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Pakistan is ready to provide arms and counter-insurgency training to help Nepal face down an increasingly bloody Maoist revolt, Islamabad’s outgoing ambassador here Zamir Akram said in an interview.
   ‘We are ready to share our experience and, hopefully, this will help Nepal,’ Akram said in the interview with the Rising Nepal published on Friday.
   ‘So, we are ready to help in whatever way we can. Pakistan is also facing terrorist threats on our western border.
   We have developed some kind of expertise, especially in the use of high-tech equipment by the terrorists,’ he told the state-run English daily.
   ‘We, within the SAARC
   level and at the bilateral level, have offered an exchange of information,’ he added,
   referring to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation which groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
   ‘We have offered possibilities of training. We are also ready to provide arms if that is required by Nepal.’
   Last month, India and Britain suspended military aid to Nepal after king Gyanendra seized power, firing the government, imposing emergency rule and vowing to tackle the Maoist uprising that has claimed 11,000 lives since 1996.
   The United States is mulling similar action amid reports Gyanendra is considering turning to neighbouring China for arms if the flow of weaponry to help Nepal’s ill-equipped army battle the Maoist rebels dries up.
   Akram declined to be drawn into commenting on the king’s power grab, saying it was an ‘internal’ matter and that Pakistan believed in ‘non-interference’.
   ‘We believe the issue here is peace and security.
   We believe that the people of Nepal and all the political forces that are operating need to
   cooperate with each other to find a solution by themselves. This is how we look at it, and we
   feel the people and the government of Nepal are capable of finding the solution,’ Akram said.
   India has made a similar call, urging Gyanendra to reconcile his differences with Nepal’s political parties to help stem the rapidly ‘deteriorating’ economic and security situation in the kingdom.
   India, which shares a nearly 1,600-kilometer border with Nepal, is anxious for an end to the political crisis.
   It is concerned that Maoist violence could spill into Indian states where radical leftist groups are powerful.

Lebanon’s president reappointed pro-Syrian prime minister, Omar Karami, on Thursday, risking a fresh battle with the opposition which had forced the Sunni Muslim politician to quit only 10 days ago.
   The attempt to form another Syrian-backed government in Lebanon coincided with intense international pressure on Damascus to release its political and military grip on its neighbour.
   Almost all Syrian troops left north Lebanon on Friday, ending an unbroken 29-year presence and underlining Syria’s diminishing role in its small neighbour.
   A security source said the Syrians had not yet vacated two major intelligence offices and two military positions in and around the town of Tripoli, but could do so within 24 hours.
   Karami, who had resigned amid a storm of anti-Syrian protests in Beirut, said his new mission was to form a national unity government to save Lebanon from destruction.
   His previous cabinet was packed with pro-Syrian ministers.
   ‘The only way to confront all the difficulties facing the nation is a government of national unity,’ Karami told reporters. ‘If there is any procrastination in responding to this invitation, it means we’re heading to destruction.’
   The president, Emile Lahoud, formally asked Karami to pick a new cabinet a day after parliament, where Syria’s allies have a majority, nominated him for the premiership.
   The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said he was ‘very unhappy’ at the decision. ‘I very much hope that this is an interim government,’ he told reporters in London, saying he was worried about how forthcoming elections will be conducted.
   Some opposition politicians, who had said they wanted a cabinet excluding candidates in the parliamentary poll that must be held by May 31, said they would not join a unity government.
   They also want a full Syrian pullout, the sacking of pro-Syrian security chiefs and an international inquiry into last month’s killing of former prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri. An MP loyal to Hariri said her bloc would remain in opposition. ‘We will not take part in any government before our demands are met,’ Ghenwa Jalloul said.
   ‘Reinstating Omar Karami after he fell by popular and parliamentary will is a provocation to the Lebanese public opinion that toppled him,’ said Christian MP Faris Said.
   The United States has demanded that Syria withdraw fully before the elections and should not try to shape the next Lebanese government.
   Straw said the government should be free of foreign meddling and he urged action on a UN resolution demanding that foreign forces leave, militias disarm and free elections be held.
   Karami became prime minister in October, replacing political rival Hariri who resigned over differences with Lahoud.

