Social tensions rife in Assam

BEIJING: A civilian helicopter crashed into a parking lot in the Chinese capital yesterday after the pilot managed to steer the aircraft away from crowded areas, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

No one on the ground was injured, Beijing police said. Four people on board suffered minor injuries.

Bell Helicopter told Reuters the helicopter was a Bell 429 aircraft owned by Reignwood Star Aviation, adding that it was investigating the cause of the crash.

A Reignwood representative said the Civil Aviation Administration of China was also investigating. – Reuters KUALA LUMPUR: Investigators released a probe report yesterday into the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner MH370 and said they were unable to determine the cause of one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

“The team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370…” said Kok Soo Chon, head of the MH370 safety investigation team.

“The answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found,” he told reporters.

Flight MH370 disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. – Reuters ROME: Pope Francis yesterday accepted the resignation of Australian Archbishop Philip Wilson, the most senior Catholic Church leader to be convicted in a criminal court of concealing sexual abuse, the Vatican said.

The move follows a period in which Francis faced mounting pressure to take action against Wilson, a top figure in an Australian church that has been deeply scarred by decades of abuse cases.

It is the second time in three days in which Francis has accepted a resignation stemming from sexual abuse – part of a global reckoning for a church that has long been reluctant to discipline those in its highest echelons.

On Saturday, the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, became the first cardinal in history to step down due to allegations of sexual abuse.

Wilson had previously refused to resign, saying he was entitled to due process and was pressing forward with an appeal.

He was sentenced recently to a 12-month detention sentence for what an Australian court says was his failure to report cases of sexual abuse carried out in the 1970s by a priest, James Fletcher.

Two altar boys said they told Wilson about abuse at the hands of Fletcher, and in the courtroom, one described how the priest had forced him to strip and kneel as he masturbated.

Prosecutors said Wilson did nothing with the information.

Wilson denies that he was told about the abuse. Wilson, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, stepped away from his dayto-day work as Archbishop of Adelaide after being convicted. But he retained the title of archbishop.

“While the judicial process will continue, Archbishop Wilson’s resignation is the next chapter in a heartbreaking story of people who were sexually abused at the hands of Jim Fletcher, and whose lives were forever changed,” the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, said in a statement.

“This decision may bring some comfort to them, despite the ongoing pain they bear.”

In 2004, Fletcher was found guilty on nine counts of sexual abuse. He died in prison in 2006.

In recent weeks, a series of political leaders in Australia, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, had called on Francis to take action, with Turnbull saying: “The time has come for the pope to sack him.”

For Francis, the latest resignation underscores a new wave of challenges he is facing about how to handle not just the priests who abused children, but also the cardinals and bishops who allowed the abuse to happen – or sometimes carried it out themselves.

Francis is facing a massive case of abuse in Chile that has led the country’s 34 bishops to offer their resignations.

And Francis will travel soon to Ireland, a country still reeling from abuse scandals. – The Washington Post

MORE than 4 million people were excluded from a draft list of citizens released yesterday by a census official for India’s north-eastern border state of Assam.

It represents a long-running campaign against immigrants, sparking uncertainty about their future.

Resource-rich Assam, which borders Muslim-majority Bangladesh, is in the grip of social and communal tension.

Residents campaign against illegal immigrants, a fight backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government.

Of more than 32 million people who submitted documents to prove their citizenship, the names of 4 007 707 were missing, Sailesh, India’s registrar-general and census commissioner, told a televised news briefing in Assam’s main city of Guwahati.

“On completion of verification of all applicants, the complete draft is being published,” the government said.

Officials said security had been tightened across the state as thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims worry about being sent to detention centres or deported.

Soldiers stood guard at government offices, where thousands of people queued to check their names on the so-called National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The list was uploaded on a government website, but many in remote regions of Assam, who lack internet connectivity, travelled to government booths set up for the exercise to determine their official status.

Four family members did not figure on the list, said Habibur Rahman, in the district of Sonitpur, about 200km east of Guwahati.

“I had submitted all requisite documents,” he said. “I am surprised why the names of our family members were not there.”

Critics see the citizenship test as a measure supported by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aimed at driving out minority Muslims.

“They are trying to isolate Muslims, the number that has come out is high and it is surprising,” said Ripun Bora, the state chief of the opposition Congress Party.

The opposition party has espoused the cause of minorities. “We are going to fight it out.”

The BJP denies any bias, saying it opposes a policy of appeasement of any community.

The state’s BJP spokesman was not immediately available for comment, but India’s home minister, Rajnath Singh, called the registration process impartial.

Assam has been racked by waves of violence over the years as residents, including tribal groups, have clashed with both Hindu and Muslim settlers, whom they accuse of plundering resources and taking away jobs.

Scores of people were chased down and killed by machete-armed mobs intent on hounding out Muslim immigrants in 1983.

There was no need to panic, Singh said yesterday.

Those missing from the draft list could re-submit their papers, he said.

“Some people are unnecessarily trying to create an atmosphere of fear,” he said.

“I assure all there is no need for apprehension or fear.”

To be recognised as citizens, all residents of Assam had to produce documents proving they or their families lived in India before March 24, 1971.

Sailesh, the registrar, who uses one name, gave no break-up of those who had failed to make the official draft list.

“Based on this draft, there is no question of anyone being taken to detention centres or foreigners’ tribunals,” he said.

The government said those missing from the list would have a chance to resubmit documents between August. 30 and September 28.

They also had the option to appeal against the decision at the foreigners’ tribunal.

“Although we have been told we can apply again to get our names enlisted in the citizenship list, we are worried about our future,” said Nur Banu, a 45-year-old woman from the Darrang district.

Her family of six was missing from the list. –Reuters