Thai military imposes martial law, assures act 'not a coup'

"The public do not need to panic but can still live their lives as normal," military announces. PHOTO: AFP

Thailand’s army on Tuesday declared martial law across the crisis-gripped kingdom to restore order following months of anti-government protests that have left 28 people dead and hundreds wounded.

An announcement on military-run television said martial law had been invoked “to restore peace and order for people from all sides”, stressing that the move “is not a coup”.

“The public do not need to panic but can still live their lives as normal,” it added.

It was not immediately clear if the move — which gives the military control of nationwide security — had been approved by the country’s embattled prime minister.

The imposition of martial law risks angering supporters of the government if it is seen as tantamount to a coup.

The dismissal of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra earlier this month in a controversial court ruling has sent tensions soaring in the kingdom, which has endured years of political turmoil.

Her “Red Shirt” supporters have warned of the threat of civil war if power is handed to an unelected leader, as demanded by the opposition.

Anti-government protesters refuse to participate in elections and say Yingluck’s Puea Thai party administration lacks the legitimacy to govern.

They are calling on the upper house of parliament, the Senate, to invoke a vaguely worded clause in the constitution to remove caretaker Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan and appoint a new leader.

The Election Commission said last week that a general election scheduled for July 20 was “no longer possible” as polls could not be held without the support of the protesters.

An election held in February was annulled after demonstrators blocked voting.

Pirs in Pakistan promise the world, for a price

Centuries-old practice is rooted in mystic Sufi lore and has traditionally been domain of pirs and aamils. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: From winning the heart of your beloved to getting a promotion at work, practitioners of black magic in Pakistan say there is nothing they can’t help you achieve – for a humble donation.

The centuries-old practice is rooted in mystic Sufi lore and has traditionally been the domain of pirs (saints) and aamils (sorcerers).

A cure-all to some and for others a scam that preys on people’s superstitions, the sorcerers continue to thrive despite the disapproval of some schools of Islam.

“Contact us immediately to get all the jobs done while sitting at home,” screams one classified advert featured in several newspapers.

It offers an answer for all manner of problems: “failure in love, overcoming the boss, getting a job transfer, foreign travel, lack of marriage proposals and a chance to win a lottery.”

Pir Ali Hussain Shah, the 55-year-old “saint” referred to in the notice says the correct incantation from the Holy Quran is key to working miracles.

“Disease, financial or family problems or any other problem of the world, can be solved in one night of recitation,” Shah told AFP.

Shah said he was working for the good of humanity and providing the service on a charitable basis – though he admitted satisfied followers were generous with their gifts.

“People who are happy with my work and get solace from their worries, themselves come and give offerings in cash and kind which I spend on langar (charity food handouts),” Shah said.

The expensive Sunday newspaper ad was paid for by one such follower grateful for Shah’s help in getting married to a man in Britain despite her parents’ opposition, he said.

“The girl’s parents did not want her to marry a British-Pakistani man she liked. She contacted me and I did the recitation and told her that within seven days she will get married and it happened.”

Shah and his ilk use a number of traditional practices, including writing verses of the Holy Quran on paper and folding them into various patterns to be worn around the neck as a talisman.

Other methods include reciting the Holy Quran and then blowing onto water or rosewater which a follower then drinks.

Inscribed “spells” of black magic script can also be dissolved into liquids and used as a curse to be given to one’s enemies, while some sorcerers ask their followers to sacrifice a black hen or goat to ward off evils.

Visiting the shrines of ancient Sufi saints and offering alms to the poor – and cash to the custodians – are very popular in Pakistan, where many believe they will help get their prayers answered.

For 45-year-old Razia Bibi, a housewife from Rawalpindi, visiting her saint Syed Izhar Bokhari at his astaana (Sufi abode) is an important ritual she believes ensures her family’s health and wellbeing.

“It surely is effective, I am coming here for the past 25 years and I have come out of so many troubled situations in my life,” the black-veiled Bibi told AFP.

Not everyone approves. Mufti Tehsinullah of Islamabad’s Red Mosque said that while the practice of black magic was officially recognised in the Hadith, it was wrong to exploit it.

“Practising black magic and making it a business is against Sharia and the fake practitioners have in many cases abused young girls who go to them for help in getting proposals,” he claimed.

It’s not just the poor and so-called simple people who believe in the dark arts.

A remarkable full-page advertisement appeared in national newspapers recently, signed by the head of Pakistan’s only brewery, accusing his brother-in-law of turning his mother against him through “witchcraft and black magic”.

And there have been some notorious cases of abuse. In 2011, long-haired, bushy-bearded sorcerer Mohammad Saleem was arrested for duping hundreds of women into having sex with him in the hope of conceiving a boy.

He was sentenced to five years in jail and fined 10,000 rupees but in 2013 he was freed after the only woman who came forward to testify retracted her statement.

