I N T E R N AT ION A LTUESDAY, MAY 20, 2014
ISLAMABAD: Weeks of infighting between Talebangroups have hampered stop-start peace talks withPakistan’s government, sources said yesterday, asthe insurgents’ leader vowed to continue fightinguntil Islamic law was enforced in the country. Twofactions of the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP),the umbrella grouping for disparate militantgroups, have been locked in bloody clashes sinceat least March. The fighting has claimed more than90 lives in the tribal areas along the Afghan borderand has now forced the TTP’s commander-in-chiefMullah Fazlullah to appoint a mediator to try toend the feud, militant sources said.
“The infighting has forced the Taleban leader-ship to postpone peace talks for the time being,” a
T TP insider said on condition of anonymity.Another Taleban commander in the northwest con-firmed to AFP that “peace talks have been halteduntil end of differences between the two rivalgroups”. The development threatens to underminewhat little progress has been made in the peacenegotiations. The government of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif began the talks in February to try toend the TTP’s seven-year insurgency which hasclaimed thousands of lives.
Insiders say the TTP feud, which came to light inMarch, is over command in the South Waziristantribal area and who has the right to lead theMehsud tribe, from which the movement drawsmany of its members.The conflict pits followers of
the late TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, led bycommander Sheheryar Mehsud, against supportersof Khan Said Sajna. Hakimullah Mehsud was killedby a US drone last November. “Differencesbetween the Sajna and Sheheryar groups meandifferences in the Mehsud tribe and its continua-tion is very harmful for the Taleban,” the command-er said.
Fazlullah, who became TTP chief on Hakimullah’sdeath, has separately vowed to continue his armedstruggle until Islamic sharia law is in force acrossPakistan. In a video released by the TTP’s mediawing, Fazlullah was seen arriving in a training campsomewhere in a mountainous area with around twodozen masked men armed with assault rifles, pistols
and rocket-propelled grenades. “Our jihad will con-tinue until sharia is enforced or we embrace martyr-dom,” Fazlullah said in the video, urging would-bemilitants to make contact with commanders.
“We have accepted the writ and power of Allah,and the Pakistan army, intelligence agencies andgovernment will have to accept Allah’swrit.”Hardline cleric Fazlullah first rose to promi-nence as the leader of the Taleban’s two-year rule inthe northwestern Swat Valley, which featured pub-lic floggings and executions. Fazlullah, who has a$500,000 government bounty on his head, hasmounted some brutal and humiliating attacks onPakistan’s military, including the beheading of 17soldiers after an attack in June 2012. — AFP
Taleban infighting hampers Pakistan peace talks
NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister-elect Narendra Modi has taken toTwitter to thank fellow leaders in Japan,Russia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Australiafor their support, but one man stillwaiting for a reply is US Secretary ofState John Kerry. While Canadian PrimeMinister Stephan Harper has had twomentions and Russian President Putinreceived warm words yesterday, Modihas conspicuously made no referenceat all to the leaders of the world’ssuperpower.
Washington, along with Europeanpowers, boycotted the 63-year-old fora decade and denied him a visa overreligious violence in 2002 during histenure as chief minister of Gujaratstate that left about 1,000 people,mostly Muslims, dead. Kerry tweetedcongratulations to Modi on Fridayafter a landslide win for his Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, say-ing he looked forward to “growingshared prosperity/security”.
President Barack Obama tele-phoned Modi but is yet to comment inperson. He had warm words for hispredecessor on Saturday, however. AsManmohan Singh left office after 10years in power, Obama called to tell himthat that there were “very few people inpublic life that I have admired or appre-ciated more.” Modi has displayed norancor publicly about his treatment byWashington, telling an interviewer earli-er this month that foreign relations
“should not and cannot be influencedby incidents related to individuals”.
But analysts are looking closely athow the world’s biggest democraciesembrace each other with Modi at thehelm and following a highly damagingspat over the arrest of an Indian diplo-mat in New York in December. Modi,writing on Twitter to his 4.19 million fol-lowers, addressed a message to RussianPresident Putin on Monday saying thathe looked forward “to making our rela-tions with Russia even stronger in the
years to come.” Japanese premierShinzo Abe meanwhile was thanked forhis good wishes “Personally, I have awonderful experience of working withJapan as CM (chief minister). I am surewe will take India-Japan ties to newerheights,” he wrote.
Modi was chief minister of Gujaratin 2002 when anti-Muslim riots brokeout and, although he has never beenfound guilty of wrongdoing, the failureof his administration to control the vio-lence left a legacy of suspicion.
Investigators have never found evi-dence to prosecute him, but a womanhe later appointed to his cabinet wasjailed for life for orchestrating some ofthe worst of the killing. Modi wasrefused a visa to the United States in2005. Britain also boycotted Modi, butBritish Prime Minister David Cameronsent a message of congratulations onFriday which was acknowledged byModi the day after. “Hoping to furtherstrengthen India-UK relations,” hewrote. — AFP
India’s PM-elect quick
on Twitter diplomacy
Modi shuns US for now
VARANASI: Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leader and India’s next prime minister Narendra Modispeaks after performing evening rituals on the banks of the River Ganges in Varanasi, an ancient cityrevered by millions of devout Hindus, India. — AP
GHAZNI: Former Afghan prisoners prepare to leave after their release from jail inGhazni yesterday. Around 100 prisoners were released by a decree from AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai. — AFP
KABUL: A bored security guard, a Kalashnikovrifle over his shoulder, stands guard alone out-side an idle construction site for a 10-storeybuilding in downtown Kabul, one of more thana dozen concrete shells with not a single con-struction worker in sight. It was meant to beboom-time after decades of war and privation,with shiny new shopping malls springing uparound the Afghan capital and constructioncranes dotting Kabul’s spectacular, snow-capped horizon over the past few years.
