Soldier In Zimbabwe Sexually Abused By Female Rapists For 4 Days
The 27-years old Erin Kathleen Queen, who teaches English and coaches 9th grade girls basketball at Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, US, was charged with rape after her arrest
Washington: A 25-year-old soldier in Zimbabwe was allegedly kidnapped and detained for four days by suspected female rapists, who are said to have sexually abused him several times before releasing him early this week.
Police in Mutare have confirmed the incident, saying they were hunting for the suspected culprits.
Manicaland assistant police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Muzondiwa Clean told NewsDay that on April 19 around midnight at Birchenough Bridge business centre, the unsuspecting soldier boarded the women's vehicle on his way to Mutare.
The suspects, two women and a male counterpart, were allegedly travelling in a Mercedes Benz vehicle.
The 28-year-old teacher, Kacy Christine Wilson, from Florida, US faces charges of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors and transmission of pornography by electronic device. Photo: mra4u
According to Clean, after an hour's drive towards Mutare, the driver diverted from the route and when the complainant asked where they were going, he was threatened.
"After diverting from the route, the complainant asked where they were heading to and they told him they were going to get some food. The soldier requested to be dropped, but the driver produced a knife and threatened him with it. One of the female passengers blindfolded the complainant with a black cloth," Clean said.
According to Clean, they then took the complainant to an unknown house where they undressed him and took away his phone and 35 dollars.
The suspects ordered the man to be intimate with one of the women on several occasions.
They kept him from the 19th up to the 23rd of this month.
During the early hours of Tuesday, they blindfolded him and took him to Mutare where they then dropped him in the Dangamvura Mountains.
The suspects then stoned the complainant on his left foot where he sustained a serious injury before driving off at high speed.
Artist Henry Hargreaves Photographs Last Meals Of US Prisoners On Death Row
Artist photographs last meals of prisoners on death row
Created it to discuss this "macabre little ritual" of execution
Said he likely "wouldn't be able to stomach" his own last meal
In Pictures: Last meals of death row prisoners
A NEW Zealand artist has been invited to display his photographs of the last meals of prison inmates on death row in the US at a Venice exhibition later this year.
Henry Hargreaves told news.com.au he created the photo essay in order to inspire a debate on the death penalty.
His "portraits" include the last meal of Timothy McVeigh, the American terrorist that detonated a truck-full of explosives outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people including 19 children in the day care center on the second floor of the building, and injuring hundreds of others.
"I'm from NZ, so coming to the US I find the idea of the death penalty so uncivilised," he said.
"They have since outlawed the last meal in Texas but when this debate was going on I was curious to see what the requests were and thought it would be a powerful idea to try to visualise."
Texas officials banned last meals after convicted murderer Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a lavish last meal that included two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. Brewer reportedly refused to eat any of the food he had requested, leading to the ban.
Senator John Whitmire wrote to the Texas criminal justice department that it was "extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege," The Guardian reported. The department agreed and its executive director, Brad Livingston, issued the decree in 2011 that: "Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit."
Hargreaves recreated the meals of prisoners via information he found online. Last meals are a matter of public record.
The photographer said the project changed him, saying that it "humanised" the inmates whose last meals he was documenting.
"I wanted it also to reflect the barbaric nature of the death penalty, here's a little ritual before we put you to death. So macabre," he said.
When asked what his last meal would be, Hargreaves said he'd likely decline the option of food.
"I doubt I would be able to stomach anything," he said.
He said that the reaction to the series has been both positive and negative.
"I think the main goal of an artist is to make someone think about something and when I get an email or they post a comment you know you have triggered a reaction and therefore they have contemplated the images," he said.
The photos were taken a few years ago but he has since added three more ahead of an exhibition in Venice later this year.
Death penalty for rapists will delay justice's process, says Shabana Azmi
Death penalty for rapists will delay the process of justice and instead the need of the hour is to ask for certainty of punishment, feels noted actress Shabana Azmi.
Speaking at a workshop on gender sensitisation, the 61-year-old former Parliamentarian said delay in implementation of the law is the real challenge faced in the country today.
"Laws by themselves cannot change anything. We need laws to be implemented, we need firm investigation, speedy justice and we need to ensure that it is not the severity of the punishment but certainty of the punishment," she said.
"There is great hue and cry for death penalty for rapists but people who deal with law say in cases of rape it has taken 10 years and even more before culprits are booked." "In the case of death penalty, such stringent evidence is required before it is awarded. It will retard the process of justice. We do not have to ask for death penalty but certainty in punishment," she said. The veteran cine star also stressed on bringing about a change in the mindset of the society by providing right form of education.
"I was going though some questions in textbooks for a 3-year-old which had some typical questions and answers. The question was 'Where is the father' and the answer is 'He is in the office'... The next question is 'Where is the mother' and the answer is 'She is in the kitchen'. So why are we making it in the head of the child something that role plays will happen according to the gender."
