European Union to beef up emergency aid program

BRUSSELS: The European Union says it is considering forming a task force to better coordinate its emergency aid in the future, after the French president criticized the union for its response following Pakistan's devastating flooding.

EU spokesman Ferran Tarandellas Espuny said Monday the bloc is debating how to ''reinforce our disaster response capability.''

It follows criticism by French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the weekend that EU's euro40 million ($51 million) in humanitarian aid following the flooding in Pakistan was insufficient.

Aid for Pakistan from all donors has fallen far short of an appeal by the United Nations for nearly $460 million in emergency assistance for victims of the country's worst floods in living memory.

Sarkozy said the 27-member union must react better and more quickly to events like Pakistan's flooding, Haiti's earthquake or Russian forest fires. -AP

Pakistan’s archaeological sites endangered by floods

SUKKUR: Pakistan’s devastating floods are now threatening ancient archaeological sites, on top of leaving millions of people dependent on humanitarian aid to survive, an antiquities official said Monday.

Pakistan has been ravaged by nearly three weeks of monsoon rains. Flooding has affected one-fifth of the country and hit up to 20 million people, destroying crops, infrastructure, towns and villages.

Flood waters in the southern province of Sindh have inundated hundreds of villages and also threaten its cultural heritage.

“There is danger to the 5,000-year-old Moenjodaro and Aamri archaeological sites,” said Karim Lashari, chief of the provincial antiquities department.

Moenjodaro is on UNESCO’s list of the world heritage sites. Its website says the city was built of unbaked brick in the third millennium BC and provides evidence of an early system of town planning.

Aamri, in the Dadu district of Sindh, has been declared a Pakistani national heritage site.

“Aamri is exposed to greater danger because the river Indus flows along this ancient town. There is also a major canal and any overflow of water there would submerge this town,” he said.

“There is already pressure on its banks and danger is severe.”

Pakistan is facing its worst floods for 80 years. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday visited scenes of the devastation and urged the world to speed up relief efforts.

The United Nations has launched an aid appeal for 460 million dollars, but charities say the response has been sluggish. —AFP

Zardari, Kayani discuss security, relief activities

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani called on President Asif Ali Zardari here on Monday and discussed matters relating to security situation in the country.

In a meeting held at Aiwan-i-Sadr, the activities of Pakistan army regarding relief and rescue operations in the flood affected areas were also discussed. — APP

Four months left for private security firms in Afghanistan

KABUL: President Hamid Karzai will give armed contracting firms in Afghanistan four months to dissolve, his spokesman said Monday, sparking fears over a potential security crisis in the war-torn country.

“Today the president is going to issue a four-month deadline for the dissolution of private security companies,” Waheed Omer said.

Omer gave notice last week that Karzai intended to deal with private security firms, calling it “a serious programme that the government of Afghanistan will execute”.

He said the firms employ 30,000-40,000 armed personnel throughout Afghanistan.

These are employed by more than 50 companies, roughly half of them Afghan.

Omer said last week that Karzai had spoken to his western backers as well as leaders of the US and Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) who contract the companies to safeguard many aspects of their work, including supply convoys.

The flourishing sector provides security services to the international forces, the Pentagon, the UN mission, aid and non-governmental organisations, embassies and Western media companies in Afghanistan.

But Afghans criticise the private security forces as overbearing and abusive, notably on the country's roads.

Karzai has often complained that they duplicate the work of the Afghan security forces, and divert resources needed to train the army and police.

Isaf said Monday dissolving private security firms would not be practical or possible until an alternative force was ready to take over.

“It's very clear for the Afghan side and for us as well to dissolve private security companies as soon as possible,” Isaf spokesman General Josef Blotz told reporters.

“But there's a condition to it and this condition is that we need to have enough Afghan national security force that can provide the necessary security which is prerequisite for the private security companies to do it,” he added.

The Pentagon last week played down Karzai's plans, saying the issue was under discussion, though conceded there were problems.

Colonel David Lapan, Pentagon spokesman, said efforts were underway to address issues raised by Karzai in a way that also met US security needs.

Allison Stanger, author of “One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy”, said eliminating private security firms would pose a major problem for western forces.

