Stampede Time
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
At least 14 people, including 13 women were trampled to death in the Mughalsarai station in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.They were reportedly in a rush to change trains and died a horrible death on an overbridge.Inspector General of Police, Varanasi Zone, Kashmir Singh said the women had arrived at the Mughalsarai station for going to Varanasi for a ritual bath in the Ganges on the occasion of Putrajaya, a local festival.
The incident occurred while they were climbing the stairs at the railway station around 1.45 pm (IST) for changing platforms as two trains had arrived at the station around the same time.
''It happened when two trains arrived together and there were many people on the platform as it is an important day where many people fast. There was a breach on the bridge and there was a stampede,'' said Harindra Rao, North Central Railways, Varanasi.
But this is not the first time such a tragedy has occurred at a station in the country. Five people were killed in a stampede at the New Delhi railway station three years ago and most passengers were bound for Bihar for the Chhat Puja celebrations.
In September 2002, 18 people were crushed to death at the Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. The victims - all BSP supporters - were in town to attend a Mayawati rally when the incident occurred.
The need of the hour therefore, is decongesting our stations. It is something spoken of in the past every time such a tragedy occurs, but sadly is forgotten soon after.

Centre defends Constitutional provision for 27 per cent quota
New Delhi: The Centre today defended before
the Supreme Court the validity of the provision in the
Constitution enabling it to make a law providing 27 per cent
quota for OBCs in the Central educational institutions.
It contended that the 93rd Constitutional Amendment by
which Article 15(5) was included to enable reservation for
socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs) was not
unconstitutional and violative of the basic structure of the
Constitution.
"Article 15 (5) is not only an enabling provision but
also confers legislative competence for making such law,"
senior advocate K Parasaran said before a five-judge
Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan
which is examining the validity of the controversial
legislation providing 27 per cent quota.
"The amendment does not confer unbridled power.
Parliament and legislatures are alone the arms of the state to
make laws. An amendment of the Constitution can empower them
to make particular laws by adding to the empowerment," he
said.
Supporting the argument of Solicitor General G E
Vahanvati that caste alone could be the starting point of
identifying the backwared classes, he said "this country is
caste ridden and victims of caste system have to be identfied
for remedial action".
The senior advocate said political justice has been done
to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by reserving
seats in Parliament and social justice could reach to the
backward classes by providing them education at all level.
"Knowledge is respected everywhere," Parasaran said
emphasising that "education gives status and if both of them
are there opportunity comes automatically".
Religious places can become terror targets: Patil

Warning that terrorists were using modern technologies to carry out attacks, Home Minister Shivraj Patil today said religious places can become targets and suggested actionable intelligence for better policing.
"It is becoming obvious that more sophisticated weapons and devices may be used by terrorists. They are likely to use modern technologies in carrying out terrorist activities," he said inaugurating a three-day Conference of Directors and Inspectors General of Police here. Patil cautioned that terrorists are likely to use publicity apparatus to mislead the masses and create mischief and violence at places where innocent people congregate in large numbers.
"Religious places can be attacked. Police may become their targets. Politicians and other important persons may also be targeted," he told the country`s top police brass at the meeting, organised by the Intelligence Bureau. With intelligence reports suggesting that "sleeper cells" of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed being present in the country, the minister said "they can become active when needed by them (terrorist groups)."
Asking the participants to review terrorism minutely at the national level, the Home Minister said perfect, reliable and actionable intelligence was required to perform "policing in a proper manner". Patil favours inclusion of weaker sections in police
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Wednesday came out strongly in favour of weaker sections, women and minorities in having a "just-share" in the police. Addressing the country`s top police brass here, he said there was a demand that weaker sections of the society, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and minorities should have a just share in the police.
"These demands, the provisions of the constitution, laws and pronounced policies of the government should never be lost sight of, while recruiting the candidates in the police forces," Patil said in his speech at the meeting of police DGs and IGs, organised by the Intelligence Bureau.
Observing that the percentage of women police personnel needed to be increased, Patil said, "Let us endeavour in a just manner to achieve these objectives without delays. He cautioned that if this was not done in a proper manner, "all sections of the society might not enjoy the sense of security which should never be allowed to happen."
On police reforms, the Home Minister said there was an urgent need to replace the Police Act of 1861 with a new one to keep pace with growing challenges. Patil also spoke about crimes committed against weaker sections and senior citizens and said they should be approached by the governments and the police in their times of need and difficulties.
To meet new challenges of increasing dimensions, Patil suggested use of electronic gadgets on a larger and higher scale. Besides, there was a need to have more training centres and institutions, he added.
SC declines to quash interim bail granted to Dera Chief

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to quash the interim bail granted to controversial Dera Saccha Sauda chief, Baba Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim in the criminal cases filed against him by the CBI. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhan and V S Sirpurkar, while dismissing the SLP filed by the family of a murder victim, upheld the contention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the accused was entitled to an interim bail as the CBI had not arrested him during the investigations. The apex court found no merit in the submission of the petitioner that the Dera Chief was not entitled to any bail since he has been charged with various offences including two murders and a rape. The petition was filed by the family of Ram Chander Chhattarrapati, a journalist who was allegedly murdered at the instance of the Dera Chief.
On September 17, the High Court had granted interim bail to the Dera Chief till the sessions court in Ambala decided on the plea for a regular bail moved by the accused in the three cases registered against him by the CBI. The High Court had ruled that Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim would have to appear before the Sessions Court on October 4 and file a petition for regular bail, upon which he shall be released on interim bail.

SETHU-BJP
BJP member file case against Karunanidhi's remarks on Ram
Vijayawada: A BJP activist has filed a
private complaint at the First Metropolitan Magistrate court
here against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for
"hurting the sentiments of Hindus" by commenting against Lord
Ram.
State BJP Executive Member from Krishna District, D Kurma
Rao filed the private complaint yesterday.
Speaking to reporters here today, Rao said Karunanidhi
had questioned, "Whether Lord Ram was an Engineer who could
construct the Sethu, if so in which engineering college, he
studied."
Such irresponsible statements would hurt the sentiments
of the majority community in the country.
Hence, he should be punished under the provisions of the
Indian Penal Code under sections 295 and 298, Rao said.
Rao also said that the case has been posted to November
BAALU-CONTEMPT (MDS14)
PILs seeking Baalu's removal from cabinet,contempt proceedings
Chenna:Two separate petitions were today
filed in Madras High Court, seeking removal of T R Baalu from
Union Cabinet and initiation of contempt proceedings against
him for his alleged remarks against judiciary.
However, these public interest litigations filed by
Advocate R Balasubramanian, have not been numbered.
In one petition, Balasubramanian sought a direction to
the Prime Minister for recommending to the President to remove
Baalu from Union Cabinet for observing fast on Sethusamudram
project.
In another petition, he sought the court to take contempt
against Baalu for allegedly making some "derogatory remarks"
against the court during the fast.
He contended that ignoring the interim stay for the
Sethusamudram project, the DPA led by DMK, called for a bandh
on October 1.
Challenging this, he, AIADMK and Subramaniam Swamy had
filed petitions and the Madras High Court without granting
stay made some observations. Against this order, the AIADMK
moved the Supreme Court and the apex court stayed the bandh
call by DPA.
Following this, Chief Minister observed fast. Baalu also
participated in the fast and made some "derogatory remarks"
against the judiciary, he added.
He contended that Baalu while holding the office of Union
Cabinet Minister for Shipping and Surface Transport, had
undergone fast. This was not only against the apex court order
but also against the Union Government. This was in violation
of the oath taken by him when he was sworn in as a Member of
Parliament, he added.
Over 25,000 Gurjars lodged in Rajasthan jails
Jaipur: Over 25,000 Gurjars, who were
among the nearly 65,000 members of the community who courted
arrest over their demand of Scheduled Tribe quota status
yesterday, are lodged in different jails of Rajasthan.
The process of registering their whereabouts and
putting them inside permanent or temporarily-created jails in
school and college premises was still underway, IGP (Prison) J
K Sharma told PTI here.
The exact number of Gurjars inside prisons would be
known by tomorrow morning, he said.
However, no one has been granted bail so far as all
protestors are awaiting clearance from the Gurjar Mahasabha
whether to stay inside or seek bail, a spokesman of the
Mahasabha said.
Congress MP Sachin Pilot was lodged in the Jaipur
Central Jail, while Gurjar patron Colonel (retd) Kirori Singh
Bainsala, Mahasabha co-convenor Roop Singh and Atar Singh
Bhadana are in Bharatpur and expelled BJP leader Prahalad
Gunjal is in Kota jail, he said.
SIDDHIVINAYAK-HC
HC asks for intelligence reports on threat to Siddhivinayak
Mumbai:The Bombay High Court today asked
Maharashtra government to produce "inputs" given by
intelligence agencies regarding threat perception to the
famous Siddhivinayak temple here.
Hearing a PIL on security wall around the temple, the
direction of the division bench of Justices J N Patel and
Amjed Sayed followed a statement by state Advocate General
Ravi Kadam that police had received specific information from
intelligence agencies that terrorists could target
Siddhivinayak temple.
"We had specific inputs about two or three targets in the
state, and Siddhivinayak was one of them," Kadam said,
justifying city police's suggestion to temple trust to build a
security wall.
The PIL, filed by Vinod Desai and other residents of the
area around the temple, seeks demolition of the wall -- built
at a cost of Rs six crore -- as it blocks off three roads.
When asked by the judges whether wall made the temple
"foolproof" from terror attacks, Kadam said there could not be
foolproof security, but the wall was built in anticipation of
a direct attack with the use of explosives-laden vehicle.
The court then asked the government to make available the
reports received from intelligence agencies and to state
whether the agencies were satisfied with the wall as a
solution. "Intelligence agencies should inspect security
arrangments, that will assure the devotees," judges said.
As an aside, in an apparent reference to another PIL that
alleges misuse of funds by Siddhivinayak temple trust, the
judges said, "We are dealing with two aspects of threats to
the temple ... One from terrorists, another from trustees ..."
http://www.hindu. com/2007/ 09/28/stories/ 2007092855231200 .htm
Where fusion cannot work — faith and history Romila Thapar If there is strong religious faith among millions of people, it does not require to be protected through massive political demonstrations and the killing of innocent persons. Nor do archaeology and history have to be brought in to keep that faith intact. Faith finds its own place and function, as do archaeology and history. And the place and function of each is separate.

