MALI’s Tuareg rebels have declared independence in the country’s north, a move rejected by other countries. The split was also rejected by the Islamist insurgents that the rebels fought beside, as fears grew of a humanitarian crisis.The United States, Africa and Europe dismissed the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad’s (MNLA) declaration of independence. The declaration, long a goal of Tuareg rebels, is a bid to formalise the situation on the ground, where the the country had been split in two by their uprising.

A democratic success since its last coup 21 years ago, Mali is now roughly divided into a Tuareg rebel-controlled north and junta-controlled south.  Complicating the picture, a radical Islamist group, Ansar Dine, has exploited the chaos to swoop in and install sharia law in parts of the north. But while for a while the Islamists fought in concert with the MNLA, they have given short shrift to their independence plans.

“Our war is a holy war,” Ansar Dine military chief Omar Hamaha said. ”It’s a legal war in the name of Islam. We are against rebellions. We are against independence. We are against revolutions not in the name of Islam.”

Mr Hamaha was speaking in a video obtained by AFP and France 2 television, filmed on Tuesday and Wednesday after the Islamists’ takeover of the fabled city of Timbuktu.

It showed one group of rebels loitering outside a military camp, with their black flag draped over the name of the barracks above the entrance.

In other scenes in the video, small groups of women walked along the city’s streets. Some wore full-face veils but most simply covered their hair with scarves.

Mr Hamaha said they had “more than 120 prisoners” including thieves. ”We have tied them up and taken their weapons. We beat them well and it’s likely we will slit their throats,” he added in unedited footage. It was not clear if this threat was directed at all prisoners.

In the city of Gao, witnesses said Ansar Dine had kidnapped seven Algerian diplomats, reports confirmed by the Algerian foreign ministry.

While the Islamists appeared to have the upper hand, the separatist MNLA yesterday morning declared the independence of their desert homeland, which they call Azawad, and where several rebellions have played out in past decades.

This latest one was fuelled by a flood of weapons – and returning Tuareg fighters – from Libya following Muammar Gaddafi’s downfall.

“We solemnly proclaim the independence of Azawad as from today,” Mossa Ag Attaher, a Paris-based MNLA spokesman said on France 24 television, confirming a statement on the group’s website.

He said the group was ready to help fight the “terrorism” of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. But the international community swiftly rejected their proclamation.

The African Union dismissed it as “null and of no value whatsoever”, while the European Union and United States both called for respect of Mali’s “territorial integrity”.

Britain said it was temporarily closing its embassy in Mali due to the “unstable” situation and “lack of constitutional rule”. Algeria, Mauritania and Niger are to meet tomorrow to discuss the crisis in their troubled neighbour, Algeria’s APS news agency reported.

Some analysts have warned it will not be easy to dislodge the Tuareg from the north now that they have staked their claim. But at the same time West Africa expert Paul Melly of London-based Chatham House said Mali could not be considered “definitively partitioned”.

“Much of the population of the north … is made up of sub-Saharan Africa ethnic groups such as the Songhai and the Fulani, who consider themselves to be Malian and have no interest in an independent Tuareg state.” Amnesty International warned that north Mali was on the brink of a “major humanitarian disaster”. Oxfam and World Vision said crippling sanctions against the junta could have devastating consequences.

“All the food and medicine stored by major aid agencies has been looted and most of the aid workers have fled,” said Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty’s researcher on west Africa.

“The population is at imminent risk of severe food and medical shortages that could lead to many casualties especially among women and children who are less able to fend for themselves.”

More than 200,000 people have fled since the rebellion began in mid-January.

Angry at government’s handling of the insurgency a group of low-ranking soldiers lead by Captain Amadou Sanogo on March 22 ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure just weeks before he was due to step down after an election.

But in the weeks following the coup the Tuareg and Islamist fighters made even greater gains, tightening their grip on the northern regions.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/rebels-declare-independent-state/story-fn6sb9br-1226320870085#ixzz1rRixErSK

The latest bout of sanctions against Iran is hurting that country whose commercial life is being squeezed out as it cannot conduct any dollar-based transactions.

India’s political establishment has not savoured the recent outburst by Nicholas Burns, former undersecretary of state and chief US negotiator on India’s nuclear deal, who criticised India’s alleged soft stand on Iran. Burns described India’s unwillingness to play along with the US sanctions as a ‘failure’ to realise its potential for global leadership, thus ‘impeding’ the building up of a strategic relationship with the US.

