Egg Hatching People Versus Taukir Mom and General Minority Psyche Striving for Peace and Security, Fighting Terror Taint
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 68
Palash Biswas
- 11 Sep 5.4 Central
Asia/
South Asia. 5.4.1 India; 5.4.2 Afghanistan; 5.4.3 Pakistan
.... The fight
against terrorism on the streets of Britain is not a
war.
...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terrorism - 303k - Cached - Similar pages - Note thisTo win the
war on terror, Washington must focus on weakening international
terrorist networks by cutting off their sources of funding.
www.heritage.org/Research/AsiaandthePacific/BG1496.cfm - 45k - Cached - Similar pages - Note thisMobilizing Multilateral Resources in the
War against Terrorism: The Role of ASEAN Inside and Outside of
Southeast Asia. Speech of ASEAN Secretary-General
...www.aseansec.org/15399.htm - 27k - Cached - Similar pages - Note thisAlternative Resources on the U.S. "
War Against Terrorism"
...... pertaining to East,
Southeast, and
South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present.
...www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/usterror.html - 232k - Cached - Similar pages - Note thisFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat -
View as HTMLInternational
Terrorism in South Asia. K. Alan Kronstadt. Analyst in Asian Affairs
..... perceived as a proxy
war against India.
...www.fas.org/irp/crs/RS21658.pdf - Similar pages - Note thisby KA Kronstadt -
All 85 versions [PDF] File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
"THE
WAR AGAINST TERRORISM:. IMPLICATIONS FOR USA, SINGAPORE AND.
SOUTHEAST ASIA. Remarks by. MR YANG RAZALI KASSIM. Regional Analysis Editor,
...www.ips.org.sg/pub/fo_war_yang.pdf - Similar pages - Note this "This is a matter of happiness for us that we are going to announce the holy
war against Bush and his cronies from NWFP where the members of religious
...www.satp.org/satporgtp/kpsgill/2003/chapter4.htm - 30k - Cached - Similar pages - Note thisA Joint Staff briefing on the long
war against terrorism states that since 2001,
... and along a path through the Middle East to Central and
Southeast Asia.
...www.washtimes.com/news/2006/dec/13/20061213-010657-5560r/ - 88k - Cached - Similar pages - Note thisFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat -
View as HTMLThis report reviews the
terrorist environment in
South Asia,
...... a strongsupporter in the
war against terrorism because their enlightened policyis that
...terrorisme.net/pdf/2004_terrorisminsouthasia.pdf - Similar pages - Note thisby B Vaughn -
All 64 versions Combating anti-American
terrorism in Southeast Asia presents the Bush
..... non-NATO ally in recognition of its support of the U.S.
war against terrorism.
...www.history.navy.mil/library/online/terrorism%20in%20southeast%20asia.htm - 117k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
DANDY IN ACTION
- The UPA had believed that Islamism was not India's problem
Swapan Dasgupta
The worst thing that happened to the Manmohan Singh government in the past seven days was not the serial blasts in the national capital. Far more devastating than the momentary panic that gripped Lutyens' Delhi last Saturday evening was the wave of derision that greeted the home minister, Shivraj Patil, the man in charge of internal security.
It is one thing for a minister to be attacked for incompetence and ineffectiveness but it stretches the bounds of political endurance to be mocked and ridiculed in a time of national crisis. Jawaharlal Nehru's favourite ideologue, the irascible V.K. Krishna Menon, had to confront this in the aftermath of the 1962 debacle. He could never recover from the taunt of facilitating the manufacture of coffee percolators in the ordnance factories. As a matter of fact, neither could Nehru. The disastrous Sino-Indian war broke him emotionally and damaged his government's credibility irreparably. The Congress had to encash every last paisa of the Independence dividend to remain afloat politically.
The depiction of the home minister as an incorrigible dandy, more interested in his personal appearance than the security of citizens, may well be a caricature. However, black humour has often captured the public mood more succinctly than fiery denunciations on television talk shows, not least because it corresponds to perceived reality. Patil may have made only a nominal contribution to the United Progressive Alliance government's decision in 2004 to scrap existing anti-terror legislation and focus on the "roots of terror". It was a political decision that stemmed from the belief that Islamism was not an Indian problem and that the socio-economic betterment of minorities through covert affirmative action would firewall India against a global menace. At the time the UPA assumed power, India's liberal establishment believed — and not entirely without justification — that the spectacular terrorist attacks during the National Democratic Alliance's tenure were the handiwork of imported mujahedin from Pakistan, with only a sprinkling of local involvement. The priority, therefore, was to apply international pressure on Pakistan to call off its dogs and give local Muslims a symbolic sop by scrapping the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080919/jsp/opinion/story_9852302.jsp
The divide is complete once again. Islamophobia tells on the Plural Psyche in India. Terror Strikes justify the US Weapon Industry launched War against terrorism and US Military Operations right in our heart. The geopolitics bleeds. It is a straight Civil War between the Egg Hatching Ruling Hegemony and Taukir`s Mom. More violence and terrorist activity on the part of Hindus and Muslims in India sparked the Catholic bishops to condemn the acts and make and appeal to Indians of all faiths.
Leading Muslim bodies will jointly ask imams across the country to criticise the Centre during the September 26 Friday prayers for "targeting the community in the name of the war on terror". the telegraph, kolkata reports.
Insecurity is the prime sentiment of Social realism in India. tough Terror laws and chain of encounters may not help Indian Nation and its people, neither the South Asian divided geopolitics. It is helping only US corporate Imperialism and the Fascism! By analyzing the emergence of Hindu Nationalism and its efforts of marginalization of religious minorities, Christians in India make the case for "collective rights" for Christian minorities in India. Unlike other religious minorities such as Buddhist and Sikhs, Christians have been denied their right to have an access to the benefits of affirmative action policies. They review the current debates concerning "collective rights", and argues that the state, through affirmative action policies, should recognize the "collective rights" to protect and preserve the cultures of Christians in India.
General Minority psyche is striving for Peace and security unsure of justice, freedom and equality. Rhetoric of Liberation further alienates them! It should be noted that Indian power politics always used the Minority insecurity psyche to gain hold on State Power. Pseudo Secular forces were often instrumental for Riots in India before the resurgence of Hindutva only after the doors of Ram Janma Bhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya was opened by then Internal Security Minister and close ally of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to invoke Hindutva sentiment after Operation Blue Star resultant in the untimely demise of Mrs Indira Gandhi. Hitherto, Hindutva forces never got the power in India. Bharatiya Jansangh and Hindu Mahasabha were minor forces in comparison.
Though Hindu Mahasabha led by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee played decisive role as stimulant for the rise of Muslim League and partition of India, Dr Ambedkar and Jogendra Nath Mandal proved to be stronger forces. Only after the JP movement and complete repression of Naxalbari and due to absence of an Indigenous National Movement, Hindutva came into reckoning as the Left struck a deal with the Right to oust Indira Gandhi. It is a milestone in Indian History.
I remeber those days just after few years of partition while our people, the partition Victim Bengali refugees ejected from their homeland way back in East Pakistan and scattered all over the country as well as the Bhadralok mainstream Bengalies based in West Bengal held Gandhi and Nehru responsible for the partition. It was the same sentiment amongst the Sikh Refugees from West Pakistan.In Nainital Terai Region, my village Basantipur was the last limit of Bengali area and our neighbours were Rai Sikhs. I shared my childhood with Sikh children. I used to know Gurmukhi as well as I learnt Kumayuni, Garwali, Assamese and Marathi later on.
But the RSS activists could not mobilise the Refugee sentiments and it remained the ideology of small traders all over the country. The Left used the refugee movement most. On the other hand , Congress used the Refugees as mobile vote bank everywhere.
I have read so many things relating RSS ideology. But my mindset never changed.
Indira Gandhi was the first person who used Hindutva while using Military Option against nationalities without addressing the rhetoric of Liberation! AFPSA was already in vogue. Indira crushed the Peasants` Insurrection in Eastern part of the country popularly known as Naxalite Movement. The Indian Army was killing the Naxalites in West Bengal and at the same time , it was liberating Bangladesh. Bangladesh Liberation was the best expression of Hindutva as the people were for the first time changed the mindset with the emergence of Blind nationalism portraying Mrs Indira Gandhi as the reincarnation of Goddess Durga. hindutva was appeased unprecedentedly with the partition of Pakistan!International community did not allow us to win 1965 war and we lost a Prime Minister so Popular Lal Bahadur Shastri! Bangladesh Liberation worked as a sacred balm for hurt Hindutva sentiment and the Hindus for the first time felt that the Revenge was complete against the Holocaust of 1947. We could not unite the Bleeding Geopolitics but we were successful to divide Pakistan. Since then, Pakistan is also engaged to try its best to disintegrate India. Kashmir happens to be a lame excuse!
The Revenge invoked Hindu nationalism and Mrs Indira Gandhi with an agenda of Soviet model development romped home with landslide majority in 1971 elections. The refugees, Sikh as well as Bengalies, supported Mrs Gandhi. This Hindutva and New found Blind nationalism justified the repression countrywide which created a space for the first Pro US movement in India, The Total revolution with mind control and brainwashing in full swing!
But the Brahminical hegemony was trying its best to kill the Constitution made by an untouchable, Dr BR Ambedkar. Nehru tried and failed. Mrs Gandhi blocked United states of America to sail into the peaceful waters of Indian Ocean. Thus, she emerged as an unchallenged leader of third world and nonalignment movement. In exchange Mrs Gandhi was able to cahnge the constitution. It was the beginning. She wanted to stall Mandal commission and introduced a Punjab Politics so disastrous to lead the nation to Blue star operation and anti Sikh Riots. For the Sikh Religion it was Holocaust repeated once again and so soon. It generated Militancy and Terror ad was fed by Agro crisis in Punjab, hitherto most neglected as far as Industrialisation is concerned, just after Greene Revolution.
But the new leadership in Congress en cashed the anti Sikh sentiments in Hindus to hold on Power and Brahminical hegemony. It wanted to consolidate the Hindutva base with grand Ayodhya initiative, But this time, strengthened by JP Movement and Left support, RSS was ready to get the most wanted mileage. Rath yatra by Lal Krishna Adwani created unprecedented Hindutva wave.
Once again, the war against terrorism is imported in this divided bleeding geopolitics to invoke Hindutva sustaining monopolistic Hindutva Brahminical hegemony aligned with Zionism and apartheid! The serial blasts and terror strikes help the Hindutva and much wanted Islamophobia happens to be in vogue in a manner never before and it is Global!
