Our Jolly-Bolly Movies - REVIEWS

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR (2007)

Ishaan is an eight year old boy whose struggles at school are compounded by parental and peer pressure. This emotional film carries a message for parents, who are pushy, and only interested in their kids’ academic achievements rather than their unique strengths. A heart-winning story!


JAB WE MET (2007)

Ali does a fantastic job developing an intimate link despite a personality clash between two strangers who meet on a train. Shahid is dejected with life while Kareena is full of zeal, living life on her own terms. Uplifting, with great performances along with a melodious soundtrack.

Private Prisons: a success or failure? (Photo: Web)

While the concept of private prisons is alien to Indians and many others, countries such the US and UK have them in place. The UK, known for the most privatized prison system in Europe is spreading their presence to resolve issues such as overcrowding and higher costs.

That leaves Carol Pounder, the mother of Adam Rickwood, unhappy as she was assured that her son was safe when she last saw him in a privately-run Secure Training Centre. She was completely unaware of the events which were about to unfold in the coming days. The death of her 14-year old son, who had hung himself with a shoelace, could have been prevented had the staff in the private prison, run by the multinational firm Serco, been careful.

The boy committed suicide a day after the method of restraint used on him involving a “karate-chop” blow to the nose, which would have been extremely painful and resulted in bleeding. He was the youngest child to die in prison custody in the UK in the recent history. Critics have raised questions whether staff members are being adequately trained at these prisons to deal with vulnerable people like Rickwood.

The loss of Rickwood is a reminder that private prisons are a catalogue of failures, according to his mother. There are many concerns raised about their safety records as Private Finance Initiative (PFI), which provides a way of funding public sector buildings, pay their officers half of what the state sector does, which means they tend to have fewer and less experienced warders. A survey commissioned by the Prison Service Pay Review Body in early 2003 found that average pay for prison officers and senior officers is more than fifty percent in State prisons. According to Hansard, the House of Commons official report, five privately-run prisons have more than half its staff with less than 5 years of experience.

Private prisons, including the STCs “should be closed immediately or there will be more deaths,” said Pounder. “Most staff members don’t have the right qualifications or training to handle the most vulnerable kids in the society, and restraining isn’t the answer to discipline them.”

A report in 2003 by the National Audit Office, an independent organization that scrutinises public spending on behalf of the Parliament, has also pointed to a lack of experienced staff and a high staff turnover. As a result, it argued, the environment in private prisons is generally less safe than in publicly-run prisons, where prison officers on average have more experience.

That is not the only issue. There are also doubts about the effectiveness of their rehabilitation efforts. Prisoners in private jails are more likely to be involved in serious assaults and more likely to re-offend once they have been released, according to Prison Reform Trust　(PRT), a charity campaigning for penal reforms.

Currently, there are eleven prisons run privately in the UK, which was initiated by Margaret Thatcher’s government in the early 90s. According to PRT, Serco PLC subsidiary, Premier Custodial Group, is the largest provider of private prisons, operating four prisons. Falck AS, formerly owned by Group 4, which is the holding company for Global Solutions Limited, and Kalyx, which is owned by the Paris based multi-national corporation Sodexho, operate three each. Securicor Justice Services, now owned by Group 4 Securicor, operates one.

They now house 10 percent of the total population in prisons and may take a bigger piece of the pie in the coming years as the government has put a lid on its budget for the Prison Service. The Home Office earlier this year told the Prison Service to find savings of 80 million pounds for each financial year between 2008 and 2011 from an annual budget of 2 billion pounds.

The scale of the savings demanded was astonishing to many, at a time when the government is grappling with an overcrowding crisis in a struggle to house more than 80,000 inmates. The fact that no money has been allocated to run the new prisons indicates a clear message: there will be more privately-run prisons in England and Wales.

“The government is going more in the direction of introducing more private prisons,” said the Guardian prison correspondent, Eric Allison. “All the new upcoming prisons will most likely be privately run.” The UK already has the most privatised prison system in Europe, and although there are not as many private jails as in the United States the proportion of prisoners in private prisons is higher, according to the Prison Reform Trust.

STCs are also privately run, at a cost to the public of 172,000 pounds per place per year. Pounder’s grievance is that at that price, seven times the cost of the most expensive public school, the public should expect that those in legal responsibility of some of society’s most vulnerable juveniles do better than resort to violence every time a child fails to obey their order.

According to her, it became clear at Adam’s inquest that staff and management of the centres have persistently broken the rules on restraint. The government now intends allowing them to stay within the law when using force but the STC staff claim restraint for non-compliance is necessary for them to maintain “good order and discipline.”

Despite several deaths, like Rickwood, at private prisons, the government’s explanation remains that private-run prisons are cost effective. In contrast, some critics say that such claims by the government that PFI projects are cost-effective and save public money are “unfounded.”

According to researchers from Edinburgh University, the government’s claims that nearly 88 percent of PFI projects were delivered on time and within budget as opposed to 70 percent of public projects, which were delivered late with 73 percent costing more than expected, were “either non-existent or false.”

The government currently signs contracts for 25 years with companies to run prisons. According to March 2007 issue of a UK magazine, Public:Private Finance, new prisons will “almost certainly” be privately financed.

That worries Catherine Hayes about the effect of private prisons on criminal justice policy. Hayes, a caseworker at the Inquest, an independent organization that helps provide legal advice services to bereaved families on the inquest system, condemns private prisons as “morally repugnant.”

“It is wrong for anyone to be making money from punishment of offenders,” she said. It raises a question why would these companies want to reform and rehabilitate prisoners if they are making sterling out of it, she added.
Juliet Lyon, the director of the PRT, demands to see a shrinking market for private prisons even though good business practice demands a growing market. “A vested interest will develop in having a sizable prison population,” she said.

As the government wants to escape the current crisis faced by prisons in the UK, the introduction of private prisons is starting to influence policy. There are moves to further deregulate private prisons, by removing the government-appointed controllers that monitor them. Two more prisons are being established in the UK, which are likely to be privately run.

This is happening despite a BBC undercover report on Rye Hill jail, located in the West Midlands region of England, broadcast in April this year. The programme showed widespread intimidation of staff members, and prisoners, who had easy access to drugs and mobile phones. Chief Inspector Owers made critical comments about the private prison in her inspection reports in 2003 and 2005 about the safety of the place.

Another report by PRT acknowledges that “private sector innovation has, in some cases, improved regimes but it raises questions about efficiency savings and the need for private companies to achieve economies of scale. Unpublished figures show that the performance of private prisons against key targets is mixed with many failing to meet targets on serious assaults, drugs and purposeful activity. Whilst there are some private prisons that are performing very well others are experiencing difficulties. Overall the pay and conditions for staff in private prisons are inferior to those in public prisons and staff turnover is higher.”

At a time when prison population is close to being at a record high, the report says: “there is a need to question a system where companies have a vested interest in keeping the prison population as high as possible.”

Still, some say that introducing competition in the operation of prisons has helped improve performance in PFI jails. A report by National Audit Office commends the PFI prisons, saying they can provide examples of good practice for publicly funded jails, although it admits there is still room for improvement.
Lord Ramsbotham, former Chief Inspector of Prisons, agreed and pointed out that many of the private prisons are among the best run in the system, which is also reflected in Owers’ reports.

