China steps up campaign against Ramadan in Xinjiang

Beijing accused of misguided attempt to secularise minority Uighurs by banning or discouraging civil servants, students and others from fasting

Muslims in Xinjiang offer Friday prayers near a no-stopping sign on the first day of Ramadan. Beijing says its attempts to restrict participation come out of health concerns.

China is discouraging some Muslims in Xinjiang from fasting duringRamadan. The government says the move is motivated by health concerns.

Several city, county and village governments in the far-western region have posted notices on their websites banning or discouraging Communist party members, civil servants, students and teachers from fasting during the religious holiday.

A regional spokeswoman, Hou Hanmin, was quoted in the state-runGlobal Times on Friday as saying authorities encourage people to "eat properly for study and work" but would not force anyone to eat during Ramadan.

Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uighur ethnic group. Long-simmering resentment over the rule by China's Han majority and an influx of Han migrants has sporadically erupted into deadly violence.

Those familiar with the region say attempts to restrict participation in Ramadan are not new, but this year's campaign is more intense.

There is "a much more public and concerted effort" than in previous years and in some cases Communist party leaders are delivering food to village elders to try to get them to break their fast, according to Dru Gladney, a professor of anthropology at Pomona College in California and an expert on China's Muslim minorities.

"I think it is a misguided effort to try to secularise the Uighurs and my feeling is it will backfire," said Gladney. "It makes the Uighurs even more angry at the party for not honouring their religious customs."

Separatist sentiment is rife in Xinjiang, with some Uighurs advocating armed rebellion. A smaller fringe has been radicalised and trained in camps across the border in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In July 2009, almost 200 people were killed during rioting between Uighurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi. Uighur activists say the riots were the result of decades of pent-up frustration with Chinese rule.

China has responded by boosting police presence and restricting the practice of Islam – moves that have increased tensions.

Over the last few months, authorities in Xinjiang have stepped up a campaign against illegal religious schools, which they believe are fomenting extremism and separatist thought.

Hou said battling religious extremism and terror in the region remained a priority.

"Religious extremism is closely related to violence and terrorism, and cracking down on these is one of our top priorities," the regional spokeswoman was quoted as saying.

Ilham Tohti, a Beijing-based Uighur economist, said this year's campaign against participation in Ramadan was being more strictly enforced, with officials in some areas requiring people to sign pledges that they will not take part in religious activities.

Tohti said the campaign appeared to be aimed solely at Uighurs in Xinjiang, noting that Kazakh and Hui Muslims in Xinjiang, as well as Uighurs outside the region, face no such restrictions.

At the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, where he teaches, there have been no warnings against taking part in Ramadan and up to 70 Muslim students, including about 10 Uighurs, gather nightly at a local restaurant next to campus to break their fast, he said.

He said officials may be particularly nervous about potential unrest in Xinjiang in the lead up to a once-a-decade leadership transition in Beijing in the autumn.

"As a result they are tightening control measures in many areas, not just religion, but this could give rise to new problems and they may end up with an outcome that is the opposite of what they were seeking," he said.

On Monday, the US state department released a global report on religious freedom that criticized the authorities in Xinjiang for their "repressive restrictions on religious practices" and failure to "distinguish between peaceful religious practice and criminal or terrorist activities".

China's foreign ministry dismissed the report as biased and called it interference in Chinese affairs.

US warns China on South China Sea moves

The Obama administration has warned China against further moves to tighten control over a disputed section of the South China Sea, as tensions rose in the flashpoint region.

In a statement, the US State Department cautioned China about its addition of a military garrison and civilian officials near the contested Scarborough Reef and its use of barriers to deny access to foreign ships.

These moves "run counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region", said the statement, issued early on Friday morning and attributed to Patrick Ventrell, the acting deputy spokesman.

Six countries have complex competing claims to the region's water and islands, which are rich in fish, oil and gas and other resources.

China's recent moves over the Scarborough Reef have ruffled feathers in several nations, including Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines. There also have been reports that China is preparing to invite oil company bids for energy exploration in the area.

Countries in the region have been trying to work out a method for peacefully arbitrating their claims through a leading regional body, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, and have urged states not to take any provocative actions.

The US statement appeared to be a sign to South-East Asian countries that the administration continues its close watch on developments in the region. But one analyst cautioned that by singling out China at a time when several nations have been pushing claims, the Obama administration may confirm Chinese fears that it is strengthening security ties in South-East Asia to limit the expansion of Chinese power.

"It's very likely that China will read this as unnecessary, and confirming its concerns that the US is actively seeking to line up with South-East Asia against it," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a China specialist at the Brookings Institution and a former Clinton administration official.

Administration officials said last year they were shifting their foreign policy attention more to East Asia and have announced a series of steps to reinforce security ties with Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia and other countries.

China hits back at Clinton’s Africa comments

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, accompanied by Senegal’s Foreign Minister Alioune Badara Cisse, speaks at the Presidential Palace in Dakar, Senegal on Aug. 1, 2012. Click through for more photos of Clinton in Africa.

NAIROBI — Chinese state media lashed out Friday at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after she warned African leaders about cooperating with countries that want to exploit the continent’s resources.

On a tour of Sub-Saharan Africa to promote political stability, Clinton this week said the United States will stand up for democracy and universal human rights “even when it might be easier or more profitable to look the other way, to keep the resources flowing.”

“Not every partner makes that choice, but we do and we will,” she said, without naming China, in a speech delivered in Senegal.

The “implication that China has been extracting Africa’s wealth for itself is utterly wide of the truth,” said an English-language commentary from China’s official Xinhua News Agency on Friday, referencing Clinton’s comment that the United States is committed to a model that “adds value rather than extracts it.”

Clinton’s words constitute “cheap shots” and are part of “a plot to sow discord between China [and] Africa” for the United States’ “selfish gain,” Xinhua said, adding that her trip was part of a hidden agenda “aimed at least partly at discrediting China’s engagement with the continent and curbing China’s influence there.”

Clinton’s 11-day trip to Africa comes as China continues to gain influence in markets across the continent, which is home to vast and lucrative reserves of natural resources and some of the world’s fastest-growing countries.

While President Obama unveiled a new Africa strategy in June that focuses on democracy, economic growth, security and development, last month China promised Africa $20 billion in loans during the next three years. China, which put Africa-China trade at $166 billion last year, overtook the United States as Africa’s largest partner three years ago.

“There is a general sense that China appears to be eclipsing America in Africa,” said Comfort Ero, Africa program director at International Crisis Group.

Ero added of Clinton, referring to a visit she made to Africa last year: “This is her second big pitch to try to sell the differences between the U.S. and China in a positive way, suggesting the U.S. has Africa’s interests at heart and is genuinely concerned with progress around democracy, and that China is only interested in grabbing resources.”

Clinton, whose trip includes stops in Senegal, Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Ghana, is accompanied by a large U.S. business delegation and has stressed Africa’s economic potential.

“We believe that if you want to make a good investment in the midst of what is still a very difficult global economy, go to Africa,” she said during her speech in Senegal.

She voiced fears the continent was “backsliding” on democracy. But her close relationship with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, whose army makes up the bulk of a heavily U.S.-funded African Union force that fights Islamist militants in Somalia but who has refused to step down, has attracted criticism.

The U.S. focus on governance is “inconsistent and shifts with its interests,” said Daniel Kalinaki, managing editor of Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper. After bombings in Uganda in 2010 that were carried out by al-Qaeda-linked, Somalia-based militants, “all the talk of democracy was suddenly replaced by talk about regional security and Somalia.”

Clinton met with Museveni and South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, on Friday, stressing the need for strong institutions and adherence to the constitution. She is due to meet Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Saturday before travelling on to Malawi and then South Africa.

Pakistan jails officers for links to banned group

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has jailed five military officers, convicting them of links to a banned Muslim political group at a court martial, the army said Friday.

It is the first time that senior army officers have been convicted and jailed over associations with banned organisations in the country on the frontline of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda and fighting its own Taliban insurgency.

The army did not name the organisation in a statement announcing the sentences, but officials have in the past identified it as Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The group, which is headquartered Britain, does not outwardly advocate violence, but has been accused of links to violent extremist groups.

The army said the most senior officer to be convicted, Brigadier Ali Khan, had been sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment.

The other four, all ranked major, were sentenced to three years, two years, and two each to one year and six months, the military said.

The army said the convicts have the right to appeal, but provided no further details.

Khan was detained days after US Navy SEALs found and killed Osama bin Laden in the military town of Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, reviving disturbing questions about ignorance or complicity within Pakistan's powerful military.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is not banned in Britain, but has been outlawed in Pakistan and lies on the fringes of Western concerns about links between the military and terror groups.

