India, UN should look into plight of people of Indian origin in Malaysia, Sri Lanka: HRDI

New Delhi, February 25: The second and final day of the 2nd International Conference on Human Rights Concerns of Indian Diaspora saw some brainstorming sessions on the issues of human rights violations of Indians in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh among others.

In a session on Sri Lanka, speakers which included Karim Assaad, M N Krisknamani, President, HRDI, expressed their concern on the state of the suffering Tamil population in Sri Lanka. Assaad spoke on how the democratic rights of the Tamils in Sri Lanka have been neglected. A draft resolution was passed that urgent steps should be taken to compel the Sri Lankan government to stop ethic and linguistic discrimination against the Tamil in Sri Lanka. It was also agreed upon by the organization that the Union government of India should be asked to initiate talks with Sri Lankan government at diplomatic levels so that the human rights violation and injustice on the Tamils in Sri Lanka are averted. The draft resolution also added that a request should be made to the United Nations to actively interfere to remove the human rights violations meted out to Tamils by sending an independent team to ascertain the ground realities

In a session on Malaysia which was moderated by Chairman of the organising committee Gopal Agarwal, well known scholar Datuk A Vaithilingam said that thousands of Indian workers have been made to live in the worst of conditions as indentured ones in Malaysia. He added that most people of Indian origin live in economic neglect. A major cause of concern, Vaithilingam said was the growing fundamentalism of the nation’s government. Vaithilingam said that India must look into the plight of PIOs.

P Waytha Moorthy, a Malaysian lawyer of Tamil origin who has fought for the human rights concerns of Malaysian Tamils said that Malaysian government should think of Malaysia-born Indians who have been living a life in stateless misery for past many years. He further said that the Malaysian government has blatantly denied basic human rights to millions of minority Malaysians.

Chitra, a research scholar working on the conditions of Tamils in Gulf countries, while speaking on the human rights concerns of Indians in Gulf countries highlighted the push (poverty, competition in local markets etc.) and pull (higher income, oil) factors which attract the Indians to move towards these countries. She said that loss of identity while landing in a Gulf country, wage discrimination and religious biasness are amongst the major human rights violations faced by Indians in the Gulf nations. She also focused on the how the nexus of recruiting agencies and employees lure the workers in an inappropriate manner towards these oil-rich nations.

In the session to deliberate over the human rights issues in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the plight of Hindus was discussed in an intense manner. Issues regarding the conditions of persons of Indian origin in these countries were strongly raised. Ram Singh Sodho, a well-known politician from Pakistan’s southern Sindh province who resigned in 2011 and has since moved to India, focused on the ordeals faced by Hindus living in Pakistan. He said that the major problems faced by forty percent of Hindu in Pakistan are that of forcible religious conversions and strict visa regulations. “Although each and every Hindu residing in Pakistan wants to move over to India, the strict visa rules make them stop from taking the move,” said Sodho. He also said that Pakistani Hindus are denied even to die with dignity, as they are barred from cremating the dead bodies. Senior journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik, sharing anecdotes on his visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan, said that the minorities are living their lives in misery in these countries. He said that the Indian government should take serious note of the facts. M N Krisknamani, President, HRDI, moved a draft resolution stating the formation of a committee of five members from HRDI, who will look into the plight of Hindus in India who have migrated from Pakistan and Afghanistan. The resolution also proposed the formation of a committee with Sodho as its member to find out the problems of Hindus presently residing in Pakistan.

The two-day conference ended with serious discussions on human rights concerns of Indians in United States, Australia, and Germany among others. General Secretary, HRDI, Rajesh Gogna, said that more discussions of the issue of human rights violations would be carried on in the similar manner. He also announced that next year’s conference would be held from January 5-6. Gauri Shankar Gupta, an educationist and social reformer, creative head of HRDI, Naresh Shandilya and Anil Joshi, President, Aksharam were also present during the sessions.

