The Asian Star November 7 2015

Happy Diwali

Vol 14

Issue 41 Saturday, November 7, 2015

All the news you need and more...

Canada’s pension fund to invest $2B in affordable housing in Mumbai

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anada’s pension fund is ready to invest $2 billion in affordable housing in Mumbai, a top Indian official said, in a move that would boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of providing cheap housing to millions of people.

“A week back, the Canadian ambassador ... informed me that the Canadian pension

fund is ready to invest $2 billion in Mumbai for affordable housing,” Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state where Mumbai is located, told reporters.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board opened an office in Mumbai this month and has already committed to invest more than $2 billion in India.

Karva Chauth vrut and pooja was organized by Shri Durga Hanuman Religious and cultural Society of BC in Vancouver on October 30. Pictured above are devotees participating in the ceremonies performed by Pandit Sahard Bhai. Photo: Chandra Bodalia

Amarjeet Sohi

Local housing market fuelled by Chinese buyers A new study that puts data behind the widely held but difficult-to-prove assumption that off-shore money is driving Vancouver’s superheated housing market has concluded the vast majority of houses on the city’s affluent west side have been bought by new immigrants from China, many of whom don’t earn their living here. The data were obtained by David Eby, the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey. He turned the data over to Andy Yan, a University of British Columbia adjunct planning professor and analyst. The resulting study looks at transactions in three neighbourhoods on Vancouver’s west side from August, 2014, to February, 2015. It amounts to 172 sales in total, priced upward of $1.25-million.

Mr. Yan screened for non-anglicized Chinese names, a methodology used previously by academics in an effort to separate out names that would likely belong to recent immigrants.

Continued on page 6

Four South Asians in Trudeau’s cabinet

— Infrastructure and Communities Indian-born Amarjeet Sohi immigrated to Edmonton in 1981. He worked as a bus driver prior to his election to City Council in 2007. Sohi received several awards in recognition of his community leadership during his time on City Council. His entrance into federal politics wasn’t until 2015, when he became the Liberal candidate for a newly created riding, and launched a campaign sharply critical of the Harper

government. Bardish Chagger — Small Business and Tourism Rookie Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger has worked as

an executive assistant to former KitchenerWaterloo Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi, who held his seat in the riding from 1993 to 2008. After working with Telegdi, Bardish took a job at the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre as their special events coordinator. Navdeep Bains — Innovation, Science and Economic Development Mississauga, Ont., MP Navdeep Bains, 38, has long been a friend and advisor to Justin Trudeau. He is a visiting professor at Toronto’s Ryerson University and

served as a parliamentary secretary to the PM in 2005. Bains has also served as the Liberal Critic for various portfolios, including Public Works and Government Services, International Trade, and Natural Resources.

Harjit Sajjan

— Minister of Defence South Vancouver MP Harjit Sajjan is a decorated Lt.-Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces. In the past he served as a detective with the Vancouver Police Department’s Gang Crime Unit.

He is a combat veteran, serving in Bosnia and on three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Tel: 604-591-5423

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Local

Harjit Sajjan - Canada’s new defence minister

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anada’s new defence minister is Harjit Sajjan, a decorated Lt.-Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and the newly-elected MP for Vancouver South. Sajjan grew up in his riding, and later walked the South Vancouver streets as a detective with the Vancouver Police Department’s Gang Crime Unit. He is a combat veteran, serving in Bosnia and on three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Sajjan has received numerous military honours, including the Meritorious Service Medal in 2013, for reducing the Taliban’s influence in Kandahar Province. “His approach, based on his knowledge of local culture and tribal dynamics, helped senior management to engage with influential Afghan tribal leaders, and led to the identification of insurgent command and control connection points,” according to the citation on the Governor General’s website. Sajjan was born in India and moved to Canada with his family when he was five years old. Canada’s new defence minister is Harjit Sajjan, a decorated Lt.-Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and the newly-elected MP for Vancouver South. Sajjan grew up in his riding, and later walked the South Vancouver streets as a detective with the Vancouver Police Department’s Gang Crime Unit. He is a combat veteran, serving in Bosnia and on three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Sajjan has received numerous military honours, including the Meritorious Service Medal in 2013, for reducing the Taliban’s influence in Kandahar Province. “His approach, based on his knowledge of local culture and tribal dynamics, helped senior management to engage with influential Afghan tribal leaders, and led to the identification of insurgent

command and control connection points,” according to the citation on the Governor General’s website. Sajjan was born in India and moved to Canada with his family when he was five years old. Sajjan is the newly-elect-

ed MP for Vancouver South. He grew up in his riding and later walked the streets of Vancouver as a detective with the Vancouver Police Department’s Gang Crime Unit. He served for 11 years with the VPD, according to his biography. According to Twitter Canada, the announcement that Sajjan was joining the cabinet was the Liberal Party of Canada’s most retweeted post of the day.

Sajjan is a combat veteran, having served one tour in Bosnia and been deployed three times to Afghanistan. He was the first Sikh to command a Canadian army regiment — a reserve B.C. regiment known as the Duke of Connaught’s Own. ​Some compared his on-the-ground experience with the Canadian military to his predecessors.

He’s also been awarded several military honours, including the Meritorious Service Medal in 2013 for reducing the Taliban’s influence in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan and a Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal. Canada’s new defence minister is Harjit Sajjan, who has numerous military honours, including the Order of Military Merit, given to him by Governor General David Johnston in June 2014. (Governor General of Canada) “He was the best single Canadian intelligence asset in theatre, and his hard work, personal bravery, and dogged determination undoubtedly saved a multitude of Coalition lives,” said Brigadier-General David Fraser in a letter to the VPD. “Through his courage and dedication, (then) Major Sajjan has singlehandedly changed the face of intelligence gathering and analysis in Afghan-

istan.” Sajjan’s entry into politics was not without controversy. A large contingent of Sikh Liberals in B.C. quit the party last year, saying Justin Trudeau was being “manipulated” by Sikhs under the banner of the World Continued on page 3

LOCAL

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South Asian teen was chased with a sword on Vancouver streets before being killed

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uring a fight between two groups of young men, a man accused in the murder of a Vancouver teen used a samurai sword to almost entirely sever the upper portion of the victim’s head, a jury was told Thursday. Amritpal Dhillon, who was 20 at the time, has pleaded not guilty to the Jan. 23, 2013, second-degree murder of Manraj Akalirai, 19. Amritpaul Rakhra, a second accused and 18 years old at the time, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in connection with the grisly slaying.

In her opening statement to the jury, Crown counsel Corinne Longworth said that before the attack, Akalirai drove his Honda Pilot to a friend’s house as the two had planned to go out to eat. Longworth said Akalirai told his friend — who can be identified only as Witness X due to a publication ban imposed on his identity — that several vehicles, including Dhillon’s, were in the area of the home in the 6300-block Elgin Street in east Vancouver. In response, Witness X went into his residence and retrieved ski masks, a machete and a samurai sword before getting into Akalirai’s Honda. Shortly after the two men began driving, two vehicles containing about five to six people, including the two accused, stopped in front of them and blocked their vehicle from driving further, said the prosecutor. Witness X, wearing a ski mask and holding the samurai sword, stepped out of Dhillon’s vehicle, telling Akalirai to stay inside, Longworth said. Occupants of the other two vehicles got out of their cars with weapons, which may

have included a field hockey stick, a hammer and a pipe wrench, and Witness X unsheathed the samurai sword and began fighting with one of the oc-

cupants of the other vehicle, who also had a weapon, said Longworth. During the fight, Witness X cut off the other male’s thumb, which was later located at the scene, she said.

Witness X’s hand was struck and he dropped the sword, then saw Dhillon pick up the sword, said Longworth. Witness X, who is the Crown’s Continued on page 7

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Trudeau puts 3 B.C. MPs in new cabinet

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B.C. MPs have been appointed to the federal cabinet by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today in Ottawa. Three high-profile B.C. Liberals MPs who did not get cabinet posts were Hedy Fry, Joyce Murray and Pamela Goldsmith-Jones. Liberal MPs won 17 of 42 seats in B.C. in the Oct. 19 federal election, the party’s best result since 1968, when Pierre Trudeau swept to power, taking 16 of 23 seats in the province at the time.

From page 2 Sikh Organization, when the Liberals selected him as a star candidate over former Liberal MP Barj Dhahan. Sajjan is the son of a veteran WSO board member, Kundan Sajjan, who led fundamentalist Sikhs in a losing battle with moderates over control of the Ross Street Temple in South Vancouver.

Meanwhile Dhahan was a moderate ally of Ujjal Dosanjh, the previous Liberal MP. The younger Sajjan denied he was a member of the WSO at the time.

Family man Sajjan is also a family man. He is married to a UBC family doctor and has two young children. Harjit Sajjan, seen here in a picture with his wife Dr. Kuljit Kaur Sajjan and two children, will be Canada’s new defence minister. According to his website, Sajjan and his wife have also sponsored four children, and support many charities that promote health and education to impoverished children.

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By Roslyn Kunin

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ctober was Small Business Month.

Did you notice? If you checked the business media, you probably found some upbeat stories with pictures of bright young people who had started a little business and were now offering food services,

• Diwali Special •

OPINION

Small business not so small after all tech support or e-tail to their community or, more broadly, electronically. Everything was upbeat. Growth and success seemed likely.

Maybe you saw an interview of a small business owner that was less positive. Those operating a small business can find enough to

complain about. Rules, regulations and red tape are often more troublesome than taxes. Workers with the right skills and, more importantly, the right attitudes, are hard to find and harder to keep as big employers and governments with better pay and benefits lure them away.

Getting capital to expand is perhaps the biggest challenge of all. From a small business person’s point of view, Canadian bankers seem to take seriously the old joke about how to run a successful bank: never lend money to anyone unless they don’t need it.

The numbers seem to bear them out. Small business received a mere 15.3 per cent of business loans in 2013, down from 17.4 per cent in 2007 and the lowest it has been in this century.

The good news is that this risk averting behavior on the part of our bankers has provided Canada with what is likely the most safe and secure banking system in the world. This was apparent in the 2007 recession. The bad news is that the cost has been borne by the very people who are at the growing edge of our economy. And we all pay for it in terms of our productivity, that is output per worker, and by foregoing growth in our income.

Most productivity comes from doing new things in new ways. Nowadays, it is largely the application of new technologies and it is small business and start-ups that do most of it, but not much in Canada. Productivity in Canada has been creeping along at 1.4 per cent a year for decades. Compare this to the United States, still our biggest trading partner although we are losing ground to Mexico and China. Over the same time period, American productivity has been increasing at 2.2 per cent, leaving Canada falling ever further behind. It has been estimated that our lack of productivity has reduced our potential income by $7,000 per person per annum.

Slow productivity growth means a weaker economy. British Columbia is expecting growth in the 2 per cent range for this year

and next. Canada will probably do a little worse. Meanwhile in the United States, there are debates about whether growth will come in at 3.7 per cent or 3.9 per cent.

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New Liberal Minister Sohi’s political rise from prison to power

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he story of Amarjeet Sohi’s rise to the heights of political power is anything but typical. In the past 30 years he has been an actor, a social activist, an immigrant who arrived in Canada speaking virtually no English, a political prisoner back home in his native India, and finally a university student, a bus driver and a city councillor. Now he is a federal cabinet minister in charge of a department that will dole out billions of dollars for infrastructure projects across the country.

Through it all, Jagdev Sohi has watched his younger brother work hard and learn and climb the ladder in the country he loves. “Canada, like he puts it, is a magical country. You can be whatever you want to be, if you put your heart to it. And he is living proof of that.” In 1988, Amarjeet Sohi was a young social activist working in India. He was accused of being a terrorist, charged and imprisoned for 18 months.

“It was 18 months of hell, let’s put it that

way,” his brother said this week.

“Because it was just both of us and our kids here at that time. My parents were in India at that time.”

Jagdev’s wife, Rajinder, said the family lives constantly with those memories. “It’s fresh, as he said, always in our minds. We can’t forget.” Life is measured in moments and milestones.

Wednesday, when her brother-in-law joined the federal cabinet as infrastructure minister, was an important one, Rajinder said. “The first milestone for me was when he came out of the jail. That was a big thing. But this is the second one. The first one was much more important, as far as I’m concerned, because that time his life was involved.” Jagdev Sohi said he is confident his brother will approach his new job the way he has tackled all the other challenges he has faced. His brother, he said, will take with him to Ottawa “his dedication to his job and his dedication to the people.”

The Sohis are used to having a busy politician in the family.

Local Local housing market fuelled by Chinese buyers From page 1 The study found that two-thirds of all sales of detached houses in the University Endowment Lands, Dunbar and Point Grey neighbourhoods were purchased by buyers with non-anglicized Chinese names. That group purchased 88 per cent of houses priced at more than $5-million.

But further, the study found that on titles held by a single owner, the most common occupation was homemaker – 52 properties; 18 per cent were business people and 6 per cent of owners were students. And 82 per cent purchased with a mortgage. Mr. Yan acknowledged he could only deduce that buyers were purchasing with money from mainland China.

