Some NRI men abandon wives in India: UK report
Some British Indian men are among a broader South Asian group in the UK who are guilty of mistreating and abandoning their wives in their countries of origin, a new report by a UK University has found.
Lincoln University's 'Disposable Women: Abuse, Violence and Abandonment in Transnational Marriages' described the practice as an emerging form of violence against women, "especially in the context spanning the UK and the Indian sub- continent".
"Abandonment of wives by non-resident Indian (NRI) men in transnational marriages has become a widespread phenomenon. Although the focus of this report is on the specific experience of abandoned women in India experience shows that their appalling accounts of abuse and abandonment are also echoed by women from Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere," the report said.
"Ongoing demands for dowry, and escalating violence where such demands could not be met, were significant contexts for abuse for the majority of the women. Inability to meet dowry demands eventually triggered abandonment for most of the women left with their in-laws," it added.
The academics behind the report are now calling on the UK government to recognise the abuse of these so-called "disposable women" to be treated as domestic violence. As part of its recommendations, the report concluded: "Women who once resided in the UK (no matter how briefly) should be treated in all respects as domestic violence victims. Transnationally abandoned women should be issued with temporary visas to avail the UK's Domestic Violence Rule. "At the point of their visa application, British embassies abroad should give women a leaflet setting out their rights and entitlements under the UK immigration and family law." he academics spent more than a year finding 57 women in India who had experienced the phenomenon and were willing to share their stories. Sundari Anitha, from the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln, spoke to women personally affected on a number of trips to Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat.
"The stigma is massive and it even has an impact on other people in the family. So a woman's sister will find it harder to get married. She will find it harder to get a job, she faces financial insecurity and she's seen as damaged goods - primarily because the assumption that she had sex," she said. A Pakistani judicial commission has been ordered by an Anti-Terrorism Court here to visit Karachi to inspect a boat which was allegedly used by LeT terrorists in the 2008 Mumbai attack.
An ATC Judge heard the Mumbai attack case and accepted a request filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to inspect the boat 'Alfoz' in Karachi. The FIA had requested the court to send a judicial commission to examine the boat as it was difficult to produce it before the court, In addition to examining the boat, the commission would also record the statement of a witness, Munir, during its visit to Karachi. Earlier, ATC-II judge had allowed the FIA's application requesting the court to exhibit the boat as evidence as it was allegedly used for transporting the assailants to India and ultimately ledto the attack in Mumbai. The court’s decision to inspect the boat in Karachi came after India wrote a letter to Pakistan, suggesting legal ways to expedite trial of the Mumbai attack case. India had written the letter after the FIA dropped charges against a suspect in the Mumbai attack case after failing to find any incriminating evidence.
Idols of deity 'Durga' were vandalised in northeastern Bangladesh by some unidentified persons ahead of a Hindu festival in the Muslim-majority nation, police said., reports PTI. The incident took place on Tuesday at a site of worship in Futarmati village under Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj district, nearly 170 kms from the Bangladeshi capital. Police, following initial investigations, said some local youths started a fight over a minor issue with the artisans who were making idols in the area, Dhaka Tribune reported. In the scuffle, some persons vandalised the idols. Police have arrested two persons on charge of vandalising the idols. No case was registered.
'Durga' idols vandalised in Bangladesh Iran fires mortars into Balochistan
Mortar shells were fired into Pakistani territory by Iran's border guards on Wednesday, media reported. "Mortar shells fired by Iranian border guards landed in the district of Panjgoor," a provincial government official told Dawn News on the condition of anonymity. The official added that two of the shells landed near Frontier Corps checkpost, and the third at Killi Karim Dad.No property or human loss was reported in the shelling. Security forces tightened security at the border after the incident.
Swiss army helicopter crashes in Alps
ASwiss army helicopter crashed in a high mountain pass in the Alps, the defence ministry announced on Twitter, saying there were probably injuries. The accident happened in the remote Gotthard Pass in the Tessin region near a hospice that stands at an altitude of 2,100 metres (6,900 feet). Emergency services have arrived at the scene, with the number of people travelling in the helicopter unknown. "There are probably injuries," the ministry said. At the end of August, a Swiss pilot died after crashing his F/A-18 in the Hinter-Tierberg region, apparently after flight controllers gave him incorrect altitude instructions.
32,000 arrested in Turkey coup probe
Turkey said that courts have placed 32,000 suspects under arrest on charges of links to a group run by the US-based preacher blamed for the July coup bid, as the country braces for the most extensive trials in its history.