Iran names attacked scientist nuclear chief-report

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2nd R) and Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi (R) applaud as they look at a Safir-Fajr rocket engine, which is designed and made by an Iranian scientist, during a ceremony at a conference centre in northern Tehran February 7, 2011. – Reuters Photo

TEHRAN: An Iranian nuclear scientist who survived an assassination attempt last November has been appointed Iran’s new nuclear chief, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.
Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani was slightly wounded by one of two bomb attacks on Nov. 29. The other attack killed another nuclear scientist. Tehran said the double-bombing was an Israeli operation aimed at harming its nuclear programme.
Abbasi-Davani, head of physics at Imam Hossein University, has been personally subjected to UN sanctions because of what western officials said was his involvement in suspected nuclear weapons research.
“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a decree issued on Sunday, appointed Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani as vice-president and head of the Atomic Energy Organisation,” Fars said.
The position as one of Ahmadinejad’s deputies comes as part of the job and reflects the importance of the role in the Islamic Republic where the pursuit of nuclear technology is seen as a totem of resistance against the United States and Israel.
Tehran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and asserts it has a right to peaceful atomic power. But international concerns about its activities have led to four rounds of UN sanctions and tougher unilateral measures from Washington and Europe.
Abbasi-Davani replaces Ali Akbar Salehi who was made foreign minister in December.
The last talks between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain stalled, leaving the possibility of fresh sanctions.

Pakistan Army turns to war movies to counter jihad

''The basic purpose is to highlight the true stories of those valiant heroes of Pakistan,'' said Brigadier Azmat Ali. - Photo by AFP (File Photo)

ISLAMABAD: After a night of fighting off a Taliban attack on his remote outpost, the Pakistani soldier lies wounded, with one of the attackers crawling on top of him. He grabs the assailant by the neck, but cannot prevent him from firing seven shots into his chest.
The death of the soldier is the climax of ”Glorious Resolve,” one of several slickly produced, action-packed films produced by the army to rally Pakistanis against extremists and counter their propaganda videos.
Aired on private and public TV stations, the films are described as re-enactments of real clashes in the military campaign in northwest Pakistan, which began in earnest in 2009.
”The basic purpose is to highlight the true stories of those valiant heroes of Pakistan,” said Brigadier Azmat Ali, executive producer of the series. ”And also to let the people know what kind of atrocities they had come across and ultimately how we are guarding against further extremism that is coming on to us.”
Although more than 2,000 soldiers have been killed in the fighting in the South Waziristan tribal region, some critics say the army is still not doing enough. However, that campaign and others has been praised by the United States, which is fighting a related insurgency just across the frontier in Afghanistan.
The 20-minute film begins with an insurgent giving a pep talk to his men around a campfire as they prepare to attack the outpost.
He speaks in Urdu, using phrases similar to those on the militants’ videos: ”This unholy army has taken over our land, has made checkpoints on our roads and is frisking our women. It fights for the white man, it fights for dollars. We don’t want peace, we need the blessing of Allah.”
The attack is then shown in blistering close-up.
The insurgents fire rockets, then slowly advance. Blood from a slain insurgent splatters the camera lens.
”We are extremely outnumbered,” a Pakistani officer shouts into a radio. ”God willing we will not let anybody get away. We will make you proud, sir.”
The film attempts to subtly undercut the appeal to religion by suggesting the insurgent chief is in it for money. As his men die under a hail of army bullets, he is shown on the phone demanding ”more dollars” from his paymaster.
The battle ends with the army killing some insurgents and repelling the rest.
Another film reinforces the mercenary element and suggests the insurgency is a foreign import. It features a militant speaking to someone apparently outside Pakistan who is paying him to produce suicide bombers.
Officers and politicians often hint at an ”Indian hand” in the insurgency, though no evidence has ever been produced that India, Pakistan’s arch-foe, is funding violence.
Most independent analysts think it unlikely, especially given the militants’ history of attacks on Indian targets.
Opinion polls by the US-based Pew Research Center suggest about two-thirds of the populace disapproves of the Taliban and other extremist groups, but only about half support the army action against militants in the northwest.
It is harder for the Pakistani government to sell a war on insurgents who, while extreme, are still fellow Muslim Pakistanis. Islamist politicians who share much of the anti-American rhetoric and conservative beliefs rarely criticise the Taliban and other extremists, saying peace deals are the answer, not military offensives. They insist the militancy roiling the country would end if the American army would leave Afghanistan.
The army has ruled Pakistan directly or indirectly for much of the country’s existence, and the media rarely criticise it or expose alleged corruption or brutality. A civilian-led government is now in power, but the generals still control defense and foreign policy.
The army’s image is in competition with the militants’ own propaganda on the internet and DVDs sold in markets in the northwest. These feature real footage of attacks on army patrols, destruction inflicted by military operations and exhortations to jihad.
Last year, footage emerged of men in Pakistani army uniforms gunning down unarmed prisoners in Swat, a northwest region where the army staged a widely praised offensive against the Taliban. The footage was largely ignored by local media but is viewable on the internet. The army has said it is investigating the incident.
Ratings for ”Glorious Resolve” and the other re-enactments shown so far have not been tallied yet. Amjad Bukhari, director of programming for Pakistan Television, said earlier army productions, which included films on its peacekeeping role with the UN in Bosnia, were highly popular.
”It is a good attempt by the army,” said Tauseef Ahmed, professor of journalism at the Federal Urdu University Karachi. ”On the one hand, it is a good PR exercise, and on the other it is an attempt to tell people how religious extremism is badly affecting their lives and future.”

