Obama to Netanyahu – Only rhetoric

Much was being talked and written about the 'historic' speeches of the two leaders. Both failed to live up to their expectations

Mohammad Reyaz Hardnews Delhi

The world and Muslims in particular, were expecting to hear of some policy change on American relations to the Muslim world when US President Barack Hussein Obama delivered his 'historic' speech at Cairo. His intentions appear to be good, clearly much ahead of his predecessors. But, he doesn't seem to have pleased even 'liberals' very much, except maybe close US allies like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Keeping his audience in mind, Obama quoted from the Quran on more than three occasions and gave references to the 'good times' when Muslims and Christians lived together peacefully. He recognised the mistrust that exists in both camps and seemed resolved to draw up a sustaining armistice between the West and the Muslim world.

He did not directly condemn the US attack on Iraq, but spoke of the indifference, unlike the attack on Afghanistan where his country and the world were united against State-sponsored terrorism. He believed though that the world and "Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein". But, he smartly seemed to gloss over the fact that there have been thousands of civilian casualties and deaths of innocents still continue in Iraq. He, however, remembered that those expeditions were at the cost of able US "soldiers".

His condemnation of western 'liberal' governments, who prohibit Muslim men and women from wearing clothes of their choice and practise religion freely, in the name of equality and freedom, is commendable. He promised to make necessary amendments in the US law to allow American Muslims to donate in charity (zakat) freely.

The high point of the speech was Obama's resolve to solve the Middle East crisis by making Israel and Palestine coexist amicably. He declared, "Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements... And Israel must also live up to its obligation to ensure that Palestinians can live and work and develop their society."

After Obama's June 4 speech and continuous pressure on the Israeli government, peace brokers in the region were expecting some change in Israel's policy against Palestine. Israel seemed to have softened its stance as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu began his foreign policy address at Bar Ilan University on June 14, 2009. "Peace has always been our objective," he said. He declared that he was willing to talk to Arab leaders and was ready to go to "Damascus, Riyadh, Beirut - to meet anytime and anywhere".

But he put forth three preconditions - "recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and a demilitarised Palestinian State" and an undivided Jerusalem to remain with Israel.

Although Israel seems to have flinched a bit, no one actually seemed very pleased with the much-anticipated speech. Netanyahu is being chided from both sides of the political spectrum. Almost entire Europe has said that it is just one small step forward and a lot more needs to be done. Not only are Israeli opposition parties criticising him, his ally, Habayit Hayehudi Party, told the media that it would "reconsider its future" in the coalition. The Palestinian Authority (PA), on the other hand, is aghast at the "prerequisites".

A spokesperson of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told the media: "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions." Although all praise for the American efforts, PA is accusing Netanyahu of "sabotaging" the peace process.

Much is being talked and written about the two 'historic' speeches, both of which were given at universities. But they have failed to live up to expectations, at least as of now. Efforts by Obama's government is appreciable though. It's almost like a Shakespearean 'much ado about nothing', or just a few things.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces defeat if election not rigged, say Iranian experts

Ian Black in Tehran
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 June 2009

Iranians go to the polls tomorrow to elect a president after an acrimonious and volatile election campaign that has polarised the country and unleashed mass opposition to the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In the absence of reliable independent opinion polls, experts predicted today that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the moderate "green" candidate, would probably beat the controversial incumbent so long as the result was not rigged.

Saeed Lalyaz, a respected political commentator, said he believed Mousavi now commanded the support of 55-60% across the country and warned of a possible crackdown on the opposition if Ahmadinejad were re-elected.

"I worry about the impact of any announcement that Ahmadinejad wins in the first round," said Lalyaz. "Whoever wins, these people on the streets will not go home easily. If Ahmadinejad is president for a second time I worry about another Tiananmen Square experience."

Ominously, as three weeks of often passionate campaigning drew to a close, the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRG) warned that any attempt at a popular "revolution" would be crushed.

Underlining the unprecedented scale of public interest in the election, it was reported that more than 10m text messages had been sent on Tuesday alone, apparently reflecting intense efforts to get the vote out and avoid the risk of mass abstentions.

