President of the Global Council of Indian Christians: 'Not only Trump, India does not welcome Muslims either'.

President of the Global Council of Indian Christians: 'Not only Trump, India does not welcome Muslims either'. (AsiaNews).

"Those shocked by Trump’s executive order prohibiting entry to refugees and citizens from seven countries with an Islamic majority, should look to similar laws in India”, says Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). Commenting on the decision of the newly elected American president that has shocked world public opinion, the Christian leader also reports that the Indian government is launching similar policies. An amendment of the Citizenship Act provides that it can only be accorded to minority Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Therefore Muslims are excluded altogether. Even those who are suffering "horrific forms of persecution" such as the Rohingya in Myanmar, the Buddhist Tibetans and Uighurs in China. Below his comment.

President Donald Trump's executive order suspending the country's refugee entry programme for 120 days, and banning the entry of citizens from seven primarily Muslim countries – Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Sudan – for 90 days was passed with the apparent objective of protecting US national security.

While many in India have recoiled at the manner in which the Trump administration has made its refugee and immigration policy, Indians should also turn to look at similar legislative provisions being proposed in our own country.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2016 is a short, three-page document that seeks to amend Section 2(b) of the Citizenship Act. The Citizenship Act deals with the acquisition and termination of Indian citizenship. Section 2(b) of the Citizenship Act defines the term "illegal immigrant".
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill proposes to amend the definition of this term by adding this provision:

"Provided that persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrants for the purposes of this Act.".

Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to qualify for naturalization as a citizen of India if they are resident in India

The Preamble to the Bill, which seeks to explain the aims and objectives of the act, states:
The phrase "Many persons of India origin including persons belonging to the aforesaid minority communities..." is telling. It is clear that that this proposed amendment is not aimed at all persons of Indian origin but only some, namely non-Muslim ones.

What is even more interesting is that the bill is not aimed at all religious minorities in all neighbouring countries, and it clearly excludes many communities that may be experiencing horrific forms of persecution, such as the Muslim Rohingyas in Buddhist-majority Myanmar or Buddhist Tibetans and Muslim Uighurs in China.

legislation on refugees, or be a signatory to the 1951 Convention, treating the decision to grant refugee status as a matter of political expediency. Even if it does not want to sign the 1951 convention, nothing prevents it from enacting a domestic law that incorporates its principal features. The fact that the government is not interested in doing so means granting protection to victims of persecution is not its primary objective.

What does that leave us with, then? The Bharatiya Janata Party's 2014 election manifesto gives us the answer.

Page 37 of the manifesto states that "India shall remain a natural home for persecuted Hindus and they shall be welcome to seek refuge here". Why should India be a natural home for persecuted Hindus, as opposed to persecuted Muslims or Christians? Invoking the image of the "persecuted Hindu" is a masterful way of pushing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's notion of India as a 'Hindu nation', and an embattled one at that. Just as the claim of a threat to national security
,
If the Narendra Modi government wants to provide protection to religious minorities in neighbouring countries from persecution – a laudable objective – then it need not have looked further than the existing international frameworks of refugee law.

Central to the definition of a refugee in the 1951 Refugee Convention is a well-founded fear of being persecuted on the grounds of religion, race, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion by the country of one's nationality. Till now, India has consistently refused to promulgate a central order

'The road to Hell is paved with Empty promises' Climate Promises Can't stop Asia's Coal Addiction.

'The road to Hell is paved with Empty promises' Climate Promises Can't stop Asia's Coal Addiction. (Bloomberg).

Asia’s demand for coal is likely to increase for years to come even though countries including China, Japan and India have agreed on steps to limit fossil-fuel pollution damaging the climate.

That’s the conclusion an analysis of Bloomberg New Energy Finance delivered at its conference in Shanghai on Wednesday. The charts below from a presentation by BNEF founder Michael Liebreich show the impact China’s coal consumption will have on the world’s climate goals.

At the same time, clean-energy investment is set to drop.

