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Brahmins demand reservations

     Jaipur: Brahmins attending the Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Sammelan in the Pink City have demanded reservations in line with what is given to India's less deprived social classes to reap the benefits of economic emancipation. Rejecting the historical "Varna" system for the first time in which they were tasked with the sole responsibility of reading the scriptures and performing the role of priests, the Brahmins said they now wanted reservations not on the basis of caste, but on the basis of economic conditions. This is the first Brahmin Sammelan in the country ever and around three thousand Brahmins from all over the country are participating in the event. The Brahmins felt that as a race they are being betrayed by the politicians for the sake of votes, and as a result, they have been left far behind in terms of modern benefits and amenities. According to official statistics, India's Brahmin population is an estimated 5 crore of the country's total population. According to them, there are only 31 members of Parliament that belong to their community, which they say is miniscule to the ratio of Brahmin population.

Another gas pipeline blown up in Pak (Go To Top)

     Karachi: The lull in Pakistan's Balochistan province finally seems to have broken with unidentified saboteurs blowing up a 20-inch diameter pipe supplying gas to Karachi at the Garhi Hasan Canal. According to the Daily Times, the incident took place around kilometres northwest of Shikarpur in Sindh, en route to Pakistan Petroleum Limited's Sui Gas Purification Plant in Balochistan and destroyed a six-inch portion of the line on the Sindh-Balochistan border, causing a 10-foot deep ditch. Police officials, who claim that the blast only damaged a reserve pipeline, have nevertheless started a search operation and arrested several suspects. "The blast only damaged a reserve pipeline and it has failed to disrupt the gas supply," Sukkur District Police Officer Din Muhammad was quoted as saying.

Sexual abuse of kids by clerics rampant in Pak (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: A non-governmental organization has in a report stated that as many as 44 schoolteachers and 25 clerics in Pakistan sexually abused their pupils last year. According to the Daily Times, the report published by the NGO Sahil has revealed startling figures of as many as 1,567 cases of child sexual abuse, against 1,194 girls and 373 boys in Pakistan in 2004. Officials believe that the number of unreported cases is many times more than the reported cases. The report states that out of the total cases of sexual abuse, as many as 1,234 were reported in Punjab, 292 in Sindh, 25 in federal areas, nine in the NWFP and seven in Balochistan, adding that 31 policemen abused children in 2004 with the total number of abusers numbering 2,876. "Individuals belonging to teaching and police wield a great power, influence and authority on children and also in society," the paper quoted the report as saying. The report states that the element of sanctity in professions like religious teaching also prevents the disclosure of the crimes. Last year, 661 children were abducted, 177 molested, eight murdered after being molested, 364 raped or sodomised, 58 raped or sodomised and murdered, 264 gang raped or gang sodomised and 35 children were gang raped or gang sodomised and murdered, adding the children were mainly murdered because the abusers had feared the children might identify them, the report adds. Failure in sexual assaults also led to murders in some cases, the report further adds. Although the age of 871 children who had suffered from sexual crimes was not reported, 59 cases involved children below five years of age, with the remaining between six to 18 years of age.