Passenger plane goes missing in Nepal with 21 on board

KATHMANDU (AFP) - A passenger plane went missing in a mountainous area of Nepal early on Wednesday (Feb 24) with 21 people on board, the airline said.

Tara Air said rescue helicopters had been deployed to search for the Twin Otter aircraft, which lost contact with air traffic control eight minutes after it left the western town of Pokhara in the morning.

"A plane that took off from Pokhara for Jomsom this morning is out of contact," Tara Air spokesman Bhim Raj Rai told AFP.


"There are 18 passengers, including two foreigners, and three crew members, on board."

Jomson is a popular trekking destination in the Himalayas about 20 minutes' flight from Pokhara, which lies 225 km west of Kathmandu.

Nepal, which is still reeling from a devastating earthquake last April, has suffered a number of air disasters in recent years, dealing a blow to its tourist industry.

Most have been attributed to inexperienced pilots, poor management and inadequate maintenance.

The country's aviation sector has come under fire from international authorities and in 2013 the European Union banned all Nepalese airlines from flying there.

Iran’s families minister concerned after village’s entire male population executed

KARACHI, Pakistan—Muslim-majority Pakistan has long been awash with terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda, which has been based in the country since 2001. Now, there are signs that some extremists are shifting allegiance to Islamic State.

In recent weeks, assailants lobbed grenades at the offices of three television news channels, claiming they were acting for Islamic State. A pamphlet at the scene of one blast warned media to “stop siding with the apostate army and government of Pakistan.”

In the eastern province of Punjab, police in December said they detained 30 people—many disaffected members of other militant groups—suspected of banding together and seeking to join Islamic State. A senior security official there said they wanted to “rebrand” themselves.

On Friday, three police officers on patrol were shot dead in the city of Faisalabad in Punjab. Again, pamphlets left at the scene claimed Islamic State was responsible. Local security officials said it was unclear if the gunmen were really connected to the terrorgroup.

Islamabad says there is no evidence Islamic State has an organized presence or is orchestrating and carrying out attacks in nuclear-armed Pakistan. But government officials warn that the jihadist group’s territorial conquests in the Middle East are a potential draw for new recruits when the army and police are struggling to suppress terror.

“The real threat to us is the ideological appeal, as well as the high profile the group has gained,” said the senior official in Punjab, who declined to be identified. “We’re trying to nip this in the bud, catch people before they are in a position to carry out any attacks.”

The head of Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau, Aftab Sultan, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing earlier this month that hundreds of Pakistanis had joined Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, according to people who were present. That would be far fewer than are suspected to have gone from France.

One reason experts say more haven’t left to fight abroad is that Pakistan has such a large number of domestic jihadist groups to absorb those radicalized. Officials worry Pakistan’s long history of extremism could provide especially fertile ground for Islamic State. The country already has entrenched Sunni groups whose hatred of minority Shiite Muslims mirrors that of Islamic State.

“Young jihadists who think their groups don’t take enough action, and see Daesh punching at a global level, find it inspirational,” said Omar Hamid, a London-based security expert with consulting company IHS Inc. and former Karachi police counterterror officer, using an Arabic name for Islamic State.

And that, police in Karachi say, is translating into bloodshed. In May, gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital, walked down the centeraisle of a bus carrying Shiites, methodically shooting its passengers and killing 43 people. The attackers left behind pamphlets lauding Islamic State.

Victims’ family members consoled one another after an attack on a bus in Karachi on May 13, 2015. Gunmen boarded the bus and opened fire on passengers, killing 43 people. ENLARGE
Victims’ family members consoled one another after an attack on a bus in Karachi on May 13, 2015. Gunmen boarded the bus and opened fire on passengers, killing 43 people. PHOTO: AKHTAR SOOMRO/REUTERS
Authorities say they believe the assault was a gruesome audition of sorts by a terror cell composed of educated and relatively affluent Pakistani extremists—one of whom was a former Unilever PLC manager—that hoped to win favor with the jihadist group.

The group, many of whom formerly belonged to al Qaeda, wanted “to show Daesh what they can do,” said Raja Umar Khattab, a senior Karachi counterterrorism police officer.

Police arrested eight suspected leading members of the cell, which they allege was also behind the assassination of a liberal activist and the shooting of an American health worker in Karachi. They were handed over to the military last month for trial in military courts controversially established last year to try terrorism cases.

The Karachi cell was receiving support, security officials said, from Brohi Baloch—the brother of Ramzi Yousef, convicted in the U.S. of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Cell members visited his hideout in the western province of Balochistan, officials said.

Officials say most drawn to Islamic State appear to be operating independently, like Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani national, and her husband, an American of Pakistani heritage, who killed 14 people in a shooting spree in California in December and pledged loyalty to Islamic State.

Islamic State named a former Pakistani Taliban militant, Hafiz Saeed Orakzai, to head its operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but he is based in Afghanistan.

RELATED COVERAGE

In Pakistan, Extremist Group Expands Its Reach
Tashfeen Malik Studied at Conservative Religious School in Pakistan
Gunmen Ambush Bus in Karachi, Killing Dozens
Investigators probing the Karachi bus attack concluded in a report that the participants had been seeking to contact Islamic State, but said there was “no direct linkage/flow of instructions” between the two groups.

The Karachi cell had 20 to 25 alleged members. Among them, police said: Saad Aziz, a 27-year-old graduate of one of Pakistan’s two top business schools, Karachi’s Institute of Business Administration, who ran a family-owned Mexican-food and burger joint called Cactus. Muhammad Farooq, a lawyer for Mr. Aziz, said his client has denied all allegations against him. Mr. Aziz’s family says he was asleep at home on the morning of the bus attack, said Mr. Farooq.