My first short story book, `ANDE SENTE LOG' (EGG HATCHING PEOPLE) WAS PUBLISHED ON BASANT PANCHAMI, 1997 FROM KOLKATA. I deliberately chose my published short stories dealing the social realism and Indian social fabrics. My short story `ANDE SENTE LOG' is all about the phenomenon of Criminalisation, the mind control game of Fascism and the imminent brainwashing which dilutes the secular, democratic and sound conscience of common man. I selected from my experiences during eighties while Babri Mosque had to be demolished. Riots were universal everywhere in North India and it was a great relief that entire South India and North India were spared.
I had been in Meerut during 1984 to 1990. I worked there on a new desk of a North Indian Media Giant. I was involved in the daily routine to trace the communal climate of the City. The city was divided into OLd city and cantonement. In 1987, the divide was diluted and I had to see the City in fire for months. I analysed the Geography of riots in Merrut in my novelette `UNKA MISSION' `THEIR MISSION', PUBLISHED IN EARLY NINETIES.
I noted it with every detail how the Indigenous production system in major cities like Meerut, Banaras, Firozabad, Moradabad, Aligargh,Kanpur,Bareilly had been targeted and how the capitalists, industrialists took over those traditional industries where the daily wage labourers were mostly Muslims and traders had been the Hindu in general.
The riots in North India Urban areas were masterminded by capitalists and fascists as well. They used scheduled castes everywhere. I witnessed in Meerut and Bareilly. I saw the peaceful cities like Bijnore and Bareilly were burning for the first time! Narendra Modi used the ST and OBC forces to mobilise its Gestapo in Gujarat Genocide.
Meanwhile, the social engineering in North India led by a cluster of SC, ST and OBC leaders stalled the Resurgence of Hindutva. It stopped the Anti Muslim riots for the first time. It was a tough equation for UPA as well as NDA to recapture the indigenous Vote Bank. Now, they use the market forces to revitalise the Hindutva. Information Explosion proved to be a magic. The corporates and MNCs seek Retail rural network to expand market for their products and use Hindutva as the most lethal weapon of mind control and brain washing. Hindutva is also using Globalisation and Imperialism as covers of Fascism.
This equation has done havoc with the internal security in USA and Europe. USA has not recovered from the shock of 9/11 as yet. War zone escalated US Interests as well as Market, but the Global financial crisis and the credit crunch have well exposed the limits of corporate Imperialism! on the other hand, USA as well as Europe happen to be the most Instable and insecure Geopolitical Zones worldwide. Despite all the Nuclear armament and missile technology, space dominance, technological innovations and capturing all the Natural resources and markets,Americanism failed miserably and they could not locate Osama Bin Laden!
Super Power status never guarantees Internal Security, we have to learn from US!
Is it mere coincidence that Neo Liberalism under the cover of Liberation, Privatisation and Globalisation followed the Ram Janma Bhoomi Movement of eighties. It is the same mind control game as the Naxal Bari Movement was limited in certain areas thanks to the Total revolution led by JP in mid seventies!
On the evening of September 29, 2006, a frenzied mob barged into Dalit farmer Bhaiyyalal Bhotmanage's house and lynched his wife Surekha (44), daughter Priyanka (17) and sons Roshan (23) and Sudhir (21). The mutilated bodies were then dumped in a nearby canal.
While the court held Sakru Binjewar, his son Gopal, Shatrughan Dhande, Vishwanath Dhande, Ramu Dhande, Jagdish Mandlekar, Prabhakar Mandlekar and Shishupal Dhande guilty for unlawful assembly, rioting and murder; Mahipal Dhande, Dharampal Dhande and Purushottam Titarmare were acquitted for lack of evidence.
The killings were gruesome, but had no connection with the caste tussle in Khairlanji village, said ad hoc sessions judge S.S. Das, while delivering the judgment in the murder of four Dalits two years ago.
The Bhandara ad hoc district and sessions court on Monday held eight of the 11 accused guilty in the brutal murder of four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji — about 780 km from Mumbai.
Srinagar : At least 19 people, including seven security personnel, were injured on Friday in clashes at a dozen places in the Kashmir valley where normal life came to a standstill following a 'bandh' call given by separatists.
The clashes broke out shortly after Friday prayers in different downtown and uptown localities of the city and Pattan in Baramulla district when police along with CRPF used force to stop "pro-independence" protesters from marching on main roads, official sources said.
Police fired teargas shells and used batons to chase away the stone-pelting youth at various places. Clashes between the two sides at some of the places, including Nowhatta, were still continuing when last reports came.
Six security personnel and four protesters were injured in a clash at Nowhatta and adjoining localities in the vicinity of Jamia Masjid, the grand old mosque in the interior city, they said.
Five persons, including a policeman, were injured in a clash at Karan Nagar and Habbakadal and Hyderpora on the Srinagar-Airport road, the sources said.
A clash also took place between police and protesters at Pattan, 27 km from here, on the Srinagar-Baramulla national highway leaving four protesters injured, the sources said.
In New Delhi,Terror has once again come to haunt national capital on Friday. An encounter reportedly started at Jamia Nagar in Okhla, south Delhi between five militants and a special cell of Delhi Police. Two of the five militants have been killed and one of them has been arrested by the police. The rest two, however, have manged to escape. The encounter began at around 11.15 am. The terrorists were holed up on the fourth floor of house number L-18, behind Khalilullah mosque in the Batla House area.
Tensions ran high in the Jamia Nagar locality of South Delhi as word spread of a religious place being "transgressed" reportedly by police during the encounter with militantson Friday. Two Indian Mujahideen militants allegedly involved in the Delhi and other recent serial blasts were on Friday killed in a fierce encounter in South Delhi that left two Delhi Police Special Cell personnel injured, one of whom is said to be in a "critical" condition. One terrorist was nabbed at the end of an hour-long encounter in Jamia Nagar but two others slipped away, Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal told reporters. Police recovered an AK-47 assault rifle along with two .30 pistols and a computer from the L-18 residence in the area, Dadwal said.
The house where militants were holed up lies very close to a religious place. Once firing stopped, a large number of people thronged the narrow lanes of the area and shouted religious slogans. "We are all against terrorism, then why was our religious places places targeted," said one of the residents.
Refuting any such news, DCP South Delhi HGS Dhaliwal clarified that no religious place was used during the encounter. "The firing was done from a place near the religious place," he said.
The tensions were fuelled by rumours that the operation was concocted by police and no fire was shot from inside the house.
Extra reinforcements have been rushed to the area contain any untoward incident, police said.
Meanwhile one media personnel, who was informing his office about the encounter, was abused by the local residents. They claimed that no shot were fired from inside the house and the encounter was a blatant lie.
Neighbours of the house where entire operation unfolded, however, confirmed that gun shots were fired from both sides. "It all started at 10.30 in the morning. We were preparing to go to our work when some police people came in the area," said an eye-witness who refused to disclose her identity.
In Mumbai, the mother of Abdus Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer, prime accused in the Delhi and Ahmedabad serial blasts, asked her son to surrender before the authorities irrespective of whether he is innocent or not.
"If my son is found guilty by the court and authorities, then I would not stop them from punishing him. He could be hanged before our eyes," a tearful Zubeda Qureshi said.
Can stringent laws slash the spurt in India's terror graph? Well, political parties may have varied opinions on the issue, but India's first woman IPS officer feels 'it's the need of the hour'.
"Our laws are weak. We need strong laws to reign in the terrorists. Laws of the land must keep pace with the new challenges posed by terrorists," Kiran Bedi said.
However, according to her, stronger laws should be supplemented with faster legal process. "Terrorists know that it can take up to ten years for a case to be settled in the court of law. So, judicial system needs to be expedited."
Bedi, who also served in the United Nations as the Police Adviser to the Secretary General in Department of Peace Keeping Operations, is also in favour of a federal agency to tackle terror in the country. "It's long overdue," she rued.
Known for her courageous act of towing away of the car of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1983, Bedi feels that India's basic fundamentals of policing are too weak to tackle terror and crime.
"We have no fundamentals in fact. We have structures only. Fundamentals come through human resource management, which unfortunately, is the weakest in our country. When 80 per cent of your constabulary is neglected, than you are bound to be the targets. So, get your basics right first," she said.
Bedi, now retired, also differs on the 'notion of being tough or soft on acts of terror'.
"Basically, we have never addressed the issue of terrorism with desired will and efforts. Our policies are soft on crime and violence with a tradition of breaking laws, than how can you tackle terror," she said.
A recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award (1994) for her reforms in Tihar Jail, she has also expressed disappointment with the equation between police and citizens.
"There should be 'inclusive policing' and citizens should be co-opted by police. If you do not make them partners in peace, than how can you think of their support in times of war," she said.
The Statesman, kolkata reports:The Congress-led UPA government rejected the question of bringing any law like the repealed POTA to combat terrorism, asserting that the country already has stringent legislation meant for clamping down on terror. The Congress leadership echoed the Prime Minister's statement yesterday, saying the party is "open" to "further strengthening terror laws but not at the cost of subverting human rights and civil liberties".
In the wake of the 13 September Delhi serial blasts that followed similar recent terror attacks in several major cities, the government, particularly the Union home minister, Mr Shivraj Patil, has drawn fire from various quarters for their alleged "inept and ineffective" handling of terrorism, with the BJP again raking up its demand to bring back Pota.
Asked whether the government was planning to enact an anti-terror law like Pota, the Union information and broadcasting minister, Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, asserted: "No, no, no. It is a Draconian law and against human rights. If the present anti-terror laws are implemented properly, there is no requirement for additional laws."
On the other hand, in the wake of attacks on churches in Karnataka and Orissa, the Congress on Friday warned the Opposition ruled states that they should not commit the "grave mistake" that the Centre is "powerless to deal with such rogue activities".
"Those who provoke must be prepared to face the consequences...They will be responsible for the consequences if they keep provoking," said party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi.
Issuing the warning, Singhvi said, "they (the Opposition ruled states) should not think that the Centre is powerless to deal with such rogue activities".
Using the phraseology of Atal Behari Vajpayee who had asked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to follow "raj dharma" in the wake of Godhra riots, Singhvi advised these states to follow the same course to deal with the situation.
Asked if the Centre will use Article 355 or 356 to deal with the situation in Karnataka and Orissa, Singhvi said it was not a question of invoking these Articles.
