ORIGINAIRES DU SOUS-CONTINENT INDIEN –
SUD EUROPE (O.S.C.I.S.E.)
Kuwait City, June 04, 2003
Kuwait has removed a ban on fresh visas for Pakistanis which was imposed almost seven years ago. Press reports, quoting high-ranking Kuwaiti officials, say Pakistanis and Bangladeshi nationals could now obtain working, business and family visas whose issuance was restricted in 1997. There are around 100,000 Pakistanis already working in Kuwait, but new recruitment was stopped due to the ban from 1997.
Pakistani Ambassador Shafkat Saeed welcomed the move and said it would help strengthen the relations between Pakistan and Kuwait.
© The Dawn
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Kathmandu, November 21, 2003
Human rights group Amnesty International has asked Nepal to let United Nations experts investigate alleged illegal detention, torture and disappearance of people suspected of being Maoist rebels.
"Several people who have recently been released have made serious allegations of torture and ill-treatment during their period of detention. Most are held blindfolded all the time. Some have been threatened not to talk about their experiences," the London-based group said in a statement Friday.
Amnesty said it has asked Nepal to let experts from the U.N. Human Rights Commission investigate reports that at least 60 people have been illegally arrested or had disappeared since late August, when fighting resumed after the rebels pulled out of peace talks.
The group said the figure could be much higher.
"The organization is gravely concerned at the sharp rise in reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions and disappearances in Nepal since the collapse of the cease-fire in August," the statement said.
"Evidence suggests that hundreds of people are currently illegally detained at unofficial places of detention, at risk of torture and ill-treatment," it added.
Government officials refused comment, but they have insisted that security forces have freed all those who have no links to the rebels. There are no official figures of how many people have been detained.
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting since 1996 to abolish Nepal's constitutional monarchy and set up a communist state.
More than 8,200 people have been killed since the insurgency began, including 1,200 since the Maoists pulled out of peace talks in August and resumed attacks on government and civilian targets.
© AP
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Durban, August 12, 2003
A farming couple of Indian origin was murdered in the driveway of their home today in South Africa while they were preparing to take their goods to a nearby market.
Sunny Moodley (55), and his wife Janaki (50), were shot dead in Inanda by armed men. Inanda is just one of the many farming areas in and around Durban where Indian farmers have been forced to abandon their livelihood because of crimes.
© PTI
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New Delhi, November 03, 2003
The Vajpayee government will grant dual citizenship to Indians in 16 countries and the Bill to this effect is likely to be considered by Parliament during the Winter Session, beginning this month. As New Delhi gears up for the second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January next, the government plans to extend dual citizenship to expatriates in eight more countries- Israel , Greece , Switzerland , Cyprus , France , Sweden , Portugal and New Zealand. "We have included eight more countries keeping in mind the demand from expatriates all over the world," J C Sharma, secretary, Ministry of External Affairs told timesofindia.com.
"I am optimistic that the Bill will be considered by Parliament during the next session," Sharma added.
Dual citizenship, the main concern of the Diaspora in developed countries, had been a long standing demand. It took an event like Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to bring it to fruition, he said.
During the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, government had proposed granting dual citizenship to Indians in the United States , United Kingdom , Australia , Canada , Finland , Ireland , the Netherlands and Italy . The decision was later accepted by the Union Cabinet and a Bill to this effect was introduced on May 8, 2003 in the Rajya Sabha.
Indians living in these countries will have to apply for dual citizenship and the government could grant it after due verification.
However, expatriate Indians would not have the privilege of voting rights and would not be allowed to hold constitutional offices or jobs in three defence services.
The Union Cabinet in last March had approved certain amendments to the Citizenship Act 1955, to incorporate new provisions, streamline and remove certain provisions that have become redundant in order to increase the efficacy of the Act.
The amendments would also introduce overseas citizenship for persons of Indian origin belonging to specified countries and facilitate introduction of the scheme of issue of national identity cards to all Indian citizens.
The Citizenship Act was among 109 central acts, which had been identified for a review by the Commission on Review of Administrative Laws constituted by the Central government under the chairmanship of P C Jain in 1988.
The broad issues addressed during the review undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs included how to make acquisition of Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation more difficult and how to prevent refugees and illegal immigrants from becoming eligible for Indian citizenship.
©The Times of India, by C. R. Jayachandran
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New Delhi, November 10, 2003
Amnesty International has called for immediate action to end illegal detentions and torture, particularly of Muslims, in the riot-scarred western Indian state of Gujarat.
The report - Abuse of the law in Gujarat: Muslims detained illegally in Ahmedabad - chronicles the alleged persecution of Muslims in the commercial capital of the state during and after the bloody riots which killed some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, according to rights groups.
The violence was triggered after 59 Hindus were burnt to death in a train compartment at Godhra, allegedly by a Muslim mob, on February 27, 2002.
The state government was accused by national and international rights groups of turning a blind-eye to the violence.
"Information contained in this report points to a systematic pattern of human rights violations being carried out in Ahmedabad with the support of the state government and institutions of the criminal justice system with little or no chance of redress for its victims," Amnesty said in the report released last week.
"It also reinforces concerns about discrimination against Muslims within the criminal justice system in the state." A majority of those arrested for the riots have been Muslims, many of whom have pleaded their cases be heard outside of Gujarat as they felt they were being denied justice.
In one of the bloodiest incidents during the riots, a group of Hindu men allegedly attacked the Best Bakery on March 1, 2002 with petrol bombs and knives, burning to death 12 Muslims.
Twenty-one men charged with the attack were acquitted on June 27 after 35 witnesses retracted statements. A key Muslim witness, Zaheera Sheikh, 19, approached the National Human Rights Commission about holding a new trial outside Gujarat because she lied in court after death threats by local leaders of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hindu nationalist BJP party, which rules Gujarat.
The commission asked the Supreme Court to look into the matter. The court reprimanded the state government and even asked Chief Minister Narendra Modi to quit if he could not protect Muslims.
In an interview to Financial Times of London Friday, Vajpayee pledged to punish the perpetrators of riots. "Our public, media and judiciary are following it closely. Justice will not only seen to be done; it will be done," he said.
But Amnesty said the law in Gujarat was being "blatantly used against the Muslim community". "...Ahmedabad police from Gayakwad Haveli Police station have routinely resorted to arbitrary and illegal and incommunicado detention," the report said.
It added that those arrested were denied access to lawyers and relatives or medical attention and were tortured or ill-treated to induce confessions. "The courts in Gujarat have to date failed to take any action to prevent or investigate and prosecute most of these illegal actions despite on occasion being confronted with allegations and evidence," it said.
© AFP/ The Financial Express
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Dubai, July 02, 2003
As many as 26,000 Indians were among 100,000 illegal immigrants who left United Arab Emirates under a six-month general amnesty that ended on June 30, official sources said today.
The amnesty, originally meant for four months, was extended to six months to benefit maximum number of illegal expatriates wishing to leave the country without punishment.
Meanwhile, some reports said about 40,000 illegals were taken into custody by immigration authorities for staying back in violation of residency rules during the period.
The Indian Missions here said that as many as 26,000 illegal immigrants from India left the UAE under the amnesty. These include scores of maids who had fled their local sponsors for various reasons and were working illegally.
The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian Consulate in Dubai had pressed volunteers into service to meet the rush during the closing days of the amnesty.
Under a federal law of 1996, illegal stayers face a maximum jail term of 10 years and a 10,000-dirham fine and a minimum punishment of one month jail and 1,000-dirham fine.
In 1996 too the UAE government had granted an amnesty which enabled 150,000 expatriates regularise their jobs and 170,000 leave without punishment.
The UAE is home to one million Indian expatriates who form its largest immigrant community.
© PTI
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Islamabad, November 02, 2003
Pakistan and the European Union are in advanced stages
of negotiating a bilateral agreement on repatriation of illegal
immigrants.
Knowledgeable diplomatic sources told Dawn Sunday that EU was "very keen"
to sign a treaty for "readmission" to stem the tide of illegal immigrants
to its constituent states.
These sources said Pakistan appeared "receptive to the idea" but was still
"far from having confirmed its readiness to sign such a treaty".
Sources in the ministry of foreign affairs confirmed that Pakistan was
engaged in discussions over a repatriation treaty with the European Union.
Pakistan has been offered economic concessions in return for its
assistance on illegal immigration in member states.
EU officials insist that such an agreement would spare Pakistani citizens
the harassment at the hands of EU immigration authorities and, more
importantly, discourage the racket of illegal immigrants.
The purpose of the "readmission" agreement would be to introduce an
obligation on Pakistan to automatically readmit its nationals and
stateless people coming from or having lived in Pakistan.
Legal experts believe such an agreement would expedite deportation of
illegal immigrants and reduce the transaction cost for the EU members. At
present Pakistan does not have a repatriation agreement with any country,
but may well be open to the possibility, to improve ties with the European
Union.
The Pakistan-European Union dialogue that had slowed down as a consequence
of October 1999 military coup is even otherwise gaining momentum with the
revival of high-level official contacts between the two sides.
Interaction at various levels has intensified in recent months with
signals from Brussels for the need of a sustained process of
consultations, particularly at the higher level.
The arrival of the European Union Troika delegation and the European
Parliamentary delegation here last month were the first signs of the
re-activation of high-level contacts. The EU troika during talks with foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri and other
senior officials had conveyed to Pakistan that the current level of
exchange between the two capitals was not sufficient, sources said.
In the EU there are three tiers of consultations, ministerial, deputy
ministerial and director. Pakistan had director-level consultations in
June, deputy ministerial level in October and now Pakistan's foreign
minister Khurshid Kasuri will be heading to Brussels on Wednesday for
further consultations with the EU officials including the Commissioner on
External Affairs, Chris Patten and High Representative on Common Foreign
and Security Policy, Javier Solana.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is hoping that after Ireland assumes the EU Presidency
in January, a ministerial level delegation from Brussels will visit
Pakistan to maintain the momentum for a steady progress.
While the EU is keen to constructively engage with Pakistan and the latter
is equally eager to upgrade contacts, there is concern in the official
circles about the "obstructionist" role that the opposition may play. This
concern accrues from recent attempts by the opposition to block Pakistan's
re-entry to Commonwealth.
Democracy, human rights, non-proliferation and war on terrorism have been
the European Union's key concerns vis-a-vis Pakistan. A delegation of the
European Parliament came here last month to do a 'ground check' on how the
new democratic setup was functioning and whether it was a good time for
the EU to go ahead and engage with Pakistan. To gauge the progress the
delegation met government representatives and parliamentarians belonging
to the opposition parties.
The EU is extremely important for Pakistan because collectively it is a
force to be reckoned with. It remains the biggest trading partner as well
as the biggest source of economic and technical assistance to Pakistan.
Latest figures show that one-thirds of Pakistan's total exports go to EU
member countries. From Pakistan's perspective trade and aid are both
important. Islamabad believes re-activation of dialogue with Brussels can
help raise access of Pakistani exports to EU markets and enhance technical
and economic assistance to Pakistan. The EU clout has increased since its adoption of the Euro, the single
common currency. Next year 10 new member states will be inducted to the
15-member bloc, raising its strength to 25. This assumes special
significance for Pakistan from the commercial standpoint given that all
the EU members follow a common trade policy. For EU Pakistan is also an important country because of its human
potential, geographical location and market. Pakistan remains a good
transit point to Afghanistan. Also, Pakistan is helping in the
reconstruction in Afghanistan for which EU has given substantial
humanitarian and economic aid. EU realizes that Pakistan is key to
restoring peace and stability in the war-ravaged nation where NATO has now
also deployed its forces.
© The Dawn, by Qudssia Akhlaque
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Chennai, October 28, 2003
Indians living abroad have launched an initiative here to raise people's consciousness about the dangers posed by communal discord and incitement and highlight the linkage among peace, harmony and development. The coalition, "Promise of India" (POI), is supported by Indian-American non-profit organisations and hopes to aid groups working for communal harmony and developmental efforts here, according to Raju Rajagopal, Chair of the POI's steering committee. The POI, launched this month, issued an appeal articulating the concerns of several sections of Indians. It asked the people to rededicate themselves to a democratic, secular, pluralistic and united India, condemn sectarian hatred and support efforts to bring in transparency to governance. It also asked them to work towards decriminalising politics and summoning the collective will and material resources to increase educational and developmental opportunities for all Indians, regardless of caste, faith, ethnicity or gender. Organisations such as the Association for India's Development, the American India Foundation, Asha for Education, Coalition against Communalism, Coalition for Secular Democratic India, Develop in Peace, Indians for Collective Action, Indian Community Center, India Development Service, NRIs for Secular and Democratic India, PrajaNet, Silicon Valley Professionals Association and the IndUS Entrepreneurs have signed the appeal (available on the website www.promiseofindia.org) . "Indians living abroad have been really concerned at happenings such as those in Gujarat and Kashmir. We felt the need for a broad platform for the so-called silent majority to speak up and for India's secular culture, the interdependence among different communities and aspects which can hopefully prevent sparks such as the Gujarat incidents in future," Mr. Raju Rajagopal said. Activists, advocacy and grassroots organisations in the U.S working there and in India have lent their support. These organisations are looking at ways how non-resident Indians can support the efforts to promote peace and development in India. Mr. Raju Rajagopal, who is now in India to garner support for this agenda, said he would like prominent Indian personalities such as sportspersons and film personalities to support the appeal. To take the organisation's work to the next level, the POI wants to organise a one-day meet in January 2004 in New Delhi, a day or two ahead of the Government of India's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 9, 10 and 11. "Our meet will seek to link peace and development. For example, one session will deal with the work that grassroots organisations can do. Through other sessions, we can link peace and economic progress, where prominent industrialists will speak, link justice and Constitutional aspects, and a fourth that will see the link between communal harmony and peace like an inter-faith initiative... Our meet will be complementary to the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet so that some dedicated NRIs can join in our effort," he added.
© The Hindu
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New Delhi, October 19, 2003
In a bid to woo NRIs, India is all set to showcase its achievements in the field of information technology, science, education and culture at the second 'pravasi divas', to be held here in January next year.
"While the convention will showcase business opportunities, financial services and investment areas, the focus would be on education, culture, science and technology," according to secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, J C Sharma.
The stress would also be on the younger generation of the Indian diaspora, Sharma said adding, to encourage their participation, a two-month internship programme before the convention is being planned in India for 20 students, two each from 10 prominent destinations across the globe.
Besides youth, special focus would also be on health, legal sectors, tourism infrastructure and information technology. The three-day convention beginning January 9 next year, aims to understand the issues affecting the Indian workers and professionals abroad.
It would also help understand the NRIs/PIOs sentiments about India and crate a policy framework for a sustained and productive growth. It would create a network of the Indian diaspora across 110 countries of the world, Sharma said.
The Indian government has declared January 9th as Indian diaspora day as Mahatma Gandhi had returned to India from South Africa on the same day in 1915.
The global community of NRIs and PIOs is 20 million strong. It is growing at about 10 per cent per year and represents the largest diaspora in the world, after China.
"India's engagement with its diaspora at the first pravasi divas in January this year has generated a new sense of enthusiasm and expectation. Both India and the diaspora have promises to keep... The second such convention aims at sustaining and enriching this progress," Sharma said.
Over 2000 PIOs and NRIs from over 70 countries including the Gulf nations are expected to gather here for the meet to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Sharma said a fashion extravaganza, "Shringar", showcasing India's rich heritage, is also being planned as part of the conference. There would also be a colourful presentation of India's capability in textiles and apparel, embroidery, accessories, jewellery and cosmetics.
To celebrate Indian culture, a programme featuring artists of Indian diaspora from across the world is also being organised. An exhibition, which would act as an exclusive platform for both Indian and foreign exhibitors to showcase their products, would be held, Sharma said.
© PTI
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Washington, August 03, 2003
An Indian origin doctor has won $ 50,000 in damages and a written apology from a wing of the formidable U.S. Homland Security Department over his lawsuit alleging that armed air marshals detained him solely because of his dark skin.
The Transportation Security Administration, a wing of the Homeland Security Department, has agreed to change its procedures and pay $ 50,000 as part of a settlement of a lawsuit by Bob Rajcoomar, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves. Dr. Rajcoomar, a naturalised American who was born in Guyana, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Government in April after he was detained by air marshals in a flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia on August 31, 2002.
© PTI
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Islamabad, August 27, 2003
There are over 9,000 Pakistanis in the jails of 52 countries, with largest number in Saudi Arabia for committing fraud or for being involved in drug smuggling, the National Assembly was told here on Monday.
In response to a question of Qari Fayyaz-ur-Rehman, Foreign Affairs Minister Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri informed the house that out of 5,158 prisoners in Saudi Arabia, 3,814 were arrested on fraud and 1,344 on drug smuggling charges.
Followed by Saudi Arabia, India has 810 Pakistani prisoners (all arrested for alleged fraud); Afghanistan, 788 (787 on the charges of fraud and one on drug smuggling charge); the United Kingdom, 406 (all on fraud charges); Kuwait, 287 (97 on fraud and 190 on drug smuggling charges); and the United States, 287 (on fraud charges).
Other countries who have Pakistanis in their jails are: Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Belarus, South Africa, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
The minister said majority of those arrested were job seekers who left the country with the connivance of unscrupulous/bogus travel agents. They were arrested in the country of their destination either due to the forged travel documents or for having overstayed their visa, he added.
Mr Kasuri said there were very few Pakistanis in foreign jails on criminal charges like murder, theft, robbery and forgery. However, those who were sentenced were repatriated to Pakistan after completion of their sentences, he further said.
About the detention of Pakistanis in Afghan jails, the minister said Pakistan had great concern for them and was in touch with the Afghan government at the highest possible level to secure their early release and repatriation.
© The Dawn
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Paris, July 03, 2003
Stage is set for holding a grand reception in honour of the visiting Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf and members of his delegation.
President of Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) and Member of the National Assembly, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his brother MNA Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain have been here to make the event a real big success. The overseas Pakistanis living in France and adjoining European countries have started thronging the French capital for the past two days, and on Wednesday took out a car procession in which a large number of vehicles participated, hoisting Pakistani flags and large-size colour posters of President Musharraf and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. The arrangements for the reception have been made in a hall located in the heart of Paris, with a capacity to accommodate over 2,000 individuals. In this connection, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain arrived in Paris some 10 days back and since then has been addressing rallies in different cities of European countries, motivating people to attend the reception in large number to express solidarity with President Musharraf and his policies.