[Editor: It is unfortunate that not only radicalized Muslims but also educated Muslims pick up a verse from Qur'aan without giving any reference from where it was copied. The writer says, "One of those passages was read by my friend Nasser Weddady at an interfaith memorial in Boston after the bombings. It reads, in part: Whoever kills a soul, it is as if he killed mankind entirely. And whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved all of mankind. One could ask, why didn’t Tamerlan Tsarnaev abide by an interpretation of Islam that places value on these verses rather than those related to war?" But this gentleman, Mr.Amir Ahmad Nasr has done the same trick which many Muslims do to show how Islam denounces killing and equates the slaying of one human life to that of genocide against the entire mankind. But, even if you try very hard, you will not be able to find it in Qur'an, regardless of
whether or not you're reading it in its original Arabic or in one of its
many authentic English translations available today. The reason for this is quite apparent, the
verse in question does not exist. In fact what is actually presented by Muslims is a distorted, out-of-context and wholly misleading paraphrasing of the following verse: "That is why We decreed for the children of Israel that whosoever kills a human being, except (as punishment) for murder or for spreading corruption in the land, it shall be like killing all humanity; and whosoever saves a life, saves the entire human race. Our apostles brought clear proofs to them; but even after that most of them committed excesses in the land.[Qur'aan: Al-Mâ'idah: 5:32: Ahmed Ali]. This verse has been made so popular by the Islamic apologists, that it appeared on (among others) The American Muslim, CNN, and Wisdom Today websites, and was quoted by the US Congressman Keith Ellison on the "Real Time With Bill Maher" TV show and even by the current President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, in his speech delivered at Cairo University in June 4, 2009. Analysis of Verse, Qur'aan: 5:32: Firstly, this verse is written in past tense (Ordained, not Ordain) and clearly does not apply to Muslims but to "the Children of Israel" i.e. the Jews who, according to Islam, received an earlier set of scriptures. In fact, it's mistakenly referencing a rabbinical (Related to Jews) commentary found in the "Talmud" as if it were the words of God. Secondly, when the clause which allows killing is reinserted and we read it in context with the following two verses from Qur'aan, directed at Muslims (observe the reference to Allah's messenger and the switch to present tense), what first appeared on the surface to be a peaceful message, is in actual fact a chilling warning to non-believers: (i) ""The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement". [Qur'aan: Al-Mâ'idah: 5:33: Shakir] (ii) "Except for those who (having fled away and then) came back (as Muslims) with repentance before they fall into your power; in that case, know that Allâh is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful. [Qur'aan: Al-Mâ'idah: 5:34: The Noble Qur'an]
Therefore, now we know that verse 5:32 (Qur'aan) is not condemning the killing of a non-Muslim, and that a Muslim must not murder another Muslim, but what of the non-believers? What is the worth of their lives? For more elaborate view on this verse please CLICK HERE]
When I woke in Malaysia to the news of the Boston Marathon bombings halfway around the world, I instantly worried about two things.
The first thought was, I hope Nasser and Sam are safe, (they are friends of mine) and that the number of casualties, if any, was low.
The second was please don’t let the perpetrator be Muslim.
Fortunately, Nasser was safe, and Sam, who was at the race, escaped injury. Three people died—which was heartbreaking, but it could have been far worse.
Unfortunately, my second wish didn’t come true. I wasn’t surprised.
Nor was I surprised that the older of the two brothers implicated in the attack, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was radicalized partly through militant jihadist content on the Internet.
After all, I was a fundamentalist once, influenced by a Salafi teacher during my childhood in my neighborhood mosque in Qatar in the mid-1990s. I am familiar with the power of divisive religious dogmatism to steal one’s mind and plant hatred in one’s heart toward the Other. As a veteran blogger and digital activist, I’m also familiar with the power of the Internet.
Although social media give voice to many thoughtful crowds, it also provides a venue for a hateful few who are bent on stirring up violence and trouble.
The Internet connects us with all kinds of like-minded individuals. For someone discontented, disgruntled and alienated from the surrounding community, the Web becomes a refuge, providing a powerful sense of belonging.
Online Disaffection
That’s more or less what happened to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian underwear bomber whose explosives luckily failed to detonate on board a US plane in 2009. This doesn’t just happen to Muslims. Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in a bomb and shooting attack, was partly inspired, as his manifesto indicated, by the anti-Muslim blogs he frequented.
At one time, I might have been susceptible too. But by the time I ventured online in 2006 and accidentally discovered the secular Egyptian blogosphere, I had already begun questioning my traditionalist upbringing as I wrestled with the fundamentalist beliefs my former Salafi teacher had taught me. I also wasn’t as discontented; my personal grievances were shifting and became directed at the rigid traditionalists and bearded authoritarians around me who wanted to confine me within narrow mental boundaries.
In my case, the Web liberated me. It helped free my mind from the dark, stinking and suffocating dungeons of religious dogmatism and intolerance.
Lucky for me, online and far away from those I resented, I found a growing tribe that was driven by the ideals of liberty: liberal Arab and Muslim bloggers, some of whom helped instigate, report via Twitter and facilitate the youth-led Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and in Egypt, demanding freedom and dignity.
Through my new online tribe, I discovered interpretations of Islam that were more rational, spiritual and humanistic. I later traveled around the world and met many of my online comrades. The result, after a lengthy and messy process of critical thinking, has been profound.
Had my original personal grievances and temperament been different when I arrived online, however, I might have directed my attention to harmful, destructive content.
And here is where we need to look closer at what could have driven the Tsarnaev brothers toward their heinous act.
The role of religious belief can’t be pinpointed as the sole motivating cause. We need to go deeper and explore the issue of the interpretation of religious texts, something that too many pundits ignore.
Quran’s Verses
Yes, the Koran contains verses calling for violence against the unbelievers, though these ought to be placed within the appropriate historical context. Nevertheless, it also includes passages that encourage peace and compassion toward fellow human beings.
One of those passages was read by my friend Nasser Weddady at an interfaith memorial in Boston after the bombings. It reads, in part: Whoever kills a soul, it is as if he killed mankind entirely. And whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.
One could ask, why didn’t Tamerlan Tsarnaev abide by an interpretation of Islam that places value on these verses rather than those related to war?
The answer is that interpretation is ultimately a choice. And when Tsarnaev ventured online, it looks as if he did so with established personal grievances.
I suspect that what psychologists call confirmation bias led him to consume militant interpretations of Islam that validated his feelings and confirmed his views, without seeking differing Muslim perspectives.
The Tsarnaev brothers bear responsibility for their criminal act. But let’s not forget the sick demagogues who lure them in and poison their minds.
Amir Ahmad Nasr, author of the forthcoming book My Isl@m: How Fundamentalism Stole My Mind and Doubt Freed My Soul, is a digital activist and entrepreneur. The opinions expressed are his own.
Mysore: “I was auctioned by my mother after I attained puberty and she sold me to the highest bidder, KR Pet BEO Puttaswamy Gowda, who paid Rs 75,000,” said 15-year-old Suma (name changed), accusing her mother of pushing her into prostitution.
Child Welfare Committee officials said that the mother 45-year-old Neetha (name changed) moved to Mysore four years ago after getting a divorce. There, five men, including the BEO, a reporter, a bank manager, and two businessmen allegedly visited her regularly. When Neetha became diabetic, the men eyed her daughter. When she attained puberty, Neetha called for bids and sold her to the BEO.
The police have arrested Geetha, who has been sent to judicial custody till May 9, along with the BEO, CWC official said. The BEO has 3 children, two of whom are doctors. The education department has suspended the BEO.