"The states should not think that the central government is powerless. The Constitution gives ample powers if provocation and justification for using such powers arise," he said.
Congress sources said the Centre has issued several "strong" letters to both Karnataka and Orissa in the last few days to take stern action and stop the violence against the Christian community and institutions.
Meanwhile,The Centre is understood to have decided to invoke Article 355 of the Constitution to warn Orissa and Karnataka to rein in violence following attacks on churches and prayer halls in the two states. According to official sources late tonight, a formal communication in this regard will be sent tomorrow to the governments of the two states ruled by the Opposition. A BJD-BJP coalition is ruling Orissa while the saffron party is in power in Karnataka.
A home ministry spokesman when contacted said he was not aware if any decision has been taken in this regard. Sources said there were a series of meetings in the home ministry before a decision was taken to invoke the Article. It is for the second time this month that Orissa is to be warned under Article 355. Article 355 is a rarely used constitutional provision that typically holds out the threat of dismissal of a state government and imposition of President's Rule if the warning of the Centre goes unheeded. Under Article 355, a duty has been cast on the Union government to ensure that governance in states is carried out in accordance with the Constitution.The Karnataka home minister described the decision as a political move
The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared a proposal for signing and ratification of the agreement on transfer of sentenced persons between India and Israel. Briefing reporters after the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the information and broadcasting minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, said this agreement would "enable the prisoners to be near their families and would help in the process of their social rehabilitation". Prisoners of Indian origin serving terms in Israeli jails can be brought back to serve the remainder of their term while Israeli convicted prisoners could be transferred to their home country.
The Cabinet cleared a proposal to amend the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act (APEDA Act) to vest it with statutory authority for registration and protection of intellectual property rights or similar rights (including Geographical Indications) in the special product names in India and elsewhere. The registration of Basmati rice, as a geographical indication under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999 can be initiated and APEDA can effectively protect the geographical indication in India and abroad.
It also cleared the proposal for the setting up of an autonomous 'Institute of Nanoscience & Technology at Mohali' under the Department of Science & Technology at a total cost of Rs 142.45 crore for 11th Plan Period as a registered society.
Statesman News Service reports from LUCKNOW: Even as the Supreme Court extends the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi), and the Centre debates the introduction of a law more stringent than the repealed Pota, a group of NGOs and human rights activists are crying hoarse over the alleged harassment and subsequent arrests of "innocent" Muslims. Uttar Pradesh Police' Anti-terrorism Squad, however, rubbished the allegations and called them "baseless".
They claim that the governments of UP and other terror-hit states of the country are misusing their powers to round up innocent Mulsim men without any evidence of their being involved in terrorist activities. "The only evidence they have to support their claim that these men are terrorists is the confessions they have got from them while they were in police custody," said Mr Pandey. Magsaysay awardee Mr Sandeep Pandey is the most vocal of the group that claims people like Abu Basher from Azamgarh and Shahbaz Hussain from Lucknow have been "framed" by police and Intelligence agencies.
"We are conducting an independent investigation into the arrest of Shahbaz Hussain to find out whether he is indeed involved in terrorist activities. Prima facie, it appears that the youth has been framed by UP Police. There is no material evidence to justify his arrest. The only evidence on the basis of which the youth has been arrested is the 'confession' extracted from him during investigation by UP ATS," said Mr SR Darapuri, retired IG of UP Police, who is heading the independent committee looking into the recent arrests of terror suspects in UP. The retired IG said that their investigations lead them to believe Hussian was framed.
The anti-Christian violence in Orissa is at risk for spreading to other states in the nation. The violence has been unanimously condemned and everything possible should be done to end it. This is what the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) said after a series of attacks were carried out on Christian places of worship allegedly by the Bajrang Dal and other extremist groups in various parts of Karnataka on Sunday, September 14.
Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, President of the CBCI, firmly condemned the attacks and said that "the heightened attacks on Christians, their dwellings and places of worship in different parts of the country are the manifestation of the growing intolerance of certain sections of society that blatantly defy the constitutional rights of the citizens of this country. We ask them to desist from such provocation of religious minorities in India and follow a path of dialogue and dignified approach to sorting out any social, religious and political issues."
The Bishops reiterate their stand that they abhor violence as it undermines civilized form of living, "and we, as a nation, cannot allow ourselves to be drawn into the vortex of primitive instincts of conflict and destruction. The Christian community in India has been conducting itself in a peaceful manner all this while, and even under extreme provocation it has exercised restraint. However, it is not to be construed as weakness, but a preferred option based on sound principles of civilized living. The Christian community continues to render its services to all sections of Indian society without any discrimination. Nevertheless, baseless allegations of fraudulent conversion have been hurled at it for long by certain vested interests whose chief agenda seems to be social polarization on the lines of religious beliefs. We, as responsible citizens of India, will not succumb to their divisive tactics, but continue to work, in the spirit of Christ our Master, for the unity, integrity and progress of the nation."
The Bishops also condemned the serial bomb blasts in Delhi on Saturday evening that claimed 22 innocent lives and injured scores of people. The militant group "Indian Mujaheddin" has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The Church has expressed its condolences for the victims and solidarity with their families, affirming that "the bomb blast in Delhi is a dastardly act by those who have scant regard for human life and its sanctity; and as a civilized society, we must endeavor to defeat such nefarious designs of the misguided elements of society."
The Bishops also said they would pray for the victims and their families, with the special prayer intention for peace and social reconciliation in the country.
DNA from New Delhi reports: India's inability to stop attacks on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka could snowball into a major international embarrassment. The question international rights groups are asking is whether these attacks are organised and, if so, what is the government doing to stop them.
"Deal with the problem. Take action against the culprits. The Indian government has not made this a priority, the signs were there for all to see. Now it is scrambling and looking for an answer," says Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch, a respected US-based rights group.
The tribals of the eastern state are some of the poorest and most vulnerable sections in the state. Yet neither the state or the Centre have bothered to provide them with protection and known minority-baiter like Pravin Togadia is allowed to visit Orissa and make inflammatory speeches to further incite the crowd.
New Delhi's standard answer to any queries of the incidents in Orissa and Karnataka is to say law and order is a state subject and India is capable of doing what is right. But so far the UPA administration has been unable to protect minorities. Human rights activists are amazed at both the central and state government's lack of will to protect vulnerable sections of society. "Indian government allows itself to be pushed into a corner and is on the backfoot," says Adams.
In Orissa everyone including local reporters were aware of the tension between the Bajrang Dal activists and the Christians, yet nothing was done to diffuse the situation.
Since December, tension was building in these areas.
Orissa chief minister Navin Patnaik received all the reports and sat on them. The priest who was killed should also have been provided protection, as the danger to his life was known to all. After he died, the body was taken in a funeral procession through nearly 100 km, and churches on the way were stoned and attacked. Any sensible government would not have allowed this.
If Simi and other Muslim organizations are targeted, the Bajrang Dal which is equally guilty should also be banned, he says. This will at least give a semblance of fairness and send out the right signals to minorities in India, already agitated that the Congress government in Maharashtra has done nothing to implement the Sri Krishna Commission report.
The Kolkata based News daily the Telegraph reoprts from New Delhi:
Some cabinet ministers, led by Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, appear to have virtually stonewalled Manmohan Singh's moves to beef up anti-terror laws.
"The present law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, is stronger than the laws in the US and the UK, if applied properly. What do you mean by tougher anti-terror laws?" information and broadcasting minister Das Munshi said today, after the cabinet last night discussed such changes.
Another minister echoed Das Munshi's line to blunt the BJP's accusation that the Centre and the Congress were "soft" on terror.
Sources said the majority view at the meeting, called to review the Delhi blasts and its aftermath, was that there was no need to "sneak in" a version of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) by amending existing laws.
Muslims, they said, remember the act as a "bad dream" and in the run-up to the elections, any suggestion of reviving it would be "suicidal".
Congress ministers rejected NCP chief Sharad Pawar's suggestion to hasten presidential assent to the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Act.
"We can't clear such laws. We went to the elections promising Pota's repeal. We fulfilled it. Now we can't bring back Pota and hand it on a platter to Narendra Modi," a source quoted a minister as saying.
The UPA has been sitting on the Gujarat law, prompting chief minister Narendra Modi to accuse the Centre after the Ahmedabad blasts of scuppering his anti-terror measures.
Another minister pointed out that the Congress had allowed the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act to continue, but was told the NDA government had facilitated its passage.
It was explained that the Centre couldn't ask the Maharashtra Assembly to repeal the law and even if the Congress wanted it abolished, it couldn't as the NCP, with whom the party shares power, was said to favour such a "tough" law.
No new step to fight terror was finalised at the meeting, called at the initiative of home minister Shivraj Patil, who has been under fire for failure to prevent strikes.
The confusion in the Congress on stronger anti-terror laws also came through in the way some leaders reacted to the Prime Minister's remarks at a governors' conference yesterday. Singh had said the Centre was "actively considering legislation to further strengthen the substantive anti-terrorism law in line with the global consensus" to fight terrorism.
But the phrase "global consensus", some party leaders felt, risked being associated with George W. Bush's "cowboy" brand of politics against "Islamic terrorism" after 9/11.
National security adviser M.K. Narayanan briefed the ministers on "home-grown terrorism", as distinct from "cross-border terrorism", and claimed some local militants owed "allegiance" to the Taliban and al Qaida.
In New Delhi, in a brush with terror in the capital for a second time in a week, two militants of the 'Indian Mujahideen' allegedly involved in the serial blasts in Delhi and other places including Ahmedabad, were killed in a fierce gunbattle that also left an Inspector seriously wounded in Jamia Nagar in South Delhi on Friday.
One of the two killed was identified as Atif, a prominent operative of the Indian Mujahideen who is believed to have played a 'key role' in the blasts in Delhi as well as in Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bangalore, Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal said on the shootout that lasted about an hour.
Atif's accomplice Sajid, also a member of the Indian Mujahideen which is a shadow outfit of the banned SIMI and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), was also killed while police nabbed Mohammed Saif who was injured in the gunbattle in 'Batla House', a four-storied building.
The militants fired eight rounds during the gunbattle while police retaliated with 22 rounds, Dadwal said adding police also recovered an AK-47 assault rifle along with two 0.30 pistols and a computer from the L-18 residence where the militants were staying for the past two months.
Atif is said to be a close associate of Mohammed Usman Qureshi alias Tauqeer, the elusive mastermind behind the serial bomb blasts in various parts of the country in the recent past and had travelled to Ahmedabad on July 24, two days before the serial blasts in that city, Dadwal said.