'I called him a b****** so he grabbed me by the throat and called me a white b****': Girl, 15, gives harrowing account of being passed around 'grooming gang' for sex

Teenager told court she was forced to have sex with 21 different men

She said the men made her feel 'scared and awful'

11 men on trial accused of a variety of sex offences against children including rape, trafficking and sex assault

A 15-year-old victim of a child sexual exploitation ring was 'grabbed by the throat' and called a 'white b****' when she refused to have sex, a court heard today.
The girl is one of five alleged victims, aged as young as 13, who were 'shared' and 'passed around' by 11 men who all deny conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children under the age of 16.
One of the men, a 59-year-old defendant who cannot be named, also denies two counts of rape, aiding and abetting a rape, one count of sexual assault and an allegation of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.

Kabeer Hassan (left), from Oldham, and Qamar Shazad (right), from Rochdale, both deny rape

The offences are said to have happened in and around Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in 2008 and 2009.
The girls were abused by the men who used alcohol, money, drugs and threats of violence to force them to have sex, the court heard.
Today police interviews were played to jurors at Liverpool Crown Court in which a 15-year-old victim, who is now 19, re-lived the moment she was taken to the home of Adil Khan, who was known to them as 'Billy'.
She went to the house in Rochdale, with a slightly older girl (Girl A) and four men were waiting for them.
She refused to have sex with one of the men who then turned on her.
She said: 'I called him a b*****d so he grabbed me by the throat and called me a white b****.'

Mohammed Amin (left), who denies sexual assault, was among the defendants on trial along with Abdul Qayyum (right) 

The girl, who cannot be identified, told police she was 'scared' of Girl A who was pushing her into having sex with numerous men.
The court heard she was forced to have sex with more than 21 different men over the course of the abuse.
The jury heard how she was raped and forced to have sex with numerous men by the 59-year-old.

Abdul Rauf (left) denies trafficking for sexual exploitation while Mohamed Sajid denies trafficking, two counts of rape and one allegation of sexual activity with a child

Then Abdul Aziz, known to the girls as Tariq, 'took over'.

Liquat Shah denies two counts of rape

The court heard she would see Girl A and Aziz at the Tasty Bites takeaway in Market Street, Heywood, where she was introduced to men whom she was expected to have sex with.
She said that Girl A said to her: 'Did you not know? He (Aziz) gets paid for us sh****** people.'
She said the men there made her feel 'scared' and 'awful'.
'They were saying things like, she’s fat but she’ll be easy, and things like that,' she told the police.
Asked by the police officer interviewing her why she did not try to get out of it earlier, she responded: 'I don’t know. I got sacred of (Girl A) and scared of Tariq.'
The court heard Girl A threatened to tell the victim’s mother what she had been doing and also said she would 'get her battered' if she did not have sex with the men she was taken to.
Aziz would get paid £30 or £40 and the girls would sometimes get £10. Other times they would not be paid at all.
Aziz took the girls out to different houses and flats in the area, including the home of Mohammed Shazad in Rochdale.
Shazad is wanted on warrant by police in connection with these offences.
The girl told police she was taken to Shazad’s flat four times a week for three months and had sex with around nine different men.
The court heard that Girl A even forced her 13-year-sister into having sex with the men.
The girl became pregnant and had the child aborted, the court heard.
Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43,  Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan,42,  Abdul Qayyum, 43, Mohammed Amin, 44, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, Hamid Safi 22, and the 59-year-old man all live in the Greater Manchester area.

A bomb alert at Liverpool Crown Court earlier this week brought proceedings to a halt during the trial of the eleven men accused of grooming young children

Iran: Burning White House will compensate for burning of Quran

Tehran - An Iranian commander has added his voice to the condemnation of the U.S. military actions in burning copies of the Quran in Afghanistan.

Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, Commander of Iran's Basij force, said "Nothing but burning the White House can relieve the wound of us, the Muslims, caused by the Burning of Quran in the US. Their apology can be accepted only by hanging their commanders; hanging their commanders means an apology" FARS Iranian news agency reported.

