Worker ‘attacked’ over wages 7 Days

Employees ProteLabour Supply Company too Teach Media a Lesson!!!

A leading Malayali businessman is consulting with lawyers as to how to silence the media people who have boldly reported about the poor fate of 1500 employees, after one of them was beaten up by the company staff. Gulf News reporter Basmaaa and others including Asianet may face a legal tussle soon. Meanwhile, Riyas babu, the budding reporter from Khaleej Times is being troubled by a Sardarji, who has been antogonised by a story about forty workers who were surviving with a single meal a day. The Indian Media Forum, which is famous for pampering and promoting Malayali tycoons, seems to be indifferent towards the threatening mode adopted by the business tycoons. ..Watch this space.(KM Report)

Labour Supply Company Threatens Asianet! (Earlier KM Report)

A labour supply company responsible for the inhuman and uncivilised treatment of about 1,500 employees is threatening to take legal action against two leading news organisations that boldly reported the story about the physical assault on a worker. Asianet sources confirmed that a caller was furious at a news report aired by Asianet Radio and Asianet TV about the workers problems. They are known to have consulted the legal advisors to move against the channel, which recently received another legal notice from a recruitment agency for a leading taxi company. Jiji Chandran who has been handling the Gulf Bureau of Asianet Gulf programme has reported the labourers story by quoting the affected workers. Kairali Channel too reported the story without any fear or favour. Even the report by Basmaa Zaa of Gulf News, a leading English daily was not to the liking of the labour supply company. When the story of Shaji, a taxi driver who was forced to live in a public park for months after failing ten times in the driving test, was telecast, another recruiting agency send a legal notice to the Asianet journalist Biju Abel Jacob, threatening to take legal action if an apology is not given in the Gulf Round Up programme. Paradoxically enough during the major strike by taxi drivers in the city, the drivers aired stronger criticism against the same recruiting agency and even physically manhandled the agents present in the venue. Threatening legal action and intimidation tactics seem to be the strongest weapon that the violators of labour laws and basic fundamental rights use to silence the press and media. In both the cases, the villains are well respected members of Malayali community. One is a film producer who is getting all the positive media coverage about his success in the film field, but cannot tolerate the negative story about hundreds of employees. While violating workers right is deemed to be a right of the recruitment agents and other Malayali tycoons, reporting such violationssems to be grave mistake! Shut your mouth or get the next legal notice seems to be the catch word.

Workers Protests against Goons attack!

Victims of Visa Racket Say no Drinking Water in Camp!

Hundreds of employees of a labour supply company owned and managed by a leading film maker from Kerala have accused the company of using goons and other intimidation tactics to silence those who raise genuine concerns about the poor salary, pathetic living condition including lack of drinking water in the labour camp and avoidable fines and punishment that affect their monthly earning and living standards. Holding placards with poorly written slogans, the poor workers said they have stopped workin after the management used goons to kick and slap a Malayali worker who asked the manager to release the salary of a colleague who was planning even to commit suicide. The worker who ended up in huge debt back home for buying the visa was pestered by his wife to send money home for repaying the loan. . Almost all the workers are unanimous that they are cheated by the recruiting agent in Kerala, who lured them to work for the Dubai based labour supply company promising good salary and other facilities. Many of them said that only when they received their first pay packet did they realize that their payment Dhs.3.50 per hour. They said goons wearing Arab dress have attacked the worker, who was sleeping in his room. However, the management claimed that he was drunk and going around with a knife threatening to attack the company staff. However, workers disputed this claim and said they feared that the management brings goons and sometimes police to physically assault the workers who stand up and demand reasonable pay. Workers recruited from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, UP and other Indian states said they paid Rs.1 lakh or more to get a visa to work for Perfect Labour Supply or related companies. Some of them who paid only Rs.65,000 for the visa said their salary was deducted because the company wanted Dhs.3,000 more for the visas. (click photo for expanded view)

