Sikh students' body condemns attack on Sarabjit

Jamshedpur: All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) Friday condemned the attack on Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistani jail where he was on death row.

Satnam Singh Gambhir, President of AISSF's Jharkhand-Bihar unit also urged the central government to take up the issue with the Pakistani authorities to ensure proper medical treatment to him.
The Centre should also mount pressure on Pakistan government to initiate stringent action against the culprits, he demanded.

AISSF, which had been demanding for Sarabjit's release for long, would pray in gurudwaras here for his recovery tomorrow, Gambhir said.

Sarabjit was convicted for his alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Pakistan's Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990.

His mercy petitions were rejected by courts in Pakistan and former President Pervez Musharraf.

Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008.

PTI

Courtesy: Zee News

Sikh Diaspora of Europe urged UN to send fact finding mission in India to save Prof. Bhullar
~~By Parmjit Singh

Switzerland, Europe (April 27, 2013): Sikh diaspora in Europe has urged the United Nations to send a ‘fact finding’ mission to India to investigate into the case of Professor Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, currently on death row, and pressurize Indian government to suspend his suspected execution. Besides this a call has been made to boycott Air India flights in protest against Indian government for their decision to hang Prof. Bhullar besides worldwide protest.

According to information a delegation various of Sikh organizations from Europe had held a Justice Rally in front of the office of the UN at Switzerland and submitted a memorandum with the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on April 25th . The rally was held under the aegis of Movement Against Atrocities and Repression (MAAR) Founder president of Sikh Foundation , Switzerland, Karan Singh told TOI over phone from Switzerland that a delegation of Sikhs including HS Khalsa, Switzerland, Avtar Singh, Italy, Gurdeep Singh Pardesi, Germany and Gurdeep Singh , Switzerland held about 45 minutes meeting with Human Rights Officer, Office of the High Commissioner for.
Human Rights Michelle Erazo Martinez and Human Rights Officer Sharof Azizov to discuss case of Bhullar. “They have demanded details of Bhullar’s case besides proof’s of his innocence ” said he adding that they had been assured by the officers to look into the case and take up the same with Indian government.

MAAR president Khalsa said “We have called for United Nations intervention seeking to send a “fact finding” mission to investigate and save victim of torture Devenderpal Singh Bhullar who is facing imminent “execution” as per Supreme Court of India’s order” He informed that the Sikh bodies have resolved to boycott Air India flights . In yet another resolution adopted during the rally, the Sikhs have demanded from German government to withdraw their ambassador from India. He said they will also begin a signature campaign and would submit one million signature petition with UN urging to investigate into the 1984 anti Sikh riots and declare it Genocide.

Courtesy: www.sikhsiyasat.net

American faces death penalty in North Korea
~~Choe Sang Hun, New York Times

SEOUL: An American tour operator who crossed into North Korea from China last year is facing indictment on charges that he carried out hostile acts against the North's government, the Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday.

The tour operator, Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American who lived in Washington state, traveled with a group of businessmen in November from Yanji, China, to the North Korean special economic zone of Rason, where he was arrested.

His detention comes as American relations with North Korea have worsened considerably in recent months over the North's detonation of a nuclear device and missile testing.

North Korea has often used the plight of detained Americans as a bargaining chip in its dealings with Washington. In January, Bill Richardson, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, tried to see Bae but was rebuffed. Bae is the sixth American detained by North Korea since 2009, but he is facing the gravest charges.

During investigations, Bae "admitted his criminal plot to overthrow our republic out of hostility," the North Korean news agency said. It added that his crime was "clearly substantiated by evidence."

Under the North's criminal code, the maximum punishment for such a crime is the death penalty. Associated Press, which has a bureau in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, previously quoted a North Korean official as saying that Bae faced harsh punishment and possibly the death penalty over the accusations of trying to overthrow the government.

The North Korean news agency did not say when Bae's trial would be held. North Korea said the criminal investigation in the case was over. Under the criminal code of North Korea, prosecutors are required to file their formal indictment within 10 days of the completion of the investigation. Then a court rules on the case within 25 days.

The accused in the North have only a single chance to appeal their verdict. But North Korea indicated on Saturday that Bae would not be allowed such a chance because his case was handled directly by the country's supreme court.

In December, when North Korea officially confirmed Bae's detention, it said he was arrested on charges of committing "hostile acts" against North Korea, a lesser crime than a plot to "overthrow" the county. It said he had been allowed to meet with officials from the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which intervenes on Washington's behalf on issues involving American citizens in North Korea. Washington has no diplomatic ties with North Korea.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Japan executes two death-row gangsters

Japanese Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki announces during
a press conference at his office that two death-row inmate
gangsters were hanged, in Tokyo on April 26, 2013. Japan said
on Friday that it hanged two death-row inmates, in the first
executions since a trio of convicted killers died in the gallows
two months ago and drawing immediate protest from human rights
groups. PHOTO: AFP

Japan said Friday it hanged two death-row inmates, in the first executions since a trio of convicted killers died in the gallows two months ago and drawing immediate protest from human rights groups.

Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told reporters that Katsuji Hamasaki, 64, and Yoshihide Miyagi, 56, two members of Japan's notorious Yakuza organised crime syndicates, were executed for the shooting of two rival gangsters in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo, in 2005.

The executions bring to five the number of death-row inmates hanged since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's conservative government swept to power in landslide December elections.

Japan now has 134 inmates on its death row.

Amnesty International Japan, the Japanese branch of the global rights group, protested Friday.

"We strongly condemn the five executions conducted since the launch of the new government, which goes against calls by the international community and indicates the government's intention to pave the way for mass executions," it said in a statement.

Tokyo did not execute any condemned inmates in 2011, the first full year in nearly two decades without an execution amid muted debate on the rights and wrongs of a policy that enjoys wide public support.

But in March last year, Tokyo resumed its use of capital punishment with an unapologetic government minister signing death warrants for three multiple murderers.

Apart from the United States, Japan is the only major industrialised democracy to carry out capital punishment, a practice that has led to repeated protests from European governments and human rights groups.

International advocacy groups say the system is cruel because death row inmates can wait for their executions for many years in solitary confinement and are only told of their impending death a few hours ahead of time.

Courtesy: Global Post

Texas executes second man over the fatal shooting of abductee during convenience store robbery

The Texas death chamber in Huntsville, US

Texas has executed a second man over the fatal shooting of a man he and a partner abducted during a convenience store robbery nearly 11 years ago.

Richard Cobb, 29, used a 20-gauge shotgun to kill Kenneth Vandever in an East Texas field where two women, store clerks Candace Driver and Nikki Ansleym also were shot and one was raped, according to the Associated Press.

Cobb and his accomplice, Beunka Adams, were convicted of capital murder.

Adams was executed for the crime in 2012, Reuters wrote.

The pair had robbed BDJ's convenience store in Rusk wearing masks and demanded money.

KWTX cited testimony at Adams' trial as showing that he gave the orders during the holdup and initiated the abductions.

Executed: Richard Cobb

However it was Adams demanded who that Vandever and one woman get into the car's trunk while the pair raped the other woman.

He then forced all three abductees to kneel as they were shot.

Vandever died immediately, while the women were kicked and shot again before Cobb and Adams, believing they were dead, fled.

However both were alive, and one was able to run to a house to call for help.

Cobb, who was 18 at the time had appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that his death sentence was based on false testimony by a state witness.

A statement of the case included in a court filing by Cobb's lawyer said:

    "Mr. Cobb has never disputed his involvement in the crimes, but explained that he acted out of fear of Adams, who orchestrated the crimes."

Asked if he had any last words, according to the AP Cobb said:

    "Life is death, death is life. I hope that someday this absurdity that humanity has come to will come to an end. Life is too short. I hope anyone that has negative energy towards me will resolve that. Life is too short to harbor feelings of hatred and anger. That's it, warden."

As the lethal drug took effect the 29-year-old twisted his head back, raised it off a pillow and said: 

    "Wow! That is great. That is awesome! Thank you, warden! Thank you [expletive] warden!"

He then fell silent and was pronounced dead 15 minutes later.

At least 11 other Texas inmates have executions scheduled for the coming months.

Three are scheduled for May.

Courtesy: Global Post and Mirror News

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Letter of Saradha Group, CMD, Mr. Sudipta Sen to the CBI

Dr.Albert Einstein's Theory Holds Up In Deep Space

WASHINGTON: Some 7,000 light years away, Einstein's theory of general relativity has stood up to its most intense test yet, scientists said on Thursday.

The project involved observing a massive, fast-spinning star called a pulsar, and its companion white dwarf -- a smaller but very dense star that is dying, having lost most of its outer layers -- doing a dizzying orbital dance.

The unusually heavy neutron star spins 25 times each second, and is orbited every two and a half hours by the white dwarf star, in a system dubbed PSR J0348+0432.

Would this strange interaction finally shed light on the limits of Albert Einstein's 1915 theory that explained gravity as a space-time entity that is distorted by any matter within it?
General relativity predicts that even light is deflected by gravity, so astronomers can test the theory by peering through a telescope -- in this case a big one at European Southern Observatory's site in Chile.

"I was observing the system with ESO's Very Large Telescope, looking for changes in the light emitted from the white dwarf caused by its motion around the pulsar," said John Antoniadis, a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany and lead author of the paper in the journal Science.

"A quick on-the-spot analysis made me realize that the pulsar was quite a heavyweight. It is twice the mass of the Sun, making it the most massive neutron star that we know of and also an excellent laboratory for fundamental physics."
Scientists expect that Einstein's theory of general relativity, which is already incompatible with quantum physics, would at some point no longer hold true in extreme conditions.

But they found that in this case, the theory did indeed predict the amount of gravitational radiation emitted.

"We thought this system might be extreme enough to show a breakdown in general relativity, but instead, Einstein's predictions held up quite well," said Paulo Freire of the Max Planck Institute.

Courtesy: International The News 

Saudi Arabia Court Orders Arbitrary Detention Of Human Rights Defender

The Saudi Arabian authorities have already imprisoned
several of ACPRA's co-founders.© Iman AL Qahtani @ImaQh

An arbitrary court order to detain a university professor for four months after he co-founded a human rights organization is the latest blow to freedom of expression and assembly in the Gulf kingdom, Amnesty International said today.

