The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Egyptians storm Tahrir to mark historic revolution

Cairo, January 25
Tens of thousands of Egyptians poured into Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square today to mark the first anniversary of the historic uprising that toppled longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak with pro-democracy activists pledging to complete the ‘unfinished revolution’.

Thousands of people comprising hardline Islamists, liberals and ordinary citizens flocked to the square since early morning carrying flags and banners, reflecting their different goals, hours after the military announced the lifting of the unpopular state of emergency, which was in force sine 1981.

Throwing a challenge to Egyptian military ruler Field Marshal Husain Tantawi the pro-democracy activists shouted, “Tantawi, come and kill more revolutionaries, we want your execution”.

Army after putting on military’s displays withdrew from square later to allow the youth and people to mark the occasion but the Interior Ministry warned that no-violence will be tolerated.

Differences among those pouring into the square, the epicentre of January 25 revolution, were apparent as some fist fights broke out between groups of youths, but there were no reports of injuries.

Clashes broke out between the liberals and the supporters of Muslim Brotherhood as the liberals demanded the ouster of the military council that took power after Mubarak quit. Some people from both sides intervened to stop the clashes and chanted “peaceful, peaceful, one hand, we will complete the march as free revolutionaries”.

Protesters sang the national anthem to the beats of drums but shouts of “down with the military” drowned the music as groups vied with each other to apparently reflect the question who will capture the soul of the revolution.

At least 846 people were killed and 6,000 injured during the January 25 uprising. The revolt took place in Cairo, Alexandria, and in other prominent Egyptian cities.

Tantawi had announced the end of the state of emergency in a televised speech late yesterday afternoon, few hours before the anniversary. Egypt has been in the state of emergency since 1981 when Mubarak came to power.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued “commemorative coins” to mark the occasion and announced that the authorities would release 2,000 political prisoners.

The powerful Muslim Brotherhood which dominates the newly elected parliament brought out their supporters in huge numbers to celebrate their victory at the hustings. But several other groups, including the pro-democracy movement said, they were their to reignite the unfinished revolution and oust the army from power.

Authorities partitioned the square into four zones to allow different groups to broadcast their own messages from their podium.

In an incident in Alexandria, the Egyptian army arrested four men for wearing military uniform intimidating the people. The People’s Assembly which convened for the first time two days ago issued a statement to marks the first anniversary of the 25 January revolution.

The statement stressed the assembly has received full legislative and auditing powers and therefore will be able to resume the revolution’s march and achieve all its goals.

The people’s assembly vowed it will achieve full transfer of power from the military council to an elected civilian authority, with a parliament, a government and a president with full powers in order to achieve the freedom, the dignity and the social justice which people called for during the revolution. — PTI

Memogate
Gilani takes back his words on Pasha, Kayani
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday took back his words against the ISI and army chiefs labeling as unconstitutional and illegal their statements given to the Supreme Court in the Memogate scandal.

Speaking to the media at Chaklala airport before heading to the World Economic Forum, the Prime Minister said his statement were made in a particular situation, but now the situation is clear.

“I want to dispel the impression that the military leadership acted unconstitutionally or violated rules,” said Gilani, he said according to state television.

Special to The Tribune
CJ seeking guarantee for Kayani’s tenure
News Anylasis by Nasim Zehra

Fazal Kareem Butt filed a petition in the Pakistan Supreme Court on December 28, and claimed that the government was about to remove the Army Chief and the DG of ISI; and prayed that the Supreme court should seek a guarantee that this not happen since it would undermine the petitioner’s fundamental rights.

He argued that fear of the removal of the army chief triggered imposition of Martial Law in 1999 and could potentially lead to a mutiny, which would create chaos in the country and undermine public good.

Butt, in course of my conversation with him, came up with three revealing facts. He admitted that the entire basis for his petition were three news reports that had appeared in The News in preceding days, in which concern over a possible mutiny was raised by a defence analyst. He, however, insisted that the subsequent sacking of the then Defence Secretary by the PM was ‘evidence’ that the Prime Minister was going to remove the two chiefs of the army and the ISI.

Butt also conceded that he was a lawyer for the sacked Defence Secretary. What’s more, he agreed that he had indeed appeared for the Pakistan Army, whenever they needed civilian lawyers.