'Hindus are forced to convert, eat meat in Pakistan'
Varanasi: There has been widespread anger against the attack on Sarbjit in Pakistan's jail. Somehow, the
perception that Indian's are not safe in Pakistan is gaining ground. 250 Hindu Sindhis from Pakistan are camping in India and they refuse to go back. Their visa expires on May 8. They allege that people of their community are being subjected to torture and constant insult in Pakistan.
National Sindhi Council of India is fighting for their rights in India. According to the officials of the council, females are not safe and subjected to rape. They are forced to eat meat. Living conditions for them in
Pakistan are bad and they don't want to back to Pakistan.
“They force them to convert and to achieve this Pakistani's resort to various forms of pressure," says Suresh Keshvani, former Rajya Sabha MP and founder of Sindhi Council of India. "They randomly fire at our houses in Pakistan and don't let us do business," he adds.
Sindhis who have come from Pakistan are scared for their life. “If we go back they will kill us," say most of the Sindhis, hoping to get some help from Indian government.
Nearly 480 Hindus who came to India to take holy bath during Kumbh refuse to go back too. Their visa has already expired. They are camping in Delhi and demanding Indian Nationality. Some Hindu organisations have come forward to lend support to their cause. In Delhi, they are living in Bijwasan area. Villagers and some social organisations have been looking after their basic needs but they don't have sufficient resources.
National Human Rights Commission has sought report from Centre, home ministry and Delhi government on this issue. Commission took cognizance of media reports that these people were tortured in Pakistan and presently camping in Delhi, braving inhuman conditions. The report has to be submitted in four weeks time.
Artists protest against rapes, oppose death penalty
New Delhi: The national capital Sunday witnessed a rare event as artists and civil society members came together to protest against rising insidents of rapes and to register opposition to death penalty through poetry, discussion and songs.
Those present at the event ‘Violence no more’ included personalities like Shabana Azmi, Usha Uthup, Syeda Hameed and Binayak Sen.
The participants pitched for a case against the death penalty and paid tribute to late Chief Justice J.S. Verma who played a key role in drafting a harsh anti-rape law.
“Violence against women has the tacit approval of the society all over the world. It begins right from the time a foetus begins to breathe her first,” said Shabana Azmi, actor and social activist, as she recited verses from Kaifi Azmi’s “Aurat”, Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s “Bol” and Farhan Akhtar’s “Little Girl”.
“It is important to understand this is not merely a women’s issue but a reflection of us as a society and nation at large. And the responsibility rests with each one of us – men and women alike – to initiate change,” Azmi said.
Voicing resentment against the rising cases of violence against women and minors, Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed recited three poems of Pakistani poet Zehra Nigah which reflected the pain of women who suffered violence.
She pitched for a commitment from all stakeholders of society to stand up against such injustices.
Human rights lawyer Colin Gonsalves opposed the death penalty, saying that it would not solve the problem of rape and murders.
“The alternative of life imprisonment up to death is as severe a sentence as the death sentence. If the people seek death penalty as a punishment or maybe as revenge, it doesn’t reflect a healthy psyche of a society,” he asserted.
Gonsalves sought radical reforms “by purging police of all criminal elements”.
The gathering also paid tribute to former Chief Justice Verma, the chief architect of the new anti-rape law.
“Both as a judge and as a citizen, Chief Justice Verma stood taller than others in the fight against violence against women and girls,” said activist and National Advisory Council Member Farah Naqvi.
Feminist Kamla Bhasin said, “This war by some against women and children is becoming an epidemic because we have been silent too long about misogyny, patriarchy, greed based economic paradigm, irresponsible and corrupt institutions. We need to fight at all these fronts simultaneously and in solidarity”.
Singer Usha Uthup made the crowd read out a pledge: “We will not tolerate or commit violence.”
She also presented songs such as “Stand by me”, “I will survive” and “Kolaveri di”, among others.
‘Sick minds’, not porn, responsible for increase in brutal rapes, says Sunny Leone
[Editor: Too much watching of porn could make any healthy mind sick (of both males and females). Also, it is true that both male and females watch pornography, though the proportion could vary--or in other words it is a gender neutral arena. Now, before, making any comment on Sunny Leone's verbal outburst, let us see what Ekta Kapoor, the The 37-year-old Female Bollywood producer, said while speaking on the topic of 'Sex, Nudity, Dance Numbers and the kiss' during a film festival.: "Mentality of men in India is becoming a problem. Men do not feel any social responsibility. Our culture is stopping women every-time. The main idea behind making 'The Dirty Picture' was to make people aware of women's sexuality. When John Abraham goes shirtless nobody has a problem but when our actresses do that everyone wants to chop off that scene". She probably want girls to go topless in films. Also, Sunny Leone's statement that, "Porn films do not show the kind of inhumanity that these men had displayed" is not fully correct, as there are "Sex- torture", "Child-porn", "Incest", "Female Masturbation" (with unusual hard penetrating objects), etc, videos on the internet]
Mumbai: Bollywood actress and one-time porn star Sunny Leone is up in arms over allegations that the accused in the brutal rape of the 5-year-old toddler in Delhi had watched porn which had induced them to commit the inhuman act.
Large scale protests had forced even the govt to consider banning porn websites and films. Some protesting organisations had gone so far as to demand that Sunny Leone be arrested! The actress has finally reacted to the issue and the allegations.
In an interview to a TV channel she said that porn films do not show the kind of inhumanity that these men had displayed.
She said their acts were born of sick minds and an unhealthy upbringing.
Sunny said the solution was proper treatment of the mental disorder these culprits suffer from and not banning porn.
In addition to protests, the Supreme Court is also considering a petition demanding that pornography be banned.
In view of these moves, it remains to be seen how far Sunny can convince detractors.
For Sunny, however, a ban on porn in India should not make much of a difference because she has already made a name for herself in Bollywood.
The actress’ item number ‘Laila’ in Shootout at Wadala is making waves all over.
~~Manoj Joshi The reality is that the Line of Actual Control between India and China is notional and has not been put down on any mutually agreed map
In 1950, the Survey of India issued a map of India showing the political divisions of the new republic. While the border with Pakistan was defined as it is now, including the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir area, the borders with China were depicted differently. In the east, the McMahon Line was shown as the border, except in its eastern extremity, the Tirap subdivision, where the border was shown as “undefined.” In the Central sector of what is now Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the eastern part of Jammu & Kashmir, including Aksai Chin, the boundary was depicted merely by a colour wash and denoted as “boundary undefined.”
