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Violence against minorities, threats to freedom of religion, more mob lynching in Pakistan: Here’s what Pakistan Human Rights Commission report reveals

OpIndia Staff
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Violence against minorities, threats to freedom of religion, more mob lynching in Pakistan: Here’s what Pakistan Human Rights Commission report reveals

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released its annual report ‘State of Human Rights in 2022’ last week to reveal that the political and economic unrest in the previous year have had a significant influence on the human rights situation in the country.

The research observed that the current and previous governments both disregarded the authority of Parliament and that disputes between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches undermined institutional credibility.

The study said that sedition laws from the colonial era were being weaponized to suppress dissent and that political victimization persisted throughout the year. Numerous journalists and opposition politicians were detained, and there were subsequent allegations of abuse in detention, HRCP claimed. Ironically, this happened in the same year that the Parliament approved a law making the use of torture illegal.

Law enforcement officers and demonstrators clashed during the unrest that followed the successful vote of no confidence against the former prime minister Imran Khan, and the right to freedom of assembly was not only infringed but also abused.

The HRCP study stated that despite citizens’ warnings that such events were impending, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the state continued to struggle in combating militancy. As per the report, the year saw an alarming revival of terror attacks, the most in five years, with 533 lives lost.

In addition, HRCP saw an increase in enforced disappearances, notably in Balochistan, where 2,210 recorded instances remain unsolved despite the National Assembly passing a law making the practise illegal.

The research also claimed that over 33 million people were adversely affected by floods brought on by climate change, which devastated a portion of the nation. This lacklustre response has underscored the need for empowered, well-resourced local governments in every province and territory, the HRCP said in its report.

It said that, despite a decline in the number of police reports involving blasphemy accusations, the prevalence of mob lynchings seemed to have increased. Escalating threats to freedom of religion or belief remain a serious worry, it said.

The HRCP report added that the violence against women continued unabated, with at least 4,226 instances of rape and gang rape compounded by an appallingly low conviction rate for perpetrators. The Ahmadiyya community came under particular threat, with several places of worship and over 90 graves desecrated, mostly in Punjab.

This edition of the report’s subject, the prevalence of violence and discrimination against transgender people, was further exacerbated by conservative opposition to the hard-won Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018.

The study points out that the rights of workers and peasants were gravely disregarded in a year that saw the nation’s economic position start to collapse. The research said that even though the minimum wage was raised, the state has failed to accept that it is still below the standard for a livable income.

The HRCP also pointed out that even though 1,200 bonded labourers in Sindh were released, the district vigilance committees established in 2022 continued to be mainly useless, and 90 miners continued to die in the country’s mines each year. HRCP has demanded immediate action by the state on these issues if it is to move towards a pro-people approach to politics, law and governance.

‘Hurts me to see our athletes on streets’: Neeraj Chopra, Kapil Dev extend support for protesting wrestlers

OpIndia Staff
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‘Hurts me to see our athletes on streets’: Neeraj Chopra, Kapil Dev extend support for protesting wrestlers

Three months after they ended their sit-in protest following the formation of an oversight committee to investigate the sexual harassment allegations against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Indian wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and Sakshi Malik, resumed their agitation last week.

On Sunday, they went back to Jantar Mantar and requested PM Narendra Modi for a meeting to talk about the serious accusations against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president.

Neeraj Chopra, India’s lone Olympic gold medalist in track and field, joined the wrestlers in their call for action and demanded that immediate action should be taken in the matter.

“It hurts me to see our athletes on the streets demanding justice. They have worked hard to represent our great nation and make us proud. As a nation, we are responsible for safeguarding the integrity and dignity of every individual, athlete or not,” he wrote.

“What’s happening should never happen. This is a sensitive issue and must be dealt with in an impartial and transparent manner. Pertaining authorities must take quick action in order to ensure that justice is served,” he added.

India’s World Cup-winning former captain Kapil Dev also posted a story on his official Instagram profile to share his support for the wrestlers. “Will they ever get justice,” he asked posting a picture of a press conference featuring Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik among others.

