Voice for Baloch Missing Persons hold demonstration

on 2010/4/27 0:00:00 (2 reads)

ccupied Balochistan, QUETTA-A large number of relatives of Baloch missing persons on Monday staged a demo in front of Quetta Press Club to protest against delay in recovery of missing persons, who, they alleged, have been whisked away by govt agencies. The protest was organised by Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) led by its Chairman Nasrullah Baloch. Relatives of around 40 missing persons attended the demonstration. The participants of demo were carrying placards, portraits of their dear ones and banners inscribed with various demands. They were also shouting slogans such as ‘Release all missing persons’, ‘Down with so called democracy and Assemblies’. Addressing on the occasion, VBMP President Nasrullah Baloch strongly criticised the rulers and alleged that violation of human rights was still continuing in Balochistan. He said that children and women had been protesting and organising rallies for the recovery of their beloved ones for a long time but neither govt nor judiciary was taking notice of these protests. Nasrullah Baloch alleged that govt had promised to recover all missing persons but instead of honouring its commitment more people were being whisked away by law enforcement agencies. ‘Law enforcement agencies have started a massive crackdown in different Baloch populated areas and violating sanctity of Chaddar and Chardiwari in the name of search drive’, he alleged. He demanded of the govt that if missing persons were involved in any unlawful activity then they should be produced before court of law instead of putting them in different torture cells. He also demanded of UN and humanitarian organisations for taking immediate notice of the matter and exerting pressure on govt so that missing persons could be recovered. He warned that if their demands were not accepted, VBMP alongwith relatives of missing persons would stage sit-in outside Baloc-histan High Court and resort to protests. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-new … rsons-relatives-hold-demo

New Military Sweep of Marri Stronghold

Reports of intensified military operation in Marri area and allegation of poisoning the water Ponds

on 2010/4/26

Occupied Balochistan: A spokesman of Anjuman Itehad Marri has reported that Pakistani Military has started a fresh military operation in Talli and surrounding areas, near Sibi. The spokesman accused the military of poisoning the water puddles, looting of valuables from people’s houses and trying to kidnap Baloch women during the operation. The Marri Itehad further said that the lives of people and animals in region are in grave danger because of the poisonous water. According to details the Pakistani military has started a fresh military offensive against Marri Baloch nomads in Karmo Wadh, Talli and Daman regions here on Saturday morning. Eye-witnesses say that at least two Marri Baloch, indentified as Bhagiya Wali Marri and Rindhan Marri have been abducted after severe torture on the spot. The Pakistani wicked military also tried to kidnap some Baloch women and children but nearby courageous Baloch came to their help and resisted (by throwing stones at the military) the arrest of Baloch women. The Marri Baloch victims of Pakistani military operation reported that during the so called search operation the military had not only resorted to extreme violence but also they plundered the houses of those innocent nomads. They said that the Pakistani security forces took away their cash, wheat, valuables, bicycles, sewing machines, radios and other good of daily use from their houses. The inhuman forces ripped off the (Mashks), goat skin used for storing water. Several women and children sustained injuries during the security forces excesses and attempts to arrest as many people as they could. Meanwhile the AIM reported Sunday that the operation has now been expanded in several other parts of Kohistan Marri including Kahan, Doi Wadh, Sohro and Meyan Kach. The spokesman said that Pakistani military has been firing which long range artilleries on civilian populations of the aforementioned areas whole day on Sunday. Luckily, no casualties have been reported in these initial military offensives. Gunship helicopters have also been flying in a low altitude in the air. However, no air strikes have been reported anywhere in the area so far. People in the region fear that the Pakistani force might be preparing for yet another massive operation in Balochistan and in particular in Marri and Bugti bordering quarters. Ajuman Itehad Marri spokesperson reiterated that Baloch struggle for freedom cannot be stopped by such brutal acts; in fact such attempts of “besiege and destroy” Baloch villages will further provoke people to resist the occupying forces in the region. The AIM urged the people of Balochistan to stand up against such atrocities and arbitrary arrests of innocent people. Source: DailyTawar & Independent sources on the ground

Rise up against the corrupt, Altaf urges Punjab

[Meet the new boss of Pakistan.  It is only a matter of time.]

Vows to pay Pak debts by selling lands of feudal lords; supports administrative division of provinces; addresses MQM workers in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan simultaneously

By Mumtaz Alvi & Faizan Bangash
RAWALPINDI/LAHORE: Predicting a revolution in the Punjab, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Quaid Altaf Hussain has called upon the people to strive for controlling their own destiny by rising up against the corrupt elements.
He said if his party came to power, he would pay Pakistan’s debts by selling the lands of feudal lords. He said those who had floated the slogan of “Roti, Kapra Aur Makaan” had given nothing to the people.
He supported the administrative division of provinces, terming it a step crucial for strengthening the federation. Speaking at three workers’ conventions in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan simultaneously, Altaf, speaking by telephone from London, said he had come to the Punjab to deal with the corrupt, looters and feudal lords.
He indirectly blasted the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Altaf said there was no harm in the creation of more provinces. He said the demand for separate provinces was not mutiny, adding that new provinces would strengthen Pakistan and make it prosperous.
“The people of the Punjab are requested not to vote for those who had been given an opportunity to rule Pakistan in the past, and this time should vote the MQM to power,” he said. “The MQM, if it reached the corridors of power, would resolve the longstanding Kashmir issue, introduce a uniform education system and rid the country of foreign debts by selling the lands of feudal lords,” he added.
The convention, he said, would lead to a revolution to rid the country of the looters, exploiters and ruthless elements in society. “Angels will not dawn upon you from the heavens. The people of the Punjab will have to rise to change their destiny by themselves,” he said. Altaf said the people of the Punjab were committing suicides due to the price hike, declaring that the MQM would bring the looters to book with the support of the poor, lower middle and middle classes.
The MQM, he said, would fulfil the dream of the father of the nation and turn Pakistan into a welfare state, where all the citizens, including the minorities, would be treated equally. He called upon the people of the Punjab not to spare those involved in power theft and hold them accountable for this crime. He said the MQM would end loadshedding and overcome water shortage in the country.
He urged the people not to pay heed to those who befooled them by chanting fake slogans. Altaf said the MQM was not disappointed even on the ransacking of its offices in the Punjab and the arrest of its workers.
The MQM Quaid said his party had strongly opposed the clause regarding not making mandatory intra-party elections. He said his party legislators had written a dissenting note on the draft of the 18th Amendment.
He said that 70 years ago, the people had gathered in Lahore and vowed to continue their fight till the establishment of a separate homeland for them, and they succeeded. He said that once again, the people of the Punjab had joined hands, but this time not to create but to save their homeland from the plunderers, Qabza groups, feudal lords and exploiters.
He said the workers’ conventions were, in fact, a vote of no-confidence of 98 per cent people of Pakistan against the corrupt, cruel and oppressing elements, who were suppressing the rights of the poor and downtrodden.
“Altaf Hussain has come to the Punjab now. This is the beginning of a new journey of 98 per cent people of Pakistan. The event also marks the accountability of the oppressors, who have been exploiting the poor,” Altaf said.
He vowed to distribute all the looted money of the public among the poor after coming to power.Citing verses of Allama Iqbal, ‘Utho Meri Dunya Ke Ghariboon Ko Jagado’, Altaf called upon the people to change their destiny by rejecting the corrupt elements.
Expressing his support for the people of southern Punjab, Hazara and Balochistan, Altaf said the MQM was committed to putting an end to injustice, being done to the people in these areas.
He said the just demands of the people of Hazara and southern Punjab should be met and the MQM was committed to solving their problems after coming to power.Dr Farooq Sattar, former Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal, Sindh Minister Faisal Sabzwari, showbiz people, including Sangeeta, Rashid Mehmood, and Saud, were also present at the Alhamra Hall, where the telephonic address of Altaf started with a delay of nearly two hours. About 2,500 security personnel were deployed at different positions to maintain law and order.

Pakistan wants Indian magistrates to testify

Anita Joshua

Formally seeks custody of Kasab

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday formally sought the custody of Ajmal Amir Kasab — the lone surviving terrorist from the 2008 Mumbai attacks — and requested Indian magistrates to testify in the Rawalpindi trial of seven Lashkar-e-Taiba men charged with involvement in that crime.

The formal request was made by the Foreign Office when officials submitted a dossier to Indian Deputy High Commissioner Rahul Kulshreshth here on Sunday morning. On Saturday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik indicated Pakistan would seek Kasab’s custody as his confessional statement was crucial for the prosecution’s case against the seven men.

