South Asia Tribune

Tribune

South Asia

ry The 739th anniversaRu mi

n Hazrat Moulana Jalal uddiSee page 03

Year 2  Issue 23  Thursday, 20.12.12



www.satribune.co.uk

FREE

Qatar’s big budget answer Obama beats Malala Malala Yousafzai is Time’s runnerto anti-Islam film? up for Person of the Year 2012 A blockbuster movie about the life of Prophet Mohammed (SAW)

A $1 billion epic movie on the life and teachings of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is set to be produced by Doha-based Al Noor Holding.

Chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, would be in seven parts and would be produced according to the highest international standards using the most sophisticated technical and

The media company said that the movie endorsed by Islamic scholars, including Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the

audio-visual systems.

The company on Monday said Continued on page 2 >>

Time magazine on Wednesday named the recently re-elected US President Barack Obama as its person of the year for 2012 – the second time it has accorded him this honour.

Obama now not only has a reelection as America’s first black president and a Nobel peace prize under his belt, but he beat fancied runners-up, including brave Pakistani girls’ rights activist Malala Yousafzai, to be enshrined again as Time’s dominant personality of the year.

President Barack Obama beat seven other shortlisted contenders, including his Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Morsi and Pakistani activist for women’s education Malala Yousafzai.

The magazine calls Obama a cultural figure, “the symbol and in some ways the architect” of a new America, who spells the end of 30 years of US politics that began with the ‘Reagan realignment.’

Time said that Obama is worthy to be called Person of Year 2012 for “finding and forging a new majority, for turning weakness into opportunity and for seeking, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union.”

The US president has received this award – given to the person who had the most influence on global affairs – for a second time. The first was in 2008, right after his election.

Malala is recovering in England.

She insists “that she be photographed with a book in hand and her headscarf carefully draped to hide any signs of damage — both as a nod to tradition and so that supporters would know that her priorities had not changed,” Baker writes.

“Malala was already a spokesperson; the Taliban made her a symbol,” Baker writes.

ON TIME: THE LAST DECADE OF ‘PERSON OF THE YEAR’ 2012 Barack Obama - President of the United States 2011 The Protester - Those involved in demos from the Arab Spring to the ‘Occupy’ movement 2010 Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook founder and CEO 2009 Ben Bernanke - Federal Reserve chairman 2008 Barack Obama - Then president-elect of the United States Continued on page 3 >>

NEWS

2

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

GP Islam jailed for sex assaults The worst case of its kind

Publisher Salah Bu Khamas (UAE) Sabha Khan (UK)

‘The worst case of its kind I have encountered’: Judge slams pervert doctor who abused female patients for decades Jurors in tears as GP jailed for sex assaults A FAMILY doctor who sexually assaulted teenage girls and women for over a quarter of a century was jailed for 11 years yesterday after a judge described the case as the worst of its kind he had come across.

GP Gousul Islam, who ran a surgery at Stainforth, near Doncaster, was sentenced after being found guilty of sexually abusing seven female patients between 1970 and 1995.

Islam was suspended by the General Medical Council in September 2010 and will now be

encounter or try.”

He told Islam: “This is on any view a catalogue in some cases of persistent sexual abuse of patients

assaulting patients.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed Gousul Islam, 70, was found guilty yesterday of 18 counts of indecent

which included complaints of a sore throat or regular health check ups.

Islam was a doctor at Lyndhurst

with the grossest possible breach of trust of your position as a doctor.”

Female jurors wept as the judge delivered his verdict on 70-yearold Islam who bowed his head in the dock at Sheffield Crown Court.

Police have thanked the women who came forward to help convict a GP who has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually

assault against a number of young women at his surgery near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Officers said the offences date back to the period from 1970 to the mid 1990s, when the women were between 13 and 28-years-old.

They were assaulted when they visited the doctor for minor ailments or routine examinations,

Surgery on Church Road, Stainforth, for more than 30 years.

He was arrested in March 2010 following allegations and was charged in October 2011. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Islam was sentenced today following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court which began in November.

UK Office 10 Courtenay Road, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 7ND UK Phone: +44 20 8904 0619 Fax: +44 20 8181 7575 info@satribune.co.uk India Office Satya Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. C/O Satya Group.

1st Floor, Avenue Appt., Near Sheth. R. J. J. High School, Tithal Road, Valsad - 396001 Gujarat, India

Managing Editor & CEO Mohammad Shahid Khan

struck off.

One victim said she was subjected to more than 30 unwarranted examinations from the age of 14 to 22.

Judge Simon Lawler said: “In 40 years’ experience as a court practitioner this is the worst case of its kind by a professional man I have had the misfortune to

Group Editorial Managers Gulzar Khan (India) Abdul Khalique (Pakistan)

Continued from page 01 >>

United Arab Emirates Office S.K. Group of Companies P.O. Box 9021, Karama Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 2659970, 3359929; Fax: +971 4 2659971, 3341609 www.sk-groupofcompanies.com

Editorial Board UK Frances Brunner FYI Tribune team Adrian Fellar Misbah Khan Reema Shah Rohma Khan Keziah-Ann Abakah Marketing & Sales Andrew Klugman (Manager) Art Department UK Ali Ansar (Art Director) Mohammad Reazul Islam

Qatar’s big budget answer to anti-Islam film?

that the team of experts has finished writing the scenario after overcoming a series of artistic and dramatic challenges.

The approval of leading Muslim scholars was necessary for the company to move ahead with the movie production.

“We are aware of the fact that this (film) is a difficult and a challenging task,” Al Noor Holding said in September. “This is why we have consulted many famous Islamic scholars, among them Dr Al Qaradawi, who will guide us on

the Sharia aspect of the film.”

Under strict Islamic laws, prophets cannot be depicted on screen or in print and the movie will be no exception.

However, his companions will appear in the movie screen, in a decision that breaks with long-held views that their status among Muslims does not allow their depiction or embodiment on screen either.

At the media opportunity in Doha on Monday, Al Qaradawi said that he conducted his own research and that he consulted with 30 senior scholars on showing the Prophet’s companions in a movie.

“Following the studies and the consultations, I have come to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with showing the companions in dramatic work,” he said. “I used to oppose the idea as we have formed our own cognitive image and characterization of the prophets and companions and that we should not distort them with human images. However, following long researches and studies, I realised that we have been excessive in our approach and that there is no text or reference in the Quran or in the Prophet’s Tradition and Sayings that does

not allow it,” he said in remarks published by Qatari daily Al Sharq on Tuesday.

A TV drama broadcast during Ramadan about the lives of Hassan and Hussain, the grandsons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), caused stirring controversy after it showed some of his companions.

Al Azhar, the highest Sunni institution based in Cairo, warned in a statement for all television channels not to screen the drama, arguing that the embodiment of the Prophet’s companions was religiously forbidden. Lawsuits Continued on page 3 >>

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

NEWS

The 739th anniversary

3

Hazrat Moulana Jalal uddin Rumi

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and leader of CHP Kilicdaroglu attended the ceremony.

Thousands of people, along with many top politicians, gathered on Monday in the Central Anatolian province of Konya to commemorate Şhab-e Urus, or the Night of Union, which marks the 739th anniversary of the death of 13th-century Sufi mystic and Islamic scholar Mevlana Jelaluddin Muhammad Rumi.

The celebrations, hosted by the Konya Metropolitan Municipality, took place at the city’s Mevlana Cultural Center.

Dignitaries including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Health Minister Recep Akdağ, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Tajik President Emomali

Rahmon were present at the ceremony.

Messages from Turkish President Abdullah Gül and Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek were read aloud at the ceremony, which began with opening remarks from Konya Mayor Tahir Akyürek and was followed by a concert by Ahmet Özhan.

The ceremony ended with a performance by whirling dervishes.

Upon Erdoğan’s request, no official speech was delivered

during the event, which later became a subject of criticism when Kılıçdaroğlu claimed that Erdoğan made such a request because he did not have time to prepare a speech beforehand.

Another Şhab-e Urus event on Monday took place in the San Pasifico Latin Catholic Church on İstanbul’s island of Büyükada, meaning “Big Island” in Turkish.

Organized by the Adalar Municipality for the third time,

Monday’s event included a sema performance -- a whirling dervish show -- and a concert by a Sufi music (Islamic religious music) group called Revnak, whose members are all female. Adalar Mayor Mustafa Farsakoğlu said the island is a special place for hosting people from different religions.

“There are Jewish, Muslim and Christian people here. And

Qatar’s big budget answer to anti-Islam film?

Continued from page 02 >>

were filed against the production company and the satellite provider for producing and broadcasting the drama.

However, anticipating similar reactions, Tariq Al Swaidan, a Kuwaiti Islamist scholar and head of the consultancy team, said at the conference on Monday that recent international studies indicated that the new generations have new ways of gathering and obtaining information and that they no longer relied on traditional

media.

The consultants have identified 57 messages that the movie would convey to the Western audience, he said in remarks published by the Qatari media.

“There is a need to understand the mentality and mindset of other people,” he said. The movie will be in English, but it will be translated into several languages to ensure an international outreach, a company official said.

Nihad Awad, a co-founder of the Council

on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its executive director, said that around 750 movies with negative messages about Islam or Prophet Mohammad were produced by Hollywood in the last decade.

The movie on Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) will have a special significance in helping address the negative impressions and impressions within Western society as a result of the negative portrayal of Muslims and Islam, he said, quoted by Qatari daily Al Sharq.

regardless of which religion they belong to, people live peacefully here in this place. This was the same in the past, too. So we kindly asked the church administrators whether we can organize such an event that embraces all people living here and they did not turn our request down,” he noted.

Rumi does not belong only to the Islamic culture; his philosophy is a universal one, Farsakoğlu noted.

“Rumi has a philosophy that values all people from various faiths and that sees people as equals.

Rumi has a famous saying: ‘Come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.’ This sums it all up. This is why people from different walks of life should be able to live together in harmony.

Also, listening to Islamic hymns and watching sema in a church is a special experience that is rarely found.”

Another commemoration event took place in The Hague in the Netherlands. Many Dutch people and Turks showed interest in an event organized jointly by the Friends of Netherlands, Konya and

Mevlana and the Joint Muslim Aid Organization (SMHO). Abduwahid van Bommel, who has translated many of Rumi’s books into Dutch, spoke during the event, explaining about Rumi’s philosophy and life.

Furthermore, some sections from the “Mesnevi,” the most famous text by Rumi, were read aloud. The night ended with a concert and a sema performance.

Obama beats Malala

Continued from page 01 >> 2007 Vladimir Putin - Then president of Russia 2006 You - As a contributor to social media sites like Facebook and YouTube 2005 The Good Samaritans - Specifically Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates 2004 George W. Bush - Then president of the United States 2003 The American Soldier - Then fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 2002 The Whistleblowers - Specifically Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Sherron Watkins of Enron

NEWS

4

EDITORIAL

Since 2011 Bin Laden raid harming Pakistan polio fight!

Early 2012 an alliance of about 200 US-based NGOs, many of them working in humanitarian operations in Pakistan, has expressed deep concern over a vaccination campaign carried out in Abbottabad last year by the Central Intelligence Agency and expressed fear that the action may jeopardise the lives of aid workers in the country.

Pakistani now imprisoned doctor Shakeel Afridi who was charged with treason for spying for the United States is allegedly linked to the U.S. intelligence operation, alleging he tried to gain access to bin Laden’s compound through the fake vaccination scheme.

In June 2012 Taliban banned polio vaccinations in Pakistan’s North Waziristan, tying the ban to U.S. drone strikes and fears the CIA would use the vaccinations as cover.

Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur said vaccinations would be banned until the CIA stopped its drone campaign that has mainly focused on North Waziristan along the Afghanistan border and considered a safe haven for insurgents, The New York Times reported.

The result? Three separate attacks on Wednesday leave two dead and one in a critical condition in latest assaults on campaign to stamp out crippling disease Health experts have condemned a “devastating” assault by militants in which five female polio vaccinators were shot dead in coordinated attacks across two cities in Pakistan.

The murders highlight the challenge for health workers in what is one of the world’s last bastions of the crippling disease.

Four of the women were shot dead by men on motorbikes in three separate areas of Karachi, within the space of 20 minutes. The fifth woman was killed in Peshawar. A sixth vaccination worker, a man, was killed on Monday.

The women were working on a three-day vaccination scheme backed by the World Health Organisation in some of those areas where incidence of polio is the highest.

Pakistani health officials who said in past their efforts to vaccinate more children are being frustrated by the CIA’s use of a fake vaccination program last year to

gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden.

No group has said it carried out the attacks but the Talibans are opposed to the health programme.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility for the attacks, although the insurgents have a history of threatening polio eradication programs, claiming they are a cover for American espionage activities.

Last year, 198 cases of polio were reported in Pakistan, a 15-year high, and the largest number of cases recorded anywhere in the world, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) .

Children under the age of five are most vulnerable to the disease, which is spread by a virus and leads to paralysis and, in some cases, death.

Since a global vaccination campaign was launched in 1988, the number of cases worldwide has dropped dramatically, although along with Pakistan, polio is still endemic in Afghanistan and Nigeria, according to the GPEI. Polio often thrives in places where sanitation is poor. The ultimate aim of the project, which involves 90,000 health workers, is to provide drops to 35 million children. But the task of the government and the aid organisations has become increasingly difficult since the Taliban issued threats.

Sarah Crowe, Unicef’s spokeswoman, said: “These attacks are a double tragedy. The work done to eradicate polio is pioneering. It has helped build up a foundation for stronger public health systems as health workers and polio vaccinators are often able to identify children who are missing out on routine immunisations. This comes at a time when Pakistan has made great strides against polio – last year 190 children contracted polio and this year it is 56. Every day the vaccination drive is on hold, more children lose out.”

Sir Liam Donaldson, chairman of the independent monitoring board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, added: “The public health workers were doing heroic work to save children’s lives in the final stage of the campaign to rid the world of a lethal and crippling disease. That they should lose their own lives in this appalling

act of violence is devastating news for the global health community.

In mourning their loss, we should honour their memories by showing their work will be carried on until every last child is safe from polio.”

In many parts of Pakistan’s northwest, the Taliban has banned such programmes, claiming they are a US-backed plan to sterilise Muslims. Antipathy to the vaccination drive has also increased since the CIA established a fake hepatitis drive in the city of Abbottabad to try to obtain information about Osama bin Laden.

Earlier this summer, more than 200,000 children in North and South Waziristan missed out on being vaccinated after the government failed to persuade militant leaders to lift their ban.

“The polio workers have been targeted in these areas because there are elements of the Pashtun population – namely the Taliban – that are against the vaccination drive for various reasons,” said Dr Guido Sabatinelli, head of the WHO’s Pakistan’s office.

“There is a misconception that the vaccine could be harmful to the children; there is a misconception that the polio workers are spies; and there is a misconception that the polio drives are somehow linked to military operations in the north and in the tribal areas.”

Unlike India, which this year was declared polio-free, Pakistan is one of three nations still threatened by polio. The others are Nigeria and Afghanistan.The latest WHO figures suggest there have been 56 cases of polio confirmed in Pakistan this year with the results on about 300 other cases still outstanding. In 2011, almost 200 children were paralysed by the disease, the most in 15 years.

Pakistan had 20,000 polio cases in 1994 but vigorous vaccination efforts had brought the number down to 56 in 2012, the statement said.

A global vaccination campaign has eradicated the disease from everywhere except Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Polio: Number of cases in 2012 Nigeria 118 Pakistan 56 Afghanistan 34 Chad 5

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

Jordan warns Israelis not to visit wearing ‘Jew clothes’ Tourism ministry in Amman wary of unfriendly reactions to Jewish dress or rituals in public places

Jordan tourism ministry orders travel agencies to warn Israeli tourists against conducting religious ceremonies in public areas or wearing religious clothes for fear of ‘Jewish provocation’.

The Jordanian Tourism Ministry on Wednesday warned Israeli visitors not to wear outwardly Jewish garb while visiting the Hashemite Kingdom and to avoid performing Jewish rituals during

reaction by Jordanian citizens.

The Jordan Society of Tourism and Travel Agents forwarded on the imperative to Jordanian tour operators, one of whom forwarded a copy to The Times of Israel.

The memo did not specify what constituted Jewish clothing.

The Jordanian Tourism Ministry was not available for comment on the story.

their stay.

According to a copy of a ministry memo issued at the end of November, Amman instructed

The six men and women arrived at a market in the town of Rabba, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the capital Amman, when one

Jordanian tour operators to inform their Israeli counterparts to advise Israeli visitors not to wear “Jewish dress” or perform “religious rituals in public places” so as to prevent an unfriendly

of the vendors identified the tourists as Israeli due to mens’ skullcaps, which “provoked the sensibilities of the vendors,” independent daily Al-Arab AlYawm reported.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

NEWS

5

We would like to get answers: family

Hundreds mourn prank tragedy nurse Jacintha funeral in Karnataka town Monday

HUNDREDS of mourners gathered in a small town in India today for the funeral of a nurse found dead after answering a prank call to the hospital where Kate Middleton was treated for morning sickness.

prank call made to a hospital treating Prince William’s wife Kate, believe she died of shame after falling for the hoax. Saldanha’s brother Naveen

Saldanha answered the hoax call at 5.30 am on Wednesday, while she was helping out on reception at the time of the prank. Giggling DJs

Friends and family paid their respects to Jacintha Saldanha, 46, during a simple ceremony in Shirva, some 30 miles north of Mangalore on the south-west coast.

Earlier, crowds lined the roads close to the Catholic church to pay their respects while relatives attended a private prayer ceremony at her home.

has said that his sister died of shame following the royal hospital hoax.

Naveen was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying that his devoutly Catholic sister was a “proper and righteous person”.

She would have been devastated at unwittingly assisting a colleague in breaching medical confidentiality over the condition of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

“She would have felt much shame about the incident,” Naveen said.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian were pretending to be the British Queen [ Images ] and Prince Charles and asked her if they could be put through to Kate.

Saldanha connected them to another nurse who gave details of Kate’s condition, who was suffering from acute morning sickness at the London hospital.

A recording of the conversation was broadcast on the ‘2Day FM’ station with the DJs gleefully boasting about

The distraught family of an Indianorigin nurse, who got caught up in a

their successful hoax.

Saldanha, whose husband Benedict Barboza is an accountant with the National Health Service, moved to the UK ten years ago from Mangalore in Karnataka Benedict expressed his sadness on his Facebook page with a short note ‘Obituary Jacintha’.

“I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances,” he wrote.

He said she will be laid to rest in Shirva, India Saldanha’s sister-in-law Celine Barboza said the family could not understand what had caused the mother of two to end her life.

“We just cannot believe what has happened,” she said.

“She was a very strong person and couldn’t have taken this drastic step easily. We would like to get an answer,” Celine said.

The family live in Southmead, Bristol. Saldanha stayed in the nurse’ quarters in London during her shifts at the hospital.

