Moving daily between safe houses, the Burmese pro-democracy activists and monks who co-ordinated last month’s protests are planning the next stage of their fight against the ruling generals while on the run from the ongoing crackdown. With thousands of soldiers deployed on the streets and many monasteries emptied, the underground opposition now intends to launch a campaign of civil disobedience to maintain the pressure for change on the military junta.

Meanwhile, a relentless crackdown on Myanmar’s pro-democracy activists showed no sign of easing with the junta announcing on Sunday that 78 more people have been detained in spite of global outrage and new sanctions.

The activists, many of whom are veterans of the 1988 student uprising, believe this is the best opportunity in two decades to oust Senior General Than Shwe and the clique of ageing officers who run Burma. In his first public comments, the fugitive monk who led the so-called Saffron Revolution insisted that the resistance would continue but appealed for greater international pressure on the regime.

Speaking by a smuggled satellite phone from his hiding place in Burma to supporters in New York, he said:

International assistance is needed urgently...we welcome the world’s reaction but we would like the international community to be more active and effective as the junta is trying to keep power by the most violent means. Please continue all your efforts to help us.

Burmese activists worldwide are also protesting against the atrocities of Junta regime. Peaceful protests against the regime are already beginning as people gather at major pagodas, lighting candles and praying together.

It’s a clever way to protest because Buddhists always go to pagodas and monasteries to light candles and pray.

They’re going in small groups, so the police and army can’t do anything to stop it.

Activists are asking Burma’s Christians and Muslims to join the prayer campaign, but more ambitious plans for civil disobedience are emerging.

People are calling for non-co-operation with the regime and for non-attendance of factories and offices.

The monks’ leader, who used the Buddhist alias of U Gambiri, described the ongoing terror in his patch-up with New York.

The military junta is continuing its arrests and raids on the monasteries every night and every day...There are so many soldiers around the monasteries and on the streets. Our peaceful movement was met by the regime with violence. The human rights abuses are huge and monks are in hiding to avoid arrest.

In a more hopeful sign, state television broadcast footage of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time in four years. She remains under house arrest but her party expressed hopes that there might be talks with the regime.

Under mounting pressure from the West and Human Right organisations the Military Government released few monks, but diplomats are not very hopeful of any positive change in the brutal regime’s tactics towards dissent.

As only a few votes were cast against him in what were left as opposition-less two houses of parliament and four provincial assemblies and for a symbolic rival, there was partial strike in some cities and towns while lawyers held protests against Gen Musharraf’s disputed candidacy.

The victory was thus a foregone conclusion.He got 384 votes, or 55 per cent, of the 702-vote, but 1,170-member electoral college, which was hugely depleted by resignations by most opposition parties earlier this week and a last-minute walkout by the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), the largest opposition party, despite a controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance he issued on Friday to meet some of its demands for a smooth transition to full democracy.

Former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, who stood as only a symbolic rival, as did PPP chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, to be able to pose legal challenges to Gen Musharraf’s candidature before the Election Commission and then to the Supreme Court, got a total of five votes.

No vote was cast for Mr Fahim and a covering PPP candidate, Mrs Faryal Talpur, after the party said it was ‘abstaining’ from the process — rather than resigning like other parties grouped in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) alliance - in what was actually a boycott on the ground the president was standing while continuing as army chief.

It was the first time in 60 years of Pakistan’s life that an army chief was elected president.

The country’s first military ruler Mohammad Ayub Khan became an un-retiring field marshal but handed over to General Mohammad Musa as army commander-in-chief before his 1964 election from a 40,000-strong electoral college of Basic Democrats while the second, General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, got himself elected through a controversial referendum as did General Musharraf for his present term in 2002.

Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq announced what is called as unofficial count of vote held at the parliament house in Islamabad from 10am to 3pm, to cheers and ‘President Musharraf Zindabad’ slogans from about 40 ruling coalition members who were still present there with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, although a Supreme Court bench has forbidden a formal notification of the winner until it finally rules over petitions challenging General Musharraf’s candidacy.

The 10-member bench had refused pleas from the lawyers of Mr Fahim and Mr Wajihuddin on Friday to stay the election before adjourning the hearing of their petitions until Oct 17.

The APDM parties had resigned from about 200 seats from the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies in a move to rob the presidential election of political legitimacy while the electoral college’s demise is due with the completion of the assemblies’ five-year terms on Nov 15.

But the process was spared a further erosion of credibility by a last-minute government agreement on a political package with the PPP to avoid resignations by the party and the failure of the MMA alliance ruling the North-West Frontier Province to dissolve the provincial assembly before the presidential vote.
The United States on Saturday gave a cautious congratulations to Pakistan, but withheld comment on reports that military ruler Pervez Musharraf registered a sweeping presidential election win.White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said

Pakistan is an important partner and ally to the United States and we congratulate them for today’s election

Refusing to comment on the result, he further cleared

We look forward to the electoral commission’s announcement and to working with all of Pakistan’s leaders on important bilateral, regional and counterterrorism issues.

