Palash Speaks

Pressuring the Generals
Palash Biswas

Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

Pressuring the Generals
All the collective sanctions by U.N., United States, European Union may not put enough pressure on Burmese military junta who are still flexing their muscles and brandishing guns and bayonets on unarmed Burmese civilians and monks who have dared to protest against their autocrats. Without Chinese and Indian full hearted support behind the international communities' combined efforts, no diplomatic efforts have the possibility of success.

Both China and India are Burma's major trading partners, thus surely these both nations have enormous leverage on Burmese junta and elites.
Bush, UN chief discuss Myanmar

Washington (AP): President George W Bush has called UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as both leaders prod for change in the repressive regime in Myanmar.

Bush and Ban agreed on the importance of serious conversations between the military regime and the democratic opposition, with the goal of a return to democratic government, White House spokesman Dan Perino said on Tuesday.

To that end, Ban told Bush that UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is expected back in Myanmar, also known as Burma, by as early as Thursday.

"The president emphasized the need to maintain a clear message to the military regime that real political change, aimed at a restoration of human rights and democracy,is required to end the crisis," Perino said.

Monks resume protest march in Myanmar
More than 100 Buddhist monks marched and chanted in northern Myanmar for nearly an hour on Wednesday. This was their first public demonstration since the government's deadly crackdown last month on pro-democracy protesters.The monks in Pakokku shouted no slogans, but one monk told the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based short-wave radio station and Web site.
Meanwhile,Myanmar's military government has freed seven members of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party who were held for more than a month following the junta's deadly crackdown, the party said on Wednesday.

The releases on Tuesday night came ahead of a visit by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to seek reconciliation between the junta and democratic forces since month's demonstrations led by Buddhist monks, the biggest protests in the Southeast Asian nation in nearly two decades.

The seven had been detained at the infamous Insein Prison in Yangon, said Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

They included party spokesman Myint Thein and six others: Han Zaw, Lei Lei, Ko Bala, Cin Shin Htan, Htaung Ko Htan and Win Naing, the spokesman said.

''All these people had been arrested unnecessarily and we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained arbitrarily,'' another NLD spokesman Han Tha said.

He added that at least 150 party members out of nearly 300 who had been arrested since September remain in detention.

Han Tha said many of them have been denied proper medical treatment and were living in harsh conditions.

The government had earlier said it detained about 3,000 people in connection with the protests but had released most of them. Many reports have emerged of brutal treatment in custody.

The league said many of the detainees were questioned about links between the party and the protests, which were led by Buddhist monks.

Demonstrations that began August 19 over high prices for fuel and consumer goods mushroomed over several weeks into a broad-based movement that attracted thousands of people in Yangon, the country's biggest city, and other areas.

Troops crushed the protests by shooting at demonstrations on September 26 to 27, arresting thousands including Buddhist monks.

The government said 10 people were killed, but dissident groups put the toll at up to 200 and thousands arrested including a number of Buddhist monks.

The junta accused the league the 88 Generation Students group, exiled dissidents and the United States of inciting the protests.

The station is run by dissident journalists, that it was a continuation of the protests last month.The march clearly was in defiance of the government.

''We walked around the town and chanted. ... We are continuing our protest from last month as we have not yet achieved any of the demands we asked for,'' the monk told the radio station.

''Our demands are for lower commodity prices, national reconciliation and immediate release of (pro-democracy leader) Aung San Suu Kyi and all the political prisoners,'' said the monk, who was not identified by name.

He said they had little time to organize the march so it was small, but ''there will be more organized and bigger protests soon.''

Up to 100,000 people took part in demonstrations in Yangon last month. The protests were crushed when troops fired on protesters on September 26-27.

The crackdown left at least 10 people dead by the government's count, drawing international condemnation. Opposition groups say as many as 200 people may have been killed.

Here is an excerpt from The Hindu's today's editorial:

"There can be little question that as a leading democracy India must join the international community in its efforts to pressure the Yangon regime to move urgently towards democracy and national reconciliation. While practising good neighbourliness, and taking care to ensure that its actions do not constitute an unwarranted interference in Myanmar’s internal affairs, India must not hesitate to use its growing leverage unambiguously on the side of democracy. In the larger global context, India must throw all its weight behind the U.N. good offices endeavour and consult closely with Asean, China, and the western powers to see how best to make it succeed against the odds."

Regards,
Mahbubul Karim (Sohel)
http://sohel. net
__._,_.___

Afraid of the Dalai Lama?
Why is China so afraid of Dalai Lama? This frail looking old man whose charming smile and humorous observations on nature, spirituality and peace have inspired millions many, still causes kind of a frenzied chaotic reaction from China whenever this old man comes to the forefront of world news. Dalai Lama's receiving of Congressional Medal of Honor from U.S. Government has sparked similar knee jerk comments filled with fumes from Chinese one party communist leaders. Why is China so afraid of Dalai Lama? Here are a few points that may enlighten this subject on Tibet, the repressed land that China had forcefully occupied many years ago:

"Why is the mighty People's Republic of China so petrified of this 72-year-old Buddhist monk? True, the Dalai Lama is no ordinary scholar and teacher; he is the living symbol of the Buddhist faith. It seems that Beijing's cadres fear his moral authority and do not want the international community to examine their record in Tibet, because they have a lot to hide.

It has been 48 years since the Dalai Lama eluded capture by the People's Liberation Army and escaped to India, whereupon Chairman Mao Zedong began to plunder Tibet's wealth and murdered more than 1 million of its people. In the mid-1990s, the Chinese politburo implemented the "Strike Hard Campaign" that declared Buddhism "a disease to be eradicated." News of major protests in Tibet has not been widely disseminated in recent years, and now the survival of Tibetan civilization has reached a tipping point. In 2000, China launched a vast infrastructure campaign called "Opening and Development of the Western Regions" and embarked on a new phase of subjugation and control. Construction of rail and road links to Tibet, such as the Qingzang railway that opened last year, has accelerated Beijing's surveillance of Tibetans and has advanced the Sinofication of the Himalayan and Turkic peoples who inhabit China's western territories.

Exploiting Tibet's resources for the mainland's industrial base is a strategic and economic priority for China's government, which suppresses manifestations of Tibetan identity or nationalism with blunt force."
There may be other reasons beside the seemingly "obvious" reason of suppression of Tibetan identity.

"China is accustomed to reacting with brutality when its supremacy is threatened, but now the state is imperiled by forces that neither Maoist thought nor martial law can control. Rapid growth has caused calamitous environmental damage that could lead to food shortages and unhygienic living and working conditions, which in turn could lead to epidemics and, eventually, chaos. China's 1.3 billion people need solutions, not ordinances dictated by the Communist Party's Central Committee. But Beijing, unwilling or unable to relinquish one-party rule, clings to an obsolete worldview that demonizes the Dalai Lama instead of engaging the statesman in a meaningful dialogue on Tibet and China's future."
Like its oligarch dominated "democracy" in other parts of our world, Chinese communist dictators exploit Dalai Lama controversy so that their increasingly restless populace can be galvanized for a neatly crafted nationalistic cause. Sometimes, "God" and "God's man" can prove to be handy tool for even the atheistic creed.

Link:
Afraid of the Dalai Lama?

Regards,
Mahbubul Karim (Sohel)
http://sohel. net

__._,_.___

Turkey, the Kurds and the US: fire in the mountains
www.aworldtowin. org

29 October 2007. A World to Win News Service. Officially Turkey's
threatened massive invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan has been put on hold
pending Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's scheduled
talks with George Bush 5 November. The apparent delay, however,
doesn't mean that such an invasion couldn't happen anyway, before or
after the Washington meeting. Even if it doesn't happen now, before
snow blocks the roads for the winter, the threat is real and
lasting. This reveals the region's extreme volatility.

Peace hasn't broken out, and it's not likely to, because that's not
what Turkey wants. Ankara sent 8,000 troops and attack helicopters
into battle 28 October in the Turkish eastern province of Tunceli,
hundreds of kilometres from the Iraqi border, where 100,000 more
Turkish troops with tanks and other heavy armour are waiting. Turkey
also staged artillery barrages and probably hit and run incursions
into Iraqi Kurdistan over the last week, as it's done dozens of
times recently.

The reason for the word "probably" is that the American authorities
who control the airspace and watch the whole area from the sky have
steadfastly and pointedly refused to say whether the Turkish army
crossed the border or not, although they certainly know the answer
to that question. According to news reports, they have long chosen
to ignore the presence of a Turkish brigade permanently stationed on
the Iraqi side of the border.

At the same time, the US also rejected Turkey's requests to take
action against PKK camps in northern Iraq, claiming that they don't
know where the camps are located, although PKK headquarters is
marked by a giant portrait in painted stones of its leader Adbullah
Ocalan, visible even from outer space. The top US commander in
northern Iraq, Major General Benjamin Mixon, said he planned to
do "absolutely nothing" against PKK forces in Iraq. (Associated
Press, 27 October)

The US's refusal to take action against either side so far speaks
for itself: they support both sides, to varying degrees and at
various times, although far from equally – they certainly don't give
PKK's few thousand roaming guerrillas the same importance as the
Turkish state and its million-man army. The New York Times' Sabrina
Tavernise, who interviewed many Iraqi Kurdish officials and current
and former American officials as well, wrote 27 October, "The
situation poses a puzzle to the United States…[which] finds itself
forced to choose between two trusted allies – Turkey, a Nato member
whose territory is the transit area for most of the air cargo to
Iraq, and the Kurds, their closest partners in Iraq." To support
this conclusion, she quotes an unidentified man in Sulaimaniya: the
US "is like a man with two wives. They quarrel, but he doesn't want
to lose either of them." This metaphor is OK as far as it goes, but
it leaves out a basic point: that man is determined to keep both of
his wives under his thumb and turn the situation, as far as
possible, to his own advantage.