However, business has now ground to a haltacross much of Afghanistan. Political uncertain-ty abounds before another presidential voteand security fears are growing as the last for-eign combat troops prepare to leave. “To investin such an environment would be craziness,”acknowledges Hameedullah Omar, marketingmanager of a deserted nine-storey office com-plex in Kabul’s main shopping district that wascompleted only last year.
Foreign donors worried about deterioratingsecurity are leaving as Western forces winddown operations, leaving aid-dependent Kabulto manage its threadbare finances on its own.The United States and Britain, two of the
biggest donors, have already cut aid by up tohalf. International aid groups, which provide alifeline for marginalized Afghans, say funds aredrying up fast. One US non-profit group thatruns 13 schools for 3,000 girls says it hasn’t paidits teachers for more than a year. Propertyprices have slumped as much 50 percent, rentsare down 75 percent by some counts andinvestors have pulled funding from construc-tion projects.
The afghani currency has also fallen and isnow at around 57 to the dollar, from 52 at thestart of 2013. “Investment is mostly on hold inAfghanistan,” the deputy chief of the centralbank, Khan Afzal Hadawal said. Internationalinstitutions expect Afghanistan’s GDP growthto fall from a high of about 14 percent in 2012to about 3.5 percent this year. The World Bankhas said more uncertainty could dampengrowth further this year. The International CrisisGroup think tank said in a report released lastweek that the number of attacks by Islamistinsurgents had risen since the drawdown offoreign troops began, and forecast a bloodyfuture unless there was more foreign assis-tance.
NEW DELHI: Indian senior swayamsevaks, or volunteers, from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the country’sbiggest grassroots religious group, exercise during the Shakha - a gathering of swayamsevaks - in New Delhi. —AFP
NAGPUR: Young men gaze reverently at the flame-shapedmemorial to a Hindu supremacist in the grounds of India’sbiggest grassroots religious organization, which prime minister-elect Narendra Modi joined as a boy. In the city of Nagpur, oppo-site a black-painted statue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) founder Keshav Hedgewar, the solemn tribute to his succes-sor Madhav Golwalkar is a reminder of what critics say is thegroup’s deep-rooted religious prejudice. Back in 1938, Golwalkarsaid India’s non-Hindus must adopt Hindu culture, language andreligion-”they must cease to be foreigners, or may stay in thecountry, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming noth-ing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment”.
Across India, thousands of RSS followers campaigned forModi ahead of his victory last week, which saw his BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) win the first parliamentary majority in 30 years.That effort, as well as longstanding ties with the BJP, raises ques-tions about how much the group will influence its most famousalumnus. “Since a person from RSS is going to be prime minister,we expect he will work not only for the nation, but also for RSS,”said Rajeev Varma, a 23-year-old engineering student who cam-paigned for Modi. “Obviously we feel proud.”
But experts say Modi could disappoint the group and its fourand a half million members, aware that his prospects depend firstand foremost on meeting pledges of growth and development.“He has to win on the economy, and that’s the thing on which hewill be judged,” Christophe Jaffrelot, a long-time expert on theHindu nationalism movement said. “What if he fails to relaunchthe economy? The Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) plank is the planB,” added Jaffrelot, a professor from Sciences Po university in Parisand King’s College London.
The RSS, whose members wear a uniform of khaki shorts andblack hats, describes itself as a cultural outfit devoted to the bet-terment of the nation and upholding Hindu values. Critics decryit as a pseudo-fascist organization that has fuelled religious ten-sions. After helping out as a boy, Modi became a full-time volun-
teer as a young adult-taking the requisite vow of celibacy-formore than 15 years before he joined the BJP. He recently said theRSS “should be appreciated for their good work”. The group iswidely described as an ideological parent of the BJP, althoughvolunteers in Nagpur were wary of discussing the elections.“When the RSS says we are a cultural organization, it actually is,”said Sameer Gautam, 39, who runs a software company-although he joked about “the wall” that comes down on inquir-ing journalists.
AFP was not allowed to film at the RSS headquarters, a close-ly-guarded compound in Nagpur, nor at one of the city’s daily“shakhas”-a combination of physical training, yoga and religiouschanting. “Their approach is extremely secretive. Most of theircommunications are verbal,” said Kumar Ketkar, a political ana-lyst in Mumbai. MG Vaidya, a prominent 91-year-old RSS activist,said it was difficult to understand the group “because it does notfit into the existing models of social, political or religious institu-tions”. “One basic value of Hindu culture is appreciation of theplurality of faith. Not only tolerance but appreciation,” he said.
Remote control?Critics such as Rupa Kulkarni Bodhi, a converted Buddhist
academic, believe a more sinister agenda is at hand. She says the“dream” of the RSS and BJP is “to convert this nation into a Hindunation”. At a rare post-election press conference in Nagpur, RSSgeneral secretary Suresh Joshi denied his organization would bea “remote control” over the new government, although he hint-ed at an advisory role. “If they ask us we will suggest (ideas) tothem,” he said. The RSS has been banned three times since itsinception, including after a former member assassinatedMahatma Gandhi in 1948 and the 1992 demolition of a mosquein Ayodhya which led to nationwide riots. Members have spo-ken out against concessions to religious minorities, homosexual-ity and the special constitutional status of Muslim-majorityKashmir.
India Hindu hardliners see
Modi as ‘one of their own’
Castles in the air: Afghans pay
a heavy price for uncertainty