The Agonist - Asia: South-West

India blows up a monsoon

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:10:04 -0700

M K Bhadrakumar | July 3

Asia Times - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made a very calculated political - and potentially dangerous - move to seal the much-delayed civilian nuclear accord with the United States. The deal, though, is only one piece on the chessboard of India's global ambitions that includes the key players of Pakistan, Iran and the United States. But it's the weather that could decide Manmohan's and the chess game's fate.

Kashmir tries to defuse shrine riots by revoking deal

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:51:14 -0700

Andrew Buncombe | Delhi | July 2

The Independent - Officials in Indian-administered Kashmir have stepped in to try to defuse a row over the donation of government land to a Hindu shrine which triggered the biggest protests in the area for almost two decades.

The state government said it would revoke its decision to hand over almost 100 acres to build facilities for the hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims who visit the Shri Amarnath shrine in the predominantly Muslim state.

It hopes the move will calm demonstrations that have raged across Kashmir for the past fortnight, leaving at least five people dead and hundreds injured.

Kashmir: Mass protests force government to reverse controversial land-transfer decision

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:23:24 -0700

Mian Ridge | July 1

CSM - Eight days of mass protests in Indian-administered Kashmir have prompted the region's government to reverse a controversial decision to transfer a large tract of land to a Hindu organization.

The land transfer, which was seen by some as an attempt to change the Muslim-Hindu ratio in this Muslim-majority area, sparked huge – sometimes violent – protests in the capital, Srinagar. The protests, in which four people were killed and hundreds injured, were the biggest in Kashmir for years.

(media roundup article)

Fuel Prices Boost Cause of S. Asia's Maligned Rickshaw

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:46:52 -0700

Emily Wax | New Delhi | June 28

WaPo - The bicycle rickshaws that weave through New Delhi's narrow lanes have long been scorned by authorities here for congesting the city's already fierce traffic. The creaking carriages crawl alongside luxury sedans, book hawkers, horse-drawn carts, hulking buses and cows.

In this city and the other quickly modernizing capitals of South Asia, governments have called the rickshaws backward, embarrassing symbols of the Third World.

Now, however, in a time of $7-a-gallon fuel in New Delhi and growing concerns about pollution, environmental activists and transportation experts are pushing back against rickshaw critics. And rickshaw cyclists are seizing the moment to tout the virtues of their trade.

Militants mass near strategic Pakistani city

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:24:25 -0700

Peshawar | June 28

McClatchy/NYT -

Heavily armed Islamic militants have massed on the outskirts of Peshawar, the strategic provincial capital in northwest Pakistan, and the Pakistani government has dramatically stepped up security around the city amid fears that it could fall.

Taliban groups and other extremist warlords now threaten Peshawar from three sides. Should they take over Peshawar, the rest of the North West Frontier Province could follow, leaving Islamic extremists in control of a region that borders Afghanistan and sits astride one of the main supply routes to U.S. and coalition troops there. Weapons for NATO troops pass from the port of Karachi, to the outskirts of Peshawar and through the Khyber Pass to the battlefields of Afghanistan.

UPDATE JUNE 29:
** Pakistan says anti-militant offensive successful
** FC occupies all heights, destroys 3 militant centres
** Pakistan claims control of warlord's former stronghold
** Peace deals scrapped as Pakistani troops strike Taliban

Swat Valley: Militants Torch Pakistani Ski Resort Hotel

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:48:46 -0700

June 26

Javno - Islamist militants burned down a hotel at Pakistan's only ski resort on Thursday as security in a northwestern tourist valley deteriorated despite a month-old peace pact, police said.

The Swat valley, several hours drive on mountain roads from the capital, Islamabad, was until last year a prime tourist destination with ancient Buddhist ruins, a golf course, trout streams and the ski resort.

"Half of the hotel has been burned down," said Swat's police chief, Waqif Khan, referring to the only hotel at the Malam Jabba ski resort. The hotel is owned by the state tourism authority.

"The area is not under our control, it's under the militants' control and no one can go there," he said.

Related: No let up in Swat violence - A soldier was killed and two Frontier Corps personnel seriously injured in violent attacks on security forces and police in Swat valley on Wednesday. Also, miscreants set on fire 11 girls' schools in various parts of the restive valley.

Afghans Sees Pakistan Role in Karzai Plot

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:46:05 -0700

Abdul Waheed & Graham Bowley | Kabul | June 25

NYT - The Afghanistan government for the first time publicly accused the Pakistani intelligence service on Wednesday of organizing the plot to assassinate President Hamid Karzai at a parade in Kabul in April.

In a news conference in Kabul, Sayeed Ansari, the spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, said Afghan authorities had evidence of the direct involvement of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, in the assassination attempt.

He said the evidence was based on documents uncovered during the investigation into the assassination attempt, confessions from 16 suspects detained after the attack, and cellphone contacts. He gave no further details or specific names of officials within the Pakistani agency that may have been involved.

Pakistani government to challenge Sharif election bar: minister

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:08:55 -0700

Islamabad | June 24

AFP - Pakistan's government will appeal against a court ruling that bars former premier Nawaz Sharif, a key partner in the ruling coalition, from standing in elections, the law minister said on Tuesday.

