www.theasianstar.com Vol 15 Issue 11 Saturday, April 16, 2016
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LOCAL
2 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
BC real estate industry needs independent oversight, says NDP
B
.C.’s real estate industry should no longer be allowed to police itself following revelations of potentially questionable practices at New Coast Realty over the weekend, says the Opposition NDP. Late Friday, the Real Estate Council of B.C. imposed strict conditions on New Coast and essentially put the firm under its direct supervision after a news story reported practices “of serious concern” to the council for a number of weeks, according to the notice posted to its website. However, on Monday, NDP housing critic David Eby said he first complained to the council in January about advertising New Coast had done, and enough allegations have come to light about the firm’s operations that police should be brought in to investigate. The allegations includes realtors avoiding paying property transfer tax
and capital gains tax. Revelations over the weekend were from an audio recording of a training session given by New Coast owner Ze Yu Wu, who is not licensed as a realtor, on tactics for getting sellers to make quick sales at lower-than-market prices, which would be a violation of agents’ fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of their clients. New Coast was also implicated in so-called shadow flipping — the use of assignment clauses in sales contracts to effectively flip the contract multiple times at higher prices before the closing date. Eby said he wrote to the council again
in February to suggest it should audit New Coast because its name came up “over and over again in relation so some really scandalous practices,” but was told the council didn’t have that power. “It’s time for there to be a proper investigation of what’s happening here,” Eby said. “Because if British Columbians are being ripped off on a large scale in an organized way, that’s a police responsibility,” he said. “If that’s what’s happening here, these people need to be arrested and prosecuted.” In an emailed statement, sent through the firm’s lawyer, Simon Coval, New Coast
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denied the allegations. “New Coast Realty’s agents and management work hard to serve the best interests of our clients and to respect our professional obligations while doing so,” the statement reads. “New Coast denies the allegations made (Friday) by the Globe and Mail, which are based on excerpts of a recorded conversation taken out of context. New Coast is co-operating with the Real Estate Council in reviewing these matters and looks forward to answering the unfair accusations which have been made.” Finance Minister Mike de Jong said he wants to see the report being compiled by an independent advisory group — struck by the Real Estate Council of B.C. March 15 to review its handling of realtor misconduct — before taking any action.
$23M for anti-gang measures From page 1 support prosecution of gang-related crime and a beefed up CrimeStoppers program. Community action But she called on the community to help as well. “The gang life leads nowhere except to jail, or a coffin,” Clark said. Nevertheless, she was able to offer little assurance to Surrey residents who have expressed frustration and fear at the dozens of shootings that have broken out recently. “We are putting in extra effort to make sure that this community is more secure for the people who live here,” she said. But she warned that gangsters will likely move to other communities once they’re pushed out of Surrey, and said the province needs to work to ensure safety in those other areas as well. The Ministry of Public Safety says the funding will be used to bolster enforcement in Surrey and Williams Lake, as well as other communities which have seen spikes in gang activity. Clark described a “three-pillared approach” focusing on enforcement and prosecution, furthering community engagement and expanding the laws used to target gangs. Clark was joined in making the announcement by Public Safety Minister Mike Morris, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, and Surrey mayor Linda Hepner. Gangs don’t respect geography Morris said the province is pursuing a long-term strategy to make sure that once the problem is solved in Surrey, it doesn’t pop up elsewhere. “We’re making some great steps,” Morris said. Callens said police welcomed the additional resources and the commitment to a long term solution. “These illegal activities respect no geographical boundaries,” he said. Hepner said she was pleased to see the increase in resources, but was pleased that dedicated prosecutors will be placed on Surrey files that involve offenders with low-level ties to gangs.
www.theasianstar.com
Happy Vaisakhi Vol 15
Issue 11 Saturday, April 16, 2016
Tel: 604-591-5423
Sex-selective abortion may be driving boy boom among Indian-born moms in Canada
A
new study finds that Indian-born women in Canada with two or more children are giving birth to more baby boys than expected. And researchers suggest abortions related to sex selection may be a major reason. The study says Canadian-born women in Ontario gave birth to about 105 boys for every 100 girls between 1993 and 2012, consistent with the average in most of the world. But women who immigrated from India who already had two children gave birth to 138 boys for every 100 girls. If they already had three children, they give birth to 166 males for every 100 females. That ratio rises to 326 boys per Continued on page 6
Vaisakhi on Parliament Hill
4,223 baby girls “missing”
An ultrasound can show the baby’s sex at 14 weeks’ gestation, at which point a woman can choose to terminate the pregnancy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other MPs at a Vaisakhi celebration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa last week.
Clueless NDP federal delegates dump their federal leader Umendra Singh
It was the national convention of the NDP in Edmonton last weekend But it was the federal and provincial Liberals who were
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Continued on page 4
Vancouver is haven for children of corrupt Chinese officials - NYT
ndy Guo, an 18-yearold Chinese immigrant, loves driving his red Lamborghini Huracán. He does not love having to share the car with his twin brother, Anky. “There’s a lot of conflict,” Andy Guo said, as a crowd of admirers gazed at the vehicle and its vanity licence plate, “CTGRY 5,” short for the most On page 9
celebrating the outcome after the NDP delegates kicked out their leader, Tom Mulcair.
A
100,000 expected at Vancouver Vaisakhi Parade today
bout 80,000 to 100,000 people will likely come out to watch the Vaisakhi parade on Saturday morning in South Vancouver. The annual Sikh celebration, which marks the beginning of the Punjabi harvest year, is organized by the Ross Street Temple, located near Marine Drive. The parade will leave the temple at around 10:45 a.m. PT affecting traffic along Marine Drive, Main Street, 49th Avenue,
Fraser Street, 57th Avenue, and Ross Street. Parking in the area will be limited, so organizers suggest taking transit. They’re also asking drivers to be patient. On Sunday morning streets will close for the annual Sun Run starting at 5 a.m. PT. The race winds its way from downtown Vancouver through the West End, across the Burrard Bridge, along Fairview slopes and then back across the Cambie Bridge to BC Place.
$23M for anti-gang measures, announced by Premier Christy Clark
Diana Wang takes a selfie in a friend’s Rolls Royce in Vancouver.
HAPPY VAISAKHI
B.C. Premier Christy Clark says the province is adding $23 million over three years to fight the plague of gang violence in Surrey. “We can’t live in a democratic civil society where people feel unsafe,” said Clark. “This activity from gangs here in Surrey and in British Columbia is unacceptable.” Clark said the money would go to fund two additional 10-person units to fight gang violence on the ground, as
well as a dedicated office for anti-gang initiatives. She also stressed the need for police to fight the spread of violence beyond the borders of Surrey. “What’s happening with gangs is not a Surrey problem, it’s a British Columbia problem,” Clark said. “We need to be integrated in our approach to fighting gangs.” Clark said the funds would also go to support prosecution of gang-related crime and a beefed up CrimeStoppers program.
to all our Clients, Friends & Family
Continued on page 2
EDITORIAL
4 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
Clueless NDP federal delegates dump their From page 1 federal leader
HAPPY VAISAKHI to all of you
Wish you all a very Happy Vaisakhi
HAPPY VAISAKHI
For those how have known NDP, this is nothing new. NDPers are more vicious against their own, specially their leaders (provincial or federal) than against their political opponent. They have a habit of kicking out leaders who may lead them to success and replacing them with those who will lead them forever into failure. Just two years ago, the BC NDP hounded out their leader, Adrian Dix, after the provincial party lost the 2013 election and replaced him with John Horgan. Delegates said Dix was being punished for the 2013 electoral loss. But was he the only one to blame?? Why have members, party officials and bosses and strategists who participated in the 2013 election not been kicked out of the party for their failure? Same question applies to Mulcair’s leadership during last year’s federal election. Was he the only one to blame? If not, why is he the only one taking the fall? And who will replace Mulcair? Those who were soundly defeated by Mulcair in the previous leadership race will now be f9ghting to replace him. If they could not defeat Mulcair, who will they defeat the Liberals and Conservatives? Take another look at BC NDP, which dumped Dix and replaced him with Horgan, who is a very nice and likeable guy. But the provincial party’s poll numbers have not shot up just because Horgan has replaced Dix. And there is not even the slightest indication that Horgan will succeed where Dix failed. One thing for sure though, the NDP will lose its grip on Quebec once Mulcair is gone. And in BC, Liberal Premier Christie Clark must be celebrating – the provincial NDP members will be in the middle of a federal NDP leadership campaign when the BC provincial lection takes place next year. The clueless NDP delegates also voted to support the “Leap Manifesto” which will probably lead to Alberta NDP and, maybe even the BC NDP, splitting from its parent body.
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to all our Clients, Friends & Family
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Happy Vaisakhi
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6 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
Wish you all a very Happy Vaisakhi
Local
What India’s working women have that Western women don’t Over the last couple of decades, while Indian society continued to battle entrenched patriarchy, a cohort of educated, middleclass women surged through the glass ceiling and emerged as leaders in traditionally male dominions like banking, consulting, and technology. These women inhabit an almost post-gender world, where they have it all: a phenomenal career trajectory and a married life with children. Yet, they don’t work for particularly feminist organizations. Nor do they tend to have stay-at-home husbands. What they have are two things that women elsewhere in the world would be hardpressed to find: close-knit extended families and access to cheap household labor. Those resources have enabled a small but powerful group to achieve progressional triumphs that might have been impos-
sible even in liberal countries in the West. A superwoman in India In the West, it is unlikely for married couples to live with their parents. But life in a joint family is fairly common in India. Post marriage, many women—even in big cities—move in with their husband’s parents, and sometimes other relatives to boot. And while Indian popular culture often portrays the typical mother-in-law as a scheming, provincial character, the reality is that these women frequently Continued on next page
Sex-selective abortion may be driving boy boom among Indian-born moms in Canada 100 girls for Indian-born mothers with two daughters who had an abortion preceding her third birth. It was 409 boys for every 100 girls if the mother had more than one abortion. Lead author Marcelo Urquia of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital says it’s illegal in Canada to use such technologies as in-vitro fertilization to select the sex of a fetus. But an ultrasound can show the baby’s sex at 14
weeks’ gestation, at which point a woman can choose to terminate the pregnancy. Urquia says because abortions are legal and covered by government health insurance, families with a preference for sons may be using the procedure to try to get a boy. The study was published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
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PERSON OF THE WEEK
Saturday, April 16, 2016
What India’s working women have that Western women don’t
From previous page
shoulder the success of India’s highestachieving female professionals. Take the case of Naina Lal Kidwai, who retired in 2015 as chairman of HSBC India. Arguably an idol among India’s working women, Kidwai was the first Indian woman to graduate from the Harvard Business School in 1982. When she began her career as an investment banker with ANZ Grindlays and Morgan Stanley, banks did not offer flexible hours, and she often had to go to a different floor just to find the women’s washrooms. But at least there was trusted childcare at home. “After all, in India we have the distinct advantage of an extended family of mothers, sisters and in-laws, and house help.” “I think that it’s easier for us to succeed as working women in India than it is for many of our female counterparts in other parts of the world. After all, in India we have the distinct advantage of an extended family of mothers, sisters and in-laws, and house help,” Kidwai wrote in her book 30 Women in Power. “I have to admit, in those critical early stages of motherhood when relying on any and every manner of support becomes a survival strategy, I had assistance close at hand. My mother-in-law would come join us at short notice and my mother and sister, even friends, would pitch in.” While Kidwai began her professional journey long before India opened up its economy and ushered in jobs and prosperity, she chose to remain in her home country instead of heading for the US as her career progressed. Priyanka Aggarwal, one of the few female partners at Boston Consulting Group in India, says it is much easier for women in intense corporate jobs to strike the proverbial work-life balance in this country. “When I traveled (for work), my motherin-law looked after my children,” Aggarwal, 40, told me last year. An Indian Institute
Supreme Court strikes down 2 Conservative sentencing reforms The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that two key “tough on crime” measures brought in by the previous Conservative government are unconstitutional. In the first case, the court ruled 6-3 that a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison for a drug offence violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.It centres on Joseph Ryan Lloyd, a man with drug addictions in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, who was convicted of trafficking after police caught him in 2013 with less than 10 grams of heroin, crack cocaine and crystal methamphetamine. The court ruled the sentence cast too wide a net over a wide range of potential conduct, catching not only the serious drug trafficking that is its proper aim, but also conduct that is “much less blameworthy. “ “If Parliament hopes to maintain mandatory minimum sentences for offences that cast a wide net, it should consider narrowing their reach so that they only catch offenders that merit that mandatory minimum sentence,” the decision reads.
of Management graduate, Aggarwal, who spent more than a decade at McKinsey & Co., easily could have moved abroad for her career. She purposefully chose not to, though. Certainly many a career in India, and abroad for that matter, has been knocked down by motherhood. Conservative, disapproving family members have been a hurdle, too. Working mothers in India are further handicapped by lack of quality daycare facilities. Yet, as India liberalizes and the cost of living rises, having dual-income families has increasingly become an imperative. Luckily, liberalization also has increased the ranks of modern, supportive family members willing to pitch in.