“Clean energy investment will be down 15 to 20 percent this year,” Liebreich said in an interview in Shanghai. “As things stand, it will not bounce back to a new record in the next five years” because of sluggish economic growth, moves by policymakers to reduce costs and the falling price of wind and solar equipment.

Meanwhile some 'Geniuses' will introduce carbon taxes on their economies killing all future growth. It really takes a special kind of stupid. Read the full story here.

Elderly Indian couple from lowest caste hacked to death over 22-cent outstanding grocery debt.

Elderly Indian couple from lowest caste hacked to death over 22-cent outstanding grocery debt. (ET).

NEW DELHI: An axe-wielding shopkeeper hacked a couple to death in northern India on Thursday after they failed to pay a debt of 22 US cents, police said.

The middle-aged couple from the lowest Dalit caste in Uttar Pradesh state were on their way to work early on Thursday when the grocery store owner asked them to pay their 15-rupee (22-cent) debt.

“The shopkeeper demanded money but they pleaded to be able to pay it later. He became enraged and attacked them with an axe,” Arun Kumar, the investigating officer in Mainpuri district, told AFP.

The officer said the couple had bought goods from the shop last week with a promise to pay the 60-year-old owner within a few days. “Their refusal to pay made him angry and he killed them,” Kumar said.

The owner was arrested soon after the incident and the murder weapon recovered, the officer said. Hundreds of people are murdered in India each year over sudden provocations, often trivialities.

In 2014, almost 15 per cent of the murders in New Delhi were unmotivated, according to police, and were mostly committed by non-criminals acting in a fit of rage.

More than 33,000 people were murdered in India in 2014, according to latest figures released by national criminal records bureau.

Iran & Russia map out rival route to Suez Canal.

Iran & Russia map out rival route to Suez Canal. (IFP news).

A major project to foster trade connectivity through a less trodden path straddling a promising market is about to feature prominently in discussions when presidents of Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan meet in Baku on Monday.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC), a multi-model route to link India and the Middle East to the Caucasus, Central Asia and Europe, is being nurtured for significantly reducing costs and travel time and boosting trade.

“Our talks will focus on a flagship project – the International North–South Transport Corridor with a total length of 7,200 kilometers,” Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Friday.
“It aims to provide the best possible opportunities for transporting transit cargo from India, Iran, and the Persian Gulf states to Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and further to northern and western Europe,” he said.

The NSTC concept was formalized by India, Iran and Russia in 2000 but it has not taken off in a big way yet. Western trade sanctions on Russia and Iran in recent years have provided a new impetus to put steam on the project.


Both Iran and Russia as well as Azerbaijan are seriously dependent on oil revenues which have sharply fallen due to the price collapse. The new transit route offers them a unique alternative to diversify their economy.

It also helps them as well as India and other regional countries reduce their dependence on traditional markets in the West where there is currently not much demand.

The corridor, instead, offers access to growing untapped markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The ship, road and rail route connects India’s Mumbai to the Iranian port of Bander Abbas and further to Baku in Azerbaijan as well as Astrakhan, Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia before stretching to northern Europe and Scandinavia.

Besides Iran, India and Russia, countries that are on board to integrate into the transit network include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Turkey, Tajikistan, Oman, Syria and Bulgaria.

“We believe that this cooperation serves the interests of the peoples of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia and, of course, the interests of the entire region,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said.

According to Zarif, the countries were discussing the “final details” of the project.


Dry runs of the route were conducted in 2014, from Mumbai to Baku and Astrakhan via Bandar Abbas. Results showed transport costs had been reduced by $2,500 per 15 tonnes of cargo. Hmmm.....They have some great fiction writer at PressTv. . Read the full story here.

India - Over 3 Kg Gold Seized From Passenger At Hyderabad Airport coming from Dubai.

India - Over 3 Kg Gold Seized From Passenger At Hyderabad Airport coming from Dubai. (NDTv).

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has seized over 3 kgs gold at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

On specific intelligence, officials intercepted a passenger and a ground handling staff and recovered gold worth 90 lakh rupees.

The passenger had arrived by an Emirates flight from Dubai on Friday morning.

