WORLD

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HYDERABAD

THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016

EU, Turkey seek to realise refugee plan

Defying sanctions,
Iran conducts new
missile tests
If turned into a lasting accord, it may help ease the burden placed on Europe by the refugee crisis

Top Jamaat leaders

death sentence upheld
HAROON HABIB

TEHRAN: Iran conducted multi-

ple ballistic missile tests on

Tuesday in an exercise to
demonstrate deterrent power, a move that comes in defiance of U.S. sanctions imposed over its missile
programme in January.
The announcement by the
official IRNA news agency
said the tests showed the
countrys all-out readiness to
confront threats against its
territorial integrity.
State television a short time
after showed still images of
the armaments used in what it
described as a military drill in
which ballistic missiles were
fired from silos in different
parts of the country. The U.S.
imposed new sanctions over
Irans missile programme in
January almost immediately
after separate sanctions related to Irans nuclear activities
had been lifted under a landmark deal with world powers.
The latest tests, called The
Power of Velayat, a reference
to the religious doctrine of the
Islamic Republics leadership,
were undertaken by the Revolutionary Guards and Aerospace Forces. Sepah News, the
Guards official media service, confirmed the missile
tests, which come less than
two weeks after elections delivered gains to politicians
aligned with Hassan Rouhani,
the
countrys
moderate
President.
Meanwhile, Iran has exported heavy water, key component for one kind of nuclear reactor, to the U.S. as part of
their nuclear pact. AFP

ISTANBUL: EU and Turkish leaders on Tuesday sought to turn

into a lasting accord a plan on
easing Europes refugee crisis
hailed as a game-changer by
Ankara and Brussels but
swiftly criticised by the UNs
refugee chief.
The day after agreeing the
tentative plan following late
night talks in Brussels, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu was to discuss
how it could work in a crucial
meeting with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras.
The EU is wooing Turkey
used by over one million
migrants in the last year as a
springboard for reaching the
bloc as the key player in
helping ease Europes worst
migrant crisis since World
War II.
The talks in Brussels were
expected to be tough but Mr.
Davutoglu upped the ante by
bringing additional Turkish
demands to the table such
as accelerated visa liberalisation as well as offering
more than EU diplomats
expected.
But after hours of talks, EU
president Donald Tusk described the outcome as a
breakthrough and said he
would now work on the legal
details to reach a final deal at
a European summit in Brussels on March 17-18.
A key pillar of the mooted
deal was the unexpected offer
by Ankara to take back every
irregular migrant that crosses
from Turkey to the islands of
EU member Greece.

A man burns a pair of trousers to make a bonfire on a foggy morning at a makeshift camp on the
Greece-Macedonia border, near the Greek village of Idomeni, on Tuesday. Filippo Grandi, the
head of the UNs refugee agency, has criticised the deal the European Union has struck with
Turkey which many EU leaders hailed as a game changer. PHOTO: AFP

In return, the EU would

then resettle one Syrian living in Turkey on its territory
for every Syrian migrant it
takes back from Greece.
The hope is that the plan
will eliminate incentives for
migrants to come to Greece
by boat, but it ran into swift
opposition from the head of
the UN refugee agency Filippo Grandi.
Im deeply concerned
about any arrangement that
would involve the blanket return of anyone from one
country to another without

spelling out the refugee protection safeguards under international law, he told the
European Parliament.
Rights group Amnesty International said EU and Turkish leaders had sunk to a new
low and ridiculed the notion
that Turkey was a safe country to which migrants could
return. Iverna McGowan, the
head of Amnestys European
Institutions Office, said the
idea of bartering refugees
was
dangerously
dehumanising.
Mr. Davutoglu was due to

meet Tsipras later on Tuesday in the Aegean port city of

Izmir, with discussions expected to focus on Turkey
taking back migrants who
crossed from its shores to
Greece.
We will have a historic
meeting where we will have a
decision to update our readmission agreement so Turkey
can take in all migrants who
do not have a right to international protection, Mr. Tsipras said.
Turkey and Greece signed
a protocol over the readmis-

Seoul imposes
sanctions
on Pyongyang

T. RAMAKRISHNAN

CM
YK

Bangladeshi Jamaat-e-Islami
party leader Mir Quasem Ali
is the sixth war crimes
convict to have his appeal
rejected. FILE PHOTO: AFP

