theSun | TUESDAY MAY 5 2009
news without borders
Bitter with West, Sri Lanka turns East for support
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan govern-
ment is increasingly tilting towards
Iran, Libya and China for foreign aid
as its traditional Western allies ramp
up their criticism of the war against
Tamil rebels.
Many Western nations have out-
lawed the Tamil Tigers and cut off their
funding networks, but the Colombo
administration is deeply upset over
repeated calls from the United States
and the European Union for a truce.
President Mahinda Rajapakse
believes he is on the verge of victory
over Tamil separatists after 37 years
of fighting, and he fears that nations
Nepal in crisis as Maoist
prime minister quits
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Maoist
Prime Minister Prachanda resigned
yesterday, plunging the country into
a major political crisis triggered by a
stand-off between his ex-rebels and
the army chief.
In a televised address to the na-
tion, Prachanda said he was stepping
down in response to an “unconstitu-
tional and undemocratic” move by
Nepal’s president to stop the elected
Maoist government from sacking the
army chief.
He also warned that the impov-
erished nation’s 2006 peace deal,
which ended a decade of civil war
that left 13,000 dead, was in danger
of falling apart.
“I have resigned from the post of
prime minister from today for the
protection of democracy and peace,”
said Prachanda, who had been pre-
mier for just eight months.
The Maoist government had on
Sunday fired the army chief, Gen
Rookmangud Katawal, for refusing
to integrate 19,000 former Maoist
rebel soldiers into the regular army
as stipulated by the peace accord.
But President Ram Baran Yadav,
a member of the main opposition
party, yesterday told the head of the
army – traditionally a bastion of Ne-
pal’s elite and the former monarchy
– to stay put.
“The move by the president is an
attack on this infant democracy and
the peace process,” said Prachanda,
a former school teacher who led the
bitter insurgency before signing up
for peace.
“The interim constitution does not
give any right to the president to act
as a parallel power,” he added, de-
scribing the crisis as centered around
“the issue of civilian supremacy over
the Nepal army”.
The decision by Prachanda
– whose real name is Pushpa Kamal
Taliban, Pakistan in deadly fighting as peace deal unravels
PESHAWAR: A peace deal in Paki-
stan appeared close to unravelling
yesterday as deadly fighting raged
between soldiers and militants in the
northwest, sparking Taliban threats
of fierce resistance.
Tensions are soaring between
the government, which is under US
pressure to extend an offensive to
crush militants, and Taliban hard-
liners, who rejected a new Islamic
appeals court created in a bid to
pacify their brutal uprising.
Analysts said the shaky three-
such as Britain, France and the US
could throw a lifeline to the rebels.
“Never did history unmask the
hypocrisy and the sanctimony of the
Western powers than it has in their
behaviour towards Sri Lanka during
recent times,” the defence ministry
said on Sunday, without naming spe-
cific countries.
Rajapakse himself vowed last week
that he would not bow to outside
pressure for a ceasefire, and lashed
out at what he regards as Western
interference.
“They are trying to preach to us
about civilians. I tell them to go and
Dahal, but who goes by a nom-de-
guerre meaning “fierce one” – leaves
Nepal in political limbo and without
an effective government.
At the same time, the Maoists’
rivals do not have enough seats in an
interim assembly to form their own
cabinet, while the political process is
further complicated because Nepal’s
new, post-royal constitution has yet
to be written.
The Maoists’ fighters are confined
to United Nations-supervised camps
but the army has refused to take in
hardened guerillas whom it views as
politically indoctrinated.
The army also accuses the Mao-
ists of not fulfilling commitments to
dismantle the paramilitary structure
of their feared youth wing and not
returning property grabbed during
the civil war.
Prachanda, however, has long ar-
gued that the dispute is merely part
of a wider campaign to undermine
his government, which was formed
after the ex-rebels
scored a
surprise
win in
elections
last year.
Since
the elec-
tions, the
Maoists
have man-
aged to car-
ry through
with their
pledge to
abolish the
monarchy
but complain
Nepal’s tra-
ditional elite
are blocking
other key re-
forms – such
month-old deal – establishing syariah
courts in a northwest region home
to three million in the hope that the
Taliban would stop fighting and dis-
arm – was now hanging by a thread.
Three soldiers died and five were
wounded in fighting in northwest
Pakistan yesterday, including an of-
ficer killed when militants ambushed
an army convoy in the former ski
resort of Swat. The Taliban claimed
responsibility for the attack.
“We vow to carry out similar at-
tacks in future if security forces try
see what they are doing in Iraq and
Afghanistan,” he said in a speech.
Historically, Sri Lanka has had
close links with the West after four
centuries of colonial rule starting with
the Portuguese and then the Dutch,
and ending when the British left in
1948.
“We have had the closest relations
with the West,” said Nanda Godage,
retired additional foreign secretary.
“But today, we are disappointed by
their hostility.”
He said Colombo understood the
concerns of the West over ethnic
Tamils because about 1.5 million Sri
as on land ownership and the armed
forces.
Centrist parties appear to have
sided with the army against what
they allege is an attempt by the Mao-
ists to assume dictatorial powers.
