GroundReport.com

Armenia: Domestic Abuse Proposal Abandoned

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:47:38 -0500

After years of drafting text and consulting with officials, women’s group finds that its proposal to protect victims and punish abusers has been abandoned.

By Mary Aleksanyan

The Armenian government has rejected a draft law that would define the nature of domestic violence and set out mechanisms to punish perpetrators and help victims.

The decision has disappointed activists who spent years preparing the bill, and who insist that specific legislation is needed to address issues where current laws are failing.

Over 760 cases of domestic violence were recorded in Armenia last year, including five where women were killed by their husbands. Activists say the statistics represent only a fraction of the true numbers.

The Women’s Rights Centre in Armenia began the drafting process in 2007, and submitted a proposed law to the labour and social affairs ministry two years later. After two highly-publicised cases where wives were murdered by their husbands, the government turned its attention to the law, and set up a special working group in 2011. (See Slow Progress on Domestic Violence Law on hopes that the document would eventually make it into law.)

Now Armenia’s deputy labour minister, Filaret Berikyan, says the justice ministry, police, prosecutors and judges have described the law as unenforceable.

“All the institutions involved with justice say the justice system is not suited to this new law. We don’t have the kind of justice system that can implement the law in this form,” he said, adding that a legal expert had warned that such a law would “create more problems than it solves”.

Berikyan suggested that ongoing revisions to the current criminal statutes would effectively meet the same needs that the domestic abuse bill was trying to address.

“The prime minister has already proposed amendments to four codes [on crimes and penalties] to lay down mechanisms for responding to and preventing domestic violence,” he said.

Indicating that government officials might still revive the bill if the revisions proved inadequate, Berikyan said, “Before we can pass a separate law, we need to work on society and gradually prepare it so that it becomes possible to pass the law in future.”

Advocates of the bill say that at the moment, there is no legal mechanism that enables police to identify victims of domestic violence. The legislation would seek to protect victims by banning assailants from approaching them or entering their homes, even when the property belongs to the offender.

Officials say that under current laws governing the police, it would be illegal for law-enforcement officers to prevent owners accessing their own property.

Oliver McCoy, democratisation programme manager at the OSCE office in Yerevan, said he had been impressed by the efforts made to introduce the bill, and surprised by its rejection.

“However, the OSCE, which I represent, respects the government’s decision and understands the situation,” he added. “The country is implementing serious legal reforms and, if the draft were adopted, it would impose the necessity of implementing further changes in other laws.”

For supporters of a separate law, the argument that it is incompatible with other legislation does not hold water.

Lara Aharonyan, head of the Women’s Resource Centre, said the same institutions that were now criticising the bill had representatives sitting on the working group that drafted it, and had never informed her of possible clashes, or of changes in wording that would help avoid them.

David Amiryan, deputy director of Open Society Foundations – Armenia, agreed that it was very late in the day to be raising fundamental objections.

“Was this law drawn up over several years, finalised, and submitted for consideration just so that state officials would realise that it did not match existing legislation and needed to be done differently?” he asked. “Were state resources being spent for nothing all this time?”

A group of civil society groups has sent President Serzh Sargsyan a letter with more than 1,300 signatures appended, warning him that abandoning the bill would send out exactly the wrong message.

“The government has made it plain to the Armenian public and the wider world that preventing domestic violence is not seen as an important problem,” the statement said. “We now believe that the government lacks the political will to pass this law, but that it’s constantly flirting with it in order to win time, as it doesn’t want to go against the obligations it has assumed in international conventions.”

The decision has reignited an old debate about whether Armenia needs to legislate on domestic abuse at all.

Margaret Yesayan, a member of parliament from the ruling Republican Party, denied that violence in the home was widespread enough to warrant this kind of action.

“We have many laws that deal with domestic violence in one way or another. It’s clearly possible to find a solution within the framework of existing legislation,” she said.

Naira Zohrabyan of the opposition Prosperous Armenia party rejected that argument, insisting that not only was the law essential, but that a great deal of work would then be needed to change public attitudes.