Fled the country after independence, Ali returned to

Bangladesh first as an employee of the Saudi-based
Rabita Al Islam welfare trust
and helped Jamaat secure a
strong financial foothold,
amassing huge wealth.
Verdict hailed
The 1971 war veterans, victims families and pro-liberation activists across the
country welcomed the apex
courts decision.
The ruling Awami League
and other secular parties
have also hailed the verdict,
saying it has fulfilled the
nations
long
overdue
expectations.
However, Jamaat has
called for a dawn-to-dusk
countrywide
hartal
on
Wednesday to protest the
verdict.

Well repeal PTA, says govt.

COLOMBO: Sri Lankas leader of

Opposition R. Sampanthan
on Tuesday slammed the government over continuing detention of people booked under the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (PTA) even after it committed itself at the
UN Human Rights Council
last year to review and repeal
the law.
Speaking on a motion on
the subject of missing persons
and those in custody, Mr.
Sampanathan, who also heads
the Tamil National Alliance
(TNA), recalled how the previous governments had granted amnesty to those who were
arrested during the insurgency of the early 1970s and the
late 1980s. He asked the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government why the Tamil prisoners should be treated
differently.

Former New York City Mayor

Michael Bloomberg wrote he
could not risk entering the
race, which may help either
Trump or Cruz win the
election. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

Mr. Bloomberg was blistering in his critique of Mr.

Trump, currently the Republican front-runner, saying the billionaire real estate mogul has run the
most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember,
preying on peoples prejudices and fears.
We cannot make America great again by turning
our backs on the values that
made us the worlds greatest nation in the first place,
he wrote.
I love our country too
much to play a role in electing a candidate who would
weaken our unity and darken our future and so I
will not enter the race for
president of the United
States. AP

Take a political decision

Mr. Sampanthan argued
that those who were detained
are not charged with crimes
against society but charged
with crimes which have political dimensions.
Their continued detention
was not compatible with
transitional justice. He contended that a political decision had to be taken with regard to the prisoners, a matter
which could not be viewed
merely in legal sense.

China warns against destabilising Korean region

T. RAMAKRISHNAN
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Foreign
Minister Mangala Samaraweera
on Tuesday told Parliament that
the government was in the
process of repealing the
Prevention of Terrorism Act
(PTA).
Responding to Leader of
Opposition R. Sampanthans
persistent query on the issue of
PTA repeal, Mr. Samaraweera
said the Law Commission of Sri
Lanka, entrusted with the task
of formulating an alternative
draft law in keeping with
international practices, had just
submitted a draft. Hopefully,
the matter would be finalised in
a couple of months.

218 prisoners

Giving an account of the

proceedings in respect of 218
prisoners, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Minister D.M.
Swaminathan said 39 persons
were, in November last year,
The TNA leader also urged
the government not to let itself dictated by slogans
from certain parochial sections.
Absurd and stupid
He described as absurd
and stupid the reported observation of a political leader
regarding the re-emergence

ATUL ANEJA
BEIJING: An assertive China on
Tuesday warned that it
would not hesitate to intervene if its fundamental interests on the Korean Peninsula
were harmed, and made it
plain that its deep-rooted ties
with the South China Sea
could not be rivalled by any
foreign power.
At an annual press conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi set several markers to explain the broad
thrust of Beijings evolving,
and increasingly bold, foreign policy, where growing
competition with the U.S.
was the underlying theme.
In his detailed response to
a query on spiralling tensions
in the Koreas, Mr. Wang said
China would not sit by and
see the destabilisation of the
peninsula. If the tensions
worsen or even get out of
control, it would be a disaster
for all parties. As the largest
neighbour of the peninsula
China will not sit by and see
fundamental disruption to
stability on the peninsula,
and will not sit by and see unwarranted damage to Chinas

Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks to the media in Beijing on

Tuesday. Mr. Wang took a hard line on China's claims to
virtually all the South China Sea, saying Beijing wont permit
other nations to infringe on its sovereign rights. PHOTO: AP

security interest.
Yet, in order to defuse tensions, Mr. Wang advocated a
multi-pronged
approach
where denuclearisation of
the peninsula would be combined with signing of a formal peace treaty.
That would replace the
1953 Armistice, which was
meant to insure a complete
cessation of hostilities and of
all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved.