His petition, significantly, was initially turned down and returned with objections by the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court. Butt then appealed to the Chief Justice, who called him to his chamber and heard him. The CJ then fixed a date for admission and placed himself as part of the three-judge bench. The court also asked the Attorney General to appear before the court and when he did so, the court curiously asked him if there were plans to remove the army and the ISI chiefs. When the AG replied in the negative, he was asked to get it in writing from the government.

The sequence of events raises disturbing questions. Was it appropriate for the Chief Justice to entertain the petition in his chamber, summon the AG and demand a written guarantee of sorts even before the petition is admitted ? Did he exceed his authority ?

First, the petition was based entirely on conjecture, with no cause of action. Secondly, the petitioner has been a lawyer of the Pakistan army and is also a lawyer for the sacked Defence Secretary and hence an ‘interested party’. Finally, shouldn’t the ‘appeal’ have been heard in open court and not in camera ?

By insisting on a written guarantee that there is no plan to sack the army chief or the ISI chief, isn’t the Chief Justice straying into a dangerous and grey area ? He does appear to be over-stepping his Constitutional mandate and encroaching into the jurisdiction of the executive.

It can undermine the thaw in the government-army standoff. What could happen if the civilian government refuses to give any undertaking in writing ? It remains to be seen how the Chief Justice extricates himself from the mess. At the moment, one can only hope for the best.

Bring outsourced jobs back to US: Obama
Launches re-election bid with State of the Union Address
Ashish Kumar Sen in Washington DC

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday night urged American business leaders to bring outsourced jobs back to the US and said companies that send jobs overseas should not get a tax break.

“My message is simple. It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America,” Obama said in his State of the Union Address to a joint session of the US Congress. “Send me these tax reforms, and I’ll sign them right away,” he added.

Obama noted that at present companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas, while companies that choose to stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. “It makes no sense, and everyone knows it,” he said.

India has been one of the major destinations of outsourced jobs as US companies seek to cut costs and increase profits. Obama said no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas.

“From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here,” he said.

A major part of Obama’s third State of the Union Address was focused on the economy and aimed at Americans who will vote in the presidential election in November. The Republican Party is in the process of picking its nominee to challenge Obama.

He laid out a blueprint for “an economy that’s built to last - an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.”

Obama pointed out that he inherited a broken economy when he took office in 2009, but that in the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. He pointed out that the U.S. auto industry, which was in the doldrums when he took office, had been revived on his watch.

Obama took a swipe at members of the Congress citing a culture of bitter partisanship. Most Americans believe Washington is broken, he said, and the divide between the US capital and the rest of the country seems to get worse every year. He didn’t spare the executive branch, accusing it of being “inefficient, outdated and remote.”

Obama said his most immediate priority is to stop a tax increase on 160 million Americans and called for an end to tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.

He touched on his administration’s foreign policy and national security successes-the withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq, the killing of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the slowed momentum of the Taliban and the start of a US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“Ending the Iraq war has allowed us to strike decisive blows against our enemies,” he said. “From Pakistan to Yemen, the Al-Qaida operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can’t escape the reach of the United States of America.”

In a remark that won him a loud standing ovation from Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Obama denied that the U.S. is on the decline. “Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” he said.

Gaddafi supporters capture Bani Walid
Libyan Defence Minister in the restive town for talks

Tripoli, January 25
Libya’s Defence Minister held talks today with townsmen at Bani Walid, a former stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi where local fighters drove out a pro-government militia this week.

“The minister came here today and we are speaking to him to find a solution to this problem,” said Abdul Azziz al-Jmaili, a member of a local council in Bani Walid, 150 km south of Tripoli, adding that government forces were around the town.

The minister, Osama al-Juwali, is part of the provisional government installed in November by the National Transitional Council (NTC), the self-appointed body which won Western backing in an uprising that ousted Gaddafi in August.

Jmaili, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said a “peacekeeping force” comprised of units of former rebel fighters loyal to the NTC and drawn from other towns in the region had set up checkpoints in the outskirts of Bani Walid.

On Monday, armed residents attacked the barracks of the NTC force in the town, killing four fighters by the account of the government militia, and forced the unit to retreat to beyond the desert city’s limits.

