BAGHDAD: Three blasts, including a suicide attack near an army base, killed least 17 people across Baghdad, the latest violence to feed worries that Iraq’s unrest may slide into widespread sectarian confrontation.

Insurgent bombers are seeking to enflame tensions as Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faces increasing pressure from mass Sunni Muslim protests and a separate dispute with the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region over the control of oil.

The most deadly of yesterday’s explosions took place in Taji, 20 km north of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives detonated his bomb near an army base, killing at least seven people and wounding 24.

Another parked car bomb exploded in a crowded market in the Shi’ite neighbourhood of Shula, northwestern Baghdad, killing five people and wounded 13, police and hospital sources said.

‘We received a call for us to head to the blast site, it was a car bomb.

A woman was laying dead with a sack of groceries still beside her, and the wounded were screaming,’ said policeman Ghalib Ameer, whose patrol was called to Shula.

In Mahmudiya, a town 30 km south of Baghdad, a car bomb attack near an army checkpoint killed five people, including two soldiers and wounded 14 more.

Violence in Iraq has eased since the widespread sectarian carnage of 2006-7, but Sunni Islamist insurgents often tied to a local al Qaeda affiliate still launch frequent attacks to reignite confrontation among the Shi’ite majority, Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds.

Thousands of Sunni protesters are camped out in western Anbar province in what is developing into a major challenge to Maliki, whose power-sharing government, split among Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds, has been bogged down in infighting since the last U.S. troops left a year ago.

The Shi’ite premier is trying to ease Sunni protests that erupted a month ago after officials arrested members of a Sunni finance minister’s security team on terrorism charges. Sunni leaders saw that move as a crackdown.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion a decade ago, many Iraq Sunnis feel they have been marginalised by the Shi’ite leadership and say Maliki is amassing power at their community’s expense.

Maliki has appointed senior Shi’ite figure Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani to investigate the protesters’ demands.

Authorities said yesterday they had so far released more than 800 detainees unjustly held or whose sentences had ended.

But thousands of protesters camped out on a highway in the Sunni heartland of Anbar, the vast desert province that was once the centre of al Qaeda’s fight against American troops, say they are determined to stay out until their demands are met.

Sunni leaders want the modification of anti-terrorism laws and more control over a campaign against former members of Saddam’s outlawed Baath party, both measures they believe unfairly target their minority community.

The unrest is fanning concerns the conflict in neighbouring Syria will upset Iraq’s own delicate ethnic and sectarian balance. More hardline Sunni Islamists want Maliki to step down or even the establishment of an autonomous Iraqi Sunni region. (Reuters)

United Nations: UN leader Ban Ki-moon said that direct support by the global body for military attacks against Islamist militants in Mali could put UN workers at risk of reprisals.

The United Nations is under pressure to provide funding for the international effort in Mali. Ban said he had “flagged the risks” to UN workers in a report to the UN Security Council setting out options for UN support. He told a press conference yesterday that the proposed African force in Mali needs “critical logistical support” to help it take over from French forces who launched an emergency military operation against Al-Qaeda linked Islamists.

“Let there be no doubt, we are firmly committed to helping Mali in its hour of need. At the same time, any assistance must fall within UN guidelines, including its due diligence policy on human rights,” Ban said.

“Directly assisting offensive military actions would also place our civilian personnel in the region in jeopardy. I take this issue very seriously.” The UN leader said the international community must put every effort into finding a political solution to the crisis.

The United Nations has a huge humanitarian operation in the Sahel because of the Mali conflict and drought in other countries.

The UN estimates 350,000 people have fled their homes because of the Islamist uprising in Mali. Ban said he had set out three options for helping the so-called African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA). He did not give details, however.

The 15-member Security Council will take a final decision on UN support for the African force which is just starting to assemble as France pursues its emergency military operation. Ban praised France for its “courageous decision” to send troops to halt an offensive by Al-Qaeda linked militants. He also praised the West African countries who are sending troops for AFISMA. (AFP)

Lahore: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari should “quit political activities” and give up the post of the chief of the ruling PPP in line with a judgement issued last year, the Lahore High Court has said.

The Chief Justice of the High Court, Umar Ata Bandial, asked Wasim Sajjad, the counsel for the federal government, to present a clear point of view on behalf of the President about implementing the court’s order of May 12, 2011 that had said Zardari was expected to quit as the chief of the PPP.

Bandial, who is heading a five-judge bench that is hearing a petition seeking action against Zardari under the contempt of court law, gave Sajjad time till February 6 to file the President’s reply.

He said the court would decide the matter without any further delay. Sajjad argued there was no such urgency in the matter and considerable time should be granted to seek the President’s view. He said the President enjoyed immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution.

The Chief Justice remarked: “Contempt proceeding is not launched to bring punishment only but to get the contemnor to realise his offence.”

He asked Sajjad whether punishment under Article 204 of the Constitution fell under the ambit of criminal proceedings.

Sajjad said the President was not above the law but the procedure to punish him was defined in Article 47 of the Constitution, which relates to impeachment.

He said the President had not violated any law or order of the High Court.

“The case is a consequence of misinterpretation and misunderstanding as the court has not issued any direct order to the President.

The President is a symbol of all authorities and he is the face of Pakistan and he cannot be dragged to courts like ordinary citizens,” Sajjad said. (PTI)

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Amman: Jordanians on Wednesday voted in polls snubbed by Islamists behind strident pro-reform protests who have already labelled as illegitimate what is expected to be an opposition-free parliament.

“This time, the elections are clean. It is a step towards reform and not an end to reform. Elections top our reform efforts,” Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur told reporters after he voted in his hometown Salt, northwest of Amman.

“This is a new era. I am optimistic about a bright future. The people want strong and firm legislative and executive powers.” Voting was off to a sluggish start, with Abdul Ilah Khatib, head of the Independent Election Commission, reporting that only 125,000 people cast their ballots within the first three hours, out of 2.3 million registered voters. He added that “no problems” had so far been reported. The powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the National Reform Front of former premier and intelligence chief Ahmad Obeidat are staying away from the polls, arguing that there is no real will to reform.

“The coming parliament will be short-lived because it will not have any political weight,” Zaki Bani Rsheid, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, told AFP soon after polls opened. “Our boycott was the right decision because a parliament or government that is imposed on people is illegitimate,” he said. The Arab Spring movement that began two years ago and toppled four regimes across the region also sparked regular protests in Jordan, where a combination of youths and Islamists have been demanding sweeping political and economic reforms. Their protests have become increasingly vocal and, during deadly November rioting over a sharp hike in fuel prices, there were unprecedented calls from some quarters for King Abdullah II to step down.

The monarch, whose throne is not seriously thought to be under threat, is hoping that today’s polls will produce a new crop of strong MPs who will work efficiently to jump start reform. But analysts say tribal leaders and other pro-regime figures, along with independent businessmen, are expected to sweep the polls in the country of 6.8 million people. The election “will add to problems instead of solving them, particularly under the boycott. We will see a parliament that does not have political weight”, analyst Oraib Rintawi, head of the Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies told. (AFP)

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