India’s PM-elect quick on Twitter diplomacynews.kuwaittimes.net/pdf/2014/may/20/p11.pdfelect...
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INTERNATIONAL TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2014 ISLAMABAD: Weeks of infighting between Taleban groups have hampered stop-start peace talks with Pakistan’s government, sources said yesterday, as the insurgents’ leader vowed to continue fighting until Islamic law was enforced in the country. Two factions of the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP), the umbrella grouping for disparate militant groups, have been locked in bloody clashes since at least March. The fighting has claimed more than 90 lives in the tribal areas along the Afghan border and has now forced the TTP’s commander-in-chief Mullah Fazlullah to appoint a mediator to try to end the feud, militant sources said. “The infighting has forced the Taleban leader- ship to postpone peace talks for the time being,” a TTP insider said on condition of anonymity. Another Taleban commander in the northwest con- firmed to AFP that “peace talks have been halted until end of differences between the two rival groups”. The development threatens to undermine what little progress has been made in the peace negotiations. The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif began the talks in February to try to end the TTP’s seven-year insurgency which has claimed thousands of lives. Insiders say the TTP feud, which came to light in March, is over command in the South Waziristan tribal area and who has the right to lead the Mehsud tribe, from which the movement draws many of its members.The conflict pits followers of the late TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, led by commander Sheheryar Mehsud, against supporters of Khan Said Sajna. Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a US drone last November. “Differences between the Sajna and Sheheryar groups mean differences in the Mehsud tribe and its continua- tion is very harmful for the Taleban,” the command- er said. Fazlullah, who became TTP chief on Hakimullah’s death, has separately vowed to continue his armed struggle until Islamic sharia law is in force across Pakistan. In a video released by the TTP’s media wing, Fazlullah was seen arriving in a training camp somewhere in a mountainous area with around two dozen masked men armed with assault rifles, pistols and rocket-propelled grenades. “Our jihad will con- tinue until sharia is enforced or we embrace martyr- dom,” Fazlullah said in the video, urging would-be militants to make contact with commanders. “We have accepted the writ and power of Allah, and the Pakistan army, intelligence agencies and government will have to accept Allah’s writ.”Hardline cleric Fazlullah first rose to promi- nence as the leader of the Taleban’s two-year rule in the northwestern Swat Valley, which featured pub- lic floggings and executions. Fazlullah, who has a $500,000 government bounty on his head, has mounted some brutal and humiliating attacks on Pakistan’s military, including the beheading of 17 soldiers after an attack in June 2012. — AFP Taleban infighting hampers Pakistan peace talks NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister- elect Narendra Modi has taken to Twitter to thank fellow leaders in Japan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Australia for their support, but one man still waiting for a reply is US Secretary of State John Kerry. While Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper has had two mentions and Russian President Putin received warm words yesterday, Modi has conspicuously made no reference at all to the leaders of the world’s superpower. Washington, along with European powers, boycotted the 63-year-old for a decade and denied him a visa over religious violence in 2002 during his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat state that left about 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead. Kerry tweeted congratulations to Modi on Friday after a landslide win for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, say- ing he looked forward to “growing shared prosperity/security”. President Barack Obama tele- phoned Modi but is yet to comment in person. He had warm words for his predecessor on Saturday, however. As Manmohan Singh left office after 10 years in power, Obama called to tell him that that there were “very few people in public life that I have admired or appre- ciated more.” Modi has displayed no rancor publicly about his treatment by Washington, telling an interviewer earli- er this month that foreign relations “should not and cannot be influenced by incidents related to individuals”. But analysts are looking closely at how the world’s biggest democracies embrace each other with Modi at the helm and following a highly damaging spat over the arrest of an Indian diplo- mat in New York in December. Modi, writing on Twitter to his 4.19 million fol- lowers, addressed a message to Russian President Putin on Monday saying that he looked forward “to making our rela- tions with Russia even stronger in the years to come.” Japanese premier Shinzo Abe meanwhile was thanked for his good wishes “Personally, I have a wonderful experience of working with Japan as CM (chief minister). I