In addition to the bus massacre, Mr. Aziz is accused of killing Sabeen Mahmud, a human-rights activist who ran a Karachi arts center and hosted political talks, for her liberal views and opposition to the Taliban.

Ms. Mahmud was shot just after she hosted a talk on human-rights abuses by Pakistani armed forces in Balochistan, leading many to accuse the military of being behind the killing. The military denied any involvement.

Police say Mr. Aziz was initially recruited to join al Qaeda by Ali Rehman, a Pakistani employee of Unilever, whom he met while doing an internship. Unilever declined to comment. Police allege Mr. Rehman, a graduate of Pakistan’s top engineering college, took part in both the killing of Ms. Mahmud and the bus attack. Police say he is at large.

One of the alleged financiers of the Karachi cell ran an accountancy-training college in the city, while the wives of several members were active in spreading its ideology and raising funds, police say. The alleged leader is thought by police to have fled to Afghanistan or Syria.

Several members of the cell in previous years had attended lectures of Tanzeem-e-Islami, a proselytizing group established in 1962 that calls for the establishment of a caliphate, a transnational Islamic government, police said.

Islamic State declared it had established a caliphate in 2014.

Syed Azher Riaz, a spokesman for Tanzeem-e-Islami, said the group is opposed to creating a caliphate through violent means. But, he said, “Democracy is not suitable for bringing an Islamic system.”

Pakistan Frets Over Potential Appeal of Islamic State

KARACHI, Pakistan—Muslim-majority Pakistan has long been awash with terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda, which has been based in the country since 2001. Now, there are signs that some extremists are shifting allegiance to Islamic State.

In recent weeks, assailants lobbed grenades at the offices of three television news channels, claiming they were acting for Islamic State. A pamphlet at the scene of one blast warned media to “stop siding with the apostate army and government of Pakistan.”

In the eastern province of Punjab, police in December said they detained 30 people—many disaffected members of other militant groups—suspected of banding together and seeking to join Islamic State. A senior security official there said they wanted to “rebrand” themselves.

On Friday, three police officers on patrol were shot dead in the city of Faisalabad in Punjab. Again, pamphlets left at the scene claimed Islamic State was responsible. Local security officials said it was unclear if the gunmen were really connected to the terrorgroup.

Islamabad says there is no evidence Islamic State has an organized presence or is orchestrating and carrying out attacks in nuclear-armed Pakistan. But government officials warn that the jihadist group’s territorial conquests in the Middle East are a potential draw for new recruits when the army and police are struggling to suppress terror.

“The real threat to us is the ideological appeal, as well as the high profile the group has gained,” said the senior official in Punjab, who declined to be identified. “We’re trying to nip this in the bud, catch people before they are in a position to carry out any attacks.”

The head of Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau, Aftab Sultan, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing earlier this month that hundreds of Pakistanis had joined Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, according to people who were present. That would be far fewer than are suspected to have gone from France.

One reason experts say more haven’t left to fight abroad is that Pakistan has such a large number of domestic jihadist groups to absorb those radicalized. Officials worry Pakistan’s long history of extremism could provide especially fertile ground for Islamic State. The country already has entrenched Sunni groups whose hatred of minority Shiite Muslims mirrors that of Islamic State.

“Young jihadists who think their groups don’t take enough action, and see Daesh punching at a global level, find it inspirational,” said Omar Hamid, a London-based security expert with consulting company IHS Inc. and former Karachi police counterterror officer, using an Arabic name for Islamic State.

And that, police in Karachi say, is translating into bloodshed. In May, gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital, walked down the centeraisle of a bus carrying Shiites, methodically shooting its passengers and killing 43 people. The attackers left behind pamphlets lauding Islamic State.

Victims’ family members consoled one another after an attack on a bus in Karachi on May 13, 2015. Gunmen boarded the bus and opened fire on passengers, killing 43 people. ENLARGE
Victims’ family members consoled one another after an attack on a bus in Karachi on May 13, 2015. Gunmen boarded the bus and opened fire on passengers, killing 43 people. PHOTO: AKHTAR SOOMRO/REUTERS
Authorities say they believe the assault was a gruesome audition of sorts by a terror cell composed of educated and relatively affluent Pakistani extremists—one of whom was a former Unilever PLC manager—that hoped to win favor with the jihadist group.

The group, many of whom formerly belonged to al Qaeda, wanted “to show Daesh what they can do,” said Raja Umar Khattab, a senior Karachi counterterrorism police officer.

Police arrested eight suspected leading members of the cell, which they allege was also behind the assassination of a liberal activist and the shooting of an American health worker in Karachi. They were handed over to the military last month for trial in military courts controversially established last year to try terrorism cases.

The Karachi cell was receiving support, security officials said, from Brohi Baloch—the brother of Ramzi Yousef, convicted in the U.S. of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Cell members visited his hideout in the western province of Balochistan, officials said.

Officials say most drawn to Islamic State appear to be operating independently, like Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani national, and her husband, an American of Pakistani heritage, who killed 14 people in a shooting spree in California in December and pledged loyalty to Islamic State.

Islamic State named a former Pakistani Taliban militant, Hafiz Saeed Orakzai, to head its operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but he is based in Afghanistan.

RELATED COVERAGE

In Pakistan, Extremist Group Expands Its Reach
Tashfeen Malik Studied at Conservative Religious School in Pakistan
Gunmen Ambush Bus in Karachi, Killing Dozens
Investigators probing the Karachi bus attack concluded in a report that the participants had been seeking to contact Islamic State, but said there was “no direct linkage/flow of instructions” between the two groups.

