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CISF guarding banks in Haiti
FBI to introduce new anti-terror tools
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Lakhvi’s plea seeking transfer rejected
Zardari’s assets in Islamabad
to be seized
Two more Indians attacked in Australia
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CISF guarding banks in Haiti
United Nations, January 22 The Indian contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) did not suffer causalities after the quake that hit the Caribbean nation on January 12, according to the United Nations. There are presently 140 paramilitary personnel who are heavily armed, eleven unarmed police officers and one military staff official stationed in the capital. A UN spokesperson said the UN and the Haiti government were working to get business back on its feet, which would require protection of banks and fuel stations. The Haitian government will reportedly open the banks this week. Protecting the banks is one of the several tasks that the Indian paramilitary forces have been engaged in for the past nine days. The UN troops have been providing security to banks and distribution centres, escorting humanitarian convoys and patrolling the streets. But as incidents of looting grew in the city, several Indian police officers along with their Brazilian counterparts were dispatched to safeguard the banks. The Indian team swung into action soon after the quake, officials said. Chief liaison officer Col Pronob Roy took charge of UN operations as the head of MINUSTAH after Hedi Annabi and his deputy Luiz Carlo da Costa were killed when their headquarters Hotel Christopher collapsed. Roy made contact with the Indian Mission in New York while making arrangements for the UN staff in the logistics base that had survived the quake. The UN has lost 61 members of its staff, and that number is expected to rise, making it the single biggest loss in the world body's history. India has donated USD five million to relief efforts in Haiti, which according to Indian diplomats, is the highest amount given by a developing country. Meanwhile, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), led by Shrikant Kishore, has 140 officers in Haiti, who have ensured safety of the Indians in the peacekeeping force as well as all the civilians living there. Also on the way to the quake-hit nation are 140 officers of the Assam Rifles paramilitary forces, as part of an arrangement made before the disaster. Indian contractor among those killed
Of the 300 Indians present in Haiti, only IT contractor Satnman Singh was killed. While four Indians have been evacuated back (to India), others who have made their life in the country continue to stay on. Then there are 35 members of the Sisters of Charity, who have been distributing aid and helping in relief efforts. — PTI
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FBI to introduce new anti-terror tools
Washington, January 22 "To meet our national security mission, we have expanded our counterterrorism operations and honed our intelligence capabilities," FBI Director Robert Mueller said. "We cannot gather the intelligence we need, analyse that intelligence, or share it with our law enforcement or intelligence partners, without the right technology," he said. To strengthen the IT programmes that allow to communicate and share among all its partners, the FBI is consolidating its Unclassified Network with Law Enforcement Online (LEO) which is the unclassified secure network they use to share information with registered law enforcement partners. "This will provide a single platform that allows the FBI employees to communicate and share with their internal and external partners. Currently, LEO provides a secure communications link to all levels of law enforcement and is available to more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies," he said. "As part of the LEO platform, the FBI is delivering the e-Guardian system - an unclassified counterterrorism tool - available to our Federal, State, local and tribal law enforcement partners through the FBI's secure LEO internet portal," he said. The e-Guardian makes threat and suspicious activity information immediately available to all authorised users. "In return, any potential terrorist threat or suspicious activity information provided by law enforcement will be made available in Guardian entries and pushed outward to the FBI task forces. We are also in the midst of developing what we call ‘Next Generation Identification’ system, which expands the FBI's fingerprint-based identification, known as the IAFIS, to include additional biometric data. This will better enable us to find criminals and terrorists who are using the latest technology to shield their identities and activities," Mueller said. The FBI is also working to improve its confidential human source management system. "Intelligence provided by confidential human sources is fundamental to the FBI mission. To better manage that data, we have implemented a program known as DELTA," he said. It will also enable the FBI Headquarters and field offices to better understand, connect, operate and protect confidential human sources. "Finally, we are improving our crisis management systems. The Operational Response and Investigative Online Network (ORION) is the FBI's next-generation Crisis Information Management System. ORION provides crisis management services to Federal, State, local and tribal law enforcement and emergency personnel," Mueller said. —