am sure we will take India-Japan ties to newer heights,” he wrote. Modi was chief minister of Gujarat in 2002 when anti-Muslim riots broke out and, although he has never been found guilty of wrongdoing, the failure of his administration to control the vio- lence left a legacy of suspicion. Investigators have never found evi- dence to prosecute him, but a woman he later appointed to his cabinet was jailed for life for orchestrating some of the worst of the killing. Modi was refused a visa to the United States in 2005. Britain also boycotted Modi, but British Prime Minister David Cameron sent a message of congratulations on Friday which was acknowledged by Modi the day after. “Hoping to further strengthen India-UK relations,” he wrote. — AFP India’s PM-elect quick on Twitter diplomacy Modi shuns US for now VARANASI: Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leader and India’s next prime minister Narendra Modi speaks after performing evening rituals on the banks of the River Ganges in Varanasi, an ancient city revered by millions of devout Hindus, India. — AP GHAZNI: Former Afghan prisoners prepare to leave after their release from jail in Ghazni yesterday. Around 100 prisoners were released by a decree from Afghan President Hamid Karzai. — AFP KABUL: A bored security guard, a Kalashnikov rifle over his shoulder, stands guard alone out- side an idle construction site for a 10-storey building in downtown Kabul, one of more than a dozen concrete shells with not a single con- struction worker in sight. It was meant to be boom-time after decades of war and privation, with shiny new shopping malls springing up around the Afghan capital and construction cranes dotting Kabul’s spectacular, snow- capped horizon over the past few years. However, business has now ground to a halt across much of Afghanistan. Political uncertain- ty abounds before another presidential vote and security fears are growing as the last for- eign combat troops prepare to leave. “To invest in such an environment would be craziness,” acknowledges Hameedullah Omar, marketing manager of a deserted nine-storey office com- plex in Kabul’s main shopping district that was completed only last year. Foreign donors worried about deteriorating security are leaving as Western forces wind down operations, leaving aid-dependent Kabul to manage its threadbare finances on its own. The United States and Britain, two of the biggest donors, have already cut aid by up to half. International aid groups, which provide a lifeline for marginalized Afghans, say funds are drying up fast. One US non-profit group that runs 13 schools for 3,000 girls says it hasn’t paid its teachers for more than a year. Property prices have slumped as much 50 percent, rents are down 75 percent by some counts and investors have pulled funding from construc- tion projects. The afghani currency has also fallen and is now at around 57 to the dollar, from 52 at the start of 2013. “Investment is mostly on hold in Afghanistan,” the deputy chief of the central bank, Khan Afzal Hadawal said. International institutions expect Afghanistan’s GDP growth to fall from a high of about 14 percent in 2012 to about 3.5 percent this year. The World Bank has said more uncertainty could dampen growth further this year. The International Crisis Group think tank said in a report released last week that the number of attacks by Islamist insurgents had risen since the drawdown of foreign troops began, and forecast a bloody future unless there was more foreign assis- tance. NEW DELHI: Indian senior swayamsevaks, or volunteers, from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the country’s biggest grassroots religious group, exercise during the Shakha - a gathering of swayamsevaks - in New Delhi. —AFP NAGPUR: Young men gaze reverently at the flame-shaped memorial to a Hindu supremacist in the grounds of India’s biggest grassroots religious organization, which prime minister- elect Narendra Modi joined as a boy. In the city of Nagpur, oppo- site a black-painted statue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder Keshav Hedgewar, the solemn tribute to his succes- sor Madhav Golwalkar is a reminder of what critics say is the group’s deep-rooted religious prejudice. Back in 1938, Golwalkar said India’s non-Hindus must adopt Hindu culture, language and religion-”they must cease to be foreigners, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming noth- ing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment”. Across India, thousands of RSS followers campaigned for Modi ahead of his victory last week, which saw his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the first parliamentary majority in 30 years. That effort, as well as longstanding ties with the BJP, raises ques- tions about how much the group will influence its most famous alumnus. “Since a person from RSS is going to be prime minister, we expect he will work not only for the nation, but also for RSS,” said Rajeev Varma, a 23-year-old engineering student who cam- paigned for Modi. “Obviously we feel proud.” But experts say Modi could disappoint the group and its four and a half million members, aware that his prospects depend first and foremost on meeting pledges of growth and development. “He has to win on the economy, and