American Shot In Kuwait, US Muslims Face Deportation,

NEW DELHI: Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh on Tuesday said, after a meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, that he was assured of the State's territorial integrity under "all circumstances". The chief minister's meeting with the PM comes amidst speculations that the federal Government is considering the demand of a "Greater Nagaland" put forth by rebel Naga group, Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). He was leading an all-party delegation from Manipur where tension has built up over the NSCN's demand for including Naga inhabited areas of Manipur in the proposed Naga homeland.

American Shot in Kuwait

NICOSIA: Unidentified assailants opened fire on Tuesday on two Americans on a highway near a US military camp, killing one and wounding the other, a US spokesman was quoted as saying. The victims were both civilian contractors working for the US military based in Kuwait, said John Moran, spokesman for the US Embassy in Kuwait.

However, Moran said the two Americans, both men, were inside their vehicle on Highway 85 north of Kuwait City near Camp Doha, a large military installation serving as a base for some 17,000 troops based in the oil-rich Gulf nation. The incident occurred Tuesday morning. One man died of multiple gunshot wounds and the other is wounded, Moran said. No further details were immediately available.

In recent months, other Americans have also come under attack in Kuwait, a key US ally in the Gulf. A US Marine was killed and a second was wounded October 8 when two Kuwaiti Muslim fundamentalists opened fire on a group of Marines taking a break from training. The attackers were killed by other Marines. On November 21, a Kuwaiti policeman shot and seriously injured two US soldiers after stopping their car on a highway.

US Spy Plane Crashes Near Jacobabad (Go To Top)

ISLAMABAD: An unmanned US surveillance plane crashed on Monday inside an airbase in Sindh being used by the US military for operations in Afghanistan, the Nation reported. The aircraft went down soon after taking off from the Sahahbaz airbase in Jacobabad district shortly after sunset, the city's police chief said on telephone.

'It was a small pilotless plane known as Desert Hawk,' he said, adding that the drone fell 'inside' the airbase. No casualties have been reported, the officer said. 'The plane has a range of five to eight km and is used to monitor security at the airbase,' he said. The crash was the second this month after a similar US drone went down in rice fields near Jacobabad on January 1.

Court Bans Cable Television in Kabul (Go To Top)

KABUL: Afghanistan's chief justice said on Tuesday he had shut down cable television services in Kabul because they were broadcasting un-Islamic programmes. Mawlavi Fazl Hadi Shinwari, chief justice and president of the Supreme Court, said he had issued the order after dozens of complaints. The move follows similar action in Jalalabad.

"People who filed complaints to the Supreme Court said they were airing half-naked singers and obscene scenes from movies," Shinwari said. "Because of this, I asked the police to stop their activities. What they aired clearly was contrary to Islam and against morality and we had to issue the order." The order has affected five cable firms that had sprang up in Kabul since the overthrow of the radical Islamic Taliban regime in late 2001. Owners said their broadcasts were shut down by police on Monday.

Indian Victim of Racism in UK Wins Case(Go To Top)

LONDON: Having won a case for which he nearly bankrupted himself, an Indian worker in Toyota's UK plant at Burnaten near Derby is in for a substantial payout. The Nottingham tribunal upheld his claim that he had been subjected to racial prejudice by the mangement and denied promotion because of his colour.

The young man, Vijay Madara, 29, was referred to as "Paki-land, black lad, pimp, turn-your-skin-white" and "coon". Further, when he tried to gain promotion, he was removed from a course to become a roving maintenance engineer after his marks were purposely lowered and he was sent back to the production line.

A panel said that he had defied all the odds to pass his examinations but his efforts had then been wrecked by "disgraceful" management behaviour. According to a legal source, Madara could "reasonably expect substantial damages and reinstatement as an engineering maintenance trainee."

2,477 Muslims in US Face Deportation (Go To Top)

WASHINGTON: More than 2,400 Muslims face deportation after their reporting with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) under a programme that requires Muslim male non-immigrants to appear before the INS offices for fingerprint and photograph, Dawn reports from San Francisco. As of January 14, a total of 2,477 men who showed up at INS offices nation-wide have been issued notices to appear, the initial step in the deportation process, an INS official said.

