Jihaditerror

SIMI, Kashmiri separatists, Paki

2008-08-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

SIMI was in touch with Kashmiri separatists

Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi (Pioneer, 25 August, 2008)

The head of the hardline faction of banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Safdar Nagori, had extensive links with the Jammu and Kashmir separatists and had even received support from Pakistani embassy here. Nagori had attended a party in 2002 hosted by the then Pak Ambassador Riaz Khokhar for the Jammu and Kashmir separatists, according to his confessional statement before the Madhya Pradesh police.

http://dailypioneer.com/images4/home_storie s/front_page/big/story1.jpg

During the course of interrogation, Nagori admitted of his meetings with Kashmiri separatist and Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in 1997. Nagori had also visited the Kashmir Awareness Bureau in 1996-1997 and met influential separatist leaders Maulvi Abbas Ansari, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Yasin Malik.

The interrogation report reveals that Nagori, along with Saif Nachan and Abdul Subhan alias Tauqeer, also attended the iftar party organised by Khokhar in the national Capital.

The MP police's "top-secret" interrogation report states that Nagori was instrumental in taking SIMI on the path of terror against the wishes of moderate members of the outfit, including Shahid Badr Falahi and Miswah-ul-Islam, who wanted to use the organisations for political goals. Other SIMI members -- like Shivli of Kerala, Hafiz of Karnataka and Aamil Parwez and Kamruddin of Uttar Pradesh -- were party to the decision to take the outfit on the path of spreading pan-India terror.

Nagori claimed they had decided to take revenge for the post-Godhra riots and teach a lesson to those who were behind the destruction of Babri Masjid. They had met on July 6 and 7 in Ujjain and decided to prepare the outfit for mounting pressure for action on the Srikrishna Commission Report, which had probed the Mumbai riots.

Nagori also told the MP police of his local support network and funding nodes in various cities, but denied direct links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). However, he admitted that the SIMI received support from Pak-trained jehadi Nasir of Karnataka.

Nagori also sang about training camps organised by SIMI in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh where inputs about making bombs, courses on shooting and the art of self-defence were explained to the members. Top SIMI members Shivli, Mohammad Ali, Aamil Parwez and Asadullah had also attended these camps.

Nagori spent most of his time in strengthening the outfit in Madhya Pradesh after SIMI was banned. He has since developed an extensive network in Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Narsinghgarh and Jabalpur.

Nagori is a diploma holder in mechanical engineering and has a masters in journalism and mass communication from Vikram University, Ujjain. His association with SIMI began in 1986 while he was studying at Polytechnic College, Ujjain. He had edited the Islamic Movement monthly during his stay in Delhi in 1994. He was also instrumental in formulating a "vision document" of the outfit, titled Vision 2010.

Nagori is suspected to be behind the Ahmedabad serial blasts and is currently in the custody of the Gujarat police for interrogation. He was also interrogated by the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai police earlier this month. The MP police had cracked Nagori's network in March this year.

Nagori brought to Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: SIMI chief Safdar Nagori was on Sunday night brought to the city from a Madhya Pradesh jail by the Crime Branch team for interrogation in the July 26 serial bomb blasts case. "Nagori has been brought to city and will be produced before the court on Monday," Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Ashish Bhatia said.

http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front_page&file_name=story1.txt&counter_img=1

How Gujarat police cracked the islamist jihadi terror blasts case

2008-08-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

How Modi's police cracked the blasts case

Sheela Bhatt in Gujarat | August 19, 2008 | 19:02 IST

Besides many other things, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is certainly a lucky politician. In just 22 days his police claims to have solved the conspiracy behind the serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad of July 26 and the mystery behind the bombs that were planted all over Surat but did not explode.

How did the Gujarat police manage what the police in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Bengaluru could not do in the last two years?

rediff.com reconstructs the investigations that went into unravelling the conspiracy on the basis of information from multiple sources in Ahmedabad and New Delhi.

The early leads

On the evening of July 26, as the news of the bomb blasts trickled in from Isanpur, Narol circle to the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad, the last being Modi's constituency, the police and political establishment were stunned. After the communal riots of 2002 there had been expectations of some kind of violent "reaction", but 22 blasts in 18 spots in a highly communally surcharged city were stunning to say the least. Not only that, it was also loaded with a stern political message for the chief minister who has won the popular mandate twice on the plank of security.

Chief Minister Modi and Amit Shah, his minister of state for home, do not lack the motivation to pick up difficult political or administrative challenges, but the blasts at the civil hospital was too shocking even for the seasoned politicos. Their desperation in facing the situation was obvious. Modi has projected himself as a "different" leader because he provided safety to people in a country wracked by terrorism. But 18 blasts in 80 minutes seriously dented his image, and his only redemption lay in going about the investigation with professionalism.

His police's and his own credibility was so low in matters of criminal investigations after the Sohrabuddin encounter case and the communal riots cases of 2002 that they needed to put in extra effort. Also, whatever the spin-masters claim, it's clear that somewhere the police and the administration failed to prevent the blasts which were committed by "home-grown" elements.

Terror's new faces

There was failure on the part of the police machinery. When the investigations started, the first thing all the IPS officers did was to read Students Islamic Movement of India chief Safdar Nagori's statement given to the Madhya pradesh police when he was arrested in March, and that of his associate Ameel Pervez. Pervez had attended an arms training camp in Gujarat and he also gave the names of SIMI members like Sajid Mansuri, Yunus Mansuri, Zahid Sheikh, Imran Sheikh and Usman Agarbattiwala who had attended it. Neither the concerned states nor the IB had acted on it and taken preventive measures.

However, the lessons were late in coming but they were learnt quickly.

It is credit to Modi's determination and the Gujarat police's zeal, aided by the Intelligence Bureau's extraordinary efforts in giving relevant inputs to the state police, that this case could be cracked.

There was an element of urgency in the police investigations since the state government took it as a war that needed to be won. After the blasts, for the first few days the Gujarat government's approach was tinged with nervousness because they wanted to avoid communal tension at any cost.

The political leaders' anxiety only heightened on reading the e-mail sent by the terrorists just moments before the blasts. The e-mail "in the Name of Allah" from Indian Mujahideen had challenged Modi and his police in its opening sentence itself.

It said, 'Indian Mujahideen strike again! - Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!'

The clumsily worded e-mail was so blunt in its political message that Modi had no option but to pick up the gauntlet against terrorism. The e-mail became the motivating force for some senior police officers, too.

While provoking the Muslims of Gujarat it said, 'Target these evil politicians and leaders of BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal, who provoke the masses against you. Target and kill the wicked police force who were watching the "fun" of your bloodshed and who handed you to the rioting sinful culprits. Target their hired informers and spies even if they are the disloyal and betraying munafiqeen (hypocrites) of our Ummah. O Muslims of Gujarat!'

By midnight of July 26 the ruling political leadership sprang into action to make senior policemen understand that their investigations will get 100 per cent support, nothing less nothing more. They had at their disposal money, resources, manpower and even a chartered plane.

"As the news of the seventh blasts came in we knew that there more than 25 people were involved. And, we assessed that without the help of local Ahmedabadis the anti-national elements could not have planted bombs in such a perfect operation. We made these two assumptions and they proved right. We started looking within, without wasting any time," said a senior officer who was a member of the core team of investigators. The text of the IM's e-mail was sent to all officers including in Baroda, Bharuch and Surat where the investigations needed to be done on a war footing.

The e-mail was analysed thoroughly, and its careful reading helped narrow down the focus.

More than 11 teams were formed within the first few hours of the blasts. One team was asked to handle the investigations into the material used in the bombs. Another team was asked to investigate the use of bicycles. Another team was formed to thoroughly check all the phone calls made in Ahmedabad from certain areas just before and after the blasts. Another team was set up to reach out to all the police informers and gather their opinions on and information of the blasts. One team followed the cyber crime aspect of the case. The overall investigation of the case was assigned to the crime branch of Ahmedabad where more than 100 people started following whatever little leads that were available, from the midnight of July 26.

All of them were told that even if "communal riots (the possibility was always there) take place in Ahmedabad they should not divert their attention."�

"From July 26 to August 16 (when the breakthrough was announced) none of us went home to sleep. Every morning at 7 we would all go home and return after a shower and in fresh clothes. We would sleep on our chairs in the daytime. We haven't hit the bed yet," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhay Chudasama, who along with his boss Joint Commissioner of Police Ashish Bhatia and Rakesh Asthana, police commissioner of Baroda, played an important role in detecting the conspiracy behind the bomb blasts.

The Gujarat police claims that, probably for the first time, the central Intelligence Bureau and it have worked on the terrorism case as complementary teams and produced some excellent results. Between July 27 and August 16, on many days the political leadership was briefed in the Ahmedabad circuit house at 4 am. That was the kind of frenzy displayed by the Gujarat police and the political leaders to get to the bottom of the terror case.

Chudasama claims that for the first three days they had no clue of the culprits behind the blasts, but more and more assuredly all of them started believing that it seemed to be the work of the banned SIMI.

The Gujarat police's databank of SIMI members in Ahmedabad had some names including that of Zahid Sheikh. They picked him up and started interrogating him extensively.

"He is a fanatic. He is not a Gujarati, he is not an Indian. He claims he is merely a soldier of Islam. These accused don't belong to even their own families," said a source in the police.

"You will have to understand the identity of the perpetrators of the bomb blasts. Their "transnational" identity itself is an anti-national act," says one of the interrogators.

Hectic interrogation was going on at two places, one of them being the crime branch office in Haveli area of Ahmedabad.

Here, Joint Commissioner of Police Ashish Bhatia and his deputy Abhay Chudasama were working relentlessly to narrow down their search. In Baroda, under the supervision of Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana, independent investigations were going on. Asthana is a level-headed officer with 10 years of experience in the Central Bureau of Investigation. He shares the credit for investigating the fodder scam which tainted Lalu Prasad Yadav.

As soon as the news came out that Baroda might have been used as a conduit by the conspirators, Asthana formed a special team of hardly four-five people. In Ahmedabad and Baroda the most important thing was to keep the investigations and its processes a secret. A news-hungry media was all the time "fooled" by leaking irrelevant stories and even sketches of the 'accused' were made only to "feed" the media.

It was of no use to the investigators whatsoever. In reality, they were going down a different path. Once the role of SIMI emerged, Asthana specially asked his department to get on board two Muslim police officers.

Since he is merely two months old in his current post, he got from the databank a file on SIMI activists living in Baroda. The blue file had a professionally prepared dossier on SIMI activists, and the opening page featured Usman Agarbattiwala complete with his photograph.

Asthana went through the accompanying details like Agarbattiwala's telephone numbers, his work, background and the names of all his relatives that were in the dossier.

Immediately, details of Agarbattiwala's telephone calls, both made and received, were procured. It took relentless work through day and night to make the chart of the most frequently made calls from his phone. They were then narrowed down and owners of those numbers were detected and, in turn, the printouts of those phone calls were procured. A professional hard work done with the help of computers in the police headquarters in Kothi area yielded fantastic results.

Asthana's team created a cluster of cell phone movement among select persons. These movements were finally narrowed down to Agarbattiwala, Kayamuddin Kapadia, Imran Sheikh and Iqbal Sheikh. In no time Agarbattiwala, Imran and Iqbal were picked up. Along with others Joint Commissioner of Police Pravin Kumar Sinha and inspector Karimbhai Polra played an important role in Asthana's team.

The first copy of the interrogation report was sent to the Ahmedabad team which was narrowing down on local SIMI activists including Zahid Sheikh. Agarbattiwala's cracking proved very crucial. Bhatia and Chudasama cracked Zahid Sheikh as much as they could. In Baroda, Iqbal was a new entrant to SIMI ranks but some of the detainees were tough nuts to crack who had undergone special training to withstand police methods. On the basis of the early lead provided by the interrogations in Baroda and Ahmedabad, teams of Gujarat police travelled to Kerala, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka to collect a variety of documentary evidence.

By August 8-9, Modi knew his state police was just days away from success that has eluded the police in other Indian states wracked by terrorism.

http://www.rediff.com//news/2008/aug/19spec.htm

Gujarat cops hope they have an airtight case

Sheela Bhatt in Gujarat | August 22, 2008 | 21:25 IST

Part I: How Modi's police cracked the blasts case

The Gujarat police has almost reconstructed how the blasts were planned and executed, though with a few missing links.

The assembling of the bombs meant for Surat was done at Imran Sheikh's home in Baroda, while for Ahmedabad the bombs were assembled in Yunus Mansoori's hose in Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad. The forensic test of these places is on and the police is hopeful that they will get the necessary evidences soon.

Imran Sheikh has been arrested. His statement gives a lot of information, like how many times the militant SIMI chief Safdar Nagori and Mufti Bashir visited Gujarat and stayed in his house and what all they did in Gujarat.

"So far, conclusive evidence has not been obtained but in any terrorism case the turning points in investigations always come only after the confessional statements of the accused," a senior officer said.

Terror's new faces

From the confessional statements by the accused, which are most likely to be retracted, the police has got the entire sequence of conspiracy. They have the names of shops and witnesses from where the bicycles to plant the bombs were bought, shops from where the chemicals, timers, wires and detonators were bought. The police has taken care to find some Muslim witnesses in the case as well.

There were three types of bombs: tiffin bombs, bombs in the shape of� a boat, and car bombs. All the bombs kept on bicycles were blasted at the same time while the car bombs were fitted with gas cylinders.

The confessional statements the Gujarat police got from the arrested accused are also totally matching in detail. They have also recovered a 7.6mm pistol, a laptop belonging Iqbal and a number of CDs. The computer of Usman Agarbattiwala had a rough draft of the e-mail which was sent to the media before the blasts. Agarbattiwala was a well-known in his community and his brother is a medical practitioner.

Also, if one believes the claims of the Gujarat police, the Students Islamic Movement of India has only become more powerful after its ban in 2001. That also means the Intelligence Bureau and state governments since the last three years have completely failed to know, assess and analyse the internal changes in a banned SIMI while innocent people were being killed mercilessly in bomb blasts.

