Malaysia: Ethnic Indians shave heads in protest
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
group of ethnic Indians shaved off their heads on Thursday as over 100 protesters gathered near the Malaysian capital demanding the release of five of their leaders.
The leaders were detained under a controversial security law for raising their voice against alleged marginalisation of the community.
The protesters gathered at the Batu Caves Hindu temple compound and offered prayers for the early release of the Hindu Rights Action Front (Hindraf) leaders.
The leaders had been held at a detention camp in Kamunting, about 200 km from here, under the Internal Security Act, which allows authorities to hold people without trial for a minimum period of two years.
At least 16 Indians shaved their heads on the banks of a nearby river and walked to the temple, carrying posters of Mahatma Gandhi.
The act of shaving their head was a protest against the ISA detention and also as a prayer for their early release, activists gathered there said.
The fresh protests came an ethnic Indian minister, who had vociferously condemned the protests called by Hindraf, admitted that the recent street demonstrations had prompted the community to raise the unresolved issues faced by it and had affected the loyalty of Indians towards the government to a certain degree.
Malaysia Indian Congress president Samy Vellu said there were Indians who began questioning why the issues raised by the community had not been resolved by the government.

China pressure in Myanmar key, but limited, EU says
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's support has been vital to achieving initial steps toward national reconciliation in military-ruled Myanmar, an EU envoy said on Thursday, but added Beijing would not directly pressure the regime towards reform.
China, a major trading partner of Myanmar and one of its only allies, is seen as one of the few voices that could wield influence with the junta, which is under pressure to reform following massive anti-government protests this year.
But Piero Fassino, the European Union's special envoy on Myanmar, also known as Burma, said Chinese officials had told him on a visit to Beijing that they would not directly push for the release of political prisoners or detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"During my meetings with the Chinese authorities, they made clear that the way ahead regarding the Burmese crisis stands with the Burmese themselves," Fassino told a news conference.
"Of course I believe that it's our duty to encourage Burmese leaders to go along that direction, and in that regard the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the main political leaders are very positive steps," he said. "But what the Chinese say is that it's up to them to take the final decision."
Earlier this year, pro-democracy protesters led by Buddhist monks staged the country's largest anti-government demonstrations in nearly 20 years.
The official death toll from the junta's resulting crackdown is 31, but some Western diplomats say the figure is much higher.
China was playing a "very important role" in steps toward a resolution to the crisis in Myanmar, Fassino said. These include talks between the junta and United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, and Myanmar's naming of a go-between with Suu Kyi.