“The problem of domestic violence is deeply rooted in our national traditions. A woman suffering abuse doesn’t want to go to the police, as she believes she will be condemned by her own relatives,” she said. “Legislation would bring the problem into the legal domain, but no law will solve things unless our own mindset changes.”

Mary Aleksanyan is editor of the Human Rights in Armenia website.

Source: IWPR

Link:iwpr.net/report-news/domestic-abuse-law-dumped-armenia

Big Gap Between Scientists and American Public on Climate Change

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:53:01 -0500

Scientists and the American public has differing views when it comes to global climate change, with the issue appearing more straightforward in the eyes of scientific experts than it does to the average American. Results from a Media and Public Opinion Research Group (MPO) survey last year show that while most Americans do believe that climate change is happening, many remain unconcerned.

Almost half of all respondents believe global warming is caused by human activity and are concerned about it. 10.1% also believe that global warming is caused by human activity, but are not concerned about it. Around one fifth believe that global warming is happening, but that it is a natural occurrence, and 15% of respondents do not believe climate change is happening.

Scientists’ views are not as varied as the public’s. A meta-study examining 4,000 scientific abstracts found that of those abstracts expressing an opinion, 97% of them endorsed the idea that climate change is affected by human activity.

Partisan Disagreement

Unsurprisingly, Democrats and Republicans are far from in agreement on the issue. The politicization of climate change is obvious with even a cursory following of American politics, and survey findings compound the evidence.

Democrats are the most concerned, with the majority believing global warming is caused by human activity and worried about it. Less than a quarter of Republicans are worried about human activity resulting in climate change.

Republicans are most likely to believe that global warming is caused by human activity while remaining unconcerned about it—14.9% compared to 8.8% of Democrats and 7% of Independents. Republicans are also the biggest climate change skeptics: over a quarter do not believe in global warming, compared to only 2.3% of Democrats.

Findings are based on a poll of 474 participants in June 2012. The margin of error is 4.5% and at a 95% confidence level.

Kashmiri migrant boy Missing from Faridabad

Thu, 23 May 2013 04:23:10 -0500

A 17 years Kashmir migrants boy Rishab Razdan (Goldy) son of Rajesh Razdan resident of Faridabad has been missing from his home since May 17, 2013 morning. In this context, any clue or information about Rishab Razdan can contact on these mobile numbers 9711442710, 9212051096, 9818037552 and 9810290315.

Tajiks, Kyrgyz Contend With Frontier Issues

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:35:49 -0500

Recent clash shows how niggling resentments can suddenly explode.

By Altynai Myrzabekova, Nargis Hamrabaeva - Central Asia

RCA Issue 702,

21 May 13

When Tajikistan’s president Imomali Rahmon holds talks in Kyrgyzstan next week, a recent clash on the border between the two states will be high on the agenda.

The incident took place last month in Vorukh, an area of land that belongs to Tajikistan but is enclosed within Kyrgyzstan’s southern Batken region, part of the Fergana Valley that cuts across three Central Asian states.

On April 27, an argument between Vorukh residents and Kyrgyz labourers working on a road escalated into a fight involving several hundred people. Kyrgyz police said several of their nationals were injured, while the Tajiks said two of their police officers needed hospital treatment.

Mamatjan Berdishev, spokesman for the Batken provincial government, explained that Vorukh residents objected to a new 17-kilometre road bypassing the enclave. The road will link the Kyrgyz village of Aksai to its pasture lands, and Berdishev said a decision to go round the enclave was taken after villagers complained that their animals were going missing when they drove them through Vorukh.

“This road will be used only to drive livestock to the grasslands. It isn’t asphalted for use by trucks,” he said.

Medet Tulegenov, a political analyst from the Kyrgyz capital who visited the area after the incident, told IWPR, that Vorukh residents resented the road because they felt it would compound their problems, which he described as “overpopulation and shortage of agricultural and pasture land”. With 30,000 inhabitants, Vorukh is more densely populated than the Kyrgyz areas around it.

“The Tajik nationals living in the enclave see it as a threat, because a road is being built with a barbed-wire fence alongside it,” Tulegenov said. “How will they be able to graze their animals?”

On May 4, local government officials from either side of the border agreed a set of measures to provide security and prevent a repetition of conflict.

