Arundhati meeting disrupted by Hindu activists

BHUBANESWAR (Orissa): Writer-activist Arundhati Roy, who on Sunday faced the ire of hard-line Hindu groups here, refused to express regret over her recent statement on Kashmir.

The high-profile writer and activist kicked up a storm last month by making a statement at a seminar in Srinagar that Kashmir was never an integral part of India.

“I have never said anything which I have not thought about,” Ms Roy told reporters after attending a meeting on “cultural resistance to war on people in corporate interest”, organised by a magazine considered to be pro-left.

Standing by her statement on Kashmir, she said: “They (hard-line Hindu activists) have rights to protest and I have rights to speak and write.”

Ms Roy’s visit to the city and presence at the meeting sparked a scuffle as activists of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a “black flag demonstration” at the venue. They asked the writer to leave the state immediately after dubbing her as an “anti-national”.

At least five people were injured in a clash between the activists and the organisers of the meeting.

“We are opposing the visit of Roy in view of the objectionable statement she made recently on Kashmir. We have nothing against the meeting but she should go back,” ABVP’s state executive member Ajay Kumar Rout said.

He said the “saffron brigade” would stage similar protests wherever Ms Roy went during her visit here.

Heated argument between the two sides soon led to a clash in which sticks and stones were used leaving at least five people injured, police sources said. The situation was controlled after police swung into action dispersing the demonstrators. About eight of them were arrested, deputy commissioner of police H.K. Lal said.—Dawn/The Times of India News Service

Abbas insists on Jerusalem in settlement freeze

RAMALLAH: The Obama administration’s troubled attempt to revive Mideast peace talks took another blow Sunday when the Palestinian president rejected the latest US plan to get the sides talking again.

Mahmoud Abbas said a proposed 90-day freeze on Israeli settlement construction wouldn’t get him back to the negotiating table unless it includes east Jerusalem, a condition Israel staunchly opposes.

Palestinians claim east Jerusalem for their future capital. For decades, Israel has built Jewish sections around the city’s periphery, and about 200,000 Jews live there now. Palestinians consider the large neighborhoods as illegal settlements.

The impasse highlights the gaps the US must bridge _ not to just to achieve a peace deal, but even to get the sides to sit down and talk about one.

In Cairo Sunday, Abbas said any construction freeze must include east Jerusalem ”first and foremost,” along with the West Bank.

”If the moratorium does not apply to all Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem, we will not accept it,” Abbas said after consultations with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

The issue of Israeli settlements has bedeviled the latest round of peace talks since their launch in September. They broke down three weeks later when a previous 10-month slowdown on West Bank construction expired.

Since then, the US has been pushing Israel to impose a new, 90-day moratorium to draw the Palestinians back to talks. The US hopes the sides can reach a deal on future borders during that time, in effect determining which settlements Israel will get to keep in a peace agreement and defusing the issue of where it can build.

To entice Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pro-settlement coalition government, the US has offered a fleet of next-generation stealth warplanes and promises to veto anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations.

Speaking to lawmakers from his Likud Party late Sunday, Netanyahu said he was waiting for the US to put the offer in writing so he could bring it before his Cabinet.

Netanyahu also said the proposed 90-day moratorium was not specifically meant to deal with borders.

”There is no such request and there is no such commitment,” he said. Instead, the sides would discuss ”all topics of substance as a whole.”

Cabinet minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said Shas seeking clarifications from the US that the measure will not apply to east Jerusalem and that the US will not ask Israel to freeze settlement construction again once the 90 days are up.

The US has been seeking a compromise. American officials said they were not pushing to include east Jerusalem in the new freeze but were also resisting Israel demands to declare the area exempt. They spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations are ongoing.

East Jerusalem was not officially included in the previous freeze, but Israel quietly curbed new construction there. The US appears to be seeking a similar compromise now.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and immediately annexed the eastern sector _ a move the international community has not recognized. Israel now considers east Jerusalem an integral part of its capital, though the Palestinians hope to establish their capital there.

Previous unsuccessful negotiations have included a formula under which Israel would keep the Jewish sections and the Palestinians would receive the Arab areas. Netanyahu has not repeated that formula.

