VOLEUM-24 NO. 5 JUNE-2014 PHONE-510-677-4488 www.FIJISUN-USa.COM Email : fijisun@gmail.com

Ten reasons why Frank Bainimara to be elected Fiji’s new PM1. The fact that 2006

coup was not racebased and enoughwarning was given forcorrupt practices etc.

2. Addressing the cor-rupt practices with aview to restoring jus-tice.

3. Focusing and crack-ing down on crimeand providing a safersociety.

4. Staying on top of eco-nomic developmentby actively seekingoverseas support inthe face of stiff chal-lenges posed by

major neighboringcountries

5. Proving immediateattention and person-ally leading emer-gency team at naturaldisasters that haddevastating impact onthe entire nation.

6. Rebuilding the nationand putting it back oneconomic recovery bysecuring investmentsupport speciallyfrom China.

7. Widespread develop-ment noticeably in theWest and throughoutthe nation.

8. Boosting the hotelresorts and touristindustries.

9. Creating job opportu-nities for the local.

10. Encouragingand supporting localbusiness growth andstability.

In addition, addressingsuch sensitive issueslike Great Council ofChiefs and ending thedual government sys-tem that cut at theroot of democracy.

The refreshing promisesfor a reduced onehouse parliament with

one man one votepolitics as practicedby most advancedcountries like USA,ENGLAND and India.

CaNNOT gO wrONg

With such a solid plat-form for continuedeconomic growth andstability, there's noway the PrimeMinister and his teamcan go wrong. He isthe obvious choice forcontinued progressand prosperity of thenation.

Robin khalid Ali getshighest American honor

NADI- At a recentmeeting here, AIMdirector Dr. H. Koyamet with Mr. RobinAli, a most seasonedformer Nadi TownClerk of 30 years tohand him aFellowship Awardgiven him by theAmerican Institute ofManagement. AIMFellow is the highestaward given to peo-ple who haveexcelled in their per-formance as profes-sional managers.While prerequiste forAIM Fellow is morethan 10 years of serv-ice in administrationat an executive levelplus a Phd degree,under AIM’ equiva-lency program, a

receiptient with serv-ice in access of 20years and particip-taion in internationalseminars qualifiesboth for the AIMFewllow and PhDequivalncy inAdministation withentitlement to useFAIM/PhD after his orher name as a markof distinction. Afterhis retirment twoyears ago as NadiTown Clerk, Robin Alihas been appointedby Fiji Prime MinisterMr. Frank Bainimaraas the new SpecialAdministrator to takecharge of Nadi TownCouncil that has beenplagued by allega-tions of mismanage-ment.

Former High Court Judge,Justice NazhatShameem was formally

commissioned today as thefirst permanent representativeto the United Nations andother international organiza-tions based in Geneva. Mrs.Shameem will be ambassadorextraordinary and plenipoten-tiary to Switzerland. Her rolewill be in two folds; to repre-sent Fiji in all the UnitedNations organizations inGeneva and as Ambassador-designate to Switzerland,which is a first for Fiji. Duringthe event, Mrs. Shameemexpressed gratitude of theFijian Government and high-lighted the importance of UN toFiji. “Fiji as a member of theUN is growing and will work byits rules and regulations. I amproud to represent Fiji at theinternational stage and

Geneva is an important plat-form for Fiji,” Mrs. Shameemsaid. Ministry of Foreign Affairspermanent secretary, AmenaYauvoli said the Ambassador-designate would depart forGeneva, Switzerland later thismonth while

Makes a comeback as Nadi Town Special administrator

Justice Nazhat ShameemAMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE

TO SWITZERLAND

UNION CITY - According tounconfirmed reports reachingus show that the exclusivelyinvited press representativeRocky Buksh, the CEO of thelargest newspaper got into anargument with a senior officialof the East Bay Sangam attheir sports event. When the

CEO started being a smartmouth, the official told him thathe could threaten others withhis stupid write ups but nothim. Rocky allegedly told theofficial that if “his son” wasthere he would beat him silly.The official retorted that he willwait there whole day and see

who had the guts to do himany harm.

He told Rocky to pack uphis camera and leave or elsehe would break his cameraand put the pieces in theplace; ”you know where.”

Rocky had to leave the soc-cer field.

CEO, ROCKY BUKSH KICKED OUT OFSANGAM CONVENTION SOCCER?

Modi accepts Obama invite,off to US in September

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas accepted an invitationfrom US President Barack

Obama to have bilateral discussionsin Washington in September, poten-tially opening a new chapter in asometimes edgy relationship betweenthe world’s two biggest democra-cies.Government sources in Delhisaid that the United States has offeredSeptember 30 as the date for the

meeting, and the Indian side hasasked for it to be advanced toSeptember 26, around the time ofModi’s maiden address at the UnitedNations General Assembly. SJaishankar, the Indian ambassador tothe United States, is flying to NewDelhi on June 8 for consultations withSouth Block and the (PMO), and willbrief Modi on the relationship and howto take it forward.

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roBin kHaLiD aLi new speciaLaDministrator for naDi town counciL

One of the longestserving staff ofNadi Town

Council has beenrecalledby the Fijian Governmentto put things back on trackin the bustling tourismcapital of Nadi.Robin Aliwho started his civiccareer with the council in1974rose to the rank ofchief executive officer andtown clerk in 1991 and-continued with the top jobuntil 2010 when he retiredfrom service.However,three-years after retire-ment, Ali has beenrecalled toguide the coun-cil back to prosperity asspecial administrator.“I amin a different seat now andthis new position willenable meto serve our cit-izens and ratepayers to a

greater extent,” Mr. Alisaid.“I need to review allthe current policies, geteverything back ontrackand move the town for-ward together with theassistance of myteam atthe council and the peopleof Nadi at large,” Mr. Aliadded.Mr. Ali who enjoysa very good rapport withresidents and ratepayerssaid his ultimate dream isto see Nadi declared a cityin the near future.“As amatter of fact, in 1999 wewere aiming to get Nadideclaredtherest city of thenew millennium in theworld by getting all docu-ments and requirementsin order so that theannouncement couldbemade on January 1,2000,” Mr. Ali

informed.“The declarationwould have also boostedtourism as many visitorswould have loved to comeand visit the place.”Hesaid the dream to declareNadi a city remained onlya dream back then as thetownship failed to meetthe population require-mentof 20,000.“Nadi hasgrown more ever sinceand with the proposedextensionof the townboundary which is nowbeing look at, I hope thecitystatus is not far awayfrom us as the require-ment is still the same.”Hesaid right now, servicedelivery and transparencyis the mainobjective hehas in mind and faces amammoth task ahead topave the best way forward

for Nadi.“Very soon thecouncil will be forming aconsultative committee-which will act as a think-tank team which will beable to advise thecouncilon key areas of need. Ialso wish to work veryclosely with allstakehold-ers to make sure thingsstart moving in the rightdirection.”Mr. Ali is nowwaiting on the appoint-ment of a chief executiveofficer so that all opera-tions can be carried outsmoothly.Meanwhile theNadi Chamber ofCommerce and Industryhas welcomed theappointment of Mr. RobinAli as special administra-tor.In a statementreleased to media, cham-ber president Dr. Ram

Rajusaid Mr. Ali has awealth of knowledge andexperience and his acu-men in the affairs of thetown council is an assetfor the township.“I’m surehe will be able to turn thetown around and bringback the confidence thatthe business community islooking for,” Dr.Rajusaid.“We look for-ward to working closelytogether and proactivelyinmaking Nadi one of theproudest towns in Fiji.Nadi has a noble andrichhistory and is the mostrobustly growing town inFiji.“Robin obviously has amammoth task ahead ofhim but givensome time, Iam certain that the outlookwill be brighter in due-course,” Dr. Raju said.

Gets Great write up in Jet By sHaLenDra prasaD

As part of FijiGovernment’sincentive for

foreign investors inFiji, Bobby Khanreturned recently fromNew Zealand to openand operate 12Supermarkets three ofwhich already started

doing business in theNadi area. Above is aFIJI SUN USA picture ofKhan’s newest invest-ment the NADI EVENTCENTER that housesthree different hallsthat includes a majorevents center that canhold over 1000 guests.

With a splendid layout,people can hosts wed-ding, receptions andmajor conventions. Thecenter was inaugurat-ed two weeks ago FijiAttorney General, Mr.AiyazKaiyum Khanattended by 600 selectguests.

Bobby Khan investsmillions in Nadi’s

business development

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Iwant to wish aVery HappyFather’s Day to

the valuable readersof The Fiji Sun news-paper and wish ahealthy long life tothe fathers who arealive. May God give asuitable place inheaven to the fatherswho have left theWorld.

If the father is pleased, Godis pleased with the man.That child is really a good

child who never speaks harshwords to his father (parents).

Although normal Englishpunctuation guidelines indicatethat the holiday should bespelled "Fathers' Day" (as it is aplural possessive), commonusage dictates that the ostensi-bly singular possessive"Father's Day" is the preferredspelling. Dodd used the"Fathers' Day" spelling on heroriginal petition for the holiday,but the spelling "Father's Day"was already used back in 1913when a bill was introduced tothe US Congress as the firstattempt to establish the holiday,and it was still spelled the sameway when its creator was com-mended in 2008 by the U.S.Congress.

It is believed that peoplestarted celebrating Father’s Dayin the early twentieth century tohonor fathers and grandfathers.Father’s Day is celebrated in dif-ferent countries on differentdates. As per record availableobservance of Father's Day wasfirst held on July 5, 1908 in achurch located in Fairmont,West Virginia, by Dr. RobertWebb. A woman Mrs. Dodd ofWashington officially celebratedFather’s Day on June 19, 1910.In China, Father's Day onAugust 8 was first celebrated inShanghai in 1945. In addition toFather's Day, InternationalMen's Day is celebrated inmany countries, most often onNovember 19th. In India everymoment (7x24 days) is Father’sDay.

In the five daily routineduties, the 3rd duty of every per-son is to pay respects earlymorning everyday by touchingthe right foot with right hand andleft foot with left hand of hisf a t h e r / g r a n d f a t h e r ,mother/grandmother respec-tively.In Taiwan, Father's Day iscelebrated on August 8, theeighth day of the eighth monthof the year. In Thailand, Father'sDay is set as the birthday of theking (December 5this the birth-day of current kingBhumibolAdulyadej). Thais cel-ebrate by giving their father orgrandfather a Cannaflower (Dokput ta ruksa) which is consid-ered to be a masculineflower.(Bhaskar), Jit Ram ofHaryana became father attheage of 94 year, his wifeShakuntla Devi 59 year gavebirth to a son (WR).

It certainly takes two to makea row. In fact a child is the bio-logical creation of a father (man)and a mother (woman). If it istrue then why a man (father) isallowed to walk free after anaction leaving behind moral andfinancial responsibility for amother (woman). The moderneducated woman preferred toget (One thing) independenceand happily absolved the man

from (two things) affection andfinancial responsibility towardsthe child. When father andmother jointly bring up the child,one and one becomes eleven.Because the child gets theattention, affection and lovefrom father and mother simulta-neously. Many expert voicesurge us to except the decline offatherhood with equanimity. Berealistic, they warn the society.Divorce and out-of-wedlock

childbearing will increase.Growing number of children willnot have fathers. Nothing canbe done to reverse the trenditself.

NZ Woman charged after`having baby fathered by 11-year-old boy:

A New Zealand woman isfacing criminal charges aftershe delivered a baby with an 11-year-old schoolboy. A Child,Youth and Family Servicesspokesperson confirmed that

they were involved with thecase, but didn’t reveal details oreven the charges the 36-year-old woman faces because of thesensitivities around the case,the Sydney Morning Heraldreported. The boy, who hailsfrom Auckland, is believed tohave been 11 years of agewhen he had sex with thewoman. It is also understoodthat the boy, now 12, was afriend with the woman’s son.The woman forced the boy intorepeated sexual encountersover a period of time beforebecoming pregnant. The boy isunderstood to have told theprincipal of his school, whoalerted police and CYFS.

According to an estimateAmericans spent about $11 bil-lion on gifts for Father's Day in2008. In economic terms, theaverage per capita spending onFather's Day was of $27.60 in2008. Are the fathers happyafter getting gifts (money)?

Father advises son: It is hardto attain human body. If onemisuses it, he is like an animal.You have wealth as well asgood sources, use it for theservice of the community; other-wise they are like devil’s tools.Please bear in mind:Never usethe money for pleasure andmerry making. Devil king Ravanused it lavishly, died miserably.Another king used it for the ben-efit of his subject and wasknown as saint. Wealth will notstay for long as long as youhave it, use it for communityservice. Spend minimum foryour own benefit and the rest forthe poor and down-trodden.Money is power. Under the influ-ence of money, it is possible tomistreat /abuse a human.Beware of it. Leave a messagefor your children before you die,if they indulge in lavish living,they will definitely commit sinsand ruin the business. Do notgive the money to such foolishones. Before the money passesto them, distribute among thepoor. Give it a serious thought

that you are only the trustee.Never forget the God, pray tohim for his blessings. Keepsenses under control, otherwiseyou will be ruined. Do bodilyexercise daily. Eat food as amedicine. Those who eat itunder the influence of delicioustaste will achieve nothing anddie young. (G. D. Birla was agreat architectof India's indus-try; he entered the field of busi-ness during the days of the FirstWorld War. After independence,the Birlas expanded their busi-ness and started production inmany fields. He also startedmany educational Institutions,temples (Birla Mandir Delhi),planetariums and hospitals.During the decades of 70's and80's, Birla brothers were amongthe topmost Industrial Houses ofIndia. G.D. Birla award for sci-entific Research has beenestablished to encourage scien-tists for their contribution in thevarious fields of scientificResearch. Birla was a closeassociate and a steady support-er of Mahatma Gandhi, whomhe met for the first time in 1916.Gandhi was staying at Birla'shome in New Delhi when hewas assassinated in 1948)

The moral of today’s storyis: Being a loving husbandand committed father is thebest.

SincerelyMadan Lal Gupta,

Harianawala

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

Madan Lal Gupta. 9541Pournelle Ct. Sacramento, Ca

95829 (916 688 8229) madangupta305@yahoo.com

The Ministry of Healthhas registered adecline in the num-

ber of dengue cases sincethe week ending March 31from 1576 to the current389 suspected cases inthe first week of May.However, it maintainsFijians must remain vigi-lant. National advisorCommunicable Diseases,Dr Mike Kama said that asimilar pattern was seen inthe Solomon Islands justbefore another outbreak ofdengue took place.

“Our advice is to remainvigilant by destroying allmosquito breeding areasand keep a clean com-pound,” Dr Kama said Inthe last week of March,there were 1576 suspect-

ed cases, majority of whichwas in the Central Division,but there was a slightdecline in the first week inApril with 1500 cases reg-istered.

There was steepdecrease in the secondweek when the figure wentdown to 900 and thenthere was a plateau at 400for the other two weeks.

For the first week inMay, the numbers regis-

tered with health facilitieswas 389 with most of theserecorded in the WesternDivision.

The cumulative figuresince November 2013 is25,300 of clinically sus-pected dengue cases,monitored on a weeklybasis. Dr Kama said any-one, who displayed symp-toms of the virus, mustpresent themselves to theirnearest health facility atthe earliest so it could bediagnosed. “The centre ofthe epidemic has movedfrom Suva to the WesternDivision,” Dr Kama said.There have been 15dengue related deaths inFiji since December 2013.

Two were registeredlast week.

DENGUE ON DECLINE BUT

FIJIANS TO STAY VIGILANT

LIBRARY BOOKSFOR KALABUSCHOOL

Minister for Labour,Industrial Relations andEmployment, JoneUsamate handed newlibrary books to the man-agement of the KalabuPrimary and Secondaryschool yesterday. MrUsamate said the mainaim of the BainimaramaGovernment is to makeFiji a knowledge-basedsociety as committedunder Pillar 9 of thePeople’s Charter.

