Dear Constantino ********************* Regarding: PORTUGAL-INDIA:Crime Rings Sell Fake Portuguese Passports By Mario de Queiroz on 12/02/2004 23:23:02 GMT http://www.ips.org/ LISBON, Feb 12 (IPS) - A Portuguese official thought he was seeing things **********************
Indeed this is a typical example of an inaccurate article allowed to be published. It says a lot about this publication IPS - Inter Press Service! How this article was published without any sort of factual validation, only God knows... Was it published in "Herald" in Goa as well???????? Who is this Mario de Queiroz? His translation and interpretation of the original article from the Portuguese daily Publico is so bad that I am completely speechless. I have never ever witnessed something like this. It contains several serious misunderstandings. I think they were probably unintentional but, nevertheless, truly unbelievable. Mario de Queiroz not only translated facts wrongly, he also added his own completely wrong interpretation of the original article, which I find extremely serious, especially because he assumed too much and too wrongly! The original article can be found at: http://jornal.publico.pt/2004/02/09/Sociedade/S01.html Gross misinterpretations in addition to Constantino's list: =========================================================== a. The word "Deputado" for Narana Coisoro' was translated to DEPUTY!!! How ridiculous can that be? b. 11,221 processes are not under investigation, like Queiroz wrongly interpreted, but instead are pending confirmation, which is different. Nowhere it is stated that these 11,221 are under investigation. c. Based on what can Queiroz assume Teresa Colaco was a lawyer for the former EIP (Estado da India Portuguesa)???? Another wrong interpretation/translation and this one a very serious one. It makes my first cousin Teresa Colaco an old lawyer and I do not think she appreciated that! Yes, she is a lawyer but not a lawyer from the former EIP as she is too young for that and it is absurd that Queiroz could have possibly assumed that! From where did he get that information?? d. Portugal long colonial history in India begun in 1510, not 1498! e. 20 million inhabitants of Portugal's former possessions in India? Did Queiroz include Bombay???? I think he did! And even so, I do not think Bombay had so many people in 1642, when it was given to the English as dowry to Charles II when he married the Portuguese princess Catarina de Braganca. It can only be another ridiculous gross mistake! And this was actually published? Would you even remotely believe???? What a good laugh! And what a bad reputation for IPS! No wonder I never heard of it! Best regards, Paulo Colaco Dias. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Constantino Xavier Sent: 15 February 2004 14:13 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Goanet]Portuguese Nationality: Dream or Nightmare? I promised myself not to write on this issue on this Goanet forum, but now I feel forced to, after I read the low-profile and inaccurate article published in todays edition of HERALD (15/2/2004), by Mário de Queiroz: "Crime ring sell fake Portuguese passports". This article is nothing else than a rewriting of Ana Cristina Pereira's investigation published last Monday, in Portugal's main serious daily paper "Publico" with the title "Nacionalidade Portuguesa Tornou-se Negócio Lucrativo no Antigo Estado da Índia" (Portuguese Nationality turns into a lucrative business in Former Portuguese India). On the same day I had written a letter to the journalist and to the director of the publication (José Manuel Fernandes) commenting on the mistakes and imprecisive information it gave (example: Goa is referred to as a city). I later discussed this issue personnally with the journalist and she was keen in having more information, which I forwarded. Also, Jorge de Abreu Noronha, wrote a comment on the issue, which was published in a "Portuguese Nationality Special" on my website http://www.supergoa.com Now, it's extraordinary to see how Mario de Queiroz has rewritten the article, even though citing once his source, and how other mistakes and false informations have been included: >>"Among the bearers of adulterated Portuguese passports -- which differ >>from fake ones in that the document is authentic although the >>information it contains is not -- are alleged Indian terrorists Abu >>Salem and Masood Azad, who were captured in Lisbon in 2002. Neither >>had any family relations in the former PSI." COMMENT: This is totally unproven. These alleged terrorists have most probably acquired portuguese nationality through other ways: thousands of portuguese passports were stolen inbetween 1995 and 2000 from several portuguese embassies around the world, including Pakistan. >>"Portuguese is the mother tongue of 90 percent of Indians living in >>Portugal." COMMENT: Portuguese is SPOKEN by 90% of the Indians living in Portugal, but it's not their MOTHER TONGUE (wrong translation from the original article) >>"But only half are Catholic -- the main faith professed by the 20 >>million inhabitants of Portugal's former possessions in India." COMMENT: Portuguese former possessions in India have a total population of 20 million??? Main faith is Catholicism??? Oh my God... This is one of the problems of this passport issue: Wrong information leads to wrong and biased perceptions and opinions. I have written a short article on this, which appeared on yesterday's on-line edition of GOAN OBSERVER: http://www.rajannarayan.com/global_goan.htm Regards Constantino H Xavier ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################