On Thursday a criminal court in Buraydah – 350km north of the capital Riyadh – ordered the detention of Dr Abdulkareem Yousef al-Khoder. The 48-year-old is a founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Organization (ACPRA) and a professor of comparative jurisprudence at the Faculty of Islamic Jurisprudence at Qassim University.

No reasons were given for the detention order against al-Khoder, which came after a judge arbitrarily blocked a group of around 10 women from accessing the court to observe his trial. Following his ruling, the judge refused to meet with al-Khoder or his lawyer, and the professor has since been held in Buraydah prison.

He had been on trial since January 2013 on charges including disobeying the ruler, inciting disorder by calling for demonstrations, disseminating false information to foreign groups, and taking part in founding an unlicensed organization.

“This trial should never have happened, and the charges against Dr al-Khoder appear to be based solely on his legitimate human rights work with ACPRA,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.

“Dr Abdulkareem Yousef al-Khoder is a prisoner of conscience. He must be released immediately and unconditionally and the authorities should drop the case against him.”

It is unclear why the judge blocked the women from attending the court session. No law in Saudi Arabia prevents women from being present during trials, and the Justice Ministry last October issued a statement acknowledging that women lawyers would be allowed to plead cases in court. The country’s first female lawyer is currently in training.

Although al-Khoder’s trial had been open to the public, a large number of heavily armed security forces were present.

On 10 April, al-Khoder had submitted a request to remove the judge presiding over his case, to no avail. Al-Khoder argued that the judge had publicly expressed negative opinions about him before the trial and was therefore not impartial.

Prior to his trial opening in January 2013, al-Khoder had circulated a petition asking for a fact-finding committee to investigate arbitrary detentions and repression of peaceful activists by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior. He had also written an article on 20 ways of enhancing the success of peaceful demonstrations, and called the Saudi Arabian state a police state.

Harassment of ACPRA’s founders

On 9 March, the Saudi Arabian authorities ordered the complete disbanding of ACPRA and confiscation of its property. Founded in 2009, ACPRA had become one of the most prominent among the country’s very few independent human rights organizations.

It reported on human rights violations and helped many families of detainees held without charge to bring cases against the Ministry of Interior. ACPRA’s social media accounts were shut down on the same day.

Also on 9 March, two other ACPRA co-founders – Dr Abdullah bin Hamid bin Ali al-Hamid, 66, and Mohammad bin Fahad bin Muflih al-Qahtani, 47 – were sentenced to 10 and 11 years’ imprisonment, respectively, to be followed by travel bans of equal duration.

They were charged with a list of offences similar to those levelled against al-Khoder.

Amnesty International considers both to be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned solely on account of their peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association, including in relation to their human rights activities.

In April 2012, Mohammed Saleh al-Bajady, another of the organization’s co-founders, was sentenced by a special counter-terrorism court to four years’ imprisonment followed by a five-year travel ban. He was reportedly convicted of charges relating to involvement in the establishment of an unlicensed organization, harming the image of the state through the media, calling on the families of political detainees to protest and hold sit-ins, contesting the independence of the judiciary and having banned books in his possession.

Al-Bajady went on hunger strike in prison in September 2012 and has not been heard from since.

On 24 March 2013, his lawyer, Fawzan al-Harbi, submitted a written request to and attempted to meet the director of the al-Ha’ir prison where al-Bajady is reportedly being detained. He has yet to be granted a visit to his client nor has he received a reply to his written request to do so.

Earlier, on 6 January 2013, al-Harbi met Saudi Arabia’s Attorney General and asked to visit al-Bajady. He also attempted to hand the Attorney General a written request for a visit and a complaint about his client’s detention conditions. But the Attorney General refused to receive the complaint and told the lawyer that he will follow up on the matter – and there has been no development in the case since then.

Courtesy: Amnesty International

Revealed: the man deported from Saudi Arabia for being too handsome

First pictures and video of Dubai-based actor
Omar Borkan Al Gala emerge - and he’s a hunk

WITH HIS dreamy eyes, well-groomed beard and razor-sharp cheekbones, Omar Borkan Al Gala is undeniably handsome. And according to US website Jezebel he’s one of three men who were deported last week from Saudi Arabia - reportedly because of his good looks.

The first images of the Dubai-based actor and photographer emerged after Arabic newspaper Elaph reported a trio of hunks had been deported from Saudi Arabia over fears women would find them irresistible.

The three men, who are all from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), were attending the Jenadrivah Heritage and Culture Festival in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, when religious police “forcibly” removed them from the event.
While we do not know the identity of his studly companions, the incident has done wonders for Al Gala’s profile. His Facebook page is filled with invites to foreign countries from women promising he won’t be deported. Here’s a four-minute video demonstrating just how seriously handsome he is. Ladies, enjoy:

Courtesy: The Week

Saudi Arabia Reaffirms Ban on the Building of Non-Muslim Places of Worship

Bishops from several European countries are criticizing Saudi Minister of Justice, Mohamed el-Eissi, after he insisted that "the cradle of the Muslim sanctities will not allow the establishment of any other places of worship."

