Qatar announces 2.8 tcf gas find - Qatar Tribune

MONDAY 

MARCH 11, 2013 

RABI AL-AKHIR 29, 1434 

VOL. 7 NO. 2380 QR 2 

First with the news and what’s behind it 

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EMIR MEETS BOSNIAN DEPUTY PM 

Qatar announces 

2.8 tcf gas find 

ASIF IQBAL 

DOHA 

The Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of 

Bosnia-Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija, in Doha, on Sunday. (See also page 2) 

Ikea store in Qatar to open today 

Ikea MD for Qatar, the UAE, Egypt and Oman John 

Kersten (centre) addresses mediapersons, in Doha, on 

Sunday. (HANSON K JOSEPH) 

ASIF IQBAL 

DOHA 

SWEDISH furniture retailer Ikea is set to open shop in 

Qatar on Monday. To be located at the Doha Festival 

City, it will be the third Ikea store in the region. 

Addressing the media on the eve of the store openning, 

John Kersten, Ikea’s managing director for Qatar, 

the UAE, Egypt and Oman, said that it would offer over 

7,500 well-designed, functional, home furnishing 

products at affordable prices. 

He said the Doha outlet would have a restaurant with 

the 550-people seating capacity and would serve local 

Arabic and Swedish delicacies. 

According to Kersten, about 300 people will be 

employed at the showroom and the company is targeting 

over 1.6 million visitors in the first year of its operations 

in Doha. 

QATAR has made a discovery of 

2.8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural 

gas in an offshore field, the 

country’s first gas find since 1971, 

the Minister of Energy and 

Industry and Chairman and 

Managing Director of Qatar 

Petroleum HE Dr Mohammad 

bin Saleh al Sada, announced in 

Doha on Sunday. 

The discovery was made at the 

Block 4 North field, which is 

operated by Qatar Petroleum 

along with its partners Japan’s 

Mitsui Gas Development Qatar 

and Germany’s Wintershall. 

Making the announcement 

Sada said the discovery was the 

result of around four years of 

intensive exploration activities, 

including the drilling of two wells 

in the region. 

“Block-4N exploration agreement 

is one of a series of 

Exploration and Production 

Sharing Agreements (EPSA) 

that QP has signed with international 

oil companies to 

explore Qatar’s oil & gas 

resources over the last few 

years. 

“The Block-4N exploration 

agreement, which has now 

achieved its goal, is dedicated 

for Khuff gas exploration, Sada 

said. 

Qatar Petroleum and 

Minister of Energy and Industry HE Dr Mohammad bin Saleh al Sada (second 

right) addresses mediapersons, in Doha, on Sunday. (MANEESH BAKSHI) 

Wintershall entered into an 

Exploration and production 

sharing agreement (EPSA) for 

Block 4 North in November 

2008. 

Mitsui Gas Development Qatar 

joined in 2010 by acquiring 20 

percent of the contractor’s interest 

under the EPSA with 

Wintershall retaining 80 percent 

interest and operatorship. 

“We will look at options 

including the possibility of using 

the gas at one of our existing 

facilities, which would make the 

project highly profitable,” Sada 

said. 

Block 4 North is an offshore 

block in the north of Qatar and is 

in direct proximity to the North 

Field at a water depth of around 

70 metres. 

Wintershall CEO Rainer Seele 

speaking at the function said, 

“Wintershall has been actively 

exploring in Qatar for more 

than 30 years and we are 

pleased with the results of the 

wells in Block 4 North. 

“We are looking forward to 

proving our capabilities as a 

reliable and technically competent 

operator and partner, and 

to extend the excellent working 

relationship with QP in this 

potential future development.” 

QUICK READ 

Libya must learn 

from Qatar: Envoy 

QATAR and Libya will have joint 

ventures as soon as Libya’s new 

government is in place, the Libyan 

envoy has said. HE Mumsi F el 

Buri said, “We have to work really 

hard to reconstruct our country. We 

should follow Qatar’s example and 

how it has developed in every sector 

in the last 25 years. 

“There is a joint Qatari-Libyan 

committee and it is looking at how 

both countries can benefit from 

each other”. 

PAGE 2 

PICK OF THE DAY 

Qatar to receive 

more tourists soon 

TOURIST and travel companies 

from Qatar, headed by the Qatar 

Tourism Authority, have signed a 

slew of agreements with international 

companies to bring more tourists 

into Qatar, while at the ITB, Berlin. 

The five-day international exhibition 

ended on Sunday. Representatives 

of international firms said there 

were a lot of tourism opportunities 

in Qatar, and there was ample 

scope to implement new projects in 

the country. 

PAGE 4 

Children perform at the inauguration ceremony of the 29th GCC Traffic 

Week, in Doha, on Sunday. (JALAL PATHIYOOR). 

PAGE 3 

WISE nominations 

for 2013 invited 

WORLD Innovation Summit for 

Education (WISE) 2013 Prize for 

Education has invited global nominations 

from educationists with a 

visionary approach and proven 

track record. WISE said on Sunday 

that submissions must be made 

through the WISE website 

www.wise-qatar.org/nominate-wiseprize-2013 

by 11:59 pm (GMT) 

on April 30. The winner will be 

announced at a summit to be held 

from October 29 to 31. PAGE 3 

West Bay a walkway? 

THE plush and up-market West 

Bay tower area of the city will 

boast of a planned network of walkways 

and over-bridges. Details were 

unveiled at a seminar organised by 

Spanish Business Council in Doha 

on Sunday. Mohuiddin Sami 

Jamaleddin from the Ministry of 

Municipality and Urban Planning 

said, “Residential towers will be 

connected to offices, parks, recreation 

zones and the Corniche 

through walkways. Offices will be 

connected with shopping centres 

and residential towers with over 

bridges.” 

PAGE 4

02 Monday, March 11, 2013 

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QUICK READ 

Deputy PM meets Bosnian counterpart 

DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet 

Affairs HE Ahmad bin Abdullah al Mahmoud conferred with 

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Bosnia- 

Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija on Sunday. Talks during the 

meeting dealt with mutual cooperation between the two 

countries and ways of enhancing it in all fields. The meeting 

was also attended by Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina to 

Qatar HE Najim Ritsa and many officials at the Cabinet. (QNA) 

Attiyah reaches Germany 

CHAIRMAN of Administrative Control and Transparency 

Authority HE Abdullah bin Hamad al Attiyah, who is also the 

president of COP18, and his accompanying delegation arrived 

in Bonn, Germany, on Sunday to attend the first meeting of 

the Bureau of COP18 and CMP 8 which will start on 

Monday. Attiyah was received by Ambassador of Qatar to 

Germany HE Abdul-Rahman bin Mohammed al Khulaifi. (QNA) 

Culture minister confers with Bosnian deputy PM 

MINISTER of Culture, Arts and Heritage HE Dr Hamad bin 

Abdulaziz al Kuwari met with Deputy Prime Minister and 

Foreign Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija on 

Sunday. Talks during the meeting dealt with bilateral cultural tie 

and means of promoting it between both countries. (QNA) 

Cypriot president meets Qatari diplomat 

CYPRIOT President Nicos Anastasiades met with Charge 

d’Affaires of the Qatari embassy in Cyprus HE Abdulrahman 

bin Salih al Attiyah in Nicosia on Sunday. During the meeting, 

they stressed keenness of the two governments to 

enhance relations. (QNA) 

Qatari diplomat attend inauguration 

of Czech president 

ACTING Charge d’Affaires of the Qatari embassy in the Czech 

Republic HE Hassan bin Nasser al Khalifa attended the inauguration 

ceremony of the new President of Czech Republic 

Milos Zeman at the headquarters of parliament. (QNA) 

EMIR MEETS GAZA MINISTER 

The Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani with Gaza’s Minister of Awqaf and 

Religious Affairs Ismail Radwan, in Doha, on Sunday. 

‘Qatar’s progress is a 

great example for us’ 

CATHERINE W GICHUKI 

DOHA 

LIBYAN Ambassador to Qatar 

HE Mumsi F el Buri hailed 

Qatar’s great progress in various 

spheres over the past 25 years 

and suggested others to emulate 

the country. 

Speaking to mediapersons 

on the sidelines 

of the Al Amal 

Charity Fashion Show 

held recently, the 

Libyan envoy 

remarked, “We should 

follow Qatar’s example 

and how it has developed 

in every sector in 

the past 25 years.” 

The envoy further 

said that the two nations will initiate 

major joint ventures as soon 

as Libya’s Constitution was 

ready. “Once our new structure 

is ready and the new government 

is formed, Qatar and Libya will 

forge partnerships in different sectors. 

There is a committee 

between Qatar and Libya looking 

into how both the countries could 

benefit from each other in areas of 

education, communication, information 

and investment opportunities,” 

the envoy said. 

Praising the strong relation 

between the two countries, the 

Mumsi F el Buri. 

envoy thanked Qatar for its support 

to Libyan people, particularly 

during the revolution. 

“Qatar has helped Libya during 

the revolution and we are very 

grateful. Our good relationship 

with Qatar will help us in establishing 

cooperation which would 

benefit both nations,” he added. 

The envoy highlighted 

Qatar’s efforts in 

assisting Libya in getting 

back its frozen 

assets outside Libya. 

He, however, said that 

Libya, given its strategic 

location, needs to 

be rebuilt soon. “Libya 

is accessible to many 

countries. It’s very 

close to Europe. For 

example, it takes only 45 minutes 

from Benghazi to Greece and to 

Italy it is one-and-a-half hours and 

two-and-a-half-hours to England. 

We have to work really hard to 

reconstruct our country,” he said. 

According to the envoy, there 

were about 400 Libyan families 

living in Qatar, a majority of them 

working in hospitality sector while 

others are engineers in oil and gas, 

teachers, bankers and business 

people. His message to them was 

to work hard and rebuild their 

country and be “good ambassadors 

of Libya”.

Nation Monday, March 11, 2013 03 

WISE opens nominations 

for 2013 innovative award 

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK 

DOHA 

Staff Major-General Saad bin Jassim al Khulaifi, director-general of Public Security in the Ministry of Interior, inaugurates the GCC Traffic 

Week, in the presence of other senior officers of the traffic department, in Doha, on Sunday. (JALAL PATHIYOOR) 

29th GCC Traffic Week kicks 

off with focus on safe driving 

RAMY SALAMA 

DOHA 

DIRECTOR-GENERAl of 

Public Security in the Ministry 

of Interior Major-General 

Saad bin Jassim al Khulaifi 

inaugurated the 29th GCC 

Traffic Week with the slogan 

‘Your Safety is our Aim’, amid 

a marching band and a military 

parade at the Darb Al Sa’i 

grounds near Sports 

Roundabout on Sunday. 

Several GCC delegations 

and Qatar residents attended 

the opening event. 

Speaking on the occasion, 

Captain Muqueem al 

Khayarin of Traffic 

Department’s Media and 

Awareness Section, said: 

“The annual event is an 

opportunity to demonstrate 

the spirit of cooperation 

among GCC countries in 

raising general awareness 

about traffic safety and driving 

regulations. 

“Through the celebration 

of GCC Traffic Week, we 

intend to create awareness 

about safe driving and traffic 

safety rules in order to 

reduce the number of road 

accidents, which claim a 

large number of innocent 

lives in the region every 

year.” 

The opening remarks were 

followed by musical performances 

by schoolchildren. 

The students also performed 

Ardha dance to mark 

the conclusion of the inaugural 

ceremony. 

Being held under the 

patronage of Minister of 

State for Interior Affairs HE 

Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser 

bin Khalifa al Thani, the 

event will feature a play on 

the rules and regulations of 

driving, lectures on traffic 

safety and display of vintage 

cars till March 14. 

Fun-filled events for families, 

especially children, such 

as go-kart track and horse 

rides will also be held as part 

of the Traffic Week. 

The event will also highlight 

the role played by ministries 

of interior, and traffic 

departments in particular, 

in the GCC countries in 

maintaining traffic security 

across the region. 

It will also aim to inculcate 

road discipline among commuters 

to reduce traffic accidents 

and ensure safety on 

the roads. 

During the week-long 

event, the visiting GCC delegations 

will learn about the 

latest systems and mechanisms 

adopted by the Traffic 

and Patrols department of 

Qatar to avert road mishaps. 

Many government and 

non-government institutions 

are participating in the Week 

to showcase their attempts at 

promoting traffic safety 

awareness. 

Various departments of the 

Ministry of Interior will 

showcase their efforts in promoting 

public safety. 

Meanwhile, Khulaifi met 

with delegations from Traffic 

Departments of GCC countries 

in his office on Sunday. 

Welcoming them, he 

stressed that traffic weeks are 

good opportunities for 

exchange of expertise and 

information to enhance road 

and traffic safety. 

WORLD Innovation 

Summit for Education 

(WISE) 2013 on Sunday 

invited nominations from 

private, public and voluntary 

sectors, having excellent 

track record in innovative 

education, from around 

the world to select the winner 

of the coveted 2013 

WISE Prize for Education. 

The applicants have been 

asked to submit their applications 

through the WISE 

website www.wiseqatar.org/nominate-wiseprize-2013 

by 11:59 pm 

(GMT) on April 30. 

Valid nominations will be 

reviewed by an international 

committee of education 

experts and the final selection 

will be made by a highlevel 

jury of distinguished 

individuals headed by WISE 

Chairman Dr Abdulla bin 

Ali al Thani. 

The winner will be 

announced before an international 

and multi-sectoral 

audience at the fifth World 

Innovation Summit for 

Education, which is scheduled 

to take place in Doha 

from October 29 – 31. The 

winner will receive a prize of 

$500,000 and a gold medal. 

Commenting on the opening 

of the nomination period, 

WISE Chairman Dr 

Abdulla bin Ali al Thani 

said: “WISE was launched 

by Chairperson of Qatar 

Foundation Her Highness 

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser 

to improve the lives of individuals 

and communities 

through education. 

By recognising outstanding 

contributions we are 

WISE Chairman Dr Abdulla bin Ali al Thani speaks at an event, 

in Doha, recently. 

creating role models and 

ambassadors who can 

inspire us all to further 

achievement. We invite 

nominations of exceptional 

people - individuals or 

teams - from Qatar who 

might be worthy winners of 

the 2013 WISE Prize for 

Education.” 

The 2012 WISE Prize for 

Education Laureate is Dr 

Madhav Chavan, a former 

chemistry teacher who 

devised a simple but innovative 

formula based on partnership 

to spread education, 

literacy and numeracy at 

minimal cost. 

Founder and CEO of 

Pratham, an NGO which 

was started in the slums of 

Mumbai, Chavan made it 

the largest non-governmental 

provider of basic literacy 

and numeracy for underprivileged 

children in India. 

Millions of children benefit 

from these programmes 

each year. 

The inaugural Laureate 

of the WISE Prize for 

Education in 2011, Sir 

Fazle Hasan Abed, is the 

founder of BRAC, one of 

the largest non-governmental 

providers of education 

in the world, whose 

diverse programmes have 

benefited millions of people 

in 10 countries across 

three continents. 

Now in its third year, the 

Prize is the first major global 

recognition of an individual 

or team of up to six people 

for an outstanding contribution 

to education. 

It is the premier award in 

the field, with a status similar 

to that of other international 

prizes in areas such 

as literature, peace and 

economics.


Nation 

West Bay to be pedestrian-friendly in future: Official 

SANTHOSH CHANDRAN 

DOHA 

WEST Bay, the neighbourhood 

city of Doha will be one 

of the most pedestrian-friendly 

areas in the region when it 

is completed in 2017. The 

details of the project were 

unveiled at a seminar organised 

on ‘High Rise Buildings’ 

by Spanish Business Council 

in Doha on Sunday. 

Speaking at the seminar a 

representative of Ministry of 

Municipality and Urban 

Planning (MMUP) Mohuiddin 

Sami Jamaleddin said 

that the existing West Bay 

tower area and business centres 

in Doha, which have 

lacked well-connected pedestrian 

paths, will be replaced 

by a planned network of 

pedestrian ways in the future. 

He remarked, “Pedestrian 

ways have been given high 

priority in the new master 

plan. The residential towers 

will be connected to business 

centres, offices, parks, recreation 

zones, activity centres 

and Corniche through walkways. 

Office towers will be 

Existing West Bay 

tower area and 

business centres 

in Doha will be 

replaced by a 

planned network 

of pedestrian 

ways in the future. 

connected with shopping 

centres and residential towers 

with over bridges.” 

According to Jamaleddin, 

in future the height of the 

building will be decided in 

proportion to total floor area 

of the building. Besides, 

future towers will have to be 

ideally 30 to 35-storey buildings 

and a 15-storey building 

will not be allowed in West 

Bay. The design of the building 

and its lighting will be 

important for the final 

approval. Aluminum cladding 

will also not be allowed 

in towers in future, he 

informed. 

“In residential towers, each 

apartment must have specific 

parking area. The size of the 

parking area for hotels will 

depend on the number of 

rooms. Restaurants and Cafeterias 

will also need to have 

parking lots”, he pointed out. 

Well equipped garbage 

management system will be 

the other key focus of the 

future buildings in the city, he 

said adding that all residential 

towers will have a garbage 

store at ground floor and 

there will be a unique garbage 

disposal system. 

Jamaleddin also said that 

the quality of materials used 

in construction will be strictly 

monitored. Besides, all towers 

and buildings will be 

equipped with central air 

conditioning system. Safety 

will be given high priority 

during construction. Each 

stage of the construction and 

its progress will be inspected 

and monitored by Urban 

Planning department, he 

informed further. 

Meanwhile, the Ambassador 

of Spain to Qatar HE 

Carmen de la pena Corcuera 

inaugurated the seminar. In 

her inaugural speech 

Ambassador said that the 

seminar will offer the 

Spanish investors an opportunity 

to identify the areas of 

cooperation with their Qatari 

counterparts and exchange 

of ideas and technological 

know how. 

Others who spoke at the 

seminar were board member 

of Qatar Society of Engineers 

Abdulah Mohamed al Baker, 

MMUP senior architectural 

engineer Amer Khadim al 

Mubarak, Harinsa Contracting 

Company Qatar area 

manager Luis Andreu 

Cabrera and civil and structural 

engineer Guillermo 

Baraut Bover. 

Qatar to attract more 

tourists: QTA official 


DOHA 

FOLLOWING a successful 

outing at the ITB Berlin, the 

world’s leading travel trade 

show, Qatar expects to attract 

more visitors and tourists to 

the country, Abdullah al 

Bader, director of tourism 

department of Qatar Tourism 

Authority (QTA), has said. 

The five-day expo, which 

concluded in Berlin on Sunday, 

was attended by participants 

and tourism companies from a 

large number of countries. 

Qatar’s pavilion in the fair 

was ranked fourth in the 

Middle East, according to an 

assessment conducted by CBS 

University, which specialises 

in tourism management. 

Bader said he was pleased 

with the achievement and 

hoped for better results in the 

coming year. 

“There will be more positive 

results in the future, especially 

as our pavilion had approximately 

900 meetings every 

day with companies and 

tourism industry specialists 

from all over the world. They 

have signed agreements 

about sending tourists to 

Qatar,” Bader said. 

Ahmed Youssef Hamadi, 

acting head of tourism promotion 

department, said meetings 

were held with 280 companies 

from different sectors. 

Many visitors at ITB 

Berlin expressed 

admiration about 

Qatar’s pavilion. 

“Our participation was very 

successful. We achieved good 

results in the area of attracting 

tourists from new destinations. 

We showed them facilities 

and tourist sites in the 

country,” he added. 

Many visitors at the fair 

expressed admiration about 

Qatar’s pavilion which included 

a lot of exhibits that reflect 

the history and ancient civilisation 

of the country. 

‘Misuse of internet undermines religious sanctity’ 

IHSAN YOUSSEF 

DOHA 

THE meeting of the Arab 

Committee on Laws tasked 

with revising a law to prevent 

defamation of religions began 

on Sunday under the patronage 

of Minister of Justice HE 

Hassan bin Abdullah al 

Ghanem. 

Addressing the opening 

session, Ibrahim Musa Hitmi, 

under-secretary assistant for 

legal affairs at the Ministry of 

Justice, who is also the president 

of the committee, said: 

“Qatar took the lead in providing 

an initial draft of the 

law. This is in bid to contribute 

to the promotion of 

efforts in regard to respecting 

all religions. It is an integral 

part of the global system of 

human rights.” 

Hitmi further said that misusing 

the internet has paved 

the way for disseminating and 

promoting infringements that 

undermine the sanctity and 

respect for religions. “Many 

websites publish and promote 

movies, images, scenes and 

abusive language against religions 

and their sacred symbols 

and refuse to comply 

with all appeals to stop broadcasting 

the offensive content,” 

he added. 

He said that an effort was in 

progress to activate legislative 

Many websites 

publish & promote 

movies, images, 

scenes & abusive 

language against 

religions and their 

sacred symbols & 

refuse to comply 

with all appeals to 

stop broadcasting 

the offensive 

content. 

