Sunday, September 2, 2012
Pakistani mullah accused of trying to frame girl in blasphemy case Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti is arrested after witnesses say he added pages of Qur'an to girl's bag
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Gunman attacks 'Batman' premiere in Colorado, 12 dead,71 Victims
AURORA, Colo. |
(Reuters) - A gunman in a gas mask and bullet-proof vest killed 12 people at a midnight premiere of the new "Batman" movie in a suburb of Denver early on Friday, sparking pandemonium when he hurled a gas canister
into the auditorium and opened fire on moviegoers.
into the auditorium and opened fire on moviegoers.
Related Video
The attack injured 55 others including children during a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a mall in the suburb of Aurora, which turned into a chaotic scene of bleeding victims, horrified screams and pleas of "I'm hit, help me," witnesses said.
The suspect also booby-trapped his Aurora apartment with sophisticated explosives, creating a hazard for law-enforcement and bomb squad officers who swarmed to the scene. Authorities evacuated five nearby buildings, and created a perimeter of several blocks.
Officers took the suspect into custody in the parking lot behind the cinema, where he surrendered without a fight, police said.
He was armed with a high-powered rifle, a shotgun and two pistols, according to a law enforcement source close to the investigation.
The suspect was identified as James Eagan Holmes, 24, a University of Colorado medical school student who was in the process of dropping out of a graduate program in neurosciences, the university said in a statement. His family issued a statement of sympathy for the victims and asked for privacy while they "process this information."
The living room of the suspect's apartment was crisscrossed with trip wires connected to what appeared to be plastic bottles containing an unknown liquid, said Chris Henderson, Aurora's deputy fire chief. Authorities planned to detonate the suspected explosives with a robot, he said.
"The pictures are fairly disturbing. It looks very sophisticated, how it's booby-trapped. It could be a very long wait," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates told reporters.
The gunman appeared at the front of the theater during the movie and released a canister which let out a hissing sound before gunfire erupted, police said.
"When we got out of the theater it was just chaos. There was this one ... guy, was on all fours crawling. There was this girl spitting up blood," witness Donovan Tate told KCNC television. "There were bullet holes in some people's backs, some people's arms. There was this one guy who was stripped down to just his boxers. It looked like he was shot in the back or something. It was crazy."
Confusion reigned as shooting broke out during an action scene in the summer blockbuster, one of the more highly anticipated films of the year. The gunman may have blended in with other moviegoers who wore costumes as heroes and villains.
"He looked like he was in the military or like he was a SWAT person so he just kind of blended in with the chaos of the crowd. People thought he was probably like a cop or something," witness Jennifer Seeger told NBC's "Today."
Chandler Brannon, 25, who had been watching the movie with his girlfriend, said that about 20 minutes into the movie he saw a smoke bomb go off and heard what sounded like fireworks. He later realized they were a rapid volley of gunshots.
"I told my girlfriend to just play dead," he told Reuters. "All I could see was a silhouette."
CAMPAIGN TAKES A DAY OFF
President Barack Obama, who was notified of the shooting early on Friday morning by his homeland security adviser, John Brennan, urged Americans to "stand together" with the people of Aurora and said political campaigning ahead of the November 6 election should be set aside.
"There are going to be other days for politics. This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection," Obama told supporters at a previously scheduled campaign event in Fort Myers, Florida, which he cut short to address the shooting.
White House officials saw no connection to terrorism, an Obama spokesman said.
Obama's opponent, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, pulled all television ads in Colorado until further notice, campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said, and a scheduled campaign was dedicated to addressing the shooting.
MEMORIES OF COLUMBINE
The shooting evoked memories of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, also a Denver suburb and 17 miles from Aurora, where two students opened fire and killed 12 students and a teacher.
Six Aurora-area hospitals reported receiving 55 patients from the scene. Ten victims died in the theater and two died in the hospital, Aurora Police spokesman Frank Fania told NBC.
"This is one of the most horrific nights I've ever had to work," said Comilla Sasson, an emergency doctor at University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora where 22 patients ranging in age from three months to 45 years arrived in private cars, police cars and ambulances.
U.S. military personnel apparently were among the casualties but it was not immediately clear whether any were killed, the Defense Department said.
Buckley Air Force Base is the largest employer in Aurora, a city of more than 320,000 people, according to the Aurora Economic Development Council.
"Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved," read a statement from Holmes' family in San Diego that was read by police there.
The family, which said it was cooperating with authorities, asked for privacy.
SECURITY PRECAUTIONS
In New York, police will deploy officers at screenings of "The Dark Knight Rises" throughout the city "as a precaution against copycats," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement.
The Paris movie premiere was cancelled on Friday, event organizers said. Workmen cleared away barriers that had been set up in preparation for the premiere at a cinema on the capital's Champs Elysees avenue.
"Warner Bros. is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time," said Jessica Zacholl, a spokeswoman for Time Warner-owned Warner Bros., the studio behind the film.
The film, with a budget of $250 million, opened on 4,404 screens, the second widest release ever behind "Twilight: Eclipse," and industry analysts had said it stood a good chance of matching or beating the opening weekend box office record of $207 million set by Disney's "Avengers" in May.
The prior release in the Batman series, "The Dark Knight," has grossed more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office since its release in 2008.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Exports: Bangladesh leaves Pakistan behind for the first time
Exports of Dhaka, which remained historically lesser than the same of Pakistan, have now recorded the jump this year despite the challenges like inflation in the major importing market of Europe and other domestic issues. Though the total export figure of Bangladesh was still lesser than its fixed target of over $26 billion, it continued growth as compared to Pakistan's exports, which declined by 4.71 per cent, as compared to last year's figure of $24.8 billion. On the other hand, Dhaka succeeded to cross previous figure of $22.92 billion to $24.3 billion this year.
