Govt on Mangalore pub assault: Don't Talibanise India
25 Jan 2009, 2244 hrs IST, TNN
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NEW DELHI: Women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury has termed the assault of girls and boys in a Mangalore pub allegedly by a Hindu group as an attempt to "Talibanise India" and sought an explanation from the Karnataka government.
"I am absolutely horrified at the insensitivity on the eve of Republic Day. I will seek an explanation from the state government as well as self-styled Sri Ram Sena," Renuka said.
"This incident is an attempt to Talibanise India. There is no place for these kinds of acts in India as it is a democracy," Chowdhury said, adding that BJP leaders should condemn the incident.
The minister also said it was time for chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to "wake up" and take action against the culprits. She said she would speak to Yeddyurappa on the incident.
About 15 to 20 activists, reportedly belonging to Sri Ram Sena, barged into the pub late on Saturday night and assaulted boys and girls dancing there, accusing the teens of behaving in an "obscene manner".
Mumbai: Pak girl beaten up for sporting tattoo in Urdu
22-year-old Saba Najam was at a Malad mall last week when some women beat her up and dragged her to the cops over a tattoo on her back; she left for Pakistan on Friday
By Vikas Mishra
Posted On Monday, January 19, 2009 at 02:52:24 AM
According to cops, Saba said she hadn’t known the tattoo would hurt anybody’s sentiments
A Pakistani national, who had come to pursue a course in production from Whistling Woods International Institute in Mumbai, was beaten up at a Malad mall last week for sporting a tattoo in Urdu on her back. The incident scared the girl so much that she left for Pakistan on Friday.
Saba Najam, 22, was roughed up at Hypercity Mall in Malad last Monday after some people spotted a tattoo in Urdu on her back. The incident took place at around 8.30 pm when Saba had gone to the washroom of the mall.
Some women suddenly approached her and assaulted her over the tattoo which read ‘Shukr Alham Du Lillah’, meaning ‘Thank you, God’.
Riyaz Ahmed Talukdar, a member of Jan Seva Sangh, a local NGO, had first spotted the tattoo on Saba’s back and informed his mother, Shabana Talukdar. Riyaz said, “When I saw the tattoo I was furious as holy words from the Quran were on her back.” Shabana, along with a few other women, then came to the mall in the next 15 minutes and confronted Saba in the washroom.
They slapped the girl several times before the mall management intervened.
“Since both the parties concerned are our patrons we simply referred the matter to the police,” said Manvir Singh, spokesperson of Hypercity Mall.
The group, along with Saba, were taken to the Bangur Nagar police station.
According to Bangur Nagar police, Saba apologised profusely and said she hadn’t known that the tattoo would hurt anybody’s sentiments.
Danaji Nalavde, inspector in-charge of crime at the police station, said, “There was nothing objectionable about the tattoo and there are no legal provisions under which we could have booked her. But since the group of people were agitated we asked Saba to give her statement in writing.”
In her statement Saba said she was sorry and that she would get the tattoo removed through laser surgery in the next three days. Nevertheless, the cops referred the matter to legal experts to see if they could book Saba for hurting religious sentiments or under any other legal provision.
On Friday night, however, Saba left for Lahore. Ravi Gupta, executive director of Whistling Woods told Mumbai Mirror that Saba seemed extremely disturbed after the incident.
“We had spoken to the cops who assured us that there was no case against her. We told her there was nothing to worry about but she was too scared,” he said.
Saba hails from Lahore in Pakistan and had come to Mumbai in 2007 on a student visa. She joined Whistling Woods in 2008.
She got the tattoo done from a tattoo parlour in Bandra in February 2008.
Saba was unavailable for comment. Meanwhile, Riyaz says he is happy Saba has left the country.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
No row over Minister’s visit
Source
16 Jan 2009 02:55:02 PM IST
BHADRAK: The administration today put to rest the controversy surrounding the visit of Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick, a Dalit, to the Akhandalamani temple at Aradi, 35 km from here, yesterday.‘‘There was neither any objection from the servitors’ association nor from the management committee of the temple on the Minister’s visit,’’ said Deputy Sub-Collector, Bhadrak, Sadhu Charan Sahu. Even no purification ritual was carried out after the Minister’s departure, Sahu confirmed.He conducted an inquiry after some sections of the media termed the visit as controversial. He also clarified that there is no bar on entry of Dalits into the temple. Pramila visited the famous Lord Siva temple on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. ‘‘The Minister arrived at the temple at 7.30 am, offered ‘bhog’ and puja through her family priest and left. Neither any objection was raised nor any purification of deity was carried out,’’ said Bhibhudutta Mishra, a servitor.‘‘According to the decision of the temple’s management committee I was the main priest on Makara Sankranti day and had accompanied the Minister and her family priest to the temple,’’ added Bibhudutta.According to Parameshwar Panda, family priest of Pramila, she visits the temple every year and sometimes even more than once in a year. There is no caste feeling nor any prohibition on the entry of Dalits.Not only Pramila, local MLA Netrananda Mallick, a Dalit, also visits the temple very often and goes through the route meant for servitors, Panda said and added even Bhadrak ADM Upendra Mallick, also a Dalit, went inside the temple and offered his ‘Rudrakhya’ puja.Sub-Collector and Chairman of the Temple Trust Board Bibhuti Bhusan Das said, ‘‘The servitors have intimated me in writing that there was no objection to the entry of the Minister nor any purification ritual was carried out. Like every day, Mahasnana (ritual bath) was done four times. No special Mahasnana was done after the departure of the Minister.’’