“While morally it is not right to have private prisons, but treatment and conditions are a lot better,” said Ramsbotham, who had visited a few of these prisons for inspections.

Critics like Stephen Nathan, editor of Prison Privatisation Report International, can not agree that there can be any good in a society by having private prisons. He thinks the idea of privately run prisons is flawed.

“Rye Hill is not one off, the problems are systemic,” said Nathan. The pursuit of profit is incompatible with rehabilitating prisoners and providing adequate working conditions for staff. “It is a wrong policy and the prisons do not solve the problem of overcrowding,” he said, adding the government cannot continue to ignore the evidence.

Between, 1998 and 2006, companies such as Global Solutions, Serco and G4S were each fined about 1.3 million pounds, 605,380 pounds and 970,741pounds respectively　for poor performances as measured in terms of the contractual performance management system, according to the Hansard published on February 27, 2007.

India has been criticised by human-rights activists for the issues of overcrowding, lack of basic facilities in the prisons, and it is high time the government addressed some of these issues now. Still, one must hope that it never follows the path that the UK has adopted which seems ethically wrong. The severe conditions in the prisons should prompt the government to pump more money into public services such as prisons rather than allowing private companies to get money out of the victims.

No to Women Prisons (Photo: BBC)

Whilst the story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia’s, an Indian offender in the UK, was a positive one, inspiring a Bollywood movie; most tales are not. Ahluwalia, a victim of domestic abuse, killed her husband after leading 10 years of life, full of agony and misery, with him. She was fortunate to have her life sentence quashed in 1992 after her guilty plea to manslaughter charge was accepted.

The mother of two is now known in both India and the UK, for being honoured at the first Asian Women Awards for breaking the taboo of domestic violence, and for prompting a change in the British law. Still, majority of women, who are not only minor offenders but also victims of homelessness, heavy debt, mental illness, drug addiction and domestic violence, don not get justice in punitive societies like the UK.

Donna Williams, an ex prisoner, is one of them. She spent two years in Styal prison, two miles southwest of Manchester Airport, for breaching conditions. She is glad to survive it through, but feels sorry for those who can not. She was taken in for harassing a social worker with whom she had an argument.

“I was going through a mental depression and probably needed a cure for that,” said the 25-year old, in her trembling voice. “Instead they locked me in for 2 years.”
“The officers in prison treated us like dirt and didn’t have the time to attend to prisoners` needs,” she said. “There was no sort of psychological help provided, considering my state of mind and what I was going through,” said the resident of North Wales, recalling how she tried to take her life so many times.

The 25-year old Williams is not alone. There are about 4,390 women in UK prisons and the gender makes up more than 5 percent of the UK’s total prison population of 80,937, the Home Office data as of September 14 shows. According to the government’s findings, the most common offences are theft and handling stolen goods and most receive sentences of less than a year. Women commit less crime than men: just 20 percent of offenders in England and Wales, who are cautioned or found guilty, are women. Four out of every five known offenders are male.

Meanwhile, in India, women make up for less than 4 percent of the prison population, which stood at 325,000, according to the National Human Rights Commission’s most recent annual report published last year. Most women in India are incarcerated for petty offences, mainly committed to escape poverty, according to India Vision Foundation, a non-profit and non-government organization to bring reform in prisons. That can be explained when about 300 million Indians have to live on an income of less than 1 dollar a day.

The proportion of women in Indian and UK prisons is quite close and so are the natures of their offences. Women prisons are filled with those, who commit minor offences, and are vulnerable in nature, with backgrounds of poor mental health, abuse, poverty and disadvantage, said Frances Crook, director at Howard League Penal Reform, a London-based charity organisation.

“Prison should be only used for violent offenders,” Crook said. “Majority of them (women) have had mental health interventions and prisons aren’t equipped” to deal with their mental-health needs, she added.

The Howard League recommends resources should be transferred to community programmes and treatment facilities for females. Crook emphasized the current system does not meet rehabilitation needs, with two-thirds of women released from prison reconvicted within two years.70 percent of female sentenced prisoners suffer from two or more mental health disorders, according to Prison Reform Trust. Half of those sentenced to custody are not registered with their general practitioner prior to being sent to prisons.

Recent analysis of data drawn from OASys, the national offender assessment tool by analyzing 158,161 female offenders assessed in 2005, found that 39 percent had been victims of domestic violence; 33 per cent had accommodation needs; 32 percent had misused drugs; 29 percent had education and training needs, 28 percent had financial needs, 24 percent had misused alcohol, 16 percent had particular needs in relation to employment and 10 percent were assessed as posing a medium, high or very high risk of harm to children.

Ex-prisoner Williams’ mental condition deteriorated in the prison as she was “more depressed” being away from her family.

"I was cutting myself up. I just thought, I’m in prison and I might as well give up on everything else,” said Williams, who was initially put under “suicide watch,” but was later taken off it. She has seen other vulnerable women like herself suffer too. She has lost a friend, with mental-health and drug addiction issues, who ended up committing suicide, and witnessed another inmate hanging in a cell right across hers.

All these concerns were voiced in the Corston report, titled as the review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system. The report was published in March in the wake of the deaths of six women at Styal prison between 2002 and 2003. Of the 43 recommendations made by Labour baroness Jean Corston, the main ones include custodial sentences for women must only be for serious and violent offenders, and that “the existing system of women’s prisons should be dismantled and replaced by smaller secure units for the minority of women for whom the public requires protection.”

Although the previous home secretary, John Reid, was trying to remove vulnerable women from prisons, the report was not overly welcomed by the Home Office, which said that it would be carefully studied and examined before implementing any changes. Lady Corston said large proportion of the women in prison in England and Wales could be better dealt with in community centres, which could deal with their problems of mental illness, addiction and history of abuse.

“I am dismayed to see so many women frequently sentenced for short periods of time for very minor offences, causing chaos and disruption to their lives and families, without any realistic chance of addressing the causes of their criminality,” she said.

Carrie Mitchel, a spokeswoman for English Collective of Prostitutes, which campaigns against punitive measures against prostitution, also wants the government to do more, and soon. “The government needs to make sure they have enough money so that these women do not get into these situations where imprisonment in the only option,” she said, adding, a lot of them are single parents trying to raise their kids by resorting to crime.

More than half the women in prison are mothers, another reason for the government to carefully evaluate custodial sentences for them. It is estimated that almost 18,000 children a year are separated from their mothers through imprisonment, according to the Corston report. The effect on these children is “often nothing short of catastrophic,” said Lady Corston in her publication.

No one can explain this better than Sue May, who was in prison for 12 years for a crime she claims she did not commit. May, who has always maintained her innocence for killing her aunt, was freed from the prison in 2005 after a parole board agreed her release.

“My kids have fallen out and I feel this happened because I was in prison for a crime I did not commit,” said the 61-year old mother of three. “It is a disjointed family we have now, which would have never happened in my presence.”
May’s older son was 25 and the twins were 23 when she was sent to prison. She was lucky that her kids were a bit older and she had the support of her family and friends during her imprisonment but not everyone in prison is fortunate enough to have that cushion, she said.

“I was the main bread earner at home and my being in prison meant my kids were left with very little,” she said. “They could have easily gone the wrong way had it not been for all these people supporting me and my kids.”
May knew a lot of mothers, who were left homeless, after their time in prison. “The system is not in place and there is no help for people after they leave the prison,” prompting women to re offend, she added. She has now appealed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission so that she can be referred to the Court of Appeal to prove her innocence.