Faith and history have been brought into conflict once again by being forced to jointly occupy the same public space in contemporary India. In effect, there should be no conflict if it is recognised that the two are irreconcilable and that they cannot be fused together. They are independent of each other. Their premises, their methods of enquiry, and their formulations are dissimilar. So instead of trying to conflate them, it might be better to concede the difference and m aintain the distance.
When historians speak of the historicity of person, place, or event, they require evidence — singular or plural — that proves the existence of any of these and this evidence is based on data relating to space and time. The two important spaces in the Valmiki Ramayana are Ayodhya and Lanka, on the location of which scholarly opinion differs.
The location of Lanka, for example, has been disputed by Indian scholars for the past century and remains unidentified with any certainty. Some have located it in the Vindhyas — in Amarkantak or in Chota Nagpur — and others in the Mahanadi delta. The identification with present day Sri Lanka is problematic. The earliest name for Ceylon judging by Indian and Greek and Latin references of the Mauryan and post-Mauryan period was Tamraparni (Taprobane in Greek). Ashoka in the third century BC, in one of his edicts, mentions Tamraparni as on the frontier. Later, the more commonly used name was Sinhala or Sinhala-dvipa, (Silam or Sieledib in Greek). It would seem that the name Lanka was a later adoption of the centuries AD.
This becomes puzzling for the historian. If Valmiki was referring to Ceylon, then the name should have been the one by which the island was known, either Tamraparni or else Sinhala, at the time of his composition. But since the name used is Lanka, which at this time appears not to have been the name for Ceylon, then perhaps Lanka was located elsewhere. The location of the Ram Setu would have to be reconsidered. This has been suggested by scholars who have argued that the setu was more likely located in a small expanse of water in central India and not in the Palk Straits. Nor is the setu referred to in every version of the story. Alternatively, if Lanka in the text is a reference to Ceylon, then the composition of the Valmiki poem would have to be dated to a later period when the island came to be called Lanka. All this uncertainty is quite apart from the question of the technical viability of building a bridge across a wide stretch of sea in the centuries BC.
It is said that the Ram Setu is cultural heritage and therefore cannot be destroyed even if it is a natural geological formation and not man-made. Has the idea become the heritage? To search for a non-existent man-made structure takes away from the imaginative leap of a fantasy and denies the fascinating layering of folk-lore. It would be more appropriate to recognise the undersea formations in the Palk Straits as a natural heritage and protect the relevant areas. We pay no attention to the fact that such marine parks are as important to our ecological future as those visible on the landscape.
That Rama is central to variant versions of the story is, in itself, not evidence of historicity. If the variants contradict each other as they do, this may create problems for those who believe that only one of the variants is true. But multiple variants enrich the interest of historical and comparative analyses in assessing the degree to which each approximates, if at all, to the historical past or what the divergence symbolises.
The two closest in time to the Valmiki are the Buddhist and Jaina variants. The Buddhist version in the Dasaratha Jataka differs entirely from the Valmiki. Rama is the son of the raja of Varanasi; exile is to the Himalayas; and there is no kidnapping of Sita by Ravana.
The earliest of many Jaina versions, the Padmacharita of Vimalasuri, dating to the centuries AD, contradicts all earlier versions and states that it is doing so in order to present the correct version of what happened. It differs substantially from the Valmiki narrative. Ravana is not a demonic villain but a human counter-hero. It presents the story in the conceptual framework of Jainism.
These other versions might be objected to or dismissed by the person who has faith in the Valmiki version since the other versions differ. What is of interest to the historian is not the number of variant versions, which is impressively large, but why major changes were introduced into these.
This does not happen with the biographies of those who were known to be historical figures and who founded belief systems: the Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammad. Their biographies adhere largely to a single story-line and this helps to endorse the ‘official’ narrative of their life. Their existence is recorded in other sources as well that are not just narratives of their lives but have diverse associations. The historicity of the Buddha, for example, is established, among other things, by the fact that a couple of centuries after he died, the emperor Ashoka on a visit to Lumbini had a pillar erected to commemorate the Buddha’s place of birth. This is recorded in an inscription on the pillar.
If the current debate had grown from a genuine sense of enquiry, historians might have participated. Human activity has a historical context and this is open to historical comment. But it is only too evident that the issue of the Ram Setu has become a matter of political strategy on the part of those who are mobilising in the name of faith, and on the part of those who are reacting to the mobilisation. From the point of view of archaeology and history, the Archaeological Survey of India was correct in stating that there is to date no evidence to conclusively prove the historicity of Rama. The annulling of this statement was also a political act. Reliably proven evidence is of the utmost significance to history but not so to faith. Blasphemy does not lie in doubting historicity.
The historian is not required to pronounce on the legitimacy of faith. But the historian can try and explain the historical context to why, in a particular space and time, a particular faith acquires support. And we need to remind ourselves that our heritage has been constantly enriched not just by those of faith but also by those who contend with faith.
If there is a strong faith — in the religious sense — among millions of people, then it does not require to be protected through massive demonstrations and the killing of innocent persons, through political mobilisation. Nor do archaeology and history have to be brought in to keep that faith intact. Faith finds its own place and function, as do archaeology and history. And the place and function of each is separate.
To say that the partial removal of an underwater formation in the Palk Straits is going to hurt the faith of millions is not giving faith its due. Is faith so fragile that it requires the support of an underwater geological formation believed to have been constructed by a deity? Making faith into a political issue in order to win elections is surely offensive to faith?
What is at issue is not whether Rama existed or not, or whether the underwater formation or a part of it was originally a bridge constructed at his behest. What is at issue is a different and crucial set of questions that require neither faith nor archaeology but require intelligent expertise: questions that are being wilfully diverted by bringing in faith. Will the removal of a part of the natural formation eventually cause immense ecological damage and leave the coasts of south India and Sri Lanka open to catastrophes, to potential tsunamis in the future? Or can it be so planned that such a potentiality is avoided?
What would be the economic benefits of such a scheme in enhancing communication and exchange? Would the benefits reach out to local communities and if so, how? Equally important, one would like to know precisely what role will be played by the multinational corporations and their associates in India. Who will finance and control the various segments of such an immense project? It is only when such details are made transparent that we will also get some clues to the subterranean activities that are doubtless already simmering. These are the questions that should be asked of this project and that at this point in time should be occupying public space.
(Romila Thapar is a distinguished historian of ancient India. She is the author of several books, including Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, 1961; A History of India: Volume I, 1966; Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300, 2002; and Somanatha: The Many Voices of History, 2005. An expanded version of this article will be published in Economic and Political Weekly, 29 September 2007.)
In Conversation with Mr Bhagwan Das
'It is good to break and bad to continue with a tradition that has subjugated the Dalits'
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Mr Bhagwan Das is one of the most reputed scholar on Ambedkarism and the issue of Human Rights of Scheduled Castes. Widely traveled, Mr Bhagwan Das has spoken at various national & international platforms on the conditions of Dalits in India and what is the best way of their emancipation. In freewheeling conversation with Vidya Bhushan Rawat, he speak of the state of Dalit movement as well as political parties in India.
What is your reaction to the state of Dalit Movement today? There are so many republican parties as well as different caste based organizations. Then there is political philosophy of BAMSEF and BSP. What do you think is the future?
When Ambedkar entered the field he started Independent Labor Party and in that he not only had untouchable leaders but leaders from other communities such as upper castes who joined the movement and the party. In 1940 he felt that it was not enough so he formed Scheduled Castes Federation and it was exclusively for the untouchables of India. After India's independence he felt that SCF was meaningless hence he started Republican Party of India and it was not a party exclusively for the SC people. He wanted to broaden the base and take up the economic cause for advancement of India but people who took over the leadership of RPI did not understand him and did not want to follow him. They wanted RPI for caste mobilization and hence it split on caste lines. Today there are so many wings of RPI that you do not even know.
You have been critical of BAMSEF? What were the basic differences that you found with them?
BAMSEF is not a political party. It says it is backward, SC and minority employees' federation. If it is an employee federation than it is not a political party. BAMSEF was actually started by some people in Poona. They say we are trying to raise the consciousness of the people but how can a party, which has no political ideology and progrmme do that. But even today, strictly speaking it is not a political party. It is still utter confusion and now it has got spilt into three. And each speaking its own language and frankly speaking dominated by Chamar community in certain areas. In some areas of Vidarbha, it is dominated by the Mahars. It does not have an all India appeal because to organize SCs is not an easy job because they are divided into more than 800 castes. And there are castes and sub castes. Cast rivalry in there. Chamars are divided into more than 60 castes while Sweepers are divided into 12 castes. Valmikis are dominating the sweeper community but they cannot carry Dhanuks, Hellas, Doms and others with them.
So Dalit movement became a movement of a few enlightened castes. When I started Ambedkar Mission movement, I asked in writing that one member of the family must marry outside his /her parental caste. That is the only way to show that you work against casteism. In my case, I have relationship with 67 communities including Malas, Dhanuks etc. If you do not do it and then what is the use of saying that you want to break it?
What has conversion changed for the Dalits? One great Dalit cultural icon blamed conversion for taking away the revolutionary spirit from the community.
It is good to break and bad to continue in the tradition that has subjugated you. It is also important to understand whether it take away the revolutionary spirit or not. It is lack of understanding. Look at this way, if you continue to divide on caste lines you can never become a strong force. All Shudra castes are divided. And atishudras are hopelessly divided because of reservation as it gave opportunities only those which one enlightened made use of reservation and not others. In western UP, it was Jatavs who were the business and lay out number of educated people actually monopolized the jobs. What about others? In case they continue to remain in their communities/cast and not broaden their base, there is no hope. Second, here you are strengthening Hinduism, a religion which has exploited you because in ceremonies such as marriages, cremations, festivals, Mundans, you are following them and strengthening it. You are not strengthening yourself. In case the Dalit embrace other religion what will happen? They embraced Christianity but maintain caste. They embrace Islam and maintain caste because Islamic society is divided into three main castes Ashraf, Ajlaf and Afjals. Ashrafs are Shaikhs, Syed, Mughals and Pathans who came with invaders and they looked down upon people who converted here who were Ajlaf. And the third category people were the working class people; the lower castes and untouchables who converted to Islam were termed as Afjals. Today Butchers ( Khatiq) converted and claim that he is a Quraishi because they came from outside. Julaha is an untouchable caste but after conversion he claims himself as Ansari who came from Ansar. This fact remains despite all claims that Muslim society remains divided into three castes and there is no inter marriages. Christianity, Islam and Sikhism have failed because they were sticking to the originality of religion, presence of God and a book, which was allegedly created by God.
If people continue to be divided on caste line then what is the future? Religion is nominal or little value for the people. They stick to it mostly for political reasons, not because it gives them identity and history but majority of people who are forced into different religions, they only use it for marriages and burial. Nothing wrong with it. Dr Ambedkar thought, we need a revolutionary change and for that religion has to be changed. It needs to be on reason, compassion and brotherhood. He studied Buddhism and as Lord Buddha said towards the end of his life that there is no place for God. He wanted happiness of the people too. Unfortunately, the leaders of Buddhism were not able to carry that message. They maintained caste and at the same time call themselves as Buddhist.
What is the status of Dalit movement today?
Unfortunately, the movement never reached the agrarian communities. Dr Ambedkar chalked out a programme to reach 70% of our population, which lives in villages and was treated by the dominant communities very badly. If it is Marathas, Kunbis in Maharastra, it is Jaats and Gujjars in UP. He thought that Bengal is different. IN Bengal land went to Dalits because of reforms. Unfortunately, the leadership of the movement came from the urban areas. Educated, semi educated people took over the leadership of the movement. The movement did not go beyond that. Some people tried to educate people in the villages but working in the villages is very different, because society there is horizontally and vertically divided and land holding community is the worst enemy. What Ambedkar did was that he gave a call to the people to migrate to the cities. So the people who could not face situation in the rural areas migrated to urban areas but then the situation differs in every state.
In southern states the situation is slightly better in the sense because land was owned by the Brahmins and they have been thrown out in South but in the North India the land was not owned by the Brahmins but by the other people. They are the middle communities and became Hinduised. The village movement of landless people has not been initiated by RPI. They had it in their programme but it was never promoted because most of the leaders came from cities who were interested in winning reserve seats and used poor people for winning elections only.
Scavenger remains the lowest among the Dalits. How do you describe their condition today? What are the impediments in their development?
It is not a community itself. It is divided into 12-14 castes. But in South the division is not that bad. In Andhra Madigas who are basically Chamars but 7 castes among them work as scavengers hence the division is not that strict and harsh as in North India. Most of them are employed under the municipality, cantonment boar, and station staff offices. They have long traditions of people exploiting them and promoted as Jamadars in their department. Inspite of the fact that it is a lowly paid occupation, people pay bribe to get jobs even in Delhi you have to pay bribe to get job under MCD.
Unfortunately, efforts have not been made to unite the sweepers. Why? Because you took up the cause of one particular area and you choose a leader from these quarters. Others are working as private quarters in Mohallas under the bridge system. In this system you work under several masters, get left over food, old cloths, food on marriage or any other festivals so it is not but several local masters.
If they unite for economical weakness, they do not remain so for long. That is why the sweepers and scavengers even today remains to be one of the poorest and backward communities. One reason is leadership, second is economic and third is your locality. And this job does not need hard work. It is definitely a dirty work and looked down upon by every body. These factors resulted in many problems, like drinking and wasteful expenditure. Hindusiation has weakened them as they imitate. Efforts have not been made by different people and leaders to unite different castes and make them acquainted with the programmes of the government. Even the commissions have not been able to do that. Educationally, they are backwards because drop out rate is very high. Efforts have not been made to spread education in these classes.
I have been associated with the movement from the age of 16. I have also been associated with labor movement. Unfortunately ambitious political people take benefit of ignorance and backwardness of these people. Right kind of people are now training the Dalits and giving leadership but unfortunately 'illterate' people with little knowledge are long in the way and I think there is hardly any organization free from these accusations- Congress, BJP and others.
I am happy with the new youngs writing about the movements. When I meet them in conferences and seminars, I feel there is hope, though it is not easy. The population of right thinking people is taking an upward trend. Could you ev

Emerging Market Decides the Fate Of Asia

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Emerging-market CEOs used to play it quiet. Now some are embracing capitalist celebrity, flaunting their winnings in the public eye.
By Joseph Contreras
Newsweek International
Oct. 8, 2007 issue - Most CEOs favor pinstripes and French cuffs. Not Yevgeny Chichvarkin. Last year, when the brash Muscovite cell-phone magnate gave a keynote address at a London conference on the Russian economy, he wore ripped jeans and a red leather biker jacket. Marketing campaigns for his Evroset chain of cell-phone and electronics stores leave little to the imagination—"When our competitors see our prices, they'll know they're screwed." But behind his swagger and expensive sports cars is a dead-serious businessman. Evroset, now the third largest retailer in Russia, had $4.62 billion in sales last year at 5,200 branches in a dozen countries. And unlike oligarchs who made their money slicing and dicing companies once owned by the Soviet state, Chichvarkin did it on his own—and he isn't modest about his achievements. "This country has never seen a company like ours," he boasts. "I have 37,000 employees, and I don't want to run them the way Russian companies used to manage people. I have a simple logic—make money and teach the person next to you how to make money."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21047402/site/newsweek/
ULFA-BLAST
ULFA attacks police outpost
Guwahati: The outlawed ULFA today attacked
a police outpost in Assam's Nagaon district exploding a
grenade and damaging a couple of vehicles parked there but
there were no injuries.
The grenade thrown at the Itachali police outpost,
situated in the heart of Nagaon town, exploded in the open
field next to it, police said. A car and a motorcycle were
damaged. No one was injured in the blast.
In order to expedite the process for formulation of the 11th plan, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked the Planning Commission to do away with the regional consultations with the state chief ministers. The PMO, in a communication to the Planning Commission, has said that the approach paper to the plan was prepared in consultation with states and hence further deliberations with the state governments may be dispensed with. In the usual course, the plan document is finalised after regional consultations, which take place at six centres with the chief ministers of that particular region and the deputy chairman and members of the Planning Commission.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that he will resign as army chief before November 15 and hoped by then Pakistan's political situation has settled "for the better".
Burma’s military rulers have restricted the movement of food during the ongoing political unrest, hampering UN efforts to feed some 500,000 people in the impoverished country, the World Food Program said. After days of delays, Myanmar's reclusive junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, finally granted an audience Tuesday to a U.N. envoy hoping to broker an end to Myanmar's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. The government later permitted a second encounter between the diplomat and Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained Nobel laureate who has come to symbolize the yearning for democracy in Myanmar.
Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.'s special envoy, met Than Shwe in the junta's remote new capital, Naypyitaw, a U.N. statement said. It said he then flew to Yangon and talked to Suu Kyi.