The statement has reflected the Saudi government's intention to resume its ban on the building of non-Muslim places of worship within Saudi territories, or even the observance of non-Islamic religious rituals.

The minister reaffirmed the commitment to the exclusion of other religions in the Arabian country during a meeting with a number of European parliamentarians and members of the Foreign Relations Committee this week.

"My country will not allow the establishment of places of worship for non-Muslims," he said in response to a question raised by the parliamentarians on the matter.

Saudi Arabia has long faced criticism due to its position of limiting religious freedom within the country. The banning of other religious houses of worship comes from a Salafi tradition that prohibits the existence of two religions in the Arabian Peninsula.

Other Gulf States, however, do not uphold such a law. German, Russian and Austrian bishops strongly criticized Saudi Mufti Sheikh Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh for issuing a fatwa calling for the demolition of churches in the Arabian Peninsula.

It was a rare criticism from Christian clerics against their Muslim counterparts.

The Saudi king has led a number of initiatives to support dialogue between religions and cultures, but the strict position against the building of churches remains despite the millions of expatriate Christians in the country.

The Vatican has called upon Saudi authorities to change its policies on other religions in the country.

Courtesy: The Christian Post

British Protesters Slam Saudi For Cleric Death Sentence

Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr

But outside its embassy in London, these regular protests, aim to remind those inside that their actions are being watched closely by the world.

Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr is a senior Saudi-Arabian - and a shia cleric. He was shot and arrested by Saudi Security Forces in July last year.

Protests erupted - and they still continue today - despite a blanket ban by authorities.

Last month, local media reported that a Saudi prosecutor has demanded the death penalty - by crucifixion - for the elderly cleric.

The regime accuses him of aiding terrorists and instigating unrest. A claim called laughable by demonstrators, who say it is Saudi Arabia that is instigating unrest in the region.
Also in attendance were protesters from Pakistan and Bahrain - who say they have also seen the devastation that Saudi policy has inflicted on their countries. Targeted shia killings in Pakistan are intensifying - and the Saudi military helped Bahrain crack down on it’s own people.

It’s this kind of solidarity that is growing - across the world - and not just in Arab countries. Even here in Britain where the message is clear:

Protesters say because Britain props up the Saudi Arabian monarchy and tries to give it legitimacy, it’s important to continue protest here - to make it clear - that there is no corner in the world where the atrocities at the hands of Saudi Arabia will be whitewashed or hidden.

Courtesy: Press TV

Man executed for killing wife, child

Mohammad Saleh Nur was hanged at Kashimpur jail in Gazipur on the first minute of Wednesday for murdering his wife and child.

Nur, 48, was from Chandraghona Fakirparha of Chittagong’s Rangunia Upazila and son of Saidur Rahman.

“The convict was full of remorse for his deeds before death. He said he deserved death for killing his wife and child,” Kashimpur high security central jail Senior Jailor Abdur Razzaq said.

Nur gagged his wife Renu Akhter and three-month old child Amatun Nur in their sleep over alleged extra-marital affair on Mar 5, 2002, Rangunia Police Station Officer in-Charge Manjurul Morshed told bdnews24.com.

Nur confessed in court to have killed his wife over his wife’s extra-marital affair with his expatriate brother, OC said.

A Chittagong court ordered his execution on Jun 21, 2005. He appealed at the higher court on Oct 2, 2009 but the court said he must die. The Appellate Division of Supreme Court confirmed his execution order in Jul 9, 2012.

The President turned down his mercy petition on Mar 27 this year, officials said.

The jailor, Gazipur Civil Surgeon Syed Mohammad Habib Ullah, Additional District Magistrate Sebastian Rahman and Additional Police Superintendent Mostafizur Rahman were present during the execution.

Courtesy: BDNews24.com

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should not face the death penalty, even for a capital crime
The US Justice Department faces enormous pressure to seek the execution of Tsarnaev. But against terror, we should choose life

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Now that the surviving marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been charged with a capital crime, the Justice Department must begin a review process to determine whether to seek the death penalty if he is convicted or pleads guilty. Among the factors that will be considered are his youthful age (19), his clean prior record, his being influenced by his older brother and other possible mitigating factors.

But most of all, the nature of the crime itself will be a critical consideration. According to the affidavit submitted by the chief investigator, videotapes clearly show the suspect planting a knapsack in a crowded area and then leaving.

The prosecution will have little difficulty proving that the defendant knew that the knapsack contained a bomb loaded with pellets and nails designed to kill and injure as many innocent children, including young children, as possible. Proponents of the death penalty will surely argue that if any case demands the ultimate penalty, this one does.

That is a strong argument, in light of the calculated nature of the intended mass killings. Nonetheless, I would hope that the Justice Department will decide against seeking the death penalty, even in light of the extreme depravity shown by the defendant in this case.

There are two fundamental reasons why the death penalty should not be imposed in this case. The first is the obverse of the argument that if anyone deserves the death penalty, it is this defendant. That may will be true. But it follows that if this defendant does not deserve the death penalty, then no one does.

