Palash Speaks

District Dalit Panchayat Parliament
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
District Dalit Panchayat Parliament

Tumkur District

14 April 2007
Election Rules and Procedures

Total Number of DDP Seats : 100
Each voter will have two votes

Prior to the election to DDP each Taluk DP must meet and submit a list of Fifteen members from the Taluk to be elected to the DDP. The list will be submitted to the Election Commission specially set up for conducting the DDP elections.

The fifteen members thus selected by the Taluk DP should follow the pattern of two representatives from each Hobli. In Taluks where there are only 4 Hoblis and where there are six Hoblis it is at the discretion of the Taluk DP to select 10 members to the electoral list proportionately representing the Hoblis.

Besides the eleven members from the Hoblis each Taluk should propose names of four other members for direct elections. These four members can be anybody from the Taluk. However, two of them should be compulsorily women. A Taluk may choose to have either three or all the four women candidates for direct elections. But there should not be more than two men among the four.

The list should be prepared in the order of preference by the Taluk DP. The first four names are eligible for direct elections using the majoritarian system. The others will be elected according to the proportion of votes that each Taluk gains. The election of members from proportionate voting will start from the fifth name in the Taluk List.

In the List of 15 members from each taluk the number of women should be either equal or more than equal. The order of the list should be the first name should be of a woman member and the next one will be that of a man.

The two members thus selected from each Hobli and the other four for direct election can already be elected members of either the Hobli DP or of the Taluk DP. If they are elected to the DDP, they should vacate their respective seats. The Hobli DP and the Taluk DPs should meet subsequently and elect new members in their place.

From the Taluk Electoral List the first four members will contest for direct vote on the day of DDP election. All members of DPs from different Taluks can caste their direct vote, which is their first vote to any candidate from their respective taluk. From among the four in each taluk one woman who gets the highest vote and one man who gets the highest vote will be declared elected. The other two will not be eligible to become members of the DDP.

The voting pattern with the first vote will follow the method that is in practice now. That is, a voter from one taluk can vote only for candidates from his/her respective taluks which is equivalent to the present constituency or an electoral district.

The other members will be elected according to the percentage of votes that each taluk gains on the day of DDP election through the second vote. If a taluk gains 4% of votes it will be eligible to have four members elected to the DDP from its Taluk List. If a Taluk gains 14% votes it will be eligible to have 14 members elected to the DDP.

Each Taluk will be given an election symbol on the request of the Taluk DP. Each taluk can give five election symbols of their choice from which the Election Commission will allot one in the order of the Taluk preference. Booshakthi and Dalit Symbols will not be given as election symbols.

There will be two ballot papers.

9.a. One ballot paper will contain the 4 names of all the candidates contesting for direct election. Each voter will mark only one name in this ballot paper. There will be a symbol for each directly electable member. The rules for allotting the symbols will be the same as in no.12. Each taluk will have a separate ballot paper only with the names and symbols of candidates from it.

9.b. The second ballot paper will have the Taluk symbols with the names of each taluk printed against the symbol. Each voter will mark his/her preferred taluk to be represented in the DDP. This will be known as the second vote. Taluks can make their own alliances and coalitions prior to the election in order to gain the maximum number of their candidates elected from the Party List.

Cross voting and calculated voting are allowed in the taluk list.

All the 100 members thus elected through the DDP elections will be known as the District Dalit Panchayat Parliament.

The DDPP will meet at a later date to elect from among them the Supreme Council of the Dalit Panchayat as explained in Dalitology.
Polling Booths

On the day of polling appropriate arrangements will be made for smooth polling by all the voters. Barricades will be set up and ballot boxes will be placed. Barricades will be made in such a way that voters from each taluk will be able to proceed in an orderly manner to the ballot boxes meant for their taluk. Voters from each taluk must go in line only through the barricade that is meant for their taluk.

As the voter enters the barricades there will be polling agents who will check the membership card of each voter. The membership card must bear the name of the taluk from the voter hails besides the membership details. After verifying the details the polling agent will affix a stamp on the membership card so that it will not be used again for proxy voting.

The polling agent will also check the index finger on the left hand of each voter to see that there is no mark with an indelible ink that is used on the polling day to identify those who have already voted.

Another polling agent will then hand over the ballot papers and explain to the voter what she/he must do with both the ballot papers, how to affix the seal, how to fold the ballot papers and then how to drop them into the ballot boxes.

After casting the vote to their favorite candidates and taluks the voters will go out of the polling booth. However, as they go out of the polling booth an indelible ink will be applied to their index finger in the left hand.

Invalid Votes

A vote will be declared invalid only when a seal is affixed in between two lives without the vote being clear to be counted either way. If there are mistakes in the way of folding the ballot paper by some voters and yet if it is possible to identify the candidate or Taluk for whom the voter has voted it will still be a valid vote.

All the ballot papers that may be identical to the ballot paper printed by the Election Commission and have managed to sneak into the ballot boxes will be declared invalid.

Ballot papers that are tampered for purposes other than voting will be declared invalid.
Disqualification

If it is found that any of the persons either contesting directly or in the Taluk list is already an elected member of any political party it will invoke disqualification from the District Dalit Panchayat Parliament.
Any candidate who is found to be providing drinks or other materials to gain votes will be disqualified.

Any candidate with known criminal records or known to be a wife-basher or to be indulging in compulsive misbehavior with women will be disqualified.
Other Conditions

All taluks will select either equal or more number of women representatives in their taluk list.

Decisions of Election Commission will be final in all electoral matters.

No excuses on the day of election will be entertained. Misunderstanding and not understanding the election rules will be at the risk of the Taluk and Hobli Leaders. All must take the responsibility to clarify any issue with the Election Commission sufficiently early and also educate the members of their Taluk DPs.
Timing of Elections

The election timing for the District Dalit Panchayat Parliament in the year 2007 will be from 08 hours to 14 hours on 14 April 2007.
Closing Procedures
The Chief Election Commissioner will personally ensure the proper sealing of the ballot boxes at the end of voting.

Sealing of ballot boxes will be done in the presence of other members of the Election Commission, the Director of REDS, the Dalit Swamiji, the appointed Taluk leaders of Tumkur District and the polling Agents.

After the sealing the ballot boxes the Chief Election Commissioner, accompanied by all the officers mentioned above in No. 33 will take the ballot boxes with adequate police or other security personnel to the office REDS at Shanthinagar.

In the office of REDS at Shanthinagar in the presence of all the mentioned officers and under the surveillance of the police and/or other security personnel the Chief Election Commissioner will place all the ballot boxes in one room and seal the room so that nobody else will be able enter the room until it is opened by the Chief Election Commissioner or a person deputed by her/him on the day of counting.
Procedures for Counting of Votes

On the day of counting i.e. on 15 April 2007 the ballot boxes will be opened in the presence of the Chief Election Commissioner along with his/her colleagues and the polling agents as nominated by the Taluk Leaders.

The Chief Election Commissioner will make sure, before removing the seals of the ballot boxes, that the ballot boxes have not been tampered with and that no mischief has been done with the ballot boxes in the preceding night.

The counting agents will then start their task of sorting out the votes and counting of votes. They will first separate the white ballot papers from the pink ballot papers in each ballot box.

First they will count the votes of the direct contestants in each taluk and will announce the results over loud speakers as soon as the counting is over.

If the observers from each taluk bring up any procedural anomaly while counting the Election Commissioner may order recounting of ballot papers in the concerned taluk.

Upon announcing the results of the direct candidates election from each taluk the polling agents will begin to count the ballot papers of the Taluk List.
Election Results

Minimum percentage of votes required for any Taluk to be represented in the DDP is 2.5%. This will be known as the DDP threshold.

The percentage of seats for each taluk will be decided based on the percentage of votes each taluk gains in the election.

The percentage of votes will be calculated in relation to total number of votes polled in the election to the District Dalit Panchayat Parliament on 14 April 2007.

