The Tribune – Demand grows for more amendments in Sikh marriage Act

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 25. Buoyant over passage of Anand Marriage Amendment Bill, 2012, in both houses of Parliament, a section of the Sikh community is now rooting for further amendments in the Anand Marriage Act 1909, while others are advocating amendment in Article 25 of the constitution that clubs Sikhs with Hindus.

Akal Takht to set up a panel to deliberate on the issue noted lawyer H S Phoolka has urged Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh to form a committee, which should seek opinion from the entire Sikh community and decide what more amendments could be made in the Anand Marriage Act. In a letter written to the Jathedar, Phoolka said, “Now that the amendment, facilitating registration of Sikh marriages under the Anand Marriage Act, has been passed by Parliament, it is the right time to evolve a consensus in the community on future amendments.”

He said the Sikh clergy should form a committee, which should decide whether a provision for divorce should be included in the Act or the community should demand a new marriage Act. Former Rajya Sabha MP Tarlochan Singh has also written to the Akal Takht and the SGPC to jointly form a committee to thoroughly discuss further amendments in the Anand Marriage Act.

Responding to their plea, the Jathedar said they will soon form a committee of Sikh intellectuals, which will deliberate on the issue, besides seeking views from all sections of the community. “We will decide on the future course of action once the panel submits its report,” he said. Apart from further amendments in the marriage Act, the demand for amendment in Article 25 of the Constitution, which clubs Sikhs with Hindus, is also raising its head.

Former SGPC secretary Manjeet Singh Calcutta has shot off a missive to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which he raised the issue of Article 25 while appreciating the passage of amendments in the Anand Marriage Act, 1909. In his letter, Calcutta said, “The misunderstanding of Sikh identity arises from Article 25 (b) of the Constitution, which clubs Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains under the term Hindu. The Venkatchaliya Commission constituted by the Centre for the revision of the Indian Constitution has also recommended exclusion of Sikhs from the term Hindu. The clubbing of the Sikhs with Hindus is extremely unjust, unethical and illogical since Sikh religion is an independent religion and not an offspring or branch of any other religion.” He urged the PM to rectify this wrong by passing a “simple amendment”.

All-India Sikh Students Federation chief Karnail Singh Peermohammed said that the amendment in Article 25 of the constitution is the only solution that will give Sikhs a separate identity.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120526/punjab.htm#3

The Tribune – Political storm brews over Jammu & Kashmir report

Arun Joshi, Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 25. The political temperature in J&K has suddenly risen since the report of three interlocutors was released on Thursday. There are strong anti-report voices, some even terming it as a step towards state’s disintegration. Neither Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has reacted nor have the Muftis of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party. It is clear each side is waiting for the other to react first in order to score some brownie points on the language used.

This is the first sign of a rise in temperature in the political landscape, some of which was visible in the protests in Jammu as well as the common Kashmiris, some of whom felt the report was hinting more or less at the physical and psychological division of the state.

The Jammu-centric parties were apprehensive over the interlocutors’ suggestion that the Central laws extended to the state post-1953 be examined by a constitutional panel.

In the sensitive border state, where each word is interpreted in more than one way, these protests and a plethora of statements condemning the report signify more than what meets the eye.

“It (the report) is a clear attempt to change the course of history,” said Harshdev Singh, senior leader of the J&K National Panthers Party. His party champions the cause of Jammu and is against restoring greater autonomy to the state.

In Kashmir, a feeling somehow has gone around that the balance is tilted towards the two regions – Jammu and Ladakh. The CM has gone into a mulling mode, telling the media and others who follow him on the micro-blogging site Twitter that he “will take a few days to examine the report, discuss it with senior colleagues & then react.” He counseled patience to all.

Not long ago, Omar asked for the early release of the interlocutors’ report and implementation of its recommendations. As the report suggests high-power regional councils for three regions – Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh with legislative and executive powers – it is being read as a design to divide the state. The report also comes at a time when the tourist season is peaking. Any “wrong word” can ignite the situation.

Aware of the fallout from an off-the-cuff reaction, the Chief Minister is walking the lane of silence at the moment. Sources say if he supports the report, he would have to do it in totality, and if he condemns it, then he would be seen as the one who is deviating from the path of autonomy. The moment he speaks — for or against – he’d risk a political storm.