The commander attributed the real reason for the burning of the Quran to "the heavy slap it (U.S.) has been given by Islam." He also stressed that U.S. apologies cannot be accepted by Muslims as it makes so many mistakes.

According to Alarabiya, Friday's prayer leader in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, told worshippers the U.S.

burning of the Quran was intentional. He said "Based on reports by reporters, this was an intentional move prompted by the hatred of American statement for Islam. I announced with a loud voice, the world should know that the U.S. administration is hostile to Islam; Americans’ insult was not a mistake, rather deliberately because Washington rulers are hostile to Islam.”

Gen. John Allen, commander of ISAF and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has called for calm in the midst of violent protests against the U.S. military, as he urged "Now is not the time for vengeance." CNN reported he called on troops to "show the Afghan people that as bad as that act was at Bagram, it was unintentional, and Americans and ISAF soldiers do not stand for this. We stand for something greater than that."

The words of the two influential Iranians, the military commander Naqdi and Ayatollah Khatami, adds to the rhetoric that constantly emanates from Iran in calls for death to Americans, often amounting to little more than an expected formula position.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan itself, the Los Angeles Times reports that the perception amongst educated Afghans is that the situation over the Quran burning incident has been exploited. Moderate Afghan Muslim Hamed Saboori said "there are elements that want to take advantage of this irresponsible act. The whole issue has been manipulated."

Tolak pemimpin yang sokong Lynas

PM sounds the battle-cry: Throw out Pakatan

Don't give the opposition another term, the prime minister tells the people in Selangor.

PORT KLANG: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today said the opposition pact – Pakatan Rakyat –should not be given an “extension” to govern Selangor as it had not fulfilled the promises it made to the people of the state and in fact had burdened them with more problems.

He said Selangor had progressed because of the policies and infrastructure implemented by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government before the opposition came to power in the state (in the last general election) and thus they should not “claim credit” for the hard work put in by the BN.

“We admit we might have made some mistakes which caused the people to not support us (BN). But we have learnt from our past mistakes and apologise to the people of Selangor if we had made mistakes.

“And we pledge that as a result, and our awareness of it, we will rise up withrenewed vigour to change the landscape of Selangor so that under the BN, we will move forward to a future that is much better,” he said when launching the Selangor BN election machinery here.

In his speech which lasted about 30 minutes, Najib, who is also Selangor BN chairman, said since two weeks ago, he had gone down to the ground in Perak, Malacca and Kedah and today was in Selangor, and found the mood in the country now was for the BN to win big when the general election comes.

The heavy rain that fell before the prime minister’s arrival at around 5pm did not dampen the morale of the BN supporters present to hear the message from Najib, who was on a one-day visit to Selangor.

Calling the crowd “Selangor BN’s army”, Najib said the BN could wrest back Selangor if the “army” was beefed up further, courageous, smart and willing to work harder than anyone else.

“The spirit is there, the objectives are clear, the planning is in place… everything is in our favour… let us sound the battle-cry,” said Najib in full fervour to thunderous applause from the crowd.

Best chance

Najib also said BN members must accept the top leadership’s decision in selecting candidates for the coming general election and give their full support to those chosen when it was called.

“Don’t sabotage our own party, because if we do that, it is like scoring an own goal, and when this happens we will lose and then we will have only ourselves to blame,” he said.

“Four years (under the opposition in Selangor) is enough, let’s not give them another term because it will be difficult to win back the state after that. This is our best chance to return Selangor to the BN,” he said.

Najib also reminded the candidates to look after the interests of all races and not just any particular race as this would be the basis in ensuring victory for the BN.

According to him, the BN’s fighting spirit took a beating after the political tsunami in the last general election (2008).

“But in these four years, we have rebuilt the BN election machinery, our fighting sprit is back and we are raring to go,” he said.

-Bernama

Polis: Himpunan Hijau cuma tarik 3,000 orang

Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dan beberapa pemimpin lain hadir di perhimpunan itu.

