WASHINGTON: The United States has endorsed India's regional primacy, including the role it is playing in Afghanistan, against strenuous objections from Pakistan.
In the process, Washington also rubbished Islamabad's allegations that New Delhi was using Kabul to destabilize Pakistan, saying once again that Pakistan needs to worry about its own terrorists rather than Indian presence in Afghanistan.
Key American pronouncements in this regard came during an interview by US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (Af-Pak) Richard Holbrooke to a Pakistani television network, whose host asked him about India's locus standi vis-à-vis Afghanistan when "it does not have a common border or a Pashtun population."
"Of course...India will have a role. It is the second biggest country in the world! What India does matters to the world!" Holbrooke exclaimed.
When the host followed up by asking Holbrooke about what Pakistan claims are subversive actions carried out by over-staffed (by spies) Indian consulates in Afghanistan bordering Pakistan, Holbrooke simply laughed at the idea.
"Pakistan has told me India has hundreds of people in (the consulate) at Kandahar," he chortled. "I asked people...asked Americans and the UN...how big is the Indian consulate in Kandahar...and they said six to eight people."
"Pakistan does not have to worry about Indians in Afghanistan. It has to worry about miscreants in western Pakistan," Holbrooke advised.
The allegation that India is supporting separatist elements in Balochistan has become a part of the new Pakistani narrative. Some Pakistanis see a grand conspiracy involving New Delhi, Washington, and even Israel to divide Pakistan and divest it of its "nuclear assets." No less a person than Pakistan's interior secretary Rehman Malik offered "proof" of Indian involvement in Balochistan to Pakistani law-makers recently.
While even the liberal Pakistani media has scoffed at the idea of India's involvement in Balochistan, it has been advanced by some American experts in Washington who are seen as sympathetic to Islamabad. Christine Fair, an analyst with Rand Corporation, recently suggested darkly that New Delhi was not entirely above board, saying Indian personnel were doing more than just distributing visas at its consulates bordering Pakistan's western border.
But Holbrooke, who would have access to definitive intelligence, showed little patience for such conspiracy theories that appear aimed at manipulating domestic public opinion in Pakistan against India. He said there is "no evidence at all, that Indians are supporting miscreants" in Pakistan along its border with Afghanistan.
Further defending New Delhi's role in Afghanistan, Holbrooke said the United States did not tell India what to do in that country. India had given $ 1 billion to Afghanistan and "the assistance is very public." India had built Afghanistan’s parliament building, "a very useful road in the south west" linking Iran, trained agriculture experts and given scholarships.
"All of that is open. What India is doing is part of the international efforts. I don't think it should be of concern to Pakistan," Holbrooke said. It is the first time that any administration official has so bluntly told Pakistan that it was way out of league and out of line in objecting to India's presence in Afghanistan, with which New Delhi claims historical and millennial ties, and a contiguity that predates Islam. It appeared to be part of the many "painful, specific" conversations that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said US officials were having with Pakistan to explain its place in the scheme of things.
Holbrooke also avoided the interviewer's effort to draw him into a discussion on Kashmir, saying "my job is only Afghanistan and Pakistan...and when I go to India it is only to consult them and keep them abreast and to let them know what is happening."
He joked that the media was constantly trying to get him "to say the K-word and I try not to say it."
NATO ships, helicopters hunt down 7 pirates
AP – This is a photo made available by NATO CC-MAR HQ Northwood, England, taken from the Dutch vessel, HNLMS … NAIROBI, Kenya – NATO warships and helicopters pursued Somali pirates for seven hours after they attacked a Norwegian tanker, NATO spokesmen said Sunday, and the high-speed chase only ended when warning shots were fired at the pirates' skiff.
Seven pirates attempted to attack the Norwegian-flagged MV Front Ardenne late Saturday but fled after crew took evasive maneuvers and alerted warships in the area, said Portuguese Lt. Cmdr. Alexandre Santos Fernandes, aboard a warship in the Gulf of Aden, and Cmdr. Chris Davies, of NATO's maritime headquarters in England.
"How the attack was thwarted is unclear, it appears to have been the actions of the tanker," Davies said. Fernandes said no shots were fired at the tanker.
Davies said the pirates sailed into the path of the Canadian warship Winnipeg, which was escorting a World Food Program delivery ship through the Gulf of Aden. The American ship USS Halyburton was also in the area and joined the chase.
"There was a lengthy pursuit, over seven hours," Davies said.
The pirates hurled weapons into the dark seas as the Canadian and U.S. warships closed in. The ships are part of NATO's anti-piracy mission.
"The skiff abandoned the scene and tried to escape to Somali territory," Fernandes said. "It was heading toward Bossaso we managed to track them ... warning shots have been made after several attempts to stop the vessel."
