UK to scrap £3,000 visa bond scheme

LONDON: In a big victory for India, Britain has decided to abandon its controversial plan to impose a £3,000 immigration bond on visitors from "high-risk" countries in Africa and Asia. 

India, which was one of the countries targeted with the bond, had lodged strong protests against the project at the highest level of government in UK. 

The scheme if introduced would have been applicable to visitors from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana. 

The fee would be over and above the existing visa costs. 

The bond was to deter over stayers as part of the government's intention to reduce the number of immigrants to less than 100,000 per year. 

An applicant would have to forfeit the amount unless they left when required. 

A home ministry official confirmed on Sunday that the proposal of a visa bond has now been dropped. 

"The government has been considering whether we pilot a bond scheme that would deter people from overstaying the visa. We have decided not to proceed," a home office spokesperson said. Outrage from all corners of India - the third largest investor in the UK in 2011, was one of the major reasons for Britain's U-turn over the plan. 

It is believed that British Prime Minister David Cameron who will stop in New Delhi on November 14 on route to Colombo to attend the Commonwealth meet will inform his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh of the decision. 

The latest decision was also influenced by Britain's deputy prime minister Nick Clegg threatening to block the policy. With general elections coming up, Cameron didn't want a confrontation with the Liberal Democrat leader. Another of Cameron's heavy weight cabinet ministers - business secretary Vince Cable also launched a full-fledged attack against the visa bond recently. 

He said "it has caused outrage in India - one of UK's biggest trading partners". 

The pilot was announced originally by Home secretary Theresa May who said this was the next step in making sure "our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands, while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain." 

She had also confirmed that in the long run, UK would formally introduce a system of bonds that deter overstaying and "recovers costs if a foreign national has used public services." The announcement had left Cameron's cabinet divided. 

MP Keith Vaz who is chairman of the Home affairs select committee had shot down the scheme warning that such bonds would "antagonise settled communities in Britain and enrage our allies such as India". 

UK's Immigration & Asylum Act gives the government the right to force such a financial security from temporary migrants, which would be forfeited if they fail to leave after the expiry of their visa. 

Britain's former attorney general also trashed the controversial immigration visa bond calling it "highly discriminatory that will never pass through the House of Lords". 

Patricia Scotland, better known as Baroness Scotland of Asthal who was voted one of the 100 great Black Britons and had created history by becoming the first black female QC (Queens Counsel) vehemently opposed the introduction of a visa bond as a deterrent for illegal immigration and said it could never be explained "by the rule of law". 

Baroness Scotland asked Britain's home minister May to explain "how she can assert that the visa bond will be lawfully delivered". 

The Baroness called May's proposal "a populist measure" and an "emblematic move" to retain their vote bank before the next general election. 

Lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla who has earlier defended high profile clients like Sonia Gandhi, and theDalai Lama had said it was possible to challenge the visa bonds before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg as "such a requirement from a few select countries will in my view amount to discrimination against Indians". 

Mr Zaiwalla said "The bonds have not yet come into existence and needs to be approved in parliament. But it's a clear case of discrimination on the basis of race and country". 

May had recently indicated that she was backing down on the idea of the visa bonds. In a speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester recently, Britain's home secretary said she would "scrap the immigration bonds scheme altogether if she did not have the full support of her Liberal Democrat coalition partners". 

Taking a dig at the Lib Dem partners, May had said "The latest policy they're fighting is immigration bonds. It's a simple idea - the government should be able to take a £3,000 deposit from temporary migrants and return it when they leave. If they overstay their visa, they'll lose their money. Bonds were in our manifesto at the last election. But the Lib Dems suddenly announced that it was their idea. Then they said they were against them. Then they said they were for them - but only to help more immigrants to come here. Now they say they're against them after all. So let me be clear - if the price of Lib Dem support for bonds is more immigration, I will scrap the scheme altogether". 

Ironically it was Nick Clegg who had announced earlier this year that migrants from "high risk countries" that is expected to include the Indian sub-continent would soon have to mandatorily sign a cash bond of thousands of pounds to enter Britain. 

