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ACHA PEACE BULLETIN
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http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACHAPeaceBulletin
A publication of Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) www.asiapeace.org
Editors:
David Campion, PhD campion@lclark.edu
Pritam K. Rohila, PhD pritam@open.org
Subscription is free.
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Volume VIII, No. 9, September 15, 2005; Next Issue, October 15, 2005
EDITORIAL
India
Pakistan
Pakistan-India
India-Nepal
Nepal
Sri Lanka
India-Sri Lanka
PEACE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
(Readers are invited to submit similar information from other areas of South Asia to help us broaden of our coverage. Please send the info to pritamr@open.org, a week before the date of publication of the next issue of the ACHA Peace Bulletin)
EDITORIAL
Katrina victims need help
Pritam K. Rohila, PhD
Water gods have not been kind to the world lately. As if the Asian Tsunami, and severe flooding in southwestern Pakistan, western India, and central and Eastern Europe were not enough, Katrina has now devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast. With 145 mph winds, Katrina has proven to be one of the worst natural disasters in the United States. It has destroyed New Orleans, and many other coastal towns in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Katrina has severely disrupted business and industry. Government machinery is overwhelmed. Hundreds of people are dead. More than a million Americans, including thousands of South Asians, have been rendered homeless. Thousands of others are left without food, safe drinking water, electricity, and/or phone service. It will require one of the biggest relief operations in the U.S. history.
Natural disasters test the mettle of humanity. Certainly they bring the worst in some people. But they also bring out the best in many others. I hope this calamity will arouse enough human concern among us all that we reach out to the victims of Katrina with whatever each one us can afford, plus some more.
Please volunteer if you can. And donate money to a reputable organization you know. Organizations like American Red Cross 800.HELP-NOW, www.redcross.org), Northwest Medical Team (800.959.4325, www.nwmedicalteams.org), and Salvation Army (800.462.8657 Ext 6440) are known for their relief work. Some South Asian resources can be found at http://saja.org/resources/katrina.html
Dr. Rohila is the Executive Director of the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA), a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting peace in South Asia and harmony among South Asians everywhere.
* India
India sends aid for New Orleans
New Delhi, BBC South Asia, September 10
India has dispatched an air force plane laden with 22 tons of relief supplies to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. India has already given the American Red Cross a donation of $5m to help relief efforts. US officials now say that fears that up to 10,000 died in the disaster may be an overestimate. The air force plane is expected to deliver its load on Monday after a first stop at Boston. The Indian Ilyushin plane is carrying tarpaulins, blankets, personal hygiene kits and sheets, officials say. Next week, a team of Indian divers and salvage experts is due to fly out to join US rescue workers. India turned down offers of international help when its commercial capital, Mumbai (Bombay) and surrounding areas were battered by monsoon rains earlier this year that left hundreds dead.
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4233008.stm
Prime Minister in favor of troops cut if violence and infiltration cease
New Delhi, Rediff.com, September 5
Reflecting his commitment to bringing peace in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday promised that conditions will be created for reduction of armed forces in the state if there is a cessation of violence and an end to infiltration. During the parleys with a five-member Hurriyat delegation headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, he agreed to review all cases of all those held in detention and to a time-bound review of those held under the Public Safety Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act. Making it clear that violence had no role in a democracy, the prime minister reaffirmed his faith in a peaceful resolution of all issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir and his commitment to ensure a life of peace, self-respect and dignity for the people.
In his first face-to-face interaction with the separatist amalgam ahead of his meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on September 14, the prime minister promised to ensure that violations of human dignity would not be tolerated and that the government would take all necessary measures to safeguard against human rights violations. A press release issued after the talks said it was agreed to carry forward the dialogue process so that all shades of political opinion in Jammu and Kashmir are involved. On its part, the Hurriyat delegation stressed that an honorable and durable solution should be found to Kashmir issue should be found through dialogue and it was agreed that that only way forward was to ensure that all forms of violence at all levels should come to an end. It was felt that the dialogue process should lead to the resolution of all outstanding issues relating to Jammu and Kashmir.
Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/05hurriyat4.htm
Prime Minister says peace process with Pakistan irreversible
New Delhi, Rediff.com, September 3
Setting the tone for his meeting with
Pervez Musharraf in New York later this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
today said he and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would see that the peace
process between the two countries was irreversible. He said infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir was already on the decline and expressed hope that India and Pakistan would work to realise a clear vision of prosperity. Singh said the initiatives
taken by his United Progressive Alliance government to strengthen the peace
process with Pakistan were irreversible. “Our relations with Pakistan are improving. Both President Musharraf and I have committed our countries to do all that
is in our power to make the peace process irreversible,” he said.
Singh said he was happy that the All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders had
agreed for talks with the Centre, which would help in strengthening the peace
process. He said relations with the US, China and Russia could also be
improved. He said India could work out an arrangement with the United States to end 34 years of “nuclear apartheid” which denied the country the benefit
of dual-use technology. Affirming that the UPA government was committed to
combining reforms with human face, Singh said special attention had been paid
to ensure the welfare of the poor and the needy while giving a push to the
economic growth. Singh said the Indian
economy was growing at the rate of seven percent and the government had taken
the lead to accelerate the growth to eight per cent or more. In another ten
years, the country could get rid of poverty by achieving ten percent growth, he
added. “We are reformers but we are cautious reformers. We will not neglect
welfare of the people,” he said. Noting the valuable contribution of Non
Resident Indians in maintaining the country’s balance of payment position, the
prime minister said the Centre was looking into including more countries for
granting dual citizenship for people.
Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/03pm.htm
Prime Minister sets date with Hurriyet
New Delhi, Kashmir Times September 1
The Kashmir peace process received the much required fillip Wednesday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led moderate Hurriyat Conference for talks here on September 5. The invitation, which was accepted by the Hurriyat Conference, marks the resumption of the much-awaited dialogue between the Centre and the Hurriyat Conference after more than one and a half years. “The Prime Minister has been in touch with the moderate Hurriyat leaders through various interlocutors and has invited them for talks on September 5,” Dr Sanjaya Baru, Media Adviser to the Prime Minister said.
Full story: http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=233882&category=Frontend&Country=INDIA&pro=0
India renews historic Afghan ties
New Delhi, Sanjoy Majumder, BBC News, 26 August
When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh steps off his aircraft in Afghanistan on Sunday, he will be hoping to strengthen his country’s historic ties with that country. It is the first visit to the country by an Indian prime minister for 29 years. However, Delhi has been working hard to develop its ties with the new Afghan regime following the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001. It moved swiftly to establish diplomatic posts in the country, hoping to counter the influence of its long-standing rival, Pakistan. Indeed, land-locked Afghanistan placed strategically between Central and South Asia has long been a backdrop for a Cold War-style Great Game between the two nuclear neighbors. For much of the past two decades, India has been wrong-footed in its Afghan policy. In 1979, it was one of the few countries to support the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan – a decision which made the country vastly unpopular in that country. A decade later, it continued to back the Communist-regime of President Najibullah, while Pakistan threw its entire support behind the ethnic Pashtun mujahideen warlords, particularly the Islamist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. When the Taleban swept to power, India had no presence or influence left in the country. It countered Pakistan by strongly backing the Tajik-dominated Northern Alliance, which controlled the narrow sliver of Afghan territory north of the Shomali plains. Much of Indian support flowed in through Tajikistan, where it established a massive and influential embassy. There are many suggestions that this is the route through which it also sent military hardware and other supplies to the Northern Alliance leader, Ahmed Shah Masood.
With the fall of the Taleban, India saw its chance to reassert its influence in the country, particularly as many Afghans were openly unhappy with Pakistan’s support of the Taleban. Delhi is also keen to widen its appeal beyond the Tajik and Uzbek communities which dominate the north and reach out to the ethnic Pashtuns, traditionally close to Pakistan and who form the majority of the population. It has done so by building close ties with the country's charismatic President, Hamid Karzai. President Karzai was a university student in India and Delhi has also quietly cashed in on his public denouncing of Pakistan's alleged support to supporters of the former Taleban regime and al-Qaeda militants. “It is vital for India to make inroads among the Pashtuns if it wants to enhance its presence and blunt Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan,” Ramakant Dwivedi of the Indian Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis told the AFP news agency.