The gold was found wrapped in black tapes in two packets and was being handed over by the passenger to the ground handling staff to be carried out of the airport. Hmmm......Someone seems obsssed by the 3 kg of weight if you look at the past. Payment ?     

Related: 
           January 2016 : 3.1 Kg Gold Seized from Flight coming from Dubai.. 

August 2015 : A Dubai passenger held at Hyderabad airport for carrying 3 kg gold bars 

March 2015 : 3 kg gold recovered from passenger at Hyderabad airport

India - Islamic Darul Uloom Deoband issues fatwa against female foeticide.

India - Islamic Darul Uloom Deoband issues fatwa against female foeticide. (Deccanchronicle).

Darul Uloom Deoband, the largest seminary in the country, has issued a fatwa (edict) against female foeticide, calling the act unlawful and against Islam. Darul Ifta, the department which issues edicts, made its stand clear on what Islam/Quran/Hadith had to say about sex-selective abortions.

Its response came in the light of queries and media reports on skewed sex ratio among Muslims as the number of girls up to six years old per 1,000 boys in the same age group among Indian Muslims slipped from 950 in 2001 to 943 in 2011.

To a query as to what Islam/Quran/Hadith had to say about duties of a parent towards daughters and if there was any punishment for those who ill-treat their daughters whether in the womb or in real life, Darul Ifta said aborting a female foetus due to its sex is unlawful and "haram" (forbidden).

"During ignorance era, people used to bury their daughters alive which the Holy Quran condemned severely. It is totally unlawful and haram to abort the foetus when it is four months old without severe compulsion," it said.

"Islam orders us to treat our daughters well," it said, adding there is no concept in Islam that girls bring misfortune and disrespect.

Darul Ifta also stated, "Once the Holy Prophet Muhammad, said, 'He who is involved in the responsibility of bringing up daughters, and is benevolent towards them, they would serve protection for him against hell fire'."


Darul Uloom Rector Maulana Abdul Qasim Nomani, however, said this is not the first fatwa on this issue.

"Hundreds of fatwas have been issued in the past and this one is the latest in the series," he said.

Foeticide is already declared as 'haram' and 'qatl' (murder), but after knowing that the child is a girl, such an act becomes the biggest crime.

Indian women 'sold' like products in a retail shop in Gulf states for $1,500. Andhra minister

Indian women 'sold' like products in a retail shop in Gulf states for $1,500. Andhra minister. (IE).

"Instructions should be issued to Indian embassy officials in Gulf countries to interfere in the matter and provide necessary help in terms of food, clothing and shelter," he wrote.

Women domestic workers from Andhra Pradesh are languishing in jails in the Gulf states after attempting to flee abusive employers or overstaying their visas, said Palle Raghunatha Reddy, minister for non-resident Indian welfare, urging the national government to help them.

In a letter to Sushma Swaraj, Reddy called for action to bring back the women. “Necessary steps should be initiated to bring them to their native areas safely by providing free travel and necessary visa documents at the earliest possible (opportunity). Instructions should be issued to Indian embassy officials in Gulf countries to interfere in the matter and provide necessary help in terms of food, clothing and shelter,” he wrote.

Government figures show there are an estimated six million Indian migrants in the six Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman. These include women who leave their villages to take up jobs overseas paying up to three times more than in India, putting their fate in the hands of recruitment agents, who often dupe them.

-In some cases, they do not have exit visas. Many others have been jailed on petty offences waiting for their case to be heard, according to the Andhra Pradesh government. Women from Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring state of Telangana “are being sold like products in a retail shop,” Reddy wrote in the letter sent last week.

“Women are being sold to the tune of 400,000 rupees ($6,000)in Saudi Arabia and between 100,000 ($1,500) to 200,000 rupees ($3,000) in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait,” the minister wrote. He added that at least 25 women jailed in Gulf states have sought the state government’s help recently.

In response to a query in India’s parliament in March, the foreign ministry said their diplomatic missions in all six Gulf states had registered complaints of physical abuse, maltreatment, non-payment of salary, and other grievances. Requesting anonymity, a senior official in the Andhra Pradesh government said a group of ministers from the state would travel to the Gulf next month to investigate the plight of migrants from their region.

