Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Why muslims dont like history?

Let us consider this known, verified, and accepted bit of history lesson from wikipedia:

"Afzal Khan, after leaving Bijapur desecrated Hindu temples at Tuljapur and Pandharpur. He planned to get an emotionally overwrought Shivaji Maharaj to retaliate with his limited military resources, and thus lead him and his budding military power to easy destruction by the numerically superior, better armed and a more professional Bijapur army. However, Shivaji Maharaj had other ideas and he sent a letter saying he was not eager to face Afzal Khan and sought some type of understanding. Shivaji Maharaj upon carefully weighing his options, strategically decided to confront and surprise Afzal Khan under the guise of diplomatic negotiations. A meeting was arranged between Afzal Khan and Shivaji Maharaj at the foothills of Fort Pratapgad.[6]
Wagh nakh
Shivaji Maharaj, armed himself with weapons like bichwa (dagger), wagh nakh (tiger claw) and chilkhat (chain-mail armour) prior to the meeting. What transpired during the meeting was not recorded by scribes, but folklore has it that Afzal Khan embraced Shivaji per their custom and attempted to stab Shivaji in the back. Shivaji's agility, strength and his armour help to save him and then Shivaji counter attacked Afzal Khan with a wagh nakh and bich'hwa, spilling his blood and entrails on the ground. Thereupon Afzal Khan's bodyguard Sayyed Banda responding to this incident attacked Shivaji but was intercepted by Jiva Mahala, Shivaji Maharaj's personal bodyguard, cutting off one of Sayyed Banda's hands with a Dandpatta (Pata-a medieval weapon). Afzal Khan stumbled out of the tent to get help and collapsed into a waiting palanquin, but was attacked and slain by Shivaji Maharaj's associate Sambhaji Kavji Kondhalkar, before he could raise an alarm."

So when Indians put up a huge poster showing just that, during Ganesha navarathi, there should be no problem, because they are just showing what happened. Nothing extra. Then how the hell did these happen (notice the actual poster towards the end of the third video)?







Please note that this incident is neither unprecedented nor sporadic. These incidents occur regularly during Indian fesitval season.

Updates (from Satyameva jayate):

Below are links to recent (last few weeks) incidents of desecration of Hindu icons (pl. read this post to understand why I have deliberately and consciouly used the word “icon” in place of “idol”):

Lord Krishna’s broken Murthy in Ahmedabad, 17 Aug 2009

Idol desecration triggers tension, Bangalore, 23 Aug 2009

Lord Shiva desecrated, Mangalore 17 Jul 2009

Gang desecrates Ganesha in Tamil Nadu, 25 Aug 2009


This is my explanation:
Muslims would never want us Indians (Hindus) to feel proud of our icons. If someone tries that, they will use any possible means--political lobbying, emotional-blackmail, or even direct violence. What is the result of that? Get this---we cant celebrate our festival, in our way, in our own country! That is what Islam is doing to India! Is it time to get up and stop putting up with this shit yet?

Saturday, September 05, 2009

More news on "Love Jihad"

Jihadis target Kerala women

Balbir K Punj

The allegation that Muslim men entice Hindu women into marriage for reasons other than love and as part of an Islamist conspiracy is usually dismissed as insidious Sangh Parivar communal propaganda. But a recent chance investigation by Kerala Police has brought out some ugly details.

The August 31 issue of Kerala’s foremost newspaper, Malayala Manorama, carried an extensive report on how a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation is planning, abetting and financing the enticement of college students from different communities in the State to become cannon fodder for its jihad in India. The report terms such young women as ‘love bombs’.

The modus operandi is very clever. Muslim youth in Kerala are employed by the terrorists to entice these young women. Handsome and dashing young men are selected and fully financed to have cars, motorbikes, the most expensive clothes and lots of cash. Their job is to move in groups, select their prey and then get the women to elope with them on the promise of marriage and a great life abroad.

After days of romancing, the women begin to believe that they have found their ‘Prince Charming’. Once they elope, a marriage is registered before a notary and then the woman is whisked away from place to place. The victim thinks that she has to undergo this to evade her parents who would be searching for her.

Hide-outs include places like Hyderabad that have a significant Muslim population. The victim is not allowed contact with any outsider and is subjected to propaganda videos that eulogise jihad and promise the ultimate victory of Islam. Though the racket has been going on for some years and several complaints of missing girls have been lodged with Kerala Police, the latter has ignored them, saying that the women had actually eloped out of their free will and, therefore, they could not do anything.

The racket came to light when one of the victims turned out to be the daughter of a ranking police officer and another somehow managed to send word to her parents about the reality of her situation. The parents in the second case approached the High Court with a habeas corpus petition that led the court to order the police to produce the victim before it. The plea that the woman had eloped on her own and that she was now legally married did not convince the court and it ordered that she be allowed to stay with her parents for a week before it again examined the case. After a week, the woman told the court the truth.

The police have now discovered a kidnapping racket to provide recruits to Pakistani terror outfits through ‘Love Jihad’. Further investigations have revealed that all over India some 4,000 young women have been recruited in this manner to be trained against their will as terrorists and suicide bombers. In Kerala alone the police suspect that over 500 women have fallen victim to the ‘Love Jihad’ racket.


more in the article...

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Monkeying in Mehdipatnam

I thought this piece of news would be just another one of those "See! I told you they were like this" sort of thing to be shoven right up the bottoms of the humanists, communists and other anti-Bharat (i.e., anti-Hindu) elements.

But as it turns out, the whole news is really out of this world, the sort of Rajni-ish "minnnd-blowwinggg I sayyy!"

Where do we even begin!!

1) First of all, what is the definition of a hard-core Hindu college? The way it is put shows that "hard-core Hindu" is something dangerous and best shunned. Creating villians out of your average Indian, that is! Hence, the conclusion:
dont be a hard-core Hindu! Be soft (hence the pink)-- sacrifice religious principles to accomodate 'others'
.

But will the others reciprocate? We shall soon see!

I now can hear our poor humanists getting ready for their weekly dose of sheer-khurma.

2) The comment the principal had made was
"the students were spending more time in Mosques than with their books".
Now, for a moment, lets replace the word "Mosque" with "Temple". The statement just means what the elders remark the young ones act too smart-- "The Power up there wont help you when you dont help yourself". Studying is as (or more) important that spending time worshipping a deity. I dont even have to say anything about the Goddess Saraswati blessing those who work hard at studies. The implication here is straight-forward and innocent. But you just read the sentence again with the Mosque in it, and it becomes a "religious-discrimination" issue. Amazing how they get away with it.

And I now hear our poor humanists smelling their weekly dose of sheer-khurma.

3) And if a college that is just supposed to offer education for money follows its rules strictly without any affiliation to religion, how should it matter who is the majority? Obviously the management is Hindu because of the name (Vani College). So why should that mean that they would discriminate against Muslims when they are in minority? And Why should that mean that they would bend their rules when Muslims are in majority?

And I now hear our poor humanists licking their lips at the sight of their weekly dose of sheer-khurma.

4) Now this takes the cake surely-- notice the sequence of events and reaction by our very own Hyderabadi-Muslims:

a) A (possibly burqa-clad) muslim girl elopes with a boy (hopefully Muslim.. I would not wish to have Love-Jihadis among us Hindus), and they protest against
"the failure of the college management to react to the abduction of a girl student".
b) And the management reacts, and bans burqa so that its easy to identify and keep an eye on girls. Now, they throw tantrums and charge that
the principal has been berating them for wearing burqa for over a week saying that it did not comply with the uniform (salwar kameez) worn by other students.
c) And when the principal rightfully asks
"why are you wearing burqa when you are not particular about keeping your modesty"
they cry:
"These comments are too much to bear. The principal’s attitude irked us and hence we decided to take help from our parents."
Wow! These "parents" must be the ones who have been feeding sheer-khurma to my beloved humanists. Instead of appreciating the reasons behind the principal's decision, they join in the stone-pelting!

Imagine if you were the Vani college's management-- the first thing you would wonder is--
"what the hell is the core issue here?"
i)Is it about late-comers throwing tantrums?
ii)Is it about a girl eloping with a guy ?
iii)Is it about managment's reaction to an abduction that allegedly took place in college premises ?
iv)Is it about 300 people gathering at a college and indulging in stone-pelting?
v) Is it about minority-discrimination in our country?

Notice how the issues mentioned above are in an ascending order of complexity and gravity. How did an issue that started off as i and ii end up at v in just a week? What sort of an event would make you (yes, I mean you personally) to gang up with others, go to a college and pelt stones at it?
---------------

Now, for a word about our "anal"yst friend of the last paragraph:
"girls are girls, Hindu or Muslim. Their aspirations will be the same. Young girls will want to mingle with young boys, whether they wear burqa or not. Obviously, the principal is unable to appreciate this. She wants to say why are you friends with boys when you wear a burqa? This is the genesis of the trouble."
Sooper no! Now, lets think about it--
To stop girls eloping with boys in college premises, I can do two things--
i) Either completely isolate boys and girls while on college premises, which our "anal"yst thinks is not correct because we need to appreciate the aspirations of young girls (Hindu, or Muslim-- the bastard has the cheek to bring Hindu girls into this conflict, while totally unnecessary!),
ii) Or atleast ban the burqa so that I can keep an eye on the girls from afar, which is also not acceptable to our "anal"yst because they would still want to mingle with boys, so its useless (I dont understand the logic, but hey, he is an "anal"yst!)