Source: Kapil Dev’s Instagram Account

Earlier, Ravi Dahiya, another wrestler, expressed support for his colleagues. “An army man and a sportsperson is the pride of every nation, and to respect them is the nation’s duty,” he remarked.

The Delhi Police have also received a notification from the Supreme Court about the petition filed by wrestlers against the WFI chief. The wrestlers filed a writ suit asking for the registration of an FIR against the head of WFI for sexually assaulting the female wrestlers.

The president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and former track and field athlete, PT Usha, recently stated that sportspersons protesting on the streets amounted to indiscipline and were tarnishing the image of the country.

Indian wrestlers initially took part in a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on January 19, 2023, calling for the dissolution of the WFI and a police inquiry into the accusations against its chairperson of sexually abusing female athletes. Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of the WFI was suspended as a result of the protest.

Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of Sports had met the wrestlers and announced the creation of an oversight committee to look into the accusations. The IOA established a seven-member committee under the leadership of M C Mary Kom to look into the allegations before the wrestlers decided to end their protest.

IOA has not finished its probe into the accusations and the panel’s findings have not yet been made public. Now, the wrestlers have returned to Jantar Mantar to resume their agitation after three months, on April 23.

Viral videos show men engaging in sexual activities inside metro trains, including Delhi Metro

OpIndia Staff
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Viral videos show men engaging in sexual activities inside metro trains, including Delhi Metro

Two obscene videos have gone viral on social media wherein men engage in sexual activities in a public place, claimed to be inside Delhi metro. The videos were shared on Twitter on April 27 (Thursday) by Atul Krishan, the assistant editor of Indo-Asian News Service or IANS.

In the first clip of 0.04 seconds shared by Atul, a man can be seen squatting on his haunches and performing oral sex on another man in what looks like a metro train. The two can be seen near the door of a train. However, it can’t be determined if it was the Delhi Metro or somewhere else. From the changing light behind the glass of the door, it can be assumed that the train was moving.

In the second 0.15-second clip, a man sitting on a seat inside a metro train can be seen masturbating while watching something on his phone. A couple who is seen seated next to this man gets up and goes away but he continues indulging in the reprehensible act unperturbed. Another commuter sitting in front of the man apparently shot the video on his phone.

When OpIndia spoke to journalist Atul Krishan, who highlighted the matter on social media, he said that though he cannot confirm the location of the first video, however, he did confirm that the second clip was shot inside the Delhi Metro.

The second video is certainly from Delhi metro as Hindi text on green signage can be seen above the seat, which probably says that the seat is reserved for old or physically challenged people. Moreover, when the camera pans towards the right for a moment, the words ‘Delhi Cantt’ can be seen on the digital screen inside the metro coach, which means that the next station of the train is the Delhi Cantonment metro station. Therefore, it is a metro train on the Pink line of the Delhi metro.

Screengrab from the second video confirms it was Delhi Metro

Notably, such shameful acts in public places are not uncommon. In January this year, a video went viral wherein a man named Zakir, a resident of Bihar, was caught by Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) marshal after he allegedly flashed his private part at a female passenger on a bus in Delhi.

Prior to this, a man was arrested for allegedly flashing his private parts inside the Vishweshwar Mahadev temple in Prakash Nagar in the Indore city of Madhya Pradesh.

In 2022, a video went viral wherein a 28-year-old engineer from Gurugram was seen flashing his genitals at a woman in the Delhi metro. 

Dantewada attack: Improvised explosive device (IED) was planted a day or two before the deadly assault, say investigators as more details emerge

OpIndia Staff
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Dantewada attack: Improvised explosive device (IED) was planted a day or two before the deadly assault, say investigators as more details emerge

Investigators believe that the improvised explosive device (IED) used to blow up the police vehicle was installed a day or two prior to the ghastly assault, as an inquiry into the Dantewada Maoist attack, which left 11 people dead on Wednesday, including 10 District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans and a driver, is ongoing. The security personnel were returning from a counter-insurgency operation when the automobile they were travelling in was blown up by Maoists.

Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P stated, “The explosives appeared to have been planted using what initially appeared to be a tunnel excavated beneath the road,” while answering a query regarding whether the IED was buried beneath the Aranpur-Jagargunda road, the scene of the tragedy.

The foxhole notion was also reaffirmed by a senior Chhattisgarh police official and a bomb specialist from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who were present there.

“The trenches alongside the road made it easier to dig a hole using iron bars and rods to take nearly 60 kilograms of explosives inside. We suspect this was done a day or two before the explosion and the sheer volume of explosives resulted in the formation of a deep crater,” informed the policeman. It was then set off using cables hanging from a tree 150 yards within the forest next to the road.

He was overseeing the process of filling in the crater at the scene of the explosion, where pieces of the exploding truck and the remains of people could still be seen more than 24 hours later.

He proceeded by highlighting that the perpetrators were accurate with their objective because five minutes prior to the blast, they had allowed three trucks carrying civilians to pass. One of the trucks was identical in manufacture and style to that used for transporting the jawans who have now been martyred.

The cop disclosed, “We also suspect that they picked the specific location for the blast as this is one area within the road connecting Aranpur and Saneli villages where some kind of phone signals are available. This along with local support was vital in tracking the movements of the 50 jawans returning from an anti-Maoist operation in the jungles in four different vehicles.”

He mentioned that decoys were positioned at ceremonial checkpoints set up to commemorate the local mango harvest festival, Aama Pandum. “This is celebrated at a mass scale and such check posts are set up where exchange of mangoes for some symbolic cash takes place. We suspect that this was also used to keep an eye on the movement of the jawans,” he asserted. The IGP had earlier explained that further inquiry was necessary, but this angle was also being investigated.

In response to the attack, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel noted that 75 security force camps had been created in Naxalite strongholds over the previous four years, as opposed to the conventional practice of only doing so in buffer zones.

“Now, there is no need to go to Sukma to reach Jagargunda as roads have been built from Aranpur and Bhairamgarh to reach there. Puvarti (in Bijapur district), which is called the headquarters of Hidma (dreaded Naxal commander), has now been surrounded from all sides (by security force camps),” he observed.

In Rajasthan, Ajmal Khan rapes, threatens and forcefully marries Hindu woman, converts her to Islam, throws her murtis out of the house: Read full details

OpIndia Staff
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In Rajasthan, Ajmal Khan rapes, threatens and forcefully marries Hindu woman, converts her to Islam, throws her murtis out of the house: Read full details

A 38-year-old woman in Rajasthan’s Udaipur has filed a police complaint against a village development officer identifed as Ajmal Khan for brutally sexually assaulting her and forcing her to convert her religion to Islam. The woman also stated that the accused who is already married to two other woman, forced her for marriage and raped her.

According to the reports, the incident is said to have happened in the Savina village of Udaipur district. The woman in the police complaint said that the accused made her hostage and made her consume intoxicants. He then raped her and shot the video of the incident on his phone. The accused also used the video to blackmail the woman to force her to marry him.

Ajmal Khan further threatened the woman that he would abduct and sell the 8-year-old daughter of the victim if she would refuse to agree to marry him and change her religion to Islam. The woman got scared. Later on December 17, the woman forcefully married Ajmal and converted her religion to Islam.

The accused also changed the identities of the Hindu woman and her daughter after the marriage and gave them new Islamic names. He also threw away the images and idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses from the house of the victim.

Reports mention that Ajmal had also cheated the woman as he initially told her that he was unmarried. But later the victim woman discovered that the man was already married to two other women. Ajmal on April 2 returned to one of his earlier wives. The victim woman stated in the complaint that she was assualted and beaten by the accused when she went to seek answers from him at one of his earlier wives homes.

