New Nepal Premier willing to talk to Maoist rebels

KATHMANDU, Oct 12: New Nepalese Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said today he was open to talks with Maoist rebels to end the six-and-a-half year insurgency.

"We will try to hold dialogue with the Maoists in order to bring peace," Chand told AFP.

But he said the first priority of his interim Government, appointed yesterday by King Gyanendra, was to end the violence that has ravaged much of the Himalayan kingdom.

"The Government’s top priority will be to maintain law and order and good governance and to control the Maoists’ terrorism," Chand said.

"In the process of establishing peace and security, we are keeping the door open to dialogue with the Maoists."

His tone marks a change from his predecessor, Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had vowed not to hold talks with the guerrillas until they laid down their arms and gave up demands for an abolition of the monarchy.

Deuba had bitterly accused the Maoists of personal betrayal for breaking a truce with his Government in November 2001 after talks initiated by the then Premier failed.

Some 5,000 people have been reported dead since the Maoists launched their "people’s war" in 1996, more than two-thirds of them since the end of the ceasefire.

Gyanendra sacked Deuba on October 4, declaring him "incompetent," and assumed power for a week until appointing Chand, a staunch royalist who has served as Premier three times before.

The King’s move has infuriated leaders of the dissolved Parliament who had demanded the constitutional monarch select ministers only from within their ranks.

Chand, who holds 15 portfolios in the new Government, said he would talk to the politicians about entering the administration.

"We will hold dialogue with other political leaders and expand the cabinet," he said.

Chand also said he would work to jumpstart the economy, which registered only 0.8 per cent growth in the fiscal year that entered July, far below projections.

"Another priority will be the improve the economic situation, which is now at a low priority due to the various internal problems," he said.

"A main objective will also be controlling corruption."

Chand said he would work to maintain "the traditional policy of good friendship" with Nepal’s giant neighbors, India and China.

He said he told the visiting British Foreign Office Minister for Asia, Mike O’brien, that "we want to maintain relatih friendly countries at the same level in the past or, moreover, to strengthen them."

Deuba had sought broad international support for the crackdown on the Maoists, in May becoming the first Nepalese Premier invited to the White House. (AFP)

Iraq steps up attempts to shoot down US planes

WASHINGTON, Oct 12 : Iraq has "remarkably" increased its attempts to shoot down US and British planes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones, a sign that Saddam Hussein’s regime cannot be trusted to cooperate with the United Nations, Pentagon officials have said.

Since September 16th, when Iraq told the United Nations it would allow weapons inspectors to return, Iraqi air defence forces have fired on coalition aircraft 122 times - 33 times in the north and 89 in the south, said Admiral David Gove, Deputy Director for Global Operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The latest incident occurred early yesterday, when coalition aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone were fired upon, the US Central Command said. The allied planes retaliated by dropping precision- guided bombs on a mobile Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) site near Tallil, approximately 250 miles southeast of Baghdad.

In remarks that seemed to undercut the US diplomatic push for new UN weapons inspections, gove and Pentagon spokeswoman Cictoria Clarke said the upsurge in incidents demonstrated Baghdad’s duplicity.

"If there was ever a case of ‘watch what he does, not what he says,’ this is it," Clarke said yesterday. "While expressing willingness to work with the United Nations and the international community, Saddam Hussein orders his military to attack American and coalition pilots."

Although the number of US strikes on Iraqi air defences have increased in recent months - especially in the south - US officials have maintained that the frequency of incidents has been consistent with previous years.

However, Gove indicated Friday that Iraqi attempts to shoot down allied planes have increased along with the diplomatic tempo at the United Nations. "There’s been a remarkable number, I think, since September 16th in terms of continuous action, or near-continuous engagements in the northern and southern no-fly zones," Gove said.

The Iraqi firings were "unguided" artillery or sams, meaning the Iraqis were not using their full radar capability to target the aircraft, Gove said. However, he stressed that the incidents were still endangering allied pilots, although none had been hit.

Gove showed reporters cockpit video footage of Thursday’s air strike on a mobile radar site near the Basra airport. He and Clarke disputed Iraqi claims that the US planes struck civilian facilities.

"There was some reporting out of Baghdad that suggested it was the buildings themselves right near the airport (that were hit)," Clarke said. "And it could not be further from the truth. It was at least 600 feet (183 meters) away."

Also yesterday, the US navy changed the status of Captain Michael Speicher, a pilot shot down in the opening hours of the 1991 Gulf war, from "missing" to "missing-captured."

Navy secretary Gordon England said there was no evidence that speicher is still alive, but there was evidence that he had successfully ejected from his F/A-18 "Hornet" fighter jet and survived the shoot-down.

"I am personally convinced the Iraqis seized him sometime after his plane went down, (and) it is my firm belief that the Government of Iraq knows what happened to Captain Speicher," England said.