But, he argued, it’s not much of a leap, considering the median income for 25- to 55-yearolds with bachelor degrees in Vancouver is $41,981. Those dependent on the local job market couldn’t compete.

“Unless somebody tells me that it’s suddenly possible to make a ton of money selling cellphones at Parker Place Mall in Richmond, this situation is problematic for locals,” Mr. Yan said. Mr. Eby said their data are important because they support mounting evidence that foreign money has priced local incomes out of the market.“We can soon safely say we have a sense of what is happening,” he said.

Any attempt at a solution to Vancouver’s housing crisis has long been stymied by complaints that there is a lack of data to prove that foreign capital is having any real impact on the market. Premier Christy Clark has said there is no evidence that wealthy foreign buyers are driving unaffordability and therefore no reason to introduce measures such as a luxury tax. Mr. Eby noted other MLAs could also collect data to determine whether the pattern repeats itself throughout the region.

“Constituents were telling me there were a lot of houses being bought and sold in their neighbourhood, and they didn’t even see the neighbours move into a house before it was

“Sometimes, even here, we didn’t see him for weeks,” Jagdev said. “We would go to his place — our dad lives next door to him with our middle brother — and he wouldn’t see him for days. That’s how he is; he works so hard. Once he puts his mind and heart to something . . . . I’m sure he’ll be successful in this position too.”

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sold again,” Mr. Eby said. “So it makes sense to me now that we have the data, to see this astronaut family phenomenon of mom and kids being brought over from mainland China.

“The kid goes to school and dad is at home in China working and supporting the family.

Mom is only there with kids for the school year, and the house would appear to be vacant for a big chunk of year.” The data also support an extensive Globe investigation that looked at similar numbers, as well as court cases, to conclude that wealthy foreign investors were using loopholes, such as placing a house in a relative’s name, to avoid paying taxes.

The most popular lenders for the houses examined by Mr. Yan were, in order, CIBC, HSBC and Bank of Montreal. More than 80 per cent of the mortgages on the houses in the study had been given to people with non-anglicized Chinese names. As well, 19 per cent of assessments were sent to addresses other than the house’s address, suggesting that owners did not live at the houses. David Ley, a professor of geography at UBC and author of Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines, said the impact of foreign money at the high end trickles down into every market, with local buyers scrambling outward to find property within their reach, thereby driving prices throughout the region. A recent Sotheby’s report said the east Vancouver neighbourhood of Grandview has seen a 30-per-cent increase in average house prices in the past year. Also, there’s extensive anecdotal evidence from the real estate industry that foreign money has entered into markets such as Burnaby, West Vancouver, Coquitlam, South Surrey and Port Moody. A Landcor report exclusive to The Globe and Mail said that those areas had all seen price increases of 25 per cent to 50 per cent for single-family homes in the past five years. The data also support previous reports about foreign ownership. In August, MacDonald Realty reported that 70 per cent of its 2014 sales of detached houses priced at more than $3-million had been sold to buyers from China.

LOCAL

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South Asian teen was chased with a sword From page 3

running in the direction of his home and was followed by Akalirai. The two men were pursued by Dhillon and Rakhra to the front yard of a home, said Longworth. “I expect Mr. Akalirai’s friend will say that while he was in the corner of his neighbour’s yard trying to get away, Mr. Rakhra struck Mr. Akalirai with the golf club,� the prosecutor said. “While Mr. Akalirai was falling face first down on the ground, the accused Amritpal Dhillon took the samurai sword previously held by Mr. Akalirai’s friend and struck Mr. Akalirai in the back of the head, partially decapitating and almost entirely severing the upper portion of Mr. Akalirai’s head.�Police arriving at the scene found the victim lying face down in the yard. An officer kicked a knife away from his right hand. Akalirai was later pronounced dead at Vancouver General Hospital. v Dr. Carol Lee, a pathologist, is expected to testify that the victim suffered two “blunt force injuries� to the head, one to the rear of his head and one to his forehead, which fractured his skull. The

golf club is believed to have been capable of causing those injuries. Lee is also expected to say that Akalirai suffered a “sharp force injury� to his head, which severed the top of his skull and his brain. Police found a golf club inside the rear of Akalirai’s vehicle, beneath a back window that had been smashed out, said Longworth. Blood from the victim was found on the upper portions of Rakhra’s shoes and on Dhillon’s shoes, hoodie and track pants. While in police custody, Rakhra told an undercover officer that he “beat the f--- out of � the victim with a golf club and that another guy, who the Crown anticipates the evidence will show was Dhillon, “in the moment sliced his head off,� said Longworth.

The prosecutor told the jury that one of the issues will be whether the accused were acting in self-defence at the time of the attack. “The law requires the Crown to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that self-defence does not apply in this case.� The Crown is expected to call 13 witnesses during a threeweek trial.

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B.C. groups ask federal government to repeal mandatory minimum sentences

Vancouver man’s fate hangs in the balance as two British Columbian groups urge the new Liberal government to repeal mandatory minimum sentences.

Joseph Lloyd, a Downtown Eastside resident, convicted of possession for the purpose of tracking after being arrested with less than 10 grams of drugs on him, was supposed to face a mandatory oneyear jail term because of legislation enacted by the Conservative government in 2012. However, a provincial court judge declined to impose the mandatory minimum sentence on Lloyd because it could amount to cruel and unusual punishment. The federal government appealed and won, and Lloyd’s challenge against the policy is now scheduled to go before the Supreme Court of Canada in January.

Two intervenors in the case, Pivot Legal Society and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, have called on Justin Trudeau’s newly elected Liberals to repeal the policy, which they say is harmful, imposes dispropor-

tionately harsh punishments and doesn’t take offenders’ circumstances into account.

Smith said there are similar cases across

every jurisdiction in Canad. “[Mandatory minimum sentences] are bad

public policy,” said Adrienne Smith, Pivot’s health and drug policy lawyer.

Woman dead, man in hospital after being struck by car

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n 18-year-old woman is dead and a man is in hospital with a broken neck and head injuries after they were struck by a vehicle in Vancouver on Wednesday night.

Shortly before 8 p.m., a car travelling westbound on SE Marine Drive struck a woman and a man who were crossing at Victoria Drive, according to Vancouver police. After striking the pedestrians, the vehicle hit a power pole and crashed into a nearby bus stop, according to police. Both pedestrians were rushed to hospital with serious injuries, but the 18-year-old young woman was later pronounced dead, police said.

The 20-year-old man remains in hospital with a broken neck and head injuries. Police said the 54-year-old driver from Vancouver, who was not injured, remained at the scene and is co-operating with police. Her vehicle has been seized, police said. Investigators are continuing to gather evidence and speak with witnesses to determine the factors involved in the crash.

The incident is Vancouver’s 11th fatal collision this year, and the ninth involving a pedestrian.

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LOCAL

Violent crime up 40 per cent in Surrey

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Happy Diwali

Sukh Dhaliwal MP Surrey Newton

604.441.5000 | dhaliwal@sukhdhaliwal.ca

here’s new evidence the efforts to curb Surrey’s violent crime problem aren’t working. The RCMP’s third-quarter statistics show violent crime in B.C.’s second-largest city is up 40 per cent year-to-date over 2014, a spike blamed largely on warring drug dealers. “They are battling it out for territory, willing to take tremendous risks to realize their profits,” city councillor Bruce Hayne said. Those risks include committing drive-by shootings in public spaces, sometimes even in broad daylight. The statistics show attempted murders in the first nine months of 2015 were up 188 per cent compared to last year.

Other violent crimes, including robberies, sexual assaults, assaults and kidnappings, have also increased this year over last, but not as drastically. There’s good news out of Surrey as well. Mounties boast that property crime, including break and enters and car thefts, is down nine per cent overall, and that murders are down an impressive 59 per cent.

There were 17 murders in the first three quarters of 2014, and seven over the same period in 2015.

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Hayne said Surrey’s crime rates could dip further if Justin Trudeau makes good on his promise to make pot legal.

“Legalizing marijuana is going to – if done properly – take the profits out of organized crime and out of the hands of street-level drug dealers,” he said.

Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said though some of Surrey’s statics are troubling, police have made serious headway tackling the city’s crime problem.

“We’ve had all hands on deck in Surrey for some time now,” Anton said. “Those third-quarter results are better than the first quarter, they’re better than the second quarter.” But comparing just the third quarters, violent crime is still soaring over 2014.

According to the RCMP, there were about 2,000 violent crimes committed in Surrey in the third-quarter this year, compared to about 1,300 in the third-quarter of 2014.

Anton also pointed to the planned influx of 100 Mounties in the city, though the NDP noted that so far, those officers are just a promise.

“The reality is they have not arrived yet,” public safety critic Mike Farnworth said. “What people want to see are results – that means boots on the ground.”

Man killed after altercation at East Vancouver rooming house

youth has been arrested after a deadly altercation in East Vancouver early Friday morning.

Police said the victim was found unconscious and covered in blood behind the Ivanhoe Pub around 3:30 a.m. He was rushed to hospital, but succumbed to his injuries. Investigators believe the man was involved in a dispute or altercation

Happy Diwali

at a nearby rooming house overnight that spilled into the street. Several persons of interest have been taken into custody, including a youth who was arrested with bags over his hands to preserve potential evidence. Police said they are still in the process of interviewing the people in their custody.

The deceased has not been identified. His death marks Vancouver’s 14th homicide of the year.

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John Horgan

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Harry Bains, MLA Surrey-Newton

Raj Chouhan, MLA Burnaby-Edmonds

Judy Darcy, MLA New Westminster

Sue Hammell, MLA Surrey-Green Timbers

George Heyman, MLA Vancouver Fairview

Leonard Krog, MLA Nanaimo

David Eby, MLA Vancouver-Point Grey

Bruce Ralston, MLA Surrey-Whalley

Mike Farnworth, MLA Port Coquitlam

Rob Fleming, MLA Victoria-Swan Lake

Selina Robinson, MLA Coquitlam-Maillardville

Jane Shin, MLA Burnaby-Lougheed

LOCAL

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Premier and Finance Minister won’t act on report that shows Chinese buyers’ impact on Vancouver real estate

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he province has no plans to immediately act on a new report that revealed the impact of Chinese buyers on Vancouver’s expensive west side real estate market. B.C. politicians reacted Monday to research released

by Bing Thom Architects urban planner Andy Yan, whose analysis of the 172 single-family homes sold over six months in the city’s ritziest neighbourhoods for a combined $520 million found that people with non-Anglicized Chinese names bought two thirds of the homes. Homemaker was the top occupation listed by buyers of these luxury homes worth more than $1.5 million.

The case study provides some data on the controversial question of whether foreign buyers are parking cash in real estate and pushing locals out of the market.

But B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong questioned the data.

Premier Christy Clark has previously estimated that foreign buyers account for only five per cent of real estate transactions.

“We’ve got to be a little bit careful on the conclusions we draw,” de Jong said, noting its small sample size. While there’s an opportunity to share information between governments to get a more complete picture, he said, B.C. won’t decide until budget time whether it will act to cool the market with something like a higher property transfer tax on luxury properties NDP MLA David Eby, who helped Yan get the data, acknowledged the flaws with the case study, especially using names to determine where a person is from.

But Eby said the province has refused to release more accurate data it already collects.

He wants the province to start learning from other cities impacted by global wealth such as Sydney and London. “Instead of doing that, our province is insisting there’s absolutely nothing to see here and everyone should just move along,” Eby said, adding the absence of data leads to speculation fueled by racism.

Yan agrees that the province needs to show leadership and hand over more data so people

can have an educated discussion.

In the meantime, his study followed best practices using the best data avail-

able.

He was surprised to find 82 per cent of homes were mortgaged, countering the

perception that people are coming off airplanes and paying for houses with cash.

Surrey home robbed by masked intruders while resident inside

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group of masked intruders invaded a house in the centre of Surrey, B.C., in broad daylight while one of the residents was home, say RCMP. “We are thankful that the homeowner wasn’t harmed. However, being a victim of a breakand-enter is very traumatizing,” said Cpl. Scotty Schumann in a written statement.

Police say they were called to the house at 91st Avenue near 126th Street shortly after noon on Tuesday.

A 36-year-old woman told officers she had been home when, what police describe as three to seven suspects, pushed their way into the house, which they then robbed and ransacked.

Officers believe the suspects were spooked and fled out the back door when another resident arrived during the robbery.

Police say one of the suspects had a weapon, but they didn’t use it.

The residents of the home aren’t known to police, and officers say they don’t know why the house was targeted.

Anyone with more information is asked to contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.

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12 i Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •

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LOCAL

B.C.’s top doctor says flu shot policy to stay despite Ontario ruling

ritish Columbia’s top doctor says the province has no plans to reassess its mandatory “flu shot or mask policy” for health-care workers following an arbitrator’s ruling striking down the policy in one Ontario hospital. Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.’s chief medical health officer, argued the Ontario ruling has no legal implications for health-care workers in this province.

