Horrifying tales of Punjabi youths stuck in Texas jail

Chandigarh/Jalandhar, April 13
The well-oiled human trafficking network and business, involving the ferrying of hundreds or thousands of Punjabis to North America, is alive and kicking. Unscrupulous travel agents operating from the USA and New Delhi are minting money from these shady deals.

As many as 64 Punjabi youths, who travelled across more than half the world in search of greener pastures, have been detained in El-Paso processing centre (jail) in Texas, USA.

Forty-two of them are on hunger strike against their prolonged detention and the jail authorities’ “inhuman” action of withdrawing communication and other facilities to them. The startling revelations made by some detainees there and their families in the Doaba region of Punjab has indicated that human smuggling to the USA by travel agents from India is going on unabated.

Speaking to The Tribune from Vancouver, Canada, Jarnail Singh, father of one of the detainees -- Amritpal Singh Aulakh of Kanpur village, said that he has already paid Rs 22 lakh to an agent in instalments. “Amritpal did not get a direct flight to Mexico. He had to pass through Dubai, Ecuador and Guatemala. From Mexico, he crossed over to Texas, USA, on foot,” said Jarnail.
He said that all the detainees have been observing a hunger strike for the past six days to protest against their 10-month-long detention. “I have hired a legal representative in the US for his release and $9000 have already been paid. He has already lost his first appeal,” Jarnail said. Satnam Singh Chahal, executive director of the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), managed -- after many determined attempts -- to have a conversation with the detainees.
He said that the youngsters -- in the age group of 22 to 27 years -- were determined to continue with their hunger strike till their release.
“There is zero evidence that any of the detainees has a criminal background,” said Chahal speaking to The Tribune from California.
The families back home are so scared that they are not ready to identify the agents involved in trafficking of youths. Ranvijay Singh, father of Harpreet Singh, said that he has already paid Rs 20 lakh to the agent. He said that he had got a call from his son around 20 days ago.
On the reasons behind his son’s illegal migration to the USA, he alleged that the Punjab police were trying to implicate his son in some false cases on the basis of his alleged links with some terrorist organisation.
“I have already suffered as a result of such accusations in the period of militancy. So, I decided to send him abroad.”
Reaching Mexico -- from where the youths would cross over to the US -- is no less than a tough task. The young men had to walk miles through the jungles and difficult terrain in Guatemala. “Some of them told me that they had reached Mexico via Moscow, Suriname in South America and Nicaragua in Central America. They were huddled into a truck that ferried them to Honduras and Guatemala. In Mexico, they were forced to live in a small dingy room for over two months in an undisclosed small township,” said Satnam Singh Chahal.
Sources in the booming “trade” revealed that there were two major routes -- from New Delhi to Moscow and from New Delhi to Istanbul -- by air. Once the youths landed in Moscow or Istanbul, agents ferried them to Mexico via various countries of Europe or South Africa.
At times, youths (mostly from India and Pakistan) were concealed in containers -- having little air or almost no food and water for days -- for the purpose of shipping them to North America.

Human trafficking

• Victims of human trafficking, 64 Punjabi youths have been detained in El-Paso processing centre (jail) in Texas, USA
• 42 of them are on hunger strike against their prolonged detention and the jail authorities’ inhuman treatment

NRI jailed for life for cold-blooded murder of wife

London - Cold and calculated murder of a young bride from Nawanshahr has resulted in her NRI husband being jailed for life by a British court.

Local media reports have focused on how bank employee Jasvir Ram Ginday (29) killed his wife because he was afraid that she would expose his homosexual preferences.

But little has been told about the promising future that beckoned for 24-year-old Varkha Rani, who had a master’s degree in Information Science and Technology and was the pride and joy of her loving family back in Nawanshahr.

Shortly after Ginday was convicted, Varkha’s cousin, Sunil Kumar said, “No words can truly express the sadness and hurt my family and I are experiencing at the loss of Varkha. She was loved dearly by all, she had a great passion for life and doted on her family.

“Varkha attained a master’s degree and was driven to make her life a success. Unfortunately, she fell prey to Ginday, who had ulterior motives which Varkha would not have appreciated.”