The proportion of female prisoners re-offending has doubled in the last decade and so has the women population. The Fawcett Society, an organization that leads campaign for equality between women and men in the UK, does not think that the government is doing enough to address some of the key issues.
In their recent report published on July 11, the organization said “At a national level, central Government policy relating to female offenders is felt to be contradictory.” The report cited the Home Office’s 9.15 million pounds commitment to developing community provision for women offenders and women at risk of offending, but has, at the same time, increased the prison capacity for women, which undermines some of the resettlement efforts.

The Howard League claims community programs are much more successful at reducing crime rates. Research indicates that 64 percent of female prisoners are convicted again within two years of release, versus 47 percent for those given a community sentence. Community programs also cost between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds of taxpayers' money a year for each offender versus 39,000 pounds for a prison inmate.

The public opinion survey on women in prison conducted by ICM, a market research company, showed that 86 percent of the 1,000 people polled showed support for community alternatives to prison. Also, almost three quarters did not think mothers of young children who commit non-violent crimes should be behind the bars.

Women should be treated differently from men, as the recent findings from the Fawcett report suggest that the “pains of imprisonment” are severe for women, who have higher rates of self-harm, mental illness and suicide in custody than men. The loss of family ties and separation from their children make for a disrupted life.

“The Fawcett Society's findings and Baroness Corston’s review have provided compelling evidence that Britain's criminal justice system is failing vulnerable women,” said a spokesperson from the Equal Opportunities Commission. “Wherever the criminal justice system touches women's lives - whether as victims of crime or as offenders - the new gender equality duty has the potential to make services work better.”

While the Ministry of Justice acknowledged their awareness of “people in prison who ought not to be there,” it said, it is for the courts to decide in individual cases whether a prison sentence is appropriate or not. “We have outlined our intention to remove these where appropriate, and to use tough community sentences to deal with less serious, non-violent offenders. Government is keen to encourage greater use of community alternatives for women wherever possible.”

Lady Corston said a radically different approach was needed, with ministers announcing a clear strategy within six months to replace existing women's prisons such as Holloway and Styal with small, geographically dispersed, multi-functional custodial centres within 10 years.

To judge by what the women ex-prisoners say, perhaps there is a need to take a prompt action in making changes to the current penal system, just like they did in Ahluwalia’s case, where the British judiciary, for the first time, recognized that the defence of provocation could be applied to women who kill in response to long periods of abuse. Her case upturned the British judiciary and her appeal and retrial are now a part of every basic criminal law text in Britain. Her high-profile case prompted the making of a Bollywood movie “Provoked,” which was released earlier this year and starred Aishwarya Rai, India’s most popular actress.

Unless the authorities do something, there will be more psychologically impaired women like those as Williams and May, who are everyday dealing with the after effect of prisons.

“I am trying to start to get my life back on track but I don’t have the confidence,” said former prisoner Williams. “I still don’t go out much and like to be alone.”

May also enjoys her time in solitary and isolation.

“Whether you have committed a crime or not, you are damaged in a prison,” she said. “I was locked inside for twelve years and got used to that life. While now I like spending time with my family, my best time is still the time on my own.”

Although the UK society is more advanced and developed than India, its prison system is in shambles. Whether it is East or West, the judicial service has a duty to protect vulnerable people like women in prisons. It also has a responsibility to find other alternatives to penalize minor offenders. Incarcerating an increasing number of women is not the answer but addressing core issues, such as, mental heath, poverty, lack of support system for women with kids is the key.

Where are India's Democratic Values? (Photo: BBC)

While the international community was quick to react to the recent violent crackdown on pro democracy protesters in Burma, the most obvious voice, the voice of India, the world's biggest democracy, was missing. The first ever statement that appeared from the neigbouring nation appeared on Wednesday, that too, in response to pressure from the West urging India, along with China, to use its influence in support of people of Burma.

"We are concerned at the situation in Myanmar and are monitoring it closely. It is our hope that all sides will resolve their issues peacefully through dialogue," said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in a short public statement made on the subject so far. "As a close and friendly neighbor, India hopes to see a peaceful, stable and prosperous Myanmar, where all sections of the people will be included in a broad-based process of national reconciliation and political reform. Myanmar's process of national reconciliation initiated by the authorities should be expedited."

The statement comes from the same nation, which was once the first neighbouring country to criticise the Burmese military government during the 1988 people’s uprising. It was India that backed the democracy movement led by Aung San Suu, the celebrated opposition leader, who was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award in 1993.

So what has changed? India reviewed its policy towards Burma in the early '90s and shook hands with the military regime. The world's second most populous country’s interest in defending its political and financial gains was motivated by Burma's importance to its rival – China. India is competing with China to gain access to Burma's sizeable gas and oil deposits, as well as expanding trade with the regime in quite a few other areas such as arms, telecommunications, according to campaigner Matthew Egan. They are also issues with a cross-border insurgency movement where the regime has cooperated to help tackle insurgents in the north-east of India.

"It is very disheartening to see such a (cold) stance," said Egan, who is involved with Burma Campaign UK. "If India starts to criticize the Burmese government they fear that they will lose economic and political influence to the Chinese in Burma, despite the fact that they are a democracy themselves."

"They do have an opportunity to use their leverage as a major investor in Burma to help bring about a move to a national reconciliation by encouraging the military to release all political prisoners and start a meaningful dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters," he added.

India is becoming one of Burma’s largest export markets. India and Burma have set a $1 billion bilateral trade target in 2006-07, almost double their trade in 2004-05.

Some campaigners fear that most of the investment into the country is not spent on the population, but is seen as a means to provide a lifeline to the regime, to solidify their own position.

"An effective array of economic sanctions and arms embargo might be the only way in getting the regime to shift and start talking, as currently they are quite secure as they as foreign investment allows them breathing space.”

India should be setting a good example by upholding democratic values, rather than allowing human right abuse, or else, its image as the world's largest democracy would not only be tarnished, but will also be questioned, both at home and internationally.

Suicides in UK Prisons (Photo: Pauline Campbell)

Injustices and failures in the judicial system not only take place in a developing country like ours, but also in industrialized nations such as the UK, where an increasing number of suicides take place in the so-called “care” of Prison Services.

“I judge a society by its approach towards vulnerable people,” said Pauline Campbell, an active campaigner against deaths in the British prisons. “Therefore, I refuse to call this country Great Britain, it is just Britain for me,” said the retired teacher, protesting outside a prison in central London, where a female inmate died recently.

For the 59-year-old woman activist, there is nothing to lose anymore. She does not fear fighting the system, the police and the government after she lost the most precious thing in her life four years back, her 18-year old daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Campbell. The mourning mother has been hauled off to the police station fourteen times for protesting female deaths in prison and has been charged four times for offences including obstructing the highway

“After I lost Sarah, I felt I do not have anything else to lose, she was everything to me,” said the grieving mother with tears rolling down her cheeks. “I will not stop embarrassing the government. That is my raison d'être, now, to protest the deaths of women in jail.”

Sarah was one among 39 women in prison in the UK, who died in the last four years while being on remand, sentencing or trial.

