Tag Archive for 'Gold'

Congo spotlight on India and Pakistan

Published
by
asianwindow
on April 30, 2008
in Conflict, India and Pakistan
. 0 Comments

The reputation of Indian and Pakistani peacekeeping forces could be at stake, reports Martin Plaut of the BBC

A BBC investigation into United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo has put the spotlight on Indian troops for the first time, and revived questions about Pakistani troops there.

Much of the report is based on confidential UN documents. Concerns were first raised within the UN about Indian troop activities in eastern DR Congo in July, 2007. After discussions between the UN and India, it was agreed that a UN investigation team would “determine whether the allegations are credible and require full investigation by India and the United Nations”.

That team identified five areas involving Indian troops in which a UN report says allegations have been “corroborated”

  • The illegal purchase of gold from rebels of the FDLR – the former Rwandan army that fled to Congo following their involvement in the Rwanda genocide of 1994
  • The use of a UN helicopter to fly into the Virunga national park, to exchange ammunition for ivory with the rebels
  • The exchanging with the rebels of UN rations for gold
  • The buying of drugs from the rebels
  • The failure to support the disarmament of this rebel group.

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The great Kerala dowry bazaar

Published
by
asianwindow
on April 1, 2008
in Society
. 3 Comments

Craze — and demand — for gold in dowry has sent bullion prices soaring, turning marriage into a very hard bargain for women. From Tehelka:

In Kerala, marriage is worth its weight in gold. On January 20 this year, though, a bridegroom-to-be’s happy hopes of a windfall met with a rude shock. In a small village near Kollam, 26-year-old Sreekala walked away from the marriage venue, and later filed a case, when the groom’s family insisted that the entire dowry including 100 sovereigns of gold be paid before the knot was tied. Despite several social reform movements and decades of “revolutionary” Left rule, Kerala remains plagued by dowry.

It’s amidst this widespread sense of humiliation among the state’s women that the Class X-educated Sreekala has quickly grown to be an icon of self-respect. Though the groom’s family later adopted a more conciliatory stance, Sreekala refused to withdraw her complaint under the Dowry Prohibition Act. A week later, on January 27, her cousin Ramesh married her in a ceremony that saw hundreds of cheering attendees from across the district.

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