W O R L D

Putin wins Russian prez poll
Moscow, March 5
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin trumped his four rivals to win Russia's presidential elections on Sunday, but his victory was tainted by opposition complaints of numerous violations.

Asia hails victory, West reacts warily

A teary-eyed Vladimir Putin addresses supporters during a rally near the Kremlin. — Reuters

103 troops killed in al-Qaida assault on Yemen army base
Aden, March 5
Al-Qaida militants have overrun an army base in restive southern Yemen, capturing heavy weapons and turning them on soldiers in intense clashes that left over 100 Yemeni soldiers dead.

Gunmen kill 26 cops in Iraq
Haditha (Iraq), March 5
Al-Qaida gunmen, some wearing army uniforms, raged through a western Iraq city today in a pre-dawn shooting spree that killed 26 policemen, including two officers.

Pak test-fires n-capable Hatf-II ballistic missile
Islamabad, March 5
Pakistan today successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable Hatf-II short range surface-to-surface ballistic missile that can hit targets in India as part of the process of validating its land-based missile systems.

Special to The Tribune
Indian art works captivate at UK museum
A rare painting by legendary Pahari artist Nainsukh of Guler is among the 115 works of Indian art currently being exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Nainsukh’s ‘Galloping Elephant’ from Howard Hodkin’s collection; and (right) Bhadrakali (auspicious Kali) stands astride a corpse

 

 

Putin wins Russian prez poll
Opponents complain of widespread fraud,
refuse to recognise results

Moscow, March 5
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin trumped his four rivals to win Russia's presidential elections on Sunday, but his victory was tainted by opposition complaints of numerous violations.

The teary-eyed Russian strongman claimed victory, storming into the Kremlin for a record third term. "I promised you we would win, and we won," Putin said, with tears rolling down his cheeks. "Glory to Russia!" "We have won in an open and honest battle. We proved that no-one can force anything on us," he said.

Putin, 59, triumphed in the presidential election held yesterday, securing almost 64% of the total votes cast, the Central Election Commission said, winning back the presidency which he held for two terms from 2000-2008 before spending the last four years as the country's Prime Minister.

"Preliminary results show that Vladimir Vladmirovich Putin has been elected President of the Russian federation," the country's Election Commission head Vladimir Churov announced. His nearest rival was the Communist party boss Gennady Zyuganov, who trailed far behind.

Putin, declared his victory before tens of thousands of his supporters who gathered with Russian flags and banners outside the Kremlin. He said that he had won in an open and honest battle.

Putin's opponents have complained of widespread fraud, refused to recognise the results. Their concerns were echoed by Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers who said the Russian election campaign was 'clearly skewed' in favour of Putin.

As contours of his landslide victory started filtering post-midnight, Putin made a brief appearance with current President Dmitry Medvedev to thank his supporters from "every corner" of the country.

Minutes after the official announcement of Putin's victory, police and troops rolled out in force in the Russian capital as opposition parties planned a mass protest against the Presidential elections.

The evening demonstration planned in Moscow's famous Pushkin Square could be a test whether the opposition forces can maintain the momentum of public protest that has brought tens of thousands of people to the street in months of unprecedented outcry. — Agencies

103 troops killed in al-Qaida assault
on Yemen army base

Aden, March 5
Al-Qaida militants have overrun an army base in restive southern Yemen, capturing heavy weapons and turning them on soldiers in intense clashes that left over 100 Yemeni soldiers dead.

Yesterday's assault was one of the single deadliest against Yemeni troops, and the latest in a spate of attacks against security forces since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged to destroy the militant group in last month's inauguration speech.

A medical official at the military hospital in the southern port city of Aden, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "The death toll has risen to at least 103 soldiers."

He said, "Many soldiers died from wounds sustained in the assault" on army posts on the outskirts of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial capital where Qaida-linked militants are in control.

A military official, who also declined to be identified, said Qaida militants were responsible for the "surprise attack," saying, "It was a massacre." Another medic said hospital staff was overwhelmed by the number of casualties.

"We were forced to use administrative offices and waiting rooms to treat the wounded," he said, declining to be named. "The hospital was packed full with dead and injured soldiers."

