India may suffer on account of insurgency in Nepal

WASHINGTON, Dec 3: Nepal’s inability to control the Maoist insurgency and the prospect of a confrontation between King Gyanendra and major political parties during such a crisis will affect areas beyond it’s borders, especially India’s Northeast, a leading US think tank has said.

In its South Asia situation report, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) pointed out that the new King Gyanendra has not been the unifying force his late brother King Birendra was and that Nepal was on the verge of being a failed state.

King Gyanendra has been a more assertive presence than his brother and this increasingly assertive position is changing the relationship between the monarchy and Nepal’s fragile multi-party democratic system.

"The danger is that Nepal’s deepening instability will affect areas beyond its borders, especially India’s troubled Northeast," it said.

India, traditionally Nepal’s most important foreign friend, has provided military equipment and is helping to train counterinsurgency groups, the report said.

Being the country with the most to lose from the Maoist threat, India is concerned about anything that could bring Nepal into closer relations with China, the report added. In addition, instability in Nepal is already aggravating the security crisis in India’s northeast. "Maoist collusion with insurgents across the porous Indo-Nepal border, as well as the assistance they receive from India’s large Nepali population, make it even more difficult to act effectively against them."

India’s involvement in Nepal’s domestic affairs, however, is a deeply divisive issue in Nepal and, so far, India has stuck to a non-intrusive policy, the report said.

As for its long-term forecast, CSIS says that it is unlikely that Nepal’s security forces can conclusively defeat the Maoists-with or without military assistance-and, therefore, the only sustainable solution lies in a negotiated settlement.

"Today Nepal is on the verge of being a failed state, exporting instability and economic refugees to its neighborhood. The prospect of a confrontation between the King and major political parties while the maoist insurgency continues is a dangerous one."

The United States has been trying to encourage dialogue among all the antagonists in this drama and to support the Nepali Government’s efforts to become more effective. "This is a tall order," the report concluded. (UNI)

Fragile ceasefire holds as Afghan team negotiates

SHINDAND, AFGHANISTAN, Dec 3: Government mediators today scrambled to negotiate a lasting ceasefire between rival warlords in Western Afghanistan after fierce weekend fighting that killed at least 13 people.

But both Ismail Khan, the powerful Governor of the western province of Herat, and his opponent, Amanullah Khan, insisted there would be no peace unless their conditions were met.

Their forces clashed on Sunday and early yesterday in the Zeer Koh area some 10 kms from Shindand air base to the South of Herat. Local residents say US forces have deployed hundreds of troops in and around the air base in recent weeks.

Sunday’s battle was temporariily halted when a US B-52 plane dropped seven bombs on the battle zone after a US special forces patrol in the area came under fire.

President Hamid Karzai, who is in Germany attending a major international conference on Afghanistan, sent a delegation from Kabul to the area to enforce a ceasefire and urged the two sides to bury their long-running differences.

The team met separately with both sides, but they said their conditions had to be met before they would agree to a truce.

Ethnic Tajik Ismail Khan says Amanullah Khan is a rebel and has allied with remnants of the ousted Taliban regime.

"Ismail Khan has agreed with the delegation not to resort to fighting while negotiations are underway. His demand was the disarmament of Amanullah Khan," Sayed Nasir Alawi, Herat’s security chief, said today. But Amanullah Khan, from the largest Pashtun ethnic group from which the Taliban drew its support, accused Ismail Khan of not allowing Pashtuns a share of power in Western Afghanistan.

"We want our right and that is the inclusion of the Pashtuns in the Government of Herat," Amanullah Khan told Reuters by satellite phone from his position near Shindand.

"There will be no solution if this is not done. Of course, if this does not happen, as a way out of the conflict we want Ismail to go to Kabul and would accept a new Governor."

Ismail Khan has said he was offered a senior position in Karzai’s Government, but turned it down to focus on his region.

The latest round of fighting broke out as Karzai left for bonn in Germany where he attended a meeting called to assess progress in Afghanistan one year after the fall of the Taliban.

He repeated plans to form a National Army and said factions declaring themselves independent of the Defence Ministry were illegal. Whether he succeeds in controlling powerful Governors and warlords with militias of up to 30,000 remains to be seen.

The weekend fighting was the latest in a series of clashes between Amanullah and Ismail Khan.

Forces loyal to other warlords and local officials in the North and Southwest of the country also clash frequently, undermining security in the war-torn state of 23 million people.

Shindand air base, until recently controlled by Ismail Khan, was badly damaged by US bombing of the Taliban last year.