The Karachi cell had 20 to 25 alleged members. Among them, police said: Saad Aziz, a 27-year-old graduate of one of Pakistan’s two top business schools, Karachi’s Institute of Business Administration, who ran a family-owned Mexican-food and burger joint called Cactus. Muhammad Farooq, a lawyer for Mr. Aziz, said his client has denied all allegations against him. Mr. Aziz’s family says he was asleep at home on the morning of the bus attack, said Mr. Farooq.

In addition to the bus massacre, Mr. Aziz is accused of killing Sabeen Mahmud, a human-rights activist who ran a Karachi arts center and hosted political talks, for her liberal views and opposition to the Taliban.

Ms. Mahmud was shot just after she hosted a talk on human-rights abuses by Pakistani armed forces in Balochistan, leading many to accuse the military of being behind the killing. The military denied any involvement.

Police say Mr. Aziz was initially recruited to join al Qaeda by Ali Rehman, a Pakistani employee of Unilever, whom he met while doing an internship. Unilever declined to comment. Police allege Mr. Rehman, a graduate of Pakistan’s top engineering college, took part in both the killing of Ms. Mahmud and the bus attack. Police say he is at large.

One of the alleged financiers of the Karachi cell ran an accountancy-training college in the city, while the wives of several members were active in spreading its ideology and raising funds, police say. The alleged leader is thought by police to have fled to Afghanistan or Syria.

Several members of the cell in previous years had attended lectures of Tanzeem-e-Islami, a proselytizing group established in 1962 that calls for the establishment of a caliphate, a transnational Islamic government, police said.

Islamic State declared it had established a caliphate in 2014.

Syed Azher Riaz, a spokesman for Tanzeem-e-Islami, said the group is opposed to creating a caliphate through violent means. But, he said, “Democracy is not suitable for bringing an Islamic system.”

Economic Distress Fuels Caste Protests in India

After days of stalemate, the Indian army has taken control of the water supply to the capital New Delhi. The canal had been damaged by protesters from the Jat caste, who are demanding they be added to the list of castes eligible for reserved government jobs.

So far, 19 people are confirmed to have died in the protests. Freight trains and buses were set on fire, as were at least seven railway stations, and hundreds of people had to flee their homes.

These shocking protests have come from a seemingly unlikely source. The Jats of north India are traditionally a farming community. In the state of Haryana, where the protests are concentrated, Jats are the dominant landowning caste. Since independence, they have been able to use their dominance over the ownership of land to wield influence in politics and other sectors of the economy; today, they are without doubt the single most powerful community in the state.

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 file photo, Hindu men from the village of Nandgaon throw colored powder at each other before joining a procession for the Lathmar Holi festival at the legendary hometown of Radha, consort of Hindu God Krishna, in Barsana, 115 kilometers (71 miles) from New Delhi, India. During Lathmar Holi the women of Barsana beat the men from Nandgaon, the hometown of Krishna, with wooden sticks in response to their teasing. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)
India in Photos

 EXPAND GALLERY

So why then are the Jats asking for reservations in public sector jobs, usually a form of positive discrimination reserved for the socially and economically disadvantaged castes?

Left behind

The Jats of Haryana have been hit hard by the decline of agriculture both as a source of income and as a source of social status in the last two decades – and they are only the most recent farming community that has agitated for reservations. The Patidars in Gujarat and the Kapus in Andhra Pradesh have adopted a similar strategy in the last few months. The Marathas in Maharashtra might be next – especially if the government of Haryana grants reservations to the Jats, which it seems inclined to do.

After more than 20 years of economic stagnation, India’s agricultural sector, which still employs the majority of the population, is in crisis. Sluggish growth, increasing competition from abroad and fragmentation of landholdings across generations – the average size of a field shrunk by over 60% in the last four decades – have left a trail of extreme rural distress throughout the country. The suicides of nearly 300,000 farmers in the last two decades are some indication of the depth of despair.

Farming castes, then, have gradually seen their economic and social status declining. In many cases, the most dynamic sections of the community have expanded their economic interests outside agriculture. The Jats of Haryana are an example, and they now dominate other sectors of the economy as well. However, the shift towards the urban sectors of the economy does not involve the totality or even the majority of the community.

This is all compounded by the Indian economy’s failure to generate enough jobs for one of the fastest-growing working-age populations in the world.

Jobless growth

Between 2004 and 2009, only 25 million jobs in total were created in non-agricultural sectors – this against an estimated need of 17 million jobs a year. Although there are some signs of improvement, the Indian economy is still unable to generate enough work, especially in the formal sector – that is, formally listed organisations that pay tax – which employs just 7 percent of the country’s workforce.

[Learn more about India.]

This jobless growth makes it extremely difficult for young people to board the train of India’s economic miracle. Especially for those belonging to dominant communities such as the Jats, being left behind is something hardly easy to stomach.

To make things worse, Haryana has one of the most unequal sex ratios in the country, with only 879 women per 1,000 men – it is increasingly difficult for young men to find a bride. In some north Indian states, women are literally imported from other parts of the country to meet the demand for brides. It is clear then that, in a context where the overwhelming majority of marriages are arranged, families prefer to marry their daughters to men employed in the formal economy.

The declining status of agriculture is making this more difficult for the Jats and other farming communities. The fact that people from other castes, even ones lower in the hierarchy, have government jobs and can marry more easily is, again, not easy to stomach.

It seems the government of Haryana will agree to the Jats’ demands, but that will hardly mean the end of economic caste conflicts. Other farming castes throughout the country will feel discriminated against and might well resort to protests of their own. And as per a Supreme Court order, no more than 50 percent of the available jobs can be reserved for particular groups. Therefore, including an additional community means eroding the available jobs for those who already are on the list.

Haryana’s Ahirs, Gujjars and Lodhas are on the warpath. The Indian government should be very careful before opening the Pandora’s box of job reservations once again.