After doing all the percentage calculations carefully the number of candidates elected from each taluk will be announced in the loud speakers.

Subsequent to this the Taluk List received from each taluk will be placed before the polling agents and the names of the candidates elected in the order of priority as per the presented list will be announced.
Election to the Supreme Council of Dalit Panchayats

After the announcement of all the 100 candidates of the District Dalit Panchayat Parliament the Election Commission will formally announce the date for the Election to the Supreme Council of Dalit Panchayats.

The Supreme Council of Dalit Panchayat will be constituted by electing ten from among the 100 members of the District Dalit Panchayat Parliament.

The election to the Supreme Council will be done in the model of the traditional Dalit Panchayat in the villages. The 100 members of the District Dalit Panchayat Parliament will assemble on the appointed day and will elected ten members among them by mutual consensus.

Election Commission

The Election Commission will consist of the following persons:

Mr. Pradeep Esteves
Mrs. Jyothi Chandrasekhar
Mrs. Anita Cheria
Mr. Edwin
Mrs. Jyothiraj
Mr. M C Raj
Membership Details
Total Number of Membership : 25748
Division I

Pavagada : 3829

Madhugiri : 3148

Koratagere : 2702
Division II

Sira : 6334

Gubbi : 1046

Tumkur : 2771
Division IV

Turuvekere : 3042

Tiptur : 1448

Chikkanayakanahalli : 1428

Land Affairs

Sreekanta – Proposed by Shivanna
Seconded by Rajamma

Government Schemes

Shivanajaiah – Proposed by Shankaraia
Seconded by Gowramma

Women Leadership

Prema – Proposed Sreenivas
Seconded Shivanajaiah

Duty and Discipline – Krishnamoorthy

Proposed – Bhagya
Seconded – Kalamma

Dali Panchayat Ministry – Krishnamurthy

Proposed by Bhagya
Seconded by Shivanna

Dalit Politics and Electoral reforms

Nagalakshmamma

Proposed by Shivanna
Seconded by Puttaiah

Finance

Jayamma

Proposed by
Bhagyamma

Seconded by Gowramma

Proposed by Bhagya
Seconded by Shivanajaiah

Dalit Education

Rajamma

Proposed by Gowramma
Shivanna

President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Farewell Address
January 17, 1961
(Military-Industrial Complex Speech)
http://www.westpointgradsagainstthewar.org/military-industrial%20complex%20speech%20(farewell)%20ike.htm

TO JOIN
West Point Graduates Against The War
click here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My fellow Americans:
Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.
This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen. Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.
Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.
My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years.
In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together.
II
We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.
III
Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.
Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology, global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle-with liberty at stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.
Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research-these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.
But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs. balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage, balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between action of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.
The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.
IV
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peace time, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence, economic, political, even spiritual, is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.
V
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we, you and I, and our government, must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
VI
Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.
Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war-as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years-I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.
Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.
VII
So, in this my last good night to you as your President, I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future.
You and I, my fellow citizens, need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals.
To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing inspiration:
We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
Radio-Television Address: January 17, 1961

Next Millennium - Ambedkar Yuga
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

Next Millennium - Ambedkar Yuga
10. Subhas Chandra Musafir, A Section of Educated Dalits have Become Mini-Brahmins, Dalit Voice, July
15-31, 1999, p.22
Copyrights Reserved. www.dalitreds.in 16

DISTRICT DALIT PANCHAYAT PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS IN TUMKUR
AND
PUBLIC FUNCTION TO MARK Festival
of the Birth Anniversary
of
Babu Jag Jivan Ram and Babasaheb Ambedkar

DATE: 14TH APRIL 2007
INTRODUCTION

For the first time in the history, the Dalit people of Tumkur District gathered in large numbers to elect their own Dalit Panchayat Parliament on 14th April 2007 at the Government Junior College Grounds in Tumkur Town. The elections and the subsequent public function were jointly organized by the Dalit Panchayat Movement, The Booshakthi Vedike of Karnataka, the Booshakthi Kendra, Nelahal which is the first ever Dalit Ashram in India and REDS in Tumkur.
The Election (8 am

FINANCIAL GLOBALIZATION
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
Usher Samvat 2064, the glitter was lost as the benchmark Sensex closed below the 19000-mark. Investors were greeted with lot of bad news around the world: While global oil prices were reaching new peaks, the stock indices were falling in Asian as well as European markets taking cues from the U.S., where almost everyday one bank or an investment firm was reporting losses due to the defaults in its credit markets.
However, Samvat 2063 was a spectacular year for the investors as equities gave a return of 51.45 per cent.
The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) lost 151.33 points or 0.79 per cent at 18907.60 compared to the previous close of 19058.93. On Thursday, the Sensex suffered a loss of 230.90 points. However, the midcap and smallcap stocks made gains. The BSE midcap index gained 67.85 points at 8013.63 and the smallcap 145.97 points at 9756.88.
Among Asian markets, China

Bhutto urges foreign support for Pakistani opposition
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
Emergency 'unites' Imran, Jemima
London socialite Jemima Khan is joining hands with ex-husband Imran Khan in a move across the oceans to drum up political opposition against a state of emergency in Pakistan.
Jemima, whose cricketer-turned-politician husband evaded house arrest in Pakistan, is to lead a demonstration outside the home of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday to protest against the martial law imposed by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, and call for tougher action against him.
''This is a movement against martial law and it has teachers, lawyers, students in it - just like the movement in Pakistan itself,'' Jemima said.She said she wants the British government to take a stronger position against Musharraf and cancel nearly half a billion pounds in aid pledged over the next three years.
The fairytale romance of Jemima, Jewish daughter of late British billionaire Oliver Goldsmith - one of the world's richest men - and Imran, the rugged and dashing Pathan cricketer, hit the headlines in 1995 when they got married.

