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India, Pakistan leaders reach no concrete agreements
India, Pakistan leaders reach no concrete agreements (Reuters) / 30 September 2013 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, agreed on Sunday to work to restore a cross-border ceasefire after a spate of shootings in order to improve strained ties, officials said. Singh and Sharif met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours over the Kashmir region, sparked by series of fatal clashes on their de facto Himalayan border. India emerged from the meeting of more than an hour calling the talks “useful” while Pakistan called the atmosphere “very positive.” They both expressed a desire to improve ties but agreed that “peace and tranquillity across the LOC (Line of Control) is a precondition,” Indian national security adviser Shivshankar Menon told reporters in New York. “We need to address the issues that we face today and then we hope to move it forward,” he said. Pakistan’s Secretary for Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani told reporters the New York meeting set the stage for future cooperation even though they did not reach specific agreements. “The most significant aspect of the meeting was that the leaders expressed their commitment to … better relations between the two countries,” he told reporters at a separate New York briefing. “Both sides wish to see a better India-Pakistan relationship than we have today,” said Menon. A series of fatal clashes along the so-called Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan have killed at least eight soldiers from both countries in less than two months. The South Asia Terrorism Portal, a website that tracks the violence, says this year’s toll is 44 members of the security forces, up from 17 for all of last year. In their speeches to the U.N. General Assembly, both leaders said they wanted to improve relations between their countries, which have fought three wars since becoming independent from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. The two prime ministers agreed to instruct military officials to work together to develop a mechanism to stop ceasefire violations, Menom and Jalil said. The two leaders accepted invitations to visit each other’s countries, but no dates were set, Menon added. Continue reading
Khalifa orders aid as quake rattles Pak regions again
Khalifa orders aid as quake rattles Pak regions again (Wam, AFP) / 29 September 2013 The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has directed emergency items such as food and medical aid be delivered to the earthquake stricken regions of Pakistan, after an earthquake left more than 500 dead. Thousands remain wounded — many without access to aid — since last week’s quake at 7.8 Richter Scale. The directive was followed up by General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the UAE Red Crescent Authority, to ensure emergency assistance is provided to people affected. The RCA office in Pakistan is currently engaged in providing tents blankets, food and medical items to the victims of the earthquake. Meanwhile, a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit southwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 22 people in a region already devastated by a tremor which left more than 300 people dead this week, local officials said. “The death toll is increasing. Rescue workers have so far recovered 22 dead bodies,” Hari Fal, the top government official in Khuzdar town said, adding that more than 50 people have been wounded. Officials fear the toll in Saturday’s quake in Awaran, the poorest district in the southwest province of Balochistan, could still rise further. The new quake struck the remote district at a depth of 14km at 12.34pm according to the US Geological Survey. Continue reading
UN resolution orders Syria chemical arms destroyed
UN resolution orders Syria chemical arms destroyed (AFP) / 28 September 2013 The UN Security Council unanimously passed a landmark resolution on Friday ordering the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons and condemning a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus. The major powers overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead. UN leader Ban Ki-moon, a critic of the council’s paralysis, called the resolution “the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time.” Ban also said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November. Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar Al Assad’s chemical arms. There are no immediate sanctions over a chemical weapons attack confirmed by the UN. But it allows for a new vote on possible measures if the Russia-US plan is breached. Divisions over the war remained clear, however, in comments by their foreign ministers after the vote. “Should the regime fail to act, there will be consequences,” US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the 15-member council after the vote sealing a US-Russian agreement. But Kerry hailed the resolution. “The Security Council has shown that when we put aside politics for the common good, we are still capable of doing big things,” he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that there were no automatic punitive measures and that the resolution applied equally to the Syrian opposition. He said the council would take “actions which are commensurate with the violations, which will have to proven 100 percent.” Russia, Assad’s main ally, has rejected any suggestion of sanctions or military force against Assad. It has already used its veto power as a permanent Security Council member to block three Western-drafted resolutions on Syria. The resolution “condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on August 21, 2013, in violation of international law.” The United States says the attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta left more than 1,400 dead. It blamed