IBRAHIM MUSA HITMI 

Ibrahim Musa Hitmi, under-secretary assistant for legal affairs 

at the Ministry of Justice, with Mohamed Radwan bin Khadra, 

chairman of the technical secretariat of the Arab Ministers of 

Justice Council, at a meeting of the Arab Committee on Laws 

session, in Doha, on Sunday. 

protection in Arab countries 

against all forms of abusive 

attacks that religions have 

been exposed to. He noted 

that such acts have rapidly 

increased and led to the escalation 

of the unfortunate incidents 

of violence in some 

Arab countries. 

On his part, Mohamed 

Radwan bin Khadra, chairman 

of the technical secretariat 

of the Arab Ministers of 

Justice Council, stressed that 

such law would support legislative 

mechanisms and contribute 

to criminalising all 

forms of infringement against 

religions, including crimes 

committed via the internet 

and other electronic devices. 

He called for categorising 

such crimes as those against 

humanity since it fuel hatred, 

violence and threat to global 

peace and security. 

Participants in the meeting 

include representatives of 

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, 

Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, Libya, 

Sudan, Somalia, Egypt and 

Oman, as well as secretariat 

of the Council of Arab 

Ministers of Justice and the 

Arab Centre for Legal and 

Judicial Research. 

The two-day meeting is 

coming on the heels of the 

decision of the Council of Arab 

Ministers of Justice taken at 

its 28th session in Cairo. That 

session discussed a Qatari 

proposal related to an Arab 

law to prevent defamation of 

religions which was accepted 

and circulated to the Arab 

countries for their views. 

Qatar Chamber, Bosnia team meet 

SATYENDRA PATHAK 

DOHA 

DEPUTY Chair of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina Council of Ministers 

and Minister of Foreign Affairs of 

Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko 

Lagumdzija held a meeting with the 

members of Qatar Chamber, in 

Doha, on Sunday. 

Lagumdzija, who is on a two-day 

visit to Qatar, was accompanied by 

an 80-member economic delegation. 

They discussed cooperation 

between the two countries as well as 

other issues of joint interest. 

Speaking on the occasion, Qatar 

Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa 

bin Jassim al Thani said, “Qatar’s economic 

relationship with Bosnia and 

Herzegovina is deep-rooted. Qatar has 

already invested in some sectors in the 

country. We are looking for more 

investments in there. The Bosnian 

trade delegation is quite impressive 

and I hope that Qatari traders will 

have fruitful talks with them.” 

Presenting Bosnia and Herzegovina 

as an ideal place for investments, 

Lagumdzija said, “Bosnia’s economy 

is in excellent shape now. Its currency 

is quite stable. There are many 

sectors where Qatar can invest.” 

The delegation included Jelica 

Grujic, FIPA director, Amer Kapetanovic, 

assistant minister of foreign 

affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 

bilateral relations, Bruno Bojic, vicepresident 

of foreign trade chamber 

(VTK) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 

and representatives of more than 50 

companies from across the country. 

It’s a Global Village at CNAQ 

DENISE YAMMINE 

DOHA 

THERE were 22 different cultures 

all huddled together in one village. 

Traditional dresses, food plates and 

dances were showcased on one 

stage. And students were choreographers, 

dancers and decor designers. 

They all came under the big cultural 

roof of the College of North 

Atlantic University (CNAQ) which 

organised the Global Village 2013 

on Sunday. Students, here, decorated 

booths representing their countries’ 

culture and tradition. 

Global Village 2013, held for the 

7th year in a row, hosted booths from 

Canada, Lebanon, Egypt, the UAE, 

Palestine, Syria, Somalia, Sri Lanka, 

Sudan, the Philippines, Tunisia, 

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Japan, 

Libya, Indonesia, Oman, Iraq and 

Iran, along with Qatar. The event will 

continue with different performances 

on Monday. 

Speaking on the occasion, CNAQ 

President Dr Ken MacLeod said the 

University has a policy of multiculturalism 

and it gives every culture a 

space to showcase itself. “We thank 

all our organisers and students. We 

invite everyone to visit all the 

booths and see how much our students 

are proud of their culture and 

history.” 

Macleod also said the Canadian 

booth was collecting donations for 

the Syrian people. 

“We have 22 student-countries 

participating in the event – which is 

more than last year. The shows and 

Students perform at the Global Village, in Doha, on Sunday. (HANSON K JOSEPH) 

booths’ decorations keep on changing 

and this reflects the students’ 

creativity,” said student development 

officer Hajar Ali. “The new 

thing, this year, is Japan’s booth 

organised by Qatari students, 

where the Japanese language is 

being taught to others, in addition 

to a special Japanese show. We 

don’t have Japanese students at 

CNAQ, but Qatari colleagues are 

interested in Japan’s culture,” she 

added. “This multicultural spirit let 

all students express themselves. We 

have 37 different nationalities at 

CNAQ which is not the case in other 

branches, and this makes our 

branch unique in Qatar.” 

Global Village organiser Diana 

Martin noted that the yearly event 

is representative of Canada. “A 

large number of communities live 

peacefully in Canada. And here, all 

student-countries are meeting and 

helping each other.” 

The traditional performances 

started with shows from Egypt, Sri 

Lanka, Qatar, Syria, Japan and 

Lebanon. Qatari singer Hussein El 

Miri was present on the occasion.

Nation Monday, March 11, 2013 05 

Exposed electric meters, wires risk to residents 


DOHA 

EXPOSED electric wires coupled 

with low height of meters are posing 

a threat to the lives of the residents 

of a building located near Old 

Airport Street and Jabir Bin Hayan 

Street intersection. 

According to the residents of the 

three-storey building, the children 

of the building are at maximum risk 

as they play on the ground floor 

where the meters and the uncovered 

wires are. 

A resident said, “The exposed 

wires and their easy accessibility to 

children because of the low height of 

meters can lead to dangerous consequences. 

A minor act of negligence 

can prove fatal. Yet, the wires have 

been in this condition since long.” 

The residents of the building have 

urged concerned authorities to take 

necessary action to avert any untoward 

incident in future. 

According to the residents, the 

maintenance company in-charge 

of the building was not discharging 

its duties in the efficient manner, 

thus exposing them to threats 

to their lives. 

“When we pay them for their 

services regularly, we also expect 

them to guarantee our safety by carrying 

out the maintenance works on 

regular intervals. Though checking 

the meters regularly, they have been 

ignoring the safety concerns associated 

with it”, a resident said. 

PRONE TO RISK Children play near uncovered electric cables and meters at a residential appartment, in Doha, recently. 

Exposed wires (encircled) and meters at a residential building. 

Qtel extends 

Hala promo 


DOHA 

QTEL has extended 15:15 

promotion scheme that 

enables customers to receive 

free bonus credit daily till 

April 15. 

Hala customers who spend 

QR 15 in a day instantly 

receive a credit bonus of QR 

15, which can be used on local 

and international voice calls, 

text messages, video calls, 

collect calls and mobile 

Internet data. 

Once Hala customers use up 

the initial QR15 credit, they are 

sent an SMS telling them 

about the free extra credit, 

which can be used until 11:59 

pm of the same day. 

The promotion starts every 

day at 12 am and ends at 

11:59 pm. 

Toping up a Hala account 

can be done either at any Qtel 

Shop, by scratch card, by 

direct top-up at any of more 

than 200 Qtel self-service 

machines, or by eTopUp. 

Customers can also use 

the eTopUp to recharge on 

the Qtel website at 

www.qtel.qa or the Qtel 

Facebook page at www.facebook.com/QtelQatar. 

Hala customers who use 

self-service machines and 

eTopUp also receive a 10 percent 

extra credit bonus. 

DCMF organises workshop to monitor 

press freedom violations in Arab world 

IHSAN YOUSSEF 

DOHA 

DOHA Centre for Media 

Freedom (DCMF) organised 

a workshop on monitoring 

press freedom violations in 

the Arab region on Sunday. 

The two-day workshop is 

being attended by representatives 

of various Arab and 

international media development 

organisations. 

The session is focusing on 

issues of monitoring systems, 

fact-finding and documentation, 

as well as advocacy 

campaigns. 

The workshop will also 

examine increased nationallevel 

efforts by non-governmental 

organisations to monitor 

and document press freedom 

violations in countries 

such as Yemen, Palestine and 

Tunisia, among others. 

In addition, the participants 

will address the challenges 

facing media support 

organisations concerned with 

monitoring, especially in the 

light of state-sponsored targeting 

of citizen journalists 

using social media. 

The workshop seeks to 

identify and evaluate the ongoing 

monitoring efforts led 

by regional and international 

organisations. 

Participants in the Doha Centre for Media Freedom press freedom workshop, in Doha, on Sunday. 

The participants will map 

out monitoring efforts and 

assess mechanisms in place 

and their ability to swiftly and 

effectively address press freedom 

violations. 


DCMF General Director Jan 

Keulen said: “Amid the 

increased targeting of media 

and journalists in the region, 

we all have an obligation to 

assess the way we address 

this gloomy reality. 

“In this context, the workshop 

represents an opportunity 

to collectively brainstorm 

about the reality of violations 

and the means to address it, 

as well as ways of cooperation 

and exchange of expertise to 

support the monitoring 

efforts led by national and 

international organisations.” 

The workshop’s first session 

examined the state of 

media following the Arab 

Spring, in an attempt to 

answer the core question of 

whether respect for press 

freedom has increased after 

regime changes, or violations 

against media have 

taken new shapes. 

Keynote speakers at the 

workshop include Mohamed 

Auajjar, former Moroccan 

minister of human rights 

affairs, Gamal Eid, executive 

director of the Arabic Network 

for Human Rights Information 

(ANHRI), and Nidal Mansour, 

executive president of the 

Amman-based Centre of 

Defending Freedom of 

Journalists (CDFJ). 

The second session featured 

a speech by Joel Simon, 

executive director of New 

York-based Committee to 

Protect Journalists. 

The session conducted 

survey about international 

monitoring mechanisms, 

and how Arab media support 

organisations can benefit 

from them. 

AZ’s radio-controlled 

car race on March 15 


DOHA 

QATAR’S best radio-controlled 

racing car drivers will converge 

at Aspire Zone (AZ) on March 

15 to take part in its first race 

on the brand new track. 

Organised by Aspire Zone 

Foundation in conjunction 

with the Qatar Radio 

Controlled Racing Group, the 

competition will be for 1/8 

scale buggy and truggy style 

cars. 

Up to 25 drivers will compete, 

pushing their cars to the 

limit on the newly constructed 

350-metre long track. 

Only drivers who have their 

own cars are eligible for the 

competition and can enter the 

race. However, there will also 

be a limited number of cars 

made available for members of 

the community who wish to try 

the radio-controlled devices 

A radio-controlled racing car. 

before the race begins. 

Aspire Logistics Director- 

General Abdulaziz al 

Mahmoud said: “At the Aspire 

Zone race track, each lap takes 

between 45 and 60 seconds 

with an average speed of 30 

kilometres per hour. 

“However, testing has shown 

cars have been able to reach 

speeds of up to 60 kilometers 

per hour. So, we look forward 

to some spectacular racing. 

Radio-controlled cars are lot of 

fun. We encourage members of 

the community who are interested 

in trying to pre-register 

for the public session.” 

Spectators will be able to 

access the track from 4 pm, 

while the main race will begin 

at 5:30 pm. 

Aspire will soon add to the 

new ‘off-road’ track with a dedicated 

‘on-road’ route further 

underlining its commitment to 

this fast-paced activity. 

Aster to build QR60mn multi-speciality hospital in Doha 

ASIF IQBAL 

DOHA 

DM HEALTHCARE, one of 

the leading healthcare conglomerate 

in the Middle East 

and India, plans to build a new 

hospital at the cost of QR60 

million in Qatar. 

To be called ASTER 

Hospital, the 50-bedded 

multi-speciality facility, is 

expected to be operational in 

the first quarter of 2015. The 

hospital will be located 

behind the Family Food 

Centre near Doha 

International Airport. 

Making the announcement 

at a function on Sunday, 

Chairman and Managing 

Director of DM Healthcare Dr 

Azad Moopen said that Al 

Estiana Real Estate 

Development will be handling 

the construction and the commissioning 

of the hospital 

project. Al Estiana Real Estate 

Development is a consortium 

of companies including Al 

Khater Business Centre, Al 

Umra Real Estate and Al 

Magd Development. 

“The construction cost of the 

hospital which is around QR30 

million will be shouldered by 

the developer while the equipment 

cost will be borne by DM 

Healthcare,” Dr Moopan said. 

He said DM Healthcare will 

take the building on a 25-year 

lease from the developers and 

the lease is renewable. 

Giving details about the proposed 

hospital, he said some of 

the general specialities that will 

be offered at the Aster hospital 

are family medicine, gynaecology 

& obstetrics, paediatrics, 

dentistry, ophthalmology, 

ENT, orthopaedics, dermatology, 

general surgery etc. 

Later, Chairman of Al 

Khater Business Centre and 

Azad Moopen of Aster (fourth left) presents a gift to Mohammed Johar during an agreement signing ceremony for a 50-bed hospital, in 

Doha, on Sunday. (MANEESH BAKSHI) 

Director of Al Estiana, Hamad 

Mubarak al Khater signed the 

contracts of the ASTER 

Hospital project. 

Khater said, “The aim of Al 

Estiana is to support the country 

and the people by developing 

hospitals, schools and 

charitable services rather than 

making commercial investments. 

We feel our association 

with DM Healthcare will be a 

great success.” 

The CEO of DM Healthcare 

in Qatar, Dr Sameer Moopan 

in his remarks said, “The Aster 

Hospital project is the culmination 

of our 10 years of local 

expertise in healthcare services 

in Qatar. 

“We were fortunate to witness 

tremendous growth in the 

country, since our establishment 

in the country in year 

2003 as the first private multispeciality 

medical centre under 

the name Al Rafa Poly Clinic, 

which was later on renamed as 

Aster Medical Centre.” 

DM Healthcare expanded 

their operations network to 

Qatar in the year 2003 and 

now operates six medical centres, 

six pharmacies and two 

diagnostic centres in different 

parts of the country. The Aster 

Medical / Diagnostic Centres 

and pharmacies are currently 

located at residential and business 

districts including 

Mushireb, C Ring Road, Al 

Hilal, Al Rayyan, Al Khor and 

Industrial Area.


Nation 

QMA inspires QU students with 

eL Seed’s creative calligraffiti 


DOHA 

Merchiston 

Edinburgh’s 

headmaster 

to visit Doha 

on March 17 


DOHA 

QATAR Museums Authority 

(QMA) recently organised a 

series of workshops engaging 

design and art students of 

Qatar University on eL Seed 

in Doha calligraffiti project. 

The eL Seed is a QMA’s creative 

project aimed at blending 

the art of calligraphy with contemporary 

street art under the 

supervision of famous French- 

Tunisian artist eL Seed. 

The workshops, which 

concluded recently, included 

presentations, panel discussions 

and graffiti making 

workshops with tips and 

instructions. 

Qatar Museums 

Authority’s Public Art 

department and the Public 

Works Authority (Ashghal) 

have commissioned eL Seed 

to paint four underground 

tunnels on Salwa Road. 

Each of the 52 large-scale 

murals features different and 

unique theme inspired by 

anecdotes from Qatari culture 

and markers of Qatari life. 

Work has been done in two of 

the tunnels and eL Seed and 

his team have moved recently 

to the third one. 

The four-month calligraffiti 

murals project is part of 

the massive Salwa Road 

upgrade project. This project 

Qatar University students take part in a calligraffiti workshop organised by Qatar Museums Authority, in Doha, recently. 

also aims to highlight eL 

Seed’s interest in Arabic calligraphy 

fused with contemporary 

street art, which he 

refers to as ‘calligraffiti’. 

The Director of Public Art at 

QMA Jean Paul Engelen said, 

“In line with QMA’s commitment 

to engage people in artrelated 

activities and sharing 

with them knowledge and 

resources, the Public Art 

department ensures all its 

projects are complemented by 

educational, fun-filled events 

and workshops”. 

He added, “We were 

delighted to organise these 

workshops with QU students 

and we thank them for the 

great enthusiasm they 

showed towards the calligraffiti 

project.” 

Born to Tunisian parents, 

eL Seed grew up in France 

and started spray painting in 

the late 90’s. Moving to North 

America, eL Seed’s interests 

in Arabic calligraphy and contemporary 

street art collided 

and fused together. 

His ‘calligraffiti’ murals 

express and reflect a search 

for identity that resonates 

with many young people 

growing up with a spectrum 

of cultural influences. 

Taking inspiration from 

the past to encourage hope 

for the future, his work has 

been displayed in the 

streets, galleries and museums 

around the world and 

featured in many international 

publications. 

HEADMASTER of 

Merchiston Edinburgh, the 

only Scotland-based independent 

school for boys, 

will be visiting Doha on 

March 17. 

Merchiston Edinburgh has 

been exclusively specialising in 

boys’ education for the last 175 

years. 

The headmaster Andrew 

Hunter will meet Qatar residents 

to inform them about 

the school and its services at a 

formal reception to be held at 

Radisson Blu Hotel on the 

same day. 

One of Merchiston’s key 

goals is to ensure a safe and 

happy community. All boys 

have a defined support structure 

in place to monitor and 

mentor their well-being and 

day-to-day happiness. 

Every boy has a housemaster, 

a tutor and specific prefects 

whose role is to safeguard 

their welfare and to 

understand and help with 

many important issues as 

they grow up. From age 8 to 

14, there is a housemother 

who also helps look after the 

boys in each house. 

The School has achieved a 

flush of four ‘Excellent’ ratings 

in the 2012 Care 

Inspectorate Inspection. 

First Doha e-health 

meet on March 13 

QATAR-SUPPORTED MASKAR PROJECT IN JAPAN 


DOHA 

THE first roundtable session of the 

Doha E-health Dialogues will be 

held on March 13 with a focus on 

National Electronic Patient Health 

Records. 

The Doha E-health Dialogues is 

an initiative of International law 

firm Pinsent Masons and the 

world’s leading professional services 

firm PwC to establish a communication 

forum and stakeholders input 

on key elements of the e-health 

strategy for Qatar. 

The event will feature notable specialist 

speakers, including Matthew 

Godfrey-Faussett , partner from 

Pinsent Masons and Dr Fadi al 

Buhairan, health industries- technology 

expert from PwC. 

In a presentation, Peeter Ross, 

senior consultant at e-Europe, will 

share the experiences of Estonia in 

implementing an electronic health 

record system, the first country 

where an electronic health record 

system has been implemented. 

Participants will be drawn from 

officials, leaders and stakeholders 

from various sectors relevant to the 

creation and management of a 

robust e-health system for the 

nation. 

The meeting will give the interested 

parties the opportunity to discuss 

the challenges and possible solutions 

for sharing patient information 

securely and efficiently and developing 

a national electronic patient 

records system, which will deliver 

significant benefits to patients, clinicians 

and administrators. 

“We anticipate significant learning 

outcomes from this and subsequent 

sessions, which will help understand 

the state of EHR implementation 

currently and the steps needed 

towards a successful strategy for 

implementation in terms of governance, 

interoperability and standards,” 

said Ryder Smith of PwC. 

For his part, Godfrey-Faussett 

said, “We plan to hold four of these 

action-oriented dialogues, focusing 

on the e-health sector. They are created 

and sponsored by Pinsent 

Masons and PwC in the spirit of 

engendering debate which can lead 

to the sharing of ideas and solution 

to complex challenges. Both firms 

bring local knowledge to the discussion, 

backed by a wide experience of 

the development of e-health strategy 

around the world.” 

The meeting will be held at the W 

Hotel, West Bay, Doha. 

A view of the Maskar Fish processing centre built with Qatari assistance in Onagawa town following the Great East Japan Earthquake, which killed 

thousands of people and rendered thousands homeless on March 11, 2011. In commemoration of the second anniversary of Japan’s biggest earthquake 

on Sunday, the Japanese Ambassador to Qatar HE Kenjiro Monji released a statement expressing his gratitude to Qatar for its support during 

the natural disaster. Inaugurated last year Maskar is expected to generate QR 2.7 billion and create jobs for 7,500 fishermen, he said. 

40 participate in photography workshop for a cause 

AILYN AGONIA 

DOHA 

FORTY photography enthusiasts 

from diverse industries 

took part in the photography 

workshop for a cause billed 

PUCAW-Qatar Edition 

Season II held at the Grand 

Heritage Hotel, recently. 

The event was organised by 

Filipino photographer Joe 

Chua Agdeppa to raise funds 

for his annual feeding programme 

for less fortunate 

children in his hometown 

Palawan, an island province 

of the Philippines. 