“Ending the use of private security contractors in Afghanistan effective immediately would be equivalent to accelerating the end of western involvement in Afghanistan,” she said.

“Our current programmes simply cannot be sustained without that vital support — unless we were to further increase the number of uniformed personnel on the ground,” she said.

It would also cut off a major source of jobs because more than 90 per cent of security contractors in Afghanistan are Afghans, she added.

At an international conference in Kabul on July 20, donors endorsed sweeping Afghan government plans to take responsibility for security by 2014.

The Taliban, overthrown in a 2001 US-led invasion, control large swathes of the south and have put up stiff resistance to a troop surge deploying 150,000 US and Nato troops as part of a counter-insurgency strategy.

Karzai's western backers have supported his call for Afghan security forces to “lead and conduct military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014”, allowing foreign troops to start pulling out.

The west is under increasing pressure at home to justify their commitments to Afghanistan, where the war has killed more than 400 foreign soldiers so far this year.

Up to 3.5 million children at risk of deadly diseases

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations warned Monday that up to 3.5 million children were at risk from water-borne diseases in flood-hit Pakistan and said it was bracing to deal with thousands of potential cholera cases.

Fresh rains threaten further anguish for millions of people that have been affected by Pakistan's worst floods for 80 years and UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged the world to speed up international aid urgently.

Described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, the three-week disaster has affected 20 million people, and has destroyed crops, infrastructure, towns and villages, according to the government.

The United Nations has launched an aid appeal for 460 million dollars, but charities say the response has been sluggish and flood survivors on the ground have lashed out against the weak civilian government for failing to help.

Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), feared that Pakistan was on the brink of a “second wave of death” unless more donor funds materialised.

“Up to 3.5 million children are at high risk of deadly water-borne diseases, including diarrhoea-related, such as watery diarrhoea and dysentery,” he said, estimating the total number at risk from such diseases at six million.

Typhoid, hepatitis A and E are also concerns, he said.

“WHO (World Health Organisation) is preparing to assist up to 140,000 people in case there is any cholera, but the government has not notified us of any confirmed cases,” the spokesman told AFP.

“We fear we're getting close to the start of seeing a second wave of death if not enough money comes through, due to water-borne diseases along with lack of clean water and food shortages,” he said.

Cholera is endemic in Pakistan and the risk of outbreaks increases with flooding, but the government has so far confirmed no cases publicly.

One charity worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that several flood survivors had already died of the disease.

The United Nations estimates that 1,600 people have died in the floods, while the government in Islamabad has confirmed 1,384 deaths.

Several hundred people on Monday blocked the main highway linking the breadbasket of Punjab province to the financial capital Karachi, calling for assistance and holding up traffic for more than an hour, witnesses said.

“We have no food and no shelter. We need immediate help,” shouted the protesters, who included women and children.

Intermittent rain fell overnight and early Monday in Sukkur and other parts of Sindh, turning refugee camps into mud and increasing the misery of survivors and keeping alive fears of further breaches in the Indus river and canals.

The bad weather was also hampering relief efforts, officials said.

Bibi Momal, 35, sat in dirty clothes and broken shoes on a roadside waiting for relief, weak and exhausted..

“We have no tents. We spent the night in the rain. Our children are hungry and sick. We came here for relief but we got nothing.”

A shocked Ban became the first world leader to visit the flood-affected areas at the weekend, saying he would never forget the “heart wrenching” scenes of destruction and suffering that he witnessed.

“I'm here to urge the world to step up their generous support for Pakistan,” he told a news conference with President Asif Ali Zardari.

Ban said one-fifth of the country had been ravaged and officials warned that, in the long term, billions of dollars will be needed as villages, businesses, crops and infrastructure have been wiped out.

Pakistan's government has appealed to the global community to help it deal with a humanitarian crisis compared by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to the one which followed the sub-continent's partition in 1947.

“This is a long-term affair,” Zardari said. “We have to consider and keep it in mind that for two years we have to give them crops, fertilisers, seeds, and look after them and feed them to take them to where they were.”