Fruiticana owner, Tony Singh (second from left) with his family at a fashion show at Ras Leela held in Vancovuer last week. Photo: Chandar Bodalia
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8 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
LOCAL From page 1
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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Vancouver is haven for children of corrupt Chinese officials - NYT
catastrophic type of hurricane. The $360,000 car was a gift last year from their father, who travels back and forth between Vancouver and China’s northern Shanxi province and made his fortune in coal, said Andy Guo, an economics major at the University of British Columbia. The car is more fashion than function. “I have a backpack, textbooks and laundry, but I can’t fit everything inside,” he lamented. And that is not the worst of it. “A cop once pulled me over just to look at the car,” he said. China’s rapid economic rise has turned peasants into billionaires. Many wealthy Chinese are increasingly eager to stow their families — and their riches — in the West, where rule of law, clean air and good schools offer peace of mind, especially for those looking to escape scrutiny from the Communist Party and an anti-corruption campaign that has sent hundreds of the rich and powerful to jail. With its relatively weak currency and welcoming immigration policies, Canada has become a top destination for China’s 1 percenters. According to government figures, from 2005 to 2012, at least 37,000 Chinese millionaires took advantage of a now-defunct immigrant investor program to become permanent residents of British Columbia. The metropolitan area of 2.3 million is home to increasing numbers of ethnic-Chinese residents, who made up more than 18 per cent of the population in 2011, up from less than 7 per cent in 1981, according to government figures. Many residents say the flood of Chinese capital has caused an affordable housing crisis. Vancouver is the most expensive city in Canada to buy a home, according to a 2016 survey by the consulting firm Demographia. The average price of a detached house in greater Vancouver more than doubled from 2005 to 2015, to about $1.6 million, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
Canada’s top court extends First Nations rights to 600,000 Métis, non-status Indians
C
anada’s 600,000 Metis and nonstatus Indians are indeed “Indians” under the Constitution, the Supreme Court of Canada declared Thursday in a long-awaited landmark decision more than 15 years in the making. “It is the federal government to whom they can turn,” the unanimous 9-0 ruling said. The high court was also asked to rule on whether the federal government has the same responsibility to them as to status Indians and Inuit, and whether they have a right to be consulted by the government on their rights and needs. No need, the court said. “It was already well established in Canadian law that the federal government was in a fiduciary relationship with Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples and that the federal government had a duty to consult and negotiate with them when their rights were engaged,” said Justice Rosalie Abella, writing for the court. “Restating this in declarations would be of no practical utility.” The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples joined with several individuals, including Metis leader Harry Daniels, in taking the federal government to court in 1999 to allege discrimination because they were not conContinued on page 10
Residents angry about the rise of rich foreign real estate buyers and absentee owners, particularly from China, have begun protests on social media, including a #DontHave1Million Twitter campaign. The provincial government agreed this year to begin tracking foreign ownership of real estate in response to demands from local politicians. The anger has had little effect on the gilded lives of Vancouver’s wealthy Chinese. Indeed, to the newcomers for whom money is no object, the next purchase after a house is usually a car, and then a few more. A large number of luxury car dealerships here employ Chinese staff, a testament to the spending power of the city’s newest residents. In 2015, there were 2,500 cars worth more than $150,000 registered in metropolitan Vancouver, up from 1,300 in 2009, according to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Many of Vancouver’s young supercar owners are known as fuerdai, a Mandarin expression, akin to trust-fund kids, that means “rich second generation.” In China, where the superrich are widely criticized as being corrupt and materialistic, the term provokes a mix of scorn and envy. The fuerdai have brought their passion for extravagance to Vancouver. White Lamborghinis are popular among young Chinese women; the men often turn in their leased supercars after a few months for a newer, cooler status symbol. Hundreds of young Chinese immigrants, along with a handful of Canadian-born Chinese, have started supercar clubs whose members come together to drive, modify and photograph their flashy vehicles, providing alluring eye candy for their followers on social media.
HAPPY VAISAKHI
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LOCAL
10 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
Canada’s top court extends First Nations rights to 600,000 Métis, non-status Indians From page 9 dians” under the Constitution. Some 17 years later, the ruling is sure to have an impact on the relationship between the federal government and 600,000 Metis and off-reserve Indians across the country. Daniels died in 2004, and his son Gabriel was added as a plaintiff the following year. “I’m overwhelmed, I have a heavy heart right now,” an elated Gabriel Daniels said after the decision was handed down. “I am just thinking about my dad. I’m not going to start crying… He would be climbing the walls … he would be happy but he’d be focused on things to come.” In the moments following the decision, the building’s foyer filled with Metis and
aboriginal stakeholders, all of them barely able to contain their delight. As they spoke, whoops of joy and hollers of celebration echoed through the building. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the decision a landmark ruling with broad consequences and said his government will work in partnership with indigenous peoples. “I can guarantee you one thing, the path forward will be together.” One Metis leader said the ruling would have implications for future negotiations with the government over lucrative natural resources. Ron Quintal, president of the Fort
Happy Vaisakhi to all of you
Happy Vaisakhi
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Man accused of conspiring to murder Bacon brothers granted bail A Calgary man accused of being part of a conspiracy to murder the Bacon brothers seven years ago has been ordered released on $200,000 bail. Reasons for the release of Billy Ly, 31, cannot be reported due to a publication ban that was imposed at the bail hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. Such bans are routine at bail hearings in Canada. Justice Catherine Bruce, who imposed the ban, said Thursday that the recognizance bail will consist of $50,000 cash and $150,000 in sureties. Ly, who was arrested in Calgary in January, will be subject to strict bail conditions, including house arrest provisions
requiring him to remain in his parents’ home in Calgary except for lawful employment, medical emergencies or court appearances. He is not to leave Calgary or travel to B.C. except with permission and must surrender his passport and remain in Canada. The conditions also include that he not possess any weapons or ammunition and that he surrender any firearms in his possession. He is to provide his bail supervisor with any cellphone and landline phone numbers. The judge also ordered that Ly have no contact with a number of UN gang members or associates, including former UN gang leader Clayton Roueche, Barzan TilliCholi, Cory Vallee and Conor D’Monte.
also to stay away from Jamie BaHappy VaisakhiHe tois all of you con and Jarrod Bacon (pictured above).
Troy Tran, alsoYOU from Calgary, HAPPY VAISAKHI TO ALL32,OF
was
LOCAL
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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Website run by Shanghai-based company lists Vancouver properties before buyers can see them on the MLS public site
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Chinese-language website run by a Shanghai-based company is listing and arranging tours of Vancouver residential properties, and splitting commission fees with local agents. Vanfun.com gives its users a jump. It features information about properties, translated into Chinese, from the Multiple Listing Service site used by real estate agents, ahead of when buyers can see the listings in English on the MLS public site. Vanfun.com is operated by Shanghai Ruiying Internet Technology Ltd. which lists a Shanghai-based address in that city’s Pudong district. It is not known whether anyone connected to Vanfun.com is a licensed Realtor or whether the company’s operations violate any rules. A call to the company’s Shanghai office was answered by a man who said the owner was in
S
Vancouver. He hung up when the Sun asked him to pass on a reporter’s phone number. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said it recently became aware of the website and is reviewing it. Carolyn Rogers, the superintendent of real estate at FICOM, said she would not comment on specific investigations. There are “a number of investigations into unlicensed activity underway at any particular time,” she said. “We encourage real estate licensees to ‘say no’ to facilitating unlicensed activity. Before agreeing to secure real estate services, consumers should check whether the service provider is licensed by visiting the Real Estate Council of British Columbia’s website.” She cautioned buyers against doing business with “unlicensed real estate service providers (who) are not required to carry errors and omissions insurance, manage
Surrey community forum on gangs and gun violence
urrey city, the school district and police are hosting a community forum on youth, drugs and gangs at the Bell Centre in Surrey on Monday night. “We have a very large youth population in the city and they seem to have been swept up in this illegal crime activity,” says Cpl. Scotty Schumann with the Surrey RCMP. “We’re hoping that we’re going to be able not only educate parents and kids, but the community at large.” Schumann hopes they’ll be able to persuade community members to be more forthcoming with information about drugs and crime. Surrey also hosted several community forums last year when a similar battle over drug lines led to dozens of shootings in the city. Police cracked down on the players involved but investigators say the void has now been
filled with an even younger group of criminals. Film maker and community activist Mani Amar says the current batch of young men is as reckless as they are tech-savvy. “Phones can be tapped and information can be leaked, but when you have something like Snapchat where the messages are deleted right after they’re viewed, there is less of a chance of having evidence against you,” Amar says. “Dial-a-doping is yesterday’s news. Now they use social media to pass along messages and do their drug dealing.” A community activist says it’s time for Surrey’s mayor to stop referring to young gangsters by ethnicity. Meera Gill with Our Global Village says it’s divisive to label the young men involved in the drug feud as south Asian. “There are kids who have turned into so-called gangsters, so let’s just call them gangsters,” she says. “ Let’s not call them Indian or Asian or whatever.
Wish you all a very Happy Vaisakhi
Guests, including former MP Herb Dhaliwal (right) and Kashmir Dhaliwal (second from left) at a fund raiser for Vancouver-Fraserview Rotary Club last week in Vancouver. Photo: Chandra Bodalia funds through trust accounts, meet educational and professional standards, and may charge opportunistic fees for their services.” On Tuesday, Vanfun.com users were able to
access information about a property at 3798 West 35th Ave., listed by Peter Saito and Vivian Li of Sutton Group West Coast Realty. The information listed the usual details including asking price, dimensions and year built.
Happy Vaisakhi
LOCAL
12 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
Injecting common painkiller an alternative to heroin, Vancouver study finds
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ffering a legal painkiller to chronic heroin addicts can help them stop using street drugs and reduce the crime that goes along with it, concludes a Vancouver-based study released Wednesday. The finding published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in JAMA Psychiatry, could open the way to prescribing hydromorphone to people who have been unable to quit street drugs using methadone or suboxone, the only two opiate substitutes approved in Canada. Addictions researcher Eugenia OviedoJoekes headed SALOME — the Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness — at Providence Health Care’s Crosstown Clinic in the heart of the Down-
town Eastside on Hastings Street. It compared hydromorphone, an opioid pain medication sold under the brand name Dilaudid, with injections of the active ingredient in heroin called diacetylmorphine. Methadone taken daily in liquid form is effective for most people who want to quit street opioids. But it doesn’t work for at least 10 per cent of the chronically addicted, she says, which is why SALOME looked at other options. Max Bell is one of those users who spoke at a crowded news conference Wednesday at St. Paul’s Hospital. He started down the road to opiate abuse after surviving a deadly car accident. Years of injecting heroin permanently changed his body chemistry, he says, so that nothing else could stop his daily cravings until he entered the study.
