Interview with Dr. K L Chowdhury
End the Special Status Let J&K get fully integrated with the Union
AAP’s performance What it means for Indian Politics www.aseema.net.in
VOL. 15 ISSUE 07 PAGES 52 FEBRUARY 2014 MAAGHA (VIJAYA) PRICE ` 25
Whom they want to terrorise ?
IN THIS ISSUE
Ambition without Limit
Stinging the Corrupt
Delhi’s helpline to trap corrupt officials is creating a kind of stir in the officialdom. With general public getting armed with spy cameras, officials are clueless as to how to demand bribe and get away with it.
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China assertiveness makes its neighbours nervous
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Victory for the priests
Sharon is no more But the Master Strategist lives on… The famous Shiva Temple at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu is back in the hands of the Dixshitars, the priest family who has been looking after its affairs, until the state government made an attempt to take over.
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Interview with Dr. K L Chowdhury
End the Special Status
Uncle Sam’s easy target Humiliation of Indian Diplomat Unacceptable
AAP’s performance What it means for Indian Politics
Plebiscite or No Plebiscite Bhushan’s loose Talk Makes Bare of Lawlessness inside AAP Let J&K get fully integrated with the Union
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Deadend Syrian coflifct gets stuck in a stalemate
20 32 35 38 43
IN THIS ISSUE
22-31
Transcending Boundaries Volume: 15
Issue: 07 February 2013 Maagha (Vijaya)
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Will Helpline Root out Corruption
Stinging the Corrupt Delhi’s helpline to trap corrupt officials is creating a kind of stir in the officialdom. With general public getting armed with spy cameras, officials are clueless as to how to demand bribe and get away with it. The anti-corruption Helpline may not root out corruption but it is ‘something better than nothing’ in the country where bribery has become rampant. • By Rajesh Shanai
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n increasing number of people are contacting the helpline that the Delhi government has set up to help the common man carry out sting operations on corrupt government officials. The helpline received more than 3,200 calls in the first two and a half hours of its launch. Of course it is a first of its kind in the country and it is the first weapon in Aam Aadmi Party’s armoury designed to deal with the deep-rooted corruption in the country. The AAP, which owes much of its success to Anna Hazare-led national campaign for Lok Pal law, is seemingly turning every common man into a reporter waiting in the shadow to sting someone hard. The helpline was in fact one of the
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main promises of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is now talking of setting up more such helplines in the months ahead. The helplines are basically call centres, where someone with knowledge of criminal law will guide the callers as to how they gather evidence against an official who refuses to carry out his job without being paid under the table. The caller, armed with spy cameras and secretive recorders, walks into the government office looking for the official who had once asked for a bribe. This time the person will lure the official into a conversation and will record every word including the word of the official seeking bribe. That’s it. Such evidence will be enough for the Kejriwal government to suspend and put the official under trial. Most of those working at these
call centres are said to be retired police officers. But it is not clear if they share the information with the official whom the caller is pursuing. Kejriwal has promised security to people willing to blow the cover of corrupt officials. Sometimes, officials say, the call centre agents would call each caller back and offer tips on how to “trap” the bribe-taker through a sting operation. “It is not a complaint number. It is a helpline number, where people will be advised and explained by an anti-corruption department official on how to conduct a sting operation (on the bribe taker),” Kejriwal said at a press conference recently. “The sting could be done either in visual or audio mode. After doing the sting, the person should get back to the same adviser, following
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which a trap will be laid (by anticorruption officers) to arrest the accused,” he said. Kejriwal went on to say that every citizen in Delhi with a phone can now become an anti-corruption crusader. The purpose of the helpline is to create fear in the minds of corrupt individuals. Kejriwal did, however, say that he does not believe that all officials are corrupt. “There are certain fish that turn the water filthy. It (the helpline) will act as a deterrent, as such people should fear that they might be under surveillance,” he said. Yet it seems officials are least bothered about the helpline. A week after the helpline came into existence, ‘Headlines Today’ carried out a sting operation to show how a senior official with Delhi Jal Bhawan agreed to certify the quality of the water regardless of its
content. The channel showed the officer demanding Rs 40,000 to issue a certificate. The helpline, which operates between 8 am and 10pm, will make
sure that the accused official is arrested within 24 hours of the complaint. Kejriwal said the complainant would be given “as much protection as possible” by the state government. He added that it will be the government’s responsibility to ensure that the complainant’s work is done for which he had to bribe. So, in today’s Delhi if you come across a government employee asking for money, don’t refuse. Agree to give him money and record the conversation. The chief minister says he has kept a small battalion of policemen in the standby to protect the complainants. The government will give advertisements in newspapers and FM Radio and put up hoarding in the city to inform the people about the number of officials trapped with the help of the helpline.
Wearing Spy Camera on Shirt T
he corruption helpline is not only giving birth to a string of self-made investigative reporters but also triggering a boom in the spy camera market. These days every person walking into a government is viewed with suspicion by the officials who think that he might be carrying a spy camera on his body. After three policemen were caught seeking bribe, the department has told every official to beware of investigators in the garb of Common Man. Palika Bazaar, the underground market known for cheap electronics goods in Connaught Place, has become a popular hunting ground for people shopping for spy cameras, according to ‘The Telegraph’. “A man wearing an Aam Aadmi cap today bought 100 spy cameras hidden in pens. This is the first time we have sold such a huge number of spy
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cameras in a single day,” reported the paper quoting a vendor as saying. In today’s Delhi, pen cameras have
become the most sought-after than ever. Wearing a pen on shirt is a common practice across the country and it is hard to figure out the camera fit-
ted onto a pen. Interestingly, partly due to black markets like Palika Bazar, spy cameras are not costing much for people. As there was no demand for them in the past, there has been a huge inventory of pen cameras in the underground markets such as Palika Bazar. Some spy cameras, reports say, easily blend with the user’s clothes. That means they can be fitted into shirts, with most of them imported from China. Some government officials seem to have devised their own weapon to counter the spy gadgets. They are buying a kind of chair that identifies anyone carrying spy cameras as soon as they sit on it. And some employees have outfitted their office with scanners, which gives out a signal when a person armed with spy camera comes in through the main door.
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Victory for the priests Chidambaram Temple goes back to Dikshitar family • By Ganesh Shandilya
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overnment officials manning the famous Shiva Temple in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, have walked out after the Supreme Court handed down its verdict giving the temple back to a priest family. This is the second attempt by the TN government to take over the temple that dates back to Chola kings who ruled a large part of southern India 2000 years ago. Last time, too, the Supreme Court had intervened to liberate the temple. The Karunanidhi government took control of the temple amidst growing reports about financial mismanagement. For centuries the temple was managed by the Dikshitar family. Yet the government’s decision surprised many people. “Why did the government choose to take over the temple instead of ordering investigation into the financial mishan-
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dling?” was the biggest question asked by the public. Karunanidhi wanted to make political capital out of the debate as the temple was long considered the domain of those Hindus who are at the upper crust of the social hierarchy. But it took a long time for the DMK leader to realise that people dislike the governments taking control of temples while most of the government departments are mired in corruption. At a time when governments around the world were privatising their departments in an attempt to focus on building infrastructure and providing basic facilities such as water, electricity and roads to the common man, the Karunanidhi government was trying to add more responsibility to its corrupt bureaucratic machinery. In 2009, the Madras High Court upheld the government’s decision to take over the temple. In its verdict, the High Court said that the temple is a public place of worship and not
a private property of the Dikshitars. It was surprising because in 1952 the Supreme Court had recognised the Dikshitars’ right to administer the temple, saying they were administering the temple for more than 2000 years. A few days after the High Court order, Subramaniyan Swamy and Ashok Singhal, chief of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, visited the temple. While walking around the sanctum sanctorum, a group of women submitted a petition requesting them to bring the case before the Supreme Court. Subramaniyan Swamy agreed and he later pursued the case in the apex court. Swamy also said repeatedly that the government should have investigated the alleged financial irregularities rather than unseating the temple management. The SC verdict has relieved a large many number of devotees. The historical temple, built with stones, has survived many a turbu-
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The famous Shiva Temple at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu is back in the hands of the Dixshitars, the priest family who has been looking after its affairs, until the state government made an attempt to take over. The takeover was the result of alleged financial irregularities, but many devotees opposed this idea as they thought that the government should have instituted an inquiry before thinking of taking over this ancient temple. lence over the past years. In 1311, it was badly damaged following a raid by an Islamic invader Malik Kafur, whose army vandalised the temple and took away gold ornaments worth crores of rupees. Instead of taking control of the temple, the government could have framed a law to better regulate the management in large and historically temples such as the one at Chidambaram. Today there is no law to define temples’ administrative structure, priests’ salary, etc. Nor is there any mechanism in place to verify whether the temple is paying income tax. State-administered temples are common across Tamil Nadu, where local political parties, the DMK and AIADMK, have long been taking turn to rule the state. It seems politicians have been long trying to take control of the temples. The country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had wished, according to T.S.S Rajan who was a minister in the Madras government, not to have any private temples. A large number of Hindus in Tamil Nadu dislike the priest families, because they deny them entry into temples and restrict the practice of certain religious chores in the premises. For instance, it took centuries for Madurai Meenakshi Temple authorities to allow entry to Dalit devotees. Even the Dikshitars did not permit singing Tamil Saivaite devotionalhymns, something popular with nonBrahmins, near the sanctum. They even got a stay order against it. But they agreed reluctantly following a government order in 2008. Several Dalit organisations had launched a series of movements in 19th century, with their chief aim being entry to the temples where they are banned. In 2006, the TN government passed
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A Glimpse of the Temple T
he Chidambaram Temple appears to have been built to put on display the many features of Bharatanatyam, something that was hugely popular in the Chola kingdom. It is one of the rare temples where Shiva is represented by an idol rather than the customary lingam. Spread over an area of 40 acres, the temple contains five courts (‘sabhas’) and four ‘gopurams’. The eastern ‘gopuram’ is 40.8 metres high and carved on it are the 108 dance poses of Bharatanatyam. The western tower has also similar carvings, while the northern tower that soars to a height of 42.4 metres is the tallest. The idol of Nataraja sits at one of the courts covered with gold plates. The icon is a stunning piece of sculpture that evokes a sense of continuous movement. “Though non-Hindus are not allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum, replicas of this idol are easily available in most handicraft emporia and shops selling art and curio objects,” says the
an order to set up a dozen institutions to teach Vedic hymns to non-Brahmins and appoint them as priests. It was an attempt to challenge the priest community that has long opposed the entry of Dalits. In 1971, the government abolished the hereditary rights of priests. Interestingly, political parties in Tamil Nadu, both DMK and AIDMK, have long been the personal fiefdoms of a single political family.
website of TN’s tourism department. A shrine to Govindaraja or Lord Vishnu lies adjacent to the main shrine and has a beautiful idol of the lord reclining on Adisesha, the serpent. There are two other shrines, one dedicated to Subramanya and the other to Ganesha. In the courtyard, a large Nandi looks on devotedly at its Master through an aperture on the wall.
Today, according to “The Hindu”, as many as 207 qualified non-Brahmins are waiting for being appointed as priest. The paper goes on to say that there are about 34,470 temples run by the government across the state and most of them earn less than Rs.10 lakh annually. That means the TN government is spending more for the upkeep of the temples than what the temples are actually earning.
