Observer 25 Apr 2012 - Oman Daily Observer

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16 ASIA OMAN DAILY Observer WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 SOUTH Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak (2nd R) with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapakse (2nd L), as Lee’s wife Kim Yoon-Ok (L) and Rajapakse’s wife Shiranthi Rajapakse look on, before their summit at the official presidential house, the Blue House, in Seoul, yesterday. — Reuters Compensation for unrest victims Property auctioned MANILA — The Philippine BANGKOK — Thailand yesterday approved a $67 million compensation package for victims of an insurgency in the south that has left thousands dead over the last eight years, officials said. The families of people killed in the conflict will each receive 500,000 baht ($16,130), or 1.5 million baht if government officials were responsible, Justice Minister Pracha Promnog said after the cabinet agreed on the measure. "We hope it will make the situation in the south more peaceful and we hope it will be sufficient because some of them have received compensation before," Pracha told reporters. The offer is less than the 7.5 million baht that the government has said it will pay each family of victims killed in political violence during a series of rival protests in Bangkok since 2005. The families of more than 4,000 members of the public who were killed and roughly 6,000 who were wounded would be eligible, along with those of 1,056 government officials who lost their lives, Pracha said. Militant suspects who were arrested and jailed but later freed because their cases were dismissed by the courts would also receive money, Pracha said. "We expect to deliver first payment in the next two weeks," he added. The shadowy insurgency, without clearly stated aims, has plagued Thailand's far south near the border with Malaysia since 2004, claiming more than 5,000 lives, both Buddhist and Muslim, with near-daily bomb or gun attacks. A leader in Yala province expressed doubt that the compensation offer would bring an end to the violence. "Remedies are part of the solution but the government has to clearly identify the root of the problem," 54-year-old Ma Samae said. A state of emergency is in force in the worst-affected parts of the region, which rights campaigners say in effect gives the tens of thousands of military troops based in the area legal immunity and fuels rights abuses. A series of bomb blasts in two southern cities at the end of March killed 15 people and wounded hundreds in the deadliest attacks in the region in years. Eight people were wounded yesterday by a roadside bomb targeting patrolling soldiers in Narathiwat province, including a soldier and a three-yearold boy whose conditions were serious, police said. Meanwhile, Toshiba said yesterday it would build a new chip factory in Thailand to replace one hit by record flooding last year that hammered Japanese manufacturers operating in the Southeast Asian nation. — AFP US firm on Afghan security: official KABUL — The United States has committed to ensuring Afghanistan's security for at least 10 years after most of its troops pull out in 2014, the Afghan deputy foreign minister said yesterday. "That is a very important aspect of this relationship," Jawed Ludin said in response to a question about US military commitment in a draft strategic partnership pact agreed on Sunday. But the agreement should not be seen by neighbouring countries as a threat to their own security and would be "a force for good for the whole region", Ludin told a group of foreign journalists. "We have made it very clear in this document that this can't be used against a third country and this will not affect the security of Afghanistan's neighbours," he said. The full text of the document, which still has to be signed by US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, has not been released and a US Embassy spokesman said yesterday details would not be discussed before it was final. Afghanistan holds a strategic position in the region, neighbouring Iran, Pakistan and China as well as three former Soviet states, and Ludin said it wanted to build relations throughout the region. "We would like to show to this neighbourhood that Afghanistan is a positive — and can be an even more positive — force for peace and stability in this region and they should see (the pact) as such," he said. "That's our vision, but the nation has had bad experiences — we need guarantees, we need to be able to be strong at the same time." The problems and challenges in the region, including terrorism, would continue to be present and the pact with the US was the surest way of ensuring Afghanistan's security, he said. Nato has some 130,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan helping Karzai's government fight a decade-long insurgency by Taliban. But they are due to pull out by the end of 2014, and the pact does not cover the crucial issue of the number or status of any US troops remaining in Afghanistan. That is due to be dealt with in a separate status of forces agreement expected to be signed within a year, Ludin said, adding that it was likely to be the subject of "complex" negotiations. In Iraq, Washington pulled out all its troops, leaving no residual force, after failing to get Baghdad to grant its soldiers immunity from prosecution in local courts. In another development, US lawmaker critical of President Hamid Karzai was barred from entering Afghanistan as part of a congressional delegation meeting with Afghan opposition leaders, his office said on Monday. Republican Dana Rohrabacher’s office said he was a “last-minute” addition to the delegation when one of the members cancelled days before travelling. He was prevented from travelling on Friday. Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, has been a vocal critic of the Karzai government. — AFP AN Afghan health worker administers a polio vaccination to a child on the last day of a vaccination campaign in the outskirts of Herat yesterday. A three-day nationwide immunisation campaign against polio began on April 22. — AFP government yesterday auctioned off a prime property once owned by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos for more than $2 million. The 3,900-square-metre lot in the mountain resort city of Baguio was acquired by a real estate firm for 93 million pesos ($2.16 million), said Nick Suarez, of the Presidential Commission on Good Government. "It was a very successful, transparent bidding," and the final price was more than three times the minimum bid, added Suarez, whose agency is tasked with recovering the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos. — AFP Power units see shortage TOKYO — Japanese power companies are warning a hot summer could bring blackouts for some areas unless nuclear plants are re-started. Kansai Electric Power, which supplies mid-western Japan, including the commercial hubs of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, said it could face an electricity shortfall of almost 20 per cent if temperatures soar in July. And the utility said it could remain up to 16 per cent short in August as increased air-conditioner usage zaps the electricity produced by its thermal fuel plants. Kyushu Electric Power, covering an area further west, as well as Hokkaido Electric Power in the north also said they will not be able to meet summer demand without nuclear energy. — AFP Contempt verdict soon ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Supreme Court will announce its verdict in a contempt of court case against Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani tomorrow, his lawyer said yesterday. Gilani was charged with contempt by the country's highest court in February for refusing to write to the Swiss authorities to ask them to re-open corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. "The court will announce judgement in the case on Thursday (April 26)", Gilani's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan told reporters in Islamabad. He said the maximum punishment Gilani could face if convicted was six months in prison, but he was hopeful the judges would acquit his client. Gilani is Pakistan's first sitting premier ever to face criminal charges. — AFP More China boats at shoal off Philippines MANILA — More Chinese fishing boats entered disputed waters off the Philippines' north-eastern coast, officials said yesterday. The Philippine navy spotted five Chinese boats at Scarborough Shoal on Monday evening, said Lieutenant General Anthony Alcantara, a regional military commander. "These fishing vessels were doing destructive fishing and poaching," Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said. "They were using very thick nets to fish and there were some giant clams seen to have been harvested." Two Chinese vessels were also seen with the fishing boats in the area, which is located within the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometre) exclusive economic zone but is claimed by Beijing along with most of the South China Sea. A Philippine coastguard ship and a vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries were at the shoal to "monitor the Chinese boats, protect our marine re- KUALA LUMPUR — The Philippines said it had brokered a "significant" agreement yesterday with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on how to end a decades-long insurgency, but warned that major issues still needed to be resolved. Chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen said the breakthrough with the MILF was achieved during the latest round of talks in Malaysia that began a decade ago. "This marks a significant and concrete step forward by both parties in their discussions of the substantive issues in these negotiations," Leonen said. He said both sides had committed in the initial broad sources and assert our sovereign rights," Hernandez said. Tensions in the area have been running high since April 10 when the two Chinese surveillance vessels blocked a Philippine warship from arresting the crew of eight Chinese fishing boats for alleged poaching in the shoal. Those fishing boats left the area, which is 230 kilometres west of the Philippines' province of Zambales and 870 kilometres away from the nearest coast of China in Hainan province, but the military vessels have been in a standoff ever since. Hernandez said the Philippine government will urge Beijing to take the dispute to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas (ITLOS). "What we will do now is to file a formal invitation to China to join us to go to IT- LOS to have the Scarborough Shoal and the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) issues resolved through this proper forum," he said. China claims the entire South China Sea, which strad- agreement to make a new autonomous political region that would replace an existing one that has widely been regarded as a failure. The two sides also agreed to work towards "power and resources sharing" in the proposed autonomous region, which would cover parts of the southern Philippines that the country's minority call their ancestral homeland. However no details were provided on the exact areas that could be covered by the proposed new autonomous area. Leonen acknowledged that yesterday's agreement was not detailed or precise, and that they only laid the foundations for further "substantive negotiations". dles key shipping lanes in the region and is believed to be rich in resources. The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei also have overlapping claims to the sea. The Philippines has urged the international community to take a stand on the dispute, warning that China's claim could be a potential threat to freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce. Meanwhile; a Philippine exploration firm has found more-than-expected natural gas in a disputed area of the South China Sea, a discovery likely to inflame territorial tensions with China. Philex Petroleum Corp said in a disclosure to the stock exchange yesterday that its unit, Forum Energy Plc , “is expected to