The dossier submitted by the Foreign Office is understood to be a response to the one India handed over to Pakistan in February at the Foreign Secretary-level talks. Indian High Commission officials said the dossier would be sent to India for further examination. Also, the legal ramifications of Pakistan’s request for custody of Kasab will have to be scrutinised as the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

Besides, the Interior Ministry wants India to allow the metropolitan magistrates and police officials who recorded Kasab’s statement to appear before the Pakistan courts where the seven LeT men are under trial.

Defence lawyers have been arguing that Kasab’s confessional statement cannot be used against their clients because he was not being tried in the same court.

In view of this, the Federal Investigation Agency had informed the anti-terrorism court, where the seven are being tried, that it would approach Interpol to issue Red Corner Notices for Kasab and Fahim Ansari (who allegedly conducted reconnaissance for the attack).

India reacts cautiously

Special Correspondent adds from New Delhi:

Indian officials on Sunday reacted cautiously to the Pakistani request for the Mumbai magistrates and investigating officer to testify before the Rawalpindi court. Asked by The Hindu if this was a step forward, a senior official said “Maybe.” “There are too many moving parts [right now] to take a call.” He said it was a potential step forward but one could not conclude that with certainty yet.

Senior lawyers said India could consider Pakistan’s request if the magistrates concerned were prepared to be examined as witnesses voluntarily.

Shanti Bhushan said if Kasab’s confessional statement implicating some other accused facing trial in Pakistan required corroboration as per Pakistani law, India could consider such a request. P.P. Rao said the law allowed for such evidence to be provided in writing as well.

The Pakistani dossier and request comes on the eve of the SAARC summit in Bhutan, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines.

Doctors sterilise Uzbek women by stealth

Mark Franchetti

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WHEN her baby died soon after delivery, Gulbahor Zavidova, 28, a poor farmer’s wife, longed to be pregnant again. After months of trying she and her husband visited a doctor who told her she could never have another child because she had been sterilised.

The procedure had been performed immediately after she gave birth, by doctors who did not ask her consent. On learning she could not bear children, her husband left her.

“Not a day passes without me crying,” she said. “I was outraged when I found out what they had done. How could they do such a horrible thing without asking me?”

According to human rights groups, tens of thousands of young women like Zavidova have been sterilised without their consent in the authoritarian former Soviet state of Uzbekistan.

Uzbek sources say the measure was ordered by Islam Karimov, the president, who has ruled with an iron fist for 20 years. The policy is aimed at keeping down the country’s poor population — with 28m people, it is Central Asia’s most densely populated state.

Activists say mass sterilisation began in 2003, but was eased after two years following an outcry. It is said to have restarted in February this year, when the health ministry ordered doctors to recommend sterilisation as an “effective contraceptive”. Critics claim every doctor was told to persuade “at least two women” a month to have the procedure. Doctors who failed faced reprisals and fines.

“We estimate that since February, about 5,000 women have been sterilised without consent,” said a local human rights campaigner who fears detention if she is named.

In many cases, doctors opt for delivery by caesarean section and then perform a sterilisation without telling the woman. Widespread rumours of the practice have resulted in women opting for home births to avoid the risk.

Doctors visited Hidojat Muminova, a 26-year-old cotton picker, at home several months ago. They told the mother of two she should visit a local hospital for a check-up, at which she was diagnosed with a potentially fatal cyst in her fallopian tubes.

“They scared me into believing I needed an urgent operation,” she said. “I was surprised as I’d never had any pain but I was worried and agreed to the surgery. When it was over they told me they’d performed a sterilisation. I could not stop crying. They tricked me and treated me like an animal.”

Another victim, Mahmuda Usupova, 30, said doctors had sterilised her after she gave birth to her third child by caesarean several months ago. She learnt she could no longer have children during a visit to her gynaecologist.

Uzbek authorities deny that sterilisations are carried out without consent, but a report by the United Nations Committee Against Torture reported a “large number” of cases three years ago. According to the UN, Uzbekistan’s fertility rate has fallen from 4.4 babies per woman to 2.5 since Karimov came to power.

Under the 72-year-old Karimov, Uzbekistan has become highly repressive. Opponents have been jailed, tortured and killed. Two critics of the regime, who were accused of being Islamic militants, were scalded to death after boiling water was poured over them.

Hundreds of civilians died when the police and army fired indiscriminately into a large crowd of protesters in Andijan in 2005. The Sunday Times has been denied entry to Uzbekistan ever since because its coverage is considered “unfriendly”.

The sterilisation programme has been relaunched despite efforts by Karimov’s two daughters to improve the lives of Uzbek women and children. Lola, 31, the president’s younger daughter, is a Unesco ambassador and head of a children’s charity.

Her sister Gulnara, 38, who was recently appointed ambassador to Spain, supports a number of charities. Known as “the princess of Uzbeks”, she is a Harvard graduate, martial arts expert and jewellery designer.

Under the name GooGoosha — apparently her father’s pet name for her — she has released pop videos. Her parties in Moscow, where she lived until recently, attracted members of the elite.

The women’s health days advertised on her website provide free access to medical specialists from Israel for women suffering “diseases related to reproductive functions”.

The Uzbek embassy in Moscow insisted that all sterilisations were carried out at the patient’s request and after the woman’s husband had been told of the consequences.

Some names have been changed. Additional reporting: Marina Ivanova, Tashkent

Brits To Increase Surveillance of Citizens With Global Hawk Drones

US Superspy in the British Sky Fetching Hidden Terror Cells: Report

Readers Number : 28

26/04/2010 A Top-secret US unmanned drone used to locate Al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan and Afghanistan could soon be patrolling over British cities to search for hidden “terror cells”, Mail Online said in a report published on Monday.
The controversial move would allow MI5 and GCHQ, the Government’s eavesdropping centre, to step up surveillance operations over the UK, it said.
“Until now, the £23million Global Hawk aircraft has not been available for foreign sale. However, US policy has been quietly changed and Britain is now negotiating to buy the drones. These include the attempt in 2006 to detonate liquid bombs on aircraft flying to American cities from the UK. It is not known how many drones the UK wants from manufacturer Northrop Grumman, but earlier this year a senior Ministry of Defense procurement official visited the Pentagon to begin negotiations”, the report added.
The report went on to say that Britain would not need to use the drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan because the US already provides “full air coverage” in the region. Instead, it is believed they will be used mainly for “domestic surveillance”.
“In Britain, MI5 and GCHQ already use three planes based at RAF Northolt in North-West London to spy on citizens. The three Britten-Norman Islander aircraft are all fitted with sophisticated surveillance equipment. They have been used to track down terror cells and to locate former Afghan veterans who may have returned to Britain to plot terror attacks. The aircraft are able to identify suspects using ‘voice-prints’ of insurgents with British accents that were picked up by spy planes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan”, Mail Online reported.
The Global Hawk recently became the first drone to be certified by the American Federal Aviation Authority for use in civilian air corridors with no advance notice.
“The drone can stay airborne for 30 hours without refueling. Last night, MoD sources said the Global Hawk was being looked at for possible military use but any decision to buy the drone would depend on funding,” the report ended by saying.
Earlier, The Mail on Sunday revealed that MI5 used hidden electronic surveillance equipment to secretly monitor 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet and at least five Prime Ministers. The extraordinary disclosure comes despite a succession of parliamentary statements that no such bugging ever took place. And it follows a behind-the-scenes row in which senior Whitehall civil servants – backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown – attempted to suppress the revelation.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that top-secret files held by the Security Service show it installed electronic listening devices in three highly sensitive areas of No10 – the Cabinet Room, the Waiting Room and the Prime Minister’s study.

Pentagon Beyond US Anti-Corruption Laws?

Aerial image of the Pentagon

A US Congressional investigation into fuel contracting at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan could test the US Department of Justice’s willingness to apply to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to Pentagon contracting, observers say, Deirdre Tynan reports for EurasiaNet.

By Deirdre Tynan for EurasiaNet

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The National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform opened a probe into Manas fuel contracts on April 12, less than a week after the collapse of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s administration in Bishkek.

The subcommittee’s first hearing on the matter, entitled Crisis in Kyrgyzstan: Fuel, Contractors, and Revolution along the Afghan Supply Chain, is scheduled to be held April 22 in Washington.

Manas Transit Center handles both troops and goods heading to and from Afghanistan. It plays a pivotal role in the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a resupply route running from Europe through Central Asia. It is designed to ease the logistics strain on the main overland supply route to Afghanistan, via Pakistan.