Assad’s government for the sarin gas assault and threatened a military strike over the attack. The government has denied responsibility. Should Syria not comply with the resolution, the Security Council members agreed to “impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.” The charter can authorize the use of sanctions or military force. But diplomats said Russia would fiercely oppose any force against its ally. All sides agreed that new action will require a new vote. Russia also rebuffed calls by European powers Britain and France for the Ghouta attack to be referred to the International Criminal Court. The resolution expressed “strong conviction” that those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria “should be held accountable.” It formally endorsed a decision taken hours earlier in The Hague by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to accept the Russia-US disarmament plan. The plan called for Syria’s estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014. Experts say the timetable is very tight. International experts are expected to start work in Syria next week. Britain and China announced that they will offer finance to the disarmament operation. Ban said the resolution “will ensure that the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program happens as soon as possible and with the utmost transparency and accountability.” Ban also told the Security Council he wanted to hold a new Syria peace conference in November. “We are aiming for a conference in mid-November,” Ban said, adding that foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States had agreed to make sure the two sides in the conflict negotiate in “good faith.” A first peace conference was held in June 2012 but there has been no follow up because of divisions in the Syrian opposition and the international community. Ban will start contacts with his Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi next week on setting the firm date and who will attend the new meeting, diplomats said. The Security Council resolution gave backing to the 2012 conference declaration, which stated that there should be a transitional government in Syria with full executive powers. It also determined that the new peace conference would be to decide how to implement the accord. A car bomb north of Damascus that killed at least 30 people earlier in the day and 11 more deaths in a government air raid highlighted the continued slaughter in Syria’s long-running civil war. “We must never forget that the catalog of horrors in Syria continues with bombs and tanks, grenades and guns,” said Ban. “A red light for one for one form of weapons does not mean a green light for others.” Highlights of UN resolution on Syria chemical weapons Key extracts from the UN Security Council resolution passed on Friday condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria and calling for their destruction: Sanctions “Decides, in the event of non-compliance with this resolution, including unauthorized transfer of chemical weapons, or any use of chemical weapons by anyone in the Syrian Arab Republic, to impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.” Accountability “Expresses its strong conviction that those individuals responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic should be held accountable.” Syrian chemical arms “Condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on August 21, 2013, in violation of international law. “Decides that the Syrian Arab Republic shall not use, develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to other States or non-State actors. “Decides to review on a regular basis the implementation in the Syrian Arab Republic of the decision of the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons’ executive council of September 27, 2013 and this resolution, and requests the Director-General of the OPCW to report to the Security Council, through the Secretary-General, who shall include relevant information on United Nations activities related to the implementation of this resolution, within 30 days and every month thereafter.” Political transition “Endorses fully the Geneva Communique of June 30, 2012, which sets out a number of key steps beginning with the establishment of a transitional governing body exercising full executive powers, which could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent; “Calls for the convening, as soon as possible, of an international conference on Syria to implement the Geneva Communique, and calls upon all Syrian parties to engage seriously and constructively at the Geneva Conference on Syria, and underscores that they should be fully representative of the Syrian people and committed to the implementation of the Geneva Communique and to the achievement of stability and reconciliation.” International law “Deeply outraged by the use of chemical weapons on August 21, 2013 in Rif Damascus, as concluded in the (UN) mission’s report, condemning the killing of civilians that resulted from it, affirming that the use of chemical weapons constitutes a serious violation of international law, and stressing that those responsible for any use of chemical weapons must be held accountable. “Decides to review on a regular basis the implementation in the Syrian Arab Republic of the decision of the Organisation for the Prohibition Chemical Weapons executive council of September 27, 2013 and this resolution, and requests the director general of the OPCW to report to the Security Council, through the secretary general, who shall include relevant information on United Nations activities related to the implementation of this resolution, within 30 days and every month thereafter and requests further the director general of the OPCW and the secretary general to report in a coordinated manner, as needed, to the Security Council, non-compliance with this resolution or the OPCW executive council decision.” Continue reading