What he doesnt say is what the management ought to do in case a girl elopes with a guy! Will he go and help cool down the crisis? Will he stop the issue from fireballing into a major one?
Or will he continue his armchair "anal"ysis from his, well, armchair ? And by the way, does he also "anal"yse my poor humanists' sheer khurma?

No! That is not the sound of inevitability, but of our very own poor humanists burping after their weekly dose of sheer-khurma...

After reading the whole thing, when I scrolled back to the top, I noticed these words in the very beginning of the article:
"Trouble erupted in Muslim dominated Mehdipatnam"
Yup! Thats it! Thats all I had needed to know! What a waste of time...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Know Your Eminences- II: Shahi Imam who?

A pious muslim once said:
"We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to power here once again.''
and
"I do not want that Kashmir should remain in India."
and
"I am the biggest agent of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI in India and if Indian Government dares to arrest him, it will see the consequences."

But then, this was not some fanatic on the fringes...

This was 12th Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid.

A very important man.

And a very powerful man.

Powerful enough to bravely attend the funeral of two terrorists when their very own families stayed away:
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/shahi-imam-attends-burial-of-terrorists-families-stay-away/364622/

And from the google cache of Rajya Sabha website, quoting S.S.Ahluwahlia:

SHRI S.S. AHLUWALIA: The Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Delhi, Abdulla Bukhari convened a mass meeting in Ramlila Grounds on 21st April, 2000. It was named as "Majhab Bachao Rally". I felt very much aggrieved to hear his speech. His speech should be condemned in severest terms. I am a nationalist Sikh. His utterances have deeply hurt the feelings of each and every citizen of India. His speech smacks of treason. Shri Abdulla Bukhari has openly stated in his speech that he is the biggest agent of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI in India and if Indian Government dares to arrest him, it will see the consequences.

When the religious head of the sacred Jama Masjid says this thing before a gathering of thousands of people, he is harming the country and also the people who are being represented by him. The Muslim society has a respectable place in this country. There is a long list of those Muslims in this country whose rich contribution to our religious, cultural, literacy and social heritage makes every Indian feel proud of them. Even the Islam would not approve these anti-motherland speeches of the Shahi Imam. The Shahi Imam in his speech made at the Ramlila ground has said that there is the Indian forces’ hand in the killing of 35 innocent people in Chatti Singh Pura. I disagree to it. Such activities fan the communal passions. If we do not check such speeches, we will find that the communal passions are waiting in the wings to disintegrate the country into many pieces.

And now, some unconfirmed reports:
1) From http://www.hvk.org/articles/0401/99.html:
"In an interview to a Delhi-based daily 'Shahi' Imam of Jama Masjid, Sayed Ahmed Bukhari, has gone to the extent of saying that now he did not want Kashmir to remain a part of India. "Ab hu nahim chahate kashmir Hindustan je saath rahe. Mera zamir isko bardast nahin karta (Now I do not want that kashmir should remain in India. My conscience does not allow it)". He added that he wanted at least one Muslim dominaed state in India."

2) From http://www.kashmir-information.com/ConvertedKashmir/Chapter25.html
On April 8, 1988 Shahi Imam of Jamia Masjid, Delhi, delivered a speech after a Friday prayer congregation in a mosque in Anantnag. He blew up all the laws and practices of the Constitution of India by his bigotry. The congregated Kashmiri Muslims were advised to take up arms in the name of Jehad. He even blessed the birth right of Kashmiris to have an Islamic state while creating a pro-Pakistan atmosphere. While supporting the Muslim youhts, fight for their rights, Imam Sahib equated them with true Muslims meaning thereby that a true Muslim is he who is anti-India, who treats Islam higher than the nation and who snap their ties with the country's culture, history and traditions.

No wonder, when such desha-bhaktas die, our leaders glorious tributes to this great persona:
http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/09/stories/2009070960791200.htm

President Pratibha Patil and Vice-President Hamid Ansari have condoled the death. Mr. Ansari said the Shahi Imam would remain a lasting exemplar of selfless service and had an impressive record of religious service to the people.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit described him as a great Islamic scholar who raised his voice to protect the interests of the poor. Pradesh Congress Committee president J.P. Agarwal said the former Shahi Imam had a deep bond with the capital and he respected all religions.

Know Your Eminences- I: Zakir who?

This is the famous Zakir Naik for you:



Thats not all:


But then, why do those who offer "sheer khurma" to our very own humanist brothers (and of course, humanist brothers pay it back with their "why not try one night with a muslim family? There are like us too" advert) dont speak up against these types?. Here is a simple answer:



But our own NDTV is getting cozy with the guy who publicly says that
1) Saudi Arabia is right in banning the right to worship of other religions,
2) Apostasy is punishable by death, and
3) Every Muslims should be a terrorist:

Saturday, August 08, 2009

BLOW TO ATTEMPTS TO FORM NEO-LTTE

This article is a good example of what is generally called 'pre-emption'. We can learn a lot about the commitment and effort to eradicate terrorism, of the tiny island beneath us.

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO 548

B.RAMAN

The post-Prabakaran attempts by some never-say-die sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora across the world to resurrect the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suffered a blow on August 6,2009, when the Malaysian security agencies handed over to their Sri Lankan counterparts Kumaran Pathmanathan (known as KP), whom they had reportedly picked up from a hotel a few hours earlier.

2. It was suspected by investigation and intelligence agencies for some years that KP was residing in Malaysia and operating clandestinely from there with the help of LTTE sympathisers in the local Tamil community-----of Sri Lankan as well as Indian origin. For nearly 20 years he was a great asset to Prabakaran and the LTTE not because of any special political acumen he had, but because of his ability to work clandestinely without attracting much public attention to himself.

3. He emerged as the alleged main brain behind the LTTE's vast arms procurement, gun running, arms piracy from ships in mid-sea,money-laundering and commercial shipping network. The LTTE would not have been able to develop its capability as a conventional fighting force to the extent it did but for his alleged clandestine work. In connection with this, he travelled frequently and extensively in South-East Asia, East Europe and South Africa. He kept way from West Europe (except Greece and Cyprus) and North America for fear of being caughtby the local intelligence agencies, but from his base in Malaysia he allegedly guided the arms procurement and money-laundering networks in those areas too.

4. The fact that Prabakaran gave him a free hand in handling the cash flows from the shiping fleet, alleged narcotics smuggling and alleged extortions from the members of the Tamil diaspora and in negotiating the prices of the arms and in arranging the shipping schedules indicated the confidence he had in KP.

5. It used to be alleged that the Malaysian authorities avoided acting against him because of the support enjoyed by him in sections of the local Tamil community. His low profile and his ability to keep his mouth shut helped him in ensuring that the local security agencies would not act against him.

6. All this changed in January this year when Prabakaran appointed him as the in-charge of the international relations department of the LTTE. One does not know why Prabakaran chose him for this job. Outside Malaysia, KP had no political contact. He was not a well-known and well-respected figure in the international community of human rights organisations. He could not have travelled to the West without fear of being arrested. He was no Anton Balasingham. Nor was he a Thamilselvan. He was allegedly in some aspects a Sri Lankan Tamil version of Dawood Ibrahim. Dawood is a mafia leader. KP is not. But Dawood and KP allegedly had similar capabilities for gun running and money-laundering.

7. After his nomination to this post, the previously discreet and low-profile KP became increasingly high profile. He started interacting with journalists and non-governmental organisations from his safe sanctuary in South-East Asia. After the death of Prabakaran, he became the self-promoted head of a group of Sri Lankan Tamils in the diaspora, who tried to resurrect the LTTE as an organisation wedded to the same objective of an independent Tamil Eelam as was the organisation headed by Prabakaran, but advocating a non-violent movement to achieve this objective.

8. One does not know what real following he commanded in the diaspora and who were the people prepared to support him.However, one knows that there are elements in the diaspora who continue to hope that the LTTE will rise again like Phoenix and resume the march to the goal of an independent Eelam. Probably, some of them rallied round him.

9. The Sri Lankan Government was interested in getting him even before KP started this move for a neo-LTTE. The Sri Lankan agencies' campaign against the LTTE was not over with its defeat and the decimation of most of its leadership.A lot of work still remains to be done like identifying its supporters in the diaspora and its secret bank accounts abroad and getting them frozen, identifying the various arms smuggling channels exploited by it and determining how the LTTE succeeded in smuggling the clandestinely procured weaponry, including the aircraft,into Tamil territory without being detected by the intelligence agencies of different countries, including India and Sri Lanka.

