Asia News Digest
British Imperialist Sorry for Not Breaking Up Sri Lanka
March 24 (EIRNS)Speaking at a British Tamil Forum in Harrow, England, urging a ceasefire in Sri Lanka to protect the Tamil Tiger terrorists, Conservative Party politician Dr. Rachel Joyce apologized for the error of Colonial Britain in making a unitary Ceylon (now, Sri Lanka) out of two nations, the Tamils and the Sinhalese.
The British Tamil Forum has called for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka and initiating peace talks; demanded that Sri Lanka allow access by international humanitarian organizations and UN agencies; demanded to put the Sri Lanka issue on the UN Security Council's Agenda; and urged the government of Sri Lanka to allow a human rights monitoring mission, under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Endorsing the Forum's demand, the Tory Member of Parliament said: "The Tamil people have lived on the island currently called Sri Lanka for millenniain their own contiguous, distinct, geographical territory. They lay claim only to the territory they have historically lived in. In fact, the 3 million Tamils of the island constituted a self-governing nation until invaded and occupied by Colonial powersin particular Britain, who amalgamated them with the Sinhala nation purely for convenience. In retrospect, this cultural naiveté was a mistake that has caused problems since independence. I would like to apologize for the British part in that error."
British-Run Terrorism Center Found in Bangladesh
March 25 (EIRNS)An orphanage owned by Green Crescent, a charity run from London, was raided by Bangladesh security forces on March 24. The raid netted enough explosives and other equipment to make several hundred grenades. "We found some ordinary Islamic books, but others that are in line with extremists like Osama bin Laden. We found small armsabout nine or ten in totalplus equipment to make small arms, about 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two walkie-talkies, two remote control devices, and four sets of army uniforms," Lt. Col. Munir Haque, an officer involved in the operation, told the media. Bangladeshi media reported that security forces suspected the orphanage was used by Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned militant group, for arming and training terrorists.
Although Dhaka has not linked the finding of this bomb factory with the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed and her Army chief during the killing of some 70 senior Army officers in February, it is likely a part of the same Saudi-British network.
Green Crescent is the creation of a British Muslim of Bangladeshi origin, Faisal Mostafa, who was picked up in Britain in 2002, along with accomplice Moinul Abedin, for having bomb-making equipment, electronic devices, and gloves containing traces of a chemical known as HMTD, a high explosive. While Abedin was given a 20-year jail term, Faisal was allowed to go free. It is evident that Faisal was protected by the British intelligence service MI5 for what he was planning to accomplish in Bangladesh.
Faisal's uncle, Maj. Hafizuddin Ahmed, who lives in London, was involved in a counter-coup that brought down the pro-Mujibur Rehman (father of Sheikh Hasina Wazed) government in the 1970s. The counter-coup involved killings of top leaders inside a Dhaka jail. He was reportedly involved in those killings.
Holbrooke Points to 'Gulf' Funding of Terrorism
March 26 (EIRNS)Less than 24 hours before U.S. President Barack Obama was scheduled to unveil his administration's Afghanistan-Pakistan policy, his envoy to Afghanistan-Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, while briefing NATO officials in Brussels this week, said the prime source of funding for the Taliban is not narcotics, but private individuals in the Persian Gulf region, according to a Western diplomat cited by the Financial Times of London. No further details were given. EIR has reported on the Saudi funding of terrorists through its Wahhabi network of religious fundamentalists.
Another official attending the meeting said Holbrooke had suggested that much of the funding from poppy production appeared to go to individuals linked in some way to the Afghan government. There is real concern about funding for extremists in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region coming from the Gulf, which rivals or exceeds the money they are getting from drugs, said another diplomat, quoting estimates of $150-300 million for insurgents' drug cash.
Saudi funding of terrorism for the purpose of spreading Wahhabism and destroying nation-states is a conscious policy of Riyadh, and seconded by Kuwait. Saudi funding is destroying Pakistan, a long-time ally of the United States. The Saudis, in alliance with Britain, are also funding terrorists in India and Bangladesh. Recently, Riyadh was deeply involved in a failed attempt to assassinate Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.
In the Bush Administration, Stuart Levey, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, who retains his post with the Obama Administration, has spoken out on a number of occasions against the Saudi funding of terror. He is on record saying: "If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia." No one identified by the United States and the United Nations as a terror financier has been prosecuted by the Saudis, he stated.
Large Chinese Investment in IMF Discussed
March 25 (EIRNS)Yuan Gangming of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicts that "China may offer US$100 billion in additional financing to the International Monetary Fund during the upcoming G-20 summit in London, giving the agency more ammunition to fight the unfolding global financial and economic crisis," according to China Daily. The article adds that "reform in the IMF ... is expected to be a focal point" of the meeting, and complains about the disproportionally small say that China and India have in that institution.
Earlier, Hu Xiaolian, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, told a press conference in Beijing, "If the IMF issues bonds to finance itself, China will actively consider buying" them.
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