BBC News – Met race claim victims ‘made to suffer’, says retiring officer

By Dil Neiyyar BBC Asian Network

One of the first officers to win a discrimination case against the Metropolitan Police has said that racism continues to be a major problem within the force.

Detective Sergeant Gurpal Virdi, 53, who is retiring after 30 years, said not enough was being done to stamp it out and called for police chiefs to offer more support to victims.

Black and Asian staff who complain of harassment often find themselves treated as the perpetrators or viewed as troublemakers, he claimed.

Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe has vowed to root out racism.

Last month Mr Hogan-Howe told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “I condemn any racist in the Met… and I will drive them out.”

His comments came as the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigated 11 cases of alleged racism involving 19 officers and one member of staff.

Mr Virdi was sacked in 2000 after being wrongly accused of sending racist hate mail to black and Asian colleagues.

But he was reinstated after winning a case against the Met later that year.

It was seen as a landmark case which exposed for the first time the problems faced by ethnic minority officers.

But Mr Virdi said the lessons had still not been learnt.

“Instead of making the victim suffer, the suspect needs to be suspended,” he said.

“He needs to disciplined.”

“The problem is that the Met surrounds the suspect and protects them with legal jargon or legal department, which is the wrong way of doing it,” he added.

He said he was speaking out now because he cared about the police and the communities it served.

He said the biggest problem black and Asian staff faced was being overlooked for promotion, which had left many of them feeling demoralised.

They could come up against problems like “not being granted courses, not being promoted, not being [made] part of a team”.

Mr Virdi, who does support and advisory work on race issues with various staff associations, said the police could find it hard to hold on to ethnic minority staff until these problems were addressed.

He said: “We only have 9% of ethnic minority officers, yet the population of London is 40% ethnic.

“That’s a drastic difference,” he said.

Mr Virdi believes the current commissioner genuinely wants to improve things.

But he added that someone needed to “get a grip” on the situation, where “past commissioners have failed”.

The Met has not responded to requests for a comment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18003609

The Tribune – Gatka lads from Tarn Taran make it to Guinness Book

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 9. At a time when Punjabi youth in the border belt are losing the prime of their age to rampant drug addiction, Tarn Taran-based Bir Khalsa Gatka Group has brought laurels to the state by making it to the Guinness Book of World Records. The group broke the maximum number of coconuts placed on the forehead with a baseball bat during a contest organised in Rome on April 18.

The seven-member team of the Gatka group, comprising Sikh youths from Tarn Taran, broke 59 coconuts in one minute. The earlier record of breaking coconuts placed on forehead was 41 in a minute.

Sharing their experience with mediapersons here today, Kanwaljit Singh, who led the Gatka group, said: “It is a proud moment for all of us. During the contest, five members of the team placed coconuts on the head of their colleague Gurpreet Singh while Kanwaljit broke these with a baseball bat”.

Gurinder Singh, a team member, said they had been practicing very hard prior to the competition. “We are now eying a record where our group members will jump from a 30-ft stand made of 3,000 to 4,000 tubelights, breaking them all in the process”.

The other team members are Naseeb Singh, Harpreet Singh, Ranjot Singh and Balwant Singh. After Rome, the team is all set to participate in similar events in Japan and Czechoslovakia in the coming months.

The group has around 200 members and a number of them are from humble background. The group first hogged the limelight after it got a platform in a TV show on an entertainment channel a couple of years ago. However, it hasn’t received any financial aid. Manmohan Singh Bhagowalia, general secretary of Shiromani Gatka Federation of India, said the group members had been managing affairs from its own resources. He said their victory in Rome would help clear misconceptions about Sikh identity abroad.