Red Star Enterprises Ltd., one of the companies at the center of the congressional investigation, is among the US Department of Defense’s top 100 contractors, and in the Defense Logistics Agency’s top 10 having won more than $1.069 billion in contracts in 2008.

Since the passage of the anti-corruption act in 1977, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has appeared reluctant to prosecute FCPA cases involving Department of Defense (DoD) contractors. This reluctance appears rooted in a desire not to have the FCPA damage US national security interests.

However, experts argue that this softly-softly approach to the Pentagon’s contracting activities, from which private and publicly held entities reap billions of dollars, does more harm than good. It can undermine confidence in the US justice system, and, in the case of Kyrgyzstan and the Manas facility, potentially hurts Washington’s standing in the eyes of the new leadership in Bishkek.

Mike Koehler — an assistant professor of business law at Butler University in Indiana, and an FCPA expert — suggested that the DoD seems to enjoy an exemption from the Act, even though there is no provision in the FCPA for such an exemption.

“The FCPA applies to any time a US company, and under some circumstances a non-US company, provides anything of value to a foreign individual or entity to retain business. There is no industry exception. There is no DoD exception,” Koehler said.

“But DoJ is going to tread very lightly here, as it raises national security concerns and political issues that are not found in all instances of FCPA cases,” Koehler continued.

Koehler pointed to a case settled this past February that he characterized as “FCPA-like.” In that case, BAE Systems, a major weapons supplier, agreed to pay a Justice Department-imposed fine of $400 million, and plead guilty to making false statements to the US government. But the company was not required to “plead guilty or otherwise acknowledge responsibility” for improper conduct concerning an investigation that was opened in 2007, Koehler said.

“The reason is because BAE is the fifth largest defense contractor to the US government,” Koehler stated. “I think it is pretty clear that in this case the company was treated differently to another company that may violate the FCPA, [treated differently to] a company that sells a different product to a different customer.”

DoJ guidelines allow for the consideration of “collateral effects” when making a decision on whether or not to launch a criminal investigation into a possible FCPA violation. This clause theoretically enables national security concerns to trump justice in the broadest sense, Koehler said. But the approach is questionable, he argued.

“I don’t like it because, for one, we have this thing called the rule of law in America and the law is supposed to be applied equally to everybody based on the same set of facts,” he said. “In other words, it should not matter if we talking about a company that sells fighter jets or a company that sells dental floss.”

“It shouldn’t matter, but, as a practical matter, it does,” Koehler continued.

The FCPA, according to the Justice Department’s website, “was enacted for the purpose of making it unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business.”

Potential FCPA cases involving Central Asian states could pose a particular problem for US prosecutors. On the one hand, the governments of the region are notoriously corrupt and authoritarian-minded. On the other, their cooperation with the United States is needed to ensure the smooth operation of the Northern Distribution Network.

In its most recent survey of global corruption, the watchdog organization Transparency International ranked Kyrgyzstan 162nd out of the 180 nations surveyed, with 1 being the least corrupt and 180 being the most corrupt. Other important NDN transit states also ranked poorly, with Uzbekistan at 174th and Tajikistan at 158th. The least corrupt Central Asian state was Kazakhstan, which still ranked 120th.

Alexander Tiperov, a prominent lawyer in Bishkek and a staunch opponent of the Manas Transit Center, told EurasiaNet.org that any failure by US authorities to apply FCPA legislation evenly in relation to the Manas investigation would have an adverse effect on Kyrgyz public opinion. Already, many Kyrgyz believe that Washington is willing to overlook fundamental flaws in governance in Bishkek, as long as American troops can retain access to the Manas facility.

“I think it is very important for the credibility of the United States to hold an investigation into this. And if for any reason they fail to come to a conclusion, it will definitely show that they support this corruption and are not interested in a proper examination of the issue,” Tiperov said. He also called on Kyrgyz authorities to launch a similar investigation.

In April 2009, a memo issued by US Central Command, and signed by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, instructed officers involved in NDN procurement to “make every attempt, within operational, legal and regulatory constraints, to use [South Caucasus/Central and South Asian States’] services and products.” Petraeus also gave US procurement officials broad latitude to award contracts based advancing US strategic and operational goals in Afghanistan.

“I challenge our leadership at all levels to be creative and aggressive in carrying out this effort,” he wrote. Some experts contend that such an impulse toward creativity had the tacit effect of discouraging adequate oversight. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

When contacted by EurasiaNet.org regarding the application of the FCPA to DoD contracting, Cheryl Irwin, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said it was a DoJ matter. “Our lawyers say this is a Department of Justice issue, not DoD-specific,” the Defense Department representative said on April 20.

In turn, Justice Department representative Alisa Finelli declined to discuss the FCPA in relation to DoD contracting, saying she could not comment on “specific cases.”

THE SEEDS OF AFGHAN CORRUPTION

The flourishing drug trade, apart from war and corruption, makes Afghanistan’s future look bleak, writes Abhijit Bhattacharyya Strange addiction When the American president, Barack Obama, paid a ‘surprise’ visit to Kabul and had dinner with Hamid Karzai, they could not have discussed anything else other than the situation in Afghanistan where troops of 42 nations are fighting on a hostile terrain. Before getting into the issues that compelled Obama to visit the war zone, one thing must be understood clearly: the president of the United States of America, whatever his political background, has to see things from an American perspective only. It is thus the president’s duty to ensure that his soldiers find their way out of the quagmire in Afghanistan. With almost 45,000 infantry soldiers on ground, the US army has been principally deployed on the eastern part of Afghanistan, bordering the Durand Line. Thus, the force covers the provinces of Nuristan, Kunar, Panjshir, Kapisa, Laghman, Nangarhar, Khost, Paktika, Kandahar and Helmand. The last five are being especially re-fortified by the 30,000 fresh troops who have started to arrive. The 4th infantry brigade combat team operates from Jalalabad; the 3rd infantry brigade combat team from Logar; the 4th airborne infantry brigade combat team from Khost; the 5th stryker brigade combat team from Kandahar and the 2nd marine expeditionary brigade is responsible for drug-infested Helmand. In landlocked Afghanistan, drugs constitute the lifeline of the local economy. The sale of drugs fetches dollars and Kalashnikovs. Understandably, therefore, the production and distribution of drugs are a way of life for a population that has been denied access to natural resources. Given the limited agricultural land, high birth and death rates (the average life span is 42 years), coupled with endless ethnic conflict, Afghanistan is a nation mired in corruption. It is also administered in a poor manner. Asking the Afghan president to accomplish something that is impossible would be grossly unfair. Afghanistan and ‘administration’, as understood in Europe or America, simply do not go together. Why does one say so? One just needs to turn one’s eyes to the US troops in the Kandahar-Helmand area to know the answer. Marja, in Helmand, has a large occupation force. There is more than one coalition soldier or police officer for every eight locals. Yet, the Taliban have been able to launch an unrelenting terror campaign on their own Afghan brethren. So much so that the area belongs to foreigners during the day and to locals at night. Collaboration between the ‘non-Taliban’ locals and the Americans is unacceptable to the Taliban. How then does one expect the government to impart ‘honest’, ‘effective’, ‘impartial’ and ‘transparent’ administration in the midst of such death and devastation? Reportedly, the cultivation of opium is the main source of livelihood of the majority of farmers in Marja. The force had been instructed to seize the land belonging to these farmers some time ago. However, the same soldiers have now been ordered to leave the farmers alone. “Marja is a special case right now”, said commander Jeffrey Eggers, a member of General McChrystal’s strategic advisory group. “We do not trample on the livelihood of those we are trying to win over.” Thus, when it comes to the drug-trade, the tactic of violence has given way to the doctrine of peace. Is this not strange and curious? Where is this cultivated opium headed for? To the grey market dominated, allegedly, by ISI informers, Western consumers, US financiers, arms dealers and fund-raisers. Obama, apparently, nudged Karzai to tackle Afghan corruption. But how can Karzai succeed, considering the serious charges of corruption that have been levelled against the Kabul government? Also, as incidents have revealed, the US may not be interested in dealing with drug-related corruption. Thus, only a week before Obama’s Kabul sojourn, there were reports that the US was looking the other way even as two-thirds of Marja’s fields bloomed with tall, red poppies. Today, Afghanistan produces almost 90 per cent of the world’s opium. The brisk trade, directly or indirectly, supports an estimated 1.4 million households in the country. According to rough estimates, a large number of people are dependent on poppy cultivation, thereby linking cash, corruption and commerce. In fact, the American soldiers and the commanders themselves are aware of this fatal reality. Hence, either way, the Americans have fallen into a trap far away from home. Poppy forms the base of the trade in narcotics. It is illegal to process and consume drugs, and yet the American soldiers remain silent spectators in the Afghan countryside. In fact, the Afghans themselves have the right to enquire of Obama and his men about the steps taken to nip corruption and drug-trade in the bud in Marja. Thus, Zalmai Afzali, of the Afghan ministry of counter narcotics, fumes — “How can we allow the world to see lawful forces in charge of Marja next to fields full of opium, which one way or another will be harvested and turned into poison that kills people all over the world?” Afzali has a point indeed. Poppy trade, drugs, corruption, commerce, guns, dollars and destruction — everything is interlinked. Obama’s advice to Karzai would make sense only if all the enmeshed factors are tackled strategically. But that is unlikely to happen. Hence chaos and corruption, death and destruction, are likely to remain a part of Afghanistan’s reality in the future. Obama’s lecture to Karzai on corruption has no meaning at this juncture. In Kabul, corruption is the way of life, and is a matter of great significance to a people being ravaged by an unending strife.