10. There is a need for a total and painstaking reconstruction of how the LTTE operated abroad and how it was able to acquire the position it did. Such a reconstruction would not be possible without a thorough interrogation of KP. The Sri Lankan authorities, therefore, mounted a diplomatic drive for getting hold of KP. This drive was focused on South-East Asia. Their drive ultimately succeeded and the Malaysian authorities reportedly picked him up and handed him over to Sri Lanka.

11. His thorough interrogation would be necessary not only for finding out about the past, but also for finding out about the future plans of the die-hard elements in the diaspora.

12. The Government of India should be interested in interrogating him in connection with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May,1991, and the attempted gun-running by the LTTE from Pakistan in 1993 in an LTTE ship in which Kittu was travelling. When an Indian Coast Guard ship intercepted it, the crew set fire to the ship,which went down.Kittu and some others chose to go down with the ship. Some others tried to escape and were arrested. The full story of this incident of gun-running by the LTTE from Pakistan is not yet known. KP may also know about any arms procurement cell of the LTTE still present in South India, but dormant. (8-8-09)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and,presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Remember Sadhvi and Purohit?

Anyone remembers those 'saffron terrorists'?

Well, not a single mention of this recent news (otherwise breaking news) by any of the news channels!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Muslims denigrate ‘Shiva-linga’ in Akola

Well, well!! The Somnath plunder incident occured more than 1000 years ago and to many secularists and humanists, this would be something out of the history books. And history, thanks to the American materialism, has become more like a fantasy. Remember Marsellus in Pulp Ficton: "I'ma get medieval on your ass?" Yes, medieval is some sort of fantasy parallel world thats not supposed to be 'real'.

But then, the Somnath plunder incident
1) was not definitely the first of its kind,
2) was not defnitely the last of its kind,
3) was not an exclusive feature of only that age.

Incidents like these, have happened till the late 18th century, during the british rule at the end of 19th century, in the living memory of many of our grand-parents in the early 20th century and well documented evidence after independence.

Nevertheless, here goes:

Muslims Denigrate 'Shiva-Linga' in Akola, Maharashtra

Growing insolence in Muslims owing to Congress appeasement! O Hindus, be prepare to Save Temples from ant-Hindus to serve Hindu Dharma!

Akola (Maharashtra): Fanatic Muslims burst in Sopinath Temple and denigrated Shiva-linga, idol of ‘Nandi (the vehicle of Lord Shiva)’ and the trident while raising slogans of ‘Allah Ho Akbar’. They also attacked brutally the priest of the temple. (Hindus must note that the attack by insolent Muslims are on the rise; and it is time that the Hindus carry weapons which are permitted by law to restrain the Muslims! – Editor SP)

Hundreds of enraged Hindus took to the road that caused tension in the area. (Hindus must eradicate Congress in the forthcoming elections as it has created Pakistan-like conditions in this country! – Editor SP) Both the factions have lodged complaints against each other. Cases have been filed against 9 persons out of whom 5 have been arrested.

A gang of 10-15 fanatic Muslims went to the temple on Tuesday in the evening and started beating up Seetaram Chavan, the priest. (How can Muslims dare to hit a Hindu priest in India where Hindus are supposed to be in majority ? – Editor SP)

Later, several youths from both the groups took to the road. Police have arrested 3 Muslims based on the complaint lodged by Chavan. (How only 3 Muslims have been arrested when there were 10-15 fanatic Muslims involved in the attack ? – Editor SP) One Muslim young woman was asked to lodge a complaint with the police against the priest implicating him in the case of eve-teasing. Due to this complaint, police took into custody even Chavan and Deepak Phulari. (Police are prompt in taking action against Hindus ! – Editor SP)


Source: Dainik sanatan Prabhat

A minor setback to the Xtian vassal

Andhra High Court stays state funding of Christian pilgrimage

Hyderabad, July 22 (IANS): The Andhra Pradesh High Court Wednesday stayed a state government order providing financial assistance to Christians for pilgrimage to Bethlehem, Jerusalem and other places connected with the life of Jesus Christ.

While staying the order issued last year, a division bench headed by Chief Justice A.R. Dave ruled that the government should not spend public money for any pilgrimage.

The court order came on a public interest litigation challenging the constitutional validity of the order issued by the minorities welfare department July 21 last year.

The petitioner argued that a secular state cannot fund pilgrimage to Jerusalem and other holy places. He contended that the Indian Constitution in Article 266 clearly states how the funds of state could be spent.

Under the order, the state government had announced a financial assistance of Rs.20,000 to each Christian pilgrim undertaking seven-day tour to Jordan and Israel.

The first batch of 51 Christian pilgrims had undertaken the pilgrimage with the government assistance in November last year. The total cost of the pilgrimage was Rs.56,000 for each pilgrim.

The pilgrimage includes visit to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Jordan River, Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee and other important places connected with the life of Jesus Christ.

The state government had allocated Rs.20 million for the purpose in the 2008-09 budget.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Made In America?

A thought-provoking comment on money.cnn

John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am.
While his coffee pot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor(MADE IN HONG KONG)
He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRILANKA),designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes(MADE IN KOREA)
After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA)
he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO)
to see how much he could spend today.After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN)
to the radio (MADE IN INDIA)
he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY)
filled it with GAS (from Saudi Arabia)
and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.
At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer (made in MALAYSIA),
John decided to relax for awhile. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL),
poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE)
and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA),
and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Indian Diplomacy

One couldnt put it better!

Visit of Hilary Clinton to India


By B. Raman

The following is the reply sent by me to an E-mail question from a journalist asking for my reaction to the forthcoming visit of Mrs. Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to New Delhi for talks with the Indian leaders:

It will be essentially an "ego-massaging" visit. India's inflated ego was hurt when she went to China first in February and spoke in very positive terms about China. She has already embarked on an exercise to introduce correctives.

2. Whatever she might say to please India, the reality is that Pakistan and China are more important to the US at present than India. Pakistan is important for preventing another 9/11 in US homeland and for preventing a catastrophic act of terrorism involving the use of weapons of mass destruction material and China for its economic recovery.

3. Comparatively, India's utility to the US is limited. At the same time, the US cannot ignore India because of its size, its democracy, its economic potential in another 10 years if not now and the vigorous Indian-origin community in the US which is politically more active than the Chinese-origin community.

4. We can expect from her positive statements and gestures, but one cannot say definitely how sincerely-meant they would be. Indians have a weakness for flattery and tend to indulge in wishful-thinking.

5. We have no culture of strategic-thinking and laser-sharp analysis based on cruel facts and figures. But we have a long-ingrained culture of wishful-thinking. All Hillary Clinton has to do is to make a few statements describing India as a great power, praising Mahatma Gandhi, highlighting the impact of Gandhiji on Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, India's IT genius etc, Indians will be quite happy for some months till the next disappointment comes.

6. Americans understand India better than they understand Pakistan and its jihadi hordes. Pakistanis understand the US better than Indians.

7. Hype and flattery will be the defining characteristics of her visit. Indian ego will remain tickled for some months.

8. Ultimately, our people will continue to die at the hands of jihadi terrorists. Pakistan will continue to use terrorism against India to change the status quo in Jammu & Kashmir. Americans will continue to link terrorism with Kashmir.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

They are showing us, how its done.

Kudos to Lankans! Thats how you do it! Wish we were doing it as well...


Lanka Buddhists take on Church
--Sandhya jain.

Lion-hearted Sri Lanka leads by example once again. It was the first nation in the post-World War II era to elect a woman Prime Minister; then it became the first nation to spurn ineffective external intermediaries in a fratricidal war and launch a concerted armed effort to end violent secessionism once and for all.

Now, the island’s Buddhist religious leadership has risen to redeem the Indic tradition by repudiating inter-faith dialogue and demanding national legislation against conversions. India would do well to take a leaf out of Sri Lanka’s book, given the mischief Christian colonial powers are wreaking in our neighbourhood: Myanmar, Nepal, Tibet, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and of course, Iraq.

Sri Lanka’s Joint Committee of Buddhist Organisations wants re-introduction of the stalled Bill on Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion (LDO/INC/7/2004). This is being criticised by Christian bodies, and 24 mainline Christian leaders, including 18 Catholic Bishops and retired Bishops, the Anglican Bishop of Colombo, Baptist Sangamaya, Presbyterian Church and Salvation Army have appealed to parliamentarians against it.

They contend that the proposed Bill will undermine the democratic right of religious freedom to choose a religion according to one’s conscience; prevent Christians and adherents of all religions to stand with the affected and serve one another for fear of legal consequences in spite of their innocence; and, provoke more inter-religious suspicion, tension and conflict than resolve them. They claim that all religions in Sri Lanka have originated outside the island nation, and that over the centuries, the Christian Church and Christians have become an intrinsic part of the social fabric.

This mischievous re-packing of the colonial Aryan-Dravidian divide insinuates Hinduism and Buddhism as imports from India (with ‘Dravidian’ Tamils as Hindus). This has been rebuffed by Mr Gamini Perera and Ms Chitra Wijesekera, co-conveners of the JCBO. They contend that the Christian Church has emanated from a colonial background of repression and cannot equate itself with Buddhism, which has moulded the life, culture and traditions of the country for over 2,550 years.