Hong Kong faced a new era of political uncertainty following the resignation of leader Tung Chee-hwa, with a row looming over how his replacement is chosen and pro-democracy protests planned.
   Tung, picked by China as the former British colony’s leader first chief executive following the 1997 handover, tendered his resignation Thursday citing health reasons for cutting short his term in office by two years.
   As he prepared to fly to Beijing Friday to take up a position as a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, attention turned to how his successor would be appointed.
   Hong Kong’s Basic Law constitution provides for Tung’s deputy, Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, to fill in until an election for a new chief executive is held.
   However, Beijing has signalled it would be unwilling to allow Tsang, a former loyalist of the British colonial administration and a devout Catholic, to serve the full five years of a chief executive’s term.
   Officials have indicated China would prefer Tung’s successor, most likely Tsang, to serve only the remainder of Tung’s term in order to test him out.
   As there are no legal provisions for such a move, analysts and lawyers fear China will be forced into rewriting the constitution, a risky political move that would fly in the face of the autonomy promised the city in 1997.
   ‘The simple thing to do would be to follow the rules—the Basic Law says a replacement must stand for five years,’ said Hong Kong City University political expert Cheung Chor-yung.
   ‘But they won’t, they are not following the rules.’
   Pro-democracy campaigner Jackie Hung called for Beijing to allow Hong Kong people to directly elect Tung’s successor.
   ‘We’ve seen a lot of interference from Beijing from the start. Hong Kong people do not have the high degree of autonomy they were promised,’ Jackie Hung, spokeswoman for the Civil Human Rights Front group said.
   ‘Tung Chee-hwa was hand-picked by Beijing and see what a disaster we’ve had. Donald Tsang is going to be the same,’ Hung said.
   The CHRF, a pro-democracy umbrella group which comprises 53 non-governmental organisations, was responsible for organising two huge marches in 2003 and 2004 that brought more than 500,000 people onto the streets on each occasion.
   The group is demanding Hong Kong be able to choose its own leader. ‘Only by doing that will we have someone run Hong Kong properly,’ Hung added.
   Hong Kong newspapers meanwhile devoted pages of coverage to Tung’s resignation Friday, with several casting doubt on his insistence that he was stepping down for medical reasons, speculating he was in fact sacked by China.
   ‘His speech was full of conflicting words which not only cannot remove the speculation of the past 10 days ... He actually added more question marks,’ the Chinese-language Apple Daily said.
   The Standard, meanwhile, said China’s ‘one country, two systems’ formula designed to give Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy for 50 years following the handover had been exposed as a sham.
   ‘From a governing stand point, Hong Kong is now little more than a Chinese city on the Pearl River Delta,’ the paper’s editor John Berthelsen said in a comment piece.
   ‘The action wasn’t taken in Hong Kong and Hong Kong isn’t picking his successor. Our mayor can be turned out just like the mayor of any other Chinese city. We are one country, one system, 43 years early.’

Divine fury will rain down upon Indonesia and Malaysia if either side decides to use military force to solve a territorial row in the Sulawesi Sea off Borneo, Malaysia’s foreign minister said Friday.
   ‘Malaysia and Indonesia will be forsaken by God if we think about using troops to threaten each other,’ the foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, told reporters here.
   Indonesia and Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s only predominantly Muslim countries, agreed late Wednesday to use dialogue to end the dispute centred on Kuala Lumpur’s granting of an oil concession in the contested area.
   Warships from both countries have come into close contact in the Sulawesi Sea east of Borneo several times since February 16 when energy giant Shell was given a concession by Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas.
   Jakarta says the blocks awarded by Petronas are outside Kuala Lumpur’s sovereignty.
   Speaking after meeting the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Albar reiterated a that neither Indonesia or Malaysia had any intention to use force as a solution.