Simultaneously, experts from a joint Tajik-Kyrgyz government commission held a meeting, but they failed to agree even on the correct maps for discussing issues concerning the enclave. Each side has its own maps, dating from different periods, and these do not agree on where the boundary line around Vorukh should run.

While Berdishev said the maps indicated that the road would run 500 metres inside Kyrgyz territory, a community leader in Vorukh, Abdughaffor Ghoibov, told Asia Plus news agency said the correct maps showed that the area was located on Tajik territory.

Interviewed by IWPR, Ghoibov said that since the clashes, the local Kyrgyz were stopping Tajiks from Vorukh from grazing their animals on shared pasture land.

Berdishev said local officials, both Kyrgyz and Tajik, were doing all they could to calm tensions and ensure people could move across the borders safely. Work on the road had stopped pending a formal demarcation of territory.

The head of Kyrgyzstan’s border guards service, Tokon Mamytov, said that while both national governments were committed to finding solutions and agencies like his own worked well with their Tajik counterparts, the same cooperative attitude was not universal.

“Unfortunately the [joint] expert group… did not arrive at an effective outcome. It’s now hard for me to say how this problem is going to be resolved,” he said.

Tensions in border areas were not new, Mamytov continued, noting that communities had always disagreed about the use of water, pasture and farmlands, particularly during the sowing and harvest seasons.

The difference now, Mamytov said, was that “any conflict assumes a political dimension”.

A Tajik border official who asked to remain anonymous agreed on this point. Since the two states became independent in 1991, he said, long-standing frictions between communities had become more formal disputes between citizens of different states, carrying a higher risk of conflict.

Resentments commonly centre on land ownership, access to pasture, and the use of shared water resources.

Ghoibov, for example, believes that in recent decades, the Kyrgyz living around Vorukh have “laid claim to substantial parts of our land and behave like its rightful owners”. A common complaint among Kyrgyz residents of Batken, meanwhile, is that Tajiks have been buying up houses and land, creating the risk that whole areas could be reassigned to Tajikistan when the border demarcation is finally agreed.

Such frictions become more likely when so much of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border is not clearly defined.

The Tajik border official said there were still 80 areas under dispute. “The situation is most tense in the Tajik enclave of Vorukh,” he added.

Events in Vorukh unfolded in a very similar way to a clash that took place in January in Sokh, another enclave in southern Kyrgyzstan, but belonging to Uzbekistan rather than Tajikistan. Once again, the trouble started when residents confronted Kyrgyz workers, in this case laying an electricity line.

Because the Kyrgyz government’s relationship with Uzbekistan is worse than that with Tajikistan, the response was a lockdown of border crossings that has not yet fully eased. (See Enclave Issues Challenge Uzbek, Kyrgyz Leaders.) By contrast, after the more recent Kyrgyz-Tajik incident, officials from both countries made efforts to keep border checkpoints open and allow traffic to move freely.

Mamytov said the main institutions in Kyrgyzstan – the president, government, parliament, local authorities and border agency – all wanted to see issues with Tajikistan resolved.

The key to success, he said, was compromise and gradual solutions, rather than “just banging your fist on the table”.

“Everything must be 50-50. If you concede 70 per cent here, the other side must give 70 per cent somewhere else,” he added.

Altyna Myrzabekova and Nargis Hamrabaeva are IWPR contributors in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan respectively.

Source: IWPR

Link:iwpr.net/report-news/tajiks-kyrgyz-grapple-frontier-issues

Nicaraguans Support Law Protecting the Integrity of Women

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:26:59 -0500

Written by Norman Garcia · Translated by Marianna Breytma

In April, a campaign called “I Support Law 779″ was launched on social networks to demand that a law protecting the physical, psychological and moral integrity of women be respected. The campaign consisted of writing a supportive phrase, taking a photo with the phrase, and uploading it with the tag #yoapoyolaley779 ^[1] [es] (#ISupportLaw779).

Law 779, or the Integral Law Against Violence Towards Women ^[2] [es], was approved in Nicaragua on January 26, 2012, and went into effect in June of the same year.

