Pakistan's new policy aims to reform madrassas

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to bring all of its madrassas, or religious schools, under its national education system within one year under a landmark security policy aimed at combating extremism.

The first " National Internal Security Policy", a copy of which was seen by AFP on Sunday, says that some of the country's 22,000 madrassas are responsible for spreading extremism.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan presented the policy in parliament on Wednesday after a decade-long Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and cost the economy "more than $78 billion".

On the topic of religious schools, the document says: "It is important to mention upfront that not all madrassas are a problem and therefore these must not be viewed negatively as a whole.

"However, there were problems within some madrassas which have spread extremism," it adds, noting "financing from unidentified sources" and the "publication and distribution of hate material".

The vast majority of madrassas in Pakistan fall outside government control and offer little in the way of mainstream subjects for their students.

They often preach violence and propagate hatred toward other sects and non-Muslims.

"A large number of terrorists, either are, or have been students of madrassas where they were brainwashed to take up arms against the state," the paper said.

The 94-page policy document offers a candid and introspective look at where Pakistan has been failing in its efforts to fight terror.

It criticises the country's all-powerful military for being "unable to demonstrate other capabilities essential to successful counter-insurgency: hold, build and integrate", adding it is up to civil institutions to take up the slack.

The policy calls on the government "to build a national narrative on extremism and terrorism" — opinion polls in the past have shown there is no overwhelming public consensus on tackling extremist groups.

The document also calls for the establishment of a Federal Rapid Response Force and Counter Terrorism Department within police forces in the next six months.

The Pakistani Taliban Saturday announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at resuming stalled peace talks with the Pakistan government, but analysts voiced scepticism over the move.

Dialogue between Islamabad and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that began last month was suspended after the militants killed 23 soldiers.

The military responded with a series of air strikes that have left more than 100 insurgents dead.

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Myanmar says Doctors Without Borders can stay

YANGON: A day after Doctors Without Borders announced its expulsion from Myanmar, the government backpedaled, saying the aid organization would be allowed to resume operations everywhere but Rakhine, a state plagued by bloody bouts of sectarian violence.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning group expressed grave concern on Saturday about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in the state, which is home to the country's long-persecuted minority Rohingya Muslim community. Many have been displaced by violence and are living in crowded camps, where they have little or no access to adequate health care.

They are "currently facing a humanitarian medical crisis," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million people, has been grappling with sectarian violence since it moved from dictatorship to a nominally civilian government in 2011. Up to 280 people have been killed and more than 140,000 others forced to flee their homes, most of them Rohingya.

Doctors Without Borders, which provides care across religious, ethnic and racial lines, has come under fire for working on the behalf of the Rohingya.

It was told earlier in the week that its license was being revoked, in part because it was hiring "Bengalis", the name Myanmar's government uses to refer to Rohingya. The group also was accused of being impartial and lacking transparency.

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said negotiations were continuing between the Ministry of Health and Doctors Without Borders about the aid agency's work in Rakhine.

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51 killed in Nigeria blasts

MAIDUGURI (Nigeria): Twin car bomb blasts at a bustling marketplace killed at least 51 people in Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian city that is the birthplace of Nigeria's Islamic extremist terrorist group, a Red Cross official said on Sunday.

Many more people are believed buried in rubble from the Saturday night explosions that collapsed some buildings and set others aflame with smoke billowing for hours, said the official who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

The victims include children who were dancing at a wedding celebration and people watching a soccer match on an outdoor TV screen, survivors told Associated Press on Sunday.

Fifty corpses were retrieved, said Hassan Ali, the leader of an anti-terror vigilanted group.

The first blast came from a passenger car and did not cause many casualties, said Ali. Most of those killed had run to the scene to help when a second explosion blasted from a pickup truck carrying firewood, he said.

Survivors said they captured a man who jumped out of the first car, grabbed a tricycle taxi and tried to make off. He was badly beaten and taken to nearby Umaru Shehu General Hospital, where a security guard said all the wounded brought in had died.

Most spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

It was not known how many wounded are being treated in at least three hospitals in the city.