“The decision in Ontario was technically only relevant to the one hospital, the Sault Area Hospital,” he told Metro. “We don’t feel that the evidence as presented or interpreted by the arbitrator is the right decision.” Kendall’s comments come af-

ter a group of more than 100 B.C. health workers, who call themselves the “Concerned Health Care Providers,” penned an open letter calling for the provincial government to suspend the vaccinate or mask policy until it has reviewed the Ontario ruling. In September, arbitrator Jim Hayes ruled the “vaccinate or mask” policy at Sault Area Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., was unreasonable, and that it was “a coercive tool” to force health-care workers to get the flu shot. In the wake of the ruling, Saskatchewan announced vaccinations or masks for health-care workers would be voluntary this flu season in that province while health authorities review Hayes’ ruling. Alberta is also taking

Abbotsford Police investigate another shooting where victim refuses to cooperate

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bbotsford Police are once again investigating a shooting where the wounded victim is refusing to cooperate. It’s a frustrating situation, Const. Ian MacDonald said in an interview Thursday.

“When you are dealing with a situation that at the end of the day potentially involves life and death and public safety, it’s more than frustrating,” MacDonald said. “It becomes a safety risk for the community because someone who is engaging health services but is refusing to engage law enforcement.”

The 34-year-old man was taken to a local hospital by a friend about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday with a gunshot wound to his leg. Mac-

Donald said both the victim and his friend “have extensive negative contacts with police.” He also said the shooting does not appear to be linked to on-going low-level gang conflicts in either Abbotsford or Surrey.

The Vancouver Sun has learned the victim is a Fraser Valley resident involved in the street-level drug trade.

MacDonald said the APD’s major crime section continues to investigate the shooting, despite the lack of victim cooperation. “At this time it is not known where the incident took place or what precipitated it,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-8595225. Surrey RCMP has also had a string of shootings this year where wounded victims have refused to cooperate with police investigations.

Woman robbed in Surrey home invasion

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36-year-old Surrey woman was robbed in her home in broad daylight on Monday after six or seven people wearing masks barged in through her front door.

The “home invasion” happened at about 12:15 p.m., in the 12600-block of 91st Avenue.

Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann said the robbers barged in when the victim answered their knock at the door. Two of them watched over her while the others ransacked her home, stole cash and took her cell phone.

“They got quite a bit of cash,” Schumann said. Police don’t know if the robbery was targeted or random.

The robbers ran out the back door when the downstairs tenant came home. A police dog was brought in but lost the track almost immediately. “There was probably a car waiting to take them away,” Schumann said.

Police ask anyone with information to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.

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Police looking for witnesses in Hwy 99 accident

olice are searching for witnesses to a serious crash on Highway 99 near Lions Bay Sunday that shut down the roadway for hours and left two people with life-threatening injuries.

RCMP say a dark purple Honda Civic hatchback travelling northbound lost control after passing a black pick-up truck, flipped over the median, and collided with an oncoming Nissan Sentra. The driver of the Honda and a passenger, two 32-year-old women from Whistler, were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said Tuesday. The driver of the Nissan was taken to hospital with minor injuries and has since been released.

Investigators are examining whether

“speed relative to the road conditions” was a factor in the driver of the Honda losing control while she passed the pick-up.

“Speed limits are maximums in ideal conditions,” said Cpl. Ronda McEwen. “When the road conditions change, drivers must adjust their driving behaviours accordingly for their safety and the safety of all road users.” The B.C. Ambulance Service says one of the victims was in critical condition, while two others were listed as serious.

The fourth patient was described by paramedics as being in semi-serious condition.

The accident was attended to by nearly half a dozen local authorities. Anyone with information is asked to call the Squamish RCMP at 604-892-6100.

Vancouver got $82.7-M economic boost from FIFA Women’s World Cup

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usloads of American tourists crossed the border, girls soccer teams flocked to B.C. Place, locals headed to the downtown fan zone to watch women’s soccer – and the City of Vancouver cashed in on the buzz surrounding the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Hosting the festivities resulted in $82.9 million in economic activity in Vancouver and $118.8 million in British Columbia, according to numbers released by Canada Soccer on Thursday. The numbers are based on a Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model provided by the Canada Sport Tourism Alliance.

That’s a healthy chunk of the total $493.6 million in economic activity resulting from the month-long tournament across the country, and well above the estimated $36.7-million and $52-mil-

lion impact the games would have on the city and province respectively.

It’s a big return on investment. The city spent $1.2 million to build the fan zone in Larwill Park and the province invested $2 million.

Vancouver reaped the most reward out of the six host cities since it hosted nine matches including the final game between Team U.S.A. and Team Japan, according to a news release from the city that also credits its fan zone for the economic boost. The fan zone attracted more than 130,000 people on the 13 days it was open.

Ninety-nine per cent of all hotel rooms in the city were booked on the night of the championship game, a record for the hotel industry, according to the city. The quarter-final match at B.C. Place between Canada and England boasted the highest attendance with 54,027 heading to the stadium.

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Saturday, November 7, 2015 i 13

Bridge and tunnel tolling plan discriminates against parts of Metro Vancouver, mayor says

istrict of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton says a recommendation to toll bridges and tunnels in Metro Vancouver during peak rush hour times isn’t going to fly particularly well with his constituents.

“It discriminates significantly against certain parts of the region,” said Walton on CBC’s The Early Edition.

Walton was reacting to a plan put forward

by Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission that recommends cities consider congestion pricing that would see drivers pay a fee for using bridges and tunnels during peak times.

Chris Ragan, the commission’s chair, says the recommendation is based on the principle that a small price on congested road space gets people to rethink their driving habits. Reduced congestion is achieved as people drive a little earlier or later in the day to avoid tolls during peak times.

Walton said the reasoning behind the report is sound, but takes issue with the recommendation to Metro Van-

couver to toll bridges and tunnels.

“The challenge, as they identify in the report, is that the geography of most cities is unique and ours is probably one of the most problematic,” said Walton.

He says the plan ignores the fact that someone would be able to drive from Cloverdale to Tsawwassen, or from Port Moody to UBC, without paying any kind of congestion charges for example.

Meanwhile, commuters from the North Shore who rely on the Lions Gate bridge to get into downtown would be charged for using the bridge during peak hours, according to the plan put forward by the commission.

Walton is not against tolling points on some of the major highways and roads leading into Vancouver, but says figuring out where those tolling point should be requires consultation from all parts of Metro Vancouver. In order for it to work, he says the guiding principle for any congestion plan must be equity. “There needs to be a sense throughout the region that there’s something for everyone,” said Walton.

14 i Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •

LOCAL

Five years jail for Surrey drug trafficker

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man who was freed in 2010 after being charged in connection with the notorious Surrey Six murder case has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for a string of gun and drug offences committed while he was out on bail.

Sophon Sek was sentenced Tuesday on seven charges to which he pleaded guilty in early October in Surrey Provincial Court. In a joint submission made to the court, the Crown and defence recommended Sek be sentenced to six years in jail. The judge adhered to the agreed-upon sentence, with credit granted for time Sek has spent in pretrial custody, leaving five years, one month remaining.

Sek and several co-accused were charged in March with numerous restricted firearm, drug trafficking and possession offences that took place between June and September 2014 in Surrey. Sek pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance, three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking

and two counts of possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition.

On Tuesday, the court heard Surrey RCMP began an investigation into Sek in April 2013, suspecting he was a wholesale drug supplier selling to dealers out of a tattoo shop on 104 Avenue near 139 Street.

Undercover police officers made several drug transactions with lower-level dealers, but were initially unsuccessful having direct contact with Sek. While investigators collected intelligence (which led to the arrest one of Sek’s associates), it wasn’t until May 2014 that undercover officers attended an illegal after-hours club to meet Sek. One officer spoke to him and arranged to get a tattoo at his shop.

The undercover agent spoke to Sek about “other business opportunities” in Kelowna, where things were “dry,” and suggested Ketamine (a pain killer/sedative) might sell well there. The two continued to speak and meet to arrange deals, during which time Sek admitted he was on bail for another matter and didn’t need any “trouble.”

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Defence in Surrey youth soccer coach trial granted more time

urrey youth soccer oach accused of pursuing sex with a minor will not go to trial until at least January.

Proceedings against Kuldip Singh Mahal had been set to get underway last week, after an initial trial date of July 20 was postponed. According to filings for the U.S. District Court of Seattle, the jury trial is now set to to begin Jan. 19.

Mahal has been in custody south of the border since Feb. 3. On that date, a 47-year-old Surrey man was arrested at a park in Burlington after crossing into the U.S. at Blaine.

Court documents allege the accused responded to a “casual encounters” post on Craigslist in January, and communicated with what he believed to be a 12-year-old girl. However, according to court documents, all suspect communications – including sexually explicit messages and photos – were sent to an undercover agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Word of the arrest resulted in Mahal’s suspension from Surrey United Soccer Club.

A request to continue the trial at a later date was granted in an appearance Oct. 8, during which Judge Robert S. Lasnik found that denying the motion – which was submitted unopposed – would deny defense counsel “the reasonable time necessary” to prepare, and “likely result in a miscarriage of justice.”

Lasnik described the continuance as a “reasonable period of delay” that would best-serve “ends of justice.”

Disability welfare recepients to keep up to$100,000

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arents, advocates for the disabled and even the opposition critic applauded the B.C. government’s move to increase financial independence for people receiving disability assistance payments.

Social Development Minister Michelle Stilwell has announced that effective Dec. 1, recipients will be able to receive financial gifts and inheritances of up to $100,000 without affecting their monthly payments. The current lifetime limit is $5,000 per person, after which assistance payments are reduced.

Stilwell said the change affects 96,000 people in B.C. who receive disability assistance.

“It’s available to all those individuals, and of course it would depend on their personal situations, their family support, friend support, whether they’re working or not working,” Stilwell said.

“And those are definitely changes that we’re trying to encourage as well, to help individuals to get into the workforce, so they can create opportunities for themselves to earn and to save.”

The government previously raised the earned income exemption so people can earn up to $9,600 a year without reduction of their disability assistance, and has encouraged B.C. businesses to hire disabled people.

James Ho, a member of the minister’s council on employment and accessibility, called the gift and inheritance policy “a quantum leap forward” for disabled people like his son.

Kathy Bromley, a disability advocate whose daughter attends Simon Fraser University, struggled to control her emotions at a ceremony at the B.C. legislature announcing the change Nov. 5.

“Just because Shannon was born with a disability and needs help to brush her teeth and put her coat on … she needs to have a good reason to wake up every morning,” Bromley said.

NDP social development critic Michelle Mungall the change is “definitely good news” for those who can take advantage of it.

“I know with some of the families that I’ve been working with, people have come forward wanting to help them out, and they haven’t been able to because of the gift rule,” Mungall said.

“But at the end of the day, what we know is that the income assistance rates are very low, they are leaving people in poverty, and we see policies like the maternity leave clawback.”

LOCAL

B.C. teachers disciplined for pics of women

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wo teachers have been disciplined after one decided to use school equipment to snap photos of girls and women, and another showed his class an inappropriate video with a photo of a nude woman on a beach, according to the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch.

John Edward Grant Lake, a former behavioral outreach teacher in Coquitlam, has since resigned. He was disciplined after using a district cell phone to snap photos of female Grade 11 students from another school while at a Tim Hortons.

He also took photographs of school-age female students in other public places, and snapped photos of women at a public library, without their knowledge or consent.

Saanich teacher Joe Edward Winkler, meanwhile, again got in trouble for showing saucy beach-themed music videos.

He got the song from YouTube — La Mer

by Mireille Mathieu — in which still photos of women in bikinis and one photo of a nude woman lying on a beach were shown.

Winkler stopped the video after the nude image and sent an email to parents, apologizing for what he realized was an “inappropriate” video.

He had previously been suspended for showing a Christmas-themed video in class featuring four scantily clad men on the beach in 2013.

Winkler has also since resigned.

Celebrate Diwali With Free Diyas From Brita®

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his year, Brita is celebrating Diwali with you by including two handcrafted diyas in every limited-edition Brita Diwali pitchers.

There is no better décor in Diwali other than dazzling diyas. Every diya included is unique and comes in over 80 different design themes.

Furthermore, in recognition towards the South Asian commu-

to tap water, which is vital in preparing your flavourful refreshments and feasts. Test results show that Brita pitcher water filtration systems reduce the common contaminants chlorine

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• Diwali Special •

Saturday, November 7, 2015 i 15

One-in-50-million delivery of identical triplets in Kamloops

dentical triplets have been born in Kamloops, B.C., something doctors say happens once in every 50 million births. Mahalia and Mike Meeuwsen of Salmon Arm welcomed their three baby girls on Tuesday at Royal Inland Hospital.