“It was a well-attended and 

well-supported event. A dedicated 

team helped me execute 

the conceptualisation. Our 

models for the workshop 

appeared in the leading fashion 

magazines. 

The event was fully booked 

just two days after I released 

My team, including 

15 models from 

the Philippines, 

South Africa and 

Mexico, rendered 

their services for 

free for this event. 

JOE CHUA AGDEPPA 

the teaser about the event. 

Some even flew from Dubai. 

While we feel sorry not to be 

able to accommodate all 

interested residents of Qatar, 

Participants in the PUCAW-Qatar Edition Season II photography workshop, in Doha, recently. 

our aim is to control the number 

of participants so I can 

supervise them during the 

workshop,” Joe told Qatar 

Tribune on Sunday. 

The workshop featured 

basic photography to advance 

lesson on portraits and lighting. 

The participants included 

Filipinos, Germans, Sri 

Lankans, Indonesians, 

Indians and Arabs from different 

professional fields such 

as aviation, contracting, 

banking, academia, information 

technology and those 

from the sectors of hospitality, 

oil and gas and tourism. 

“We were able to raise 

enough funds for my annual 

feeding and gift-giving programme. 

My team, including 

the 15 models from the 

Philippines, South Africa and 

Mexico, rendered their services 

for free for this event. Our 

stylist Carla Mallari is a wellknown 

Doha-based stylist, 

fashion designer, street-style 

blogger and occasional 

model. Make up was done by 

AL Dee and post processing 

was by Herbert Villadelrey. 

The event also received 

tremendous support from the 

management of Grand 

Heritage Hotel. I am so grateful 

to them all and to my parents 

for the inspiration and 

motivation,” Joe added. 

The first Qatar edition of 

PUCAW held last year was 

able to feed about 500 less 

fortunate children from 

Palawan. 

Sponsors of the workshop 

were Glown (Events 

Products & Management), 

Print Vault (Portfolio & 

Printing), Economic Group 

& IGO (Business Visa) and 

Integral Food Services 

(Food & Beverage).

Nation | Indian Experience Monday, March 11, 2013 07 

Indian dhow makers in Doha tell 

the story of two traditions 

Vinodan Kondath displays his work, in Doha, recently. (Photographs by Jalal Pathiyoor) 


DOHA 

Adhow-crafting yard inside an 

antique store may look a bit out of 

place to a tourist or a first-time visitor 

in Doha. But a little patience 

could yield interesting insights into the 

state of a craft that links the west Indian 

costal state of Kerala with the wealthy 

Arabian Gulf countries like Qatar. 

The Indian workers at the store in 

question – Al Gallaf in Souq Waqif – will 

not only offer general information 

about dhows, but also give you tips on 

the art of their dhow-making craft. 

Inside the store, you will run into 

Vinodan Kondath, Muhammad Rafeeq 

and Prashob Kondath, all busy perfecting 

little replica dhows with intent and 

perfection matching, if not exceeding 

that of the real dhow makers back in 

their home state Kerala. 

Get closer, wait a while, get familiarised 

and talk in a soft voice, and they 

will lead you through the alleys of tradition 

and lore acquainting you with the 

long history of fishing and pearling 

dhows and how these vessels have 

influenced life of generations of people 

both in India and countries of this 

region. While what they say may not 

have the factual rigour of a modern 

western styled study, it is suffused with 

information and instances hard to find 

in books. 

The Indian workers at the 

store in question – Al 

Gallaf in Souq Waqif – 

will not only offer general 

information about 

dhows, but also give you 

tips on the art of their 

dhow-making craft. 

Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Vinodan 

said, “Beypore, my village back in 

Kerala, has strong links with Arab 

region. If you go there, you can still find 

a few old men hewing and sawing wood 

or hammering and nailing planks 

together to slowly and 

painstakingly create traditional 

boats known in the GCC 

countries as dhows. 

“The ties between boat makers 

in Kerala like those in my 

family, and buyers like those 

here in Qatar, go back eons. Even 

now at least three vessels meant 

for Qatar, the largest 140 feet 

long, are under construction in 

his village. Another one is on 

the way and expected to reach Doha 

soon. The 110 feet long vessel has been 

made by members of my extended family,” 

Vinodan said with some 

pride. 

Coming back to his 

own more modest 

work here in 

Doha, of making 

replica dhows, 

he said that 

there is a 

considerable market for them. As piece 

of art and a souvenir of Arab tradition, 

dhows are still very special for Qataris. 

It is hard to imagine a Qatari drawingroom 

without a wooden replica dhow. 

These are generally crafted out of 

teak (Tectona Grandis) from Kerala 

and it takes three to four days to make 

a Qatar style dhow which costs upwards 

of QR350 in the market depending 

upon its size. 

A three feet long Kuwait model dhow 

takes 20 to 25 days to finish and the 

cost will come around QR9,000, he 

said adding that the style of dhow 

varies within GCC countries and 

regions. For example, Batheel is a Qatar 

style dhow while Samsok and Bom are 

Kuwait model boats. 

While the practitioners of the hoary 

craft in Beypore retain their touch to the 

day, their future generations may move 

on to greener pastures. The signs are 

already showing. The tiny Kerala village 

has already lost its place of pride in the 

industry. To make matters worse skilled 

labour is becoming more and more 

scarce. “We can not depend on machines 

to create the desired shapes,” Vinodan 

said explaining the need for craftsmen 

well-versed in their art. 

The ever-rising price of wood and the 

availability of cheaper, lower quality 

replica dhows does not help either, he 

added with a wry smile indicating a resignation 

to the inevitable. 

ICBF show enthrals audience 


DOHA 

UNDER the auspices of 

Indian Embassy, the Indian 

Community Benevolent 

Forum (ICBF) organised a 

fun-filled comedy show 

‘Bollywood Comedy 

Dhamaka 2013” at 

Regency Hall recently. 

Swapnil Joshi and Vijay 

Ishwarlal Pawar popularly 

known as VIP regaled the 

audience with their their 

comedy and mime shows. 

Anita Sharma and 

Himmat Kumar mesmerised 

the audience with 

famous Bollywood 

melodies and energised 

the youngsters to foot-tap 

to fast Bollywood numbers. 

Overall it was a great 

show that kept the audience 

spellbound for the 

entire three-and-a-half 

hours with songs and 

other performances by the 

artistes. A souvenir to 

mark the occasion was 

released by India’s 

Ambassador to Qatar HE 

Sanjiv Arora in the presence 

of Deportation Centre 

Head Jamal al Kaabi, 

Deputy Chief of Mission at 

the Indian embassy in 

Qatar Sasi Kumar, COO of 

CBQ (the main event sponsor) 

Sandeep Chouhan, 

President of ICC Tarun 

Basu, President of IBPN 

Azim Abbas, Chairman of 

the ICBF Advisory 

Committee Nilangshu Dey 

and other members of the 

committee. 

HE Sanjiv Arora lauded 

the ICBF management 

committee members for 

the Forum’s activities 

including helping members 

of the community in 

need. 

He thanked Kaabi for 

the cooperation and support 

extended by his 

department and highlighted 

the excellent relations 

between India and Qatar. 

Earlier, 

ICBF 

Management Committee 

Member Arvind Patil inaugurated 

the programme. 

ICBF President Kareem 

Abdulla welcomed the dignitaries 

and guests. Vice- 

President of the Forum 

Baby Kurien proposed the 

vote of thanks. 

India’s Ambassador to Qatar HE Sanjiv Arora (fifth right) with ICBF officials and other guests at an event, in Doha, recently. 

For events and press releases contact Santhosh Chandran by email at qatar.editor@gmail.com or call (974) 44422077.


Bayt.com hits 

more than one 

million users 

Nation 

Al Sadd Club distributes 

‘Heroes Meals’ to children 


DOHA 

BAYT.COM, a regional job 

site, has announced that its 

public profile platform 

(http://people.bayt.com) 

has surpassed one million 

users. The product empowers 

people in the region to 

create a single professional 

profile page on the Internet 

that captures and presents 

their unique career-related 

identities online. This 

enables them to be found 

by employers, peers as well 

as potential referral and 

endorsement sources and 

clients. 

In a statement, the jobsite 

said: “On a daily basis, 

around 2,000 professionals 

choose to turn their private 

CVs into professional 

public profiles on 

Bayt.com, where they are 

searchable by employers 

and peers alike through the 

pioneering platform. The 

product also sees more 

than 15,000 daily site visits, 

where Internet users 

browse through the smart 

online identities on profiles 

of people who are careersavvy 

and forward looking.” 

To mark the one million 

users milestone, and in 

recognition of Bayt.com’s 

upcoming 13th anniversary, 

the job site has 

announced that some 

major exciting new features 

will be rolled out on soon. It 

continues to enable and 

empower online CV creation 

at different levels of 

privacy from completely 

private, to semi-confidential, 

to public, in order to 

cater to all career levels and 

sensitivities. However, the 

trend has been for a strongly 

accelerated uptake of the 

public platform as more 

professionals realise the 

importance of their professional 

credentials being 

accessible to a wider circle 

of employers and peers. 

“This milestone is an 

incredible one to achieve, 

and one that we are very 

proud to announce. It is a 

reflection of Bayt.com’s 

mission and continuous 

efforts to empower our 

users by providing them 

with the tools and information 

they need to lead their 

lifestyle of choice,” said 

Omar Tahboub, VP of 

product. 

“Public Profiles is one 

such example of how our 

pioneering spirit increases 

the exposure of professionals 

to more opportunities, 

whether or not they are 

looking for jobs. In addition 

to allowing members 

to show off their experience 

in a professional layout, the 

product is a great way for 

professionals to market 

their online “selves”. It also 

promotes better connectivity, 

knowledge-sharing, 

and more between peers 

and employers,” he said. 


DOHA 

Children with Al Sadd Sports Club officials during the ‘Healthy Community’ programme, in Doha, recently. 

AL SADD Sports Club has 

commenced the implementation 

of its ‘Healthy 

Community’ programme. It is 

a continuation of the club’s 

last year’s initiative. 

The programme is sponsored 

by Al Marai Company 

under the umbrella of Al Sadd 

CSR programme in the area 

of health and wellness. 

The programme began with 

an activity at Al Sadd Sports 

Club house on Thursday 

titled ‘Healthy Food Festival’. 

Al Sadd’s player Al Mahdi 

Ali and Chef Mohamed Baz 

from Grand Heritage Doha, 

as well as more than 60 children 

from Saud Bin 

Abdulrahman Independent 

School for Boys, Al Andalus 

Independent School and Al 

Qadisiya Independent School 

attended the event. 

Ali started the programme 

by introducing himself to the 

children, addressing them on 

a level that not only captivated 

their attention but kept 

them at ease, allowing them 

to relate easily to what he was 

saying. 

The discussion began with 

talks about the life of a football 

player and the importance 

of healthy food. He 

engaged the children in dialogue 

asking them about their 

interests, their football aspirations, 

as well as their dayto-day 

diet. 

Thereafter, Chef Baz presented 

the audience with profound 

facts about the negative 

health affects of fast food, 

potato chips and soft drinks. 

He also offered them a solution 

on how to replace these 

foods with healthy alternatives. 

A number of students participated 

alongside the chef as 

they collectively prepared 

healthy attractive quick meals 

which the children and their 

families could replicate with 

ease at home. 

Commenting on the event, 

Salah Ahmadeen, Al Sadd 

CSR officer, said, “The objective 

is to promote and encourage 

a child’s skill in preparing 

healthy meals in an easy and 

simplistic manner. The idea is 

to create an easy opening that 

allows parents to alter their 

children’s eating habits.” 

Al Mahdi distributed Al 

Sadd’s ‘Heroes Meals’ which 

were enclosed in attractive 

packages to the students. 

They comprised of Al Marai 

products, such as milk, juice, 

yogurt with fruit, croissants, 

and cupcakes. 

He also handed out gift 

items and promised to visit 

their schools to repeat the 

programme if their colleagues 

requested. 

Over 440 meals were distributed 

to other students 

who had participated in different 

activities at the club 

during the same period. 

Chef Baz expressed joy in 

being part of the programme, 

saying: “We are delighted to 

participate with Al Sadd Club 

in the healthy food festival 

event. It gives us great pleasure 

to contribute to a programme 

that will lead to 

healthier lives.” 

Al Sadd Sports Club created 

a positive influence in the 

sports field within the GCC 

after successfully executing 

creative strategic social 

responsibility programmes, 

thereby encouraging other 

sports associations to follow 

the lead. 

DPS-MIS takes part in MUN meet 


DOHA 

DPS Modern Indian School 

(DPS-MIS) students Saurabh 

Kadam, Anjas Kapur, Akshay 

Malhotra, Atrayee Mukherjee, 

Farah Khan and Apoorva D, 

recently participated in the 

eighth annual Model United 

Nations (MUN) conference at 

the Qatar National 

Convention Centre. 

The three-day conference, 

hosted by Georgetown 

University School of Foreign 

Service in Qatar (SFSQ), 

attended by students from 

more than 25 countries featured 

intensive and transformative 

dialogue and debate. 

The theme this year was 

sustainability. All topics discussed 

throughout the conference 

were related to sustainability. 

SFSQ Dean Gerd 

Nonneman said: “There is no 

DPS-MIS students who took part in the Model United Nations conference, in Doha, recently. 

better way to get to the heart 

of issues than to immerse 

yourself in the actual debate.” 

The opening ceremonies 

included a keynote address by 

Dr Charles King, professor of 

international affairs and government 

at the Washington 

DC Georgetown campus. 

Urging students to consider 

the history and challenges of 

the UN’s global security mandate 

through the lens of this 

year’s theme, he said: “You 

will meet other men and 

women from all over the world 

here in Qatar, a country that 

has embraced the new world 

economy and world societies. 

Study this all under the broad 

umbrella of sustainability.” 

Human rights, pollution, 

the debt crisis, and standards 

for intervention and the case 

of Syria, were some of the topics 

discussed. 

The students debated, 

deliberated, consulted and 

developed solutions to real 

world issues in a recreation of 

the real workings of the UN. 

DPS-MIS students – 

Saurabh Kadam, Anjas 

Kapur, Apoorva D and Farah 

Khan received Honorary 

Mention Awards. 


DOHA 

A TEAM of MES Indian 

School students, representing 

Rwanda, participated in a 

three-day THIMUN conference 

hosted by Qatar 

Academy recently. 

The MES school delegation 

was made up of Pushpraj, 

Anish, Emad, Lakshmi 

Vodafone offers 

pick-up services 


DOHA 

TO ensure quick and easy 

purchase experience on its 

website www.vodafone.qa, 

Vodafone has launched eight 

additional pick-up locations 

for its online store and same 

day delivery. 

In response to customer 

requests, Vodafone said it 

successfully piloted the pickup 

in retail approach at its 

store in Landmark Mall and 

has now expanded to stores 

in Al Khor, The Pearl, City 

Centre, Mushiereb, Lulu D- 

Ring, Furousya, Industrial 

Area and Al Wakra. 

This is in addition to the 

current home delivery service, 

presently free for all 

postpaid orders, and pick-up 

at Aramex locations. 

In the coming year, the 

company said more retail 

stores would be added to 

increase the number of pickup 

points throughout the 

country. 

“Convenience and speed 

are the most important 

aspects of offering a great 

customer experience online 

and we plan to leverage our 

expanding retail footprint 

and our strong partnership 

with Aramex to meet this 

need,” said Jonathan 

Donovan, head of online at 

Vodafone Qatar. 

Customers can shop on 

Vodafone’s online store to 

purchase phones, tablets, 

star numbers, postpaid/prepaid 

plans and mobile 

broadband devices and in 

the shopping cart choose to 

pick-up their order at one of 

11 locations throughout the 

country. 

MES attends THIMUN conference 

Narayan, Sparsh, Sowmil, 

Rohan D’Souza, Raviam, 

Mitchelle, Jessica and 

Thanveer. 

The students debated 

issues such as measures to 

counter corruption and 

exploitation; enhancing the 

efficiency of the UN; role of 

IPR in facilitating the trade 

and attracting FDI; the question 

of ensuring proper governance 

and anti-corruption 

measures within banking system; 

development of sustainable 

tourism; the question of 

Syria and Afghanistan; right 

to universal health care; and 

promotion and protection of 

the rights of children. 

Manmadhan Mambally, 

chief coordinator of literary 

activities accompanied the 

students. 

MES delegation with school principal and other officials at MUN meet, in Doha, recently.

Philippines / East Asia Monday, March 11, 2013 09 

Persecution 

of Filipinos 

in Malaysia 

alarms Manila 

RIGHTS OF INDONESIAN MAIDS 

Indonesian maids hold a protest rally outside the Consulate-General of the Republic of Indonesia, in Hong Kong, on Sunday. Foreign domestic workers from 

Indonesia took to the streets to demand their country to allow ‘direct-hiring’. They also ask for the end of other forms of discriminatory policies including that of the 

exclusion from the right to apply for permanent residency. (EPA) 

AFP 

MANILA 

THE Philippines expressed 

“grave concern” on Sunday 

over allegations that innocent 

Filipinos in Malaysia are 

being abused after being 

caught up in fighting in Sabah 

with followers of an obscure 

sultanate. 

Fifty-three militants and 

eight police officers have been 

shot dead since a group of 

armed Filipino Islamists 

arrived in the state last month 

to resurrect long-dormant 

land claims of a self-proclaimed 

Philippine sultan. 

Local press reports in the 

Philippines have claimed that 

innocent Filipinos were being 

beaten and shot by Malaysian 

security forces as part of the 

crackdown against followers 

of self-declared Sultan of 

Sulu Jamalul Kiram III. 

Sabah police have denied the 

allegations. 

The Philippine Department 

of Foreign Affairs said government 

agencies will document 

these latest reports as it 

called on Malaysia to clarify 

the alleged incidents. 

“The Department of 

Foreign Affairs views with 

grave concern the alleged 

rounding up of community 

members... in Sabah and the 

alleged violations of human 

rights reported in the media 

by some Filipinos,” a statement 

said. 

“The allegations are alarming 

and should be properly 

and immediately addressed 

by concerned authorities,” 

said the statement. 

Sabah police chief Hamza 

Taib, when asked about 

reports in the Philippine 

media quoting Filipino 

nationals recounting abuse by 

Malaysian security forces, 

denied these reports. “There 

AFP 

TAIPEI 

TAIWAN and the United 

States agreed to further 

strengthen economic ties on 

Sunday as they concluded 

their stalled trade talks — the 

first since 2007 — in Taipei. 

The meeting was seen as 

part of growing efforts by the 

trade-reliant island to break 

political barriers and sign free 

trade agreements to avoid 

being marginalised by a growing 

number of regional economic 

blocs. 

After the Trade and Investment 

Framework Agreement 

(TIFA) talks, Taiwan and the 

US agreed to issue two joint 

statements on international 

investment and information 

and communications technology, 

indicating Taipei’s 

commitment to free trade in 

these areas. 

“The resumption of TIFA 

talks between Taiwan and the 

is no such thing,” he said on 

Sunday. 

President Benigno Aquino’s 

spokeswoman Abigail Valte 

also voiced concern following 

the reports. 

“This kind of treatment on 

our Filipino citizens or 

Filipino nationals is unacceptable,” 

Valte told 

reporters. 

She said the Philippines 

had long called for “humane 

treatment” for Kiram’s followers 

who entered Sabah 

last month in an attempt to 

claim the Malaysian state for 

the sultanate. 

“What more our Filipino 

nationals who are not in any 

way involved in the situation 

in Sabah? They have just gotten 

caught up because they 

are residing there. That is 

unacceptable,” she said. 

So far 85 people have been 

arrested for possible links to 

the intruders in Sabah, 

Malaysian officials have said. 

Valte reiterated the 

Philippine government’s 

appeal for the followers of 

Kiram to lay down their arms 

and surrender. 

But she also reiterated that 

the Philippines was asking 

Malaysian authorities to let 

Filipino diplomats have full 

access to arrested Filipinos 

to provide them with consular 

assistance. 

She also recalled that 

Aquino had personally 

asked Malaysian Prime 

Minister Najib Razak earlier 

to ensure that the estimated 

800,000 Filipinos in Sabah 

would not be persecuted 

despite the crisis. 

Filipino Muslims from the 

southern Philippines have 

been crossing the maritime 

border with Sabah freely for 

centuries, to find work and to 

trade. Many have lived in 

Sabah for years. 

Residents of Tanjung Labian leave their village near where Filipino 

gunmen were locked down in a standoff, in Sabah, on Sunday. (AFP) 

United States represents a new 

stage in our economic relationship 

that will more fully 

open the lines of communication 

on trade and investment,” 

Deputy US Trade Representative 

Demetrios Marantis, the 

US chief negotiator in the 

talks, told reporters. 