According to its website, it aims to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing an Islamic state that executes the systems of Islam and carries its call to the world.

Since bin Laden was killed, Pakistan has been under increasing pressure from the United States to crack down on militant sanctuaries in its northwestern border areas with Afghanistan and cut all ties with extremist Islamist networks.

Pakistan court strikes down contempt law

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's top court on Friday struck down a new law that sought to exempt members of the government from contempt trials, clearing the way for legal proceedings against the prime minister.

Parliament passed the bill last month after the Supreme Court dismissed Yousuf Raza Gilani as premier and convicted him for refusing to reopen multi-million-dollar corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

But on Friday, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry declared the law "unconstitutional".

It was the latest episode in a two-and-a-half-year saga in which the government has resisted demands to investigate Zardari, arguing he enjoys immunity as head of state.

The showdown could force elections before February 2013 when the government would become the first in Pakistan's history to complete an elected, full five-year mandate.

The Supreme Court has now given the new prime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, until August 8 to indicate whether he will follow a court order to write to authorities in Switzerland, asking them to reopen the cases against Zardari.

Last month, it suggested that Ashraf could suffer the same fate as Gilani -- being dismissed for contempt -- if he refuses to do so.

Critics of the judiciary and members of Zardari's main ruling Pakistan People's Party have accused the court of waging a personal vendetta against the president.

It was not immediately clear how far the government would resist Friday's order. State television quoted the attorney general as saying that he was "stunned" by the court decision that "went beyond its jurisdiction".

"Parliament is supreme and has the authority of legislation. The judiciary should not interfere in legislative affairs," Irfan Qadir told the channel, PTV.

But the petitioners who challenged the law, welcomed the move.

"We are thankful to the Supreme Court of Pakistan which has protected our rights through this decision. This act was formulated in a bid to quash the fundamental rights of the common citizen," barrister Zafarullah Khan told AFP.

The allegations against Zardari date back to the 1990s, when he and his wife, late premier Benazir Bhutto, were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs inspection contracts.

The Swiss shelved the cases in 2008 when Zardari became president and the government insists the president has full immunity as head of state.

But in 2009 the Supreme Court overturned a political amnesty that had frozen investigations into the president and other politicians, ordering that the cases be reopened.

Zardari had already signed the contempt law, which sought to exempt government figures, including the president, prime minister and cabinet ministers from contempt for acts performed as part of their job.

Revamping the Pakistan-US alliance

The war against terrorism will be fought in Pakistan whether we like it or not. And Pakistan cannot fight it alone. DESIGN: JAMAL KHURSHID

Before sending his ISI chief General Zaheerul Islam to Washington to meet the CIA Director David Petraeus, Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani set the tone after meeting the top US commander in Afghanistan General John Allen: “The meeting helped towards improving strategic and operational understanding between the Pakistan military and ISAF”.

In Washington, General Islam expressed Pakistan’s desire to move to ‘new beginnings’, resetting cooperation in the two countries’ strategic projections. The ‘new beginnings’ indicate progress from where it was disrupted when the former ISI chief General Ahmad Shuja Pasha broke off talks with his counterpart in high dudgeon several months ago. Pakistan follows policy cues of its army with public opinion swinging along as moulded by the media and a divided political community competing in keeping the army on its right side.

Pakistan’s defiance did not last long because a voluble parliament and such ‘civil society’ organisations as the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) hammed it up and destroyed the fine nuances of the strategy adopted by the army when it closed Nato supply routes after the November 2011 Salala incident. The upshot of this overkill was that in July, Pakistan was politically cornered with its frayed economy sending out distress signals to an international community that was not willing to listen. The drop scene was that Pakistan reopened the supply route ‘for free’ but got $1.1 billion from the Coalition Support Fund that its policy had put in abeyance.

The Allen-Kayani meeting was obviously significant, possibly achieving some kind of agreement on how to handle the Haqqani network on the Pakistani side attacking Afghanistan and the terrorist Maulana Fazlullah’s gang in Nuristan and Kunar in Afghanistan attacking Malakand in Pakistan. The foreign office in Islamabad seems to have found its voice — with a go-ahead from the GHQ — when it declared dead the policy of strategic depth for which Pakistan had sacrificed more than it should have. If the army was once wedded to it, it may have backed off after seeing the dire straits that the Pakistan economy was in and the changing mood of the captains of the national economy who were in favour of opening up the occluded trade with India.

The new voice in the foreign office was expressed through Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar who defied the much dreaded DPC and opportunistic politician by saying that the ‘I am sorry’ type of apology from America was enough for Pakistan to forgive and forget, emphasising that Pakistan could not afford to be isolated. The phase in which the foreign office put its shoulder to the strategic depth obsession of the army was put aside at the risk of offending the non-state actors of the DPC. Pakistan is, therefore, well on its way to ridding itself of the international pariah status and thinking straight about confronting its internal weaknesses.

The theme of opposition to drones developed by Pakistan and its media will not be easily suppressed. To get Washington to stop them will depend on how honest Pakistan is in pledging to get after the terrorist outfits on its side and admitting its limitations in this regard. The other side will have to mount new operations in Kunar, a Wahabi stronghold, and in Nuristan, a province with little or no ISAF presence, to stop the Fazlullah gang from carrying out attacks inside Pakistan.

Though Nato’s ability of precisely targeting enemies through drones might achieve results, Pakistan may have problems coping with the Haqqani network whose outreach in Pakistan is considerable outside North Waziristan. Pakistan has to overcome its passion with sovereignty and nationalism. Both concepts are unrealistic and have come to be associated with victimhood and an inclination to promote suicidal policies. The only viable strategy is one geared to promote Pakistan’s economy.

There are signs that the GHQ is now desirous of this change. The war against terrorism will be fought in Pakistan whether we like it or not. And Pakistan cannot fight it alone.

Pakistan-born parents guilty of murdering ‘westernised’ British daughter

FILE – This is a June 19, 2012 file photo of Iftikhar Ahmed, the father of murdered teen-ager Shafilea Ahmed. A British court on Friday Aug. 3, 2012 found a mother and father guilty of murdering their teen-age daughter Shafilea Ahmed in a so-called honor killing. The Chester Crown Court found that Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, both originally from Pakistan, suffocated their 17-year-old daughter, Shafilea, in 2003. During the trial, Shafilea’s sister Alesha told the jury that her parents pushed Shafilea onto the couch and she heard her mother say “just finish it here” as they forced a plastic bag into the girl’s mouth.

LONDON:A jury found the Pakistani parents of a teenage girl guilty of murder Friday, a conviction that came after the girl’s sister turned against her parents, telling a jury how her mother and father suffocated 17-year-old Shafilea with a plastic bag in a so-called honor killing.

Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed face life in prison for killing their daughter in 2003.

The Chester Crown Court found that Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed killed her daughter in 2003 and dumped her body.

Shafilea’s sister Alesha told the jury that her parents pushed Shafilea and then she heard her mother say, ”just finish it here.”

British authorities investigated hundreds of cases of forced marriages last year.

Some of the cases have ended up in so-called honor killings where relatives believe girls have brought shame on their families, sometimes for refusing marriage, other times for becoming too westernized.

Shafilea was only 10 when she began to rebel against her parents’ strict rules, according to prosecutor Andrew Edis.

Schoolmates described how she would wear western clothes and change before her parents picked her up.

Those same schoolmates also reported that Shafilea often went to school crying, describing how her mother would slap her and throw things at her.

But it was the last year of her life that was to be the most traumatic, the court heard. Shafilea began seeing boys, which prompted her parents to keep her at home more.

Despite multiple reports to social services, Shafilea’s file was closed in 2002.

Between November 2002 and January 2003, Shafilea told friends and teachers there had been an increase of assaults.

In February 2003, she ran away with her boyfriend Mushtaq Bagas and told council officers she needed emergency accommodation as her parents were trying to force her into an arranged marriage with her cousin.

In the same month, her parents took her to Pakistan where she drank bleach in protest against the arranged marriage. When she returned to Britain in May 2003, she was admitted to a hospital because of damage done to her throat. She was eventually released, but rows over her clothing continued.

Eventually, her parents beat her, stuffed a thin white plastic bag into her mouth and held their hands over her mouth and nose until she ”was gone,” her sister testified. The highest incidence of reported forced marriages is in Muslim communities

Britain is home to more than 1.8 million Muslims.