“India needs to identify parties who will go along with the international community in fighting extremism in Afghanistan because the resurgence of the Taleban is a grave threat to India,” he says. But India has also been able to play on the goodwill it has long enjoyed among ordinary Afghans. Since the fall of the Taleban, it has pledged $500m of aid in Afghanistan, focusing on building schools, hospitals and highways. It has done this despite facing difficulties transporting goods to Afghanistan via Pakistan – everything has to be shipped via Iran from the west, adding to costs and time. A large number of Indian construction workers, engineers and medical personnel have been stationed in Afghanistan, helping rebuild vital installations. It has picked projects which are economically and politically significant while loaded in symbolism. It is not surprising, therefore, that one of the key moments of Manmohan Singh’s visit will be the laying of the foundation stone of the country’s new parliamentary building, built by India. India which plays on its strong tradition of democracy is keen to be seen to be strengthening democratic institutions in a country, fragmented and torn by ethnic rivalries. “It is our desire to see Afghanistan prosperous and strong,” Mr Singh said in a recent speech. “We will try to strengthen and support democracy and economic growth in all possible ways.” If this comes at the expense of Pakistan, it will be seen as an added bonus by the Indian government.
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4188462.stm
Women battle on with mosque plan
Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, Geeta Pandey, BBC News, August 19
Muslim women in a small town in southern India have come together to form a community of elders or jamat, traditionally dominated by men. This is the first step towards their ultimate goal, building a mosque exclusively for women. A jamat has traditionally almost always consisted of men, who meet in mosques to adjudicate on family matters. At present women are not represented in jamats and are allowed to pray inside the mosques only on special days. In the small town of Pudukottai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a big revolution is underway. In a two-storey, red-brick house, a group of Muslim women are sitting together, discussing plans to build India’s first women’s mosque. Daud Sharifa is the head of Steps, a women’s development organization, and she is leading the campaign for the mosque. An unassuming woman in her late 30s, she sits cross-legged on the floor, addressing a couple of dozen women. “A mosque is not just for prayer, it’s also a community center,” she says. “A Muslim woman has no space, she’s confined to the kitchen, the bedroom and the delivery room. And if a woman petitions the jamat, she’s not allowed to appear before it. “The jamat calls her husband to put across his point of view, but a woman has to be represented by her father and her brother. The jamat announces its decision without even hearing her. That is not justice.” Some 20km (13 miles) away lies a one-acre barren piece of land covered in bushes, shrubs and trees. Ms Sharifa points to a corner – that’s where the proposed mosque will come up. She is keeping the venue a closely-guarded secret for fear of attacks from those opposed to the idea of a women’s mosque. But Ms Sharifa is upbeat. “Work on the project will begin soon and we’ll complete it in three years.” She knows it is not going to be easy – she says she has received several death threats. “It’s Allah who knows when I’m going to die. So I don’t bother about it. I don’t bother about this life. I’ll do this till the end of my life.”
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4165440.stm
* Pakistan
Actress Rai backs Pakistan polio campaign
New Delhi, BBC Entertainment, August 22
Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai has been invited to kick-start a campaign of immunization against polio in Pakistan. The Indian actress and Pakistan pop star Jawad Ahmed are acting as ambassadors for the polio campaign in each others’ countries. Functions will be held in Pakistan and India highlighting the need to wipe out the disease. Despite Bollywood films being banned in Pakistan, there is no ban on film stars entering the country. Rai and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan are high-profile ambassadors for the anti-polio campaign, appearing in TV and print advertisements. Rai and singer Jawad Ahmed were selected as ambassadors for the next stage in the campaign by Indian and Pakistani health ministers at a World Heath Organization meeting. India and Pakistan are among the countries with the highest number of cases of polio. “We have to fight together against the virus which has crippled many children in India and Pakistan. Both the countries plan to eradicate the disease by December 2006,” Pakistan health minister Mohammad Nasir Khan the Times of India.
