Venezuela Proposes Oil-Backed Currency, South-South Alliances at Arab-South America Summit

Mérida, (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- During the second Summit of Arab and South American Nations in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez proposed a new international currency backed by oil reserves and an international bank managed jointly by petroleum exporting countries. Chávez also advocated the construction of a “pluri-polar” world order, which includes strengthened alliances among Arab and South American countries, to help emerge from the world financial crisis.
“We’ve had enough of the dictatorship of the dollar,” said Chávez.
The president criticized the decision of the United States government to un-peg the dollar from the gold standard in 1973, and said a new currency called the “petro” backed by oil reserves would provide a stable monetary alternative to the empty wealth based on webs of speculative debt concentrated in the United States and Europe. In step with this, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should found a new bank to hold the international reserves of oil exporting countries in this new currency, instead of the dollar, Chávez said. Chávez proposed an OPEC Bank at the OPEC Summit in Caracas in the year 2000, but the bank has not come to fruition.The summit in Qatar is the first stop on Chávez’s diplomatic tour through the Middle East and Asia this week, during which he plans to establish a bi-national bank with Iran, discuss proposals for a new global currency with China, and sign an energy pact with Japan.Chávez also proposed a “grand energy and food alliance” among countries at the summit. The countries attending the summit included OPEC members Algeria, Ecuador, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates, other oil and gas producers including Egypt, Brazil, Bolivia, and Sudan, and members of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) including Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay.Chávez criticized his counterparts in Chile and Brazil for making too many concessions to the group of the world’s twenty richest countries (G-20) in recent weeks. He said Chile and Brazil’s cozying up to the United States and Europe “puts South American unity at risk,” and that solutions to the world economic crisis will not come from those who caused the crisis. “We cannot rely on anybody but ourselves,” he said, referring to Global South countries.However, Chávez concurred with Presidents Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil on the need for governments to create joint and multilateral investment funds and strengthen South-South alliances to spur recovery from the crisis. In their speeches at the summit, Lula advocated against “state protectionism” and Bachelet proposed investments in “clean technologies” that create new jobs. President Chávez also echoed the Arab League in opposing the International Criminal Court’s order for the capture of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, related to what many world leaders have called genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. Chávez said the ICC’s ruling reveals its bias against African countries. “Why don’t they order the capture of Bush, or the capture of the president of Israel,” asked Chávez, who severed diplomatic relations with the U.S. in September and Israel in January to protest U.S. intervention in Latin America and Israel’s attack on Gaza. “[The ICC] does not have the jurisdiction to make a decision of such magnitude against a president who is still in office. Ah, but they do it because it is an African country in the Third World!” Chávez said.The over-arching theme of the global economic crisis and the Global South’s reaction to it is the end of U.S. hegemony over the world, Chávez said. “Every empire has its hour. The hour has arrived for the Yankee Empire to definitively fall,” he said. “We think this is a good opportunity to continue shaping and giving form to what some call the new architecture of the world post-U.S. empire... we must pick up the pace toward a pluri-polar world.”

Mullen comfortable with Pakistan nukes

NEW YORK: The top US military officer said Thursday he is ‘reasonably comfortable’ Pakistan's nuclear weapons are secure amid a rising tide of insurgent violence aimed at the government.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a lunchtime audience at the Hudson Union Society, said the US has invested in an effort to keep the weapons secure and that Pakistan has ‘taken significant steps in recent years, so I'm comfortable.’

‘My biggest concern is that if Pakistan gets to a point where it implodes, you've got a country that could be an Islamist, theocratic country with nuclear weapons which could both use them and proliferate them. One of our goals is to make sure that doesn't happen,’ Mullen said.

He also explicitly linked the Pakistani military's intelligence arm, the Inter-Services Intelligence, to elements of the insurgency inside Pakistan, a connection that others have said helps empower extremist groups.

‘They've got an intelligence organisation that must, in my view, change its strategic approach and be completely disconnected from the insurgents. And they're not right now,’ he said.

Pakistan-India border: Obama 'very concerned' about militants

LONDON:US President Barack Obama said Thursday he was "very concerned" about extremists on the border between Pakistan and India and urged a cooling of cross-border tensions with an "effective dialogue." Obama told reporters after talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit that they had discussed the threat posed by the militants on the frontier of the nuclear-armed neighbour states.

Asked by an Indian journalist of his assessment of the danger posed by extremists coming into the country from Pakistan, Obama said: "Obviously we are very concerned about extremists and terrorists who have made camp in the border regions of Pakistan as well as in Afghanistan. "But we spoke about it more broadly, in terms of how we can co-ordinate effectively on issues of counter-terrorism."

Obama said that India and Pakistan had more mortal enemies than each other. "At a time when perhaps the greatest enemy of both India and Pakistan should be poverty... it may make sense to create a more effective dialogue between India and Pakistan," he said. Singh told a separate news conference that he and Obama had agreed to join forces to fight terrorism.

