The Harper government vowed to review its immigration rules after Canadian visa officers in India touched off a furor by barring dozens of people on the grounds that their service in army, police and intelligence units made them complicit in human-rights violations.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney issued an apology on Friday, saying Canadian immigration officials should never have cast aspersions on India’s institutions. The incidents, he said, showed visa officers have too much latitude.
For a deeply embarrassed Harper government, the pledge and apology were an effort to repair relations with a country it has been assiduously courting: India’s booming economy makes it a major target for attempts to build trade ties to the East.
And at home, the visa flap won’t help Conservative efforts to woo a diaspora of more than one million Indo-Canadians; some were offended by the insult, others by the apology.
Canada and India now chalk up the incidents to overworked immigration officers in the New Delhi embassy, where about half of the 360 staff members work on immigration matters. Canada and India, Mr. Kenney said in a statement, work closely together on security.
“The Government of Canada therefore deeply regrets the recent incident in which letters drafted by public service officials during routine visa refusals to Indian nationals cast false aspersions on the legitimacy of work carried out by Indian defence and security institutions, which operate under the framework of democratic processes and the rule of law,” he said.
The apology didn’t end there: It came with a pledge that Canada will review its policy on declaring foreigners inadmissible. The incident, he added, “has demonstrated that the deliberately broad legislation may create instances when the net is cast too widely by officials, creating irritants with our trusted and valued international allies.”
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Chief Commissioner of Gurdwara elections, Justice (retd.) H.S.Brar said that final preparation and publication of electoral rolls will be completed by November this year and after that, it would take a few more months for the actual elections.
'We are starting the registration of voters June 1 and it would continue till July 15. After this, there are many things like preparation of rolls, filing of claims and objections, disposal of objections, and after covering all these stages, the final publication of electoral rolls will be on Nov 9 this year,' he told reporters here.
'After Nov 9, it would normally take two to three months for the actual conduct of SGPC elections. Moreover, it all depends on the discretion of central government and they have to decide the final date of election. There is always a possibility that we might have to wait for a longer period for elections,' Justice Brar added.
The SGPC, headquartered at the holiest Sikh shrine Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, manages all the big gurdwaras and has an annual budget of Rs.4.5 billion. It is dominated by Punjab's ruling Akali Dal, which has accused the central government of delaying the elections.
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A Delhi court on Friday framed murder charges against senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
The Kadkaddooma court framed charges against Sajjan Kumar and five others for allegedly killing five people in Delhi Cantonment during the riots that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court Tuesday reserved its order on Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's petition contesting the framing of charges against him in the killing of five people in the city during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against Sajjan Kumar and others in two cases for allegedly instigating mobs during the riots, in which more than 3,000 Sikhs were estimated to have been killed across Delhi.
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The registration of voters for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elections will begin from June 1 till July 15, said a spokesman of the Gurdwara Election Commission here on Wednesday. The blank declaration Form 1, to be filled by keshdhari Sikhs, will be available with the patwaris in rural areas, secretaries of local authorities or persons appointed by deputy commissioners for the urban areas and at notified gurdwaras. Eligible voters can obtain these forms free of cost for getting themselves registered.
To be a registered voter a person should be more than 21 years old and be a keshdhari Sikh, as specified under Section 49 of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. Persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes are required to fill an additional declaration, also given in Form 1, said the spokesperson.
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There are around 150 zookeepers assigned with tasks of looking after animals or birds on regular basis in different shifts.
The Government gives these keepers Rs 200 per month as risk allowance, which does not even cover medical expenses of minor injuries.
Besides physical danger, employees also suffer from different infections that the wild animals pass on to them. Incidences of germ infestation and bacterial infections are common amongst zookeepers.
Sharing their experiences, zookeepers said one of them lost three front teeth when an elephant swayed his tail too swiftly and hit the zookeeper’s teeth. In yet another incidence, a zookeeper lost his life while cleaning the tiger’s enclosure.
