TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016

UK Independence Fallujah victory takes on sectarian tones Party chief Nigel Farage quits Page 8 Page 10

GURGAON, India: Relatives and friends console the mother of Tarishi Jain, one of the victims of the attack on Dhaka’s Holey Artisan Bakery, as they take her for cremation on the outskirts of New Delhi yesterday. — AP Some B’desh hostages questioned Families of cafe victims take bodies home

NEW DELHI: Some of the hostages rescued from backgrounds of the five people and questioning attacks to hit Bangladesh - has stunned the tradi- editorial. “What is not clear is whether, after such mats from Italy, Japan and other countries lay the weekend attack on an upscale restaurant in their family and friends. tionally moderate Muslim nation and raised glob- overwhelming evidence of their presence, the flower wreaths beside the coffins holding the Bangladesh’s capital were being questioned yes- It was not clear if all five were suspects, or if al concerns about whether it can cope with the official line will be one of denial?” three Bangladeshi victims. terday by investigators searching for clues about they were being held and questioned simply increasingly strident Islamist militants. That the Bangladesh police have said they are investi- The coffins were draped in the Bangladeshi the possible masterminds behind the gruesome because authorities thought they might offer attackers targeted a popular restaurant in the gating whether the attackers had links with the flag - a red disc on a green background. That of attack that left 28 dead, including many foreign- useful information in tracing the origins of the heart of the diplomatic quarter of Bangladesh’s extremist Sunni Muslim group based in Syria and Emory University student Abinta Kabir, a Miami ers. Authorities were still holding five of the 13 attack. The official, speaking on condition of capital signaled a shift in militant tactics. Iraq. But the home minister insisted IS could not resident whose family confirmed she was a US hostages rescued when commandos stormed anonymity, confirmed investigators were also Previously, most attacks were carried out by gangs have guided the attack from abroad, as he said it citizen, was also partially covered with a US flag. the restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone speaking with a third man described by local of young men wielding cleavers and machetes has no presence in Bangladesh. Another 17 hostages, nine Italians, seven Saturday morning, killing six of the attackers and media as a Bangladeshi who was trapped inside and hacking into their victims before fleeing. Instead, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s gov- Japanese and one Indian, were killed in the capturing one, according to officials. the restaurant along with his wife and two chil- ernment says the attacks are being carried out attack - many of them tortured with sharp instru- Bangladesh’s police chief A K M Shahidul dren. The man, a teacher at a private university in Denial by domestic militants bent on imposing Islamic ments, according to police. Haque said authorities would be interrogating Dhaka, had returned to Bangladesh recently The English-language Daily Star newspaper rule, and blames the political opposition of Those bodies were to be flown back to their two men, including a suspected militant, who after living nearly 20 years in Britain. yesterday said the bloody hostage crisis had left backing the attacks in order to create chaos in home countries yesterday. Family and friends were detained during Saturday’s operation. He Some photographs and several crude videos “the nation shattered and with a sense of the country. of 19-year-old Tarishi Jain, meanwhile, gath- would not say whether either had been among taken from an apartment near the Holey Artisan extreme unease.” The editorial also criticizes ered in the New Delhi suburb of Gurgaon as those counted as hostages, only that they were Bakery show the man talking to someone while authorities’ consistent denial of the presence of Alert her body arrived for a ceremonial cremation. being treated in a hospital for unspecified attackers allowed him to leave before paramili- any international terrorist groups, even as the Meanwhile, five Indian states that border Two others who died were police officers who injuries. A second official said the five former tary forces launched the rescue operation on Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Bangladesh were on high alert yesterday, with were killed Friday night when police engaged hostages still being held included a Canadian cit- Saturday. The man’s friends and police also said attack and released gruesome photographs that Indian police checking vehicles crossing the the attackers in a gun battle at the start of the izen of Bangladeshi origin and a Bangladesh- the one of the attackers was a student in the apparently depicted the torture of hostages. shared 4,000-km border in case any militants crisis. The stadium vigil was visited by hun- born British citizen. The official spoke on condi- same department at the university where the “The methods employed and the savagery were trying to flee, according to the head of dreds of Dhaka residents, paying their respects tion of anonymity, as he was not authorized to man teaches. with which the killings were carried out are hall- India’s paramilitary Border Security Force. to the victims. A Catholic Mass, Islamic prayer speak to media about the ongoing investigation. The brutality of the attack - the worst convul- marks of international terrorist outfits like ISIS Yesterday, surrounded by tearful family members sessions and a candlelight vigil were being The official said authorities were looking into the sion of violence yet in the recent series of deadly and Al-Qaeda. This is clear,” the paper says in its and a heavy security detail, Hasina and diplo- held throughout yesterday. — AP Jordan eager to reach nuclear deal with US Aide to former Chinese AMMAN: Jordan is eager to reach a nuclear coop- has submitted to stringent international oversight, eration deal with the United States after a long including a review by a high-level International president jailed for life impasse over uranium enrichment and both