Sunday, May 17, 2009

DTN News: India TODAY May 17, 2009 - India 2009 General Elections Over, The Victor 'Congress Party' Setting Up New Government with Its Allies

DTN News: India TODAY May 17, 2009 - India 2009 General Elections Over, The Victor 'Congress Party' Setting Up New Government with Its Allies
*DTN News Congratulate Congress Party (Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi) and support group the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for winning Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament - 2009 Indian election (DTN News Defense-Technology News .... May 17 2009)
(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI - May 17, 2009: India's Defence Minister A. K. Antony, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in New Delhi May 17, 2009.
The ruling Congress-led alliance, toasting a sweeping victory in a general election, began choosing on Sunday a small group of allies to support the coalition and focus on reviving a slowing economy.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY May 17, 2009- Afghan National Army (ANA) Trying To Win Support By Donating School Supplies To Local Population Of Korengal

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY May 17, 2009 - Afghan National Army (ANA) Trying To Win Support By Donating School Supplies To Local Population Of Korengal Valley In Kunar Province
(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - May 17, 2009: Afghan National Army (ANA) commander Mobarak Shah and other ANA soldiers distribute U.S. donated school supplies to students in the village of Aliabad in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Saturday, May 16, 2009.
The chalk board of a primary school classroom in the village of Aliabad in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province on Saturday, May 16, 2009.

DTN News: Pakistan TODAY May 17, 2009 - Pakistani Taliban Holed Up In Swat Valley, Pakitani Army On The Offensive And Millions Of People Displaced

DTN News: Pakistan TODAY May 17, 2009 - Pakistani Taliban Holed Up In Swat Valley, Pakitani Army On The Offensive And Millions Of People Displaced
(NSI News Source Info) PESHAWAR, Pakistan - May 17, 2009: A soldier keeps guard at the entrance to a UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) camp, where hundreds of evacuees from Swat were seeking shelter, in the outskirts of Peshawar May 17, 2009.
The Pakistani government on Sunday urged people stranded by the military offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley to try and get out. The army launched the offensive more than a week ago to stop the spread of Taliban influence.