The announcement came despite the fact that Sharif's party said it would not challenge his disqualification because he does not recognise the legitimacy of judges appointed by President Pervez Musharraf under emergency rule.

A court in the eastern city of Lahore ruled on Monday night that Sharif, the man ousted by Musharraf in 1999, was ineligible to stand in a by-election on Thursday because of previous criminal convictions.

Protests by Sharif's supporters erupted in several cities on Monday night after the ruling, which came as a major blow to Sharif's goal of re-entering parliament and possibly becoming premier for a third time.

Zardari promises new president but row over Musharraf rumbles on

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:26:16 -0700

Declan Walsh | Kabul | June 21

The Guardian - · US and army still back former leader
· Coalition parties struggle to find way forward

Pakistan's ruling party has increased pressure on President Pervez Musharraf to quit by declaring it would soon announce a new candidate to take his job.

Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People's party, told supporters the new president would continue the legacy of his assassinated wife, Benazir Bhutto.

"The day is not far off, my brothers and sisters, when this gathering will be held in the president's house and God willing, your president will be sworn in and he will raise the slogan of 'long live Bhutto'," he said.

But Zardari did not say how he would remove Musharraf, and a meeting on the issue with his uneasy coalition partner Nawaz Sharif yesterday failed to produce any agreement.

Tissa: 100 days in detention

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:27:03 -0700

Senior journalist and Sunday Times freelance columnist J.S. Tissainayagam goes into his 100th day in detention by the Terrorism Investigations Department today without formal charges being filed against him. On Friday, he was produced before Colombo’s Chief Magistrate N. Hettiarachchi who ordered that he be further detained by the TID.

Mr. Tissainayagam’s lawyer M. A Sumanthiran said the journalist was being held in wrongful custody. He claimed that under emergency regulations a detainee had to be moved to prisons custody after 90 days. see related story

Militants suspend peace deal in Pakistan's restive valley

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:35:14 -0700

Peshawar | June 17

AFP - Pro-Taliban militants in the restive valley of Swat said Tuesday that they intended severing all contacts with the Pakistani government, accusing it of delaying the implementation of last month's peace agreement.

'Our shura (council) of senior Taliban leaders which held its meeting on Monday have decided to end all contacts with the government for one week. We are going to switch off our telephones right now,' Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa on the telephone from undisclosed location.

UPDATE:

Swat Taliban to boycott today’s peace talks

Swat-based Taliban have decided to boycott negotiations due on Friday with the Awami National Party-led NWFP government, Taliban leader Ali Bakht told Daily Times on Thursday.

“We will not attend any meeting with the government until our prisoners are released as agreed in the May 21 deal,” Bakht said.

Thousands of Thai protesters push past police to PM's office

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:32:16 -0700

Bangkok | June 20

AFP - At least 8,000 Thai protesters Friday pushed past a police barricade to the gates of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's office, demanding that he resign.

About 5,100 police had held them off for more than three hours, but a group of the protesters finally pressed past the police shields.

Security forces did not try to force them back, and more protesters followed them to the gates surrounding the prime minister's compound.

The protesters from the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) accuse Samak of acting as a proxy for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by royalist generals in a 2006 coup.

The PAD spearheaded protests against Thaksin in the months leading to the coup, raising fears of a new military intervention.

Call for Hindu suicide squads sparks anger in India

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:55:42 -0700

Mumbai | June 19

Reuters - A powerful Hindu-nationalist political party in western India has called for Hindu suicide squads to counter Islamic terrorism, causing outrage and embarrassing the national opposition with which it is allied.

The inflammatory comments appeared on Wednesday in an unsigned editorial in Saamana, the official newspaper of the Shiv Sena, a regional party whose politics is based on nativist pride for the people of the state of Maharashtra.

"Islamic terrorism is on the rise in India and in order to counter Islamic terrorism, we should match it with Hindu terrorism," the unsigned editorial said in Marathi.

"Just like Islamic extremism, to safeguard the country and Hindus we must create Hindu suicide squads if Hindu society is to be saved."

A Friend In Deed?

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:42:50 -0700

According to published reports Pakistani nuclear scientists have been shopping around advanced nuclear technology to the highest bidders. Advanced blueprints have been found on computers that belonged to these scientists that were part of a nuclear smuggling network headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan. Our government has a knack of creating these madmen through a deliberate policy of benign neglect and a policy of supporting tyranny for the sake of political expediency. This is another example of how our unwillingness to gauge the world realistically and inability to access friends and foes has created a possible nightmare scenario in the near future.

Summer Camps Revive India's Ancient Sanskrit

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:36:51 -0700

Rama Lakshmi | New Delhi | June 15

WaPo - Effort Is Part of Bitter Debate Over the Role of Hindu Language in a Diverse Society

Hemant Singh Yadav, a lean and sprightly 15-year-old, was sent by his parents to a summer camp to learn to speak Sanskrit, or what he calls the language of the gods.

He had studied the 4,000-year-old classical Indian language at school for six years. He knew its grammar and could chant the ancient hymns. But he could not converse in it. During a two-week course at the camp, Sanskrit Samvad Shala, he had no choice: He was forbidden to speak any other language.