Palash Speaks

Commonwealth suspends Pakistan once again!Sharif to return, confrontation likely with Musharraf
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
Faisal Sattar wrote: Dictator is someone who dictates.
Like Benezir dictated her demands.
Break the shell and get out mate.
Love,
Faisal

Ercelan Yazdani wrote: It is an unfortunate
set of circumstances that see us trying to justify the People's stance
against tyranny and oppression.
TURKMAN: Stance of Media Elite, JehaaDis, Ethnic Bigots, former
Democratic Dictators and their Paid Servants on the streets and in local &
Foreign Media can not be called 'People's Stance' because People means
160 million Pakistanis, not just you people.
I hope that Pakistan as a whole can unite on fronts apart from
Cricket. Media elite do provide an outlet for people to express themselves,
although I do agree that there is massive cencorship.
Jehadi's, ethnic bigots, former Dictators deserve to be dealt with. I
understand that it is idealistic to wish for due process, but don't you
agree that this is one of the tenets of civil society? The 160 million
people have gone numb because of years of repetitive nuissance that is
filtered through to them.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Images] has done "far too little" in combating terrorism, a leading US daily on Friday said and asked Washington to encourage Benazir Bhutto [Images] to work with her long-time rival Nawaz Sharif to build a broad "civilian democratic front".
In a strongly-worded editorial, The New York Times also asked Washington to play a "more tougher military game" with the Pakistani Army to let it know that Musharraf's dictatorship is not in its own best interests "nor would it guarantee Pakistan's stability".
Instead of urging Benazir Bhutto to expand her credibility

Commonwealth suspends Pakistan
Uganda: The Commonwealth on Thursday suspended Pakistan until democracy was restored after military ruler General Pervez Musharraf failed to meet a deadline to lift emergency rule and step down as army chief.A committee of foreign ministers of the 53-member organization "has suspended Pakistan from councils of the Commonwealth pending restoration of democracy and rule of law in the country," secretary general Don McKinnon told journalists.He said the group was disappointed because there had been some progress, and cited the release of detainees, but said it was concerned about the arrests of journalists and lawyers and said the Commonwealth's conditions had not been fulfilled. "The state of emergency had not been lifted.The constitution and the independence of the judiciary not restored and fundamental rights and the rule of law remain curtailed," McKinnon said, reading a statement on behalf of the ministers.
Hitting back at the Commonwealth for suspending it for the second time since 1999, Pakistan today slammed the grouping's decision as ''unreasonable'' and ''unjustified.''
In a widely expected move, the Commonwealth on Friday suspended Pakistan for emergency rule.
''Pakistan will review its association and further cooperation with the organisation,'' it said in a statement, adding the emergency imposed on November 3 is a ''necessary measure to avert a serious internal crisis'' and the situation is now returning towards normalcy.
The Secretary General of the 53-member Commonwealth clarified that the decision was taken after General Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency on November 3, dislodging democracy.
There was a consensus among member nations that the move by Musharraf was not in keeping with core values of the Commonwealth. While the move is largely symbolic, it could mean greater isolation for Pakistan.
The multilateral grouping had given Musharraf time till November 22 to end the emergency and restore fundamental rights.
While ''deeply regretting'' the Commonwealth decision, the Pakistani statement said the state of emergency had been necessary to avert ''a serious internal crisis'' and the situation was now ''returning toward normalcy.''

On Thursday, a Pakistani Supreme Court stacked with judges loyal to Musharraf cleared the way for him to rule as a civilian president, deciding against a final challenge blocking ratification of his election last month.
Meanwhile,Pakistan's military ruler faced new challenges Friday after an opposition party said its exiled leader would make another attempt to return home, and the Commonwealth suspended the country's membership until it restores democracy.The return of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from Saudi Arabia would bolster opponents of President Musharraf ahead of Jan. 8 parliamentary elections, and complicate pro-Western rival Benazir Bhutto's bid to return to power.Sharif's plan was announced Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court, with judges appointed by Musharraf, swept away the last legal obstacles to his new five-year term as president.
The Election Commission was freed to certify Musharraf's re-election by legislators last month.The U.S.-allied leader was expected to give up his dual, and powerful, post as army chief within days in hopes of cooling domestic and foreign criticism over his suspension of the constitution and assumption of emergency powers three weeks ago.But discontent has intensified this year over Musharraf's rule, which began with a coup that ousted Sharif as prime minister in 1999. Sharif is now a vehement critic of the general and leader of one of the two main opposition parties.
On the other hand,Pakistan's main opposition leader Benazir Bhutto left her party's southern stronghold of Karachi for the capital Islamabad early Friday, leaving the choice of an election boycott open.Escorted by heavy security, Bhutto embarked on a flight from the Jinnah International Airport here at 7:00 a.m.She made no comment on the ongoing political situation in Pakistan, which has seen bickering between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and the opposition led Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.Opposition parties had called on Bhutto to boycott the elections but she had been obviously hesitant, giving the green light for party members to file nominations while leaving the boycott choice open.
Bhutto is expected to turn up at a meeting of major opposition parties on whether they would boycott the upcoming general elections or not. Bhutto returned to Pakistan from eight years of self-imposed exile on Oct 18, with an explosion taking place shortly after as her supporters gathered in a procession in Karachi, killing at least 140.Journalists and photographers had waited for about five hours at the Karachi airport when they got leads from different sources that Bhutto might be leaving for Lahore Thursday afternoon.
Pakistani authorities relaxed emergency to some extent lately, releasing more than 5,000 out of the 6,000 detained since the imposition of emergency Nov 3, mainly lawyers and political workers.Procedures of the national and provincial assembly elections scheduled on Jan 8 were going on, with dozens of nomination papers issued.

This has to be strongly protested. San Francisco Chronicle seems to be a hotbed of neocon/jewish/ hindutva fascists!

We South Asians have to take a collective stand on this matter.

http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/World/ The_United_ States/US_ daily_calls_ Musharraf_ a_terrorist/ articleshow/ 2563512.cms
US daily calls Musharraf a terrorist
23 Nov 2007, 0320 hrs IST,Chidanand Rajghatta,TNN

