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ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
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Opposition demands PM make statement on reports over the issue
India’s parliament in chaos over conversions
NEW DELHI, Dec 16, (AFP): India’s parliament was thrown
into disarray Tuesday as opposition lawmakers protested at
mass conversions to Hinduism, with the uproar threatening to
disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s legislative agenda.
Angry lawmakers stormed the well of parliament’s upper
house forcing its shutdown for the day. They demanded Modi
make a statement on reports of poor Muslims being coerced
into converting to India’s majority religion.
“The house will not run until the prime minister comes for
discussion over the communal incidents and forced conversions issue,” Derek O’Brien, from the regional opposition
All India Trinamool Congress, told reporters.
The warning threatens to disrupt the Modi government’s
plans to pass a series of major economic reforms through
parliament, with just four days of the current session remaining.
The right-wing government, which swept to power at
national elections in May on a pledge to reform and revive
the economy, wants to pass a bill to open the insurance sector to foreign investment.
The government was also inching closer to finalising
agreement with India’s states on taxation reform by introducing a national sales tax, according to local media reports
on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was hopeful of tabling a
constitutional amendment in the current parliament for introduction of the long-awaited goods and services tax (GST), to
replace a myriad of overlapping state duties that deter investment.
Latorre was allowed to go home for medical treatment
Indian court refuses to extend Italian marine’s leave
NEW DELHI, Dec 16, (AFP): India’s top court ruled
Tuesday that an Italian marine detained for the 2012
killing of two fishermen must return in January after he
was allowed to go home for medical treatment.
The Supreme Court had given Massimiliano Latorre
leave to spend four months at home after he suffered a
cerebral ischaemia — a restricted blood supply that can
lead to a stroke — in September.
On Tuesday it rejected Latorre’s request to extend his
leave and undergo further treatment, saying the legal
proceedings must resume.
Latorre and fellow marine Salvatore Girone are
accused of shooting the fishermen while serving as part
of an anti-piracy mission on an Italian-flagged oil tanker
off the southern Indian state of Kerala in February 2012.
The Italian sailors say they mistook the fishing boat
for a pirate vessel and fired what were intended to be
warning shots.
The court also rejected a plea by Girone, who has
been living at Italy’s embassy in New Delhi, to be
allowed to go home for Christmas.
Italy says the pair should be tried on home soil since
the shootings involved an Italian-flagged vessel in what
Rome insists were international waters.
India, however, asserts the killings took place in
waters under its jurisdiction.
The marines were granted a home visit to vote in
national elections last year, but India was furious when
the Italian government initially said it would not send the
men back.
A hardline group linked to Modi’s Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been accused of converting
some 50 slum-dwelling Muslim families last week in the Taj
Mahal city of Agra.
One of the converts told AFP they were promised ration
cards and other financial incentives if they went ahead with
the conversions.
A BJP lawmaker has since announced plans for an even
biggger conversion event of Christians and Muslims on
Christmas Day in the northern town of Aligarh.
Critics say Hindu hardline groups have become more
emboldened since the BJP was elected, with rising communal tensions in the Hindu-majority but multi-faith country.
Parliament under the previous Congress-led government
was routinely paralysed, with shouting, jeering and protests
frequently forcing adjournments.
Women still unsafe in India, says
‘fatal’ gang-rape victim’s family
91 percent of women saw no improvements in safety: survey
NEW DELHI, Dec 16,
(AFP): Women’s safety
in India has not
improved since the
fatal gang-rape of a
student in New Delhi,
the victim’s parents
said Tuesday on the
anniversary of the
attack that sparked
international outrage.
Candle-lit vigils along with
a public meeting on women’s
safety were planned in New
Delhi to mark the second
anniversary of the attack that
unleashed a wave of public
anger over levels of violence
against women in India.
An Indian activist stands underneath hangmen’s nooses for convicted rapists during a demonstration in New Delhi on Dec 16, the second anniversary of the fatal gang-rape of a student in the Indian capital that unleashed a wave of public anger over levels of violence
against women in the country. Women’s safety in India has not
improved since the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi, the
victim’s parents said Dec 16 on the anniversary of the attack that
sparked international outrage. (AFP)
Kumaratunga calls for outside observers to monitor elections
Ex-Lanka leader warns of poll ‘skullduggery’
COLOMBO, Dec 16, (AFP): Sri Lanka’s former president warned Tuesday that her successor may resort to “skullduggery” to secure
an unprecedented third term, calling for outside observers to monitor the forthcoming
election.
Chandrika Kumaratunga, who re-entered
politics last month to support the main opposition presidential candidate, said she
believed the government would seek to intimidate rivals at the Jan 8 elections.
“On polling day, they (the government) will
resort to skullduggery,” Kumaratunga told
reporters at her home in Colombo. “It happened in previous elections too.”
President Mahinda Rajapakse, 69, called
the Jan 8 election two years ahead of schedule
after his party’s popularity showed a 21 percentage point decline at local elections in
September.
Kumaratunga, who is also 69, is the
patron of Rajapakse’s Sri Lanka Freedom
Party (SLFP), but the two are embroiled in a
personality feud and have become bitter
foes.