In other words, a decision to withhold the death penalty in this case would be a powerful argument against the morality of the death penalty in any case. As a lifelong opponent of capital punishment in all cases, I would argue that not applying it in this case could have a considerable impact on the movement toward abolition.

This abolitionist argument is unlikely to have much impact on the Obama administration, which favors the death penalty, at least in extreme cases, such as this one. There is an argument, however, that could have an impact even on proponents of the death penalty.

Seeking the death penalty against Tsarnaev, and imposing it if he were to be convicted, would turn him into a martyr. His face would appear on recruiting posters for suicide bombers. The countdown toward his execution might well incite other acts of terrorism. Those seeking paradise through martyrdom would see him as a role model.

Whether the death penalty actually deters crime has been long debated. I have little doubt that some criminals may well be deterred by the prospect of execution rather than life imprisonment, though I am not certain how many. But I also have little doubt that some defendants, especially those motivated by ideological extremism, may be incentivized by the prospect of martyrdom.

There will be enormous political pressures on the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty in this case. Republican lawmakers would have a heyday attacking their Democratic opponents for being soft on terrorism if Attorney General Eric Holder decided not to seek the ultimate penalty. Whether or not Holder is influenced by this pressure, the pressure itself is a strong argument against capital punishment.

Life and death decisions should not be made based on political calculations. Several years ago, the US supreme court decided a case, in which a judge in a southern state was threatened with electoral defeat if he did not impose the death penalty after a jury had recommended against it. The supreme court upheld the judge's decision to impose the death penalty, over a strong dissent.

Fortunately, under American law, there is an additional check on the imposition of capital punishment. A jury must decide to impose the death penalty based on a balancing of aggravating and mitigating factors. If this case is tried in Massachusetts – a state that has abolished the death penalty – the jury pool may well contain some people who would be skeptical about executing a man like Tsarnaev. To be sure, the jury pool will be skewed by a rule that eliminates any potential juror who has a conscientious scruple against ever imposing the death penalty. But those who have an open mind about its applicability in any particular case may serve.

One of the hardest decisions Tsarnaev's defense lawyer has to make is whether to keep the case in Boston or whether to seek a change of venue to another location. The argument for moving the case out of Boston is obvious: virtually every Bostonian regards himself or herself as a victim of this horrendous crime, which brought the entire city to a standstill. But it may turn out that Boston jurors would be less likely to impose the death penalty in this case than jurors in other areas.

In the end, this case is more likely to be about whether Tsarnaev lives or dies than about whether he is guilty of this monstrous crime. If he planted the bomb, Tsarnaev chose death. We should respond by choosing life.

 

Courtesy: The Guardian   

Palika Bazar, Now an Underground Porn Hub?

Bollywood’s newest star Sunny Leone is a big draw here and so are MMS clips of various sex scandals and porn scenes and the newly available sex toys smuggled from China. Even as Parliament Monday hotly debated rising rapes and “depravity” in society and demands to check spread of pornographic material, it seems porn was for the asking literally down the road.

Notoriously famous for being the capital’s “porn hub”, Palika Bazar, the underground shopping complex in Connaught Place, is witnessing a new clientele as teenaged school and college students are giving way to labourers, rickshaw pullers and daily-wage workers who are thronging the market for cheap and easily accessible porn.

This IANS correspondent visited the market in the business heart of Delhi and the shopkeepers admitted that advancements in technology and the decline in the number of affluent customers have given way to this new breed of shoppers who are looking for cheap entertainment.

“People who have laptops and internet don’t come here anymore. It is the labour class which is driving the sales,” said a shopkeeper on the first floor of the market, refusing to reveal his name.

According to shopkeepers, with easy access to internet at homes and on mobile phones, affluent customers, from the middle and upper middle class have declined gradually.

“They (labourers) are not teach-savvy nor do they have the money, so they get all the masala (porn clips) downloaded in their phones,” said his associate seated at the counter with a laptop in front of him that had the image of Indo-Canadian adult actress Sunny Leone in a skimpy dress as the background.

“Her clips are the most in demand,” said the man pointing to Leone, who gained fame after her appearance in the fifth season of the Bigg Boss reality show.

Armed with budget brand cellphones which cost anywhere between Rs. 800 to Rs.2,000 with big screens for better video playback and expandable memory, the new category of customers can have access to porn 24X7 without the fuss of owning a CD player and a TV.

Moreover, the thumbnail sized memory card, loaded with hundreds of porn clips or movies, is easy to conceal in a wallet and used when required as against stacks of CDs and DVDs.

The shopkeepers can download hundreds of clips on the memory card ranging from 2 GB to 10 GB for anywhere between Rs.100 to 400 depending on the clips as well as bargaining skills.

Though the categories of the clips vary, the shopkeepers say it is the MMS clips, some real and some staged, which are the most favourite. Such clips are often shot in hotel rooms, hostels or cars with or without the consent of the couples in it.

“Kand (scandals) are the most in demand,” said another shop owner to IANS with a leering smile and almost snatched my mobile phone from my hand, eager to fill it up with ‘kands’ at a “decent” price.