He rules herat virtually unchallenged and earns millions of dollars a month from customs duties on goods flowing from iran and neighbouring Turkmenistan, infuriating Pashtun commanders like Amanullah.

Only a small proportion of the duties are paid into central coffers, Afghan officials in Kabul say. (AGENCIES)

Pak PM to face trust vote after Eid, Islamists add conditions

ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: Pakistan’s new Government headed by Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, which was reduced to a minority last week, has promised to prove its majority in the National Assembly after the Eid festival this week even though the hard-line Islamist alliance has ruled out its support unless President Pervez Musharraf resigns as chief of the Army.

"The Jamali Government would take a vote of confidence in Parliament after Eid-ul-Fitr, as soon as a Government was formed in Sindh province," Federal Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad has said.

"We are in no hurry. The constitution provides us two months to take the vote of confidence in Parliament. We will take it as soon as the Government in Sindh is formed," the local daily dawn published today said quoting Shaikh, who is undertaking Haj in Mecca.

He said his Government hoped that the crisis relating to the formation of the Government in the Sindh province would be resolved after Eid and after that the Jamali Government would take the confidence vote in the National Assembly. Since the withdrawal of MQM support, Jamali who won with a one vote majority on November 23, is desperately looking for support before two months.

Hope came the way for Jamali over the weekend with the six-party alliance of religious parties Muthahdia Majlis Amal, (MMA) lowered its opposition to Jamali’s Pakistan Muslim League-Q, (PML-Q) agreeing to join a coalition Government in the northwest Baluchistan province after a hard bargain.

Jamali’s PML-Q ended up conceding a number of MMA’s demands including release two provincial leaders of Jamat Ulema Islami, (JUI) who were in prison under corruption charges and declaration of friday as a holiday instead of Sunday.

MMA leaders who met here yesterday to discuss a proposal to extend support to the Jamali Government said they would not do so unless gen. Musharraf relinquished the post of Chief of Army and does away with controversial constitutional amendments that give him and the military more powers.

They outlined their demands at a press conference and demanded that the general give up his army post to "prove his sincerity" to the commitment of giving real democracy a chance in the country.

Stating that it would review its stand after December 17, MMA president, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani said "we definitely desire that the democratic system flourish without any hindrance but our cooperation to the Government would only be available if our demands viz-a-viz constitutional amendments and President’s status were met."

Also a senior MMA leader and chief of Jamat Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said Musharraf remained a major hurdle to form a coalition with PML-Q. He said MMA has no ideological differences with PML-Q but for Musharraf’s insistence to retain the post of chief of Army. (PTI)

UN arms experts inspect sensitive presidential site

BAGHDAD, Dec 3: UN arms experts today inspected a sensitive presidential palace site in Baghdad for the first time since they resumed work last week in key exercise of their sweeping new powers.

Two separate disarmament teams who had entered the huge walled compound without hindrance around 9:00 am (1130 Ist) emerged nearly two hours later but refused to talk to press.

However an official from Iraq’s National Monitoring Directorate who accompanied the UN experts along with palace guards suggested it had all gone off without incident.

"The inspectors went into all the buildings, inspected the service wings and the main blocks," he said on condition of anonymity.

A UN account of the inspections was expected to be released later in the day.

The two teams wearing blue UN baseball caps had drawn up in six white vehicles at the front and back of the Al-Sijda and Al-Sejud palaces overlooking the Tigris river.

The securitymen at the front went to ask authorisation and returned after a couple of minutes and opened the gates onto a broad tree-lined avenue.

At the same time a second team gained access through a back gate.

Journalists were kept out while the inspection went on and could not see inside the compound in which the two palaces, usually used to house official Government guests, are divided by a wall.

But after the UN experts left, reporters were ushered into a huge high-ceilinged reception room for a 15-minute glimpse of the splendour of the Al-Sejud palace.

Journalists were shown scale models of the palace exhibited in the entrance hall but no palace officials were on hand to discuss the day’s UN inspection.

There was nothing to suggest that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had been in the compound when inspectors swooped.

UN Security Council resolution 1441 of November 8 which launched the new inspections regime grants the inspectors wide powers to search anywhere for suspected weapons of mass destruction.

It overrode a February 1998 agreement struck by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan which allowed the previous UN mission special one-time inspections of "presidential sites" accompanied by diplomats, but otherwise placed them off-limits.

Annan brokered the agreement after Baghdad repeatedly refused inspectors access to the palaces the previous year, sparking US threats of military action.

A special group of UN Inspectors, which included senior diplomats and representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, failed to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction at the eight sites, but noted signs of significant movements.

In the event London and Washington went ahead with a major bombing blitz in December 1998 as the inspectors pulled out complaining of continued lack of cooperation.