Democrats to pursue N-deal if elected: US expert
N-deal to fuel power needs: Plan panel
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
The Democrats will continue efforts to conclude the Indo-US nuclear deal if they are voted to power, a top aide of former US President Bill Clinton said on Thursday.
''The Democrats will continue efforts to operationalise the Indo-US nuclear deal after coming to power and will work together for the cause of much warranted global disarmament,'' said James Steinberg, Deputy National Security Adviser to Clinton (1996-02).
Steinberg was speaking at a session on `Strategic Choices for the United States in the 2008 Election and Their Implication for US-India Relations,' organised by The Aspen Institute India.
On the growing number of powers at the global platform and India's acceptance there, he said the democratic structure and open economic policies of world's largest democracy have made its rise more acceptable to Americans.
On the emergence of China as a global power, he said, ''India and the US should try and draw up a blueprint to engage China rather than try to contain it.''
He also stressed on the need to strengthen ties with traditional partners like Japan and Australia.
The US foreign policy expert also said the future relationship between Washington and New Delhi will depend on the inclusion of India in major policy decisions for South Asia and other international issues.
High court gives CBI time to probe Scorpene deal
The Delhi High Court Thursday granted three months' time to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a detailed report on the investigation into the alleged irregularities in the 2005 deal for French Scorpene submarines.A division bench comprising of Justices T.S. Thakur and Veena Birbal asked the agency to file its reply by April 25. "Come to us after three months and inform us if a first information report (FIR) in this case can be registered or not," it said. The court Wednesday pulled up the agency for not investigating the matter properly.
"We would like to cross-check your investigation officer to know what has been done on the complaint alleging kickbacks in the Scorpene deal. We feel dissatisfied with what you have done so far. If you have tried to shield someone, then we would come down very heavily on you," it said.
Seeking a direction to initiate an inquiry into the defence deal, former law minister Prashant Bhushan said he had approached the court through a public interest litigation (PIL) after the CBI failed to act on his complaint for a separate probe in the defence deal.
In a 2006 complaint, the petitioner had alleged that one of the accused in what has come to be known as Navy War Room leak case had sent an e-mail to the French company manufacturing the submarine demanding on behalf of a political party four percent commission for brokering the deal. The Intelligence Bureau (I had seized the e-mail, Bhushan said.
Various government agencies, including the IB, were involved in investigating the Navy War Room leak and in February 2006 authorities decided to hand over the case to the CBI for initiating criminal proceedings against the dismissed naval officers and civilians, said the petition.
Retired navy officers Ravi Shankaran, Kulbhushan Parashar and businessman Abhishek Verma were accused of being involved in the alleged leak of sensitive information from the Navy War Room.
N-deal to fuel power needs: Plan panel
The Planning Commission today pitched for the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, saying the agreement will open doors for supply of fuel needed to augment the country's power generation capacity.
"The nuclear deal will remove restrictions on supplies... (otherwise) we will be limited to existing supplies," deputy chairman of the Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, told reporters on the eve of the National Development Council (NDC) meeting to discuss the 11th Five-Year Plan.
"We have stated the factual position (in the draft document)," he said when asked to comment on the observations made in the draft document which states that India is making efforts to import nuclear fuel for power plants.
Pointing out that constraints in fuel supplies are affecting performance of nuclear power plants, the document said plant load factor of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd's stations, which increased from 60 per cent in 1995-96 to 82 per cent in 2001-01, came down to 57 per cent in 2006-07.
The document further pointed out that the effect of the proposed deal is likely to be visible in 12th plan period. NPCIL has indicated a capacity addition of about 11,000 MW during the 12th Plan (2012-17).
Pakistan's atomic programme still on: scientist
Islamabad : Pakistan's nuclear programme has not been capped and the removal of scientist A Q Khan did not mean the government planned a roll back, a top scientist has said.
Samar Mubarakmand, Chairman of the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, dispelled the impression that Pakistan's atomic programme had been capped.
He also refuted the impression that disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan had headed the team that carried out Pakistan's nuclear tests in May 1998.
Mubarakmand told Geo TV that he led the team which conducted the blasts and that Khan was not even a member of that team.
Khan is currently under house arrest in Islamabad after he confessed to heading an clandestine proliferation network that sold nuclear know-how and equipment to countries like Libya and North Korea.
Asked what would happen if terrorists managed to capture Pakistan's nuclear weapons, Mubarakmand said no one could use "nuclear weapons as their launching required a very complex technical system, including a code". He said Pakistan was capable of safeguarding its weapons.
In the face of international concerns about the safety of Pakistan's strategic assets due to the political uncertainty in the country, President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly asserted in recent days that his government has put in place an effective command and control system for the nuclear arsenal.
Russian nuke fuel shipment strengthens strategic ties: Iran
TEHRAN, Iran (AP): The first shipment of nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant by Russia will strengthen strategic ties between Tehran and Moscow, a top nuclear official said Wednesday.
Iran received its first nuclear fuel from Russia after a long delay on Monday, paving the way for the startup of its 1000 megawatt Bushehr light-water reactor in 2008.
"With nuclear fuel shipped to Bushehr, we are going to see a new approach in deepening strategic relations with Russia in all fields in the future," Mohammad Saeedi, Deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran told the official IRNA news agency.
Both the US and Russia now say that with the shipment, the Iranians would no longer have any reason to produce enriched uranium that could be used to build a nuclear weapon.
But Iran says it would continue its enrichment activities at a separate facility, in the central city of Natanz, to provide fuel for another light-water 360-megawatt nuclear reactor being built in the southwestern town of Darkhovin.
Iran announced Monday it had started construction on the reactor using on local technology.
Saeedi said shipment of nuclear fuel was made possible after a report last month by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, gave Iran a clean bill of health on its nuclear programme, saying Iran had been truthful about its past uranium enrichment activities.
"Russia shipped that fuel on the basis of a contract with Iran ... and (after) it obtained confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's past and present nuclear activities. IAEA's positive report also influenced the issue of fuel shipment," IRNA quoted Saeedi as saying.
According to Saeedi, the date for shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran was finalized during a landmark visit to Iran by Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in October.
Last month, Iran said it has reached a milestone in its uranium enrichment programme, saying the country now has 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges fully operating at Natanz. The IAEA confirmed the Iranian announcement.
The number 3,000 is the commonly accepted figure for a nuclear enrichment programme that is past the experimental stage and can be used as a platform for a full industrial-scale programme.
Uranium enriched to low level is used to produce nuclear fuel, but further enrichment makes it suitable for building weapons.
Iran says it plans to expand its enrichment programme to up to 54,000 centrifuges at Natanz and is fully within its rights to pursue the enrichment to produce fuel under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Eight more graves found near Nandigram
'CBI leaks' on Nandi firing: CPI(M) may take it up with Centre
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com

Nandigram, Dec 20: The CRPF on Thursday found eight graves in the CPM stronghold of Khejuri adjacent to Nandigram, three of which might contain human remains.
CRPF sources said the three graves found at Mansinghber on Thursday evening could be of women as torn pieces of saree and bits of bangles and a necklace were found from there.
Five empty graves were located at Sherkhan chowk. A 25-member CRPF team has cordoned off the graves. Earlier, the CRPF had found five graves in a field bordering a nullah on December 18 at Sherkhanchowk, the sources said.
An agency correspondent, who went to the spot on Thursday, saw burnt wood and portions of bicycle tyres lying around the shallow graves.
Local people alleged five bodies of CPM supporters killed while making bombs at a house there on October 28 were burnt at the spot and buried for a night before being taken away.
Anup Patra and Sukdeb Patra, both CPM supporters and residents of the village, claimed 19 Marxist supporters had been killed while making bombs at the house on October 28.
After the explosion, the bodies were taken away in two vehicles by Marxist supporters, he added.
One of the vehicles, with five bodies, offloaded them at the field where they were doused with kerosene and cremated on hastily-built pyres built of wood and bicycle tyres, Anup said.
That same night, the bodies were dug up and taken away, he said.