The workers who were desperately calling different media personalities in town including leading television channels felt anguished about a leading Kerala channel which repeatedly aired an interview in which the company owner. In the interview, workers said, the owner claimed that the staff in his company live like a family. However, they said there is no drinking water and if anyone brings a guest or vistiro, a fine of Dhs.100 is deducted. "All the workers in the camp were angry when they saw this interview in a popular Malayalam channel which claims to represent working class," said an anguished worker. The company management, while admitting that a staff assaulted the worker, refuted other allegations and said they have a good track record of eight years. The employees were trying to create problem in the camp and the company managing director was in India for Eid holidays. The company promised to look into the problems and may address the press soon. The Indian Media Forum is approached for convening a press conference. They said the workers have signed contracts, which clearly state the payment and other facilities. "You can check all the documents. There is drinking water in the camp. We havent taken any money from workers for visa," he claimed. "We are a reputed group of companies and there is no problem for the last eight years," he added.

Rs.1 lakh for visa, No Labour Card

"I have paid Rs.1 lakh in India to get this visa from an agent who promised Dhs.10 per hour. They paid me just Dhs.6 per hour. I could not send money to take back gold ornaments of my wife and neighbours pledged to take money,” an employee. This is a common problem haunting all the employees who spoke to media. Gulf News, 7-Days, Emirates Today, Gulf Madhyamam and Malayalam News. None of us have labour card and whenever there is a problem, they threaten us to put behind bars. An Andhra worker said he was beaten up when he asked about the low hourly rate. He paid Rs.1 lakh too but will not be able to repay his loan in the next three years. Workers said they are all in a debt trap and they want to escape from the problems. "Help Us" said the placard displayed to the media. Even though Ajman police came and tried to take some workers, the good officials realized the workers plight and returned. Udayananu Tharam, a film financed by the labour supply company was a big hit. It demonstrated the negative side of the film industry in Kerala... But the situation facing these workers is not better...

Gulf based Labour Supply Companies Squeeze Expatriate Workers

Sharjah Award for MahasarMahasuruddin, a leading writer and journalist has been conferred the prestigious Sharjah Association aware for short stories. A former journalist with the Dubai Bureau of Gulf Madhyamam, and Deepika International, Mahsar has to his credit many short stories and other publications in Malayalam. He currently works for a marketing company. KM wishes him all the best to succeed in his writing career. He was selected for the award on the basis of his short story Khadikara Soochiyil Thoongi Adumbol (Hanging on the Pendulum). It is about inter religious marriages in Kerala in the communalised situation. In the story two couple s exchange their spouses for the sake communal harmony. Kerala, a literate state was popular for its communal harmony and intercaste and inter religious love marriages. With the Marad massacre and the communalisation of state polity, such love marriages may lead to even communal riots in the state, the writer argues.

RSF Reiterates call to Release Iraqi Journalist sentanced for 30 years!!!

PARIS - Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its call for the release of Kamal Sayid Qadir after the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq said his 30-year prison sentence was imposed in accordance with a law punishing "defamation of public institutions." In a statement released yesterday, the Kurdish authorities said the law, identified as Law 21, was passed by the region's national assembly and took effect in 2003. "The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) affirms that the principles of human rights and freedom of expression continue to be respected, promoted, and assured for all persons throughout the Kurdistan Region," the statement added.Reporters Without Borders said: "We find it hard to believe that Iraq's Kurdish authorities can say this after just sentencing a lawyer to 30 years in prison for defamation. Only extremely repressive countries have recourse to such heavy sentences for so-called crimes of opinion."The press freedom organisation said Law 21 was contrary to international standards governing freedom of expression and called on the Kurdish authorities to repeal it.

Malayali Dies in Road Accident

Abdul Sharief, a 34 years old Keralite died in a road accident near Shouqa, Ras Al Khaima while returning from a picnic to Al Ain. The deceased with a salesmana of Flamingo Furniture, Sharjah. The men who was traveling back from Al Ain to Sharjah with three others succumbed to his injuries. Other two Indians are seriously injured in the accident. The accident which occurred early morning due to tyre burst. Abdul Majeed (30 years) is admitted in Daid hospital. Two passengers miraculously escaped unhurt. In a third accident in Gandood, Jabel Ali, Munir 24 too died on Tuesday evening. He was driving a rent a car and two others are admitted in the Rashid hospital. The deceased and other accident victims were working with the date factory of Al Ain Municipality. During Eid, many accidents are reported and some are due to drunken driving.