“Books contain essen-tial information that helpsboth students and teach-ers do research for theirassignments and proj-ects whilst creating adesire to explore inter-esting facts,” he said. “Atthe same time bookshelp people to build theirintellectual intelligenceand personality.

The Ministry of Women,Social Welfare and PovertyAlleviation has engaged aconsultant to assist in theorganisation of the inauguralNational Women’s Expo –Rural Designer Awards 2014.Minister for Women, SocialWelfare and PovertyAlleviation Dr Jiko Luvenisigned a consultancy agree-ment and presented a cheque

to event organizer, InokeBainimarama in Suva thisweek. Dr Luveni said over3000 women will gather forthe first Women’s Expo in Fijiand preparations are wellunderway. “Women’s groupsand organisations are alreadyliaising with their nearestwomen’s office to lodge theirnames and there will be over30 booths at the expo.

MINISTRY ENGAGES EVENTORGANISER FOR WOMEN’S EXPO

FIJISUN6 FIJI NEWSJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

The Fijian man drivingthe boat that allegedlycrashed into and killedAustralian father-of-threeMark Hardaker did not havea boat licence.

Police have charged the33-year-old man withmanslaughter, negligenceand operating without anoutboard licence.

Mr Hardaker, 40, waskilled when a boat travellingat high speeds crashed intohis fishing boat in Fiji onThursday.

Mr Hardaker, fromToongabbie in Sydney'swest, had been staying atthe Mana Island Resortwhere he was set to cele-brate his wife Vanessa's40th birthday with theirthree children. He was onhis way back from a fishingtrip with four other menwhen the accidentoccurred. Mr Hardaker wasrushed to the resort's med-ical centre but he died fromhis injuries. The 33-year-oldman driving the boatappeared in Fiji Court onMonday afternoon. He wasremanded in custody untilJune 2. Mr Hardaker's fam-ily have paid tribute to thefather-of-three who hasbeen described as an'amazing, thoughtful, self-less person' by a devastat-ed relative. His sister-in-lawwrote in a touching tribute

on Facebook: 'Mark is themost amazing, thoughtful,selfless person I will everknow in my life time. Headored my sister and forev-er loved his children. 'Hehelped me many years agowhen I lost a loved one.' Inanother post, she said: 'Mybeautiful sister and threechildren home in Sydney...hopefully her hubby will fol-low tomorrow. RIP MarkyMark.' Mr Hardaker's step-mother Gay Bookalil, who is

married to Mark's fatherWayne, commented on thesocial media site: 'We areabsolutely devastated andcannot begin to expresshow sorry we are for ourmuch loved daughter in lawVanessa and grandchildrenGeorgia, Sam and Jake.''He was a devoted and lov-ing husband and father ofthree children and haspassed away,' a familyspokesman told the SydneyMorning Herald on Sunday.

His relatives have called for'privacy at this difficult time'.Mr Hardaker's wife returnedhome to Sydney late onFriday night with the cou-ple's three childrenGeorgia, Sam and Jake.MailOnline understands MrHardaker's body will be

transported to Sydneybefore Tuesday. Aspokesman for theAustralian Department forForeign Affairs and Tradingsaid consular officials wereproviding assistance to thefamily. One of the men onthe boat, 24-year-oldAustralian Nick McGee,was standing just 20cmfrom Mr Hardaker when hewas hit. 'The front of theboat hit (Mark) in the head.He didn’t see it happen,' hetold the Courier Mail. MrMcGee said many of thepassengers on the otherboat were crying and yellingafter the collision. 'If thedriver didn't speed up Ithink we all would be dead.He tried to get out of theway - he saved our lives,'he said. Manager of theMana Island Resort, HiroshiMatsumoto, said peoplewere still coming to termswith the death on theisland. 'It was a shock,' hesaid. 'I wasn't at the resortwhen it happened; Ireceived a call about it.'Naina Ragigia from FijianWest Police said collisionsinvolving tourist boats wererare and the company oper-ating the vessel had neverbefore been involved in anaccident. Three other menare still receiving treatmentat the centre, Mr Ragigiasaid.

Pilot of the boat which hit and killed Australian tourist inFiji holiday tragedy is charged for not having a licence

Mark Hardaker, 40, was killed in a holiday boating accident in Fiji last week (Left) Tragic: Mark Hardaker was killed near the Mana IslandResort in Fiji, where he was set to celebrate his wife Vanessa's 40th birthday with their three children.

Nick McGee (pictured) wasstanding next to 40-year-oldMark Hardaker who was killedby a speeding boat in Fiji

The people of Rotumacan soon expect to see thestart of major road devel-opment works around theisland. A team from the FijiRoads Authority is current-ly on the island conductingthe first stages of survey todetermine the scope ofwork needed to be carriedout. The upgrading ofroads around the island willenhance access for farm-ers to transport their com-

modities while also easingaccessibility for school chil-dren. During talanoa ses-sions with Prime MinisterRear Admiral VoreqeBainimarama, several vil-lages on the island alsorequested for the upgradeof their farm roads.

Prime MinisterBainimarama informedfarmers that they would beable to access assistancefor farm road upgrades

through their respectiveDistrict Officers who areresponsible for these typesof developments on theisland. Major road capitalprojects are currently beingcarried out by the FijiRoads Authority whileupgrades to farm roads arethe responsibility of theMinistry of Rural andMaritime Development andNational DisasterManagement.

ROAD WORKS TO BEGIN AROUND ROTUMA

The UN’s Department ofPeacekeeping Operations(DPKO) Under Secretary-

General Mr Hervé Ladsous hascommended Fiji military’s efforts indifficult peacekeeping operationsin the Middle East and Africa.Republic of Fiji Military Forces(RFMF) Commander BrigadierGeneral Tikoitoga in the companyof Fiji’s Permanent Representativeto the United Nations, AmbassadorPeter Thomson, met USGLadsous as part of a productiveschedule of meetings at the UnitedNations in New York, which wasconcluded this week. BrigadierGeneral Tikoitoga assured USGLadsous that he will convey theUN’s thanks to the Government ofFiji and to Fijian peacekeepers inthe field. The discussions at DPKOaddressed peacekeepingresources that will be required for

existing and future UN peacekeep-ing operations. Discussions alsocovered the training and equippingof peacekeepers to properly pre-pare them for the increasinglycomplex task of peacekeeping.Brigadier General Tikoitoga andAmbassador Thomson also heldmeetings with Director AntonellaCaruso of the UN Department ofPolitical Affairs to discuss condi-tions in the UN Assistance Missionin Iraq (UNAMI), for which theRFMF provides the Guard Unit.Discussions addressed the forth-coming rotations of personnel, visarequirements and welfare of Fiji’spersonnel at UNAMI. As part of themeetings, the RFMF Commanderalso met with other sections of theDepartment of PeacekeepingOperations, along withAmbassadors and officials at theUnited Nations.

UN COMMENDS FIJI FORPEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS

DREDGING OF

OINAFA WHARF

CONTINUES

Dredge works along theOinafa Jetty in Rotuma is beingcarried out as planned. Thiswas confirmed by Fiji RoadsAuthority (FRA) chief executiveofficer, Neil Cook, who highlight-ed that a budget of $800,000had been allocated for this proj-ect. A team from the FRA is cur-rently working at the OinafaJetty clearing sand and silt buildup. Mr Cook said the FRA isworking towards ensuring thatthe people of Rotuma are pro-vided with better facilities. “Wecan’t have a facility that stopsworking and then the people ofRotuma do not have that serv-ice or it is a much reduced serv-ice, we take that seriously. “It isquite a significant project andit’s been progressing well so far.It is a signal that we need to putmore effort at the start of thedesign process such as bridgesand jetties,” Mr Cook said.

JAPAN AND FIJITO WORKTOGETHERFiji and Japan have commit-ted to work together now andpost elections. This washighlighted by the JapaneseAmbassador to Fiji, TakujiHanatani during a courtesycall to the Minister forForeign Affairs andInternational CooperationRatu Inoke Kubuabola thisweek. Mr Hanatani said theGovernment of Japan haswelcomed the move by theFijian Government to returnthe country to democracy. Headded that having aConstitution and GeneralElections clearly indicatedFiji’s commitment to return-ing to parliamentary democ-racy. Mr Hanatani conveyedhis government’s commit-ment to assist in the elec-tions by sending a monitoringmission. He added that theJapanese Governmentrecognised Fiji’s lead role inregional developments. MrHanatani also assured RatuInoke of Japan’s assistancein starting the Nadi floodcontrol structure project inJuly. Ratu Inoke thanked MrHanatani and the JapaneseGovernment for the ongoingassistance they have accord-ed to Fiji with the hope thatthis diplomatic friendshipbetween the two countrieswould continue post elec-tions.

The new Fiji Police ForceCommissioner, BernadusGroenewald has encour-aged members of the Forceto work as a team in order tobecome the best in theworld. He expressed thesesentiments during the officialwelcoming ceremony atNasova today. “To mydeputy commissioners,members of the police, wewill need to work as a teamand to be one of the best inthe world,”. “It is indeed agreat honor for me and mywife and it makes me hum-

ble to receive this traditionalwelcoming today,”Commissioner Groenewaldsaid.

C o m m i s s i o n e rGroenewald was accorded atraditional welcoming cere-mony and was briefed bysenior officers of the func-tions and programs currentlyundertaken by the force.Earlier in the week,Commissioner Groenewaldbegan a series of meetingswith Government ministersand other officials to familiar-ize himself with his duties.

NEW POLICE COMMISSIONER

ENCOURAGES MEMBERS OF THE

FORCE TO WORK TOGETHER

Prime Minister, Rear AdmiralVoreqe Bainimarama has sent acongratulatory note to his newlyelected counterpart in Vanuatu,Joe Natuman. “It is with greatdelight that I was advised last nightof your election as Prime Ministerof Vanuatu, with the confidence ofthe Vanuatu Parliament,” PMBainimarama said. “On behalf ofmy Government and the People ofFiji, I wish to congratulate you, asyou assume stewardship of yourcountry.” The head of Governmentalso thanked the Government ofVanuatu for its continued support

towards Fiji through the past fewyears. “As I share this congratula-tory message with you and yourGovernment, I also thank you forthe continued support for Fiji fromyour Government through the pastfew years for our own return toParliamentary Government,” PMBainimarama said. “Your leader-ship role now comes at a criticaltime for Fiji as we head towardsdemocratic elections in Septemberand I look forward to working withyou as with our other MSG brotherleaders in furthering our respectivenational and regional interests.”

FIJIAN PM CONGRATULATES

VANUATU COUNTERPART

FIJISUN 7fiji news June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

FIJI journalist SerafinaSilaitoga can barely wait toget home to start blogging

and tweeting. She has had acrash course in social media aspart of a five-week program thathas visited the Border this week.The Fiji Times bureau chief is oneof 11 south-west Pacific journal-ists on a five-week professionaldevelopment program tour ofAustralia. The focus is on newsmedia and the role of women inthe economy.

Their visit to the Border beganon Thursday and continued yes-terday with a tour of The BorderMail, followed by an afternoonvisit to the Lake MoodemereVineyard. The program is run bythe Melbourne-based Asia PacificJournalism Centre, under theDepartment of Foreign Affairs andTrade’s Australia Awardsscheme.

The journalists taking part arefrom Fiji, Papua New Guinea,Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tongaand Vanuatu. Ms Silaitoga saidtweeting was popular around theworld but the Pacific islandslagged behind.

“We have learnt how we cantweet our work — when we writestories about these women youcan always tweet it and thenattract our customers overseas,”she said. Centre program manag-

er Deborah Muir said the programwas focused on business andeconomic reporting thataddressed the views and con-cerns of women in the Pacific.

“For our group of 11 journalistsfrom the Pacific islands the fel-lowship has been a real eye-opener,” she said. “The com-

ments I’ve had back are that a lotof the things we’ve been able topresent to them through eco-momic literacy and financialaccess programs they can relateback home really well.”

In Canberra, the group metForeign Affairs Minister JulieBishop and former Democrats

leader Natasha Stott Despoja theday before the federal budget. MsSilaitoga said she was based inFiji’s north island, where she did alot of work with women.

“It’s more rural-based stories,community stories, so this is anopportunity to come and learnmore about how we as journalists

can help women,” she said. “Theydo handicraft work and we havehelped out by publishing their sto-ries and then getting assistancefrom our readers all over theworld.”

Grace Maina, a bureau chiefwith Papua New Guinea’s Post-Courier newspaper, said she, too,had a focus on women’s issuesand how to bring about economicbenefits. On Thursday, the jour-nalists were given a welcome tocountry by a Wiradjuri elder atCharles Sturt University, then metmembers of the Border’sBhutanese community. Ms Muirsaid this highlighted for some ofthe journalists the “complexitiesof arguments in Australia aboutwho lives here and has a right tolive here”. Georgina Kekea worksfor One News Television in theSolomon Islands. She said it hadgiven her a greater understandingof Australia’s resettling programsfor refugees. “It has taught us tobe grateful of where we comefrom and not take things for grant-ed, that we should be happy thatat least we still have our cultureand a place where we can callhome,” she said. The group willtake part in a seminar at CharlesSturt University this morning onthe “challenges and issues forwomen in rural economies”before heading to Melbourne.

Pacific Island reporters take a lesson in tweeting their news

Border Mail Printing general manager Damian Balkin meets Lagi Keresoma of Samoa’s Talamua Online Media, AssumptaBuchanan of the Solomon Islands’ Solomon Star, Luseane Launi, of Tonga’s Radio 89.5FM and Serafina Silaitoga.

Heavy rainaffectsparts of Fiji

Rain has easedin the Centraland Western

Divisions of Fiji andthe Road Authorityreports river levels aredropping quickly.

Over the past twodays some regionshave got up to 200millimetres of rain. Theweather office in Nadisays there is a still aflood alert in place forlow lying areas adja-cent to and down-stream of the NavolauStation. It says anactive trough of lowpressure is graduallymoving eastwards.

Fiji has this week, formal-ized diplomatic relations withthe Federation of Saint Kittsand Nevis at the Fiji Mission tothe United Nations in NewYork. At the ceremony, thePermanent Representative ofSt Kitts & Nevis to the UnitedNations, Ambassador DelanoFrank Bart, and his Fijiancounterpart, AmbassadorPeter Thomson, signed a jointcommuniqué establishingdiplomatic relations betweenthe two nations. The commu-niqué expresses the desire ofthe Governments of Fiji andSaint Kitts & Nevis to promoteand strengthen the bonds offriendship and cooperationbetween their two countries inpolitical, economic, cultural,humanitarian and other fields.

It also states that diplomaticrelations between Saint Kitts &Nevis and Fiji will be guidedby the principles and purposesof the United Nations Charterand international law, and thatthey are established in accor-dance with the provisions ofthe Vienna Convention onDiplomatic Relations.Following the formalisationceremony, Ambassadors Bartand Thomson held talks onareas of common interestbetween their two countries atthe United Nations. Bothcountries are members ofsuch developing countrygroups as G77 (the Group of77 and China), the Non-Aligned Movement, andAOSIS (Alliance of SmallIsland States).

ST KITTS & NEVIS AND FIJI FOR-MALISE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

HEALTH MINISTER AT

THE 67TH WORLD

HEALTH ASSEMBLY

Minister for Health, Dr NeilSharma will participate at the 67thWorld Health Assembly (WHA)held in Geneva next week betweenMay 19 to24. Dr Sharma will partic-ipate in the meetings and discus-sions in relation to communicablediseases, non-communicable dis-eases and other health relatedissues. The WHA is the supremedecision-making body of the WorldHealth Organization (WHO). It isattended by delegations from allWHO member states and focuseson a specific health agenda pre-pared by the Executive Board ofthe organisation. The main func-tions of the WHA are to determinethe policies of the Organization,appoint the Director-General,supervise financial policies, andreview and approve the proposedprogram budget. The HealthAssembly is held annually inGeneva, Switzerland.