Unilateral act
In March 1954, the Union Cabinet met and decided to unilaterally define the border of India with China. The colour wash was replaced by a hard line, and the Survey of India issued a new map, which depicts the borders as we know them today. All the old maps were withdrawn and the depiction of Indian boundaries in the old way became illegal. Indeed, if you seek out the White Paper on Indian States of 1948 and 1950 in the Parliament library, you will find that the maps have been removed because they too showed the border as being “undefined” in the Central and Western sectors.
What was the government up to? Did it seriously think it could get away with such a sleight of hand? Or was there a design that will become apparent when the papers of the period are declassified? Not surprisingly, the other party, the People’s Republic of China, was not amused and, in any case, there are enough copies of the old documents and maps across the world today to bring out the uncomfortable truth that the boundaries of India in these regions were unilaterally defined by the Government of India, rather than through negotiation and discussions with China.
It is not as though the Chinese have a particularly good case when it comes to their western boundary in Tibet. The record shows that the Chinese empire was unclear as to its western extremities, and rejected repeated British attempts to settle the border. The problem in the Aksai Chin region was further compounded by the fact that this was an uninhabited high-altitude desert, with few markers that could decide the case in favour of one country or the other. But there was cause for the two countries to sit down and negotiate a mutually acceptable boundary. This as we know was not to be and, since then, the process has gone through needless tension and conflict.
In the initial period, India’s focus was on the McMahon Line which defines the boundary with China in what is now Arunachal Pradesh. It tended to play down the issue of Aksai Chin because it was a remote area and of little strategic interest to India. But for China, the area was vital. Indeed, according to John W. Garver, it was “essential to Chinese control of western Tibet and very important to its control of all of Tibet.” In other words, in contrast to India’s legalistic and nationalistic claims over the region, for China, control over Aksai Chin had a geopolitical imperative.
For this reason, it entered the area, built a road through it and undertook a policy to expand westward to ensure that the road was secure. India woke up to the issue late and when it sought to confront the Chinese through its forward policy in 1961, it was already too late. And the 1962 war only saw a further Chinese advance westward which led to almost the entire Galwan River coming under the Chinese control.
We can only speculate on the causes of their present westward shift in the Daulat Beg Oldi area. But one thing is clear: the central locomotive of Chinese policy remains Tibet. Despite massive investments in the region, large numbers of Tibetans remain disaffected. No country in the world, including India, recognises Tibet as being a disputed territory yet, for two reasons. The Chinese constantly seek reassurance from New Delhi about its intentions. First, because of the past support that Tibetan separatist guerrillas got from the U.S. and India, and second, because of the presence of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in India. Despite the massive growth of Chinese power, their insecurities remain high. In great measure, they are due to Beijing’s own heavy-handed policies and only China can resolve the issues through accommodation and compromise with its own people. But not untypical of governments, Beijing seeks to deflect the blame of its own shortcomings on outsiders.
There could be other drivers of the tension as well. In the past five years, the Chinese have been generally assertive across their periphery and this could well be an outcome of policy decisions taken by the top military and political leadership of the country or, as some speculate, because of an inner-party conflict. Exaggerated Chinese maritime boundary claims have brought them into conflict with the ASEAN countries, principally the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. A separate order of tension has arisen with Japan over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea. In the case of India, an important initiative to resolve the border dispute through Special Representatives has been allowed to run aground.
Another possible explanation for the Chinese behaviour could be the steps India is taking with regard to its military on its borders with China. India’s border infrastructure and military modernisation schemes have been delayed by decades. But in recent years, there have been signs that New Delhi may be getting its act together. In any case, the cumulative impact of the huge defence expenditures since 2000 is beginning to show in terms of better border connectivity and modernisation programmes. This momentum could see Indian forces’ confrontation with China become even stronger when you take into account new manpower and equipment such as mountain artillery, attack helicopters, missiles and rocket artillery.
Overlapping claims
Even so, it would be hazardous to speak definitively about Chinese motivations. After being lambasted by the Indian media for occupying “Indian territory,” the Chinese might be concerned about losing face with a hasty retreat. The fact of the matter is that the boundary in the region is defined merely by a notional Line of Actual Control, which is neither put down on mutually agreed maps, let alone defined in a document through clearly laid out geographical features. While both sides accept most of the LAC and respect it, there are some nine points where there are overlapping claims and both sides patrol up to the LAC, as they understand it. In such circumstances, the Chinese could well withdraw after a decent interval.
This more benign interpretation of Chinese behaviour is also in tune with the statements that the new leadership in Beijing has been making. As has been noted, following his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the BRICS conference in Durban, the new supremo of China, Xi Jinping, was quoted in the Chinese media as saying that Beijing regarded its ties with New Delhi as “one of the most important bilateral relationships.” Belying the belief that the Chinese were dragging their feet on the border issue, Mr. Xi declared that the Special Representative mechanism should strive for “a fair, rational solution framework acceptable to both sides as soon as possible.” This last sentence is significant because a week earlier, he was quoted as making the standard formulation that the border problem “is a complex issue left from history and solving the issue won’t be easy.”
2013 is not 1962 and the Indian media and politicians should not behave as though it was, by needlessly raising the decibel level and trying to push the government to adopt a hawkish course on the border. But what the recent controversy does tell us is unsettled borders are not good for two neighbours because they can so easily become the cause of a conflict that neither may be seeking.
(The writer is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi)
Why Momentum Is Shifting Toward Repealing The Death Penalty ~~Benjamin Todd Jealous, Martin O’Malley
Next month Maryland will become the sixth state in six years to abolish the death penalty. The Free State is the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to repeal capital punishment, and we believe that other states will soon follow.
There are practical reasons why momentum is steadily shifting toward repeal: The death penalty is expensive, it does not work, and it is administered with a clear racial bias. Repealing it is a matter of justice, a matter of public safety, and a matter of effective governance.
The death penalty does not make Americans stronger or more secure as a people, and it does not make our laws more just. One of the most jarring facts about our modern criminal justice system is that defendants accused of murdering white victims are significantly more likely to face a death sentence than those accused of killing non-white victims.