The president who otherwise had a very busy schedule during his stay has already expressed his willingness to attend the reception. He will be accompanied by the members of his delegation and the media team accompanying him on this tour. Organisers of the rally have also invited a large number of French and international newsmen, photographers and electronic media crew to cover the event.
Talking to The News, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said: "This reception will make history. Never before such a big event has been organised during the visit of any Pakistani head of state". His younger brother, Chaudhry Wajahat said the participants of the reception would loudly endorse the policies and reforms of President Musharraf's three-year rule, which are being continued by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali's government.
He said a large number of PML-QA leaders and workers have also come from Pakistan to watch this unique show of solidarity. It may be added that the President, during his speech, will highlight the achievements of his current foreign tour besides explaining the political situation prevailing in Pakistan with a focus on recent parliamentary crisis where the opposition was protesting against the LFO.
© The News International, by Salim Bokhari
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Washington, August 07, 2003
The Federal Government will soon be bringing formal charges against a Pakistani man who was picked up this March as material witness and held in secret detention as a larger part of a probe on Al-Qaeda activities.
The indictment is expected to come soon and Uzair Paracha will be charged with helping operatives of the Al-Qaeda to enter the United States using his family textile business as a cover for the activities.According to The Washington Post, Mr. Paracha's father who owns the textile company and routinely shipped large containers of clothing and "other goods" to Newark was last seen trying to board a plane in Karachi.
It is believed that authorities in Pakistan have picked him up.
But Mr. Paracha's lawyer, while expecting a multi-count indictment, has said that his client denies the allegations. "We believe he was a victim caught up in events way over his head."
It is said that investigative agencies had first learnt about Mr. Paracha from Khalid Sheikh Mohammad who is seen as the mastermind of the 9/11 terror hits in this country. He was picked up by U.S. agents in March. Also it is being reported that an Ohio truck driver, Iyman Faris — who has pleaded guilty to providing material assistance to a terror outfit — has a link with Mr. Paracha, according to unnamed authorities. Mr. Faris is supposed to have met Osama bin Laden and other leaders of the Al-Qaeda and had plotted to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge.
Since the indictment is under seal, prosecutors are not saying much for the record but The Post quoting authorities is saying that the possible charges include providing material support to terrorists, helping to obtain weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy.
© The Hindu, by Sridhar Krishnaswami
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Islamabad, April 12, 2003
Pakistan will export 100,000 semi-skilled and unskilled manpower to Malaysia through public and private overseas employment promoters.
"The Malaysian government has decided to lift ban on semi-skilled and unskilled workers from Pakistan and, initially, they have allowed us to export 100,000 workers there," said Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Mian Abdul Sattar Laleka.
Speaking at a news conference after having returned from Malaysia, he said here on Saturday he visited Kaula Lumpur as a special envoy of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and met Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Muhammad and many other senior officials with a view to further improve political and economic relations between the two countries.
He said that during his week-long visit a number of issues were discussed, including removal of trade imbalance which was currently in favour of Malaysia. "One of the issues discussed in this behalf was that we can narrow the trade imbalance by adequately exporting our manpower to Malaysia," he said.
Giving details, he said Indonesia's six million workers were gradually leaving the country, which had provided an opportunity to Pakistan export its workers and farmers to that country.
He said the Overseas Employment Exchange would not charge any fee for exporting semi-skilled and unskilled workers to Malaysia. However, those who would go through private promoters would have to pay certain prescribed fee, he added.
Mr Laleka said Malaysia had also decided to import 950 doctors and medical specialists from Pakistan. "We had earlier received a demand of 500 doctors from Malaysia, out of which first group of 139 doctors has left Pakistan," the minister said.
"During my visit, I was told that Malaysia would also welcome to import teachers and professors from Pakistan," he said, adding that the government would soon start selecting educationists for this purpose.
Similarly, he said Malaysia had also expressed its willingness to import farmers from Pakistan for palm plantation. "We have assured them that merit will be upheld for selecting manpower for Malaysia".
Replying to a question, Mr Laleka said he went to Malaysia as part of a follow-up visit of President Musharraf who represented Pakistan in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) recently.
He said that since the president had also held bilateral meetings with the Malaysian prime minister and other senior officials, a number of issues were discussed especially to enhance trade relations.
Malaysia, the minister said, had also decided to import more Basmati rice from Pakistan along with raw cotton and some other items. Malaysia, he pointed out, was annually importing from Pakistan 50,000 tons of quality rice worth $100 million.
In reply to another question, he said Pakistan was earlier excluded from the list of exporting semi-skilled and unskilled workers because of not meeting certain standard and specification. "But now I am happy to tell you that Pakistan will join Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh to also export its workers to Malaysia," Sattar Laleka said.
The minister said he had met acting Prime Minister Datu Sri Abdullah Bin Badavi who would succeed Dr Mahathir, Minister for Primary Industry Datu Sri Chau Guimeng, Minister for Agriculture Datuk Afandi Nawavi and Minister for Human Resources Fong Chan Onn.
© The Dawn
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Toronto, August 31, 2003
Another Pakistani, suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda, was arrested in here on Saturday raising the number of arrests to 20 this month, police sources said.
Immigration authorities declined to disclose the identity of the arrested person but the CBC television claimed that the man was a Pakistani student, in his 20s, and in Canada to study at the Ottawa Business College, whereas the investigators say that the college no longer exists.
Earlier, on Aug 14 police had arrested 18 Pakistanis and an Indian. Two of the Pakistanis were granted bail this week. Human rights activists held a peaceful demonstration in downtown Toronto last week seeking the release of the Muslims.
On Monday, Pakistanis and Arabs will march together in Toronto's Labour Day parade to demand the immediate release of the detainees. The theme of the protest will be "Being Pakistani is not a crime".
© The Dawn
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London, October 23, 2003
As many as 4,500 children are detained in Pakistan and more than 3,000 of these have not been convicted of any offence, said Amnesty International (AI) today, as it published a new report on children in detention in Pakistan.
The report, 'Pakistan: denial of basic rights for child prisoners', reveals that children can spend several months or even years in detention simply because their families cannot afford to pay their bail. Bail is commonly set at 50,000 rupees (approximately £543) despite the fact that an average monthly salary even for a government worker is only 7,000 rupees. Once cases eventually get to trial conviction rates are as low as 15-20%.
Children as young as seven have been sentenced to prison terms. A boy aged nine in Punjab is currently serving a five-year sentence, having been convicted for a crime which took place when he was aged seven. Incompetence has has also played a part in keeping children in prison. One 13-year-old boy spent spent four years in prison because his case file was lost, and a 13-year-old Afghan boy has been in prison since the age of 10 as his charge sheet is missing. (See case examples below for more information).
Children are commonly held in police lock-ups or prisons alongside adults, in contravention of Pakistan's own laws, and children as young as 12 are chained together during transportation, supposedly to "stop them running away". Beatings of children to induce confessions have been reported - especially where payments of bribes have been refused, and children have been sentenced to death despite this having been outlawed since 2000.
Under outdated Hadood laws, girls are treated more harshly than boys, with girls being treated as 'adults' at the age of 16 (or at the age of puberty, sometimes as young as 12) in the cases of alleged sexual offences. Boys are treated as children until the age of 18 in such cases.
Amnesty International UK Media Director Lesley Warner said:
"All children who come into contact with the law are entitled to the same rights as adults as well as additional protective measures which take into account their particular vulnerability. Despite this, in Pakistan, children are often the victims of abuse or neglect by the very people who have responsibility for their welfare.
"The legal system is failing in its role as guardian of detained children and even lawyers and judges are not fully aware children's rights under the law."
Pakistan has recognised the need for child protection provisions in law. In 1990 it ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and introduced the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance - which came into force in 2000 - to enshrine safeguards into domestic law. However, in lower courts there is widespread ignorance of the law concerning children, and in Tribally and Provincially Administered Areas the juvenile ordinance is not even in force.
Amnesty International is particularly concerned that children continue to receive death sentences. According to government officials, in Punjab alone, in 2002 there were 350 cases of children on death row. After meeting Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan in 2001, President Musharraf announced that all children facing execution would have their sentences commuted. However, many children remain on death row because the family of the victim has questioned their claim to be children.
Amongst other things, Amnesty International is calling for the use of non-custodial sentences where possible, separate lock-ups for children and adults, an end to the practice of shackling children during transportation and for equality before the law for girls.
Cases featured in the report include:
* Izzat Khan from Mingora Swat, in North West Frontier Province, who spent four years in prison because of a lost case file. Izzat was 13 years old in April 1999 when he was charged with using false currency. A decision was not reached on his case apparently because his file was missing. Izzat spent four years in prison until a child rights NGO in Peshawar requested that his file be located. Izzat was formally released in March 2003 without a trial.
* Sattar, a 13-year-old beggar from North West Frontier Province, accused of stealing a toy mobile telephone from a doctor's house on 31 August 2002. Though an initial police investigation found Sattar not to be responsible, under pressure from the doctor the police nevertheless charged Sattar with theft. He spent eight months in Peshawar Central Jail. He was acquitted in April 2003.
* A nine-year-old boy [name withheld] from Punjab was convicted in May 2003 of killing two children by pushing them down a well in his home city of Attock. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. He was aged seven at the time of the offence. The boy has said that he pushed the children on the orders of an adult neighbour (the neighbour was sentenced to death). Amnesty International believes that he should not have been considered sufficiently mature to understand the consequences of his actions. The organisation is aware of several similar cases of very young male children who have been convicted or are held in custody for serious criminal offences.
* Falak Sher, 15 year-old boy accused in December 2002 of kidnapping a girl named Sugra with intent to commit zina (sexual intercourse outside
marriage) and forcing her to marry him. Falak Sher married Sugra in 2002. When brought to court Sugra stated that she married him of her own free will. Falak's bail amount was set at 50,000 rupees. An application was filed for his acquittal on the grounds that he was innocent. With the financial assistance of a distant relative Falak Sher was eventually bailed but Sugra remains in detention at the womens' jail in Karachi and has also been charged under zina.
* Javed, an Afghan national, living in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, was approximately 10 years' old when he was accused of carrying six kilograms of hashish. He has been in detention since November 2000 but his charge sheet is missing and his case has not been resolved. He remains in prison.
© The Muslim News
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Guwahati, January 06, 2003
India slammed the United Nations Children's Fund on Sunday for not cooperating in a probe into an alleged botched anti-blindness drive that claimed the lives of 23 children in the northeastern state of Assam. "It was really unfortunate to find Unicef being irresponsible and uncooperative in the investigations to ascertain the real cause for the death of 23 children and thousands falling sick after taking the Vitamin A syrup," Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman told AFP. Some 3.2 million children under the age of six participated in the Unicef-sponsored night blindness eradication campaign across Assam on November 11, 2001. The programme turned to disaster 24 hours after the vitamin syrups were administered with more than a thousand children complaining of severe vomiting and high fever leading to the deaths. The Assam government has blamed "contaminated" vitamin supplies for the casualties. But Unicef has denied the allegations saying the deaths were not related to vitamin intake. "We would seek legal help to see how Unicef is made to respond to the investigations," the minister said. "It was a matter of death of innocent children and so all parties, be it the government or Unicef, should be transparent and responsible." The Unicef claimed it was "immune to any criminal investigation" and so refused to cooperate with the probe ordered by the Assam government, state officials said. "Unicef official John Gill Martin said in a reply to our queries that they would not provide any information on the Vitamin A campaign unless asked to do so by the Indian external affairs ministry," an inquiry report submitted to the Guwahati High Court said. Meanwhile, parents were apprehensive to take their children Sunday for a statewide anti-polio drive in Assam.
© The News International
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Washington, April 11, 2003
The U.S. administration has made it clear that Sri Lanka's Tamil guerrillas will remain on its terror list until the rebels give up terrorism "in word and in deed". But administration officials say the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could be removed from the list of terrorist organisations if all went well with the Norwegian-brokered peace process in Sri Lanka.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage told Sri Lankan cabinet minister Milinda Moragoda Thursday that the U.S. would consider removing the LTTE from its list of foreign terrorist groups only after that group renounced terrorism "in word and in deed".
Maragoda, who is the minister for economic reform, science and technology, is here for a Sri Lankan seminar for donors that Armitage is chairing at the State Department, and for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings.
Moragoda and Armitage discussed the April 14 conference, the peace process in Sri Lanka, and efforts to promote reconstruction and economic development in Sri Lanka.
"The U.S. is pleased that progress in the peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and LTTE continues to be made. We continue our strong support for the peace process," said the State Department.
"We hope that the negotiating process will lead to a permanent end to the Sri Lankan conflict based on the principles of democracy and respect for human rights, while maintaining the country's territorial integrity," it added.
The LTTE has not been invited to the April 14 seminar, which will be attended by representatives of several countries including India.
The LTTE, which has signed a truce with Sri Lanka, is desperately seeking international recognition after having led a separatist campaign for two decades to carve out an independent state called Eelam in the island's northeast.
© IANS
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Jerusalem, November 20, 2003
As the knowledge of the possibility to acquire Indian citizenship among the Indian Jewish community in Israel sinks in, there is a growing enthusiasm to 'get linked to their roots'.
A large section of the Indian community in different parts of the country have welcomed the development expressing willingness to acquire Indian citizenship.
Roley (Savitri) Horowitz, President of the Indo-Israel Cultural Association, who still retains her Indian passport twenty years after she came to Israel as a tourist and converted to Judaism, choosing to live here.
''My soul remains Indian and it doesn't allow me to relinquish the Indian passport. I prefer all the hardships, mainly related to travel with the Indian passport, but it is too dear to part with.'' Horowitz is preparing to participate in the coming ''pravasi divas'' celebrations and was preparing a petition from the Indian Jewish community expressing their interest in dual citizenship.
Noah Massil, the President of The Central Organisation of Indian Jews (COIJ) and editor of 'Maiboli' Marathi quarterly in Israel expressing gratefulness to the lack of anti-semitism in India says "we brought the message of peace and non-violence from India so vital for this region". Illustrating the ways through which the Indian Jewish community remebers its "Indian Roots", Massil said "we celebrate 'hoduyada' (gathering of the Indians) every year in the southern port city of Eilat besides celebrating the Indian Independence day every year with cultural programmes''.
Moshe Binyamin, Chairman of CIOJ, proudly announces that their efforts have borne fruit. As he prepares for a conference in the southern town of Nevatim dominated by Jews from Cochin towards the end of the month, he says, more and more Indian Jews would start looking towards having an Indian passport.
Sharon Binyamin, Deputy Director of Social Services of Jerusalem Municipality, who was born in Delhi and immigrated to Israel at the age of 19 says she would "have the Indian citizenship for ideological reasons, to have her bond renewed. It is difficult to erase 19 years of ones existence". Moreover, "sentimental reasons" keep "dragging" her towards India and this development would "remove practical problems".
Among many things the Indian Jews also brought with them cricket.
A game that still remains quite unknown to Israelis is dominated mostly by the Indian community with Jews of British and South African origin completing the scene with a few others.
© UNI
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Colombo, July 09, 2003
Britain today announced plans to scan finger-prints of Sri Lankans applying for visas as part of the efforts to contain immigration and asylum abuse in the United Kingdom.
Sri Lanka will be the first country where the use of biometrics will be put into practice to prevent foreigners from abusing asylum in England, officials here said.
Only children below the age of five years, diplomatic passport holders and officials and United Nations staff, travelling on official business, will be exempt from the new finger printing requirement starting later this month.
"Fingerprint data will be collected electronically to help identify the significant number of Sri Lankans who, on or after arrival in the UK, make fraudulent asylum or immigration applications in a false identity.
"It would also help to return failed asylum seekers from Sri Lanka who destroy their documents by helping to establish their true nationality," the British Home Office said in a statement sent here.
The procedure of finger printing will be adopted first in Sri Lanka for about six months before London decides on extending it to other countries.
© The Hindu
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London, July 15, 2003
Several Hindu leaders in UK on Tuesday sought an "unconditional clarification" from Earl of Mar and Kellie about his remarks that it was "not lies" to say "Hindus were lost and spiritually blind and that Hinduism was a false religion" as claimed by Christian Medical Fellowship's Pastor Juge Ram.
While seeking clarifications, they welcomed the Earl's admission that he does not hold views of the Christian Medical Fellowship. "However, in a letter written to Anil Bhanot, a Hindu leader, on June 18, this admission is contradicted where the Earl says, 'The quoted views of Juge Ram are unfriendly to Hinduism, but are not lies which would cause people to form a distorted view of Hinduism,'" they pointed out.
"We believe that the statements made by Juge Ram were pastoral opinions that were meant to form a distorted view of Hinduism. It is dangerous to classify such opinions as 'not lies' (meaning they could well be the 'truth'). It is in this context that the Hindu community reacted on June 10 to the Earl's statements. We fail to understand what the Earl means when he says our reaction was based on a 'false report' since his comments are clearly documented in the Hansard of the House of Lords."
According to a press statement issued by the Hindu leaders, the Earl reportedly stated, "They (the Christian Medical Fellowship) were not actually telling any lies about the Hindu religion in the sense that they were not actually putting out any false remarks which were possibly going to distort people or mis-educate them."
Signatories to the statement seeking clarification included Ramanbhai Barber, President, Shree Sanatan Mandir, Leicester, Dr Giridhari Bhan, President Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK, Mahesh Bhatt, President, Federation of Brahmin Associations of Europe, Ratilal Chohan, General Secretary, Hindu Council of the North among others.
Controversy erupted over the release of a report by the House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences on June 10. The Committee was headed by Earl of Mar and Kellie.
© PTI
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Toronto, September 06, 2003
A prominent Canadian parliamentarian has asked the government to ensure security and safety of the arrested Pakistanis, mostly students, who are receiving "death threats" from other prison inmates.
Svend Robinson, of the opposition NDP (New Democratic Party) has also demanded the release of all 19 Pakistanis, who, he said, have been detained without any charges and despite the fact the police chief feels they pose no threat to the safety of Canada. "We now are hearing of death threats against them by other prison inmates," he said.
In a strongly-worded letter to Canada's External Affairs Minister Bill Graham, who is now on a tour to Pakistan, Robinson said: "I urge you to intervene and take whatever steps are possible to ensure the security and safety of these detained individuals."