WASHINGTON: To the Bush administration, he's a democrat, a visionary, and a loyal ally in the war on terror. To an ever-widening phalanx of critics, he is a ''thug,'' a ''sonofabitch,'' and now, a ''terrorist.''
As Pakistan's military dictator, ''president-elect'' Pervez Musharraf strengthened his hold on power with help from a supreme court stacked with loyalists, both the General and his patrons in Washington are coming in for a withering attack from foreign policy analysts who remain unconvinced about their roadmap for the embattled country.
Musharraf expelled three British journalists from Pakistan after their newspaper called him a ''sonofabitch,'' but now he might have to get the American media in the line of fire. In one extreme case, a California daily has referred to him as a ''terrorist,'' attributing the epithet to critics.
''Washington hails Musharraf as an ally in the war on terror, but critics make a case that Pakistani leader is a terrorist,'' the San Francisco Chronicle said in an introduction to an article headlined Friend or Foe - a common enough headline in the US about Pakistan.
The critics it referred to are Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark, co-authors of a new book on Pakistan's nuclear proliferation and blackmail. Dismissing the Bush administration's proposition that Musharraf is an ally in the war on terror, the duo traces the former commando's career in furthering terrorism in Afghanistan, India, and elsewhere.
''He (Musharraf) has always given the impression that he and his troops are Western-leaning moderates. However, the real Musharraf is far more complicated, and a good deal of the time we have paid the General to stand by us, he has been cosseting the forces that are bent on undermining the West,'' they write.
It is a common refrain in the US, where many analysts point relentlessly to Musharraf's dark side of siding with extremists and fundamentalists at the expense of moderate forces, even as the administration certifies his indispensability in the war on terror.
Musharraf is also getting burnt on the Internet, a medium moderate Pakistanis have adopted vigorously to get around the emasculation of print and television in the country. One video posted on You Tube is a song titled ' Ek Sala General in which a critic savages the military rule in Pakistan.
''Ek General sala poori fauj ko hijra bana deta hain...Ek General sala poori kaum ko hijra bana deta hain,'' the sing begins (loosely: One damn General turns the whole army into eunuchs)
Commentators have not been kind to Bush either. One termed his administration ''American Gangsters'' --after a recent movie -- and referring to Bush's praise of Musharraf, said it ''has had no compunction at all about promoting the taunts and threats of the very terrorists they pretend to be pursuing.''
While military dictatorships, and US penchant for backing despots, have been pilloried in the past, seldom has the language and discourse descended to this level.
In fact, there are almost no takers now for the Bush policy of backing Pakistan's military ruler. Analysts, including former administration officials, greeted Bush's remarks certifying Musharraf as a democrat with incredulity. '
'Victory for Bush's favourite Democratic general'' one headline sneered after Thursday's court verdict in Islamabad.
Even partisans who have long held that Pakistan's military is a stabilising force are now concluding that Musharraf has outlived his promise. But evidently, the word hasn't reached the White House yet, where the person who matters most in Musharraf's scheme of things continues to believe he's the man.
__._,_.___
Pakistan was last kicked out of Commonwealth in 1999 after Musharraf seized power in a coup. It took the country five years to be reinstated.
McKinnon said that the Commonwealth may review the suspension after January parliamentary elections in Pakistan and a group of Commonwealth foreign affairs ministers may visit the country next year.
Suspending a member of the 53-member group, based upon Britain and its former colonies, was done "with a heavy heart" because every Commonwealth member "is a valued member" said Michael Frendo, Malta's foreign minister who chaired the committee's meeting.
But he said the suspension was "done with the conviction of the need to be consistent and to be coherent and to be true to the sensibilities of the Commonwealth."
In a statement, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Commonwealth Ministers have made their clear and necessary decision on suspension of Pakistan from the Commonwealth. "President Musharraf has said that he will take the steps necessary to restore democracy. The Commonwealth is strongly of the view that he must now do so."
A British source, who declined to be named, said the Commonwealth ministers had reached a compromise between African countries and others who wanted Pakistan's immediate suspension, and more reluctant nations including Malaysia and Sri Lanka. After five hours of meetings Thursday, the ministers decided suspension was the only option, but also wanted to signal to Pakistan that quick restoration of democracy would lead to speedy re-admittance, perhaps as soon as early next year, after the elections.
"The Ministers have kept faith with the people of Pakistan and said clearly to General Musharraf that martial law and the subversion of constitutional law have no place in the Commonwealth," said Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch. Earlier Thursday, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Commonwealth, commended the Ugandan government Thursday for its efforts to end the "devastating conflict," in northern Uganda where a rebel group has waged a brutal 20-year insurgency. Ugandan government and rebel negotiators have been in on-and-off talks for 15 months now, mediated by the autonomous regional government of neighboring Southern Sudan, during which they have agreed to a truce and are working on a framework for reconciliation.
Uganda is also to be commended for its contribution to peacekeeping in Somalia, which is "a tribute to the courage and professionalism of Uganda's armed forces," the 81-year-old monarch told the Ugandan parliament.
Uganda has had about 1,800 troops in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, since March as part of African Union efforts to bring stability there. But no other African country has sent troops despite endorsing an African Union proposal to have an 8,000-strong mission in the Horn of Africa nation.
The deployments have been delayed because of the lack of funding and logistical help. The queen also told the Ugandan parliament that the East African nation has made, "considerable advances in spite of periods of adversity," since her last visit to the country 50 years ago. "For Ugandans the deliberations and decisions of this house, together with your respect for the rule of law, have had and will continue to have an essential bearing on the country's success in addressing many serious challenges," she told the lawmakers who had packed parliament.
The queen visited an AIDS clinic in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, before her speech to Parliament. It was her first visit to such a clinic.
"The scourge of HIV infection and AIDS has touched the lives of too many Ugandan people," she said. "Centers such as this, which the government of Uganda has done so much to encourage, are essential in achieving our common aim of controlling this cruel disease."
The queen will open the Commonwealth summit on Friday.
Presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi declined to say what Musharraf would do if Sharif tried to enter Pakistan. Sharif was swiftly deported to Saudi Arabia when he tried to return in September.
That expulsion was supported by Saudi Arabia's government, but Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of Musharraf's ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, said Sharif now had ''some deal'' with Saudi authorities.
''We are ready to face him and he has to face the people'' in the parliamentary elections set for Jan. 9, Hussain said on Dawn News television.
Musharraf has insisted that Sharif stay out of Pakistan until after the elections, which the West hopes will produce a moderate government able to turn the tide against Islamic militants who have shown increased strength in the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.
Speculation that Saudi Arabia was willing to let Sharif go home had been rife since Musharraf made a surprise trip to the Saudi capital for talks with King Abdullah Tuesday. Sharif will meet the king on Friday, his party said.
Sharif's party said he was coming to Pakistan to lead the party in the elections. He has been calling for parties to boycott the vote, but other opposition groups haven't taken up the idea.
The re-emergence of a heavyweight rival creates a new headache for Musharraf as he tries to defend the emergency powers he decreed Nov. 3 against stiff criticism at home and abroad, including from the United States, a key provider of aid.
Musharraf imposed the emergency just before the previous Supreme Court was to rule on complaints that the constitution bars the army chief from running for elected office. He then removed independent judges and named loyalists to the court.
Authorities also blocked independent TV news and arrested thousands of lawyers, opposition party supporters and human rights activists.
All but one news channel is back on air and the government says most detainees were freed this week. And Thursday's court ruling meant Musharraf could meet another demand of his critics by resigning his military post and governing as a civilian president. Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said that could happen this weekend.
The Commonwealth, a 53-nation group composed mainly of Britain and its former colonies, voted at a meeting in Uganda to suspend Pakistan's membership because Musharraf failed to meet its Thursday deadline to lift the crackdown and quit as army chief.
The group ''welcomes the release of detainees, but is concerned about the arrest of journalists and lawyers,'' its secretary-general, Don McKinnon, told reporters.
Pakistan was last kicked out of the organization in 1999 after Musharraf seized power in a coup. It took the country five years to be reinstated.
State-run Pakistan Television on Friday read out a message of support for Musharraf from his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, who said he ''completely'' understood Musharraf's efforts to stabilize Pakistan.
''I firmly believe that, under the leadership of your Excellency, Pakistan is able to properly handle the internal and external challenges, and continue to maintain stability,'' Hu was quoted as saying.
It is a right to stand up against societal negatives.
TURKMAN: But how come even elected governments of Pakistan never stood
up against Social and Societal Negatives and Oppression of ordinary
Pakistanis ever? Why everybody gets elected to just fill his/her pockets
on Pakistanis and use Pak Corrupt System for his/her own advantage
instead of doing much about ordinary Pakistanis on the streets?
Elected governments of Pakistan have always come from a certain elite.
They get there by playing ball (so to say) with those who have money.
Corruption isn't just a Pakistani flaw, it is worldwide.
TURKMAN: In advanced countries of the world, Corruption is like a
Godown Rat but in Pakistan and some other poor countries, its a King Kong
everybody is either scared of or dieing to appease. Saying, its a
worldwide problem is just justifying existence of this Giant despite that we
claim to be Moslims. Is the rest of the world Moslim also?
----------------------
It comes under the name of campaign contribution in developed nations.
I have grown to accept that people in power will always consider their
own interests as well. What I don't accept is them ignoring the nation
they swear to protect and improve.
TURKMAN: Forget about Campaign Contributions from Special Interest
Groups during Elections. That doesn't make whole Bureaucracy of USA start
asking for Bribes to move a piece of paper from one table to another
like its a fashion in Pakistan. Do you have to pay a bribe to get Social
Secuity Card, Social Security, Welfare, Un-employment Allowance, Driving
License, Greed Card, Citizenship, Passport etc?
------------------
Pakistan at this point is on a downwards spiral if the Government
believes that Shutting Up the media, arresting politicians, thinkers and
initiating Emergency will defend Democracy.

TURKMAN: In case of Infrastructural development, raising Standard of
Living, Economically and Financially Pakistan has been on more upward
Spiral than ever in any 6 years of her history. (Ref: 1. SBP Reports, 2.
IMF, 3. World Bank, 4. Wall Street Journal). Therefore, you are lying,
sir.
These reports are true. I agree with the numbers. But these reports
reflect the high number of finances funneling into Pakistan from the West
as pay off to fight 'terror'. Our army is basically being rented out.
Due to our compliance the US has transferred massive funds for
Pakistan's development through organizations such as the World Bank and the
IMF. So, these reports are not false. It is just a matter of perspective
and circumstance. These are short term benefits that have not been
cashed in on for the long term.
TURKMAN: I think, this massive in-flow of Foreign Exchange was good
enough to finish all Infrastructure Projects of Pakistan and make Economy
stand on its own feet ending need of future Loans but instead of doing
this, govt. ill-advised Economic Policy has only increased spending of
this Foreign Exchange by more than 50 % a year than before despite end
of burden of Imports for Afghanistan that Pakistan was paying for out
of her pocket. Its a shame that Pakistan has failed to raise a real
Economist so far.
------------------------
These are aspects of democracy that deserve to be dealt with fairly.
If an organization is responsible for spreading mistrust and negativity
within a society, it needs to be dealt with in a constitutional and
legal manner.

TURKMAN: People don't give a damn of what you are talking about because
not much changes for them. Human Rights, Civil Rights, Justice and
Corruption situation never gets better for them, doesn't matter there's
Democracy or not. When there's no law for ordinary people, why should
they care about your Philosophical Big Talk? They have been hearing all
this Bullshit for last 60 years.
Human rights, civil rights, justice and corruption are extremely large
issues that require dealing with from the grass roots. It is the basic
understanding of themselves that our people lack. The educated class
remains in a high minority. This is not to point a finger towards the
poor and blame them. It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that sees
a societal gap increasing. And regardless of how well Pakistan has done
in the past 6 years, not much has been passed down to the deserving
masses. My philosophical talk is not a dream, it is a reality that can be
achieved. The problem we face is to unravel years of
'personal agenda's'.
TURKMAN: Pakistan needed Minimum Wage Law and Welfare System to make
increasing Prosperity reach the poorest.

-------------------------------
There is no excuse to take things into a single set of hands and claim
that it is for the betterment of society. Are we to assume that the
General is the only one who actually cares about Pakistan? Is he the only
one who wishes for a fair and safe Pakistani?

TURKMAN: No only you people, out to make as much money as you can, do.
Why should people trust you, when they know, who you are?
Us people? There needs to be a clarity, I am against government
enforcement. I believe that a representative government should only deal with
MP's elected and not with the people directly.
TURKMAN: System of Corruption rules Pakistan. In Pakistan there's no
Organized Crime everything is Government Organized Crime under auspices
of Pak Army that pulls strings from behind the curtain even when world
thinks, Pakistan has Democracy. Every country has corruption but in
Pakistan Corruption has a country. Every MP of winning Coalition has to be
a Minister and live like Prince of Wales on the price of poor masses.
All lower Govt.Officials and Police have to act like slaves of such
Princes. Its not Democracy. Its Monarchy of the elected ruler and his huge
court of Fiefdoms living without any system of Balances and Checks.
Media and Judiciary rushed fast to become a part of them. That's all.
---------------------
By controlling elements that provide society with another perspective
means that a society's thought process is stemmed. Free will and self
determination are two things that are required and deserved by all
people.

