e_Paper 20-11-2016

DT
8
World
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistan, India trade fire
in Kashmir, killing 3
Three children were killed and
three others injured Saturday when
mortar shells fired by Indian forces
hit a village along the Line of Control
(Loc) in Pakistan-administered
Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Pakistani
military said Pakistan and Indian
border troops exchanged fire across
the Loc in two other sectors on
Saturday, the Inter-Services Public
Relations (ISPR) said. REUTERS
INDIA
Ulfa Militants kill three
Indian soldiers in Assam
Three Indian soldiers were killed
and four seriously wounded on
Saturday in a separatist attack
in the restive northeastern state
of Assam, officials said. Heavily
armed militants of the outlawed
United Liberation Front of Asom
(Ulfa) ambushed an army convoy
near the Pengeri reserve forest
in the eastern Assam district of
Tinsukia. REUTERS
CHINA
Dalai Lama visits Mongolia
despite China’s objections
The Dalai Lama met with Buddhist
worshippers Saturday during a
four-day visit to Mongolia, despite
Beijing’s strident demand that he
be barred from entering the country.
The People’s Republic further
demanded that Mongolia “not
allow the visit by the Dalai Lama
and do not promote any facilitation
for the separatist activities by
the Dalai clique”. AFP
ASIA PACIFIC
15 missing in Indonesia
boat accident
At least 15 people are missing after
a speedboat collided with a Vietnamese
cargo vessel Saturday and
capsized in the Java Sea, according
to an official. The passenger boat
was ferrying 27 people some 50km
off the coast of Tuban, a small
town in East Java, when it collided
with a ship transporting tapioca
starch from Vietnam. AFP
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi-led coalition declares
48-hour-ceasefire in Yemen
The Saudi-led military coalition
declared a 48-hour ceasefire in
Yemen on Saturday, on the condition
that Shiite rebels abide by it
and allow humanitarian assistance
into besieged cities, particularly the
city of Taiz. However, minutes after
it went into effect, activists in Taiz
said that rebel shelling continued
in the city while a rebel-affiliated
military spokesman said that there
was no halt of fighting. AP
Myanmar rejects reports army killed
Rohingya fleeing Rakhine conflict
• Reuters, Yangon
Myanmar’s government rejected
accusations by minority Rohingya
Muslims that the military has
killed residents fleeing the conflict
in the northwest of the country, in
which at least 86 people have been
killed so far and up to 30,000 displaced.
Hundreds of Rohingya are trying
to escape the military crackdown
after a recent escalation in violence
in Rakhine State, residents have
said, adding that some of them have
been gunned down while attempting
to cross the river that marks the
frontier with Bangladesh.
The information taskforce on
Rakhine, formed this week by the
office of de facto Myanmar leader
and Nobel Peace Prize winner
Aung San Suu Kyi, has rejected the
allegations against the military,
known as the “Tatmadaw” in the
Burmese language.
Soldiers have poured into the
north of Rakhine along Myanmar’s
frontier with Bangladesh,
responding to attacks by alleged
Muslim militants on border posts
on October 9.
They have locked down the district,
where the vast majority of
residents are Rohingya, shutting
out aid workers and independent
observers.
A senior Bangladeshi official
said its border guard force on
Friday turned back 82 Rohingya
Muslims, including women and
children, attempting to leave Myanmar.
This came after two boats
with 86 people were pushed back
on Tuesday.
Calls for investigation
Sixty-nine suspected insurgents
and 17 members of the security
forces have been killed, according
to official reports, since the violence
began last month.
Residents and rights advocates
have accused security forces of
summary executions, rape and
setting fire to homes. The government
and army have rejected the
accusations.
The UN envoy on human rights
in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, criticised
Suu Kyi’s handling of the crisis
and renewed her appeal to investigate
the allegations of abuses.
“State Counsellor Aung San Suu
Kyi has recently stated that the
government is responding to the
situation based on the principle of
the rule of law. Yet I am unaware of
any efforts on the part of the government
to look into the allegations
of human rights violations,”
Lee said in a statement on Friday.
“It would appear, on the contrary,
that the government has mostly
responded with a blanket denial,”
said Lee, adding the security forces
“must not be given carte blanche
to step up their operations”.
Up to 30,000 people are now
estimated to be displaced and
thousands more affected by the
October 9 attacks and the following
security operation, said Pierre
Peron, the spokesman of the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs
(Ocha) in Myanmar. •
Malaysia’s Mahathir joins calls to oust PM Najib
• AFP, Kuala Lumpur
Former Malaysian leader Mahathir
Mohamad called for a sustained
push to topple scandal-plagued
Prime Minister Najib Razak as
thousands rallied on Saturday to
demand the premier’s resignation
over the 1MDB corruption saga.
Malaysians clad in the yellow
of the reformist Bersih campaign
flooded Kuala Lumpur for the
second time in 15 months to vent
anger over allegations that billions
of dollars were looted from state
investment fund 1MDB, Najib’s
brainchild.
Speaking to a crowd of at least
20,000 under the shadow of the
capital’s giant Petronas Towers
twin skyscrapers, Mahathir, 91,
accused Najib of stealing public
money and said Malaysia was
“controlled by thieves”.
“Time has come for us to topple
this cruel regime. Najib is no
longer suitable to be the prime
minister. He is abusing the law,”
Mahathir said.
Malaysia has been seized since
last year by the 1MDB scandal,
which has sparked investigations
in several countries.
But the US Justice Department
– which has filed lawsuits to seize
Members of pro-democracy group Bersih listen to former Malaysian prime
minister Mahathir Mohammad at a rally during a 1MDB protest, calling for Prime
Minister Najib Abdul Razak to resign, in Kuala Lumpur on November 19 REUTERS
assets it says were purchased with
stolen 1MDB money – says the
fund was pillaged in an audacious
campaign of fraud and theft that
This handout photograph was released by the Myanmar Armed Forces on
November 13, 2016, with information stating that Myanmar soldiers are putting
out a fire in Wapeik village located in Maungdaw in Rakhine State
AFP
involved an unnamed top Malaysian
official. A Malaysian Cabinet
official has since admitted that individual
was Najib.
Rivers of yellow
Tensions in the Muslim-majority
country rose in the rally’s run-up
due to threats by the “Red Shirts,”
ethnic-Malay rightists who support
Najib, to disrupt the demonstration,
but no clashes were reported.
Police on Friday arrested Bersih
leader Maria Chin Abdullah and
several other figures in an apparent
bid to undercut Saturday’s protest.
Amnesty International called
the arrests “the latest in a series
of crude and heavy-handed attempts”
to silence dissent.
Defying the government pressure,
rivers of yellow-wearing
demonstrators flowed downtown,
blowing vuvuzelas, brandishing
caricatures of Najib and other
1MDB figures, and chanting “Catch
the Thief-in-Chief!”
Bersih, which means “clean”
in Malay, is an alliance of scores
of NGOs and civil-society groups
that staged several protests over
the years for electoral reform,
but has now shifted focus to
1MDB.
In August 2015, it drew even
larger crowds for two days of
peaceful demonstrations over
1MDB. •