The state government is also in the process of appointing lawyers to provide legal advice to Indian prisoners in Gulf jails, the official said.

US returned 73 Persian artifacts to Iran after years of follow-ups by Iran's cultural heritage officials.

US returned 73 Persian artifacts to Iran after years of follow-ups by Iran's cultural heritage officials. (AA).

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said on Sunday that 73 ancient artifacts belonged to Iran have been safely returened from the United States to their homeland.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari made the announcement on Sunday.

"After consultations, 73 valuable ancient artifacts belonging to the Sassanid period were returned to the Islamic Republic of Iran by the US government," he said.

"The valuable ancient cargo was delivered to the National Museum of Iran on Sunday afternoon in a ceremony attended by the foreign ministry representative," Jaberi Ansari added.

In recent years, Iran has been successful in returning home its stolen belongings, including artifacts and ancient objects.

Back in April 2015, Iran received 108 ancient artifacts known as the Chogha Mish Collections from the US University of Chicago, marking the second successful return of Iranian artifacts in less than a year.

Also in 2013, Washington returned a Persian artifact to Iran after 10 years of consultations.

The 2,700-year-old Persian silver drinking cup cast in the form of a griffin was returned to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as a token of good will while he visited the US to participate in the 68th Annual Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The ancient griffin had been in the US since 2003 when an art dealer smuggled it into the US.

Najafi, who is also the head of the cultural heritage and tourism organization, said the US State Department returned the artifact as a sign of good faith in a bid to improve cultural relations between Tehran and Washington.

Najafi said American authorities told him the ancient artifact was seized at a US airport from an Arab antique dealer in 2003.

The US officials believe the relic dates back to 700 years before Christ when the Achaemenid Empire ruled Persia.Hmmm......Don't tell me they decided this as well on the way to the airport?
This was decided even before Rouhani spoke at the UN !!!

Some pictures of 73 ancient pieces dating back to the Sassanid era. #US has given them back to #Iran recently. pic.twitter.com/ko0ERj1dZN

— Abas Aslani (@abasinfo) May 9, 2016

New Banking channels will allow Iran to access $6bn of India’s oil debts to Iran.

New Banking channels will allow Iran to access $6bn of India’s oil debts to Iran. (Iranfrontpagenews).

Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said Iran and India are discussing setting up banking channels which will allow the Central Bank of Iran to access $6bn of India’s oil debts to Iran.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Iran-India business conference at Tehran Chamber of Commerce on Saturday evening, Zangeneh told reporters that Tehran and New Delhi are in talks to add two more banking channels to the current one so that access can be granted to $6bn of Iran’s oil money in Indian banks.

“The Indian side has announced it would immediately repay its debts to Iran once the channel is open,” the official said.

He also said that India has stopped repaying its oil debts to Iran in goods supply.

Asked how the debts will be paid to the CBI, he said they will be paid in euros, not in goods.

Regarding the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to India, Zangeneh said no understanding has been made in this regard between the two Asian countries, and the Indian side must study the case and present its assessments to Iran.

Iran can export oil to India whether through pipelines or in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargos.

Petrochemical Sector

He said Indian developers have indicated their keenness to finance petrochemical projects in Iran, and that the latter has agreed to supply their plants with petrochemical feedstock in return.

Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

Islamic cultural center funded by Islamist Turkey opening near Indian border angers Delhi.

Islamic cultural center funded by Islamist Turkey opening near Indian border angers Delhi. (AN).

The opening of an Islamic cultural centre in the Nepali town of Birgunj, on the border with India, is seen as a gesture of defiance against the Indian government, which fears the spread of Islamic values ​​and practices within its borders.

In Birgunj, Chief District Officer Keshav Raj Ghimire inaugurated the centre, which was built thanks to donations from Turkish Muslims, six of whom were present at the ceremony. Nazrul Hussein, a Nepali Muslim leader and general secretary of the Interreligious Council, led the ceremony.

