- Saudi Father denies FBI charges against Saud involvement in September 11 attacks.
- Spurious Liquor, three died in Saudi Arabia.Niger Journalist arrested for reports on mutiny- Indian School Student Tehran says school authorities are not cruel to Sacked Teacher's Family. House full - MeeshaMadhavan show full as black market thrive in cinema theatres
- Onam --an Occasion of Social Equality and Brotherhood?
Gulf Malayalis Onam Special
Gulf Malayali's Onam! A Keralite construction worker celebrating Onam in the construction site. Pictured above is this Construction worker's posh villa in an interior village of a Gulf country. Watch this space.
About 8,500 Keralites in the UAE participated in the grand Onam feast organised by leading social organisations. In all the Gulf countries, special Onam programmes and feasts have been attended by many, but in most cases such festivities are limited to the affluent sections of Keralite community. The basic message from Mahabali, the legandary King who ruled Kerala centuries back, is that all human beings are equal. However the Onam celebrations of Indian associations in the Gulf are normally an occasion for the rich and affluent Middle class Keralites to socialise.
A Malayali worker gets his Onam feast parcel. They celebrate Onam in their labour camps after completing the work. Hotels and restaurants are the main venue of Onam feasts.
Large number of Keralites who represent majority of the Non Resident Keralites in the Gulf are normally kept away from such festivities. While there are exceptions to this general tendency, keralamonitor.com spotted many ordinary workers toiling in the desert, irrespective of Onam festivities in selected pockets of Gulf capitals. In many places, their salaries are pending, they live under constant fear of job insecurity and poor working conditions. While the affluent sections of Keralites Community celebrate Onam feast in five star hotels and posh restaurants, majority of Gulf Malayalis are busy working in the toching heat of the Arabian desert. These people are never invited by the Social Clubs, Churches or other community organisations for their Onam feasts and cutural programmes. Majority of ordinary Keralites silently keep away from the mainstream. They are confined to their make shift homes adjacent the work sites.
More than 3,500 Keralites attended the Onam programme and feast organised by the Indian Association Dubai and affiliated associations at the Al Nasr Leisureland yesterday. In Sharjah, over 5,000 Indians, mostly Keralites living in the Northern Emirates enjoyed the special Onam feast hosted by the Indian Association Sharjah as part of its Onam celebrations. The Sharjah Indian School Onam feast is one of the biggest feasts held in the UAE. Some 400 volunteers served the Onam feast spread over palm leaves in a traditional style. In Muscat Saradhi, the NRK wing of SNDP organised a grand Onam feast at the Darsait Temple, attended by more than 1000 people. These numbers constitute just a miniscule of the Keralite population in these countries. These social clubs claim to represent the Keralite and Indian community interests, are not open to ordinary people. As they say, Onam is an occasion marking equality among the Keralite community, but it appears that some Keralites are more equal than others. Even some of the prominent Malayali businessmen do not give their workers due respect by declaring an Onam holiday.!
No time to celebrate Onam. A Keralite worker busy cleaning the streets.
There are several lakhs of Keralites working in the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia,Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, but majority of them are keeping away from such social activities. Either there must be a concerted plan to keep them away or majority of Keralites feel alienated from such rich man's clubs. Instead of feeding the already well fed upper Middle Class Keralite families, these clubs should spend a part of their time and resources to associate with the poor sections of the Keralite community in the Gulf. Such an action would be in the true spirit of Onam, an occasion to remember the memories of social equality that prevailed during the Mahabali era. Even though Modern Mahabilis keep visiting their people in the Gulf ' as part of fund raising campaigns, large sections of Keralite community in the Gulf and their problems are neglected by them.
Onam vannalum Unni pirannalum Koranu Kumpilil Kanji--Malayalam proverb which means whether it is Onam or any other celebrations, life is same for common people. An agricultural worker who earns an amount equivalent to 3600 per month, food and accommodation. In many cases salaries are pending for months. They pay Rs.8,.0000 to get a visa for such jobs.
The IDA Onam feast in Dubai was inaugurated by the Indian Ambassador K.C Singh. The main attraction of event was a colourful floral decoration competition in which eight affiliated associations participated. The first prize is bagged by the Indian Cultural Association. The Indian Arts Society and Dubai Priyadarshani obtained the stood second and third positions. The Indian Association Dubai came up with a floral carpet based on the theme of Onam in Kerala measuring 24 x 12 ft which took a total of four hours to unfold.
The Mahabali procession was another Onam attraction. More than 200 children from various associations took part in the cultural programme. About 21 dishes were served at the Onasadya (feast) with the help of 430 volunteers. A musical programme was staged by Biju Narayanan and Sujata in the evening.