The JCBO says the barbaric manner in which different brands of Christianity have spread is well-documented. Despite this, tolerant Buddhist rulers and people have permitted other believers to merge with the national social fabric and even protected the Catholic community when hunted by Dutch Protestants, offering temple premises for religious activities. Similar asylum was given to Muslims attacked by the British. All religions enjoy all privileges only because of the magnanimity of the Buddhists.

Addressing Christian leaders directly, the JCBO says some of their major activities are directed at expanding Christianity through questionable means. Their commendable humanitarian services stand marred by subtle, long-term strategies to attract people of other religions to their faith.

Christians have established good educational infrastructure and turned this to undue advantage by alluring non-Christian parents to accept immoral conditions for the admission of their wards to Christian schools, even though many schools receive sizeable public funds. In India too, Christian NGOs corner governmental aid in the name of their developmental expertise, and the possible misuse of these funds has never been probed.

Mr Gamini Perera and Ms Chitra Wijesekera charge that the Church has never denounced or took action against Catholic Bishops with LTTE links. In fact, the activities of some senior members of the Christian clergy are aimed at breaking up the nation; even today, some Christian leaders’ statements are unduly biased in favour of the LTTE.

The JCBO has openly charged various churches of synchronising their myriad activities to achieve the objective of Christianising the Buddhist world. The late Pope John Paul II said when he visited India: “The task ahead of the Church is the evangelising of Asia during this millennium.” Way back in 1940, Rt Rev Lakdasa De Mel, on elevation as Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Church, had asserted: “The task of the Church in Ceylon will not be finished till the remaining 90 per cent of the population, who are not Christian, are converted.”

The Buddhist leaders rejected Christian concerns about the anti-conversion Bill, pointing out that original Bill had been placed before the Supreme Court and after two full days of comprehensive arguments by both sides, the court determined that its main contents were acceptable, barring a few amendments necessary to qualify it to be passed by ordinary majority in Parliament; these have been attended to since. The Bill has no provisions to prevent acting according to one’s conscience or make one who does so an offender.

But, and here lies the rub, it designates as offenders those who convert or attempt to convert by force, allurement or fraud, or aid and abet such conversions. The Buddhist clergy forcefully asserts that it does not accept “Sri Lankan society as presently constituted as a pluralistic society, but this notwithstanding, the Bill in no way undermines or tampers with the right to one’s conscience”. There are, it points out, special protections to ensure frivolous actions are not brought before a court. Clearly, six decades of dominant Western political rhetoric is meeting its Waterloo in Sri Lanka.

Batting valiantly for the Buddhist-Hindu ethos, the JCBO alleges that inter-religious tension is rising because of the activities of evangelical churches, better known as fundamentalist Christian groups. This was admitted by Bishop Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary-General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, in a letter to the Ministry of Cultural and Religious Affairs in May 2000.


Christian fundamentalists boldly oppose Buddhist monks defending the freedom of religion of Buddhists targeted for unethical conversions; monks are often subjected to threats and violence. In northern Sri Lanka, where Christian churches have long had a privileged presence, an alarmingly large number of helpless Hindus have been pushed to change their faith. In India, Hindu monks defending the underprivileged against forced conversions are shot to death (Shanti Kaliji, Agartala; Swami Laxmanananda, Kandhamal) or hacked to pieces (Swami Ramcharan Das, Puri).

The Buddhist clergy maintains that 80 per cent Sri Lankans are legitimately aggrieved at the absence of a law against unethical conversions. Rejecting the Christian plea for an Inter-Religious Council to discuss conversions because the goal of the Church to evangelise the entire region is unchanged, it has urged Parliament to debate the Bill and take it to its logical conclusion. India needs a dose of such clear thinking and bold affirmation in defence of its civilisational ethos.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

The thing called 'secularism': Part-II

...contd from Part-I:

And so it was that a wonderful system that was meant to last for eternity was destroyed. Of course, now is the time to extract parallels between the parable and the real world:

The deity: A role model for all secularists, symbolising Secularism itself.
The Tiger: Indian Abrahamist
The Cow: Indian (Hindu)
The Fox: Foreign Abrahamist

To Conclude, all of that long parable can be put more entertainingly in this ending sequence from Andaz Apna Apna:

Prem realises that the gun he holds has no bullets, and he promptly lets Amar know of this. All the gundaas pick up their guns and tables are turned, yet again. Crime Master Gogo is devastatingly angry at Amar and Prem and is ready to kill them both...

Crime Master Gogo: Teri Akhri Khwaish kya hai Kaliya?
Amar: May, marne se pehle, ek bar isko (Prem ko) peetna chahta hu.
Prem: Nahi, may marne se pehle pitna nahi chahta.
Amar: Nahi, Please Gogo maibaap, may isko peetna chahta hu.
Prem: Nahi, Nahi, Nahi!
Crime Master Gogo: do minute ka waqt detahu. Tum (Amar) peet sako to peeto, aur tum (Prem) bach sako to bacho. Action!
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The Hindu says, "I dont want to be converted because I love where I am".
But the Abrahamist says, "Its against my religion not to convert."
And so our Secular Indian govt has interpreted something called 'right to religious freedom' in a way that means-- get this right--

"Abrahamists have complete freedom to convert Hindus, and at the same time, Hindus have complete freedom not to get converted."

Did you get that? I am not sure.. let me say that again--

"Abrahamists have complete freedom to convert Hindus, and at the same time, Hindus have complete freedom NOT to get converted."

Thats what secularism does. And if we actually go ahead and impose a blanket ban on conversions, we would be violating one of the basic tenets of Abrahamic religions. They cannot even breathe without evangelism. We would be infringing on their 'right to religious freedom'.

And so my dear secularists, know this-- 'secularism', the thing that you hold on to so dearly, is not wanted in this country.

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Now, over to America: Guess who are the most vociferous opponents of secularism there? The very people who support secularism here-- proper evangetlist Christians. They never let people to be left alone. They just have to keep proselytising! So why are the against secularism? Because if American Christians are really afraid of something, its neither Islam, nor an irreligious atheistic govt. Its a cult called 'The Latter Day Saint', commonly called Mormons. They are the evangelists of the evangelists. Masters of conversion. Absolute horror to all those presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, etc--poaching away prized adherents from their sects! Just cant mess with them! And this is why other sects of Christianity oppose secularism in America. They want to be left alone. Does that ring a bell?

Friday, April 24, 2009

The thing called 'secularism': Part-I

The Parable:
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Once upon a time, the all powerful deity of a land wanted to create a perfect forest, different from others, where everybody would be equal, and there would be no food chain, and so everybody would be happy, an "ideal forest". He created a forest, and named it (for the lack of a better name) Dandakaaranya. In that forest, the Lion and the Deer, the Tiger and the Cow all lived peacefully, feeding upon the food provided by the creater deity. They all loved him and respected him for creating them and giving them such a jolly time.

Then one day, a company of foxes wandered into the forest from elsewhere and begged the deity to live there. They said they were tired of travelling and being hunted by humans. They said they wanted to live out the rest of their lives peacefully, and share their vast knowledge of the world with the idyllic inmates of this vast forest. The diety accepted their request and everybody was happy--the foxes because they found a new home, and other animals because now they had someone new to talk to.

But after a few days, the foxes slowly began murmuring among themselves. The food provided by the diety was not as good as raw meat that they wanted. Actually, they stopped in this forest mostly because they wanted to eat tasty meat of the Deer, the Cow, and the Rabbit. The murmur quickly grew into loud arguments and even dissent and rebellion. The leader then thought for a while, and he got an idea.

One night, he led a few of his followers and hunted a couple of nice tasty Rabbits. Then they invited their friends the Tigers for lunch the next day. There was a lot of celebration and dance and song. The Tigers were amazed at the number of songs and the number of languages the foxes knew and the they felt they were strangely rustic. They wanted to be like the Foxes-- dance like them, sing like them, talk like them.

Then the leader of the Tigers went upto his counterpart and wanted to know how they had got to be so intelligent and smart. The leader of Foxes came forward and offered them the raw meat of the two Rabbits and told them that raw meat has unmatched qualities and it was what made them so intelligent. The Tigers recognised the two Rabbits as the young sons of their good friend and neighbour, the Rabbit, but they were too preoccupied with becoming smarter. So each of them ate a piece of the Rabbit.

As the raw meat and blood went down their food pipe, the Tigers began to feel strangely new and strong sensations. They began to think they are the actual masters of the forest. The deity had got it all wrong. He was really holding them back. They just had to reach out and grab the respectful position they deserved. But this feeling quickly faded away as they swallowed the piece of meat they were chewing. They wanted more.

On their request, the Foxes magnanimously ran out and brought two more Rabbits, freshly hunted. These tasted even better, but this was clearly not enough... they wanted more. They felt an unknown hunger. Some were snarling at the Foxes, and some arguing with each other, and yet some others were looking hither and thither, to see if they can try their hand at this thing called hunting.