that’s the thing on which he will be judged,” Christophe Jaffrelot, a long-time expert on the Hindu nationalism movement said. “What if he fails to relaunch the economy? The Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) plank is the plan B,” added Jaffrelot, a professor from Sciences Po university in Paris and King’s College London. The RSS, whose members wear a uniform of khaki shorts and black hats, describes itself as a cultural outfit devoted to the bet- terment of the nation and upholding Hindu values. Critics decry it as a pseudo-fascist organization that has fuelled religious ten- sions. After helping out as a boy, Modi became a full-time volun- teer as a young adult-taking the requisite vow of celibacy-for more than 15 years before he joined the BJP. He recently said the RSS “should be appreciated for their good work”. The group is widely described as an ideological parent of the BJP, although volunteers in Nagpur were wary of discussing the elections. “When the RSS says we are a cultural organization, it actually is,” said Sameer Gautam, 39, who runs a software company- although he joked about “the wall” that comes down on inquir- ing journalists. AFP was not allowed to film at the RSS headquarters, a close- ly-guarded compound in Nagpur, nor at one of the city’s daily “shakhas”-a combination of physical training, yoga and religious chanting. “Their approach is extremely secretive. Most of their communications are verbal,” said Kumar Ketkar, a political ana- lyst in Mumbai. MG Vaidya, a prominent 91-year-old RSS activist, said it was difficult to understand the group “because it does not fit into the existing models of social, political or religious institu- tions”. “One basic value of Hindu culture is appreciation of the plurality of faith. Not only tolerance but appreciation,” he said. Remote control? Critics such as Rupa Kulkarni Bodhi, a converted Buddhist academic, believe a more sinister agenda is at hand. She says the “dream” of the RSS and BJP is “to convert this nation into a Hindu nation”. At a rare post-election press conference in Nagpur, RSS general secretary Suresh Joshi denied his organization would be a “remote control” over the new government, although he hint- ed at an advisory role. “If they ask us we will suggest (ideas) to them,” he said. The RSS has been banned three times since its inception, including after a former member assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 and the 1992 demolition of a mosque in Ayodhya which led to nationwide riots. Members have spo- ken out against concessions to religious minorities, homosexual- ity and the special constitutional status of Muslim-majority Kashmir. India Hindu hardliners see Modi as ‘one of their own’ Castles in the air: Afghans pay a heavy price for uncertainty
Transcript of India’s PM-elect quick on Twitter diplomacynews.kuwaittimes.net/pdf/2014/may/20/p11.pdfelect...
I N T E R N AT ION A LTUESDAY, MAY 20, 2014
ISLAMABAD: Weeks of infighting between Talebangroups have hampered stop-start peace talks withPakistan’s government, sources said yesterday, asthe insurgents’ leader vowed to continue fightinguntil Islamic law was enforced in the country. Twofactions of the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP),the umbrella grouping for disparate militantgroups, have been locked in bloody clashes sinceat least March. The fighting has claimed more than90 lives in the tribal areas along the Afghan borderand has now forced the TTP’s commander-in-chiefMullah Fazlullah to appoint a mediator to try toend the feud, militant sources said.
“The infighting has forced the Taleban leader-ship to postpone peace talks for the time being,” a
T TP insider said on condition of anonymity.Another Taleban commander in the northwest con-firmed to AFP that “peace talks have been halteduntil end of differences between the two rivalgroups”. The development threatens to underminewhat little progress has been made in the peacenegotiations. The government of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif began the talks in February to try toend the TTP’s seven-year insurgency which hasclaimed thousands of lives.
Insiders say the TTP feud, which came to light inMarch, is over command in the South Waziristantribal area and who has the right to lead theMehsud tribe, from which the movement drawsmany of its members.The conflict pits followers of
the late TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, led bycommander Sheheryar Mehsud, against supportersof Khan Said Sajna. Hakimullah Mehsud was killedby a US drone last November. “Differencesbetween the Sajna and Sheheryar groups meandifferences in the Mehsud tribe and its continua-tion is very harmful for the Taleban,” the command-er said.
Fazlullah, who became TTP chief on Hakimullah’sdeath, has separately vowed to continue his armedstruggle until Islamic sharia law is in force acrossPakistan. In a video released by the TTP’s mediawing, Fazlullah was seen arriving in a training campsomewhere in a mountainous area with around twodozen masked men armed with assault rifles, pistols
and rocket-propelled grenades. “Our jihad will con-tinue until sharia is enforced or we embrace martyr-dom,” Fazlullah said in the video, urging would-bemilitants to make contact with commanders.