KUANTAN: Himpunan Hijau 2.0 yang berlangsung di padang MPK 4 di sini hari ini gagal menarik kehadiran 20,000 orang seperti disasarkan apabila hanya kira-kira 3,000 orang hadir pada perhimpunan bagi membantah operasi kilang nadir bumi Lynas.

Walaupun tiada kejadian tidak diingini berlaku pada perhimpunan itu namun polis kesal kerana terdapat kalangan mereka di bawah umur 15 tahun menyertai perhimpunan itu, kata Ketua Polis Daerah Kuantan ACP Mohd Jasmani Yusof.

Beliau berkata polis kesal dengan pihak penganjur yang tidak mematuhi sepenuhnya syarat yang telah dipersetujui bersama bagi mengadakan perhimpunan itu sebelum ini.

Kira-kira 3,000 orang hadir ke perhimpunan itu termasuk Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim serta beberapa pemimpin parti politik pembangkang, katanya kepada pemberita di sini, hari ini.

Mohd Jasmani berkata, pihak polis memberi kerjasama sepenuhnya termasuk tidak mengadakan sekatan jalan dan malah memberikan penunjuk arah ke padang MPK 4 kepada orang luar yang datang ke perhimpunan itu.

Sementara itu, tinjauan Bernama mendapati beberapa pemimpin politik turut membuat ucapan berbaur politik pada perhimpunan itu sekalipun antara syarat perhimpunan itu ialah tidak dibenarkan berceramah perkara lain selain isu alam sekitar.

Syarikat Lynas Advanced Material Plants telah diberikan lesen untuk beroperasi sementara.

KITA: Zaid adalah ketua

"Laporan bahawa Zamil Ibrahim ketua baru `satu berita lucu/lelucon, kenyataan yang bebal dan tidak siuman, silap dan sama sekali tidak berasas, kata Masrum Dayat'.

PETALING JAYA: Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air (KITA) menegaskan Datuk Zaid Ibrahim adalah ketua dan parti menolak tawaran beliau mengundur diri.
,
Keputusan itu dibuat dalam mesyuarat jawatankuasa eksekutif pusat parti pada 17 Februari lalu dan dihadiri 25 daripada 30 ahli, kata Setiausaha Pusat KITA, Masrum Dayat dalam kenyataan media hari ini.

“Laporan bahawa Zamil Ibrahim ketua baru `satu berita lucu/lelucon, kenyataan yang bebal dan tidak siuman, silap dan sama sekali tidak berasas’.

“Parti KITA adalah sebuah pertubuhan politik yang ditubuhkan di bawah Akta Pertubuhan. Parti ini mempunyai Perlembagaan dan peraturannya.

“Ketua parti ini hanya boleh diganti mengikut Perlembagaan dan peraturan parti dan bukan ikut sesuka hati sesorang bekas ahli yang dipecat secara sah atau ikut “syok sendiri”,” kata Masrum.

Tidak akan bubar

Masrum berkata, mesyuarat yang dikatakan diadakan di Kota Baru semalam bukan mesyuarat parti, barangkali mesyuarat bekas ahli-ahli parti.

Semalam sekumpulan bekas ahli KITA yang dipecat mengadakan mesyuarat khas telah melantik Zamil, bekas ketua KITA Kedah sebagai ketua parti yang baru.

Zamil dipecat dari parti itu baru-baru ini ekoran beberapa tindakan yang menentang dasar parti.

Menurut Masrum lagi, mesyuarat juga bersetuju sebulat suara KITA tidak akan dibubar.

Tetapi, kata beliau ahli yang menentang dasar parti untuk menyokong Pakatan Rakyat akan diambil tindakan disiplin, termasuk memecat mereka.

Parti akan menjawab surat dan sentiasa memberikan kerjasama sepenuhnya kepada Pendaftar Pertubuhan berhubung aduan- aduan yang ditimbulkan oleh mereka.

Pemimpin PKR didakwa kena tangkap khalwat

Pemimpin itu diserbu pegawai penguatkuasa Jabatan Agama Islam Pahang kira-kira jam 3 pagi di bilik hotel berkenaan.