Martin Kaymer takes PGA title with playoff win

SHEBOYGAN: Germany’s Martin Kaymer beat Bubba Watson in a three-hole playoff to capture the 92nd PGA Championship on Sunday after a shocking penalty knocked Dustin Johnson out of contention.

The 25-year-old Kaymer made a two-foot bogey putt on the final hole of the playoff to win his first major championship.

“It was a very exciting week,” said Kaymer who collected 1.35 million dollars for the victory. “I hope it is one of many majors I win in my career. It’s spectacular.”

Kaymer joins US Open winner Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland and British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa as first-time major winners this year. Six of the past seven major champions have been first-time major winners.

Johnson appeared set to join Watson and Kaymer in the playoff but the American was slapped with a two-stroke penalty immediately after his round for grounding his club in a bunker on the 18th hole.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and American Zach Johnson shared third, missing the playoff by one shot.

In the playoff, Kaymer and Watson exchanged birdies on the first two holes before Watson got into trouble on the final hole, the par-four 18.

His approach landed in the water and his next shot sailed over the green. Watson chipped onto the green and even hit the flag stick, but it was too little too late as he had to settle for a double-bogey six.

“It was a weird day,” said Watson, who only consolation is he made the US Ryder Cup team. That left Kaymer, who played conservatively down the stretch, with two putts to close it out.

He became the first German to win the PGA Championship and the second German behind Bernhard Langer to win a major title.

Kaymer and Watson emerged from a crowded leaderboard Sunday that featured 10 players within two shots of the lead much of the day.

Kaymer kept a trend going by becoming the third consecutive non-US PGA Championship winner, following Ireland’s Padraig Harrington in 2008 and South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun last year in hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy.

Sunday’s bizarre turn of events added to the hardship this season for Dustin Johnson, who suffered a final-round meltdown at the US Open in June by blowing a three-shot lead.

Johnson finished his fourth round thinking he had shot 11-under 277 for 72 holes and would be going to a playoff with the others.

But an official then notified him on the green that there would be a review of his approach shot on 18 from a bunker outside the ropes.

Officials determined that he illegally placed his club face on the ground in a sand bunker before making his shot.

Because the sand bunker was well off the fairway and in the middle of the gallery where people had been walking all day, Johnson thought it was just a normal sand hazard without any special rules.

“It never crossed my mind I was in a sandtrap,” said Johnson. “That was one situation where I should have looked at the rule sheet a little harder.”

Whistling Straits labels itself a links-style course on US soil and has nearly 1,000 bunkers, many of them well off the fairways. So officials came up with a set of supplementary rules that were posted in the locker room.

Johnson thought he actually had a chance to win his first major title outright but a five-foot par putt at 18 missed right.

After the penalty was tacked on, Johnson ended up with a triple-bogey seven on the par-four 500-yard hole.

“The only worse thing that could have happened to me was if I made that putt on the last hole,” he said.

Johnson finished in a tie for fifth with countryman Jason Dufner and Australian Steve Elkington.

China’s Liang Wen-chong, who set the course record with a 64 on Saturday, shot a final round one-over 73 and finished in a tie for eighth.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson had the best round of the day, firing a five-under 67. Both Mickelson and Tiger Woods were unlikely early starters at Whistling Straits on Sunday.

Mickelson had a chance of passing Woods for the world number one ranking but it was a case of too little too late.

Mickelson eagled the par-five fifth hole and rolled in five birdies but it wasn’t enough to catch Woods for the top spot.

Mickelson, who started the day 12 shots back of the lead, needed to finish in solo fourth place and have Woods finish outside the top 46 to become No. 1 on Monday. He finished tied for 12th.

Four-time PGA champion Woods started out hot with birdies on three of the first four holes but he stumbled off the tee.

Woods shot one-over-par 73 and hit 21 of 56 fairways over the four days. —AFP

Internet at home goes hand-in-hand with romance

WASHINGTON: Dim the lights, turn on the schmoozy music, and log on... Adults who have Internet access at home are more likely to be in romantic relationships than adults who don’t, a study presented Monday found.

Just over 82 percent of adults who have Internet access at home also had a spouse or romantic partner, compared to just under 63 percent of adults who did not have access to the worldwide web, the study presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association says.