Above is in response to TOI's report
16 Jan 2009 02:55:02 PM IST
BHADRAK: The administration today put to rest the controversy surrounding the visit of Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick, a Dalit, to the Akhandalamani temple at Aradi, 35 km from here, yesterday.‘‘There was neither any objection from the servitors’ association nor from the management committee of the temple on the Minister’s visit,’’ said Deputy Sub-Collector, Bhadrak, Sadhu Charan Sahu. Even no purification ritual was carried out after the Minister’s departure, Sahu confirmed.He conducted an inquiry after some sections of the media termed the visit as controversial. He also clarified that there is no bar on entry of Dalits into the temple. Pramila visited the famous Lord Siva temple on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. ‘‘The Minister arrived at the temple at 7.30 am, offered ‘bhog’ and puja through her family priest and left. Neither any objection was raised nor any purification of deity was carried out,’’ said Bhibhudutta Mishra, a servitor.‘‘According to the decision of the temple’s management committee I was the main priest on Makara Sankranti day and had accompanied the Minister and her family priest to the temple,’’ added Bibhudutta.According to Parameshwar Panda, family priest of Pramila, she visits the temple every year and sometimes even more than once in a year. There is no caste feeling nor any prohibition on the entry of Dalits.Not only Pramila, local MLA Netrananda Mallick, a Dalit, also visits the temple very often and goes through the route meant for servitors, Panda said and added even Bhadrak ADM Upendra Mallick, also a Dalit, went inside the temple and offered his ‘Rudrakhya’ puja.Sub-Collector and Chairman of the Temple Trust Board Bibhuti Bhusan Das said, ‘‘The servitors have intimated me in writing that there was no objection to the entry of the Minister nor any purification ritual was carried out. Like every day, Mahasnana (ritual bath) was done four times. No special Mahasnana was done after the departure of the Minister.’’
Above is in response to TOI's report
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Bravery and the ultimate sacrifice by ASI Tukaram Ombale
Source
Dec 02, 06:34 pm
मुंबई। औरों की सुरक्षा के लिए जो बंदूक लेकर चलते हैं उनकी जान भी खतरे में पड़ती है। लेकिन कुछ उल्लेखनीय ढंग से वीरगति प्राप्त करते हैं जिन्हें उनके बलिदान के लिए बारंबार याद किया जाता है।
अभी हाल ही में पदोन्नति प्राप्त कर सहायक सब इंस्पेक्टर का दर्जा हासिल करने वाले महाराष्ट्र पुलिस के 48 वर्षीय तुकाराम आंबले मुंबई में आतंकी हमले के दौरान एक हीरो की तरह शहीद हुए हैं। मुंबई आतंकी हमले में उभरकर सामने आए कई वीरतापूर्ण कारनामों में से एक सच्ची कहानी तुकाराम की भी है।
सलाम तुकाराम को जिसकी बहादुरी के कारण मुंबई पुलिस को आतंकी हमले का एकमात्र आतंकी हाथ लग सका है। अपने वाकी टाकी पर 26 नवंबर की रात प्राप्त संदेश के मुताबिक तुकाराम आंबले क्लास्निकोव एसाल्ट राईफल लेकर अंधाधुंध फायरिंग करने वाले आतंकियों का पीछा किया था।
आतंकियों के बारे में संदेश फैल जाने के बाद डीबी नगर पुलिस स्टेशन की टीम ने चौपाठी के लालबत्ती पर नाकाबंदी की। डीबी नगर पुलिस स्टेशन के सहायक इंस्पेक्टर हेमंत भावधनकर ने बताया कि हमें अपहृत स्कोडा कार पर दो आंतकियों के आने की सूचना मिली थी। हमने सूचना पाने के तत्काल बाद ही दक्षिण मुंबई में स्थित गीरगांव चौपाठी पर नाकाबंदी की।
उन्होंने कहा कि सूचना मिलने के कुछ देर बाद ही हमने देखा कि जिस तरह के कार का ब्यौरा दिया गया था। नाकाबंदी से 50 फीट दूर पर अपनी गति को कम कर लिया है क्योंकि यह कार यू टर्न लेने की कोशिश कर रही थी। इस प्रक्रिया में वह रोड डिवाइडर से भी टकराई। इसके बाद कार हमारी ओर आने लगी और अजमल कसाब [गिरफ्तार आतंकी] कार से उतर आया और आत्मसमर्पण करने जैसी मुद्रा में दिखा क्योंकि उसे दोबारा फिर से अंधाधुंध गोलीबारी करनी थी।
अपनी जान की परवाह किए बगैर तुकाराम आंबले कसाब के सामने आ गया और उसने आतंकी के एके 47 राइफल के बैरल को दोनों हाथों से कसकर पकड़ लिया।