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Police seek person who toppled four Surrey power poles with chainsaw
C Hydro and Mounties in Surrey want to find the vandal who used a chainsaw to topple four transmission poles in the city’s Green Timbers neighbourhood. The Crown utility says the poles were cut down at about 1 a.m. Wednesday, taking out power for 6,000 customers in nearby Whalley. It’s not known if more than one person was involved, but Hydro
says whoever was responsible or anyone in the area faced immense danger from the fallen poles. They supported a 60,000-volt transmission line and two sets of highvoltage distribution circuits, each carrying 25,000 volts. Crews were expected to replace the damaged poles and transfer the conductors and circuits to the new poles by the end of the day.
Kelowna grandma collects $50 million Lotto Max jackpot
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grandmother in Kelowna won the Lotto Max grand prize initially thought she’d won $50,000. June Bergh asked her husband to double-check her ticket and says he instantly became dazed when he realized the ticket they were holding was actually worth $50 million. The Kelowna woman said she still didn’t believe she had the winning ticket until a B.C.
Lottery Corp. employee congratulated her for the huge win. Bergh said when her husband, Gus, told her he’d heard there was a big winner in Kelowna for the April 8 draw, she thought she might have won a $1-million prize. Bergh said Tuesday she’s looking forward to sharing her winnings with her children and grandchildren. “Thiswinisaboutthem,notaboutus,”saidBergh. “It gives me great pleasure in helping others.”
Handguns, ammunition banned from Surrey gun show
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ennis Robinson of the Thunderbird Fast Draw Club might have welcomed a quick-draw contest to settle a fight over a gun show with Surrey city council, but he and other gun enthusiasts instead were strung up with red tape. Robinson was hoping to demonstrate his club’s fast-draw competitions at this weekend’s B.C. Rod and Gun Show at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. Using wax bullets, shooters compete to see how fast they can draw their firearms from
their holsters to shoot a target. But council balked at having any ammunition at the second annual show, which is expected to draw more than 8,500 people over three days. A permit was granted after organizers agreed to a ban against ammo and handguns. That leaves Robinson’s shooters having to demo their sport using electronic signals on a computer screen, “unless Surrey could actually stop us from showing pictures of bullets,” he noted.
Wish you all a very HAPPY VAISAKHI
LOCAL
F
Illegal North Vancouver crabbers pinched in pocketbook
Saturday, April 16, 2016
HAPPY VAISAKHI
offences including ilresh crab can be legal possession of expensive, but two crabs, having underVancouver men sized Dungeness crabs, have paid a very high possessing female price for the delicacy crabs and using more — even though they than two crab traps. never got to taste their catch. North VancouRCMP Cpl. Richard Dungeness crab is seen for sale at ver RCMP said the men De Jong said FishFisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco were fishing for crab off eries Act regulathe pier of Cates Park in North Vancou- tions are in place to protect crab stocks ver in early January when their catch was and fishermen are advised to know seized and they were charged with several the rules before lowering their traps. violations. The pair were fined $3,300 for
Canadian imams on ISIL hit list for preaching against extremism and steering Muslims ‘away from jihad’
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wo Canadian imams are on a hit list released Tuesday by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which accused one them of steering Muslims “away from jihad” and the other of showing remorse for “Canadian soldiers killed by Muslims.” Both were singled out in the latest edition of the ISIL propaganda magazine Dabiq, which called for their killings along with several other imams in the West on the grounds that they were preaching against the terror group’s message. Calling them “obligatory targets” according to Islamic law, ISIL urged followers to “make an example of them.” A photo of one of the “apostate” imams
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was printed, as well as an image of a hand holding a large blood-stained knife. The 69-page magazine was distributed on Twitter and Telegram, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which said that more than a dozen “imams of kufr (disbelief)” and “politically active apostates” had been named. It’s unclear why those particular imams were singled out. Both are Muslim converts. One was affiliated with the Canadian Council of Imams, which has regularly denounced ISIL, and on Monday said it would open “de-radicalization clinics” in the Toronto area to serve as hubs for dealing with violent extremism.
Wish you all HAPPY VAISAKHI
Five years prison for man who was caught with 51 live turtles stuffed in his pants
Canadian man who repeatedly entered Michigan to buy and ship thousands of turtles to his native China was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison Tuesday for smuggling. It was a tough punishment for Kai Xu, who has been locked up for 19 months since his arrest and had hoped to be released. The 27-year-old expressed remorse to a judge and thanked agents “for stopping the darkness of my greed and ignorance.” Ahead of the hearing, Xu wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara, saying he sold turtles partly to make money for college. He said he was a semester short of an engineering degree from the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. The government said Xu shipped turtles to China from Canada and the U.S., or hired people to fly to China with turtles in their luggage. In 2014, he was
caught at the Ontario, Canada, border with 51 turtles taped to his legs. It’s not illegal to buy turtles from breeders in the U.S., but Xu’s crime was shipping them overseas without a federal permit. Xu was not a “sophisticated international dealer,” defence attorney Matthew Borgula told the judge, adding that hiding turtles under his pants was “not a good way to get them across the border.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Woodward said Xu’s remorse was genuine, but described his smuggling scheme as one of the largest in recent years. Woodward asked for five years in prison, near the low end of the sentencing guidelines. O’Meara settled on 57 months without an explanation, though he praised Xu for becoming fluent in Spanish while in prison and helping Hispanic inmates.
HAPPY VAISAKHI TO ALL OF YOU
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LOCAL
14 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
Richmond residents balk at price tag to set up independent police force
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Richmond is sticking with the RCMP as its police force — for now.
ouncil voted Monday to maintain the status quo after public consultation found residents balked at the price tag that accompanied parting ways with the Ottawa-based Mounties and setting up an independent municipal police force, similar to Vancouver or Delta. “They understand there are benefits to going with a local force but when you factor in the cost it’s simply not worthwhile and practical,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie. The report said an independent police force would cost the city $19.6 million in onetime transition costs ,as well as extra annual operating costs of $2.2 million to $3.9 million. In comparison, Richmond currently pays $41.5 million a year for RCMP policing services — an amount that makes up about 20 per cent of the city’s operating budget.
“Ultimately, many residents and stakeholders agree that the creation of a local, independent police force seems like a good idea and would better reflect Richmond’s community values, needs and priorities,” said the report. “However, when taking into account the costs of establishing a new police force (both proposed transition cost and the additional funds required annually to support a new local police force), residents were not convinced that there was enough cause for change.” The municipality embarked on a public consultation process earlier this year, which included telephone and online polls,
Elderly couple accused in Vancouver fencing ring that used drug addicts as shoplifters
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n elderly couple have been arrested by police after the discovery of more than $200,000 worth of stolen goods inside an east Vancouver home. At a news conference Tuesday showing off some of the stolen items — ranging from razor blades to perfume to designer purses and clothing — Insp. Earl Andersen said the couple relied on drugaddicted shoplifters and organized retail crime groups to steal the goods, which were then resold locally or shipped abroad. Andersen, of the Vancouver police anti-fencing unit, said police obtained a search warrant and then moved in on the property on East 20th Avenue near Fraser Street on March 1. The man arrested is 74 and the woman is 69. “The couple have no criminal record but are well known to Vancouver police,” Andersen said. The names and offences have not yet
HAPPY VAISAKHI TO ALL OF YOU
been made public as police are awaiting Crown approval on the charges, said Anderson. “We believe this group has been active for several years,” he said. While many think shoplifting is a non-violent crime, Andersen points out front-line staff and security at the stores are at risk, as some of the shoplifters can become violent. “These crimes are seen as non-violent, but do have the possibility to escalate in a hurry,” he said. A recent conflict between a thief and security at a Shoppers Drug Mart ended in violence, he said, and “both the suspect and the loss-prevention officer sustained injuries.” Police are also warning people that it is an offence to buy stolen items. “If your purchase cost is too good to be true, it is likely a stolen item,” he said. Some of the items are sold locally through places such as flea markets, and some are sent to Asian buyers.
Increase in overdose deaths leads to public health emergency
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public health emergency has been declared in British Columbia over a “significant” increase in drug-related overdoses and deaths. The announcement was made Thursday morning by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall. It is the first time he has exercised his emergency powers. Kendall said that overdose deaths have climbed steadily since 2010, reaching 474 in 2015, a 30 per cent increase over the 365 overdose fatalities in 2014. Fentanyl overdose death triggers a mother’s plea for action The medical emergency status triggers new powers that will allow officials to collect real-time information on reported overdoses. That data will help pinpoint new spikes quickly, allowing medical service staff to warn and protect those at risk.
Forests recovering quickly after being destroyed by pine-beetle
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study out of University of Victoria says nature is finding a way to heal from the devastation of British Columbia’s mountain pine beetle outbreak. The research from the UVicled Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions says global warming is making B.C. forests grow faster and the trees are taking in more carbon dioxide, the gas associated with the globe’s steadily climbing temperatures. Under normal conditions, forests act as so-called “carbon sinks,” scrubbing the atmosphere by pulling in CO2 while releasing oxygen. But researchers say that over the span of the pine beetle epidemic, dead and rotting trees pumped more carbon into the environment, helping global warming by turning B.C.’s forests into a gas producers. Lead researcher Vivek Arora says the waning outbreak means forests are recovering, and oxygen output due to speedy growth caused by climate change will soon compensate for the carbon emitted by rotting trees.