Stung by "leakage" of the CBI report into the March 14 Nandigram violence, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said the state government could take up the issue with the Centre.
"We may think of taking it up with the Centre," he said when asked about the reports quoting the CBI findings.
Bhattacharjee is here to attend the CPI(M) Central Committee meeting which began today.
Bhattacharjee's party colleague Sitaram Yechury said, "It is a clear case of selective leakage". He, however, refused to elaborate, saying "the matter is sub-judiceand it is wrong to preempt anything."
Asked if he had doubts about any political party playing a role in the "leakage" of the CBI report, the CPI(M) Politburo member said, "It is for the media to interpret."
According to the reports, the CBI report lying with the Calcutta High Court, had concluded that the CPI(M) cadres in police uniform were involved in the firing in Nandigram.
The party's Politburo met in the morning ahead of the meeting of the Central Committee, which is slated to finalise a draft political resolution to be adopted at the party Congress scheduled in March-April next year in Coimbatore.
After the draft is finalised, it would be debated by all party units across the country where members are free to suggest amendments and recommend deletion or addition of portions. The resolution, once adopted by the party Congress, would guide the CPI(M)'s future course of action in the long and short term.

Tata comfy on one lakh car and JLR co-existence
Agencies
Posted online: Thursday , December 20, 2007 at 1711 hrs IST
London, December 20: Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata has said it should not be impossible for the world's cheapest (Rs one lakh) car to co-exist with prestigious brands like Jaguar and Land Rover despite an image disparity.
In an interview to The Times, Tata Motors chief Ratan Tata exuded confidence in his company's ability to manage a diverse portfolio starting from the Rs one lakh car to British marquees Jaguar and Land Rover, which according to media reports the Indian company is set to acquire.
"How a company manages products in different sectors is the key. Toyota created Lexus, Nissan, has Infiniti. No one is saying how can BMW handle the Mini? But they've made a huge success of it. So why is it impossible?" Tata said on being asked how would JLR fit into his company's product portfolio.
The world is waiting to catch a glimpse of the much touted Rs one lakh car, which would be unveiled at the Auto Expo in New Delhi on January 10.
Various reports in the international media suggest that Tata Motors has emerged as the preferred bidder for the two iconic brands of Ford Motors. Indian rival Mahindra and Mahindra and US-based private equity firm One Equity are also in the fray.
Tata Motors, with a bid of two billion dollars (about Rs 8,000 crore), is the front-runner and the deal is likely to be sealed in favour of the company by end this week, British media reports said.
When asked to comment on apprehensions raised back home on too many small cars and at a price at which Tata Motors plans to sell them would herald and environmental nightmare, Tata said his product would be one of the greenest vehicles around.
"There are eight million two-wheelers put on the road every year which pollute more and are more dangerous. If you look at the total population, the incremental emissions will be minuscule. Why are we singled out?" Tata said.

CPI(M) to review their political stand
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

The central committee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI(M) on Thursday began a three-day meeting to finalise its stance on economic, foreign and other policy issues ahead of the party congress next year.

The focus of the discussions, aimed at the draft political resolution for the once in three years party congress from March 29-April 2 in Coimbatore, is expected to be the India-US nuclear deal and the fight against US imperialism.

The meeting of the 85-member central committee began with the politburo meet on Thursday morning.

Although the meeting is scheduled to finalise the political resolution for the 19th party congress, the members are likely to discuss threadbare the Nandigram violence for which the CPI(M) and the party-led government in West Bengal has been severely criticised and the contentious nuclear agreement.

According to sources in the CPI(M), the focus of the political resolution would be the ''struggle against imperialism''.

''The party has to explain its stance on the nuclear deal to the people. We also have to keep in mind that the general election could take place at any time,'' said a CPI(M) central committee member.

The 19th CPI-M party congress will elect new members to the apex decision-making bodies like the politburo and the central committee.

The CPI(M) led Left Front, which maintains that the nuclear agreement with Washington would make India a junior strategic partner to the US, has recently allowed the government to go ahead with India-specific safeguard negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a crucial step to carry forward the deal.

The party has been subjected to relentless criticism over continuing violence in West Bengal's Nandigram area, which has witnessed bloody clashes between CPI(M) activists and villagers opposing land acquisition for a special economic zone that was subsequently cancelled.

Off late relations between the Left and the UPA have also been strained over the Indo-US nuclear deal and the growing ties between India and the US.

Sitaram Yechury, senior politburo member of CPI(M) said that the party will also take up the Nandigram crisis which has become a serious embarrassment for its government in West Bengal.

Especially after the High Court's ruling on the March 14 police firing in Nandigram, Yechury came down heavily on what he described as selective leaks of a CBI report that CPI(M) cadre in police uniform fired at protestors.

FB doesn’t walk the talk

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Dec. 19: The Forward Bloc, which had earlier today apparently agreed with a Trinamul Congress sponsored non-official motion against entry of big capital ~ foreign and indigenous ~ in retail trade, later joined CPI-M MLAs in voting against the motion. The Forward Bloc has been in the forefront of protests against entry of big capital in retail trade and was even held responsible for recent violent demonstrations against two retail stores being set up by Reliance.
Party MLA Mr Haripada Biswas toed his party’s line while speaking on the motion. But when it came to voting, Mr Biswas was not in the House while his party colleagues, including two ministers, voted against the motion to ensure its defeat.
The motion invited sarcastic remarks from Mr Biswas against Mr Sougata Roy, Trinamul legislator, who had earlier brought an amendment to a Panchayat (Amendment) Bill 2007 to include the term “shopping mall’’. This contradicted the Trinamul’s stand on retail chain and shopping mall which forced the Leader of the Opposition to clarify that it was Mr Roy’s independent stance with which TMC had nothing to do. Mr Roy today explained that he had used the term “shopping complex’’ which was different from shopping mall.
Supporting the motion, Mr Sudip Bandopadhyay, Congress MLA, said: “I wonder why the CPI-M is speaking against the motion. The Marxists were earlier against liberalised economic policy but now the CPI-M has become more capitalist and is devoid of any Marxism’’.’ He said 4.32 crore people across the country were employed in Rs 1.25 crore retail business with a yearly turnover of Rs 8.75 lakh. He said the entry of big capital would adversely affect retail traders.
Both the housing and urban ministers said they were trying to reach a consensus on the motion.