His Taiwanese counterpart 

Cho Shih-chao, who is also the 

vice economic affairs minister, 

said: “The two statements 

AP 

MANILA 

REBELS who held 21 Filipino 

UN peacekeepers in Syria put 

blankets on their hostages to 

help them sleep through the 

cold nights and a rebel commander 

became visibly emotional 

when his group released 

the men, a UN peacekeeping 

official said on Sunday. 

Despite the good treatment 

they got from the insurgents 

fighting Syrian President 

Bashar al Assad’s regime, the 

peacekeepers were relieved to 

have survived the four-day 

ordeal unscathed and were 

thankful for UN and Philippine 

government efforts that 

set them free, said Philippine 

army Colonel Cirilito Sobejano, 

who is the chief of staff of 

the UN’s monitoring mission 

in the Golan Heights. 

The unarmed Filipino army 

soldiers, who were riding in 

trucks, were abducted by anti- 

Assad gunmen after providing 

water and food to other peacekeeping 

troops on Wednesday 

in southern Syria near the 

Israeli-occupied Golan 

Heights. After tough negotiations, 

they were freed on 

Saturday on Jordan’s border 

and taken to a hotel in the 

Jordanian capital of Amman, 

Philippine officials said. 

A medical checkup showed 

the released hostages were all 

in good health. 

“They were in high spirits. 

We were laughing about their 

experiences,” Sobejano said 

by telephone from Amman. 

“They had a cordial relationship 

with their captors, who 

put blankets on them because 

it was very cold at night.” 

“When they were handed 

over in Jordan, a rebel commander 

got visibly sad,” he 

said. “They were really treated 

as guests.” 

At the Amman hotel, the 

peacekeepers were welcomed 

with a “boodle fight” – a 

Philippine military mess-hall 

style of eating, where food is 

usually laid out on banana 

leaves atop a long table and 

soldiers eat with their hands, 

said army Colonel Roberto 

Arcan, who heads the military’s 

peacekeeping operations 

centre in Manila. 

Arcan said he talked by 

phone with one of the freed 

peacekeepers, army Major 

Dominador Valerio, who 

asked him to “please tell my 

wife I’m OK,” Arcan said, 

adding he immediately 

relayed the good news to the 

officer’s wife. 

But the abductions have 

raised concerns about the 

future of UN operations in 

will be used as the basis for 

further cooperation.” 

Taipei and Washington 

also agreed to set up new 

TIFA working groups on 

investment and technical 

barriers to trade. 

Taiwan was also seeking US 

assistance in joining the 

Trans-Pacific Partnership. But 

Marantis said any economies 

which hope to attend the bloc 

have to meet high standard 

obligations, suggesting the 

island still has a long way to go 

before joining the club. 

Negotiations on the trade 

talks, seen as a precursor to a 

full free trade agreement, had 

been dormant since 2007. 

The hiatus was prompted 

when Taiwan banned US 

beef containing ractopamine, 

a drug used in animal feed to 

promote lean meat. Taipei 

amended the law in July 

2012 to allow imports of beef 

to resume. 

Marantis said the US delegates 

raised the issue of safety 

regulations regarding food but 

he said there are many more 

the area. 

A Filipino army major and 

his driver were held at a 

checkpoint in the Golan 

Heights by anti-Assad rebels 

last January but were 

released after about four 

hours, Arcan said. 

critical issues to be discussed 

by the two sides. 

Washington is the island’s 

The freed peacekeepers 

from a 326-member Filipino 

contingent in the Golan 

Heights are part of a UN mission 

known as Undof that was 

set up to monitor a cease-fire 

in 1974, seven years after 

Israel captured the plateau 

and a year after it pushed back 

Syrian troops trying to recapture 

the territory. 

The truce’s stability has 

been shaken in recent 

months, as Syrian mortar 

shells have hit the Israelicontrolled 

Golan Heights, 

sparking worries among 

Israeli officials that the violence 

may prompt Undof to 

end its mission. 

On Friday, UN spokesman 

Martin Nesirky said “the 

mission in the Golan needs 

to review its security 

arrangements, and it has 

been doing that.” 

More than 600 Philippine 

security personnel are 

deployed in nine UN peacekeeping 

areas worldwide, 

Arcan said. 

Asked if the incident in 

Syria would prompt the 

Philippines to withdraw its 

peacekeeping personnel 

around the world, military 

spokesman Colonel Arnulfo 

Burgos said that the deployments 

would continue, but 

that assessments would be 

made to better safeguard the 

peacekeepers in increasingly 

hostile areas. 

“This is a global commitment,” 

Burgos said on 

Sunday at a news conference 

in Manila. 

President Benigno Aquino 

III said last week that he has 

asked the military to assess 

whether large numbers of 

Filipino peacekeepers 

should be reduced to help 

address his country’s growing 

security needs. 

Taiwan, US conclude first trade talks 

After the TIFA 

talks, Taiwan and 

the US agreed to 

issue two joint 

statements on 

international 

investment and 

information and 

communications 

technology, 

indicating Taipei’s 

commitment to 

free trade in 

these areas. 

Syrian rebels treated Filipino 

peacekeepers like guests: UN 

“They (Filipino UN 

peacekeepers) 

were in high 

spirits. We were 

laughing about 

their experiences,” 

Sobejano said. 

“They had a cordial 

relationship with 

their captors, 

who put blankets 

on them because 

it was very cold 

at night.” 

Deputy US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis during a 

meeting, in Taipei, on Saturday. (AFP) 

third largest trade partner and 

a leading arms supplier, 

despite switching diplomatic 

recognition from Taipei to 

Beijing in 1979. 

Taiwan currently has free 

trade deals with Panama, 

Guatemala and Nicaragua 

and has been pushing for tieups 

with other trading partners 

including Singapore. 

But talks have become 

bogged down, largely due to 

pressure from Beijing, which 

still considers the island part 

of its territory even though it 

has governed itself since the 

end of a civil war in 1949. 

Ties between Taiwan and 

China have however 

improved markedly since Ma 

Ying-jeou of the Beijingfriendly 

Kuomintang party 

came to power in 2008, pledging 

to boost trade links and 

allowing in more Chinese 

tourists. He was re-elected in 

January 2012 for a second and 

final four-year term. 

Philippine 

lawyer rejects 

Comelec post 

AGENCIES 

MANILA 

PHILIPPINE election lawyer 

Maria Bernadette Sardillo has 

declined her appointment to 

the Commission on Elections 

(Comelec) as President Benigno 

Aquino III races against 

time to fill the vacancies in two 

commissioner posts before the 

election ban on appointments 

starts on March 29. 

Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes 

Jr on Saturday confirmed 

Sardillo’s decision to 

decline the appointment. 

Valte said the 

Palace was also 

informed that ‘a 

family member of 

Sardillo has health 

concerns, and I 

think that was the 

reason the family 

asked her to 

remain in the 

private sector’. 

“The president has accepted 

the withdrawal of the application,” 

said a Malacañang (Philippine 

palace) spokesperson, 

explaining that Sardillo 

begged off due to “health concerns” 

affecting a member of 

her family. 

Deputy presidential spokesperson 

Abigal Valte said Sardillo 

wrote the president a letter 

on March 7 in which she formally 

declined the nomination. 

In her letter, Sardillo said 

she was deeply grateful for 

having been considered as a 

commissioner in the Comelec. 

“However, it is also with 

deep regret that I am withdrawing 

my application to the 

commission. This decision was 

reached after consultation with 

my family which has prevailed 

upon me to remain in the private 

sector. Nevertheless, 

please be assured of my continued 

support of your administration. 

Thank you,” she wrote. 

Aquino was still unaware of 

Sardillo’s letter when he was 

interviewed by the media on 

March 7 in Davao City, where 

he announced that he had 

appointed Sardillo and 

Macabangkit Lanto to the 

Comelec. 

Valte said the Palace was 

also informed that “a family 

member of Sardillo has health 

concerns, and I think that was 

the reason the family asked 

her to remain in the private 

sector.” 

But a member of the Cabinet 

told the Inquirer that Sardillo 

wrote the “letter of desistance” 

after “her family strenuously 

objected (to her application), 

and she could not convince 

them otherwise.”

10 Monday, March 11, 2013 Monday, March 11, 2013 11


ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006 

Congress Gets In The Way 

The US Congress needs to give time to world powers 

and Iran to negotiate a deal on nuclear issue 

IF there is any hope for a peaceful resolution 

of the nuclear dispute with Iran, 

President Barack Obama needs Congress 

to support negotiations. But negotiations 

and compromise are largely anathema in 

Washington, with many lawmakers insisting 

that any deal with Iran would be unacceptable 

– a stance that would make military 

action by Israel and the United States 

far more likely. 

Last week, just as Iran and the major 

powers made some small progress in talks 

and agreed to meet again, two measures 

were introduced in Congress that could 

harm negotiations. 

One is a Senate resolution sponsored by 

Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman 

of the Senate Foreign Relations 

Committee, and Lindsey Graham, a 

Republican. It says that if Israel “is compelled 

to take military action in selfdefence, 

the United States government 

should stand with Israel and provide 

diplomatic, military and economic support 

to the government of Israel in its 

defence of its territory, people and existence.” 

No one doubts that the United 

States would defend Israel if it was 

attacked by Iran; that commitment has 

been made repeatedly by Obama and his 

predecessors. The nonbinding resolution, 

promoted by the American Israel Public 

Affairs Committee, a lobbying group, 

Saving The Day 

ONE way to appreciate the conceptual 

oddness of daylight saving time is to 

imagine it as a new idea just cooked up by 

the Obama administration. An individual 

mandate to change your clocks twice a 

year, every year, to enable a government 

redistribution of sunshine. Or, put another 

way, the feds’ confiscation of more 

than 300 million privately held American 

sleep hours, taken for eight months without 

interest payments or a penalty. All to 

make the nation healthier, wealthier and 

wiser, and for somewhat dubious energy 

savings. House Republicans would not be 

pleased – would you? Would you reset 

the clock radio, or would you demand 

that the government stay out of your bedroom 

and leave your dream life alone? 

But like other aged, vaguely beneficial 

innovations, like chicken soup and the 

seventh-inning stretch, we don’t ask 

questions. We live with it, and we do not 

even remember the days when daylight 

went unsaved. Who among us was alive 

when it was important to conserve candles 

and kerosene, and to avoid 

HAMAD BIN SUHAIM AL THANI 

CHAIRMAN 

ADEL ALI BIN ALI 

MANAGING DIRECTOR 

DR HASSAN MOHAMMED AL ANSARI 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

PRINTED AT ALI BIN ALI PRINTING PRESS 

NYT 

NYT 

would not authorise any specific action, 

but it would increase political pressure on 

Obama by putting Congress on record as 

backing a military operation initiated by 

Israel at a time of Israel’s choosing. It 

could also hamper negotiations by playing 

into Iranian fears that America’s true 

intention is to promote regime change. 

The second measure, a bipartisan bill, 

would pile on tougher sanctions just as the 

two sides are trying to create trust after 

decades of hostility. The bill would further 

restrict business dealings with Iran, widen 

the list of blacklisted Iranian companies 

and individuals, and potentially block 

Iran’s access to foreign bank assets held in 

euros. It could unravel the international 

coalition against Iran by penalising countries 

– like Turkey, India, South Korea 

and China – that have not done enough to 

enforce sanctions. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of 

Israel told the annual Aipac conference 

this week that there must be a “credible 

military threat” against Iran. Vice- 

President Joe Biden also assured the 

group that Obama would use force if 

needed. 

The best way to avert military conflict is 

by negotiating a credible, verifiable agreement. 

It is a very long shot. But Congress 

needs to give the talks time to play out and 

not make diplomatic efforts even harder. 

unhealthful night air? The idea makes 

eminent sense on a tiny gray island in 

the North Atlantic that needs every drop 

of sunshine it can find. On our sprawling 

continent, the benefits are not as uniform, 

though its proponents insist that 

its gains in energy efficiency and traffic 

safety are real. 

Some Americans disagree, but we are 

all stuck with daylight saving, except in 

the states that opted out: Arizona, where 

all that extra sunshine is hot and expensive, 

and milder Hawaii, where the day’s 

length doesn’t change much, thanks to the 

nearness of the Equator and to Maui, the 

demigod of Hawaiian mythology who lassoed 

the sun and threatened to kill it 

unless it promised to slow its march 

across the sky. 

The rest of us can use the coming 

months to savour longer dusks and 

brighter homeward commutes, for a modest 

price: a little grogginess this weekend, 

and periodic confusion. On Sunday, 

Honolulu will be six hours behind New 

York, not five, and Phoenix will be three. 

Opinion 

The Drone Question 

The ambiguity on who can be the target of drone strikes 

in the struggle against Al Qaeda needs to be removed 

THE Senate confirmed John O 

Brennan as director of the 

Central Intelligence Agency on 

Thursday after a nearly 13-hour 

filibuster by the libertarian senator 

Rand Paul, who before the vote 

received a somewhat odd letter from the 

attorney general. 

“It has come to my attention that you 

have now asked an additional question: 

‘Does the President have the authority 

to use a weaponised drone to kill an 

American not engaged in combat on 

American soil?’ ” the attorney general, 

Eric H Holder Jr, wrote to Paul. “The 

answer to that question is no.” 

The senator, whose filibuster had 

become a social-media sensation, elating 

tea party members, human-rights 

groups and pacifists alike, said he was 

“quite happy with the answer.” But 

Holder’s letter raises more questions 

than it answers – and, indeed, more 

important and more serious questions 

than the senator posed. 

What, exactly, does the Obama 

administration mean by “engaged in 

combat”? The extraordinary secrecy of 

this White House makes the answer difficult 

to know. We have some clues, and 

they are troubling. 

If you put together the pieces of publicly 

available information, it seems 

that the Obama administration, like 

the Bush administration before it, has 

acted with an overly broad definition 

of what it means to be engaged in combat. 

Back in 2004, the Pentagon 

released a list of the types of people it 

was holding at Guantanamo Bay as 

“enemy combatants” – a list that 

included people who were “involved in 

terrorist financing.” 

One could argue that the definition 

applied solely to prolonged detention, 

not to targeting for a drone strike. But 

who’s to say if the administration 

believes in such a distinction? 

American generals in Afghanistan 

said the laws of war “have been interpreted 

to allow” American forces to 

include “drug traffickers with proven 

links to the insurgency on a kill list,” 

RYAN GOODMAN | 

NYT SYNDICATE 

according to a report released in 2009 

by the Senate Foreign Relations 

Committee, then led by John Kerry, 

now the secretary of state. 

The report went on to say that there 

were about 50 major traffickers “who 

contribute funds to the insurgency on 

the target list.” The Pentagon later said 

that it was “important to clarify that we 

are targeting terrorists with links to the 

drug trade, rather than targeting drug 

traffickers with links to terrorism.” 

Is it well past time for the 

United States government 

to specify, precisely, its 

views on whom it thinks 

it can kill in the struggle 

against Al Qaeda and 

other terrorist forces? 

The answer is yes. 

That statement, however, was not 

very clarifying, and did not seem to 

appease NATO allies who raised serious 

legal concerns about the American targeting 

programme. The explanation 

soon gave way to more clues, and this 

time it was not simply a question of who 

had been placed on a list. 

In a 2010 Fox News interview, under 

pressure to explain whether the Obama 

administration was any closer to capturing 

or killing Osama bin Laden, 

Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary Rodham 

Clinton, said that “we have gotten closer 

because we have been able to kill a 

number of their trainers, their operational 

people, their financiers.” That 

revelation – killing financiers – appears 

not to have been noticed very widely. 

As I have written, sweeping financiers 

into the group of people who can 

be killed in armed conflict stretches 

the laws of war beyond recognition. 

But this is not the only stretch the 

Obama administration seems to have 

made. The administration still hasn’t 

disavowed its stance, disclosed last 

May in a New York Times article, that 

military-age males killed in a strike 

zone are counted as combatants absent 

explicit posthumous evidence proving 

otherwise. 

Holder’s one-word answer – “no” – 

is not a step toward the greater transparency 

that President Obama pledged 

when he came into office, but has not 

delivered, in the realm of national 

security. 

By declining to specify what it means 

to be “engaged in combat,” the letter 

does not foreclose the possible scenario 

– however hypothetical – of a military 

drone strike, against a United States citizen, 

on American soil. It also raises 

anew questions about the standards the 

administration has used in deciding to 

use drone strikes to kill Americans suspected 

of terrorist involvement overseas 

– notably Anwar al Awlaki, the 

American-born cleric who was killed in 

a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. 

Is there any reason to believe that 

military drones will soon be hovering 

over Manhattan, aiming to kill 

Americans believed to be involved in 

terrorist financing? No. 

But is it well past time for the United 

States government to specify, precisely, 

its views on whom it thinks it can kill in 

the struggle against Al Qaeda and other 

terrorist forces? The answer is yes. 

The Obama administration’s continued 

refusal to do so should alarm any 

American concerned about the constitutional 

right of our citizens – no matter 

what evil they may or may not be 

engaged in – to due process under the 

law. For those Americans, Holder’s 

seemingly simple but maddeningly 

vague letter offers no reassurance. 

(Ryan Goodman is a professor 

of law and co-chairman of the 

Center for Human Rights 

and Global Justice at 

New York University.) 

What is Kim Jong-un Looking For? 

It’s tough to gauge just how serious a nuclear threat N Korea poses when its leader gives no clue to his intentions 

IN heavy metal bands, as the old joke 

goes, real men keep their amps permanently 

turned up to eleven. 

North Korean rhetoric operates on a 

similarly Spinal Tap-ish principle. 

In response to a toughening of UN sanctions, 

on Thursday (March 8) the country 

cancelled a hotline and non-aggression 

pact with the South and called on 

its army to prepare “to annihilate the 

enemy”. Amidst the noise, though, both 

heavy metal bands and North Korea 

face the same problem: what to do when 

you really want to make a point? How 

do you crank it up even further? 

A gentler but still menacing musical 

metaphor is Prokofiev’s Peter and the 

Wolf. Everyone shrugged off the little 

boy’s fibs: there wasn’t a wolf. Until, 

one day, there really was. Having followed 

North Korea for over 40 years, 

one is used to decibels. But after a while 

you realise this is more calibrated and 

calculated than it seems at first sight. 

Or used to be. 

Even shrieking can and must be 

parsed. Abrogate the 1953 armistice? 

Been there, done that: seven times or 

so. Cut off the hotline to Seoul? They’ve 

done that five times before, if I recall. 

Close the border? The laughably named 

demilitarised zone (DMZ) is hardly an 

open door. But which crossing? If they 

mean Panmunjom, that’s not where the 

action is anyway. 

The real test lies a few miles to the 

west. Not a lot of people know this, but 

every day, dozens of South Koreans 

commute across the once impenetrable 

demilitarised zone to supervise some 

50,000 North Korean workers, making 

assorted goods (clothing, kitchenware, 

the usual stuff) for South Korea businesses 

at a joint venture industrial park 

near the ancient city of Kaesong. 

A fruit of Seoul’s former ‘sunshine’ 

policy, which sadly seems a world away 

now, Kaesong has somehow survived 

the ups and downs - mostly downs, 

lately - of inter-Korean relations. Even 

in 2010 when the South’s President Lee 

Myung-bak ‘banned’ trade with the 

AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER | 

GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE 

The fact that Kim didn’t 

make time to meet a real 

mover and shaker like 

Google’s Eric Schmidt, 

gives no confidence that 

the jejune ruler can think 

straight or has his 

priorities right. 

North as a reprisal for the North’s sinking 

a Southern warship (46 died), he 

exempted Kaesong. 

This precious exception is also a 

touchstone. If the two Koreas were really 

about to go to war then Kaesong would 

shut down or be evacuated. Worst case 

scenario, the North would take hostages. 

None of this shows any sign of happening 

as I write. We can breathe again. 

Yet complacency would be wrong. 

2010 is also a stark reminder that North 

Korea’s threats are not always mere 

verbiage. Pyongyang denies sinking the 

Cheonan, but later that year it shelled a 

Southern island near its own coast, 

killing four. The North claimed it was 

provoked by US and South Korean 

wargames. But those were routine, like 

the ones ongoing now. 

What was and is North Korea’s game? 

In 2010 Kim Jong-il was angry with Lee 

for scrapping the sunshine policy, and 

wanted to teach him a lesson. Kim calculated, 

correctly, that even the hardline 

Lee would not retaliate militarily, 

with all the risk of further escalation. 

But now? Lee is gone. His successor, 

Park Geun-hye, had visited Pyongyang 

and dined with Kim. She has pledged to 

build ‘trustpolitik’ with the North, 

which sounds like sunshine redux. Why 

then did Kim Jong-un greet her with a 

nuclear test and lurid threats? 

Perhaps the new Kim on the block is 

the answer. Young, untried and by 

some accounts hot-headed, like a new 

Mafia boss succeeding his father, he 

may feel he has to show all concerned - 

his own team, as well as his many foes - 

that he is a tough guy, no pushover. 