And one of them, who could not hold himself ran wild and attacked his friend the Cow, who was peacefully grazing. The stunned Cow sprang aside and stared at him in a new light--his long sharp canines, his tongue red with stains of fresh blood, his strong paws with razor sharp claws, and a murderous intention in his eyes, all made his friend look, well, not friendly at all, to say the least. The Cow was scared to death, and did the only thing it could. It prayed to the deity.

The deity appeared and he was furious and sad. His own creation, the Tiger was behaving in a such a shameful way. And he chided the Tiger for this unspeakable, unprecedented, and decrepit act. But the Tiger did not back down. He said that its in the nature of a Tiger to desire and eat raw flesh and that the Deity had been wrong to try to change the nature of things in the Universe. He said that if the deity believed that all the animals in the forest were equal, then he should also respect the right to food of every animal. And the food of the Tiger were of course other smaller animals. He said that this was a universally accepted fact and this was what happening in other forests in the world.

The deity was taken aback. He knew that the Tiger was right. His experiment had horribly gone wrong. If he punished the Tiger, it would only increase his anger and resentment. If he left the Tiger alone, he would surely kill the Cow. If he pushed the reset button and started it all over again, it would be accepting that the whole "ideal forest" thingy was a sham. All the options were leading to breaking of the fundamental principles on which Dandakaaranya was created.

And the deity, crushed by the utter failure of his experiment, vanished into nothingness forever and with him vanished the beautiful forest of Dandakaaranya.

to be contd...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

How to dissect a deceptive news report?

Pure logic. It helps. Really does.

Atleast in matters of courts and Committees formed by Judges, newspapers dont want to publish blatant lies. So they impart their own spin that makes the article look like a proper rebuttal to a casual reader of the paper, but without violating what essentially is the truth.

Here is an example of how to spot such an innocuous, yet malicious article, and dissect it--

The article itself appeared in Hindustan Times. Follow the link to the article and give it only a cursory read for the full effect, and come back to this page.

A blog reader and avid commenter 'Incognito' performs the honour on Sandeep's blog with precision as follows:

Came across the report in Hindustan Times linked by Sudhir above on another blog. This was my comment-

Surprising that it took them one full week to cook up this.

First they lay the ground work by pasting this -
“The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing major cases of 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat riots on Tuesday slammed reports that riots witnesses were tutored to give false evidence for exaggeration of the situation, by activists and organisations helping the victims. ”

1. The word they use is - “anti-Muslim Gujarat riots”.

How does then one account for the death of around 300 Hindus if riots were ‘anti-Muslim’ ?

2. Then ‘Gujarat riots’. Attempt to tie Gujarat to riots.

So a phrase ‘riots that occured in Gujarat in 2002‘ that would have conveyed the correct meaning was manipulated to “2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat riots ” to implant in the mind of the reader that -

(a) riots of 2002 were anti-Muslim.
(b) There was no ’cause’ to the riots. It spontaneously happened. No relation to Godhra incident.
(c) Gujarat and riots go together.

3. Next- ‘SIT… slammed reports…’
Whereas rest of the report show that SIT members have not denied what was reported earlier.

So ’slammed’ is meant to give a wrong impression that SIT themselves have denied what was reported earlier as findings of the team.

4. And they conclude with- “…by activists and organisations helping the victims. ”

Ya.
Whatever else you read, mind you, these activists and their organisations were helping the victims.

With this introductory paragraph implanting plenty of contrary-to-truth suggestions in the minds of the reader, they start their report.

Then comes - “The SIT rebuttal followed the alleged leak of its report recently, …”

5. The ‘SIT rebuttal’.

In case the ‘SIT …slammed reports…’ phrase of first para failed to make an impression on you, to reinforce it, is “SIT rebuttal”.

However, in the rest of the report one does not find SIT rebutting anything, only attempting to deflect the reporter.

6. Further, “alleged leak”.

It is only ‘alleged’, implying that truth is something different.
Second, ‘leak’. conveying the idea of untrustworthiness of source.

Thus the ‘reports’ in the first line becomes ‘alleged leaks’ in the second.

Next, this is the best that they could find among what SIT told them- ““The findings of the report have concentrated on the investigations into the cases and it was not our business to indulge in the blame game and level allegations,” a senior SIT official said.”

7. Far from denying what was reported earlier, far from ‘rebutting’, far from ’slamming’, SIT makes a neutral statement, indicating that it was not their business to blame anyone.

No negation of what was reported earlier as findings of the team.

This is what is trumpeted as ’slamming’ ‘rebuttal’ .

Next- “The SIT response to the reported leak came on a day, when the Supreme Court termed the leak as a “betrayal of the faith reposed in those to whom the report was allowed access”.”

So, that was not, after all, an ‘alleged’ or even a ‘reported’ leak.
For the Supreme Court to make such an observation, the leak had to be true.

8. So here we have these fellows attempting to suggest that the earlier report was not based on facts by adding ‘alleged’ and ‘reported’ to ‘leaks’ knowing fully well that the earlier report was based on authentic information.

9. Despite this, the next para tries again to cast aspersions on the veracity of the earlier report by using the words- ‘claimed’, ‘alleged’.

And then- “Asked about the leaked contents of the report, the SIT chief, R. K. Raghavan told Hindustan Times that he could not confirm whether the leaked contents were true.”

10. So where Court and SIT chief is involved, it is straight- the reports were based on leaked contents. not ‘allegedly’ , not ‘claimed’, not ‘reported’, but exactly on ‘leaked contents’.

11. This is the second quote from SIT that they have given which again does not deny the truth in the earlier report.

Is this what is trumpeted as ’slamming’, rebuttal’ ?

The third quote from SIT goes- ““I am answerable only to the Supreme Court. The alleged reported leaks appear to be inspired by dubious motives. I cannot confirm such claims. The act is highly condemnable,” Raghavan said. ”

Again, no denial of what was reported.

Further, by saying “I am answerable only to the Supreme Court.”, Raghavan tells the reporter that he is not intereseted in answering any question put by the reporter.

The rest of the quote reveals discontinuity, as when number of replies are clubbed together. It indicates the possibility that the quote is a contructed one from replies to different questions.

And then one more attempt to cast aspersion of the report-”The SIT sources said the alleged leaks appear to have been based on statements of state police officials and “cannot be termed as findings of the report.” ”

It is ‘SIT sources’ this time, not Raghavan. It could be anyone from the guy who supplied tea to the SIT to the sweeper who cleaned SIT office premises, since the ’source’ is able to only speculate that the ‘leaks appear to have been based on statements of police officials’.

And what all of this unequivocally confirms is that the earlier report was very much based on the SIT report.

Despite this and contrary to facts, the Hindustan Times headlines claim- “Gujarat riots witnesses not tutored: SIT”

When did SIT say that or anything at all to that effect ?

The intention behind this is that a person who casually glances through the news headlines will get the totally wrong impression that ‘Gujarat riots witnesses were not tutored’. And that SIT itself says so.

Next, if he glances at the first two paras, he will only reinforce this wrong impression.

The rest of the report is more of suggestions and insinuations rather than honest reporting.

As many people have the habit of glancing through the headlines, and maybe the first two paras, these tactics are very succesful in spreading misinformation and lies.

The headline, first para and the first line of the second para that cathces the eye of the casual glancer is carefully designed to mislead and misinform.

No wonder these master liars as are found in editorial dens indulge freely in such detestable tactics.

The question is, how does a newspaper such as this that has rather decent circulation get away with this kind of blatant deception ?

Don’t its subscribers deserve truthful reports ?

Why should the newspaper misinform its subscriber who pays him ?

Isn’t it akin to ‘biting the hand that feeds’ ?

Ok. Maybe, there is another ‘hand’ that is feeding these deceptive monsters more than what the subscribers can.

That would explain.

Nevertheless, there are sufficient grounds to file a case of ‘Cheating’ and make these monsters and the ‘hand’s behind them pay for their crimes.

Aah! So that is how it is done. I must confess that this sort of thing is new to me.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

More Truth about Godhra (and Teesta)

Godhra riot witnesses got Rs 1 lakh each

Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi

Gujarat-based NGO processed payment from CPM relief fund

A controversial Gujarat-based NGO was instrumental in organising payment of Rs 1 lakh each to as many as ten witnesses in various post-Godhra riot cases. The money came from the CPI(M) relief fund and was distributed months before the witnesses deposed in the courts, five years after the clashes took place. Four other eyewitnesses received Rs 50,000 each.

The revelation comes in the backdrop of reports that a host of Gujarat riot case victims were misled into signing affidavits giving false information at the behest of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), an NGO headed by social activist Teesta Setalvad.

Incidentally, those who were both victims and eyewitnesses received Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 while the victims got mere Rs 5,000 each. This has raised eyebrows over the selection of beneficiaries and the purpose of paying a disproportionately large sum to the eyewitnesses before the trial.

Chief Coordinator of CJP Rais Khan told The Pioneer that he had submitted the name of beneficiaries to the CPI(M) on instruction from Teesta Setalvad. “Setalvad identified the people and I merely followed her instruction and forwarded the list to CPI (M),” Khan said.