Construction workers are the most exploited lot.
The spirit behind celebrating Onam is to spread the message of equality amongst people. The main message of Onam celebration is that all human beings are equal. But the Gulf based Kerala associations are far away from this idealism. There are people who are living without proper food and shelter in different parts of the Gulf. Such associations should not keep away such large sections of the Keralite community away from their Onam festivities. Even though in theory, such festivities are open to all, there are many unwritten rules preventing ordinary Keralites from attending such extravaganzas.
Niger Journalist arrested for reports on mutiny
NIAMEY, 23 August (IRIN) - The head of a private radio station in Niger, Moussa Kaka, was arrested on Friday by gendarmes, news organisations quoted a colleague of the journalist as saying.
According to the radio's editor in chief, Abdoulkarim Mahamadou, three gendarmes went to the offices of Radio Saraounia and took away Kaka, who is also a correspondent for Radio France International, RFI. Mahamadou and other colleagues followed the gendarmes to their station, pleading for Kaka's release, but the officers refused, Reuters quoted Mahamadou as saying on Friday.
Kaka's colleagues said his detention was tied to news reports he filed during Niger's recent mutiny. He was arrested under an 5 August presidential decree banning any news reports that could jeopardise national defence. Prime Minister Amadou Hama said on RFI that he "told lies and deformed [the truth]"
The mutiny broke out in army barracks in eastern Niger on 31 July and was finally put down on 9 August by loyal troops. Officially, there were two casualties - one on each side - while more than 260 sodiers were arrested, including some who tried unsuccessfully to mutiny in the capital, Niamey, on 4-5 August.
The head of Niger's human rights league, Bagnon Bonkoukou, has also been detained by virtue of the decree for questioning the official death toll. He had claimed that many more people had died. His trial was to have started on Thursday but has been postponed to 5 September.
Saudi Father denies FBI charges against Saud involvement in September 11 attacks.
Saud Al-Rasheed
JEDDAH, 24 August - Saudi Citizen Abdul Aziz Al-Rasheed has denied his son Saud had ties with the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terror attacks as alleged by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Everyone knows that Saud is innocent and that the information published (by the FBI) is baseless," Abdul Aziz told Al-Yaum newspaper yesterday. He said his 21-year-old son left for a holiday in Egypt three days before the FBI alert was launched but that he was now back in Riyadh."I asked him to come back fearing he might be arrested," the father said, vowing to work with the Saudi authorities to establish his son's innocence, reported Arab News. Saud Al-Rasheed spent one year in Afghanistan "to take part in charity activities" before returning to Saudi Arabia "four months after the September attacks," he said, adding that the photo of his son released by the FBI was genuine.
The FBI has said that it was not sure whether Saud was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. "Security authorities are not sure whether Saud had any role in the Sept. 11 attacks," Saudi daily Al-Watan quoted the FBI deputy director as saying. However, he said FBI agents wanted to question the Saudi youth. The FBI on Tuesday released a passport photo of Saud Al-Rasheed and said it considered him armed and dangerous, the Arab News said.
The bureau is seeking Saud following the Sept. 11 investigation. The investigation revealed that Saud bore a Saudi passport No. C161433, issued in Riyadh in May 2000. Saud is the 15th person sought in connection with the attacks. According to Al-Hayat newspaper, there are six Saudis with the name of Saud Abdul Aziz Al-Rasheed. One of them arrived at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday from Cairo, but his passport number was different from the one given in the FBI report. The Arabic daily said it believed the passport might have been forged, if there was no error in transferring information. According to a Council of American Islamic Relations study more than half of the seven million Muslims living in the US have been victim of discrimination after the Sept.11 attacks.Spurious Liquor, three died in Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh -August 24, 2002. Three persons died in the northern Hail region of Saudi Arabia recently after drinking eau de cologne containing poisonous methanol and illicit liquor. The three were first admitted to Al-Sulaimi Hospital, 150 kms from Hail, after they suffered from stomach ache. They were later shifted to King Khaled Hospital for intensive care. Two of the three died at the intensive care unit of the hospital. The third was reportedly dead when he was brought to the hospital.
Clinical tests proved they had been poisoned by an intoxicant. The Saudi Commerce Ministry's anti-trade fraud department has destroyed large quantities of cologne in the past two months after reports of cologne-drinking deaths.Last week, four men died in Ballasmer city, north of Abha, after drinking cologne. In June, 19 people died in Makkah and Jizan after drinking the intoxicating perfume. Spurious and illicit liquor is a major problem in the Gulf region, where strict prohibition is prevailing among Muslims. Liquor norms are very strict in Saudi Arabia, where a spurious liquor black market is thriving.--keralamonitor.com