The investigators say the terror operation in Ahmedabad was planned by Nagori, Mufti Abu Bashir from Uttar Pradesh, Kayamuddin Kapadia of Baroda, Taufique Bilal alias Abdul Subhan Qureshi of Mumbai -- who provided the technical knowhow to make the bombs and to hack computers -- and Sajid Mansuri of Surat, who was the coordinator.

The Ahmedabad and Baroda police have gone through the records of lakhs of mobile phones which were discontinued on or after the July 26 blasts. It turned out that the people who have been arrested had switched off their regular mobile phones after the blasts or had thrown away the SIM card. All the arrested accused are members of SIMI, and six of them were on the police list before 2001.

The Gujarat police's interrogation of Zahid Sheikh and Sajid Mansuri suggests that the absconding Taufique alias Abdus Subhan Qureshi possibly had a role in the Mumbai train blasts of July 11, 2006. In the first week of August, a team from the Gujarat police which included a Muslim officer went to Taufique's residence in Nayanagar area of Mira Road outside Mumbai. While serving seviyan, the traditional sweet dish, Taufique's wife gave enough hints to the police that her husband is unlikely to be caught. She almost threw a challenge to them.

Taufique was detained by the Mumbai police but was released after six days of interrogation because they could not find anything against him.

Zahid Sheikh was also interrogated but was released. Mufti Bashir was also once interrogated by the Hyderabad police but was released because they could not find any information about his involvement.

The arrests of the SIMI cadre were not easy. When the Baroda police went to the provision store run by Iqbal Sheikh in the city's Yakubpura area he himself told the police, "Iqbal is not in Baroda."

He tried to mislead the police but the latter didn't budge. Iqbal is a new entrant in SIMI and was not involved in the planning stage of the bomb blasts.

Kayamuddin Kapadia, a fundamentalist subscribing to the orthodox Ahle Hadees sect, is the constitutional head of SIMI in Gujarat. His whereabouts are not known but he is as important to this case as Mufti Abu Bashir.

Usman Agarbattiwala, who was arrested in Baroda, gave initial hints of the operation to the Gujarat police. A confidant of Kapadia, Usman was doing a diploma in human rights from Baroda University. The SIMI leadership wants its cadres to penetrate the legal field, media and human rights outfits all over India.

The SIMI training camp organised at Khumtir dargah in the hilly areas of Pawagadh was organised by Mufti Bashir and Kapadia.

The Gujarat police was so lethargic till the bomb blasts occurred that as soon as the blasts inquiry started, Sajid Mansuri who was absconding since the last six years, was picked up after a brilliant operation. Sajid has half a dozen pseudonyms including Saad, Sajjad, salim and Ghulam Mansoori. All these years he had been hiding in Surat, Baroda or Bharuch. He knows these three cities better than any policemen would know.

It is claimed that these accused told the police, "As Gujaratis we wanted to prove that we were capable of doing something in Gujarat also. We wanted to teach s lesson to Modi and his supporters. And, we wanted to send across a message by establishing our presence."

The Gujarat police and the state's political leadership are reluctant to admit it, but the blasts were a 'revenge' for the 2002 communal riots in the state. But the police claim the attacks were meant to assert SIMI's clout to the young Gujarati Muslims.

The investigation of the arrested SIMI cadres is not at all easy. They are parting with a little information and later claim that whatever they said are lies. They shift their stance many times a day and thoroughly confuse the police.

Baroda Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana says, "These are committed people. Imran's old father was medically treated in the civil hospital recently. He stayed with him there. But, the same man was a part of conspiracy that planted a bomb in the civil hospital. They have no remorse. They dispute the idea of nationalism."

When Zahid Sheikh, a key man in Ahmedabad blasts who planted the bomb in the civil hospital was produced at the magistrate's court� on August 17 he proudly showed the victory sign to TV cameras. A police officer says, "Zahid and others think that, at last, now they are on the right track in life as guided by Islam."

Yunus Mansoori told the Gujarat police that when he asked Mufti Bashir why do you want to join them in the execution of the plan, Bashir reportedly replied, "Jannat sirf aap ko hi jana hai (only you want to go to heaven)?"

When Bashir was handed over to Himanshu Shukla of the Gujarat police, his first demand was for a green cloth cover on his face instead of the usual black one. He said green is the colour of Islam.

Zahid Sheikh, after his arrest, told the police, "We believe in a borderless world. Nationalism breaks the universe. Islam unites. You should convert to Islam."

Sajjad Mansuri had organised the infamous meeting of 124 SIMI workers in Surat's Rajshree hall in 2001 that had shocked everyone by its anti-India speeches by jihadis. After July 26 the Baroda police learnt that Mansuri was immensely fond of his children Mohmmad Zaid and Abu Zar, and simply followed the movement of these two children to nab him. Their names were found in a Baroda school but they had left after two years. Their school leaving certificate showed that they had shifted to Bharuch. The police kept watch outside the new school, spotted them, and found their home address through school records. And Mansoori was caught.

And he is proving to be a trove of information. He is a man of organisation, is quite cunning, very commonsensical but distrusts non-Muslims. He also hates Muslims who worship at dargahs.

Predictably, neither he nor his colleagues have any remorse of what they have done. Rather, one accused is so hardcore that when the police is giving him a tough time he starts reciting verses, or ayats, from the Quran.

Although the police officers are very careful in talking about the motives behind the bomb blasts, a source in the police says one accused told him, "We hate Narendra Modi." He gave details of his wish-list of how he would like to target Modi in Gandhinagar.

Yunus mansoori, Usman Agarbattiwala and Samshuddin Arif have previous records of arrest in a case connected to SIMI activity. Mansoori, who is more than six feet tall, told the police: "There will be peace in India if everyone converts to Islam."

When asked repeatedly why would these militants remain in Gujarat after the bomb blasts, the Gujarat police says, "None of them thought the police will ever catch them. Even if they are caught they thought it will be for political reasons. Blasts after blasts took place in India and nobody was arrested, so they became brazen."

He adds, "The media may like to write what they want on the entire issue of Indian terrorism. But for us the lesson is simple. A few people in India are interpreting the Quran wrongly and interpreting the concept of jihad crookedly. We have to be careful and alert against them."

http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/aug/22spec.htm

Gujarat cops' biggest problem: public scepticism

Sheela Bhatt in Gujarat | August 26, 2008 | 15:59 IST

After highlighting how the Gujarat police force cracked the Ahmedabad blasts conspiracy and how the they were going about building an airtight case against the terrorists, in this the final part of her 3-part series, Sheela Bhatt describes how the force is trying to overcome its biggest stumbling block: the disbelief over its claim of having cracked the case:

In cracking the Ahmedabad serial blasts case the Gujarat police may have opened a Pandora's box.

It claims to have not only got evidence against those who planned and executed the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and Surat, but also that it has got definite insights into the conspiracy aspect of the blasts on Samjhauta Express and in Jaipur.

In fact, some unused explosive connected with the blasts on Samjhauta Express was recently recovered by Gujarat police.

In other words, what the Gujarat police is claiming is that the blasts in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and probably Samjhauta Express were conceived, planned and executed by the militant faction of the Students Islamic Movement of India formed after 2005. That also means the usual suspects -- like Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, Lashkar-e-Tayiba or HUJI of Bangladesh -- can't be blamed for some of the recent blasts that have killed more than 200 innocent Indians.

So far, revelations by the accused suggest that the terror strikes in Bengaluru, Jaipur and Gujarat are made in India and by Indians.

A senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Gujarat, whose party is in power in the state, says, "We have not found any external links to SIMI in the execution of the blasts in Ahmedabad and Surat."

The Gujarat police zoomed in on SIMI only after they interrogated Zahid Sheikh of Ahmedabad (who allegedly planted the bomb in the city's civil hospital) and Usman Agarbattiwala of Baroda. Their interrogation, read along with SIMI chief Safdar Nagori and his associate Ameel pervez's statement, made them believe that SIMI, a fiercely political outfit, turned militant after it was banned in 2001.

"Possibly SIMI's role behind the bomb blasts was overlooked while giving attention to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The Indian establishment went into slumber after banning SIMI," says a senior police officer in Ahmedabad.

He says four days after the bomb blasts, when the Gujarat police narrowed down their focus to SIMI and picked up Zahid Sheikh from his home in Juhapura, a political leader questioned its judgement in a meeting. "He said SIMI may not have done 'direct action' like planning to kill so many people," the police officer said.

If Nagori's statement had been studied properly, may be the story would have been different.

"It's the height of inefficiency," fumed Ajit Doval, former chief of Intelligence Bureau. "Senior officers are so 'busy' normally that they read only the summary of such confessional statements. In Nagori's statement, the mention of Gujarat and Rajasthan must be in the third paragraph of page number 17," he added, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"We never got a copy of Safdar Nagori's statement," counters Ashish Bhatia, Ahmedabad's joint commissioner of police who is heading the investigation into the Gujarat blasts. "We were unaware that he has mentioned any plans of subversive activities in Rajasthan and Gujarat. We knew generally about the threat perception, but nothing beyond that."

Naturally, given the credibility problem investigations into terrorism-related suffer from in India, and more so by the Gujarat police in the light of the Sohrabuddin case, the latter's current achievements is looked at either with suspicion or complete disbelief. Any kind of communal violence or terrorism is a delicate issue in India; a number of people -- from whichever community the perpetrators belong to -- inevitably slip into denial mode.

In this case, most experts deemed secular and Muslim leaders do not buy the Gujarat police's version of events. A Bengaluru-based expert on India's madrassas refused to respond to rediff.com because he said the police's findings are based on confessional statements of arrested people, and extracted under pressure.

Doval, however, disagrees. "In the absence of any other evidence I would think the Gujarat police investigation is credible," he says.

Bhatia was emphatic: "I can tell you that we have enough evidence in this case to plead for death sentence for the culprits. Our investigations will withstand trial in any court."

So, given these two opinions, should one believe the investigations of the Gujarat police?

Here are pointers to form one's judgement.

Special police teams from Rajasthan, Haryana, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru have already lined up in Ahmedabad to interrogate the arrested accused, especially Mufti Abu Bashir and Sajid Mansuri. What they do beyond this will indicate the authenticity of the Gujarat police's claims.

The Kerala government has confirmed that an arms training camp was organised by SIMI in December 2007 and even a First Information report was filed against it in the area, but investigations were abruptly discontinued.

The Gujarat police claims that it has details of the involvement of some 40 persons in the recent bomb blasts in India out of which they have arrested 10 who are directly involved in the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and in planting of bombs in Surat. They also claim that a separate press conference will be held to reveal how, when and by whom the bombs were planted in Surat.

Baroda police commissioner Rakesh Asthana says, "We have no doubt that the same group which planted bombs in Ahmedabad was behind the Surat bombs. The technique used in it didn't work but the bombs were not kept to just scare the people, they were meant to explode. We know where these bombs were assembled in Baroda."

It is noteworthy that before the Gujarat government responded politically to the sceptics, the Congress-led central government has already given its stamp of approval to the investigations by using it against SIMI in the ongoing hearings in Supreme Court over the organisation's ban.

The Gujarat police has admitted that Intelligence Bureau has lent enormous support to its investigators to unravel the conspiracy.

IB chief P C Haldar is a confidant of National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, and it's quite unlikely that his establishment will wholeheartedly support the Gujarat chief minister's cops or allow the him to reap any political benefit from the investigations.

It is well known in intelligence circles that Mufti Abu Bashir's arrest from Uttar Pradesh would have not been possible but for IB's speedy efforts. As Zahid Sheikh, Sajjad Mansoori and Agarbattiwala started singing in custody, it was IB which helped the investigations move in the right direction by instantly -- in some cases in just four hours -- providing dossiers of names that cropped up in the interrogations from their databank in Mumbai and Delhi.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil himself has congratulated Gujarat Minister of State Amit Shah for cracking the case.

But there were hiccups too. Around August 13-14, when the Mufti was traced to his village in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati asked her police officers if any case against him was pending in the state. Her idea, initially, was to keep him in the state government's custody. But somehow wisdom prevailed in Lucknow and she allowed the Mufti to be handed over to the Gujarat police.

At one point of time, the Gujarat police wanted to interrogate Mufti Bashir before his arrest, and efforts were made at the highest levels in Gujarat and in New Delhi to detain the Mufti, interrogate him and then seek his police custody. It is well known that accused don't reveal much after their formal arrest. This practice, despite being a violation of human rights is a common one in India, but was not allowed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil in this instance.

He categorically denied to the Gujarat government any access to Bashir without first arresting him.

Despite all this and the sceptics' vocal criticism, the political leadership and the police in Gujarat are confident that this case will be built as professionally as it can be.

Giving some details of the investigations, police officers told rediff.com that all the arrested terrorists are Deobandis, and some of them follow one of its conservative sects, the Ahle Hadis.

Most of the arrested accused are tough, well-trained in how to deal with police interrogation and have a fairly good knowledge of functioning of the media, judiciary and the police. All of them know they are safer if arrested, illegal detention is what scares both criminals and innocents.

While parting with inside information, a police officer who did not want to be named told rediff.com, "It's easier to withstand and tackle external aggression because it unites Indians. Internal subversion divides society."

"One should wait for more revelations from the police, but we are in precarious times," comments Bhanu Pratap Mehta of the Centre for Policy Research. "Why are so many people feeling alienated?"

India can no longer pass the buck. It is time to introspect why some of her own citizens are taking to terrorism against her.

http://www.rediff.com//news/2008/aug/26sheela.htm

Hindusthan needs a Patriot Act

2008-08-22T04:18:00.001-07:00

Hindusthan needs a Patriot Act. Counter Rangila Rani of 10 Janpath.

Hindusthan needs a Patriot Act on the lines of the USA Patriots Act to punish and send the secessionists, traitors to Tihar.

The official title of the USA PATRIOT Act is "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001."

This will help unearth the hawala transactions which enable corrupt politicians to amass wealth and cart it away to foreign bank accounts and try to buy up vote banks using such ill-gotten money. This is the bane of Hindusthan polity which has reduced most of the politicians to be chamcha-s of the empress in 10 Janpath.