They were expected to make their debut on Nov. 16 but complications with the pregnancy meant a scheduled caesarean section had to be done earlier. The triplets were conceived naturally without the use of fertility drugs. Mom and all the babies, who were born about eight weeks premature, are said to be doing well. The infants are expected to remain in the neo-

(taste and odour), copper, mercury and cadmium. It also helps the environment by reducing waste that ordinarily ends up in landfills. One Brita® filter can replace up to 300 standard 500ml plastic water bottles.

Brita® has a range of products including filtering bottles, all of which are BPA free that ensures your access to cleaner, better-tasting

Mahalia Meeuwsen and her husband Mike stand in their nursery, which will soon be home to their identical triplet girls, who remain in hospital. water compared to tap water at home or on the go. When it comes to changing, their advanced pitcher filter is twice as fast compared to previous Brita filters, with no pre-soak required. It is guaranteed to work in all Brita pitchers, including the limited edition Brita® Diwali Grand Pitcher in a festive colour, a perfect duo for a Diwali gift. Learn more at brita.ca/diwali

Injured in an accident?

ICBC claim? nity, and to celebrate Diwali, Brita was the presenting sponsor of the Festival of Lights. They gave away more than 4,000 diyas to visitors, as well as complimentary water refreshments to keep guests hydrated.

“Brita is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the Festival of Lights.

We’re ecstatic and grateful to spend this festive season with Canada’s vibrant South Asian community. This Diwali, Brita is offering colourful, festive pitchers with limited-edition packaging along with two free handcrafted diyas. “We hope to help South Asians celebrate traditions in what might be a new home in Canada, or to pass customs onto the next generation for families that have called Canada, home for years,” said Sarah Au, Brand Manager, Brita, Clorox Company of Canada. Diwali pitchers come in three festive colours – red, purple and green, matching all your Diwali decorations. “These colourful Grand Pitchers hold up to 10 cups of water -- perfect for making tea/ sherbets or serving filtered water to all your guests,” said Sarah.

Besides using Brita for beverages, you can use it directly in cooking or washing ingredients. By filtering tap water, you’re improving the quality of the most basic ingredient in cooking. You will be surprised at the difference good quality ingredients can make. “Water is already engrained into your routine whether it is drinking it at the gym, cooking for your family or making your morning tea or coffee. Brita makes tap water taste better. “We want to celebrate Diwali with you and your family but also help in your everyday routine,” Sarah added. Brita filters ordinary tap water into cleaner and better-tasting water compared

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16 i Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •

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LOCAL

Plastic bag ban considered by Victoria city council

he City of Victoria is considering banning stores from providing single-use plastic bags to their customers. On Thursday, council voted 7-1 in favour of having staff look into a possible ban and report back within a month. The motion was originally proposed by councillors Ben Isitt and Jeremy Loveday.

“Plastic and plastic bags are a major source of pollution of local waterways, also the marine e c o s y s t e m ,” Isitt told B.C. Almanac guest host Michelle Eliot.

“Moving away from the ecological benefits, there’s cost savings to municipalities not having plastics clog up our storm drains and our pipes, and other civic infrastructure.” Isitt and Loveday’s motion also suggested that council invite public comment on the proposed bylaw, and that Mayor Lisa Helps write to the mayors and councils in the 13 municipalities within the Capital Regional District to suggest they also ban plastic bags. ‘A piece of garbage’

“We think there’s a right that whenever you go shopping, you have to leave with a piece of garbage — that piece of garbage being a bag,” said Isitt.

“You don’t need a piece of plastic that’s going to take hundreds of years to break down, just to go shopping.”

Isitt said that the motion was initiated by efforts from the Vancouver Island chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, “which has put a lot of work into cleaning up local beaches and waterways.”

With the majority of council supporting the decision for staff to look into a possible ban, Isitt is hopeful.

“It’s passed it’s first hurdle. The big decision, I think, will be when that report comes back,” he said. First in B.C. Isitt said there are five Canadian municipalities that have eliminated single-use plastic bags: Wood Buffalo in Alberta (which includes Fort McMurray), Thompson and Leaf Rapids in Manitoba, and Huntingdon and Deux-Montanges, Quebec.

Diwali at SFU

SFU President, Andrew Petter, (right) and former judge, Wally Oppal (third from right) at SFU’s 8th annual Diwali gala held in Surrey on November 3.

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Sex offender’s move to Abbotsford has been met with fierce opposition from residents

ames Conway is living in, alleging the residence is being used “outside its permitted zoning use.” “Our primary concern is public safety and it is the first consideration in any actions that may be

info@eyelevelrichmond.com www.eyelevelrichmond.com

undertaken,” said Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun in a written statement.

The mayor said the city has been in touch with the property operator and cor re c t iona l services and is “actively working toward a solution.” Conway, 40, has been convicted three times for sexual offences perpetrated against children. He also has other convictions for arson and mischief. He had previously been living in Surrey, but moved to Abbotsford after violating the terms of his release by sitting next to a teenage girl on a bus. Conway’s move to Abbotsford was met with hostility from hundreds of residents who rallied against his release in the community.

The halfway house where he’s living was damaged by vandals in September, causing part of the ceiling to collapse.

Court documents filed by the city say the halfway house is only zoned to operate for agricultural or residential uses.

According to the documents, the city had demanded the halfway house be shut down, but the operators refused to do so.

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PICS Friends donate $25,000 for PICS Multicultural Extended Care Home for Seniors

urrey - Five long-time friends of Gill, CEO PICS. Land for PICS MulticulPICS have once again generously tural Extended Home for Seniors has been donated $5000 each towards PICS acquired in Cloverdale and professionals Multicultural Extended Care Home Projhave been hired to do the initial groundect which will be built in Cloverdale. work. PICS is urging the entire commuThey are Gur Dhami $5,000 Nahar Dhesa - $5,000 Hardev Grewal - $5,000 Gurdeep (Balli) Mundi - $5,000 Nahar S. Dhesa (first from left), Gurdeep (Balli) Mundi (2nd from left) handing out Bhalinder $5,000 checks to PICS CEO Charan Gill. The other donors were unable to come to the ceremony last week. Also seen in the picture is member of PICS Board of Directors, Mundi Sarwan Randhawa (3rd from right). $5,000 An extended care home for seniors nity to support and generously donate providing culturally sensitive services is towards the cause. urgently needed in the community and To donate or for more information about PICS is working hard to give to our ailing the seniors home call 605-596-7722 or seniors a home where they can live with visit www.pics.bc.ca dignity and respect. “My sincere thanks to these individuals who have contributed to this cause. Taking care of our parents is one of our foremost duties and PICS is trying hard to ensure that our community gets an extended care home for our seniors where they can live comfortably without any cultural barriers,” said Mr. Charan

Gunshot wound sends man to Abbotsford hospita

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34-year-old min an Abbotsford hospital Tuesday night with a gunshot wound to his leg, according to police.

The man was reportedly driven there by a friend.

The Abbotsford police’s major crimes unit is now investigating.

Police tried to find out more details from the man, but said Thursday they still were not sure when or where he was shot, or what happened in the lead up to the incident.

“Both the victim and witness are from areas outside of Abbotsford and have extensive negative contacts with police,” the Abbotsford Police Department said in a statement.

Similar incident in August This is not the first incident this year where a man turned up in an Abbotsford hospital after being shot in the leg.

In August, a 23-year-old man was treated for injuries after reports of shots fired in the 30700 block of Sandpiper Drive.

Police said at the time the man was uncooperative, and that they believed the incident was related to an ongoing youth conflict in the city.

Although police have said the man in this latest incident had “extensive negative contacts” with authorities, it’s not clear if his injuries are linked with any other gun violence in the city.

Abbotsford officials have been trying to deal with an escalation of violence this year that police have linked to drug and gang connections.

In September, 74-year-old Ping Sun Ao was hit and killed by a stray bullet meant for someone else.

• Diwali Special •

Saturday, November 7, 2015 i 17

Massey Tunnel replacement project FOI returns ‘no records’

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n the heels of a stinging report

by B.C.’s privacy commissioner about the triple deletion of provincial government records related to the Highway of Tears, a Delta man is wondering what happened to information on the George Massey Tunnel replacement decision. Ian Robertson, a retired professional engineer, wanted to know how the government chose a bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel over the four other options that were on the table.

Premier Christy Clark made the bridge announcement at the 2013 Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, but when Robertson filed a freedom of information request he was stunned with the response that “no records were located.”

“Humourously I speculated that maybe the premier made the decision in the midst of

her morning shower on the way to UBCM because she didn’t have anything else to say,” said Robertson.

The 10-lane bridge will replace the congested 60-year-old tunnel between Richmond and Delta along Highway 99. Construction is slated to begin in 2017 and will cost an estimated $3-billion.

“This is a multi billion dollar project,” said Robertson. “They’re going to replace a four lane tunnel with an eight to 10 lane bridge so someone has to have done some thinking at some point somewhere along there to get there.” Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington said she was also told there were “no records” after her office made an FOI request to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for ten years of records relating to the Massey Tunnel replacement project.

18 i Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •

Happy Diwali

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www.theasianstar.com Vol 14

Issue 41 Saturday, November 7, 2015

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eepawali or Diwali is certainly the biggest and the brightest of all Hindu festivals. It’s the festival of lights (deep = light and avali = a row i.e., a row of lights) that’s marked by four days of celebration, which literally illumines the country with its brilliance, and dazzles all with its joy. This year Diwali falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2015. Each of the four days in the festival of Diwali is separated by a different tradition, but what remains true and constant is the celebration of life, its enjoyment and goodness.

The Origin of Diwali Historically, the origin of Diwali can be traced back to ancient India, when it was probably an important harvest festival.

However, there are various legends pointing to the origin of Diwali or ‘Deepawali.’ Some

DIWALI SPECIAL

Diwali: Festival of Lights believe it to be the celebration of the marriage of Lakshmi with Lord Vishnu.

Whereas in Bengal the festival is dedicated to the worship of Mother Kali, the dark goddess of strength.

Lord Ganesha, the elephantheaded God, the symbol of auspiciousness and wisdom, is also worshiped in most Hindu homes on this day.

In Jainism, Deepawali has an added significance to the great event of Lord Mahavira attaining the eternal bliss of nirvana. Diwali also commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshman from his four-

teen year long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst crackers.

These Four Days Each day of Diwali has its own tale, legend and myth to tell.

The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the second day of Deepawali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees.

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Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the tyrant Bali, and banished him to hell.

Bali was allowed to return to earth once a year, to light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and ignorance, and spread the radiance of love and wisdom. It is on the third day of Deepawali — Kartika Shudda Padyami that Bali steps out of hell and rules the earth according to the boon given by Lord Vishnu.

The fourth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj) and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes. The Significance of Lights & Firecrackers All the simple rituals of Diwali have a significance and a story to tell. The illumination of homes with lights and the skies with firecrackers is an expression of obeisance to the heavens for the attainment of health, wealth, knowlContinued on page 3

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Scientist turned benefactor visits Surrey and Vancouver

r Naurang Singh Mangat, a former Professor and renowned Scientist, who has been looking after the homeless, destitute, disabled, blind, mentally sick, orphans and the poor sick people in India for many years, will be visiting Surrey-Vancouver from November 6 to 16. He will be staying at Canadian Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Surrey. Former Professor and Scientist of Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, University of Windsor, and Morrison Scientific Inc, Calgary and Fellow of Royal Statistical Society of London (UK), Dr Mangat is a founder of the home for homeless registered Charity “ Guru Amar Das Apahaj Ashram” located near village Sarabha in Ludhiana District. Besides publishing about 60 research papers in Statistics and related fields in the world famous journals of USA, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and India, he is a co-author of an expensive internationally used textbook “Elements of Survey Sampling” published by Kluwer Academic Publishers based in Dordrecht (Netherlands), London (UK) and Boston (USA) but now owned by Springer –Verlag Publishers of Germany. For many years, Dr Naurang Singh Mangat pedaled his bicycle on the roads of slum areas in and around Ludhiana

city to help the homeless sick people lying on the roadsides crying for help. He used to pick up the disabled and sick people from the footpaths and roadsides and take them to hospital for treatment and pay their expenses. Sometimes he had to even stay in the hospital to look after them.

His determination, sincerity, continuous hard work and unflinching belief to help the needy ultimately led to building the two storey institute “Guru Amar Das Apahaj Ashram”.

Now more than 25 homeless, mentally sick, disabled and elderly sick people are living in the Ashram permanently. All the inmates are provided food, clothes, medical help and nursing care – all free of cost.

The number of inmates is increasing every month. The second storey of the building is near completion. On completion of the remaining two more floors, the institute will be catering to hundreds of such needy people in the future. Dr. Mangat can be

On

Remembrance Day 2015 Teachers and students will be honouring sacrifices of the past and working for peace in the future.

reached at his cell phone 403-401-8787, or email nsmangat14@hotmail.com.