Two India 'sedition' students surrender to police

Two Indian students accused of sedition for helping organise a protest at Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), have handed themselves into police.

Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were among several wanted by police.

The arrest of JNU student union head Kanhaiya Kumar earlier this month led to protests and clashes across India.

The 9 February protest over the 2013 hanging of a Kashmiri man allegedly saw the chanting of anti-India slogans.

After Mr Kumar was arrested the other students named in connection with the protests went missing but they resurfaced at JNU on Sunday night.

Police did not enter the campus but late on Tuesday night Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya left university premises of their own accord and handed themselves over. Police cannot enter without permission from university authorities, reports say.

Police have now demanded that the remaining students - Ashutosh Kumar, Anant Prakash Narayan, Riyazul Haq and Rama Naga - surrender.

Critics have condemned the charges as an assault on freedom of expression, but government ministers have refused to back down, vowing to punish what they describe as "anti-national elements".

In the wake of the demonstration, some local media accused Umar Khalid of having links with the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, although the government later denied the reports.

"I'm not a terrorist," Mr Khalid told a gathering. "I have never projected myself as a Muslim while doing politics on campus. I always tried to see exploitation of Muslims along with the exploitation faced by Dalits, tribals and others."

The protest was over the execution of Afzal Guru who was convicted of a 2001 plot to attack India's parliament, charges he always denied. The attack, in which 14 people died, was carried out by Kashmiri militants.

His 2013 hanging sparked protests in Kashmir, and he was seen as a martyr and a symbol of perceived injustice. But many of India's politicians were angered when reports surfaced of anti- India slogans chanted at the protest held to mark his execution.

Iran media increases bounty for killing Britain’s Salman Rushdie

Iranian state-run media outlets have added $600,000 to a bounty for the killing of British author Salman Rushdie imposed in 1989 over the publishing of his book “The Satanic Verses”.

The leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that called on Muslims to the kill the author after his book was condemned as blasphemous, forcing him into years of hiding.

Iranian hardliners say Khomeini’s decree is irrevocable and eternal after his death. A wealthy Iranian religious organisation offered $2.7 million reward to anyone carrying out the fatwa and in 2012 it increased the amount to $3.3 million.

The semi-official Fars news agency published a list of 40 news outlets adding to the pot. Fars itself earmarked $30,000.

“These media outlets have set the $600,000 bounty on the 27th anniversary of the historical fatwa to show it is still alive,” Mansour Amiri, organiser of a digital technology exhibition at which the money was announced this month, told Reuters.

Amiri is the head of the Seraj Cyberspace Organisation, which is affiliated to the Basij volunteer militia, allied to the elite Revolutionary Guards established to defend the values of the revolution.

The head of the militia visited the exhibition, Farsi said.

Rushdie’s agent said he had no comment. Iran’s Foreign Ministry was not immediately available to comment. In 1998, Iran’s pro-reform government of President Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the fatwa, saying the threat against Rushdie was over after he had lived in hiding for nine years.

The book’s Japanese translator was stabbed to death in 1991 and other people involved in publishing it were attacked.

But Khomeini’s successor as Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 that the fatwa was still valid and three hardline clerics called on followers to kill Rushdie.

With the landmark nuclear deal with world powers sealed last year, followed by lifting of international sanctions, pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani is trying to end Iran’s isolation with the West.

However, despite the government’s willingness for wider engagement, hardline allies of Khamenei fear that opening up to the West will eventually weaken their influence and the legitimacy of the Islamic Revolution.

The deal has intensified Iran’s political infighting ahead of two crucial elections on Friday.

A hardline watchdog body, the Guardian Council, has disqualified thousands of Rouhani allies, barring them from entering the race for parliament and Assembly of Experts, which has power to appoint the supreme leader.

Iran's election campaigns

Wednesday marks the last day of campaigning for Iran's parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections, with candidates trying to reach as many supporters as possible, whether in person through posters or social media.

In the capital Tehran, candidates rallied supporters while trying appeal to undecided young voters who could sway the outcome of the polls. About 60 percent of the population in Iran are 30 years old or younger.

In universities across the city, parliament candidates like Ali Motahari and Mohammad Reza Aref - who are known reformists - are attracting huge crowds.

As candidates were busy crisscrossing the city, campaign workers handed leaflets outside subway stations or plastered posters bearing photos and party logos of different sizes and colours.

Some posters include links to their address on Telegram, a popular messaging app in the country. Other candidates for the Assembly of Experts hang oversized banners on lamp posts on Tehran's busiest streets.

The parliament has 290 seats. Its role is to pass legislation, including approving the budget and international treaties. The Assembly of Experts is a body of 88 religion experts, tasked with picking the country's Supreme Leader when a vacancy arises.

Official campaigning only started last Thursday. Candidates only have seven full days to make their case. That means those who have name recognition and big party backing have an advantage.

Across the country there are 6229 candidates running for seats in parliament, while about 161, mostly elderly clerics, are vying for 88 Assembly of Experts seats nationwide.

