Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for India
Newsline: Indian embassy questions rule of law in China
The Yiwu kidnapping controversy took a new turn when the Indian embassy wrote a strong rejoinder to an article by a Chinese professor criticizing its advisory to Indians visiting China. The state-run paper, Global Times, published an article by a law professor which justified the kidnapping and beating of three Indian traders over business disputes. “It’s understandable that the sellers may adopt some radical actions to demand payment, given the potential damage to their business,” the article said. “Those Indian merchants who deliberately don’t pay for their goods betray the trust of their Yiwu counterparts and damage the interests of the sellers,” it said. In the letter to Global Times, the Indian government has taken the rare step of publicly questioning the rule of law in China. “The professor from Yiwu thinks that ‘radical actions’ are a solution to trade disputes. Others like us expect, perhaps optimistically, the rule of law,” the embassy letter said. It further said such attitude makes the case for issuing travel advisories for Indians “even more compelling”. This is the first time that the Indian embassy has made public a letter to a Chinese newspaper and uploaded it on its website.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Irate-India-questions-rule-of-law-in-China/articleshow/13654883.cms
Newsline: Indian embassy asks for deportation details of US orphan
The Indian Embassy in the US has sought details from the United States Government on the issue of deportation of the Indian-American orphan Kairi Abha Shepherd, saying her case deserves to be treated with utmost sensitivity and compassion. “We need to keep in mind the humanitarian dimension and tenets of universally accepted human rights,” Indian Embassy spokesman Virander Paul said in a statement. “The Embassy has seen reports concerning Kairi Shepherd, and has requested the US authorities for facts on this matter,” the spokesman said referring to the media reports appearing in both India and the US. “As reports indicate, Shepherd was brought to the United States after adoption, as a baby, and has known no other home,” Paul said, responding to media questions in this regard. Shepherd, 30, faces the prospect of being deported to India, with a local court refusing to intervene in a federal government’s deportation move on the ground that she is a “criminal alien” based on her crime records. When she was 17, she was arrested and convicted of felony check forgery to fuel a drug habit. “In March and May 2004, Shepherd was convicted in Utah of attempted forgery and third-degree forgery. After she served her time, the government initiated removal proceedings against her, alleging she was a criminal alien…based on the convictions,” it said. Shepherd has termed deportation as a “death sentence” for her. Her adoptive mother died when she was eight years of age, and she was thereafter cared for by guardians. There is no record of any effort by Shepherd or her guardians to petition for her citizenship,” court documents say. At an initial hearing before the Immigration Judge (IJ), government counsel noted that Shepherd’s history suggested she might be able to prove she became a US citizen through adoption under the CCA’s automatic citizenship provision.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/indian-embassy-asks-for-deportation-details-of-kairi-shepherd-216153
Newsline: ‘Missing’ documents traced in Israeli embassy car blast case
Documents reported “missing” from a Delhi court in a case against journalist Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi, held for his alleged role in the Feb 13 blast in an Israeli embassy car here, were traced and given to a judge. Papers related to Kazmi’s remand application and order sheet were traced by the staff of a magistrate court, which earlier heard the case, and placed before Additional Sessions Judge Surinder Singh Rathi. The documents were placed in the court after Judge Rathi pulled up the magistrate court staff. “The accused (Kazmi) has a constitutional right to know the grounds and reasons of his prolonged detention and the same cannot be denied to him under any circumstances,” said Kazmi’s petition. He told the court that the magistrate court’s order denied him access to such order whereby his detention had been permitted. On Feb 13, four people were injured when an Israeli embassy car was struck by a bomb near the prime minister’s house in central Delhi. Tal Yehoshua Koren, wife of the Israeli defence attache, suffered multiple injuries when a motorcycle rider attached a magnetic explosive device to her car and sped away. Within seconds, the device exploded, setting the car on fire.