Nato seizes 'pirate mother ship' off Somalia

A Nato warship has captured a suspected pirate mother ship off Somalia, Nato's counter-piracy mission has said.

It said Denmark's warship fired warning shots on Saturday, forcing the vessel to stop and its crew to surrender.
Sixteen suspected pirates on board were then held and a weapons cache seized. Two Yemeni hostages were also freed.
"These ships provide the pirates with a floating base. They pose a great threat to the merchant shipping," the chief officer of the Danish warship said.
"We have now eliminated one of these threats," Commander Haumann of HDMS Esbern Snare warship said.
The Nato mission said the incident happened on Saturday morning, when the warship came across a suspicious vessel with two skiffs on deck.
It said it believed the fishing vessel had been hijacked.
The Nato mission - alongside with the EU's naval force - has been escorting merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden since 2008.
Earlier this week, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) said Somali pirates were now using at least 20 seized vessels as mother ships to launch attacks in the region.
Somali pirates have made millions of dollars in recent years by capturing cargo vessels in the shipping lanes around the Horn of Africa and holding the ships and crew for ransom.
Somalia has had no functioning central government since 1991, allowing piracy to flourish off its coast.

Pirates have greatly expanded the areas where they operate in recent years

New Israeli army head must pacify warring generals

The process of finding a successor to the outgoing chief, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, was marred by a “battle of the generals,” in which an allegedly forged document aimed at discrediting Galant was circulated. - AP Photo