Although the total number of suicides dropped to 67 in 2006 from 78 a year ago, a welcome drop after three years of record levels of self-inflicted deaths, it is likely to touch higher levels again. A recent study by the Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody shows that there have been 68 jail suicides so far in 2007.
In comparison, about 1,575 custodial deaths took place in 2005-2006 in India, up from 1,493 in a year ago, according to most recent data provided by the National Human Rights Commission, which was set up in 1993 as a human rights monitoring institution constituted by the Parliament. More than 50,000 custodial deaths has been reported in the last 10 years, but the number of suicides is not revealed or known, which makes it difficult to compare with the suicidal rates in the UK.

Still, the conclusions drawn suggest that the state of India’s justice systems speaks volumes about the human rights abuse in a country known to be the biggest democracy in the world. Alike the UK, prisons in India also suffer from problems including overcrowding, lack of facilities, transparency of activities in the prison and inhuman treatment and torture of detainees. It is common in Indian prisons that the detainees are assaulted as they arrive in the premises, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission.

“This is a practice continued after the colonial period and due to wrong perception, allegedly to 'soften' detainees so that they could be easily controlled while in custody,” the Commission said on its website, adding torture is not considered as a crime in the world’s second-most populous country.

Suicide and self harm is one of the biggest challenges the British prison service faces today, according to the Howard League Reform. There are several cases of neglect, like that of Sarah’s, in the UK.

Although on "suicide watch", Sarah somehow managed to ingest an overdose of antidepressant prescription drugs while held on the prison's segregation block within 24 hours of being in the prison. She was convicted for manslaughter. She was carried out of the jail unconscious, and died several hours later in hospital without regaining consciousness. Almost a third of suicides occur within the first week of someone arriving in custody and one in seven is within 48 hours.

Between 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm on 18 January 2003, she took Dothiepin, and then told the prison guards and a nurse what she had done. During the inquest it emerged that the officers and nurse who were in the cell when Sarah told them, walked out, locking her in, then had an argument about whose responsibility it was to call the ambulance. The ambulance was delayed eight minutes at the gate of the prison, while she vomited blood in her cell. When the paramedics got to her, she was unconscious.

The angry mother thinks her daughter was "crying for help" but was instead locked in a cell, alone. A catalogue of errors, including avoidable delays before staff called for an ambulance, led to her death. At the inquest in 2005, the jury agreed that Sarah didn't intend to die, and for that reason a suicide verdict was not returned. The jury's damning narrative verdict included a statement that a "failure in the duty of care" contributed to her death.

Suicide is more common among men. A study in the Lancet, the world's leading independent general medical journal, found the male suicide rate in prison was five times that in the general community.

Nearly three quarters of suicides last year occurred in male local prisons, compared with 60 per cent a year ago “ in spite of improvements in first night and induction procedures in many prisons,” according to the report by Anne Owers, the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. Mental illness, overcrowding, drug and alcohol addiction were the main reasons, according to research experts.

Most prisons are overcrowded and lack the staff or resources to provide intensive support for new inmates, according to the latest annual report from "The pressure of population, the reactive culture in some prisons and the vulnerability of many of those in prison, will continue to make it difficult for prisons properly to protect those in their care,” the most recent report by Owers said.

Paul Cavadino, Chief Executive of Nacro, a crime reduction charity, said in a press release that signs of depression and suicidal intent can be overlooked by prison staff due to overcrowding. “Overcrowding makes it more likely that staff will miss signs of bullying of weaker prisoners which is an important element in some suicides,” he said. “It increases the pressure to move prisoners to jails far from their families, making visits harder. This can increase the isolation and depression of potentially suicidal prisoners.”

Debbie Kirby, Ministry of Justice spokeswoman, agreed and acknowledged that “the prison population contains a high proportion of very vulnerable individuals, many of whom have experienced negative life events that we know increase the likelihood of them harming themselves.” She also said that the issue of suicide in prisons is taken very seriously in the face of population pressures and continued efforts are being made to reduce the numbers.

In 2006, the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales was at the lowest since 1997. There had been a steady increase in suicides since 1994 - up by 53 per cent. Forty-two per cent of such suicides occur during the first month of a prisoner arriving at his/her first prison or being transferred to a different one.
The Home Office was split and the Ministry of Justice was created in May this year. The newly created office will be responsible, in particular, for the courts and tribunals, and for criminal justice, including prisons.

As of September 14, the prison population stood close to a record high with 80,937 people. In June, the population touched its peak at 80,977 inmates. Campbell is concerned that as the number of prisoners soar, more and more deaths will be inevitable.

“So many people are dying at the hands of the state and there is never any accountability,” said Campbell. “No officer or staff of the prison has ever been held accountable, while there is ill treatment of the most vulnerable people of the society held in care and custody of prisons. It is appalling and we have to put an end to this.”

Campbell is not alone. Among grieving parents is also Alan Powell, who lost his 26-year old daughter, Caroline Powell earlier this year. The mother of five died while on remand for burglary. Caroline, who had suffered domestic violence and lost her kids to social services, hanged herself in her cell.

“She was owed a right to life and a legal duty by the prison authorities to keep my daughter safe - a sad failure in both these duties,” said the father of the deceased. “Caroline was not the first and she certainly would not be the last,” said the angry father, who often wonders “what was going through Caroline’s head when she decided to take her life.”

Besides most prisoners being vulnerable, neglect of duty, physical and verbal abuse from officers also lead to deaths of most people, said Eric Allison, prison correspondent at the Guardian and co-author of the book ‘Strangeways: A serious Disturbance’. To end further deaths in these prisons, the prison services “must avoid their running as breeding grounds for more crime,” said Allison, who blames the government for not convicting responsible officers.

There is still “a lot of abuse” that prisoners are subjected to in prisons, he said. The Manchester-based reporter has also served more than 16 years in jail. “If you abuse, offenders become victims and they feel victims at the hands of law. They vent their anger in a negative way and are full of hatred,” said Allison, who recalls, how he wanted to commit a mass murder in Manchester prison as he wanted to take revenge from most officers.

Catherine Hayes, a case worker of campaigning group Inquest, a charity organization which investigates deaths in custodies, can not agree more. “Many of these deaths raise issues of negligence, abuse of human rights and failure to care for the vulnerable,” she said. Despite evidence of unlawful or excessive use of force or neglect, “no prison officer has been held responsible,” added Hayes, who has looked after 100s of cases. Since 1995, Inquest has investigated more than 2,000 deaths.

Lord Ramsbotham, former Chief Inspector of Prisons, is angry with the government and is pushing the government to consider extending the Corporate Manslaughter Bill to include deaths in custody, which has been denied previously.

“The managers should be accountable for these deaths,” he said. The new offence would apply when a person's death is caused by state’s negligence, but ministers wanted to exclude prisons and police.

Ministry of Justice does not agree with the inclusion of the extended Bill. Spokeswoman Kirby said “we are opposing extending the offence to deaths in custody, as it would have wider impact on policy making. Any deaths in custody would necessarily bring into question areas of wider public policy making and would not simply focus on operational issues.”

Still, Ramsbotham does not understand their explanation. “Why it is that grieving families, as victims of government policy, should not be treated in the same way as victims of a private-sector company,” he said, adding that the government also needs same laws and policies for private and public prisons, which is not the case right now, giving a lee way to state prisons.

