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Sri Lankan fishermen want
Indians out of their waters
Saudi terror suspect appears in US court
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Another US national held in Pakistan
Pakistan artistes oppose curbs on travelling to India
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Sri Lankan fishermen want
Indians out of their waters
For the fishermen of Point Pedro village in the northernmost tip of Sri Lanka, who are slowly beginning to normalise their activities after nearly three decades of violence, the intrusion by Indian fishermen is causing a new trouble.
The problem erupted a week ago when Lankan fishermen apprehended 136 Indian fishermen and handed them over to the police. What followed was a flurry of diplomatic activity amidst street protests in South India that resulted in the fishermen being released. However, the Lankan fishermen are not happy. S Thavaratnam, chairman of the Jaffna District Fishermen’s Co-operative Society Union Federation, says poaching by the Indian fishermen has been going on for more than a year and the authorities are unable to resolve the issue. “We are not against the Indian fishermen but we want them to stay away from our waters. They are engaging in banned forms of fishing such as dredging the area floor. We have to use the seas in a way that our future generations too can sustain themselves from these seas,” he says. Thavaratnam’s organisation represents nearly 30,000 fishing communities in the Jaffna district, who for years were unable to work to their potential due to retractions placed on fishing due to activities of the Tamil Tigers. All such restrictions have now been lifted, but the presence of Indian trawlers is the new headache. S Sahanayagam (52), another fisherman in the Mathgal area in Jaffna from where 18 Indian fishermen were captured, said: “The presence of Indian trawlers is preventing us from venturing too far into the sea even though it is within Sri Lankan territorial waters. The Indian trawlers come and damage the nets we lay out and in some instances take them away.” The fishermen from the North had staged a sit-down in front of the Indian Consulate in Jaffna and handed over a memorandum to the officials requesting the Indian government’s intervention. Minister Douglas Devananda, the only parliamentarian from the North who is in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Cabinet, says he wants the problem settled amicably. “The Sri Lankan fishermen have a problem, but we have to settle it in a peaceful manner.”
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Saudi terror suspect appears in US court
Houston, February 26 US Marshals escorted handcuffed Khalid Ali-M-Aldawsari into US District Court, Northern District of Texas yesterday, two days after he was arrested on terror charges. The Saudi resident did not enter an official plea at the appearance. His next court hearing has been set for March 11, when he will enter an official plea. “I request that everyone take a step back and allow the legal proceedings to unfold in a timely and orderly fashion,” Aldawsari’s lawyer Rod Hobson said in a statement. Hobson said his client will enter a “not guilty” plea and “as an accused person, Aldawsari is presumed innocent.” “The eyes of the world are on this case and the treatment of this accused person. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to show the world how truly fair our legal system is, even to those who are accused of trying to harm our country,” he added. The Justice Department said Aldawsari bought explosive chemicals online and planned to blow up dams, nuclear plants, or the Dallas home of Bush. The 20-year-old engineering student has reportedly said he had been inspired by 9/11 terror attacks and speeches by Osama bin Laden. When asked by Judge Nancy Koenig if he understands the charges against him, he replied: “Yes, I do”. Judge Koenig also asked Aldawsari if he had been contacted by the Saudi Consulate, to which he answered “Yes”. The judge ordered him to remain in custody until a March 11 detention hearing. If convicted, Aldawsari faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. In his journal, the college student from Saudi Arabia who studied chemical engineering in Texas described a plan to travel to New York City, place bombs in several rental cars for remote detonation and leave the vehicles in different places during rush hour, according to court documents released on Thursday. “After mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for jihad,” or holy war, Aldawsari wrote in the journal, according to documents filed by prosecutors. In a statement, Aldawsari’s attorney Hobson called press coverage since his client’s arrest “very one-sided and biased,” and suggested it has made it difficult for Aldawsari to receive a fair trial in Lubbock. — PTI
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Another US national held in Pakistan
Peshawar, February 26 Aaron Mark DeHaven was arrested by security agencies in Peshawar yesterday and booked under the Foreigners Act on charges of illegally residing in Pakistan after his visa expired in October last year. A Pakistani court today remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days. DeHaven had come to Pakistan on a business visa and made some investments in the country, officials said. He had no connection with any NGO and was running his own business, they said, adding he did not possess valid travel documents. The American was detained in the posh University Town area of Peshawa. TV news channels claimed he worked as a security guard for foreigners in Peshawar.
— PTI
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Le Carré gifts archive to Oxford library
London, February 26 Oxford was Smiley’s spiritual home, as it is mine. And while I have the greatest respect for American universities, the Bodleian is where I shall most happily rest.” Richard Ovenden, Keeper of Special Collections and Associate Director of the Bodleian Libraries, said: “We are enormously grateful that John le Carré has made his archive available to the Bodleian. It is compelling primary evidence of a major cultural contribution to a literary genre and will offer scholars important insights into his work.” To mark the arrival of the archive, the Bodleian is displaying a small selection of le Carré’s working papers for members of the public to see on World Book Day, March 3, a university release said. This will include sections from the various handwritten and typed drafts of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which show how the novel evolved in the process of composition from its early working title, ‘The Reluctant Autumn of George Smiley’, to the final published text. The display will also include private photographs of le Carré with Alec Guinness, who memorably starred in the 1979 BBC series, as well as manuscripts of two of le Carré’s own favourite novels, ‘The Tailor of Panama’ and ‘The Constant Gardener’. John le Carre is the nom de plume of David John Moore Cornwell. His writing career spans 50 years and 22 novels which have been translated into 36 languages and adapted for film, TV and radio. He is renowned for his intricate espionage and political fiction, and for the creation of one of modern literature’s most subtle and carefully crafted protagonists, George Smiley. Le Carre’s evocative accounts of the cold war era in novels such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) were drawn in part from his own experiences working for MI5 and MI6. — PTI
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Pakistan artistes oppose curbs on travelling to India
Lahore, February 26 Samina Ahmed, Madiha Gauhar, Usman Pirzada and other theatre artistes and actors have protested the decision, saying Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s announcement that they would require an NOC from the government to travel abroad was a huge disappointment to all those who are “fighting for a liberal and democratic Pakistan”. The move will take Pakistan back to the era of late military ruler Zia-ul-Haq, when such NOCs were the norm, the artists said. Gauhar, who heads the well-known Ajoka Theatre group and regularly visits India, said: “We find this announcement retrogressive, repressive, arbitrary and a violation of the fundamental rights protected by the Constitution. The government has absolutely no right to restrict the movement of persons who are not even employed by it.” Playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed said artistes, being the representatives of culture and heritage, travelled and performed abroad as part of a global cultural panorama. He said the restriction imposed by the government would be understandable if it was applied only in some individual cases but its “general application to the entire fraternity was beyond any rationale”.
— PTI
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For the fishermen of Point Pedro village in the northernmost tip of Sri Lanka, who are slowly beginning to normalise their activities after nearly three decades of violence, the intrusion by Indian fishermen is causing a new trouble.
The problem erupted a week ago when Lankan fishermen apprehended 136 Indian fishermen and handed them over to the police. What followed was a flurry of diplomatic activity amidst street protests in South India.