The market, however has not been completely forgotten by its loyal affluent customers, who according to shopkeepers, have moved beyond CDs and are into buying sex toys, most of which are smuggled from China.

Inflatable dolls, dildos, vibrators and even sex gums which claim to work like Viagra are easily available at several shops. All you have to do is ask.

Some shops have even put the toys up on display on glass shelves to cater to timid customers.

According to police reports, the two men behind the heinous gangrape of a five-year-old in Delhi last week had watched porn in an inebriated state just before kidnapping the child and raping her.

-IANS

Courtesy: North East Today

More than 100 killed in two days of Iraq violence, officials say

Iraqi protesters hold a sign reading "Revolution of free Iraqis"
as others flash the victory sign during a demonstration in the
northern Iraqi town of Hawijah, south of the ethnically mixed
city of Kirkuk, on March 8, 2013. (AFP)

[Editor: Iraq hanged 21 people in one day on 'terror' related charges in the middle of April, 2013. Also, in March, 2013, it executed 33 people and according to media reports, it plans to put another 150 people to death within the next few weeks.
The country's executions sparked concerns from the United Nations, as well as from Britain, the European Union and rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. At a press briefing a spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Rupert Colville, derided the executions as a "conveyor belt of executions" and said 1,400 people are believed to be on death row in Iraq.
After those ghastly, state sponsored murders by the Iraqi government, a worst kind of violence erupted and took the lives of more than 100 people. So, who won and who lost? The politics of violence will only give rise to violence, as people becomes insensitive to Pain and Torture. Will the Indians and our political parties learn from Iraq experience as what happens if people linked with terrorist outfits are slaughtered in this way? Afzal Guru execution has again revived the Kashmir issue, now with more vigor. Hope my writings will reach the head quarter of political parties in India; because their flawed approach and jingoistic comments by some of the political functionaries is making things more worse..What is now needed is what Rajib Gandhi did way back in late 1980s: sit down with the insurgent groups and try to solve the problem, even if it means granting partial amnesty to those who are convicted or accused of terror charges; like it was done in case of participants of the Assam movement. The government of India's policy of using gun at the fall of a hat, under public pressure, is not yielding any results or is not able to curb the menace of terrorism]
Two days of violence in Iraq have killed 110 people, 92 of them in clashes and attacks involving security forces, protesters and their supporters, officials said on Wednesday.

The violence also wounded 187 people, 136 of them in protest-related unrest, they said.

The trouble began early on Tuesday, when clashes broke out after security forces moved into an area near Hawijah in northern Iraq, where protests have been held since January.

The fighting killed 53 people, and a series of revenge attacks left another 27 dead. A further 15 were killed in apparently unrelated unrest, officials said.

On Wednesday, another 15 people died in violence, 12 of them in protest-related unrest.

Protesters have taken to the streets in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq for more than four months, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and decrying the alleged targeting of their minority community by the Shiite-led authorities.

The latest spate of violence is the worst protest-related unrest since the demonstrations began.

Courtesy: Al Arabia

Why Free Food Isn't the Highlight of Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan
~~Anupreet Sandhu Bhamra

The Sikh holy book, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, being carried on a
float in Surrey Vaisakhi parade on April 20, 2013;
Photo: Aziz Dhamani

Devotees at the annual Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, British Columbia,
on April 20, 2013; Photo: Aziz Dhamani

Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan (parade) is not about free food. Period.

I am tired of hearing the phrase "free food" in some media coverage without giving a context to it. Yes, the food is served free of cost but the 'why' is bigger than the price tag.

Vaisakhi is traditionally celebrated as harvest festival in India. The festival is celebrated as the start of a New Year, throughout the country, under different names and with different local traditions. In the northern state of Punjab, which most of the Sikhs call home, it is called Vaisakhi.

For Sikhs, the festival holds a significant meaning: it is on Vaisakhi day in 1699, the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa (the pure ones) and laid down a code of conduct for the Sikhs. So the festival of Vaisakhi is celebrated as the birthday of Khalsa by Sikhs worldwide. The faith, which was founded by the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev, predates Vaisakhi.

A Nagar Kirtan, commonly referred to as a parade, usually marks the day of the celebrations. Nagar Kirtan differs from a traditional parade in the sense it has a religious and sacred meaning attached to it. The Punjabi word, nagar denotes town, and kirtan means singing of religious hymns. So Nagar Kirtan literally means going around the town singing sacred hymns.

The day of Vaisakhi parade, the Sikh holy book Sri Guru Granth Sahib is taken on a decorated float along a parade route and Sikhs join the procession singing the praise of the Lord, the Gurus and the Sikh teachings. Along the route, other devotees offer food to people.

Vancouver region hosts two annual Vaisakhi parades: one in Vancouver and the other in Surrey. The Surrey one is growing in numbers each year; this year, on April 20, it is estimated more than 200,000 people attended the parade, the biggest outside of Punjab in India.

For the Sikh diaspora, the Vaisakhi procession is a time for the Sikh community to come together and celebrate the foundation of Khalsa, and be a part of community living. The occasion is also used as a platform to bring awareness to social issues. Also, it inadvertently becomes a campaign ground for politicians of all stripes.

