Peaceful resolution of burning issues

PAK-CHINA Joint Communique issued on Saturday on the conclusion of the visit to Pakistan of Chinese President Hu Jintao stresses among others the need for seeking resolution of international disputes through negotiations. It rejects use of force or threat to use of force to settle burning disputes. In the context of the ongoing peace process in South Asia, President Hu had declared the other day in New Delhi that he was ready to play a role in facilitating settlement of outstanding issues between two nuclear-armed neighbours. The People’s Republic of China the emerging super power with a population of over 1.3 billion, is supportive of efforts aimed at resolution of regional and international issues. Pakistan as compared to China is a tiny country but the manner in which the leadership of the two countries has all along endeavoured to build on their most friendly ties and expanding cooperation in various areas including economy, defence production, communication, nuclear energy, etc., is a shining example for other nations to follow.
The joint communique is doubly significant against the background of spiralling violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, stepped up Israeli atrocities in Palestine, American threats to use of force against Iran and North Vietnam and Washington’s aggressive posture on various international disputes. NWFP Governor, has declared hat Washington can never win the war in Afghanistan and has advised it to take the course of diplomacy and negotiations to help bring peace to the war-torn land. In Iraq, the US continues to face reverses as the bloodshed is mounting by the hour. The military might of the sole super power has dragged the unfortunate land to the brink of a civil war which is taking an enormous toll of life. It seems the only honourable way for the Americans is to pull out of Iraq to enable the Iraqis to settle their post-Saddam problems. The use of force has to end in Iraq to give it a chance to survive. ‘
In the case of Iranian and North Korean nuclear crisis, the Americans should be well advised to open the dialogue directly with Tehran and Pyongyang. The overwhelming majority of people even in the United States want Bush Administration to start direct talks with the two Governments. After its longer military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as compared to its participation in World War II, US Government must have realized the futility of the use of force. It is far from achieving its declared mission and talks alone appear to be the only prudent option. The Americans had to pay a huge cost for their military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan and they should avoid their continuing losses through embarking upon the path of diplomacy.
Time and again well-meaning world statesmen including President Pervez Musharraf have advised the Americans to eliminate root causes of international terrorism through talks. By doing justice can we make the world worth living in peace. The use of force negates justice at international level. The sooner the Americans realize this better will it be for them and for the rest of mankind.
 

A murder mystery Kremlin can solve

THE short but eventful life of Alexander Litvinenko reads like a John Le Carre thriller. Only real life is nastier than fiction. There is no doubt now that the former KGB official paid with his life for taking on President Putin.
Litvinenko fell out with his masters after he confronted them with the evidence of the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings that killed over 300 people and which Kremlin blamed on Chechen separatists. Moscow used the apartment bombings to launch a murderous crackdown in Chechnya which killed hundreds of innocent people. Litvinenko, who sought and got political asylum in the UK in 2000, later published a book accusing Kremlin of involvement in the blowing up of apartment blocks in Moscow and Volgodonsk in 1999.
Of course, Litvinenko was soon arrested for ‘exceeding his authority’ and prosecuted. But he was acquitted. His cat-and-mouse games with Kremlin continued until he defected to Britain in 2000. The rest, as they say, is history — or rather was history.
However, if Russian agencies or their masters in Moscow believe the assassination of Litvinenko has eliminated another source of criticism against Putin, they are mistaken. In fact, as Litvinenko promised in his last statement, his killing has given birth to a rising chorus of protests that “will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.”
The circumstances and manner of Litvinenko’s killing — ingestion of highly radioactive polonium-210 — bear a distinct stamp of Soviet-style clever killings routinely carried out during the Cold War.
Although the Soviet Union is long dead and the KGB has been disbanded, the KGB mindset has apparently survived. Perhaps the fact that Putin himself is a former KGB official — there are many ex KGB operatives manning key positions in Kremlin — is responsible for this state of affairs.
Litvinenko is not the first to suffer Putin’s wrath. Last month, Anna Politkovskaya, the fearless Russian journalist, who like Litvinenko crossed Putin’s path by reporting Russian army’s atrocities against a helpless people in Chechnya, was gunned down at the doorstep of her apartment. This after Politkovskaya survived an attempt on her life by, hold your breath, poisoning. Earlier, Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko, a strident critic of Russia, narrowly escaped death when he was poisoned at a lunch with pro-Moscow officials. In 2004, exiled Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was assassinated in Qatar. All this makes it hard to accept Moscow’s claim that it had given up foreign assassinations ‘a long time ago’.

—Khaleej Times