Svend Robinson, who is better known in the Arab and Muslim world for his confrontation with Israeli soldiers at a roadblock near Ramallah said: "I would underline the adverse affect this detention is having in Pakistan. This certainly risks having a negative impact on Canadian soldiers serving in neighbouring Afghanistan."
© The Dawn, by Latafat Ali Siddiqui
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Washington, September 01, 2003
The 19 Pakistanis and Indians arrested by the Canadian authorities suspected of wanting to attack a nuclear power plant and a communications tower, though still in custody with the exception of two, have been declared free of any terrorism links by the head of Canadian intelligence.
All evidence suggests that they are illegal immigrants rather than Al Qaeda-aligned terrorists, as alleged. According to Giuliano Zaccardelli, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commissioner: “I can assure you there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that there’s any terrorist threat anywhere in this country related to this investigation.”
A report filed from Toronto in the Sunday New York Times says that the apparent contradiction underscores the “muddled picture emerging from the investigation of the group”. Prosecutors said the 19 were affiliated with a Canadian business school that exists in name only, had falsified immigration papers and identities and lived for months with little or no clear source of income.
The evidence, that they were anything more than illegal immigrants, however, remains mostly circumstantial, in the view of some legal analysts. Some newspaper columnists and civil rights advocates contend that the case proves that anti-terrorism legislation allowing for detention based on simple suspicion of illegal terrorist activity, enacted after the September 11 attacks, oversteps constitutional guarantees.
According to the newspaper report, some of the government’s suspicions are that the men lived together in apartments in clusters of four or five. Two of the apartments recently had fires, which could indicate the men were testing explosives.
© Daily Times, by Khalid Hasan
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United Nations, August 05, 2003
Satish Menon (43), an Indian police officer working with the U.N. mission in Kosovo, was killed in a sniper attack on Sunday night near Slatina village on the outskirts of the country's capital Pristina, when he was driving towards Mitrovica, the U.N. headquarters said today. Mitrovica is a town with a Serb-majority in the north and an Albanian-majority in the south.
He is the first police officer to be killed on duty in four years since the U.N. Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was established to facilitate interim administration under which people of the province, ravaged by ethnic war between Serbs and Albanians, could enjoy substantial autonomy. The U.N. also condemned the first attack on its police force in Kosovo in which Mr. Menon was killed.
Charles Brayshaw, Acting Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, while calling the act ``despicable'' said, ``by attacking the police, those responsible will not succeed in distracting the police from its duties.''
© UNI, AFP
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New Delhi, July 07, 2003
Second generation Indian-American youth and student organisations in North America are organising the Global Dharma Conference from July 25 to 27 in Edison, New Jersey. Billed as the largest event organised by the Hindu Student Council, the Network of Hindu Minds (NetOHM) and other groups, the conference is expected to attract close to 5,000 delegates from around the world.
Speakers such as the Dalai Lama, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Dr Bikram Chaudhary, Prof Subhash Kak and Kiran Bedi are to interact with the participants during the conference.
According to the organisers, several other world-renowned figures will speak on topics ranging from human rights and policy-making to science to mysticism and spirituality.
Spokesperson for the conference Priyank Jaiswal said, "Every action, thought or speech that sustains growth and promotes harmony is part of dharma. It is one of the most powerful concepts of spirituality that came from the East."
The conference's goal is to introduce the concept and meaning of dharma to the modern world, bring together students from ancient and modern cultures, educate the world about the philosophical and cultural heritage based on dharma and contribute towards global peace, harmony and progress.
"This meet aims to understand ways to promote harmony and sustaining principles, in various spheres of modern life," Jaiswal said.
© The Hindustan Times
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Kathmandu, October 20, 2003
Retired British Gurkha officers Saturday flayed the British envoy's latest statement wherein he compared the salary of the Prime Minister of Nepal with the one drawn by a British Gurkha captain, a published report said Monday.
"The ex-British Gurkhas have termed such comparisons as direct attack on the self-esteem of all Nepalis as well as an attempt to humiliate them," The Kathmandu Post reported.
"It is the first time that I have heard such defamatory remarks from a responsible British envoy and an army general," said Second World War veteran Major Trilok Singh Thapa. "The British are taking advantage of our poverty and political instability and are using derogatory words," he said.
"The comparison between the salary of a Nepali PM with a British Gurkha captain is the extremity of humiliation heaped on Nepal," former Nepali envoy to Germany, Dr. Nobel Kishor Rai said.
They were speaking at a joint press meet organised by British Gurkha Study and Research Centre and other representative organisations of the ex-Gurkha armies' in Kathmandu Saturday.
British envoy Keith Bloomfield and Gurkha Brigade's General Phillip had on Wednesday compared the Nepali PM's salary with a British Gurkha captain, saying that the former draws RS. 13,000, which is less than a British Gurkha captain, the newspaper said.
The Gurkha pensioners further said they will mount pressure on the government to take diplomatic steps for seeking a remedy to the "discrimination" against them, The Himalayan Times said.
© Nepalnews
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New Delhi, March 14, 2003
Dozens of Indian IT professionals prepared to leave Malaysia on Friday signalling a steady deterioration in bilateral ties following the arrest and harassment of nearly 300 software and other executives by Kuala Lumpur police for alleged visa irregularities.
"Thirty-two professionals have left for India. I have spoken to others and many of them also want to leave the country," Veena Sikri, the Indian High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur, told IANS on telephone from the Malaysian capital.
Sikri said Indian professionals, a large number of them working for software companies in the showpiece Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), were extremely peeved over the way police barged into their apartment blocks in central Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning in what looked like a "pre-planned targeting of Indians", took them away, handcuffed many of them and kept them confined to a garage.
Although Sikri met Friday morning with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Ahmed Albar, who expressed regret over the incident, India was still looking for answers to the incident that has soured bilateral ties and put a question mark on a blossoming relationship.
Sikri met about 175 software professionals after they were released from detention and many of them told her that they wanted to return in the face of the harassment and humiliation they had faced in Malaysia.
"There is a lot of pressure on them from their families to come back," Sikri added.
Sikri said the Indian high commission has insisted that a consular official should be present in future whenever local authorities needed to question Indians on suspicion of visa irregularities.
Of the around 35,000 Indian professionals in Malaysia, about 5,000 are in the IT sector working for Indian and multinational companies. The MSC has been touted as Malaysia's answer to Silicon Valley.
Two of the world's "smart cities" are being developed in the hi-tech corridor. One of them is Putrajaya, the new seat of government and administrative capital, and the other is Cyberjaya, an intelligent city with multimedia industries, R&D centres and a multimedia university besides being operational headquarters for many multinationals.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), one of the leading business chambers, set up an office in Kuala Lumpur only last month to coincide with the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who went there to attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.
Official sources said that unless Kuala Lumpur sought to make amends for what had happened, New Delhi would retaliate with "punitive measures" that could adversely affect the growing Malaysian interest in Indian infrastructure projects.
The action could also affect Indian tourist flow to Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur has been wooing the high-spending Indian tourists to the country in various ways and there has been a double-digit growth in tourist traffic in the last few years.
Malaysian tourist authorities here say they were expecting about 200,000 Indian tourists to visit the country this year.
Besides the expatriates, there are over 1.8 million people of Indian origin in multi-ethnic Malaysia, comprising the largest ethnic Indian community outside the Indian subcontinent. These are mostly Tamils, Telugus, Malayalis and Sikhs.
© IANS, by Tarun Basu
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Dubai, September 29, 2003
In a new audiotape released by terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's group, the al Qaeda has appealed to Pakistani soldiers to "topple" President Pervez Musharraf or he will "hand over" them to the Hindus.
The tape aired by the Qatar-based al Jazeera Arabic TV channel showed bin Laden's principal spokesman, Ayman al Zawahiri telling Pakistani officers and soldiers that the president would "hand you over to the Hindus and flee to enjoy his secret bank accounts" if India attacked their country.
Al-Zawahiri also condemned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent visit to India, saying the agreements signed were "a drop in the ocean of the American-Jewish-Indian alliance against Muslims."
Zawahiri said Musharraf helped the United States to topple the Taliban government in Afghanistan in the October 2001 invasion - support that killed thousands of innocents in the war-torn country.
During the broadcast on Sunday, the al-Qaeda spokesman also claimed the Pakistani President was seeking to recognize Israel and send troops to Iraq in a bid to gain full American approval.
"Musharraf... is seeking to send Pakistani forces to Iraq so that they, rather than American soldiers, are killed and so that they kill Muslims in Iraq and enable America to control Muslim lands," the al Jazeera tape said.
Zwahiri said in the tape that Washington would not reward Musharraf for his services and cited Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "a living example" of what happens to "traitors": "He gave Israel and America all that they asked for. But despite this, they are now incarcerating him in his office [in the West Bank town of Ramallah}... and lately decided to expel him."
Although the CIA has described the recording as "probably authentic", al Jazeera said it did not know when the tape was recorded.
But the remarks were replete with references to recent events such as Sharon's September visit to India and evelopments in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
Al-Zawahiri also said that Osama bin Laden and Taliban's Mulla Muhammad Umar were both alive.
The outburst against Musharraf, observers said, is strikingly similar to attacks on the Pakistani leader in another al-Zawahiri audiotape broadcast on the eve of the second anniversary of 11 September terror attacks on US.
© PTI
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Kochi, July 14, 2003
More than two months after it granted dual citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin in eight countries, the government is planning to bestow the facility on Non-Residents Indians in the Middle East.
"Officials in the Union home ministry are discussing the pros and cons of giving dual citizenship to PIOs in the Gulf. My ministry will also recommend extending the facility..." Minister of State for Law P C Thomas told rediff.com on Monday.
According to the minister, there was a 'lot of confusion' as to whether the government should extend this facility to Middle East.
"Basically, Indians who go to work in the Gulf countries generally come back to settle down in India, unlike the Indians who migrate to the United States and European countries," Thomas said.
However, since there are many Indians who have decided to settle down in the Gulf, it is imperative that the government extend the facility to them, he added.
In may the government decided to amend the 48-year-old Citizenship Act to introduce citizenship for PIOs.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani had then moved the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2003 in the Rajya Sabha. But the legislation will be enacted only after it is passed in both Houses in the monsoon session of Parliament, which reconvenes on Monday.
It will help launch the scheme of national identity cards.
The amended act will not be immediately applicable to PIOs in all countries since the government has decided that dual citizenship will be granted to Indians in those countries that have a corresponding provision.
Currently, such a provision exists only in the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Finland and the Netherlands.
After the government decided to grant dual citizenship to PIOs in these countries, a number of Gulf-based organisations had protested.
The Dubai-based chapter of the Overseas Indians Economic Forum had said granting dual citizenship would jeopardise India's security interests. Some NRI organisations had demanded that the government had discriminated against Gulf-based NRIs by granting the facility to only those in Western countries.
According to Dubai-based Indian Welfare Association president K P Krishnakumar, successive governments have always 'neglected the contributions made by the NRIs working across various Persian Gulf countries'.
"We are eager to know what was the criteria based on which the government decided to grant dual citizenship to a select few countries. I think the government and the Committee on the Indian Diaspora have completely failed to understand the sentiments of the millions of Indians in Gulf countries," Krishnakumar told rediff.com
According to government figures, there are more than 3.5 million Indians working in the Gulf region and more than 70 per cent of them make remittance to India.
© Refiff, by George Iype
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Silicon Valley, September 09, 2003
Scores of Indian immigrant workers appeared in a federal courtroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, alleging that a local manufacturer held them in virtual slavery.
The 52 skilled workers, including welders, fitters and electricians, have accused the John Pickle Co., a $15-million manufacturer of specialised oil industry equipment, of paying them less than the minimum wages and confining them to the factory dormitory against their will.
In his opening statement, the workers' attorney, Robert Canino, compared his clients' situation to those in John Steinbeck's ``Grapes of Wrath'', which depicts the lives of migrant workers who travelled from Oklahoma to California during the `Great Depression'. ``They can easily be given a place to live and a little bit of food. They might not know what they were missing and that's exactly what happened to the folks coming from India,'' the television KOTV reported.
``No comments," said John Pickle and his defence team as they walked out of Tulsa's Federal Building. Mr. Pickle's lawyers say the immigrants, who were brought here from India to work for the John Pickle Company, were trainees and not employees. And the Fair Labour Standards Act did not necessarily entitle them to minimum wage.
© PTI
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Colombo, October 04, 2003
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam yesterday expressed regret over the US' decision to extend a ban on them for a year amid moves to revive the island's stalled peace process.
The LTTE said it was disappointed over its redesignation by Washington as a terrorist group, which coincided with the rebels' release in this northern Sri Lankan town of 49 child combatants under a UNICEF-funded project.
"We view this US move with great regret," said Sutha Thangan, the deputy leader of the LTTE's political wing. "We are at a critical time when efforts are made to take forward the peace process.
"We would like the United States to have a realisation of the positive steps in the continuing peace process," Thangan added.
He said that even though talks were on hold, the peace process itself was "intact". Thangan said an LTTE team left overnight for Dublin, where the Tigers are expected to wrap up a counter-proposal to the government's offer of greater administrative powers ahead of a final settlement to the three-decade conflict.
The Tigers suspended participation in Norwegian-brokered talks in April. The United States first banned the LTTE as a terrorist organisation in October 1997. The United States has since renewed its ban on the Tigers each year. The designation makes it illegal for US nationals to fund the LTTE.
The LTTE is also considered a terrorist group by Australia, Britain, Canada and India, all countries with significant Tamil population.
© AFP
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Mumbai, July 07, 2003
An Indian scientist from Auburn University in Alabama, USA, has alleged flaws in the selection of winners of the Nobel Prize for the year 2000.
He claimed his work had been sidelined while three others were selected for the prestigious award.
Prof Mrinal Thakur, Head Mechanical Engineering Department of Auburn University, has been nominated for Nobel Prize for the third time by his university this year.
He told reporters that his discovery of "non conjugated" conductive polymers having isolated double bonds as far back as 1988 had proved Nobel Foundations statements incorrect in the selection of Nobel awards for the year 2000.
He has questioned the decision of Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to assume that a polymer had to be conjugated to become electrically conductive-- the basis for Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000 to three scientists.
Alleging flaws in the selection of the Nobel winners of 2000, Thakur said that in spite of having scientific facts on record that "conjugation is not a pre-requisite for a polymer to be conductive but must have at least one double bond in the repeat", the Nobel foundation has ignored it.
He alleged that while selecting three scientists for Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000, his work on polymers and his subsequent experiments and commercial applications in the form of sensors of various types including 'stress sensors' and other security applications, were totally sidelined by Nobel Foundation.
In 2000, Professors Alan J Heager of University of California, Alan G MacDiarmid of University of Pennsylvania, USA and Hideki shirakawa of University of Tsukuba, Japan received Nobel prize in chemistry for "the discovery and development of electrically conductive polymers".
The Nobel foundation in the citation paper of the three winners of 2000 Nobel prize had mentioned that "a key property of a conductive polymer is the presence of conjugated double bonds along the backbone of the polymer. In conjugation, the bonds between carbon atoms are alternately single and double."
However, Thakur said his publications during 1988 to 2002 and his patented sensors had pointed out that "congjugation is not a pre-requisite for a polymer to be conductive and that a polymer must have at least one double bond in the repeat to become conductive".
Thakur explained that interaction with a dopant (an electron acceptor) causes transfer of an electron from the double bond to the dopant creating a hole at the double bond site and electrical conduction occurs via intersite hopping of holes.
© PTI
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Islamabad, January 04, 2003
Durable peace in the region is not possible unless the Kashmir issue is resolved, said Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri while talking to BBC. He said we shall remind the international community that durable peace is only possible when a just solution to the issue is sought. Kasuri said Pakistan will not miss any opportunity to raise the Kashmir issue at the United Nations Security Council. To a question, he said as far as the membership of the UN Security Council is concerned, it is a great honour for Pakistan. Many other countries were also candidates, he said. He said whenever an honour comes, it comes with certain responsibilities, adding that we generally remind the international community that the Security Council's resolutions on Kashmir have still not been implemented. The foreign minister said we shall try our best to establish peace with India. This is only possible when a just solution of Kashmir is found, he said.
© The News International
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Colombo, August 09, 2003
The International Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in a joint statement Thursday accused the LTTE of using the cease-fire with the Government to murder their political opponents.
Executive Director of the Asia Division of the Human Rights Watch Brad Adams, in his statement said that there is convincing evidence that the LTTE are taking advantage of the cease-fire with the Government to murder political opponents.
The statement of the two human right groups came a day after the US Government warned the LTTE over the assassination of political opponent.
The Deputy spokesman of the US State Department in a statement issued in Washington said: "More than three dozen persons -- all of whom were alleged to be political opponents of the Tamil Tigers or anti-Tiger informants -- have been assassinated in Sri Lanka so far this year'.
"We note with concern, however, activity by the Tamil Tigers that is undermining confidence in the peace process at this critical juncture," Reeker said in his statement.
According to Amnesty International they are going to call on the LTTE, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the Police to take immediate action to stop human right abuses and bring to justice those responsible for political killings.
However, the LTTE Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan at a recent meeting with SLMM Chief Tryggve Tellefsen in Kilinochchi denied the allegation against the LTTE over the assassination of political opponents.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also recently expressed his concerns to the SLMM Chief over the political killings after SLMM Chief met him after his visit to Wanni.
"The end of the fighting in Sri Lanka has not meant an end to the killing," Brad Adams said in his statement.
"Members of Tamil political parties are being gunned down and the available evidence points to the Tamil Tigers."
At least 22 people with links to Tamil political parties opposed to the LTTE have been killed in politically motivated attacks since the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE signed a cease-fire in February 2002.
Many others have been abducted, their fate still unknown. In several instances witnesses have identified the perpetrators as members of the LTTE. All available evidence points to a systematic campaign by the LTTE to silence opposition voices.
"Any improvements to the human rights situation in Sri Lanka are now at risk of being undermined by these killings," said Ingrid Massage, interim director of the Asia Pacific Program of Amnesty International.
"The use of political assassinations and violence threatens to seriously undermine moves made towards establishing a just system of governance that will serve all citizens of Sri Lanka."
Human Rights Watch also urged the SLMM to develop its capability to conduct in-depth investigations of such cases.
"Sri Lankan police and the LTTE also need to act to stop the killings", it added.
"While recognizing the difficulties the police face in investigating these crimes, this does not excuse their failure so far to bring to justice those responsible," said Massage.