“We have accepted the writ and power of Allah,and the Pakistan army, intelligence agencies andgovernment will have to accept Allah’swrit.”Hardline cleric Fazlullah first rose to promi-nence as the leader of the Taleban’s two-year rule inthe northwestern Swat Valley, which featured pub-lic floggings and executions. Fazlullah, who has a$500,000 government bounty on his head, hasmounted some brutal and humiliating attacks onPakistan’s military, including the beheading of 17soldiers after an attack in June 2012. — AFP
Taleban infighting hampers Pakistan peace talks
NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister-elect Narendra Modi has taken toTwitter to thank fellow leaders in Japan,Russia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Australiafor their support, but one man stillwaiting for a reply is US Secretary ofState John Kerry. While Canadian PrimeMinister Stephan Harper has had twomentions and Russian President Putinreceived warm words yesterday, Modihas conspicuously made no referenceat all to the leaders of the world’ssuperpower.
Washington, along with Europeanpowers, boycotted the 63-year-old fora decade and denied him a visa overreligious violence in 2002 during histenure as chief minister of Gujaratstate that left about 1,000 people,mostly Muslims, dead. Kerry tweetedcongratulations to Modi on Fridayafter a landslide win for his Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, say-ing he looked forward to “growingshared prosperity/security”.
President Barack Obama tele-phoned Modi but is yet to comment inperson. He had warm words for hispredecessor on Saturday, however. AsManmohan Singh left office after 10years in power, Obama called to tell himthat that there were “very few people inpublic life that I have admired or appre-ciated more.” Modi has displayed norancor publicly about his treatment byWashington, telling an interviewer earli-er this month that foreign relations
“should not and cannot be influencedby incidents related to individuals”.
But analysts are looking closely athow the world’s biggest democraciesembrace each other with Modi at thehelm and following a highly damagingspat over the arrest of an Indian diplo-mat in New York in December. Modi,writing on Twitter to his 4.19 million fol-lowers, addressed a message to RussianPresident Putin on Monday saying thathe looked forward “to making our rela-tions with Russia even stronger in the
years to come.” Japanese premierShinzo Abe meanwhile was thanked forhis good wishes “Personally, I have awonderful experience of working withJapan as CM (chief minister). I am surewe will take India-Japan ties to newerheights,” he wrote.
Modi was chief minister of Gujaratin 2002 when anti-Muslim riots brokeout and, although he has never beenfound guilty of wrongdoing, the failureof his administration to control the vio-lence left a legacy of suspicion.
Investigators have never found evi-dence to prosecute him, but a womanhe later appointed to his cabinet wasjailed for life for orchestrating some ofthe worst of the killing. Modi wasrefused a visa to the United States in2005. Britain also boycotted Modi, butBritish Prime Minister David Cameronsent a message of congratulations onFriday which was acknowledged byModi the day after. “Hoping to furtherstrengthen India-UK relations,” hewrote. — AFP
India’s PM-elect quick
on Twitter diplomacy
Modi shuns US for now
VARANASI: Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leader and India’s next prime minister Narendra Modispeaks after performing evening rituals on the banks of the River Ganges in Varanasi, an ancient cityrevered by millions of devout Hindus, India. — AP
GHAZNI: Former Afghan prisoners prepare to leave after their release from jail inGhazni yesterday. Around 100 prisoners were released by a decree from AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai. — AFP
KABUL: A bored security guard, a Kalashnikovrifle over his shoulder, stands guard alone out-side an idle construction site for a 10-storeybuilding in downtown Kabul, one of more thana dozen concrete shells with not a single con-struction worker in sight. It was meant to beboom-time after decades of war and privation,with shiny new shopping malls springing uparound the Afghan capital and constructioncranes dotting Kabul’s spectacular, snow-capped horizon over the past few years.
However, business has now ground to a haltacross much of Afghanistan. Political uncertain-ty abounds before another presidential voteand security fears are growing as the last for-eign combat troops prepare to leave. “To investin such an environment would be craziness,”acknowledges Hameedullah Omar, marketingmanager of a deserted nine-storey office com-plex in Kabul’s main shopping district that wascompleted only last year.
Foreign donors worried about deterioratingsecurity are leaving as Western forces winddown operations, leaving aid-dependent Kabulto manage its threadbare finances on its own.The United States and Britain, two of the
biggest donors, have already cut aid by up tohalf. International aid groups, which provide alifeline for marginalized Afghans, say funds aredrying up fast. One US non-profit group thatruns 13 schools for 3,000 girls says it hasn’t paidits teachers for more than a year. Propertyprices have slumped as much 50 percent, rentsare down 75 percent by some counts andinvestors have pulled funding from construc-tion projects.