Assembly Briefs

Extension
KOLKATA, Dec 19: The chairman of the seven member Assembly inquiry committee investigating the sting operation against CPI MLA of Nandigram, Shiek Illias Mohammad, today appealed to the Speaker to extend the date for submission of the report. The committee was asked to submit the report on 21 December. The speaker has accepted the proposal. n SNS
Ration
KOLKATA, Dec. 19: The Centre has reduced supply of food grains as the state government did pick up larger quantity of stocks it was allotted earlier, Dr Manas Bhuniya, Leader Congress Legislative party said. It appears that the hungry and needy are looting rations shops are burning the foodgrain instead of eating them, Mr Subhendu Chowdhury of CPI-M said. The ration cards in the state far outnumber the actual populace, Mr Tarak Bandopadhaya, Trinamul Congress MLA said. n SNS
Curbing rights
Kolkata, Dec. 19: Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chief minister has deputed Mr Partha De, state school education minister to speak on a motion on curbing democratic rights of the people in the state, Mr Partha Chatterjee, Leader of the Opposition said. Trinamul Congress, sometimes share and support the activities of the Marxists, Mr Biprendu Chakraborty, CPI-M MLA alleged. n SNS

Tapan-Sukur’s bail petitions rejected

MIDNAPORE, Dec.19: The bail petitions of CPI-M’s Midnapore West district committee member, Tapan Ghosh and his cohort, Sukur Ali, were rejected by the district’s second additional sessions judge, Mr Abdul Kuddus, today. Sukur, the Garbeta party’s zonal committee secretary, along with Tapan, were accused of playing principal roles in the 2001 Chhoto Angaria massacre in Garbeta. The duo were remanded to 14 days jail custody.
Eight of the total 35 witnesses in the case are scheduled to be examined on 28, 29, 30 and 31 January and 1 and 2 February 2008. The defence counsel, Mr Biswanath Ghosh, protested police accusations that Tapan was a "fugitive," stating that he has been a full-time teacher in a secondary high school in Garbeta since 1992. But the CBI advocate, Mr Tapas Basu, objected to accusations leveled against police, arguing that though chargesheeted by the Central agency in 2003, the pair, along with five other accused, could not be arrested for non-cooperation with the district police as warrants were not issued against them. For being long-time absconders the judge rejected their requests for bail. This was proven in when Tapan and Sukur were intercepted at Egra in Midnapore West while abducting three injured BUPC activists, including a woman, from Nandigram after the Nandigram recapture operation. n SNS

Kerala CPI(M) secy fires Sunday salvo at Church
Don Sebastian
Monday, December 17, 2007 11:33 IST
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1139831
Tells the institution to keep off politics

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a season of Sunday pastoral letters targeting the communists, it was the turn of state CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan to strike back at the Catholic Church on Sunday.

The party state chief wanted the Church to keep off political affairs. He even accused the Church of acting as a mobilising arm of the opposition led by the Congress.

“Why does the Church act as a mobiliser for the United Democratic Front (UDF)? Religions should confine themselves to religious affairs. They should not interfere with political activity. We are not interfering with their activities,” Vijayan told a party district poll convention in Kozhikode. He said contradictions between the party and the Church remained, but there were grounds for cooperation.

Accused of holding backroom talks with spiritual leaders even as the party takes a confronting line, Vijayan was unequivocal on Sunday when he tried to mark a clear line between God and Caesar.

“The UDF is trying to make a dent in the party (CPIM) by using the Church. The Muslim League is trying to do so among Muslims. We are ready to face it politically,” he said.

CPI(M) leaders have been less harsh on religious heads even as bishops made an open cry for the believers to come out of the communist fold. Inter-Church Council chairman archbishop Joseph Powathil had even exhorted the flock to make sure they send their wards only to Christian institutions.

Almost all the dioceses echoed the sentiment through letters read out amid Sunday masses.

The Churches had joined hands with another dominant religious group, Nair Service Society, to oppose the proposed education reforms.

A joint statement last month said: “The government should not forget the fact that religious and social organisations have taken it as their responsibility to set up schools and other educational institutions in different parts of the state as they found that the government alone was unable to meet the state’s educational requirements.”

s_don@dnaindia.net

Karat's fresh threat to UPA
Cuttack, Dec 18: The CPI(M) has vowed to oppose the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and military collaboration with the United States and any move to make New Delhi a strategic ally of Washington.

"The U.S. wants India to be its junior partner and continue to blackmail it for the next 40 years. But we would not allow this and ensure that India does not become a strategic ally of the U.S.", CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said, addressing the open session of CPI(M) state conference here.

Criticizing the Centre's economic policies, Karat said that the nine per cent GDP growth achieved by India has nothing to do with majority of the people as bulk of the wealth is now concentrated only with a handful of people.

"Only five persons of the country now have combined net asset of Rs. 4,12,000 crore while the poor have become poorer due to the pro-rich policies adopted by the Congress-led government", he said.

He said that CPI(M) would oppose any decision of the Congress-led coalition that would harm the interest of the poor, workers, tribals, government employees and small traders.

Karat said that the Left parties were providing crucial outside support to the UPA government but at the same time they were playing an important role in opposing the anti-poor moves of the Centre.