"Given the weight of evidence, it is the responsibility of the LTTE to immediately halt these killings and ensure its members fully abide by human rights provisions in the cease-fire agreement. They must also fully cooperate in any investigations conducted by the SLMM."
© Daily News, by Ranil Wijayapala
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New Delhi, September 28, 2003
A city court has framed charges against an Air France official for alleged negligence leading to the death of an NRI passenger - a heart patient - who was left unattended at the IGI airport here for almost 11 hours after he developed chest pain. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V K Maheshwari, framed charges under Section 304 A (causing death by rash and negligent act) against Opender Nath Kaul, who was Duty Manager of Air France at the IGI Airport here, observing that there was prima facie evidence for the same. Kaul allegedly had not arranged medical assistance for the passenger Ram Sarwan, who was offloaded from an Air France flight after he complained of chest pain. Finally he was taken to the Safdarjung Hospital some 10 hours after he was off-loaded from the plane, only to be declared brought dead. Sarwan, hailing from Jalandhar and settled in Birmingham, had come to India in August 1998 to immerse his father's ashes at Haridwar. After the ritual, he had booked a return Air France night flight to London from Delhi.
© PTI
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Islamabad, July 04, 2003
The French government has reportedly expressed its keenness to bring both Pakistan and India to the negotiation table.
Diplomatic observers in Paris, France where Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is on an official visit, were quoted as saying that President Jacques Chirac had told Musharraf that France was willing to do anything to facilitate a dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi.
The French leadership, they said had indicated that instead of playing a role of a mediator between India and Pakistan, it may agree to play the role of a facilitator.
There seems to be a perceptible understanding between Chirac and Musharraf on this likely development, the diplomatic observers said.
© Asian News International
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Toronto, September 15, 2003
Canada is providing a "veneer of legitimacy" to the terrorist activities of the Tamil Tigers by failing to outlaw the group as the United States, Britain and Australia have done, says an international terrorist expert.
Peter Chalk, a security expert at the Rand Corporation and adviser to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said Canada's strategic importance to the Tamil Tigers as a base to raise illegal funds, recruit terrorists and gain political legitimacy increased significantly after Britain and Australia recently joined Washington's lead in banning its activities.
"It is basically able to carry out its activities in a largely unrestricted fashion in Canada both symbolically and practically for its logistical designs," Mr. Chalk said in a telephone interview from Singapore.
The Canadian Intelligence Service recently asked the federal cabinet to ban the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist group, but Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham blocked its listing under counter-terrorism laws.
Mr. Graham maintains the Tamil Tigers -- which used suicide bombings, car bombs and assassination squads to wage a war of independence in Sri Lanka -- do not pose an immediate security threat to Canadians and claims a ban would hurt fragile peace negotiations with the Sri Lanka government.
Mr. Chalk agrees the LTTE is unlikely to carry out terrorist attacks in Canada, but said they continue to use front organizations in Canada to funnel vast amounts of money back home through extortion of Tamil Canadians, drug running, people smuggling and other criminal activities in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Canada's pledge to fight global terrorism cannot be taken seriously if it fails to outlaw LTTE, which the RCMP has described as "one of the most sophisticated and deadly insurgencies in the world," Mr. Chalk said.
Mr. Chalk also said a Canadian ban would, instead, ratchet up the pressure on the LTTE leadership to seek a political solution. "It would be a very symbolic lesson that could impact on the way the LTTE leadership engages in peace negotiations."
© The Island
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Karachi, August 07, 2003
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, found guilty by a Swiss magistrate of money laundering, plans to appeal against the verdict, party officials said on Wednesday.
"Ms Bhutto is consulting her lawyers...surely she will challenge it within the 14 days stipulated," senator Raza Rabbani, deputy secretary general of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, told a news conference at her Karachi residence.
Swiss investigating magistrate Daniel Devaud found exiled Bhutto and her jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari guilty of laundering money, handed them six-month suspended sentences and ordered them to pay Pakistan nearly $12 million.
A copy of the ruling given to reporters by the government on Tuesday also ordered Bhutto to hand over to Islamabad a necklace worth 117,000 pounds ($188,000).
The verdict came as a surprise to the charismatic Bhutto, whose once stellar political career has been tarnished by allegations of corruption during her two terms in office in the 1980s and 1990s.
Bhutto, living in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai, vehemently denies the Swiss allegations.
A bitter enemy of military President Pervez Musharraf, she also faces corruption charges in Pakistan and would have to stand trial were she to return home. Zardari has languished in prison since her government was thrown out of power in November 1996.
He faces a range of charges including corruption and murder.
Rabbani accused the Pakistani government of influencing the Swiss magistrate.
"Ms Bhutto has nothing to do with those accounts...nor does the necklace belong to her.
"We challenge the government to prove that she has a bank account there (in Switzerland)," he said.
Bhutto's lawyers say that as soon as her appeal is lodged with the Swiss General Attorney, the sentence would be quashed.
The case relates to accusations dating back to the 1990s that Bhutto had access to money through kickbacks from two Swiss companies with business in Pakistan.
Pakistani officials from the National Accountability Bureau have visited Switzerland over the last few years and asked investigators there to look into the allegations.
Analysts say Bhutto's opponents are likely to use the charges against her and her husband to further undermine their position.
Many Pakistanis are already convinced of their guilt, and do not want Bhutto to return to her homeland. But she also has the charisma and support to cause severe embarrassment to Musharraf were she to come out of exile and face charges against her.
© Reuters
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New Delhi, October 10, 2003
It's become a statue of discontent for Indians in Canada. Many are crying foul over the picture of a nude sculpture of Goddess Durga published by the Toronto Star on Dussehra. The photograph, distributed by Reuters, shows "An Indian craftsman makes an idol of the Hindu Goddess of power Durga in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh". Why, ask Canadian Indians in their complaints to US-based online activist group IndiaCause, did the widely circulated Canadian daily see it fit to use the questionable image rather than three others made available by Reuters at the same time?
Blaming both Reuters and the The Toronto Star for publicising the "blasphemous and entirely misleading picture of the Goddess Durga", the group's website calls it "an intentional effort to defame the Indian community".
While admitting there are certain guidelines that the wire service follows, Myra McDonald, who heads Reuters's Delhi bureau, expresses her helplessness in the matter. According to her: "We have an international client list and sensibilities may differ from region to region. Each publication must therefore exercise its own editorial discretion in carrying the pictures we file."
Causing affront to the religious sentiments of any community is a serious matter, says India's Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad. According to him: "There have been incidents of Hindu gods and goddesses being projected as soft porn images in the past too. What the western media doesn't seem to realise is that such thoughtless acts cause great bitterness. Sadly the damage done is often irreversible."
Delhi Shiv Sena chief Jai Bhagwan Goel claims its an international conspiracy to make Indians in general and Hindus in particular look foolish. "Ridiculing our beliefs and sentiments has become fashionable among those who understand nothing of India's rich cultural heritage. This is not the first time the Western media has made a faux pas. They have made fun of us before by talking of the shivling as the penis of Shiva and Kaali as the 'most sensuous goddess' in the Hindu pantheon. It's nothing but a well-orchestrated plot against Hinduism's global appeal," he said.
Goel does not plan to let the 'naked fury' die out without registering a strong protest. "We are trying to locate a copy of the publication in question. The moment we have that, we will stage a dharna in front of the Reuters office. Since the news agency is the main villain of the piece, we will force them to shut shop and leave India unless they give us an undertaking not to make such mistakes in future," he warns.
© The Hindustan Times, by Khalid M Ansari
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Washington, October 12, 2003
An advocacy group of Indian Muslims in the US has slammed a reported statement by Ahmed Bukhari, the Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, condoning the 9/11 attacks and calling the Taliban a "strong force".
"Indian Muslims and Indian Muslim scholars joined other Muslim scholars throughout the world in condemning the 9/11 terrorist attacks," Rasheed Ahmed, vice-president of the Indian Muslim Council (IMC-USA), said in a press release.
"We strongly disagree with the recent statement made by Imam Bukhari. As Muslim Americans we unequivocally condemn those attacks.
"The Imam has made an irresponsible remark at a time when the community needs clarity and cohesion, on the one hand, and peace, amity and reconciliation with the rest of the world, on the other. These goals can never be achieved without moral integrity and civic responsibility."
The Imam of India's largest mosque had in a recent speech reportedly described the Taliban as a "strong force" and Osama bin Laden as someone "who got America's ego to crumble with the twin towers of the World Trade Centre".
The IMC-USA, founded last year, said it is committed to safeguarding Indian society's pluralist and tolerant ethos amongst the Indian diaspora in the US.
© IANS
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Houston, November 02, 2003
A nude picture of Lord Ganesha on the cover of a new book
and the contents have evoked protests from Hindus across the United
States.
The nude portrayal of Lord Ganesha on the book Ganesa, Lord of Obstacles,
Lord of Beginnings by Emory University Professor Paul Courtright has
earned the wrath of Hindu scholars here who say several passages quoted in
the book ``are seemingly insensitive to Hindu belief or faith''.
A petition is also being circulated and signed online to protest against
the book and it demands that publishers withdraw the book from
circulation. A release issued by the scholars claimed that so far about
5,000 people have signed the petition expressing their displeasure.
© PTI
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Toronto, October 09, 2003
Canadian immigration authorities have deported two Pakistanis linked to the Project Thread investigation into a visa fraud scandal that triggered terrorism concerns, officials said yesterday.
Amir Nadeem and Mohammad Jahangir are the first to be removed from Canada as a result of the eight-month probe, which revolves around a small college that sold fraudulent documents to foreign students.
It was suspicions about Mr. Jahangir that set off the probe. When he applied for a student visa to study at the Ottawa Business School in Toronto, an immigration officer was unable to find the career college.
She alerted a newly formed anti-terrorism unit, which discovered the school had long ago ceased operations but was selling acceptance letters and transcripts to students seeking to obtain visas by fraud.
Mr. Jahangir and Mr. Nadeem, his roommate, were arrested in May. Three months later, police arrested 19 more men who had obtained students visas by claiming they were students of the defunct school.
Immigration officials initially said the men might pose a threat to national security and released an intelligence report that suggested they might be members of an al-Qaeda "sleeper cell."
But the immigration department has since backed away from those allegations and is deporting the men only because they lied to get visas, although officials said yesterday the investigation was continuing.
© National Post
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New Jersey, November 18, 2003
A U.S.-based Hindu organisation has protested to Unesco against its decision to club Vedic chanting tradition as a folk art along with the Belgian carnival of Binche and Indonesia's Wayang puppet theatre.
Vedas, which deserve a place alongside the Bible and the Koran as seminal texts of a world religion, should not have been placed on this list, Navya Shastra said.
Describing Vedic chanting as a "heritage of humanity", Unesco had placed it along with 27 other cultural expressions.
"While we laud the preservation of all cultural forms, the Vedas and their chanting tradition represent the epicentre of the Hindu religion, and do not belong in this category, which seems to showcase folk arts," said Navya Shastra chairperson Jaishree Gopal in a statement.
Navya Shastra also charged Unesco with endorsing the caste system by propagating a five-year plan that encourages preservation of the Vedas in their Brahmin-only format.
"The Vedas should be open to all Hindus, and not just Brahmins," said Rahul Saxena, an executive member of Navya Shastra.
He noted that one of the "defining features" of the caste system is that the Vedas are to be chanted by upper caste males only and socially backward sections are forbidden to take part in the chant.
Navya Shastra urged all organisations that receive Unesco funding to select candidates on a "caste-blind basis".
© IANS
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Islamabad, June 30, 2003
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court today sentenced three militants to death after finding them guilty of plotting a suicide car bomb attack that killed 11 French engineers in southern Karachi last year.
"In light of the evidence and statements of 42 prosecution witnesses, the case against Asif Zahir and Mohammad Bashir, and Mohammad Sohail who was tried in absentia, has been proven," Judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti told the court. "Hereby they are sentenced to death for an explosives act, murder and terrorism." The three are members of militant organisations Harkat Jihad ul Islmai and Harkat ul Mujahideen, both of which have close links with the al Qaeda network. The trial began in April 2003 and was located in the Karachi jail compound for security reasons. "I am satisfied with the verdict. There was incriminating evidence against the two men and the judge took the right decision," Prosecutor Maula Baksh Bhatti said. Eleven French naval technicians helping Pakistan assemble a submarine were killed when a suicide bomber in a car packed with around 150 kgs of explosives rammed into a bus carrying the engineers at the car park of a luxury hotel in Karachi last year. The men pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Expressing surprise over the verdict, defence lawyer M R Sayed said he will challenge it.
"The evidence, which was produced by prosecution was lacking in confidence," Sayed said. The accused have seven days to file a appeal in the High Court.
© PTI
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Washington, November 07, 2003
Just as Indian Americans are backing Republican Bobby Jindal in the Louisiana governor's race, Pakistani Americans have launched a campaign to support his Democratic rival. M. Ashraf Abbasi, president of the Pakistani American Congress (PAC), said Jindal is "a highly prejudiced person, who could be a future threat for Pakistani interests in the US." He appealed to the Muslim community to vote for rival candidate Kathleen Blanco. The election will be held on November 15.
"Blanco is a close friend of Pakistani community," Abbasi said. "She understands our issues and supports our cause. She is in favour of immigrants - opposes discrimination in any form or fashion, is against profiling on the basis of religion, looks or ethnicity.
"She has a good record and wants to improve healthcare, education and create jobs and exploit the potentials of Louisiana to its fullest and make it one of the prosperous states."
The Pakistani American Congress, he claimed, had raised $50,000 for her campaign in Lake Charles "in just one hour".
"We have put up highway signs from Texas to Mississippi in her favour. We have set up calling booths in four major cities.
"It is hard doing all this during the month of Ramadan -- devoted to fasting -- but we are doing it as a religious duty as well," Abbasi added.
The Pakistani American Congress (Washington, DC.) is a nationwide umbrella entity of Pakistani Americans and Pakistani organisations in North America since 1990.
Another organisation, the Patriot Muslim Americans (PMA), has also urged its members to pledge their vote for Blanco, "for a progressive, tolerant and prosperous Louisiana that is free of hate, bigotry, ethnic profiling and discrimination".
The PMA said "support to Blanco means a Louisiana that can offer better and affordable health, better education to everyone. A leader who is capable and has proven records for two terms as lieutenant governor and a leader who has boundless love and passion to shape and revive the economy of Louisiana, to provide jobs to all willing to work, a promise for our youth, and ensure hope and a future for those willing to come back to Louisiana.
The war between Jindal and Blanco is hotting up.
On Sunday's widely televised debate, Blanco attacked Jindal by asserting that he had aired a television ad from something she called "The Republican Truth Squad".
She said during the debate, "On your television ads right now it says, 'Paid for by the Republican Truth Squad.' It has your face, your voice and you are directly involved in the making of those ads -- so please tell us about the Republican Truth Squad."
Jindal responded by saying he had no idea what she was talking about.
The Times-Picayune, a newspaper daily published from New Orleans, on Tuesday ran an article with a headline that reads, "Blanco backs off remarks about 'truth squad' ads".
The ad doesn't exist, the daily reported.
Jindal, the only Indian American to aspire for a gubernatorial position, has demanded that Blanco speak the truth instead of "simply making up allegations out of thin air, and then offering no proof or substantiation to back up her allegations".
Jindal said: "Even though it is late in the campaign, candidates still have the responsibility to speak truthfully."
"This is the minimum the voters should expect and demand from their next governor. You can't just make things up and say anything in order to try to win an election. This is precisely the kind of thing that makes people cynical about politics and that turns them off. Integrity and honesty is far more important than politics."
© IANS
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Bangkok, October 10, 2003
The Indian community in Thailand today demanded that they be granted dual citizenship. At a question-answer session with Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley at a meeting of Indian and Thai businessmen addressed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, leading Indians settled in Thailand complained that they were discriminated against when the government announced the dual citizenship policy early this year.
They wanted that the government should immediately amend the rules and grant them dual citizenhip.
The Commerce Minister assured them that he would pass on their request to External Affairs Yashwant Sinha.
There are some 80,000 Indians in Thailand who have become Thai nationals.
In January this year, the Prime Minister had, while addressing the ''Bharatiya Pravasi Diwas'' in New Delhi, announced the government's decision to grant dual citizenship to Indians settled in eight countries.
© UNI, by Ashok Tuteja
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Fiji, October 29, 2003
Diwali celebrations took an ugly twist when a temple in Raralevu, Nausori, was burnt to the ground on Saturday night. Hindu residents who were celebrating Diwali in their homes broke down in tears when they heard that the Naga Baba Kutti temple had been razed in a fire. Police have confirmed the reports of the fire but were unable to give details of the incident. Ragho Nand, a member of the Tailevu Rewa Indian Communal seat for the Fiji Labour Party, believes the case is one of arson. "People are very sad, especially since Saturday was supposed to be a day of rejoicing but, instead, it became one of the worst days for us," said Mr. Nand. He said the temple and all the equipment inside was destroyed, except for a shed that was saved by neighbors. "The temple was of significance to us because it was established in 1905 by Naga Baba, a priest who came all the way from India." Mr. Nand said the damage was estimated to be around US,000. "Fiji is a multi-racial nation and people should learn to respect each other's religion and culture regardless of what race we belong to. "This teaching should be included in all education curriculums so that future citizens do not discriminate other religions or races," said Mr. Nand. Early last month a temple at Korociriciri in Nausori was also destroyed in a fire and is still being reconstructed by residents who use it for worship purposes. The Naga Baba Kutti temple is only a few meters away from the Raralevu Police Post but despite this, police were unable to determine who set the temple on fire.
© Hinduism Today
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Istanbul, September 30, 2003
Turkish police on Tuesday detained 113 illegal immigrants from Pakistan who were planning to head to western Europe, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The group was found hiding in the basement of a building in Bagcilar district, on Istanbul's European side, the report said.
Upon breaking down the door to the basement, police found 113 Pakistani men sleeping on blankets in a stuffy room.
Police were looking for the owner of the basement, it added.
Turkey is a major route for human-smuggling from Asia into Europe, and illegal immigrants are detained almost on a daily basis. The immigrants mostly risk their lives trying to cross to Greece or Italy by land or sea journeys, often aboard unseaworthy vessels.
