May 2019

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Pakistan SC rejects Sharif's
plea for bail extension
Islamabad : Pakistan's Supreme Court
on Friday rejected a petition by former
Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif for an
extension of the sixweek
bail granted to
him earlier on medical
grounds in a
corruption reference.
A three-member
bench headed
by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa also
rejected the three-time Premier's plea to
allow him to travel abroad for treatment,
Geo News reported. Sharif had been granted
bail on medical grounds by the apex court
on March 26 for six weeks. On April 25, he
had submitted a review petition in the apex
court seeking permanent bail. His bail is set
to expire on May 7. The Chief Justice said
the court had given Sharif six weeks bail to
seek life-saving treatment but the entire bail
duration had instead been spent conducting
tests to ascertain the state of the Pakistan
Muslim League - Nawaz leader's health.
"We gave him six weeks bail - as recommended
by five medical boards and 31 doctors
- for angiography, but the time was
spent conducting evaluations and tests," said
Justice Khosa. He added that the conduct of
"the petitioner shows there is no imminent
threat to his life and the plea is based more
on apprehensions".
The Chief Justice said that new medical
reports did show that Sharif's health was
worsening and not improving, but added
that it was possible for him to be treated in
prison as the superintendent would be
empowered to send him to hospital as and
when required. Justice Khosa also said
that the apex court cannot review its order
on the basis of new medical reports
regarding Sharif's health.
"Anyone who applies for bail on medical
grounds claims their life is in danger.
If that route is taken, the review will
become an unending process," the judge
said. Sharif now has to surrender to jail
authorities on Tuesday. He has been serving
a seven-year prison term at Lahore Kot
Lakhpat Jail since December 24, 2018
when an accountability court convicted
him in one of the three corruption cases --
Al Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference
-- filed in the wake of the apex court's July
28, 2017 order in the Panama Papers case.
Wellington : The Aucklandbased
mother and sister of one of the
Sri Lankan Easter Sunday suicide
bombers have been "cooperating
fully" with the New Zealand police
following the attacks that killed over
250 people.
Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed
was to blow up the luxury Taj
Samudra hotel in the Sri Lankan
capital Colombo. He, however, is
believed to have botched the attempt
to detonate bomb at the five-star
hotel and instead blew himself up at
a nearby budget motel, killing 2
guests who had just arrived.
Mohamed's mother, sister and her
husband live in a modest house in
southern Auckland. They refused to
comment on the extent of their
involvement in the suicide bombings'
investigation, which involves
the New Zealand police and Sri
Lankan authorities.
"We only cooperate with the
(New Zealand) police, no matter
what they want to know, that's about
it," Mohamed's brother-in-law told
WORLD
Calls at UN to prevent
using social media as
platforms for hate
United Nations : As the UN
paid tributes to the victims of the
Sri Lanka Easter Sunday terrorist
attacks, calls were made to take
action to prevent use of social
media to spread hate and bigotry.
"While protecting freedom of
expression, we must also find
ways to address incitement to violence
through traditional and
social media," General Assembly
President Maria Fernanda
Espinosa Garces said on
Friday at the event commemorating
the 253 victims.
"It is sobering that the
theme of World Press
Freedom Day today is: journalism
in times of disinformation.
"We must ensure that
new and evolving technologies
promote - and do not
harm - human security," she
added. Deputy Secretary-
General Amina Mohammed
spoke about social media being
used to spread hate.
"The world is experiencing a
dangerous rise in intolerance,
xenophobia and racism. And
today such hatred spreads easily
and swiftly on the Internet.
"The UN continues to strengthen
its efforts to counter and prevent
terrorism and violent extremism,"
Mohammed added. Sri
Lanka's Permanent Representative
Rohan Perera was more forthright
in calling for a consensus on how
to regulate social media platforms
like Twitter and Facebook to prevent
them from becoming the
medium to spread hate. "It is time
for us to explore the possibility of
an international consensus on a
regulatory framework. "It is vital,
if we are to preserve democratic
the New Zealand Herald on
Saturday. According to a report by
the daily, 10 years ago, after the
death of Mohamed's father Abdul
Latif, his mother Samsun Nissa
moved the family to Colombo, renting
the upper floor of a mansion in a
space, that valuable tools such as
Facebook and Twitter among others,
are utilised as spaces to nurture
healthy debate rather than
breed violence and extremism,"
he said.
Sri Lanka had temporarily
banned all forms of social media
immediately after the April 21
bombings because it was being
used to circulate fake news and
create enmity between communities.
Access was restored on April
30. Perera, who is the chair of the
Working Group on Measures to
Eliminate International Terrorism,
urged all nations to come together
and adopt the Comprehensive
Convention on International
Terrorism (CCIT) that was proposed
by India in 1996.
"Too much blood has spilt for
us to remain deadlocked on this
issue. "The time has come for the
international community to go
beyond words and to demonstrate
political will and commitment in
taking the last remaining step to
conclude the CCIT and complete
the sectoral multilateral treaty
regime to address the global phenomenon
of terrorism.
"The international community
must send out a strong signal of its
majority Muslim eastern suburb.