M C Sharma, an ace-shooter Sharma and a highly decorated officer who had received President's Gallantry Medal and six Police Medals, sustained three bullet injuries, one each in the abdomen, thigh and right hand.
Addressing a press conference in south Mumbai, Zubeda said Abdus would never commit such an act considering his upbringing.
"We come from a very good family and have good traditions," she said. "Our children have been brought up well and are living in peace with members of all communities," Zubeda, clad in a black burqa (veil), said.
She also said her son had been staying with his wife separately since 2001 in suburban Mira Road and they had no idea about what activities he was involved in.
"We do not want any more trouble for our family because of him," Zubeda said. None of the other members of the family was present at the press conference fearing action against them, the family's lawyer Mubin Solkar said.
Tauqeer was named by the Gujarat police as being one of the masterminds behind the Ahmedabad serial blasts.
He is also accused of having sent the threatening emails for terror group Indian Mujahideen from Mumbai.
In a written statement signed by Abdus' parents, Usman and Zubeda, they said following the blasts in Ahmedabad and Delhi they found "to their horror" that their son was accused of being involved in the dreadful act.
"We wish to state that given the values and principles with which we have brought up our children, it is impossible to believe that Abdus Subhan would ever indulge in such acts of violence and terrorism," they said.
His parents said Abdus had studied and worked with people from different communities and therefore it was unlikely that he had hatred for them.
Pleading with him to surrender, they said that by concealing himself Abdus would only make himself more prone to further accusations and would become a "soft target" in the event of any other terrorist act in future.
"It is very painful that the media has already passed a guilty verdict against our son even before he has been tried by a court of law," they said.
Their lawyer Solkar said soon after the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, 2006, Abdus ceased to keep in touch with his wife and three children. "He was married in 1999 and lived separate from his parents since 2001," Solkar said.
The family had no knowledge if Abdus was involved in any activities related to SIMI or any other terror group. "As far as his parents know, he had no inclination towards fanatic ideology and was not a religious fundamentalist," Solkar said.
The family is not even sure if he is alive or dead and had made no attempt to contact him fearing action from authorities, he added.
Following the interrogation in 2006, the family had decided not to keep in touch with Abdus as they felt they could get in trouble for doing so. "The family has co-operated with all authorities so far," Solkar said.
He also said Tauqeer had not been shown as a wanted accused in the July 11 serial train blasts case and had no criminal record.
Sometimes, even an innocent person might run away fearing police action, Solkar said. Asked why the family did not file a missing persons complaint after Abdus went missing in 2006, Solkar said that after interrogation by various agencies they decided not to do so.
"We have no idea if he had any contact with SIMI functionaries like Safdar Nagori or Ahmedabad blasts accused Abdul Bashar," Solkar said.
Abdus, who was educated in a convent school in Mumbai and then acquired a diploma in engineering, was also a Microsoft Certified software engineer, he said.
After completing his education, he worked with a franchisee of Wipro computers and with software firm Datamatix in the city, Solkar said.
However, in 2001 he quit Datamatix and his family had no idea about his source of income after that till he left them in 2006, he said.
In Pune, in a caustic remark, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday said the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had not done Maharashtrians proud with his inept handling of internal security and had proved to be a disappointment.
"It is fine to see a Maharastrian holding an important portfolio like Home Ministry. But if this person is failing to discharge his duties towards the nation effectively, he does not deserve any support just because he happens to be a Marathi manoos," Thackeray said in an editorial in Saamna.
The editorial lambasted Patil for what it called an all round failure in dealing with terrorist attacks claiming lives of innocent people and asked him to introspect on whether he really had the capability to shoulder the present responsibility.
Patil should remember that he is sitting in the chair once occupied by a stalwart like late Vallabhbhai Patel who struck terror in the minds of anti-India elements when he became the country's first home minister, Thackeray said.
The Sena supremo said Patil had become Union Home Minister just by luck and blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi even after his defeat in Lok Sabha poll from Latur.
Ironically, despite his penchant for a well dressed image, Patil was stripped politically by television channels when he changed his suit thrice to face the cameras on the day of serial bomb blasts in the capital, Thackeray said.
New Delhi:A day after the Union Cabinet finalised a plan to strengthen Delhi police in the wake of the serial blasts, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil held a high-level meeting to discuss implementation of measures to be taken in a 'time-bound' manner. The meeting was attended by Lieutenant-Governor Tejinder Khanna, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal and other senior officials from the Home Ministry and Delhi police.
"The basic idea of the meeting was how to implement the decision taken by the Union Cabinet in a time-bound and well-coordinated manner," Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said after the 90-minute meeting held at Patil's residence.
He said the government was also planning to utilise retired personnel from army and other paramilitary forces to fill the vacant posts in the police force.
The meeting has been convened in the wake of serial bomb blasts in the national capital claiming 24 lives.
The unprecedented decision came at today's meeting of the Indian Muslim Co-ordination Committee, made up of organisations such as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami, All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat, All India Milli Council and the Muslim Political Council of India.
The committee will also ask Muslims to scale down Id celebrations as a "mark of protest" against the government's "atrocities… against innocent Muslims".
Rallies will be held in all state capitals and Delhi on October 16, the meeting decided.
A charter of demands unveiled by the committee — which it will place before the public rather than the "anti-minority" government — includes:
Dismissal of home minister Shivraj Patil, the Intelligence Bureau chief and all state police chiefs wherever blasts have occurred;
A ban on the VHP, Bajrang Dal, Shri Ram Sena and the Hindu Jagran Manch;
A national-level panel to probe terror-related incidents.
One significance of the day's meeting is that the Jamiat, one of India's largest moderate Muslim organisations, has for the first time joined forces with radical Islamic groups like the Jamaat.
"In the interests of the community, we all have decided to join hands despite our differences," said Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani, Jamiat acting general secretary.
Tasleem Rahmani of the Muslim Political Council of India claimed the UPA government was one of the most "anti-minority governments".
"We don't want to meet the Prime Minister with the charter since he has never kept his promises to the community," Rahmani said. The charter, he said, will be issued as a public statement and it would be up to the Centre to accept it or face the consequences.
Jamaat official Mujtaba Farooq said the committee was in touch with political leaders who "care for the community". The list includes Prakash Karat, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Karnataka CM vows round-the-clock security for churches
SNS & PTI
BANGALORE/NEW DELHI, Sept 18: Even as there were reports that one more church in Kudremukh had been attacked today, Karnataka chief minister, Mr BS Yediyurappa, who is facing a demand for a CBI probe, said he expects the state's Corps of Detectives (COD) inquiry into the incidents of communal violence in two months time.
The chief minister also promised to provide round-the-clock security to the Christian community and initiate stringent action against "unscrupulous" elements. "My government will do everything possible to protect the interests of all including the Christians," told a group of church leaders.
On the other hand, while speaking to reporters, Mr Yediyurappa sought to downplay the role of pro-Hindutva organisations in the violence, blaming "anti-government forces" for the continuing communal disturbance, and said that these elements were trying to "fish in troubled waters."
"They are not only disturbing peace and tranquillity in the state but also trying to make use of the disturbance for their political gain. This is highly objectionable," he said.
He also informed that the government will take on the cost of repair of the damaged places of worship. Meanwhile, Congress leader, Mr MP Prakash today called for a CBI inquiry stating that any other agency trying the cases can omit various aspects of the inquiry. The JD(S) too had given a similar call earlier. In New Delhi, the CPI-M reminded the Centre today that violence and threats against Christians were "an assault on the Constitution," and it must not remain a "silent spectator".
Condemning the violence against Christians in Karnataka, the party in a statement today said it was a matter of concern that "instead of controlling the violence against the Christian community in Mangalore, the BJP state government is providing patronage to the criminals of the Bajrang Dal," who were "spreading" the violence to other areas.
"It is shameful that the violence has continued for days, religious functionaries including nuns are being attacked, and churches and houses of prayer and idols sacred to the community are being broken," the CPI-M said.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=223166
State govt accused of failure
Statesman News Service
BHUBANESWAR, Sept. 16: The Naveen Patnaik government seems to have abdicated its responsibility of protecting the life and property of people in Kandhamal district, alleged a fact-finding team comprising of professors, social activists and journalists from New Delhi.
Addressing a Press conference here on his return from Kandhamal, the 'Concerned Citizen's Fact-Finding Team' said that not only has the government failed to protect life and property it has even failed in providing relief and in rehabilitating affected people. It is already more than three weeks since the violence erupted and yet it remains the government versus just one single district. There is absolutely no political will to resolve the problem, they charged while wondering why the CM had not conceded to the demand for an all party meeting and delegation.
The delegation comprising of Prof Amit Bhaduri, Mr Manoranjan Mohanty, Mr Kamal Mitra Chenoy and others felt that it was high time that the Centre intervenes to ensure that the state government fulfills its constitutional obligations. Perpetrators and mobilisers of violence need to be arrested immediately. Senior officials of the administration need to be held accountable for their dereliction of duty and a judicial probe at a national level needs to be conducted into the incidents, they said. The team said they interacted with a large number of affected people and the verdict of the people was that the government had failed miserably.
They also complained that FIRs were not being registered and goons were moving freely. Prima facie the state government is protecting the perpetuators of violence, they alleged. The violence in the aftermath of the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was not spontaneous or due to local reasons but a preplanned communal attack, they said adding that both Dalit and tribal Christians had been targeted. It is nothing short of religious cleansing, they said.
The relief camps are poorly organised and are far short of the requirements. Malaria and other diseases have spread in these relief camps, they said.
Several Hindu religious leaders have condemned the attacks on Christians and churches by Hindu mobs as "beastly behaviour" and say they should be stopped.
One of the loudest voices came from Ayodhya, the epicentre of the temple movement.
"The way they are indulging in bloodshed, this is not the work of sanatana-dharmees (true believers)," said Mahant Gyandas of the Pancharamanandi Nirvani Akhara at Hanuman Garhi temple.
"It is beastly behaviour and should be stopped just as an animal's action is," the mahant told The Telegraph over the phone from the heartland temple town.
The Bajrang Dal and the violence in Orissa, where thousands of Christians have been forced to flee their homes since a Hindu leader was killed last month, figured at a cabinet meeting yesterday hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke about home-grown terror.
Information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi today hinted that if action could be taken against fundamentalist Islamic groups, Hindu outfits involved in violence should not be spared.