During his trial, members of the jury were told how UK-born Ginday had engaged in sexual relations with men long before his betrothal to 24-year-old Varkha whom he married in order to please his parents.

Varkha had no idea what to expect when she married Ginday last year. But a video taken on her wedding day last March, when she is seen dancing cheek-to-cheek with Ginday, shows her with excited, shining eyes as she prepares for a brand new life in the UK.

But the couple’s relationship started to turn sour only weeks after their wedding. Six months later police found Varkha’s skull, including a few teeth, and her wedding ring inside a mini furnace, or incinerator, bought and installed by her husband in the couple’s garden only a few weeks earlier.

It is understood that Ginday first strangled Varkha with the metal hose of a vacuum cleaner before dousing her body with petrol and stuffing it inside the furnace. For the next 48 hours he used a metal rod to poke and prod Varkha’s remains in a bid to facilitate the burning process.

Neighbours were alerted to the tragedy by the odd smell and thick smoke coming from the couple’s garden. When further investigations were carried out by police, Ginday told them he had been burning leaves. Later, in response to more questions about what was inside the furnace, he replied, “Its food.”

A few days earlier in an attempt to cover up his crime, Ginday filed a police report, saying his wife had taken 500 pounds and abandoned him following a furious marital row. This version of events was rejected by Judge John Warner during the trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court. He told Ginday, “It was a very cruel situation in which you put her.

“You have told lie after lie about a number of matters. It is impossible to rely on anything you say.

“I am satisfied that you intended to kill - you are a devious, controlling man and a meticulous planner in a number of aspects of your life. I do not know for sure how you killed her but the rest afterwards we do know.

“Killing her was a dreadful enough thing to have done, but what followed was horrible almost beyond imagining. “You behaved in an unbelievably casual and callous way with a complete lack of any humanity.

“No one who was in court to hear that evidence will easily put out of their minds, the image of her body being poked and prodded by you down into that incinerator.”

Ukraine crisis: More buildings seized in east

Keiv - Armed men have seized a police station and a security services building in eastern Ukraine, according to officials.

Police said the men fired shots and used stun grenades to seize the offices in Sloviansk, near the Russian border.

Meanwhile, a gun battle has erupted in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk, according to the Ukrainian acting interior minister.

Pro-Russian activists have seized government buildings elsewhere in east Ukraine in recent days and Kiev has accused Moscow of orchestrating the unrest.

Former finance minister Jim Flaherty dead at 64

Ottawa, ON - Former finance minister Jim Flaherty has died at the age 64, nearly a month after he stepped down from cabinet ahead of a planned move to the private sector.

The cause of death was not immediately available. Paramedics were called to Flaherty’s Ottawa condominium shortly after noon Thursday, and he was pronounced dead not long after, police said.

Flaherty’s wife, Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott, and the couple’s triplet sons, John, Galen and Quinn, issued a brief statement asking for privacy. The statement said Flaherty “passed away peacefully.”

The House of Commons was suspended after the news of Flaherty’s death broke Thursday afternoon. The Ontario legislature was also adjourned for the day.

The flag on the Peace Tower at Parliament Hill was lowered to half-mast.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said “today is a very sad day for me, for our government and for all of our country.”

“Jim will be sorely missed, not only by his many friends on both side of the House, I know particularly his friends in this caucus, among whom he was held unanimously in a combination of great respect and affection,” Harper said in a statement to the Conservative caucus.

“But he will also be missed by the countless thousands of Canadians that he devoted himself to and whom he helped during his long and successful career in public life.”

Harper said that he will speak more about Flaherty’s legacy and “the special relationship I shared with Jim” in the days ahead. Harper appeared with his wife Laureen, who was wiping tears from her eyes.

Former and current MPs and MPPs of all political stripes paid tribute to Canada’s longest-serving finance minister.

Joe Oliver, who succeeded Flaherty in the finance post, said he was “shocked and very saddened” to learn of Flaherty’s death.

“He was an honourable, dedicated and exceptional man who loved Canada,” Oliver said.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said he and his wife, Catherine, “are very, very sad at the loss of a great Canadian.”

Mulcair, near tears, made a brief statement outside the House of Commons. He paid tribute to Flaherty, calling him an “extraordinarily dedicated public servant.”