Point taken. Yet the fact that Kim just 

spent two days with a clapped-out basketball 

player, but didn’t make time to 

meet a real mover and shaker like 

Google’s Eric Schmidt, gives no confidence 

that North Korea’s jejune ruler can 

think straight or has his priorities right. 

Like last year’s nasty cartoons showing 

Lee as a rat being bloodily done to death, 

wild threats of pre-emptive nuclear 

strikes sound a new note. Both seem selfindulgent: 

excess for its own sake, rather 

than in the service of a clear goal. 

For that is the oddity. One last musical 

reference. A world more puzzled 

than scared (though vigilance is essential) 

could and should ask Kim Jongun, 

who may or may not be a Spice Girls 

fan: so, tell me what you want, what you 

really really want? Amid, despite or 

because of all the shrieking, the answer 

to that remains totally obscure. 

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THE OPINION AND ANALYSIS PAGES ARE THE AUTHORS’ OWN. QATAR TRIBUNE BEARS NO RESPONSIBILITY.

Analysis Monday, March 11, 2013 13 

Senators Bearing Arms 

The public interest in reducing gun violence may not have abated, 

but some of the lawmakers seem to be revising their opinions 

Have 

your say 

Is there an issue you feel strongly 

about, or an article you want to comment 

on? QT will carry your voice to the 

public and to places where it matters. 

Write to us at 

ADDRESS: PO BOX 23493, 

DOHA, QATAR 

TELEPHONE: +974.44422077 

FAX: +974.44416790 

EMAIL: LETTERS@QATAR-TRIBUNE.COM 

Young people must work out 

Amazing America 

GAIL COLLINS 

NYT NEWS SERVICE 

We should forgive 

every lawmaker 

who will go on the 

record as saying 

they refuse to 

support gun control 

because of the 

zombie threat. 

Otherwise, it’s 

pretty inexcusable. 

WHENEVER talk turns to gun 

control in Congress, lawmakers 

feel compelled to 

mention their love of 

weaponry. “I’m probably 

one of the few who have a pistol range 

in my backyard,” Senator Patrick 

Leahy of Vermont said on Thursday, as 

he led a meeting of the Judiciary 

Committee on gun legislation. 

“I have an AR-15,” said Senator 

Lindsey Graham, referring to the 

nation’s best-known assault weapon. 

“I’m not going to do anything illegally 

with it,” Graham added. 

There were no audible sighs of relief 

from the audience, but I am sure everybody 

was glad to have the reassurance. 

People, do you think Congress is 

actually going to do anything about 

gun violence in the wake of the 

Newtown shootings? Judiciary is 

going to vote on two big proposals 

next week: a ban on assault weapons 

and an expansion of gun purchase 

background checks. If the Democrats 

stick together, the bills can pass on a 

party-line vote. But to go any further, 

they need Republican support, and 

there wasn’t a whole lot of it in evidence 

this week. 

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chief 

sponsor of the assault weapons ban, 

seemed less than optimistic. 

“I want to thank those who are with 

me,” she said. “I don’t know that I can 

convince those who are not, but I 

intend to keep trying.” 

She looked exhausted. At one point, 

she referred to Richard Blumenthal of 

Connecticut as “Senator Delvanthal.” 

“Senator Feinstein has been consistent. 

She is sincere, and she has the 

courage of her convictions and what 

more could you ask,” Graham said. 

This may have been an attempt at 

consolation. Perhaps he was only being 

incredibly patronising by accident. 

The public’s interest in reducing gun 

violence may not have abated, but 

some of the lawmakers seem to be trotting 

backward. After Newtown, 

Senator Joe Manchin, the conservative 

Democrat from West Virginia, said: “I 

don’t know anyone in the sporting or 

hunting arena that goes out with an 

assault rifle.” He told CNN that he 

wanted to create a “dialogue that 

would bring a total change,” adding, 

“and I mean a total change.” 

Manchin now says that anybody who 

took that to mean he was favouring 

some kind of ban on assault weapons 

totally misunderstood him. 

“I said everything should be on the 

table,” he explained in a phone interview. 

“Everything is on the table. I 

don’t agree with the things on the 

table, but they still have the right to put 

them on.” 

On the plus side, the Judiciary 

Committee approved a modest bill 

raising the penalties for “straw purchasers” 

– people who buy guns in 

order to give them to someone barred 

from making the purchase, like convicted 

felons or Mexican drug runners. 

One Republican, Chuck Grassley of 

Iowa, voted for it. However, Senator 

John Cornyn of Texas expressed concern 

that it would “make it a serious 

felony for an American Legion employee 

to negligently transfer a rifle or 

firearm to a veteran who, unknown to 

the transferor, suffers from post-traumatic 

stress disorder.” 

Personally, I would rather not have 

American Legion employees negligently 

transferring guns to anybody. But 

then I am not trying to run for re-election 

in Texas without being primaried 

by the Tea Party. 

The best hope for serious change 

involves fixing the background check 

law so that people who buy weapons at 

gun shows, online, in flea markets and 

other nonstore venues are included. 

Bipartisan negotiations seemed to fizzle 

this week, but Manchin, who was 

among those backing out, expressed 

confidence that something could still 

be worked out. And the assault 

weapons bill might have a little better 

chance if it was less complicated. 

(Feinstein’s bill lists 157 makes and 

models of guns that are prohibited.) It 

might be easier to just go with the part 

banning magazine clips that allow 

shooters to fire off 15, 30, 100 or more 

bullets without reloading. 

You may be wondering what conceivable 

argument gun lovers could 

have about hanging on to those monster 

bullet clips. For the answer, let us 

turn to – yes! – Lindsey Graham. The 

senator from South Carolina wanted 

to know what people were supposed to 

do with a lousy two-bullet shotgun “in 

an environment where the law and 

order has broken down, whether it’s a 

hurricane, national disaster, earthquake, 

terrorist attack, cyberattack 

where the power goes down and the 

dam’s broken and chemicals have 

been released into the air and law 

enforcement is really not able to 

respond and people take advantage of 

that lawless environment.” 

Do you think Graham spends a lot of 

time watching old episodes of 

‘Doomsday Preppers’? Does he worry 

about zombies? That definitely would 

require a lot of firepower. 

We should forgive every lawmaker 

who will go on the record as saying 

they refuse to support gun control 

because of the zombie threat. 

Otherwise, it’s pretty inexcusable. 

THIS is with reference to the article, 

‘Short-Term Exercise Might Boost 

Young People’s Self-Confidence’, published 

in Qatar Tribune dated March 9. 

Short-term exercise does not imply 

physical exercises meant for just a few 

weeks or months. It actually urges young 

people to perform regular exercise for 

short hours, say like thirty minutes or so. 

Young ones ought not to take it the other 

way round. 

Recently I saw a photo of a man with a 

well-built body on the wall of a shop. 

With much curiosity, I asked the shopkeeper 

whose photo it was. To my surprise, 

he told me that it was him on the 

photo. In person, he has a loose belly and 

very obvious bulges trying to sneak out of 

his shirt. According to him, after tying 

the knot he stopped doing physical exercises. 

I suggested to him to set apart 

some time for regular exercise and 

shared with him about my regular exercise 

regimen. I started doing the procedure 

when I was twenty-five… now I am 

forty-two years old and I still find time to 

work out. My humble advice to young 

people is to continue doing physical exercises 

irrespective of married life, employment, 

or age. Healthy body will always be 

our greatest asset in this world. 

C ROBINSON 

DOHA 

“I said “I skype with my dog” 

on German TV and they translated 

it to “I skype with my daughter”. 

Not sure which is more 

surprising to you.” 

JOSH GROBAN 

Health is Wealth 

Bloggers’ Borough 

Tooth Loss Associated With 

Higher Risk For Heart Disease 

HEALTHDAY | NYT SYNDICATE 

FOR adults, losing teeth is bad 

enough, but tooth loss is also associated 

with several risk factors for heart 

disease, a large international study 

suggests. 

These heart disease-related risk factors 

include diabetes, obesity, high 

blood pressure and smoking. 

For the study, researchers analysed 

data from nearly 16,000 people in 39 

countries who provided information 

about their remaining number of teeth 

and the frequency of gum bleeds. 

About 40 percent of the participants 

had fewer than 15 teeth and 16 percent 

had no teeth, while 25 percent reported 

gum bleeds. 

For every decrease in the number of 

teeth, there was an increase in the levels 

of a harmful enzyme that promotes 

inflammation and hardening of the 

arteries. The study authors also noted 

that along with fewer teeth came 

increases in other heart disease risk 

markers, including ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol 

levels and higher blood sugar, 

blood pressure and waist size. 

People with fewer teeth were also 

more likely to have diabetes, with the 

risk increasing 11 percent for every significant 

decrease in the number of 

teeth, the investigators found. 

Being a current or former smoker was 

also linked to tooth loss, according to the 

study scheduled for presentation at the 

annual meeting of the American College 

of Cardiology (ACC) in San Francisco. 

Gum bleeds were associated with 

higher levels of bad cholesterol and 

blood pressure. 

Because this study was presented at a 

medical meeting, the data and conclusions 

should be viewed as preliminary 

until published in a peer-reviewed 

journal. The researchers added that it 

is still unclear what is behind the association 

between tooth loss, gum health 

and heart health. 

“Whether periodontal disease actually 

causes coronary heart disease 

remains to be shown. It could be that 

the two conditions share common risk 

factors independently,” Dr Ola Vedin, 

from the department of medical sciences 

at Uppsala University in Sweden, 

said in an ACC news release. 

Letter To Ireland Answered — 28 Years Later 

MEGAN SMOLENYAK | 

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM 

NOT long ago, I received a response to a 

letter I wrote to a stranger in Ireland 

— in 1984. Making the experience more 

peculiar still is the fact that the gentleman 

I contacted had passed away in 

1990. Perhaps I should explain. 

I’ve been obsessed with genealogy since 

the sixth grade, so back when other kids 

were saving up allowance to buy record 

albums, I was squirreling away my quarters 

for the next death certificate. Each 

certificate secured only served to further 

fuel my quest, so like many genealogists, I 

found my innocent dabbling morphing 

into a lifetime pursuit. 

But these were pre-Internet days, so 

what did you do when you got to the point 

in your research where you had to cross 

the pond to pursue your roots in the old 

country? You (*gasp!*) wrote a letter. 

Seriously. That’s what we used to do. 

And so, that’s what I apparently did 

back in September of 1984. Taking advantage 

of the fact that I lived in the 

Washington, DC area, I had turned to one 

of my favourite hidden stashes in the 

Library of Congress — their collection of 

overseas phone books. In this instance, 

my target was anyone in Ireland who 

shared the surname of one of my immigrant 

great-great-grandmothers, Ellen 

Nelligan. Luckily for me, I found a listing 

for a gentleman named Daniel Neligan 

who owned a bakery and confectionary in 

Castleisland, Ireland, and wrote him a letter 

wondering on the page whether he 

might be related or could tell me anything 

about Ellen’s family. 

Fast forward 28 years. You probably 

won’t be surprised to hear that I had completely 

forgotten this letter — that is, until 

an unexpected email materialised: 

“Hi Megan, 

Charlie Nelligan here. Just received a 

letter today which you sent to my late 

father Daniel back in Sept 1984. It was 

locked away in a drawer somewhere for 

safe keeping. In the letter you were 

enquiring about Ellen Nelligan, your 

great-great-grandmother whom you 

said came from Ireland, born 1836. If by 

chance you haven’t found her over the 

past 28 years, here goes — Ellen Nelligan 

was born in Duagh, County Kerry on 1st 

June 1832 to Maurice Nelligan and 

Catherine Curtin . . .” 

Charlie went on to detail the names and 

birth dates of Ellen’s assorted siblings. I 

was gobsmacked. 

As it happens, I had learned more about 

Ellen over the intervening years, but I was 

stunned that a complete stranger had 

taken the trouble to respond to a letter 

posted to his father almost three decades 

ago — not to mention, find the answers to 

my questions. 

I immediately replied, rewarding his 

kindness with another round of questions. 

Was he Charlie Nelligan, the well known 

football player? Did he still own the bakery? 

Back came the response: 

“Yes, I am the former Kerry Football 

Goalkeeper and owner of Bakery shops. 

The football has finished, but the Bakery 

shops are still surviving. In fact my son 

Daniel has taken over the Castleisland 

branch. He is the third generation 

Neligan in the bakery trade, so you can 

still send your letters to Daniel Neligan 

(Bakery and Confectionary).” 

This triggered a memory and I went digging 

through old vacation photos and souvenirs. 

Among them was a photo of one of 

Charlie’s bakeries that I had visited perhaps 

a decade ago. In fact, I was so tickled 

to see an ancestral surname adorning the 

shop that I bought some bread just to save 

the colourful wrapping. 

(To be continued)


No role for 

militias in Egypt, 

says minister 

Gulf / Middle East 

Netanyahu likely to sew up 

new coalition govt soon 

AP 

CAIRO 

EGYPT’S interior minister 

on Sunday declared he 

would not allow vigilantes or 

militias to take over police 

duties, while admitting his 

police force has been 

strained by daily protests, 

clashes and criticism. 

Minister Mohammed 

Ibrahim was speaking a 

day after protesters rampaged 

through Cairo, furious 

over the acquittal of 

seven of nine police officers 

in a trial over soccer violence 

that left 74 people 

dead last year. Some 21 

civilians received death 

sentences in the highly 

charged trial. 

“From the 

minister to the 

youngest recruit 

in the force, we 

will not accept to 

have militias in 

Egypt,” Ibrahim 

said. “That will be 

only when we 

are totally dead, 

finished.” 

Protesters torched a 

police club and the soccer 

federation headquarters on 

Saturday. Hundreds of 

rioters battled police along 

the Nile river boulevard in 

an area packed with hotels 

and diplomatic missions. 

Two people were killed. 

The clashes along the river 

continued on Sunday. 

There were also limited 

protests in Port Said, the 

Suez Canal city where the 

soccer stadium riot erupted 

in February 2012. The city 

was the scene of bloody 

clashes with police in the 

past week. They stopped this 

weekend after police evacuated 

their headquarters and 

the military took over. 

The unrest coincides with 

an unprecedented wave of 

strikes by police over 

demands for better working 

conditions, as well as anger 

over alleged attempts by 

President Mohammed 

Morsi and his Muslim 

Brotherhood to take control 

of the police force. 

Ibrahim acknowledged 

that his force is under 

strain, but he insisted he 

will not allow vigilante 

groups to take over the 

duties of the force. 

“From the minister to the 

youngest recruit in the 

force, we will not accept to 

have militias in Egypt,” 

Ibrahim said. “That will be 

only when we are totally 

dead, finished.” 

His declaration followed a 

statement by a hard-line 

Islamist group that its members 

would take up policing 

duties in the southern 

province of Assiut because of 

strikes by local security 

forces. Lawmakers have 

raised the possibility of legalising 

private security companies, 

granting them the right 

to arrest and detain. 

“There are groups of policemen 

on strike. I understand 

them. They are protesting 

the pressure they 

are under, the attacks from 

the media,” the minister 

said. “They work in hard 

conditions and exert everything 

they can and are not 

met with appreciation or 

thanks.” 

Egypt’s police and internal 

security forces are 

widely hated and seen as a 

legacy of the rule of ousted 

President Hosni Mubarak, 

when they were notorious 

for abuses, torture and 

crackdowns on political 

opponents, including the 

Brotherhood. 

Ibrahim said the strike is 

minor and is not affecting 

the capabilities of the force. 

Instead, dragging the 

police into the political dispute 

between the opposition 

and the ruling 

Islamists is exhausting the 

force, he said. 

“I only ask all (political) 

forces to leave the police 

out of the political equation 

and the conflict that is taking 

place,” Ibrahim said. 

He said he is talking with 

the striking policemen, 

who, he said are demanding 

better armament. 

He dismissed charges 

that the Morsi’s Muslim 

Brotherhood is dictating 

his ministry’s policies. 

“There is no interference 

by anyone in the work of 

the ministry. Rest assured,” 

he told reporters. 

Soldiers take over security after the withdrawal of police, in 

Port Said, northeast of Cairo, on Sunday. (REUTERS) 

AFP 

JERUSALEM 

ISRAELI Prime Minister 

Benjamin Netanyahu on 

Sunday entered the final 

stretch of talks to form a new 

coalition government which 

will be sworn in just days 

before a visit by US President 

Barack Obama. 

Time is of the essence for 

the Israeli leader who is facing 

a final deadline of March 

16 to announce the shape of 

his new government after 

receiving a two-week extension 

to the initial 28 days he 

was given. 

If he fails to piece together a 

working majority of at least 61 

MPs, the task will be handed 

to another party leader. 

He has also been under the 

additional pressure of preparing 

for a long-awaited visit by 

Obama, who will arrive on 

March 20 for a three-day trip 

visit to Israel and the 

Palestinian territories — his 

first since becoming president. 

Protocol dictates that 

Netanyahu inform President 

Shimon Peres when he has 

succeeded in forming a government, 

after which the new 

coalition must be approved by 

the parliament, or Knesset, 

and sworn in. 

Israeli media suggested the 

government could be in place 

as early as Tuesday, but it 

was not clear whether the 

procedure would be delayed 

as Peres is wrapping up a 

week-long tour of Europe 

from which he will only 

return on Wednesday. 

“It’s clear that at this stage, 

we are in the midst of an irreversible 

process,” said former 

foreign minister Avigdor 

Lieberman, who was involved 

in the negotiations. “There is 

no doubt that there will be a 

government this week.” 

With the deadline looming, 

Netanyahu has in recent days 

stepped up the pace of negotiations 

which began five weeks 

ago, and after much hesitation, 

reportedly agreed to 

work with Yair Lapid’s centrist 

Yesh Atid and Naftali 

Bennett’s far-right Jewish 

Home party. 

Lapid’s faction, which was 

only set up in April 2012, won 

a shock victory in the 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (centre) attends the weekly cabinet meeting, in Jerusalem, on Sunday. (REUTERS) 

January election, taking 19 of 

the Knesset’s 120 seats, while 

Bennett’s Jewish Home 

swept into fourth place with 

12, with both agreeing they 

would not enter the coalition 

without the other. 

Former foreign minister 

Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist 

HaTnuah (six seats), 

has already agreed to join 

the coalition and take on the 

role of justice minister as 

well as playing a key role in a 

ministerial team in charge of 

peace talks. 

Netanyahu is also expected 

to bring in centrist party 

Kadima (two seats) to join a 

government headed by his 

Likud-Beitenu, which combines 

his rightwing Likud 

with the hardline Yisrael 

Beitenu of Lieberman. 

Likud-Beitenu’s poor election 

showing, which saw it 

shedding a quarter of its 42 

seats to win a narrow victory 

with just 31, has forced an 

unwelcome change on 

Netanyahu who spent the past 

four years in a comfortable 

rightwing-religious coalition. 

But the pact between Lapid 

and Bennett has forced 

Netanyahu to give up on his 

so-called “natural partners” 

— the ultra-Orthodox Shas 

and United Torah Judaism — 

with Yesh Atid and Jewish 

Home bent on changing the 

draft law to compel more 

ultra-Orthodox men to serve 

in the army. 

“Netanyahu has found it 

hard to part from the all-too 

comfortable coalition,” the 

Maariv daily said. “Today he 

is heading for the unknown.” 

As for the division of ministerial 

portfolios, media 

reports were unanimous that 

Likud’s Moshe Yaalon would 

take the defence ministry, 

while Netanyahu would temporarily 

hold on to foreign 

affairs while Lieberman is on 

trial for alleged fraud and 

breach of trust. 

Lapid, a former TV anchor 

who gave up his job to enter 

politics just last year, was seen 

taking the finance portfolio, 

while Bennett would likely 

become minister of trade and 

industry in a cabinet of 24-25 

ministers, down from 30 in 

the outgoing government. 

Gulf rights group slams Riyadh for jailing activists 

AFP 

KUWAIT CITY 

A GULF rights group has 

strongly condemned heavy jail 

terms against two prominent 

Saudi rights activists and called 

on the authorities in the kingdom 

to free them immediately. 

“We strongly condemn these 

jail terms and demand that 

Saudi authorities release them 

immediately and scrap the verdicts,” 

said the Gulf Forum for 

Civil Societies (GFCS), a pan- 

Gulf liberal group, in a statement 

overnight. 

“We caution against the use 

of the judiciary as a means of 

settling political scores, which 

has become a policy used 

repeatedly by Gulf states during 

the past two years,” the 

forum said. 

The criminal court in Riyadh 

on Saturday sentenced activists 

Mohammed al Gahtani 

and Abdullah al Hamed to 10- 

year and five-year jail terms 

respectively. 

Gahtani is an official with the 

independent Saudi Association 

of Civil and Political Rights. 

The two men 

reacted calmly to 

the verdict, saying 

they planned to 

continue their 

‘peaceful 

struggle’. 