There are 6,229 approved candidates running for the 290-seat parliament in Iran. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

In the capital Tehran, an estimated 1,000 candidates are vying for 30 parliament seats assigned to the city. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

Members of the reformist candidates Ali Motahari and Mohammad Reza Aref gather at a campaign event in one of the universities in Tehran. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

Only 586 of the candidates are women or 9.4 percent of the entire number of candidates, but 49 percent of the entire population are women. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

The Assembly of Experts have a fix term of eight years and they are responsible for picking the next Supreme Leader. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

Over 70 percent of the 81.8 million Iranians live in urban areas. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

In the 2013 presidential election, 72.77 percent of the voters cast their ballot. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

There are an estimated 50 million voters, and they have to be 18 years old or older to be able to cast their ballot. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

There are 250 registered political parties in the upcoming elections, but allegiances have been known to change once the parliament and Assembly of Experts members are seated. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

The economy is among the top issues in the campaign with a youth unemployment of 25 percent and inflation of 15.3 percent in 2015. [Mohammad ali Najib/Al Jazeera]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/02/iran-election-campaign-160223064714559.html

Nepal PM seeks to strengthen India ties with visit

Kathmandu, Nepal - Nepal's prime minister has begun a six-day state visit to India after months of bitter relations between the two neighbours.
Experts say the visit from Friday - the first foreign trip by Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli as prime minister - indicates that relations between the two nations are getting back on track.
Relations deteriorated after India asked Nepal to amend the constitution adopted last September to address the grievances of historically marginalised groups such as Madhesis.
"This is a kind of goodwill visit. The distrust that was generated should be removed. That should be the objective of the prime minister's visit," Lokraj Baral, a former ambassador to India, told Al Jazeera.

"The prime minister has also said that he was for the restoration of the trust. That's most important ... I would say the greatest benefit would be the restoration of trust and mutual confidence."
The visit comes a week after a blockade of nearly five months on the India-Nepal border was lifted.
The trade stoppage resulted in a severe shortage of fuel and essential supplies.
The landlocked Himalayan nation almost entirely depends on India for fuel and other essential items such as medicines.

Lifting of blockade

Nepal accused India of interfering in its internal matters and imposing an unofficial blockade - a charge India has denied.
Anti-India and anti-Madhesi sentiment runs high in Nepal as India backed the demands of the Madhesi people, who say the new charter does not address their political and economic marginalisation.
The current coalition government, led by Oli's Communist Party of Nepal, passed amendments that they said would address the demands of the Madhesi, who share close cultural and familial bonds with people across the border in India.

Nepali PM makes first foreign trip to India

Oli, who earlier took strident positions against India, has said he would like to improve bilateral relations between the two neighbours.
He will meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on February 20 but analysts say that no big ticket announcement is going to be made.
"He is not going to sign anything this time because this is not the correct time to do so. Agreements can only be reached on some positive things such as developmental things," Baral, the former diplomat, told Al Jazeera.
Ranjit Rae, the Indian ambassador to Nepal, said the trip would help normalise relations.
Prashant Jha, a senior journalist based in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera: "The anti-Indian rhetoric of the Nepali politicians is hypocritical."
He said "the two countries were taking steps to normalise relations in the past two months".
"What we have seen in the last two months is that steps were being taken to slowly restore the...relationship. Kathmandu took the first step - the foreign minister [Kamal Thapa] came twice to New Delhi with proposals to address the political problems," said Jha, who has covered Nepali politics for more than a decade.
"I think the PM's visit definitely indicates that bilateral relations are getting back on track."

Fragile relationship

Jha said the diplomatic rapprochement is still fragile as the political issues that led to the blockade have not yet been fully addressed.

India-Nepal border opens after months of unrest

The Nepal government has committed to creating a political mechanism to solve the political problems, and if it fails to do so in the next three months then we may expect more agitation in the southern Tarai plains, he said.
Oli plans to visit Mumbai, India's financial capital, to meet business leaders as his country is in desperate need of investment in infrastructure and the industrial sector.
However, Jha says the domestic situation is not conducive for investment in Nepal.
He said aid given by the Indian government earlier had yet to be utilised.
"There is already a $1bn line of credit announced by Modi in 2014 and another $1bn by India for quake reconstruction," he said.
"The Nepalese state has not used the assistance that has already been promised. Either it does not have the absorptive capacity or due to institutional dysfunction and instability, they have not been able to absorb."

Delhi water crisis may last 15 days after caste protest

Indian authorities have said severe water shortages in New Delhi will take up to two weeks to fix, after a crucial waterway was sabotaged by protesters to press demands for better treatment for their caste. It caused taps in the capital to run dry.
The Jat caste called off their days-long protest on Monday after they accepted a deal offered by the government in the northern state of Haryana, following days of riots, arson and looting that saw thousands of troops deployed to the state.

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READ MORE: India caste protesters accept government offer

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Senior water board official Neeraj Semwal said on Tuesday that only four of New Delhi's nine water treatment plants were currently operating, forcing rationing of supplies to many areas.
"We are hoping to restore partial services in the next two to three days and 100 percent supply within the next 15 days," Semwal told the AFP news agency.
New Delhi's water board is trying to restore full supplies to the city of 17 million people that relies heavily on a canal running through Haryana.
'Districts severely affected'
Water trucks fanned out on Tuesday across the teeming, landlocked city, where infrastructure struggles at the best of times, but it was not clear just how many people were still affected.

"North, west and south Delhi districts were severely affected by the water shortage, with thousands of households not getting regular water supplies," Semwal said.
Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra tweeted that the crisis was "not over yet" and urged residents to conserve water.
"More than 50 percent of Delhi’s water comes from this particular canal. Water is slowly coming back, but there is still a widespread water shortage," said Al Jazeera’s Divya Gopalan, reporting from New Delhi.
India sent troops to secure the canal after protesters demanding a quota for their Jat caste in public service jobs and higher education seized it on Saturday and diverted the water flow away from the capital.
Although schools and many businesses reopened on Tuesday as supplies were partially restored, many are still suffering after the water board said it had been forced to limit supplies.
"The situation has calmed down, but we still hear that some people are afraid to leave their homes as they think that riots can break out again," Gopalan said.
A political ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shouted down on Tuesday by a crowd angered by rioting in Haryana.
The chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, was heckled by local people in the town of Rohtak, northwest of the capital, after they objected to his comments promising that they would receive compensation.