This was certainly true in Maryland. A 2003 study showed that defendants charged with killing a white victim were significantly more likely to receive a death sentence. In Delaware, recent research revealed that 73 percent of death-row cases since 1972 involved a white victim. This data helped bolster efforts to pass the repeal bill in the Delaware state Senate last month.
The death penalty is also an ineffective deterrent. In 2011, the average murder rate in states with the death penalty, weighted for population, was 4.9 per 100,000 people. In states without it, the weighted murder rate was 4.1 per 100,000 people.
Nevertheless, Maryland taxpayers have spent millions of dollars on death penalty cases each year. Capital punishment in Maryland costs three times as much as life in prison without parole. Every extra dollar spent on the death penalty is a dollar not invested to stop crimes from being committed in the first place, or to support the families of murder victims.
Most troubling is the very real possibility that an innocent person can be put to death – and there is no way to bring a wrongfully executed person back to life. Each year from 2000 and 2011, an average of five death row inmates was exonerated nationwide. In Maryland, between 1995 and 2007, our state’s reversal rate for the death penalty was 80 percent.
This point was driven home nationwide by the case of Troy Davis in Georgia. Davis was put to death in September 2011 even though seven of nine eyewitnesses recanted the testimony that convicted him. On the night of his final appeal in September 2011, the world was watching; the Twitter hashtag #TooMuchDoubt marked the second-most-active Twitter event of the year. According to a Gallup poll released one month after his death, 35 percent of Americans opposed the death penalty – the highest level in nearly 40 years.
Across our ever-more-closely connected world, the majority of public executions now take place in just seven countries: Iran, Iraq, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United States. Whether one believes that the death penalty is wrong on moral grounds or not, more and more Americans are beginning to realize that capital punishment is wasteful, unjust, and tragically subject to human error.
Besides Delaware, legislators in Colorado, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Kansas are weighing repeal of the death penalty. As momentum continues to shift toward repeal in state after state, there is real hope that America will soon join the rest of the free world in abolishing the death penalty once and for all.
Martin O’Malley is the governor of Maryland. Benjamin Todd Jealous is the president and chief executive officer of the NAACP.
What do the gas chamber, state secrets and illegally manufactured drugs all have in common?
They are all in Senator Joel Anderson's preposterous new bill, SB 779, sponsored by the California District Attorneys' Association.
The measure is likely to fail but it's the clearest evidence yet that California's death penalty is broken beyond repair -- and that the only sane choice is to replace it with life in prison without possibility of parole.
SB 779 is 35 pages long and proposes changes to 27 different code sections. It's a massive, delusional overhaul of nearly every aspect of California's wrecked and expensive death penalty system--from small things like how a transcript is reviewed, to big things like whether the Supreme Court can review a case at all.
But the most deranged proposal made by the California District Attorneys' Association in SB 779 is that we bring back gas chamber executions to California.
How crazy is this idea?
Implementing this plan would make California the only jurisdiction in the world to carry out executions by suffocation. (Executions would be carried out using "a nontoxic gas administered in a lethal manner, such as by displacing oxygen," thereby suffocating a person to death.)
More signs of insanity:
No country in the world currently carries out executions by gas, in any form.
No state in the US currently carries out executions by gas, in any form.
The only documented use of execution by any gas other than hydrogen cyanide is from Nazi Germany where 12 million innocent people were killed, 1 million of them gassed using carbon monoxide.
The fact that California's DAs feel compelled to propose a new execution method says a lot.
They know California's lethal injection procedures will remain mired in legal and practical problems for years, possibly forever. The latest problem is that prisons cannot find a legal source of the drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have stopped making them or prohibited their sale to prisons. Just this week, Georgia announced that it did not have any lethal drugs on hand and did not know where to get them.
To remedy this problem, the California DAs propose two more bad ideas: do everything in secret and allow the illegal manufacture of drugs. SB 779 proposes making all information about the purchase of execution drugs a "state secret" that cannot be revealed to the public. This includes who the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) pays for the drugs and the amount paid. The state's last execution drug deal cost well over $20,000 for drugs that have a market value of less than $1,000 and now cannot be used due to a court order. No wonder the DAs don't want you to know this.
SB 779 also seeks to exempt "pharmacists, compounding pharmacies, suppliers and manufacturers" from all state laws that control the manufacture and distribution of execution drugs.
The upshot would be that absolutely anyone--with no qualifications at all--could make and/or supply execution drugs to the CDCR. Under SB 779, the CDCR could literally ask a high school chemistry teacher to mix up drugs in an RV, with absolutely no oversight or control under state law. Breaking Bad, anyone?
The truth is that death penalty proponents are desperate. California voters came within a hair's breadth of replacing California's death penalty just that last November. Forty-eight percent of California voters supported Proposition 34, an initiative to replace the death penalty with life in prison without parole, while 52% of voters opposed it. This is an even closer margin than the 2008 initiative that banned same sex marriage in California, Proposition 8. Californians are now evenly divided on the death penalty and their support steadily increases as more learn the facts about its steep costs and permanent dysfunction. Sanity and savings are just a matter of time.
The District Attorney's Association has repeatedly admitted that California's death penalty is broken, ineffective and costly. But they claimed they could "fix" it, given chance.
Now we know: there's no possible solution, only shockingly bad ideas that will cost even more money.
SB 779 shows us that California's death penalty is hopelessly broken, from top to bottom. While California's DAs conjure up more and more desperate and crazy ideas to try and prop the system up, we continue to waste millions of dollars a day. The only way to end the madness, and save the state $130 million every year, is to replace the death penalty with life in prison without possibility of parole.
Summary Amputations: Taliban Justice In Afghanistan ~~By Humayun Hadid & Johannes Dell
Two cases of forced amputations in Afghanistan's Herat province have served as a grim reminder of Taliban-style justice almost 12 years since the movement was ousted from power.
Stonings, amputations and executions were a common sight in this Kabul stadium during the rule of the Taliban
Just over a month ago, Fayz Mohammad and his neighbour Zarin were two ordinary young Afghan men.
They held down good jobs as drivers for a local transport company and were happy to be able to feed their families.
Now both are in hospital in Herat, recovering from an ordeal which has left them traumatised and worried for their future.