तुकारम आंबले की ओर अपने बंदूक की नोक किए हुए कसाब ने ट्रीगर दबा दी। इस बहादुर पुलिसकर्मी ने सारी गोलियों को अपने सीने के अंदर समाने दिया, लेकिन उसने आतंकी के बंदूक के बैरल को नहीं छोड़ा।
गोलियां खाने के बाद तुकाराम गिर पड़ा, लेकिन कसाब [आतंकी] को नहीं छोड़ा। इसके चलते कसाब की गोलियां का शिकार तुकाराम की टीम के अन्य किसी सदस्य को नहीं होना पड़ा।
इस बीच, उसकी टीम के सदस्यों को दूसरे आतंकी इस्माईल को ढेर करने का मौका मिल गया और कसाब को धर दबोचा। इस निर्भय पुलिस कर्मी की बहादुरी के चलते एकमात्र सबूत के तौर मोहम्मद अजमल कसाब इस समय आतंकवाद निरोधक टीम के कब्जे में है। और उससे जांच टीम को मुंबई आतंकी हमले के कई महत्वपूर्ण सुरागों के बारे में जानकरियां मिल रही है।
अबतक प्राप्त जानकारियों के मुताबिक यह आतंकी प्रमुख आतंकी गुट लश्कर-ए-तैयबा के लिए पिछले डेढ़ साल से काम कर रहा था।
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Another nun row rocks Kerala church9
Nov 2008, 0440 hrs IST, Ananthakrishnan G , TNN
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A church in Kerala is in the throes of yet another scandal even as controversy over the death of sister Abhaya is yet to settle. Relatives of a Catholic nun have alleged that she is being forcibly kept in mental hospitals to prevent her from revealing the alleged 'sexual misdemeanours' in the convent. But the convent denies the charge and insists that she is a psychiatric case.
Sixty-year-old Treesa Thomas, who was attached to the Divine Mary Convent at Anchal in Kollam district, was admitted to a hospital run by the Church in Thodupuzha in October. "About two weeks back, she was shifted to the government mental asylum in Thiruvananthapuram," the nun's sister-in-law Tresyamma told TOI over phone from Kottayam.
The mater came to light after the nun's nephew Benny filed a complaint with the Kerala Women's Commission. Benny alleged Thomas, who has been a nun for the last 43 years, was forcibly admitted to the hospital to prevent her from spilling the beans on "illicit affairs between priests and sisters" and to make her statements look silly. It also claimed that a nun, who was unable to bear the torment, had ended her life in the convent sometime back.
Benny lives in Ireland and had come home in connection with the baptism of his kid which is when the family got the wind of the matter and decided to take it up with the authorities. Following the complaint, commission member P K Sainaba visited the nun and recorded her statement.
Link
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A church in Kerala is in the throes of yet another scandal even as controversy over the death of sister Abhaya is yet to settle. Relatives of a Catholic nun have alleged that she is being forcibly kept in mental hospitals to prevent her from revealing the alleged 'sexual misdemeanours' in the convent. But the convent denies the charge and insists that she is a psychiatric case.
Sixty-year-old Treesa Thomas, who was attached to the Divine Mary Convent at Anchal in Kollam district, was admitted to a hospital run by the Church in Thodupuzha in October. "About two weeks back, she was shifted to the government mental asylum in Thiruvananthapuram," the nun's sister-in-law Tresyamma told TOI over phone from Kottayam.
The mater came to light after the nun's nephew Benny filed a complaint with the Kerala Women's Commission. Benny alleged Thomas, who has been a nun for the last 43 years, was forcibly admitted to the hospital to prevent her from spilling the beans on "illicit affairs between priests and sisters" and to make her statements look silly. It also claimed that a nun, who was unable to bear the torment, had ended her life in the convent sometime back.
Benny lives in Ireland and had come home in connection with the baptism of his kid which is when the family got the wind of the matter and decided to take it up with the authorities. Following the complaint, commission member P K Sainaba visited the nun and recorded her statement.