But on the celebration of the faith, Sikh teachings ask the followers to cook and eat together and serve each other. It comes from the three tenets of Sikhism, which are:

Naam japo: To remember the One creator and meditate on His presence.

Kirat karo: To work hard and earn through honest means.

Vand chako: To do selfless service and share resources, including food.

That is why, at a Sikh place of worship, called a gurdwara (literally means gateway to the guru) food is always served. It is called langar and yes, it is always free, just like it is done on Vaisakhi day celebrations.

As I said earlier, technically it is free food, but it becomes imperative to explain the context, especially for media persons who are deconstructing the ever-growing parade for other Canadians.

So call it free food, but please don't say it is the highlight of the parade. The highlight is the essence of Sikhism -- selfless service and sharing without giving importance to the price tag. The highlight are the people who spend countless hours preparing the food and making sure it is always served fresh, hot, and with devotion.

Courtesy: The Huffington Post Canada

Sikhs in Vancouver to become second biggest religious group by 2031

~~By Gurmukh Singh

TORONTO: Canada is fast changing its colours as visible minorities — Asians, Blacks and others — are outgrowing the white population. According to projections done for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 60 per cent residents of the Greater Vancouver area by the year 2031 will be non-whites.

Daniel Hiebert of Vancouver-based University of British Columbia, who is an expert on immigration and did this projection, says, “There is no European city with anything like this demographic structure nor will there be in 2031.”

The news is that South Asians, read Punjabis, will be the second biggest group after the Chinese by 2031. And Sikhism will become the second biggest religion in the Greater Vancouver area in the next decades, says the study.

But Surrey city on the outskirts of Vancouver is already a ‘Punjabi city’. Some call it the Southall of Canada as more than 40 per cent of its population is of Punjabi origin. Surrey reported more than 94,000 speakers of Punjabi in the last year’s census which pegged the city’s population at about 500,000.

“In that sense, the city has become the largest Punjabi settlement outside Punjab,” says Indo-Canadian community leader Balwant Sanghera, who heads the Punjabi Language Education Association (PLEA) of Canada. At the other end of Canada in Toronto, which is the country’s biggest city, the ethno-demographics are set to change even faster.

According to projections, Toronto will have only 37 per cent white population by 2031. Again, Punjabis are going to be one of the biggest ethnic groups in the Greater Toronto area. In fact, in Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto, Punjabis are already the biggest ethnic group after whites.

Brampton, which is in Ontario province, and Surrey and Abbotsford, in British Columbia province, are the three cities which are recording the highest growth of the Punjabi community in Canada. And these three cities also boast the highest numbers of gurdwaras. In fact, Abbotsford is home to North America’s oldest gurdwara which was built in 1911. The city proclaimed 2011 as the Year of the Gurdwara.

To put things in perspective, Punjabis are by far the biggest group among Indo-Canadians whose numbers are nearing one million. Since they were the first Indian group to land in Canada’s British Columbia province in the last decade of the 19th century, it is not surprising that Sikhs made history in Canada when Ujjal Dosanjh was elected as the premier of British Columbia in Feb 2000. Today, eight out of the nine MPs in the Canadian parliament are Punjabis, including two Sikh women Jinny Sims (her real is Joginder Kaur) and Neena Grewal. Balle, balle!

Courtesy: News East West

Interfaith Gathering Highlights Hindu-Jewish Relationship

Rabbi Sid Schwarz, left, speaks with Anuttama Dasa at Adat Shalom’s
Jewish-Hindu evening | Photo by Adat Shalom

“Lead us from the unreal to the Real; Lead us from darkness to Light; Lead us from death to Immortality,” the audience repeated after the speaker. Though they were there to memorialize the Holocaust, their words did not come from the Torah, nor are they found in Christian Bible or the Quran.

The prayer came from the Brahadaranyakopanisad, one of the Upanishads, a series of ancient philosophical works central to Hinduism.

“It’s one of the most sacred texts in Hinduism,” explained Rajan Zed, who led the University of Nevada-Reno’s Holocaust Remembrance Day audience in a recitation of the scripture. Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, participated in the event along with Jewish, Buddhist and Christian clergy. “I chose the text as a way to honor those people who had died and suffered, whose lives were changed forever.”

The major differences between Hinduism and Judaism—two religions with divergent views about theism and sacred images—have come to overshadow the many similarities between the two religions and their accompanying cultures, wrote Barbara Holdrege, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Holdrege also authored “Veda and Torah,” in which she notes that both religions are comprised of many sects, have priesthoods, notions of purity and impurity and vast legal codes.

Zed added that Hinduism and Judaism both emphasize family institutions, have dietary laws and designate sacred languages for prayer. These similarities have allowed India’s Jewish community to live in harmony with India’s Hindu community for nearly 2,000 years.

According to Nissim Reuben, program director for Indian-Jewish American relations at the American Jewish Committee’s Asia Pacific Institute, Hindu and Jewish communities in America share mutual successes in academia, business and culture—in addition to religious similarities—which have drawn them closer.