Both countries are largely based on textile exports and whenever there is a change in demand, supply and price of textile made ups in international market, total exports of the two countries accordingly.
According to experts, Bangladesh, comparatively relying more on textile garments, is enjoying the zero rated facility and tariff concession in global market specially EU because of its status as Least Developed Country (LDC).
On the other hand, Pakistani products are facing high duties in the said markets. However, despite having at least 40 per cent share of non-textile item, Pakistani exports could not maintain the increasing trend after July to June 2010-2011 when Islamabad had pushed its exports from $19.3 billion to $24.8 billion with the increase of over $5 billion.
During 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, Dhaka's exports were recorded as $15.54 billion, $16.17 billion and $22.982 billion respectively. On the other hand, Pakistani exports during the said financial years were $17.69 billion, $19.29 billion and $24.81 billion, respectively showing an increase of 2 to 3 billion over the exports recorded by formerly East Pakistan.
However, Bangladesh's exports rose 5.9 per cent in the year ended June despite demand for garments from key Western markets remained waned. But the fresh increase was still nearly 8.4 per cent short of a target of $26.5 billion originally set by Dhaka.
Pakistan, which had also fixed export target of $26 billion keeping in view last year's growth, remained much far away from the target. Bangladesh's economy and exports have been boosted recently by a dramatic shift in global garment orders from China to lower-cost Bangladesh. Ready made garment sales for the fiscal year rose 6.56 per cent from a year ago to $19 billion.
Bangladesh's low labour costs have helped it join the global supply chain for low-end clothing, manufacturing garments for international brands.
Sources at Ministry of Commerce, however presented the excuses of energy crisis, poor law and order situation and inflation in major importing markets for the declining trend in exports of the country. They are optimistic that Pakistani exports especially textile would enjoy a considerable growth after the approval of Unilateral Tariff Concession Package offered by EU.
Besides, the GSP and GSP Plus facility, Pakistan is likely to get in EU by January 2014, could also give a boost to over all exports
Terrorism charges against five after London arrests
Three men accused of going to Pakistan for terrorist training, while a man and a woman are charged over terrorist materials
Agencies in London
Terrorism charges against the five including going to Pakistan for terrorist training and possessing terrorist materials. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Five people have been charged with terrorism offences following arrests by the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command.
Three men from London – including Richard Dart, who appeared in a BBC Three documentary after converting to Islam – were charged on Wednesday night with offences that involved travelling to Pakistan for training in terrorism between July 2010 and July 2012.
Dart, 29, of Broadway, Ealing, Imran Mahmood, 21, of Dabbs Hill Lane, Northolt, and Jahangir Alom, 26, of Abbey Road, Stratford, are charged with preparing for acts of terrorism between 25 July 2010 and 6 July this year.
Dart, 29, of Broadway, Ealing, Imran Mahmood, 21, of Dabbs Hill Lane, Northolt, and Jahangir Alom, 26, of Abbey Road, Stratford, are charged with preparing for acts of terrorism between 25 July 2010 and 6 July this year.
The three are alleged to have travelled to Pakistan for terrorism training, to have travelled abroad to commit acts of terrorism, and to have advised and counselled the commission of terrorist acts by providing information about travel to Pakistan and terrorism training, and operational security while there.
Dart was featured in a recent BBC documentary My Brother the Islamist, which chronicled the efforts of his filmmaker stepbrother Robb Leech to understand why the former had rejected his family and embraced an uncompromising form of Islam.
A fourth man, Khalid Baqa, 47, of Priory Road, Barking, is charged with three counts of possession of terrorist material and one count of dissemination of terrorist material. According to the charges, Baqa had CDs containing a document entitled 39 Ways to Support and Participate in Jihad, as well as a number of issues of a magazine called Inspire for distribution to others.
A woman, Ruksana Begum, 22, of Provost Estate, Islington, is charged with possession of a digital memory card containing a document likely to be of use to a terrorist
All five will appear at Westminster magistrates court on Thursday.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Shafilea Ahmed parents Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed denied charge with the murder of their daughter
A father accused of murdering his daughter because he believed she had brought shame on his family broke down in court as he denied the charge.Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, have been on trial at Chester crown court for eight weeks charged with killing their daughter Shafilea, 17, in 2003.Farzana Ahmed has always denied murder, but this week the jury of seven men and five women were told she had changed her account and said she witnessed her husband beat Shafilea on the night of the alleged murder.She also claimed he had threatened to kill her and their other children if she ever asked him what had happened to Shafilea.
But on Wednesday, Ahmed denied ever hurting his daughter or having anything to do with the murder.
Asked by Tom Bayliss QC, defending, how he felt about his wife, Ahmed said: "I love her to bits."
He said his feelings had not changed, even after she changed her story.Bayliss said: "Have you ever caused any harm to your daughter Shafilea?"Ahmed said: "No."Bayliss said: "Were you responsible for the death of your daughter?"He replied: "No."Ahmed added: "We were devastated to find out that she had left home in the first place."When he was asked how he felt when his daughter's body was found, he struggled to respond, before adding in a strained voice: "We couldn't believe it when we heard."
Shafilea disappeared in September 2003 and her body was found on the bank of the River Kent in Cumbria the following February.The prosecution claims she was killed by her parents because she brought shame on the family by her desire to lead a westernised lifestyle.The trial continues. The parents of Shafilea Ahmed, the victim of a suspected "honour killing" almost eight years ago, have been charged with murder and appeared before magistrates on Wednesday.
Shafilea, 17, disappeared from her home town of Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.