Mr Hussein denied that the centre’s opening was a gesture of defiance. Still, he also lashed out at Islamic extremism. "Islam,” he said, “is a religion of peace, but many militants and terrorist groups are defaming our faith in its name. We must discourage any violence in the name of Islam."

Despite such reassurances, Indian authorities did not take kindly to the opening of the cultural centre, and expressed concern over the possible infiltration by Pakistani Taliban and Muslim extremists and the potential threat they pose to Hindu culture.

Delhi’s fears are also fuelled by political factors. Many political analysts are convinced that the defeat suffered by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar, an Indian state that borders Nepal, is attributable to the election campaign by the local Muslim population.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, acts of violence by Hindu fundamentalists against secularists and Muslims writers, guilty of eating cow meat, marred the public debate.

"The killing of some Muslims by Hindu youths in Gujarat had major consequences,” said political analyst Krishna Kahanal, “coming especially ahead of the elections in Bihar. The Islamic community was not happy. This is one of the reasons why the BJP lost the election. "


Some experts also believe that the opening of the Islamic centre is a reaction to India’s five-month export embargo against Nepal that brought the Himalayan nation to the brink of bankruptcy.

Indian Government rules out rumors about crucifixion priest Father Thomas Uzhunnalil.

Indian Government rules out rumors about crucifixion priest Father Thomas Uzhunnalil. (ucanindia).

The Indian government has ruled out crucifixion rumors about a Catholic priest abducted in Yemen early March and said hectic efforts are on to secure his freedom.

The release of Father Thomas Uzhunnalil is “imminent,” said Father Joseph Chinnayan, deputy secretary general of the national bishops’ conference after meeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Saturday evening.

Swaraj has assured the Church delegation that Father Uzhunnalil is “safe” and that the government was adopting “all possible means for the quick and safe release” of the priest, Father Chinnayan said.

Father Uzhunnalil, a Salesain priest of Bangalore province, was taken away on March 4 by suspected Islamic terrorist after they attacked a home for the aged in Aden run by Missionaries of Charity nuns, and gunned down 16 people.

Church officials last week requested government’s help to establish the “real fate” of the abducted priest after rumors spread in the media that terrorists have tortured and crucified the priest on Good Friday.

Captors of Catholic priest Father Thomas Uzhunnalil have sent a video to the Indian government demanding millions of dollars in ransom, sources said on Tuesday.

The video showed Father Thomas, a Salesian priest, asking for help with a man standing behind him. However, there is no confirmation on whether Father Thomas Uzhunnalil is now dead or alive.

However, the church authorities said that they have no knowledge of the ransom video. 

The central government has reportedly received vital information from its Yemeni counterpart on the involvement of an ISIS affiliate group in the incident.

Even if the Central Government had received such demands from abductors, we assume that the former would not reveal the details as it would affect the efforts to secure his release, the church authorities said.

“We are pinning hopes on the central government’s positive approach to the issue. We strongly condemn the efforts on part of political parties to communalise such an unfortunate incident,” they added.

Father Chinnayan said the government refused to “divulge the details of the negotiations and the technicalities” as it would endanger the ongoing process.

However, she shared with the delegation “the strenuous effort” her ministry has taken to ensure a safe passage for Sister Rema, the only surviving nun in the Aden attack.

The Church delegation thanked the government on behalf of the “whole Church in India” for the various steps taken to rescue Father Uzhunnalil. Hmmmm.....It seems the Christian community pays ransoms to ISIS to get their flock members back. 

Iran confirms intention to replace dollar with euro in oil sales.

Iran confirms intention to replace dollar with euro in oil sales. (Taz).

Iran wants to receive its oil money in euro rather than US dollar, Safar Ali Keramati, deputy head of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for crude oil marketing, said.

Recovering oil debts as well as new crude sales money in euro is Tehran’s priority, Keramati said, the oil ministry’s SHANA news agency reported Feb. 6.

The European consumers will not face any problem for euro payments, he added.

Earlier Reuters quoted a source in NIOC that Iran wants to recover tens of billions of dollars it is owed by India and other buyers of its oil in euros and is billing new crude sales in euros, too, looking to reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar following last month's sanctions relief.