The law prohibits mediation between victims and aggressors, independent of the type of aggression. Starting in March, this aspect of the law has provoked religious leaders and members of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) to promote reforms to the law, claiming that mediation can exist in cases where the sentence is less than five years.

The first people to gather in protest to reject said reform, by considering it unconstitutional, were the members of the Democratic Association of Lawyers in Nicaragua (Adanic), who called together their unionizers and citizenry in general to demand that the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) resolve the appeals against Law 779.

Carlos Lucas ^[4] [es] writes about the law on his blog:

No es perfecta y ni siquiera revolucionaria y aunque llega algo tarde, tomando en cuenta el enorme daño físico, vidas, estado sicológico de las mujeres y sus familias, que había venido provocando su vacío, pero la puesta en marcha de la Ley 779 o Ley Integral contra la Violencia hacia las Mujeres de Nicaragua, comienza a sacudir- y más si se si aplica firmemente- nuestra forma de pensar y conceptos sobre familia, matrimonio, unión de pareja, hogar, felicidad, armonía familiar, amor, etc.

Tan es así, que sobre esta Ley 779, apenas dictada en el 2012, ya hay en Nicaragua, toda una reaccionaria conspiración contra algunos de esos avances en el tema de la violencia contra la mujer.

It is not perfect and would not even revolutionize anything and although it has arrived a bit late, taking into account the enormous physical harm, the lives, the psychological state of women and their families, which had come provoking its void, the start up of Law 779 or the Integral Law Against Violence Towards Women in Nicaragua, is beginning to shake up – and more so if applied firmly – our way of thinking and concepts of family, marriage, civil union, home, happiness, familial harmony, love, etc.

It is so much so that, with regards to Law 779, which was only enacted in 2012, there is already an entire reactionary conspiracy in Nicaragua against some of the advances in the field of violence against women.

At the start of May, Bishop Abelardo Mata made statements to the media comparing Law 779 with the Anti-Christ, adding that this new law is separating families by not permitting mediation between the aggressor and the victim. The bishop's declarations provoked reaction from the public on social networks once again.

Feminist group La Corriente ^[5] [es] created a video dedicated to Bishop Mata, where four activists from the feminist movement are featured doing a parody of Yuri's song “Maldita Primavera”:

Additionally, activists on social networks began the campaign “Watch out, #BishopMata!” Rodrigo Rodriguez ^[6] [es] writes the following on his blog:

¿Es la ley 779 REALMENTE tan grave para el sistema de justicia -pensemos por un momento que nuestro sistema de justicia es bien aplicado, sólo para ejemplificar esto- y el ejercicio de los derechos humanos en nuestro país, como para compararla con el significado del anticristo, entendido desde una visión cristiano-católica como un adversario decisivo del hijo de Dios (ese ser invisible, omnipresente, todopoderoso que controla y decide nuestro destino)?

En serio… ¿en realidad es tan grave?

Is Law 779 REALLY that serious for the justice system — let's think for a moment that our justice system is well implemented, just to exemplify this — and the exercise of human rights in our country, to compare it to the meaning of the antichrist, understood from a Christian-Catholic vision as a decisive adversary of the son of God (this invisible, omnipresent, all-powerful being that controls and decides our destiny)?

Really… is it that serious in reality?

Blog 24 Pieces of Craziness published another video ^[7] [es] made by the group Youths for Law 779, where they sing the same song that La Corriente dedicated to Bishop Mata:

According to the document “Why do I defend Law 779?” ^[8] [es], elaborated upon by the Catholics for the Right to Choose movement:

En Nicaragua las cifras de Violencia Intrafamiliar y Sexual registradas en las Comisarías de la Mujer,han venido incrementándose anualmente de 31759 en 2009 a 34763 en 2010. El Instituto de Medicina Legal IML refleja en el 2012, la realización de 5371 peritajes, de las cuales 4726 fueron realizados a mujeres y 642 fueron realizados a hombres (en este último caso, los agresores son hombres incluidos los agentes estatales).

In Nicaragua, numbers from Domestic and Sexual Violence registered in Police Stations for Women have been continuously increasing annually from 31,759 in 2009 to 34,763 in 2010. The Institute for Legal Medicine (IML) reflects in 2012 the completion of 5371 reports, of which 4726 came from women and 642 from men (in this last case, the aggressors are men, including state agents).