"We appeal to the authorities for access to all parts of the country," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement on Friday. She said the hungry are primarily young children, as well as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis patients who desperately need assistance. The WFP’s operations "rely on the government to facilitate the movement of food and personnel," she said.The junta’s forces opened fire on two days to crush demonstrations by Buddhist monks and civilians, who have been demanding an end to military rule and the restoration of democracy.
Two separate demonstrations were held in Indonesia on Wednesday outside the Myanmar embassy to urge the military junta there to stop using violence after a deadly crackdown on mass protests.
In United Anations,Pakistan raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, including the alleged human rights violations, and also the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal at the United Nations on Wednesday.Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan also took a stand opposite of India on the issue of Security Council reforms. In his speech at the UN General Assembly, Khan said India and Pak must now seize the opportunity provided by conducive international and regional environment to address the problems ''especially the Jammu and Kashmir that has been at the heart of conflict and tension'' in South Asia.Khan is leading Pakistan's delegation to the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly in the absence of the President, Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister.Terming Kashmir as a dispute in South Asia, which is ''yet to be resolved'', Khan said both the countries will have to ''demonstrate political will courage and flexibility.''
Seoul: Leaders of the two Koreas began formal talks on Wednesday at the first summit between the divided countries in seven years and North Korea's Kim Jong Il appeared to warm to his South Korean visitor after an initial chilly reception.According to South Korean pool reports, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told Kim he was concerned about flooding in the North, where this year's summer rains left some 600 people dead or missing and tens of thousands homeless.North Korea delayed the summit from its original late August date due to the disaster.Before talks began at a state guesthouse in Pyongyang, Roh presented gifts to the North Korean leader that included a bookcase full of South Korean DVDs, featuring popular soap operas and productions starring Lee Young-ae, believed to be Kim's favorite starlet.North Korea has endorsed an agreement to dismantle all of its nuclear facilities by the end of the year, according to a joint six-nation statement released by China in Beijing today, the state-run Xinhua News Agency ...
New delhi: The looming threat of a snap poll have made the government go in for an image makeover. The exercise includes an almost Rs 100 crore multimedia publicity blitz.A Mumbai-based publicity firm, Percept, will conduct the campaign to advertise the government's policies for the common man. So how's this different from the NDA's 'India Shining' campaign which backfired in the 2004 election?Well, for one, the government campaign will be low-key. In fact the government's not even calling it an ad-campaign.Reports NDTV.com
''We are not planning a blitz but we need to tell the people about the schemes. So we are working at a strategy. It's not like 'India Shining'. It's low profile,'' said Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Minister, I&B.And secondly, they will focus on the small and medium newspapers to reach rural India.
''From our own experience we know overkill does not work,'' said Ravi Shankar Prasad, Former I&B Minister.
The UPA decided that the blitz was the right thing after the Left went against it on the nuke deal. But when are the elections, no one really knows. Still the UPA's decision to charm the common man is perhaps an indicator that elections are round the bend.
As directed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Planning Commission is required to finalise the 11th plan document for consideration by the cabinet and full plan panel during first week of November. The government is proposing to hold National Development Council (NDC) meeting on December 9 to approve the 11th plan, which seeks to accelerate economic growth to 9% from 7.2% achieved in the previous plan. As decided at the NDC meeting on agriculture in May, the strategy under the 11th plan would be to bridge the yield gaps in major crops by adopting region specific measures. The plan would also focus on the education sector with the overall objective of substantially increasing the enrolment ratio during the plan period - 2007-12. Last month, the full Planning Commission on education sector had decided to set up 8 IITs, 7 IIMs and 5 Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research.

Mehbooba meets Antony on troop cut in J and K
As new Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor ruled out reduction of troops in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti met Defence Minister A K Antony seeking immediate pull out of some troops but failed to get any assurance.
Mehbooba met Antony yesterday but the Defence Minister did not give any assuarance to her and told her any decision to this effect would be taken in accordance with the professional advice. According to a press release issued by PDP here today, Mehbooba reasoned that troop reduction could pave way for an enabling atmosphere for the peace process which would lead to a lasting solution of the Kashmir issue. She also enquired about the decision taken on the report submitted by the Defence Secretary, the release said.
Gen Kapoor had said there cannot be any curtailment of army's role in combating terrorism keeping in view the geo-political situation vis-a-vis the threat from terrorists.
The army chief also made it clear that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir does not warrant any withdrawal of forces. "As and when things improve, we can take a fresh look at troop positions," he had said.

Nine militants and two Army majors killed in fierce gunbattle
Srinagar: Two Army Majors and nine militants
were killed in a marathon gun battle that ended today in a
forested area in Baramulla district in one of the fiercest
encounters in recent months in Jammu and Kashmir.
Rashtriya Rifles majors - Dinesh Raghuraman and K P
Vinay - succumbed to the bullet injuries sustained while
leading the operations against the terrorists who had
infiltrated from across the Line of Control in the Gulmarg
sector, an army spokesman said. Three jawans and a soldier
were also injured in the encounter that lasted 38 hours.
Fighting broke out late Monday in the forested Tangmarg
area after Army personnel surrounded a house at Ringiwalla
Khall village in Baramulla district where the militants,
including Bilal Afghani, district commander of Al Badar, had
taken refuge.
The army, after recovering the bodies of nine militants,
were still conducting search operations in the area for arms
and ammunition.
Major Vinay, who hails from Hyderabad, was leading the
army onslaught and was hit at the start of the operation,
while his colleague Major Raghuraman braving heavy gun fire
was shot while going to rescue the former.
Vinay died hours after receiving bullet injuries while
Raghuraman succumbed to his injuries at the base hospital at
Srinagar in the wee hours of today.
A police spokesman said five houses and two mud houses
were damaged in the prolonged exchange of fire between the two
sides.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including nine AK
assault rifles, 35 magazines and six wireless sets, were
recovered from the slain militants, the spokesman said.
UN envoy meets Myanmar Chief
UN envoy completed his mission to Myanmar but emerged with no immediate solution to the military junta's absolute refusal to address their people's insistent demands for democracy.After days of delays, Ibrahim Gambari and Myanmar's reclusive junta leader Senior General Than Shwe sat in the same room together for more than an hour on Tuesday in the remote capital of Naypyitaw.But neither side issued any comment that could satisfy the world's hopes for a halt to the junta's harsh crackdown on protesters.Gambari then flew to Yangon to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained Nobel laureate who has come to symbolise the yearning for democracy in Myanmar. It was his second meeting in three days with Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest.The meeting with Than Shwe was expected but the one with Suu Kyi came as a surprise. As the envoy flew out of the country, the United Nations released photos of a grim-faced Gambari and equally somber Suu Kyi shaking hands at Myanmar's State Guest house.Re[ports NDTV.com
Brief Ban Ki Moon
Gambari is expected to brief UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the UN Security Council on Friday on the outcome of his trip, diplomats said.
Dissident groups say up to 200 protesters were slain and 6,000 detained in the junta's crackdown last week, while the regime has only admitted to 10 deaths.
Foreign governments have urged the junta to free Suu Kyi as well as the detainees, including thousands of Buddhist monks who led the protests.
In Geneva on Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Council condemned the military's crackdown on opposition protests and urged an immediate investigation of the situation.
The 47-nation council said it ''strongly deplores continued violent repression of peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar, including through beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances.''
In Yangon, the country's main city, the curfew was scaled back to six hours and security forces lightened their presence.
Many residents launched a new form of protest, switching off their lights and television sets from 8 pm to 8:15 pm, during the government's night newscast.
Silent protest
The ''silent protest'' began on Monday and continued on Tuesday, even though state television showed pictures of the Gambari-Than Shwe meeting, which also included No 2 leader Deputy Senior General Maung Aye and two other top generals.
Simmering anger against the junta exploded in mid-August after it hiked fuel prices by as much as 500 percent, a crushing burden in this impoverished nation.
The marches soon ballooned into mass pro-democracy demonstrations led by the nation's revered Buddhist monks.
Thousands of monks were still in detention, reportedly held in makeshift prisons around Yangon. It was clear, however, that people were still looking to them to lead the democracy protests.
In the town of Bago, residents refused to donate food to the 1,020 monks at the Kha Khat Waing monastery because the abbot blocked his charges from joining the democracy protests.
Residents in Mandalay were equally angry with the abbot of the Masoe Yeain monastery.
''People have come to believe that the junta has sort of bought off the abbots of major monasteries to prevent junior monks from protesting,'' a local resident told The Associated Press over phone.
But at a shrine in downtown Yangon, Buddhist faithful prayed and touched their foreheads on the ground on Tuesday.
Two-dozen soldiers patrolled outside but there were no barricades along the street and stores were open even in the late afternoon.
Story Finder 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
From: no matters
To: frameup@yahoogroups .com
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Subject: Halliburton Mercenaries in Burma while Cheney CEO
Related : White security in Burma - Israeli linked?
(YouTube blew off the video. If someone finds another copy please let me know in comments of any posting. Thanks.)
---
Oil companies look to exploit Burma Sydney Morning Herald
The Real Butchers of Baghdad: G. W. Bush and His Corporate Mercenaries
In fact, many of the same crimes being committed in Iraq were committed by Halliburton mercenaries in Burma while Cheney was CEO. The Institute for Public Accuracy reports, "Cheney's Halliburton also profited enormously from projects around the world that have been widely condemned for horrendous human rights abuses and massive environmental destruction.
The Companies They Keep in Burma
The Unocal Corporation figured earlier in internationally backed Burmese campaigns against forced labor, land appropriation and similar other gross human-rights violations in the gas and oil projects initiated by the junta behind the people's backs. The affected villagers came together in 1996 and sued Unocal and France 's Total for complicity in the abuses. The villagers charged that the companies knew about and benefited from the Burmese army's use of torture, rape and unlawful land seizures to uproot people from areas slated for "development. " The lawsuits were settled after the companies agreed to make due compensation only eight years later, in 2004.
--Doug Bracewell/ mparent
http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/2007/ 10/halliburton- mercenaries- in-

LD AMBUSH
Militants ambush CRPF personnel in Manipur, four killed
Imphal, Oct 3 (PTI) Two CRPF convoys were ambushed at two
places by militants in Manipur, killing four CRPF jawans and
injuring nine others seriously today, official sources said.
The militants, who were hiding by the roadside, hurled
grenades and fired at the convoy of 143rd battalion of CRPF
headed from Imphal to None area in Tamenglong district at
Khoklong, about 20 km from here, they said.
The CRPF retaliated and the exchange of fire lasted more
than two hours, which left four jawans dead and nine others
wounded, sources said.
The militants, however, managed to escape.
The dead were identified as H Kunjamohon, A B Reddy,
Javen Khan and H C Shivkumar. The condition of some of the
injured was stated to be critical.
CRPF personnel from Langjing headquarters, near here,
rushed to Khoklong, but were ambushed at Patsoi area on the
way, sources said adding, there was no casualty in the second
attack.
The CRPF and police launched a massive manhunt at Patsoi,
but no arrest was reported so far.
The banned People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak
(Prepak) has claimed responsibility for the two ambushes.
On Sunday, Prepak had ambushed an Assam Rifles patrol
killing one personnel and injuring another at Umathel area in
interior Thoubal district.
Prepak is one of the major insurgent groups which has
been fighting for 'an independent Manipur' for three decades
now.
US-EXCERCISE
US to begin terror exercise as last one's results lays pending
Washington, Oct 3 (AP) America is preparing for its
biggest terrorism exercise ever next week when three fictional
"dirty bombs" go off and cripple transportation arteries in
two major US cities and Guam, according to a document obtained
by The Associated Press.
Yet even as this drill begins, details from the
previous national exercise held in 2005 have yet to be
publicly released -- information that is supposed to help
officials prepare for the next real attack.
Today House lawmakers were expected to demand answers,
including why the "after-action" report from 2005 hasn't been
made public. Congress has required the exercise since 2000,
but has done little in the way of oversight beyond attending
the actual events.
Next week will be the fourth Top Officials exercise,
dubbed TOPOFF. The program costs about USD 25 million a year
and involves the federal government's highest officials, such
as top people from the Defense and Homeland Security
departments.
"The challenge with TOPOFF is not the exercise itself.
It's to move as quickly as possible to remedy what perceives
to be the problems that are uncovered," former Homeland
Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in an interview with AP this
week.
Ridge, who launched his own security consulting
company on Monday, said he's a big fan of the TOPOFF
exercises. But he said "it's not acceptable" that the review
from the 2005 exercise is still not released publicly.
The House Homeland Security emergency communications,
preparedness and response subcommittee was holding a hearing
today on the terrorism exercise program.
MYANMAR-GENERALS
Myanmar generals not ready for talks: mediator
Bangkok, Oct 3 (AFP) Myanmar's crisis is far from over
because its ruling junta is not ready for real talk despite
fierce international pressure to do so, says a former mediator
who helped broker landmark contacts with the opposition.
Leon de Riedmatten, who as an informal mediator for
the United Nations was involved in contacts in 2003 between
the junta an democracy icon Aung San Suu Ki, warned that the
military government still faced major discontent.
De Riedmatten said he hoped something positive would
come from UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's mission to the
country following the bloody crackdown on mass protests.
"But we must also be very realistic about the
situation," said the Swiss, who represents the Centre for
Humanitarian Dialogue, a Geneva-based foundation that works
to reduce conflict through negotiation.
Myanmar's generals have "never negotiated anything,
they always impose their position and their will, and I do
not believe that has changed today," he told AFP in an
interview.
Gambari spent four days in Myanmar, leaving yesterday,
during which he had talks with junta supremo Senior General
Than Shwe and twice with Aung San Suu Kyi.
De Riedmatten, 55, said Gambari's shuttle diplomacy
between the generals' headquarters in the remote capital of
Naypyidaw, and the main city of Yangon where she is under
house arrest, possibly allowed an "exchange of views."
"But it is difficult at this stage to believe that it
can be the beginning of a new dialogue," said the
Myanmar-watcher who has had more contact with the opposition
leader than any other foreigner in recent years.
MYANMAR-MILITARY
Junta uses scare tactics to cow residents
Yangon, Oct 3 (AP) Myanmar' junta broadcast warning
from trucks that soldiers were searching for protesters, while
a UN envoy remained tight lipped today about his mission to
convince the military ruler to end heir crackdown on democracy
advocates.
Military vehicles patrolled the streets of Yangon
overnight and blared from loudspeakers that soldiers were
searching for protesters, "We have photographs. We are going
to make arrests!"
After day broke, an eerie quiet prevailed in Yangon,
as some semblance of normality returned to Myanmar's biggest
city, with some shops opening and light traffic plying on
roads.
However, "people are terrified and the underlying
forces of discontent have not been addressed," Shari
Villarosa, the acting US ambassador in Myanmar, said in
telephone interview.
"People have been unhappy for a long time," she told
The Associate Press in Bangkok, Thailand. "Since the events of
last week, there's now the unhappiness combined with anger,
and fear."
Simmering hatred for the military's 45-year rule
exploded in mid-August after it hiked fuel prices by as much
as 500 per cent, a crushing burden in this impoverished
nation.
The marches soon ballooned into mass pro-democracy
demonstrations led by the nation's revered Buddhist monks.
The military crushed the protests on September 26 and
27 with live ammunition, tear gas and by beating up
demonstrators. Hundreds of people were carted off to detention
camps. The government says 10 people were killed in the
violence. But dissident groups put the death toll at up to
200. They say 6,000 people were detained.
CHINA-INDIA
Sino-Indian border becoming "more amicable": China
Anil K Joseph
Beijing, Oct 3 (PTI) China's southwest border area
with India is growing "more amicable" with the militaries of
both sides ready to resolve problems, including incursions,
through polite negotiations, the state media reported today.
"From busy passes to lonely sentry posts high in the
Himalayas, Chinese personnel are warming to the uniformed
guards on the other side," the official Xinhua news agency
reported in a commentary on the current state of China's
22,000 km-long land borders with countries like Russia, India
and Vietnam.
Jin Guangyong, a People's Liberation Army (PLA)
soldier at a sentry post along China's southwestern border
with India, says Indian soldiers often shout "Hello" to greet
Chinese soldiers.
Isolated by snow for eight months a year, the two
sentry posts, separated by a canyon, are the only signs of
human habitation, clinging to the black and bare mountain.
"I can feel their loneliness, since we suffer it
ourselves. We respond to their greetings," Jin says.
But Major Ai Huaichun remembers skirmishes when troops
from the two sides confronted each other on patrol just a
decade ago.
"In the 1990s, meetings usually ended in squabbles
that solved nothing. The two parties could argue for hours
about whether a soldier had trespassed or not," says Ai, who
used to serve as interpreter at joint meetings for 11 years.
China and India fought over the border in 1962 and
hostility afflicted bilateral relations for decades until the
end of the 20th century, the report noted.
CHINA-INDIA 2
The year 2000 marked the 50th anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic ties between China and India,
which helped warm relations between the troops.
In June 2006, the Nathu La Pass, a century-old trading
post that sits 4,545 meters above sea level between Tibet and
Sikkim, was reopened after being closed 40 years ago.
"Border meetings have become more friendly. The two
sides tend to reflect on progress in Sino-Indian relations and
constructively plan for further exchanges," Ai said.
"Now, if problems like trespassing come to the meeting
table, both sides politely agree to further investigate and
then settle it through negotiations."
The regular meetings have resulted in the successful
repatriation of soldiers who became lost and strayed over the
border in 2003 and 2006.
"The meetings have enabled both sides to exchange
information promptly and resolve problems conveniently, which
has better maintained peace and stability," Colonel Zhang
Weiguo, head of the Chinese delegation at a meeting with
Indian border troops in May this year, was quoted as saying.
The unresolved Sino-Indian boundary has issue has
hampered the normal development of bilateral ties, analysts
say.
Unable to find a negotiated settlement through the
diplomatic channels, India and China appointed Special
Representatives in June 2003 to address the border issue from
a political perspective of the overall bilateral relations.
The Special Representatives of the two nations have
held 11 rounds of negotiations so far. The latest round was
held in Beijing from September 24-26.
CHINA-INDIA 3LST
India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms
of Jammu and Kashmir including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to
Beijing by Islamabad under the Sino-Pakistan boundary
agreement in 1963. China accuses India of possessing some
90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal
Pradesh.
According to China's white paper on National Defence
in 2006, China has signed land border treaties or agreements
with 12 of its 14 neighbours, with most of the demarcation
disputes settled. It is currently negotiating with India and
Bhutan to resolve boundary issues.
"China now shares the most peaceful borders with its
neighbours since the republic was established in 1949," deputy
secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament
Association, Teng Jianqun said.
China saw three major military conflicts along its
borders from the 1950s to the 1970s. "Since the 1980s, no
major border clashes have occurred and border troops have
gradually expanded exchanges with each other," Teng said.
He considers changes in the international environment,
particularly the demise of the Cold War mentality, as a key
factor in better border relations.
"There did exist territory disputes along the borders,
but the prevailing ideological bias during the Cold War period
served as a catalyst and worsened conflict," Teng says.
"The whole international climate has changed since the
end of the Cold War, as a country is no longer judged as a
friend or an enemy according to its political pattern, which
has helped China to rebuild relations with its neighbours," he
says.

US-INDIA
US programme to increase secure high-tech trade with India
Sridhar Krishnaswami
Washington, Oct 3 (PTI) The US Commerce Department has
announced a new programme to facilitate and increase
high-technology trade with India while maintaining a secure
American export control system.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has established the
Validated End-User (VEU) programme for India, which will make
transactions "easier, faster and more reliable with customers
that meet the security requirements of an inter-agency review
process," the Department of Commerce said in a statement.
It will help US exporters to "remain competitive in one
of the fastest-growing markets for American companies," the
statement said.
"As the world's largest democracy and a strategic
partner, India's growth has created new opportunities for US
businesses and workers. VEU will enable US companies to
capitalise on those opportunities by eliminating individual
licence requirements on exports of US-controlled items to
certain customers in India with a track record of responsible
use of such items," it said.
"American exporters benefit from access to India's
market, and the Validated End-User builds upon the enormous
progress made over the last six years in facilitating secure
high-technology trade and investment while strengthening our
cooperation on export controls," Gutierrez said.
The "common-sense approach" will make it easier for US
companies to sell American products to pre-screened customers
in India, while maintaining vigilance over US technologies, he
added.
US-INDIA 2
The VEU programme which was first announced by President
George W Bush in March 2006 and previewed by Gutierrez at the
US-India CEO Forum Last week, will increase US high-tech
exports to India and further align the economic and commercial
ties between the world's oldest and largest democracies.
"US exports to India have increased by 66 per cent since
2004. The VEU programme could facilitate millions of dollars
in additional US high-tech exports to India in such sectors as
electronics, avionics, aerospace, and life sciences," the
Commerce Department said.
"As India has taken significant steps to strengthen its
non-proliferation regime -- including the passage of the
landmark Weapons of Mass Destruction Bill creating an export
control system -- the US has updated its policies towards
India to reflect this progress.
"The percentage of total US exports to India requiring a
Commerce Department licence has plummeted to less than one per
cent from 24 per cent in 1999," it is pointed out.
The VEU programme is a result of India's progress in
developing an effective export control system, and will ensure
US companies are able to compete while giving companies in
India enhanced access to US products, the Commerce Secretary
said.
VEU for India was implemented through an update to the
Export Administration Regulations in the Federal Register.
India's eligibility for this programme was facilitated through
consultations with the Government of India at such fora as
the US-India High Technology Cooperation Group.
While US controls on exports to India have been eased
over the past several years through such bilateral
cooperation, VEU goes further by enabling licence-free exports
to authorised companies in India with a record of responsibly
using sensitive US technology, the Commerce Department said.
US-INDIA 3 LAST
(Reopen FGN24)
"Companies in India will apply for VEU status through the
Commerce Department. Commerce will continue to work with the
Government of India and private-sector groups to effectively
implement the VEU programme for maximum benefit to both
countries," the Department said.
It is being emphasised that while US export controls on
many items have been removed in recent years, certain
technologies such as advanced electronics still require an
individual export licence for sale to India.
Under the VEU programme, such technologies would not
require an individual licence if exported to a company
approved as a "Validated End-User."
Any end-user in India is eligible to apply for this
programme. In addition, US exporters may propose end-users for
VEU status.
BHUTTO-TALKS
Bhutto says talks with Musharraf "totally stalled"
London, Oct 3 (PTI) Former Pakistan Premier Benazir
Bhutto today said her talks with President Pervez Musharraf on
a possible power-sharing deal were "totally stalled" and
dismissed as a "disinformation campaign" reports of amnesty to
her over corruption cases.
Bhutto, who plans to return home from self-imposed exile
on October 18, said the understanding with Musharraf, which
was being reached, was "very near" at the end of last month.
"But since then it's been totally stalled."
"The present regime cannot salvage the situation...I'm
afraid we are heading for a situation that co

Attempted Self-Immolation
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Ex-MP Anand Mohan gets death sentence in DM lynching

A former MP and JD-U leader Anand Mohan was sentenced to death by a local court which also awarded life imprisonment to his wife, also an ex-MP, on Wednesday in a murder case where the then Gopalganj District Magistrate was lynched by a mob 13 years back.

Anand, Lovely break down as judge passes sentence
Zeenews.com
Baghpat: Five Uttar Pradesh policemen, recruited during Samajwadi Party rule but dismissed by Mayawati dispensation, today made an abortive bid to immolate themselves inside a police station in the district in protest against their sacking. Police sources said the constables, who were posted at Chhaprauli police station, sprinkled kerosene oil over themselves and were about to light a matchstick when other policemen thwarted their attempt.
The BSP government has so far dismissed over 18,000 police personnel and suspended 25 senior IPS officers for their alleged involvement in the police recruitment scam.
For The Gain of The many and For The Happiness of The many (Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukahay)-Governor, C.M., freedom fighters and a large number of people pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi -Ensure basic amenities to poor, UP Governor tells babus -CIC serves notice on Amitabh Bachchan

For The Gain of The many and For The Happiness of The many (Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukahay)

Governor, C.M., freedom fighters and a large number of people pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi

Lucknow : October 02, 2007 The Uttar Pradesh Governor Mr. T.V. Rajeswar and Chief Minister Km. Mayawati, while paying tributes to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, said that following his ideology and values would be real tribute to him. Both of them were addressing a function held at the Tilak Hall after garlanding Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait to mark the Gandhi Jayanti here today. On the occasion, the Governor said that Mahatma Gandhi adopted satya and ahimsa as a weapon in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags” /> South Africa . After his arrival in India , he took non-violence and fasting as his tools and achieved freedom for the country. Mr. Rajeswar said that Gandhiji wanted to serve the poor and downtrodden of the society and it would be befitting if we could provide basic amenities like health and education to them. Km. Mayawati, in her address, said that the Gandhi Jayanti was an occasion, when all of us should take resolve, to build a new India by drawing inspiration from the struggle and sacrifice made by him. She said that, on this day, we should think about the poor people living in villages of the country. The political freedom had provided us an opportunity to chalk out our future, she pointed out. It was still a long way to go on the path of struggle shown by great men like Jyotiba Phule, Shahuji Maharaj, Narayana Guru, Periarji, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Manyawar Kanshiramji, she added. These personalities had guided the dalits and weaker sections of the society to fight for their self-respect and rights, she said. The C.M. said that the State Government had taken resolve to establish an equality-based society in U.P. She said that Gandhiji had a different economic vision and he intended to build the nation on the basis of this vision. The problem of unemployment was still a big challenge before us and the Gandhian pattern of economy could be answer to it, she said. He wanted to serve the poor people of the country and the cottage industry and Gramodyog could provide a large number of employment opportunities to the people in the rural areas at the local level, she stated. Km. Mayawati also remembered the services of the late Lal Bahadur Shastri and paid homage to him. She said that he followed the ideology of simple living and high thinking. He was a man of simplicity and firm determination, she pointed out. The programme began with Vande Mataram. Some favourite bhajans of Bapu were also sung on the occasion. On the conclusion, the Governor and C.M. took the oath of building an India of Bapu’s dream. The Cabinet Minister, Mr. Satish Chandra Mishra, veteran freedom fighters and a large number of senior administrative officers were present at the function. In another programme held at the local Gandhi Ashram, the Chief Minister garlanded the statue of Bapu and inaugurated ’suta yajna’ for promoting khadi. Announcing 10 per cent rebate on the khadi clothes, she said that all the difficulties come in way of the development of khadi would be resolved. She directed the officers that the difficulties being faced by khadi should be brought to her notice and the State Government would make all possible efforts to remove them. A large number of ministers, senior officers and prominent citizens were present on both the functions and paid their tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. His favourite bhajans were also sung at these programmes. ***

Buntys making it big: Dhonis, not Tendulkars, set the trends
Mumbai: If you still believe Tendulkars and
not Dhonis rule the roost, think again!
Marketing communicating agency Euro RSCG Worldwide today
said contrary to popular notion, trends in India are no longer
trickling down from the metros to the towns; it is just the
reverse as trends are being formed in the 'chai tapri' (small
tea stalls) of Ludhiana and not in the pubs of South Mumbai.
This was revealed in a study, 'The Bunty Syndrome',
conducted by RSCG across 12 Tier-II cities among the youth
aged between 15-30.
Describing the 'Buntys' or the new Indian consumers, RSCG
said this is a generation which is exposed to and hence
aspiring for better lifestyle, works hard, earns more, spends
lavishly but prudently, and which is willing to flash their
success on their shoulders.
"There is a sense of urgency, excitement and confidence
as they (Buntys) race ahead. Marketers and their agencies can
not afford to ignore them - they are the Future Market not
just for India but of the world," Euro RSCG Worldwide's Global
CEO David Jones said here.
Jones said the fact that 80 per cent of Mercedes 'S'
class sold in India sells in Ludhiana gives ample proof that
these cities have huge market potential.
"Feeling is more strong in small town than those in the
bigger cities. It's their aggression that represent the Buntys
of today," Jones said.
On his firm's, he said Euro RSCG lays emphasis on Indian,
Chinese and Russian markets as it believes the future of the
company rests on these countries.
'Focus on social sector needed to make India economic power'
Kannu: The government must play a crucial
role in matters like human resource development, growth of
health care, infrastructure and other social sectors and
accord
higher priority for developing the sagging agriculture sector
to transform India as a major global economic power, noted
economist Venkatesh B Athreya said today.
"Instead of throwing open our country to neo-liberal
economic order, the state should revamp its policies and pay
greater attention towards developing human resources, health
and infrastructure to give the much needed fillip to
sustainable growth rather than emulating superpower nations
like the United States," he said inaugurating a national
seminar titled "India, The emerging Superpower" here.
India needed to fully break away from its colonial
heritage and become independent in its true sense by tailoring
and revamping its polices by vigorously pursuing progressive
reforms at least to catch up with China, which "is surging
forward in all fronts," he said.
"India's GDP growth figure does not reflect the crisis
ridden agriculture sector where over 60 per cent of population
is employed and is growing very slowly, while the IT and IT-
enabled services sector which register 35 per cent annual
growth provides job avenues to mere 8.80 lakhs out of the
19.20 crore qualified personnel," he said.
Stating that there had been huge gap in the growth
indices between India and China, Athreya said the country
despite its "impressive development" record had to go a long
way even to catch up with China.
SUPERPOWER 2 LST
On the Indo-US nuclear deal, Athreya said that New Delhi
will become "a dependent power" instead of emerging superpower
if the country decided to go ahead with the pact.
The government also had a crucial role to invest in
education, health care and take up land reforms instead of
prioritising Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in vital sectors
and make government agencies more accountable for the job
entrusted to them and give added thrust for decentralised
powers as witnessed in Japan, Russia and China, he said.
India should take up reforms for food security, growth of
employment in informal sector and restrain from withdrawing
itself from crucial social sectors, he said at the two-day
seminar hosted by the Institute of Technology, Mayyil here.
The country needed to give added thrust to manufacturing
sector by encouraging domestic companies and striving to pool
internal resources rather than looking up for foreign funds
and other nations to invest in vital sector, where government
had opted to divest its stake in the name of liberalisation,
he said.
"We need to adopt an altogether different perception
instead of blindly pursuing the globalised economic reforms
and subject ourselves to introspection before choosing the
path to emerge as super power," he said while contesting the
very idea and context of a "superpower" nation.
CHINA-FISCAL
11% of China's fiscal expenditure goes to social security
Beijing, Oct 3 (PTI) China used 11.5 per cent of its
annual fiscal expenditure for social security purposes last
year, double the 5.52 per cent in 1998, a senior official
said.
The Ministry of Finance earmarked 436.2 billion yuan (USD
58.2 billion) for social security undertakings in 2006, up
from 59.6 billion yuan in 1998, with an annual growth rate of
28.3 per cent on average, Vice Finance Minister Wang Jun said.
Of the total, 147.5 billion yuan was used for the
laid-off from state owned enterprises, retirees, low income
earners and job hunters, 11.3 times the 1998 level, and 132
billion yuan went to health and medical care projects, up from
41.4 billion yuan in 1998.
In 2007, the ministry set aside 11.4 billion yuan for the
new cooperative medical care system for rural areas, up from
400 million yuan in 2003, Wang was quoted as saying by Xinhua
news agency.
UP-LD SCAM
Probe panel recommends narco tests of policemen, politicians
Lucknow: The alleged sexual exploitation of
some women candidates during recruitment for police services
in Uttar Pradesh has led an official probe to recommend narco
analysis of some police officers and politicians.
The Enquiry Committee, probing the police recruitment scam
during the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav regime in Uttar
Pradesh, said some of the candidates should be also subjected
to the narco analysis tests.
The Committee has got enough proof of "sexual
exploitation" of some of the women aspirants and if the
matter is probed thoroughly and narco tests are conducted it
will prove to be a big scandal, a senior police official said
today.
The probe is being conducted by Additional Director
General of Police Shailja Kant Mishra.
A report of the committee claimed that a number of under
height girls were recruited in Radio headquarters.
In a crackdown against the recuritment made during the
Samajwadi party rule, the Mayawati government last month
sacked 18,000 police personnel. It suspended 25 senior IPS
officers and over 150 PPS officers for their alleged
involvement in the recruitment scam.
The opposition Samajwadi Party took strong exception to the
recommendation for the narco tests saying the probe chief
should be arrested for levelling "baseless allegations".
In a statement, senior SP leader and member of the state
legislative council Rakesh Singh Rana also demanded
registration of a case against Mishra for making the sexual
exploitation allegations.
"Mishra's reckless and false allegations at the instance
of Chief Minister Mayawati have ruined the lives of hundreds
of innocent women," Rana said.
Opposition Samajwadi Party today took
strong exception to the reports that the Enquiry Committee,
probing the police recruitment scam in Uttar Pradesh, has
recommended narco tests of some security officers, politicians
and candidates, saying the probe panel chief should be
arrested for levelling "baseless allegations".
In a statement, senior SP leader and member of the state
legislative council Rakesh Singh Rana also demanded
registration of a case against Enquiry Committee chief Shailja
Kant Mishra for levelling "baseless allegations" that some
women candidates were sexually exploited during recruitment.
"Mishra's reckless and false allegation at the instance of
Chief Minister Mayawati have ruined the lives of hundreds of
innocent women," Rana said.
Earlier in the day, a senior police official said that the
Committee has recommended narco test of certain police
officers, politicians and candidates as it has "found enough
proof of sexual exploitation" of some of the women candidates.
The Mayawati-led government last month discontinued the
services of over 18,000 police personnel and suspended 25
senior IPS officers and over 150 PPS officers for their
alleged involvement in the recruitment scam.
New York: A new research has been launched in the US to study the degree to which South Asian women in the country seek help to deal with domestic violence and the effectiveness of criminal justice interventions.
The Asian Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence (APIIDV), in association with the University of Michigan School of Social Work, has launched the research project, funded by the National Institute of Justice.
"One of the things we know from our direct service work in the South Asian community is that, in many cases, the violence is perpetrated by the in-laws or the extended family," APIIDV director Firoza Chic Dabby told ‘India-West,’ an ethnic Indian newspaper.
The study will issue a recommendation on how local law enforcement agencies can improve their domestic violence investigations in South Asian households. The recommendation will be based on 220 confidential interviews with battered South Asian women.
"One of the reasons we wanted to interview the group is to make recommendations about how the criminal justice response can take this into consideration," Dabby added.
"Domestic violence is usually defined and understood as intimate partner violence," Dabby explained. "For example, the young sister-in-law answers the door, saying that everything is fine, the investigators may go away, not realising that there still might be something worth checking out."
She added that the way local law enforcement agencies respond has a huge impact on South Asian women's future "help-seeking behaviour".
According to a 2002 study in the Journal of American Medical Women's Association, 41 percent of the Indian American women interviewed had experienced domestic violence, of whom 65 percent had also reported sexual abuse. In extended family households, women also reported being abused by male and female in-laws and other members of the family.

It is time a few government babus, policemen and politicians are
shot through their bottoms to take them lesson. They would not
listen to call of wisdom any more due to rampant degradation of
morality and embludgeonment of baby due to lack of strict action.
Politicians should be beaten up by people after grabbing the
commandos around the, these guys think while remaining hidden
behind these rented goons paid by public these criminals can get
away with all their sordid acts...just read on.......>>> >
(reproduced from ndtv.com)
Police recruitment scam gets murkier
Kamal Khan
Monday, October 1, 2007 (Lucknow)
The police recruitment scam in Uttar Pradesh is getting murkier.
It now appears that not only did money change hands for a job in
the forces but for women candidates it got even worse.
Sexual favours for getting a job that too in the police force
sounds shocking but the committee investigating the recruitment of
22,000-odd policemen in Uttar Pradesh during Mulayam's rule says
it's true.
It says women applicants were sexually exploited by officer's
in-charge of the recruitment boards and a politician.
''The girls told me this over and over again and I felt very
ashamed. I feel horrible while I tell you about what they went
through. They told me that they were sexually abused. The names of
some girls who objected to this were struck off the list,'' said
Shailjakant Mishra, ADG, STF.
On Sunday the Mayawati government suspended seven more IPS
officers for their involvement in the scam. 7400 recruits lost
their jobs.
The enquiry committee says several persons who qualified did not
write the exams.
Nearly 2500 interviews were conducted in a single day. One DIG
facing probe has allegedly admitted that 85 per cent applicants
were given jobs following recommendations from Samajwadi Party
politicians.
''The candidates have openly named a politician. He made sure the
list was altered according to his choice,'' said Mishra.
But the Samjadwadi Party dismisses the charge casting doubts on
the impartiality of the investigations.
Between 2004 and 2006 nearly 15 lakh aspirants applied for jobs in
the UP police. 22,000 were recruited. Out of those 18000 have
already lost their jobs.
Recruitment done in eight more centres is under scrutiny. The
presence and prestige of khaki in UP is set to plunge further.

CURRENT EVENT
bY: NARINDER DHAR
http://www.jkreporter.com/3rd_column_2nd_item_2007.html
Why Working Group fails to arrive at a consensus?
The Kashmir centric mainstream parties may not be demanding accession with Pakistan; they may not be even azadi, but what they have been demanding is not less than seceding from India.