Iran was allowed to recover some of the funds frozen under US-led sanctions in currencies other than dollars, such as the Omani rial and UAE dhiram.

The US officials estimate about $100 billion of Iranian assets were frozen abroad, around half of which Tehran could access as a result of sanctions relief. It is not clear how much of those funds are oil dues that Iran would want back in euros.

Last month, NIOC's director general for international affairs told Reuters that Iran "would prefer to receive (oil money owed) in some foreign currency, which for the time being is going to be euro."

Indian government sources confirmed Iran is looking to be paid in euros.

Scientists in India claim to have made the World's First Zika Virus Vaccine.

Scientists in India claim to have made the World's First Zika Virus Vaccine. (NDtv).

Hyderabad:  In an important "Make in India" moment, scientists at a Hyderabad lab say they have developed the world's first vaccine against the Zika Virus. They say, in fact, that they have two.

The World Health Organisation has declared Zika and its suspected link to birth defects a global health emergency. More than 20 countries in Latin America have reported an outbreak and a rare case of the Zika virus being transmitted through sex has been reported in Texas, USA. 

As the world searches for a vaccine and other global companies take first steps on research, the Bharat Biotech International Limited in Hyderabad says it has patented the Zika vaccine.

"On Zika, we are probably the first vaccine company in the world to file a vaccine candidate patent about nine months ago," said Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Biotech Ltd.

Using a live Zika virus imported officially, the Hyderabad company has now developed two candidate vaccines, but taking them through animal and human trials could be a long haul. Dr Ella said he had sought the government's support on this and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)has stepped forward to help.  

"We have just been informed about the Zika vaccine candidate that Bharat Biotech has. We will examine it from the scientific point of view and see the feasibility of taking it forward. It is a good example of a Make in India product," said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, pediatrician and Director General, ICMR.   

Dr Ella said in a best case scenario his company can make one million doses of the vaccine in four months.  Read the full story here.

U.S. Confirms First Case Of #Zika Virus Transmitted Through Sex https://t.co/PjYkyJqoLq

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) February 3, 2016

Video - ‘All We Heard Was 1,2,3…Charge’: Activist in Delhi Brutality beaten by Cops.

Video - ‘All We Heard Was 1,2,3…Charge’: Activist On Delhi Cops’ Brutality. (NDtv).

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the city's police on Monday of terrorizing protesters after a video of them belting college students with sticks went viral.

The students staged a protest on Saturday over the suicide of Rohith Vermula, a young Dalit scholar who had been suspended by his university in Hyderabad.

The video shows the police hovering around the placard-waving and chanting students before suddenly beating them with wooden sticks and their fists.

The students are heard screaming and running away as police chase them, with some grabbing protesters by the hair and pinning them to the ground.

"There was no warning. I was standing near the police and all I heard was 'one, two, three charge'," said independent journalist Rahul, whose camera was allegedly smashed. Rahul said when he tried to retrieve his camera, "they pushed lathis into my stomach."

Remarkably, despite the video playing on television channels all day, police chief BS Bassi told NDTV that he has not seen the footage but that an inquiry has been ordered. Among the assaulters were civilians who have not yet been identified, he said.

The protests took place outside the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS, the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP. "Why were they protesting outside the RSS headquarters?" asked RSS ideologue Sanjeev Uniyal.

Mr Kejriwal, who has regularly accused the police of sycophantic steadfastness in acting on behalf of the BJP, said the cops had behaved like "a private army".  Hmmm........Best viewed al low speed to get a good picture of events, not only Police in uniform but also under cover agents at 'work'.

India - 15 Y-old rape victim 'sexually assaulted in hospital while receiving treatment for first rape attack'

India - 15 Y-old rape victim 'sexually assaulted in hospital while receiving treatment for first rape attack'. (Telegraph).

A teenage rape victim was allegedly sexually assaulted a second time while in hospital receiving treatment for the original attack in India's east, police said on Monday, in the latest case of violence against women.