Saldanha’s mother-in-law, Carmine

Barboza, said that the family was desperate to bring her body back to India to perform the last rites in the Catholic tradition.

“Nobody is giving me any information about her and whether her body is being brought to India,” she added.

After visiting Saldanha’s family at their home, Member of Parliamenr Keith Vaz said a memorial service was being planned for next week.

King Edward VII Hospital had set up a memorial fund in her name.

Although she was not blamed in any way for what happened, friends said Saldanha “took it very badly” and was extremely “traumatised”.

The hospital has repeatedly stressed that Saldanha did not face any disciplinary action and it “was working hard to support her”.

But the feeling that she had unintentionally broken the hospital rules, bringing shame on her and her employer, may well have pushed her into taking desperate action.

Her fellow victim of the prank, who has not been named, is also said to have been “incredibly upset”.

On Sunday, a special Mass was held at St Vincent de Paul Presbytery in Southmead, just 200 yards from Saldanha’s home.

“She was a very caring wife, a very loving mother and a gentle friend and neighbour who regularly attended church. People are saddened -- it is still all very raw. She was well known and well liked in the community and she will be a loss,” Father Tom Finnegan said.

“She felt especially privileged to work in the hospital in London -- everyone is deeply shocked and saddened,” he added.

Sayyed Nasrallah: “Powerful Israel Is Over… Forever!”

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stressed that the “powerful” Zionist entity was over, and forever, following the defeat it faced in the last offensive against Gaza.

During a graduation ceremony Nasarallah said that that the crisis in Syria was being more complicated; saying that refusing dialogue in Syria “means the continuity of the battle and the bloodshed.”

He also addressed al-Qaeda, saying it was being trapped by the West which opened a front to extremist militants to fight in.

Sayyed Nasrallah said that he was so glad to see a March 14 delegation visiting Gaza and expressing its support to the resistance there.

On the relation with the Palestinian resistance movements, he stressed it was normal especially with Hamas, saying all what was circulated in media about a strained relation between Hezbollah

and Hamas were wishes and not reality.

On the ongoing crisis in the neighboring Syria, Sayyed Nasrallah said it became more complicated and of long-term, noting that the opposition could not secure a military achievement.

Nasar allah also said that the Syrian people were divided, stressing that the strife was not between a regime and people.

“The strife in Syria is not between the regime and the people. This description is not true.”

“In Syria, the popular partition becomes a reality, since there is a regime which has his own people in front of other people who was supported by foreign forces which led to a armed confrontation.”

“There is a regime that has been defending its principles and armed groups who have been engaged in a harsh fight and the battle in Syria is of long-term.”

He condemns the ongoing explosions which

have been targeting civilians in the Syrian cities, stressing that a political settlement is the only way to solve the crisis in Syria.

“There are regional powers which benefit from the continuity of the battle in Syria, ” Hezbollah Sec.Gen. said, adding: “The US does not want for the battle in Syria to be over in order to have more killed in a bid to exhaust Syria and

delete it from the national consideration.” On Gaza, Sayyed Nasrallah assured that the powerful, giant and frightful Zionist entity was over, after the latest offensive against the besieged strip last month.

“Just three missiles were enough to force the Israeli leader ship to go to shelter, and to surrender in front of an unarmed and besieged strip,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.

“Israel was defeated and it asked for a diplomatic solution,” his eminence said, adding: “we should write down that the powerful, giant and frightful Israel is over… forever.”

He added that the Zionist entity has been descending since the year of 2000 “when it withdrew from our land humiliated without a pre-condition.”

Concerning the relation with the Palestinian resistance factions, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed it was normal, especially with Hamas.

NEWS

6

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

Number of homeless students hits new record: Over 1 million

The number of homeless students in America topped one million for the first time last year as a result of the economic recession, a number that has risen 57 percent since 2007.

The US Department of Education found that of these 1,065,794 children, many lived in abandoned homes, cheap hotels, stations, church basements and hospitals. Some spent their time sleeping over at the houses of various friends whenever they could. Others fell victim to drugs and sexual abuse, in some cases trading sexual acts for food, clothing and shelter or selling illegal drugs.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 requires pubic schools to register homeless children.

The Department of Education report was only able to compile data from those currently enrolled in school, which indicates that there may be many more homeless children or infants living on the streets without an education.

The southern US state of Georgia has in recent years always had the highest number of homeless children. As many as 45,000 homeless kids and teens are on the

street or in a temporary shelter each night in Georgia, 14,000 of which are in Atlanta.

But the states that reported the largest year-to-year increases in the June report were Kentucky at 47 percent, Utah at 47 percent, Michigan at 38 percent, West Virginia at 38 percent and Mississippi at 35 percent. In Michigan, where unemployment is above the national average, every county reported an increase in the number of homeless students.

“The severe lack of affordable housing for families has yet to be addressed, and over one million children are paying the price,” Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National

Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty said in the report. “Everyone has a human right to safe, decent, affordable housing. And until we make that right a reality for all Americans, the number of homeless students will continue rising.”

Increases in the number of homeless students from 2010 to 2011 has hit 44 US states, reaching as far as small towns like Frederick, Md. In the months leading up to Christmas, Frederick Public Schools have been struggling to deal with the rising homeless student population, which has tripled since the 2004/2005 academic school year.

“It is pretty much what is happening

around the state and around the nation,” Zoe Carson, the school system’s homeless education program coordinator told The Gazette. “It is a phenomenon that is happening everywhere.”

In Frederick County, homeless families are often referred to as the “former middle class”, Carson said. Children struggling with homelessness also tend to fare worse in school, making it more difficult for them to rise out of poverty in the future.

“They know exactly what is going on with their family. When you are going home to a hotel, the last thing on your mind is homework,”

Carson said.

Frederick is neither unique with its rising number of homeless students, nor the most severe. The growth in the number of homeless students can be seen in both wealthy counties in Virginia and poor neighborhoods in Detroit. vFairfax County, Va. – one of the nation’s most affluent counties – reported that 2,500 homeless students are attending public schools this year, which is 10 times the number reported 15 years ago.

The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth strives to help homeless children escape their situations, but currently lacks the funding to seriously address the problem.

“Unfortunately, funding for the program has remained flat, while the numbers of homeless children and youth have grown exponentially,” said Barbara Duffield, policy director of the organization.

With Christmas only a week away, a record number of students will have no home to go to and will be forced to fend for themselves until the US economy improves.

the House of Commons (Thursday) to pay tribute to the Ugandan Asians who settled in Britain 40 years ago. In a speech at the House of Commons Vara stated: “28,000 British passport holders came here frightened, homeless, penniless and with only the clothes that they wore on their backs.”

Vara added that the warmth showed to British Ugandans showed, “Britain at its very best.”

But it wasn’t all rosy. The town where I grew up, Leicester, received many refugees from Uganda, with resentment and a backlash which was to have profound effects on many people.

‘Paki-bashing’, as it was known then was committed by skin heads for the sole purpose of terrorizing Asian communities. In response, Asian youths formed the ‘Sapno gang’, -the dream

gang- whose raison d’être was to defend their communities.

As a young boy I witnessed firsthand the horror of seeing a Sikh man being beaten to an inch of his life because he was Asian.

But as Vara stated this was/is resilient community and resourceful. Many used their business acumen they had in virtually running Uganda and transferred those skills with little or no money to be successful entrepreneurs here in the UK. Many have flourished and in doing so helped transform our society, from doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, to changing our palates from the often soggy fish and chips to chicken tandoori.

In Uganda, although historians have condemned much of the dictatorial actions of President Idi Amin, today’s scholars now reflect more upon the colonial Asian-African divide and rule in which the relatively affluent and powerful Asians often despised and looked down on their African neighbours.

Closer to home however, in regards to the immigration and integration debate today it’s worth noting that if individuals who are given the chance to work and excel often fulfill their potential. It’s almost in the DNA of the migrant, the desire to succeed, often against the odds.

Uganda’s loss, Britain’s gain

Indians from Uganda under Idi Amin’s rule mark 40 years of their expulsion, and say thank you to Britain for taking them in It was in 1972 that President Idi Amin of Uganda launched a crackdown against 57,000 Ugandan Asians who held British passports, giving them 90 days to leave the country before being thrown into concentration camps.

Idi Amin, the former president of Uganda, had a dream in August 1972.

“I have dreamt,” he told a gathering in Karamoja, northeastern Uganda, “that unless I take action, our economy will be taken over. The people who are not Ugandans should leave.” The Asians had to make arrangements and hand over their business interests to their nominees. The arrangement among most Asian families was that one would be a Ugandan, another Indian, another British. So the non-Ugandans transferred their businesses to the Ugandans.

The British High Commission became a camp. Many of those with Indian passports wanted to go to the UK. The three months` deadline was fast approaching.

The then Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath’s government took the courageous decision to welcome 28,000 refugees to the UK.

Courageous decision’ We are british’: For the youth, Uganda is just another foreign country In spite of protests from some politicians that India should take responsibility for the refugees, then Prime Minister Edward Heath said Britain had a duty to accept them.

During a backbench debate in the Commons, Mr Vara, who was born in Uganda but whose family left in 1964, said: “Speaking as a whole for the community, there can be no doubt that this is a community that has punched above its weight in Britain.

“The Ugandan Asians who have settled here have in the past 40 years truly settled and they’ve truly integrated and become part of the fabric of our nation.”

And he praised Mr Heath’s “courageous

decision” that both morally and legally Britain had an obligation to take in the refugees.

He said: “This was a time when Britain was at its best.

MPs and peers pay tribute Ugandan Asians expelled from the East African country have “become part of the fabric of our nation,” Tory MP Shailesh Vara has said.

MPs and peers were paying tribute to the contribution of Ugandan Asians, 40 years after thousands were forced out by dictator Idi Amin. Mr Vara said the community had “punched above their weight in Britain”.

Lord Popat said Ugandan Asians had shown integration was the most important element of immigration.

MP for North West Cambridge shire, Shailesh Vara A Uganda-born, spoken in

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

7

NEWS

84 percent of world religiously affiliated: Pew The Global Religious Landscape

Christians make up the world’s largest religious group, numbering some 2.2 billion people, a Pew Research Center’s Forum survey has shown.

A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Major Religious Groups as of 2010

A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life finds that more than eight in 10 people worldwide identify themselves with a religious group.

The report estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84 percent of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion, the center’s press release said on Tuesday.

Based on analysis of more than 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers, the study finds 2.2 billion Christians (32 percent of the world’s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23 percent), 1 billion Hindus (15 percent), nearly 500 million Buddhists

(7 percent) and 14 million Jews (0.2 percent) around the world as of 2010. In addition, more than 400 million people (6 percent) practice various folk or traditional religions, including African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions.

An estimated 58 million people -- slightly less than 1 percent of the global population -- belong to other religions, including the Baha’i faith, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca and Zoroastrianism.

At the same time, the new study also finds that roughly one in six people around the globe (1.1 billion, or 16 percent) have no religious affiliation.

This makes the unaffiliated the third-largest religious group worldwide, behind Christians and Muslims, and about equal

in size to the world’s Catholic population. Surveys indicate that many of the unaffiliated hold some religious or spiritual beliefs, such as belief in God or a universal spirit, even though they do not identify with a particular faith.

of religious groups varies considerably. Several religious groups are heavily concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, including the vast majority of Hindus (99 percent), Buddhists (99 percent), adherents of folk or traditional religions

The report includes demographic profiles of eight religious groups and an estimate of the religious composition (breakdown by religion) of each country’s population as of 2010.

The geographic distribution

(90 percent) and members of other world religions (89 percent). Three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated (76 percent) also live in the massive and populous Asia-Pacific region. Indeed, the number of

religiously unaffiliated people in China alone (about 700 million) is more than twice the total population of the United States.

The Asia-Pacific region also is home to most of the world’s Muslims (62 percent). About 20 percent of Muslims live in the Middle East and North Africa, and nearly 16 percent reside in sub-Saharan Africa.

Of the major religious groups covered in this study, Christians are the most evenly dispersed.

Roughly equal numbers of Christians live in Europe (26 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (24 percent) and subSaharan Africa (24 percent). A plurality of Jews (44 percent) live in North America, while about four in 10 (41 percent) live in the Middle East and North Africa -- almost all of them in Israel.

Some religions have much younger populations on average than others. In part, the age differences reflect the geographic distribution of religious groups.

Those with a large share of adherents in fast-growing, developing countries tend to have younger populations. Those concentrated in China and in advanced industrial countries, where population growth is slower, tend to be older.

The median age of two major groups -- Muslims (23 years) and Hindus (26) -- is younger than the median age of the world’s overall population (28). All the other groups are older than the global median.

Christians have a median age of 30, followed by members of other religions (32), adherents of folk or traditional religions (33), the religiously unaffiliated (34) and Buddhists (34). Jews have the highest median age (36), more than a dozen years older than the youngest group, Muslims.

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the world’s people live in countries in which their religious group makes up a majority of the population. Only about a quarter (27 percent) of all people live as religious minorities.

NEWS

8

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

Number of Muslims grows steadily in Russia

According to Levada Center, the percentage of citizens practicing Islam has increased from four to seven percent. The number of those who do not ascribe themselves to any religion has grown too. Three years ago, there were eight percent of such people. Nowadays, the number has grown to ten percent.

The number of atheists has dropped by one per cent - there are five percent of them.

The survey also found that the percentage of Orthodox believers

who attend the church is 76 percent, which means that one in

four believers does not go there.

A third of respondents go to the

church to light a candle and pray.

Twenty-nine percent attended

christening, wedding or funeral ceremonies.

Nobody knows for sure how many Muslims there are in Moscow these days. According to the 2002 population census, Moscow is home to approximately 400,000 Muslims and up to eight million Christians. However, unofficial sources estimate far greater figures--up to 4.5 million Muslims.

This statistical inconsistency is so great because many of these Muslims are illegal migrants.

Most believers go to the church once a year or a little more often; 20 percent have never even been there. Interestingly, 61 percent of those who identify themselves as Christians have never held a Bible in their hands.

London, celebrated the birth of Guru Nanak Devji

The British Sikh Association, in conjunction with the World Sikh University and Khalsa College London, celebrated the birth of Guru Nanak Devji with a glittering show at the Crown Banqueting Hall, South Ruislip on Sunday 2nd December 2012. The Guest of Honour was Mr Sukhdev S. Sidhu, Minister Coordination at the High Commission of India, London and the Chief Guest was Mr Paul Uppal MP, Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West.

Dr. Rami Ranger MBE, Chairman of the British Sikh Association, welcomed the guests and said we are privileged to be Sikhs. We owe a debt of gratitude to our Gurus for paying supreme sacrifices in order to liberate us and whose thinking and ideology was ahead of its time. Their teachings are to make mankind progress through peaceful coexistence. He also paid tribute to Dr. Sukhbir S. Kapoor OBE, Vice Chancellor of the World Sikh University and Principal of the Khalsa College London, for showing

great vision when 27 years ago he set up the Khalsa College London to promote Indian Culture in Britain.

He told the audience that it was worth remembering that 27 years ago we were a struggling community and for someone to show his commitment and passion for our culture was very remarkable.

Dr. Sukhbir S. Kapoor OBE, Vice Chancellor of the World Sikh University and Principal of the Khalsa College London, spoke about the achievements of the University and College from its humble beginnings to now a proper campus with over 450 students. The institute is now recognised by government bodies and

is helping to shape a better future for many students including those from India. Students were then given their degrees and prizes for achievements.

The Guest of Honour, Mr Sukhdev S. Sidhu, Minister Co-ordination at the High Commission of India, London, praised the efforts of the University & College for promoting Indian values.

He said he was very happy to see progress of the Indian diaspora in every field and in particular education.

He further stressed the need to remain connected with our roots in India to benefit from the Indian values.

The Chief Guest, Mr Paul Uppal MP, Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West, said that Indian values must be preserved and promoted as they are the benchmark of our success. He said that he was proud to be a British Indian and encouraged students to become publically and politically spirited in the UK. He would like to see more British Indians in Parliament to strengthen democracy.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

NEWS

09

Palestinian school principal punished after scandalous dance with Israelis

PA education ministry unamused by Qalqilya school trip that ended with pupils dancing among bikini-clad women on Israeli shore

Abu Samra defends his position, saying he could not control pupils once they were on the beach Ramallah: Mohammad Abu Samra, the youngest known school principal in the history of Palestinian Territories, paid a huge price for dancing and allowing his pupils to dance with Israelis on the Jafa beach.

The 33-year-old Mohammad Abu Samra, principal of Al Salam Secondary School in the city of Qalqiliya, north of West Bank, was transferred after he organised a picnic for 45 pupils of grade 11 and 12 to the Jafa beach in Israel. The pupils are up in arms against the Ministry of Education’s decision to transfer the principal to a school more than 30km away from his home. “ Those Israelis and a child joined us on the dance floor and I could not object or ask them to leave. It was purely unintentional and that has affected my future” School principal Mohammad Abu Samra The students went on a strike and organised several processions within the premises of the Ministry of Education, demanding Abu Samra be reinstated. He said each student who went on the picnic had to provide a parental approval saying that they knew that their sons were heading to the beach that would have women visitors. “It is illogical and unfair for me to be punished,” he said.

Photos taken on the beach show some of the pupils with women in bikinis, which are considered a disgrace by the pupils’ families.

According to Abu Samra, the ministry, had sent a memo, encouraging schools to organise picnics to the 1948 areas.

The Israeli authorities also granted the students and their supervisors

visit permits, which usually expire at 7 pm.

Speaking to Gulf News, Abu Samra said the pupils were 17-20 years and it was difficult to control them on the beach. “It is true that in keeping with the regulations of the Ministry of Education the pupils were not allowed to swim, but how could I have controlled them once they were there?” he said.

Abu Samra said at sunset, as the Israeli permits were about to expire, he instructed his pupils to get ready to go back home. However, at the same time, a group of Israeli men and women preparing a dance floor with a DJ. “On our way to the bus, my pupils were attracted to the music and I could not say no to them,” he said.

“My pupils started dancing and I also joined them at the beginning to let them have fun,” he said, stressing that their dance had attracted some Israeli men and women to the beach.

“Those Israelis and a child joined us on the dance floor and I could not object or ask them to leave,” he said, adding that the dance lasted 10 to 20 minutes. “It was purely unintentional and that has affected my future,” he said.

“Volunteers shot a video and took a couple of still photos and forwarded them to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, with a complaint that the incident would imply that there was normalisation of ties with Israel and it exposed the young generation of Palestinians to Israel’s illicit code of conduct,” he said.

“I was thereafter given two choices: either be downgraded to the position of a teacher with a final warning or voluntarily seek transfer to a far-away school,” he said.

A pupil said the school supports the

principal and that they will fight until Abu Samra returns to the institution.

“Our principal did not commit any mistake. It was the Israelis who loved

the way we danced and they came forward and shared the dance floor with us,” the pupil said.

