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Pak epicentre of terrorism: India
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Special to the tribune
Kirpan-carrying Sikhs barred from entering Quebec House
Bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims kill 51 in Iraq
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Pak epicentre of terrorism: India
Melbourne, January 20 “Pakistan should be sensitive to few of our concerns. One of our concerns is terrorism and how Pakistan deals with terror and terrorists,” visiting External Affairs Minister SM Krishna told the Indian media here after an interaction with the Indian community. His comments came in reaction to a question on recent remarks made by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quershi, who favoured a constructive and productive dialogue with India to resolve all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir problem. On the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai by Pakistan-based terrorists, Krishna said “they (Islamabad) have not been able to punish any of those accused of masterminding, conspiring for that attack. When I went to Islamabad (in July last year) I conveyed that to Foreign Minister Quershi with passion. “I think public opinion back in India will feel assuaged when those culprits, who are responsible for those attacks in Mumbai, are brought to justice.” Pakistan has arrested seven suspects, including LeT operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, over the Mumbai attacks, but their trial has been mired in controversies and delays. Krishna also said that India wanted to see a stable and democratic Pakistan. Separately, Krishna, in an interview to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, said that Pakistan is the “epicentre of terrorism”. “In my opinion Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism in the region,” he said. He also said that NATO-led forces in Afghanistan should think twice about engaging Pakistan as an ally in the battle against the Taliban. On his meetings with the Australian leaders, Krishna told the Indian media that the discussions covered areas of mutual concern and interest. “Naturally, this has included our interest in nuclear energy, uranium and the question of the problems faced by Indian students, which have fortunately improved.” Earlier addressing members of the Indian community, Krishna said that since his last visit here in 2009, the Australian government has introduced many measures to improve the safety and security of the students and these measures have had a positive effect.
— PTI
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Murder Mystery London, January 20 Dewani (31), accused of hiring a hitman to kill his wife Anni, 28, was diagnosed by a psychiatrist with an acute stress disorder and a depressive adjustment disorder, Westminster Magistrates' Court in London heard today. He did not attend the hearing, which was adjourned to February 8 at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court. Ben Watson, for the South African authorities, told the hearing that following a psychiatric report, Dewani was judged unfit to attend court and was therefore excused by the judge. Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle said he will review whether Dewani should attend on February 8 when the extradition case against him will be formally opened. The judge extended Dewani's bail. The court heard he is facing charges of conspiracy to murder, murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances and obstruction of the administration of justice. The South African authorities are seeking to have Dewani, from Westbury-on-Trym in Bristol, taken back to the country to stand trial. Anni was shot when the taxi the couple was travelling in was hijacked in the Gugulethu township on the outskirts of Cape Town on November 13. She was found dead in the back of an abandoned cab with a bullet wound to her neck after cabbie Zola Tongo drove the newly-weds to the township. His vehicle was hijacked and he and Dewani were ejected before Anni was driven away and killed. — PTI
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Special to the tribune
The wife of Gao Zhisheng, a Chinese human rights lawyer who revealed details of the torture he was subjected to while in detention in China, says she has not heard from her husband since he went missing again in April of last year and fears for his life.
Geng He travelled from her home in the San Francisco Bay Area to Washington this week to create awareness about her husband’s plight. She added her voice to a growing chorus that wants US President Barack Obama to take up the issue of human rights when he meets Chinese President Hu Jintao this week. “I hope that Mr Obama can help my son and daughter get their father back,” Geng said through a translator in a phone interview with The Tribune. Geng last spoke with her husband when he was briefly released from detention in April. She had seen him on an Associated Press video and remarked at the poor shape of his teeth. “I told him to go see a dentist because his teeth looked really horrible,” Geng said. She gave him the number of a dentist, but when in a later phone conversation she asked if he had been he replied that he would if he could. “I understood then that he has no freedom. He couldn’t even go see a dentist,” Geng said. Gao was detained in February 2009. He had taken on controversial cases, including defending coal miners and Christians. He re-emerged at his Beijing apartment in April. In an interview with the Associated Press at the time he said the police had stripped him naked and pummeled him with handguns in holsters. For two days and nights, they took turns beating him and did things he refused to describe. When all three officers tired, they bound his arms and legs with plastic bags and threw him to the floor until they caught their breath to resume the abuse, according to the AP account. “That degree of cruelty, there’s no way to recount it,” Gao said in the interview. “For 48 hours my life hung by a thread.” In their phone conversations in April, Gao never told his wife about the way he was treated in detention. “He never told me anything because he was afraid that I would worry,” Geng said. Gao had asked the AP not to publicise his account unless he went missing again or made it to ‘someplace safe’. Two weeks later he had vanished without a trace. Maran Turner, executive director at Freedom Now, said unlike in the past when Gao had some contact with his family while in detention there has been ‘zero contact’ since April. “Based on the treatment he suffered in the past, one can only assume what he is being put through now is every bit as grave and severe as it was before, if not more so,” Turner said. Gao’s family has been told by Chinese authorities not to inquire about his whereabouts and have been threatened with dire consequences if they do. But Geng is determined to secure her husband’s freedom. She is driven by the fear that he may face the same fate as jailed writer Li Hong, who died last month after being held in custody. Geng was unaware of her husband’s work, but says she supports him 100 per cent. “I think that he is doing the right thing and making a lot of people aware of what is happening in China,” Geng said. Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, says Gao’s disappearance is part of a growing list of ‘enforced disappearances’.’ “We consider enforced disappearances to be among the most serious kinds of abuses we document partly because... the state that is supposed to be protecting you is in fact disappearing you,” Richardson said. “Disappearances are notorious for paving the way for other abuses, such as torture and death in custody,” she added. A Chinese Embassy spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. A US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration will continue to urge Chinese leaders to vigorously protect human rights. “Why Gao has received such bizarre treatment we are not quite sure,’ Turner said of the cycle of disappearance and appearance of Gao. “He is just a human rights lawyer, he is not a dissident,” she added.
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Kirpan-carrying Sikhs barred from entering Quebec House
Quebec (Canada), January 20 “It’s a bit ironic. We were here to speak on the issue of accommodation and we weren’t accommodated,” said Balpreet Singh, the legal counsel of the group. The incident overshadowed the conclusion of an eight-month hearing over a controversial bill that prohibits anyone from covering their face when receiving certain government services. Bill 94 takes direct aim at the wearing of the niqab, which has been viewed as a symbol of submission of women and a violation of their equality rights. Singh said they will “examine all our options” if the National Assembly refuses to changes its security measures.
— ANI
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Bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims kill 51 in Iraq Baghdad, January 20 It was the latest in a wave of attacks in recent days, as insurgents test Iraqi forces ahead of the planned US withdrawal at the end of the year. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the bombings bore the hallmark of Al-Qaida and other Sunni-dominated extremist groups that frequently target Shiite pilgrimages in hopes of re-igniting sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago. As many as 183 persons were wounded in the near-simultaneous blasts set off by suicide bombers driving cars packed with explosives. — AP
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