"We both agreed that our two countries must work together to counter the forces of terror," he said, adding that they had a "global strategic partnership." "We both have agreed that there are enormous opportunities to further strengthen our relationship to make this partnership more productive, more durable and diverse," he said.

Singh added, however, that the ball was in Pakistan's court over the deadly Mumbai terror attacks last November, pressing Islamabad to "convince us that it is sincere" about tracking down those responsible. Questioned about Pakistan's response to the bloodbath, he said: "We expect Pakistan to do all that is required to bring the culprits of the Mumbai terror attacks to book. "We have supplied Pakistan (with) answers to all the questions that there are. The ball is in the court of Pakistan. It has to convince us that it is sincere about bringing to book the culprits of Mumbai."

Z.A.Bhutto death anniversary

PESHAWAR: Ten bogeys reserved for the Pakistan People’s Party workers to take them to Naudero to attend the death anniversary of founding chairman of the party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, left without carrying a single activist from here which clearly showed the mismanagement and local leaders’ disinterest in running party’s affairs in the Frontier province.The district and provincial leaders were not aware of any reservation with the Pakistan Railways and none of the responsible leaders was available for comment. Most of the provincial leaders either kept their mobile phones off or preferred not to answer the calls.Provincial leader of the party Khwaja Yawar Naseer expressed ignorance about any reservation with the PR and posed a counter question as to who had booked the bogeys and why they were not informed in time?
He said they had arranged buses to take people from Peshawar and Nowshera, adding that they would have informed their workers, if some one had booked the bogeys. Some of our workers had already left, while some of them will be leaving today to participate in the anniversary of ZA Bhutto, he said.
Without naming any one, Yawar Naseer said, “they could publish a news item in the papers to inform the people, but that was not done.” The poor activists complained against their leaders for not making any arrangement for them to participate in the death anniversary of their leader. “Some of us can not afford Rs690 train ticket and it was a good chance for a worker like me to visit the tomb of our leader,” an aging worker said.Another worker said the party had arranged free train for the workers to participate in the anniversary of assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto, but this time, majority of the workers would not be able to visit Naudero, as they could not afford travelling and other expenses.“Our leaders usually go in their luxury vehicles ignoring the workers, “ one of the activists said and added that the leaders should take the workers along in a procession on such occasions. The worsening law and order situation, he said, could also be a reason and majority of the party activists would avoid visiting mausoleum of their leader.

PkMAP support for Pakhtuns to go on

PESHAWAR: The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) NWFP president Mukhtar Khan Yousafzai has said his party would continue raising voice for the rights of Pakhtuns.
Yousafzai said the PkMAP would struggle for political, social, economic and cultural rights of Pakhtuns and would not leave them alone in any corner of the country. Talking to a delegation of Pakhtuns from Karachi on Thursday, he said Pakhtuns in Karachi and Sindh were living in pathetic conditions and they were being subjected to discriminate treatment, particularly in the port city.He said conspiracies were being hatched against Pakhtuns to destroy their businesses in Karachi and other parts of the Sindh province. Those involved in such conspiracies were trying to destroy the country and create rifts among different communities.

Logic of drone attacks

EDITORIAL
Daily times

A US drone attack in Orakzai agency has killed 12 recruits of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) of Baitullah Mehsud, including one local leader. An Arab too has been killed while the family of the man providing them haven, Maulana Gul Nazir, was the only “collateral damage”. The press links the US attack to Baitullah Mehsud’s challenge that he was going to attack Washington again. The drone’s target was Hakimullah Mehsud, Baitullah’s close contact and local commander of the TTP training centre.

Since the media in Pakistan is formally against the drone attacks, efforts were made on several TV channels on Wednesday night to get the anti-drone stance of the public confirmed. But all Pashtun reporters covering Orakzai refused to give the drones a blanket stamp of disapproval. Asked why Orakzai was attacked if it was not geographically linked to Afghanistan, the answer was: it was attacked because it had become a stronghold of the TTP and foreign terrorists since the last one year and was clearly seen as a threat by the Americans as a training resource for those who attacked across the Durand Line.

This meant that since one year Orakzai has been open as a possible stronghold of the terrorists while the media has been concentrating on Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand as the region of TTP challenge where the Pakistan army is supposed to be taking action. It was discovered that the local Orakzai population had given in after the slaughter of their anti-TTP “jirga” last year did not evoke much response from the army or the state of Pakistan. Added to the TTP dominance of Kurram Agency, a whole swath of territory in the tribal areas was now ruled by Baitullah Mehsud. Orakzai, where the terrorists plied special vehicles stolen from NATO supply caravans in Khyber, was the base from where TTP commanded the NWFP city of Hangu where the Shia are made to live like a hunted minority.

When asked if the drone attack in Orakzai will provoke the local population into becoming anti-American, the Pashtun reporters told the TV channels that unless collateral damage became widespread enough to include the local population, there was no chance of an anti-American feeling. They said that the population was completely under the despotic rule of the TTP and would actually want the drone attacks to continue to lessen the severity of TTP control on them. Had Pakistan any sovereignty left to counteract the TTP, the local population would have fought against the terrorists.

