Archive for June, 2009

NEW DELHI, June 23 (Reuters) – The growing Maoist insurgency in India over large swathes of the mineral-rich countryside could soon hurt some industrial investment plans just as the country suffers an economic slowdown. The government banned the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on Monday, bracketing it with Islamist militant groups, but experts said the ban would have little impact in the battle against the rebels. On the ground, police fight Maoist insurgents with outdated weapons and are often outnumbered by rebels, who are skilled in jungle warfare and are well-equipped with rocket launchers, automatic rifles and explosives.

Last week, hundreds of Maoists declared the town of Lalgarh about 170 km (100 miles) from Kolkata, capital of West Bengal, as a “liberated zone”, sparking unease among investors. While the economic impact may be small compared with India’s trillion dollar economy, the insurgency and the sense that it is worsening signals that India does not fully control its own territory and adds to risks for companies mulling investments. The Lalgarh incident worried the country’s third-largest steel producer, JSW Steel (JSTL.BO), which is setting up a $7-billion, 10-million tonne steel plant near Lalgarh.

“We are waiting and watching, so are the others,” Biswadip Gupta, chief executive officer of the company’s West Bengal operations, told Reuters on Tuesday. “On top of the economic woes, you have the problem of Maoists now. It is very jittery,” Gupta said by telephone from Kolkata. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described Maoists as the biggest internal security threat since independence, and this year more than 300 people, mostly police, have been killed.

BUSINESS ALREADY HIT

The Maoists started their armed struggle in West Bengal’s Naxalbari town in the late 1967, and have expanded their support among villagers by tapping into resentment at the government’s recent pro-industry push. [ID:nDEL189848] The rebels, estimated to have 22,000 fighters, operate in large parts of the eastern, central and southern countryside, and officials say they are now spreading to cities and bigger towns. The Maoists, who are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and the disenfranchised, regularly attack railway lines and factories, aiming to cripple economic activity.

“It is still a law and order problem, but it has not been taken seriously and can have serious consequences if not dealt with properly,” said Anjan Roy, analyst at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, referring to growth of industry. The effect of the Maoist insurgency has already taken its toll on business. In mineral-rich Orissa state, bauxite production at state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) (NALU.BO) has fallen by 20 percent since an April attack by Maoists in one of their mines.

The company has now reduced the storage of explosives at its mines, fearing attacks from the rebels. “We are more vulnerable and we have to remain alert,” said P.K. Mahapatra, the alumina company’s executive director of mines and refinery. A strike by Maoists in east and central India, against police action in Lalgarh, has hit supplies of iron ore and coal, a senior railway official said. “Exports have also been hit and if supplies get cut off in this manner, at least three steel plants in the region will be greatly affected soon,” Soumitra Majumdar, spokesman for the South Eastern Railways, said from Kolkata.

Rebels sided with farmers during violent protests by farmers, which forced the scrapping of a Tata Motors’ (TAMO.BO) Nano car plant and a $3 billion chemicals hub complex in West Bengal. “Existing industry may survive, but new money will not come in very easily and investors will be very scared unless the state does something quickly to control the Maoists,” said Ajai Sahni of the Institute of Conflict Management, a New Delhi-based think-tank. (Additional reporting by Jatindra Dash; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Sugita Katyal)

David Rohde was held for seven months

They played game after game of draughts with their Taleban captors until the men became drowsy, then made their big move.  With the gunmen asleep on the floor beside them, the two hostages crept to the window, dropped a length of old rope they had hidden during months of captivity, shimmied down and raced to freedom.  The extraordinary escape of a Pulitzer prize-winning American journalist and his Afghan translator from Islamic militants was described yesterday for the first time.

David Rohde, 41, a New York Times reporter, and Tahir Luddin, 34, an Afghan journalist who has worked for The Times for several years, fled after being held for seven months in a lawless region in northwest Pakistan described as “the most dangerous place on Earth” by US officials and a haven for al-Qaeda and the Taleban.  Mr Luddin told how they sneaked past sleeping guards at the Taleban prison near the town of Miram Shah after tiring out the men with repeated games of draughts. He described the attempt as a “suicide mission” that he felt was almost certainly doomed to fail. But after months in captivity the pair believed that they would be killed if they did make a bid for freedom.  At the time of his disappearance Mr Rohde was working on a book about US involvement in Afghanistan and had hired the services of two Afghan employees of this newspaper — Mr Luddin, 34, and Assadullah Mangal, 22, a driver — for a day’s work. They disappeared on November 10 last year an hour’s drive south of Kabul, en route to a prearranged interview with a Taleban commander.

Their captors proved to be the Haqqani network, a ruthless al-Qaeda-linked offshoot of the Taleban that is believed to have been involved in last year’s kidnap of Sean Langan, a Channel 4 reporter. The Times and other media organisations did not publicise the kidnap so as not to endanger the men’s lives further.  The two men spent weeks planning how they might escape after hiding a length of old rope from their captors. On Friday night they challenged the guards to repeated games of draughts before going to bed at midnight. An hour later with the guards asleep on the floor around them, the two lowered themselves out of a window. The rope was several metres short of the ground and the pair were forced to drop. Mr Luddin injured his foot and was and barely able to walk. The noise went unheard, covered by the clanking of an old air conditioning unit.

