The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

UN leads global calls for action against violence in Syria

Demonstrators protest in front of the Syrian consulate in Istanbul on Sunday against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. — AFP

United Nations, May 27
The United Nations has strongly condemned the massacre of at least 92 civilians, including 32 children, in a village near Homs in Syria, leading global calls for urgent action against those responsible for the "appalling and brutal crime."

Observers from the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) confirmed the horrific killings after having viewed the bodies in the village of Houla. They also confirmed from an examination of ordnance that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential neighbourhood.

"This appalling and brutal crime involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres and violence in all its forms," said a statement issued on behalf of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syria, Kofi Annan.

"Those responsible for perpetrating this crime must be held to account," it added.

The Secretary-General and the Joint Special Envoy extended their profound sympathies to the families of the victims and to the wounded, underscoring their grave concern about the lack of protection for civilians in Syria.

General Robert Mood, the head of UNSMIS, issued a statement in which he said that UN observers went to Houla, where they counted more than 32 children under the age of 10 and over 60 adults killed.

"The circumstances that led to these tragic killings are still unclear," the statement noted, while adding that whoever is responsible for this "deplorable act of violence" should be held accountable.

"This indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force is unacceptable and unforgivable. The killing of innocent children and civilians needs to stop," the statement by Mood said.

Ban, Annan and Mood strongly demanded that the Syrian Government immediately cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres, and called on all parties to halt violence in all its forms.

Annan is contacting the Syrian authorities to convey the expectations of the international community, and he will also do so during his forthcoming visit to Syria. — PTI

Not our doing: Damascus

Damascus: The Syrian Government is “not at all” responsible for the massacre of at least 92 persons in Houla, foreign ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdissi said on Sunday. Blaming "terrorists" for the deaths on Friday and Saturday, the spokesman said the government had started an investigation. — AFP

Protests erupt after massacre

Amman: Syrian forces shot dead at least two men on Sunday as protests broke out to condemn the Houla massacre, Opposition activists said. The two were killed in the Damascus suburbs of Yalda and Daraya, home to thousands of refugees who have fled a military crackdown on the central province of Homs. — Reuters

8 Afghan civilians killed in NATO airstrike

Khost (Afghanistan), May 27
Eight members of an Afghan family, including six children and two women, were killed in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan, local authorities said on Sunday, although the NATO-led coalition said there was no evidence of any civilian casualties.

The strike took place in the Gerda Serai district of Paktia late on Saturday, the provincial governor's spokesman, Rohullah Samon, said as foreign and Afghan security forces try to quell Taliban and Haqqani network insurgents active in the area.

"The strike by ISAF killed four teenage boys, two teenage girls, and two women, and wounded two others," Samon said.

A senior official for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the coalition was looking into the alleged incident, but "so far had seen no evidence of civilian casualties".

Civilian casualties have been a major source of friction between President Hamid Karzai's government and US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Samon said the airstrike was not coordinated with Afghan security forces on the ground in the area.

NATO is preparing to hand over all security responsibilities to Afghan forces and most foreign combat troops are scheduled to leave the country by the end of 2014.

A NATO airstrike in Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul, in February killed eight children and prompted a furious Karzai to order an inquiry.

The coalition said four foreign soldiers were killed on Saturday by improvised bombs in unrelated incidents in the country's south. — Reuters

Siachen tragedy: 3 bodies found after 50 days
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

The search and rescue operation for the 140 soldiers and contractors buried at Gayari near Siachin glacier had its first success on its 50th day as the body of a soldier was recovered. He was identified as Mohammad Hussain.

The body has been shifted to Goma Hospital. More discoveries are expected over the next few days.

Rescue officials, working round the clock to find soldiers and about a dozen civilians buried by an avalanche on April 7, had first spotted a check post for the residential barracks of soldiers.

More than 450 rescuers, including foreign teams, have been working in sub-zero temperatures at the site since the incident though experts have said there is little chance of finding any survivor.