© AFP
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Islamabad, July 17, 2003
Eleven Pakistani prisoners arrived in Islamabad from Guantanamo Bay Thursday, the second batch of Pakistanis to be released from the U.S. detention center, a government minister said.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Reuters that the government was trying to win the release of all the Pakistani nationals being held in the prison on the island of Cuba, which holds more than 600 al Qaeda and Taliban suspects.
Hayat said up to 50 Pakistanis were taken to the detention center after U.S.-led troops forced the Taliban movement from power in neighboring Afghanistan in December 2001.
State-owned Pakistan Television said the 11 Pakistanis were put on a special U.S. air force plane from Guantanamo Bay to Pakistan earlier in the day. Five Pakistanis had already been released.
The identities of the 11 were not immediately known. They are to be debriefed by Pakistani intelligence agencies before being freed to join their families.
Many Pakistanis went to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban when the hard-line Islamic movement was under attack by the U.S.-led coalition forces following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
© Reuters
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London, June 21, 2003
Merging of tradition and change is one of the major challenges facing Indians who are at a crossroads in modern society, Lord Swraj Paul, NRI industrialist has said.
Speaking at the Business Dinner for the British India Association in Leeds last night, Lord Paul said: "Today, Indians are at a crossroads in modern society. On one side are all the values of our heritage; on the other is our worldwide reputation for commercial excellence. The merging of these two powerful forces - tradition and change - is one of the major challenges today."
Lord Paul, Ambassador for Overseas British Business, said the relationship between wealth and responsibility has been examined throughout history and "today, we combine a mix of modern business ideas with traditional perceptions. Most people agree that wealth, and its continued creation, is essential for everybody.
"It is the foundation for material development, and the key to the conventional vision of a better life. Disagreements only arise regarding circumstances in which wealth is created and how it is to be distributed."
"Wealth can give you a better life, but can it make you a better person?" he asked. The Hindu doctrine teaches us that while the pursuit of wealth might be permissible, attachment to it is not. "My own personal experience suggests that wealth is the reward for individual effort. But there are limits to its compensations."
Stating that he had known tragedy in his life, and all the money in the world could not prevent those tragedies from happening, Lord Paul said he acknowledged the intellectual challenge in the creation of wealth, but he also acknowledged the limits of its value.
Lord Paul said he believed in the system of free enterprise because it encouraged the individual. "It is efficient and it creates wealth rapidly. But it cannot be allowed to run unchecked.
"And this is where responsibility is linked to wealth, because a system that encourages the creation of wealth without corresponding responsibilities is like a car in motion without a driver - the momentum is there, but it is a public menace," he said.
"Wealth can impact arrogance, and arrogance combined with the power of wealth can become a social menace. Unfortunately, restraint is not born in us, it must be taught by example. This is where we all have a responsibility to uphold our traditional moral value
"Among those values which I hope we will continue to nurture, is the ideal of social responsibility."
Lord Paul, Co-Chairman of the India-UK Round Table said "Society has an obligation to look after those who cannot take care of themselves. But this does not mean we have to create a welfare state. We have to develop conditions that will enable each individual to make the most of his or her potential."
© PTI
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London, September 20, 2003
A series of attacks by Tamils on Tamils within London's Sri Lankan community has led the Scotland Yard to set up a special Tamil task force to deal with the problem.
Special raids are being conducted on suspects under "Operation Enver" after a series of attacks in recent months.
On August 30 a Sri Lankan teenager, Asan Ratnasegaram, was stabbed to death with a samurai sword while sitting in a car with two friends.
His murder was the latest in a series of "Tamil-on-Tamil" murders that has taken the death toll to 10 since 2000.
According to the police, the situation is reaching critical proportions and the nature of violence was escalating. However, they rule out drugs as a cause of the attacks.
"We seem to have what could be termed 'respect' attacks, with disrespect shown by one gang member to another gang member, which results in an attack and then a revenge attack, and that escalates," said Stephen House, the police officer in charge of dealing with Tamil issues.
At a press conference last week the police revealed the arsenal of weapons captured during raids. These included knives, swords, axes and guns.
The police said only about 150 of the 18,000-strong Tamil community in London was involved in the attacks.
Said Rajasingham Jayadevan, chairman of the Shiva temple in Wembley, "The Tamil community is terrified because the violence is so much. It is not only murders, it is threats, blackmail, intimidation."
Another community member told Eastern Eye, "Some of the violence goes back to family feuds."
But several Sri Lankan Tamils are upset with reports in the local media that have linked the violence to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.
Said Wimal Sockanathan, a London-based journalist and broadcaster, "Most of the English media think this has something to do with the Tamil Tigers and the situation back home, but this is totally incorrect."
© IANS
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Los Angeles, June 29, 2003
President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday asked the American businessmen to help build a strong Pakistan-US relationship by bolstering the bilateral trade and commercial ties.
He informed a meeting of American legislators and entrepreneurs at a breakfast meeting that steadily improved economy, commitment to privatization, a large market, continuity of policies, a strategic location and a safe environment had made Pakistan an ideal place for doing business.
"It is the private sector, the investors and entrepreneurs who will provide depth and strengthen to the fresh Pakistan-US strategic partnership."
The president said of the over 600 international companies doing business in Pakistan, the majority was earning a profit ranging from 20 to 60 per cent.
He referred to improved security environment and said Pakistan had been able to counter terrorism through an effective strategy backed up with speedy actions and effective intelligence gathering.
Pakistan, he said, had apprehended more Al Qaeda terrorists than any other country in the world.
He informed the gathering that Pakistan had initiated mega-projects like Gwadar deep sea-port, coastal highways, motorways and coal energy projects, and said the presence of the huge infrastructure would make the country an ideal gateway for business transportation from Central Asian states to the Gulf through Afghanistan.
© The Dawn
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London, June 22, 2003
Raising a serious question mark on Islamabad's claim of having curbed militancy, Amnesty International has ridiculed the Pakistani crackdown on militant outfits.
In its report for 2003, the London-based Human Rights group, commented: "In January, four religious groups were banned and thousands of Islamists were arrested and held under administrative detention. They were released within days or weeks."
As compared to this, the Amnesty said, several people had been detained and handed over to the United States without proper verification.
The human rights group also flayed the running of affairs in North West Frontier Province by the Muthahida Majlis-e-Amal saying its decision to end coeducation was seen as a setback by several women groups.
Seeking reactions from various people to the report, Pakistani weekly The Friday Times quoted an anonymous Pakistani official as saying, "We have an inherent habit of rejecting everything that we don't agree with."
Commenting on the report, chairman of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Afrasiab Khattak said, "Every government in Pakistan regularly contradicts Amnesty's finding whenever it releases its report. The HRCP also receives the same treatment. The government has no patience to listen to the truth."
© PTI
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Brussels, September 01, 2003
The European governments have applauded the Pakistani proposal for such drastic amendments in the Charter of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), which could enable the seven nation regional forum to resolve the regional and bilateral conflicts in South Asia, a credible European source told The News.
A report reflecting European policies on South Asia indicates the plan of President Pervez Musharraf to discuss with Indian Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, during the forthcoming Saarc summit, a consternation of his proposals for modification in the charter of the Saarc, which he believes, could make it more effective in resolving regional disputes. Prime Minister Vajpayee has already confirmed his decision to visit Islamabad to attend Saarc summit in January 2004, the source indicated.
Several diplomatic reports by European ambassadors and high commissioners, accredited to Islamabad, who claim to have heard Pakistani position on the issue directly from President Pervez Musharraf, are receiving positive responses from European governments. "European governments would encourage both the countries to strengthen the regional mechanism to resolve the issues confronted by South Asia at regional level" a European diplomat said.
© The News International, by Zia Iqbal Shahid
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New Delhi, May 07, 2003
"Leaders of India and Pakistan are certain to win the Nobel Peace Prize if they succeed in implementing their new resolve to live in harmony , Karl Inderfurth, the Clinton Administration's point-man for South Asia, said on Tuesday.
Mr Inderfurth, writing in the liberal Hindu newspaper on the eve of a crucial visit to India and Pakistan by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage listed some key measures, apparently backed by Washington, including steps to resolve the Kashmir dispute, as qualifiers for the prize.
"If this is done, I am personally convinced of two things 'that a Nobel Peace Prize would await the Indian and Pakistani leaders who accomplish this task and, even more important, that they will receive the undying gratitude of the peoples of their two countries and of the international community,'" said Mr Inderfurth, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, from 1997-2001.
According to Mr Inderfurth, the two countries must move along the following the roadmap to succeed in their endeavour:
An end to all Pakistan's support for cross-border infiltration, resulting in a substantial reduction in internal political violence in Kashmir; a mutual affirmation for the respect of the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani-held portions of Kashmir. This should include monitoring and confidence-building measures, with international technical assistance, including from the US, as requested by both sides; and a significant reduction in the Indian armed security presence in Kashmir and improved respect for human rights, accelerating the process that has begun with the new (Jammu and Kashmir) State Government of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed promising a "healing touch" for Kashmiris. He also proposed substantial autonomy for the 13 million people of the Kashmir region, of whom about nine million are under Indian control and four million under Pakistan control; functional arrangements on trade, travel, cultural and religious affairs, and economic development that would institutionalise cooperative relations among Indians, Pakistanis and local Kashmiri representatives and institutions; concrete (meaning financial and investment) international support for joint development and other cooperative projects on both sides of the LoC, revitalising a Kashmir economy and infrastructure devastated by years of conflict; and negotiated Indian and Pakistani agreements on long-term arrangements concerning Kashmir, with the wishes of the people of Kashmir taken into account, possibly followed by formal United Nations Security Council endorsement of these agreements superseding the resolutions adopted at the beginning of the conflict more than 50 years ago.
Mr Inderfurth recalled that during President Clinton's visit to India and Pakistan in March 2000, he spoke about four principles "the '4Rs' they were called" the need for mutual restraint, respect for the LoC, rejection of violence and resumption of dialogue.
"India and Pakistan should seize on the opportunity presented by Mr Vajpayee's latest initiative to lay the groundwork for a fifth 'R' "a long-term resolution of the conflict," Mr Inderfurth said.
He said in seeking a solution, it will clearly not be possible for either side to achieve its maximalist position.
"Both need to think creatively and flexibly about a solution that would be peaceful, honourable and implementable; one that would truly serve the legitimate interests of all the parties involved, including Kashmiris, and one that both New Delhi and Islamabad could accept," the former US official wrote.
Mr Inderfurth praised the statements and telephone calls between the two sides that heralded the current thaw. He said Mr Armitage, should build on these statements. "But his starting point must be with the pledge the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, made to him on his visit to the region in June of 2002. At that time Gen Musharraf said he would seek a "permanent end" to militant incursions across the Kashmir ceasefire line," Mr Inderfurth said.
Mr Inderfurth said the recent positive change in Indo-Pakistan rhetoric could provide the United States an opportunity to play the role of facilitator in a serious dialogue between the two countries.
© The Dawn
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London, September 17, 2003
Kartar Lalwani, founder-managing director of Vitabiotics, a vitamin supplement company, was adjudged the UK Entrepreneur of the Year at a
function in London on Tuesday night.
At the GG2 (Garavi Gujarat) Leadership and Diversity Awards 2003 held at the Le Meridian Grosvenor House Hotel, Kalwani, who founded
the company in 1971 was chosen for the coveted award for his exceptional marketing skills and entrepreneurial flair.
The company distributes 15 brands in the United Kingdom and internationally, and five of these are Britain's best selling supplements.
In May 2003, Vitabiotics received 'The Queen's Award' - the most coveted commercial prize given to a UK business house.
Baroness Valerie Amos, Britain's Secretary of State for Department for International Development, who was the chief guest, won the 'Hammer
Award' the highest award given to an individual for breaking through the 'glass ceiling.'
Ronen Sen, High Commissioner for India to the United Kingdom, presented the award to Baroness Amos.
Amos is the first black woman to be appointed on the British Cabinet.
Prior to her appointment as Secretary of State for International Development in May this year, Baroness Amos was Parliamentary
Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
Born in 1954 in Guyana, Baroness Amos began her career in local government, working in various London boroughs from 1981 to 1989.
She was a Government Whip in the House of Lords from 1998 to 2001, and has also been a spokesperson on social security, international
development and women's issues.
More than a dozen other awards were also presented at the dinner attended by over 1,000 distinguished guests, including Lord Swraj Paul,
NRI, British Ambassador for Overseas Business, Keith Vaz, former Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Shekhar Kapur, producer
of Oscar-nominated film Elizabeth, and Barry Gardinar, MP, General Secretary of Labour Friends of India.
Kabir Bedi, veteran Bollywood actor, and his wife Nikki Bedi compered the programme.
Other prominent award recipients were Baroness Usha Prashar, CBE (Commander of the British Empire), the First Civil Service Commissioner,
Cabinet Office (Woman of the Year), Rabinder Singh, QC (Queen's Counsel) (Man of the Year), Sanjeev Bhasker, (TV and Drama Award), Dr
Ajay Vora, Consultant Paediatric Haematologist (Innovation Award), Zahida Manzoor, Legal Ombudsman (Public Service Award).
Purnima Raval, Police Constable, Metropolitan Police (Metropolitan Service Community Award), Lisa Aziz (Media Personality of the Year
Award), Rekha Bhakoo, Head Teacher (Teacher of the Year Award), Commander Joe Da Gama (Endeavour Award), Lorna Hamilton-Brown
(Community Award), Poppy Tanna (Achievement through Adversity Award), Michael Watson (Sports Personality of the Year Award) and
Walkers (Best Commercial Award) too were awarded during the function.
© PTI
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Washington, July 24, 2003
A special US flight will reach Islamabad on Thursday evening with 75 Pakistani nationals deported from the United States. Sixty-one of these are deportation absconders or people who had been ordered by US immigration courts to leave the country but failed to do so , the Pakistani embassy in Washington said.
Seven of them are convicts, two arrested on drug charges, one on assault, one on credit card fraud, one on financial fraud, one on ID violation and one on immigration fraud.
Seven others were arrested during special registration that requires men from several Muslim countries to register with the immigration department. "Most of these people were in prison for more than four months and wanted to go back home," said Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan's deputy chief of mission in Washington.
"This time the deportees will not be handcuffed but will be restrained in their seats," he added. Two doctors are also accompanying the deportees to Islamabad to provide medical assistance, if needed. This is the fourth group of Pakistanis ordered out of the country
© The Dawn
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Paris, October 13, 2003
Infosys chairman NR Narayana Murthy was honoured by French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin at a brief ceremony here on Monday morning.
Raffarin presented the Medal of Honour of the Indo-French Forum to Murthy for his contribution and that of his Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies to the development of India's technological capabilities.
"I am honouring Mr Murthy who embodies the capabilities of India in order to take up the challenges of the 21st century," Raffarain told a small gathering at Hotel Matignon, the official residence of the French prime minister.
Murthy thus becomes the first person to receive this medal, which has been initiated in order to honour people who have been key in promoting Indo-French relations. The Forum began its biannual meeting in Paris.
After two days of deliberations in Paris, the Forum members will go to Toulouse on Wednesday for a daylong meeting in the southern French city.
Interestingly, Toulouse is the headquarters of Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer that has been waiting for a large order of 43 aircraft from Indian Airlines and Air-India. The issue is certain to figure during the meeting of the Forum at Toulouse.
Raffarin said during his visit to India earlier this year, he was highly impressed by the magnitude of technological advance made by India in various domains ranging from aeronautical to information technology.
In his acceptance speech, which he delivered in French, the Infosys chairman and chief mentor thanked France and the French prime minister. "In certain ways, I began my
career here in France. During my stay here, I learnt a lot of things from France and its people and this is something that I will never forget and for which I cannot thank the French enough. It has profoundly influenced my personality," Murthy said.
Later, Murthy expressed confidence about the French market emerging as a big market for Indian IT companies.
Even though a few Indian companies, including Infosys, have established their offices here, the French laws make it very difficult for Indian companies to market their services. There are strict conditions imposed for giving visas to Indian IT engineers, making the task of operating in France a Himalayan challenge for the Indian companies.
But Murthy said he was confident about the French market developing into one of the most important centres for Indian IT business. "I am seeing the market change and I am sure that in future the French companies will be very large clients for Indian IT expertise. The situation is changing and we are getting more business from here," Murthy told Indo-Asian News Service after the ceremony.
"We see a lot of enthusiasm from the French end-user companies and the market here is growing for us. We will get opportunities to work on leading edge technologies here."
"My vision for Infosys is that we will become a globally respected company delivering best breed business solutions, leveraging technologies and employing best class professionals. That vision will continue," Murthy told IANS.
© IANS
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Washington, November 17, 2003
A heavy turnout of black voters and the failure to garner white votes may have undone the dream of Indian American Bobby Jindal, the "wonder boy" who fought closely for governorship of Louisiana.
While the 32-year-old Republican candidate polled 48 percent of the votes Saturday night, his Democratic rival emerged as the winner with 52 percent.
Finally race may have determined the Louisiana governor's election, analysts say.
The strong voter turnout, especially of black voters, probably swung the victory in favour of Blanco, a veteran politician of two decades.
Also helping her become the first woman to be governor of Louisiana was a last minute campaign strategy.
Even less than a week before the election, 12 percent of the electorate had not made up their minds. A Friday night sample of 400 had Jindal leading 47 percent to 43 percent and the rest undecided.
The Democratic Party also launched a series of TV ads attacking Jindal's record as secretary of the state department of health and hospitals, questioning the political newcomer's experience.
Jindal never responded effectively, dismissing it as "negative campaigning".
Blanco's victory has stemmed the tide of Republican victories. California, Mississippi and Kentucky returned Republicans to governorship.
"I stand here tonight disappointed, but not discouraged. We made the case that the American dream is more alive in Louisiana than anywhere else in America. Something special happened here," said Jindal, who was born six months after his parents emigrated from Punjab in India.
Had he won, he would have been the first non-white to be popularly elected governor and the nation's first Indian American governor.
Said Katherine Tate, professor and chairwoman of the political science department at the University of California at Irvine: "Race is a factor in any election. People of colour have a hard time winning."
Some analysts said Blanco's remarkable victory was aided by her ability to capture more white voters than Democrats typically can count on in state-wide races against Republicans.
White voters preferred a white woman, to a coloured man, despite his impressive resume and performance as a health policy adviser in the Bush administration.
Jindal's bold push to win over African American voters with high-profile endorsements succeeded to a point: He got nine percent of the black vote, almost twice what most Republicans typically get in the state.