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Interview with Dr. K L Chowdhury
End the Special Status Let J&K get fully integrated with the Union
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A social scientist, poet and writer, Dr. K L Chowdhury is an ex-Professor of Medicine engaged in multifarious activities. Dr. Chowdhury, who runs a charitable medical institution for the poor, has to his credit five books, including a travelogue and a short story collection titled ‘Faith and Frenzy’. Here in an exclusive interview with Aseema, he expresses his views on various aspects of Kashmir and POK. l
Emotional integration of Kashmiri Muslims and physical integration of POK is a long pending issue. How to integrate Kashmir with India? The emotional integration of Kashmiri Muslims is a tall order. Unfortunately, the Kashmiri Muslims have been fed on a diet of appeasement and entitlement because of the Special Status of J&K and Article 370 which have only helped to accord a more than equal status to Kashmir vis-à-vis the other states of India. As a result, Kashmiris can buy property or set up business anywhere in India but those in other parts of India can’t own an inch of land in Kashmir. This is a one-way affair. Kashmiris have learnt only to take but not to give. This sets Kashmir apart as a pampered child of the Union. It has bred parasitism, engendered exclusivity, and nurtured a brand of Kashmiri sub-national identity that has got hardened over the years. It has caused emotional discord between Kashmiris and the rest of the country and introduced a parochial mindset in the local populace. The uncertainty and ambiguity about Kashmir’s relationship with rest of India have injected an element of schizophrenia among the masses. By declaring that sky is the limit of autonomy in the Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir, India has agreed that Kashmir can have more than what it already has of a separate character, separate identity and separate relationship with the Union, in the process accentuating the emotional divide and discord. The solution to this emotional disaffection is to formulate a clear and concrete policy on Kashmir in order to bring the state of J&K on a par with the other states of India in all respects. Regional identity is fine, but the
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need is to rise above narrow regional and communal considerations and build a national identity and national outlook. The first steps towards emotional integration should be to scrap the special status, annul Article 370, and allow the Constitution of India to flow into J&K in letter and spirit. As for the physical integration of POK, we have to accept the fact that, after three wars and numerous diplomatic exchanges, there has been no resolution of the festering Kashmir problem between India and Pakistan. Let us not forget that both the countries are nuclear states, and are in no mood to cede any territory which they hold now. Kashmir may be India’s crown; it is Pakistan’s jugular. Between losing a crown and a jugular, there is not much to choose, but so much at stake for both the countries. Besides, Pakistan has already fully integrated the northern areas and Gilgit with the mainland, while we are still battling with the status of Indian Kashmir vis-à-vis the rest of India— self rule, autonomy, freedom and Azadi, etc. confounding the confusion and creating a chain reaction of ambiguities. Alas, India has failed to physically integrate even the part of Kashmir that is with her, how is she supposed to reclaim POK? Therefore, physical integration of POK is a chimera, going by the despicable policies of successive Central governments. As a result, India has climbed down from the high pedestal of the historic parliamentary resolution in which we resolved to reclaim POK from Pakistan. Realistically, an accord with Pakistan converting LAC into a permanent international border should be a step towards the resolution.
of Kashmir called POK is under the illegal and forcible occupation of Pakistan. That country is an aggressor. India approached the United Nations as the aggrieved party and agreed to a ceasefire, just when the Pakistani raiders were on the run and could have been pushed back from the entire State. Instead of getting the occupied part back India became a party to a dispute, which has been simmering ever since because of India’s successive blunders politically, diplomatically and militarily. India also lost vast territories to China and is sitting with folded hands watching them walk in and walk out of our areas with impunity. Do we have the vision; do we have the nerve, verve and resolve to evict china or Pakistan from our rightful territories? No, as of now. But it is not impossible. They say, impossible is a word in the dictionary of fools. India has made a fool of herself.
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Are you giving up POK as a principled stand or as a daunting task which is a near impossibility? In principle the whole of Jammu and Kashmir has acceded to India by virtue of the instrument of accession signed by the ruler of the state, Maharaja Hari Singh. Therefore, the whole of the State is an inalienable part of India. The part
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Is Kashmir the Crown or head of India? Call it what you like. Crown is what you wear as a symbol of sovereignty and pride. Crown is also the top of the head, or the whole head. A headless body is as good as dead; a head without a crown must hang in shame. l
What should be our first step towards the solution? Catch the bull by the horns. End the uncertainty about Kashmir’s accession to India once and for all. Abrogate Article 370 and integrate Kashmir fully through constitutional and political mechanisms. It was a temporary provision anyway. Introduce all the laws of the Union into the state of J&K and repeal the special provisos altogether. What do you think is the root cause of the problem leading to the suffering of Kashmiri Pandits? Islamic fundamentalism is at the root of Kashmiri Pandits’ suffering and their exodus from the valley. It is the transformation of Kashmir’s syncretic culture into one of radical Wahabi Islamism. For this, it is not the ordinary
‘The common Kashmiri Muslim is civilized, intelligent and friendly. Give him a chance; liberate him from the pervasive influence of fundamentalists, proselytizers, India-haters. The Government of India and the Track-2 intelligentsia should stop kowtowing to the separatists and the militants. Invoke the sedition laws of the land, and handle these elements that teach hatred and indulge in subversion not with kid gloves but with strong punitive measures...’
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The first steps at emotional integration should be to scrap the special status, annul Article 370
Islamic fundamentalism is at the root of Kashmiri Pandits’ suffering and their exodus from the valley.
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people but the deadly combine of the political class, bureaucracy, and the separatists who are responsible. In order to perpetuate their control on J&K, they have kept the bogey of Kashmir’s accession, and its special status, alive, nurturing a feeling of victim-hood in the psyche of the Kashmiri masses. They have encouraged the growth of madrasas and masjids, militants and Mujahids in an unending cycle of antiIndia rhetoric. Since the Kashmiri Pandits are perceived as the last bastion of Indian-ness and Indian secularism in Kashmir, they became the natural targets of hatred against everything and anything Indian. They have been systematically persecuted through numerous discriminative and coercive measures that made life difficult for each and every Kashmiri Pandit. The whole government machinery is garnered to meet this end. Kashmiri Pandits were told in no uncertain terms by no less a person than Sheikh Abdullah: ‘Kashmiri Pandits have the whole of India, what do the Kashmiri Muslims have except Kashmir?’ This disowning of Kashmiri Pandits by the very first dynastic ruler of post-independent Kashmir set the tone and tenor of the repressive measures against the community. l
Could you provide some guidelines for an active politician, a political party and to a policy maker – about what should they do for Kashmir? Politicians, political parties, and policy makers should rise above rhetoric, above partisan politics, above votebank psychology, and above appeasement tactics. They should confront the issue head-on as a national issue, one of India and not just of a party or State. They should stand united in and outside the parliament on Kashmir. They should give due recognition to the three regions of Kashmir and not make it just a valley-centric proposition. They should formulate a coherent, concrete Kashmir policy, fight disinformation, and stop the powers-that-be from state-sponsored persecution of minorities. They should plead for the enforcement of minority rights in Kashmir to bring it at par with the minority rights
in India. l
What is the role of media and NGOs? The contribution of media and NGOs should be in line with truth, clarity, and a robust espousal of national interests. They should rise above partisan considerations and not blur the issue under the fog of chicanery and the din of cacophony. They should project the right perspectives, dismantle the myths, nail the lies, and fight the vicious disinformation campaign that is going on at the behest of the separatists and their mentors inside J&K and in Pakistan. l
Who do you think are committed to the Kashmiri cause— among the political parties, NGOs and other organisations? None whatsoever. Most of them pander to the ruling and bureaucratic elite of Kashmir, the separatists and even the militants. No one seems interested in the common Kashmiri or the Indian interests in Kashmir. The Indian cause in Kashmir is lost somewhere in the rhetoric, in one-upmanship, in political Machiavellianism. They have lost the urgency about the need to integrate Kashmir as full-fledged a state as any other in the Indian union, without the trammels of special status or constitutional ambiguities that have become a cause celebre. The only party that makes noises now and then is the BJP that stands for abrogation of Article 370, but when BJP was in power at the centre, it did nothing to give it a practical shape. It held coalition dharma responsible for their inaction. As for the NGOs, most of them are interested in keeping themselves engaged in Track-2 diplomacy, enjoying media glare and foreign and national jaunts, without really making any effective contribution. Every one claims to be a Kashmir specialist without really being one. A significant number of TV channels and their hosts seem more than keen to project one side of the picture in an unabashed bias towards the militants and their sympathisers. They readily provide a stage in their debates and interviews to the most vociferous
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separatists and ignore the real victims of militancy and of the dirty machinations of J&K government. l
As a doctor, you have rendered great service to the displaced Pandits by providing emotional, psychologi-
ist, Bitta Karate, claimed to have killed so many Kashmiri Pandits — 20 or 30— that he lost count, because he had orders from his superiors. When asked if he would kill his own father or mother on orders, he said yes; he would not think twice. That explains the mindset of a terrorist. This man is roaming free because the court declared that there was no evidence against him!! l
cal and medical support. You have identified new categories of health conditions - such as stress diabetes - among the displaced Pandits. Have you analysed the mind set of a Kashmiri separatist, a terrorist who murders several families in a remote village as they have the Hindu identity? For the separatists and terrorists, India is Hindu and any Hindu is India and, therefore, an infidel, and an enemy. To kill, convert or hound out the enemy is, for them, an act of piety. During the last 66 years, the mind of the militants and separatists has been indoctrinated relentlessly right from their childhood in the sanctuary of homes, inside madrasas and mosques, through propagandist literature, radio and TV from POK and Pakistan. It is a mindset of victimisation at the hands of Hindu India and all that represents India. It is a mindset of a separate Muslim identity of Kashmiris different from the rest, of everything good in Islam and bad in Hindu religion, of militancy and violent jihad as a means of solving issues. In one of the TV interviews, a terror-
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How can we save a Muslim individual from being misled in the guise of religion and regionalism? There are two problems here. First, Islam does not allow dissent; it does not allow any debate or discussion on the different aspects of Sharia and other Islamic mores. A Muslim is afraid of opening his mouth, to question, to revolt. Look at Tasleema Nasreen and Salman Rushdie, how they are facing life threats for perceived insults to Islam. Therefore, under the guise of religion and because of the disinformation and the xenophobia that Islam is in danger as is often created in Kashmir, the common masses are motivated, incited and even forced to toe the hard line. Alas, there is no escape in Islam from the clutches of fundamentalists and radical Islamists. Second, it is sad that the Kashmiris look towards Pakistan as the utopia, the country that was born on the basis of religion, and which often degenerates into military dictatorship and thrives on fundamentalism and Talibanism. Therefore this is another million dollar question as to how we can save a Muslim individual from being misled in the guise of religion and regionalism. It is for the Muslim individual not to fall in the trap, not to be misled. India is a secular democracy which has taken large strides in integrating the minorities with the larger civil society. India is pre-eminent in the affirmative actions she has taken to help minorities, offer special privileges for them in social, religious, cultural and economic matters. In contrast, look ate the minorities in Pakistan, how they have almost become extinct due to deadly laws, discrimination, persecution, second class
The government of J&K is responsible for the hostility and exploitation of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims. For them, the Yatra is a means of transporting Indian culture into Kashmir.
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status and the blasphemy laws. It is there for the Muslims of Kashmir and India to see the difference. Besides, there should be curbs on hate-inciting literature, and scrutiny of media, both print and electronic, that help incite communal and regional disharmony and violence. l
For the separatists and terrorists, India is Hindu and any Hindu is India and, therefore, an infidel, and an enemy. To kill, convert or hound out the enemy is, for them, an act of piety.