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4172970.stm
* India-Pakistan
Indian and Pakistani prisoners go home
Rediff news.com, September 12
The first batch of 435 Indian prisoners who were released from Pakistani prisons crossed Wagah border at 1.35 pm over to India. Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Interiors Waseem Sajjad coordinated the release of prisoners from the Pakistani side and Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Navjot Sidhu is doing the same on the Indian side. Of those released, 371 are fishermen and 64 other civilian prisoners. Joyous and emotional scenes were witnessed on both sides of the border as the freed men walked into the arms of their relatives, many of whom had yearned for this moment for more than ten years.
Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/12look.htm
Pakistan and India set to announce new CBMs
New Delhi, Daily Times, September 10
India and Pakistan are set for several confidence-building measures (CBMs) to be announced in the
next couple of months. The most important of them all is the establishment of
banking relations between both countries to increase bilateral trade and
commerce. Ahead of the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers’ meeting on
October 3 and 4 in Islamabad, both countries are also looking forward to
conclude technical-level talks on the operationalisation of the
Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus service. The meeting was scheduled to take place
towards the end of September, diplomats said on Friday.
Pakistan is also waiting for the dates of the second round of meetings over
the operationalisation of the Amritsar-Lahore bus service. A memorandum of
understanding (MoU) was concluded in the last meeting and the Indians sought
time to seek cabinet approval for the MoU. “We hope it is also signed soon,”
sources added. The absence of banking relations between both countries is a
major hurdle in strengthening economic relations. Without banking relations,
businessmen and other institutions are forced to use circuitous and innovative
routes to pay for their business interests in each other’s countries. During
the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to India in November 2004, both countries had formally decided to open bank branches in each other’s
countries. They also decided to proceed expeditiously to facilitate bilateral
trade relations, said the statement issued after Aziz’s meeting with his Indian
counterpart.
Full story: http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=236127&category=Frontend&Country=PAKISTAN
Singh to meet Musharraf in New York
New Delhi, Dawn, September 10
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said Singh and President Pervez Musharraf would hold a dinner meeting in New York. The talks, the first between the two leaders since April, are expected to centre on the ongoing peace process between the two South Asian countries and will take place on September 14, according to earlier reports.
Full story: http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=236092&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
600 Indian and Pakistani prisoners to be released
New Delhi, The News, September 3
Over 600 fishermen and civilian prisoners, incarcerated in different jails of Pakistan and India, are expected to be released by September 12 in accordance with agreement, recently concluded between India and Pakistan. During the two-day talks on terrorism and drug trafficking, both sides agreed to implement the decisions arrived at by the foreign secretaries in December, 2004 on prisoners and reiterated their commitment to provide immediate notification of arrest made by either sides, provide consular access to all prisoners within three months of arrest and release prisoners immediately after complete of sentence and nationality verification.
Full story: http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=234412&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
India and Pakistan announce new CBMs
New Delhi,
Rediff.com, September 2
Setting the stage for the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf in New York on September 14, India and Pakistan on Friday announced a slew of measures to promote people-to-people contacts, including starting a truck service for trade on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route. The two countries also outlined the roadmap for the third round of the Composite Dialogue process to be launched in January next year in New Delhi with a meeting of their foreign secretaries. The two sides welcomed the continuation of the ceasefire and commended the finalization of the agreement on pre-notification of ballistic missiles tests which has been recommended for signing during the meeting of External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid M Kasuri here on October 3-4.
During the external affairs minister's visit, a memorandum of understanding will also be signed for establishing communication links between the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and the Indian Coast Guard, the joint statement said. It was decided that technical-level meetings would be held as soon as possible on the early operationalization of the Poonch-Rawalkot bus service and a truck service for trade on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route, for which there have been strong demands. They agreed to hold further discussions on establishing meeting points across the line of control for divided families. Technical-level meetings would be held this month to review the bilateral air services agreement and the shipping protocol, Saran said.