However, a key to Blanco's victory was the white vote, of which she won 40 percent, according to an analysis of returns in Louisiana's 4,143 precincts by GCR & Associates Inc., a political consulting firm in New Orleans.
In the end, Blanco won 91 percent support among black voters. Significantly, her support among black voters in the New Orleans area was slightly smaller at 89 percent.
But Jindal's bigger problem, it turned out, was among white voters.
Republicans typically need about two-thirds of the white vote in order to succeed in a state-wide race, said Elliot Stonecipher, a political analyst based in Shreveport.
Jindal achieved that in the New Orleans area, winning 70 percent of white voters.
But in the rest of the state, he trailed Blanco among white voters, getting only 48 percent, says a leading New Orleans newspaper, The Times-Picayune.
The report said that after the primary, during which she captured 18 percent of the vote to Jindal's 33 percent, Blanco had a tough time pulling together the disparate Democratic factions.
Blanco's best hope lay in getting African Americans to go to the polls.
Historically, African Americans vote less regularly than white voters, and Democrats were concerned that the turnout would decline in the runoff since Blanco ran third among African American voters in the October 4 primary.
In the primary, only 45 percent of the state's black voters turned out, according to Greg Rigamer of GCR. But on Saturday, that rate climbed to 46 percent.
White vote was unchanged at 54 percent, Rigamer said.
© IANS
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New Delhi, July 01, 2003
In a move to bolster bilateral strategic relations, India and the UAE on Tuesday signed a defence cooperation agreement which provides for export and import of weapons, military training and coordination in security-related issues.
The agreement was signed by defence secretary Subir Dutta and the UAE ambassador Saeed M Ali Al Shamsi, after visiting chief of staff of UAE armed forces Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan called on defence minister George Fernandes.
Al Nahyan, the third son of UAE president Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and his country's de facto national security adviser, in his talks with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had agreed to work on a long term, broad strategic dialogue with India.
Defence ministry officials said Tuesday's agreement provides for development of defence cooperation, import and export of arms and coordination in the fields of military training, military medical services, cultural and sports activities, environmental issues and pollution caused by the military particularly at sea.
The two countries will also cooperate in defence industry, scientific research, humanitarian and peace-keeping operations, added officials.
© The Times of India
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Moscow, October 11, 2003
Trial proceedings have been initiated against a group of Indians in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-the-Don. They have been accused of attempting to sneak into Ukraine on the way to Western Europe.
The group of 30 Indian nationals were detained in April after they lost their way trying to illegally cross Russia's border with Ukraine, media reports said. The Indians had arrived in Moscow by air last year on valid visas, which, however, had been issued on forged invitations from various Russian organisations. From Moscow they were driven in a truck to the Rostov region, from where they were to walk across the border to the neighbouring Lugansk region in Ukraine before heading for Slovakia in Eastern Europe.
However, they lost their way in the night in what they thought were "jungles" on the Russian-Ukrainian border and were rounded up by the border guards.
This is the largest number of illegal migrants ever detained on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The Indians said they had paid $2,000 each to reach Moscow from Delhi and another $500 for going to Ukraine.
A Russian security official said they had come across a well-established channel of illegal immigration from South-East Asia to Western Europe, but admitted that organisers of the criminal trafficking were yet to be detained.
"According to some estimates, 19,000 to 20,000 illegal migrants from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other countries cross the border in the Rostov region alone every year," the spokesman for the Rostov branch of the Federal Security Service, Alexander Turinsky, told the daily, Vremya Novostei, adding that "illegal immigration is one of the top five most profitable criminal businesses today."
The detained Indians face a maximum punishment of five years in prison, but most likely will be fined and deported to India at Russia's expense. The former head of the Federal Migration Agency, Andrei Chernenko, said Russia had deported over 32,000 illegal migrants in 2001-2002.
© The Hindu, by Vladimir Radyuhin
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Islamabad, January 02, 2003
Pakistan on Wednesday took its seat as non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for two years. This is for the sixth time that Pakistan has been elected to serve on the Security Council. Pakistan's earlier terms were in 1993-94, 1983-84, 1976-77, 1968-69 and 1952-53. Pakistan was elected to the 15-member Security Council on September 27, 2002. Other countries elected to serve on the Council along with Pakistan were Angola, Chile, Germany and Spain. Cameron, Guinea, Syria, Bulgaria and Mexico will complete their term in December 2003. The Council has five permanent members -- China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. The remaining 10 members are elected by the General Assembly. Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan in a statement said Pakistan as member of the United Nations Security Council will contribute towards maintenance of international peace and security. "This membership of the Security Council will provide us an opportunity to contribute towards international peace and security," he said. Aziz said Pakistan has actively contributed at all the international forums particularly at the United Nations.
© The News International
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London, October 19, 2003
Britain's National Health Service (NHS) has been accused of poaching doctors from India and causing what is dubbed as the "Great Brain Robbery".
Overseas recruitment schemes launched by the NHS are targeting senior psychiatrists in India and luring them to Britain with promises of a consultant's salary and up to 46,000 pounds in relocation and housing costs.
Vikram Patel, a senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says that India has one psychiatrist per 300,000 population compared with one per 9,000 population in Britain.
"Despite this inequality, the NHS has launched a scheme to recruit senior psychiatrists and other specialists from India and other developing countries," he says in the British Medical Journal.
"This scheme will worsen the brain drain and inequities in global health unless it is linked with measures to enable the flow of doctors back to developing countries."
The allegation follows criticism that Britain is poaching nurses from the developing world. Figures published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in May show that 3,472 were hired last year from countries where direct recruitment by the NHS is banned. Most are hired by private agencies.
Patel says that the opportunity to work in different countries is an important part of medical education and that there is "no place for creating new barriers to the movement of people".
But he says developed countries have an ethical obligation to help doctors return to their country of origin, which has normally paid for their training.
"In effect, the people of poor countries are paying for the health care of those who live in one of the richest," he says.
Patel says that when he finished his training in psychiatry in Britain in 1992 there was no assistance for him to return to India and work in developing countries since he has been funded by research grants.
In a response published in the BMJ, Debbie Mellor, head of NHS employment policy, says 304 doctors have been recruited from abroad, 82 of them from India, under separate schemes launched in August 2001 and February 2002.
She says, "We are committed not to recruit from a country if its government has any concerns ... and work only with recruitment agencies that comply with (our) code of practice."
Mellor says the Indian health ministry is "supportive of the opportunities we are offering to doctors" and cites a parliamentary answer by the Minister of Health last July who said the "overall availability of doctors in India is sufficient."
© IANS
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Chicago, June 13, 2003
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani says expatriate Indians in certain countries, including the United States, will get dual citizenship before the year-end.
"The Bill has already been introduced in Parliament and it will now go to the standing committee (of Parliament)," he said. "Once it comes back, probably with some amendments, it will be passed. People in the US and in some other countries will actually have the right of dual citizenship by the end of this year," Advani told a community reception organized by the Indian-American community at the Hilton Tower Hotel in Chicago. The guests at the dinner reception, numbering over 1,000, greeted Advani's announcement with prolonged applause.
Advani, who projected his National Democratic Alliance government's achievements, said he hoped and prayed Atal Bihari Vajpayee will become prime minister again.
He said two of India's greatest strengths for which the country is admired in the comity of nations are its democratic system of governance and the contributions made by non-resident Indians across the globe.
Advani said by 2020 India should become a developed country and not continue to remain a developing country. "The 21st century will belong to India. I am sure non resident Indians would probably do more than resident Indians towards this goal," he said. "Let us join hands so together Indians and non-resident Indians can help develop India."
© Rediff, by Suman Guha Mozumder
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Washington, July 03, 2003
Indian financial expert Mr Raghuram Rajan has been named as the International Monetary Fund’s new chief economist. IMF managing director Horst Kohler has proposed Mr Rajan’s name to the prestigious and high visibility post with the official title of economic counsellor and director of the IMF’s research department.
Mr Kohler has notified the IMF executive board of his intention to appoint Mr Rajan, a distinguished economist at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, to the position.
Making the announcement in a statement, Mr Kohler said, “I am happy to announce my intention to appoint Mr Raghuram Rajan, as economic counsellor and director of the research department.”
Mr Rajan, 40, will succeed Mr Kenneth Rogoff, who had earlier announced his decision to return to academia.
“Mr Rajan has been at the forefront of work on banking and financial sector issues. With his exceptional rise within the economics profession as well as with his extensive experience, Mr Rajan will bring a strong and proven record of intellectual leadership to the IMF,” Mr Kohler said.
He further added that Mr Rajan, who has published extensively on economic and financial matters, would play an important role in further developing the IMF’s research programme to the leading edge of economic theory and policy.
© PTI
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New Delhi, April 28, 2003
France on Monday said it is in talks with India to sell advanced submarines and fighter jets and to provide technology for their manufacture in the country.
France offered a long-term military-to-military cooperation on joint development, technology transfer and sale of hi-tech weapons systems.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who held talks here with Indian Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and her Indian counterpart George Fernandes, said a proposal to sell Scorpene submarines to India was expected to "reach fruition by the end of the year".
Asserting that the move towards a multi polar world was a must, especially after the recent war in Iraq, the visiting French Defence Minister Michelle Alliot Marie, who held wide-ranging security dialogue with Indian leadership, said only those countries which had a credible defence deterrent would be heard.
The Indian government is examining a French proposal to sell an unspecified number of Mirage 2000 jets, she said. This proposal envisaged the transfer of technology for building the jets in India.
Alliot-Marie, however, noted she had not come to India to sign defence contracts but to demonstrate France's desire to maintain its strategic partnership with India and to develop it.
The global war against terrorism and its supporters too figured in her talks with the Indian leaders, Alliot-Marie said.
India is keen on acquiring technology to build six Scorpene submarines at state-owned shipyards. The Indian defence ministry has already given in-principle approval for the plan, which is awaiting clearance from the government.
The Indian Air Force, which operates two squadrons of Mirage 2000s, wants to acquire 130 more of the jets to replace its ageing fleet of Russian-made aircraft.
"These contracts could be the starting point for the transfer of technology," Alliot-Marie told a news conference after her meeting with Fernandes.
She gave an assurance that France would provide technical support for the maintenance and modernisation of any defence hardware sold to India.
Alliot-Marie, however, indicated France had no plans to stop military sales to Pakistan in light of New Delhi's concerns about such contracts. She said her country's defence ties with Pakistan had not figured in her talks with Indian leaders.
"During my term as defence minister, we have only been implementing former contracts (with Pakistan)," she said.
Alliot-Marie said she believed defence ties between India and France would "deepen and develop" in the long term, paving the way for the armed forces of the two sides to work together more closely.
The French minister, who is heading a high-level military and armament industry delegation, also met the three service chiefs -- Admiral Madhvendra Singh, Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy and General NC Vij.
France is major supplier of military hardware to India's armed forces. It signed a contract to supply 10 Mirage 2000 jets about two years ago.
© IANS
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New York, July 03, 2003
A rights group here has expressed outrage at the use of the Hindu symbol 'Om' on socks in the United States.
"We are outraged seeing such repetitive insults and attack on Indian culture," India Cause coordinator Sanjeev Dahiwadkar said.
Gold Medal Hosiery in New York, which distributes the offending socks, declined to comment.
The label on the socks says the product has been made in South Korea. They have been designed by New Yorker Linda Maddocks.
Dahiwadkar said in the recent past there had been at least three instances where India and Indian culture were attacked.
Earlier, he said, images of Lord Ganesh and goddess Kali were offensively used on toilet seats, an article depicted a muscleman beating up an image of Mahatma Gandhi and Ganesh images were used on slippers.
"We have seen the images of the socks. We are trying to gather the information about the company and the U.S. distributor," Dahiwadkar said.
"IndiaCause is planning to send letters to U.S. distributors and manufacturers about how such products affect the feeling of Indians in general."
© IANS
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New Delhi, October 12, 2003
Trying to please members of the Indian diaspora living in the Gulf will be the focus of the second Pravasi Bharat Divas, which will be observed in January next year. The event was launched in 2003 to honour the 20 million-plus community of Indians and people of Indian origin living abroad.
Participants from the Gulf region at the first NRI festival in New Delhi in January 2003 had criticised it for being too heavily focused on Indians living in North America and Europe, and for being concerned primarily with issues of concern to them. Out of the 2,000 participants at the January 2003 event, 500 were from the United States alone, with Britain and Canada contributing another 300-odd representatives. This, along with other glitches, had angered a considerable section of the overseas Indian community, who felt left out and discriminated against.
Conscious of this “Gulf grudge,” the organisers of the second NRI festival, due to be held from January 9, 2004, have decided on a special focus for the region, which has a concentration of around two to three million Indians. The focus becomes even more significant as Arab nations have sought answers from India about its close ties with Israel.
Besides correcting some of the glitches faced by participants last time, which had prompted hundreds of them to complain of mismanagement, the next festival also promises to engage the younger members of the diaspora.
There will be a plenary on youth in which young people with leadership profile would be invited to take part. A proposal to invite a small group of young Indians to spend a few weeks with Indian families is also being considered. Those young people who were born and brought up abroad will be selected by various missions to spend some time in India.
This time efforts are also being made to hold a brain-storming session on domestic and personal laws. The session has been planned keeping in mind the problems involving the community, including the issue of NRIs marrying Indian girls and later leaving them in the lurch. Several women’s organisations have decided to raise these issues, which has caused considerable concern in some parts of the country, particularly places like Punjab.
Personal laws relating to inheritance and custody of children are also tricky issues which needed to be addressed. On the basis of the brain-storming session a policy framework can be formulated which can help the government in addressing the issue.
On participation: as of now, former West Indian Test legend Rohan Kanhai — who is of Indian descent — has confirmed his participation, and so has Nobel laureate Sir Vidia Naipaul and his wife Nadira. Two other Nobel laureates — Dr Amartya Sen and Dr Hargobind Khurana — have expressed their inability to attend. Dr Sen, though, had been present at the 2003 Divas.
The cultural segment of the celebration will highlight fusion artistes from Trinidad & Tobago, Mauritius and South Africa.
The festival may have been planned to honour the diaspora, but question marks are being raised about the purpose of holding it every year. A section believes that it will lose its importance if held every year as the first year demonstrated that a large number of participants were not treated very well.
© NRIWORLD, by Gautam Datt
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Islamabad, November 14, 2003
A group of 605 Pakistani prisoners, smuggled to Oman by human traffickers and arrested in Muscat, returned on Friday.
After spending several months in jails allegedly in miserable conditions, the prisoners were released three days ago due to the efforts by a Pakistan social welfare organisation, Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International.
Another group of 723 stranded Pakistanis jailed in Muscat was brought to Pakistan last month.
The freed prisoners revealed that hundreds of Pakistanis are still confined in Muscat Jails on their illegal entry into Oman, a Trust statement said in Islamabad.
"They also alleged that several dead bodies of innocent Pakistanis are decaying on the mountains of Muscat and some of them were even eaten by the Cannibals", the statement said.
The trust said groups of fake agents took innocent Pakistanis to foreign countries on a dream of better future after taking huge amount of money and left them there helpless and sometimes even killed them.
© PTI
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Bangkok, April 09, 2003
Thai police have arrested seven Indians and a Thai woman on charges of forging official documents that could be used to apply for Thai citizenship, reports here said. A Thai consular official said the fake documents were used to register marriages with Thai women allowing the foreigners to later seek Thai citizenship, the Nation daily said. The suspects were identified by police as Dinesh Yadav, 29, Surendra Yadav, 30, Deo Prakash Yadav 29, Ravindra Pathak, 39, Chandra Prakash 27, Sunil Kumar Sharma 29, Onkar Pandey Nath, 18, and 45 year old Rommadee Yadav. According to police, Dinesh Yadav used to approach potential Indian customers in Songhkla area in Thailand. Later two of their friends based in another area would produce fake statements about their customers' marital status. The men were allegedly paid 200 baht (about Rs 220) per document. The police added that one of the men would then stamp the documents with fake Indian embassy stamp and charge his customers between 4000 baht and 5000 baht. The Nation quoting police said the Indians could use the fake documents to register marriages with Thai women for money. According to the daily, a marriage registration could allow the person to live and work in Thailand, provided they renewed their visa every year. After five years, the persons are eligible to apply for Thai citizenship.
© PTI
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Islamabad, April 20, 2003
Pakistan on Saturday rejected criticism from the United States that it has not done enough to control militant incursions into Indian Held Kashmir.
Islamabad has taken all possible preventive measures and no infiltration is taking place, a foreign office spokesman told reporters. Mr Aziz Ahmed Khan noted that Pakistan had repeatedly offered to allow the deployment of neutral observers to verify no incursions were taking place across the Line of Control.
Pakistan had also repeatedly called for dialogue with India on the problem, he said. “No positive response to these offers which has been going on, have been received from India. These allegations are baseless,” said Khan, who called on the international community to press India to agree to dialogue with Pakistan on the matter. Mr Khan was replying to comments by the US State Department’s director of policy planning Richard Haass, who told an Indian TV channel on Friday that Washington had been urging Pakistan to halt incursions by Islamic guerrillas into Indian-ruled Kashmir.
“I’ll be honest, we have not succeeded, and we are at times, shall we say, disappointed and frustrated with that reality,” Haass said.
Pakistan’s prime minister on Friday welcomed peace overtures from his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is touring Indian Kashmir.
© AFP
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Paris, April 15, 2003
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), the French-based international journalists’ rights organisation, today denounced the arrest of R. R. Gopal, editor of the biweekly Tamil magazine Nakkheeran, for supposed "illegal possession of firearms" and "sedition," characterising it "an attempt by police to hide their inability to find Veerappan, one of India’s most notorious bandits."
RSF said that Gopal and other journalists in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu were being transformed into scapegoats, and called on the state’s chief minister, Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, to free him at once and drop the charges against him.
His arrest on April 11 was the latest twist in a long-standing effort to intimidate Gopal and his journalists for their reporting on Veerappan and his gang, whom security forces have been attempting to capture the past several years. Nakkheeran journalist Siva Subramanian has been in prison in neighbouring Karnataka state since November 2001 accused of being in league with the bandits.
Plainclothes police arrested Gopal in the town of Chennai on April 11 as he was leaving his office. They said they found a gun on him as well as leaflets put out by the banned separatist Tamil Nadu Liberation Army. He was interrogated throughout the night, dozens of journalists were barred from the police building and police refused to speak to them. The next day, a court ordered him to be held at the town’s main prison until April 25.