Her badly decomposed remains were found in February 2004 on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria, following a flood.
She had hoped to study law at university and become a solicitor. Her inquest heard that the most likely cause of death was strangulation or suffocation.
Police said Iftikhar Ahmed, 51, a taxi driver, and Farzana Ahmed, 48, a housewife, were arrested on suspicion of murder in September 2010. Cheshire police have now charged both with murder following authorisation by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The couple made a six-minute appearance at Halton magistrates court in Runcorn, Cheshire, on Wednesday.
They were remanded in custody until Friday, when they will appear via videolink at Manchester crown court.
They spoke only to confirm through an interpreter their names, ages and address. The murder charge was put to them, but no plea was entered. There were no submissions made by the prosecution or defence solicitors.
The court heard that the couple were charged with murdering the teenager on 11 September 2003 in Cheshire.
At the inquest into Shafilea's death, Ian Smith, the coroner for south and east Cumbria, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.
The couple have always strenuously denied any involvement in their daughter's death and once stormed into a police press conference to tearfully protest their innocence, claiming the police were racially motivated.
But at the inquest evidence was heard that Shafilea claimed she was held down and beaten by her parents and was fearful of an arranged marriage. The coroner ruled that she had been the victim of a "very vile murder".
She disappeared shortly after a trip to Pakistan in which she was introduced to a potential suitor. During the trip she drank bleach and harmed herself in an apparent cry for help, and needed regular hospital treatment to correct injuries to her throat.
The coroner said: "Shafilea was the victim of a very vile murder and there's no evidence before the court as to who did it. There are things people know that have not been told to this court."
He said Shafilea had not had justice.
"Her ambition was to live her own life in her own way: to study, to follow a career in the law and to do what she wanted to do. These are just basic fundamental rights and they were denied to her."
Mrs Ahmed was remanded to Styal prison in Cheshire and her husband was remanded to Liverpool prison.
The couple were initially arrested on suspicion of kidnapping their daughter in December 2003 but in June 2004 were released without charge when the Crown Prosecution Service ruled there was insufficient evidence against them.
They were rearrested on suspicion of murder in September 2010.
Source: The Guardian
"It is the order of Allah that she be executed". so-called "honour killings" in Afghanistan
A man Afghan officials say is a member of the Taliban shot dead a woman accused of adultery in front of a crowd near Kabul, a video obtained by Reuters showed, a sign that the austere Islamist group dictates law even near the Afghan capital.
In the three-minute video, a turban-clad man approaches a woman kneeling in the dirt and shoots her five times at close range with an automatic rifle, to cheers of jubilation from the 150 or so men watching in a village in Parwan province.
"Allah warns us not to get close to adultery because it's the wrong way," another man says as the shooter gets closer to the woman. "It is the order of Allah that she be executed".
Provincial Governor Basir Salangi said the video, obtained on Saturday, was shot a week ago in the village of Qimchok in Shinwari district, about an hour's drive from Kabul.
Such rare public punishment was a painful reminder to Afghan authorities of the Taliban's 1996-2001 period in power, and it raised concern about the treatment of Afghan women 11 years into the NATO-led war against Taliban insurgents. "When I saw this video, I closed my eyes ... The woman was not guilty; the Taliban are guilty," Salangi told Reuters.
When the unnamed woman, most of her body tightly wrapped in a shawl, fell sideways after being shot several times in the head, the spectators chanted: "Long live the Afghan mujahideen! (Islamist fighters)", a name the Taliban use for themselves.The Taliban could not be reached for comment.
Despite the presence of over 130,000 foreign troops and 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police, the Taliban have managed to resurge beyond their traditional bastions of the south and east, extending their reach into once more peaceful areas like Parwan.
HARD-WON WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN JEOPARDY?
Afghan women have won back basic rights in education, voting and work since the Taliban, who deemed them un-Islamic for women, were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.
But fears are rising among Afghan women, some lawmakers and rights activists that such freedoms could be traded away as the Afghan government and the United States pursue talks with the Taliban to secure a peaceful end to the war.
Violence against women has increased sharply in the past year, according to Afghanistan's independent human rights commission. Activists say there is waning interest in women's rights on the part of President Hamid Karzai's government.
"After 10 years (of foreign intervention), and only a few kilometres from Kabul... how could this happen in front of all these people?" female lawmaker Fawzia Koofi said of the public execution in Parwan.
"This is happening under a government that claims to have made so much progress in women's rights, claims to have changed women's lives, and this is unacceptable. It is a huge step backwards," said Koofi, a campaigner for girls' education who wants to run in the 2014 presidential election.
Salangi said two Taliban commanders were sexually involved with the woman in Parwan, either through rape or romantically, and decided to torture her and then kill her to settle a dispute between the two of them.
"They are outlaws, murderers, and like savages they killed the woman," he said, adding that the Taliban exerted considerable sway in his province.
Earlier this week a 30-year-old woman and two of her children were beheaded in easternAfghanistan by a man police said was her divorced husband, the latest of a string of so-called "honour killings".
Some Afghans still refer to Taliban courts for settling disputes, viewing government bodies as corrupt or unreliable. The courts use sharia (Islamic law), which prescribes punishments such as stonings and execution. source:Reuters
First time the tribunal had sentenced a convicted war criminal in CONGO
THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court sentenced a Congolese warlord to 14 years in prison on Tuesday, a watershed moment for the 10-year-old tribunal and a potential landmark in the struggle to protect children during wartime.
Judges found Thomas Lubanga guilty in March of recruiting and using children in his Union of Congolese Patriots militia - sending them to kill and be killed during fighting in Congo's eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003. Tuesday's announcement was the first time the tribunal had sentenced a convicted war criminal.