Once on the ground outside the jail the two men remained convinced that they would be caught by the 150 or more Taleban fighters posted in the area. However, Mr Luddin had scouted the area beyond their prison by persuading his guards that he had an interest in cricket, which was played on nearby waste ground.  They were also helped because a threatened Pakistani military assault on North Waziristan had drawn some fighters away from the area. After stumbling through the dark they reached a Pakistani border scout outpost. They were almost fatally mistaken for Taleban suicide bombers before being transferred to US custody. “All the way through we were both just praying to God for our survival,” said Mr Luddin, whose location is being kept secret for his own safety. The third group member, Mr Mangal, decided to remain behind.  During their seven months in captivity the three prisoners were frequently threatened with death, Mr Luddin said. They were also forced to appear in videos sent to Western news outlets and The New York Times which showed their increasing mental strain as they read lists of demands.

Mr Luddin said that the one positive aspect of his ordeal was the food, which was always excellent and accompanied by mineral water.  Negotiations for the release of all three men were conducted by the family of Mr Rohde in line with a policy of the US Government not to negotiate with terrorists. Those efforts were frustrated by the huge and varying demands of the kidnappers, who asked for £25 million and the release of prisoners in US and Afghan custody.  Mr Rohde had been married only a few weeks when he was kidnapped. In a statement released on Saturday his family said: “It is hard to describe the enormous relief we felt at hearing the news of David’s escape and knowing he is safe. Every day during these past seven months, we have hoped and prayed for this moment.”

YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — The leaders of India and Pakistan met Tuesday in Russia, their first interaction since the terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai last November, Russian officials said. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Pakistan’s president that terror attacks must not be launched from Pakistani soil, Russian news agencies reported. “My mandate is to declare that Pakistan’s territory must not be used for terrorism,” state-run RIA-Novosti and ITAR-Tass quoted Singh as saying after shaking hands with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

The two met on the sidelines of summits in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, according to Russian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to announce the information on the record. India accuses a Pakistan-based militant group of sending the teams of gunmen that rampaged through Mumbai in a three-day siege that left 166 people dead. Pakistani officials have acknowledged the November attacks were partly plotted on their soil. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi downplayed Singh’s reported remark and said the meeting itself was a positive development, the reports said. “I think the very fact that the two leaders are meeting at this summit for the first time since the tragic incident in Mumbai is positive,” RIA-Novosti and ITAR-Tass quoted Qureshi as saying in Yekaterinburg.

India and Pakistan have observer status in the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which wrapped up a two-day summit Tuesday. Singh was also taking part in a summit of the BRIC group linking Brazil, Russia, India and China. In a speech to India’s parliament last week, Singh said that “it is in our vital interest therefore to try again to make peace with Pakistan” and urged Pakistan to take “strong, effective and sustained action” to prevent the use of its territory for terror. “If the leaders of Pakistan have the courage, the determination and the statesmanship to take this road to peace, I wish to assure them that we will meet them more than half way,” Singh said at the time.

Iran’s spontaneous street demonstrations over Friday’s “stolen election” has ignited a storm of information on social networking sites such as Twitter and the photographic facilities of Flickr.

Some of those involved in the protests in Tehran have turned to the hugely popular English comedian, Stephen Fry to get the message out: “Our Iranian friends can access Twitter from 148.233.239.24 Port:80 in Tehran. Can avoid govt filters from here. #iranelection.”

Senator McCain , the Republican candidate at the last election, announced his intention to give an interview to CNN through Twitter.

Inevitably the best information came from people on the ground. One of the most followed Twitter sources was persiankiwi who links to the official website of Mirhossein Mousavi, the former prime minister who has declared that he was cheated out of an election victory: “Only official march today is valli asr. others may be a trap – avoid others – #Iranelection.”

Mr Mousavi’s own official campaign ghalamnews, posting at carried words of caution to demonstrators not to let passions get out of hand, as well as announcements of events: URGNT@ ALL jornlsts, Tday 15:30 Prss Conf. in Tehran, Sadr MotrWay, Kave Shomali Blvd, Roshanayi St, Bahar Shomali St. Num. 9 #IranElection

Kenta Kahar from Dubai was among the many accounts specially set up to focus on the elections. Its bio was “update u with the latest news about and from Iran.” It carried news of abusive behaviour by the authorities: “#iranelection yesterday my friend saw a girl that fell into street and a guardians stands beside her and shoot into her leg:( (jenah st)”

Despite three decades of emnity between Iran under its Islamic rulers and the “Great Satan” there are American residents of Tehran. Some are taking an active interest in the demonstrations. A big issue is the generation of proxy sites that act as conduits for users to get around the censorship firewall the authorities have erected. Helpful American was one of the most prominent. “I’m going netdead for around 4 or 5 hours. Thank you to all who RTed, and gave prayers to lost allies.”

Twitter users brought news of convulsions from within the regime both from within and without. Mitra Safavi, a user based in Australia, posted a headline from the Washington Post. Rumours of cracks within the ranks revolutionary guard (Washington Post – EN)

Meanwhile persiankiwi had a report that Iran’s regular army – not the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard – was the target of a crackdown: “unconfirmed rumours – army generals arrested – many rumours of coupdetat by army – #Iranelection.”

Perhaps the most insightful coverage came from a woman who described herself as an ordinary woman. Shahrzad linked to a blog that “offers a glimpse into the life of an Iranian woman and her honest view on world affairs and issues which concerns her country, Iran. Be prepared for beautiful prose, heart-wrenching stories, spiritual-awakening and thought-provoking entries.”

Shahzad protested the demonisation of the demonstrators: “Separating rioters from supporters: RT @zahrahb Iranian national TV said: armed forces were attacked by RIOTERS yesterday! #iranelection.”

Some such as Rigged Elections brought news of trouble from around Iran and other fallout: “News from Shiraz: 2 Students were killed on Sunday night. This is the main reason for the Dean’s resignation.”