The Turkish ruling class seized on the deaths of the conscript
soldiers it sent into battle to whip up a hurricane of Turkish
jingoism and anti-Kurdish racism. The media have featured emotional
interviews with the relatives of the dead soldiers. Newspaper
headlines bay for blood. Turkish flags are passed out at football
games, and it is now virtually mandatory for the players at every
game to respect a minute of silence for the dead soldiers. The
soldiers' funerals have been turned into political rallies for
hardcore right wing nationalists, who have been given major media
time to encourage mass lynch mobs that have ransacked the offices of
Kurdish political parties and other Kurdish symbols and beaten any
who resist. Groups of young women are shown on TV massing in front
of army bases to volunteer to go fight the "terrorists" . The few
lone voices who have dared to puncture this reactionary hysteria in
public are branded "traitors".

Turkey's generals met the two decades of armed struggle led by the
PKK with a vicious "dirty war" that literally wiped more than 2,000
Kurdish villages off the map. Tens of thousands of Kurds were
imprisoned. That armed conflict subsided for a time with the capture
of PKK chairman Ocalan in 1999, when the U.S. arranged to have him
handed over to Turkey. At that time, he publicly grovelled before
the Turkish military and called for a peaceful solution to the
Kurdish question within the framework of the present Turkish state
and regime. He also said that Kurdish aspirations could and should
fit in with US interests, including its project for a reformatted
Greater Middle East. This led to disappointment and demoralization
among the ranks of the party and more broadly. Since then and
especially since the US invasion of Iraq, PKK has sought to fulfil
these objectives by finding ways to cooperate with the US and the
Turkish regime, all the while complaining that its efforts have gone
insufficiently rewarded. They ran candidates in local elections in
Turkish Kurdistan, becoming so entangled with mainstream politics
that even while PKK guerrillas were under attack from the Turkish
army the legal political party supported by PKK used the words "our
martyrs" to refer to Turkish army casualties. But this does not mean
that they have given up on using guns to achieve their ends.

Kurdish nationalism does pose an existential problem to the Turkish
regime. The domination of the Kurds is built into the very
foundations of the modern Turkish state. Kemal Ataturk's success in
forging the modern Turkish state out of the ashes of the Ottoman
empire in 1923 was built on beating back the efforts of the European
imperialists to hive off parts of Armenia and Kurdistan so as to
weaken their age-old enemy. For decades after that, the very
existence of the Kurdish people was denied, as the country's 12-13
million Kurds were contemptuously derided as "backward mountain
Turks". Their culture was so suppressed that up to 1991 it was even
illegal to use the Kurdish language in public speech. Its teaching
and use on television is still severely restricted, and Kurds face
social, economic and political national oppression and
discrimination, both in Kurdistan and elsewhere. The Kurdish
population is no longer confined to small villages and towns far
from Turkey's population centres – millions of Kurds now swell the
shantytowns around Istanbul, with hundreds of thousands more in
towns and cities throughout the country.

The Turkish ruling classes are particularly concerned by the threat
of major gains for Kurdish nationalism right on their borders. For
the Turkish ruling classes, the Kurdish question is a festering boil
that just keeps erupting. When the US invaded Iraq, they were given
reassurances by the US that it would not permit the establishment of
a permanent Kurdish state in the region. But as Iraq spiralled out
of control, the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq has
turned out to be the most reliable pro-US ally, giving it a much
greater role in post-Saddam Iraq than US strategists had perhaps
expected. The region has taken on many of the trappings of exactly
the kind of permanent Kurdish presence that the Turkish ruling class
had feared and that the US had promised them wouldn't happen. The
passports of travellers crossing from Turkey into Iraq in this
region are even stamped "Kurdish Region of Iraq". The Kurdish Region
has access to rich oil resources and already fields an army of
60,000 – far larger than PKK's. Ankara fears that it could
potentially act like a magnet to attract the sympathies of Turkey's
own Kurds.

The Turkish military, out of a realistic sense of caution, including
a fear of domestic upheaval, did not take part in the US invasion of
Iraq, although subsequently they have provided the US occupation
with its major air and land lifelines. The recent elections,
ironically, have enabled the ruling classes to unite their own ranks
and hoodwink broad enough sections of the masses so that, if Turkey
were to invade Iraq now, this time it could do so in the name of
democracy and with the blessings of parliament and much of civil
society. The self-style reformers of Erdogan's AK party, which
invited Kurdish support for its candidates, has been involved in the
mob assaults on Kurdish targets, exposing the content of
the "synthesis of Turkey and Islam" they proclaim. Turkey's rulers
feel that now they can make up for that lost opportunity to throw
their weight around and bring Turkey's power to bear, not only over
the Kurds of both countries, but well beyond.

There is thus good reason to suspect that while the Turkish
government does want to cross the border into Iraq to deal real
blows to the PKK guerrillas, they are also eyeing the possibility of
taking the Kurdish Regional Government down a notch or two, and
creating a situation where they have a major say over future
developments in the area. This takes on even greater importance in
light of growing US threats against Iran. Establishing a major on-
going armed presence in northern Iraq would put Turkish troops along
an even larger stretch of the Iranian border, putting them in a
position of potential importance in the event that the US unleashes
a major attack on Iran.

This is likely to be the content of the Bush-Erdogan talks next
week – in fact, it's hard to imagine that it hasn't already been
thoroughly discussed and agreements made. This could be another
major factor in why a spirit of harmony has suddenly and
unexpectedly cast its spell over Turkey's contentious official
political life.

All these contradictions have a life of their own, but they are also
situated within and conditioned by broader contradictions, on the
regional and world level, especially the looming possibility of a US
attack on Iran. Throughout the Middle East – in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran,
Pakistan and Afghanistan just to name a few places – rivets are
popping in the iron structures that once seemed so solid. Alliances,
regimes, and borders that have stood for decades are tottering under
the strains of the headlong drive by the world's only superpower's
to establish a sustainable world empire by what can only be
unleashing chaos on a grand scale and then hoping to pick up the
pieces. The Turkish ruling classes must act decisively, and soon, or
they, too, might see their set-up start to unravel.

One way the US might try to balance its own contradictory interests
in this situation might be to let Turkey strike serious blows at PKK
in Iraq, without eliminating it, which might not be militarily
possible anyway.

However it happens, in a dramatic tank-led all-out offensive or
through other means, and certainly involving a combination of
economic and political carrots for various Kurdish forces as well as
real sticks, an increased Turkish presence in Iraq could be very
helpful to American efforts to both keep that country under its
exclusive control and move its troops on to the next war. And it
would bring Turkish interests and perhaps Turkish troops more
squarely up against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which until now
has been able to use economic and other relations with Turkey as a
valve to release some of the pressure of the US-led blockade.

If the US is convinced that Turkey's intervention will serve its
purposes, then for all the support it has received from the two
governing Iraqi Kurdish parties, it could turn a benign eye on a
Turkish move to assert itself in northern Iraq. Given the historical
evidence, there is no reason to believe that the US won't betray all
the Kurds – as it has before, or that the two Kurdish parties who
are the US's closest allies in Iraq won't betray other Kurds (and
each other), as they have done before as well. US strategists may
believe that they can stab the Kurds in the back and still keep them
on their string, since that's worked before. In this regard, it
should be noted that while the US has declared PKK a "terrorist"
organization, it actually supports the PKK's Iranian Kurdistan
branch, the PJACK (Party of Free Life in Kurdistan), whose leader,
Rahman Haj-Ahmad, visited Washington last summer. Trying to use the
Kurds against the Iranian regime is part of the US plan.

The interests of the US and Turkish ruling classes are not
identical – which is part of what makes this situation so
unpredictable. But they definitely overlap. Each side is urging the
other to take on unprecedented and towering risks in the face of
what is do-or-die time for them both. Bloodshed, and the more of the
people's blood the better, is just the stimulant they both need to
get ready for much more bloodshed soon.
- end item-

Holy Warriors Set Sights on Iran
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com

Canada.com
Guilty verdicts in Madrid terror trial
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish court on Wednesday delivered a mixed verdict in the trial of 28 defendants charged in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, convicting three of mass murder but delivering lesser convictions against the others.
Attacking Iran for Israel? : Ray McGovern
The Bush administration and the Israeli government are on the same page about the urgent need to neutralize Iran's nuclear facilities. But former CIA analyst Ray McGovern wonders whose interests are at the forefront of this impending conflict.
http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/2007/ 10/attacking- iran-for- israel-ray- mcgovern. html

CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWSWIRE - OCTOBER 30, 2007
http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/2007/ 10/crimes- and-corruptions- of-new-world_ 30.html

If this is true, half the adult Americans you meet today are very sick sumbitches
http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/2007/ 10/if-this- is-true-half- adult-americans. html

MARC PARENT, mparent7777, mparent, ccnwon
CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS
http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/
http://www.wakeupfr omyourslumber. com/blog/ 38