TURKMAN: And you think, two times tried corrupt Benazir, already
convicted in a Swiss Court, out on Appeal and two times tried corrupt Nawaz
Sharif et el are going to provide that to Pakistanis? Give Self
Determination to Pakistanis and find out for yourself Sindh, Baluchistan, NWFP,
former State of Bahawalpur, Saraiki part of Punjab and Northern
Territories don't want to remain in Punjabi-run Pakistan. Give them Free
Will, and find out, how many people would start shooting almost all Punjabi
Police and Army Soldiers in their lands they think are occupied
territory of Punjab. Are you ready for that, sir ...?
Why do these people react? They react because they are treated with
unfairness and disdain. If we treat people as Pakistani's and promote our
nation within the country we can start moving in a positive direction.
In order to garner universal populace support our people need to be on
the same page. This is impossible within a society that has influences
that promote differences.
-------------------------
If the General wishes to define his rule as Dictatorial, I will then
accept the set of changes as everyone has to. Though to define it as a
preservation of Democracy is a phallasy. If the Government is being
publicly tried by the media, it is up to our Government to present a
defence and justification of their actions. Pakistan has recently regressed
while progression is being preached. We have turned into a 'tamasha' for
the rest of the world (AGAIN!).
Ercelan Yazdani

TURKMAN: Nobody but this so called Dictator had given so much freedom
to Media and Judiciary ever in the History of Pakistan. He had thought
they were like his highly trained High-Bred Dogs that he has them at
home. It turned out they were actually Wild Wolves and letting them out of
their Cages without Leash was biggest mistake of his life. Stop
howling so much at night, when people want to go to sleep or Pakistanis may
start reacting against you ...!
I hope that Pakistani's react. It is our land, it should be our rule!
TURKMAN: Musharraf should have provided masses Justice from courts.
Should have ended Police Brutality, Hiring Discrimination in Armed Forces,
Police, Civil Jobs, Govt-owned sector, Corruption in all spheres of
Govt. first and then Freedom to Media. He went in wrong direction and
faced the consequences.
From: turkman@sbcglobal.net
Well then in that sense Prophet Mohammad, Kholfaa A RaashDeen and all
Caliphs afterwards were also dictators. Freedom of Press?
What about Freedom of Pakistanis on the streets?
Why they can be beaten or arrested by Police even when have democracy?
Why even 'Thailay Wala' has to pay 'BHuTTah' to Police, when we have
democracy?
Are we Non Moslims and must pay 'Jizyah'?
Why Judges take bribes from us and still don't provide Justice to
ordinary Pakistani even in Democracy?
Why Justice is for Politicians, rich, resourceful and powerful only?
Why Democracy is just for electing Democratic Dictators only and
nothing else changes for ordinary Pakistanis?
What difference does it make Democracy or Military for ordinary people,
the original Pakistan you people are fighting to make money on and
rule?
"M. Amir Ch." wrote:
Always a Dictator is ultimateley a Dictator. His / Her base is
unlawful.
So he must go.
Age of new Slavery
Posted by: "S Turkman" turkman@sbcglobal.net torkmaan
Date: Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:24 am ((PST))
Oh shut up Murad Ali ...!
There was no Abduction. They just want some money from that Charity
because they are basically Moslim Beggars. Everybody knows, there's no
Slavery in France and they are raised as free citizens of France.
There are people dieing to get there children be taken to Europe. There
has been a Scam going on in the poor Asian countries that Agents are
paid by parents to take their children to Holland, Germany or France and
then dis-appear so, those children could be raised by those
governments as citizens of those countries and then get them and rest of their
Siblings Immigration of that European Country after they reach age 18.
All Children are coached not to tell, names of their parents and their
addresses after landing in those countries and addresses on their
Passports are always fake so, when that Asian country is asked to take them
back, it says, nobody lives on that address. They seem to be orphans.
Who the hell are you trying to fool?
So much of this is going on that European Countries have ended up
building Foreign Children's Temporary Shelters at their International
Airports with staff that speaks Languages of Asian countries from where these
children keep landing there. The Local Airline & Immigration Staff of
all such corrupt Asian Countries receives bribes from Agents to let
them put wrong addresses on the Passports of such children and let them
board Foreign Flights without any Visa instead of scrutinizing them.
This Scam is not Age of New Slavery but a conniving game to get
Immigration of rich advanced countries by sending the oldest child abroad to
make whole family get Immigration and receive Welfare Money & Free
Housing for 7 years mis-using laws of those countries, otherwise, how the
hell every such kid remembers, where he lived and has always been able
to tell exact address of his/her parents right after turning 18?

Posted by: "muradali shaikh"
muradali_shaikh2@yahoo.co.uk
_._,___
Sudan puts heat on French government Wednesday, November 21, 2007
KHARTOUM - Agence France-Presse
Aid agencies and French interests in Sudan are coming under intense
pressure over a plot to abduct 103 Darfur children from neighboring Chad
and transfer them to France. Three weeks after the aborted attempt by
the French charity Zoe's Ark to fly the children out of Africa, Sudanese
President Omar al-Beshir has added his voice to a chorus of anger,
branding the action as modern-day slavery. "This we can call a slave
market," Beshir said on Saturday.
"The operation took place under the eyes and noses of Western
charitable organizations and the French government," he said, despite French
denials.
"America, Britain and Europe are liars and hypocrites who want our
resources and that's why they stole our children to sell in a slave market
in Europe."
Aid agencies operating in violence-wracked Darfur are being harassed,
and the authorities are using the scandal to tighten the noose around
some 12,500 aid workers deployed in the western Sudanese region. "It
would have been a good opportunity for Sudan to underscore that what
happened in Chad would have never happened here," lamented Orla Clinton of
the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Members of French NGOs, and other foreign aid workers, have been
summoned by Sudan's humanitarian aid commissioner Mohamed Abdel Rahman Hassabo
and warned their actions will be held to account, one of them said.
Hassabo has accused Paris of having furnished visas to the French
charity to get the children out of Chad, before the Chadian authorities
intervened.
"In March, April, May, the authorities of France gave advance visas
and gave permission for the plane to take these children to France," he
said earlier this month in Geneva. The children were merely the advance
guard of a vast operation to send 10,000 African children to Europe,
Hassabo said. While Hassabo claims 17 of the children were Sudanese, aid
agencies who have since cared for them said most of the youngsters are
Chadian and have at least one living parent. "The question is why these
children were being taken to the West? Perhaps to provide organs such
to elderly patients," Nafie Ali Nafie, member of NCP, said.

SEZ: New compensation policy soon

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
Government is in the final stages of formulating a new policy for compensating villagers whose land is taken for special economic zones envisaging increase in solatium up to 100 per cent, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said on Friday.

"The new policy for land acquisition is under formulation and is in the final stages," the home minister said in the Rajya Sabha. Replying to a long debate on SEZ proposal at Nandigram in West Bengal, Patil said that the land owners losing their holdings would not only be paid a liberal compensation but also a " solatium" under the Land Acquisition Act."

There is a proposal to increase the solatium. Whether the increase will be 50 per cent, 60 per cent or 100 per cent is under consideration of the government," he said.

This amount, which is paid over and above the compensation for land purchase, is at present 35 per cent of land value. He said only barren land should be used for the SEZs and other industrial projects. There would also be an effort to provide "land for land" to the affected farmers, the home minister said.

In case the SEZ or industrial project promoter acquires land in excess of the requirement, he would be asked to share the gains made from the extra land kept unused. Besides, farmers and those affected by the SEZs would be given non-transferable shares so that "they benefit from the progress in the industrial units," he said.

Seeking a clarification, independent member Bimal Jalan said the government should itself come up with SEZs and invite projects rather than leaving it to the industry. The government has already unveiled a Rehabilitationa and Resettlement policy envisaging change in the acquisition laws.

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The US

Detractors are jackals, says Putin
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
Detractors are jackals, says Putin
Moscow: Opponents of the Kremlin are “jackals” and lackeys of the West, while Russia’s still-powerful business oligarchs are hoping the country will grow “weak and ill” so they can seize power, President Vladimir Putin told a cheering, foot-stamping crowd in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium Wednesday night.

“Our opponents all want to see us disunited,” Putin said. “Some want to take away and divide everything, and others to plunder.”

