Pakistan has been stripped of hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup because of the ‘uncertain security situation’ in the country, the International Cricket Council said on Friday.

“It is a regrettable decision (but) our number one priority is to create certainty and…deliver a safe, secure and successful event,” ICC president David Morgan said in a statement. Continue Reading

By Ashok Kumar

 Members of Pakistan’s minority Sikh community living in the restive Orakzai tribal region have paid Rs 20 million as “tax” to the Taliban after militants forcibly occupied some of their homes and kidnapped a Sikh leader.  The Taliban had demanded Rs 50 million as ‘jizia’ – a tax levied on non-Muslims living under Islamic rule – but the militants finally settled for Rs 20 million. After the amount was paid on Wednesday, the militants vacated the homes they had taken over and released Sikh leader Saiwang Singh, officials in the tribal region near the northwestern city of Peshawar were quoted as saying by the Daily Times newspaper. The Sikhs have been living in the area for many years.

A few more incidents never reported anywhere highlight the plight of the minorities in Pakistan. A couple of years ago, I had a chance meeting with Pakistan Ambassador to Australia and showed him the news item in The Indian Sub-continent Times regarding a Hindu being appointed acting Chief Justice of Pakistan. He was, initially, furious and commented that he is Pakistani and we do not differentiate between people.  Upon clarification by a fellow Sydney-based journalist from Pakistan, the Ambassador realised the importance of the news and appreciated the effort. Continue Reading

Billion dollar smile: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari at the Tokyo Donors Meet

TOKYO: International donors pledged more than five billion dollars Friday to stabilise strife-torn Pakistan, aid conference co-chairs Japan and the World Bank said in a statement, reports Dawn quoting agencies reports.

 ’Development partners pledged new financing for Pakistan totaling more than five billion US dollars over the next two years,’ the statement said at the end of the one-day conference in Tokyo. Continue Reading

Thirty-four suspected asylum seekers, some in a critical condition with severe burns will be treated in Australian hospitals, reports AAP quoting the West Australian health department.

Puffin, an offshore oil rig, 740km west of Darwin is being used as a triage centre for the injured, which include a number of children. According to a report in Melbourne based South Asia Times, three refugees have died after the explosion on the boat they were travelling in. The asylum seekers are reportedly from Afghanistan.

Asylum seekers doused their boat in petrol before a fatal dawn explosion off the north-west Australian coast, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says. Continue Reading

Women at a polling booth in Bihar

Naxal violence rocked certain parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa on Thursday in the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections leaving 10 dead, including five BSF personnel, as moderate to brisk voting was reported across 17 states and union territories. Shortly after voting began at 0700 hrs, naxals triggered a landmine striking a bus ferrying Border Security Force personnel in Latehar district in Jharkhand which five personnel and two civilians were killed.

In Bihar, a homeguard and a police personnel on election duty were shot dead and another injured by naxals in Singhpur village in Gaya district, police said. Two other police personnel were missing. Two polling booths were set on fire and polling machines snatched in Dantewada and Narainpur in another naxal-infested state Chhattisgarh by the Left-wing extremists who also triggered IED blasts and exchanged fire with security forces. One CRPF personnel was killed in the clashes. Continue Reading

IPOH (Malaysia): India regained the Azlan Shah title after a 13-year gap, defeating hosts Malaysia 3-1 in the final of the five-nation tournament High on confidence after their 3-0 win against Malaysia  during the round-robin stage, India, who last won the tournament in 1995, started making forays into the rival half from the word go.

The Indian forwards’ efforts bore fruit as early as in the eighth minute of the match when Arjun scored a field goal to give India the lead. The lead was, however, shortlived as Misron drew parity, much to the delight of the home crowd, in 11th minute through a field goal. Continue Reading

The unseeded duo stunned the top seeded Czech-American combine of Kveta Peschke and Lisa Raymond 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 in a gruelling one and a half hour battle to notch up their first title together. Continue Reading

Tech Mahindra, on Monday won the bid for India’s fourth largest software exporter Satyam Computer.

Satyam’s new board of directors, which met in Mumbai to select the highest bidder, chose Tech Mahindra following its bid of Rs1,757 crore ($351.4 million) for 31 per cent stake in the scam-tainted IT giant.

Tech Mahindra offered Rs.58 for each Satyam share as against the Rs. 49 bid by L&T. The face value of the share is Rs.2.00 Continue Reading

Sydney: Close on the heels of the London protest, three youths went on a hunger strike and several hundred Sri Lanka Tamils gathered in front of the Parramatta Town Hall  in Western Sydney in protest against the ongoing ‘genocide’ by the Army and appealed to the Australian Government intervene.

Banners put up around the enclosure where the three men were sitting on hunger strike, called upon the Rudd Government to appeal to the Sri Lankan Government for a cease in the hostilities against the Tamils. The protestors were playing ‘patriotic’ songs throughout the day with sprinkling of speeches. Mr. Myles Thanapak, an accountant by profession told this correspondent that one of the protestors on hunger strike had lost his entire family in the offensive against the Tamils. Continue Reading

Sydney: The 1984 riots victims constitute majority of the Australia’s Sikh population. When former Union Minister for Overseas Indians Affairs and one of the riots ‘accused’ Jagdish Tytler visited Sydney a few years ago, he faced a demonstration Sikhs in front of the hotel where he was being fecilitated. He clarified during his speech then that he himself was a Kapur Sikh and couldn’t have indulged into such an act against Sikhs following the assassination of Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Now with the CBI giving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 riot case against him, tempers are going to rise here. While no official of Punjabi Association or any other body could be contacted on Thursday evening, some fireworks are expected at the Sunday community gathering at various Gurdwaras in and around Sydney.

The CBI on Saturday submitted its final investigation report in a sealed envelope before Metropolitan Magistrate Ram Lal Meena into a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case allegedly involving Jagdish Tytler.  The court will consider the report on April 2.  The report was filed after the CBI had examined California based witness Jasbir Singh in the case who was earlier declared non-traceable by it. Singh had in an affidavit before Nanavati Commission which inquired into the anti-Sikh riots, stated that on November 3, 1984 he had overheard Tytler commenting on the killing of Sikhs in his constituency. Continue Reading