The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Philippines for united ASEAN stand on South China Sea

Phnom Penh, April 3
ASEAN should forge a common position on a proposed code of conduct aimed at easing tensions in the South China Sea before talking with China, Philippine President Benigno Aquino said today.

Aquino told fellow leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that the fundamentals of the proposed code should be “internal” to the regional block’s members, according to a statement by the Philippine foreign ministry. “It is important that we maintain ASEAN centrality,” Aquino said at the annual ASEAN summit in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

“After the CoC (code of conduct) has been finalised by ASEAN, then ASEAN member states will meet with China.” Philippine ambassador to ASEAN Wilfrido Villacorta told reporters today that China has said it wanted to be involved in the preparation and the drafting of the proposed code from the beginning.

Villacorta, however, noted that ASEAN had always taken the “driver’s seat” in its dealings with dialogue partners like China, Japan and South Korea on any issue.

Officials have said that not all ASEAN members support the Philippine position.

During Indonesia’s chairmanship of the regional bloc least year, ASEAN and China agreed on a set of guidelines for the proposed code, ending a nine-year impasse.

The code is envisioned to be a legally binding document aimed at preventing small incidents in the South China Sea from escalating into bigger conflicts that could draw in major world powers like the US. — AFP

Lift sanctions on Myanmar: Leaders

Asian leaders today called for Western sanctions against Myanmar to be lifted after its historic polls, as they held summit talks also dominated by North Korea and maritime disputes with China.

The call came amid international praise for Myanmar’s by-elections on Sunday which gave democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and former political prisoner, a seat in parliament for the first time.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) “call for the lifting of all sanctions on Myanmar”, Cambodian Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn told reporters on the sidelines of the bloc’s summit in Phnom Penh.

“The lifting of sanctions would contribute positively to the democratic process and especially economic development of Myanmar,” he said, quoting leaders inside the meeting room.

14 killed in sectarian violence in Pakistan

Islamabad, April 3
At least 14 persons were killed and over 50 others injured in sectarian violence in Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan today, prompting authorities to call in the army and impose a curfew to quell violence that rapidly spread to several towns and cities.

Five persons were killed and dozens injured in a grenade attack and incidents of firing between rival Shia and Sunni groups in Gilgit city, the capital of the region, the police said.

As the violence spread, a mob stopped several buses on the Karakoram Highway near the Sunni-dominated Chilas area, pulled out nine Shias and gunned them down, police said.

A majority of people travelling in the buses were Shias, officials said. Superintendent of Police Jamshed Khan and two policemen were injured in the attack. The attackers also torched four buses.

The violence erupted during a strike called by the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ), a radical Sunni group, to press the government to release some of its supporters. The ASWJ activists were arrested for an attack on a procession by a rival group last month. The ASWJ is considered a front for the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba.

Supporters of Shia and Sunni groups attacked each other in parts of Gilgit city this morning. The clashes began when ASWJ supporters burnt tyres on roads and reportedly forced traders to shut their shops.

Curfew was imposed in Gilgit shortly after 10 am and authorities made announcements asking people to stay indoors.

However, the local police force was unable to control the clashes. The army was called in later in the afternoon to quell the violence.

State-run Radio Pakistan reported that the army had taken control of Gilgit city and incidents of firing had stopped. — PTI

17 killed in Moscow market fire

A helicopter releases water to douse a fire at the top of the Federation Tower complex in Moscow. — Reuters

Moscow, April 3
At least 17 migrant workers, mostly from Tajikistan, were killed when a pre-dawn blaze swept through a market warehouse on Moscow’s outskirts today, Russia’s emergencies ministry said.

“We believe they were migrant workers who lived at the market,” a ministry spokesperson said.

The fire began at around 4:50 am (local time) in a warehouse at the Kachalovsky market, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported.

The metal-sided two-storey building was used as a storage warehouse at a construction materials market, said Gorbunov, deputy chief of the Emergency Situations department in Moscow’s southwestern district. The victims had been living in makeshift quarters in the rear of the building, he said.

“Why people were living there and what relationship they had with the market will be established by the investigation,” Gorbunov added.