President Saddam Hussein’s eight sprawling presidential palaces — three of them in Baghdad — have remained high on the list of suspected hiding places for weapons of mass destruction but iraq sees them as important symbols of its sovereignty and dignity. (AFP)

Paramount’s Lansing tops Hollywood power women list

LOS ANGELES, Dec 3: Lifestyle Guru Martha Stewart has been cut from it, Madonna slipped a few notches on it, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have moved up a tad.

The "it" is the Hollywood reporter’s annual list of the 100 most influential women in show business, unveiled in Tuesday’s edition of the Show Business Trade Magazine.

The Show Business Trade Newspaper began ranking the 50 most powerful women 11 years ago and expanded it to include 100 women last year to celebrate the list’s 10 year anniversary.

Sherry Lansing, who became the first female Chairman of paramount pictures in 1992, regained the top slot on the list, after slipping from No. 1 to No. 2 last year.

"When Sherry lansing wants to pursue a project that is potentially risky, her tendency to share the financial burden with other studios helps counterbalance the risk. It’s that business savvy and goodwill within the entertainment community that pushed her to top of this year’s power 100," said Christy Grosz, Managing Editor of the Women in Entertainment issue.

Ranking No. 2 was Stacey Snider, Chairman of Production for Universal Pictures, who commanded the No. 1 spot last year.

Rounding out the top 5 were Amy Pascal, Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures at No. 3, Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Entertainment, ranking fourth, and Michele Anthony, Executive VP, Sony Music Entertainment at No. 5.

Conspicuously absent from the list this year was domestic style Maven Stewart, who ranked about 57 last year, but whose image has been tarnished by an insider trading investigation.

Hollywood reporter officials declined comment on whether Stewart’s legal woes were to blame. "While a proven track record is a consideration, no power 100 woman was allowed to coast on a one-year-old accomplishment," Grosz said.

The reporter unveils the list each year with a star-studded breakfast, this year featuring speeches by Nia Vardalos, star and writer of "my big fat greek wedding," and Salma Hayek, Star of "Frida." For the past few years, the list has expanded beyond mostly industry executives and insiders, to include stars who have have clout in the industry.

"No longer are female stars just ‘the talent.’ they could very well be the path to parity for all women working in entertainment," said Grosz.

Julia Roberts’ ability to open a movie, command a big paycheck and run her own production company give her clout to hire whomever she chooses, Grosz noted.

Other rising actor business titans are reese witherspoon and Jennifer Lopez. But while these two did not make the cut and both Roberts and Madonna slipped this year in their rankings, 16-year-old media twin tycoons Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who have their own teen line at Wal-Mart, made it for the second year running, rising to No. 98 from 100.

Roberts who ranked No. 3 last year, slid down to No. 12, while Madonna fell from No. 42 to No. 60 this year.

The list reflects a sharp rise of women in top posts in Hollywood, with women leading four Hollywood guilds and key network divisions.

One of the biggest moneymakers in Hollywood history, this year’s "Spider-man," was given the go-ahead by a woman and produced by a woman, which is why Pascal, who recently added Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment to her Columbia Pictures Chairman title, shot up to No. 3 from No. 13 last year on the power 100.

Producer Laura Ziskin, who also produced the film and this year’s academy awards, jumped from No. 72 to No. 37.

While "Spider-man" outpaced paramount movies like "we were soldiers," starring Mel Gibson and suspense-thriller "changing lanes," with Ben Affleck, the list’s compilers still gave the nod to lansing.

Several criteria are considered, including each woman’s position within her company, her force of personality and how much money she controls.

On a more somber note, the reporter notes that despite the ever-increasing number of women in Hollywood’s executive ranks, the percentage of female writers dropped from 14 percent in 2000 to 10 percent in 2001 and female directors dropped from 11 percent in 2000 to a paltry 6 percent in 2001. (AGENCIES)

Muslim Party crisis temporary setback to peace: SLMC leader

COLOMBO, Dec 3: Sri Lanka’s lone Muslim Negotiator in peace talks with the LTTE today said a sudden revolt in his party, which forced him to rush back from the negotiating table in Oslo, was a "temporary setback" to peace efforts and was a plot to create a national crisis.

"There is a temporary setback, but I am sure it will remain temporary," Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauf Hakeem told reporters here hours after he reached the island to defuse a looming crisis for his party leadership and the Government’s parliamentary majority.

The SLMC is a key constituent of the United National Front Government and Hakeem has been included in the official negotiating team to represent his community’s interests at the talks. However, a revolt by hard-liners forced him to abandon the current session of talks.