This evidence weakens the argument we have heard advanced against the American drone attacks. A Peshawar-based NGO has come under pressure from the authorities and the media for discovering exactly what was revealed by the TV reporters on Wednesday night. The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA) published an article recently (The News, March 5, 2009) which stated that its teams visited Wana (South Waziristan), Ladda (South Waziristan), Miranshah (North Waziristan), Razmak (North Waziristan) and Parachinar (Kurram Agency) and found that the victim population was not opposed to drone attacks.

The AIRRA teams handed out 650 structured questionnaires to people in the above areas. The 550 respondents — 100 declined to answer — were from professions related to business, education, health and transport. The following were some of questions and responses of the people of FATA. 1) Do you see drone attacks bringing about fear and terror in the common people? (Yes 45%, No 55%). 2) Do you think the drones are accurate in their strikes? (Yes 52%, No 48%). 3) Do you think anti-American feelings in the area increased due to drone attacks recently? (Yes 42%, No 58%). 4) Should the Pakistani military carry out targeted strikes at the militant organisations? (Yes 70%, No 30%). 5) Do the militant organisations get damaged due to drone attacks? (Yes 60%, No 40%).

One thing is certain: the local population is against the TTP and doesn’t mind too much if the Americans take it out in the absence of an adequate Pakistani response. The Pakistani stance that its sovereignty is being violated by the drones is weakened by the day by the very clear loss of Pakistan’s sovereign territory to the TTP and the inability of the state of Pakistan to either recapture it or come to the rescue of the local population. The “external” argument that this lost territory brings the world under real threat of terrorist attacks through the local and foreign terrorists also gains strength as Baitullah Mehsud extends his violence-based emirate to Punjab and Sindh in the coming days.

Logic of drone attacks

EDITORIAL
Daily times

A US drone attack in Orakzai agency has killed 12 recruits of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) of Baitullah Mehsud, including one local leader. An Arab too has been killed while the family of the man providing them haven, Maulana Gul Nazir, was the only “collateral damage”. The press links the US attack to Baitullah Mehsud’s challenge that he was going to attack Washington again. The drone’s target was Hakimullah Mehsud, Baitullah’s close contact and local commander of the TTP training centre.

Since the media in Pakistan is formally against the drone attacks, efforts were made on several TV channels on Wednesday night to get the anti-drone stance of the public confirmed. But all Pashtun reporters covering Orakzai refused to give the drones a blanket stamp of disapproval. Asked why Orakzai was attacked if it was not geographically linked to Afghanistan, the answer was: it was attacked because it had become a stronghold of the TTP and foreign terrorists since the last one year and was clearly seen as a threat by the Americans as a training resource for those who attacked across the Durand Line.

This meant that since one year Orakzai has been open as a possible stronghold of the terrorists while the media has been concentrating on Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand as the region of TTP challenge where the Pakistan army is supposed to be taking action. It was discovered that the local Orakzai population had given in after the slaughter of their anti-TTP “jirga” last year did not evoke much response from the army or the state of Pakistan. Added to the TTP dominance of Kurram Agency, a whole swath of territory in the tribal areas was now ruled by Baitullah Mehsud. Orakzai, where the terrorists plied special vehicles stolen from NATO supply caravans in Khyber, was the base from where TTP commanded the NWFP city of Hangu where the Shia are made to live like a hunted minority.

When asked if the drone attack in Orakzai will provoke the local population into becoming anti-American, the Pashtun reporters told the TV channels that unless collateral damage became widespread enough to include the local population, there was no chance of an anti-American feeling. They said that the population was completely under the despotic rule of the TTP and would actually want the drone attacks to continue to lessen the severity of TTP control on them. Had Pakistan any sovereignty left to counteract the TTP, the local population would have fought against the terrorists.

This evidence weakens the argument we have heard advanced against the American drone attacks. A Peshawar-based NGO has come under pressure from the authorities and the media for discovering exactly what was revealed by the TV reporters on Wednesday night. The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA) published an article recently (The News, March 5, 2009) which stated that its teams visited Wana (South Waziristan), Ladda (South Waziristan), Miranshah (North Waziristan), Razmak (North Waziristan) and Parachinar (Kurram Agency) and found that the victim population was not opposed to drone attacks.

The AIRRA teams handed out 650 structured questionnaires to people in the above areas. The 550 respondents — 100 declined to answer — were from professions related to business, education, health and transport. The following were some of questions and responses of the people of FATA. 1) Do you see drone attacks bringing about fear and terror in the common people? (Yes 45%, No 55%). 2) Do you think the drones are accurate in their strikes? (Yes 52%, No 48%). 3) Do you think anti-American feelings in the area increased due to drone attacks recently? (Yes 42%, No 58%). 4) Should the Pakistani military carry out targeted strikes at the militant organisations? (Yes 70%, No 30%). 5) Do the militant organisations get damaged due to drone attacks? (Yes 60%, No 40%).

