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Denis Giles

22 December 2013

Created: 22 December 2013

Last Updated: 22 December 2013

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Is it a Police Raj Here? Anand Prakash, CS

Port Blair, Dec. 22: In the controversial transfer issue of the SP, Anti Corruption Unit, Mrs Aslam Khan IPS, Andaman Chronicle met the Chief Secretary, who was along with a group of senior officers of the Admn.

“Mrs. Aslam Khan’s transfer was an administrative decision and there are no allegations against her,” said Mr. Anand Prakash IAS, Chief Secretary, speaking to the Chronicle. He added that the officer had committed a blunder by arresting four staff of Port Blair Municipal Council (PBMC), as she was not competent to carry out the arrest. As this was not a trap case, she was not supposed to arrest them without the permission of Secretary Vigilance or the CVO (the Chief Secretary himself), he said.

When it was pointed out that she was performing well, and her transfer has sent negative vibes in the society; he said that she was immature and inexperienced. He said she is a kid and added that she doesn’t have the authority to arrest them.

“How can she go on arresting and locking up people without proper authority and reason? Is this a Police Raj here?” he thundered.

When asked whether the PBMC debacle was the reason for the transfer, he brushed it aside and said that it was a routine transfer and he had forgiven her for the blunders she had committed.

When asked about the timing of the transfer, he said that the Lieutenant Governor had liked the way Mr Shibesh Singh IPS had handled the IRBn shootout case and was also impressed by the passing out parade the other day and wanted to give him a more challenging position, and hence was posted as SP, ACU and CID.

Anand Prakash also added that it has to be investigated whether it was a case of corruption or a procedural lapse.

Clarifying about the involvement of the four staff of PBMC, Rakesh Bali, Secretary, IP&T and Sports and the former Secretary of PBMC said that two of the officers were honest and all four of them were very hardworking. “How can I function if she locks up my trusted and hardworking staff?” he asked. He also said that there are corrupt officers in Anti-Corruption Unit and why did she not take action against them.

Why is she behind small people and not trapping big corrupt persons,” he asked.

To this Chronicle tried to ask Bali, what he meant by big people when the SP had arrested govt. officials upto the level of Executive Engineers. When asked to define ‘big’, he had no answer.

Rakesh Bali also derided the media and the comments appearing on social media and said that it doesn’t make any impact anywhere.

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Denis Giles

20 December 2013

Created: 20 December 2013

Last Updated: 20 December 2013

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As the year draws to a close, Survival International’s new photographic gallery illustrates how tribal peoples around the world had reasons to celebrate in 2013.

From the suspension of mining concessions in Colombia to the Dongria Kondh’s unanimous rejection of a bauxite mine in India, tribal peoples have gained some important victories in 2013 in the struggle for their rights:

- In Brazil, a community of Guarani Indians celebrated after the government recognized their land as indigenous and for their exclusive use. The Guarani have lost most of their land to cattle ranchers, soya and sugar cane plantations and their leaders are routinely assassinated.

- The shocking story of the Awá, known as Earth’s most threatened tribe because their forest is being logged at an alarming rate, reached millions of people worldwide after images of the Awá by renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado appeared alongside features in Vanity Fair and Sunday Times magazine. Since the launch of Survival’s Awá campaign, over 55,000 protest emails have reached Brazil’s Minister of Justice urging him to evict illegal invaders on their land.

The Dongria Kondh made their voices heard during community consultations which unanimously rejected a mine on their land.

- Survival’s call for a boycott of Botswana tourism resulted in three travel companies suspending their tours to Botswana over the mistreatment of Africa’s last hunting Bushmen. While promoting tourism to Botswana with glossy images of the tribe, the government is driving the Bushmen off their ancestral land and prevents them from hunting.

- In India, tribal people made their voices heard after the Supreme Court ordered unprecedented community consultations with the Dongria Kondh over an open-pit bauxite mine on their land. All villages overwhelmingly rejected plans by the British mining giant Vedanta Resources in their sacred Niyamgiri Hills.

- And the new ‘Proud Not Primitive’ campaign in India – which challenges the deep-seated prejudice that tribal peoples are ‘backwards’ and ‘primitive’ – celebrated an important victory after the Hindu, one of the largest English-language newspapers, pledged not to call tribes ‘primitive’.

World-renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado documented the plight of the Awá, Earth's most threatened tribe.

Nixiwaka Yawanawá, an Amazon Indian who joined Survival in 2013 to speak out for indigenous rights, said, ‘Tribal people have made their voices heard in 2013, but they continue to face oppression. In 2014 the world’s eyes will be on Brazil for the FIFA World Cup – a good opportunity for us to show the international community the struggle for our land. I hope that the Brazilian government will take the lead in respecting indigenous rights to lands, and others will follow suit.’

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘This selection of a few successes for tribal peoples in 2013 is typical of so much of Survival’s work. Our first priority is to stop the violation of tribal peoples’ most fundamental human rights. Then we have to change public opinion around the world, so that governments and companies cannot get away with atrocities. It is slow, unglamorous, and often invisible work, but over 40 years of working with tribal peoples have proven it is the most meaningful and effective means for long-term change.’