"We cannot keep quiet on one part and be open on another," the Congress leader told reporters.
Activities of the Bajrang Dal, a Sangh parivar outfit, he added, were under watch and action would be taken at an "appropriate time".
Over two dozen people have died in Orissa since Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmananda was murdered on August 23. Hindu mobs have also damaged churches in BJP-ruled Karnataka.
But VHP spokesperson in Delhi Vinod Bansal said: "Has any Bajrang Dal or VHP member been found with RDX or doing anything anti-national?"
The people who indulged in violence in Karnataka, he argued, were not from the VHP or the Bajrang Dal.
Any move to ban the Bajrang Dal, he said, would only unite Sangh parivar outfits.
But government sources said while the country was battling groups like the Indian Mujahideen, outfits like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal were seen as adding fuel to the communal fire.
Voices in Ayodhya agreed with this view.
The town is witnessing a movement against the Bajrang Dal, though protests by the Samajwadi Sant Sabha, a wing of the Samajwadi Party, can be attributed to politics.
Mahant Jugalkishore Shastri, a leader of the Sabha, an outfit of "socialist saints", said he had 1,500 signatures of intellectuals, lawyers and writers who were all for a ban on the Bajrang Dal.
Sabha sources said the group would next month organise a major offensive against activities of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.
Mahant Gyandas didn't have words of appreciation for Shastri but they appeared to agree on banning the Bajrang Dal and the VHP.
"No one cares for the country, they are all fighting for power and fooling people," Gyandas said.
The mahant said these outfits were "separating legs, hands and the head, tearing each part from a whole body.
Riot victims refuse to return
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Riot victims at a camp in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das
Cuttack, Sept. 18: The government may be claiming that the situation in Kandhamal is under control, but it has not been able to convince at least 15 families staying in a makeshift shelter in Cuttack for a fortnight now.
Most of them are reluctant to return home, as they feel their lives are still under threat.
The 100-odd people from Gunjbadi gram panchayat in Kandhamal have been living in a private building that has been turned into a shelter home in Peyton Sahi.
"We are safe here. We will not return home till peace is completely restored," said 48-year-old Simon Nayak.
His wife Swarnalata Nayak, who had accompanied her husband along with two daughters and son from Pirigada village, nods in agreement.
They are among the 15 families who fled from the riot-hit district and found accommodation in Cuttack after spending days in forests.
Ironically, 10 days ago Governor M.C. Bhandare had assured the families that "they could get back in the shortest possible time, may be within a week from tomorrow" when he came to visit the relief camp.
He also assured the people that "they will be completely safe in their houses". However, to most of the refugees, his words were "hollow".
The families had initially fled to nearby forests, after assailants who had been protesting the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati on August 23, torched their village under Gunjbadi gram panchayat. But, hunger and thirst forced the families out of the forest after three nights.
Afraid of returning, they turned towards Nuagaon block headquarters relief camps, only to decide to move to Cuttack later, some 300km away, when the Nuagaon camp was attacked, too.
"We will not be safe. The assailants will turn up," said Narayan Digal. His wife Susama Digal agrees.
Sanatan Nayak (35), who is at the shelter home with his family, including his 60-year-old mother Sivajini Nayak, also believes that they are no longer safe in their own homes.
At the Cuttack shelter home, there are 93 people from the same village, while some 30 others have taken refuge at their relative's homes in the city.
The Peyton Sahi Relief Committee members, who voluntarily took up relief work since September 4, are anxious and unsure of how many more days they would be able to continue their operations without any help.
Delhi serial blasts IANS
Few takers for police version on Delhi shootout
Friday, 19 September , 2008, 19:16
New Delhi: Hours after the Delhi police claimed to have caught the mastermind behind the September 13 serial bombings in the capital in a dramatic shootout, hundreds of people, mostly Muslims, roamed the narrow bylanes of south Delhi's Jamia Nagar - angry and frankly sceptical of the claims.
As a loudspeaker from a nearby mosque issued appeals for calm and thousands of security personnel trawled the area near the Jamia Milia University, people spilled out into the streets shouting anti-police slogans and alleging that the bodies had been planted in the fourth floor apartment for the "fake encounter".
Delhi encounter: Two terrorists killed, 1 held, 2 escape
The media came in for flak after some channels wrongly reported that the terrorists were hiding in the mosque.
The tension was palpable, long after the half hour shootout which ended in two terrorists, including the suspected mastermind of the September 13 blasts Atif, being killed, one being held and two managing to escape from the warren that is Batla House in Jamia Nagar.
S A R Geelani, the Delhi University lecturer who was acquitted in the December 2001 Parliament attack, demanded a judicial probe into the shootout and said: "People have been harassed in the area for a long time. It is not something new. Whenever something happens, this area is the first target being a Muslim one."
That most could not catch sight of the bodies of the two terrorists who had been killed added to the suspicion.
Furious with the police for not showing the face of the terrorists and wrapping the bodies in a blanket, Faisal Khan, a resident of the area, asked: "Why didn't they show us the faces? If they were students or people from the area we could have recognised them."
R Abid, another resident, wondered how anybody could escape: "See the area for yourself. How can anybody run away in this crowded locality amid such huge police deployment."
Full coverage: Delhi serial blasts
The scepticism found wide echo.
Jamia University lecturer Fariyad, who lives just behind the L-18 apartment where the suspected terrorists were said to be hiding, said: "I don't know whether they were terrorists or students. But one thing is for sure. I heard only one kind of bullet sounds. It seemed the firing was only from one side. However, nothing can be confirmed as yet."
Saleemuddin, a local, fumed: "The truth is in front of us. Everybody is trying to malign Muslims. They are here because this is a Muslim dominated locality."
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14762527
Delhi encounter: 'It all started at 10.30 am' Agencies
Posted online: Sep 19, 2008 at 1808 hrs
New Delhi, September 19: Tensions ran high in the Jamia Nagar locality of South Delhi as news of one religious place being transgressed reportedly by police came, during the encounter with militants on Friday.
The house where militants were holed up lies very close to a religious place. Once firing stopped, large number of people thronged the narrow lanes of the area and shouted religious slogans. "We are all against terrorism, then why was our religious places places targeted," said one of the residents.
Refuting any such news, DCP South Delhi HGS Dhaliwal clarified that no religious place was used during the encounter. "The firing was done from a place near the religious place," he said.
The tensions were fuelled by rumours that the operation was concocted by police and no fire was shot from inside the house.
Meanwhile, one media personnel, who was informing his office about the encounter, was abused by the local residents. They claimed that no shot were fired from inside the house and the encounter was a blatant lie.
Neighbours of the house where entire operation unfolded, however, confirmed that gun shots were fired from both sides.
"It all started at 10.30 in the morning. We were preparing to go to our work when some police people came in the area," said an eye-witness who refused to disclose her identity.
Expressindia » Story
New Delhi, September 18 Named Qayyamudin and Abdul Rafique, say police, who were entrusted with the job of planting the bombs
The investigation into the Delhi serial blasts got a boost today after the Ahmedabad police brought Mufti Abu Bashar to Delhi for questioning.
Bashar, a suspect in the Ahmedabad blasts, was reportedly involved in the conspiracy of the Delhi blasts. He is also wanted in the Jaipur blasts case.
Bashar reportedly told the Ahmedabad police that he had stayed in Delhi between July 24 and 27. To probe his whereabouts on those days, the Ahmedabad police have brought him to Delhi during his 15-day custody. But he is also being questioned about his involvement in the Delhi blasts and his links with Abu Subhan, who allegedly sent the e-mails containing the terror warnings.
This afternoon, he was questioned by the Gujarat Police at the New Delhi Range office of the Special Cell. Thereafter he was taken to a few other places including Rohini and Okhla.
During questioning, he reportedly named one Qayyamudin and Abdul Rafique, who were entrusted with the job of planting bombs in Delhi on Saturday, said a police officer. The Delhi Police has begun a search for them and several places have been raided already. "We are trying to get to know more about their hideouts in Delhi and how the other suspects in the Delhi blasts," the officer said.
"We need to corroborate his interrogation report and his physical presence will help us to establish a few other facts — like his contacting a non-government organisation and a publishing house in Delhi for financial assistance. These leads will help the investigation into Saturday's serial blasts," said a senior police officer.
Also, he reportedly said his brother Abu Zar, one Danish and Aftab, who are on run, were behind Ahmedabad blasts. Police suspect that they may be involved in the Delhi blasts too.
After Bashar's interrogation, the police might seek the remand of Safdar Nagori — who is in Indore — to question him. Nagori, the general secretary of SIMI, is also wanted in connection with a case of unlawful activities registered against SIMI in 2001.
The Delhi Police had applied for Nagori's remand earlier too and then again after his arrest in Indore, but were turned down by the court both times.
The next chain in the investigation is Shahbaz Husain, a Lucknow-based businessman, arrested for his alleged involvement in the Jaipur blasts. He is being questioned by the Jaipur police about the Delhi blasts.
After his interrogation today, Delhi police also picked up four persons and are questioning them. Yesterday, the police had detained three persons — whose appearance matched the sketches released on Tuesday — from the Janakpuri district centre. All three belong to Sangrur in Punjab.
Survey finds a surge in Islamophobia
Agencies
Posted online: Sep 18, 2008 at 1144 hrs
London, September 18: Europe seems to be turning more intolerant than ever before, with a global survey suggesting that Islamophobia and anti-Semitism were on the rise across the continent.
The suspicion of Muslims in Europe was considerably higher than hostility to Jews, but the surge in anti-Semitism had taken place much more rapidly, the Pew Survey of Global Attitudes showed.
"Opinions of Muslims in almost all of these countries (Europeans) were more negative than are views of Jews," analysts of the survey, conducted across 24 countries, were quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper on Thursday.
According to the findings, one in four in Britain and the United States were hostile to Muslims.
The survey of almost 25,000 people showed that more than half of Spaniards and half of Germans did not like Muslims. Those holding unfavourable opinions of Muslims in Poland and France were 46 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.
In contrast to the US and Britain where unfavourable opinion of Jews has been stable and low for several years at between 7 and 9 per cent, the survey found that hostile attitudes to Jews were rising all across continental Europe from Russia and Poland in the east to Spain and France in the west.
According to the report in the British daily, anti-Semitism has more than doubled in Spain over the past three years, with a rise from 21 per cent to 46 per cent.
