SOUTH ASIA
India For UNSC, Cheque That Can’t Be Easily Cashed: Chinese Daily
US President Barack Obama’s announcement of support for India’s permanent membership in the UN Security Council (UNSC) is essentially “a cheque that cannot be easily cashed”, said a Chinese daily.
In an article titled “Obama greets India with more than a lip service?” in People’s Daily, columnist Li Hongmei wrote: “Much to the delight of Indians…Obama reportedly alluded to what is called the `emphatic endorsement’ for a permanent seat for India in the Security Council, even if he essentially handed the Indians a cheque that cannot be easily cashed.”
Support for the permanent UNSC seat for New Delhi was the crowning moment of Obama’s Nov 6-9 visit to India.
Obama told Indian parliament: “Indeed, the just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate.
“That is why I can say today – in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member.”
The People’s Daily article said that Obama kickstarted his “biggest ever trade mission” to the city of Mumbai, assuring India “it is never left in the cold by the world’s super power”.
It said that “a bulky deal of $10 billion concluded with India and a fat prospect of job offers for more than 50,000 Americans are what Obama needs desperately to shrug off the gloomy situation with a reservoir of domestic troubles”.
Li noted: “What is equally noteworthy is that India is ramping up its military procurement prompted by the alleged threat from China and its ambition to lead the region, making India an attractive market for US defence companies.”
She added: “The US administrations, since George W. Bush, have pinned hope on Delhi to act as the counterweight to Beijing.”
While emphasising that Obama and his wife Michelle “would cherish the common sense of returning good for good, as Indians are anxiously expecting”, the article stressed that “not all of the US favours are tangible and accessible”.
Li had a good word for Michelle, whom she described as “charming first lady”, who played hopscotch, danced and sang with disadvantaged children from the Indian charity.
The article went on to say that New Delhi “cannot totally let go (of) the worry that on the US radar screen, strategic vision of India remains diminutive compared with the rivaling Pakistan, and the US would still have to reach out to China while hand-in-hand with India”.
On economic issues, “the US and India are right now singing a duet, echoing each other”.
The article wrapped up, saying: “It is too early to conclude Obama would satisfy the India’s expectations better and more concretely than, say, the previous Bush administration.”
“And it is absurd to say Obama’s whirlwind tour to India is a proof that the US strategic focus has been shifted from Beijing to Delhi.”
-HT
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistani Anti-graft body wants travel ban on Nawaz Sharif, kin
Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog has asked authorities to place ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law on the Exit Control List to prevent them from leaving the country.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sent a formal request to the ministry of interior. The interior ministry officials confirmed that the NAB wrote that names of Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar should be put on the Exit Control List (ECL), which listed individuals not allowed to leave Pakistan.
The NAB argued that as the trial of the three nears its conclusion, it is feared that they would leave the country.
Earlier, a similar request to place name of finance minister Ishaq Dar on ECL was not accepted, allowing him to go to London and never return.
Sharif, 68, and his family this week filed an application with the accountability court seeking a fortnight’s exemption from personal appearance from February 19 onwards to let them go to London to see Sharif’s ailing wife. Three cases were filed against Sharif and his family last year, including Avenfield properties, Azizia & Hill Metal Establishment, and Flagship Investments.
Maryam and Safdar are accused only in Avenfield properties case. The NAB had filed two supplementary references against Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain regarding Al-Azizia Steel Mills & Hill Metal Establishment and Flagship Investment cases.
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistan “breaches obligations’ on nuclear arms reduction, UN court told
The Hague: Pakistan is violating its “obligations” to the international community by failing to reduce its nuclear arsenal, the Marshall Islands told the UN’s highest court on Tuesday.
The small Pacific Island nation is this week launching three unusual cases against India, Pakistan and Britain before the International Court of Justice.
Majuro wants to put a new spotlight on the global nuclear threat, its lawyers said yesterday, by using its own experience with massive US-led nuclear tests in the 1940s and 1950s.
“Pakistan is in breach of its obligations owed to the international community as a whole,” when it comes to reducing its nuclear stockpile, said Nicholas Grief, one of the island nation’s lawyers.
DeBrum warned that even a “limited nuclear war” involving the two countries would “threaten the existence” of his island nation people.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
In 1998, the rival neighbours both demonstrated nuclear weapons capability.
The ICJ’s judges are holding hearings for the next week and a half to decide whether it is competent to hear the lawsuits brought against India and Pakistan — neither of which have signed the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
A third hearing against Britain — which has signed the NPT — scheduled to start on Wednesday will be devoted to “preliminary objections” raised by London.
The Marshalls initially sought to bring a case against nine countries it said possessed nuclear arms: Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States.
Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons.
But the Hague-based ICJ, set up in 1945 to rule in disputes between states, has only admitted three cases against Britain, India and Pakistan, because they have accepted the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction.
Pakistan’s lawyers did not attend Tuesday’s hearings.
It did however file a counter-claim against Majuro’s allegations saying “the court has no jurisdiction to deal with the application” and insisting that the case is “not admissible”, said ICJ President Ronny Abraham.
SOUTH ASIA
Bangladesh to drop Islam as official religion following attacks on Hindus
New Delhi: Bangladesh is likely to drop Islam as its official religion following a series of attacks on people from other faiths in the country. The country’s Supreme Court is hearing a plea challenging the status of the official religion of the country to Islam.
Bangladesh, which was declared a secular country after its formation in 1971, was declared an Islamic country following a constitutional amendment in 1988.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the plea has challenged the declaration of Islam as the national religion of the country.
The move is being supported by leaders from the minority communities like Hindus, Christians and Muslim minority Shiites.
Bangladesh has 90 per cent of Muslims, 8 per cent Hindus and remaining constitutes Christians and Muslim minority Shiites.
In last month, a Hindu priest was hacked to death following an attack on a temple in Panchgarh district. Two others were seriously injured in the attack. There have been several lethal attacks on writers and bloggers.
According to a report in the Independent, Islamist groups Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team are believed to have carried out at least seven attacks on foreign and minority people in Bangladesh in the past year.