Pampore gunfight ends after 48 hours, three militants shot dead

Srinagar, Feb 22 (IANS) The 48-hour long gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pampore town in which six people, including five security personnel, were killed so far ended on Monday evening with security forces saying they had killed three guerrillas hiding in the JKEDI complex.
“Security forces have killed three militants in the JKEDI (Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute) complex in Pampore town and their bodies have been recovered.
“Firing exchanges have stopped and room-to-room searches of the multi-storeyed building where the militants were hiding are going on,” a senior police officer told IANS here.
The 48-hour long gunfight between a group of heavily-armed guerrillas and security forces had started on Saturday when guerrillas attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus at Sempora (Pampore) on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
Two CRPF troopers identified as head constable Bhola Prasad and driver constable R.K.Rana had died in that attack, and the assailants had fled to the nearby JKEDI complex for shelter.
Security forces immediately surrounded the complex, but the operation against the guerrillas was started only after around 120 trainees and staff members were safely evacuated from the complex.
The army took over the operation against the guerrillas, believed to belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit, with a group of specially-trained para commandos being brought in to flush them out.
However, two officers of the elite Para Regiment – Capt. Pawan Kumar of 10 Para and Capt. Tushar Mahajan of 9 Para regiment – who were leading from the front were killed in the operation after they entered the multi-storeyed building which guerrillas were using as a fortified bunker.
Captain Kumar belonged to Haryana’s Jind district in Haryana while Captain Mahajan belonged to Udhampur town in the Jammu region.
Another commando identified as Lance Naik Om Prakash was injured in the operation and succumbed in hospital on Sunday.
A civilian, Abdul Gani Mir of Gundipora village in Pulwama district, who worked as a gardener at the institute was also killed in the gunfight.
As may as 15 other security personnel including an assistant commandant of the CRPF have been injured in the gunfight and are being treated in hospital.
At least 15 protesters were injured in Pampore town on Monday in clashes with security forces.
The protesters had defied curfew-like restrictions and were trying to carry out a march towards the site of the gunfight.

Prachanda: Nepal's era of change after 'People's War'

Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepal completed its democratic transition last September, when it passed its long delayed constitution.

The Himalayan nation has entered a new era of politics 20 years after Maoist fighters launched an armed rebellion that finally resulted in the removal of 240-year-old monarchy in 2008.

The South Asian nation of 28 million people has just come out of political and economic crisis after five months of anti-constitutional protests by Madhesi parties, who want more economic and political rights.

The Maoist party was credited with the biggest political change, but they have been accused of compromising their core ideologies after coming to power.

Al Jazeera sat with Maoist party chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal or "Prachanda" - the second most powerful politician after Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli - at his home in Kathmandu to hear his views on a range of issues facing Nepal.

Al Jazeera: You have said that the new constitution has empowered the minority and marginalised. But why are groups such as Tharus and Madhesis protesting against it?

Prachanda: The issue of the constitution is republicanism, federalism and secularism and inclusive representation of the marginalised people.

All these major issues have been addressed in the new constitution. The new constitution is progressive in terms of the empowerment of marginalised people.

However, the Tharu and Madhesi people are unhappy with the delineation of provinces. They agree on key issues of proportional inclusion, republicanism, secularism, and federalism.

I am hopeful that within a framework of this constitution the remaining issues can be solved through an amendment to the constitution. In fact, the process of amendment has already been initiated.

: The Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli-led government (of which you are a part) finally passed the amendments. Why did it take so long?

Prachanda: It is unfortunate that it took five months for the first amendments to be passed. It took so long because we tried our best to convince the Madhesi parties that they should own this amendment. Unfortunately, we could not succeed in convincing them.

Al Jazeera: Do you think the nationalist rhetoric espoused in recent months has made hill people suspect the Madhesis even more?

Prachanda: There is a huge communication gap between the two communities. We need to interact more with the Madhesi parties and community.

There is plenty of confusion among the masses of people in Madhes, and we are trying our best to communicate what exactly we have achieved through this new constitution and its shortcomings.

If everything is clearly explained, then the people will become convinced that the new constitution is more progressive than the previous one.

Al Jazeera: What's your take on the future of India-Nepal relations?

Prachanda: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's visit is a goodwill visit. It will create a positive atmosphere for the normalcy of the relationship and to move forward.

The situation has already become better since there is no blockade in border areas, the Madhes agitation has been addressed to some extent, and [the] other issue of delineation is being looked into. The trust deficit is there but the visit will create an atmosphere of trust between the two governments. 

Al Jazeera: What will be Nepal's foreign policy vis-à-vis India and China?

Prachanda: We want to keep equidistance between them. Our religion, history, culture, geography clearly dictate us to have a unique relationship with India. With China we don't have an open border, and the religious and cultural ties aren't there.

Al Jazeera: What do you think the Maoist movement achieved and what remains to be achieved?

Prachanda: Many changes have been institutionalised in the new constitution. These are the achievements of the Maoist People's War and Maoist movement.

Without that we can clearly state that there could not have been any republicanism, federalism, secularism, and inclusive democracy.

Thirty-three percent women representation in parliament and all other special rights are clearly mentioned in the new constitution. But the People's War was initiated to establish a new democratic state and go directly into socialism. We could not achieve our goals.

The new democratic revolution was meant to smash feudalism and imperialism, but we could not completely smash feudalism. But we smashed a 240-year-old autocratic monarchy.

Al Jazeera: What led to splits in the Maoist party? There is talk of unity now. What is bringing them together?

Prachanda: The division among the Maoist party has created a difficult situation for the left movement in particular and the overall political changes taking place in Nepal in general.

Therefore, people have raised voices in favour of the unity among the Maoists. I am trying to lead the process of reunification and move forward in peaceful democratic elections, and through this process create an atmosphere for socialist revolution.

