Over 250 people participated in a rally to support 82-year-old California resident Surat Singh Khalsa, who has been on a hunger strike in India demanding the release of political prisoners. Ritu Jha/Rediff.com reports from California.
Pakistani authorities are keeping a close watch on Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is allegedly the mastermind behind the terror attack on Mumbai, after a court ordered his release from detention three days ago. Personnel from the Prison Department were withdrawn from Saeed's residence in Johar Town in Lahore soon after the Lahore High Court released him from house arrest on Tuesday.However, the government of Punjab province has deployed policemen at his home.
Earlier, Sarabjit's lawyer, Awais Sheikh, had stated in the court that he was not allowed to meet his client despite court orders. He had also filed a petition against the interior secretary of Punjab and superintendent of Kot Lakhpat jail.
Despite recent developments that have accelerated the impending extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who has been in custody in London's Wandsworth Prison for over two years, the last month has seen his uncle Mehul Choksi dominate the headlines instead with his circus-like exhibition in the Caribbean that has involved red herrings such as a "girlfriend", to whom his wife seemed to have no objection, and possibly concocted stories of being kidnapped and manhandled. Choksi was widely regarded as Modi's Svengali in Mumbai when he returned from Belgium to expand his business. He had fled to Antigua well before news around how Modi finagled thousands of crores from Punjab National Bank (PNB) and other institutions through a series of allegedly coordinated and fraudulent actions involving letters of undertaking, or LoUs.
Pakistani teenager Nasir Sultan, whose craze for a career in Bollywood landed him in a jail in Punjab, reunited with his father on Friday after being handed over to Pakistani authorities in Attari sans an unfulfilled dream of meeting his idol Shah Rukh Khan.
Clare Montgomery, Modi's barrister, made a series of offers to try and convince the judge to grant bail.
Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek will meet Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh on Monday to review his case, following the Indian government's appeal for clemency for him, official sources said, raising hopes of his release. Sarabjit, 42, has been on death row since he was convicted for alleged involvement in four bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Punjab province in 1990. His family insists that he was wrongly convicted for the bombings.
Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Pakistani jail, appears to be a case of mistaken identity, former Pakistani minister and United Nations Human Rights Council advisory committee member Ansar Burney said in Chandigarh on Friday.After collecting evidence in the shape of a video CD and copy of an FIR from the family members of Sarabjit, Burney said, "Prima facie it appears to be a case of mistaken identity.
India on Tuesday asked Pakistan to release death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh as the Home Secretaries of the two countries held talks in Islamabad on terrorism and security and signed a pact to curb drug smuggling.The demand for the release of Sarabjit, an Indian national languishing on death row since he was convicted of alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Punjab province in 1990, was raised by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, sources said.
The attack by the LeT to free "hardcore" Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Mohammed Naveed Jhatt took place around 11.35 am inside the busy SMHS hospital complex in a high security area of Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital.
Khan, who had been detained for a week under anti-terrorism laws, was on a hunger strike demanding the reinstatement of the ousted Supreme Court judges.
Wang Chang Qi, 80, was captured by Indian forces in 1963 after the India-China war. Convicted for spying, he was in Indian jails for six years till his release in 1969.
Amidst appeals for clemency for Sarabjit Singh by his family and human rights activists, hundreds of students in Lahore took to the streets demanding that the Indian death row prisoner not be pardoned. The demonstrators termed former Pakistani human rights minister Ansar Burney, who has sent a mercy petition on behalf of Sarabjit to President Pervez Mushrraf, an Indian agent. The students marched in the city on Friday and sought withdrawal of all moves to pardon Sarabjit.
The family of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Punjab province, arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday to meet him and to urge the Pakistan government to release him. Sarabjit's family, his sister Dalbir Kaur and her husband Baldev Singh have been given seven-day visas to visit Nankana Sahib and Lahore, where Sarabjit is being held on death row at Kot Lakhpat jail.
The heart and stomach were missing as they had been taken out during the first autopsy conducted at Jinnah Hospital in Lahore.
Police arrested over 100 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf protesters trying to reach party chief Imran's residence. Police also baton-charged protesters in the Pakistan Chowk area.
Known for his flashy outfits, the Dera chief was attired in a white kurta-pyjama with matching white shoes as the judge sentenced him to 20 years in jail.
He asked all party members to serve the farmers selflessly.
Sarabjit's family brought with them special food that he was fond of. Dalbir Kaur was carrying 18 'rakhis' one for each year that her brother has been away from India. Ahead of the meeting, prison officials said Sarabjit's kin would be allowed to spend at least an hour with him. They pointed out that the prison superintendent had the discretion to allow them to spend an additional 30 minutes.
Leading rights activist Ansar Burney, who was the Human Rights Minister in Pakistan's caretaker government, will visit India next month to meet the family of Sarabjit Singh and gather any evidence about his innocence and to trace Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails. Burney said he would go to India on April 2 at the invitation of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
"We are ready to sacrifice our life and continue with our dharna till we get a job. We have written to the PM, Home Minister Rajnath Singh," says Jagga Singh, the grand nephew of Udham Singh.
'But thereafter the same trend is again getting popular and that is what is disturbing and alarming.' 'If this practice goes unchecked, then the entire edifice of the rule of law which gives protection to citizens of this country would crumble into pieces.'
On the run for over 10 years, Sikh militant Jagtar Singh Tara, convicted for life in the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassination, has been deported by Thailand.
Intelligence sleuths had seized the cellphone (9906872239) from prisoner Gurmail Singh in Barrack number two in Block number 14 of high security Kotbalwal jail.
Friday's hearing is expected to be presided over by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, the same judge who had ordered the extradition of former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya last December.
The worst-affected Sindh province reported 90 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial tally to 357. The new cases have been detected in pilgrims who returned from Iran and have been quarantined in Sukkur, according to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department.
Canada has decided to deport Babbar Khalsa International terrorist Bachan Singh Sogi accused of plotting to assassinate former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
In his application, Sidhu said he was willing to surrender before the court since his case is now before the Supreme Court since the suspension of sentence.
'Mamata wanted the Congress in alliance with the BJP in Bengal against the Left Front government.' 'Pranab Mukherjee opposed it, stating it would amount to compromising on secularism.' 'In 2021, Mamata defeats the BJP and becomes a champion of secularism.'
Pakistan's former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said he had spoken to his son Ali Haider for the first time since he was kidnapped by a Taliban group in 2013 and is now being held in Afghanistan.
'If you talk about any kind of equality, you are under attack.'
'A narrative is needed that captures the reality in Pakistan objectively and more fully'
The CBI court is hearing the cases of murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and former Dera manager Ranjit Singh.
Besides the passports, Modi also possesses multiple residency cards, some of them expired, but covering countries/regions such as the UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong.
'...even if they have profound differences. We discuss within our party and with each other, but not openly. We just reminded the BJP that they too, should follow this dharma.'
The top posts on social media from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
State govt said it is not averse to seeking Army's help to maintain law and order.
Ahead of the pronouncement of the sentence, police have left nothing to chance and have taken important functionaries of the sect, who could gather followers, into preventive custody.