It was also decided that technical experts will finalize the modalities for operationalization of the Lahore-Amritsar and Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus services later this month. The joint statement said the two sides expressed satisfaction over the positive developments during the current round of the composite dialogue. They shared the view that the work of their experts on nuclear and conventional confidence building measures had contributed to a “better understanding” of each other’s concerns. The two sides agreed to revise the 1988 Cultural Exchange Program and update the 1974 Visa Agreement, the joint statement added. The two foreign secretaries agreed on the need to improve, on humanitarian grounds, the existing mechanism for expeditious disposal of consular issues related to prisoners, fishermen and inadvertent line crossers of either side.
Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/02pak1.htm
Islamabad, Dawn, August 31
Pakistan and India have agreed to sign the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), a global arrangement for security to
energy-related trade and investments, as observers to ease import of natural
gas through pipelines from Iran, Qatar or Turkmenistan. The observer status
promises access to international information relating to energy trade,
investment, transit and environmental issues. It takes about 5-6 years to graduate
from an observer status to the full membership status if a country decides so
subject to certain international obligations.
Both Pakistan and India agreed early this year to join the ECT because, among
other things, it would neutralize the US pressure against import of gas from Iran. Other sources said that the treaty could exclude Pakistan, Iran and India from having separate inter-governmental, bilateral and multilateral agreements, which
otherwise were unavoidable in the proposed pipeline project. The treaty
includes most of Europe, Japan and the former USSR states. The United States has not yet signed it because of some domestic laws like the one that bars companies
from doing energy business with Iran. Canada has also not signed the treaty.
The treaty envisages energy market restructuring and provides legal safeguards
to investment, transit and trade of energy sources including oil, gas, coal,
uranium, electricity and renewable energy. It covers land transportation,
distribution, storage and supply of energy materials and products by way of
transmission and distribution grids and pipelines or dedicated rail lines. It
also covers promotion, protection and treatment of investments in case of wars,
armed conflicts, state of national emergencies, civil disturbances and similar
other events to improve security of energy supplies to nations on a sustainable
basis. More than fifty countries have signed the ECT although some of them
have yet to ratify it. Another 17 countries have observer status, including Iran, China, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Republic of Korea and Algeria. About ten international organizations are also signatories to the treaty, including ASEAN,
OECD, UN, the World Bank, World Trade Organization and International Energy
Agency.
Full story: http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=233714&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
India
says “noticeable progress” in talks with Pakistan
New Delhi, Rediff.com, August 26
India said on Friday said there has been “noticeable progress” in the composite dialogue process and it will need to be carried forward to address specific important issues. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, who will undertaking a three-day visit to Pakistan from August 31 for talks with his counterpart Riaz Muhammad Khan on the composite dialogue process, said it has been “quite useful” and that “there has been noticeable progress” in some areas. Asked about reports in the Pakistani media that further talks could be held under the aegis of an India-Pakistan joint commission, Saran said the mandate of any such body would have to be discussed.
Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/26pak.htm
Indo-Pakistani meeting to review peace process
Islamabad, Dawn, August 23
Top Pakistani and Indian diplomats will meet in Islamabad on Sept
1 to review how the two countries have progressed on their peace process in one
year before a planned bilateral summit at the United Nations, the two sides
announced on Monday. A foreign ministry spokesman said it would be “a very
important meeting” of the foreign secretaries of the two countries to review
the progress of eight-items agenda of what is known as the “composite dialogue”
that the two nuclear rivals resumed last year following a prolonged deadlock.
The secretaries’ review of progress on the eight subjects, including the main
dispute over Jammu and Kashmir, will be followed by a foreign ministers’
meeting at dates to be decided later, spokesman Mohammad Naeem Khan said.