The court also ordered the 

group’s dissolution for “failing 

to obtain authorisation.” 

The two activists were convicted 

of violating a law on 

cybercriminality by using 

Twitter to denounce various 

aspects of political and social 

life in the ultra-conservative 

kingdom. They now have 30 

days to appeal. The two men 

reacted calmly to the verdict, 

saying they planned to continue 

their “peaceful struggle”. 

The GFCS said it held the 

Saudi authorities responsible 

for the “physical and psychological 

safety” of the two 

activists, and called on international 

rights groups to apply 

pressure on Riyadh to free 

them. Gahtani said in June last 

year that he had been accused 

of “spreading sedition” and 

“rebelling against the authority” 

of the king. 

The Saudi group claims to 

have created a file listing “hundreds 

of human rights violations 

over the past two years,” 

and says the kingdom is holding 

around 30,000 political 

prisoners. 

Tunisia faces crunch week as political impasse continues 

AFP 

TUNIS 

TUNISIA faces major hurdles 

this week, with parliament set 

to vote on a new government 

and agree a calendar for a 

long-delayed constitution, as 

opposition activists mark the 

assassination of a leftist leader. 

More than two years after 

mass protests that toppled 

former dictator Zine El 

Abidine Ben Ali and inspired 

revolutions in other Arab 

Spring countries, Tunisia has 

been grappling with a political 

crisis triggered by the killing 

last month of Chokri Belaid. 

There are hopes that it may 

finally be able to overcome 

this crisis, which brought 

down the government of 

Hamadi Jabali, when parliament 

holds a vote of confidence 

on Tuesday for the new 

cabinet line-up of premierdesignate 

Ali Larayedh. 

His Islamist Ennahda 

party and its two secular 

partners in the outgoing 

coalition control 109 out of 

the 217 seats in the National 

Constituent Assembly. 

But hopes of a breakthrough 

in Tunisia’s political impasse 

are mitigated by deadlock over 

the new constitution. 

The assembly must on 

Monday draw up a calendar 

for the drafting and adoption 

of the text, as well as for parliamentary 

and presidential 

elections. 

But several political timetables 

drawn up since Ennahda’s 

sweeping election victory in 

the first post-revolution poll 

have not been respected. 

More than two years after 

Ben Ali’s ouster, Tunisia is still 

without a fixed political system 

due to a lack of consensus 

between the main parties, 

Ennahda pushing for a pure 

parliamentary system and 

others demanding that the 

president retain key powers. 

Tunisian politicians hope to 

see the constitution approved 

by the beginning of the summer, 

so that elections can be 

held in October or November. 

Larayedh, who served as 

interior minister under Jebali, 

said his cabinet would work 

“to the end of 2013 at the latest,” 

indicating that elections 

would take place before the 

third anniversary of the revolution 

in January 2014. 

Assembly speaker Mustapha 

Ben Jaafar has called for 

an end to the tug-of-war, with 

the political uncertainty in 

Tunisia exacerbated by social 

tensions and the growing 

influence of militant Islamist 

groups. 

“We must abandon narrow 

party interests even if that 

means making sacrifices, 

retreating. It is in the interests 

of Tunisians,” said Ben Jaafar, 

whose secular Ettakatol is one 

of Ennahda’s partners in the 

outgoing three-party coalition. 

“Our people are patient but 

their patience has its limits, 

we must attend to their problems,” 

he added. 

But opposition parties 

have already made clear 

their disappointment with 

the coalition government, 

criticising the limited concessions 

made by the ruling 

Islamist party that prevented 

other parties from joining a 

broader coalition. 

Tunisian leader of the Islamist Ennahda party Rachid Ghannouchi 

during a meeting, in Tunis, on Sunday. (EPA)

Gulf / Middle East Monday, March 11, 2013 15 

Syrian refugee 

numbers could 

triple soon: UN 

REUTERS 

ANKARA 

THE number of refugees outside 

Syria could triple by the 

end of the year from the 1 million 

registered now if there is 

no political solution to the conflict, 

the head of the UN 

refugee agency said on Sunday. 

The millionth Syrian refugee 

was registered in Jordan on 

Wednesday, following a dramatic 

acceleration in the number 

of civilians fleeing fighting 

in their homeland in the first 

two months of this year. 

Syrians started trickling out 

of the country nearly two years 

Guterres warned 

of the risk of an 

‘explosion’ in the 

Middle East if 

there was no 

political end to the 

conflict in Syria. 

ago when President Bashar al 

Assad’s forces shot at prodemocracy 

protests inspired by 

Arab revolts elsewhere. 

The uprising has since 

turned into an increasingly 

sectarian struggle between 

armed rebels and government 

soldiers and militias. An 

estimated 70,000 people 

have been killed. 

The UN refugee body, 

UNHCR, says more than 

400,000 Syrian refugees - 

nearly half the total - have fled 

Syria since January 1. Around 

half the refugees are children, 

most of them under 11. In 

December, there were 3,000 

refugees on average a day. In 

January, it had risen to 5,000. 

By February, there were 8,000. 

“If this escalation goes on ... 

we might have in the end of 

the year a much larger number 

of refugees, two or three 

times the present level,” High 

Commissioner for Refugees 

Antonio Guterres told 

reporters in Ankara. 

“Everything depends on 

whether or not we will have a 

political solution but we need 

to be prepared for a very strong 

increase of the present numbers,” 

he said. 

Most refugees have fled to 

Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq 

and Egypt and some to North 

Africa and Europe. In addition 

to the refugees, the UNHCR 

says more than 2 million of 

Syria’s 22 million people have 

been internally displaced. 

Guterres, who is on a 4-day 

visit to Turkey, also warned of 

the risk of an “explosion” in the 

Middle East if there was no 

political end to the conflict in 

Syria, which has increasingly 

spilled beyond its borders. He 

did not explain his comments 

further. Guterres will meet 

Turkish leaders during his trip 

as well as visiting a refugee 

camp near the Syrian border. 

Turkey, which has more 

than 185,000 Syrians registered 

in camps on its territory, 

and tens of thousands 

more living in towns and 

cities, has long advocated setting 

up internationally protected 

zones inside Syria to 

protect fleeing civilians. 

However, the notion has 

gained little traction in 

Western countries, who do not 

want to get further embroiled 

in the Syrian conflict. 

Guterres said his agency was 

not against such safe zones in 

general but that they should 

not undermine the right for 

refugees to seek asylum in 

other countries. 

Despite pledges of $1.5 billion 

by international donors 

for a UN response plan to 

help Syria’s displaced, only 25 

percent has been funded, 

UNHCR has said. 

Turkey alone says it has 

spent some $700 million setting 

up 17 refugee camps, with 

more under construction. But 

the country’s disaster and relief 

management body, AFAD, 

said last week the actual cost of 

caring for the refugees was 

closer to $1.5 billion. 

A man rides his motorbike past damaged shops, in the besieged area of Homs, on Saturday. (REUTERS) 

Syria rebels launch surprise 

assault in Homs; 11 killed 

AFP 

DAMASCUS 

SYRIA insurgents launched a 

surprise dawn raid on Sunday 

to retake a key district of the 

central city of Homs, as 

Islamists set up a religious 

council to administer rebelheld 

areas of the oil-rich east. 

Activists said the raid 

sparked fierce fighting on the 

ground and saw President 

Bashar al Assad’s forces call 

in airstrikes in a bid to repulse 

the rebel fighters. 

They said the attack was a 

bid to take pressure off other 

rebel-held areas following the 

launch last week of a 

widescale army offensive in 

Homs, which has been 

dubbed ‘capital of the revolution’ 

against Assad’s forces. 

Regime troops seized 

Baba Amr from rebels just 

over a year ago after a 

bloody month-long siege 

that left the district in ruins 

and claimed hundreds of 

lives, including those of two 

foreign journalists. 

“We announce the ‘great 

victory battle’ to liberate 

neighbourhoods (controlled 

by the army), namely Baba 

Amr, and ease the pressure 

on our comrades and on 

besieged Homs districts,” a 

rebel said in a video posted on 

the Internet. 

Omar, an activist who is in 

touch with the insurgents, 

said rebels infiltrated Baba 

Amr under cover of darkness. 

“Those manning the army 

checkpoints barely had time 

to realise what was going on,” 

he said. 

The army later massed 

reinforcements around Baba 

Amr, Omar said. 

The Syrian Observatory for 

Human Rights said troops 

sealed off several streets 

around Baba Amr amid 

shelling and clashes in the 

district, with air raids following 

hours later. 

Observatory chief Rami 

Abdel Rahman said the “surprise” 

dawn assault came 

after troops had reduced their 

presence in Baba Amr to target 

other rebel-held districts. 

The watchdog said at least 

11 soldiers were killed in 

Baba Amr. 

Days ago the army, which 

controls around 80 percent of 

Homs, Syria’s third-largest 

city, launched an offensive to 

reclaim Khaldiyeh in the 

north and other rebel enclaves 

in the old city, using helicopters 

to bombard the neighbourhoods, 

which have been 

besieged for eight months. 

Syria’s opposition National 

Coalition for the second time 

in weeks postponed talks on 

the formation of an interim 

government, a senior member 

of the opposition grouping 

said, citing “deep rifts” 

on the issue. 

The meeting was initially 

scheduled for last month in 

Istanbul but was postponed 

until Tuesday this week. It 

has now been delayed again, 

with a possible new date 

between March 18 and 20, 

said Samir Nashar. 

“There are too many opinions... 

and this calls for more 

time and more consultations,” 

said Nashar. 

In the oil-producing east, 

where rebels hold large 

swathes of territory, insurgents 

including the jihadist Al 

Nusra Front have set up a 

religious council to administer 

police, judicial and emergency 

services in the area, the 

groups said in a statement. 

“God commanded the 

Islamic battalions to form a 

religious council in the east to 

administer the affairs of the 

people and fill a security gap,” 

said the statement, distributed 

by the Britain-based 

Observatory. 

PROTEST AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 

Lebanese women rally against Lebanese lawmakers in front the Lebanese interior ministry, in Beirut, on Sunday. Hundreds of 

Lebanese women took to the streets to demand the government and the parliament introduce laws to protect women from abusive 

partners. (EPA) 

S Yemen leaders vow 

to take part in talks 

AFP 

DUBAI 

Protest organiser killed in Iraq 

AFP 

KIRKUK 

GUNMEN killed an anti-government 

protest organiser in 

north Iraq on Sunday, while a 

city council member and a 

farmer were shot dead in 

other attacks, police and doctors 

said. 

Unknown gunmen shot 

dead protest organiser Bnayan 

Sabar al Obeidi in front of his 

house in the northern city of 

Kirkuk, they said. 

Protesters have taken to the 

streets in Sunni-majority 

areas of Iraq for more than 

two months, calling for Prime 

Minister Nuri Maliki’s resignation 

and decrying the 

alleged targeting of their 

minority community by 

Shiite-led authorities. 

Obeidi’s death comes two 

days after activists said security 

forces fired on a demonstration 

in Mosul, another north Iraq 

city, killing at least one protester 

and wounding others. 

Iraq’s agriculture minister, 

Ezzedine al Dawleh, resigned 

following the Mosul killing, 

saying that “there is no way I 

can continue in a government 

that does not respond to the 

demands” of the people. 

He was the second minister 

from the secular, Sunnibacked 

Iraqiya bloc, which is 

at odds with Maliki, to resign 

this month. 

Also on Sunday, gunmen 

killed Abdul Monam Mohammed, 

a city council member in 

Heet, northwest of Baghdad, 

while other gunmen killed a 

farmer and a roadside bomb 

wounded three people near 

Baquba, north of the Iraqi capital, 

police and doctors said. 

Violence in Iraq has 

decreased from its peak in 

2006 and 2007. But even 10 

years after the US-led invasion 

of the country, attacks remain 

common, killing 220 people 

last month, according to an 

AFP tally based on security and 

medical sources. 

SOUTH Yemen leaders vowed 

at a meeting in Dubai to continue 

talks on participating in 

a national dialogue this month 

to end the country’s political 

crisis, as a separatist faction 

withdrew from the meeting. 

“We have decided to continue 

the meetings to make a decision 

on our participation” in 

the UN-brokered talks which 

will begin on March 18, said 

Salem Saleh Mohammed on 

Sunday. He did not say where 

the meetings would be held. 

Southern leaders met in 

Dubai late on Saturday in a 

gathering attended by UN 

envoy to Yemen Jamal 

Benomar. 

But exiled former vice-president 

of south Yemen, Ali 

Salem al Baid, whose radical 

faction of the Southern 

Movement demands full independence 

for the south, handed 

Benomar a list of demands 

and pulled out of the meeting. 

The demands included the 

“the withdrawal of northerners” 

from southern Yemen and 

“their replacement by UN 

peacekeepers to protect the 

people of the south.” 

The participation of all factions 

of the Southern 

Movement, an alliance of 

groups that want autonomy or 

independence for the south of 

the country, is seen as crucial 

for the success of the national 

Former Southern Yemeni president Ali Nasser Mohammad (right) 

with a Southern Movement representative Jihad Abbas, in Dubai, 

on Saturday. (AFP) 

dialogue which was agreed 

under a UN-backed deal. 

Formerly-independent 

south Yemen broke away from 

the north in 1994, sparking a 

civil war, before it was overrun 

by northern troops. 

Mohammed al Saqqaf, a 

representative of Baid, said 

that dialogue between Sanaa 

and southerners must be 

treated as one between two 

separate states, insisting that 

his movement “rejects federalism 

and calls for a referendum” 

to determine the future 

of south Yemen. 

Last month, southerners 

launched a campaign of civil 

disobedience which mainly 

took effect in their stronghold 

Aden, where several people 

were killed in clashes with 

security forces. 

The group of leaders meeting 

on Saturday said they 

rejected violence and stressed 

the need for the Southern 

Movement to “adhere to 

peaceful means.” 

“We have agreed that the 

southern issue can only be 

resolved peacefully... We look 

forward to carrying out further 

meetings with the participation 

of all southern components,” 

they said in a statement. 

Asked if those who met on 

Saturday would take part in 

the national dialogue, Benomar, 

the UN envoy, said 

“everything will be decided in 

the coming days and nothing 

is excluded.” 

The UN Security Council has 

threatened sanctions against 

parties impeding the national 

dialogue, including Baid.


Seven children 

among eight 

dead in fire in 

German town 

UK / Europe 

UK, Italy & Greece condemn 

hostage killing in Nigeria 

AFP 

BERLIN 

FIRE swept through an 

apartment building in 

southwestern Germany on 

Sunday, killing at least eight 

members of a family of 

Turkish origin, including 

seven children, police said. 

The cause of the blaze 

was not known but police 

said they were investigating 

an oven in a flat on the first 

floor of the former leather 

factory in the town of 

Backnang near Stuttgart. 

“There are no indications 

of arson or a xenophobic 

motive,” police said, adding 

that there was a German- 

Turkish cultural exchange 

association on the ground 

floor of the building. 

Hundreds of firefighters 

tackled the fire which broke 

out in the early hours of 

Sunday. Television pictures 

showed flames shooting out 

of windows and clouds of 

thick smoke billowing into 

the night sky. 

The firefighters were able 

to rescue three people from 

a balcony. The trio was 

rushed to hospital and their 

injuries were not thought to 

be life-threatening, according 

to a police spokesman. 

According to the local 

paper, the Waiblinger 

Kreiszeitung, an 11-year old 

girl, the family’s grandmother 

and an uncle were 

saved. 

The father of the family, 

said to have 10 members, 

was not at home when the 

fire broke out, reported the 

Waiblinger Kreiszeitung. 

Mass circulation Bild said 

the youngest victim was 

only six months old. 

By mid-morning, the fire 

was under control but not 

yet extinguished. 

Authorities hope to begin 

their investigations when 

the site has cooled sufficiently, 

but this could take 

some time. 

Turkey’s Deputy Prime 

Minister Bekir Bozdag said 

on microblogging site 

Twitter that he wanted an 

investigation that left “no 

room for doubt” as to the 

cause of the blaze. 

A total of eight people 

died in arson attacks by 

right-wing extremists on 

houses occupied by Turks 

in the German towns of 

Moelln and Solingen in 

1992 and 1993. 

Fears for the safety of 

Turks in Germany, which 

houses the largest Turkish 

population outside Turkey, 

have grown since it 

emerged that a neo-Nazi 

cell was allegedly behind a 

series of attacks against foreigners 

between 2000 and 

2007. 

A trio of militants, calling 

itself the National Socialist 

Underground (NSU), are 

accused of killing nine men 

of Turkish or Greek origin 

across Germany between 

2000 and 2006 and a 

German policewoman in 

2007. 

A man reads a local newspapers on a street, in Kano, Nigeria, on Sunday. (AP) 

AFP 

LONDON 

BRITAIN, Italy and Greece on 

Sunday admitted that a claim 

by a Nigerian Islamist group it 

had killed seven foreign 

hostages appeared to be true 

and condemned the act as barbaric 

and cold-blooded. 

The Ansaru group on 

Saturday announced the 

deaths of all the expatriates 

abducted from a construction 

site of Lebanese company 

Setraco on February 16 in 

Bauchi state in Nigeria’s 

restive north. 

Ansaru, considered an offshoot 

of the Nigerian Islamist 

group Boko Haram, backed up 

its claim with “screen captures 

of a forthcoming video showing 

the dead hostages,” SITE 

Intelligence Group said. 

“In the communique, the 

group stated that the attempts 

by the British and Nigerian 

governments to rescue the 

hostages, and their alleged 

arrest and killing of people, 

forced it to carry out the execution,” 

SITE said. 

Nigeria police last month 

said the hostages were four 

Lebanese, one Briton, a Greek 

citizen and an Italian. A company 

official later said the 

Middle Eastern hostages 

included two Lebanese and 

two Syrians. 

British Foreign Secretary 

William Hague said all the 

hostages were “likely to have 

been killed” by their captors. 

“This was an act of coldblooded 

murder, which I condemn 

in the strongest terms,” 

he said, expressing his determination 

to work with the 

Nigerian authorities “to hold 

the perpetrators of this 

heinous act to account, and to 

combat the terrorism which so 

blights the lives of people in 

northern Nigeria and in the 

wider region.” 

The Italian foreign ministry 

in a statement branded it “a 

horrific act of terrorism for 

which there is no explanation 

except barbaric and blind violence.” 

“No military intervention to 

free the hostages was ever 

attempted by the interested 

government,” it said, adding 

that the killings were “the 

aberrant expression of a hateful 

and intolerable fanaticism.” 

The Greek foreign ministry 

also said the “available information 

suggests that the 

Greek citizen abducted in 

Nigeria alongside six nationals 

of other countries is dead.” 

“Based on the information 

we have, there was no rescue 

operation,” it added. 

In an email statement sent 

to journalists announcing the 

kidnapping two days later, 

Ansaru said the motives were 

“the transgressions and atrocities 

done to the religion of 

Allah... by the European countries 

in many places such as 

Afghanistan and Mali”. 

Ansaru has been linked to 

several kidnappings, including 

the May 2011 abductions of a 

Briton and an Italian working 

for a construction firm in 

Kebbi state, near the border 

with Niger. 

The victims were killed in 

March 2012 in neighbouring 

Sokoto state during a botched 

rescue operation. 

It also claimed the 

December kidnapping of a 

French engineer in Katsina 

state, bordering Niger. The 

victim’s whereabouts remain 

unknown. 

Hungary’s PM refuses to accept court’s stand 

A firefighter inspects the damaged roof following a fire, in 

Backnang, on Sunday. (REUTERS) 

AP 

BUDAPEST 

HUNGARY’s prime minister 

can’t take “no” for an answer, 

even when he is being instructed 

by the country’s highest 

court. 

Over the past 18 months, the 

Constitutional Court has struck 

down several of the government’s 

policies, including fining 

or jailing the homeless for living 

in public spaces, banning political 

campaign ads on commercial 

radio and TV stations and 

forcing university students who 

accepted state scholarships to 

work in Hungary for years after 

they graduate. 

On Monday, however, lawmakers 

from Prime Minister 

Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party are 

preparing to pass a lengthy 

amendment to the constitution 

that will entrench all those discredited 

policies and many others, 

ensuring that the government 

gets its way no matter 

what anyone says. 

The amendment has 

alarmed the European Union, 

which over the past several 

months has forced Orban to 

dilute some of the laws meant 

to expand his control over 

everything from the central 

bank and the economy to the 

arts and the media. 

The current argument is only 

the latest example of international 

criticism over government 

policies seen to be concentrating 

power in Orban’s 

hands, paying lip service to 

democratic principles and 

expanding the state’s role to 

the detriment of private enterprise. 

On Friday, European 

Commission President Jose 

Maria Barroso spoke by telephone 

with Orban and sent 

him a letter expressing his concerns 

about possible conflicts 

between the planned amendment 

and EU laws. 

