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Pakistanis in Swat
face ‘catastrophe’
ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of thou-
sands of civilians trapped by an
offensive against the Taliban
in Swat face catastrophe, a
rights group said yesterday,
as fighting flared in another
militant-plagued region.
The offensive in the Taliban
bastion of Swat, about 120km
northwest of Islamabad, is the
military’s most concerted effort
to roll back a spreading Taliban
insurgency that has thrown the
nuclear-armed country’s future
into question.
The offensive has sparked
an exodus of 2.3 million people,
according to provincial govern-
ment figures, but about 200,000
people are believed to be still in
the valley.
Severe shortages of food,
water and medicine were
creating a major humanitarian
crisis for the trapped civilians,
the US-based group Human
Rights Watch said.
“People trapped in the Swat
conflict zone face a humanitar-
ian catastrophe unless the Pa-
kistani military immediately lifts
a curfew that has been in place
continuously for the last week,”
Brad Adams, the group’s Asia
director, said in a statement.
The army launched the
offensive this month after the
militants, emboldened by a
controversial peace deal in
Swat, pushed out of the former
tourist valley into neighbouring
districts, including one just
100km from Islamabad.
The United States, which
needs Pakistani action against
militants in its northwest to
defeat al Qaeda and disrupt
support for the Taliban in
Afghanistan, had criticised the
pact as tantamount to “abdicat-
ing” to the militants.
The US, which is pouring
thousands of extra troops into
Afghanistan to try to reverse
Taliban gains, has welcomed
the army’s bid to clear Swat.
But the flight of so many
civilians poses not only a major
burden for an economy being
kept afloat by a US$7.6 billion
(RM26.6 billion) International
Monetary Fund loan, but could
also undercut public backing
for the military action.
Human Rights Watch said it
was getting persistent reports
of civilian casualties from army
shelling and air attacks, as well
as reports of summary execu-
tions of civilians by Taliban.
The government should
take all possible measures in-
cluding air drops of food, water,
and medicine to alleviate the
suffering and both sides should
allow a humanitarian corridor
through which civilians could
escape and aid groups could
help, it said.
Military spokesmen were
not available for comment.
– Reuters
| WEDNESDAY MAY 27 2009
Cyclone Aila kills 120 Mistake
millionaires
have split
in Bangladesh, India
DHAKA: Nearly 120 people have been 23. But it may go up,” Mohammad Abdus
up: Police
WELLINGTON: A runaway
New Zealand couple who fled
killed by a cyclone that ripped through Samad, deputy commissioner of Satkhira, the country with millions of
Bangladesh and eastern India, officials and told Reuters by telephone. dollars thanks to a bank’s
local media said yesterday, while millions Aila swept many areas still recovering mistake appear to have split
remained marooned by floodwaters or from Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, up, police said yesterday.
living in shelters. which killed 3,500 people in Bangladesh A woman who flew home
The death toll in Bangladesh rose to at and made at least a million homeless. on Monday after being with
least 89 following recovery of more bodies Bangladesh officials said at least 100 peo- the pair told police that Kara
yesterday, the Daily Star newspaper said ple were missing after Monday’s cyclone. Mary Jo Hurring, 30, was
in its online edition, while Indian officials Some aid workers, requesting not to be still in Hongkong where they
said at least 29 people had died in West identified, said they feared several hundred went from New Zealand, but
Bengal state. people might have been killed by Aila, she did not know where her
Cyclone Aila slammed into parts of which followed a less lethal cyclone, Bijli, boyfriend, Leo Gao, 29, had
coastal Bangladesh and eastern India on that killed only a few people in April. gone.
Monday, triggering tidal surges and flood- Army, navy and coast guards were Although police did
ing that forced half a million people from helping civil officials and volunteers to not name the woman, she
their homes. search for the missing and pick up peo- was widely reported to be
Officials in Bangladesh moved about ple marooned in hundreds of villages, the female fugitive’s sister,
500,000 people to temporary shelters after caught in chest or shoulder-high waters, Aroha Hurring, 22, who was
they left their homes to escape huge tidal witnesses said. interviewed for hours by
waves churned by winds up to 100kph. In West Bengal, the Indian army and police but not charged.
Heavy rain triggered by the storm government aid workers yesterday began Detective David Harvey
also raised river levels and burst mud an operation to provide relief to more than said police were still work-
embankments in the Sundarbans delta in 400,000 people marooned in the Sundar- ing on a formal request to
the neighbouring eastern Indian state of bans delta region. the Chinese government
West Bengal. Officials in West Bengal said at least 29 to arrest Gao, who left the
The affected area is home to 200,000 people died in the cyclone, mostly from house country with NZ$3.8 million
people as well as the world’s biggest tiger collapses, electrocution and falling trees. (RM8.36 million) belonging
reserve. “We have moved two columns, each with to the Westpac Bank.
In Bangladesh, the worst affected area 100 personnel, to Sundarbans for relief,” said He repeated a call to the
was the Satkhira district, near the port of Mahesh Upasani, a defence spokesman. couple to return home and
Mongla, where a local official said 17 bod- Large areas of crops were destroyed face the music.
ies were found in one village. in both countries by the cyclone, officials The bank mistakenly
“The situation here is alarming, and the said, adding they were assessing the gave Gao, part owner of a
confirmed death toll so far in the district is damage. – Reuters struggling auto service station
in Rotorua, access to NZ$10
million (RM22 million)
when it was formalising
Paris to award Dalai Lama a temporary overdraft of
honorary citizenship NZ$100,000 (RM220,000).
He tried to withdraw
PARIS: Paris will host the authorities. NZ$6.7 million (RM14.74
Dalai Lama on June 7 for a A later meeting in Germa- million) but the bank blocked
ceremony in which Mayor ny between President Nicolas access to NZ$2.9 million
Bertrand Delanoe will confer Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama (RM6.38 million), leaving
on Tibet’s exiled spiritual created diplomatic tensions him with NZ$3.8 million.
leader honorary citizenship between Paris and Beijing The pair’s escapade has
of the French capital, RTL that have only recently been
captured headlines around
radio reported yesterday. resolved.
the world with people divided
The Dalai Lama was It is expected that because
between those who say it
named an honorary citizen of pressure exerted on the
of Paris on April 22 last year, Paris City Hall by Sarkozy’s
was the bank’s fault and
four months before the office, the ceremony will be they should keep the money
Beijing Olympics, a decision more discreet than originally and others who say they will
that enraged Chinese planned. never get away with it. – dpa