Norwegian-Pakistani mishandled by embassy

NEW YORK, Jan 23: Six Muslim immigrants who were arrested by US law enforcement authorities following 9/11 attacks and deported are coming back to give depositions in their federal lawsuits against top government officials and detention guards, the New York Times said on Monday.

The six were never accused of a crime related to 9/11; officials eventually cleared all of them of links to terrorism, the newspaper said.

A report by the inspector general of the Justice Department found systemic problems with immigrant detentions and widespread abuse at the federal detention center where the six had been held; several guards have since been disciplined.

But as the six return to the city - four of them from Egypt, one from Pakistan, one from Britain - the conditions imposed by the United States government include the requirement that they be in the constant custody of federal marshals.

They are barred from calling anyone during their week-long stays in an undisclosed New York hotel. They can expect hours of questioning by lawyers representing 31 defendants in the lawsuits.

The first returning detainees, Yasser and Hany Ibrahim, who are brothers, say that putting themselves back in the hands of the government they are suing is an act of faith in America.

JAN 24 - A conflict has arisen between some Pakistani-Norwegians in Oslo and the Pakistani embassy, on the eve of the official two-day visit to Norway by President Pervez Musharraf, which began Monday.

A diplomat at the embassy has been accused of hitting a Pakistani-Norwegian several times on the steps of the embassy, public broadcaster NRK reported.

The man had come to the embassy to obtain an invitation to a reception arranged by the embassy, with the aim to make it possible for the immigrants to meet the Pakistani President.

Following a meeting at the largest Norwegian mosque Sunday, large segments of the Norwegian-Pakistani group decided to boycott the reception.

"It is not one single individual who has been affected, but a whole religious community, " said Gulam Abbas, leader of the World Islamic Mission in Oslo.

�We are not against Pervez Musharraf, we are not against Pakistan, we are unhappy with the embassy,� Ghulam Abbas told AFP.

According to Mr Abbas, the man was beaten up by the first secretary at the embassy when he went there to inquire as to why the WIM had received only four invitations to a meeting between President Musharraf and the Pakistani community instead of the 100 the group was initially promised.

No one at the Pakistani Embassy wanted to comment to radio NRK on the alleged incident.

Some Pakistani-Norwegians reportedly also wanted to meet the President to inform PIA's "extremely high ticket prices, in addition to misguided or wrong booking information" by its representatives.

There are several thousand Pakistani expats and Pakistani-Norwegians in Norway.

On Monday evening President Musharraf met with around 1000 Pakistani-Norwegians at a public reception arranged by the Pakistani Embassy in Oslo. He was well received by the audience and encouraged them to be good ambassadors for Pakistan in their new country. (DesPardes Staff)

Related story:

Pakistani-Norwegians want PIA price cut

NZ bad for So Asian health, says study

JAN 23 - South Asian immigrants are among the healthiest people in the country as they begin their new lives in New Zealand - but after several years their health starts declining, says a study.

Dr Samson Tse, who studied this trend, says the fact that most migrants must clear health tests means New Zealand receives those in the best of health. He calls this "the selection effect".

They arrive "healthy and wealthy", with a lower prevalence of chronic disease than the general New Zealand population, says Dr Tse, a member of the University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.

However, his research is indicating that the longer migrants live in New Zealand, the poorer their health becomes: "The diminishing health is statistically significant."

For example, Pakistanis or Indians as a group develop obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems at rates greater than the general population. South Asians - people from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka - have an increased prevalence of diabetes compared with Kiwis, he says.

The reasons behind the post-arrival health slump are unclear, says Dr Tse, and research is needed.

"Some possible reasons would be a change in diet or that people have limited knowledge of the facilities available in New Zealand."

Effect of change of climate, metabolism, could be a few reasons, but no correlations have been found yet.

South Asians in NZ

Some clues have come from research last year by Robert Scragg and Alokananda Maitra, who investigated data from the 2002-03 New Zealand Health Survey. It showed that Asian women were not having mammography or cervical screening tests to the same degree as other groups, for reasons which also remain unclear to New Zealand officials.

Again, cultural or religious based inhibitions and or superstition, lack of sanitary and hygiene practices among South Asians may have contributed to this trend but no study of this has been done.

One remedy, says Dr Tse, would be good health practice campaigns targeting individual Asian communities: "I always say, today's investment is tomorrow's saving."

According to the 2001 Census, more than 32 per cent of Asian people in New Zealand had immigrated within the past five years.

Just 5 per cent had been in the country for 20 years or more.

