Ethnic Indians Struggles >>>>>>>

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): Malaysian authorities arrested five ethnic Indian activists on Thursday under a security law that allows indefinite detention without trial, a lawyer said.

The activists are key officials in the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), which held a street protest November 25 that drew about 20,000 ethnic Indians complaining about alleged racial discrimination.

''They were told that they're being detained under the ISA,'' lawyer N Surendran said, referring to the Internal Security Act, a law that has occasionally been used by the government to detain suspects regarded as threats to national security.

Two police officials, who declined to be identified, citing protocol, confirmed that several HINDRAF activists had been arrested. They declined to elaborate.

The arrests escalate a government crackdown on HINDRAF since it organised last month's rally - the biggest protest involving ethnic Indians in more than a decade and one that triggered fears of ethnic unrest in this multiracial country.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi earlier this week said the government will not tolerate street demonstrations because they could lead to violence. He warned that if necessary, he would invoke the ISA.

HINDRAF has demanded equality and fair treatment for Indians, saying an affirmative action program that gives preferential treatment to the Muslim Malay majority in business, jobs and education is tantamount to racial discrimination.

The government denies it discriminates against Indians and has accused HINDRAF leaders of trying to create ethnic trouble.

Ethnic Indians make up about 8 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people and are at the bottom of the social and economic scale. Malays make up about 60 percent of the population and control the government. Ethnic Chinese are about a quarter of the population and dominate business.

Sonia Gandhi Gets the EC Notice :

The Election Commission on Sunday issued a notice to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in connection with the “merchants of death” remark on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh has also been served a notice for violating the moral code of conduct during the Gujarat Assembly elections. Singh had made remarks about the "existence of Hindu terrorism in Gujarat".

Accepting the EC’s move as a vindication for BJP, party Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told CNN-IBN, “Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi had deliberately provoked Narendra Modi. There have been so many flip-flops in the past by the Congress that it was bordering on being ridiculous.”

Meanwhile, EC sources have told CNN-IBN that legal experts are examining Modi's preliminary reply regarding the "merchants of death" remark.

"Modi's reply requires careful examination. Therefore, no decision has been taken by the EC. His reply would be examined by the Commission," a EC source was quoted by PTI as saying.

On December 3, Sonia had referred to those ruling the state as “liars, dishonest and merchants of fear and death.”

The next day, Modi while speaking at an election rally called the Congress chief “a merchant of death” in return.

However, in his reply to the EC, Modi has denied calling Sonia by such a name. He wrote, “I deny the charge in its entirety. The (newspaper) comments (are) inspired by false imputation. The EC notice is issued on the basis of unverified and false media reports.”

Criticising the Commission, Modi said his speech was a “political response to Mrs Sonia Gandhi referring to me as those who rule the Gujarat as a maut ke saudagar (merchants of death). Surely, it cannot be policy of the Election Commission first to ignore the violation of the Code of Conduct in her statement and then censor my political response to that statement.”

The EC had earlier issued a notice to CM, Narendra Modi for justifying the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh during an election speech. But the BJP had gone on the offensive saying the Commission must act against Sonia too, if it has to be seen as impartial.

Narendra Modi had filed his reply to the EC notice on Saturday. But the Commission is unlikely to take a decision on it on Sunday.

After the meeting that lasted two hours the EC has now come up with serving notices to both Sonia Gandhi and Digvijay Singh saying that they have violated the model code of conduct under Rule 1 and 3. However, the EC has yet not replied in how many day the congress should reply, though usually it gives 14 days to reply.

Malay Indians' protest had RSS link: Malaysian PM

A day after Malaysia charged the protesting ethnic Indians with links to terror groups, the Malaysian Prime Minister's Office has specifically said that the RSS and the LTTE had links with the organisers of the protests.

On Friday, Minister for Works Samy Vellu alleged that some Indian groups were behind the protests by ethnic Indians in the country, a protest that was led by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

Immediately after the Malaysian government said that the protesters had links with terror groups, New Delhi had distanced itself from the issue.

Daring the Malaysian government to produce evidence of Hindraf alleged links with LTTE or other terror groups, an ethnic Indian lawyer from the outfit on Saturday filed a police complaint against the country's premier and other senior officials who have threatened to put its members behind bars under a draconian law.

"I have never met anyone from LTTE in my life. They have gone overboard when they say we have links with terrorism. They are trying to divert the issue," said P Uttayakumar, the founder member of Hindraf, reported PTI.