For more information one can click on www.apahajashram.org

Diwali: Festival of Lights edge, peace and prosperity. According to one belief, the sound of fire-crackers are an indication of the joy of the people living on earth, making the gods aware of their plentiful state. Still another possible reason has a more scientific basis: the fumes produced by

the crackers kill a lot of insects and mosquitoes, found in plenty after the rains.

The Tradition of Gambling The tradition of gambling on Diwali also has a legend behind it. It is believed that on this day, Goddess Parvati played

We are all enriched when we share in one another’s cultural traditions.

A message from the Surrey Teachers’ Association

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY DIWALI

Hon. Deepak Obhrai, P.C. Member of Parliament -Calgary Forest Lawn

THANK YOU! It is an honour and a privilege to represent you in the 42nd Parliament of Canada.

As I said in the Alberta Grade 9 Social Studies textbook where I am profiled: “the constituents come first”.

My office is always there to assist you with federal government services. Please contact me or my staff anytime.

Constituency Office:

A message from the Surrey Teachers’ Association

Radisson Centre Suite 225, 525-28 Street SE Calgary, Alberta. T2A 6W9 Tel : 403-207-3030 Fax : 403-207-3035

Email:

Deepak@Deepakobhrai.com Website:

www.Deepakobhrai.com

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Rona Ambrose named interim Conservative leader

ona Ambrose is the interim leader of the Conservative Party.

Ambrose was elected by the Conservative caucus Thursday afternoon. The former health minister from Sturgeon River-Parkland, Alta. was first elected in 2004.

“I’m very excited with the amount of respect and trust they’ve put in me,” Ambrose told the press.

“We have an incredibly strong, confident party. We feel very optimistic about the next election and have every intention to come back into power.”

Ambrose indicated she has no intention to run for the permanent leadership position.

Public Service Announcement Program Launch: Workplace Integration for Mature Immigrants (WIMI 45+) If you’re an immigrant, 45 years or older and you want to get back into the job market then PICS has the program for you. Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) Society is launching a new employment program called Workplace Integration for Mature Immigrants (WIMI 45+). This program partners with local community and business employers, to generate job placements for participants. To qualify for this program, you must be:  An Immigrant (either a PR or a Citizen) 45 years or older.  Unemployed or underemployed @ less than 20 hours per week  Non – EI receiver and out of School

Legally entitled to work in Canada  Job ready, committed and dedicated to finding a Job  Living in Mainland and Southwest of BC In this program, you will: Conduct assessment on Career Exploration Enhance your employment skills Learn Life Skills Enrich your job search experience Get Short Term Training Pair with a Mentor of your original profession Get job placement assistance  Establish Work Action Plan

      

The first session starts on November 2, 2015 at PICS Surrey Head Office located at #205 – 12725, 80th Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3W 3A6. For more information contact K. C. Chau at 604.596.7722 ext. 117 or via email at kcchau@pics.bc.ca

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Former prime minister Stephen Harper resigned as leader of the party on election night, after the Liberals won a sweeping majority. Harper, who won his seat in Calgary Heritage, said he intends to stay on as a backbencher.

“We’ve got make sure we’re prepared to welcome the next leader with money in the bank and a rejuvenated volunteer base, and a caucus that is united and reinvigorated and empowered, so that when a leader takes over, things are in the best possible position to take us into the next election and continue to take on Justin Trudeau in the Commons,” Ambrose said after Harper resigned as leader.

Trudeau tells Liberal MPs to be a ‘strong voice’ for constituents

rime Minister Justin Trudeau had some advice for the 183 Liberal MPs elected to the House of Commons, a day after the new leader and his cabinet were sworn in at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

“I need each and every one of you to remember one thing,” said Trudeau as he met with his caucus for the first time since forming a majority government.

“Regardless of the committees you’re on, the roles you have, regardless of party demands, and the partisanship that will continue to exist in this House … your one job, that you cannot ever forget, is to be a strong voice in service of the people who sent you here from your constituencies.”

In keeping with his promise to be

more accessible, Canada’s new prime minister was seen openly walking about Parliament Hill as reporters did their best to keep up with him.

“You didn’t expect me to slow down now that I got the big job, did you?,” joked Trudeau.

The Liberal leader held his first caucus meeting moments after the party made its first announcement, restoring the mandatory long-form census which the Conservatives scrapped five years ago. “We committed to a government that functions based on evidence and facts, and the long-form census is a really important part of making sure that we’re actually serving our constituents,” said Trudeau on Thursday.

Mandatory long-form census restored by new Liberal government

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he Liberal government is reinstating the mandatory long-form census that was scrapped by the Conservatives five years ago. “We need good, reliable data,” said Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains, who made the announcement on Parliament Hill. Bains could not say what the penalty would be for refusing to fill out the compulsory questionnaire, but said there will be a “robust” communication plan. The vast majority of Canadians understand the importance of this

data and want to participate in the process, he said, noting that 93.5 per cent of the population filled out the forms last time.

The data is invaluable for everyone from city planners and provincial governments to businesses and non-government organizations, Bains said.

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos said Canadians are happy to fill out the long form because they understand it is critical to the well-being of the country.

POLITICS

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From teenage refugee to rookie MP: Ahmed Hussen

expectations are likely trailing e’s young and well-spomany MPs to Ottawa this week. ken. He has a telegenic There are 29 Liberal MPs who are family. He’s captured the born outside Canada, a record excitement of voters. And no, he’s not number in government. Judging Justin Trudeau. He’s Ahmed Hussen,

by Hussen’s experience, the mantle a 39-year-old newly minted Liberal comes with a double challenge of elected in York South-Weston, Onrepresenting a community’s hopes tario Liberal MP. And while he shares while navigating all the unfamiliar some attributes with the prime minishurdles of being a new MP. What’s ter-designate, Ahmed Hussen has had Ahmed Hussen the budget? How quickly can he a remarkably different path to power. set up a constituency office and He arrived in Canada as a teenage refugee from hire staff? Where can he find wreaths for the Somalia. Just don’t call him a token Somali.

“I’m a mainstream guy,” Hussen said. “I’m two Remembrance Day events he’s to attend’?

The demands are piling up. “There’s a lot not limited to my community. “I mean, of pride but a lot of pressure and expectations everyone has a heritage, but we have a shared citizenship, right?” Still, watching the excite- because then people say, ‘Well, now you’ve got ment surrounding Hussen during a recent visit to solve the problem for 200,000 people,’ which to a café in his Toronto riding of York South- is not the case.” Still, it seems Hussen plans Weston, it’s clear that many Somali Canadians to draw on his background in the days ahead. see his background as hugely important and He has called his mother, who lives in Kenya, inspirational. “For Somali youth, it will be a for advice. “She said, you know, ‘Don’t forget new day,” said Ahmed Abdi, a supporter. “May- who you are, and don’t forget where you come be our youth (will) follow him and have hope from.’ So, pretty good advice.” they can be something in Canada.” Such high

Trudeau’s electoral reform plan needs to ‘get going’

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Parliament to return on December 3

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Liberal government to act fast on tax relief, Syrian refugee plan

he new Liberal government will move quickly on key promises, including tax relief for middle-class Canadians and an expedited plan to bring in thousands of Syrian refugees. Parliament will return on Thursday, Dec. 3, with a speech from the throne to follow the next day, government House leader Dominic LeBlanc announced after the cabinet’s first meeting. A series of ministers were grilled by reporters on everything from pulling out of the military mission in Iraq and Syria to when marijuana will be legalized, to whether Canadians can expect a fall fiscal update. Most declined to divulge specifics until they have been briefed by senior departmental officials.

But Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum confirmed that bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees by year’s end remains a “firm objective” of the government. He said it will require an

“all-of-government” approach. He said he will work with his counterparts in Defence, Health and Public Safety to map out a course of action. The federal government will also partner with provincial and municipal governments, non-government organizations and international institutions, McCallum said.

New Treasury Board President Scott Brison said the former Harper government “gratuitously” attacked the public service and that Liberals would restore a “culture of respect.” Minister Justin Trudeau and his 30 new ministers met in Centre Block to map out the government’s priority agenda, just hours after being sworn in at Rideau Hall.

Trudeau was officially sworn in as Canada’s 23rd prime minister at Rideau Hall, the Governor General’s official residence in Ottawa. An estimated 3,500 people turned out watch it unfold on large screens set up on the grounds.

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Canada under Conservatives was the freest and most tolerant nation in the world, study finds

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94% of Canadians believe that they have the freedom to choose the course of their own lives.” The finding offers a sharp contrast to the portrait of the Conservative government in the closing weeks of the election, when the country was pictured as an increasingly paranoid, intolerant, unfriendly place bent on keeping out migrants, discriminating against refugees and imposing intolerable demands on ethnic groups.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

ARE YOU

ustin Trudeau has pledged that 2015 would be the last time Canadians elect a federal government using the firstpast-the-post system. But if the prime minister-designate is truly committed to electoral reform by the next election, the clock is ticking. While it may not seem like one of his more pressing issues, Trudeau has said he would introduce legislation on voting reform within 18 months of forming a government, based on the recommendations of an all-party parliamentary committee to study alternative voting systems, including proportional representation and ranked ballots. That timeframe may be overly ambitious, suggests David McLaughlin, who was deputy minister to the New Brunswick Commission on Legislative Democracy.

McLaughlin figures it would take at least a year to conduct that kind of a review, with a countrywide referendum possibly following in the second year. And that doesn’t include the time it would take to actually pass the leg-

t comes a little late for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, but Canada has been named both the freest and most tolerant country in the world. It’s also one of the most prosperous and best-run, and trails only Australia in education. The latest accolade for Canada comes from a London-based think tank, The Legatum Institute, which publishes an annual “prosperity index.” Canada scores well overall – in sixth place out of 142 countries – but excels in the categories of personal freedoms and openness. Though always near the top of the order in the seven years the index has been compiled, the last year of the Conservatives’ mandate coincided with its rise to first place as “the freest country in the world.” Canada, the report notes, “is the most tolerant of immigrants – 92% of people think the country is a good place for immigrants. It is also the fifth most tolerant of ethnic minorities…

• Diwali Special •

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Matrimonial

JOBS

Parents looking match for their Canadian 27 year old very handsome, jat sikh boy, 5’9”, graduate , well establisehd businessman.

Girl must be well cultured, educated, Canadian citizen or permanent resident .

Contact after 6pm 604-598-1987 - 778-387-1672

using woodworking machines, power tools and hand tools; Build exterior doors, interior doors, custom doors with jams; Install hardware such as hinges, handles, catches using hand tools and power tools; Repair doors & replace panels of doors.

Job requirement: High school with 2-3 years of experience.

Trade certificate will be considered as an asset. If interested send resumes by email at westerndoormanufacturing@gmail. com ------------- September 5, 2015

JOBS Vacancy for In-home Caregiver Balwinder Singh Singhmaar, resident of 15095 92Ave, Surrey, BC V3R 5V8 has a vacancy for Inhome Child caregiver for infant child and 9 years old son. Full Time, $10.45/hour, 40 hrs/week.

Applicant must have high school with minimum of one year of related experience within last three years or six months of full time training in caregiving.

Job Duties includes Supervise and care for children, prepare formulas and change diaper of infant, feeding, bathing, dressing, prepare children for rest period, escort child to school, prepare and serve nutritious meal and snacks, accompany to and from activities & appointments, light housekeeping, laundry, maintain safe environment at home, keep record of day-to-day activities, health and progress of children.

Send resumes by email at balwinderssinghmaar@gmail.com -------------- Oct 31 2015

Western door manufacturing Ltd. located at #109-8250 124Street, Surrey BC V3W 3X9, has an immediate vacancy of Carpenter. We design and manufacture high end solid wood exterior doors, solid wood interior doors and custom doors.

Full time permanent job position with wages of $25per hour.

35 to 40 hours per week.

Job Duties includes Read & interpret drawings & sketches to determine specifications; Estimate height, width, length, & other proportions; Measure, cut, shape, & assemble materials

“Balwinder Singh Singhmaar, resident of 15095 92Ave, Surrey, BC V3R 5V8 has a vacancy for In-home Child caregiver for infant child and 9 years old son. $10.25/hrs, Full Time, 40 hrs/ week. Applicant must have high school with minimum of 1 year of related experience within last 3 years or 6 months of full time training in caregiving. Job Duties includes Supervise and care for children, prepare formulas and change diaper of infant, feeding, bathing, dressing, prepare children for rest period, escort child to school, prepare and serve nutritious meal and snacks, accompany to and from activities & appointments, light housekeeping, laundry, maintain safe environment at home, keep record of day-to-day activities, health and progress of children.

Optional accomodation is available at no charge but this is not a condition of employment” -------------- August 13 2015 Jun13_155 Long Haul Truck Drivers Reqd. Sal:$23.00/hr, 40hr/wk, +1yr exp. & Class A 0r 1 license reqd., FT/PT Duties: Operate, drive straight or articulated trucks to transport goods & materials on local routes or over long distances.Plan trip logistics & obtain required documentation to transport goods.Perform pre-trip & post-trip inspection of vehicle systems.Record cargo information, hours of service, distance travelled & fuel con-

CLASSIFIEDS

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JOBS

sumption.May perform emergency roadside repairs. Lang: English.

