Accusations that Pakistan helped a militant group bomb India’s embassy in Afghanistan cast a cloud yesterday over the start of an eight-nation South Asian summit aimed at fostering regional cooperation.
India, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, all fighting decades-old insurgencies, exhorted South Asian nations yesterday to pool efforts to fight terrorism, which they said posed the biggest threat to the region’s stability.
PHOTO: AFP
‘GREATER GRIP’
“Terrorism and its sanctuaries are gaining a greater grip in Pakistan,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a speech at the start of the two-day summit.
He said terrorists in Pakistan were getting “institutionalized nurturing and support.”
Afghanistan was the worst victim of international terrorism, Karzai said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the recent attack on his country’s embassy in Kabul and a string of bombings in Indian cities “are gruesome reminders of the barbarity that still finds a place in South Asia.”
“It remains the single biggest threat to our stability,” he said.
ACCORD
The summit is expected to approve an accord on fighting terror, including freezing funds used for attacks and agreements on the creation of a regional development fund and a food bank aimed at coping with skyrocketing food prices.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have heightened amid accusations that members of Pakistan’s intelligence service have aided Islamic militants fighting in Afghanistan and the Indian portion of Kashmir.
The New York Times reported on Friday that US intelligence agencies had intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officials and Islamic militants implicating the intelligence service in the July 7 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, which left at least 41 people dead.
Pakistan dismissed the accusation as “rubbish” and promised to cooperate with neighboring countries to combat terror.
WORST OFF
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said yesterday that his country had suffered the most from terrorism, though it was afflicting all countries of the region.
The summit is being attended by leaders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The region, home to one-fifth of the world’s population and many of its most impoverished people, has been plagued by terror attacks.
Pakistan is grappling with restive tribal regions along its border with Afghanistan, where fighting between insurgents and government troops intensified this week.
TALIBAN
The Afghan government is facing a resurgent Taliban and a spate of bombings has hit India in recent weeks.
Afghan officials have repeatedly said Pakistan is not doing enough to crack down on militants, an allegation which Pakistan denies.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was set up in 1985 to promote economic cooperation, but progress in most areas has been slow, mainly because of the rivalry between India and Pakistan, and the organization has often been derided as little more than a talk shop.
Also See: Fighting breaks out ahead of regional summit in Colombo
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS