Guarded reaction from India on Khaleda Arrest
India has launched its own War against Terrorism and the changes in the political scenerio in Pakistan and Bangladesh do not bother South Block at all
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
India is now an ingrediaent part of the Asian Nato. It has transformed into an ally of USA, JAPAN, Israel, UK and australia. Thus, it has no control over whatever happens in this divided geopolitics as long as it suits the US Galaxy Manusmriti Order. India has launched its own War against Terrorism and the changes in the political scenerio in Pakistan and Bangladesh do not bother South Block at all. Indian comradors, contrarily, tries to save the Brahminical monarchy in Nepal. Overall, it works to maintain the Brahminical hegemony all over Asia! Thus, in a guarded response to the arrest of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, India today favoured pursuance of "due process of law and respect for individual rights" there, saying it would contribute to the evolution of "stable, democratic and prosperous" country.
"We have seen reports to this effect (arrest of Zia). We
would hope that the people of Bangladesh will be enabled to
choose their representatives in a free, fair and democratic
process," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna
said here.
"In our view, the early and full restoration of
democracy, due process of law and respect for individual
rights will contribute to the evolution of a stable,
democratic and prosperous Bangladesh," he said.
Sarna was making a statement on Zia's arrest in Dhaka
early this morning on graft charges, barely two months after
imprisonment of her arch-rival and Awami League chief
Sheikh Hasina by the military-backed government.
Now read this reaction!
This morning I got up super early to record a conversation with an
architect friend for a project. At 8 am bdnews24.com breaks the news
by SMS (once again the sms daisy chain!) that ex-PM Khaleda Zia had
been arrested at 7:39 am, along with her son Arafat (Coco).
On her way to jail, she managed to make an announcement (from the
van?) that she was expelling party chief (and rival) Mannan Bhuiyan
from her BNP party.
With this morning's arrest, the two women who ruled Bangladesh for 15
years -- Khaleda Zia (BNP) and her blood rival Sheikh Hasina (AL) --
are both behind bars.
Now what...? I haven't the faintest. But here are musings from
various bloggers....
######
And Then Eternal Peace Prevailed in Bangladesh....
http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/09/03/then-eternal-peace-prevailed-in-bangladesh/
Army Leaves DU, Now What?
http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/08/21/du-student-protest-day2/
Sausages On Curfew Break
http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/08/23/curfew-break/
Collateral Damage, No Matter Who's In Power
http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/08/24/collateral-damage/
Watching World Go By
http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=1255
######
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shobak mailing list
shobak@idash.org
http://idash.org/mailman/listinfo/shobak
And this!
After saving BNP - Jamat from the initial JANOROSH of common people of Bangladesh, due to their utmost corruption & misrule during 1991 - 96 & again in 2001 - 06 and stabilising the BNP-Jamat, present army backed interim Government, covert supporter of Jamat-BNP alliance is 'arresting' (drama) Khaleda just for 'eye wash' and to shut the moth of it's opponents.
But common people of Bangladesh are not so ' fool' to understand the play and planned game (drama) of present military backed interim Government (MBIG) which is covert supporter of Jamat-BNP alliance.
But we know that they can make 'fool' some people for some time but can not make fool all the people for all the time!
Pl read this "Bangladesh Now"
http://shahidul. wordpress. com/2007/ 09/02/bangladesh -now/
Bangladesh stuck in political limbo
By Sabir Mustafa
BBC Bengali service editor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6976614.stm
Ms Zia faces charges of extortion and corruption
The interim government in Bangladesh has hit another landmark, arresting one of the country's most charismatic politicians, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
This arrest brings to an end weeks of speculation about the government's intentions.
There were clear signs that the government was preparing to jail Ms Zia, with investigations into financial dealings during her last term in office.
But speculation was also rife that the government wanted to do a deal with her - particularly after she was allowed to clear outstanding income taxes dating back years, rather than face charges for tax evasion.
Diverse reactions
The Anti-Corruption Commission's decision to bite the bullet and file a specific charge triggered diverse reactions.
"This has been done to harass her politically, to prevent her from carrying out her political functions'' retired Brigadier Hannan Shah, a close aide to Ms Zia, told the BBC.
But others were not surprised.
"It was no secret that the government was preparing to act against her. In fact, many were asking why Khaleda Zia had not been arrested yet", said Muhammad Jahangir, a media analyst in Dhaka.