She then went to the police station and filed a complaint again Khan. On the other hand, the accused also filed a cross complaint against the woman saying that woman was trying to threaten him and extort money from him. The police meanwhile have stated that an FIR has been filed regarding rape and forceful conversion. Further investigations are underway.

‘Can promote misleading info’: Madras HC sends case back to Special NIA court which refused to release Hizb-ut-Tahrir terrorist because it relied on info from Wikipedia: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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‘Can promote misleading info’: Madras HC sends case back to Special NIA court which refused to release Hizb-ut-Tahrir terrorist because it relied on info from Wikipedia: Read details

The Madras High Court recently overturned a Special NIA court’s decision to refuse to release a Muslim preacher who was charged under the UAPA while citing Wikipedia to determine the purpose and goals of the organisation to which the person in question belonged.

Justice M Sundar and Justice M Nirmal Kumar’s division bench referred to the Supreme Court’s guiding principle which reads, “Wikipedia is based on a crowd-sourced user-generated editing model and therefore is not completely dependable in terms of academic veracity and can promote misleading information.”

The High Court stated that the Supreme Court has warned against using sites like Wikipedia to settle judicial disputes. In light of this, the HC decided that the trial court erred in relying on Wikipedia in this case and that the case needed to be sent to it for consideration de hors Wikipedia.

The high court asked the Special Court to keep in mind this time the caveat put in place by the Top Court in the Acer India case [Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore Vs. M/s.Acer India Pvt. Ltd (2008) and the Hewlett Packard / Lenevo case [HP India Sales Pvt. Ltd., Vs. Commissioner of Customs (Import), Nhava Sheva/Lenevo (India) Pvt. Ltd., Vs. Commissioner of Customs (Import), Nhava Sheva (2023)].

The Sessions Court’s decision for the exclusive trial for bomb blast cases at Poonamallee, in Chennai, was challenged by the accused, Ziyavudeen Baqavi, in a criminal appeal that he recently filed before the high court.

The accused claimed that the Special Court had utilized Wikipedia to make a judgement regarding the purpose and goals of an organisation to which he allegedly belonged while denying his discharge petition, among other illegalities.

According to the counsel for the accused, the Special Court’s order was unlawful since it was based on extraneous material, which is prohibited under Supreme Court precedent.

Ziyavudeen Baqavi is believed to be a member of the ISIS-affiliated Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), an extremist Islamic group. He was detained in February of last year on suspicion of intending to brainwash Tamil Nadu’s Muslim population in order to create an Islamic State.

Sections 120-B, 124-A, 153-A, 153-B, 505(1)(b), 505(1)(C), and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), as well as Section 13(1)(b) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA), are said to have been flouted by Baqavi.

We have seen Whatsapp messages…There was a love affair: Mamata Banerjee downplays Kaliaganj case but this isn’t her first time

Dibakar Dutta
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We have seen Whatsapp messages…There was a love affair: Mamata Banerjee downplays Kaliaganj case but this isn’t her first time

On Wednesday (April 26), West Bengal Chief Minister stirred the hornet’s nest after she claimed that the alleged ‘rape and murder case in Kaliganj was a ‘love affair’ gone wrong.

While addressing a press conference at Nabanna (State Secretariat), she claimed, “Amader o dukho hoi… Kintu amra Whatsapp total ta peyechi…Tader modhe ekta bhalobashar udyog o chilo (We feel bad about it….But we have seen Whatsapp messages… There was a love affair.”

“Doctors said she had taken poison. It’s a suicide case. The police are investigating,” she was quoted as saying. Although the investigation is in a preliminary stage, Mamata Banerjee went out of her way to suggest that there was no foul play in the death of the Kaliganj victim.

On April 21 morning, the dead body of a 17-year-old Dalit girl was discovered floating in a canal in the Kaliagunj area in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal. The kins of the victim alleged that the teenager was raped prior to her murder.

