Iran says 'narrowing some differences' in nuclear talks

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L). PHOTO:REUTERS/FILE

VIENNA: Iran’s lead negotiator in nuclear talks with world powers said both sides were inching closer on some issues as they sought Wednesday to intensify discussions on reaching a definitive agreement before a July deadline.

“On certain questions we have narrowed our differences,” Abbas Araqchi told Iranian media late Tuesday after a first day of talks in Vienna that were expected to wrap up later Wednesday.

The negotiations, aiming to settle a decade-old standoff and so avert a dangerous escalation, remained however “difficult and complicated”, Mehr news agency quoted Araqchi as saying.

He gave no details. He added that the next round between Iran and five permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council plus Germany – the fourth this year – would take place in mid-May.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the powers’ lead negotiator, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, were expected to make a statement to the media later Wednesday.

A senior US administration official involved in the talks said last week that the negotiators hoped to make enough progress in this round to begin drafting a deal in May.

In November the two sides reached an interim deal under which Iran froze certain parts of its nuclear activities in return for minor relief from painful Western sanctions.

But Iran has not permanently dismantled any of its nuclear equipment and can fully reactivate its facilities if it wishes when the deal expires on July 20.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told US lawmakers Monday that the theoretical period needed for Iran to produce a weapon’s worth of bomb material – if it chose to do so – was “about two months”.

In order to greatly extend this “break-out” time, the six powers want the final deal to see Iran reduce permanently, or at least long-term, the scope of its programme.

The deal may involve Iran slashing the number of centrifuges – used to enrich nuclear material – changing the design of a new reactor at Arak and giving UN inspectors more oversight.

Other outstanding thorny issues include Iran’s continued research and development of ever more advanced centrifuges and the Islamic republic’s ballistic missile programme.

Any agreement will need to be sold to skeptical hardliners both in the United States and to Iran’s arch enemy Israel, widely assumed to have a nuclear arsenal itself.

Threatening to throw a spanner in the works however is the crisis over Ukraine which has led to the biggest standoff between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Russia’s chief negotiator, Sergei Ryabkov, fired a warning shot last month, saying Moscow might “take the path of counter-measures” on Iran if pushed too far.

On Tuesday however Ryabkov sounded a more conciliatory note, telling ITAR-TASS it would “not be wise” to turn Iran into a “bargaining chip”.

Moscow and Iran are said to be negotiating an oil-for-goods barter deal that would undermine Washington’s sanctions efforts, a strategy the US credits with getting Tehran to talks in the first place.

Another issue casting a cloud over the talks is the spat between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s selection of a new UN ambassador allegedly linked to the 1979 American embassy hostage crisis.

The White House said Tuesday Hamid Aboutalebi was “not viable” and on Monday the US Senate passed a resolution that would deny the veteran diplomat a US visa.

Pakistani ex-detainee in Bagram haunted by 'mental torture'

File photo of Afghanistan’s Bagram prison. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: Truck driver Umran Khan, a Pakistani national, spent nine years in Afghanistan’s Bagram prison, where he says he suffered beatings, sleep deprivation and a sustained campaign of mental disintegration — despite committing no crime.

Accused with a friend of transporting bombs in 2005, he has maintained his innocence — and an official record shows his captors suspected the same.

Now the 32-year-old, one of six Pakistanis released last November, has spoken out against his treatment at Bagram in a case rights groups say underlines the need for more scrutiny of the prison, opened in 2002 and often compared to Guantanamo Bay.

The Afghan authorities took over the jail, renamed Parwan, in 2013 but the US remains in charge of foreigners – including around 34 Pakistanis.

Mustafa Qadri, Pakistan researcher for Amnesty International, said the case “demonstrates the persisting secrecy surrounding US detention policies”.

“(It is) a significant problem given cases like this where individuals with no apparent involvement in hostilities happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Khan’s ordeal began one night in the restive city of Peshawar, where he and his friend had travelled from Khyber tribal district to visit a cousin in hospital.

