Posts
Let's see how much this information changes/is adjusted.
Click here to read
4 years ago
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Secure or not?
I was in Bombay some time ago and when I landed there I had mentally prepared myself to be stuck at customs for a couple of hours. But to my "disappointment" I wasn't. On the contrary. The only reason why it took me 45 minutes to get out of the airport was because my luggage took a while to come out. I stood in the green channel line to get my bags checked, but I was told to just go ahead and leave. I didn't have to go through scanning of the bags or any other security check. Me including 50 other people in front of me were told to cut the line and leave.
I was honestly pretty infuriated. It was not too long after the terrorist attacks and the security was so weak anyone could have walked out of the airport with anything packed in their bags. And apparently I was not the only one noticing a lapse in security at the airports.
But, in the city center and all around Bombay I could not have felt more safe. Even though there was "Naka Bandi" - Road checks almost every 1000 meters on some days it made me feel safe. Knowing there could be terrorists still floating amongst us, so the fact that were so many cops in every corner of the city made me secure. It was an odd sight to see barricades at each an every hotel. Not too long ago we could just give our cars in valet right at the doorstep of the Taj, the Oberoi or any other hotel, now we have to leave them outside have the K9 sniff them, get frisked every time we enter any of these hotels and all other security measures.
Bombay is home and this last time I visited it was hard to see the city that is full of energy, excitement and optimism be this glum.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
BOMBAY COMMUNITY PUBLIC TRUST UPDATE
From the BCPT, a non-profit that IndiaUnite supports through donations. Please stay tuned for details on our upcoming fundraiser.
Dear Friends,
As our supporter for this cause, we would like you to know how far we have progressed in our work with the affected families. A brief review of the work done so far by BCPT in this regard is given below.
Overview:
On behalf of the citizens of Mumbai, BCPT endeavored to reach out to all affected families – deceased and injured, rich and poor, Mumbaikars and those residing in other parts of the country. Since the Taj Group of Hotels, the Oberoi Group of Hotels, the Police and the NSG immediately announced to take care of their own personnel, and since other NGOs had announced their intention of supporting the victims admitted to JJ and GT hospitals, BCPT therefore concentrated on contacting 72 families of deceased victims and 80 victims who were injured as they did not fall in any of the above categories. Additionally, referrals of 11 cases given to BCPT with a request to extend support were also included in the list.
We focused on 72 families of deceased victims. Of these, we contacted 66 families but were not able to locate 6 families since some addresses were incomplete, homes were locked and phone numbers were wrong.
Of the 66 families, the families of 20 deceased victims require help. The remaining 46 families have stated that they do not require help or are receiving required support from other sources. The 20 victims have left behind
28 minor children
6 retired, dependent parents
11 widows and
1 family has lost both parents.
The families contacted by us all require support. They are going through a very difficult time and have yet to come to term with their loss. The widows are traumatized as they all have young children and now have to work out ways of caring for the family single-handedly. Most of them are housewives, so they also have to prepare themselves to step out of their houses and earn a livelihood.
A few of the deceased victims were unmarried, yet were the main bread winners of their family. In these families the dependents include old parents and siblings – small children and/or young adults.
Some of the families were living in small rented houses in low income neighborhoods. With no steady income now, they are faced with the situation of having to move out of these houses and either move in with relatives or go back to their hometowns.
One of the deceased was a taxi driver who drove a rented taxi to earn money. He is survived by his wife and two young children aged 5 and 3. They are currently in Mumbai but will go back to their village, where they do farming. He was the only earning member of the family. His father has cancer. He used to send money home to his village every month for the treatment of his father. One of his brothers is also a taxi driver in Mumbai. He has another brother who is going to come to Mumbai now to earn.
A young woman who lost her life used to work as a domestic help to support her family. She lost her life in the bomb blast at Wadi Bunder. She is survived by her husband and two young sons. Her husband sells fish from door to door for a living and does not have a fixed income. It was his wife whose monthly income was used to support their family. Her husband and children currently stay in a rented house. However, since her husband does not have a fixed income, paying rent and school fees has become difficult for him.
Of the 80 injured victims to be contacted, 7 could not be contacted because of inadequate addresses. Thus 73 victims were contacted. Of these, 62 victims do not need help or are receiving the required support from other sources. Thus presently 11 cases are under consideration. One of them is severely injured and requires educational support for his child as well as some support for his wife to compensate for loss of income to the family. The remaining victims are at present using the compensation provided by the government and/or the railways. A few of them expect that once that is exhausted they may still need support for an additional period of 2 to 4 months.