“Our research suggests that Internet access has an important role to play in helping Americans find mates,” said Michael Rosenfeld, an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University and the lead author of the study.

In addition to finding that people are more likely to be in romantic relationships if they have Internet access in their homes, the researchers found that the Internet is gaining importance as a place where couples meet, and especially same-sex couples.

“It is possible that in the next several years the Internet could eclipse friends as the most influential way Americans meet their romantic partners, displacing friends out of the top position for the first time since the early 1940s,” Rosenfeld said.

Among couples who met online, 61 percent were same-sex couples, the study said.

“Couples who meet online are much more likely to be same-sex couples, and somewhat more likely to be from different religious backgrounds,” Rosenfeld said.

“The Internet is not simply a new and more efficient way to keep in touch with our existing networks; rather the Internet is a new kind of social intermediary that may reshape the kinds of partners and relationships we have,” he said.

Rosenfeld and colleagues analyzed data from a national survey of 4,002 adults for the study.

Afghan Taliban call for joint probe into civilian deaths

KABUL: The Taliban waging an insurgency in Afghanistan have signalled a willingness to cooperate with international forces, the UN and human rights groups to investigate civilian deaths in the war.

A committee “should be formed to assess the very issue and conduct investigations into the civilian casualties across the country,” the Taliban said in a statement late Sunday.

The probe should include representatives from the Taliban — calling itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — Nato forces, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and UN human rights organisations, the statement said.

The overwhelming majority of civilian deaths and injuries in the war, nearing the end of its ninth year, have been blamed on the Taliban.

The group relies largely on roadside bombs and suicide attackers.

Civilian casualties rose by 31 per cent in the first six months of 2010, the United Nations said last week, with casualties among children up 55 per cent.

The number of deaths caused by insurgents had risen from half in the same period last year, now accounting for 76 per cent of the 1,271 deaths and 1,997 people wounded, it said in a report.

The Taliban statement said civilian casualties were being used as “propaganda by the western media” which was ignoring deaths caused by the Nato troops.

It said an investigative committee “should be given a free hand to survey the affected areas as well as people in order to collect the precise information and the facts and figures and disseminate its findings worldwide”.

It is not the first time that the insurgents have called for a joint committee to investigate civilian deaths.

While a similar attempt four years ago was rejected, according to non-government organisation workers in Kabul, the latest move was Monday welcomed by an independent Afghan rights watchdog.

Afghan Rights Monitor (ARM) said that in allowing independent investigations into civilian deaths in areas under their control, the insurgents should adhere to certain conditions, including “providing genuine, concrete and certifiable guarantees for the safety and security of human rights investigators (and) reporters”.

Authorities warn of more floods as heavy rains fall

SUKKUR: Heavy rain lashed the makeshift camps housing Pakistan's flood survivors Monday and authorities warned of more flooding this week, adding to the urgency of the massive international relief effort.

Pakistan's worst floods in recorded history began more than two weeks ago in the mountainous northwest and have spread throughout the country. Some 20 million people and 160,000 square kilometres of land — about 1/5 of the country — have been affected.

''Floods seem to be chasing us everywhere,'' said 45-year-old Ali Bakhsh Bhaio, as monsoon downpours pounded his tent beside the major highway in Sukkur, a hard-hit area in Sindh province.

The Sindh irrigation minister, Jam Saifullah Dharejo, said the dam in Sukkur faced a major test of its strength as floodwaters coursed down the Indus River into Pakistan's highly populated agricultural heartland.

''The coming four to five days are still crucial,'' he said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew over the flood-hit area Sunday and said he had never seen a disaster on such a scale. He urged the international community to speed up assistance.

The world body has appealed for an initial $460 million to provide relief, of which around 60 per cent has been given.

The latest flooding over the weekend hit a poor region on the border between Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

Sher Khan Bazai, the top government official in Nasirabad district, said 25,000 families had been made homeless by waters eight feet high in some places. He said that some 4,000 small villages had been either cut off or washed out.

''Water is everywhere,'' he said.

Once the floods recede, billions more will be needed for reconstruction and getting people back to work in the already-poor nation of 170 million people. The International Monetary Fund has warned that the floods could dent economic growth and fuel inflation.