Of New Zealand's ethnic communities, South Asians consist of 29 percent, but the Chinese make up the largest group (44 percent). Southeast Asians are 13 percent, Koreans 8 percent and others 6 percent.

Indians are sometimes referred to as the "dairy-owners of New Zealand".

(DesPardes Staff)

Right's Poll Victory Set to Redraw Map of Canada

Curtains for Paul Martin?

JAN 22 - Tomorrow Canadians vote in a federal election that could change the face of the nation. If Thierry St Cyr's party the Bloc Quebecois does well enough, some fear - and others hope - Canada will be on the path to splitting up. In a referendum a decade ago Quebec voted by a razor-thin margin to stay in the federation. For the first time since, separation is back on the agenda, reported The Guardian, UK, through its Montreal based correspondent Paul Harris.

St Cyr's wants the mostly French-speaking province of Quebec to break away from Canada. He wants an independent Quebec with its own government and army. 'It is simple. Those taxes you pay now will just stay in Quebec,' St Cyr told young welders (potential voters) in a factory in Quebec. 'They won't keep going to Canada.'

Quebec nationalism is back on the march, but a breakaway movement has formed in western Canada, eager to capitalize on rich oil discoveries there. And the country is poised to swing to the right by electing a man many see as a Canadian version of President George W Bush.

Conservative Stephen Harper is almost certain to replace Liberal Paul Martin as prime minister. Harper is hawkish on Iraq, skeptical of Kyoto, and wants Canada to co-operate in the US ballistic missile shield. He is also culturally conservative, being critical of gay marriage and abortion rights.

The South Asian community, except for Tamil Canadians as per one news report, have by and large thrown their block support to Harper, even though his immigration and immigrants related track record does not come close to that of the liberals. They have their own reasons though. The Muslims support Harper's opposition to same-sex marriage in Canada. Nearly forty Islamic mosque Imams collectively endorsed him recently. So does the Indians, mostly Catholic who relate with his social and cultural conservatism. Pakistani community's most organized political platform MQM has also endorsed him, again on same-sex issue. The icing on the cake has been Liberals related scandals over the years.

Predictions are that the percentage of immigrant votes will increase. In the last elections, it was merely 18 to 20 percent. If more immigrant votes are cast, it would definitely symbolize show of red card to the incumbent Paul Martin.

The only real question is: how much will conservative Harper win by? His party The Conservatives have been playing to huge rallies across the country. Liberal support has collapsed almost everywhere. The Conservatives are poised to end 13 years of Liberal rule by replacing a party in which an official once called Bush 'a moron', with an ideological bedfellow of the White House.

Meanwhile, the Bloc Quebecois is aiming at a record election performance. More than 50 per cent vote for it in Quebec will be seen as a mandate to push for a new vote on separation. In the last election it got 48 per cent, and is widely expected to better that.

The Bloc has been boosted by a series of scandals, especially revelations that the Liberals illegally funneled cash to a pro-Canada lobbying group during the last referendum on Quebec's future. 'The Liberal scandals have really hurt them, especially as it was about the issue that really matters in Quebec,' said Professor Eric Belanger, a political scientist at McGill University, Montreal.

The Bloc's domestic platform is mostly far to the left of the Conservatives. With a right-wing federal government in place, many Quebec residents are likely to feel more alienated from English-speaking Canada.

Certainly, Quebec already feels like a very different place. In Montreal the language of the streets is overwhelmingly French. The Francophone atmosphere has blossomed as the city has welcomed immigrants. Many young Asian, South Asians and black Quebeckers speak French. At the factory St Cyr toured, most of the workers being trained for new jobs were from immigrant backgrounds. All spoke French.

It is a far cry from the birth of Quebec nationalism back in the Sixties when the main goal was preserving French language and identity. That battle was won. Now the Bloc is aggressively courting the immigrant vote, fielding racially diverse candidates. 'In the Sixties we were talking about saving the future of Francophone Canada. It is so different now,' said Professor Jules Duchastel, a sociologist at the Universite du Quebec in Montreal.

In short, South Asians, by voting the Conservatives and the Bloc in Quebec to power tomorrow, may end up having voted for redrawing of Canada's map. How that will show up on the chessboard of Canadian politics and nationalism is difficult to predict now.

Some think outright independence for Quebec will never happen. Others believe the issue will not go away without a new vote, and expect one within a few years.

That is what St Cyr hopes for. Outside the factory where he addressed a group of young welders, he said 'We are a nation, we just don't have our own country yet.'

(DesPardes Staff)

Related stories:
Part III: In Canada desis have a choice
Part II: The Desi vote machine
Part I: Desis influencing Canada politics

Top

Advertise