Pakistan: The Making of a Crisis
Friday, Nov. 09, 2007 By SIMON ROBINSON
The turmoil in the streets of Pakistan stems from a mercurial mix of history, religion and politics — with explosive results. Here is a guide to the crisis:
THE COUNTRY
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is made up of 165 million people, divided among several tribal and linguistic groups, united only by its military and by Islam — and that in many different stripes of tradition, conservatism and modernity. Pakistan and its military leaders were key allies of the U.S., supporting the mujaheddin war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union after Moscow invaded and occupied that country. That Afghan war, which ended with the Soviet defeat in 1989, assumed a religious nature in the Islamic world and, as it came to a close, fostered the rise of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime that eventually took over most of Afghanistan. In the 1990s, relations between Islamabad and Washington chilled after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Pakistan for pursuing nuclear weapons. Pakistan's government backed the puritanical Taliban government in Kabul until Sept. 11, 2001.
THE PLAYERS
President Pervez Musharraf came to power in Pakistan in a bloodless 1999 coup promising to fix Pakistan's economy and clean it of corruption, which had grown under successive civilian leaders. General Musharraf is a former commando and fought in Pakistan's wars with its bigger South Asian neighbor — and constant rival — India in 1965 and 1971. He was Chief of Army Staff during a smaller conflict between the two countries in 1999, a bloody tussle that some feared might go nuclear as both India and Pakistan had just carried out nuclear tests and had — and continue to have — the ability to launch nuclear strikes. After the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. in 2001, Musharraf aligned himself with President Bush, who has consistently called the Pakistani leader one of America's most important allies in the war against terrorism. For years, he had enjoyed acclaim for his reputaton for incorruptibility as well as for getting the U.S. to lift the economic sanctions put in place after Pakistan tested its first nuclear bomb in 1998.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was the catalyst for the current crisis in Pakistan. The feisty and independent head of Pakistan's Supreme Court was suspended by Musharraf in March 2007 for alleged misconduct. The move against the judge backfired as Pakistan's lawyers and middle class moderates, many of whom had once supported Musharraf as a bulwark against extremism, took to the streets in a series of massive protests. Musharraf's popularity has plummeted ever since. In July 2007, the Supreme Court reinstated Chaudhry. In early November, the Chaudhry-led Court seemed set to rule that Musharraf's October 6 re-election to another five year term was unconstitutional. Facing his most serious political challenge in eight years, Musharraf called a state of emergency, suspending the constitution, sacking the most uncooperative judges, detaining Chaudhry, blacking out the independent news stations and sending security forces into the streets to keep down protests.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been Musharraf's unlikely ally in this process, sometime combative, sometime conciliatory. Oxford-educated and the first woman to lead a post-colonial Muslim state, Bhutto is the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was Pakistan's Prime Minister between 1973 and 1977. Zulfikar was forced out of power by General Mohamed Zia-ul-Haq, who later had him executed for killing a political opponent, a charge Benazir and her supporters continue to deny three decades on. This year, as Musharraf's popularity plummeted, a U.S.-approved deal between the President and his former rival cleared the way for Bhutto to return home from exile in Britain and Dubai on the understanding that Musharraf would step down from his army job and then serve another five-year term as President while Bhutto would lead her Pakistan People's Party, the country's biggest, to parliamentary success in early 2008 and serve as Prime Minister. Chief Justice Chaudhry's court was also set to rule on the merits of this deal, which included the Musharraf government's dismissal of corruption charges leveled against Bhutto and her husband. Bhutto's support had suffered after her decision to cut a deal with the unpopular President. She has called for street protests but has not ruled out going ahead with the original plan as long as Musharraf steps down as army chief and elections go ahead on schedule.
THE ISSUES
The War on Terror is key to American policy on Pakistan, which has gladly accepted $10 billion in aid from Washington since the 2001 attacks. In the years after 9/11, after the overthrow of the regime in Kabul, al-Qaeda and the Taliban have regrouped in the mountainous region along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. The area, often described as lawless, has long been controlled by fiercely conservative tribes that run their own semi-autonomous administration. Over the past few years foreign and local militants have grown stronger. Last year, after failing to quash the insurgency militarily, the Pakistani army signed a brief ceasefire deal with some of the militant groups. The fighting has since resumed. U.S. intelligence agencies believe al-Qaeda has now rebuilt to the point where it could launch fresh attacks against America.
The Talibanization of Pakistan has raised fears that a future regime in the country may put Islambad's nuclear capacity — estimated at about 80 nuclear devices — into the hands of parties inimical to the West. Indeed, the militants have spread their influence into more moderate areas of Pakistan such as the once-touristy Swat Valley. The militant groups have also launched attacks against Pakistan's cities, including the capital. In July 2007 a mosque in Islamabad became the site of a bloody confrontation between government security forces and radical Islamists and triggered a fresh wave of bombings, kidnappings and other attacks. Within hours of Bhutto's arrival home from exile last month, more than 150 people in her convoy were killed in a bomb blast targeting her.
Who Will Rule Pakistan? The question is paramount and critical at this moment. If the Musharraf-Bhutto deal has fallen through, then Pakistanis are left with an extremely unpopular dictator who nevertheless is the only moderating force on a military-and-security apparatus that many fear harbors extremist elements. Bhutto, whose return to Pakistan was a nod toward democratic ideals, already believes that members of Pakistan's government and intelligence agencies knew about the attack on her homecoming convoy and helped plan it. Musharraf's closest foreign allies have long feared that those same military and intelligence bodies still include officials sympathetic to the militants Islamabad is supposed to be fighting. In the meantime, as Musharraf and Bhutto maneuver for advantage, the extremists in the mountains continue to expand their influence, day by day becoming a more realistic, if fearsome, option to ineffective Pakistani politics-as-usual.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1682534,00.html
Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday called upon foreign governments to support the opposition against President Pervez Musharraf, who has placed the country under emergency rule.
'The country is under attack from militants and the military regime,' she told a gathering of around 80 foreign diplomats in the capital Islamabad.
'I appeal to you to stand with us for free and fair elections,' she said, adding that the international community should give moral support to the opposition campaign against Musharraf, an army general who came to power in a 1999 coup and is now a key US ally in the war against terrorism.
'It is a misperception that Musharraf alone stands in the way of extremism,' Bhutto stressed. She said the security forces, which suffered heavy losses in clashes with militants in recent months, 'are demoralized because they are attacking their own people.'
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Saturday marked her release from house arrest by joining a protest rally against emergency rule imposed by President Pervez Musharraf and demanding to see the top judge he deposed to secure re-election.
'We do not accept the curbs on the media and we demand that the government immediately withdraw brutal restrictions that have been imposed,' Bhutto told media workers in Islamabad who were protesting against a continuing blackout of news channels on the country's cable networks.
Bhutto also called upon journalists, lawyers' associations, trade unionists and civil society organizations to join her in opposition to the military regime of Musharraf, an army general who came to power in 1999.
'Our country is passing through dark times and we have mounted a united struggle against dictatorship,' she told around 200 chanting media workers gathered in front of the offices of one of the affected channels.
Despite having confined Bhutto to her Islamabad house on Friday, thereby thwarting her plans to lead a mass rally, law enforcers made no moves to prevent her from addressing the journalists.
But Bhutto was later prevented by the authorities from meeting some of the judges sacked from the Supreme Court last Saturday, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
'Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is Pakistan's real chief justice,' she said via megaphone as the police stopped her 200 metres from the judge's residence by placing barbed wire and barriers on the road.
Many believe the judges, who have been under house arrest since the imposition of emergency rule, were removed by Musharraf to prevent them from ruling against his re-election for the next term.
However, the army general says he announced authoritarian rule largely on the grounds that it would stem rising Islamic militancy in Pakistan, particularly in the volatile tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
Bhutto also restated her intention to lead a long protest march on the capital from the city of Lahore on Tuesday.
The politician demands the restoration of the constitution and the release of thousands of political detainees rounded up by security forces since the emergency measures were introduced a week earlier.
Despite months of covert talks with Musharraf towards a suspected deal that would bolster his political support while bringing her back into government.
Musharraf's government cleared the way for Bhutto's return on October 18 after eight years of self-exile by granting her amnesty on corruption charges.
Now, there is speculation of a real and widening rift behind her trademark rhetoric against the US-backed military leader.
Bhutto has said her dialogue with Musharraf was suspended when he suspended the constitution and dissolved the Supreme Court.
But Information Minister Mohammed Durrani called the remarks an 'emotional statement.' The government would 'remain cool and continue talks with all opposition parties including the PPP,' he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
As international pressure grows on Musharraf's government to restore democratic rule in Pakistan, a senior official said Saturday emergency measures were likely to be lifted in a few weeks.
'The law and order situation is fast improving, and if the trend continued the state of emergency will be lifted by the middle or the end of the next month,' the country's Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum told private news channel Geo.
Musharraf has pledged to hold general elections by mid February, one month later than previously planned, but Bhutto has dismissed the promise as 'vague and generalized.'
The country's opposition parties, legal fraternity, rights activists and students have joined the week-long protest rallies against the emergency rule since its imposition last Saturday.
Thousands of demonstrators have so far been detained and the police have tried to suppress the protests by excessive use of force.
Bhutto was also placed under house arrest on Friday morning as she was on her way to lead a major protest rally in the capital's twin city Rawalpindi.
The opposition leader was released later in the day but her supporters, according to her more than 5,000, which were rounded up in the countrywide crackdown, remained in police custody.
Meanwhile, the United States have increased pressure on Musharraf to restore democracy.
'We want an early end to the state of emergency. We want them to get back on the path to democracy, which means having free and fair elections,' said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