There, he met two Afghans, “Saifoo” and “Lalzir”, who had brought their sick grandmother to the same facility.

The men became friends and the Afghans promised the Pakistanis a sightseeing tour in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar and the chance to pick up some informal work.

“The first day we arrived we wanted to go out, and they refused saying we have to wait for a friend, wait until tomorrow,” Khan, a tall, light-skinned man with a long beard and a prayer cap, told AFP.

After days of waiting, Khan said he decided to take a bus back to Pakistan, but Saifoo and Lalzir insisted it was their duty as hosts to escort their guests in a taxi.

It was then that things took a turn for the worse, with the car searched at a checkpoint by the Afghan army.

They were allowed to go, but were stopped again further up the road and detained.

The two Afghans were later freed but Khan and his friend were taken to a US base and questioned about explosives found in the car’s boot.

“They asked us, ‘Is this yours?’ And we told them we had no idea,” Khan said.

A few days later, he was taken to Bagram airbase and given a new identity: prisoner ISN 2422.

Detainees at Bagram had no access to lawyers, but records on them were released following a freedom of information request by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2009.

Umran’s file tells of a man with a consistent account of events who cannot be linked forensically to the explosives found in the car and with no known connections to militant groups.

Despite the fact he was captured in a taxi with IEDs, “there is no fingerprint evidence linking him to these IED components” nor “evidence of exposure to explosive materials”, the file said.

The US investigation concluded that “based upon the evidence and testimony…the continued interment of (Umran) is not necessary” and noted the “strange” circumstances surrounding his capture.

Despite being given a low threat assessment, Khan says his captors held him in solitary confinement and regularly subjected him to sleep deprivation.

“They wouldn’t let us sleep. If they wanted to punish you, for example if you spoke to another prisoner they would put you in a star position for 30 minutes to an hour,” he said.

“They had metal bars fitted into the doors of our cells. When they saw people were sleeping they would run a stick along it to make a loud noise.”

He said he developed breathing problems from the tear gas he said guards used to quell unruly inmates.

He also recalled beatings at the hands of soldiers, once after he complained about repeated cell searches that upended his meagre possessions.

“They wanted us to never have a moment’s peace, day or night. By the time we left, they wanted our minds to be destroyed.”

A US defence spokesperson declined to comment on the details of the case but said they did not tolerate the abuse of detainees.

“Although there have been substantiated cases of abuse in the past, for which US service members have been held accountable, our enemies also have employed a deliberate campaign of exaggerations and fabrications,” the spokesperson said.

On Khan’s nine years in custody, the spokesperson said decisions regarding “third-country nationals” involve “sensitive diplomatic discussions, which often take a considerable amount of time”.

The JPP has taken the Pakistani government to court to push for the remaining detainees’ liberation ahead of the withdrawal of foreign troops by the end of 2014.

Campaigners fear the detainees may be caught in legal limbo if they are not repatriated before the deadline.

Tasneem Aslam, spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign office told AFP negotiations were under way and they hoped for more releases in the coming months.

Khan now works in construction in Khyber and wants to get on with his life.

He recalled the day last November when he was released. As he left Bagram, he says a US colonel apologised to him.

“I replied: ‘Why are you asking forgiveness after nine years and after destroying our lives? Didn’t I tell you I’m innocent all along?’,” Khan said.

“He just said, ‘Forgive us, you were right.’”

Four-way Ukraine talks announced as 'hostages' freed

Pro-Russian activists the entrance of the regional Security Service building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk on April 9, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

KIEV: Ukraine said Wednesday that pro-Russian militants had freed 56 “hostages” after US and EU diplomats set up their first direct talks with Moscow and Kiev aimed at resolving the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

Ukraine’s SBU security service said the group walked free from its headquarters in Lugansk after separatists seized the building and other key government offices at the weekend in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland.

The separatist raids have drawn Western charges that Russia — its troops already massed along Ukraine’s border in response to its ouster of a Moscow-backed regime — is backing the separatists and plotting to grab more territory after annexing Crimea last month.