One thing is certain: the local population is against the TTP and doesn’t mind too much if the Americans take it out in the absence of an adequate Pakistani response. The Pakistani stance that its sovereignty is being violated by the drones is weakened by the day by the very clear loss of Pakistan’s sovereign territory to the TTP and the inability of the state of Pakistan to either recapture it or come to the rescue of the local population. The “external” argument that this lost territory brings the world under real threat of terrorist attacks through the local and foreign terrorists also gains strength as Baitullah Mehsud extends his violence-based emirate to Punjab and Sindh in the coming days.

Pukhtunkhwa ‘at war’, governance becoming difficult: Hoti

PESHAWAR: The NWFP is at ‘war’ and governance of the province is “becoming difficult”, Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti said on Thursday.

“Financial turmoil in the province has resulted in the birth of various problems,” he told officers training at the National School of Public Policy during a briefing. He said the federal government should provide “enormous funds” to the province, as its people were “fighting a war for the survival and existence of the whole country”.

“FATA-like conditions are slowly developing in other parts of the country after starting in the settled districts of the province. There is a need for the other three provinces, in collaboration with the federal government, to help us because ignoring these conditions today could cause severe problems tomorrow,” he added.

Hoti said the NWFP was suffering from insurgency, terrorism, internal displacement, shortage of food and decline in the efficiency of the law enforcement agencies. “While Pakistan has played a frontline role in the war on terror, the NWFP has paid a huge price in the form of destruction of (its) infrastructure and bloodshed on larger scale due to combat along the Pak-Afghan border. The situation in Afghanistan has directly affected the tribal belt, resulting in a third element of militancy gaining momentum,” he added.

The chief minister said there is a serious threat to peace in the province and his government is taking practical steps to strengthen the police force, which is facing lack of infrastructure, modern training and equipment. A special project worth Rs 1 billion has been launched to eradicate poverty, he added.

NWFP ‘at war’, governance becoming difficult: Hoti

PESHAWAR: The NWFP is at ‘war’ and governance of the province is “becoming difficult”, Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti said on Thursday.“Financial turmoil in the province has resulted in the birth of various problems,” he told officers training at the National School of Public Policy during a briefing. He said the federal government should provide “enormous funds” to the province, as its people were “fighting a war for the survival and existence of the whole country”.“FATA-like conditions are slowly developing in other parts of the country after starting in the settled districts of the province. There is a need for the other three provinces, in collaboration with the federal government, to help us because ignoring these conditions today could cause severe problems tomorrow,” he added.Hoti said the NWFP was suffering from insurgency, terrorism, internal displacement, shortage of food and decline in the efficiency of the law enforcement agencies. “While Pakistan has played a frontline role in the war on terror, the NWFP has paid a huge price in the form of destruction of (its) infrastructure and bloodshed on larger scale due to combat along the Pak-Afghan border. The situation in Afghanistan has directly affected the tribal belt, resulting in a third element of militancy gaining momentum,” he added. The chief minister said there is a serious threat to peace in the province and his government is taking practical steps to strengthen the police force, which is facing lack of infrastructure, modern training and equipment. A special project worth Rs 1 billion has been launched to eradicate poverty, he added.

Security beefed up in NWFP (PUKHTUNKHWA)

PESHAWAR: The security has been beefed up across NWFP including Provincial capital due to fragile law and order situation, police sources said on Thursday. According to police the security officials have been equipped with latest weaponry while all concerned District Police Offices (DPOs) have been issued strict directives to remain on high alert in restive areas of NWFP. The paramilitary troops of Frontier Corps (FC) along with heavy police soldiers have been patrolling the sensitive areas namely Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, upper Dir, and other sensitive areas, sources informed media men. The security forces have also been ordered to leave no stone unturned to keep the law and order situation maintained while the troops strength deployed around mosques, Imambargas and other religious places have been mounted.

G20 agrees $1.1 trillion deal to fight crisis

LONDON - World leaders clinched a $1.1 trillion deal on Thursday to combat the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and tightened the rules to stop it happening again.

U.S. President Barack Obama played down differences at the summit and declared it a "turning point" for the world economy. French President Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated the waning of the Anglo-Saxon model linked by many to the excess that triggered the crisis.

Stocks rallied but economists cautioned against euphoria.

"We have agreed on a series of unprecedented steps to restore growth and prevent a crisis like this from happening again," Obama told a news conference. "We've also rejected the protectionism that could deepen this crisis."

At the G20 summit, the leaders agreed to publish a blacklist of tax havens that could lead to sanctions -- something France and Germany had pushed hard for -- and to impose oversight on large hedge funds and credit rating agencies for the first time.

"Today's agreement begins to crack down on the cowboys in financial markets that have brought global markets undone," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.

Markets, desperate for good news when the global economy is shrinking for the first time since World War Two, reacted positively to the imposing headline numbers.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the summit host, said governments had committed $5 trillion to public stimulus of the economy this year and next, before even taking into account the extra commitments from the summit in London.

