Feature
White House refuses to comment on Beant Singh’s assassination
Washington: The White House has denied delivering any remark on the case related to the assassination of late Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
Jagtar Singh Hawara has emerged out as the main accused in the August 1995 assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
“We cannot comment here on the specific foreign criminal justice matter raised in your petition,” the White House said on Friday in its official response to the demand for the release of Hawara, named Jathedar (head) of Sri Akal Takht by some radical Sikhs.
The White House responds to “We the People” petitions filed on its website once it reaches a threshold of 100,000 signatures.
The petition initiated by New York based “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ) in November 2015 urging “the President to seek release of Jathedar Hawara from India,” gathered 106,320 signatures.
“The president has made it clear that our nation’s deep respect for religious liberty and pluralism must not stop at our shores,” the White House said.
In an address to the people of India last year, it recalled, President Barack Obama “stressed the importance of these fundamental principles to both our democracies”.
“In both our countries, in India and in America, our diversity is our strength. And we have to guard against any efforts to divide ourselves along sectarian lines or any other lines,” it said, citing Obama’s address during his visit to India last year to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade.
“And if we do that well, if America shows itself as an example of its diversity and yet the capacity to live together and work together in common effort, in common purpose; if India, as massive as it is, with so much diversity, so many differences is able to continually affirm its democracy, that is an example for every other country on the Earth.”
The US, the White House said, “remains committed to coordinating with governments around the world to promote religious freedom for all citizens”.
It encouraged the petitioners “to continue to use the We the People platform to petition the administration to take action on the policy issues you care about, but we cannot comment here on the specific foreign criminal justice matter raised in your petition”.
In its November 10 petition, the SFJ suggested “Jathedar Hawara, is incarcerated for assassinating Beant Singh, the then chief minister of Punjab. Beant was responsible for death of over 100,000 Sikhs and his death put an end to Genocide of Sikhs”.
“Jathedar Hawara, being pro-Khalistan, faces risk of being eliminated,” it said, alleging that “in 1993, another pro-Khalistan Jathedar, Gurdev Singh Kaunke was murdered by the Indian government”.
“Jathedar Hawara is undergoing ‘imprisonment till death’, a sentence which flouts the fundamental principles of justice and continuous detention of supreme religious leader will create discontentment in Sikhs,” it said.
Saying “Hawara’s act of Beant’s assassination is political in nature,” SFJ legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said, it “will continue to pursue this further as the US administration is obligated to intervene in such matters under International Religious Freedom Act of 1998”.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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