The Ministry of Labour,Industrial Relations andEmployment has revealedthat a potential strike threatbetween the University of theSouth Pacific (USP) and theUSP Staff Union has beenresolved after successfulmediation. Minister for LabourJone Usamate confirmed thatthe Permanent Secretary forLabour Taito Waqa hadreceived a 21 days strikenotice earlier this week fromthe University’s Staff Union.To speedily defuse the poten-tial strike threat, the Ministryactivated informal mediationto facilitate discussions andtry to resolve the disputesbetween the parties. MrUsamate said the Ministry’smediator, Mr Harbans

Narayan, provided mediationbetween the parties whichstarted yesterday. After inten-sive mediation sessions overa period of two days, the par-ties reached an amicable res-olution yesterday resulting inan agreement which settlesthe union’s claims for medicalbenefits. In good faith, theUSP Staff Union withdrew itsnotice to seek strike mandatefor its members. Mr Usamateapplauds the University andits representative Ms HeatherStadel and her managementteam, and Ms LitianaWaqalevu, the GeneralSecretary of the Union for act-ing in good faith in findingamicable resolutions to thedispute which augurs well forcoexistence of both sides.

LABOUR MEDIATION AVERTSPOTENTIAL USP STRIKE

Amultiracial communi-ty in Ba province hasfaced up to the chal-

lenge of protecting its womenand children from violenceand injustice.

The Koronubu settlementin Ba has successfully com-pleted seven months ofawareness programs whichwas facilitated by the FijiPolice, Fiji Women’s CrisisCentre and government min-istries who are stakeholdersof the Zero ToleranceViolence Free CommunityCampaign. In an officialevent this week, the Ministerfor Social Welfare, Womenand Poverty Alleviation Dr

Jiko Luveni unveiled a bill-board declaring this commu-nity violence free upon com-pletion of 10 preparatoryphases of this campaign. DrLuveni said the campaignhas grown from strength tostrength and the key to it issupport from the male lead-ers.

“The campaign has beenrecognized internationally aswell and it’s the approachtaken that makes it unique,it’s actually getting the mento become champions of vio-lence free communities and italso motivates communitiesto take ownership of the ini-tiative,” Dr Luveni said. “The

male leaders pair up with thewomen and youth leaders toform a gatekeepers commit-tee and work closely withpolice and relevant stake-holders to create awarenessand spread the message thatviolence be it of any form is aserious crime and should notbe tolerated.” Dr Luveniadded that economicempowerment was a key pil-lar of the campaign. “Povertyis also one of the determi-nants of violence apart fromawareness programs, thewomen are also assisted tostart their income generatingprojects, trained on financialliteracy and also encouraged

to have personal savingsaccount,” Dr Luveni said.TheKoronubu settlement is alsoconfirmed to have a women’scentre that will open up vari-ous economic opportunitiesand create a platform forcontinued awareness onwomen’s empowerment. Thecentre will be funded by theDepartment of Women.Koronubu women’s clubpresident, Reena Prasadsaid the campaign had manypositive impacts on thewomen in her community.“This campaign has beeneye opener for Koronubuwomen, we have learnt thatthere are laws like Domestic

Violence Decree that pro-tects us and we don’t need tolive in fear,” Mrs Prasad said.“We are grateful to the minis-ter Dr Luveni for showing usthe way forward to break freefrom silence and to haveconfidence in ourselves, toexercise our right to liveempowered and violencefree lives. For the first time,we have realized that there isso much we can do as agroup of women-her mes-sage has inspired us to worktogether and to plan andspend our time wisely to sup-port our families,” she added.Koronubu Sanatan PrimarySchool president, Thakur

Rajesh Singh, who is also amember of the gatekeeperscommittee said the cam-paign has reminded the menof their roles towards theirfamilies. “One of the issueswe had spoken about is theneed for fathers to spendquality time with their family.And the need for parents tobecome good role models fortheir children. One of thestrong messages receivedby the programs is thatwomen are important part-ners into development, theirrights to equally participateinto income generating anddecision must not be sup-pressed,” Mr Singh said.

SETTLEMENT VOWS TO PROTECT WOMEN AND CHILDREN

N a r e n d r aDamodardas Modi tookoath as India’s 15thPrime Minister, along with45 members of hisCouncil of Ministers, onMonday in a culminationof a Lok Sabha electioncampaign that he led forthe Bharatiya JanataParty-led NationalDemocratic Alliance, tak-ing it to a stunning victory.

Dressed in a creamkurta and a fawn jacket,with a tricolour brooch onhis lapel instead of theparty’s Lotus symbol, Mr.Modi, overseen byPresident PranabMukherjee, took oath at awell-attended function inthe decorated forecourtof the RashtrapatiBhavan.

Mr. Modi received astanding ovation and wasloudly cheered as hearrived for the swearing-in. Soon after he tookoath, there was yetanother round ofresounding applausealong with chants ofBharat Mata ki Jai; Modi,Modi; and a subdued JaiShri Ram. Minutes afterhe was sworn in a littlepast 6 p.m., he tweeted:“A big thank you to allfriends who will be view-ing the ceremony on TVand through socialmedia. Your constantsupport & blessingsmean a lot.” As the sunwent down over the domeof the RashtrapatiBhavan, the special invi-tees — Pakistan PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif,Sri Lankan PresidentMahinda Rajapaska,Prime Minister of BhutanLyonchen TsheringTobgay, BangladeshSpeaker Shirin SharminChaudhury, AfghanistanPresident Hamid Karzai,Nepal Prime MinisterSushil Koirala andMaldivian PresidentAbdulla Yameen AbdulGayoom — arrived to a

loud applause.They greeted the for-

mer Prime MinisterManmohan Singh andBJP patriarch L.K. Advaniand joined the dignitariesin the front row, includingVice-President HamidAnsari, UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi, Congressvice-president RahulGandhi, former PresidentA.P.J. Abdul Kalam, for-mer President PratibhaPatil and Chief Justice ofIndia R.M. Lodha. Alleyes were on Mr. Sharifas he walked to greet theIndian leaders.

Among the very first toreach the venue was GoaChief Minister ManoharParrikar who was fol-lowed by a stream ofwell-known faces fromthe world of business,sports and politics.Several MPs turned up intheir traditional, colourfulattires with elaborateheadgears despite the

oppressive heat. Thiswas the first time that theoath-taking ceremonywas attended by not justover 5,000 guests but

also dignitaries from eightSAARC nations andMauritius. Also presentwere diplomats of variouscountries who were invit-

ed by the BJP to “partici-pate in the culmination ofthe celebration of democ-racy.” Mr. Modi’s swear-ing-in was followed bythat of party presidentRajnath Singh, SushmaSwaraj, Arun Jaitley, M.Venkaiah Naidu, NitinGadkari, D.V. SadanandaGowda, Uma Bharati,Najma Heptullah,Gopinath Munde,Ramvilas Paswan, KalrajMishra, Maneka Gandhi,H.N. Ananth Kumar, RaviShankar Prasad, AshokGajapathi Raju Pusapati,Anant Geete, HarsimratKaur Badal, NarendraSingh Tomar, Jual Oram,Radha Mohan Singh,Thaawar Chand Gehlot,Smriti Irani and HarshVardhan as CabinetMinisters. Ten Ministersof State (Independentcharge) and 12 Ministersof State were sworn in.Prime Minister Modi andseveral of his colleagues

will assume office onTuesday. Seen amongthe audience wereReliance Industries chair-man Mukesh Ambani andhis wife Nita and twosons. His younger broth-er, Anil Ambani, and hisfamily and their mother,Kokilaben, were present.Other industrialists whoattended the ceremonyincluded Hinduja groupchairman Ashok Hinduja,Essar group chief ShashiRuia and its chief execu-tive officer Prashant Ruia,the Mittal brothers Sunil,Rajan and Rakesh, andGujarat industrialistGautam Adani. From theworld of sports cricketinglegend Sunil Gavaskarand Indian cricket captainM.S. Dhoni were pres-ent.The new governmentdid not immediatelyannounce the portfoliosfor the new Ministers. Butthe allocations are likelyto be as follows: RajnathSingh Home; Arun JaitleyFinance, with additionalcharge of Defence;Sushma Swaraj ExternalAffairs; Nitin GadkariSurface Transport;Sadanand GowdaRailways; and VenkaiahNaidu UrbanDevelopment Ministry.Other portfolios beingmentioned includeWomen and ChildDevelopment for ManekaGandhi, HumanResource Developmentfor Smriti Irani andAgriculture for RadhaMohan Singh. While RaviShankar Prasad may getLaw and Justice alongwith Telecom, Ram VilasPaswan is tipped for theFood and Civil Suppliesportfolio. NirmalaSitharaman is likely to getindependent charge asMinister of State of theCommerce ministry. Thelone Muslim face in theModi Cabinet, NajmaHeptullah, may getMinorities Affairs.

FIJISUN08 INDIA NEWSJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

President Pranab Mukherjee administers the oath of office to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Modi now India's 15th PM

NDA Won Total

BJP 283 283

TDP 16 16

SHS 18 18

SAD 4 4

MNS 0 0

AINRC 1 1

Apna Dal 2 2

DMDK 0 0

HJC (BL) 0 0

LJP 6 6

MDMK 0 0

NPF 1 1

NPP 1 1

PMK 1 1

RLSP 3 3

RPI (A) 0 0

Total 336 336

UPA Won Total

INC 44 44

NCP 5 5

RJD 4 4

NC 0 0

IUML 2 2

JMM 2 2

KC (M) 1 1

NC 0 0

RLD 0 0

RSP 1 1

Total 59 59

RESULT OF 543 SEATS

NDA

336

UPA

59

OTHER

144

Congress membersmay differ onwhether party presi-

dent Sonia Gandhi or herson, party vice-presidentRahul Gandhi, should beleader of the party in the LokSabha, but most are cominground to the view that aGandhi must be the face ofthe party, as a consensuswould emerge only on oneof them. This, despite thefact that the Congress facedan ignominious defeat in therecently concluded LokSabha polls, plummeting toits lowest ever score of 44,less than 10 per cent of thestrength of the house.

Conversations with across section in the party

suggests that a majority inthe party prefer Ms Gandhias their Leader in the LokSabha; however, they addthat if she does not want totake on the post as she isalready the CongressParliamentary Party chair-person, then party vice pres-ident Rahul Gandhi mustnow lead from the front.Their argument is that sincehe was the face of the partyin the general elections andthere has been no change inhis status as the next leaderof the party he cannot now“shy away” from taking onthe responsibility when theparty is facing tough times –unless he actually stepsaside. “The political leader-

ship of the party has to bethe face of the party to thenation as well,” partyspokesperson ShashiTharoor said at a party brief-

ing on Friday, summing upthe current sentiment in theparty.

The majority view is thatif someone like former par-

liamentary minister KamalNath were to become theparty’s Leader in the LokSabha, it would send a con-fused signal about the lead-ership. As things stand,many people in the partysee the dual leadership thatprevailed in the Congress –Dr Manmohan Singh as PMand Ms Gandhi as partypresident – over the lastdecade being part of theproblem. The effort, there-fore, now is to preserve MrGandhi’s image and startrebuilding it, especially bythe senior leaders: OnSaturday, Kerala ChiefMinister Oommen Chandy,asked by journalists inThiruvananthapuram about

the growing voices of dis-sent against Mr Gandhi saidhe should not be singled outfor the Congress' debacle inthe Lok Sabha elections: “Itis not proper to single outany particular leader for thedebacle. The party takescollective responsibility invictories as well as defeat.The outcome of the elec-tions has already been eval-uated by the party in thatsense.” Mr Chandy’sremarks came even as MrGandhi went Baduan inUttar Pradesh where twodalit girls were raped andmurdered recently, as thefirst step after the electionsto begin the process of re-connecting with the people.

Sonia or Rahul, must lead party in Lok Sabha, feel Congressmen

Autopsy report confirmedthat the two teen cousinswho were found hangingfrom a tree in an UttarPradesh village onWednesday were sexuallyassaulted, the police said.

Chatrapal Singh andSarvesh Yadav, two policeconstables, and sub-inspec-tor Ram Vilas Yadav weresuspended on Wednesdayfor their alleged involvementin the incident that tookplace in Badaun village,nearly 300 km from statecapital Lucknow. SarveshYadav was taken into cus-tody on Thursday for ques-tioning. Pappu Yadav, anaccused in the case, wasarrested on Wednesday.

The police are on the look-out for four other accused.Bodies of the cousins, aged14 and 15, were foundhanging from a tree some100 metres away from theirhome on Wednesday morn-ing. The girls were missingsince Tuesday night.Hundreds of angry villagersstayed next to the tree afterthe bodies were found,silently protesting allegedpolice inaction in the case.RKS Rathore, deputyinspector general (Bareillyrange) told HT over phoneon Thursday that a panel ofthree doctors including alady doctor had confirmedsexual assault on theteenagers.

fiJisun 09INDIA NEWS June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

India's new PrimeMinister Narendra Modicalled on his Pakistanicounterpart Nawaz Sharifto crack down on militantgroups on Tuesday, whilestressing his desire for bet-ter relations and trade, theforeign ministry said.

Modi "underlined ourconcerns related to terror-ism," Indian foreign secre-tary Sujatha Singh said ina statement after talksbetween the leaders of thenuclear-armed rivals inNew Delhi.

"We want peaceful andfriendly relations withPakistan, however for suchrelations to proceed it isimportant that terror andviolence is brought to anend," Singh said.

She added that Modiconveyed that Islamabadneeded to "abide by itscommitment to prevent itsterritory and territory it con-trols being used to stageterror attacks on India".

India and Pakistan havefought three wars sinceindependence in 1947,and relations remain tenseamid mutual distrust andregular skirmishes alongtheir disputed Kashmir bor-der. Ties between the

neighbours deterioratedconsiderably after theMumbai attacks of 2008,which killed 166 peopleand were blamed onPakistani militants.

Modi also underlinedhis desire to improve com-mercial ties between thecountries, a focus of effortsunder the previous govern-ment. "There was discus-sion on trade and we notedthat we were fully ready tofully normalise trade andeconomic relations. Bothprime ministers expressedtheir interest in having thisdone as early as possible,"Singh said.

Meetings with

other Leaders

Modi held bilateralmeetings on Tuesdaywith eight regional lead-ers who attended hisswearing-in ceremonyon Monday, includingAfghan President HamidKarzai, Sri LankanPresident MahindaRajapakse andPakistan's Sharif.

Modi talks terror and trade with Nawaz

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pakistan pm Nawaz Sharif during a meeting at in New Delhi .

Centre has

no powers to

tinker with

art. 370 : JkLF

The separatist Jammuand KashmirLiberation Front on

saturday attacked UnionMinister Jitendra Singh forraking up the issue ofrepeal of Article 370 of theConstitution providing spe-cial status to Jammu andKashmir, saying the Centrehas no powers to tamperwith the provision. JKLFchief Mohammad YasinMalik said Union Minister ofState in PMO JitendraSingh had raised the issueto change the political dis-course in Kashmir. Singhhad kicked up a controver-sy with his remarks thatefforts will be made to “con-vince” the “unconvinced” onabrogation of Article 370,evoking sharp retorts fromJammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister Omar Abdullah andthe People’s DemocraticParty (PDP). “The govern-ment has succeeded in itsplan as now everyone istalking about Article 370.This is an attempt tochange the discourse inKashmir,” Malik toldreporters here. He alsolashed out at mainstreampolitical parties includingNational Conference andPDP for raising a “hue andcry” over the Minister’sremarks. “It is these parties,which are today threateningJihad (Holy War), who havegradually eroded the Article370 over the decades,” hesaid. “The Government ofIndia or Parliament doesnot have the powers tomake any changes withregard to Article 370. It wasthe so—called LegislativeAssembly which gave pow-ers to Government of Indiaand Parliament to enactlaws for Jammu andKashmir. What are theseparties now making noiseabout?” he asked.