He also emphasized the need to stabilize prison management and recruit, train and supervise responsible staff. Involving the community in helping offenders, reliable monitoring systems, currently under threat, should be maintaining make prison a safer and a better place than a suicidal spot, he added.

“Human life should not be subject to politics, it is not a mark of civilized country,” he added.

That echoes comments from Campbell, who is disappointed in the government for doing very little.

“It's time the government woke up to the important job and learnt from their lessons in the past,” she said. “Otherwise more and more people will die in the so-called care of prisons.”

“It's time the government woke up to the realisation that prisons must uphold the legal duty of care, she said. “When a prisoner dies in the care of the State, we are told that "lessons will be learned", but 38 women prisoners have died from self-inflicted injuries since my daughter's death in 2003. So, for me, the words are fairly meaningless.

“Prisons are not above the law, and all inmates have a right to life under Article 2. While prisons continue to flout the law, more and more people will die in the so-called care of these institutions.”

As she makes her point, death toll is increasing. Among the most recent ones is the apparently self-inflicted death of 25-year-old Lisa Doe, who died at a prison in a prison in Surrey, south-east of London, on September 11. She was the seventh woman to die this year.

One World

I am an international student in the UK, which would explain why I carry a HSBC “international” student debit card. I was naïve to think that my card would work at the Tokyo Narita airport when I confidently popped it out of my wallet to pay for the little souvenirs I picked up. Beep,beep beep -- the card didn’t work. After all my card wasn’t as international as I thought it to be, even though I am levied a 5 pound fee every month as opposed to a local student. WHY? I went in to ask a HSBC staff.

“It is an international student card, not an international card, you see,” the woman said with her eyelashes flattering. She probably attends dozens or more frustrated customers like myself everyday and still manages to look smiley and pretty.

“I clearly see that,” I told her, still unsatisfied with her explanation.

Foreigners are often slapped with such extra charges in the name of "internationalism." Tourists in my country pay double or three times more the price I pay for entry tickets to various places. Is it justifiable, I questioned myself? The whole episode made me think why aren’t we all embraced with equality?

Boundaries create such differences. They smell of separateness, reminding one of the miles away from home. I want a world where no one has to ever fear exclusion, a world where all gaps are stitched and we are citizens of the world. I am in for that sort of a world. Once those inequalities are fixed, this world is bound to be a better place, I promise.

Bin Your Rubbish Ideas! (Photo: Aylin Yazan)

The UK is set to introduce a rubbish idea - the "pay as you throw" scheme. Whilst the government's efforts to reduce garbage are commendable, their ideas aren't: businesses will still escape from their responsibility to rethink how their production impacts the environment.

Local authorities are planning to fit microchips to bins so that households producing more trash can be taxed more. The municipal bins would be weighed, and the chips would be used to identify where the trash came from, and residents would be charged according to the amount of waste they generate.

While green residents may like the idea, some households have shown their resistance and about 25,000 chips have been removed by people who dislike the idea of being under surveillance – their waste under close watch.

There is already massive public resentment at the way working families and pensioners are being punished by punitive levels of council tax, and now one faces the prospect of new rubbish taxes on top. Besides that, households will now have a criminal record if they fail to pay for their garbage or place it in the wrong place. The only escape is to throw your garbage into your neighbour's bag.

To make this nation a zero-waste country by 2020 and not a headache for those who can't afford to pay taxes or fines, I have a few suggestions:

Penalize retailers and businesses who continue to generate highly packaged or unrecyclable products. It seems ridiculous that local authorities are perpetually hounding householders, while businesses producing the rubbish are never questioned. Companies such as Tetra Pak should be held responsible for their unrecyclable multi-layered beverage cartons, which manufactures half of the four billion cartons consumed annually in this country. The government can't hold a consumer responsible for trashing a product with hard-to-recycle packaging, where is the justice in that?

Another option is simply to limit garbage collections. If councils collect garbage once a week, they should make it once a fortnight. This policy is sure to prompt people to limit the amount of trash they produce, or face rubbish piling up in their own houses.

The government needs to find more ways of recycling products. The UK, which recycles a quarter of its waste, is the third-worst recycling nation in the EU. Perhaps it is time the government took some tips off their neighbouring
countries like Germany and the Netherlands that recycle 70% of their waste.

Althoug households shouldn't pay as they throw, they can reduce waste in other ways:

- Get a compost bin if you can. According to government statistics, food waste forms over 27% of the average household bin's waste.

- Avoid trashing things like plastic bags and plastic jars – try to reuse them.

- Try to use products that can be recycled or have recycling packaging.

Rather than introducing a `pay as you throw` scheme and looking for ways to dig more money out of the pockets of citizens, the Labour Party should try something more innovative. And for Britons, to escape these charges, they
will have to prove they are responsible citizens. It is time we all got our act together and bin the rubbish ideas.

Clothes-free and Car-free! (Photo:WNBR)

Over 1,000 naked cyclists are expected to gather on June 8 and 9 to ride through the streets of London, Brighton, Manchester, York and Southampton for World Naked Bike Ride Weekend next month.

Most of us are trying to contribute towards saving the earth one way or another, but some more committed individuals like Carlos Pinha are taking a bolder approach to convey their message. He has taken part in the World Naked Bike Ride every year since 2004, when it first started.

The World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) which takes place in 50 countries worldwide, will take place in England for the fourth year in a row.

The UK rides are part of a growing international movement of annual protests against oil dependency and car culture. Not only that, they are also a unique celebration of the body and the bike.

"For many people, the irrefutable evidence of man-made climate change is causing them to think again about the impact modern forms of transport have on the environment," said Martin Ireland, press officer for London WNBR. Riding under the slogan "real rights for bikes", participants cycle naked to highlight the vulnerability of cyclists on
city streets and to draw attention to the destructive effects of car culture, he added.

The London event alone is likely to attract between 1,000 - 1,250 participants, setting a new record for naked protest. The 2006 ride was the largest naked protest in British history, with more than 800 participants cycling through the streets of the capital for over two hours. Debut rides in Brighton, York and Manchester last year were attended by an impressive 160, 60 and 30 riders respectively, according to WNBR`s website.

The participation "should be to alert people of the fact that everyone needs to change and opt for other modes of transport for environmental benefits" said Pinha.

The London Naked Bike Ride is making specific demands: cycle-only zones in cities, real rights for cyclists, safer streets, separate two-way cycle lanes and a ban on car advertising, said Ireland.

Besides the feel-good factor associated with participating in an event for a good cause, the ride offers participants an enjoyable "naked sightseeing experience", as they cycle past a number of London's most famous landmarks. As in previous years, cycle-mounted police will facilitate the ride and provide traffic control.

Rides in Manchester, York and Southampton will take placeon the 8th June, the day before the London ride begins. The Brighton and Hove ride starts on the morning of Saturday 9 June at 10am. The rides are timed to allow participants to attend locally and join the London ride at Hyde Park Corner at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

A previous rider, 28-year old Emma Jackson said: "The ride is fun, but has a serious side as well. Unless we change the way we think about transport and start calling on the government to do the same, it'll be too late. It's up to each and every one of us to take responsibility, get on our bikes and call for real, practical action on climate
change."