Other senior members of Bhutto's liberal Pakistan People's Party (PPP) went further, calling upon the United States to halt military exports to Pakistan until Musharraf at least steps down as army chief, sheds his uniform and serves as a civilian leader.
'When General Musharraf is deprived of his hardware and toys he may make a change of wardrobe,' said Abida Hussain, former Pakistani ambassador to Washington.
Musharraf has been widely viewed in the West as a bulwark against Islamic extremism in the nuclear-armed country of 160 million people since Washington coerced him into joining the war on terror in 2001.
But the United States and other Western countries have been alarmed at the effective martial law he imposed in the country on November 3. Many urged him to return to the democratic path and commit to holding parliamentary elections by mid-January as scheduled.
'We want an early end to the state of emergency. We want them to get back on the path to democracy, which means having free and fair elections,' said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
In moves against the media, broadcasts by news channels on the country's cable networks were also blocked in the past week, causing an outcry at home and abroad.
'We do not accept the curbs on the media and we demand that the government immediately withdraw brutal restrictions that have been imposed,' Bhutto told a protest by journalists in the capital.
Despite having confined Bhutto to her residence on Friday, thwarting her plans to lead a mass rally, police did not try to stop her from appearing.
But she was later prevented from meeting some of the judges sacked from the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
'Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is Pakistan's real chief justice,' she said via megaphone as the police stopped her 200 metres from the judge's residence by placing barbed wire and barriers on the road.
Many believe the judges, who have been under house arrest since the imposition of emergency rule, were removed by Musharraf to prevent them from ruling against his October 6 re-election for a second term.
However, the president says the measure was to stem rising Islamic militancy in Pakistan, particularly in the volatile tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Bhutto also restated her intention to lead a long protest march on the capital from the city of Lahore on Tuesday.
Musharraf's government cleared the way for her return on October 18 after eight years of self-exile by granting her amnesty on corruption charges.
This appeared to be part of a power-sharing deal that would bolster Musharraf's popularity with PPP muscle while bringing Bhutto back into government.
While the politician's anti-Musharraf rhetoric has previously been viewed as a means of preserving her opposition credentials while closing the deal, there is growing speculation of a real and widening rift with the general.
As international pressure grows on Musharraf's government to restore democratic rule in Pakistan, Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said Saturday emergency measures were likely to be lifted by the middle or end of December.
Sanctifying mass destruction

PRAFUL BIDWAI
The toxic terms of discourse of the nuclear debate have insidiously intruded into the public’s mind and distorted its moral perspective.
WHATEVER the final fate of the India-United States nuclear deal, it is undeniable that the media-driven debate over it has had a profound impact on public consciousness. Thus, not just television anchors, but even college students, are mouthing phrases like the “historic opportunity” (the agreement offers to India to become a world power) through a “strategic partnership” with the U.S., and promoting India’s “national interest” (w hich self-evidently lies in superpowerdom and in containing China) and “energy security” via nuclear power development (as if there were no alternatives) .
One notion that is rapidly becoming part of middle-class commonsense is that the deal undoes the iniquitous technology-denial sanctions imposed on India since the 1970s and rewards it as a “responsible” nuclear weapons state (NWS), or, as the July 2005 agreement put it, “a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology”.
“Responsible” nuclear weapons state? Can this be anything but an oxymoron? NWSs not only possess the ability to kill millions of non-combatant civilians instantly but are prepared and willing to use th at capability in cold blood. Indeed, they make their security dependent upon keeping scores of these weapons of terror ready to be fired at short notice.
All NWSs, regardless of intent or the size and lethality of their arsenals, and despite their professed faith in nuclear deterrence, have doctrines for the actual use of nuclear weapons to incinerate whole cities — that is, to commit unspeakably repulsive and condemnable acts of terrorism against unarmed civilians. The world’s greatest terrorist act was not the Twin Towers attack (which killed 3,600 people), but Hiroshima (where 140,000 perished).
Yet, those who erase this terrible, yet fundamental, truth from their consciousness still justify the idea that India is a “responsible nuclear power”. They advance six claims in support. First, India has an impeccable non-proliferation record and has never diverted civilian nuclear materials to military use or participated in clandestine nuclear commerce. Second, India practises exemplary nuclear restraint through its “minimum deterrence” doctrine and its policy of no-first-use.
Third, India has always responded positively to, if not advocated, proposals for non-discriminatory and equal treaties for arms control and disarmament. Fourth, India’s foreign policy orientation is strongly multilateralist; New Delhi rejects collusive bilateral agreements in favour of multilateral, universal treaties leading to disarmament. This derives from the view that the nuclear threat/danger is global.
A fifth claim is that India abhors any policy or action that will start or aggravate a nuclear arms race, especially in its neighbourhood. It has not triggered such a race and will never do so. Finally, India is a peaceful, mature, stable and law-abiding democracy, which respects human rights and can be trusted to act with restraint – unlike, say, Pakistan.
All these claims are questionable, if not altogether specious. True, India has never run an A.Q. Khan-style “nuclear Wal-Mart” or willingly proliferated nuclear technology. But, India has been an active proliferant and has participated in clandestine as well as open nuclear commerce with a host of countries to develop its military and civilian programmes.
Right from its very first nuclear reactor, Apsara, to the latest pair under construction (at Koodankulam) , India has bought, borrowed and both overtly and covertly procured nuclear technology, equipment or material from states as varied as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and later Russia, France, China, and even Norway.
The basic design of its mainline power generator is Canadian – the pressurised heavy water reactor named CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium). India’s very first power reactors, at Tarapur, were donations from the U.S. Agency for International Development and were executed as a turnkey job by General Electric and Bechtel. The much-touted Fast Breeder Test Reactor, the only such reactor to operate in India, was developed with French assistance.
India used spent fuel from CIRUS (Canada-India Research Reactor, to which the U.S. supplied heavy water, adding to the acronym) for military purposes by reprocessing plutonium from it. This was used in the 1974 Pokhran blast. CIRUS was designed and built by the Canadians.
http://www.hinduonn et.com/fline/ stories/20070921 505011800. htm
Pakistan's Proxy War
The complexity of sorting out allies and adversaries in the war on terrorism.
by Thomas Joscelyn
11/03/2006 12:00:00 AM

TWO SENIOR AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS met with India's foreign secretary last week. While the meeting received scant attention in the States, it was big news in India. According to Indian press accounts, the role Pakistan's intelligence service (the ISI) played in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train bombings, which killed roughly 200 people, was one of the subjects discussed.
That India implicated Pakistan in the bombings is no surprise. Senior Indian officials have repeatedly tied the 7/11 bombings to the ISI. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently told reporters that there was "credible evidence" implicating the ISI. India's National Security Advisor offered a more nuanced account. M K Narayanan explained: "I would be hesitant to say we have clinching evidence. There are pieces in the puzzle missing, but I would say we do have petty good evidence [of ISI involvement]."
The ISI has used Islamist terrorists as part of its proxy war against India for decades. But it was hoped that peace talks with India would provide Pakistan with an incentive to limit, if not altogether close down, the operations of terrorists targeting India and Indian assets in Kashmir. If the 7/11 plot is conclusively traced back to the ISI, it would signal that there is little hope of Pakistan reining in terrorism.
For its part, Pakistan has denied any role in the bombings, dismissing the allegations as "propaganda." The Pakistani government also recently reaffirmed its commitment to a peace accord with India. But these matters are not nearly as clear cut

as Pakistan's diplomatic pronouncements. It may be the case that the upper echelon of the Pakistani government, including President Musharraf, had no prior knowledge of, or direct role in, the Mumbai attack. Musharraf was quick to condemn it. But the ISI has long operated as a state within a state. It is possible that the ISI could have directed the attack without Musharraf's explicit endorsement. It is also possible, however, that Musharraf simply looked the other way on the ISI's activities, thereby giving the operation his implicit endorsement.
In either case, the intelligence collected on the ISI's alleged role in the bombing is vitally important to America's "war on terror."