At the same time, two opposition MPs were arrested for allegedly stealing with Gopal a ransom put together in 2000 to win the release of a film star Veerappan had kidnapped. The accusations were recently repeated in a book by a former Tamil Nadu police chief.
Gopal, who is being prosecuted in half a dozen cases, has been frequently interrogated by police. A warrant for his arrest was issued in February in connected with his supposed involvement in two killings attributed to Veerappan. Last month, the Chennai High Court granted him conditional bail. Nakkheeran notably exposed scandals during chief minister Jayalalitha’s first government in the early 1990s.
© The Island, by Paul Michaud (RSF)
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Los Angeles, June 30, 2003
Indian Americans and Pakistani Sindhis have held demonstrations here to protest against visiting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's continued support for militancy, cross-border terrorism and marginalisation of minorities and violations of human rights in the country respectively.
The demonstration was held outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel where visiting military ruler was attending a reception on Friday. The demonstrators raised slogans against the role of ISI and the anti-Indian policies of the Pakistani government and appealed to the United States to stop military assistance to Pakistan, which, they alleged, had funded and trained the Islamic terrorists that continue to plague not only India but the whole world. The spokesman of the group and Kashmiri born, Amrit Nehru, said, "This was an attempt to focus attention on the growing scourge of a Pakistan sponsored proxy war resulting in the killings of hundreds of Indians and the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits." The protestors also criticised the US government for supporting the Pakistani military both monetarily and in spirit. Across the road from Indian protestors, demonstrators from Pakistani Sindhi association also held a rally to protest the continued marginalisation of the minorities and the human rights violation in in Pakistan.
© PTI
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Washington, June 23, 2003
When Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf arrives here Monday night and checks into Georgetown's Four Seasons Hotel, he can pick a season for every situation he will face in Washington.
Pakistan's relationship with the United States has changed from the winter of discontent to an energetic spring. But as salubrious as his equation with the Bush administration is, his ties with the political opposition and the feisty Pakistani media are scorched from the heat of summer battles.
A range of political forces, including Sindhi nationalists, the opposition PPP of Benazir Bhutto and PML of Nawaz Sharif, are gearing up to demonstrate against Musharraf for his military regime's excesses.
Dissident groups have taken out ads in ethnic Pakistani newspapers and written anguished letters complaining about military stranglehold on Pakistan while urging Washington to stop supporting the Pakistani Army against the Pakistani people.
By far the most vocal threat to Musharraf's choreographed visit comes from the spirited and fiercely independent Pakistani media which has raised awkward questions about the General's propensity for personal aggrandizement and political wheeling-dealing while presenting himself as a paragon of rectitude.
In its latest issue, the online journal South Asia Tribune has disclosed that Musharraf paid a mere $12 in wealth tax over the past six years on assets valued at over $500,000. The expose also listed several properties owned by Musharraf in its continuing quest at highlighting the complete takeover of the country by its armed forces at the expense of ordinary people.
According to the Tribune and other Pakistani journalists in Washington, Pakistani officials have also tried to deny access to the Washington-based press corps during Musharraf's visit, fearing tough questions. In one incident cited by the journal, a Pakistani Embassy diplomat reportedly told a US official that local scribes were being kept out because "they are blackmailers or cheats or they are incompetent."
Like the media everywhere, Pakistan too has its share of black sheep, but its Washington contingent has been largely independent and distinguished and does not buy easily into the propaganda dished out by Islamabad, Washington, or New Delhi, for that matter. Some of the English media in Pakistan, especially The Friday Times and Daily Times, has remained fiercely independent and written perceptively about sub-continental affairs without being overwhelmed by jingoism that sometimes infects even the Indian and American media.
South Asia Tribune, based out of the Washington DC area, is edited by Shaheen Sehbai, a former Washington correspondent of the Dawn newspaper who also edited two of Pakistan's best known newspapers before being hounded out of the country by the Musharraf regime. Authorities in Pakistan have also tried to block internet access to the journal after failing to silence Sehbai with cases against his family in Pakistan.
While Pakistani officials may dismiss SAT as a maverick journal that is pathologically anti-Musharraf, even the mainstream Pakistani media is miffed at the military regime. In a recent dispatch, the Daily Times' Khalid Hassan, a long-time Washington hand, criticized the military regime's obsession with cultivating the western media while sidelining Pakistan's own media.
"Such meetings (with sundry American journalists) do little for the country or the leader for whose benefit they are ostensibly organised though they certainly succeed in deepening the conviction of those received or called upon that they are so important that foreign heads of state need to pay court to them… Countries with more self-assurance do not waste their time on such frivolities," Hassan wrote.
© The Times of India, by Chidanand Rajghatta
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Silicon Valley, June 03, 2003
Overseas Indians must unite to free their homeland from modern day enemies such as terrorism and corruption, B K Agnihotri, India's Ambassador-at-large for non-resident Indians (NRIs) and people of Indian origin (PIOs) has said.
"Today, India is free. Let us see what we can do to keep it free. Let us see what we can do that Jammu and Kashmir stays part of India forever. Let us see what we can do to see that India is free of corruption," he said at the 90th anniversary function of the Gadar movement on June 2.
Members of the Gadar party were Indian loyalists, who struggled in far-off America to gain freedom for their motherland India from British rule.
Other speakers who spoke at the function included Ujjal Dosanjh, former Premier of British Columbia, Canada, who said there was need to continue the revolution against new enemies in free India.
"India, despite its ancient civilisation and its ancient wisdom has become absolutely corrupt. Corrupt not just in giving or taking of money, corrupt in almost every relationship that we have. Fairness, as value that we find in our ancient literature and classical books, doesn't exist in that country.
"It exists in our mind when we make speeches, but it does not exist on the ground. Fairness is not part of the political ethic of that country today," Dosanjh said.
India does not need engineers or software experts, it produces and exports them. India needs the ethic and integrity in public life," he added.
© PTI
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ST. Petersburg, June 02, 2003
It is ironical that for a city whose founder sought to locate a direct route to India almost three centuries ago, St Petersburg is home to just about 1,000 Indians.
And although members of the community say they are deeply in love with the former Russian capital, they are wary of the increasing aggression of neo-fascists contemptuously referred to as "skinheads".
The overwhelming number of 800 Indians here is that of young students studying medicine. Many have spent up to seven long years, and speak Russian like natives, and occasionally flaunt Russian girlfriends.
The remaining Indians are engaged in petty trade, dealing in a variety of goods, including leather products and pharmaceuticals, while a handful are employed by multinational companies.
St Petersburg is home to one Indian grocery store and two popular Indian restaurants, one of which, Tandoor, counts Russian President Vladimir Putin as a loyal client. The other, Swagat, is located not far from a street where Putin's mother lives.
The city also boasts of nearly half-a-dozen temples, including one run by the Brahmakumari sect, a Krishna shrine affiliated to Iskcon, and one that is devoted to Satya Sai Baba.
"It is a very good city, it is a city of museums and canals, it is the Venice of the East," said Sushant Chadha, a 25-year-old student of medicine who is enrolled at the St. Petersburg Medical Institute.
Chadha, whose parents are doctors in New Delhi and who came here seven years ago, says St Petersburg reminds him of the Indian capital which he says he loves.
"St Petersburg is like Delhi, everyone here is good. Moscow, on the other hand, is just concrete, like our Mumbai," he added.
Many young Indians like Chadha live in hostels, but some live in apartments. Some end up bagging part-time jobs since it can cost up to $2,600 a year to finance their education.
Another young Indian here is M. Balasubramaniam from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, who earns a portion of his fees by working as an English interpreter for the Indian consulate or -- when he has more spare time -- as a hotel waiter.
The terrible Russian winter here, when temperatures can drop up to minus 45 degrees Celsius, is not the only headache for Indians, particularly those who come from the country's south and may have never owned a woollen until they came here.
All through the Soviet regime, Indians encountered no problems here - or anywhere else in the sprawling country. But in recent years groups of young Hitler fans who are dubbed "skinheads" have made life tough for many Indians.
"They attack and beat up Indians for no reason," complained Chadha. "The police do not take any action against these chaps. In the last three or four years some three or four Indian students have got murdered."
Added Rajesh, another Indian student: "Some Russians hate black hair. So they assault Indians."
But St Petersburg is not just about "skinheads".
The Faculty of Oriental Studies here has a Sanskrit department. The Hermitage Museum here has a rich collection of Indian arts. The Chair of Indian Philosophy conducts courses in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Oriya. A Russian has come out with a Hindi-Russian dictionary. Hindi is taught in one school here. The Society of Cultural Ties with India regularly organises functions to celebrate major events in India.
"A large number of Russians who come for visas want to go to the Brahmakumari ashram at Mount Abu or to see the Satya Sai Baba in Andhra Pradesh," said Ashok Kumar Sharma, the consul general of India.
"Many Russians know Hindi. Many love Indian music and dances.
"This city has life, this city has literature, this city has culture," Sharma added. "It is a very good city. People here in general respect Indians."
© IANS
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Chicago, June 19, 2003
Indian Americans are up in arms against the Chicago Tribune for its "distorted" coverage of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani's U.S. visit last week.
Prominent community leaders have charged the Chicago Tribune, the third largest newspaper in the U.S., with grossly distorting attendance at a reception for Advani and blowing out of proportion the number of protestors outside the venue.
A half page report in the Tribune also made only passing references to Advani's speeches, including one at the Chicago Council of Foreign Affairs.
According to Bharat Barai, a well-known oncologist and one of the organisers of the Indian community reception for Advani here, Chicago Tribune's article by its reporter Noreen Ahmed-Ullah "contained a lot of factual errors".
While completely missing the theme of Advani's talk, Barai said that the newspaper overestimated the number of protestors and grossly underestimated the number of people who attended the dinner.
The newspaper said that there were over 200 protestors outside a downtown hotel where Advani attended the event. In actual fact, said Barai, "there were not more than 36 people".
Barai is a professor of medicine, medical director of the Methodist Hospitals and a member of the Indiana State Medical Licensing Board. He has also been an "avid reader" of the Chicago Tribune for the past 27 years.
In a strongly worded protest letter to Don Wycliff, the Tribune's public editor, Barai said: "I do not knew where (these 200 protestors) disappeared so quickly. I was aware of the protest and had been looking out of the lounge window at frequent intervals. I never saw more than 36 people at any point."
Barai noted that the Tribune had said that "dozens" of Indians attended the dinner. Community leaders put the number of attendees at 1,100. Barai said that he had photographs and videos of the event, which would prove his point.
In his response to Barai, Wycliff wrote: "Ideally we would have gotten a precise attendance figure for the dinner, but it was not inaccurate to say dozens."
This caused an incensed Barai to retort: "If the reporter would have used similar currency to describe both events, it would be understandable, though amusing. The reporter could have said there was more than one person to hear Advani and there was more than one person to protest.
"Instead of quoting the 2000 census figures of the 124,000 Indian Americans in Chicago, she could have said there are dozens of Indian Americans in the area. That would be accurate too. Should I look forward to reading such Mickey Mouse arithmetic in Chicago Tribune in the future? The Chicago Tribune is a great newspaper and deserves more humility."
Lakshmana Rao, managing editor of the Chicago based ethnic newspaper, India Tribune, who attended the dinner as well as Advani's talk at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations at the same venue said the Chicago Tribune report was an example of bad journalism.
"As a journalist, I must say that the reporter sorely needs a lesson in objective reporting. She appears to have begun the report with a negative mindset. It is a sad reflection on the newspaper."
Rao has been editor of several editions of the Indian Express and the Deccan Chronicle.
Rao said Advani spoke a lot on how terrorism had affected India and how the U.S. and India could join hands to fight global terrorism. The talk was very well received by an elite audience of mostly Americans.
"In today's climate, these statements are definitely more newsworthy than what the Chicago Tribune carried," he said.
Four years back, Indian community leaders had protested to the Chicago Tribune over a column that described Indians as "taxi drivers and curry eaters".
Following nationwide email protests by Indian Americans and meetings of community leaders with the editors of Chicago Tribune, the newspaper printed an apology, only the second in its history.
© IANS
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New Delhi, January 06, 2003
The Bharatiya Janata Party is against allowing countries such as Mauritius to be used as tax havens by business houses and companies from "third countries". Apparently, one of the recommendations expected to be made by the Rajnath Singh committee - set up by the party to study the Kelkar report - is that while avoidance of double taxation through bilateral arrangements with different countries was welcome, such agreements should not be allowed to be misused by companies from "third countries" which merely register their firms in countries where such arrangements exist to avoid paying tax. Although Mauritius may not be named by the committee, some members hinted that it was well known that the agreement with that country was indeed being misused. A political controversy over the issue had erupted involving the then Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, whose daughter-in-law was a senior executive in the investment firms that were routing their investments in India through Mauritius. The BJP was also against the withdrawal of the one rupee cess on every litre of petrol as the funds were being put to good use for the "golden quadrangle" road project. There is also a view that the Government should build on the one-sixth compulsory tax returns idea, implemented successfully, to expand it to new districts and smaller cities to help widen the tax net. A committee member claimed that it was not fair to say that the BJP wanted to retain all the Kelkar proposals on lowering of taxes and add to it its own proposals for a further reduction. The party was aware of the need for revenue collection and its final report, expected to be completed in a couple of days, would "not be irresponsible".
© The Hindu
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New Delhi, May 08, 2003
As many as 2584 Indian nationals are currently serving time in jails in east European and west Asian countries, the Rajya Sabha was informed Thursday.
According to Minister of State for External Affairs Vinod Khanna, the largest number of 1160 Indian prisoners were in Saudi Arabia followed by 923 in the United Arab Emirates.
Among east European countries, Russia had five Indians in custody, Ukraine three and Poland one while of the west Asian countries Qatar had 45, Oman 79 and Kuwait 162.
Declaring that there were no reports to suggest that due process of law had not been followed in all these cases, the minister assured the House that all Indian Missions abroad had been issued instructions to intervene if there were prima facie grounds to believe that there had been miscarriage or denial of justice.
© Sify News
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Jerusalem, November 12, 2003
A young Indian woman employed as a guest nursing aide in Israel is claiming damages of Rs 14.20 lakh from her former employers for salary owed over three years and compensation for unpaid work, recreation leave and other social benefits eligible under Israeli law.
In her submission to the Jerusalem Labour Court Sofie Thomas (30) of Kochi, Kerala, is suing Joseph Oron and other members of his family for forcing her to work under conditions approaching slavery and shamelessly exploitating her powerlessness, as a nursing aide to his aging mother Esther Oron, and then as a live-in maid and child-care help to other members of his family.
Thomas first came to Israel in January 2000 at Oron's personal invitation and a promised monthly salary of $100 and nursed the aged matron at Moshav Taoz, a farming community founded by former Keralite Jews on Jerusalems outskirts, until her death in March that year.
For the next 15 months, Sofie, a former nurse at Kochi hospital, became a live-in maid for Oron's sister Dorit Josef Solomian. She worked 16-hours a day, doing all the household chores and caring for the familys two infants. She had no rest, no free time and no day off.
"I hardly went out, only to dispose of the garbage. When I wanted to go out, Dorit would say, stay inside, you've nothing to do out there," Sofie told the Jerusalem local weekly Kol HaIr on Friday in a two-page interview.
© PTI
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Washington, April 08, 2003
India will participate in a key international meet here next week to garner wide political and economic support for the peace process in Sri Lanka.
"Representatives of the governments of Germany, India, Japan, Norway and the UK have already confirmed their participation" in the meeting to be held in Washington on April 14, the Sri Lankan Embassy said in a statement here today.
This will be the first time that the Indian government will take part in a meet concerning the peace process between Sri Lanka and the LTTE that began last year, the release added.
At a smaller aid conference in the Norwegian capital Oslo last November, India was represented only at a low level.
Nearly 30 countries that provide aid to Sri Lanka will paricipate in the April 14 meet which will be co-chaired by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Sri Lanka's Minister for Economic Reform, Science and Technology Milinda Moragoda.
The meet will discuss the need for development and re-construction assistance and how that can help consolidate the ceasefire and reinforce the peace process in Sri Lanka, the release said.
It will be a presursor to the 'Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka' to be hosted by Japan in June, it said.
The Sri Lankan government and the LTTE signed a ceasefire which has been in effect since February 23 last year.
© PTI
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London, September 15, 2003
Thousands of Sikhs are holding a conference in the UK to establish their own political party - but they also want to end the stereotype of the "community leader" which they say stops real voices being heard.
They may form one of the most visible minorities in the UK, but Britain's Sikh community has decided it is time they shouted a little louder.
This weekend thousands of Sikhs are taking part in a three-day conference in Wolverhampton to chart the future course of their community's voice in British politics and society.
The conference comes two years after Sikhs found themselves on the receiving end of racist abuse and official scrutiny in the fallout of 11 September.
Firstly, those looking for someone to attack chose not only Muslims but also Sikhs, because turbans and beards create mistaken associations with the Taleban.
Then the government caused a storm within the community by banning from airports the ceremonial Kirpan dagger, an item worn as a public statement of faith.
If ever there was a time to think about how to lobby government, this was it.
Britain's 340,000 Sikhs had already launched their "agenda for change" that year which aimed to improve their voice in government, particularly in education and religious rights.
So two years on, what's changed?
"I think for too long Sikhs have been fairly quiet on the issues that matter to them," says Dabinderjit Singh, spokesman for the Sikh Secretariat.
"They're hard working and get on with their lives. When issues come up, they campaign together.
"But as a community we have not been very positive in taking advantage of opportunities to inform policy.
"Now presents the right moment for us to launch a Sikh political party."
The Sikh Federation, being created this weekend in the Midlands, will work both locally and nationally - but it won't put up candidates itself.
"We want the large Sikh communities around the country to use it pressure their local candidates to take our issues seriously and have a proper dialogue," said Mr Singh.
The federation will not recommend a single party to its community.
Instead Sikhs who have historically voted Labour will be told where candidates stand on the big issues.
Sikhs would then be better placed to vote tactically, said Mr Singh.
Allied to the federation will be a new body representing the 250 plus Gurdwaras (temples) and a Whitehall lobbying machine, the Sikh Advisory Group.
Together, the three organisations aim to take advantage of the prime minister's controversial pledge to bring faith communities closer to policy making.