The attack is a major setback to a new army and air force offensive against the Islamic uprising under new commanders since President Goodluck Jonathan fired his entire military command.

Since then, criticism and anger have grown as attacks by extremists have increased and become ever deadlier: More than 300 people were killed in February alone.

The defense ministry has blamed recent attacks on militants escaping from daily aerial bombardments and ground assaults aimed at flushing them out of forest hideouts and mountain caves along the border with Cameroon. The military closed hundreds of kilometers (miles) of border with Cameroon last week, saying it wanted to stop extremists escaping across the border and using the neighboring country to launch attacks.

Anger against the military will be fueled by reports that a fighter jet targeting extremist hideouts bombed a northeastern village in Yobe state on Friday, killing at least 20 civilians.

The military knew there were alleged terrorists in Maiduguri because they reported on Friday that they had arrested several suspects, including ``some picked up in Maiduguri and environs.''

Maiduguri is the headquarters of the military offensive and the air force fighting to suppress the 4-year-old Islamic uprising with the backing of draconian powers under a 9-month-old state of emergency.

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Military pounds militant hideouts in Pakistan

PESHAWAR: Pakistan army helicopter gunships on Thursday struck militant hideouts in Dera Ismail Khan and mountains bordering South Waziristan as part of the targeted attacks on the Taliban as peace talks remain suspended.

It was not immediately known how many militants were killed or wounded in Thursday's strikes. The attack is the fifth in a series of air strikes that began last week.

While announcing the country's maiden National Security Policy, interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, on Wednesday, had said that every terror attack would be met with a military strike on the headquarters of the militants.

He said the decision to hit the militant hideouts was consistent with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statement that violence and dialogue cannot go side by side.

The PML-N government and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were in peace dialogue with each other to end the decade-long violence that has claimed nearly 40,000 lives.

But the government was forced to suspend the talks after the beheading of 23 Frontier Corps personnel who were in the custody of the Taliban since 2010.

The military has launched a wave of aerial strikes, using both fighter jets and combat helicopters, in the lawless tribal areas killing at least 100 terrorists since last week.

The interior minister has made it clear that stalled dialogue process will be resumed only after the end of terror activities from the other side.

Army chief General Raheel Sharif had vowed to defeat "every threat" as per the aspirations of the people.

He reiterated the resolve of armed forces and said in unequivocal terms that with the backing of the Nation, "we will accomplish our mission of defeating every threat to our motherland in accordance with the expectation of the people of Pakistan", a statement released by the military here said.

Though there was no mention of the air strikes, analysts say the remarks of the army chief were linked to it.

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Radiation affects 13 US nuclear plant employees

WASHINGTON: A total of 13 employees of a New Mexico underground nuclear waste site were exposed to radiation, test results have shown.

The workers tested positive for americium-241, an isotope prevalent in the type of radioactive waste — transuranic waste containing mostly plutonium — at the nation's first underground repository for such material.

The radionuclide is also used in commercially available smoke detectors and is a contaminant in nuclear weapons manufacturing.

But the manager at the department of energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Jose Franco, said yesterday the contamination was likely minimal and stressed that more testing would be needed.

"It is premature to speculate on the health effects of these preliminary results, or any treatment that may be needed," Franco said in a statement.

"Airborne contamination was likely at very low levels." As soon as the airborne radiation was detected on February 14, WIPP's ventilation system automatically switched to filtration mode in order to prevent air exchange with the surface.

No employees were working underground at the time, according to officials at the plant.

Department of energy officials had stressed that there was no danger to human health or the environment.

"There is no risk to family or friends of these employees," Franco said about those who were exposed to the radiation, adding that more samples would be taken in the coming weeks.

He said the employees were notified within about 12 hours of preliminary sample results.

The workers had been performing above-ground operations and federal oversight duties at the site when the radiation was detected.

The site was shut down and not performing active operations at the time.

"Since the event, only essential personnel have been allowed access to the site," an energy department statement said. "Upon leaving the site, each individual is checked for any external contamination."

Waste at WIPP is dumped 2,150 feet (655 meters) underground in disposal rooms excavated in an ancient, stable salt formation.

