Daily Excelsior... World

BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers to meet in Dhaka today

DHAKA, Dec 18: Foreign Ministers from sub-regional BIMSTEC group, which includes India, are to meet in Dhaka tomorrow with trade issues high on the agenda, officials said here day.

Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed will represent India at the eighth one-day meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

The group, founded in 1997, comprises Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand and is scheduled to enter a Free Trade Area from July 1,2006.

Bangladesh Prime Miniter Khaleda Zia is expected to inaugurate the meet as Foreign Minster Morshed Khan takes over the chair from his Thai counterpart Kantathi Suphamongkhon.

Ahmed is also scheduled to open a visa centre of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka during his visit, diplomatic sources said. (PTI)

Crusading journalist Jack Anderson dies at age 83

WASHINGTON, Dec 18: Jack Anderson, the crusading journalist who tackled powerful figures like J Edgar Hoover and won a Pulitzer prize for his reporting on the Nixon administration, died at age 83.

Complications from a 19-year battle with Parkinson's disease were the cause of death, his son Randy Anderson yesterday said in a brief telephone interview.

Anderson was hired by Drew Pearson in 1947 to work as a staffer on the column Pearson had founded, the Washington Merry-Go-Round, and later took it over after Pearson's death in 1969. He only gave up the column at age 81 in July 2004, too ill to continue it as Parkinson's disease took its toll.

Anderson is considered one of the major figures in modern investigative journalism, fearless in pursuit of a story. He won his Pulitzer for reporting on secret American policy decision-making that implied the United States leaned toward Pakistan in its 1971 war with India.

Former FBI chief J Edgar Hoover and Anderson feuded for years over Anderson's columns that indicated organized crime was a greater threat than Hoover had recognized.

Anderson also made it onto the former Nixon administration's ''enemies list.'' G Gordon Liddy, the Watergate conspirator, once said that he and other White House operatives discussed at the time how to stop Anderson including through slipping him drugs though no action was taken.

Anderson was born in Long Beach, California, to a Mormon family and grew up in Salt Lake City. He served two years as a missionary before launching his career at a local newspaper and then moving on to the Salt Lake Tribune in 1940. (AGENCIES)

Arab American fights stereotypes with comedy

DUBAI, Dec 18: Sick of endlessly being taken for a possible terrorist just because of the way he looks, Arab American Ahmed Ahmed has fought back with an unconventional weapon, comedy.

Rather than hitting the streets in protest, he conveys his anger through jokes about airport security ordeals he faces every time he boards a plane -- the fate of many Arabs and Muslims as a result of Western fear since the Septembere 11 attacks.

''My name is Ahmed Ahmed and I can't fly,'' he says as he starts his stand-up comedy show.

''When I get to the airport the security woman at the check-in desk asks 'Did you pack the bags yourself?' (Ahmed) 'Yes.' (Security woman) 'You're under arrest'.''

The 35-year-old Egyptian-American is one of a small group of Arab American comics who are using their gift for humour to highlight the plight of their community.

''Through art you can prove a point without preaching. Artists can be politically outspoken but don't suffer as much criticism as politicians do,'' he told Reuters in the Gulf Arab emirate of Dubai, where he recently performed.

The September 11, 2001 attacks, carried out by Arab Muslim hijackers of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, triggered a rise in anti-Arab and Muslim hate crimes in North America and Europe.

A Human Rights Watch report said such crimes in the United States rose 17-fold from 2000 to 2001, as did acts of discrimination and racial profiling. Hate crimes have ranged from intimidation and harassment to murder.

Ahmed's shows in the United States, Canada, Britain and the United Arab Emirates have won him worldwide fans and the 2004 Richard Pryor Award for Ethnic Comedy at the Edinburgh Festival.

HOLLYWOOD ''TYPECASTS ARABS''

Born in Egypt, Ahmed moved to the United States with his family when he was just one month old and headed to Hollywood in Los Angeles to become an actor at age 19.

He says he was tired of being typecast as an Arab guerrilla or taxi driver, so moved to comedy where he had control over his material.

He says the Hollywood film industry was predominantly Jewish and had little insight into West Asian culture and the Muslim faith, making life as an Arab entertainer hard.

''It was necessary to address it. And the only way to do it without being too preachy about it was through comedy.''

Few Arabs or Americans of Arab origin have made a career in Hollywood and only a handful have become stars -- like Omar Sharif, Tony Shalhoub and Salma Hayek, whose father is Lebanese-Mexican.

Ahmed also tours with a Jewish rabbi at synagogues across the United States.

''You know Arabs and Jews have a lot in common. They both don't eat pork, they use the 'khhh' sound a lot and they're both hairy creatures of God. The only difference between Arabs and Jews is that Jews don't like to spend any money and Arabs don't have money to spend,'' he jokes.

His show with the rabbi has raised the ire of some Muslims in the West who object to his performing in front of Jewish audiences.

Many Arabs and Muslims say Israel's occupation of Arab land makes interaction between Muslims and Jews difficult if not impossible.