A man injured during the shooting at CST was admitted to hospital, and has not yet been discharged. Due to the nature of his injuries, he will be bed-ridden for at least six months in the hospital and a year at home. He has a wife and a four year old son. His wife used to do embroidery work at home through which she earned about Rs.4,000 a month. However, due to her husband’s injury and hospitalization, she cannot continue with the work, leading to the loss of her income. Having no income and no other relatives in Mumbai for support, she has been forced to send her son back to their village.
Commitment for support:
Keeping in view the funds received so far as donations, the details for extending support to the families of the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks has been slightly reworked as under:
· For the 29 children (28 of deceased victims and 1 of an injured victim) we commit to provide a sponsorship of Rs. 2500 per month for their education and maintenance needs for a minimum period of two years. Funds available, this commitment will be extended by one or more years. Total amount committed: Rs. 17.40 lakh. This support will be extended to a maximum of three children in a family.
· Considering the fact that six dependent old parents will need funds on a regular basis for their health and maintenance needs, it has been decided to provide them with a monthly annuity of Rs. 5000 each for a minimum period of two years. Thus we commit a sum of Rs. 7.20 lakh for a period of two years. Funds permitting, this will be extended by one or more years.
· In view of the fact that the 11 widows will all be getting support through the sponsorship of their children (either two or three), direct support for their maintenance will now be considered at a later date, funds permitting.
· For those injured victims who might require long term medical/rehabilitation support, we propose to set aside Rs. 3.00 lakh.
· In addition to general donations received, the Trust has also received amounts to be directed to a specific individual/s or group of victims e.g. Oberoi employees and the police. The Trust will honor the requests and disburse the funds as per the wishes of the donors.
Disbursements:
The process of disbursement has begun and cheques to 20 children and 3 parents (senior citizens) have been issued.
Thanks and regards,
Harsha Parekh
(Executive Trustee)
Dear Friends,
As our supporter for this cause, we would like you to know how far we have progressed in our work with the affected families. A brief review of the work done so far by BCPT in this regard is given below.
Overview:
On behalf of the citizens of Mumbai, BCPT endeavored to reach out to all affected families – deceased and injured, rich and poor, Mumbaikars and those residing in other parts of the country. Since the Taj Group of Hotels, the Oberoi Group of Hotels, the Police and the NSG immediately announced to take care of their own personnel, and since other NGOs had announced their intention of supporting the victims admitted to JJ and GT hospitals, BCPT therefore concentrated on contacting 72 families of deceased victims and 80 victims who were injured as they did not fall in any of the above categories. Additionally, referrals of 11 cases given to BCPT with a request to extend support were also included in the list.
We focused on 72 families of deceased victims. Of these, we contacted 66 families but were not able to locate 6 families since some addresses were incomplete, homes were locked and phone numbers were wrong.
Of the 66 families, the families of 20 deceased victims require help. The remaining 46 families have stated that they do not require help or are receiving required support from other sources. The 20 victims have left behind
28 minor children
6 retired, dependent parents
11 widows and
1 family has lost both parents.
The families contacted by us all require support. They are going through a very difficult time and have yet to come to term with their loss. The widows are traumatized as they all have young children and now have to work out ways of caring for the family single-handedly. Most of them are housewives, so they also have to prepare themselves to step out of their houses and earn a livelihood.
A few of the deceased victims were unmarried, yet were the main bread winners of their family. In these families the dependents include old parents and siblings – small children and/or young adults.
Some of the families were living in small rented houses in low income neighborhoods. With no steady income now, they are faced with the situation of having to move out of these houses and either move in with relatives or go back to their hometowns.
One of the deceased was a taxi driver who drove a rented taxi to earn money. He is survived by his wife and two young children aged 5 and 3. They are currently in Mumbai but will go back to their village, where they do farming. He was the only earning member of the family. His father has cancer. He used to send money home to his village every month for the treatment of his father. One of his brothers is also a taxi driver in Mumbai. He has another brother who is going to come to Mumbai now to earn.
A young woman who lost her life used to work as a domestic help to support her family. She lost her life in the bomb blast at Wadi Bunder. She is survived by her husband and two young sons. Her husband sells fish from door to door for a living and does not have a fixed income. It was his wife whose monthly income was used to support their family. Her husband and children currently stay in a rented house. However, since her husband does not have a fixed income, paying rent and school fees has become difficult for him.
Of the 80 injured victims to be contacted, 7 could not be contacted because of inadequate addresses. Thus 73 victims were contacted. Of these, 62 victims do not need help or are receiving the required support from other sources. Thus presently 11 cases are under consideration. One of them is severely injured and requires educational support for his child as well as some support for his wife to compensate for loss of income to the family. The remaining victims are at present using the compensation provided by the government and/or the railways. A few of them expect that once that is exhausted they may still need support for an additional period of 2 to 4 months.