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What is the role of propaganda in misleading the youth of Kashmir? Very big role. The main culprits are: Radio Pakistan, inflammatory literature, misuse of madrasas and mosque, the imams and preachers who spread the message of hatred and jihad. l
In the rest of India, how are we doing in terms of protecting a Muslim individual from being misled? What should we be doing? Unfortunately, we are doing exactly the opposite. Look at the dangerously foolish statements and directives of the Home Minister of India, Mr. Shinde, asking the home ministries of various sates and the police to be careful in arresting or arraigning Muslim youth for alleged crimes. Are there two criminal justice systems in our country? Like having a separate code for Muslims when there should be a common and uniform civil code? Does religion decide criminality of an individual? Is there no equality in front of the Constitution? Rather than integrating them, are we not sending wrong message to Muslims that they are different, they are above the law of the land. Tomorrow they might press for Sharia, Islamic banking, Islamic jurisprudence. They might punish offenders by cutting off their limbs for theft, stoning women to death for alleged adultery, etc. The successive Congress governments have created the gulf wide in its nefarious vote-bank politics of dividing people on cast, community, religion and region. In pursuance with their partisan politics, Congress, SP and others are only creating fear and hatred in the Muslim minds, inciting the Muslim youth by their dangerous utterances and deeds. They even deny the existence of Indian Mujahideen. SP wants to release the known terrorists and offenders from
jails. What message are you giving to them? Go, bomb India, break India, burn India, because nobody will touch you. l
Which section of the population is suffering the most in the ongoing mindless violence in Kashmir? How could we rescue them? All sections of society are suffering, even the common Kashmiri Muslims. But Kashmiri Pandits are suffering the most because they have been driven out of their homeland in one of the worst examples of ethnic cleansing of a minority community in a secular-democratic country. Even in exile, which is running into twenty-fourth year, they continue to face relentless discrimination, and the denial of their basic human rights. We can rescue the Kashmiri Pandits only through sincere and concrete mechanisms of return, rehabilitation and restitution in their homeland. l
What should the rest of India know and do about Kashmir? Awake, arise, and liberate Kashmir from the clutches of separatists, fundamentalists and radical Islamists, from statusquoists, from vested interests of the ruling elite, from the dynastic rule of a single family, from the exposure to the relentless Pakistani propaganda and the infiltration of militants and their jihadi culture into the hearts and minds of civil society. l
How do you propose to do this? The common Kashmiri Muslim is civilized, intelligent and friendly. Give him a chance; liberate him from the pervasive influence of fundamentalists, proselytizers, India-haters. The government of India and the Track-2 intelligentsia should stop kowtowing to the separatists and the militants. Invoke the sedition laws of the land, and handle these elements that teach hatred and indulge in subversion not with kid gloves but with strong punitive measures. l
What should we do in rest of India not to create another Kashmir? India should be firm in dealing with
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individuals and groups who indulge in seditious, separatist and anti-national activities, who spread communalism, casteism, and regionalism. She should enforce the laws of the land in letter and spirit and boost her spy agencies to counter ISI and other spy wings of different countries; she should break the links between the terror operatives inside India and their mentors in the neighbouring countries. She should secure her borders against infiltrators from across Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma, and Nepal. Otherwise you will have Kashmir-like situation in Assam and other Eastern states including, Bengal, UP, etc. The maritime routes for infiltration into Bombay, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and other southern states also need to be fortified with intelligence and paramilitary presence. l
You have received an award from the government? Why did you accept it? I received an award for the best book in English. It was not from the government but from the J&K Academy of Arts, Languages, and Culture. The award is given after due scrutiny through a panel of examiners from amongst the works of different writers. It is like the Sahitya Academy awards on the national level. I had therefore no reason not to accept the award. Besides, I got an opportunity to visit Kashmir for receiving the award, first time after 18 years of living in exile. I stayed there for two days, travelled most places in the city, and wrote a travelogue on my return to show how Kashmir has completely been Islamized, how there is no trace of the mixed culture, how Kashmiri Pandits have been rendered history in Kashmir. l
Pilgrimage in Kashmir is becoming tougher - devotees are exploited financially by the hostile local population. What can be done about this? The government of J&K is responsible, not the local population. They are seized by the fear that the Amarnath Yatra is a means of transporting Indian culture into Kashmir, which the Muslims have managed to root out through the
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ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits. Omar Abdullah’s roar in Parliament that he would not allow one inch of land for the setting up of temporary sheds for the ‘yatris’ is eloquent testimony to the degree of paranoia even amongst the educated and ‘enlightened’ Kashmiris, for anything perceived to enhance Indian ethos in Kashmir. When Haj is subsidized by the GOI how come Amarnath Yatra is taxed in J&K? Is there no sensitivity in the hearts of the rulers there? Why has no one in India raised objections against this gross disparity? l
Do you support division of J&K state into smaller states? Yes. There should be division into four portions—Jammu, Kashmir, Ladhakh, and Homeland for Kashmiri Pandits. It is easier to administer smaller regions than one that is large and loosely held together. The geographical area of the State is spread out our vast territories, and the three regions are very much different from each other in language, traditions, history and geography, with mountainous barriers serving as natural dividers. Besides, it is the valley that has remained at the helm, and that has lorded over the rest of the regions down the six decades after independence, and perpetuated highly discriminatory policies with Jammu and Ladhakh regions, while the Pandits have been uprooted from the valley. l
What do you think as a Kashmiri Pandit about your return to the valley? Do you think it is possible? We must return to Kashmir. There are no two opinions on this. But we would not like to return to a place which has been turned into a monolithic Islamic entity, with little space for other communities and religions; where even the symbols and signs of a shared history and shared culture are being systematically wiped away; where our lands, estates, temples and shrines have been defiled, encroached upon, annexed or destroyed. Our return is possible only if a space is created for us where we can live in
There should be division into four portions— Jammu, Kashmir, Ladhakh, and Homeland for Kashmiri Pandits.
Kashmiri Pandits can return the to Valley if a space is created for us where we can live in compactness and concentration, free and without fear. 15
Profile Dr. K L Chowdhury retired as a Professor of Medicine, Medical College, Srinagar. Presently he is the Director of a charitable institution, Shriya Bhatt Mission Hospital and Research Center, Durga Nagar, Jammu. He is a physician and neurologist, a medical researcher, poet, social activist. He writes on diverse subjects – medical, literary, social and political and has numerous research papers to his credit, his pioneering work being “The Health Trauma in a Displaced Population” which was presented at national and international conferences. He has published three anthologies namely: 1- “Of Gods, Men and Militants”. Minerva Press (Pvt.) India -2000 2- “A Thousand-Petalled Garland and other Poems”. Writers Workshop Kolkata – 2003 3- “Enchanting world of Infants” Peacock Books, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors-2007 He was declared Shehjar’s ‘ Kashmiri Person of the year ‘ for 2007.
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compactness and concentration, free and without fear, where we can survive as a religious minority with dignity, with economic guarantees and full political rights, where Indian constitution flows free and unfettered. l
Do you think tradition is the cause of the misery of Kashmiri Pandits? No community divorces itself of tradition if it has to survive and thrive. We are proud of our rich traditions. Our traditions have kept us alive, and what we fear most is its dilution because of the cross-cultural currents in exile. Language, culture and tradition thrive in their natural habitat. We have lost that habitat, our homeland in Kashmir. Do you see any fault lines in Hinduism? Do you see some inherent deficiency in Kashmiri culture as one of the causes of the Kashmir crisis? Is the Pandit community suffering because it adheres to a wrong platform/ideology? There are fault lines in every religion, so also in Hinduism. Look at Christianity, the fault lines between the Catholics and Protestants; look at Islam, the fault lines between Shia and Sunni, between the Wahabi and Sufi Islam. It has become a fashion to say that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. This is a conspiracy theory. It is only to take the distinct Hindu identity away from the Hindus who comprise three-fourths of the Indian population, to make them doubt their own strength, to belittle their religious convictions and their rituals. Hinduism is neither monolithic like other religions, nor a straight-jacketed religion. There is no single prophet, but numerous gods and avatars, sects and disciplines, yet all are the children of the mother religion. There is no single gospel like the Bible or the Koran, but the richest source of knowledge and wisdom in the Vedas and Upanishads which speak of the whole world being a family, and in the philosophy of the Gita that teaches the spirit of detachment and the immortality of the soul. I agree that while Hinduism gives the adherents the freedom to choose, the
fault lines because of the divisions are staggering. But, that should not stop Hindus from practising this beautiful religion. I don’t see any inherent deficiency in Kashmiri culture as such. If you talk of the Kashmiri Hindu culture, well, it is a rich culture that derives its root and inspiration from Kashmir Shaivisim. The doctrine of Pratibhijna lies at the core of Kashmiri Shaivisim Pratibhijna universalises god and man. This is the beauty of Kashmiri Shaivisim. There is a god in each one of us. It has made pacifists out of us. How can I hate another being when he is part of the universal consciousness, or Brahman? If being peaceful and tolerant is a sin, then Kashmir Pandits will commit this sin over and over again. Yes, Kashmir Pandits are blamed for being Hindus, for standing for India in Kashmir, for honouring the Indian tricolour. They will continue to do so even if the rest of India buries her head in the sand of evil times that have fallen upon her. l
How is the relationship between Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus in J&K? There is not much left of Hindus (Kashmiri Pandits); their ethnic cleansing is almost total, with only a few thousand of their original seven hundred thousand populations left in Kashmir. The Sikhs are living in fear; most of them have purchased small plots in Jammu and elsewhere just in case they are targeted and forced to flee like the Kashmiri Pandits. The Buddhists feel relatively safe because they are concentrated in Leh and neighbouring towns, the Ladakh Hill Council providing them some degree of separate identity and role in local administration. We hear of Muslims making inroads into Leh and incentivising conversions of Buddhists into Islam in far-flung areas like Padma. Other than that, an uneasy calm prevails between the communities. It is one of unquestioned Muslim hegemony.
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China‘s assertiveness makes its neighbours nervous
Ambition without Limit • By Gajanana Sharma
I
n recent years, China has registered impressive economic growth to transform itself into the second largest economy of the world. The country started economic reforms in 1978 to become a market-based economy from being a centrally planned economy. Those reforms are yielding handsome results; and the country is wielding its economic power more than ever before to achieve its goal of becoming a global superpower.
China has various tricks in its armour to pursue the goal of being a superpower. Some of them are obvious and many others not so obvious. The country aggressively pushes its products and services all over the globe and has made its presence felt in European countries, which now rely on Chinese products more than the Japanese products. Today, China and the EU are two important forces in the international arena. In recent years, with China’s rapid economic development and rising international
status and simmering European debt crisis and economic crisis, European countries are increasingly relying on China for support based on geo-political and economic interests. While China promotes its economy in the European countries, it follows a more dangerous policy back at Asia to pursue its dream of supremacy. One such instance is the declaration by Beijing of a new overlapping Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over contested islands of Diaoyu/Senkaku. The Senkaku Islands dispute
China’s muscle-flexing has been going on for some time causing serious concern among the neighbouring countries about its real intentions. A strong economy means a strong urge to threaten and bully the neighbours and that is what is happening in the case of China. It has staked claims to a group of islands long administered by Japan; it has border disputes with almost all its neighbours, whether they pertain to land or sea. Its aggressive posture with India continues despite sweet talks of settlement through dialogues. Under these circumstances, the nations within its periphery will be forced to take a united stand to protect their interests.
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concerns a territorial dispute over a group of uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the Diaoyu in China, and Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan. Aside from a 1945 to 1972 period of administration by the United States, the archipelago has been controlled by Japan since 1895. China disputed the proposed US handover of authority to Japan in 1971 and has asserted its claims to the islands since that time. While these moves reflect China’s growing audacity in the Asian region, it also reflects the shift in the economic zone at the global level. China has overtaken Japan as the second largest economy in the world in 2010. The country is confident that in case of a dispute, the international community will be more or less compelled to side with China. The economic ad-
vantages China can offer are too many to ignore, and China knows this. Recently, the country has even asserted that it has full rights to create an “air identification zone” in the East China Sea. This zone is controlled by the US and China has made it amply clear as it feels uncomfortable with the US presence in the Asian region. The number of territorial disputes China has with its neighbors has gone up alarmingly in the last few years. It has disputes with India over Aksai Chin, Arunahcal Pradesh, Demchok, Chumar, Kaurik, Shipki Pass, Jadh, and Lapthal; with Korea over Baekdu Mountain and Jiandao; with Bhutan over Bhutanese enclaves in Tibet; with Vietnam over Macclesfield Bank and Paracel Islands and so on. And the countries in this region are gearing up to meet a possible threat
from China. Recently, Tokyo unveiled a new national security strategy and a plan to develop its military over the next five years, both aimed in large part at deterring China’s aggressive moves in the East China Sea. The US has offered Vietnam and the Philippines $156 million aid over the next two years to defend their maritime territory against Chinese encroachment. South Korea has already conducted joint exercises with Japan inside China’s new air-defense zone. Many strategists believe that China eyes areas that have abundant of natural resources. It is also targeting areas that can be strategic in times of war. While China unleashes its intentions in the Asian region, it is up to other countries of Asia to stand up and safeguard their sovereignty.
China’s Bullying Tactics C
hina has always tried to bully India over various issues. For years, it has been helping Pakistan to enhance its nuclear weapons and missile capabilities and has also been supplying Pakistan with weapons systems ranging from fighter aircraft to frigates. It provides huge economic assistance for Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, while vehemently opposing international assistance for projects in J&K and Arunachal Pradesh. China has recently claimed that whole
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of Arunachal Pradesh is a part of “South Tibet”. In terms of the “Guiding Principles” that prime ministers Wen Jiabao and Dr Manmohan Singh concluded in 2005, it was agreed that in resolving differences over the border issue, the Sino-Indian boundary would be along “well-defined and easily identifiable, natural geographical features” and that “interests of their settled populations” in the border areas should be safeguarded. The Ladakh-China
border was determined in 1899 as lying along the Karakoram Mountains, up to the Indus River watershed. But China often behaves like a bully with India and policies and documents do not work with bullies. The only way India can react to such tactics is to show in no uncertain terms that it has the power and will to tackle China’s misadventures in the Indian territory.
