Issue 381 Final 1st to 38th Pages Final M
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NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
25/12/2020
33
Prison life, a great leveller: Stan
Swamy shares a poem from jail
Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy (83)
writes he’s pained to see so many young
inmates in Taloja Jail, shares a christmas
message of compassion
Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy, the
83-year-old human rights defender, who
is lodged in Taloja Jail, has written a
short poem in his latest communication
from jail. As he prepares to spend
Christmas in jail, instead with his
beloved tribal community and his colleagues
back home in Ranchi, Swamy
shares thoughts on equality, compassion,
and even of oneness with nature,
that is perhaps what most inmates hold
on to as they await justice.
The oldest person to be questioned
and arrested in the Elgar Parishad case,
Fr Stan Swamy, was sent to judicial custody
by a Special National Investigation
Agency (NIA) court. The well known
tribal rights activist and educator was
arrested by the NIA from his home in
Bagaicha in Ranchi, at night on October
Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh) Dec 24
(IANS) The prison authorities in Uttar
Pradesh have ordered a probe into allegations
that an event at the district jail here
"glorified" godman Asaram, who is serving
a sentence for rape. The rape victim's
father made the allegations following
reports that the self-styled godman's two
followers had come from Lucknow to the
Shahjahanpur jail on Tuesday and distributed
blankets and held a prayer meeting
in which Asaram's photograph was
placed. The rape victim's father lodged a
complaint saying that Asaram was "glorified"
at the "satsang" (prayer meeting)
held in the prison. "Asaram's followers
are doing this to refurbish the image of a
rape convict," he had said demanding a
probe. Uttar Pradesh Additional Inspector
General (Jail) Sharad Kulshrestha has
now ordered a probe which will be conducted
by the deputy inspector general for
Bareilly zone. Shahjahanpur District
Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh said a
8. Frail and aged, was then taken at
dawn on October 9, by the 9.30 A.M
flight from Ranchi to Mumbai for a
hearing at the Sessions court and the
charge sheet was filed.
Fr. Swamy has been lodged in Taloja
Jail since then. He suffers from
Parkinson’s disease, which makes it difficult
for him to even hold a cup or a
glass to drink water. He had to move
court to be provided a straw or sipper
for this purpose, but the National
Investigative Agency (NIA) was given
20 days to respond to the request. It took
immense public pressure for his old sipper
to be handed to him, many weeks
after his request.
For Christmas 2020, the Jesuit Priest
who had jumped the walls of the Church
to serve the Jharkandi people, continues
to hope for a just and wual world.
Prison life is a great leveler, Fr Stan
recently wrote from his prison cell. This
poem encapsulates his thoughts this Christmas… Meanwhile, the St Peter’s unit of the Bombay Catholic Sabha
Probe ordered into prayer
meeting for Asaram in UP jail
notice has been issued to the jail administration,
taking note of news reports and
action will be taken after the reply is
received. Asaram was convicted in April
2018 of raping a Shahjahanpur girl at his
ashram near Jodhpur in 2013.
He was arrested by the Jodhpur Police
in August 2013 and has been in jail since
then. Earlier, Shahjahanpur Jail superintendent
Rakesh Kumar confirmed the distribution
of 75 blankets in the jail.
According to another version, the blankets
were distributed by Arjun and Narain
Pandey, who were earlier lodged in the
Shahjahanpur jail after being arrested for
allegedly killing a witness in a rape case.
The jail superintendent said Pandey had
fallen ill and got well after being treated at
the prison hospital. When he was released
on bail, he pledged to distribute blankets
in the jail. "They had sent the blankets,
which were distributed in the jail. The
allegation of "glorification" and a "satsang"
inside the jail is baseless," he said.
Yangon : The Myanmar peace
process is expected to move forward
in 2021 after the general elections held
in November this year gave the ruling
National League for Democracy
(NLD) party a new mandate to rule the
country, according to officials and
experts. The general elections were
held on Novemver 8 and the ruling
NLD secured more than enough parliamentary
seats needed for its next
five-year term, reports Xinhua news
agency. This year's multi-party general
elections were the third of its kind held
in accordance with Constitution.
The next parliamentary session is
scheduled to open in the first week of
February 2021.
With a new term of the NLD government,
it is expected that more productive
political dialogues will be seen
between the government, military,
armed ethnic groups and relevant figures
to reinvigorate the peace process
in the Southeast Asian country.
Following the elections, the military
formed the Peace Talks
Committee to continue talks with
National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)
signatories and armed ethnic groups to
facilitate the peace process.
The committee would also work to
increase dialogues with non-signatories
towards achieving a lasting peace
in Myanmar. Meanwhile, the NLD
also set up a committee for talks with
ethnic political parties this month,
Myo Nyunt, NLD's central executive
committee member, told Xinhua.
The ruling party sent an open letter
to 48 ethnic political parties on
November 12, pledging to prioritise
demands of ethnic groups in its consideration
in the future as it has similar
goals with the parties. It said in the letter
that it will continue the work to
establish a democratic federal union
while urging joint efforts from the ethnic
political parties. In August this
year, peace makers signed Union
Accord III, which included matters on
the NCA and principle guidelines for
establishing a democratic federal
union. So far, 10 armed ethnic groups
have signed the NCA with the government
since it was initiated in October
2015. After that, peace conferences
were held in August 2016, May 2017,
July 2018 and August 2020.
Myo Nyunt said that they expect
more significant improvements in the
peace process in the post-2020 period,
compared to the previous five-year
government term. "Sustainable peace
is what we want and we believe that
there will be positive outcomes along
the journey of peace process in the
future as we have managed to signed
three parts of the Union Accord after
holding peace conferences for four
times," he said, who also called on
people from all walks of life in
Myanmar to contribute to the peace
process. Saw Mra Yarzar Lin, deputy
leader of Arakan Liberation Party
(BCS) has sent out an invitation to
everyone to join in a symbolic gesture
“to consider dispelling the darkness of
injustice via the light of our Christmas
Stars that we hang out this year.”
“Star for Stan” is the theme chosen
by the parish team, a way of letting the
Christmas stars that hang outside homes
to celebrate the festive season, “speak
out for Fr Stan and the others like him
who are languishing in jail.” The BCS
has asked everyone to title their themes
along similar lines and then design their
own Christmas star: “Stars Behind
Bars” and “Stan our Star” were popular
suggestions, “let your design show that
‘stars’ can be jailed but starlight cannot,”
stated the BCS in its message.
“Use your imagination and spread
the Light of Truth. Let us banish darkness
and injustice.
Let the Winner be Light & Justice,”
added the BCS.
Courtesy : Sabrang
Myanmar peace process expected
to move forward in 2021
(ALP), an NCA participant, said: "We
strongly believe that adoption of federal
system is needed to end internal
conflicts which started in the country
since its gaining independence in
1948. "It is important to convince and
bring the non-signatories to the political
negotiation table to join the NCA
as it is not enough only with the 10
signatories for the peace process to
make progress." She said the party,
along with other armed ethnic groups,
will work with the government to push
the peace process, and it is confident
that progress will be made under the
next term of the NLD government.
"Close collaboration between the
government, military and ethnic armed
groups can help consolidate the peace
process," said U Khin Maung Lynn,
joint secretary of Myanmar Institute of
Strategic and International Studies
(MISIS). The peace process is expected
to move forward under the new term of
the NLD government as the election
outcomes showed the trust and confidence
by the Myanmar people including
ethnic groups, the political expert said.