Time to end the impasse with Pakistan

SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

The Hindu India’s Foreign Secretrary Nirupama Rao welcomes her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir prior to their meeting in New Delhi on February 25, 2010. Photo: V. Sudershan

If India really believes dialogue is the way forward, it should not allow a disagreement over form or nomenclature to come in the way.

Forget Kashmir and terrorism or even Afghanistan and water, the current stalemate between India and Pakistan is all down to one word. Both countries publicly say that Dialogue is the only way forward. Yet each is paralysed by the name ‘Composite’. New Delhi is so allergic to it that it will not accept its use, while Islamabad has become so attached to the C word that it insists there can be nothing else.

This Indian allergy and Pakistani attachment is paradoxical, since the composite dialogue approach has suited India more than it has Pakistan. Under the guise of moving ahead simultaneously on all issues, the framework has allowed progress on trade and other subjects considered important by New Delhi, even as the status quo on major disputes like Kashmir and Siachen –key concerns for Islamabad — has held. Of course, the dialogue did not end cross-border terrorism or extinguish the links between the Pakistani security agencies and violent extremism as some on the Indian side might have hoped. But that was always an improbable shot given the DNA of the Pakistani establishment. Over time, India has realised the best way to deal with the threat of terror is by strengthening its internal capabilities while utilising engagement as a lever for influencing Pakistan’s behaviour over the long run.

The two most important issues for the Pakistani side today — going by its public statements — are Kashmir and water. But here’s the paradox: the composite dialogue, from its point of view, has produced no forward movement whatsoever on these two fronts. In four and a half rounds of talks within that framework, the total amount of time spent by the two foreign secretaries in discussing the Kashmir dispute has perhaps been 10 hours. During which neither side did anything beyond restating its national positions. As for water, it does not even figure as a separate head under this format. The only water-related dispute covered by the composite dialogue is the Tulbul navigation project, also known as the Wullar barrage. There, too, progress has been insignificant.

In contrast to the composite dialogue framework, the back channel between Satinder Lambah and Tariq Aziz was far more effective and productive. Between 2004 and 2007, the two special envoys, who reported directly to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and General Pervez Musharraf respectively, discussed Kashmir for hundreds of hours. More significantly, their exertions produced a framework solution that was cleared on the Indian side by the Cabinet Committee on Security and on the Pakistani side by the Corps Commanders conference, before domestic political difficulties triggered by his dismissal of the chief justice forced Musharraf to back off. As for water, the Indus Water Commissioners have been meeting continuously for more than 40 years and their forum represents the best platform for Pakistan because all the Indian projects it opposes on the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers can be referred to an outside arbitrator whose decisions are final and binding. Compared to such a powerful dispute resolution mechanism, the existing dialogue framework is surely inferior. And yet, even though Islamabad’s best shot at making progress on water and Kashmir lies outside the composite dialogue, it has got locked into a situation where it is refusing any form of engagement or talks other than that.

Now let’s consider India. The Indian position has been in a state of flux since it suspended the composite dialogue following the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. Broadly speaking, however, India has maintained that there can be no resumption of the composite dialogue till Pakistan moves to punish the Mumbai conspirators and dismantles the “infrastructure of terror” on its soil. In September last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a distinction between “meaningful dialogue” on disputes, which would have to await Pakistani action on terrorism, and talks on “humanitarian and other issues.” Since then, the Indian position has evolved further. When Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary, Salman Bashir, was invited to Delhi in February 2010, India clarified that while its own priority was terrorism, it was ready to discuss all issues with Pakistan. That is still the official Indian position. At a press conference on April 22, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said dialogue “represents a concrete method to move forward in our relationship … [It] is always useful. It helps clear the atmosphere and especially between neighbours, such as India and Pakistan. Dialogue is really the way forward”.

But if India believes dialogue “is really the way forward”, why is it unable to accept Pakistan’s call for the “composite” dialogue to be resumed? The paradox here is that from the traditional Indian perspective, the composite dialogue has worked pretty well. Discussions on Kashmir have not led to any change in the territorial status quo but have provided a cover for India to move ahead with other parts of the bilateral agenda that suit it more, like trade and cross-border confidence-building measures. And if the Indian side is opposed to talks on the ‘water issue’, the composite framework of dialogue is ideal because water does not figure as a standalone topic under any of the subject heads. Despite this, India is the one saying no to ‘composite’ dialogue.

India suspended the composite dialogue in order to get Pakistan to take action against terrorism. Some action has been taken but the Manmohan Singh government rightly believes that Pakistan can and must do more. It also knows the continued absence of dialogue is unlikely to produce greater action on the terrorism front and might even be counter-productive. Yet it fears the “resumption” of the suspended dialogue will be seen as a sign of weakness by the Opposition.

India’s options have been further complicated by the hardening of the Pakistani position on cooperation and dialogue since November 2009, when Barack Obama’s new AfPak policy dealt the military establishment in Rawalpindi a stronger hand in the Afghan endgame. Even as the Pakistan army has stepped up its offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban and, to a lesser extent, anti-American extremists on its border with Afghanistan, it has played up the ‘India threat’ card to balance the perception that it is too subservient to the U.S. The rhetoric on water, the Azm-e-Nau III exercises, the loosening of the leash on Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed and the increase in infiltration across the Line of Control are all evidence of the hardening of the Pakistani military’s attitude. At the same time, the domestic political situation in Pakistan is fluid. The 18th amendment to the constitution has opened up the possibility of the civilian government and the provinces strengthening themselves vis-a-vis the military. The revival of the Benazir Bhutto assassination case in the wake of the recent U.N. report could also provide political ammunition against the establishment.

In the run up to this week’s Saarc summit in Bhutan, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines, Indian officials are resigned to keeping the bilateral relationship in a ‘holding pattern.’ Their logic is that if relations cannot improve, then they should not be allowed to deteriorate either. As a short-term strategy, the holding pattern strategy works fine. There are always small things that can be done at that level too. But an aeroplane cannot circle the runway endlessly. The longer it is up in the air, the greater is the likelihood of a disastrous descent. That is why planning for an orderly landing is a much better strategy.

In Thimphu, Dr. Singh must try and find a way of doing that. One possibility is for the two prime ministers to task their foreign secretaries with reviewing what has been accomplished on the terrorism front as well as in the last few rounds of the composite dialogue, with a view to expediting the resolution of existing problems and disputes. Such a mandate would foreground the necessity of a dialogue addressing all outstanding issues while sidestepping, for the moment, any nomenclatural disagreement. It would accomplish the stated Indian objective while allowing Mr. Gilani to return without having surrendered Islamabad’s stand on the “resumption” of the composite dialogue. Parallel to this process, the Prime Minister should meet with the leaders of all major political parties in order to explain the reasons why India and Pakistan need to end the current stalemate. Finally, a strict moratorium on grandstanding and posturing, finger-pointing and name-calling is necessary. When the Prime Minister is directly crafting India’s approach to Pakistan, ministers, officials and anonymous ‘sources’ must not confuse the public with contradictory messages and statements.

India-Pakistan cloud hangs over South Asia summit

A familiar game of “will they-won’t they” centred on a possible meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan looks set to overshadow a summit of South Asian nations in Bhutan this week.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will both be attending the two-day gathering of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which begins Wednesday.

The summit is supposed to culminate in a joint declaration entitled “Towards a Green and Happy South Asia”, but with the region’s bitterest rivals barely on speaking terms, there is unlikely to be much cheer to spread around.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will both be attending the two-day gathering of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which begins Wednesday.