Yogendra Yadavresigns from topAAP body

After its drubbing in the LokSabha polls, senior AAP leaderYogendra Yadav and party’sHaryana convenor NaveenJaihind on Saturday tenderedtheir resignations from thepolitical affairs committee andnational executive of the partyrespectively. Party spokesper-son and Delhi unit secretaryDilip Pandey clarified that theduo had resigned as membersof the PAC and NE and notfrom the party. Pankaj Gupta,party’s national secretary hassaid that the issue will be onthe agenda of the nationalexecutive whenever it meets.“@AapYogendra & .@naveen-jaihind are still with@AamAadmiParty... and resig-nation given from PAC & NEresp. to be discussed in NEmeeting,” Mr. Pandey tweeted.

The decision to scrapnine Empowered Groupsof Ministers and 21 GoMswas to “usher in greateraccountability in the sys-tem”, the PMO said.

Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onSaturday abolished all the30 GoMs and EGoMs andtold Ministries and depart-ments to take decisions onpending matters.Announcing the decision toscrap nine EmpoweredGroups of Ministers and 21Groups of Ministers, thePrime Minister's Officesaid, would expedite theprocess of decision-mak-ing and “usher in greateraccountability in the sys-

tem”. The Ministries anddepartments will nowprocess the issues pend-ing before EGoMs andGoMs and take appropri-ate decisions at the level ofMinistries and departmentsitself, said an official state-ment. It said wherever theMinistries face difficulties,the Cabinet Secretariatand the PMO will facilitatethe decision-makingprocess. The statementannouncing the abolition ofEGoMS and GoMs termedit as “major move” toempower the Ministriesand departments. FormerDefence Minister A.K.Antony was heading mostof the EGoMs.

modi AbolishesministeriAl pAnels

People look on as a tree branch fell on a car outside Gymkhana clubafter a storm accompanied by dark clouds in New Delhi.

Storm kills more than 40 people in east, north IndiaAt least 10 people were

killed in West Bengal andanother eight in Jharkhand.Most of the dead wereeither struck by lightning orcrushed under uprootedtrees. The storm hit bothstates early in the morning.In Jharkhand, a large num-ber of electricity poles wereuprooted, affecting powersupply in Ranchi,Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh,Latehar and some otherdistricts.

Overnight, 14 peoplewere killed in thunderstormin Uttar Pradesh and asmany perished in Delhi

where dusty winds touching90 kmph uprooted hun-dreds of trees and snappedpower lines, leaving parts ofthe capital without electrici-ty for as long as 20 hoursbesides affecting air androad traffic. Meteorologicalofficials said the tall thun-derstorms and high-speeddusty winds that have beensweeping across India’snorth to the east were beingcaused by western distur-bances currently overPakistan. “The meeting ofcold air and hot air on theIndo-Gangetic plains caus-es low pressure area and

also lot of instability. Thisresults in severe thunder-storm,” IMD DirectorGeneral L.S. Rathore said.Indian weather officials saidintense heat and cyclonicconditions in north Indiawere likely to persist for thenext few days. DuringFriday night's storm inDelhi, many areas plungedinto darkness as high-speed winds snappedpower lines. Metro trainservices were disrupted forabout an hour due to powerfailure while some flightshad to be diverted from thedust-shrouded capital.

India's new energy minister,Piyush Goyal, workedthrough the night to tacklenot only Delhi’s power cutscaused by the storm butalso provide more electrici-ty to Uttar Pradesh that issuffering outages in swel-tering summer heat. Whilethe power situation in Delhibegan to return to normalon Saturday, Uttar Pradeshcontinued to reel under out-ages of up to 12 hours aday as temperaturessoared and were expectedto reach 45 degreesCelsius in Lucknow onSaturday.

Autopsy confirms AssAulton teens found deAd in up

FIJISUN10 ART & ENTERTAINMENTJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

Chairperson Zahid Buksh is spearheading theteam with a view to holding the 3rd Girmit

Festival at Legion Hall in Tracy. Food and snackswill be prepared by the chairperson and his vol-unteers nearby at his home and catered free at

the dining hall later at night.

PLease see advt. on Page-32

Call Mr. Zahid Buksh 209-629-0913free! admission to the dinner will be free.

any donations will be most welcome.

youth talent/Quiz Competitionthe show will also have a youth quiz competition

basedon fiji girmit to keep our abreast with sacrifices their great grandparents made in

developing their new homeland fiji.

exhibitions and displaysthe committee is pleased to announce that anyonecan send or bring old pictures of our dear girmit.

Lahren radio showat PunJaBi radio usa

Listen to Lahren PrograM froM 1 PM to 3 PM

CaLL BaBu LaL

510-706-5013

Master of MusiC BaBu LaL *right) with Co-host BiMLesh (Center) interviewing fiJi

sun usa editor, dr. h. koya

(209 477-2434

HINDI VOICE OFSTOCKTON

PIARA SINGH GILLFamous Fiji Hindi poet and

longtime radio host of Stockton,Piara Singh Gill to read his poems

at US FIJI GIRMIT FESTIVAL.-------------------------------------------------------------

VISIT WEBSITEHindi Voice of Stockton or

call 209-477-2434

Cake hunt

The Yash Raj Films informed that the entire crew was inPune, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai arranging 600 cakes.

After the three Khans,Yash Raj banner shifts focus on newcomers

Bollywood has been kind: Ali Zafar

The cast and crew ofthe upcoming film ‘Kill dil’had to arrange 600 cakesfor the shooting of a songsequence. Lead actorRanveer Singh came upwith the idea of usingcakes for the film’s‘Happy Birthday’ song, –as birthday celebrationswithout cake is impossi-ble.

The Yash Raj Filmsinformed that the entirecrew was in Pune,

Mumbai and NaviMumbai arranging 600cakes.

If this was not enough,the ‘Ram-Leela’ actor alsoroped in singerSukhwinder Singh for acameo in the ‘HappyBirthday’ song.

The film also starsParineeti Chopra, AliZafar and Govinda. Thenewly-wed Rani Mukerjiwill be seen playing a piv-otal role in the film.

Ailing Ranveer Singh shows no signs of improvement

FIJISUN 11PAKISTAN NEWS June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

Pakistan arrests 4 suspects in ‘honour killing’Pakistani police said on

Friday that they havearrested four more peoplein connection with thekilling of a pregnantwoman who was beatenand stoned to death by herfamily for marrying withouttheir permission.

The police arrested thefour men late on Thursdayfrom their village in theNankana district, saidNayab Haider Rizvi, thepolice spokesman inLahore. Police havealready arrested thewoman’s father and say hehas confessed to thekilling. They are looking fortwo of her brothers.

The 25 year old was onher way to court with herhusband on Tuesday when

they were attacked by agroup of her relatives whoobjected to her marriage.During the assault she washit on the head with bricksfrom a nearby constructionsite and died.

The shocking case hasfocused attention on vio-lence against women inPakistan as well as thecountry’s legal system.

In a strange twist,authorities said onThursday that the woman’shusband, MohammadIqbal, was accused ofkilling his first wife in 2009.But authorities and theman’s relatives said thecase was dropped after hewas forgiven by thewoman’s family. UnderPakistani law, those

charged with a slaying cansee their criminal casedropped if family membersof the deceased forgivethem or accept so-called“blood money”.

On Friday Mr. Iqbalthreatened to commit sui-cide if the killers of his sec-ond wife are not brought tojustice. “I have said toreporters that if I don’t getjustice for the murder ofmy unborn child and wife, Iwill do self-immolation atthe very same place wheremy wife was killed and willgo from this world,” he toldAP Television News.

Prime Minister NawazSharif has condemned thefatal stoning and demand-ed authorities take actionto find all the culprits. Mustafa Kharal, lawyer of Farzana Parveen shows the area in Lahore where she was killed.

The Taliban attacked sev-eral military posts in north-western Pakistan after cross-ing over from neighbouringAfghanistan on Saturday,killing one soldier and trig-gering an hours-long gunbat-tle that left 16 militants dead,Pakistani officials said.

The fighting was the latestcross-border attack along thevolatile and porous Pakistan-Afghanistan boundary. TwoPakistani officers said thelocal Pakistani Talibanbranch was behind the attackand that dozens of fightersfrom the group had sneakedovernight into Pakistan tostage the attack. The insur-gents hit at least two militarycheckpoints in the north-western tribal region of Bajur,killing one soldier andwounding two others, localgovernment official ShahNaseem said. Mr. Naseemsaid the attackers were

armed with heavy weaponsand targeted several militaryposts in Nao Top border vil-lage, about 50 kilometers (30miles) northwest of Khar, themain town in Bajur. The armyresponded, sending helicop-ter gunships into battle astroops chased the attackerson the ground. Sixteen insur-gents were killed, two armyofficers said.

The attackers then fledtoward Afghanistan, the offi-cers said, speaking on condi-tion of anonymity becausethey were not authorized totalk to the media. The offi-cers said their intelligenceconfirmed the attack waslaunched by local PakistaniTaliban fighters originallyfrom the Bajur tribal regionand the north-western SwatValley who have been hidingin the village of Ghund inneighbouring Afghanistan’sKunar province.

Pakistan would grantIndia the status of Non-Discriminatory MarketAccess (NDMA) to facilitateenhanced bilateral trade,Commerce MinisterKhurram Dastigir Khan said.“It is not MFN (MostFavoured Nation) but wecall it NDMA which calls fornon-discriminatory and par-allel market access,” theDawn quoted Mr. Khan assaying on Friday.

Talking to the media afteraddressing members ofHyderabad Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(HCCI), Mr. Khan describedPrime Minister NawazSharif’s visit to India thisweek as positive and saidMr. Sharif did not indulge inreactionary diplomacy. Mr.Khan said although Pakistanhas certain reservations withIndia such as Kashmir,Siachen, Afghanistan, Sir

Creek and water issues,“mere handing over list ofreservations is not diploma-cy.”

Bilateral trade betweenIndia and Pakistan touched$ 2.6 billion in 2012-13, anincrease of 34.4 per centover last year’s $1.94 billion.Various sections inPakistan, especially theextreme right wing, hadobjected to the term “mostfavoured” being given toIndia because of the historyof issues between the twosides. India had alreadygranted MFN status toPakistan in 1996. Earlier,Mr. Khan said Pakistan’senergy crisis would be over-come to a great extent by2016. The government isplanning to take energy pro-duction to 40,000megawatts and is trying toswitch over to coal-basedpower from furnace oil.

Court reservesruling on Mushar-raf travel plea

A Pakistani court onFriday reserved its rulingon former military rulerPervez Musharraf’s pleaseeking the lifting of a trav-el ban on him.

Mr. Musharraf (70) isfacing treason charges forsubverting and circumvent-ing the Constitution byimposing emergency onNovember 3, 2007. Thefederal government hasplaced his name on theExit Control List (ECL),stating he might try to fleethe country.

He approached theSindh High Court lastmonth to lift the travel ban.He wanted to go abroad tosee his ailing mother inDubai and also to see doc-tors for his “heart problem”and pain in the back.

A two-judge bench ofthe Sindh High Court,headed by JusticeMuhammad Ali Mazhar,heard the petition.

Pakistan womenjudokas may have missedthe CommonwealthGames 2014 bus, but theyare ready to help theirIndian counterparts pre-pare for the event inGlasgow starting July 23.Pakistan’s 10-womanjudo squad, includingSouth Asian JudoChampionship goldmedallist HumeraAshique, will travel toPatiala in June to trainIndian athletes. PakistanJudo Federation (PJF)secretary Masood Ahmedsaid that since Pakistan isnot fielding a team atCWG due to the conflictbetween the PakistanOlympics Association andthe government, the ath-letes will now help the

neighbours prepare forthe Glasgow event. “Sincewe can’t go, we’ll helpthem as we are SouthAsian nations anyway, it’sa great deal for both par-ties,” Mr. Ahmed told TheExpress Tribune. Mr.Ahmed said that theIndian official MukeshKumar invited Pakistaniathletes to Patiala for thetraining sessions for 20days. “It’s going to happennext month, we’ve beeninvited to Patiala wherethe Indian squad ispreparing,” said Mr.Ahmed. According toAhmed, the female squadreceived rave reviews atthe South AsianChampionship in Nepal inApril and will certainlyhelp the Indian Judokas.

Taliban factionleaves group overpeace talks

A powerful faction ofPakistan’s Talibanannounced Wednesdayit has split from the maingroup over peace talkswith the government.The fighters led by KhanSajna in the tribal dis-trict of South Waziristanwere no longer mem-bers of the nationwideumbrella association ofTehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP), said for-mer TTP spokesmanAzam Tariq, now amember of Sajna’sgroup. He did not saywhat the disagreementwas, beyond that it con-cerned the peace talkslaunched by PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif inJanuary, which havestalled since April overthe insurgents’demands.

India releases 32 Pakistani fishermenThis is in reciprocation

of Pakistan's gesture ofreleasing 151 Indian fish-ermen before the visit ofPrime Minister NawazSharif to Delhi to attendNarendra Modi's swear-ing-in ReciprocatingPakistan’s gesture, Indiaon Wednesday released32 Pakistani fishermenlodged in Kutch districtand they were already ontheir way to Wagah bor-der in Punjab to return totheir country.

“These 32 fishermenfrom Pakistan have beenin Joint InterrogationCentre for almost sixmonths. They were cap-tured while fishing insidethe Indian maritimeboundary and kept inBhuj—based JIC. Wehave released themtoday. Our team hasalready left for Wagah

border with these fisher-men,” Kutch—WestSuperintendent of PoliceVidhi Chaudhari said.

The 32 fishermen willbe handed over toPakistan authorities atthe Wagah border.

The release of thePakistani fishermencomes close on the heelsof release of 151 Indianfishermen before the visitof Prime Minister NawazSharif to attend theswearing—in ceremonyof Narendra Modi.

Gujarat Chief MinisterAnandiben Patel had onTuesday announced thatofficials of the State fish-eries department willarrive at Veraval onThursday with the 151fishermen who werehanded over to Indianauthorities at Wagah bor-der by Pakistan.

Taliban attack Pakistaniarmy posts, kill soldier

Pak to grant Non-DiscriminatoryMarket Access status to India

women judokas to help Indiaprepare for CW Games

FIJISUN12 PAKISTAN NEWSJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

A ruling PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) legislator andan ISI official wereallegedly kidnapped bythe Taliban fromPakistan's Punjabprovince on Saturday.

Rana Jameel Hasanwas going to Islamabadalong with his wife whenunidentified gunmenintercepted his car andabducted him near PindiBhattian, some 150kmfrom Lahore, police said.

The kidnappers blind-folded the couple andtook them away to adeserted area. Theyfreed Hasan's wife with amessage to arrange Rs.5 crore ransom.

They threatenedHasan's wife with seri-ous consequences incase the payment is notmade in two days' time.

Taking notice of theincident, Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharifhas asked the Inspector-General to take meas-ures for safe recovery ofthe Punjab Assemblymember.

The IGP has consti-tuted two teams to probethe incident.

Crime InvestigationAgency Superintendent

Police Umer Virk toldPTI that police wereinvestigating all aspectsof the case. "We are alsonot ruling out theinvolvement of the TTP( Te h r e e k - i - Ta l i b a nPakistan) in the kidnap-ping of Hasan," he said.

In another incident,the TTP allegedly kid-napped an ISI officialfrom Lahore Defencearea and demanded Rs.20 crore from his family.

Gul Sherwan toldpolice that the Talibanhad abducted his sonZaman from Lahore. Thekidnappers warned thefamily to arrange theransom or be preparedto receive his body.

The police have regis-tered a case against theTTP under Section 365-A of the Pakistan PenalCode.

Pakistani army offi-cers said the mili-tary, backed by

helicopter gunships, killed14 militants in a clashnear the Afghan border inPakistan's northwesterntribal region.

The officers said agroup of insurgentssneaked into Pakistan onSaturday and attacked amilitary checkpoint, killingone soldier and woundingtwo others. They said theattack in the Bajur tribalregion prompted a gun-battle, still underway

hours later. The officersspoke on condition ofanonymity because theyare not authorised to talkto media. Their accountscould not be independ-ently verified because ofthe remoteness of theregion. Pakistan andAfghanistan share avolatile and porous bor-der that is often the sceneof cross-border attacks.Militants from both coun-tries also cross the borderto use the neighboringcountry's soil as a safehaven.

