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Racial Attacks
South Korean police warned over racial slur against Indian
Verdict on Sobhraj put off for two weeks
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Islamabad Diary
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Racial Attacks
Melbourne, July 14 The overseas students living in Greenacres suburb said the early morning firebomb attacks have scared them and that they fear for their lives, according to ‘Adelaide Now’ publication. Yasif Multani, a 28-year-old Indian student, claimed that a group of up to 15 neighbourhood teenagers was responsible for a string of attacks on the student community. Multani had two of his vehicles torched in the early hours yesterday and said that such attacks had led to more than 12 cars being damaged in the past three months and mail stolen from letter boxes, the report said. The student community has also witnessed the spraying of racist graffiti and bins being emptied in the streets, it said. Car windscreens had been smashed throughout the complex and one night a couch on a veranda was set on fire. Multani quoted one of his friends, who was too frightened to come forward, as saying that he saw a teenager on a bicycle throw a petrol bomb through the windscreen of a car yesterday. “These people know when we are here and when we are working,” Multani said. “They watch us. They know everything we do. They know which cars are ours and they have not damaged the cars of non-international students parked in this area. People are scared.” “At night time (the offenders) are banging on the doors and running away, and fires have been lit close to some (housing) units,” he said. Superintendent Barry Lewis, officer in-charge of the Holden Hill Local Service Area, said a tactical team had been redeployed to bring the offenders to justice. “This is very concerning,” Lewis said. “There are some youths living nearby in that area creating a bit of an issue - three of them are already in custody. According to one of the residents of the student accommodation, who did not wish to be named, the attacks were “clearly racially motivated”. — PTI
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South Korean police warned over racial
Seoul, July 14 The National Human Rights Commission said in a statement it had also ordered that all staff at Bucheon police station in Seoul’s western suburbs receive a lecture on human dignity. A South Korean woman filed a complaint with the commission in August last year. She claimed the policeman mistreated the 29-year-old Indian, Bonojit Hussain, while questioning them about an earlier racial abuse case. A South Korean man shouted racial slurs against them on a bus, calling Hussain “dirty and smelly” and asking her: “How do you feel about dating a dark-skinned foreign bastard?” The man was later convicted of using racial slurs and ordered to pay fine.
— AFP
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Verdict on Sobhraj put off for two weeks
A division bench of Justices Ram Kumar Prasad Shah and Gauri Dhakal said the verdict would be pronounced on July 30 against the notorious criminal linked to series of backpacker killings of tourists across Asia. “We need two more weeks to decide,” Justice Ram Kumar Shah said. Sobhraj (66) was not present in the court today. He had sent a letter to the Supreme Court yesterday saying that he could not attend the court proceedings on health grounds. This was the third time that the apex court has put off its final verdict on the appeal file by Sobhraj after being convicted and sentence to life imprisonment in the high-profile case by the lower courts. His trial has attracted international media attention, particularly after he announced his engagement and marriage to Nepalese teenager Nihita Biswas in 2008, while inside prison. Biswas voiced frustration at the delay in the appeal verdict. “I’m definitely disappointed, but I think these kind of things take a very long time, so we have to be patient,” she told reporters outside the court. The alleged international serial killer has been behind bars for almost seven years on a murder charge in Kathmandu. Sobhraj is currently serving a 20-year life sentence for the murder of American backpacker Connie Joe Bronzich in 1975. The US national had been stabbed repeatedly, burnt beyond recognition and her body dumped on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital. Sobhraj, who is now a French national, was arrested in Kathmandu during his second visit here in 2003, and was convicted by the Kathmandu District Court in 2004, a judgment later upheld by the Patan Appellate Court in 2005. He moved the apex court in 2006 challenging the lower courts’ verdicts. Sobhraj was picked up from Kathmandu’s Royale Casino in 2003 on charges of travelling on fake passport and later convicted for murder of the backpacker. — PTI
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Islamabad
Diary
The Pakistan Government has made tight security arrangements across Islamabad for External Affairs Minister S M Krishna’s visit. Krishna, who flew into the Pakistani capital on board an Air India aircraft, was received by Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik, Afrasiab, Director General (South Asia) in the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, and Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal at the Chaklala Air Base in Rawalpindi.
The Pakistani authorities had earlier planned to take Krishna to the five-star Serena Hotel where he is staying in a motorcade. However, they gave up the idea at the last minute. A Pakistan Air Force chopper was then pressed into service to fly the minister to the hotel. Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Considered as twin cities , Islamabad and Rawalpindi are distinct in culture and ancestry. Islamabad, on one hand, is the tame one while Rawalpindi is the wild brother. Islamabad is a suburban area with less pollution, clear weather, and very little traffic. Roads are wide and lined with roses. It is also very clean and highly maintained. Rawalpindi is a busy town. The relaxed nature of Islamabad is the complete opposite of the bustling activities in Rawalpindi. The Raja Bazaar is one of the most visited sites in this town where you can find friendly and hospitable shop owners and almost every item you will ever need. Rawalpindi reminds anyone coming from the Indian capital of Chandni Chowk and other bustling streets of Old Delhi. Historically, Rawalpindi is a garrison town. During the British period and until now, it is the head quarters of the Pakistani Army. Melody Food Park
The Indian media delegation also is staying at the Serena Hotel. Earlier the jorunalists always used to stay at Holiday Inn whenever in Islamabad on an assignment. Holday Inn is now again called Islamabad Hotel, the name which it had more than a decade back. The advantage of staying at Holiday Inn was that the famous Melody Food Park, where hundreds of people come every day to enjoy Paksitani cuisines at budget restaurants, is just behind it. More often than not, the journalists would stay in the hotel but have their meals at the Melody Food Park. One who fell foul
Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was quite generous in issuing visas to Indian journalists wanting to travel to Islamabad to cover the foreign minister’s visit. Barring a woman editor from a television news channel, all jorunalists were promptly granted visas by the mission. The apparent reason for denying visa to the woman editor was her coverage of the developments in Pakistan during a previous visit.
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Nepal’s Supreme Court today deferred to July 30 its verdict in a sensational murder case against Indian-origin ‘Bikini Killer’ Charles
Sobhraj, saying it needed two more weeks to decide the matter.
Nepal’s Supreme Court today deferred to July 30 its verdict in a sensational murder case against Indian-origin ‘Bikini Killer’ Charles Sobhraj, saying it needed two more weeks to decide the matter.