The regime is also encouraging mass participation. "The people of Iran will choose someone who will resist the bullying of those who are arrogant and defend Iran's interest in the world," said a statement from the Basij militia.

The candidate who takes more than 50% becomes president automatically. If none does tomorrow, a second run-off round will be held next Friday. Two other candidates, reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi and Mohsen Rezaei, another conservative, would drop out if that happened.

Ahmadinejad was reportedly losing support to Rezaei, a former IRG commander, and elements of the military were said to be backing Mousavi, who has pledged to increase personal freedoms. A victory for the former prime minister could improve relations with the west, though big policy changes are unlikely.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/11/iran-president-election-mahmoud-ahmadinejad

In love? Think before you let him keep your picture

Laura Bashraheel, Arab News

While cases of women being blackmailed by men are still on the rise in Saudi Arabia, opinions vary as to whether women should be punished for giving personal or explicit images of themselves to men.

The police and the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice often arrest men who blackmail women into giving them money or sex by threatening to publish their images on the Internet. The occurrence of women blackmailing men is, however, very rare.

The organization that is oft contacted by blackmail victims is the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Although Saudi culture forbids relationships between the sexes, men and women still secretly form relations. It is the clandestine nature of such relations that some men take advantage of. Fearing a scandal, women allow themselves to be manipulated and blackmailed.

In some cases, victims were in relationships with their blackmailers and willingly parted with images. In other cases, women were not in relationships and were targeted. The question arises whether women who willingly part with their pictures should also be punished. Some feel they should, others disagree.

“It depends on the case. But it all goes back to the man’s sleaziness. The man should be punished and the woman shouldn’t,” said Mohammed Essam, 27, who works for a private company in Jeddah.

Mohannad Ibrahim, however, said that women should be punished slightly, as they give men the opportunity to blackmail them. “Girls have to wake up. They should never give their photos or any material that would lead to them getting blackmailed,” Ibrahim said.

He also believes such relationships bring disgrace to women and their families. “If the girl did not give the photo in the first place, nothing would have happened,” he added. “She has to bear some of the responsibility because she is part of the mistake,” he said, adding that the punishment should not be harsh, perhaps memorizing parts of the Holy Qur’an or some type of community work.

Hadeel Al-Ahmed mentioned how Islam is lenient and how it protected the rights of men and women in the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Al-Ahmed told the story of a young man who asked permission from the Prophet to commit adultery at which the Prophet responded: “Do you accept it for your mother or your sister?” The young man replied no and the Prophet responded saying that others also do not accept it for their mothers and sisters.

Bank worker Mai Al-Hilabi, 26, said a woman should not be punished, as the experience is a bad enough punishment. “The man is the villain here and even if she gave him her photos it was just because she trusted him and loved him,” she said.

Ibrahim Al-Zamzami, a Makkah-based lawyer, has handled several cases of women being blackmailed. “I had a case in which a man promised to marry a woman. He told her that he wanted her picture because he wanted to show it to his mother,” Al-Zamzami said.

He added that then the man began blackmailing the woman and demanded SR5,000. “The woman reported the man to the police and he is now in prison,” he said.

Al-Zamzami said that women are victims in 95 percent of cases and that they are rarely the blackmailers.

He also told a story of a driver who took a passenger’s pictures from a mobile camera while she went into a shop. “He then started blackmailing her. After a while she complained to the police. The man was arrested and is now in prison,” he added.

Al-Zamzami explained that women’s photos are private. “Women are emotional and men know that this is what they need to manipulate to get what they want,” he said, advising women to guard their photos.

“Women have to be aware. Parents also need to keep a watch on their daughters. There should be trust, but this should go hand in hand with some sort of monitoring,” he added.

Speaking about the punishment blackmailers receive, Al-Zamzami said, “In most cases, as a personal right, men are sentenced to pay back the money they took from their victims. As for the judicial right, the offender is usually sentenced to a couple of months or years in prison and lashes. It depends on the case,” he added.