In the same period anti-Semitism in Germany and France also rose – from 21 per cent to 25 per cent in Germany and from 12 per cent to 20 per cent in France among those saying they had unfavourable opinions of Jews. The findings of global opinion released on Wednesday found that people who were anti-Semitic were likely also to be Islamophobes, with prejudice marked among the older generations
Under fire for the nuclear deal with America, the Congress-led central coalition seems to be launching a diplomatic offensive with Islamic countries to counter allegations of a US tilt.
Those against the deal have also tried to whip up opposition by saying it is anti-minority.
Sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was planning a visit to Saudi Arabia in November-December while foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee was thinking of a trip to Iran next month.
Before that, Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas will be in Delhi on October 7 to lay the foundation stone for a new embassy building in the capital's diplomatic enclave at Chanakyapuri.
India is also set to sign social security agreements with Oman and Bahrain that would help expatriate workers relocate social security payments.
Sources said Abbas's visit would give the UPA government an opportunity to underline its close ties with Palestine that had stood the "test of time" despite India's growing relations, especially defence ties, with Israel.
The slew of visits and engagements, the sources said, would help Singh blunt Opposition attacks that Delhi was leaning towards Washington and assert that it had an independent foreign policy.
The last time Singh had visited Saudi Arabia was in December 1994. He was then finance minister and had gone to attend a meeting of the Indo-Saudi Joint Commission.
Earlier this year, Mukherjee had concluded a successful trip to the Arab country that led to, among other things, the establishment of a Saudi-India investment fund.
The social security agreements with Oman and Bahrain have a provision that exempts contributions in case of short-term contracts.
It means a worker on a short-term contract need not make social security payments, provided he or she is covered under the Indian social security system and continues to contribute to the Indian system during the contract period.
Expatriate workers on long-term contract benefit, too, as they can relocate social security payments they have made to any other country they shift to for work.
Bahrain has already announced visa-on-arrival for Indian and Russian citizens and the formalities are expected to be completed by December.
Police were lax in probing Khairlanji killings: Dalit activists
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Two policemen booked as co-accused
Bhandara SP acknowledges laxity in investigation
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BHANDARA: Despite the Maharashtra Government's decision to hand over the Khairlanji case to the CBI earlier this week, Dalit leaders and activists say the Government's reaction is too late.
The matter was being investigated by the CID since November 7 and only two days back did the State decide to include two policemen as co-accused in the case.
The incident occurred on September 29 around 6.00 p.m. - 7.30 p.m. at Khairlanji village in Mohadi taluka of Bhandara district. When Bhaiyalal Bhotmange saw the mob attacking his family, he fled tohis relative Siddharth Gajbhiye's house in the nearby village of Dhusala and called the police station at Andhalgaon. Before this, Bhaiyalal's wife Surekha, who was later killed, had already alerted relatives at Varti village and also informed Siddharth Gajbhiye's brother Rajendra who too had called the police.
No entry
Bhandara superintendent of police Suresh Sagar acknowledged that the local police had been lax in investigating the case. Though the head constable Baban Meshram went to the village at 8.30 p.m. on September 29 and found no one from the Bhotmange family, the matter was not investigated. He should have registered a suo motu offence and he and other officers should have searched all night for the missing people. There was not even a station diary entry made in this respect, he pointed out.
Seventeen-year-old Priyanka Bhotmange's body was found on the morning of September 30 in the canal, about 10-12 km away from Khairlanji. The matter was entered in the accident death register. In the meanwhile, Bhaiyalal had reported to the police that his family was missing.
Negligence in duty
The First Information Report was lodged only on the night of September 30. The next morning, following a police search, the other three bodies were found in the canal. The two head constables, Baban Meshram and Shahare, and police sub inspector Siddheshwar Bharne from the Andhalgaon police station, and deputy superintendent of police V. H. Susatkar have all been suspended for negligence. Now, Meshram has been arrested under the Atrocities Act for negligence in duty, while Bharne has been held on other charges.
The first arrest was made on October 1 at 6.30 a.m. While most of the accused are from Khairlanji itself, there are a few from other villages. Another lot were arrested the next day. While various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 302 and the Atrocities Act have been applied to the 44 accused, there are no charges of rape or conspiracy as yet. The police demanded that the bodies of the two women be exhumed as rape was suspected but nothing conclusive has emerged as yet.
Apart from the police, medical officers who performed the first post mortem on the four bodies, especially those of the two women, have also been accused of criminal negligence.
K. D. Ramteke, Bhandara district Civil Surgeon told The Hindu that the services of Avinash Shende, the medical officer at the rural hospital Mohadi who had conducted the first post mortem on the four bodies had been terminated.
"There were so many technical lacunae in the post mortem and I personally felt the reports were not adequate. The officers did not send me the post mortem reports till I asked for them a fortnight later," he said. Manisha Banthe, the medical officer in charge of the Mohadi rural hospital has also been suspended.
Dr. Shende did not preserve the viscera for a chemical analysis or the uterus in the case of the two women, which is done routinely. Worse still, no vaginal swabs were taken. Their clothes too were not sealed and handed over to the police.
Rape not proved
As a result, the first post mortem did not prove rape and only pointed to severe multiple injuries inflicted on all four victims. After the first report, Bhaiyalal and other social organisations appealed to the police to exhume the bodies and conduct a second examination. The sub-divisional magistrate ordered the bodies of the two women to be exhumed on October 4 and the next day three medical officers conducted a second post mortem. Here the procedures were followed properly but the bodies were too badly decomposed by then.
Ironically, on October 13, a 10-year-old girl was raped and murdered in Bhandara and her naked body was found on October 15. The police ordered a post mortem and asked the medical officers to examine the possibility of rape. In the Khairlanji case, no such instructions came from the police.
The incident has created a storm of protest all over the state and the negligence in investigation is a key issue. In Bhandara, 33 cases have been booked under the Atrocities Act this year, and about 16 cases were filed after the Khairlanji incident. Police recorded 101 cases under the Atrocities Act in the six districts of Nagpur (Rural), Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli and Wardha in 2005. This year for the same region, 106 cases have already been lodged.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Resolution Against Dalit killings in Khairlanji
http://indianmaoist.blogspot.com/2007/03/resolution-against-dalit-killings-in.htmlOn 29th September 2006 upper caste forces with a feudal outlook brutally killed four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanjhi village (Mohadi Taluka, Bhandara district) in Maharashtra. Bhaiyala Bhotmange is the sole survivor in this family. The family tilled their own land for subsistence. His wife Surekha, daughter Prujanta, sons Roshan and Sudhir were beaten to death. Surekha and Priyanka were stripped, gang raped and paraded before the village and their private parts injured. The atrocities are a shame for humanity. The local BJP and NCP politicians are involved and helped them in suppressing the entire incident by using the police, administration and hospital officials. That is why the Dalit masses all over the state came out on the streets spontaneously against these cruel killings and militantly protested. The desecration of the Ambedkar statue in Kanpur enflamed the masses even more and a series of bandhs were called and even two trains set on fire. The Congress and NCP led Maharashtra government, instead of acting against the culprits and giving justice to Bhotmanges', launched police repression against the agitators. They used Lathi charge, curfews, firings and widespread arrests to crush the masses. Four Dalits died in these firings.
They exaggerated and propagated that Naxalites are involved in the agitation only in order to justify their repression. But the Dalit masses knew that Maoists have always stood with the oppressed. The masses took inspiration from this and intensified their agitation. The parliamentary Dalit politicians are using this mass agitation to bargain with the ruling parties. The anti-Dalit orientation of the Maharashtra Government stands completely exposed. Maharashtra government is a casteist fascist government of upper castes which seeks to maintain the feudal base so that imperialist exploitation can intensify.
The Unity Congress - 9th Congress of CPI (Maoist) strongly condemns the Khairlanjhi killings and stands firmly with the struggling Dalit masses. We uphold the struggle of Dalits for dignity and equality and call upon PLGA and masses to counter this killing. This Congress resolves to continuously struggle against Brahminical, casteist oppression and all forms of discrimination and untouchability. Dalits cannot gain liberation without armed struggle against the feudal order. Hence this Congress pledges to organuse mobilise Dalits for caste eradication as an integral part of New Democratic Revolution.
This Congress calls upon peasants to demand that all debts of peasantry be waived, agricultural subsidies be restored, investments in irrigation and other agricultural needs be increased, proper prices for agricultural products and ban on MNCs like Monsanto and their GM Seeds, and opposes the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.
Only New Democratic Revolution will solve the problems of the peasantry. While struggling on immediate demands we pledge to organise the vast masses of the peasantry to intensify the armed struggle to overthrow this semi-colonial, semi-feudal system.
at 8:18 PM
Bhandara (Maharashtra): A year ago, he was the rallying point for the deeply divided Dalit groups of Maharashtra. As Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange revisits his Khairlanji village on 29 September 2007 to pay homage to his wife Surekha, daughter Priyanka and sons Sudhir and Roshan, killed by a mob on the same day last year, he is a lonely outsider.
Bhaiyyalal has not been invited to a rally in Bhandara, the district headquarters, organised by Dalit leader Shyamdada Gaikwad. Nor will he be in Nagpur, where the Khairlanji Action Committee has organised a shraddhanjali rally to be attended by CPM leader Brinda Karat and Prakash Ambedkar.
Bhaiyyalal will first visit Khairlanji and later Deulgaon, where his in-laws stay, to return to Warthi, where he has been staying with local NCP Dalit leader Dilip Uke.
So sharp are the divisions among the Dalit protestors that they do not see eye-to eye today. Rajan and Siddharth Gajbhiye, with whom Bhaiyyalal addressed his first post-Khairlanji press conference under the aegis of the Khairlanji Action Committee, are today the target of his wrath.
"Siddharth is responsible for what happened to my family. I had warned him not to come to the village so often, but he didn't listen. Now, he and Rajan go to Mumbai, Delhi and everywhere and use my name to become leaders," Bhaiyyalal says hurling expletives. "If the villagers would have found him, my family would not have been killed. And now how they are telling the media they are the eye-witnesses?" he asks.
The Khairlanji Action Committee blames Uke for appropriating Bhaiyyalal and "brainwashing" him. Uke says his being NCP leader has nothing to do with his solidarity with Bhaiyyalal. "He is a Dalit and that's why I am with him," he says. "I don't have any axe to grind like many of his relatives. All have an eye on his money," he alleges.