Earlier this month, an underground blaze prompted the evacuation of a different part of the site, after a truck hauling salt caught fire.

Several workers suffered smoke inhalation. But officials said the blaze was nowhere near radioactive material.

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Ukraine’s Yanukovych in Moscow: Report

MOSCOW: A respected Russian news organization has reported that Ukraine's fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, was seen in a Moscow hotel and was now staying in a Kremlin sanatorium just outside the city.

The RBK report was impossible to confirm, but security at the Ukraina Hotel was unusually heavy on late Wednesday, with police watching from parked vehicles outside and guards posted throughout the lobby. Some of Yanukovych's allies, also reported to have been at the hotel, may have still been there.

Yanukovych has not been seen publicly since Saturday. While the West has recognized the new Ukrainian government, whose forces drove Yanukovych from power, Russia still considers him the legitimate president.

RBK reported on Wednesday evening that Yanukovych was staying at the Barvikha sanatorium, which is run by the presidential administration's property department. The spokesman for this department, Viktor Khrekov, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he has no information about this.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman also said he had no information about Yanukovych's reported arrival in Moscow.

RBK said the information came from one of Russia's wealthiest businessmen and was confirmed by a government official, neither of whom was identified. The article was under the byline of respected journalists, including RBK's editor in chief Elizaveta Osetinskaya, who has high-level contacts in Russian business circles.

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Suicide bomber kills 8 in Afghanistan: Official

KABUL: A suicide car bomber killed eight people and wounded 41 in an attack Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

General Matiullah Khan, police chief of Uruzgan province, said the explosion hit a building with a hotel and restaurant in Tirin Kot, southern Afghanistan.

He warned that several people are seriously wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

In a separate incident, three civilians were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

Omer Zawak, spokesman for the provincial governor, said three other people were wounded in the attack in Marjah district.

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China mulls days to remember Japan's defeat

BEIJING: China is considering designating formal national days of remembrance to commemorate Japan's defeat in World War II and the Nanjing Massacre, state media reported Tuesday, amid bitter disputes over territory and history.

The National People's Congress (NPC) is mulling making September 3 "Victory Day of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression", the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the legislature.

Lawmakers are also considering designating December 13 as a "national memorial day to commemorate those killed by Japanese aggressors during the Nanjing Massacre in the 1930s", Xinhua reported.

In both cases, a "draft decision" will be debated during a bi-monthly session of the NPC Standing Committee from Tuesday until Thursday, Xinhua added.

The rubber-stamp parliament is scheduled to meet next month in full session, but the standing committee has the authority to approve decisions on its own.

The NPC's website did not immediately carry information on the proposal, which comes amid a serious worsening in relations between China and Japan.

At the end of World War II Japan's then emperor Hirohito ordered his country to surrender on August 15, 1945, days after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The country formally signed the surrender in a ceremony on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2.

China has traditionally commemorated Japan's defeat the following day, according to past Chinese media reports.

The proposal comes as Beijing and Tokyo are at odds over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but claimed by China. Ships and planes from both countries warily eye each other in nearby waters and skies, leading to fears of miscalculation and possible conflict.

Tensions worsened further in late December when nationalist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine — which commemorates Japan's war dead as well as convicted war criminals from World War II.

China and South Korea see the shrine as a reminder of Japan's 20th century aggression and colonialism.

The day to commemorate Japan's defeat "must be set through legislative procedures to reflect the will of the Chinese people and remind us of the need to remember history, cherish peace and create a better future", said Li Shishi, director of the NPC Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission, according to Xinhua.

Japan invaded China in the 1930s and the two countries fought a full-scale war from 1937-1945, part of the broader Second World War.

China says more than 300,000 people died in what has come to be known as the "Rape of Nanjing", a spree of killing, sexual assault and destruction over six weeks after the Japanese military entered the country's then-capital on December 13, 1937.

Though some foreign academics put the number of deaths much lower, no respected mainstream historians dispute that a massacre took place.

China, which says that 20.6 million died as a direct result of Japan's invasion and occupation, has been intensifying criticism of Tokyo in state and Communist Party-controlled media as the territorial and historical disputes worsen.