A glimpse of that came when NC’s additional general secretary Sheikh Mustafa Kamal said: “The NC would not allow division of the state.” The timing and the words dropped clear hints of what lies ahead.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120526/main4.htm

The Asian Age – Pakistan defers signing of visa deal, India miffed

Asian Age Correspondent, with agency inputs

Islamabad/New Delhi, 26 May 2012. India and Pakistan on Friday failed to sign an agreement on a liberalised visa regime, expected at the end of the home secretary-level talks in Islamabad, and merely agreed to do so soon, after Islamabad insisted at the last minute on “political participation”.

The two sides, however, did agree to further cooperation between their investigative agencies, including on 26/11, while Pakistan agreed in principle to receive an Indian judicial commission for a probe into the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

India’s displeasure at Friday’s developments was evident with foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai telling reporters in New Delhi: “We had gone there fully prepared to sign it (the agreement).” He also noted “both sides had attached a lot of importance on signing the visa agreement”.

Mr Mathai attributed the failure to ink the pact to “some delay in their (Pakistani) procedures” as well as Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik’s “desire for political participation in inking the agreement”.

Mr Malik, who met India’s home secretary R.K. Singh separately, said he had invited home minister P. Chidambaram to visit Pakistan, and hoped the agreement could be signed during Mr Chidambaram’s visit.

Mr Malik had made a similar suggestion a month ago, but Mr Chidambaram had declined then, suggesting it be done at the talks between the home secretaries.

Mr Mathai recalled the decision (on the visa agreement) was taken when Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi in April. The planned visa regime relaxation was seen as a major step in furthering the peace process. External affairs minister S.M. Krishna told Parliament after the Singh-Zardari meeting a “liberalised visa agreement should be signed at the next meeting of the home secretaries”.

A joint statement issued in Islamabad on Friday after the two-day talks between Mr R.K. Singh and Pakistan’s Khwaja Siddique Akbar said the two nations agreed to sign a new visa agreement at an early date. The Pakistani side said “some internal approvals were under process, and (it) will be signed once they are in place”.

On 26/11, it said Pakistan “agreed in principle to receive a judicial commission from India”, and that “modalities, mandate and composition of the commission will be worked out through diplomatic channels”.

Mr Malik said both sides exchanged dossiers on terror-related issues, and Pakistan had got additional evidence from India against Hafiz Saeed. He added Pakistan could not act on the basis of “hearsay”, and that it would examine the evidence against Saeed.

http://www.asianage.com/india/pak-defers-signing-visa-deal-india-miffed-000

Sint-Truiden – Brussel – Bristol vv 19/04 – 25/04 2012

On the 19th of April I went to Vilvoorde and on the 20th I travelled from Vilvoorde to Bristol via Brussel and  London. I returned from Bristol to Sint-Truiden on the 25th of April. 

22 April, Bristol, Summerhill Gurdwara, Palki Sahib, Javinder Singh, Chaur Seva

22 April, Bristol, Summerhill Gurdwara, Palki Sahib, Javinder Singh, Chaur Seva

22 April, Bristol, Summerhill Gurdwara, Palki Sahib, Guru Granth Sahib

22 April, Bristol, Summerhill Gurdwara, Divan Hall

Sangat Singh Sabha Gurdwara
11 Summerhill Road
St George’s, Bristol BS5 8HG

22 April, Bristol, Chelsea Road Ramgharia Gurdwara, Divan Hall

Ramgharia Sikh Temple
81-83 Chelsea Road
Easton, Bristol BS5 6AS

To see more UK gurdwara pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157611278213681/

More UK pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – UN Review; India grilled over AFSPA, custodial torture at Geneva

Aditi Tandon, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 25. Custodial torture, enforced disappearances and use of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act were the major concerns raised by UN member nations that grilled India yesterday when its national report for the second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights came up for discussions at Geneva.

Most country representatives asked Attorney General Ghoolam Vahanvati representing India why the government had not ratified the UN Conventions against torture and enforced disappearances despite positive indications earlier. Ratification of the Convention against Torture was recommended to India four years ago after its first UPR. “That hasn’t happened. Though the Prevention of Torture Bill 2010 was introduced in Parliament,” India’s National Human Rights Commission has in its observations on the country’s second UPR said.

“The Bill was weak. If the Act eventually adopted dilutes the revisions made by a committee of Parliament’s Upper House, it will call into question the government’s commitment to the convention,” it said. Between 2001 and 2010, NHRC reported 14,231 cases of deaths in police and prison custody (1,504 and 12,727, respectively) – an average of 43 deaths a day.