LOCAL
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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Toronto South Asian stabbing suspect missing from court after rant about terrorists
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he woman accused of fatally stabbing have notified Bisesar’s defence team a stranger in a downtown Toronto when she was moved to the hosdrugstore last December is in hospi- pital, Burke said, “apparently not.� “It’s really unfortunate,� Burke tal, but no one seems to know when or why she was removed from a Milton, Ont., jail. said. Canada’s legal system works Rohinie Bisesar, 40, was due to appear “not at all like you see on TV.� Police via video link at Old City Hall court on Toronto PoliceRohinie BisWednesday afternoon, but instead a bewil- Toronto in surveillance images. dered guard at the Vanier Centre for Wom- esar He and defence lawyer Calvin Barry en appeared on the monitor in her place. “Bisesar is in the hospital,� he told the court, are representing Bisesar. Burke would but he had no idea when or why she was re- not say when he or Barry last saw Bisesar, only that she has been visitmoved from her jail cell. “I can’t ed “recently and regularly.� even tell you what hospital.� There was another biHe advised the court to check zarre development. A with the records department man approached Burke at Vanier because the piece of when he exited the courtpaper on the clipboard he held room and announced that in his hand contained none he wanted to ask Bisesar of the relevant information. “out on a date.� The man A correctional officer who said he had important answered the phone at Vanier Rohinie Bisesar information for Bisesar, said she was not authorized to give out personal details about Bisesar. but Burke declined to accept the letter. But she did tell the Post that Bisesar was When reporters gathered around on the last prison roll call recorded Tues- Burke, the man walked away. He day night. So some time after midnight, left the courthouse with the foldthe alleged murderer was taken to hospital. ed up piece of paper still in hand. The Crown and even Bisesar’s law- Wednesday’s hearing was scheduled beyer, David Burke, were surprised by cause Bisesar launched into a bizarre the latest development in a case that rant about terrorists and the prime has suffered a number of delays since minister when she appeared via video Bisesar was arrested on Dec. 15 follow- link on Monday. She was advised not to ing a manhunt that lasted several days. speak, and asked to return two days later. “It’s a surprise to everybody,� Burke said At the time, she also proclaimed her outside the courtroom Wednesday. “Even innocence and said that she has been the very guard that showed up on the vid- “damaged� during the last four months eo seemed to be very poorly informed.� she has spent in prison At the time of When asked whether the prison should her arrest, a friend told the National Post that Bisesar’s mental health had
Punjabi sufi singer Satinder Sartaj meeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) and posing with Liberal MPs on Parliament Hill (right). deteriorated in recent years. She was alienated from her family and she appeared to be increasingly paranoid, Karl Gutowski said. When asked if Bisesar would un-
dergo a psychological assessment, Burke said “obviously that’s something that’s always been a question, but I’m not speaking any further on that.�
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16 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
LOCAL
B.C. forms investigation team to tackle money laundering, illegal gaming
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ritish Columbia is attempting to crack down on money laundering at casinos with help from the province’s anti-gang police agency and strategies that encourage gamblers to come without cash. Finance Minister Mike de Jong said 22 officers with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit will eventually be dedicated to investigating groups that use gaming facilities to legalize proceeds of crime. He said Monday that police will work with the B.C. Lottery Corp. and the Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch as part of the Illegal Gaming
Investigation Team. “British Columbians that attend our casino and gaming establishments do so in the knowledge that they are participating in a lawful form of entertainment. They want to know and deserve to know that the people sitting at the tables with them are doing so on the same basis.” A provincially funded RCMP team that targeted illegal gaming in B.C. was disbanded in 2009. De Jong said suspicious currency transactions of $20.7 million last July led in part to the creation of a new unit, which
HAPPY VAISAKHI
PM Trudeau will offer full apology in Parliament for 1914 Komagata Maru incident
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rime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will offer a full apology in the House of Commons next month for a decision by the government in 1914 to turn away a ship carrying hundreds of South Asian immigrants. The apology for the Komagata Maru incident will be delivered nearly 102 years after the ship from Hong Kong arrived off Vancouver
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only to have nearly all of its 376 passengers denied entry due to the immigration laws at the time. The ship was eventually sent to Calcutta and least 19 people were killed in an ensuing skirmish with British soldiers, while others were jailed. Former prime minister Stephen Harper apologized for the incident in 2008 at an event in British Columbia.
B.C. Hydro spent $17.5M to not buy power last year, says that resulted in $8.6M in savings!
t cost B.C. Hydro $17.5 million last year to ask eight Independent Power Producers of biomass energy to turn off produc-
tion because their power was not needed, a sizeable figure that B.C.’s energy minister said actually resulted in millions of dollars in savings for ratepayers. During estimate debates this week, Bill Bennett, the minister of energy and mines, said it would have cost B.C. Hydro about $26 million to buy the unneeded power from the biomass projects, meaning, he claimed, ratepayers realized savings of about $8.6 million. Hydro critic Adrian Dix, however, framed the accounting differently, suggesting during the estimates debates that Hydro actually paid millions in contract penalties to the IPPs, which are all connected to pulp mills, to not produce electricity at a time when overall rates are going up. “They talk about offsetting savings and so on, but what this shows is these are incredibly lucrative contracts and that Hydro has mismanaged the system,” Dix said in a followup interview. “B.C. Hydro is paying $17.5 million not to take power.” Bennett stressed during the estimate debates that the amount paid to the IPPs do not represent penalties.
Life-insurance industry wants assisted dying treated differently than suicide
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ife-insurance providers have told the federal government its members are willing to lift the standard two-year exemption for suicides and pay out policies on people who end their lives through physician-assisted death, says the head of the industry’s professional association. Frank Zinatelli of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association said if someone follows the legislated process, which is expected to be announced within days, then providers would pay out on policies. “The industry has determined that this is obviously something that the Canadian population wants and we’re not going to stand in the way of that,” Zinatelli said in an inter-
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18 i Saturday, March 26, 2016
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Saturday, April 16, 2016
to all our Clients, Friends & Family
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LOCAL
18 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
The annual talent show of North Delta St Cuthbert’s Anglican Church
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Start your summer day camp plans on April 25th at the City of Surrey!
URREY, BC – On Monday April 25th registration opens at City of Surrey for a wide variety of affordable and fun camps to keep children busy all summer long. Get a head start on planning now! Camps are the perfect place for children ages 3-18 to spend their summer! Select from many unique activities such as: art ventures, sports, camp swim & skate, thrilling theatre, science & nature, pre-teen fun zone, kids who cook, video game design, preteen road trips, and leadership camps. New this year: The City of Surrey will provide a convenient payment option. Pay 50% at registration and the remain-
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The annual talent show of North Delta St Cuthbert’s Anglican Church was held recently with this year’s theme of Multiculturalism. Photos by Sri Vimal
HAPPY VAISAKHI Now Open
ing balance at the first day of camp. Popular camps fill up fast! Early registration is recommended to secure your child’s spot. The City of Surrey offers day camps for youth ages 13-18 with disabilities such as “Summer Fun 1-1” and “Camp Youth on the Move”. One to one staff support is also available for children ages 6-13 with disabilities so they can take part in city wide summer day camps. Extend the fun with our Camp Connections (for additional time before and after camp). Children’s summer experience can extend after camps with fitness, games, crafts, arts, cooking and more. For more information, visit www.surrey.ca/recreation or call 604-501-5100.
Canadian Council of Imams to open ‘deradicalization clinics’ to battle ‘growing problem’ of extremism
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he Canadian Council of Imams said Monday it would open “deradicalization clinics” in the Toronto area next fall to serve as hubs for dealing with community members who have been drawn into violent extremism. “We just want to take a proactive approach,” Imam Hamid Slimi said of the plan, to be announced at a CCI dinner on Monday night. The council also recently formed a National Security Committee, the Toronto imam said. “We need to take action because this is a growing problem worldwide. And at least we want to create a successful model,” said Slimi, the CCI’s former chairman. “There is a will in the community. Nobody wants to see another Brussels or Paris.” Like other Western nations, Canada is experiencing a growing radicalization problem, underscored by the October 2014 terror attacks that resulted in the deaths of two Canadian Forces members in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa. According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, about 180 people “with a nexus to Canada” are currently active in overseas terrorism — including 100 in Syria and Iraq alone. Another 60 have returned to Canada after engaging in terrorism. To help tackle the problem, the council is proposing two or three clinics across Toronto that would serve as community resource centres on radicalization issues. They would take a “holistic” approach, he said, making use of mental-health experts, academics and theologians, among others. “There will be training this summer, and then in fall we launch these clinics,” he said. “I hope we won’t be that busy. It’s not that bad. But these days one individual can do the biggest damage you can imagine. So that’s the whole idea.”
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• Vaisakhi Special •
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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www.theasianstar.com Vol 15 Issue 11 Saturday, April 16, 2016
Vaisakhi Special
Tel: 604-591-5423
The Significance of Khalsa
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he is the collective body of allinitiated Sikhs represented by the five beloved-ones and can be called the Guru Panth, the embodiment of the Guru and the final temporal Guru/leader of the Sikhs. The word Khalsa translates to “Sovereign/Free”.Another interpretation is that of being “Pure/Genuine.” The Khalsa was inaugurated on March 30, 1699, by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru. From then on the temporal leadership of the Sikhs was passed on to the Khalsa with the bestowed title of “Guru Panth” and spiritual leadership was passed on to the Guru Granth Sahib [4] with the Khalsa being responsible for all executive, military and civil authority in the Sikh society.[5] The Khalsa is also called the nation of the Sikhs. The Sikhs of the Khalsa can be identified with the given Five Ks and titles ofSingh
and Kaur, granted after the disciple has been baptized into the order of the Khalsa. The tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh at an event that coincided with the Vaisakhi day (of the new lunar month Baisakh Samvat 1756) created the Khalsa in the year 1699 A.D at Kesgarh, in Anandpur Sahib[7]ordained that every Sikh becomes Amritdhari “[Having taken Amrit]” and follow the Five Ks; which are not merely symbols but display commitment to the philosophy of Guru Nanak Dev like a uniform of an organization. A Sikh male at being initiated into the Khalsa is titled Singh meaning “Lion” and
a female is entitled Kaur meaning “Princess”. From then on they are commonly referred to as Amritdhari (having taken Amrit). The Khalsa is considered the pinnacle of Sikhism.[9] The Khalsa is expected to perform no ritual and to believe in no superstition of any kind but only believe in
one God who is the Master and the Protector of all, the only Creator and Destroyer. The usual interpretation of the Khalsa is made as “Pure” as in the following statement: (“pure/devoted”) word khālisa[h] is the recognition of every Sikh that follows the discipline and text from the Guru Granth Sahib. There is also another word from Arabic which is pronounced as “Khalsa” and is adapted in Punjabi / English / Hindi and many other languages. So, there are two different words in Arabic: (Khalsa) and (Khalisa) Furthermore, there is a word in Persian meaning “pure” and pronounced as “Khalis”. A reader of Urdu can testify the “Khalis” in the Persian script and language as described below. “Khalsa” is also used for a property which belongs to the emperor directly. The official language in the Mughal era wasPer-
Continued on page 4
2 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
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• Vaisakhi Special •
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Wishing you a very
Happy Vaisakhi Minister Harjit Sajjan
Minister Carla Qualtrough
Sukh Dhaliwal, MP
John Aldag, MP
Vancouver South 604.775.5323
Surrey–Newton 604.598.2200
Delta 778.591.0549
Delta 604.575.6505
Hon. Justin Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada Randeep Sarai, MP Surrey Centre 604.589.2441
Ken Hardie, MP
Fleetwood-Port Kells 604.501.5900
Jati Sidhu, MP
Mission–Matsqui–Fraser Canyon 604.814.5710
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4 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
• Vaisakhi Special •
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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The Significance of Khalsa From page 1
sian and Persian language contains a word “Khalis” which directly translates to “Pure” in English. This may give a new meaning to the word “Khalsa”. On these grounds and as per writings of the Guru Gobind Singh, the father of the Khalsa, wherein the great Guru describes the Khalsa as army of the timeless-being, it is evident that Khalsa means timelesssovereign. In Sikh tradition, the word Khalsa first appears in a hukmanama (order) by Guru Hargobind (the sixth Guru) which refers to asangat as “Guru ka khalsa” (“Guru’s Khalsa”). It also appears in a letter by Guru Tegh Bahadur (the ninth Guru), in the same sense. Although the early Mughal emperors had peaceful relations with the Sikh Gurus, the Sikhs started facing religious persecution during the reign of Jahangir. Persecution against the Sikhs continued until the creation of the Sikh Kingdom in 1799. Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, was arrested and executed by Emperor Jahangir in 1606.[11] The following Guru,Guru Hargobind formally militarized the Sikhs and emphasized the complementary nature of the temporal power and spiritual power.[12] In 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs was executed by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for saving the religious rights of Hindus. In 1699, his son and the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh sent hukmanamas(letters of authority) to his followers throughout the Indian sub-continent, asking them to gather at Anandpur Sahib on March 30, 1699, the day of Vaisakhi (the annualharvest festival). Guru Gobind Singh addressed the congregation from the entryway of a tent pitched on a hill (now called Kesgarh Sahib). He drew his sword and asked for a volunteer who was will-
ing to sacrifice his head. No one answered his first call, nor the second call, but on the third invitation, a person called Daya Ram (later known as Bhai Daya Singh) came forward and offered his head to the Guru. Guru Gobind Singh took the volunteer inside the tent, and emerged shortly, with blood dripping from his sword. He then demanded another head. One more volunteer came forward, and entered the tent with him. The Guru again emerged with blood on his sword. This happened three more times. Then the five volunteers came out of the tent unharmed. These five, who were willing to sacrifice their lives for their Guru, were called Panj Piare (“the five beloved ones”).[13] These five volunteers were : Daya Ram (Bhai Daya Singh), Dharam Das (Bhai Dharam Singh),
Himmat Rai (Bhai Himmat Singh), Mohkam Chand (Bhai Mohkam Singh), and Sahib Chand (Bhai Sahib Singh). Guru Gobind Singh then took an iron bowl and poured some water in it. Sahib Devan (later Mata Sahib Kaur) added some sugar crystals to the water, and the Guru stirred this mixture with a double-edged sword whilst reciting the Five Banis. The resultant solution is called as “Khandey di Pahul” (ceremony of the double-edged sword) or commonly known as “amrit” (nectar of immortality) These actions allude to the nature expected of the inductees to the Khalsa: that they must have the will and the strength to fight oppression (symbolized by the sword), but must always remember that their actions are born from protection and not hatred (symbolized by the sweetness of the sugar).