A bitter partition over half a century ago based on religion, three wars, several near conflicts and an ongoing dispute over Kashmir: nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan have much to disagree about.
   But they completely agree that cricket is the world’s greatest game, and it is this fascination among Pakistanis and Indians for willow meeting leather that is aiding a cautious peace process between the two nations.
   This passion for the game—played in alleys, parks, roads, and stadiums across South Asia by young boys and pot-bellied middle-aged men—has not been lost on the region’s leaders who have taken to ‘cricket diplomacy’ like Indian star batsman Sachin Tendulkar takes to a bowler having a bad day.
   New Delhi set the stage on Thursday for a new phase of such diplomacy when it asked the Pakistan president, Pervez Musharraf, to come to India and watch some of the current cricket series between the two national sides.
   It took its cue from Musharraf’s comment to a Pakistani newspaper last week that he would like to see a match ‘if invited’.
   ‘We (India and Pakistan) are moving forward and I must say nothing brings the people of our subcontinent more together than our love for cricket and Bollywood cinema,’ the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, told parliament, to applause.
   Cricket diplomacy is being fuelled by greater interaction between Pakistani and Indian fans thanks to the 16-month-old peace process, something cynical diplomats find hard to ignore.
   ‘We are feeling like kings here. People are looking after us so well,’ said Pakistani fan Iqbal Hussain, who is in Mohali in the northern Indian state of Punjab to watch the first test match of the current series.
   ‘If Musharraf comes and sees all this, it will be good for both countries,’ added Hussain, who is from the outskirts of Lahore and one of more than 4,000 Pakistani fans in Mohali.
   They have received warm hospitality from Indian fans, and shops, restaurants and hotels in and around Mohali were offering discounts and laying out special meals for the visitors.
   Last year, more than 8,000 Indians visited Pakistan to watch the first visit by their team to India’s western neighbour in 14 years and got the red carpet treatment.
   Musharraf has not formally accepted New Delhi’s invitation but if he does, some analysts expect high-level talks on the sidelines of the ‘friendly’ trip to push along the peace process.
   The cricket-induced goodwill is a far cry from mid-2002 when India and Pakistan massed hundreds of thousands of troops on their border after New Delhi blamed Pakistani-backed Muslim militants for an attack on its parliament in Dec. 2001.
   ‘It would be great if Musharraf comes and sees this, all this love between the cricket fans,’ Satinder Pal Singh, an executive with a private Indian firm, said in Mohali.
   He had brought his wife and son to watch the match. His son had the Indian and Pakistani colours painted on his cheeks.
   The first person to spot cricket’s potential in diplomacy was the late Pakistan president Zia-ul-Haq who stunned the world by visiting India in 1987 to watch a one-day match when both nations’ armies were eyeball-to-eyeball on the border.
   The surprise trip—which happened after Zia invited himself to the match, forcing New Delhi to play the gracious host—helped avert a possible war.
   But some analysts cautioned against expecting cricket to give a serious boost to diplomacy between two countries which have serious differences over disputed Kashmir and where the rival establishments still harbour deep mutual suspicions.
   ‘This is basically a PR trip. The whole international community would be happy but when it comes to achieving anything, I don’t think so,’ Shaukat Qadir, an Islamabad-based strategic affairs analyst, said.
   ‘There is no message here, except love and peace.’

At least three people were critically wounded when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels threw a grenade into the office of a rival group in eastern Sri Lanka, military officials said.
   The attack on Friday was the latest in a spate of violent incidents between the Tiger rebels and a breakaway faction that Scandinavian truce monitors fear could result in the collapse of a ceasefire.
   The victims were inside the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam office in the restive town of Batticaloa, 300 kilometres east of Colombo, officials said.
   ‘The PLOTE office had police guards, but the attacker managed to throw a grenade and escape,’ the military official in Batticaloa said by telephone.
   Other officials said arrangements were being made to airlift the victims to Colombo for treatment.
   At least 10 people have been killed in separate incidents in the eastern province in what the military described as an upsurge in rebel internecine clashes.