When contacted, Setalvad said she was present at the function on an invitation from the CPI(M) and had nothing to do with fund raising. “It was CPI(M) money and I was a mere guest at the function,” she claimed.

Yasin Naimudin Ansari, one of the eyewitnesses who got one lakh rupees, told The Pioneer on phone from Ahmedabad that he was approached by someone from Teesta Setalvad's organisation. "I vaguely remember this. But I don't remember the name of the person," he said.

The function took place in Ahmedabad on August 26, 2007 and the witnesses were handed out demand drafts by CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat, Teesta Setalvad and Rais Khan.

Brinda Karat admitted that the CPI(M) had raised the money, adding that as far the party was concerned it was giving relief to the victims. "Our party is not involved in any court cases involving Gujarat riots, and for us, distributing relief was merely a humanitarian gesture," she said.

Not disputing that she had taken the help of local NGOs to identify the victims, Brinda said, "We had received a lot of applications and money was distributed in different phases."

The 14 DDs (Nos 567540 to 567554 all dated 01/08/2007) were handed over to these witnesses by Teesta, Brinda and Rais Khan. Seven DDs were payable at Ahmedabad and seven at Baroda. Interestingly, one of the recipients is Yasmin Banu Sheikh, the estranged wife of Zahira Sheikh's brother Nafitullah.

The Pioneer is in possession of letters written by beneficiaries thanking Brinda, Teesta and Rais Khan for the payment.

Yasmin Banu Ismailbhai Shaikh (aunt of Zahira) of Baroda, who received Rs 50,000 (DD No 567552 dated August 1, 2007). Yasmin is a complainant in case No. 114/04 at Baroda. It is interesting to note that, when no substance was found in her complaint, she was directed to face lie detection test by the court and ever since she has not appeared in the court.

Among the recipients are four Best Bakery case witnesses and nine are appearing as witnesses in Ahmedabad-related Naroda Patia, Shahpur, Khanpur and other 2002 riot cases.

The information has been gleaned through a string of petitions under the Right to Information Act by one H Jhaveri from various agencies, including banks.

The four Best Bakery case witnesses are:

Sailun Hasan Khan Pathan of Ahmedabad who was paid Rs 1 lakh; Tufel Ahmed Habibullah Siddiqui of Baroda who received 50,000; Sehjad Khan Hasan Khan Pathan of Baroda who was paid Rs 50,000 and Rais Khan Amin Khan Pathan of Baroda who too got Rs 50,000.

There are nine witnesses relating to Ahmedabad riots who are testifying in local riot cases. All of them were given Rs 1 lakh and they are: 1.Kureshabibi Harunbhai Ghori of Baroda, witness in case No. 11/02 registered in Khanpur Police Station.

2. Husenabibi Gulambhai Shaikh, also of Baroda and witness in case No. 11/02 filed in Khanpur police station.

3. Rasidabanu Yusufkhan Pathan of Ahmedabad, witness in 2002 riots cases.

4. Fatimabanu Babubhai Saiyyed of Ahmedabad and witness in Case No. 100/02 registered in Shahpur Police Station.

5. Badurnnisha Mohd Ismail Shaikh of Ahmedabad, witness in Case No. 49/03 of Shahpur Police Station.

6. Mohd Khalid Saiyyed Ali Saiyyed of Ahmedabad, witness in Naroda-Patiya case. His first application was registered on March 7, 2008 and second on May 29, 2008.

7. Mohd Yasin Naimuddin Ansari of Ahmedabad, witness in 2002 riots cases.

8.Shaikh Azharuddin Imamuddin of Ahmedabad. During 2002 riots he was injured. At that time he was 10 years.

9. Sarjahah Kausar Ali Shaikh of Baroda. No details available.

List of Victims who were paid Rs 5,000 on 11/10/2007.

Mohammed Rafiq Abukar Pathan , Aslamkhan Anwarkhan Pathan, Pathan Saiyedkhan Ahmedkhan, Imtiyazhhan Saiyedkhan Pathan, Rashidkhan A. Pathan, Sairaben Salimbhai Sanghi, Ashraf Sikandarbhai Sanghi.

Semantics

What is the difference between a Pogrom and a Riot?

Instead of providing dictionary definitions, let me provide practical examples. Read below for what a Pogrom is like.
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When a big tree fell


Kanchan Gupta

Manmohan Singh and Congress suffer from selective amnesia as they rake up the 2002 Gujarat violence to malign the BJP. But even if they choose to forget the 1984 pogrom that left more than 4,000 Sikhs dead, the story remains fresh in the minds of many, among them survivors waiting for justice for 25 years

Caught on the wrong foot over the brazen manner in which it tried to absolve Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar of the serious charges that have been levelled against them by survivors of the 1984 pogrom that resulted in the slaughter of 4, 733 Sikhs, the Congress has struck back at its principal political adversary, the BJP, by once again raising the bogey of the 2002 post-Godhra violence in Gujarat.

Addressing a Press conference in Mumbai on Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who would like people to believe that he was “not informed, not consulted, over the CBI’s clean chit to Jagdish Tytler” although that is an impossibility, has said, “Nor will I be found wringing my hands in frustration while one of my Chief Ministers condones a pogrom targeted at minorities.”

Ironically, even as the Prime Minister was seeking to resurrect the Gujarat ‘pogrom’ and remind people of the ‘atrocities’ committed against Muslims, the Special Investigation Team set up by the Supreme Court and headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan submitted its report, refuting the allegations that have sustained the myth-making aimed at demonising Mr Narendra Modi and tarring the BJP’s image.

The SIT’s report shows Mr Singh’s description of the Gujarat violence as a “pogrom targeted at minorities” is as fanciful as his denial of any knowledge about the CBI exonerating those who are accused of leading murderous mobs during the 1984 violence, planned and executed by Congress ‘leaders’ to avenge the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi. Noted writer and veteran journalist Khushwant Singh, recalling those terrible days of 1984, told the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry, set up by the BJP-led NDA Government, that the hideous bloodletting left him “feeling like a Jew in Nazi Germany”.

It is possible that Mr Manmohan Singh has no memories of that massacre; selective amnesia is a disease from which too-clever-by-half politicians tend to suffer. It is also possible that he and his patrons in the Congress believe that by pretending nothing of note happened in 1984, those born after Congress mobs ran amok on the streets of Delhi, garlanding Sikhs with burning tyres, can be persuaded to vote for a party which claims to stand against the BJP’s ‘divisive politics’.

Such sanctimonious self-righteousness is best avoided by the Congress, not least because its then president — and India’s Prime Minister — Rajiv Gandhi had no qualms about justifying the carnage. “Some riots took place in the country following the murder of Indiraji,” Rajiv Gandhi said on November 19, 1984, even as thousands of families grieved for their loved ones killed by Congress hoodlums, “We know the people were very angry and for a few days it seemed India had been shaken. But when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little.” Some riots? Only natural? Shake a little?

Of course, Mr Singh would claim no knowledge of any of this. Perhaps he would even insist that he was “not informed, not consulted” by Rajiv Gandhi, or, for that matter, the mobs that bayed for blood (and feasted on it) for four days before someone called the Army in.

Twenty-five years is a long time. Public memory is notoriously short and it is unlikely those who have attained the right to vote in these 25 years would know what the protest against the Congress deciding to give party tickets to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar is all about. It would, therefore, be in order to recall the chain of events lest we be persuaded to believe that nothing of consequence happened by a Prime Minister who spends sleepless nights worrying about a terror suspect held in distant Australia but blithely disowns responsibility for the shocking attempt to whitewash the crimes of his party and its ‘leaders’ committed against thousands at home.

So, here is the story, briefly told, of how more than 4,000 Sikh men, women and children were slaughtered; in Delhi alone, 2,733 Sikhs were burned alive, butchered or beaten to death. Women were raped while their terrified families pleaded for mercy, little or none of which was shown by the Congress goons. In one of the numerous such incidents, a woman was gang-raped in front of her 17-year-old son; before leaving, the marauders torched the boy.

For three days and four nights the killing and pillaging continued without the police, the civil administration and the Union Government, which was then in direct charge of Delhi, lifting a finger in admonishment. The Congress was in power and could have prevented the violence, but the then Prime Minister, his Home Minister, indeed the entire Council of Ministers, twiddled their thumbs.

Even as stray dogs gorged on charred corpses and wailing women, clutching children too frightened to cry, fled mobs armed with iron rods, staves and gallons of kerosene, AIR and Doordarshan kept on broadcasting blood-curdling slogans like ‘Khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’ (We shall avenge blood with blood) raised by Congress workers grieving over their dear departed leader.

In mid-morning on October 31, 1984, Mrs Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh guards posted at her home. Her death was ‘officially’ confirmed at 6 pm, after due diligence had been exercised to ensure Rajiv Gandhi’s succession. By then, reports of stray incidents of violence against Sikhs, including the stoning of President Zail Singh’s car, had started trickling in at various police stations.