The British deputy prime minister said he had asked the UK home office to introduce a "powerful new tool" that will see immigrants requiring to pay the entry fee as a guarantee that they will leave the UK when their visa expires. The cash guarantee could cost anywhere between £1,000 rising to as much as several thousand pounds for visitors from the countries deemed to pose the highest risk. 

The cash would be refunded when they leave. 

Clegg, who chairs the Cabinet's home affairs committee had asked the home office to run a trial "security bonds" scheme by the end of this year. 

The Liberal Democrat leader who said he himself "was the son of a Dutch mother - she, herself, raised in Indonesia by a half-Russian father and husband to a Spanish wife" however added that "the bonds would need to be well-targeted - so that they don't unfairly discriminate." 

"The amounts would need to be proportionate - we mustn't penalise legitimate visa applicants who will struggle to get hold of the money. Visiting Britain to celebrate a family birth or a relative's graduation or wedding should not become entirely dependent on your ability to pay the security bond," Clegg had said. 

Filipinos allege abuse in Saudi Arabia immigration crackdown

MANILA: Thirty Filipino workers, expelled from Saudi Arabia, on Monday returned home and alleged they were abused amid a crackdown on illegal migrants there. 

They were among an estimated 6,700 Filipino workers stranded in parts of the oil-rich Middle Eastern kingdom where an amnesty for undocumented foreigners ended over the weekend. 

"They treated us like animals," said domestic helper Amor Roxas, 46, who burst in tears while narrating her ordeal. 

She claimed Saudi police rounded them up and placed them in a crowded cell for four days before they were paraded from the immigration centre to the airport. 

"Our feet were chained," added Yvonne Montefeo, 32, in between sobs.

Saudi Arabian embassy officials in Manila did not want to comment on the allegation of abuse. 

Migrante International, a support group for Filipino overseas workers, said 1,700 other workers remained stranded in Jeddah waiting for their documents to be processed so they can return home while about 5,000 more were scattered in Riyadh, Al Khobar and Dammam and also needing consular assistance. 

It warned that the Filipinos "are in danger of being violently dispersed, arrested and detained by Saudi authorities" as the kingdom implements its crackdown. 

The Filipinos are among tens of thousands of mostly Asian unskilled workers likely to be expelled, the group said. 

Vice-President Jejomar Binay, who is also presidential adviser on migrant affairs, last week appealed to the Saudi government to extend its deadline, noting that "thousands are still hoping to correct their employment status". 

"Due to the large number of Filipino workers seeking correction of their employment status, many of them may not be able to meet the November 3 deadline," he said in a letter to King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud last week. 

The crackdown started early this year, but the Saudi government offered an amnesty to allow the workers to legalize their stay. 

Binay said more than 4,000 Filipinos had been repatriated since the crackdown was announced, while 1,716 are waiting for their exit documents to be processed even as the deadline expired yesterday. 

About a tenth of the Philippines' population live and work abroad, and their dollar remittances are a vital pillar of the economy. 

A vast majority of them work as unskilled labourers or maids, and are exposed to situations whey they are prone to abuse. 

China slams killing of Mehsud in US drone strike

BEIJING: Criticising US drone strikes on militant targets in Pakistan that killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, China today said Pakistan should be allowed to work out its own strategy to counter terrorism as per its "national conditions". 

"China believes that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan should be respected in earnest manner and relevant action should strictly abide by the UN charter on international law and conflict," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said without directly referring to US drone strike that killed Mehsud last week. 

"We sincerely hope that Pakistan can achieve stability and development and we support the Pakistani government in formulating and applying strategies on counter terrorism and security in accordance with national conditions," he told a media briefing here on a question as to whether Mehsud's killing was aimed at scuttling Pakistan's planned peace talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban. 

Hong also attacked the US media for casting doubts about China's assertions that the October 28 car crash at Tiananmen Square was a suicide attack by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and criticism against China's policy towards Uyghur Muslims in the restive Xinjiang region. 

"We oppose the adoption of double standards on this issue. Some people link the terrorist act against innocent civilians and tourists with China's policy on ethnic groups and even use this as excuse to attack China's policies on ethnic groups and religions," he said adding that this amounted to "connivance" with terrorists and expressed strong dissatisfaction with it. 