But US and EU diplomats also crucially agreed with Moscow that it was time to deescalate the worst European security crisis in decades by setting up a four-way round of negotiations involving Kiev next week.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s office confirmed she would meet US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov along with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsya in one of the European capitals.

A source in the Russian foreign ministry told Moscow’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency the talks would probably be held at the end of the week.

The breakthrough agreement was reached after hundreds of irate activists occupied a series of strategic buildings in the east at the weekend and declared independence for the bustling region of Donetsk.

Ukraine’s embattled leaders poured extra security forces into the flashpoint regions and regained control of the government seat in Kharkiv on Tuesday after a night of violence that included petrol bombs and stun grenades being hurled at police.

But the militants remain holed up behind barricades of razor wire and old tyres in the administration building in Donetsk and the SBU headquarters in Lugansk — the site of the alleged hostage taking.

The SBU had accused the Kalashnikov-wielding separatists of rigging the building with explosives and refusing to let 60 people already inside “leave the building and return home”.

The claim sparked fears that Kiev’s Western-backed leaders had run out of patience and were preparing to storm the occupied offices after labelling the separatists “terrorists”.

But the SBU said Wednesday that 56 people had walked free thanks to two rounds of negotiations led by unidentified lawmakers from Ukraine’s parliament.

The agency did not specify how many people were still allegedly being held against their will.

“No one was injured,” the SBU said in a statement.

“In order to minimise the risks to the lives and safety of citizens, the negotiations process is continuing.”

Yet Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov stressed that the “anti-terrorist operation” in cities along Russia’s border continued.

“We have two options: political — in other words, negotiations — or the use of force,” Avakov told reporters.

“I think that a resolution to this crisis will be found within the next 48 hours.”

Months of deadly political turmoil threaten not only to break up the vast nation on the European Union’s eastern frontier along its ethnic divisions but also plunge Moscow’s relations with the West to a low that may take decades to repair.

Kerry appeared to cast aside the last vestiges of diplomatic decorum Tuesday by explicitly accusing the Kremlin of sending operatives into eastern Ukraine to foment unrest.

“Everything that we’ve seen in the last 48 hours, from Russian provocateurs and agents operating in eastern Ukraine, tells us that they’ve been sent there determined to create chaos,” Kerry told US lawmakers.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague backed up that message by noting the flareup bore “all the hallmarks of a Russian strategy to destabilise Ukraine”.

And NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen reaffirmed on a visit to Paris that Moscow would be making a “historic mistake” if it were to intervene in Ukraine any further.

But the Russian foreign ministry argued on Wednesday that “the United States and Ukraine have no reason to worry” because Moscow had no intention to invade its ex-Soviet neighbour.

Iran nuclear talks to 'move to next phase' in May

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif give a press statement on the second day of talks at the UN headquarters in Vienna, Austria on April 9, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

VIENNA: Iran and world powers will in May “move to the next phase” of their talks aimed at clinching a definitive nuclear deal, they said in a joint statement Wednesday after their latest meeting in Vienna.

“We will now move to the next phase in the negotiations in which we will aim to bridge the gaps in all the key areas and work on the concrete elements of a possible comprehensive agreement,” said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton who is the chief negotiator for the world powers.

In a statement repeated in Farsi by Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Ashton said a “lot of intensive work will be required to overcome the differences which naturally still exist at this stage in the process.”

Both described the latest round between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany as “substantive and detailed … covering all the issues which will need to be part of a comprehensive agreement.”

The permanent council members are the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

The fourth and next round will be held in Vienna again from May 13, they said.

A senior US administration official involved in the talks had said last week that the negotiators hoped to make enough progress in this round to begin drafting a deal in May.

In November the two sides reached an interim deal under which Iran froze certain parts of its nuclear activities in return for minor relief from painful Western sanctions.

But Iran has not permanently dismantled any of its nuclear equipment and can fully reactivate its facilities if it wishes when the deal expires on July 20.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told US lawmakers Monday that the theoretical period needed for Iran to produce a weapon’s worth of bomb material — if it chose to do so — was “about two months”.