Holy Warriors Set Sights on Iran
Bill Berkowitz, The Electronic Intifada, Dec 19, 2006
Ariel Development Fund is presented with $500,000 at Christians United for Israel's Night to Honor Israel 2006. The Ariel Development Fund benefits the illegal Israeli West Bank settlement of Ariel. (CUFI)
OAKLAND, California (IPS) - Over the past 20 years, the U.S. Christian right has evolved into one of the most powerful grassroots organising forces within the Republican Party, and a host of Christian Zionists have taken a well-earned seat at the foreign policy table.
At the same time, their support for Israel is not only growing -- it is also becoming an influential political factor.
Several prominent Christian right and conservative Jewish leaders have teamed up to found organisations that have provided millions of dollars to Israeli charities, lobbied in support of policies advanced by right wing leaders in Israel, opposed President George W. Bush's so-called "Road Map" to peace in the Middle East, and have helped defray the costs of the immigration of Russian Jews to Israel, among other activities.
While the Reverends Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have been longtime supporters of Israel, the founding earlier this year of Christians United for Israel by John Hagee, the pastor of the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, drew a great deal of media attention.
As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's popularity has plummeted since the end of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Christian Zionists in the United States view the outcome not only as a defeat for Israel, but also as a prelude to a much wider war. In fact, they think the conflict might be a sign of impending Armageddon.
"The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching, " Hagee wrote in his most recent book, Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World. "Just before us is a nuclear countdown with Iran," he wrote, "followed by Ezekiel's war (as described in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39), and then the final battle -- the battle of Armageddon."
For Hagee, bestselling author Joel Rosenberg and other Christian Zionists, Israel plays the critical role in End Time scenarios. Their books, commentaries, and public statements reflect their beliefs that serial conflicts in the Middle East are a sign of the biblical prophesy presaging Armageddon, the return of Jesus Christ, and the final battle for the souls of mankind.
And some have started to train their sights on Tehran. In a recent blog post datelined Jerusalem, Rosenberg wrote: "The buzz here in the last few days is that Israel is seriously considering a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic missile sites."
Given Israel's less than sterling performance against Hezbollah this past summer, Rosenberg was not convinced that Israel "has the capacity -- or the will -- at the moment to neutralise the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threat."
However, with "a new Hitler rising in Iran", it is up to U.S. President George W. Bush, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Washington in mid-November, to deal with the Iranian threat: "If President Bush believes Iran needs to be neutralised (and I believe he does), and he is convinced that military action is the only way (I don't believe he is there right now), then the U.S. should take the lead."
After all, wrote Rosenberg, "If anyone is going to stop Iran from threatening the world with nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, it has to be soon, perhaps no later than the end of 2007. After all, 2008 is an American election year. 2009 will be the start of a new administration. By then it may be too late. The thermonuclear genie may be out of the bottle."
The Israeli/Hezbollah war led several U.S. cable television news networks to raise questions about whether the crisis in the Middle East was a signal that the "End Times" were approaching. Rosenberg, author of such apocalyptic political thrillers as The Copper Scroll, The Ezekiel Option, and The Last Jihad, was invited to appear on CNN and the Fox News Channel.
In one recent appearance, Rosenberg said that he had made several visits to "speak at a White House Bible study" and had conversations with "a number of congressional leaders and Homeland Security, Pentagon [officials] about my novels, which are based on Bible prophecy."
Rosenberg said that "the question that's been most interesting among these various administration and congressional officials is, 'Are you saying that the Bible talks about an alliance between Iran, Russia, and a group of Middle Eastern countries to attack Israel at some point?' And the answer is yes."
Some critics charge that Rosenberg is a self-promoter with little real understanding of Judaism.
"Rosenberg chooses to trade in his private salvation narrative as way of winning readers, exploiting contacts, and most dangerously -- political ventriloquism, " said Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, the co-founder of JewsOnFirst. org, a website devoted to protecting free speech, and the rabbi of Beth Shalom Temple in Whittier, California.
"In this case, political ventriloquism is using the 'voice' of Jews to their eventual detriment -- while claiming it is for their benefit -- and seeking, what I as a believing Jew, must describe as apostasy against Judaism and God," he told IPS. "Rooting for war with Iran and lobbying for world destruction using Israel, as catalytic agent, is no longer 'entertainment' -- it is obscene."
Rosenberg was an important but mostly behind-the-scenes figure in the conservative movement until his first novel The Last Jihad became a bestseller. A Jew who converted to Christianity more than 30 years ago, he had worked for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli politician and author Natan Sharansky, U.S. business magazine magnate Steve Forbes, and right-wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. He is also a former Heritage Foundation staffer.
The Last Jihad, completed before the 9/11 Trade Centre and Pentagon attacks, propelled Rosenberg into the spotlight. The novel featured a hijacked jet making a kamikaze-like attack against the president of the United States, simultaneous terrorist strikes on the U.S., London, Paris and Saudi Arabia, an oil deal between Israel and the Palestinians that threatened to unleash a war with Iraq, and a possible preemptive nuclear strike.
In a late-October interview with the Washington Times, Rosenberg told reporter Chrissie Thompson that he didn't think that his novels "were going to predict the future ... I was basing them on a series of Bible prophecies, but when [they] started to come true ... that has been striking for all of us, myself included."
Another of his novels, The Ezekiel Option, is described by Rosenberg as "a political thriller about the threat of a Russian-Iranian alliance to destroy Israel based on the Biblical prophecies found in the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39."
These prophecies, according to Rosenberg, "describe what Bible scholars call the war of Gog and Magog. Russia and Iran form a military alliance with Lebanon, Syria and a group of other Middle East countries to destroy Israel in what Ezekiel described as the last days."
In recent months Rosenberg has suggested that Russia be added to the Bush administration' s "axis of evil".
Recently, Rosenberg, and his wife Lynn, co-founded the Joshua Fund, which "partner[s] with evangelical ministries in the Middle East to provide desperately needed resources to Christians in the region to bless their neighbours in need in the name of Jesus.."
According to Richard Bartholomew, the Fund's two "humanitarian aid" efforts are called the "Project to Bless Israel" and the "Project to Bless Lebanon."
"Lebanese refugees will get 'Bags of Blessing', to be distributed by Campus Crusade for Christ and local evangelicals, " Bartholomew reported.
The bags will include food and other basic items like soap and aspirin, he said, as well as a Jesus film DVD in Arabic.
However, Bartholomew clarified that while the Lebanese refugees will receive the Jesus DVD, the Israelis "will be spared a similar Jesus DVD in Hebrew, for obvious political reasons."
Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column "Conservative Watch" documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the U.S. Right.
All rights reserved, IPS ? Inter Press Service (2006). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden
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Holy Warriors Set Sights on Iran Palash Biswas Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551 Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com Canada.com Guilty verdicts in Madrid terror trial MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish court on Wednesday delivered a mixed verdict in the trial of 28 defendants charged in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, convicting three of mass murder but delivering lesser convictions against the others. Attacking Iran for Israel? : Ray McGovern The Bush administration and the Israeli government are on the same page about the urgent need to neutralize Iran's nuclear facilities. But former CIA analyst Ray McGovern wonders whose interests are at the forefront of this impending conflict. http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/2007/ 10/attacking- iran-for- israel-ray- mcgovern. html CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWSWIRE - OCTOBER 30, 2007 http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/2007/ 10/crimes- and-corruptions- of-new-world_ 30.html If this is true, half the adult Americans you meet today are very sick sumbitches http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/2007/ 10/if-this- is-true-half- adult-americans. html MARC PARENT, mparent7777, mparent, ccnwon CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS http://mparent7777- 2.blogspot. com/ http://www.wakeupfr omyourslumber. com/blog/ 38 Holy Warriors Set Sights on Iran Bill Berkowitz, The Electronic Intifada, Dec 19, 2006 Ariel Development Fund is presented with $500,000 at Christians United for Israel's Night to Honor Israel 2006. The Ariel Development Fund benefits the illegal Israeli West Bank settlement of Ariel. (CUFI) OAKLAND, California (IPS) - Over the past 20 years, the U.S. Christian right has evolved into one of the most powerful grassroots organising forces within the Republican Party, and a host of Christian Zionists have taken a well-earned seat at the foreign policy table. At the same time, their support for Israel is not only growing -- it is also becoming an influential political factor. Several prominent Christian right and conservative Jewish leaders have teamed up to found organisations that have provided millions of dollars to Israeli charities, lobbied in support of policies advanced by right wing leaders in Israel, opposed President George W. Bush's so-called "Road Map" to peace in the Middle East, and have helped defray the costs of the immigration of Russian Jews to Israel, among other activities. While the Reverends Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have been longtime supporters of Israel, the founding earlier this year of Christians United for Israel by John Hagee, the pastor of the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, drew a great deal of media attention. As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's popularity has plummeted since the end of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Christian Zionists in the United States view the outcome not only as a defeat for Israel, but also as a prelude to a much wider war. In fact, they think the conflict might be a sign of impending Armageddon. "The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching, " Hagee wrote in his most recent book, Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World. "Just before us is a nuclear countdown with Iran," he wrote, "followed by Ezekiel's war (as described in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39), and then the final battle -- the battle of Armageddon." For Hagee, bestselling author Joel Rosenberg and other Christian Zionists, Israel plays the critical role in End Time scenarios. Their books, commentaries, and public statements reflect their beliefs that serial conflicts in the Middle East are a sign of the biblical prophesy presaging Armageddon, the return of Jesus Christ, and the final battle for the souls of mankind. And some have started to train their sights on Tehran. In a recent blog post datelined Jerusalem, Rosenberg wrote: "The buzz here in the last few days is that Israel is seriously considering a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic missile sites." Given Israel's less than sterling performance against Hezbollah this past summer, Rosenberg was not convinced that Israel "has the capacity -- or the will -- at the moment to neutralise the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threat." However, with "a new Hitler rising in Iran", it is up to U.S. President George W. Bush, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Washington in mid-November, to deal with the Iranian threat: "If President Bush believes Iran needs to be neutralised (and I believe he does), and he is convinced that military action is the only way (I don't believe he is there right now), then the U.S. should take the lead." After all, wrote Rosenberg, "If anyone is going to stop Iran from threatening the world with nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, it has to be soon, perhaps no later than the end of 2007. After all, 2008 is an American election year. 2009 will be the start of a new administration. By then it may be too late. The thermonuclear genie may be out of the bottle." The Israeli/Hezbollah war led several U.S. cable television news networks to raise questions about whether the crisis in the Middle East was a signal that the "End Times" were approaching. Rosenberg, author of such apocalyptic political thrillers as The Copper Scroll, The Ezekiel Option, and The Last Jihad, was invited to appear on CNN and the Fox News Channel. In one recent appearance, Rosenberg said that he had made several visits to "speak at a White House Bible study" and had conversations with "a number of congressional leaders and Homeland Security, Pentagon [officials] about my novels, which are based on Bible prophecy." Rosenberg said that "the question that's been most interesting among these various administration and congressional officials is, 'Are you saying that the Bible talks about an alliance between Iran, Russia, and a group of Middle Eastern countries to attack Israel at some point?' And the answer is yes." Some critics charge that Rosenberg is a self-promoter with little real understanding of Judaism. "Rosenberg chooses to trade in his private salvation narrative as way of winning readers, exploiting contacts, and most dangerously -- political ventriloquism, " said Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, the co-founder of JewsOnFirst. org, a website devoted to protecting free speech, and the rabbi of Beth Shalom Temple in Whittier, California. "In this case, political ventriloquism is using the 'voice' of Jews to their eventual detriment -- while claiming it is for their benefit -- and seeking, what I as a believing Jew, must describe as apostasy against Judaism and God," he told IPS. "Rooting for war with Iran and lobbying for world destruction using Israel, as catalytic agent, is no longer 'entertainment' -- it is obscene." Rosenberg was an important but mostly behind-the-scenes figure in the conservative movement until his first novel The Last Jihad became a bestseller. A Jew who converted to Christianity more than 30 years ago, he had worked for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli politician and author Natan Sharansky, U.S. business magazine magnate Steve Forbes, and right-wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. He is also a former Heritage Foundation staffer. The Last Jihad, completed before the 9/11 Trade Centre and Pentagon attacks, propelled Rosenberg into the spotlight. The novel featured a hijacked jet making a kamikaze-like attack against the president of the United States, simultaneous terrorist strikes on the U.S., London, Paris and Saudi Arabia, an oil deal between Israel and the Palestinians that threatened to unleash a war with Iraq, and a possible preemptive nuclear strike. In a late-October interview with the Washington Times, Rosenberg told reporter Chrissie Thompson that he didn't think that his novels "were going to predict the future ... I was basing them on a series of Bible prophecies, but when [they] started to come true ... that has been striking for all of us, myself included." Another of his novels, The Ezekiel Option, is described by Rosenberg as "a political thriller about the threat of a Russian-Iranian alliance to destroy Israel based on the Biblical prophecies found in the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39." These prophecies, according to Rosenberg, "describe what Bible scholars call the war of Gog and Magog. Russia and Iran form a military alliance with Lebanon, Syria and a group of other Middle East countries to destroy Israel in what Ezekiel described as the last days." In recent months Rosenberg has suggested that Russia be added to the Bush administration' s "axis of evil". Recently, Rosenberg, and his wife Lynn, co-founded the Joshua Fund, which "partner[s] with evangelical ministries in the Middle East to provide desperately needed resources to Christians in the region to bless their neighbours in need in the name of Jesus.." According to Richard Bartholomew, the Fund's two "humanitarian aid" efforts are called the "Project to Bless Israel" and the "Project to Bless Lebanon." "Lebanese refugees will get 'Bags of Blessing', to be distributed by Campus Crusade for Christ and local evangelicals, " Bartholomew reported. The bags will include food and other basic items like soap and aspirin, he said, as well as a Jesus film DVD in Arabic. However, Bartholomew clarified that while the Lebanese refugees will receive the Jesus DVD, the Israelis "will be spared a similar Jesus DVD in Hebrew, for obvious political reasons." Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column "Conservative Watch" documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the U.S. Right. All rights reserved, IPS ? Inter Press Service (2006). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden Latest articles on EI: Palestine : Human Rights: Rights org: Cutting Gaza electricity and fuel is collective punishment (Oct 30, 2007) Palestine : Human Rights: Thirteen Palestinians fleeing Iraq drown after boat capsizes (Oct 30, 2007) Palestine : Opinion/Editorial: Don't emulate Israel at Guantanamo (Oct 30, 2007) Palestine : Diaries: Live from Palestine: The easiest solution (Oct 30, 2007) Palestine : Art, Music & Culture: Theatre review: "Sunlight at Midnight" (Oct 29, 2007) Palestine : Opinion/Editorial: Engaging Hamas and Hizballah (Oct 29, 2007) Palestine : Multimedia: Audio: Crossing the Line speaks with Mearsheimer and Walt (Oct 26, 2007) Palestine : Human Rights: Gaza residents unable to get medical care, aid workers say (Oct 26, 2007) Palestine : Diaries: Live from Palestine: A life cut short (Oct 24, 2007) Palestine : Art, Music & Culture: Artist Emily Jacir awarded prestigious Golden Lion (Oct 22, 2007) http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article6270. shtml