 

9 January 2006

American journalist kidnapped, her Iraqi interpreter shot dead

Reporters Without Borders said it was extremely worried by the reported abduction of an American journalist Jill Carroll on 7 January 2006 in Baghdad and appalled by the news that her interpreter Allan Enwiyah (picture below) was shot dead by her abductors.“Journalists working in Iraq have once again been caught in a deadly ambush,” the press freedom organisation said. “The interpreter’s death confirms that the Iraqi press continues to be the chief victim of the infernal climate for the media in this country. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends and to all Iraqi journalists, who are paying the highest price in the war ravaging their country.”

Reporters Without Borders added : “There is still a life that can be saved today. We appeal to all those who, like us, reject injustice to do everything possible to ensure that the kidnapped journalist is freed as soon as possible. Experience has shown that an energetic campaign is decisive in the first days of an abduction.”Jill Carroll (picture), a freelance writer currently on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor, was going to meet Sunni political leader Adnan al-Dulaimi when, according to the Iraqi police, she was kidnapped by gunmen in the district of Adel, in western Baghdad at about 10 a.m. last Saturday, January 6.Her Iraqi driver escaped unharmed. Her interpreter’s body was found near the site of the abduction.

According to a statement posted on Monday, January 9, on the Christian Science Monitor website, Carroll’s relatives pleaded for her release, urging her captors to "consider the work she has done to reveal the truth about the Iraq war."Carroll, who has been working in Iraq since October 2003 and has worked for the Italian news agency ANSA, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other US dailies, has been contributing articles regularly since last February to The Christian Science Monitor, according to World News Editor David Clark Scott. "She has proved an insightful, resourceful, and courageous reporter," he said. "But Jill is not the kind of person to take undue risks."

Richard Bergenheim, editor of the Monitor, appealed to Carroll’s abductors to let her go immediately. "Jill’s ability to help others understand the issues facing all groups in Iraq has been invaluable. We are urgently seeking information about Ms. Carroll and are pursuing every avenue to secure her release," he said.At total of 55 journalists and 21 media assistants have been killed since the start of war in Iraq in March 2003. Of the 76 fatal victims, 56 (73 per cent) were Iraqi and four (five per cent) were American. Baghdad continues to be Iraq’s most dangerous city, with 27 journalists and assistants killed, followed by Mosul, with 12. The pan-Arab satellite TV station Al-Iraqiya has been the worst hit news media with a total of 10 journalists and assistants killed.Jill Carroll is the 31st media worker to have been kidnapped in Iraq since the start of the war. Five of the kidnap victims (four Iraqis and Enzo Baldoni of Italy) were killed by their abductors. The others were released safe and sound. Twenty-three of the abductions took place in or near Baghdad.

10 January 2006

Young journalist murdered in Assam after criticising forest warden

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the 6 January murder of Prahlad Goala, the correspondent of the regional daily Asomiya Khaba in Thuramukh, in the northeastern state of Assam, allegedly at the behest of a forest warden he had criticised in several articles. Aged 32, he was the first journalist to be killed anywhere in world in 2006."The murder of this young Indian reporter is a tragic reminder that it is still dangerous to practice investigative journalist in some Indian states," the press freedom organisation said, welcoming the progress made in the police investigation and calling on the authorities to ensure that both the instigator and perpetrators are brought to justice. Married and the father of a 14-month-old girl, Goala was run down by a car while travelling on a motor-cycle in Golaghat district (300 km east of the state capital, Guwahati). He was then repeatedly stabbed by several men and died of head injuries.Zaman Jinnah, a forest warden in the Nambar reserve, has been arrested on suspicion of hiring men to kill Goala. Jinnah had made death threats against Goala and his family after Goala wrote a series of articles a week before accusing him of corruption and misconduct.Journalists in Golaghat staged a one-day strike in protest against Goala’s murder.

