SOUTH ASIA
‘No Further Talks With Government On Lokpal’
Ralegan Siddhi (Maharashtra): Alleging that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is trying to divide his Team Anna, activist Anna Hazare Wednesday said he will not hold any further talks and continue with indefinite protest from July 25 for a strong Lokpal bill.
In a three-page letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Hazare said he would take part in the protests from July 25 and also in yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Aug 9 protest being held in the national capital.
Hazare said Law Minister Salman Khurshid met him June 23 and assured him that the UPA government was ready to bring the Lokpal bill as suggested by the civil society. “Khurshid told me that the government was ready to bring all junior and senior government officials under the Lokpal and also bring the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) under the ambit of the Lokpal,” he said.
Addressing media persons at his hometown Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra, Hazare also released the letter he wrote to Manmohan Singh, in which he denied the claim of the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy that he was helping the government evolve a consensus on Lokpal.
Hazare said that Narayanasamy, in a letter to him Monday, had openly written that “I (Anna) have helped the government in matters related to Lokpal. I have not helped government in anyway and had clearly told Khurshid about our demands. I doubt if the intention behind sending Khurshid was to show that I am talking to government without telling rest of the members.”
He said he was asked by Khurshid to keep the meeting secret and that it would be discussed with rest of the team members after talking to the prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “I did not discuss about this meeting thinking that if keeping it secret can bring an effective Lokpal, then nothing can be better than it. I did ask Khurshid about how the government will again introduce the Lokpal bill proposed by the civil society when the parliament has already passed a bill in the Lok Sabha,” Hazare said.
Hazare claimed Khurshid told him that the government was willing to bring the Jan Lokpal bill. He also defended his meeting with the minister, saying that he agreed for the meeting thinking that it would help the country. “I was told by Khurshid that the government would make an announcement that it has accepted the civil society’s Lokpal bill before our July 25 agitation. I think that the government is trying to divide us and we have decided to hold no further talks with the government and will continue to protest till a stringent Lokpal bill is passed,” he said.
Hazare and Baba Ramdev had during a press conference in Pune Tuesday said they would support each other in their fight against corruption.
Ramdev and Hazare had slammed the Congress-led UPA government and said it had not taken enough measures to deal with corruption and black money.
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.