Denuclearisation is a firm
goal of the international community; replacing the armistice with a peace treaty is a
reasonable concern of the
DPRK. The two can be negotiated in parallel, implemented in steps and resolved with
reference to each other. This
would be an equitable, reasonable
and
workable
solution.
The Korean Peninsula is
on edge following the start on
Monday of the largest-ever

U.S.-South Korea military exercise, which has been fused

with North Koreas threat of a
pre-emptive nuclear strike.
To a volley of questions on
the South China Sea where a
back-and-forth between Beijing and Washington has escalated following recent freedom of navigation naval
patrols by the U.S., Mr. Wang
strongly reiterated his countrys claims on the disputed
Spratly islands.
The Nansha islands, otherwise known as the Spratly,
are Chinas integral territory.
Every Chinese has an obligation, to defend them and China has not and will not make
new territorial claims, Mr.
Wang observed. Analysts
point out that the South China Sea has rapidly emerged as
an area of contested hegemony between China and the
U.S., which has already
amassed forces in the AsiaPacific under its Pivot to
Asia doctrine.
In an obvious reference to
the U.S., Mr. Wang asserted:
I want to remind some people that freedom of navigation doesnt give them the licence to do whatever they

want. If someone wants to

muddy the waters in the
South China Sea and to destabilise Asia, China will not
agree to it and I think the
overwhelming majority of
countries in the region will
not allow that to happen.
Historical bonds
The Chinese foreign minister stressed that Chinas emotional and historical bonds
with the South China Sea
could not be rivalled by any
other power.
China was the first country to discover, name, develop and manage the South
China Sea islands. Our ancestors have lived and worked
here for generations. So we
know and love the place more
than anyone else.
The South China Sea has
seen colonial invasion and illegal occupation and now
some people are trying to
make waves, some others
showing off force.
However, like the tide that
comes and goes none of these
attempts will make any impact. History will prove who
is a mere guest and who the
real host is.

released on bail. Of them, 19

were recommended for
rehabilitation before their
eventual release. While three
had accepted the governments
offer, the others did not. In
respect of the remaining 20,
two had been discharged from
their cases and one was facing
a case in the Trincomalee High
Court while issues concerning
the 17 accused were under
examination.
As for 21 accused against
whom indictments had been
filed, three had accepted the
proposal for rehabilitation.
Besides, nine out of 41
convicted persons had gone on
appeal. There were cases
pending in High Courts and
Magistrate courts against 117
persons. Mr Swaminathan
informed the Parliament that a
Special High Court was
established one and a half
months ago to attend to court
cases of the persons kept under
detention.
of [Tamil] Eelam if the government released the prisoners, withdrew military from
the Northern Province and allowed the re-merger of the
North and East with powers
on land and police.
After the end of the armed
conflict, can you cite a single
instance to show that there
had been revival of violence?

Deuba is new Nepali Cong. president

An assertive Beijing says its deep-rooted ties with the South China Sea cannot be rivalled by any foreign power

SEOUL: South Korea said on

Tuesday it was imposing

unilateral sanctions on
North Korea over its recent
nuclear test and rocket
launch, including a ban on
financial dealings with 40
individuals and 30 entities.
The announcement came
a day after North Korea
warned of pre-emptive nuclear strikes in response to
the start of U.S.-South Korean military drills it views
as a rehearsal for invasion.
The South Korean sanctions target 38 individuals
and 24 organisations in
North Korea who Seoul says
are responsible for the
Norths development of
weapons
of
mass
destruction.
A Singaporean, a Taiwanese and six entities in
Myanmar, Thailand, Taiwan
and other countries will also
be sanctioned for indirectly
assisting North Korea, the
government said.
South Korea also said it
will ban the entrance of any
ship that has stopped at a
North Korean port in the
previous 180 days. AP

Turkeys gains
Turkey is the main launching point migrants making
the dangerous crossing over
the Aegean Sea to the Greek
islands.
It hosts 2.7 million refugees
from the five-year civil war in
neighbouring Syria, more
than any other country.
For Turkey, perhaps the
biggest gain was the European Unions agreement to
bring forward to June visafree travel to the blocs
Schengen passport-free area
for Turkeys 75 million people, provided that Ankara
honours its promises. AFP

