Sri Lanka rebels remember strength of their women

KILINOCHCHI, SRI LANKA, Oct 28: Pictures usually depict Tamil women in saris, their long hair tied in braids, but Tamil Tiger rebel heroine Malathy wears army fatigues, short-cropped hair and a cyanide capsule around her neck.

Fifteen years ago Malathy became the first woman fighter for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group to be killed in combat.

Her image contrasts sharply with traditional notions that a Tamil woman’s place is in the home.

The anniversary of Malathy’s death — October 10 — is Tamil women’s day and this year thousands of people poured into the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi to mark the day, and pay their respects to women fighters.

"We are here because of the girls. So many women have died for this freedom. They have renounced everything — their lives, their parents," one cadre said.

"Because of them, we are breathing this free air," she said at a ceremony in a playground ringed with red and gold tiger flags and bearing a giant map of the swathe of the northeast part of the country the rebels call a Tamil homeland.

Despite of the success of an eight-month Norwegian-brokered truce, women’s day was a chance to show off the rebels’ military might, as women in fatigues marched through town with weapons on their shoulders and ammunition across their chests.

"This ceremony shows the importance of the role of women in the movement. It’s important that people recognise this," said one spectator from Jaffna who did not want to give her name.

About 4,000 women fighters are estimated to have been killed since they first joined combat operations in 1985. More thank 100 women casualties were from the infamous "black tiger" suicide bomber squad.

But opinions vary as to whether their role in the fighting has given women the opportunity to break out of traditional roles or whether they are simply being used by the movement.

" The truth lies somewhere in between" said Darini Rajasingham, a researcher at Sri Lanka’s International Centre for Ethnic Studies who has written about the Tigers’ women’s wing.

"On some level they take the ltte line, but on another they are also their own agents, fighting for the liberation struggle," she said.

The relative relaxation and freedom of travel the peace process has brought allowed crowds to descend on Kilinochchi to see the rebels put on the largest ever show of strength of their female fighters.

Busloads of people clogged the checkpoint from Government to rebel territory as they arrived for the ceremony on the highway that for years was a no-go zone riddled with landmines.

A giant gunship staffed by women from the "Sea Tigers" naval unit at the posts was mounted on wheels and driven past the bombed-out buildings through the centre of town.

The truce may lead to an end of the 19-year conflict but it remains to be seen what roles women fighters will take up.

"Women have often been pushed back into the kitchen," Rajasingham said.

"I think it would be important for the women themselves to think about what kind of role they want in the peace process.

Civilian women are certainly doing things they didn’t in the past,’’ she said.

The day’s celebrations seem to have convinced at least some in the crowd that the place of women has changed.

"Women have equal rights now. This is a good thing," said M. Arunachalam, a clerk from Jaffna, accompanied by his family.

" She’s studying now," he said, gesturing to his 13-year-old daughter, wearing a long dress with two braids down her back.

" But when she’s older, if she wants to go and fight for our rights, I have no problem with that," he said.

" I would let her go."(AGENCIES)

Iraqi refugee jumps to death in South Delhi

NEW DELHI, Oct 28: A 49-year-old Iraqi refugee today allegedly jumped to death from the first floor of the Lodhi Colony Police Station in South Delhi, hours after he barged into the nearby United Nations High Commission for Refugees’ Office (UNHCR) and threated to kill himself.

According to police, Kedar Abas Habeeb Al-Katifi, a resident of Malviya Nagar, who had been staying in the country since 1992 as a refugee registered with UNHCR had allegedly barged into the world body’s office this morning and threatened to slit his throat with a blade if they did not respond to his demand.

The senior administrative officer with UNHCR Mary Jose Camelli informed police that he had injured himself with the blade and was threatening to slit his throat now following which a police team reached the spot and overpowered him with difficulty.

He was taken to the AIIMS for medical examination and later taken to the police station for completing legal formalities, they said, adding while sitting in the investigating officer’s room, he rushed out and allegedly jumped resulting in death due to head injuries.

Police alleged that the victim had on October 28, 1999 also forced his way to the unhcr office and tried to commit suicide by setting himself ablaze and in the process also inflicted injuries to the security guard. He was also arrested in connection with the case.

An inquest has been ordered into his death and UNHCR has been requested to inform his family, they added. (PTI)

Blair includes Moscow siege in new brand of terrorism

LONDON, Oct 28: British Prime Minister Tony Blair today said that the bomb attacks in Bali, the siege in Moscow and the murder of an American diplomat in Jordan were part of a "horrifying" new brand of terrorism.

"The attacks in Bali, the occupation of the Moscow theatre, the other terrorist attacks around the world, the murder of a diplomat this morning in Jordan are all brutal and horrifying reminders of this new form of terrorist extremism," Blair told Parliament colleagues.

Blair said "a deadly mixture of religious and political fanaticism is being pursued by those who have no compunction about taking human life, no matter how innocent, and little about losing their own."