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But the Master Strategist lives on… • By Shankar Pande
W
hen he died eight years after slipping into a coma, Israelis mourned and Arabs, on the streets of Palestine and Lebanon, celebrated distributing sweets. That was how Aerial Sharon lived and ruled the Jewish state, which has been in a bitter war with its Arab neighbours ever since it was born. Israelis loved Sharon, because he was one of its most successful military commanders, who brought victory over Lebanon and Egypt. It is he who mooted the idea of setting up the cement- and-wire fence along the border with Palestine to protect Israel from suicide bombers. More than anything else, Sharon is the only Israeli politician who dared to evict the
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The death of Aerial Sharon, former Prime Minister of Israel and one of the most respected military commanders, has saddened the whole country. He was in a coma for the last eight years and doctors had ruled out recovery. Sharon will always be remembered for his bold approach to Israel’s innumerable problems, especially the lingering threats from Islamist groups and terrorists. Had he remained Prime Minister, he would have risked a flash raid to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Jewish settlers from the West Bank. On January 11th he was declared dead. He was struck by a stroke and it left him in a coma for eight years. World respects him for his innovative military strategy. Before launching a full-scale attack on an enemy territory, Sharon would send in small battalions, each with a specific aim.
These tactics helped Israel win battles at record speed. Such tactics sometimes led to the death of innocent people. Sharon ordered air raid on Lebanon in retaliation for the death of three Jewish settlers and that ended in the death of more than 160 people. A commission set up by the govern-
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ment had found him responsible for killing a large number of Palestinian civilians in refugee camps. Sharon resigned as Defense Minister following this allegation. But before long he returned to power and became the Prime Minister of Israel. He was criticised severely for the cement fence he built along the Palestinian border with his opponents saying that it was a brazen and shameless act of occupation. Many analysts are of the opinion that Sharon prolonged the Middle East conflict by spurning every opportunity to make peace with Israel’s Arab neighbours. In the name of protecting Israel, he invaded neighbouring countries one after another, thereby sowing the seeds of eternal enmity with the Muslims. But he surprised his critics when he pulled out the army from the West Bank and evicted more than 10,000 Israeli settlers who were living in the occupied land. Israelis’ occupation of Gaza and the West Bank has long been a thorny issue. Thousands of Palestinians, forced out by occupants, have been living for decades in shanty towns and refugee camps. Their food and clothes are funded by Islamic countries, such as the UAE and by donors in the rich world. Every international effort to end the Israeli occupation to bring about peace in the Middle East has failed. And Israel has continued to live in fear of attack from Islamic terrorists. Another fear is ‘What if an Islamic neighbour destroys it completely with a nuclear bomb.’ Had Sharon remained the prime minister, he would have destroyed Iran’s nuclear power plants, where Iran is suspected to be developing nuclear bombs. Even today, there is a fear that Israel might raid Iran to destroy its nuclear facility, because Iran has often warned that it would wipe off Israel from the map.
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From Commander to Prime Minister I
n 1970s, after more than a decade in the military, Sharon launched a political party (Likud) and swept to power with an overwhelming majority. It was something unheard of in Israeli political landscape. It showed the popularity he had gained as a military commander. A few years later, he abandoned the party he founded and launched a new party called Kadima. This too won power in the following election. This time Sharon became the prime minister. Ehud Olmert, who succeeded Sharon as prime minister, came close to clinching a deal on the West Bank. But that fell through quickly for no specific reason. It is believed that the settlers have a strong political clout and they force Israeli
politicians to disagree on any peace deal that requires the Jewish state to withdraw from the occupied areas in Gaza and the West Bank. Muslim countries, beset with civil war and Islamic fundamentalism, have remained weak. After the death of Yasser Arafat, Palestinians have barely got a voice on the international stage to demand quick withdrawal of Israeli army from occupied provinces. That’s good news for Israel. But what is bad news is Israel cannot sleep in peace as long as it continues the occupation. Radical Islamic groups have often proved that they are willing to kill as many Jews as they can to settle scores with Israel.
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• By Raju Shanbhag
Bolstering the Fortress P
eople around the world are becoming increasingly wary and worried about the growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism. Their worry is not the growing population of Muslims in their neighborhood but the possibility of the terrorist outfits aligning with their Muslim neighbours leading to murder and mayhem. Seeing the growing Islamic extremism in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, several countries are building fortresses around them in a desperate attempt to prevent this potential threat from creeping into their territories and causing havoc.
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How the world is reacting to Islamists’ threat
L
ast year alone, anti-Muslim attacks have nearly doubled in Britain. Even Buddhists, long considered to be tolerant, have started resorting to violent ways to chase Muslims out of their domain. If you look at the major terrorist activities in the world in the last few years, they all connect to Muslim fundamentalism in one way or the other. No other religion in the world has been in the news for wrong reasons.
F
or Islamic leaders, it is becoming increasingly inescapable to weed out the terrorist outfits in order to shake off the bad image. What the Islamists do not understand -- or care to understand -- is that they are doing more harm to their own community by propagating the act of terror than furthering their cause of so-called Islamisation. Already, many innocent lives of Muslims have been lost in the violent mess created by these extremists propagating their wayward ideology.
I
n the following pages, we try to draw your attention to some of the movements taking shape across Asia to ward off Muslim fundamentalism. The articles are aimed at informing the readers about the impression the terrorist outfits have created in the wider world. It is also a call for the leaders of Islam to address these issues before it is too late.
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Like India, China too is facing the menace of terrorism. It is tackling with great difficulty the insurgencies in its Xinjiang region, where there have been several terrorist attacks resulting in the death of thousands of innocent people. The danger from separatists is all the more serious in China because it is surrounded by five Muslim countries--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. So there is always a chance of terrorists sneaking in and wreaking havoc.
Terrorists on the offensive in Xinjiang
Separatism in China C
hina may be a communist Country, but it is often plagued by religious conflicts. One of the examples of this increasingly worrying trend is the recent incident in Xinjiang region, where eight alleged terrorists were shot dead. Beijing described the assault as “terrorism” and blamed the separatists backed by the militant East Turkestan Islamic Movement for the conflicts. Xinjiang has witnessed numerous violent incidents over the last few years and many political observers of China and the government controlled media believe that these are the acts of Muslim separatists in the country. Islam was first brought to China by Ehtesham Khan. Chinese Muslims have been in China for the last 1,400 years and have continuous interaction with Chinese society. Muslims live in every region in China. There are various estimates about their numbers but it is generally believed that they form anywhere between 1-2% of China’s population. Islam expanded gradually across the maritime and inland Silk Routes from the 7th to the 10th centuries through trade and diplomatic exchanges. The conflict in Xinjiang is fuelled by the separatist struggle of the Uighur people in that region. They claim Xin-
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jian was earlier called East Turkestan and it was their fatherland. But China insists that the region has been part of China since ancient times, and nowadays calls it Xinjiang, which, in Chinese, means “new frontier/ boundary.” Since the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, Xinjiang has enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy. Turkish rebels in Xinjiang declared independence in October 1933 and created the Islamic Republic of East Turkistan (also known as the Republic of Ui-
ghuristan or the First East Turkistan Republic). The following year, the Republic of China reabsorbed the region. In 1944, factions within Xinjiang again declared independence, this time under the auspices of the Soviet Union, and created the Second East Turkistan Republic. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party took over the territory and declared it a Chinese province. In October 1955, Xinjiang became classified as an “autonomous region” of the People’s Republic of China. The Chi-
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nese government, in its white paper on Xinjiang, says Xinjiang had been an “inseparable part of the unitary multi-ethnic Chinese nation” since the Western Han Dynasty, which ruled from 206 BCE to 24 AD. The history of China has witnessed various bloody wars for supremacy over this mineral-rich region. The wars also played an important role in the East Turkestan independence movement. In recent years, the struggle for separatism may also have been ignited by cultural oppression by the Chinese government. The Uighur people in China have taken up armed struggle as a means to achieve their goal of separatism. In 2007, the Chinese government conducted a raid in Xinjiang thwarting a suicide bombing attempt on a China Southern Airlines flight. Another Xinjiang attack in 2008 resulted in the deaths of 16 police officers four days before the Beijing Olympics. In the 2010 Aksu bombing, 376 people were arrested and they underwent trials. The 2011 Hotan attack in July led to the deaths of 18 civilians. Although all of the attackers were Uyghur, both Han and Uyghur people were victims. In 2011, six ethnic Uyghur men attempted to hijack an aircraft heading for Ürümqi, but failed after the passengers and crew resisted and restrained the hijackers. On 24 April 2013, clashes took place between a group of armed men and social workers and police near Kashgar. The violence left at least 21 people dead, including 15 police and officials. In October 2012, Islamists seeking independence for the Muslim Uighur minority ploughed a Mercedes-Benz SUV into as crowd in Tiananmen Square. The SUV exploded, killing three passengers, two tourists and injuring 40 other people. Conflicts between the Uyghers and the Han Chinese have been causing many violent demonstrations and deadly riots, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people. One recent event that has taken place in China regarding the Hans and the
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A Joint Operation Against Terrorism S
ince Islamic terrorism is a problem for both India and China, the two countries started a joint military exercise in 2013 to curb terrorism. Both had a 10-day joint military drill on counterterrorism — the first such exercise between the neighbours in five years — in southwestern China, with around 300 soldiers from both countries taking part in exercises aimed at boosting trust between the armies. Both the contingents included around 160 soldiers each. The Indian side included soldiers from the 16 Sikh Light Infantry and the 1st Battalion Infantry division of
Uyghers was the Xinjiang riots. These riots left over 200 people dead back in July and in the preceding month another demonstration involving syringes as weapons added to the turmoil. The Chinese government assured the Hans and punished the Uyghers severely. Needless to say, the above incidents show that Muslim separatism is on the rise in China. Obviously, it has been a cause of concern for the Chinese government. China has often accused that many of the Islamist separatists are trained in Pakistan and has urged Pakistan to “rein in”
the PLA. This joint operation had counter-terrorism drills involving tactical hand signals, arrest and escort, hostage rescue, joint attacks and “a comprehensive antiterror combat drill”. But many observers believe that these drills are more symbolic than substantial. They point out that the counterterrorism drills are nowhere near as comprehensive as a full-fledged exercise between two armies. So, the larger objective here seems to be the aim to expand confidence and trust between the two militaries, which are often grappling with tensions along the border.
the terrorist breeding camps in its country. The relationship between the countries has been strained because of Muslim separatism. One more factor that bothers China is that it is surrounded by five Muslim countries--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is always a chance of trained Muslim terrorists sneaking into the borders of China through these countries. Like India, the devil of Muslim terrorism is taking gigantic strides in China. But, unlike the present Indian Government which shows a soft corner to garner minority votes, China has been stern in acting against terrorism. Maybe it’s time India took a leaf out of China’s book in containing terrorism and make the country a safer place to live.
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Muslim fundamentalism has spawned a number of movements in many parts of the world to preserve their culture and way of living. A case in point is Myanmar where there is a fear among the Buddhists that their culture is at stake. The destruction of the famous world heritage statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan, located in the Hindu Kush Mountains of central Afghanistan in March 2001, showed the rabid intolerance of the Taliban, and this in turn has aroused deep hatred and disgust among other peoples of the world.
Clash of faith & culture Myanmar in the crossfire of communal clashes
C
lashes between Muslims and Buddhists in the Asian region have a long and bloody history. Time and again, both the communities have come into conflict out of mistrust of each other’s intentions and the hate propaganda ignited by
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vested interests. This unfortunate saga raised its ugly head once again in western Myanmar in October 2013, in which six people were killed and dozens of homes were destroyed and the largely poor population of both the com-
munities suffered heavy casualties. The attack in January on Myanmar’s coast was the latest in a string of brutal clashes between the Buddhists and Muslims. The sectarian violence has claimed hundreds of lives and threatens to overshadow the reform
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effort of President Thein Sein. The history of the Muslim-Buddhist conflict is a long one. During the eighth century Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims had lived in peace in Afghanistan. Many Buddhists even converted to Islam, which was more straightforward than the relatively esoteric Buddhist faith, with its doctrine of “karma” and reincarnation. In recent years, the first major attack on Buddhist culture was the destruction in March 2001 of the giant statues of Buddha in Bamiyan, located in the Hindu Kush Mountains of central Afghanistan. The sandstone Buddha statues had been carved into the rock face. The largest was over 150 feet high. The Taliban blew up the world’s historic treasures by drilling holes into the torsos of the two statues and then placed dynamite inside the holes and blew them up. Since then, the Buddhists and Muslims have clashed on various occasions. In 2010, a Buddhist temple in the North Sumatran city of Tanjung Balai, Indonesia, was forced to remove a Buddha statue from its roof after complaints by an Islamist organisation. In February 2012, after a coup
in the Maldives, Islamic hardliners burst into the national museum and smashed the Buddhist statues kept there. In Malaysia in 2012, a Buddhist society, in the city of Kota Bharu, was told that its new temple would not be able to include definitive iconography of the faith in its design, but would have to resemble a mosque. Countries like Myanmar have witnessed some of the most violent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims. These incidents have eroded Myanmar’s image in the international arena. Doubts have arisen about the government’s ability to control mobs and make Myanmar a better place to live in for its citizens. It has also harmed the country’s ability to attract foreign investment, which it badly needs. What these communal riots have done is to change the image of Buddhist monks in the international circles. The world believed the Buddhist community was a peace-loving society and the images of Buddha and their current day leaders like Dalai Lama had only propagated this image further. But, with hardliners in Buddhism taking centre stage in coun-
tries like Myanmar and Sri Lanka, the image of a tranquil Buddhist monk is changing. As for Muslims, the attacks on Buddhists and their sacred monuments have only helped in escalating the already abundant hatred and disgust towards Islamic fundamentalism in various parts of the world. The governments in countries like Myanmar and Sri Lanka have taken some measures to reconcile both the communities and promote communal harmony. But if recent violence in these countries is anything to go by, these efforts have not yielded much result. Apart from taking strict actions against the miscreants, the governments in these countries should also take meaningful steps to reconcile the differences among the people of both the communities.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s Comments B
urma’s opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has stated that the recent communal clashes were motivated by fear. She said there was no ethnic cleansing taking place and that both sides were afraid of each other. “This problem arose last year and this is to do with fear on both sides. The fear is not just on the side of the Muslims but also on the side of the Buddhists. Muslims have been targeted but Buddhists also have been subjected to violence … Global Muslim power is very great and certainly, that is a perception in many parts of the world and in our country as well.”
