Dalit Queen’s Quota Politics Reforming the Khakhi Provoking Peace
Jailed Chautala Asks:
Tell My Wrong Please?
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IN THIS ISSUE Emulate Gujarat Growth Model The average
economic growth of the country is declining by the year, but the economies of states like Maharastra, Gujrath and Haryana are growing like never before. Will the other states emulate the success of these three?
Dalit Queen’s Quota Politics BSP appears to
be in a dilemma as to what to support and what not to. Its members stayed away from the parliament when the bill to allow foreign multinationals into retailing was put to vote in the lower house. Today she calls for more jobs for SC/ST community. What is she up to?
Law to Restrict Rape United Nations human rights
chief Navanethem Pillay describes rape as a national problem in India, and some sociologists opine that the tendency can be rooted out if parents teach children on human values. Will Bollywood also start respecting women?
Hating Hindus in Hindustan! Congress Party is
doing all it can to play down the outcry over the hate speech made by Akbaruddin Owaisi. After days of dilly-dallying, Congress government in Andhra Pradesh arrested Owaisi. But after reading the contents of his speech, analysts are wondering asking whether that is his true intention or just a political ballgame.
The Saga of Pandit Exodus One day in 90s, Islamic extremists in Kashmir started threatening Pundits, who lived in the valley for generations. Soon, Pandits, who could not hide their Hindu identity, left their homes and went in the direction of Delhi. Today, more than a lakh Pa3ndits are living a nomadic life in many parts of Northern India. This article, written by Kashi Nath Pandita, is to mark the Nishkasan Diwas observed every Jan 19.
Cover Story: Nailing a Neta Jail sentence is not at all new for
Chautalas. The only difference is that they have for the first time been convicted of forgery and cheating. Now and then, Chautala picks up one of his cronies to preside over the party affairs, but the remote control remains in his hand or in his son’s.
China’s Gagged Press Chinese economy is booming, so is its clout on the international stage. But the country’s communist leaders are increasingly worried about the task of handling the international media. That is, of course, the common problem for rulers without popular support.
Adult Crimes by Child Offenders Given the data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) rapes by juveniles almost doubled in a decade. There was a 34 percent growth in rapes by minors during 2010-11. The rates of theft and robbery, as well as abduction of women by minors have also grown.
Reforming the Khakhi Just like the CBI, police
have long been the pawns in the political chessboard. Look at it: Prathibha Patil and her family still enjoy Z category security, but the former army General VK Singh lost the security cover around him for talking against the government.
Provoking Peace Pakistan has denied accusations that it brutally killed two Indian soldiers in the border. Owning up crime may not be in Paksitanis’ DNA. They have been denying their involvement all along whether it is terrorism in Kashmir, Kargil invasion or 26/11 terror strike.
‘Sonrise’ in Pakistan There are lot of similarities
between India’s Nehru Gandhi dynasty and Pakistan’s Bhutto dynasty. The only difference is: while Indian ruling dynasty is grooming its fourth generation leader (Rahul Gandhi) its Pakistani counterpart is grooming its third generation leader.
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Hanging in the Balance Political instability, it seems, is dragging down the economic fortunes of Jarkhand. No government here has the history of ruling for more than 30 months. What has gone wrong with this mineral-rich state carved out of Bihar?
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IN THIS ISSUE Old Wine, New Bottle Communist party in China
has to keep the country’s economy growing at a rapid pace if it is serious about retaining power. The fear among party leaders is that if China slips back into poverty, then it may trigger a social unrest.
Ram Mandir in Pakistan Demolished Shri
Rama Pir Mandir of Karachi city was demolished illegally on 1st December 2012 at the behest of real estate builders and government officials with the support of local people. The demolition has generated fear and insecurity among Hindus and forced them to continue in Pakistan as second class citizens.
US to Leave Broken Afghanistan Now it is
certain that United States is leaving Afghanistan for Afghans. But do Afghans live in peace? Afghanistan’s volatile nature is as worrisome for international community as it is for Afghans.
‘Terror movie’ Banned The real story being behind the ban points to the money making mentality of vested interests expoiting religion. Not so long ago, Thuppakki directed by AR Murugadoss and starring Vijay, was targeted by the selfsame groups.
transcending boundaries Volume 14 Issue 7 Kumba/February 2013 Editor Narayana Sevire Editorial Team Susheela H. Narayan A. Sridharan.M.K
Design and production Yashwanth Harsha Perla Sathya Shankar Bhavna
Marketing Jayavanth Mob: 096861 13537 E-mail: redrosejayanth@gmail.com
Edited, Published, and Printed by Narayana Sevire on behalf of Jnana Bharathi Prakashana, Mangalore Phone: 0824 249791
Cover Price: Rs. 20
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Gujarat: Setting an Example
Look at how the national economy tumbles, though some states grow rapidly
By Susheela H
T
he UPA government seems to be in a state of deep confusion about fixing a target for India’s economic growth for the next five years. As growth rate touched the lowest ebb in a decade at 5.4 percent during the first half of the current financial year, the planning commission scaled down the 12th plan target to 8 percent. The target was earlier revised from 9% to 8.2%. What is more intriguing is prime minister Manmohan Singh has cautioned that even 8 percent growth rate is ambitious. And the planning commission chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has warned that it can slump to 5.3 or 5.4 if reform measures are not induced. Are they throwing out an insurance against a future disappointment? The scaled down projection has attracted a scathing criticism from the opposition, especially from
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Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. He said the target reflected pessimism and gloom that has stemmed from intellectual bankruptcy and policy paralysis in the UPA government. Rejecting government’s argument that the revised target is in sync with the global environment, Modi asked how some states, Gujarat included, as well as China, have been registering a double-digit growth, bucking the global trend. He observed that the UPA government lacked a sense of urgency to tackle the economic crisis. Notably, India could only register 6.88 percent growth rate for the year
2011-12. While states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana continued to do well registering more than 10 percent, most of the states grew above the national average. But Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal could not touch even that figure. Now, the growth rate continued its downward spiral, the forecast for 2012-13 is pinned at 5.7-5.9 percent, the slowest in 10 years. Although the UPA government has succeeded in passing the FDI in multibrand retail bill, it is unlikely to lift the country’s economy from its downward journey. For, global surveys have shown that India scores low on in-
vestment-friendly environment. Grant Thornton International, a global assurance, tax and business consultancy firm, has placed India at the 40th position out of 50 economies, on the Global Dynamism Index (GDI). The dynamism of an economy reflects the changes that helped recover from the 2008-09 economic crisis, as well as its future course of growth. The firm analysed 22 indicators across five categories – business operating environment, financing environment, labour and human capital, science and technology, and economics and growth. Although India is ranked fifth in terms of economics and growth, it fared badly on other parameters. While it is placed at 46th position on business operating environment, the score was slightly better at 43rd on financing environment. India’s GDI score only underscores the point that
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a lot needs to be done to shore up the business environment of the country. Truly, Narendra Modi’s criticism seems to be bang on the mark in the given context. He has made the state of Gujarat the most sought after business destination in India for both domestic and overseas corporations, and this provides all the weightage to his criticism. The next edition of Vi-
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ayawati is leaving no stone unturned in her bid to keep her party BSP’s vote base of SC/ST intact in Uttar Pradesh. She must have been perturbed by the Congress’s strategy to win back these communities’ favour, ever since the UPA government proposed a constitutional amendment that allows quotas in promotions for dalits in September 2012. The ultimate dalit queen acted fast and hijacked the quota issue. She did all that she could to put her stamp on the proposed bill in the last Winter Session of parliament. Firstly, the BSP supremo set a precondition to support the proposal of FDI in multi-brand retail in exchange for government’s promise to pass the quota bill. Of course, she did not extend her
The average economic growth of the country is declining by the year, but the economies of states like Maharastra, Gujrath and Haryana are growing like never before. Will the other states emulate the success of these three? brant Gujarat on Janauray 11-13, which has Japan and Canada as partnering countries, has secured endorsements from US,
support openly. She did it stealthily playing her brand of politics – double game and manipulation with a mix of theatrics. In Lok Sabha, her party MPs launched a scathing attack on the UPA government’s proposal, in a bid to show that the party cares for trading communities, as FDI is perceived to act against the interest of small traders. But her party abstained from voting in order to let the bill pass. However, the numerical dynamics of the Rajya Sabha dictated that BSP’s similar step would not let government pass the proposal. Mayawati needed to vote “for” the bill. She prepared the ground to do so by unleashing a verbal war on the BJP. She took Sushma Swaraj’s comment on BSP’s conduct in Lok Sabha during the
UK and Australia business councils. Japan has already proposed 7 of its 19 joint projects with the Indian government in Gu-
jarat. During the recent National Development Council meeting in Delhi, Narendra Modi advised prime minister Manmohan Singh to emulate Gujarat model of growth, and learn from success stories of states. The advice seems to have well appreciated even by opponents including the centre and some Congress chief ministers.
Dalit Queen’s Quota Politics By Susheela H
voting on FDI as the base for her party’s changed stance in Rajya Sabha. Then she went on to bring in the “ultimate weapon” to justify her siding with the government. She said her party would vote for FDI in order to keep “communal forces” away. Mayawati picked the FDI stick to score two points: first over the CBI cases on her disproportionate assets, and second over the political benefits from the
promotion quota. She was keen that she alone gets the credit for the passage of the bill, and she went pro-active, consulting leaders of other parties and seeking their cooperation. Eventually, the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha, as only Samajwadi Party opposed. However, the Lok Sabha was a different story. The SP, which was keen to send out a message to its OBC and upper caste voters in Uttar
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BSP appears to be in a dilemma as to what to support and what not to. Its members stayed away from the parliament when the bill to allow foreign multinationals into retailing was put to vote in the lower house. Today she calls for more jobs for SC/ST community. What is she up to? Pradesh, indulged in some high-voltage dramatics. One of its parliamentarians snatched a copy of the bill from Union minister V Narayanswamy to prevent it from being presented in the House. Soon more drama was to follow. Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi came alive and rushed to save the copy. The copy was saved, however the continued pandemonium in the House ensured that the bill got stuck in Lok Sabha. However, Mayawati did not let the noise over the bill die. She wrote to
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding a special session of parliament to pass the bill. While doing so, she did not forget to preempt any attempt by the Congress to claim credit for the bill, by mentioning that the passage was stalled by a joint conspiracy by the Congress and the BJP. At the same time Mayawati seems to have clearly perceived a threat from Narendra Modi to her party’s electoral prospects, if the latter is projected as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in the next general election. And she
promptly sent out a warning message, vowing to prevent him from ascending to the top most post, at “any” cost. She also criticized Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh for not implementing SP’s poll manifesto promise of 18 percent quota for Muslims. Although a major claimants of SC/ST votes in UP, Mayawati won the 2007 assembly polls with the help of sections of Muslims and upper caste people. Now, not only she has to protect her SC/ST vote base, but also needs to guard against polarization of Hindu votes in favour of Modi, and Muslims votes in favour of Akhilesh Yadav. Incidentally, Mayawati government had provided quota for promotion for SC/ST employees in the state. However, the decision couldn’t withstand the legal scrutiny as the
Allahabad High Court struck it down, and the Supreme Court upheld the HC ruling and dubbed the government decision as unconstitutional in April 2012. The SC said that the decision was not based on empirical evidence showing that these communities are under-represented in bureaucracy. Within months, the UPA government mooted Constitutional amendment to circumvent the empirical data condition set by the SC ruling. Subsequently, amendment to Article 16(4) was proposed. If passed in parliament, states can provide quota in promotion for SC and ST candidates even in the absence of data to prove the backwardness of these communities and their under-representation in public appointments.