"All the 61 MPs of the Left Front in Parliament will ensure that the central government does not take any decision that would jeopardize the integrity and sovereignty of the country", Karat said.

CPI appeals RSP, FB not to weaken Left Front

Kolkata, Dec 20: In the face of mounting attack on CPM on Nandigram by Left Front partners Forward Bloc and RSP, another front constituent CPI on Thursday asked the two allies not to take any step that might weaken the alliance.

"Any decision which may weaken the front should not be taken by the RSP and forward bloc," CPI state secretary Manju Kumar Mazumdar said at a press conference.

The CPI leader made the statement when his comments were asked on RSP's proposed review of its relations with the Left Front at its forthcoming meeting in January and forward bloc decision to go it alone for the coming panchyat elections.

"In the present political scenario in the country, there is no alternative to the Left Front which should be strengthened and we cannot join hands with forces like Trinamool Congress and Congress", said Mazumdar, also party's National Council member.

He, however, said the situation in Nandigram would have been different had there been consultations among all front partners.

"Left Front constituents should be taken into confidence and CPM, which is major partner, has greater responsibility in this regard. But we should take lessons from the Nandigram event and we should not do anything that would weaken the Left Front", he said.

Nepal finds possible burial site of "disappeared"
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's human rights commission said on Thursday it had found what may be a burial or cremation site of civilians who disappeared during the country's decade-long war against Maoist rebels.
A team, including representation from the United Nations' human rights agency, found half-burnt logs, partially buried pieces of clothes and plastic bags on a forested slope in the army-protected Shivapuri National Park, 15 km (10 miles) north of Kathmandu.
"People might have been killed somewhere else and buried or cremated here, or they might have been brought and killed here," said Gauri Pradhan, who visited the site as a member of the government's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
"This is a suspicious location," he added, without giving details.
The team did not dig or otherwise disturb the site, and no human remains have yet been found. Both NHRC and the Nepal wing of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged the government to seal off the site, preserve evidence and investigate.
"Failure to do so jeopardises the rights of victims to know the truth and to receive justice and reparation," OHCHR said in a statement.
Hundreds of civilians went missing during Nepal's anti-monarchy Maoist rebellion, which ended a year ago.
Human rights activists say both Maoist rebels and Nepal's army captured people on suspicion of being enemy informants or sympathisers, and some may have been tortured or even killed.
The NHRC said it was told about the site by relatives of some of the 49 people who disappeared from army barracks in Kathmandu in 2003, an incident the OHCHR had said needed investigation.
Nepal seeks extension of UNMINs term
Nepal has sought the extension of the term of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), which is tasked to oversee the management of arms and the army of the Himalayan nation and the Maoist combatants as part of the landmark peace pact signed last year.
The Nepal government has sent a formal letter to the United Nations (UN) requesting the extension of UNMIN term that is due to expire on January 22 next year.
The government said that this was necessary as UNs role is crucial in taking the Nepali peace process forward.
In a letter handed to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, by Madhuraman Acharya, Nepals permanent representative to UN, the interim government has requested the extension of UNMINs tenure by 6 months with effect from January 23, local media reports said.
However, it is learnt that the government has remained tacitly silent on enlarging the mandate of the UNMIN. Ian Martin, chief of UNMIN, last week, had underlined the need forenlarging the mandate of the UN body, particularly in the implementation of the peace pacts in the country for achieving the desired results.
He had said the violations of various agreements and emergence of political issues beyond UNMIN's responsibility in the course of verification of Maoist combatants, among otherthings, resulted in the failure of the peace process to achieve the desired results within the expected time span.
Martin said it would be in the interest of Nepal to allow UNMIN three additional roles. UNMIN could do more to implement pacts reached in the course of the peace process andassist in a long-term solution to the future of cantoned Maoists. He also sought an advisory role to create a law and order situation conducive to elections.
UNMIN officials have been meeting top political party leaders over the past few months to take up their case with the government in this regard, the report said.
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Nepal's peace process risks being derailed: Report
Nepal's peace process risks being derailed despite a fresh commitment by the seven political parties to hold the crucial constituent assembly elections by mid-April next year, a leading international think tank has said.
"A year after a Comprehensive Peace Agreement promised a definitive end to its civil war, the country remains in political deadlock," said the International Crisis Group (ICG) that works in conflict hotspots around the world.
"The current limbo is inherently unstable", the think tank said in a report entitled 'Nepal: Peace Postponed' that was released earlier this week.
"Nepal needs a coherent strategy to create an environment for elections, not just another quick-fix backroom deal," the report quoted Rhoderick Chalmers, Crisis Group's South Asia Deputy Project Director in Kathmandu as saying.
Despite a fresh commitment of the seven political parties to hold the constituent assembly elections within the next four months, ICG said that Nepal's peace process still risks coming off the rails.
Though the leaders have reached an agreement to hold the polls by mid-April 2008, ICG stressed they are yet to address the problems that led to past delays or tackle crucial remaining issues such as security sector reform.
It stressed the need for the international community to send a clear message on keeping the polls and the peace process on course. With the two armed forces exerting greater influence on the positions of the sides, Maoist parallel structures still holding sway in much of the country, the new ethnic and regional fronts have added to the situation's complexity, the ICG said in its report.
The Brussels-based Crisis Group has a local field representation in Kathmandu and is mainly involved in efforts to prevent and resolve deadly conflict around the world.
Nepal's police arrest 110 in crackdown on armed ethnic minorities
Police have arrested at least 110 members of armed ethnic minority groups in a crackdown aimed at curbing months of unrest in southern Nepal, officials said Thursday.A sweep of the groups' hideouts began Dec. 1 in eight districts where tensions have persisted since early this year, the police headquarters in the Nepalese capital, Katmandu, said in a statement.
Authorities have arrested 110 suspects so far and seized 40 guns and an undisclosed number of bullets, the statement said.
Minority groups have been organizing demonstrations, strikes and transportation shutdowns in southern Nepal to demand greater recognition of their rights. Many of these smaller groups have armed members.The protests have led to violence that has killed more than 80 people.
PM must quit if he cannot hold CA polls: Nepal
Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 20 - CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal Thursday said that the Prime Minister must quit if he cannot hold the Constituent Assembly elections within mid-April.
Reminding that it was Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s primary responsibility to hold the polls, he said that PM Koirala cannot shy away from the responsibility blaming other political parties for his failure to hold the CA polls.
Talking to media persons upon his arrival at the Tribhuwan International Airport after attending the 8th general convention of the CPI (Marxist and Leninist) held in Kolkata, West Bengal today, Nepal reiterated that this was the last chance to the PM to hold the polls.
“The PM must clearly tell if he can hold elections or not,” Nepal said, “If he can, then he can stay (as the head of the government).”
“If the PM is ready to accept the challenge and confident that he can hold the elections, then this could be the third chance for the PM,” he added.
He also said that the current political deadlock was due to the lack of required trust among the political parties themselves.
He said that the issue of the fully proportional electoral system could be resolved through other means if the Maoists demand of round table conference to resolve the issue was not possible.
Lauding the agreement reached among the seven party agreement to hold the elections within Chaitra, however, he warned that the seven parties must realise that if the CA polls are not held within Chaitra (mid-April), then there would be a grave crisis in the country.
Ethnic front demands broader political conference
Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 20 - The Joint Republican National Front Thursday proposed for a broader national political conference, saying that an agreement among the Seven-Party-Alliance alone would not bail the country out of the current predicament.
The Front, which groups ethnic and regional forces together including the Joint Tharuwan National Front, Limbuwan, Khumbuwan, Tam Saling and the Gupta faction of the Madhesi People’s Right Forum, argues that such a conference should involve parties in parliament as well as the agitating sides.
It has also demanded that the motions passed by the special session of the interim parliament must be enforced without changes.
The motions pressed by the major left parties in parliament sought an immediate arrangement to proclaim the country a republic and to adopt a fully proportional representation (PR) system for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.
The front has also expressed dissatisfaction over the reported agreement between the seven parties to extend the number of members of the CA to 601 and to elect 60 percent of the CA members through the PR system.
Organisations condemn civilian killings in Siraha
Kantipur Report

