Obama leads world tributes at Mandela memorial

Soweto: US President Barack Obama led world tributes Tuesday to Nelson Mandela, hailing him as "a giant of history" at a rain-soaked memorial attended by tens of thousands of South Africans united in proud, noisy celebration.

"It is hard to eulogise any man ... how much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation towards justice," Obama said, after being introduced to wild cheers.

"He showed us the power of action, of taking risks on behalf of our ideals," Obama said of the prisoner-turned-president whose life story earned uncommon universal respect.

In a nod to Mandela's extraordinary global reach, popularity and influence, the Indian, Brazilian, Cuban and Namibian presidents all delivered eulogies extolling his courage and moral leadership.

But it was Obama's impassioned tribute that really galvanised the crowd, which at times became impatient with the long roster of speakers and a poor sound system that dampened the spontaneity of the occasion.

The four-hour event began at midday (1000 GMT) with a stirring rendition of the national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa), led by a mass choir and picked up by the rest of the stadium.

"This is once in your life. This is history," said Noma Kova, 36. "I didn't want to watch this on TV."

Some 80,000 had been expected, but the venue was two-thirds full as the ceremony got under way under a curtain of rain that had been falling since the early morning.

Despite the profound sense of national sorrow triggered by Mandela's death last Thursday, the mood was upbeat, with people determined to celebrate the memory of one of the 20th century's towering political figures.

Cold War thaw? Obama, Castro shake hands.

 

A man stands under the rain as he attends the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, o …

"His long walk is over, he can finally rest," African National Congress (ANC) Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an opening address.

On several occasions, Ramaphosa felt forced to admonish boisterous sections of the crowd for chanting during the speeches.

In his tribute, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted that Mandela had managed to unite people in death, much as he had in life.

"Look around this stage we see leaders representing many points of view ... all here, all united," he said.

Before taking to the lectern, Obama shook hands with Raul Castro, leader of long-time Cold War rival Cuba.

The handshake was seen by millions watching the memorial being broadcast live around the world, and comes as Obama tries to make good on a vow to reach out even to US enemies.

Crowds had begun gathering at the Soweto stadium before daybreak and, as the gates opened, they swarmed inside the venue where Mandela made his last major public appearance at the 2010 World Cup final.

Wrapped in the South African flag or yellow and green shawls printed with the slogan "Mandela Forever", they danced and sang oblivious to the constant drizzle.

"He's God given, he's God taken. We will never stop to cherish him," said Shahim Ismail, who took a day off from the sports academy he runs in Johannesburg to attend the event.

Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, received a huge ovation as she took her seat on the main stage erected at one end of the pitch.

Bangladesh SC puts on hold Abdul Quader Mollah's execution

Dhaka: Bangladesh's Supreme Court has adjourned until Thursday a hearing to decide if an Islamist opposition leader can appeal against his death penalty, in a case that has heightened political tension less than a month before elections are due.

Abdul Quader Mollah, found guilty of war crimes committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, was due to be hanged at Dhaka Central Jail just after midnight on Wednesday, but his lawyers earned a last-minute reprieve.

Later in the morning, lawyers met at the Supreme Court's appeals division and will resume arguments on Thursday, a state prosecutor said. The stay of execution remains until the appeal against the death penalty is resolved, he added.

Mollah is assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which is barred from contesting elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

He is one of five Islamist leaders condemned to death by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), set up in 2010 to investigate atrocities perpetrated during the 1971 conflict, in which three million people died.

Critics of the ICT say it has been used as a political tool by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is locked in a long and poisonous feud with BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia, as a way of weakening the opposition as Jan. 5 elections approach.

But many Bangladeshis support the court, believing that those convicted of war crimes should be punished, underlining how the events of 42 years ago still resonate in an impoverished nation of 160 million deeply divided over the role for Islam.

In sporadic violence late on Tuesday, when Mollah's fate was still uncertain, at least three people were killed, including a mother and her 7-year-old daughter who were burned to death when pro-Jamaat activists torched their truck north of Dhaka.

In the capital, hundreds of people angrily chanted for Mollah's execution to be carried out. The drama around Mollah's fate has worsened the rift between Hasina and Khaleda, whose enmity has overshadowed Bangladesh politics for more than 20 years.

Pakistan's new Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif visits LoC

Loc: Pakistan's newly appointed Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif today visited the Line of Control that had seen escalating tensions in the recent past.

This was his first visit to the area since taking over late last month and is part of his series of trips to Army bases across the country.

He met with the officers and soldiers posted at the LoC, state-run PTV reported.LoC had seen rising tensions since the beginning of this year.

Despite a truce put in place along the LoC in November 2003, intermittent skirmishes have continued along the heavily militarised ceasefire line.

The situation heated up on August 6, when five Indian soldiers were killed in an attack by Pakistani troops on the Indian side of the LoC.

Since then, both sides have accused each other of violating the truce. At least four Pakistani soldiers,including a captain, have been killed in recent weeks.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel discussed

Washington: U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel discussed the use of U.S. drones against militants in remote areas of Pakistan on Monday during the first visit by a Pentagon chief to the South Asian ally in almost four years.

The United States has a complicated relationship with Pakistan and ties have been further soured by a dispute over unmanned military aircraft the United States uses to target militants in Pakistan's tribal areas on the Afghan border.

Islamabad says drone strikes kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty. Protests by anti-drone activists prompted the United States to suspend ground shipments of NATO cargo leaving Afghanistan via Pakistan last week.

During his visit, Hagel met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other senior officials including the newly appointed army chief, Raheel Sharif. Both sides were tight-lipped on the details of the talks.

"The prime minister conveyed Pakistan's deep concern over continuing U.S. drone strikes, stressing that drone strikes were counter-productive to our efforts to combat terrorism and extremism on an enduring basis," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A senior U.S. defence official said Hagel hoped to work with Pakistan to deepen the security partnership and reassure it of continued U.S. assistance in building its military capacity.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States believed peace and stability in the region would be enhanced by improved Afghan-Pakistan relations "because of the unique nature of its porous border and the presence of a variety of militant groups in the AfPak border region".

Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign assistance and has received more than $16 billion in security aid since 2002, a defence official said. The Obama administration has sought $305 million in military aid for 2014 and $858 million in a range of civilian assistance for Pakistan.

Before his arrival in Pakistan, Hagel visited troops in Afghanistan and met senior Afghan officials. He said a NATO meeting in February could serve as a new deadline for approval of a security pact between Kabul and Washington an accord Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been reluctant to sign.

Hagel is the first defence minister to visit Pakistan since the U.S. raid in the city of Abbottabad that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Pakistan was embarrassed and angered by the surprise raid.

At the same time, Pakistan has served as a supply route for equipment flowing into Afghanistan to support the international coalition that is fighting Taliban militants.

The routes, known as the Pakistani Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC), are important for withdrawing U.S. and coalition equipment as they draw down foreign forces in Afghanistan and hand over security control to Afghan forces.

Prior to the talks, the defence official said Hagel would "express appreciation that the government of Pakistan has made it a priority to keep the GLOCs open".

He praised operations by Pakistani forces in a dangerous region this year to break up militants who posed a threat to the Torkham-Peshawar road that serves as part of the route between Afghanistan and the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

"That's an example of the kind of effort that the Pakistan government as a whole has taken to ensure that the GLOCs stay open," the official said.

Welcome To India News with Deepak Chaurasia

Welcome to India News With Deepak Chaurasia Editor in Chief, New Delhi, India.
A young and talented entrepreneur with interests, he has a vision of change set in today’s realities and with strong resolve for a better future for the world, in the globalised 21st century scenario.