India’s tight-rope walk as it tries to strike a balance between its long-term strategic partnership with the United States and its oil dependency on Iran, is being criticised for breaking international sanctions and not doing enough to pressure Iran.

The cosy ties between New Delhi and Washington after a Cold War-conditioned bilateral relationship may prove to be short-lived if India ignores the US message to the rest of the world: Iran’s nuclear ambitions must be stopped at all costs.

The latest bout of sanctions against Iran is hurting that country whose commercial life is being squeezed out as it cannot conduct any dollar-based transactions.

India’s political establishment has not savoured the recent outburst by Nicholas Burns, former undersecretary of state and chief US negotiator on India’s nuclear deal, who criticised India’s alleged soft stand on Iran. Burns described India’s unwillingness to play along with the US sanctions as a ‘failure’ to realise its potential for global leadership, thus ‘impeding’ the building up of a strategic relationship with the US.

Indian diplomats say that this criticism ignores India’s own economic and domestic political compulsions: the nation derives some 12 per cent of its oil from Iran. India, Burns reminded, had “many years to find new suppliers”. Washington has suggested that India should, instead, consider importing oil from Saudi Arabia to compensate for the loss of Iranian crude. But many of India’s state-owned refineries are heavily dependent on processing Iranian crude. India will need huge investments if it retrofitted its refineries to other sources.

India’s reluctance to estrange itself from Iran is also based on strategic considerations. In response to China’s presence in Gwadar city of Balochistan port in Pakistan, India is seeking access to Balochistan’s Chabahar port which is being built with Indian assistance and can be linked by rail to Central Asia through Hajigak, a mineral-rich area in Afghanistan where India has obtained mining concessions. Chabahar port will help India maintain strong ties with Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance.

Regional domination

India also believes it would be a strategic mistake to abruptly cut off oil purchases from Iran because China would step in to fill the vacuum left behind by India.

American policymakers see in Tehran a regime that pursues an atomic weapon capacity while also aiding America’s enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and supporting Hezbollah, Hamas and the highly unpopular Syrian regime, besides threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz. An Iranian nuclear weapons capacity, many US policymakers fear, could embolden Tehran to pursue an even more aggressive drive for regional domination in the Middle East.

The new US-led sanctions push may put Washington and New Delhi on opposite sides of this critical issue. A falling out over Iran could have repercussions for the budding strategic partnership, and make everything else — from trade to defence cooperation to diplomatic coordination — more difficult, though Delhi and Washington have so far also underlined areas of agreement such as their unity in casting the International Atomic Energy Agency votes, their shared opposition to an Iranian nuclear weapon, etc.

A genuine partnership on the Iran issue should see India nudging the Iranian leadership to tone down its nuclear rhetoric and aspirations, while the West, particularly the US, could learn from Indians on how to deal with the Iranians.

Unfortunately, India’s foreign policy has become lacklustre and is drifting into a state of inaction and passiveness. India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a financial genius, lacks leadership qualities and the vision to make the country’s foreign policy a beacon in world affairs. India’s mediocre foreign policy has flopped because of the leadership’s appeasement of regimes in Myanmar, Pakistan, China, Iran, etc. The latest gaffe by India, which forcibly removed Tibetan demonstrators from Delhi’s streets as visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao was being serenaded during the Brics summit, can hardly vindicate India’s claim as the world’s largest democracy. India wore the ugly mask of a totalitarian country during Hu’s visit.

India wants to be America’s true friend without jeopardising its commercial relations with Iran. But is it possible to play “true friend” to two sworn enemies? In a recent editorial, The Wall Street Journal called New Delhi “the mullahs’ last best friend”, criticising it for casting its lot with Moscow and Beijing “for a handful of rupees”.

India cannot put its head in the sand and stay aloof from things happening around it. It needs to defuse the standoff between Iran and the West, and urge Iran to sit down and talk to the West. Even if it did not succeed, India would have impressed many that it has the resolve and capability to be a world power. India will be taken seriously only if it takes an active interest in world affairs.

 http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/india-s-iranian-dilemma-1.1002259

“By designating the individuals and entities today, Treasury is sending a clear signal to the international community that Iran’s attempts to evade international sanctions will not go unnoticed,” Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.