The girl had gone missing on her way to tuition classes on April 20. As per reports, the police had arrested two individuals, including one Javed Akhtar, who was known to the victim. The National Commission of Women (NCW) has taken cognisance of the matter.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Mamata Banerjee had suggested that allegations of rape committed in the State were either bitter love affairs or motivated by political vendetta. In the past, she has even accused victims of lying and staging a ‘rape’ to defame her government.

Mamata Banerjee, TMC and dismissing rape cases

An Anglo-Indian woman, Suzette Jordan, was raped in a moving car by five men on February 6, 2012, when she was returning home from Park Street in Kolkata.

Soon after the news surfaced, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee absolved the accused of all charges. She had dubbed the incident as ‘shajano ghotona‘ (concocted incident), which was allegedly ‘designed to malign the government.’

While speaking to a news channel, TMC MP Kakoli Ghose Dhastidar cast aspersions on the character of the victim and also ruled out the rape angle.

Rape survivor Suzette Jordan, image via Livemint

She stated, “If you are referring to the Park Street case, see that’s a different one altogether. It’s not at all a rape case. It was a misunderstanding between two people in a professional dealing between the lady and her client.”

At the same time, the then Transport Minister had also questioned the victim’s character and called the complaint fake. 3 years later in 2015, a Kolkata Court upheld the rape charges in the Park Street case and found accused Nasir Khan, Ruman Khan and Sumit Bajaj guilty.

In 2013, during a debate in the West Bengal legislative assembly about the rising cases of rapes in the State, the CM had insinuated that it was due to an increase in the population of the State. She had also blamed modernisation, an increase in shopping malls and multiplexes for rising rape cases.

During another rape case in Burdwan’s Katwa in the same year, Mamata Banerjee again dismissed the rape allegations, even before the investigation was concluded.

“A political party is doing all this, shouting rape. They are playing this drama. Harmader diye natok shajachhe jatey Banglar nam kharap hochhe (They are staging an act to give a bad name to West Bengal)”, she was heard as saying.

Screengrab of the Telegraph report

In April last year, Mamata Banerjee courted controversy after she tried to downplay allegations of brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl as a ‘love affair’ gone wrong.

The incident, in question, took place on April 4, 2022, in the Shyamnagar locality in Hanskhali Block Number- I in the Nadia district of West Bengal. The accused has been identified as one Brajgopal, the son of Trinamool Congress (TMC) Gajna Gram Panchayat member Samar Gowla.

While speaking at the inauguration of the revamped Milan Mela on April 11, she claimed, “As a layman, I am saying where would someone get the evidence whether the girl was actually raped or pregnant. Or was there any other reason, like someone beat her up or she died of some illness?”

“There was a love affair for sure, her family knew about it, and their neighbours also knew about it. Now if a girl and a boy love each other, I cannot punish them”, alleged Mamata Banerjee.

While her recent remarks have stirred a hullabaloo in political circles of West Bengal, there is nothing surprising given that Mamata Banerjee has a stellar record at trivialising rape and victim-blaming.

How a George Soros-backed District Attorney set a masturbating predator free on Probation in Austin, Texas: Details

OpIndia Staff
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How a George Soros-backed District Attorney set a masturbating predator free on Probation in Austin, Texas: Details

On Tuesday, April 25, a person named Antonio Rios was sentenced to ten years probation for chasing after a woman and masturbating in Austin, Texas. The woman named Lynn Isaak’s leg was broken while Rios chased her. The predator is also awaiting trial in another case wherein he masturbated in front of a nine-year-old girl and her mother. José Garza, the George Soros-backed district attorney, released Antonio Rios despite the fact that he admitted to aggravated assault causing severe bodily harm.

It is notable that ‘probation’ is a criminal penalty that releases an individual convicted of a crime into the community rather than locking them up in a prison.

Reacting to the ten-year probation sentence to the predator, victim Lynn Isaak said that the sentencing is “too soft”. Back in 2021, Isaak who is an engineer was jogging in a neighbourhood when Antonio Rios chased, Isaak told the media that she tried to outrun the predator for over seven miles until a neighbour managed to scare him off. She added that during the run her leg was shattered requiring her to undergo knee replacement. “He really looked at me like I was his prey,” Isaak said. 

