Manmohan orders to change Kashmir strategy
Violence related to near-daily protests against Indian control of Kashmir has led to the deaths of at least 64 people over the last two months, mostly civilians. The protesters have set official buildings and vehicles ablaze, and government forces have fired guns and tear gas to contain the unrest.
Speaking to police chiefs from around India, Singh noted that militant activities have declined in Kashmir, but maintaining public order there has become a serious concern and a challenge for the government.
"We cannot have an approach of one size fits all," Singh said. Public agitation has to be dealt with "with non-lethal, yet effective and more focused, measures," he said.
Civil rights activists have accused Indian paramilitary soldiers and police of using a heavy-handed approach, and each death caused by security forces sparks further clashes with rock-throwing demonstrators.
Singh has made at least two recent appeals for calm, telling the people of Kashmir his government is ready to hold talks to resolve their problems.
Rule by Hindu-majority India is widely opposed in the majority Muslim region, which separatists want to become independent or merge with Pakistan.
In his speech to police chiefs, Singh dwelt on a slew of problems faced by police and security forces in the country, including threats by separatists and Maoist rebels, commonly known as Naxalites.
Singh, who has often called the rebels India's biggest internal security threat, again Thursday voiced the government's willingness to talk to the guerrillas if they give up violence.
"We recognize that the Naxalites are our people and are ready to talk to them provided they abjure the path of violence," he said.
The rebels, who have tapped into the rural poors' anger at being left out of the country's economic gains, are present in 20 of the country's 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to India's home ministry. About 2,000 people have been killed in rebel-related violence over the past few years.
Ozawa to challenge Japan's PM for party leadership
Veteran Japanese lawmaker and former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Ichiro Ozawa (C) announces in Tokyo yesterday that he will run in the ruling DPJ's leadership election.Photo: AFP
One of the grandees of the governing Democratic Party of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa, has announced he will stand again for the party leadership.He lost the party post last year amid a party funding scandal.
Ozawa will face the Prime Minister Naoto Kan in the election for party president next month, and will replace him as prime minister if he wins.
Ozawa blames the party's recent defeat in elections to the upper house on Kan's plan to raise sales tax.
It was only in June that parliament elected Kan prime minister after the resignation of Yukio Hatoyama.
"I have decided to run in the leadership election of the Democratic Party of Japan," Ozawa said after a meeting with Hatoyama.
The two men are allies; Ozawa helped Hatoyama to the premiership last year, and said Hatoyama now supports his bid.
Ozawa, 68, is sometimes called the "Shadow Shogun" or "godfather", and has a string of money scandals behind him.
His bid for power is likely to destabilise the government, analysts said.
Once a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, he moved to the then opposition where he served as party leader from 2006 to 2009.
Ozawa's announcement came a day after he made news by calling Americans "simple-minded".
"I like Americans, but they are somewhat monocellular," he said. "When I talk with Americans, I often wonder why they are so simple-minded."
It was unclear what had prompted the remarks.
India, Afghanistan vow to fight terrorism
India and Afghanistan on Wednesday wound up two days of talks during a visit to New Delhi by Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, saying they would work together to combat terrorism in the region.
Rassaoul met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and held talks with his Indian counterpart SM Krishna on issues ranging from trade to the scourge of terrorism, a joint statement released after the talks said.
"They agreed that terrorism is the main threat undermining peace and stability in the region and reiterated their resolve to effectively combating and defeating it," it said.
Rassoul and Krishna also discussed the possibility of transforming war-torn Afghanistan into a springboard for trade between central and south Asia, the statement added.
It did not mention whether Pakistan was raised during the talks. Both sides have troubled relations with Islamabad because of their suspicions of Pakistani funding and support for extremism within their borders.
But the statement said: "They also emphasised the need to ensure that terrorist and extremist groups targeting Afghanistan and other countries in the region are denied safe havens and sanctuaries."
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are jostling for influence in Afghanistan, which analysts say could bring fresh instability to the country as US-led international troops eye their exit after mid-2011.
Since the US-led invasion ended the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime, India has committed 1.3 billion dollars to Afghanistan -- mainly aid for social services including health and education.
Some 4,000 Indians are building roads, sanitation projects and power lines in Afghanistan, and India is also building the new Afghan parliament.