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau issued a statement, saying he learned of Flaherty's death "with great shock and sadness."

"Jim was a dedicated Parliamentarian with a strong social conscience and fundamentally committed to the ideal of public service," Trudeau said. "He was a proud Canadian and showed continued devotion and commitment to his country over many years. This is a loss to the entire family in the House of Commons."

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May issued a statement offering her “deepest condolences” to Flaherty’s family.

“He was a rare partisan, able to extend a mischievous twinkle to a rejoinder in Question Period,” May said. “He was a dedicated public servant and a genuinely kind man. He will be missed.”

NDP MP and finance critic Peggy Nash tweeted: “Oh so sorry to learn news about Jim Flaherty. Very very sad.”

Former Ontario premier Mike Harris said Flaherty will be remembered for his political and finance skills. However, Harris told CTV News Channel: “He was an honest, genuine good guy…I loved him because he was an honest, good guy.”

Current Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa tweeted that Flaherty “was a man of great integrity. My thoughts & prayers are with Christine & family. He was a champion for Canada. We’ll miss him.”

Flaherty stepped down from his post as finance minister last month, citing plans to eventually take a job in the private sector.  At the time, Flaherty said he and his family came to the decision that he would resign from cabinet, but did not say whether he would remain an MP until the 2015 election.

He denied that his health had anything to do with the move.

He had been coping with a painful skin condition, Bullous Pemphigoid. The condition required him to take powerful medications that left him appearing bloated, and looking and sounding at times extremely fatigued.

In a statement announcing his resignation from cabinet, Flaherty said that he was “on the road to a full recovery.”

Flaherty was born in Lachine, Que. on Dec. 30, 1949 and, after growing up in Quebec, went on to earn a BA from Princeton University and a law degree from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

He helped found law firm Flaherty Dow Elliott before jumping into provincial politics in the early 1990s.

He lost his first time out, but won the Whitby-Ajax riding in 1995 and held several cabinet posts over the next decade, including labour, finance and deputy premier.

After two unsuccessful attempts to win the leadership of the Ontario Conservatives, he made a successful leap to the federal scene in 2006, winning in Whitby-Oshawa.

As federal finance minister, Flaherty made tax cuts a priority, starting with a one-per-cent cut to the GST, followed by another cut in 2008.

In 2007, Flaherty introduced the Registered Disability Savings Plan to help Canadians with disabilities save for retirement, and in 2008 introduced the Tax-Free Savings Account.

He also raised the base deduction rate, cut a point from the lowest personal tax rate and raised the limits of the two lowest tax categories.

Flaherty wasn’t afraid to spend, however, once the 2009 recession hit, pouring billions of stimulus into the economy via the Economic Action Plan.

When he stepped down last month, Flaherty thanked his constituents, his House colleagues, his wife, who represents her husband’s former provincial riding, and their sons.

“We live in the greatest country in the world, and I want Canadians to know that it has been my honour and my privilege to serve them,” Flaherty said.

About Jim Flaherty, 

James Michael foundly known as Jim Flaherty (Born December 30, 1949) was Canada's federal Minister of Finance (2006–2014) and also a former provincial Minister of Finance for Ontario (2001–2002). From 1995 until 2005, he was the Member of Provincial Parliament for Whitby—Ajax, and a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party caucus and unsuccessfully sought the leadership of the provincial party on two occasions.

Flaherty won the riding of Whitby—Oshawa in the federal election held January 23, 2006 as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada narrowly beating Liberalincumbent Judi Longfield. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2011. Flaherty's widow, Christine Elliott, represents Whitby—Oshawa in the Ontario legislature.

Facebook user base crosses 100m in India

New Delhi, April 8 - Social media giant Facebook has crossed 100 million active users in India, its largest base outside the US. "Today, we have more than 100 million people who access Facebook actively in India each month," Facebook India Head of Growth & Mobile Partnerships Kevin D'Souza said. Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and to make the world more open and connected, he said. On the outlook, D'Souza said: "We recently announced Internet.org, a global partnership with the goal of connecting the next 5 billion people around the world, to make the same access and opportunity available to everyone."