“Women should not trust men,” said Hanaa Abdul Aziz, 30. “If he really wanted her, he would approach her parents and ask for her hand in marriage,” she said, adding that Saudi society is “a male dominated society.”

“A mother should always speak to her daughter and advise her on what’s appropriate and what’s not,” she said.

In a recent case, commission members in the Eastern Province arrested a 23-year-old man for trying to blackmail a 20-year-old woman by threatening to publish her pictures on the Net. The woman contacted the commission after the man demanded SR200,000 from her. She had already given him SR60,000.

In another case, commission members in Makkah came to the aid of a 40-year-old woman who was being blackmailed by a young man. The woman complained to the commission saying the man threatened to post her pictures on the Internet unless she paid him large sums of money.

The commission set up a sting operation whereby the woman agreed to pay whatever the youth demanded. When he showed up, commission members arrested him.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=123441&d=10&m=6&y=2009

The difficulty of being Mushirul Hasan

(photograph from The Hindu Archeive)


Vir Sanghvi, Hindustan Times, 7 June


The first time most of us heard of Mushirul Hasan was in 1992. Asked whether he supported the ban on The Satanic Verses, Hasan said that while he found the book deeply offensive, he did not believe in banning books.

So, despite his own response to The Satanic Verses, he could not support the ban. To most of us, this might have seemed like the perfect liberal Muslim response. He had registered his own sense of outrage as a Muslim but had argued that the principle of freedom of speech was more important.

But a large section of the Muslim community took violent exception to his statements. Students at Jamia Millia Islamia University declared that he was a traitor to Islam. Politicians got in on the act. Mushir was assaulted. He received threatening phone calls. And Jamia said that it could not guarantee his safety.

So, for the next five years he sat at home, shunned by elements in his own community, largely ignored by liberals, and still the object of derision and hatred from fundamentalists.

Hasan had options. He could have recanted. He could have apologised. But he stubbornly refused to do either. I asked him last week, when we met for a light lunch, whether he had ever been tempted to take the easy way out. After all, what did it matter what he thought? The ban on The Satanic Verses had been in place for years before he made his statement and has remained ever since. Even the BJP government did not withdraw it. So did it really matter what a history professor at Jamia thought? Surely, it would have been easy enough to make some conciliatory noises and to get back to work?

He looked at me in astonishment. Recant? Apologise? But why? There were his views and he had always lived by them.

It would be tempting to see Mushirul Hasan as a poster boy for liberal Islam, as the sort of Muslim that the BJP loves, as a sort of Arif Mohammad Khan-like figure. But the reality is far more complex. Eventually, Hasan did resume his old life as The Satanic Verses controversy faded. For the last five years he has been Vice Chancellor of Jamia. And in that role, he has frequently been criticised by the BJP. He has been attacked for being too nice to Arjun Singh. He has been vilified for offering to pay the legal fees of those students involved in the Batla House encounter. And BJP spokesmen have painted him as a stooge of the fundamentalists, a man who believes in the ghettoisation of Muslims.

Now, as his term at Jamia ends and there is talk of a second term given the terrific job he’s done, some of his old fundamentalist enemies are back in action. Why is he opposing moves to turn Jamia into a minority institution? Why has he appointed so many Hindus? Why is a building named after his father? Why has he opened a college of dentistry? And even, why is Hasan, a Shia, in charge of an institution that should be run by Sunnis?

I told Hasan, as he picked at his Thai prawn curry, that I thought that his current situation captured some of the complexity of the position that liberal Muslims find themselves in these days. Many in their community regard them as not being Muslim enough. And others regard them as being too Muslim.

And Hasan is your classic old-style, liberal Muslim intellectual. His father, a noted historian (the proposal to name the building after him, by the way, predated Mushir’s term as Vice Chancellor and was part of the Jamia tradition of naming buildings after distinguished faculty members), was a card-carrying member of the Communist party.