A senior official from the Ministry of

Education told Gulf News that Abu Samra should not have allowed his pupils to dance in the first place. The fact that some Israeli women shared the dance floor with the pupils further complicated the issue.

The official stressed that Abu Samra had committed several administrative mistakes during the outing. Although the picnic was licensed by the ministry, mixing with Israelis on the beach should not have been allowed, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“This issue has serious social and political ramifications and trips such as this should be planned and executed in a more conservative way,” the official added.

The city of Dubai is built on foundations that are steeped in history and tradition. From the evocative Dubai Museum to the spectacular Jumeirah Mosque, and from the breathtaking Bastakiya to the imperious Heritage Village.

There are many mysteries waiting to be unravelled. Explore Dubai at your pace and relive great traditions from day gone by.

DEFINITELYDUBAI.COM

NEWS

10

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

Calling Rehman Malik’s bluff, India says Pak never arrested Hafiz Saeed for 26/11 attacks Shinde makes statement in RS on Rehman Malik’s visit

Calling Pakistan’s bluff, India today said JuD chief Hafiz Saeed had never been arrested in connection with Mumbai terror attacks even though its Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed so. Sushil Kumar Shinde said that he made it

clear to Malik that Pakistan was yet to act against the 26/11 accused.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed may be the key conspirator of the Mumbai terror attacks, but Home Minister Sushil kumar Shinde referred to him in Parliament using

Nepal Peace Trust Fund gets $500‚000 from USAID

honorifics like ‘Mr’ and ‘Shri’.

Shinde, during the course of a statement on the visit of Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik, addressed Saeed as ‘Mr’ and ‘Shri’ twice each.

“Mr Rehman Malik, Interior

Minister of Pakistan has been telling us repeatedly that he had arrested Mr Hafiz Saeed thrice and that on each occasion, he was let off by the courts for lack of evidence,” Shinde said in an identical statement in both Houses of Parliament. “We

had been given to understand by the Interior Minister of Pakistan that Mr Hafiz Saeed had been arrested on the charges of being a part of the conspiracy for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. When we pursued this matter, they have given us papers pertaining to the detentions of Shri Hafiz Saeed in 2002 and 2009.

“From the papers given to us, it is clear that the detentions of Shri Hafiz Saeed in the aforesaid cases were for other reasons and not for his role as a conspirator in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Therefore, I can only say that Mr Rehman Malik appears to have been misinformed in the matter,” the Minister said.

Hashoo Foundation Receives Full Accreditation from

City & GuildsUK for its Hospitality Training Programme

The U.S. has agreed to provide USD 500,000 to the Nepal Peace Trust Fund (NPTF) to support conflictaffected communities, transitional justice, future elections, public infrastructure reconstruction, and other peace commitments.

U.S. Ambassador Peter W. Bodde signed a memorandum with the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) acknowledging a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contribution to the NPTF here in the Capital today.

“The U.S. Government’s partnership with the Government of Nepal in this effort further demonstrates our commitment to helping the people of Nepal realise the benefits of peace and the promise of prosperity,” Ambassador Bodde remarked at the ceremony.

He further stated: “We recognise the Ministry’s and the Peace

Fund Secretariat’s work to implement the commitments of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord through the Fund’s programming.”

According to the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, USAID will support the peace process as a contributor to the Fund and as a participant in the Technical Cooperation Pool for Capacity Development (TC Pool) during the current life of NPTF. As part of the TC Pool, USAID will also hire a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Advisor. The Advisor will serve to strengthen the ongoing work within the Ministry and Peace Fund Secretariat gender units and address gender and inclusion within NPTF programmes, the Embassy said in a statement.

USAID’s initial commitment is USD 550,000 to the TC Pool and USD 500,000 to the NPTF, for a total contribution to the MoPR of USD 1,050,000.

Earlier this month, leading international development agency Hashoo Foundation launched a series of new hospitality training programmes that have been fully

running vocational skills training programmes including hospitality management since 1988.

The Foundation has so far been instrumental in training more than

congratulated the Board of Trustees, Commenting on the partnership and collaboration he said: “This is an important milestone for Hashoo Foundation.

I am confident that with this internationally recognised accreditation the trainees will be able to access better and greater opportunities and pursue more productive careers both in Pakistan and overseas and thus better serve their families and Pakistan.”

Mr.MufthyHashim, Regional Manager for City & Guilds -

accredited by City & Guilds in the UK. The ceremony,held on 3rd December 2012, at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Rawalpindi .

The Hashoo Foundation has been

33,000 individuals, who otherwise would not have been able to access or afford any formal education, in hospitality management skills.

Mr. Ali Akbar, Country Director Hashoo Foundation, Pakistan

South Asia, shared the fact that in Pakistan, Skills International is working as the authorised representative of City and Guilds (UK).

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

NEWS

11

Egypt:Voting for division In the face of widespread opposition and in the absence of full judicial supervision the referendum on Egypt’s constitution will go ahead as planned

Muslim Brotherhood claims surprise announcement it was suspending victory, opposition disagrees the gathering that would have included Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood says today’s popular vote on a new constitution has returned a 56.5% ‘yes’ to the proposed draft. The main opposition party, the National Salvation Front, disagrees, citing ‘thousands of irregularities’ in the voting process.

The referendum on Egypt’s constitution offers ominous signs to what may happen, regardless of the result of the vote. Massive protests from opposers and supporters of

the National Salvation Front represented

by Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed AlBaradei, former foreign minister Moussa and ex-presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. Representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood were also to have attended.

The NSF boycotted talks last week convened by the president.

According to Al Arabiya, it has already announced plans to seek a re-run of the first referendum stage.

The closing second stage is to be held

Egyptian revolution began and triumphed and President Mubarak’s regime fell.

The other 17 provinces are located in rural areas with conservative and religious population. Most of those people are tired of the endless revolutionary riots in the ‘two capitals’. The people of those provinces do not consider the Muslim Brotherhood objectionable. On the contrary, in rural areas people believe that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood will finally put the country in order.

The referendum results demonstrate the alignment of forces in the country,

support base. On the whole, it is clear that over 50% of Egyptians have a positive attitude to the forces that came to power as a result of the latest parliamentary and presidential elections.”

Mubarak-era accusations, repeated by the military who took control after Mubarak was ousted, that “hidden hands” are behind the opposition to the president.

Whether such claims can improve the Brotherhood’s image after anti-Morsi protesters in front of the presidential palace were brutally attacked by an

is just a puppet in their hands. Like Mubarak, they will continue promoting unsubstantiated conspiracy theories until they silence, or detain, all opposition forces.”

Gad believes that the Muslim Brotherhood has become increasingly belligerent because of Washington’s backing of Morsi.

“They believe that Obama stands with Morsi and this gives them licence to remain in power whatever the cost,” says Gad. He believes the crisis will not abate

President Mohamed Morsi’s are filling the nation’s streets and not promising to end their demonstrations even after the referendum, while contradictory decisions from the presidency and government are adding more salt to injury and more confusion in the heads of the Egyptians.

The referendum on the controversial draft constitution will now take place on two separate dates. The electoral commission announced that the vote, initially set for 15 December, will also be held on 22 December because many judges have refused to supervise the vote.

Moreover, a decision by the military yesterday to suspend talks on national unity that it had requested to hold further added to the tension.

The unexpected twist came on Tuesday when the defence minister invited the opposition, along with judges, saying he was doing so in his personal — not official — capacity.

Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, who is also head of the Armed Forces, had said the talks would not be political in character. “We will sit together as Egyptians,” he said. “We are not concerned with politics. We want to reassure the people that we can sit together,” added Major General Mohamed Al-Assar, AlSisi’s deputy.

However, yesterday, the army said in a

next Saturday. First official ballot counts should emerge the following Sunday.

The official results will be published only after the second round of voting but even today information agencies confirm that between 54 and 56% of Egyptians voted for the new Constitution. It is not 90% announced by the Muslim Brotherhood on the day of voting but still enough to win.

Analyst of the Russian Institute of World Economics and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Nadein-Rayevsky explains the dangers of the Constitution offered by the Islamists.

“It will certainly mean a sterner internal regime. It will also mean losses in the field of human rights for non-Muslim communities, both national and religious.

This is unlikely to do a good service to the Egyptian economy. Any tough measures will result in orthodox Muslim’s pressure on the tourist market, and tourism is one of the main income items in the Egyptian budget.”

The victory in the first round automatically guarantees the adoption of the new Constitution offered by Morsi’s Islamist supporters. The first round of the referendum was held in ten Egyptian provinces including the two largest cities of the country, Cairo and Alexandria.

Both of them are strongholds of the liberal opposition due to which last year’s

the head of the St. Petersburg Centre for Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies Gumer Isayev says.

“The opposition is accusing the organisers of the referendum of ballot rigging and other violations but we should admit that the preliminary results that have been published roughly coincide with Morsi’s

armed militia remains to be seen.

“They captured, tortured and even killed protesters in the early hours of 5 December,” says Al-Ahram political analyst Emad Gad. “The statements Brotherhood officials are now making makes it clear that they see themselves as the ones who are really in charge. Morsi

following the referendum.

“Even if the constitution is passed tensions in Egypt will remain. This is about a man who does not want to be a president for all Egyptians but rather serve as the front for a secretive and autocratic group that is far worse than the Mubarak regime.”

Metro rail project gets ECNEC nod

The government on Tuesday approved the overland metro rail service project - Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 involving Tk 219.85 billion to ease the city’s cluttered traffic.

The approval was given at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC)

Member of the Planning Commission Abdul Mannan Hawlader said that the much-talked-about Dhaka Metro project would be implemented with the financial assistance from the Japanese government.

Of the total cost, the Japan International Cooperation Agency

with the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

She is the ECNEC’s Chairperson.

Briefing reporters after the meeting,

(JICA) will provide Tk 165.95 billion while the Bangladesh Government will take care of the remaining funds.

The Japanese had funded the Kolkata

Metro Rail project in the 1990s.

The 20-kilometer Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 will begin from Uttara Third Phase and pass through Pallabi, the west side of Rokeya Square and Farmgate, Hotel Sonargaon, Ruposhi Bangla, TSC of Dhaka University, Doel Intersection, Topkhana Road and Bangladesh Bank.

Later, the route will be extended up to Saidabad from Bangladesh Bank point through Atish Dipankar Road.

Hawlader said that the present design of the metro rail would not cause affect the parliament complex when the project is implemented.

“The Roads and Highways Division has its own land beside the Parliament Complex. The metro rail service will pass through its area. But this will not affect the main design of the Parliament that was done by Louis Kahn,” he said.

NEWS

12

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

Brutality allegations against Maldives police raise concerns over links with UK: Guardian Dozens of senior Maldives police officers have been trained by the Scottish Police College

Senior members of Maldives police service (MPS) that has been accused of persistent brutality and mass arrests against opposition politicians were trained in the UK, the Guardian revealed.

of Human Rights and two official commissions in the Maldives, include sexual assaults against women detainees, torture, hospitalisation of protesters and indiscriminate use of pepper spray against demonstrators by police.

The Maldives police service (MPS) has been accused of using torture and sexual assaults against detainees and acting against democracy activists and journalists after the Maldives’ first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, was deposed in an alleged coup in February.

The Guardian has established that at least 77 senior Maldives police officers and commanders – including the current commissioner, Abdulla Riyaz – have been trained by the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan, in Fife, earning the college hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Opposition activists, Amnesty International and former senior Maldives officials said they had deep concerns about the UK’s links with the MPS after scores of officers were accused of numerous breaches of human rights after the coup in February.

The Scottish Police College has an ongoing, open-ended contract to train the MPS on a diploma course for junior ranks but also to train middle and senior rank officers. It is expected to take a new batch next year.

Some critics believe all training should be suspended until tough action is take to protect civil rights in the Indian Ocean country, known worldwide for its luxury tourism resorts.

The allegations, documented by fact-finding missions by the UN committee on human rights, Amnesty, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the International Federation

The Scottish Police College has run specially tailored “police management” diplomas and other short training courses for the MPS since signing a contract with the force in January 2007, during the dictatorship of former president

suspended or prosecuted, one former MPS commander told the Guardian. The MPS denied this, claiming 220 misconduct cases had been investigated, with 39 officers expelled from the force and six others demoted, and criminal proceedings started against 14 officers.

Alarmed by evidence that these abuses have sharply escalated since the alleged coup in February, international condemnation has intensified. The UK government too faces increased pressure to explain its dealings with the Maldives regime.

using excessive force against MPs remain unpunished and that parliamentarians continue to be subjected to political and physical intimidation in the country”.

There is no suggestion that British police or retired officers have been involved in training the MPS in riot control or interrogation techniques, or are advising the MPS on public order policing.

Mamoun Abdul Gayoom.

Part of the main diploma course – taken by 67 Maldives officers – included tuition in human rights and policing.

This contract is open-ended: other courses are expected next year and the MPS is preparing to send one star recruit on his own “leadership development” scholarship to Tulliallan after he won an excellence award in early November.

Senior sources in the Maldives, who have asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, allege that some MPS officers trained at Tulliallan have been implicated in the violence, with a number of incidents caught on video.

None of the MPS officers and commanders involved in the violence and abuses have been

Following the Guardian investigation, politicians at Holyrood and Westminster are to press government ministers in both the Scottish and UK governments, including the Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, and the UK foreign secretary, William Hague, to explain the police college’s role with relation to the Maldives.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union, an affiliate of the UN set up in 1889 to promote democracy, said it had firsthand evidence of human rights abuses against 19 opposition MPS including allegations of excessive violence, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and politically motivated criminal charges.

In late November, it registered its “deep concern that police officers

However, Farah Faizal, the former Maldives high commissioner to the UK, who resigned immediately after Nasheed was forced to stand down in February, said the close links between British police and the MPS had to be urgently reviewed.

“What I can categorically say is that [the training] doesn’t appear to be working,” she said. “If you see the brutality which is going on in Maldives and the impunity with what’s happening, if these people are being trained by the Scottish police, it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money. It’s unacceptable.”

The Foreign Office defended the UK’s record in the Maldives but admitted it was very concerned by the surge in violence since the political crisis in February. It has been pressuring the current

2009: A total of 24 police took part in the course conducted by the Scottish Police and Maldives Police Service and altogether 12 police officers successfully graduated from the course.

president, Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik, a close ally of Gayoom, to take decisive action.

“We have serious concerns about allegations of police brutality in Maldives, especially in February 2012,” an Foreign Office spokeswoman told the Guardian.

“We have privately and publicly urged the Maldivian government to fully investigate all allegations and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice. We have also called on all parties to ensure institutional reforms are put in place to consolidate democracy and further protect human rights in Maldives.”

David Hardingham, director of the UK-based pro-democracy pressure group Friends of the Maldives, which is backed by celebrities such as Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin group sells holidays in the Maldives’ luxurious beachside resorts, said British training contracts should be immediately suspended.

“Policing in the Maldives has a bloody and brutal record,” Hardingham said. “Until this culture of brutality ends and a firm date is set for free and fair elections we urge the Scottish Police College to sever all ties with the Maldives police service.”

Abbas Faiz, the South Asia researcher for Amnesty International and author of its report, The Other Side of Paradise, said the UK police had to insist on proper enforcement of human rights within the MPS as a condition of their training contracts.

“So far, these violations have not stopped,” he said. “It is difficult to see how the training the Maldives police have received has helped.

Continued on page 13 >>

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

NEWS

13

The Sky’s The Limit for DVK Group Founder, Deepak Kuntawala, Who is Awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year at Asian Who’s Who Awards 2012

Mr. Deepak Kuntawala, the visionary Founder of DVK Group, a global commodity trading and finance boutique company, was honoured with the Asian Leadership Young Entrepreneur accolade at the esteemed Asian Who’s Who Awards 2012, which took place this week at The Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane London.

Now in its Silver Jubilee 25th year, the high profile event pays homage to the most influential Asians internationally, who have made a phenomenal contribution to their respective fields and continue to set a shining example to their peers among the global Asian fraternity and beyond. The prestigious Asian Who’s Who Awards were presented to coincide with the launch of the annual publication of the Asian Who’s Who International, featuring the world’s most inspiring and respected Asian personalities across a host of fields and professions. With the first edition published in 1975, the now annual directory features the biggest and brightest Asian talents and charts the ascent of the community as it continues to provide shining role models to new generations of Asians who are proving themselves to be assets to their country of residence.

The award winners were selected by an independent panel of eminent advisors, including previous award winners such as Founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer Lord Karan Bilimoria; Lord Raj Loomba CBE; and Mr G.S. Gujral CBE. Deepak Kuntawala was recognised for his gifted sense of entrepreneurship and for creating a dynamic, high growth boutique finance and commodity trading organisation.

The DVK Group, which has developed a strong and stable footprint in strategic geographic and international regions and within key emerging markets, is set to cement its global expansion plans further by opening its new headquarter office in the iconic landmark of The Gherkin in London.

In speaking about his award, Deepak set the scene by referencing Mahatama Gandhi’s iconic quote, which sums up the life cycle of Continued from page 12 >> The onus is on the Scottish police and the UK authorities to show how their training does not contribute to the pattern of human rights violations that we are witnessing.”

The MPS told the Guardian it took its obligations very seriously, and was implementing the reforms recommended by British advisers, as well as consultants from Canada and Australia. It had an internal professional standards command starting a new project to increase “public confidence in police through increased service quality, transparency and accountability”.

An MPS spokesman, Superintendent Abdul Mannan, said: “On one hand calling for MPS to be more efficient in dealing with officers’

an entrepreneur: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

He added: “I am delighted and honoured to be recognised with this award for my achievements, by the community that has been so inspirational to me. It’s been a journey and I have loved every minute of overcoming the constant challenges throughout. I am very excited about the future and see this award as being the start of a thrilling adventure ahead - more learning, developing, achieving, enjoying...

“The Taj Mahal was conceptually designed by one architect, but it took thousands of people to build it, and so this award is similar, as it belongs to all our stakeholders, investors, team, my family and all that influenced me throughout my life to arrive at this point.

“The Asian Who’s Who Awards is a shining beacon of recognition for the enterprising, innovative and successful Asian community across the world.

“The Asian community in the UK and internationally has been noted for its strong value system, hard work ethos, dedication to perfection and charitable spirit. I am immensely proud to be a part of this wonderful community.”

Deepak was presented with his award in the presence of a host of Lords, MPs, dignitaries, industry leaders, celebrities and VIPs, and was handed the accolade by his mentor and role model Lord Bilimoria, the Founder and CEO of Cobra Beer. Deepak spoke of how thrilled he was to receive the award from Lord Bilimoria, as both had attended the Cranfield Business Growth Program, and that it was Lord Bilimoria who had inspired Deepak to join the program.

“When asked what I wanted DVK to aspire to, I always referred to Cobra Beer and Lord Bilimoria as a great benchmark. I never imagined that five and a half years later, I would be presented an award by such a person who I have great admiration for.” Deepak also highly commended Mr JS Sachar, the Founder of the Asian Who’s Who Awards.