There is also little legal redress available for those left unsatisfied by their sorcerer’s efforts.

Taxi driver Irfan Ahmed, 26, sought help to win the hand of a woman he had fallen in love with – with no success.

“I have tried these problem solvers and they all are fake. I lost thousands of rupees on them to make my marriage possible, but she got married to someone else and I am still a bachelor,” he said.

“I did not go to police as it would be too embarrassing to explain and also police are not of much help in these matters.”

White House vows CIA will not use vaccine programs for covert ops

The lobby of the CIA Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia, August 14, 2008. PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON: The White House promised on Monday that the CIA will not use immunisation programs for its operations following a complaint that the spy agency used such a campaign in its hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The deans of 12 public health schools had complained about a reported vaccination programconducted by Dr Shakil Afridi who used a hepatitis immunisation survey in Abbottabad wherebin Laden was later killed in a secret US mission.

The CIA orchestrated the survey to try to obtain fluid containing DNA from relatives living near the bin Laden residence, the Washington Post reported. It said the effort failed and the surgeon, Afridi, was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Caitlin Hayden, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said Obama homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco had assured the deans in a letter that CIA policy as of August 2013 makes clear “the CIA will make no operational use of vaccination programs, which includes vaccination workers.”

“Similarly, the agency will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such programs. This policy applies worldwide, and to US persons and non-US persons alike,” she said.

Russia, China seek mutual support in Putin visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin. PHOTO: REUTERS.

SHANGHAI: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China on Tuesday for joint naval exercises and a meeting with President Xi Jinping as both seek to build ties in the face of Western criticism and territorial disputes.

Putin is visiting the country for the first time since Xi became head of state last year and the trip could see a huge and long-awaited natural gas deal finally signed.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Shanghai early Tuesday to start his state visit,” China’s official news agency Xinhua said.

Russia’s relations with the United States and European Union have plunged to a post-Cold War low in recent months over its seizure of Crimea and Western accusations Moscow is fomenting unrest in the east of Ukraine.

At the same time Beijing is bickering with neighbours over maritime territorial disputes, including Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines.

Putin is due in China’s commercial hub Shanghai for an Asian security summit and the two countries will also show off their military prowess as 14 ships begin week-long drills in the East China Sea.

“For the Russians, it is much more about showing ‘We have other options… We’ve got a very strong relationship with China’,” said Raffaello Pantucci, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

The two countries, both veto-wielding members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, are regularly criticised by western human rights groups and have often worked together to counter the United States on a range of issues.

They were at times close allies during the Cold War, when China and the then-Soviet Union were both Communist.

Speaking on the eve of his visit, Putin told Chinese media that ties were at the “highest level” in history.

The naval show of force will include “live fire” drills and Pantucci said: “The Chinese are much more agitated about what happens on the sea and one sees support there from Russia.”

Relations between Beijing and Hanoi have worsened after China’s move earlier this month to send a deep-water oil drilling rig into contested waters in the South China Sea, sparking violent anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam which saw two Chinese killed.

China and Japan have a long-running feud over disputed islands in the East China Sea, while the Philippines accuses China of reclaiming land on a disputed reef within its exclusive economic zone under a UN convention.

Putin will be joined by a delegation including dozens of business tycoons and regional leaders and will oversee the signing of some 30 agreements, his top foreign adviser has said.

Officials from both countries say companies are close to completing a long-delayed deal for Russia to export natural gas to energy-hungry China, as Moscow diversifies away from the European market, but price remains an issue.

25 killed in Yemen army clashes with rebels: Medics

Dozens of other combatants were wounded in the gunfight that erupted on the western outskirts of Amran city. PHOTO: FILE

SANAA: Eleven Yemeni soldiers and 14 Huthis rebels were killed Tuesday during clashes in a stronghold of the insurgents in the north of the country, medics said.

Dozens of other combatants were wounded in the gunfight that erupted on the western outskirts of Amran city, the medics at Amran hospital said.

A military source said earlier that three soldiers were killed in the clashes which broke out when rebels attacked an army position in the area.

Tensions remain high in Amran where Huthis have been trying to enforce their presence through armed parades and protests against the military.

But the suspected aim of the rebels is to enlarge their sphere of influence as the country is set to be split into six regions, pushing out from their mountain strongholds in the far north to areas closer to the capital Sanaa.

The rebels complain that Yemen would be divided into rich and poor regions under the federalisation plan agreed in February following national talks that were part of a political transition.

The Huthis have fought the central government in Sanaa for years, complaining of marginalisation under former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted in 2012 following a year of protests.

In February, they seized areas of Amran province in fighting with tribes that left more than 150 people dead.

The rebels, known also as Ansarullah, had to withdraw from some of these areas following a truce with the armed tribes and as the army deployed halting the advance of the rebels towards the capital.

The Yemeni government is grappling with an insurgency by southern separatists claiming secession for the regions of the formerly independent south.