India broke off all dialogue with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

A highly tentative resumption occurred in February when their foreign secretaries met in the Indian capital, but talks ended with India insisting that full-fledged dialogue would require further steps by Pakistan to bring those responsible for the Mumbai carnage to justice.

Both countries have been coy about the possibility of an official meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC summit.

In a statement on Friday, the Pakistani foreign ministry said Gilani would “hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts” but made no specific mention of Singh.

Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao left things equally open-ended when questioned by reporters in Delhi.

“As of now there is no such meeting,” Rao said, before adding: “I don’t believe in making forecasts. I would say you should wait and let’s see.”

The two prime ministers last came face-to-face at a 47-nation summit on nuclear security in Washington, where they shook hands at a dinner reception and exchanged little more than pleasantries.

SAARC was formed in 1985 with the aim of encouraging development and raising the living standards of poverty-stricken people in a region home to one-fifth of humanity.

But 25 years and 15 summits later, the group has achieved very little — a failing largely attributed to the volatile relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

The other members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

“SAARC still has great potential,” said Kalim Bahadur, a retired professor of South Asian Studies from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“But because of the India-Pakistan tensions and conflicts, it’s just never been able to fulfil the aspirations of its founders.”

Delhi-based strategic analyst C.U. Bhaskar, said it was almost inconceivable that there would be “any significant contact” between the two prime ministers.

“But then the issue of India-Pakistan talks does have a tendency to overshadow SAARC, and this summit will be no different,” Bhaskar said.

The situation is not helped by the fact that India and Pakistan are locked in a struggle for influence in Afghanistan, which became a SAARC member in 2007, adding a conflict involving the United States to the group’s other headaches.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet Singh in New Delhi ahead of the summit, and the Indian prime minister is expected to reiterate concerns over attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan blamed by India on Pakistan-based militants.

For SAARC’s smaller members, the India-Pakistan dynamic simply gets in the way of their efforts to leverage the group’s potential in a host of other areas, including trade, development, water-sharing and environmental controls.

Bhutan is hosting the summit for the very first time and the tiny Himalayan kingdom wants to focus on climate change, which is of special concern to SAARC members like Bangladesh and The Maldives, both threatened by rising sea levels.

“We will be pushing for a South Asian Climate change deal,” Bangladeshi foreign ministry spokeswoman Saida Tasnim Mona told AFP.

“We need to form a common front to fight the effects of climate change,” she said.

Democracy in Central Asia

By Ben Tanosborn

Colors and Flowers… and Soviet Spoils

Two weeks ago, shortly after the political upheaval erupted in Kyrgyzstan, I received an email from my journalist friend in Azerbaijan, Anar Orujov, who is deputy director of ICFJ (International Center for Journalists) in Baku, wanting to engage in a discussion about the problems of democracy in post Soviet countries, including Azerbaijan.

After stating those nations’ continuing struggle for media freedom and democracy, he posed the questions: “What is wrong here [those republics] that there is no democracy?  And, what is [the] beginning point for democracy?”  From the pulpit of my column, in a roundabout way, I hope to touch, if lightly, on my take to the news from Central Asia.

Once upon a recent past, as opportunity came about for some nations to emerge from totalitarianism, they did so in a very gentle, pacific and velvety way… and we all smiled, applauding the outcome.  Freedom came to Czechs and Slovaks with the smoothness one would expect from a carefully cast and well-rehearsed play.  More than a decade earlier, the Iberian Peninsula had experienced its own evolutionary political awakening, after the deaths of Franco and Salazar.  Spaniards, Portuguese, Czechs and Slovaks, all brought about r/evolutionary change on their own terms.

One could say that, democratically at least, all four r/evolutions were truly successful.

But many soft and not-so-soft revolutions that were to come thereafter, flashily named from the botanical and color spectrums, were more often than not a temporary change in command induced some times, provoked in other cases, by ulterior motives of either inducers or provokers of such change.  Revolutions at times of the fake-variety, which more aptly should be referred to as pseudo-democratic coup-d’états!

And that happened as the Warsaw Pact nations unyoked themselves from the USSR; and the USSR transformed itself into the Russian Federation, shrinking from one-sixth of the earth’s land area to one-ninth after many of its republics attained independence.

And, little surprise, there was the United States ready to claim the spoils of dissolution after the 46 years of Cold War following the defeat of the Axis, the end of World War II.

Well meaning, idealistic students were all too often led astray, as were other segments of the population, by propaganda financed via the tentacles of the only empire left: the United States of America.  Overtly at times, and covertly most often through a number of US organizations/agencies, the CIA and infiltrated NGO’s, it seemed obvious to some political observers how and why three former Soviet republics (Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan), two of them bordering Mother Russia, so easily detached their umbilical cords from Moscow in order to break bread with the West; also, why American efforts fell short in Belarus and Uzbekistan.

Along the Caucasus and Central Asia, two colors and a flower emerged in 2004-5.  The Rose Revolution in Georgia – supported by the Kmara civic resistance movement – replaced Gorbachev’s principal reformer and Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, with Mikheil Saakashvili, a friend of the United States.  Similarly in Ukraine, here with the support of Pora, the sprouting of the Orange Revolution brought to power Viktor Yushchenko, another good friend of the West.  In Central Asia, the color pink, perhaps best known as the “Tulip Revolution,” gave Kyrgyzstan, with the support of KelKel – a youth movement, its place in the garden… or the political color spectrum.

A poor, landlocked country without its neighbors’ oil, Kyrgyzstan’s major economic resource became one of geo-political nature: the sphere of influence that it could provide Russia and the United States, Manas Air Base representing the focal point as both a transit center for US military operations in Afghanistan and a strategic listening post to the Turkic-speaking Uighur province in Xingjian (China).  Although the rent paid by the US for the base has increased several-fold, now representing 5 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP, the now exiled president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, apparently emptied the nation’s coffers in the pockets of his relatives… leaving Russia and the United States to tend to the ensuing economic crisis, while he sets up domicile in Belarus courtesy of its strongman-leader, Alexander Lukashenko.

The bottom line to all this, my dear friend Anar, is that democracy is not something that you borrow or inherit, but something that people need to build from scratch… without the help, or accommodation, of outside “do-gooders.”  Democracy is not as exportable as we in the United States claim it to be.  For over a century, America’s efforts in Latin America were less about democracy and more about economic interests (exploitation, some will say)… and the democracy which now exists in some of those nations can be only attributed to their own efforts, and not any American help.  The same will occur anywhere else, including Central Asia, when people demand social justice and respect for human rights… in bona fide political r/evolutions, and not make-believe colors or flowers that usually play to the design of empires.

Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and a few Latin American nations may serve as initial models in the arduous and very difficult path that leads towards a semblance of democracy.  Then again, perhaps Central Asia needs to create its very own model(s).

© 2010 Ben Tanosborn

12 oil tankers burnt, four policemen killed



12 oil tankers burnt, four policemen killed

CHAKWAL/ISLAMABAD: Four policemen were killed by unidentified men, who also set 12 NATO oil tankers on fire, at the Talagang-Mianwali Road on Saturday, police said.

Talagang Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ghaffar told APP that the incident took place around two kilometres from Talagang, Chakwal district. The DSP said Sub-Inspector Iqbal, driver Fareed and two unidentified police personnel died in the incident, as some armed men started firing at a police mobile van before setting the NATO oil tankers on fire. The DSP said the fire also engulfed the nearby Ehsan Filling Station.

Fire Brigade vehicles reached the spot and started efforts to control the fire while police cordoned off the area to arrest the perpetrators.

Separately, a man was killed when a NATO oil tanker overturned near Saranan, Pishin district on Saturday. According to police, the deceased was identified as Sadiq Shah. His body was handed over to his family after an autopsy.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the attack on the NATO oil tankers, in which four policemen also lost their lives. The prime minister said the terrorists wanted to spoil the image of the country. staff report/app

Putin Confident Enough To Reverse Position On Nabucco

[SEE:  Russia vows not to impede NABUCCO project. January 09, 2009 ]

European Nabucco gas pipeline “useless and dangerous” – Putin

24.04.2010 20:24

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday dismissed as “useless and dangerous” Europe’s Nabucco pipeline project, which aims to alleviate dependence on Russian gas.

Putin made his comment in Vienna, shortly before Austrian Economics MinisterReinhold Mitterlehner signed on to Russia’s rival South Stream project. Austria is also part of the Nabucco consortium, dpa reported.

Nabucco is to supply Central Asian gas to Europe, while South Stream is to send Russian gas from the the Black Sea to south-eastern and Central Europe.

“We don’t see a conflict of interest,” Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said about his country’s double strategy.