It was Putin’s first campaign speech for the December 2 parliamentary elections, in which he has controversially floated his own candidacy as head of the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party while still continuing his duties as incumbent President.
Many in the crowd held up banners urging the hyper-popular Putin to stay on as leader after presidential polls next March, even though Russia’s Constitution requires him to step down as President after he finishes his second term. Putin gave no hint of his personal plans, but told Russians that if they support him, they should vote for United Russia.
“If there is a victory in December, then there will be a victory next March as well,” he said. “For this renewal to proceed in the right way, successfully and to the benefit of the nation, we only need victory.”
Putin’s public approval rating hit 84 per cent last month. The fortunes of the UR party jumped from around 40 per cent support before Putin joined its campaign to a commanding 67 per cent in a mid-November survey conducted by the independent Levada Centre in Moscow.
Russia’s Supreme Court this week rejected a court challenge by the liberal Union of Right Forces, known by its Russian initials SPS, which had argued Putin’s candidacy is illegal since he is able to use his position as sitting President to command daily newscasts and gain “an unfair advantage”.
“There is no equality of parties at all,” says Nikita Belikh, head of SPS. This is not a democratic campaign at all. On TV 90 per cent of the coverage is given to United Russia, and the other 10 per cent is divided between the rest of the parties.”
Many experts believe Putin will use a UR parliamentary victory to fashion a new role for himself after his presidential term expires.
Others have suggested that he may take advantage a loophole in Russia’s Constitution that limits a President to “two consecutive terms” to resign as President after the Duma polls. In that case, Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov would step in as acting president and Putin would be free to run again for the presidency in March.
Though 15 parties are running in the Duma elections, only one besides UR looks likely to hurdle the 7 per cent barrier for gaining entry to the 450-seat body.
Russia’s still-powerful Communist Party scored 14 per cent in the Levada survey, while all the others logged less than 7 per cent support.
Maoist 'People's Courts' surface yet again
http://www.nepalnew s.com/archive/ 2007/nov/ nov23/news05. php
In what is clearly a breach of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA)
signed a year ago, the Maoists have again started "hearing" cases
through their "people's court".
Local Maoist leaders in eastern town of Biratnagar told a leading
daily yesterday that as various kinds of misunderstandings have
cropped up in relation with the government, the Maoist people's
court have begun hearing cases filed at the party office.
They also threatened that the party would re-constitute parallel
government in the district level like before if the government
continues to turn a deaf ear to their demands.
In the CPA, the Maoists have pledged that they would not re-start
people's court or constitute parallel government.
"The party has now started hearing the cases registered at the
judiciary (nyayik) department and giving its verdict," Kantipur
Daily quoted chief of Morang Revolutionary People's Council and
Judiciary Department Balidan as saying.
He further said that after the party left the government the
department under him has already passed its verdict on more than
three hundred cases of monetary dealing, family dispute, fights
including crimes like robbery and others in Morang district alone.
"Some 600 cases filed at our department are still waiting for
hearing and 64 more are being currently investigated, " Balidan said,
adding that since the cases get resolved "instantly and without any
expenses" dozens of cases are filed at the judiciary department
everyday.
"Even a DSP (District Superintendent of Police) with the National
Investigation Department has been forwarding the cases involving
disputes in monetary transaction and minor brawls to the party's
judiciary council for swift verdict on it," he added.
The Maoist People's Court is being run by the party's judiciary
department under the Joint Revolutionary People's Council.
"The Maoists have put the peace process in peril by bringing into
operation their people's court," Jagat Thapa, former chairman of
Morang Bar told Kantipur Daily, "this has only mocked the interim
constitution drafted in consensus of the seven parties and the peace
process as a whole." nepalnews.com ag Nov 23 07
Analyzing the Maoist Concept Paper
Posted on November 23rd, 2007 by UWB
http://www.blog. com.np/united- we-blog/2007/ 11/23/analyzing- the-
maoist-concept- paper/
Analysis of the Maoist Concept Paper: Legitimacy of Interim
government, Interim Parliament and Peace Accord Ended
By Conflict Study Center
Contributed by: Bishnu Pathak, PhD and Chitra Niraula
The following is the unofficial translation of the first-ever
Concept Paper, after initiation of the Peace Process, prepared by
CPN (Maoist) Supremo Prachanda and presented by Dr. Baburam
Bhattarai on Nov 16, 2007 to the Political Parties, Civil Society
and Media:
Preamble of the Paper
The serious impediments to peace process and political advancement
of Nepal have been accepted by all quarters. The 12-point
Understanding between the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and CPN
(Maoists) or (SPAM) was concluded on Nov 22, 2005 for democracy,
peace and advancement. The political journey ventured through Peace
Accord, Interim Constitution (IC), Interim Parliament (IP) and
Interim Government (IG) and fell into peril, consequently the agenda
on Constituent Assembly (CA) election, establishment of Federal
Republic, and the forward looking economic and social transformation
that has been agreed by both parties have not been implemented. This
has ensnared the entire peace process towards impasse. The present
critical situation calls to review all the earlier peace agreements
and conclude new political unity based on new grounds.
1. Overview
A. The 19-day long Popular Movement resulting from the unity of the
Maoists, who had been waging `People's War' against feudalism and
monarchy since 11 years, and the SPA, waging peaceful movement
against the absolute monarchy, based on the 12-point Understanding
ousted the king from power. The constitutional parties went against
the 12-point Understanding and merely took up restoration of
Parliament and pushed aside all the other agendas, diverting the
establishment of republic away from the doorstep.
B. After some hustles with the SPA, on June 16, 2006, the 8-point
Agreement was concluded for democracy, peace and advancement. Again
passing through ups and downs, on Oct 8, 2006 a political consensus
was reached with the SPA. On Nov 21, 2006, the Comprehensive Peace
Accord (CPA) was signed with the government and the confinement of
the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the government army into
cantonments and barracks, respectively took off. The IC was
proclaimed by the IP on Jan 15, 2007. The conflict management and
political advancement, absolutely through the internal efforts,
without any outside involvement, is a unique model for the world.
C. CA election on mid-June 2007 was the focused purpose of the
Understandings and Agreements along with the IP and IC. The violent
and destructive movement in Madhes, through forces that were not in
existence prior to signing of the accord, were intentionally
designed and instigated by the reactionary royalist, domestic and
foreign forces to disrupt the peace process including CA election.
The Gaur massacre was the climax of the counter-revolutiona ry
forces.
D. Reacting against the counter-revolution, Maoists entered into the
government on March 31, 2007 expressing its solemn commitment to the
peace process. The CA election was dramatically deferred. The
Maoists declared the deferral of the CA polls on schedule as a
violation of the peace process through a note of dissent in a high-
level meeting of SPAM. Maoists forwarded the 22-point preconditions
because of the deferral of the CA polls, the conclusion of which is
CA can not be confirmed until the monarchy exists and is meaningless
unless full proportional electoral system is adopted. Maoists
resigned from the IG on Sept 18, 2007 because these two
preconditions were not met.
E. On Nov 4, 2007 the Special Session of the IP on the motion of
Urgent Public Importance by a simple majority passed the federal
republic and proportional electoral system, which has placed the
ball in the Nepali Congress's court.
2. Identification of the Key Problem
A. There exist serious problems regarding the viewpoint of Maoists
and SPA on peace process and political events. Although there are
grave differences, SPAM has agreed to declare federal republic,
which is the essence of all the Understandings and Agreements, IC
and IP, and the Minimum Common Program. All these documents include
the clause `forward looking restructuration of the state to address
the problems relating to classes, ethnicities/ castes, regions and
gender', and that is the commitment of both the parties to create a
new political mainstream. The status quest outlook of NC is the
hinderance to the political impasse.
B. The political Agreements and Understandings will not be
implemented until the unitary state power, security mechanism,
bureaucracy, socio-economic dynamism supporting the monarchist and
feudalist system exists. The incapable leadership of NC is the
principal element of political impasse.
C. The special geo-political situation of Nepal has invited the foul
play and involvement of foreign power-centers. The evidence is the
Madhes incidents after signing of the Peace Accord. The issue of
serious concern is the lack of national unity and understanding of
the political parties when the sovereignty and geographical
integrity of the country is in grave danger.
D. The lack of stringent implementation of the provision of conflict
management in the peace process and widening the gap between the
conflicting parties are the principal problems. The poor management
and care of the PLA, lack of minimum compensation to the Martyr's
families, investigation of the disappearances, are the clear
challenges of the peace process.
E. Another obstacle is lack of understanding by the political
parties that restructuration of the State is the restructuration of
the security sector.
F. Non-participation of various ethnic and regional liberation
fronts, people's representatives, civil agitators in the peace
process and political consensus resulted in the increase of violent
incidents like Madhes. Another factor is the hegemony of the NC in
power division in the IG. Lack of the programs affecting directly to
and bringing positive change in the lives of the people during the
interim period is another aspect of the problem.
3. Road map
There are two aspects to peace process: politico-ideology and
procedural.
A. Politico-ideology:
• High-level dialogue to minimize the differences for creation of a
new political mainstream, recognizing the differences between the
parliamentarian parties and Maoists, and realization of the essence
of the peace agreement by both;