By the morning of November 1, hordes of men were on the rampage in south, east and west Delhi. They were armed with iron rods and carried old tyres and jerry cans filled with kerosene and petrol. Owners of petrol pumps and kerosene stores, beneficiaries of Congress largesse, provided petrol and kerosene free of cost. Some of the men went around on scooters and motorcycles, marking Sikh houses and business establishments with chalk for easy identification. They had been provided with electoral rolls to make their task easier.

By late afternoon that day, hundreds of taxis, trucks and shops owned by Sikhs had been set ablaze. By early evening, the murder, loot and rape began in right earnest. The worst butchery took place in Block 32 of Trilokpuri, a resettlement colony in east Delhi. The police either participated in the violence or merely watched from the sidelines.

Curfew was declared in south and central Delhi at 4 pm, and in east and west Delhi at 6 pm on November 1. But there was no attempt to enforce it. PV Narasimha Rao, the then Home Minister, remained unmoved by cries for help. In his affidavit to the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry, Lt-Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, decorated hero of the 1971 India-Pakistan war, said, “The Home Minister was grossly negligent in his approach, which clearly reflected his connivance with perpetrators of the heinous crimes being committed against the Sikhs.”

The first deployment of the Army took place around 6 pm on November 1 in south and central Delhi, which were comparatively unaffected, but in the absence of navigators, which should have been provided by the police and the civil authorities, the jawans found themselves lost in unfamiliar roads and avenues.

The Army was deployed in east and west Delhi in the afternoon of November 2, more than 24 hours after the killings began. But, here, too, the jawans were at a loss because there were no navigators to show them the way through byzantine lanes.

In any event, there was little the Army could have done: Magistrates were ‘not available’ to give permission to fire on the mobs. This mandatory requirement was kept pending till Mrs Indira Gandhi’s funeral was over. By then, 1,026 Sikhs had been killed in east Delhi. Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were among Congress ‘leaders’ who, witnesses said, incited and led mobs. Both deny the allegation, but the evidence is overwhelming.

A report on the pogrom, jointly prepared by the PUCL and PUDR and published under the title, Who Are the Guilty? names both of them along with others. The report quotes well-known journalist Sudip Mazumdar: “The Police Commissioner, SC Tandon was briefing the Press (about 10 Indian reporters and five foreign journalists) in his office on November 6, at 5 pm. A reporter asked him to comment on the large number of complaints about local Congress MPs and lightweights trying to pressure the police to get their men released. The Police Commissioner totally denied the allegation… Just as he finished uttering these words, Jagdish Tytler, Congress MP from Sadar constituency, barged into the Police Commissioner’s office along with three other followers and on the top of his voice demanded, ‘What is this Mr Tandon? You still have not done what I asked you to do?’ The reporters were amused, the Police Commissioner embarrassed. Tytler kept on shouting and a reporter asked the Police Commissioner to ask that ‘shouting man’ to wait outside since a Press conference was on. Tytler shouted at the reporter, ‘This is more important.’ The reporter told the Police Commissioner that if Tytler wanted to sit in the office he would be welcome, but a lot of questions regarding his involvement would also be asked and he was welcome to hear them. Tytler was fuming…”

The slaughter was not limited to Delhi, though. Sikhs were killed in Gurgaon, Kanpur, Bokaro, Indore and many other towns and cities in States ruled by the Congress. In a replay of the mayhem in Delhi, 26 Sikh soldiers were pulled out of trains and killed.

After quenching their thirst for blood, the mobs retreated to savour their ‘revenge’. The flames died and the winter air blew away the stench of death. Rajiv Gandhi’s Government issued a statement placing the death toll at 425!

Demands for a judicial inquiry were stonewalled by Rajiv Gandhi. Human rights organisations petitioned the courts; the Government said courts were not empowered to order inquiries. Meanwhile, Rajiv Gandhi dissolved the Lok Sabha and went for an early election, which the Congress swept by using the ‘sympathy card’ and launching a vitriolic hate campaign.

Once in office, Rajiv Gandhi was desperate for a breakthrough in Punjab. He mollycoddled Akali leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal into agreeing to sign a peace accord with him. Sant Longowal listed a set of pre-conditions; one of them was the setting up of a judicial commission to inquire into the pogrom.

Thus was born the Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry, which took on the job of crafting a report that would suggest extra-terrestrials were to be blamed for whatever had happened. Worse, submissions and affidavits were passed on to those accused of leading the mobs; some of these documents were later recovered from the house of Sajjan Kumar. Gag orders were issued, preventing the Press from reporting in-camera proceedings of the Commission.

For full six months, Rajiv Gandhi refused to make public the Ranganath Misra Commission’s report. When it was tabled in Parliament, the report was found to be an amazing travesty of the truth; neither were the guilty men of 1984 named, now was responsibility fixed.

Subsequently, nine commissions and committees were set up to get to the truth, but they were either disbanded midway or not allowed access to documents and evidence. India had to wait for the report of the Nanavati Commission for an approximate version of the real story.

Justice Nanavati’s report said, “The Commission considers it safe to record its finding that there is credible evidence against Jagdish Tytler to the effect that very probably he had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs.” This is not an indictment, Mr Manmohan Singh and his Government decided, so why bother about it? Four years later they remain unrepentant, their attitude remains unchanged.

Two thousand seven hundred and thirty-three men, women and children killed in Delhi, another 2,000 killed elsewhere, scores of women raped, property worth crores of rupees looted or sacked. Families devastated forever, survivors scarred for the rest of their lives.

But the Congress doesn’t care!
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So this is what a pogrom looks like.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Post-Godhra caricatures

For reasons altogether distantly connected, during a certain point of time in 2007, people suddenly became aware of what happened in 2002. Gory incidents of unimaginable precedence (burnings, rapes of pregnant women, mass graves,etc) were attributed to a certain group they called 'hindu-fundamentalists'.

Lets see what they were supposed to have done:

1) The poster-boy of Post-Godhra riots, Qutubuddin Ansar, the young tailor of Ahmedabad was literally the poster boy for all ‘secular’ newspapers and journals. His bruised face and folded hands still haunt our memory.

2) And then of course, there was the pregnant woman named Kausar Banu who was gangraped by a mob and then whose foetus was gouged out by sharp weapons.

3) The dumping of dead bodies into a well by rioteers at Naroda Patiya

4) Police botching up investigation into the killing of British nationals, who were on a visit to Gujarat and unfortunately got caught in the riots.

5) Zarina Mansuri, a 30-year-old Muslim woman who was brutally hacked to death and later burnt to ashes by a mob in the Naroda Patiya massacre of February 28, 2002.

6)
The rape of one Shabana (15), which Anisha, her friend is said to have witnessed.

7) And finally, Zahira Sheikh, the key witness in Best Bakery case in which 12 Muslims and 2 others were burnt alive in the premises of the bakery by Hindus.


Now lets see what happened with all these characters actually:

1) ‘Secularists’ sent Mr. Ansar to Kolkata and made a big issue of migration.
Within few weeks, he came back to Ahmedabad, his home, and nobody has reported as to why he chose to resettle in Ahmedabad if it was ‘unsafe for Muslims’.

2) A Special Investigative Team (SIT) formed on the orders of Hon'ble Chief Justice of India found no truth in this matter. In fact the SIT observed “It is clear from the report that the horrendous allegations made by the NGO [Citizens for Peace and Justice] were false. Cyclostyled affidavits were supplied by a social activist and the allegations made in them were untrue…"
3) same as above.

4) same as above.

5) The woman Zarina Mansuri was not even alive at the time of riots. She had died of tuberculosis (TB) some four months earlier.

6) Yunus’s deposition said: “This, again, is wrong. Anisha had witnessed nothing like that that day. "We, along with several others, were hiding on the same terrace of a house in Gangotarinagar at that time and none of us had seen anything like that.”

7) Well, Ms. Z.Shaikh not only turned hostile (she was charged with lying to the court and was served a 1 year sentence), she actually asked the court to look into the bank transactions of a very very interesting woman.

Now, I must reveal an important player in the game, someone connected to all the above incidents in some form or other-- Teesta Setalvad. She heads an NGO called Citizens for Peace and Justice and she is the wife of some 'Javed Anand' (Ahem!).

And now I must direct the readers to Sandeep's blog just to illustrate the magnitude of that woman's treachery to the nation:
"...Teesta was the only person that went after Narendra Modi with singleminded determination almost every single day for at least 3 years. A measure of success of her brazen activism is the Supreme Court’s premature pronouncement of Modi as the “modern day Nero.” The SIT report clearly shows some of the dubious and outright illegal methods she followed in her quest for “justice” (sic):
  • Tutoring witnesses
  • Filing false affidavits
  • Lying openly
  • Manufacturing tales of incidents that didn’t actually occur
  • Threatening witnesses and aides who didn’t “obey” her
In other words, she didn’t have a case. But she got away with it for some time not because she was good at it but because she was hysterically vocal about it, and assumed that those who were with her were as ethically decrepit as she was.