Burma: Government Forces Targeting Rohingya Muslims

Burmese security forces committed killings, rape, and mass arrests against Rohingya Muslims after failing to protect both them and Arakan Buddhists during deadly sectarian violence in western Burma in June 2012. Government restrictions on humanitarian access to the Rohingya community have left many of the over 100,000 people displaced and in dire need of food, shelter, and medical care.

The 56-page report, “‘The Government Could Have Stopped This’: Sectarian Violence and Ensuing Abuses in Burma’s Arakan State,” describes how the Burmese authorities failed to take adequate measures to stem rising tensions and the outbreak of sectarian violence in Arakan State. Though the army eventually contained the mob violence in the state capital, Sittwe, both Arakan and Rohingya witnesses told Human Rights Watch that government forces stood by while members from each community attacked the other, razing villages and committing an unknown number of killings.



“Burmese security forces failed to protect the Arakan and Rohingya from each other and then unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government claims it is committed to ending ethnic strife and abuse, but recent events in Arakan State demonstrate that state-sponsored persecution and discrimination persist.”

The Burmese government should take urgent measures to end abuses by their forces, ensure humanitarian access, and permit independent international monitors to visit affected areas and investigate abuses, Human Rights Watch said.

The “Government Could Have Stopped This,” is based on 57 interviews conducted in June and July with affected Arakan, Rohingya, and others in Burma and in Bangladesh, where Rohingya have sought refuge from the violence and abuses.

The violence erupted in early June after reports circulated that on May 28 an Arakan Buddhist woman was raped and killed in the town of Ramri by three Muslim men. Details of the crime were circulated locally in an incendiary pamphlet, and on June 3 a large group of Arakan villagers in Toungop stopped a bus and brutally killed 10 Muslims on board. Human Rights Watch confirmed that nearby local police and army stood by and watched but did not intervene. In retaliation, on June 8 thousands of Rohingya rioted in Maungdaw town after Friday prayers, killed an unknown number of Arakan, and destroyed considerable Arakan property. Violence between Rohingya and Arakan then swept through Sittwe and surrounding areas.

Marauding mobs from both Arakan and Rohingya communities stormed unsuspecting villages and neighborhoods, brutally killed residents, and destroyed and burned homes, shops, and houses of worship. With little to no government security present to stop the violence, people armed themselves with swords, spears, sticks, iron rods, knives, and other basic weaponry. Inflammatory anti-Muslim media accounts and local propaganda fanned the violence. Numerous Arakan and Rohingya who spoke to Human Rights Watch reached the conclusion that the authorities could have prevented the violence and the ensuing abuses could have been avoided.<

The Burmese army’s presence in Sittwe eventually stemmed the violence. However, on June 12, Arakan mobs burned down the homes of up to 10,000 Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims in the city’s largest Muslim neighborhood while the police and paramilitary Lon Thein forces opened fire on Rohingya with live ammunition.

A Rohingya man in Sittwe, 36, told Human Rights Watch that an Arakan mob “started torching the houses. When the people tried to put out the fires, the paramilitary shot at us. And the group beat people with big sticks.” Another Rohingya man from the same neighborhood said, “I was just a few feet away. I was on the road. I saw them shoot at least six people – one woman, two children, and three men. The police took their bodies away.”

In Sittwe, where the population was about half Arakan and half Muslim, most Muslims have fled the city or were forcibly relocated, raising questions about whether the government will respect their right to return home. Human Rights Watch found the center of the once diverse capital now largely segregated and devoid of Muslims.

In northern Arakan State, the army, police, Nasaka border guard forces, and Lon Thein paramilitaries have committed killings, mass arrests, and other abuses against Rohingya. They have operated in concert with local Arakan residents to loot food stocks and valuables from Rohingya homes. Nasaka and soldiers have fired upon crowds of Rohingya villagers as they attempted to escape the violence, leaving many dead and wounded.

“If the atrocities in Arakan had happened before the government’s reform process started, the international reaction would have been swift and strong,” said Adams. “But the international community appears to be blinded by a romantic narrative of sweeping change in Burma, signing new trade deals and lifting sanctions even while the abuses continue.”

Since June, the government has detained hundreds of Rohingya men and boys, who remain incommunicado. The authorities in northern Arakan State have a long history of torture and mistreatment of Rohingya detainees, Human Rights Watch said. In the southern coastal town of Moulmein, 82 fleeing Rohingya were reportedly arrested in late June and sentenced to one year in prison for violating immigration laws.

“The Burmese authorities should immediately release details of detained Rohingya, allow access to family members and humanitarian agencies, and release anyone not charged with a crime recognized under international law in which there is credible evidence,” Adams said. “This is a test case of the government’s stated commitment to reform and protecting basic rights.”

Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law effectively denies Burmese citizenship to the Rohingya population, estimated at 800,000 to 1 million people. On July 12, Burmese President Thein Sein said the “only solution” to the sectarian strife was to expel the Rohingya to other countries or to camps overseen by the United Nations refugee agency.

“We will send them away if any third country would accept them,” he said.

Burmese law and policy discriminate against Rohingya, infringing on their rights to freedom of movement, education, and employment. Burmese government officials typically refer to the Rohingya as “Bengali,” “so-called Rohingya,” or the pejorative “Kalar,” and Rohingya face considerable prejudice from Burmese society generally, including from longtime democracy advocates and ethnic minorities who themselves have long faced oppression from the Burmese state.

Burma’s new human rights commission – led by chairman Win Mra, an ethnic Arakan – has not played an effective role in monitoring abuses in Arakan State, Human Rights Watch said. In a July 11 assessment of the sectarian violence, the commission reported on no government abuses, claimed all humanitarian needs were being met, and failed to address Rohingya citizenship and persecution.

“The Burmese government needs to urgently amend its citizenship law to end official discrimination against the Rohingya,” Adams said. “President Thein Sein cannot credibly claim to be promoting human rights while calling for the expulsion of people because of their ethnicity and religion.”

The sectarian violence has created urgent humanitarian needs for both Arakan and Rohingya communities, Human Rights Watch said. Local Arakan organizations, largely supported by domestic contributions, have provided food, clothing, medicine, and shelter to displaced Arakan. By contrast, the Rohingya population’s access to markets, food, and work remains dangerous or blocked, and many have been in hiding for weeks.<

The government has restricted access to affected areas, particularly Rohingya areas, crippling the humanitarian response. United Nations and humanitarian aid workers have faced arrest as well as threats and intimidation from the local Arakan population, which perceives the aid agencies as biased toward the Rohingya. Government restrictions have made some areas, such as villages south of Maungdaw, inaccessible to humanitarian agencies.

“The authorities should immediately grant unfettered humanitarian access to all affected populations and begin work to prevent future violence between the communities,” Adams said. “The government should assist both communities with property restitution and ensure all of the displaced can return home and live in safety.”

Since the June violence, thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh where they have faced pushbacks from the Bangladeshi government in violation of international law. Human Rights Watch witnessed Rohingya men, women, and children who arrived onshore and pleaded for mercy from Bangladesh authorities, only to be pushed back to sea in barely seaworthy wooden boats during rough monsoon rains, putting them at grave risk of drowning or starvation at sea or persecution in Burma. It is unknown how many died in these pushbacks. Those who were able to make it into Bangladesh live in hiding, with no access to food, shelter, or protection.

Bangladesh is obligated to open its borders and provide the Rohingya at least temporary refuge until it is safe for them to return, in accordance with international human rights norms. Human Rights Watch called on concerned governments to assist Bangladesh in doing so and press both Burma and Bangladesh to end abuses and ensure the safety of Rohingyas.

“Bangladesh is violating its international legal obligations by callously pushing asylum seekers in rickety boats back into the open sea,” Adams said.

US: AGOA, DR-CAFTA fixes and Burma bill finally passed

Legislation that will help provide stability for apparel and textile firms sourcing from sub-Saharan Africa and Central America, and also renews trade sanctions on Burma, was finally passed yesterday (2 August) by the US Senate and the House of Representatives.

Their passage follows a row over funding for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which temporarily halted the bills' progress last week.

It also puts an end to uncertainties over the third-country fabric provision under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which had been set to expire in September 2012.

It is estimated that almost 95% of apparel imported from AGOA nations is made with third-country fabric, and the provision's extension to September 2015 now means apparel produced in sub-Saharan African countries made from third-country fabric, or fabric originally produced anywhere in the world, will continue to enjoy duty-free access to the US.

The Republic of South Sudan has also been added to the list of countries eligible for AGOA duty-free benefits on products including apparel, footwear and textiles

As far the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), is concerned, the fixes apply to rules of origin for textile products from Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

In particular, the modifications provide certainty of duty-free treatment for women's and girls' woven pyjama bottoms and clarify how certain items will be treated on the textiles "short supply" list of the FTA. Another change would be to fix a long-standing loophole under the trade pact by requiring all sewing thread, monofilament and plied, to originate in the US/DR-CAFTA region in order for products to qualify for preferential tariff treatment.