• Re-commitment of both the parties to establish federal democratic
republic abolishing feudalism and monarchy;
• Resolution to National Unity for promotion and protection of
Independence, Sovereignty and Geographical Integrity;
• Build common understanding on proclamation of republic and CA
election to be held as early as possible;
• Build consensus through a serious dialogue of the concerned actors
on a uniform model of the proportionate electoral system;
• Restructuration of the security sector through democratization of
Nepalese army and integration of the PLA; and
• Socio-economic transformation policies, based on peace accord and
IC, to be implemented stringently.
B. Procedural:
• Formation of a High-Level Task Force consisting of both the sides
to review the contents and implementation and recommend amendments
and/or revision to all the Agreements and Understandings;
• An extensive political conference of democratic political forces
like castes, ethnicities, regions, madhes, women, dalit, muslim,
minorities, professionals, civil society representatives to end the
political impasse;
• If necessary, effort to change the government leadership also to
maintain the unity between the peace process and political parties;
• Rigorous implementation of the resolutions of the IP on republic
and proportionate electoral system;
• A State Restructuration Commission to Management and care of PLA,
distribution of compensation to Martyr's families, and treatment to
wounded, a High-Level Commission to investigate to the
disappearances, a Land Related Commission and Corruption
Investigation Commission as per the 22-point preconditions forwarded
by Maoists;
• Dissolution of the one-sided Peace and Reconstruction Ministry and
formation of a powerful Peace and Reconstruction Commission;
• Reformation of IG through re-division of power and responsibility
in a new way; and operate the government based on the minimum common
program; and
• Build political consensus and environment conducive to mutual-
confidence prior to declaring new date for CA election, and the
State and all the political forces to be unified to execute it.
Analysis of the Concept Paper and Conclusion
Part three of the CPA has 13 points dealing with the letter and
spirit of the conflict management. The first one covers political,
social and economic transformation, but nothing of substance has
been done. Similarly, the second states to conduct CA polls by mid-
June 2007 in a free and fair environment, but the date was postponed
affecting the sovereign rights of Nepali citizens. At first, the
date was deferred for two weeks. As Maoists joined the IP and then
IG, the Election Commission (EC) declared it not possible to hold
the election because it would require at least 110 days preparing
the election. The statement was made by the EC instead of the PM or
the government, and was under fire from all quarters.
Maoists alleged that the domestic and foreign forces played behind
the postponment fearing they would win. It also wrote the note of
dissent in the High-Level Meeting, but agreed to hold election on
Nov 22. The government deferred the date of the election three times
without an excuse to the people nor did it resign based on morality.
The third point deals with seizing and transferring the property of
the late King Birendra and family to a Trust, which is partially
fulfilled. Similarly, the property of King Gyanendra kept foreign
banks on abroad clandestinely and those transferred from Birendra
have not been made public. The property hukum baks (granted) to the
persons for nepotism and favoritism during the regime of Tribhuvan,
Mahendra and Birendra is not known.
The fourth tackles the respect of human rights, competitive
democratic system, sovereignty inherent in Nepalis, constitutional
balance and control, rule of law, social justice and equality, etc.
but people's right to life, liberty and security are violated day in
and day out. The INSEC, local human rights organization, reports
that 234 people were killed, of which 12% and 9% were attributed to
the government and the Maoists respectively in the one-year tenure
of Peace Accord. Similarly, the Maoists abducted 64% of persons out
of 772 cases in the last year. In the Central region only (10
districts of Madhes), 82 persons have been killed within the six
month period. In a year period, 41% Nepal suffered from either
general strikes or valley strikes, regional strikes and district
strikes.
The fifth consists of ending the unitary and centralized structure
of State, which continues until date and lacks federal and inclusive
character. The State restructuration process based on class, caste,
sex, language and regionalism has not been initiated. The sixth
stipulates to end all kinds of feudalism by developing minimum
common program, but nothing has been done. The seventh deals with
ending feudal land ownership and executing scientific land reform,
which has not taken a step ahead. The eighth one relates to
promoting national industries; is it not due to this that many
industries are being closed and quite a few joint venture companies
are quitting? The ninth point deals with citizen's rights to
education, health, housing, employment and food security. Nothing
has been done to achieve these, even during the Dashain Festival the
people in the Mountain regions had no food to eat. The tenth point
states economic and social security for the disadvantaged groups,
which has remained in paper. The eleventh one states to meet strong
action against corrupt individuals, which has remained hypothetical,
because the main alleged culprits are still in power in government,
bureaucracy and so on. The twelfth one calls for creating a common
development concept for the nation's economic and social
transformation. The thirteenth deals in employment and professional
rights.
Part 4 deals with Arms and Armies Management. UNMIN is conducting
second round verification of Maoist PLA confined in the cantonments,
but progress is in snail motion. Nothing, not even policy
development, has been implemented towards democratization of the
Nepalese Army and integration of both the armies into a National
Army. It was decided to provide the facilities to Maoist PLA equal
to the Nepal Army, but they received the allowance for only four
months during the one-year period.
The part 5 consisting of demising through neutralizing and
eliminating the mines within 60 days has only been tried as a model,
the rest are as they are. It also deals with the Cease Fire
Monitoring Committee that remains in the document only. Similarly,
it has stopped the practice of forced extortion and taxes (cash and
kind) against law, which has not stopped. In recent months, there
has been a frequent report of extortion from both local and foreign
groups, although the Maoists claimed voluntary contribution. It also
states to release the cadres from custody within 15 days of the
signing of the accord, to which only high-level leaders were
released and many still remain to be released. The government has
not taken any steps to get the one and a half dozen Maoist cadres
imprisoned in Uttar Pradesh, India. It also states to declare or
notify the families the whereabouts of the disappeared within 60
days, but no one has been declared or notified yet. On the issue of
rehabilitation and relief to the victims of war, it calls for
forming of a National Peace and Rehabilitation Commission, which has
been established in name but is defunct. A high-level Truth and
Reconciliation Commission was targeted to be formed to address grave
human rights violations and abuses during the armed conflict, but in
vain. The pledge to reestablish the development infrastructures
destroyed and respectfully rehabilitate the displaced people during
the war has merely taken tortoise steps.
Maoists are pressuring towards immediate implementation of the
federal structure of governance and full proportionate electoral
system (resolved by the IP by simple majority). The NC not only has
caste vote against these agenda in the Special Session of the IP,
but also meetings of NC's Central Committee and Parliamentary
Committee declined to implement the directive of the IP. The
resolution requires 2/3 majority in the IP to revise the IC. Some
pro-monarchial individuals of NC stated that they would go against
the party whip to caste vote for the revision. Maoist leaders have
declared to change the government leadership through the streets
saying budho goru le gai ogatnu mildaina (remove the old bull
overtaking the cow). The gap between the two sides is ever-widening
and reaching critical point - initiating political
cyclone `segregation of the conflict state III', which indicates
messing of the CA polls. The Maoists have given top priority to
declaration of a republic rather than CA polls.
Briefly, only 10% letter and spirit of 10-point peace accord has
been implemented, which resulted a huge level of frustration in all
tiers. More frustration is found in the Maoists activists due to
leaders have started to lead luxury lives spending most of the time
in Kathmandu and other urban centers. Activists are living with very
poor conditions with limited resources and contact with leaderships.
Such frustration is leading to more abduction to the opponents often
owing to personal retribution rather than wider political motive. On
the other side, as they are receiving an enormous pressure to resume
people's court (kangaroo court) and people's government - `parallel
government in district and local levels' similar to before peace
accord. Reestablishment of these have in some cases already begun.
Indeed, the political crisis and uncertainty at the central level,
has given some Maoist sectors fertile grounds to recommence them.
Dr. Baburam publicly stated that if the House Directives could not
be implemented, they would form parallel government both
horizontally and vertically with haste, that finally opens the
ground of urban warfare or people's agitation backed by the PLA
leaving their cantonments. If such happened, the violent, non-
violent and criminal groups would be fleeing to India for their
secure terrain, effecting the security situation of India. The
nation shall lose its opportunity to materialize the peace process
through the people's fresh mandate. At this instance, the nation and
people in general would be defeated again and only the weapons
traffickers, traders and manufacturers, opportunists and conformist
leaders and pro-monarchial forces would benefit.
November 22, 2007 is the date set for the CA election. As the
election could not be conducted on the scheduled date, the
legitimacy of the IG, IP, constitution and peace accord have failed.
Nepali Congress (NC) Mahesh Acharya says, "All three parties – the
state, the Maoists and the UNMIN, involved in the ongoing peace
process failed to play the desired role for effective implementation
of the CPA."
In this condition, there is a big question mark to zeal and zest of
people for peace, security, development and forward-looking change,
just as Professor Johan Galtung writes: "Where nothing has been
solved the violence will recur, after some time."
…………………
This translation and analysis by By Conflict Study Center
Contributed by: Bishnu Pathak, PhD and Chitra Niraula, edited by:
Joseph Bergson
Assisted by: Kaushila Dhimal and Ganga Puri