Dubai Cabbies get back part of Fines

The one day token strike by hundreds of taxi drivers had an immediate effect. The taxi company management seems to have refined its rude fine policy and refund part of the money to the drivers. Claiming moral victory, drivers have reluctantly accepted the deal, but keep their options open. Having full faith in the benevolent rulers who have promised to look into their problems, they are working in full swing.

IRAQ: Activists call for protection of academics

BAGHDAD, 15 January (IRIN) - A network of human rights activists and journalists has called for the protection of local academics and higher level educational institutions. The appeal, launched this month by the Brussells Tribunal, a worldwide network devoted to campaigning against the US occupation of Iraq, notes the "systematic liquidation of the country's academics." According to conservative estimates, over 250 educators have been assassinated while hundreds more have disappeared, the network's website states.

Thousands of other academics have reportedly fled the country, in the belief that they are being targeted because they are well educated.Brussel's Tribunal further notes that the disappearance of trained educators has led not only to "a major brain-drain," but also to the decimation of the secular middle class.

"Anyone who has the ability to imagine a secular future for the country is forced to flee," said Hana al-Bayaty, a member of the network's executive committee.The assassinations have targeted women and men countrywide, with little reference to political or religious affiliations.

"The most striking fact is that the majority of those killed where not scientists. but were involved in the field of humanities," the anti-war organisation notes, adding that, "the motives for these assassinations are unknown." In April 2005, the United Nations University published a report noting that 84 percent of Iraq's higher education institutions had been burnt, looted or destroyed since the start of the US-led invasion in 2003. It went on to point out that four dozen academics had been assassinated, while many more faced daily threats.

In addition to the destruction of vital infrastructure, only 40 percent of which is under reconstruction, other problems facing Iraqi higher learning included an isolated and under-qualified teaching staff; poorly equipped libraries and laboratories; and a fast-growing student population, said the UN report. A third of the nation's teachers held only bachelors' degrees, despite official requirements of at least a Master's degree, it added. "The devastation of the Iraqi system of higher education has been overlooked amid other cataclysmic results of the war, but it represents an important consequence of the conflict, economic sanctions and ongoing turmoil in Iraq," noted Jairam Reddy, the study's author and director of the Jordan-based International Leadership Institute.

"Repairing Iraq's system of higher education is in many ways a prerequisite to the long-term repair of the country as a whole," Reddy added. Iraq's educational system was formerly recognised as being one of the best in the region.

In the meantime, the campaign is calling for an international investigation into the killings and urging academic institutions in other countries to forge links with Iraqi educators, both in exile and at home.As "an occupying power, and under international humanitarian law, final responsibility for protecting Iraqi citizens, including academics, lies with the United States," the Brussel's Tribunal concluded. Al-Bayaty said the impact of the lack of protection for academics could be felt for two to three decades: "It's a developing country so they need the brains that can contribute to the development of their society," she said.

IRAQ: Call for release of newspaper editor in Kurdish north

BAGHDAD, 12 January (IRIN) - The Kurdish Association of Journalists (KAJ) has continued to express concern over the imprisonment of a writer accused of committing libel against the Kurdish authorities in the north and sentenced last month to 30 years in jail."The jail term is the longest ever heard of by our association and greatly affects our work as journalists and editors by making it difficult to write freely," said KAJ spokesman Dirar Hayet.

Kamal Qadir, an Austrian citizen of Kurdish origin, was found guilty on 19 December for libelling the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, in articles posted on the Internet.

Officials defended the move, saying that press freedom was respected in the Kurdish north, but that Qadir had been punished for attempting to tarnish the image of the president."Kurdistan has been the most democratic place in Iraq, and we can't blame it for lost freedoms," said a senior Kurdish official, Ahmed Kindar. He went on to call Qadir's crimes "an exceptional case of defamation against the government."