Mechanisms for effective enforcement of the Act should be put in place, answerable only to the people of Hindusthan. One way is to create an institution with constitutional mandate to implement the Hindusthan Patriot Act and which will not be subject to the vagaries of the polity and interference by chamcha-s.

The bringing back of POTA should be subject to this condition that the types of provisions included in US Patriot Act should find a place in such a revised enactment.

Sonia Govt.’s reluctance to bring back POTA is clearly governed by their desire to cuddle secessionists and jihadi islamist terrorists, apart from seeking protection for their ill-gotten wealth. Appeasement policies have come home to haunt the chamcha-s who will soon have to find their passports and return to Luciana.

kalyan
Read the entire USA PATRIOT Act at http://www.scribd.com/doc/4954209/patriotsact
The purpose of the USA PATRIOT Act is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and other purposes, some of which include:
· To strengthen U.S. measures to prevent, detect and prosecute international money laundering and financing of terrorism;
· To subject to special scrutiny foreign jurisdictions, foreign financial institutions, and classes of international transactions or types of accounts that are susceptible to criminal abuse;
· To require all appropriate elements of the financial services industry to report potential money laundering;
· To strengthen measures to prevent use of the U.S. financial system for personal gain by corrupt foreign officials and facilitate repatriation of stolen assets to the citizens of countries to whom such assets belong.
Below is a brief, non-comprehensive overview of the sections of the USA PATRIOT Act that may affect financial institutions.
Section 311: Special Measures for Jurisdictions, Financial Institutions, or International Transactions of Primary Money Laundering Concern
This Section allows for identifying customers using correspondent accounts, including obtaining information comparable to information obtained on domestic customers and prohibiting or imposing conditions on the opening or maintaining in the U.S. of correspondent or payable-through accounts for a foreign banking institution.
Section 312: Special Due Diligence for Correspondent Accounts and Private Banking Accounts
This Section amends the Bank Secrecy Act by imposing due diligence & enhanced due diligence requirements on U.S. financial institutions that maintain correspondent accounts for foreign financial institutions or private banking accounts for non-U.S. persons.
Special Due Diligence Programs for Certain Foreign Accounts
Section 313: Prohibition on U.S. Correspondent Accounts with Foreign Shell Banks
To prevent foreign shell banks, which are generally not subject to regulation and considered to present an unreasonable risk of involvement in money laundering or terrorist financing, from having access to the U.S. financial system. Banks and broker-dealers are prohibited from having correspondent accounts for any foreign bank that does not have a physical presence in any country. Additionally, they are required to take reasonable steps to ensure their correspondent accounts are not used to indirectly provide correspondent services to such banks.
Section 314: Cooperative Efforts to Deter Money Laundering
Section 314 helps law enforcement identify, disrupt, and prevent terrorist acts and money laundering activities by encouraging further cooperation among law enforcement, regulators, and financial institutions to share information regarding those suspected of being involved in terrorism or money laundering.
Section 319(b): Bank Records Related to Anti-Money Laundering Programs
To facilitate the government's ability to seize illicit funds of individuals and entities located in foreign countries by authorizing the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a summons or subpoena to any foreign bank that maintains a correspondent account in the U.S. for records related to such accounts, including records outside the U.S. relating to the deposit of funds into the foreign bank. This Section also requires U.S. banks to maintain records identifying an agent for service of legal process for its correspondent accounts.
Section 325: Concentration Accounts at Financial Institutions
Allows the Secretary of the Treasury to issue regulations governing maintenance of concentration accounts by financial institutions to ensure such accounts are not used to obscure the identity of the customer who is the direct or beneficial owner of the funds being moved through the account.
Section 326: Verification of Identification
Prescribes regulations establishing minimum standards for financial institutions and their customers regarding the identity of a customer that shall apply with the opening of an account at the financial institution.
Section 351: Amendments Relating to Reporting of Suspicious Activities
This Section expands immunity from liability for reporting suspicious activities and expands prohibition against notification to individuals of SAR filing. No officer or employee of federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial governments within the U.S., having knowledge that such report was made may disclose to any person involved in the transaction that it has been reported except as necessary to fulfill the official duties of such officer or employee.
Section 352: Anti-Money Laundering Programs
Requires financial institutions to establish anti-money laundering programs, which at a minimum must include: the development of internal policies, procedures and controls; designation of a compliance officer; an ongoing employee training program; and an independent audit function to test programs.
Section 356: Reporting of Suspicious Activities by Securities Brokers and Dealers; Investment Company Study
Required the Secretary to consult with the Securities Exchange Commission and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to publish proposed regulations in the Federal Register before January 1, 2002, requiring brokers and dealers registered with the Securities Exchange Commission to submit suspicious activity reports under the Bank Secrecy Act.
Section 359: Reporting of Suspicious Activities by Underground Banking Systems
This amends the BSA definition of money transmitter to ensure that informal/underground banking systems are defined as financial institutions and are thus subject to the BSA.
Section 362: Establishment of Highly Secure Network
Requires FinCEN to establish a highly secure network to facilitate and improve communication between FinCEN and financial institutions to enable financial institutions to file BSA reports electronically and permit FinCEN to provide financial institutions with alerts.

patriotsact - Upload a Document to Scribd

Source: http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/patriot/index.html

Secession is not an option

The continuing unrest in the Kashmir valley has made a number of editorialists so desperate that they seem to have lost faith in the innate ability of the Indian State to offer a viable solution. Not unlike the surgical chopping off a human limb wasted by gangrene, these worthies have suggested that India should let go of Kashmir. The suggestion is preposterous, of course. For, nobody willingly parts with a limb which is crucial to one’s very survival. Like it or not, the Kashmir secession, voluntary or otherwise, would mark the beginning of the end of a secular Indian State. Not because the Hindu majority aspires to a theocratic State. No, because the failure in Kashmir would unleash its own dynamics which would dissipate the energies of the secular Republic to guard itself against retrograde forces. Of course, it is undeniable that over the last 60 years, the ruling class has made grievous mistakes in Kashmir. Nehru’s emotionalism contributed vastly to the mess that has been Kashmir all along. His blind faith in Shiekh Abdullah, because he was a close personal friend, soon turned into an implacable personal hostility, resulting in contrary policy responses. The nomination of Bakshi Ghulam Ahmed as the Sheikh’s successor became a metaphor for the carrot-and-stick policy successive Congress regimes at the Centre have followed in Kashmir.

Turning a blind eye to the gargantuan corruption of the `nominated’ rulers in Srinagar, while condoning a total lack of good governance, was the favoured policy tool of New Delhi. The central government betrayed a lack of faith in ordinary Kashmiris, glossing over the corruption and incompetence of the nominated Kashmiri leaders.

A measure of such a short-sighted policy was the willing subversion of a truly democratic process in J and K. The Centre feared that a genuinely representative government in Srinagar could up the ante and openly pass a resolution in the State Assembly calling for secession. The fear was misplaced.

The New Delhi-nominated Kashmiri rulers not only aggravated the feeling of alienation ordinary Kashmiris felt, but they drove the real leaders to openly raise the banner of revolt against an overbearing New Delhi. It wasn’t so much that the Kashmiris were rebelling against India as they were rebelling against Indian leaders who distrusted them so deeply that they denied them a representative government.

However if in Nepal yesterday’s Maoist revolutionaries can be suitably tamed for them to embrace the democratic path, there could be hope in Kashmir too. Remember in Kashmir there are no Prachanda-like revolutionaries, only disgruntled and opportunistic Kashmiri leaders. And to get their own back against an overbearing and unresponsive central government, which treats them with extreme suspicion, they play the Pakistani card against India. For, the so-called Kashmiri secessionists crying `azadi, azadi’ know full well that they will feel suffocated if Kashmir were to join Pakistan. Pakistan would not only fully assimilate Kashmir into itself but would also ensure that its `pure’ Kashmiri demographics is altered beyond recognition. India, despite pressures, has most conscientiously refrained from doing so, though in hindsight it could be considered a weakness of its initial Kashmir policy.

Instead, successive governments in New Delhi have pumped hundreds of billions of rupees into Kashmir in the hope of buying the goodwill of ordinary Kashmiris. The per capita income of Kashmiris is a multiple of the national average because of the misplaced generosity of successive governments in New Delhi. The Kashmiris have been pampered. Yet, they behave as if they have done India a great favour by staying with India. Secession not being an option, the only alternative, to begin with, maybe to treat Kashmir on an equal footing along with the rest of the States. Give them a representative local government within the four walls of the Indian Constitution. Yet, the full force of the Indian State ought to be brought to bear on them should they seek to breach the original compact with the Indian State.

Precisely because successive rulers in New Delhi have been assailed by doubts about the true value of accession of Kashmir to India, they have handled the Kashmir problem with kid-gloves.

Be correct but firm in dealing with Kashmir. More than sixty years after the accession, there is no scope for opening up that done deal again. But do not follow a duplicitous approach towards Kashmiris. Be up front. Let them know where they stand vis-a-vis the Indian scheme of things. And, having done that, come down heavily on any breach, minor or major. And, for god’s sake, stop throwing honest tax-payers’ rupees at them. A sure way to spoil a child is to give it candy every time it sprawls on the floor crying. Discipline yourselves to discipline the Kashmiris.

http://www.freepressjournal.in/

Muslim clerics defend blasts accused Bashar

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow | August 21, 2008 | 22:56 IST

Prominent Islamic clerics led by the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Maulana Ahmed Bukhari on Sunday came out in a big way to the defence of the recently arrested madrasa teacher Mufti Abu Bashar, in connection with last month's serial blasts in Ahmedabad.

Joined by Samajwadi Party member of Parliament, Abu Asim Azmi, Bukhari virtually sounded a bugle of revolt against what he termed as "the anti-Muslim" policies of the Indian investigating agencies.

Azmi hails from a village that adjoins Bashar's native village of Bina Para in Sarai Meer area of Azamgarh district .

Their call for a protest rally on the Lucknow-Azamgarh highway drew at least 5000-7000 people, who kept the road blocked for hours, while raising anti-police and anti-government slogans. The crowds cheered the speakers, who openly flayed the government and the police.

While both Azmi and Bukhari termed the police action as "biased", Bukhari went to the extent of issuing a warning, "If the government does not take early measures to bring an end to undue harassment of Muslims who were indiscriminately labeled as terrorists, this country is in for another partition, so let us be prepared for nation wide riots and violence."

Bukhari said, "all this talk about creation of Indian Mujahideen needs to be probed . I would not be surprised if such an organization has been floated by fundamentalist bodies like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or Vishwa Hindu Parishad with the sole intention of defaming Muslims."

Abu Asim Azmi said, "I am not giving any clean chit to anyone, but the manner adopted by the investigating agencies speaks of a blatant bias and a predetermined approach."

Azmi felt, "an appropriate way to deal with the situation would be to constitute a high level committee comprising secular minded judicial luminaries like Justice Sachar, Justice Krishna Iyer and Justice A A Ahmadi , it could even have representatives of Hindu organizations like RSS and VHP also. Let them question the arrested young Muslim boys and if the committee is convinced that they are actually involved in terrorism, let them be hanged."

However , in the same vein Azmi went on to add a word of caution, "but what the investigating agencies are doing today is grossly unfair ; they were all declared as terrorists well before any trial and this is what needs to be stopped.

http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/aug/21ahd1.htm

Recall Great Calcutta Killing

Prafull Goradia
Pioneer, Aug 15, 2008

For Jinnah, Direct Action Day on August 16, 1946, was the 'most historic act'

Not many people remember or know that on August 16, 1946, began the bloodiest and the biggest State-sponsored riot in the country's history. That was in Calcutta, capital city of undivided Bengal whose premier was Hussein Shahid Suhrawardy, the Muslim League leader; he later became Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The League, led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, planned to launch 'Direct Action' on August 16 to convince the British that Hindus and Muslims could not coexist in the same country and hence India must be partitioned. A 23-point tactical manifesto was distributed to League activists. Some of the points read as: "Destroy Hindus and drive all Hindus out of India. All transport should be used for battle against Hindus. Hindu women and girls should be raped, kidnapped and converted into Muslims from October 18, 1946. Hindu culture should be destroyed." The Calcutta District Muslim League published on August 13, 1946 an elucidation, clarifying that 'Direct Action Day' was to be conducted in the name of jihad a la the Battle of Badr.

On August 22, Bengal Governor Frederick Burrows wrote a report to Viceroy Lord Wavell on what came to be known as the 'Great Calcutta Killing'. "The trouble had already assumed the communal character which it was to retain throughout. At the time it was mainly in the northern half of the city. Later reports indicate that the Muslims were in an aggressive mood from early in the day and that their processions were well-armed with lathis, iron rods and missiles," he said about August 16.

To quote Burrows for August 17: "This tour that convinced me that the reports that I had received of the seriousness of the situation had erred on the side of underestimation. I observed very great damage to property and streets littered with corpses." The highlight of August 18 in the Governor's letter was: "I made another tour of inspection, this time with the Army Commander and the Chief Minister, covering large areas in the south and south-east of the city which I had not visited before. The Chief Minister showed an exasperating preoccupation with the sufferings undergone by members of his own community."

The slaughter over the first few days was so widespread that Burrows could not give any authoritative figures for casualties. Guided mainly by hospital figures, he guessed 2,000 dead at the very least. No one was available to clear the bodies until "the Army came to my rescue on the basis of Rs 5 a body to volunteers", the Governor wrote.

The Statesman, then a British owned daily, wrote on August 22: "The group of incompetents, or worse, who owing to their office necessarily bear primary responsibility for the criminal carnage in Calcutta, a catastrophe of scope unprecedented in India's history, have been insufficiently seen or heard in these grim days. We mean the Ministry."

In a leading comment, headlined "Calcutta's Ordeal", The Statesman said on August 20, "The origin of the appalling carnage and loss in the capital of a great Province, we believe the worst communal rioting in India's history, was a political demonstration by the Muslim League." What Jinnah said was the most authoritative declaration on the killing: "What we have done today is the most historic act in our history... This day we bid goodbye to constitutional methods."