Moreover, Isaak said that Rios was not even made to wear a GPS monitoring device when he was sentenced. At Rios’ sentence, ten women who alleged that Rios exposed himself to them also came to protest. Isaak also told that Rios is also facing charges in three other cases involving similar offences. Isaak’s counsel has claimed that DA Garza’s focus is more on rehabilitating the criminals adding that he has not witnessed justice being served to the victims.

Funded by controversial financier-billionaire George Soros, Garza has often been criticized for being strict on police and soft on criminals. Garza granted ten years probation to Antonio Rios after sixteen months of negotiation, as told by Rios’s counsel.

For those accused of low-level, nonviolent crimes, cash bail is no longer used. Garza, a former public defender and immigrant advocate, has also raised eligibility for diversion programs—an alternative to incarceration, criminal charges, and subsequent criminal records. and discontinued prosecuting cases involving minor drug offences.

Garza is one of many district attorneys in the US to have received significant support from leftist billionaire George Soros, according to data compiled by the Capital Research Centre in 2022, through direct contributions and endorsement ads from activist organisations like the Texas Justice and Public Safety Political Action Committee (PAC).

Despite the fact that just six persons in Austin at the time were known to have COVID-19, Garza freed hundreds of prisoners from jail in 2020 over COVID-19 regulations. In 2021, Garza freed a man who had eight prior offences on his record after discovering a pistol in his possession during a car chase with the police. The man allegedly embarked on a crime spree, committing 10 armed robberies after being released with an ankle monitor. Following Garza’s election, police budgets have also been cut and the report adds that crime rates are also on the rise. 

Earlier this month, a jury in Garza’s district convicted a Fort Hood soldier named Sgt. Daniel Perry of ‘murdering’ a Black Lives Matter (BLM) activist after he aimed an AK-47 at him in 2020. Following this, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lambasted Garza accusing him of “weaponizing judicial system and cowing down to the racial agenda of liberal and extremist mobs. He also added that self-defence is not a crime but a God-given right, which has been criminalized by Garza.”

China has been using surveillance against its minorities based on foreign countries, many receive threats for talking about Tibetans, Uyghurs: Details

ANI
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China has been using surveillance against its minorities based on foreign countries, many receive threats for talking about Tibetans, Uyghurs: Details

China has been using surveillance on its miniorities based in foreign countries for intimidation, blackmail and coercion. 

People who have received such threats are the ones who have spoken about the repression by the Chinese Government against minorities such as Uyghurs, Tibetans, political dissidents, etc. In view of cases of threat and coercion against minorities who have taken asylum in the Netherlands, alliance members comprising representatives of Uyghurs, Moroccans, Iranians, Turks and Tibetans held (April 20) a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Justice & Security and Ministry of Social Affairs. 

During the meeting, alliance members highlighted foreign interference by China and how they threaten their respective community members in countries like Turkey, China, Iran etc. 

Tsering Jampa, Secretary, Tibet Support Group enquired whether the Chinese police stations had been closed in the Netherlands. 

The Coordinator for National Counter Terrorism and Security (NCTV) reaffirmed that the two Chinese police stations in Rotterdam and Amsterdam had been closed. 

Deliberations were also held on setting up a Reporting Centre where persons who are threatened can report through the municipality or the police. 

The Centre will analyse the inputs and take follow-up action with the concerned departments and consider providing protection to threatened individuals. The Ministry of Social Affairs is preparing a plan on these lines. 

This comes after the US discovered six more Chinese spy bases after the FBI busted a Chinese ‘police station’ in New York City, reported New York Post (NYP).

The FBI helped shut down a clandestine Chinese “police station” in Manhattan after the arrest of two alleged operatives earlier this week. 

Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both New York residents, are facing conspiracy charges to act as China’s agents and obstruction of justice. 