Saudi court increases rape victim's sentence!
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
Saudi women furious at gang-rape ruling
23 November 2007
DUBAI - A recent Saudi court ruling sentencing a woman to six months in
jail and 200 lashes despite being gang-raped highlights the injustice
faced by women in the ultra-conservative kingdom, women rights
activists said

So what the do we mean by Operation Torricelli?
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
Powerful bomb defused, security post attacked

IMPHAL:A powerful bomb, suspected to be planted by militants targetting security personnel, was defused while a security post was attacked by insurgents in separate incidents in Manipur, official sources said.A powerful bomb, lying at roadside at Langthabal area in Imphal West district was today detected by local people who informed the police, sources said.The explosive, later defused by experts, was apparently targetted at security personnel who frequented the area.In another incident, insurgents attacked a post of Assam Rifles in interior Ukhrul district firing a 'lethod bomb' from rocket launcher yesterday. The insurgents also fired at the post, sources said.
Assam Rifles personnel returned the fire and the exchange lasted for about 15 minutes in the hilly area.An Assam Rifles statement later said the insurgents at least lobbed 10 'lethod bombs' before firing at the post.The ultras used the house of a local pastor and two places near a church during the attack.Claiming responsibility for the attack, the United National Liberation Front said they pounded the post with 79 mm shells and mortars.
See the ULFA version of NER crisis!
Why does the Naga International Support Centre's criticism exactly mirrors the anti-ULFA propaganda of the Unified Command Structure?
The Naga International Support Centre, a human rights organisation with the acronym NISC, has published some material on 19 November 2007 criticizing the United Liberation Front of Asom which is recognised as the sole and united revolutionary organisation of the masses of Asom (Assam). Surprisingly, all the censure by the NISC reflects the propaganda that has been campaigned against the ULFA by the Indian occupation forces created "Unified Command Structure" to crush the struggle ongoing for restoration of the sovereignty of Asom.
To put blame on the ULFA and label us as a terrorist organisation internationally, causing fatalities of innocents by exploding bombs in crowded place is a design of the occupation forces has been proven by the recently released report of the ‘secret killings’ conducted by Justice Saikia. Therefore, the NISC trying to put the blame on the ULFA even after the report of the commission implies that the NISC has close association with the Indian occupation forces.
The life of Chairman Isacc Shu of NSCN(IM) at Kachin and General Secretary of NSCN(IM) Muivah was not saved by the firepower or diplomacy of his senior commanders, but, by the ULFA. Today same ULFA is being accused by NISC’s propaganda release that we are trying to split the Nagas. Whether the divisions in the Naga was brought in by the ULFA or by themselves, would be acknowledged by all Nagas including Isaac Shu and General secretary Muivah. The NISC need not come up with suggestions.
The NISC has been supporting the illegal encroachment into Asom territory by NSCN(I-M) and establishing of sub-divisions in these encroached areas in a planned manner in the name of Greater Nagaland or Nagalim. Ordinary citizens and NSCN(I-M) uses Asom as a corridor unhindered. Indian soldiers travels or patrols inside Nagaland all the time without any objection from NSCN(I-M), nor are they facing any attack from NSCN(I-M). On the other hand, ULFA cadres travelling through Namtola inside Asom upon being attacked accusing them of using the territories of Greater Nagalim killing two of our cadres and taking seven others hostages, the NISC has not made any protest at all.
The split in NSCN took place in 1988. The ULFA has made it absolutely clear then that the organization would take part against our common enemy with both parties. It was also made clear without ambiguity to both parties that ULFA shall never take side in their internal differences and always stay neutral. The NISC is well aware of the position but this has not been highlighted in their statement. NSCN(I-M) has been using various tact and tried to coerce the ULFA many a times to go against the Khaplang faction of the NSCN. The latest attempt is by killing of two ULFA cadres and hostage taking of seven others after ambushing them inside Asom soil bordering Nagaland on 11 November 2007. The NISC despite identifying themselves as a human rights organisation has not shown any disapproval on this blatant violation.
This attack on the ULFA cadres inside Asom borders by the NSCN(I-M) was a design to force the ULFA to take their side against the NSCN(K). The NISC now getting involved in anti-ULFA propaganda illustrate a prejudicial stance by the organisation.
This little known organisation (NISC) overnight becoming active in human rights field and suddenly making anti-ULFA propaganda, has made some people suspect that the Indian intelligence agency RAW is the catalyst behind its creation. The NISC apart from supporting Greater Nagalim is also advocating it as a right of Nagas is on record. The NISC is not only unconcerned about the opposition from the masses of Asom in inclusion of large areas of Asom inside Greater Nagalim, but, campaigning on behalf of people who are illegally occupying parts of Asom by force. The NISC is also supporter of forceful occupation of the Dimasa ancestral land Dimapur and inclusion of this historical Dimasa land inside Nagalim.
What kind of human rights organisation is this NISC, which supports forceful illegal occupation backed by firepower to evict Assamese from their historical ancestral land in the name of creation of greater Nagalim?
Just for the cause of Naga rights how can they support gross human rights violations on the indigenous Assamese who have lived next door to the Nagas in kinship from time immemorial?
Inequitable human rights advocacy is itself an enemy of humanity, which the NISC must comprehend. It would be better for such organisations to get involved in impartial human rights campaign than giving lessons to the ULFA on human rights and be a party to maligning the ULFA and trying to destroy the national liberation struggle of Asom.
The NISC have been will fully keeping quite about Asom being a land of composite people made out of Assmese, Bodo, Karbi, Rava, Missing, Tiwa and Tai speakers who enjoy collective and universal rights where they live. Moreover, it is also cunningly suppressing the fact that the ULFA is not representing only a certain section, but, it is formed by and for all the people of Asom to establish our Sovereign identity with universal indigenous rights. The NISC bringing the rights of the Bodos seems to have ignored the rights of the non-Bodos. The NISC has supported the violation of the historical rights of the Kochrajbongshis of Asom who are an integral part of the composite Assamese identity.
How can then the NISC earn respect as a human rights organisation?
During a joint executive council meeting between the ULFA and the NDFB(National Democratic Front of Bodoland), we have clearly stated that the ULFA recognises rights of the Bodos to establish a sovereign Bodoland on the Bodo inhabited region. Therefore, now the NISC accusing the ULFA of violating Bodo rights is another attempt only to vilify the ULFA internationally.
Everybody who wishes well of Asom need to appreciate that the ULFA sees Asom as a collective habitat for peoples regardless of race, class, caste, tribe or religious belongingness. These collective rights in our shared habitat must be recognised and respected by the inhabitants and this is the key to establishment of permanent peace in Asom. In contrast to such shared approach, advocacy to create separate countries on the line of ethnicity or faction is simply promoting ethnic strife for the future. Logic and rationality need to replace emotion in judging such situations objectively. Human rights organisations are known to be neutral in dealing with revolutionary organisations rather than being instrumental in instigating conflicts amongst them. In stead of fostering a partisan human rights ideation, if the NISC with total neutrality spreads the word of human rights situation in our region, it is not only the Nagalim and Bodoland will benefit but it will boost the implementation and improvement of human rights across the region and at the same time uplift the Naga struggle to a different level.
Rubi Bhuyan
Central Publicity Member,ULFA
22.11.07
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assamonline/files/misc/ulfa_05.pdf

So what the do we mean by Operation Torricelli?
Torecelli, was a Scientist living in Europe, who wanted to experiment with the drop in Mercury levels at different altitudes. The problem was in those days travel was difficult so he decided to send a letter to his friend who was living
far away in the mountains to verify his experiment.
This led to the invention of the Barometer, Toricelli verified his experiment using the postal system. Here is an example of how the postal system was used for making progress.
A system was put in place like the postal system without realizing the impact on scientific revolution in Europe.
Can the internet play a similar role in India? Can communication be improved amongst all scientist in India in all areas so that we can accelerate our progress? The future of the 1 billion minus the 400 million middle class equals 600 million
poor is at stake. What is the future of these 600 million?
Courtesy -Nikhil
(comments added by me)
Prof R K Gupta
The antibiotic episode is a holocaust, how can we overcome this?
What I would like to see is all newspapers, agencies and website display the progress of India with respect to China and US.
Let us trigger Operation Toricelli.
Here is a comparison between the 3 countries, some numbers are estimates from 2005 or 2006 and are not up to date.
INDIA CHINA US
Revenue: $109.4 b $446 b $2.4 t
Expenses $143.8 b $449 b $2.6 t
Export: $124 b $974 b $1.0 t
Import: $187.9 b $777 b $1.8 t
FOREX: $165 b $1.0 t $69 b
GDP(PP) $4.042 t $10 t $12.98 t
GDP : $796.1 b $2.5 t $13.22 t
Labor 509.3 m 798 m 151 m
Unemployed(? ?) 7.8% 4.2 % 4.8% ( I think figures are almost double)
Below pov 25% 10% 12%
(for India I think *Not less than 60%)
Electric 630.6 bkWh 2.5 tkWh 3.9 tkWh
Debt $132.1 b $305 b $10 tr
Telephones 49 m 350 m 268 m
Cell 69 m 437 m 219 m
Internet 60 m1 23 ml 200 ml
Literacy: 59% 90% 99%
Telephones: 49 ml 350 ml 268 ml
Cell phones: 80 ml 437 ml 219 ml
Gini Index 32 44 45
Tourists 4.4 ml 22 ml 89 ml
Tourism Rev $6 bl $33 bl $65 bl
English spkr 350 ml 50 ml 300 ml
Schools: 0.8 ml 1.8m 2.0+ ml
Internet usr 70 ml 123 ml 200 ml
Graduates 3 ml/YR
The answer to a very important question regarding what went wrong with India is again a question of major debate.
There various theories proposed by experts to address this and contributions may appear fuzzy or vague. The finger gets pointed normally at the population. (*I guess illitreacy is also main cause and hungry genes of Indians- We are a corrupt society and tolerant)
India was in serious trouble in the 1950s when western civilization introduced Penicillin -- a drug which save millions of babies --
In a culture where its roots are buried deep in the soil, this was simply shaking up the delicate balance with nature.
India's population from 3rd to 4th century AD to 1930 was roughly about 200-230 million. This was because a huge number of deaths occurred due to natural causes. The Indian system did not tamper with nature and the explosion occured as a result of an ant--biotic
like Penicillin.
Nehru's plans of industrailization were totally shattered and like other countries India could not CLOSE THE LOOP like western cultures are able to do -- and that was address this interference with nature.
All products in India, the India thought process, and culture is very much closely tied with nature and when tampered it fails to resolve that--
** * * ***
Prof R K Gupta
{B.E Mech(Hons),MBA, FIE,FIMA}
-(Director-Sobhagya Consultancy & Marketing Services-India
(director@scms. in)
-Professor of Management (Marketing,Operatio ns and Strategy)
-Hony.President
Forum for Enforcement of civil Liberties_india( www.indiaforce. org)
resident@indiaforc">President@indiaforc e.org)
-Former VP(C&A),Vardhman Group, Baddi(HP)(Auro Dyeing)
GM, Modern Steel Ltd ,Chandigarh
GM, Bhushan Ltd -Bhusan Steel group
Director & Professor -{AIMT}Sri Atmanand Jain Institute of Management & Technology Ambala(Kurukshetra University)for MBA & MCA programs.
www.geocities. com/rkgupta_ india
rkgupta@rkgupta. in
+91-9413782645
** * * ***