sides Advisory Group. appear ready to compromise, the kingdom’s In its report, to be published later this month, BEIJING: An ex-aide of former Chinese pres- the ruling party’s survival. But critics say that nuclear chief said. An agreement would give the panel said Jordan is on a “well-planned path” ident Hu Jintao has been jailed for life for a lack of transparency around the purge Jordan access to US technology, including small to acquiring nuclear energy, including training corruption, illegally obtaining state secrets means it has been an opportunity for Xi to modular reactors that could fit well into the coun- local scientists at a domestic research reactor. The and abuse of power, official media reported eliminate political enemies. try’s fledgling nuclear energy program, said panel said Jordan could do more to bring the yesterday. pleaded guilty and Khaled Toukan, chairman of the Jordan Atomic public on board and should get more internation- said he would not appeal, Xinhua news ‘Lenient Sentence’ Energy Commission. For now, the centerpiece of al experts involved. Financing of the two power agency said, citing the verdict of the First Ling’s son died in a notorious Ferrari Jordan’s program is a $10 billion deal with Russia reactors appears “somewhat nebulous” and the Intermediate People’s Court in Tianjin, which crash in Beijing that disrupted the once-in- for two larger nuclear power reactors, to be built 2025 deadline for completing two reactors is held his trial in secret last month. “The trial a-decade party leadership change when Xi by 2025. “overly optimistic,” the report said. today is engraved on my bones and in my took over from Hu in 2012. Ling had power- Toukan acknowledged in an interview that Meanwhile, revived nuclear talks with the US heart,” it quoted Ling as saying in his final bases in the northern province of financing isn’t locked in yet and that Jordan is still could open the door to alternatives, such as the statement to the court. and the Communist Youth League - seen as looking for a third partner. The probability of the Khaled Toukan smaller reactors. Talks stalled after Jordan His case was the lead item on state a proving ground for politicians who, unlike two reactors being built is “70 to 75 (percent) ... it needs a mix of alternatives, including nuclear refused to drop the right to pursue future urani- broadcasters CCTV’s nightly news program Xi, do not benefit from family links to high- is not 90 percent,”“ he told AP on Sunday in his energy, said Toukan. um enrichment capabilities which can have which showed the former official, wearing a ranking revolutionaries. One of his brothers, office on the edge of the capital of Amman. He Domestic critics say Jordan rushed into a risky peaceful and military uses. As part of non-prolif- white shirt and glasses, humbly accepting , a senior official in Shanxi, was said some large firms approached by Jordan program it cannot afford at the expense of devel- eration efforts, the US insisted that Jordan forego his sentence. “I take this opportunity to put under investigation in 2014 for serious expressed interest and that he believes the prob- oping solar and wind energy and that Toukan’s that right, as the United Arab Emirates previously express thanks to the court for a trial in violations of “discipline and the law” - a lem can be solved. Even if the Russia deal fell commission lacks transparency and oversight. did in a deal with Washington. Jordan which has accordance with the law and its humane euphemism for corruption - and expelled through, “we will still pursue nuclear, but maybe Toukan ignored warnings by experts voicing safe- some uranium deposits said it should not be treatment,” he said. Chinese courts are con- from the party last year. not the big reactor, maybe we will have these ty concerns, said Saed Dababneh, a former vice asked to close the door to future enrichment for trolled by the ruling Communist party, Another brother, Ling Wancheng, has small modular reactors,” he said. In any scenario, chairman of Jordan’s nuclear regulatory commis- peaceful purposes. which expelled Ling - once Hu’s chief of staff fled to the United States, a Chinese anti- an agreement with the United States could be key. sion. “There is now, in my view, only one way ... to Toukan suggested that there is room for com- - from its ranks last year. graft official confirmed in January, adding “It is important for us to have the U.S. on board,” prove that our concerns are justified, that is for a promise. “We are trying to find an intelligent way The verdict and sentence come as part Beijing was “in touch” with Washington Toukan said. “Even if we build the Russian reactors, disaster to happen,” Dababneh wrote in response in the middle to more or less give the US assur- of a high-profile corruption crackdown by about his case. you might have small modular reactors for water to a request for comment. ance about non-proliferation, safeguards and so current President that has His exile has led to speculation in over- desalination in the future.” Jordan launched its US-based expert Chen Kane said nuclear ener- on, but at the same time not relinquishing rights deposed of several senior officials, notably seas Chinese media that Ling Jihua had giv- nuclear program almost a decade ago to address gy may not be the right fit. “I think nuclear energy under international treaties,” he said. The US former security chief Zhou Yongkang, who en him top state secrets, including the the country’s worsening energy woes. Jordan has is a way too expensive, risky and unpredictable Embassy in Jordan said it hopes a deal can be was himself jailed for life last year. Graft is launch codes for ’s nuclear weapons, to import fossil fuels for 98 percent of its electrici- option” for Jordan, said Kane, director of the reached that reflects the US-Jordan partnership endemic in China’s authoritarian system, to secure some leverage in negotiations ty, demand keeps rising and the country buckles Middle East program at the James Martin Center and a “shared commitment to nuclear nonprolifer- and Xi has acknowledged it as a threat to with Beijing over his case. — AFP under growing debt from energy imports. Jordan for Nonproliferation Studies. Toukan said Jordan ation, safety, and security.” — AP