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Dead or
alive— Laden ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: President George W Bush said he wanted him — dead or alive. And officials are starting to wonder ....more Pakistani murder seen as KARACHI, Dec 24: The high-profile murder of the brother of the Interior Minister in Karachi has cast a shadow over Pakistan’s efforts....more Afghanistan’s Karzai
turns KABUL, Dec 24: Afghanistan’s new leader, Hamid Karzai, turned 44 today, facing the daunting task of rebuilding a failed state ....more |
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Good trade in bad times for Singapore fortune tellers SINGAPORE, Dec 24: Virkven Sargu’s phone has been ringing all afternoon as anxious ....more Taliban looted KABUL, Dec 24: Taliban soldiers looted around five million US dollars, four to five crores of Pakistani rupee......more Afghans show KABUL, Dec 24: Like the Indians, the Afghans too like to write their signboards in english. Well, they assemble the ......more |
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Dead or alive— Laden eludes US forces ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: President George W Bush said he wanted him — dead or alive. And officials are starting to wonder whether Osama bin Laden may indeed be dead. The United States will not be satisfied without proof and more and more marines are scouring Afghan caves in case the body of the Saudi-born millionaire lies in some hillside burrow in the heavily bombed Tora Bora region. "He can be in Tora Bora or in that area dead, he can be somewhere else in Afghanistan and still alive or perhaps he may have gotten over into Pakistan," said US General Tommy Franks, commander of the campaign. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf also speculated about Bin Laden’s demise. "Maybe he is dead because of all the operations that have been conducted, the bombardment of all the caves that have been conducted. "There is the great possibility that he may have lost his life there," Musharraf told China’s state-television in an interview on Saturday. But one man who knows well the forbidding terrain of Afghanistan is former Army Chief General Shahnawaz Tanai, and he believes Bin Laden is alive. The tall, bearded militant with one of the most well-known faces on earth is almost certainly hiding among the rugged mountains and steep-sided valleys that have for centuries befriended outlaws, Tanai said. "Had he been killed, his comrades might have announced this to stop the war," Ranai told newsmen. Tanai was chief of Afghanistan’s Army under the Soviet-backed Communist Government of President Najibullah that collapsed before advancing Mujahideen (holy warriors) forces in 1992. Tanai said he believed Bin Laden might be hiding in Northern areas of Helmand or Kandahar provinces or in central Zabul or southweastern Paktika. "There is no proper Government in these places. He can still live there," Tanai said. In addition to the absence of proper administrations that might make these provinces less welcoming havens for the Saudi-born millionaire militant, the terrain in these areas was difficult for attackers to negotiate, he said. "The Taliban had centres there," he said, and that would give Bin Laden protection in those areas — even with a 25 million dollars bounty on his head. Washington, which accuses Bin Laden of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States, launched blistering bombing raids on Tora Bora this month, destroying what was believed to be a stronghold of Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. Tora Bora would have been a good site for Bin Laden to hide out, Tanai said, adding that in his view he could survive almost indefinitely unless ground troops moved in. The general who himself attacked the inaccessible maze of Valleys — of which tora bora is one — when it was a stronghold of the Mujahideen in the 1980s, said 1,000 fighters could conceal themselves with little difficulty. More and more US marines are now being sent into the area to search caves and hillsides for survivors, stragglers, diehards, the wounded and the dead — as well as Bin Laden. Tanai explained how Tora Bora, where he claimed numerous Mujahideen casualties, offered a superb haven for guerrilla fighters, who from the peaks could see their enemies approaching from miles away and swiftly take cover in the next valley. Travel, except on foot or horseback, was impossible. Bin Laden is a horseman. Ground troops were the only answer for the Americans, said the former communist general. Escape routes were several even with Tora Bora blocked from the east, he said — south toward parachinar and Pakistan or west towards Kabul and Loghar province. But whether he has escaped to another valley in the south, or if he is dead in Tora Bora, it is certain that the myth growing up around Bin Laden among many young Muslims will live on. (AGENCIES) |