Mushir was brought up in a largely secular environment, went up to Cambridge and researched Indian nationalism. His reading led him to the conclusion that the Two Nation theory had very little to do with the welfare of sub-continental Muslims, and much more to do with the belief of a Muslim elite that it would lose in influence to the Congress elite. As a consequence of his research, he moved away from his father’s politics and embraced the views of Nehru and Gandhi. He began to believe that the best hope for India lay in a secular polity with a strong bias towards the poor and disadvantaged. Unlike many others who had made the shift towards the Nehruvian consensus — and unlike the Communists, certainly — Mushir developed a strong liberal streak with a suspicion of arbitrary government action and a belief in personal freedom.

Of how many of us can it be said that almost everything that has happened in our lives stems directly from our beliefs? And yet, this is precisely what seems to have happened in Hasan’s case. The Satanic Verses controversy — perhaps the turning point in his life — was a result of his beliefs. So was his attitude to Jamia — which famously, had opposed the Two Nation theory in the 1940s — which he treated as an open institution not a communal ghetto. And so, I suppose, are the recent controversies that the BJP focuses on.

I asked him about the Batla House encounter. He says he really has no idea what happened. He wasn’t there and even later, when politicians visited the area, he refused to accompany them. But he will say that he is distressed by the conditions in the Batla House area. There are no milk booths, there is no Modern Bazaar; it is almost as though the institutions and facilities of the local government do not exist. He says that when Sheila Dikshit visited Jamia, he told her that the area was bound to be infested with criminals if the state regarded it as outside of its purview. To her credit, he says, Dikshit saw the point immediately and offered a healing touch.

What about the charge that he took an aggressive anti-police stand and hired lawyers for those students arrested in that case?

Nonsense, he says. Jamia has a fund that can be used to pay for students’ expenses in cases of crisis or emergency, for example, medical problems or legal hassles. What he said was that students could claim legal expenses from this fund just as they claim doctors’ fees. To allow students the funds required for legal representation is hardly the same as organising their defence or finding lawyers for them. It is a position that is entirely in keeping with his own belief in individual freedom versus the might of the state or the mob.

His critics argue that this is too black and white an explanation, that Mushir’s position was much greyer than he now makes it out to be. But he responds by saying that if he had come out openly against the police, and said that the encounter was false, he would have been a hero to the fundamentalists. So his position was actually reasonable and moderate.

Does Mushir find himself in a strange place, reviled by Islamic fundamentalists and Hindutva advocates alike?

He says it is not so simple. It is possible, he thinks, to overstate the influence of fundamentalists in his community. The trouble is that the political establishment listens too much to the extremists and too little to be moderates.

He gives the example of the Shah Bano case in the 1980s when Rajiv Gandhi was told that he had to listen to the fundamentalists because they were the ones who really represented India’s Muslims. In fact, he says, these fundamentalists have all faded and their influence has been shown to be illusory. Who cares about the Shahi Imam these days? Muslims have been seen beyond the fundamentalists and the extremists.

He reckons that politicians make a huge mistake by approaching the Muslim community through social and religious issues. In the end, he argues, Muslims want the same thing as all other Indians: jobs, security, prosperity, better living standards, low prices, access to health and sanitation etc.

He concedes that there was a danger of radicalisation when Muslims all over the world took extreme stands but argues that the threat has largely passed with the election of President Barack Obama who Muslims do not perceive as being hostile to Islam.

History, he suggests, is on the side of the liberal Muslims who opposed the Two Nation theory. Look at India’s progress since Independence. And look at Pakistan today.

What about the fundamentalists who oppose his continuance at Jamia, then? Well yes, he says, it is not in his case that the fundamentalists have vanished; only that they do not represent the vast majority of India’s Muslims. They make a lot of noise. They know how to get into the papers and how to manipulate the media. But they remain a tiny minority.

As we drank our coffees, I asked him the key question. Is he offering all these opinions because he thinks that fundamentalist opposition will cost him the second term at Jamia that he clearly deserves?

No, he responded at once. Vice Chancellors will come and go. But there’s been something disturbing about the sudden flurry of stories against him in the media of late. So many of them are without any foundation at all, and some are clearly libellous.