"The vulnerability of children means they need to be afforded particular protection," Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said at the sentencing hearing. Human rights activists hailed the decision.
"This sentence sends out a stark warning across the world to those engaged in the use of child soldiers that their criminal actions will land them in prison," said Armel Luhiriri of the Coalition for the ICC, a non-government group that supports the court and its efforts to end impunity for the world's worst crimes. Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year sentence, but said they would be willing to cut it to 20 years if Lubanga offered a "genuine apology" to the victims of his crimes. Lubanga did not offer an apology.
Wearing a gray suit and tie, Lubanga showed no emotion as Fulford read out the decision. He can appeal his conviction and sentence.Fulford said that the time Lubanga has served in pretrial detention since March 2006 would be deducted from the sentence.
One of the judges, Odio Benito, issued a separate dissenting opinion, saying the sentence should have been 15 years in recognition of the suffering of victims of harsh punishments and sexual violence.
It was not immediately clear where Lubanga would serve his sentence. The court has no prison cells for holding convicted war criminals, but has deals with seven countries to jail them - Denmark, Serbia, Mali, Austria, Finland, Britain and Belgium.Fulford gave Lubanga three sentences of 13, 12 and 14 years each, respectively for conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers, but the sentences are to be served concurrently.
Conscripting involves abducting children and pressing them into military service, while enlisting them can mean they serve voluntarily.
Franck Mulenda, a legal representative for 140 victims in the case, welcomed the sentence."It is very important. It consoles the victims," he said outside court. The court should now order reparations for former child soldiers, "so they can get back their education and their place in society," Mulenda said. Fulford criticized former chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo for not bringing charges of sexual violence against Lubanga or presenting evidence of such crimes at a sentencing hearing last month.
Rights activists say Lubanga's militia and other warring parties in Ituri engaged in widespread rape.The judge also praised Lubanga for being "respectful and cooperative" throughout the case despite it twice being held up by prosecutors defying court orders linked to identifying witnesses.
Lubanga's sister, Angele Zasi, insisted on his innocence."We (the family) are very disappointed by the judgment of the court. Everyone knows that my brother is innocent of all that they reproach him," Zasi said.
Congo's information minister Lambert Mende said he thought the sentence was not harsh enough but added "it is a punishment and I believe that it will haunt him for the rest of his life".source:TOI
Judges found Thomas Lubanga guilty in March of recruiting and using children in his Union of Congolese Patriots militia - sending them to kill and be killed during fighting in Congo's eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003. Tuesday's announcement was the first time the tribunal had sentenced a convicted war criminal.
"The vulnerability of children means they need to be afforded particular protection," Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said at the sentencing hearing. Human rights activists hailed the decision.
"This sentence sends out a stark warning across the world to those engaged in the use of child soldiers that their criminal actions will land them in prison," said Armel Luhiriri of the Coalition for the ICC, a non-government group that supports the court and its efforts to end impunity for the world's worst crimes. Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year sentence, but said they would be willing to cut it to 20 years if Lubanga offered a "genuine apology" to the victims of his crimes. Lubanga did not offer an apology.
Wearing a gray suit and tie, Lubanga showed no emotion as Fulford read out the decision. He can appeal his conviction and sentence.Fulford said that the time Lubanga has served in pretrial detention since March 2006 would be deducted from the sentence.
One of the judges, Odio Benito, issued a separate dissenting opinion, saying the sentence should have been 15 years in recognition of the suffering of victims of harsh punishments and sexual violence.
It was not immediately clear where Lubanga would serve his sentence. The court has no prison cells for holding convicted war criminals, but has deals with seven countries to jail them - Denmark, Serbia, Mali, Austria, Finland, Britain and Belgium.Fulford gave Lubanga three sentences of 13, 12 and 14 years each, respectively for conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers, but the sentences are to be served concurrently.
Conscripting involves abducting children and pressing them into military service, while enlisting them can mean they serve voluntarily.
Franck Mulenda, a legal representative for 140 victims in the case, welcomed the sentence."It is very important. It consoles the victims," he said outside court. The court should now order reparations for former child soldiers, "so they can get back their education and their place in society," Mulenda said. Fulford criticized former chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo for not bringing charges of sexual violence against Lubanga or presenting evidence of such crimes at a sentencing hearing last month.
Rights activists say Lubanga's militia and other warring parties in Ituri engaged in widespread rape.The judge also praised Lubanga for being "respectful and cooperative" throughout the case despite it twice being held up by prosecutors defying court orders linked to identifying witnesses.
Lubanga's sister, Angele Zasi, insisted on his innocence."We (the family) are very disappointed by the judgment of the court. Everyone knows that my brother is innocent of all that they reproach him," Zasi said.
Congo's information minister Lambert Mende said he thought the sentence was not harsh enough but added "it is a punishment and I believe that it will haunt him for the rest of his life".source:TOI
Parking price should reflect the price of the land :Chennai now has a plan to end its vexing parking problem
According to transport department statistics, two-wheelers make up 28.13 lakh of Chennai's 36.82 lakh vehicles. An exponential increase in vehicles coupled with lack of parking management has resulted in chaos on the roads.
"Parking is a commodity, which has to be priced at market value. If land in T Nagar costs Rs 20,000 per sqft, the parking price should reflect the price of the land," said Raj Cherubal of NGO City Connect. Budapest has more than 70,000 official parking lots. Parking fees vary for commercial and residential areas and increase in proportion to occupancy. About 200 controllers check for parking violations. The team suggested that similar methods be employed in Chennai, including monitoring of the controllers by GPS .