Work at various location in Canada & USA. Contact: Balwinder from Metro Transport ltd.12772 82nd Ave, Surrey, V3W 3G1 E-mail your resume at metro_transport@ yahoo.ca.

------------------------------Jun13_15

1 Optical Frame Fitter Reqd.

Sal: $22.00/hr, 40hr/wk, +1yrs exp. or certification reqd., FT/ PT Duties: Obtain specifications for eyeglasses or contact lenses from a prescription. Assist clients in selecting eyeglasses. Grinding & polishing of lenses. Cut & edge lenses & fit lenses into frames. May supervise or manage activities of other opticians. Lang: English. Location: 12841 96 Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3V 6V9 Contact: Imran from Eye See 2020 Optical at opt_eyesee@yahoo.ca.

------------------------------Jun 06_15 Dosa Corner Restaurant Ltd in Vancouver Looking to hire an authentic south indian chef .

This is a full time permanent position. $18.50/hr. 40hrs/week. Must have at least 3-5yrs experience in south indian cuisine & specialized knowledge in Dosas.

Duties include Prepare & cook meals.kitchen management. Plan menus & quality. Orders food supplies. Mail your resume to selvamm164@ gmail.com or apply by person at DosaCorner Vancouver. 110-8248 Fraser Street.

Vancouver. B.C.. V5X 3X6 Ph: 604-324-3672.

-----------------------------------Seamstress required Seamstress (Tailor) needed Foam & Décor is looking for Full Time or Part Time Seamstress ( tailor) for drapery in Surrey.

Salary will be provided @ 12 per hour. Please call 604-594-1882 Mayuri Indian foods inc is looking to hire an Ethnic Food Cook in Surrey BC. F/T & Perm.$17/hr.

Must have at least 2-3 yrs experience in South Indian cuisine & specialized knowledge in Indian

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spicing. Duties: Prepare & Cook meals; Supervise Kitchen helpers; Plan menus; Ensure quality & determine food proportions; Monitor & order food supplies; Set up & oversee buffets; Manage kitchen operation. Mail resume or apply by person Mayuri indian cuisine , Unit 102A,12677 80th Ave., Surrey BC V3W 3A6 Fax: 604-572-3281 ------------------------------------English Classes for Adults Register for classes September 2-8 For more information,Visit: www.victoryesl.com Call: 604.755.7976 E-mail: victoryesl1@gmail.com ---------------------------Cook Require Curry junction Restaurant in White Rock need cook immediately, This is a full time permanent position for a experienced person, Depending on experience salary will be upto $21 per hr. with other benefits. Call:604729-6741 or 604-385-1558 ---------------------------Transworld Security located at 2nd Floor, 5050, Kingsway, Burnaby BC V5H 4H2 is looking for a Static Guard, Static Guard Supervisor, Mobile Supervisor and Field Manager.

These are permanent full-time positions. Static Guard pay rate is $13.00 per hour plus vacation pay. You would be required to patrol industrial and commercial premises to prevent and detect signs of intrusion and ensure security of doors, windows and gates.

Answer alarms and investigate disturbances. Monitor and authorize entrance and departure of employees, visitors and guests. Call police or fire departments in cases of emergency. Circulate among visitors, patrons and employees to preserve order and protect property.

Static Guard Supervisor pay rate is $14.00 per hour plus vacation pay. You would be required to oversee and super-

S vise Static Guards. You will need to ensure the duties of the Static Guards you supervise are being completed and the client’s needs are being met. Field Manager pay rate is $18.00 per hour plus vacation pay. You would be required to report to the Director of Operations and you are responsible for supporting, mentoring and supervising the security officers in the field. You will be required to manage the company’s field operations and resources after business hours. Mobile Supervisor pay rate is $18.00 per hour.

You would be required to provide ongoing leadership, direction and training. You need to ensure all standing orders and scheduled daily activities are carried out for each shift. You will be required to discipline staff when necessary and ensure proper documentation is passed onto head office.

You will have to investigate alarm responses and respond in a timely manner. You will need to communicate any concerns/issues with Site Supervisor/ Coordinator.

The above opportunities suit candidates willing to travel all over the lower mainland and from Squamish to Hope. We also have opportunities in Edmonton, Alberta.

Minimum qualification for these positions are completion of secondary school and BST Justice Training of BC. Past experience is preferred but we are willing to train candidates who show eagerness to learn. For more information please visit our website at www.transworldsecurity.ca.

Please email you resume to hr@ transworldsecurity.ca.

-------------------------------------

To PLACE YOUR AD IN THE ASIAN STAR CLASSIFIEDS Section Please

Call: 604-591-5423

COMMUNITY The Global Hindu Foundation with support of SMH will celebrate Diwali -the Festival of Lightson November 9,2015 at Main Cafeteria from 1.00-2.30 PM. The guests will be served with sweets and snacks. This celebration is in the true spirit of multiculturalism and interfaith of Canada. ALL ARE WELCOME. For further information call to Acharya Dwivedi-604 507 3099 or Deepa Sharma 778 388 9024 ------------------------------South Asian Seniors - Clinical Prevention Workshop, 8th Nov. 2015, 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm.

Vedic Seniors Parivar Centre of Vedic Hindu Cultural Society Surrey invites South Asian Adults/ Senior members as well as non members to attend Clinical Prevention Workshop presented by Dr. Virendra Sharma MD, MPH, Project Coordinator with Fraser Health Authority on November 8th 2015 ( Sunday ) from 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm at Shanti Niketan hall of Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple 8321 - 140th street Surrey BC. There will be questions & Answers session after the workshop and you can ask questions about Clinical Prevention. Tea and light snacks will be served after the workshop is over. Please contact Surendra Handa Coordinator Tel. 604 - 507 - 9945 for further information.

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Public Notice

All foreign governments may deny visa or entry into country on Non-machine readable passports’ with effect from 24.11.2015 because of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s(ICAO) decision to entirely phase out all ‘Non-machine readable passports’ by 24.11.2015.

Accordingly, Indian citizens residing in India and abroad with handwritten passports as well as 20 year validity passports, valid beyond 24.11.2015 are advised to apply for re-issue of passports in order to obtain ‘Machine readable passports (MRPs) before 24.11.2015 to avoid any inconveniences in obtaining foreign visa or immigration problem.

Schedule of Consular Camps ------------------------------Surrey - 1st November 2015 Col. Darshan Singh Sidhu, Indian Ex-Servicemen Society, Surrey, 201-8212-128 Street, indianexcervicemen@yahoo.com darshansidhu08@gmail.com 6045963327 -----------------------------------Vancouver - 1st November 2015 Mr.Kuldip Thandi, President, Ross St. Gurdwara 6047196800 kdsross@live.com ----------------------------------------Kamloops - 25th October 2015 Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kular, President, Sikh Cultural Society, kal@topdriver.ca Cell:2503768285 ------------------------------------Abbotsford - 8th November 2015 Mr. Jatinder Singh Gill Recording Secretary, Heritage Gurudwara, Abbotsford Bhajan Singh Toor 6048647700 kds@canadiansikhheritage.ca -------------------------------------------------------------Free English for the Workplace Classes at PICS PICS’ new Project Based Language Training Program (PBLT) is now offering free English classes for the Labour Market. It helps immi-

grants overcome language barriers that hinder new immigrants’ path to employment. The priority for this project is to attach clients to Labour Market and help them actively seek employment or prepare them to enroll in a training course or move to an enhanced Labour market program.

Students will learn and develop soft skills, job search, resume writing, interview skills, networking and much more. To avoid disappointment, please register for classes by calling 604-5967722 ext 138 ASAP. Free Childminding on site.

• Diwali Special •

----------------------------------------------------------Free Community Workshops & Activities November 2–8 Free Drop-In English Conversation Circle for Temporary Foreign Workers Meet new people and give support to your fellow TFW’s. Ask questions about housing, health, and employment concerns.

Mondays, 6:30–8:30pm until December 14 MOSAIC Vancouver Community Room, 1720 Grant St 604 254 9626 ext 487

Good News!

Good News!

Saturday, November 7, 2015 -----------------------------------------Public Speaking Without Panic: Learn Effective Strategies to Communicate with Confidence Learn strategies and techniques for building self-confidence to communicate your ideas and opinions in a group setting. Tuesdays, 6–8pm until November 10 1522 Commercial Drive, Vancouver 604 254 9626 -----------------------------------------------English Conversation Circle for New Westminster Newcomers

Good News!

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24 hours medical facility Mobile medical unit with a qualified doctor Guided tour to all the Gurudwaras Fully A/C Coaches for land travel in Pakistan Bottled water will be provided all the time.

22nd November: Arrival from India to Lahore Lunch and shopping.

23rd November: Day visit Kartar Pur, Rorri Sahib, Chaki Sahib and Lallo de khoi 24th November: Day visit to Dera Sahib and other Gurdwaras, shopping 25th November: Move to Nankana Sahib for Celebration stays overnight 26th November: Arrival Serena Hotel Faisalabad and rest.

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Toronto, Vancouver house prices still soaring, stats show

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enchmark detached home is $1.2M in Vancouver, while average detached runs $1.07M in Toronto Canada’s two hottest housing markets are seeing house prices escalate into record territory in October — a time when real estate sales typically slow down. The average price of a detached house in Toronto has risen by 12.5 per cent in the last year to reach $1.07 million in October. In Metro Vancouver, the price spike was even steeper, with the benchmark price for a detached house 20.1 per cent higher than it was a year ago — now nudging $1.2 million.

The strongest price rises were seen among low-rise and detached homes in both marketsVancouver home prices are seeing the greatest escalation in every segment, driven by a shortage of houses to buy. The benchmark price of an apartment property is up

11.4 per cent over the last year to $425,800 and the price of an attached unit increased 9.3 per cent over the year to $526,700. Vancouver house price increases have been picking up speed all year. For October, Toronto condo apartments are up a more modest 4.2 per cent in price to $406,790, while the average townhome rose 11.2 per cent in the last year to $579,350. Low mortgage rates are luring buyers into the market, even as the price of homes becomes increasingly prohibitive, especially for first-time buyers. October home sales in Metro Vancouver soared by 19 per cent to 3,646 and Toronto sales rose by 3.4 per cent to 8,804. Demand outstrips supply “Home sales are more than one-third above what’s typical for this time of year, yet the supply of homes for sale is the lowest we’ve seen in five years,” said Darcy McLeod,

Business / Finance

Canada’s richest 1% earned $454,800 average in 2013 and paid $151,900 in tax

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anada’s richest one per cent of tax return filers saw their share of the country’s total income remain the same in 2013 and their average total income grow by the same amount as everyone else’s.

Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that the top one per cent of tax filers received 10.3 per cent of the nation’s total income in 2013, the same amount as the previous year.

To be considered in the top one per cent of tax filers, a worker had to earn $222,000 in 2013. That group included 264,030 people across the country.

To be included in the top five per cent, the income cutoff was $115,700, while to be in the top 10 per cent required $89,200.

The average income for a mem-

ber of Canada’s one per cent was $454,800 — an increase of $5,600 compared to the previous year.

The average one percenter paid $151,900 in income taxes that year, an increase of $3,000.

The top one per cent of tax filers paid 20.3 per cent of federal and provincial/territorial income taxes in 2013, unchanged from the previous year.

Women made up 21.9 of Canada’s top one per cent of tax filers in 2013, a percentage that has increased for 20 consecutive years.

Across the country: • Ontario had the most members of the one per cent at 41.2 per cent of the total, or 108,830 people.

• Alberta was next at 23.6 per cent.

Business / Finance Changes to taxes 1st priority as Bill Morneau takes finance portfolio

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ne of the first priorities for Bill Morneau, Canada’s new finance minister, will be to revise Canadian tax law to reduce taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest taxpayers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked that a new tax law be ready by Jan. 1.

The Liberal Party’s election campaign also promised a slew of personal income tax changes, including ending income splitting for families with children under 18 and revamping the limits on Tax-Free Savings Accounts, which would need to be drafted

quickly to apply in 2016.

Trudeau’s choice for the job of enacting those changes is Toronto Centre MP Morneau, the former head of a human resources company and one of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s advisers on the Ontario Pension Plan “We campaigned on the real challenges facing middle-class Canadians.

We went around the country telling people that we wanted to deal with the fact that middle-class people and families have financial challenges,” Morneau said.

WestJet plans new fees, despite record profit Despite posting record profits, WestJet Airlines says it is eliminating free checked bags on all economy fare flights to Europe and sun destinations starting early in the new year.

The Calgary-based airline announced Tuesday that a new, $25 baggage fee will apply to new economy bookings for flights as of Jan. 6.