Furthermore the document adds that “every year more than 80 women in Nicaragua are murdered as a result of extreme violence that is exercised against them.”

Future Tajik Political Force Detained

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:13:07 -0500

Former minister Zayd Saidov faces a range of charges a month after he launched a political party.

By Abdumalik Kadirov

A month after launching a new political party in Tajikistan, former industry minister Zayd Saidov has been arrested. His prosecution looks like a way of stopping him in his tracks before he can build up enough power to present a challenge to the current system.

Saidov, 55, was taken into custody early on May 19 as he returned home from a foreign trip.

Launched on April 9, his party, called New Tajikistan, did not position itself as an opposition force, and made it clear it would not be fielding a candidate to stand against President Imomali Rahmon in this autumn’s election. Instead, it is focused on the interests of the emerging business class, and as such should have been uncontroversial.

Nonetheless, the authorities quickly moved against Saidov, accusing him of two offences at once – embezzlement and polygamy. The state anti-corruption agency alleges that a construction firm partly owned by Saidov stole about 400,000 US dollars from city funds while it was building the Dushanbe Plaza, the capital’s tallest structure to date.

When the criminal investigations were made public on May 11, Saidov was in France. He denied the theft, saying the matter had been resolved. On the polygamy accusations, he said he had one wife, but took care of children he had with other women.

In a May 20 briefing, the anti-corruption agency detailed another allegation – that Saidov had accepted a 100,000-dollar bribe in a privatisation deal he handled as minister in 2005. Saidov denied this charge, too.

The timing of these charges makes them look like a determined effort to sink the ambitions of a man with the makings of a powerful political player – an inside knowledge of Tajikistan’s ruling elite, independent wealth, support among the business class, and good connections with the Russian establishment.

The criminal charges were announced a day after the New Tajikistan party gave a press conference saying Saidov had received warnings, by phone and through an intermediary, that he should stay away from politics. A report linking him to an Islamist guerrilla leader, Mullo Abdullo, who was killed two years ago, was also distributed to media outlets.

Saidov refused to be cowed by the campaign against him, and promised to pursue his political activity “whatever the cost”. That cost seems to have come swiftly, in the shape of formal prosecution.

As a regime insider until recently, Saidov was one of the few political survivors of a remarkable compact that ended the 1992-97 civil war in Tajikistan. He sided with the United Tajik Opposition during the conflict, and came over as part of a deal that saw rebel guerrillas disarm while their leaders were given a one-third share of government posts.

Over time, most of these opposition figures were edged out of positions of power, but Saidov showed he was able to work with Rahmonov and his circle, and was accepted into the fold.

An economist by background, he held various government jobs until his term as industry minister in 1999-2006. He now chairs a grouping of business associations.

Setting up a niche political party is not necessarily a recipe for trouble. Tajikistan already has a similar group, the Party of Economic Reforms, also set up by a former minister.

Saidov presents more of challenge because his business interests have given him the kind of financial resources that most established opposition parties lack.

Second, he has the potential to win support at home and abroad. He is popular among entrepreneurs, intellectuals and educated young people, who are chafing at the control exerted by Rahmon’s inner circle over both politics and the economic sphere.

He is also linked to Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloev, a veteran politician who is both mayor of Dushanbe and speaker of the upper house of parliament. Ubaidulloev is seen by some as the second most powerful figure in Tajikistan and a possible successor to Rahmon.

Finally, Saidov has extensive contacts with the Russian elite, nurtured both during his time in government and through his business activities.

Russia retains massive influence in Tajikistan as economic sponsor, security ally, and host to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from the country. But the political relationship is fraught at times, and as the presidential election approaches, there has been speculation in both the Tajik and Russian press that Moscow is unhappy with Rahmon’s leadership and might be looking to back a viable replacement. The New Tajikistan party might have served as the vehicle for such a figure.

Following his arrest, Saidov’s options look limited. Whatever the outcome, legal proceedings will distract him from growing his political party, and members are likely to be pressured to defect. He might be convicted and have his assets confiscated. Alternatively, he might have an opportunity to flee the country and set up opposition abroad.