The 15-year-old girl has told police that she was raped on Sunday by a security guard at the hospital where she had been admitted in Jamshedpur city in the impoverished state of Jharkhand.

"We registered a case and arrested the private security guard posted at the hospital after the girl's complaint and are now awaiting her medical report," police superintendent Chandan Jha told AFP.

"The girl has (now) been referred to the best hospital in the city for further treatment and rehabilitation," he added. Read the full story here. 

Indian Media Report: ISIS is Paying Indian Hackers Upwards Of $10,000 A Job.

Indian Media Report: ISIS is Paying Indian Hackers Upwards Of $10,000 For Each Job. (Memri).

According to an Indian magazine, the Islamic State (ISIS) is luring Indian hackers with top dollar payments to hack into government websites and steal sensitive data.

“Hackers are also being asked to identify and create a database of potential recruits from Twitter and Facebook. For each ‘job,’ a hacker would be paid upwards of $10,000,” a report on the website in an India weekly magazine said.

“There are various underground communities online where hackers interact regularly. Our investigation reveals that for the past six months, lucrative offers for stealing government data came pouring in and hackers were offered a huge sum. Such [an] amount has never been offered to any Indian hacker before. We found that the offers were being made to spread ISIS’s reach in the country,” said Kislay Choudhary, a cyber crime expert who works with security agencies.

According to the report, Choudhary noted that stealing government data is part of ISIS’s intelligence gathering operation and helps in formulating their India strategy.

The report stated: “ISIS supporters are using Facebook and Twitter to propagate its radical ideology and brainwash the youth. Experts believe many hackers have already picked up the offer as over 30,000 have been reportedly contacted by the terror organization in India so far. The recruited hackers are communicating on internet-based services like Skype, Silent Circle, Telegram, and WhatsApp with their Syrian handlers…”Hmmm........While ISIS fighters only receiving half pay? Read the full story here.

India - 14 arrested suspected ISIS Sympathizers Used Chat Apps.

India - 14  arrested Suspected ISIS Sympathizers Used Chat Apps. (NDtv).

New Delhi:  14 people arrested in a countrywide anti-terror operation by the National Investigation Agency or NIA were brought in a bus on Monday to a Delhi court, which has sent them to police custody till February 5.

The men, suspected to be sympathizers of the terror group ISIS, have allegedly shared with interrogators details of how the ISIS recruits and finances people willing to join the terror group.

Sources said the men who have been arrested were found to be in touch with active members of the ISIS through chat applications like Signal, Trillion and Skype.

The arrests were made after simultaneous searches across three cities in Karnataka, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Lucknow. Some of those arrested are students while others work in various companies.

There is a high alert across the nation ahead of Republic Day tomorrow, when French President Francois Hollande will be chief guest at the parade in the capital. At a recent security review chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, officials said there is a "very real" ISIS threat for Republic Day.

On Sunday, a white Santro car with an Army hospital sticker was stolen from south Delhi, adding to the worries of security agencies that are already looking for two other vehicles gone missing ahead of Republic Day.

The police have been looking for the stolen SUV of a police officer, with a blue beacon, and a taxi that went missing after it was hired for Pathankot, the town where terrorists attacked an air base on January 2. Read the full story here.

India - All Five Terrorists killed, three Soldiers dead In Pathankot Terror Attack.

SWAT team at #Pathankot attack site, combing operations underway (visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/ojOOT9xjpF

— ANI (@ANI_news) January 2, 2016

India - Four Terrorists, three Soldiers Killed In Pathankot Terror Attack.(NDtv).


Pathankot:  The security agencies had intercepted a number of phone calls late on Friday night, which set alarm bells ringing. It appeared that a group of terrorists were planning to launch an attack at Punjab's Pathankot.

Of the four calls made, three were to handlers in Pakistan, in which the terrorists reported the assault made on a senior police officer in Punjab. In the fourth, an attacker was heard calling his mother, sources said.

On Thursday, the men, dressed in army fatigues, had hijacked the official vehicle of the police officer in Pathankot.

They had assaulted the officer, pushed him off the car and took away his cellphone. Later, they used his cellphone to contact their handlers in Punjab, sources said.