In mid-March, 25-year-old Fayz and his younger colleague were enjoying time off duty in their home village in Rabat Sangi district while their trucks were being loaded.
On the second night of their stay, Taliban fighters arrived at 03:00 in the morning and abducted them.
The men were taken more than 100 miles away to Torghundi, a town on the border with Turkmenistan.
"They kept us for 27 days," Fayz told the BBC. "On the 28th day, at 10 in the morning, they cut off our hand and foot."
Resting on a simple bed in Herat's regional hospital, his right arm and left leg heavily bandaged, Fayz recounted his harrowing experience.
"They injected us with a fake anaesthetic from an ampoule," he says. "It didn't have any effect at all."
Fayz says he doesn't know what instrument the men used.
"I just saw a guy with white gloves. I don't know if he was a medic or not. I don't think he was because it took a very long time to cut off my hand. I suffered a lot, it was extremely painful."
Fayz says that he and his colleague were blindfolded during the procedure and that several men held their limbs and sat on their chests to keep them still.
Blood transfusion
There is confusion over what the two drivers were actually accused of.
Some reports suggest the two men were suspected of stealing, others say that they were targeted because their company worked for the Western troops in the country.
Fayz says that he and Zarin never did anything wrong and that they were used to set an example and send a warning to others. He says there was no kind of trial.
Fayz Mohammad hopes to be fitted with prosthetic limbs so he can work again
"There was no mullah, no judge, nobody," he says. "There were only Taliban. They were all laughing and making fun while they did this. They never listened to what we had to say."
Fayz also says that the insurgents offered to set them free if they agreed to plant explosives on one of the company trucks, but they refused.
A spokesman at the hospital told the BBC that the men had been found next to a main road and were brought to the clinic by drivers who spotted them.
The hospital says that Fayz and Zarin arrived around three hours after they lost their limbs and needed blood transfusions.
Their wounds needed surgery to help them heal properly and avoid infection. Doctors say that the amputation appeared to have been conducted by someone with medical knowledge as no bones had been broken.
Fayz says he is worried about how he will work in future and hopes he can be fitted with a prosthetic limb.
Sharia calls
The case is a reminder of the punishments meted out by the Taliban authorities when they ruled much of the country between 1996 and 2001.
Citing Sharia law, Taliban officials carried out lashings, stonings, amputations and executions in public places such as squares, schools or sports grounds.
The sports stadiums in Kabul and Kandahar were notorious for such spectacles with thousands of people attending.
Taliban fighters would ensure a high turnout by driving through neighbourhoods announcing punishments through mounted loudspeakers.
Amputations were usually carried out by trained doctors, who operated with their faces covered for fear of reprisals. In many cases a local anaesthetic was applied before the limb was removed with simple surgical instruments.
The punishment for theft was the loss of a hand, depending on the severity of the crime.
Amputees would often faint as the severed limb was paraded to the crowd before burial.
But Taliban-style justice has once again been observed in many parts of the country in recent years as the insurgency maintains its momentum.
There have been numerous reports of fighters meting out punishments usually in areas they control or where they have a significant or temporary presence.
In August 2010, the Afghan authorities released a video showing a couple being stoned to death in Northern Kunduz province after a Taliban court found them guilty of adultery. In the same month Taliban fighters publicly flogged and executed a pregnant Afghan widow in the Baghdis area, after accusing her of an illicit affair.
Last year, insurgents were reported to have shot a woman for alleged adultery in Parwan province.
But beyond such extreme cases, Taliban courts are active in many parts of the country - intervening in local disputes, often at the request of villagers who have lost faith in the notoriously corrupt Afghan justice system.
And with the withdrawal of international troops and the ongoing search for a peace agreement with the Taliban, some favour a revival of strict Islamic law.
A gathering of more than 300 Afghan Islamic clerics three years ago called on President Hamid Karzai to enact Sharia, including the kind of punishments the Taliban have become notorious for.
US-based Sikh group seeks UN intervention for Bhullar
[Editor: Article 161 of the Constitution of India and Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“the CrPC”) provide for elaborate powers to the Governor and the Government respectively, to suspend or remit sentences of persons convicted and sentenced to prison]
New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) A Swiss NGO and a US-based Sikh group have sought UN intervention to "save" Devenderpal Singh Bhullar, whose petition seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment was rejected by the Indian Supreme Court earlier this month.
A Swiss NGO, Movement Against Atrocities and Repression (MAAR), and Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) have filed an appeal with Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns on April 25.
A group of Sikhs also held a "Justice Rally" before the UN office in Geneva seeking intervention for the suspension of Bhullar's death sentence, said a statement Saturday.
Bhullar was given capital punishment for the Sep 10, 1993, blast at the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) office in New Delhi that left nine people dead and 17 injured.
Prof. Bhullar’s death sentence – Canadian Sikhs urges India to abolish death penalty – Rights Group calls for Global Boycott of “Air India”
~~Jagdeep Singh
Justice Rally in Canada (April 27 2013)
Toronto, Canada (April 28, 2013) : On a call given by Ontario based Sikh organizations several hundred Canadians including Sikhs, Muslims and Christians gathered in front of Indian Consulate, Toronto to voice their support for Professor DevenderPal Singh Bhullar, who has been unjustly sentenced to death in India. The “Justice Rally” participants carried placards demanding Indian Government to abolish death penalty as per UN resolution and suspension of Bhullar’s death sentence.
To show solidarity with Bhullar, the Sikh community and Sikh organizations unanimously passed the resolution and decided to support the global campaign to “Boycott Air India”. The call by “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ) the human rights advocacy, urges the Sikh community to stop financially supporting a “System of Governance” which kills innocent Sikhs, subjects them to genocidal attacks and completely denies justice. While justifying the “Boycott Air India” campaign rights group stated that the campaign is initiated to put pressure on Indian Government to suspend Bhullar’s death sentence and to raise awareness amongst the international community about the impunity to those who are responsible for 1984 Sikh genocide.
Navneet Kaur, a Canadian citizen and Bhullar’s wife stated that my husband is sure to be executed unless Canada and other foreign governments pressure India to suspend his death sentence. “I am making a desperate appeal to Canadian Prime Minister to step forward to help me save my husband, who is an innocent man,” said Kaur, My husband was falsely accused, forced to confess and has been imprisoned for 18 years for a crime he did not commit.”