PETALING JAYA: Seorang pemimpin kanan PKR didakwa ditangkap berdua-duaan dipercayai bersama wanita berstatus isteri orang di sebuah hotel di Balok awal pagi tadi.

Pemimpin itu diserbu pegawai penguatkuasa Jabatan Agama Islam Pahang (Jaip) kira-kira jam 3 pagi di bilik hotel berkenaan.

Menurut sumber, beliau berada di hotel itu bagi menyertai pertemuan (retreat) bersama pimpinan PKR lain selama tiga hari.

Melalui khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS) yang diedarkan kepada pimpinan dan anggota PKR lain, pemimpin yang didakwa menafikan hal itu.

Melalui SMS itu, beliau menjelaskan bahawa wanita terbabit mempunyai masalah keluarga, malah beliau turut menasihatinya untuk pulang.

Difahamkan juga pemimpin yang didakwa terbabit turut membuat laporan polis.

FMT tidak dapat menghubungi pemimpin berkenaan untuk mendapatkan ulasan beliau.

Najib Announces Several Key Initiatives For Indian Community

KAPAR, Feb 26 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tonight announced several key initiatives for the Indian community which included the construction of new classroom blocks for National-Type Tamil Primary Schools (SJKTs) here and Klang and additional places for Indian students at matriculation colleges in the country.

The prime minister said enough allocations would be provided for the construction of a new block for SJKT Methodist in Kapar as requested by the school's management and parents of the students there.

In his speech before a crowd exceeding 20,000 people from the community who had gathered for a Ponggal (Indian harvest festival) celebration here, Najib said the government was also looking into building three school blocks needed by SJKT Simpang Lima in Klang.

"The construction of the three blocks is to accommodate the increasing enrolment at the first Tamil cluster school in the country," he said when addressing the crowd at the TNB quarters Kilat Club field here.

Najib also announced that the intake of Indian students at matriculation colleges would be increased from 559 now to more than 1,500 for the 2012/2013 academic term.

Also present were the prime minister's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim and MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel.

Najib said adding more places at matriculation colleges would have a big impact on the number of Indian students qualifying for tertiary education, which was greeted by robust "ayes" from the people present, who did not budge from the place despite heavy rain.

At the ceremony, which was also graced by performances by local artistes and also from India, Najib had more good news for the Indian community in Kapar.

He said the government would give adequate aid for the building of a crematorium in Kapar town so that the Indian community would be able to carry out funerals without having to go elsewhere for the facility.

All the initiatives were in line with the inclusive 1Malaysia concept which sought social justice for all, he said.

"I invite the Indian community to be a partner of the government based on the spirit of 'nambikei' (trust) to bring Malaysia to greater heights," he said, adding that the government had approved an additional allocation of RM340 million for Tamil schools throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Palanivel in his speech, said he hoped Najib would provide more opportunities in agriculture and agro-based industries for the Indian community as it would help in boosting gross domestic product.

Rakaman Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim Dihimpunan Hijau Kuantan

Mat Zain: ‘No doubt’ Shahrizat’s husband, children committed multiple CBT

By Clara Chooi - The Malaysian Insider


KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Former senior police officer Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim asserted today that the National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFCorp) controversial condominium purchases are clear examples of CBT (criminal breach of trust), adding the Attorney-General should have “no doubt” of this when deciding whether to press charges.

Mat Zain said that based on provisions in Section 409 of the Penal Code, the husband and children of minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who run the NFCorp, should each be slapped with numerous counts of CBT.

If convicted, the former KL CID chief said they would be liable to a jail term of between two and 20 years, whipping and a fine.

“After having sighted the NFC (National Feedlot Centre) loan agreement that was made available yesterday, coupled with the public statement by the Commercial Crimes Investigations Director (CCID), I would say that the Attorney General’s Chambers should not have any doubts in their mind now, that these are clear cut case of CBTs by agent as defined under Section 409 (of the) Penal Code.

“There’s no two ways about it. This is not like a breach of an agreement,” he said in an emailed statement to The Malaysian Insider today.