Law to Restrict Rape At last, a legal deterrant to keep rapists at the bay
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ndia is likely to get a tougher anti-rape law this month. This was necessitated after the eruption of unprecedented protests led by students in Delhi and
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other cities, which went on for weeks, against the gang-rape of a 23-yearold paramedical student. After the initial dillydallying and flexing its muscle with water can-
By Susheela H nons and tear gas shells, the UPA government has decided to act. Although refused to call a special session of parliament to amend the existing law, as demanded by the BJP, the
government is expected to pass an ordinance with amendments before the budget session. Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has constituted a three-member committee, headed by former
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Supreme Court judge Justice J S Verma, to come up with recommendations to strengthen the existing law. The revised law is expected by 15th of this month. The gruesome gangrape of the 23-year-old in the national capital on December 16 not only prodded the government to revise the anti-rape law, it has also thrown up several severe fault lines across the spectrum reviews and introspections. These fault lines, running through administrative, legal, cultural, social and economical aspects have contributed greatly to nurture the mindset of the rapist. The most glaring administrative fault lines, directly responsible for the most brutal gang rape in the recent history, were insufficient policing and handling of law in a lackadaisical way. Analysts emphasise the need for bringing all public places under proper surveillance to reduce molestation and rape incidents in public places. Also, it came to light that the chartered bus, in which the crime took place, was on road in violation of several rules, like having heavily tinted glass. Women are subjected to demeaning acts like groping and eve-teasing in all public places in our cities and towns. Hardly these incidents are re-
ported as women mostly tend to ignore these unsavoury gestures. Even if they decide to approach the police, these cases are unlikely to get any serious treatment. However, psychologists say the mindset that works behind groping a woman and raping a woman is the same. Hence, the need to punish culprits even at eve-teasing stage. Analysts point out that eve-teasing and stalking women are sanctified by Indian cinema and television. Many films -from Amitabh Bachchanstarrer “Hum” to Aamir Khan-starrer “Dil” -- portray stalking women as a way of romancing. And women are always treated more as a sex object than anything else by the entertainment media. Psychologists contend that popular entertainment and popular culture are intertwined, and mutually shape the contours of one another. The Delhi gang rape has thrown up serious questions over the conduct of our entertainment industry. And its influence on impressionable minds cannot be curtailed by strengthening police patrolling on roads. For more rape incidents take place inside four walls of homes. Home is not safe Even as the 23-year-old was breathing her last
in a Singapore hospital, a minor girl in Delhi was trying to run away from her home, in order to escape from her rapist brother. According to Delhi police, of the 662 rape cases registered in 2012, only 25 cases involved accused unknown to the victims. All other cases involved known people and at least 15 of them were fathers and 17 were brothers of the victims. Other accused included neighbours, friends, and close relatives. Many of these cases involved minor victims between ages 12 and 18. It is believed that for every reported case of rape, many more go unreported in the country due to the societal stigma. United Nations human rights chief Navanethem Pillay has described rape as a national problem in India, afflicting women across the castes and classes. The solution hinges on effecting paradigm shifts in the way women are viewed in the society. Sociologists say the efforts should start from homes, with parents inculcating values on humanity and respect for women in their sons. It is said that the police force in our country is under-staffed, undertrained, underpaid and ill-equipped to handle all the sexual assault cases that reach police stations.
This could be one reason behind their failure to register even FIR in many cases, as an FIR entails investigation and other legal procedures. Even in registered cases, police often fail to collect evidence scientifically and build up the cases strongly. As a result many cases collapse in the court of law, providing relief to rapists rather than victims. The low conviction rate emboldens rapists, which is evident by the high growth rate in rape cases over the years. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, there were 19,348 rape cases across India in 2006, and the figure rose to 24,206 in 2011, registering a 25 percent growth in five years. In 2012, Delhi recorded a total of 662 rape incidents and only one accused was convicted by the year end. The December 16 gang rape prompted people from cutting across the sections to clamour for quicker and harsher punishment for rapists. The existing law permits only life term for rape, regardless of the gravity of the crime. Now the demand is for death and chemical castration. But making these punishments mandatory does not in itself ensure the delivery of justice. In what can be described as a mockery of the misery of rape
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victims, former president Pratibha Patil commuted death sentence of many murderer-rapists to life imprisonment and other lighter punishments, just before she exited the high office. For now, the system appears to have woken up from a deep slumber with the central and state gov-
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ndhra Pradesh police had hardly any option but to arrest Akbaruddin Owaisi last month. As the video clips showing him delivering a highly vitriolic speech against Hindus went viral on social networking sites, the Andhra government came under media criticism for not acting against him. Finally, the MLA from the Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) party was arrested. The firebrand politician, known for his radical Islamist views, later said that the video was doctored and he did not deliver that speech. But the public and the media have little doubt about the authenticity of the tape, and only the court should confirm it. The clip showed that thousands of people, gathered to listen to Akbaruddin Owaisi at the Nirmal town in Adilabad district in Hyderabad, found his speech highly motivat-
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United Nations human rights chief Navanethem Pillay describes rape as a national problem in India, and some sociologists opine that the tendency can be rooted out if parents teach children on human values. Will Bollywood also start respecting women? ernments announcing a slew of measures, like
ing. They lapped up every word that was spit like burning fire, and erupted in ecstasy, cheering and clapping. The fire-brand orator,, was spewing venom at the “injustice” to Muslims in India, quoting incidents from Mumbai riots to Babri Masjid demolition to Gujarat and Assam riots. He regaled the audience with a picture of Mogul glory on Indian soil. He incited the crowd to prepare themselves to regain the power, enjoyed by Muslims in the past for over 1,000 years. The speech, delivered on December 24, was nothing short of giving a clarion call to his fellow Muslims to wage a war against Indian establishment. It was telecast live from a TV channel, reportedly owned by an MIM leader. However, the speech would not have reached the larger section of the society, but for the social media and an alert lawyer. Advocate Kashimshet-
forcement. But still, it is as usual for rapists as incidents of rape continue across the length and breadth of the country. The system should not relapse into stupor before the new measures yield results on the ground.
fast track courts, woman helpline, and police en-
Hating Hindus in Hindustan! By Susheela H ty Karuna Sagar, who bumped upon the video clip on YouTube, filed a petition with the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court. At the same time, the clip went viral on social networking sites, attracting a barrage of angry comments. Only when the court took up the case for hearing, the mainstream media reported the incident. Even some channels conducted hot debates over the inaction by the Andhra Pradesh
government that turned a blind eye to the derogatory speech. The Congress government of Kiran Kumar Reddy was prodded by the court to file an FIR against the fiery speaker. And at least 10 days had passed and Akbaruddin Owaisi had flown out of the country when the AP government finally acted, by filing an FIR. At the same time, another couple of PILs were filed against him – one of them in a Delhi court by social activist Shabanam
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Congress Party is doing all it can to play down the outcry over the hate speech made by Akbaruddin Owaisi. After days of dillydallying, Congress government in Andhra Pradesh arrested Owaisi. But after reading the contents of his speech, analysts are wondering asking whether that is his true intention or just a political ballgame. Hashmi. The anchor of a popular TV programme pointed out that Hashmi filed the PIL only after she fell out with the Congress, following the Gujarat election results. This was not the first hate speech by Akbaruddin. On December 8, he had delivered a highly provocative speech in Nizamabad. A PIL was also filed against him over this speech by businessman S Venkatesh Goud, in
a Hyderabad court. It may be recalled that the MLA representing the Chandrayangutta constituency in the old Hyderabad area had vowed to implement a fatwa of death sentence against Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin. The controversial writer was attacked by MIM activists for blasphemy in 2007. Akbaruddin’s elder brother and MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, an MP and a prominent Muslim
voice, is also known for his radical views. When some writers read out some chapters from Salmon Rushdie’s book Satanic Verses during the last Jaipur literary festival, he demanded criminal cases against those writers for their “deliberate” provocation. He said these writers were destroying the secular and plural ethos of India. He also warned of the third wave Islam radicalization while speaking on Assam riots in parliament. The lukewarm response to Akbaruddin’s hate speeches from the Congress explains how minority communalism is either ignored or handled with kid gloves by the party. Many ascribe this to political reasons. The
Congress was in an alliance with MIM in Andhra Pradesh until November 2012. The grand old party is weary of antagonizing 10 percent Muslims, who have been voting for the party in the state. The party is not yet ready abandon a future alliance with MIM. Also, given the MIM chief’s proximity to YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, the next election may throw up another alliance, that goes against the Congress’s interest. Incidentally, the YSR Congress has not condemned the speech. Obviously, parties are not averse to minority communalism, as it goes against the ethos of their vote-bank poli
Reforming the Khakhi By Aseema Staff
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ndia wakes up to the need of police reform every now and then whenever incidents highlighting poor policing occur. Be it a terror attack or a gruesome gang rape, the failure of the police in providing the needed protection gets immediately condemned by all and sundry. Then the more prudent voices bring up the issue of police reform,
which is long due, but the governing class hates to go for it. The country with 1.25 billion people has a complex internal security requirement, which is overseen by police forces. However, our rulers could not formulate a better law than the Police Act of 1861 to govern the policing in the past 65 years. Police force remained, more or
less, a security apparatus for the rulers, as it was the case in the British rule, rather than for the common people. This evident from the levels of security covers provided to VIPs and VVIPs in the country. While at least three cops are deployed to guard a VIP, only one cop is appointed for more than 750 commoners. Also, positions and politics, rather than requirement, determine the size
of security cover for VIPs. For instance, all the family members of former president Pratibha Patil, consisting of her husband, son, daughter, son-inlaw, daughter-in-law and grand children continue to enjoy Z category security cover, even after she demitted the high office. It may be noted that the Maharashtra government had sought the Centre’s approval at least three times to withdraw
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Just like the CBI, police have long been the pawns in the political chessboard. Look at it: Prathibha Patil and her family still enjoy Z category security, but the former army General VK Singh lost the security cover around him for talking against the government. the security cover for the family members. But the Centre remained silent. On the contrary, the UPA government was quick to withdraw the security cover given to former Army chief Gen VK Singh, after he joined the protest against the gruesome gang rape of 23-year-old in Delhi. It came to light in the aftermath of the Delhi gang rape that the government could not deploy enough police force on the city streets as the VIP security swallowed considerable part of the personnel. In fact, more than 5,000 cops are put on the duty of guarding VIPs in Delhi. The story is similar in other cities as well. According to 2010 data,
more than 50,000 police personnel guard about 16,800 VIPs across the country. Governments are also slow in filling vacant posts, which is another factor contributing to the shortage of police personnel. According to reports, there are more than four lakh vacant posts in the country.Apart from guarding VIPs, cops also need to serve their superiors in the department. A significant number of constables are posted at police officers’ residences to do menial works. Although orderly system has been abolished in some states, highly trained constables are deployed for attending phones or screening visitors at senior officers’ houses.