SADRA has offices in Iran and Venezuela and is owned by Khatam al-Anbiya, which the office has designated as an engineering arm of the Quds Force, the statement said. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against two shipping companies based in Malta and two shipping officials connected to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

The shipping lines have “played a key role in Iran’s efforts to advance its missile programs and transport other military cargoes,” the Treasury Department said. The companies and individuals were sanctioned under an executive order freezing the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters, the department said

The sanctions come a day after the United States sanctioned an Iranian airline, three Iranian officials, a trading company and a shipping agent for providing support to the Quds Force. Iran’s secretive Quds Force is the elite special operations unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The most militant wing of the Guard, Quds has reportedly carried out covert operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iraq.

The United States has accused it of aiding insurgent groups behind attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Jane’s global security site reports.

“It is a long list of betrayal loot and plunder by Pakistan,” the BNP said.

The statement said Pakistan army has built garrisons all over Balochistan to control Baloch population. They call these garrisons as security check posts have turned Balochistan into a prison F.C. camps are the abductions, torture, kill & dump facilities of the army, I.S.I, F.C. and other agencies. Thousands of Baloch are languishing in these torture cells. Air-force jets (F-16) & gunship Helicopters are being used against the civilian population.

The statement said Balochistan has a strategic location and the wealth, that is the vast coast-line, gold, copper, uranium, marble,gas, oil and other mineral resources and land mass of Balochistan they want to control. They have adopted the tactics of terrorising and silencing the Baloch dissent. Pakistan has signed the U.N. charter to be a civilised country, but they have proved otherwise in 1971 Bangladesh massacre and rape, for that the army generals of Pakistan were not tried in international court of law, the same out-law army is unleashed in Balochistan again.

The BNP said the army is not under the control of the civilian government pertaining to problems of Balochistan. The Supreme Court of Pakistan is as helpless as the Punjab government in terms of controlling the Punjabi army.

The statement quoted Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal, the head of the BNP, saying that the situation in Balochistan has reached a “point of no return” whereas the party’s president Sardar Akhtar Mengal has repeatedly stated that we don’t want to live in a country where we receive bullet riddle bodies of our youth, intellectuals, doctors, political workers,  elders, women & children.

“The Baloch have no choice but to ask for U.N.  and international intervention to end the occupation from the barbarian army. The U.N. must impose no fly-zone to stop ariel bombardment of civilian population of Balochistan. We urge the U.N. to send U.N. peace-keepers to supervise the right to self-determination, and right to have a sovereign State,” said the statement, adding that Pakistani forces must be withdrawn prior to peace-keepers

The BNP USA has appealed to all nationalists forces to unite and be ready to guarantee the international community that the Balochistan would be a secular and democratic State.

The BNP also thanked congressmen Mr. Dana Rohrabacher, Mr. Louie Gohmert, Mr. Steve King, Mr. Brad Sherman and all the other congressmen for their support to the just cause of the oppressed Nation of Balochistan.

“The U.S. should not reward a country with gross Human Rights violations. The U.S. must stop sending military hardware being used against Baloch population,” said the statement.

Rep. Rohrabacher, who mispronounced Baloch as Bal-ook for the entirety of the press conference, dispelled allegations that he was being paid by a lobby or an individual for raising the cause of the Baloch people. He said that Pakistan was murdering women and children in Balochistan. He said that his trips to the region came from committee funds that were in turn financed by US taxpayers.

In response to a question, he said that he has also raised the issue of human rights in Kashmir in the past, and said that certain people were purposely raising the issue of Kashmir to deflect attention from the issue of Balochistan.

Rep. Rohrabacher, who is also the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, said that he was one of Pakistan’s best friends in the past.  The US Congressman said, “Pakistan decided to be enemies of the US years ago.”

He said that during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan was sending money to radicals who hated the United States. He alleged that Pakistan has an “anti-American” relationship with China.

Congressman Louie Gohmert said that Pakistan was not only supporting the Taliban, but was also terrorising the Baloch. He said that the Baloch people wanted the right to freedom.

When asked about the statements by the Indian and US Government who have said that they support Pakistan’s territorial integrity, the Republican representative said that they are trying to change the US policy, and the Balochistan resolution was an effort to start a national debate on Balochistan.

Rep. Rohrabacher last month presented a resolution on giving Baloch the right to self-determination along with two co-sponsors in a House with 242 Republican members. The resolution was then referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The US State Department has maintained that the US respected Pakistan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Last month, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, “Members of Congress introduce legislation on many foreign affairs topics, but they don’t in any way imply US Government endorsement of those positions, and we don’t generally comment on pending legislation.”