It’s not the job that’s really important. It’s his reputation.


http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=cacabfe9-6d01-49d8-a5b6-e3c496986dbf

Villagers angered by mosque blast attack Taliban

Monday, 08 Jun, 2009, The Dawn

Two Taliban commanders and their four fighters were killed in an armed action taken by a tribal Lashkar in the Doog Darra area of Upper Dir district in Paksitan on Sunday.

(According to AP news agency 11 militants were killed in the attack.)

The Lashkar was formed in Hayagay Sharqi, and was supported by people of Hayagay Gharbi, Doon, Kilot and Miana Doog villages, after the suicide attack on a local mosque during Friday prayers that killed over 30 people, including several children.

The Lashkar stormed Taliban bunkers in Doog Darra, Salam Bekay, Ghazigay, Shatkas, Panaghar and Maluk Khwar and torched about 20 houses of people who harboured militants.

People from several other villages joined the Lashkar to expel Taliban from their area.

According to local people, both sides were using heavy weapons in fierce clashes between the Lashkar and the Taliban.

Sources said the village force was attacking Taliban positions in Shatkas, Miana and Doog Bala.

Meanwhile, people of Maluk Khwar and Panaghar villages, who were active supporters

of the militants, also parted ways with them after the mosque blast and announced support for the tribal Lashkar and vowed to evict militants from the area.

Doog Darra area, it may be mentioned, was attacked by planes in the third week of May.

Two men of the Lashkar identified as Shah Khalid and Mohammad Ayaz were injured in Sunday’s clash.

The militants, holed up in their stronghold of Shatkas and Gazigay, were putting up stiff resistance, the sources said.

Agencies add: The incident underscored a swing in the national mood towards a more anti-Taliban stance, a shift that comes as suicide attacks have surged and the military wages an offensive in the Swat valley.

DCO Atif-ur-Rehman said some 400 villagers formed a Lashkar and attacked five villages in Doog Darra area.

The militia has occupied three of the villages since Saturday and is trying to push the Taliban out of the other two.

The government has encouraged local people to set up militias to oust Taliban fighters.

‘It is something very positive that tribesmen are standing against the militants. It will discourage the miscreants,’ Mr Rehman said.

He said around 200 militants were putting up stiff resistance in their strongholds surrounded by the villagers.

‘We will send security forces, maybe artillery too, if the villagers ask for reinforcement,’ he said.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/12-tribesmen-avenge-mosque-blast-attack-taliban--bi-01

Former militant renounces extremism

Sunday, 07 Jun, 2009, The Dawn

Ten years ago, Maajid Nawaz came to Pakistan to recruit for an extremist group intent on a global Islamic state. Now he's on a different mission — to steer youth away from militancy.



Nawaz's message is one rarely heard in Pakistan, where the response to extremism has been overwhelmingly military, with little attempt to try to rehabilitate insurgents or keep young people from turning to militancy in the first place.


In speeches to thousands of university students across the country, Nawaz emphasized the urgent need to renounce radicalism.


‘We must reclaim Islam,’ the British citizen of Pakistani descent told some 100 students on a campus close to the capital last month. ‘We must reclaim Pakistan.’


While Pakistan has poured troops and weaponry into its fight against the Taliban and other extremist groups, it has adopted few of the softer measures aimed at dissuading militancy. And critics say that is a major weakness in Pakistan's strategy against terrorism.


‘There is no country where such a program is more important than in Pakistan,’ said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert who chaired the first international conference on militant rehabilitation in Singapore in February.


‘In parallel with the kinetic fight to catch and kill terrorists, there needs to be a parallel policy to fight the ideology.’


There are signs Pakistan is considering such a program. Senior officials recently went to Saudi Arabia to study the effort there, considered the world's most comprehensive. Egypt pioneered the idea of militant rehabilitation in the 1990s, and Yemen, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia have also followed suit.


The programs involve counseling by moderate clerics and former extremists. Militants who renounce their old ways can receive financial support or help finding a job. Parallel programs in schools and mosques are aimed at young people.


A former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Saad Iqbal Madni, said he would welcome such a program in Pakistan.