‘Sonrise’ in Pakistan Call it A Pakistani Version of Dynastic Politics & Call Him Pakistan’s Rahul Gandhi 12
Reform not a priority While rulers may not have found the need for police reform, some people with an experience with the system were not happy. In 1996, two retired DGPs, N K Singh and Prakash Singh filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking instructions to the Centre and the state governments over rectifying the flaws in the policing system. The court came up with a set of seven directives in 2006, which provided a comprehensive framework to kick start police reform. The emphasis was on functional autonomy and enhanced accountability, through measures like setting up of state security commission, national security commission, and police establishment board. These bodies were to decide on all matters, including appointment, transfer, and promotion, while setting up of police complaint authorities would take care of ac-
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ynastic politics is set to rule the roost for some more years in the Indian sub-continent. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of President Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has made his foray into politics with a bang. On the occasion of the fifth death anni-
countability part. The apex court demanded immediate compliance to the directives from the Centre and states, and said they remain binding upon governments until an appropriate law is framed. But even after six years, many states have failed to bring in any form of reform in the system. Only 14 states have taken some steps, either in the form of new Police Act, or amendments to the existing law. But even these states have not accorded autonomy to the police as envisaged by the top court. Obviously, rulers find it so difficult to lose control over the police, which is used more often than not to fix political opponents. Police force in India is generally criticised as lethargic, insensitive, and corrupt. However, although making it a strong and efficient security apparatus is in the interest of the country, it may be not on the mind of politicians yet. versary of his mother on December 27, he delivered a fiery speech, addressing a massive crowd at Garhi Khuda Bux in Sindh province. In a land where some surnames are paramount, the 24-year-old Oxford University alumnus generously used the word “Bhutto”, and proclaimed that Bhuttoism is an ideol-
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There are lot of similarities between India’s Nehru Gandhi dynasty and Pakistan’s Bhutto dynasty. The only difference is: while Indian ruling dynasty is grooming its fourth generation leader (Rahul Gandhi) its Pakistani counterpart is grooming its third generation leader. ogy for the poor. Clearly he understands that milking it politically is crucial to his party, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to retain power in the next general elections in May. Bilawal is a year short for attaining eligibility to contest elections. But the foundation for making him the face of PPP in the upcoming elections was laid down on December 27. PPP could not get more opportune time than his mother’s death anniversary for the purpose. President Zardari, who has been facing the ire of judiciary over his corruption cases, announced that his son was done with education, and ready to learn the ropes in politics. PPP leaders are delighted to see the rousing response Bilawal could evoke from the massive gathering of party workers and supporters. Truly, PPP’s electoral fortune hangs on the young Zardari-Bhutto, who has managed to project a picture of more liberal and democratic country, tackling issues like girls’ education and domestic violence in his speech. Bilawal even drew parallels between the
assassination of his mother and the attack on child activist Malala Yousafzai, who has acquired international fame. His statement that if one Bhutto is killed, every woman will become a Bhutto is aimed a large section of women and young voters. Bilawal’s indispensability to the survival of PPP, founded by his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1967, was realized immediately after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in 2007. Though a teenager and student in a far away country, he was appointed as a co-chairman of the party, along with his father Asif Ali Zardari. When, the senior Zardari became president, his continuation as a political party’s drew the ire of court. According to the constitutional amendment in 2010, president as an impartial figure cannot hold other political posts. However, Zardari withstood court’s pressure on PPP to remove him from the co-chairman’s post, as the son, being away in England, was unable to handle the party on the day-to-day basis. With his return now, the father can
pass on the Bhutto baton to the son in real terms as well. Incidentally, the young Bhutto in his debutant political speech targeted the judiciary, alleging it has failed to bring the culprits in his mother’s murder to justice. It may be recalled that Pakistan Supreme Court has been constantly at loggerheads with president Zardari over corruption cases. Zardari and his wife late Benazir Bhutto were accused to receiving millions of dollars of kickbacks in 1990s. The court wanted to reopen the case in Switzerland and ordered the government to send a letter to Swiss authorities. As the PPP government kept ignoring the order, the Supreme Court disqualified prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on charges of contempt of court in June 2012. Now, the current prime minister has ordered the law ministry to execute the court order. It may be recalled the governments headed by Bilawal’s mother could not complete terms. She was first appointed as prime minister in 1988, but dismissed by the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990 over corruption charges. Though re-elected in 1993, her government was once again dismissed after three years by the then president Farooq Laghari over corruption and poor governance. Fol-
lowing PPP’s electoral defeat in 1997, Zardari was put behind the bars over money laundering and corruption charges, while Benazir, with their children went into an exile. She returned to Pakistan in October 2007 following an understanding with President General Pervez Musharraf to withdraw all the corruption charges against the Bhutto-Zardari couple. Benazir’s return power in the 2008 general elections was widely anticipated. However, she was killed in December 2007 by a suicide bomber during a campaign rally. In February 2008 elections, PPP emerged as a single largest party, and entered into an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League to form the government. The party chose Yousuf Raza Gilani as its prime minister. Subsequently, Zardari contested and won the presidential election in Septemeber 2008. But after the 2010 constitutional amendment, which transferred all political and executive to the prime minister and parliament, he remains mainly a ceremonial figurehead, like in India. As Pakistan is passing through a transitional period, with constant struggles between democratic forces and radical Islamists, Bilawal’s entry into the political whirlpool is intently watched by observers across the globe.
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The Saga of Pandit Exodus Autho : Kashi Nath Pandita r
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ith the nightfall on 19th January 1990, Srinagar citizens, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, all came out of their homes in large numbers, swarmed the streets and lanes, and raised loud slogans. Paksitan zindabad, Pakistan ban gaya, Kashmir azaad hogaya, Nareh-e Takbir Allah p Akbar, Islam zindbad, azaadikamatlabkya/la ila ha ilallah, jihad zindabad, kafiro Kashmir chhoddo so on and so forth reverberated through the city air. People rolled out carpets and mats on streets, lanes and by-lanes of Srinagar, lit bonfires to warm themselves, squatted and listened with rapt attention the haranguing of rabid Islamists, who recalled the heroic deeds of Muslim soldiers of Prophet’s time and Prophet’s wars against his opponents, Jang-e Badr and JangeOhod. They praised legendry Islamic Commanders of early days of Arab conquests and implored Muslim of Kashmir to emulate their examples and be ready for sacrificing themselves for Islam and acquiring martyrdom.
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Loud speakers fixed onto house tops, electric poles, balconies and even telephone poles bellowed shrill notes of slogans that echoed across the entire city of Srinagar. In every nook and corner of the city, mulling crowds were seen greeting one another that ultimately Kashmir had become Pakistan. The government had collapsed, and law and order crumbled. Not a single policeman or military man was to be seen anywhere in the city. Every ten or fifteen minutes, a new rumour was flashed through telephones and spread by word of mouth. Volunteers formed groups of twenty or thirty, and moved heroically from street to street, exhorting people not to stay back in homes but come out and join the mass celebration of liberation from Indian yoke. They told people to change the time of their watches and adjust it with Pakistan time. In a flash, Pakistani flags fluttered at windows and atop houses. People wore green bands around their arms and asked the crowds to offer namazeshukrana, meaning thanksgiving prayers that Kashmir had been
liberated from Indian control. The Hindus, frozen with fear and terror, shut themselves up in their homes, put out the light and squeezed themselves in a corner waiting for the moment when the rioters would barge in, armed with all sorts of weapons, and butcher them mercilessly in front of their family members. A paragraph from Shri Jagmohan’s book, My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir, gives a vivid picture of the night of 19th January 1990. He had taken the oath of office as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir earlier in the day. The night that followed was the strangest night that I have ever lived. Hardly had I gone to bed when the two telephones at my bedside started ringing, almost continuously. At the other end, there were voices of alarm, of concern, of fright, sometimes muted voices of men too terror-stricken to speak. “Tonight is our last night”, moaned one voce. “By morning, we --- all Kashmiri Pandits --- would be butchered”, said another voice. “Send us airplanes, take us out
of the Valley; evacuate us at night if you do not want to see our corpses in the morning”, pleaded another. Some callers told me that they would just hold on to their telephones so that I could hear the terrible slogans and exhortations that were emanating from hundreds of loudspeakers fitted on the mosques. The notes, they said were deafening and it appeared that a number of recorded tapes were being simultaneously played at a very loud pitch causing horrible effects in resonance and permeating the atmosphere with terror and fear of imminent death. On 29th January 1990, Jagmohan sent a report to the President of India in New Delhi describing in brief the situation that prevailed in Kashmir at that time. He wrote: Due to total inaction, unbelievable incompetence, widespread corruption and passive connivance, the administrative machinery and all other levers of power structure had been taken over by the subversionists (read subversives) and their col-
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laborators. Majority of the officials are active or passive supporters of these elements. The remaining are mortally afraid. Since subversives have been scoring one victory after another in the last six months or so, the public has Governor to their side, listed terrorists are openly harboured, given money, food and vehicles, quite a number of officers even salute them. Senior officers turn their face the other way. Jailors and doctors help detainees in escaping. Some of the pistols issued to the political workers are being used for the commission of the crimes. When I took over, Kashmir stood almost on the point of no return. Governor’s report is self-explanatory. When government machinery has collapsed, when civil and police administration has been paralyzed, when important functionaries and political activists become the tools of armed militants and when general public had risen in one body against India and the presence of army in Kashmir, how could the miniscule minority feel safe? It had no strength in terms of manpower or defence equipment; the police, who should have provided them protection had shifted allegiance to the militants and the Army in the cantonment
and elsewhere, which had the power and capacity to provide them security had been paralyzed and confined to the barracks and made to turn a blind eye to the plight of the Hindus. They were left with no option but to flee their homes and run for a safer place. Local vernacular paper Al Safa wrote in banner lines: ‘We want Pakistan, along with Pandit womenfolk but without their men folk” As they left their homes carrying hardly anything beyond the clothes they wore on their bodies, the vandals started looting the vacated houses. They removed even the electric and sanitary fittings, pulled down windows and doors, made clean sweep of household goods and then put the houses on fire, provided its leaping flames did not engulf the adjacent structures Nearly 300,000 Hindus left the Valley and scattered over the whole of the country with maximum concentration in Jammu. The story of their plight in exile is well known, and does not need further elucidation. Chronology of events forcing Kashmiri Pandit Exodus What happened in Kashmir Valley on 19th January, 1990 was the cul-
mination of systematically sustained disinformation campaigns, militant activities, subversions and unleashing of terror in two years preceding the exodus. Rise of militancy Project Topac, the brainchild of General Zia ul Haq of Pakistan, carried out the entire plan of abetting armed insurgency in Kashmir by luring receptive Kashmiri youth to terrorist training camps in PoK. State government authorities, police, intelligence sleuths and Home Department connived at the trans-LoC crossing of Kashmiri Muslim youth. Kashmir Liberation Front (later named JKLF) was a cover organization that ran these clandestine camps and infiltration programme. At Srinagar bus stand, bus conductors raised a curious slogan for the entire summer and autumn of 1989. The cry was “Sopor, Kupwor tehapor” which translated from Kashmiri stands for “to Sopor, Kupwara and then the other side of the line”. The story of the formation of Kashmir Liberation Front (KLF) by PoK diaspora in the UK, under the guidance and support of ISI, has been vividly told by Hashim Qureshi in his work “Unveiling of the Truth”, published in
Pakistan. London-based KLF opened its account of Hindu killings with the abduction and killing of Ravindra Mhatre, a functionary at Indian High Commissioner’s office in London. Contribution of media Most meticulously planned disinformation campaign, and orchestrating the slogan of “aazaadi” were two important components of terrorist subversion in Kashmir. Under disinformation campaign, they publicized that Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) were informers of the security forces. As such, they were the enemy and had to be liquidated. It may be noted that in his autobiography, titled Atash-e Chinar, Sheikh Abdullah has also said that Kashmiri Pandits are the spies of India in Kashmir. Part of disinformation campaign was to buy some of the Indian journalists, who made full use of the largesse from ISI. Journalists like Devinder Baweja, Rajindra Sachar, Ved Bhasin, Kuldip Nair, Victoria Schofield, Alistair Lamb, and others supported militants and anti-Pandit intolerants. Some of them were in receipt of munificence from Ghulam Nabi Fai, the man who is now in a US prison going through three year term