The bill also renews for another three years an import ban that has been in place since 2003 to prevent goods from Burma entering the US market. But it also leaves the Administration with the authority to waive or terminate the import sanctions.

The legislation must now be signed by President Barack Obama before being implemented.

Burmese Vice President Visits Arakan State

Protesters hold banners outside the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Rangoon on Aug 3, 2012.

Burmese Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham traveled to the predominantly Muslim township of Maungdaw in northern Arakan State on Friday amid growing international criticism of the government’s handling of recent communal conflicts between Arakanese Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas.

The purpose of the trip is to assess the situation in the area two months after the worst violence in decades broke out there in early June, according to Win Myaing, a spokesperson for the Arakan State government.

During the two-day trip, the vice-president and government ministers will observe conditions at camps set up for the tens of thousands of people from both communities who were displaced by the riots. In addition to Maungdaw, they are expected to visited Kyaukphyu and the state capital Sittwe.

The visit comes as international rights groups and foreign governments, especially in Muslim countries, have accused the government of siding with Buddhists in the clashes. Earlier this week, US-based Human Rights Watch released a report alleging that government troops targeted Rohingyas during the crackdown on the violence.

In a statement released on July 27, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also claimed that Muslim communities in Arakan State were being targeted by security forces.

However, the state government denied these charges, insisting that there was no discrimination against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority of about 800,000 people living mostly in townships near the Bangladeshi border.

“If they [foreign critics] come here, they will see that we have treated everyone equally,” said Win Myaing, adding that the state government plans to propose “security measures” to address the accusations during the vice-president’s visit.

While groups such as Amnesty International have said that hundreds of Rohingyas have been killed, raped, beaten and arbitrarily arrested since Burma declared a state of emergency in Arakan State in June, official figures put the number of casualties on both sides at 77 dead and 109 injured.

In addition, 4,822 houses, 17 mosques, 15 monasteries and three schools were destroyed, according to figures released by the government. In a report on Monday, the state-run New Light of Myanmarsaid that some 14,328 Arakanese Buddhists and 30,740 Rohingya Muslims have been affected and are currently living in 89 temporary camps.

Meanwhile, some Arakanese have complained that the international community has been one-sided in its expressions of concern. They noted, for instance, that during his visit to Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships on Tuesday, UN human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana spoke only to Rohingyas who had been displaced by the conflict.

“It isn’t fair to focus only on the suffering of one side,” said Ven Manisara, a Buddhist abbot who heads a local aid group in Maungdaw. “Our people have also suffered a lot.”

This perceived imbalance—and deep-seated resentment of the Rohingya, who are seen by many in Arakan State as interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh—has been a boon to the government of President Thein Sein, who last month rejected international calls to accept the Rohingya as citizens.

At a protest in front of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Rangoon on Friday, demonstrators held banners supporting Thein Sein’s refusal to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s ethnic groups.

Meanwhile, Sai Mauk Kham’s visit to Arakan State comes as Bangladesh, which has refused to allow a fresh influx of Rohingyas into the country in the wake of the recent violence, has ordered international charities to stop providing aid to those who make it across the border.

Three aid groups—France’s Medecins sans Frontieres and Action Contre la Faim and Britain’s Muslim Aid UK—have been told to suspend their services in Cox’s Bazar District bordering Burma.

Burma on the move

Seven years ago, the government of Burma (Myanmar) started to move the main offices of the civil and military bureaucracy from Yangon north to Nay Pyi Taw. Travelers can take a morning return flight from Yangon. During the rainy season, when flight schedules become unpredictable, the safer recourse is the road.

A 201-mile, four-lane divided tollway connects the two cities. At Mile 115, a rest camp offers travelers a choice among several shops serving food and selling staple provisions—and access to the only bathroom facilities between the two points. Business on a Sunday mid-afternoon was brisk, with buses unloading passengers bound for Nay Pyi Taw or the nearby town of Pyinmana.

Traffic is still relatively light. On a weekday morning drive back to Yangon, we overtook about a dozen 4-wheeled vehicles during the entire stretch of the 4-hour tollway trip. The traffic is bound to increase. The government remains highly centralized. Nay Pyi Taw (“site of the royal country”) is the indispensable stop for diplomats and any organization whose business requires government authorization.

On my first trip to Nay Pyi Taw in 2007, the relocation, officially announced in July 2006, had only started. The government had built staff housing, appropriately differentiated to reflect rank, but many officials had not yet moved their families from Yangon. Five years later, all of the ministries had constructed their own monumental buildings and the infrastructure of shops and schools supported a new community.

Nay Pyi Taw now has its own mall, with a supermarket, restaurants and movie theaters. A number of hotels have opened for business and a couple are still under construction. Residences rival those in Manila’s gated communities. The government had also built a slightly smaller version of the Shwedagon Temple in Yangon, affirming the capital’s connection to the country’s precolonial history and traditions.

More impressive than infrastructure as a sign of the changes taking place in Burma is the emergence of young leaders at the highest level of government. Those whom I met struck me as competent, committed, and confident. They recognized that their country still faced many serious problems. They also knew that they had a narrow window of opportunity to undertake fundamental changes and appeared determined to seize the moment, and they were willing to learn from the experience of others.

Last week, Burma convened a meeting on the mining industry. Some 300 participants reportedly showed up, among them foreigners and Filipinos engaged in the extractive-industries sector in the Philippines. While known to be rich in mineral resources, the Philippines is not the only deal on offer, and Burma clearly intends to join the game.

Our Burmese colleagues were aware of the discussions in the Philippines on a regulatory framework that would promote the sustainable development of the mining industry. We talked about the research that the Asian Institute of Management’s Policy Center is conducting on the sharing of benefits from mining operations between the state and private investors.

For President Aquino’s recent State of the Nation Address, the research staff had supplied the note that the government received only 9 percent of the P145 billion generated by mining activities. The bulk of government collections comes from income taxes, more easily collected from the corporate, large-scale mining sector. The government would receive more if it could more effectively collect taxes from the small-scale mining sector.

The Policy Center’s research is also looking at firm-level costs and benefits. Corporate financial results—and company contributions to government—can differ because of many factors: the kind and quality of their mineral deposits; the scale and efficiency of their operations; the stage of their life cycle. A company could be paying as much as 20 percent of its revenues to the state.

As it is opening up its own mining industry to private investors, the issue of benefit-sharing is also crucial for Burma. Those I talked to seemed to appreciate the need for the equitable sharing of mining benefits between the state and private capital, between the national government and local government units, and between the current and the future generations of citizens.

They acknowledged that the benefits from mining did not come only from the direct company payments to the state. The funds companies pay their suppliers and employees and their corporate social responsibility expenditures also boost the economy of mining communities. But they were also concerned about the environmental costs that come with mining operations. As mines have a finite, productive life span, they realized that the state must try to maximize their share of the benefits they bring.

Throughout its history, Burma has suffered its share of natural and political calamities, and survived. It now values and wants foreign investments, but not at any cost. Potential investors now lining up to enter Burma should be prepared for some tough negotiations.

Edilberto C. de Jesus is president of the Asian Institute of Management.

DPC observes countrywide protest against Burmese Muslims’ massacre

LAHORE: The Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) Friday observed countrywide as day of protest against the alleged ‘genocide’ of Muslims in Myanmar (Burma).

The day of protest was observed across the country including in all four provinces, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and northern parts on the call of Chairman DPC and chief JUI, Maulana Sami ul Haq.

The DPC also condemned the government’s decision to reopen NATO supplies routes.

Maulana Sami ul Haq while addressing the gatherings in Rawalpindi and Akwara Khattak condemned the killings of more than 20,000 Muslims in Myanmar and urged the Muslim leaders, international human rights organizations to come forward to stop oppression against Muslims in the country.

He demanded of the government of Pakistan¸ United Nations, Organization of Islamic Countries and other humanitarian organizations to take action against the genocide of Muslims.

He said leaders from various political and religious parties should come forward to play theirs to stop brutal killing of Muslims.

US holds ‘productive’ talks with Pakistan spymaster

ISI Chief Zaheer ul-Islam


WASHINGTON: The US and Pakistani intelligence chiefs held “productive” talks on Thursday on ways to work together to fight extremists, a US official said, in a new sign of easing tensions between the countries.

Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, the new head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, is paying the first visit to Washington in a year by the leader of Pakistan’s powerful spy body.