Meanwhile, Chinese official media criticised CNN for carrying an article on its website that alleged "repression" against Uyghur people and raised doubts about the Tiananmen attack. 

Chinese security experts also called for international cooperation to fight terrorism. 

China urgently needs to enhance its cooperation with other countries to combat terrorism, Li Wei, anti-terrorism director at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations told state-run China Daily. 

"The threat of terrorism is not yet contained, and regional cooperation needs to be more pragmatic," he said adding that global anti-terror efforts are "far from living up to the expectations of the international community". 

After the US withdraws its troops from Afghanistan in 2014, China and its neighbours to the west may face a tougher security situation amid increased penetration of extremists, he said.

China replaces top general in volatile Xinjiang
BEIJING: China has replaced the top army general in the volatile northwestern region of Xinjiang following what the 

government called a terrorist strike in the heart of the capital Beijing, state media reported.

Peng Yong was relieved of his position on the party's regional standing committee, the ruling Communist Party newspaper 

People's Daily said in a report dated Sunday. The move effectively removes Peng's authority as military commander over 

Xinjiang, an area of mountains and deserts twice the size of Texas.

While the paper did not give an explicit reason for the move, the timing appears to link it to the Oct. 28 attack in which 

a man driving an SUV accompanied by his wife and mother plowed through crowds before crashing in front of Tiananmen Gate, 

killing themselves and two tourists.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in Beijing's symbolic political heart. The government has blamed the 

attack on Islamic extremists seeking independence for the Turkic Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang.

Police identified the three attackers and five alleged co-conspirators as members of the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group 

native to Xinjiang.

While counter-terrorism is mainly the responsibility of the police and paramilitary People's Armed Police, the military 

plays an especially influential role in Xinjiang. Military units there operate as de facto governments over certain cities 

and vast amounts of farmland and mining operations, maintaining their own police and courts.

Bordering on Pakistan, Afghanistan and several unstable Central Asian states, Xinjiang is prone to unrest and violence 

blamed on radicals among the Uighur population who have been waging a low-intensity insurgency against the Chinese 

government for decades.

While Beijing has released little information about the Beijing attack — the first in the Chinese capital in years — it 

follows a string of violent incidents in Xinjiang this year.

Uighur activists say economic marginalization and cultural and religious restrictions are fueling the violence, while 

Beijing blames overseas-based instigators.

China says will stamp out Dalai Lama's voice in Tibet
BEIJING: China aims to stamp out the voice of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in his restive and remote homeland by ensuring that his "propaganda" is not received by anyone on the internet, television or other means, a top official said.

China has tried, with varying degrees of success, to prevent Tibetans listening to or watching programmes broadcast from outside the country, or accessing any information about the Dalai Lama and the exiled government on the internet.

But many Tibetans are still able to access such news, either via illegal satellite televisions or by skirting Chinese internet restrictions. The Dalai Lama's picture and his teachings are also smuggled into Tibet, at great personal risk.

Writing in the ruling Communist Party's influential journal Qiushi, the latest issue of which was received by subscribers on Saturday, Tibet's party chief Chen Quanguo said that the government would ensure only its voice is heard.

"Strike hard against the reactionary propaganda of the splittists from entering Tibet," Chen wrote in the magazine, whose name means "seeking truth".

The government will achieve this by confiscating illegal satellite dishes, increasing monitoring of online content and making sure all telephone and internet users are registered using their real names, he added.

"Work hard to ensure that the voice and image of the party is heard and seen over the vast expanses (of Tibet) ... and that the voice and image of the enemy forces and the Dalai clique are neither seen nor heard," Chen wrote.

China calls the Nobel peace prize-winning Dalai Lama a "wolf in sheep's clothing" who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, says he simply wants genuine autonomy for Tibet, and denies espousing violence.

Chen said the party would seek to expose the Dalai Lama's "hypocrisy and deception" and his "reactionary plots".