Fresh elections in Nepal on November 22

Kathmandu, May 27
Fresh elections to the Constituent Assembly in Nepal will be held on November 22 this year, the coalition government announced minutes before the midnight deadline tonight to promulgate the Constitution.

The cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, held an emergency meeting and also recommended to President Ram Baran Yadav to dissolve the Constituent Assembly, Health Minister and key Madhesi leader Rajendra Mahato said.

Immediately after the meeting the Prime Minister went to the Rastrapati Bhawan and conveyed the decision of the cabinet recommending for the fresh election date. The Constituent Assembly election held on April 2008 had elected 601 member Constituent Assembly for drafting a new constitution. — PTI

Nepal parties fail to finalise Constitution

Kathmandu, May 27
Nepal’s warring political parties said on Sunday they had failed to narrow their differences sufficiently to agree on a new Constitution for the Himalayan republic before a midnight deadline, plunging the country into fresh political turmoil.

“It is not possible to promulgate the Constitution within the deadline now. That possibility is out, 100 per cent,” said senior Maoist leader Post Bahadur Bogati after a meeting with other political parties.

Negotiators said the Cabinet would now have to decide between various courses of action, including declaring a state of emergency under which the life of the current Parliament would be extended for six months and calling a fresh election. — Reuters

Ahmadinejad urges unity against ‘evil’

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attends Parliament in Tehran on Sunday. — AFP

Tehran, May 27
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged Parliament to stand with him against “evil ones” who he said have encircled the nation.

The President’s address today to the opening session of the newly-elected Parliament is seen as an appeal to conservative opponents who crushed Ahmadinejad's allies in voting that ended earlier this month.

Iran is under pressure from Western countries who accuse it of trying to developing nuclear weapons technology. Iran denies the charge.

Ahmadinejad and the conservatives share similar views on foreign policy, but disagree on economic issues. The president lost their support when he was perceived to challenge the supremacy of top clerics last year. Ahmadinejad also asked legislators not to intervene in his areas of authority. — AP

Another N-plant by early 2014

Tehran: Iran is to build a new nuclear power plant, alongside its sole existing one in the southern city of Bushehr by early 2014, state television reported today, quoting the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organisation. — AFP

Pakistan parties call to end military op in Balochistan
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Senior leaders cutting across party lines called upon the government to stop the military operation in Balochistan, take steps to resolve the missing persons issue and work for a political solution to heal the wounds of the people.

They had converged at a national conference organised here by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on the troubled province.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif held dictators responsible for Balochistan’s current predicament, saying that their policies had forced people to take up arms.

He said the situation started worsening after Akbar Bugti’s assassination, recalling that even members of Bugti’s family were not allowed to attend his funeral.

Imran Khan said corruption and mis-governance have added to the woes of the Baloch people. The government this year allocated the highest-ever budget of Rs 100 billion for the province, but all that has been wasted and no improvement was visible in the conditions there, he said.

Raza Rabbani, the PPP stalwart, said the province had always been ignored by governments, but time had come to admit that “we have made mistakes”.

Former SCBA president Asma Jahangir said that time had come to decide whether “we want to have Balochistan or not because if we once again manipulate election results, we will lose the province”.

The conference adopted a resolution unanimously calling to replace the politics of garrison by a civilian authority that genuinely represents the will of the people.

Serial killer arrested in China

Beijing, May 27
A man who killed 11 persons in China has been arrested, authorities said on Sunday.

DNA evidence shows Zhang Yongming was behind the murders, the public security ministry said.

Fifty-six-year-old Zhang hails from Nanmen village in Yunnan province. All his victims were males, Xinhua reported.

Zhang was earlier convicted for a murder in 1979 but walked out of prison in 1997 after serving his sentence.

The probe shows Zhang attacked his victims when they were walking home alone on a deserted stretch near his house, where he lived alone since 2008.

After the murders, Zhang used various means, including dismemberment, burning and burial, to destroy the evidence. — IANS