News

Pakistan and India Agree to “De-Escalate” Tension in Kashmir After U.N.’s Request

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – On Wednesday, India and Pakistan’s chiefs of operation along the Line of Control reached an agreement to “de-escalate” military tensions in Kashmir.  Tensions arose between Pakistan and India after the deaths of two Indian and Pakistani soldiers last week.

Soldiers paying respect to those who have been killed in the dispute. (Photo Courtesy of Aljazeera)

“An understanding has been arrived at between the two director-generals of military operations to de-escalate the situation along the Line of Control,” shared spokesperson Jagdeep Dahiya.

According to BBC News, the military operations’ director of the Pakistani army agreed to the de-escalation after calling his Indian equivalent to “protest strongly” a “ceasefire violation” by Indian soldiers that killed a Pakistani soldier along the Line of Control Tuesday night.

On January 10th, the U.N. urged both countries to ceasefire and initiate dialogue.  The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) made the request even as it received a complaint from Pakistan.  In the complaint, Pakistan claimed that Indian troops had purportedly crossed the Line of Control and “raided” a border post on January 6th. In response, India denied the allegation.

For the past 60 years, Kashmir has been a territory in distress and therefore, violent exchanges are not uncommon. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their separation in 1947, two of which were over the region of Kashmir.

On Tuesday, India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, conveyed that the deaths of Indian soldiers last week, one of which included a beheading, were “unacceptable.”

In response, Pakistani’s Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, stated that India was “war-mongering” and this was “detrimental to the peace process between the two countries.”

According to The Tribune, on Monday, the Indian army’s chief of staff instructed his commanders to give an “aggressive” response to any shots fired by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control.

“We expect our commanders to be aggressive,” General Bikram Singh said prior to a meeting between Indian and Pakistani commanders.  “The orders are very clear: when provoked, I expect my unit commanders should fire back,” continued the general.

Nonetheless, an Indian military source conveyed to AFP that there has been no cross-border firing since the two director-generals spoke.

For more information, please see:

Aljazeera – India and Pakistan ‘to ease’ Kashmir tensions – 16 January 2013

BBC News – Kashmir crisis: Indian and Pakistan agree ‘de-escalation’ – 16 January 2013

The Tribune – Pakistan, India agree to ‘de-escalate’ border tensions – 16 January 2013

The Hindu – U.N. urges India, Pakistan to de-escalate tensions through dialogue – 16 January 2013

 

 

Deadly Wave of Attacks Strike Iraq

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq was struck with a wave of attacks last Wednesday, killing 29 people and injuring 235 people.  The attacks occurred within Baghdad and in northern Iraq.  The attacks are considered, so far, to be the deadliest of the year.

Kirkuk was the site of Wednesday’s deadliest attacks. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Wednesday’s attacks were aimed at Kurdish targets within the north.  In Kirkuk, two suicide bombers targeted an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.  Another blast appeared to target a compound housing local offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish Regional President. Sadiq Omar Rasul, Provincial Health Chief of the region, said that  a car bomb killed at least 26 people and wounded 190 others.

In the town of Tuz Khurmatu, located north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed five people and wounded 40 others.  The attack happened near the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi President.

In Baghdad, officials said that five attacks killed six people, while bombings in the towns of Baiji, Hawija, and Tikrit, all north of Baghdad, killed three people and wounded seven others.

According to an AFP tally, Wednesday’s overall death toll was the highest since December 17.

The attacks occurred a day after the killing of Eifan Saadoun Al-Issawi, a Sunni member of Parliament.  He was killed by a suicide bomber who pretended to meet him and then blew himself up.  The assassination occurred in the Anbar Province west of Baghdad, an area of Iraq which has seen heavy protests by the Sunni minority against the Shi’ite-led government.  “The moment he stepped out of the car to check out this road between Fallujah and Amiriya, at this moment there was a man,” said Sohaib Haqi, an aide to Al-Issawi.  “He came to him, hugged him, said ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is great’), and blew himself up.”  The attack also killed two bodyguards, while several other people within the vicinity of the blast were injured.