“The Hindu community, particularly Hindus from India or of Indian origin, sees themselves as the new Jews,” Reuben said. “Both Jews and Hindus are dedicated, loyal, and focus on family and education. Indian-American Hindus have the same attachment to their motherland, India, as Jews do to Israel.”

With a strong and well-respected voice in the American life, the Jewish community serves as a model minority group for American Hindus, said Jay Kansara, the associate director of the Hindu American Foundation.

“The Hindu community finds a role model for advocacy, political activism—small in numbers but large in impact,” he said. “As a community in small numbers we would like to voice our opinion and exert strength like the Jewish community.”

Relations between the Hindu and Jewish communities have taken off internationally since 2007, when representatives from the AJC, the Hindu American Foundation, Israel’s chief rabbi and Indian Hindu leaders met in New Delhi for a summit organized by the World Council of Religious Leaders. The conference was aimed at eliminating confusion about the beliefs of the two religions. The original summit was followed by two more in 2008 in Jerusalem and a third in 2011 again in New Delhi.

The increase in relations between the Hindu and Jewish communities has been a boon for commercial ties between Israel and India. In an interview with the Hindustan Times in 2012, Israeli ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz said trade between the two countries had vaulted from $180 million in 1992, the year the two countries officially normalized relations, to about $5 billion in 2011. Reuben said Israel is now India’s second largest supplier of arms. He is working on ways to drum up more business between the two countries.

As partnerships between the two faiths have steadily increased, there has been a surge of interest in interfaith efforts on the grassroots level. Steve Brody was inspired to organize a Hindu-Jewish interfaith event at Adat Shalom synagogue in Bethesda, Md., after speaking with a Hindu friend he knew from the space industry.
The event, titled “A Jewish Hindu Evening of Exploration!” featured a slideshow of images from space accompanied by readings from the Torah and the Bhagavad Gita | Photo by Adat Shalom

The event, titled “A Jewish Hindu Evening of Exploration!” featured a slideshow of images from space accompanied by readings from the Torah and the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s holy scriptures. The reading was followed by a dialogue between Adat Shalom’s Rabbi Sidney Schwarz and Anuttama Das, a religious leader at the Hare Krishna temple in Potomac, Md. The evening was capped off with a performance by Hinjew, a band fronted by Brody’s son along with students from the University of Virginia that specializes in traditional Indian music.

“The community warmly embraced the idea and had a healthy dose of curiosity,” Brody said. “I was really impressed with openness and kindness of [the] Hindu faith. It was a great experience for me. It was personally rewarding and I was very pleased and humbled by the comments about the value it provided to both Jewish and Hindu participants.”

A few miles away from the congregation at the Indian Embassy, Reuben and the AJC have collaborated with the Indian embassy for an annual Chanukah party every year since 2002. Reuben, an Indian Jew originally from Ahmedabad, India, said in an email that the party grew out of a conversation his father, Benjamin Reuben, had at a 2002 dinner party with India’s then ambassador to the United States Lalit Mansingh. The elder Reuben suggested that a Chanukah party would be a great way to highlight India’s vibrant Jewish heritage. Each year at the event Nissim Reuben recites Chanukah prayers Indian Jewry use in their Chanukah celebrations.

Zed has been collaborating with Jewish leaders in Nevada for years. Daniel Sanchez, a student at the University of Nevada and president of the Interfaith Student Club, said Zed’s participation in the event brought another perspective to the ceremony and more importantly, continued to break down barriers between the two communities. “It reduces the amount of space,” he said.

Courtesy: New Voices

Medical board formed to check Bhullar’s mental health

The Delhi Health department has constituted a three-member medical board under a professor of psychiatry from AIIMS to look into the mental fitness of death row convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar. Sources said the board does not include any member from the Institute for Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), where Bhullar is admitted since December 2010.

Health department sources confirmed that the board, headed by Dr S K Khandelwal from AIIMS, includes one psychiatrist each from Maulana Azad Medical College and GB Pant Hospital.

Sources said the order, issued by Delhi government, does not specify any date by which time Bhullar's examination should be completed or the number of times the members can examine him.

A senior government official said: "While no formal deadline has been communicated in the order, we expect the procedure of examination to be completed within two to three weeks.
We have to give the doctors time to fully examine the patient before reaching a decision on his mental fitness."

IHBAS, even in its last report to the jail sent on March 2, maintained that Bhullar has been diagnosed as "severe depressive with psychotic symptoms", and is "not showing any improvement and in the recent past has shown worsening in psychiatric condition".

Jail sources had questioned Bhullar's prolonged admission in the hospital.

In their formal request (accessed by Newsline) for a medical board, after SC rejected Bhullar's mercy plea on April 12, the jail had requested that the board include members from "different hospitals".

The letter signed by Tihar's Deputy Inspector General of Prisons to the Principal Secretary of the Home department stated: "It would be in the fitness of things if the matter is taken up with the Health department for constituting a medical board comprising doctors/specialists from different hospitals of Delhi government to give a report about the status of his (Bhullar's) mental illness so that further action can be taken as per the provisions of Delhi Jail Manual."

In a response to the Delhi government, IHBAS said an "independent and and external medical board may be the most appropriate and desirable option". 

Courtesy: Indian Express