Prime Minister Narendra Modiwas told by his Pakistan counter-part Nawaz Sharif that terrorismwas a mutual concern, Sharif’sadviser Sartaj Aziz said inIslamabad on Wednesday.

“Our PM (Sharif) conveyed tothe Indian PM the people andgovernment of Pakistan werecommitted to fighting terrorism,”Aziz said. Addressing a pressconference after Sharif and hisdelegation returned from theswearing-in ceremony of Modi asIndia's new prime minister, Azizsaid the meeting between Sharifand Modi was not just a photo op,

but its outcome was better thanexpected.

On the probe into 2008Mumbai terror attacks, Azis said:“They (India) re-iterated theprocess should be expedited.Nothing new in this… Legalprocess on 26/11 trial is on.Pakistan has an independent judi-ciary, let the law take its owncourse.” Aziz said the issue ofKashmir was discussed but notsubstantially during the bilateralmeeting. He added Sharif did notmeet the Hurriyat leadership as itwas a ceremonial visit.

The adviser to the Pakistan PM

said the previous Indian PM,Manmohan Singh, wanted toimprove relations between the two

nations but he could not takealong all coalition partners in hisgovernment. “This governmenthas a big mandate” he added,hinting at better ties with India inthe future. He also said the twoPMs might meet soon. It couldhappen in September at theUnited Nations, he added. InDelhi, India’s new foreign ministerSushma Swaraj said Modi toldSharif if bomb blasts continued,peace talks between the twocountries would be lost in the din."Talks and good relations can besuccessful and right only whenterrorism is stopped. But if bomb

blasts continue, then the talks willbe lost in the din. This is whatNarendra Modi told PakistaniPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif,"said Sushma Swaraj, who tookcharge of her ministry onWednesday. "We also raised thetopic of speedy trials of the 26/11terror attack and even they saidthey will work on it," she said.Terming the talks with SAARCleaders as "successful", she said:"The Prime Minister told leadersthat we should leave the con-tentious bilateral issues to theconcerned parties and cometogether unitedly."

A bus accident onTuesday in Pakistan'snorthwestern valley of Swatleft 16 people dead, includ-ing 10 children, officialssaid.

The bus, carrying pas-sengers home from thecentral Punjab province tothe Kalam hill station inSwat district, crashed onthe roadside close to a riverin the early hours ofTuesday. "Sixteen peoplehave been killed in the acci-dent including 10 childrenand five women. Sevenother passengers havebeen injured," MehmoodAsalam, a senior adminis-

tration official in Swat, toldAFP. "We don't know anyreason for the accident atthe moment. It may havebeen caused because driv-er slept while driving," saidAslam. Local police officialShakeel Khan confirmedthe death toll, and said thatthe injured had been takento a local hospital. "Theinjured included three men,as many women and achild," said Khan. Pakistanhas one of the world's worstrecords for fatal traffic acci-dents, blamed on poorroads, badly maintainedvehicles and reckless driv-ing.

Pak bus accident leaves 16 dead

Modi-Sharif meet better than expected: Sartaj Aziz

PML-N legislator, ISI offi-cial abducted by Taliban

Pakistan army killed 14militants in clash: Army

Lawmaker,ISI officialabducted byPak TalibanLAHORE: A ruling PML-Nlegislator and an ISI officialwere allegedly kidnapped bythe Taliban from Pakistan'sPunjab province onSaturday. Rana JameelHasan was going toIslamabad along with hiswife when unidentified gun-men intercepted his car andabducted him near PindiBhattian, some 150 km fromLahore, police said. The kid-nappers blindfolded the cou-ple and took them away to adeserted area. They freedHasan's wife with a mes-sage to arrange Rs 5 croreransom. They threatenedHasan's wife with seriousconsequences in case thepayment is not made in twodays' time. Taking notice ofthe incident, Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif hasasked the Inspector-Generalto take measures for saferecovery of the PunjabAssembly member. The IGPhas constituted two teams toprobe the incident. CrimeInvestigation AgencySuperintendent Police UmerVirk told PTI that policewere investigating allaspects of the case. "Weare also not ruling out theinvolvement of the TTP(Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan)in the kidnapping of Hasan,"he said.

UAE launches poliovaccination cam-paign in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: On the direc-tive of the United Arab Emirates(UAE) President Sheikh Khalifabin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAEProject to Assist Pakistan (UAEPAP) has announced the launchof a vaccination campaignagainst polio in the province ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and othertribal areas in Pakistan. "Thelaunch of the UAE vaccinationcampaign came as per thedirectives of His Highness theHead of State to providehumanitarian and developmentassistance to the friendly peo-ple of Pakistan," AbdullahKhalifa Al Ghafli, director ofUAE PAP, said.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan'sleading Geo TV network onTuesday apologized to thecountry's armed forces foraccusing ISI of beinginvolved in an attack on jour-nalist Hamid Mir in Karachilast month.

The network had flashedISI chief Lt Gen ZaheerulIslam's picture for eighthours and accused his ofbeing behind the attack.Mir's brother, Amir Mir, hadappeared on Geo TV andsaid his brother was underconstant threat from the ISIwhile blaming the spyagency and its chief forattacking his brother.

"After serious retrospec-tion, editorial debates, feed-back and engagement withall parties, directly and indi-rectly, we have concluded

that our coverage immedi-ately after the tragic andunnerving attack on HamidMir on April 19 was exces-sive, distressful and emo-tional," the group said in anapology published in itsEnglish and Urdu dallies. Itsaid the coverage of theattack was "misleading, dis-proportionate and inappro-priate giving impression of acampaign against the armedforces and ISI".

The group apologized tothe ISI, Lt Gen Islam, hisfamily, the Pakistan armyand large number of televi-sion viewers for causing"deep hurt".

Geo TV says sorry to Pakistan army, ISIISLAMABAD: The oath-

taking ceremony of PrimeM i n i s t e r - d e s i g n a t eNarendra Modi was todayshown live by Pakistani tele-vision channels highlightingthe presence of varioushigh-profile guests, such asSaarc leaders includingPakistan Premier NawazSharif, Bollywood stars andcorporate bigwigs.

Different TV stations alsopresented special talkshows on the occasion andexperts explored the possi-bility of opening of newchapter in relations between

Pakistan and India.In onesuch show on Dunya Newschannel, experts said timehas come for betterment ofrelations between Pakistanand India. Lt Gen retiredTalat Masood said Modi rep-resents the rising middleclass and business leaderswho are driving the Indianeconomy. "It is importantthat incidents like Mumbaiattacks do not happen, oth-erwise things will deterio-rate. Peace is important forregional stability and also fordevelopment of Pakistan,"said Masood.

Modi's swearing in shownlive on Pakistan TV channels

FIJISUN 13June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

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�Pandey guides Kolkata to second IPL victoryA

final of innumer-able twists andturns, gifted

Kolkata Knight Riders aSunday night to rememberwhile Kings XI Punjab suf-fered a heart-break.

Fittingly, KKR won theIPL’s seventh edition at apacked ChinnaswamyStadium. KKR’s secondtitle triumph — a three-wicket victory — was allabout Bangalore ladManish Pandey anchoringthe chase and the tail hold-ing its nerve. ChasingKings XI’s 199 for four,KKR scored 200 for sevenin 19.3 overs.

KKR’s pursuit neededan adrenalin shot right upthe order but RobinUthappa failed to extendhis prolific run into thesummit clash though hedid emphatically driveMitchell Johnson’s first ballfor four. The speedster hadhis revenge soon andwhile skipper GautamGambhir picked his spotson the cover picket, hecould not stretch histenure.

At the other end,Pandey (94, 50b, 7x4,6x6), eased the pressurewith fours off ParvinderAwana and L. Balaji. Thematch was interestinglypoised as Yusuf Pathan

caned Karanveer Singh fortwo successive sixes andKKR hovered close to therequired rate and was

placed at 89 for two after10 overs.

Grabbing the chancePandey reached his fifty

with a six off Awana andwas equally adept at dig-ging out the seamer’sriposte — a yorker. One

more big hit was essayedand on 60, Pandeywatched Kings XI skipperGeorge Bailey drop atough catch. If that was apremonition of better tid-ings, KKR grabbed thatwith both hands. Pathandealt his usual blows astwo massive sixes offBalaji, ensured that thehunt was on. HoweverPathan failed to get pastGlenn Maxwell while wad-ing into Karanveer.

Pandey though contin-ued unabated despite hispartners deserting him.Unfortunately, just as hewas set to anchor his teamtowards the winning post,an aching leg and a tiredshot undid him. Yet, the taillasted, as evident inPiyush Chawla’s six offJohnson in the penultimateover. And it was a matter ofminutes before the KKRdugout erupted in unbri-dled joy.

Earlier, Kings XI foundits saviours in two unher-alded cricketers asWriddhiman Saha (115n.o., 55b, 10x4, 8x6) andManan Vohra’s 129-run-third-wicket partnership off73 deliveries, masked thefailures of the blue-chipcore: Virender Sehwag,Bailey and Maxwell.

Saha, the first century-

maker in an IPL final, ini-tially favoured the on-sidebut as his vigil at thecrease lengthened, equal-ly, his repertoire widened.But before Saha andVohra could hurt KKR,Kings XI suffered a poorstart and stuttered at 30 fortwo in 5.1 overs.

Immediately, openerVohra (67) and Saha,buckled down before slog-sweeping sixes — oneeach off Chawla andShakib Al Hasan. Later,Saha hoisted Chawla twiceover the off-side as KingsXI made up for the lethargyof the first 10 overs (58runs). Saha then cartedSunil Narine and Vohraaggravated the spinner’sagony. The third-wicketpartnership also had itsshare of luck when in the16th over, Narine grassedSaha (on 60) after twistingfrom his follow-throughand running towards theskier.

Narine then outfoxedVohra but wicket-keeperUthappa gathered the ballin front of the stumps andnegated the stumping.Soon Chawla nailed Vohraand Maxwell but Kings XIprospered upon Saha’sfiery effort. The tale theninexorably changed duringa tense night.

FIJISUN 19June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com�

The newly marriedactress has nottaken on hus-

band Aditya Chopra’slast name in the creditsof her upcoming film Alittle over a month ago,Rani Mukerji and AdityaChopra tied the knot in

Italy, a week after whichthe actress returned towork and even put inher first public appear-ance. Interestingly then,this new bride, whoturned up at the recentevent wearing a red sal-war kameez, bangles

and vermillion on herforehead, has chosen toretain her maiden namein her upcoming film,Mardaani. A sourcesays, “The film is slatedto release in Augustand we wanted to startits promotions as soon

as possible. Fortunatelyfor us, Rani came backsoon after her wedding,and she quicklywrapped up the remain-ing shoot. Accordingly,we started work on thefilm’s first poster.”

FiJisUn20 bollywoodJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

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Bollywood stars make big money andso does their support staff. Here’s a lookat how much salary they earn per day

GAURAV DUBEY

gaurav.dubey@mid-day.com

An INTEGRAL part of the lives of B-Town stars is the support staff thatworks for them. Many actors, in fact,consider their staff an extended family.It takes more than just talent and hardwork to make a present-day film star.An army of professionals, includingstylists, managers and make-upartistes work diligently to turn an actorinto a brand.

Many Bollywood stars such as ShahRukh Khan, Salman Khan, KatrinaKaif and Priyanka Chopra have an

entourage working for themday and night. The amountspent on the stars does not justconstitute their acting fee, butalso goes in paying members oftheir extended staff includinghairstylists, spot-boy, securitypersonnel and driver. While they donot work 30 days a month, they arepaid as and when their services arerequired.

The Producers Guild issued a diktattwo years ago, asking the stars to bearthe entire expense of these people?hhiittlliisstt gives a low down on their perday earnings:

SHAH RUKHKHAN

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The realstars behindsuperstars

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An integral part of the livesof B-Town stars is thesupport staff that worksfor them. Many actors, infact, consider their staffan extended family. Ittakes more than just tal-ent and hard work tomake a present-day filmstar. An army of profes-sionals, including stylists,managers and make-upartistes work diligently toturn an actor into abrand. Many Bollywoodstars such as Shah RukhKhan, Salman Khan,Katrina Kaif and PriyankaChopra have anentourage working forthem day and night. The

amount spent onthe stars does notjust constitute theiracting fee, but alsogoes in paying mem-bers of their extend-ed staff includinghairstylists, spot-boy,security personnel anddriver. While they donot work 30 days amonth, they are paid asand when their servicesare required. TheProducers Guild issued adiktat two years ago, ask-ing the stars to bear theentire expense of thesepeople? hitlist gives a lowdown on their per dayearnings:

Bollywood stars make big money and so

does their support staff. Here’s a look at

how much salary they earn per day

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FIJISUN 21bollywood June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

The real stars behindBollywood superstars

When Bollywoodstars steered clear of

their own projectsOn several occasions, Bollywood actors and actresses

have chosen to stay away from their own films' promotions

Usually when their films areup for release, stars go overboard and often

become self obsessed in promot-ing themselves and their movies.Even the usually reticent stars,who hide under a rock, step out totalk about themselves. Industryexperts say it’s important for anactor to do all he/she can to buildhype around a film. Once an actor

takes up a project, they should bewith it right till the final stage — itsrelease. There are, however, sev-eral actors who abandon theirprojects once the film wraps up oreven during the filming. Unhappyover their roles or the treatmentmeted out to them vis-à-vis otherstars in the film, they feel it is bet-ter to steer clear from the project,thus leaving it in a lurch.

Afew mythical storiesrelated with RathYatra's origins exist

that reflect the socio-reli-gious thinking and beliefs ofthe people of the region.Some of the chief ones are:

To kill Lord Krishna andBalram, Kansa, their mater-nal uncle, invited them toMathura. He sent Akrur witha chariot to Gokul. Asasked, Lord Krishna, alongwith Balram, sat on thechariot and left for Mathura.The devotees celebrate thisday of departure as RathYatra.

Euphoric devotees cele-brated the day when LordKrishna, aftr defeating theevil Kansa, gave them dar-shan in Mathura in a chariotwith his brother, Balaram.

Devotees in Dwarika cel-ebrated the day when LordKrishna, accompanied byBalaram, took Subhadra --his sister, for a ride on achariot to show the city'ssplendor.

Once Lord Krishna'squeens requested motherRohini to narrate the manyinteresting amorousepisodes (ras lilas) of LordKrishna with the Gopis.Rohini--considering itimproper of Subhadra tohear such episodes (Leela)--sent her away. Still, theVrajkatha soon absorbedSubhadra along withKrishna and Balram, whoby now had appeared onthe scene. While they werecompletely engrossed withthe stories arrived Narad.On finding the siblingsstanding together motion-less, he prayed, "May thethree of you grant darshanin this manner forever." Theboon was granted. And thethree forever reside in thePuri Temple of the LordJagannath.

There is an exciting storyof Lord Krishna becomingthe Sarathi - driver ofArjuna's chariot, during the18-day battle of theMahabharata.

Finally, a story which hasbeen passed on frommouth to mouth, tells whathappened after the crema-tion of Lord Krishna's mortalbody.

When Shri Krishna wasbeing cremated in Dwarika,Balaram, much saddenedwith the development,rushed out to drown himselfinto ocean with Krishna'spartially cremated body. Hewas followed by Subhadra.

At the same time, on theeastern shore of India, KingIndradyumna of JagannathPuri dreamt that the Lord'sbody would float up to thePuri's shores. He shouldbuild a massive statue inthe city and sanctify thewooden statues of Krishna,Balaram and Subhadra.