SIRAHA, Dec 20 - Various organisations Thursday condemned the killing of civilians in Saptari district by the cadres of the Jawala Singh-led Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, an armed agitating outfit in the Terai region.
Issuing separate press statements today, the organisations accused the armed group of killing civilians to fulfill their own vested political interests.
Human Rights Protection Centre, Human Rights Organisation, Madheshi People’s Rights Forum-Gupta, Lokatantrik (Democratic) Madheshi Organisation and All Nepal Women’s Association, among others, urged the armed group not to abduct or kill innocent people.
They also asked the government to arrest and take strong action against the guilty.
On Tuesday night, JTMM-J cadres abducted and subsequently killed Pashupati Shrestha and Gajendra Shrestha, residents of Kalyanpur VDC.

Now it is a Chinese spice in the kitchen work, Indian Security!

Palash Biswas

Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

Government of India and state government refuse to address nationality, subaltern and Dalit minority issues as it represents the interests of the zionist Brahminical class intersests only. The statepower and its sovereignity is subjugated to Galaxy Post Modern Manusmriti Imperialist order of Hindu Zionist White Power dominace. Worldwide war and civil war resultant destroys the indigenous everywhere to accomodate corporate rebuilding with adequate cut money for the ruling comradors.
Without addressing the causes of violence and strife , Military solution like War against Terror and infinite hatred misinformation campaign launched.
Staregic regrouping in Indian ocean in US lead is an old story forgotten. Now it is a Chinese spice in the kitchen work, Indian Security!

Namaste from UK.

I am a Jharkhandi from West Bengal.I grew up in a tea
estate named Kumargram in Doors area of North
bengal.
My father worked as a tractor driver till retirement.
I was lucky to take advantage of the tribal
reservation and became a doctor. I am now working in
UK and active member of Jharkhand.org.uk

I am very keen to see the movie which you have
produced. I need a bit more information. Is it
available in DVD format yet or the normal film
format.If in DVD format where can I get my hands on
it. I have sister in Khunti who can buy it for me.

I would be very interested to promote this in UK free
of any cost from your side. I would be very happy to
approch BBC on your behalf. Perhaps get them to do a
documentary sort of programme. Is your movie a
documentary or a story of adivasis immigration and
modern day slavery in India by elite Indians against
the tribals of jharkhand?

Please get in touch with me.My email adress is
docwilliam@hotmail.com

Keep up the great work and keep us updated through
this network.

Bye for now. Closing with warm regards.

William Kisku
UK

7 suspected PREPAK militants detained

Kolkata, (PTI): Seven suspected militants of a banned organisation in the Northeast were today picked up from an apartment at Jadavpore in the southern part of the metropolis by the police Thursday morning. According to sources, the seven, including three women, were suspected to be members of the People's Revolutionary Party for Kangleipak (PREPAK) in Manipur.It was not immediately known if any arm or document was seized from the detained."We are ascertaining their antecedents and involvement in activities of any militant organisation in the North-East," police said.