On Wednesday, hundreds of mourners attended Al-Issawi’s funeral outside of the predominately Sunni town of Fallujah.  A spokesman for the Anbar Provincial Council said that officials declared a three day mourning period in Al-Issawi’s honor.

The violence follows a political crisis which has pitted Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki against several of his ministers in provincial elections, which measures support given to the ministers respectively in the run up to the general election which occurs next year.  Anti-government demonstrations have also swept the Sunni-majority areas of the nation.  Demonstrators believe that Sunnis have been targeted and arrested by the Shi’ite led government under anti-terror law.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya — Wave of Iraq Attacks Kill 29 — 16 January 2013

Al Jazeera — Deadly Suicide Blasts Strike Iraq’s North — 16 January 2013

Al Bawaba — Iraq’s Protest Region Faces Suicide Bomb Attack — 15 January 2013

BBC News — Iraq Sunni MP Killed by Suicide Bomber — 15 January 2013

France Joins Malian Army Against Militant Rebels

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—French troops have just launched their first ground operation attack against Islamist rebels today, Wednesday, after six days of air strikes. Officials have noted that these air strikes, however, have raised the risk of revenge attacks on French citizens in other parts of Africa. The French ambassador Christian Rouyer told journalists yesterday that, “French interests are threatened all over. Yes we are worried that our interests in Bamako could be targeted by attacks.”

A French army officer talks to his new Malian counterpart. (Photo Courtesy of Voice of America)

This first direct operation involving Western troops brought French soldiers to a desert village in central Mali. The Malian colonel said that his own army’s ground troops have now joined the French forces and encircled the village of Diabaly which had been seized by Islamist fighters the day before. Now, the colonel said, the French-Malian group is engaged in trying to extricate the rebels who had taken over homes in the village.

French President Francois Hollande has about 1,700 troops committed to the mission in Mali, with 800 troops already in the country. Hollande’s goal is to destroy or capture the militants who split the country in two last year, and just last week began moving south toward the capital of Bamako. “Our goal is that when we leave, there will be security in Mali, a legitimate government, and no terrorists threatening the security of Mali,” Hollande said two days ago in Dubai. Hollande also noted that the French forces would remain in Mali until stability returned.

France is not the only country coming to Mali’s aid. West African military chiefs said that the French troops would soon be supported by about 2,000 more troops from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and several other regional powers. Ivory Coast General Soumaila Bakayoko, who presided over a meeting on the regional force in Bamako said, “they are coming to fight and not for a parade. We are coming for battle and that is clear.”

The military conflict in this region broadened as Islamist militants seized a foreign run gas field near the Algeria-Libya border, taking at least 20 hostages, including Americans in order to retaliate against the French intervention in Mali and Algeria’s cooperation in the effort. The French expect that this kind of retaliation will not end here.

 

For further information, please see:

The New York Times – French and Malian Ground Troops Confront Islamists in Seized Mali Village – 16 January 2013

Reuters – France Launches Ground Campaign Against Mali Rebels – 16 January 2013

San Francisco Chronicle – French Ground Forces Move North to Attack Mali Islamist Rebels – 16 January 2013

Voice of America – Africa’s French Citizens Take Islamist Threats in Stride – 16 January 2013

Opposition Leaders Arrested in Sudan

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan — On the night of January 14, Abdul-Aziz Khalid, Chairperson of the Central Council of the National Sudanese Alliance Party, was arrested at his home by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).  Reports state that he is being detained incommunicado in an undisclosed location.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. (Photo Courtesy of IRIN)

Abdul-Aziz Khalid is the sixth political opposition member to be detained by NISS since a coalition of Sudanese political opposition parties and armed rebel groups attended political negotiations in Kampala, Uganda.  Dr. Jamal Idris, Enstar Alagali, Professor Mohamed Zain Alabidein, Dr. Abdulrahim Abdalla, and Hisham Al Mufti are also reportedly being detained by the NISS.  The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) fears that the six detainees are at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment

At the Kampala meeting on January 7, opposition leaders discussed the overthrow of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s regime in order to institute a national democratic alternative.

President al-Bashir has been under international scrutiny over the years for the events transpiring in Darfur.  The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued two arrest warrants for Al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur in 2009 and 2010. The warrants charge him with criminal responsibility on 10 counts, including murder, extermination, forcible transfer of population, torture and rape.