But Ahmed says Arabs and Muslims in the West can't afford to isolate themselves from the rest of society and should instead try to reach out and understand the other side.

''You can bridge gaps and that's what God intended for us, so nations, cultures and religions could learn from each other.''

Now he is searching for a sponsor to bring Arab-American comedians to the West Asian as well as financing to create an Arab-American television sitcom that could be produced at Dubai's state-of-the-art production facilities.

He argues that Arabs and Muslims have a responsibility to support entertainers from their community, especially if they hope to change their image in Hollywood or Western media.

''When a movie comes out in Hollywood that depicts Arabs in a bad way, the first thing Arabs would do is protest. And I always say don't do that. Go make a movie or a play or anything to counteract what people are depicting us as.

''In other words, you can't fight fire with fire. In this situation you have to fight fire with art and humour.'' (AGENCIES)

Nepal has not received arms from Pak: Kingdom's Army Chief

KATHMANDU, Dec 18: Nepalese Army, which is fighting the Maoist insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom, has not received any arms supply from Pakistan, its chief Pyarjung Thapa has said.

Stating this, Thapa, who returned yesterday from a week-long visit to Pakistan, added that the Pakistan Army has, however, provided training to the Nepalese Army.

Training is the main field of cooperation between the two armies, the Nepalese Army chief told reporters.

Thapa, who met President Pervez Musharraf and other high-ranking Pakistani Army officials during his visit, noted that Pakistan has previously also provided training to the Royal Nepal Army. He said his talks with the Pakistani officials focussed only on that topic.

The Nepalese Army chief said that his talks in Pakistan were not regarding providing weapons to the Nepalese Army.

"I feel that the visit has further strengthened bilateral relations," he said.

Thapa also announced that the Army will provide job opportunities to the family members of the 11 innocent civilians killed by a soldier at Nagarkot recently.

After his arrival from Pakistan, Thapa went straight to the Army Hospital at Chhauni to visit those injured in the shooting. He assured the injured that action will be taken as per the report of the probe committee.

Nepal government has already announced a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the family members of those killed in the incident. Besides, it had said that it would bear the medical expenses of the injured. (PTI)

Pakistani dam proposal meets fierce opposition

ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is trying to rally support for the construction of a controversial dam he says is vital for long-term prosperity but even some of his staunchest allies are vehemently opposed.

Water has long been a sensitive and divisive issue in drought-prone Pakistan and Musharraf is facing opposition from downstream of the proposed dam on the Indus River, where people fear it will rob them of their fair share of water.

The dispute over the Kalabagh dam has produced rare cracks in Musharraf's ruling coalition but the president is determined to muster support to begin construction.

''Dams are very crucial for the economic development of the country. We are trying to build national understanding on this,'' Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Reuters over the weekend.

Musharraf has been campaigning for the construction of Kalabagh dam since he seized power six years ago but has recently stepped up efforts to get the project off the drawing board.

He says the dam, near the border of the Northwest Frontier and Punjab provinces in central Pakistan, would harness the Indus to the benefit of farmers across the country as well as producing hydro-electric power.

Existing dams are slowly silting up and Pakistan has to build the Kalabagh dam as well as at least two others by 2050 to support agriculture and under-pin economic growth, he says.

The president has been touring the country to drum up support and the government has called an all-parties conference to try to reach agreement on Kalabagh and other dam proposals.

The fiercest opposition comes from Sindh, the southern province where the Indus meets the sea.

''The Kalabagh dam is a question of life and death for Sindh,'' the province's chief minister and an important Musharraf ally, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, told his provincial assembly on Thursday.

''I will not betray my province on this issue,'' said Rahim who is the provincial head of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League. He said he would resign if he had to.

''EXTREME STEPS''

Another of Musharraf's allies in the south, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, has threatened to leave the ruling coalition over the dam.

''I'm afraid we may be forced to take some extreme steps,'' said the party's parliamentary leader, Farooq Sattar.

Parties in Northwest Frontier Province also oppose the project saying it would submerge a large swathe of their province, displace thousands of people and could cause devastation in the event of floods.

Support for the project is strong in Punjab, the country's cotton and wheat basket and its most populous, and traditionally most powerful, province.

The controversy has renewed old tension between the smaller provinces and long-dominant Punjab, analysts say, which the government hopes the all-parties conference can assuage.

''The president wants to remove the concerns and reservations of the smaller provinces,'' Ahmed said. No date has been set of the conference but it is expected this month.

Self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has warned that anger over the dam could threaten national solidarity.

She has blamed the government for stirring up the dispute, saying it was trying to weaken opposition to its rule.

''For the last nearly three decades, one military dictator or another had tried to divide the country and the people by raising Kalabagh dam issue with a view to weaken opposition to its dictatorship,'' she said in a statement this month.

Opposition to Kalabagh and other projects from the smaller provinces has prevented construction of any new reservoirs over the past 30 years. In the absence of new dams the country has had to opt for expensive thermal power generation.

Fast-growing Pakistan's total power generation capacity is about 20,000 MW. It is expected to face a power shortfall of 5,530 MW by 2010 unless new dams are built. (AGENCIES)