The IGP (Law and Order), Raj Kanojia, said that they were being interrogated at a local police station."We cannot say anything more now," he said.Two years ago, four Northeast militants were arrested from a hideout in the same Jadavpore area.

China and India, who fought a brief border war in 1962, have started a week-long anti-terrorism military drill to improve trust and cooperation as the two rising powers seek to put aside decades of frosty relations.The exercise, called "Hand-in-Hand, 2007", is being held in China's southwestern province of Yunnan and involves 100 troops from each country, state media said on Thursday.

Meanwhile,Uneven economic growth is posing a serious security threat to India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday, calling for an escalation in efforts to counter insurgencies.He told a meeting of state chief ministers that a large proportion of recruits for militant groups came from regions untouched by India's scorching growth.The conference came after a series of bomb attacks across the country, blamed on suspected Pakistan-based Islamist militant groups and their Indian Muslim recruits.Singh, however, chose to focus more on the failure to deliver social justice and development to India's poorest regions, saying the neglect had alienated people and helped open up economic, social and religious divides.

"These divides and disparities lead to disaffection, large-scale migration and discord," Singh said, a rare link drawn between economic inequality and internal security by a top government leader.

"In many cases internal security problems arise out of uneven development and we need to address this issue if we are to make any long-term headway in combating extremist elements."

Asia's third-largest economy has grown an average 8 percent a year over the past four years, driven largely by consumer demand from the middle class and soaring foreign investment.But despite the boom, official data shows an estimated 800 million of India's billion-plus people live on 50 U.S. cents a day.

"The aim of the joint anti-terror drill is to strengthen mutual understanding and trust between the two countries and the two armies, and also to enhance their cooperation in the anti-terror area," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference.

China enjoys an "all weather relationship" with Pakistan that for decades was underpinned by hostility towards India, but in recent years China and India have tried to expand trade and diplomatic ties, though territorial disputes persist.

Both countries share restive border regions and have sought to suppress minority groups agitating for greater autonomy or outright independence.

Qin said that just because the border issue had still not been resolved despite many rounds of talks, it did not mean China and India could not conduct joint military drills.

"Friendly cooperation between both sides is the main trend. It's natural that there will be disagreements," he added. "We have disputes over the border issue ... but we will not let it become an obstacle to bilateral relations."

The China Daily said that the exercise would be aimed at what Beijing calls the "three evil forces" of "separatism, extremism and terrorism". It gave no more details.

China has waged a relentless campaign against what it calls violent separatist activities of Uighur Muslims agitating for an independent East Turkestan in the oil-rich northwestern region of Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Pakistan-based militants have long fought Delhi's rule in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, while Maoist-lead uprisings in the country's central and southern regions have killed or displaced thousands of people in recent years.

Communist rebels pose single biggest threat to India, says PM

Communist rebels that roam India's hinterlands pose the single biggest threat faced by the country, the prime minister said, calling for the creation of specialized forces to combat the insurgents.

India has long contended with scores of militant and insurgent groups, from Islamic extremists blamed for bombings that have killed more than 300 people since 2005 to ethnic separatists fighting for independence in the country's remote northeast.

But none of those groups have managed to spread their influence _ and fight _ as far and wide as the communists, known as the Naxalites, who are active in 13 of the country's 28 states and hold sway over grindingly poor forest communities and farming villages largely left out of India's economic boom.

So far, at least 6,000 people have been killed in the rebellion. ``Not a day passes without an incident of left-wing extremism taking place,'' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told top state officials at meeting on internal security on Thursday.

``They are carefully targeting all aspects of economic activity,'' he continued. ``They are targeting vital economic infrastructure so as to cripple transport and logistic capabilities and also slow down any development activity.''

While there's little fear the insurgency could destabilize all of India, the rebels 40-year fight has intensified in the past year and they are now a major disruptive force across a so-called ``red corridor'' stretching from central India to the east coast and north to the border with Nepal.

Singh called fears of the ``red corridor'' exaggerated, but acknowledged the rebels were keeping the government from developing poorer parts of the country _ creating a vicious cycle that helps the insurgents, who say they are fighting for the poor and marginalized, attract fresh recruits.

``I have said in the past that left-wing extremism is single biggest security challenge to the Indian state,'' Singh said. ``It continues to be so.''

A big part of the problem is the rebels often make quick work of ill-equipped, poorly trained and badly led police. One recent example took place over the weekend in Chattisgarh state, in eastern India, where Naxalites staged a jailbreak to free imprisoned compatriots. A total of 300 people, some of them rebels but many ordinary criminals, escaped.

``I hear that there were only three staff in the Dantewada jail where the jailbreak took place,'' Singh said.

Chattisgarh was also the scene in March of one of the most deadly Naxalite attacks in recent memory when a group of rebels bombarded a police post in the state's remote jungles with gunfire, hand grenades and gasoline bombs, killing 49 people.

``We need a coordinated response to this challenge,'' he continued. ``This requires improved intelligence gathering capabilities, improved policing capabilities, better coordination.''

The Naxalites have been fighting to create a communist state since 1967. Their rallying cry of land and jobs has long resonated among the poor, especially central and eastern India's indigenous peoples, who live on some of the country's richest mineral deposits and amid its largest timber reserves but rarely benefit from them.

For millions, economic boom spells doom: report
New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) So what if India is surging at a high economic
growth rate? In some of the richest states in the country this very fact, in
terms of natural resources, has meant doom for millions who are displaced
from their homes, says a latest study.