Al Jazeera: The sacrifices made by former PLA fighters made possible the change in Nepal's political landscape. But they seem to have been left out in the cold. Has the party failed to help them get on with life?

Prachanda: All cadres, either from the PLA or rank and file of the party, understand the power balance at the international, national, and regional level. They understand the compromise we made was forced by the situation.

If we had not compromised, signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and entered electoral politics, the communist movement could have been sabotaged, or it could have ended very badly.

Al Jazeera: But has the Maoist party taken initiative for the livelihood of former PLA fighters and the education of their children?

Prachanda: In our last Central Committee meeting we focused our attention to address them. In the new recruitment process, they will be given priority. Meanwhile, the party has also decided to start a fund for those who were injured during the People's War.

Al Jazeera: The Maoist party is in power with the extreme right-wing party - Rashtriya Prajatantra Party - which wants to bring back the monarchy. How do you reconcile with this?

Prachanda: The new government is mainly based on the idea of republicanism and the new constitution. It is on this basis that the current alliance has been created. It's not a question of rightist or leftist, it's unity in action for the time being.

Al Jazeera: Now that formalities of the democratic transition are over, when do we expect general elections?

Prachanda: According to the new constitution we should organise new elections in two years. And before the federal elections, there will be local elections.

Al Jazeera: Moving forward, what do you think is Nepal's biggest challenge?

Prachanda: Right now the biggest challenge is economic development. Without initiating a process of economic development, we cannot have sustainable peace. Right now, the implementation of the constitution and initiating the process of economic development are the two biggest challenges we face.

Al Jazeera: It's almost 10 months since the devastating quake hit Nepal, but many people we met in Kathmandu say they have yet to receive any help from the government. Victims say no officials visited them.

Prachanda: There may be some households who might not have got help from the government. But it's not true that nobody [politicians and bureaucrats] has gone there. I myself have visited many areas, including Bhaktapur.

A mechanism has been created for reconstruction. I am hopeful the situation will improve soon.

Pakistan PM promises tougher stance on 'honour' killings

Laws that allow families to murder their daughters in the name of “honour” and avoid punishment will be changed as soon as possible, Pakistan’s prime minister has promised.

Nawaz Sharif said the perpetrators of so-called honour killings must not be allowed to be forgiven by family members, in a challenge to sharia laws that could trigger a confrontation with religious conservatives.

“This is totally against Islam and anyone who does this must be punished and punished very severely,” Sharif told the Guardian. “Changing the law is something that needs to be done at the earliest possibility.”

Sharif was speaking after the Pakistani premiere of an Oscar-nominated short documentary about “honour” killings attended by senior cabinet members and diplomats. Its director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, won Pakistan’s only Academy Award to date for Saving Face, her 2012 documentary about women disfigured by acid attacks.

She said toughening up existing laws would help change the climate in a country where the problem is widespread. “Before we can change mindsets we have to send the guilty to jail so people begin to understand that taking someone’s life is a big deal and merits a lengthy jail sentence,” she said.

According to the women’s campaign group the Aurat Foundation, about 1,000 Pakistani women are killed every year for “bringing shame” on their families. Some killings can be brazen, such as the 2014 killing of a woman by her family outside Lahore’s high court.

Although religious leaders condemn the killings, there is wide support for the tradition under Islamic law that allows murderers to avoid punishment if they are forgiven by the family of their victims, a practice that sometimes involves the payment of “blood money”.

Such payments are unnecessary when the killer is a brother, father or uncle – he can simply be forgiven by the rest of the family.

Obaid-Chinoy’s 40-minute documentary A Girl in the River tells the story of Saba Qaiser, an 18-year-old who survived being shot in the face by her father and uncle and dumped in a river. 

The family said they had been humiliated and lost standing in the community after Qaiser married a man she fell in love with. They had wanted her to submit to an arranged wedding to a relative the family considered to have higher social status.

Although initially determined not to forgive her father, Qaiser ultimately pardoned him after coming under intense pressure from male community leaders in her home town of Gujranwala.

In an interview featured in the film, Qaiser’s father told Obaid-Chinoy his attempt to kill his daughter had earned him greater respect among his neighbours.

The decision by Sharif – a veteran conservative politician who tried to introduce strict sharia law in the late 1990s – to confront the religious establishment has surprised some observers.

Mufti Kifayatullah, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a religious party, accepted that some Islamic laws were being misused to protect killers. But he said any reform attempts would be resisted.

“Removing Islamic laws shall never be tolerated as this country came in to being in the name of Islam,” he said. “The religious parties will not allow the government to solve the problem in this way.”

Indian village bans girls from using mobile phones in flirting crackdown

Unmarried women have been banned from using mobile phones by the elders of an Indian village who fear that flirtatious texting and endless phone calls could lead to a breakdown of society.

Teenage girls and young women who are caught owning or even speaking on mobile phones in Suraj, Gujarat will face a 2,100 rupee (£20) fine. Informers who catch them in the act will be financially rewarded.

“Young girls get misguided. It can break families and ruin relationships,” Raikarnji Thakor, a community leader, told the Hindustan Times. He added that the ban was “the villagers’ idea”.

Use of smartphones across India has shot up in recent years, with more than 200 million users expected by the end of 2016, surpassing the US.

The freedom afforded to teenagers to swap messages, photographs and videos with members of the opposite sex using services such as WhatsApp has caused concern in highly conservative, rural places such as Suraj.

There were also worries among the villagers over the cost of their daughters’ mobile internet bills.

“Why do girls need cell phones? Internet is a waste of time and money for a middle-class community like us,” said Devshi Vankar, Suraj’s sarpanch, or village head. “Girls should utilise their time for study and other works.”

