Islamabad, October 3
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has amended an anti-terror law allowing the authorities to act against the members of outlawed groups that set up new outfits with different names, a move which may have ramifications for the LeT whose founder Hafiz Saeed floated JuD after it was banned.

An ordinance promulgated yesterday by Zardari to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, stated that if “office bearers, activists or associates of a proscribed organisation form a new organisation under a different name, upon suspicion about their involvement in similar activities, the said organisation shall also be deemed to be a proscribed organisation.” The government may then “issue a formal notification” about the proscription of the new group formed by the members of a banned organisation, it said.

Soon after the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was banned in Pakistan in the wake of the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, its founder Saeed floated the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), describing it as a charitable organisation. The UN Security Council declared the JuD a front for the LeT after last year's Mumbai terror attacks and imposed restrictions on Saeed.

The Pakistan government has said the JuD has been banned, though no formal written notification has been issued.

The JuD still runs an extensive network of offices and seminaries across Pakistan. Its members provided aid to people displaced by recent anti-Taliban operations, while operating in the guise of an organisation called the 'Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation'.

Their activities were curtailed after the Western media carried reports about the Falah-e-Insaniyat.

Though Saeed was put under house arrest in December last year after the Mumbai attacks, he was freed on the orders of the Lahore High Court in June. The Pakistani authorities recently restricted his movements again though no formal order has been issued to put him under house arrest or to detain him.

The ordinance issued by Zardari also stated that members of a banned group will not be issued a passport or allowed to travel abroad if they “are found continuing the activities of the proscribed organisation” or if they violate the Anti-Terrorism Act or any other law.

In case of such offences, the banks and financial institutions will not be allowed to provide loans or financial support to members of banned groups and their arms licenses will be cancelled, the ordinance said.

The ordinance also extended the period for which an accused or suspected terrorist can be kept in detention without being charged from 15 to 90 days.

“Any person who has been concerned in any offence under this act or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned, the government may issue order of his preventive detention for a period not exceeding 90 days, and which shall not be challenged in any court...,” the ordinance stated.

The amendment also envisages stricter checks on the running of illegal FM channels by militants.

Under the new amendments, an act of intimidation or terrorising the public, social sectors and business community and attacking civilians, government officials, installations, security forces or law enforcement agencies can now be tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act. — PTI

London, October 3
A 28-year-old NRI has been jailed for 27 years for hatching a conspiracy to kidnap a fellow Indian and blackmail his father who lives in Gujarat.

Dipesh Kumar Chauhan along with his accomplices, Shujah Khaliq and Arif Aga, both 26 years, pleaded guilty during the two-week trial at Southwark Crown Court last evening, the Metropolitan police said today. Khaliq and Aga were sentenced to 18 years each in prison.However, the police did not name the victim to protect his identity to ensure he returned safely to his family.

“The victim does not come from a wealthy family. I am glad that they contacted the police so that we could locate the victim and ensure his safe return,” Dr Greg Trinder of the Kidnap Unit said.“The evidence against these three individuals was overwhelming. It showed the thought and planning that had gone into the crime and their motive of greed. Khaliq and Aga had the sense to plead guilty but Chauhan believed he could claim the defence of duress. I am grateful the jury saw through his lies and found him guilty alongside the other two defendants.

According to the prosecution, the victim, 24-year-old at that time, had arranged to meet his friend Dipesh Kumar Chauhan at the Queensbury underground station for dinner on October 17 last year.

When the two met, the victim was forced into the boot of a BMW car and taken to Harrow where he was put inside a house. The victim was threatened to be killed if he did not comply and was taped and tied to a chair. Later, he was made to phone his father who lives in Gujarat to tell him he must get Rs 20 million.The next day on October 18, the victim's father received a second call. This time the caller said if he didn't get the money ready his son would be killed. Following this, the family contacted the police.

Over the next three days further calls were made to the victim's father asking for the ransom amount. The family lied and told the defendants that they had the cash to prevent their son being harmed, the prosecution said.

Extensive enquiries by officers in the Kidnap Unit led to the identification of an address at Glenalmond Road, Harrow, believed to be used by the suspects. — PTI

Los Angeles, October 3
Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski agreed to pay $500,000 to the teenaged girl he sexually assaulted as part of a settlement, according to newly-released court documents.

The director agreed to pay the amount to Samantha Geimer as part of a civil settlement after she filed suit against him in 1988, accusing Polanski of sexual assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and seduction, The Los Angeles Times reported.

In October 1993, Polanski, who is presently under Swiss judicial custody, agreed to pay Geimer $500,000 with interest, according to the settlement documents. He was given two years to pay. But her attorneys said in a filing that the director missed the 1995 deadline.

The documents indicate that Geimer's attorneys battled with Polanski to get him to pay the settlement. However, it remains unclear exactly how much money the director gave her.

Her attorneys also tried to seek some of Polanski's earnings by canvassing Hollywood for his wages. Among those who were contacted about Polanski were the Directors Guild of America, International Creative Management, Warner Bros. Inc. and Sony Studios.

The last document in the file is an August 1996 statement saying the director still owed her $604,416 after including interest. Geimer was just 13 when Polanski plied the aspiring model with alcohol and drugs and then had sex with her in a bedroom of actor Jack Nicholson's house.

Polanski was arrested in Los Angeles and pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, before fleeing to France in 1978.

The 76-year-old filmmaker was arrested in Zurich Switzerland, on September 26 in connection with the 31-year-old case and is now fighting extradition to the US.

Geimer, now a mother of four, has earlier said she thinks Polanski was treated unfairly and expressed a desire for the case to be resolved without prison time. When Polanski sought to have the rape charge dismissed in 2008, she told the newspaper that she welcomed an opportunity to finally end the case. “It's been a long time,” she said. “I don't wish for him to be held to further punishment or consequences.” — PTI