The former president returned to active politics last month to openly challenge
Rajapakse’s unprecedented bid for a third
term after rewriting the constitution to
remove the term limits on the presidency.
Kumaratunga said she hoped foreign governments would send election monitors to
encourage a free and fair election.
“The only thing the foreign governments
can do is to send more and more monitors
to observe the election,” Kumaratunga
said.
“Perhaps, they can also talk to the government about free and fair elections. But it will
be falling on deaf ears.”
Rajapakse is facing a surprise challenge
from his former health minister
Maithripala Sirisena, who has mustered
support from all the main opposition political parties as well as Kumaratunga’s
endorsement.
Private local election monitors say there
have already been scores of violent clashes
between rival groups since elections were
called last month. Half a dozen people have
been injured in shooting incidents.
Sri Lanka’s election authorities warned
state-run television networks last week not to
flout election laws by broadcasting programmes openly supporting the president’s
candidacy.
Local election monitors have also warned
of massive abuse of state vehicles and personnel for Rajapakse’s campaign.
The opposition has said it is collecting evidence of public officials engaging in election
propaganda for the ruling party and plans to
take court action.
The mother of the 23-year-old
student said she was disheartened
by what she feared were still high
numbers of attacks, despite a
tough new law against rapists.
“There are attacks happening
everyday,” the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons,
told NDTV news channel.
“Seeing this (daily reports of
attacks), it does not feel like anything has changed. Everything is
the same.”
A survey published Tuesday
said 91 percent of women also
saw no improvements in safety
despite a slew of measures rolled
out in the aftermath of the attack
including improved policing,
women’s helplines and fast-track
courts as well as the new law.
The survey by the Hindustan
Times newspaper of 2,557
women also found that 97 percent
had been victims themselves of
some kind of sexual harassment.
The student was savagely
attacked by six men including
with an iron rod after boarding a
private bus on her way home
from the cinema with a male
friend on Dec 16, 2012.
She died from her injuries 13
days later. The brutality of the
assault and her determination to
survive so she could report her
attackers to police sparked largescale street protests.
Four of her attackers were
convicted and given the death
penalty in September after the
case was fast-tracked, while a
juvenile was sentenced to a correctional facility.
Another died in jail after
apparently commiting suicide.
The case sparked soul-searching about India’s treatment of
women and also led to initiatives
to educate men about respect and
equal gender rights in the deeply
patriarchal country.
But activists say this month’s
case of a female passenger
allegedly raped by an Uber taxi
driver with a record of sexual
attacks shows the country still
has a long way to go two years
after the 2012 incident.
Demand govt remove colonial-era law
Gay rights activists rally in India’s capital
NEW DELHI, Dec 16, (AP): Nearly a thousand gay
rights activists marched through central New Delhi on
Sunday to demand an end to discrimination against
gays in India’s deeply conservative society.
Holding balloons, flags and placards, activists and
their supporters sang songs and danced to the beat of
Indian drums as they held hands and walked in the
rally, which has been held annually over the past few
years. Many wore multi-colored wigs, while others
wore face masks or had painted their faces.
Some activists carried a 15-meter (50-foot) rainbow-colored banner, a symbol of lesbian, gay and
transgender pride.
Indian gays are demanding that the government
remove a colonial-era law banning same-sex relations. India’s Supreme Court last year reversed a
lower court order that decriminalized gay sex.
Supporters of gays, lesbians and transsexuals vowed
to continue pressing for the removal of the law, which
makes gay sex punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Gay rights activists in the parade said the Supreme
Court’s decision was a setback. Many people in India
are more accepting of gays, especially in big cities
where gay-pride parades are now a fixture. Many bars
have gay nights, and some high-profile Bollywood
films have dealt with gay issues.
In most of the country, however, being gay is seen
as shameful, and many gays remain closeted.
“The Supreme Court decision has been a disappointment,” said Hilol Dutta, a gay rights activist who marched
Sunday. “We have come together to fight. We should win
this case and claim our right to live with dignity.”
The Supreme Court ruled that a 2009 decision by
the High Court to strike down the law was unconstitutional, saying that it was for lawmakers — not the
courts — to decide the matter.
Bangladeshi youths wave their national flags as they participate in a
rally held to mark the country’s 43rd Victory Day in Dhaka on Dec 16.
Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan after a bitter ninemonth war in 1971 led by the country’s founder Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, which is celebrated every year on Dec 16. (AFP)
In this photograph taken on Dec 22, 2012, Italian marines
Massimiliano Latorre (right), and Salvatore Girone (left), speak to
the press at Ciampino airport near Rome. India’s top court ruled on
Dec 16, that an Italian marine detained for the 2012 killing of two
fishermen must return in January after he was allowed to go home
for medical treatment. (AFP)
‘Focus misplaced’
India’s ‘smart’ cities plan
risks leaving mlns behind
NEW DELHI, Dec 16, (AFP):
As he pulled his family’s
belongings from the rubble of
his bulldozed home in the
Indian capital, Rajesh Kumar
was pessimistic about Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s
plans to revolutionise the
country’s stressed cities.