While the Israeli Cabinet met Sunday, hundreds of Jewish settlers _ many of them youths who were excused from school and bused in _ demonstrated against the US plan outside Netanyahu’s office. Some held posters accusing Netanyahu of ”giving in” to US pressure.

Highlighting its de facto control, Israel approved a five-year renovation plan near the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and in the adjacent Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s hotly contested Old City.

Government spokesman Mark Regev said the project was for maintenance only and would not touch disputed shrines holy to both Jews and Muslims.

”The Western Wall brings millions of tourists each year,” Regev said. ”This money is for upkeep and preservation and in no way does this change the status quo.”

Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib condemned the plan, saying it was bad for the peace process.

”Any Israeli activities in the occupied part of Jerusalem are illegal,” Khatib said. ”It’s not healthy as far as the peace process is concerned because peace would require the end of the occupation of east Jerusalem.”

The Israeli renovation plan does not include the Mughrabi Gate entrance to the disputed hilltop, next to the Western Wall. Israeli construction there sparked violent Palestinians protests in 2007. – AP

Poll shows Sarkozy ratings up, new scandal looms

PARIS: An opinion poll on Sunday showed French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s popularity rebounding from record lows, but he faced a growing scandal over allegations of kickbacks on 1990s naval deals with Pakistan.

The conservative leader, 55, hoped a cabinet reshuffle last week would help turn the page on a difficult year marred by allegations of illegal funding of his conservative UMP party and national protests over his pension reform.

Sarkozy is also trying to use an ambitious agenda under France’s year-long presidency of the G20 group of nations, which began this month, as a platform for rebuilding his popularity in the run-up to a presidential election in early 2012.

A survey by pollsters Ifo in the Journal du Dimanche showed Sarkozy’s approval rating up 3 percentage points to 32 percent in early November, after hitting a low-point in October during union-led protests against legislation to raise the pension age.

The poll was conducted either side of a Nov. 14 cabinet reshuffle, which retained heavyweights like Economy Minister Christine Lagarde but ditched centrists and left-wing converts to shore up Sarkozy’s right-wing support base.

However, Sunday’s newspapers all led on the investigation into the “Karachi affair”, in which 11 French naval engineers and technicians died in a 2002 bomb attack in the Pakistani port, originally thought to be the work of the militants.

Relatives of the victims launched a case this week against former President Jacques Chirac and his then chief-of-staff Dominique de Villepin, alleging the suicide attack was a reprisal for Chirac’s decision to halt commissions on Agosta submarine sales to Pakistan when he won power in 1995.

A judge is also separately investigating whether illegal payments from the contract were used to finance the 1995 presidential bid of Sarkozy’s political mentor Edouard Balladur, prime minister in 1994 when the submarine contracts were signed.

“We owe the truth to the families,” Socialist legislator Jerome Cahuzac told Europe 1 radio on Sunday, calling for a parliamentary investigation into the affair and accusing the government of withholding information on Balladur’s funding.

“NOTHING BEING HIDDEN”

Villepin, Sarkozy’s political rival, said on Friday he had “very strong suspicions of illegal back-payments” to French politicians and asked to testify before the judge.

On Sunday, Villepin said as far as he was aware there was not any link between the 2002 bombing and Chirac’s decision to stop the payment of commissions seven years earlier.

Sarkozy, who was budget minister in Balladur’s government when the deals were signed, on Saturday denounced what he called a “controversy which has no basis” and pledged all the necessary documentation would be placed at the disposal of investigators.

The daughter of one of the engineers killed in the attack told Le Parisien newspaper on Sunday Sarkozy’s statement “sounds like a confession.

“He is acknowledging there are documents which are interesting for the investigation which has not yet been handed over,” Magali Drouet told the newspaper.

Alain Juppe, who was named defence minister in last week’s reshuffle and served as prime minister in 1995-97 under Chirac, said Sarkozy’s comments were a commitment that judges could have access to any documents they need.

“That does not mean that there is anything being hidden. That means he is ready to respond to future demands.” – Reuters

Turkish ship to provide electricity to Karachi: Raja Ashraf

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said on Sunday that Turkish power ship will provide 232 megawatts of electricity to the national grid for Karachi at the prevailing power tariff.