Today, we are witnessing something similar in the Kashmir Valley where the PDP is inciting the people to take to bid goodbye to constitutional methods. Elsewhere, the 'Indian Mujahideen' has put out an e-mail, urging "Muslims to wage jihad against Hindus". The e-mail invokes Ghauri and Ghaznavi to charge Muslims. We could yet witness violence that may make the 'Great Calcutta Killing' look like a skirmish.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=OPED&file_name=opd3%2Etxt&counter_img=3

The Rangile Raje, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.
Please read the following editorial entitled "Rangila Raj" in Indian Express dated 21.8.2008:

"This continent-sized country with a necessarily complicated history of nation-building is no stranger to difficult moments. One such moment is upon it now. Kashmir, says an increasingly vocal corner in the national debate — it’s of course great that a debate is happening — is posing difficult, perhaps unanswerable, political/ territorial questions because the impetus is all within. Really? Then how come just a few weeks before Kashmir was so off the news that peace, and therefore further dividends, had become boring stories? The principal reason that situation has transformed into the present crisis is that while Kashmir has been volatile before, the Centre has never been as weak as now. Not even when weak coalition governments ruled India. Just recall very recent history.First, a governor who was not even appointed by this government was allowed to handle Amarnath badly. Then, the implications of giving in to the Valley hardliners were not drawn.
Then the Jammu protest was not met by immediate state response in terms of not allowing highway blockades. Then a senior representative of this government offered the Valley’s agitating entrepreneurs not the promise that highways will be cleared but that paramilitary will buy their apples. An assurance that obviously signalled to the Valley hardliners that there’s a huge deficit of political/ tactical will at the Centre. No prizes for guessing who the senior representative was. The same gentleman runs the ministry that allowed all the other lapses. In Shivraj Patil’s heroic ineffectuality we have the symbol and part of the substance of this government’s terrifying inability, when occasions have demanded, to exhibit national will. Kashmir’s practiced agitpropists have sensed that at no time as now has the Centre been so sold on the idea that doing nothing in time and issuing vacuous statements at all times are good strategies.

Discussions on Kashmir always bring up history. Here’s a little bit of history to help contextualise the current state of state response: probably not since the early 18th-century ruler Muhammad Shah Rangila, who wrote the book on awesomely ineffective security governance, has India had administrators who have been so brilliantly incapable of discharging their basic remit. Needless to say 21st-century India can’t afford Rangilas in government. And all responses to the Kashmir crisis must start with this recognition. Also, let’s ask ourselves: is India to cut and run because of some weeks of violence when years of patient diplomacy, dogged army work and good politics had blunted the hard edges in Kashmir? The country has dealt with violence within before. It has dealt with groups calling loudly for a divorce with the Union. If we decide to take a particular course on Kashmir, what will we do when politicised violence erupts elsewhere? Drawing-room
solutions can look pretty and neat. Nation-building, sadly, isn’t always pretty and neat. It calls for clarity and determination. That’s what Delhi — and Srinagar — need."

Our Home Minister is, indeed, a Rangila Raja. He always expresses his helplessness when faced with a problem. He had expressed his inability to fence the borders with Bangladesh because of its geographical situation. The Prime Minister, who is a dummy and another Rangila Raja had done a blunder by making Shiv Raj Patil the Home Minister of India when the latter was not even an elected member of Lok Sabha. But Prime Minister himself is also not a member of Lok Sabha which is the representative body of the people. Or is it that fault lies with Sonia Gandhi who had selected both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, both ineffective people. Whatever be the cause of selection of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, although they are not drunkard like Mohammad Shah Rangila the ineffective Mughal Emperor, they are, indeed, both Rangila Rajas. We would be having the weakest Government till these two Rangila Rajas rule. Fortunately, the
elections are round the corner and we may get rid of these rulers in whose rule, people have become bold enough to suggest independence for J&K without thinking about the consequences of these suggestions.

Satbir Singh Bedi http://o3.indiatimes.com/ssbedi1945/

Don't Give In To Them
22 Aug 2008, 0010 hrs IST, K Subrahmanyam

A number of people have written on why India should consider allowing the Kashmiris to secede since the widespread demonstrations and disturbances taking place day after day would indicate that they don't want to be part of India. If this logic is to be accepted, Indian Parliament should be wound up since there are disruptions day after day holding up the proceedings of the two Houses. One writer has raised the issue whether the Kashmir problem involves the idea of India. It certainly does, just as the orderly conduct of Parliament also involves the idea of India. Both of them encompass the idea of an India as a pluralistic, secular, federal democracy aiming to achieve justice, equality and fraternity for all its citizens.

The efforts to achieve this aim may not be optimally effective as shown by inadequate governance, to put it
mildly. But the challenge facing India is whether we try to set right our governance and improve it or yield to the protesters. Disruption is being made part of India's political culture by most of our political parties. We must ponder over the consequences of yielding to the secessionists in Kashmir and the encouragement it would provide to other such movements elsewhere in the country.

Whether it is disruption in Parliament or on the streets of Kashmir, only a small group or minority resorts to it. The majority remains passive and silent. Those entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing order do not display adequate strength and courage to restore rule of law at the earliest but allow the situation to deteriorate. When Parliament is adjourned without transacting any business for the day or the use of excessive force becomes necessary to disperse unruly crowds in the streets resorting to violence, destruction of public property and casualties, those who engineer the disruptions know full well what the results will be. In fact, they desire those results. The silent majority and the governing authorities in both these cases do not have the moral fibre to assert their will and enforce the rule of law. This is the challenge before the Indian republic whether in Parliament or in Kashmir.

Kashmir has had two elections under international observation and they were considered to be free and fair though there were constituencies where the polling was so low as to indicate that the voters in those areas had boycotted the polls. But such places were few in number. Therefore, we cannot say that Kashmiris have not had an opportunity to elect their representatives or express their views democratically. Only those who advocate secession have not stood for election and demonstrated their strength through a democratic
process.

The basic issue is whether the Indian republic is in a position at this stage, 58 years after its constitution, to permit secession of a small portion of its population on the basis of religious identity. The agitation for secession in Kashmir is based on religion and religion alone. But if they were allowed to leave there would be consequences that have to be anticipated. During the partition of the subcontinent in 1947-48, such consequences were not foreseen and the result was a bloodbath resulting in the death of a million people and ethnic cleansing involving 15 million.

Secessionism on the basis of religion from a federal democratic republic, which has assured autonomy to Kashmir, is an irrational act. Such irrationality is unfortunately not the exclusive privilege of one faith only. We have seen the repercussions of events in the Kashmir valley, in Jammu and other places in India. There are forces in India which are likely to take advantage of such secession to unleash massive ethnic cleansing elsewhere in the country.

The values of the republic proclaimed in our Constitution are still to percolate down to the common man who is conditioned by his religious and caste prejudices. The republic envisioned in the Constitution will perhaps take another century to be realised. Allowing secessionism will be a defeat for secularism and that is not acceptable if the Indian republic is to be nurtured and brought to fruition. If a cost-benefit analysis were to be done of the consequences of yielding to Kashmiri secessionism, the likely costs would be much too heavy for the republic. There is the example of Tamil Nadu where the spirit of secession was intense in the decades after Indian independence. Now the former secessionists admit that being part of the Union has benefited the state immensely. There is no reason why Kashmir cannot be similarly brought around.

What Kashmir needs is good and firm governance. A lot more can be done with regard to crowd control without causing too many casualties. But the will to enforce respect for the law has been lacking just as it is in Parliament.

Demonstrations in the streets and consequent violence have become as routine as disruptions in Parliament and various state legislatures.

Not only Kashmir, but violent agitations elsewhere pose a challenge to the idea of India. The country has to seek a comprehensive strategy to deal with this challenge. Yielding to the Kashmiri secessionists is not a solution. It would be the end of the concept of India.

The writer is a Delhi-based strategic affairs analyst.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Dont_Give_In_To_Them/articleshow/3390921.cms

August 22, 2008 New York Times
Kashmir Rumbles, Rattling Old Rivals
By SOMINI SENGUPTA

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — Born and reared during the bloodiest years of insurgency and counterinsurgency, inheritors of rage, a new generation of young Kashmiris poured into the streets by the tens of thousands over the past several weeks, with stones in their fists and an old slogan on their lips: “Azadi,” or freedom, from India.

Their protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir were part of an unexpected outburst of discontent set off by a dispute over a 99-acre piece of land, which has for more than two months been stoked by both separatist leaders in Muslim-majority Kashmir and Hindu nationalists elsewhere in India.

Overnight, the unrest has threatened to breathe new life into the old and treacherous dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, which is claimed by both nations and lies at the heart of 60 years of bitterness between them, including two wars.

Disastrously for the Indian government, Kashmir has burst onto center stage at a time of growing turmoil in the region — with the resignation this week of Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, who had sought to temper his country’s backing for anti-Indian militancy here.

Even though the two countries have been engaged in four years of peace talks, India has grown nervous that the disarray in Pakistan has left it with no negotiating partner. From New Delhi’s perspective, that power vacuum has allowed anti-Indian elements in Pakistan’s intelligence services and the militant groups they employ to pursue their agenda with renewed vigor.

Relations between the countries have become newly embittered as Indian and Pakistani forces have engaged in skirmishes across the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between them for the first time in years.

Not least, India has blamed the Pakistani intelligence services for playing a hidden role in the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan last month, a charge that Pakistan vehemently denies.

The latest unrest here has only added to the difficulties of renewed dialogue.
How long this agitation will continue depends on both India’s capacity to assuage Kashmiri separatist leaders, and their ability in turn to control the sudden eruption of rage among the young.

The largest, most intense demonstration in years took place on Monday, as tens of thousands of Kashmiris, mostly men, streamed into an open area in the city center to demand independence from India. They came in motorcycle cavalcades, and on the backs of trucks and buses.

A few waved Pakistani flags. Some shouted praise for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the banned Pakistan-based militant organization that India blames for a series of terrorist attacks in recent years. “India, your death will come,” they chanted. “Lashkar will come. Lashkar will come.”

By Tuesday, traffic had returned to the city, as the separatists called for a three-day suspension of the strike. Shops and cafes reopened. The pro-Pakistan graffiti had been covered up, as though it were again an ordinary day.
Another mass gathering, however, is planned for Friday at the martyrs’ cemetery, where two generations of those killed in the conflict are buried, with all the potential to become yet another flash point of conflict.

Again and again, Kashmiris from across the political spectrum said these scenes reminded them of the peak of the anti-Indian rebellion in the early 1990s, except at that time, separatist guerrillas, aided by Pakistan, openly roamed the streets with guns.

Nineteen years after that rebellion kicked off, the current demonstrations have pierced what seemed, perhaps deceptively to the Indian government, like a return of the ordinary here.

Earlier this year, tourists were flocking to Dal Lake in Kashmir. Buses were running twice monthly so that Kashmiris could visit their relatives across the de facto border in the Pakistan-controlled region of Kashmir. A bookshop opened for the first time in nearly two decades.

“Before the storm, there is always a calm,” a Kashmiri woman, Assabah Khan, 34, declared. “The uprising we see now is the latent anger against the Indian state that has erupted again.”

Narendra Nath Vohra, the governor of the Indian-controlled Kashmir state, compared life in Srinagar today to darkness at noon.

In the last few weeks, tourists all but disappeared. Schools and offices closed. The main city hospital was filled with Kashmiris shot and wounded by Indian security forces.

Mehmeet Syed, who only a few months ago could sing her heart out on stage with her five-piece rock band, remained caged in her home, as her city erupted in a series of fiery protests and strikes. On the road leading to the Syed family home, children guarded a homemade roadblock the other day, clutching stones.
On Monday, on the edges of an open field where tens of thousands had gathered to vent their anger at Indian rule, Abdul Gani Mir, 62, marveled at a young man who had scaled a chinar tree to plant a green Islamic flag.

Mr. Mir said being here filled him with hope. “We succumbed, but I don’t think this generation will,” he said, and then he chuckled. “I wish I were young.”

His niece was among 20 unarmed Kashmiri protesters killed by Indian security forces last week, as they set off on a march to Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Sheik Yasir Rouf, 27, said he had never before taken part in a demonstration so large, so intense. He was a child in the early 1990s, when the anti-Indian rebellion was at its peak. “This feeling was always there,” he said. “We are fighting for our one right to be free.”

“Sooner or later, this had to be,” insisted his friend, Shahid Rasool, also 27.
Mr. Rouf said he had spent 15 days in jail during his senior year in high school, accused of harboring militants. Mr. Rasool was picked up by security forces and interrogated all night; he was 16 years old.

The trouble in the valley began two months ago, quite unexpectedly, over 99 acres of state government land that, for decades, had been used by Hindu pilgrims on the route to a Himalayan shrine called Amarnath.

In May, the authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir authorized the panel that runs the pilgrimage site to put up “prefabricated structures” for pilgrims. The order enraged Muslims.

With state elections scheduled for this year, some politicians and separatist leaders pounced on the decision and declared it a bid to re-engineer the demography of Kashmir. Hard-line Islamists compared it to the Israeli occupation of Muslim holy lands.

The government soon rescinded the order, but nothing, as Governor Vohra pointed out, actually changed — Hindu pilgrims still used the land, and they still came this year in record numbers.

Nevertheless, the retraction of the original order enraged people in the Hindu-majority plains of Jammu, which is part of the same state. They, too, began agitating by the tens of thousands. And they, too, were goaded by politicians and hard-line leaders.

All told over the past two months, the protests here in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and counterprotests led by Hindu groups in the plains below, have left a death toll of nearly 40 in clashes with security forces.

The two sides remain at each other’s throats. Muslims in the valley allege that Indian troops have been quick to halt their protests, while letting Hindus in the plains carry on their agitation.

Hindu leaders in the plains were outraged that the government allowed anti-Indian separatists to march through the valley carrying Pakistani flags.