Since 2001, Deepak has overseen substantial increases across private equity, wealth management, structured trade and commodity finance, trading, capital markets, infrastructure, real estate, mining, aviation investment and fund management sectors.

He comes from a strong entrepreneurial background with business skills inherited from his family, including his grandfather, father and uncles. His family has international trading and real estate business interests going back more than 110 years.

Embarking on a successful financial career,

Brutality allegations against Maldives police raise concerns over links with UK: Guardian

misconduct and violation of human rights, and on the other calling to suspend all the assistance MPS receives to achieve this, contradicts their [critics] known intention and their actions.”

The college and Foreign Office have said these training courses were helping to improve policing in the Maldives, by increasing their professional standards and accountability. It said the UK was also supporting other work by the UN “to strengthen police disciplinary mechanisms in line with international standards to improve human rights”.

The Foreign Office confirmed that the UK high

commission in Sri Lanka had partly funded the Scottish Police College’s training programmes for the Maldives for the first time last year.

Which, it said “we are satisfied improved MPS officers’ capacity to investigate and prevent serious crime”.

“We judge that the work we are supporting [will] have a positive impact on police performance, in the interests of the Maldivian people,” an Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

“Our assessment is that engagement in the right areas will be more beneficial than none at all.”

A police college spokeswoman said it had

Deepak held posts at such prestigious institutions as Legal and General, Lombard Business Finance, Credit Suisse, First Boston and UBS. But deciding that he’d like to develop and enhance his natural entrepreneurial flair, Deepak left his banking career and joined the family business of Kaysons Trading. After gaining a sound grounding in business trading and practices from his experienced family, he left the family business in 2001 to set up a small warehouse room in Croydon.

Deepak’s amazing ascent from aspiring entrepreneur to a visionary business mogul has been quite remarkable. Starting off with just £700 on his credit card, Deepak used the money to buy his ticket to Hong Kong to attend the commodities fair. He describes this time as a ‘dream come true’. A thrifty businessman from an early age, Deepak existed on just £400 whilst in Hong Kong. He says: “Morning to night, I walked the commodity fair from 8am to 1am in the morning. I tried searching for a product to market within the giftware industry. I walked perhaps, 12-13 miles a day through each hall, each lane of the trade shows.

“On the last day, I finally found a photo frame on the last isle at 12.40am! It was a curved glass photo frame, which I purchased as a sample and presented it to Colorama Photographic (then the leading photographic retailer in London).” Deepak credits Colorama for giving him his first break in giftware trading. “I purchased the frame for 12 USD cents and marked it up for wholesale for 1.45 pence – that’s how I kick-started my giftware business”, he explains.

Under his able leadership, he has taken the DVK Group to new heights by enhancing its portfolio of business interests. The Group now has a presence in the following countries and cities, Johannesburg, China, Hong Kong, UAE, Switzerland, Moscow, Nairobi, Ghana, Malawi, Madrid, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. DVK plans to expand and adopt a global thinking ethos, to lead by innovation and to provide creative finance solutions to corporate clients. no influence over the MPS after its officers’ training courses had finished: that was the responsibility of British diplomats. But she said college staff had been impressed by the “hard work and endeavour” of MPS officers, who achieved high pass rates.

John Geates, the interim chief executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority, which runs the college, said: “We believe that sharing our wealth of experience and expertise is a positive way of contributing to the development and delivery of fair and effective policing across the world.

“We are passionate about showing other police forces how to deliver community policing by consent which, by its nature, means the college does not work with western democracies where that culture and ethos already exists.”

NEWS

14

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

Will the world ends on Friday?

Signs of the Last Day and the End of History : Shiekh Imran Hosein Let us begin by explaining that Islam conceives of the ‘end of history’ and the ‘end of the world’ as two quite different things.

The ‘end of the world’ would occur with the earth, and skies above, transformed into something spatially and temporally different. Mankind would then be resurrected into the new world to face judgement.

It is with that philosophy of history that we now attempt to explain Islam’s view of the end of history and to locate the place of the ‘Signs of the Last Day’ in the scheme of things. Let us begin by explaining that Islam conceives of the ‘end of history’ and the ‘end of the world’ as two quite different things.

The ‘end of the world’ would occur with the earth, and skies above, transformed into something spatially and temporally different. Mankind would then be resurrected into the new world to face judgement.

However, the ‘end of history’ would occur sometime prior to the ‘end of the world’, and when it occurs it would close the door of free choice through which human beings could accept the divinely revealed truth and be rewarded for such choice. Islam has provided a substantial body of information known as ‘Signs of the Last Day’ concerning events that would culminate with the ‘end of history’. Only Allah Most High, of course, has knowledge of when the world itself would end.

The Qur’an itself has revealed that the supreme sign of the end of history would be the return of the true Messiah, Jesus, the son of the virgin Mary. And Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah Most High be upon him) went on to inform that the Messiah’s return would herald the final triumph of truth over falsehood, and of justice over oppression and tyranny. The European war on Islam which commenced with

the barbaric European crusades, and which witnessed its present foolhardy phase in the brutal and bloody western occupation and oppression of Afghanistan and Iraq, would then end with the divinely ordained destruction of the oppressor. An essentially godless and decadent western

upon him) has prophesied ‘Sign of the Last Age’. Here are his words: “And there will be raised with him (i.e., with Dajjal the false Messiah or Anti-Christ) Satans who would assume the form of those who are dead, and would then speak to those who are alive

Islam has provided a substantial body of information known as ‘Signs of the Last Day’ concerning events that would culminate with the ‘end of history’. civilization would self-destruct through disease. An unstoppable Muslim army that would emerge from Khorasan (i.e., modern-day Afghanistan and neighbouring territories), would eventually sweep away every obstacle in its path as it liberates all occupied territories all the way to Jerusalem. Thus history would end with victory for Islam.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be

(i.e., to close relatives of a dead person) “Don’t you recognize me? I am your father; or I am your brother; or some other close relative.”

(Kanz al-Ummal) The Satans who would be raised with Dajjal would be Jinn (i.e., invisible beings who were created from smokeless fire) who are Kuffar (disbelievers). It would be these Jinn who would assume

human form and would appear before someone in the form of his dead father and would then speak in the voice of his father and would claim, “I am your father. Don’t you recognize me son?”

Cloning appear to me the first step of the road that would lead to that momentous event.

After the cloning of sheep, human cloning would become a natural development. When that happens, in another twentyfive years or so, a preserveed cell of a long-dead father would be used to create his clone, and a Jinn would then speak through that clone in the voice and with the memory of the real father.

Then perhaps this prophecy of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would also be fulfilled. Hindus would certainly respond to such an event by enthusiastically embracing it as a validation of Hinduism’s claim to truth. But Muslims with knowledge would be able the recognize the fraud. Here is a prophecy that is very clearly presented in symbolic language that must be interpreted. But the Hadith also directs our attention to al-Ihsan, or the spiritual quest, as part of the prerequisites required for responding to the ‘Signs of the Last Day’. “The slavegirl giving birth to her mistress” is a startling prophecy that can be interpreted only when one understands and penetrates the prophecies concerning Dajjal and Riba on the one hand, and Dajjal and the feminist revolution on the other.

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet said: “The Last Hour (i.e., the Last Day) would not come before (religious) knowledge is taken away, earthquakes would be very frequent, time would pass quickly, afflictions would appear, murders would increase and money would overflow amongst you.”

(Sahih Bukhari)

ISLAM’S VIEW OF THE MOVEMENT AND END OF HISTORY

Let us now turn to the Islamic view of the subject in which the movement of history is determined by the movement of truth in history. Allah Most High is al-Haq (i.e.,Truth): “That is because He, Allah, is the Truth . . . . .” (Qur’an, al-Hajj, 22:62) Not only is He, Most High, Truth,

but Truth also comes from Him in the form of the revealed Word: “And say, The Truth is from your Lord . . . . “ (Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:29) The Qur’an also describes everything in the world around us to be pregnant with Truth: “Do they not reflect within themselves? Not but with Truth and for a term appointed, did Allah create the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them . . . .” (Qur’an, Rum, 30:8) he text of the English translation of the following Ahadith is sometimes punctuated with our brief comments enclosed in brackets.In addition, we have sometimes offered a brief commentary of a Hadith: Abu Hurairah narrated that Allah’s Apostle said: “The Last Hour would not come unless (and until) the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them (i.e. so defeat them that) the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the Gharqad tree would not say that, for it is the tree of the Jews.”

(Sahih Muslim) This prophecy of the Last Day very clearly rules out the possibility of any peaceful resolution of the conflict between Jews and Muslims over Jewish oppression in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the world.

This indicates that the European Jews and the Euro-Zionist Movement who created the State of Israel, would eventually relinquish power and control over Israel and seduce the real Jews, i.e., the oriental Jews, to replace them. It is significant that an Iranian Jew is now President of Israel.

Jabir ibn Samurah narrated: I heard Allah’s Apostle say: “Before the Last Hour there would be many (great) liars.”

There is an addition in the Hadith transmitted on the authority of Abul Ahwas of these words: “I said to him: Did you hear it from Allah’s Apostle? He said: Yes.” (Sahih Muslim) Those great lies are already coming out of the Washington, London and Tel Aviv/Jerusalem.

In addition, the world is subjected to a constant barrage of lies and misinformation that permeates the western-dominated international news media.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

NEWS

15

Predicting the end of the world -But FAILED five years, and first called for the end of the world to strike on Sept. 30, 2008, then on May 27, 2012, and then revised it all to say that the beginning of the end was in May of this year and the final day will be May 19, 2013.

This Friday is the end of the world – if the rogue planet Nibiru hits us or a solar flare engulfs us or something really big – because the ancient Mayan calendar ends at the winter solstice in 2012 … and that means we’re cooked.

NASA says that’s crap. Anywho … until then, we thought we’d wile away our remaining time putting together a gallery of notable end-of-the-world fails. It’s in more or less chronological order starting with the most recent.

Also, a H/T to Wikipedia.

Here’s a detail of the troublemaker. The photo shows a replica of the Sixth Monument, which mentions the 13th Baktun, the end of a major 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. And for many the end of the Mayan calendar means the end of the world.

Jose De Jesus Miranda attempted to edge out the Mayans by declaring an earthquake would strike the planet and wipe out humanity on June 30.

Miranda is a U.S.-based religious leader notable for many things, such as calling himself both Jesus Christ and the AntiChrist and his followers getting “666” tattooed on their bodies. Judging by his YouTube channel, Miranda went back to business as usual when the world remained intact. (Photo: Children line up with Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda 2nd left.

Ronald Weinland, who says on his blog that he has been a minister in the Church of God for more than twenty-

We almost feel sorry for him: Harold Camping is one of the prolific forecasters of doom in America. He predicted the end would come in 1994, 1995, May 2011 and Oct. 2011, with the rapture and earthquakes being the modes of choice. Nevertheless, the California preacher has been honest about his failure to such a degree that the Huffington Post reported in March of this year that Camping was getting out of the prediction business. The 90-year-old said he was asking for forgiveness for his sin in predicting Judgment Day, and has stopped trying to pinpoint future dates. “We realize that many people are hoping they will know the date of Christ’s return,” Camping wrote. “We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing.”

In 2007, either all of us or just some really big portion of us were supposed to go up in nuclear flames, according to Pat Robertson, who’s made a career out of predictions give him by God … though apparently those messages are pretty vague. In 1976, Robertson predicted that the world would come to an end in 1982, the Village Voice wrote. “I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world,” he said during a broadcast of The 700 Club, a show he hosts on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

The Nibiru collision was supposed to happen in May 2003, according to Nancy Lieder. Reportedly, aliens

in the Zeta Reticuli star system told her “through messages via a brain implant” of the collision. The website Space.com writes: “After a collisionfree year, the date was moved back to 2012, where it was linked to the close of the Mayan long-count period.” This was an obvious date-grab for her, so we’re keeping her down here in the early 2000s. (Photo shows V838 Mon, a star with an expanding light echo, purported as photographic evidence of Nibiru. NASA) / SL.

the end of the world after it didn’t happen, according to his author bio on Goodreads. “In 1974, Gribbin published, along with Stephen Plagemann, a book titled The Jupiter Effect, that predicted that the alignment of the planets in quadrant on one side of the Sun on March 10, 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs.”

his finger has brought his followers into this Dallas suburb to await God’s appearance in a flying saucer,” CNN reported just before the predicted doom in 1998. Apparently, he tried again for December 1999. We know how that turned out. (Photo: Members of God’s Salvation Church, speaks to one of the group’s interpreters in Garland, Texas after the failed prediction.

Called an “ interesting prediction” by the London paper The Independent, a columnist for The Nation of Islam, Tynetta Muhammad, that the world would end in 2001. Apparently, the United Kingdom paper found her prediction interesting because it was based on a lot of math … or numerology.

You can find several videos of her on “ YouTube.

The granddaddy of all days until this Friday has been Jan. 1 2000. You remember the hysteria … the world’s computers would crash and all hell would break loose. Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins, Jerry Falwell are probably three of the best known figures predicting Y2K meltdown. Falwell saw more than a technological glitch in the year 2000 computer problem. “Y2K may be God’s instrument to shake this nation, to humble this nation,” Falwell, the Lynchburg, Va.-based preacher proclaimed, according to the Washington Post. Predicting “a possibility of catastrophe,” he suggests that Y2K could “start a revival that spreads (over) the face of the Earth before the Rapture of the Church.”

(Photo: Tim LaHaye (L) and Jerry B. Jenkins.

Now for Hon-Ming Chen, leader of the Taiwanese cult God’s Salvation Church. We can’t put it better than this: “A Taiwanese cult leader who claims he fathered Jesus 2,000 years ago and now talks to God through a ring on

Channeling a variety of dead sources, Elizabeth Clare Prophet said nuclear Armageddon would commence on April 23, 1990. The New York Times wrote this about her cult and prediction in 2009, the year she died.

“In the late 1980s, Mrs. Prophet issued warnings of an impending nuclear strike by the Soviet Union against the United States. More than 2,000 of her followers left their homes and gathered at the church’s compound near Corwin Springs, Mont., near the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park. There they began stockpiling weapons, food and clothing in underground bomb shelters. … when the predicted attack did not occur, and church members began returning home.” (Photo: Elizabeth Clare Prophet in front of the chapel at the summit of Croagh Patrick, Ireland, 1980.

“Too Clever by half” is what John Gribbin said of his prediction of

Many doomsday predictions end in horrific deaths (think Jim Jones), and few captured the world’s attention more than the ordered killed by Charles Manson. About.com wraps it up: “Manson believed (the) song ‘Helter Skelter’ predicted an upcoming race war. ‘Helter skelter,’ Manson believed, was going to occur in the summer of 1969 when blacks were going to rise up and slaughter all the white people. He told his followers that they would be saved because they would go underground, literally, by traveling to an underground city of gold located in Death Valley. However, when the Armageddon that Manson had predicted did not occur, he said he and his followers must show the blacks how to do it.”

American actress Sharon Tate (1943 - 1969), second wife of film director Roman Polanski, in London. She was murdered by followers of Charles Manson the notorious serial killer.

16

17

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

Call of Duty – 2012 the End of the World South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

US & China School attacks: Debate Renewed over the Culture of Violent Entertainment lot of people do, and don’t even think about it.

The Labour backbencher Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, called for new powers to control the video games industry, and especially huge sellers like Call of Duty.

An Early Day Motion sponsored by Mr Vaz called said the government should ‘provide for closer scrutiny of aggressive first-person shooter video games’.

The massacre - one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history shocked Americans, in total, 28 people died in the incident. On the other hand in China the suspect in a knife rampage that left 23 students and an elderly woman wounded on Friday was influenced by rumors that the world was about to end, a local government report said. Min Yongjun, the attacker told police he attacked the children after hearing rumors about the end of The world, said a report the county government released on its website on Monday. The report also said Min has epilepsy. In China School atack none of the 22 children were killed. “The huge difference between this case and the U.S. is not the suspect, nor the situation, but the simple fact he did not have an effective weapon,” said Dr. Ding Xueliang, a Harvard-educated sociologist at the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong.

As the world shares in the horror of the attack that left at least 28 dead, including 20 school children, the attack has rekindled the gun-control debate in the U.S. and international wonder at the propensity of gun-related deaths in America.

Connecticut school massacre: Adam Lanza ‘spent hours playing Call Of Duty’ When Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has taken the top spot for a fifth week on the trot, equalling Lego Batman 2’s 2012 top-spot tally. UK tabloids The Sun and The Daily Express have blamed video games for the tragic US school massacre. This Tuesday’s The Sun features the front page story ‘Killer’s Call of Duty Obsession’, linking last week’s tragic events in Connecticut, USA to gaming.

According to the paper, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who murdered more than 20 children and adults, was a Call of Duty player. It also carries a column by

child psychologist Teresa Bliss, in which she claims games “can lead children to become more immune to violence and death.”

Similar alleged links between the school tragedy and gaming can be found in American publications, as well as UK papers The Express and The Independent.

Elementary school massacre: 27 killed, including 20 kids, at Connecticut school

The 12 little girls and eight little boys killed in Friday’s massacre .

Lanza was found dead of a self-inflicted wound from a gun owned by his 52year-old mother Nancy. He had four weapons and “hundreds of bullets.”

Anyone who is not questioning this themselves might be living in a video game fog. 15 years ago one would have said absolutely not but the last 5 years seem to point to a definite yes. These most violent crimes seem to be more and more committed by high level game enthusiasts and although the correlation surely will be hard to conclude the topic must come to the fore front.

A ‘leading psychologist’ has claimed that video games are addictive and cause depression. Steve Pope wrote in Saturday’s newspaper that Modern

as easy as pie to pull that trigger. But, some kids get immersed in the violence, which may contribute to a cold-hearted

abuse of drugs and alcohol • criminal behavior, disrespect for authority and the law • sexual exploitation and

Adam Lanza Destroyed His Hard Drive Before Attack “The kid knew what he was doing,” the source said. “This was a planned event. There is no question about it.”

FBI source.

According to the Hartford Courant, Lanza had used the computer to play a violent video game in which life-like characters participate in bloody battle scenes. At this point, there’s no telling what else he did with it.

Eight boys and 12 girls—all between the ages of 6 and 7—and six adult school employees, including the principal,

were killed. Most of them were shot multiple times, some of them at close range as they sat in their classrooms.

Warfare was “highly addictive” and that games were “one reason we are becoming more violent” as a society.

Statistics show that after only 10 minutes of playing a violent video game your mind becomes desensitized to the fact that you are killing someone.

Although it seems like nothing when you are playing these games, some kids play them so often that it is the only thing that they think about. Even if it is just a character in a game it become

view of other people. It may make them prone to aggressive thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Clearly, too much time on any video game entertainment takes away from time spent on school work, causing their smartness to drop.