More Suicide Bombers in Islamabad as Benazir Bhutto set to leave for Dubai

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
In a video Op-Ed by documentary filmmakers Molly Bingham and Steve Connors, Iraqis explain the roots of the insurgency.
http://video. on.nytimes. com/?fr_story= 8e9862a9f3a82160 27ef2f9ecd1c3bc5 345b4134
Iraq says curbing PKK movements, supply lines
Reuters - 1 hour ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi authorities have set up more checkpoints to restrict the movement of Kurdish rebel fighters and cut supply lines to their mountain hideouts, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Wednesday.
US giving Turkey intelligence on PKK in Iraq Reuters AlertNet
Turkish army confirms 15 Kurdish rebels killed near Iraq border RIA Novosti
A fragile truce in the Swat valley of northwest Pakistan collapsed on Wednesday as troops targeted militant hideouts with artillery and helicopter gunships in retaliation to overnight attacks on them.
The attacks on armed followers of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah in and around Matta were launched after the militants carried out overnight attacks on police posts near Kabal and Saidu Sharif, officials said. There were reports that the militants, who were armed with rockets and assault rifles, fired at a helicopter flying over Matta town, prompting the security forces to target their positions with mortars. TV channels reported that there were several explosions and exchanges of fire in the mountains around Matta. There was no information on casualties in the latest fighting. The militants had called a unilateral truce on Monday ostensibly to allow both sides to retrieve and bury bodies of those killed in clashes since October 26. Officials, however, believe the militants had used the lull to regroup and strengthen their positions.Heavily armed militants were shown patrolling the streets in several towns and villages by a news channel. There were also reports that the militants had forcibly taken away several cars from automobile showrooms as well as from police posts in the region.

Meanwhile,Pakistani law enforcement agencies are desperately hunting for 11 suicide bombers active in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, police sources have said. They said that some of them were involved in the suicide attack near President Pervez Musharraf

Immigrants and Dalits are Always Targeted
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
http://www.allheadl inenews.com/ articles/ 7008988472
Rights Groups Claim Immigrants Were Targeted During Wildfire Evacuations
October 29, 2007 7:31 p.m. EST
Jessica Pupovac - AHN News Writer
San Diego, CA (AHN) - Immigrant rights groups in San Diego are reporting widespread "racial profiling" during southern California's wildfire evacuations, which they say could have kept thousands of immigrants from receiving vital services.
The Immigrants' Rights Consortium of San Diego and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) say they have documented multiple cases of human rights abuses over the course of the past week. Some immigrants, they say, were forced to work through the evacuations. Others were ejected from or denied entrance to evacuation centers if they could not present valid identification.
In one case, on October 24, a family of six undocumented immigrants took supplies from a table of donations at Qualcomm Stadium and were apprehended, and later deported, by Border Patrol agents on site.
During the fires, over 100 federal agents were redeployed from their posts in order to lend assistance to evacuees.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, however, says they detained the family for "looting," and later discovered their legal status. The case represented an isolated incident, they say. "We are not arresting fire evacuees. It's absolutely ludicrous to suggest otherwise," Lauren Mack, ICE spokeswoman, told the L.A. Times.The IRC has also denounced FEMA and the Red Cross for an alleged lack of Spanish-language warnings and Spanish-speaking volunteers.
Fred Sainz, a spokesman for San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, told the Times that while he regrets the fact that some people living in remote migrant camps did not receive evacuation orders, it was not part of a conscious effort to target migrants.
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS is an Advocacy Platform committed for Dalit Human Rights at the Grass root, National and International levels. Dalits In News aims at sensitizing Civil societies, HR Mechanisms and providing updates of HR violations on Dalits for their Intervention.
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS
NCDHR
Dalits In News
October 31, 2007
DIFFERENT WALK- Tlegraph India
http://www.telegrap hindia.com/ 1071031/asp/ opinion/story_ 8491681.asp
Amritsar dalit's killer surrenders before Punjab police- Punjab News Line
http://www.punjabne wsline.com/ content/view/ 6310/38/
Communication development workshops for weaker sections- Express India http://www.expressi ndia.com/ latest-news/ Communication- development- workshops- for-weaker- sections/ 234323/
Tlegraph India
DIFFERENT WALK
http://www.telegrap hindia.com/ 1071031/asp/ opinion/story_ 8491681.asp
To be quiet is not to be ineffectual. Not if close to 25,000 people remain quiet and determined. The Janadesh march organized under the auspices of the Ekta Parishad originated in Gwalior on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday and ended 26 days later and 350 kilometres further in Delhi. Landless farmers, tribal people and Dalits from 15 states simply walked all the way to tell the government that it was time it formulated the long-promised land reforms policy so that poor landless families may live with dignity. The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, responded quickly to this display of powerful non-violence by immediately announcing the formation of the national land reforms council that he will chair. This is presumably the first step towards the formulation of the land reforms policy that the quiet army of the landless is demanding. The government will set up another panel side by side