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During the interview, she was asked to condemn Wirathu, a Buddhist monk labelled the “Burmese Bin Laden” who has been stoking hatred against Muslims, denouncing them as “crude and savage”. She replied: “I condemn hatred of any kind.” Similarly, she was asked to condemn violence against Muslims and answered: “I condemn any movement that is based on hatred and extremism.”
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Innocents get killed in violent acts
Horrible crimes are being committed by Muslim fundamentalists in the name of religion, in which thousands of innocent people are killed. They indoctrinate the youth into these dastardly acts invoking certain religious edicts and thus turn them into what can be called ‘robots’ who do their bidding without a question. That is what happened in May last year in London when a British soldier was brutally murdered by two young Muslim converts on the ground that he had killed Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Predictably, there has been a backlash in Britain and other European countries and deep-seated hatred and distrust of these “merchants of terror”.
Whom They Want to Terrorise? I
slamic terrorism, nurtured by religious intolerance, has been on the rise in various parts of the world in the last few years. Consequently, the hatred and hate crimes against Muslims are also on the rise the world over. A glaring example of this can be seen in England. After the cruel daylight murder of British Army soldier Drummer (Private) Lee Rigby on May 22, 2013, crimes against Muslims have shown a sharp upturn in the country, statistics show. But these statistics might be showing only the tip of the iceberg; many believe that the actual number may be much higher. Lee Rigby was attacked and killed by two men near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. Two men ran him down in a car, then used knives and a cleaver to stab and hack him to death. The men dragged Rigby’s body onto the road and remained there unfazed till the police arrived. And this is where a disconcerting aspect of Muslim terrorism came to light. The killers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were not born Muslims; they were converts
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and had embraced the violent method of Muslim fundamentalism more fervently than any other Muslim. The attackers did not flee from the scene of the crime; they remained there and delivered a short speech, stating that this murder was done to avenge the deaths of Muslims, stating that Rigby had killed Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Adebolajo was born in Lambeth to a Christian family. He went to Marshalls Park School and studied sociology at the University of Greenwich. He is known for his involvement in radical Islamist activities and had been arrested at a violent protest and later released. According to Anjem Choudary, a radical Muslim cleric, Adebolajo converted to Islam in 2003
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and was linked to the outlawed Islamist group, al-Muhajiroun. In 2006, Adebolajo was arrested outside the Old Bailey during a protest about the trial of Mizanur Rahman. Following media reports that Michael Adebowale had attended the University of Greenwich with Michael Adebolajo, the university issued a statement, in which it said that there were no records relating to (Adebowale) in connection with the Woolwich incident, and that the university had launched an investigation into the matter. His mother is a probation officer and his father a member of staff at the Nigerian High Commission. Soon after the attack, there was a report of increase in anti-Muslim attacks across England. Many organisations working for communal harmony reported an increase in the number of phone calls to their helpline concerning anti-Muslim incidents which ranged from verbal abuse to physical assaults in which women’s headscarves were pulled off. Graffiti was scrawled over mosques and Muslimowned businesses. During the night after Rigby’s death, two mosques were attacked. In Braintree, Essex, a man entered a mosque with two knives, threatened the congregation and threw an explosive device -- a grenade or gas canister. In Gillingham, Kent, a man ran into a mosque and smashed windows and book cases, specifically targeting those containing copies of the Quran. Two men were arrested in connection with the attacks. On May 26, several petrol bombs were thrown into a mosque in Grimsby. No one was injured and the fires were rapidly extinguished. Two former soldiers were arrested in connection with the attack. On June 5, the Al-Rahma Islamic Centre in Muswell Hill – used by children after school – was destroyed by a fire. The building had been sprayed with graffiti making reference to the English Defence League. The fire investigation was conducted by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command because of a possible link to
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Islamophobia on the rise I
slamophobia is on the rise in various parts of the world. Islamophobia is a neologism used generally to refer to prejudice against, hatred towards, or fear of Muslims or of ethnic groups perceived to be Muslim. The causes and characteristics of Islamophobia and the validity of the term itself are still debated. A perceived trend of increasing Islamophobic attitudes and incidents during the 2000s has been attributed by commentators to
domestic extremism. On June 8, a fire at Darul Uloom School, an Islamic boarding school in southeast London, forced the evacuation of 128 students and teachers. Police said they feared the incident may have been a revenge attack. While the majority of mainstream Muslims in the UK and other parts of the world condemned the attack, a regressive mindset of extremist Islamism came to the fore in an interview conducted by the BBC with Anjem Choudary. Anjem was a British solicitor and also, before it was proscribed, spokesman for the Islamist group Islam4UK. Although Anjem
the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, while others associate it with the increased presence of Muslims in the Western world. In May 2002, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), a European Union watchdog, released a report entitled “Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001”, which described an increase in Islamophobia-related incidents in European member states post-9/11
said he was ‘shocked’ looking at the graphic scenes of murder of Lee Rigby, he stopped short of condemning it. He called it a ‘reaction’ to UK’s military operations in Afghanistan. Leaders of Islam, especially the extremist ones, do not seem to understand that extremism will only alienate them further from the mainstream world. Innocent Muslims are already being subjected to various forms of harassment as a result of the foolishness of these extremists. Violence does not achieve anything, least of all respect in the eyes of others. Hatred breeds only more hatred.
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Lord Buddha preached non-violence, but in a country that is mostly Buddhists, the people of Sri Lanka are forced to resort to violence owing to circumstances beyond their control. The untrammeled conversion activities of other religions, especially Muslim and Christian, are complelling the Sinhalese people to demand stern action against them. One such organisation that is in the forefront of this movement is the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), which has put up several demands before the government to stop the conversion mania of these religious zealots.
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he Sri Lankan Buddhists are going through a crisis. On the one hand, they are pitted against other sects for political domination and, on the other, they are fighting for the preservation of their own identity in their country. Often, this has led to the formation of Buddhist forces in Sri Lanka to fight for the cause of Buddhists. Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force -- BBS) is one such organisation. BBS is mainly known for its protests against alleged religious invasions on Buddhism in Sri Lanka by other religious groups such as Muslims and Christians. The organisation likes to project itself as the one that is battling to preserve the country’s Sinhalese-Buddhist character. BBS was founded by monks Kirama Wimalajothi and Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara. Both these Buddhist monks were earlier part of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). Both claim that they were ‘disillusioned’ with JHU because it was not fighting hard enough to protect the rights of Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Wimalajothi heads the BBS and Gnanasara is its general secretary. BBS has a very strong presence in Sri Lanka, which is natural considering the fact that Buddhism is practised by more than 70% of the Sri Lankan population. It has been a dominant religion in Sri Lanka since the 3rd century, but of late many Buddhists fear that their unique identity and culture are threatened by what they call “invasion” by other reli-
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The Rise of BBS in Sri Lanka Buddhists fear their survival is at stake gions. Over the years, the influence of BBS in Sri Lanka has grown considerably, and recently the ‘Time’ magazine called BBS “Sri Lanka’s most powerful Buddhist organisation”. Since its first national convention at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall on July 28, 2012, BBS has been coming up with various demands. It has, among others, called for a ban on vasectomy/ tubectomy in government health clinics and demanded replacement of the various legal systems prevailing in the country with a unified single legal system. Other demands by BBS include preferential treatment in university admission for students who have attended Buddhism classes and employment of Buddhist monks in government schools to teach history and other subjects. On October 4, 2012 it staged a protest rally against the anti-Buddhist ri-
ots in Bangladesh before the Bangladesh High Commission in Colombo. On October 14, 2012, it stormed a house in Batakettara where it alleged a Christian pastor called Dinesh and others from an evangelical group called ‘The Name of Lord Jesus’ were trying to convert Sinhalese Buddhists. On October 25, 2012, it staged a rally in Badulla against Islamic terrorism and the alleged conversion and vandalism of Buddhist sites. They also held a protest march at the Department of Archeology on November 29, 2012, urging the authorities to protect the Buddhist archaeological sites in the Eastern Province. The Executive Committee of the Bodu Bala Sena consists of Chief of Bodu Bala Sena Ven. Kirana Vimalajothi Thera, Ven. Galagadatthea Gnanasara Thera (General Secretary), Ven. Haputhalea Paghgasara Thera (member), Ven. Vitharandheniyea
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Nandha Thera (member) and Dilantha Vithanage (Lay Member). BBS believes that since the Sri Lankan Government is elected by the majority of Buddhists, it should remain a Buddhist government. At a rally held in February 2013, BBS General Secretary Gnanasara stated: “This is a government created by Sinhala Buddhists and it must remain Buddhist. This is a Sinhala country and Sinhala government. The democratic and pluralistic values are killing the Sinhala race.” He also told the crowd that they “must become an unofficial civilian police force against Muslim extremism. These so-called democrats are destroying the Sinhala race.” For some time now, the BBS has been accusing Muslims in Sri Lanka of driving the Buddhist traders out of business. Clashes between Muslims and BBS have been on the rise in the last few months.
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Anti ‘Halal’ Campaign I
n February 2013, BBS started a campaign against the ‘halal’ certifying system in the country. In Sri Lanka ‘halal’ certification is carried out by the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the group of Islamic clerics. The BBS initially threatened to take the ACJU to court. Later, they threatened to launch a campaign against the ‘halal’ certification, stating “they (the Muslims) are trying to impose their ritualistic food products upon this country. The next plan is to bring about Sharia law. Already there is Muslim banking system in the country.” At the rally in Maharagama on
February 17, 2013, the BBS announced that it was calling for the abolition of the ‘halal’ certifying system, demanding that shops be cleared of ‘halal’ meat by April. In late February 2013 the ACJU offered to hand over responsibility for ‘halal’ certification to the government but this was rejected by the BBS who called for the complete eradication ‘halal’ certification. The BBS slammed the ACJU as “arrogant, corrupt, thieving, underworld thugs”. The government also refused to take over ‘halal’ certification due to the pressure from BBS.
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Humiliation of Indian Diplomat Unacceptable
Uncle Sam’s easy target • By Kanwal Sibal What the US authorities did to Deputy Consul General (DCG) Devyani Khobragade is an affront that is totally unacceptable. She was handcuffed and charged with visa fraud and other ‘crimes’. The Indian Government has retaliated in full measure even as Indian Foreign Service is seething with anger. The White House has not bothered to express regret. Strange are the ways of this superpower who has taken upon itself the responsibility of policing the world!