The crisis has already brought
thousands of pro- and anti-Maoist
demonstrators on to the streets of
Kathmandu, with police maintain-
ing a heavy presence to prevent any
clashes.
For now, however, Maoist officials
said they had no plan to call out their
rebel fighters – who still have access
to their weapons.
“The PLA is still intact, although we
have no plans to bring them out from
the UN-monitored camps,” former
People’s Liberation Army deputy
commander Barsha Man Pun said.
Meanwhile, India tightened
security along its border with Nepal
and urged Kathmandu to resolve the
crisis peacefully. – AFP
to enter Swat,” spokesman Muslim
Khan told AFP.
“We will give a fitting reply to
security forces if Sufi Mohammad
decides to revoke the deal with the
government,” he added, referring to
the cleric who negotiated a peace deal
between the two sides in February.
The military said it killed seven
militants, including a man they
identified as “an important militant
commander” named Afsar Hameed,
in its latest offensive in Swat’s
neighbouring district of Buner.
7
Lankan Tamils now live in Europe and of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). “In this country,
the US. we have become a bit paranoid, we
Elected in 2005 on a promise to think that the whole world is against
wipe out terrorism, Rajapakse put us,” Godage admitted.
his retired army colonel brother “But because of this hostile atti-
Gotabhaya in charge of the defence tude of the West, we have been forced
ministry. to look at Iran. China has always been
The duo are the architects of the here (supporting). We are even looking
war against the Tamil Tigers, which at Libya. Japan understands us.”
has proved widely popular with the The shift was underscored in
island’s Sinhalese majority. Sunday’s defence ministry statement,
Buoyed up by such support and which said that Sri Lanka was “grate-
major battlefield advances, the gov- ful for the wholehearted support” of
ernment has begun to openly criticise countries including China, Iran, India,
Western governments for their alleged Libya, Russia, Pakistan and Vietnam.
support of the rebel Liberation Tigers – AFP
briefs
Australian court approves
teenager’s mastectomy
SYDNEY: A 17-year-old Australian won approval from the
courts to have her breasts removed so she could more
easily pass as a boy, news reports said yesterday.
“You can have prostheses and things, so if he changed
his mind later on, it’s reversible,” Family Court chief justice
Diana Bryant told The Sydney Morning Herald. Bryant
said the teenager, who had been diagnosed with “gender
identity dysphoria,” had since 2004 been taking hormones
that prevented menstruation. Bryant said the court had
determined that there was no likelihood the teenager
would want to revert to being a girl. The decision was
atacked by ethicist Nick Tonti-Filippini, who said the teen-
ager suffered from a psychiatric disorder and that “what
you are trying to do is make a biological reality correspond
to that false belief.” – dpa
Student
activists
Indonesia police detain
affiliated to anti-graft boss over murder
Nepal’s main JAKARTA: Indonesia’s top graft-buster, Antasari
opposition Azhar, was detained as a suspect in the murder of
political a businessman after he was questioned for several
party Nepali hours yesterday at Jakarta’s police headquarters.
Congress “He is officially detained, the warrant has been
shout anti- signed,” national police spokesman Abubakar Nat-
government aprawira told Reuters.
slogans in He said that, according to witness statements and
Kathmandu other evidence, Azhar is accused of ordering the mur-
yesterday. der of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, a director of state-owned
pharmaceutical firm Putra Rajawali Banjaran.
The scandal involving 56-year-old Azhar is a blow for
the Corruption Eradication Agency, an agency which
has been at the forefront of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono’s efforts to crack down on graft. – Reuters
Venezuela military
helicopter crash kills 18
CARACAS: A Venezuelan military helicopter crashed
while patrolling the border with Colombia on Sunday, kill-
ing at least 18 people, President Hugo Chavez said. Those
killed included Gen Domingo Faneite, 16 soldiers of varying
ranks and a civilian, Chavez said in his weekly radio and
television programme. The Russian-made MI 35, which
lost contact with its base, went down near the town of El
Alto de Rubio, in Tachira state. – AFP
Pupils in anti-smoking drive
SEOUL: Officials in South Korea’s capital will target
children as young as seven for anti-smoking education
and offer acupuncture to help them quit, authorities
announced yesterday. The Seoul city government’s
education office said it has included 24 elementary
schools, covering ages 7-12, for the first time in its
EPAPIX
annual anti-smoking programme. – AFP
The government’s decision to sign scores of militants in the two districts,
the February pact, ratified by Presi- although their tolls are impossible to
dent Asif Ali Zardari last month, was verify. Thousands of civilians have
heavily criticised at home and abroad, fled the army bombardment.
with opponents arguing it would On Sunday, the authorities
merely embolden the Taliban. slapped a curfew on Swat’s main
For 10 days, military helicopter town Mingora for the first time
gunships and ground troops have since the agreement in an edict de-
fought hundreds of armed Taliban fied by armed Taliban who openly
who thrust further south and east patrolled the streets.
into the districts of Lower Dir and On the same day, local authori-
Buner where the deal also theoreti- ties found two beheaded soldiers
cally holds sway. in Swat’s Taliban bastion Khwaza
The army claims to have killed Khela. – AFP