The leaders have decided to postpone the voting, but a new date hasn’t been fixed.

Maoist Chairman Prachanda issued a statement saying his party was not in favour of deferring the poll but agreed to it

so as to save the Seven-Party unity and the peace process

Although the commission had finished all the necessary preparations to hold the elections on the given date, the decision has been taken as per the government’s request to suspend the entire election process, the EC stated in a press statement today.The letter to the EC states that the CPN-M has filed a motion to call for a special House session with two major demands - declaration of a republic and fully proportional electoral system - and that it will take time to discuss the issues, thus the government, as per an agreement reached among the seven parties, requests to suspend all the election programmes.The letter also has apprised the EC that a new date will be finalized through a seven-party agreement.

The Constituent Assembly is a major part of the peace agreement that ended the Maoists’ decade-long war and brought them into politics.The stalemate began after the Maoists quit the government last month, later giving the ruling alliance until midnight Thursday to agree to demands including the immediate abolition of the monarchy and procedural changes to the elections. They have threatened to launch widespread street protests if their demands are not met.While mainstream leaders have said they want the monarchy abolished, disagreement over the procedural issues have kept the two sides at an impasse.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has summoned a special session of the Interim Parliament on October 11 as demanded by 87 lawmakers, 84 of them Maoists, to discuss the two major demands of the Maoist party.

It means Labour’s lead has been cut from 11 points last week to four. In addition, a Guardian poll by ICM - which tends to favour the Tories - is thought to have the Conservatives almost neck and neck with Labour.
Mr Brown is due to make a statement in the House of Commons on Monday, when he may announce the autumn elections. But before that he’ll seriously study exit polls over the weekend.BBC political analyst Nick Robinson feels

Brown would be mad - and he isn’t - to allow his fate to rest on one set of polls straight after the Tories’ best week for a long time.

The shift in the polls now puts the early election decision on a knife edge, with a Labour victory far less assured that it was a week ago when Mr Brown’s lead almost doubled.George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, told the BBC’s Question Time,

Either we have this election - which the current opinion polls and the state of the Conservative Party suggest we’ve got a good chance of winning - or he bottles it.

Mr Cameron urged in his unscripted address

Call that election...We will fight. Britain will win.

Yesterday Labour MPs in marginal constituencies urged Mr Brown to delay going to the country.But the Prime Minister’s aides have insisted that plans for an election are still under way at Westminster with a blitz of announcements set for early next week to regain the initiatives from the Tories.BBC political correspondent James Hardy said

Mr Brown had been tested by floods, foot-and-mouth and terror threats but that his biggest test - whether or not to call a general election - was still ahead of him.

Labours still appear quite confident, as a senior ally of brown remarked.

the structural position has not changed from where we were two weeks ago. A four point gap is fine after their week in the headlines is fine.

Despite his party’s rebound, Mr Cameron personal poll ratings are still behind Mr Brown on many crucial areas. In short, Labour’s confidence is borne from the fact that they say Mr Brown is a man for a crisis - a solid, experienced leader who makes all his decisions after careful thought and in the interests of the whole country. So going by all, election in autumn seems obvious. As a Government source puts it

The mood is one of confidence, but not complacency. We think still have most things in our favour.

The 23 page document is important in many ways, as this is the first time that Taliban has laid down laws, or their diktat, some may argue in black and white.

Till then the only source of their laws and justice has been Quran and Hadith. Ahmed Rashid, the author of The Taliban points out,

This is first time the Taliban has clearly set out its aims...Previously their only source of guidance was the Koran.

The Constitution clearly mentions that ‘un-Islamic’ thoughts would be banned and human rights would be ignored if “contrary with the teachings of Islam”. Taliban Charter, which is written in Pashto and Dari, clearly stressing on freedom of speech of its citizens. —

Every Afghan has the right to express his feelings through his views, writings or through other means in accordance with the law.

However, “un-Islamic thought” is strictly forbidden and “violators will be punished according to sharia” - under the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic teachings, reads the diktat.

Interestingly, it also talks about the education of women, but only within the purview of Sharia. It also stresses that the government will enforce compliance with Sharai Hijab - the veil that covers women fully.

The detailed document also talks about the importance of Jihad and talks of maintaining “friendly relations” with neighboring countries as well as with United Nations, so long as it is “contrary with the teachings of Islam.”

