’ plan to hold a dialogue with the then king, he said, “Just a month before we were supposed to meet King Birendra to resolve the problem, he was killed”. A high-level probe had found a heavily drunk crown prince Dependra guilty of massacring his father, mother, sister and brother and six other relatives before killing himself in the Royal Palace on June 1, 2001.

Talking about the death of UML leader Bhandari in a car accident, Prachanda said he was a courageous nationalist who never compromised. “He too was killed just five days before I was supposed to meet him and lead the Communist movement to protect national independence,” he said. “The people of Nepal should start thinking seriously why they (King Birendra and Bhandari) were killed in such circumstances,” he added.

18 die in Mexico drug violence

Ciudad Juarez, January 11
Officials said 18 people were killed over the weekend in northern Mexico, eight of them in Ciudad Juarez, where the murder rate has already more than doubled this year compared to 2009.

Ciudad Juarez, ground zero for drug-related violence, has seen 94 homicides since January 1, against 46 for the same period last year, authorities said yesterday. Last year, drug violence claimed more than 2,500 victims in this city across from El Paso, Texas.

The eight murders on Saturday included a passerby riddled with bullets from a passing car, and a shootout between a military patrol and drug traffickers that left two shooters dead, officials said.

Elsewhere, eight persons were murdered in the state capital, and two others in the Nuevas Casas Grandes township, it added. — AFP

Sentenced Tamil scribe gets bail

Colombo, January 11
A senior Sri Lankan Tamil journalist, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for having links to the LTTE, was today granted bail on health grounds.

JS Tissainayagam, 46, who was sentenced under Prevention of Terrorism Act by the Colombo High Court in August last year, was released on a cash bail of Rs 50,000 on medical grounds by a Court of Appeal. He was arrested on March 7, 2008, by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the police for alleged links to the Tamil Tigers, eliciting concerns all over the world.

US President Barack Obama had mentioned Tissainayagam while expressing concern over threats against the media the world over in a statement marking the World Press Freedom Day. He was convicted of attempting to cause the commission of acts of violence or racial or communal disharmony for an article he published in the monthly magazine ‘North Eastern Herald’ in 2006 and 2007.

He had also been charged with collecting and obtaining information for purpose of terrorism and for donating funds for the purpose of terrorism through the collection of funds for the magazine, the Daily Mirror Online reported. — PTI

Oz Attacks
Victim’s wife questions
self-infliction reports

Melbourne, January 11
Wife of Jaspreet Singh, the Indian who was allegedly set ablaze here by a group of four men last week, has questioned reports that claim his injuries could be self-inflicted.

“Why would he burn himself? Why would he do that?” Paramjeet Kaur said while reacting to media reports doubting Singh's injuries to be self-inflicted. “I do not know why they are saying that.”

She said Jaspreet Singh suffered 15 per cent burn injuries during the attack in Essendon on Friday night. He is stable but unable to speak, Kaur told 'The Age'. Meanwhile, police is waiting to question Singh again. Some of Singh's clothing have been recovered but other items remain outstanding, the police spokeswoman said. — PTI

Headley’s hearing deferred

Chicago, January 11
The status hearing of David Coleman Headley, charged with conspiracy in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, scheduled in a court here tomorrow has been postponed till February 23.

The hearing was scheduled for January 12 before US Judge Harry Leinenweber in US District Court of Illinois. However, “tomorrow’s hearing has now been cancelled and postponed till February 23,” spokesman for US Attorney’s office Randall Samborn said here today.

Headley has been charged with conspiring in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. The FBI charges also allege he had made several trips to India prior to the attacks to scout for terror targets and then shared the information with conspirators in Pakistan. — PTI