PAKISTAN'S SUPPORT for America's war has been uneven. On the one hand, Musharraf's government has helped track down dozens of high-value al Qaeda operatives, interrupted terrorist attacks against Western targets (such as the plot to down more than one dozen airliners flying out of London earlier this year), and struck suspected terrorist training facilities inside Pakistan. On the other hand, Pakistan has effectively ceded control of North Waziristan to the Taliban and al Qaeda and released more than 2,500 Taliban and al Qaeda members from jail.
This duplicity may be explained, at least in part, by the ISI's continued desire to use al Qaeda's allies in its proxy war against India. Over the past several weeks, Indian authorities have publicly exposed Pakistan's hand in a variety of clandestine activities. For instance, a high-ranking Pakistani diplomat was expelled under suspicions of espionage. Pakistani efforts to infiltrate the Indian military have been exposed. On October 27, Indian authorities announced that two terrorists with ties to a well-known Pakistani terrorist group were arrested while plotting attacks.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/885jdehj.asp
Counter Proxy War
Afghanistan marked an important landmark in the evolution of covert action techniques. It was a proxy war, partly overt, partly covert, to make the Soviet troops bleed through the use of surrogates, without the direct involvement of US troops.

Conscious encouragement of religious fanaticism was for the first time used as a covert action tool in the Afghanistan war. Whereas the past covert actions of the Western intelligence agencies were projected in ideological terms (democracy vs Communism), those in Afghanistan were projected in religious terms (Islam vs Communism). Jehad was brought out of the closet of medieval times and sought to be used against the evil empire of Communism, without a careful examination of its long-term implications for peace and stability in the world.
In their eagerness to take full advantage of the entrapment of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan, the Western intelligence agencies reverted to the pre-1970s concepts, which viewed any means as good means for achieving a national security objective. Even the production and smuggling of heroin were encouraged to make the proxy-war at least partly self-financing and to promote addiction amongst Soviet troops.
As a result of these ill-advised actions, Islamic jehad has become a multi-headed hydra, striking here, striking there and striking everywhere and no country, which has a sizeable Muslim population, has been able to escape its ravages. The Islam vs Communism clash has been replaced by an Islam vs Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism clash.
http://www.subcontinent.com/sapra/research/terrorism/terrorism20010911b.html
SAPRA INDIA: Terrorism Issues: Counter Proxy War
It was a proxy war, partly overt, partly covert, to make the Soviet ... Pakistan's objective of debilitating the Indian State, which is the driving force behind its proxy war, is not of recent ...
www.subcontinent.com/sapra/research/terrorism/terrorism20010911b.html · Cached page
Index of Military Articles
... an article (the "International Herald Tribune" of June 16) on Pakistan's proxy invasion of Indian ... to force a Pakistani pullback. It was also responsible for bringing the war to the average Indian ...
www.subcontinent.com/sapra/research/military/military.html · Cached page
+Show more results from www.subcontinent.com
Alternative & Independent Source of Indian Subcontinent News
Indian Subcontinent -Nepal -Pakistan -Sri Lanka. Jammu & Kashmir -Violence -Proxy War
www.indiamonitor.com:8080/news/index.jsp · Cached page
II. Sources of Weapons for Militias in Punjab and Kashmir
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kashmir/1994/kashmir94-02.htm
India has long accused the government of Pakistan of directly supplying weapons, as well as other forms of military support, to militants in Punjab and Kashmir. Most long-time observers of the region concur.(5) Both Sikh and Kashmiri militant leaders have acknowledged as much,(6) and many of the weapons used by militants in both states clearly were acquired in Pakistan. Nevertheless, there are many complexities and uncertainties about the arms supply relationship.
Available evidence suggests that most weapons obtained by Sikh and Kashmiri militants have come from two sources inside Pakistan: the arms bazaar in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province (nwfp)--a vast black market for weapons--and members of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (isi), operating either on their own or with the tacit or explicit complicity of the central Pakistani government. Many of the weapons acquired from these sources were siphoned off from U.S. arms transfers to Afghan mujahidin fighting Soviet forces--the so-called "Afghan pipeline" in which the U.S. funneled vast supplies of arms through the isi to the Afghan resistance.(7)
The Afghan Arms Pipeline Through Pakistan (8)
Origin of the Pipeline
The single most important factor in the introduction of small arms and light weapons into South Asia was the effort by the U.S. and Pakistan to arm the Afghan mujahidin resistance, by establishing a secret arms pipeline, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
Soviet forces introduced tons of Soviet military material into Afghanistan, large quantities of which remained behind and have also been diffused throughout the region.(9) In the 1980s, U.S. intelligence services developed a counter-strategy which involved the provision of enormous amounts of arms and ammunition to mujahidin leaders and commanders in the field. Vast quantities of material purchased by the U.S. for use by the mujahidin were diverted illicitly or remained in the region after the end of the war.
While support for the mujahidin began during the Carter Administration, it was after Ronald Reagan's election to the U.S. presidency that Afghanistan and Pakistan became revitalized "forward defense areas" where the battle against the Kremlin's "evil empire" would be waged. Once the Reagan Administration made the decision to arm the mujahidin resistance, albeit covertly, Pakistan became the conduit for a massive military assistance program. The cia then became its supplier, and the isi the intermediary and distributor.
Weapons Supplied and the Non-Accountability Policy
The CIA, however, faced the problem of concealing its responsibility for its acts, since the U.S. did not want to be seen as providing direct military assistance for the mujahidin. Consequently, U.S. intelligence services set up bank accounts in Switzerland into which the U.S. and Saudi governments directed their contributions to the Afghan resistance, which were then used to pay for weapons from a variety of sources. Wealthy individual Saudis and the Iranian government also contributed to the mujahidin but through their own channels; they favored direct payments to Afghan leaders such as Abdur-Rabbur Rasul Sayaf, who received support from Saudi sources, and Sheikh Huhsini, Hojetoleslam Zahedi and Ali Zahedi, who were supported by Iran.
In an attempt to conceal its support for the mujahidin, the U.S. initially purchased weapons from communist countries. In particular, the cia purchased massive amounts of arms from the Chinese government--primarily the Type 56 assault rifle (derived from the Kalashnikov AK47).(10) The flood of Chinese assault rifles into the region was followed by other small arms and artillery from an array of sources, notably Egypt and Israel. In addition, the CIA scrambled to buy captured Soviet weapons and equipment, including the AK74, in part because the AK74 was more effective than the old AK47, and presumably also to cover up U.S. involvement in weapons supplies to the mujahidin.
The CIA reportedly purchased 60,000 rifles, 8,000 light machine guns and over one hundred million rounds of ammunition from Turkey, albeit from obsolete stocks and in poor condition. The CIA also procured, via Egypt, large quantities of Technovar antipersonnel landmines that were originally produced in Italy. Against the advice of the isi, between forty and fifty Swiss-designed Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns were provided, despite the fact that the mujahidin lacked basic training in fire control and ammunition

Enough is Not Enough!

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
Contrarily it is not the Truth in the Marxist Brahminical Hegemony rooted in Bengal. Enough is not enough here as Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi excalimed in an indictment of West Bengal government and CPI(M) heading it. We know the history of different hegemonies worldwide and now witness what goes in the Middle East! As an agent of US led global zionist brahminical white imperialism, the comrador comrades are out to annihilate whatsoever resistance they face against Capitalist Development!
Nandigram is now a warzone well visulised by the WB Home Secretary himself!
Kolkata's protest spot Esplanade came alive again on the same issue: Nandigram. Adding weight to the protests, film directors Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Gyanpith award winner, Mahasweta Debi joined an angry Medha Patkar on a day the continuing violence claimed two more lives. Reports IBN live.

"The rights that people who think differently have, we are fighting because of those rights," said Medha Patkar.

Five kilometres away in the CPI-M headquarters on Alimuddin Street, there were angry voices protesting Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi's stinging words on the government machinery's failures.

“Once again, it is the defeat of the highest machinery of the state,” said CPI-M leader, Biman Bose.

The CPI-M central office in Delhi echoed the same sentiment.