Abdumalik Kadirov is IWPR Tajikistan Country Director.

Source: IWPR

Link:iwpr.net/report-news/emerging-force-tajik-politics-arrested

Why I'm Voting NO Against the 2014 Budget for the Dobbs Ferry Free Union School

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:34:05 -0500

For the first time ever, I am voting against the proposed $40M budget of the Dobbs Ferry Free Union School District. My NO vote is a protest against rising benefit costs, especially pension costs. I understand that pension policy is set in Albany, not in Dobbs Ferry, but I have run out of ways to express my frustration.

The only really significant increase in the the school budget this year is pension costs. They increased in one year by $1M of 37% or $800 per student.

Our elected officials in Albany, Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Tom Abinanti, will point to Tier VI pension reform which was passed in 2012. But Tier VI doesn't solve the pension cost explosion. Instead, It perpetuates a failed concept: defined benefit plans as an entitlement. Our Democratic representatives need to change the political dialogue from entitlements to social nets. Defined pension plans should only provide a pension floor -- an income stream that protects the participant from living below the median income of the surrounding community. Everything above that floor should be provided as a defined contrbution plan paid with current cash, not accruals and assumptions. That is the way Social Security works in combination with an IRA.

The current system of defined pension plans was designed by corporate executives to shift employee costs from the present to the future. Better to give a pension promise than a cash wage increase. Defined pension plans increased near-term executive bonuses at the expense of the long-term viability of the corporation. Since most businesses survive less than the term of the pension promise, executive reasoned that a significant potion of the defined pension promise would not be paid. The General Motors bankruptcy is a case in point. In the GM bankruptcy executives lost their pensions in excess of median income or about $50,000 per year. This is because ERISA, a 1974 Federal law that protects private defined benefit plans, has as its guiding principal a Federal guarantee of defined pension payments only up to the median income level, and no more. This is an example of a social net, in juxtaposition to an entitlement.

The other problem with define benefit plans is that the future benefit obligations are costed at the time of grant based on faulty assumptions. And the professionals validating the assumptions know that the assumptions are fudged at the time, but they are paid to confirm them.

For example, life expectancy assumptions that underestimate longevity because they are based on backward looking data. Investment assumptions as high was 10% per year based on academic studies instead of real investment return data. Salary and inflation escalators that are low-balled. All of these faulty assumption lead to chronic underfunding. Private defined benefit plans are said to be underfunded by $500B and public sector funds somewhere between $1T and $3T.

Whether the underfunding is private or public, filling the gap will always fall back on the taxpayer. And that is why taxpayers have to vote NO and force a change in pension policy.

In the case of New York, it is time to take decisive action, We need to collapse all the current pension tiers in a new TIER VII that caps defined pension benefits at median income. All benefits above the median income level would need to be handled by cash contribution to plans like 401K's and IRA's. We need to change defined benefit pension promises from an entitlement to a social net.

Collapsing the current pension tier into a new tier will require the State to pay cash lump sums to current beneficiaries to make up the value difference between the old tiers and the new tier. These cash payments would be significant but they would be a one-time event that could be managed.

It is also likely that collapsing the old pension tiers into a new tier would violate the Contract Clause of Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution, "No State shall enter into any ... Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts". But a constitutional challenge to such a contractual reset/retrade would be positive because in the process the public would be educated about the failing of the current pension system.

The US economy is currently being held back by excessive and unaffordable pension obligations related to defined benefit plans. Public pension costs are undermining real estate values because property taxes are increasing faster than incomes. Escalating property taxes are destroying wealth by marginalizing real estate as a store of value.

The country has a choice. Fix the problem one painful bankruptcy at a time or make a major policy change.

That is why I am going to vote against a school budget for the first time in my life.

Philippine Senators-elect Proclamation Invalid-Constitutionalist

Sun, 19 May 2013 06:32:11 -0500

The senators-elect, as proclaimed by the Commission on Elections or COMELEC, is invalid according to a lawyer and constitutionalist.

