It is unlikely that
this 41 years old leaving office “for an
unspecified amount of time,” would be
read with interest in India, but it is ….
Iceland is a Nordic island country between the North
Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. It has a population of 329,100 making it the
most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is
Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country
are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and
geologically active. Iceland became independent in 1918 and a republic in 1944.
Iceland's prime minister
resigned Tuesday, becoming the first political victim of a mushrooming
worldwide scandal over hidden offshore financial dealings exposed in the
so-called Panama Papers. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was the
biggest casualty of a worldwide media probe into 11.5 million leaked documents
that purportedly reveal the offshore financial activities of 140 political
figures, including 12 current or former heads of state.
A series of other leaders
and stars fingered in the leaked papers have hit back at the allegations,
denying any wrongdoing despite the international furore. Those named include
Russian President Vladimir Putin's associates, Chinese President Xi Jinping's
relatives, British Prime Minister David Cameron's later father and celebrities
such as Argentine footballing great Lionel Messi. Iceland's leader had been
under immense pressure after the papers, leaked from a Panamanian law firm,
appeared to show that he and his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir owned an
offshore company in the British Virgin Islands and placed millions of dollars
there. Though the prime minister denied ever hiding money abroad, pressure on
his government had mounted, with egg-throwing protesters gathering in the
streets Monday and fresh demonstrations planned Tuesday.
The vast stash of records
from Panamanian legal firm Mossack Fonseca was obtained from an anonymous
source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than 100 media
groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Australia,
France and the Netherlands have announced investigations into revelations
contained in the papers. A judicial source said Spain had opened a
money-laundering probe into the law firm. Panama has pledged to identify
whether any crimes had been committed and any financial damages should be
awarded.
Back home, Bollywood
megastar Amitabh Bachchan, whose name figures among 500 Indians in the Panama
Paper leaks as allegedly having links with offshore entities in two tax havens,
on Tuesday denied any connection with those companies. Amitabh Bachchan reacted
saying his name may have been misused, reports The Hindu. Responding
specifically to The Indian Express led reportage, Bachchan said: “In any event,
the news report in Indian Express does not even suggest any illegality on my
part”.
Apart from Bachchan, some
others who have spoken up after the expose are saying that their investments
abroad are within legal boundaries. The
Indian Express carried a report on Monday based on leaked documents of a
Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca which is said to feature links of over
500 Indians to firms and accounts in offshore tax havens. Referring to the
report, Bachchan, 73, said, “I do not know any of the companies referred to by
Indian Express—Sea Bulk Shipping Company Ltd, Lady Shipping Ltd, Treasure
Shipping Ltd, and Tramp Shipping Ltd. I have never been a director of any of
the above stated companies. It is possible that my name has been misused.
Moving away from money to
life or actually death – there was terrorism at Pathankot and for reasons best
known, there was a Pakistani JIT probe. Now
days after the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the Pathankot
terror attack admitted that the four terrorists who attacked the Pathankot
Indian Air Force base were from Pakistan, yet
the JIT said that the Pathankot attack had been staged by India,
according to a Pakistani media report. It
is reported in Pak Press that JIT
report, which will be submitted to Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the
next few days, has even concluded that Indian authorities had prior information
about the terrorists.
The report also quoted a
member of the JIT as saying that the NIA officer's murder on Saturday night in
Uttar Pradesh showed that "Indian establishment wants to keep the matter
under wraps." "The Indian authorities made it a three-day drama to
get maximum attention from the world community in order to malign
Pakistan," Pakistan Today quoted the JIT report as saying. The source also
told Pakistan Today that no "major" damage was done to the base and
that the perimeter lights at the airbase were not functional on the day of the
attack, which apparently raises questions about whether India had prior
information about the terrorists.
This is not the first time,
though, that the Pakistani media and the JIT have made allegations of hiding
evidence against India. What is truly surprising about the Pakistani JIT
report's claim is that it comes just days after the same JIT admitted that the
terrorists were from Pakistan. Reports had, in fact, also suggested that
Pakistan had enough evidence to link them to extremist group Jaish-e-Mohammad.
… excerpted
from many newspapers principally First post and here below is something which gets published in Firstpost
as ‘faking news’…
In an unfortunate
accident, a member of Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team investigating
Pathankot terror attack died earlier today. He died after he fell off the
mountain of evidence India has provided regarding the Pathankot Airbase attack.
A Pakistan Army spokesman revealed this shocking news to the media personnel at
a press conference in Islamabad. “Our JIT was doing their regular duty of
making paper planes out of the evidence India had provided when this
unfortunate accident happened. Usually India sends a couple of dossiers of
evidence so it was easy to just dump them in the garbage bin but this time
there was so much evidence sent by them that the pile of dossiers became as
high as a 7 storey building. Like
thorough professionals, our team was on top of things and then our brave
officer’s foot slipped and he fell to his death”, said the Pak Army spokesman.
Laying the blame at India’s doorstep for this death, the
spokesman said, “India is squarely to be blamed for this death of our brave
officer. First, they staged the Pathankot attack using Pakistani nationals
connected to Pakistani agency ISI, then they lured our investigative team to
Pathankot, then they provided us that mountain of evidence, all of this
contributed to the death of our officer and Indian Govt is behind this
extensive plot.” When a reporter asked about the evidence pointing to
Pakistan’s involvement in Pathankot attack, the spokesman got angry and said,
“Just because they came from Pakistan, had weapons used by Pakistan Army, used
Pakistan SIM Cards, had homes in Pakistan, got support from Pakistan agencies,
you will say Pakistan is involved in the attack? What nonsense is this?”
Meanwhile, Pakistan Government has instructed only
trained mountaineers to work on the evidence provided by India for 26/11
attack, currently the second highest mountain peak in the world.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
6th Apr 2016
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