Group’s rising star

The group also has a new kid on the block in the form of nine-year-old Manpreet Singh who is preparing himself to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records in near future. He is probably the youngest master of this art form in the world. The group members are all praise for this boy who they say is no way less than other members in performing daredevil stunts like having a coconut cracked on his forehead with a baseball bat or having tubelights smashed across his chest.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120510/punjab.htm#5

The Tribune – Santa Singh’s portrait at museum; Will review decision, says Makkar

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 9. Taking note of protests from certain quarters, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar today said the SGPC will review its decision to install the portrait of Baba Santa Singh, former chief of Budha Dal, at the Central Sikh Museum.

Talking to mediapersons here, Makkar said the SGPC was aware of the objections being raised against installation of Santa Singh’s portrait and it had decided to review the move. He said they had also decided to constitute a sub-committee which would take a call in future regarding installation of portraits in the museum. Various Sikh outfits like Dal Khalsa and Shiromani Panthic Council had protested against the SGPC move.

Baba Santa Singh courted controversy when at the instance of the then Indira Gandhi government, he undertook “kar sewa” of the Akal Takht building in 1984 after the top temporal seat suffered extensive damage during the Army operation.

Subsequently, he was “excommunicated” from the Sikh Panth by Jathedar Kirpal Singh in July 1984. His “excommunication” was revoked by Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti in 2001 only after he admitted his “sin” and accepted the punishment for violating the “Sikh maryada”. He died on May 8, 2008.

Makkar also revealed that the SGPC would soon renovate the Central Sikh Museum.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120510/punjab.htm#7

The Asian Age – Shock, outrage as DIG ‘backs’ honour killings

Asian Ager Correspondents

Lucknow/New Delhi, 10 May 2012. Shocking and irresponsible remarks by a state minister and a senior IPS officer left the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh severely embarrassed.

Durga Prasad Yadav, UP minister for stamp, court fees and registration, made the profound statement that “even God would not be able to control crime” in Uttar Pradesh. This was in Gorakhpur hours after a man was killed in a shootout between underworld gangs. “Crime will continue even if God forms a government in UP,” he said.

Soon afterwards a senior police official was caught on camera endorsing honour killings. Saharanpur DIG Satish Kumar Mathur told a father who had come to seek help to get back his abducted daughter that if his own sister had eloped “I would have killed her… or else I would have committed suicide myself”.

This insensitive remark has caused shock and outrage in several quarters, with National Commission of Women chief Mamta Sharma saying the state government should suspend the officer, and order an investigation.

Activist Ranjana Kumari demanded the DIG be put behind the bars as “this amounts to abetment of suicide and encouraging honour killings”.

Additional DGP (law and order) Jagmohan Yadav said in Lucknow the DIG denied having made the remark, and that if he had “action will be taken”.

http://www.asianage.com/india/shock-outrage-dig-backs-honour-killings-468

8 April 2012 Easter Sunday walk

Begijnhof – Beguinage

Begijnhof – Beguinage

Begijnhof – Beguinage

Sint-Jacobskerk

To see more Belgium (mostly Limburg) pictures :

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

More Belgium pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Four held for dumping NRI’s body in canal

Mohit Khanna and Jaswant Shetra, Tribune News Service

Jagraon, May 9. With the arrest of four persons, including a woman, the Jagraon police has solved mysterious disappearance of a 22-year-old Canada-based NRI, who came here to formulate a contract marriage.

With this, the police has also unearthed a state-wide nexus of fake marriage agents who were pocketing huge money through contract marriages.

Amanpal Singh, a native of Toronto in Canada, went missing on January 24.

The Jagraon police claimed that the dead body of Amanpal, who allegedly committed suicide, was stacked in a suitcase and dumped in the Sirhand Feeder Canal by Karamjit Kaur, Kulwant Singh, Aman and hotel owner Gulshan Rai on January 26.

Ludhiana Range DIG MF Farooqui said, “We have yet to recover the body. Perhaps someone might have fished out the suitcase from the canal thinking it to be containing valuables. We are inquiring from residents living close to the canal about finding of a suitcase.” The mystery behind the disappearance unfolded when Tajinder Singh, brother of Amanpal, who lives in Brampton in Canada, lodged a complaint with the Jagraon police a few days ago.