As a Canadian citizen’s husband is on death row in India, Lakhwinder Singh Gill of Shiromani Akali Dal Panch Pardhani, the group behind today’s massive “Justice Rally” stated that each Canadian Member Parliament is requested to stand with Ms. Kaur so that her husband can be saved from imminent execution. Being convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities act (TADA), an act which was criticized by the UN and later abolished due to its unconstitutional nature, we demand that elected officials and business community members raise Bhullar’s issue with the Indian counterparts added Gill.
Attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to Sikhs of Justice (SFJ) stated that “As Canadian Sikhs we are united in our opposition to India’s ongoing use of the death penalty despite ongoing international pressure including UN resolution 62-149,”. “Following the Canadian tradition of respect for the sanctity of human life, Canadian Sikhs strongly oppose the use of the death penalty – something still in use in India. Today, hundreds of Canadian Sikhs stood in solidarity to oppose this outdated and barbaric,” added attorney Pannun.
SFJ, the rights group will file a petition that will be presented in the House of Commons demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canadian Government to leverage Canada’s position in the world – and especially our relationship with India – to speak to his Indian counterpart and ask him to abide by UN Resolution 62-149 and place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in India.
Women now more likely to want sex than their male partners
It's no longer the women, who is bailing out of late night intimacy with cries of headaches, stomach cramps and baby-related exhaustion, but these days its men, who are actually more likely to be the ones saying "not tonight, darling."
According to a new study, more than half said that they turn down sex more frequently than their female partner, the Daily Mail reported.
New research from an online pharmacy in the UK has revealed that, despite common stereotypes, men are more likely to turn down intercourse with their partner than women - with "tiredness" and "work stress" cited as the most common male "sexcuses".
The study, conducted by ukmedix.com, polled 1,922 British men aged over 18 and in a long-term relationship, and was conducted after the site noticed a marked increase in searches for libido enhancing medication throughout the first half of January.
Respondents were asked questions relating to their sex life with their partner.
Those taking part were asked who turned down sex more frequently, them or their partner, and 62 per cent of men polled said they did.
That majority was then asked what their most frequent "sexcuses" were - namely, the reasons they gave their partner for not wanting sex.
The five most popular being that they were too tired (45 percent), stressed about work (39 percent), had a headache (39 percent), felt too full after dinner (29 percent), or there was something good on TV (24 percent).
In contrast, when asked to give the genuine reasons they turned down intimacy, the top five included feeling uncomfortable about his body (38 percent) and having a low libido (35 percent).
The men taking part in the study were asked how frequently they had sex with their partner, to which the most common answer, for 42 percent of men, was once a fortnight.
Just one in ten (9 percent) of men claimed to have sex with their partner daily, while 25 percent claimed to be intimate with their other half on average once a month.
Dzhohkar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombing suspect who has serious
injuries preventing him from talking and answering investigator
questions, is surrounded by investigators who wish they were able to
read his mind and search for answers.
How did a young Muslim man
change after he arrived to America as a teenager, fused into the
community, became a “U.S. citizen like any one of us” (as one of his
friends said), and then turn from a young man who loves life and money
(as he wrote on his page on a social networking site) to a terrorist,
killing innocent people?
What mostly frighten security analysts,
are the amateur terrorists who are not associated to any organization
and who recruit themselves through the internet: analysts cannot
consequently find any lines to track them down and expose them before
they commit their crime.
Last week, security officials uncovered
two similar cases, one in Canada and the second in France. In both
cases, there were young men like the Tsarnaev brothers, the suspects in
Boston bombings. This phenomenon can ignite a new wave of Islamophobia.
Most probably, someone is now asking in an American right-wing newspaper
or TV channel “How can I be sure that my young Muslim neighbor who
looks nice and friendly, and is no less American than I am, will not
suddenly turn into a terrorist?”
Despite our uneasiness as Arabs
and Muslims regarding this question, it is a legitimate question that
recalls the words of Al Arabiya General Manager Abdulrahman al-Rashed,
who was brave enough to say that it is a “fact that not all Muslims are
terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that
almost all terrorists are Muslims”; these words pushed some people to
harshly criticize him.
Coming wave of terror?
I will help
security officials and investigators who wish to wander into the mind of
Dzhohkar Tsarnaev and convey to them some of what is roving inside the
angry Muslim mind in general, even though I know that American and
western politicians reject any attempt to answer the causes behind
Muslim anger.
They believe it “justifies” terrorism; they know
that discussing the reasons will lead to hold them accountable and open
some files they want to block out, even though their main goal should be
to fight terrorism by treating its causes. American and western
politicians also prefer to discuss with the Russian administration
issues like promoting security cooperation, rather than to ask President
Putin who is responsible for the Chechnya massacres, “what did you do
there” and send a Congress committee to investigate his crimes.
Amid
the heightened security efforts that will occupy the attention of the
politicians worldwide, they will not anticipate the coming wave of
Islamic terrorism, which I expect. The earlier waves launched in the
middle of the 1990s were a reaction to the events in Bosnia and Algeria.
The
second millennium wave focused on Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya, and
will be followed by a third wave that will be provoked by the massacres
in Syria, which is now fueling Muslim anger through images of
never-ending injustice. They are real images that young angry Muslims
can see today on YouTube and WhatsApp and are usually rated 18+. There
are videos that news channels cannot broadcast, depicting members of the
Syrian regime slowly killing and torturing their victims, and cutting
off arms and legs.
These pictures should be handed to the
International Criminal Court and not to social media sites. They are
also endorsed by a wave of images coming from Burma, where the world
praises its support for Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's opposition leader and
Nobel Peace laureate; while nobody implicitly or explicitly condemned
the flagrant human rights violations after the killing, burning and
raping of the Muslim minority there.
Provoking images
Perhaps
Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother watched some of these videos
and images that resounded in their angry minds, which was already
accumulated as Chechens. They must have seen a lot of pictures showing
Muslims being tortured; they have maybe watched the videos where the
Russian officer slays a Chechen fighter with his small Swiss knife – the
worst kind of slow murder; the victim wobbles and he gradually bleeds
as the Russians laugh about it.