Echoing complaints by residents that the pro-NTC fighters had been harassing people, making arrests and abusing prisoners, the town’s elders said on Tuesday that they were appointing their own local government and did not want any interference from the authorities in Tripoli.

Bani Walid, stronghold of the Warfalla tribe which nominally counts about one Libyan in six among its members, was one of the last towns to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year.

This week’s upheaval will heighten doubts about the NTC’s ability to bring order and establish control over armed groups - goals crucial to rebuilding oil exports and securing Libya’s vast desert borders in a region where al Qaeda is active.

People in Bani Walid reject accusations from NTC fighters that they remain loyal to Gaddafi, who was captured and killed in October after weeks on the run, or to his surviving sons, among them the now captive Saif al-Islam who staged his last stand in Bani Walid before fleeing into the Sahara in October.

Reuters reporters who toured Bani Walid on Tuesday saw no signs of the Gaddafi-era green flags which NTC supporters had earlier said had been hoisted over the town following the retreat of the pro-government militia. Some pro-Gaddafi graffiti remains in the town, but the most common banners flying were the red, green and black tricolour of the NTC. — Reuters

3 lawyers shot dead in Karachi

Karachi, January 25
Three lawyers belong to the minority Shia community were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the Pakistani port city of Karachi today, stoking fears of fresh sectarian tensions.

Another lawyer was injured in the attack near the city court complex in Karachi. The dead men - Badar Munir Jafri, Shakeel Jafri and Kafeel Jafri- were members of the same family.

Four gunmen, who were riding two motorcycles, followed the lawyers when they left the court complex in a car and attacked them in Aram Bagh area, witnesses said. The attackers escaped after the shooting.

Witnesses told the media that policemen in the area did little to stop the gunmen. Police officials said the victims were shot from close range. They described the attack as an incident of sectarian violence. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. The injured lawyer underwent surgery at the Civil Hospital and doctors said he was out of danger.

Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan removed the head of the Aram Bagh police station. He expressed solidarity with the lawyers’ community and asked them to stay calm.— PTI

Seals rescue hostages in Somalia

US Navy SEAL team members practice fast roping from a SH-60B Seahawk helicopter during a training exercise in this file photo. — AFP

Washington/Mogadishu, Jan 25
Helicopter-borne elite US Navy Seals struck deep into Somalia in a daring pre-dawn raid and freed two hostages, an American woman aidworker and a Dane, after a shootout with pirates holding them, leaving at least nine gunmen dead, a rare mission in the restive African nation.

The secret operation to secure the safe release of 32-year-old Jessica Buchanan, an American citizen employed by the Danish Demining Group, and her Danish colleague Poul Thisted, 60, was carried out at the order of President Barack Obama.

The two were abducted at gunpoint by pirates near Galcayo in the semi-autonomous Galmudug region of Somalia on October 25, 2011.

“Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our Special Operations Forces, Jessica Buchanan was rescued and she is on her way home,” Obama said in a statement issued after the raid in the wee hours today.

“As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts,” he said.

Obama said Buchanan was selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being. Last night, Obama spoke to Buchanan’s father.

“The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice,” Obama said, adding that this is yet another message to the world that America will stand strongly against any threats to its people.

According to US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, Buchanan and Thisted have been transported to a safe location where their health is being evaluated and arrangements made for them to return home.

“This successful hostage rescue, undertaken in a hostile environment, is a testament to the superb skills of courageous service members who risked their lives to save others. I applaud their efforts, and I am pleased that Ms Buchanan and Mr Thisted were not harmed during the operation,” he said.

There was no loss of life or injuries to US forces engaged in this operation.

Mohamed Ahmed Aalin, President of Galmudug state, was quoted as saying by CNN that nine gunmen were killed and five others detained by US forces.

During the raid, Seals parachuted from a plane into an area near the compound where the two hostages were being held, BBC said in its report. Shots were fired as the team approached the compound, but there were no US casualties.

The rescue team was on the ground for about an hour and the raid was over by 03:00 am local time (05:30 IST), it said.

Afterwards, the two freed hostages and the Seals left the area by helicopter for the nearby tiny Horn of Africa state of Djibouti, where the US has a military presence, it said, adding they were taken to Camp Lemonnier. — PTI