Her New Baby - Tyler Foundation (Photo: Tyler Foundation)

It was hours of crying everyday for Kimberly Forsythe when she lost her 23-month-old toddler in 2005. She is a happier woman now, having given birth to Tyler Foundation.

Forsythe`s son, Tyler Ferris, was diagnosed with leukemia when he was one-month old and died after a struggle of almost two years. The daunting experience turned her world upside down, she now recalls, in her courageous voice. She talks passionately about her new baby.

Tyler Foundation, the first Non-Profit Organization (NPO) to support families of kids fighting cancer in Japan, was born last year. Its creation has given a new meaning to Forsythe`s life - a reason to move on and feel motivated.

“It would have been easy to wallow in self pity,” she said. “Focusing that desperate energy on something positive was a huge help.”

The idea of setting up this organization was that of Forsythe`s husband, Mark Ferris, right after Tyler`s death, when she was still in a serious state of shock and mourning. He suggested her to set up a charity fund to help families fighting cancer. Two months later, she told herself one morning, after hours of crying, that she had no choice but to move on. It was then she started working on the concept, creating contents for the website of the foundation. She has been on her toes ever since.

“I embraced Mark`s suggestions and everything just gelled for me” said Forsythe, who now devotes most of her time visiting hospitals, organizing charity events, reaching out to people going through the distress she once was a part of.

The US-born Forsythe aims to help and support the families of kids fighting against cancer by providing them with counseling services, financial assistance for diagnostic tests, which aren’t covered by the Japanese health insurance system, and also by improving the life of patients by making their day a little brighter at the hospital.

As of date, the Foundation has raised $400,000, and Forsythe's programs, in cooperation with National Center for Child Health and Development (NCCHD), will be introduced in some Japanese hospitals. Forsythe has already hired Satomi Funaki, a young clinical psychologist specializing in mother and child counseling, to provide counseling, play therapy and support for the children in the cancer ward of NCCHD.

“The concept of counseling is a foreign concept in Japan,” she said. “I want to help mums, who are spending all day in hospitals, away from their families. (For these patients,) I want to introduce simple things to keep them entertained as kids are bored in the hospitals.” She wants to organize entertaining events for kids and provide them with access to computers so that they can send emails to their friends.

Some of the ideas Forsythe wants to implement are of her own, derived from her own experiences, and some from the surveys she conducts. She also consults her team of experts, which includes, Dr. Masaaki Kumagai from the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the NCCHD, Tamaki Kumagai, assistant professor in faculty of Nursing and Medical Care at Keio University, and Shigeko Saiki-Craighill, professor of pediatric nursing at Tokyo Metropolitan University, researching in the medical culture surrounding pediatric cancer patients and their families.

It has been a difficult journey for Forsythe from the beginning – losing Tyler, raising funds and now trying to change the Japanese mindset. But she is optimistic about the difference she can make in the society.

“There are problems we face with hospitals – what we are trying to do is a hard sell,” she said. “When we go to them with our ideas, they see new work causing them more work. This is going to take a little time, but some Japanese hospitals are willing to give it a go.”

It may be a long and laborious process for Forsythe in a society known for being conservative and not so forthcoming with new ideas, but she is determined to continue with her work. She lost one Tyler, but hopes to see her new Tyler grow.

Crisis in Iraq

A sense of triumph was in the air during the downfall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq in 2003. I still vividly remember watching on T.V. the faces of many Iraqis rejoicing over the toppling of Saddam’s statue, hoping for freedom, safety and peace. Little did they know that 3 years down the road, they would still be struggling to cease the violence.

Nothing much has been achieved ever since by the US-led coalition, and if anything, humanitarian situation is worsening, as revealed by the Red Cross latest report.

"The suffering that Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is unbearable and unacceptable," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "We are not seeing a stabilising effect yet," from the launch of U.S.-led coalition forces in Baghdad, he said.

That echoes a report by the Oxford Research Group think tank, which said UK and US policy towards Iraq had "spawned new terror in the region".

There is a lesson for the US to be learnt from these findings – the disastrous situation is a clarion call for the US to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The US needs ensure that the lives of ordinary people are spared. The US has failed in achieving “freedom” for Iraqis as freedom doesn’t mean one worrying about their life every second. Freedom doesn’t mean one confined to one’s home when going out becomes a question of life and death. The troops should leave as they haven’t succeeded in crushing the voilence, but have instead made things worse.

What the US has left Iraqis with is not a hope for freedom, security or peace, but a sense of trepidation. They were perhaps better off under Sadam’s regime!

Playing Cricket or Politics (Photo:Flickr)

A Bangladeshi friend, consoling me over India’s knock out from the World Cup, said to me, “Hey, don’t be mad. The Pakis are gone as well.” His comment made me wonder if the elimination of Pakistan (our arch rival, as most Indians would say!) from the tournament was really going to do the magic for me and make me think any less about the disasters of our team? More than that, has the dirty politics preyed upon our minds?

Almost 60 years after the independence, relations between India and Pakistan still remain hostile. The issues regarding the most debated region, Kashmir, still remain unresolved. The Pakistanis argue that Kashmir should have become part of Pakistan at the time of partition due to its Muslim-oriented population. India claims Kashmir to be their part because of the Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh in October 1947. The dispute on the territory has caused two of the three India-Pakistan wars: the first in 1947, the second in 1965.

Due to this historical anonymity, governments of both nations have continuously blamed each other for any terrorist attacks in their respective countries, making the other one look like the culprit. Many patriotic Bollywood, commenly referred to as "Hindi cinema," often shows Pakistan playing “the villain,” promoting terrorism in our country and killing our people.

Absorbing everything we are fed with bodes well for the politicians, who have built their careers on the rhetoric surrounding the Kashmir issue and nationalism. We allow them to play with our unquestionable nationalistic sentiment and before we know it, it is reflected even in cricket. Of course, it is a different story when there is a battle between India and Pakistan on the cricket pitch, but we can not even bear the thought of our neighbor-country winning against another far-stretched country simply because we are out.

I hope that our cricket team isn’t going to use my friend’s rationale in making themselves feel good, but rather going to take their ouster from the World Cup as an opportunity to reflect on their weaknesses and do something about their performances in the future.

I also hope that we question these politicians, who are good at blaming others for all their policy failures, and not doing much to resolve the issue itself. All we need is peace and not a political agenda that provokes our nationalistic sentiment.

Dying with Dignity (Photo:BBC)

Kelly Taylor, a 30-year old terminally-ill woman, is in severe pain, confined to a wheel chair and has breathing problems. She has been given less than a year to live. She wants to die soon but doesn’t want to leave her country to do so.

The legal framework in the UK not only denies Britons like Taylor of their human rights but also the right to die in their own country. It is a country where euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal.

Earlier this year, Bristol-based Taylor began a landmark court battle to force doctors to let her die. Her lawyers are arguing that the doctors are breaching her human rights by denying her medication that could kill her. Her trial, calling for a change in the British law, is due April 24 in the High Court.

“Her case highlights the impossible dilemma that the current law presents to patients with terminal illness where pain relief and palliative care do not work to relieve their condition,” according to Deborah Annetts, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, a campaigning organization. In May 2006, the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, which would legalize assisted suicide in the nation, was defeated in the House of Lords.