This has been done to harass her politically, to prevent her from carrying out her political functions
Brigadier Hannan Shah
Aide to Ms Zia
The government is presenting the arrest as a clear demonstration that the drive against corruption is transparent and neutral.
"This charge was filed by the Commission, based on sound evidence. There is no politics involved here and the government has not interfered", said Law and Justice Minister Mainul Hossain.
For her part, Ms Zia believes the charges and arrests are designed to "destroy" her family and remove them from Bangladesh's political scene.
She was arrested along with her younger son Arafat. Her elder son Tarique is already in jail facing corruption charges.
There is little doubt that the military-led government wants to see an end to the Zia family's domination of Bangladesh politics.
But that is only part of the story.
Rampant corruption
Ms Zia has led her Bangladesh Nationalist Party - or - BNP unchallenged for nearly 25 years. Tarique emerged as heir apparent after the party's stunning electoral triumph in 2001.
Tarique's rapid rise to become the most powerful man in the country - with tales of rampant corruption associated with his band of cronies - alienated many inside the party.
Anti-government rioting took place on campuses across the country
Other sections of society were also angered by what they saw as a brazen attempt to install and perpetuate a dynasty.
The government has not made any secret of its desire to force the two largest political parties, the BNP and its main rival the Awami League, to carry out extensive internal reforms.
The central plank of this reform process is the so-called "minus-two solution" - the BNP without the Zia family, and the Awami League without its iconic leader Sheikh Hasina.
The first, ill-conceived efforts to get rid of the two women failed miserably last May, when both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia successfully fought off clumsy attempts by the government to send them into exile.
Now the government seems back on course, pursuing the same agenda.
Ms Hasina was put in jail in July and charged in a series of extortion and corruption cases. Now with Ms Zia in jail, the government's confidence level is likely to reach a new high.
That confidence reached rock bottom towards the end of August, when students at Dhaka University were joined by thousands of others in three days of street demonstrations.
The violent protests and clashes with police and army led the government to impose a curfew and arrest university teachers.
There were allegations of widespread assaults on students and torture of people in custody.
Media censorship
Private television channels have been told not to air any critical political views or news of anti-government protests.
With universities closed, the media gagged, and a sense of fear pervading all sections of society, the government apparently feels strong enough to act against yet another political icon.
This is no way to strengthen democracy
Mahfuz Anam
Daily Star
On one level, the arrest and likely trial of the two leaders demonstrates the government's determination to tackle corruption at the highest level.
This is likely to go down well with the public, who have long resented the idea of politicians placing themselves above the law.
The only thing which remains to be seen is how independently and fairly the special corruption courts are allowed to function.
On another level, it shows the government is still pursuing its agenda of forcing reforms in political parties, including leadership changes.
This has been one of the major factors in eroding public support for the government over the past few months.
"This is no way to strengthen democracy", wrote Mahfuz Anam, editor of the Daily Star in reaction to the arrest of Sheikh Hasina in July.
"The government is attempting to manipulate our politics by trying to predetermine who will be and who will not be part of its future".
Push for reform
The big question in Bangladesh now is - what kind of future does the government have in mind?
Senior government officials have repeatedly said there is no point in holding elections if they only bring back the "corrupt and the criminal".
In short, parties must reform if they want to get back into politics.
But with political parties severely weakened, many wonder what kind of political landscape the military-backed government is creating.
There are worries that the anti-corruption drive may have become a weapon in the government's reform plan, with which to get rid of troublesome leaders.
If this becomes evident, then public support for the anti-corruption drive itself could start to erode.
At the moment, the government retains enough credibility to pursue its agenda.
But many Bangladeshis are increasingly restless for the ban on political activities to be lifted.
As long the ban exists, the country's politics remains in a limbo - unreformed, unbowed, but unable to re-assert itself, leading to more frustration and pent-up anger.
The same kind of frustration and anger that led to August's violent protests.
Meanwhile,In a major breakthrough in the August 25 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad that claimed 44 lives, a key suspect has reportedly been arrested in Bangladesh and the authorities here have begun efforts to get him extradited.
Abu Hamza alias Abdul Bari, one of the most wanted terrorists of Andhra Pradesh, was arrested in Bangladesh, four days after August 25 blasts here at a park and a famous eatery.
Police sources said members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the blasts would soon leave for New Delhi to meet Intelligence Bureau officials and begin the process of extraditing Hamza, blamed for all terrorist activities in Hyderabad since the 2002 blast at a temple in Dilsukhnagar, which killed three people.
Hamza's arrest followed the pressure mounted on Bangladesh through diplomatic channels to act against terror groups based in that country. Police officials admitted that extraditing Hamza would not be an easy task as there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. Officials in New Delhi also pointed out that the SIT would find it difficult to move Hamza to India as there was no Red Corner notice pending against him.
Security forces today arrested former Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief, Khaleda Zia, along with her younger son in an early morning raid on graft charges. Television footages showed Zia and her son, Arafat Rahman Koko, being taken from her Dhaka Cantonment residence to a court in downtown Dhaka amid tight security.Earlier reports said several hundred policemen laid a siege around Zia's Mainul Road residence inside Dhaka Cantonment since early morning.
Witnesses said at least 40 police vehicles carrying a large number of women police entered the restricted Dhaka Cantonment area and arrested the ex-premier hours after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) overnight lodged a graft case against Zia, her younger son, Arafat Rahman Koko, and 11 others.
Meanwhile, the private BDnews24 quoted Zia as saying that she was not frightened to go to jail as "the case against me is false."
"I'm not afraid of arrest. People are with me. The case against me is false," Zia said, adding it was part of a plot against her party.
Her lawyer pleaded for bail for Zia and son. But the court refused bail and sent her to jail. It also remanded her son to seven days in police custody," deputy commissioner Shahidul Haq Bhuiyan said.
"She has been sent to a special jail" at a parliament building complex close to another special prison where her bitter rival Sheikh Hasina Wajed, another former prime minister, is being held, he added.
Bangladesh has been ruled under a state of emergency by a military-backed interim government since January, when elections were cancelled.
The polls were scrapped due to months of violence over vote-rigging allegations made by Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party against Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The two women have also been blamed for 16 years of misrule during which corruption became rampant in Bangladesh. The government has vowed to clean up the country's politics before holding new elections by the end of 2008.
Bangladesh's anti-graft commission filed its first case against Zia, who ruled the country twice between 1991-96 and 2001-2006, late Sunday.
She and her younger son are alleged to have illegally influenced the selection of an operator for two state-run container depots, costing the government some 10 billion taka (145 million dollars).
Her eldest son and heir apparent Tareque Rahman was detained in April over separate extortion charges.
At least a dozen former ministers, their spouses and lawmakers have been tried in fast-track courts set up at the parliament building. They have been sentenced to between five and 32 years in jail for corruption.
Law professor Asif Nazrul said it was "almost certain" that the two women will be barred from contesting the next election.
The latest arrest "will have a huge impact on the politics of Bangladesh in the near future," Nazrul of Dhaka University said.
Political analyst Badruddin Omar, however, warned that arrests of the so-called "battling Begums" could prompt further unrest like last month's violent student protests, when a curfew was imposed for a week in six cities.
"The government has been trying to break the political dynasties. But there is no guarantee that it will lead to positive results," Omar said.
The Pakistani government is expected to resume power-sharing talks with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto but opponents inside the ruling party must be won over if a deal is to be struck, a government official said on Monday.
In Srilanka, more than 5,000 Sri Lankan civilians, most of them minority Tamils, have been displaced by the latest military offensive in the north-western part of the country, government officials based in the region said Monday.
In Pakistan, The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Monday rejected media reports that the exiled former prime minister would resume stalled power-sharing talks with aides of President Pervez Musharraf in Dubai.Military president Pervez Musharraf is expected to seek election to another term in votes by national and provincial assemblies some time between September 15 and October 15. But after eight years in power the army chief faces sliding popularity and mounting legal and political opposition.A pact with Bhutto, who has been in self exile for eight years, would bolster his support and help him overcome constitutional challenges, while helping her skirt corruption charges and return to politics.
But Bhutto said at the weekend that talks with the government on a package of proposals had stalled after opposition from members of Musharraf's ruling party, who fear being sidelined by a deal that could clear the way for Bhutto's return to power.
Sharif, most popular leader in Pak.: Intelligence reports
Islamabad, Sept. 3 (PTI): Exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has become the most popular leader in Pakistan in the wake of Bhutto-Musharraf rendezvous, according to the country's intelligence agencies.
"Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's desperation to clinch a 'power-sharing deal' with President Pervez Musharraf has made Sharif the most popular leader in Pakistan," a senior government official told The News, quoting recent reports prepared by the intelligence agencies.
According to the official, Sharif's recent victory over the government in the Supreme Court - which allowed the deposed Premier and his brother, Shahbaz, to return to Pakistan after seven years in 'forced' exile - has also helped in the rise of his popularity graph.
"If he returns to the country according to his announced schedule, he would get an unprecedented reception, particularly, in the Punjab province. But, if Sharif fails to fly back home as hinted by some ruling party leaders, his ascendancy would vanish," the unnamed official said.
In their assessment of the ground situation, the intelligence agencies have indicated that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) as well as Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) are likely to suffer a setback in the general elections slated for later this year in the Islamic nation.
In their assessment of the ground situation, these intelligence agencies have indicated that Punjab has slipped out of the hands of both the ruling party as well as the PPP, and the province is now sympathetic towards Sharif.
"According to the agencies' estimation, out of the total 13 National Assembly seats in Lahore, at least, 11 will go to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz," the official said adding, that they had a similar assessment about other parts of urban Punjab.
PML-Nawaz's popularity over the PPP - considered as a pro-democracy party in the Islamic nation - in the aftermath of the secret meeting between Bhutto and Musharraf in the UAE recently, has also left the ruling party dry, and tarnished the image of the President who has been declaring the two-time PM a looter in the last eight years, according to the reports.
It may be mentioned that possibly fearing a setback in the upcoming general elections, ruling party chief, Shujaat Hussain, had recently raised objections to any 'deal' between Musharraf and Bhutto under which the military dictator would have to doff his uniform before the presidential polls.
Hussain had also reportedly conveyed the party's reservations to Musharraf who plans to seek re-election as the country's President for another five-year term.
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Telling the story of the most neglected victims of Partition
Politics and play - Ramachandra Guha
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070818/asp/opinion/story_8199679.asp
Across borders
The literature on the Partition of India is driven by those who had to flee religious persecution, whether Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan or Muslims in India. In the Fifties and Sixties, the refugee experience resulted in a series of moving novels and stories, by writers such as Khushwant Singh and Bhisham Sahni in India and Saadat Hasan Manto and Intezar Hussain in Pakistan. The memories were too painful to set down in memoir or history, so they were camouflaged and perhaps made more evocative through the medium of fiction.
In subsequent decades, writers and poets continued to write novels and poems about Partition. However, they were now joined by writers of non-fiction. Historians wrote academic tomes based on archival research, explaining why and how the politicians failed to save the unity of India. Those with a more literary sensibility wrote books based on interviews, capturing the voices and sentiments of those who lost homes as well as loved ones in the bloody summer of 1947.
No event in Indian history has been so written about as Partition. And the books keep coming. Several very good books were published in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the event. And some more good books have come out this year to mark the 60th anniversary.
Some writers have described Partition as India’s Holocaust. I would not go so far — for Hitler’s extermination of the Jews was a far more focussed act of State policy. And it claimed many more lives. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II, as against an estimated one million who died in the riots in the subcontinent. Again, while colonial policy undoubtedly contributed to the violence, it was not as if the British divided India with an intent to murder. While they were callous and cynical in their dealings, they were helped along by the amorality of the Muslim League and the selfishness and shortsightedness of the Congress. And, in the end, it was ordinary Hindus and Sikhs who set upon ordinary Muslims, and were set upon by them in turn. Partition was a civil war, not a Holocaust.
Still, there are some parallels between the events in central and eastern Europe between 1938 and 1945 and in northern and eastern India in 1946-47. These parallels chiefly lie in how the events are remembered. Just as Jews themselves have contributed most richly to the literature on the Holocaust, the ‘first generation’ of Partition literature was mostly the work of refugees. And some of the best works in recent years have been authored by the children and grandchildren of refugees.
Another parallel lies in what is foregrounded and what mostly forgotten. There were other social groups whom Hitler also sought to annihilate — such as the homosexuals and the Gypsies. Yet far less has been written about them as compared to the Jews. Likewise, the literature on India’s Partition is dominated by the suffering of refugees from Punjab and Bengal. There is less work on the Uttar Pradesh Muslims who went over to Pakistan, and on the Sindhi Hindus who had to flee into India. The least written about are the Bihari Muslims, this despite the fact that they suffered not once but twice — first when British India was divided, and then again 24 years later, when East Pakistan became the sovereign nation of Bangladesh.