China has long defended its iron-fisted rule in Tibet, saying the region suffered from dire poverty, brutal exploitation and economic stagnation until 1950, when Communist troops "peacefully liberated" Tibet.


Tensions in China's Tibetan regions are at their highest in years after a spate of self-immolation protests by Tibetans, which have led to an intensified security crackdown.

Plane crash in Bolivia kills 8, 10 hurt

LA PAZ: An Aerocon turboprop with 18 people on board crashed in northern Bolivia, killing eight and leaving the other 10 people injured, the airline said.

Aerocon spokesman Nelson Kinn said that the plane had technical issues that led to the plane catching fire on landing in the small city of Riberalta near the Brazilian border, where the Madre de Dios River joins the Beni River.

There were 16 passengers and two crew on board the Fairchild Metro 23 aircraft.

"As they were landing, on touchdown, the plane had some kind of problem that led to fire. The people who died sustained multiple injuries and burns," Kinn said on Sunday.

Authorities were investigating the causes of the tragedy.

Thailand ferry accident kills 6 tourists in the resort town of Pattaya

BANGKOK: An overcrowded tourist ferry capsized and sank near a popular Thai seaside town, killing six tourists, including two Russians and a Chinese, police said. The rest of the roughly 200 people aboard were rescued.

The double-decker ferry, carrying Thai and foreign tourists, left Lan island for the 30-minute trip to the resort town of Pattaya on Sunday evening, said police Col. Suwan Cheawnavinthavat. Shortly after the boat departed, an engine problem sent the passengers on the first deck rushing to the second floor, causing the ferry to flip on its side and eventually sink.

"Witnesses said there were neither enough tubes nor life vests on the ferry. Some of those who cannot swim had to cling onto coolers or ice containers until rescuers came," Suwan said by phone.

He said the foreigners who died were a Russian man, a Russian woman and a Chinese man. Three Thais — two women and a man — also were killed. The rest of the passengers were rescued, including a 12-year-old Russian boy who was in intensive care at a hospital. None of the others were hospitalized.

Suwan said the ferry was operating over its capacity of about 130 to 150 passengers. He said police were looking for the ferry driver to investigate the cause of the accident.

Pattaya, which is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bangkok, has had several fatal boat accidents this year. Last month, an Indian tourist celebrating her wedding anniversary was killed in a parasailing accident off the town's coast. In August, two Chinese tourists were killed in a speed boat accident near Pattaya's main pier.

Lan island is a popular daytrip destination among tourists near Pattaya.

Venezuela airs doubts about French probe of Air France drugs

CARACAS: Venezuela voiced concerns Sunday about France's probe of a huge cocaine haul from an Air France flight from Caracas, complaining over "worrisome" facts in the case. 

About 1.3 tonnes of cocaine were found aboard an Air France jet that departed from Simon Bolivar International Airport outside Caracas on September 11 and landed in Paris. 

At least 28 people have been detained in the case, including eight members of Venezuela's National Guard, various airport officials and an Air France employee. 

French authorities seized the shipment, the largest bust ever on French soil. 

However, national antidrug office director Alejandro Keleris cast doubt over French authorities' claims about the circumstances surrounding the find. 

"It seems quite strange to me that 10 days went by after the plane landed in France before the drugs appeared, and then they were 32.9 kilometers (20 miles) from Charles de Gaulle (airport), where one would think that there is security," he told Televen television. 

French officials made the announcement September 21 in Nanterre, saying the seizure took place at a Paris airport terminal. 

Keleris said French authorities' conduct in the case, including how the drugs apparently made it through customs, was "worrisome," though he acknowledged cooperation from Paris. 

Venezuela has asked French authorities for answers on several points, and is still awaiting replies, he added. 

Asked if US authorities could have planted the drugs in cooperation with French authorities, Keleris said "we could not rule that out." 

Venezuela's revolutionary socialist government is a staunch critic of the United States. Washington has strained ties with Caracas but remains a major oil buyer. 

Last month, President Nicolas Maduro said Venezuela was looking into any possible US Drug Enforcement Administration in the Air France flight case. 

Venezuela is said to be a transit point for South American cocaine flowing to Europe and the United States.