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he arrest and hand-cuffing of India’s Deputy Consul General (DCG) Devyani Khobragade in New York as if she is a criminal with all the intrusive personal indignities heaped on a “felon” by the US raises serious questions about India-US bilateral equations and the unilateralistic manner in which the US interprets the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). This humiliation has been consciously inflicted by the US authorities ignoring its political implications. It could have been avoided since there is nothing in the case that could have compelled them to take this drastic step. If the US authorities felt that denying the maid the US minimum wage was intolerable, they could have sought the DCG’s expulsion. Instead, they have themselves — not the maid — filed the case against the DCG by contriving a legal cover for their extreme step by claiming that she had committed visa fraud by falsely declaring the maid’s wages. There is much chicanery involved here. Indian diplomats taking domestic staff to the US accept the minimum wage requirement when all concerned, including the US visa services and the State Department, know this is done pro-forma to have the paper work
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in order. To imagine that the US authorities are duped into believing that our diplomats will pay their domestic staff more than what they earn is absurd. The US authorities have been clearing such visas for years to practically resolve the contradiction between reality and the letter of the law. Any US concerns about this practical approach exposing our diplomats to potentially lethal legal consequences do not seem to have been amicably addressed at the official
The US sees no moral wrongdoing in our diplomats and our India-based service staff being paid far less than their US counterparts, but feels morally outraged if our domestic staff is not paid according to the US standards. Their moral sensibilities are not aroused when their own consular diplomats, paid extra in hardship postings like India, give slave wages to their Indian staff, disregarding their own laws on what is technically sovereign US territory.
level despite the numerous dialogues that we boast of to underline our transformed bilateral ties. Absurdly, the US authorities first recognise domestic staff as officials, because visas are affixed on their official passports (without insisting on affixing them only on ordinary passports) and subsequently de-recognising their official status by subjecting them to local employment laws. The VCCR does not require that home-based domestic staff be treated as local American employees. The other ludicrous implication of the DCG’s case is that any Indian national giving wrong information on a US visa form can be hauled into a US prison at the whim of US authorities.
The Americans adhere to or ignore international law as it suits them. Their abusive interpretation of the VCCR cannot be challenged before any international adjudicatory body. Powerful countries can insist on their own interpretation and weaker countries have to adjust. While the US is cavalier about diplomatic immunity applicable to other countries, it seeks total immunity for its own personnel stationed in foreign countries as an entitlement. The case of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor attached to its consulate in Lahore who murdered two Pakistani citizens in a street shoot-out, is a glaring example. Would the US authorities have treated the DCG of Russia or China
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in the same way it treated our DCG? Tellingly, they have recently expelled, not arrested, several Russian diplomats for defrauding the US healthcare system, a crime that cost the US exchequer. Our DCG not paying her maid the minimum wage did not cost the US exchequer a penny. The US is more careful with countries where their stakes are higher or where the threat of retaliation is more real. This unfortunate episode reveals a lack of respect for India and a belief that we will not react forcefully. The State Department, instead of expressing regret, can therefore be flippant in observing that this incident should not affect bilateral ties. Unfortunately, because of numerous cases of maltreatment of domestic staff in India and some cases abroad, the egregiousness of US action in humiliating a senior Indian diplomat is escaping proper public understanding. The lady DCG, whose diplomatic passport has been impounded, is in for a long torment. Whatever our unmerited prejudices against our career diplomats and grievances about the efficiency of our consular services in missions, we should not forget that our diplomats abroad represent the country’s sovereignty. Debasing them is demeaning India and its sovereign status. The government has rightly called the US action unacceptable. Concrete reciprocal action should follow to signal that there is a price to pay for willfully humiliating our diplomatic representatives. Some steps have already been taken. A systematic review of the privileges accorded to the US government personnel in India should be made and the principle of reciprocity strictly enforced in stages as the case in New York proceeds. The US has already self-inflicted a big price for its high-handedness as the Indian Foreign Service is seething with anger against it with a lasting fallout on the relationship at the diplomatic level. (The author is Dean, Centre for International Relations and Diplomacy, Vivekananda International Foundation)
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What it means for Indian Politics
AAP’s performance • Dr M N Buch
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he Preamble to the Constitution of India starts with the words, “We, the people of India …” and ends with the words, “hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution.” The final arbiters of what happens in this country are the people and how they will fulfil their role is given in Chapter 2 of Part IV of the Constitution and Chapter 3 of Part VI of the Constitution, which provide for an elected Parliament at the level of the Union and an elected Legislature at the level of the States. India’s Constitu-
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tion makes us a representative democracy, that is, every five years we elect persons who will represent us in Parliament and the State Legislatures and who, by their participation in the activities of the Legislature, will enact laws on our behalf, sanction the budget and generally call the Executive into question about its performance. Is that how the representatives view themselves? Do they really believe that they are in office because the people have chosen them and that it is the people who are supreme and that the Members of Parliament and the State
Legislatures are only in office because people have decided that they should be there? If the legislators realise that the people are everything and that they themselves exist because the people have put them there, then this would be a true representative democracy. Unfortunately that is not what happens in India because our MPs and MLAs, once they are sworn in, seem to think that they are independent individuals, subject to the party whip but otherwise free to plunder the very people who have put them in office. Every act of corruption on the part of an elected representa-
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‘One achievement of Kejriwal is that he has given a rude shock to the Congress and the BJP in the Delhi assembly elections. Whether his party expands, contracts or disappears will be of no consequence, provided that the shock he has administered to the mainstream parties results in the parties themselves applying suitable correctives and returning to their true role of offering themselves to represent the people, thereafter serving the people instead of preying on them..’ tive, especially if he also holds office as a minister and makes money illegally, makes him doubly accountable, first as a minister to the House, that is, the Lok Sabha in the case of the Union under Article 75 (3) or to the State Legislature under Article 164(2). Secondly, he is accountable to the people of India, especially his electorate which has sent him to the Legislature as its representative and whom he fails whenever he indulges in a corrupt practice. The people of India have a right to be annoyed with such a legislator because he has violated the mandate given to him by the people. Reverting to the Preamble, the Constitution promises to all its citizens’ social, economic and political justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and opportunity and fraternity which assures the dignity of the individual. Every time a legislator takes a decision or makes a recommendation which is based on such extraneous circumstances as a bribe, he denies both justice and equality to his constituents. Whereas this is an offence under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, it is much more serious than an ordinary offence because the act violates the Constitution. Deliberately violating the Constitution of India to the detriment of the very people who have framed the
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Constitution makes the violator more than a criminal, it makes him a traitor. There can be only one penalty for a traitor, which is death and in terms of politics it should metaphorically mean death through writing finish to the political career of the guilty legislator. This power vests only in the people, the voters. For forty-sev-
e n years after 1967 our so called representatives were able to betray the people without the people reacting. That, however, did not mean that anger was not seething internally or that the people any longer had any faith in politicians. Initially the people experimented by sometimes bringing one party into power and sometimes another. In
Madhya Pradesh, BJP and Congress alternated accordingly. However, by giving an unclear mandate in many States and at the Centre, the people made it known that they were not happy with any party. Unfortunately the political parties did not read the signals correctly and merrily continued with their unprincipled politics, because therein lay a very lucrative source of personal gain. Wherever the people found an alternative they moved away from the dominant Congress Party. New coalitions were formed and changed from time to time and India entered into an era of coalition governments. Unfortunately this has not resulted in better government, less corruption and extension of social services and social infrastructure. Ultimately it seems that the people have had enough and the signal they are sending out is that they are prepared to back anyone or party which promises positive action. The victory of Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje proves that religion based politics is not what the people favour. Instead they want performance, are prepared to punish lack of performance and are prepared to vote for anyone who, in their opinion, is likely to provide better government.
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It is into this vitiated atmosphere that Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party entered. They represent the collective anger of the people and their message has cut across caste and religious lines. What is more, they broke the traditional vote bank of the Congress, namely, the scheduled castes and the minorities. This time round the traditional vote bank of the Congress voted en masse for Arvind Kejriwal and his group. In the seventies of the last century, Jayaprakash Narayan launched his ‘Sampoorna Kranti’ (Total Revolution) because the people of India were fed up with corruption, misgovernment and lack of economic opportunities. Because the movement did not define itself in specific terms, nor laid down its specific objectives from which it would not budge, the Sampoorna Kranti fizzled out and in 1980 the same old faces which had declared a State of Emergency came to the forefront. The revolutionary zeal of the Sampoorna Kranti had been dissipated by the infighting, indecisiveness and corruption of the Janata Party Government. That is why the people of India convinced themselves that Indira Gandhi was a better option and in 1980 she was back in power. The attack on institutions, the slide in morality continued and once again the legislators forgot the very people who had sent them to the Legislature. It is in this context that one has to look at the performance of the Aam Aadmi Party to whom, I admit, I had not predicted more than three seats and who in fact emerged as the second largest party in Delhi in the assembly elections. Now the ambitions of Kejriwal have increased and he is eyeing other States and, perhaps the whole country as a means of himself achieving power. The people who have reposed faith in him may find it difficult to work with him because like Jayaprakash Narayan’s Sampoorna Kranti, the Aam Aadmi Party has still not evolved an ideology, a programme or plan which would make it a continuous and serious contender for political office. Activism is not a
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substitute for the hard slog in Indian politics. Does this mean that the Aam Aadmi Party will also go the Jayaprakash way? One achievement of Kejriwal is that he has given a rude shock to the Congress and the BJP in the Delhi assembly elections. Whether his party expands, contracts or disappears will be of no consequence, provided that the shock he has administered to the mainstream parties results in the parties themselves applying suit-
able correctives and returning to their true role of offering themselves to represent the people, thereafter serving the people instead of preying on them. This would be a positive contribution by Arvind Kejriwal. Otherwise he will be a passing meteor flashing through the sky and then disappear. In India, if the political parties continue to bicker, are effete, practice unconstitutional means, are corrupt and fail to give good government, then the likelihood is that the rot in the political system will continue. To the extent that Kejriwal and his followers have been able to project the collective anger of the people and the
refusal to accept the old rotten system, this is a very positive thing in Indian politics. The question is whether our other mainstream political parties will read the signal, stop finding excuses for defeat and instead do some introspection so that the government envisaged by the Preamble is in fact established because the message of the Constitution is understood by the politicians and the political parties. The message is good government, strong but totally accountable, firm but honest and at all times in touch with ground realities and the aspirations of the people. I will be very surprised if the Aam Aadmi Party is able to convert itself into a true political party, but to the extent that it is a sounding board for what people are thinking, that should be welcomed by all political parties. Ultimately we all Indians need to have a mirror held up to us so that we can see ourselves as others see us. Jayaprakash Narayan could have done it but he faltered and instead gifted us with a bunch of some of the most rapacious politicians. Will Kejriwal be up to it? That depends upon the extent of megalomania that descends on him as the paeans of praise engulf him. Will his feet then remain planted firmly on the ground? Unfortunately, his present stance of making impossible demands and refusal to concede that there might be another point of view would suggest otherwise. (The author is Dean, Centre for Governance and Political Studies, Vivekananda International Foundation)
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Plebiscite or No Plebiscite ?
Bhushan’s loose Talk Exposes Lawlessness in AAP • By Raju Shanbhag
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ver since it came to power in the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been courting a series of controversies. Many of them seem to have arisen from the statements made by its leaders who seem to be too eager to assert themselves at the national level by making seemingly audacious statements. One such controversy that created a ruckus was AAP senior leader Prashant Bhushan’s reference to holding a referendum to decide whether or not the Army should be deployed in Kashmir to deal with the security threats there. “People should be asked whether they want the army to handle the in-
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ternal security of Kashmir. Any decision which does not have the backing of the people is undemocratic. If the people feel that the Army is violating human rights and say that they don’t want the Army to be deployed for their security, then the Army should be withdrawn from the hinterland.” Prashant Bhushan has been churning out instigating statements about Kashmir for some time now. In 2011, he had called for a plebiscite in Kashmir and said that Kashmir should be allowed to break away from India if Kashmiris did not want to stay as part of India. At that time, he was running an NGO and was not in power. Now, after coming to power, Prashant Bhushan has realised that severing Kashmir from India might be uncon-
stitutional. The demand for plebiscite has now turned into a demand for referendum. Often, people use both plebiscite and referendum as interchangeable words; they are not. While plebiscite is a law brought upon a state through the votes of the people of that state, referendum is the process of gathering such votes. For the precarious situation Kashmir is in now, a plebiscite hardly makes sense; so does a referendum. In fact, plebiscite for Kashmir has been a much discussed subject since the time Pakistan staked the claim for Kashmir. On January 5, 1949, the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolution stated that the question of the accession
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What AAP’s senior leader Prashant Bhushan stated on Army deployment in Kashmir is highly objectionable, no less antinational. He has stirred a hornet’s nest by making a statement that will give a convenient handle to the separatists who are waiting for an opportunity to pounce on the unwary political leaders to strengthen their demand for secession. Judging by what the inexperienced AAP leaders are saying, the country in general and the government in particular can expect further embarrassments of this nature. of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite. In 1953, the governments of India and Pakistan agreed to appoint a Plebiscite Administrator by the end of April 1954. After these initial mistakes of the Nehru government, subsequent Indian governments have clearly stated that Kashmir is an integral part of India and there is no question of a plebiscite being held in Kashmir. In fact, plebiscite and referendum
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hile Prashant Bhushan was making merry with audacious statements, senior army men of the country, who headed various military operations in the valley, were aghast at his remarks. Former Army chief General VP Malik felt that Prashant Bhushan lacked any awareness about the kind of situation that exists in J&K both in the hinterland and along the LoC. Major Gen. (Retired) GD Bakshi, who commanded the Army’s Romeo force in Rajouri, stated that Bhushan must be aware that as soon as the US soldiers are withdrawn from Afghanistan, terrorists will be redirected into the valley by Pakistan. He even went to the extent of calling Prashant Bhushan’s statements anti-national. He said if a referendum was allowed, it would initiate a process of breakup in the country.