• OTHER BUSINESS NEWS | University of Calgary, Enbridge deny interfering with academic freedom • OTHER BUSINESS NEWS | Alberta economy, low dollar hits Calgary’s home reno industry on 2 fronts WestJet (TSX:WJA) will also raise fees for some reserved seating, with the increases ranging between $10 and $20 for exit rows on flights longer than 300 miles (some 500 kilometres) with the amount

determined by actual distance flown.

The two initiatives are expected to generate $15 million to $25 million in additional annual revenue.

Chief executive Gregg Saretsky said the charges are in line with those of competitors and support the airline’s strategy of keeping fares low and allowing passengers to pay only for the services they want.

“With airfares that start at $299 to Europe from Toronto, for example, we’re not going to apologize for charging $25 for a first checked bag,” he said during a conference call to discuss WestJet’s third-quarter results.

“These fares are significantly lower than the market has seen and we’re very proud to be bringing our brand of low cost to these markets.”

Surrey City Council is pleased to wish you and your family a very Happy Diwali!

• Diwali Special •

Saturday, November 7, 2015

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Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •

Radicals unite on Sarbat Khalsa, put up tough challenge for SAD

olitical battle lines are clearly drawn “If the jathedars do not step down on their with the war for supremacy over the own, the new jathedars will start a mass religious and political leadership of contact programme, which will continue till the Sikhs reaching crucial phase. Almost all Baisakhi. We are hopeful that with the mass Panthic organisations have now regrouped support earned by the jathedars appointed by under one banner by pushing the Khalistan Sarbat Khalsa, the incumbent jathedars will agenda in the background, and are ready to have no option but to step down,” said a sewage a war against the Akali Dal. The organisations are determined to hold Sarbat Khalsa in Amritsar on November 10 where they are likely to announce the names of jathedars for Akal Takht, Takht Kesgarh Sahib and Takht Damdama Sahib. The framework for appointing the jathedars, their tenure, remu- Bhai Mohkam Singh (3rd from left) and SAD (A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann along with other Sikh leaders at a press neration to be given to them conference in Chandigarh and the system of removing them will also be placed before the sangat for nior convener of these radical groups. their endorsement and approval.Sources said Sources say the names being considered while the new jathedars would be announced, for the jathedars are former Chief Minister there would be no confrontation with the in- Beant Singh’s assassin Jagtar Singh Hawara, cumbent jathedars, Giani Gurbachan Singh, former Akal Takht Jathedar Ranjit Singh, Giani Mal Singh and Giani Gurmukh Singh. Baljit Singh Daduwal, Bhai Pinder Pal Singh,

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Cops ‘acted’ against complainants in ‘bir’ theft case

s there a list of six persons with the Faridkot police and district administration, who are believed to have stolen a “bir” of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village? If Jaskaran Singh Kahansinghwala, an activist of SAD (Amritsar) is to be believed, residents of the village had zeroed in on six persons who could have stolen the holy book, which includes a religious man in the village,

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PUNJAB

Rahul meets families of firing victims in Punjab

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learly aimed meet the family of at getting poanother victim in Belitical mileage hbal Khurd village. against the ruling ShiRahul was accomromani Akali Dal-BJP panied by Punjab alliance government Congress putting up in Punjab, Congress a united show with vice-president Rahul state Congress presGandhi arrived in Faridident Pratap Singh kot district on Thursday Rahul Gandhi meets family of Gurjeet Bajwa, former chief to meet families of two minister and deputy Singh Bittu, who was allegedly killed victims of police firing leader of the Conby police firing. last month. Rahul, who gress in Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh, arrived in Kotkapura town earlier, visited the Punjab Congress legislature party leader house of police firing victim Gurjit Singh in Sunil Jakhar, Indian Youth Congress PresSarawa village first. He spent over 20 minutes ident Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and with the victim’s family. He then headed to former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

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Sack Jathedars, Taksal chief tells Sukhbir

he Damdami Taksal (Mehta) has advised the government to remove Takht heads to check the prevailing unrest in the state. Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal today held a closed-door meeting with Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Dhumma at the taksal headquarters here.

Though Sukhbir refrained from divulging details of the meeting, Dhumma said things

2 get 20-years jail for raping minor

dditional District and Sessions Judge Gurjant Singh on Wednesday sentenced two youths to a rigorous imprisonment of 20 years each after the prosecution proved them guilty of abducting and raping a minor girl, then studying in Class VIII, on October 3, 2014, in the district. As per details, Harvinder Singh and Gurdeep Singh, both residents of Melak Akalian village of Dharamkot sub-division, abducted the minor girl from a marriage cer-

emony being held at the village on October 3 last year and then raped her. Later, when she cried for help, the locals rescued her. The two accused youths fled from the spot at that time but were later arrested by the police. A case under various Sections of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was registered against them on October 5, 2014, at the Kot-ise-Khan police station.

The medical examination of the girl proved that she was sexually abused.

went out of control when Akal Takht granted pardon to the Sirsa dera head. It was the second meeting of Deputy CM with Dhumma, who is said to be close to the Badal family.

Dhumma said Sukhbir had been told to comply with the orders of Panj Pyaras and terminate the services of five Sikh high priests.

Dhumma said: “I have suggested the Deputy CM to replace the jathedars of three Takhts that are governed by the SGPC. This would not only provide some consolation to the Sikh masses but also tone down the agenda of the proposed Sarbat Khalsa, reducing the chances of further confrontation. Sukhbir has assured to review the suggestions.” Sukhbir today visited two popular deras in Doaba region. At Rampur Khera in Garhdiwala, the dera of Sant Sewa Singh, who had quit as vice-president of Sant Samaj to express resentment over sacrilege incidents, Sukhbir held a close-door meeting with the head for about two hours. The Deputy CM later went to the dera of Nihang Nihal Singh Harian Welan Wale at Chabbewal.

fOOD INDIA

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• Diwali Special •

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Top IPL official Sundar Raman resigns in scandalgal betting and match-fix-

ndian Premier League chief operating officer Sundar Raman has resigned amid a corruption investigation, a top cricket official has said.

Sundar Raman met Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials in the western city of Nagpur to submit his resignation, reports say.

He had been the chief operating officer of the IPL since its inception in 2008.

Raman is being investigated for alleged involvement in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal. He denies wrongdoing.

“Yes he [Raman] has submitted his resignation to the BCCI president and the BCCI president has accepted it,” IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla said.

In July, the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings teams were found guilty of ille-

ing by a panel appointed

by India’s Supreme Court.

The Royals’ co-owner Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan of the Super Kings were also suspended from all cricket-related activities for life.

The three-member panel had said the two teams were suspended to protect “the integrity of the game”.

The IPL is one of richest sports league in the world, but has been mired in controversy in recent years over corruption.

BCCI president Shashank Manohar had hinted at the possibility of Raman’s exit in July. “Raman should have gone immediately after the Mudgal Committee report found him prima facie guilty of wrongdoings. He ought to have stepped down immediately at that time.

Uber taxi driver given life term for rape

Achicken (no butter) Masala

Ingredients • 250g boneless chicken • 2tbsp rapeseed oil • 1 medium red onion • 3 large tomatoes • ½ cup cashew nuts • 100g tomato puree • 1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves • 100ml low fat cream • 1tsp garam masala • 1tsp red chilli powder • 1tbsp ginger- garlic paste • 2tbsp thick low fat yoghurt • salt to taste

n Indian court has senagainst the service in a US court, tenced an Uber taxi drivwhich was later settled out of court. er to life imprisonment Yadav, who was wearing a white after he was found guilty of raping a checked shirt, wiped away tears as female passenger last year in Delhi. the judge read out his sentence, the Shiv Kumar Yadav (pictured) longest possible jail term for rape. was also convicted of criminal in“He will serve regressive impristimidation and kidnapping. The onment, which shall mean impris26-year-old woman was taken onment till natural death,” judge to a secluded area and raped after booking Procedure: Kaveri Baweja told the court in Delhi. Yaa journey homethe with Uberwith in December.

Marinate chicken the ginger garlic paste andDK theMishra, yoghurtsaid for 20 min. soak dav’s lawyer, would ap- the cashew in warm water for 15 minutes.chop the onions and tomatoes. Heat 1 tbsp Delhi later banned and sev-in the hot oil for 1 minute on eachhe oil to a pan. sear theUber chicken pieces side to court. a golden colour. remove the chicken pieces. in the same pan, add 1tbsp oil and the chopped peal against the sentence in a higher eral other taxi firmspink. forAdd the tomatoes, red chili powder, garam masala powder and cook on medium flame till the tomatoes are tender (approx. 4-5 onions.web-based saute till a translucent “My client is innocent,” he told reporters. The many minutes). months, remove accusingfrom them of failflame and run in a blender with the soaked cashews issue of sexual assault has been high to onmake the a smooth paste. return to the pan and add the tomato puree. Bring to a boil and add ing tothe carry out pieces. adequate driverforchecks. chicken simmer 4-5 minutes till the chicken is cooked.

Add the low fat cream and simmer for 2 minutes. Broil the fenugreek leaves on a pan. crush the agenda in India since a 23-year-old student The fenugreek company apologised forthe thecurry incident leaves over andatremove from fire. serve hot. the time and acknowledged that it “must do was gang-raped and murdered on a bus in better”. The woman had also filed a lawsuit Delhi in December 2012.

Your favourite butter chicken but without the butter and added calories!

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• Diwali Special •

Saturday, November 7, 2015

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Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •

INDIA

India unimpressed by ban on LeT

ndia today appeared unimpressed by the move of the Pakistan government prohibiting publicity of banned terror groups, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba, through electronic media. An effective action would have to go beyond this, it said.

“We have seen media reports that Pakistan’s electronic media regulator has imposed a ban on the publicity of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) through electronic media.... effective action by Pakistan in this regard will have to go far beyond proscribing their publicity through electronic media,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup. Assert-

ing that a complete and enforceable ban on these organisations by Pakistan was long overdue, the spokesperson said the relevant notification and its implications needed to be studied. “At first sight, it does appear that it is a ban merely on publicity through electronic media,” he said. The spokesperson said India’s stand on the need for Pakistan to act on its oft-repeated assurances to end all terrorism emanating from the territory under its control, including the terrorism directed against it, was well-known. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has issued a notification prohibiting TV channels and FM radio stations from covering all 72 groups banned under UN restrictions.

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Chhota Rajan deportation from Bali to India delayed by ash cloud

he deportation of an alleged Indian underworld don has been delayed by the closure of airports on Indonesia’s Bali island due to volcanic ash, police say.

He was due to be deported on Tuesday, but reports now say he will be deported on Wednesday. Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, also known in India as Chhota Rajan or “Little Rajan”, is accused of multiple murders and has long been wanted by police. Ni-

kalje was detained when he flew into Bali airport from Sydney last month.

Police acted on a tip-off from the Australian police who say had been living there under a different name.

Nikalje, 55, is wanted in the western Indian city of Mumbai in connection with at least 17 cases of murder. Interpol’s website states that Nikalje was born in Mumbai, and is wanted on multiple charges including murder and possession and use of illegal firearms.

30% of Bihar candidates face criminal charges Political parties, including the BJP, may have promised a clean, corruption-free government to voters, but the fact of the matter is, as many as 1,038 (around 30%) of 3,450 candidates contesting in Bihar have criminal cases against them, as per their own admission. The only silver lining, if it can be called that, is that the number of candidates with criminal record has gone down marginally from last time the state polled. During 2010, of the 3,058 candidates analysed, 986 (32%) had declared criminal cases against them-

selves, says the Bihar Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The ADR, which has analysed affidavits for all 3,450 candidates contesting in the Bihar, says that 796 (23%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping and crimes against women. A total of 62 of 157 BJP candidates, 41 of 101 JD-U candidates, 47 of 101 RJD candidates, 12 of 41 Congress candidates and 212 of 1,150 Independents have criminal cases against them

NRI

India sends most migrants to OECD Both the countries of origin (where people emigrate from) and the profile of migrants has changed significantly in recent years. India now tops the list of countries of origin for recent as well as highly skilled migrants to member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The 34 OECD

member countries include the European countries, USA, Canada and Australia. Indians also constitute the fourth largest diaspora in OECD countries, according to a report released on Tuesday. India accounted for 8.95 lakh recent migrants above the age of 15 in OECD countries during 2010-11.

NRI artist Anish Kapoor will now appear on the British passport

9687 - 120 St., (Scott Rd.), BC

UK’s minister for immigration James Brokenshire announced at the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on Tuesday that the new passport which will be issued from next month will celebrate Britain’s creative industry over the ages. The latest design will feature British cultural icons such as William Shakespeare, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace and Anish Kapoor.

The pages will also depict landmark structures like the Angel of the North and the Titanic Belfast. UK launches a new look passport every five years. Passport

Office Director General Mark Thomson said the new United Kingdom passport celebrates the creativity of Great Britain and Northern Ireland over the past 500 years to the present day. Kapoor is now Britain’s most sought after modern artists who were recently honoured with knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in her birthday honours list 2013 for services to visual arts.

The 60-year-old became the first living British artist of Indian origin to take over the Royal Academy in 2009.