Taylor suffers from Eisenmenger's Syndrome, a heart and lung condition associated with a congenital defect, along with spinal condition called Klippel-Feil syndrome. She wants doctors to increase her morphine dose to induce a coma-like state, even though the drug may hasten her death – a decision called “double effect.” Her doctors are denying her of her will, citing legal and ethical concerns.

While many like Taylor are calling for assisted suicide, some doctors, campaigners and religious bodies oppose the argument saying introducing assisted dying would create pressure for all seriously-ill people to consider it even if they would not otherwise entertain the idea and may have negative implications on the wider society.

“Patients might feel obliged to choose it for the wrong reasons, such as if they were worried about being a burden or concerned about the financial implications of a long terminal illness,” said Franca Tranza, Press Officer at British Medical Association. She also said the concept of assisted dying risks undermining patients’ ability to trust their doctors and the health care system by generating anxiety among vulnerable, elderly and disabled patients.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales reiterated Church`s stance in opposing euthanasia or assisted suicide is based on the principle “that all human life is sacred, and no one has the right to take that life.”

Despite such moral and religious beliefs reflected by some, the wider society is calling for a change in the law. Four out of five people in the UK say the law should allow a doctor to end the person’s life at their request and three out of five people say the law should allow a doctor to assist the person to take their own life, according to the British Social Attitudes Survey published in January.

Daniel Sokol, medical ethicist at Keele University explained the attraction towards the concept of euthanasia and assisted suicide by saying, to die with dignity is "dying in a way which most closely matches your perception of yourself and your life story.”

Assisted suicide is legal in some European countries including Netherlands and Switzerland, prompting some Britons to leave their country to die. The presence of Dignitas clinic in Switzerland has helped more than 40 Britons to end their lives, including Dr Anne Turner, a retired doctor from Bath in January last year.

If Taylor wins the battle, she would not only save others in similar situation from everyday suffering, but will also make it easier for them to die closer to their beloved ones.

“If I went abroad to die I would do so knowing that my wonderful husband Richard, who would go with me, could face prosecution on his return to the UK, and I could not allow that to happen,” she said in her statement on the Dignity in Dying website. “I admire the people who make such a journey, but really, it should not be necessary” if the laws are in place.

April 24 is a day to watch and see for all those wanting to die a dignified death.

Your Stunts (Photo:Flickr)

Chancellor Gordon Brown on Wednesday laid out the budget plans for 2007. While his intentions may have been to “expand prosperity and fairness for Britain's families,” there was a bigger motive behind it all.
That motive was to appeal to majority of Britons to win back support from his opponent David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party. Not a bad stunt, Chacellor!

After 10 years in power, the ruling Labour party is trailing terribly in the polls and is trying its best to be in the power after Tony Blair resigns in September. Majority of Britons have condemned the government for the Iraq war, hike in council taxes and scandals involving the “cash-for-honours.”

Cameron has battered Brown's support in polls both in popularity and reputation for managing the world’s fifth-largest economy. An opinion poll by ICM Ltd. showed 41 percent of voters support the Conservatives while Labour had 31 percent.

The Treasury, which has been in deficit for the past five years, is struggling to pay for Brown’s programs while meeting rules to keep a lid on debt. The government's deficit will total 118 billion pounds in the fiscal years through April 2011. In December, when Brown announced an extra 7 billion pounds in borrowing, he said there would be a 108 billion-pound shortfall over that period.

While Brown is appealing hard to gain votes, he really needs to convince Britons that he will be able to make a difference in their lives. Making an excellent speech isn’t going to trick many, he needs to convince the people that he is here to make a difference and will “build a stronger shared national consensus around future priorities,” as he promised in his speech. Easier said than done - good luck, Chacellor!

Wake Up! (Photo:Web)

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“There is no freedom without struggle, and there is no freedom without sacrifice,” said Morgan Tsvangirai, the main opposition party leader in Zimbabwe, who called for a popular struggle against Robert Mugabe's government. He suffered a brain injury and a fractured skull and was moved into the incentive care unit.

Tsvangirai isn’t alone in facing this kind of torture in the fight for freedom from dictatorship. Under Mugabe`s regime, so many opposition activists have gone through this brutality and political tyranny – some have been detained, raped and even murdered.

Mugabe, who once fought for the freedom of his country, is now denying that freedom to his own people. He has created an economic and political crisis in a once-prosperous nation, which is now known for chronic shortages of food and medicine, highest inflation rate in the world, violation of human rights.

Why hasn’t the UN or international community taken any drastic steps against such cruelties? Is it because it is a case a minority and powerful black community is terrorizing and slaughtering a major black community?

“Mugabe has murdered more black Africans than the evil South African apartheid regime,” said human-rights campaigner, Peter Tatchall. “A black state murdering black citizens does not, apparently, merit the same outrage as a white state murdering black citizens. I call that racism.”

It is time the international community did more than just denouncing Mugabe`s acts. Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth alone can`t achieve much, but an end to President Mugabe’s dictatorship would.

The international community must show solidarity with the freedom struggle of the people of Zimbabwe, otherwise sacrifices alone from the opposition activists will only lead to more brutality and murders in the nation. In my opinion, Tsvangirai`s sacrifice and struggle will only pay off if the international community wakes up.

Double Whammy (Photo:Flickr)

It took Salma Rehman (name changed), a 27-year old lesbian, a couple of years to accept her sexuality and 7 years to gather the courage to tell her father. She is still not comfortable talking about it to most in her extended family.

“Not everyone wants to know and is ready to know,” she said. “There isn’t much room in the Muslim culture to identify oneself as homosexual.”

Being Muslim is difficult in a post 9/11 world and if you are a homosexual, it is a double whammy. You are in a constant battle of fighting off Islamophobia with other communities and homophobia with your own. There is no recognition by any Muslim group so far of gay legitimacy as a community, as pointed out by Farzana, Chair of Imaan Group, a social group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Muslims, their families, friends and supporters.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the umbrella organization representing British Muslims in the UK, is taking a hard-line approach towards gay Muslims; either dismissing them as criminals or denying the existence of homosexuals in their religion. Shenaz Yusuf, MCB press officer, reiterated the organization stance towards homosexuality saying the practice is sinful in Islam.

MCB was established in 1997 to “work for the eradication of disadvantages and forms of discrimination faced by Muslims,” and to promote “unity,” according to their website.

For Rehman, the journey to accept her sexuality was much easier than some others. She went to the US, away from home, when she was 18 and became more open about her sexuality. Due to the conservative nature of Islam, many don’t have that privilege –they fear being excluded and stigmatized from their own society, she said.

It is their own straight people attacking their gay Muslims brother and sisters, making them feel isolated and vulnerable, according to Peter Tatchell, campaigner of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights group OutRage!

“It is shocking in this climate of Islamophobia that a part of Muslim community is compounding anti-Muslim prejudice with homophobia,” said Tatchell. “Muslims shouldn’t be in a position where need to choose between faith and sexuality.”

Islam, which only allows sex between husband and wife, condemns sexual activities between partners of the same sex. Even though some liberal Muslims say that the holy book Quran doesn’t explicitly denounce same-sex-relationships, some Muslims, such as Zaid Ahmed, think otherwise.

“I believe that it (being homosexual) is beyond any natural explanation,” said Ahmed, a freelance writer, who believes that people aren’t born as gay. “Gay Muslims have made up a choice of being gays, and by doing that, they have abandoned their faith, as faith and homosexuality doesn't go together.” Ahmed strongly believes when people go against mother-nature, they deserve to be cut off from the society.