In an interview with Bombo Radyo, Atty Edgar Avila, a constitutionalist and former Dean of the SLU College of Law, said proclaiming winners when the vote count is incomplete is a violation to a 1968 Supreme Court ruling. "It is invalid and unconstitutional," he noted. The rule stated incomplete vote count "is illegal and cant be a basis of subsequent proclamation." Avila added that vote count must be complete 100 percent before a proclamation can be done since the number of votes the candidate garnered will appear on the certificate of proclamation. The certificates given the the proclaimed winners don't have the number of votes obtained.

The COMELEC, who now serve as the National Board of Canvassers or NBOC, has only tallied 113, not even half of the 304 certificates of canvass when the office made the proclamation.

Though the top six, who were already proclaimed and eventually followed by another three, may not change, Avila explained the election result may change especially to those candidates who have narrow gaps as the tally continues. He also added the office is just pressured since they were unable to complete the tally in two days as they promised before the election commenced.

COMELEC chief Sixto Brillantes may not face charges in court but Avila noted it is a valid ground for impeachment as it violates the law, the constitution and the public servants' code of ethics.

Govt believes holistic development, political emancipation of the people: Sagar

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:43:15 -0500

Srinagar, May 18 (Scoop News)- Maintaining that the government believes in holistic development of the State, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Ali Mohammad Sagar has said that several welfare programmes have been launched in this regard and the people at the grass root level have been involved in day-to-day governance.

The Minister was interacting with scores of deputations at Nawai-Subh here today as a part of the programme whereby several ministers and leaders would be meeting deputations from different parts of the state to solve and redress the grievances of the people.

MLA, Amira Kadal and Provincial President, Kashmir, Nasir Aslam Wani and several MLAs and senior functionaries of the party were present.

Sagar said that the people should understand that the National Conference (NC) has always projected the cause of the people of the state without giving preference to the personal interests. He said that history stands testimony to the fact that the party has rendered enumerable sacrifices for the interest of the state and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Asking the people not to pay heed to the divisive and malicious propaganda of certain political parties, the Minister said that it is evident to everybody that these parties have always acted against the interests of the people giving preference to their personal gains. He said that the people should understand the nefarious designs and ulterior motives of them and rally behind NC which stands for the proper political and social emancipation of the state.

The Minister said that the government in order to involve the people in day-to-day governance and policy implementation has introduced several landmark Acts like Right to Information, Public Services Guarantee which have ensured transparency and effective service delivery to the people. “These have ensured that the common man can get the requisite information and delivery of essential services like PHE, PDD, Revenue etc within the stipulated time frame and the officer / officials trying to create delay in the same would be penalize”, he maintained.

Sagar said that by holding Panchayat elections and putting in place a vibrant Panchayati Raj System the democratic decentralization of powers has been ensured. He said we have fully empowered the PRIs with the powers of 14 vital departments which is a watershed in the political emancipation of the people and they can now effectively contribute their bit in day-to-day governance, policy implementation and formulation as well.

'LEGITIMATE' TARGET?- THE KILLIING FIELDS OF KASHMIR

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:26:21 -0500

‘LEGITIMATE’ TARGET?

Though married to a Policeman, the wife of Farooq Ahmad Sheikh was never worried about the safety of her husband. And, she had good reasons not to worry- because even though an ASI in the J&K Police, her husband was serving in the traffic department and was not involved in fighting militants. Thus, she was convinced that Sheikh was in no danger of coming to harm in encounters or becoming a potential target of militant reprisals directed against the ‘anti- militant operation’ group of the Police.

But she was wrong - for on May 10, an unarmed Sheikh who was on ‘law and order’ duty of regulating traffic at Rajpora Chowk in Pulwama, was shot in the back at point blank range and killed by two motorcycle borne militants in broad daylight . Killings in Kashmir have become commonplace with the people having got used to the ever looming threat to life and limb. And taking life in its stride, they have learnt how to move on. However, this tragic incident begs attention as it once again brings into focus the fundamental issue relating to the use of violence by armed groups against their own people. How has the ‘gun culture’ helped the ongoing movement for the ‘right to self determination’ in Kashmir is a debatable question. But, one thing is certain- it is certainly causing considerable physical harm and mental anguish to the people by creating an atmosphere of fear.