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lose meaning if one looks at the current situation in Kashmir. If the government heeds to Prashant Bhushan’s demand and if it is decided in the referendum that the Army should be withdrawn from Kashmir; then who will take the blame for the recurring violence in Kashmir? The world knows that Kashmir is the breeding ground for ISI-trained terrorists. If the army is withdrawn, will Prashant Bhushan take the responsibility of ensuring that no terrorist will enter Kashmir? Also, a referendum in a state makes
sense only when all the citizens of the state are properly represented. In Kashmir, a large number of Kashmiri Pundits have been driven out of their homeland. Their citizenship remains only on paper and clearly they will have very little say in a referendum, if ever there is one. Demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir is being repeatedly demanded by the separatists in Pakistan for obvious reasons. There is an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, which is the right authority to decide whether or not the Army should be present in J&K. If Prashant Bhushan is worried about the alleged oppression of the Army in Kashmir, he is free to call for government enquiries on the same. But talk about withdrawing the Army altogether from Kashmir is simply playing into the hands of separatists and terrorists who are active in that region. Prashant Bhushan should know better.
Army Speaks
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The economy is passing through a crisis; key indicators do not give room for any immediate solution. Whether the Finance Minister can keep the promise of holding fiscal deficit at 4.8% of GDP remains to be seen. The core sector is not faring well; nor is there any sign of revival of exports that will ease the pressure on CAD. Food prices might come down because of the favourable monsoon, but that being a seasonal phenomenon, it is unlikely to have a lasting salutary effect on the economy.
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hough the economy is in the throes of a crisis, one redeeming factor that has cheered the investors and the people in general is the easing of inflation during the month of December to a five-month low because of a fall in food prices. The price rise was earlier driven largely by the shortage of goods of daily consumption especially vegetables. Onion prices had registered a record high in the months of October and November, forcing the government to resort to emergency measures to tame the price spiral. But, thanks to good monsoon, food grain prices have started declining allowing the Finance Ministry to heave a sigh of relief. Official data showed inflation as measured by the wholesale price index (WPI) rose by 6.1% against 7.5% in the previous month because of easing of vegetable prices, except potato which shot up by 55% on a year-on-year basis. Overall, the vegetable prices rose by 57% in December against 95% in November. As usual, the easy price trend has sparked speculation that the RBI might ease its tight monetary policy. But most economists think that this is unlikely as the apex bank wouldn’t like to act in haste since there are other key parameters to be taken into account before it takes any crucial decision on interest rates. For one thing, the RBI cannot overlook the seasonal factor
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Inflation eases But fiscal situation still the main worry of the price trend. Vegetable prices are so volatile that they can soar or fall depending upon their availability. According to Madan Sabnavis,
chief economist at Care Ratings, “the easing of inflation for the month of December provides some relief to RBI. With the CPI and WPI inflation coming in at lower level in December
2013, RBI may contemplate a rate cut if the same figures continue to move downwards in the next two months. The expectation is that WPI and CPI inflation should remain in the range of 6.5-7% and 9-10% respectively in the next two months in the absence of any external shock.” But this trend should not delude one into thinking that all is well with the economy. India’s growth in 2012-13 was the lowest – sub-5% --in a decade with fiscal and current account deficits dogging the economy in spite of several emergency measures initiated by the government. Of late, there has been a compression in CAD, but that has to be sustained with increasing exports. The rupee is still quoted low and investment is not picking up. The Central government’s move to attract investment in the retail sector has met with stiff resistance from some states. The
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Delhi government, headed by Arvind Kejriwal, also has indicated that it will not allow FDI in retail sector. All these are sending wrong signals to foreign investors and they bode ill for the growth of the Indian economy. The data released on the last day of 2013 by CSO makes dismal reading. It showed that the economy is still sluggish. The fiscal deficit in April-November was estimated at Rs.5.1 lakh crore. This is 94% of the full year. Total spending touched 61% of the budget estimate (Rs.16.6 lakh crore). Finance Minister P Chidambaram has set the target of keeping the fiscal deficit at 4.85% of the GDP, but it remains to be seen whether that can be achieved. According to economists, fiscal situation is a matter of great concern. Said D K Joshi, chief economist at Crisil rating agency, “The Government will have to resort to expenditure cuts, roll over expenditure to next
year, speed up divestments and dig into dividends from the public sector units to keep the fiscal deficit within the target of 4.8% of GDP.” The core sector (coal, steel, cement, fertilizers, crude oil and natural
gas, petroleum products and electricity), which accounts for 38% of the index of industrial production, grew at a tepid 1.7% against 5.8% during the previous year. Factory output contracted by 1.8% in October and again
by 2.1% in November. This has raised concerns of prolonged slowdown. Mining and electricity staged a modest recovery, but manufacturing output declined by 3.5% according to the latest data released by the Central Statistics Office. This prolonged slowdown is bound to affect employment resulting in a chain reaction affecting all sectors of the economy. Economists are not hopeful of an immediate recovery. Said Nomura economists Aman Mohunta and Sonal Varma, “…We expect a prolonged bottoming out process as there are no visible triggers for an up-cycle at this stage. Even if industrial production growth rebounds back on to positive in December, industrial production growth will be negative in the fourth quarter of 2013, suggesting that GDP growth is likely to moderate in the fourth quarter after the rise in the third quarter, despite better agriculture growth.”
Going green to attract tourists A small town in the border district of Bihar has painted itself green in a bid to groom the tourism industry and generate jobs for local residents. Home to about a few hundred people, Bhabua is surrounded by thick tropical jungles and is barely a few miles from Varanasi, the most pious place for Hindus. Every year, thousands of people visit the town to offer prayer at its historic Maha Mundeshwari Temple, but they have not helped to boost tourism in the town. It is not yet clear who mooted the idea but it has now been confirmed that every building in the town has now been painted green. Residents say, all buildings, including those housing government offices, have started to look green. People cracked fireworks and hoisted balloons when the last house was painted green in the second week of Janaury. Interestingly, every householder voluntarily painted his
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building instead of waiting for the government or charity to carry out the task on his behalf. Residents beleive that the town’s unique nature will make it attractive for tourists, who flock in thousands to neighboring Uttar Pradesh, home to a large number Hindu religious sites. The town will be awash with cash if a 20 percent of those visiting Varanasi choose to visit Bhabua, say residents. The town, which is in the district of Kaimur, the place that was once part of the Magada Kingdom, has not built any jungle lodges nor can it arrange a trip for tourists to see wild animals in the nearby forest. More than anything else, the town has to put in place basic facilities to ensure that tourists stay on happily and keep visiting the town over and again.
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The Syrian conflict is causing serious concern not only to the people of Middle East but the whole world. The horrendous crimes committed against the rebels by the Syrian government and the equally retaliatory attacks by the rebels have stirred the conscience of every one and forced the United Nations to call a meeting to thrash out a solution. But there doesn’t seem to be an easy way out of the Syrian crisis -- at least in the foreseeable future.
Deadend
Syrian conflict gets stuck in a stalemate
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he war has been waged for more than three years now. Syria, a country struggling with its backward economy and non-existent reforms, could have done without this civil war. But civil unrests usually surface in countries or regions where the economy is poor, or the distribution of wealth is highly unequal. So, Syria has been unwillingly bearing a war since 2011; a war that has shaken the roots of its already feeble economy and left countless families without
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their sons and daughters. The Syrian Civil War is an ongoing conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Ba’ath government and those seeking a democratically elected government. The unrest began on 15 March 2011, with popular protests that grew nationwide by April 2011. These protests were part of the wider North African and Middle Eastern protest movements known as the Arab Spring. Syrian protesters at first demanded democratic and economic
reforms within the framework of the existing government. But instead of reforms, all they got was armed soldiers who fired on them at will. This forced the activists to take up arms and thus begun a bloody battle between the two warring factions. Now, it has come to light that the Syrian army may have done much sinister things than merely waging a war against the activists. Recently, voluminous amounts of photos were leaked in the international circuit that
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How the War Detainees should be Treated T
he third Geneva Convention provides a wide range of protection for prisoners of war. It defines their rights and sets down detailed rules for their treatment and eventual release. International humanitarian law (IHL) also protects other persons deprived of liberty as a result of armed conflict. POWs cannot be prosecuted for taking a direct part in hostilities. Their detention is not a form of punishment, but only aims to prevent further participation in the conflict. They must be released and repatriated without delay after the end of hostilities. The detaining power may prosecute them for possible
showed gruesome tortures of the war detainees. About 11,000 such war detainees are reportedly tortured and then murdered by the Syrian government authorities. The evidence is overwhelming. Shockingly, even chemical weapons have been used in which a number of civilians, including children, have been blinded or permanently paralysed. Needless to say, this and other crimes violate all customs of treatment of war detainees and make a mockery of international protocols which safeguard war detainees. The details of this ghastly crime are chilling. Most of the victims were young men and many corpses were emaciated, bloodstained and bore signs of torture. Some had no eyes; others showed signs of strangulation or electrocution. The UN and independent human rights groups have documented tortures inflicted by both President Bashar al-Assad’s men and rebels. But according to experts, this evidence is more detailed and on a far larger scale than anything else that has yet emerged from the 34-month crisis. These crimes would have never
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war crimes, but not for acts of violence that are lawful under IHL. POWs must be treated humanely in all circumstances. They are protected against any act of violence, as well as against intimidation, in-
seen the light of day, but for a military policeman who worked secretly with a Syrian opposition group and later defected and fled the country. For security reasons, he is only identified as Caesar. Caesar was a photographer with the Syrian military police. He smuggled the images out of the country on memory sticks to a contact in the Syrian National Movement, which is supported by the Gulf state of Qatar. Qatar, which has financed and armed the rebel groups, has called for the overthrow of Assad and demanded his prosecution. Following the exposure of these evidences in the international circuit, there have been widespread calls to try President Bashar al-Assad and men in the international court. But that’s easier said than done. Bashar al-Assad and men will have to be tried at the International Criminal Court and Syria is not among the 122 nations that have made themselves accountable to the International Criminal Court. This means, if the Syrian Government should be tried at the International Criminal Court, the United Na-
sults, and public curiosity. IHL also defines minimum conditions of detention covering such issues as accommodation, food, clothing, hygiene and medical care. The fourth 1949 Geneva Convention and Additional Protocol I also provide extensive protection for civilian internees during international armed conflicts. If justified by imperative reasons of security, a party to the conflict may subject civilians to assigned residence or to internment.
tions Security Council should exercise its voting power in this regard. Even if the United Nations Security Council does exercise its voting power, Russia can veto any action there as a permanent member of the Security Council. There are good chances of Russia vetoing any such move as it is a close ally of Syria. Even in the past, Moscow has repeatedly blocked condemnations of human rights violations in the country — which would include appalling atrocities attributed to assorted rebel groups arrayed against the central government. That leaves us with the question. What happens when the highest power in a country, say a government, engages in such unspeakable crimes? Are the governments of countries simply not answerable to anyone? Can justice for the victims be simply vetoed away by some country because it has economic ties with the perpetrator of the crime? The series of war crimes in Syria have thrown up these questions; but is it doubtful if the international community will take any action.