While local charities and international agencies have helped hundreds of thousands of people with food, water, shelter and medical treatment, the scale of the disaster has meant that many millions have received little or no assistance. The UN has voiced fears that disease in overcrowded and unsanitary relief camps may yet cause more deaths.

Angry flood survivors protest near Sukkar

SUKKUR: Angry flood survivors in Pakistan blocked a highway to protest slow delivery of aid and heavy rain lashed makeshift housing Monday as a forecast of more flooding increased the urgency of the massive international relief effort.

Pakistan's worst floods in recorded history began more than two weeks ago in the mountainous northwest and have spread throughout the country. Some 20 million people and 160,000 square kilometers of land - about 1/5 of the country - have been affected.

Hundreds of victims blocked a major highway with stones and rubbish near the hard-hit Sukkur area, complaining they were being treated like animals. Protester Kalu Mangiani said government officials only came to hand out food when media were present.

"They are throwing packets of food to us like we are dogs. They are making people fight for these packets," he said.

The Sindh irrigation minister, Jam Saifullah Dharejo, said the dam in Sukkur faced a major test of its strength as floodwaters coursed down the Indus River into Pakistan's highly populated agricultural heartland.

"The coming four to five days are still crucial," he said.

The latest flooding over the weekend hit a poor region on the border between Sindh and Baluchistan provinces.

Sher Khan Bazai, the top government official in Nasirabad district, said 25,000 families had been made homeless by waters 8 feet high in some places. He said that some 4,000 small villages had been either cut off or washed out.

"Water is everywhere," he said. – AP

‘Parliament with unlimited powers can secularise state’

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was hearing petitions challenging the 18th Amendment on Monday.

A 17-judge full court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, was hearing petitions challenging certain clauses in the Amendment.

During the hearing, the federation lawyer said that the parliament's powers were limitless.

Responding to that, Chief Justice Iftikhar said that limitless powers could secularise the country.

Moreover, Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday said that the parliament did not have limitless powers.

Gates, Petraeus differ on flexibility of Afghan exit

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates insisted Monday the July 2011 date to start withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan was set in stone, putting him at odds with his top Afghan war commander.

Gates and General David Petraeus were in lock-step on the need for a gradual withdrawal, but a series of interviews exposed discord over the flexibility of the start date given last November by US President Barack Obama.

“There is no question in anybody’s mind that we are going to begin drawing down troops in July of 2011,” Gates told The Los Angeles Times.

But Petraeus, asked in a separate interview whether he could reach that juncture and have to recommend a delay to Obama because of the conditions on the ground, replied:
“Certainly, yeah.”

“I think the president has been quite clear in explaining that it’s a process, not an event, and that it’s conditions-based,” he told NBC television’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday.

“The president and I sat down in the Oval Office and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.”

Afghanistan, with the help of its Western backers, is trying to build up its army and police so that they can take responsibility for security from US-led NATO forces by the end of 2014.

The Taliban, toppled in a 2001 US-led invasion, still control large swathes of the south and have put up stiff resistance to a surge of 30,000 more US troops due to swell American numbers to 100,000 in the coming weeks.

US public support for the near nine-year war and Obama’s handling of it are at an all-time low, according to opinion polls here, while the death toll for American troops hit a record monthly high in July of 66.

Both Gates, in the LA Times, and Petraeus, in a series of interviews with NBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post, sought to reassure a skeptical public that the American-led coalition can succeed in its aims.

Petraeus told The New York Times he didn’t just want to preside over a “graceful exit,” while Gates suggested some security responsibilities could begin to be transferred to Afghan forces as early as next spring.
Obama’s mid-2011 deadline to begin a limited withdrawal has been strongly criticized by some who believe it sent out the message America is not in the fight for the long-term and boosted the Taliban’s resolve to wait it out.

Others attack him for not pulling out troops fast enough as they believe US and NATO forces are bogged down in an unwinnable conflict.

Petraeus, giving his first major interviews since assuming command of more than 140,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan last month, also said he would be prepared to negotiate with Taliban with “blood on their hands.”