UReports said the victims lived in cramped conditions, sleeping on stacked bunk beds, and that there was no direct exit to the street from their quarters.

The police also say they have opened a criminal investigation into the blaze, but have not yet brought charges against market owners. “The bodies are being identified, but this is difficult as they are all badly burnt,” a Moscow migration service spokesperson said. Rescue workers are still operating at the scene of the blaze. — PTI

Indian among 7 killed in US college shooting

Washington, April 3
A 38-year-old Sikkimese was among the seven killed by a disgruntled college student who carried out an execution type killing spree in a religious college in California that also left an Indian-American girl injured.

Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38, of San Francisco, was killed when the gunman stole his car outside the school yesterday morning.

Bhutia was born in Sikkim and lived alone in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood and worked nights cleaning terminals in city's airport, Oakland Tribune reported.

He was also studying nursing at Oikos, a tiny Christian college and also worked in restaurants.

The Indian-American who was injured was Dawinder Kaur, who was shot in her right arm near elbow.

She is nursing her injuries at a local hospital in Oakland, where the shooting incident happened yesterday, sending shock waves across the country.

The alleged suspect has been arrested by the Oakland Police, which local media outlets identified as 43-year-old One Goh, an American of Korean origin.

Several of the victims were students of the Oikos University, a small religious college in the Southern Californian city.

According to the daily, Dawinder told her family members that the alleged gunman, who had been absent from his class for past several months, suddenly appeared yesterday and ordered all the students to line up against a wall.

"He showed his gun and then the students started running," Dawinder told relatives.

Pastor Jong Kim, who founded the school about 10 years ago, told the Oakland Tribune that the shooter was a former nursing student, though he was unsure whether the man had been expelled or dropped.

Oikos University is a Christian university that focuses on nursing. — PTI

Myanmar Polls
Suu Kyi’s result card: 43/44

Yangon, April 3
Democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi's party won almost all the seats it contested in Myanmar elections, becoming the main opposition force in the national parliament, official results showed today.

The veteran dissident's National League for Democracy stormed to victory in 43 of the 44 constituencies where it fielded candidates in Sunday's polls, according to an election commission announcement on state television.

The landslide win in the byelections gave Suu Kyi her first-ever seat in Parliament, although it will not threaten the comfortable majority of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The Nobel laureate said in her victory speech on Monday that she hoped the vote would mark a "new era" for the nation after decades of repressive junta rule, but appealed for political unity and urged her supporters not to gloat.

The NLD won 37 seats in the 440-seat lower house, along with four in the upper house and two in the regional chambers, the results showed. One quarter of the seats are reserved for unelected military officials.

The NLD lost one seat in eastern Shan state to the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, which has strong support among ethnic minorities.

The USDP took just one seat, in a constituency in northwest Sagaing where the NLD candidate was disqualified from standing.

Suu Kyi's election to political office marks the latest sweeping change in the country formerly known as Burma after decades of outright military rule ended last year. — AFP

Ottoman dynasty’s oldest member dies

Neslisah Osmanoglu

Ankara, April 3
A family member says Neslisah Osmanoglu, the granddaughter of the last Ottoman Sultan and wife of late Egyptian Prince Muhammed Abdel Monem, has died. She was 91.

Neslisah Sultan, or Princess Neslisah, died in Istanbul yesterday, according to her nephew, Abdulhamid Kayihan Osmanoglu.

She was born in Istanbul in 1921, the last member of the family to be born in court before the empire collapsed. She was replaced with the Turkish Republic in 1923, and family members were sent into exile. She was a granddaughter of Sultan Vahdettin.

Neslisah Sultan was married to Prince Monem, who headed a regency committee that ruled from July 1952 to June 1953, when the new rulers of Egypt turned the country into a republic. — AP

2 Indians drown in Australia

Melbourne, April 3
Two Indians drowned at a northern New South Wales beach in Australia while swimming with a group of friends.

The two men, aged 24 and 25, were swimming with friends at Belongil Beach, Byron Bay, when they got into difficulty on Sunday, Australian news agency APP reported today.

The police said the men, who were not identified, were underwater for up to 10 minutes before they were taken ashore, where rescuers and paramedics tried in vain to revive them. — PTI