It is also fighting a fierce war against al Qaeda in southern and eastern areas.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is considered by Washington as the most dangerous affiliate of the extremist network after being linked to several failed plots against the United States

Modi to be sworn in as prime minister on May 26

Modi, the prime ministerial candidate for India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), arrives to attend the BJP parliamentary party meeting at parliament house in New Delhi May 20, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI: Modi will be sworn in as Indian prime minister and form a government on May 26 after winning the general election in a landslide last week, his right-wing party said Tuesday.

“Narendra Modi’s swearing-in as prime minister will be on the 26th,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh told reporters.

Modi, making his first visit to parliament since his election triumph, choked back tears Tuesday as he urged party colleagues to dedicate themselves to serving the nation.

The 63-year-old leader bowed and kissed the steps of the building as he entered for a meeting of his Hindu nationalist BJP and its political allies, which elected him as leader in the national parliament.

Speaking in the central hall of the complex in New Delhi, Modi had to hold back tears in a rare public display of emotion by the hardliner known to his supporters as the “Lion of Gujarat”.

“I said this earlier and I say it again: that 1.25 billion Indians’ hopes and aspirations are embedded in this temple of democracy,” he said, later recalling his humble origins and the country’s independence fighters.

He said “the common man has got renewed self-confidence and faith in democracy” after the victory last Friday by the BJP, which won the first overall majority by a single party since 1984.

“For rural areas, farmers, dalits (low castes), weak and the pained, this government is for them. To meet their aspirations and hopes, this is our responsibility because our weakest, poorest have sent us here,” he said.

Modi broke down, having to pause and ask for a glass of water, while referring to his former mentor LK Advani and promising to serve the BJP and India as his “mother.”

“Any individual, if he has dedicated his life to the country, it is but natural for him to become emotional,” senior BJP figure Smriti Irani told AFP after Modi’s speech.

“I have seen his softer side before so I was not surprised,” she added.

Modi, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat since 2001, has been locked in talks since Sunday about the composition of his cabinet which is expected to be sworn in next week.

He urged colleagues to show discipline and commit themselves to hard work.

“This joy, celebration will continue but this marks the beginning of the era of responsibility,” he said.

Later Tuesday, he was expected to meet President Pranab Mukherjee to inform him of his intention to form an administration and then travel to Gujarat, where he will resign after 13 years in power.

The BJP, elected on promises to revive the economy, is expected to steer India sharply towards the right after a decade in power by the left-leaning Congress party, which has dominated India since independence in 1947.

The Indian Express newspaper reported Tuesday that Modi’s office had already written to senior bureaucrats asking them to prepare presentations to explain their work and any problems they had encountered.

The new government is expected to focus initially on trying to remove bottlenecks that have seen many industrial and infrastructure projects stalled for lack of clearances.

The make-up of the new cabinet remains shrouded in secrecy, but reports suggest lawyer and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley is the frontrunner for the finance portfolio, while BJP president Rajnath Singh could get the home ministry.

While Modi prepared for government, the defeated Congress party held a meeting late Monday to rake over its electoral humiliation and leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi offered to resign.

Party colleagues refused to accept the resignations, saying they had faith in the political family that has provided three of India’s prime ministers.

Sonia, the 67-year-old Congress president, entrusted election campaigning for the first time to her son and vice president Rahul. But his lacklustre performance failed to impress voters.

Congress slumped to its worst-ever result, winning just 44 seats – about a quarter of its tally at the 2009 election when it secured a second term.

What does martial law mean for Thailand?

In this file photo, anti-government protesters rally on a main road leading towards the Government House in Bangkok December 9, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS

BANGKOK: Thailand’s powerful military declared martial law Tuesday in a move it said was aimed to “restore peace and order” in the turbulent kingdom.

Invoking the law comes after Thailand’s Constitutional Court ousted premier Yingluck Shinawatra in early May following months of protest seeking to oust her government.

But what is the scope of the military’s powers? And what are the implications of the move for a nation that has seen 18 actual or attempted coups since 1932? Herewith the main points of the act:

• The Martial Law Act 1914 gives the army “superior power” over civilian institutions in regard to maintaining public order and security.

• The army can ban any assembly or meeting and prohibit public movement by land, air or water.

• Military authorities have the power to censor or shut down newspapers and broadcasters.

• Soldiers are given full powers to search, requisition, ban, seize, inhabit or destroy “any place”. This includes body searches as well as vehicle, home and building inspections and scrutiny of printed material.

• Army authorities can enlist people to work to help the military and can requisition vehicles, food, tools and weapons from any person or company at any time.

• The military can impose curfews and prohibit access to certain areas.

• Authorities can detain anyone it suspects of breaching martial law for up to seven days.

• Civilian courts remain operational, but a martial court can be given authority to hear criminal trials in cases committed under martial law. It can continue to hear cases even after martial law has been revoked.