According to a statement issued by Kurdish authorities, "The Kurdish regional government affirms that the principles of human rights and freedom of expression continue to be respected, promoted and guaranteed for all persons throughout the region of Kurdistan."

Press freedoms watchdog Reporters without Borders (RWB), however, has disputed this claim, saying that the stiff sentence represented a violation of basic press freedoms."We find it hard to believe that Iraq's Kurdish authorities can say this after just sentencing a lawyer to 30 years in prison for defamation," the organisation noted in a statement."Only extremely repressive countries have recourse to such heavy sentences for so-called crimes of opinion."

RWB went on to appeal to the Kurdish government for the release of Qadir and a review of his case.

According to Hayet, Kurdish journalists are regularly subject to pressure from the government and often prevented from publishing certain material."It's easy to speak about freedom and democracy, but in practice it's very different, and this case shows the reality," he said. "We call on all journalistic organisations worldwide to intervene in this case and help change the laws here."Hayet added: "We ask the Kurdish government to review its sentencing of the journalist and prove the existence of freedom in the northern Iraq."

Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas has said that the outcome of his visit to China for enhancing mutual cooperation in Oil and Gas Sector has been gratifying. Speaking at a Conference on “India and China in Asia’s Quest for Energy Security” in Beijing today, Shri Aiyar said that he has encountered a ready willingness at the Ministerial and the company level to engage China and India in a strategic and cooperative quest for energy security. “For our part we look upon China not as a strategic competitor, but as a strategic partner,” he added.

Underlining that the cooperation in energy sector is based on the “Panchsheel Principles”, Shri Aiyar said this will be for mutual benefits of the two countries. The Panchsheel was conceived as a guide to bilateral rations by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Premier Zhou Enlai in 1954. Shri Aiyar pointed out that the problem of energy security is also applicable to other countries in Asia like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan and the Koreas, etc. and share the need to ensure security, stability and sustainability of oil and gas supplies to eradicate poverty and lead to prosperity & social justice.

Referring to the need for linking oil and gas supplies to the consuming centres in Asia, which holds both the largest producers and the fastest growing net importers, Shri Aiyar called for greater cooperation. He pointed out that though energy short and energy abundant countries are in the vicinity in Asia, there is a huge gap between pipeline connectivity networks of Europe as compared to that of Asia. The dialogue process of Ministerial Round Tables in Delhi held in January and November, 2005, would be carried forward at the next formal interaction on the sidelines of forthcoming Ministerial meeting in April, 2006 of International Energy Forum in Doha.

Shri Aiyar underscored the possibilities of connecting oil and gas supplies to consuming centres in Asia and bringing them together on common platform of energy security. From Kazakhstan, the West-East pipeline brings succour to China. Stretching west from the Caspian, the bounties of the Caspian Sea will soon be available at the Ceyhan terminal in Turkey. Extension of the BTC pipeline to the Gulf of Aqaba will make available Caspian crude in unprecedented quantities to buyers in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean littoral. Qatar is emerging as the world’s most exciting prospect for LNG in the near term. Iran is bountifully endowed and we are pursuing Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. Turkmenistan holds the promise of gas for South Asia if pipelines can be laid through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India withfeeder pipeline for Turkmenistan’s Daulatabad gas field and to sources in Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan, Russia and Azerbaijan. In South East Asia, Myammar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc house very significant supplies of hydrocarbons.

Referring to the possibility of Asian Oil and Gas Community, Shri Aiyar said that a step towards this is recommended by the Development Research Centre of China which say “ the creation of an Asian counterpart to International Energy Agency (IEA) through cooperation between China, India, Japan and South Korea along with other States could have an important role in coordinating the long run energy import policies of these countries.” Shri Aiyar emphasised that India is ready to participate in such an Asian counterpart to IEA but only in the cooperative spirit of Five Principles of Panchsheel. “The Asian Renaissance brought us all to independence and liberation. Now, the Asian Resurgence depends on energy cooperation”, he added.

Sex scandal case verdict on Thursday

January 11, 2006 More News click here

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