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Pakistani murder seen as warning to Musharraf KARACHI, Dec 24: The high-profile murder of the brother of the Interior Minister in Karachi has cast a shadow over Pakistan’s efforts to curb militant Islamic groups, analysts said today. Two gunmen shot dead Ehteshamuddin Haider, head of a Charitable Organisation and elder brother of Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, in broad daylight on friday as he emerged from his office in volatile Karachi. No one has claimed responsibility. But analysts saw it as a warning shot to Pakistan’s military President, Pervez Musharraf, to be careful with hardline Islamic groups that have opposed Pakistan’s support for the US war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks in the United States. "The Ehteshamuddin murder is a signal to the Government," said a senior professor at Karachi University. Karachi police chief Tariq Jameel told newsmen authorities have arrested several people, including activists of a Sunni Muslim group, but were looking into every option. "I can not say anything right now...We don’t know the motive behind the murder. The investigation is under way and things will be clear very soon," he said. But political analysts noted that Interior Minister Haider had delivered an outspoken address at a conference on combating terrorism on Thursday in Karachi, in which he criticised extremist Islamic parties that had backed the Taliban. "We cannot leave the country in the hands of some illiterate Mullahs," Haider said. A day later, his brother was shot dead, the latest victim of the many street shootings in the streets of Karachi in recent years. Additional bodyguards have been assigned to the minister since his brother’s death. Another political analyst at a foreign-funded research centre said the murder could be in retaliation against the Government’s crackdown on militant groups during the US-led war against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network. Musharraf closed the offices of several religious groups, banned fund-raising on behalf of the Taliban, limited anti-US protests and put several leaders under house arrest. "The way the Government handled them during the Afghan crisis...Any militant group or its members could respond," the Karachi University Professor said. US President George W Bush last week froze the assets of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group — just days after India said it was to blame for an attack on India’s Parliament in New delhi in which 14 people died including the five assailants. He asked Pakistan last week to crack down on both Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad — a group whose assets have already been frozen. "Kashmiri outfits could feel betrayed, especially after they distanced themselves from the Afghan crisis on the orders of the Government," the Professor said. "And now they are also likely to be targets of the global campaign against terrorism," he said. (AGENCIES) militant Islamic groups, analysts said today. Two gunmen shot dead Ehteshamuddin Haider, head of a Charitable Organisation and elder brother of Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, in broad daylight on friday as he emerged from his office in volatile Karachi. No one has claimed responsibility. But analysts saw it as a warning shot to Pakistan’s military President, Pervez Musharraf, to be careful with hardline Islamic groups that have opposed Pakistan’s support for the US war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks in the United States. "The Ehteshamuddin murder is a signal to the Government," said a senior professor at Karachi University. Karachi police chief Tariq Jameel told newsmen authorities have arrested several people, including activists of a Sunni Muslim group, but were looking into every option. "I can not say anything right now...We don’t know the motive behind the murder. The investigation is under way and things will be clear very soon," he said. But political analysts noted that Interior Minister Haider had delivered an outspoken address at a conference on combating terrorism on Thursday in Karachi, in which he criticised extremist Islamic parties that had backed the Taliban. "We cannot leave the country in the hands of some illiterate Mullahs," Haider said. A day later, his brother was shot dead, the latest victim of the many street shootings in the streets of Karachi in recent years. Additional bodyguards have been assigned to the minister since his brother’s death. Another political analyst at a foreign-funded research centre said the murder could be in retaliation against the Government’s crackdown on militant groups during the US-led war against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network. Musharraf closed the offices of several religious groups, banned fund-raising on behalf of the Taliban, limited anti-US protests and put several leaders under house arrest. "The way the Government handled them during the Afghan crisis...Any militant group or its members could respond," the Karachi University Professor said. US President George W Bush last week froze the assets of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group — just days after India said it was to blame for an attack on India’s Parliament in New delhi in which 14 people died including the five assailants. He asked Pakistan last week to crack down on both Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad — a group whose assets have already been frozen. "Kashmiri outfits could feel betrayed, especially after they distanced themselves from the Afghan crisis on the orders of the Government," the Professor said. "And now they are also likely to be targets of the global campaign against terrorism," he said. (AGENCIES) |