The bones (asthi) ofLord Krishna's body shouldbe put in the hollow in thestatue's back. The dreamcame true. The king foundthe splinters of bone (asthi)and took them. But thequestion was who wouldcarve the statues. It isbelieved that the Gods'architect, Vishwakarma,arrived as an old carpenter.He made it clear that whilecarving the statues nobodyshould disturb him, and incase anybody did, he wouldvanish leaving the workunfinished.

Some months passed.The impatient Indradyumnaopened the door ofVishwakarma's room.Vishwakarma disappearedimmediately as he hadwarned before. Despite theunfinished statues, the kingsanctified them; placingLord Krishna's holy cindersin the hollow of the statueand installed them in thetemple.

A majestic procession iscarried out with the statuesof Lord Krishna, Balaramand Subhadra, every year,in three gigantic chariots.The huge chariots arepulled by devotees fromJanakpur to the temple inJagannath Puri. The stat-ues are changed every 12years--the new ones beingincomplete also.

The Jagannath PuriTemple is one of the fourmost sacred temples in thefour directions of the India--the other three being:Rameshwar in South,Dwarka in West andBadrinath in the Himalayas.Maybe, the temple inJagannath Puri is theworld's only temple with thestatues of three deities whoare siblings -- Lord Krishna,Balaram and Subhadra.

FIJISUN22 HINDUISUMJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

Origin Of

Rath Yatra

Location PuriTime period The Full moon phase of June- July that is, Ashada

Duration of celebration 15 days

Origin Dates back to 11th Century

Presiding Deity Lord Jagannath Ji

Nearest Airport Bhubaneshwar

Rath Yatra Facts

The Jagannath Puri Temple is one of the four most sacred temples in the four directions of the

India--the other three being: Rameshwar in South, Dwarka in West and Badrinath in the

Himalayas. Maybe, the temple in Jagannath Puri is the world's only temple with the statues of

three deities who are siblings -- Lord Krishna, Balaram and Subhadra.

About

Rath YatraRath Yatra or the Car

festival is one of the mainfestivals of Puri, celebratedevery-year on AshadShukla Dwitiya that gener-ally falls between themonths of June-July. Thefestival is celebrated tocommemorate the annualvisit of the presiding deitiesof the Jagannath Puri tem-ple to their Aunt’s house. Itis believed that during thisfestival, Lord JagannathTemple Rath Yatra comesout of their holy abode andgives Darshana (holy view)to the people.

The festival holdsimmense significanceamong the Puri locals aswell as other pilgrims anddevotees. The chariots onwhich the deities are takento the temple are massivepieces of art that areadorned with numerousdesigns & patterns. Theconstruction of the chariotsstarts with the ChandanaYatra and is undertaken bycarpenters known as“Maharana”, who holdhereditary rights for thesame. Further, these chari-ots are distinguished fromeach other by a set coloredpattern of cloth robes suchas Lord Jagannath’s chariot(Nandighosa)is coveredwith red & yellow robes,Lord Baladhabra’s chariot(Taladhwaja) has red &blue robes of cloth andDevi Subhadra’s chariot(Dwarpadalana) is coveredwith red & black cloth.Numerous devotees andpilgrims flock the land dur-ing the festival as it isbelieved that the ropesattached to the Rath orChariot are ropes of salva-tion and thus everyonewishes to touch them once.After enjoying a nine daystay at the temple, thedeities are brought back tothe Puri Jagannath Templeas part of the return journeyknown as “Bahuda Yatra”.

Jagannath Puri

Amajestic procession is carried out with the statues of

Lord Krishna, Balaram and Subhadra, every year, in three

gigantic chariots. The huge chariots are pulled by devo-

tees from Janakpur to the temple in Jagannath Puri. The statues

are changed every 12 years--the new ones being incomplete also.

FIJISUN 23Bangladesh news June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

Bangladesh Road Accident kills 10Ten people, on Friday

reportedly lost their lives in aroad accident that occurred inBangladesh’s western districtof Rajbari. Police officer, saidthe tragedy occurred whentwo inter-district buses collid-ed head-on. He said that eightpeople died at the scenewhen the buses crashedbefore dawn at Basantapur onthe Dhaka-Khulna highway,adding that two others died ina local hospital, while 25 sur-vivors were taken to a nearbyhospital for medical attention.Basantapur is some 110 kmwest of the capital, Dhaka.

Both the govern-ment and themajor opposition

party have congratulatedNarendra Modi followingBJP’s resounding elec-toral victory in the India’s16th Lok Sabha elections.

Congratulating Mr.Modi, Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina hasexpressed the hope thatthey both will work togeth-er to take the India-Bangladesh ties to“increasingly greaterheights.”

In a letter to Mr. Modi,quoted by a section of themedia, the Bangladeshleader said the decisiveverdict given by the peo-ple of India “is a strongtestimony to your dynam-ic, inspiring and visionaryleadership qualities andmanifestation of the trustand confidence reposedin you by the people of thelargest democracy in theworld.”

The Prime Ministeralso termed India andBangladesh “natural and

contiguous developmentpartners,” saying, “Ourshared history and cul-ture…our inseparablebond of friendship waspermanently cementedwhen the entire politicalleadership and the peopleof India provided unprece-dented support to our his-toric War of Liberation in1971.” In a reference tothe landmark develop-ment in the bilateral rela-tions in recent years, Ms.Hasina said that the twocountries have “made sig-

nificant collective stridesin the bilateral relation-ship” and stressed thatthe warmth “must contin-ue to move forward.” Ms.Hasina also quoted by themedia as inviting Mr. Modito visit Bangladesh as his“first destination.”

Bangladesh NationalistParty (BNP) chief BegumKhaleda Zia was quick tocongratulate Mr Mr.Modi.BNP’s main ally, thefundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami also greeted Mr.Modi on his victory.

Make Dhaka first stop: Hasina tells Modi

M U N S H I G A N J ,Bangladesh — Rescuerscalled off the search formissing passengers of asunken ferry in centralBangladesh on Saturdayafter retrieving 40 bodies,causing anger among rela-tives of those still unac-counted for.

The chief ofBangladesh’s water trans-port authority,Shamsuddoha Khandaker,said that divers would leavethe River Meghna sitewhere the ferry M.V. Miraz-4 sank in a storm onThursday. There was con-fusion over how many pas-sengers were onboard, andauthorities would not pro-vide any complete list.

“We are calling off thesearch as the ferry hasbeen towed to the bank andwe found no more bodies.In total, our rescuers found40 bodies,” he said. Ferryoperators in Bangladeshusually do not maintain alist of passengers, andnone was available in thelatest disaster, said localadministrator Saiful Hasan.

“I haven’t got my broth-er, where is he? Why doauthorities stop search-ing?” asked MohammadMoniruzzaman. Before 11more bodies were recov-ered Saturday, police hadestimated that at least 100were still missing. Rescue

diver Masudul Haque saidon Friday evening he hadrecovered nine of the bod-ies but many were stilltrapped in cabin rooms.

“We have recovered thebodies mainly from the

lower deck and other openspaces, but could not openthe doors of the cabinrooms where many pas-sengers took shelter afterthe storm had hit,” Haquesaid. “I tried to open those

doors but could not as hugevolumes of sand haveburied many of the doors,”he said.

Relatives of the missingand the dead gathered onthe banks the Meghna

River, near where the boatcapsized. Several bodies,covered in cloth, were laidout on the ground. “I camehere yesterday for mybrother but I don’t have anytrace yet. Nobody can

assure me of anything,”said a sobbing relative,Lokman Hossain.

Sabuj, a passenger whojumped overboard whenthe ship began to sink, saidhe was among some 25survivors who swam toshore. He said the captainof the double-decker ferryignored the passengers’calls to stay close to theshore as the storm startedbrewing. “But he continuedto steer the ship” out intothe water, said Sabuj, whouses one name.

The ferry was apparent-ly overcrowded and itslower deck was loaded withgoods, said MohammadAli, a director of theBangladesh Inland WaterTransport Authority.Officials were investigatingwhether the vessel wasovercrowded or had designfaults. Ferries are a com-mon mode of transportationin this populous deltanation, and the MeghnaRiver has been the sceneof past accidents. In 2012,at least 150 people diedwhen a ferry carrying about200 people capsized atnight in the river. In 2003,an overcrowded ferry cap-sized in flood-swollenwaters at the confluence ofthe Padma, Meghna andDakatia rivers near the cap-ital Dhaka. Up to 400 peo-ple died.

Relatives of passengers aboard the sunken ferry wait for their missing ones as they watch a rescue operation on the banks of theRiver Meghna in Munshiganj district, in Bangladesh, Friday, May 16, 2014. Rescuers have recovered dozens of bodies after a ferry

capsized during a storm in a river in central Bangladesh, officials said Friday.

40 dead as Bangladesh ferry search called off

Prime Minister SheikhHasina appears upset withthe slow progress ofrepairs in the parliamentbuilding. During a meetingof the ParliamentCommission on Sunday,she was also critical of theinitiative to install new air-conditioners in the house.Hasina has been calling formeasures to save powersince assuming office forthe second time. TheParliament Commission'smeeting, chaired by

Speaker Shirin SharminChaudhury, was alsoattended by OppositionLeader Roushan Ershad.The meeting discussedover the progress of the Tk1.03 billion 'UmbrellaProject' initiated during theninth parliament. After themeeting, the Speaker toldreporters that the primeminister was updated onthe project. "The PM said'the project started duringthe ninth parliament and isyet to be finished.

PM unhappy about par-liament's maintenance

Trial of Jamaat

for war crimes

suffers setback

The trial of Jamaat-e-Islamias a political party for warcrimes may suffer a set

back as the Sheikh Hasina gov-ernment now believes the exist-ing laws lack provisions for suchtrial. At the height of the contro-versy, Prime Minister SheikhHasina backed her LawMinister’s position that theJamaat cannot be tried as a partyfor war crimes. Law MinisterAnisul Huq is already under firefrom various quarters for havingsaid that there was no provisionin the International Crimes[Tribunals] Act, 1973 to try andpunish any political party.

FIJISUN24 BANGLADESH NEWSJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

High-level probelaunched into the allegedrole of the country’s eliteanti-crime force in theabduction and killing ofseven people Amid anational outrage over theabduction and killing ofseven people, authoritieson Friday transferred all85 police officers in a cen-tral Bangladeshi town andlaunched a high-levelprobe into the alleged roleof the country’s elite anti-crime force in the inci-dent. Transfer orderswere issued to all the offi-cers of three police sta-tions and the detectivebranch of theNarayanganj districtpolice. “The step wastaken to restore the policeimage and bring trans-parency in law enforce-ment there,” aspokesman told

reporters. The develop-ment came hours after asa seven-member high-level committee launchedthe investigation into thealleged involvement ofthe Rapid Action Battalion(RAB), which draws per-sonnel from three armedforces and police, aftercomplaints by the victims’families. Bangladesh lastweek sacked three seniorofficers from the RABover claims they abduct-ed and killed seven peo-ple outside Dhaka. Themove comes after a busi-nessman in the industrialcity of Narayanganj lastweek accused the threeof abducting his son in-law, a city councillor, andsix of his associates.Their bodies were founddays after their disap-pearance floating in anearby river.

85 police officerstransferred over

abductions

No extension for Hajj fee deadlineT

herefore the time topay ‘Moallem' fee,house rent, addition-

al service charge and air-fare will end on Jun 1. Thedecision was made at ameeting chaired by MdBabul Hassan, secretaryfor the Religious Affairsministry, keeping up withSaudi Arabia’s conditionson Sunday.

“It will not be possible toupload information onBangladeshi pilgrims in

Saudi Arabia if the time isextended any further,”Deputy Secretary MdJahangir Alam said afterthe meeting at theSecretariat. The last datefor payment is usually set15 days before the pil-grims’ information ispassed on to Saudi author-

ities, but this year was anexception, he said, andHajj Agencies Associationof Bangladesh (HAAB)was informed about it.

“Hajj time has beenbrought forward by 11 daysevery year, but the dead-line for payment this yearis the same as last year.But HAAB requested theministry to extend it until15th June.” The agree-ment with Saudi Arabia willallow 101,758Bangladeshis to go on Hajjthis year. Of them, 10,000will go through arrange-ments made by the stateand the rest through pri-

vate agencies. Two pack-ages were made availableunder government and pri-vate arrangements foraspiring pilgrims. The firstpilgrim package costs Tk358,316 while package-2,could be bought for Tk295,776. Both the pack-ages require that the pil-grim bring along extra Tk10,000 for animal sacrifice.Hajj is set to start at Oct 8,depending on the appear-ance of the moon.

Flights will start to leavefor Saudi Arabia from Aug27 and until Sep 28. Thepilgrims will start returningfrom Oct 8 to Nov 8.

The deadline for submitting Hajj fees will not be extended despite

requests from the agencies that arrange pilgrimage to Makkah.

Abul Hassan MahmoodAli was replying to questionson the sidelines of thelaunch of the InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross(ICRC) photo exhibition onSunday marking its 150years of establishment.

"We are hopeful,” Ali saidbefore adding that his gov-ernment was doing every-thing necessary to that end.

He said the Myanmarside had already returnedthe body of the BorderGuard Bangladesh (BGB)Nayek Mizanur Rahman.

“Tensions (in border)have been eased… We willtake forward regular activi-ties,” Bangladesh’s topdiplomat said. Nayek

Rahman went missing onWednesday morning follow-ing “an indiscriminate firingby the Myanmar BorderGuard Police”.

A day later, the foreignministry summoned itsDhaka envoy Myo MyintThan and lodged a strongprotest. On Friday.Myanmar border policeagain started firing at a teamof Bangladesh borderguards who were waitingnear border pillar ‘no. 52’ foridentification of the deadbody which was proposedby the Myanmar side.Ambassador Than wassummoned again onSaturday morning. Hourslater, Bangladesh got the

body back. The border ten-sion rose at a time whenBangladesh and Myanmarhave embarked on a series

of steps to improve bilateralrelations.

Rohingya refugeesremained a major irritant inthe relations, but there havebeen a lot of official engage-ments in recent months.According to the foreignministry, Dhaka andNaypyidaw were also plan-ning to engage in talks onthe platform of a “securitydialogue”. MinisterMahmood Ali on Sunday,however, said the scheduledprogrammes would continueas usual.

The director general ofthe BGB will visit Myanmarfrom June 9 and the ForeignOffice Consultations willalso be held on June 18 in

Dhaka, he said. “We are try-ing to expand the relationswith this close neighbour inmany spheres,” he said. Hecited the ongoing initiativesunder the proposedBangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economiccorridor and BIMSTECcooperation.

There was a ‘huge poten-tial’ for such co-operation,he said. He saidBangladesh was planning totake railway connectionsfrom Chittagong to theMyanmar border throughCox’s Bazar that wouldeventually connect Chinavia Myanmar. “We areadding new ideas in therelations”. But the foreign

minister preferred not todwell much on the borderissue. “We would do whatwould be needed,” he insist-ed. State Minister for HomeAsaduzzaman Khan Kamalearlier on Sunday said theskirmishes stemmed from“ m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g ”between the two borderforces. “The issues havenow been resolved,” he saidearlier in the morning.Kamal also hoped thatNaypyidaw would withdrawits troops from the border asthe tension had eased. “Thesituation is calm now andthe residents of the areahave nothing to be worriedabout,” he said in the morn-ing at his office.

Bangladesh still wants better ties with Myanmar: FM

RAB blamed formurder again

The elite police unitalready face similar chargesin Narayanganj andComilla. Personnel of RAB-14 ,including its command-ing officer (CO), have beendragged to theBrahmanbaria district courton Sunday by MehediHasan , who says his broth-er , businessman ShahnurAlam, was killed by them.Magistrate Najmun Naharwill deliver a verdict onwhether the request for filinga case by Hasan will beconsidered or not. MehediHasan alleged that RAB haddetained and murderedShahnur on April 29. Hisdead body was found onMay 6. Hasan mentionsRAB-14 CO Major A Z MSakib Siddiki and SubInspector (SI) Md EnamulHoq as responsible for themurder of his brother.