One reason why Islamabad’s protests are no longer taken very serious because its parliament, ambassadors to the US, UN and provincial assemblies have brazenly defended torture and human rights abuses against the Baloch people after the hearing. On its part, the international community and the civilized world believes torture and human rights violations are not a country’s internal matter. They need international attention until abusive governments bring a complete end to such practices and punish elements responsible for mass murders and disappearances. In Balochistan’s case, it gets further complicated because the Pakistani state is directly blamed for these killings.

In Zenger Room of the NPC, Mr. Rohrabacher will be joined by Louie Gohmert for the Newsmaker event. Mr. Gohmert had also spoken at the Congressional hearing on February 8th and backed the idea of an independent Balochistan.

Mr. Rohrabacher and congressmen who have continuously spoken for the rights of the Baloch deserve utmost admiration. They have reaffirmed the ideas and values what American founding fathers stood for. The Obama administration has, unfortunately, done too little to force Pakistan to stop human rights abuses in Balochistan. Yet, the role of these US congressmen is highly reassuring for the oppressed people of Balochistan. The Balochs are convinced that at least some sections of the US society care for them and view their struggle as legitimate.

Last week, Mr. Rohrabacher also wrote a letter to the president of Radio Free Asia proposing the launch of Balochi language program. This is another important suggestion which will ultimately serve US interests  and promote democratic values in Balochistan region. For many decades now, Iran has been poisoning the minds of Baloch population with its radical transmission in Balochi language through Radio Zahedan.

The Balochi service of Radio Free Asia, if ever started, will cater to a larger audience in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. This is further important for a secular nation that possesses its own language but faces culture persecution inside Iran and Pakistan. Iranian and Pakistani authorities are determined to replace Balochi language with Persian and Urdu respectively. The Baloch, a people with their own language, will end up losing their cultural heritage in the hands of two Islamic republics with totalitarian tendencies if they are not helped by the free world.

What Mr. Rohrabacher did not notice, however, was the discriminatory policies of the Voice of America (VOA) Urdu service toward Balochistan. While US taxpayers’ money is lavishly spent on Urdu radio and television channels, the organization does not represent the whole of Pakistan in its staff composition. Its staff is mainly recruited from one or two major provinces, keeping rest of Pakistani talent deprived of job opportunities.The doors of employment are still shut for Baloch youths because of the dominance of a certain group of people who dislike the induction of Baloch professionals in this key organization.

Despite all budgetary limitations, VOA intends to launch its service in Sindhi language. We believe there is a greater need to serve American interests in broadcasting in Balochi language so that the message reaches to Iran and Pakistan where the population faces state-sponsored religious propaganda.

Tuesday’s press conference is a positive initiative which will create greater awareness in Washington DC about the situation in Balochistan. The  situation in Balochistan needs more international attention and media coverage so that Pakistan does not continue its dirty war with absolute impunity.

Source: http://www.thebalochhal.com/2012/03/editorial-rohrabacher-is-back/

*Rohrabacher Calls on Radio Freed Asia to Broadcast to Baluchistan

According to a press release issued by his office, Representative Rohrabacher wrote a letter to Radio Free Asia’s president, saying that the Baloch people would be “receptive to RFA broadcasts in their own language and the increased exposure to accurate and objective news would no doubt be to our and their great benefit.”

Rohrabacher, who is also Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations, told the RFA, “While the government and intelligence services in Pakistan act against the interests of the United States, I believe America can find common ground with the people of South Asia.”

The letter further states: “The central government of Pakistan, despite the billions of dollars in aid that the US government has provided, has not acted in good faith with America, targets Americans for murder and has purposefully moved closer to their main ally, Communist China. Because of these factors, America’s strategic calculus regarding Pakistan is changing.”

He added that the government of Pakistan is repressing the Baloch people, and that the Balochi nation has a right to self-determination.

Radio Free Asia, according to their website, is “a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information in nine native Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. The purpose of RFA is to provide a forum for a variety of opinions and voices from within these Asian countries.”

In February, Rohrabacher had chaired a hearing on human rights abuses in Balochistan. He also introduced a House Concurrent Resolution, asking for the Baloch people to be given the right to self-determination. The Republican congressman from California had earlier introduced bills asking for Dr Shakil Afridi to be given US citizenship and the Congressional Gold Medal, and has called on President Obama to intervene in the case.