‘If I had a little support, I could tell them that killing innocent people is not from Islam,’ said Madni, who was freed last year. Madni, who was never charged, denied engaging in violence, but said he would have credibility with fellow Pakistanis.


The results from such soft tactics have varied, said Christopher Boucek, who recently published a report on the Saudi program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.


Indonesia has persuaded prominent terrorists to disavow violence and counsel others to do the same. But 23 of 117 Saudis who returned from Guantanamo and passed through the Saudi system have been re-arrested or are on the government's most-wanted terrorist list, said Boucek.


Shazadi Beg, a London-based human rights lawyer who has studied the need for such programs in Pakistan, said they are important because most militant recruits are young men with a limited understanding of Islam and no other way to earn a living.


A further complication is that for years the Pakistani government actively sponsored extremists to use as proxies in Afghanistan and Kashmir, a territory claimed by both Pakistan and India.


‘In Saudi, you're dealing with relatively small groups, but in Pakistan the jails are full with these sorts of detainees,’ said Mohammed Amir Rana, a terrorism expert at the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. ‘The problem is the number of people the government wants to be rehabilitated.’


Most of Pakistan's 180 million people follow a moderate form of Islam influenced by local traditions, but hard-liners have made significant inroads since the 1980s. Anger at the US invasion of Afghanistan and support for a succession of Pakistani leaders seen as corrupt and illegitimate have swelled their ranks.


Another problem, said Pakistani lawmaker Mushahid Hussain, is that Pakistan is late to realize how serious a threat militants pose. Bureaucratic inertia is strong, he says, along with an aversion to new ideas and a state of denial.


‘Unless (the programs) start, we don't know how successful they will be,’ Hussain said. ‘It is not a battle of bombs and bullets. It is a battle of ideas.’


Nazar, the extremist turned inspirational speaker, used to belong to Hizb ut-Tahrir, which claims to have hundreds of thousands of members around the world working on establishing an Islamic caliphate. The group pledges nonviolence, but Nawaz alleges that in some countries — including nuclear-armed Pakistan — a key strategy was to foment a military coup.


Pakistan has formally banned the group, as have several other Muslim countries, but authorities are not really enforcing the ban. Its members take part in demonstrations, hold public meetings and hand out leaflets largely unobstructed.


In 1999, Hizb ut-Tahrir paid for Nawaz to go to Pakistan, ostensibly as a student, to recruit members. He traveled all over the country doing so.


Later, he went to Egypt, where he was imprisoned for four years for recruiting for the group. He met other radicals, studied Islamic texts in jail and gradually changed his opinions, he said. He now believes that Islam calls for the separation of the faith and politics.


Imran Yousafzai, deputy spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan, said he was aware of Nawaz's activities in Pakistan.


‘I heard he was once an active member in Pakistan,’ he said. ‘I am sad to say that he is now working against Islam.’


During his recent appearances on college campuses, some students questioned why Nawaz was ‘attacking’ Islam and not US foreign policy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. One hard-liner, whom Nawaz accuses of being a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, punched him in the face after a talk in the eastern city of Lahore.


Nawaz said he hopes to start a network of moderate Pakistani Muslims to speak out against extremism. He gets a salary as director of the Quilliam Foundation, a mainstream think tank that challenges extremism and promotes pluralism, and is partly funded by the British government.


Pervez Hoodbhoy, a university lecturer and vocal critic of militancy, said students responded positively to Nawaz but that he did not expect to see ‘any movement building up behind him.’


‘It is a great job he is doing and it's important that people hear him, he said. ‘But it wasn't a life-changing experience.’


http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/08-We-must-reclaim-Islam-ts-01

Indian bureaucracy ranked worst in Asia: Survey

TOI, 3 Jun

Singapore's civil servants are the most efficient among their Asian peers, a business survey on 12 economies released on Wednesday
showed, but they tend to clam up unhelpfully when things go wrong.

India's "suffocating bureaucracy" was ranked the least-efficient by the survey, which said working with the country's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process.