I reiterate that such videos
should be sent to the International Criminal Court, but how would that
happen if no one was sent to trial. What Bashar al-Assad is doing in
Syria today is the same as what Putin did in Chechnya; there are images
of the fully destroyed Grozny. The angry Muslim mind is observing again
today, that those protecting Bashar and his regime are those who
destroyed Grozny and killed more than 100, 000 Chechens. The angry mind
does not see any other detail, such as the international scene or the
balance of interests; it is a mind that is not able to think. If the
Tsarnaev brothers were logically thinking they would not have targeted
the Boston Marathon and the compassionate city that nestled them.
The
effect of these videos on the angry Muslim mind is substantial; it
stimulates the accumulated feeling of injustice because it sees itself
as a targeted minority and that the whole world is against it. It
believes that Americans secretly support Bashar, and are keeping mum
towards Putin’s crimes and the Burmese leader’s hypocrisy. It believes
(and it has the right to) that the ugliest crimes of the last century
and today have been committed against Muslims. The only exceptions are
the Jews after being tortured by the Nazis, and the Armenians who were
tortured by the Ottomans.
This angry mind also perceives that
these two communities have gotten the world’s apologies and
compensation. The only ones who do not receive apologies are the
Muslims; we should not disregard the Palestinian soreness in the Arab
Muslim conscience: there have not been a community that was displaced as
the Palestinians were, and yet, no one is ready to apologize to them.
Who dares to ask for a museum in New York commemorating the exodus? Who
dares to ask for an official Russian apology for 1.5 million Chechens
who were forcibly displaced from their homes and dispersed on the
borders of the Soviet Union, where hundreds of thousands died from
diseases and starvation?
When the Chechens revolted asking for
their independence, the Russians waged arbitrary wars against them, and
again, the world did not react upon seeing the documented and truthful
photos. Many stories are invading the angry Muslim mind in a way that
paralyzes its logic and transforms the kindhearted young man into a
dangerous terrorist.
Some will think that in this article, I am
trying to find excuses for terrorism, but no, no one can justify
terrorism; the only way to eradicate it is to treat its causes. Someone
must have the courage to tell the West: your double standards are the
reason behind the anger generating terrorism.
Jamal Khashoggi is a
Saudi journalist, columnist, author, and general manager of the
upcoming Al Arab News Channel. He previously served as a media aide to
Prince Turki al Faisal while he was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the
United States. Khashoggi has written for various daily and weekly Arab
newspapers, including Asharq al-Awsat, al-Majalla and al-Hayat, and was
editor-in-chief of the Saudi-based al-Watan. He was a foreign
correspondent in Afghanistan, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, and other Middle
Eastern countries. He is also a political commentator for Saudi-based
and international news channels.
School’s Out: Heavy rainfall in Saudi Arabia suspends classes
While slippery snow and glassy ice may force schools to shut in more wintry countries, Saudi Arabia’s rainy downpour on Saturday has been enough reason for classes to be suspended.
Schools in five different Saudi provinces will be shut, the Ministry of Education said on Saturday, due to rainy weather conditions.
Ministry of Education Spokesman Mohammed Al-Dakheeni said the suspension will affect the provinces of Quwaiyiah, Dawadmi, Hota, Hariq and Kharj, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
“The suspension’s decision was taken due to a continuation of rains in these provinces,” said the ministry’s statement carried by SPA.
Heavy rains in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday prompted people to remain home, reported Arab news, a Saudi-based news website.
Al Arabiya’s correspondent said the decision is a precautionary measure taken to cope with poor weather conditions that had hit the Kingdom since Thursday.
Possible heavy rainfall and floods kept the kingdom on high alert levels over the past few days in preparation for the expected weather changes.
[Editor: The blunder caused by the "State Sponsored Murder" of Afzal Guru, a convict in the Indian "Parliament Attack Conspiracy", has already ignited the dormant "Kashmiri Separatist Movement", now with the main opposition party the BJP supporting the execution of Mr.DPS Bhullar, a Mechanical Engineer, the threat of a civil war lurks at the backyard, as the renewed call for "Khalistan Movement", an independent country for the Sikhs, gets bolder. A large number of Sikh Groups all over the world has given a call to boycott, Air India, the airlines owned by the government of India (GOI), apart from charging it (GOI) with human rights violations and Indians are being suddenly thrown into a crisis. It seems the BJP will now equal the Left in terms of "Blunders". Peace cannot be achieved through the barrel of a Gun and also, when dealing with political prisoners, extreme care must be taken or else the nation could be pushed towards a high-voltage communal unrest, like what is happening in Pakistan or in Bangladesh. The time has come to do away with "Death Penalty", paying heed to the call for its total abolition in India, by the rights groups, world-wide and the UN]
Despite personal loss caused by the pro Khalistan Sikh militants, Dhido Gill is seeking clemency for a Khalistani militant Devinderpal Singh Bhullar.
Gill is a brother-in-law and an ideological friend of Paash, a revolutionary Punjabi poet who was assassinated by the supporters of
Khalistan Commando Force in 1988. Gill has also supported a Facebook petition seeking amnesty for Bhullar, who is facing death sentence for the 1993 car bombing that left 9 people dead.
Both Paash and Gill vehemently opposed religious fundamentalism and theocracy. They together launched, "Anti 47 Front" - a platform that denounced repetition of 1947 like partition of India on religious lines. India and Pakistan were separated on sectarian lines in 1947.
Being supporters of the ultra leftist Naxalite movement both were highly critical of fanaticism. Although Paash was also critical of Hindu fundamentalism and had written a poem critical of anti Sikh pogrom that was engineered by the Congress party following the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi by her Sikh body guards in 1984, the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) murdered him and claimed responsibility for the crime. Years later, the KCF leader Labh Singh regretted Paash’s murder in his diary the excerpts of which were published in Indo Canadian Times in 1995.
Setting aside personal grudges and ideological differences, Gill told this reporter over the phone from California that the state has no authority to take away human life. "I am principally opposed to capital punishment."
According to Gill, Bhullar also deserves pardon due to his poor mental health situation. "Had Paash been alive he too would have opposed it," he noted while reminding that Paash was a humanist writer.
He also criticized political parties which were trying to take mileage out of this issue. "All regional and communal considerations should be set aside to get capital punishment abolished instead of being selective.". He argued if so many countries can abolish capital punishment why can’t India?