Parvez Ashraf was speaking at a ceremony held to welcome the world’s largest power ship Kaya Bey Karadeniz from Turkey at Karachi Port which will provide 232 MW to national grid for Karachi.

He said that some people in the media were airing incorrect news reports that the ship will not provide electricity to Karachi and that Karachiites will pay Rs 17 per unit as the cost of rental power is very high.

“It is also incorrect that the industry and the people of Karachi will pay higher electricity rates. 232 MW electricity from this ship will go to the national grid energy mix and will be provided to Karachi at NEPRA rates approved for Karachi. Therefore, Karachiites will pay the prevailing power rates”, the Federal Minister added.

He said that in the last two years, more than 1800 MW have been added to national grid with the help of 8 IPPs and two rental power projects (RPPs).

Four more independent power projects with a capacity of generating 800 megawatts (MW) of power will be completed by end of this year to further improve electricity supply in the country.

The Minister said that the government was following the multifaceted approach to enhance power generation in the country and all the resources including hydel, thermal and coal are being used for this purpose.

Ashraf also said that the government was working on a strategy to provide electricity to the people at affordable rate with the help of energy mix. This is a challenge, he noted.
He said the government is forced to buy costly electricity from RPPs for five years till the time that long-term cheap power projects come on stream.

Explaining the reasons for increasing power tariff, the Minister said that previously, Pakistan was generating 70 per cent of its electricity through hydel power and 30 per cent from thermal. Now it is the opposite, the country is producing 70 per cent of its power from thermal generation, he added.

In his inaugural address, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the power ship has obtained all the necessary certifications and quality tests from concerned departments including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

He called upon Turkish energy group to make more direct investment in energy sector and other sectors in Pakistan.
He thanked Karadeniz for bringing in the power ship to Karachi at the time of need and quoted a famous proverb “a friend in need is a friend indeed”.

Shah said that this ship will provide 232 MW of uninterrupted power supply to Karachi for the next five years. He also urged Port Qasim Authority to provide maximum support to the Turkish power ship.

Sindh CM called upon the federal government to extend more support to Thar coal projects for the early commissioning of power generation from these projects.

He said the Engro power project, a joint venture of Sindh government and a private company will generate 2500 MW of power.

President Karadeniz Energy Orham Ramzey said that the ship with 19 brand-new power generating engines has been completely built in Turkey and will provide uninterrupted power supply.

The power ship will start power generation after anchoring at mooring basin at Ibrahim Hyderi near Port Qasim in the next four weeks.

He said that the financial close of the project was reached in a record time keeping in view the urgency of PPIB for power needs.

Turkish Ambassador Babur Hizlan said that the ship has arrived with the aim to serve the beautiful city of Karachi.

Referring to the historic relations between Turkey and Pakistan, he said that his country has provided $ 50 million for the relief of flood victims and another $ 142 million will be provided for their rehabilitation. – APP

Al-Qaeda small-scale bomb threat ‘very serious’: US

WASHINGTON: The latest pledge by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to carry out more small-scale bomb attacks is being treated as a “very serious threat,” the top US military officer said Sunday.

Responding to the Yemen-based terror group’s vow to attack the West with small but frequent strikes such as last month’s cargo plane parcel bombs, Admiral Mike Mullen gave credit to people who have so far foiled such plots but expressed concern over AQAP’s persistence to break through.

“It’s a very serious threat, and I believe what they are saying,” the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told ABC News show “This Week.” “They’ve grown, it’s dangerous, and it’s a place we need to focus,” he added.

AQAP at the weekend unveiled what it described as its “strategy of a thousand cuts” that will “bleed the enemy to death”, a monitoring group said.

The group said the packages it put aboard freight planes bound for the US in late October were never intended to cause mass casualties, but were aimed at creating maximum economic damage.

It said the parcels, which were intercepted in Dubai and Britain, were part of “Operation emorrhage,” a plan that had cost just 4,200 dollars to mount.

When asked if AQAP’s strategy worried him, Mullen responded “You bet it worries me.” But he stressed that there was “an awful lot of effort going on to make sure that they don’t” succeed.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that Washington wanted to help Yemen battle Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the country, and that providing equipment and training to Yemeni security forces offered the best way to counter the threat.