"The only answer is both to defeat them by security, intelligence and policing, but also to take head on, especially within the muslim world, their perversion of Islam in the cause of extremism," he said.

"I remain of the view that it is not just the methods of extremism but their ideas that must be tackled," he added. (AFP)

ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: A Chinese delegation today told Pakistan that it would help set up the country’s third nuclear power plant to overcome its energy shortage, a top Pakistani scientist said.

"China has shown its willingness to give us a new nuclear power plant," said Ashfaq Ahmad, head of Pakistan’s Strategic Programme and one of the leaders of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. "We have energy problems so we want to enhance the contribution of nuclear energy."

Ahmad today met a delegation headed by Li Dingfan, chief of China’s nuclear programme, to discuss proposals for setting up a power plant in the remote eastern Punjab town of Chashma, which would be the country’s third.

A longtime ally, China is a leading supplier of weapons and defence technology to Pakistan. Pakistan’s second power plant was built in Chashma, 225 kilometres southwest of Islamabad, in the 1990s with Chinese assistance.

The nation’s first nuclear power plant was set up in Karachi in the 1970s with Canadian help.

Islamabad’s plans to set up a nuclear power plant with China’s aid comes amid reports that Pakistan provided assistance to North Korea a few years ago in its nuclear weapons programme. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has denied those reports.

On Monday, Ahmad insisted that Pakistan’s nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. The current Chashma plant has the capacity of generating 600 megawatts of power, he said.

Ahmad, the former Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, said the Government also plans to have a fourth nuclear power plant built in Karachi. (AP)

Chechens say open to peace talks as Russia
fumes over meeting

COPENHAGEN, Oct 28: Chechen rebels reopened the door today to peace talks with Russia to end their bloody conflict, only days after a mass hostage taking by a Chechen Commando in a Moscow theatre ended in bloodshed.

"There is no military solution to the conflict, only a political solution," Akhmed Zakayev, the envoy of rebel Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, said at an international conference on Chechnya that has aroused fury in Moscow.

"President Maskhadov is ready to negotiate without preconditions, as he said before. Now it is up to the Russian leadership," Zakayev said through an interpreter.

The Russian authorities have ruled out all talks with Maskhadov since rebels launched a massive anti-insurgency campaign in the Southern Republic in October 1999 and peace looked even more elusive after the three -day hostage drama.

Denmark allowed the two-day world Chechen Congress to go ahead in defiance of protests from Russia, which was incensed it was taking place only days after Chechen separatists held hundreds of people captive for three-days in a Moscow theatre.

It opened as Russia was holding a day of national mourning to honour the more than 100 hostages, most of whom died from a mysterious gas used when Russian trooops stormed a Moscow theatre to break the siege.

The Kremlin accused the Danish authorities of "solidarity with terrorists" and threatened to boycott a November 11 summit with the European Union.

But in a move to placate Moscow, Denmark - the current President of the European Union - said the summit would be moved to Brussels, seen as neutral ground. (AFP)

SAARC should discuss contentious
bilateral issues: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: Pakistan today renewed its demand that SAARC should discuss contentious bilateral issues and rejected India’s charge that it scuttled the progress of the seven-member regional grouping.

Briefing newsmen, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan also said that Pakistan is yet to receive a confirmation from New Delhi about the dates of the SAARC summit proposed to be held here in January.

Islamabad "has not received any official communication from India confirming the dates of the summit or intimation about participation of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee."

"We have not received the official confirmation of dates. But we have seen the statements in the press that Prime Minister Vajpayee would attend the summit. We have welcomed that statement", he said.

Denying India’s charge that Pakistan dragged its feet in furthering the regional co-operation by scuttling the progress of SAARC, he, however, said Islamabad maintains that SAARC should discuss contentious political differences between member states.

While SAARC was aimed at furthering economic co-operation between the member states, "Pakistan’s stand is that meaningful co-operation is possible only when there is situation that does not threaten peace and security in the region", Khan said.

Maintaining that security concerns become impediments to co-operation among the member states, Khan said "that is why Pakistan feels that resolution of outstanding of problems... Were also important to promote economic co-operation among the member states". (PTI)

Authorities refuse to hand over bodies
of rebels to relatives

MOSCOW, Oct 28: Russian authorities have refused to hand over the bodies of 50 Chechen guerrillas killed in the special forces’ operation to end the Moscow theatre siege to their relatives for burial.

The eighteeen women suicide-bombers and 32 militants killed in Saturday’s pre-dawn assault by the FSB commandos would be buried by the authorities at secret locations, according to TV channel.

Meanwhile, Moscow city hall and the Government of Moscow region have separately announced compensation of 100,000 rouble (approx 3000 dollars) each to the families of 118 people killed in the hostage drama, "Mayak" radio said.

Moscow city authorities would also bear the expenses of the funeral of the hostage victims. (PTI)

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