Many Indians regard the rebellious tableau in the valley as an unexpected affront. Kanwal Sibal, a retired diplomat, suggested in a livid column on Tuesday in Mail Today, an English-language newspaper, that unlike China with its Tibet policy, India has never sought to alter Kashmir’s Muslim-majority demography.
The latest fury, he suggested, “shows the failure, and perhaps the futility, of efforts to win the hearts and minds of the valley Kashmiris.”

Kashmiri public opinion is hardly uniformly anti-Indian, and the pro-Pakistan current is one among many. But distrust runs deep. Rumors travel and harden equally fast.

Muslims here complain that Indian security forces roam the streets, and they can recount at least one memory, usually more, of humiliation and fear.
“It is a volcano that has erupted,” Shad Salim Akhtar, 54, a doctor, said of the latest agitation.

That volcano kept Ms. Syed, the Kashmiri singer, at home. She had a video shoot scheduled for her new solo album; it has been postponed. Her father, Ahmad, a doctor was considering running in the elections this fall, but he is no longer sure.

Dr. Syed, 46, said he had just been getting used to the sense of the ordinary returning to his city. The guards at checkpoints were less aggressive than before. He did not worry much about his daughter’s concerts. “Three, four months ago, we thought, ‘It’s all over now, nothing to worry about,’ ” Dr. Syed said.
That is all over now, his daughter lamented. “Will that day come when we can move around freely?” she asked. “It is a dream.”

Amit Wanchoo, a Kashmiri Hindu and the leader of her band, Imersion, was also mostly staying home, leaving plenty of time to write new songs. One was dedicated to those killed last week.

“The sky is saying something, the air is saying something,” the lyrics went. “Where are my people, whom I met here?”
Yusuf Jameel contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/world/asia/22kashmir.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Kashmiris too should not be hurting the nation s psyche
The government should not lose nerve and give concessions that have long- term implications
by kanwal Sibal (Mail today, 19 Aug. 2008)
HOW long will the country tolerate the offensive exhibition of separatism in Kashmir? How do the Kashmiris want the rest of us to react to the display of portraits of Jinnah and Pakistani flags? What should one feel when some demonstrators say defiantly that they are Pakistanis? What about these incessant calls for “ azadi”? Are we expected to excuse all this because the Kashmiri psyche has been hurt by us all these years and we are responsible for their sense of alienation because of our high- handed ways in Kashmir? Many of the presumptions we make about the Kashmiris and our own conduct in Kashmir are either mistaken or exaggerated. To what extent is the notion of Kashmiriyat shared in Jammu and Ladakh? Kashmiriyat should by definition mean an identity that transcends narrow religious affiliations; it should mean a sense of community felt by all. How have the Kashmiri Pandits fared in the valley even before the their exodus in 1990? Has Kashmiriyat protected their life and property? How much effort has been spontaneously by their Muslim brethren in Kashmir to welcome them back and to rehabilitate them in the Valley?
Kashmiriyat
From the time of independence Kashmiriyat was a political handle to keep separatist feelings in J& K alive.
It was an argument to seek exceptional treatment for J& K from which the power brokers in the state profited.
The Muslim domination of J& K was cloaked under the cover of Kashmiriyat.
This is not to say that before the “ arabised” Sunni Islam made inroads into the Valley, Kashmir did not practice a more tolerant, syncretic version of Islam. But the number of Hindus in the Valley was always too small to test the “ secular” fibre of Kashmiriyat. Islam has coloured Kashmiri politics from 1947 itself because of Pakistani claims to the state in the name of religion. That religious canker both internal and promoted by Pakistan continues to bedevil Kashmirs relations with the rest of India. The fact is that it has always been the Muslim sentiment in J& K that has needed to be placated.
Kashmiriyat gave an illusion of internal harmony and consensus in the state that did not actually exist.
The current crisis in J& K has been triggered by the shockingly communal position taken by the Valley Muslims on the transfer of 40 hectares of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board for setting up temporary structures for the convenience of the pilgrims.
To believe that the demography of Kashmir could be threatened by this decision is to abandon common sense. For the last 61 years the Indian authorities have not allowed the demography of J& K to be disturbed because of Article 370. We could have emulated the example of China in Tibet and encouraged outside migration into J& K in order to better control the ground situation. Even in POK, demographic protection to the local population has not been given.
But Indian democracy and respect for constitutional provisions have protected the core demographic interests of the Kashmiris over six decades. That local feelings could be aroused so intensely over such a nonissue shows and that mainstream parties should also want to make political capital out of this artificially induced uproar shows the failure, and perhaps the futility, of efforts to win the hearts and minds of the valley Kashmiris.
The reaction in Jammu to the cancellation of the decision to transfer the use of land by the government under pressure from the Valley Muslims has been exceptionally strong.
Neither terrorist attacks in Jammu nor the general feeling that Jammu gets unequal treatment at the hands of the government in Srinagar have provoked such intense public agitation as in this case. Perhaps this being a religious issue, the psyche of the people of Jammu has been more than ordinarily hurt, and all the pent up feelings of being discriminated against have erupted.
Victims
The impact of the Jammu agitation on road traffic to the Valley has, in turn, given further impetus to antinational activity in the Valley. Claiming that the Jammu agitators had blockaded the Valley, the secessionists with large public support are demanding that the road to Muzzafarabad in POK should be opened to traffic.
Rather than cooperating in resolving the issue at the root of the present turmoil, the Valley Muslims are trying to strike a blow at Indias sovereignty and affirm their pro- Pakistan attachments by seeking to move en masse to the LOC to force the opening of the road. The Pakistani card is being played against us, as usual. The declared aim is to mobilize the people to break the barrier between Kashmir and Pakistan, having perhaps the Berlin Wall in mind. Police firing on supposedly peaceful demonstrators would, they may be calculating, attract international attention to the Kashmir issue again, raise human rights concerns and embarrass India at a time when it would not want revival of international concerns about India- Pakistan tensions.
The Valley Muslims are presenting themselves as the victims of recent events when they are in fact the guilty party. Geelani openly espouses an Islamic platform to reject India; the Hurriyats separatist agenda, coordinated closely with Pakistan, projects self- determination. The Valley Muslims rise up against India periodically, irrespective of the concessions they get. India cannot agree to secession and so long as this remains on the agenda of political groups in the Valley, with Pakistans support, our Kashmir problem will not go away. No secular democracy can effectively deal with mosquebased politics. Street demonstrations can be suppressed but the voice of the mosques cannot be silenced without inviting charges of interference with the practice of religion.
Much is made of the argument that rigging of elections by the authorities has alienated the Kashmiri masses from us. Between alienation and secessionism there is a long road.
The Kashmiris have to look at the state of democracy in their benefacto— Pakistan. In next door Tibet, the language, culture, religion as well as the homogeneity of the local population are being undermined. The resources of Tibet are being exploited ruthlessly without regard to environmental damage.
Hazard
A more objective view should be taken by the Kashmiris of Indias respect for Kashmiri sensitivities, rather than claim immunity from state action within the law for antinational activities and recourse to terrorism.
The turmoil in the Valley is the consequence of pursuit of temporizing policies that have emboldened secessionist forces. The task of the government in dealing democratically with religious forces in a border state with strong anti- national leanings, that are networked, besides, with external state and non– state actors is no doubt exceedingly difficult.
Yet, without fully controlling the local situation, the decision to promote cross LOC ties, allow the Hurriyat leaders and Geelani to operate freely, to actively explore a solution to the Kashmir issue on the basis of making borders irrelevant and some joint management mechanisms, conveyed a readiness to make further concessions in search of durable peace in J& K. The demand to open the Srinagar Muzzafarabad road flows directly from earlier decisions. The government has, surprisingly, expressed its willingness to meet this demand in accordance with the 2005 agreement with Pakistan to permit border trade.
Here the question is not of controlled border trade but a political riposte to Jammus perceived blockade of the valley by the secessionists that signals that they can create an alternative economic lifeline through Pakistan in defiance of Indias sovereignty. Steps to calm a volatile situation are fine, but to lose nerve and make concessions with long term implications is another. Not only the Kashmiris, the rest of the nation has a psyche that should not be hurt.
The writer is a former Foreign Secretary( sibalkanwal@gmail.com)
http://www.mailtoday.in/2282008/showstory.aspx?queryed=9&querypage=10&boxid=3325231&parentid=2872&eddate=Aug%2019%202008%2012:00AM

'Human being' has no meaning in islamism

2008-08-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

‘Human being’ has no meaning in Islamism

The Study of Political Islam

By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, February 05, 2007

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Bill Warner, the director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam (CSPI). CSPI’s goal is to teach the doctrine of political Islam through its books and it has produced a series on its focus. Mr. Warner did not write the CSPI series, but he acts as the agent for a group of scholars who are the authors.

FP: Bill Warner, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Warner: Thank you Jamie for this opportunity.

FP: Tell us a bit about the Center for the Study of Political Islam.

Warner: The Center for the Study of Political Islam is a group of scholars who are devoted to the scientific study of the foundational texts of Islam—Koran, Sira (life of Mohammed) and Hadith (traditions of Mohammed). There are two areas to study in Islam, its doctrine and history, or as CSPI sees it—the theory and its results. We study the history to see the practical or experimental results of the doctrine.

CSPI seems to be the first group to use statistics to study the doctrine. Previous scientific studies of the Koran are primarily devoted to Arabic language studies.

Our first principle is that Koran, Sira and Hadith must be taken as a whole. We call them the Islamic Trilogy to emphasize the unity of the texts.

Our major intellectual breakthrough is to see that dualism is the foundation and key to understanding Islam. Everything about Islam comes in twos starting with its foundational declaration: (1) there is no god but Allah and (2) Mohammed is His prophet. Therefore, Islam is Allah (Koran) and the Sunna (words and deeds of Mohammed found in the Sira and Hadith).

Endless ink has been wasted on trying to answer the question of what is Islam? Is Islam the religion of peace? Or is the true Islam a radical ideology? Is a moderate Muslim the real Muslim?

This reminds a scientist of the old arguments about light. Is light a particle or is light a wave? The arguments went back and forth. Quantum mechanics gave us the answer. Light is dualistic; it is both a particle and a wave. It depends upon the circumstances as to which quality manifests. Islam functions in the same manner.

Our first clue about the dualism is in the Koran, which is actually two books, the Koran of Mecca (early) and the Koran of Medina (later). The insight into the logic of the Koran comes from the large numbers of contradictions in it. On the surface, Islam resolves these contradictions by resorting to “abrogation”. This means that the verse written later supersedes the earlier verse. But in fact, since the Koran is considered by Muslims to be the perfect word of Allah, both verses are sacred and true. The later verse is “better,” but the earlier verse cannot be wrong since Allah is perfect. This is the foundation of dualism. Both verses are “right.” Both sides of the contradiction are true in dualistic logic. The circumstances govern which verse is used.

For example:

(Koran of Mecca) 73:10: Listen to what they [unbelievers] say with patience, and leave them with dignity.

From tolerance we move to the ultimate intolerance, not even the Lord of the Universe can stand the unbelievers:

(Koran of Medina) 8:12: Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, “I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the unbelievers’ hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!”

All of Western logic is based upon the law of contradiction—if two things contradict, then at least one of them is false. But Islamic logic is dualistic; two things can contradict each other and both are true.

No dualistic system may be measured by one answer. This is the reason that the arguments about what constitutes the “real” Islam go on and on and are never resolved. A single right answer does not exist.

Dualistic systems can only be measured by statistics. It is futile to argue one side of the dualism is true. As an analogy, quantum mechanics always gives a statistical answer to all questions.

For an example of using statistics, look at the question: what is the real jihad, the jihad of inner, spiritual struggle or the jihad of war? Let’s turn to Bukhari (the Hadith) for the answer, as he repeatedly speaks of jihad. In Bukhari 97% of the jihad references are about war and 3% are about the inner struggle. So the statistical answer is that jihad is 97% war and 3% inner struggle. Is jihad war? Yes—97%. Is jihad inner struggle? Yes—3%. So if you are writing an article, you can make a case for either. But in truth, almost every argument about Islam can be answered by: all of the above. Both sides of the duality are right.

FP: Why, in your view, is there so much ignorance about the history and doctrine of political Islam in the West?

Warner: First, let’s see how ignorant we are about the history of political Islam. How many Christians can tell you how Turkey or Egypt became Islamic? What happened to the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in Paul’s letters? Find a Jew who can tell you the Jewish history of dhimmitude (second class citizens who serve Islam). What European knows that white women were the highest priced slaves in Mecca? Everyone knows how many Jews Hitler killed, but find an unbeliever who can tell you how many died in jihad over the last 1400 years.

We are just as ignorant about the doctrine of Islam. An FBI agent gets two hours of training on Islam and most of that is how not to offend the imam. We are fighting in Iraq. Who utilizes the political, military doctrine of Islam to plan strategy? Who can find a single rabbi or minister who has read the Koran, Sira and Hadith? What governor, senator, congressmen or military leader displays a knowledge of the political doctrine of Islam? Try to find a course available in a college about Islamic political doctrine and ethics. Graduates are schooled in Islamic art, architecture, poetry, Sufism, and a glorious history that ignores the suffering of the innocent unbelievers. Graduates read comments about the Koran and Hadith, but do not read the actual doctrine.

FP: So why this ignorance?

Warner: Let’s start at the beginning. When Islam burst out of Arabia into a decaying Byzantine world, the unbelievers recorded it as an Arabic invasion. Similarly, the invasion of Eastern Europe was by Turks; the invasion of Spain was by Moors. Our scholars were incapable of even naming the invaders.

Mohammed killed every single intellectual or artist who opposed him. It was fear that drove the vast majority of the media not to reprint the Mohammed cartoons, not some imagined sensitivity. Fear is a fabulous basis for ignorance, but that is not enough to explain it all. What accounts for the almost psychotic aversion to knowledge about Islam? Beyond fear is the realization that political Islam is profoundly foreign to us.

Let’s examine the ethical basis of our civilization. All of our politics and ethics are based upon a unitary ethic that is best formulated in the Golden Rule:

Treat others as you would be treated.