Surrey City Council wishes you and your family a very
Happy Vaisakhi
Happy Vaisakhi
501 Belleville St. Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4
John Horgan, Leader
(250) 387-3655
B.C. Official Oppostion
Harry Bains
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Kathy Corrigan
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Rob Fleming
Scott Fraser
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6 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
• Vaisakhi Special •
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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8 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
• Vaisakhi Special •
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Celebrating Khalsa
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10 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
• Vaisakhi Special •
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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WWW.APPLEWOODSURREY.CA - BC'S KIA SUPERSTORE WWW.APPLEWOODSURREY.CA - BC'S #1#1 KIA SUPERSTORE
INTEREST 00INTEREST PAYMENT 00PAYMENT FOR 90 DAYS FOR 90 DAYS
$ 5,000 CASH BACK 5,000 CASH BACK 0% INTEREST O.A.C. ATAT 0% INTEREST O.A.C.
$
DOWN 00DOWN DUE 0AT0DELIVERY DUE AT DELIVERY 2016 KIA RIO SAVE 2016 KIA RIO SAVE $ $ PRICE 13,675 SALESALE PRICE 13,675
3939
JUSTJUST $ $
OVER OVER $ $
3,880 3,880
Oanset Onek LastLto cktoc in S in S
2015 KIA OPTIMA SAVE 2015 KIA OPTIMA SAVE $ $ PRICE 19,625 SALESALE PRICE 19,625
7,015 5656 7,015
JUSTJUST $ $
STK#RO6957
STK#OP5864
STK#RO6957 WEEKLY PAYMENT MSRP MSRP $17,555 WEEKLY PAYMENT $17,555
Oanset Onek LastLto cktoc in S in S
STK#OP5864 WEEKLY PAYMENT MSRP MSRP $26,640 WEEKLY PAYMENT $26,640
2016 KIA FORTE SAVE 2016 KIA FORTE SAVE
2015 KIA SOUL SAVE 2015 KIA SOUL SAVE
$ $ PRICE 12,389 SALESALE PRICE 12,389
$ $ PRICE 19,120 SALESALE PRICE 19,120
OVER OVER $ $
JUSTJUST $ $
STK#6730
STK#6730 WEEKLY PAYMENT MSRP MSRP $17,555 WEEKLY PAYMENT $17,555
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STK#SO5949 WEEKLY PAYMENT MSRP MSRP $19,120 WEEKLY PAYMENT $19,120
2016 KIA SORENTO SAVE 2016 KIA SORENTO SAVE PRICE 24,535 SALESALE PRICE 24,535 $
$
OVER OVER $ $
4,985 6969 4,985
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WEEKLY PAYMENT WEEKLY PAYMENT
2016 KIA SPORTAGE SAVE 2016 KIA SPORTAGE SAVE
Oanset Onek Last Lto cktoc in S in S
$ $ PRICE 19,985 SALESALE PRICE 19,985
STK#SR6365 STK#SR6365 MSRP $29,520 MSRP $29,520
STK#SP6X27
STK#SP6X27 WEEKLY PAYMENT MSRP MSRP $25,020 WEEKLY PAYMENT $25,020
KIA5RIO 2015 2015 KIA RIO LX+5 LX+
KIA SORENTO 2015 2015 KIA SORENTO SX SX
WAS $16,995 WAS $16,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
WAS $16,995 WAS $16,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
WAS $35,995 WAS $35,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
CLEAROUT CLEAROUT $39 $39 WK WK $13,500 $13,500 PRICEPRICE
LOADED, AWD, NAVI, LOADED, AWD, NAVI, LEATHER, LEATHER, ROOF ROOF
AUTO,SEATS, HEAT SEATS, AUTO, HEAT WELL EQUIPPED WELL EQUIPPED
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CLEAROUT CLEAROUT $93 $93 WK WK $32,500 $32,500 PRICEPRICE
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KIA OPTIMA 2015 2015 KIA OPTIMA LX LX
2015 DODGE CHARGER 2015 DODGE CHARGER SXT SXT
2015 MITSUBISHI MIRAGE 2015 MITSUBISHI MIRAGE ES ES
WAS $21,995 WAS $21,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
WAS $27,995 WAS $27,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
WAS $15,995 WAS $15,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
AUTO, HEATED AUTO, HEATED SEATS, SEATS, WELL EQUIPPED WELL EQUIPPED
CLEAROUT CLEAROUT STK # 35441 STK # 35441 $73 $73 WK WK $25,500 $25,500 PRICEPRICE
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KIA FORTE 2015 2015 KIA FORTE LX+ LX+
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WAS $16,995 WAS $16,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
WAS $25,995 WAS $25,995
WAS $21,995 WAS $21,995 PAY JUST PAY JUST
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CLEAROUT CLEAROUT $50 $50 WK WK $17,500 $17,500 PRICEPRICE
OVER OVER $ $
5,035 5757 5,035
JUSTJUST $ $
2013 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT 2013 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT TRENDLINE TRENDLINE EDITION,EDITION, AUTO, AUTO, BLUETOOTH, WELL EQUIPPED BLUETOOTH, WELL EQUIPPED
OVER OVER $ $
5,185 3535 5,185
6,145 3737 6,145
JUSTJUST $ $
OVER OVER $ $
CLEAROUT CLEAROUT $52 $52 WK WK $18,500 $18,500 PRICEPRICE
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KIA SURREY KIA SURREY The Power to Surprise The Power to Surprise 16299 FRASERVIEW HWY. 16299 FRASERVIEW HWY. oaukr your y k e a p e s p s e We W e! 604-596-3250 Nav Singh Harry Harry OberoiOberoi Nav Singh ShahidShahid ShafiqShafiq a n g ul aangge !u a g 604-596-3250 www.applewoodsurrey.ca l www.applewoodsurrey.ca Sales Manager SeniorAdvisor Product Advisor SeniorAdvisor Product Advisor Sales Manager Senior Product Senior Product
All&prices & payments plus applicable andFinance taxes. Finance payments areas shown as equivalent weekly equivalent of the monthly only available on approved credit Interest (OAC). Interest rate All prices payments are plusare applicable fees andfees taxes. payments are shown weekly of the monthly amount amount and are and onlyare available on approved credit (OAC). rate used is used is x 96 months. cost of borrowing shown these featured. NEW VEHICLES: Rio #R06957 @ $39/wk, COB $2,473; 2015 Optima LX #OP5864 19,625 @COB 56/wk, COB 3,546; 4.24% x4.24% 96 months. The costThe of borrowing (COB) is(COB) shownisfor thesefor featured. NEW VEHICLES: 2016 Rio2016 #R06957 - $13675- $13675 @ $39/wk, COB $2,473; 2015 Optima LX #OP5864 – 19,625–@ 56/wk, 3,546; 2015 Soul #SO5949 – $12,975 @ $37/wk, COB $2,350; 2016 Sportage #SP6X27 - $19,985 @ $57/wk, COB $3,610; 2016 Sorento #SR6365 - $24,535 @ $69/wk, COB $4,427; 2016 Forte #FO6730 - $12,389 2015 Soul #SO5949 – $12,975 @ $37/wk, COB $2,350; 2016 Sportage #SP6X27 - $19,985 @ $57/wk, COB $3,610; 2016 Sorento #SR6365 - $24,535 @ $69/wk, COB $4,427; 2016 Forte #FO6730 - $12,389 @ $35/wk, COB $2,245; USED VEHICLES: Kia Sorento #, $32,500 wk$5855 – COB2015 $5855 Kia Optima wk$3224 – COB2015 $3224 Forte #34917, wk$2688 – COB $2688 @ $35/wk, COB $2,245; USED VEHICLES: 2015 Kia2015 Sorento #, $32,500 $93 wk –$93 COB Kia2015 Optima #35441#35441 $17,500$17,500 ,$50 wk ,$50 – COB Kia2015 ForteKia #34917, $14,500,$14,500, $42 wk –$42 COB Rio5 #34927 - $14,500, wk– COB2015 $2688 2015Charger Dodge Charger - $25,500 wk $4663 – COB 2015 $4663 2015 Ford Escape wk$4304 – COB2013 $4304 VW#35159 Passat #35159 2015 Kia2015 Rio5Kia #34927 - $14,500, $42 wk–$42 COB $2688 Dodge #35120#35120 - $25,500 - $73 wk- –$73 COB Ford Escape #35121#35121 - $23500- $23500 – $67 wk– –$67 COB VW2013 Passat wk$2445 – COB2015 $2445 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage #35422 - $13,500 36 wk$2329 - COB2014 $2329 2014 Sedona #34850$18,500 wk $3406 – COB2012 $3406 2012CRV Honda CRV #35446 wk– COB $3,521 $13500 $13500 - $39 wk- –$39 COB Mitsubishi Mirage #35422 - $13,500 – 36 wk -–COB Sedona #34850$18,500 – 52 wk –– 52 COB Honda #35446 $19,500$19,500 – 56 wk–– 56 COB $3,521 Information in this advertisement is believed to be accurate at the time of printing. Seefor dealer fordetails, further In-store details, In-store promotions end Sunday, Information in this advertisement is believed to be accurate at the time of printing. See dealer further promotions end Sunday, April 21,April 201621, 2016
12 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
Mar 19- Mar 25/2016
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14 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
s r I t I c r s v l oN E ` p j I n UM i v s ` K I d I E ~ h ` r i d k S uB k ` m n ` v ~
Heartiest Vaisakhi Greetings From Surrey Teachers
Kids matter
Teachers Care
• Vaisakhi Special •
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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16 i Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Vaisakhi Special •
HAPPY VAISAKHI
to all our Clients, Friends & Family
POLITICS
Leap manifesto a bad fit for BC, says NDP lead John Horgan
B
C NDP leader John Horgan is being forced to defend his party’s record on resource development in the wake of heated debate over the Leap Manifesto at the NDP national convention this past weekend. The Leap Manifesto is a document calling for a rapid shift away from fossil fuel development in the Canadian economy. But Horgan says there are parts of the plan he doesn’t agree with. The Leap Manifesto calls for a radical shift away from fossil fuel extraction in Canada. “In total collectively it doesn’t reflect the values of British Columbians. Our past and our future will be dependent on the development of natural resources,” said Horgan. Horgan says the NDP has the right to debate policies like the Leap Manifesto, but he is focusing on a made in B.C. plan.
The B.C. Liberals are using the debate to portray the NDP as the party of ‘no’, bent on killing jobs. “It puts the western Canadian provincial NDP in a bad position,” said Energy Minister Bill Bennett. “Workers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. rely on extraction of resources from the earth, including oil and gas.” Horgan isn’t the only provincial NDP leader left feeling uncomfortable by the Leap Manifesto which calls for rejecting any new pipelines. Alberta’s NDP Premier Rachel Notley called the Leap Manifesto ‘naive’ and ‘ill-informed.’ She is asking her party to support the building of pipelines to deliver Alberta crude oil to seaports. And New Brunswick NDP leader Dominic Cardy calls the Leap Manifesto ‘something dreamed up in a downtown Toronto coffee shop.’