Another fact that violent video games

are bad is the contents. While some games have educational content, many of the most popular games emphasize negative themes and promote: • the killing of people or animals • the use and

violence toward women • racial, sexual, and gender stereotypes • foul language, obscenities, and obscene gestures The Death Machine is an obtainable minigun in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, that

is obtained from Care Packages in Multiplayer and as a Power-Up in the Nazi Zombie maps “Five”, Ascension, Dead Ops Arcade, Call of the Dead, and Moon in the former and as a scorestreak

in the latter. It is also available in the campaign mission “Vorkuta”. It is also featured as a random weapon in the

Wager Match game mode, Sharpshooter.

The Death Machine has very low recoil and very high damage (two shot kill anywhere, one with head-shots). It has a very high fire rate, and does not need to reload. It can be effectively fired full-auto at long ranges with surprising accuracy. These characteristics make the Death Machine ideal for pre-firing and long distance combat.

Violence causes children to be more violent in reality than in the games that they are playing. ‘Grand Theft Auto’ is a great example of a game that causes kids to be violent. But all of this is coming from a kid themselves.

The United States has, by far, the

highest rate of gun ownership in the world, with 88.8 guns per 100 people, followed by Serbia (58.2), Yemen (54.8) and Finland/Switzerland (45.7 each), according to GunPolicy.org, an international database at the University

of Sydney.

While nations such as South Africa, El Salvador and Thailand have much higher rates of gun homicides per year,

escape strategy “for training purposes.”

Breivik used video games for simulating killings, but he was mentally unstable before he played video games.

(One-Eye..., Numerology, etc etc).

Also if you play the zombie level after the campaign there is a illuminati television in the third floor it flashes a

Keith Vaz urges tighter controls on violent video games Labour MP who has criticised games in the past says more robust precautions

the United States rate of 3.12 deaths per 100,000 people is the highest among industrialized nations.

Call of duty Black Ops Subliminal Message !!

triangle with an eye, another Illuminati subliminal message. The Illuminati was referenced directly in Black Ops’ campaign, the games have plenty of subliminal references to the cult.

From the masonic tiles in the Modern Warfare games, to the burnt in images of Baphomet on the burnt cars, to the depictions of the All-Seeing-Eye in Modern Warfare 3’s campaign.

According to some the symbolism is all over this game. It’s about trying to make people think a certain way. To make people care less about the murder of innocent people, in the name of protecting people from terrorism. The real terror threat is not from the Middle East, it is from these secret societies.

They are encouraging people to spend

must be taken before games are published.

The Toulouse and Montauban shootings were a series of three gun attacks targeting French soldiers and Jewish civilians in the cities of Montauban and Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France in March 2012. The veil-wearing former wife of terrorist Mohammed Merah said the couple played violent video games including Call of Duty together before he gunned down seven people in cold blood.

Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist atatck resulted in the death of 77 people on July 22, 2011, in Norway,

admitted to playing violent video games like Modern Warfare to plan for the killings. In his trial on April 19 Breivik claimed that a game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare “is good if you want to simulate” police response and

The Call of Duty is completely full of propaganda and brainwashing.

According to some theories during the loading to one of the levels in campaign, 3 or 4 eyes are shown, it shows the date of Malcom X’s assassination, water fluoridation, it shows a huge list of secret societies, with the illuminati, the Bildeburgs, Bohemian grove, 1001 Club and more, and the characters names is mason, in the story, mason gets brainwashed and later snaps out of it, because he fought to be free. The

subliminal images bring up: Water Fluoridation, Malcom X’s Assassination Date, Chemtrails, False Flag Operations, almost every well known Secret Society all on one list, and an abnormal amount of Illuminati subliminal messages,

all their time on these pieces of culture that they control. Call of duty is loaded with their symbolism, as if they are branding the players with their mark.

Saying we control you, now go kill these innocent civilians and enjoy it. And a

The Labour MP, Keith Vaz. Vaz has worked tirelessly in recent years to demonstrate the link between violent video games and historic acts of violence, tracing the correlation right back to the tragic consequences that Rome: Total War inflicted on the Gauls. The MP has used the 2011 Norway attacks to put Call of Duty in his sights. In a new EDM he asks the House of Commons to note “that in his submission of evidence to the court [Anders] Breivik describes how he trained for the attacks using the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare;” and to declare that he “is disturbed that Breivik used the game to help hone his ‘target acquisition’ and the suggestion that the simulation prepared him for the attacks.” MP Kieth Vaz emphasis that Breivik’s claim that he used Call of Duty for ‘target acquisition training’, before calling for greater regulation of first-person shooters and restrictions on violent content.

Do violent video games cause behavior problems?

On the question of what set Adam Lanza on his murderous journey into that school in Newtown, Connecticut Friday? The US Rush University Medical Center’s Chief of Adolescent Psychiatry Dr. Louis Kraus says. “We’re reaching,” “We’re trying to make sense of something we may never be able to make sense of.”

But Kraus says young people today are growing up in an increasingly violent media atmosphere.

Kraus says the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hour of screen time each day for young

people.

Consider the video game called “Call of Duty/Black Ops II.” The object of the game is for the player to kill as many opponents as possible.

“I have a strong concern over firstperson shooting games,” Kraus says.

“They’re designed to be addictive. Kids spend hours. There’s prior research to show that video games are associated with increased violent behavior.”

Children think of the main characters as role models.

Some kids think of the role model of video games as role models. Based on the character the child could copy everything he/she does. If the game is violent the child could run around the house acting crazy and pretending to harm other, the main character could also cuss. Bad words from the main character are also what the child copies.

Games are wrong this is wrong!!

Violent games make kids violent because, some people in the world have been victims of murders caused by video games.

People become desensitized to violence by the constant exposure to violent video games. There becomes a disconnect with violent acts and the reality of the destruction, death, and heartbreak because the human piece is never seen or experienced on the video games.

ENTERTAINMENT

18

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

Shah Rukh Khan wins two awards Jackie Chan faces at Big Star Entertainment Awards police probe for

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has bagged two trophies at the Big Star Entertainment awards, where Priyanka Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan also emerged winners.

SRK was handed the Entertainer Of The Year award for his performance in Yash Chopra’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan and he shared the Best Romantic On-Screen Couple gong with his co-star Katrina Kaif.

“Jab Tak Hai Jaan will always be a special film for me. I will always be thankful to Yashji. I get really excited with awards. No matter how many I have got, they have the same affect on me, like they did when I was new in the industry. I almost become like a kid in the candy store,” Shah Rukh said in a statement.

The actor also has good things to

say about Katrina.

“This was the first time I worked with her and see what happened!

Katrina is a very hardworking girl and it was a pleasure working with her. And as far as romance is

concerned, I am the best one here.”

Abhishek won the best actor comedy award for his role in Bol Bachchan.

“Just won Best Actor- Comedy for Bol Bachchan at the Big Star entertainment awards!! Won because of the most awesome team that we had on the film. All the actors and technicians and ADs. I share this award with them,” he tweeted.

Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra won the Best Actor Male and Female awards for their performances in Barfi!.

“Thank you to big to Big entertainment awards for the 1st 3 awards of the season to @ basuanurag me and ronnie and sid for Barfi! Go team Barfi! (sic),” Priyanka tweeted.

Pakistan censors ban advertisements of Akshay Kumar’s Khiladi 786

Pakistani censors have banned advertisements for Bollywood star Akshay Kumar’s latest film Khiladi 786 because the number 786 is revered by some Muslims and could hurt their sentiments.

The Censor Board has directed cinema halls and distributors not to release the movie’s trailers and to

remove billboards for the film.

Khiladi 786 is yet to be cleared by the censors for screening in Pakistan.

The censors barred the advertisements as the number 786 is revered by some Muslims and they could find the name of the film objectionable, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Censor Board Chairman Raja Mustafa Haider told the daily: “The appearance of banners for the film in Rawalpindi and other areas was brought to my notice and I asked the City District Government Rawalpindi to remove all of them.”

He did not disclose the final decision about the fate of the movie. “We will decide it when the movie comes to us, before screening in the cinema houses,” he said.

Haider further said the Censor Board had managed to convince distributors to present the film without the number 786. The movie was originally scheduled to be released on December 7.

Film distributor Suhail Mukhtar said the Censor Board had the legal right to alter the name of a film if it was found to be objectionable. However, he said the screening of the film would not stop unless it had “objectionable dialogues and scenes”.

Like other Bollywood stars, Akshay Kumar has a sizeable following in Pakistan.

keeping firearms

KUNG fu film star Jackie Chan implicated himself recently by boasting that he once fought off gangsters with three handguns

report and decided to probe his claim because Chan is a global celebrity and his love of firearms could send a wrong message and

and six grenades. He is now facing police investigation for illegal possession of firearms.

According to today’s Sing Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, Jackie Chan told a popular Chinese magazine, Southern People Weekly, that he was once cornered by more than 20 knife-wielding gangsters and he had to use three guns and six grenades to keep them off.

Hong Kong police noticed the

challenge the law of the society, Sing Pao said.

Under the Hong Kong laws, anyone must get a license for possessing guns and is forbidden to carry firearms in public without a sufficient reason. Jackie Chan may face jail terms of up to life in prison, the paper said.

However, it is hard to collect enough evidences against him, the paper said.

Jalpari goes to the Oscars

Nila Madhab Panda’s ‘Jalpari’ is going places.

After winning the MIP Junior Kids Jury Award at Cannes and receiving the Audience Choice Award in Minsk International Film Festival in Belarus, the film has now been submitted as a direct entry to the Oscars.

According to a report in TOI: The movie based on the various predicaments that a girl child encounters in rural India, also addresses the divide between rural and urban India. “About 17 Indian films are competing for India’s official entry in the foreign film category, but unfortunately, only one film can go.

Jalpari’s original story and concept are the USP of the film. It has a blazing subject combined with powerful performances which makes it worthy of a direct entry for the Academy Awards,” said Sushil Kumar.

aarc S

19

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

Work displayed in saarc int. are a review of southasianmedia.net.

The information on this page is for information purposes only.

The South Asia Tribune and SAARC International Ltd. assume no liability for any inaccurate, delayed, or incomplete information, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

The full story can be viewed at www.southasianmedia.net

international

Thursday, 20.12.12

Pakistan: Eight polio vaccinators have been shot dead in 48 hours, Taliban spokesman deny involvement The field staff should stop its work until further instructions, the WHO said.

Earlier on Tuesday, five health workers involved in the vaccination drive were killed in the cities of Karachi and Peshawar.

Four women were killed in less than an hour in seemingly coordinated attacks in Karachi.

A fifth worker, also a woman, was killed in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The five workers were killed a day after a man working on a local government-World Health Organisation (WHO) project was shot dead in Karachi.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) directed its field staff to stop their work in Pakistan after two people were killed and two others were injured when three teams involved in the nationwide polio vaccination drive were attacked in Peshawar, Nowshera and Charsadda in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday.

A woman from a polio vaccination team and a driver associated with the program were killed during the attack on the team in Charsadda.

Moreover, one volunteer was injured during the attack on a polio team in Peshawar. The injured

assailants fired at the team.

Separately, gunmen attacked a polio team working in Nowshera.

However, no casualties were reported from that attack.

In the wake of the latest attacks

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan

worker was shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital for treatment.

The attack took place in Peshawar’s Khazana area when unknown

on anti-polio workers, the World Health Organisation (WHO) directed its field staff to halt work in Pakistan.

and Nigeria, but efforts to tackle the highly infectious crippling disease have been hampered over the years by local suspicion.

UK to pull out 4,000 troops in Afghanistan during 2013 David Cameron has told MPs that 3,800 British troops - almost half of the current force serving in Helmand province - are to be withdrawn from Afghanistan next year.

Troop numbers are already being reduced from 9,500 to 9,000

Mr Cameron discussed the details of the withdrawal in an hour-long video conference with Barack Obama, US president, on Tuesday night. The US is also finalising plans for an announcement on the withdrawal of its own forces.

before Christmas.

And numbers would fall to about 5,200 by the end of 2013, Mr Cameron told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions.

The withdrawal of such a large number of troops will be seen by some analysts as a risk, putting Continued on page 29 >>

Delhi gang-rape case: let this never happen to anyone else, says victim’s father

Profound anger pulsed through India’s streets on Wednesday, with protestors demanding an explanation from the government over why a young woman was

gang-raped and hit with an iron rod for nearly an hour on a bus that moved seamlessly through multiple check points.

Continued on page 29 >>

SAARC

20

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

US immunity to Pak’s ISI in 26/11 a serious disappointment: India

India on Wednesday called a declaration that Pakistan’s intelligence service and former chiefs enjoy immunity in a case related to the 2008 Mumbai attacks a “serious disappointment”.

The Indian government has long alleged that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was behind the Islamist attacks which left 166 people dead – an accusation denied by Islamabad.

The Indian statement was in response to an affidavit filed in a US court earlier in the week in which the US government said Pakistan’s ISI and its former chiefs, Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Nadeem Taj, “enjoy immunity” in the Mumbai attacks.

The US affidavit is “a matter of deep and abiding concern”, the Indian government statement said,

noting Washington has publicly said it is committed to bringing “those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks to justice”.

“The decision of the US authorities in this case is a cause of serious disappointment,” said the Indian statement.

The New York federal court is hearing a case filed by US survivors

of the Mumbai attacks and family members of the victims against Pasha, Taj and other ISI officials.

Leaders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group, including its founder Mohammed Hafiz Saeed, are also named in the suit.

India has accused Pakistan’s ISI of collaborating with the LeT to mount the attacks.

The US government insisted in its affidavit that Pakistan must take steps to dismantle the LeT and support India’s efforts to counter militant threats, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).

“In the view of the United States, the ISI is entitled to immunity because it is part of a foreign state within the meaning of the FSIA

(Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act),” it submitted.

India last month hanged Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of 10 attackers who raided targets including top hotels and a Mumbai railway station while holding elite Indian Special Forces at bay.

In conversation with the recipients of Druk Thuksey

In the backdrop of the Druk Thuksey award His Majesty the King conferred to four Indian officials yesterday, BBS takes a look at the efforts these four individuals have put in, to strengthen the BhutanIndia relationship and also bring about socio-economic change.

Former Indian Ambassador, Salman Haidar Salman Haidar

“I have spent the best years of my life here in Bhutan,” said Salman Haider, one of the recipients of Druk Thuksey.

Salman Haidar served as the Indian Ambassador to Bhutan between 1980 and 1983.

“In those days Gross National Happiness had not been articulated but for me personally there was a sense of great satisfaction having been here. I could see that Bhutan was under wonderful leadership,” said the former Ambassador.

While in New Delhi, Salman Haider served as the Foreign Secretary, Head of the Diplomatic Service, Spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs and later as the Chief of Protocol, among other diplomatic positions.

He also served as the Indian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and China, and as the First Secretary and Deputy to the Ambassador in Afghanistan.

He was also the Deputy Permanent Representative of India at the

United Nations in New York. He has a B.A Honours in English from Delhi University and a B.A with Honours in English from Cambridge University.

Serving Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Pavan K. Varma Another recipient of Druk Thuksey, the serving Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Pavan K. Varma, said he feels exceptionally honoured.

He is recognised for his service to Bhutan in bringing socio-economic growth.

Pavan K. Varma

He came to Bhutan in 2009.

“I feel undeserving but this medal as far as I am concerned is a high award conferred by His Majesty himself.” …This medal for me represents the great friendship, of course at personal level it shall remain as one o the cherished possession and a souvenir for my family.”

Pavan K. Varma Indian Ambassador to Bhutan The Ambassador also said for

him the medal is a symbol of the graciousness of His Majesty the King, the exceptional kindness of the Royal Government and people and the external symbol of the strength of Indo–Bhutan friendship.

Pavan K. Varma has served in Moscow, in New York at the Indian Mission to the United Nations, in London, where he was Director of the Nehru Centre, and as India’s High Commissioner in Cyprus.

A great lover of literature, he has authored many books. He even conceptualized ‘Mountain Echoes’, a literary festival in the country.

Former Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Dalip Mehta Dalip Mehta

A n o t h e r recipient of the prestigious Druk Thuksey award is yet another former Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Dalip Mehta. He served between 1995 to 1998.

“I think it is a very great honour to have been bestowed this high

medal by His Majesty the King. For me personally, it is a reflection of almost 40 years that I have worked towards India-Bhutan relations,” said Dalip Mehta.

He was working in Bhutan even before he came as the Ambassador.

From 1975 till the end of 1978, he worked as the First Secretary of the Indian Mission in Bhutan.

He also served as the Ambassador to the Central Asian Republics of Uzbekistan, Deputy Head of Mission in Paris and also as the Chief of Protocol in India.

He was also a trustee of the IndiaBhutan Foundation. Dalip Mehta says he is putting into practice still today some of the things he learnt while he was in Bhutan.

Rajinder Nath Khazanchi PHPA’s Managing Director, Rajinder Nath Khazanchi The Managing Director of Punatsangchhu Hydropower Project, Rajinder Nath Khazanchi, also received the medal for his dedicated service to the country’s socio-economic development.

He was the General Manager and the Managing Director of Tala hydropower project between 1997 and 2006. He assumed the present position since 2009.

To advertise call 020 8904 0619

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

SAARC

WEEKLY REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN NEWS

US audit report reveals more waste in Afghanistan

A US watch audit on Tuesday revealed almost $13 million in equipment designed to upgrade Afghanistan’s creaking power grid has been left mothballed in storage for lack of an installation plan, AFP reported.

Furthermore State Department’s Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has also found that that the work for national power untility which was given to a contractor against $5.76 million was never carried out.

The report by Inspector General John Sopko said, “Almost $12.8 million in equipment purchased to meet urgent needs in support of the counterinsurgency strategy is

sitting unused in storage… without a clear plan for installation.”

According to the report the equipment which was dispatched in March has been stored at a US Army Corps of Engineers base in southern city fo Kandahar province

on wooden palettes. the report also said the installation work is pending a clear plan and there are also concerns that manufacturer’s two-year warranty on the electricity meters could run out before the equipment is installed.

In his letter to Genneral John Allen commander of the NATO troops for Afghanistan John Sopko said he had audited US efforts to help the Afghan power utility, Da

130 tonnes of Christmas presents and cards delivered to British troops in Afghanistan THOUSANDS of bags containing gifts and letters have been delivered over the last week.

MORE than 130 tonnes of Christmas cards and presents have been sent to British soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

Around 18,000 bags of letters and parcels have been delivered over the last week, which is over five times the usual amount.

After arriving at the troops’ main base at Camp Bastion, the items, many of which will include things like new socks, gloves and sweets, are dished out to units operating in smaller, remote bases via helicopter and road convoy trucks.

Cpl McCreadie, 25, from Arbroath,

Angus, said: “We have seen a real surge in parcels in the run-up to Christmas.

“In the last week we’ve had 18,500 bags of post - the equivalent of about 130 tonnes.

“This compares to a normal week when there’s about 3,500 mail sacks.”

