Hindu Leader Calls for Institutional Strengthening in Trinidad

By PHP Staff
Monday, April 11, 2011

(Photo : Map of Trinidad and Tobago)

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO (By Paras Ramoutar): There is an urgent need for capacity building, resource mobilization and institutional strengthening aimed a nation building, according to Ronald Chuckaree, chair of the Youths for Unity, Virtue and Action (YUVA) seminar on Sunday. It was organized by the Hindu Students' Council of Trinidad and Tobago.

Chuckaree told the seminar, which included Minister of Education, Dr Tim Gopeesingh and Indian High Commissioner, that TT is, "a geopolitical and socio-economic force to be reckoned with." Chukaree said that YUVA sees the need to focus directly on the country.

The Hindu Students' Council of Trinidad and Tobago's mission is to develop an active Hindu student body in TT through activities that inspire, empower and foster brotherhood among Hindu students in order to enable them to face challenges in the education system and wider society. "We aim to achieve our objectives with the belief that the principles of Santan Dharma are universal and eternal. The world view based on dharma can provide a holistic and balanced world order that benefits mankind in all spheres. Our vision is to have an active and united students's body dedicated to the practice and promotion of Sanatan dharma for the upliftment of humanity," he added. Over the years the Council, has undertaken scores of social, humanitarian, religious and cultural projects, Chuckaree said.

Advocate calls for panel in Pakistan on the lines of Sachar Committee

By Dr.Radhe Shyam Kumar
Wednesday, February 09, 2011

(Photo : FOR MINORITY RIGHTS: Pakistani advocate Akram Sheik with Yusuf Ali SAN (Nigeria) and Cyrus Das (Malaysia) after an interactive session at the 17th Commonwealth conference in Hyderabad on Tuesday)

Islamabad : Senior Pakistani advocate and the former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, Akram Sheikh, has regretted that there were no concerted efforts in his country to constitute a panel on the lines of the Sachar Committee in India, which he said had done a commendable job.

Speaking during a session on ‘Rights of Religious and other Minorities' at the 17the Commonwealth Law Conference and talking to journalists later here on Tuesday, he said the Pakistan Supreme Court had demanded the setting up of such a panel so that facts would come out. He said there was absolute freedom for religious minorities in Pakistan.

He said Christians were the largest religious minority in Pakistan and Hindus, who constituted three-and-half per cent of the country's population, were quite prosperous.

In none of the rioting cases did inter-communal disturbances take place in Pakistan and the state never took sides. He said there were allegations in an article written by an Indian in the Harvard Human Rights Journal that the State governments in Maharashtra and Gujarat were behind (such) killings.

He said that most of the rioting cases in Pakistan were between different groups among Muslims like Sunnis and Shias.

Emphasising the importance of respecting the rights of the minorities all over the world, he said implementing the Sachar Committee recommendations would create greater harmony in India and solve the problems of minorities.

Yusuf Ali SAN, advocate from Nigeria, who was a former president of the bar association, said that each country would have to design a method of protecting minorities and must ensure promotion of tolerance of different faiths.

Justice Raus, who is a judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia, said the right to religion was one of the fundamental rights in Malaysia and the Constitution did not allow discrimination on ground of religion.

Pope calls for Pakistani Christian woman to be freed

By PHP Staff
Sunday, November 28, 2010

Vatican City : Pope Benedict XVI called Wednesday for the release of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.

He also spoke out about the "difficult situation of Christians in Pakistan," who suffer "discrimination and violence," at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday.

Bibi was sentenced to death for insulting the Muslim prophet Mohammed and for calling the Quran "fake" - a capital crime in Pakistan. She has filed an appeal and asked for bail, the chief prosecutor of Punjab province told CNN. The prosecutor, Chaudhry Muhammad Jahangir, said the appeal will be heard by the Lahore High court and a decision could be months away.

Pakistan has never executed someone convicted of blasphemy, he said, but he refused to predict the outcome of Bibi's appeal.