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B.C. judge orders Ontario company to pay back $874,000 in legal fees charged to feds
B.C. judge has ordered an Ontario company to repay the federal government more than $800,000 in unnecessary and unreasonable legal fees and costs. The fees were billed in connection with an investigation into a law firm’s participation in a settlement agreement to compensate Indian residential school survivors. The company, Crawford Class Action Service, was appointed by the courts to monitor the class action settlement approved by nine superior courts across Canada. Crawford ended up investigating the conduct of a law firm
Seven days in segregation ‘was pretty bad’ former MP Dean Del Mastro says after release on bail Former Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro said he was tired and happy to be home in Bailieboro on Monday after a week in segregation in jail. He was granted bail Monday after the appeals court granted him leave to appeal. He said he didn’t know how long it will be until he’s back in court again. But he did say he was tired after his week in jail. “After seven days in segregation, largely locked in a cell 24-7, I’m happy to be here,” Del Mastro said over the phone from his home Monday night. He said he wasn’t placed in jail in Lindsay with the general population for his own safety. Then he described a week spent in a small segregation cell with nothing but a steel table and a bed with a two-inchthick mattress. “It was pretty bad,” he said. The first thing he did when he arrived home was hug both his 17-month-old daughter, Charlotte, and his wife, Kelly. The lawyer who represented him in his recent appeal, Leo Adler, represented him Monday when he was released on bail.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Del Mastro said the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed there are grounds for a further appeal, although no more court dates have been set. Del Mastro didn’t outline those grounds for appeal and neither did Adler. Del Mastro simply said the case is going to be appealed again. “It’s obviously a good result for us — we’re very happy,” he said. Del Mastro also commented on his Facebook page Monday night. “Thank you so much everyone for the outpouring of friendship and support, I will try and answer as many of the notes as I can,” Del Mastro wrote. He also told his Facebook followers that he “will be posting plenty of stuff over the coming days… I want people to see it.” Del Mastro was jailed April 5 after losing his appeal of his conviction on Elections Canada charges. He’s been in the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay ever since, but Adler said Wednesday that Del Mastro was considering his options.
HAPPY VAISAKHI
that represented more than 1,400 claimants. Following a two-year investigation, Crawford argued the conduct of the law firm, Bronstein and Company of Vancouver, fell below the standard expected of legal professionals, and recommended it be barred from further legal work on the case. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown, appointed as an administrative judge to help oversee the settlement agreement, found Bronstein had met the minimum legal standard and declined to bar it from further work.
20 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
B.C. MP hints he could take shot at NDP leadership Nathan Cullen is leaving open the possibility that he will seek the leadership of the federal New Democrats. Cullen, a veteran British Columbia MP who was first elected in 2004, says he is speaking to family members about his political future. He says he supported Tom Mulcair’s bid to remain leader and was taken
aback Sunday when delegates at the party’s convention in Edmonton voted to replace him. Cullen ran against Mulcair in the party’s 2012 leadership race, ultimately coming in third. In addition to voting on the weekend to replace Mulcair, the party approved a resolution that it will hold a leadership race within the next two years.
HAPPY VAISAKHI TO ALL OF YOU
R
NDP votes to kick out Tom Mulcair as leader
ank-and-file New Democrats handed Tom Mulcair another ballot-box drubbing Sunday, voting to replace him as leader less than six months after a devastating election loss that dashed the party’s dream of forming Canada’s first federal NDP government. A stunned silence fell over the convention floor at Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre as delegates realized that not only had Mulcair not attained a respectable level of support, he hadn’t even reached the 50-per-cent threshold – unheard of in a federal leadership review. As a result, the man who less than a year ago was being touted as poised to become Canada’s first-ever NDP prime minister instead became the first federal leader ever to be rejected by a majority of delegates – 52 per cent – at a party’s annual convention. “The only thing that’s important is that we leave here united,” a calm, resigned-looking Mulcair told delegates after the vote. Mulcair said he’ll remain as leader until his successor is chosen, within 24 months. “The person who replaces me must have the absolute and complete support of 100 per cent of the members of the NDP.” He thanked his wife and the delegates, and
urged the party to come together around his successor, whomever that turns out to be. “We will always be the party that dreams no small dreams,” Mulcair said. “We will always be the party that thinks about the little guy.” A bare-minimum 50 per cent plus one vote would have been necessary for Mulcair to stay on, let alone have anywhere near enough support for a confident mandate – a threshold some had pegged at closer to 70 per cent. It was clear during Mulcair’s speech that he didn’t have the support of everyone in the room. But when the results were announced, incredulity descended over the delegates as the magnitude of his loss began to sink in. It was a far worse result for Mulcair than even his fiercest detractors might have expected, the culmination of a festering dispute over the NDP’s future direction in the wake of an election defeat that robbed the party of more than half its seats and the spiritual core of its caucus. “I’m saddened by the result but we live in a democratic system, we have a democratic party,” said British Columbia MP Peter Julian.
Senior federal tax enforcer joined KPMG as its offshore ‘sham’ was under CRA probe
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senior tax enforcer left the Canada Revenue Agency and joined the upper echelons of KPMG at the same time as the government was pursuing the accounting firm in court, alleging it had set up a deceptive offshore “sham” to help wealthy clients avoid tax. Jeff Sadrian, who until last July was an executive in the CRA’s compliance division, began working as a senior adviser for KPMG in “tax litigation and dispute resolution” in October — a move that appears to have violated the agency’s post-employment cooling off period, government sources say. “It sure looks like a conflict of interest to me and likely to the public,” a CRA source told CBC News on condition of anonymity. “KPMG in particular is a very aggressive firm selling schemes to avoid taxes.” KPMG hired the 30-year CRA veteran at the same time that the tax agency was resurrecting legal efforts to force the accounting giant to
hand over the names of the wealthy Canadians who used its offshore scheme, which involved setting up shell corporations in the Isle of Man. As a new member of KPMG’s tax litigation and dispute resolution team, Sadrian would be dealing with his former federal colleagues — but now from the opposite side. Word of Sadrian’s new job at KPMG raised concerns within the CRA, several sources told CBC News. A message went out last fall “not to socialize” with their former colleague, CBC News was told. CRA enforcement execs routinely recruited In fact, KPMG and other large accounting firms routinely recruited senior CRA compliance personnel and Department of Justice tax officials in the past 15 years, a CBC News investigation has found, as dozens of officials once tasked with oversight, audits or investigations of accounting firms and their clients switched sides to work for them.
Business / Finance
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Average house price in Canada jumps 15% to $508,567 in March
he average price of a Canadian home hit $508,567 in March, a jump of 15.7 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier. Realtor group the Canadian Real Estate Association said the volume of homes sold set an alltime record, as some 45,137 houses were sold via the realtor group’s Multiple Listings Service. Sales activity rose 12.2 per cent from one year ago and set a new record for the month. March is typically popular for home sales as the weather warms up, but this year’s figure came in 14.2 per cent above the 10-year average for the month. Toronto and Vancouver lead the way again As has been the case for several months, the national numbers are skewed by hot markets in Toronto and Vancouver. “If these two housing markets are excluded from calculations, the average is a more modest $366,950 and the year-over-year gain is reduced to 10.4 per cent,” CREA said.
If British Columbia and Ontario are stripped out, the picture changes ever more. The average price for houses everywhere else in Canada was $299,591 in March, a number that has declined by one per cent in the past year. Economist Warren Kirkland at TD Bank said the two-speed real estate party can’t go on forever, but shows no sign of slowing any time soon. “Overall, we expect Canadian home price growth to slow to below [three per cent] this year, but prices in Toronto and Va n c o u v e r should continue to grow well above that pace, though will decelerate for the remainder of the year,” he said. “Over the longer term, rising interest rates will gradually weigh on demand.” His compatriot, Robert Kavcic at Bank of Montreal, agrees, saying in a note to clients that the huge regional disparities have made the national average figure essentially meaningless.
IMF downgrades forecast for Canada’s economy in 2016 and 2017
T
he International Monetary Fund has cut its expectations for how the Canadian economy will perform this year and next. The international group projects Canada’s GDP will expand by 1.5 per cent this year and by 1.9 per cent next year. That’s better than the 1.2 per cent performance clocked in 2015, but a pullback from what the IMF was expecting in January, which was 1.7 this year and 2.1 per cent next year. The drag from the energy sector will be “offset partially by a more competitive currency and an expected increase in public investment,” the IMF said.
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The International Monetary Fund has cut its expectations for how the Canadian economy will perform this year and next. The international group projects Canada’s GDP will expand by 1.5 per cent this year and by 1.9 per cent next year. That’s better than the 1.2 per cent performance clocked in 2015, but a pullback from what the IMF was expecting in January, which was 1.7 this year and 2.1 per cent next year. The drag from the energy sector will be “offset partially by a more competitive currency and an expected increase in public investment,” the IMF said.
Conservatives demand justice minister return money from ‘sordid’ $500-a-plate fundraiser
he opposition Conservatives are demanding that the Liberal justice minister give back the money from a Toronto fundraiser last week. Jody WilsonRaybould attended the $500-a-head evening with lawyers at Torys LLP, a prominent Bay Street law firm. Wilson-Raybould says she cleared it beforehand with federal conflict of interest and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson, and was there in her capacity as an ordinary MP, not a cabinet minister. “What we talked about was Canadian politics, being involved in politics and ensuring that everybody has the ability to have their views heard,” she said Monday in the House of Commons. Alberta Conservatives Blaine Calkins and Michael Cooper, however, weren’t satisfied. “Does the justice minister really expect Canadians to believe that high-priced Ontario lawyers paid 500 bucks a plate to meet with the member for Vancouver Granville?” Calkins asked during question period. “Last week, the minister attended a pay-to-play fundraiser in which attendees were invited to pay in return for access to the minister,” he said.
“The minister of justice has a duty not only to be independent, but to be perceived as independent.” “I take my ethical responsibilities incredibly seriously,” she said, adding that she would never put herself in a conflict of interest. Cooper urged her to apologize and “return to pay-to-play cash.” Government House leader Dominic LeBlanc defended the minister, describing the fundraiser as legitimate and the Conservative attacks as “feigned indignation.” “The Liberal party raises money in accordance with the principles of the Canada Elections Act,” LeBlanc said. Cooper demanded to see the guest list from the soiree. Leblanc reminded him that donations are reported publicly every quarter. When the Liberals were in opposition, they went after such potential conflicts. In January 2014, Ralph Goodale, then deputy Liberal leader and now minister of public safety, accused Conservative heritage minister Shelley Glover of crossing the line with a Winnipeg fundraiser that included arts community stakeholders. Goodale said the money should be repaid and Glover ended up not accepting the donations.
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PUNJAB
Bengal air base named after Arjan Singh
n a touching gesture, the Indian Air Force (IAF) tonight announced that its vital air base at Panagarh in West Bengal will be named after Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha made the announcement at a function here tonight on the eve of Arjan Singh’s 97th birthday which was attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and several retired chiefs. The base at Panagarh will be now be called Air Force Station Arjan Singh, IAF officials said tonight. It’s a departure from the past as the IAF does not name its bases after individuals. A squadron of the IAF’s special operations planes the C-130J will be based at Panagarh and will be tasked to operate in tandem with the Army’s Mountain Strike Corps. The infrastructure for basing the C-130J’s is ready and will be formally inaugurated in the first week of May. Its runaway has been re-carpeted.