DHAKA: The Bangladesh Supreme Court has upheld

death for key Jamaat-e-Islami leader and financier Mir
Quasem Ali, a pro-Pakistani
militia commander in 1971, in
an appeal verdict of a war
crimes case.
A five-member full bench
of the Appellate Division,
headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, delivered
the verdict before a packed
courtroom on Tuesday.
Ali is the sixth war crimes
convict whose appeal has
been rejected. Of the earlier
five, four were executed and
one serves life imprisonment
for crimes against humanity
during the nations liberation
war in 1971.
The verdict cited the
crimes Ali committed as the
Chittagong area commander
of the Al-Badr, a militia
formed with members of the
Jamaats students wing, Islami Chhatra Sangha, to assist
the Pakistan Army during the
nine-month-long war.
Ali, 63, now a member of
Jamaat-e-Islamis central executive council, handed
death by a special war crimes
tribunal in 2014.
Ali, who owns Diganta
Media that runs a TV channel and a newspaper, is also
the founder of Islami Bank
Bangladesh Ltd, the countrys top private sector bank.
He was the third most important leader of the Al Badr
killing squad, which killed
tortured pro-independence
people in 1971.

Sampanthan slams Sri Lankan

govt. over continuing detentions

Bloomberg decides
against White House bid
WASHINGTON: There will be no
battle of the New York billionaires in the 2016 presidential race.
Former New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
said on Monday that he
would not run for president
as an independent candidate, a move that would
have roiled this years already extraordinarily unpredictable
presidential
campaign.
Mr. Bloombergs announcement came on the
eve of Tuesdays Michigan
primary, the first nominating contest in a big industrial State. Donald Trump and
Hillary Clinton are both favoured in a primary that
should offer clues about
how the candidates will
fare in important Midwest
contests to come.
Also on tap for Tuesday
are primaries for both parties in Mississippi, and Republican contests in Idaho
and Hawaii.
Mr. Bloomberg, who had
spent months mulling a
third-party run, made his
decision official through an
editorial posted by the
Bloomberg View, writing
that he believes his candidacy would likely lead to
the election of Donald
Trump or Ted Cruz.
That is not a risk I can
take in good conscience,
the 74-year-old billionaire
wrote.

sion of migrants in 2002 but it

has rarely been activated and
its use could transform the
refugee crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has been the
strongest proponent of a deal
with Turkey gave cautious
support. It is a breakthrough
if it becomes reality, she told
reporters.
Mr. Davutoglu said the
one-for-one Syrian refugee
swap deal was "game-changing" and denied that Turkey
was demanding money.
As well as that offer, Mr.
Davutoglu surprised his
counterparts by asking for an
extra 3 billion in aid and visa-free travel for Turks to the
bloc by June.
European
Commission
chief Jean-Claude Juncker also called the plan a real
game changer, insisting that
it was legally feasible.

KATHMANDU: Three-time

Nepal Prime Minister Sher

Bahadur Deuba has been
elected the new president of
Nepali Congress, the
countrys largest democratic
party, in a run-off poll,
succeeding late premier
Sushil Koirala.
Mr. Deuba, 69, was elected

during the 13th National

General Convention here last
night. The post has been
vacant since the death of
Koirala last month.
Deuba received 1,822
votes, while Ram Chandra
Paudel, the acting president
of the party, was restricted to
1,296 votes. A total of 3,140
votes were cast, while only
3,118 were considered valid.
Mr. Deuba said he would
unite the party and focus
attention on implementing
the new Constitution. PTI

Taseers kidnapped son found

ISLAMABAD: The kidnapped son

of a liberal Pakistani governor
assassinated by his
bodyguard has been found,

officials said on Tuesday, just

over a week after his fathers
killer was hanged.
Shahbaz Taseer (in pic) is
in feeble health, said Aitzaz
Goraya, head of the CounterTerrorism Department of
southwestern Balochistan
province, where officials said
he was found after a raid. Mr.
Taseer was abducted by
Islamist gunmen from Lahore
in August 2011, months after
his father Salmaan was killed
for opposing the countrys
controversial blasphemy
laws. AFP
HY-HY