Military officials had reported fierce clashes yesterday when suspected Qaida militants tried to overrun an army post in Kud, just south of Zinjibar. The violence then spread to other military positions on the outskirts of the city. — AFP

Gunmen kill 26 cops in Iraq

Haditha (Iraq), March 5
Al-Qaida gunmen, some wearing army uniforms, raged through a western Iraq city today in a pre-dawn shooting spree that killed 26 policemen, including two officers.

The assault, launched at about 2.00 am (local time), saw insurgents dressed in military uniforms simultaneously attacking two checkpoints in the east and west of Haditha before storming other security posts and raiding the homes of the two officers.

Today's violence, the deadliest in Iraq since February 23, comes just weeks before an Arab League summit due to be held in Baghdad at the end of the month. — AFP

Pak test-fires n-capable Hatf-II ballistic missile

Islamabad, March 5
Pakistan today successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable Hatf-II short range surface-to-surface ballistic missile that can hit targets in India as part of the process of validating its land-based missile systems.

Hatf-II or Abdali has a range of 180 km and can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with "high accuracy". It "provides an operational level capability to Pakistan's Strategic Forces, additional to the strategic and tactical level capability which Pakistan already possesses", the statement said.

The authorities did not say where the test was carried out. The test was witnessed by Strategic Plans Division chief Lt Gen (retired) Khalid Kidwai and Army Strategic Force Command chief Lt Gen Tariq Nadeem Gilani. — PTI

Special to The Tribune
Indian art works captivate at UK museum
Shyam Bhatia in London

A rare painting by legendary Pahari artist Nainsukh of Guler is among the 115 works of Indian art currently being exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Visions of Mughal India from the private collection of British artist Howard Hodkin, described as one of the finest private collections of its kind, include royal portraits, epics, myths, scenes of court life and hunting scenes from the Punjab hills, Rajasthan, the Deccan Sultanates and the Imperial Mughal court from 1550 to 1850.

The work of Nainsukh, who flourished in the mid-18th century under the patronage of Balwant Singh of Jasrota, is described as an elongated hunting scene in which Balwant Singh and other nobles on horseback surround a huge and defiant tiger (see photo).

Another later work attributed to either Naisukh or his close followers includes the 'Disrobing of Draupadi' and a study of Pahari singers singing by the wayside. One of the most outstanding works in the collection that has attracted widespread attention is a Basohli work of a bejeweled Bhadrakali (auspicious Kali) standing astride a corpse (see photo).

In her bloody lower hands she holds three-four severed heads of Brahma and the limp corpses of Vishnu and Shiva. With her upper hands she flourishes a sword while feeding corpses into her gaping mouth. Severed hands hang from her belt.

For devotees of the Tantric tradition, her supreme cosmic power is seen to absorb the powers of all other gods, transcending the bonds of Time, Karma and Death.

Other paintings that have attracted attention include a work of art from Arki near Shimla that shows two yogis making music while seated on a leopard skin.

A third painting from Kota in Rajasthan depicts the surging power of a red-eyed elephant with a blazing orange pupil fixed on the yellowing space ahead of him. Hodgkin, who is 80, started collecting pictures during his schooldays in the late 1940s. He says of his collection: "These pictures have been chosen because I thought they were beautiful, because they touched my emotions and not for any scholarly purposes."

In an earlier filmed interview he told how, "The first Indian paintings I saw astounded me because they depicted a whole world in away which was completely convincing but totally separate from the tradition of Western art which I was used to. At least it seemed so at the time. I've realised long since that it wasn't nearly as separate as I first thought, but as it was a whole world in which everything was very precise and visible and yet somewhere else. I was very excited by this."

Asked by The Tribune if the process of collecting had made him an India expert, Hodgkin replied, "No that would be very presumptuous." But he agreed that the paintings and an earlier friendship with the late Baroda-based artist Bhupen Khakhar had generated for him an interest in India and the Indian way of life.

"In the beginning when I was friendly with Bhupen Khakhar and I visited him at home and met his family, then it became something else."

Hodgkin said his own favourite paintings in the collection were from Kota in Rajasthan, including paintings of elephants, "because they are such great drawings". He also commented on two other unique paintings -- one of Aurangzeb and one of the sad-eyed last Mughal king Bahadur Shah about whom Hodgkin says, "It was very tragic, all our fault."