Link
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Right at the Edge
Source
Excerpts,
Excerpts,
....When I asked Jan, the tribal elder, about the negotiations that Ghani had described for me — talks between the country’s new civilian leaders and FATA’s tribal elders — Jan laughed. “The only negotiations are between the army and the Taliban, between the army and Baitullah Mehsud,” he said. “There are no government officials taking part in any negotiations. There are no tribal elders taking part.
....It’s a very close relationship,” Jan said, describing the meetings between the Pakistan Army and the Taliban. “The army and the Taliban are friends. Whenever a Taliban fighter is killed, army officers go to his funeral. They bring money to the family.
...And then the retired Pakistani official offered another explanation -- one that he said could never be discussed in public. The reason the Pakistani security services support the Taliban, he said, is for money: after the 9/11 attacks, the Pakistani military concluded that keeping the Taliban alive was the surest way to win billions of dollars in aid that Pakistan needed to survive. The military's complicated relationship with the Taliban is part of what the official called the Pakistani military's "strategic games." Like other Pakistanis, this former senior official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of what he was telling me.
"Pakistan is dependent on the American money that these games with the Taliban generate," the official told me. "The Pakistani economy would collapse without it. This is how the game works."
.....Finally, there is the problem of the Pakistan Army’s competence. For all the myths that officers like Musharraf have spread about the institution, the simple fact is that it isn’t very good. The Pakistan Army has lost every war it has ever fought. And it isn’t trained to battle an insurgency. Each of the half-dozen offensives the army has launched into the tribal areas since 2004 has left it bloodied and humbled.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Buddhist monk desecrates Hindu temple in Colombo
[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2008, 05:53 GMT]
Colombo Additional Magistrate Ajith Anawaratne Wednesday ordered to remand the Chief Incumbent of Grandpass de Mel Watte Buddhagaya Viharaya, Sri Sapugasyaye Dhammanada Thero and three of his associates for destroying the adjoining Sri Muththumariamman Hindu temple in the early hours on Wednesday.
The Sri Muththumariamman temple is located in highly Muslim populated Khettarama in Grandpass.
On Tuesday, the consecration (Kumpaapisheakam) ceremony was held in which hundreds of devotees took part. During the night that followed, the Buddhist monk and three of his associates got into the temple through the roof and smashed the newly built Amman statue, Vishnu statue, Ramar statue and Sivalingham.
However, residents in the surrounding area alerted the Police. The police rushed to the temple and arrested the culprits and produced them at the courts on Wednesday.
Source: TamilNet
Colombo Additional Magistrate Ajith Anawaratne Wednesday ordered to remand the Chief Incumbent of Grandpass de Mel Watte Buddhagaya Viharaya, Sri Sapugasyaye Dhammanada Thero and three of his associates for destroying the adjoining Sri Muththumariamman Hindu temple in the early hours on Wednesday.
The Sri Muththumariamman temple is located in highly Muslim populated Khettarama in Grandpass.
On Tuesday, the consecration (Kumpaapisheakam) ceremony was held in which hundreds of devotees took part. During the night that followed, the Buddhist monk and three of his associates got into the temple through the roof and smashed the newly built Amman statue, Vishnu statue, Ramar statue and Sivalingham.
However, residents in the surrounding area alerted the Police. The police rushed to the temple and arrested the culprits and produced them at the courts on Wednesday.
Source: TamilNet
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sad but this is what will happen if we appease islamic jihadis
Source
Exiles in ghettos keep fire blazing
SANKARSHAN THAKUR
Agnishekhar
Muthi (Jammu), Aug. 24: They live eight, often ten or twelve, to a room. To call them rooms is a stretch; hovels is more appropriate — barely six by eight, the asbestos ceilings knocked low over them, a vast and suffocating narrow-laned warren. They do with temporary power pulled on illicit lines, they have little access to water, they share unsanitary community bathrooms. They live marooned in the putrid discharge oozing from them, amid foraging pigs and pie-dogs.
These are Kashmiri Pandits uprooted from their Valley moorings two decades ago, and Muthi, on the forsaken outskirts of Jammu, is their home — a blistered tinderbox of frustration and rage, spewing communal pus. In Muthi, and other similar “migrant camps” littered around Jammu, could lie some of the clues to why this crisis has caught fires that refuse to die.
It’s so angry, it doesn’t even want to talk. “Go away, just go away,” protests P.N. Dhar, a former government employee and community leader. “What have you come here now for? To use us to douse the fires those (expletive deleted) Kashmiri Muslims are lighting up? Too late, now it’s our turn to light the fires, to get some notice from this country.”
Men from the ghetto have gathered around Dhar and it is instantly evident they have unspent payloads of fury and hatred accumulated over the years; they are now letting it off.