.A team of ministers and bureaucrats makes a trip to Hungary, visits its capital Budapest and, hey, presto! Chennai now has a plan to end its vexing parking problem. The high-level team from the transport and urban development departments has recommended to chief minister J Jayalalithaa that a parking management authority be set up to deal with the issue that drives motorists up the wall every day.
The team has proposed that the authority, comprising Chennai Corporation, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the traffic police, work out a pricing mechanism for parking spots based on the land value of its location and outsource the various components that the system will require.
If the proposal is implemented, the city will for the first time have an independent body in charge of parking for its 36.82 lakh vehicles.
The team, led by transport minister V Senthil Balaji and housing and urban development minister R Vaithialingam, visited Budapest to participate in the summit 'Sustainable Transportation', organized by Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), New York. Members of the team visited various parts of Budapest and saw pathbreaking changes made in its transport systems. They decided to adopt the Budapest model of parking for Chennai.
"The visit helped us explore the possibilities of resolving traffic problems in Chennai, in particular by setting up a parking management authority," an official said. Source: The Times Of India
The team has proposed that the authority, comprising Chennai Corporation, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the traffic police, work out a pricing mechanism for parking spots based on the land value of its location and outsource the various components that the system will require.
If the proposal is implemented, the city will for the first time have an independent body in charge of parking for its 36.82 lakh vehicles.
The team, led by transport minister V Senthil Balaji and housing and urban development minister R Vaithialingam, visited Budapest to participate in the summit 'Sustainable Transportation', organized by Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), New York. Members of the team visited various parts of Budapest and saw pathbreaking changes made in its transport systems. They decided to adopt the Budapest model of parking for Chennai.
"The visit helped us explore the possibilities of resolving traffic problems in Chennai, in particular by setting up a parking management authority," an official said. Source: The Times Of India
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
a chakma women Killed in Rangamati ;killer Soheil Arrested
Jumma woman killed allegedly by Bengali settlers in Rangamati: 1 killer arrested
On 9 July 2012 a killer named Sohel (26) s/o Abdul Latif, a Bengali settler from Ansar camp area of Vedvedi was arrested following a case in connection with killing of Boli Mila Chakma. Rajani Chakma’s (Sara Bap), uncle of killed Boli Mila Chakma, filed the case against three Bengali settlers namely Sohel (26) s/o Abdul Latif, Md. Sohel (25) s/o Ferdousi Begum and Manaiya (26) s/o Badshah Mian of from Answer camp area of Vedvedi in Rangamati town.
On 7 July 2012 just afternoon, a 45-year old indigenous Jumma woman was chopped to kill allegedly by Bengali settlers in Uluchara area under Rangamati municipality in Rangamati district. It is suspected that the victim might be killed after rape. The victim was identified as Ms. Bolimila Chakma w/o Durgamoni Chakma from Suguripadachara village of Bhushanchara union under Barkal upazila of Rangamati district.
It is learnt that Bolimila Chakma has come from Suguripadachara village of Barkal upazila to her uncle Rajani Chakma’s (Sara Bap) house at Uluchara vilage of Rangamati town for her treatment. On 7 July around 2.00 pm Bolimila Chakma went to a nearby stream around 400 feet away from her uncle’s house for taking a bath. As she did not return to house even after 2/3 hours, the relatives of victim went out for searching her. At a stage, at around 5:00 pm her relatives found the dead body of Bolimila Chakma in completely naked nearby the stream with deep cut on the neck and hands. The ear-ring and the necklace made of gold of the victim were also looted.
The dead body was taken to Rangamati General Hospital. Till preparing the report, it is learnt that the post-mortem of the dead body will be done 8 July. Husband of the victim is supposed to come to Rangamati from Barkal by 8 July 2012.
It is worth mentioning that murder, rape and violence against indigenous women and children in various parts of the country have been increasing at an alarming rate, particularly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. At least 19 incidents on violence against indigenous women from January 2012 to June 2012 have been documented. Of them, 2 indigenous girls whose aged 7 and 11 years were brutally killed after rape while 10 indigenous women were raped. Besides, 2 indigenous girls were abducted.
----Saturday, July 7, 2012
JOIN US: AMNESTY.ORG/EN/JOIN
PROTECT PAHARI
LAND RIGHTS IN THE
CHITTAGONG HILL
TRACTS
Dear Prime Minister,
Fourteen years ago your government signed a Peace Accord promisingto return traditional lands to the Pahari Indigenous Peoples of theChittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.Thousands of Pahari families have been displaced as a result of thegovernment’s counter insurgency operations and policies encouragingBengali settlers to migrate to and occupy Pahari lands. Huge tracts ofPahari lands have been acquired by theForest Department and the military.Displaced Pahari families remain landless while they wait for the LandCommission,established toresolvetheland disputes, to act.To date, theCommission has failed to initiate a single inquiry into these disputes.I urge you to take concrete steps to ensure that the Land Commissionfulfils its obligations, including seeking full and effectiveparticipation of the Pahari in all its work.
Yours sincerely,Name:
Address: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, Peter Benenson House,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW, UK. amnesty.org
Index: ASA 13 0/ 03 2/ 012
Image: A member of the Pahari Indigenous community in Rangamati
district, Bangladesh, June 2011.
© Amnesty International (Photo: Amin/Drik)
Secretary James M. LeBlanc
Louisiana Department of Public Safety and
Corrections
504 Mayflower St
Baton Rouge
LA 70802
USA
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Office of the Prime Minister
Old Sangsad Bhaban
Tejgaon, Dhaka – 1215 Bangladesh
DANGEROUS AND DEADLY ARMS TRADE
Hundreds of thousands of people are killed,
injured, raped, repressed and forced to flee
their homes every year as a result of the
international arms trade. Families are torn
apart. Livelihoods and lives are destroyed.