As well as packages and cards, the unit has also processed about 11,500 e-blueys, an electronic way of sending a letter, over the festive period, which can be sent electronically from the UK and are printed in Camp Bastion.

The e-bluey machines fold up and seal the letters before they come out, to ensure privacy is maintained.

Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat.

He said the contractor Louis Berger Group Inc/Black & Veatch were paid millions of dollars to provide training and technical assistance to Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat however 76 percent of the work was never completed, including “a draft and final meter installation plan, procurement and installation of 231 boundary meters, and a transition manual and handover plan.”

Sopko wrote, the two findings “warrant immediate attention prior to issuing a final report in early 2013.”

According to reports around $88 million have been spent by United States since 2009 to improve and modernize the Afgan power grid. Also United States vowed to provide $157 million between 2013-2016 in a bid to rebuild a fully developed power grid which was destroyed during the three decades of war.

The report also suggested to draw up a plan after determiing whether the equipment can be used in Kandahar.

It said the head of the US Agency for International Development mission in Afghanistan should assess the work done by the contractor LBG/BV and seek any reimbursement of funds due.

21

Gunmen shot dead Afghan girl in northern province

Unidentified armed men shot and killed a teenage girl in northern Afghan province of Kunduz Tuesday night, an official said on Wednesday.

“Three men armed with weapons broke into the house of Jamil in Shaheed area of Imam Sahib district at about 10 p.m. local time Tuesday, killing Jamil’s 16-year-old daughter named Bibi Gul,” head of provincial women’s affairs department Nadira Kya told Xinhua.

The police have launched an investigation into the incident, she said, adding several officials with the women department will go to the district later Wednesday to find the motives behind the killing in the province 250 km north of capital city of Kabul.

Afghan women continue to suffer from domestic violence and harmful practices in the insurgency-hit country as the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission has recorded more than 4,000 incidents of violence against women from March 21 to October 31 this year, according to the commission’s officials.

Afghan bomb blast kills 10 girls

Ten girls aged nine to 13 killed and one seriously injured as they gathered firewood outside their village in eastern Afghanistan A forgotten Soviet-era landmine has killed 10 Afghan schoolgirls and seriously injured another in a grim reminder of the ongoing impact of decades of war on the country.

The girls, all under 12, spent their mornings collecting wood to help their families through the bitter winter, and went to school in eastern Nangarhar province in the afternoon.

They were unwittingly gathered round a long-buried landmine, splitting logs with a small hatchet, when the blows detonated the old explosives, said provincial police chief General Abdullah Stanekzai.

“The bomb was from Russian times, and the girls were collecting wood and trying to break the wood, but underneath it was the bomb,” Stanekzai said.

Afghan Entrepreneur receive peace through commerce award United States Department of Commerce formally awarded the Peace Through Commerce Award for 2012 to 8 nominees following formal ceremony in Dubai.

Sadat Mansoor Naderi, the chairman of SMN Investments is the first and only Afghan business man who receives the peace through commerce award.

In an exclusive interview with Khaama Press (KP) Syed Sadat Mansoor Naderi said investment and creation of job opportunities is vital for the reduction of war, violence and to maintain stability in the country.

He said, “Investment and creation of job opportunities are effective to reduce violence and expand peace throughout the war-torn countries

like Afghanistan. As you are aware over 60% of the Afghan population is comprised of Afghan youths who are in dire need employment opportunities after they complete their education. The youths will unfortunately prefer to participate in war activities if the government and private sector do not pave the way

for job opportunities.”

Sadat Mansoor Naderi said he was optimistic regarding the 2014 and will expand SMN’s investment across the country despite majority of the Afghans are concerned and believe that 2014 will be a period of economic and political crisis for Afghanistan.

SAARC

22

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF BANGLADESH NEWS

Dhaka ‘paralysed’ amidst peaceful shutdown

The daylong strike by the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) to press for a ban on ‘all communal political parties’ including Jamaat-eIslami have been said to be peaceful on Tuesday.

The Gonotantrik Baam Morcha, a combine of the left-leaning parties, has also backed the shutdown on the same issues.

CPB and SPB activists could be seen in occasional processions in the capital since morning, sporting national flags.

Two processions were brought out by the supporters of CPB from their Purana Paltan headquarters and Bangladesh Student Union central office at the Topkhana Road in the capital around 6am.

At around the same time a procession of the SPB supporter went round the Paltan, Dainik Bangla and Press Club areas in the capital.

Meanwhile, Pragatishil Chhatra Jote supporters positioned themselves at the key Shahbagh intersection, singing and shouting slogans amidst rallies and occasional processions

there. The CPB and SPB activists are also active in areas from Paltan to Shahbagh.

There have been also reports of processions in support of the shutdown in Old Dhaka and Mirpur areas.

Police and Rapid Action Battalion members have been deployed at various key points in the capital but there were no reports of violence so far. Traffic was thin at the beginning of the strike but later rickshaws and auto-rickshaws were out in strength.

The police were seen diverting traffic

at Press Club, Bangla Motor and Ruposhi Bangla intersections to keep them away from Shahbagh and Paltan .

Sub-Inspector of Ramna Police Station Ibrahim told bdnews24.com that they have requested vehicles to use diversion route to avert any untoward incidents with supporters of the strike.

“We have diverted the traffic on safety considerations,” Shahbagh police’s SI Tapash said.

No long-route buses left Gabtoli, Mohakhali and Jatrabari terminals

in the morning but train services were normal.

“We are peacefully observing our strike and the people are joining us .

We have alert to avoid any untoward incident,” Student Union President SM Shuvo told bdnews24.com.

He said they had talks with 34 fronts of vehicle owners and workers on Monday where the CPB and SPB had upheld their demands. The fronts have supported their cause, he claimed , and decided to stay off the roads.

At various spots in the city, the strike supporters were seen discussing their demands with pedestrians passing by their staging areas.

CPB general secretary Syed Abu Jaffar Ahmmad had claimed on Monday that “ only Razakars would try to drive around or keep their shops open” during their strike. “The liberation-loving nation cannot but support this shutdown enforced over a national issue.”

There were seven other demands -arrest and punishment of Tazreen Fashions Limited owner and other government officials responsible

for the Nov 24 tragedy, ensuring workplace safety in all garment units, ensuring workers’ rights on pay and trade unions, and reducing power prices and transport fare.

The Jamaat enforced a daylong shutdown on Dec 4 to press for the release of their leaders.

Nine top-ranking Jamaat leaders are facing trial at the two war crimes tribunals on war crimes charges.

Ahmmad had said the Left was “not attacking religion but the use of religion in politics”.

Journalists were told that transport workers’ organisations extended their supports to the shutdown.

The Gonotantrik Baam Morcha also backed the shutdown, demanding rescinding the decision to hike price of oil, power and gas, ensuring workplace safety at garment factories, arrest of owners and staff of factories where the workers died, speedy completion of the war crimes trial and an end to use of religion in politics, cancellation of Rampal power plant, expulsion of Asia Energy from Bangladesh, and implementation of Phulbari deal.

Jamaat leader Tasnim Alam held Bangladesh Tazreen factory

fire was sabotage – inquiry

Detective Branch of police arrested Tasnim Alam, central publicity secretary of Bangladesh Jamaat-eIslami, at his Uttara residence in the capital early Monday.

A staff of Jamaat’s central office confirmed it reporters.

DB police were conducting drives at different city points along with the arrested Jamaat leader on various allegations against him, said Rezaul (full name could not be known immediately), officer-in-charge of Uttara Police Station (west).

Earlier on December 13, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Jamaat’s acting Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman at his Dhanmondi residence in a case filed under Anti-Terrorism Act. He was placed on a four-day remand in

the case on December 14.

Mollah’s wife, 18 female Jamaat activists held Police picked up 19 female leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami including the wife of war crimes suspect Quader Mollah in the capital Monday afternoon.

A Jamaat source said that the arrests were made around 5:00pm.

He however did not give any other details.

Md Shah Alam, officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station, confirmed the arrests to The Daily Star.

Quader Mollah, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat, is one of the leaders of the party who are on trial on charges of crimes against humanity committed in the 1971 Liberation War.

A government probe into a fire in Tazreen Fashions Ltd which killed more than 100 workers last month has found the blaze was an act of sabotage.

“It was an act of sabotage,” Main Uddin Khandaker, head of the probe committee, said.

The head of the inquiry said that the owner of the Tazreen factory had been seriously negligent.

Main Uddin Khandaker also said nine mid-level officials prevented workers from leaving the building, which was making clothes for Western retailers.

Fatal fires are common in Bangladesh’s large garment manufacturing sector.

The latest report contradicts initial

suggestions by fire service officials that the blaze could have been started by poor electrical wiring.

No fire certificate Mr Khandaker said the inquiry would recommend action against the factory owner.

He did not say who could have carried out the sabotage or what the motive might have been.

The factory owner, Delwar Hossain, has previously denied allegations that the building was unsafe to work in.

He told reporters after the blaze that he believed it was started deliberately but gave no details.

In all, at least 110 people died in the 24 November fire at the Tazreen

factory, in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.

Thousands of people joined street protests afterwards, demanding better protection.

The factory’s fire safety certificate had lapsed in June and was no longer valid, the head of the fire service and civil defence told the BBC last week.

The building stood nine storeys high but only had permission for three floors.

The plant made clothes for Western retailers including Walmart, C&A and The Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

Four days after the fire, three supervisors were arrested and accused of stopping workers from leaving the building and of padlocking exits.

Government officials said preliminary information suggested the blaze was an act of sabotage.

There are about 4,500 factories in Bangladesh, employing more than two million people.

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

SAARC

23

WEEKLY REVIEW OF BHUTAN NEWS

National Day of Bhutan on December 17

bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani has sent a cable of congratulations to King of Bhutan on the occasion of his country’s National Day. (QNA)

Pakistan PM greets Bhutanese counterpart on National Day

Monday was Bhutan’s National Day which commemorates the 1907 coronation of the first king of Bhutan, Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck, at Punakha Dzong.

This event ushered an era of peace, unity, and prosperity in Bhutan. Celebrations are held in Changlimen thang National Stadium, where the King and a statue of Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck are brought in for an elaborate and colorful procession.

A landlocked country in South Asia, Bhutan is located between India and the People’s Republic of China. Thimpu is the capital and largest city of the country. A 2012 estimate places the country’s population at 742,000.

Bhutan’s traditional economy is based on forestry, animal husbandry, and subsistence

agriculture.

However, these account for less than 50 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) now that Bhutan has become an exporter of hydroelectricity. Cash crops, tourism, and development aid (the latter mostly from India) are also significant.

Bhutan is linked historically and culturally with its northern neighbor, Tibet. But politically and economically, the kingdom has drawn much closer to India.

Among other international associations, Bhutan is a member of the United Nations and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

We congratulate the people and government of Bhutan led by Their Excellencies, His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Prime Minister

Jigme Thinley, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ugyen Tshering, Minister of Labor and Human Resources Dorji Wangdi, and Minister of Economic Affairs Khandu Wangchuck, on the occasion of its National Day.

talent in singing Mangdep songs, Zhungdra and Boedra.

As excited as she would be after wining the award, she said she is also happy to observe a significant development in Bhutanese music in all three forms.

Sonam Dorji And for many aspiring Bhutanese traditional singers, Aum Nimchu Pem is also a good teacher.

The other recipient is Sonam Dorji, 68. He is a retired soldier.

Hailing from Trashigang Merphey, he

HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has sent a cable of congratulations to King of Bhutan on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

The Emir of Qatar congratulates King of Bhutan HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has sent a cable of congratulations to King of Bhutan on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

Veteran artists of the nation awarded

Two veteran artists of the nation were awarded medals, certificate and cash prizes for their contribution to Bhutanese music.

Aum Nimchu Pem Legendary traditional singer, Aum Nimchu Pem, 71, was one of the recipients during an annual music award ceremony which was held at Royal Academy of Performing Arts’ auditorium in Thimphu yesterday.

Haling from Sengbji village in Trongsa, Aum Nimchu Pem is known for her

HH the Heir Apparent congratulates King of Bhutan

was a popular dancer. He was one of the well known courtroom dancers of Late King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. He later went on to become an instructor of traditional songs.

“It’s a matter of pride that my contribution to Bhutanese music has been acknowledged,” he said.

The award ceremony also saw a couple of documentary films on the ritual festivals of Monggar Tsamang known as Kharphue ritual and Kheng Choedpa Festival.

Both these traditional festivals are on the verge of extinction. In an attempt to save the two festivals from extinction, the Music of Bhutan Research Centre prepared the films in a the hope to revive the time tested events.

The award ceremony was attended by the government ministers, senior government officials and many artists.

The award ceremony was organized jointly by the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs and Music of Bhutan Research Centre.

HE the Premier congratulates King of Bhutan HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has greeted Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan His Excellency Lyonchhen Jigmiy Y. Thinley on National Day being celebrated on December 17.

In his message to Bhutanese counterpart, the Prime Minister conveyed his felicitations on behalf of the government, the people of Pakistan and on his own behalf to His Excellency, the government and the people of Bhutan on their National Day. The Prime Minister said that Pakistan and Bhutan enjoy close and cordial relations which were based on mutual respect and commonality of views on regional and international issues.

He said that the two countries coordinate their positions at the regional and international fora with the aim of ensuring peace and prosperity within South Asia and beyond.

The Prime Minister also wished continued peace and prosperity for the people of Bhutan.

Ambassador of Bhutan present Letter of Credence to Queen of Netherlands

Preceded by a tradition al reception, Sonam Tshong, Ambassador of Bhutan to the Kingdom of the Netherlands presented his Letter of Credence to Her Majesty Queen Beatrix at the Noordeinde Palace in the Hague on December 12, 2012.

During the visit to The Hague, Ambassador Sonam Tshong met with several officials in the Dutch

Foreign Ministry including Ms. Renee Jose Bos, the Secretary General (equivalent to Foreign Secretary) of the Ministry.

In line with a new development cooperation policy, direct Dutch bilateral assistance to Bhutan is being phased out but will continue to have other nonbilateral cooperation windows, notably the Netherland Fellowship Programme.

When diplomatic relations were formalized on 6th June 1985, Netherlands became the first country in Europe with whom Bhutan established formal bilateral relations.

Ambassador Sonam Tshong is based in Brussels with concurrent accreditation also to Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Spain and the European Union.

SAARC

24

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF INDIA NEWS

Domestic air passenger traffic shrunk by almost 8 pc

India’s domestic air passenger traffic shrunk by almost eight per cent last month compared to November last year, in spite of expectations of a growing market during the peak winter season.

Domestic airlines carried 50.20 lakh passengers in November compared to 54.14 lakh passengers during the same period last year, official data released today showed. During JanuaryNovember this year, the number of passengers carried by Indian carriers declined by about three per cent. The airlines flew 5.34 crore

passengers in the same period, down from 5.5 crore passengers flown last year.

Though several global bodies had earlier projected a growth in domestic air traffic in India, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had recently said the impact of a recession was now being felt in India which had shown “the worst performance for any market” in October.

The November data, released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), showed Indian

Delhi rape victim’s condition deteriorates: Doctors

carriers cutting capacity or the number of flights and seats offered in November by nearly six per cent as demand shrunk by over seven per cent.

The number of passengers carried within India by these airlines has been declining since June this year as against that last year, leading to a shrinkage of the domestic market. Airline-wise, IndiGo flew the maximum number of passengers (13.69 lakh) in November, followed by Air India (10.38 lakh), SpiceJet (9.78 lakh), Jet Airways (9.17 lakh) and Go Air (3.73 lakh).

Charges dropped against girls held for Facebook post on Bal Thackeray

BJP demands capital punishment for rape

The condition of the 23-year-old para-medical student, who was allegedly gang-raped by a group of men in a moving bus , deteriorated this evening after which she has been put on “full-time ventilatory support”, doctors attending on her said.

A 23-year-old girl is savagely attacked and raped by a group of men inside

Superintendent of the hospital, said.

He told PTI that the victim now needs “full-time ventilatory support” and she is under “close observation” of the doctors.

Earlier, Athani had said she will be kept under “close observation” by the doctors for the next 48 to 72 hours because of the nature of injuries

a moving bus and her male friend is beaten up senselessly. Battered and bleeding profusely, they are dumped near an expressway in Delhi, where they are found by a passer-by.

The girl’s condition in the morning was “better than yesterday’s” but as the day progressed, her health condition kept fluctuating, they said.

The victim, who was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital on Sunday after she was brutally assaulted and raped, continues to be in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“Her condition is critical and deteriorating. In the morning, she was better but, in the evening, the situation fluctuated and her health deteriorated,” Dr B D Athani, Medical

inflicted on her. Athani said doctors were reviewing her case periodically and ensuring she gets best of the treatment. “We still cannot call her out of danger because of the nature of injuries,” he said.

Doctors said the paramedical student from Dehradun, who was here for her internship, has suffered severe injuries on her head and in the face as he was brutally attacked by the men with an iron rod.

An emotional Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday broke down in the Rajya Sabha while describing the trauma and the life-long scars that rape victims undergo.

Speaking on Monday’s rape incident Jaya said “I am deeply disturbed. I

have no words. What is being done for the safety of women in India?” “I stand in protest,” she said as her party colleagues and other women members decided to keep standing during the Question Hour to voice their indignation. Ram Jethmalani (BJP) said he wished to convey to the Home Minister that “the crime situation in Delhi will not improve unless you remove the most notorious criminal... the present Police Commissioner of the city.”

As he demanded removal of the Police Commissioner, Opposition members were again on their feet raising the law and order situation in the national capital. Ansari then adjourned the House till noon.

Both Houses of Parliament condemned the incident with growing demand for enhanced and swift punishment for those found guilty of rape.

Police on Tuesday dropped all charges against two girls from Palghar whose arrest over a Facebook post criticising shutdown in Mumbai during Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s funeral last month had sparked an uproar.

A closure report was filed before a court in Palghar town in Thane district, dropping all charges against Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan, both 21, a senior police officer said.

In her Facebook post, Dhada had lamented the November 18 shutdown due to Thackeray’s funeral.

Shrinivasan had ‘liked’ the post.

Both were arrested by the police on November 19 on a complaint lodged by a local Sena leader. They were produced before a court in Palghar, which granted them bail.

They were booked under IPC Sections 295 (A) deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and also IT Act. A closure report is usually filed in the court when investigators conclude that no case is made out against the accused.

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

SAARC

25

WEEKLY REVIEW OF PAKISTAN NEWS

17 killed in Khyber Agency blast

A car bomb killed 17 people including women and children and wounded dozens more when it exploded near a bus queue at a market in Jamrud on Monday, officials said.

The bomb went off in the town of Jamrud, killing or wounding people waiting for buses to take them across the northwest and to other parts of the country, according to officials.

Pools of blood and charred flesh littered the roadside, along with at least 20 burnt vehicles, said an AFP reporter. Clothes, school books, children’s shoes and burqas lay everywhere.

Jamrud is in Khyber district, which is part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border.