“This country has only been bothered about (expletive deleted) who carry Pakistani flags and spit on patriots,” says Sahabji Chrungoo, originally from Baramulla. “Nobody came when we were thrown out, nobody bothered when we were killed, nobody listened when we warned secession had gripped Kashmir. But how long could you have ignored it? This had to happen. If we have to light fires now to get attention, so be it. But this time, we will have it our way.”
As an unprecedented regional-communal conflict consumes the state, the Valley’s ousted Kashmiri Pandits have become Jammu’s sword-arm in battle. It’s a sword smelted in decades of unassuaged grievance and of rancour and prejudice. It’s a sword that has verily stabbed the celebrated and inclusive notion of “Kashmiriyat” to death and invoked in its place a ghoulish spectre of intolerance that threatens to extend the current rift.
Agnishekhar, convener of Panun Kashmir, the umbrella body of ousted Pandits, isn’t even remorseful or apologetic about pronouncing “Kashmiriyat” dead.
“What about it?” he asks combatively. “Where is composite culture when all Hindus have been driven out of the Valley, out of their homes and farmlands? They killed Kashmiriyat, not us. Don’t expect secularism of us when you are pandering to all shades of Islam and anti-nationalism in the Valley. Who is secular in the Valley that Jammu is being called communal in contrast? Those who are unleashing cries of Nizam-e-Mustafa (Islamic rule)?”
The Panun Kashmir leader won’t openly admit it, but the strident “Bam-Bam Bole” movement across Jammu is an hour of vindication that he is loath to let go of.
“We have been waiting for this for long,” he says. “Jammu didn’t exactly welcome us when we were driven out of the Valley in 1989-90, we haven’t had it easy here. But now Jammu seems to have understood what the problem with Kashmiri Muslims is, it has risen and we are with Jammu. This is not about land in Amarnath, this is about a deeper malaise of which Amarnath is only a symptom. Kashmir has held India to ransom for too long, now it is our turn. Half the Kashmiri leadership deserves to be put behind bars for sedition, we deserve to be reinstated to our homes.”
Does he realistically believe, though, that he and his fellow Pandits can make their way back to the Valley laden with such loathing? That they can even, in this surcharge, visualise the “yatra” to Amarnath proceeding next year?
“That is for the government to ensure,” Agnishekhar says. “Why does the law of the land not run in Kashmir, can Indians not go there? The government and secularists of this country have nothing to say of the anti-national Islamists of Kashmir, all they can do is blame us. What for? For agitating with the national flag?”
As his Muthi compatriots gather, a little clutch that has mushroomed in minutes, Agnishekhar, also a Hindi writer of fair renown, crossly throws off the burden of bigotry from his doorstep.
“I was once known as a progressive writer, until they threw me out for protesting the ouster of Pandits and began calling me a religious zealot. But should I not even protest my circumstances? Won’t you if you were thrown out of home? Hum aah bhi karen to ho jaate hain badnaam, woh katl bhi karen to charcha nahin hota (I get defamed if I so much as complain, they commit murder and yet get no blame).”
Agnishekhar claims no allegiance to the BJP or the Hindu rightwing, he’s been a Congressman all his life, paid obeisance to Nehru. He does concede, though, that today his worldview is closer to the Hindu rightwing.
“Where are Nehru’s children, where is the Congress, feeding the Muslim communalists of the Valley?” he asks. “It’s the BJP that helped us in crisis, if anybody did, we have to be grateful. And now we have to fight its battle to the very end.”
The assemblage behind him, virulently anti-Muslim and sporting saffron bandannas, is ominously nodding approval.
Exiles in ghettos keep fire blazing
SANKARSHAN THAKUR
Agnishekhar
Muthi (Jammu), Aug. 24: They live eight, often ten or twelve, to a room. To call them rooms is a stretch; hovels is more appropriate — barely six by eight, the asbestos ceilings knocked low over them, a vast and suffocating narrow-laned warren. They do with temporary power pulled on illicit lines, they have little access to water, they share unsanitary community bathrooms. They live marooned in the putrid discharge oozing from them, amid foraging pigs and pie-dogs.
These are Kashmiri Pandits uprooted from their Valley moorings two decades ago, and Muthi, on the forsaken outskirts of Jammu, is their home — a blistered tinderbox of frustration and rage, spewing communal pus. In Muthi, and other similar “migrant camps” littered around Jammu, could lie some of the clues to why this crisis has caught fires that refuse to die.
It’s so angry, it doesn’t even want to talk. “Go away, just go away,” protests P.N. Dhar, a former government employee and community leader. “What have you come here now for? To use us to douse the fires those (expletive deleted) Kashmiri Muslims are lighting up? Too late, now it’s our turn to light the fires, to get some notice from this country.”