The basis of this rule is the recognition that at one level, we are all the same. We are not all equal. Any game of sports will show that we do not have equal abilities. But everyone wants to be treated as a human being. In particular, we all want to be equal under the law and be treated as social equals. On the basis of the Golden Rule—the equality of human beings—we have created democracy, ended slavery and treat women and men as political equals. So the Golden Rule is a unitary ethic. All people are to be treated the same. All religions have some version of the Golden Rule except Islam.

FP: So how is Islam different in this context?

Warner: The term “human being” has no meaning inside of Islam. There is no such thing as humanity, only the duality of the believer and unbeliever. Look at the ethical statements found in the Hadith. A Muslim should not lie, cheat, kill or steal from other Muslims. But a Muslim may lie, deceive or kill an unbeliever if it advances Islam.

There is no such thing as a universal statement of ethics in Islam. Muslims are to be treated one way and unbelievers another way. The closest Islam comes to a universal statement of ethics is that the entire world must submit to Islam. After Mohammed became a prophet, he never treated an unbeliever the same as a Muslim. Islam denies the truth of the Golden Rule.

By the way, this dualistic ethic is the basis for jihad. The ethical system sets up the unbeliever as less than human and therefore, it is easy to kill, harm or deceive the unbeliever.

Now mind you, unbelievers have frequently failed at applying the Golden Rule, but we can be judged and condemned on its basis. We do fall short, but it is our ideal.

There have been other dualistic cultures. The KKK comes to mind. But the KKK is a simplistic dualism. The KKK member hates all black people at all times; there is only one choice. This is very straightforward and easy to see.

The dualism of Islam is more deceitful and offers two choices on how to treat the unbeliever. The unbeliever can be treated nicely, in the same way a farmer treats his cattle well. So Islam can be “nice”, but in no case is the unbeliever a “brother” or a friend. In fact, there are some 14 verses of the Koran that are emphatic—a Muslim is never a friend to the unbeliever. A Muslim may be “friendly,” but he is never an actual friend. And the degree to which a Muslim is actually a true friend is the degree to which he is not a Muslim, but a hypocrite.

FP: You mentioned earlier how logic is another point of profound difference. Can you touch on that?

Warner: To reiterate, all of science is based upon the law of contradiction. If two things contradict each other, then at least one of them has to be false. But inside of Islamic logic, two contradictory statements can both be true. Islam uses dualistic logic and we use unitary scientific logic.

Since Islam has a dualistic logic and dualistic ethics, it is completely foreign to us. Muslims think differently from us and feel differently from us. So our aversion is based upon fear and a rejection of Islamic ethics and logic. This aversion causes us to avoid learning about Islam so we are ignorant and stay ignorant.

Another part of the aversion is the realization that there is no compromise with dualistic ethics. There is no halfway place between unitary ethics and dualistic ethics. If you are in a business deal with someone who is a liar and a cheat, there is no way to avoid getting cheated. No matter how nice you are to a con man, he will take advantage of you. There is no compromise with dualistic ethics. In short, Islamic politics, ethics and logic cannot be part of our civilization. Islam does not assimilate, it dominates. There is never any “getting along” with Islam. Its demands never cease and the demands must be met on Islam’s terms: submission.

The last reason for our aversion to the history of political Islam is our shame. Islam put over a million Europeans into slavery. Since Muslims can’t be enslaved, it was a white Christian who was the Turkish sultan’s sex slave. These are things that we do not want to face.

Jews don’t want to acknowledge the history of political Islam, because they were dhimmis, second class citizens or semi-slaves, just like the Christians. Jews like to recall how they were advisors and physicians to powerful Muslims, but no matter what the Jew did or what position he held, he was still a dhimmi. There is no compromise between being equal and being a dhimmi

Why should a Hindu want to recall the shame of slavery and the destruction of their temples and cities? After Hindu craftsmen built the Taj Mahal, the Muslim ruler had their right hands cut off so that they could not build anything as beautiful for anyone else. The practice of suttee, the widow throwing herself on the husband’s funeral pyre, came about as a response to the rape and brutality of the Islamic jihad as it sweep over ancient Hindustan.

Blacks don’t want to face the fact that it was a Muslim who rounded up their ancestors in Africa to wholesale to the white slave trader. The Arab is the true master of the African. Blacks can’t accept the common bond they share with whites: that both Europeans and Africans were slaves under Islam. Blacks like to imagine Islam is their counterweight to white power, not that Islam has ruled them for 1400 years.

Dualistic logic. Dualistic ethics. Fear. Shame. There is no compromise. These are the reasons we don’t want to know about Islam’s political history, doctrine or ethics.

FP So is there such a thing as non-political Islam?

Warner: Non-political Islam is religious Islam. Religious Islam is what a Muslim does to avoid Hell and go to Paradise. These are the Five Pillars—prayer, charity to Muslims, pilgrimage to Mecca, fasting and declaring Mohammed to be the final prophet.

But the Trilogy is clear about the doctrine. At least 75% of the Sira (life of Mohammed) is about jihad. About 67% of the Koran written in Mecca is about the unbelievers, or politics. Of the Koran of Medina, 51% is devoted to the unbelievers. About 20% of Bukhari’s Hadith is about jihad and politics. Religion is the smallest part of Islamic foundational texts.

Political Islam’s most famous duality is the division of the world into believers, dar al Islam, and unbelievers, dar al harb. The largest part of the Trilogy relates to treatment of the unbelievers, kafirs. Even Hell is political. There are 146 references to Hell in the Koran. Only 6% of those in Hell are there for moral failings—murder, theft, etc. The other 94% of the reasons for being in Hell are for the intellectual sin of disagreeing with Mohammed, a political crime. Hence, Islamic Hell is a political prison for those who speak against Islam.

Mohammed preached his religion for 13 years and garnered only 150 followers. But when he turned to politics and war, in 10 years time he became the first ruler of Arabia by averaging an event of violence every 7 weeks for 9 years. His success did not come as a religious leader, but as a political leader.

In short, political Islam defines how the unbelievers are to be dealt with and treated.

FP: Can you touch briefly on the history of political Islam?

Warner: The history of political Islam starts with Mohammed’s immigration to Medina. From that point on, Islam’s appeal to the world has always had the dualistic option of joining a glorious religion or being the subject of political pressure and violence. After the immigration to Medina, Islam became violent when persuasion failed. Jihad entered the world.

After Mohammed’s death, Abu Bakr, the second caliph, settled the theological arguments of those who wished to leave Islam with the political action of death by the sword. The jihad of Umar (the second caliph, a pope-king) exploded into the world of the unbelievers. Jihad destroyed a Christian Middle East and a Christian North Africa. Soon it was the fate of the Persian Zoroastrian and the Hindu to be the victims of jihad. The history of political Islam is the destruction of Christianity in the Middle East, Egypt, Turkey and North Africa. Half of Christianity was lost. Before Islam, North Africa was the southern part of Europe (part of the Roman Empire). Around 60 million Christians were slaughtered during the jihadic conquest.

Half of the glorious Hindu civilization was annihilated and 80 million Hindus killed.

The first Western Buddhists were the Greeks descended from Alexander the Great’s army in what is now Afghanistan. Jihad destroyed all of Buddhism along the silk route. About 10 million Buddhists died. The conquest of Buddhism is the practical result of pacifism.

Zoarasterianism was eliminated from Persia.

The Jews became permanent dhimmis throughout Islam.

In Africa over 120 million Christians and animists have died over the last 1400 years of jihad.

Approximately 270 million nonbelievers died over the last 1400 years for the glory of political Islam. These are the Tears of Jihad which are not taught in any school.

FP: How have our intellectuals responded to Islam?

Warner: The basis of all the unbeliever’s thought has collapsed in the face of Islamic political thought, ethics and logic. We have already mentioned how our first intellectuals could not even name the invaders as Muslims. We have no method of analysis of Islam. We can’t agree on what Islam is and have no knowledge about our suffering as the victims of a 1400-year jihad.

Look at how Christians, Jews, blacks, intellectuals and artists have dealt with Islamic doctrine and history. In every case their primary ideas fail.

Christians believe that “love conquers all.” Well, love does not conquer Islam. Christians have a difficult time seeing Islam as a political doctrine, not a religion. The sectarian nature of Christian thought means that the average non-Orthodox Christian has no knowledge or sympathy about the Orthodox Christian’s suffering.

Jews have a theology that posits a unique relationship between Jews and the creator-god of the universe. But Islam sees the Jews as apes who corrupted the Old Testament. Jews see no connection between Islam’s political doctrine and Israel.

Black intellectuals have based their ideas on the slave/victim status and how wrong it was for white Christians to make them slaves. Islam has never acknowledged any of the pain and suffering it has caused in Africa with its 1400-year-old slave trade. But blacks make no attempt to get an apology from Muslims and are silent in the presence of Islam. Why? Is it because Arabs are their masters?

Multiculturalism is bankrupt against Islam’s demand for every civilization to submit. The culture of tolerance collapses in the face of the sacred intolerance of dualistic ethics. Intellectuals respond by ignoring the failure.

Our intellectuals and artists have been abused for 1400 years. Indeed, the psychology of our intellectuals is exactly like the psychology of the abused wife, the sexually abused child or rape victim. Look at the parallels between the response of abuse victims and our intellectuals. See how violence has caused denial.

The victims deny that the abuse took place: Our media never reports the majority of jihad around the world. Our intellectuals don’t talk about how all of the violence is connected to a political doctrine.

The abuser uses fear to control the victim: What was the reason that newspapers would not publish the Mohammed cartoon? Salman Rushdie still has a death sentence for his novel. What “cutting edge” artist creates any artistic statement about Islam? Fear rules our intellectuals and artists.

The victims find ways to blame themselves: We are to blame for the attacks on September 11, 2001. If we try harder Muslims will act nicer. We have to accommodate their needs.

The victim is humiliated: White people will not talk about how their ancestors were enslaved by Islam. No one wants to claim the victims of jihad. Why won’t we claim the suffering of our ancestors? Why don’t we cry about the loss of cultures and peoples? We are too ashamed to care.

The victim feels helpless: “What are we going to do?” “We can’t kill 1.3 billion people.” No one has any understanding or optimism. No one has an idea of what to try. The only plan is to “be nicer.”

The victim turns the anger inward: What is the most divisive issue in today’s politics? Iraq. And what is Iraq really about? Political Islam. The Web has a video about how the CIA and Bush planned and executed September 11. Cultural self-loathing is the watchword of our intellectuals and artists.

We hate ourselves because we are mentally molested and abused. Our intellectuals and artists have responded to the abuse of jihad just as a sexually abused child or a rape victim would respond. We are quite intellectually ill and are failing at our job of clear thinking. We can’t look at our denial.

FP: So summarize for us why it is so crucial for us to learn the doctrine of political Islam.

Warner: Political Islam has annihilated every culture it has invaded or immigrated to. The total time for annihilation takes centuries, but once Islam is ascendant it never fails. The host culture disappears and becomes extinct.

We must learn the doctrine of political Islam to survive. The doctrine is very clear that all forms of force and persuasion may and must be used to conquer us. Islam is a self-declared enemy of all unbelievers. The brilliant Chinese philosopher of war, Sun Tsu, had the dictum—know the enemy. We must know the doctrine of our enemy or be annihilated.

Or put another way: if we do not learn the doctrine of political Islam, our civilization will be annihilated just as Egypt’s Coptic civilization was annihilated.

Since unbelievers must know the doctrine of political Islam to survive, CSPI has written all of its books in simple English. Our books are scholarly, but easy to read. As an example, anyone who can read a newspaper can pick up A Simple Koran and read and understand it. It is not “dumbed down” and contains every single word of the original.

Not only is the language simple, but logic has been used to sort and categorize. Context and chronology have been restored. The result is a Koran that is an epic story ending in triumph over all enemies of Allah. All of our books and philosophy may be found at our center's website.

Islam declares that we are the enemies of Allah. If we do not learn the political doctrine of Islam we will end up just like the first victims of Islam—the tolerant, polytheist Arabs of Saudi Arabia who became the Wahabbis (a very strict branch of Islam) of today, the most intolerant culture on the face of the earth.

FP: Bill Warner, thank you for joining us today.

Warner: Jamie, thank you for your kindness and efforts.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=6AA49466-2575-491F-B712-CEA90FCCCD0D

Panel discussion on Amarnath land issue (audio): http://www.sdfgloba l.org/images/ audios/Aug% 2016%202008% 20Amarnath% 20Panel%20Discus sion.mp3

Responding to terror without understanding islamist jihad

2008-08-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

Terrorism and our response by Kalyan Viswanathan
http://www.blogs. ivarta.com/ india-usa- blog-column143. htm

Propellant of terrorism by NS Rajaram (Pioneer, 13 Aug. 2008)

Islamism fuels jihad, integral to the vocabulary of Islam

In response to the requests by the Governments of Rajasthan and Gujarat to approve special laws for dealing with terrorism, the Union Home Minister Shivaraj Patil retorted that existing laws would suffice. This highlights a profound misconception about jihadi terrorism prevailing in the Government and the intelligentsia -- that terrorists are lawbreakers who can be dealt with by law enforcement authorities.

The jihadis see it very differently: they recognise as legitimate no laws other than those sanctioned by the shariat (Islamic code). The goal of jihad is to wage a continuous war until the whole world is brought under the sway of Islam governed by the shariat. To fight terrorism it is necessary first to understand this ideology and the associated military doctrine. Terrorism is not a crime wave but an ideological war on all fronts. We will have only ourselves to blame if we fail to see this fundamental truth.

Dictionary of Islam defines jihad as: "A religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of Muhammad (the prophet). It is an incumbent religious duty, established in the Quran and in the traditions as a divine institution, and enjoined especially for the purpose of advancing Islam..."

The same point is made by Muslim authorities, both ancient and modern. Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), arguably the greatest thinker produced by Islam saw jihad as an aggressive war of expansion with the 'universal' mission to convert everyone: "The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defence... Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations."