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Afghanistan’s Karzai turns 44, ministers start work KABUL, Dec 24: Afghanistan’s new leader, Hamid Karzai, turned 44 today, facing the daunting task of rebuilding a failed state in which his authority on the ground barely reaches beyond the capital Kabul. The mystery over the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and leaders of the ousted Taliban who protected him is an added complication in a country plagued by rivalries forged during over two decades of war. Ministers start the first day of work at offices gutted by war and looting, run down by years of fundamentalist Taliban rule, when prayers took precedence over policy, and staffed by civil servants not paid for months. Simmering disagreement between Karzai’s two-day-old Government and members of the US-led coalition that outsed the Taliban delayed full deployment of a foreign force ordinary Afghans hope will ensure peace among ambitious warlords. A senior military source yesterday said the bulk of the multinational force could take up to four weeks to deploy. But while Kabul, patrolled by Mujahideen fighters of the Northern Alliance and members of the foreign force, may be under Karzai’s control, there remain large pockets of resistance, hideouts of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda, and the Taliban. Security topped the agenda at the first meeting yesterday, of an interim cabinet that will hold office for six months. A Loya Jirga, or grand council, will then be called to decide a Government for the next two years that is intended to lead to elections. Ex-king Zahir Shah, 87, will attend that meeting. Karzai said the 30 new cabinet members, many of whom only returned to the country from exile to attend their inauguration on Saturday, discussed the reestablishment of a civil service in the whole of the country. But the precise role and size of the main force, which some estimates have said could be up to 5,000 strong, have yet to be finalised in talks with the post-Taliban authorities. The senior military source, who yesterday spoke on condition of anonymity, said Britain planned to send in an "enabling team" of up to 200 military personnel including air traffic controllers later this week to prepare for the full deployment. "As soon as we have the means to protect our citizens ourselves and to bring security to the whole country, then there will be no need for those forces," Karzai told CNN. Asked how long US forces would stay, Karzai told CNN: "As long as there are these terrorist elements hiding out in Afghanistan and remnants of those forces." For now, Karzai’s power depends on participation of warlords and rival tribes, most of whom are represented in his cabinet. Security is a prerequisite for a Government that must grow food in a land ravaged by three years of drought, where women have no jobs, children barely receive an education, 16 out of every 100 babies die at birth and life expectancy is just 43. One of Karzai’s first headaches involves the war still being waged in his country. (AGENCIES) |
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Good trade in bad times for Singapore fortune tellers SINGAPORE, Dec 24: Virkven Sargu’s phone has been ringing all afternoon as anxious Singaporeans ask him to forecast when the city state’s recession will end. But with a vermilion caste mark on his forehead and head-to-toe robes in white, Sargu isn’t an economist or a banker — and his predictions aren’t limited to the markets. He’s a fortune-teller or, as he likes to put it, an astropalmist. Business has been booming in recent months, with more and more people seeking his words of wisdom as they struggle with an economic downturn that the Government says will leave as many as 25,000 workers out of a job by the end of this year. "Nowadays in Singapore, so many people are worried about the economy. It was like this when the economy became sick five or so years ago," Sargu said at his office and home in the city’s little India district, stroking a long, white beard that belies his 44 years. "They’re very confused these days and I just try to tell them what to expect," he said, wedging a bit of betel nut wrapped in a leaf into his mouth. Bad times have been good to sargu, even if he’s a bit hazy on the numbers. "Sometimes three appointments in an afternoon," he said. "Sometimes 10 or more appointments." Sargu is not the only fortune-teller in Singapore to see people queuing for more arcane ways of predicting their prospects after fund managers may have failed them. Demand is stronger in other Asian countries as well. a recent report by thai farmers research showed Bangkok residents lining up to consult fortune-tellers, with nearly 81 per cent of those polled saying they have visited one. The average was two readings a year since the Asian financial crisis began in 1997. "From the beginning of the year, I could have told you that a recession was coming. You didn’t have to listen to the Government," said George Koh, a Singapore fortune-teller who also specialises in Feng Shui, a Chinese belief on how to harmonise a person’s environment. Those who didn’t heed his predictions are doing so now, paying s168 dollars (91.50 dollars) a pop to listen to the Malaysian-born 53-year-old detail their futures with a regular pack of cards. "The number of consultations that I do per week has picked up tremendously," Koh said in his paramount astrology office in a half-empty mall. While revenues from his Feng Shui business have fallen by some 50 per cent because clients simply cannot afford to have their offices and homes correctly aligned, koh reckons he has been making 20 per cent more from fortune-telling. There is an air of prosperity in the dapper Koh’s office, especially compared with Sargu’s large but spare one. Koh surrounds himself with a wine rack, comfortable couches and a bookcase filled with Feng Shui and fortune-telling tomes. Gold-plated animals of the Chinese zodiac stand on the corner of his desk and on the wall hangs a photo of actress Nastassja Kinski, naked but for a boa constrictor wrapped around her. Despite his own gains, Koh was grim about next year’s prospects, blaming much of the bad Karma knocking around