The general, who helped turn around the Iraq war for Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush – partly by wheeling and dealing with warring factions – said a new reconciliation and reintegration strategy aimed at persuading Afghan insurgents to change sides was “fairly imminent.”

There is “every possibility, I think, that there can be low- and mid-level reintegration and indeed some fracturing of the senior leadership that could be really defined as reconciliation.”

In his interview with The Washington Post, Petraeus said 365 insurgent leaders and 2,400 rank-and-file fighters have been killed or captured over the past three months.

The operations have led “some leaders of some elements” of the insurgency to begin reconciliation discussions with the Afghan government, he told the newspaper, characterizing the interactions as “meaningful.”

Petraeus formally took over command of the Afghan war in July after Obama dismissed General Stanley McChrystal after he and his staff made disparaging comments about senior US administration figures.

The interviews came hours before the icasualties.org website announced that the total number of foreign troops killed since the start of the Afghan war in 2001 had topped 2,000, including 1,226 Americans and 331 from Britain. – AFP

Afghan man, woman ‘stoned to death’ over love affair

KUNDUZ: A man and woman have been stoned to death in northern Afghanistan after being accused by the Taliban of having an affair, a witness and an official said Monday.

The 23-year-old woman and 28-year-old man were killed because “they had an affair,” said Mohammad Ayob, the governor of Imam Sahib district in Kunduz province.

“Two people were stoned to death by Taliban in Mullah Quli village late yesterday,” he said. The village is under the control of the Taliban.

Mullah Quli resident Abdul Satar said about 100 people, most of them Taliban insurgents, gathered in the village on Sunday evening as a statement was read out saying the pair had confessed to their affair.

He said the man was married to someone else, and the woman was engaged.

“The Taliban convicted both to stoning to death, some from the crowd started throwing stones at the couple until they died,” Satar said.

The couple had their hands bound behind their backs and were forced to stand in an empty field as their sentence was carried out, he said.

A local Taliban commander, who contacted media but refused to give his name, confirmed the killings.

“The couple confessed they had eloped together and based on their confession they were stoned to death,” he said.

Under Islamic Sharia law, sex between unmarried people is punishable by public beatings, while punishment for those caught in extra-marital affairs is death by stoning.

Earlier this month, the Taliban publicly flogged and then killed a pregnant widow for alleged “adultery” in western Badghis province.

The killings are a grim reminder of the Taliban's harsh 1996-2001 rule, when apparent crimes were brutally punished after summary trials.

As well as lashings and death by stoning for alleged adulterers, people accused of theft regularly had their hands or feet amputated.

In regions that have come under Taliban control as the war drags towards the end of its ninth year, rough justice is meted out in the same manner, and includes execution of people accused of “spying” for foreign forces.

Russia to host Afghan, Pakistan leaders this week

MOSCOW: Russia is to host Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and the Afghan leader Hamid Karzai for a summit on regional security this week, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will host the summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Also taking part will be Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon, it added.

The Pakistani presidency said last week that Zardari - under fire over his handling of the flood tragedy at home - would still take part in the meeting but had cut back his visit from two days to a few hours. – AP

Thailand ends emergency rule in three provinces

BANGKOK: The Thai government said Monday it was lifting a state of emergency in three more provinces, but not Bangkok, almost three months after the end of deadly opposition protests in the capital.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva revoked the decree in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani in north and northeast Thailand, said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn.

The strict laws, which ban public gatherings of more than five people and give security forces the right to detain suspects for 30 days without charge, remain in place in seven out of Thailand's 76 provinces.

They were introduced in Bangkok on April 7 in response to mass anti-government protests that left at least 90 people dead and 1,900 injured, ending in a bloody army crackdown in May.

Senator Kerry to visit flood-affected areas in Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The United States has thrown its full weight behind Pakistan's move to hold a conference at the United Nations this week as part of efforts to rally greater international support for Islamabad's daunting flood relief effort.

Senator John Kerry, who heads the Foreign Relations Committee and co-authored a major multi-year $7.5 billion aid bill for Pakistan, said the United States has immediately accepted Islamabad's proposal for the international meeting, which is due to take place on Thursday.

He said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had asked for a meeting at the UN later in the week.

