Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

General T&T, Law, Media, Police, Politics, Security

Three eminent jurists

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By Raffique Shah
January 25, 2014

Raffique ShahIn my column last week, in recounting the legal encounters between the late Karl Hudson-Phillips and the progressive forces during the events of 1970, I made a serious omission that I now seek to rectify.

I mentioned the condonation pleas that set the mutinous soldiers free—their genesis and the attorneys who successfully pursued them. Readers need note that the court martial over which Nigeria’s Col Theophilus Danjuma presided, rejected the pleas (in bar of trial), which were made by Rex Lassalle, Maurice Noray and myself. The trial proceeded, and most of the soldiers were found guilty of mutiny and other offences, and sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.
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General T&T, Media, Police, Politics, Protest, Security

I come not to praise Karl

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By Raffique Shah
January 19, 2014

Raffique ShahFriends, Trinis, countrymen, I come not to praise Karl, nor indeed, to bury him. I come instead to tell some truths about Mr Hudson-Phillips, some complimentary, others unsavory, but which, wherever he may be, he would applaud me for having the courage to enunciate, honourable man that he was.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Passed on, People's Partnership, Security, Violence

Edge of the abyss

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By Raffique Shah
January 12, 2014

Raffique ShahA tragic consequence of spikes in violent crimes such as we experienced in the first week of 2014, is the baying of the hounds, the blood-curdling cries for revenge that are as transient as the surges are cyclical. As soon as the murder rate settles back to what is normal for us, meaning one-a-day, the society will shift into the muted mode. People will hardly note the killing, and the police and government will enjoy a respite from outrage…until the next surge.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics

Surrender…and Die

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By Raffique Shah
January 05, 2014

Raffique ShahWe have tried every conceivable strategy, many inconceivable ones, and some downright dotish crime plans. And we have failed—miserably so. From Anaconda to Iguana, Baghdad to Budapest (where we lost young footballer Akeem Adams to a heart attack, of all things!), nothing has stopped the march of the criminals.
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General T&T, ILP, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

Year of the Fall

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By Raffique Shah
December 29, 2013

Raffique ShahPolitically, 2013 will be remembered as the year of unprecedented multiple elections. It was the year that marked the beginning of the demise of the People’s Partnership; the year in which Jack Warner’s meteor burned brightly before it died an unnatural death; and the year that saw the People’s National Movement (PNM), for yet another time, rise, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of defeat, to position itself for a return to power.
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Caribbean, Entertainment, General T&T, Jamaica, Music, USA

The singers…and the songs

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y Raffique Shah
December 22, 2013

Raffique ShahJust when it seemed that we would end 2013 with only memories of macabre murders, of innocent children being battered and slaughtered by barbaric adults, two Caribbean singers rescue us with their vocal and musical prowess, with the food of love that transcends the pettiness of insularity, lifts our spirits and maybe even our souls.
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General T&T, Politics, UNC

Bas, Ram and Jack

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By Raffique Shah
December 14, 2013

Raffique ShahAmong the three of them, Basdeo Panday, Jack Warner and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj have accumulated 220 years on earth. You would think that these three geezers, having experienced a spread of political permutations, from the crown colony system and colonialism to independence and republicanism, would have also accumulated the wisdom to discern that they have long passed their political-expiry dates.
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Africa, General T&T, International, Passed on, South Africa

Night the world stood still

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By Raffique Shah
December 07, 2013

Raffique ShahLast Thursday night, for moments ranging from seconds to hours, the world stood still. People paused or stopped doing whatever they were engaged in, diverting attention to their radio or television sets that, in hundreds of languages, broke the news that Nelson Mandela had died.

By Friday, every newspaper that had gone to print after his passing will have featured banner headlines screaming news of his passing. Network news leaders such as the BBC and CNN continued almost non-stop coverage of the life and times and death of this man. Tributes poured in: no one had anything negative to say about him.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Police, Politics, Sex Crimes, Violence

Prisoners of Birth 2

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By Raffique Shah
November 30, 2013

Raffique ShahIn the wake of the gruesome discovery of six-year-old Keyana Cumberbatch’s decomposing corpse last week, there are deafening cries for swift justice for the beast who murdered the child.

One can understand why the average citizen would be outraged over this crime, and similar savagery against other children, older people and women.
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Books, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Security

Prisoners of Birth

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By Raffique Shah
November 23, 2013

Raffique ShahAvid readers of fiction, more so Jeffrey Archer fans, will immediately note that I stole this headline from one of the writer’s successful novels, A Prisoner of Birth. I did this deliberately, for several reasons.

For the uninitiated, Lord Archer is a Conservative peer whose best-selling novels have topped 150 million copies. He also served a four-year jail sentence for perjury, so he knows about prisons and imprisonment inside out, in a manner of speaking. In fact, he spent some of his jail time in the high-security Belmarsh Prison located in London.
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