After completing his studies in
Britain, Mohamed returned to the
property and fell in love with
Shifana, daughter of their landlord
who came from an affluent meattrading
family. Mohamed married
collective will to combat terrorism
and contribute to the effective
implementation of the Global
Counter Terrorism Strategy," he
added. India's Permanent
Representative Syed Akbaruddin
joined Perera in appealing for an
agreement on the CCIT. Perera,
"has, for more than two decades,
tried to steer us to an outcome on
the Comprehensive Convention
on International Terrorism",
Akbaruddin said.
"Perhaps, as a tribute to
the victims in his country,
we can all try and strengthen
efforts to achieve that
objective of a putting in
place a global legal framework
to counter a global
scourge," he added.
Denouncing the use of religion
to justify violence,
Mohammed said: "As a
Muslim, I know my faith
preaches peace and tolerance.
Tragically yet, again and again,
the world is seeing places of worship
become killing grounds and
houses of horror. "Churches,
mosques, synagogues and the religious
sites of many faiths are
being targeted for murder, arson,
vandalism and desecration... We
must reject this form of violence."
Espinosa reflected on how religions
can bring people together.
"I was deeply moved by the
images of Sri Lankans - Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Muslim,
Sinhalese, Tamil and others -
donating blood to treat survivors,"
she said. "Mosques and temples
have opened their doors to
Christian services. That is an
inspiring expression of courage
and resilience."
SL bomber's kin 'cooperating fully' with NZ police
her and shifted to Australia with her
to pursue postgraduate studies.
Mohamed's sister, meanwhile,
married a Sri Lankan and emigrated
to Auckland along with her mother.
Mohamed, who had his first child
in Australia, later returned to Sri
Lanka to live in the mansion his
family previously rented. His grandfather
had left him an extensive
property portfolio, including the
family home in Kandy.
As a result, the trained aeronautical
engineer did not need to work.
The bomber's sister said
Mohamed had been well educated
but became increasingly withdrawn
and intense as he descended into
extremism. "My brother became
deeply, deeply religious while he
was in Australia. After he did his
postgraduation in Australia, he
returned to Sri Lanka a different
man."He had a long beard and had
lost his sense of humour. He became
serious and withdrawn and would
not even smile at anyone he didn't
know, let alone laugh," she said.
May 2019
23
Sri Lanka disregarded Turkey
warnings: Ex-Minister
Colombo : Amid the apparent failure of
the Sri Lankan
government to act
on intelligence on
Easter Sunday's
suicide bombings,
information has
now surfaced that
the defence authorities
had also ignored Turkish government
alerts that 50 members of the Fethullah
Terrorist Organization (FETO) had arrived
in the island country.
Sri Lankan former External Affairs
Minister G.L. Peiris said that Turkish
Ambassador Tunca Ozcuhadar had handed
over documents related to the matter to
him, the Daily Mirror reported on Saturday.
Peiris is a loyalist of former President
Mahinda Rajapaksa. There was an attempted
coup to overthrow the Turkish government
and unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
on July 15, 2016. The coup bid was blamed
on FETO, a terrorist outfit led by Islamic
preacher Fethullah Gulen, in which 250 people
were killed. Later, FETO terrorists fled
to different countries. Peiris said that the
Turkish Embassy had repeatedly alerted the
Sri Lankan government, Denmark, Austria
and some African countries about the terrorists
sneaking into their territories. While the
governments of these countries took prompt
action on the alert, the Sri Lankan authorities
paid no heed, he added.
The former Minister said that he then
brought this to the notice of President
Maithripala Sirisena when he met him with a
delegation led by Rajapaksa on Thursday to
discuss the security situation in the country.
Sri Lanka has been on alert since the April 21
bloodbath in which over 250 people were
killed and hundreds injured. The authorities
have cancelled weekend mass in the capital
due to fears of fresh bomb attacks.
Indian family skydives over
Amsterdam, sets new record
Pune : An Indian family, including a set of
10-year old twin boys, have set a new record
for family skydiving, as they jumped out of a
plane over Amsterdam. They are Shital
Mahajan-Rane, her husband Vaibhav Rane,
both professional skydivers, and their twins
Vrushabh and Vaibhav. "We have set two new
records - first time ever an Indian civilian family
has skydived together, and our two sons
becoming the youngest twins doing their first
tandem jump," Shital, a recipient of the Padma
Shri, told IANS from Amsterdam on Saturday.
They accomplished the feat on Friday
from a Super Caravan 206 aircraft flying at a
height of around 13,000 feet above The
Netherlands, she added. "Our sons celebrated
their 10th birthday on April 26 and it was
their desire to make their first skydiving
jump. So we came to Amsterdam last week
and fulfilled their birthday wish," Shital said.
Shital has notched some 750 jumps all
over the world while Vaibhav has 57 skydives
till date. To mark the 389th birth
anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,
Shital performed skydiving jumps over the
Great Pyramids of Giza on February 19.
First she jumped in a traditional
Maharashtrian ;nau-vari' sari and then went
for a repeat jump sporting the royal costume
of the legendary ancient Egyptian Queen
Nefertiti, who ruled around 3,700 years ago,
earning accolades from the Egyptian authorities.
She shot to global fame on April 18, 2004
when she became the first woman in the world
to make her maiden jump - without practice
dives - on the North Pole from a Russian MI-
8 helicopter from 2,700 feet in minus 37
degrees. On December 15, 2006, she made the
world's first Accelerated Free Fall Parachute
Jump on the South Pole in Antarctica, jumping
out of a Twin Otter aircraft from a height of
11,600 feet on the icy continent.