About 24,000 people have so far appeared for registration with the INS and more than one in 10 among them face possible deportation, the official said. The programme also has led to the detention of 1,169 Muslim non-immigrants. Critics say the programme unfairly targets otherwise law-abiding men by requiring them to register at INS offices and then ordering them deported for even minor visa irregularities. "It's almost a set-up for deportation," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

2,000 Pakistanis in US Flee to Canada (Go To Top)

WASHINGTON: So far about 2,000 Pakistanis have fled to Canada to escape arrest and deportation from the United States where they had been living for years, reports Dawn. The Pakistan Embassy in Washington says it knows about 400 families who have taken refuge in Canada but acknowledges that many more might have gone quietly.

Pakistani welfare groups, who assist the refugees, say they know of at least 2,000 Pakistanis who have fled to Canada. "They may be right. We do not have the exact figure but we know many are going," says Imran Ali, the second secretary at the Pakistan Embassy who deals with such issues. Interviews with some of the Pakistani refugees reveal that most asylum-seekers use three border crossings, one in Michigan and two in New York.

Each night, Pakistanis board the midnight Greyhound bus at Manhattan's Port Authority, and six hours later they arrive at a deserted strip mall on the western edge of Plattsburgh, NY. Taxi drivers charge 50 dollars for the ride up through frozen northern farmlands to the border turnaround. They walk the final 300 yards through the snow to the Canadian immigration centre. Another popular route is the Buffalo-Niagara border crossing, which too is in New York. So far the New York-Canada border is the busiest escape route because New York City has a vast Pakistani community. Those who use the Plattsburgh route end up at Canada's Lacolle Immigration Centre, 30 miles south of Montreal. The centre's director, Ronald Blanchet, says that since January 1, 150 Pakistanis have crossed this border into Canada. In normal times, he said, not more than a hundred Pakistanis crossed this border in an entire year.

In Buffalo, which sits along a busier immigration route, a local shelter houses about 200 Pakistanis a night who wait to walk across the bridge to the Canadian immigration centre and file asylum applications. Blanchet noted that his staff runs criminal background checks, and relatively few of the Pakistanis fail, showing that the new arrivals are peaceful citizens who were not involved in criminal activities in the United States. If applicants pass that hurdle, they can continue on to Montreal or Toronto and begin a year-long series of asylum hearings.

According to a recent Washington Post report, Canada grants asylum to 54 per cent of the applicants. Those who are rejected are returned to the United States and turned over to the American border station. On a visit to the Buffalo shelter, journalists found dozens of Pakistani immigrants from New York city who said they were "fleeing from the night raids and fear of deportation." They all walk to the border in freezing cold and many end up with cold and fever by the time they enter Canada. For those without visas in these nervous times, deportation is almost certain. The panic started after December 16, when the registration deadline for the first group of Muslim immigrants expired. More than 1,200 of those who came to register were detained. The detentions have sparked protests and demonstrations but last week the US Justice Department added five nations to the registration programme.

Shahnawaz Flags Off First Gaya Flight With Haj Pilgrims (Go To Top)

GAYA (Bihar): Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain flagged off the first flight to Jeddah carrying Haj pilgrims at Gaya international airport. About 250 flights each way will be operated this year by Air India, Indian Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines to transport nearly 70,000 Haj pilgrims from a record 10 cities in India. Addressing the first batch of 400 Haj pilgrims from Gaya, Shahnawaz Hussain indicated that the flights have been planned meticulously for the convenience of the Haj pilgrims. Several new systems have been introduced and existing ones improved to ensure that the pilgrims have a smooth journey with maximum comfort.

Strike Hits Indo-Bhutan Trade(Go To Top)

JAIGAON (West Bengal): Trade between India and Bhutan was adversely affected on Monday following a three-day strike call given by Opposition Congress party in Jaigaon town of West Bengal. The Congress has been protesting against the construction of a wall on the Indo-Bhutan border by Thimpu. Road links between the two countries have been paralysed due to the strike, supported by Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Traders' Association. About 20 districts of Bhutan are connected to India by roadways, constructed entirely by Indian Border Roads Organisation. Almost all educational and financial institutions and Government offices remained closed.

Indian traders say the building of the wall by the Bhutanese Government would adversely affect trade relations between the two neighbours. Gopal Kerky, a trader, said the customs duty on goods would furthur increase leading to a loss in business. "If the wall is constructed, customs duty on goods will be increased. The cost of the products will go up here and they will become cheap there. We will have huge losses in our business like this," he said.

Bhutan enjoys free trade with India. Despite efforts of diversification, India has been the biggest trade market for Bhutan's products and imports. In the year 2001-02, Bhutan's total exports to India was 4.91 billion rupees. The Traders' Association has also called for an indefinite hunger-strike to oppose the construction of the wall.