The constitution was approved by the Taliban’s central shura religious council, headed by Mullah Omer, in 2005 but it has not been made public until now. Fath-ul-Kabir, a Taliban commander from Ghazni in Afghanistan said.

The publication of the constitution is only to make sure every citizen of Afghanistan gets it in black and white.

Mr Browne said on Monday,

In Afghanistan, at some stage, the Taliban will need to be involved in the peace process because they are not going away any more than I suspect Hamas are going away from Palestine.

Mr Karzai’s calls for peace talks earlier this month were rejected by the Taliban, who called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and the restoration of Islamic law.

On Saturday President Karzai again renewed the offer

If I find their address, there is no need for them to come to me, I’ll personally go there and get in touch with them...Esteemed Mullah, sir, and esteemed Hekmatyar, sir, why are you destroying the country?

President Karzai and the United Nations have stipulated that a key condition for peace talks is that the Taliban must accept the constitution that was signed by Mr Karzai in 2004.

Washington, however, rejects peace talks with the Taliban, maintaining that America will not negotiate with terrorists.

Pakistan is a military dictatorship, led by a sitting chief of army staff.

The day another Ex Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, was arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia within hours of arriving home from exile vowing to end the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, her Spokesman Wajid Hassan had said,

Mrs Bhutto has decided to travel to Pakistan.

Mrs Bhutto leads the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and has been trying unsuccessfully to reach a power-sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf. She also faces possible corruption charges on her return. She was dismissed for alleged corruption on both occasions and left Pakistan in 1999, although she was never convicted.The Pakistani authorities said earlier on Friday they would not obstruct Ms Bhutto’s return, but she would still have to face corruption charges in court. Mrs Bhutto, in response, said that there is nothing new in those charges. She added

I’m not worried about these false charges.

She also confirmed that the power-sharing talks with Gen Musharraf had stalled, because the people around General Musharraf were thoroughly opposed to any understanding between them.While refraining from much direct criticism of Musharraf, she spoke out harshly against the president’s political backers, blaming them for allowing extremism to fester in Pakistan and saying they have deliberately scuttled the deal in order to keep moderates like herself out of power.According to her the talks

failed because some elements within the ruling party, who have presided over the expansion of extremism and militancy, did not want the path of moderation to take Pakistan to a democratic future.

Analysts say the failure of the ruling pro-military PML-Q party to bring greater support and legitimacy to the army-led government forced Gen Musharraf to seek a dialogue with Ms Bhutto, whose party received the largest number of votes in the 2002 elections.Bhutto’s own Pakistan People’s Party, however, had also been resistant to the deal. Many of her strongest supporters have expressed grave reservations about the idea of negotiating with a military man. They have urged her to abandon the talks and return to Pakistan to oppose Musharraf’s reelection.
She has also demanded the withdrawal of cases against her and Mr Sharif, and wants to reverse a constitutional amendment that bars prime ministerial candidates from seeking more than two terms in office.
Mrs Bhutto plans to come back to her homeland on October 18, she told BBC, and wants that Musharraf shed his uniform before contesting the election for the post of President. She was dismissed for alleged corruption on both occasions and left Pakistan in 1999, although she was never convicted. She told CNN from New York

I’m immediately seeking the restoration of democracy in my country...But if the people of Pakistan wish to vote for me and elect me as prime minister for a third time, I’d be honored.

The spokesman cleared that ‘Syrian air defence units confronted Israeli aircraft and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage’. Imad Fawzi Shoaibi, a Syrian political analyst, speculated that Israel may have been probing Syria’s new air defense systems, provided by Russia, at a time when tension was running high between the two countries. The incident leaves some officials in Damascus jittery as the summer has been quite difficult in the area and relations oscillating from “possible war to possible peace” talks. Israeli officials denied to comment on the accusations, but cleared that Israel is “fully prepared” for the possibility of a conflict in the North.

It seems unlikely, however, that Syria will resort to anything more than the public denouncements of the Alleged incident. Syrian officials - including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - say that they want peace with Israel through negotiation. But the violation of Syrian airspace will ultimately heighten tensions in the area. “This shows that Israel cannot give up aggression and treachery,” Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told Al Jazeera television.
There is also fear that Hizbullah would use the escalating tensions along the Golan Heights as an excuse to initiate its own conflict with Israel.

BCCI suffered when some former players, like Kapil Dev, More, Madan Lal and about 50 odd domestic players and many international players signed with the ICL. The supreme cricket authority again suffered when Delhi High Court ruled out that even if a cricketer is palying for ICL, he would not lose his job or pensions, if any.Some people like Lalu Prasad, Subhas Chakroverty are also now supporting the rebellious body, at least in words. It seems Pawar Empire is cracking and the growing discontent against BCCI is taking a shape and now their stands a body which can challenge its dictatorial authority.