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US Returns Stolen Relics to Please India
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merican foreign ministry officials have reportedly handed over several artifacts, including the stolen sandstone sculpture of Vishnu and Lakshmi, to Indian officials in Washington. The relics, worth crores of rupees in the underground art market, were stolen from a temple in Rajasthan and were later to taken overseas by sea. According to the Department of Archeology, the artifacts include a sandstone sculpture of Vishnu-Lakshmi and Shiva-Parvati. Also there was a sculpture of Bodhisattva carved out of black stone. In April 2009, someone stole them from the Gadgachh temple in Rajasthan’s Baran district. Five months later, following extensive investigation, the police reported the theft to the Central Archeology Department. Given the investigation report, the stolen sculptures were first shipped to Hong Kong and then to New York. Out of these, the Vishnu-Lakshmi sculp-
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ture was sold to a dealer in Thailand, who then resold it to a dealer in London. Interestingly, all the sculptures were put on display at an international art exhibition held in New York in 2010. Later the same year, the US special police force recovered the Vishnu-Lakshmi sculpture that was about to be put on a ship bound for London. In July the same year, Homeland Security officials seized the Shiva-Parvati sculpture a few blocks away in New York. There they learnt about the whereabouts of the Bodhisattva sculpture. This too was later seized near Newark, just a few miles from New York City. Reports said the US is handing over these stolen relics to make peace with India, which has been outraged by the way its diplomat Devyani was treated in New York after being arrested on charges of fabricating visa documents. Devyani has now been deported to India and the US court had withdrawn all the charges against her. This is not the first time the United States is handing over such historical artifacts to India, because in 2006 the superpower handed back a 9th century stone idol that was stolen from a temple in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh.
Election Commission Aborts Tie-up with Google Over Security Concerns
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he Election Commission (EC) has spurned Google’s proposal to help Indian voters check their names in the voters’ list at the click of a few buttons on computer keyboard. The internet search engine had reached an agreement with the Commission and was waiting for acquiring data regarding the voters across the country. The Commission decided not to adhere to the
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agreement following concerns from political parties and some cyber experts, who said sharing such sensitive data with the US-based internet company would harm the country’s national security. The political parties, which included the BJP and the Congress, have reportedly written to the Commission disputing its decision to join hands with Google, which is headquartered in the US state of California. Earlier in January, Google had provided a Power Point presentation to the top officials of the Election Commission explaining how it can give every voter access to information about his or her polling booth. First and foremost, Google shouldered the responsibility of letting the citizen know whether or not his name figures in the voters’ list. The political parties have reportedly told to the Commission that it should have consulted the ‘stakeholders’ before choosing to team up with the search engine giant. However, the parties did not define the term ‘stakeholders’. In its letter, the Congress legal cell, according to reports, raised security concerns and the BJP said the Commission should have held a meeting with the political parties to elicit their views.
Indian Soldiers Die Peacekeeping in Foreign Lands
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s many as seven Indian soldiers died in 2013 during the course of their duty as part of the UN peacekeeping missions in violence-hit African countries and elsewhere in the world. The Indians paid a heavy price in terms of human casualty, with a fifth of all the UN peacekeeping fatalities involving Indians last year. India is among the largest contributors of personnel to the United Nations’ peacekeeping force. All the seven soldiers died while patrolling in South Sudan, the troubled African country where government forces are fighting furious battles with the opposition-led rebel army. Of the seven soldiers, five died in ambushes in Jonglei in April. The other two were killed when their unit came under attack by the rebel soldiers. India has been participating in UN peacekeeping missions for the last 60 years and
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has so far suffered 154 fatalities – the highest for any country. The casualty is partly blamed on the soldiers’ illpreparedness. Indian peacekeepers are deployed without hesitation in zones of extreme uncertainty. Besides, peacekeeping missions are in the middle of a growing conflict in countries like South Sudan. Sometimes the peacekeepers get caught in the crossfire and in some other incidents rival factions fire at them accidentally. Some of the new rules are putting the lives of our peacekeepers in greater jeopardy. For instance, in March last year, the UN Security Council authorised an ‘intervention brigade’ for the Democratic Republic of Congo with a mandate to carry out offensive military action against the rebels. Intervention brigades, reports say, could make traditional peacekeepers more vulnerable to attacks. As part of the peacekeeping unit, the intervention brigades wear the same uniform and there is a danger that the combatants seeking to retaliate against personnel of intervention brigades may attack the traditional peacekeepers.
Modi among the World’s Most Admired Persons
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ricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi are among the 30 most admired global personalities, according to a survey conducted by YouGov. The research firm says it contacted 14,000 people in several countries including Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the US, Australia, Pakistan, Indonesia, India, China, Egypt, Nigeria and Brazil. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and former
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President Abdul Kalam also figure in the list. Also in the list are social activist Anna Hazare, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former chief of Tata Group Ratan Tata. Topping the list is Microsoft chief Bill Gates and he is closely followed by the US President Barack Obama. Interestingly Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis are ranked third and fourth in the list. But Sachin Tendulkar ranked ahead of the Chinese President Xi Jinping. The list includes Dalai Lama (13th), American business magnate Warren Buffet (8th), Queen Elizabeth (17th) and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie (19th).
Other women to make it to the list were US talk show host Oprah Winfrey (20th), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (26th), former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (27th) and Chinese contemporary folk singer Peng Liyuan (28th). Pakistani cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan was 12th in the list.
Solar Power to Fuel Wildlife Protection Campaign
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he government in Arunachal Pradesh has distributed 25,000 households with solar power equipment in a bid to help them generate power on their own. The northeastern state has long been mired in power crisis with most of its rural countryside remaining off the coverage area of power distributors. Wildlife Trust of India, which is supervising the Asiatic black bear rehabilitation project and the
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Hoolock Gibbon translocation project at the Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary in these hill ranges, said it too joined hands with the government in the distribution of power equipment. Most of the beneficiaries are in Mayudia, the Mishmi hill ranges of Arunachal Pradesh. The government has given them solar kit consisting of one solar panel, one chargeable multipurpose battery unit, one table lamp and an emergency light. There are eight wildlife sanctuaries, one orchid sanctuary and two national parks in Arunachal Pradesh covering an area of 9,488.48 sq km.
Government Had Inputs About 26/11 Attacks
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t was not an unexpected attack. The Indian government had enough intelligence alerts to expect a terror attack on Mumbai’s five-star hotels before the November 26, 2008 strikes. This was revealed by former National Security Advisor MK Narayanan. Narayanan, who was the National Security Advisor at the time of these attacks, had offered to quit at the time, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh persuaded him to stay on. Narayanan has also claimed that the Indian Mujahedeen (IM) terrorist group was created by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. This was done after the Gujarat riots of 2002, he said. In his words, IM consists of “disaffected Muslim youth”. Narayanan’s admission on the 26/11 attacks raises more questions on the government’s failure at the time. He claimed he knew that the intelligence agencies, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) were expecting an attack. To some
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extent, even the targets were known. However, the intelligence agencies failed to understand in what format the attack would take place. Narayanan, who was also the IB chief, admitted that the agencies “never really thought” that someone would come in “so brazenly” like the 26/11 attackers did by sea from Karachi. The attack was carried out like a Special Forces operation…the most significant (in 26/ 11 attacks) was the adoption of a training regime imparted by Pakistan’s Special Forces and the use of the sea route aimed at deception and to avoid detection,” he said. It could be noted that Narayanan had proposed to quit, taking moral responsibility for not being able to stop the 26/11 attacks. Then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in her book ‘No Higher Honor’ wrote she had found Narayanan “shell-shocked” after the 26/11 attacks and had told him not to resign as “it was not his fault”.
Manmohan Reiterates Vivekananda’s Messages
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rime Minister Manmohan Singh has stated that true religion cannot be the basis of hatred and division. A true religion is formed on mutual respect and tolerance of faiths and beliefs of all, he said. He was paying homage to the memory of Swami Vivekananda on his 150th birth anniversary He said unless we imbibed the values that he advocated, it will be of no use celebrating the Swamiji’s
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life, paying respects to his ideas and teachings and honouring his memory. According to Singh, Swami Vivekananda’s great message was mutual respect and tolerance of faiths and beliefs of all. He reminded us of Swami Vivekananda’s famous address at the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893, and said, “Swami Vivekananda said sectarianism, bigotry and fanaticism have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to disrepair. According to Dr. Singh, Swami Vivekananda expressed the hope at the Parliament of Religions that the “bell that tolled this morning in honour of this conversion may be the death-knell of all fanaticism of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.” Describing Vivekanand as a “citizen of the world”, the Prime Minister said his message has gone far and wide, inspiring millions of devotees across the world. Singh said he has been personally inspired by Vivekanand’s syncretic views that “All who have actually attained any real religious experience never wrangle over the form in which different religions are expressed. They know that the soul of all religions is the same and so they have no quarrel with anybody just because he or she does not speak in the same tongue.”
New Regulations for Higher Education
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he University Grants Commission is understood to have passed two important regulations related to technical education and distance education. The board members have passed the regulation which will make technical colleges to be controlled by the
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choose the institute depending on professional reviews. They claimed that educational institutions were suffering from over-regulation and under-funding.
Musharraf Refused to Act against Al-Qaeda
F universities. Under the new regulation, the universities have been empowered to grant recognition and approval to the colleges offering engineering programmes leading to an award of a degree. Now, the universities have to establish their own mechanism for screening of proposal and inspection of institution before granting the approval. However, sources said that the institutes offering diploma in management programme will continue to be regulated as per the existing practice. The commission has also approved the regulation for distance education under which the universities offering the distance education programme will have to seek approval of UGC for programmes leading to the awarding of a degree. However, stand-alone institutions are likely to be not covered by the regulation. Expectedly, Heads of deemed and private universities, under the banner of the Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), condemned the new regulations issued by UGC. In May this year, after a Supreme Court order rendered AICTE (the regulatory body that governed all technical institutes) defunct, UGC was given charge of all technical institutions in the country. EPSI alleged that Universities and colleges were not consulted by UGC when it was framing the draft. EPSI demanded that educational institutions that have been running for more than 10 years should be granted autonomy, and not subjected to the mandatory yearly reviews. For each committee that comes to review the courses, an institute spends over Rs.5 lakh. More accreditation bodies than regulatory bodies would do good as parents and students can
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ormer US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has alleged that Pakistan’s then army chief Pervez Musharraf refused to take action against top al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. What’s worse, he also struck a deal with the terror groups that led to their revival in Afghanistan. Gates was the US defence secretary from December 2006 to July 2011. Gates has written in his memoir that he submitted a set of specific requests to Musharraf which included the capture of three named Taliban and extremist leaders; and demanded that his government shut down the Taliban headquarters in Quetta and Pesha-
war. But Musharraf did not take any action. According to Gates, he submitted to Musharraf a long list of requests to be done by Pakistan. On the top of that list was capturing three named Taliban and extremist leaders, he writes, without disclosing the names of the three terrorist leaders. He also sought permission from Pakistan to give the US expanded authority to take action against specific Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders and targets in Pakistan;
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dismantling insurgent and terrorist camps; and shutting down the Taliban headquarters in Quetta and Peshawar. As per the list, the US also asked Musharraf to disrupt some important infiltration routes across the border; improve intelligence cooperation and channelize Pakistani decision making on targeting; and allowing expanded Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance flights over Pakistan. According to Gates, Musharraf kept a straight face and pretended to take all this seriously. While the Pakistanis would eventually deploy some 140,000 troops on their border with Afghanistan and endure heavy losses in fighting there, and while there was some modest progress on joint operations centers and border security stations, we’d still be asking for virtually all these me actions years later. Gates says that the real power in Pakistan is the military, and in November 2007 Musharraf handed over leadership of the army to General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Muslims in Bihar are Better Placed than Dalit Hindus
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he Congress party and its allies might believe that Muslims are the most troubled minorities in the country. But the socio-economic condition of Muslims in Bihar is better than that of the state’s Dalit Hindus), a survey has found. The report is based on the 2011 census when the
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total population in Bihar stood at 10.5 crore, of which 16.5 percent were Muslims. Twelve development indicators, including health, education and employment, have been focused upon in the report to assess the condition of Muslims in Bihar. The report states that the Muslims are better placed in comparison with Dalits in 31 of 37 districts of Bihar. But it also states that Muslims are at the bottom at the national level. Also, like Kerala, the socio-economic condition of Muslims in Bihar had improved fast, thanks to the money-order economy. About nine years ago, a survey conducted by ADRI sponsored by the Bihar State Minorities Commission on the socio-economic condition of Muslims in Bihar showed that Muslims were the poorest community in the state. In later years, a large number of Muslims settled outside Bihar and abroad in search of livelihood. They regularly send money that mainly has contributed to improve the socio-economic condition of their families. Also, the development taking place in Bihar in the last few years has helped to improve the condition of Muslims. According to the survey, in comparison with 12.2 percent upper castes, 13.5 percent rural Muslims have jobs and against 19 percent urban upper castes 17.3 percent urban Muslims get job opportunities. That report said that about 49.5 percent of rural Muslim families and 44.8 percent of the urban Muslim households fall below the poverty line, 19.9 percent among them are acutely poor and 28.04 percent in rural areas are landless labourers.
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RNI KARENG/2000/2368 Aseema English Monthly. Postal Reg. MNG/504/2012-2014 Posting Date: First of every month @ Konchady Post Office