Zaheer met Thursday with Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus and held “substantive, professional and productive” talks, a senior US official said on condition of anonymity.

“The talks provided an opportunity to discuss a number of proposals for how we can enhance our joint efforts against terrorism,” the official said.

“Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work together to counter the terrorist presence in the region that threatens both US and Pakistani national security,” he said.

The official did not go into further detail. The United States has been looking for ways to cooperate with the ISI, whose relationship with US spies has swung from friendly to hostile in recent years.

The remarks echo those of the US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, who on a visit to Pakistan on Thursday praised “significant progress” in improving cooperation between the two countries.

Pakistani intelligence and the military were humiliated in May last year when US forces secretly penetrated the country and killed the world’s most wanted man Osama bin Laden, who was living in the army town of Abbottabad.

Pakistan shut down supply routes into Afghanistan – its key form of support to US forces since the September 11, 2001 attacks – after US forces killed 24 Pakistani troops in a border raid in November.

Tensions have since eased, with Pakistan reopening the routes after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month apologised for the deaths.

Pakistan on Tuesday signed a deal to keep the border open to convoys until the end of 2015, by which time the United States plans to withdraw most forces.

Frustrated with Pakistan, US intelligence has defiantly carried out drone attacks deep inside the country, despite Islamabad’s protests that the unmanned strikes violate its sovereignty.

US officials have repeatedly pressed Pakistani intelligence over its alleged relationship with the Haqqani network, which is blamed for attacks in Afghanistan including a siege last year of the US embassy.

Burmese Muslim recounts the tale of his escape to Pakistan

Noor Muhammad was captured and forced to carry officers’ heavy knapsacks on his back, surviving without food for two days.

KARACHI: Noor Muhammad, his wife and their two-year-old son left behind their paddy fields and bamboo houses in Arakan, now known as Rakhine, in Burma to set off on the toughest journey of their lives. 

 Back then, the Burmese army was arresting men from the Rohingya community. These men were then killed, tortured or turned into forced labourers. Noor Muhammad was captured and forced to carry officers’ heavy knapsacks on his back, surviving without food for two days. When he was set free, he decided to leave for a safe abode and Pakistan seemed like a good option Around 200 people set out on the journey in 1979, a year after the Burmese military launched the King Dragon Operation in the Arakan province, which is home to the Rohingya Muslims. It took the group three months to get to the Wagah border. “By the time we got to Pakistan, blood was oozing from our feet and there were blisters on our soles.” Only six managed to reach the country, others stayed behind in Bangladesh or India while many died along the way.

Burma Opens Up but Risks Remain

U.S. investors cautioned to take care International economic sanctions have been eased and American businesses are leading the charge to set up shop in Burma. But the Obama administration wants the business leaders to consider more than just making money as a more open Burma risks exposing more of its population to human trafficking and exploitation.

Google, Coca-Cola, Ford, General Electric, Chevron, FedEx, Cargill, General Motors, and Goldman Sachs topped the largest-ever U.S. trade mission to Burma in recent days.

Meeting with business leaders in Cambodia ahead of their trip, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged them “to invest and to do it responsibly,” saying American firms should be agents of positive change, good corporate citizens and doing business transparently.



U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Burmese President Thein Sein line up for a photograph at the ASEAN conference in Cambodia July 13. Photo: AP

In Siem Reap, Clinton also met with Burmese President Thein Sein, who appeared far more relaxed than during their first face-to-face in December. U.S. officials say the former general was more animated and confident, speaking of the need for better telecommunications and stronger health care.

“When the new government started to assume state responsibilities, many looked upon us with suspicion and uncertainties,” President Thein Sein told the business leaders. “With the passage of time and because of our transparency and genuine goodwill efforts, we have started to enjoy the support of many nations.”

Nick Baird, the British foreign investment chief, says that support can help keep Burma on the right track. “It’s not just economic,” he says. “Working together in an open and transparent and responsible business way will actually help the stability of this country.”

Even under the looser U.S. sanctions, firms investing more than $500,000 are required to detail their human rights and anti-corruption policies. American energy firms working with state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas have to notify Washington of those investments within 60 days.

One of the biggest challenges in a country where more than 30 percent of people live in poverty is child exploitation, especially with Burma’s startling pace of change.

“If government opens up as it said democratically, then obviously it opens up for everything,” says UNICEF country representative Ramesh Shrestha. “That would mean the existing tight control of the situation might be loosened up. That would mean people would do what they want to do. This could be legal or illegal, all these things could happen. There are many risks.”


Child exploitation has been a problem in Burma over the years. This boy was photographed carrying sand to a construction site in Rangoon. Photo: AP

The U.S. State Department report on human trafficking says thousands of children have been forced into commercial sex, militias, or labor both in Burma and in neighboring countries. But it also says President Thein Sein’s government is making progress.

“You have your ups and you have your downs,” says Jesse Eaves, senior policy advisor for child protection at the aid group, World Vision. “I think what’s important is what positive steps are being made. We’ve seen countries like Burma starting to really take a look at what is happening in its own borders, what is happening to their citizens and trying to take the proper response to it.”

World Vision is raising awareness about human trafficking and child exploitation in Burma by working with survivors to speak out.

“It’s amazing the change that you can see just by addressing the issue, by bringing it out in the open and shining a light on it,” Eaves says. “I think the biggest problem we see is that most people don’t know what it is that they’re looking at. They may just think ‘This is normal. This is what we’ve always done.’ But then once you shine a light on it and say, ‘Actually, this is exploitation. This is slavery,’ it takes on a very different light.”

The new U.S. ambassador to Burma, Derek Mitchell, says “the key is to keep moving in the right direction and move step by step: transparency, accountability, openness, and then having partners, inside the country but also outside the country, to work together to try to get to the right place.”

2012 NASA Advanced Technology Concepts Selected For Study

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Space Technology Program is turning. The program has selected 28 proposals for study under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program.

Eighteen of these advanced concept proposals were categorized as Phase I and 10 as Phase II. They were selected based on their potential to transform future aerospace missions, enable new capabilities, or significantly alter and improve current approaches to launching, building and operating aerospace systems.

The selected proposals include a broad range of imaginative concepts, including a submarine glider to explore the ice-covered ocean of Europa, an air purification system with no moving parts, and a system that could use in situ lunar regolith to autonomously build concrete structures on the moon.

"These selections represent the best and most creative new ideas for future technologies that have the potential to radically improve how NASA missions explore new frontiers," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, NASA is taking the long-term view of technological investment and the advancement that is essential for accomplishing our missions. We are inventing the ways in which next-generation aircraft and spacecraft will change the world and inspiring Americans to take bold steps."

NIAC Phase I awards of approximately $100,000 for one year enable proposers to explore basic feasibility and properties of a potential breakthrough concept. NIAC Phase II awards of as much as $500,000 for two years help further develop the most successful Phase I concepts and analyze their potential to enable new or radically improved future NASA missions and potential applications with benefits for industry and society.

"We're excited to be launching Phase II, allowing the 2012 NIAC portfolio to feature an exciting combination of new ideas and continued development of last year's Phase I concepts," said Jay Falker, NIAC program executive at NASA Headquarters.

NASA solicited visionary, long-term concepts for technological maturation based on their potential value to NASA's future space missions and operational needs. These projects were chosen through a peer-review process that evaluated their innovation and how technically viable they are. All are very early in development -- 10 years or longer from use on a mission.

NASA's early investment and partnership with creative scientists, engineers, and citizen inventors from across the nation will provide technological dividends and help maintain. America's leadership in the global technology economy.

The portfolio of diverse and innovative ideas selected for NIAC awards represent multiple technology areas, including power, propulsion, structures, and avionics, as identified in NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps. The roadmaps provide technology paths needed to meet NASA's strategic goals.

NIAC is part of NASA's Space Technology Program, which is innovating, developing, testing, and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. These competitively-awarded projects are creating new technological solutions for NASA and our nation's future.

World record line is the most distracting technology at the Olympics

Rebecca Soni was one of eight swimmers competing in the 200 breaststroke on Thursday night in London. Based on the international camera feed, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was a ninth competitor in the pool. The world record line overlay that’s added to all swimming races is the most distracting technology at the Olympics. Here’s five reasons why:

The line is too thick.

Look at Soni (leading, above). It goes from the middle of her head to the start of her waist. When a swimmer is threatening to break a world record and it



It’s not an actual comparison.

The line isn’t a literal representation of the world record swim, it’s an estimated pace based on the 50-meter splits of the record-setting time.