He did not say how that squared with the stimulus estimate he gave just a day earlier -- of about half that amount.

Either way, the index of top European shares was up 5 percent. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones was up 3.3 percent.

EMERGING MARKET BOOST

Brown said the G20 leaders had committed on the day to new resources of $1.1 trillion that would be made available to help the world economy through the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.

This included $250 billion of IMF reserve units called Special Drawing Rights. In addition, the IMF would see its own resources tripled, with up to $500 billion of new funds, of which $40 billion would come from China.

Much of that is likely to go to struggling poorer countries, notably in eastern Europe.

"It is going to be a help to poorer countries that have been hit by the sharp decline in trade flows, said Sarah Hewin, senior economist at Standard Chartered in London.

The summit also agreed a trade finance package worth $250 billion over two years to support global trade flows, which have shrunk under the impact of the credit crunch -- a boost to the world's major exporters.

"That should be good for the big exporters such as China and other emerging economies including Brazil. It should please the Germans as well," said Jim Rollo, European Economics Professor at Sussex University.

But some economists noted the new IMF funds masked the lack of agreement on further fiscal stimulus at national levels, something the United States, UK and Japan wanted but France and Germany strongly resisted.

Brown conceded that there were "no quick fixes" but said the decisions would shorten the recession and save jobs.

The G20 said in a communique the measures taken would raise world output by four percent by the end of next year.

FRANCE, GERMANY ON BOARD

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the results were beyond what could have been imagined and said the Anglo-Saxon model of lightly regulated markets was over.

Germany's finance minister welcomed the fact that no obligation was agreed for countries to adopt further stimulus packages. The issue had created tension in the summit build-up, with Washington favoring such packages and Paris and Berlin preferring to let earlier measures take their course.

Addressing a key demand from France and Germany, Brown said the leaders agreed "there will be an end to tax havens that do not transfer information on request. The banking secrecy of the past must come to an end."

Switzerland and a host of other financial centers under fire over bank secrecy have announced in recent weeks that they will shift toward international standards of information disclosure.

The tax haven issue had threatened to be a stumbling block to agreement, with France and Germany demanding a crackdown on jurisdictions whose bank secrecy laws they portrayed as enabling the rich to dodge taxes at a time of economic hardship.

"Since Bretton Woods, the world has been living on a financial model, the Anglo-Saxon model -- it's not my place to criticize it, it has its advantages -- clearly, today, a page has been turned," France's Sarkozy said, referring to the landmark conference that created the post-war economic order.

G20 summit: Trouble flares as protesters return to City

Trouble between police and G20 protesters flared again in the City this afternoon as more than a thousand demonstrators descended on the Bank of England to pay tribute to a man who died last night and to criticise what they said was a deliberate police strategy of "enormous repression".

Although violence had been expected around the ExCeL centre in Docklands, where the G20 summit took place, Threadneedle street was once again the focus of skirmishes as police tried to corral protesters into a "kettle".

About 100 demonstrators were caught in a stand-off with police as a helicopter hovered overhead and lines of officers tried to clear milling protesters from nearby streets.

Once the roads at the busy junction were clear, traffic was allowed to continue but exits to Bank Tube station were closed and those on foot were held back.

It was not clear who the protesters were but many were dressed in black and some carried Communist Party and socialist flags.

A large number of police vans lined Cornhill and mounted police were on standby in a side street.

Police were taunted with chants of "shame on you" as they pushed protesters into groups and other officers photographed activists.

About 4,700 officers, including public order teams, intelligence gatherers and diplomatic security specialists, were deployed throughout the capital amid fears of a repeat of yesterday's violence, during which a City branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland was stormed and destroyed by 20 protesters.

Earlier today, police raided two "squats" in east London. A spokesman said people were "detained on suspicion of violent disorder but [would be] released immediately if not of interest to the police".

Four people were later arrested — two for violent disorder and two for possessing an offensive weapon — bringing the total number of arrests to 111.

G20 delegates leaving the summit in convoys today were met with whistles, jeers and drumming, but protests in Docklands were generally good-natured.

It was a different story in the City, however, where many demonstrators had gathered to remember Ian Tomlinson, the 47-year-old man who collapsed near Cornhill yesterday evening and died in hospital.

Although it is unclear if Mr Tomlinson had taken part in the protests or was simply walking home from work, his death was adopted by some today as evidence of police heavy-handedness.

One of the organisers of today's memorial march told people gathered in Exchange Square that the police needed to explain their tactics.

"A man here died yesterday inside a police cordon," he said. "We're calling for information about this person's death and for an independent public inquiry. This person died inside a police cordon. He was supposed to be under the care of the police and the police have a responsibility for the people they cordon in."

Those behind the event had said they wished to draw attention to the "enormous police repression" yesterday which saw thousands of people "kettled" and other peaceful protesters allegedly charged by baton-wielding officers.

Fran Legg, a 20-year-old politics student from Queen Mary, the University of London, said a small number of protesters were corralled by police near the Bank this afternoon.

Legg, who left the scene just as the police were encircling the protesters, said: "We held a minute's silence for the man who died yesterday and as soon as it had finished police formed a second line and would not let anybody leave or get back in.

"There didn't seem to be any particular reason. For the most part we had just been quiet. It was decided out of respect that we would be quiet."

Commander Simon O'Brien, of the Met, said small pockets of criminals among the 4,000-strong crowd were to blame for the trouble yesterday.

"As we went on it was clear there were people within the group that were first of all involved in juvenile and puerile behaviour," he said. "That started to escalate into quite provocative behaviour towards police lines.

"There were small groups charging forwards and backwards into police lines. It did seem to us, from CCTV and police on the scene, that they tried to find a way to ramp up the protest and hijack it into violence."

O'Brien said police had collected footage from helitelly, the force's nickname for CCTV from powerful helicopter cameras, adding that those identified should expect a "knock on the door".

Police have been criticised for the force they have used, with baton-wielding officers said to have pushed through a line of tents and bicycles, and charged a sit-down protest yesterday.

One photographer contacted the Guardian alleging police prevented him doing his job and attacked him, leaving him with a broken arm. He said he was furious at his treatment by officers, who appeared to be lost in a "red mist" of anger. "I covered the poll tax riots," he said. He said what happened in the City made those riots "look like a Sunday afternoon picnic".

Other complaints also emerged today about the organisation of the summit itself after a second anti-poverty group said it had been refused entry to the G20 conference.

War on Want, and the World Development Movement, had both gained approval to attend the event. WDM said yesterday its accreditation had been withdrawn, and War on Want said it had also been prevented from sending a representative today.

John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, told the Guardian he had gone to the ExCeL Centrethis morning this morning to attend the summit only to learn he was no longer accredited. At first the organisers told him this was due to a "computer glitch" but inquiries revealed he had been barred, he said. He added he did not know if No 10 or the Foreign Office was responsible. "It's certainly someone within the government who clearly feels there's a need to keep out groups who will stand up for the people they represent," he said.

However, the Foreign Office said neither group had been deliberately barred and the event had been oversubscribed.

Pakistan must stop Afghan interference: NWFP Minister

PESHAWAR: Information Minister for NWFP Iftikhar Hussain said on Thursday that 95 per cent of Pakistan’s problems could be resolved if the country ‘stopped interfering in Afghan affairs’ and that Talibanisation is a ‘foreign-funded agenda supported by Pakistani agencies which has facilitated blood bath across Pakistan.Its strange that we put others in trouble and think all will be well here, if we kill them its Jihad, if we destroy their schools its Jihad, if we destroy their country it is termed jihad and if all this bounces on us than we wonder why it happened.Speaking at a seminar on Internally Displaced People from the conflict areas of Swat and FATA, Ifitkhar said that Pakistan faces a grave situation and concrete efforts have to be taken to stop a looming war.‘If we would not have given guns in the hands of seminary students on the behest of the foreign powers we would not have been facing the bloodbath in the tribal areas and Swat,’ he said.The minister said that there was no government writ in Swat before talks through TNSM chief Sufi Muhammad who has reigned in hardcore militants but peace has yet to be restored in ‘60 per cent of the valley.’‘Despite resistance from the US, we held talks with the militants through Sufi Muhammad and its working effectively,’ the minister said.Iftikhar claimed that the federal government and the army fully support the peace process in Swat and soon Nizam-i-Adl regulations will be implemented in Malakand.He said that all-out efforts are being made to defuse tension in the tribal areas.