Pakistan’s political opposition stormed out of parliament Friday over government statements that nuclear pioneer Abdul Qadeer Khan provided Iran with centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium.
   The government said for the first time Thursday that Khan had given the key atomic technology to Pakistan’s neighbour, which is coming under heavy pressure from the United States over its own nuclear programme.
   Washington believes the technology has enabled Iran to enrich uranium to a level required for making nuclear weapons, despite Tehran’s insistence that its nuclear program is for peaceful means only.
   Opposition lawmakers were angered over the parliament chair’s refusal to hold a debate on the statements made Thursday by the information minister, Sheikh Rashid, which they said were meant only to curry favour with Washington.
   ‘Once again Pakistani leadership is playing in the hand of the United States to serve its sinister motives against Iran,’ said opposition lawmaker Liaquat Baloch, a leader with the Islamic party alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal.

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is expected to nudge the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, to move rapidly to restore democracy, during her visit to the country next week.
   Asked whether Rice would urge general Musharraf to give up his top army post, the deputy state department spokesman, Adam Ereli, said Thursday: ‘If the subject comes up, we would reiterate our longstanding policy, which is that movement toward democracy is to be encouraged, is to be welcomed.
   ‘And that we want to help support Pakistan as it takes the steps to answer the people’s call.’
   But Ereli emphasised that the United States believed that Musharraf, a key ally in the war on terrorism, ‘is committed to moving in the right direction, he has taken and is taking steps to move in the right direction.
   ‘And we will encourage him to continue in that vein.’

Britain’s government faced chaos over its anti-terrorist policy as a bitter parliamentary debate about new laws dragged through the night and a series of terror suspects–including an alleged key al-Qaeda figure–prepared to be freed.
   In a bitter showdown between the two chambers of parliament, lawmakers looked likely to spend the whole night debating the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, which puts terror suspects under sanctions such as limited house arrest.
   The marathon tussle has seen the proposed law ping-pong a series of times between the House of Commons and the unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, which has repeatedly sought to dilute the controversial new powers.
   In the British legislature’s first all-night session for five years, MPs in the Commons looked set to vote down the Lords’ changes yet again before sending the bill back to the upper house for a further debate slated to start at 5:00am.
   The furore is deeply embarrassing for the government of the prime minister, Tony Blair, especially ahead of a general election widely expected for early May, at which national security is likely to be a key arena of debate.
   Adding to the government’s problems, a judge ruled Thursday that nine foreign terrorism suspects jailed without trial under a previous law, which the new measures aim to replace, should be freed within days.
   An Algerian man held for more than three years under the old law, which permitted foreign terror suspects who refused to leave the country to be jailed without trial, was freed Thursday evening under strict bail conditions.
   Judge Duncan Ouseley from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, which granted freedom to the man identified only as ‘A’, said he had also approved ‘in principle’ the release of a further eight men detained without charge.
   Among these is Abu Qatada, a Palestinian held since October 2002 and dubbed the ‘spiritual head’ of al-Qaeda in Europe, considered a grave threat by British and Spanish authorities.

Iran wants to resolve its nuclear standoff with the West without provoking a military conflict, Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani was quoted as saying on Friday.
   But Rohani reiterated that Iran would not give in to demands by Washington and the European Union that it scrap parts of its nuclear programme such as uranium enrichment, which can be used to make atom bombs.
   Iran, which says it wants nuclear technology to generate electricity, not make bombs, has frozen enrichment while it tries to reach a negotiated settlement with the EU.
   ‘I don’t predict that a war would be waged if Iran (resumes) enrichment, but if we try to solve the problem undiplomatically, we will face problems,’ the semi-official ISNA students news agency quoted Rohani as saying.
   ‘Nuclear technology cannot be negotiated and the period of suspension is short. But I believe we need to be patient inside the country,’ he said.
   Britain, Germany and France who have been leading negotiations with Iran on behalf of the EU, would announce their willingness to send Iran’s case to the UN Security Council if it reneges on its freeze of sensitive nuclear work.
   Meanwhile, the US president, George W Bush, on Thursday renewed sanctions barring US firms and citizens from oil dealings with Iran, citing an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ from Tehran.
   In a decree released by the White House, Bush accused Iran of ‘support for international terrorism, efforts to undermine the Middle East peace process, and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them.’
   The decision—which extends by one year sanctions initially imposed by then-president Bill Clinton on March 15, 1995–came as Bush has piled on pressure on Iran over its nuclear programmes.