Swimmers who don’t set record feel like failures. Swimmers race for gold medals, not world records. When those records don’t fall — as in 19 of 24 races thru Thursday night — the line makes the leader feel like a failure. The race should be between the eight swimmers in the pool, not a virtual ninth competitor.

Viewers end up watching the line more than the rest of the field. Was there a good battle for second or third in the 200 breast? You don’t know: You were watching the world record line. Gold-silver-bronze, not gold-or-world-record.



It’s easy to watch a world record pace.

The stopwatch, “world record time” graphic on the bottom of the screen and split differentials at the walls provide more than enough information. If watching world record pace is your thing, you can easily do it without the aid of the line. This isn’t like the football first down line, which is a useful technology that makes it easier to visualize a crucial component of the game. It’s clutter.



BONUS COMPLAINT:

Overlaid lines are bothersome even when they’re not moving. Look at the line used in the rowing events. The same white line is used to denote the 500-meter checkpoints and the finish line.

Casual viewers look up, see the line at the top and think the race is over. Granted, if you watch enough you’ll realize that you can tell whether the race is over by looking at the time graphics. The shot above says “1500m,” the one below says “finish.”

That involves you paying attention, having some common sense and being aware of the time, which happens to be exactly what the swimming world record line thinks you can’t do.

China Seeks New Technology in Oil Deal

WASHINGTON — A major Chinese government-owned oil company’s effort to buy a Canadian company could help Beijing get the new technology needed to exploit the largest shale gas deposits in the world.  This is just the latest in a series of Chinese foreign investments that are helping fuel China’s rapid economic growth and increasing energy supplies.  But the latest Chinese move is raising concerns in the U.S. Congress.

Tar sands projects run by Nexen are one reason the Canadian oil company is being offered $15 billion by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation or CNOOC.

Besides oil sands, Nexen has deepwater drilling operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast and assets in Europe's North Sea and elsewhere.

Economic analyst Andrew Holland, of the American Security Project, says China needs new technology to squeeze more energy out of its oil and gas fields.

"This new technology will open some onshore oil and especially offshore oil.  There are some real technology gaps between Western companies and CNOOC," Holland said.

The head of an oil exploration and production company says it is tough to get energy out of shale rock, tar sands, or wells in very deep water.  Chris Faulkner, the CEO of Breitling Oil, says Nexen has the skills China needs.

"When you are operating in those kinds of extreme environments, that’s the latest and greatest technology that exists in our industry," he said.

The CEO of Armada Oil, Jim Cerna, says better technology could help China tap more energy from its existing reserves.

"Shale deposits in northwest China could be some of the biggest in the world.  There needs to be some advanced technology applied to that, and they could be sitting on a massive reserve," he said.

A previous Chinese effort to acquire the U.S.-based oil firm Unocal failed in 2005 when it sparked strong political opposition in the United States.

So far, there is less opposition this time, but some members of the U.S. Congress say Beijing wants to invest in North America while placing unfair obstacles on U.S. investments in China.

Analysts say China is trying to avoid political problems by keeping Nexen's staff and promising continued investment and research in North America.  But business analyst and author Handel Jones of International Business Strategies says CNOOC may still encounter problems.

"I think there is going to be a high probability of resistance, and my feeling is that, probably, parts of Nexen will have to be split off for the deal to go through.  I don’t think the U.S. is at all happy with Nexen having a fairly strong position in the Gulf of Mexico," Jones said.

But even critics admit China's investments in foreign oil companies are helping increase global energy supplies and tend to keep prices from rising.

Mixed reaction in Pakistan over India’s move to open up investment

Pakistan welcomed India’s decision to open up to Pakistani investment but businessmen and economists maintained that neither this nor a free trade arrangement would realise their full potential in the absence of proper connectivity between the two countries.

Officially, only the Foreign Office spoke on the issue with the spokesman welcoming the decision and maintaining that it would benefit Pakistani investors and industrialists. And, the usual naysayers had not spoken till Thursday evening on the decision that was the lead news item in most newspapers.

According to a Dawn report from Pakistan’s business capital, Karachi, industry and trade circles have advised caution with many fearing a further flight of capital. Due to the crippling energy crisis in the country and the security situation, many industrialists have already relocated to other countries including Bangladesh in recent years.

Karachi-based businessman Majyd Aziz — an ardent advocate of more trade between the two countries — refused to call it a landmark decision but conceded that in the Indo-Pak context even baby-steps can be a leap. His peeve like that of many others is the lack of connectivity where visas require a Herculean effort and shipping lines are non-existent between the two countries.

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) was more upbeat but again called for liberalising the visa regime to make the move more meaningful and result-oriented. In a statement, LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh urged India to grant multiple visas to bona fide and legitimate businessmen for easy travel.

As for the decision to allow Pakistani investments in India, Mr. Sheikh said it would promote joint ventures and pave the way for transfer of technology as the two countries have their own strengths in different sectors. He hoped India would lift the ban on Indian investments in Pakistan.

“For a better economic future in South Asia, it will be a huge step when businessmen from both countries can freely invest in each other's country. Allowing our country to invest in India is a great confidence booster.’’

Of the view that India has a good chance of attracting Pakistani capital as long as the power crisis continues, Abid Suleri, Executive Director of Sustainable Development Policy Institute, maintained that the fear of flight of capital was misplaced as the profits would in all likelihood return to Pakistan in foreign exchange, helping the forex reserves.

Again identifying connectivity as the key irritant, Mr. Suleri said the visa regime had to be eased to encourage volumes in trade and traffic. Having said this, he conceded that the Indian decision was a good move as it would mute the scepticism that has been rampant in Pakistan about India’s sincerity in improving bilateral relations as New Delhi had not appeared to have reciprocated to Islamabad’s decision to grant the Most Favoured Nation status to India.

And, for lawyer Waqqas Mir, the decision signalled more work. Welcoming the move, he tweeted: “A lot of work for lawyers on both sides. This is good stuff!’’

US vows to improve ties with Pakistan, as ISI chief begins visit

WASHINGTON - As ISI Chief Lt Gen Zahir-ul-Islam begins his visit to the United States, a State Department spokesman has renewed Washington’s pledge to improve its relationship with Pakistan, noting that the two countries Tuesday signed an agreement that would allow Nato supplies into Afghanistan.

“We’re pleased by this MoU (memorandum of understanding), but our relationship, we continue to get it back on track and look to the future, and we have a number of issues to continue to work through with our Pakistani counterparts,” Patrick Ventrell said at the daily briefing.

But he parried a question on Gen Islam’s visit, saying in general terms, “we’ll continue to work to improve our relationship.”

The spokesman said the conclusion of the agreement - for the transitive cargo to and from Afghanistan – “demonstrates increased transparency and openness between our governments in respect of Pakistan’s sovereignty as requested by their parliament.”

At the briefing, the State Department spokesman noted that the agreement “also underscores our shared commitment to support Afghanistan and regional stability.”

According to media reports, the talks between the ISI chief and the senior American officials are expected to focus on counterterrorism issues, intelligence sharing and controversial drone strikes in Pakistani tribal areas. A dispatch in The New York Times talks about “a vague air of mystery” surrounding Gen Islam, who is visiting Washington in his official capacity for the first time.

“Beyond the bare details of his resume, American officials acknowledge they know little of General Islam, a tall man in his 50s with a flop of black hair, except that he comes across as taciturn, thoughtful and passionate about sports,” the newspaper said in a dispatch from Islamabad.

“His first trip to the United States in 1984, he fondly told one American official recently, was to attend the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. A decade later, while attending a course at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he adapted his cricket skills for use on a local baseball team,” the Times said.

“He seemed to be saying, ‘Look, I can master your sport, too,’” the official noted, speaking on condition of anonymity because it was a private conversation.

“Common ground may be harder to find, though, when General Islam meets with American officials, including David H Petraeus, the Central Intelligence Agency director, at a time of American frustration and distrust toward the ISI.”

Citing Pakistani and American officials, the Times said, “From Wednesday, Petraeus and General Islam will seek to rebuild a counterterrorism relationship that has severely frayed.” “Petraeus will try to forge a relationship with him,” one senior Obama administration official said. “We’ve got business to do. Let’s get on with it.”

The dispatch said, “Since his appointment to Pakistan’s pre-eminent intelligence post in March, General Islam has maintained a conspicuously low profile in Pakistan. After being featured in a handful of newspaper articles filled with starchy compliments typically reserved for powerful generals, he largely disappeared from view - by most accounts, a deliberate strategy.

“In contrast with General Pasha, who was known for his sharp-tongued, sometimes impassioned private outbursts, General Islam is described as a low-profile operator, happy to take a back seat in meetings.” “He is cool as a cucumber,” an unnamed serving ISI officer was quoted as saying.