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for tax theft and campaigning against India in the US. Kashmir liberation was integrated with Islamization Read the following “Kashmir’s song of freedom” that was on the lips of militants and their supporters in 1989-90: Ghulghulahar char soohainar’reh-e Kashmir ka Jaaguthahaiabmusalmanwadi-e Kashmir ka Jur’at-e Farooq o Haider, hauslashabbirka Mautkakuchhkhaufdil main hainadar o geerka Yashahadatpayengeyahongeab ham fathyaab Layenge Kashmir main Islam ka ham inqilab J&K state government was encouraging proIslamic individuals -- ignoring their pro-Pakistani stance -- who were preparing for an onslaught on Kashmiri Pandits. In summer 1989, Farooq Abdullah, then Chief Minster, released 70 hardcore terrorists of KLF from Srinagar prison. They had been arrested in the aftermath of rigged election of 1986, and after their release, they turned Jihadists, assassinating helpless members of Hindu minority community. Bita Karate, one of these Jihadists, claimed in a television interview that he had lost the count, after kill-
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One day in 90s, Islamic extremists in Kashmir started threatening Pandits, who lived in the valley for generations. Soon, Pandits, who could not hide their Hindu identity, left their homes and went in the direction of Delhi. Today, more than a lakh Pundits are living a nomadic life in many parts of Northern India. This article, written by Kashi Nath Pandita, is to mark the Nishkasan Diwas observed every Jan 19. ing 22 Kashmiri Pandits. Today, he is a confidant of security forces. Lack of awareness The rest of India is busy wooing Muslims, in the name of secular politics, avoiding developments in Kashmir for short term electoral gains. Events of 1990 are interpreted as an aberration, and generalization is made about a peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims, ignoring the life of wretched servility of 3-4 per cent of defenceless minority community. This is to ignore the Islamic history. To Muslims, Islam is God’s choicest religion, and it shall prevail over all other religions in the world. That is the commandment for devout Muslims. Non-Muslim minorities in an Islamic State or predominant regions are dhimmis, and Islam has set forth a code of conduct for them. The Dhmmis are positively identified with a yellow
patch of cloth as arm or shoulder band to distinguish them from the Momins, the pure. We have recounted the story of the Hindu minority of the Valley in 1990. Let us turn the pages of history and examine what their condition was five centuries ago in around 1500 AD. The author of Baharistan gives us the following harrowing account: It may be recorded that the temples of idol-worshippers, which had been destroyed and razed to the ground by the religiousminded and justice-loving Sultan Sikandar ----God bless his grave and bless him ---- had been rebuilt and rehabilitated by Zainu’l-Abidin. He had permitted idolaters and polytheists to revive the practices of infidelity and they had propagated heresy (kufr) and false religion (din-ibatil). With the support of some more kings, the infidels had flourished day after day. But with the support and
authority of Malik Musa, Amir Shamsu’d-Din Muhammad undertook a wholesale destruction of all those idol-houses as well as the total ruination of infidelity and disbelief. On the site of every idol-house that he destroyed, he ordered the construction of a mosque for offering prayer after the Islamic manner. The idolatry and heresy which had existed prior to his coming to this place were effectively replaced by his preaching and propagation of Islamic laws and practices. He brought honour to all the infidels and heretics (zandiqs) of Kashmir by admitting them to the Islamic faith and bestowed upon them many kinds of rewards and benefactions. It is publicly known as well as emphatically related that during his lifetime with virtuous efforts and elaborate arrangements made by the fortunate Malik Musa , twentyfour thousand families of staunch infidels and stubborn heretics were ennobled by being converted to the Islamic faith. It is difficult to compute the number of people who had hitherto indulged in corrupt practices of a false faith and dissent and were put on the right track under the proper guidance of Mir Shamsu’d-Din Araki. There is a big difference between the persecution of the Hindus of the Val-
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ley in early 16th century and late 20th century (1990 A.D). The difference is that five centuries ago they lived under a fanatical, autocratic and arbitrary Muslim regime. But today five hundred years later, they lived in a socalled secular democracy. Previously, they were forcibly converted and their
cultural fund destroyed. Today, five hundred years later, under secular democratic dispensation, they have been ethnically cleansed from their native land, divested of moveable and immoveable property, brought to the brink of total destruction with not an inch of land to call it their homeland.
Evidently, the former was the lesser evil. From the advent of Islam in Kashmir in 1339 A.D. down to present day, the Hindus have had only one hundred years of peace under the Dogra rule from 1847 to 1947. Muted response to the Holocaust of 19thJanuary in the country is an indi-
cator of a lack of understanding on fundamental realities among general public. Counting years from 1990 is important. But, more important is to set right our understanding of peace and tolerance which is due from 1399 A.D.
About the Author Kashi Nath Pandita Born in Baramulla in 1927, he obtained his M.A. in Persian from the Panjab University and Ph.D. in Iranian from Teheran University. He served for a long time as professor in the Persian Department and the Centre of Central Asian Studies at the Jammu and Kashmir University. He has authored several books including My Tajik Friends, Iran and Central Asia, and Baharistan-i-Shahi.
Tour to Establish Dharma A
charya of Sringeri undertakes one year tour to reestablish Sanatana Dharma among massess in the southern India. Sringeri Pontiff Sri Bharati Tirtha has undertaken a Digvijaya Yatra (tour of comprehensive conquer) from 26th February 2012. The Yatra is a spiritual journey in all directions teaching principles responsible for the sustenance of the world. For one year, the seer will lead the Yatra to grace various places across the country. The purpose of the Vijaya Yatra is to dis-
pel doubts, restore faith, and propagate the Upanishadic philosophy. The tour restores Sanatana Dharma throughout the length and breadth of this ancient land and establish it deeply in the hearts and minds of the people. Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji, has undertaken many Vijaya Yatras since His Sannyasa in 1974. Some of the notable Yatras include the ones in 1975, 1977, and 1981 with His Guru (Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji, the 35th Acharya of Sringeri), and in 1987-88, 1992, 1994-95,
2007, and 2010 as the 36th Acharya. These tours are continuation of the tradition was initiated by Adi Sankara and passed on by the previous Paramahamsa Parivraajaka-acharyas of Sringer. Paramahamsa refers to the highest order among sannyasis, Parivraajaka implies that the sannyasi moves frequently from place to place. Acharya refers to one who knows the import of the Shastras, is established in rightful conduct (achara), and causes others to be established in it. During the Vijaya Yatra, the
Sringeri Jagadguru would establish or revive many smaller maths and appoint heads (Mathadhipatis) to preserve and renew the eternal Dharma in their communities. New temples will be consecrated while dilapidated ones will be renovated. Through His presence, the Jagadguru will guide gatherings of devotees in the study of Vedas and the Shastras. He will also deliver several discourses to reinforce the teachings of Sanatana Dharma. Sankaracharya of Sringeri would teach Advaita (non-dualism) to the massess.
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Nailing a Neta By Narayan Ammachchi
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aryana’s Lok Dal party (INLD) seems to have been paralyzed with most of its top leaders being jailed over illegal recruitment thousands of junior teachers 12 years ago. Om Praksh Chautala, who enjoyed the position of chief minister for nearly five times, is languishing in Delhi’s Thihar Jail, along with his politician son Ajay Singh, as his party scrambles to appoint a successor to the 78-year-old leader. Chautala’s family turned the party into a personal fiefdom and ruled the state bothering little about the law and order. Reports say even second rung leaders are behind the bars now. Chautala’s family draws its support from the state’s large Jat community, the community the 78-yearold leader belongs to. Chautala had recently been trying to set up a third front cobbling together regional political outfits opposed to both BJP and Congress. His efforts fell through and Chautala is trying new political tactics to get out of jail. Days before his sentencing, Chautala requested
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the judge not to hand him severe punishment, citing his old age and ill health. But his MLA son has vowed to challenge the verdict in higher courts, and he has refused to answer questions over possible successor to his party leadership. There is no doubt that today there is a sense of uncertainty in the party, which has long been dominated by the family member of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, father of Om Prakash Chautala. Haryana’s politics is full of Lals, the other lals being Bansi Lal and late Bhajan Lal. Jail sentence is not at all new for Chautalas. The only difference is that they have for the first time been convicted of forgery and cheating. Now and then, Chautala picks up one of his cronies to preside over the party affairs, but the remote control remains in his hand or in his son’s. Currently the party’s state president is Ashok Arora, who succeeded Sher Singh Badshami. Now Sher Singh has also accompanied Chautala into the jail. Of course, controversy is nothing new to Chau-
Jail sentence is not at all new for Chautalas. The only difference is that they have for the first time been convicted of forgery and cheating. Now and then, Chautala picks up one of his cronies to preside over the party affairs, but the remote control remains in his hand or in his son’s. tala, who was once accused of smuggling gold watches from Arabian countries and was even publicly disowned by his father Devi Lal. Being born into a Jaat family, Chautala made the most of his caste. In North India, he is known as the supreme Jaat leader. He became chief minister for four times, but he could not complete the term all the time. Except his last term as chief minister, he ended his tenure half way through in the other three times (from 2 December 1989 to 2 May 1990, from 12 July 1990 to 17 July 1990, again from 22 March 1991 to 6 April 1991). His name has appeared in several cases. Meham was perhaps the biggest political controversy he ever created nationally. But the case could not stand up in the court. CBI is probing into one more case against his family. The investigating agency has indicted
him, along with his two sons (Abhay and Ajay) for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 1,467 crore. Given CBI’s charge sheet, Chautala and his family owns more than 80 properties in different parts across the country. Like Tamil Nadu’s Jayalalitha, he is also accused of receiving numerous costly presents including crowns and gold brick. One of his daughter-inlaws, wife of Abhay Chautala, went missing in 80s. Soon she was found dead with gunshot wounds. The circumstance that led to her death is unclear even to this day. Chautala family has continued to argue that she died ‘accidently’. Abhay Chautala is the most feared personality in Haryana politics. He was booked for conspiracy in the murder of Youth Congress leader Chand Singh Brar at Dabwali. But the case did not stand up in the court and he was released.
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What this scandal is all about? It was 1999 and he was then running a coalition government. Chautala, therefore, avoided a direct intervention into bureaucratic affairs for the fear of earning the anger his coalition partners.
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he scandal is known as ‘JBT exam scam’ in Haryana and it dates back to 2000, when Om Prakash Chautala was the chief minister. When education officials put forward a proposal for recruiting thousands of junior teachers for high schools across the state, Chautala saw it as an opportunity to make money. It was 1999 and he was then running a coalition government. Chautala, therefore, avoided a direct intervention into bureaucratic affairs for the fear of earning the anger his coalition partners. As part of preparing the ground, he instructed the Staff Selection Commission not to undertake the task of recruitment and hand over the job to the education department. In the meantime, he amended the staff recruitment law that made the (oral) interview as important as the written exam
in the selection process. This move strengthened the hands of interviewers, allowing them to give up to 20 marks to the candidates they wanted to favor. But bureaucrats were not ready to dance to his tunes of the chief minister and they chose to cling onto the law. At that moment of time, Chautala thought that his intervention would be inevitable. When his party won back the power in Feb 2000, the first thing Chautala did was to transfer RP Chandar, then the director of primary education. Chandar had ignored all the instructions of Chautala and was about to declare the list of successful candidates. A female IAS officer by name Rajni Shekri Sibal succeeded Chandar, but she too refused to take orders from Chautala. Chief Minister, however, insisted her that she considers advice from his political secretary, Sher Singh
Badshami, special officer Vidya Dhar, and his own son Ajay Sing, in her selection process. Rajni paid no heed to his orders and she went on to declare the list of candidates in June 2000. Angered chief minister removed her from her position and brought in a new IAS officer by name Sanjiv Kumar. And Sanjiv was told how to tamper with the selection process to make sure that the candidates favored by the chief minister are selected. On his part, Sanjiv Kumar invited CM’s men to a guest house in Chandigarh and started the process of re-selecting the candidates. He briefed his subordinates how they could use a different selection method and utilize the interview marks to favor candidates chief minister had already handpicked. Soon he prepared the list and handed that to
the chief minister for approval. The court has released the transcripts of telephonic conversations between the chief minister and Sanjiv Kumar. The modified list won the approval from the chief minister and was soon made public. Most of the candidates were found taking more than 17 marks from the interviewers. As a result, many of those who had scored high marks in the written examination could not make it to the final list. The biggest losers were those who belonged to general merit category and the winners were those who came from Baiwani district. The court wondered asking why every file related to the recruitment was sent to the chief minister for approval. This is perhaps why Chautala has been proved to be the chief conspirator in the case.