With more than 100,000 US troops fighting Al-Qaeda’s allies in Afghanistan and public skepticism in Yemen over the US military’s role there, Gates and other US officials have stressed that Sanaa will lead the fight against Islamist militants. – AFP

Nato withdrawal plan ‘sign of failure’ for US: Taliban

KABUL: The Taliban on Sunday called Nato’s plan to begin withdrawing troops from the Afghan battlefield next year and cede full control to local forces by 2014 a “sign of failure” for the US government.

The hardline group said the agreement signed in Lisbon on Saturday showed that Washington had “failed to get additional military assistance of the Nato member countries” or a commitment to continue operations in the long term.

“It is a good news for Afghans and all freedom-loving people of the world and it is a sign of failure for the American government,” it said in an emailed statement.

“In the past nine years, the invaders could not establish any system of governance in Kabul and they will never be able to do so in future.”

The statement entitled “Response of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as regards Lisbon Meeting” comes after the Taliban on Saturday scoffed at the alliance’s plan to bring the war in Afghanistan to an end within four years.

The group claimed that the agreement showed that foreign forces were “doomed towards the same fate as those that tread this path before them”, despite a massive troop surge earlier this year to quell fierce fighting in the south.

The plan will see the 48 countries of the 150,000-strong Nato-led force in Afghanistan begin transferring parts of the battlefield to local police and military and move Western troops into a supporting role by the end of 2014.

Washington, however, warned that “some hard fighting remains ahead” and did not rule out combat operations continuing beyond 2014.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen pledged that the allies would stand by Kabul after their combat mission ends.

The Taliban on Sunday repeated its call for the immediate withdrawal of foreign forces, calling the 2014 cut-off date an “irrational decision”, as it prolonged a “meaningless, imposed and (unwinnable) war”.

“They should not postpone withdrawal of their forces even be it for one day,” the statement added.

Nato commanders and officials have been upbeat about progress in Afghanistan, particularly in the volatile south, which is the Taliban’s spiritual home.

US President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the Nato-led allies “are achieving our objective of breaking Taliban momentum” after committing extra resources to the war.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Brigadier-General Josef Blotz on Sunday said that foreign and Afghan troops had broadly halted the Taliban advance and won support in key Afghan population centres.

“Recent developments have shown that progress is possible. Our job now is to build on that progress to increase the momentum that has been achieved and over time to help the Afghan government prepare to sustain the progress,” he added.

Violence, though, remains a daily reality for both troops and ordinary Afghans, with military and civilian casualties at an all-time high in the nine-year war.

In a sign of the difficulties of securing the war-torn country, four civilians were killed in two separate suicide bomb attacks in eastern Laghman province on Saturday.

Nato also admitted that its troops accidentally killed three civilians when they came under fire during operations in Kunar province, also in eastern Afghanistan, on Friday.

A survey published late Friday gave a gloomy prediction that most people in southern Afghanistan thought the Taliban would return after Nato troops leave.

The rebel group indicated on Sunday it was eyeing a return to power, claiming in its statement that it had put together a “comprehensive policy for the future Afghanistan”. – AFP

EU reduces concessions for two years: Dr. Baig

KARACHI: The European Union (EU) has approved a draft trade concession for Pakistan, reducing the concessions period to two years due to pressure from some member states, having own textile industry.

This was stated by Federal Advisor on Textile Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig in a statement here Saturday. He said that the concessions will be subjected to assessments in third year.

He said the EU has also restricted that duty-free exports of fabric towel, women’s jeans and socks from Pakistan should not rise more than 20 percent per year and also slashed ethanol export from 100,000 tons to 80,000 tons.

EU has promised Pakistan to allow SGP Plus status from 2014, subject to Pakistan rectifying some treaties on human rights and good governance.

Dr. Baig pointed out that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have indicated to oppose the trade concession to Pakistan at WTO and Commerce Minister and Secretary Commerce are already visiting these countries to muster their support.

He, however, said that these adjustments are not expected to lower considerably the expected benefits for Pakistan.