Released Wednesday by international development agency ActionAid, India
Social Institute and LAYA, a voluntary organisation in Andhra Pradesh
working for tribal issues for the past 25 years, the report "Resource Rich
Tribal Poor" says that in the name of development a large number of
indigenous people are stripped of their basic identity and the right to live
a fulfilling life.

The study was conducted in five districts of four resource-rich states of
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Joseph Marianus Kujur of the Indian Social Institute, who was the research
coordinator for the study, said acceleration of economic reforms has led to
exclusion of masses and has widened the gap between the rich and the poor.

"This study looks at the latest government data of the past 10 years in just
these four states which unveils the fact that the number of people who have
been displaced because of the various development projects is over 1.6million.

"In the process of conducting the study, 92 percent of the respondents said
that they have not received adequate compensation. All of this leads us to
ask the question: Is displacement necessary for development?" Kujur told
IANS.

According to the report, 749,555 people were displaced for various dam
projects, 304,698 for industry, 539,351 for mining, 926 people for
electricity generation plants and 22,050 for defence establishments.

Although land acquisition and displacement are two sides of the same coin,
the report says that there are no resettlement and rehabilitation policies
in place in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

In Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, many of those displaced don't have record of
rights over the land that they have been using.

Most of the displaced people haven't been rehabilitated despite records
showing otherwise. However, those who have been, a majority being adivasis
(tribal), are finding it difficult to cope with the new environment and
usually tend to leave for forest cover.

"Pushed to live in the polluted slums, collective histories and indigenous
knowledge about plants, medicine and ecological symbiosis which the adivasis
have are thus rendered useless.

"Facing competition from the educated lot in the metropolitan cities and
towns, they fail to get any industrial job. All that they are left with is
menial and unreliable labour under contractors," Kujur said.

The report records the sentiments of a 40-year-old man from Bandhaguda,
Orissa, one on the villages under threat from bauxite mining plans of
Vedanta Plc., who said that he accepted cash compensation to leave his home
under the threat from company touts.

"We cannot eat money, and we know it won't last long. We have lost our land
and livelihood. While they make promises of better life for us, we are left
only with problems," the report quoted him as saying.

Some of those displaced were not even aware of the rehabilitation policies.

"What we found was that those who were rehabilitated couldn't have led a
worse life. Plucked out of their homes, they don't have a job, can't cope
with the sudden changes and to add to all of that, the resettlement sites
lack basic amenities," said Bratindi Jena of ActionAid said.

The report recommends that there should be strict adherence of the laws
existing at the Central and the state level, which prohibits the transfer of
tribal land to non-tribal under the cover of land acquisition for
development projects.

It also says that in order to protect the cultural identity of the
indigenous people, they should never be displaced from their homeland. Also,
representative of the local people should be included in the technical
committee formed by the government to assess the status of projects to be
undertaken.
khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1077&Itemid=88&limit=1&limitstart=1

--
Jharkhand News
news@jharkhand.org.uk
Jharkhand Online Network
http://www.jharkhand.org.uk

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US lawmakers cut USD 50 mn in Pak aid
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Pakistan might lose USD 50 million in US aid after an omnibus 2008 spending bill passed by the Congress shaved off the chunk, also imposing conditions on the remaining USD 250 million of military assistance.
The Bush administration had originally requested USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad but lawmakers cut USD 50 million until the time Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice can certify that Pakistan is restoring democratic rights, including an independent judiciary.
A massive appropriations bill including the Pakistan aid package, which was passed by the lawmakers on Monday, has also said that the remaining USD 250 million set aside could only
be used for anti-terrorism and law enforcement purposes. This effectively means the money could not be used for procuring F-16 jets or Sidewinder missiles, seen as nothing to do with the war on terror but only aimed at India.
Lawmakers on the Capitol Hill have been sharply critical of the fashion in which President Pervez Musharraf has been going about, especially in the aftermath of the declaration of emergency on November 3.
Earlier this month, the administration stopped an annual USD 200 million cash payment to the Pakistani government, instead converting those funds to programmes for Pakistan that will be administered by the US Agency for International Development.
The omnibus spending bill was approved by the House and the Senate and sent to the President for signature.
Since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Pakistan has been given about USD 10 billion in economic and military assistance including reimbursements for the war on terror. In 2004, President George W Bush committed to a USD 6 billion, five-year programme to provide aid to Pakistan.

Bhutto says Pakistan spies press candidates to quit
DERA ALLAH YAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said on Thursday the government had ordered security forces to close her offices, while intelligence agents were pressuring candidates to drop out of a January election.
But Bhutto said despite that, Pakistanis were so fed up with inflation and unemployment it would be difficult for supporters of President Pervez Musharraf to rig a victory in the Jan. 8 parliamentary poll.
"The government is scared and is sending the Frontier Constabulary to close our party offices, it is sending MI (Military Intelligence) officials to go and ask candidates to withdraw."
The constabulary is a paramilitary force.
Pakistan's allies hope the election will help bring stability to the nuclear-armed country, seen as vital to U.S. efforts to combat terrorism, after months of turmoil over Musharraf's manoeuvring to hold on to power.
Musharraf stepped down as army chief last month and lifted a six-week state of emergency on Dec. 15.
Next month's election is for assemblies in the country's four provinces and a national assembly from which a prime minister and a government will be drawn.
The vote is a three-way race between Bhutto, another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and the party that has ruled under Musharraf and backs him.