A US military report released Thursday said six inmates died among dozens of substantiated cases of prisoner abuse in Iraq and at the Guantanamo Bay ‘war on terror’ detention camp but there was no indication that abuse orders came from top officers.
   The report by Vice Admiral Albert Church said there were 71 proven cases of abuse involving 121 detainees—including the six dead. It said about 130 other cases, including some which led to the deaths of prisoners, were being investigated.
   But Church concluded there was no single reason for the physical abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
   ‘We found no evidence to support the notion that the office of the secretary of defence (or other military or White House staff) applied explicit pressure for intelligence or gave ‘back channel’ permission to forces in the field in Iraq or in Afghanistan’ to exceed authorised interrogation practices, the report said.

Public health experts have criticised London and Washington for failing to record the number of Iraqi civilians killed since the US-led invasion and have called for an independent inquiry.
   ‘We believe that the joint US/UK failure to make any effort to monitor Iraqi casualties is–wholly irresponsible,’ they said in a statement published online by the British Medical Journal on Friday.
   The two dozen experts from Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Spain and Italy said the exact count of the Iraqis killed since the invasion in March 2003 would help provide a better understanding of the causes of deaths.
   ‘Counting casualties can help to save lives both now and in the future,’ the statement said.
   Calling for an immediate independent inquiry into Iraqi war-related casualties, they said relying on data from the Iraqi Ministry of Health was unacceptable because Iraqi sources were likely to underestimate casualties for several reasons.
   The Health Ministry figures do not include deaths during the first 12 months after the invasion.
   Also, only violence-related deaths are reported through the health system and the experts said the figures often did not allow for reliable attribution of different causes of death.

The former US president, Bill Clinton, underwent a four-hour lung operation in a New York hospital Thursday to correct complications from quadruple heart bypass surgery six months ago.
   New York Presbyterian Hospital officials said the latest operation had been ‘successful’ and that doctors expect Clinton ‘to be walking tomorrow’ and that he would also experience some post-operation rib pain.
   Senator Hillary Clinton and Chelsea, the couple’s daughter, waited in a hospital room while the operation, using videos copy and a partial thoracotomy, was performed.
   ‘The former president Bill Clinton is out of surgery and resting comfortably,’ said a statement released by Clinton’s office.
   Clinton, 58, arrived at the New York Presbyterian Hospital just before dawn to prepare for the surgery to remove the scar tissue and fluid from his chest, which had been causing discomfort in recent weeks.
   Doctors said Thursday he would spend between three and 10 days in hospital after the operation, temporarily curtailing his charity efforts, which he has been doing along with former president George Bush, to raise money for victims of last December’s devastating Asian tsunami.
   The operation began at 7:00am (1200 GMT), lasting almost four hours—twice as long as had been expected.

AI urges release of Myanmar journalist
The rights group Amnesty International renewed its calls Friday for the release of U Win Tin, one of Myanmar’s best-known journalists who will turn 75 as the country’s longest serving prisoner of conscience this weekend. U Win Tin, a key opposition figure, was arrested in July 1989 and sentenced 20 years hard labour. He turns 75 on Saturday, having spent more than one-fifth of his life in prison. ‘U Win Tin’s imprisonment highlights how the justice system in Myanmar has been misused in order to silence peaceful government critics,’ the director of Amnesty’s Asia Pacific programme, Natalie Hill, said in a statement.