JERUSALEM: One of the first battles for Major General Benny Gantz, tapped as the next chief of Israel’s armed forces, will be to calm a high command unsettled by months of messy infighting over the post.
Gantz, 51, a former deputy chief of staff, was only named to the position after the man designated for the job was disqualified on February 1 over allegations that he had illegally grabbed land around a luxury villa he built.
The discarded candidate, Major General Yoav Galant, who was nominated for the post last year, told local media he was the victim of a conspiracy by his rivals.
The process of finding a successor to the outgoing chief, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, was marred by a “battle of the generals,” in which an allegedly forged document aimed at discrediting Galant was circulated.
At a February 6 cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the political turmoil in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East made it more vital than ever that the Israel Defence Forces had a steady hand at the helm.
“The stability of the IDF is always important, but it is much more important now given the deep shocks in our region,” he said.
“In the circumstances that have been created, my duty as prime minister is to make clear decisions in order to lift the cloud of uncertainty from the IDF senior command,” Netanyahu added, in a reference to the succession row.
Israeli newspapers describe Gantz as a decent and straightforward man, well-prepared for the complexities of overseeing the Israeli army, navy and air force.
“He definitely fits the immediate requirement of being able to restore the spirit of the army, which took a bad beating in the past few months,” Maariv daily wrote.
“He is honest, what you see is what you get. From talking to him and others who we interviewed about him I understand that Benny Gantz is someone who spreads an atmosphere of harmony wherever he goes,” said Gila Finkelstein, a member of a committee on senior public appointments which unanimously approved his candidacy on Thursday.
“One mustn’t underrate the quality of spreading harmony,” she told public radio.
“We know that when he goes back to his office in the defence ministry, he will have a hard job restoring a pleasant and harmonious atmosphere and that is very important.”
Born on June 9, 1959 in the southern village of Kfar Achim, Gantz joined the army as a conscript in 1977, completing the tough selection course for the paratroops.
In 1979, he graduated officers’ school, and went on to serve as a paratroop company commander and platoon commander.
In 1989, he became head of Shaldag, the air force’s special commando unit, and in 1994 he returned to the army to command a brigade and later a division in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
He has also served as the head of the army liaison unit dealing with UN forces in Lebanon and the Lebanese army, as commander of the northern Israel region, covering the Lebanon and Syria borders, and as head of ground forces.
In 2007, he became military attache to the United States, returning to Israel and in September 2009 becoming Ashkenazi’s deputy.
Gantz has a BA in history from Tel Aviv University, a masters degree in Political Science from Haifa University and a masters in national resource management from the National Defence University in the United States. He is married and a father of four.

Crucial test looms for key Afghan battleground

This file photo taken on January 4, 2011 shows Afghan villagers waiting to check in to start their work outside the US Stout camp in Arghandab Valley, Kandahar province. Kandahar in southern Afghanistan has for the last year been the scene of a huge US push to stamp out the Taliban in its own backyard. But the key test is yet to come on whether it has worked. – AFP Photo

KANDAHAR: Kandahar in southern Afghanistan has for the last year been the scene of a huge US push to stamp out the Taliban in its own backyard. But the key test of whether it has worked is yet to come.
Control of the province, birthplace of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and the militia’s spiritual home, is seen as crucial to US-led efforts to reverse the Islamist insurgency and bring an end to America’s longest war.
The precarious security situation in Kandahar was highlighted Saturday when 19 people, including 15 police and an intelligence agent, were killed in a string of attacks claimed by the Taliban.
They were the only latest to target pro-Kabul government officials.
With support from locals ambivalent at best, the big question is whether US gains will withstand intensified violence expected in a spring counter-offensive.
Asked what will happen in May or June, US Lieutenant Colonel William Graydon, chief of operations for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kandahar, was frank.
“I don’t know. But what I do know is that we will continue the pressure all winter so that there will not be a gap for the insurgents to come back,” he told AFP.
The situation in the province also highlights wider uncertainty over what Afghanistan will look like after 2014, when Afghan forces are scheduled to take control of security, and to what extent foreign troops will remain involved.
In Kandahar, US troops led Operation Hamkari against the Taliban from last spring after President Barack Obama ordered a 30,000-strong surge under a last-ditch war strategy in late 2009.
Nato forces claim Kandahar city and nearby districts are now safer overall following intense fighting to clear traditional Taliban strongholds, which has left at least 99 troops dead.
But over nine years after the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the Taliban, government officials are still regularly attacked in Kandahar city, the de facto capital of the south.
As well as Saturday’s police attack, the deputy provincial governor was assassinated last month.
Afghan security analyst General Helaludin Helal said the Taliban had been squeezed out of many of their heartlands but were now launching targeted attacks, particularly in and around Kandahar city, in retaliation.
“After their major defeats in Kandahar, the Taliban are now focusing on high-risk attacks to prevent people from joining the government side,” he told AFP.
Graydon said that a “security bubble” has been extended to the neighbouring districts of Arghandab, Zhari and Panjwayi, parts of which had been controlled by the Taliban since the 1990s.
Commanders are pouring money into “cash for work” schemes to try and stop locals making their living by fighting for the Taliban in poor agricultural areas which, like the militants themselves, are dominated by ethnic Pashtuns.
However, some officers acknowledge this is a stop-gap solution. Concerns also linger over corruption among Western-backed officials in Kandahar.
President Hamid Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, is a powerful figure who heads the Kandahar provincial council but has long been dogged by claims of graft and drug trafficking, which he denies.
What happens in Kandahar has wider implications for the war across Afghanistan, experts say.
“Success in southern Afghanistan is a necessary but not sufficient condition for successful counter-insurgency in Afghanistan as a whole,” said a report last month from Washington think-tanks the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute.
Like others of Afghanistan’s most dangerous provinces, it is unlikely Kandahar will see any of the limited foreign troop withdrawals due from July.
Officials now increasingly stress the 2014 transition date, and the US commander on the ground, General David Petraeus, last week warned of more bloodshed in the spring as the Taliban tries to retake territory.
Last year was the bloodiest yet for foreign troops in Afghanistan.
But even after 2014, it is not clear what role the West will play in Afghanistan.
Karzai this week said he is in talks with the United States about establishing permanent US military bases in the country.
Although the Pentagon insists this would not be lawful, officials say Washington will retain strong ties to Kabul after 2014.
This leaves open the possibility of US forces training Afghan forces, having access to bases or even keeping a small counter-terrorism force in Afghanistan indefinitely to protect its national security interests.