Defendant’s lawyerAbdus Sattar questionedplaintiff sub-inspector MdGolam Nawaj at the court ofFirst Additional MetropolitanJudge Jannatul Ferdous onSunday. After the hearingthe court set 6th August forthe next hearing. At thecourt, defendants’ lawyersought bail for threeaccused -- Munir Hossain,Abdul Mannan and TafsirAhmed. Additional PublicProsecutor Ashok Dassaid:”I have told the courtthat Mufti Izahar is on therun and the accused threewill do the same if they getbail.” Later, the court dis-missed the bail request.Defendants’ lawyer AbdusSattar told bdnews24.com,”During the hearing the plain-tiff told the court that he filedcase against nine peoplebased on information provid-ed by the injured now under-going treatment. AbdusSattar said that Mufti Izaharhad been framed becausehe declined the govern-

ment’s offer to take join theGrand Alliance. WitnessGolam Nawaj rubbishedSattar’s allegation. Policeproduced charge sheetagainst nine people includ-ing Mufti Izahar and his son, all booked under theExplosives Act in the courton April 6. Mufti Izahar firstgot bail from High Court; butthat was later cancelled anda fresh arrest warrant wasissued on March 27.In Oct 7last year, a huge explosionrocked the Jamayetul-Ulum-Al Islamia Madrasa atLalkhan Bazar of Chittagongin which at least five peoplewere injured.

Police questioned in Ctgmadrasa explosion case

Workers blockroad to protestmass lay-off

Workers of AmbiaGarments, owned and oper-ated by Ambia Group,demonstrated on Sudayafternoon at Badamtola ofAgrabad, clogging traffic onboth sides of the road,Industrial Police said.

Industrial PoliceInspector (Detective) ArifurRahman said the authoritieslaid 243 workers off. Theworkers only knew about thelay-off on Sunday morningwhen they came to the fac-tory and started protesting.

They had started protest-ing in front of the factory, butlater, from 1pm to 1:30pm,they staged a sit-in on thenearby road. Having beeninformed about the protest,the police cleared the road.

Inspector Rahman saidaround 600 workers hadbeen working at woven andknitting section of the facto-ry. Earlier, the authoritieshad closed knitting sectionand on Sunday morning theytemporarily suspended 243workers at the woven sec-tion.

FIJISUN 25sports June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

FIJISUN26 STAR AGEJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

SAGITTARIUSNOV 23-DEC 22

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FIJISUN 27afghan news June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

Obama welcomesrelease ofcaptured USsoldier

President BarackObama is welcomingthe release of thelone U.S. solider heldin Afghanistan, Sgt.Bowe Bergdahl.During an appear-ance on Saturday inthe Rose Garden, Mr.Obama said thatwhile Sgt. Bergdahlwas gone, “he wasnever forgotten.” Thepresident was joinedat the White House bythe soldier’s parents,Bob and JaniBergdahl. Sgt.Bergdahl was turnedover by the Talibanearlier Saturday inexchange for therelease of five Afghandetainees who wereheld at the U.S. prisonat Guantanamo Bay,Cuba. Mr. Obamasays the U.S. “doesnot ever leave ourmen and women inuniform behind.” Sgt.Bergdahl’s fatherthanked all those whotook part in his son’srecovery, saying itwas difficult to put hisfeelings into words.

Five pillars of old Taliban regimeT

he chilling biogra-phies of the Talibanprisoners released

from Guantanamo showthat America was com-pelled to release senior fig-ures to secure the return ofSgt Bowe Bergdahl.

All five were pillars ofthe old Taliban regime untilits downfall in 2001. Asrecently as 2008, more-over, all were officially clas-sified as “high risk”detainees who still threat-ened “the US, its interestsand allies”.

For good measure, themen were also assessed tobe of “high intelligencevalue”, according to theirPentagon files, later dis-closed by Wikileaks.

Khairullah Khairkhwa,perhaps the most senior ofthe quintet, helped to foundthe Taliban in 1994 andthen served as governor ofHerat province and interiorminister. His file allegesthat he was “directly asso-ciated” with both Osamabin Laden and MullahMohammed Omar, the“supreme commander” ofthe Taliban. MullahNorullah Noori command-ed Taliban forces duringthe US invasion in 2001and was personally impli-cated in the massacre ofAfghans from the Shiaminority. He was also“associated” with MullahOmar and “senior al-

Qaeda members”, accord-ing to his Pentagon file. In2008, American officialsthought that he “remaineda significant figure toTaliban supporters”.

As for MullahMohammad Fazl, the filesstate bluntly that he “wouldlikely rejoin the Taliban”and resume “hostilitiesagainst US and coalitionforces” if he was released.

Then there is Abdul HaqWasiq, once the Taliban’sdeputy intelligence ministerand a central figure in themovement’s alliance withal-Qaeda. His records saythat he was sufficientlyclose to bin Laden’s net-work to arrange for “al-Qaeda personnel to trainTaliban intelligence staff”.

Mohammad NabiOmari, the last of the freedquintet, was a Taliban com-mander who fought along-

side al-Qaeda in a joint unitcreated to resist the USinvasion. His file also linkshim to the Haqqani net-work, an extremist groupbased in Pakistan whichhas carried out ambitiousattacks in Afghanistan,notably on the US andIndian embassies.

Mohammad Nabi Omari,46, was a Taliban com-mander who served in ajoint unit with al-Qaeda toresist the US invasion in2001. His US governmentfile says that he “maintainedweapons caches and facili-tated the smuggling of fight-ers and weapons”. Lettingthese five walk free - even ifthe conditions of theirrelease are designed toprevent them from rejoiningthe struggle - will have beena wrenching decision forPresident Barack Obama.The recriminations began

yesterday with a joint state-ment from HowardMcKeon, the Republicanchairman of the HouseArmed ServicesCommittee, and SenatorJames Inhofe, the seniorRepublican on the Senate’sequivalent, warning that theprisoner exchange “mayhave consequences for therest of our forces and allAmericans” because “ourterrorist adversaries nowhave a strong incentive tocapture Americans”.

Mr Obama’s concern forSgt Bergdahl was surelysincere, but the signs arethat the president had morethan the fate of one man inmind when he decided topay this price. The WhiteHouse statement announc-ing the exchange hinted asmuch, voicing “hope” that“Sgt Bergdahl’s recoverycould potentially open the

door for broader discus-sions among Afghans”.

By demonstrating that achannel between Americaand the Taliban, via Qatar’smediation, is open andactive, this episode showsthat a negotiated settle-ment of Afghanistan’s con-flict might be possible asthe US and its allies pre-pare to leave.

All sides now have rea-sons to talk. The imminentdeparture of Hamid Karzaifrom Afghanistan’s presi-dency removes one obsta-cle to dialogue, while theTaliban know that all theirefforts to sabotage theelection of his successorhave failed.

The prisoner exchangewas “definitely” about morethan Sgt Bergdahl’s free-dom, said Prof MichaelClarke, the director generalof the Royal United

Services Institute. “The factthat the hurdle has nowbeen overcome and thereleases have taken placeindicates that there is achange of mood on bothsides,” he added.

But the price of a settle-ment would be the inclu-sion of the Taliban, in someform, in Afghanistan’s newpolity. “The Taliban thinkthey have earned a place inAfghanistan’s future gov-ernment, but they alsoknow that they made acomplete hash of it lasttime,” said Prof Clarke.“They know how unpopularthey are: they’re not fools.They know they can’t runAfghanistan - but they wantto have a place at thetable.” WhetherAfghanistan’s next presi-dent is willing to pay thatparticular price remains tobe seen.

Khairullah Khairkhwa Mullah Norullah Noori Abdul Haq Wasiq Mullah Mohammad Fazl Mohammad Nabi Omari

Britain’s wars in Iraqand southern Afghanistanwere both strategic failureswhich between them havecost the UK taxpayer morethan £29 billion, a respect-ed think tank has found.

An audit of British mili-tary campaigns since theend of the Cold War foundthe 2003 Iraq invasion andoccupation had helpedspread terrorism and led tothe deaths of at least100,000 Iraqis, while mak-ing refugees of at least twomillion.

Britain’s campaign inHelmand since 2006 hadalso seen violenceincrease and the opiumcrop soar, as British troopsstirred up resistance totheir foreign presence.

The two campaigns areby far the largest of 10conducted by Britishtroops since 1990 and nowcast a shadow over theUK’s military record andother, smaller and moresuccessful foreign inter-v e n t i o n s . C a m p a i g n sincluding the first Iraq War,Sierra Leone in 2000 andpeacekeeping in Bosniacould all be seen as suc-cesses, but the secondIraq campaign and theBritish push into Helmand“have been strategic fail-ures”. The 2011 Libyan

campaign could also turnout to have been a strate-gic failure if the countrycontinues to spiral out ofcontrol.

The study concludes“Far from reducing interna-tional terrorism … the2003 invasion [of Iraq] hadthe effect of promoting it.

"The rise of al-Qaeda inthe Arabian Peninsula(AQAP) was a reaction tothis invasion, and to theconsequent marginalisa-tion of Iraq's Sunni popula-tion.

"Today, AQAP and otherradical jihadist groups

stretching across the Iraqi-Syrian border, pose newterrorist threats to the UKand its allies that might nothave existed, at least inthis form, had Saddamremained in power."

In Afghanistan, whereBritain still has 5,000troops, the situation wasbetter, but little had beenachieved in many areasconsidering the vast sumsof money spent.

Prof Michael Clarke,RUSI’s director general,said part of the problemwas that Britain had triedto do too much with too

few troops and too littleequipment.

He said there was “aconspiracy of optimismthat produced both a politi-cal and a military hubristhat gave UK forces toomuch to do with too fewresources”.

Britain had also beenpart of huge coalitions,dominated by Americanmilitary might, whichmeant its own command-ers and politicians hadvery little say in overallstrategy.

The nation-buildingambitions of Iraq and

Afghanistan also contrast-ed with much more limitedgoals of earlier, more suc-cessful campaigns, RUSIfound.

Disillusion over Iraq andAfghanistan have left thepublic weary and scepticalof more campaigns, butProf Clarke said he didn’tthink Britain would end for-eign action altogether.

He said: “‘Allowing forthe disappointmentsinvolved in the secondphases of Iraq andAfghanistan, however, it isunlikely that we have seenthe last of UK expedi-tionary operations in thepresent era.”

The audit was releasedas President BarackObama announced the USwill keep 9,800 troops inAfghanistan after the endof this year, ending specu-lation he would withdrawall American forces byChristmas. The bulk of theUS soldiers will be taskedwith training the Afghansecurity troops while asmall contingent of com-mandos will continue raidsagainst al-Qaeda. "It's timeto turn the page on morethan a decade in which somuch of our foreign policywas focused on the wars inAfghanistan and Iraq," MrObama said.

Wars in Afghanistan were a costing £29bn

The little mountain town ofHailey in the rural state of Idahois readying a hero's welcome.

Its single shopping street islined with bright yellow balloonsand signs to greet SergeantBowe Bergdahl when he finallyreturns home after five longyears as America's only prisonerof war in Afghanistan.

"Bowe is free at last!" readsone banner. "Our prayers havebeen answered!"

At Zaney's coffee house,

where the 28-year-old workedbefore joining the military, well-wishers embrace and admire thelarge poster board covered in ahalf decade's worth of handwrit-ten messages of support. "Tothose of us in Hailey, Bowe iscertainly a hero," said SueMartin, the owner of Zaney's andSgt Bergdahl's former boss. Butbehind the scenes of small towncelebration is a darker and morecomplicated story about a youngsoldier who allegedly abandoned

his post after growing disillu-sioned with America's wars andthe potentially illegal deal struckby the White House to free him.Bowe Bergdahl was raised in acabin with no phone in Idaho'sWood River Valley, a sparse andrugged corner of the Americanwest. He and his sister werehome schooled by their father,Bob Bergdahl, an intensewoodsman who trained them toshoot and survive in the wild. Forthe last five years, Mr Bergdahl

has been a tireless campaignerfor his son's release, at timeslashing out in frustration atPresident Barack Obama andeven trying to contact the Talibandirectly on his own. Sgt Bergdahlis reportedly struggling to speakEnglish after five years in captiv-ity and his father caught MrObama's aides offguard onSaturday when he began tospeak Pashto before the televi-sion cameras at the WhiteHouse.

FIJISUN28 AFGHAN NEWSJune-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

Iraq violence

kills 799 peo-

ple in May: UN

The United Nations (UN)says violence has claimedthe lives of 799 Iraqis inMay, the highest monthlydeath toll so far this year.The figures issued onSunday by the UN mis-sion to Iraq (UNAMI) putlast month’s civilian deathtoll at 603, with 196 secu-rity forces killed. UNAMIadded that 1,409 otherIraqis, including 1,108,were wounded. Lastmonth’s death toll stood at750. It added that theworst-hit city was the capi-tal, Baghdad, with 315people killed. The north-ern province of Ninevahcame in second with 113killed, followed by nearbySalahuddin province with94. The figures excludedeaths in embattled Anbarprovince, where militantscontrol parts of two cities.Iraq is experiencing itsworst bloodshed sincesectarian violence nearlytore it apart following theUS-led invasion.

12 killed in

Afghan road-

side bombings

An Afghan official saysa roadside bombinghas hit two cars, killing12 civilians onSaturday morning inthe eastern Ghazniprovince, in Giro dis-trict. Shafiqullah Nang,the spokesman for theprovincial governor,says the casualtieswere all civiliansseven women, threechildren and two men.He says the victimswere travelling to awedding. No oneimmediately claimedresponsibility for theattack. Roadsidebombings are a majorthreat to both Afghansecurity forces andcivilians across thecountry. Such attackshave escalated as theTaliban intensify theircampaign ahead ofthe U.S.-led foreignforces’ withdrawal bythe end of 2014.

Al-Qaeda 'not defeated' in AfghanistanAl-Qaeda is not a spent

force in Afghanistan and isusing a shadow army tohide its true strength,according to testimony pre-sented by former Pentagonofficials and counter-terror-ism analysts to a USCongressional committee.

Thomas Joscelyn, asenior fellow at theFoundation for Defence ofDemocracies, said Osamabin Laden’s heirs had suc-cessfully hidden theirstrength as they spreadtheir influence throughoutthe Middle East.

As a result, Afghanistanrisks becoming a terroristhaven once again whenNato-led combat troopsleave the country this year.

His evidence contra-dicts repeated claims thatthe movement had been“decimated” – particularlyin Afghanistan – andBarack Obama’s publicassessment earlier thisyear that its current leaderswere junior varsity basket-ball players dressed up assuperstars of the NBA afterreplacing senior command-

ers killed in drone strikes orother actions.

“Part of the reasonthese assessments havebeen flawed is that al-Qaeda has a ‘deep bench’to draw from, both fromwithin its own organisationand allied groups,” said MrJoscelyn, pointing out thesecrecy of the movement’s

structure and personnel.“Al-Qaeda is constantly inthe process of recruitingnew talent as well.”

Other witnesses gavesimilar evidence to theHouse of Representativessubcommittee onTerrorism, Nonproliferationand Trade on Tuesday.

David Sedney, former

deputy assistant defencesecretary, said focusing onthe core al-Qaeda leader-ship missed the biggerstrategic picture, whichshowed the group asdecentralised.

"My view is that al-Qaeda, despite our tacticalcounter-terrorism success-es, continues to be a majorstrategic threat to theUnited States and itsallies,” he said. “Tomorrow,al-Qaeda will be an evengreater threat because ofits ongoing evolutions.”

Dismantling bin Laden'sterror network was a keygoal of the war inAfghanistan after 9/11.

Al-Qaeda’s network oftraining camps may belong gone but assessingthe movement’s remainingstrength and threatremains at the heart of akey policy debate.

Mr Joscelyn added thatal-Qaeda’s clandestinenetworks in Afghanistanincluded the Lashkar al Zil,or shadow army, a paramil-itary fighting force, as wellas a Pakistan-based terror-ist groups, such as thePakistan Taliban and theHaqqani network.

