Times of India – Lighting lamps and Bandi Chhor Diwas

Chandigarh, 25 October 2011. In Sikh tradition, Diwali coincides with the Bandi Chhor Diwas, which is considered an important day in the struggle against Mughal suppression.

“The sixth Sikh Guru, Hargobind, was freed from imprisonment by Mughal emperor Jahangir and the Guru arrived at Amritsar’s Golden Temple on this date. There is special importance of Bandi Chhor Diwas in Sikh history that also coincides with Diwali, making the festive spirit double,” said Maninder Singh, a resident of Sector 21.

“We light up our homes and celebrate the festival, the conventional Diwali way, by bursting crackers and lighting oil lamps and candles,” said Karandeep Walia, a resident of Sector 69, Mohali. (TNN)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Lighting-lamps-and-Bandi-Chhor-Diwas/articleshow/10482006.cms

The Hindu – UK further tightens visa norms for Indian students

Hasan Suroor

London, 26 October 2011. In a move that is likely to affect thousands of Indian students applying for visa to study in Britain, the British government on Tuesday banned nearly 1,900 Indian banks, mostly small regional cooperatives, for the purpose of verifying applicants’ maintenance funds.

Under Tier 4 of the points-based immigration system, all applicants are required to submit a financial statement as a proof that they have enough funds to support themselves and pay for their course in Britain.

The Home Office also published a list of 85 financial institutions operating in India whose financial statements would be accepted for student visas.

It said an applicant would score no points for maintenance if their supporting documents showed that their funds were held in a financial institution on the banned list.

Names of both banned and approved banks are available on the UK Border Agency’s website.

The Agency said the list would be kept under review and “additions or deletions made as appropriate” from time to time. An institution would be banned if it was found not to verify financial statements to the Agency’s satisfaction in more than 50 per cent of a sample of cases.

“We will include an institution on the list if we consider, on the basis of experience, that it does not verify financial statements to our satisfaction in more than 50 per cent of a sample of cases. An unsatisfactory verification check means that the institution does not respond to or provide a reliable response to our request for information, or we are unable to contact the institution. When a bank frequently provides unsatisfactory responses to verification requests, it is proportionate to include it on a list from which we will not accept documents, rather than verifying applications individually,” an official statement said.

The move formed part of the reforms to the student immigration route.

“The change is to ensure that we can verify that student visa applicants hold the required maintenance funds to support themselves and pay for their course in the UK.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2571365.ece

Keywords: U.K. student visa, U.K. education

29 September Seminar at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Leuven city and station

Another picture of of the new Siemens engine

Last picture of the new Siemens engine

Erasmus building of Leuven University

Central Library of Leuven University

To see more Sint-Truiden pictures go to :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622046344528/ 

More Belgian pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

Times of India – Witness in Sanjiv Bhatt case goes missing

Ahmedabad 27 October 2011. A witness in the Sanjiv Bhatt case, Shrenik Shah, who stays in Chandkheda, has been missing for the past two days.

Shah was allegedly with Bhatt when police constable K D Pant filed the affidavit. Pant had initially filed an affidavit which was used by Bhatt to support his claim that he was present at a meeting conducted by the Gujarat chief minister right before the communal riots of 2002.

Later, Pant filed a police complaint against Bhatt. Pant said in his complaint that Bhatt had forced him to file the affidavit.

When Pant had filed his affidavit to support Bhatt’s claim, Shah was with them. After Pant filed the complaint with the Ghatlodia police which is investigating the case, Shah had become a witness and his statement was recorded under 164 CrPC. A statement made under this section, before a judicial magistrate, is difficult to go back on. Any person who chooses to make a volte face after this is liable for imprisonment.

A Chandkheda police official said: “We have learnt that Shah has been missing from his home. We have spoken to his family but they are not yet ready to file any complaint. We can do little at this juncture.” (TNN)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Witness-in-Sanjiv-Bhatt-case-goes-missing/articleshow/10503994.cms

BBC News – Pakistan judge Pervez Ali Shah ‘flees death threats’

25 October 2011

A Pakistani judge who convicted a Muslim extremist of murder has fled to Saudi Arabia after getting death threats, his colleagues say.

Pervez Ali Shah gave the death sentence to Malik Mumtaz Hussein Qadri for killing Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.

Qadri said he believed Mr Taseer was undermining blasphemy laws, which may lead to execution for people convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

The Lahore High Court later denied Judge Shah had fled.

A court spokesman said that he had taken temporary leave in order to go on a pilgrimage.

“He remains presiding officer of the child protection court. He left with proper permission from the court,” the spokesman told AFP news agency.

But Saiful Malook, who prosecuted the Qadri case, said the government had sent Judge Shah abroad.

“The death threats have forced Shah to leave Pakistan along with his family for Saudi Arabia,” Mr Malook told local media.

Qadri, who was one of a team of police bodyguards assigned to protect Mr Taseer, shot him 27 times in the back in January.

Qadri said he was proud of what he had done – and many Pakistanis staged large protests in his support.

Mr Taseer had called for debate about the blasphemy law, which human rights groups have condemned as unjust.

He also came out in support of a Christian mother of five, Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

The assassination divided Pakistan, with many hailing Qadri as a hero.

The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says that it is a case that continues to cause emotions to run high in Pakistan.

Our correspondent says that his fate will serve as a warning to other judges willing to take on the tough task of tackling extremism in Pakistan.

Correspondents say Mr Taseer’s killing and other high-profile murders and abductions of moderates have temporarily stifled the debate over the blasphemy laws.

Pakistan’s government has said it has no intention of amending the legislation.

Pakistan’s religious laws

General laws against trespass and defiling monuments first codified in 1860 by India’s British rulers Expanded in 1927 and inherited by Pakistan after partition in 1947

Islamisised under 1980s military government of Zia ul-Haq

1982: Life imprisonment introduced for desecration of Koran

1984: Ahmadi sect barred from calling themselves, and behaving as, Muslims

1986: Death sentence for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad

High rate of conviction in lower courts, but usually overturned in higher courts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15445317