India to pull 10,000 troops from Kashmir

An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard in front of a graffiti in Srinagar during a curfew in Srinagar. – AFP (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: India plans to withdraw 10,000 paramilitary troops from Kashmir in 2011 and renew efforts to hold talks in the rebellion-hit Himalayan region, a top government official said Sunday.
A separatist insurgency has raged in Indian-administered Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state, for 20 years and at least 114 people died in street protests last summer in pitched battles with security forces.
“I think this year we can easily take out 10 battalions (10,000 personnel), if not more,” Indian Home Secretary Gopal Pillai told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“Irrespective of the situation, I can take out 10 battalions and it would not have any impact.”
There are currently 70,000 paramilitary troops in Indian-administered Kashmir plus 100,000-150,000 army soldiers.
Many state politicians in Kashmir believe their huge presence has fuelled recent deadly violence.
“There are more than adequate forces in Kashmir and it can do with less central forces,” Pillai, the home ministry’s top civil servant, said.
“You have to start talking to other people and get fresh ideas so I think we have to reach out to the people of Kashmir.”
Security forces opening fire at separatist demonstrations have triggered a cycle of violence in Kashmir over recent summers, and the government in New Delhi is keen to calm tensions in the year ahead.

JF-17 thunder Program Continues to Grow

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani extended the government’s complete support of the JF-17 Thunder aircraft program. PM said this project has proven to be a great positive in the Pak-China relationship.

“This is the project that can become a true flagship of the historic cooperation and strengthen the relationship between our two countries”. These were the words of Gilani as he addressed a gathering of Chinese and Pakistani technicians during his visitation to the JF-17 manufacturing facility at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

He also expressed his satisfaction and pride of the successful progress of the JF-17 program and the fact that it is constantly completing milestones. The JF-17 project is definitely one of the biggest joint project going on between Pakistan and its strategic partner – China. Both governments expect that such cooperation will strengthen their time-tested relationship. Gilani said that every Pakistani is cherishing the help which China provides to the JF-17 program and a couple of other project. PM believes this project will write another glorious chapter in the history of the cooperation between the two countries.

Gilani wasn’t the only official visiting the factory, other names there were General Khalid Shameem Wynne, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, Chief of the Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force were also visitors of the factory. They had the opportunity to witness the amazing progress which the JF=17 aircraft manufacturing program has achieved.

The JF-17 project is one of the most ambitious Pakistani programs and it has successfully complete many milestones. Thanks to this program, Pakistan can now proudly stand amongst the group of countries which manufacture modern combat aircraft.

The JF-17 is one of the most cost-effective, multi-role combat aircraft and it is specifically designed to meet the needs of the Pakistan Air Force.