on the events of September 11. Lily, a client in her 30s, said she first started seeing Koh immediately after the attacks on the United States. "I just felt this great anxiety about my relationships," she said, adding that although she was unemployed, she was seeking Koh’s advice about her love life. But for those wondering whether the economy will recover by the second half of next year, as many economists have predicted, Koh had only bad news. Using a thick book in Chinese that he called an almanac of sorts, koh explained first that, according to the lunar calendar, this year is that of the golden snake — not a good time for economic activity. Next year is the year of the water horse, also not great for doing business. Moreover, it was a blind horse, Koh said, using a detailed logic only those learned in the ways of Chinese astrology could easily follow. "Now is the time of war. And the horse is a creature of war and fire is the element of war. So if you have a water horse, you are putting out the necessary fire. That’s not good," he frowned. "But master Koh, isn’t it good to have water to douse the fire?" Lily interjected in Mandarin. "Yes, but you see what happened with 9-11. There was fire. They put it out with water. But when it cleared there was nothing left. No buildings. This is a bad sign," he replied, then laughed. (AGENCIES) |
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Taliban looted enough money from exchange market KABUL, Dec 24: Taliban soldiers looted around five million US dollars, four to five crores of Pakistani rupees and billions of Afghanis from the biggest money exchange market in Afghanistan a day before they abandoned Kabul and may use this money to reorganise themselves or buy weapons. "Two days before the Northern Alliance entered the capital, the Taliban soldiers came to the Serai Sehjada market with armoured vehicles and looted the whole market of whatever they could," says Fakir Ahmed, who alone lost 4.5 lakh Pakistani rupees and around 50,000 US dollars. He has not yet assessed the loss he had in Afghanis, which were going for 80,000 to a dollar at that time. There are around 500 shops like the one belonging to Fakir in Serai Sehjada money exchange market near the famous Pul-e-Khisti mosque in the heart of the city. When contacted, Defence Ministry sources said that the Taliban knew that the fall of Kabul was imminent and made the best out of the time they got in hand when the Northern Alliance soldiers were waiting outside the city limits. "It was a huge amount of money which the Taliban can use it for the nefarious activities. They may use the dollars and Pakistani rupees for buying weapons and distribute the Afghanis among locals to buy their support," the sources said. Another major worry for the defence as well as the military security department is that none of the Taliban top leadership has been captured so far. They are also worried that the Taliban could have mixed with the locals in the countryside and waiting for an opportunity to strike. "It was all Pakistanis who came here and looted the shops," says Mohammed Farooq, who has his exchange shop next to Fakir. "Still Pakistan is interfering in our internal affairs," says Farooq on his own without being asked about the role of Pakistan during the Taliban regime. Did they pay business tax to Taliban during 1996 till they left? "in the last five years we paid no tax to the Government. We only had to pay the guards put by the taliban at the exchange market," says Ahmed Shah, another money dealer. "Each shop owner used to pay 20,000 Afghanis every week. The shop owner could also make monthly payment which was fixed at 80,000 Afghanis," he says adding as residents also we had to pay same amount of money to Talib guards every week. One wonders what the money so collected by Taliban solders was used for as there was no proper road or functioning sewage network in most of the areas of Kabul and its outskirts. "The money so collected by the Taliban used to go mostly for payment of the salaries of the soldiers," said the Defence Ministry sources. When asked why the roads beyond Bagram, controlled by the Northern Alliance led by general Ahmed Shah Masood during the Taliban regime, are even in a worse condition, the sources said they were deliberately kept like that to slow down the advance of the Taliban, if they so ventured. (PTI) |
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Afghans show off their english KABUL, Dec 24: Like the Indians, the Afghans too like to write their signboards in english. Well, they assemble the letters to make it appear something similar to the word. Though the spelling, may be suspect, they are doing a service to the foreigners to find what they need in the market. They use the American spelling for words like centre and colour putting them as center and color. Acceptable, isn’t it? but why should one write medicine for medicine is beyond comprehension. The medicine shops mostly write in their signboards as pharmacy but there are a few who thought the foreigners would not understand what a pharmacy would mean and started writing ‘medicine shop’. And there is something peculiar in every pharmacy store. "Door" will be written prominently on the entry door. Ask why? locals say the patient or the customers should not mistake the cabinets inside the shop for the exit. But there are some more. "Engineering" for engineering. What do you say? what is beyond comprehension is how come a photo studio be spelt as "stodeo". Use the same logic and you would not be surprised when they write "stor" for "store". (PTI) |
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