Five Trinamool Congress leaders were arrested for trying to prevent Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee from leaving the venue this evening.
The Nandigram issue had its echo in the 13th Kolkata Film Festival when the leaders shouted, ''Killer Chief Minister go back, Why film festival when Nandigram burns, film festival is a shame.''They tried to close one of the gates near the plaza in front of the Nandan complex as Bhattacharjee's convoy was about to leave.The police then surrounded the demonstrators and pushed them away as Bhattacharjee's convoy left through another gate.
Gautam Mohan Chakraborty city police commissioner said the demonstrators Sobhandev Chattopadhyay, Sonali Guha,
Jyotipriya Mullick, Derek O'Brien (Rajya Sabha member) and Tapas Roy (former MLA) earlier gathered near one of the gates of the complex and tried to close it.
''We had prior information. That is why the chief minister could leave on time. His convoy took another gate, but there was no change in his route,'' Chakraborty said.
All the arrested were taken to the Lalbazar central police lock-up, he said, adding he did not consider the incident a security breach.
Leader of the demonstration, Sobhandev Chattopadhyay, said the demonstration was organised against holding the film festival ''when the state government is silent on the Nandigram developments and a large number of anti-acquisition activists are being killed''.
Within half an hour of the incident, five more persons, who claimed they were students attending the festival inauguration, were arrested.
After the Trinamool demonstration, the police closed down the stretch of AJC Bose Road in front of the Nandan complex for a few minutes, checking even pedestrians before allowing them to move on.

http://www.aol. in/news/story /200711091153902200 0001/index .html
Enough is enough: WB Guv flays Nandigram recapture
Press Trust of India
Last Updated: November 09, 2007 21:59:05
wire photo
Kolkata, November 09: In an indictment of West Bengal government and CPI(M) heading it, Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi Friday night termed as "unlawful and unacceptable" the manner of recapture of villages in Nandigram which has become a "war zone".
''The manner in which the recapture of Nandigram villages is being attempted is totally unlawful and unacceptable, '' the governor said in a release amidst reports that CPI-M has forcibly recaptured most areas in Nandigram where the party is battling against an opposition Trinamool Congress-backed outfit resisting farmland acquisition for industries.
''At the time of writing, the most accurate description for Nandigram is the one used by state Home Secretary that it has become a war zone. No government or society can allow a war zone to exist without immediate and effective action,'' Gandhi said in a hard-hitting statement. ''Even as of 4:00 pm this day, I have received phone calls from responsible persons in Nandigram saying that several huts are ablaze. Large number of villagers have taken refuge in the local high school in Nandigram bereft of food and personal security,'' he said.
''Large number of armed persons from outside the district have, it is undeniable, forced themselves onto villages in Nandigram Block one and two for territorial assertion. Thousands of villages have consequently been intimidated into leaving their homes,'' he said.
ATTACK ON MEDHA
Referring to attack on social activist Medha Patkar's convoy on her way to Nandigram yesterday, the Governor said the treatment meted to Patkar and her other associates "was against all norms of civilised political behaviour".
Gandhi said he found it unacceptable that while Nandigram has been ingressed with ease by armed people, on one hand, political and non-political persons trying to reach it were violently obstructed.
He said the ardour of Deepavali has been dampened in the whole state by the events in Nandigram where several villages were oscillating from deepest gloom to panic. ''Large number of armed persons from outside the district have, it is undeniable, forced themselves onto villages in Nandigram Block 1 and II for territorial assertion.
''Thousands of villagers have consequesntly been intimidated into leaving their homes in Daudpur, Amgachi, Jamboni, Simulkundu, Brindabanchak, Tekhali, Nainan, Kanongochak, Takapara, Satengabari, Ranichak, Kamalpur and Keyakhali,'' Gandhi said.
Pointing out that he had been in regular communication with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee following talks with leaders of political parties, including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, the Governor said he had requested the state government to take certain immediate steps.
The steps, he said, were immediate return of ingressers, giving urgent relief to displaced persons in Nandigram and facilitation of their return home and removal of 'new, unauthorised manmade blocks' at entry points. ''I have made it clear that unless these steps are taken within hours and the syndrome of capture and recapture is not ended, the beginnings of a resumed dialogue through the package announced by the Chief Secretary Thursday will not get off the ground and the peace talks process will remain grounded.
TALKS WITH POLITICAL LEADERS
Referring to his discussions with various political leaders including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, the governor said he was in regular communication with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and requested him to take immediate steps.
He said a group of five CPI-M MPs and one party MLA met him during the day and urged him to apply his good offices to the peace process in Nandigram. "Peace is the need of the hour in Nandigram. For peace to come, I told them, effective action will have to be taken in terms of action initiated against those responsible for the March 14 police firing there in due process."
"Enough is enough. Peace and security should be restored, without any delay, from where they have been evicted from Nandigram," the governor said.
The governor said he was aware that earlier in the year many villagers in Nandigram who were perceived as sympathisers of the ruling establishment had been obliged to leave and seek shelter in Khejuri, a CPI(M) stronghold. He was also aware of the apprehension that an unverified number of maoists were believed to have entered the area.
"Those who had to flee to Khejuri must come back with full confidence and dignity and no quarter should be given to the cult of violence associated with maoists."

SLEEP-WALKING TOWARDS SLAVERY
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
News Updates from Citizens for Legitimate Government
09 Nov 2007
http://www.legitgov .org/
http://www.legitgov .org/index. html#breaking_ news
US to purchase $700m worth of arms from Israel 09 Nov 2007 The US Congress on Friday approved the purchase of weapons and technological systems from Israel's 'defense' industries for $700 million. The advanced technological products will be acquired as part of the American security budget for the coming year to be used by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
House Democrats to send Bush $50 billion for Iraq operations 08 Nov 2007 House Democrats said Thursday that they would send President [sic] Bush $50 billion for combat operations on the condition that he begin withdrawing troops from Iraq.
Lieberman hits out at 'paranoid' Democrats 09 Nov 2007 The 2008 Democratic candidates are beholden to a "hyper-partisan, politically paranoid" liberal base that could endanger the final nominee's chances of winning next year's presidential election, Joe LieberBush (R-Israel), the former vice-presidential Democratic candidate, said yesterday.
Please forward this update to anyone you think might be interested. Those who'd like to be added to the Newsletter list can sign up: http://www.legitgov .org/#subscribe_ clg.
Please write to: signup@legitgov. org for inquiries.
SLEEP-WALKING TOWARDS SLAVERY