"They are a power centre in their own right at both the national and state levels, and are extremely resistant to reform that affects them or the way they go about their duties," the report said.

Singapore was ranked first for a third time in a poll of 1,274 expatriates working in 12 North and South Asian nations on the efficiency of bureaucrats in those countries. The poll was last held in 2007.

"During normal times, when the system is not stress-tested, it operates very well," Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy said in a 12-page report of Singapore's bureaucracy.

"However, during difficult times - or when mistakes are made that reflect badly on the system - there is a tendency among bureaucrats to circle the wagons in ways that lack transparency and make accountability difficult," the report said.

Thailand, despite four years of on-off street protests and a year of dysfunctional government was ranked third.

"For all the country's troubles -- or perhaps because of them -- respondents to our survey were impressed with the way Thai civil servants have been carrying out their duties," PERC said.

It said state offices associated with corruption presented the most difficulties for Thai citizens and foreigners.

PERC managing director Bob Broadfoot told Reuters that the controversy around huge investment losses by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek was a good example of how things could become less transparent in the island-state.

The Singapore government has come under fire from lawmakers and its citizens over several investment losses, particular its exit from Bank of America which resulted in a loss of over $3 billion, according to Reuters calculation.

The survey ranked Hong Kong second. China, which has been campaigning to fight corruption in its bureaucracy and improve efficiency in the civil service, was ranked 9th in the 2009 poll, two places down from 2007.

Ranking by most efficient to least efficient economies: Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Indonesia and India.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indian-bureaucracy-worst-in-Asia-Survey/articleshow/4612918.cms

S Asia hunger 'at 40-year high'

A UN report says hunger in South Asia has reached its highest level in 40 years because of food and fuel price rises and the global economic downturn.

The report by the UN children's fund, Unicef, says that 100 million more people in the region are going hungry compared with two years ago.

It names the worst affected areas as Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The report says South Asia's governments need to urgently increase social spending to meet the challenge.

It says that climate change and urbanisation also need tackling.

Poverty trap

According to the World Bank, three quarters of the population in South Asia - almost 1.2 billion people - live on less than $2 (£1.2) a day. And more than 400m people in the region are now chronically hungry.

The report focused on the impact the economic crisis had on women and children, saying they are the people most vulnerable during a downturn.

"We are on the verge of a crisis," Aniruddha Bonnerjee, a Unicef consultant said.

The report cites a number of factors for and symptoms of the sharp rise in people living in hunger and poverty:

•Declining wages at home
•A drop in remittances from abroad
•Poor women often go without food to feed their families
•Children can be pulled out of school and sent to work
•High prices have forced people to borrow money at high interest
•Income is spent on food but not on other essentials
'Worst affected'



Millions of South Asian people live on less than $2 a day
Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan are the worst affected but even the region's economic giant, India, has suffered because of job losses and lower remittances from Indians living abroad.

Unicef says the region's governments need to increase spending on food, health care and education to alleviate the crisis.

But it acknowledges that the economic slowdown means there is less money to spend.

It said that it was important for the two biggest countries in South Asia, India and Pakistan, to reduce their defence budgets to allow for increased social spending.

Governments of the region can also use fiscal stimulus programmes and aid from abroad to expand the provision of basic social services in fields like health and education, it says, while funding training programmes - especially for young people.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8079698.stm

Love marriage takes life of newly wed youth in Pak

Waseem Shamsi ,02 Jun, 2009 , The Dawn


The body of a youth was found on Monday in Sher Ali Minor near village Sultan Gabol in the Sindh province of Pakistan while his wife went missing.

They had married of their own will two months ago.

Irfan Rajput, son of Shafiq Shaheen Rajput, had married Khush Bakht, daughter of late Noor Ahmed Gabol, secretly. She is the resident of village Sultan Gabol, district Ghotki in Sindh, and a student of MBBS (second year) in Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College, Sukkur.

It was due to her education that Khush Bakht was living with relatives in Barrage Colony, Sukkur, while Irfan worked with a photographer there.

They fell in love and married on March 26 in a civil court of Nawabshah, according to sources.