More about Rohrabacher ***PRESS RELEASE***Rohrabacher Calls on Radio Freed Asia to Broadcast to Baluchistan

NEW DELHI/KABUL,  (Reuters) – India will explore a route through rival Pakistan to transport iron ore from Afghanistan, the head of a consortium involved in the $11 billion project said, hoping that economic benefits will outweigh political hostility.Despite a spike in tension in Afghanistan and uncertainty over the future once foreign combat forces leave in 2014, India was committed to developing the Hajigak mines and a 6 million tonne steel plant alongside, C. S. Verma, chairman of Steel Authority of India, told Reuters in an interview.

A contract is to be signed in two months in what will be the biggest foreign investment in Afghanistan’s resources sector, larger than the $4.4 billion the Chinese are investing in the Aynak copper mine.

Mining work is expected to begin in late 2014 just when Afghan security forces take over security responsibilities and it remains a big concern whether they will be able to tackle a Taliban insurgency at its worst.

For the Indians, the challenge of transporting the ore out of the landlocked country is an additional issue given they have no direct access.

Pakistan is the obvious route and the alternative is a longer way westwards to Iran and then shipping it through the port of Chabahar in Eastern Balochistan that India has promoted to reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on Pakistan.

But Verma told Reuters that the consortium made up of seven state and private firms was looking to move the ore along Pakistani roads crossing over to India, believing the benefits far outweighed political hostility between the two countries.

“What we have here is a gold mine, more than just an iron mine. I believe this is what everyone else will eventually realise. Ultimately the economic interests of everyone in the region including Pakistan will take precedence”.

The project is slated to go online in 2015.

Egypt was originally meant to be one of the sponsors, but the past year’s instability there made it difficult to secure its commitment. From Wednesday’s announcement, it appears that Iran is taking Egypt’s place.

The $20 million isn’t enough to cover the accelerator project. Another $15 million is being sought from Europe and the United States. The SESAME center will ultimately cost $100 million.

“This announcement is a breakthrough in terms of the financial infrastructure,” said Prof. Eliezer Rabinovici, a physicist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who has attended SESAME planning meetings.

“SESAME had enough money to build the building to house the accelerator, and to install its first components, which are being donated by the Germans. Now this commitment will enable the purchase of a light source for the accelerator,” he said.

Moshe Vigdor, who heads the Planning and Budgeting Committee of Israel’s Council for Higher Education, said that without this agreement the project would have collapsed.

As for Iran’s involvement, he said, “Science crosses borders and Israel participates in many international scientific forums that include Iran.”

SESAME also includes representatives from the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, Bahrain and Cyprus.

According to Rabinovici, SESAME’s seeds were sown at a meeting that took place in Dahab, Sinai, three weeks after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Scientists from Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Morocco, as well as Palestinian scientists, were at the meeting.

While terror attacks in the late 1990s moved the working meetings to Europe, work on the project continued, getting a major boost with the donation of a German synchrotron, which will serve as the base for the new accelerator.

Unlike accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, the synchrotron is not based on particle collisions but on the cyclic beaming of electrons within the accelerator. When the electrons are accelerated they radiate, and this radiation can be used for screening in archaeology, physics, life sciences, pharmacology and other fields.

There are 60 such synchrotrons in the world, but none in the Middle East.

NEW DELHI (AP) – Police arrested an Indian journalist in connection with last month’s bombing of an Israeli diplomatic vehicle in New Delhi, authorities said Wednesday, the first apparent breakthrough in an attack that Israel accused Iran of orchestrating.

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2012 file photo, Indian police forensics experts investigate the scene after an explosion tore through a car belonging to the Israel Embassy in New Delhi, India. An Indian journalist has been arrested in connection with last month's bomb attack on the vehicle belonging to an Israeli diplomatic in New Delhi, Indian police said Wednesday, March 7, 2012, the first apparent breakthrough in an attack that Israel accused Iran of orchestrating. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

The Press Trust of India said the suspect had claimed to work for an Iranian news organization, a fact Indian police declined to confirm. Though Indian authorities have not implicated Iran in the bombing, any leads that point in that direction could complicate India’s delicate efforts to ward off growing Western pressure and maintain its strong economic ties with Tehran.

Energy-starved India remains a large market for Iranian oil, and those purchases could blunt the effect of intensified sanctions being imposed by the United States and European Union to force Iran to roll back its nuclear ambitions.

“India finds itself between a rock and a hard place over Iran,” said Arundhati Ghose, a retired Indian diplomat. “It’s a tough call for the government, but one that New Delhi will have to confront eventually.”