But he has maintained General Pasha’s short rein on CIA activities in Pakistan.

The Times cited one senior American official as saying the ISI now treats its American counterparts with deep hostility. CIA visas are frequently refused, and its officials are periodically stopped and searched.

Meanwhile, Pakistani employees of the American Embassy and consulates have come under intense intimidation: subjected to strip searches, kept in prison for weeks, induced to “turn” against America, and sometimes threatened with weapons, the official said. “It’s Moscow rules,” he was quoted as saying. “The ISI has become very KGB-like - but without the restraint.”

A senior ISI official, according to the newspaper, denied such accusations, and blamed the CIA for souring a once-close relationship through displays of arrogance. During the January 2011 controversy over Davis, General Pasha was furious that the former CIA director, Leon E Panetta, had initially denied that Davis worked for the agency.

It said, “Last summer the previous CIA station chief, who had stormy relations with General Pasha, left his post after just five months, ostensibly for health reasons. He has since been replaced with an undercover officer who officials from both sides say is more open to strengthening the CIA’s relationship with the ISI.”

In his talks in Washington, the ISI official said, General Islam will press the C.I.A. to stop its drone strike campaign in the tribal belt. Instead, he will propose that the United States upgrade Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 warplanes so that it can do the same job - a proposal one Washington official called a “nonstarter.”

General Islam will also request American help in halting cross-border incursions by the Pakistani Taliban from their bases in Afghanistan - a growing Pakistani concern that last week caused testy exchanges between Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Sherry Rehman, and a senior Obama administration official at a conference in Colorado. The Times said, “General Islam has a strong military pedigree, and many analysts see him as a favourite to succeed the army chief, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, when he steps down in late 2013.

“He lauds from a stout military clan in the army’s Punjabi heartland: his father and brothers were officers, while two uncles retired as three-star generals. Unusually for an ISI chief, he has experience in espionage: Between 2008 and 2010 he ran the ISI’s internal wing, which oversees security inside Pakistan. “For Americans, however, it is General Islam’s attitude toward the situation in Afghanistan that is the most pressing unknown.”

India removes ban on Pakistan investments

* Commerce Ministry says a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan can now invest in India

* Ban on investments in defence, space, atomic energy will remain

NEW DELHI: The Indian government, on Wednesday, overturned its ban on foreign investment from Pakistan in a move designed to build goodwill amid a renewed push for a peace settlement between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

"The government of India has reviewed the policy and decided to permit a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan to make investments in India," said a statement from the Indian Commerce Ministry.

India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since independence, are channelling their peace efforts into "trade diplomacy".

The aim is to build enough trust to tackle the more troublesome issues that divide them, such as the disputed territory of Kashmir.

"We welcome this decision," Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Moazzam Khan told AFP. "It will definitely benefit Pakistani investors and industrialists. We hope this decision will be fruitful for the people of both countries."

"We do appreciate this action by the government of India, but what will be more interesting for me is when the Indian authorities lift its ban on Indian investors investing in Pakistan," said Majyd Aziz, involved in the import and export of minerals and in shipping.

"For a better economic future in South Asia, it will be a huge step when businessmen from both the countries can freely invest in each other's country."

Zubair Motiwala, chairman of the board of investment in Sindh, said it was the "right decision taken at the right time". "Allowing our country to invest in India is a great confidence booster and will pave the way for more cordial bilateral relations," he said.

The warming commercial ties underline the new relevance of the private sector in the peace process, analysts said.

However, a ban on investments in defence, space and atomic energy will remain and all propositions must come via the Indian government.

The decision to accept foreign direct investment from Pakistan was taken in April when the trade ministers of the South Asian rivals met in New Delhi.

They also discussed ways to ease visa curbs on business travel and the possibility of allowing banks from both countries to open cross-border branches.

The improved relations between the rivals stem from Pakistan's decision to grant India "Most Favoured Nation (MFN)" status by the year end, meaning Indian exports will be treated the same as those from other nations.

MFN status will mean India can export 6,800 items to Pakistan, up from around 2,000 at present, and the countries aim to lift bilateral trade to $6 billion within three years, officials have said.

Official bilateral trade is just $2.7 billion and heavily tilted in New Delhi's favour, according to most recent figures, but unofficial trade routed through third countries is estimated at up to $10 billion.

In further progress, the neighbours opened a second trading gate in April along their heavily militarised border, increasing the number of trucks able to cross daily to 600 from 150.

Pakistan has called for a "new era" in economic collaboration with India to build "a legacy of peace and prosperity for our future generations".

The two countries have said there are many sectors with huge trade potential, from information technology to engineering, education and health.

The two nations have voiced hopes that boosting trade can help peace talks, which India warily resumed last year after suspending them after the 2008 attack by gunmen on Mumbai that killed 166 people.

"Commerce is an excellent way to bring countries together," Indian strategic analyst Uday Bhaskar told AFP recently. "Once you institutionalise trade, it becomes hard to slow the momentum for cross-border exchanges."

Pakistan receives $ 1.18 bln from US under coalition support fund

KARACHI: Pakistan said Thursday it had received $1.1 billion dollars from the United States for its fight against militants, the first installment of its kind since December 2010.

Washington released the funds after Pakistan and the United States on Tuesday signed an agreement governing Nato convoys travelling through Pakistan into Afghanistan until the end of 2015.

The fund, which is designed to reimburse Pakistan for the cost of counter-insurgency operations, paid $8.8 billion to Pakistan between 2002 and 2011.

But Islamabad stopped claiming the money as relations collapsed in the wake of the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The crisis fell to a new low when US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and Islamabad imposed a seven-month blockade on NATO traffic in protest.

“We received $1.118 billion from the coalition support fund last night,”Syed Wasimuddin, spokesman for the central State Bank of Pakistan, told AFP.

He said it was the first installment since $633 million in December 2010.

Analysts have suggested that the $1.1 billion dollars is particularly beneficial to Pakistan as it tries to head off a new financial crisis created by poor tax revenues, mismanagement and overgenerous subsidies.

The fund has increased the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves to $15692.5 million.

Pakistan’s total foreign reserves stood at $14,574.5 million on July 27, 2012, according to SBP. According to break-up, foreign reserves held by SBP were $10,139.3 million and net foreign reserves held by banks (other than SBP) $4,435.2 million on July 27, 2012

On Thursday, the US commander of Nato troops in Afghanistan held talks in Pakistan for the first time since the Nato supply lines resumed.

General John Allen later said that “significant progress” was being made in improving cooperation with Pakistan, which US officials have urged to do more to crush Afghan Taliban havens on its soil.

It may be noted that Pakistan and US had singed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on July 31, 2012 to regularize the Nato supplies to Afghanistan via Pakistan.

The MoU, drafted under the light of the UN Charter and in line with the recommendations of the Parliament, has replaced the existing arrangement for Nato supplies.

Bloodshed of Muslims in Burma

Bloodshed of Muslims in Burma

With the official backing of the government, during the anti-Muslim riots, intermittent massacre of Muslims by Hindus has become a permanent feature of India. In the last few years, more than 3,000 unnamed graves of the innocent Muslims, found in mutilated forms were discovered in the various areas of the Indian occupied Kashmir. Notably, human rights groups have disclosed that the unmarked graves included those Muslims, killed by the Indian security forces in the fake encounters. Similarly the genocide of several innocent Muslim women and children by the Serb forces in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Kosovo presents another example.

While, these atrocities are still fresh in the minds of every Muslim; recently bloodshed of the Rohingya Muslim community at the hands of the Rakhine extremist Buddhists in Burma (present Myanmar) has broken all the record of religious cleansing.

In the recent months, thousands of Burmese Muslims have been butchered, while brutal methods of torturing, killing, inflicting physical and causing mental harm on them were employed by the Buddhists who are in majority in the country. Instead of resolving the problem by protecting the minority Muslims, the Burmese military regime, covertly supported the Buddhist rioters, which created greater hardships for the Muslims.

Eye witnesses disclosed that Buddhist extremists torched several mosques, shops and houses of Muslims, while police and security forces of Myanmar remain silent. Even Burmese military and police have been found involved in massacre, targeted killings, disappearances and rape of Muslim women.

According to reports, 650 of nearly one million Rohingya Muslims have been murdered as of June 28, this year, while 1,200 others are missing and 90,000 more have been displaced.

In 1992, 250,000 Rohingyas fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape the persecution. More than 20,000 of them are still in the same refugee camps and around 100,000 more are living in the Gulf States, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand. Due to fear of extreme repression, Rohingya Muslims left the northern Arakan region, especially Buthidaung and Maungdaw.