show an improvement in the resources previously known” in the Sampaguita gas discovery in the Reed Bank. The area is claimed by both nations and last year Chinese navy vessels tried to ram one of Forum Energy’s survey ships there, almost halting its research work. — dpa/Reuters Breakthrough in peace talks "We look forward to the coming weeks of more thorough — perhaps more difficult — conversations with the MILF and various affected sectors," Leonen said. The government has said it wants to broker a peace deal by next year so that it could be implemented by the time President Benigno Aquino leaves office in mid-2016. Demands by the 12,000strong MILF, waging a rebellion since 1978, for the expansion of the existing autonomous region had met with Christian opposition and torpedoed previous attempts at a peace accord. More than 150,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the Philippine military. — AFP BANGLADESHI police stand guard in front of the office of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) during a nationwide strike in Dhaka yesterday. The BNP will continue enforcing its nationwide dawn-to-dusk lockdown for the third day over the alleged ‘abduction’ of party leader Mohammad Ilias Ali. — AFP Govt planning to introduce new gas distribution system ISLAMABAD — The government of Pakistan is working on a plan to break the monopoly of Sui Northern and Sui Southern by allowing private sector companies to operate in profitable areas through sale of gas to dedicated high-end consumers. A senior government official told that the exclusive distribution rights of the two SNGPL and SSGCL had already expired in 2010 and hence the government wanted to open up the gas distribution system to the private sector. Under the plan that is still at an initial stage, the private sector companies would be allowed to utilise the transmission system of the two gas utilities by paying tolling charges and then sell gas quantities to their consumers. The official said the Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hus- sain already had two meetings on the issue with Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and the two gas utilities and would be listening to their feedback today. The basic idea behind the private sector’s entry into the gas distribution system was to generate competition among the distribution companies so that overall gas tariff could come down for the general consumers. The problem, however, was that private sector did not have enough financial resources to develop infrastructure of their own and compete with the state-owned utilities. “The question of fair competition and tariff reduction is practically not possible in the given circumstances,” said an official requesting anonymity. He said a couple of incumbent ministers were interested in allowing some selective private sector companies to secure a foothold in the gas distribution system. “Ogra would have to be extra-careful in designing the policy and rules that did not expose the consumers to exploitative private sector,” he added. In their initial response, the two gas utilities have opposed to give up their existing consumers and service areas, fearing that smaller private sector would take away the ‘cream of consumers’ having greater consumption and revenue return and restrict them to serve the loss-making socio-political consumers. This is because the private sector would prefer bulk consumers where system losses remain negligible without sharing the socio-political responsibilities. — Internews
ONE-YEAR-OLD Aishwarya Bhattacharya is held by her grandmother in a car at IGI airport in New Delhi yesterday, shortly after Aishwarya Bhattacharya’s arrival. Two children at the centre of a custody row returned to New Delhi yesterday. — AFP Italy deal with kin of slain fishermen By Ashraf Padanna THIRUVANAN- THAPURAM — The legal heirs of the two Indian fishermen killed by the marines guarding Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie and the Italian authorities have reached an agreement to withdraw their pleas against the Italians in the court. As per the agreement reached before the Lok Adalat, India's alternative dispute resolution system, comprising two retired judges and functioning on the HC premises, the Italian authorities will pay compensation of Rs10 million each to the wife and two children of Valentine alias Jelastine and two sisters of Ajesh Pink. The families will withdraw the affidavits and submissions that they filed against Italy's plea for quashing the FIR against the marines in the Kerala High Court and the judicial magistrate court in Kollam where the case was registered. They informed the court that they were not pursuing their case as they had reached a settlement with the Italian government and that they were withdrawing all of them in absolute terms. They said they were forgiving the Italians and they were praying for their early release and safe returning home. However, the state's Advocate General, KP Dandapani, said the withdrawal of their pleadings would not affect the course of the case. Last week, the families obtained the permission of the High Court to approach the Lok Adalat for getting a legal approval for the settlement. They had agreed to withdraw unconditionally all the legal proceedings and all allegations in various petitions pending in all legal fora. The fishermen were killed in the firing from Italian flagged vessel off Kerala coast on February 15. The murder case registered against the two marines by the state government would continue in the trial court. Marines Latorre Massimilano and Salvatore Girone are in judicial custody in Kerala since their arrest on February 19 which has routinely been extended every fortnight pending investigation. Court order against former DGP set aside NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court yesterday set aside a Karnataka High Court order indicting the state's then police chief Shankar Mahadev Bidari and directing his removal from the post. A bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C K