The handlers were heard asking the men why they "let off" the Superintendent of Police.

The intercepts triggered a whirlwind of activity - a warning was issued and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held a meeting with security officials.

Following orders from the Prime Minister's Office, teams from the National Security Guard, Special Forces of the Indian Army and additional soldiers were moved to various installations at Pathankot.

But notwithstanding the protective measures, the terrorists struck at 3.30 am. The gunbattle, which carried on well-past mid-day claimed the lives of two Air Force personal and one Garuda commando.

Given the advanced information, the terrorists were contained within the periphery of the air base. The army's Casspir armoured personnel carriers were used to close in on the administrative block of the air base, where the terrorists were holed up.

Four terrorists have been killed but a few more are surviving. The operation is still on at the air base.

The men, sources said, had infiltrated just hours before, sources have told NDTV. They had, in all likelihood, crossed into India from the unfenced section of the international border and proceeded towards Punjab, the sources said.              

Hours after the Pathankot terror attack started, security agencies intercepted a call that sent chills down many a spine: A call from a terrorist to his mother.  It was the starkest indication that the trouble is far from over.

In the 70-second call, made sometime this afternoon, the man could be heard saying that he was out on a "suicide mission", sources told NDTV. Silence from the other end. Then he repeated, "I'm on a suicide mission and Allah will take care of all of us", sources said.

This was the last call, made before 2 pm.

Hackers Divert London-Delhi Money Transfer To ‘ISIS Account’ In 'Islamist' Turkey.

Hackers Divert London-Delhi Money Transfer To ‘ISIS Account’ In 'Islamist' Turkey. (TOI).

NEW DELHI: Suspected Islamic State hackers may have routed a Delhi-based firm's payments from a London client to the jihadist group's bank accounts in Turkey. 

Delhi Police say the fraud amounting to Rs 5 crore-6 crore is the biggest in the capital this year and was possibly carried out by hacking the email account of an employee.

While police started off investigating the IS angle because the money was diverted to Turkey, their suspicion was strengthened on learning that the London client provides humanitarian aid to war-hit people in Syria and refugees in countries like Turkey.

Delhi Police commissioner B S Bassi was made aware of the fraud on Saturday and is learned to have formed a special team to crack the case. Sources said the special cell has been put on the job.

"The probe is at an initial stage. It is early to rule out the role of IS in this massive cyber heist as we are indeed probing some Turkey-based hackers who may have terror or IS links," a top officer of Delhi Police told TOI requesting anonymity.

An FIR was being registered at an undisclosed police station at the time of filing this report on Saturday evening. Read the full story here.

India: 16 Year old girl Planned To Join ISIS, Enrol In Medical College In Syria.

India: 16 Year old girl Planned To Join ISIS, Enrol In Medical College In Syria. (NDtv).

Pune:  16-year-old class IX student from Pune, now enrolled in a de-radicalisation programme, was preparing to leave for Syria, where the terror group ISIS had promised to sponsor her through medical college, the police have said.

The girl was in touch with the ISIS through social media, and her contacts had brain-washed and radicalised her, said the police, who have questioned the teen.

"The girl was interrogated by the ATS squad last week after monitoring her movements for many days on getting information about her. It confirmed her initiation by the ISIS," said an officer of the ATS or Anti Terrorism Squad in Pune.

Bhanu Pratap Barge, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said the ATS had received information about 10 to 12 days ago that a girl student in Pune was "involved in two-three activities of ISIS in the last three-four months."

The girl, he said, got drawn to ISIS ideology after watching a documentary on television. "Later, she used the internet to get in touch with ISIS contacts and got in touch with about 200 young people from different countries. Her interrogation revealed that she was told to come to Syria for medical education and for further initiation," Mr Barge said.

The teen had recently changed her lifestyle and started wearing a burqa, giving up the jeans she used to wear. "Even her family members noticed the change in her and felt disturbed," Mr Barge said.

The girl is now undergoing a de-radicalisation programme with the help of her family members and her community's religious leaders, he added. Read the full story here.