A man injured during the shooting at CST was admitted to hospital, and has not yet been discharged. Due to the nature of his injuries, he will be bed-ridden for at least six months in the hospital and a year at home. He has a wife and a four year old son. His wife used to do embroidery work at home through which she earned about Rs.4,000 a month. However, due to her husband’s injury and hospitalization, she cannot continue with the work, leading to the loss of her income. Having no income and no other relatives in Mumbai for support, she has been forced to send her son back to their village.
Commitment for support:
Keeping in view the funds received so far as donations, the details for extending support to the families of the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks has been slightly reworked as under:
· For the 29 children (28 of deceased victims and 1 of an injured victim) we commit to provide a sponsorship of Rs. 2500 per month for their education and maintenance needs for a minimum period of two years. Funds available, this commitment will be extended by one or more years. Total amount committed: Rs. 17.40 lakh. This support will be extended to a maximum of three children in a family.
· Considering the fact that six dependent old parents will need funds on a regular basis for their health and maintenance needs, it has been decided to provide them with a monthly annuity of Rs. 5000 each for a minimum period of two years. Thus we commit a sum of Rs. 7.20 lakh for a period of two years. Funds permitting, this will be extended by one or more years.
· In view of the fact that the 11 widows will all be getting support through the sponsorship of their children (either two or three), direct support for their maintenance will now be considered at a later date, funds permitting.
· For those injured victims who might require long term medical/rehabilitation support, we propose to set aside Rs. 3.00 lakh.
· In addition to general donations received, the Trust has also received amounts to be directed to a specific individual/s or group of victims e.g. Oberoi employees and the police. The Trust will honor the requests and disburse the funds as per the wishes of the donors.
Disbursements:
The process of disbursement has begun and cheques to 20 children and 3 parents (senior citizens) have been issued.
Thanks and regards,
Harsha Parekh
(Executive Trustee)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Pakistan tells investigators to wrap up Mumbai attacks investigation in 10 days
By Asif Shahzad of the Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Investigators have 10 days to complete their inquiries into the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan's top Interior Ministry official said Saturday.
Rehman Malik told reporters that investigators were looking at information handed over by India and leads gathered independently. Provincial and central government-level investigations were ongoing, he said.
Islamabad is under pressure to clamp down on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the banned Pakistan-based militant group that India blames for the November siege that killed 164 people in its commercial capital.
On Thursday, Pakistan's Interior Ministry said it had arrested 71 people linked to the group and that another 124 were under surveillance and had to register their every move with police.
Click here to continue reading
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Investigators have 10 days to complete their inquiries into the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan's top Interior Ministry official said Saturday.
Rehman Malik told reporters that investigators were looking at information handed over by India and leads gathered independently. Provincial and central government-level investigations were ongoing, he said.
Islamabad is under pressure to clamp down on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the banned Pakistan-based militant group that India blames for the November siege that killed 164 people in its commercial capital.
On Thursday, Pakistan's Interior Ministry said it had arrested 71 people linked to the group and that another 124 were under surveillance and had to register their every move with police.
Click here to continue reading
Friday, January 16, 2009
WHAT IF
India and Pakistan on the verge of a war. Thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza. Kashmir. Somalia. Zimbabwe. People are dying everywhere, it is the same story. Will there every be an end to it? What will bring peace to the world or is peace an unattainable illusion? Who is to be blamed and if so why blame them? These questions haunt me all the time.
Last night, I was wondering what if India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were still one? It would have been a different place. Maybe in 100 years, it will become one again. What a notion! India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as one big nation. Hard to imagine, isn't it? We have been fighting for more than 50 years. Can you image how many lives has been lost over 50 years and still counting? The same story is reflected in the Middle East in Palestine. Imagine Palestinians and Israelis living together in peace. Why do we have so much hate for each other? Pick a place on the world map and there is something gruesome going on.
Will we ever see peace in the world? We talk about peace, we march for peace but why is there so much hate toward one another. In my opinion, peace is not attainable until we all reach a higher level of consciousness. Individually and collectively. Only if we rise above Religion, Cast, Social Status, Skin Color, Borders; let go of our identities; and see ourselves as human beings first. Only if we see ourselves as one big global family, one with the human race, and part of this planet and not separated from it. Only if we see the world's problem as our own. Only if, but can we?
I wonder what a place this world would be if we could.
Eliyas Qureshi is a Actor & Filmmaker based New York, NY.
Eliyas Qureshi
www.Eliyas.com
www.qEntertainment-films.com
Last night, I was wondering what if India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were still one? It would have been a different place. Maybe in 100 years, it will become one again. What a notion! India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as one big nation. Hard to imagine, isn't it? We have been fighting for more than 50 years. Can you image how many lives has been lost over 50 years and still counting? The same story is reflected in the Middle East in Palestine. Imagine Palestinians and Israelis living together in peace. Why do we have so much hate for each other? Pick a place on the world map and there is something gruesome going on.