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China’s Gagged Press Shutting the mouth of the Press is the only Option to remain in power
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ecently, in what may be described as a rare sight in China, about 100 journalists were seen protesting against the propaganda department in Guangdong province. The journalists were irked by the interference of the mediacontrolling department that had changed the content of a story in Southern Weekly. The story, a New Year message, listed challenges before China’s new leader Xi Jinping, but it was replaced by another story singing praises to the new leader. The weekly, which has a circulation of over 1.6 million copies, has often come under censor pressures over its hard-hitting investigative stories. In the wake of its fastgrowing economy, China is witnessing its media getting increasingly commercialized. In order to tackle growing competition, news agencies are offering diversified contents and investigative reporting. Even the state has realized the need for more information, but it is not ready to loosen the control over the media yet, lest it
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should lead to the collapse of the regime. Nevertheless, media people are anxiously waiting to see what would be the approach of Xi Jinping, who is expected to take over country’s top job as President. He has recently taken charge of the Communist Party as general secretary. But a recent editorial in the Communist Party-run Global Times newspaper may have provided a clue to what may expected at least in the near future. It said current social and political realities would not allow the kind of free media that is hoped by these people. In 2010 in an interview with a CNN correspondent, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s emphasised the need for freedom of speech in a progressive country. He said people’s wish for freedom and democracy could not be resisted. He expressed hope that people would see gradual progression of China on this front. However, ground realities suggest the systemic control of news continues. The media is controlled
By Aseema Staff through a monitoring mechanism and clamping down on “errant” publications and dissident journalists. Mostly, journalists exercise self restraint to avoid persecution, and the defiant ones face dismissals, demotions, and law suits. A couple of years ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international body, ranked China on top along with Iran for jailing the most number of journalists in a country. And the global media watchdog group, Reporters without Borders, has placed China at 171st position among 178 countries in its 2010. China amended its Law on Guarding State Secrets to strengthen its hold on the information flow on the Internet. As the definition of “state secrets” remains vague, authorities can withhold any information that could harm their economical and political interest. Interestingly, China’s constitution offers freedom of speech, but laws contains regulations. Even foreign media need to pass through various legal hurdles before re-
porting from the country. First, they need to get permission from authorities. Reporting on sensitive issues is not a welcome proposition. In October last, New York Times published a report by its China correspondent David Barboza, alleging that relatives of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao had $2.7 billion worth assets. Subsequently, the websites of the English and Chinese language versions of NVT were blocked in China. When Bloomberg News reported on the wealth of new leader Xi Jinping, its website faced similar action. During 2008 Olympics, despite China’s promise to relax media regulations, as many as 178 cases interference incidents were reported by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. Several foreign scribes faced harassment, property destruction and detention. Around restrictions Although China continues to exert control over news, journalists seek assert their freedom on the new age media
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Chinese economy is booming, so is its clout on the international stage. But the country’s communist leaders are increasingly worried about the task of handling the international media. That is, of course, the common problem for rulers without popular support like blogging and social networking. Thousands of scribes use blogsphere and take humour and satire route to criticise the government. Also so-
cial networking sites like Twiter are emerging new political force within the country. China has more than 45 crore Internet users, and the presence of
news stories on sensitive subjects indicates the difficulty in censoring on the Internet. However, analysts suspect if escaping from the government firewalls on the Internet pave way for greater freedom for the press. China’s censors seem to be reasserting it authority with measures like cracking down on
“unlicensed reporters”. Observers believe that the government is trying to gag the press, in order to prevent it from exposing corrupt officials and politicians. In fact, the power of awarding and cancelling licenses to journalists is in the hands of these officials and politicians.
Adult Crimes by Child Offenders
Given the data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) rapes by juveniles almost doubled in a decade. There was a 34 percent growth in rapes by minors during 2010-11. The rates of theft and robbery, as well as abduction of women by minors have also grown.
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Delhi-based advocate has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking a relook at the India’s juvenile law. There has been a strident cry for making the law more stringent, in the aftermath of the gangrape of 23-year-old paramedical student in New Delhi last December. The incident that evoked a huge condemnation and sustained protests across the nation involved a minor aged seventeen. And this minor allegedly exhibited the most savage
behaviour, among all the six accused. But he was not charge-sheeted along with others, as he could not be prosecuted under laws applied to adults. What is more, he is likely to spend just three years in jail, or even get released after attaining age 18. United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) says every human being is a child until the age 18, unless majority is attained earlier under a relevant law. In India too, all boys and girls below 18 are considered as juvenile,
and entitled for protection under Juvenile Justice Act 2000. If anyone below this age commits a crime, she or he is not called a criminal, but as “juvenile in conflict with law”. And all juveniles in conflict of law are entitled for the care, protection, treatment and rehabilitation, and not to be prosecuted and punished. The rationale behind excluding juveniles from prosecution is that they are unable to differentiate between the right from the wrong, and their acts
are not backed by guilty mind and criminal intent. As a result, even an act of murder cannot get them a death sentence or life imprisonment. The rule is envisaged in the Article 37 of CRC of the UN, and India being a signatory to ratify the convention, has adopted the same policy. However, the Delhi gangrape has grievously exposed the shortfall of India’s juvenile law. Advocate Shweta Kapoor’s petition questioned the law that treats a person, even one day shy of
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attaining age 18, differently from another, who is just attained that age. It pointed out that 16-yearold juveniles involved in serious criminal acts are quite well developed. “... they do not need the care and protection of the society, rather the society needs the care and protection against them”, the PIL asserted. It also sought quashing of clause in JJ Act, which protects juveniles from getting death penalty and life imprisonment. A quick glance at National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that juveniles get involved in serious crimes in increasing numbers.
Treat them as adult The 17-year-old accused in the Delhi gang rape of the 23-year-old paramedical student may after all get a punishment befitting an adult. The Supreme Court has admitted a PIL seeking considering the youth as an adult. Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar has also sought amendment to the juvenile justice law, bringing down the upper age limit of juvenile offender to 16. According to the 2011 data, rapes by juveniles almost doubled in a decade. There was a 34 percent growth in rapes by minors during 2010-11. The rates of theft and robbery, as well as abduction of women by minors have also grown exponentially. And 64 percent of all juvenile crimes
were committed by people aged between 16 and 18. While the existing law is in favour of reforming and rehabilitating all juvenile offenders, the case like the minor involved in Delhi gang rape defeats that purpose. As the minor accused is just five months short before turning 18, he
Provoking Peace Inhuman Killing: An Indication of Pakistan’s Talibanisation
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s Pakistan provoking India for another round of war? The barbarism carried out on Indian soldiers on the Line of Control (LoC) on January 8 is a grim reminder of Paksitani Army’s brutality during the Kargil conflict. After attacking a patrolling team inside Indian territory, Pakistan soldiers retreated
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leaving behind one headless and another mutilating another But for the barbarism carried out on the dead bodies of soldiers, this could have passed as a normal phenomenon on LoC. Not only Pakistani troops crossed over the LoC in the Mendhar sector of Jammu & Kashmir, they also chopped off an Indian
jawan’s head, and may have carried it as a trophy. In 2002, al-Qaida member Ilyas Kashmiri, who was believed to be part of Pakistan’s Special Service Group (SSG), led an attack on Indian Army post killing seven soldiers. Then he allegedly beheaded a 24-year-old I jawan and brandished before General
can be lodged in a juvenile delinquents’ home and undergo training only for a very short time. Is five months time enough to transform a person? If not, is he not a threat to society if allowed to roam free? After the Delhi incident, there is a growing demand for lowering the age limit in juvenile crime to 16. However, the government is yet to take a call. Will the judiciary step in and help put in a legal system that does not let offenders of heinous crime slip through the net of prosecution and punishment, just because they are 16 or 17, and not 18?
Pervez Musharraf, and got honoured. Some analysts believe that the brutality on January 8 might have the participation of SSG commandos. Like they did in 2002, the commandos may have taken the head of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, as it could be traced, as trophy, while leaving the body of Lance Naik Hemraj mutilated. The incident has evoked a public outrage and sharp reactions from political parties and security analysts. While there was clamour for calling off the ongoing peace process with Pakistan from cross sections of people, a
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Pakistan has denied accusations that it brutally killed two Indian soldiers in the border. Owning up crime may not be in Paksitanis’ DNA. They have been denying their involvement all along whether it is terrorism in Kashmir, Kargil invasion or 26/11 terror strike. section of peace advocates comprising some political leaders and armchair intellectuals, is still in a forgive-and-forget mood. They claim that multi-level interactions between the two neighbours should continue, as this is the only way to forge friendship with Pakistan. The moot question is does Pakistan wants friendship with India. Facts from history say an emphatic “no” in answer. In fact, its first military aggression over India in 1948, soon after the partition, shows that Pakistan was born with n overwhelming desire to fight India. That desire remains. After losing three wars that were fought overtly, it has resorted to fight covertly. But as the 1999-2000 Kargil war proved, even that is not an easy proposition. As a result, the parliament attack of 2001, and 26/11 Mumbai attacks of 2008 took place. Key conspirators of 26/11 are yet to be brought to book. Despite a mountain of evidence against the mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the LeT chief continues to be a person much revered by the Pakistani establishment.
Recently during his India visit, Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik rubbed salt on the wounded sentiments of Indian public and the family of Kargil heros. When questioned over the torture meted out to Captain Saurabh Kalia and other troops in Pakistani jail, Malik claimed that the bodies could have been mutilated due to inclement weather. Owning up crime may not be in Paksitanis’ DNA. They have been denying their involvement all along in Jammu & Kashmir terrorism, Kargil invasion, and 26/11. For peaceniks in India, none of these is a reason enough to hold back our friendly overtures. Several editorials emphasising the need to keep alive the dialogue between the two countries, immediately after the incident of January 8 barbarism underlines their over-enthusiasm and euphoric hope about transforming Pakistan into a friendly country. But it also underscores their paranoia about Pakistan’s core characteristics. Even though Pakistan dubbed the January 8 incident as a retaliatory step
to India’s LoC violation two days earlier, analysts suspect the incident may indicate a newfound confidence in Pakistan. There are reports about Pakistan’s efforts to revive Khalistan separatism in Punjab. There have been also fierce exchanges of fires on the LoC, initiated by Pakistan side to facilitate infiltration. Analysts have already liked January 8 aggression to the US’s imminent exit from Afghanistan. As NATO forces are packing up their bags, Taliban is increasingly asserting itself. Once, the forces evacuated Pak-Afghan region, India and Kashmir could emerge the main preoccupation of jihadists and Pakistan Army, analysts believe. The fact that Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar called for a UN probe into the Mendhar aggression shows how anxious Pakistan is to drag in a
third party in a bilateral issue. This is in line with their age old policy of internationalising Kashmir issue, while India has stuck to its stand of seeking a solution bilaterally, all along. While Pakistan went ahead and lodged a complaint with the UN against LoC violation on January 6, India refrained from doing so. Khar, though sought to internationalise the issue by knocking on UN door, claimed Pakistan maintained a bilateral stance, and slammed India for issuing a strong statement against the mutilation of the body. Indian peaceniks need to note the gaps between Pakistan leaders’ talks and actions, before hitting another track of candy flossy diplomacy, lest India should wake up to another rude shock.