Armed conflicts destroy social and economic
infrastructure, breed corruption and divert
public finances, denying the poor access
to health care, water, food, shelter and
education, increasing poverty and causing
yet more deaths.
For decades there has been a global treaty
on the import, export and transfer of
dinosaur bones yet there is no global treaty
to strictly control the deadly trade in
conventional arms.
Revolvers, rifles, machine guns, bullets, hand
grenades, missiles, rockets, armoured vehicles
and other weapons and arms can be traded
between governments, arms dealers and armed
groups with few restrictions. Unscrupulous
governments allow almost unlimited amounts
of arms to be supplied to those flagrantly
violating human rights and destroying lives.
Regulation at the country level has failed to
adapt to an increasingly globalized trade –
components are sourced from across the
world, and production and assembly take
place in different countries.
It’s time for all governments to commit to
securing an international Arms Trade Treaty.
amnesty.org/control-arms
Under international law, states can only sell,
acquire and possess arms for legitimate
security, law-enforcement and self-defence
needs.
An Arms Trade Treaty must require that
governments refuse arms transfers when
those arms are likely to facilitate human
rights violations or be diverted in breach
of a UN arms embargo. Those violating such
embargoes should be held accountable.
An Arms Trade Treaty must also prohibit
governments from transferring weapons,
munitions or related equipment when they
are likely to be used to commit or facilitate
war crimes or crimes against humanity,
including acts of genocide.
EXISTING PROHIBITIONS AND
OBLIGATIONS
NO MORE ARMS FOR ATROCITIESBosniak refugees push their elderly
in wheelbarrows as they flee
Srebrenica, where nearly 8,000
Muslims – mainly men and boys –
were killed by members of the Serbian
army in an act of genocide. Potocari,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, July 1995.
Human rights abuses committed
during the conflict in Bosnia and
Herzegovina were the most serious
witnessed in Europe since the Second
World War. All sides in the conflict
deliberately targeted civilians;
abductions, enforced disappearance,
detention without charge or trial,
killings, torture – including rape – and
mass forced displacement were all
commonplace.
© REUTERSA girl stands on a wall of a house
destroyed during fighting between
government forces and Shi’a rebels
in the north-western Yemeni city of
Sa’dah, February 2012.
Weeks of heavy bombardment in
Sa’dah during late 2009 and early
2010 by Saudi Arabian and Yemeni
forces reportedly killed hundreds of
people. There was widespread
damage to homes, mosques, schools,
local industries and infrastructure and
more than a quarter of a million
people were internally displaced.
Between 2005 and 2009 the biggest
supplier of military weapons to Yemen
was the USA.
© REUTERS K/ haled AbdullahThe Arms Trade Treaty must stop the delivery of bombs and artillery shells to armed forces
and armed groups who persistently and indiscriminately bomb civilian areas.
INDISCRIMINATE BOMBINGRelatives of Serb Mirko Milošević approach the spot outside his home where he was killed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in Bukos, Kosovo, February 1999. The snow has turned red with his blood.
Both sides in the Kosovo conflict committed grave human
rights abuses in 1999. The vast majority of victims were
ethnic Albanians, but Serbs also suffered abuses at the
hands of armed groups, such as the KLA.
At least 60 per cent of human rights violations documented
by Amnesty International have involved the use of small
arms and light weapons.
Ethnic Albanian armed opposition groups, particularly in
the ethnic Albanian diaspora communities of Germany,
Austria and Switzerland, trafficked substantial numbers
of weapons in the Balkans in the late 1990s.
Under the Arms Trade Treaty, governments
must also ensure that arms are not
delivered or diverted to armed opposition
groups that commit grave abuses of human
rights or war crimes.
GRAVE ABUSES OF HUMAN
RIGHTS
© Andrew Testa P/ anosA Palestinian child stands in a bomb
crater in Gaza, Occupied Palestinian
Territories, January 2009.
During Israel’s devastating bombing
campaign on the Gaza Strip in 2008-
2009, Israeli F-16 combat aircraft
targeted and destroyed civilian homes
without warning, killing and injuring
scores of people, often while they
slept. Munitions transferred from the
USA to the Israeli Defense Force were
used in the attacks.
© Amnesty InternationalEXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE
The Arms Trade Treaty must require
governments to refuse international
transfers of riot control weapons and
munitions where they are likely to be used
by security forces with excessive force,
resulting in deaths or injuries.
© REUTERS A/ hmed JadallahProtesters react after police use a “flashbang” stun grenade during an antigovernment rally in Manama, Bahrain, April 2012.
Despite the Bahrain government’s insistence that it will learn from its heavyhanded response to mass protests in February and March 2011, reports of
torture and unnecessary and excessive use of force against protesters continue.
At least 60 people have been killed in connection with the protests since
February 2011.
US-made tear gas canisters and baton rounds were found in the aftermath of
the 17 February 2011 raid by Bahraini riot police on peaceful protests. The
USA has since resumed arms sales to Bahrain, despite the ongoing human
rights violations committed by the Bahraini authorities.© REUTERS A/ ndrew BirajPolice officers charge towards a garment worker during a protest in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, July 2010. Bangladesh’s police and security forces have used
excessive force against demonstrators systematically.
In spite of this, China, the Russian Federation and the USA, among others,
continue to supply them with arms.