A district administration office was around 100 metres from where the bomb was detonated but was not damaged in the attack, according to an AFP reporter.

“Seventeen people were killed in the blast. Fourteen bodies were brought to our hospital while three people succumbed to their wounds on their way to Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar,” said Doctor Sameen Jan Shinwari at the Agency Headquarters hospital in Jamrud.

“Four women were among those killed in the blast and they were all

Afghans. These women were coming from the border in a hired car, which was completely destroyed. These women’s Afghan passports were found in a bag,” said Shinwari.

He said a five-year-old Afghan girl accompanying the women and two

that the government office was the intended target, but said authorities were still investigating.

“We are still are ascertaining what procedure exactly was used to blow up the vehicle,” he said.

Two intelligence officials, speaking

was entering Jamrud when he heard the explosion and saw a ball of fire.

“I rushed to the site and saw people engulfed by flames. There were pieces of human flesh and blood everywhere. I saw a little child who was injured and crying. I took this

six-year-old Pakistani boys were also among those killed.

Khyber’s top administrative official, Mutahir Zeb, played down the idea

on condition of anonymity, said the explosives had been packed into a Suzuki Alto vehicle.

Driver Taj Muhammad, 40, said he

boy to hospital,” he told AFP. “When I picked up the injured boy he looked like my son and I was really so sad.”

Pakistan suffers frequent bomb and suicide attacks blamed on militant groups. Its troops have for years been fighting homegrown armed groups in the tribal belt.

On Saturday a suicide squad of five targeted the airport in Peshawar, the main northwestern city close to Jamrud, killing five civilians and blowing a hole in the perimeter wall.

The assault, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), sparked prolonged gunfire and forced authorities to close the airport, a commercial hub and air force base on the edge of the tribal belt.

It was the second militant attack in four months on a military air base in Pakistan.

On Sunday a policeman and five militants were killed following gunbattles between security forces and militants suspected of having been involved in the airport attack, security officials said.

The government says more than 35,000 people have died due to terrorism in the country since the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

According to an AFP tally there have been more than 100 bombings, killing 550 people, so far this year, compared to 203 in 2009 when the death toll was tallied at 1,840.

Authorities fail to curb target killings in Karachi KARACHI: Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) have failed to curb the proportional increase in various sorts of target killing that claimed over 2,400 lives this years alone, creating an alarming law and order situation.

According to the reported statistics, at least 2,400 people have been gunned down in different incidents of target killing in the outgoing year of 2012.

It is worth mentioning here that a record killing of law enforcing personnel has also been reported this year in which personnel of Rangers, Police, special cells have been targeted in different areas of the city.

The areas where most incidents of law enforcement personnel’s killing took place included Gadap Town, District West and a part of the District South, where criminal elements and militants outfits are getting strength day bay day.

Despite claiming arrest of target

killers, paid killers, extortionists, gangsters, members of banned outfit TTP every day by police and other security officials, the crime rate and target killing has been increasing in the port city.

Security forces were unable to combat Lyari gangsters. It is also worth mentioning here that security forces have failed to take action against sectarian and militants groups in Gadap Town, Manghopir, Sultanabad and other Pushtoon dominated areas.

The above said areas have become

the No Go areas for the police as the culprits have killed dozen of security forces personnel within last few months.

Thousands of police, rangers, and other law enforcement personnel are striving to contain violence and law and order in the city but to no avail, as around two dozen banks were looted in a broad day light in recent months.

Moreover, the alarming incidents of snatching, robbery, and other street crimes have witnessed a steep rise.

The attacks on the law enforcement

agencies, shrines, Imambargahs, public places, police stations, railway tracks, trading areas, business community centres and other incidents are the matter of great concern.

A large number of traders, businessmen and notables of the city were killed over non-payment of ransom, some of them were released after payment of extortion demanded by organised criminal gangs.

The most common sufferers of such a situation are mainly daily-wage earners, including fruit vendors,

rickshaw drivers and green grocers, who also lose their pushcarts. In most of rioting cases, armed miscreants roamed freely in violence-hit areas, even near police stations in some instances, while police failed to either nab them or stop them from vandalism.

Although the availability of personnel kept in view city demographic was much lesser, yet extra contingent have been provided to legislators and other notables, causing security issues to their voters and overall citizens in general.

SAARC

26

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF MALDIVE NEWS

UK to press Maldives government over human rights abuses: Guardian commissioner, Abdulla Riyaz, were trained by the Scottish Police College.

The college did not train Maldives officers in public order policing, but did include courses on human rights.

Sources in the Maldives said a number of officers directly implicated in the recent violence were trained at the college, at Tulliallan in Fife.

Tory and Labour MPs at Westminster and MSPs active in a cross-party human rights group at Holyrood said the Foreign Office and Scottish ministers should immediately review those contracts.

The Guardian can also disclose that the Scottish Police college could soon extend its role in the Maldives by helping run degree courses for a new policing academy, despite the growing international condemnation of Maldives police conduct over the last 10 months.

Move comes as MPs and MSPs table questions to ministers after Guardian revealed ties between British and Maldives police Foreign Office ministers are to raise serious concerns about human rights abuses in the Maldives after a Guardian investigation revealed close ties between the British and Maldives police.

Alistair Burt is to pressure the Maldives government to tackle serious and persistent abuses by its police service, including attacks on opposition MPs, torture and mass detentions of democracy activists, on an official visit next month.

MPs and MSPs are tabling questions to the foreign secretary, William Hague, and ministers in the Scottish government about disclosures in the Guardian that at least 77 police officers in the Maldives, including the current

Maldives govt to seek compensation for Committee decides to losses in “illegal” awarding of airport bring down next year’s

Attorney General (AG) Aishath Azima Shakoor Monday said the Maldives government would also seek compensation through arbitration for any losses incurred by the “illegal” awarding of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) to India’s GMR Infrastructure Limited.

Maldives government had prematurely terminated the Indian infrastructure giant’s 25 year contract to develop and operate INIA on November 27 signed during the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) took over operations from GMR on December 7, after the Singapore Supreme Court ruled that the Maldives government has the

authority to expropriate the airport from GMR. During a press conference at the AG’s office Azima revealed that a person from the Singapore National University has been appointed to act as the arbitrator of the MACL. GMR would have 30 days to appoint an arbitrator and the entire process could take up to a year, according to the AG. “The two people will be appointed within those 30 days and a third person would also have to be appointed. So there are about two months to even select the arbitral panel. After that the documents and affidavits will be exchanged between the two parties. Once that process is completed it could take up to a year

before a proper arbitration hearing is held,” Azima explained.

In response to various media reports that GMR had sent a letter to the Maldives government seeking USD800 million as compensation, Azima insisted that the AG’s office had not received such a letter and said she does not believe that GMR could claim compensation at this stage.

“As the agreement had been annulled on void ab initio [invalid from the outset] our starting position is that we don’t have to bear any compensation,” she said.

However, the AG admitted that it was likely that the Maldives government would have to pay a certain amount as compensation given the size of the project, but stressed that the exact figure would be decided through arbitration.

“If compensation is owed, it will also be decided by the arbitration tribunal. Both sides have legal arguments if it is to be decided out of court,” AG added.

The AG further said that an asset evaluation had not been done when the airport was given to GMR and revealed that the government was currently engaged in the process of doing so.

budget to MVR14.5 billion

Budget review committee has decided to bring down the proposed budget by the government for next year from MVR16.9 billion to MVR14.5 billion.

Committee member and Nolhivaram constituency MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nazim said the decision was made based on the advice given by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Fazeel Najeeb.

The Governor had told the budget review committee that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also feels that the ideal budget for Maldives would be MVR14.5 billion based on the

economic and financial status of the country. Hence, it would be easier to manage State expenditure and deficit if the budget could be maintained to an amount close to that figure, Fazeel added.

The committee has also decided that the government should not secure loans in excess of MVR2 billion next year.

Despite the decision by the committee to slash the budget to MVR14.5 billion, it has to be passed on the Parliament floor.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has opposed the decision of the committee to reduce the proposed budget.

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

SAARC

27

WEEKLY REVIEW OF NEPAL NEWS

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai inaugurated the 93-km Gamgadhi-Naagma road

Vehicles reach Mugu district for the first time on Sunday after the completion of the 93-km GamgadhiNaagma road. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai inaugurated the road amid a function thronged by hundreds of onlookers, curious Mugu villagers.

Mugu, a district in the distant and difficult Karnali zone, has been connected with roadway on Sunday.

The mountainous district often reeled under exorbitant price hike, and a source of regular news story for difficulty in transportation, and woes the local people undergo finally got the roadway under the Karnali Highway.

Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Sunday inaugurated the roadway of the Nagma-

Gamgadhi section under the Karnali Highway.

With the district connected with road, the people here have hoped betterment of lives and livelihood selling fruits, herbs and other cash crops.

Addressing a function organized here, the PM made commitment that he would take initiative to extend and upgrade the roadway to Humla and Bajura.

Accusing the Nepali Congress and the UCPN-UML of obstructing political development, PM Bhattarai reiterated that he was ready to make any sort of sacrifice if elections to the constituent assembly was ensured for April/May. Former education minister Hasta Bahadur Malla demanded that the government upgrade the Karnali

Pokhara street festival to kick off on Dec 28

The 14th Pokhara Street Festival is going to be organised from December 28- January 1 in Pokhara to mark the English New Year 2013.

Kauda, Tamang Selo, Tharu stick dance, tourist marathon, journalist marathon and others organised in the festival.

Chairman of the Restaurant

The festival will be organised from Fishtail Gate to Lakeside, Gaurighat, Barahi Chowk, Democracy Chok, and Patan Lakeside in Pokhara.

There will be Lok Dohori song presentation, various dances of communities including Magar

Entrepreneurs Association, Pokhara, Gopi Bahadur Bhattarai said it will identify dishes in Pokhara, whereas Association Central Chairman Tejendra Nath Shrestha and NTB Director Aditya Baral said it will internationalise various foods and art and culture.

highway and extend the road link from Mugu to Nakche Lagna of the Tiben region. The Mugu district needs to be connected with the North-South road network, he added.

Similarly, former district development committee chairman Mohan Baniya urged the PM to develop Mugu as a trade and business hub for the Chinese and Indian people.

The foundation stone to the road was laid on March 15, 2008.

The 94-km long road stretches from Nagma Gath of Kalikot district to Gamgadhi, district headquarters of Mugu. The total cost of the construction was Rs 1.58 billion.

It was constructed by the Nepal Army.

The Nepal Army was honoured at the programme which also saw the presence of Chief of Army Staff Gaurav Shumser Rana, ViceChairman of the National Planning Commission Dipenda Bahadur Chhetri and other high-level government officials.

Elated over arrival of vehicles for the first time in their district, the Mugu people heartily welcomed the guests and garlanded the vehicles too.

Nepal: Ninth International elephant race to kick off on Dec 26

The ninth international elephant race is set to kick off on December 26 at Sauraha in Chitwan.

Twenty four teams including 16 international teams are participating in the race, informed the Regional Hotel Association Nepal Chitwan Chapter at a press

conference on Monday.

Regional Hotel Association Chitwan Chapter has been organising the event since nine years.

According to the organiser, the two-day event will end on December 28. “The event will also showcase a

football tournament of elephant calves in which four teams will participate,� said the President of the organisation, Narayan Bhattarai.

Similarly, 6 elephants will participate in elephant make-up competition and 10 in bullock cart and Tanga race.

Coordinator of the event, Gyanendra Kumar Bista informed that 25 percent discount on lodging and 15 percent discount on food will be provided to the tourists staying at the hotels in Sauraha during the event.

Bista further informed that food stalls, performance from national level artists will be major highlights of the event.

SAARC

28

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

WEEKLY REVIEW OF SRILANKA NEWS

Death toll in Sri Lanka floods rises to 20, 14 missing, over 175,000 affected in Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Badulla and Kandy Districts.

According to the DMC 146 houses have been fully damaged and 805 houses are partially damaged. The majority of the houses damaged are in the Eastern and Central provinces.

Floods and landslides caused by torrential rains with gale force winds in Sri Lanka have left 20 people dead, 14 more missing, and another 33 injured, the Disaster Management Center said today.

As of Wednesday, 175,558 people belonging to 45,916 families have been affected by the floods and landslides.

A total of 9,696 people from 3,394 families have been evacuated to 47 shelters set up in Matale, Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Polonnaruwa, Moneragala and

Batticaloa districts.

Ten of the deaths have been reported from the Central Province, which is prone to landslides, and

another 10 are missing.

The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) has issued landslide warnings to residents The floods have also destroyed several thousand acres of paddy lands in the Polonnaruwa, Hambantota and Batticaloa districts.

Country’s armed forces have been called on to assist the DMC and the police to rescue and evacuate affected people to shelters. Navy boats are being deployed to rescue

Sri Lanka’s lawyers say they will not welcome new chief justice if incumbent removed unfairly Resolution passed not to welcome new CJ

Sri Lanka’s bar association has warned President Mahinda Rajapaksa not to dismiss the country’s chief justice without an impartial hearing into impeachment allegations against her. The lawyers say they will reject any replacement without a fair trial.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), during their special general meeting this morning passed three

resolutions including one to refrain from officially welcoming any new Chief Justice appointed on the basis of a vacancy created by wrongful impeachment, BASL President Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa said. Speaking at a media briefing held following the BASL meeting this morning, Mr. Rajapakshe also announced the two other resolutions, which he stated

were unanimously passed during the meeting held today.

Among the other two resolutions passed at the BASL meeting today are: • In consideration of the speech made by the President on December 11, in which he stated the Parliamentary Special Committee report of the impeachment against the Chief Justice will be evaluated through an independent committee, we urge the President to reconsider the impeachment motion • In the event where the President, the Speaker or the MPs who are signatories to the impeachment motion decide to proceed with it further, we urge them to take necessary measures to formulate and enact procedural laws with regard to the removal of judges of the superior courts while guaranteeing a fair trial that adheres to principals of natural justice before further proceedings are taken on the said impeachment.

marooned people and to provide them food and other relief.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered the Treasury to release sufficient funds to provide relief to people affected by the adverse weather conditions.

The Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera addressing a news conference in Colombo today said officials of his ministry have already proceeded to affected areas to carry out the relief activities.

The Minister cautioned the people in the landslide prone areas to be vigilant about possible landslides as rains continued.

The government has directed the Treasury to release funds to District Secretaries to provide food and other relief items to the affected families.

Meanwhile, the Meteorology Department warned of more thundershowers in the Northern, Eastern, North Central and Uva provinces and in the eastern slopes of the central hills and in the Hambantota district.

Sri Lankan government to present controversial Divi Neguma Bill for parliamentary approval next month

The Sri Lankan government plans to present the controversial Divi Neguma Bill to parliament for approval next month.

Deputy Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena has said several amendments would be introduced to the Bill as ordered by the Supreme Court.

The Bill is expected to be presented to parliament on January 8th when the House meets after the December vacation.

The debate on the Divi Neguma Bill was held on November 6th, but was adjourned following a speech on

the Bill by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

Abeywardena has said that amendments to the Bill would be introduced before presenting it to parliament.

The Supreme Court had determined that several clauses of the Bill need to be passed by a special majority in parliament while one clause that gives the authority to the Minister to appoint administrative zones would require the approval of the people at a referendum unless it is amended to give that appointing authority to the Cabinet of Ministers.

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

SAARC

29

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq meets Imran Khan

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday blamed weak Pak-India leadership for lack of big decisions on the Kashmir issue.

“Leadership in Pakistan and India is not powerful which could take big decisions to resolve the longstanding issue,” he said while addressing a joint press conference

with visiting Kashmiri Hurriat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq here.

Khan emphasized on the need to resolve the Kashmir issue through talks only.

He said that taking the peace process forward was in the interests of Pakistan, India and Kashmir.

The PTI chief said that withdrawal of Indian troops from Kashmir was

necessary.

Speaking on this occasion, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that the Kashmiri movement could not be suppressed by force or violence.

Mirwaiz meets political leaders The visiting delegation of All Parties Hurriyat Conference led by its Chairman Mirwaiz Umar

Car bomb kills 17 in Jamrud

At least 17 people were killed and more than sixty injured in a car blast in Jamrud bazaar near a bus queue on Monday.

Forty-five critically wounded people were rushed to the Peshawar Complex Hospital where some of them were reported serious, hospital and administration sources said.

Women and children were also among those killed, sources said. Twenty-one cars and seven shops were destroyed in the blast. According to local sources, explosive material had been placed in a car which had reportedly been parked in front of a market near the compound of the political

administration at about 10am.

Doctor Sameen Jan Shinwari at the Agency Headquarters hospital in Jamrud said, “Four women were among those killed in the blast and they were all Afghans. These women were coming from the border in a hired car, which was completely destroyed.

These women’s Afghan passports were found in a bag.” The explosion was so huge and powerful that it was heard in far-flung areas in Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency.

Security forces and Khasadar Force personnel rushed to the site soon after the

explosion that killed seventeen persons, including women and children.

More than sixty persons were reported wounded and forty-five of them were taken to Peshawar Complex Hospital. Sources also said that twenty-one cars and seven shops were badly destroyed in the blast.

The wounded persons were taken to Peshawar because of lack of the facilities in Jamrud Civil Hospital, the sources added. Security forces cordoned off the area and also fired in the air to disperse onlookers to prevent casualties in the event of another blast.

Farooq called on various political leaders here on Monday.

The delegation met PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain at his residence. Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Secretary General PML-Q Mushahid Hussain Sayed were also present. Meanwhile, Awami National Party (ANP) President

Asfandyar Wali Khan has supported the right of self-determination to Kashmiris and assured the APHC delegation that the party was in favour of a peaceful solution of the problem.

Talking to the visiting APHC delegation led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, here Monday, the ANP President said it was the right of every nation to decide about its future and stressed that the UN should play its role in the attainment of rights by the Kashmiris. After the meeting, Faiz Naqashbandi, representative of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere during which both sides gave their view point in a frank manner.

He said the APHC delegation told the ANP leader that Kashmiris would not agree to any settlement other than independence.

UK to pull out 4,000 troops in Afghanistan during 2013 Continued from page 19 >> extra pressure on Afghan forces and UK troops remaining in the country.

Mr Cameron is likely to argue that the UK can make a withdrawal on this scale because the US is likely to do the same.

Senior members of the cabinet, including George Osborne, have been pressing for a drastic cut in the size of the force, arguing that the war is proving costly.

So far, 438 members of British forces have been killed in Afghanistan.

The chancellor and other ministers opposed to the war point out that it is costing £2.5bn a year.