“We trust that these contacts 

will ensure that our concerns 

are taken into account,” commission 

spokeswoman Pia 

Ahrenkilde Hansen said, 

adding that the intention was 

to avoid facing “any vote that 

would result in incompatibility 

with EU law ... and would 

make the time ahead more difficult.” 

In a written response to 

Barroso after their call, Orban 

confirmed “the full commitment” 

of Hungary’s government 

and parliament to 

European norms, but gave no 

direct indication that Monday’s 

vote on the amendment, which 

has more than 20 articles, 

would be delayed. 

With most domestic challengers 

neutralised the prime 

minister has taken to lashing 

out at EU bureaucrats in 

Brussels. 

Although 97 percent of 

Hungary’s development funds 

over the past years have been 

provided by the EU, Orban has 

said Hungary won’t allow itself 

“to be dictated to by anyone 

from Brussels or anywhere 

else” and that Hungary does 

not need “unsolicited comradely 

assistance” from people in 

“finely-tailored suits” to write 

its constitution. 

Widow’s tale helps resurrect husband’s Tube recording 

AP 

LONDON 

A WIDOW’s wish to hear her 

late husband’s voice again 

has prompted London’s subway 

system to restore a 40- 

year-old recording of the subway’s 

famous “mind the gap” 

announcement. 

The Underground, also 

known as the Tube, tracked 

down the voice recording by 

Oswald Lawrence after his 

widow, Margaret McCollum, 

approached its staff and told 

them what it meant to her. 

McCollum, 65, said on 

Sunday she used to frequently 

visit Embankment station 

or plan her journeys around 

the stop to listen to 

Lawrence’s voice, even before 

his death in 2007. She was 

taken aback in November 

when she noticed it had been 

replaced by a different voice. 

“For many, many years it 

was on the Embankment 

Station northbound platform. 

That’s a station I used a 

lot,” the retired doctor said. 

Lawrence was a drama 

school graduate when he 

auditioned for the Tube 

recording, she said. He went 

on to become a theater actor 

and then worked for a tour 

and cruise company. 

“After he died, I would stay 

on the platform, I would just 

sit and listen to it again,” she 

added. “It was a huge comfort. 

It was very special.” 

When McCollum 

approached a Tube worker, 

she was told the station had a 

new broadcast system and it 

could not use the old recording 

anymore. 

Nigel Holness, 

director of London 

Underground, said 

the Tube staff is 

also working to 

restore Lawrence’s 

announcement 

at the station 

But Nigel Holness, director 

of London Underground, 

said its staff has been so 

moved by McCollum’s story 

that they dug up the recording 

and gave the widow a 

copy of the announcement on 

a CD for her to keep. Tube 

staff is also working to 

restore Lawrence’s 

announcement at the station, 

he added. 

The Tube’s automated 

“mind the gap” messages, 

voiced by various actors, 

have accompanied countless 

London commuter journeys 

since the 1960s. Train drivers 

and staff made the warnings 

themselves before that. 

London’s subway, the 

world’s first underground 

railway network, first opened 

in 1863. It is celebrating its 

150th anniversary this year. 

McCollum said she has 

been overwhelmed by the 

media attention to her story, 

and hoped that she could 

hear Lawrence’s voice in the 

Tube again soon. 

“I’m very pleased in 

Oswald’s memory that people 

are interested,” she said. 

“He was a great London 

transport user all his life. He 

would be amused and 

touched and delighted to 

know he’s back where he 

belonged.” 

London’s subway is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Pakistan / South Asia Monday, March 11, 2013 17 

Afghan president criticises US over Taliban talks 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a nationally televised speech about the state of Afghan women, 

in Kabul, on Sunday. (AP) 

AP 

KABUL 

AFGHAN President Hamid 

Karzai on Sunday accused the 

Taliban and the US of working 

in concert to convince 

Afghans that violence will 

worsen if most foreign troops 

leave – an allegation the top 

American commander in 

Afghanistan rejected as “categorically 

false.” 

Karzai said two suicide 

bombings that killed 19 people 

on Saturday – one outside 

the Afghan Defence Ministry 

and the other near a police 

checkpoint in eastern Khost 

province – show the insurgent 

group is conducting 

attacks to demonstrate that 

international forces will still 

be needed to keep the peace 

after their current combat 

mission ends in 2014. 

“The explosions in Kabul 

and Khost yesterday showed 

that they are at the service of 

America and at the service of 

this phrase: 2014. They are trying 

to frighten us into thinking 

that if the foreigners are not in 

Afghanistan, we would be facing 

these sorts of incidents,” he 

said during a nationally televised 

speech about the state of 

Afghan women. 

Karzai is known for making 

incendiary comments in his 

public speeches, a tactic that 

is often attributed to him trying 

to appeal to Taliban sympathisers 

or to gain leverage 

when he feels his international 

allies are ignoring his country’s 

sovereignty. In previous 

speeches, he has threatened 

to join the Taliban and called 

his NATO allies occupiers 

who want to plunder 

Afghanistan’s resources. 

US and NATO forces commander 

General Joseph 

Dunford said Karzai had 

never expressed such views to 

him, but said it was understandable 

that tensions would 

arise as the coalition balances 

the need to complete its mission 

and the Afghans’ move to 

exercise more sovereignty. 

“We have fought too hard 

over the past 12 years, we 

have shed too much blood 

over the last 12 years, to ever 

think that violence or instability 

would be to our advantage,” 

Dunford said. 

Karzai also denounced the 

arrest of a university student 

on Saturday by Afghan forces 

his aide said were working for 

the CIA. It was unclear why 

the student was detained. 

Presidential spokesman 

Aimal Faizi said in an interview 

that the CIA freed the student 

after Karzai’s staff intervened, 

but that Karzai wants 

the alleged Afghan raiders 

arrested. The president issued 

a decree on Sunday banning 

all international forces and the 

Afghans working with them 

from entering universities and 

schools without Afghan government 

permission. 

Lankan cardinal 

among possible 

papal contenders 

AFP 

COLOMBO 

SRI LANKA’S Cardinal 

Malcolm Ranjith heads the 

Catholic church in a predominantly 

Buddhist 

nation, but a stint in the 

Vatican has made him a 

long-shot candidate to be 

the next pope. 

A stern traditionalist, 

Ranjith was appointed by 

the outgoing Benedict XVI 

to oversee the church’s 

liturgical practices in 2005, 

having previously served 

as papal nuncio, or ambassador, 

to Indonesia and 

East Timor. 

Ranjith received 

his early education 

at boys’ 

schools in Colombo, 

before undertaking 

biblical 

studies at Hebrew 

University in 

Jerusalem. He has 

also studied in 

Rome and speaks 

fluent Italian, a 

must for a pope. 

With Forbes magazine last 

month including him among 

possible papal contenders, 

the international spotlight 

has fallen on Sri Lanka’s second-ever 

cardinal. 

The charismatic Cardinal 

Luis Antonio Tagle of the 

Philippines is the name 

most often mentioned by 

Vatican observers as a possible 

first Asian pope. 

But at 65, Ranjith is a 

decade older than the 

Filipino, a factor which, 

together with his ideological 

leanings, could work in 

his favour. 

Ranjith received his early 

education at boys’ schools 

in Colombo, before undertaking 

biblical studies at 

Hebrew University in 

Jerusalem. He has also 

studied in Rome and 

speaks fluent Italian, a 

must for a pope. 

In 2005, he took up the 

Vatican post as the 

Secretary General of the 

Congregation for Divine 

Worship and the Discipline 

of the Sacraments, gaining 

access to the inner workings 

of the Holy See. 

Soon after becoming the 

Archbishop of Colombo in 

2009, Ranjith banned lay 

preachers and banished 

cultural practices borrowed 

from other religions from 

Sri Lanka’s Roman 

Catholic church — moves 

which critics called backward-looking. 

“You have to look at his 

actions in the right context,” 

Benedict Joseph, his 

spokesman told AFP. 

“Things were getting out 

of hand and sometimes 

even the Good Friday service 

clashed with sermons of 

laymen.That is why he 

issued the guidelines in 

2009 to ensure that 

Catholic religious traditions 

were maintained 

without any dilution.” 

He was named as a cardinal 

in 2010, only the second 

in a country with a 

large Buddhist majority 

and where Christians 

account for fewer than 1.5 

million out of a population 

of 20 million. But he soon 

emerged as a strong personality 

among Sri Lanka’s 

religious leaders. 

He led an inter-faith 

group to campaign for the 

restoration of European 

Union trade concessions 

which had been withdrawn 

because of Sri Lanka’s failure 

to improve its human 

rights record. 

However, the clerics 

failed to convince the EU 

which insisted on Colombo 

delivering on promises to 

clean up its act after 

decades of ethnic bloodshed 

which claimed up to 

100,000 lives, according to 

UN estimates. 

Pakistan arrests 150 over mob 

attack on Christians in Lahore 

DPA & AFP 

ISLAMABAD 

PAKISTANI police said on 

Sunday that they had arrested 

some 150 people in connection 

with an attack by a 

Muslim mob on a Christian 

neighbourhood in the eastern 

city of Lahore that destroyed 

178 houses and shops at the 

weekend. 

Senior police official Rai 

Mohammad Tahir said 

authorities made the arrests 

in the early hours of Sunday 

and that the search continued 

for people responsible for the 

destruction. 

The rampage was prompted 

after Sawan Masih, a 

Christian, was arrested on 

Friday after a friend accused 

him of making a blasphemous 

remarks about the 

Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) 

- a charge punishable by 

death under Pakistani law. 

The next day, a mob of some 

3,000 Muslims charged on 

the Christian neighbourhood 

in the Badami Bagh area on 

the outskirts of Lahore, where 

Masih had been arrested. 

On Sunday, thousands of 

Christians protested across 

Pakistan - including in 

Lahore, Karachi, Multan and 

Nowshera - demanding 

increased government protection, 

with Muslims marching 

alongside Christians in 

some areas. Although officials 

said the attack was not 

pre-meditated, such intolerance 

has once again put the 

focus on Pakistan’s growing 

religious extremism. 

Minister for National 

Harmony Paul Bhatti blamed 

a “certain mindset” that is 

“bent upon creating a wedge 

between different communities 

of this country.” 

“Christians feel unsafe now. 

The main issue is to provide a 

sense of security,” he added. 

Tahir Ashrafi, leader of an 

Islamic Council, condemned 

the attack and said committing 

violence on the basis of 

speculation is immoral and 

illegal according to Islam. 

Pakistani Christian demonstrators shout slogans during a protest, in Lahore, on Sunday. (AFP) 

Critics charge that the blasphemy 

law is used to target 

religious minorities, particularly 

Christians. In recent 

months, blasphemy related 

cases have drawn violent 

responses by mobs before 

investigations into the 

charges were even completed. 

Composing less than 2 per 

cent of the population each, 

Hindus and Christians are frequently 

targeted among the 

180-million people in 

Pakistan, which is largely 

dominated by Sunni Muslims. 

Shiite Muslims, who make 

up about 20 percent of the 

population, have also been 

targeted by extremists. Some 

250 people have been killed 

this year in attacks against 

Shiite Muslims. 

The Punjab government 

initially promised 200,000 

rupees ($2,000) compensation 

to each family affected by 

the violence, but chief minister 

Shahbaz Sharif raised this 

to 500,000 rupees after visiting 

the scene on Sunday. 

“The chief minister declared 

that the repair work of all the 

houses would be completed in 

72 hours,” a senior Punjab 

government official said. 

A group of 30 senior 

Muslim clerics in Lahore 

issued a fatwa (religious ruling) 

on Sunday condemning 

the attack on the Christian 

community as criminal and 

un-Islamic, Fazal Karim, the 

chairman of the Sunni 

Ittehad Council said. 

The Supreme Court has 

scheduled a hearing on the 

attack for Monday and summoned 

the chief of police in 

Punjab and the provincial 

prosecutor to appear. 

On Saturday Pakistan’s 

President Asif Ali Zardari and 

Prime Minister Raja Pervez 

Ashraf ordered an inquiry 

into the attacks. 

Suu Kyi reappointed as Myanmar opposition leader 

AFP 

YANGON 

AUNG SAN SUU KYI was reelected 

as Myanmar opposition 

chief on Sunday at a 

landmark congress that disappointed 

some members 

hoping for new blood in the 

wider leadership ahead of a 

key 2015 election. 

Hundreds of National 

League for Democracy (NLD) 

members gathered in Yangon 

for their first national conference 

— a display of political 

strength that would have 

been unthinkable under the 

former junta. 

The meeting highlighted the 

myriad challenges facing the 

hugely popular opposition, 

including its lack of experience 

as well as party infighting, as it 

eyes victory in key elections 

due to be held in 2015. 

“We have to seize the 

chance,” Suu Kyi, a former 

political prisoner who entered 

parliament last year, urged 

the estimated 850 representatives 

who attended the 

three days of talks. 

“I thank the members who 

struggled hand-in-hand with 

the NLD for 25 years, and I 

Aung San Suu Kyi 

also welcome our new members,” 

she said. “A party can 

I thank the members 

who struggled 

hand-in-hand with 

the NLD for 25 

years, and I also 

welcome our new 

members. A party 

can be energetic if 

it’s refreshed with 

new blood all the 

time. 

AUNG SAN SUU KYI 

be energetic if it’s refreshed 

with new blood all the time.” 

The party had faced calls 

among younger members to 

rejuvenate its leadership, 

dominated by elderly 

activists including some in 

their 80s and 90s known as 

the ‘NLD uncles’. But it held 

back from a substantial 

revamp, instead selecting 

older veteran party members 

for a core executive of 15 and 

unanimously reappointing 

Suu Kyi as chairwoman. 

“We are not completely satisfied. 

We accept their decision 

and we will support it. 

But we do want more new 

blood among the leadership,” 

said an NLD youth member 

who asked not to be named. 

“We want to see people in 

their 40s and 50s who are educated 

and have experience in 

politics being more involved.” 

NLD spokesman Han Tha 

Myint said the party recognised 

the need to gradually 

promote younger activists. 

“That’s our main concern — 

most of our senior leaders are 

getting old,” he said. 

“That’s why we have decided 

that the capacity of our 

youth must be built up and we 

must recruit some competent 

people from outside.” 

After being sidelined by 

Myanmar’s military rulers for 

two decades, the NLD entered 

the political mainstream last 

year as a result of sweeping 

reforms initiated by a new 

reformist government. Experts 

question whether the 

party is ready to run an impoverished 

nation whose economy, 

education and health systems 

were left in tatters by the 

corrupt former junta. 

“They could not take power 

over the country tomorrow. 

They are not ready. They have 

a lack of capacity,” said a 

Western diplomat who did 

not want to be named.


Govt likely to 

stall group 

visa norm for 

Pakistanis 

India 

LULU MALL OPENS IN KOCHI 

Union Minister Vayalar Ravi (third right) with opposition leader VS Achuthanandan (third left), Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy (right) and EMKE Group 

Managing Director M A Yusuf Ali (second right), owner of Lulu Mall, at the opening ceremony of the largest mall, in Kochi, on Sunday. (PTI) 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

AFTER suspending visa on 

arrival for Pakistani senior citizens, 

India may put on hold 

the proposed group visa facility 

to the nationals of that 

country in the wake of the 

unease in bilateral ties following 

the killing of two Indian 

soldiers along the LoC. 

The visa on arrival facility for 

senior citizens — part of the 

new relaxed India-Pakistan 

visa agreement — was put on 

hold by India hours before its 

operationalisation on January 

15 following heightened tension 

along the Line of Control 

(LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. 

The two countries had 

agreed to operationalise the 

group tourist visa facility to 

be offered to each other’s citizens 

from March 15 but the 

move may be put on hold as 

there is no improvement in 

bilateral relations. 

“The decision has to be taken 

at the highest level. So far, we 

have no clarity whether the 

group visa facility will be operationalised 

on March 15 or not 

though we are preparing for it 

along with launching of the 

visa on arrival for Pakistani 

senior citizen,” a senior home 

ministry official said. 

The two countries 

had agreed to operationalise 

the group 

tourist visa facility 

to be offered to 

each other’s citizens 

from March 15 

but the move may 

be put on hold as 

there is no improvement 

in bilateral 

relations. 

Prime Minister Manmohan 

Singh had on Wednesday said 

the barbaric killing of Indian 

soldiers in Kashmir had cast a 

shadow on bilateral relations 

and asked Pakistan to create a 

conducive environment to 

take the normalisation 

process forward. 

Singh had said he was yet to 

see any “tangible progress” in 

dismantling of terror infrastructure 

in Pakistan and bringing to 

justice the perpetrators of the 

Mumbai terror attacks. 

Meanwhile, terming as 

“unofficial” Pakistan Prime 

Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s 

visit to India, External Affairs 

Minister Salman Khurshid on 

Sunday said success in bilateral 

issues involving the two neighbours 

is a time taking affair. 

The minister also said that 

he would not be able to give a 

time frame as to when official 

talks between the two nations 

could take place in the future. 

“Success (in issues related 

to India and Pakistan) is not 

achieved in a day or a 

moment. First the foundation 

is made and then we subsequently 

go ahead to create an 

edifice,” Khurshid, who officiated 

as the chief guest at the 

Raising Day celebrations of 

paramilitary CISF in North 

Indian city Ghaziabad, said. 

He was asked if there was 

any progress in bilateral issues 

after he met the Pakistan 

Prime Minister in North 

Indian city Jaipur on Saturday. 

Khurshid maintained that 

the visit of the Pakistani prime 

minister was “not an official” 

trip and it was a courtesy 

extended by the Indian government 

when Ashraf desired 

to visit the Sufi shrine in 

Ajmer along with his family. 

“It is courtesy that one is 

allowed to go to his place of 

prayer for the peace of the 

soul and mind...Similarly 

when people from India want 

to visit a gurudwara for pilgrimage 

in Pakistan that is a 

courtesy,” he said. 

Khurshid said he would not 

be able to give a time frame as 

to when official talks between 

the two nations could take 

place in the future. 

According to the visa pact, 

group tourist visa would be 

offered for a period of 30 days 

to tourists travelling in groups 

with not less than 10 members 

and not more than 50 members, 

organised by approved 

tour operators or travel agents. 

The visa on arrival for 

Pakistani nationals above 65 

years was supposed to start at 

the Attari Integrated Check 

Post. The new visa agreement 

between India and Pakistan was 

signed in September last year to 

ease cross-border travel as part 

of a number of Confidence 

Building Measures (CBMs). 

Some clauses of the relaxed 

visa regime like multipleentry 

and reporting-free visas 

for businessmen and allowing 

them to travel to five cities 

instead of the earlier three 

were operationalised when 

Pakistan’s Interior Minister 

Rehman Malik visited New 

Delhi in December 2012. 

PTI 

WASHINGTON 

DENIED a visa to visit US and 

smarting under a Wharton 

snub, Gujarat Chief Minister 

Narendra Modi on Sunday 

said his idea of secularism is 

“India First” and people will 

forgive “mistakes” of a government 

if it serves them well. 

“My definition of secularism 

is simple: ‘India First’. 

Whatever you do, wherever 

you work, India should be the 

top priority for all its citizens,” 

Modi said as he took to video 

conferencing to address the 

Indian-American community. 

“Country is above all religions 

and ideologies,” he 

argued and asked people to 

follow the same. “I agree 

friends that as an Indian, as a 

citizen who loves India, you 

will also agree with my definition...We 

might do any work 

or take any decision, India 

should be supreme,” he said 

in his nearly an hour-long 

speech in Hindi. 

“Nothing less than India’s 

wellbeing should be our goal. 

And if this happens, secularism 

will automatically run in our 

blood,” the Chief Minister of 

West Indian state Gujarat said. 

He said if a government 

serve the people selflessly, 

then they would forgive its 

mistakes as well. 

“When we get a mandate of 

five years, we must work on 

that and serve people selflessly. 

If we do that then people 

will forgive our mistakes as 

well,” Modi said. 

Modi, who often faced 

questions over the killing of 

Muslims in the 2002 post- 

Godhra riots that claimed 

over 1,200 lives, did not refer 

to the controversial issue. 

Modi was denied US visa 

on the issue of human rights 

violation. Last week, the 

Wharton India Economic 

Forum cancelled Modi’s 

keynote address to the prestigious 

annual event because of 

opposition from a section of 

AFP 

ALLAHABAD 

THE world’s biggest religious 

festival concluded on Sunday 

with nearly two million pilgrims 

taking a dip in an 

Indian holy river that washed 

away the sins of 120 million 

people in the last 60 days. 

The Maha Kumbh Mela, celebrated 

every 12 years at the 

conjunction of two sacred 

rivers on the outskirts of the 

northern Indian city of 

Allahabad, drew massive 

crowds of devotees, ascetics 

and foreign tourists. 

The two-month-long Maha 

Kumbh Mela ended on the 

occasion of Mahashivratri, a 

major Hindu festival celebrated 

across India and Nepal. 