Police arrested Syed Mohammed Kazmi on Tuesday after investigations showed he had been in touch with a suspect they believe may have stuck a magnetic bomb on an Israeli diplomat’s car, police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

Police said they searched Kazmi’s house over the past two days to gather evidence that might link him to the Feb. 13 attack, which wounded the diplomat’s wife, her driver and two other people in a nearby car. Police did not say what evidence they found.

Kazmi, 50, was being questioned and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday before being handed over to officials of the investigating agencies for further questioning, Bhagat said.

The New Delhi blast came the same day a bomb was discovered on an Israeli diplomat’s car in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The next day, three Iranians accidentally blew up their house in Thailand, and Israeli authorities said the similarity between their explosives and the two earlier bombs linked Iran to all three incidents.

Indian officials have refused to assign blame while the investigation continues.

Israel has accused Iran of waging a covert campaign of state terrorism and has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

If Kazmi’s arrest and interrogation leads to evidence of Iran’s involvement- either directly or through its proxies- in the New Delhi attack, the fallout could put India in a diplomatic quandary.

Iran is one of India’s major suppliers of oil, accounting for 12 percent of its energy needs.

So far, India has fended off criticism for its growing economic ties with Iran by saying it does not heed unilateral sanctions, such as those being imposed by the United States and European Union.

“We have accepted sanctions that are made by the United Nations,” Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters in Washington at a recent press briefing. “Other sanctions do not apply to us.”

Western sanctions have made it harder for Indian companies to pay for Iranian oil, with international banks unwilling to handle transactions from Tehran without breaching the new American sanctions on Iran’s financial earnings from oil.

Last month, India and Iran agreed to an arrangement for 45 percent of the $11 billion in annual oil payments to be made in Indian rupees, with the rest to be paid in a barter system.

Tehran is looking to trade oil for Indian-made machinery, iron and steel, minerals and automobiles, while Indian companies plan to invest in infrastructure projects in Iran including developing oil and gas fields, roads and railways.

India brushed off the international outrage over the blasts and said it would go ahead with a visit to Tehran this weekend by an Indian trade delegation headed by the commerce secretary.

“India needs the Iranian crude. It would be very difficult to find alternative sources of oil that would be acceptable to Indian refineries,” a commerce ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Many of India’s aging oil refineries are configured to use Iranian crude oil. Retrofitting these refineries would be costly, the official said.

India is also looking after its strategic interests in Iran’s neighbor Afghanistan, which India hopes to prevent from falling under the sway of its archrival, Pakistan, after the 2014 withdrawal of NATO troops.

India uses Iranian ports to send goods to Afghanistan as it scrambles to maintain influence there.

“India is now in a panic over what lies ahead in Afghanistan. The Americans are leaving Afghanistan; they are talking to the Taliban. India will find itself scrambling for access in Afghanistan,” says K.C. Singh, a former Indian ambassador to Iran.

To this end, India is helping develop the southern Iranian port of Chabahar and a rail link that will offer it direct access to Afghanistan.

New Delhi has not remained completely immune to sanction pressures and is slowly easing its dependence on Iranian oil.

Trends show a gradual decline in Iranian oil imports, with a temporary spike in January due to the bunching of earlier supplies that were delayed due to payment hurdles.

India has also developed close ties with Israel after diplomatic relations were established in 1992, and Tel Aviv has emerged as an important arms supplier.

INDIA SAYS it is determined to continue importing oil from Iran despite EU and US sanctions aimed at stopping trade until Tehran stops what the West insists is a military nuclear programme.

Reacting to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s comments that the US was engaging in “very intense and very blunt” conversations with India and others such as China and Turkey to stop oil imports from Iran, New Delhi officials indicated yesterday that they would not be coerced.

India’s finance minister Pranab Mukherjee recently rejected pressure from the Obama administration to join the US-EU led sanctions against Tehran.

India imports about 12 per cent of its oil and gas requirements from Iran for an estimated $12 billion (€9 billion), and maintains it will abide only by UN sanctions and not implement those imposed by individual nations or groupings such as the US and the EU.

India recently used Chabahar port in southeastern Iran for the first time to transport 100,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan as part of its humanitarian aid to the war-torn country.

India helped build Chabahar a decade ago to provide access to Afghanistan and central Asia – prohibited over land by neighbouring nuclear rival Pakistan – and is involved in building a 900km rail link from the Zabul iron ore mines in southern Afghanistan to the Iranian port. With Iran and Afghanistan, it has agreed that Indian goods headed for Central Asia and Afghanistan will benefit from tariff discounts at Chabahar.