Hakeem suspended his party chairman A L M Athaullah and general secretary A L M Hazrath after getting wind of an attempt by them to convene the party’s high command, but they later claimed that the body had met on its own and "removed" Hakeem himself from the post of party leader.

"There is an attempt to create a national crisis, vested interests want to effect changes in the power formation," Hakeem said without identifying the forces that he alleged were at work to destabilize the Government by splitting one of its constituent parties.

Hakeem said it would be a mistake for the SLMC leadership to tussle over an internal party matter as the timing of the crisis gave rise to suspicion that it was aimed at weakening the Government a few days ahead of a key deadline after which President Chandrika Kumaratunga would be empowered to dissolve Parliament.

"Look at the impending situation after December 5. There can be an effort to change the parliamentary equation," Hakeem said referring to the day when one year will elapse from the last election.

Kumaratunga is empowered to sack the legislature after that day but has assured Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who holds his post by virtue of his parliamentary majority, that she does not intend to dissolve the house as long as he had a majority.

Athaullah and fellow dissidents met Kumaratunga yesterday in a bid to persuade her to remove Hakeem from his cabinet post as Minister for Ports and Shipping on the ground that he was no more the party leader.

Asked whether he expected to be dismissed, Hakeem said he would "welcome" such a move as he saw a ministerial post as no more than a burden he had to bear to safeguard the community’s interests.

Some of the dissidents are known to be critical of Hakeem’s non-confrontationist approach towards the LTTE, especially in relation to the continued harassment of Muslims by the militant group in the east. He wants a problem-solving approach whereas the dissidents want him to pursue a harder line against potential LTTE-led hegemony over Muslims.(PTI)

Russia to open doors to Pak if it stops infiltration

NEW DELHI, Dec 2: Russia today asserted it would open its door wider for constructive cooperation with Pakistan only if it stopped cross-border terrorism and trans-border aggression against India.

Asked whether there was a change in Russia’s position towards [akistan, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin said, "I don’t think its a harder position as regards Pakistan.

"We have always been saying that when Pakistan stops its trans-border acts of terrorism, when Pakistan liquidates the infrastructure of terror all along the Line of Control and the International Border, only then, if we see that it is a solid fact, they have done it, only then we shall be able to talk to them openly," he said.

Kadakin made these comments in an interview to BBC world service on the eve of President Vladimir Putin’s three-day state visit to India starting tomorrow.

The Russian went on to say "unless Pakistan stops cross-border terrorism and trans-border aggression against India, only then could we think of opening our door wider to a constructive cooperation with Pakistan".

To a question, he said Al Qaeda and Taliban elements had moved to the LoC. They have been ressurected and have reactivated those camps where they get training.

"And, that is why you, India, you have more and more act of explosions, acts of sabotage, acts or pure terrorism," he said.

Recalling Putin’s visit to India in October, 2000, he said the Russian leader had warning that there was a terrorist international acting and that the danger was very grave. It was about one year after that the September 11 terror strikes hit New York.

Asked about a trilateral axis emerging between India, China and Russia, he said nobody was talking about building any power bloc.

He said if three countries shared views on certain problems, "then we are together". He said, "why not cooperate on those matters on which we coincide". (PTI)

A glimpse into grandiose lifestyle of Saddam Hussein

BAGHDAD, Dec 3: The vast lawns, roadway, portico and grand entrance hall were eerily quiet and empty. No one appeared in the endless windows. No one was there to smell the rows of pale yellow roses.

When a President like Saddam Hussein has dozens of palaces at his command, any one of them, like Al-Sajoud, can stand idle for many days at a time - hidden, silent and beautiful.

The quiet was broken today, first by a dozen UN Weapons Inspectors who showed up at the gates and demanded immediate entry under UN resolutions.

After the inspectors left, the peace was disturbed even more by more than 100 journalists who were allowed a rare look at the grandiose lifestyle of a Middle Eastern autocrat.

What the journalists saw silenced even the most jaded among them.

Built in a modern Islamic style, the palace has soaring arched windows, an enormous sky-blue dome, and a facade of tan brick that stretches for hundreds of metres.

A flourish of Arabic calligraphy on the portico announces the name of the palace, Al-Sajoud, an Arabic word signifying the Islamic act of kneeling in prayer.

Further back, the intricately carved wooden doors are inset with another seal, in gold, that bears the initials "Sh".

When the tall doors swung open, they revealed an entry hall that brought a gasp to the visitors. It is an octagonal space, three stories high and with walls of white marble, exquisitely worked in Islamic patterns. It is illuminated by a glittering gilt-and-crystal chandelier.