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Hanging in the Balance By Aseema Staff
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espite being extremely rich in natural resources, this part of Bihar had remained one of the least developed regions in the country. As the tribal-majority region was seldom represented well in the government, creation of a separate state would be the best solution to usher in development. Hence, Jharkhand as a separate state was created by the Vajapayee government in 2000. However, the hope is belied as political instability seems to be the biggest enemy of the new state. Jharkhand has seen 8 governments and two spells of president’s rule in 12 years. It shows that political manoeuvring and power tussles scored over concerns for development. The latest government, which was a coalition of BJP-JMM-AJSU-JDU, fell on January 8 as JMM with 18 legislators withdrew its support. JMM chief Shibu Soren offered the reason for pulling the plug of the Arjun Munda government
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was that Munda failed to vacate chief minister’s chair for a JMM candidate as per the power-sharing agreement. However, the BJP denied the existence of any such agreement. Arjun Munda, who had become chief minister for the third time in September 2010, resigned and recommended dissolution of the assembly. He maintained that only fresh elections could provide a stable government in the state. However, the brief history of the state shows none of the elections conducted so far in the state could produce a stable government. The first government formed by NDA partners BJP and JDU under Babulal Marandi fell within three years in 2003 after cross-voting by some members belonging to the ruling coalition. Then Arjun Munda took over as chief minister. After that, it was a power game of musical chair for JMM and BJP. Both of them have been unseated by each other three times
since. The 2005 assembly elections threw up a fractured mandate with the BJP as the single largest party with 30 legislators. Soren, though had only 17 members, staked the claim to form a government. But he had to resign after nine days as his government failed to prove majority on the floor of the House. Munda headed again a BJP-led coalition. However, Marandi broke away from the BJP and floated the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric), which made the government shaky. Subsequently, independent MLA Madhu Koda with the help of JMM and the Congress staged a coup d’etat in September 2006 and occupied the chief minister’s seat. But JMM withdrew support to the Koda government in August 2008, Shibu Soren became the chief minister. However, Soren lost a by-election in January 2009. Jharkhand voters once again failed to give a decisive mandate in the November 2009 assembly elections, with no party or coalition in position to
form government on its own. In the 85-member legislative assembly, both the BJP and JMM won 18 members each, while the Congress won 14 and Jharkhand Jharkhand Vikas Morcha 11 members. Within a month, Shibu Soren was sworn in as chief minister for the third time, with two deputy chief ministers, one each from the BJP and AJSU. However, Soren’s government could not last more than three months, as the BJP pulled the plug once again. Then, the Centre imposed president’s rule. But after six months, JMM and BJP came together yet again. And the BJP chose Arjun Munda once again to head the coalition that came into existence in September 2010. Withdrawing its support to the Munda government, JMM has upheld the Jharkhand’s tradition of short-lived governments. Now, the state has the dubious distinction of not having a government continuously for more than 30 months. Analysts speculate over-ambitious and power-hungry politicians are responsible for this phenomenon. For
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Political instability, it seems, is dragging down the economic fortunes of Jarkhand. No government here has the history of ruling for more than 30 months. What has gone wrong with this mineral-rich state carved out of Bihar?
instance, JMM’s double game – being a partner with the UPA in the Centre and with the BJP in the state – shows how politicians want to remain in the loop of power, no matter what. Another argument offered is the small size of the Jharkhand assembly with just 81 numbers could be a reason for fractured mandates. Some parties have been demanding carv-
ing out more assembly constituencies. Interestingly, the state has 14 Lok Sabha seats. Compared to the ratio of number of Lok Sabha seats to number of assembly in other states (Assam – 14: 126, Himachal Pradesh – 4:70, Goa 2: 68), Jharkhand has far fewer assembly seats. Will adding more seats help get a decisive mandate? A few years back, Uttar Pradesh, the state
with the most number of assembly seats was facing political volatility due to fractured mandates. But still, on the whole, states with higher number of assembly seats have been enjoying more stable governments, comparatively. And if Jharkhand needed more than 81 lawmakers in the lower house, may be it should have them.
Old Wine, New Bottle C
hina’s Leadership changes in the Politburo Standing Committee, the China’s most powerful body attracted the world eyes to the Asian Continent. China has its own strategy lines that form the ruling of the Government. The leaders are chosen by the Party officials. The Party’s secretive way to choose the leaders is poorly understood. Likewise as most of the Communist governments, China even posses the violent history of the unpredictable leadership successions. After Mao’s, this is the fifth generation of the Communist Party that has taken over the charge. In due course
of just 35 years, the China’s ruling party has transformed the country’s economy. These transformations taught the new aspect of doing business to the world. China recently became the second largest economy and is increasingly playing an vital and influential role in the global economy. Chinese cheap labor favored to dampen the prices in the west for almost all the commodities ranging from electronics to mops to mobile phones. The outgoing leadership of President Hu and Premier Wen, who have already muddle the situations recently, handed over the problems to the
successors. Passing after the three decades of the remarkable economic growth, Mr. Xi Jingping, has a herculean task before him while taking into the hand the responsibility to serve the country as a newly appointed President at the the 18th China’s Communist Party Congress. It would be utter imperative for him to surpass and tackle the heap of challenges as well as the expectations that would come along. The key question of prime concern is, whether the new leaders can keep the economy growing at the past recorded rates along with handling the internal disharmony. There is
By Aniket Kale
no doubt that there has been a breakneck growth in the China’s economy, gigantic infrastructure and manufacturing development, but along with it came in the enormous corruption, massive environmental wreckage, growing inequality of wealth and rising social tensions. Xi Zingping: The President The pragmatic man born in the year 1953. Mr. Xi, is the son of the communist party aristocrat, Xi Zhongxun. The younger Xi, got the lessons of leadership and politics at home as his father who at a time served as the head of the Communist Party’s
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Communist party in China has to keep the country’s economy growing at a rapid pace if it is serious about retaining power. The fear among party leaders is that if China slips back into poverty, then it may trigger a social unrest. propaganda department and later Vice-Chairman of the National People’s Congress. Xi completed his studies in chemical engineering from Tsinghua University, at Beijing. In the year 1874, Mr. Xi accepted to work as a member of Communist Party of China. His political career was initiated from the small village, where in he started as a party worker. And for the one, he is also known as the leader of farmers. As he worked, he established his political career with the workings in the Jeziat and Fujian province. As a reward to his significant working, the party promoted him as a chief for Shanghai City. Soon, he was in the lane of the party’s most powerful Polit Bureau. He has performing his duties as a Vice President of the country. On 8th of November, while taking into hand the responsibility to serve the country as a President, it would be utter imperative for him to surpass and tackle the heap of Challenges and expectations that would come along
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Briefly, Xi Jinping has varied challenges from his predecessors. Firstly, he needs to make sure that the Communist Party continues its rule, regardless of awakened citizen pressure for the new reform. And secondly, it requires higher economic growth to keep the country population satisfied with party control. But along with this he also needs to deal with all the downsides of that growth Focusing over the few challenging aspect Inter-Party Disputes and Struggle: The struggle for growing power has made the interparty struggle to get intense too. The world has witnessed many those who have fallen prey to this political struggle. Series of incidences from the past few years have shaken the roots of the communist party. The power politics face by Mr. Bo Xillai, is the best example for the world to witness the power of the communists. Mr. Bo, was the most popular leader amongst the people, very well known as the supporter for the bitter Mao ideology. But today is has been expelled
from his position with the allegations for misusing his political power. Recently, his wife have been death sentenced in the murder case of a British Businessman. It clearly depicts from Bo’s case that the struggle to stay in power has been drastically intensified. Mr. Bo is not the only one amongst the corrupt officials, the Chinese Government is facing the corruption issues at all levels, moreover making the reforms more difficult to implement to the bureaucracy. It has always been China’s strategic move to eliminate the leader who could prove to be a threat to the power or even who would move ahead on individuality on the forefront. Its not very difficult for the Government to get an undesired official off their path and bring an end to its political career. There are several other leaders who have been obliterated as China follows its own Government policies. Owing to the One Party political practice, less emphasis has been given to the peoples view from past 5 decades. With the changing scenario, the common people from China, are expressing their anger and feeling through social networking sites and blogs. In the near future, it would be of serious concern for the newspapers and magazines
governed by the Party, to consider the peoples view. The economic model that China created, lead to more inequality in the society, ultimately risking the social tension. It has widened the gap between the rich and poor, that is known to be the widest in Asia. An estimated figure of about 250m people those who have migrated to the cities take delivery of the inferior services. Local governments still lack funds to tackle these problems. Millions of farmers that have a every possibility to shift to the cities in coming decades, making available the labor and encourage the economic growth, but they may not leave unless and until the land rights are reformed and the registration system that differentiate against them is renovated. This worries the government to cause social unrest to burst. Scrapped Policy: Another tougher challenge before the country would be the ageing population. The increasing social pressure has again made the Chinese government to give a second thought for their own “One Family-One Child Policy”. The fertility rate of the country has now turned to be one of the lowest in the world. The policy has restricted ur-
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ban couples to have only one child, unless both partners are themselves the single children. The policy has created anomaly. China presently has about 120 male births for every 100 female births, and the estimates that by 2020, almost 24 million single men will be left without potential partners. International Relations China has al ways been surrounded with disputes with respect to the International Relations.
Almost all the countries bordering China are involved with the border conflict. It has been the strategy to excavate the border issue and create insecurity amongst the people and then get them together. This tactics has been adopted by the country to divert their focus from the main internal issues. China is very well aware of the fact that they cannot indulge into a war with so many countries at a time, nevertheless the border dispute issues had always favored the politicians to compete. Every
Ram Mandir in Pakistan Demolished S
hri Rama Pir Mandir of Karachi city was demolished illegally on 1st December 2012 at the behest of real estate builders and government officials with the support of local people. The demolition has generated fear and insecurity among Hindus and forced them to continue in Pakistan as second class citizens.
Four men entered the Hindu temple with their shoes. When devout Hindus protested, they were beatenup and abused them as Bhangi (sweeper) and Kafir (infidel). Laxman, one of those who tried to defend the temple is partially paralysed by stroke due to the assault. The men put the statues and tridents from the
country has to define its security and territorial interest, but it doesn’t mean that they should take over the aggressive approach., that would rather cause to alienate the friendly ties. To again rejuvenate the friendly relations with the borders, Mr. Xi will have carry out some significant changes in the reforms. The Policy makers and the critics all over the world comments that, one party rule cannot deal with all these challenges. There is a need of the ordinary people to have more of a voice. To avoid
the volcano of the social unrest to erupt, like what happened during the Arab Spring, the forthcoming Chinese Government needs to address a massive scale corruption in the country, as well as build a constructive reform to narrow the increasing gap between the rich and the poor as well as the urban and rural areas. But so far, none of the new generation of leaders had shown any concern in political reform.
temple out on the ground. Then a bulldozer reduced the pre-partition Shri Rama Pir Mandir to rubble. A number of houses in the compound were also demolished, rendering around a dozen families homeless. They even pried opened the donation box and took away the cash and jewellery, the residents alleged. Eye witnesses have confirmed that some bearded men associated with a political party oversaw the destruction. The real estate builders and government officials, who flouted court orders and destroyed a religious site. Workers paricipated in the demolition disrespected the idols of Hindu deities placed inside the temple. The builder physically hurt some
members of the minority. Hundreds of people from the Hindu community staged a peaceful rally from Doli Khata, Soldier Bazaar, to the Karachi Press Club to protest against the demolition of the Shri Rama Pir Mandir. The protestors demanded that the government immediately restore the temple with all its dignity.The President of the Schedule Caste Federation Pakistan, Kalidas Khandara is one of the leaders advocating restoration of temple. Ramapir Mandir was restored by the government in the year 2000, which went to show that the place of worship was not only registered, but received government grants as it was a deserving heritage site
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Hindus of Pakistan rush to courts whenever there is a threat to their temple. In 2012, three Hindu temples have been attacked. There seems to be no stipulated policy for preserving Hin-
du temples. Official double standards against Hindus is blatant. People coming from outside and building shanty towns in Karachi get lease permissions but Hindus living in Karachi
for more than a century are denied of official permits. Many Hindu families of Pakistan had already migrated to India due to persecution and humiliation
at the hands of fundamentalists.
