The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Russia, China veto UN’s Syria resolution
India, 12 other Security Council members vote in favour

United Nations, February 4
Russia and China joined forces in a double veto today to knock down a Western-Arab U.N. Security Council resolution backing an Arab League plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside.

The other 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution, which would have said that the council "fully supports" the Arab League plan aimed at ending 11 months of bloodshed as Syria has sought to crush an anti-Assad uprising.

Mohammed Loulichki, the UN ambassador of Morocco, the sole Arab member of the 15-nation council, voiced his "great regret and disappointment" that Moscow and Beijing struck down the resolution.

Dropping the usual diplomatic courtesies, US Ambassador Susan Rice said she was "disgusted" by the Russian and Chinese veto, adding that "any further bloodshed that flows will be on their (Russia's and China's) hands."

French Ambassador Gerard Araud told the council, "It is a sad day for this council, a sad day for all Syrians, and a sad day for democracy."

This is the second time that permanent members Russia and China have exercised a double veto on the Syria issue. In October, they vetoed a European-drafted resolution condemning Syria and threatening it with possible sanctions.

Diplomats said China had been expected to follow Russia's lead and the decision to veto the text came from Moscow. Russia had complained that the draft resolution was an attempt at "regime change" in Syria, Moscow's close ally and a key Russian weapons export destination. — Reuters

5 Syrian embassies ransacked after govt troops kill 200

London, February 4
Demonstrators have stormed five Syrian embassies in Europe and the Middle East after Syrian forces reportedly killed more than 200 people in the city of Homs.

In Europe, protesters forced their way into the Syrian embassies in London and Athens today, prompting some arrests and causing minor damage.

A view of destroyed furniture and equipment in the Syrian embassy after it was ransacked by protesters in Cairo on Saturday. — Reuters

Britain's Foreign Office condemned the break-in, which it said put two police officers in the hospital with minor injuries. The British police said six people were arrested following a demonstration in London drew around 150 protesters.

Scotland Yard said five men were arrested for forcing entry into the embassy on London's wealthy Belgrave Square, while a sixth was arrested for assaulting police.

A similar scene played out in Athens, where police said 13 people, 12 Syrians and one Iraqi national were detained after forcing their way into the Syrian Embassy.

In Germany, 20 people forced their way into Syria's Embassy in Berlin yesterday and damaged offices there, the police said.

Syrian protesters in Cairo set part of the embassy on fire yesterday night, while protesters in Kuwait broke windows at the embassy and hoisted the opposition flag.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama blamed the Syrian government of "unspeakable assault" on its civilians in the city of Homs, as he demanded that President Bashar Assad step down. "I condemn the Syrian government's unspeakable assault against the people of Homs and I offer my deepest sympathy to those who have lost loved ones," Obama said.— AP

Oil ban won’t halt N-work: Iran

Tehran, February 4
Iran’s oil minister said the Islamic state would not retreat from its nuclear programme even if its crude oil exports grind to a halt, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

But he also called on the European Union, which accounted for a quarter of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011, to review its decision last week to bank Iranian oil imports from July 1. “We will not abandon our just nuclear course, even if we cannot sell one drop of oil,” Rostam Qasemi told reporters, according to IRNA.

Tension with the West rose last month when Washington and the European Union imposed the toughest sanctions yet on Iran in a bid to force it to provide more information on its nuclear programme. The measures are aimed at shutting off the second-biggest OPEC oil exporters’ sales of crude.

Qasemi said Iran would cut oil exports to some nations in Europe, he did not specify which, in retaliation for the 27-state EU’s decision to stop importing Iranian crude.

“Our oil exports will certainly be cut to some European countries ... We will decide about other European countries later,” Qasemi told a news conference, IRNA reported.

He urged Europe to reconsider its ban, and said the oil market is in balance now but would be thrown into turmoil without Iranian crude supplies.

However, analysts say the global oil market would not be greatly affected if Iran were to turn off the oil tap to Europe. — Reuters

‘Iran mass producing anti-ship missile’

Iran has begun mass production of an anti-ship cruise missile, state television’s website said on Saturday. The Zafar missile, as it is dubbed in the report, “is a short-range, anti-ship cruise missile capable of destroying small and medium-sized targets with high precision.” It can be mounted on speedboats and other light vessels, can withstand electronic warfare, and is able to fly in low altitudes to avoid detection, the report said. — AFP

Zardari pledges support to Kashmir ‘cause’

Islamabad, February 4
Pakistan will continue to extend its “fullest political, moral and diplomatic support” to the “just cause” of the Kashmiri people, President Asif Ali Zardari has said.

In a message on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day that is observed by Pakistan on February 5 every year, Zardari said the country would continue to express “complete solidarity with the Kashmiris”.

The Kashmiri people will have Pakistan’s “fullest political, moral and diplomatic support to their just cause”, he said.

The government and the people observe Kashmir Solidarity Day by “renewing their unswerving support for the just struggle of the Kashmiri people for the realisation of their fundamental and inalienable rights”, he contended. Pakistan seeks a “peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute”, he added. — PTI

Post-war, human rights trouble for Sri Lanka
Chandani Kirinde in Colombo

Sri Lanka celebrated its 64th anniversary of independence from British rule on Saturday but in spite of the end of a separatist war, the country’s human rights situation continues to trouble the government.

CELEBRATING FREEDOM: Traditional dancers perform during a parade celebrating the 64th Independence Day in Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) on Saturday. — Reuters

President Mahinda Rajapaksa who participated in the main celebrations mentioned the issue, which has become a growing headache for the government.

“Conspiracies and propaganda of terrorists based overseas have not abated still,” the President said echoing the government’s sentiments in dealing with those who accuse it of rights violations.

A high-level government delegation is in Geneva to attend the preliminary sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) amidst fears that a resolution against Sri Lanka may be moved at the March sessions.

Lobby groups of the LTTE have kept up the pressure on the government since the LTTE was defeated in May 2009, using human rights organisations to prop up their call to have an international investigation in alleged rights violations that took place during the last few weeks of the war.

“We are engaged in the task of creating a stable peace and national unity after liberating the country from terrorism. This is not a task confined to one individual or a party,” the President said.

The failure on the part of the government to come up with proper proposal to find a political solution to the demands by the Tamil minority too has led to skepticism by minority political parties.

On Saturday, the President said the government was moving quickly to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), a local common of inquiry, which probed if any rights violation had taken place during the war.

UK varsity scholarship in Bidve’s memory

London, February 4
Anuj Bidve's alma mater, Lancaster University is setting up a scholarship in memory of the Indian student whose killing in an unprovoked attack in the UK evoked widespread sympathy and outrage.

"The scholarship is a fitting and lasting way of remembering Anuj, who was an outstanding student," said Lancaster University's vice-chancellor Professor Mark E Smith.

Bidve, 23, was studying engineering at Lancaster when he was killed in Salford on December 26.

The annual scholarship will fund an engineering MSc for a student graduating from the University of Pune in India, where Bidve studied. The scholarship, which is for fees and accommodation, has been agreed in line with the wishes of Bidve's family, the BBC reported.

The university said it hoped the first student to receive the award would come to Lancaster in October 2012. — PTI