D-fusz Weapons of Mass Destruction & Terra Star Wars

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
D-fusz Weapons of Mass Destruction & Terra Star Wars
All Government's were Micro Managed from UK's "Seat of Power" (Seat
Automobile), that links brains together, systematically makes uniform
procedures of Offices, Conversations, Government Schedules &
Direction toward Nuclear War with WORLD PEACE & Global WarMing as a
Shell Game.
Terra Star Wars was the result of this systematization & tinkering
with People's brains, responses, timing of speech, travel, & use of
BioMetric Array Systems.
1980's preparations for the Radio Controlled transmission of
information to people's brains, included database matricized rulings,
decisions calibrated to publically signal to stalkers & Western
Europeans the "next move" in the scheduled plan.
Decisions that don't make sense are a result of this manipulation,
Terrorism & Elecronic Kidnapping.
All talk of Terrorists were & are talk of the Narcotics & UK Writer's
Actor's Community, & ALL Talk of Weapons of Mass Destruction is & has
always been about UK Weapons of Mass Destruction & Plans for Wide
Scale Dissemination & Training for Human Weapons of Mass Destruction
of 1983-2007.
1990-2001 records of discussions on all Weapons were discussed as
though they were sexual & on sale in a bordello.
World Peace Plan
Hindi Conversation needed to begin in the 1980's with talk of
Vegetarinaism & Natural Energy instead of Narcotics & Nuclear Energy.
All discussions of Nuclear Energy & Weapons are discussion on
Narcotics.
Iran & Russia's Nuclear Discussions are also believed to be about
Narcotics.
World Peace Plans require IMMEDIATE Reparations
http://gknot. net/dfusz/ node/102
UN Urges US to End Cuba Embargo
By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 30, 2007; 1:05 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. General Assembly voted for the 16th straight year Tuesday to urge the United States to end its trade embargo against Cuba, whose foreign minister accused the U.S. of stepping up its "brutal economic war" to new heights.
The 192-member world body approved a resolution calling for the 46-year-old U.S. economic and commercial embargo against Cuba to be repealed as soon as possible.
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"The blockade had never been enforced with such viciousness as over the last year," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the assembly, accusing President Bush's administration of adopting "new measures bordering on madness and fanaticism" that have hurt Cuba and interfered in its relations with at least 30 countries.
Delegates in the General Assembly chamber burst into applause when the vote in favor of the resolution flashed on the screen _ 184 to four with one abstention. That was a one-vote improvement over last year.
The vote came less than a week after Bush delivered his first major address on Cuban policy in four years, attacking the communist government and challenging the international community to help the island shed Fidel Castro's rule.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with Cuba, lists the country as a state sponsor of terror and has long sought to isolate it through travel restrictions and a trade embargo. This year, it stepped up enforcement of financial sanctions.
Castro, 81, temporarily ceded power to his brother Raul in July 2006 after undergoing intestinal surgery, and has not been seen in public for more than a year.
The Bush administration sees Castro's failing health as an opening for change. Little is different under Raul Castro, 76, and Bush said in his speech that the U.S. will make no accommodations with "a new tyranny."
"It is long past time that the Cuban people enjoy the blessings of economic and political freedom," U.S. diplomat Ronald Godard said just before Tuesday's vote.
"We urge member states to oppose and condemn the Cuban government's internal embargo on freedom, which is the real cause of the suffering of the Cuban people," he added.
Perez Roque accused the United States of violating international law, depriving Cuban children of medication, and even preventing Cuban writers from participating in a book fair in Puerto Rico.
He expressed Cuba's solidarity with U.S. movie producer Oliver Stone, who was attacked by the U.S. government for filming in Cuba, and activist director Michael Moore, who is being investigated for visiting Cuba.
"It is McCarthyism of the 21st century," Perez Roque said.
"Without doubt, as you well know, the brutal economic war that has been imposed on Cuba hasn't only affected Cubans," he added, pointing to banks and companies in many countries that have been hurt by the U.S. financial measures.
Perez Roque accused the U.S. of ignoring the 15 previous resolutions "with arrogance and political blindness."
"Cuba will never surrender," he said. "It fights and will fight."
Pride and Joy in India Over La.'s Bobby Jindal
Governor-Elect Is Latest Scion Idolized for Making It in U.S.
By Rama Lakshmi
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, October 30, 2007; A10
KHANPUR, India -- U.S. politics aren't usually the subject of gossip in the homes of this sleepy rice- and wheat-growing village in northern India. But when Bobby Jindal, an American of Indian descent, was elected governor of Louisiana this month, the residents of his ancestral village erupted in joy, distributing sweets and lighting firecrackers.
Along rural roads lined with heaps of cow dung, they danced the traditional bhangra to the beat of drums.
It was quite the celebration considering the village's relatively flimsy ties to its native son. Jindal's father packed up more than three decades ago to chase the American dream, leaving behind a large extended family. One relative vaguely recalls seeing a then-4-year- old Bobby visit many years ago, but others are not so sure. And when Jindal visited India in 2006 as part of a congressional delegation, he didn't bother to visit Khanpur.
To the villagers here, none of that seems to matter. They have drawn up a wish list of public works projects they would like Jindal to fund, including a hospital, a women's college and a sports stadium.
"Bobby's success is our success," said a turbaned Ujagar Singh, 68, who bicycled to school on the village's bumpy dirt tracks with Jindal's father. "His story begins here. The quality of the fruit depends on the roots."
That kind of thinking extends far beyond this village in Punjab state to scores of cities and villages across India where people tend to view the successes of Indian Americans as their own.
Jindal, 36, follows in the footsteps of Sunita Williams, a NASA astronaut; Indra K. Nooyi, the head of PepsiCo; Sabeer Bhatia, the creator of Hotmail; singer Norah Jones, whose father is the Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar; and Neera Tanden, a policy adviser to Hillary Clinton.
The names of such people are routinely splashed across newspaper pages here, their images broadcast on television. To many Indians, they are role models, testifying to India's emergence as a world powerhouse.
Just two decades ago, before this country shed its socialist past and opened up its economy, so-called nonresident Indians were mocked as "non-reliable Indians" or "not-required Indians." They were chastised for having abandoned their impoverished motherland to live in wealthy nations. But in the lexicon of modern India, "brain drain" is slowly being replaced by "brain gain," as Indians begin to embrace the success of their countrymen abroad.
That's not to say that Indian Americans are universally celebrated. Madhu Goud Yaskhi, a member of the Indian Parliament who holds a U.S. green card and practices law in New York, says only those who contribute to India's development should be hailed as Indian heroes.
"It is meaningless to celebrate the successes of Indians who have no ties with the motherland and are Indian only in name," he said. "It shows a sense of inferiority complex among us."
Some Indians find it ironic that their American compatriots are being worshiped at a time when so many Indians are succeeding at home. The country has a burgeoning consumption- driven middle class and a booming economy that is growing at 9 percent annually. Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani, with a net worth estimated at $63.2 billion, is among the richest individuals in the world. (On Monday, the Press Trust of India reported that his worth topped that of even Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, after a rise in the Indian stock market.)
Still, there's an insatiable appetite for heroes and role models in India, where two-thirds of the population is under 35. Any achiever whose name sounds remotely Indian is eagerly appropriated as an opportunity to bask in reflected glory.
Williams, the NASA astronaut, is the daughter of an Indian father and a Slovenian mother and was born and raised in the United States. Even though Williams was not the first Indian American NASA astronaut to join a space mission -- that title was claimed by Kalpana Chawla in 1997 -- she was mobbed by fans when she visited India last month. She met the prime minister and president, attended political events and visited schools, TV studios and the home of Mohandas Gandhi.
Thousands of Indians had prayed, lit candles and fasted to ensure Williams's safe return to Earth after her mission last year.
"The story of an Indian playing the American dream and succeeding allows us to dream as well," said Shiv Visvanathan, a social scientist with the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology. "It is a statement of possibility, even if they have a tenuous link to India. Indians feel that it could have been me. In fact, it is me."
Visvanathan said Williams looked like a bewildered tourist during her carnival-like visit to India and reacted naively to the public adoration. "The dialogue never went beyond the predictable cliches because she was a mere symbol," he said.
Critics allege that Indians are interested in claiming only rich and successful compatriots who live in the West, even those who hardly ever invest in their homeland. Rarely celebrated, for example, are the quiet contributions of thousands of Indian workers abroad, mostly in the Persian Gulf, who sent almost $23 billion back to India in 2004, compared with a mere $3.5 billion in foreign investment.
"The overseas Indian is our brand ambassador. Every success story abroad creates curiosity about India, and in a globalized world, the benefits are always mutual," said Ajay Khanna, chief executive of India Brand Equity Foundation, a marketing group.
Back in Khanpur, Jindal's relatives tried to call him with congratulations but got an answering machine instead. Even though they haven't heard from him, extended family members bicker over who is closest to Jindal's father and who has received more letters from him. At a Sikh shrine, some villagers held a three-day prayer ceremony for the Republican governor-elect, who is now a Roman Catholic.
"My children ask, 'Why does Uncle Bobby never visit us?' " said Asha Jindal, who has never spoken to Bobby Jindal although she is married to his cousin. "He is a famous American now, but this is his real home."
If anyone has any doubts that our leaders should be arrested and tired for WAR CRIMES, I think this article will put those concerns to rest.
Needless to say, I am utterly appalled and horrified that this is happening in the name of America.
Hajja Romi
US practicing systematic rape, torture, sadism against women in Iraqi prison camps. Yaqen News Agency , Translated by Muhammad Abu Nasr
October 27, 2007
The General Secretary of the Union of Political Prisoners and Detainees in Iraq, Muhammad Adham al-Hamd declared that the US occupation administration in Iraq relies on systematic rape, torture, and sadistic treatment of Iraqi women prisoners in its prison camps in the country. Al-Hamd said that the enormous crimes being committed against women in the prison camps in occupied Iraq have the support and blessings of the US military, for whom the practices serve as a means to bring psychological pressure on men engaged in the Resistance, in an attempt to break their spirit and fighting will.
Muhammad Adham al-Hamd made the comments in a statement regarding reports that confirmed the presence of large numbers of women in the American-run prison camps