Tom Mangattuthazhe Thomas to youthfront
show details 1:05 pm (5 hours ago)
Christmas Peace Concert by Zubeen Garg at Diphu
A Press Statement by UCF

UCF & UCYF will be organizing a Pre-Christmas Celebration on 1st & 2nd December, 2007 at KASA Stadium Ground, Diphu. The theme of the celebration will be "Jesus Savior of the World".
The programme will consists of carol singing from different churches and special invitees, messages, exhortations and prayer for peace in Karbi Anglong.
UCF requests all people in Karbi Anglong to observe December 1st and 2nd as days of grace and prayer for peace in Karbi Anglong. We also request all parties and associations to refrain from banbdhs which will affect the programme. On 2 nd December evening there will be a Christmas Peace Concert by Zubeen Garg.
Zubeen Garg, born on 18 November 1972 is a singer and composer from Assam. The latest craze of the sufi-toned number Ya Ali from Mukesh Bhatt's film Gangster has only proved that 33-year-old Zubin Garg is a real hero of Assam. A writer, producer and director, actor, singer and musician, Zubin's journey delineates a great struggle and a great success story. He's sung more than 7,000 songs in various languages. Some of the recent awards won buy him are the following, Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) (2006)- Best playback singer (Male) for the song "Ya Ali". Max Stardust Awards (2007)- New Musical Sensation (Male) for the song "Ya Ali". Nominated for Film Fare Awards (2007)- Best Play Back Singer etc.
Sincerely Yours
Tom Mangattuthazhe
(Secretary, UCF)
22.11.2007

--
Tom Mangattuthazhe
Bishop's House
Diphu - 782460
Karbi Anglong(Dt0
Assam - India
Ph.03671-272442/272552
Mobile.09435066461
Email.tmangatt@gmail.com
http://DDYC.blogspot.com
http://tommangattuthazhediphu.blogspot.com
HC judgment upholds SIC directive
The Imphal Free Press
IMPHAL, Nov 16: Striking a blow for transparency and accountability in government, the Gauhati High Court, Imphal bench today dismissed petitions filed by the state government challenging directives of the State Information Commission asking the government to make public information relating to various judicial and magisterial inquiries conducted since the start of insurgency in the state.
A single bench of the High Court, comprising of Justice BD Agarwal, ruling on two separate petitions filed by chief secretary Jarnail Singh and the joint secretary home, Th Chittaranjan Singh, has also directed the government authorities to furnish the information sought to the applicant through the state information commission within the stipulated time.
Briefing mediapersons in this connection, Wahengbam Joykumar, research and programme associate of the Centre for Organisation Research and Education, CORE, said he had filed a request under the Right to Information Act in February this year to the state information officer, home department, seeking detailed information relating to inquiries conducted under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 from 1980 to 2006 in Manipur. Another request was filed in May, seeking furnishing of information relating to magisterial inquiries conducted from 1980 till March 2007.
In both cases, the state information officer, home department, namely Th Chittaranjan Singh, joint secretary, home, failed to furnish the requested information, as a consequence of which Joykumar filed complaints with the Chief Information Commissioner, Manipur, RK Angousana.
Ruling in connection with the first application, the CIC, Manipur, in the month of March directed the SPIO, home department, to furnish the information sought, viz. total number of inquiries conducted under the Commission of Inquiry Act since 1980, with their detailed particulars, total number of inquiry reports submitted to the government of Manipur, the copies of inquiry reports so submitted, as well as memoranda of action taken which had been laid before the appropriate legislature and discussed and approved and for which final action is over, to Joykumar within a period of 15 days.
Instead of complying, the state authorities piled a petition before the Gauhati High Court, Imphal bench, being WP(C) case no. 478 of 2007 challenging the decision of the state chief information commission.
Joykumar also disclosed that in connection with his second application, filed on May 19, 2007 seeking information relating magisterial inquiries conducted in the state since the year 1980 till March 2007, the CIC, Manipur had in August directed the SPIO to furnish the required information within the stipulated time, but the SPIO filed another case before the Guahati High Court challenging this under WP (C) case no 733 of 2007.
In final hearings on these two petitions today, the Gauhati High Court, Imphal bench, dismissed both petitions filed by the state government and ruled in favour of the respondents, he informed.
Joykumar further observed that the reluctance of the government to furnish the information he request, to the extent of approaching the High Court over it, indicated the open violation of right to information of the state government, and its preference for non-transparency and non-accountability.
He also said the general public should not hesitate to seek information from the state government by using the RTI Act for bringing a transparent and accountable administration.

