Pakistan''s 27 Hindu families seek political asylum in India

Twenty-seven Hindu families from Pakistan''s Balochistan province have approached the Indian High Commission here for political asylum after a series of kidnappings and killings that targeted the minority community, an official has said.

Saeed Ahmed Khan, a regional director for the federal Human Rights Ministry, made the revelation while addressing a seminar on the unrest in Balochistan in provincial capital Quetta yesterday.

"As many as 27 Hindu families from Balochistan have sent applications to the Indian (High Commission) for asylum in India," he told the seminar that was attended by leaders of political parties and representatives of civil society groups.

In the latest incident targeting the minority community in Balochistan, unidentified men abducted 82-year-old spiritual leader Maharaja Luckmi Chand Garji and four of his companions on Wednesday.

Three of the men were freed later though Garji is yet to be traced.

A strike was observed in Khuzdar and nearby areas this week to protest Garji''s abduction.

The strike was called by the All Parties Shehri Action Committee, Balochistan National Party, Anjuman-e-Tajiran or traders'' association and Baloch Students Organisation.

Khan told the seminar that Hindus had been living in Balochistan for centuries but several members of the community had been kidnapped or murdered in recent weeks.

This, he contended, was forcing Hindus to seek asylum in India.

This was a matter of "great concern" and the government should take immediate measures to improve the law and order situation in Balochistan, Khan said.

According to the Human Rights Ministry''s statistics, there has been widespread violation of rights and abduction for ransom in Balochistan.

Baloch nationalist groups too have protested against the arrest and detention of their members without charge.

Hazara Democratic Party chairman Abdul Khaliq Hazara said over 100 groups involved in kidnappings for ransom were operating in Balochistan.

Source  http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4744850

CSX to move rocks from Bay St Louis Depot District

Bay St. Louis leaders say there is a light at the end of the tunnel in its dispute with CSX Railroad over the company's Rock Transfer Station. City leaders say CSX began loading and un-loading large boulders on rail cars in an area of the city they've spent a lot of money beautifying.

After a meeting between both sides, CSX agreed to move its rock operation elsewhere. 

Linda Seal's back yard is just a stone's throw away from the CSX's Rock Transfer Station. She and her neighbors said news that the operation will soon be leaving the area made their day.

"This noise, continuous noise. And sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I have trouble going back to sleep cause of the rocks pounding and whatever, so I have to put ear plugs on to sleep. And this goes on even on Sundays, a lot of times, with these rocks," Seal said.

Her neighbor Beverly Fontenot agreed.

"Just hear the rocks constantly falling and the big equipment working, it took away from everything that the city has done to beautify the area," Fontenot said.

No one is more happy to see the operation go than Mayor Les Fillingame. He said the city has invested nearly $2 million improving the area.

Last week, the mayor met with CSX officials at the site while rocks were actually being transferred between rail cars.

"I have to give credit where credit is due. It did end up being an easier resolution than we had anticipated," Mayor Fillingame said. "Once the right people on the CSX team where made aware of the impacts that that operation was having on that area, and they came and got an actual visual of that impact, I think it made their decision real easy. And we really appreciate their cooperation in that effort."

He said CSX agreed to move its operation out of the city within the next 30 days.

"I had heard that it was going to be like four years," Seal said. "And I'm thinking, ‘Oh my God. I'm ready to sell out regardless of the economy.' I'm not going to put up with that that long."

The rocks are used along the railroad tracks for erosion control. A CSX spokesman told WLOX News the company is looking at several different locations to re-locate its rock operation, including the Port Bienville Industrial Park in southwest Hancock County.

Source  http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=13724496