Irfan Rajput prepared a CD of their marriage as an evidence of their marriage.

The sources said Irfan Rajput owed some money to the photographer. When he failed to pay back money after repeated demands, the photographer in anger gave a copy of the CD of their marriage to the girl’s relatives.

The sources said that after coming to know about their marriage, the relatives confined Khush Bakht to the house.

When Irfan Rajput got information of her confinement, he filed a petition in the Sukkur district and sessions court on May 15, stating that their lives were in danger and requested the court to provide them protection.

He also named 15 relatives of the girl in that connection.

District and Sessions Judge Abdul Ghani Soomro ordered police to recover the girl.

The police raided the house where the girl was confined and produced her in the court.

The girl gave a statement in favour of Irfan and the court allowed them to live as husband and wife.

Later, the couple moved to Karachi where they were living together.

A couple of days ago, the girl’s brother Dr Jameel Gabol visited the couple in Karachi and brought them to their native village Sultan Gabol.

According to the sources, Irfan Rajput was put to death late on Sunday night and his body was thrown into Sher Ali Minor near the village while Khush Bakht went missing after her husband’s death.

When contacted, Ghotki DPO Jawed Jiskani told this reporter that after recovering the body of Irfan Rajput, police had raided the village and arrested seven close relatives of the girl. He refused to disclose the names of suspects.

However, the DPO was of the view that the girl had not been killed. Police had not found any evidence of her killing, the DPO said.

However, no case was registered till filing of this report.

The sources also said that five days ago, Dr Jameel Gabol with the help of a relative, ASI Nadeem Gabol (presently posted at ‘B’ section police station Sukkur in investigation cell), through one Mahar (whose name could not be ascertained), had registered an FIR with Bagarji police against Irfan and his brother Mohsin Rajput.

Acting on the FIR, the police arrested Mohsin Rajput, produced him in a court that sent him to central jail-II Sukkur on judicial remand.

According to the sources, ASI Nadeem Gabol played a key role in the murder of Irfan Rajput because he had taken Irfan to village Sultan Gabol on the pretext of reconciling him with girl’s relatives.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/04-love-marriage-takes-life-of-newly-wed-youth-qs-04

Pakistan court frees charity chief linked to Mumbai attack

Al Jazeera

A Pakistani court has ordered the release of the leader of an Islamic charity held in connection with last year's attack on the Indian city of Mumbai.

A lawyer for Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, said on Monday that the Lahore High Court had ruled there was no reason to hold his client.

"The court has ordered that the detention of Hafiz Saeed was a violation of the constitution and the law of this country," AK Dogar, the lawyer, said.

"Today's verdict shows that sovereignty lies in Almighty Allah," he told supporters waiting outside the court.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been accused of being a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba network, which is thought to have been behind last November's attack on Mumbai, in which about 170 people were killed.

India was "unhappy" with Saeed's release.

Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's interior minister, said: "We are unhappy that Pakistan does not show the degree of seriousness and commitment that it should to bring to justice the perpetrators of the crime."

House arrest

Saeed was among four people put under house arrest late last year and questioned in connection with the attacks, which India has said were carried out by fighters based in Pakistan.

His detention came after a UN Security Council committee added him and Jamaat-ud-Dawa to a list of people and organisations linked to al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

He founded Lashkar-e-Taiba in 1989 but reportedly abandoned the group when it was outlawed in Pakistan after India alleged it was behind a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is one of Pakistan's biggest charities and is known across the country for its relief work after the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.

'Relief organisation'

A spokesman for Saeed said the court order proved the charity had no links to groups such as al-Qaeda.

"The government has been defeated. Our innocence has been proven," Yahya Mujahid, the charity's spokesman, said.

"Ours is a relief organisation. The decision has proved that we have nothing to do with terrorism. We were on right path and it has been proved ... Nothing has been proved against us."

Pakistani investigators have acknowledged the co-ordinated attacks in India's financial capital were launched and partly planned from Pakistan's soil, and that the man suspected of being the sole surviving attacker was Pakistani.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/06/2009626454864385.html