An appeal
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
I am forwarding the matter related to infinite persecution of minorities and refugees in this subcontinent. Anand Swaroop Verma has done so many good things that I dare not comment on his observation. I only support his cause and respect the commitment. Pl read and react.
Palash Biswas
An appeal
to the poets, writers, theatre artists and other intellectuals
It is matter of shame for all of us that while the neighboring country Bhutan is continuing with the autocratic monarchy and its repressive activities with the help of world's largest democracy India, the intelligentsia in our country has maintained silence over the issue whereas the Indian media, time and again, keeps on praising the monarchy in Bhutan. We are repeatedly told by the media that the tiny populace in Bhutan is prospering, the country is unaffected by the environmental degradation and cultural pollution and so on. During the last couple of years, Indian media is full of news praising the King for his liberal attitude by arguing that he himself wants to end the monarchy to usher in the democratic system of governance. The media keeps on telling us that the King of Bhutan wants to join the modern world because he feels that continuing with monarchy in the present scenario is suggestive of a regressive thought.
The same media never told us sternly that this 'peaceful and environment friendly' King, in 1990 with the help of his army, had expelled 1.5 lakh citizens of his country, run bulldozer over their hamlets, destroyed their orange and cardamom plantations and unleashed a reign of terror and oppression on elders, women and children just because they were asking for the establishment of minimum democracy and respect for their human rights. Media never bothered to tell us that in the drama that is being enacted in the name of the countrywide elections scheduled for February 2008, neither political parties banned for last 20 years and termed illegal (Bhutan People's Party, Bhutan National Democratic Party, Druk National Congress) nor the people living in seven refugee camps run by UNHCR inside Nepal's border for last 17 years have been permitted to participate. The total population of Bhutan is around seven lakhs and expelling 1.5 lakh people out of this tiny population has been an incident never witnessed in the history of any country. The most surprising thing is that India is the only country in the subcontinent extending support to the King of Bhutan. He was even invited by the Indian government as chief guest in Republic Day parade two years back.
India has contributed significantly towards the plight of Bhutanese refugees. These refugees had brought out some pamphlets and organized peaceful demonstration demanding a minimum democracy in 1990. The centre of this movement was southern part of Bhutan which is close to the Indian border, particularly the West Bengal border. Although the King of Bhutan had imposed ban on the entry of television in his country, but how could this neighboring region of West Bengal could remain uninfluenced by the movement related activities which are the very soul of life in West Bengal. People from South Bhutan came to India for educational purposes and they had to pass through West Bengal. Apart from that, due to lack of connecting roads in mountainous Bhutan, people had to take the road which passes through West Bengal in order to reach the other parts of Bhutan. Since southern part of Bhutan was primarily inhabited by Lhotsompas, a Nepali speaking Bhutanese community which constituted 90 percent of the Southern Bhutanese population, the King charged them with creating disturbance. When the people of Sarchop community from east and north Bhutan were also expelled, it became clear in the long run that this movement was not confined to the Nepali speaking community alone.
Teknath Rizal, advisor to the Royal Council set up by the King wrote a letter to the King requesting that he must humbly pay heed to the people's complaints. But instead, the King put Teknath Rizal behind the bars. He was forced to suffer unbearable pains for 10 long years. He was released in 1999 when the King's officials realized that he could die in prison due to illness. He is now living an exiled life in Nepal and leading the anti-monarchy struggle. Rizal hails from Lhotsompa community.
On the same lines, the popular leader of Sarchop community Rongthong Kunley Dorji was arrested by the monarchy and charged with supporting the demand of minimum democracy. The King seized his property, put him in the jail where he was subjected to severe atrocities and was finally kicked out of the country along with his family. He was arrested by the Indian police on his arrival to India in 1996 and was put in Tihar prison for two years. He is currently on bail and the Indian government has imposed various restrictions on him. He is also leading the anti-monarchy struggles. He is the president of Druk National Congress. India has always given refuge to the pro-democracy activists of various countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Burma, Tibet and Nepal. Keeping this in mind, India's discriminatory attitude towards pro-democracy forces in Bhutan is surprising.
India's role in this regard is both shameful and significant because when the helpless Bhutanese citizens arrived inside the Indian border after being expelled from their own country, Indian security forces forcefully loaded them in trucks as if they were livestocks and dumped inside Nepal border. Those who resisted were beaten up severely. With no choice left they stayed in Nepal. Later on India laid its hands off from the issue. Whenever Government of India was requested to hold talks over the Bhutanese refugees issue, it raised its hands by saying that this was a bilateral issue between Nepal and Bhutan. Bhutan shares border with India, not Nepal. Any one who leaves Bhutan will obviously enter India first. It is a known fact that India has itself created this problem for Nepal. Nepal being a small and weaker state cannot force India, which has repeatedly ignored its request to resolve the refugee crisis.
In the last 17 years, whenever the Bhutanese refugees tried to return home risking their lives, they were stopped at Indo-Nepal border at Mechi bridge by the Indian security forces. When they tried to proceed further, they were beaten up. The most recent incident in this series is that of May 28, 2007 when one refugee was killed in police firing and hundreds of them were injured.
I had organized a conference on the Bhutanese refugee issue in 1991 along with friends from Nepal and India. At that time, a booklet entitled 'Human Rights in Bhutan' was also published. Many distinguished people including Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Justice Ajit Singh Bains and Swami Agnivesh participated. In order to create a mass consensus on the issue, an organization named 'Bhutan Solidarity' was formed towards the end of the conference and Justice Krishna Iyer was made its patron. I was asked to take the responsibility of convener. A study team from this organization in 1995 prepared a detailed report after a tour to the refugee camps. I tried my level best to contribute in resolving the issue till May 2006 in this capacity. From June 2006 onwards, MLA from MP and young farmer leader Dr. Sunilam is holding the position of convener.
As per UNHCR, the total number of refugees in the camps of Nepal is One lakh six thousand. The survey carried out by Bhutan Solidarity in 1996 revealed that more than 40,000 refugees are living in India (West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh) and they have not been given the status of refugee by UNHCR. As per 1950 Friendship Treaty between India and Bhutan, government of India refused to give these people refugee status. They too are living in worst conditions.
A team from 'Bhutan Solidarity' visited the refugee camps again in August 2006 and found that 40 percent of the refugees were in the age group of 17-40. They are losing patience after the failure of many peaceful attempts to go back home and feeling that this problem can not be resolved through peaceful means. They have also been inspired by the Maoist people's war in Nepal and this thought is getting concretized in their minds that justice will only prevail through the barrel of the gun. In spite of being aware of everything, Bhutan government and government of India have maintained an indifferent attitude. It seems as if both the governments are waiting for the refugees to take the violent path which will give them an excuse to unleash repression.
I feel that the Bhutanese refugee crisis can be resolved in a peaceful way provided the intellectuals of India raise their voice and stand behind them in solidarity with their struggle. The area which relates with these refugees is politically very sensitive. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Jhapa, close to West Bengal, have been experiencing violent movements since long but the arms here are not in the hands of revolutionary forces, but in the hands of separatists, anarchists and state sponsored armed groups. In this scenario, if the Bhutanese refugees take to armed struggle, their voice will be lost and it will pave the way for their repression. In nutshell armed struggle waged by the Bhutanese refugees to solve their problem will prove to be suicidal at this stage.
Monarchy in Bhutan is at the weakest stage. As I said earlier, it is supported only by India. It has somehow sustained itself by giving offerings to the high officials of Ministry of External Affairs and a crop of selected journalists. This is the reason why every Foreign Minister- be it I.K. Gujral, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh or Pranab Mukherjee- has 'off the record' given same argument that the Indian support to Bhutan is only due to India's 'geo-political compulsions'.
In the last couple of years, US policy has been a fiasco in Nepal. Despite US disliking, the political parties of Nepal and Maoists reached a 12 point understanding in Nov 2005, signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Maoists entered the parliament and they even joined the interim government. Inspite of all this, Maoists are still listed as 'terrorist' in the US records. Having seen utter failure of its policy in Nepal, US has now shifted its focus on Bhutan since it wants to consolidate its position in South Asia by hook or crook. US had announced last year that it will undertake to settle 60,000 Bhutanese refugees on its own and assist to settle 10,000 each in Australia and Canada. This announcement revealed many things. Firstly, it tried to create a divide among the refugees. Secondly, it tried to prevent the ideology of violence taking an organized form among them and lastly, assured the King of Bhutan that it will help him get rid of the mounting problem of refugees. This is what US aims at. While this proposal seems to be providing some relief to the King at the same time the debate on this proposal has for the first time in 17 years generated violent conflicts among the refugees. It is interesting to know that hardly 10 percent refugees are in favor of US proposal. One more incident is noteworthy. King of Bhutan Jigme Singhe Wangchuk had announced to abdicate the throne voluntarily in 2008 in favor of his son Prince Khesar Singhe Wangchuk. But suddenly US came in picture and through its efforts got the process completed much earlier, that is in May 2007 itself. Prince Khesar is now the King of Bhutan and US has full faith in him.
The objective of writing this letter is to inform you about the plight of Bhutanese refugees and government of India's position in this regard as well as to appeal you to give a serious thought on the possible ways to resolve the problem. This problem can surely be resolved peacefully and a terrible bloodshed can be avoided in this region if the intellectuals, human rights activists and active pro-democracy people of Indian political parties think seriously over this issue. If our endeavour fails to bring change the government of India's attitude of indifference, then the movement of Bhutanese refugees taking a violent turn can not be termed as illegitimate. But I have strong feeling that even a small effort on our part can bring a peaceful solution to the problem.
Your suggestions on this issue are invited so that we can sit together in the near future and find out a way in the coming days.