His Russian counterpart said he did not understand why countries want to become independent from Russian gas, as Russia is able to satisfy the needs of its customers for years.

Taking a jab at Nabucco, Putin said: “It is useless and dangerous to build a pipeline without having supply contracts.”

The six countries involved have yet to conclude such agreements with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan or Iraq.

The Nabucco consortium also includes energy companies in Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

South Stream is a joint project between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Italian energy group ENI.

Afghan schoolgirls fall ill in suspected gas attack

25.04.2010 17:15

Dozens of Afghan schoolgirls fell ill after a suspected poison gas attack on their school, local authorities said on Sunday, blaming the incident on the Taliban who oppose education for girls, Reutersreported.

Provincial police chief Abdul Razzaq Yaqubi said about 48 girls and several teachers became ill suddenly and many collapsed after smelling poison gas at the school in the northern city of Kunduz, where there has been an upsurge in insurgent violence.

Yaqubi blamed the Taliban for the attack.

“I was in class when a smell like a flower reached my nose,” said Sumaila, 12, one of the girls hospitalized after the attack. “I saw my classmates and my teacher collapse and when I opened my eyes I was in hospital,” she said.

Azizullah Safar, head of the Kunduz hospital, said many of the girls were still suffering from pain, dizziness and vomiting.

The Taliban banned all education for girls when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 and it remains a disputed issue in much of Afghanistan.

Similar attacks have been carried out in other parts of Afghanistan over the past few years, including areas where there is little Taliban presence. Yaqubi said 20 girls had fallen ill in a suspected poison attack on another Kunduz school last week.

In the south and east, where the Taliban control towns and villages, girls’ schools remain shut, teachers have been threatened and some girls have been attacked with acid.

Despite the attacks, Sumaila said she hoped to return to school, if her father allows her.

“I am very scared. My parents were very worried. My father told me that I have learnt a lot. I don’t know whether they will still let me go to school after this,” she said.

Is the United States Losing Azerbaijan?: Part Two

APRIL 24, 2010

Vladimir Socor Washington’s current policies seem about to turn the US-Azerbaijan strategic partnership, from an operational concept into an empty phrase, when it is ever uttered on the US side. On April 19 the US-Azeri military exercise Regional Response 2010, scheduled to be held in May in Azerbaijan, was cancelled, with no reasons given and no substitute dates offered. The cancellation was announced two days after the US Undersecretary of Defense, Michelle Flournoy’s, meetings with Azerbaijan’s leadership in Baku. Publicly describing Azerbaijan as a “vital partner” of the United States, Flournoy praised its contribution to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, as well as the Azeri security services’ successful prevention of terrorism, including planned terror attacks against US interests (www.day.az, APA, Trend, April 19, 20). Whether Baku cancelled the exercise to signal displeasure with the overall US policy or for economic reasons (as it did in Georgia recently) or in deference to Moscow, are matters of speculation. Whichever the case, it reflects the ongoing erosion of US influence in the region. Baku, however, is left questioning the meaning of such a strategic partnership while Washington tilts toward Armenia on the Karabakh conflict, which is the main issue in Azeri national interests. Baku is also deeply concerned by a US policy bent on splitting Turkey from Azerbaijan, in which case an isolated Baku would be forced to seek rapprochement with Moscow. Pro-Western officials in Azerbaijan’s presidential entourage and government are aghast at the post-2009 turn in Washington’s policy, a shift clearly driven by US domestic electoral politics. As Novruz Mammadov, the head of the presidential administration’s foreign relations department, points out, US policy is consumed with debating the Armenian events of a century ago (1915), even as Armenian forces today occupy seven districts inside Azerbaijan, from which 800,000 Azeris have been “ethnically cleansed.” Current US policy also seems ready to sacrifice the Turkish-Azeri connection, although the two countries are “strategic allies with deep historic ties. Turkey is important to Azerbaijan’s partnership with the West on key security and energy projects” (Mammadov’s interview with Radio Free Europe, cited by www.day.az, April 22). Azerbaijan has spearheaded the opening of Caspian energy resources to the West; holds the only non-Russian key to Central Asia; contributed troops and other resources to NATO and US-led operations in the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan; provides transit passage for US forces and their supplies en route to Afghanistan and Central Asia; has mastered terrorism challenges in cooperation with the US; promoted US-backed security and political projects in the region (NATO partnerships, GUAM, arms control); and it provides (in line with post-2001 US policy objectives) an example of successful secular development and Western alignment in the Muslim world. In pursuing these policies, Azerbaijan has incurred serious, if calculated, risks vis-à-vis Russia and Iran. Baku, however, feels taken for granted by the United States since the 2009 turn in Washington’s policy. The bilateral relationship had flourished during the Clinton administration; coasted on those achievements during the Bush era, by the end of which it had entered a phase of benign US neglect; and it is now perceived as malign neglect, as US domestic politics and relations with Moscow seem to outrank strategic considerations in Washington’s South Caucasus policy. Whether inadvertently or deliberately, Washington is not nominating an ambassador to Azerbaijan. From Baku’s vantage point, this omission looks like disrespect, or the dysfunctional condition of the US political system, or both; with corresponding conclusions in Baku about the US capacity for leadership in the region. Due to the long ambassadorial vacancy, feedback about Azerbaijan’s mounting alienation hardly percolates to the top US policy making levels. US working-level officials display awareness and concern in off-the-record conversations, as do Azerbaijan’s Turkish and Georgian partners. With the strategic partnership painfully hurt, Washington nevertheless continues to expect certain deliverables from Azerbaijan. Visiting US officials from time to time are asking Azerbaijan to support various measures against neighboring Iran, or increase contributions to the Afghanistan operations, or to stop asking Turkey to maintain the linkage between Armenian border re-opening and Armenian troop withdrawal from the inner-Azerbaijani districts. Azerbaijan was willing for many years to bear certain burdens and risks in partnership with the US. At present, however, Baku feels that its national interests are no longer taken into account or are even jeopardized by US policies. As the officially connected, staunchly pro-Western pundit Rasim Musabayov observes: “With such a one-sided approach, Washington must be prepared for receiving not support, but ‘advice’ in response to its own treatment [of Baku]. It is unrealistic to think that one can ignore the interests of Azerbaijan, or act against those interests, while extracting dividends from its partnership with this country” (www.day.az, April 22). Source: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/

Is the United States Losing Azerbaijan?: Part One

Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 78

By: Vladimir Socor

Azeri presidential administration’s political department chief Ali Hasanov

Azerbaijan’s long-standing alignment with the United States is rapidly unraveling in the wake of Washington’s recent policy initiatives. As perceived from Baku, those US initiatives fly in the face of Azerbaijan’s staunch support over the years to US strategic interests and policies in the South Caucasus-Caspian region.

Current US policies, however, are seen to favor Armenia in the Karabakh conflict resolution negotiations, curry favor with Armenian advocacy groups in domestic US politics, split Turkey and Azerbaijan from one another over the Karabakh issue, isolate Azerbaijan in the region, and pressure Baku into silent acquiescence with these policies.

Key actors in the region tend to share Azerbaijan’s perceptions in this regard. During last week’s nuclear safety summit in Washington, Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, and Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spoke frankly in this regard. They told US interlocutors at every step that the refusal to invite Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, to the summit was a mistake, counterproductive to US interests in the region, and confirming perceptions that Washington was attempting to isolate Baku.

US President, Barack Obama’s, meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan during the Washington summit (while failing to invite the Azerbaijani president) confirmed perceptions that Armenian issues in US domestic politics distort Washington’s policy on the Karabakh conflict and toward Azerbaijan.

Ankara had cautioned Washington against such moves ever since Erdogan’s December 2009 visit to the US. At least from that point onward, Turkey has closed ranks with Azerbaijan, instead of distancing from it and opening the Turkish-Armenian border promptly and unconditionally at the Obama administration’s urging. The administration insists on de-linking the border opening from the continuing Armenian military occupation of seven districts beyond Karabakh, deep inside Azerbaijan. The administration had, instead, hoped to link the border opening with the April 24 US anniversary of the 1915-1918 Armenian events in Ottoman Turkey.

Washington’s summit miscalculation is the latest in a year-long series of blows to US-Azeri relations. This trend continues amid an apparent US strategic disengagement from the wider region (rationalized as a “strategic pause” to assuage pro-US governments there). In Azerbaijan’s case, Washington seems unable even to fill the long-vacant post of US ambassador in Baku. The vacancy deprives the United States of steady high-level access to Azerbaijan’s leaders (which had never been a problem previously), while making it more difficult for Washington to grasp the crisis in US-Azerbaijan relations and its region-wide implications.