Meanwhile, NYP informed that several more of these illegal organizations are scattered across the US. 

“We found at least four listed in the US by PRC (People’s Republic of China) public security authorities, plus flagged an additional four overseas Chinese service centers in the US set up by the UFWD networks responsible for manning the stations,” a spokeswoman for Safeguard Defenders told NYP. 

In addition to the Chinese police station above a noodle restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown, there is another station at an undisclosed address in New York City, as well as an outpost in Los Angeles, according to a new report by Safeguard Defenders. 

In addition to Los Angeles and New York, the non-profit has found so-called “overseas service stations” in San Francisco and Houston as well as in cities in Nebraska and Minnesota. 

The Madrid-based human rights group initially published a report last year detailing 100 clandestine Chinese police stations around the world. 

These law enforcement organizations, operated by the Chinese Communist Party, are tasked with spying on Chinese nationals around the world, reported NYP. However, Beijing denied running these stations, characterizing them as “service centers” for overseas Chinese nationals. 

UFWD is an acronym for United Front Work Department, a Chinese government agency that controls overseas ethnic and religious affairs. Often, the police stations — whose operatives allegedly spy on dissidents and others — hide behind non-profits and community associations, according to Safeguard Defenders’ reports. 

These police stations are part of at least 100 functioning across 53 countries, including the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. 

Last month, Canadian police initiated an investigation into two sites near Montreal suspected to be Chinese police outposts. 

Beijing is apprehensive about its citizens going rogue in a “third” country, particularly in the US and European cities. 

As a result, Chinese security agencies have been actively intimidating dissidents abroad to avoid international embarrassment on human rights issues and quash any signs of rebellion. 

Interestingly, the Chinese government uses ‘Chinatowns’ in different cities across the globe for its covert activities.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

IOA President PT Usha criticises wrestlers for protesting on the streets

OpIndia Staff
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IOA President PT Usha criticises wrestlers for protesting on the streets

The president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), PT Usha, remarked on Thursday, 27th April 2023, that the protests by the wrestlers on the streets amount to indiscipline and are damaging the nation’s reputation. Indian wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik, are protesting against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Wrestlers have accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation.

PT Usha said, “Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is having a committee for sexual harassment, instead of going to the streets they (protesting wrestlers) could have come to us earlier but they didn’t come to IOA. It isn’t good for Sports not only for wrestlers, they should also have some discipline”

The IOA also established a three-person ad hoc panel, comprised of former shooter Suma Shirur, Bhupendra Singh Bajwa, and a yet-to-be-named retired high court judge, to manage the WFI’s operations until a new body is elected.

After the protest first began in January, the IOA and the government were able to pacify the wrestlers by promising to look into their claims against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and the WFI.

On the other hand, wrestler Bajrang Punia, on Thursday, refuted Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur’s assertion that he engaged with the protesting wrestlers for 12 hours to settle their issues.

Bajrang Punia said, “The sports minister is saying that he spoke to the players for 12 hours. Once ask the Sports Minister for how long you were sitting among the players. He sat for 2-4 minutes with the players. His officials were mediating with the players.”

Vinesh Phogat, a wrestler and one of the three main protesters against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, claimed that at the meetings that were held to find a solution, the wrestlers were occasionally even intimidated.

Earlier in the day Anurag Thakur held a press conference in Shimla where he spoke about the issue. In addition to reiterating its commitment to an “impartial probe” into the allegations against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, he said that the government provided all of the protesting wrestlers the opportunity to state their cases before the monitoring committee.

He said, “A few wrestlers are sitting in protest at Jantar Mantar. I have spent 12 hours with them — seven hours on the first day and five hours the next day (in January). I had listened to all their grievances, held a press conference at 2-2.30 at night, and formed a committee after talking to them.”

He added, “They had asked to add a member and gave Babita Phogat’s name, and we added her to the committee. There is nothing in our mind, we wanted an impartial probe.”

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