POORLY TRAINED POLICE AND
SECURITY FORCES
Police and security forces are more
likely to commit serious human rights
violations when they are poorly trained or
unaccountable. Consequently, weapons,
munitions or associated equipment must
not be authorized until the institutions
have been fully reformed and perpetrators
brought to justice.© AP P/ A Photo E/ milio MorenattiDisplaced people wait for their daily food ration during a sand storm at the
Chota Lahore refugee camp at Swabi, north-west Pakistan, June 2009. At least
a million people remain displaced by the brutal conflict between the Taliban
and Pakistani forces, in which all sides have failed to adequately distinguish
between civilians and combatants.
Pakistani forces have received billions of dollars in military aid over the last 10
years, primarily from the USA, while the Taliban have benefited from a thriving
black market in arms.
At the end of 2010, 43.3 million people
were displaced due to armed conflict and
persecution, according to UNHCR, the UN
refugee agency.
The Arms Trade Treaty must prevent
international transfers of conventional arms
that provoke or prolong armed conflict and
contribute to displacement.
DISPLACEMENTA woman cradles her baby in an overcrowded camp for displaced people in
Somalia, while an armed man looks on in the background. Mogadishu,
Somalia, September 2011.
According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, 1.5 million Somalis were
internally displaced at the end of 2011 as a result of the longstanding civil war.
Women and girls are especially vulnerable in the camps and have been raped
and attacked, sometimes by men in Transitional Federal Government uniforms.
The actions of armed groups can define
public spaces for women. If armed groups
are on the street and are known to attack
and rape women, then even simple, daily
activities like getting to work become
dangerous.
The Arms Trade Treaty must prevent the
transfer or export of arms when there is a
substantial risk that they will be used to
further gender-based armed violence and
sexual violence against women.
ARMED VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN AND GIRLS© Sven Torfinn P/ anos© Sylva ni LiechtiIn 2011, child soldiers enlisted by
government forces or armed groups were
involved in conflicts in at least 14 countries;
in many other countries, children were
forced to join armed criminal gangs.
Apart from the tragedy of themselves
becoming perpetrators of human rights
violations, many child soldiers are killed,
maimed or are victims of rape and other
sexual violence.
A child soldier of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda in Ntoto,
Walikale territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), January 2012.
In 2010, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 children were serving in the conflict in
eastern DRC. They continue to be recruited by armed groups and state armed
forces, despite the government having formally ended child recruitment in 2004.
Those who recruit children are rarely brought to account, and those who are
convicted often escape, in some cases returning to the armed forces.
CHILD SOLDIERSDiseth Aguiar weeps over the body of her husband, 34-year-old Corporal
Alberto Jimenez Arocha, who was killed with a shot to the head while someone
tried to steal his weapon in the San José neighbourhood of Petare, Venezuela,
October 2009. In the 12 months from June 2008, 79 per cent of homicides in
Venezuela involved firearms.
In 2010 alone, nearly half of all homicides around the world involved firearms.
Systemic armed violence is often fuelled by firearms and ammunition supplied
either directly to criminals, or to legal but poorly regulated markets.
An Arms Trade Treaty would prevent
transfers where there is credible and reliable
evidence that the arms will be used to
commit acts of “armed violence”, and where
there are serious violations or abuses of
international law. This would enable states
to improve human security and the work of
law enforcement bodies.
International arms transfers should be
assessed under an Arms Trade Treaty
against the risk of being diverted to fuel
persistent or pervasive armed violence or
organized crime.
PERVASIVE ARMED VIOLENCE© Kisai Mendoza© UN Photo A/ bl ert Gonzalez FarranA child holds up bullets collected from the ground in the village of Rounyn,
north of Shangil Tobaya, North Darfur, March 2011. Most of Rounyn’s residents
have fled to displacement camps following clashes between the government
and armed groups in the area.
Existing arms export controls and a UN arms embargo on Darfur have failed to
stop international arms transfers to Sudan. Despite the ongoing humanitarian
crisis, arms from Belarus, China and the Russian Federation have repeatedly
been deployed.
It is critical that all munitions, including
ammunition, rockets, bombs and other
explosives fall within the scope of the Arms
Trade Treaty, in spite of a bid by some
governments to exclude ammunition.
CONTROL ALL AMMUNITIONA member of the Amigos dos Amigos (ADA) holds an Uzi submachine gun,
Rocinha favela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 2009. The ADA is one of three
main criminal armed groups in the city, where gangs and militias made up of
corrupt former police use violence and intimidation to control favelas.
The spread of conventional arms among criminal gang networks undermines
development and prevents people from rising out of poverty.
International transfers of conventional arms
can seriously impair poverty reduction and
undermine socio-economic development. As
conflict or lawlessness takes hold, countries
slide into chaos, causing development to
grind to a halt. This can be seen in nonconflict situations, but also when easily
available arms are used unlawfully in
post-conflict peace-building, or when they
involve excessive, unaccountable spending
or corruption.
UNDERMINING POVERTY
REDUCTION© Christian Franz Tragni D/ emotix© REUTERS Y/ iorgos KarahalisA policeman sprays tear gas at protesters during a student rally in Athens,
Greece, December 2008. Protesters hurled firebombs at police outside
parliament on the 13th day of protests after police killed a teenager.
Amnesty International has documented several cases of police using excessive
force and the excessive use of chemicals and tear gas during demonstrations in
Greece in 2012.
Weapons such as tear gas and stun grenades are widely used by police in
Europe and elsewhere but the way they are deployed often falls short of
international standards. In Greece, these weapons have been supplied by
Brazilian, German, UK and US companies.
Weapons and munitions used by police and
internal security forces must be covered by
the Arms Trade Treaty.Members of Sudan’s military delegation inspect a rocket system at the MILEX-
2011 arms and military equipment exhibition in Minsk, Belarus, May 2011.
Many countries continue to supply arms to governments, security and police
forces known to commit human rights violations or abuse.