“All these years, I have seen
our city grow with many new
roads, flyovers and a metro,”
Kumar said of New Delhi.
“But I haven’t seen anything
change in our slum, only the
population has grown,” said
Kumar whose two-room shack
home along with hundreds of
others was suddenly demolished recently for encroaching
on state forest land.
“My oldest child is 11 and
the youngest is one, tell me
where will we go this winter?”
asked the stonemason.
After storming to power at
elections in May, Modi’s rightwing government pledged to
build 100 “smart” cities as part
of an ambitious agenda
of reform and
economic
development.
Tens
of
millions have
flocked from
the countryside in search
of jobs during
Modi
India’s years
of economic growth, stretching
some cities to near breaking
point and pushing the poor further into the outskirts.
With the urban influx showing few signs of slowing,
experts are sceptical of Modi’s
plans for high-tech, environmentally friendly cities, saying
he should focus on the basics.
Definition
“I think we need to revisit
the definition of what is
smart,” said Rutul Joshi, a
planning professor in Modi’s
home state of Gujarat.
“When we provide adequate
shelter for everybody, a toilet
in every home, a footpath on
every street and a bus route on
every major road, then that’s a
smart city,” said Joshi from
CEPT University, which specialises in environmental planning and technology.
India, the second most populated country on the planet, is
projected to add another 404
million urban dwellers by
2050, the largest addition in
the world, followed by China
with 292 million, a UN report
this year said.
Delhi, already the world’s
second largest city after Tokyo,
where many live in slums or on
streets and building sites where
they labour, is expected to rise
swiftly to 36 million by 2030.
Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has told parliament the
“smart” cities are needed to
accommodate the rising numbers, pointing to a burgeoning
middle class with “aspirations
of better living standards”.
Several days after Kumar’s
long-standing slum was demolished late last month, the government released preliminary
ideas for the cities to be built as
satellite towns of metropolises
and by modernising existing
mid-sized cities.
The cities would offer
“decent living options to every
resident” which would provide
a “very high quality of life
comparable with any developed European city”, the urban
ministry’s “concept note” said
this month.
Joshi said he feared the new
cities would give rise to exclusive so-called gated communities, while the poor remained
squeezed into ever-growing
and sometimes illegally built
slums with few services.
“There is a large number of
people who want to move out
of poverty, to move out of the
slums, but they don’t know
how. We are not focusing on
that. The focus is misplaced,”
he told AFP.
Urban development expert
Jochen Mistelbacher said the
government’s proposal draws
much-needed attention to
India’s chronic urbanisation
problems including shoddy
infrastructure, lack of services
and scarcity of land for housing.
Influx
And Mistelbacher, a senior
fellow with the Delhi-based
Observer Research Foundation
think-tank, said he hoped the
plan would lead to an influx of
investment in cities through
public-private partnerships.
“But my fear is that some
other much-needed (already
existing) urban development
projects (such as boosting public housing) will be put in the
bottom drawer while this takes
priority.”
Even if the cities were successful, 100 was not nearly
enough, with some 4,000
major centres needing an overhaul, Mistelbacher said.
Both experts said the government should focus on
strengthening local councils,
by handing them additional
powers and resources to reduce
corruption and improve infrastructure and basic services in
existing cities.
Kumar’s slum was built near
a fashionable, middle-class
neighbourhood where many of
his neighbours worked as
maids, cooks and drivers.
The forest department has
defended the demolition as
routine, aimed at curbing
increased encroachment on
protected land.
But Kumar, who had lived in
the slum for 17 years after
arriving from his native Uttar
Pradesh state, said he was
given five minutes’ notice to
grab whatever he could before
the bulldozers moved in.
One of his neighbours,
Maya Devi, described the situation as hopeless. Two of her
children have exams this
month but their school books
were lost in the rubble and the
family now has nowhere to
live.
“Why does the government
do this to poor people like us?”
she asked.
Hunts for sympathisers
India bans Islamic State
NEW DELHI, Dec 16, (RTRS):
India on Tuesday declared a ban
on Islamic State, days after having detained an engineer for
running a popular Twitter
account extolling the militant
group’s military campaign.
India has the world’s thirdlargest population of Muslims,
but they have largely shunned
Islamist causes. Police say only
four Indians are known to have
joined Islamic State, and one has
since returned and is in custody.
Until now, India had held off
on a ban on Islamic State,
because of the group’s lack of
activity in the country and worries over the fate of 39 Indian
construction workers missing in
Iraq this year, who are believed
to be held by the group.
Officials had also suggested
it would be harder to track
sympathizers if the group was
banned, driving them towards
covert activity.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh
told parliament the government
aimed to limit the activities of
the Middle Eastern group which
has carved out swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
“We had taken cognizance of
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
activities in other countries,” he
said. “As a first step we have
banned this outfit in India.”
On Saturday, police picked
up Mehdi Masoor Biswas, a 24year-old food company executive from the southern tech hub
of Bengaluru, saying he was
running the pro-Islamic State
Twitter handle @ShamiWitness
that had 17,800 followers,
including hundreds of foreign
fighters for the group.

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