Prasad said the state, however, was free to appoint anyone of its choice as the director-general of police (DGP). Bidari is due to retire on May 31. The high court, while affirming order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and directing Bidar's removal, had ordered the appointment of A R Infant as the director-general of police, in his place. The apex court also suspended the operation of the order of the CAT, which too had ruled against the appointment of Bidari as the DGP. It said that the matter is being remanded to the high court for fresh consideration and that the high court should decide the matter before May 31 when both Bidari and In- fant are retiring from service on that date. The CAT and the high court had set aside the appointment of Bidari as DGP on the grounds that the state government had not provided the full material to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) concerning him. It was contended that the report of Justice Sadasivam Inquiry Commission and that of National Human Rights Commission that looked into the allegation of excesses against tribals by personnel of Joint Special Task Force led by Bidari against sandalwood smuggler Veerappan was not placed before the UPSC for preparing panel of officers for appointment as DGP. The court described as “too wide a proposition” the stand of senior counsel Altaf Ahmed, appearing for Infant, that since Bidari was leading the security personnel in the operation, therefore he could not escape the consequences of their conduct. — IANS Custody row kids return NEW DELHI — Two Indian children at the centre of an international custody row returned to New Delhi yesterday to be cared for by an uncle one year after authorities in Norway removed them from their parents. The case drew widespread attention in India, much of it critical of the Norwegian social welfare officials amid a debate about different cultural attitudes to childcare. The Indian parents, who live in Norway, claimed their children, now aged four and two, had been taken away due to disapproval over feeding them by hand and sharing the same bed — common practices in India. The foreign ministry in New Delhi took up the issue with the Norwegian government, but the father of the children later said the children had been removed partly due to his wife suffering serious psychological problems. — AFP 17 INDIA OMAN DAILY Observer WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 Govt gets more time: auction of 2G licences NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court yesterday gave the central government three more months till August 31 to fulfil all requirements and auction 122 2G licences which were cancelled by it in February. An apex court bench of Justice G S Singhvi and Justice KS Radhakrishnan, while extending the time, observed that the government was aware that something was wrong and this could have been avoided if a little effort was made. While partially accepting the government’s plea seeking 400 days time till March 2013, the court extended the time by three months till August 31. The court also gave time till September 7 to all the service operators whose licences have been cancelled to continue providing services. As Attorney General G Vahanvati tried to persuade the court that government needed 400 days time because of the difficulties involved in the auctioning of the cancelled 2G licences, the court asked: “You are seeking 400 days time. How much time did you (DoT) take in completing the process (of allocation of 2G licences) in 2008?” The apex court by its February 2, 2012, order had cancelled all the 122 licences that were granted by former telecom minister A Raja on and after January 10, 2008. The court had said that all these licences should be allocated after carrying out their auction. The court had given the government four months' time till June 2 to complete the process of auctioning the cancelled licences. This was also the date when the services being provided under the licences that were cancelled were to be terminated. However, the government cited procedural difficulties and sought 400 days' time to complete the process of auctioning the cancelled 2G licences. The court did not accept the government's plea and gave it three months' additional time. Seeking more time for the auction of cancelled 2G licences and the allocation of spectrum, the application had pointed out that the government had already “undertaken a detailed examination of the steps involved in the conduct of the auction… and the process of auction, commencing with the receipt TRAI recommendations… will take at least 400 days.” The application had said that “it is expected that the auction process will take at least 400 days and accordingly, the new licences and spectrum can be issued only in or around March 2013.” — IANS Baghdad flights restart BAGHDAD — Iraq will reopen this week the Baghdad to Mumbai air route after a hiatus of more than 21 years, as a growing number of Iraqis are travelling to India, officials said yesterday. "Iraqi Airways will open on Friday the route between Baghdad and Mumbai after more than 21 years of interruption," Akram Louaybi, the flag carrier's spokesman, said. "There will be two flights a week between the two cities," he said. An Indian diplomat in Baghdad said the flights would be operated every Friday and Monday, taking off from Baghdad to the Iraqi holy city of Najaf and onward to Mumbai. The diplomat further said that the Indian Embassy issued an average of 200 visas a day to Iraqis wanting to go to India for medical, professional or educational reasons. Air links between the two cities were cut in 1991. — AFP
Page 1 and 2: Participants thank His Majesty PART
Page 4 and 5: Old experts at the ministries Ali a
Page 6 and 7: Omani Products Expo in Sohar draws
Page 8 and 9: Oman hosts 13th GCC History and Arc
Page 10 and 11: Nawras opens its 27th store in Soha
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Observer 25 Apr 2012 - Oman Daily Observer

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