Army out as riots spread in Lanka 
Colombo, June 17
Sri Lanka today deployed Army as clashes between Buddhists and minority Muslims spread to newer areas overnight in a popular tourist region where a curfew failed to douse the flare up that has killed four persons and destroyed a number of homes and businesses.

A man at his charred home following clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in the town of Alutgama on Tuesday. AFP

Vienna, June 17
Iran and six world powers re-launched talks on Tuesday to rescue prospects for a deal on Tehran's nuclear activity by a July deadline, striving to prevent a long-time standoff from descending into a wider Middle East war.

With time running short if a risky extension of the nuclear talks is to be avoided, negotiators face huge challenges to bridge gaps in positions over the future scope of Iran's nuclear programme in less than five weeks.

The talks, coordinated by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, stumbled during the last round in mid-May. Both sides accused the other of lacking realism in their demands and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the negotiations had "hit a wall".

Although such rhetoric may in part be a negotiating tactic, it also underlines how far the sides are from resolving a dispute that could unleash war in the region. Israel sees a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat and has in the past suggested it could carry out air strikes on its installations.

The powers want Iran to significantly scale back its uranium enrichment programme, denying it any capability to move quickly to production of a nuclear bomb. Iran denies any such ambition and demands that crippling economic sanctions, eased slightly in recent months, be lifted entirely as part of any settlement.

The sides also must resolve other complex issues, including the extent of UN nuclear watchdog monitoring of Iranian nuclear sites, how long any agreement should run and the future of Iran's planned Arak research reactor, a potential source of plutonium for atomic bombs. "We don't have illusions about how hard it will be to close those gaps, though we do see ways to do so," a senior US official said on Monday, signalling the pace of diplomacy would intensify in the days and weeks ahead.

However, sounding a cautiously hopeful note after a bilateral US-Iranian meeting in Geneva last week, the official said that "we are engaged in a way that makes it possible to see how we could reach an agreement". He did not elaborate.

In Tehran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "If the other parties enter in negotiations with realistic views, the possibility of a final agreement exists. But if they act irrationally, we will act in accordance to our national rights." Zarif, Ashton and the US delegation, led by Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and including Deputy US Secretary of State Bill Burns, held trilateral talks on Monday ahead of the start of formal negotiations on Tuesday.

US and Iranian diplomats also spoke about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Iraq on Monday. — Reuters

Afzal Khan in Islamabad
At least eight persons, including two women and a police commando, were killed and more than 70 wounded in violent clashes between supporters of a Canada-based influential cleric and Pakistani police here today.

The followers of Dr Tahirul Qadri, who had last year came to Pakistan from Canada to lead an anti-corruption march just before the elections, clashed with the police over removal of security barriers near Qadri’s Lahore residence.

“We have received eight bodies and 70 injured,” Jinnah Hospital officials said. They said two women and a policemen were among the dead.

The officials said majority of the injured persons had suffered bullet injuries in the clashes in Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s home city.

The clashes broke when police went to Qadri’s residence following the Punjab’s PML-N government’s order to remove security barriers near Qadri’s residence in the city’s Model Town area, a few kilometres from the office of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The police surrounded the residence and office of Qadri’s party, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), meaning ‘Pakistan People’s Movement’, and warned his supporters to leave. Eyewitnesses said the PAT workers refused to vacate the place leading to the clashes with the police. Some 1,000 police personnel including Elite Force commandos were involved in the operation.

Qadri, who is returning to Pakistan on June 23 from Canada, said the police fire at peaceful workers of the party who were directed by him to remain peaceful. He said the Punjab government has created a situation to divide the nation at a time when it badly needs to stay united behind its army that is engaged in operation against terrorists.

Punjab law minister announced this afternoon that a judicial inquiry has been ordered in the incident.

(With inputs from PTI)

Colombo, June 17
Sri Lanka today deployed Army as clashes between Buddhists and minority Muslims spread to newer areas overnight in a popular tourist region where a curfew failed to douse the flare up that has killed four persons and destroyed a number of homes and businesses.

Officials said the Sri Lankan Army was called in as tensions in Aluthgama and Beruwala areas in the country’s southwestern region escalated last night. The decision followed a request made by the police.

The affected areas, often frequented by international tourists, are about 60 kilometres south of the capital Colombo. However, no tourist have reported to be caught in the middle of the violence.

Local residents claim that a poultry farm caretaker was hacked to death by a mob in th fresh round of arson, taking the toll in the two-days’ ethnic violence to four. Another 80 people have been wounded in the riots.

Local residents said there were reports of clashes spreading to Welipenna, a suburb of Alutgama previously untouched by the flare up, last night. They have alleged that the police have done little to quell the clashes, a charge rejected by the police. — PTI

Islamabad, June 17
The Pakistan Army has killed over 200 militants in their all-out offensive against the Taliban in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked Afghan President Hamid Karzai to plug the entry of terrorists fleeing the assault.

At least 25 militants have been killed in the operation against Taliban militants in the North Waziristan, one of seven tribal regions of Pakistan, the military said today.

Fighter jets destroyed six terrorist hideouts, including a training camp and an IED making factory around Hasokhel early this morning.

"As many as 25 foreign and local terrorists were killed in the strikes," Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a statement.

He said the operation was progressing as per plan and the cordon around all terrorist hideouts including in the town of Mirali and Miranshah has been further tightened. The death toll in three days of fighting has risen to 212, including the 25 killed today.

The Army wants to complete the operation before start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan later this month, an official said. — PTI