Courtesy: http://www. mediasyndicate.in
US to Leave Broken Afghanistan By Aseenma Staff
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he US has put its plan of troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan on a fast track. But it seems to have left the ruling class in Afghanistan petrified. While Barack Obama government favours a total withdrawal by 2014, Afghan rulers want a sizeable of troops left behind to help the native forces tackle Taliban. For, the danger of Taliban taking over the country is looming large, especially in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan. Eventually, about 3,000 to 9,000 US troops may stay back to train and guide Afghan troops for some more time. However, they are not likely to handle security responsibilities. Afghan lawmakers are apprehensive about native troops’ capability to take over the full responsibility of country’s protection. They fear the possibility
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of civil wars by Islamists once the cover of the security protection, provided by US-led NATO forces, is removed. They also anticipate that neighbouring countries, Pakistan and Iran, may start meddling in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. They desperately want not only NATO forces continue to provide training assistance, but also combat Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists. Taliban, which was ruling the country until it was ousted by NATO forces in 2001, is waiting in the wings to regain power. Last month, ahead of Obama-Karzai meet on troops’ withdrawal in Washington, the terrorist organization issued a war threat to the US, if the latter drags on Afghan exit. It said the presence of even a single US soldier in Afghanistan would result in war and destructions that will continue as long as residual NATO forces
remain in the country. Regardless of what Afghan rulers want and what Taliban threatens with, a small number of NATO forces may stay back, but limit their participation to only supporting role in the country’s security apparatus. Moreover, decision on residual forces is tied with legal immunity for the forces in Afghanistan. It may be recalled that the US pulled out from Iraq in total in December 2011 after the Iraqi government failed to offer legal immunity. Given the risk of a Taliban comeback, the proposed withdrawal is viewed as a high risk decision by analysts, and the US is well aware that it will have to continue to provide assistance even after 2013. Hence, more and more missile-equipped drones are expected in action in Afghanistan, once most of the 66,000 troops
are gone by the year end. With this, one of the costliest and bloodiest wars in recent history is coming to an end. The US has spent over $557 billion since 2001. It has also lost more than 2,100 troops during the same period. Although American “war against terrorism”, declared by President George Bush in 2001, following the deadly terror attacks on US iconic buildings of World Trade Centre, is over, terrorism remains. And the future of Afghanistan is wrought with uncertainty. While regrouping of Taliban is expected in the country, its impact on Pakistan and India could be worrisome. Impact on India Some analysts have already linked the recent excesses by Pakistan army on LoC to the imminent US troops’ with-
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Now it is certain that United States is leaving Afghanistan for Afghans. But do Afghans live in peace? Afghanistan’s volatile nature is as worrisome for international community as it is for Afghans. drawal from Afghanistan. It is speculated that Pakistan Army will get more belligerent against
India in the future, and at the same time there will be attempts to push more and more jihadists
into the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the coming days. Freed from its role of partnering
in the “war against terrorism”, Pakistan may pursue its long-time agenda of Kashmir with a renewed vigour. If analysts are right in reading telltale signs of this possibility, a tense future awaits India.
‘Terror movie’ Banned The real story being behind the ban points to the money making mentality of vested interests expoiting religion. Not so long ago, Thuppakki directed by AR Murugadoss and starring Vijay, was targeted by the selfsame groups.
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he makers of the film has arranged a special screening to the objecting Islamic group members and had explained the context and the content of the movie. Vishwaroopam is terrorism based thriller movie. It deals with the general perception about Muslims being fanatic, and would try to explore as to who is the root cause for global terrorism. It seems that he is set to condemn the way US and other countries behave. But, Islamic organisations including the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham (TMMK) started protesting the release of the movie claiming hurt religious sentiments. TMMK leader
Jawahirullah claimed, “There is a danger that the public may view any Muslim with a beard as a terrorist waiting for an opportunity to plant a bomb.” Even while the film makers and Kamal himself trying to negotiate with the protestors, a representative of one such group is on record, saying: “We intend to register our apprehensions that release of the film with even deleted scenes or changes will affect the social harmony and all-round peace in the state.” It is interesting to note that Vishwaroopam has been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) long back.
One director Anubhav Sinha asks, not unreasonably, on his social media feeds: “Is the TN Govt saying that they do not recognize CBFC? Or they can’t handle law and order? Or they subscribe to the objection? When a Government needs to ride on a movie star you should know how intellectually and politically bankrupt they are.” Anurag Kashyap adds: “How can anyone decide what the film is about without seeing it? And how can the government pander to such groups?” Kamal Hasan is appalled at how his film is construed to be against Muslim contrary to the actual content and mes-
sage of the movie. Kamal in his real life was always a sympathizer of Muslims and is a part of an organization called Harmony India, which worked for Hindu Muslim unity. In his letter released through media to the public he says “I have been ruthlessly used as a vehicle by small groups who seek political profile. Icon bashing is a great way to be noticed when you are not one yourself. It is happening again and again. Any neutral and patriotic Muslim will surely feel pride on seeing my film. It was designed for that purpose. Now I will rely on law and logic to come to our support. This kind of cultural terrorism will
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have to stop. I thank those who rose to the occasion and to my support on the Internet.” He is also said. ”My film is neither about terrorism nor Islam. It won’t even hurt any community for that matter. The story traverses through the adversities of war, and, therefore it may appear as though it’s about terrorism, but it’s not,” The real story being behind the ban points to the money making mentality of vested interests expoiting religion. Not so long ago, Thuppakki directed by AR Murugadoss and starring Vijay, was targeted by the selfsame
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groups. The producers met the groups and quietly reached a settlement. Rs 25 lakh changed hands, the objections vanished faster than you could say ‘cultural terrorism bribe’, the film released, and the producers laughed their way to all the banks in the land. Perhaps, to deal with these kind of controversies, gratuities are the only practical way forward. Ultimately in the Vishwaroopam imbroglio, the public are the losers. Advance bookings had opened and in most places tickets had sold out for the weekend in less than 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, the man in the eye of the storm, Kamal, has moved the Madras High Court. Director Shekhar Kapur, who essays a pivotal role in the film reports on Twitter: “Just checked Hotel Bel Air in LA. Just met Kamal Hassan looking calm n strong despite d storm around Vishwaroopam.” Storyline of the movie: Vishwanath alias Wiz, a Kathak exponent, and Nirupama, get married. Each have an agenda and seem to have achieved their wishes in three years of matrimony. Nirupama gets her Ph.D and Wiz runs his dance class in New Jersey unhindered
by each other. All is fine till Dr. Nirupama aspires for more and wants to opt out of the arranged marriage. She cannot cite any specific reason to leave Wiz as there is nothing much to complain about him. Every male according to Nirupama must have a flaw. So she decides to find out something about him to feel better about her decision to part. She hires a detective to rake up something on him. Wires get cross-connected and all hell breaks loose.
Courtesy: http://www. mediasyndicate.in
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[ News Capsules ]
A quake-proof temple
SC’s Lokayukta ambiguity
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he first earthquake-proof Hindu temple of the world has come up near Hollywood City in Los Angeles. Built at an enormous cost of $100 million at Chino Hill, the 68th Swaminarayan temple is expected to last for 1000 years. Constructed on a 20-acre site with a cutting edge technology that shields it from quakes, it is an eco-friendly temple as it uses solar energy to generate electricity. The grand structure is made of 35,000 pieces of Italian marble and Indian sandstone. It has two large domes, five pinnacles, and four balconies. Propped up on 122 pillars and 129 archways, the building offers a mosaic of inspirational tales through 6,600 hand-carved motifs and historical figures of Hinduism. Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), which has built the temple, claims the temple structure represents the best from the traditional stone art of India as well as from the modern technology. Swaminarayan temples are known for grandeur and exquisiteness. In New Delhi, Swaminarayan Akshardham, a marvel in pink stone and white marble, has 234 pillars, 9 domes and 20 pinnacles, all ornately carved. The temple has a plinth of stone elephants, and is embellished by thousands of figureheads of saints and devotees. The Swaminarayan Mandir in London too stands out for its beauty and craftsmanship. The structure displays exquisitely carved motifs springing from ceilings, walls and windows. The building is built with Italian Carrara marble and Bulgarian limestone.
he Supreme Court of India seems to be in two minds when it comes to the consultation process for appointing a Lokayukta, or a state ombudsman. The apex court has given two rulings, which appear diametrically opposite, within the period of nine days. On January 11, the court quashed the appointment of retired HC judge Justice Chandrasekariah as Upa-Lokayukta of Karnataka on the ground that his name was not discussed with the chief justice of Karnataka High Court. A divisional bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Madan B Lokur ruled that consultation with the chief justice is needed though the chief minister has the primacy in the appointment. The ruling is in stark contrast with the January 2nd ruling by the SC on the appointment of Gujarat Lokayukta. In this case, the apex court said that the chief justice of Gujarat High Court has primacy in Lokayukta appointment, though the governor needs to consider the recommendations of group of ministers. Gujarat governor Kamla Beniwal had bypassed the chief minister while appointing the Justice (retd) R A Mehta as Gujarat Lokayukta, taking only the recommendation of the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court. A Bench of Justice BS Chauhan and Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla upheld the appointment, but slammed the governor for not consulting the chief minister. The ruling drew sharp reactions from experts who said giving primacy to chief justice over chief minister in appointments is a case of judiciary usurping executive power.
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[ News Capsules ]
Although January 11th ruling restored the primacy of chief minister in the context of appointing an ombudsman, the two different rulings have left legal eagles confused.
Impact of 9/11 not yet over
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t is more than a decade after the World Trade Centre buildings came under terrorist attacks. Following the deadly attacks that demolished the iconic twin towers and left more than 3,000 people dead on September 11, 2001, the US waged a war against terrorism that was unleashed by al-Qaeda. With the killing of Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, in May 2011 by American forces, there was a sense of closure to the lengthy saga of 9/11. However, it seems to be not so for some, as demonstrated recently by the death of an Indian businessman in a subway push in New York. The 46-year-old Sunando Sen, who was waiting on the platform, was pushed in front of an oncoming train by a woman called Erika Menendez. During the police interrogation the 31-year-old woman revealed that she hated Muslims and Hindus. She also said she had been beating them ever since the 9/11 attacks. She admitted that pushed a “Muslim off the train track”. Although Erika behaved strangely in the criminal court, laughing hard, she seems to be a normal person with no mental problem. A person who worked in her mother’s appointment said he never believed she could act the way she did. It may be recalled that culprits in many hate crimes were treated as mentally deranged people.
Taking oath on Bhagavat Gita
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he is the first Hindu ever to enter the US House of Representatives. And she did it with (Hindu) style by taking oath on Bhagavat Gita. Thus, she also became a first US lawmaker to take oath in the name of the most revered Hindu religious book. No, she is not an Indian-American, nor does she have an Indian root. She is an American Hindu. Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii says Gita has inspired her to be a servant-leader and to dedicate her life in the service of others. The 31-year-old daughter of a practising Hindu mother and a Catholic lector father, Tulsi was grappled with questions of spirituality early on. Her spiritual journey began during her teenage years with teachings of Bhagavad Gita as her guide. She says Gita provided her with motivation and strength to work for others and the country. Tulsi was part of American troops in the Middle East during the Iraq war. She says she found Gita as a tremendous source of strength and inner peace during the war, as well as in many tough challenges of life. Tulsi’s work in the war was appreciated by the Kuwait Army National Guard with an award. Tulsi’s father Mike Gabbard is senator from Hawaii State, while her mother Carol Porter Gabbard is a businesswoman and educator. Tulsi also got elected to the Hawaii Legislature, when she was just 21. She was the youngest member to enter the legislature. But two years later, she quit the Legislature in order to go to war. Truly , Gita has put Tulsi on a remarkable journey of services.