http://5thparttreacheryof.blogspot.com/
MORE ON THE TREACHERY OF NOAM CHOMSKY(article 53) by Benjamin Merhav
There has been a collective effort on part of some honest and genuine Left people, during the past few years, to expose the treachery and dishonesty of Noam Chomsky, the most notorious zionist impostor in the USA. This ongoing collective effort is a very important contribution to the struggle against USA imperialism and against the zionist apartheid regime of Israel. Those are the regimes of which Noam Chomsky is the champion rather than the deceptive opposite role he has purported to play in the guise of "guru of the Left ".
The following article by Chris Knight is an important contribution to the collective effort. Like others before him he knew that exposing impostor Chomsky is an uphill effort because of the secret backing that Chomsky has had from both the zionist and the USA imperialist regimes, and because of his cabal of devotees
who are themselves modelled on their impostor-mentor's dishonesty.
Here is the article :
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/655/chomsky.htm
"The Chomsky enigma
How it is that a powerful critic of US imperialism has been regarded as a valued asset by the US military? In the first of three articles Chris Knight of the Radical Anthropology Group begins his examination of the life and work of Noam Chomsky.
Noam Chomsky ranks among the leading intellectual figures of modern times. He has changed the way we think about what it means to be human, gaining a position in the history of ideas - at least according to his supporters - comparable with that of Galileo, Descartes or Newton. Since launching his intellectual assault against the academic orthodoxies of the 1950s, he has succeeded - almost single-handedly - in revolutionising linguistics and establishing it as a modern science.
Such intellectual victories, however, have come at a cost. The stage was set for the "linguistics wars"1 when Chomsky published his first book. He might as well have thrown a bomb. "The extraordinary and traumatic impact of the publication of Syntactic structures by Noam Chomsky in 1957," recalls one witness, "can hardly be appreciated by one who did not live through this upheaval."2 From that moment, the battles have continued to rage.
'Command and control'
How could a technical book on syntax have produced such dramatic effects? By his own admission, the author knew little about the world's different languages. Indeed, he outraged traditional linguists by claiming he did not need to know. Chomsky was not interested in documenting linguistic diversity. Neither did he care about the relationship between language and other aspects of human thought or life. As far as his opponents could see, he was not really interested in linguistics at all. He seemed to be more interested in computers.
In 1955, Chomsky joined the 'Research Laboratory of Electronics' at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His work was funded by the US military. He explains:
"About half the institute's budget was coming from two major military laboratories that they administered and of the rest, the academic side, it could have been something like 90% or so from the Pentagon. Something like that. Very high. So it was a Pentagon-based university. And I was at a military-funded lab."3
Chomsky clarified his activist convictions immediately on arrival. He recalls: "It was a military-financed laboratory, and people routinely went through security clearance procedures. I just refused. I know everyone thought it was kind of weird, because the only effect of it was that I missed out on free trips on military air transport and things like that."4
He did not get the free rides, but otherwise encountered no problems. The preface to Syntactic structures concludes: "This work was supported in part by the USA army (Signal Corps), the air force (Office of Scientific Research, Air Research and Development Command) and the navy (Office of Naval Research); and in part by the National Science Foundation and the Eastman Kodak Corporation."5
Chomsky and his supporters subsequently secured two large defence grants - one for a project based in MIT and the other for research undertaken in the University of California, Los Angeles. Aspects of the theory of syntax contains this acknowledgment: "The research reported in this document was made possible in part by support extended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Research Laboratory of Electronics, by the Joint Services Electronics Programs (US army, US navy and US air force) under contract No.DA36-039-AMC-03200(E); additional support was received from the US air force (Electronic Systems Division under contract AF19(628)-2487), the National Science Foundation (grant GP-2495), the National Institutes of Health (grant MH-04737-04) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant NsG-496)."6
Several questions arise. Why did Chomsky - an outspoken leftwing activist and anti-militarist - take the money? Secondly, what did the military think they were buying? Both questions are sharpened by the fact that MIT at this time had no tradition in linguistics. This confronts us with a third puzzle: why did the military not choose to invest in an institution with a proven record in this field?
Explaining his decision to choose MIT, Chomsky recalls that he felt in no mood to serve in an established department of linguistics. He needed somewhere where original thinking could be freely explored: "I had no prospects in a university that had a tradition in any field related to linguistics, whether it was anthropology or whatever, because the work that I was doing was simply not recognised as related to that field - maybe rightly. Furthermore, I didn't have real professional credentials in the field. I'm the first to admit that. And therefore I ended up in an electronics laboratory. I don't know how to handle anything more complicated than a tape recorder, and not even that, but I've been in an electronics laboratory for the last 30 years, largely because there were no vested interests there and the director, Jerome Wiesner, was willing to take a chance on some odd ideas that looked as if they might be intriguing. It was several years, in fact, before there was any public, any professional community with which I could have an interchange of ideas in what I thought of as my own field, apart from a few friends. The talks that I gave in the 1950s were usually at computer centres, psychology seminars and other groups outside of what was supposed to be my field."7
Chomsky was to prove fortunate in his choice of institution. Its resources attracted able students who would soon contribute to his meteoric rise.8 The association with the military also sent out the right signal to his academic colleagues. Military folk don't subsidise leftwing propaganda. If the Pentagon was paying up despite Chomsky's well-known politics, it could only mean one thing: Chomsky's science must surely be good.
Since Chomsky himself benefited in such obvious ways, we are led to ask, what did the military stand to gain? Interviewed in 1971, colonel Edmund P Gaines explained:
"The air force has an increasingly large investment in so called 'command and control' computer systems. Such systems contain information about the status of our forces and are used in planning and executing military operations. For example, defence of the continental United States against air and missile attack is possible in part because of the use of such computer systems. And, of course, such systems support our forces in Vietnam.
"The data in such systems is processed in response to questions and requests by commanders. Since the computer cannot 'understand' English, the commanders' queries must be translated into a language that the computer can deal with; such languages resemble English very little, either in their form or in the ease with which they are learned and used. Command and control systems would be easier to use, and it would be easier to train people to use them, if this translation were not necessary. We sponsored linguistic research in order to learn how to build command and control systems that could understand English queries directly."9
Followers of Chomsky were by then engaged in just such a project at the University of California, Los Angeles, prompting Colonel Gaines to comment: "Of course, studies like the UCLA study are but the first step toward achieving this goal. It does seem clear, however, that the successful operation of such systems will depend on insights gained from linguistic research ..."
The colonel went on to express the air force's "satisfaction" with UCLA's work.10
The language machine
On the eve of the computer age, Chomsky's Syntactic structures excited and inspired a new generation of linguists because it chimed in with the spirit of the times. Younger scholars were becoming impatient with linguistics conceived as the accumulation of empirical facts about linguistic forms and traditions. Chomsky promised simplification by reducing language to a mechanical 'device' whose design could be precisely specified. Linguistics was no longer to be tarnished by association with 'unscientific' disciplines such as anthropology or sociology. Instead, it would be redefined as the study of a 'natural object' - the specialised module of the brain which (according to Chomsky) was responsible for linguistic computation. Excluding social factors and thereby transcending mere politics and ideology, the reconstructed discipline would at last qualify as a science akin to mathematics and physics.
In science, according to Chomsky, less is more. If a theory is sufficiently powerful and simple, it should radically reduce the amount of knowledge needed to understand the relevant facts. As he explains, "... the amount that you have to know in a field is not at all correlated with the success of the field. Maybe it's even inversely related because the more success there is, in a sense, the less you have to know. You just have to understand; you have to understand more, but maybe know less."11
Syntactic structures infuriated established linguists - and delighted as many iconoclasts - because its message was that much of the profession's work had been a waste of time. Why laboriously list and classify anthropological observations on the world's variegated languages if a simplifying short cut can be found? In an ice-cool, starkly logical argument that magisterially brushed aside most current linguistic theory, Syntactic structures evaluated some conceivable ways of constructing the ultimate 'language machine':
"Suppose we have a machine that can be in any one of a finite number of different internal states ... the machine begins in the initial state, runs through a sequence of states (producing a word with each transition), and ends in the final state. Then we call the sequence of words that has been produced a 'sentence'. Each such machine thus defines a certain language: namely the set of sentences that can be produced in this way."12
As his argument unfolds, Chomsky rules out his initial crude design for the envisaged machine - clearly, it would not work. By a process of elimination, he then progressively narrows the range of designs which - on purely theoretical grounds - ought to work. Thrillingly, Chomsky opens up the prospect of discovering in effect 'the philosopher's stone': the design specifications of a 'device' capable of generating grammatical sentences (and only grammatical ones), not only in English, but in any language spoken (or capable of being spoken) on earth.
Syntactic structures itself, as it happened, proved unequal to the extraordinary task. Aware of this, Chomsky in his next book proposed a completely different design for his machine - variously known as the Aspects model or as the standard theory.13 Two mathematical linguists, Stanley Peters and Robert Ritchie, explored its implications - only to find that the class of grammars captured by the new model was so all-encompassing as to be vacuous. A device built in such a way, they found, would be quite extraordinarily stupid. In fact, it would be unable to distinguish between (a) any conceivable list of strings of symbols (say, all the decimal places of pi, divided into arbitrary sequences and enumerated by the value of the products of their digits) and (b) a list of actual strings used by humans for expressing themselves in, say, English. A "not too far-fetched analogy," as one critic put it, "would be a biological theory which failed to characterise the difference between raccoons and light bulbs."14
Chomsky proceeded as if none of this had any bearing on his work. In a pre-emptive strike, he declared that "the gravest defect of the theory of transformational grammar is its enormous latitude and descriptive power". Constraints would have to be introduced, even if that meant complicating the originally simple and elegant design. "Notice that it is often a step forward," Chomsky observed, "… when linguistic theory becomes more complex."15 In place of standard theory - or ST, as it was known - Chomsky now offered the extended standard theory, or EST.
By the late 1970s, however, still further changes seemed required, leading to the 'revised extended standard theory', or REST. Realising that this was still unsatisfactory, in 1981 Chomsky published his Lectures on government and binding, which swept away much of the apparatus of earlier transformational theories in favour of a much more complex approach.16
In its 'principles and parameters' incarnation, the device might arguably have seemed quite encouraging to colonel Gaines:
"We can think of the initial state of the faculty of language as a fixed network connected to a switch box; the network is constituted of the principles of language, while the switches are the options to be determined by experience. When the switches are set one way, we have Swahili; when they are set another way, we have Japanese. Each possible human language is identified as a particular setting of the switches - a setting of parameters, in technical terminology. If the research programme succeeds, we should be able literally to deduce Swahili from one choice of settings, Japanese from another, and so on through the languages that humans can acquire."17

Roma Nation? Competing Narratives of Nationhood
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

Roma Nation? Competing Narratives of Nationhood
Author: Andre Liebich
Affiliation: Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva
Published in: Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Volume 13, Issue 4
October 2007 , pages 539 - 554
Abstract
This article considers two alternative accounts of Romani
ethnogenesis, an ethnic narrative exuding the romance of exoticism
and a functional one underpinning the pathos of deprivation. Neither
of these accounts conveys the specificity of the Romani condition
which cannot be defined by mythical nomadic lifestyle, by the legal
and political situation of an ethnic minority, or by social economic
status. The article argues that the imbrication of the twin accounts
of ethnogenesis and of their corresponding structures of
legitimization has distorted both analysis and policy with respect
to the "Roma Question" in East Central Europe.
Introduction

This article proposes to consider alternative constructions of
Romani nationhood. The article has two parts. The first and longer
part examines two narratives of Romani ethnogenesis. The second part
considers the consequences of these narratives for discourses of
Romani legitimization and empowerment. The purpose of the article is
not to arbitrate between these alternative narratives. Rather, its
aim is to suggest that competing accounts of ethnogenesis and the
corresponding structures of legitimization underpin a fundamental
cleavage between the understanding of the so-called "Roma Problem"
in Western and in East Central Europe. As a result of this cleavage,
categories of analysis and categories of practice with respect to
Romani issues have become inherently and inextricably confounded.1
Ethnogenesis

The term "ethnogenesis" has an archaic ring to it. True, all
students of nationalism have paid attention to ethnogenesis, but, in
most cases, they see it as a completed process involving past
practices and (perhaps) present myths. In the case that concerns us
here, the status of the Roma as a nation remains contested and their
origins are the subject of ongoing construction. Broadly speaking,
there are two competing approaches to the issue of Romani
ethnogenesis. These gravitate, respectively, around what might be
called the romance of exoticism and the pathos of deprivation. The
first narrative is an ethnic or racial one whereas the second is
functional or social. To borrow a term from another context, Romani
origins are interpreted in terms that may be described as
either "native" or "dative."2
The "native" or ethnic narrative of Romani origins postulates a
common origin, in India, and a historic migration westwards.
Initiated sometime between the 5th and the 12th centuries, this
great translocation brought the Roma to a terminal point in Central
and Western Europe during the course of the Middle Ages.3 Such an
account is grounded in the 18th century discovery of the Indo-
European or Indo-Aryan origins of the Romani tongue (or
tongues). "The history of the Roma is to be found in their
language," wrote the pioneer Gypsyologist Heinrich Grellman (1753-
1804).4 Grellman is considered a scoundrel, plagiarist and racist by
some scholars.5 Be that as it may, Grellman's statement, with its
Herderian overtones, echoes to this day. He is still widely credited
with the thesis, long adopted uncritically by many other observers,
that the common tongue of European Roma proves their common and
Indian origins. Specific Indian origins also explain specific Romani
characteristics, notably the professions they practiced. For ages,
Roma have been artisans, such as blacksmiths and tinkers;
entertainers, whether musicians, acrobats or animal tamers; as well
as horse traders and fortune tellers. These professions have been
identified with particular Indian castes. Moreover, the social
structure of Romani communities has been likened to that of Indian
jati or group and clan setups.6
What one skeptic has called the "mythical charter" of Romani Indian
origins has served its designees well.7 As Ian Hancock, one of the
most prominent Romani academics and activists has put it, "it is not
true that 'Roma have no historic homeland'. Roma have no present-day
homeland [emphasis in original]."8 Being grounded in an identifiable
territory, however distant in time and place, establishes the Roma
as a people like others. Springing from a single soil is as
unificatory as a shared etymology. An occasional side benefit is the
interest that an established state, India, has expressed in its
sometime children, the Roma. Even fierce opponents of the Indian
origins theory acknowledge the paradox that "the Gypsies bec