Mr Vankar told the newspaper that the “entire population” welcomed the decision, and hoped to spread the initiative beyond the village of Suraj , which lies just 40 miles from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hometown of Vadnagar.

It comes in the week that Mr Modi has been touring farming communities with promises to expand his “Digital India” drive for greater internet connectivity to rural areas across the country.

The mobile ban was introduced at a village meeting originally called to discuss the community’s growing alcohol abuse problem.

Gujarat has officially been a dry state since 1961, but the home-brewing and consumption of “country liquor” - or spirits - is rife, particularly among men.

The meeting then turned to other social problems, and the decision was taken to bring in the mobile phone diktat from February 12.

Anger as Afghan troops pull out of parts of Helmand province

Kabul (CNN)Afghan troops have pulled out of parts of Helmand province, the site of some of the fiercest fighting in the long battle against Taliban forces, according to an Afghan government spokesman.

A senior military official said troops withdrew from the districts of Nawzad and Musa Qala over the weekend in what he called a "tactical" move that could be reversed any time.

Omar Zwak, spokesman for Helmand governor Mirza Khan Rahimi, told CNN Monday that it would help Afghan troops in other areas.

Helmand province is where thousands of British and U.S. troops fought against the resurgent Taliban before their official withdrawal at the end of 2014.

Criticism from local leader

The decision to pull out of key districts has angered the head of the local provincial council. Mohammad Karim Atal told CNN the move was wrong, irresponsible and would lead to further losses in surrounding districts.

"Afghan soldiers had paid a heavy price and had recaptured some of the areas in those districts by shedding their blood only few months back, but now because of mismanagement, lack of coordination and weak leadership they left them to the hands of the enemies," Atal said.

He added that by pulling out they have not only lost Nawzad and Musa Qala, but have brought three other neighboring districts -- including Washir, Kajaki and Sangin -- to the brink of collapse.

Last December, the Taliban managed to take over the key district of Sangin for a short period of time.

According to Stuart Gordon, a Helmand expert at the Chatham House think tank, Sangin holds special significance to the British as more than 100 British troops had been killed there.

"Sangin became fairly totemic for the British because of the number of soldiers lost," he told the Press Association in December.

British support for Afghan military

On Monday, a British government spokesman noted the "important role" UK troops played in training Afghan security forces and creating "the conditions for a more viable state."

"There's no doubt the Afghan security forces have faced a challenging year but they've shown the resolve to continue the fight and we are committed to supporting them in their path towards a secure future," the spokesman said.

"Our non-combat contribution towards developing the next generation of Afghan army officers continues, as does our advising and assisting role in Kabul and in the short term via the small non-combat advisory team in Camp Shorabak in Helmand," he added, referring to the Afghan airbase formerly known as Camp Bastion in Lashkar Gar.

India caste unrest: Ten million without water in Delhi

More than 10 million people in India's capital, Delhi, are without water after protesters sabotaged a key canal which supplies much of the city.

The army took control of the Munak canal after Jat community protesters, angry at caste job quotas, seized it.

Keshav Chandra, head of Delhi's water board, told the BBC it would take "three to four days" before normal supplies resumed to affected areas.

All Delhi's schools have been closed because of the water crisis.

Sixteen people have been killed and hundreds hurt in three days of riots.

At the scene: Defiant India protesters stand ground in Haryana

Watch: What future for India's caste system?

Sixteen million people live in Delhi, and around three-fifths of the city's water is supplied by the canal, which runs through the neighbouring state of Haryana.

Mr Chandra said that prior warnings meant that people had managed to save water, and tankers had been despatched to affected areas of the city, but that this would not be enough to make up for the shortfall.

The army took control of parts of the canal on Monday morning, but repairs are expected to take time.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder, who is near Delhi's border with neighbouring Haryana state, said protesters who have set up road blocks are refusing to budge.

"We don't trust them. Let's get something in writing. Let them spell it out," one demonstrator who refused to be named told the BBC.

Image copyrightDelhi Jal Board

Image captionThe Munak canal which was damaged by Jat protesters

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionMillions in the Indian capital are without running water

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionFamilies are dependent on tankers delivering water supplies

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that the army was "trying to assess in how much time water would reach Delhi and whether any damage had been done to the canal".

Protesters went on the rampage despite a curfew and the deployment of the army, which is reported to have opened fire on them in the districts of Rohtak and Jhajjar.

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Why are the Jats angry?

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Media captionSanjoy Majumder said protesters had created road blocks "effectively encircling Delhi"

• The land-owning Jat community is relatively affluent and has traditionally been seen as upper caste.
• They are mainly based in Haryana and seven other states in northern India.
• Comprising 27% of the voters in Haryana and dominating a third of the 90 state assembly seats, they are a politically influential community. Seven of the 10 chief ministers in Haryana have been Jats.
• The Jats are currently listed as upper caste but the demonstrators have been demanding inclusion in caste quotas for jobs and education opportunities that have been available to lower castes since 1991.
• In March 2014 the Congress-led national government said it would re-categorise Jats as Other Backward Castes (OBC), opening the way to government job quotas.
• But India's Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the Jats were not a backward community.
• As jobs have dried up in the private sector and farming incomes have declined, the community has demanded the reinstatement of their backward caste status to enable them to secure government jobs.

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Haryana state minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the situation was returning to normal, traffic had resumed on national highways and that railway lines between Delhi and the cities of Jaipur and Chandigarh had reopened.

Mr Sharma also confirmed that the government would introduce a bill on reservations and quotas for the Jat community in the next assembly session, although he did not say when that would be.

Meanwhile, India's federal government has said it will set up a top-level committee to look into the grievances of Jats.

The violence had earlier forced the closure of several key roads and national highways, and paralysed the railway system in northern India.