The Working Group on Human Rights (WGHR) in India and the UN which submitted a parallel report for India’s UPR says that torture is the most widespread in India’s conflict areas and leads to physical, mental disability and impotency. “Common methods of torture in Kashmir and the North-East are placement of iron rod on the legs on which many people sit; placement of burning stove between the legs and administration of electric shocks to genitals. A Commission of the ICRC confirmed the use of torture in Kashmir,” WGHR report says.

Yesterday, India was reminded of its 2011 promise to ratify the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances. This recommendation was made after India’s first UPR. The NHRC report to the UN Human Rights Commission, however, says: “There is no evidence that the Government intends to ratify the CED.

Enforced disappearance is not codified as a criminal offence in domestic law nor are extant provisions of law used to deter the practice.” The NHRC received 341 complaints of disappearance in 2010, over 400 in 2011. The WGHR report laments enforced disappearances in Kashmir.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120526/main7.htm

BBC News – Why is the Indian Premier League floundering?

Soutik Buswas, Delhi Correspondent

Are cricket fans turning their backs on the ongoing fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world’s showcase fast cricket contest?

If TV ratings figures are to be believed, fans have had enough of cricket despite the nine-team, 76-match, seven-week Twenty20 tourney.

Viewer ratings were down 18.7% in the first six games – a time when interest in the tournament traditionally peaks – compared with the same period last year.

That’s not all. Season V began on a wrong note with a tawdry Bollywood song-and-dance opening show which even appears to have put off fans. Two top sponsors have withdrawn. Brand and communication consultants are warning that the IPL brand is in “choppy waters”, and the league needs a “stronger game plan to rejuvenate the brand”. One brand consultancy firm has downgraded the league’s value to $3.67bn, down 11% from 2010.

Remember, the response to IPL Season IV last year was lukewarm. TV ratings dropped by 29% and even the final met a tepid response. Cricket fans were savouring India’s spectacular win in the World Cup which preceded the tournament, and had little appetite for more cricket.

Why is the thrill gone this year – at least in the early stages of the tournament? After all, this is the tournament which combines the sublime (sledgehammer batting, close finishes) and the ridiculous (Bollywood entertainment, cheerleaders, “strategic time outs” in the middle of the games to facilitate advertising breaks). Indians love tamasha (entertainment), and the IPL is still the best tamasha on offer.

For one, after the song and dances are over, it’s finally all about cricket. India is still licking its wounds after a nightmarish international season in which it lost eight overseas Test matches on the trot – its worst run since the 1960s. Though Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international hundred in Dhaka last month was a welcome diversion, India failed to pick up the Asia Cup.

Don’t disrespect the fan, Rahul Dravid eloquently said at last year’s Bradman Oration, and to expect fans to flock to cheer non-performing cricketers at the highest level is a bit fey.

Also, Indian stars are the league’s biggest draw, and most of them have been performing indifferently or are absent in the ongoing edition. Tendulkar is hurt after the first game, and Sehwag and Dhoni, two big hitters, haven’t fired yet. VVS Laxman isn’t playing this season. Yuvraj Singh is recovering from cancer and is out of the game for a while. Saurav Ganguly’s batting is past its sell-by date. Rahul Dravid is playing a post-retirement nostalgia gig. Yusuf Pathan, a Twenty20 star, has fizzled out. When the stars are largely down and out, fans stay away.

Fans also seem to be confused about whom to support. The IPL is a city-based league aiming to build up fan bases in half-a-dozen big Indian cities. But when Calcutta’s icon Saurav Ganguly, Delhi’s favourite Gautam Gambhir and Bangalore’s biggest star Rahul Dravid end up leading the teams of Pune, Calcutta and Rajasthan, fan loyalties to home teams can begin to fray easily.

Interest will possibly pick up during the knockouts and the final at the fag end of the league. It may even pick up with more high-scoring games, edge-of-the-seat finishes, and big-bang batting by the stars.

But authorities simply cannot afford to let the IPL crash.

Listen to Sharda Ugra, India’s top cricket writer, and you know why. “The IPL has now become a key component of world cricket’s economy,” she writes. “If it falters and fails because it is not alert to the audience climate around it, the domino effect around the cricket world will be damaging. Cricket’s superstar status in many parts of its empire will be downgraded from club class to cattle class – all holy cows included.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17699415