Dancing to the terrorists' tune

By Jawed Naqvi
IT would be four years on April 18 since India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf issued a joint statement in New Delhi in which they “determined” that their “peace process was now irreversible”. It would be six months to the day on April 13 since the national security advisers of the two countries met in New Delhi and declared their conviction that India and Pakistan shared a common destiny.That the meeting between the top security chiefs happened at all in the wake of a devastating bomb attack on India’s embassy in Kabul, for which Indian officials quickly blamed Pakistan’s spies, intrigued many. It was seen as a bold gesture by New Delhi and a rare one by Pakistan. A bevy of journalists attended the dinner at Delhi’s Taj Mahal Hotel where India’s M.K. Narayanan and Pakistan’s Mahmud Ali Durrani were locked in an embrace. For some reason I don’t recall a word being reported about their talks or of Durrani’s invitation to Narayanan to pay a return visit to Islamabad, which was accepted “with pleasure”.The Mumbai carnage of Nov 26 last year came within six weeks of the Narayanan-Durrani meeting and within moments of a televised handshake at Delhi’s Hyderabad House between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers. In between, on Oct 24, barely a month before terror was let loose on Mumbai’s unsuspecting posh Colaba district, another crucial meeting took place between the two countries. It was described officially as a Special Meeting of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism.The leadership of the two countries had directed it with a purpose. A joint statement at the end of the talks indicated a positive air. “Information on issues of mutual concern including the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul was exchanged,” we were told. “The meeting was held in a positive, constructive and forward-looking atmosphere.”All this positive energy just vanished after the Mumbai attacks. The peace process, which includes the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, went for a toss. Initial accusations blamed elements in Pakistan for the act, but with time they were escalated to directly blaming official connivance. This past Tuesday, the Indian prime minister was quoted as saying that the composite dialogue could not be revived without clear evidence from Pakistan of action against the Mumbai culprits, indicating that the current standoff will continue indefinitely.This approach is known to be unsustainable at the best of times but in the context of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan it could become a drag on the AfPak strategy of US President Barack Obama. How can India be of help in Afghanistan if it continues to have bad chemistry with Pakistan, which is, whether we like it or not, the main plank as well as the objective of the strategy?There is something worse than bad chemistry between the two. Their attention span for engaging in global brainstorming to weed out religious extremism appears limited compared to their ability to run each other down with mutual recrimination. Anyone can see that they are both victims of the most diabolical form of terrorism confronting the region. The world can see the pattern — that the bombing of the Serena Hotel in Kabul and the attack on the Indian embassy there, the truck bombing of the Marriott in Islamabad and the Taj Mahal and Oberoi in Mumbai, the close calls that Gen Musharraf and other politicians survived and the looming threats to harm Indian politicians, mostly have roots in the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.Did the Indian prime minister not know this when he agreed with Gen Musharraf that the peace process was irreversible? Did he not anticipate Mumbai, or for that matter New Delhi, Jaipur and Bangalore? Let us assume that Pakistan’s ISI has an agenda to harm India. Let us not deny that this could be a correct Indian perception (just as the Pakistan perception of India’s RAW). In which case, what was the basis for the meeting between Mr Narayanan and Mr Durrani on October 13–14 last year? Speaking after dinner, Mr Narayanan was ebullient. He said he had been sceptical about claims that India shared a common destiny with Pakistan, but after his talks with Mr Durrani he felt compelled to change his mind. Was Narayanan right earlier and wrong that day?“I told the prime minister after today’s talks that I agree with you sir that we share a common destiny with Pakistan,” Mr Narayanan had gushed. Was India’s security chief remiss in inviting Mr Durrani and lavishing maudlin praise on an official whose bona fides were suspect? My instinct is that they needed each other, as do India and Pakistan. The official statement was no less effusive. “The discussions which were held in a very cordial atmosphere covered all issues of mutual concern and interest, including the regional situation. The discussions were most productive.”The Delhi meeting of Messrs Musharraf and Singh, which included a visit to the Feroshah Kotla grounds to cheer their cricket teams, had an enticing ring to it. A joint statement said the two leaders “assessed positively the progress that had been made so far through confidence-building, people-to-people contacts and enhancing areas of interactions and determined to build on the momentum already achieved”.That meeting “reaffirmed the commitments made in the joint press statement of Jan 6, 2004 and the joint statement issued after their meeting in New York on Sept 24, 2004 and expressed satisfaction on the progress in the peace process and the improvement of relations between the two countries that has since been realised”. Of these, the January statement had Pakistan undertaking never to allow its territory to be used by terrorists against India. The September statement dropped explicit reference to terrorism, focusing instead on a proposed discussion of the Kashmir issue “in a sincere and purposeful and forward-looking manner for a final settlement.”A spate of bombings hit major Indian cities in the run up to the Mumbai horror, all taking a heavy toll on human life. Pakistan too has been reeling under one shock after another; the assault on the police academy in Lahore being the latest though by no means the last of the outrages. There will be more of these shocks on both sides of the border and they have to be factored into any future India-Pakistan dialogue.Any peace movement too must be receptive to this reality. When Mumbai happened there were protests in Lahore and Karachi. When Lahore’s civil society activists gather there on Saturday to protest the latest outrage on their city, it would be a great gesture from their counterparts in Delhi and Mumbai should they decide to express solidarity. The alternative is to continue to dance to the terrorists’ tune, something that we are so vulnerable to.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Taliban behead Peshawar police officer

PESHAWAR: Security forces Thursday recovered the beheaded corpse of a police officer abducted by militants in Peshawar, police said.

The body of inspector Tariq Khan was dumped on a roadside in Matani, on the outskirts of the city, local police officer Farhad Khan said.

'He was slaughtered by Taliban militants. They placed his severed head over his body,' he said. The police official was kidnapped by militants three days ago, Khan added.

He said it was the first beheading of a police official in Peshawar, although militants in restive tribal regions on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan frequently kill local tribesmen and Afghan refugees.

Militants accuse them of spying for the Pakistani government, or for US and foreign forces battling the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan.

The violence-plagued tribal region has has become a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants who poured into the area after US-led invasion toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime in 2001.

Donor agencies to finance NWFP education plan

PESHAWAR: Six international donor agencies have agreed to finance the education sector plan of the provincial government devised for improving indicators in the education sector as well as achieving Millennium Development Goals.

In this regard, a memorandum of understanding was signed on Tuesday by officials of the NWFP government and representatives of partner agencies, raising the hopes for future foreign assistance that was on decline for a couple of years in the province, an official told Dawn.