Authorities at the festival on 

Sunday said the last batch of 

holy men marked the end of 

the Maha Kumbh by plunging 

into the river Ganges and 

other pilgrims filled the 

“Ganga Jal” (holy water) in 

plastic bottles for religious 

ceremonies at home. 

Many naked saints smeared 

their bodies with ashes and 

sand, chanted final prayers 

and departed from the venue. 

“Over 60 million people 

attended the festival in 2001 

and this time we believe 120 

million people have participated,” 

festival chief Mani Prasad 

Mishra said on Saturday. 

The festival involves crowd 

management on a jaw-dropping 

scale and despite all the 

precautions in place was hit by 

tragedy last month when a 

stampede at a train station in 

Allahabad killed 36 pilgrims 

who were returning home. 

Assorted dreadlocked, 

naked holy men, priests and 

self-proclaimed saints from all 

over the country assembled 

for the spectacle that offers a 

rare glimpse of the dizzying 

range of Indian spiritualism. 

Despite the hardships of 

professors and students of the 

University of Pennsylvania. 

But, Modi did not touch 

upon the controversial 

Wharton issue. The event 

organised by the Overseas 

Friends of Bharatiya Janata 

Party (BJP) was planned 

much in advance of the 

Wharton controversy. 

Several hundred people 

gathered at two places - 

Edison in New Jersey and 

Chicago - to listen to Modi’s 

speech. 

In his address, Modi 

emphasised on skilled development 

of the youth - who 

now constitute 65 per cent of 

the total population of the 

country — and asked the diaspora 

to help in holistic development 

of India - tourism 

being one of them. 

He said that being the 

world’s most youthful nation, 

it is our duty to provide skills 

to our youth so that they can 

shine. 

“If we do value addition for 

the youth, a lot can happen,” 

he said, adding that even the 

US President Barack Obama 

stressed on skill development 

in his recent address. 

During the speech, Modi 

avoided being highly critical 

of the United Progressive 

Alliance (UPA) Government 

at the center but compared 

the budget being allotted by 

the Center and by his Gujarat 

Government for the skill 

development of the youth of 

the country. 

“This shows the priorities of 

the two governments,” he 

said. “I am not using this platform 

to criticise any government, 

but want to keep before 

you some of the facts,” he said. 

Invoking Swami Vivekananda 

and youth in his speech, 

Modi said “development” is the 

key to all the problems of the 

country. “Swami Vivekananda 

dreamt of a ‘Jagat Guru 

Bharat’- an India at the peak of 

world leadership and that it is 

now our responsibility to convert 

his dream into reality.” 

Millions take holy dip as Maha Kumbh fest ends 

A sadhu takes a holy dip in Ganga on the occasion of Maha Shivratri festival, last day of Maha Kumbh 

mela at Sangam, in Allahabad, on Sunday. (PTI) 

People forgive ‘mistakes’ if 

govt serves them well: Modi 

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi 

waking early, plunging into 

the polluted river water and 

the relentless crush of the 

crowds, pilgrims from all over 

the world described feeling 

spiritually uplifted and 

amazed by the scale of the 

event. 

“There is a sense of relief 

because the festival finally is 

coming to an end. Most of the 

pilgrims have returned back 

home,” said Mishra. 

He said the job of dismantling 

the infrastructure that 

sprawled over 5,000 acres 

(2,000 hectares) to house the 

pilgrims had already begun. 

“We built a tent city to celebrate 

the Maha Kumbh Mela 

and now we are tearing it 

down,” he said. 

Mishra said five electrical 

sub-stations and tens of thousands 

of streetlights that gave 

the improvised city its yellow 

glow between dusk and dawn 

would be removed by Sunday 

night. 

‘Bihar can 

beat Punjab 

in wheat 

production’ 

IANS 

PATNA 

AFTER creating a world record 

in rice production, Bihar could 

surpass Punjab in wheat production, 

says an internationally 

reputed wheat-breeder, who 

is an associate of Norman 

Borlaug, the pioneer of India’s 

Green Revolution. 

“If the soil condition and 

water resources in Bihar continue 

to remain satisfactory, it 

has better prospects than 

Punjab to produce wheat,” 

Sanjay Rajaram, who has 

trained more than 400 international 

scientists and 

authored or co-authored more 

than 400 scientific publications, 

told IANS. 

Rajaram, who is credited 

with having developed 480 

wheat varieties, said that 

Bihar’s farmers are not only 

hard working but also more 

innovative and experimental. 

Rajaram was in Bihar to 

attend a programme at the 

Bihar Agriculture University, 

Sabour, in Bhagalpur district. 

Rajaram has received more 

than 80 awards nationally and 

internationally. He is a Fellow 

of American Society of 

Agronomy, Fellow of Crop 

Science Society of America and 

recipient of the Rank Prize 

Award, the Friendship Award 

and the Padma Shri. In 

December 2010, he was 

awarded the M.S. 

Swaminathan Award for 

Leadership in Agriculture by 

former president A.P.J. Abdul 

Kalam. 

Last year a farmer from 

Bihar’s Nalanda district set a 

national record in organic 

wheat production. 

Surendra Prasad of 

Sarilchak village in Nalanda, 

about 100 km from Patna, produced 

135.75 quintals of wheat 

per hectare using the SRI 

(System of Rice Intensification) 

organic method. This 

has been certified by the union 

agriculture ministry and the 

state government. 

Meanwhile, another young 

farmer from the state last 

month challenged China’s 

leading rice scientist, Yuan 

Longping, who questioned his 

claims of creating a world 

record by producing 224 quintals 

of paddy per hectare using 

the SRI method in 2011. The 

Indian Council for Agrcultural 

Research has certified the 

record. 

The Chinese scientist suspected 

that the record was 

fake.

United States Monday, March 11, 2013 19 

Paul Ryan (right) on his way to West Wing for a lunch with President Barack Obama at the White House, in Washington, recently. (AFP) 

President Barack Obama (right) with Vice-President Joseph Biden, in Washington, recently. (AFP) 

Compromise with Obama possible: Republicans 

AP 

WASHINGTON 

REPUBLICAN lawmakers 

said on Sunday they welcome 

President Barack Obama’s 

courtship and suggested the 

fresh engagement between 

the White House and 

Congress might help yield 

solutions to the stubborn 

budget battle that could cost 

thousands of Americans their 

jobs. 

Yet the lawmakers cautioned 

that years of hurt feelings 

were unlikely to heal simply 

because Obama dined last 

week with Republican lawmakers. 

They also said they 

would not to rush too quickly 

into Obama’s embrace during 

three scheduled, and unusual, 

visits to Capitol Hill next week 

to win them over. 

“He is moving in the right 

direction. I’m proud of him for 

doing it. I think it’s a great 

thing,” Republican Sen. Tom 

Coburn of Oklahoma, said. 

“I’m welcoming (him) with 

open arms. I think the president 

is tremendously sincere. 

I don’t think this is just a political 

change in tactic. I think he 

would actually like to solve the 

problems of this country.” 

The White House charm 

offensive comes as automatic 

spending cuts have begun to 

take hold, and if Washington 

does not block them, they 

could cut jobs as varied as air 

traffic controllers, meat 

inspectors and pre-kindergarten 

teachers. 

Across-the-board spending 

cuts that require $85 billion to 

be cut by the end of the budget 

year on Sept. 30 were triggered 

on March 1. The 

Defense Department will 

absorb almost half of the 

spending cuts with the rest 

spread out among most federal 

agencies. 

The automatic cuts derive 

from a budget dispute they 

were supposed to help resolve 

back in the fall of 2011. At the 

time, a congressional 

Supercommittee was charged 

with identifying at least $1.2 

trillion in deficit savings over a 

decade as part of an attempt 

to avoid a first-ever government 

default. The president 

and Republicans agreed to 

create a fallback of that much 

in across-the-board cuts, 

designed to be so unpalatable 

that it would virtually assure 

the panel struck a deal. 

The Supercommittee dissolved 

in disagreement, 

though. And while Obama and 

Republicans agreed to a twomonth 

delay last January, they 

failed to reach agreement to 

prevent the first installment of 

the cuts from taking effect. The 

White House insists on a balanced 

approach that includes 

both spending cuts and raising 

revenues by closing tax loopholes 

benefiting the wealthiest 

Americans and corporations. 

Republicans oppose any new 

tax increases beyond the $600 

billion increase on higher wage 

earners that cleared Congress 

at the beginning of the new 

year. 

In the ensuing weeks, relations 

between the White 

House and congressional 

Republicans grew increasingly 

acrimonious as each side tried 

to blame the other for the 

impasse in budget negotiations. 

But last week, Obama 

invited a dozen Republican 

senators to dinner at a 

Washington hotel and lunched 

at the White House with 

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, 

chairman of the House Budget 

Committee. 

“I hope that this is sincere,” 

said Ryan. “We had a very 

good, frank exchange. But the 

proof will be in the coming 

weeks as to whether or not it’s 

a real, sincere outreach to find 

common ground.” 

His close friend, Rep. Cory 

Gardner of Colorado, said 

Republican lawmakers were 

unlikely to become fast friends 

with Obama after four years of 

being vilified in private and, in 

some cases, public. “I hope 

that he’s genuine. But I don’t 

think we’re going to be doing 

the Harlem Shake any time 

soon together,” Gardner said. 

Data on Afghan 

drone attacks 

erased by army 

REUTERS 

WASHINGTON 

WITH debate intensifying 

in the United States over 

the use of drone aircraft, 

the US military said on 

Sunday that it had 

removed data about air 

strikes carried out by 

unmanned planes in 

Afghanistan from its 

monthly air power summaries. 

US Central Command, 

which oversees the 

Afghanistan war, said in a 

statement the data had 

been removed because it 

was “disproportionately 

focused” on the use of 

weapons by the remotely 

piloted aircraft as it was 

published only when 

strikes were carried out - 

which happened during 

only 3 percent of sorties. 

Most missions were for 

reconnaissance, it said. 

US President Barack 

Obama’s administration 

has increasingly used 

drones to target against al 

Qaeda-linked militants 

overseas. 

Civilian casualties from 

drone strikes have raised 

ethical concerns and 

angered local populations, 

creating tension between 

the United States and 

Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Some US lawmakers 

have also questioned the 

legality of targeted killings 

and whether drones would 

allow the killing of 

American citizens inside 

the United States. 

The debate was intensified 

by US President 

Barack Obama’s decision 

to nominate his chief 

counter-terrorism adviser 

John Brennan, an architect 

of the drone campaign, as 

the new director of the CIA. 

The Air Force Times said 

air force chiefs had started 

posting the drone strikes 

data last October in an 

attempt to provide more 

detail on the use of drones 

in Afghanistan. 

The newspaper said the 

statistics were provided for 

November through 

January, but the February 

summary released on 

March 7 had a blank spot 

where the drone data had 

previously been listed. 

“A variety of multi-role 

platforms provide ground 

commanders in 

Afghanistan with close air 

support capabilities, and it 

was determined that presenting 

the weapons 

release data as a whole better 

reflects the air power 

provided” in Afghanistan, 

Central Command said in 

its statement. 

A Predator drone, operated by US Office of Air and Marine, 

ready for a surveillance flight, in Arizona, recently. (AFP) 

US lawmakers view China as jobs robber 

REUTERS 

WASHINGTON 

AFTER years of grabbing the 

spotlight in US-China economic 

relations, US concerns 

over the value of Beijing’s currency 

appear to be fading, giving 

ground to newer issues 

like cyber-security and trade 

secret theft. 

Some lawmakers continue 

to argue a weak Chinese yuan 

is robbing jobs from the 

United States. But action to 

force a change is unlikely and 

the issue will probably remain 

on the back burner as long as 

the US economy continues to 

improve. 

An increase in the value of 

the yuan, a big drop in China’s 

global trade surplus and a rise 

in labor costs that has made 

Chinese products less competitive 

have conspired with a 

pickup in US job growth to 

take the wind out of 

Washington’s sails. 

On top of that, the United 

States has faced fury from 

AP 

WASHINGTON 

PRESIDENT Barack Obama 

had a ready excuse for anyone 

who didn’t think he was funny 

enough at Saturday night’s 

Gridiron dinner: “My joke 

writers have been placed on 

furlough.” 

Always a target for humorous 

barbs, the president tossed 

out a few of his own 

onSaturday night during the 

Gridiron Club and Foundation 

dinner, an annual event that 

features political leaders, journalists 

and media executives 

poking fun at each other. 

The so-called sequester, the 

forced automatic spending 

cuts that struck the federal 

budget this month, drew 

another observation from 

Obama: “Of course, there’s one 

thing in Washington that didn’t 

get cut the length of this dinner. 

Yet more proof that the 

sequester makes no sense.” 

other countries for an aggressive 

easing of monetary policy 

that critics contend seeks to 

drive down the dollar, a 

charge that puts Washington 

in a tough spot to criticize 

China. “China’s currency 

regime has ceased to be a 

flash-point in US-China economic 

relations,” said Eswar 

Prasad, senior professor of 

trade policy at Cornell 

University and a former 

International Monetary Fund 

official. Prasad says the US 

administration has shifted its 

attention to issues such as 

increased market access for 

US manufacturing firms and 

financial institutions that 

want to do business in China, 

and better protection of intellectual 

property rights. 

US President Barack 

Obama, attacked during the 

presidential campaign by 

challenger Mitt Romney for 

failing to label China a currency 

manipulator, did not even 

address the issue in his recent 

State of the Union speech. 

The ambitions of 70-yearold 

Vice President Joe Biden? 

“Just the other day, I had to 

take Joe aside and say, ‘Joe, 

you are way too young to be 

the pope. You can’t do it. You 

got to mature a little bit.’” 

During a pause in his 

remarks, Obama took a long, 

slow sip of water and then 

But he came out swinging 

on cyber-security concerns in 

remarks seen directed at 

China. “We know hackers 

steal people’s identities and 

infiltrate private e-mail. We 

know foreign countries and 

companies swipe our corporate 

secrets ... We cannot look 

back years from now and 

wonder why we did nothing in 

the face of real threats to our 

security and our economy,” 

Obama said. 

In recent years, both the US 

House of Representatives and 

Senate have passed bills to 

give Obama new tools to push 

China into letting the yuan 

rise faster in value, but neither 

made it all way to his 

desk to sign into law. The latest 

legislative effort was 

stopped dead in its tracks by 

House Speaker John 

Boehner, an Ohio 

Republican, who said he 

feared it would start a trade 

war. 

Boehner’s opposition and 

the yuan’s strengthening has 

President Barack Obama with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough 

(right) after Gridiron dinner, in Washington, on Saturday. (AP) 

drained energy in Congress to 

deal with the issue, said one 

congressional aide who has 

worked on the issue for years. 

US preoccupation with its 

own fiscal problems also may 

have helped push China off 

the US political agenda, said 

Nicholas Lardy, an expert on 

the Chinese economy at the 

Peterson Institute for 

International Economics. 

“But I hope the most 

important reason is that 

China has allowed their currency 

to appreciate a significant 

amount, and more 

importantly their (trade) surplus, 

as measured by the current 

account, has come down 

quite dramatically,” Lardy 

said. Since mid-2010, China’s 

exchange rate, adjusted for 

inflation rates in the United 

States and China, has risen 16 

percent against the dollar, 

according to the US Treasury. 

At the same time, China’s current 

account surplus, the 

broadest measure of its trade 

with the rest of the world, has 

said, “That, Marco Rubio, is 

how you take a sip of water.” 

He was referring to an awkward 

moment in which the 

Florida senator drank from a 

bottle of water during the 

Republican response to 

Obama’s State of the Union 

policy address. 

Obama also mocked criticism 

from some quarters that 

he takes time off from his job. 

“We face major challenges. 

March in particular is going to 

be full of tough decisions. But I 

want to assure you, I have my 

top advisers working around 

the clock. After all, my March 

Madness (college basketball 

championship tournament) 

bracket isn’t going to fill itself 

out. And don’t worry ó there is 

an entire team in the Situation 

Room as we speak, planning 

my next golf outing, right now 

at this moment.” 

The dinner was the organization’s 

128th since its founding 

in 1885. Minnesota Senator 

Amy Klobuchar represented 

the Democrats while Louisiana 

Gov. Bobby Jindal cracked 

jokes for the Republicans. 

Klobuchar joked that Obama 

had aged in office. “His Secret 

Service name used to be 

‘Renegade,’” she said. “Now it’s 

‘50 Shades of Gray.’” 

Jindal took a poke at 

fallen from a peak of 10.1 percent 

in 2007 to a preliminary 

reading of 2.6 percent in 

2012. 

That makes it hard for 

Washington to continue to 

argue the yuan is significantly 

undervalued, even if the US 

trade deficit with China grew 

to a record $315 billion last 

year. Phillip Swagel, a former 

Treasury official now at the 

American Enterprise 

Institute, said the US Federal 

Reserve’s extraordinary easing 

of monetary policy is yet 

another factor cooling 

Washington’s appetite for 

criticizing Beijing. “This 

makes it harder for American 

officials to criticize other 

countries,” Swagel said. 

During last year’s presidential 

contest, Romney blasted 

Obama for repeatedly deciding 

not to label China a currency 

manipulator in a semiannual 

Treasury Department 

report, and promised if 

elected he would do that on 

“day one.” 

Obama stirs laughter at Gridiron dinner 

Republican presidential nominee 

Mitt Romney, telling the 

audience that Romney had 

warned him that “47 percent of 

you can’t take a joke.” 

Referring to his own prospects 

for a presidential run, Jindal, 

an Indian-American, asked, 

“What chance does a skinny 

guy with a dark complexion 

have of being elected president?” 

Political disputes and feuds 

between politicians and the 

news media provided plenty of 

fodder for jokes and Gridiron 

parodies. There was Obama’s 

sometimes frosty relationship 

with the news media, the internal 

struggles roiling the 

Republican Party, and journalist 

Bob Woodward’s dustup 

with White House economic 

adviser Gene Sperling. He 

advised Woodward in an email 

that the veteran Watergate 

reporter would regret his 

reporting about the forced 

spending cuts.


The Last Word 

Minister graces celebrations at French embassy 


DOHA 

THE French embassy in 

Qatar celebrated the 

International Day of the 

Francophonie, in Doha on 

Sunday. 

March 20 is celebrated as the 

Francophone day each year. 

Minister of Culture, Arts 

and Heritage HE Hamad bin 

Abdulaziz al Kuwari, French 

Ambassador to Qatar HE 

Jean-Christophe Peaucelle 

and a number of ambassadors 

from member countries of the 

International Organisation of 

La Francophonie, participated 

in the event. 


the al Kuwari said that 

Qatar’s membership to the 


La Francophonie (IOF) was 

part of its keenness to promote 

dialogue among civilisations 

by taking several initiatives 

in this direction. 

The initiatives included 

hosting seminars and conferences 

and other events, the 

minister said. 

The openness towards 

other cultures, he said had 

allowed the current generation 

of the country to learn 

about various cultures and 

different languages, including 

French. 

The minister also underlined 

the importance of learning 

a language that too with a 

cultural and civilisational 

background such as French. 

Although, the minister said, 

English was the most influential 

and widespread language 

across the globe, the authenticity 

and the importance of 

the French culture and language 

was unparalleled. 

This, he said was the motivation 

behind starting the 

joint work that would create a 

platform for dialogue 

between the Arabic and 

French cultures. 

The French ambassador 

said Qatar joined the 


La Francophonie (IOF) in 

October 2012 as an associate 

member. 

“The admission of Qatar 

reflects the considerable 

efforts made by the country 

for the expansion of learning 

and the use of French language. 

“It also illustrates the universal 

vocation of La 

Francophonie, which is based 

on the principle of unity in 

diversity,” the ambassador 

said. 

He said the French celebrate 

La Francophonie in 

Qatar throughout March with 

events like the Francophone 

cinema week and meeting 

between the culture minister 

and the ambassadors of the 

IOF member states. 

The opening of library of 

the French Institute of Qatar 

on March 17 would go a long 

way in strengthening the 

French-Arabic relations and 

add to the overall interaction, 

the French envoy said. 

VISITORS THRONG QATARI EXPO IN LONDON 

The Qatari Youth Exhibition 

in London continues to 

attract a large number of 

people. The exhibition 

received a large number of footfalls 

and inquisitive visitors on 

the second day of the event in 

London on Saturday. 

The three-day exhibition 

being organised by the Qatar 

Youth Activities and Events 

Department under the slogan 

“Our Youth Abroad”, included 

presentation of authentic Qatari 

cuisine and artworks. 

The event, which is aimed 

at developing a new understanding 

and relationship 

between the youth of the two 

countries through partnerships 

in the areas like education, 

sports, art and culture, 

concluded in the British capital 

on Sunday. 

As part of the initiative, similar 

activities would be organised 

in Doha later this year. (TNN)

Qatar announces 2.8 tcf gas find - Qatar Tribune

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