Yours,
Anand Swaroop Verma
Q-63, Sector-12, Noida - 201301
Phone: 0120-4356504, 9810720714
email: vermada@hotmail.com
Date : September 14, 2007

Well said, your honour
Syed Muhammad Ibrahim
I draw the attention of readers to what former chief justice of Bangladesh Supreme Court Mostafa Kamal told The Daily Star on October 27: "Now it is being said that no war criminal exists in the country. May be after some time it would be said that the Liberation War never took place. This will mean we will be deprived of the real history."
Not only as a citizen, but also as an active or armed freedom fighter of the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971, I am shocked at the remarks leaders of a political party called Jamaat-e-Islami made to reporters after a meeting with the Election Commission on Thursday, October 25.
Chief Justice Mostafa Kamal expressed his suspicion that some day the detractors of the War of Liberation will deny the war itself. Justice Mostafa Kamal did not have to wait long.
At about 9.30 p.m. on Friday, October 26, in a television talk show on Ekushey TV titled Ekushey Shomoy, Mr. Shah Abdul Hannan a former secretary to the government of Bangladesh said that there was no Liberation War of Bangladesh, instead what happened in 1971 was civil war in Pakistan. Mr. Shah Abdul Hannan, in all possibility, represents a thought process of like-minded people who have decided to deny the War of Liberation by calling it civil war. Mr. Hannan is not alone. We need to answer these questions or in other words resolve this issue once and for all.
Many said, in the past, that to raise the issue of freedom fighters and non-freedom fighters is tantamount to dividing the society or opening old wounds or impeding national unity. As a freedom fighter I strongly submit that I have no intention to include among my nation such people who do not recognise the War of Liberation.
The denial of the War of Liberation is something like a child denying the fact that he was born of his mother and that his mother suffered much birth pangs during his birth. May I ask a question to Jamaat-e-Islami and Mr. Shah Abdul Hannan: "Pakistan government in 1971 used to say that the situation in East Pakistan in 1971 was an internal law and order problem. In 2007 Mr. Shah Abdul Hannan says it was a civil war. Question: Was Bangladesh born because of political struggle alone or because of the recommendations of politicians only?"
At least on five successive March 26s (that is in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006) Mr. Matiur Rahman Nizami and Mr. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed of the Jamaat-e-Islami joined the ranks of other ministers at the national memorial at Savar, because that is the independence day of Bangladesh. Why did these two the then-ministers go to Savar if they did not believe that March 26, 1971 was not the day of independence of Bangladesh!
On the contrary, if they believe the date to be the day of independence, then how can there be a civil war between two different countries (that is a country called Bangladesh and another country called Pakistan). It had to be a war between the forces loyal to Bangladesh and forces who were "occupying" Bangladesh.
Mr. Hannan and his like-minded colleagues must be made to answer, albeit in an honourable and gentlemanly way.
It is high time that we resolve this issue once and for all. No national reconciliation is possible with any segment of the people who deny the process of birth of this country. The blood shed by the millions of martyrs in 1971 will not pardon the present generation or more specifically the freedom fighters who are still living for not ensuring due recognition of the War of Liberation. In this context, I have three specific proposals.
Proposal number one is about a commission. The background to this proposal is similar to the background which necessitates the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh. There is no dearth of reports in the print or electronic media about corruption by members of the political governments between 1991 to 2006. These reports alone are not sufficient to prosecute the people. Formal efforts are needed, that is why the Anti-Corruption Commission does the investigation, charge sheeting, and prosecution.
Similarly, there is no dearth of reports about opposition to the War of Liberation and atrocities by the opponents of the war. Therefore, to formalise the investigations and prosecution in a legal manner, there must be a high powered legal entity.
The name of the commission can be something like "Fact Finding Commission 1971" or "Political and War Crimes Finding Commission 1971" or "History Commission on Liberation War 1971" or some such. Wise people can find a good name.
The terms of reference may include among other matters:
What role did the political parties of the then Pakistan/East Pakistan play towards materialising an independent Bangladesh during the period March 26 to December 16, 1971.
What support, if any, was available to the Pakistan army in 1971 during its operations in East Pakistan, from the local political parties, or local businessmen, or local citizens.

Priority is for a wide and deliberative enquiry into the entire range of crimes, but if wide ranging enquiry is not possible, then at least enquiry into the possibility of commission of war crimes by those who opposed the freedom fighters of Bangladesh, with armed actions or otherwise, must take place.
The proposed commission may be composed of three retired chief justices or justices of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, three retired freedom fighter general-officers of Bangladesh armed forces, three freedom fighters of 1971 from among general citizens, three former vice-presidents of the Supreme Court Bar and three eminent lawyers of international repute or of international human rights organisations recognised by the United Nations. The composition is also open to further thought and refinement.
Proposal number two is related to the government's decision-making process. I hope and pray that the present government will take the courageous step of addressing this issue of formally identifying the forces opposed to the Liberation War of 1971 and crimes committed by the opposition.
Should the government feel shy or diffident to touch the subject, then the government may refer the matter to the Bangladeshi/Bengali Nation through an independent referendum or referendum-cum-election. But the matter should, repeated should, be addressed. In particular I appeal to the armed forces of Bangladesh who are directly the professional descendents of freedom fighters.
Proposal number three relates to our media. In the absence of an elected parliament, the media needs to play this vital role that I am humbly suggesting. Let all the independent TV channels of Bangladesh organise discussions on the screen, to raise an awareness about war of liberation, the activities of the freedom fighters and the activities of the anti-liberation forces in 1971 so that the people of Bangladesh can take a decision.

Unable to view, please visit http://hrcbm. org/news/ news-cht- landgrab. html

Fresh Land Grabbing and Bengali Settlement Programme continued in CHT

News report submitted by: Ms. Rosaline DE Costa, Hotline Bangladesh .