Working group meeting

The fifth Working Group headed by Justice Saghir Ahmed (retd) to discuss modalities for strengthening relationship between the state of Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the country has once again failed to arrive at a consensus. Out of five Working Groups constituted at the behest of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, this is the most significant Working Group because a section of Valley’s population has not reconciled with the existing relationship of the State with rest of India even after sixty years of the Accession. After adding religious ingredient to the already emotional hate India campaign the separatist slogan has by now engulfed whole of the Valley. To put out the flames of hatred the Centre has been sprinkling showers of funds, but without any success. The flames have instead have begun spreading in other parts of the State as well. Today, not only the separatists even the so called mainstream parties have begun demanding separation from India some in the name of autonomy while others in the name of self rule. The huge sacrifice that people of Kashmir gave in the name of Azadi or accession with Pakistan may not have brought desired results, relations between India and state of Jammu and Kashmir have considerably thinned down and it is in this context that the need to constitute the fifth working group had arisen. However, this Working Group despite conducting five meetings has failed to arrive at a consensus with every participant singing his or her own separate song. Whereas Kashmir centric parties, NC and PDP harped on autonomy and self rule the Jammu based parties, BJP, Panthers Party, BSP and State Morcha pleaded for scrapping Article 370 of Indian constitution that gives special status to the border state believing that instead of acting as a bridge between people of the State and those living in rest of the country it has drifted them farther away. Leaders representing Ladakh are not ready to remain with either Jammu or Kashmir making the problem all the more ticklish. In view of divergent approach adopted by various representatives the ball has been pushed in to the court of the Central government for further playing.
The Kashmir centric parties may not be demanding accession with Pakistan; they may not be even demanding azadi, yet what they are demanding is not less than seceding Valley from India, which is not acceptable to those advocating complete integration of the State with rest of the country. Finding that Jammu is emerging as a stumbling block in there scheme of things, leadership in Kashmir is now contemplating to throttle Jammu’s voice by advocating division of Jammu on communal lines and the ‘five regions formula’ put forth by PDP leader, Sardar Rafiq Hussain Khan hailing from Poonch representing his party in the recently held Working Group meeting is a proof. Whether slogans like autonomy and self-rule can end the half century old stalemate this only time will tell, but one thing that is certain to say even today is that these slogans will worsen the relationship between three distinct regions of the State called Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Time will also tell as to how the beleaguered Centre responds to these divisive slogans aimed at weakening State’s relationship with rest of the country, but one thing is certain again that if the half century old dispute is resolved the Centre may accept the divisive slogans as well believing that some price has to be paid for achieving something. The existing situation is that whether knife falls on the apple or vice versa in both cases, like the apple Jammu would suffer. By now it has become abundantly clear that neither NC nor PDP is the well wisher of Jammu. Had they been then they would not have scuttled every effort aimed at avoiding discrimination against Jammu both financially as well as politically. It is because of their stand that despite being bigger in area and population Jammu has lesser number of Assembly seats and government employees. With Congress playing duplicity it becomes the duty of other parties like BJP, Panthers and BSP to fight for the survival of Jammu. But being good infighters the leaders of Jammu have always made enemy’s task easier. If Jammu has to survive its leaders will have to unite, but is that possible? In power politics it is not principles and ideology that matter, what actually matters is the power to get which all methods including beg, borrow or steal are legally permissible. Whatever the weaknesses of political leaders and whatever their compulsion to remain divided the common masses irrespective of creed, caste and political affiliations will have to join hands for their survival, which is at stake. Instead of supporting different political parties let them support leaders on merit forgetting which political party they belong to. It is heartening that opposition leaders belonging to different parties represented aspirations of Jammu in a cohesive manner during the recently held meeting of the Working Group, but this is not sufficient. The need of the hour is that even aggressive leaders of the ruling party like Lal Singh and Madan Lal should come forward to save their motherland from falling in the slavery of others.
OPINION
BY: DR. SHABIR CHOUDHRY
Proxy War or Struggle for Independence?
http://www.jkreporter.com/opinion.html
Majority of Kashmiri people regard Kashmir’s accession to India as ‘provisional’, which had to be ratified by the people in completely impartial plebiscite. This proposed plebiscite could not take place because Pakistan refused to withdraw her forces in accordance with the UNCIP resolutions; and later India also changed its stance and called Kashmir its ‘integral part’.
To me and to thousands of other Kashmiris it was a struggle for independence. Some of us called it jihad – meaning struggle for rights and freedom- surely not the kind of jihad, which is waged in holy name of Islam, where innocent people are targeted and killed in name of ‘jihad’; and the entire world seems to be against it.
But it turned out to be some thing else. With benefit of hindsight many now agree that it was not the struggle they anticipated. It is not a struggle for independence nor it is a ‘jihad’ in the sense they visualised. Many now agree that they were used in name of independence and ‘jihad’. It was never their struggle; and those who planned it, helped it and controlled it had a different agenda altogether.
Resentment against India, especially in the Valley was total, and successive Indian governments should accept blame for this. It would be wrong to blame ISI or ‘credit’ it with ‘stirring up’ the trouble in Kashmir. No secret agency can start trouble in another country if the conditions are not ripe for it.
A government because of its blunders and mismanagement create a situation that people are annoyed and frustrated. When their peaceful struggle and protests are ignored and their frustration reaches a certain level they start looking for alternatives and seek help from abroad. They get convinced that their peaceful measure will never bring desired results, and then they rebel against that government and that system which has denied them self respect and basic rights.
And who should be blamed for this, the authorities, ‘rebels’ or the foreign agencies who seek golden opportunities like this to take revenge from enemy which has troubled them for so long?
Majority of Kashmiri people regard Kashmir’s accession to India as ‘provisional’, which had to be ratified by the people in completely impartial plebiscite. This proposed plebiscite could not take place because Pakistan refused to withdraw her forces in accordance with the UNCIP resolutions; and later India also changed its stance and called Kashmir its ‘integral part’.
Provisional accession, which was supposed to save lives, provide security, dignity, and honour to the Kashmiri people resulted in forced division, occupation and oppression. This situation coupled with bad management, corruption, unemployment and proxy politics created that situation which, in view of Pakistani security analysts, especially those who commanded JIN (Joint Intelligence North) and JIM (Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous) in the Pakistani security apparatus as ripe and appropriate for ‘intervention’.
Their assessment was not wrong, and unlike in 1965, people of Kashmir were ready to go along with the plan enacted by their ‘friends’ and ‘advocates’ across the border. But unlike in 1965 these ‘friends’ and ‘brothers’ had different game plan this time, and ‘liberation’ or independence of the Kashmiri people didn’t fit in this. But did we Kashmiris, in 1988, knew this that they were not sincere with us; and their game plan was to keep ‘India engaged’ and ‘keep India bleeding’ with this proxy war that they don’t create problems for Pakistan? Answer is no, we thought they were sincere and serious; and willing to help us; unfortunately despite so many ups and downs and U turns by Pakistani governments some Kashmiris still think the same. Apart from that, ‘Jihad’ in Afghanistan was coming to an end, and those who planned and executed this massive operation knew its rewards for themselves and for Pakistan. They had to find alternative battleground that the ‘business of exporting jihad’ and violence continues. Kashmir they knew was close to minds and hearts of most Pakistanis, especially those who lived in Punjab and had links with the armed forces of Pakistan. It was easy to motivate people and recruit them for ‘jihad’ in Kashmir. Most Kashmiri organisations were, at that time considered as pro Pakistan, and they either had no links on the other side of LOC, or they did not fit in the plan. They wanted an organisation with some kind of independent credentials. And due to bad luck of Kashmiri people Amanullah Khan was also at his lowest ebb with no future as he was only recently expelled from Britain for conducting ‘undesirable’ activities, and was looking for a new anchorage or mission In view of his close associates Amanullah Khan had links with the Pakistani secret agencies even before he joined Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front in 1965, and this relationship grew stronger with time. People appreciate his hard work but many doubt if he ever had a clear vision about unification and independence of Jammu and Kashmir; and had no strategy for liberation of the whole state. At a time when he was expelled from Britain and had no clear ideas what to do with his life and JKLF, he became an easy prey of the Pakistani agencies.
Confused and disillusioned Amanullah Khan and some other senior JKLF leaders agreed to become a proxy of Pakistani agencies. They agreed to provide raw material from across the LOC, which Pakistani experts could prepare as ‘freedom fighters’ and ‘mujahideen’ to liberate Jammu and Kashmir, which was under ‘Indian occupation.’ They agreed to play a subservient role in return for arms, money and publicity, which was made available to them in abundance.
Amanullah Khan and his colleagues who made this pact had no plan, nor they were allowed to prepare one to liberate areas under ‘occupation’ of Pakistan. While succumbing to pressure of these secret agencies he and his colleagues forgot that other JKLF leaders rejected a similar plan a few years ago. They also forgot that plight of people on this side of LOC, especially in Gilgit and Baltistan was much worse than their counterparts on the other side. But the temptation was too great to be rejected and they went along with the plan which had disastrous consequences, especially for the people of the Valley, who had to face wrath of the Indian troops in the first instance then militants and renegade militants.
This understanding or agreement between the JKLF leadership and Pakistani secret agencies resulted in beginning of militancy in the Valley in 1988. What has happened after that is history now, but this question still haunt, and will continue to haunt genuine Kashmiri nationalists and especially those who have lost their love ones why we haven’t got independence?
Is it because there was no planning for ‘liberation’ and militancy was used as a ‘proxy’ to ‘bleed India’ that Pakistan can obtain some concessions, or is it because those who controlled and managed the struggle let us down? Or is it because the ‘Kashmiri struggle’ was transformed in to ‘Jihadi struggle’ with which the world community had no sympathy and wanted to crush it? Or is it because the Kashmiri struggle became a lucrative business for the people with vested interest, and they didn’t want a resolution of the Kashmir dispute and wanted the Kashmir pot to be kept at a certain boiling temperature?
We, people of Jammu and Kashmir are being forcibly divided and oppressed. Since 1988 we have lost a generation. No one knows exactly how many people have lost their lives, how many women have been dishonoured and how many children lost their childhood. People have made up different figures, which range from 60 thousand to ninety thousand, and these figures are used for political and financial reasons. Whatever the exact figure, people have endured a trauma in hope that it will bring them independence, political and economic stability and better future. But where do they find themselves?
After all the suffering, pain and destruction, we are back to square one, where we can’t see light at the end of tunnel, there is no prospect of unification and independence, political and economic stability and better future. The question is what went wrong? I salute all those who have lost their lives, and I salute all those who have suffered in pursuit of independence and better future; but was our strategy appropriate to achieve independence?
Thousands of people sincerely took part in this campaign, which was presented to them as a war of liberation. Sincerity and sacrifices are important for any campaign to be successful, but these two crucial eleme