The memorandum was signed at the Frontier House in Islamabad because international donors have not been sending their officials to Peshawar for the last one year for security reasons.

The donor agencies that signed the MoU include the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the United Nations. The Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID) and Norway would sign the agreement later, as their country representatives were not present in Pakistan, the official said.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), European Community, Netherlands and the World Bank were also invited to the event, but their representatives did not turn up.

These four development partners would announce their support after holding deliberations with the authorities of the NWFP elementary and secondary education department, the official quoted representatives of the donor agencies as saying.

The Italian government, he said, had also shown willingness to join the coming joint initiative of the development partners.

The Education Sector Reform Unit of the NWFP government recently chalked out the education sector plan, which focuses on improving access to education, enhancing enrolment, reducing dropout rate and improving the retention ratio up to secondary education.

Similarly, establishment of schools, improving the quality of education, governance and management of schools, tackling regional and gender disparities and promoting public-private partnership are some of the pillars of the plan.

The targets set out in the plan are aligned with the United Nations’ MDGs meant to be achieved by 2015. Per year cost of the projects identified in the education plan, the official maintained, had been estimated between Rs20 billion and Rs35 billion.

As per the agreement, he said, the donor agencies would put their resources as budgetary support at the disposal of the provincial government, which would accordingly utilise them for implementation of the projects incorporated in the education plan.

He said the objective of the MoU was to harmonise the support and cooperation of the development partners with the elementary and secondary education department for development of school education in the Frontier province.

It signified a major step towards aligning donor programmes and initiatives with the government’s education plan, thereby strengthening ownership of the government, improving coordination and creating more chances of financial and technical assistance to the province, the official added.

Japan adviser says Pakistan key for Afghan security

TOKYO- Stabilising Pakistan's economy and fighting poverty there are key to combating the insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan, a special adviser to Japan's prime minister said ahead of a Pakistan donors' conference this month.

"It has become much, much more clearly recognised that unless you can manage the tribal areas of Pakistan from where a lot of the Taliban is gaining strength, you cannot deal with Afghan security," Sadako Ogata, the special envoy for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso to the two countries, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Ogata, who was high commissioner for the U.N. refugee agency from 1991 to 2000, said while various factors such as religion and politics have encouraged a Taliban insurgency, those struggling from poverty are the most vulnerable.

"The poor people having very little resources would be easily recruited to radical action," the 81-year-old envoy said.

Nuclear-armed, and a hiding place for al Qaeda, Pakistan has become a foreign policy nightmare for the West.

Pakistan's leaders know al Qaeda is encouraging a Taliban insurgency in Pakistani tribal lands bordering Afghanistan as they seek to destabilise the Muslim nation of 170 million people.

Japan and the World Bank will host a Pakistan donors conference in Tokyo on April 17, which Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will be attending.

World leaders: We can unite to defeat economic crisis

LONDON, England -- Leaders attending the G-20 summit in London Thursday said they were confident they could bridge their differences to unite on a plan to help address the economic crisis.There had been concerns that a rift was opening up between the approach being championed by the U.S. and Britain and that favored by France and Germany.The U.S. and Britain want countries to agree to more economic stimulus ahead of new rules for the banking system.France and Germany want the rules first -- and tougher ones than initially suggested -- and remain resistant to pumping more money into their economies.However, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was confident about the result of the summit."There is a great degree of convergence," he told CNN Thursday morning.British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson was less upbeat, telling CNN there were some "strains" among the delegates."I hope very much that they will be ironed out and we'll come out with agreement at the end of the day.The leaders say they want to find ways to stabilize financial markets throughout the world and pull the world out of a deepening recession.They sat at the table Thursday for their first session with several targets in their sights, ncluding tax havens and protectionism.French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde called for a firm stand on tax havens.
Barroso backed her up.
"We have to be clear that those that want to keep shadow banking systems that are kind of underground (with) clandestine finances have to suffer sanctions, because it's once again a problem of confidence," Barroso said.
"We are for open economies and open markets, but open economies and open markets have to respect some rules.Britain will push for the same regulation of banks and financial institutions that operate in a "shadow banking world," Mandelson said. He said an international body should oversee the regulation.
Leaders will also be pushing for more fiscal stimulus.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is arguing for world leaders to maintain their investments and fiscal stimuli while also giving more money to institutions like the International Monetary Fund, Mandelson said.The IMF can then deliver those resources to poorer countries and emerging economies, he said."They are becoming major drivers of growth in the global economy," Mandelson said of those countries. "So we want a strong commitment, a hefty infusion of resources."Brown wants success on five points: restoring growth to emerging market economies; a "clean up" of the global banking system; commitment to encourage growth and help the poor; protectionism rejected and a push for investment in the environment.Barroso and Mandelson called for concrete commitments on the economy.Earlier this week French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that if the summit's final communique failed to contain strong language and clear steps, he may even walk out of the meeting.He and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday they can accept debate and negotiation as long as firm steps are taken.