Both ships deployed helicopters, and naval officers hailed the pirates over loudspeakers and finally fired warning shots to stop them, Fernandes said, but not before the pirates had dumped most of their weapons overboard. NATO forces boarded the skiff, where they found a rocket-propelled grenade, and interrogated, disarmed and released the pirates.
The pirates cannot be prosecuted under Canadian law because they did not attack Canadian citizens or interests and the crime was not committed on Canadian territory.
"When a ship is part of NATO, the detention of person is a matter for the national authorities," Fernandes said. "It stops being a NATO issue and starts being a national issue."
The pirates' release underscores the difficulties navies have in fighting rampant piracy off the coast of lawless Somalia. Most of the time foreign navies simply disarm and release the pirates they catch due to legal complications and logistical difficulties in transporting pirates and witnesses to court.
Pirates have attacked more than 80 boats this year alone, four times the number assaulted in 2003, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau. They now hold at least 18 ships — including a Belgian tanker seized Saturday with 10 crew aboard — and over 310 crew hostage, according to an Associated Press count.
Tomb sweeping day in China
BEIJING: Millions of Chinese visited cemeteries across the country to clean tombs and offer flowers to their forefathers on Qingming, the traditional tomb sweeping day, which is akin to the Indian ceremony of sradha or tarpan. But the occasion also sparked a debate about the high costs of funerals and death related ceremonies.
"I will be going to Australia soon for study. I have come here to get the blessings of my forefathers so that I am successful," Liu Xu, a 19-year-old girl visiting Beijing’s biggest cemetery of Babaoshan told TNN on Saturday, which marked the All Souls Day in China.
The dead are being pandered with a wide range of goodies with family members leaving bottles of liquor, packets of cigarettes, sweets and an assortment of fruits and foods on the tombs. Most tombs are decorated with flowers, both real and paper ones, while some of them have been offered incense sticks and tiny bottles of perfume.
The vast cemetery, which holds the remains of more than 50,000 people, has turned into a sea of money-fake paper money given to the dead to make their life in the other world comfortable. Paper money resembling past and present Chinese currencies besides the US dollar carry prints for exaggerated sums like one million yuan or $10,000.
"I am here to pay respect to my parents. But the younger generation is no more keen about such traditions," Zhang Qing, 72, who had traveled 90 kms to a Beijing cemetery told TNN, while repainting the names of his parents on old tombstones.
Indeed, most visitors to the tombs in Beijing were either the elderly or middle-aged people. There were very few young people to be seen apart from some children accompanying grandparents. The young mostly pay their respects by burning paper money in street corners near their houses instead of taking the trouble of visiting cemeteries.
The Ministry of Railways said it was expecting about 22 million passengers to travel during the three-day tomb sweeping holidays that began Friday. But a lot of passengers would be making the best of the holidays and traveling for pleasure instead of visiting tombs.
Thousands of young people wrote or read complained voiced over the Internet about the high cost of maintaining tombs and traditions related to funerals. Many ranted against what they called malpractises of the funeral industry, which was charging abnormal sums for flower wreaths and things like urns that are used at the tombs.
Tombs usually contain the ashes of people cremated in electric crematoriums. Very few, if any, are actually buried because of the high cost of burials and official discouragement of the practise. In many cases, tombs are concrete boxes mounted on walls instead of being stand-alone pieces. In such cases, family members use gum tapes to paste flowers on them and leave wines and foods at the foot of the wall for the dead to partake.
"I will be going to Australia soon for study. I have come here to get the blessings of my forefathers so that I am successful," Liu Xu, a 19-year-old girl visiting Beijing’s biggest cemetery of Babaoshan told TNN on Saturday, which marked the All Souls Day in China.
The dead are being pandered with a wide range of goodies with family members leaving bottles of liquor, packets of cigarettes, sweets and an assortment of fruits and foods on the tombs. Most tombs are decorated with flowers, both real and paper ones, while some of them have been offered incense sticks and tiny bottles of perfume.
The vast cemetery, which holds the remains of more than 50,000 people, has turned into a sea of money-fake paper money given to the dead to make their life in the other world comfortable. Paper money resembling past and present Chinese currencies besides the US dollar carry prints for exaggerated sums like one million yuan or $10,000.
"I am here to pay respect to my parents. But the younger generation is no more keen about such traditions," Zhang Qing, 72, who had traveled 90 kms to a Beijing cemetery told TNN, while repainting the names of his parents on old tombstones.
Indeed, most visitors to the tombs in Beijing were either the elderly or middle-aged people. There were very few young people to be seen apart from some children accompanying grandparents. The young mostly pay their respects by burning paper money in street corners near their houses instead of taking the trouble of visiting cemeteries.
The Ministry of Railways said it was expecting about 22 million passengers to travel during the three-day tomb sweeping holidays that began Friday. But a lot of passengers would be making the best of the holidays and traveling for pleasure instead of visiting tombs.