http://twocircles.net/2012may25/israeli_embassy_car_blast_missing_documents_traced.html
Newsline: Indian Embassy issues advisory as traders in China face fresh charges
The Indian Embassy in Beijing issued a second advisory warning, of the dangers of doing business in the southern Chinese trading hub of Yiwu, after two Indian traders, who have been fighting a six-month-long legal battle, were hit by fresh charges in an escalating dispute with local suppliers. The advisory said there was “a high possibility of fresh cases being lodged in order to exert additional pressure on Indian businessmen,” who could face pressures to sign documents under duress, which “could be used against them in a court of law”. The warning came after two new cases were filed in a Yiwu court against Deepak Raheja and Shyamsunder Agarwal, who were held hostage in the city in December, facing accusations from Chinese suppliers of owing 10 million RMB ($ 1.58 million), after the Yemeni owner of their trading firm fled, leaving dues unpaid. Chinese traders say the Indians, who were employed by the firm, are liable for the dues, and have signed documents that prove their claims. With no progress being made towards tracing the owners of the firm, Chinese authorities are reluctant to let the two Indians leave, with millions still owed to local businesses. The two traders, who are now staying at a hotel in Shanghai, have been under financial strain, and have relied on financial support from the Embassy and Shanghai Consulate for their daily living expenses, while they await a verdict. The traders were, at one point, forced to spend several nights on the streets of Shanghai, and sell their jewellery when they ran out of funds. The advisory warned that court disputes could require businessmen to stay on “for extended periods of time, hence requiring substantial funds for boarding and lodging,” in a message to the rest of the businessmen that the Indian government couldn’t be expected to similarly bail them out if another such case occurred.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/article3443178.ece
Newsline: Cops to approach embassy to extradite accused
The rural police have planned to approach Indian Embassy in Singapore for deporting an accused in a robbery case after he managed to evade arrest and flee from the country. “Karthick of Sivaganga district had completed ITI and is working as painter in Singapore. Recently he came to India and involved in the robbery along with his friends. He had sold a car which was stolen from a farm house at Thirumalayampalayam. Karthick had gone to Singapore and we have planned to approach our Indian embassy in Singapore. We believed that he would be deported from the country soon,” said E S Uma, Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore district.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Cops-to-approach-embassy-to-extradite-accused/articleshow/13328832.cms
Newsline: India embassy in Paris was terror target
Responding to a report in a French daily about threat from Taliban to the Indian mission in Paris, the Indian government said its embassy there was in touch with relevant French authorities for its security. Without making any direct comment about the Le Monde report, which said a slain terrorist had been asked by his Taliban handlers to target the Indian embassy, the foreign ministry said in a statement that the embassy took account of all possible threats “including those mentioned in the press report”. “The ministry is in regular contact with embassies abroad for detailed review of the security situation from time to time. Paris is one of the stations where the security requirements of the embassy are reviewed in consultation with the ministry,” the statement added. According to the Le Monde report, two months after he was shot dead by French special forces, a 23-year-old Algerian origin terrorist was found to have been plotting to attack the Indian embassy in Paris on the direction of his Taliban handlers in Pakistan. Quoting sources from the French Internal Intelligence and the special forces, Le Monde reported that Mohamed Merah’s Taliban handlers in Pakistan had tasked him to attack the Indian mission in Paris.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-embassy-in-Paris-was-terror-target/articleshow/13277381.cms
Newsline: Indian Embassy Rescues Nurses in Saudi Arabia
Seven Indian nurses stranded in Saudi Arabia without proper documents have been rescued and repatriated following intervention by the Indian Embassy. The nurses were stranded in two separate cases without papers, an official working with the labour section of the Indian Embassy said. “The sponsor neither renewed the residence permits (Iqamas) of the workers nor did he allow the nurses to leave during vacations as per the provisions of the work agreements,” he said. Once alerted, the Indian Embassy established communication with the hospital officials and involved some local Indian community leaders. “But, all pleas fell on the deaf ears of the sponsor, which finally led me to decide on a stronger course of action,” Aleem was quoted by Arab News as saying. According to Aleem, he then took the case to the Hafr Al-Batin deputy governor and the Director General of Health Mutlak Al-Khemyali, who extended full support in rescuing the nurses. Al-Khemyali raised the issue with the directors of the Passport Department and Labour Office. He then called the Saudi sponsor to endorse the final exit visa and pay the air fares for the nurses. “And thanks to the efforts of the Saudi officials, especially Al-Khemyali, that these nurses were finally repatriated to India last week,” Aleem said. These nurses were allegedly stranded after the new owner of a clinic closed down the organisation without giving any prior notice. He also turned down requests to extend validity of their Saudi ID papers. These nurses had been working for the last 18 years and their clinic was handed over to another third Saudi citizen on an operational contract basis after their sponsor died. The embassy succeeded in convincing him to grant the nurses final exit documents, said Aleem. The nurses were later sent back to India.