Historically, Rohingya Muslims arrived in Myanmar in early seventh century, but Myanmar military regime maintains that their immigrants came from India during British colonial rule. However, in the seventies, the military junta embarked on a systematic program of religious cleansing of the Burmese Muslims who are denied their basic rights, i.e. the right to freedom of movement, marriage, faith, identity, ownership, language, culture, citizenship, education etc. They have also been barred from government employment. Deplorable as it is, the Muslims in Myanmar are among the most persecuted minorities in the world, according to UN. Although permanently settled in Western Myanmar and making 1/3rd of total population of Burma, they are not recognised as the legal minority.

In March 11, 2006, about the Rohingya Muslims of western Burma’s Arakan Statem BBC reported, “They have been called one of the world’s most persecuted people....in addition to their almost total lack of legal rights, many have been regularly beaten by police, forced to do slave labour and jailed for little or no reason.”

Unfortunately, the Myanmar opposition leader and the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi only fulfilled formality on July 25 by calling to protect the rights of the strife-torn nation’s myriad ethnic minorities. But she did not ask US or Security Council to take practical measures against the military rulers. It seems that she has forgotten her own words when she had remarked, “The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity.” Meanwhile, Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Buddhists did not condemn the massacre of Burmese Muslims.

Although the US and some western countries which claim to be the champion of human rights in the world, have issued some verbal statements regarding humanitarian tragedy in Myanmar, yet no practical action has been taken against the brutal military rulers of the country. Even UN has been fulfilling formality over the slaughter of Muslims. Question arises as to why UN Security Council is silent over this humanitarian catastrophe? However, these powerful entities have remained much active in case of Libya, Syria and elsewhere in the world

In fact, particularly, US double standard is part of its strategic game in Burma. America has also included India in this game. In the recent past, Obama administration lifted restrictions on the US investment in Myanmar. American companies are now free to get partnership with the state-owned energy corporations—the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). India has also been availing the opportunity of economic benefits in the country. Now, Burma is undergoing an arranged political change, designed to legitimise its regime, and enlist US-led India and some western partners to evade the influence of China.

Notably, in June 9, 2005 governments of Bangladesh and China were urged by their business leaders to establish a road link between two countries through Burma on a priority basis to boost trade and investment.

Nevertheless, for achieving their political and financial goals, US and India have given a free hand to their secret agencies CIA and RAW to support the military regime’s repression of its people and particularly of Muslims as also part of the ongoing anti-Muslim campaign, noted in some other Islamic countries.

As regards the recent genocide of Muslims, Burma’s Hindu organisations which are in collusion with Buddhists have been propagating that the latter are the most peaceful citizens, and called Muslims as trouble makers and terrorists. Buddhists not only enjoy the tacit assistance of politico-military regime including CIA and RAW, but are also being encouraged by Hindu religious extremists to wipe out the Muslims from Myanmar.

Nonetheless, it is the right hour that human rights organisations, OIC, Security Council and international media must play their active role so as to prevent wretched treatment meted out to Muslim minority, and to stop their bloodshed in Burma.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations.

Burma’s VP says racial, religious tensions caused Rakhin unrest

Burmese Vice President Sai Mauk Kham has told a government committee coordinating relief in Rakhine State that violence there was based on racial and religious tensions and a long-term solution was needed

Burma's Vice President Sai Mauk Kham: President's office

He said a solution should be “tackled carefully as there is an unbalanced population ratio. Bengalis constitute 94 per cent and Rakhine nationals six percent of the population in Maungtaw and Buthidaung,” the two communities which suffered the most in the recent unrest.

According to a report in the state-run newspaper, on Tuesday he said it is important to maintain security and regional peace and stability in order to allow development to be carried out in the area. Rakhine State is one of the poorest areas of Burma.

Muslim governments and human rights groups have criticized Burma’s response to the sectarian unrest in recent weeks, and a Human Rights Watch report on Wednesday said government security forces have undertaken systematic abuses against Rohingya Muslims, including murder, beatings, arbitrary arrest and other abuses.

Sai Kham said the government has been cooperating with domestic and international non-governmental organizations by opening relief camps providing shelters, food and healthcare services. Relief groups have called for greater access to the area and full access to Rohingya communities.

On Thursday, United Nations Human Rights Envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana is completing a two-day tour of Rakhine State on a fact-finding mission.

On Monday, the government said it had “exercised maximum restraint in order to restore law and order in those particular places in Rakhine state, ” in a foreign ministry statement.

The statement rejected the accusation that abuses and excessive use of force were made by the authorities in dealing with the situation, saying, “The unfortunate incidents are confined to a few townships in Rakhine state as it constitutes an inter-communal violence relating only to the some portion of the population in the state.”

The situation of law and order in Rakhine state is improving, the authorities said people sheltered in relief camps are gradually returning to the places, it said.

The deadly unrest and violence in Rakhine State started with the rape and murder of a Rakhine ethnic woman by three men in Kyauknimaw village on May 28, setting off a series of deadly reprisals and clashes between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists.

According to the ministry statement, 77 people from both communities were killed with 109 people injured. A total of 4,822 houses, 17 mosques, 15 monasteries and three schools were burned down.

The declaration of a state of emergency in the state along with imposition of curfews in six townships has been in force since June 10.

Genocide of Burmese Muslims condemned

Islamabad: Minister In-charge for National Harmony and Chairperson All Pakistan Minorities Alliance Dr Paul Bhatti has condemned the genocide of Muslims in Myanmar and termed it flagrant violation of human rights causing threat to peace, interfaith and international harmony.

In a statement, he said that there is dire need of interfaith, national and international harmony for the sake of peace in the world.

There is need of interfaith and national harmony not only in Pakistan but also all over the world. He requested to all the humanity and peace loving people to come forward to stop the tyranny unleashed on the Burmese by the military rulers.

Dr Bhatti urged the international community to play its role to end genocide in Burma. He said that it is religious duty of all non-Muslim Pakistanis to support our Muslim brothers as no brutality in the world, including genocide of Muslims in Burma and other parts of world can be tolerated.

He said the act of genocide by a community in Burma, which believes in peace, non-violence and love as a part of their faith is beyond understanding. They should follow their faith and teachings of Lord Buddha by give up genocide of Muslims, he appealed.

Burma denies soldiers killed, raped Rohingya Muslims

The Burmese Government has denied allegations its security forces opened fire on Rohingya Muslims, committed rape and failed to intervene as sectarian violence erupted in western Burma.



A new report by Human Rights Watch says the Burmese military failed to protect both Muslims and Buddhists during the clashes in June, and then "unleashed a campaign of violence" and mass arrests against Rohingya Muslims.

The ethnic clashes in Rakhine state, formerly known as Arakan, has left about 80 people dead from both sides.

But the US-based human rights group says the official figures appear "grossly underestimated".

It says when security forces did step in they targeted minority Rohingya people who were killed, raped and arrested.<

The Burmese Government has strongly denied the claims.

line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.833em; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"> Foreign Minister Wunna maung lwin has slammed those he accuses of 'politicising' the unrest.

"Myanmar strongly rejects the accusations made by some quarters that abusive and excessive uses of force were made by the authorities in dealing with the situation," he said.

The violence has displaced more than 100,000 people and focused new attention on the plight of about one million members of the Rohingya who live in Burma but are not accepted as citizens there or in neighbouring Bangladesh.

> The Burmese President, Thein Sein, says the government is only responsible for third-generation Rohingyas whose families had arrived before independence in 1948, and that it was impossible to accept those who had "illegally entered" Burma.

Mr Thein Sein has recommended that the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR take care of them in camps or resettle them in third countries.

Human Rights Watch says the resettlement of the group would be a human rights "disaster".

HRW's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson says Burma must rewrite its citizenship law to include the Rohingya and count them in its 2014 census.

"There's a need now really to make sure that people understand that democracy, human rights and a multi-ethnic Burma is going to require respect for all ethnic groups, of all religions, and that the Burmese Government can't pick and choose who it wants to include and exclude in the union of Burma," he said.

The HRW report has also accused western countries of turning a blind eye to the abuses in Rakhine state, while easing sanctions in response to human rights reforms.

It has called for strong international reaction to the "atrocities" committed during last month's bloody unrest.

"The international community has expressed concern but has not really responded with the urgency that's needed...so it seems like there's a business first approach to Burma that is missing the point," Mr Robertson said.

"That stability and ethnic reconciliation is still not complete and there needs to be a much more focus on this to prevent further outbreaks of sectarian violence like we saw in Arakan state."

Burmese government to blame for ethnic violence: report