Policing astrologers
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oon, astrologers in Karnataka may need to register their names with the government. The muzrai
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[ News Capsules ]
department thinks this would help curb exploitation of people through black magic, voodoo and witchcraft. The department has decided to form a committee, consisting of well-known astrologers, bureaucrats and experts. The committee is expected to come up with ways to tackle the dark dealings in the name of astrology, and guidelines about registration will be issued only if the panel recommends so. According to muzrai minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, people go to sorcerers and black magic practitioners even for fever. And there are also reports about human sacrifices by treasure hunters. However, the government’s plan is not welcomed by either rationalists, or astrologers. Rationalists criticised the move saying it would promote quackery. They also say registering renders legitimacy to astrology practice, which goes against the Constitution of India. On the other hand, astrologers feel anybody can register and become a government-recognized astrologer, which will again lead to commercialisation and exploitation of the gullible. They ask how the government would formulate the criteria for registration as astrology is not practised on the basis of formal qualifications. Really the panel needs to look at some tough questions.
Innovation in barbarism
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axals seem to be finding innovative ways that are high on barbarism to fight the establishment. Recently, they cut open the abdomen of the body of a slain Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable, and planted a bomb in it. Earlier, Naxals had planted a bomb beneath the body of a jawan. Babu Lal Patel was killed by Naxals in an encounter
at Latehar in Jharkhand early last month. When the body was taken to hospital, doctors were surprised to see stitches on the abdomen area and grew suspicious. When the body was subjected to an X-ray, a metallic container, batteries and a power source were detected inside the stomach. Naxals had removed the organs inside the stomach and the chest to make room for the improvised explosive device (IED). Designed on a pressure release mechanism, the IED was to be activated when the doctor performed the post-mortem. The 2.7 kg device would have triggered a powerful explosion killing the doctor and blowing up the hospital. A bomb disposal squad of 20 members diffused the bomb by setting off the explosives in a controlled manner that lasted four hours. The innovative spirit of Naxals, as displayed in this case, is set to add to the worries of anti-Naxal operatives across the country.
J&K Panches on quitting spree
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he Omar Abdullah government in Jammu & Kashmir seems to be perplexed about how to protect village leaders. As recently one more sarpanch was killed and a woman panch critically injured in the continued terrorist attacks, panches and sarpanches are quitting in hordes. So far, at least six panchayat members have fallen to the militants’ bullets, since the 2011 local body elections. These polls, held after the gap of 32 years, were seen as watershed elections as a record 80 percent of voters exercised their franchise despite a ban call from separatists. This had underscored the overwhelming desire of J&K people for democracy. However, this was something unpalatable to terrorists backed by forces across the border. And attacks on grass-root leaders began. According to reports around 400 panchayat
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members have quit after receiving threats from militant outfits. There were about 33,000 members in the Valley.
conversations were recorded for 180 days between August 2008 and July 2009. The taped conversations reportedly run over 100 hours.
Incidentally, the J&K government wanted the power of security forces curtailed in his state by a selective withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). This would entail withdrawing military from some districts. However, the army vehemently opposed the demand, saying there could be a surge in insurgency in these districts once the military is withdrawn.
After the apex court acted tough, ordering submission of transcripts of the tapes, the IT department submitted transcripts of all the 5,800 conversations in 48 sealed covers. The court order came in connection with a petition filed by the then chairman of TATA group Rata Tata, whose conversation with Radia was among the leaked ones. Irked by the leakage, Tata had complained that the leakage amounted to infringement of his fundamental rights, including right to privacy, guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution.
When elected village representatives demanded security cover, chief minister Omar Abdulla maintained that it was not possible to provide security to all. As militants continued targeting these grass root leaders, the chief minister may have realised the importance of the presence of the military in the state.
What’s hidden in Niira Radia tapes?
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hen part of secretly recorded telephone conversations by corporate lobbyist Niira Radia was made public by a section of media in 2010, it triggered a political storm. The revelation unravelled the unholy nexus between politicians, journalists and corporate honchos. Now the Supreme Court of India is scouring transcripts of all the 5,800 conversations to see if they contain any element of criminality. The public too is eager to know what is hidden in those tapes. The NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) has asked the court to make public all conversations, except those which are purely personal in nature. Niira Radia believed to have built her Rs 300 crore business empire within a short span of seven years. In response to a complaint against Radia in the finance department, the government had ordered surveillance by the IT department. As a result, Radia’s telephone
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Gender studies in CBSE curricula
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entral Board of secondary Education (CBSE) students have been studying human rights since 2009. Now, even as crime against women has occupied the centre stage, the CBSE board is set to introduce gender studies for the class XI and class students. Along with Human Rights, Gender Studies will be offered as an optional subject. The new subject is hoped add to the value-based education and enhance the sense of morality among students. In the wake increasing incidents of atrocities against women, there were demands on the Ministry of Human Resource Development that value education be incorporated in school syllabi. Also, the National Policy on Education of 1986 states that education to be used as an agent to change the status of women. Now, the introduction of the new subject, Human Rights and Gender Studies, is aimed at creating awareness about gender sensitivity and crimes against women. At the same time, the National Council for Teachers Education will come up with a handbook, “Women Safety and Empowerment through Curriculum”, as
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part of teachers’ training curriculum. The proposed steps come a bit too late, one may argue. But if these courses help make the Indian society safer for women, it is better late than never
ICUs can kill
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ospitals admit patients who are grievously ill in their intensive care units (ICUs). However, ICUs in hospitals could be seriously injurious to patients’ health, more so in India. According to a recent study by Indian Intensive Care Case Mix and Practice Patterns (INDICAPS), ICUs are worse than general wards when it comes to bad bugs. The study says catching infection at ICUs are 40 percent higher than at general wards of Indian hospitals. More often than not, multiple tubes like ventilators and IV lines are inserted into the patients in ICUs. The study says these devices are major source of infections. As patients at ICUs are normally treated with high doses of antibiotics, ICU bugs are immune to most drugs. Hence, high chances of infections. The study was conducted in 17 states across the country with a sample size of 4,209 patients admitted in 124 ICUs. The study found that one in every eight patients admitted in ICUs die from infections. Sepsis is the most contracted infection in ICUs, and causes most number of ICU deaths. It may be recalled that the 23-year-old gang-rape victim of Delhi had also developed sepsis while being treated in an ICU at the government-run Safdarjung Hospital. The study’s findings reinforce the argument that hospital acquired infections (HAI) should top the priority list of public health measures in India.
35 years in jail for role in 26/11
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avid Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American is set to spend the next 35 years in jail, unless the sentence awarded by a US district court for his role in the 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai is revised by a higher court. India had pressed for harsher punishment, and even Chicago court judge, who delivered the sentence, said Headley deserved a death penalty. But the prosecutors asked for only jail term up to 35 years, in lieu of co-operation and vital information provided by the accused. The 52-year Headley, who changed his Muslim name of Daood Gilani in 2006 to conceal his identity to fool Indian authorities, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. He received extensive terror training in Pakistani camps. Working for the Pakistani-based terror orgnaisation, he travelled to India several times to identify targets for attacks. His extensive video recordings in Mumbai provided a road map to the 26/11 attackers. Headley was arrested by FBI agents at Chicago international airport in 2009, when he was leaving for Pakistan. He revealed to the US intelligence agency about his next mission, which was attacking a Danish newspaper office, for publishing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. He also revealed his role, as well as ISI’s involvement, in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in exchange for a promise that he would get lighter punishment and wouldn’t be extradited to India. During the investigation, the participation of his friend Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian businessman in Chicago, in the terror plans targeting both India and Denmark. However, Rana claimed that he was duped by Headley and managed to dodge punishment in connection with 26/11. But US court sentenced him to 14 years in jail for his involvement in the terror plot targeting the Danish newspaper.
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[ From the world of books ]Our Moon has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits
from high and mighty. Even several members of the jury were in tears, after awarding him two-year jail term. The book, on the back of extensive research, seeks to explore the layered complexity of human nature.
Author: Rahul Pandita
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Kashmiri Pandit in exile narrates the tortuous journey of his family, which began when separatists unleashed ethnic cleansing operations in 1990s. The author, just a 14year-old boy when he and his family members were forced to abandon their home in Srinagar, offers new insights into the saga of the exodus of Pandit community from the Valley. One of the most tragic conflicts in recent history, Kashmir issue is often interpreted as narratives of human rights violations by the Indian state and demands for independence from separatists. The book provides a different narrative, the tale of the people, who are forced to live in exile in their own country. Publisher: Vintage Books / Random House No of Page: 272 Published in: 2013
Fallen Angel: The Making and Unmaking of Rajat Gupta Author: Sandipan Deb
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he book is claimed to be a real story of Rajat Gupta, who has been jailed for securities fraud and insider trading in the US. The book traces the remarkable journey of Gupta, once an orphaned teenager in India, but managed to scale dizzying height in the US business world. The former chief of the most prestigious global consultancy firm McKinsey & Co, Gupta evokes respect
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Publisher: Our Moon has Blood Clots: No of Page: 248 Published in: December 2012
How to Make the Best of Your Workplace Skills Author: Subroto Bagchi
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he author seeks to offer a personalized guide to help excel in today’s world as a professional. The book outlines qualities of a thorough professional, who can handle diverse situations within and without the workplace professionally. It provides aspiring professionals tools to evaluate themselves. It contains simple exercises that help understand how professional a person is in a given context, and also help develop more commitment and wider sets of skills. Aspiring professionals may find insightful information and real-life challenges outlined in the book immensely useful in their career-building exercises. This is the most voluminous book from the author, who is the chairman and co-founder of software firm MindTree. Publisher: Portfolio No of Page: 240 Published in: 2012
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[ From the world of books ]Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia (Audio book) Authors: S. Hussain Zaidi
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s the title suggests, the book chronicles the history of Mumbai underworld. It throws light on the lives of notorious gangsters, such as Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Chhota Rajan, and Abu Salem. However, the major focus of the book is on underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who has traversed great lengths in the crime world, transforming from being a pawn in the hands of Mumbai police into their prime enemy. The book traces several milestones in the Indian mafia history, such as rise of Pathans, birth of the Dawood gang, Bollywood connection with the underworld. The journey of Dawood Ibrahim, a tale of how ambition, bravado, cunningness and lust for power turned a boy from Dongri into a don in Dubai, is presented in a gripping narrative. Publisher: Reado Duration of running time: 12 hrs Published in: 2012
Chanakya’s New Manifesto: To Resolve the Crisis within India Author: Pavan K. Varma
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he author offers solutions to various crisis confronted by the contemporary India, in the light of wisdom provided by Chanakya. The greatest thinker and teacher India has ever had, Chanakya helped establish the Maurya Empire, India’s first empire, some 2,000 years ago. In his book Arthashashtra, a comprehensive treatise on statecraft and governance, Chanakya outlines unparallel military, political and administrative strategies. Now, modeled on Arthashashtra, the author
devises a plan to tackle problems in today’s India. The book provides actionable ideas in the areas of governance, democracy, security, corruption and inclusive society, within the framework of the Constitution. The book not only offers insights into challenges facing the country, but also offers solutions and calls for actions. Publisher: Aleph Book Company No of pages: 248 Published in: 2013
Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Author: Bill O’Reilly, Martin Dugard
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he book is a sequel to “Killing Lincoln: a thrilling new history of the assassination of JFK”. The shocking murder of President John F Kennedy in 1963 changed the course of American history. Bill O’Reilly captures the brutal killing in gripping details in this sequel. The book unravels events that led to the most notorious murder of the 20th century. It takes the reader to the Cold War era, where Kennedy grappled with the rise of Communism. The book sheds light on the struggles, hardships and solitude confronted by the President during those days. The author describes how the President picked powerful enemies during the course of time and how his regime, fondly referred to as Camelot, brought down by an erratic former Marine Corps sharpshooter. Publisher: Macmillan No of pages: 336 Published in: 2012
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