Will we ever see peace in the world? We talk about peace, we march for peace but why is there so much hate toward one another. In my opinion, peace is not attainable until we all reach a higher level of consciousness. Individually and collectively. Only if we rise above Religion, Cast, Social Status, Skin Color, Borders; let go of our identities; and see ourselves as human beings first. Only if we see ourselves as one big global family, one with the human race, and part of this planet and not separated from it. Only if we see the world's problem as our own. Only if, but can we?
I wonder what a place this world would be if we could.
Eliyas Qureshi is a Actor & Filmmaker based New York, NY.
Eliyas Qureshi
www.Eliyas.com
www.qEntertainment-films.com
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Pakistan's Reaction to the Dossier
I just came across this on the Daily Times...but what interests me the most is that Pakistan has supposedly closed various schools and organizations by banned groups.
Pakistan forms committee to analyse Mumbai dossier
* Malik says 5 Dawa camps closed
* Calls for allowing Pakistani sleuths into India
By Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formed a high-level committee to analyse the information about the November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks that New Delhi has shared with Islamabad, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said on Thursday.
Addressing a news conference, he said the findings of the body would be shared with the parliament and the nation.
Sources privy to the measure said FIA Additional Director General Javed Iqbal would head the committee, which would also include Special Investigations Group in-charge Khalid Qureshi and an FIA Director Liaqat Ali Khan.
Malik said Pakistan had closed down 20 offices, two libraries, 87 schools, seven madrassas and five camps run by the banned Jamaatud Dawa, and had arrested 124 people in a crackdown on banned groups in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
In a clarification, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said 71 people had been arrested.
Publications by the banned group – Al Dawa, Zarab-e-Tayyaba, Voice of Islam, Nannhay Mujahid and Arabic magazine Rabita – and six websites linked to it had also been shut down, Malik said.
The interior adviser asked New Delhi to allow Pakistani investigators to travel to India for investigation, and asked it to cooperate with Pakistan through direct diplomatic links.
Malik asked New Delhi for details of its allegations of infiltration of terrorists from FATA into India.
Pakistan forms committee to analyse Mumbai dossier
* Malik says 5 Dawa camps closed
* Calls for allowing Pakistani sleuths into India
By Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formed a high-level committee to analyse the information about the November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks that New Delhi has shared with Islamabad, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said on Thursday.
Addressing a news conference, he said the findings of the body would be shared with the parliament and the nation.
Sources privy to the measure said FIA Additional Director General Javed Iqbal would head the committee, which would also include Special Investigations Group in-charge Khalid Qureshi and an FIA Director Liaqat Ali Khan.
Malik said Pakistan had closed down 20 offices, two libraries, 87 schools, seven madrassas and five camps run by the banned Jamaatud Dawa, and had arrested 124 people in a crackdown on banned groups in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
In a clarification, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said 71 people had been arrested.
Publications by the banned group – Al Dawa, Zarab-e-Tayyaba, Voice of Islam, Nannhay Mujahid and Arabic magazine Rabita – and six websites linked to it had also been shut down, Malik said.
The interior adviser asked New Delhi to allow Pakistani investigators to travel to India for investigation, and asked it to cooperate with Pakistan through direct diplomatic links.
Malik asked New Delhi for details of its allegations of infiltration of terrorists from FATA into India.
Daily Times - Mumbai attacks’ witness goes missing
Just saw this on the Daily Times' website
LAHORE: A woman who identified six gunmen of the Mumbai attacks has disappeared mysteriously, a private TV channel quoted the Indian media as saying on Tuesday. According to the channel, the Mumbai Police said on Tuesday that Anita Uddaiya, the woman who had identified the bodies of six terrorists in JJ Hospital, had been missing since January 11. The police have started searching for the woman at the complaint of her daughter. According to the police, the woman had seen the terrorists as they got out off a boat. The crime branch of the city police, which is the investigating agency in the Mumbai attacks, is also probing the incident.
LAHORE: A woman who identified six gunmen of the Mumbai attacks has disappeared mysteriously, a private TV channel quoted the Indian media as saying on Tuesday. According to the channel, the Mumbai Police said on Tuesday that Anita Uddaiya, the woman who had identified the bodies of six terrorists in JJ Hospital, had been missing since January 11. The police have started searching for the woman at the complaint of her daughter. According to the police, the woman had seen the terrorists as they got out off a boat. The crime branch of the city police, which is the investigating agency in the Mumbai attacks, is also probing the incident.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)