Other agenda items are: peace and security, disputes over Wullar Barrage in the
held Kashmir, Siachen glacier and Sir Creek maritime boundary, terrorism and
drug trafficking, economy and trade cooperation, and promotion of friendly
exchanges. A similar announcement in New Delhi said Indian foreign secretary
Shyam Saran would make a three-day visit to Islamabad from Aug 31 for a second round
of talks with his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan on Sept 1. “As far
as the Indian side is concerned I think they are also engaged in this process
and when the two leaders as expected to meet on the margins on the UNGA it
would certainly be a good opportunity for them to discuss all issues including
the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and other aspects of bilateral relations,” he
said.
Riaz Mohammad Khan Khan disagreed with a suggestion that the progress of the
peace process was slow and said the situation should be viewed with the
background of more than five decades of misunderstandings, three wars and a
10-month “eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation” as recently as in 2000. “So don’t
you feel we have gone a big way from what was two years ago?” he asked. He said
the leadership of both the countries had shown courage and contacts between the
two sides were taking place at all levels, including those about confidence-
building measures, expanding economic interaction, issues of peace and
security.
“I think these are all very positive developments,” the spokesman said. “We
have to see the point from where we have moved and the point where we have
arrived.” He acknowledged that the two countries faced “problems and
difficulties” while diplomacy allowed them only a step-by-step progress rather
than big jumps but said these were not insurmountable problems. “The important
thing is that the leadership is focused… we are moving on the process... and
all the meetings are taking place,” he said.
Full story: http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=231764&category=frontend&Country=main&pro=0
Pakistani firms in pact with Indian steel companies
Islamabad, Rediff News.com, August 22
Seven Pakistani companies on Sunday signed memoranda of understanding worth $102 million with two Chhattisgarh-based steel companies. Six Pakistani companies signed MoU with BK Engineering while another company inked understanding with Raipur Alloys Limited for importing ferro manganese, official sources said here. The 16-member Pakistani delegation was in Raipur on an invitation from Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh. The MoUs, worth over Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.50 billion) in Indian currency, were signed at the residence of the chief minister in his presence and the delegation, led by chief executive officer of Pakistan Export Development Board Imtiaz Ali Rastagar, sources said.
Speaking after signing the MoUs, Rastagar said their two-day visit to the state was very successful and positive as the main objective of the tour was to outsource from India certain commodities and technologies to fulfill the prevailing demand and supply gap in Pakistan. Director of the Qadbros Engineering Plc, Rizwan Qadri, while sharing his experience, called on the industrialists of the state to develop steel sector in neighbouring country. Pakistan would set up some steel plants with Indian technology especially from Chhattisgarh, he said and proposed to set up an iron and steel research institute with the help of Indian consultants. The function was informed that the annual turnover of the Pakistani steel and sponge iron sector was about four million tons which is likely to be doubled within next five years whereas Chhattisgarh produces 8.7 million tons of iron and steel every year. Welcoming the delegation to the state, Raman Singh said political relations between India and Pakistan would automatically be improved if the economic and trade relations between both the nations are strengthened. The mutual trust would be increased in the same speed in which the trade would be increased among both the nations, Singh said adding, such relations will bring in peace and development among the people from both the sides. Singh also informed the delegation about the works being carried out by the state in bio-diesel sector and said his government was ready to provide all assistance in that sector to Pakistani industries, sources added.
Full story: http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/aug/22pak.htm
* India-Nepal
Fresh start on Nepal-India border issues
New Delhi, Kantipur Online, September 2
Officials from Nepal and India have given a fresh start to the bilateral process of resolving all boundary issues, including
completing the unfinished demarcation work along the Mahakali in the west to
Mechi in the east. Top officials with the departments of survey, along with
junior officials with different line ministries of the two neighboring
countries, are discussing and verifying all Nepal-India boundary issues at the
27th meeting of the Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee, which
started here Thursday.
”We are discussing and verifying each others’ technical reports, and the
progress is quite satisfactory,” a Nepali official present at the meeting told
the Post, without elaborating. But he added that issues ranging from Mahakali
and Kalapani and Susta to Mechi are being discussed. The two-day meeting that
preceded a three-day-long meeting of the preparatory committee will draw to a
close on Friday evening. Director General at the Department of Survey Toyanath
Baral is leading a dozen-strong Nepali team, and Surveyor General Maj. Gen.