In an in intriguing twist to the ongoing NFC saga, CCID Director Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan confirmed yesterday that the police would recommend CBT charges against all NFCorp directors to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Mat Zain noted that under the law, every disbursement of public funds in the NFC that was considered in violation of the loan agreement would be considered as one office.

He singled out NFCorp’s controversial condominium purchases, saying every payment for the property, whether for downpayment or instalment, would be viewed as one CBT charge.

“For example the purchase of Condo A: If the purchase of Condo A involved 10 instalments at different times, using the same fund then, they are answerable to 10 counts of CBT charges. That’s how it works.

“So it looks like Shahrizat’s husband and children have committed multiple CBTs by agents in the NFC fiasco,” he said.

NFCorp, which operates the NFC, a RM250 million federally-funded cattle-farming project, is chaired by federal minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s husband, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail. Their three children also hold executive posts in the company.

The NFC hit the headlines after it made it into the Auditor-General’s Report last year, and has continued to hog the limelight after it was linked to Shahrizat and her family.

Since then, PKR has revealed numerous startling exposes over the scandal-ridden project, including allegations that millions of ringgit have been siphoned off for land, property and personal expenses unrelated to cattle farming.

But recently, in response to claims that NFCorp had purchased two luxury condominiums worth RM34 million in Singapore’s posh Marina Bay Suites, Shahrizat’s son Wan Shahinur Izmir had explained that the company had decided that it would make better use of the money by investing in property during a break in business operations.

The break, said Wan Shahinur Izmir, was caused by the government’s decision to suspend the construction of an abattoir that would have been rented to NFCorp. According to Pua, however, the Finance Ministry had told a parliamentary committee last November that there was no provision that permits the NFCorp to use its federal loan to purchase property.

Since the scandal exploded in the media, Shahrizat (picture) has been faced with repeated calls for her resignation, even from her colleagues in Umno. But she has insisted that the project had nothing to do with her.

The Wanita Umno chief applied for three weeks’ leave from her ministerial duties last month when new allegations of bribery surfaced. She has since resumed her duties.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced last month Putrajaya would appoint an auditor to scrutinise NFCorp’s books in light of accusations made against the company, but dismissed calls for a royal commission of inquiry into the NFC.

Thugs disrupt Penang anti-Lynas protest

A group of about 50 unruly pro-Umno thugs tried to disrupt the anti-Lynas solidarity gathering at Speakers’ Square in Penang this evening. 

Click to enlarge the photos and notice the writing on the caps

Chaotic scenes at Speakers' Square in Penang. Photograph: Nakesvari Shanmugam

The gathering began at 6.00pm but according to tweets the provocation by the thugs began at 6.20pm.
The mob reportedly hurled abuse at CM Lim Guan Eng when he addressed the gathering at around 6.30pm.
According to one eye-witness, the anti-Lynas group number at least 300 (Malaysiakini put the figure at 500) and the hecklers less than 20 (Malaysiakini, 50). “Earlier, 100 motorbikes paraded at Speakers Square with Umno flags.”
The hecklers were five metres away from the Guan Eng, said the Chief Minister’s special assistant Jeffrey Chew. “The CM was prevented from leaving. Fights broke out. Media people were beaten up by unruly thugs. Some went to the crowd to threaten them.”
But the crowd displayed courage. “What seems to be a simple event became a political showdown,” said Chew, who was part of the human shield around the CM.
“(The) thugs were shouting profanity and stupid remarks about 1Malaysia and asking the CM to go home,” he recalled, adding that they also hurled abuse at the crowd.
Malaysiakini, for its part, reported that two journalists were struck with crash helmets.

The anti-Lynas crowd in Penang. Photograph: Mat Pijan

Uniformed police reportedly moved in at 7.15pm and ordered the gathering to disperse. An activist ended the event by leading the crowd with Negara Ku.
Over in Bukit Merah, some 2000 gathered for a solidarity gathering this morning, reports Dr T Jayabalan.