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Indian envoy’s plain talk puts Brumby on defensive Kashmir Solidarity conference in PoK |
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Nepal Prez on India visit from Feb 15 Indian cabbie charged for assaulting passenger ‘President enjoys immunity in
criminal cases’
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Indian envoy’s plain talk puts Brumby on defensive A day after he lashed out against both the Indian media and a section of the Indian government for allegedly sensationalising the attacks on Indians in Victoria, state premier John Brumby goes on the defensive by seeking an urgent meeting with Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh, who is reported to have told Australia’s Governor General Quentin Bryce that the Victorian government was “in denial” over the severity and scale of attacks on Indians. Reacting to the Indian High Commissioner’s meeting with the Governor General last Friday, Brumby said he would be apprising Singh of the measures his government had taken to address the issue of attacks on Indians in the state of Victoria when he meets her over this weekend just two days before she leaves for India on Tuesday to hold discussions with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Foreign Secretary Nirupama
Rao. Singh is reported to have praised the police in the states of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia of being more responsive while accusing the Victorian authorities of taking too long to respond. Citing more than 100 incidents of racist violence against Indians, Singh reportedly told Bryce that the Victorian authorities were “in denial” over the scale of attacks and cautioned that there could be long-term consequences in bilateral relations unless more action was not taken to prevent the attacks. Brumby said he would brief Singh about measures being taken that included boosting police patrols in high-risk areas like railway stations and toughening up police powers to search for weapons. “I will be able to inform her of all of these things and reassure her that Victoria is a much safer place than other places in Australia and indeed around the world,” he announced today. Victoria has the highest concentration of Indian students and has witnessed maximum attacks against Indians, notably students, in the last two years. The last four years in particular has witnessed an exponential increase in the number of Indian students, most of who are enrolled in courses such as cookery, hospitality and hair dressing in private vocational colleges, with the sole purpose of seeking permanent residency. The Victorian government has been the most liberal in granting licenses to such colleges which have literally turned into “multi-million dollar shops” by attracting a large number of Indian students of substandard quality. Striking a reconciliatory note, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor said everyone needed to “take a deep breath”. “I think we all just need to calm down a bit, don't we?” he said. “Let's take the colour and the race out of it and just try to get to the root of the problem and fix that, and remember whether they're Indian or Chinese students or Australian nationals, these are young people in our streets who are being injured and who feel very threatened.”
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Kashmir Solidarity conference in PoK
Islamabad, February 4 The 'Yakjaiti-e-Kashmir' (Kashmir Solidarity) conference in PoK capital Muzaffarabad, organised by the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) -- the front of LeT which carried out the Mumbai attacks, was addressed by several leaders of 'jehadi' and radical groups, sources told PTI. Details about the leaders who attended the meet could not immediately be ascertained. The conference was held after a gap of several years as such gatherings were not permitted by authorities after former military ruler Pervez Musharraf clamped down on 'jehadi' groups following an assurance to New Delhi that Pakistani soil would not be used for anti-India activities. JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid, who was in Muzaffarabad to participate in the conference, said the organisation will hold a series of conferences and rallies in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar in connection with the Kashmir Solidarity Day, which is observed on February 5. JuD chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed will address a Friday prayer congregation and a conference in Lahore tomorrow, Mujahid said. Earlier reports had said that Saeed, a key accused in the Mumbai attacks, would address a meet in Islamabad. Since 1990, Pakistan has observed February 5 as Kashmir Solidarity Day. The day is also a national holiday. — PTI
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Nepal Prez on India visit from Feb 15 After more than a year he was elected as the first President of Federal Republic of Nepal, the President, Dr Ram Baran Yadav, has scheduled to start his maiden foreign tour to India from February 15. The Cabinet meeting endorsed the President Yadav’s three-day official visit to India from February 15 along with the 27-members delegation, said Minister for Information and Communication Shankar Pokharel after the meeting on Wednesday. The team will include tourism minister Sharat Singh Bhandari, the secretary at the foreign ministry, the secretary at the President’s office, the President’s advisors and representatives of the state-owned media. According to the government source, President Yadav will meet with Indian President Pratibha Patel and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, among others during his India visit. The President’s foreign visit had been delayed for some months as there was no functional Vice-President to take over the former’s charge during his absence.
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Indian cabbie charged for assaulting passenger Melbourne, February 4 According to the report, a witness said the passenger tried to walk away but the cab driver chased him down and had to be restrained by security staff working at a nearby business. The passenger kept walking away as the cab driver then grabbed a baton from the boot of his cab, drove up next to the passenger and allegedly starting striking the man repeatedly with the weapon, the witness says. “Within a few minutes, many other cab drivers, all of them Indian, all turned up,” witness Karen was quoted as saying. Paramedics said they treated the passenger for bruising and swelling to his upper body and took him to Alfred hospital in a stable condition. The 32-year-old cab driver was arrested and later charged with intentionally causing injury and two counts of unlawful assault. The police said they cannot discuss the case further because the cab driver is facing charges before the courts. He is expected to make a court appearance in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court at a later date. — PTI
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‘President enjoys immunity in
criminal cases’ The Constitution is very clear about a President’s immunity against criminal litigation and even the Supreme Court cannot take it away, emminent jurist and former Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan has said. Talking to reporters at the Lahore High Court, where he had appeared in connection with a case, Aitzaz said he had not changed his position on presidential immunity. “A President does not enjoy any immunity in civil cases, but he does in criminal cases,” he said. He said the Constitution had given unconditional protection to the President against criminal litigation under the Article 248(2), and there was no ambiguity in constitutional provisions on the subject.
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MJ’s doc set to surrender Harry Potter to release in 3D! 
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