The change in status could place additional pressure on Baghdad to provide a full accounting of Speicher’s fate. (DPA)

PML-Q emerges largest single party with 76, PPP bags 63

ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: The prospect of a hung Parliament looms large as Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), a party favouring President Pervez Musharraf, was poised to emerge as the single largest, winning 76 seats as counting completed for 265 of the 272-seat National Assembly.

The Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian (PPPP), headed by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto followed close by winning 63 seats, according to results announced here today by the Election Commission of Pakistan. The counting is still continuing.

The Muthida Majlis Amal (MMA) - an alliance of six religious parties - emerged as the third largest party with 44 seats,

MMA has already bagged majority in provincial assemblies of NWFP and Baluchistan where it was set to form provincial governments.

The PML-Q notched the top slot by winning 76 seats contrary to pre-poll projections which said PPPP would emerge as the single largest party. The slow pace of counting which began in the evening of October 10 soon after the polling prompted the PPPP and other political parties to allege rigging during the polls.

Besides the PML-Q, PPPP and MMA, the independents have emerged as the fourth largest force by bagging 28 seats.

However under the new law brought in by Musharraf, the independent candidates will have to join political parties of their choice with in three days after their election.

A majority of them were expected to join the Government-backed PML-Q.

The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) headed by former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif has won only 14 seats, most of them from the Lahore district. The party has lost the rest of its ground in Punjab to PML-Q. Both Bhutto and Sharif have already rejected the results saying that they have been badly rigged.

While Bhutto has already denounced the polls from her self-exile in London, Sharif lived in Jeddah has said in a press release the the election result "is a fraud with the people of Pakistan and should be condemned by the entire world community."

Sharif said the announcement of the election results had been delayed for an inordinate period to enable tampering by rigging by the military regime.

Never in the history of Pakistan had an election been so blatantly rigged and it was a dangerous occurrence for the stability of the country, he said.

The PML-N senior vice president Syed Zafar Ali Shah said earlier in Islamabad: "it is all arranged and pre-planned." It is not a public mandate and it does not represent the choice of the Pakistani nation."

According to the latest poll results, the Mutahida Quami Movement (MQM) also won 13 seats - all of them from the Sindh province while National Alliance (NA), which was an ally of PML-Q managed 12 seats.

The other parties which won National Assembly seats include PML-F, 4, PML-Junejo 2, PPP (Sherpao) 2, while PML-Jinnah 1, Imaran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e- Insaaf (PTI), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), PML-Zia, Shia Political Party, Baluchistan National Party (BNP) and MQM-Haqiqi also won one seat each. (PTI)

Section of Great Wall uncovered

HONG KONG, Oct 12: Some 50 miles of lost sections of China’s great wall have been discovered after centuries of lying hidden beneath sand in the country’s dry windswept northwestern region of Ningxia, according to China’s official news agency Xinhua.

The unearthed wall about 50 miles along the southern slope of the Helan mountain and about 25 miles from Yinchuan, the Ningxia provincial capital.

The section, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Yinchuan, the regional capital, was built in 1531 and gradually buried by moving sand. When the wall section was repaired in 1540, three watchtowers were added at different parts of the section, which meanders from east to west. The forward post is well preserved, Xinhua said.

Xinhua said on Thursday the discovered segment is 23 feet high and 22 feet wide at the bottom. Parts of the Ningxia section of the wall were being constructed as far back as 475 B.C. The uncovered section was built during what is known as the period of the warring States. It follows the Gin, Han, Sui and ming dynasties.

It has seven drainage ditches and parapets at both flanks of the wall. Some parts were protected by stone segments forming adouble-layered wall, said Xinhua.

The great wall was constructed beginning in the 7th century B.C.Over the course of several dynasties to defend China’s northern borders. Ningxia was particularly important to the Chinese and considered a frontline position.

The great wall runs about 3,750 miles long across much of China. The wall runs from Gansu in the northwest to Shanhaiguan pass on the bohai bay shores of China’s eastern coast. It was built with bricks, sand, stone and earth.

The edifice has long been associated with Beijing and hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to parts of it just north of the capital each year. Chinese experts found other ruins in Gansu bordering Ningxia last August, which are believed to be about 2,000 years old. Thirty previously unknown beacon towers were found as well as two castles and two other buildings that can be dated back to the han dynasty,which ruled from 206 B.C. To 220 A.D. (UPI)

Nepal’s new PM wants talks with Maoist rebels

KATHMANDU, Oct 12: Nepal’s new Prime Minister, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, said today his interim Government will invite Maoist rebels to peace talks in a bid to end a revolt that has killed thousands and wrecked the economy.

Illustrating the violence that has beset Nepal since the revolt began, suspected rebels detonated a bomb in the capital today, killing one person. It was the third blast in the capital in little more a week.

Chand said he wanted to hold the talks before fresh elections, originally set for next month.

"We will open a window to have a dialogue with the Maoists," Chand told Reuters in an interview, his first after taking over as Prime Minister yesterday.