SLEEP-WALKING TOWARDS SLAVERY 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 News Updates from Citizens for Legitimate Government 09 Nov 2007 http://www.legitgov .org/ http://www.legitgov .org/index. html#breaking_ news US to purchase $700m worth of arms from Israel 09 Nov 2007 The US Congress on Friday approved the purchase of weapons and technological systems from Israel's 'defense' industries for $700 million. The advanced technological products will be acquired as part of the American security budget for the coming year to be used by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. House Democrats to send Bush $50 billion for Iraq operations 08 Nov 2007 House Democrats said Thursday that they would send President [sic] Bush $50 billion for combat operations on the condition that he begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. Lieberman hits out at 'paranoid' Democrats 09 Nov 2007 The 2008 Democratic candidates are beholden to a "hyper-partisan, politically paranoid" liberal base that could endanger the final nominee's chances of winning next year's presidential election, Joe LieberBush (R-Israel), the former vice-presidential Democratic candidate, said yesterday. Please forward this update to anyone you think might be interested. Those who'd like to be added to the Newsletter list can sign up: http://www.legitgov .org/#subscribe_ clg. Please write to: signup@legitgov. org for inquiries. SLEEP-WALKING TOWARDS SLAVERY ? THE COMING SLAVERY OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PEOPLE One of the fastest growing global businesses in the world today is the people business ? providing skilled workers to meet the labour demand for growing economies. The rapid economic growth around the globe has put pressure on many employers for skilled staff. Even countries such as India, which have traditionally supplied skilled staff to overseas businesses (especially the IT sector), are now facing skills shortages themselves. Mature economies such as the European and Northern Asian economies have a growing skills shortage as their population?s age, and younger people move into non-traditional occupations. Over recent years whenever there is a financial crisis within the US economy has been for the Federal Reserve to inject more money into the banking system. Japan has also followed this policy to inflate its economy to stimulate domestic growth, but with a large current account surplus, has not been dependent on the inflow of overseas capital ? rather has been an exporter of capital. The increase in the supply of dollars has flooded the world with liquidity, providing the capital to nations that were once America?s enemies to enable them to expand their economies to where they now threaten and compete with our very economic survival. Meanwhile the world is experiencing one of the greatest shifts in economic power in history. The global economic dominance that the Anglo-Saxon nations have maintained for the last 200 years is now rapidly disappearing. America?s wealth continues to decline as the US dollar falls against the Euro as investors withdraw their capital before loosing all value on their investments. The US dollar is no longer being accepted as an international reserve currency, America is being replaced from being the dominant global economic power with the Euro Zone nations. The Euro will be become the only international accepted reserve currency, allowing the Euro Zone to become the dominant global economic power. Over recent years Central Banks in some countries (especially the USA and Japan) have inflated their money supply to provide domestic stimulus to their economies. This ?created? money has flowed out from the Anglo-Saxon countries and Japan, providing the emerging economies (especially in Asia) with the capital to finance their rapid economic growth. Those Anglo-Saxon nations which have been operating with large current account deficits have benefited from their trading partners willingness to continual lending to finance their consuming habits and lifestyle. Now they are faced with the dilemma of being unable to attract the capital to finance its deficits and to maintain its current level of domestic growth, as well as to service its enormous debt. It is now resulting in the collapse of the US dollar. The Anglo-Saxon nations have traditionally plundered the world?s resources to maintain their extravagant standard of living. Now the emerging economies are aggressively competing for these same resources. Not only does this include exploiting the planet?s natural resources, but will also include competing for many of the most talented people with specialisied skills residing in the Anglo-Saxon nations. Those emerging economies with the new purchasing power now want to have the same quality of life that the Anglo-Saxon people have enjoyed. However, the planet does not have the natural resources or the advanced technology for the rest of the world to maintain the same extravagant lifestyle as Americans, British, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. There is growing competition for natural resources as well as the skills by emerging economies to develop to compete with the west. America has bought the world globalization ? where capital has the freedom to exploit natural or human resources to maximum profits. US capital has in the past been able to move into third countries to take advantages of cheap labour to produce manufactured goods or services to gain profits to shareholders. With the collapse of the US dollar, some of the vary countries that America has exploited in the past will do the same ? but with even less respect to human rights than American capital has shown in the past. Especially since WW2, some of the best brains and talent have been recruited to work in the USA which has had the money to attract the skills to help maintain the standard of living Americans now have. As the dollar declines, America will no longer be able to compete for this talent. The top skilled people will be recruited by those nations that can offer the best price. Global capital is now fleeing to Europe as a safe haven - this inflow of capital will stimulate economic growth in Europe, and the demand for skilled labour. The EU is becoming the economic powerhouse of the world, It is only a matter of time before the US dollar totally collapses. Each day is slides further and further down against the Euro. Soon it will be totally worthless. The collapse of the dollar will be followed by the collapse of the US economy and nation-wide poverty. Their populations will become destitute. There will be wide-spread economic hardship and starvation. The collapse of the US dollar will bring about economic turmoil and political instability around the world. It will bring about widespread hatred of the Anglo-Saxon nations, who will be blamed for the troubles of the world. People will become desperate to do anything to obtain money to live. They will accept extremely low wages if just to have sufficient money to survive. The USA will be come a fourth-world country ? its people desperate. Its skilled workers and resources will be defenseless and ripe for plundering. Former international trading partners will set up factories in the USA using cheap labour ? those working in those factories will be employed as slave labour. What we are about to see unfold over the coming months is increased competition for the world?s resources. This is just not just for oil and food ? it will also be for the talent and skills necessary to maintain a modern industrial society. It will allow international capitalism to exploited human capital to maintain the factories and demands for keeping an advanced society. There will be a growing demand for skilled labour resources from the Anglo-Saxon nations by the European and Asian economies to meet their skills needs as their population ages. Human capital from the Anglo-Saxon nations will be plundered at will ? their new taskmasters will not be generous with respecting employment laws as exist in our countries today. In Europe German has had a history in WW1 & WW2 of using slave labour on a large scale. This was also practiced by the Japanese. There is no reason why the same policies will not be adopted in the future. The export and recruitment of people is now a major international industry. Nations such as the Philippines earn more from the repartitions of income from overseas workers than international trade ? it is their single largest export industry. Yet these nations do not have the same level of skilled workforce that resides in the Anglo-Saxon nations. The reverse movement of talent and skills from North America to Europe will see some of the greatest migrations to take place in recent history. This migration will take place because a desperate people will be willing to accept anything just to survive. They will be willing to give up their freedom to provide the skills and technology to support the EU and Asian economies to survive. There will be no respect for individual rights and freedoms as we have today ? amongst many of these nations there is no love for the Anglo-Saxons, and their individual rights. The new taskmaster will not have any conscience of exploiting human capital. Bruce Porteous bruceport@xtra.co.nz 3 November, 2007. http://www.business week.com/ print/globalbiz/ content/nov2007/ gb2007119_ 124867.htm Cashless Revolution Coming to Europe Digital money, including electronic payments over your mobile phone using virtual currency, will someday render cash obsolete by Tim Ferguson Cash faces stiff competition from electronic payment methods in the coming years as consumers realise the benefits of emerging technologies. That's according to Gartner analysts who predict making payments through mobile phones using virtual currencies -- such as Second Life's Linden dollars -- could be a reality in the not too distant future, making cash obsolete. Speaking at Gartner's ITxpo in Cannes, Gartner principal analyst Alistair Newton said: "With digital money, we believe we're on the cusp of the next revolution." According to Newton, the first money revolution was the move to paper money, which proved it's possible for money to evolve without significantly causing problems. Newton cited three developments contributing to the increasing digitisation of money: the consumerisation of IT, the globalisation of money markets and the basic convenience of the emerging payment methods. He said: "It's easier for you as a customer to use electronic payment rather than cash or cheque. The whole digitisation of money allows greater flexibility. " But in order to work, Newton said the fundamentals of money need to remain -- namely security, value and trust. Newton pointed to Transport for London's Oyster card scheme to demonstrate how money is already becoming outmoded. A single fare costs £4 when using cash but less than half that when using an Oyster card. "Cash is being charged at a premium," he said. Fellow Gartner analyst Adam Daum said: "We are moving into an environment where you will see a proliferation of global payment types." But Newton admitted: "Cash is still going to be around but the pressure on cash will grow." Tim Ferguson reported for Silicon.com from London.