FIJI

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Opposition attacks PM’s environment strategy

nvironment Shadow Minister Niko Nawaikula has criticised Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama for singling out Australia’s emissions instead of focusing on what could be controlled such as Fiji’s mandated reporting obligation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intentional Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).

Mr Nawaikula was responding to a special plea made by the Prime Minister in Nadi on Wednesday night

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Saturday, November 7, 2015 i 31

Bachelors on the rise in rural areas

oncerns have been raised by a school manager in the Seaqaqa district regarding the increasing number of bachelors in villages around the district. Speaking to Minister for Education Dr Mahendra Reddy on Saturday, Seaqaqa district representative to the District School Managers council meeting Solomoni Naqoli said they needed single female teachers as there were a lot of bachelors in their village.

Mr Naqoli told Mr Reddy most of the female teachers transferred to their school were married.

“There are a lot of male bachelors in the village and we need to get them

married off,” he said. “It is very difficult to find matches for these men.”

Responding to the concerns, Dr Reddy said he was aware of the same trend at Coboi Village in Bua. “In the village of Coboi, a total of 30 young men between the ages of 20 and 30 are still single and finding matches,” he said.

“This is becoming a serious problem in our rural settlements and communities.”

On a lighter note, Dr Reddy said most of the married had difficulties in having children because they were spending less time with their wives and most of their time with friends around the yaqona bowl.

Government job cuts

review of the Public Service Commission is expected to affect at least 120 workers, who may have to look for jobs elsewhere. Some workers have confirmed receiving letters last week on the decision by Government.

The Fiji Public Service Association said it was also informed of the restructure and review through a letter from the PSC Permanent Secretary, Parmesh Chand, on October 29.

FPSA general secretary, Rajeshwar Singh said the letter explained the review.

He said the Government had determined the PSC functions were not required and did not meet the provisions of the Constitution.

Instead, a new Ministry of Civil Service, with different functions specifically tai-

lored to supporting devolution would

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when he urged his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull to make good on his strong stand in favour of deep and binding cuts to carbon emissions.

In his closing speech at the Pacific Technical and Ministerial Consultations on Strengthening Climate Change Resilience through Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health meeting at the Sofitel Resort and Spa, Mr Bainimarama said Mr Turnbull should not do deals with those who enabled him to gain his high office and betray his principles and position.

• Diwali Special •

be created from January 1 next year.

Mr Singh said the letter also stated the Government’s intention to maintain employment where possible including the possibility of transferring some functions to other ministries. For these functions, staff members will transfer with their positions.

A Transition Unit is also being established in the new Ministry of Civil Service to manage the transition of functions and staff members.

Staff members not transferred with their current functions to another ministry will move to the unit from January 1, 2016.

Staff members whose contracts end during 2016 will remain in the Transition Unit until the end of their contracts or when they secure a job in another ministry.

Nurses receive back pay

urses who were not paid overtime since June are now smiling after Government finally approved payment of their overdue earnings.

The Fiji Nursing Association has confirmed that nurses have received part of their overtime salary payment last week while the rest is expected to be part of their next salary.

General secretary Salanieta Matiavi said their fight was finally over.

“We raised this issue with our minister and our nurses will be partly paid this week and the rest will be paid in the next pay,” she said.

In August, health sector workers had raised serious concerns with the Confederation of Public Sector Unions af-

ter an internal circular (09/2015) from the Health Ministry in June informed health workers that the 2015 budget provision had been exhausted which led to overtime payments being ceased.

They had called on Government to honour its commitments to workers and pay overtime rates to all health workers such as nurses and paramedics.

The circular from the ministry also stated management would monitor all overtime work for Government wage earners and established staff to avoid unnecessary claims for payment.

Supervisors would also need to ensure that individuals complete work targets during official working hours and overtime only be undertaken out of necessity rather than to complete normal work.

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PAKISTAN

32 i Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •

Gov’t bans media coverage of Jamaat-ud-Dawa

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ov’t has banned media coverage of Hafiz Saeed led Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization as part of a crackdown on terrorism, media reports said.

Interior ministry has imposed a ban on the media coverage of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniyat (FIF) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) under the National Action Plan (NAP), ARY News reported.

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has also issued the notification in this regard.

It was not clear whether the move was linked to Prime Minister Nawz Sharif ’s assurance to US President Barack Obama last month to take “effective action” against UN-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including LeT and its affiliates, as per its international commitments and obligations under UN Security Council resolutions.

The National Action Plan was devised in

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January this year in the wake of the Peshawar Army Public School massacre in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed. In the aftermath of the attack, the government and military had decided to carry out operations in the tribal areas and take action against all terrorist organisations and their facilitators across the country.

The United Nations declared Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) a terrorist organisation and also individually designated Saeed as a terrorist in December 2008. The United States has already put $10 million bounty on the head of Saeed. Saeed, who orchestrated the November, 2008, Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed, roams around freely in Pakistan despite being a designated terrorist and has made many anti-India remarks and speeches. Pakistan has said that there is no case against Saeed and that he is free to move in the country as a Pakistani national.

Woman ‘set on fire for refusing marriage proposal’ dies

woman died after a rejected suitor set her ablaze for refusing his marriage proposal, a doctor said.

Sonia Bibi, 20, was admitted to Multan hospital last month, where she told police that her former lover Latif Ahmed had doused her with petrol and set her alight after she turned down his proposal.

Medical staff had originally said she would recover, but a doctor in Multan’s Nishtar hospital told AFP that Bibi’s injuries had become infected and that she died on Tuesday morning.

About 45 to 50 percent of her body had been burned in the attack, doctor Naheed Chaudhry, the head of the

hospital’s burns department told AFP. The incident took place in a remote village of Multan district in central Punjab province. Police have arrested the 24-year-old suspect.

Bibi had told police that she had fallen out of love with Ahmed, and preliminary investigations suggested he had set her on fire “after she refused to marry him”.

Hundreds of women are murdered in Pakistan each year in cases of domestic violence or on the grounds of defending family “honour”.

The Aurat Foundation, a campaign group that works to improve the lives of women in Pakistan’s conservative and patriarchal society, says more than 3,000

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‘False impression in Pakistan over India’s approach to dialogue’

ndian high commissioner T C A Raghavan, speaking at a seminar here on Indo-Pak relations on Tuesday, said that India and Pakistan should try to have a “relationship with multiple stakeholders, rather than seeing it in identity-driven, mythological terms.”

KARACHI: There is a false impression in Pakistan and its media that India does not want dialogue between the two countries, the Indian envoy here said, dismissing claims that India has a “flip-flop” approach in its foreign policy.

Indian high commissioner T C A Raghavan, speaking at a seminar here on Indo-Pak

relations on Tuesday, said that India and Pakistan should try to have a “relationship with multiple stakeholders, rather than seeing it in identity-driven, mythological terms.”

The seminar titled “India-Pakistan — emerging realities” organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations was attended by diplomats from India and Pakistan.

Dismissing former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri’s assertions at the seminar that India has a flip-flop approach in its foreign policy, Raghavan said, “There is a false narrative in Pakistan about India, accompanied by demonisation in the media, that India did not want dialogue between the two countries.”

10 injured as plane makes emergency landing

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yre of a plane burst during an emergency landing at Lahore airport.

The Karachi-Lahore flight NL-142 of Shaheen Airlines, carrying 276 passengers, made an emergency landing at Lahore airport. The injured were provided with immediate medical treatment. None of them was in critical condition, the sources said. The tyre of the aircraft burst due to a fault in the land-

ing gear. The aircraft skidded off the runway after the tyre burst. Fear and panic gripped the passengers, who were evacuated through an emergency gate. Pakistan’s airline industry has been tarnished by a string of tragic accidents in recent years. In April, 2012, all 127 people aboard a Bhoja Air Boeing 737-200 plane were killed when the flight from Karachi airport crashed five kms from Islamabad.

Pakistan again rakes up Kashmir issue at Uinted Nations

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nited Nations: Raking up the Kashmir issue at the UN, Pakistan repeated its call for Security Council resolutions to be implemented in the state and said fulfilling promise of self-determination to the Kashmiri people is “indispensable” to establishing lasting peace and stability in South Asia.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi said that the right to self-determination must be exercised freely without use

of coercion or repression, “for instance under foreign occupation” and the legitimate struggle of peoples for self-determination cannot be obfuscated or cast aside by deliberately trying to conflate it with terrorism.

“In my region, South Asia, the decades old dispute of Jammu and Kashmir needs to be resolved in accordance with these fundamental and universal principles,” she said in a statement to the Third Committee of the General Assembly on ‘Right to self-determination’

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SOUTH ASIA

India continues to be top fuel supplier to Nepal

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nperturbed by Nepal’s fuel pact with China, India continues to supply at least a third of the Himalayan nation’s daily fuel demand through alternative routes after the main transit point on Nepal-Bihar border was blocked by protesters. State-owned Indian Oil Corp is using alternative entry points to Nepal from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal to reach 32-35 per cent of Nepal’s daily requirement of 6,612 kilolitres of petrol, diesel, kerosene, ATF and LPG, IOC Chairman B Ashok said here. “We are continuing to supply fuel to Nepal. Obviously there are some difficulties not because of us but because of political protests on their side which has led to choking of the Raxaul-Birgunj border crossing (Indo-Nepal),” he said.

Trucks carrying fuel are being sent from Baitalpur near Gorakhpur, Gonda and Banthra in Uttar Pradesh as well as Siliguri in West Bengal. IOC supplied close to 80 per

cent of the 1.1 million tons of fuel to Nepal through the Raxual border. But this main border crossing between Nepal and India has been closed due to weeks of violent protests by ethnic Madhesis against the newly adopted Nepalese Constitution.

Truck tankers that carry fuel to Nepal are owned by the national oil company of the Himalayan nation and they have not been able to cross border to reach IOC fueling depots.

“Ultimately, trucks will have to reach us.

The protests have meant that their (Nepali) trucks are not able to reach our depots. We are ready to supply any quantity of fuel but we do not own the trucks. Their trucks have to reach us. When they do we immediately fill them and they transport it back,” he said.

Last week, Nepal, which had to ration fuel supplies due to shortage created because of protests, signed an agreement with China to import gasoline (petrol), diesel and cooking gas (LPG).

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Bangladesh writers stage freedom rally despite fear of attack

,000 Bangladeshi authors and teachers marched through the streets of the capital on Tuesday, asserting their right to free speech days after a suspected Islamist group attacked writers and publishers critical of religious militancy.

Bangladesh is in the throes of a violent struggle between hardline groups bent on turning the Muslim-majority nation into a sharia-based theocracy on the one hand, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina determined to root out extremism on the other.

Bangladesh is in the throes of a violent struggle between hardline groups bent on turning the Muslim-major-

ity nation into a sharia-based theocracy on the one hand, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina determined to root out extremism on the other.

On Saturday, a publisher was hacked to death in his office in Dhaka by men wielding sharp weapons, hours after similar attacks on two writers and another publisher.

Despite the climate of fear caused by the attacks that follow the killings of four secularist bloggers this year, writers turned out in large numbers for the rally in Dhaka.

“No one is safe. First they killed bloggers. Now they are targeting publishers. Soon they will attack anyone who is progressive-minded,” said Khaledur Rahman, an author who is himself facing a death threat.

A branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attacks but police said they had not been able to verify that claim.

Police joint commissioner Monirul Islam said investigators were looking closely at a home-grown group called Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) as the latest attacks bore the hallmarks of earlier killings of bloggers for which it took responsibility.

The little-known Islamist group wants sharia rule in secular Bangladesh and has vowed to kill critics of extreme Islam.

“They just tell these youth that the bloggers are the enemies of Islam. Nobody has read the blogs. They just blindly follow what the ABT says,” said a police investigator.

UN advisers raise alarm at hatred against Muslims in Myanmar

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wo UN special advisers expressed alarm Wednesday at reports of increasing advocacy of religious hatred against Muslims in Myanmar, especially ahead of upcoming elections.

Two UN special advisers expressed alarm Wednesday at reports of increasing advocacy of religious hatred against Muslims in Myanmar, especially ahead of upcoming elections.

The advisers warned in a joint statement that such advocacy by religious leaders, religious groups and political parties may constitute incitement to violence and is prohibited by international law.

Adama Dieng, the adviser on the prevention of genocide, and Jennifer Welsh, the adviser on the protection of civilians, said the electoral process leading to Sunday’s election has further marginalized religious minorities, especially the Rohingya Muslims who have been stripped of their voting rights and barred from running for Parliament. The advisers urged Myanmar’s government to publicly condemn and counter any speech that incites discrimination, hostility and violence based on religion or ethnicity. They urged the people of Myanmar to use the elections to show the country’s potential ``to be a nation of tolerance and peace.’’ The predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million started transitioning from dictatorship toward democracy in 2011, putting in place a nominally civilian government that won international praise for quickly implementing political and economic reforms. Many have since stalled.

• Diwali Special •

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36 i Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Diwali Special •