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=137976
Newsline: Clerics demand closure of US, Israel embassies in India
Prominent clerics of the Shia community in Uttar Pradesh have demanded that India snap its ties with the United States and Israel. At a well-attended congregation of Shia clerics in the state capital, hundreds of prominent clerics demanded that the union government shut down the embassies of Israel and the US. Asking for a “prompt and serious re-think” on its relations with both the countries, the clerics billed the two nations as the “biggest sponsors” of terrorism in the world and said the country should instead try and improve its relations with Palestine, Iran and Syria. Training his guns at the Israeli government, the Shia cleric said ever since the Israeli embassy was opened, there was a “flood of terror attacks in India”.
http://post.jagran.com/shia-clerics-in-uttar-pradesh-demand-closure-of-us-israel-embassies-in-india-1336448998
Newsline: Russian embassy accuses local Indian government of uncivilized behavior
After two unsuccessful attempts by Himachal government to remove a Russian national from the post of curator of International Roerich Memorial Trust (IRMT), the Russian embassy has now accused Himachal Pradesh government of “uncivilized, rude and harassing behaviour” towards their nationals. Acting upon the complaint by executive director and curator of IRMT, Alena Adamkova, the Russian embassy has issued a statement that the legacy of Roerich does not belong to Naggar, Kullu, Himachal, India or Russia, but to the whole mankind and cannot be administered only by a deputy commissioner of the district. “The embassy strongly rejects aggressive attempts to take over IRMT in Naggar by officials of HP government and district administration representatives, the statement said. Claiming that Alena has made many irregularities in the trust and Russian nationals cannot be members of any trust in India, Himachal government has sent a one month notice to Alena to leave the post. A team of representatives from Kullu administration had arrived in IRMT Naggar to discharge Alena from her service on March 20 and again on April 17 this year but she refused to leave IRMT and asked for legal procedure as it was mentioned in the byelaws of the trust. “According to byelaws, a meeting should be called and all members should be present to take any such decision. I’m not going to leave IRMT unless all members make consent on the decision,” she said. The Russian government suspects that Alena was being removed intentionally and had even requested the government of India to work out an appropriate mechanism to take IRMT under central jurisdiction.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Russian-embassy-accuses-HP-govt-of-uncivilized-behaviour/articleshow/12844798.cms
Newsline: TNT used to bomb Israel embassy car
Nearly two months after the attack on an Israeli diplomat’s car on the high-security Aurangzeb Road in the Capital, the Delhi Police received the forensic report of the magnetic bomb used, which said that Trinitrotoluene (TNT), an explosive material, was used in the attack. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) handed over the report to the Delhi Police. The CFSL had deputed its senior scientists for establishing the explosive material used in the terror incident, a first of its kind in which an envoy was targeted by assailants from a different country. The Delhi Police has named three Iranian suspects who reportedly carried out the attack on the Israeli diplomat on February 13 this year allegedly with the help of Urdu journalist Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi who has already been arrested in the case. The report also talks about pieces having magnetic nature which could have been used by one of the Iranian suspects, Houshang Afshar Irani, for sticking the bomb on the envoy’s car which also left four others injured. “This report along with the CCTV footage and other evidence we have collected against the Iranian suspects will help us build a strong case against the three Iranian suspects who have already fled the country. A Delhi Police team will soon visit Iran and work with the investigating agencies to trace the three accused,” said a senior police officer.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/tnt-used-to-bomb-israel-embassy-car-cfsl-report/940197/