Gopal Rao is heading the Indian team. Others members in the Joint Committee,
which was directed by the prime ministers of the two countries last year, to
complete all boundary-related works by June 2005, are officials with the
external affairs, home, forest, defense and law ministries.
Informed officials say there are at least 53 disputed sites along the
1,753-km-long Nepal-India border, which has so far remained open and porous.
Prominent among them are the Kalapani area near the Sino-Nepalese-Indian
strategic tri-junction in the west and the Sikkim-Mechi border in the east. A
resolution of these border issues is a task awaiting finalization since 1815,
when the then Rana government of Nepal and the East India Company signed the
ground-breaking treaty in Sugauli, a town in Bihar.
Full story: http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=234166&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
* Nepal
Nepal’s Maoists declare ceasefire
Kathmandu, BBC South Asia, September 3
Maoist rebels in Nepal have declared a unilateral three-month ceasefire. Rebel leader, Prachanda, said the Maoists would “not launch any offensive” during the truce, which began on Saturday. In the past few months the rebels have been trying to woo political parties who are also opposed to the rule of King Gyanendra. The king assumed direct power in February, saying politicians had failed to tackle the nine-year insurgency. In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr Prachanda said his forces would remain in a state of what he called “active defense” and would not launch any fresh offensive unless attacked. He warned, however, that if the army increased its military activities or expanded its camps, his party would break its ceasefire and launch what he called an offensive of even higher level. The Maoist chairman said his party hoped the decision would encourage all political forces and the United Nations to find a solution to the country's problems. About 12,000 people have died since the Maoists began their armed struggle to replace the monarchy with a people’s republic. Apart from short truces during festivals, the last ceasefire was two years ago and lasted eight months. An alliance of seven opposition parties has been engaged in a nationwide peaceful movement against February's royal takeover.
The parties have in the past said the Maoists must renounce violence to be brought into the political framework. However, there have been moves in recent months towards a more united approach against the king. In July, the rebels reinstated a suspended leader, Baburam Bhattarai, to the party’s top body, the politburo special committee. Mr Bhattarai had reportedly fallen out with Mr Prachanda over closer ties with opposition parties, which Mr Bhattarai supported. On 28 August, the opposition alliance said it would form a committee with a view to holding a dialogue with the Maoists soon. And on Tuesday, Nepal’s largest opposition party, the Nepali Congress, announced a move away from its support for constitutional monarchy. Mr Prachanda said that decision had helped strengthen the political basis for collaboration between his party and the alliance. Nepali Congress spokesman, Arjun Narsingh KC, said on Saturday of the ceasefire: “We take this very positively.” The BBC’s Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says King Gyanendra will be in a quandary about how to respond to the ceasefire. This week the king made an offer of talks with the political opposition but said it had to promise commitment to good governance, fiscal discipline and a fight against terrorism.
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4210722.stm
*Sri Lanka
Tamil Tigers agree to hold talks
Colombo, BBC South Asia, August 19
Sri Lanka’s government and Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to hold their first high-level talks since peace moves stalled in 2003, mediators have said. The chief Tamil Tiger negotiator confirmed the Tigers had agreed to discuss the implementation of the 2002 ceasefire agreement. The move follows last week’s assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. The government blames the Tigers for his death but they deny involvement. Government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva welcomed the rebels’ decision to attend talks and said the government was willing to engage in them without any preconditions.
The assassination of Mr Kadirgamar was seen as a major setback to Sri Lanka’s peace process. In response, the government introduced emergency rule, allowing it to deploy troops throughout the country. Vidar Helgesen, deputy foreign minister of Norway, part of the foreign mission overseeing the truce, said the Tamil Tigers’ agreement to talks was an important move. “This is a significant step forward against the backdrop of the killing of the foreign minister,” he said. A time and place for the talks has yet to be confirmed. The Tigers have been fighting for a separate nation for the minority Tamils in the north and east since 1983. The BBC’s Dumeetha Luthra, in Colombo, says that since the assassination, the rebels have been under heavy pressure to show they are maintaining peace. A Norwegian embassy spokesman stressed the talks would focus only on the ceasefire. “This is not the resumption of peace talks,” Tom Knappskog told AFP. The government says the rebels have made several violations of the ceasefire agreement in recent years. On Wednesday, they called for a “review” of the ceasefire. It wants to “make use of the hindsight wisdom of three years to ensure the stronger implementation of the ceasefire,” an official source told the BBC.
