Indian Woman Jumps From Train

A young woman is in hospital in critical condition after throwing herself off a moving train in an attempt to escape molestation. It’s the latest in a number of incidents that have exposed the vulnerability of women in India.

The 25-year-old woman jumped from the carriage of a moving train after allegedly being molested by a soldier. The attack occurred on Thursday while the train was en route from Darjeeling to Delhi. The man groped her after she had visited the lavatory. After pushing him back, the woman jumped from the Brahmaputra Mail line train. The mother of two is being treated in hospital in the city of Patna.

“Her condition continues to be critical. A team of doctors is treating her. She has suffered injuries to her head and legs,” a police official told the IANS news agency.

 

A member of the Assam Rifles paramilitary force has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

It comes just weeks after a 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped on a bus in Dehli, while her male companion was severely beaten. She later died from her injuries in hospital.

The male companion has revealed more details of the tragic event. He recounted that in the immediate aftermath of the rape, no one responded to their cries for help.

Police and passersby left the mortally injured female student lying naked and bleeding for almost an hour.

“We kept shouting at the police, ‘please give us some clothes’ but they were busy deciding which police station our case should be registered at,” the Zee News network reported on Friday.

The allegations were denied by Joint Commissioner of Police (South West range) Vivek Gogia. Citing electronic logs and data from GPS tracking devices, Gogia said that police had received a report about two people lying on the road in a pool of blood at 10:21p.m.

Less than ten minutes later, two patrol vehicles arrived at the scene, with one leaving to carry the pair to a hospital at 10:39pm, the commissioner said. It took the van 16 minutes to reach the hospital.

The police official also said that no argument over jurisdiction occurred between the officers at the scene.

The rape case has resonated with the population as hundreds of thousands took to the streets to voice their anger over the attack and the lack of police response. The crowd demanded punishment for those responsible, as well as new laws to protect Indian women.

The rapists have been arrested. Five of the men detained have been indicted with gang rape and murder, and are likely to face execution. They will face a specially-established fast-track court on Monday. A sixth male is under 18 and will be judged in a juvenile court, despite the victim’s family’s plea for an adult trial, as he is believed to been the most brutal of the attackers. The victim’s father has also demanded new legislation on sex crimes to be named in honor of his daughter.

In an effort to provide more protection on transport routes and deter gangs operating on trains, India’s inspector general said the railway police have stepped up patrols. In 2012, police apprehended nearly 15 gangs and recovered 15 weapons from trains.

The problem of sexual violence against women appears to touch all levels of Indian society, as on Thursday the ruling Congress party in Assam state suspended a politician accused of rape. Police claim that Congress leader Bikram Singh Brahma was visiting the village of Santipur when he entered a local house and raped a woman at 2am. The villagers later attacked the politician and captured the footage on tape.

New Delhi has an infamous reputation as India’s rape capital, seemingly confirmed by a report in the Hindustan Times that documents more than 20 rape cases in the city since December 16th, the day of the rape and brutal murder of the 23-year-old medical student.

Source: RT

Pakistan avalanche brings call for glacier demilitarization

By Faisal Mahmood and Salman Rao

GYARI, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan’s army chief on Wednesday made a rare call for the demilitarization of the world’s highest battlefield after touring the site of an avalanche that buried 129 Pakistani soldiers near the border with rival India.

General Ashfaq Kayani was speaking 11 days after a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near the Siachen Glacier in the disputed Kashmir region was engulfed by up to 80 feet of snow. Eleven civilians were also trapped.

The tragedy has revived criticism of the 28-year conflict over the glacier, which critics say is futile.

Kayani, arguably the most powerful man in Pakistan, said the standoff has been costly in many ways, from defense spending to the environmental impact of deployments in the area.

“I think this is one good enough reason that this area should not be militarized,” he told reporters in the northern town of Skardu after viewing the avalanche site with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari from a helicopter.

Generals have ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 64-year history, through coups or from behind the scenes.

They set security and foreign policy, even when civilian governments are in power, as is the case now. Military spending consumes just over 17 percent of the state budget.

Rescue efforts were still under way near Siachen, with workers pushing through snow, mud and boulders using heavy machinery, life-detection equipment or even their gloved hands.

Brigadier Saqib Malik, the Siachen brigade commander, said a 200-feet deep mix of snow, ice, boulders and small rocks have covered the headquarters.

Highlighting the constant dangers of operating in the forbidding expanse, he instructed reporters to drop their equipment and run to a safe spot if avalanche warning whistles are heard.

The army has listed the names of the missing soldiers and civilians on its public relations website. There have been no death announcements and the military says it will not abandon the search and rescue effort.

“We will continue to make all efforts. Whether it takes 10 days or 10 months or if it takes three years, we are not going to give up on this,” said Kayani.”If we have to dig out this mountain, we’ll dig it out.”

Siachen is in the northern part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir. The no-man’s-land is 20,000 feet above sea level.

Military experts say the inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain have claimed more lives than gunfire.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is at the heart of hostility between India and Pakistan and was the cause of two of their three full-scale wars.

Indian and Pakistani troops in Siachen have fought at altitudes of over 20,000 feet in temperatures of minus 60 degrees Celsius.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 Indian and Pakistani troops are stationed in the mountains above the glacier.

Although Kayani stressed that it was the duty of Pakistani soldiers to defend their country no matter how harsh the conditions, he also said a political solution was needed to end disputes like Siachen.

“It is for the leadership of both countries to find a solution,” he said.

“We hope and we wish that the issue is resolved, so that both countries do not have to pay this cost, pay this price.”

A tentative peace process is under way and ties between Islamabad and New Delhi are at their warmest in years, with recent high-level meetings.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: MSN NEWS PK

US asks for Pakistan army secret info

US military officials have urged Pakistan to regularly
disclose classified information regarding Pakistani military facilities and installations along the border with Afghanistan.

Commander of the US Central Command General James Mattis made the plea on Monday following a November 26 incident in which NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military border posts in northwest Pakistan and killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

“The strongest take-away from this incident is the fundamental fact that we must improve border coordination,” Mattis claimed in a statement.

He also called for establishing a shared database between the two countries, saying that an increase in information could help NATO forces in Pakistan avert similar incidents.

In addition, Mattis ordered the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to seek ways to improve its relations with Islamabad.

Air Force Brigadier General Stephen Clark, who led an investigation into last month’s incident, said on Thursday that US forces bore some responsibility for the deaths as they relied on the wrong maps, were unaware of Pakistani border post locations and mistakenly provided the wrong location for the troops.

The investigation, however, claimed that the US forces “acted in self-defense and with appropriate force after being fired upon,” and that there was “no intentional effort to target persons or places known to be part of the Pakistani military or to deliberately provide inaccurate location information to Pakistani officials.”

The Pakistani military has dismissed the investigation and said it does not “agree with the findings of the US/NATO inquiry as [it is] being reported in media.”

Pakistani officials accuse US-led forces of deliberately carrying out the air strikes from inside Afghanistan.

Following the November incident, US President Barack Obama offered condolences for those killed in the attack but failed to issue an official apology.

Pakistan decided to halt the supply convoys destined for US-led foreign soldiers in Afghanistan in retaliation for the deadly airstrikes.

This is while foreign forces in Afghanistan rely heavily on the Pakistani supply route into the landlocked country.

US-led planes and helicopters have increasingly violated the Pakistani airspace over the past months.

The US claims its air raids target militants who cross the Pakistani border into Afghanistan. But locals say civilians are the main victims of the unauthorized attacks.