The choice of renaming Panagarh was zeroed in with care, The airbase at Panagarh was constructed in 1944 during Second World War by US air Force towards their China-Burma-India theatre campaign. Around the same time in eastern theatre, a young Commanding Officer of No. 1 Squadron, then Squadron Leader Arjan Singh, was leading the ‘Tiger’ squadron in saving Imphal Valley against the marauding Japanese forces and stalling them in Burma. For his role in successfully leading the Squadron in combat, the Marshal was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944. On 15 August 1947, he achieved the unique honour of leading a fly-past of over a hundred IAF aircraft in Delhi, over the Red Fort. The Marshal of the Air Force was the first Indian Air Chief to lead a young Indian Air Force into war.
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Gurgaon renamed Gurugram
elhi’s suburb in Haryana, that became known around the world as being a BPO hub and the country’s first mall centre will now be called Gurugram. This decision has been taken by Haryana’s Manohar Lal Khattar government, which said on Tuesday that people in the area have been demanding this change for a while, now. “Haryana is a historic land of the Bhagwat Gita and Gurgaon had been a centre of learning,” the spokesman added. According to district website, the area is named after the mythical archery teacher Guru Dronacharya
of the Mahabharata, who, the story goes, was gifted this village by his grateful students, the Pandavas. After that, it came to be called Guru-gram - or Guru’s village - and over the course of time, it’s name got distorted to Gurgaon. Gurgaon, or Gurugram, as it will be called henceforth, also houses a temple to Sheetla Mata, that attracts devotees in large numbers on every Monday and Tuesday. Gurugram is bordered by Delhi and Rajasthan. The Haryana government has also decided to change the name of Mewat district to Nuh.
Bomb scare on Jalandhar-Pathankot train
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n abandoned bag sparked a bomb scare on a Pathankot-bound train here, following which it was halted at Kandrori station in Himachal Pradesh and passengers were swiftly evacuated. Government Railway Police (GRP) and bomb squad have been called in, a senior railway official said. “Around 12 pm, an abandoned bag
HAPPY VAISAKHI to all of you
was spotted by a passenger on the Jalandhar-Pathankot train. Two wires were coming out from a packet inside the bag, which made the passengers suspicious and they informed the railway authorities,” Ferozpur Divisional Rail Manager Anuj Prakash said. The train was halted at Kandrori in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, he said, adding that all passengers were evacuated as a precautionary measure. “A passenger had thrown out the bag using a stick. The GRP and railway security unit were informed. The train has not yet resumed its journey,” Prakash said. The packet also contained a battery and the sleuths are trying to find out if it contains any explosives, railway sources said
Delay in despatch of stamp duty order hits Revenue Department
T
he two-month delay — three years ago — by the Revenue Department in informing the district authorities about the 1 per cent increase in stamp duty has left district revenue officials fuming across the state. The department has now started the process to recover 1 per cent extra stamp duty on all property sale-purchase transactions that were executed between February 6-April 6, 2013. The recovery started after the internal audit department traced this lapse during its inspection of the stamp duty revenue collection record at the district level. The inspection by the internal audit department found that though the Punjab Government had issued a notification on February 6, 2013 imposing 1 per cent “Social Infrastructure Cess” on stamp duty (increasing it from 8 to 9 per cent), there was no collection of this increased cess till April 6, 2013 on all registered transfers of property.
Police traced ransom call, yet couldn’t nab killers
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he kidnapping and merciless killing of 14-year-old Jaskirat Singh, son of a local industrialist, points to a series of lapses by the district police. The postmortem, conducted before the victim was cremated today, reveals that he was killed on Monday, the day he was kidnapped. His family received a ransom call on Tuesday morning. The call was traced to the city’s Model Town area yet the police failed to locate the kidnappers or the victim’s scooter on which he had left for his coaching classes. Despite an alert and police posts across the city, the killers managed to dump Jaskirat’s body along the Goindwal-Tarn Taran road. The body had bricks tied to it. It bore strangulation marks and the face was disfigured with acid. The victim’s scooter was found abandoned in Hamira near Subhanpur on Wednesday evening.
INDIA
Will and Kate show off cricket swing, at charity party during India visit
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge (middle) and Prince William (right) enjoy game of cricket in Mumbai on April 10.
T
he Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid respect to Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi on Monday and met with young entrepreneurs in India’s financial capital of Mumbai to speak with the country’s next generation of business leaders. On the second day of their weeklong royal tour of India, Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, spent nearly an hour with the entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists likely to fund some of their enterprise ideas. Kate, dressed in a cream wool crepe outfit, smiled and waved at crowds of onlookers who had gathered outside the Mumbai cafe where the meeting was held. Later Monday, the royal couple flew to New Delhi, where they laid a wreath at a memorial to honour Indian soldiers who had died in World War I. Vijay Verma / Press Trust of India via AP Soon after that, they paid respect to Gandhi, bowing their heads as they stood in front of a memorial for the independence leader. They then toured a museum near the spot where Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. In the evening, the couple attended a gar-
T
den party to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday, which is April 21. William was expected to speak to the large gathering of prominent Indians at the reception about his grandmother, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. William and Kate are travelling without their two children — 2 1/2-year-old Prince George and 11-month-old Princess Charlotte. They had taken George to Australia with them in 2014 on their last royal tour. Kamal Singh / Press Trust of India via AP Kamal Singh / Press Trust of India via APRemoving their shoes before paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi during a visit to ‘’Gandhi Smriti’’ in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. On Wednesday, the royal couple will sit down for lunch with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before travelling to the Kaziranga National Park, home to two-thirds of the world’s Indian one-horned rhinos, in the northeastern state of Assam. They’ll also take a one-day trip to neighbouring Bhutan at the invitation of the Himalayan kingdom’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema.
2,000 non-Kashmiri students leave NIT
he intervention of Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, followed by deployment of over 600 central troopers, have failed to hold back around 2,000 outstation students of NIT Srinagar and they have moved out of the campus. They are on their way to their native places and some are reaching the Capital to meet HRD minister Smriti Irani among others for a solution to their concerns. Dr A B Leman, dean students’ welfare at the NIT, confirmed students had left the campus as per their parents’ request. “Some parents wanted their wards to be sent home after which they were allowed to move,” he said. The outstation students have pledged not to return until action is taken against a sec-
tion of “partisan” staff members for threatening to spoil their careers. This could cause a major embarrassment to the Centre, which stuck its neck out to control the situation and sought the CM’s intervention to the turmoil which sparked off after some nonlocals had objected to celebrations by local students over India’s loss in World T20 semis. Why is every one quiet? Rahul Gandhi quiet, Kejriwal quiet, Seculars quiet, So called intellectuals quiet, Communists quiet, Wapsi gang quiet, Bought cine stars quiet.Srinivas Injeti “Barely 10-15%, mostly from Kashmir, have stayed back,” said a student from Bikaner. “Our worst fears came true when a threatening notice was served that those staying back will have to appear in exams or they were free to leave the campus,” he said.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
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Indian bases to open doors to US warships, planes
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merican aircraft and warships will soon be able to access Indian military bases and vice versa for refuelling, repair and other logistical purposes, in a move that will further tighten the India-US strategic clinch and help Washington in its ongoing “re-balance” of 60% of its naval forces to the Asia Pacific to counter an increasingly assertive China. Signalling a shift from the UPA regime’s diffidence over such pacts, defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter on Tuesday announced that the two countries “have agreed in principle” to share military logistics, which will now lead to inking of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement in a few months. Top Indian officials took pains to clar-
ify that the “reciprocal” logistics pact was just meant to facilitate military cooperation and not aimed at forging any sort of a military alliance against China. Top Indian officials clarified that the logistics pact with US was to facilitate military cooperation, especially for the flurry of bilateral combat exercises and humanitarian aid operations in the region. India and the US will also further bolster maritime security cooperation, which will include stepping up the complexity of its combat exercises and talks on anti-submarine warfare, but there are no plans for joint naval patrols in the contentious South China Sea or elsewhere. “India has not changed its stand (on joint patrols),” defence minister Manohar Parrikar said.
HAPPY VAISAKHI
24 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
S
INDIA
US also has suffered from terrorism from Pakistan: Ashton Carter
taunchly supporting India’s counter-terrorism efforts and strongly condemning terrorism emanating from anywhere in India, defense secretary Ashton Carter on Tuesday said the US too has suffered from terrorism emanating from Pakistan. “We too have suffered from terrorism emanating from territory of Pakistan, most significantly in Afghanistan, and who do it should be brought to justice and brought to account,” said Carter while addressing a joint press conference with defence minister Manohar Parrikar after holding bilateral talks. “Our relationship to Pakistan is principally directed to counter terrorism and that includes the things we do with the Pakistani
military. Our principal interest is in working with Pakistan on terrorism and I think that’s the concern India shares as well,” he said. Maintaining that the US overall policy towards India was completely different from the way it was decades ago, Carter said, “It is a thing of the past for us to think about India only in relation to Pakistan or Pakistan in only relation to India. That’s the distant past.” “We have a different vision of India; if describing, one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century in which all sorts of things are going to be possible in the future as we share many interests,” said Carter while dispelling apprehensions in India over the US offer to sell F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan.
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Return of American bone fragments from India gives closure to Second World War deaths
crash. For the first time, iny bone fragments the Defence Departcarry a world of sigment’s POW/MIA Acnificance and percounting Agency is haps closure for at least one bringing home remains American family who lost of missing military a loved one over the mounmembers from India. tains of India in World War “This is a sad duty, but II. During a solemn ceremoit means a great deal,” ny Wednesday, U.S. military said Defence Secretary U.S. military members pay final members paid final respects respects to what they believe may Ash Carter, who watched to what they believe may be be the remains of one to two crew the ceremony. “Those the remains of one to two guys whose remains are members from a B-24 bomber crew members from a B-24 in those coffins would bomber that crashed on a supply run from In- have wanted that, and would be proud and dia to China over the Himalayan Mountains. happy to be home, and their families too.” Eight people on the plane were killed in the
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NRI
Indian-origin Sikh woman, toddler found dead in Malaysia
A
33-year-old Indian-origin Sikh woman and her seven-month-old daughter have been found dead at their house in Malaysia and the police have arrested her husband, a media report said today. Kamaljit Dorairaja and her daughter Ishlyn Kaur were discovered lying dead inside their house in Rawang town of the country’s Selangor state yesterday. The deceased
are believed to have either been strangled or smothered to death though the exact cause behind their death was not immediately known, Malay Mail Online reported. The two were first spotted by her father-in-law who raised an alarm. Meanwhile, the police have arrested Dorairaja’s husband, a lorry driver in his early 30s, in connection with the double murder after initial investigations. —
India slams use of ‘hidden veto’ at UN after China blocks bid to ban Azhar
D
ays after China blocked its bid at the UN to ban JeM chief Masood Azhar, India on Thursday slammed the use of “hidden veto” and demanded accountability, saying the world body’s general members are never informed of the reason for not acceding to requests for sanctioning terrorists. “The procedures of unanimity and anonymity of the Al Qaeda, Taliban and ISIS
Sanctions Committees need to be revisited. The procedures of unanimity and anonymity result in a lack of accountability,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told the UN Security Council in an open debate on ‘Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts’ here.