Thaksin to unveil
new cabinet
The Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was set to name the country’s first elected single-party government, with reports saying he would move the foreign and health ministers from posts they held for the last four years. The foreign minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, one of only two ministers who held his portfolio through Thaksin’s many cabinet reshuffles in his first term, would leave his post to free up his time to campaign to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary general of the United Nations in 2006, reports said. Surakiart would become a deputy prime minister, essentially an inactive portfolio that would allow him to press ahead with what is seen as a long-shot campaign to head the United Nations, Thai newspapers reported.

Chinese journalist secret trial ends
The secret trial of a Chinese dissident journalist charged with illegally revealing state secrets has ended with the court expected to hand down a minimum jail sentence of 10 years, family members said. Shi Tao’s trial early Friday lasted two hours and a verdict was expected to be announced within 15 days, his brother Shi Hua SAID. ‘It was a secret trial. We were not allowed to attend, but I got a glimpse of him after it was over,’ said Shi. ‘The sentence will be at least 10 years according to legal explanations,’ his brother said. Shi Tao, who has been charged with illegally divulging state secrets abroad in January worked for the Contemporary Trade News in the provincial capital of Changsha in Hunan province.

American charged with molesting
Thai girl
A 61-year-old American man, already wanted in the United States on molestation charges, has been arrested and charged with molesting and detaining a minor in Thailand, police said Friday. Louis Joseph Chiavacci, from the north-eastern US state of Pennsylvania, was arrested after a short-term hotel manager saw him taking a girl in a school uniform into a room, police said. Police found him naked in the downtown Bangkok hotel room with a 15-year-old girl.
— AFP

Ukraine to abolish visas for EU citizens
Citizens of EU countries will no longer need a visa to travel to Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko said Friday, according to Interfax-Ukraine. ‘In a few days we will implement a regime without visas for the inhabitants of the European Union and would like in return comprehension on the part of the EU,’ Yushchenko told business leaders here. He said that if the EU were to allow Ukrainian students, journalists, businessmen and artists in without visas, ‘that would not constitute a threat for the borders of democracy.’ Yushchenko did not say whether visa-free travel to Ukraine, which wants to begin negotiations for EU membership in 2007, would apply to all categories of visitors from the 25-nation bloc.

15 killed in Chechnya copter crash
Fifteen Russian soldiers were killed Thursday in a helicopter crash in Chechnya, news agencies quoted military prosecutors as saying Friday. The Mi-8 helicopter, which belonged to the border guard forces who operate under the authority of the FSB federal security service, went down in a field after hitting a high-voltage power line near the Chechen capital, Grozny, prosecutors quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency said. The incident occurred amid heightened concern over retaliatory action by rebel forces in the republic following the killing announced Tuesday of rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov.

UNSC working on Sudan peace mission
The UN Security Council on Thursday voted to extend the UN mission in Sudan for one week as the council tries to work out an agreement on a peacekeeping operation and how to stop the bloodshed in Darfur. The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has asked the council to authorise a 10,000-strong peace force to help stabilise Africa’s largest nation after the government and rebels ended a 21-year civil war in January. But the 15-nation council has been at odds for weeks over questions relating to the separate conflict in Sudan’s troubled western Darfur region, where an independent commission found crimes against humanity were likely committed.

Annan concerned over Ethiopia border troops
The EU’s 25 member states failed Thursday to agree on whether to start EU entry talks with Croatia, remaining divided over how to act in a standoff over a fugitive war crimes suspect, sources said. The Croatia-EU talks have been thrown into doubt because of Zagreb’s perceived non-cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) over the fate of fugitive general Ante Gotovina. Diplomats say Croatia’s EU hopes appear slim after chief UN prosecutor Carla Del Ponte delivered a blunt assessment this week that Zagreb was not providing full cooperation with the ICTY.
— AFP