The Kampala negotiations culminated in the adoption of the New Dawn Charter.  The charter calls on parties to work together to topple the regime through either “democratic civil peaceful means” or “revolutionary armed struggle.”  Abdul-Aziz Khalid signed the “New Dawn” document on behalf of the National Sudanese Alliance Party.

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of Sudan has publicly opposed the charter.  Sudanese authorities described the signatories as “traitors” and pledged that 2013 would be a year of “decisive action against armed opposition movements.”  The authorities also accused Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni of playing a “dirty role” in the region, asserting that they are aware of his conspiracies.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) denounced the arrest of several opposition party leaders by security forces.  ANHRI stated that “the security forces’ harassment of the opposition is a serious violation of basic human rights and their freedom to express their political opinions and stances freely and safely.”

This comes at a time when the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan will hold their second summit in a month.  Sudanese President al-Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir are to meet on January 24, in an attempt to resolve tensions over oil, territory, military concerns and other disputes.

For further information, please see:

Sudan Tribune – Sudanese political opposition leaders detained incommunicado and at risk of torture – 15 January 2013

All Africa – Sudan: Security Forces Arrest Opposition Party Leaders – 9 January 2013

Al Monitor – Sudan Crisis Escalates as Dissidents are Arrested in Khartoum – 9 January 2013

Reuters – Leaders of Sudan, South Sudan to Meet in Second Push for Peace – 15 January 2013

Thousands Gather to Protest New Anti-Adoption Law

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – On Sunday, thousands of individuals gathered in Moscow to protest Russia’s new law banning Americans from adopting Russian children. A vast number of individuals showed their outrage with President Vladimir Putin and expressed their rage with his government’s ability to make orphans a counter attack on the United States in a political dispute.

Thousands gather to express anger over new anti-adoption law. (Photo Courtesy of RFE/RL)

The new anti-adoption law was rushed through parliament in response to a recent U.S. law that places sanctions on Russian officials suspected of involvement in human rights abuses.

Despite the winter conditions, police reported that an estimated 9,500 people participated in the march, including many with children and baby strollers. However, opposition organizers put the figure at 30,000 or more.

Protestors continuously shouted “shame on the scum,” and hoisted in the air posters of President Vladimir Putin and members of Russia’s parliament who voted for the retaliation law last month.

Individuals who oppose the new adoption ban believe it victimizes children to make a political point. Furthermore, the ban is evidence that Putin and his parliament have lost the moral right to maintain power in Russia.

Former Duma Deputy, Gennady Gudkov, also attended the march. She stated, “I disagree with this law, I think that the authorities now are in a state of hysteria, they are totally lost. They don’t understand what to do with the country, for the country, for the people.

Interestingly, the loudest voice to oppose the new anti-adoption law is a blind Russian high schooler. Natasha Pisarenko blogged sarcastically, “Mr. Putin was ‘saving children from American evil,’ and Russians rarely adopt disabled children because the country’s medical system is backward and can’t take care of them. They [the children] die because Russia doesn’t have modern medicine.”

Concluding, Natasha challenged Mr. Putin to adopt five or 10 children with serious congenital disorders.

The Kremlin, however, has used the adoption controversy to accuse the opposition as “unpatriotic and in the pay of the Americans.”

Likewise, Russian lawmakers justified the adoption ban by 19 deaths of Russian-born children who were adopted by American parents. The law is named after Dima Yakovlev, a boy who died after his adoptive American father left him locked in a sweltering car. Lawmakers believe U.S. Courts and police are too lenient with the deceased children’s American parents.

When Putin signed the law at the end of December, he also ordered improvements of conditions to be made for orphaned children, and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, encouraged Russians to adopt.

For further information, please see:

The Washington Times – Blind teen sees inequality in Russia’s adoption ban – 14 January 2013

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Thousands March in Moscow Against Adoption Ban – 13 January 2013

Reuters – Russians protest against ban on adoptions by Americans – 13 January 2013

USA Today – Thousands march to protest Russia’s adoption ban – 13 January 2013