Tajinder stated that Amanpal came to India through a Brampton-based agent Robin alias Rob for formulating a contract marriage on December 16, 2011. The police said Amanpal came into contact with the accused persons through his NRI friend Hardeep.

On reaching Jagraon, Amanpal was made to stay in a hotel for a few days where he met prospective brides and their parents through the accused.

“But Amanpal was rejected by the girls whom he met for contract marriage during his stay in Jagraon. The family background of Amanpal as well as his physical stature foiled the marriage plans,” said DIG Farooqui.

After spending a few days at Jagraon, Kulwant Singh and Kamaljit Kaur arranged his stay at a hotel in Mullanpur Dakha where he met some other prospective brides and their family members, but he was again rejected due to same reasons. “The rejection drove Amanpal into depression. As he was a drug addict, he committed suicide by hanging himself with the ceiling hook on the night of January 24,” said SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Gurpreet Singh Toor.

The incident came to light the next morning when Amanpal did not open the door of his room till afternoon. After this, hotel employees Ram Bahadur and Captain Jaipal broke open the door and found the victim hanging with the ceiling hook.

They immediately informed hotel owner Gulshan Rai who further informed Kulwant Singh, Kamaljit Kaur and Aman. “Without wasting time, the four assembled in the hotel. They decided to dump the body as Gulshan Rai apprehended that informing the police would earn bad name for his hotel and cause unnecessary harassment,” said the SSP.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120510/punjab.htm#18

BBC News – Pakistan’s Shias fear sectarian attacks

Wednesday 9 May 2012. An increase in sectarian violence has killed hundreds of Pakistanis in recent years.

Many attacks have been concentrated in the Northern Areas and Balochistan province.

Shias and other minority communities say those behind the violence – such as the banned Sunni militant organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi – are rarely caught or punished.

BBC Urdu’s Nosheen Abbas talked to Shias who have been caught up in the violence and have decided to move to the safety of Islamabad.

Niaz Ali, 30, development worker who travels between Islamabad and Skardu, in Pakistan’s northern areas

I was on a bus when we were stopped in the town of Chilas, and the Shias were singled out and then killed.

I had been on my way from Islamabad to Skardu. I don’t know how I survived, given that I’m Shia, but for some reason they were discussing among themselves how they would kill Shias from Gilgit, and not Skardu.

One man tried to run away, but he was shot. Another old man died on the spot after they threw large stones at his face. You wouldn’t even beat animals in the same way that these people were beaten. All this happened right in front of all the policemen who were there!

It’s not safe to travel by road any more. They send two policemen on every bus now, but I don’t think that makes any difference.

You never know whether you’ll be alive or dead after travelling on that road to Skardu, but it’s the only one. Most of the people who travel are students, because there aren’t any good academic institutions in Skardu. My family has forbidden me to travel by road now, so I fly now, but not everyone can afford to do that.

The government of Pakistan does nothing for the people here. They never stop the people who are killing us, so they are either supporting them or don’t care.

Farishat Haideri, 20, an ethnic Hazara student from Quetta, capital of Balochistan province

Life used to be different in Quetta. The situation now is bad. There is a lot of fear.

We can’t even go to the bazaar and the shops near our homes because we are being targeted. We have been warned that all Hazara men will be killed. Even women are now being killed.

We’d love to live in a safe place. We are peace-loving people and we want to be treated like normal human beings. If the current situation continues it will become impossible to live in Quetta. People are now moving to Afghanistan and other foreign countries.

A friend of mine was targeted when they went to the bazaar. Recently, two taxis full of people going to the funeral of a victim of a targeted killing were stopped, and all eight people inside were killed, including one woman.

We never know who these killers are. They’re never caught. Until now, no woman has been kidnapped, but that’s because no-one dares to move from their own designated areas in the city.

My parents insisted I do my studies here in Islamabad. They want me to find another scholarship so I can move abroad. My parents themselves might move to Afghanistan.

More stories on the BBC website, follow link below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17936651