These forgotten victims of India’s Partition have, at long last, found their analyst and chronicler. The sufferings of the Bihari Muslims are the focus of Papiya Ghosh’s recently released book, Partition and the South Asian Diaspora: Extending the Subcontinent. Based on archival research in three continents, supplemented by many interviews and by the skilful use of evidence from fictional sources, this is an intensely human work by a very humane and empathetic historian.
The Partition of India became inevitable after the bloody riots of 1946-47. The violence began in Calcutta on August 16, 1946, sparked by Jinnah’s call for ‘Direct Action’. It then spread to the Bengal countryside, where the main victims were Hindus. This sparked a wave of retributive justice in the adjoining province of Bihar, where it was Muslims who had much the worst of the violence. As Ghosh explains, the riots in Bihar greatly strengthened the demand for Pakistan. For the province was run by a Congress government, some of whose members actively encouraged attacks on Muslims. The partisanship of the administration (mirroring, of course, the prior partisanship of the Muslim League government in Bengal) seemed to vindicate Jinnah’s claim that Muslims would never be safe in a united India where the Hindu-dominated Congress would be the dominant and ruling party. As one refugee wrote, “the blood of the Bihari martyrs provided the ‘foundation stone of Pakistan’”.
After the Bihar riots, there was a mass migration of Muslims into Pakistan. Those who were educated made for the towns and cities of West Pakistan. Others, usually from the lower strata of society, left for the new nation’s eastern wing. In all, about half-a-million Bihari Muslims made their home in East Pakistan. While their compatriots in Karachi and Lahore were able to adjust to their new surroundings, these Biharis still felt out of place. Ghosh quotes a character in a novel who says: “Pakistan held out such rosy hopes for us. It was our Eldorado. But there was no Pakistan here. Only Bengalis swarming in all directions.”
In 1971, these Bihari Muslims were rendered homeless once more. After the civil war broke out in East Pakistan, hundreds of Biharis were killed by Bengali freedom-fighters who viewed them as collaborators of the West Pakistanis. The Bihari Muslims, who had left India out of fear of the Hindus, now found that the Bengali Muslims were far worse. Tens of thousands fled back into India. As Ghosh writes, “Many Bihari Muslims grounded in Bangladesh after 1971… have made their way to the Metiabruz locality of Kolkata and taken up tailoring, embroidery, domestic and brick-field jobs.”
Strikingly, and shamefully, Pakistan washed its hands of the Bihari Muslims in the now sundered east. Those who could not get into India made their way into Nepal and Burma. Some even reached the United States of America. But the majority huddled in refugee camps; in the late Eighties, some 258,000 Biharis lived in camps in Bangladesh, fed and clothed by international relief organizations.
Most victims of Partition were abandoned once. But the Bihari Muslims were abandoned three times. Three sovereign nations had turned their back on them — their ancestral home, India; their new homeland, which later became Bangladesh; and their promised homeland, Pakistan, which moved west after 1971.
That it was Papiya Ghosh who finally did justice to the travails of the Bihari Muslims is entirely fitting. In her own lifetime, Dr Ghosh had seen a great deal of suffering. Her father was murdered; one of her closest friends died in a car accident. She was herself a chronic asthmatic. Experiences such as these would have made a lesser human being bitter and resentful. But this good lady rose above them. I knew her for 30 years; knew her as a fine scholar and a truly noble human being. She was caring and kind in all her dealings — whether with academic superiors or inferiors, students, workers, family, friends and, perhaps above all, children. And she was devoted to her native Bihar. She could have got an academic appointment in Delhi or the US; yet she chose to teach in Patna.
The last paragraph had, tragically, to be written in the past tense, since Papiya Ghosh died before her book was published. Late last year, she was brutally murdered in her own home in Patna. Those accused of the murder have been put on trial; but it is not known whether the political class of Bihar has the will and the courage to take the trial to its logical conclusion. Papiya Ghosh lived her life for and among the people of Bihar. Now, after she has gone, one hopes that the state of Bihar can do proper justice to her memory.
Whose interest is national anyway?