Land grabbing by Bengali settlers and imminent forcible eviction of indigenous Jumma peoples from Sadhana Tila area under Dighinala Police Station, Khagrachari district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh became a flashpoint. The Sadhana Tila Buddhist temple has been desecrated by the illegal plain settlers and is facing destruction. In addition, following the publication of a leaflet by the Students and Youth Committee Against Land Aggression, Zone Commander of Dighinala, Major Qamrul Hassan summoned Mr. Sattyendriyo Chakma, headman of Baghaichari Mouza (Kapaeeng Watch mistakenly mentioned Mr. Jnanendriyo Chakma as Headman of Babuchara mouza in previous report), to the zone headquarters, interrogated and threatened to kill him if he did not allow the illegal settlers to capture the Sadhana Tila land.
Since 15 August 2007, indigenous peoples of Sadhana Tila have been living on the edges of an impending communal riot as the military authorities have undertaken programmes to settle over 800 illegal plain settler families by evicting indigenous Jumma peoples and destroying the Sadhana Tila Buddhist temple. Indigenous Jumma peoples have been living in these lands from time immemorial.
As the Sadhana Tila became a flashpoint, on 28 August 2007, Chief of Bangladesh Army, General Moeen U Ahmed visited the area. Since then, the situation has only deteriorated.
On 2 September 2007, the illegal plain settlers destroyed some of the houses of indigenous Jumma peoples around Sadhana Tila Buddhist temple. Earlier on 1 September 2007 at around 12 noon, a group of settlers led by Md. Malek and Chand Mian pulled down the signboard of Sadhana Tila temple and smashed it. They also threatened the Buddhist monks to leave the temple and destroyed a few houses of the Jumma people at Sadhana Tila.
I. State's attempts to implant over 800 families of illegal settlers at Sadhana Tila
The Sadhana Tila area under Dighinala Police Station comprises about 300 acres of land and houses a Buddhist Meditation Center and a sizable indigenous Jumma population. As stated above, indigenous Jumma peoples have been living in these villages from time immemorial.
Since 13 August 2007, the illegal plain settlers supported by the Bangladesh army personnel and the Bangladesh police have launched programmes to forcibly capture the lands of the area. Bangladesh army personnel led by Dighinala Zone Commander, Major Qamrul Hassan ordered the Buddhist monks residing in the Sadhana Tila Buddhist Temple and indigenous peoples living around the Buddhist temple to leave in order to settle over 800 illegal plain settlers' families.
As indigenous Jumma peoples refused to comply, trucks and jeeps load of illegal settlers have been coming to Sadhana Tila and cutting the jungle around the Buddhist temple for constructing houses under the protection and command of the Bangladesh army and police personnel.
On 23 August 2007 at about 5 pm, a group of illegal settlers broke into the temple boundary and began cutting tress and shrubs belonging to the temple. When the Jumma villagers protested, the army and the police falsely accused the Buddhist monks of possessing arms and wanted to search the temple. A violent confrontation between the Jummas and the illegal settlers was narrowly prevented after the intervention of Union Council Chairman, Mr Paritosh Chakma.
II. Involvement of the local civilian administration and the army
The Bangladesh Army and police personnel have been actively involved in the land grabbing at Sadhana Tila area. The army authorities have reportedly announced an incentive grant of Taka 50,000 for each settler family who will be willing to settle there, in addition to Taka 1,000 as monthly allowance. The army personnel have also reportedly threatened to stop free food rations to those settlers who do not want to settle in Sadhana Tila area.
Since 30 August 2007, the army personnel themselves have been cutting jungles around Kamala Bagan School near Sadhana Tila Buddhist temple. They have also stepped up patrol to provide protection to the plain settlers.
III. Request for interventions
The situation is so grave that the possibility of a communal riot cannot be ruled out if the indigenous peoples protest against their eviction or destruction of their temple. The illegal plain settlers simply have been on a riotous mood. They have been using various tactics to instigate the indigenous peoples to protest in order to get some reasons for launching a full-scale communal attack on the indigenous peoples.
About 81 indigenous Jumma elders such as Headmen, Karbaris (village chief), women leaders, incumbent and former Chairmen and members of the Union Councils submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner of Khagrachari district on 2 September 2007 to stop the atrocities. Since the atrocities have intensified following the visit of General Moeen U Ahmed, it is unlikely that the Deputy Commissioner will be able to take effective measures.
Please find the attachment for details on Situation of CHT in Bangladesh during State of Emergency .
Kapaeeng Watch appeals to influence Government of Bangladesh for stopping land grabbing and settlement programme of Bangali settlers in CHT, south-eastern part of Bangladesh .
LV : Emergency gears up ethnic cleansing in CHT, Bangladesh
The present military-backed Caretaker Government of Bangladesh of Dr. Fakruddin Ahmed imposes the State of Emergency in the country amid conflict political situation on 12 January 2007. Under the state of emergency, the Joint Forces led by military forces are conducting drive against the corrupt politicians, businessmen and godfathers. As part of this drive, a few godfathers and corrupt leaders of last four-party alliance government have been arrested in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). However the military forces have been using the state of emergency with a different motive in case of indigenous peoples in CHT. Basically it has been used to suppress the voice of indigenous Jumma people of CHT.
While the military-backed Caretaker Government has continued its crackdown on corrupt politicians much to the relief of the common citizens, the government forces in CHT are hugely misusing the emergency power equating corrupt Bengali politicians and businessmen with the Jumma rights defenders. The military forces are using the emergency rules to unleash sweeping political repression against indigenous Jumma peoples including two Jumma political parties Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) and United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) and their front organisations.
On the other, though present Caretaker Government undertook various vital initiatives that are most crucial and urgent for national interest, such as, drive against corruption, separation of judiciary from the executive and amendment of relevant laws for the same within a few months, re-constitution of Anti-Corruption Commission, Election Commission and Public Service Commission, but no initiative has yet been taken for implementation of the CHT Peace Accord by the Caretaker government. Rather, by taking the advantage of the state of emergency, the military forces have increased anti-Accord activities, such as, forcible occupation of indigenous Jumma people’s land, settlement of Bengali Muslim families to outnumbering indigenous and setting up new camp to support them, strengthening of extreme communal forces through Sama Odhikar Andolan and nomination of them to Hill District Councils (HDCs), trying to replace Bengali members of CHT Regional Council (CHTRC) with extremist leaders of Sama Odhikar Andolan (Equal Right Movement) etc.
A. Arrest, detention and torture of indigenous activists
While the ongoing crackdown on the corrupt politicians across the country is a commendable job, the arrest of the members of the ethnic Jumma organisaitons who are fighting for their just rights cannot be acceptable. There is wide apprehension that the government agencies may misuse the emergency powers to arrest the ethnic Jumma rights activists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Particularly the government forces have targeted the indigenous Jumma activists including members of the PCJSS. To materialise their allegation, the government forces have been showing arm recovery from arrestees' possession putting their (army) arm and hence lodging false arm case against them. Since the promulgation of the State of Emergency , at least 2 innocent villagers have been killed and 50 indigenous activists have been arrested by the government forces. Among them, PCJSS claims at least 20 members and UPDF claims at least 10 members have been arrested. In addition, it has also been reported that at least 20 innocent Jummas including public representatives, women and villagers have also been held. Please annexure for list of arrested activists.
Filing false cases against arrestees and punishing them
Allegations have been received that most of them have been arrested putting arms and ammunitions by the army. They all are falsely charged not only for keeping illegal arms and ammunitions, but also for extortion, kidnapping, killing etc. In some cases, the cases have been filed under section 16(b) of the Emergency Power Rules of 2007 which restricts release on bail to accused during the enquiry, investigation and trial of the case.
Among the arrested activists (please see annexure), Mr. Satyabir Dewan, General Secretary of PCJSS, Mr. Ranglai Mro, mouza Headman and UP Chairman, Mr. Bikram Marma, President of PCJSS Kaptai branch and Sai Mong Marma, Organising Secretary of PCJSS Kaptai branch have been punished 17 years imprisonment for each. The statements of complainant and witnesses have been studied by the reporter that the statements of complainer and witnesses against them given to the court were contradictory to the statements of the case submitted to the police station, but the punishment was declared. One of lawyers of Satyabir Dewan said that military forces led Major Yasin from Rangamati brigade verbally ordered the judges of the Chittagong judge court to declare punishment to all the cases filed against indigenous activists.
Relatives of both arrested activists said that they have been arrested putting arms by the military forces from their residence. Mr. Polo Dewan, son of Satyabir Dewan confirmed that he witnessed putting a country-made pipe-gun under his bed by an army person as he was at the room at that time. He said that he protested against it. But the army threatened to arrest him too.
On the other, Tanindra Lal Chakma, central member of PCJSS was arrested in connection with false extortion case filed by Md. Fuyad Hussain, Manager of Grameen Bank of Babuchara branch with Dighinala police station. Wife of Tatindra Lal Chakma claimed that the government forces compelled Md. Fuyad Hussain to file this case against her husband. However, as Mrs. Chakma said, her husband was granted bail in June 2007 as complainant denied before court to have involvement of Mr. Chakma with this extortion. Again, Mrs. Chakma also claimed that bail of her husband was cancelled on 23 July 2007 as Md. Fuyad Hussain again withdrawn his statement due to tremendous pressure from military. Md. Fuyad Hussain did not agree to talk on this issue with this reporter. Mrs. Chakma also confirmed that two cases falsely charging for killing have also been filed against her husband with Dighinala police station on 2 August 2007. Mr. Tatindra Lal is veteran ex-combatant and competent organiser.
One of false cases is arm case against Mr. Shaktipada Tripura and Bholash Tripura filed on 14 June 2007. It is reported on that day the Joint Forces conducted massive raid house of Mr. Shaktipada Tripura, Organising Secretary of central committee of PCJSS. His wife informed that during the raid, military forces searched the house, but found nothing and hence left the house. However, they came back after few minutes. They again encircled the house and declared themselves to recovery a country-made gun from back of the house. The military picked up Mr. Bholash Tripura, Finance Secretary of Khagrachari district branch of Hill Student Council, from the house. Two cases for keeping illegal arms and foreign currency were filed against Shaktipada Tripura and Bholash Tripura with Khagrachari police station. Bholash Tripura was also shown arrest under section of 16(b) of Emergency Power Rules of 2007. Shaktipada who are also vocal traditional leader (Headman) in Khagrachari was compelled to leave his place for avoiding arrest.
Brutal torture on arrestees indiscriminately is a must
Complaint has also been received that during the custody of the government forces and remand, most arrested activists have been brutally tortured and harassed. M