Men from the ghetto have gathered around Dhar and it is instantly evident they have unspent payloads of fury and hatred accumulated over the years; they are now letting it off.
“This country has only been bothered about (expletive deleted) who carry Pakistani flags and spit on patriots,” says Sahabji Chrungoo, originally from Baramulla. “Nobody came when we were thrown out, nobody bothered when we were killed, nobody listened when we warned secession had gripped Kashmir. But how long could you have ignored it? This had to happen. If we have to light fires now to get attention, so be it. But this time, we will have it our way.”
As an unprecedented regional-communal conflict consumes the state, the Valley’s ousted Kashmiri Pandits have become Jammu’s sword-arm in battle. It’s a sword smelted in decades of unassuaged grievance and of rancour and prejudice. It’s a sword that has verily stabbed the celebrated and inclusive notion of “Kashmiriyat” to death and invoked in its place a ghoulish spectre of intolerance that threatens to extend the current rift.
Agnishekhar, convener of Panun Kashmir, the umbrella body of ousted Pandits, isn’t even remorseful or apologetic about pronouncing “Kashmiriyat” dead.
“What about it?” he asks combatively. “Where is composite culture when all Hindus have been driven out of the Valley, out of their homes and farmlands? They killed Kashmiriyat, not us. Don’t expect secularism of us when you are pandering to all shades of Islam and anti-nationalism in the Valley. Who is secular in the Valley that Jammu is being called communal in contrast? Those who are unleashing cries of Nizam-e-Mustafa (Islamic rule)?”
The Panun Kashmir leader won’t openly admit it, but the strident “Bam-Bam Bole” movement across Jammu is an hour of vindication that he is loath to let go of.
“We have been waiting for this for long,” he says. “Jammu didn’t exactly welcome us when we were driven out of the Valley in 1989-90, we haven’t had it easy here. But now Jammu seems to have understood what the problem with Kashmiri Muslims is, it has risen and we are with Jammu. This is not about land in Amarnath, this is about a deeper malaise of which Amarnath is only a symptom. Kashmir has held India to ransom for too long, now it is our turn. Half the Kashmiri leadership deserves to be put behind bars for sedition, we deserve to be reinstated to our homes.”
Does he realistically believe, though, that he and his fellow Pandits can make their way back to the Valley laden with such loathing? That they can even, in this surcharge, visualise the “yatra” to Amarnath proceeding next year?
“That is for the government to ensure,” Agnishekhar says. “Why does the law of the land not run in Kashmir, can Indians not go there? The government and secularists of this country have nothing to say of the anti-national Islamists of Kashmir, all they can do is blame us. What for? For agitating with the national flag?”
As his Muthi compatriots gather, a little clutch that has mushroomed in minutes, Agnishekhar, also a Hindi writer of fair renown, crossly throws off the burden of bigotry from his doorstep.
“I was once known as a progressive writer, until they threw me out for protesting the ouster of Pandits and began calling me a religious zealot. But should I not even protest my circumstances? Won’t you if you were thrown out of home? Hum aah bhi karen to ho jaate hain badnaam, woh katl bhi karen to charcha nahin hota (I get defamed if I so much as complain, they commit murder and yet get no blame).”
Agnishekhar claims no allegiance to the BJP or the Hindu rightwing, he’s been a Congressman all his life, paid obeisance to Nehru. He does concede, though, that today his worldview is closer to the Hindu rightwing.
“Where are Nehru’s children, where is the Congress, feeding the Muslim communalists of the Valley?” he asks. “It’s the BJP that helped us in crisis, if anybody did, we have to be grateful. And now we have to fight its battle to the very end.”
The assemblage behind him, virulently anti-Muslim and sporting saffron bandannas, is ominously nodding approval.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Suzanna Arundhati Roy gets a kick in the rear
Source
Congress, BJP slam Arundhati Roy’s remark
Tuesday, 19 August , 2008, 22:08
New Delhi: Arundhati Roy came under attack from the Congress as also the BJP over her controversial statement on Kashmir with the ruling party dubbing her a "loose cannon" and the main Opposition saying her remarks were "nothing short of sedition."
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the author and activist was a "loose cannon who has abused liberal traditions of India to the fullest."
"I think it is a great tribute to the tolerance of India's ethos that a person who openly calls for cessation of India is not being locked up and the keys are not being thrown away."
Echoing similar sentiments, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said Arundhati's statement was "outrageous."
"This is outrageous. This is against national spirit and nationalism. She is attacking the integrity of the country. This is nothing short of sedition," he said, adding that the country did not approve her stand.
Congress, BJP slam Arundhati Roy’s remark
Tuesday, 19 August , 2008, 22:08
New Delhi: Arundhati Roy came under attack from the Congress as also the BJP over her controversial statement on Kashmir with the ruling party dubbing her a "loose cannon" and the main Opposition saying her remarks were "nothing short of sedition."