"We want to hold early elections but it is not possible next month," Chand said at his residence in an area without roads and overflowing drains on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

Dozens of supporters arrived at his residence with colourful bouquets and marigold garlands to congratulate the dimunitive Prime Minister. It is the fourth time the low-profile, soft-spoken author, with a reputation of being a "Mr Clean", has become Premier.

Chand said a formal decision to invite the Maoists would be taken after consultations with the interim cabinet and the end of a week-long Hindu festival that began today.

Chand was appointed Prime Minister by King Gyanendra, who dismissed the previous Prime Minister and assumed power last week in a row over the timing of elections.

Gyanendra’s decision to sack the previous Prime Minister and assume power plunged the Himalayan Kingdom into new turmoil after last year’s palace massacre in which most of the Royal family died and as it battles an increasingly violent Maoist revolt.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in the insurgency aimed at establishing one-party communist rule in the world’s only Hindu Kingdom.

About 3,000 people have died since the rebels walked out of peace talks held last November and stepped up attacks against security forces and Government installations.

The rebels stuck to their demand for a new constituent Assembly to rewrite the constitution and abolish monarchy, a demand rejected by the Government, causing the talks to fail.

The rebels have since offered to hold talks several times but Chand’s predecessor, Sher Bahadur Deuba, insisted they lay down their arms first. The six-year-old rebellion has scared off tourists, hit growth and wrecked infrastructure in one of the world’s most scenic but poorest nations.

"We will have to sit down and discuss our strategies and models to hold talks," Chand said when asked if his Government would declare a truce and ask the maoists give up the gun before talks.

"I cannot set a timeframe for elections. But the moment all the parties say that now the atmosphere is conducive to hold elections we’ll go for elections."

Analysts said Chand faces an uphill task in getting the Maoists to the table for talks as he does not have the support of mainstream political parties, is seen as a royal nominee and heads a Government of non-politicians.

"The Maoists may not be prepared to talk to a non-democratic Government or if the ministers are seen as stooges of the king," Padma Ratna Tuladhar, a human rights activist and one of two mediators during last year’s talks with the rebels, told newsmen.

"They may take advantage of the situation and increase their attacks which Nepalis don’t desire. So there is pressure on the king and the Government to solve this peacefully."

Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the widely-read English language the Kathmandu Post newspaper, said the Maoists were also under international pressure from Nepal’s donors to lay down arms.

"The Maoists have so far not shown any flexibility in their stand since they walked out of talks last year. And it is doubtful if they will do it now," he said. "But there is high international pressure on them. It is equally essential that chand builds a national consensus before inviting the Maoists for talks," Ghimire said.

The new Prime Minister said he knew he faced a challenge. "We should not worry about technicalities like whether we are a representative Government or not," Chand said. "I will talk to other parties and I feel that they will be kind enough to cooperate with me."

"The question is whether we want peace or not in Nepal. And I believe in their heart of hearts the Maoists also wish for peace." (AGENCIES)

EU criticises Pak for serious flaws in general elections

ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: Questioning the credibility of Pakistan’s general elections, European Union observers today said the entire electoral process was marred with "serious flaws" and criticised state interference in the voting process.

"Pakistan authorities were engaged in a course of action which resulted in serious flaws in the electoral process," the head of the EU observers team John Cushnahan told reporters while releasing a five-page interim report assesing the elections.

Stating that the criteria fixed by the Government to permit people to contest the polls was clearly aimed at targeting certain politicians, the eu report said "the person-specific provisions used against former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were based on questionable legal grounds and clearly had a negative impact on the over all electoral process".

The report also slammed the Chief Election Commissioner for failing to "curb authorities misuse of state resources" in favour of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), which was backed by the Government.

"The failure by the ECP to protect an area clearly within its mandate from interference by state authorities cast serious doubts over ECP’s independence", it said.

It also said that there was clear evidence that the entire state machinery has been geared up to help the PML-Q to do well in elections.

The report also criticised the controversial amendments brought in by President Musharraf, which it said "seem to weaken the national and Provincial Assemblies and could lead to the concentration of power in the hands of a single individual who can dismiss elected Governments".

The amendments, it said would "institutionalise the role of the military in the governance of the country through the National Security Council, which could subordinate civilian Governments to military control".

On Musharraf’s claims that he was authorised to amend the constitution by the Supreme Court, it said he "overstepped" the limits set by the appex court judgement.

Cushnahan said he had raised the issue of the validity of the constitutional amendments and new electoral rules with Musharraf when he met him recently on which the President had replied that the Parliament could repeal or change his laws if it chooses to do so.

The EU report also strongly attacked the rule barring all non graduates from contesting the polls as it has "deprived" 96 per cent of the Pakistan population of the right to run for the office and went against the Article 21 of the universal declaration of human rights.

Asked what action the EU proposed to take, Cushnahan said the report would be submitted to the eu commissioner for external relations, Chris Patten shortly to initiate action.

He, however, refused to speculate on the action to be taken saying it was up to EU officials to take whatever action that they deemed fit. (PTI)

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