“Handling a pregnant animal or that which has laid eggs is very difficult. It is necessary that these animals’ enclosures be cleaned daily. Presently, crocodile is busy hatching her eggs and does not budge to allow us to clean her enclosure. Such irritated animals tend to attack and inflict injuries,” added another zookeeper.
Field Director, Tushar Kanti Bahera said medical reimbursement was also been given to the injured zookeepers but it depended upon the nature of injuries inflicted.
There are carnivorous animals in the zoo, including 11 tigers, 9 leopards, herbivorous animals like niel gai, sambhar and hundreds of birds and other wild animals.
“Our basic salary starts from Rs 5,200 and with stipends it reaches up to Rs 10,000 a month” said the zookeepers.
Zoo officials said though keepers are perfect in their work but at times they fail to judge mood of animal and receive injuries.
The Central Zoo Authority, Government of India, has been conducting trainings for keepers. However, there is always a risk of life while working with these animals.
Three of the zookeepers were sent for animal-handling training in Lucknow last year and four others would undergo training to handle poisonous snakes this year.
With thanks : source : Sikh Sangat
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A Sharjah court in the United Arab Emirates has adjourned the trial for seventeen men from the Sikh community who have been sentenced to death, as the appeal to save their lives commenced today. On the 16th June another hearing will be made; Judge Yunis Al-Reda will now hear the appeal once all court proceedings and reports of the case against the accused have been formally translated into Punjabi.
In police custody, the men have been subjected to torture methods and other human rights violations. According to the LFHRI (Lawyers for Human Rights International) ‘The Sikh religion has been mocked and slandered. The lawyers who spoke to the tortured men heard how the officials in Sharjah jail made the prisoners stamp on religious bracelets and necklaces until they broke into pieces, then torment the men about ‘what their God is doing for them.’
The Indian embassy has assured that they will supply a translation of the documents within a week. Up until now, none of the young boys held in custody have been given information about the case against them in the language they understand. The Emirati lawyer who originally represented the seventeen, did not mention to the court anything about the torture they boys were subjected to. In the original court case where the death penalty was given to all men, the trial proceedings were translated from Arabic into Hindi, which the men did not understand.
Sikhs around the world have been pushing for a fair trial, to implement basic human rights. Over 10,000 Sikhs gathered opposite Downing Street on the 16th May to support these Sikhs and to urge the British Government to ensure that these boys have a fair trial, and all evidence against the accused is made available.
The young men aged between 21 and 25 are migrant workers from India. They moved to Dubai in search of work to send money back to their loved ones in Punjab. Dubai, a luxury paradise has been built by the hands of men such as these. The families of the seventeen men contest their innocence and have appealed to the Indian Government to step in and repatriate the men back to India.
Judge Yunis Al-Reda has ruled the appeal proceedings in Court will continue on the 16th June, once the seventeen young men have been given access to hear the evidence and understand the case against them in a language they understand, Punjabi. This gives the Sikh community and human rights activists time to put pressure on the judicial, to ensure these young boys are freed and sent back to their loving families in India.
With thanks : source : SikhiWiki - Released this news on 16th may, 2010.
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Rights group Amnesty International has condemned authorities in the United Arab Emirates over the alleged torture and forced confession of 17 Indians.
They were sentenced to death last month for killing a Pakistani man.
Amnesty says the men were taken to the scene of the killing in the emirate of Sharjah and forced to re-enact it.
It says they were made to beat a police officer posing as the dead man a month after their arrest - an act filmed and presented as genuine evidence.
There has so far been no comment so far on the allegations from the UAE authorities.
'Faked video'
Citing evidence produced by Indian rights group Lawyers For Human Rights International (LFHRI), Amnesty said that the 17 men were beaten with clubs, given electric shocks, deprived of sleep and forced to stand on one leg for prolonged periods.
"This is a mockery of justice. These 17 men have been tortured, forced to confess and sentenced to death based on a faked video," Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sharaoui said.