The afghani currency has also fallen and isnow at around 57 to the dollar, from 52 at thestart of 2013. “Investment is mostly on hold inAfghanistan,” the deputy chief of the centralbank, Khan Afzal Hadawal said. Internationalinstitutions expect Afghanistan’s GDP growthto fall from a high of about 14 percent in 2012to about 3.5 percent this year. The World Bankhas said more uncertainty could dampengrowth further this year. The International CrisisGroup think tank said in a report released lastweek that the number of attacks by Islamistinsurgents had risen since the drawdown offoreign troops began, and forecast a bloodyfuture unless there was more foreign assis-tance.
NEW DELHI: Indian senior swayamsevaks, or volunteers, from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the country’sbiggest grassroots religious group, exercise during the Shakha - a gathering of swayamsevaks - in New Delhi. —AFP
NAGPUR: Young men gaze reverently at the flame-shapedmemorial to a Hindu supremacist in the grounds of India’sbiggest grassroots religious organization, which prime minister-elect Narendra Modi joined as a boy. In the city of Nagpur, oppo-site a black-painted statue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) founder Keshav Hedgewar, the solemn tribute to his succes-sor Madhav Golwalkar is a reminder of what critics say is thegroup’s deep-rooted religious prejudice. Back in 1938, Golwalkarsaid India’s non-Hindus must adopt Hindu culture, language andreligion-”they must cease to be foreigners, or may stay in thecountry, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming noth-ing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment”.
Across India, thousands of RSS followers campaigned forModi ahead of his victory last week, which saw his BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) win the first parliamentary majority in 30 years.That effort, as well as longstanding ties with the BJP, raises ques-tions about how much the group will influence its most famousalumnus. “Since a person from RSS is going to be prime minister,we expect he will work not only for the nation, but also for RSS,”said Rajeev Varma, a 23-year-old engineering student who cam-paigned for Modi. “Obviously we feel proud.”
But experts say Modi could disappoint the group and its fourand a half million members, aware that his prospects depend firstand foremost on meeting pledges of growth and development.“He has to win on the economy, and that’s the thing on which hewill be judged,” Christophe Jaffrelot, a long-time expert on theHindu nationalism movement said. “What if he fails to relaunchthe economy? The Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) plank is the planB,” added Jaffrelot, a professor from Sciences Po university in Parisand King’s College London.
The RSS, whose members wear a uniform of khaki shorts andblack hats, describes itself as a cultural outfit devoted to the bet-terment of the nation and upholding Hindu values. Critics decryit as a pseudo-fascist organization that has fuelled religious ten-sions. After helping out as a boy, Modi became a full-time volun-
teer as a young adult-taking the requisite vow of celibacy-formore than 15 years before he joined the BJP. He recently said theRSS “should be appreciated for their good work”. The group iswidely described as an ideological parent of the BJP, althoughvolunteers in Nagpur were wary of discussing the elections.“When the RSS says we are a cultural organization, it actually is,”said Sameer Gautam, 39, who runs a software company-although he joked about “the wall” that comes down on inquir-ing journalists.
AFP was not allowed to film at the RSS headquarters, a close-ly-guarded compound in Nagpur, nor at one of the city’s daily“shakhas”-a combination of physical training, yoga and religiouschanting. “Their approach is extremely secretive. Most of theircommunications are verbal,” said Kumar Ketkar, a political ana-lyst in Mumbai. MG Vaidya, a prominent 91-year-old RSS activist,said it was difficult to understand the group “because it does notfit into the existing models of social, political or religious institu-tions”. “One basic value of Hindu culture is appreciation of theplurality of faith. Not only tolerance but appreciation,” he said.
Remote control?Critics such as Rupa Kulkarni Bodhi, a converted Buddhist
academic, believe a more sinister agenda is at hand. She says the“dream” of the RSS and BJP is “to convert this nation into a Hindunation”. At a rare post-election press conference in Nagpur, RSSgeneral secretary Suresh Joshi denied his organization would bea “remote control” over the new government, although he hint-ed at an advisory role. “If they ask us we will suggest (ideas) tothem,” he said. The RSS has been banned three times since itsinception, including after a former member assassinatedMahatma Gandhi in 1948 and the 1992 demolition of a mosquein Ayodhya which led to nationwide riots. Members have spo-ken out against concessions to religious minorities, homosexual-ity and the special constitutional status of Muslim-majorityKashmir.
India Hindu hardliners see
Modi as ‘one of their own’
Castles in the air: Afghans pay
a heavy price for uncertainty