“Still, consistent report-ing shows that al-Qaeda'scommanders and fightersare pooling their resourceswith other organisations,”he said. “Al-Qaeda alsooperates an electronicsworkshop, headquarteredin Pakistan, that developsimprovised explosivedevices and otherweapons for use inAfghanistan."

Washington is still wait-ing for a defence agree-ment with Kabul setting outthe terms under whichabout 10,000 troops can

remain in the countrybeyond the end of the year.

President Hamid Karzaihas refused to sign, forcingAmerican officials to waituntil his successor is swornin after an election due inthe middle of June.

A clear assessment ofal-Qaeda and the Taliban’sremaining strength will becrucial to formulating thecomposition of the residualforce. Senior Nato com-manders are confident theyare winning the war againstthe Taliban, pointing outthat the insurgency hasfailed to retake ground andwas not able to launchmajor attacks during thefirst round of the presiden-tial election in April.However, they decline togive estimates of al-Qaedastrength. As if to under-score the remaining dan-ger in Afghanistan, Talibanfighters launched a stringof attacks acrossAfghanistan onWednesday. At least 10policemen and three civil-ians were killed, accordingto officials.

Despite death of Osama bin Laden and other senior leaders, al-Qaeda remains a

threat to American interests due to a “deep bench” and extensive links to other

terrorist groups, according to evidence presented to US Congress

Two Americans werewounded when a US con-sulate vehicle came underattack on Wednesday inAfghanistan’s north-westerncity of Herat, according toofficials. The incident, in anarea once considered rela-tively safe, came hours afterPresident Barack Obamaannounced plans to keep9800 American troops in thecountry after the end of theyear, before completing thedraw-down in 2016.

His announcement wasdismissed by the Taliban,which said the jihad wouldcontinue so long as a singleAmerican soldier remainedon Afghan soil. In a briefstatement, the US embassyin Kabul said the vehiclewas attacked while travel-ling on a main road in thesouthern part of the city.“Two Americans were lightlyinjured and are being treat-ed at the Spanish hospital inHerat,” it said. Local officialssaid a rocket-propelledgrenade had been fired inthe attack. Last week, gun-

men and suicide bomberslaunched an assault on theIndian consulate in the city.President Hamid Karzailater said Lashkar-e-Taiba, amilitant group based inPakistan, was to blame.Nato-led combat operationsare due to end this year, buta residual force of 9,800American troops will staybehind to train and advice

Afghan forces, according toMr Obama, who laid out atimetable for withdrawal onTuesday. The Taliban onWednesday said that wasnot fast enough. “Now thatObama has announced thathe will keep around 10,000troops until the end of 2016and continue their occupa-tion, Afghanistan IslamicEmirate condemns it and

considers it a violation ofsovereignty, religion andhuman rights,” said a state-ment, using the insurgents'name for the country. “Wehave always clearlyexpressed our stance thateven if one American soldieris in Afghanistan, it is notacceptable to our nation andJihad will continue againstthem.”

Two injured in rocket-propelled grenade attack

Bowe Bergdahl: a darker story behind the release of America's last prisoner of war

As someone who hasbeen very vocal in criti-cising the Bharatiya

Janta Party (BJP) – I have beencritical of the previous UPA gov-ernment’s policies too – andNarendra Modi, I was particular-ly restrained (self-censorship,you may call it) since May 16,when the BJP, under Modi, wona convincing mandate to rule thecountry for next five years. In thelast two weeks, I have beenthinking of writing a ‘reconciliato-ry’ piece and urge the Muslimleadership to not make the ‘his-torical mistake’ and try toengage with the new govern-ment in power for the bettermentof the community.

As I sit to write this article, Iam afraid there are not manypositive takeaways from the newgovernment, and if these are thesigns of things to come, the situ-ation really appears to be glum.

As the new governmenttakes shape, there are reportsfrom Karnataka of how right-wing Hindu organisations aredemanding a ban on the morn-ing calls for prayer, and another

group demanding a total ban onloudspeakers in mosques inMaharashtra. There were alsoreports of vandalism by jubilantmobs celebrating Modi’s victoryin Bijapur. These were all smallnews and hence did not reallycatch the attention of the nation-al media.

But in the light of the chau-vinistic government at the helm,at a time when you see the top-rung of the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS)and the Vishva Hindu Parishad(VHP), including SadhviRithambara, an accused in theBabri Masjid demolition case,and Indresh Kumar, alleged tobe a co-conspirator in theSamjhauta train blast case,seated along with other seersand spiritual leaders duringModi’s inauguration, such newscannot be ignored.

Modi’s gesture of invitingleaders of South AsianAssociation for RegionalCooperation (SAARC) coun-tries, particularly Pakistan PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif, wasseen by many as an overture to

reach out to Muslims, like hispolitical mentor LK Advani whovisited Jinnah’s grave to projecthimself as more inclusive, muchto ire of the RSS. SociologistDipankar Gupta tweeted on May26, “SAARC leaders were calledto legitimise, and give cover tothe invitation to Pakistan andsend comforting, positive signalsto Indian Muslims.”

In fact, in the first messageissued by the new prime minis-ter immediately after takingoath, he talked of “a strong,developed and inclusive Indiathat actively engages with theglobal community to strengthenthe cause of world peace anddevelopment”. But that is themost we heard in a cabinet thathas the full imprint of the RSS.One of the first controversiessurrounding the new govern-ment is the statement made byMinister of State Jitendra Singhon Jammu and Kashmir andArticle 370. The BJP had given aticket to veterinary surgeonSanjeev Kumar Balyan, whowas accused of participating inthe mahapanchayat and giving a

provocative speech that led tothe Muzaffarnagar riots lastyear. He has now been made aminister and already the theorythat he was framed has beguncirculating, like so many othersin the past. This is not the end,senior police officers accused ofbeing involved in extrajudicialkillings and false implications ofMuslim youth are being reinstat-ed in Rajasthan and Gujaratalready as former IntelligenceBureau (IB) chief Ajit Doval isslated to be National SecurityAdvisor (NSA) to Modi. Themost surprising was Modi’schoice of Dr Najma Heptullah asthe minority affairs minister. Tobe fair, Heptullah is a doctoratein cardiac anatomy from theUniversity of Denver, and thuseducationally most qualifiedamong the cabinet ministers.But that is not why she has beenappointed minister, or else shewould have been given a meati-er portfolio. She is the grand-niece of Maulana Abul KalamAzad and was in the Congressand the Rajya Sabha for a longtime. She has always been a

political nobody whom theCongress kept in the UpperHouse, where she later becamedeputy speaker.

In 2004, when several peo-ple were hoping for a comebackof the NDA government, sheswitched sides apparently afterdifferences with Sonia Gandhi.She had said she had been“humiliated” by the Congressleadership that has “movedaway from the ideology ofNehru, Azad, Patel and Gandhi”.One wonders if the party shechose follows their ideology,according to her. Heptullah hasbeen made a minister to rewardher decade of loyalty to theparty, clearly overlooking twoother more vocal Muslim faces,Shahnawaz Hussain, who lostthe election, and Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi. In 2006, the then UPAgovernment formed a new min-istry of minority affairs that hasbeen assigned the responsibilityof implementing minority welfareschemes. Clearly, Heptullah gotthis portfolio because of hername and because she belongsto a ‘minority’ community.

However, immediately afterassuming charge, in her firststatement as a minister, shesays Muslims are numericallytoo large to be called a minority,a line often taken by the RSSand its associates, though theConstitution too declaresMuslims a minority. Accordingto the 2001 census (data of reli-gion-based census of 2011 notyet out), Muslims comprise13.4% of the total populationwhile Hindus are over 80%, andthe remaining communitiestogether form just about 6% ofIndia’s population. Compare thisto the Tamils in Sri Lanka, where11.2% of the total population areSri Lankan Tamils while another4.2% are Tamils of Indian origin.74.9% of the people areSinhalese while the rest com-prise other smaller communitiesincluding Moors, Malays, etc.Thus, roughly 15.7% of the SriLankan population is a minority,for which not only Tamils buteven the current PM expressedhis concern and urged PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa to imple-ment the autonomy in spirit.

fiJisun 29iSlaM ToDay June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

Posted by Zia Shah

Sir Charles Darwintree of life Poster.Image credit: The

Open University (UK).

Written and collectedby Zia H Shah MD,Chief Editor of the

Muslim Times

Ibelieve that the theory ofevolution should be under-stood as three different

issues. Firstly, the commonancestry of all animals andplants, secondly, the mecha-nisms for evolution and thirdlywhether evolution is completelyblind or guided in some sense.The truth of some facts in evo-lution does not imply the truth ofevery thing under the umbrellaof evolution. The commonancestry of all animals andplants on our planet is a fact,which is beyond any doubt, forthose well versed in the field ofbiology, especially molecularbiology. One needs to have anuance position about evolutionto be perfectly enlightened. Theimplications that common line-age has for the Creator or lackthere of, is metaphysics and notscience and for discussing sci-ence, we should limit ourselvesto discussion of commonancestry.

Given the lack of informationand knowledge of the Muslimmasses, the Mullahs canchoose to say whatever catch-es their fancy. So, collectingtheir follies in this article willserve no useful purpose. But,here I want to highlight the shortcomings of the generallyrespected writers and Islamicscholars, who enjoy certain

popularity or have otherwisewritten well about religion ofIslam and about science andreligion.

However, many of them arenot knowledgeable about theissues of evolution, but, feelperfectly comfortable comment-ing about it, banking on theignorance and blind devotion oftheir followers.

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik(born 18 October 1965) is anIndian public speaker on thesubject of Islam andcompara-tive religion. He is the founderand president of the IslamicResearch Foundation(IRF),[1][2] He is sometimesreferred to as a televange-list.[3][4] Before becoming apublic speaker, he trained as amedical doctor.[4] He has pub-lished booklet versions of lec-tures on Islam and comparativereligion. Although he has pub-licly disclaimed sectarianism inIslam, he is regarded as anexponent of the Salafi ideolo-gy.[5][6][7]

Naik has said that the theoryof evolution is “only a hypothe-sis, and an unproven conjectureat best”.[22] According to Naik,most scientists “support the the-ory, because it went against theBible – not because it wastrue.”[23]

I link these videos todemonstrate dogmatic criticismby ZakirNaik, who would beginto look completely ignorant inlight of modern molecular biolo-gy, as it establishes commonancestry of all life forms onplanet earth.

The common ancestry of alllife forms on our planet is anestablished fact now, which isbeyond any doubt, in light of thelatest information, coming from

several fields of inquiry, espe-cially molecular biology.

I suggest two articles forthose who do not yet know ofthe merit of scientific evidencein this regard:

Biogeography: One of thebest proofs for Darwin-Wallacetheory of evolution

Molecular Biology: ACheckmate to Creationism

May I suggest that theMuslim scholars will read morebefore commenting on scientificissues or at least seek expertadvice.

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri(Urdu: یرداقلارہاطدمحم) (born19 February 1951) is aPakistani politician, former lawprofessor and Sufi Islamicscholar.[3][4] He was a formerprofessor of international con-stitutional law at theUniversityof the Punjab.[5] Qadri is alsothe founding chairman ofMinhaj-ul-Quran International.

Here is what Prof. TahirulQadari has to say about theo-ry of evolution:

Adnan Oktar (born 1956),also known as HarunYahya,[1]is a Turkish author referred toas “the biggest propagator ofijaz literature“[2] as well as anIslamic creationist.[3] In 2007,he sent thousands of unsolicit-ed copies of his book, Atlas ofCreation,[4] which advocatesIslamic creationism, toAmerican scientists, membersof Congress, and sciencemuseums.[5] Oktar runs twoorganizations of which he isalso the Honorary President:BilimAraştırmaVakfı (literally,“Science ResearchFoundation”, BAV, established1990), which promotes cre-ationism andMilliDeğerleriKorumaVakfı (liter-

ally, “National ValuesPreservation Foundation”,established 1995) which worksdomestically on a variety of“moral issues.”

HarunYahya in his other-wise useful book titled,Creation of the Universe, alsocommits the error of denying ofevolution of ape-like animalsinto humans, which in light oflatest findings in molecular biol-ogy and genetics is beingincreasingly recognized, as afact in scientific circles. Yahyawrites: The subject most oftenbrought up by advocates of thetheory of evolution is the sub-ject of the origin of man. TheDarwinist claim holds that manevolved from so called ape-likecreatures. During this allegedevolutionary process, which issupposed to have started 4-5million years ago, some “transi-tional forms” between man andhis imaginary ancestors aresupposed to have existed.According to this completelyimaginary scenario, four basic“categories” are listed:

1. Australopithecus2. Homo habilis3.Homo erectus4. Homo sapiensEvolutionists call man’s so-

called first ape-like ancestorsAustralopithecus, which means“South African ape.” These liv-ing beings are actually nothingbut an old ape species that hasbecome extinct. Extensiveresearch done on variousAustralopithecus specimens bytwo world famous anatomistsfrom England and the USA,namely, Lord Solly Zuckermanand Prof. Charles Oxnard,shows that these apesbelonged to an ordinary apespecies that became extinct

and bore no resemblance tohumans. HarunYahya’s dog-matic denial of relationshipbetween apes and humanbeings exposes only his igno-rance, specifically in the domainof genetics and molecular biolo-gy.

All the proofs that creation-ists offer for the improbabilitiesthat have gone into making ouruniverse biophyllic or in the cre-ation of individual life forms ororgans can serve only as argu-ment for guided evolution, oncethe similarities are shown ingenetic materials of closelyrelated animals including apesand human beings. These sim-ilarities not only exist in thegenome but extend to all pro-teins and other constituents oflife, which have been examinedso far.

Prof. James Al Khalili writesin an article, It’s time to heraldthe Arabic science that prefig-ured Darwin and Newton:

We read in most accounts ofthe history of science that thecontribution of the ancientGreeks would not be matcheduntil the EuropeanRenaissance and the arrival ofthe likes of Copernicus andGalileo in the 16th century. The1,000-year period sandwichedbetween the two is dismissedas the dark ages. But the scien-tists and philosophers whomMa’mun brought together, andwhom he entrusted with hisdreams of scholarship and wis-dom, sparked a period of scien-tific achievement that was justas important as the Greeks orRenaissance, and we cannotsimply project the Europeandark ages on to the rest of theworld.

He specifically writes about

a Muslim Zoologist:But what surprises many

even more is that a ninth-centu-ry Iraqi zoologist by the name ofal-Jahith developed a rudimen-tary theory of natural selection athousand years before Darwin.In his Book of Animals, Jahithspeculates on how environmen-tal factors can affect the charac-teristics of species, forcingthem to adapt and then pass onthose new traits to future gener-ations.

Yusuf Estes (born in 1944)is an American Muslim preach-er and teacher who convertedfrom Christianity to Islam in1991. He was a MuslimChaplain for the United StatesBureau of Prisons through the1990s.[1] He was a Muslim del-egate to the United NationsWorld Peace Conference forReligious Leaders held at theU.N. in September 2000.[1]

Active in Islamic missionarywork in the United States, Estesis often featured as guest pre-senter and keynote speaker atvarious Islamic events as wellas frequently appearing on var-ious Islamic satellite TV chan-nels. Estes was named as the#1 Islamic Personality of theYear at the Dubai InternationalHoly Quran Award ceremony on8 August 2012.[2]

Let us remember that theHoly Prophet Muhammad, maypeace be on him, said: Toacquire knowledge is the dutyof every Muslim man andwoman.

The ink of the scholar is holi-er than the blood of the martyr.

So, every Muslim shouldseek knowledge and hesitate tomake tall, dogmatic claims,without studying the issues athand, in some depth.

Exposing Creationism of ZakirNaik, TahirulQadari, Yusuf Estes and HarunYahya

Are there Any tAkeAwAys for MusliMs froM the Modi governMent?

FIJISUN30 June-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

FIJISUN 31June-2014www.fijisun-usa.com

FIJISUN32 June-2014 www.fijisun-usa.com

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