In February this year, nine Indians were killed in a Taliban suicide attack on foreigners in Kabul, which claimed a total of 16 lives.
UN reviews security after Pak Taliban threat
The UN says it is reviewing security measures for its aid workers in Pakistan, after a warning of new threats from the Pakistani Taliban.
A US official said the militant group was planning to attack foreigners delivering aid to millions of people affected by the floods.
There have been no such attacks since the floods began.
It has now been four weeks since the start of the flooding, described as the region's worst humanitarian crisis.
The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods, and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed, leaving five million people homeless.
As floods sweep down from the north, water has breached one embankment in the Kot Almo area in Sindh province, threatening thousands of people in the southern Thatta district to flee from their homes.
About 400,000 people have been told to evacuate the towns of Sujawal, Mir Pur Batoro and Daro.
"Evacuation in those areas is ongoing but we have issued another warning for the remaining people to leave as well," Saleh Farooqi, director general of the National Disaster Management Agency's Sindh office, told the Reuters news agency.
'PLANS TO ATTACK'
The militant group Tehrik-e Taliban "plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan", a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.
The official said the US government also believed "federal and provincial ministers" may be at risk, but gave no further details of the source of the information.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization told the BBC that aid work in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan was already being affected by security concerns.
"Now with this threat it means either we have to downsize the operation - which means less access to the affectees - otherwise we have to take more mitigation measures in order to reduce the security risk, which means more resources," Ahmed Farah Shadoul said.
It has now been four weeks since the start of the flooding, described as the region's worst humanitarian crisis.
The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods, and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed, leaving five million people homeless.
As floods sweep down from the north, water has breached one embankment in the Kot Almo area in Sindh province, threatening thousands of people in the southern Thatta district to flee from their homes.
About 400,000 people have been told to evacuate the towns of Sujawal, Mir Pur Batoro and Daro.
"Evacuation in those areas is ongoing but we have issued another warning for the remaining people to leave as well," Saleh Farooqi, director general of the National Disaster Management Agency's Sindh office, told the Reuters news agency.
The militant group Tehrik-e Taliban "plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan", a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.
The official said the US government also believed "federal and provincial ministers" may be at risk, but gave no further details of the source of the information.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization told the BBC that aid work in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan was already being affected by security concerns.
"Now with this threat it means either we have to downsize the operation - which means less access to the affectees - otherwise we have to take more mitigation measures in order to reduce the security risk, which means more resources," Ahmed Farah Shadoul said. "This will definitely delay the operation in certain areas."
Earlier, US General Michael Nagata said his forces had seen no threats to their security in the three weeks that they had been operating in Pakistan. He said the fleet of 19 US helicopters had helped save more than 6,000 people.
Tehrik-e Taliban is considered the most radical and violent militant group in Pakistan.
A retired Pakistani general, Talat Masood, told the BBC that the militant group would seek to counter any gains in public support for Western governments helping with relief and aid work.
The US is one of a number of countries to have sent aid and assistance to Pakistan. The US Agency for International Development says that it has so far provided around $150m (£97m) in support to victims of the flood.
However, the head of its development agency, Rajiv Shah, sounded a warning about accountability and corruption.
Long-term aid money would "would require a demonstration of real transparency and accountability and that resources spent in Pakistan get results", he told the Associated Press news agency.
Various nations have pledged more than $700m (£552m) for relief efforts in Pakistan.
Workers have begun clearing up as the floods recede in the north and the UN has appealed for more helicopters to reach 800,000 people who are cut off.
Aid agencies are focusing on providing emergency relief such as shelter, food and medical care.
In the southern province of Sindh, people displaced by the flooding have gathered at one of the main railway stations in Karachi.
"We have fled from the floods," one woman told the BBC.
"We have nothing left. We have been here for three or four days, and we are hungry. Nobody is even looking at us. We have had no food the whole day. We are dying of hunger. I have six children."
Another of those waiting at the station, Abdul Ghani Odano, said people were relying on charity to survive.
"This has been going on for eight days," he said. "Some have started begging for food. They lie around here day and night. Sometimes some generous people come and help but no government official has come so far."