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the author and activist was a "loose cannon who has abused liberal traditions of India to the fullest."
"I think it is a great tribute to the tolerance of India's ethos that a person who openly calls for cessation of India is not being locked up and the keys are not being thrown away."
Echoing similar sentiments, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said Arundhati's statement was "outrageous."
"This is outrageous. This is against national spirit and nationalism. She is attacking the integrity of the country. This is nothing short of sedition," he said, adding that the country did not approve her stand.
Mission Kashmir
Source
Much has been said about the Kashmir issue since protests started to rock Jammu and the Kashmir valley. Many commentators have offered ways to resolve the crisis and not all agree with the official line on Jammu and Kashmir. Such a wealth of diverse opinion is welcome and we may thank our democracy for it. However, we ought to remember that Kashmir is a complex problem that dates back to 1947 and no one has yet found a readymade solution. Yes, the temptation to get over, at any cost, a dispute that has consumed so much in time, money and lives is high in the country. But overly simple attempts to settle the Kashmir issue could create new problems without resolving old ones. Issues have gone beyond the Amarnath land controversy.
What are the proposals suggested to resolve the Kashmir issue? One, Kashmiris are alienated from the Indian state and want to join Pakistan. So let them go. Two, Kashmiris are a pampered lot and the mass protests in the Valley are a threat to the territorial integrity of India. The protests should be crushed and Article 370, which provides special status to Jammu and Kashmir, withdrawn to integrate the state with the rest of India. Third, we must recognise the Kashmiri sentiment of alienation and negotiate with all groups, including separatist ones, on a platform of autonomy to the state.
To examine the first proposal, the UN resolution calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir to decide its accession to India or Pakistan in effect rules out the option of an independent Kashmir. A plebiscite is possible only if India and Pakistan both withdraw their armies from the region. That's unlikely to happen at this point. True, separatists in Kashmir demanding freedom are supported by Pakistan. But Islamabad's vision of 'azadi' for Kashmir doesn't include an independent Kashmiri nation but mere integration of the region with the Pakistani state that is called Azad Kashmir. Various surveys, such as the one carried by Outlook magazine in 1995, suggest that a merger with Pakistan is not a preferred option in the Valley. Moreover, at the core of the pro-Pakistan argument is the view of India as a Hindu state.
It rejects the notion of a secular India and argues that religion ought to be the foundation for a nation. According to this view, Pakistan is the destined home for the subcontinent's Muslims. The Kashmir valley has a Muslim majority; ergo, give it to Pakistan. However, another partition on the basis of religion might sharpen the communal divide in this country. India is home to more than 150 million Muslims and less than five million of them live in Kashmir. The rest are not asking for a separate nation; by and large, they are as contented in India, warts and all, as the other communities of this nation are. But any further territorial realignment on the basis of religion might open old wounds.
The main target of the integrationist politics of right-wing politicians is Article 370. They want the article to be withdrawn. This is impractical. Article 370 is an article of faith born out of the terms under which Jammu and Kashmir joined the Indian Union. It is more than a legal clause that determines relations between Srinagar and New Delhi. The controversial provision is loaded with symbolism and tampering with it will only strengthen the separatist argument that Hindu India wants to dilute the unique character of Kashmir. Clearly, the Han Chinese model of national integration practised by Beijing in Tibet is not an option that can be supported, for moral as well as practical considerations, by those who want a genuine resolution of the dispute.
That leaves us with the autonomy option. This seems to be the only feasible solution at the moment. Article 370 can be the foundation to restructure autonomy for Kashmir.
Sections of the separatist leadership in Kashmir have hinted that they are willing to explore this option. New Delhi should be bold to explore innovative suggestions, including a negotiated return to something like the pre-1953 status of the Jammu and Kashmir state. The present international line of control should stay, but more transit points and trade routes could be opened along the border. Any proposal for autonomy has to be discussed in Parliament and a national consensus has to be obtained on it.
Political parties must rise above immediate electoral interests and see the long-term gains for the country if this tortuous issue is to be resolved amicably. At stake in Kashmir is not merely the might of the Indian state, but also its ability to be flexible and accommodative within a liberal and democratic framework. The world is watching us.
Bold and imaginative leadership on the part of New Delhi as well as Kashmiri leaders is necessary. The challenge is to negotiate a common ground. Alienation is as much an issue of perception as it is of ground realities. The Kashmiri's sense of fear or anger is fuelled by propaganda unleashed by Pakistan as much as it is a result of mismanagement of the problem by successive governments in Srinagar and New Delhi. A spot of skillful statesmanship is urgently required from all sides.