Addressing an April 14 cabinet meeting in front of TV cameras, President Aliyev criticized the US policy of pushing Turkey to open the border with Armenia, despite the latter’s occupation of seven Azeri districts beyond Karabakh. This move pulls the rug from under Azerbaijan’s carefully constructed negotiating position for a stage-by-stage peaceful solution to the conflict. It also seems designed to separate Turkey from Azerbaijan. Accordingly, Aliyev complained about “certain countries that believe that they can meddle in everything…by exerting pressure and blackmailing. This is how we see it. This policy clearly runs against Azerbaijan’s interests, and the Azeri state is taking appropriate steps.” Aliyev strongly objected to the US de-coupling the Armenian border opening issue from that of troop withdrawal from the seven Azerbaijani districts. De-coupling the two issues would enable Yerevan to renounce negotiations on troop withdrawal altogether, he observed: “This is a completely wrong and incorrect position and contrary to Azerbaijan’s national interests.” Aliyev also urged the “certain country” carefully to “consider regional processes, history, historical relations. What do those who are unaware of regional processes want to achieve?” (Az TV, April 14; Khalk Gazeti, April 15).

Baku and Ankara have now reached the common view that the border opening and normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations is a bilateral matter between Ankara and Yerevan, rather than an issue for Washington to push from outside onto the regional agenda (Trend, Anatolia News Agency, April 16, 17).

Azerbaijan considers that Washington is moving from equidistance to partisanship as a co-chair of the “Minsk Group” of mediators in the Karabakh conflict resolution negotiations. Those negotiations are premised on a first-stage Armenian troop withdrawal from those districts. However, Washington’s push from outside the Minsk Group to open the Turkey-Armenia border unconditionally would remove Armenia’s incentive to withdraw those troops.

In a lengthy statement to the media on this issue, the Azeri presidential administration’s political department chief, Ali Hasanov, criticized Washington’s “loss of neutrality” on Karabakh conflict resolution as, “incompatible with the US role in the Minsk Group.” Evidently reflecting his president’s position, Hasanov hailed the Turkish leaders’ response to their US and Armenian counterparts during the Washington summit. There, Erdogan and Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, again declined to break ranks with Azerbaijan. “We maintain unique ties with Turkey on the principle of ‘one nation, two states’ and we are not going to spoil them under anyone’s dictation. This is what Turkey thinks too,” Hasanov noted.

On a cautionary note for Washington, Hasanov remarked that “relations between Azerbaijan and Russia have intensified significantly in the last few years…Russia views Azerbaijan as an equal partner, and Azerbaijan considers Russia a major factor in the region, a friend and partner and attaches special importance to relations with it” (ANS TV, Turan, APA, April 15). As a rule, public statements by Azerbaijani presidential team members reflect a prior consensus reached within it.

US Puppet-Masters Juggle Indian and Pakistani Navies In Arabian Sea

Navy Seals seal a bond

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The Indian destroyer INS Mysore which will participate in sea drills with the US Navy New Delhi, April 24: A US navy flotilla reached Goa yesterday for the latest edition of the Malabar series of exercises with the Indian Navy in which the two forces will practise anti-submarine warfare and special operations. India does not conduct such large-scale naval exercises with any other country. The two navies believe they are “inter-operable”. This is the first time the US Navy has sent its special forces, the Seals, with its frontline units for the exercise. The 14th round of the Malabar exercise will continue till May 2. The ships from America’s Seventh Fleet include a guided missile cruiser, the USS Shiloh, destroyers USS Chaffee and USS Lassen, frigate USS Curts, a Los Angeles class nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Annapolis, two P3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft and a 28-member US Navy special forces team. From the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet, the guided missile destroyer, INS Mysore, and three guided missile frigates, the INS Godavari, INS Brahmaputra and INS Tabar, a submarine, the INS Shankush, Sea Harrier fighter aircraft, and helicopters are to participate in the bilateral exercise. “Naval co-operation between India and USA epitomises the long-term strategic relationship between both countries. Both navies have, over the years, undertaken diverse bilateral activities such as training exchanges, information exchanges, and technical co-operation. Our nations have significant convergence of interests, especially in the maintenance of maritime security,” a statement from the Indian Navy said. India and the US signed a Framework for Maritime Security Co-operation in 2006. During the current edition of the exercise, the two navies will practise, apart from anti-submarine warfare, surface firing, maritime interdiction operations and Visit Board Search and Seizure. “The interoperability achieved over the years as a result of such exercises has proved to be operationally beneficial, particularly during the ongoing Anti Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden as also during Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations such as the tsunami of 2004,” the navy statement said.

NATO, Pakistan hold joint naval exercise off Karachi

KARACHI

Sun Apr 26, 2009 7:45am EDT

(Reuters) – NATO will begin two days of joint naval exercises with Pakistan on Monday as part of an effort to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism and anti-piracy measures.

WORLD

Five NATO vessels, carrying about 800 crew in total, will take part along with four ships and air units from the Pakistan navy.

“It’s a diplomatic trip,” Lieutenant Commander Alexandre Santos Fernandes said in Karachi on Sunday. “NATO is willing to establish contact with countries that cooperate in the international effort to counter terrorism, piracy and other organized crime issues.”

NATO and the United States look to Pakistan for support in defeating al Qaeda and stabilizing neighboring Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Sahar Ahmed; Editing by Matthew Jones)

US special forces ‘tried to cover-up’ botched Khataba raid in Afghanistan

[These massacres are all too typical of the kinds of crimes the "best of the best of the best" are committing against the innocent people of Afghanistan.  By giving Afghanistan over to America's "warrior culture" it is showing that America's "finest" often turn-out to be just more barbarians.]

Relatives at the graves of five people killed, including three women, during the night raid

Jerome Starkey, Kabul

US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened, Afghan investigators have told The Times.

Two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a police officer and his brother were shot on February 12 when US and Afghan special forces stormed their home in Khataba village, outside Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. The precise composition of the force has never been made public.

The claims were made as Nato admitted responsibility for all the deaths for the first time last night. It had initially claimed that the women had been dead for several hours when the assault force discovered their bodies.

“Despite earlier reports we have determined that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Todd Breasseale, a Nato spokesman. The coalition continued to deny that there had been a cover-up and said that its legal investigation, which is ongoing, had found no evidence of inappropriate conduct.

The Kabul headquarters of General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces, claimed originally that the women had been “tied up, gagged and killed”.

A senior Afghan official involved in a government investigation told The Times: “I think the special forces lied to McChrystal.”

“Why did the special forces collect their bullets from the area?” the official said. “They washed the area of the injuries with alcohol and brought out the bullets from the dead bodies. The bodies showed there were big holes.”

The official, who asked not to be named until the results of the investigation have been made public, said that the assault force sealed off the compound from 4am, when the raid started, to 11am, when Afghan officials from Gardez were finally allowed access to the house.

At least 11 bullets were fired during the raid, the investigator said, and the shooting was carried out by two American gunmen positioned on the roof of the compound. Only seven bullets were recovered from the scene.

“I asked McChrystal, ‘why did the Americans clean some of the bullets from the area?’ They don’t have the right to do that,” the official said.

Haji Sharabuddin, the head of the family who were attacked, toldThe Times last month that troops removed bullets from his relatives’ bodies, but his claims were impossible to verify. The hallway where four of the five victims were killed had been repainted and at least two bullet holes had been plastered over.

Video footage of the raid’s aftermath, collected by Afghan investigators, shows close-up shots of one man’s bloodstained and punctured torso and walls with blood on them. The Afghan official’s conclusion that the bullets were removed is based on the testimony of survivors, analysis of the photographs and the missing bullets.

Nato promised a joint forensic investigation in a statement issued after the raid, but Rear Admiral Greg Smith, the coalition’s director of communications in Afghanistan, said that this had proved impossible because the bodies were buried the same day in accordance with Islamic custom.

Instead Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior sent its top criminal investigator from Kabul, and a Canadian brigadier-general led a separate military inquiry.

The Afghan investigation differed in one respect from The Times’findings. Survivors told this newspaper that Saranwal Zahir, the police officer’s brother, was shot when he tried to shout that his family was innocent. The women, who were crouching behind him, were killed in the same volley of fire. Afghan investigators believe that Mr Zahir was carrying an AK47 and wanted to avenge his brother’s killers. The women were clustered around him, trying to pull him inside the house, when the second US gunman opened fire, killing all four of them.