Delhi gang-rape case: let this never happen to anyone else, says victim’s father Continued from page 19 >>

She is in critical condition in a Delhi hospital

The bus had tinted windows and curtains, which is illegal in the capital. On board were six men attacking a medical student and her male friend. When they were done, they stripped the couple, pushed them from the bus onto the road, and took off to destroy the couple’s clothing and wash away the blood that was splattered in the vehicle. “It’s a heinous crime; very upsetting,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar visited the hospital where the young woman who was assaulted is fighting for her life. She said that the woman’s parents told her that they are very poor, and often eat ‘namak-roti’ (salt and bread) because they cannot afford much else. They sold a small field they owned to pay for their daughter’s dream of becoming a doctor. Ms Kumar said that the woman’s father told her, “I don’t blame anyone. I just want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to any other girl.”

The unimaginably egregious attack has the

public and parliamentarians demanding change- in laws, in the way that laws are implemented, and in the security offered to women in the capital.

Vinay Sharma, a gym instructor, was arrested Tuesday morning. The other three accused - bus driver Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh and a fruit seller, Pawan Gupta alias Kalu - were arrested from Ravidas Camp slum of R.K. Puram area in south Delhi earlier. Ram Singh was arrested Monday and the other two later.

Two more accused - Akshay Thakur and Raju - are still at large.

According to police, the men were out on a joyride on the night of the incident and had been consuming liquor in the bus.

Of the six men accused of the gang-rape, four have been arrested and three of them have confessed in court today. “Hang me, I am guilty,” said one, while another admitted to beating the woman’s friend but said she had not been struck.

Two men have yet to be traced.

Delhi gang-rape: Doctors remove victim’s intestines

Delhi gang-rape victim battles on, undergoes fifth surgery The intestines of the 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in Delhi by a group of men Sunday night have been removed in a two-hour surgery, doctors said Wednesday, adding that the victim is “still critical”. The 23-year-old paramedical student, who was gang-raped and tortured in a moving bus on Sunday night, on Wednesday underwent fifth surgery and “continues to be critical but stable”, doctors attending on her said.

Doctors at the Safdarjung hospital where she is undergoing treatment performed an elective abdominal surgery -- gastronomy and duodenustromy -- and surgeons had to remove her gangrenous small intestine.

They said she has lost most of her intestine.

“This was a planned surgery and at this juncture she is responding to treatment fairly well, she is stable but she continues to be critical,” Dr B D Athani, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, said.

The girl, who remains on ventilatory support, was taken to operation theatre at 10 am and was shifted to ICU at around 1 pm after

surgery. Doctors said she had withstood the operation fairly well.

“She is fairly stable at this juncture and we have to wait and watch. We would observe for the stability for next few hours,” she said.

“Before going for surgery, she was quite alert and spoke to her mother and brother as at that time there was no tube so she utilised that opportunity but her father didn’t go inside,” doctors said.

Athani said that on Tuesday also her level of alertness was good but today since she is recovering from anaesthesia, she is “not communicating nor are we are trying to communicate”.

“Her abdomen has been cleaned and it has been closed. Because most of the intestine, almost all portion, I would say, because of the initial loss and subsequent gangrene is not existent,” he said.

Doctors said that Duodenum, which is the first part of the intestine, has been brought out of the stomach and a tube has been put into drain out whatever secretions are there.

She is being fed intravenously. She is getting feeding as well as antibiotics and all her essential drugs through intravenous route.

NEWS

30

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

Peshawar under attack Attacker’s demonic tattoo draws fresh TTP conclusions

Peshawar has been under attack from militants for some time, but this weekend will probably go down in the city’s history. Not just was there a major attack on the city’s airport, but the very next day, Sunday, there was a major gunbattle in a residential area. In both, the militants were killed, preventing any interrogation that might provide some indication of where the next attack might come, or failing that, at least some idea of their modus operandi. The airport was targeted, with the Tehrik-iTaliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman accepting responsibility, saying that the fighters and gunship helicopters flying out of Peshawar were the targets, and vowed that the attacks would continue. It thus seems that the TTP launched the attack because Peshawar Airport, a dual-purpose air base, was where the aircraft operated from against the militants in the Tribal Areas.

An injured of Peshawar Airport rocket attack, is being treated at local hospital. At least four people have been killed and 40 others injured in a terrorist attack on Peshawar Airport.

It should be crystal clear to any terrorist organizations which operate “in the name of Pakistan”, that no challenge to the writ of the state can be tolerated. The excuse that somehow the military has “invited” trouble on itself is a cowardly attempt

to cloud people’s judgement and destabilize the source of support that any troops involved in fighting a war ought to receive from the nations at whose behest and on whose behalf they risk their lives. It is unfortunate that the terrorist threat continues to emanate from Afghanistan, as well as their sympathizers on our side of

state of Pakistan. Any organizations acting as “benevolent” anarchists ought to remember that.

The authorities must not be content at entrusting the security of the airport to the armed forces, but must also play an effective role in obtaining the intelligence of future attacks that appear imminent. They

showed, the Airport will not be the only target, and the entire city will be the battleground. The government must realise that its policies have contributed to the challenge it is facing, and with the USA on the verge of withdrawing from Afghanistan, it is vital that Pakistan is not saddled with the blame for the long American

the border. How much more patience does Pakistan have for this kind of violence and anarchy? There is only one loyalty that a Pakistani will accept – and that is a loyalty to the

should remember that Peshawar is a city under attack, and that this a time not just to affix blame and retaliate, but also to stop future attacks from occurring. As Sunday’s events

occupation of Afghanistan.

One of the 10 terrorists involved in Saturday night’s brazen attack on Peshawar airport had Westernstyle “tattoos” on his body, raising

questions about the identities of those behind the assault.

Security officials said at least five of the 10 attackers involved appeared to be Uzbek nationals. But counterterrorism officials are perplexed by the discovery of a demonic “tattoo” on the back of one of the terrorists.

“It’s the first time I have seen tattoos on the bodies of terrorists,” added the official, who has been part of several counter-terrorism operations in the tribal regions.

What does the tattoo show?

The image, though incomplete, appears to be a rendition of a Boris Vallejo sorcery-fantasy character.

In the militant’s case, the tattoo on his back is unfinished. One entire limb, strands of flowing hair and a smaller-headed sorcery-monster appear to be missing.

‘True face of TTP’ But a security official pointed out that tattoos on the bodies of terrorists exposed the TTP claims that they were fighting for Islam.

“We know their (TTP) true face.

We have raided their dens and even found pornographic films and male potency drugs from there,” he said.

When approached, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, Maj-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, said the authorities investigating the airport attack would certainly look into all possibilities.

Jammu youth Tejinder Singh becomes Bangladesh agree to tour Pakistan in 2013 Mr Singh International 2012

Crowned: Tejinder Singh, centre, was named the winner and posed with first runner-up Deepinder Singh and second runner-up Tarundeep Singh

It’s a pageant to showcase Sikh pride and it does that with elan. The annual Mr Singh International Turban Pride competition saw the brainy and the brawny among the Sikh youth from India and abroad show off their skills at the pageant held in Amritsar on Sunday.

The pageant, which was launched in

2005, was introduced to fight against stereotypes and promote Sikh culture

and traditions all over the world.

Tejinder Pal Singh Kathua of Kashmir bagged this year’s Mr Singh International 2012 title after a fierce battle with 25 other finalists.

Deepinder Singh, a young Sikh boy from Ludhiana was declared the first runner-up while Tarandeep Singh from Amritsar bagged the third position.

Sikh models show off their muscles on stage at the ‘Mr Singh International Turban Pride 2012’ pageant in Amritsar, India, on December 16, 2012. Competitors from Australia, Canada, Mauritius, and the United Kingdom flexed for the audience and demonstrated their knowledge of Sikh customs in a bid to win the role of Sikh cultural ambassador.

Bangladesh have agreed in principle to tour Pakistan early next year and become the first team to play international cricket there since the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus, officials said Monday.

“We have in principle agreed to tour Pakistan. It’s a commitment made by former BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) president Mustafa Kamal. We are keeping his word,” Enayet Husain Siraj, the board’s head of cricket operations, told AFP. “The tour is subject to security clearance,” he added.

Foreign teams have since refused to tour Pakistan since an attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009, which left eight people dead and seven Sri Lankan players wounded.

Bangladesh had also accepted an invitation to tour Pakistan last April for a short limited-over series but the Dhaka High Court blocked the tour on security grounds.

Officials have said they see no judicial

bar this time although Jalal Yunus, a spokesman for the BCB, said the board was still awaiting a security plan from its counterparts in Pakistan which would be discussed before signing off on the tour. “We’ll sit with our stakeholders including players and concerned government officials very soon,” he told AFP. Yunus said Pakistan had proposed two matches to take place in Lahore from January 12-13, one of which would be a 50-over international game and the other a Twenty20 contest.

In October Pakistan successfully hosted two Twenty20 exhibition matches involving a group of largely retired stars from South Africa, the West Indies, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Saarc international I Thursday 20 December 2012

SAARC

31

INDIA BECOMES THE KING OF KABADDI

Sensation and excitement ripples across the tons of spectators sitting across the jam packed Guru Nanak Stadium here, when India lifts the 3rd World Cup Kabaddi for the 3rd consecutive year thrashing its arch rival Pakistan with a decisive margin of 59-22 points. With the title of World Cup Kabaddi India got a prize money of 2 crore and Pakistan would take home Rs. 1 crore while the Canada clinched the third prize of Rs. 51 Lakh.

Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister Punjab had introduction with the players and formally inaugurated the match.

Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab, Mr. Rana Masood Ahmed, Deputy Speaker, Pakistan Punjab Assembly, Mr. Rana Sanaullha, Law Minister, Pakistan Punjab, Mr. Sardar Malik, Member Parliament, Pakistan, Mr. Karma Micheal, Member of National Assembly, Pakistan and Er. Kuram Dustgeer, Seneter, Pakistan was accompanying Chief Minister, Punjab.

They also had round of introduction with the players.

Registering hat trick, team India performed as expected and dashed Pakistan to the ground in every aspect.

The match become tilting toward India with the first two stops of Eakam Hathur.

At the end of the first half team India was leading with a point difference of 34-9.

India’s raider Gagandeep Singh Gaggi

Kheeranwali, Gurlal Ghanaur, Manminder Singh Sran and Sukhbir Sarawan bagged 10, 8, 8 and 7 points respectively whereas stoppers Ekam Hathur, Balbir Pala and Gurwinder Kahlwan showed an extraordinary sport and scored 10, 7 and 4 points respectively.

Pakistan’s raiders Safeeq Butt and Mohammad Irman scored 5 and 3 points respectively while Pakistani stoppers Sujad Gujjar bagged 5 points respectively.

Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the increase of prize money for the women

title from Rs. 51 lakh to Rs. 1 crore from next year.

Prominent among others who were present on the occasion included Mr. Charanjit Singh Atwal, Speaker, Punjab Assembley, Mr. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Mr. Balwinder Singh Bhunder (both MPs), Mr. Mr. Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Mr. Sikander Singh Maluka (both Cabinet Ministers), Miss Rubby Dhalla, Former Canadian MP and Mr. Pawan Kumar Tinnu, CPS (Sports).

Continued from page 32 >> attacks like what he did during his brutal fourth round loss to Garcia.

After the victory Saturday night, Khan called out former foe Danny Garcia and challenged him to a rematch.

“You could see the way I was fighting, more patiently,” Khan said. “At times he did catch me.

I just composed myself, stuck with the game plan, stayed with it and kept my composure.”

A week after his 26th birthday, Khan dominated with superior handspeed and was seldom tested in improving to 27-3 with his 19th early stoppage and first victory since stopping Zab Judah in July of last year. Hometown hero Molina, 27, fell to 17-1 with one draw.

Khan was stopped in the fourth round last July by American Danny Garcia in a showdown for two

BEST RAIDER AND STOPPER IN MEN SECTION ALSO AWARDED WITH PREET TRACTORS It was a proud moment for Gagandeep Singh Gaggi Kheeranwali and Eakam Hathur as they both got Preet Tractors for being declared as best raider and best stopper in the 3rd world cup Kabbadi.

DIFFERENT GAMES Before the commencement of the final match between India and Pakistan, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister Punjab, honoured Former Olympians of different games. The Olympians who were honoured included Baljeet Dhillon, varinder Singh, Varinder Singh, Sanjeev

BEST RAIDER AND STOPPER IN WOMEN SECTION ALSO GET HONDA MOTOR CYCLES Priyanka Devi was declared the best raider and Jatinder Kaur was declared best stopper in women section. Both players were awarded with one-one Honda motor cycle worth Rs. 55 thousand. It may be added that the stopper Anu of Indian team has already been rewarded Rs 51 thousand by Punjab Deputy Chief minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal.

CM HONOURED OLYMPIANS OF

Kumar (all Hockey Players), Miss Manjeet Kaur and Brigadier Labh Singh (both Athletes), Dronachariya Awardee Sukhchain Cheema and Arjuna Awardee Balwinder Singh Fidda.

‘Punjabis’ Real Game’ turns into a festival All roads of this industrial city of Punjab led to Guru Nanak stadium near Fountain Chowk in Ludhiana on Saturday evening.

Long queues of spectators, including a good number of females of all age-groups, were seen outside the eight gates of the stadium that hosted the Kabaddi World

King Khan back

world titles after a controversial loss to US fighter Lamont Peterson last December.

Garcia, who watched from ringside, will defend his world titles against compatriot Judah in February.

But Khan hopes for a rematch with Garcia after that.

“I’m ready for Danny Garcia anywhere, any time, any place,” Khan said. “He was lucky. He caught me with a good shot.”

Khan opened a cut over the left eye of Molina in the

opening seconds and the Englishman pressed the attack against his smaller rival with jabs and quick combinations.

After trading punches, Khan would walk to reposition himself for his next attack, a patient strategy instilled upon him by new trainer Virgil Hunter, who Khan began working with eight weeks ago after dumping Manny Pacquiao cornerman Freddie Roach.

“He’s teaching me how to understand boxing,” Khan said. “If I’m using my speed properly, there’s nobody in the world who can beat me.

“I get too ballsy for my own good. But now with Virgil I’m sticking behind that jab and staying patient.”

Round after round, Khan got the best of nearly every exchange as a bloodied Molina refused to back down but struggled to even test Khan’s defenses.

“I caught him with some good shots and he kept

Cup finals of men and women on Saturday evening.

“Kabaddi is the real game of Punjabis and we all feel proud that Ludhiana has got a chance to host the finals. I have taken half-day leave from my office to witness the spectacular performances of Indian teams,” Ruhi Ghai, 28, who works with a private insurance company and a resident of BRS Nagar told TOI. Sukhwinder Singh, 34, a college lecturer and a resident of Model Town, told TOI, “Kabbadi matches are nothing less than any big Indian festivals for us. I have come here with my family and the idea is to enjoy every bit of the evening.”

In the women finals, India faced Malaysia whereas men finals saw the title clash between arch rivals India and Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of kabaddi fans had thronged the stadium and all stands presented a jam-packed look.

Besides energy-packed performances of Indian men and women in their respective kabaddi matches, spectators were seen hooked with popular Punjabi numbers and world famous gangnam style. There was an over one-hour performance by various Punjabi singers and playing of gangnam style music and DJs in-between the women’s and men’s kabaddi final matches.

Kabaddi fans were seen dancing, thumping, cheering, singing and waving Indian tricolour while enjoying the performances.

“Yes, I am a hard-core fan of kabaddi, but I have come here to also enjoy performances of various Punjabi singers. I do not know the name of even a single kabaddi player, but I know all these singers and gangnam style is my favourite,” Kshitij Mahajan, 22, a student of Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, told reporters.

coming,” Khan said. “I thought ‘I had better stick to my game plan because this kid is tough.’”

Rumours circulated that Bolton bruiser Khan had suffered the injuries during the fight in Los Angeles and that his next outing — in April — was in doubt.

Amir Khan’s father has refuted claims his son broke both of his hands against Carlos Molina at the weekend.

But his dad Shah insisted: “The claims are complete and utter rubbish. Khan’s father has admitted the former Olympic silver medallist suffered soreness, but stated that is normal for any fighter and that a specialist gave a clean bill of health.

“The claims are complete and utter rubbish,” Khan senior is quoted as saying in the Sun. “After Amir beat Molina there was some swelling but at no time did we suspect anything was broken. Just to make certain he went to hospital to see the specialist and they gave him the all-clear.

32

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 20 December 2012

King Khan back

Now bring Danny Garcia, Khan broken hands talk rubbished

British fighter returns to winning way after consecutive losses Khan dominated the fight, scoring almost at will until the tenth round when Molina’s handlers decided to call it a night for the unbeaten Molina,

who was blooded as a result of Khan’s constant jabs and power punches that landed on targets.

Khan fought with extreme caution against Molina, maintaining proper distance and avoiding reckless Continued on page 31 >>

SAT

Sports

England’s cricketers triumph with India series win Youngsters key to reviving India’s lost form making a second Indian innings unnecessary.

It was an achievement that was almost unimaginable after the first test in Ahmedabad, when England slumped to a nine-wicket defeat.

Fightback Their fightback began in Mumbai, led

India have lost their first Test series in eight years on the home soil, while England have won their first in India in 28 years. MS Dhoni’s 100 per cent victory record on the home soil has been broken. But this series defeat has exposed the loopholes in Indian cricket.

The man who could have done

by the batting of Cook and Kevin Pietersen and the spin bowling of Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann.

Cook told Sky Sports: “We didn’t handle the Continued on page 31 >>

two years shows that the skipper needs to introspect. In the last two years, India’s winning percentage in Tests stands at a poor 33.33 which is far below expectations.

Of the 21 Tests played in this period, including the just-concluded Kolkata Test, India have won just seven, lost 10 and drawn four matches,

nothing wrong, every decision that an abysmal performance for a star he took on field was sure to yield studded team like India. positive results suddenly seems to As England achieve a dramatic have lost that Midas touch. test series victory over India The performance of the Indian for the first time in 27 years, Cricket team in 2012 can be termed captain Alastair Cook says his nothing less than pathetic. Right from team “can be very proud”. losing the Test series in England to a Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell played humiliating defeat in Australia and vital roles in the win in Nagpur, with now the dismal performance at home both scoring centuries on the final Dubai Airport Free Zone Airport Road Tong Ping against England goes on to show that day of the series.

P.O. Box 293674 - Dubai, UAE P.O. Box 572 - Juba, South Sudan Captain courageous Mahendra Singh The last time England’s cricketers T: +971 4 2533028 | F: +971 4 2533029 T: +211 99 9000 099 | F: +211 99 9000 098 Dhoni has fallen short of ideas. And won a test series in India in 1984-85, his out of form batsmen are making Alastair Cook was only weeks old. matters even worse for him.

Trott (143 runs) and Bell (116, not info@questqualitas.com | www.questqualitas.com Quest Qualitas is Atlas Copco and Dynapac Authorized Distributor in South Sudan Dhoni’s captaincy record of the past out) helped their side to 352 for four, Published by Saarc International Ltd, Suite 101, 10 Courtenay Road, London HA9 7ND. UK Telephone:020 8904 0619 Fax: 020 8181 7575 E-mail: info@satribune.co.uk www.satribune.co.uk, www.saarc.co.uk. Printed at Mirror.