Tiger chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, told the pro-rebel TamilNet web site that the rebels had accepted a Norwegian invitation to “participate in a review of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in order to find practical ways of ensuring full compliance by both parties.” The Tigers have also accused the government of failing to keep to the terms of the ceasefire. They allege the Sri Lankan military has been providing support to several Tamil paramilitary groups who have carried out attacks against the Tigers. Five rounds of peace talks were held between the government and Tamil Tigers after the ceasefire agreement was formalized in February 2002. The Tigers withdrew in April 2003, saying the government had failed to honor pledges on autonomy. More recently disputes over the administration of the tsunami relief effort and the sharing of international aid have caused tension. More than 60,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Sri Lanka since 1983.
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4164150.stm
*India-Sri Lanka
India
affirms support to Sri Lanka’s peace process
New Delhi, Rediff.com, August 26
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike on Friday apprised Indian leaders about the trouble-hit peace process between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Bandaranaike, 56, was named foreign minister after the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar early in August. On a two-day visit, Bandaranaike met External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and exchanged views on how to further strengthen the existing excellent India-Sri Lanka relations. The Sri Lankan minister, who is President Chandrika Kumaratunga's brother, shared Colombo's assessment of the post-assassination situation, the status of the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the LTTE as also the future of the peace process.
New Delhi has affirmed its support for the process of seeking a comprehensive and negotiated settlement acceptable to all communities and which reflects the pluralistic nature of Sri Lankan society “within the framework of a united and democratic Sri Lanka.” India has stressed the need to maintain peace through respect for ceasefire agreement and underpinned the importance to deliver speedy and effective relief and rehabilitation for the affected people, including in the northeast. It also underlined the need to find a durable political solution that would keep intact the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and guaranteed the fundamental rights of all individuals.
Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/26lanka1.htm
PEACE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Oct 20-23, Washington, DC: Teachers of Peace Seminar.
Peacemaking takes place on two levels –individual interactions and work on
society’s policies and institutions. Our schools have begun embracing peacemaking
at the individual level, with a rich variety of conflict resolution programs. But
it is more than time to also embrace curricula focused on ways we can change
society – and William Penn House’s FREE Teachers of Peace seminar is designed
to help teachers do just that. Twenty teachers of middle, junior, and senior
high-school aged students will gather Thursday evening October 20th
through noon, Sunday October 23rd for this rich learning experience.
In a supportive Quaker community, participants will explore peacemaking through
the lens of Multi-Track Diplomacy – a holistic framework for both understanding
and teaching peace. They will feed their imaginations in sessions featuring
peacemakers from a variety of “tracks,” and begin envisioning and creating
their own units, lessons and courses for teaching peace and social change. So
if you or someone you know is interested in gaining a new perspective on
teaching peace and social change, building a network of supportive colleagues,
and experiencing sample peace and social change curricula, please contact
Bernadette or Patricia at the William Penn House (202-543-5560). Meals,
lodging and transportation costs are also included. You may also get more
information about the seminar and download an application at www.wmpennhouse.org/teachersofpeace.htm
To be eligible to attend, participants must complete an application; agree to
create a unit, lesson or course on peace and social change; and plan to share
their learning by writing an article or making a presentation to their peers. The
seminar will be held at William Penn House, a Quaker Center on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. It is made possible by a grant from the Chace Fund.
PEACE EVENTS
Oct 31 – Nov 4 2005: Peacebuilding, conflict transformation, and postwar rebuilding, reconciliation and resolution
More info from www.transcend.org
Nov 7 – 11, 2005: Designing peacebuilding interventions and conflict transformation programs.
More info from www.transcend.org