PTI
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Lakhvi’s plea seeking transfer rejected
Lahore, January 22 While disposing of the application, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif directed the federal and Punjab governments to ensure that foolproof security is provided to Lakhvi and his counsel Khwaja Sultan. Chief Justice Sharif also said there was no justification for the request for Lakhvi's trial to be shifted from Rawalpindi to Lahore. Sharif had yesterday reserved his judgement after hearing arguments by Lakhvi's counsel and government lawyers. In his application, Lakhvi had claimed that there was a purported threat to his life as agents of the Indian spy agency Research and Analyses Wing were present in Rawalpindi. He asked for his trial to be transferred from an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi to Lahore. The Deputy Attorney General of the federal government and the Advocate General of Punjab province had told the high court that authorities are providing complete security to Lakhvi and his counsel. —
PTI
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Zardari’s assets in Islamabad
to be seized
Islamabad, January 22 Besides other properties, NAB’s latest order would immediately hit the 2,460 kanals of Sangjani land, which was a frozen asset before the NRO, but was unfrozen in early 2009 and transferred in the name of a private company owned by President Zardari, his son Bilawal Zardari and others. NAB spokesman Ghazni said the NAB was acting strictly in accordance with the law and the Supreme Court’s decision and weekly progress reports is regularly being submitted to the apex court, The News reports. Within a few days of the December 16 short order of the Supreme Court, the NAB had issued freezing order for the assets of all other NRO beneficiaries, but in case of Zardari, the NAB did not move apparently due to his constitutional immunity. However, now after the announcement of the detailed judgment, which directed NAB and all other concerned authorities to revive the pre-NRO position in all cases, the NAB has also moved on Zardari’s case. —
ANI
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Two more Indians attacked in Australia A day after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd termed attacks against Indians as “regrettable”, violence against Indians Down Under showed signs of spreading with two more, including a taxi driver, being attacked in two separate incidents in Brisbane, the capital city of the Prime Minister’s home state of Queensland. Reports from Brisbane said a 25-year-old youth was assaulted and robbed, while using a phone box near his home in Macgregor in Brisbane’s south last night. The unidentified youth was punched in the head twice and his wallet stolen. The police described the attacker to be tall with black curly hair and having a Pacific Islander appearance. In a separate incident, a taxi driver was attacked early this morning after an argument broke out with two men in Carindale, in Brisbane’s southeast. The men punched the driver in the face several times and smashed the car’s windscreen. The driver was taken to the Princess Alexandra hospital for cuts to his face and swelling to his right eye. The Queensland government was quick to rule out racism as a motive behind the attacks even as the state’s Acting Premier Andrew Fraser said he wants to assure Indian nationals that Australia is a safe place. Meanwhile, an Indian taxi driver, who was stabbed in the Melbourne central business district last month moments after he had played good Samaritan by giving a free lift to an emotionally upset woman who had lost her mother, has come forward to reveal disturbing details of how he was viciously stabbed in the chest by two men who had forced him to part with his earnings after smashing their stolen car into his taxi. Sporting a fresh scar from the stab wound that punctured his right lung, Ravinder Singh said, “I tried to protect myself. I went back to my car, tried to close my door at that time (and knew) his intentions, what he had in mind,” he said. “This guy would not let me close the door. I was scared at that time because it was dark on the street and no one was on the street. His face was covered. He had a big knife in his hand. He kept asking for my wallet. I said sorry I do not have it with me,” recounted Ravinder, who has been living in Melbourne for the last three years. Ravinder said he offered money from his taxi takings to the masked robber, who took the small amount of cash before brutally stabbing him in the chest. Fortunately, for Ravinder he had had an open phone line to his fiancée. Ravinder said he managed to call his fiancée for assistance, following which she and his other friends, rushed to help.
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Paramilitary CISF personnel have been guarding banks and other vital centres in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, to prevent looting, besides providing security to Indians.