MCB, which represents 3 percent of UK`s total population, has denounced talks with OutRage! for the past two years. They have also said openly that gay Muslims aren’t welcomed in the organization, according to Tatchell.

Some say that radical Muslims use religion to attack the sexual preferences of gay people, whereas it is more of a cultural issue. “Religion is there to guide us not to make us conform,” said Rehman. “It is an emotional anchor, a connection to someone above, and just a way to stay in touch with your roots and be honest to God, not to make u regret your own preferences.”

Ahmed disagrees. “We Muslims believe that God (Allah) has created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve,” he said.

Homosexual acts are a capital crime in several Muslim countries such as Iran. In accordance with Islamic law, or shariah law, homosexuality is a crime and calls for execution. An Imaan in Manchester last year said that execution of gay men is justified.

While the argument can go on, there is still a need to ensure that there isn’t a selective approach to human rights. In a society where Islamophobia is prevalent, gay Muslims are subjected twice to prejudice and discrimination – once for being gay and then for being Muslim.

Past is Past (Photo:Flickr)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month said there is “no evidence” that women were forced to become sex slaves by the Japanese army during World War II.

It is indeed embarrassing when the premier of a nation makes such ignorant remarks, while his government in the past has recognized its atrocities and apologized for running brothels for its Imperial army troops. Not only that, the government also set up a special fund in 1995 to compensate women affected during the WWII.

An estimated 200,000 women from Asia – mostly Korean and Chinese - were forced to work as sex slaves during the WWII.



Some in the government probably realize that Abe`s comments were not appropriate considering the strained relations Japan has with its neighboring countries. Therefore, a Japanese Cabinet spokesman appeared later to play down Abe's comments by saying the premier stood by an apology made by the government in 1993 for the use of so-called "comfort women".

While my advice to Abe would be to be consistent with the government’s stance and to embrace the truth, I would also like to advise China and South Korea to move on.

I am not trying to ignore the gravity of the problem, but I would stress that while the new generation should know how ruthless the Japanese were during the war, they should not be paying a price for it.

Germany committed ghastly crimes during the WWII and killed millions of Jews, but they don’t apologize anymore. Past is past, and while we should embrace and accept it, without denying it, we should also learn to move on and not dwell on it.

Who Should be Blamed? (Photo:Neha Kumar)

They don't take the responsibility for their actions, but rather blame it on Muslims, multiculturism. They justify their actions in the name of peace, while they are clearly the ones waging a war, spending billions on nuclear weapons.

They blamed Saddam Hussein for the death of hundreds, while they never talk about the consequences of their deeds in Iraq, or even Afghanistan.

These were the voices I heard from about 60,000 protestors, who flocked at Trafalgar Square on February 24 to protest for Stop the War. A place that usually attracts thousands of tourists everyday was filled with anti-war sentiment - calling for a peaceful world.

Despite strong opposition from the public, Tony Blair has sent more troops to Afghanistan. Britain has recently announced their plans send more than 1,000 troops in the country.

The UK prime minister will soon unveil a plan in the next week budget to fund the new reinforcements to Iraq and Afghanistan by perhaps cutting spending in more needed areas like education and health. The BBC earlier reported that between £15bn and £20bn would be spent on new submarines to carry the Trident missiles, despite a large rebellion from within the Labour party.

Democracy has failed most Britons as their voices remain muted. We elect a Prime Minister in a hope that things would change for better, but what really changes is the degree of betrayal, and nothing else.

The government is in denial of its failures, its deeds and its consequences in this world. They blame Muslims and multiculturism when they themselves are the real war mongers and criminals.

Creating Identity or Killing it? (Photo:Web)

A potential mum-in-law took one look at my skirt and boots combination and asked - rather pointedly - if I could drape a saree around myself. I answered no. The silence stretched out uncomfortably between us as I drew conclusions from her question and she took in my answer. Underlying that question was the real issue – “are you the traditional daughter-in-law I want for my son?”

To provide you with some background; I recently turned 28, and the pressure to get married is mounting up. During my recent trips to India, my family and relatives tried to introduce me to eligible bachelors and I was asked to have a “casual” meeting with a US-based guy and his parents.

While I was wrestling with what to wear for the meeting, I decided to go in something I felt comfortable and confident in. Also, something that depicted a true picture of myself. My Indian relatives would have preferred me going in something traditional, but for me, wearing saree isn`t my cup of tea as I find the 5-6 meter cloth dragging all over the place, and as for salwaar kameez, I didn’t have any at that point.

I am not going to go on about my meeting with this family anymore as the outcome of it was a mere waste of time for us and for them, but it made me question whether wearing a dress out of compulsion of traditional/religious values a good idea when it makes us feel less confident?

A Muslim woman I once met during the veil debate triggered by Jack Straw said every Muslim woman should wear a niqab as it is a part of Islamic culture. She also told me how wearing one gives her a sense of confidence, protection and identity. While I would feel completely the opposite way if I were to wear a saree out of cultural compulsions, and rather oppressed.

I may never understand the need to wear something even if one doesn’t feel like, but I salute those who are willing to go through the staring, the uneasiness, the loss of identity in the name of protecting their culture.

Democratic Art (Photo:Fatima Najm)

Modern Graffiti, originated in 1960s, is a form of art and expression and creates beauty and color in the most alienating areas.

It is often criticised because of its nature of being bold and unconventional piece of art seen in public places, such as walls, subways, without getting property owner`s permission.

Still, some like the idea as it is full of expression, which is no different from freedom of speech or ideas. It depicts democratic art.



In 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti. To back the campaign, 123 MPs, including Tony Blair, signed a charter which said, Graffiti is not art, it's crime.

"I never found graffiti vandalism - it is street art as I see it," said Jana Manuelpillai, Director at The Noble Sage Art Gallery. "There are no frames, no museums, no imposing stone stairs leading upto a gallery in the world of graffiti - it is for everyone that takes a chance to look at no matter what class, creed or sex."

While it is easy for the government to condemn the existence of graffiti art and take a hard-line approach, they must ask themselves a question – what they have done to provide a ground for these artists to display their creativity?

Royal China, London (Review)

You won’t be seduced by the looks of it, but you would surely want to go back to Royal China in Baker Street, if you are a food lover.

The tasteless surroundings of the Chinese restaurant are too tacky for those looking for an elegant and classy place. The black walls are painted with patterns of birds and flowers engraved in bold gold, which strangely blends in with the garish furniture.

Their set menu, which costs £30 - £40, is quite filling and good but the beaming crowd is usually tucking away on their dim sums and spring rolls.

The vegetarian hot and sour soup is just right for a spice-seeking pallet. Also, the freshly-made steamed vegetable dumplings are tasty and melt in your mouth. The chilly baby squid is both crispy and scrumptious.

However, the service is appalling, even though they charge 13 percent for it, with waiters usually slapping the bill on your table. Still, the food compensates for it all.

If you forget the flashy deco or the outrageous service and just concentrate on the food, you would want to go back.

P.S. It is not an ideal place to take someone for a quiet or intimate date -- the crowd is as loud as the deco.


Address:
40-42 Baker Street, London, W1U 7AJ
Telephone: 020 7487 4688