However, Teesta’s spurious activism has done significant damage: it spawned off an entire cottage industry built on the edifice of falsehood. This cottage industry was awash with tons of funds because it was able to convince idiots abroad that the “fight for justice” was genuine. On the more dangerous side, some of these were well-intentioned idiots but others were active traitors. Gujarat was the perfect opportunity. Also, her sisters-in-crime like Arundhati Roy spun kilometres of yarn based on the
Ripped Foetus Theory postulated by Teesta. Indeed, the theory holds a mirror to Teesta’s macabre imagination: I mean, she could’ve simply said: Kausar Banu’s head was severed or some such thing. But Teesta’s sadisitic mental imagery stretches it to: Kausar Banu was gangraped by a mob, who then gouged out the foetus with sharp weapons. No, don’t try to visualize that. Writing it was horrible enough for me."

Enough said. The case is closed. But then again, as Yoda might say,"Cure who can, the disease called Skepticism?"

Update-1: For all those misty-eyed post-modern humanists groping for a ray of hope to hang on to in this lost battle against Hindu Fundamentalism, the most dangerous threat in the universe, here is a rebuttal by the NGO Citizens of Peace and Justice.

Update-2: Happiness is ephimeral (or I can actually say, Satyameva Jayate). The original report is actually, true.




Some Naizam Titbits

Now that I wrote something on Hyderabad, the history monster in me woke up, and a simple google search (wonder why others dont get such facts themselves) revealed these:
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1) No less than 200,000 muslim men were recruited as Razakars to counter any attempt by the local Hindu population (which was then more than 90%) to stage an internal rebellion.

2) In August 1919, Osmania University was founded to impart higher education in Urdu medium to Muslims and Urdu speaking Hindus in Telangana. When Mohammed Ali Jinnah, father of Islamic State of Pakistan (Islamic Pure State) visited the university, he addressed the students as "my Muslim students," ignoring Hindus among the students.

3) During Milad-un-Nabi celebrations of 1937, Prof. Maulvi Nazarul Hassan Gilani openly admonished the Muslims for their failure to convert Hindus to Islam by saying, "I am pained to see the inertness amongst Muslims, when there exist still 22 million ‘Dung Worshippers’ in this country (Hyderabad State)."

4) It is reported that the Nizam purposefully delayed any formal decision on the future of Hyderabad state and in the meanwhile, received arms supplies from Pakistan and from the Portuguese administration based in Goa. In addition, additional arms supplies were received via air drops from Australian arms trader Sidney Cotton.

5) The commander of the Hyderabad State Army, Major General El Edroos, was an Arab. A foreign man was the leader of our army just 60 years ago. For that matter, Nizams of the Asaf Jahi dynasty were Iraqis, the Qutub Shahi dynasty (which ruled Hyderabad before Nizams) was Turkish, and the Bahmani Sultans (who ruled TelangaNa before Qutub Shahi dynasty; there was no Hyderabad then) was Tajik-Persian (even heard of Tajikistan, fellows?). Around 600 years of foreign rule. But do we dare to celebrate 18th September as our Independence Day? (More on this in the next post).

6) "Operation Polo": Indian losses were 66 killed and 97 wounded. The losses suffered by Hyderbad state forces and volunteers combined were 1,863 killed and 3,558 captured (Take that you "£$"%^&*). 122 members of the Hyderbad sate forces were also wounded. It is said that on Marathwada front of the battle, Patel had all the Razakars lie on the road and had his Battletanks run over them. This is was one of main incidents that demoralized the Hyderabad state into capitulation. Yes. We were different then (Hindus, not Humanists).

7) In the following weeks after Operation Polo, the state erupted in widespread communal violence. 50,000 people may have died in the reprisals that followed the invasion.

8) Old names of some places whose named got changed in the Nizam Era:
a) Adilabad - Edlavaada
b) Nizamabad - Indur/Indrapuri
c) Karim Nagar - Elagandala
d) Mahaboob Nagar (distt) - Palamoor
e) Mahaboob Nagar (town) - Manukota
f) Medak - Metuku
g) Hyderabad - Bhagyanagaram.
9) Qasim Rizvi was the founder member and president of an organisation called "Majlis-Ittehadul-Muslimeen". Rings any bells? Yes. It is indeed the same political party MIM (which now calls itself All-India MIM) led by the Owasis today. You will be interested to know that though the constitution was changed, the views of the organisation havent changed. More on it in the next post.

10) Finally, this pic of our glorious Razakar holy-warriors holding three lowly mean upto-no-good 'dung worshippers' to deal with at their convenience. They were lazy Hyderabadis, you see :) Just look at their proud faces oozing accomplishment. Wonder what the others were doing in the Godavari Delta at that time....

Friday, April 10, 2009

Osmania Biscuit XVI--Part III:Of Martand Rao, Osmania Biscuit, and the Richest Man in the world

continued from part-II

Osman Ali Khan Siddiqui, the last and most famous Nizam (ruler) of the princely state of Hyderabad, was the Richest Man in the Whole World at that time, the Richest Asian Ever in the recorded history, and the 5th Richest Man Ever in the recorded history. His entourage of the rolls royces, his buildings, jewels and queens, and most importantly, the fact that he was the only Indian ruler allowed under the British Rule to have his own currency--simply too grand to behold. Naizam, or the territory ruled by Nizam, covered almost the whole of TelangaNa, some part of Maharashtra, and some of Karnataka.

But all was not well. The Nizams who had their origins in Arabian Peninsula (Kurdistan, Iraq) treated the local Hindus like second grade citizens in their own land. Very few administrative posts were reserved for them and they could not rise above a particular level. The state languages were Urdu and Farsi and were mandatory. Telugu, Marathi and Kannada suffered unparalleled neglect. In fact, many schools did not even bother to teach them.

The most conspicuous aspect of Nizam rule however, were the Razakars, a private army led by Qasim Rizvi, a supporter of Nizam. They instilled terror and wrecked havoc wherever they went. Loots, rapes, murders, kidnappings. And they are still hailed by some in the old-city as religious warriors, heroes, lengends. They wanted Hyderabad to be a separate country. And when talks with Sardar Patel failed, he launched ‘Operation Polo’, to annex Hyderabad state into the Indian Union. In the meanwhile, as a blackmailing tactic, Razakars started a campaign of terror of unknown precedence. Several areas were burnt, looted, pillaged. Women raped, children massacred… to force Sardar Patel into withdrawing his advancing forces.

But then, all of a sudden, within days of launching Operation Polo, Nizam surrendered and Hyderabad was liberated from Nizam’s rule and integrated into the Indian Union.

A very rarely told legend from the old city states how it happened--
A young muslim working in a bakery, unable to digest all this violence upon his Hindu neighbours, wanted all of this to stop and the only way that he knew was to appeal to the taste-buds of the Nizam. It was well-known that Nizam had a penchant for new tastes and different dishes. He wanted to make a new kind of biscuit, one that could appeal so much to Nizam that he should put an end to all this terror at once. But the already available karachi biscuit was a hot favorite of Nizam and he knew that he had stiff competetion to beat.

But he didn’t give up easily. After thinking about it day and night, he suddenly got up from his bed around midnight. He had came up with a solution. It seemed so obvious to him. He went to his bakery with his young assistant and started working frantically as the violence continued unabated outside. After a couple of hours, as he removed the tray from the traditional bhatti oven, he knew he had done it. But as he was about to take it to the palace, he was hit by a stray bullet in his leg. So his young assistant volunteered to take it to the Nizam in his stead. And so it was that the boy carried his treasure in a paper cover riding his bicycle as fast as his legs could manage it.

He reached the palace gate panting, showed what he had, and the smell of the warm biscuits brought by a known face instantly alerted the guard and they allowed him to pass without question. And he ran into the palace like a man chased by hounds and collapsed just outside the royal room, where the Nizam used to come for breakfast. His outstretched hand still holding the paper cover. The maids recognised his purpose and promptly carried the paper cover over to the Nizam’s breakfast table. It is said that along with the biscuits, the cover also contained a letter addressed to him in High-Persian praising his benevolence and delcaring that if he liked the biscuit, it would be named after him and his name will live in this land forever. In return, it begged him to stop the Razakar violence. Moved by the taste of the biscuit and the high ethics of the baker, he indeed put a stop to violence and surrendered himself.

Jumman Miya, who was silent till now, wiping off tears from his eyes with his sleeves, slowly said that it was he who had carried the Osmania Biscuits on the rusty bicycle and ran through the palace. Not a day passes when he doesn’t regret that it was his men who had indulged in such bloodshed. Nevertheless, those of his kind who think back nostalgically of those good old days of Nizam are still many. This saddens him even more.

And Tubelightla Srinivas, who was returning home a lot wiser and a lot older, finally made an attempt to understand why Lingam Yadav likes Osmania Biscuit.

Epilogue:
It is true that many cultures and religions together make up the unique culture of Hyderabad. But it is not wise to believe that things have been this way since a long time. And it is even more foolish to believe that things will continue to remain this way in future. Having a liking to some artefact should not blind one from the times and conditions in which the object was made. Unless we grow older by studying the lives of our ancestors, it is difficult for this new breed of peaceniks to understand what I am trying to say. But the bitter truth is, unless and until each of our families experiences a personal loss, we cannot unite against those cults which explicitly ask their followers for complete obliteration of others.