Ever since militancy erupted in Kashmir, armed groups have often been accused of killing their own people. Readers will recall the era when eminent personalities belonging to different walks of life were gunned down by “unidentified gunmen”. While the allegations made by militant groups that the Indian security forces and intelligence agencies were responsible for these incidents may be true, the militants could not conceal the fact that their hands too were stained with the blood of innocents. And even as the militants believed that their complicity in such killings was a well guarded secret, the truth was soon out in the open and was being discussed in hushed tones in every town and village of Kashmir.

Remember, it was during this very month twenty-three years ago, when ‘unidentified gunmen’ barged into the house of Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq shot him dead. And twelve years ago, it was on this very day that Abdul Gani Lone too was gunned down during a commemorative rally for the Late Mirwaiz Farooq - once again by ‘unknown gunmen’. Though the militants accused the Indian ‘agencies’ for these dastardly acts, the identity of those behind these attacks soon became public knowledge. So, when former Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Gani Bhat admitted in 2011 that "Lone sahib, Mirwaiz Farooq and Professor Wani were not killed by the army or the police-they were targeted by our own people,” many welcomed this frank admission. And while some members of the civil society and the intelligentsia saw this as a positive development, a few even felt that this new trend of exposing ‘secret killings’ would stop the vicious cycle of senseless violence as any misdeeds of militant groups would henceforth be exposed.

However, this was not to be and the killing of ASI Farooq Ahmad Sheikh (for which the Hizbul Mujahideen has accepted responsibility), is a grim reminder of the fact that there is still no clear definition of what a ‘legitimate target’ is. And, it is inconceivable that an indigenous militant group, committed to ‘liberate’ its enslaved brethren from the ‘oppression’ of an ‘occupational force’ should itself be indulging in acts of violence against its own people and that too against those who are in no way involved in fighting the militants or opposing the movement for the ‘right to self determination’.

What has been done cannot be undone - but perhaps, a few words of condolence to the bereaved family of ASI Sheikh and a general apology by the Hizb would certainly help reduce public angst. The Hizb should realise that absence of any objection to its acts by the people is not necessarily an automatic endorsement of public approval. Moreover, when people observe that the Hizb has no qualms in killing an unarmed traffic policeman, the public opts to maintain a stoic silence since it can ill afford to do or say anything which could incur the wrath of militant outfits.

Reflecting on the ‘armed movement’ in Kashmir, Hurriyat (G) chairman SAS Geelani in his autobiography “Wullar Ke Kinaray” has remarked, “When (the) gun lost control, militant groups lost the moral standing” and this observation of the venerable octogenarian has profound wisdom. To pick up a gun is easy and so is it to kill people when one has a gun in his hand with no one to question him. But to ‘control’ the gun is what is difficult and once this gun becomes an instrument of oppression and intimidation, then militancy degenerates into terrorism. And this could prove disasterous.

The Hizb needs to guard against the general tendency that often creeps into armed groups of singularly playing- out the roles of investigator, advocate, judge and executioner. The Hizb must also realise that New Delhi has conveniently used the excuse of ‘militancy’ to promulgate draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the brunt of which is being borne by the people in Kashmir. So, continued acts of violence by militant groups against civilians just serves to strengthen its hands. And while the people of Kashmir have bravely stood up against atrocities orchestrated by New Delhi for over two decades, I am not very sure if they can withstand simultaneous repression from militant groups.

Tailpiece: One has often heard that the security forces indulge in ‘false encounters’ for awards and pecuniary benefits. Newspaper reports tell us that Hizbul Mujahideen has announced a monetary reward of five lac rupees for their cadres who attacked and killed four Policemen at Hygam. If this report is true, then it is indeed very disturbing news- because until now, we always thought that ideology and not economics motivates our ‘freedom fighters’. So, if the Hizb introduces a system of ‘cash awards’ for successful attacks, then a very disturbing thought comes to the mind. Isn’t it possible that the lure of money could inculcate a mercenary psyche within their ranks and motivate some cash- hungry militants to choose an easy victim (like an unarmed traffic cop) and converting him into a ‘legitimate target’ (by accusing him of being an ‘informer’ or a ‘collaborator’) kill him just for the bounty?