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Taliban suspend peace talks
with America Egypt charges 75 in deadly soccer riot
Syria planting mines to stop refugee flight, says Turkey
Saudi Arabia closes embassy in Syria Roadside bomb kills 13 in Afghanistan
Swiss couple escape from Pakistan Taliban captivity
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UK channel airs Lankan ‘war crimes’ documentary Pressure mounted on Sri Lanka over its rights record as a British channel broadcast a documentary suggesting that slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son was killed by army after the boy surrendered, prompting Colombo to reject it as “baseless and unacceptable”. The new documentary by the British Channel 4 television, which accused Sri Lanka of war crimes during the final battle with the LTTE, provided a forensic expert opinion claiming that Prabakaran’s son had been executed at close range upon surrender towards the end of the war in 2009. The programme titled ‘Sri Lanka Killing Fields - War Crimes Unpunished’ was aired in the UK last night. “We have obtained a sworn affidavit from a senior Sri Lankan officer in which he suggests that the boy was apparently interrogated about his father’s whereabouts, and then killed,” a Channel 4 spokeswoman told the BBC. “Evidence that the shooting of the 12-year-old was an execution rather than a combat injury can be seen in high resolution photographs of his dead body - these stills are examined by respected forensic pathologist Derrick Pounder in the film.” Pounder describes the killing as homicide. Pounder said the boy, Balachandran Prabhakaran, had five dead males alongside him “who may well have been killed before he was killed”. In Colombo, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence dismissed as “baseless and unacceptable” the documentary by the British Channel 4 television. In a news release, the Ministry said that the first such video released by Channel 4 has been proven to be technically engineered. It showed several blindfolded men with their hand tied behind their backs being executed by men in military style uniforms. The ministry charged that Channel 4 opted to air the documentary despite their inability to verify the authenticity of footage if confronted by a responsible body. “It is noted that the Channel 4 has come up with the second and similar video at defaming Sri Lanka at the current UN summit for Human Rights held in Geneva. “The ministry of defence rejects all allegations of human rights violations stating that it is able to prove with valid evidence that it was the LTTE that committed gross violations of human rights over the past three decades,” the ministry said in a statement. Sri Lanka alleges that Channel 4 was influenced by the pro-LTTE diaspora in Britain who are targeting the government for its action to crush the LTTE. The documentary was aired at a time when the UN Human Rights Council is expected to debate a US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka’s rights accountability. The Sri Lankan High Commission in London also condemned the programme as based on “a number of highly spurious and uncorroborated allegations”. (With inputs from PTI)
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Taliban suspend peace talks with America Kabul, March 15 “It was due to their alternating and ever-changing position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans,” a statement posted on the Taliban website said, making no mention of Sunday’s murders. Instead, the militia complained that an American representative presented a list of conditions in the latest meeting with the Taliban “which were not only unacceptable but also in contradiction with the earlier agreed upon points”. The statement confirmed that Taliban representatives had held talks in Qatar with their US counterparts over a prisoner exchange as well as the opening of a liaison office in the Gulf state. “We must categorically state that the real source of obstacle in talks was the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans therefore all the responsibility for the halt also falls on their shoulders,” it said. — AFP
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Egypt charges 75 in deadly soccer riot Cairo, March 15 Those charged include nine police officers and two minors. Among the police officers are Maj Gen Issam Samak, who was Port Said’s chief of security at the time of the riot. Samak has already been suspended. The riot began minutes after the final whistle in a league game between Cairo club al-Ahly and al-Masry of Port Said. The home side won 3-1 but its fans set upon the rival supporters in a killing frenzy that witnesses said lasted 30 minutes. Many witnesses claimed that policemen at the venue did nothing to stop the bloodshed. A statement by the Egyptian general prosecutor’s office said the charges were based on video footage of the riot and the confessions of suspects. It said the killing of the protesters was planned in advance and that the culprits prepared for the massacre with knifes, rocks and explosives. Fans from the two teams have a history of animosity. — AP
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Syria planting mines to stop refugee flight, says Turkey Ankara, March 15 “The Syrian administration has been planting mines, taking measures not to allow refugees to flee to the other side of the border,” Besir Atalay said in televised remarks. Atalay said the Syrian army was militarily intervening in any attempt by the people fleeing the unrest. The number of Syrians arriving at the Turkish border is increasing daily. Around 1,000 Syrian refugees, including a defecting general, flocked into Turkey in the last 24 hours, the foreign ministry said Thursday. According to monitoring groups, more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria, the majority of them civilians. — AFP
Saudi Arabia closes embassy in Syria
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia says it has closed its embassy in Damascus and pulled out its diplomats and staff as Syrian President Bashar Assad steps up attacks against the opposition. The kingdom has become one of the leading Arab supporters of the Syrian rebels and has appealed for international efforts to study ways to provide aid and weapons to anti-Assad forces. The embassy closure was announced late Wednesday on the official Saudi Press Agency. Saudi Arabia is a main regional rival of Iran, which is a close ally of Assad. Last month, the Gulf Cooperation Council proposed that all Arab League nations withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. — AP
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Roadside bomb kills 13 in Afghanistan Kandahar, March 15 The bombing in the troubled province’s Dihrawud district comes a day after a similar incident killed eight civilians in the neighbouring province of Helmand and while US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was holding talks in Kabul. The blast hit a station wagon travelling on a dirt road in Uruzgan province, provincial police spokesman Farid Ail told AFP. “There are 13 people dead: nine children and four women,” he said. Two others were injured, he added. — AFP
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Swiss couple escape from Pakistan Taliban captivity Islamabad, March 15 The Swiss couple — Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 29 — were found in Miranshah, the main town of the volatile North Waziristan tribal region. The couple told military officials that they had escaped from their captors and gone to a security check post, chief military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the media. — PTI
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Egypt’s top prosecutor today charged 75 persons with murder and negligence in connection with a deadly soccer riot last month in the Mediterranean city of Port Said.
At least 74 persons were killed in the February 1 riot, the world’s worst soccer-related disaster in 15 years.
Syria has planted landmines near its border with Turkey along routes used by refugees fleeing the regime’s deadly crackdown on dissent, the Turkish deputy prime minister said today.
“The Syrian administration has been planting mines, taking measures not to allow refugees to flee to the other side of the border,” Besir Atalay said in televised remarks.