In the middle of the hall sat models of Al-Sajoud itself - charred and holed from us bombing in the 1991 Gulf war, and then restored to its gleaming self.

Al-Sajoud is part of a sprawling presidential neighbourhood that runs along a bend in the Tigris river in western Baghdad. It includes the Iraqi "White House" - the Republican Palace which is home to Saddam’s executive offices. Across the road stands the massive headquarters of the ruling baath party, an edifice that dwarfs most Government buildings in Washington.

After taking full command of oil-rich Iraq in 1979, Saddam went on a spree of palace-building across Iraq. He is known to travel among them, partly because he fears assassination. He often spends only a brief period in one palace before moving to another.

The Opulence of the palaces contrasts starkly with the drab existence of ordinary Iraqis. The economy has plummeted because of the international economic sanctions that resulted from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Before being ushered out of Al-Sajoud, the journalists caught a close look at the octagon’s walls, each of which was inscribed in gold with a poem singing the praises of Saddam. "You are the glory," read one. (AP)

Indo-Russian bonds have strengthend from brezhnev to putin: Vajpayee

MOSCOW, Dec 3: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said the friendship between India and Russia has continuously strengthened from "Brezhnev to Putin".

"I am very happy that I had the opportunity to meet with the Russian leadership starting from (President Leonid) Brezhnev to (President Vladimir) Putin and exchanging views with them and conduct open talks," Vajpayee said in an interview published by Russian dailies "Gazeta" and "Izvestia" today.

Putin arrived in New Delhi this evening and is scheduled to hold talks with Vajpayee tomorrow.

Vajpayee who had personally interacted with several generations of the Russian leadership said these exchanges were significant and contributed in the development of feeling of friendship between the two countries.

"I have very deep personal relationship with President Putin. We frequently meet with each other. Talk with each other on telephone, if it is necessary. Our talks are always straight and clear. Our thinking also coincides," Vajpayee said in an interview to a Russian TV channel.

"(Putin) is a reliable friend and from this point of view our personal relationship undoubtedly strengthens our political relationship," Vajpayee told Russia’s main `Channel 1' TV network.

Indo-Russian friendship is based on solid principles and protection of each other’s interest and it emanated from the decision to work together, Vajpayee said.

"Therefore it is a pleasure for me to look back and see that these exchanges are accompanied by equilibrium in relationship and personal contacts are accompanied by common political view. And therefore I give importance to visit of President Putin," he said. (PTI)

Twins joined at head wait for unique operation for separation

SINGAPORE, Dec 3: Iranian twins joined at the head for 28 years said today that they felt no fear as Singapore doctors put them through a battery of tests to decide if the sisters can be split in a unique operation for adults.

Twins fused at the head occur only once in every two million live births. Successfully separating them is even rarer — with previous operations carried out on children — but Singapore doctors performed the feat last year on infant girls from Nepal.

Laleh and Ladan Bijani have been put through a battery of tests since they arrived in Singapore on November 20 in hopes of eventually living separate lives.

"They seem to be two separately functioning brain units but encased within a single bony structure," raffles hospital’s neurosurgeon Keith Goh, who will head the medical team, told a news conference today.

The Petite Bijani sisters, clad in identical Khaki pantsuits and a matching headscarf, waved and smiled as they walked into the conference accompanied by a female friend from home.

"We have no fear or anxiety whatsoever, and that is because from the beginning Dr Goh has given us a lot of hope," said Ladan in her native tongue, Farsi, through an interpreter.

"We feel very optimistic about our case, about our situation, and about the operation." The law graduates were turned away by German doctors in 1996 after tests showed that splitting them could be fatal.

In April 2001, doctors at Singapore General Hospital separated the fused skulls and intertwined brains of 11-month-old Nepali girls Jamuna and Ganga Shrestha in a four-day operation.

Goh was the lead surgeon for the Nepali twins.

Differences between the twins’ pushed them into thinking about a separation five years ago.

"We are two completely separate individuals who are stuck to each other," said Ladan, the more extroverted of the sisters.

"We have different world views, we have different lifestyles, we think very differently about issues."

Singapore doctors plan to consult with experts elsewhere before they decide if the twins can be split. Goh said a final decision would probably not be made till after Christmas.

The sisters, who occasionally suffer from severe headaches, will have a one-and-a-half palm-size cavity at the sides of their heads which doctors will have to patch if they are separated.

The entire procedure is expected to cost 282,500 dollars but doctors are donating their services.

"We believe it’s all in God’s hands and after God we rely on the team of the doctors," Ladan said. (AGENCIES)

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