Have recently posted on ‘Siraichalai’ -the Mohanlal starrer, directed by Priyadarshan. It was the tribulations of Veer Savarkar and many other patriots in the Cellular Jail, also known as Ka-la- Pa-ani (Black Water), a colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The prison was used by the British especially to exile political prisoners to the remote archipelago. British taxpayers are to fork out £25million to build a more comfortable jail in Jamaica to take convicts whose crimes were committed in the UK, reports MailOnline. The cash, from Britain’s aid budget, will help to build a prison that meets human rights standards. Jails on the Caribbean island are considered so bad that hundreds of Jamaican prisoners are stuck behind bars in this country. The courts have ruled that sending them back to jails in their homeland would amount to torture or cruel and inhuman treatment.
David Cameron
defended the project, saying it would allow hundreds more inmates to be kicked
out of Britain. It was agreed as part of a new prisoner transfer deal which
officials insist will save millions of pounds. But critics said it was
‘ridiculous’ that Britain had to subsidise foreign prisons in order to deport
dangerous felons. It comes as Britain’s own prison budget faces swingeing cuts
which senior Tories fear could see thousands more criminals either released
from jail early or given softer sentences.
Tory MP Peter Bone
said: ‘Jamaica isn’t like Syria and there isn’t any danger to them. 'We
shouldn’t be spending money on a new prison for Jamaica, they should be sent
back and put in a normal prison in Jamaica. ‘This money could be spent on a lot
of things that could improve the welfare of Britons.’ Ukip MP Douglas Carswell
said: ‘Being signatories to these human rights rules make it impossible for us
to throw criminals out of the country.‘If someone comes to this country from
Jamaica and commits a crime they should be sent back. We shouldn’t be running
prisons in Jamaica. We stopped running Jamaica decades ago.’
Downing Street
insisted the new agreement – which will allow the transfer of prisoners who
have received sentences of four years or more and who have 18 months or more
left to serve – will see more than 300 inmates returning to Jamaica once the
prison opens in 2020. Britain will pay around 40 per cent of the cost of the
project. Officials say it will save taxpayers around £10million a year because
of it costs £25,000 a year to keep an inmate in prison. Nearly two-thirds of
Jamaican prisoners in the UK are serving sentences of four years or more for
violence and drug offences.
David Cameron
yesterday rejected calls for the UK to pay reparations or apologize for the
slave trade. At the start of the Prime Minister’s tour of the Caribbean, his
officials said he was focused on the future instead of things that happened
‘when he wasn’t even born’. Portia Simpson Miller, his Jamaican counterpart,
has called for talks on the question of reparations. Mike Henry, an MP on the
island, said: ‘If it is not on the agenda, I will not attend any functions
involving the visiting prime minister. ‘In the case of Mr Cameron, in
particular, it is even more sensitive as history has revealed that his
ancestors actually owned slaves in the Caribbean centuries ago.’
Tory MP Philip
Hollobone welcomed the move. He said: ‘Using overseas aid to build prisons in
Jamaica enables us to send back prisoners who would otherwise have to be housed
at taxpayers’ expense in this country.’ As he began a two-day visit to Jamaica
and Grenada, the Prime Minister announced hundreds of millions more in foreign
aid. It includes £300million on Caribbean roads, bridges and ports, £30million
for hospitals to help the islands cope with natural disasters and £30million to
help Caribbean governments ‘improve the management of their public finances so
that they can improve public services’.
When
I faced Holding, I received 4 bouncers in an over and a beamer… the next over
from him was the same – when he again said the beamer had slipped, I understood
that this was a strategy to intimidate.
Lloyd fearing his future as Captain finding us 98 for no loss was
desperate and utterly frustrated. …… ……the carnage ensued .. in the pavilion,
there was none to attend to Anshuman Gaekwad.
Jamaican ticket authorities showed no regard for the seriousness of
injury. The whole thing was sickening. Never have I seen such cold-blooded and
indifferent behavior of Cricket officials, and the spectators to put it
mildly, were positively inhuman. – extracted from Sunil Gavaskar’s description
of the carnage at Sabina Park. Indians cannot forget how Clive Lloyd unleashed a torrent of fast,
dangerous, short-pitched bowling on India, sent half their top-order to the
hospital and caused captain Bishan Singh Bedi to 'surrender' the match at
Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica in 1976.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
1st Oct 2015.