According to the influential modern thinker Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), the intellectual father of Al Qaeda: "...wherever an Islamic community exists... it has a god-given right to step forward and take control of the political authority... When god restrained Muslims from jihad for a certain period, it was a question of strategy rather than of principle..." We need look no further to understand what motivates the terrorists. It has nothing to do with grievances over Godhra, Palestine or anything else as some jihad apologists would have us believe.

When we come to the use of terror as an instrument of policy, we have the seminal work The Quranic Concept of War by the Pakistani Brigadier SK Malik to guide us. In his effusive foreword, the late General Zia-ul-Haq wrote that the book "...brings out with simplicity, clarity and precision the Quranic philosophy on the application of the military force, within the context of the totality that is jihad."

This means that jihad, "the most glorious word in the vocabulary of Islam," is nothing less than total war. According to Brigadier Malik, "the prophet's operations... are an integral and inseparable part of the divine message revealed to us in the Quran. ...The war he planned and carried out was total to the infinite degree. It was waged on all fronts: internal and external, political and diplomatic, spiritual and psychological, economic and military."

Another point made by the author is that the war should be carried out in the opponent's territory. "The aggressor was always met and destroyed in his own territory." In this Orwellian language, an 'aggressor' is anyone who stands in the way of jihad, that is to say anyone who defends himself. Terrorism is its underlying military doctrine. "The Quranic military strategy thus enjoins us to prepare ourselves for war to the utmost in order to strike terror into the heart of the enemy..."

It doesn't stop here, for Brigadier Malik assures us: "Terror struck into the hearts of the enemy is not only a means, it is the end in itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent's heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved... Terror is not a means of imposing decision upon the enemy; it is the decision we wish to impose upon him." For justification, he cites the Quran (Anfal 59-60): "Against them (non-Muslims) make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror (into the hearts of) the enemies of allah and your enemies..."

One can see that the primary sources from the Quran and the early commentators like Ibn Khaldun to modern exponents like Sayyid Qutb and Brigadier Malik leave nothing to the imagination when it comes to jihad and the role of terrorism -- whether the goal or the tactics employed. India's politicians and thinkers must face up to this reality and prepare to fight a long war against a relentless adversary.

http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=oped&file_name=opd3.txt&counter_img=3

Jihadi terror wears now a separatist guise in J&K

2008-08-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Jihadi terror wears now a separatist guise in J&K

ET asks Shivraj Patil to go home. In fact, the recommendation should have been: Sonia, go home! She is the empress running the politics of UPA. Rest are chamcha-s who cannot open their mouths without the empress’ approval. So, why ask Shivraj alone to go home, leaving the substitute PM and the empress of 10 Janpath, scot-free?
The source of terror in Hindusthan is the state run by terror-cuddlers thinking that vote-bank politics demands such cuddling. Little do these cuddlers realize that the very-cuddled jihadi terror will consume the cuddlers themselves.

The latest salvo comes on CNN-IBN interview of Aug. 12, 2008 from the Hon’ble Shivraj who says that he has no problems with Kashmir valley traders using the road to Muzaffarabad. Come on, Shivraj, are you the external minister-commerce minister rolled into one? Is the opening of the road a move by Hindusthan to militarily recapture the road and also the occupied portion of J&K occupied by the Pakistan intruders? If so, remove the temporary Art. 370 by a Presidential proclamation and declare the entire J&K (including the regions occupied by Pakistan intruders) an integral part of Hindustan.

Kalyan

GOVT.& BJP PLAY INTO THE HANDS OF JIHADI TERRORISTS
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO.427
B.RAMAN
The nation is still reeling under the impact of three rounds of serial blasts in quick succession in Jaipur on May 13, 2008, in Bengaluru on July 25 and in Ahmedabad on July 26. The police have been unable to make much headway in the investigations into the Mumbai suburban train blasts of July ,2006, in which about 190 innocent civilians were killed and other terrorist strikes, which have followed one after the other in different parts of the country. The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States of Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat have been as clueless in the face of this terrorism as the non-BJP ruled States.
2.There is a huge jihadi iceberg, which has been moving from State to State spreading death and destruction. We have not been able to locate this iceberg, trace its movement and destroy it. We don't even know who are behind the so-called Indian Mujahideen, which has claimed responsibility for many of these terrorist strikes.They have had many failures in the form of unexploded improvised explosive devices (IEDs) --- over 30 of them. The conventional wisdom in investigation is that every failure by the terrorists takes the police one step closer to a successful identification of the terrorists responsible. Over 30 failures --- over 20 of them in Surat in Gujarat-- and yet we are as clueless as ever.Were these failed IEDs examined by a single team? What were their conclusions? No answer.
3. The so-called Indian Mujahideen had sent three E-mail messages claiming responsibility--- two before the explosions took place and one after the explosion. It has been reported by "The Hindu" that one more message purporting to be from the Indian Mujahideen has been received by a newspaper warning of terrorist strikes in Godhra in Gujarat where a group of Hindu pilgrims travelling in a railway compartment were burnt to death by a group of Muslim fanatics in February 2002, which provoked acts of retaliation by sections of the Hindus all over the State. We take pride in the fact that we are a nation of high-class experts in information technology (IT). And yet, we have not been able to make any break-through in our investigation through an examination of these messages.
4.It is ageed by all analysts that one of the objectives of the perpetrators of these blasts in different States of India outside Jammu & Kashmir was to create a divide between the Hindus and the Muslims. Fortunately--- thanks to the prompt action by the concerned State administrations and to the good sense of the two communities--- the terrorists have not succeeded in this objective.
5.But what the terrorists have failed to achieve so far in other parts of India through their repeated acts of terrorism, the Government of India and the BJP have achieved for them in Jammu & Kashmir---- the Government through its shockingly ham-handed handling of a sensitive issue and the BJP by its cynical exploitation of the communal tensions arising from the Government's mishandling for partisan political purposes with an eye on Hindu votes in the next elections, which are expected before next May.
6. Ham-handed handling of vital national security issues has become the defininig characteristics of the Government of India. We have been seeing it again and again since the Mumbai suburban train blasts of July 2006. Important decisions have been taken--- whether relating to Pakistan or China or terrorism--- without examining their implications for national security. Many sensitive issues have been handled in a shockingly inept manner--- thereby giving the impression of its being a Government of novices with very little understanding of such issues.
7.Nothing illustrated its ineptitude more dramatically than the casual manner in which it watched without intervening when the decision to transfer a plot of land to the ownership of a board for the maintenance of a Hindu shrine (Amarnath) in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley was taken by the local administration headed by the Congress (I) without a proper examination of its likely impact on Muslim public opinion and its likely exploitation by the Muslim radicals and then when the leaders of the Muslim community protested against it,it was cancelled without examining its likely impact on Hindu public opinion in the Hindu majority Jammu Division of the State.
8. The agitation launched by the Hindus of the Jammu Division of the State against the cancellation could have been justified if they had kept it confined to demonstrations and protests. Instead of doing so, they used the agitation for indulging in deplorable acts such as trying to disrupt communications with the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and allegedly preventing the Muslim farmers of the Valley from sending their produce of fruits to the rest of India for sale.
9. This was a dangerous turn in the agitation and was interpreted by many as an economic blocade of the Muslims in order to force them to concede the demands of the Hindus in relation to the transfer of the land. A similar situation was sought to be created in 1990 by the jihadis in the valley by preventing the fruit farmers and artisans from sending their produce to the rest of India for sale. The Government of V.P.Singh, the then Prime Minister, immediately intervened and had their fruits etc flown from Srinagar to the rest of India at Government's expense in special planes of the Indian Airlines. It also organised Kashmir Trade Fairs in Delhi and other parts of India and helped the Kashmiri farmers and artisans to bring their produce out for sale.
10. One would have expected the Government of India to have promptly acted in a similar manner to break the alleged blocade by the Hindus of Jammu. It did nothing of the sort. It kept fiddling as the situation went from bad to worse. Angered by the inaction of the Government, the fruit farmers, instigated by the Muslim radicals and jihadi terrorists, decided to take their produce to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir for sale. No Government could have allowed this. The Government's efforts to stop this have led to instances of firing by the security forces on unruly mobs resulting in over 15 deaths.
11. One would have expected the BJP, which aspires to come to power in New Delhi after the next elections, to exercise self-restraint and resist the urge to exploit the situation for partisan political purposes. The expectations have been belied. Its crude attempts to exploit the situation with an eye on the next elections have added oil to fire and are threatening to take J&K back to 1989, when the insurgency started. All the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism gains of recent years in the State face the danger of being wiped out by the Government's inept handling and the BJP's cynical exploitation of it.
12. In the situation as it is developing in J&K, nobody seems to be interested in national interests and in protecting the lives, property and economic interests of its citizens--- whatever be their religion. Partisan political interests have taken precedence over national interests.
13. Public opinion should force the Government and the BJP to wake up and prevent a slide back to 1989. Otherwise, the Indian Mujahideen, whoever is behind it, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence will be having the last laugh. (12-8-08)
(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 )

Read more at...
http://jihaditerror.blogspot.com/2008/08/jihadi-terror-wears-now-separatist.html

BJP opposed to opening of Muzaffarabad road route
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday said it is opposed to any move by the government to open up the Muzaffarabad road route to Pakistan for trade "in the present circumstances."
"The party is in favour of normal relations and trade with Pakistan. But in the present circumstances any step by the government to open trade through Muzaffarabad would send wrong signals especially when the separatists are demanding the same," party spokesperson Ravi Shanker Prasad told reporters here.
Stressing that a solution to the problem was possible only through "dialogue", the party reiterated that there has been no economic blockade and the issue has been blown out of proportion by the separatist forces.
"The truck movement in and out of the valley is normal and there is no economic blockade. The separatist forces are trying to blow it out of proportion because they have been caught on the wrong foot on the land issue of Amarnath," Prasad said.
The separatists with the help of some politicians are trying to create a series of blockade while the reality is that daily 400-500 trucks are moving in and out of the valley, he added.
Meanwhile as per sources, BJP feels that the "government is relying on the issue to die down on its own after Yatra which completes on August 17" and is not making "serious efforts to solve the issue."
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200808122121.htm
BJP slams UPA constituents, asks PM to come clean on colleagues
New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday criticised the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), taking exception to two allies arguing for lifting the ban on the terror outfit SIMI and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) giving a call to Kashmir's fruit growers to cross the Line of Control (LOC).
“Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav have shamefully advocated the lifting of the ban on the SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), which is not only anti-national but also follows the philosophy of Taliban,” BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters here.
A tribunal last week ordered lifting the ban on SIMI, though the Supreme Court overturned the ruling.
“Now the PDP has incited people from Kashmir to drive out trucks and cross over to Muzaffarabad (Pakistan-administered Kashmir capital). The present composition of the UPA is hurting national and economical interests of the country,” Rudy said.
Earlier in the day, two people were killed and dozens injured when security forces opened fire at a group of fruit merchants who were trying to march to the LoC, dividing Kashmir, as high tension prevailed in the Kashmir Valley.
Thousands of fruit growers and others, alleging "economic blockade" by protesters in Jammu over the Amarnath land row, had gathered in Sopore, an apple trade centre, and at many places of the valley to walk over to Pakistan-administered Kashmir using the Srinagar-Uri-Muzaffarabad highway.
Violent demonstrations on the Jammu-Srinagar highway had caused disruption in the supply of medicines, food items and other commodities to the valley.
Fruit supplies to other states of India from Kashmir by road, which is the only motorable link to the valley, were also stopped.
“The Amarnath issue is lingering for the past 41 days. The government did not have sense and responsibility to take up the matter early and take necessary action,” Rudy said.
He said the BJP Monday launched its three-day 'jail bharo' or court arrest campaign and its thousands of activists and leaders have been arrested across the country.
He said party leader Vijay Goel and Harsh Vardhan were arrested among other activists for staging protest at Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi. Around 2,000 people were arrested in Rajasthan. The workers were later released on bail.
“Some 3,000 party workers were arrested in Madhya Pradesh. More than 1,000 were arrested in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. While hundreds were arrested in Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,” he said.
Rudy said the party could not hold protest in Maharashtra and Jammu due to heavy rains and in Uttarakhand due to panchayat polls.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=88435#
Mr Shivraj Patil, go home!
29 Jul, 2008, 0536 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: These are our brothers who have gone astray. We have a duty to bring them back to the family fold. It is only through dialogue that a solution is possible: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil in the Lok Sabha.

The government had some advance knowledge that such an attack might take place, but what we didn’t have was the place and the time: Shivraj Patil after the Mumbai train blasts.

There is breakthrough in the search for clues. We have sufficient information but we are not going to reveal for the sake of investigations: Shivraj Patil after the Samajhauta blasts The UP government has done their bit. The police have done their bit. The people are vigilant. We have deployed more forces: Shivraj Patil after the Varanasi blasts.

I will not like to name the dangerous outfits. I appreciate people of Rajasthan for showing restraint despite provocation by the perpetrators of violence: Shivraj Patil after the Jaipur blasts.

Afzal Guru... You are asking for the death sentence to be waived for people (the reference is to Sarabjit Singh a death row convict in Pakistan; India says he is a case of mistaken identity and is seeking his pardon) and you are demanding that people from Hindustan should be hanged. What are you doing? You are starting to say that those people should not be hanged and here, you are demanding a hanging: Mr Patil again, drawing a shocking parallel between the Parliament attack convict and the wronged Sarabjit.

These sound bites — a combination of indifference, law enforcement fickleness and reckless tolerance — are the standard fare from the Union home minister each time terror strikes India's hinterland. In the past four years, the home minister or the men in his department tasked with handling the nation's security have rarely opened their eyes to hatred or connected the terror dots. The investigations into the terror attacks have not reached anywhere. And his party's ideological apologism and its reliance on concepts such as "innocent until proven guilty" and "benefit of doubt" offer a free run for the murderous thugs.

The home minister is not the only one aiding this cynical project. Everytime the terrorists target innocents, the leaders of the ruling regime focus on the 'root cause' of the attack. To the regime managers, these are acts of violence by 'our brothers gone astray'. There are also routine calls for compassionate handling of terror crimes. Naturally, there is charge that the government is handcuffing the police at every step of the way.