Convenor of Khairlanji Action Committee Milind Pakhale says, "True, Bhaiyyalal had become a rallying point but is no more one. I am also confronted with this question and have no ready answers to give." Republican leader Prakash Ambedkar, however, says: "There was never a sense of unity in the Khairlanji protests. I never had any such illusions. For tomorrow's occasion, we have appealed to all Dalits to congregate before the Ambedkar statue and pay their respects to the victims. What Bhaiyyalal says about anyone isn't an issue before us at this moment. We are now concentrating on the legal case and waiting for justice," he says.
Siddharth Gajbhiye, a police patil from the neighbouring Dhusala village was Bhotmange's family friend. Owner of 50 acres, he would employ people from surrounding villages on his farm. Early in September last year, he had a tiff with a landless labourer. Siddharth had allegedly beaten him up, resulting in anger among villagers, some of whom thrashed him severely. Bhaiyyalal's wife Surekha and daughter Priyanka had testified before the police against the alleged assaulters, who were arrested. When they got bail, they set out to teach Siddharth a lesson. When they couldn't find him, they returned to the village and vented their ire at the Bhotmanges. While Bhaiyyalal fled the spot after seeing the mob, his family was wiped off in the attack, leading to nationwide outrage and Dalit protests.
Then, everybody seemed to be reaching out to Bhaiyyalal. The government rushed in with aid, cash and kind, worth over Rs 13 lakh and the job of a security guard in a government school for Rs 5,000 a month. Two days before the anniversary of the incident, the government gave him a house in Bhandara.
Now, no one comes to visit Bhaiyyalal. "I know how I am living," he says. He hasn't yet thought about beginning his life afresh. "That's for later. First, I want to see all the killers hanged," he says. He isn't happy with the "slow" pace of the case in a fast-track court in Bhandara. There have been 24 days of hearing so far, covering only 12 of the total 78 witnesses. "They should be completing at least 4-5 witnesses in a month. I had demanded a special court that would have been able to do that. The government hasn't given it," he complains.
(Source: The Indian Express dated 29 September 2007)
Khairlanji case: RPI demands death penalty for convicted
Nashik, Sept 19: About 200 activists of Republican Party of India (RPI) belonging to Athawale faction today staged demonstrations demanding death sentence for those convicted in the Khairlanji case.
Eight persons accused of killing four members of a Dalit family were held guilty in the Khairlanji murder case, while three others were acquitted.
"Case against those acquitted should also be reopened and they should be punished," RPI's state general secretary Priya Kirti Tribhuvan told media.
The demonstration was staged in front of tehsil office at Niphad town. The quantum of punishment would be announced next week.
The victims - Surekha Bhaiyalal Bhotmange, her daughter Priyanka, sons Sudhir and Roshan were beaten to death over a land dispute on September 29, 2006 and their bodies were thrown near a canal. The killings evoked a violent reaction across the state.
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=470356&sid=REG
Protests spread from Nagpur
16 Sep 2008, 0620 hrs IST, Soumittra S Bose ,TNN
NAGPUR: Smoke from burning tyres spiralling into the sky. Roads strewn with pieces of glass and brick. Helmeted policemen chasing protestors or trying to douse burning tyres. These were common sights in Nagpur in October 2006 during the Khairlanji protests.
It was from Nagpur that the Dalit protests fanned out nationwide . As Dalit anger held the city under siege, the police faced a tough time controlling the rampaging mobs. State Transport buses, shops and other public property faced the wrath of the agitators who even battled cops.
What began as a subdued protest suddenly took monstrous shape when an angry mob set a police vehicle on fire at Indora. Policemen were indiscriminately attacked. The police chowky at Indora was almost burned down.
The police resorted to lathicharges and tear gas. "The aggravation at Indora Chowk prompted us to resort to stricter means to control the situation,'' said then zonal DCP Amitesh Kumar. "Some ill-advised leaders took advantage of the sentiment and provoked common citizens with their ulterior motives,'' said then zonal DCP Prabhat Kumar. "When the agitation fanned out to different parts of the city, we had to run around to save the city.''
The protests spread to Vidarbha , Kanpur, Osmanabad, Nanded and Nashik.
In Mumbai, more than 5,000 protestors halted the crowded Deccan Queen near Ulhasnagar and torched five bogies. Local trains were also set afire at Matunga and Ulhasnagar. Parts of Mumbai and its western and eastern suburbs witnessed violence as police had to resort to stringent measures to bring the situation under control.
Naxalites fanned the flames
Nagpur: Security agencies saw signs of Naxals inciting mobs to a considerable extent. Deputy chief minister R R Patil's similar observation gave the theory official support. Naxal leaders sent letters to the media condemning the killings. This was seen as a ploy to attract Dalits to their fold.
Former Naxalite Suresh Harami, who surrendered, revealed that Maoist leaders wanted to eliminate 13 people, including the 11 accused, an MLA and another villager.
The sad state of minorities in India
A Correspondent
August 28, 2008 17:41 IST
A large number of young Muslims are being victimised by police on the charge of being involved in terrorist acts across the country, according to a public tribunal.
In its report, a people's tribunal on atrocities committed against minorities in the name of fighting terrorism noted that such instances were reported more from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh [Images], Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In most of the cases, the persons picked up are not shown to be arrested by the police until many days after their arrest in gross violation of the law. Their families are also not informed about their arrest.
In many cases, they have been tortured in police custody and made to 'confess' and sign blank papers, the report said, adding that the police has often been humiliating Muslim detenues on the ground of their religion.
The tribunal, comprising retired judges, academicians and media persons, said the testimonies it heard showed widespread communalisation of the police across states in the country.
It also flayed the media for uncritically publicising allegations levelled by the police.
This has resulted in the destruction of the lives and reputations of a large number of persons picked up by the police, who have later been found to be innocent, it added.
The tribunal observed that citizens who are picked up by police officers for interrogation are subject to repeated harassment and torture, and are implicated in false cases even after release or acquittal. They are further subjected to mental and physical torture.
Lamenting on the lack of accountability, the tribunal said unfortunately, the courts are going along with this behaviour of the police and are virtually ignoring allegations of torture in police custody.
Criticising the Human Rights Commission for not standing up against such violations, the jury felt that by and large the complaints were being treated with casual indifference.
"They either do not take up such cases on the ground that they are the subject matter of court proceedings or just ask for a routine police report without getting any independent investigation done on such serious charges of human right violations."
Some of the recommendations put forth by the tribunal are:
State Human Rights Commission and National Human Rights Commission and State Minority Commission should take up such matters seriously and come to independent finding itself and awarding adequate compensation in suitable Cases. It should not wait for somebody to approach the commission but should take action Suo-moto.
Courts must not routinely grant police or judicial custody, but must examine at that stage whether there is any credible evidence against the accused. The courts should keep in mind that no reliance should be placed on the alleged confession of the accused even for consideration of bail/remand.
Whenever any person is released by the police for want of evidence against him the courts should award adequate compensation for destruction of his life and reputation. In such cases, the courts should examine if the prosecution was malafide, and if it is so found, the police officials involved must be held accountable and the compensation payable to the victim must be recovered from the officers concerned.
Independent police complaints authorities must be immediately set up at all levels in line with the Supreme Court's judgment in the Police Reforms case.
Trial courts be provided with a medical officer, who can immediately examine any accused complaining of torture in police or judicial custody.
The number of trial courts must be greatly increased to ensure speedy conclusions of Trials. Investigations must also be concluded within the shortest possible time and extensions of time must not be routinely given.
The police, during interrogation or investigation, cannot get blank papers signed by the accused; Police officers found indulging in such practice must be severely punished.
Narco analysis is a psychologically and physically third degree method of investigation, which is not even scientifically proven. It must not be allowed on persons, particularly without consent.
The media, both print as well electronic, should be very careful not to publicise mere allegations or claims of the police, which can irreparably damage reputations of innocent persons without subjecting them to basic scrutiny.
India must immediately sign the International Criminal Court Treaty, known as the Rome Statute which has been signed by most countries.
Religious minorities under attack in India: US report
Tuesday, 30 November 1999
An American report on human rights in India says attacks on religious minorities occurred in several states, questioning the government's ability to prevent sectarian and religious violence or prosecute those responsible for it.
In its annual 'progress report' on human rights, the US State Department, however, acknowledged India's commitment to democracy and respect for human rights. "But numerous serious problems" remained there, including "excessive use of force" in combating militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency in north-eastern states, it said.
"India is a longstanding multiparty, federal, parliamentary democracy with a bicameral parliament.... the government generally respected the rights of its citizens; however, numerous serious problems remained," the report said.
The report, which also spoke about Gujarat, quoted from a Human Rights Watch report alleging that "...extremists threatened and intimidated victims, witnesses and human rights activists attempting to prosecute those who committed crimes during the 2002 Gujarat riots."
"Attacks on religious minorities occurred in several states which brought into question the government's ability to prevent sectarian and religious violence or prosecute those responsible for it," it alleged. It noted that government officials used special anti-terrorism legislation to justify the excessive use of force while combating active insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and several north-eastern states.
However, it admitted that individual cases were investigated by authorities and perpetrators punished by the courts. The report condemned terrorist and militant groups, including naxalites, for attacks on civilians and government officials.
It also highlighted corruption in both the police and the administration, saying it was "endemic in the government and police forces, and the government made little attempt to combat the problem, except for a few instances highlighted by the media."
The report alleged that government forces "continued arbitrary and unlawful deprivation of life of those in custody. Police and prison officers also committed "extra-judicial killings of suspected insurgents and suspected criminals by the use of staged encounter killings."
The report also pulled up India for its "lax" enforcement of laws on human rights and claimed that "social acceptance of caste-based discrimination validated human rights violations against persons belonging to lower castes."
How to Exterminate Muslims in India?
Dalit Voice, Editorial, May 16-31. 1999 Muslims ruled over Spain from 712 AD to 1492 AD for 780 years, yet today there are no Muslims in Spain though every aspect of Spanish life has a touch of Islam. Spanish language has many Arabic words, its music has an Arabic tone, its culture has more Arabic influence than the European, and proper nouns in Spanish often have the Arabic prefix al. From 1492, when the last bastion of Muslim political strength Grenada fell, the Muslims of Spain were on the decline and its culmination took place after 120 years when the last batch of Muslim die-hards left Spain in 1612. From that year, Islam vanished from the Spanish horizons. A particular noteworthy point is that during this period of Islamic decline from Spain, the entire civilised world was ruled by Muslims. The Ottoman Turks had conquered Constantinople in 1553, and were ruling the entire Balkan Peninsula, Egypt was ruled by the powerful Mamiukes, Persia was at its political pinnacle under the Abbasi rulers, and India was ruled by the Moghals. Still Islam vanished from Spain and none of these great Muslim armies did anything to protect the Muslims of Spain. How Islam was ejected from Spain had been a subject of keen study by lndia's Hindu Nazis in the 30s and 40s of this century. They studied this aspect to be copied in India and to counter this possibility, the Muslim leaders also studied this to prevent a repetition of the Spanish methods because Muslims (forming 11.35% of the population as per 1981 census) as lndia's single largest minorities have become the biggest headache to the upper caste Hindus. But the present-day Muslims are totally ignorant of the history of Islamic decline in Spain and hence of the designs surrounding it.