Sri Lanka Nears End To 26-Year Conflict As Rebels Lay Down Arms

Sri Lanka Nears End To 26-Year Conflict As Rebels Lay Down Arms
(NSI News Source Info) May 17, 2009: Tamil Tiger rebels abandoned the defense of their self-declared homeland, handing President Mahinda Rajapaksa the task of unifying Sri Lanka while deflecting claims his army committed a “bloodbath.” Sri Lankans display the national flags and celebrate after President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared victory in the country's quarter-century civil war with the separatist rebels, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, May 17, 2009. The last remaining civilians trapped by the fighting in northern Sri Lanka poured out of the war zone Sunday, clearing the way for government forces to wipe out the remaining pockets of rebel resistance, the military said. “This battle has reached its bitter end,” Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s head of international diplomatic relations, said in a statement, according to TamilNet, a Web site that gives reports from the Tamil perspective. The rebels will “silence” their guns to save civilians, mostly Tamils, trapped in the war zone. Ignoring calls for a cease-fire led by the United Nations, Rajapaksa’s government pressed ahead with its military offensive to end the three-decade separatist campaign that has claimed 100,000 lives. At their peak, the rebels controlled a quarter of Sri Lanka’s territory and sent suicide squads by land, sea and air to strike the capital, Colombo. Soldiers are hunting the last Tamil Tiger fighters hiding in heavily mined land on the northeastern coast near Mullaitivu, the Defense Ministry said early today. More than 70,000 civilians were rescued from the rebels in past 72 hours “despite the speculations of a ‘bloodbath’ and a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ at the final military push” by some aid organizations, the ministry said. The UN on May 11 said the conflict had become a “bloodbath” after more than 380 civilians died that weekend. Dramatic Defeat “Politically, in the eyes of the people, it is for the first time that someone did something so dramatic as this, defeating the so-called invincible LTTE militarily,” N. Manoharan, senior fellow at the Center for Land Warfare Studies in New Delhi, said in a telephone interview. “That increases the chances of Rajapaksa becoming the president for a second term and he may announce parliamentary elections soon.” Rajapaksa, whose term ends in November, on May 16 said the army defeated the rebels “after 30 long years.” The UN and its affiliated organizations should “understand the suffering” of people in regions affected by terrorism and pressure to contain military operations can be very “frustrating” as it gives a new lease of life to the terrorists, he said. Rajapaksa will give a televised address to Parliament on the conflict at 9:30 a.m. Colombo time tomorrow. The fate of LTTE founder Velupillai Prabhakaran is unknown and Tamil Tiger leaders are believed to be hiding in a 1.5 square kilometer (0.6 square mile) area in Mullaitivu district, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said in a phone interview. Power Sharing The government is working on a political settlement to resolve the ethnic conflict that would involve both devolution and sharing of power with the local administration in Tamil- dominated areas in the north and east, Tissa Vitharana, chairman of the All Party Representative Committee drawing up the plan, said in a Jan. 8 interview. Sri Lanka wants the settlement to be based on a 1987 constitutional amendment on power sharing. The amendment, which came out of a peace accord with India, established provincial councils to assume some of the central government’s role. The council for the Tamil-speaking northeastern province didn’t function because of the conflict and was suspended in 1990. Rajapaksa was elected following parliamentary elections in November 2005. Parliament’s term ends in April 2010. “I think he will adapt a very pragmatic approach to address what the Tamil people want,” Jehan Perera, director of the National Peace Council, a Sri Lankan non-governmental advocacy organization, said in a phone interview from Colombo. “His primary interests will be to maintain his popularity and support base amongst the Sinhalese,” Perera said. This means he will not go out of his way to address Tamil grievances. “His overriding concern will be to retain Sinhalese majority support.” Political Solution Tamils made up 11.9 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 20 million in 2001 and the Sinhalese almost 74 percent, according to a census that year. The government says eradicating terrorism will allow work to begin on a durable political solution to the demands of the Tamil people. The Tamil people will have to “reconcile themselves” to the loss of their property, lives, villages and towns in the conflict and “having obtained no political concessions as a result,” Perera said. “They will now have to look at political means rather than violence to achieve their rights and the position they want in Sri Lanka.” Eastern Province The LTTE, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India, was driven out of the Eastern Province in July 2007, three years after one of Prabhakaran’s commanders in the region, Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan, better known by his nom de guerre Colonel Karuna, broke away. Karuna may oversee the reconstruction of the former LTTE territory after he was appointed minister of national integration in March. “Military triumphalism will drive the political package,” Manoharan said. “If one looks at history, when one party is convincingly defeated, they have not been treated with dignity. If the Sinhala regime treats the Tamil community with magnanimity then it is a win-win situation.” Rajapaksa’s government ended a 2002 cease-fire with the Tamil Tigers a year ago and began military operations to capture their bases in the north. Prabhakaran, 54, founded the LTTE during the 1970s to fight for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka’s north and east. He led the secessionist campaign from jungle hideouts in the north since 1983, when the first landmine attack on the army killed 13 soldiers. Headquarters Lost The Tamil Tigers were pushed to the brink of defeat when the army seized their political headquarters, Kilinochchi, on Jan. 2. A week later the rebels lost a strategic causeway, Elephant Pass, which links the northern Jaffna Peninsula with the rest of the island. The last northeastern garrison of the rebels fell on March 4. An undated picture supplied by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence shows the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran (L) and his wife Mathivathani, from a collection of photographs that soldiers said were discovered in a "hideout" in northern Sri Lanka. There was still no confirmed word on the fate of Prabhakaran, who built the LTTE into one of the world's most violent insurgent groups through hundreds of suicide bombings and assassinations that earned it a terrorist designation in more than 30 countries. Military sources on May 17, 2009 told Reuters a body believed to be his was found. Prabhakaran had vowed never to be taken alive. Tens of thousands of civilians fled the war zone and are housed in government-run camps in the north and east of the country. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on May 14 that aid could no longer be delivered in the war zone because of fighting. With rebel-held areas cleared, Sri Lanka may permit international aid agencies to enter, Perera said. “The government ideally has no reason now to prevent anyone from coming in.” “The humanitarian crisis is very precarious,” Manoharan said. “Rajapaksa will have to see that civilians get at least the basic essentials.”

Indian Election Commission Announces Final Results Of General Elections

Indian Election Commission Announces Final Results Of General Elections
*DTN News Congratulate Congress Party (Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi) and support group the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for winning Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament - 2009 Indian election (DTN News Defense-Technology News .... May 17 2009)
(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI - May 17, 2009: The Election Commission of India Sunday formally announced final results for 541 of the 543 elected seats in the Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi thanked the people for a "massive mandate" The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress party has won 261 seats, followed by the National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with 159 seats, according to the election commission. The Congress won 205 seats alone, the BJP 116 seats alone. Counting in two seats had to be stopped Saturday as the electronic voting machines had developed snags, said the election commission. The two seats should be from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Third Front has won 80 seats, with the Communist Party of India-Marxist obtaining 16 seats, and the Bahujan Samaj Party, or all society party, 21 seats. The Fourth Front has won 26 seats, with the Samajwadi Party, or socialist party, 22 seats and Rashtriya Janata Dal party led by four seats. Other small regional parties won 15 seats.