Japan, which was occupied after its defeat and became a vibrant liberal democracy, has issued apologies for its wartime conduct in Asia.

But frequent statements by conservative politicians and public figures seemingly backstepping from them or calling into question issues of historical fact have increased suspicion of the country's motives.

Willy Lam, a China politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said China's leaders are using remembrance and nationalism to portray contemporary Japan as trying to overturn the outcome of World War II and bolster their own legitimacy.

"The Chinese think that the most effective method of criticising Japan is to cast this in the light of history," he said. "The designation of the public holiday means a large-scale mobilisation of Chinese."

"This is going one-step further in the nationalistic campaign" of President Xi Jinping, he added.

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Ukraine disbands riot police unit

KIEV: Ukraine's acting interior minister on Wednesday ordered the disbandment of a feared riot police force that many accuse of attacks on protesters during the country's three-month political turmoil.

Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page that he has signed a decree to disband the force known as Berkut and said more detail would be announced later.

Anti-government protesters have blamed Berkut for violent attacks against peaceful demonstrators protesting authorities' decision to ditch closer ties with the European Union and turn to Moscow instead.

Those attacks galvanized long-brewing anger against police and the protests quickly grew into a massive movement, attracting crowds exceeding 100,000 and establishing an extensive tent camp in the capital's main downtown square.
The force, whose name means "golden eagle", consisted of about 5,000 officers. It was unclear Wednesday if its members would be dismissed or if they would be reassigned to other units.

President Viktor Yanukovych and protest leaders signed an agreement last week to end the conflict that left more than 80 people dead in just a few days in Kiev. Shortly after, Yanukovych fled the capital for his powerbase in eastern Ukraine but his exact whereabouts are unknown.

The turmoil has raised concern that Ukraine is facing a split between Russian-speaking regions, which include Yanukovych's home area in the east, and the Ukrainian-speaking west.

In Simferopol, capital of Crimea, two competing rallies were held Wednesday outside the regional parliament building, hours before legislators were to hold a session on the political crisis.

Crimea, a peninsula jutting into the Black Sea, is a strategically critical region because it is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

Over 7,000 Muslim Crimean Tatars rallied in support of the new government, waving Ukrainian flags and chanting "Ukraine is not Russia" and "Allahu Akbar," while a smaller pro-Russian rally nearby called for stronger ties with Russia and waving Russian flags.

Crimean Tatars took an active part in the protest movement and harbor deep resentment against the Kremlin, having been deported en masse on the orders of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin during the World War II.

"We will not let the fate of our land to be decided without us," said Nuridin Seytablaev, 54, an engineer. "We are ready to fight for Ukraine and our European future."

Nearby, separated by police lines, Anton Lyakhov, 52, waved a Russian flag. "Only Russian can defend us from fascists in Kiev and from Islamic radicals in Crimea."

On Wednesday, Yanukovych's three predecessors as Ukraine's president issued a statement accusing Russia of "direct interference in the political life of Crimea."

On Tuesday, a Russian lawmaker visiting Crimea said Moscow would protect the region's Russian-speaking residents, raising concern that Russia could be trying to justify military action.

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Musharraf exempted from appearance by court

ISLAMABAD: Pervez Musharraf was on Monday exempted from personal appearance by a Pakistani anti-terror court that is hearing a case against the embattled former dictator over the detention of judges in 2007.

Musharraf's counsel Ilyas Siddiqui appeared in the court here and submitted the former army chief's medical report to Judge Atiqur Rahman.

On the basis of the report, the judge exempted 70-year-old Musharraf from appearing for Monday's hearing. The case was then adjourned till February 10.

Musharraf was admitted to a military hospital in Rawalpindi on January 2 after he developed heart problems while being driven to a special court set up to try him on charges of high treason.

The case in the anti-terror court was registered against Musharraf in August 2009 following a complaint from lawyer Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam Ghumman over the detention of over 60 judges of the superior courts during the 2007 emergency.

Ghumman later announced he would not pursue the case "in the larger public interest". However, this did not give any relief to Musharraf.

On January 17, the anti-terror court had directed Musharraf to personally appear before it for Monday's hearing.

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