One of the world's most wanted war criminal, Radovan Karadzic, was arrested in Belgrade. He is likely to be tried at the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity. The other main event that made headlines this week was the trust vote against the Manmohan Singh government in India. The Indian prime minister had to win in order to salvage the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. These events were contemplated, analysed and commented on. We present here excerpts of editorials from the regional and the international press.
Karadzic arrested
Serbian secret police have arrested Radovan Karadzic, who was on the run for the past 13 years. The Bosnian Serb leader was responsible for the elimination of Muslims and other racial minorities during the Bosnian war and was charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. There was an international warrant against Karadzic for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered after Bosnian Serb forces seized the poorly defended United Nations safe area.
"We hope that Serbia will produce another investigative breakthrough soon; Karadzic's military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, who led the assault on Srebrenica and the mass killings that followed, is still at large," remarked The New York Times.
It added: "The long siege of Sarajevo and the massacre at Srebrenica should never be forgotten. But it is in everyone's interest for Serbia to end its long, self-inflicted isolation."
Commenting on Karadzic's arrest, Arab News opined: "The evil that men do lives after them, but the arrest of Karadzic is a moment of catharsis. It brings nearer a belated historical accounting for appalling crimes. It advances Serbia's place in the family of European nations. It is a notable moment for the values on which Europe is founded, and which were so traduced by the Bosnian Serbs and their Svengali, the late Slobodan Milosevic. Boris Tadic, the Serb President, deserves praise for the arrest of Karadzic. There can be little doubt that one factor that emboldened Tadic in withstanding domestic opposition was the stand of the European Union."
India's trust vote
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won a vote of confidence in the Indian parliament after his government faced a crisis following the withdrawal of support to his government by the Left parties over Singh's insistence on going ahead with the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. The two-debate in the parliament brought out the murkier side of Indian democracy in the open with allegations of horse-trading, back-stabbing and waving of wads of currency notes that were allegedly given to buy votes. In the end, Singh prevailed.
Backing the efforts of the Indian prime minister for his relentless efforts to uphold the Indo-US nuclear deal, The Washington Post said: "Now, the question is whether the pact can survive the American political process."
Although it supported India for its bold stance, it also expressed its concern over India's economic ties and military-to-military contacts with Iran, which it termed as "worrisome", and "nonaligned" stances against US interests. However, to cash in on the opportunity provided by India to the US for a 'strategic partnership', it called on the US Congress to pursue the matter with urgency.
"At this point, if Congress rejects the deal, the likeliest outcome - in addition to much ill will in New Delhi - is that India, freshly approved as a customer for technology and fuel by the IAEA and the Suppliers Group, will simply buy its planned 25,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity from France or Russia. After much delay, Singh has done his part; now it's Congress's turn," it stated.
Pakistan's daily Dawn, however, felt that the nuclear deal was still not a certainty because the US Congress may not have time to ratify the agreement before November's elections.
Times of India remarked that it is time now for the government to move on and take steps to press ahead with long-delayed reforms.