“Secretary (of State) Hillary Clinton has quickly accepted to be there in person as will (Special Representative) Ambassador (Richard) Holbrooke, and they are going to try to rally other people to the cause,” Kerry said.

The legislator told Washington-based Pakistani journalists before leaving for the South Asian country that he would have a first -hand assessment of the worst natural disaster to hit the country as well determine its impact on the region, where the US has high-stakes engagement for a successful outcome of nine-year old Afghan conflict.

The Democratic senator, who is due to meet top Pakistani political and military leaders during his visit, said the upcoming UN meeting is not specifically a donors conference but an “effort to try to really mobilize people to understand what is at stake.”

“My visit is really also geared to try to raise the understanding that this is not just about floods, not just about displaced people and the misery that comes with this, which is critical, but it is really about Pakistan's ability to move forward (economically) and to survive the difficult situation,” he elaborated, citing the challenges the country was already confronting because of its “stressed economy.

The United States, he stated, “is squarely there” to assist Pakistan, in the face of the unprecedented monsoon flooding that has afflicted 20 million people over 150,000 sq km of the territory.

“And we are proud of that,” he declared.

“The United States is clearly committed to the people of Pakistan in terms of (dealing with) the disaster. No question about that. That is why we have already committed $ 76 million, that is why (US) helicopters have already resuced some 3000 people, supplies have been delivered, half a million meals have been provided. All of these are very direct efforts,” Kerry noted.

“We are there. This relationship is important. We will continue to try to build this relationship,” he added.

Kerry reported widespread recognition of Pakistan's anti-militant progress and support for the ally on the Capitol Hill in this hour of great challenge.

“There is good sense in Congress that the government of Pakistan has made progress (in the fight against militants), taken significant steps, has really tried to address some of the concerns in the last year (or so). Is the job finished ? No, it is not. But there are tangible efforts that have been made that a lot of people would not have anticipated over a year ago,” he remarked. – APP

'US may begin security transfer to Afghans in spring'

LOS ANGELES: The US-led military coalition could begin transferring some security responsibilities to Afghan forces as early as next spring, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview to be published Monday.

Gates told The Los Angeles Times that given faster-than-expected progress in training Afghan army units, those forces could assume primary responsibility for security sooner in less violent areas, freeing up Nato troops for operations elsewhere.

“With more Afghan forces, we can be on a path to transition in more places around the country,” Gates is quoted as telling the paper, which posted an article based on the interview on its website late Sunday.

“The success with the army in particular, I think, bodes well for in fact beginning to have some transitions maybe as early as this spring, but certainly beginning in the summer.”At the same time, Gates played down the possibility of rapid cuts in US troop levels starting in July 2011.

President Barack Obama has said the 30,000-troop increase he ordered late last year would start to reverse next July.

“There is no question in anybody's mind that we are going to begin drawing down troops in July of 2011,” Gates told The Times. But so far, “there hasn't even been a discussion of a steep decline quickly” at the top levels of the administration.

According to the paper, his comments were a pointed rebuttal to lower-level officials in Washington who have privately asserted that Obama will rapidly withdraw troops beginning next summer.

Obama has been strongly criticized for saying US troops will start coming home in mid-2011. Opponents say it sends out the message America is not in the fight for the long-term and adds to the Taliban's resolve to wait it out.

But the top US military commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, disputed that interpretation and pointed out that when Obama announced his strategy for Afghanistan at West Point military academy in December 2009, he also greatly boosted America's military commitment.

“One was a message of substantial additional commitment, an additional 30,000 troops, again more civilians, more funding for Afghan forces, authorization of a 100,000 more of them and so forth, but also a message of increased urgency and that's what July 2011 really connotes,” Petraeus told NBC's “Meet the Press” program.

Grilled on the drawdown start date, he was asked by the interviewer: “Could you reach that point and say 'I know that the process is supposed to begin but my assessment as the commander here is that it cannot begin now?'”

Petraeus replied: “Certainly, yeah. Again, the president and I sat down in the Oval Office and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.” – AFP

Plan to deploy FC in Karachi scrapped

KARACHI: The Sindh government has scrapped a plan to approach the centre for deployment of Frontier Constabulary (FC) troops to assist the Rangers in keeping the peace in the city considering that normality returned to the strife-hit areas after a weeklong violence, it emerged on Sunday.