In addition to its oil needs, India wants to cement ties with a besieged Tehran so as to retain access to Kabul in the run-up to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and to the Asian republics, where there are vast hydrocarbon reserves that could fuel India’s economic development.

Over the past few weeks a defiant India has been examining ways to step up trade with Iran amid trouble in settling its oil bills as sanctions closed down banking routes.

Much to Washington’s ire, New Delhi is sending a large trade delegation to Iran later this month to explore business opportunities created by western sanctions.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Delhi said the Islamic republic offered massive potential for Indian exports: more than $10 billion (€7.5 billion) a year.

“The potential of trade and economic relations between India and Iran can touch $30 billion by 2015 from the current level of $13.7 billion,” association secretary general DS Rawat said.

An Iranian central bank delegation is currently in Delhi to examine options for India to pay for crude imports. It is negotiating to offset a proportion of this bill in exchange for oil-refining machinery, heavy engineering goods and pharmaceuticals, all badly needed in Iran.

Until recently Indian firms were routing payments through Turkey’s Türkiye Halk Bankasi AS, after EU pressure last year forced German-based Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG to stop handling the payments. It remains uncertain how long this arrangement will continue.

That said, India and Israel too have growing relations in several fields crucial for economic development, including defence technology, agriculture, R&D and tourism. India must be a safe place for Israelis to visit and do business.

Trade, investment, and diplomatic influence are highly correlated, and India needs to be innovative and aggressive. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Chicago late January, quickly followed by foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai’s Washington trip, the India-European Union summit in Delhi to expedite broad-based trade and investment, and ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia and Iran on energy issues highlight the urgency of economic diplomacy to serve India’s long-term national interests.

Addressing the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Mukherjee urged his audience of some top business leaders to “contribute to our collective prosperity,” especially when India has embarked on colossal infrastructure building projects that will require one trillion dollar investment during the next five years.

Mukherjee touted India’s “calibrated approach” to capital account convertibility; the success of external commercial borrowings policy in maintaining external debt at sustainable levels; the robustness of India’s banking sector; diversified export markets; and the robustness of the financial sector due to optimal regulatory mechanism. Financially, India stands like a rock.

With the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and other similar projects in mind, Mukherjee explained the government’s manufacturing policy to create 100 million jobs in the next decade by establishing special zones with world-class urban centres, to make Indian industry globally competitive. This will be done by instituting a supportive framework to facilitate business, including availability of skills, technology, finance, and “compliance based on self-regulation,” with minimal government intervention. Mukherjee came as close as he could to promise that India will be as business-friendly as China.

While courting American investors, Mukherjee did not hesitate to assert India’s position on two vital issues – Obama’s outsourcing policy and Iran sanctions. Obama’s plan to limit outsourcing through tax incentives is counterproductive and will hurt both India and America. Of course, the best way for Indian IT industry to combat the looming outsourcing “protectionism” threat is to offer products and services so compelling that corporate America cannot refuse.

On India-Iran trade relations, Mukherjee was unequivocally frank: “It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce the imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide the requirement of the emerging economies, Iran is an important country.” Buying Iran oil does not mean that India condones Iran’s nuclear ambitions other than for peaceful purposes. Maintaining stability in the Middle East to enable an uninterrupted flow of energy is a global challenge.

Later, on his visit to Washington DC, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told his audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, that, “while Iran has rights to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, it must also fulfill its international obligations as a non-nuclear weapon state under the NPT.” India’s voting record on Iran in IAEA is unambiguous.

But Mathai also focused on Iran’s geopolitical importance to India. Iran, apart from providing India with 12 % of its oil needs, worth $11 billion annually, also enables access to Central Asia including Afghanistan whose long-term stability and prosperity is vital to India; as it is to the US especially when it plans to withdraw its combat forces in 2014.

India’s forthcoming trade negotiations with Iran should have twofold aims – first, to negotiate the oil deal at best prices entirely in rupee terms. Rupee oil trade agreement will boost Indian exports to Iran. Besides, it will open up opportunities for other countries to do trade in rupee, further stimulating Indian exports. Although Indian economy is based on domestic consumption, international trade generates tremendous diplomatic leverage and influence – see what China is doing with its massive trade surplus and foreign currency reserves.

Second, India should use the opportunity to persuade Iran to resume negotiations regarding its nuclear programme since it claims its programme to be peaceful. In fact, during the recently concluded India-EU free trade talks, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pressed India to use its leverage with Iran to return to the negotiating table.

India needs to make a large and meaningful diplomatic gesture for international cooperation without compromising its economic interests.

