Indians advised to avoid visiting three Nigerian states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa

The Indian High Commission in Nigeria has issued a warning to Indians to avoid visiting the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where security forces are battling militancy.


Accra: Indians have been advised to avoid visiting three states in Nigeria where emergency has been declared to combat militancy. With the Nigerian security situation showing no signs of improvement, the Indian High Commission in Abuja has issued a warning to Indians to avoid visiting the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where the Nigerian government has declared a state of emergency. On May 14, Nigerian authorities declared emergency in the three north-eastern states to battle militancy.

The high commission said that "following this measure, some areas in these states have witnessed higher level of violence and the security outlook appears to be uncertain at this stage". It asked "Indian nationals living in these three states to carefully weigh their options and consider relocation until the security situation settles down. Similarly, those planning to visit these three states are advised to consider postponing their visits until security situation settles down".

There are a total of 35,000 Indians in Nigeria. In general, Indians in Nigeria are well off and enjoy a largely non-controversial existence. The community has two temples in Lagos and a number of cultural and ethnic associations, most prominent of which is the Indian Cultural Association. The high commission cautioned Indian nationals who decide to continue living in or visit these states to be extra vigilant and take all possible security measures for their protection.

It recalled the death of two Indian nationals and one other person who was seriously injured in an attack by an unidentified armed group on an Indian owned Gum Arabic factory in Maiduguri, Borno, July 25, 2012. It took up the "matter of safety and security of the Indian community and their properties in Nigeria, with the concerned authorities in Nigeria". The high commission said, over the past few months, the "security situation in some parts of Nigeria has deteriorated. A sharp increase in cases of kidnappings in coastal belt, particularly by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, has also been noted. The high commission said that "these instances of insecurity have occasionally involved Indian nationals as unfortunate victims".

'While in most cases they were passive victims of a situation or a criminal conspiracy, there are cases when they were specifically targeted for kidnapping or physical harm. Either way, a more prudent and cautious conduct could have avoided a calamitous outcome,' it added. On June 4, gunmen assassinated Alhaji Murtala Attahiru, a Sokoto state assembly member representing Gada West constituency.

State Commissioner of Police Alhaji Lawal Gambo said a number of assailants on motorbikes killed Alhaji Attahiru while he was on his way home and took away his car. 'Investigation carried out at the scene revealed that the slain lawmaker struggled with the hoodlums when they wanted to snatch the car - his shirt was torn. Thus, it was during the struggle that he was killed by the miscreants,' Gambo added.

As the situation escalates, the US has posted a $23 million reward to help arrest five known militant leaders who are suspected to be behind the terrorist attacks that have spread from Nigeria to other part of the West Africa region. Anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of Nigeria's Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, who has openly invited Islamists from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran to join the group to create an Islamic State, will receive $7 million.

The US has also targeted Malik Abou Abdelkarim, a senior fighter with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Oumar Ould Hamaha, the spokesman for Mali's Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, for rewards of up to $3 million each for information leading to their arrest.

NRI Sabha to fund education of poor

The district unit of the NRI Sabha would provide free education to five students of economically backward families in each sub-division every year, chairman and DC Varun Roojam said, while presiding over the meeting of the executives on Thursday. He said a special fund would be constituted and asked the president to co-ordinate with NRI philanthropists to revive the poor patient fund.

Sabha president said that the organisation had donated 883 fans to schools and 25 to the old age home in Ram Colony Camp and had undertaken sewerage, water supply and street light projects in Bhungarni and Sahri villages. He added that all CDPOs were provided wheat storage drums and that the sabha had received 38 complaints of which 324 had been settled.

On the occasion, a widow was given assistance of Rs. 80,000 for the medical education of her daughter.

Obama names NRI as federal judge

Washington: Chandigarh-born Indian-American legal liminary Srikanth 'Sri' Srinivasan has been nominated by President Barack Obama to what is "often called the nation's second-highest court", the US court of appeals for the American capital.

Srinivasan, 45, who in August last year was named principal deputy solicitor general of the US, succeeding another Indian American, Neal Kumar Katyal, creates history in becoming the first South Asian to be ever nominated to the circuit court. If confirmed, he will be just the third South Asian named to any federal judgeship.

Along with Srinivasan, the president also nominated Caitlin Halligan, to also serve on the same court.

"Caitlin Halligan and Sri Srinivasan are dedicated public servants who will bring their tremendous experience, intellect, and integrity to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit," Obama said.

Noting that "This important court is often called the Nation's second-highest court," he said: "Srinivasan will be a trailblazer and, like Halligan, will serve the court with distinction and excellence."

A White House statement said Srinivasan is a highly-respected appellate advocate who has spent a distinguished career litigating before the US Supreme Court and the US Courts of Appeals, both on behalf of the US and in private practice.

Srinivasan was born in Chandigarh and grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. He received his BA with honours and distinction in 1989 from Stanford University and his JD with distinction in 1995 from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

He also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which he received along with his JD in 1995.

Srinivasan began his legal career by serving as a law clerk for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit from 1995 to 1996.

He received the Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Furthering US National Security in 2003 and the Office of the Secretary of Defence Award for Excellence in 2005.

In 2007, Srinivasan became a partner with O'Melveny & Myers LLP. In 2011, he was named the chair of the firm's appellate practice group. He was named as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General in August 2011.