Footage collected by the Afghan team also shows a man in United States Army uniform taking pictures of the bodies. The findings have not been made public. The Interior Ministry is expected to pass a report to the Attorney-General’s office, which will decide whether or not it can press criminal charges.

The family had more than 25 guests on the night of the attack, as well as three musicians, to celebrate the naming of a newborn child.

“In what culture in the world do you invite … people for a party and meanwhile kill three women?” asked the senior official. “The dead bodies were just eight metres from where they were preparing the food. The Americans, they told us the women were dead for 14 hours.”

In a statement yesterday, Brigadier-General Eric Tremblay, a Nato spokesman, said: “We deeply regret the outcome of this operation, accept responsibility for our actions that night, and know that this loss will be felt forever by the families.

“The force went to the compound based on reliable information in search of a Taleban insurgent, and believed that the two men posed a threat to their personal safety. We now understand that the men killed were only trying to protect their families.”

The Indian/Afghan “Strategic Partnership” That Troubles Pakistan

Afghan president to visit India to strengthen ties

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will travel to India early next week for talks aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries, India’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday.”President Karzai’s visit carries forward the sequence of high-level interaction between the two countries and would contribute to strengthening the strategic partnership between India and Afghanistan,” the statement said. Over the past decade, India has spent millions of dollars to help rebuild Afghanistan’s war-ravaged infrastructure by building roads, schools, hospitals and dams. India is also involved in training the country’s police forces and its diplomatic corps. However, New Delhi has been concerned about continuing assaults on Indian targets by Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents, including two major bomb attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul in which scores of people died. Talks between Karzai and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are expected to focus on issues relating to the safety and security of Indians working on development projects in Afghanistan. This will be Karzai’s first visit to India since his re-election as president. The visit will be watched warily by neighboring Pakistan which views India’s development efforts with suspicion, further raising worries in Islamabad about India’s growing influence in Afghanistan. Associated Press

The Ethics of Mind-Reading By Chemical and Electromagnetic Means

The Conversation: Brain research brings wonders and worries

By Judith Horstman
Special to The Bee

What ethical concerns will arise from new technology and medicine that can reveal our thoughts and enhance our brains? To comment on this issue, please use our forum.

Back in the 1980s – in a place long ago and far away called the U.S. House of Representatives – I was a Washington correspondent covering health policy issues, and a young Congressman from Tennessee named Al Gore was chairman of a subcommittee on science and technology.

That oversight and investigations subcommittee was wrestling with troublesome questions surrounding organ transplantation. A new anti-rejection drug, cyclosporine, had raised survival rates for recipients to 80 percent, a tremendous advance in life-saving medical technology that resulted in a massive demand for donor organs – already in short supply – and set off a flood of legal, moral and ethical issues.

Kidneys were being sold and bought from living donors, the wealthy were getting to the head of waiting lists after making huge donations to hospitals, and desperate parents were launching media campaigns for hearts, livers and lungs for their dying children. In the most notorious and bizarre case, a baboon heart was transplanted into a 7-month-old infant, Baby Fae, who did not survive.

Gore’s subcommittee waded into this morass and produced landmark legislation: The National Organ Transplant Act prohibited the sale of human organs and set up a policy and structure for allocation of donor organs. More legislation followed and so did more bioethical issues, such as those involving embryonic stem cells, gene therapy, and the ownership of your own body tissue and genes. Many of these issues generated articles I wrote for USA Today and Gannett’s other newspapers – and foreshadowed the increasingly complex ethical issues to come.

Amazing medical advances are continuing to create huge new concerns, especially in the rapidly accelerating field of neuroscience, where science fact is overtaking science fiction.

Right now, the deaf are hearing with bionic “ears,” the blind see with the aid of electrodes, an amputee is moving a prosthetic arm by thought and a man paralyzed with locked-in syndrome is “speaking” through a brain electrode connected to a computer.

Within the next few decades, we’ll see more: mini-microprocessors in the brain to download and store information, connect to your cell phone and allow you to operate machines by thought alone – and digitally save your memories. Smart pills to boost your brain power. Brain scans to “read” thoughts and emotions; nanomedicine that will eliminate most brain surgeries; and cures for Alzheimer’s, stroke and other mental ills.

One result has been the creation of whole new field called neuroethics. And just in time.

The issues generated by advances in neuroscience and neurotechnology are special and enormous. They offer tremendous potential benefits – and open issues and ethical questions that go to the core of human rights in ways never before imagined. They both overlap and outflank the ones raised by other biomedical fields because they are different in one telling and overriding respect. They are tinkering with the very essence of what it means to be human: your brain.

Changing the brain with drugs, magnetic fields, surgery or any other of the admittedly wonderful therapies could modulate the way we think – and feel – and may bend the very definition of who we are. Indeed, many of the issues reach into constitutional rights, such as privacy, fairness and civil rights, legal ethicists say.

Privacy bias and self-incrimination

The list of potential moral and social issues attached to neurotechnologies is long enough to position ethicists near the top on lists of hot jobs. Among the many examining neuroethics are experts in the $10 million MacArthur Foundation Project on Law and Neuroscience, and neuroimaging is a concern all on its own.

Brain scans that show in real time how a living brain functions also offer opportunities to predict and possibly control or change behavior, illness, cognitive performance, intelligence and even character, not to mention insurance coverage. These findings raise questions of criminal responsibility, prediction of criminal behavior, treatment options, issues of psychopathy and drug addiction, and how these affect our understandings of responsibility, punishment and the use of neuroscience in legal decision-making.

What kind of privacy safeguards would be needed if a machine could read your thoughts? Will your thoughts condemn you in court – or worse, as in the movie “Minority Report,” the dark science-fiction story starring Tom Cruise in which a police force can predict crime before it occurs and punish the “perpetrator” accordingly?

How can your brain be private when someone with a scanner could read its deepest secrets, including its state of health and your identity? Will others be able to access your brain chip remotely? Can you be subpoenaed to have your memory chip “read” into testimony in court and criminal cases? Would scanning your brain be illegal search and seizure, a violation of the Fourth Amendment, or self-incrimination, the Fifth Amendment?

Scans now can show signs of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or schizophrenia, before symptoms appear and will no doubt be able to show more in the future. Will insurance companies demand scans before covering people and refuse those with preexisting brain conditions? Will law enforcement agencies ask for brain scans of people accused of crimes or of those standing trial – or ask to scan brains of airline passengers for signs of terrorism? Full body scans are already installed in some airports.

Will brain scans reveal truth? The ability to tell when someone is lying is of keen interest to most of us, and especially attorneys eager to bring brain scans into courtrooms, law enforcement agents looking for evidence of wrongdoing, and singles wanting to look into the hearts and heads of potential mates.

A future of busy lawyers

With new treatments and neurotechnologies, there will be new questions – and many of these will be resolved in court.

Few are convinced that today’s brain scans are accurate enough to tell the truth, or the whole truth. Brain scans have not yet (at this writing) been admissible in U.S. courts other than for the sentencing phase, when they may be used to show how brain damage could affect the ability to form intention.

And if you could successfully change somebody’s brain, should you be able to? Even if you are changing it for the better or relieving it of disease? If you could turn anti-social beings into upright citizens, could you require it? A vaccine against cocaine addiction is now under development, and we already force some to take mind- or emotion-altering drugs in exchange for freedom.

Who will determine who should get – or pay for – the wondrous technology and treatments? Price is a consideration even in the fictional future year 2154 of the blockbuster film “Avatar,” when crippling spinal injuries can be fixed – if you can pay: The hero, Jake Sully, a paraplegic Marine veteran, takes a dangerous job with a military/corporate entity partly because he is promised the spinal surgery that will give him his legs back.

There’s no doubt that the government, including the military, will get first crack at neurotechnology, and that poses other concerns. The government does not make some experiments or policies public and is free of many restraints. For example, your employer (today at least) can’t tell you that you must use amphetamines to improve your job performance, but the Air Force can – and does.

Ownership of your digital self stored on microchips is bound to become an issue. It’s possible your digital self could continue to exist after your physical death. Who is going to have access (and the password) to your digital brain after your physical self is gone? In fact, what is “self”? What about just wiping it all clean – or could that result in controversy similar to that of destroying frozen embryos?

New legal and ethical issues arise with each new change, just as they have in biology and medicine of the past. And, just as in the past, we will tend to see them resolved through lawsuits before we see them addressed by lawmakers.

As we forge ahead in this brave new world of neuroscience, one thing is mind-numbingly certain: The fallout from this amazing new technology will keep lots of lawyers, courts, philosophers and ethicists busy for a long time to come. We seem to be headed for some interesting times – a journey into the final frontier – our brain.

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