UK Parliamentary panel opens inquiry into treatment of Indian students
A
British parliamentary panel has launched a formal inquiry into Ingredients the treatment of international • 250g boneless chicken students, majority of them Indian, who 2tbsp rapeseed oilon English lanwere • accused of cheating • 1 medium red onion guage tests and forced to leave the UK. • 3 large tomatoes Home Affairs SeThe House of Commons’ • ½ cup cashew nuts lect Committee, chaired by Indian-origin • 100g tomato puree Labour MP Keith Vaz, launched the inqui1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves ry into• the UK Home Office response to the • 100ml low fat cream cheating scandal at a hearing on Tuesday. • 1tsp masala “This is a garam devastating verdict on min1tspofficials red chilli isters • and at powder the Home Office. • 1tbsp pasteinnocent It is clear thatgingerthere garlic are many fat yoghurt people• 2tbsp who thick speaklow impeccable English who have denied their right to re• saltbeen to taste main in the UK because of the (over) reaction of the Home Office,” Vaz said. Procedure: The hearing this week followed a ruling Marinate the chicken with the ginger garlic paste and the yoghurt for 20 min. soak the cashew in warm water for 15 minutes.chop thelast onions andbytomatoes. 1 tbsp month the UK’sHeat Upper Tribunal oil to a pan. sear the chicken pieces in the hot oil for 1 minute on each side to a golden colour. remove the chicken pieces. in the same(Immigration pan, add 1tbsp oilAsylum and the Chamber) chopped aland onions. saute till a translucent pink. Add the tomatoes, red chili powder, garam masala powder and cook on medium flame till the tomatoes 4-5 lowing aare testtender appeal(approx. by two of the students minutes). remove from flame and run in a blender with the soaked cashews to make a smooth paste. return to the pan and add the tomato puree. Bring to boil and addconaccused of cheating inatheir TOEIC ductedleaves by a on subsidiary of US-based ETS. the chicken pieces. simmer for 4-5 minutes till the chicken is cooked. Add the low fat cream and simmer for 2 minutes. Broil the fenugreek a pan. crush the The cheating scam was uncovered by a ‘BBC fenugreek leaves over the curry and remove from fire. serve hot. Panorama’ investigation in February 2014.
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FIJI
I
Prime Minister laments misuse of FNPF assistance
t is important for Fijians to use their Fiji National Provident Fund cyclone assistance money for its intended purpose, says Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. Speaking at Naqaido Village in Bua yesterday, Mr Bainimarama said he saw on television Fijians with placards thanking FNPF during the Hong Kong Sevens tournament over the weekend. On a light-hearted note Mr Bainimarama said this showed where the assistance money may have gone to, and not to its intended purpose which was rehabilitating individuals and families affected by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston.
A
Mr Bainimarama told villagers of incidents where nightclub patrons were singing FNPF’s praises for the assistance money as some used it for their own pleasure. He said people needed to be mindful of those who really needed the assistance. On a more serious note, the prime minister apologised to Fijians around the country regarding the slow services accorded at various government offices because of the fact that most of them were part of the rehabilitation program progressing in the country. Mr Bainimarama said it would take some time before services would normalise, asking members of the public to have patience when accessing government services.
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PM orders school holiday on Ram Naumi
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M Voreqe Bainimarama has clarified that all Hindu faith-based schools are to be closed for Ram Naumi. He said this closure would allow Hindu students and teachers to celebrate Ram Naumi, the birth of the Hindu God, Lord Rama. “This is in line with the practice of previous years and there is no reason to deviate from that practice in 2016,” Mr Bainimarama said yesterday. Mr Bainimarama said Education Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy had earlier ruled that the schools be
opened because of the amount of lesson time lost to students because of Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston. “But he has since accepted my advice on the matter,” Mr Bainimarama said in a statement yesterday “Fiji is a multifaith country and a central tenet of my Government’s philosophy is that the religious beliefs of all Fijians must be respected. The strength of our secular state derives from our mutual respect for our respective faiths and we must always uphold the beliefs of others and strive to celebrate with them.”
Flood watch as tropical disturbance gradually moves South
flood alert remains in force for all small streams, creeks and low-lying areas adjacent to major rivers in Vanua Levu, Lau, Lomaiviti and eastern half of Viti Levu. Members of the public are advised to se-
cure their belongings and monitor water levels as the Nadi Weather Office predicts
Fiji beats New Zealand in Hong Kong Sevens final
I
t was a bridge too far for a weary, wounded New Zealand side as Fiji stormed to the Hong Kong Sevens title. Fiji were too strong and too fresh for the New Zealanders, winning the final 21-7 to extend their lead atop the world series ladder. New Zealand, who won the previous tournament in Vancouver, moved past South Africa into second. In the end, New Zealand were out on their feet. As Fiji cantered past Australia 34-5 in one semifinal, New Zealand had to scrap for 10 minutes of extra time before a late Regan Ware try got them home 12-7 against South Africa. They were reduced to just three on their bench, too, with captain Tim Mikkelson and Sam Dickson having suffered tournament-ending leg injuries as DJ Forbes reclaimed the reins. Fiji kept New Zealand in it with a series of handing errors on the rain-soaked ground, but when they strung passes together and started to bend the defence, it was all over. Semi Kunatane’s length of the field effort with two minutes left sealed the contest after Fijian defenders outmuscled New Zealand at the breakdown. Kunatane was named player of the final.
Water supply disruption in Labasa
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Saturday, April 16, 2016
he Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) has advised its customers living in parts of Labasa that water supply will be disrupted from today until further notice. A statement from the authority stated that affected areas would include Taganikula outside Labasa. The statement attributed the water cuts to interruption in supply is a result of nil inflow at the Taganikula water intake. The authority has kindly advised its customers to use water wisely for their immediate needs during this temporary disruption period. Water carts will be on standby to service the affected areas as and when the need arises. The Authority highly regrets any inconvenience caused to its customers.
heavy rain affecting those areas. “A tropical disturbance (TD17) with an associated trough of low pressure to
the North of Fiji gradually moving South towards the group,” the forecaster said.
28 i Saturday, April 16, 2016
SOUTH ASIA
Bangladeshi secular bloggers should ‘control’ their writings, Bangladesh minister says
B
angladeshi secular bloggers should “control” their writings, the country’s home minister said on Sunday even as he asserted that home-grown militants and not the Bangladeshi branch of al Qaida are responsible for the grisly murder of a 26-year-old secular blogger. Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan’s statement came days after Ansar al-Islam, the Bangladeshi division of al Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, claimed responsibility for the killing of blogger Nazimuddin Samad last week. Samad’s death marks the sixth time a Bangladeshi writer of atheist material has been killed in 14 months. Khan said the issue is not freedom of expression but tolerance of other religions. “Our country is a secular state ... I want to say that people should
be careful not to hurt anyone by writing anything -- hurt any religion, any people’s beliefs, any religious leaders,” Khan said. He said that home-grown militants and not the Bangladeshi branch of al Qaida are responsible for Samad’s murder. Khan said authorities are investigating two to three people in connection with the attack, but have not arrested them because officials are still trying to confirm their involvement. Bangladeshi authorities have previously denied that foreign terror groups such as al Qaida or ISIS have taken root in the majority-Muslim country. Instead, they have often claimed homegrown extremists are responsible for such attacks. Samad, a graduate student, was on his way home from evening classes on Wednesday when three to four people circled him.
S
Lanka to make path for China to access Indian Ocean despite India’s concerns
ri Lanka has accepted China’s bidding to make Indian Ocean an economic hub ignoring India’s concerns over it. The move, which was announced by visiting Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe, will help China fulfill its desire for access to the Indian Ocean. “Our policy is to make Sri Lanka an (economic) hub of the Indian Ocean,” Wickramasinghe said at a press conference at the end of his four-day visit to China. Worried that the move might upset India, the Sri Lankan prime minister added, “We can accommodate one belt and one road (Silk Road) and Make in India both”.
He made it clear that Sri Lanka will make the best of its strategic advantage as an is-
land nation in the Indian Ocean to implement China plan for Maritime Silk Road. “Sri Lanka reiterated its active participation in the Belt and Road Initiative put forward by China. The two sides will use the development of a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) as an opportunity to further advance infrastructure development,” the two countries said in a joint statement at the end of his visit. China has been seeking access to the Indian Ocean both for military and commercial reasons. India is worried that China will use the Maritime Silk Road program to advance its military agenda in the Indian Ocean. This is why New Delhi has not endorsed MSR, a fact that Wickramasinghe knows since his recent visit to India.
The Sri Lankan prime minister, who was regarded as pro-India, appeared to be changing tracks during his China visit. “Sri Lanka has been a nonaligned country for long years. It aims have a balanced relation with India, China, and USA without tilting too much towards any one of them,” Saman Kelegama, executive director of Colombo based Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, told TNN.
Pakistan must act against all militant groups: US
T
he US has asked Pakistan to target all militant groups, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT), after release of a state department cable which suggested strong links between the notorious spy agency ISI and the Haqqani network. “We have been consistently clear with the highest levels of the government of Pakistan that it must target all militant groups, including the Haqqani Network, al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Taiba,” said state department spokesman John Kirby. “The government of Pakistan itself has repeatedly said it’s not going to discriminate against a terrorist group regardless of their agenda or affiliation,” he said. Kirby was responding to a question on a series of latest US cable released by the National Security Archive which suggest strong links between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and the Haqqani network. According to one of the cables,
the ISI paid a whopping USD 200,000 to the dreaded Haqqani Network for a suicide attack on a CIA camp in Afghanistan in 2009 that killed seven American agents and contractors and three others. The CIA declined to comment on the cable. But an intelligence official told PTI there was no evidence which proves the information mentioned in the cable, which though is genuine.
The US has maintained that the attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan was the handiwork of al-Qaida and not the Haqqani network.
Pakistan
K
Three injured as cop shows judge how grenade works, literally
arachi policeman went above and beyond the call of duty, according to a report in a Pakistani daily. A judge in the city’s Anti-Terrorism Court asked Abid Ali, an investigation officer, if he knows how a grenade works. Abid Ali had come well prepared. He whipped out a grenade and pulled its pin out. There was a big boom. The judge had his answer. The grenade whic Abid Ali had was a locally manufactured one that he brought into the courtroom as evidence. Clearly, it had not been defused
before it was produced in court. The explosion prompted police and paramilitary forces to surround the court, as they feared a terrorist attack had occurred. The country’s security forces were put on high alert, as well. Ali and two other people were hurt in the explosion and were rushed to hospital. They’re expected to recover. Police authorities said Ali will be severely punished for what happened in the courtroom. Still, no one can fault him for not knowing how a grenade works.
China will not allow India into NSG, says former Pakistani diplomat
P
akistan is banking on good friend China to block India’s chances of making it to the coveted Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a former Pakistani diplomat has said, adding that “chances of India gaining entry into NSG are virtually nil”. Zamir Akram, Pakistan’s former permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva and envoy at the Conference on Disarmament, said on Wednesday that China would not allow India to enter the NSG because this would affect its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, according to Dawn online. Akram said China is committed to ensuring that both India and Pakistan gain membership to the 48-nation NSG at the same time. Besides China, there are some countries that are upset by the “double standards” being shown in India’s case, and are calling for an approach based on criteria, he added. Akram was speaking at a conference on the International Nuclear Order, organised by the Strategic Vision Institute
(SVI) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. According to Dawn, this is the second time in a month that a senior official involved in Pakistan’s nuclear affairs has dismissed India’s chances.
E
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Dialogue with India is on: Gov’t
xactly a week after Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit’s had said that “at present the peace process is suspended”, Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria on Thursday said the door for negotiations with India was very much open. “Yes, dialogue is the best option,” Zakaria said in response to a question whether the door was still open for negotiations between India and Pakistan at his weekly media briefing in Islamabad. “Diplomacy is for interaction and engagement
between countries,” he said. “It is hoped that both sides would work out modalities for the FS-level talks. We need to look ahead and not think in terms of foreclosing any options. Both sides are in contact with each other. Once the modalities are worked out secretary-level talks would take place,” he said. On April 7, during an interaction in New Delhi, Basit had said there is no foreign secretarylevel meeting scheduled now. “There is no meeting scheduled for now. I think at present the peace process is suspended,” he had
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