DTN News: Pak Army May Be Paying Compensation To Slain 26/11 Terrorists' Kin Says US Lawmaker
Source: DTN News / The Economic Times Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN
(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 14, 2010: In a remark that further implicates Pakistan's domineering military in charges of supporting terrorism against India, a US lawmaker has alleged that it may be paying compensation to families of terrorists who
attacked Mumbai on 26/11.
The stunning charge came from Congressman Gary Ackerman in course of a hearing he convened on the Lashkar-e-Taiba in his capacity if chairman of a House sub-panel on South Asia on Thursday.
"There is, in fact, no reason to doubt that Pakistan's military is likely paying compensation to the families of the terrorists killed in the Mumbai attacks," Ackerman said in his prepared remarks at the start of the hearing.
The lawmaker did not elaborate on the charge against the Pakistani military, which if true would be extremely provocative for India at a time New Delhi is pressing Pakistan to take action against masterminds of 9/11. His office had not returned calls at the time of writing.
Nine of the ten Pakistani fidayeen (suicidal) terrorists who attacked Mumbai landmarks eventually died after killing 173 people. A lone captured survivor Ajmal Kasab, is now on trial in Mumbai, largely disowned by Pakistan.
Ackerman’s remark about the Pakistani military’s complicity in terrorism was just one of several at the hearing by lawmakers and expert witnesses that repeatedly implicated country’s Army and intelligence agencies and barely stopped short of calling Pakistan a terrorist state.
The only token qualification to such characterization came from Shuja Nawaz, a Pakistani-American witness from Atlantic Council, who agreed that LeT was a ''Frankenstein's monster created for the purpose of assisting the Kashmiri freedom movement'' but insisted it ''ended up... with an independent agenda.''
"Successive civil and military leaders of
Pakistan supported the movement as a strategic asset to counter a powerful India... by waging a war of "a thousand cuts"' Nawaz, who is the brother of a former Pakistan Army chief Asif Nawaz Janjua conceded, while contending that ''Over time, however, the sponsored organisation took a life of its own.''
Broadly expressing dismay over the Obama administration’s lackadaisical approach to the Pakistani military’s use of terrorism, the hearing also challenged the notion that the
Kashmir issue was the root cause of the problem between India and Pakistan, a proposition advanced only by Congressman Dan Burton, a long-time supporter of Pakistan.
Congressman Ackerman described the idea that resolving the Kashmir issue will end terrorism as ''dangerous nonsense.'' ''The LeT's true goal is not Kashmir, it is India. And the LeT is not shy about announcing that its intention is to establish an Islamic state in all South
Asia,'' Ackerman said. The witnesses broadly agreed with this assessment.
"There is no doubt in my mind that we have to find ways to resolve the issues relating to Kashmir. But I think resolving Kashmir is not going to solve the problems relating to LeT," Ashley Tellis, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said.
"The murder and mayhem is being conducted by groups that have absolutely no connections to Kashmir. To my mind that is story, the fact that this is a group that has operations in 21 countries, that has an ideology that is completely anti-Western, that is opposed to modernity and secularism and all the kinds of values that we take for granted. This group is not going to be satisfied by dealing with the issue of Kashmir," he added.
Heritage’s Lisa Curtis challenged Congressman Dan Burton’s proposition the terrorism problem would not be solved without resolving the future of Kashmir through a plebiscite, saying in her
travels to the region she hasn’t heard any support for the idea of a plebiscite and even Gen Musharraf had dropped the demand in favour of more forward-looking solutions.
Source: DTN News / Int'l Media & AFP
(NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - March 15, 2010: China faces a difficult year as it works to maintain economic growth and spur development, but will not be bullied into changing its exchange rate policy, Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday. 
Customers watch the live broadcast of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's press conference after the closing of the National People's Congress in a shop on March 14, 2010 in Miyi County of Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, China. Wen said adjusting the economic structure and transforming economic growth pattern will be top priorities. China has concluded its annual parliamentary sessions, the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
In a wide-ranging press conference at the end of China's annual session of parliament, Wen said Beijing was not ready to withdraw stimulus measures put in place in late 2008 to pull the world's third-largest economy out of crisis.
He also warned Beijing would not bow to foreign pressure to boost the value of its currency, nor allow the United States to push it too far on the thorny issues of Taiwan and Tibet.
"This year is going to be the most complicated year for the economy," Wen told hundreds of reporters gathered at the Great Hall of the People for his only formal press conference of the year.
"We will maintain the continuity and stability of our macroeconomic policies," he said, adding that as circumstances changed, Beijing would make its policies "more flexible".
The Communist government launched a 586-billion-dollar stimulus package in late 2008 to boost domestic demand as a way to make up for falling exports, which plummeted when US and European markets tumbled into recession.
Beijing has since returned to double-digit growth -- a blistering 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 -- prompting fears of economic overheating and asset bubbles that could lead to a bust.
Inflation rose for the fourth straight month in February while new lending slowed sharply, official data showed last week, leading analysts to predict Beijing could wait a bit longer before implementing tough tightening measures.
Wen said China's focus remained on consolidating its economic recovery, adding that "the main global economic problems have not completely disappeared."
China's trade partners have repeatedly called for Beijing to allow the yuan to appreciate, saying it is kept artificially low to boost exports.
President Barack Obama last week called on China to adopt a "market-oriented" exchange rate policy, which he said would make an "essential contribution" to rebalancing the world economy after the crisis.
But Wen rejected those calls, saying the currency's value was not to blame for foreign trade deficits.
"We are opposed to the practice of engaging in mutual finger-pointing among countries or taking strong measures to force other countries to appreciate their currencies," he said.
The premier said China had made "strong efforts" since the outbreak of the international financial crisis to keep the yuan at a "stable level".
The value of the yuan has become a major sticking point in relations between China and the United States, which are badly strained over a number of issues including trade disputes, Tibet, Taiwan and Internet freedom.
Wen also said US arms sales to Taiwan and Obama's meeting last month with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, violated China's sovereignty and it was up to Washington to repair the damage.
He reiterated the government's resolve to tackle a widening rich-poor gap increasingly seen as a threat to social stability.
China's "economic and social development must from now on pay attention to the poor and the disadvantaged as they are the majority," he said.
The parliament pledged during its session to widen the nation's much-criticised social safety net, increase representation from the peasant countryside and take other measures to spread wealth more evenly.
Calls have been mounting for the government to address a disparity that has seen rural regions largely left behind in China's economic boom and is increasingly viewed as a potential spark for unrest.
Chavez reiterated Saturday that he turned to China and Russia for weapons because the United States has barred arms sales to Venezuela. Several planes flew overhead during the ceremony at an air base in the city of Barquisimeto.
Venezuela has bought more than $4 billion worth of Russian arms since 2005, including Sukhoi fighter jets, attack helicopters and assault rifles. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is to visit Venezuela soon. Chavez has said it could be next week, though no date has been announced.