Through this we intend to shed a little light on this subject so that the thinking section of the Muslims and their sympathisers may do some more research on this subject. As in India, Spanish Muslims had three categories: (i) the descendants of the original Arabs, (ii) descendants of Arab fathers and Spanish mothers and (iii) Christian converts to Islam. Immediately after the fall of Grenada many of the original Arabs to save their lives (not property, as they were not permitted to carry their wealth) left Spain to Tunisia and Morocco; many died on their journey by the attacking Christian hordes. Rest of the original Arabs who opted to live in Spain itself were subsequently branded 'foreigners" (as in India) and destroyers of Spain. The other category of Muslims viz. the descendants of Muslim fathers and Christianmothers and converts from Christianity opted to live in Spain believing in the declaration of King Ferdinand that complete religious freedom would be guaranteed. (in India also, we are told that Muslims enjoy full religious freedom and minority rights). The attacks by Christian on their lives and property during the earlier years was pardoned as a temporary phenomenon.
Compare it with the development that took place in India after the partition (1947). But these attacks on Muslim life and property in Spain did not abate but continued for about 50 years with lesser intensity in a sporadic manner, just as it is happening in India today. In the earlier years, the Indian Muslims resisted and fought back. There were mini-battles in the streets, but gradually there were one-sided attacks and every time Muslims were the losers. Of late, the Hindu police itself is let lose to kill the Muslims in India.
While the organized Christian groups were committing such massacres, Ferdinand's Govt, in Spain adopted the policy of eliminating Muslims from the services and adopting the following measures:-
Arabic was removed from administration,
schools attached to mosques were debarred from teaching academic and secular subjects like science, history, mathematics and philosophy. Only religious teaching could be imparted,
Lessons in history were faked by which the Muslim rule was dubbed as barbaric. Contribution of Muslims to the development of Spain was avoided,
Muslim houses were made objects of constant searching by police on allegations of arms hoarding and secret meetings,
Original Arab Muslims were projected as enemies of Christians and destroyers of Spain.
Christian converts were persuaded to reconvert to Christianity on the ground that their ancestors were forced to become Muslims and as there is no more coercion, they should revert to Christianity.
Muslims who were from Muslim-Christian parentage were branded as bastards and ridiculed and persuaded to revert to Christianity.
Marriages performed in the Islamic manner were directed to be registered with the judicial officers.
Islamic law was declared illegal. Every method followed in Spain is being experimented in India with better precision and timing.
Thus Muslims in Spain were made objects of ridicule, condemnation and continuous attack. Burning of Muslim houses and shops was encouraged to destroy their economy. Mock ceremonies of reconversion of Muslims to Christianity were held and publicized. In India, Hindu Nazis of all hues-Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, Vishwa Hindu Parishad etc,. are doing the same. The first two generation of Spanish Muslims adopted passive methods to save their religion by teaching Arabic to their children at home and mosques, and telling them orally about the realities but gradually they lost the zeal. When marriages were ordered to be celebrated only through Govt. agencies, Muslims in early stages performed dual marriages - one with the Govt. authorities and again privately in their homes in the Islamic manner. Gradually the second ceremony was given up as even such a private ceremony was banned.
During this period, Muslim masses gradually fell out of the grips of the Muslim leadership and Muslim elites started flocking to Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt where they were received with sympathy. Poor Muslim masses were left uncared for. This is exactly what is happening in India. The richer, English-educated Muslims are getting Brahminised. They have become imitators of upper caste Hindus as they live not in Muslim localities but in Hindu areas. The poor Muslims (they form 95% of the Muslim population) live in ghettos and being better followers of Islam, they are left high and dry. Hence they are getting killed in all anti-Muslim riots.
The seeds sown in the first half of the century in Spain started yielding results in the second half. There was no political leadership, no organization to protect Muslims and enlightened personalities to save the situation. Religious leaders knowing nothing but Islamic' theology tried their best to save the situation, but against heavy propaganda by the Govt. agencies, lures and offers to reconverts, ignorance of Islamic values by the masses and sense of inferiority nurtured in the minds of Muslim masses were too big a force to be undone by the theologians. This needed a political leadership and an organization with arms to counter, but there was none. Those who spoke of invoking the help of Muslim powers of Turkey and Egypt were feared and exposed before the authorities (by the Muslims themselves) to be condemned. Without willing fighters, other Muslim powers could not help. Those who had settled in Turkey and Egypt advised the authorities there to desist'from such a thought as otherwise atrocities on Muslims of Spain would increase. An Ahmed Shah Abdaii was needed but th@'@ was none. And the Muslim masses joined the "mainstream" of Spanish life and the mullahs finding no job for their preaching gradually left Spain. And the last batch to leave Spain consisted of the diehard mullahs in 1612
In India also the political leadership of the Muslims became a tail of the Hindu parties led by the upper castes. Only the theological leadership like that of Moulana Hasan Ali Nadvi has tried to maintain the cultural identity of the Indian Muslims.
This "Spanish experiment" is being tried with greater energy and efficiency in India. Urdu, which is as Islamic in India as Arabic was in Spain, is being eased out. Muslims are voluntarily holding on to madrasas. English-educated richer Muslims are away from the Muslim masses. We saw this at the Tablighe Jamat International conference held in Bangalore (DV, March 15, 1985). They are not going to Muslim countries, but are taking refuge in their psychological and physical seclusion. Any move to organise them to protect the Muslim life and property is branded as communal. Any Muslim flirting, if not supporting the upper castes, is called a "nationalist Muslim". The gulf between the Muslim masses and educated rich Muslims is widening every day. Mass killing of Muslims is considered something natural by the Muslim leadership itself. Whenever it is raised at international Islamic platforms such actions are called interference in the internal affairs of India. Muslims history is deleted from the syllabus. Names of Muslims who died for India are avoided. A great martyr who died for India like Tippu Sultan is unknown to youngsters, whereas the name of Tantia Tope, who fought not for India but for his pension, and Jhansi Laxmi Bai, who fought for her adopted son's heirship to the throne, is brought on the lips of every Indian. No Muslim gets awards for his contribution to science, medicine, music, art or gallantry. Even those who fought from the ranks of the ruling Congress Party like Moulana Azad, Kidwai, Syed Mahmood, Humayun Kabir etc. do not have a road or extension named after them. But there are half-a-dozen in the names of each upper caste leaders in our towns and cities. History is being re-written. ("Falsifying Indian History", DV editorial, April 16, 1985). Muslims are killed daily and their houses and shops burnt. The doors of the Army, police and administration are closed to them. And yet Muslim organizations to protect Islam are coming up like mushrooms. Everybody wants to protect Islam and nobody wants to protect Muslims. We are really worried.
A study of the Ruling Class policies reveals that it has great similarity with the one followed by Ferdinand and Isabelle in Spain. The only difference is that the Hindu upper castes are more sharp and sophisticated because of the limitations imposed in the 20th century by the checks exercisable by the United Nations Human Rights Charter and international public opinion.
The systematic and daily anti-Muslim riots resulting in loss of life and property, and above all the sense of fear in the hearts of every Muslim, elimination of the martial Muslims from the Defence, paramilitary and police forces and brahminising of these forces, closing the doors of appointments in Govt. services and public undertakings, Brahminisation of education and mass.media like radio, TV and advertisement, elimination of Urdu as official language from those areas which form the presentday States of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Andhra Pradhesh and Karnataka overnight in 1947-48, gradual closing of Urdu schools are all examples of positive anti-Muslim policies.
On the brahminical psychological warfare side comes the cries of Personal Law amendment, now diluted as common civil code, greatness of the Indian (Hindu) culture, projection of notorious anti-Muslim personalities like "Mahatma" Gandhi, B. G. Tilak, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Veer Savarkar, Lala Laipat Rai as heroes of India to belittle the contribution of Muslims for the development and progress of the country, re-writing of Indian history, describing Muslim professions like beef-selling as a sin and glorifying cow protection policies, introduction of mechanical slaughter of animals to throw out of job butchers, declaration of import and export business carried on by Muslims as smuggling are policies through which vulnerable Indian masses are misguided, resulting in a psychological anti-Muslim bias. Muslim electoral constituencies are divided horizontally and vertically so that they don't have an effective voting power anywhere and thrusting upon them ultra-secular Muslim leaders who have started worshipping Hindu idols and such scenes being systematically televised. Unfortunately Muslim leaders, who are dejected with the Govt., repose much confidence in Hindu masses and hope to secure their help ignoring the fact that the poor Hindu (Dalit) masses are as much victims of such a propaganda. And as on this day only seeds are being sown. The harvest is yet to come. When the harvest reason comes, what will be harvested in India is repetition of Spain, unless the Muslims resort to counter measures soon.
It is high time the Muslim/ intelligentsia rises to the occasion to undo the repetition of the history of Spain in India. Islam has always been protected by the Muslim masses and not by the classes. Rich Muslims, who are not even 5% of the Muslim population (with minor exceptions) are joining the upper caste exploiters. They may talk of Islam but they have forgotten the fellow Muslims. Please note: religion does not protect its followers, but followers protect the religion. Remember if Islam has to be saved in India, Muslims have to be saved.
Islam in India is the second-most practiced religion after Hinduism. There are approximately 154 million Muslims in India's population as of 2008 (according
...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_India - 199k - Cached - Similar pages - Note thisThe Muslims are about 12% of India's population. Their influence on the Indian society was much stronger because India had many Muslims rulers.
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... Muslims in Indian-administered Kashmir defy a curfew as four people die in clashes with security forces.
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... Most muslims in India are forced convert by the Islamist invadors and many due to oppression and suppressions. I doubt even a single Hindu
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Secular India's security needs MuslimsNDTV.com, India - 9 hours agoIt could be one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the fight against terror as the largest minority group in the country, Muslims, continues to be ... |