The global market place for arms is a
complex environment. Transactions often
involve many different suppliers, agents,
brokers and transporters – sometimes
operating from several different
jurisdictions. An Arms Trade Treaty must
require governments to register all parties
involved and strictly regulate all
international transfers.
ROBUST CONTROL MECHANISMS© REUTERS V/ asily Fedosenko© Guy Till miAn Antonov 12 cargo aircraft takes off from a remote airstrip in Goma,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, September 2003. This kind of aircraft has
often been used to deliver weapons to embargoed conflict zones in many parts
of the world.
In Africa’s Great Lakes region, Goma has been a hub for this activity. In many
parts of the continent, the illicit arms trade has contributed to violence,
corruption and poverty.
The Arms Trade Treaty must include robust
provisions to control the physical movement
of arms across international borders. It
should require all states to impose effective
controls on the transport and transporters of
arms, including through Free Trade Zones.
Without this, the Treaty will fail to address
a significant loophole in international arms
transfer controls, and will deprive the
international community of a key tool to
prevent arms transfers from being used to
commit and facilitate serious violations of
human rights.An anti-Gaddafi fighter looks at weapons left by Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s
forces in Misrata, Libya, October 2011. Under Colonel al-Gaddafi, violations
of human rights were routine and included arbitrary detention, enforced
disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, unlawful killings and deaths
in custody.
The risk of arms being used for serious human rights violations in Libya under
Colonel al-Gaddafi was substantial. Yet many states, including Belgium, the
Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Russian Federation and
the UK, supplied the country with weapons.
Globally, a wide range of conventional arms
have been used by government forces and
armed groups in attacks designed to kill
and intimidate civilians. Some of these
arms have been diverted illegally; others
have been supplied with the knowledge or
complicity of states and their agents.
The Arms Trade Treaty must forbid such
transfers.
WEAPONS PROLIFERATION© REUTERS S/ uha bi Salem© REUTERS G/ oran TomasevicA riot policeman fires a shotgun at protesters during clashes in a side street
near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, November 2011. More than 6,000 people
were injured in connection with the “25 January Revolution” in 2011, some of
them permanently. At least 840 people were killed.
The USA is the biggest arms supplier to Egypt, and has continued to transfer
arms there in spite of the numerous human rights abuses committed since the
beginning of the revolution. More than 100 people have been killed as a result
of excessive and lethal force by security forces since October 2011.
Outside armed conflict, even if it is unclear
whether crimes against humanity will
be committed, governments still have an
international obligation to stop arms
transfers to military, security or police
forces who are known to commit serious
international human rights violations.
These rules are essential for an effective
Arms Trade Treaty.
SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF
HUMAN RIGHTSAmnesty International, alongside NGO
partners and activists around the world, has
been campaigning for an Arms Trade Treaty
since the early 1990s. It was 2009 before
the UN General Assembly adopted a
resolution to develop a Treaty to regulate
the international arms trade.
In July 2012, states will at last meet to
agree the Treaty at a four-week-long UN
Conference. Every government has an
interest in the outcome.
However, the world’s largest arms traders
– including the USA, the European Union
(especially France, Germany and the UK),
the Russian Federation and China – wield the
most influence and there is a real danger that
China, the Russian Federation and the USA
will push for the Treaty text to be watered
down until it is ineffective. Some states
in the Middle East and Asia may even veto
the Treaty.
We must keep up the pressure on states to
adopt a Treaty that will save lives and help
protect human rights.
After July, we will campaign even harder
to make sure states ratify and comply with
the Arms Trade Treaty.
Governments must stamp out irresponsible
arms transfers and keep weapons out of
the wrong hands. Amnesty International is
calling on governments to adopt, ratify and
implement a treaty that will:
n Stop arms getting into the hands of
people likely to commit war crimes,
genocide, mass rape, torture, displacement
and other grave human rights abuses.
n Control all arms, ammunition and
components parts.
n End secrecy, corruption and wasted
resources.
n Be enforced and policed, and hold
governments to account.
IT’S TIME FOR A BULLET-PROOF ARMS TRADE TREATY KEEP WEAPONS OUT OF THE
WRONG HANDSAmnesty International Publications
First published in 2012 by
Amnesty International Publications
International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW
United Kingdom
www.amnesty.org
© Amnesty International Publications 2012
Index: ACT 30/032/2012 English
Original language: English
Printed by Amnesty International,
International Secretariat, United Kingdom
All rights reserved. This publication is copyright, but
may be reproduced by any method without fee for
advocacy, campaigning and teaching purposes, but not
for resale. The copyright holders request that all such
use be registered with them for impact assessment
purposes. For copying in any other circumstances,
or for reuse in other publications, or for translation or
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contact copyright@amnesty.org
Amnesty International is a global movement
of more than 3 million supporters, members
and activists in more than 150 countries and
territories who campaign to end grave abuses
of human rights.
Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the
rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and other international human
rights standards.
We are independent of any government, political
ideology, economic interest or religion and are
funded mainly by our membership and public
donations.
Find our more and take urgent
action: amnesty.org/control-armsNO MORE ARMS FOR ATROCITIES
OR ABUSE
TAKE ACTION
Visit amnesty.org or contactyourlocal Amnesty
International office to find out how you can help
Cover image: Somali children stare at
a Transitional Federal Government
soldier carrying a machine gun
ammunition belt while on patrol in
Burgabo, south of Kismayu in
Somalia, December 2011.
Civilians have been targeted many times
during Somalia’s armed conflict by
government forces and armed Islamist
groups. A UN arms embargo in place
since 1992 has been repeatedly violated
thanks to its built-in government
exemptions and ineffective arms
controls in other countries.
© REUTERS/Noor Khamis
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