Thousands of young people wrote or read complained voiced over the Internet about the high cost of maintaining tombs and traditions related to funerals. Many ranted against what they called malpractises of the funeral industry, which was charging abnormal sums for flower wreaths and things like urns that are used at the tombs.
Tombs usually contain the ashes of people cremated in electric crematoriums. Very few, if any, are actually buried because of the high cost of burials and official discouragement of the practise. In many cases, tombs are concrete boxes mounted on walls instead of being stand-alone pieces. In such cases, family members use gum tapes to paste flowers on them and leave wines and foods at the foot of the wall for the dead to partake.
Reality TV star Jade Goody laid to rest
LONDON: The British reality TV star Jade Goody, who lived a short but eventful life in the public eye, was buried on Saturday with thousands of
The 27-year-old was laid to rest after a service at St John Baptist church in Buckhurst Hill in Essex, as per her last wishes. Her funeral attracted international media attention, with cameramen running along the vintage Rolls Royce carrying her coffin, to capture the one perfect shot of the star's last journey. The mother of two died on 22 March after losing her seven month long public battle with cervical cancer. Goody's funeral procession began its journey from her childhood home of Bermondsey in the morning and ended at the St John Baptist church. The TV star wanted her funeral to be "a celebration of her life" and true to her words, it was far from a solemn occasion as the crowd stood applauding in the rain when her cortege passed by. "She will have a big smile on her face when she sees what is going on today," Goody's publicist Clifford told reporters. "In life she loved being loved and it is pretty clear that this is the overwhelming feeling today," Clifford added. | |
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Over 90 dead in Italy earthquake
L'AQUILA: A powerful earthquake struck central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing more than 90 people and making up to 50,000
homeless.
"Some towns in the area have been virtually destroyed in their entirety," a somber Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said before the chamber observed a moment of silence.
The Italian news agency Ansa, quoting rescue workers, said the death toll had reached 92 nearly 12 hours after the quake struck.
Most of the dead were in L'Aquila, a 13th-century mountain city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome, and surrounding towns and villages in the Abruzzo region.
Houses, historic churches and other buildings were demolished in the worst quake to hit Italy in nearly 30 years. Hundreds of people were injured and some 15,000 buildings declared off limits.
"I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb," said Angela Palumbo, 87, said as she walked on a street in L'Aquila.
"We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life," she said.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni visited the area and said the death toll had surpassed 50.
Luca Spoletini, a Civil Protection Department spokesman, said the quake may have made up to 50,000 people homeless. Some 26 cities and towns were seriously damaged.
In the small town of Onna alone, 10 people were killed, said a photographer who saw a mother and her infant daughter being carried away in the same coffin.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi cancelled a trip to Moscow and declared a national emergency, which would free up funds for aid and rebuilding. Pope Benedict said he was saying a special prayer for the victims.
Older houses and buildings made of stone, particularly in outlying villages that have not seen much restoration, collapsed like straw houses.
Hospitals appealed for help from doctors and nurses throughout Italy. The stench of gas filled some parts of the mountain towns and villages as mains ruptured.
Residents of Rome, which is rarely hit by seismic activity, were woken by the quake, which rattled furniture and swayed lights in most of central Italy. It struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) and registered between 5.8 and 6.3 magnitude.
"Some towns in the area have been virtually destroyed in their entirety," a somber Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said before the chamber observed a moment of silence.
The Italian news agency Ansa, quoting rescue workers, said the death toll had reached 92 nearly 12 hours after the quake struck.
Most of the dead were in L'Aquila, a 13th-century mountain city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome, and surrounding towns and villages in the Abruzzo region.
Houses, historic churches and other buildings were demolished in the worst quake to hit Italy in nearly 30 years. Hundreds of people were injured and some 15,000 buildings declared off limits.
"I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb," said Angela Palumbo, 87, said as she walked on a street in L'Aquila.
"We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life," she said.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni visited the area and said the death toll had surpassed 50.
Luca Spoletini, a Civil Protection Department spokesman, said the quake may have made up to 50,000 people homeless. Some 26 cities and towns were seriously damaged.
In the small town of Onna alone, 10 people were killed, said a photographer who saw a mother and her infant daughter being carried away in the same coffin.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi cancelled a trip to Moscow and declared a national emergency, which would free up funds for aid and rebuilding. Pope Benedict said he was saying a special prayer for the victims.
Older houses and buildings made of stone, particularly in outlying villages that have not seen much restoration, collapsed like straw houses.
Hospitals appealed for help from doctors and nurses throughout Italy. The stench of gas filled some parts of the mountain towns and villages as mains ruptured.
Residents of Rome, which is rarely hit by seismic activity, were woken by the quake, which rattled furniture and swayed lights in most of central Italy. It struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) and registered between 5.8 and 6.3 magnitude.
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