Digging into Africa's past
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

Intense Fighting in Somali Capital Kills at Least 50
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, November 10, 2007; A12
http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-
dyn/content/ article/2007/ 11/09/AR20071109 02296.html
NAIROBI, Nov. 9 -- At least 50 people were killed in the Somali
capital of Mogadishu between Thursday and Friday afternoon, with
many apparently shot execution-style and others perishing in the
less discriminate blasts of Ethiopian tank shells, according to
witnesses.
About 100 people were wounded during a brutal 24 hours after the
bodies of two Ethiopian soldiers were dragged through the streets
Thursday by angry mobs chanting, "God is great!"
Intense fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents raged
Thursday afternoon and overnight, with Ethiopian snipers firing from
rooftops in some areas, witnesses said.
The streets were strewn with corpses Friday morning, many with
bullet wounds to the head.
Ethiopian tanks then rolled out and began firing in several
neighborhoods of tin-walled houses considered to be insurgent
strongholds.
By late afternoon, Mogadishu had fallen unnaturally quiet.
"This morning, there was mortar fire a few meters from here," a
doctor in the capital said Friday, speaking on condition of
anonymity because of safety concerns.
"But now I'm looking at a bird outside the window, and it's so
extremely quiet," the doctor said. "You hear nothing at the moment.
Only a plane hovering over the city."
Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in December, ousting a short-lived
Islamic movement and installing a U.S.-backed transitional
government considered friendlier to the U.S. foreign policy goal of
hunting terrorism suspects.
An insurgency composed of Islamic fighters and clan militias has
been battling the Ethiopians and Somali government forces ever since.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that the political
and security situation in Mogadishu was so perilous that deploying a
U.N. force was unrealistic.
The African Union has promised to send 8,000 peacekeepers to
Somalia, but only about 1,600 Ugandan troops have arrived, and the
prospects for more appear dim.
Somalis have fled the capital for months in waves of thousands, and
Friday was no different, as a steady stream of people walked,
hobbled or drove out in crammed trucks, witnesses said.
Those who remain have faced daily mortar blasts, assassinations,
looting and frequently brutal house searches by Ethiopian troops.
Somali women also live with the threat of rape by armed men,
according to Doctors Without Borders, which said it recently had
treated three such cases.
The organization, one of the few humanitarian groups providing
health services in the capital, said that as fighting has
intensified, fewer and fewer of the wounded have been able to reach
its clinics, with many bleeding to death on the streets.
Beyond the capital, access for humanitarian workers is becoming more
difficult because of the insecurity, and a multitude of checkpoints
has slowed or stopped the delivery of food, medicine and other
supplies.
Special correspondent Mohamed Ibrahim in Mogadishu contributed to
this report.

Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
8 - 14 November 2007
Issue No. 870
Digging into Africa's past
Charles Bonnet and Dominique Valbelle, (2006) The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings on the Nile, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
Click to view caption
The restored statue of Anlamani with Aspelta in the background; excavating the cache;
THIS STATUE of a Meroitic king with remnants of gold leaf; the head of King Anlamani, and the statue of Tanutamun are among the masterpieces that will be exhibited in the new museum in Kerma which is nearing completion. The importation into Kush of Egyptian institutions, as well as religious and monarchic practices, helped enrich indigenous art, as convincingly demonstrated in these works.
Those who wish to embark upon a trip to harsh climes, treacherous cataracts, and difficult roads in order to discover the grandiose beauty of the sacred mount called Gabal Barkal and the fascinating culture behind the newly-unearthed treasures from the cache, will be amply rewarded. Here they will find a gallery of kings which includes seven magnificent statues.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
Al-Ahram Weekly reviews this well-illustrated publication written by archaeologist Charles Bonnet, former president of the International Nubiology Association, and Egyptologist Dominique Valbelle. It covers an important period of history that has so far been made known only in a fragmentary fashion and, in particular, describes the discovery of monumental black granite statues portraying the Pharaonic rulers of Egypt's 25th or "Nubian" Dynasty that lasted for 50 years from 720 to 671 BC.
The statues, one of the most important discoveries of recent years, were found by the University of Geneva's Mission Archeologique in 2003. The team working near the Third Cataract of the Nile at ancient Kerma (now known as Doukki Gel -- a Nubian term which can be roughly translated as "red mound"). Formerly known as the "Ethiopian" Pharaohs, these black rulers of Egypt are now generally known as "Kushites" from the area of modern-day Sudan which constitutes an important realm of Egyptology.
The Swiss team discovered the cache of statues in a ditch within the area of a temple then known as Pnubs (literally "the city of the jujube tree"). Magnificently sculpted, they portray five rulers of the Nubian Dynasty. Two of the statues -- Taharqa and Tanutamun, the last two Pharaohs of the dynasty -- are masterpieces that rank among the greatest in art history.
Egyptology is constantly enriched as new evidence comes to light, and every discovery provides food for thought. In fact, the treasures found in the Kerma cache forced the discoverers to face questions that had been previously overlooked. The authors of The Nubian Pharaohs explore a new geographic realm in depth; they deal with issues that are far from resolved; and they describe the various ritual practices associated with the area.
Kerma was a Neolithic dwelling place in about 3000 BC. There were rectangular buildings and circular huts, pits for the storage of food, enclosures for livestock, and a major defence system, all of which attest to the town's belonging to a centrally-governed chieftaincy. Several centuries later an independent kingdom emerged, which, the evidence suggests, had a level of culture similar to that of the earliest Egyptian Pharaohs. From various archaeological finds in the town and the necropolis -- including the Deffufa or main temple and its surrounding urban areas -- it is possible to postulate the existence of a network of exchanges with other lands.
In the past we have tended to consider Nubia and Kush (Sudan) from an Egyptian perspective. That is to say, Nubia was considered vitally important to Egypt's economy because the requirements of a highly-developed civilisation demanded raw materials that were imported from, among other places, the agriculturally- impoverished but mineral-rich land to the south, in exchange for grain, oil, and honey. Now, however, excavations around the main temple have shown how urban development in Old Kerma developed various construction techniques and materials inspired by traditions dating back to prehistory -- and which, incidentally, are still being used today. Nubians were aware of the requirements of Pharaonic Egypt, realised the advantages of trade, and while allowing Egyptians to satisfy their mineral requirements, acted as entrepreneurs, opening up markets even further south, in the Sudan and further south.
The powerful Pharaohs of Egypt's Middle Kingdom (2133-1786 BC) built fortresses at Semna, Buhen, and beyond, and even established a trading post in Kerma, where generation after generation of Egyptian soldiers and settlers lived in or around the fortress towns. The Nubians protected their own trade routes with buttressed walls and rectangular and semi-circular bastions for defence. Egyptologists have described this as a period of colonisation in Nubia, during which they slowly spread their traditions and religious beliefs.
As the Swiss mission excavations show, however, this was Kerma's classic heyday. The Nubians lived on the edge of the Egyptian empire and remained in contact with the populations of central Africa and the Red Sea shoreline. The king's audience chamber (rebuilt at least 10 times on the same spot) bears no resemblance to any Egyptian building. On the contrary, the chamber might be seen as a prototype for the large princely and royal huts discovered on the African continent in the last hundred years. The most ancient architecture of Kerma clearly reveals that its roots lay in an African architecture. The kings asserted their power by planning their own funerary cult and by having hundreds of people sacrificed at the time of their death. Kerma has provided an opportunity to rediscover the originality of Nubian rituals and accomplishments.
Nearly 1,000 years of uninterrupted cultural development in Nubia came to an end only with the first military campaigns of Egyptian Pharaohs in the early 18th Dynasty. In about 1547 BC Tuthmosis I pushed the Egyptian frontier south of the Second Cataract. Many fine temples were raised in Nubia, among them that of Queen Hatshepsut at Semna, later claimed by her successor Tuthmosis III who built another at Soleb. At nearby Sesibi, his successor Akhenaten built another temple. Egyptian viceroys were appointed to govern these territories and ensure the regularity of shipments northwards.
By the 19th Dynasty (c. 1320 BC) Egyptian influence had spread southwards to the Fourth Cataract, and another settlement was established at Napata. With the establishment of large communities, not only were Egypt's technological skills introduced far southwards, but its religious tradition as well. Ramses II constructed six temples in Nubia between the first and second cataracts. There is no doubt that Egypt's dominant position in the ancient world was due largely to the country's command of Nubian gold production -- the precious metal assured Egypt's superiority as the richest country in Africa and western Asia.
The situation changed when the Egyptian high priest Hrihor declared himself viceroy of Kush, and his control of the Nubia gave him the wealth and military might to usurp the throne of Egypt in about 1000 BC. Anarchy reigned, and after Hrihor's death there followed a period of confusion. This enabled the African rulers of K