The writer is professor of communications and diplomacy at Norwich University, UK

Marri further said that the silence by civilized world is beyond comprehension, especially when the same people are concerned often about animal rights but their silence on the rights of humans is inexplicable.

“They try their best to save the lives of animals but cannot see the Baloch mothers who are going through immense pain because of extra-judicial killings of their innocent children. Now that American state department has expressed their concern on extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances we want to bring it in their notice that Baloch nation is also bearing crimes against humanity.

Torching villages, bombing civilian populated areas and forcing them to leave their homes, destroying farming lands are the inhumane crimes which can be evidently spotted but unfortunately no media or journalists have access to the area which is under the state siege,” said the statement.

“We appeal to America, Europe and all international powers to adopt a stern stance on Pakistan’s double faced policy of religious extremism. The international community should support the Baloch progressive force in their struggle for freedom. The world should support the Baloch pro-independence forces in the same fashion as they did in Libya to topple 40 years old dictatorship,” he said.

Agents with Israel’s Mossad agency posed as American CIA agents in operations to recruit members of the Pakistani militant group Jundallah to attack Iranian targets, a report in Foreign Policy magazine said Friday.Using American dollars and U.S. passports, the agents passed themselves off as members of the Central Intelligence Agency in the operations, notably in London, according to memos from 2007 and 2008, said the report.

Jundallah (Soldiers of God) says it is fighting for the interests of the Iranian southeastern province’s large ethnic Baluch community, whose members, unlike most Iranians, mainly follow the Sunni branch of Islam.

The Baluch straddle the border with neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan and Jundallah militants have taken advantage of the unrest in the region to find safe haven in the border region.

In July it claimed responsibility for attacking the Grand Mosque in the provincial capital Zahedan, reportedly targeting members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, killing 28 people.

“It’s amazing what the Israelis thought they could get away with,” a U.S. intelligence officer told Foreign Policy.

“Their recruitment activities were nearly in the open. They apparently didn’t give a damn what we thought,” said the official.

The memos were written during the last years of then-president George W. Bush’s administration — the former U.S. leader Bush “went absolutely ballistic” when briefed on the memos, said the magazine.

“The report sparked White House concerns that Israel’s program was putting Americans at risk,” an officer told the magazine.

“There’s no question that the U.S. has cooperated with Israel in intelligence-gathering operations against the Iranians, but this was different. No matter what anyone thinks, we’re not in the business of assassinating Iranian officials or killing Iranian civilians,” said the official.

The Mossad activities could further jeopardize the already tense relationship of the United States with Pakistan, which is an official ally in the fight against al-Qaida, which had been pressed to take action against Jundallah, said Foreign Policy.

Tensions in the U.S.-Iran relationship have also spiked, most recently following the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. Foreign Policy said there was no evidence of a link between the scientist’s killing and Jundallah.

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland addressed the issue in a “twitter-briefing”

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland addressed the issue in a “twitter-briefing” that the department holds every Friday, allowing people from around the world to tweet their questions to her.

“This was a very popular question on our feed, so we wanted to make sure that we answered it today,” said Ms Nuland who focused on the violence plaguing Balochistan instead of tackling political issues raised in most of the tweets.

“The United States is deeply concerned about the ongoing violence in Balochistan, especially targeted killings, disappearances and other human rights abuses,” she said.

“This is a complex issue. We strongly believe that the best way forward is for all the parties to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue.”

The State Department official noted that the US took the allegations of human rights abuses very seriously and had discussed these issues with Pakistani officials. “And we also urged them to really lead and conduct a dialogue that takes this issue forward,” she concluded.

While her answer may not satisfy Baloch nationalists who had sent most of the questions, it would still irk Pakistani authorities who do not want the Balochistan issue to be discussed at international forums.

Washington-based Baloch nationalists are hoping that Ms Nuland’s response would set an example and encourage other governments and international organisations, such as the United Nations, to address the issue.

The question that Ms Nuland responded to came from Pakistan from a person who identified himself only as “Cadet 1081” and asked: “Pakistan is committing genocide of the Baloch nation, why does the US not intervene in Balochistan and make us get our freedom?”

While Ms Nuland confined herself to addressing the issue of human rights violations, other respondents did not. “Pakistan is not killing Baloch people. Only the followers of Balach and Hyrbyar want freedom,” wrote Mr Spirit 110.

“Pakistan is killing innocent Baloch people and the world is blind. It is our right to be free,” wrote Behuman.