NRI found murdered over property dispute

LUDHIANA: Fighting a property dispute against his brother, 70-year-old NRI Kulwant Singh, who had returned from England just three months back, was found murdered in his house at Mahima Singh Wala village in Dehlon.

The body was lying decomposed, indicating that the NRI was murdered a few days back.

He had reportedly returned following a property dispute with his brother Jaswant Singh, who is also settled in England.

Sarpanch Joginder Singh, after getting a phone call from NRIs third brother Charanjit Singh, went to Kulwants house and found the body. Charanjit had told the sarpanch that his brothers mobile phone was switched off and he did not appear before a court on May 20 for hearing in a property case.

There were injuries on the head of the deceased. Police sources said it seemed that the murder was committed using a blunt weapon. He was probably killed a week back, they added.

As there was no sign of the robbery, the police are suspecting the role of acquaintance behind the murder. They are also not ruling out the use of contract killers in the crime.

Inspector Satinder Pal Singh, SHO, Dehlon police station, said it was a planned murder. Police have registered a case under section 302 of the IPC against unidentified persons.

Jassi Honour Killing Case - Family face extradition

Jassi Sidhu

VANCOUVER - A British Columbia woman who Indian authorities believe was the victim of an honour killing planned in Canada spent the final months of her life in fear of her family, her friends testified Monday at the extradition hearing of her mother and uncle.

Jaswinder, or Jassi, Sidhu was 25 when she was found strangled and beaten to death in June 2000, her body dumped in a canal in India.

Her mother, Malkit Kaur Sidhu, and her uncle, Surjit Singh Badesha, are facing extradition to India to face charges of conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly unleashing the attack on the tall South Asian beauty and her lower caste husband.

"She had married a gentleman outside of an arranged marriage her family wanted," said Jody Wright, who worked with Sidhu at a Coquitlam beauty salon. "It was of her own free will. For love."

Wright testified that Sidhu told her when they worked together in the months before her death that the marriage had remained a secret for about a year because her family would not approve of the poor rickshaw driver she met during a visit to India a few years earlier.

But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gregory Fitch heard that the clandestine union came to light when Sidhu's previous boss called her home to say she had left behind some personal items. A family member picked up those items and found a marriage certificate.

Jassi sidhu with her husband Mithu

Wright said Sidhu described what happened next as an "interrogation," during which Sidhu's own life and that of her husband, Sukhwinder (Mithu) Sidhu, were threatened. Wright said her friend told her she admitted to the marriage and was forced to sign a document seeking an annulment.

"She was fearful of her life. She told me she didn't know what they were capable of," Wright testified.

Sidhu arranged a code with Wright, the receptionist at the salon, that would initiate a call to police. Wright said she made that call twice.

"The code word was, 'I'm sick or I have the flu.' That was my trigger to call the cops because she was locked in her bedroom," she told the court under questioning by Deborah Strachan, the lawyer for the federal attorney general.

Wright said she typed a letter for Sidhu that Sidhu said she would take to her lawyer. The letter said Sidhu had been forced to sign the document seeking an annulment, and that she had not, in fact, been forced to marry.

Weeks before her death, Wright and another friend testified that Sidhu ran away from home. Her bank accounts had been frozen so she borrowed the money to go to India and planned to bring her husband home with her to Canada.

"She was excited about her marriage and she was working on getting his immigration papers and she was hoping her family would eventually accept him once he came over," testified Belinda Lucas, another co-worker.

Malkit Kaur Sidhu appeared grandmotherly in the prisoner's box. Wearing glasses, her greying hair pulled back in a bun, she nodded slightly at the quiet words of a translator sitting between her and her brother.

Badesha, in a white turban and white sneakers, shook his head at some of the allegations made by the first of five witnesses expected to testify this week. He and Sidhu are in custody awaiting the outcome of the extradition hearing.

Lucas said the young woman told her that her family had offered her money and a car to get a divorce. When that didn't work, they took her driver's licence and passport.

After Sidhu's family found out about her marriage, Lucas said she was escorted into work by two of her uncles. One of them, who she identified as Badesha, told the salon owner that Sidhu was not to be allowed to leave work during the day or make any phone calls. She was brought into work and picked up every day.

Under cross-examination by Malkit Sidhu's lawyer, David Crossin, Lucas said she believed her friend loved her mother very much.

"I think her mother loved her and I think she was feeling the same thing as her daughter — torn," Lucas testified.

Lucas agreed that, based on her discussions with Jassi Sidhu, she believed the elder Sidhu was unhappy and being forced to choose between loving and supporting her daughter and the wishes of her brother, a wealthy businessman.

"As a result of your discussions with Jassi, it was apparent to you that both Jassi and her mother were unhappy about the lifestyle each of them lived in that household?" Crossin asked.

Lucas agreed.

"Someone who had perhaps been poorly treated in her life?" Crossin asked.

"Maybe," Lucas said.

Badesha's lawyer, Michael Klein, asked both witnesses if they had watched any of the extensive media coverage the case had received, including a book and several television documentaries.

He also pointed out several discrepancies in details between the witnesses' testimony and statements they gave to police 11 years ago.

Sidhu and her husband were attacked as they rode a scooter in a village near Sangrur, Punjab in June 2000. Her husband was severely beaten but survived. Sidhu was kidnapped, and later strangled to death.

Seven men were convicted of the crime in India, but several of those convictions were overturned on appeal.