In order to greatly extend this “break-out” time, the six powers want the final deal to see Iran reduce permanently, or at least long-term, the scope of its programme.

The deal may involve Iran slashing the number of centrifuges — used to enrich nuclear material — changing the design of a new reactor at Arak and giving UN inspectors more oversight.

Other outstanding thorny issues include Iran’s continued research and development of ever more advanced centrifuges and the Islamic republic’s ballistic missile programme.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday “that Iran’s activities in nuclear research and development as well as its nuclear achievements will never be stopped.”

Iran’s lead negotiator at the talks said late Tuesday that on “certain questions” both sides were narrowing their differences but that the negotiations remain “difficult and complicated”.

Any agreement will need to be sold to sceptical hardliners both in the United States and Iran as well as to Iran’s arch enemy Israel, widely assumed to have a nuclear arsenal itself.

US-Iran spat

Threatening to throw a spanner in the works is the crisis over Ukraine which has led to the biggest standoff between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Russia’s chief negotiator, Sergei Ryabkov, fired a warning shot last month, saying Moscow might “take the path of counter-measures” on Iran if pushed too far.

On Tuesday however Ryabkov sounded a more conciliatory note, telling ITAR-TASS it would “not be wise” to turn Iran into a “bargaining chip”.

Moscow and Iran are said to be negotiating an oil-for-goods barter deal that would undermine Washington’s sanctions efforts, a strategy the US credits with getting Tehran to the talks in the first place.

Another issue casting a cloud over the talks is the spat between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s selection of a new UN ambassador allegedly linked to the 1979 American embassy hostage crisis.

The White House said Tuesday Hamid Aboutalebi was “not viable” and on Monday the US Senate passed a resolution that would deny the veteran diplomat a US visa.

Indonesia opposition tops legislative polls: unofficial tallies

A young family leaves a polling station during legislative elections in Jakarta on April 9, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

Indonesia’s main opposition party won the most votes in legislative elections Wednesday, unofficial tallies showed, boosting the chances of their presidential candidate, the Jakarta governor, becoming the country’s next leader.

A tally, known as a “quick count”, by think-tank CSIS put the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on 19 per cent, while another by pollster Indonesia Survey Circle gave the party almost 20 per cent

Assault: Arvind Kejriwal suspects Modi hand in latest slap

Arvind Kejriwal. PHOTO: AFP

DELHI: 

“If you rise fast, you also fall fast” – this was the cryptic observation of a political activist in a chai shop as he watched on Tuesday TV footage of a man reaching up to garland Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal only to deliver a resounding slap on his face.

The leader was quick to direct his anger at the BJP.

“I do not understand why do some people resort to violence for becoming the Prime Minister? If you think by attacking us, we will keep quiet then you are wrong. We will fight this battle till the last breath,” he said in a clear reference to Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi.

Later the former Delhi CM posted to Twitter, “I am just thinking –  why am I being repeatedly attacked? Who are the masterminds? What do they want? What do they achieve?”

“Is violence an answer to country’s problems? Let them tell me the place and time. I will come there. Let them beat me as much as they want…but will that solve the problems?”

This is not the first time Kejriwal has been assaulted. In the first incident, a 19-year-old young man in Delhi’s lower middle class Dakshinpuri area struck. Thought to be Kejriwal’s pool of political endorsement, this area is inhabited by auto rickshaw drivers’ tenements. Tuesday’s assault also came from the resident of another such area, Sultanpuri.

Auto rickshaw drivers have been the mainstay of AAP’s support base. They were seduced with the promise of regularisation, or ownership of their vehicles (which typically they have to rent at high rates and run to ensure they earn a daily wage) and rapacious policemen who find them the best avenue for extortion.

However, during its 49-day tenure, the AAP government was unable to do very much for this section of its core supporters. The latest assault is seen as an attack from such a disillusioned supporter.

Kejriwal’s rival Kapil Sibal, telecom minister and candidate from the Chandni Chowk constituency, however, said neither he nor his party supported such tactics and were quick to condemn it.