Much has been said about the Kashmir issue since protests started to rock Jammu and the Kashmir valley. Many commentators have offered ways to resolve the crisis and not all agree with the official line on Jammu and Kashmir. Such a wealth of diverse opinion is welcome and we may thank our democracy for it. However, we ought to remember that Kashmir is a complex problem that dates back to 1947 and no one has yet found a readymade solution. Yes, the temptation to get over, at any cost, a dispute that has consumed so much in time, money and lives is high in the country. But overly simple attempts to settle the Kashmir issue could create new problems without resolving old ones. Issues have gone beyond the Amarnath land controversy.
What are the proposals suggested to resolve the Kashmir issue? One, Kashmiris are alienated from the Indian state and want to join Pakistan. So let them go. Two, Kashmiris are a pampered lot and the mass protests in the Valley are a threat to the territorial integrity of India. The protests should be crushed and Article 370, which provides special status to Jammu and Kashmir, withdrawn to integrate the state with the rest of India. Third, we must recognise the Kashmiri sentiment of alienation and negotiate with all groups, including separatist ones, on a platform of autonomy to the state.
To examine the first proposal, the UN resolution calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir to decide its accession to India or Pakistan in effect rules out the option of an independent Kashmir. A plebiscite is possible only if India and Pakistan both withdraw their armies from the region. That's unlikely to happen at this point. True, separatists in Kashmir demanding freedom are supported by Pakistan. But Islamabad's vision of 'azadi' for Kashmir doesn't include an independent Kashmiri nation but mere integration of the region with the Pakistani state that is called Azad Kashmir. Various surveys, such as the one carried by Outlook magazine in 1995, suggest that a merger with Pakistan is not a preferred option in the Valley. Moreover, at the core of the pro-Pakistan argument is the view of India as a Hindu state.
It rejects the notion of a secular India and argues that religion ought to be the foundation for a nation. According to this view, Pakistan is the destined home for the subcontinent's Muslims. The Kashmir valley has a Muslim majority; ergo, give it to Pakistan. However, another partition on the basis of religion might sharpen the communal divide in this country. India is home to more than 150 million Muslims and less than five million of them live in Kashmir. The rest are not asking for a separate nation; by and large, they are as contented in India, warts and all, as the other communities of this nation are. But any further territorial realignment on the basis of religion might open old wounds.
The main target of the integrationist politics of right-wing politicians is Article 370. They want the article to be withdrawn. This is impractical. Article 370 is an article of faith born out of the terms under which Jammu and Kashmir joined the Indian Union. It is more than a legal clause that determines relations between Srinagar and New Delhi. The controversial provision is loaded with symbolism and tampering with it will only strengthen the separatist argument that Hindu India wants to dilute the unique character of Kashmir. Clearly, the Han Chinese model of national integration practised by Beijing in Tibet is not an option that can be supported, for moral as well as practical considerations, by those who want a genuine resolution of the dispute.
That leaves us with the autonomy option. This seems to be the only feasible solution at the moment. Article 370 can be the foundation to restructure autonomy for Kashmir.
Sections of the separatist leadership in Kashmir have hinted that they are willing to explore this option. New Delhi should be bold to explore innovative suggestions, including a negotiated return to something like the pre-1953 status of the Jammu and Kashmir state. The present international line of control should stay, but more transit points and trade routes could be opened along the border. Any proposal for autonomy has to be discussed in Parliament and a national consensus has to be obtained on it.
Political parties must rise above immediate electoral interests and see the long-term gains for the country if this tortuous issue is to be resolved amicably. At stake in Kashmir is not merely the might of the Indian state, but also its ability to be flexible and accommodative within a liberal and democratic framework. The world is watching us.
Bold and imaginative leadership on the part of New Delhi as well as Kashmiri leaders is necessary. The challenge is to negotiate a common ground. Alienation is as much an issue of perception as it is of ground realities. The Kashmiri's sense of fear or anger is fuelled by propaganda unleashed by Pakistan as much as it is a result of mismanagement of the problem by successive governments in Srinagar and New Delhi. A spot of skillful statesmanship is urgently required from all sides.
Islamic terrorists learning human rights in universities
Source
Usman Agarbattiwala, who was arrested in Baroda, gave initial hints of the operation to the Gujarat police. A confidant of Kapadia, Usman was doing a diploma in human rights at Baroda University. The SIMI leadership (or Indian Mujahideen leadership) wants its cadres to penetrate the legal field, media and human rights outfits all over India.
Usman Agarbattiwala, who was arrested in Baroda, gave initial hints of the operation to the Gujarat police. A confidant of Kapadia, Usman was doing a diploma in human rights at Baroda University. The SIMI leadership (or Indian Mujahideen leadership) wants its cadres to penetrate the legal field, media and human rights outfits all over India.
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