Undoubtedly, British Sikhs have taken a leaf out of another community's book. British Muslims have gone through several attempts at professionalising their political lobbying.
But the movement towards a new body also shows Sikhs mirroring another development among British Muslims.
In the two years since the 11 September attacks, Muslims been more cohesive - yet also more questioning of seemingly self-appointed "community leaders".
This movement is strongest among the politically active young who, being British born, expect their rights to be respected as much as the next person.
For some "community leaders" and their contacts with local or national government can be an obstacle because they are in the system rather than challenging it.
So, with the 2001 Census showing 40% of British Sikhs are under 24, it's not surprising that the same challenges are emerging from its community.
"We want to move away from the idea that just a handful of individuals represent a community," said Mr Singh.
"The Sikh community needs collective accountability if it is to bring about change. Civil servants tend to be reluctant to move from the status quo and stick to this idea of 'community leaders'.
"But if you ask a teenager who community leaders are, they don't know them - so they conclude change will come when they see it happen.
"What we want to do is create local ownership of these issues so we can get more Sikhs involved in mainstream politics - so that when the local MP comes to speak at the Gurdwara at election time, they perhaps get a few awkward questions rather than simply rolling out the red carpet."
© BBC, by Dominic Casciani
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New York, June 15, 2003
The brain drain from India to the U.S. a few decades ago turned out to be an investment because now many expatriates are doing good for their homeland, said former president K.R. Narayanan.
Narayanan was speaking at a reception hosted to felicitate him and his wife Usha by the New York chapter of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). The function took place at the World's Fair Marina restaurant here.
The former president lauded the progress made by the Indian American community. He said: "Years ago, when I attended a conference of urologists of Indian origin in the U.S., I was told by someone that there are more urologists of Indian origin assembled at the conference than in the whole of India.
"The community here has made India proud by keeping alive its culture."
Narayanan also referred to his days in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace in New Delhi, and said he had the privilege of staying there even before he became president.
"While I was India's ambassador to the U.S., during one of my visits to New Delhi, then president Zail Singh invited me to stay at Rashtrapati Bhavan at one of the guestrooms for VVIPs. However, this was objected to by the military attaché who said that those rooms were reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries only. But Zail Singh intervened and ruled that from now on, Indians will also be allowed to stay in these rooms," Narayanan said.
The president said he had to cancel some engagements in California due to "medical reasons" but promised to make up for it in the near future.
Narayanan's speech was followed by cultural and musical performances. Air-India and Jack Kapur were the corporate sponsors of the event.
© IANS
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New Delhi, May 06, 2003
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday night decided to grant dual citizenship to Indians living in the United States, the United Kingdom and six other countries.
"Indians living there will have to apply for dual citizenships and government could grant it after due verification," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet lasting over an hour.
They would not have the privilege of voting rights and would not be allowed to hold constitutional offices or jobs in three Defence services, she said.
The six other countries are: Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy, Swaraj said.
A bill to this effect would be introduced during the current session of Parliament to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, she said.
The eight countries have been chosen as they already had dual citizenship laws and a large number of Indians are residing there, she said.
Swaraj said the Cabinet approved certain amendments to the Citizenship Act to incorporate new provisions, streamline and remove certain provisions that have become redundant in order to increase the efficacy of the Act.
The amendments would also introduce overseas citizenship for persons of Indian origin belonging to specified countries and facilitate introduction of the scheme of issue of national identity cards to all Indian citizens, she said.
The Citizenship Act,1955 was among 109 Central Acts which had been identified for a review by the Commission on Review of Administrative Laws constituted by the Central Government under the chairmanship of PC Jain in 1988, she said.
The broad issues addressed during the review undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs included how to make acquisition of Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation more difficult and how to prevent refugees and illegal immigrants from becoming eligible for Indian citizenship, she said.
How to exclude the children of certain categories of people from acquiring citizenship by virtue of birth in India and how to simplify the procedure to facilitate the re-acquisition of Indian citizenship by erstwhile citizens of independent India were among other issues, she added.
© PTI
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New Delhi, April 24, 2003
It is a promise that the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has failed to keep. To thunderous cheers, Mr. Vajpayee had announced at the January 9 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that a Bill to confer dual citizenship on PIOs would be introduced during the budget session of Parliament. The budget session is drawing to an end, but there is no sign of the Bill. It was to provide, for the first time ever, dual citizenship for PIOs in select countries.
In his January 9 speech, Mr. Vajpayee had said: "... my Government has decided to.... permit dual citizenship for People of Indian Origin living in certain countries. We are now working on the administrative regulations and procedures governing dual citizenship. We will introduce the necessary legislation during the budget session of Parliament."
According to sources, a draft Bill is yet to reach the desk of the Law Minister, Arun Jaitley. The sources said the law would be a complicated one, adding that there were some difficulties and serious concerns relating to security and other issues.
Clearly, the promise was premature and the Government has failed to keep to its commitment — a bad signal to the PIO community living in the West — yet another indication that the speed of decision-making in India leaves much to be desired. In any case, there has been some criticism that the PIOs to be offered "dual citizenship" were from the "dollar and pound countries" and would not be available to PIOs living in developing countries.
The indications in January were that PIOs living in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Holland, Portugal and some Nordic countries may avail of the dual citizenship facility.
There has been considerable debate whether or not conferring dual citizenship will require a mere amendment to the Citizenship Act or an amendment to the Constitution itself.
At present, a person can acquire Indian citizenship, as per Article 5 of the Constitution, by birth; or either of whose parents were born in the territory of India or has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years.
However, Article 9 says: "No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of Article 5.... if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign state." Article 10 confers the power on Parliament to make any provision relating to citizenship.
As Government sources admit, any law to confer dual citizenship would be a complicated one. And, as the Government studies the issue further, it appears that the depth of complication is becoming clear. The BJP itself has been intensely wooing the PIO/NRI community and the promise of "dual citizenship" had been a major plank in garnering support and influence overseas.
The sources said the Government remained committed to providing dual citizenship and a Bill would be introduced "at the beginning" of the next session of Parliament.
There had been delays in compiling information and inputs were still being collected, they claimed. According to the sources, a Cabinet note on the subject was "ready" and two rounds of inter-Ministerial consultation had already taken place.
Be that as it may, the Government has missed its own deadline as the budget session of Parliament winds down.
© The Hindu, by Amit Baruah
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Riyadh, November 03, 2003
Fifty-two per cent of the employees working in the private
sector in Kuwait are from the subcontinent, the Kuwaiti social affairs and
labour minister Faisal Al-Hajji told a local daily. Of these, Indians
number 184,200, making it the largest foreign community employed by
Kuwait's private sector.
Egyptians come second with 183,000 workers while Bangladeshis total
116,000. Al-Hajji said the total number of foreigners employed in the
private sector reached 725,000 on June 30 this year.
Sixty-four thousand Pakistanis are also employed in Kuwait's private
sector, the minister added. Until some time back, Pakistanis were one of
the largest expatriate work force in Kuwait, however, the situation
changed when Kuwait clamped a ban on Pakistani visas due to drug-related
problems. The ban was ultimately lifted recently after constant persuasion
by the Pakistani side.
Other nationalities include 42,300 Syrians and 42,000 from Iran, in
addition to 20,200 from the Philippines, 15,800 Lebanese, 11,000 from Sri
Lanka and 10,500 Jordanians.
The figures does not include foreigners working in the public sector,
estimated at 100,000 and some 300,000 domestic workers mostly from India,
Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
Nor does it include hundreds of thousands of family members accompanying
their sponsors. According to official figures released by the Planning
Ministry, the foreign population of Kuwait rose 5.8 per cent in 2002 to
reach the 1.5 million mark for the first time in 12 years.
The report said that Kuwait's total population at the end of last year
reached 2.42 million.
© The Dawn
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Durban, September 08, 2003
President Thabo Mbeki has lauded the role of the local Hindu community and the Hindu religion in the South African struggle for a free country.
Mbeki was opening a two-day convention here on "Hindu Unity" at which 370 delegates from Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi linguistic and community groups from across the country deliberated on issues affecting Hindus.
"Given our divided history, religious organisations have an important role to play in the reconstruction and development of our country, especially in the welfare and civil society sectors. In this regard, there are many lessons that we can and must learn from the Hindu religion," Mbeki said.
"We know that the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, the national voice of Hindus in our country, was formed in 1912. The wisdom and foresight of its founders are discernible in the present membership of the Maha Sabha and its affiliates across the country.
"This is the same year that the African people met to form the African National Congress (ANC) to fight for our rights and for the democracy that we are enjoying today."
Mbeki said that although the South African Hindu Maha Sabha initially devoted much of its attention to the religious needs of Hindus, it was inevitable that members of this faith had to unite with their compatriots to fight for the common cause of freedom.
"Accordingly, we are happy that for many years the South African Hindu Maha Sabha contributed to the national effort for the creation of a society where all people are equal.
"We are indeed strengthened by the fact that members of the Hindu community continue to work for the transformation of our country."
Mbeki also called for increased use of the age-old Hindu philosophy of volunteerism to help alleviate poverty and bring about social change in South Africa.
“You would know better than me that volunteerism has long been an integral part of Hindu society, dating back to 1,500 BC when it was mentioned in the Rig Vedas. Indeed, this tradition in India plays an important role in social and economic development.”
“We know that volunteer campaigns help in the fields of education, medicine, cultural promotion and during times of crises such as droughts, floods, epidemics and foreign invasions.”
“Through these contributions, the disadvantaged and the poor are taken care of by social mechanisms outside the state -- through the family structure, social groups, guilds, and individual religious philanthropy.”
“Individual and religious philanthropy have always been interrelated. One of the most important lessons of the Hindu religion is the principle of hospitality and charity, which is part of an important hallmark of Vedic culture.”
"As we know, our country and people are engaged in the volunteer and self-reliance campaigns... Today, we have a duty to unite the good and noble teachings of volunteerism of the Hindu faith with the campaigns our people are conducting.
"In this way, we will be able to attend to the many challenges facing our society.
"Mahatma Ghandi's championship of the cause of (Dalits) teaches us that we too must act in support of the poor and marginalized."
Mbeki challenged the traditional theory that the first Hindus arrived in South Africa with the first shipload of indentured sugar cane labourers in 1860.
“Archaeological sources have suggested that Hinduism had been in southern Africa for at least 400 years earlier. We can conclude from this that there have always been mutual respect, exchanges, trade, and communications between the peoples on both sides of the Indian Ocean.”
“Today, research and evidence show clear links between Hinduism and indigenous African religions. And like Hinduism, the African faiths have lived for thousands of years, in unbroken continuity.”
“We affirm that the essence of humanity as expressed by this religion shows us to be one.”
"The falsehoods peddled by colonial discourse that history on these shores, like anywhere else in the world, dawned only with the arrival of the colonisers has already been proved to be false."
Mbeki expressed confidence in the first Hindu convention marking a new era for the community in South Africa.
“We are sure it will assist Hinduism to make an even greater contribution towards the spiritual enrichment of our diverse society, and the development of our nation.”
"It will empower the Hindu community of our people to enhance its contribution to peace in our country."
© IANS
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Paris, October 19, 2003
Pakistan is expected to be among the countries whose residents will no longer be authorized to file political asylum in all the EU countries.
Inaugurating the first day of the G5 anti-terrorism summit at the French resort city of La Baule, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said that Paris was "taking very seriously" the threats issued on Arab satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera by Osama bin Laden.
The G5 summit has been convened to take a number of decisions with regard to the security future of the European Union, and will notably issue a list of the "sure countries" from which candidates for political asylum in the EU will now be refused authorization to reside in the present 15 European countries, and, as of next year, the 25 member EU states.
POPULATION FLOWS: An international colloquium just held in Paris on immigration and population flows has revealed that the European continent will see even more immigration in the coming years than it has in its recent history.
The colloquium also revealed that at the present moment, there are more than 40 million immigrants in mainland Europe alone, with 8 million in France, of which 5 million are Muslims.
© PNS
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New Delhi, April 10, 2003
India expects the European Commission (EC) to revoke the anti-dumping duty on bed linen imports and terminate the ongoing partial interim review. This follows a ruling by the appellate body of the World Trade Organisation that the Commission has failed to act consistently with the provisions of the Anti-Dumping Agreement.
The Commerce Ministry while describing the WTO ruling as a major gain, pointed out that the decision was linked to the EC's implementation of the rulings and recommendations of the WTO's dispute settlement body in a dispute with India on imposition of anti-dumping duty on bed linen imports in November 1997.
The Ministry said in a statement that in light of the findings of the appellate body, India expected the Commission to revoke the anti-dumping duty on bed linen and terminate the ongoing partial interim review as well as the sunset review, as these were based on a measure that had been found to be inconsistent with the anti-dumping agreement.
The Ministry recalled that on August 7, 2002, the Council of the European Union adopted a regulation amending the original definitive anti-dumping duties on bed linen from India purporting to comply with the Disputes Settlement Body's recommendations in the original dispute while simultaneously suspending its application.
India strongly disagreed that this re-determination complied with the DSB's rulings. Accordingly, it sought the establishment of a compliance panel to examine the existence or consistency of action taken by the Commission to implement the DSB decision.
India argued that the Commission failed to determine the volume of dumped imports attributable to non-examined producers on the basis of "positive evidence" and an "objective examination". Though the compliance panel concluded that the Commission had complied with the DSB decision in the original dispute, India later appealed against certain issues of law and legal interpretations. While reversing a new finding of the compliance panel, the appellate body now held that the Commission's determination of the volume of the dumped imports for purpose of making a determination of injury was not based on an objective examination.
The appellate body concluded that the Commission's determination that all imports attributable to non-examined producers were dumped, though the evidence from the examined producers showed that the producers, accounting for 53 per cent of imports attributed to examined producers, were not dumping, did not lead to a result which was unbiased, even-handed and fair, the statement said.
© The Hindu
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Dhaka, October 1st, 2003
Bangladesh will have to take nearly 6 thousand "illegal" workers back home from South Korea by November to have a bigger access to the Republic’s growing job market.
Another 12,000 Bangladeshi workers, also said to be illegal, will have to leave Korea first if they wish to re-enter the newly industrialized country with fresh job contracts.
These workers can have the chance of re-entry visas with fresh jobs by virtue of their previous experience if they abide by Korea’s new laws for foreign workers, Korean Ambassador in Dhaka said.
"Illegal immigrants with over four years of stay in the country shall be deported," Kyu-hyung Lee told UNB Monday, hoping that Bangladesh would bring back the "illegal immigrants" showing respect to Korea’s new laws for employment permit and legalization of illegal foreign workers.
Korean National Assembly passed a tougher act in July that asks foreign workers, who have stayed there over three years, to leave.
Some 18,000 or over 88 per cent of Bangladesh’s about 20,000 workforce in Korea are identified as illegal immigrants, having overstayed or changed jobs violating the terms of contract.
About 6,000 of them have been in the Republic of Korea for over four years--and earmarked for deportation. Another 12,000 workers, also branded as illegal under Korean law for violation of job contracts or their stay for more than three years but less than four years, can avail of re-entry after leaving the country.
Korean government has planned to sign memorandums of understanding (MOU) with 15 countries for recruiting workers and Bangladesh is one of them.
"Before that Bangladesh should take back the illegal workers (who’ve stayed more than four years)," the Korean envoy said, setting a condition for Bangladesh to get a bigger stake in his country’s manufacturing sector.
The Republic needs some 400,000 foreign workers to man its industries.
But it has got over 660,000 foreign workers, as of March this year, and about half of the lot was billed "illegal immigrants", with Bangladesh holding the highest share.
Armed with stringent laws, the Korean government now plans to bring the number to 400,000 through deportation and legalization, and then recruit fresh workers from different countries on the basis of MOUs.
Half of the requisite foreign workforce is to come from ethnic Korean Chinese and the rest expected from Asian countries, including Bangladesh.
The ROK diplomat appreciated the skills of Bangladeshi workers, mainly those employed by Korean companies here, but made it clear that respect to law would be main determinant for Bangladeshi workers to get a greater passage to Korea.
He said Bangladesh could have a good share in Korea’s demand for some 200,000 foreign workers from nationals other than Korean Chinese. But the chances might be shattered "if Bangladeshis in Korea stick to their current practice (of overstaying illegally)," Kyu-hyung Lee said.
Bangladesh’s cheap and easy trainable, disciplined labour force is the most attractive factor for Korean investors in Bangladesh, both in and outside the export-processing zones.
"Labour climate here is better than any other countries in Asia," Lee said, citing examples of labour unrest in many Asian economies.
Trade union is not a problem even in factories outside the EPZs, he pointed out.
The Ambassador referred to US pressures on Bangladesh government for allowing trade unionism in EPZs, now free from unions. But many investors are worried about labour unions as such trade unions often cross their permissible limits. Lee hoped that the government would find out the "wisest" way accommodating both the views about trade unionism in EPZs.
© UNB
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London, November 03, 2003
About 2,500 Indian nationals have applied for political asylum in Britain this year so far, and in the second quarter itself about 645 asylum applications were received from people claiming to be of Indian origin, a Home Office spokesman has said.
In 2002 around 1505 people had applied, in 2001 there were 1550 applications and in 2000 there were 2000. Of these five were granted asylum in 2002, 20 in 2001 and 40 in 2000, according to figures available.
Those granted indefinite stay numbered 25 in 2002, 20 in 2001 and 45 in 2000. According to sources over 2000 applications have been refused in the last few years.
The number of applications have however fallen over the years. In 1994 there were 2000, in 1995 there were 3225, in 1996, 2220, in 1997, 1255.
In 1998, 1030 people had applied, in 1999, 1065, but in 2000 the number rose to 2120, in 2001 it was about 1550 and in 2002 it was 1505.
Most of these asylum seekers are said to be from Punjab although as most destroy their documents it is difficult to verify their true nationality.
To stem the problem Britain, last month introduce the transit visa and also make destruction of documents an offence that carries two years of imprisonment.
A large number of such people, are transit passengers at Heathrow who destroy their passports and seek political asylum in the UK.
There are many such asylum seekers from Somalia, Zimbabwe, China, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Congo.
''The tightening of the rules is in response to attempts by some of these nationals to circumvent the UK's immigration system. We are responding to intelligence that some nationals of these countries are using transit visas to flout our immigration controls and either enter the UK illegally or make unfounded asylum applications,'' said the Home Office spokesman.
© UNI
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