The BJP said Kejriwal had got just desserts for making false promises.

All eyes are now on the seven constituencies in Delhi and how AAP will fare

Minority report: A matter of faith

Alarming statistics released by a report highlight forced conversions of women. ILLUSTRATION: FAIZAAN DAWOOD

KARACHI: 

As he cites the example of that case that happened in 2008 when two young Christian girls were abducted, the voice of Nadeem Anthony breaks with emotion. “During the last ten years, the Christian community has seen an increasing number of abductions of young girls and they being forcefully converted.

A big number of these girls are poor child labourers who work in brick kilns or as domestic help. Abductions from schools have also happened,” said Anthony, a lawyer, a Christian rights’ activist and council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

The case mentioned by Anthony was of the abduction of ten year old A and 13 year old S from Muzaffargarh district in Punjab. Both were converted forcefully, and one of them was forcefully married. Despite the case being highlighted, Anthony says only the younger girl could be recovered.

The issue of forced conversions is once again in the spotlight due to the findings of a report released on Monday by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan (MSP). The report titled “Forced marriages and forced conversions in the Christian community of Pakistan” states that an estimated 1,000 women from Christian and Hindu communities are forcibly converted and made to marry Muslim men in Pakistan every year. The report estimates that up to 700 of these women are Christian and 300 Hindu.

As 42 per cent of Pakistan’s minority population, the Christian community stands at over two million in number, mostly settled in Punjab. The report mentions that according to the National Commission of Justice and Peace (NCJP), 80 per cent of the minority community is poor while 40 per cent lives below the poverty line. Poverty, as always, makes them more vulnerable.

The pattern

The report describes a predictable pattern of what happens to these women. “Christian girls — usually between the ages of 12 and 25 — are abducted, converted to Islam, and married to the abductor or a third party. The victim’s family usually files a First Information Report (FIR) for abduction or rape with the local police station. The abductor, on behalf of the victim girl, files a counter FIR, accusing the Christian family of harassing the willfully converted and married girl, and for conspiring to convert the girl back to Christianity. Upon production in the courts or before the magistrate, the victim girl is asked to testify whether she converted and married of her own free will or if she was abducted,” states the report.

By the time they come to the court, if at all, intimidation has taken its toll. “We have followed up a lot of cases. By the time the girls are produced in court, they say under pressure that they have converted of their own free will, because in a lot of cases they are living with the abductor during court proceedings. Survival becomes tough under pressure,” says Zohra Yusuf, chairperson of the HRCP.

The report raises valid concerns about the future of these women. “Once in the custody of the abductor, the victim girl may be subjected to sexual violence, rape, forced prostitution, human trafficking and sale, or other domestic abuse,” states the report.

Willful conversions

Providing recommendations that can help solve the problems, the report also touches upon the societal attitudes that end up granting immunity to the perpetrators of crimes.

“If the girl is an adult and converts out of her own will, then it is her choice. Then that is not forced. However in most cases even if the husband accepts her wholeheartedly, the family of the boy never accepts her. They taunt her with titles like choori (sweeper) for life. In many cases they send the girl back to her parents,” says Anthony.

The entire social context has to be seen when analysing the issue, and the MSP report does that.  Touching upon the historical and social contexts, the report discusses the grievances of Pakistan’s Christian community.

Yusuf is of the opinion that “even if the girl is willfully converting, the issue is actually connected to the broader issue of tolerance for minorities in Pakistani society. We have to give minorities the space to practise their faith.”

Anthony appreciates the efforts of voices like that of Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad, the Khateeb of Badshahi Masjid, among others, who support what is just and fair. In the opinion of Anthony, one of the reasons for the recent spike in migrations of the Christian community members to countries like Thailand and Malaysia is that they feel scared for their girls.

“What is happening is unacceptable. The findings of the report should be taken seriously and the government should take notice of this,” says Anthony.

Along with the report, an appeal was issued by the MSP. An inclusive coalition is being mobilised by the MSP to sensitise people about this important issue.