22 Aug 2007, 1417 hrs IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Whose_interest_is_national_anyway/articleshow/2300792.cms
For the last three days the only news that seemed important next to the Left-UPA spat over the nuke deal was Sanjay Dutt's bail application, its hearing in the Supreme Court and finally the grant of bail. I am sure for the next seven days, his homecoming, sweet messages from everyone in filmdom, his clothes, and his cane-making experiences would hog the front pages as if the billion-strong, fast-moving, agro-based, IT-savvy, space-age nation has nothing else to read about. Meanwhile, I happened to notice a few marginalised or contemptuously ignored news items. For your benefit a few lines from a few news items are given below:
SRINAGAR: Ten people, including a Colonel were killed in a clash between troops and Muslim militants trying to sneak into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side, the Army said on Wednesday. (AFP). 'In an act of bravery Col Vasanth and Lance Naik Ganpat achieved martyrdom while fighting hardcore Afghan terrorists. Col. Vasanth earlier intercepted (the terrorist communication) and fired upon them.’ Leading from the front, he organised his troops to surround the terrorists. (IANS )
GUWAHATI: Hundreds of people bid a tearful farewell on Tuesday to an Indian Army soldier whose snow-preserved body was found nearly 40 years after he was killed in a plane crash in the northern Himalayas. Nearly 400 people attended Mahendra Nath Phukon's cremation near his family home in Deodhai, a village 340 km (215 miles) east of Guwahati, the capital of northeastern Assam state. (International Herald Tribune)
JAMMU: On the occasion of 60th Independence Day several West Pakistan refugees of 1947 including young and old, men and women staged a protest demonstration in Jammu. A woman said, "We were forced to flee our homes and hearths in 1947 and since then we have been languishing here in the state. We are at the fag end of our lives but what would happen to our children. We are fighting for justice and equality in a democratic country but no one is bothered about us." (Kashmir Times)
NEW DELHI: Two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots created a new world record on Sunday by successfully flying a microlite aircraft around the world in 79 days. The pilots, Wing Cdr Rahul Monga and Wing Cdr Anil Kumar, had taken off from Hindan on June 1. The duo has created a new world record in circumnavigating the world in a single engine microlite aircraft in 79 days. The current world record is 99 days. The pilots covered a total of 40,497 kms flying over 19 countries. (TOI)
IMPHAL: Newspapers in Manipur published blank editorials to protest the government's attempt to curb the publication of statements issued by militant groups. (sinlung.com)
As you might have seen over the past few days the news of Sanjay Dutt's bail has got precedence to the martyrdom of brave soldiers, Col. Vasanth and Lance Naik Ganpat, with no publication even carrying their photographs. Somehow, to give your life for the country seems to have counted less than to have been a film actor who kept Dawood’s guns and had the right contacts.
Whether it's the plight of Hindus demanding citizenship in their own country or issues of national pride, it’s the charm of glamour that takes importance over serious issues of the commoner.
But, one can argue, the nuke deal was rightly on the front page. True, but did the debate over the nuke deal educate people in an unprejudiced manner? The level of the debate has come down to “headless chickens” and the “vegetable brains”.
In the end it's the nation that loses and not the politicos who go home heaving a sigh of relief over their dramatic performances. Everyone is fighting in the name of national interest. A deal affecting the future of our security is signed and opposed, both for national interest. A foreigner accused of pocketing Rs 64 crores as bribe is let off in Argentina with the connivance of the Indian government, but the same state apparatus witch-hunts a Shankaracharya and continues with cases against political foes back home again in the name of national interest. It's difficult to find amongst the leaders and the media where exactly national interest ends and prejudiced petty political agenda begins.
This national interest seems to be most invisible in Delhi's power corridors and the paparazzi when the shouts of help that come from the corners of the country are not echoed in the Capital. The largest student body of Assam, already traumatized by severe infiltration says “In about ten years Assam is going to have a Bangladeshi chief minister. We have been shouting for the last 22 years that illegal migrants are killing Assam today but they will kill India tomorrow”. But these voices are not being heard and the murder of the Hindi-speaking people (mostly Hindus) goes on unabated and continues to be ignored by the media.
We have become so enamoured with the tinsel world and the lives of the rich and famous (and infamous alike) that one of my editor friends from Guwahati wrote in utter despair, “Delhi doesn't need Northeast to remain a part of the nation which for a common Hindustani, doesn't exist beyond Kolkata”.
A couple of days before 12 insurgent