The need for deployment of FC personnel in the city was earlier felt when police and the Rangers remained unable to stem the violence that claimed 99 lives in a week after the assassination of a provincial legislator in the early days of August.

Officials and people privy to some recent meetings of the relevant authorities held to review security arrangements shared a few facts with Dawn indicating that the provincial authorities also considered that the deployment of FC troops and their accommodation in the metropolis would be an additional burden on the provincial exchequer in the present situation.

“Since the situation became normal and no more serious incident or violence was reported in the city, the Sindh government did not send any formal request to Islamabad for the FC deployment,” said a senior official citing the outcome of the recent discussions.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had told the media last week that the Sindh government had called for the deployment of FC personnel to assist the Rangers as the latter were found short of strength to combat the violence.

Although the last week meeting of Rangers and police high-ups had decided in principle to call in FC troops, the Sindh government reviewed the proposal and put it on the back burner.

The official said: “The provincial officials who discussed the issue were not convinced to go with the decision. Besides, there was a strong opinion of government functionaries that FC troops would cause additional expenditure that cannot be borne at this time.”

He said a “return of peace” to the city further convinced the authorities to avoid sending the request for FC troops’ deployment in Karachi.

Rangers have already been assisting police in the city since 1989 when the Pakistan People’s Party government in the centre at that time had called in the paramilitary force to curb rising political violence in the metropolis. Roughly, the 12,000-strong Rangers’ force costs the Sindh government more Rs410.1 million a year.

“The government has already increased allocations in the financial year 2010-11 for the police department to Rs29.6 billion, which is 19 per cent higher than the Rs24.9 billion budget of the last financial year,” said the official, adding that the budget allocations for Rangers were separate.“It was not basically Sindh government’s idea to seek deployment of FC troops for the assistance of Rangers. We believe that the situation is better controlled with the available strength of police and Rangers within the shortest possible time,” he said, while responding to a query regarding the strength of security personnel in the city.

He said Rangers would set up more pickets in strife-hit areas and surveillance and patrolling would be increased in line with the measures decided in the last week meeting held under the chairmanship of Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

“Under the present arrangements, a proposal for the deployment of FC troop in the city is no more alive,” he reiterated, saying that the government’s primary focus was capacity building of the police force which would be a permanent and lasting arrangement.

Rasool Bux Palijo claims 450 died in Sindh floods

KARACHI: Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo has claimed that at least 450 people have so far been killed and over eight million affected in Sindh by floods that are still taking their toll.

“The unprecedented monsoon rains in the country have triggered a catastrophe threatening the life and property of millions others,” he said at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Sunday.

He said the floods ravaging Sindh were the worst in a century in terms of loss of life and property.

He said the United Nations, international donor agencies and financial institutions and Friends of Pakistan, besides the international community, must pay due attention now to the plight of 60 million people of Sindh by rushing maximum possible humanitarian aid to the eight million flood victims.

Israeli ex-general says flotilla activists wanted violence

LONDON: Activists on a Gaza-bound aid boat that was boarded by Israeli commandos were determined there would be violence, the head of an Israeli military probe into the deadly raid said Monday.

“They (the activists) were committed to kill and be killed,” retired Israeli general Giora Eiland told the BBC's Panorama television programme.

Eiland led an inquiry into the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara ferry on May 31, which left nine Turks, including a Turkish-American citizen, dead and dozens of others injured, including nine Israeli commandos.

The raid in international waters provoked a global backlash against Israel and led to the easing of a four-year blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Eiland said the resistance from the activists on the aid boat “was huge, much above expectation” and said it was surprising there were not more deaths.

“Under the circumstances in a very complex area like a ship, the results -- the deaths -- are surprisingly low,” he told the BBC programme.

The military inquiry concluded last month that there were “professional mistakes regarding both the intelligence and the decision-making process” but said the commandos' use of live fire was justified.

Israel has set up another investigation into the raid, led by a retired Supreme Court judge, and the United Nations has also launched an inquiry. – AFP