But nothing seems to shame Shivraj Patil. Not even such numbing statistics as the killings, at last count, of 5,900 people and terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Hyderabad Bangalore and Ahmedabad. He appears to believe that his job ends with making an on-the-spot visit to the site of the terror attack and mouthing few meaningless words.

Already, many in the Congress have begun admitting that sticking with a minister who routinely advertises his cluelessness is plain bad news. In any case when it comes to the government's credibility on national security, the public is not buying it. This just does not augur well for the ruling side.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/Mr_Shivraj_Patil_go_home/articleshow/3299913.cms

Self-proclaimed Indian Mujahideen ...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4365020/indian-mujahideen
Jihadi terror in Tamil Nadu...
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20080829251701600.htm
Moorthy Muthuswamy on Frontpage magazine, conducted by Jamie Glazov…
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=5C2AF0F9-9FDD-4595-89BA-308CC5C8549A
India Terrorism Assessment – 2007
2,765 people died in terrorism-related violence in India during year 2006. A review of the data indicates that nearly 41 per cent of all such fatalities occurred in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) alone as a result of the Pakistan-backed separatist proxy war in that State. 27 per cent resulted from Left Wing Extremism (Maoism/Naxalism) across parts of 14 States, prominently including Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Karnataka. 23 per cent of the total fatalities in 2006 occurred in the multiple insurgencies of India’s Northeast.
By comparison, year 2005 witnessed a total of 3,236 fatalities in terrorism-related incidents across the country. The fatality index, consequently, registered a definite decrease in year 2006.
At least 231 of the country’s 608 Districts are currently afflicted, at differing intensities, by various insurgent and terrorist movements. Terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir (affecting 12 of the States 14 Districts), in different States of the Northeast (54 Districts) and Left Wing extremism (affecting at least 165 Districts in 14 States, estimate based on end-2005 data) continue to pose serious challenges to the country’s security framework. In addition, wide areas of the country appear to have ‘fallen off the map’ of good governance, and are acutely susceptible to violent political mobilization, lawlessness and organized criminal activity.
Jammu and Kashmir
Since 2002, terrorism-related fatalities have demonstrated a secular decline in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), and this trend continued in 2006, with a total of 1,116 persons killed. More than 40,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict since 1989, and, even at present, an average of nearly 100 lives is lost each month in J&K.
Fatalities in Terrorist Violence in Jammu and Kashmir

Civilians
Security Force Personnel
Terrorist
Total
2001
1067
590
2850
4507
2002
839
469
1714
3022
2003
658
338
1546
2542
2004
534
325
951
1810
2005
520
216
996
1732
2006
349
168
599
1116
Source: Institute for Conflict Management database.
(Note: Compiled from news reports and is provisional)
Despite the declines in indices of violence, the State continues to suffer from high levels of violence and subversion. Pakistan’s military regime, which was forced to scale down its proxy-war under intense international scrutiny, has nevertheless shown no indication of dismantling the vast infrastructure of terrorism on its soil. According to the Union Home Ministry’s (MHA) "Status Paper on Internal Security Situation" (presented in Parliament on November 30, 2006), the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir is yet to be dismantled and is being "used by Pak based and Pak ISI sponsored outfits like JeM [Jaish-e-Mohammed], LeT [Lashkar-e-Toiba], Al-Badr, HM [Hizb-ul-Mujahideen], etc."
Amidst the hype on people-to-people contacts and confidence-building measures (CBMs), it is evident that the reduced levels of violence in J&K primarily reflect a tactical rather than strategic shift in the Pakistani calculus, as a two-pronged strategy of parallel talks and terrorism is pursued by the Musharraf regime to secure its ambitions against India.
Talks between India and Pakistan thus continue under the aegis of the Composite Dialogue, even as terrorism in J&K, and sporadically in other parts of the India, persists. At the same time, Pakistan has been complaining bitterly about the slow pace of ‘progress’ towards the goals it seeks to secure on the negotiating table, having failed to achieve these through its vicious campaign of terrorism over 17 years. The peace process, consequently, remains, tactical rather than substantive, as the hiatus between the rival positions on Kashmir remains unbridgeable, and much of the ‘progress’ has been in peripheral areas, such as the restoration of communication links, people-to-people exchanges, Track Two diplomacy and a range of confidence building measures. At the same time, the ground situation in J&K remains a cause for concern, as a stream of infiltrators continues to find its way into the terror wracked State. While the various CBMs currently operational between the two countries may have strengthened processes of 'emotional enlistment', have failed to alter India's and Pakistan's stated positions on the Kashmir issue, or to change the fundamentals of the conflict in and over Kashmir. An end to the bloodshed in the State, consequently, seems as unlikely today as it was at any given point since the dramatic escalation of the militancy in 1989-90.
The Northeast
There has been a marginal improvement in the levels of militancy in the Northeast. While 715 people died in 2005, 627 people were killed in militancy-related violence during 2006.
Nevertheless, certain States of the region have shown remarkable signs of recovery in recent years. Tripura, once considered to be one of the most violent States of the country, recorded 59 insurgency-related fatalities in 2006, down from 75 in 2005, and from a peak of 514 in 2000. Tripura is "carving out a success story in the troubled setting of India’s Northeast, as its Police force reorganizes radically to evolve a counter-insurgency strategy that has left entrenched militant groups in disarray." Building on a "model of a police-led response to terrorism, which saw the country’s most dramatic victory over this modern scourge in Punjab in the early 1990s, Tripura’s Police, under the leadership of its Chief, G.M. Srivastava, has reversed the trajectory of insurgent violence and, crucially, mobilisation… despite continued and vigorous support provided to the insurgent groups by Bangladesh, and the safe haven each of these outfits has been provided in that country."
The gains in Tripura are more than offset by the losses in Manipur, which, at 280 fatalities, now accounts for nearly 45 per cent of the fatalities in the Northeast – with just 5.6 per cent of the region’s population. Manipur thus remains the most violent State in the region, although there is a relative decline in violence, with total fatalities registering a decline from 331 in 2005. While a number of other States in the Northeast have or are being reclaimed from protracted insurgencies, Manipur continues to remain volatile. Large-scale extortion and its impact on ordinary lives, as well as on the lives of people at the helm of affairs in the State, are symptomatic of the virtual collapse of governance in the State.
Assam too remains a disturbed State with 174 deaths in 2006 compared to 242 fatalities in 2005.
Assam, which attracts far greater national attention and accounts for 69 per cent of the population of the Northeast, saw 174 fatalities in 2006, as against 242 in 2005. The militancy in Assam persists despite continuous and successful operations by the Security Forces, with the principal terrorist groups – particularly the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) – finding permanent safe haven and significant state support across the border in Bangladesh.
Nagaland, where a ‘peace process’ has been in place since 1997, saw the third largest number of fatalities in the region in 2006, with 90 dead, overwhelmingly in the fratricidal turf-war between the rival Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland. Both the militant outfits (NSCN-IM and NSCN-K) are in cease-fire agreements with the Government in Nagaland, but the Government continues been held hostage to the diktats of the insurgent groups. The process of negotiations has been complicated by insurgent groups that have appropriated the attributes of criminal and extortionist gangs, and successfully circumvent the due process of law by their engagement in the negotiation process with the Government.
The fight against insurgency in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh remains largely successful.
Fatalities in Terrorist Violence in India's Northeast, 2005-2006
States
2005
2006

Civilian
SFs
Terrorist
Total
Civilian
SFs
Terrorist
Total
Assam
149
10
83
242
96
35
43
174
Nagaland
9
0
31
40
9
1
80
90
Meghalaya
2
1
26
29
7
0
17
24
Manipur
138
50
143
331
95
37
148
280
Tripura
34
8
31
73
11
19
29
59
Total
332
69
314
715
218
92
317
627
Source: Institute for Conflict Management
(Note: Compiled from news reports and is provisional)
In spite of the Government’s efforts in bringing all militant outfits to the negotiating table, the region continues to remain disturbed. Indeed, ‘peace processes’ that have consistently failed to get to the bottom of the core issues of the conflict, are themselves fraught with problems, producing a rush to enter into unprincipled agreements with particular, with little concern regarding the broader outcome on other groups, and on the region at large. The prevailing orientation to ‘peace processes’ and negotiations with terrorist groups have often "paralyzed the state and have even occasionally undermined the will of elements within the Security Forces to act with determination against terrorism. They have certainly undermined the capacity of the political and administrative leadership to define coherent policies against terrorism, and to implement these consistently."
In spite of the Government’s efforts in bringing all militant outfits to the negotiating table, the region continues to remain disturbed. Indeed, ‘peace processes’ that have consistently failed to get to the bottom of the core issues of the conflict, are themselves fraught with problems, producing a rush to enter into unprincipled agreements with particular, with little concern regarding the broader outcome on other groups, and on the region at large. The prevailing orientation to ‘peace processes’ and negotiations with terrorist groups have often "paralyzed the state and have even occasionally undermined the will of elements within the Security Forces to act with determination against terrorism. They have certainly undermined the capacity of the political and administrative leadership to define coherent policies against terrorism, and to implement these consistently."
The militant groups operating in various States of the Northeast have usually found refuge in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. Fencing along the 4,096.7 kilometre-long border with Bangladesh, suggested as a remedy to the problem of militancy, has not been completed, leaving ample scope for easy entry and exit by the militants. Similarly, a number of militant groups operating in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur have taken shelter in Myanmar.
Left-Wing Extremism
Accounting for 27 per cent of the total fatalities in India during 2006, Left Wing extremism constitutes what Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh rightly described as the "single biggest internal security challenge" confronting the country. The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), today, exercises dominance over a large swathe of the country’s territory, carry out attacks on security forces and symbols of governance at will. Chhattisgarh has now emerged as one of the principal centres of a co-ordinated Maoist movement. Indeed, with 361 fatalities in 2006, Chhattisgarh is the most violent State after Jammu and Kashmir. While the number of Maoist-affected States in the country is currently pegged at 14, the movement has demonstrated the intent and potential to spread across the length and breadth of the country. The Maoist threat has now overtaken all other insurgencies in the country – at least from the perspective of geographical spread, with various levels of Maoist mobilisation and violence currently afflicting at least 165 Districts in 14 States. Over the past years, moreover, while fatalities in various other insurgencies have tended to decline consistently, fatalities related to the Maoist conflict have continuously augmented.
A total of 742 persons died in Maoist-related violence across the country in 2006, up from 717 in 2005. Chhattisgarh in 2006 emerged as the worst affected State – dramatically displacing Andhra Pradesh – and the Dantewada District was by far the worst off within the State.
Fatalities in Maoist Violence, 2005-2006
States
2005
2006

Civilian
SF
Maoist
Total
Civilian
SF
Maoist
Total
Andhra Pradesh
132
21
167
320
18
7
127
152
Bihar
25
29
52
106
16
5
19
40
Jharkhand
49
27
20
96
18
47
29
94
Karnataka
52
48
26
126
0
0
1
1
Chhattisgarh
13
1
3
17
189
55
117
361
Maharashtra
2
17
8
27
13
3
33
49
Orissa
2
6
4
12
3
4
16
23
West Bengal
1
0
6
7
9
7
4
20
Uttar Pradesh
5
1
0
6
0
0
2
2
Total*
281
150
286
717
266
128
348
742
Source: Institute for Conflict Management database
(Note: Compiled from news reports and is provisional)
According to the Union Home Ministry’s Status Paper on Internal Security, the marginal increase in casualties of civilians is mainly due to high violence levels in Chhattisgarh and to some extent in Jharkhand. The paper noted that, "Chhattisgarh alone accounts for 49.30 per cent of total incidents and 59.80 per cent of total casualties in the current year." There is, however, no assessment of the reasons for the decline in violence in other States – other than Andhra Pradesh, where focused Police action has resulted in a flight of the Maoists – and there is reason to believe that the decline in violence is a Maoist decision, rather than any significant gain on the part of the state Forces. Maoist efforts are evidently and increasingly focused on political mobilization and consolidation over wider areas.
According to the Union Home Ministry’s Status Paper on Internal Security, the marginal increase in casualties of civilians is mainly due to high violence levels in Chhattisgarh and to some extent in Jharkhand. The paper noted that, "Chhattisgarh alone accounts for 49.30 per cent of total incidents and 59.80 per cent of total casualties in the current year." There is, however, no assessment of the reasons for the decline in violence in other States – other than Andhra Pradesh, where focused Police action has resulted in a flight of the Maoists – and there is reason to believe that the decline in violence is a Maoist decision, rather than any significant gain on the part of the state Forces. Maoist efforts are evidently and increasingly focused on political mobilization and consolidation over wider areas.
It is useful to recognize, within this context, that the threat of the Maoists is "not limited to the areas of immediate violence, nor does this threat vanish if violence is not manifested at a particular location for a specific period of time. It is in the complex processes of political activity, mass mobilisation, arms training and military consolidation that the Maoist potential has to be estimated." Significantly, the CPI-Maoist has established "Regional Bureaus across a mass of nearly two-thirds of the country's territory, and these regions are further sub-divided into state, special zonal and special area committee jurisdictions, where the processes of mobilisation have been defined and allocated to local leaders. This structure of organisation substantially reflects current Maoist plans, but does not exhaust their perspectives or ambitions. There is further evidence of preliminary activity for the extension of operations to new areas including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Meghalaya, beyond what is reflected in the scope of the regional, zonal and state committees." Maoists have also articulated a new strategy to target urban centres in their "Urban Perspective Document", drawing up guidelines for "working in towns and cities", and for the revival of a mobilization effort targeting students and the urban unemployed. Two principal 'industrial belts' have been identified as targets for urban mobilisation: Bhilai-Ranchi-Dhanbad-Calcutta and Mumbai-Pune-Surat-Ahmedabad. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on December 5, 2006, that Maoists were now planning to target important installations in major cities of India. Patil said "Like forests provide safe hideouts to Naxalites in tribal areas, the cities also provide them cover. Taking advantage of this, they plan to target major installations in cities."
The Maoist menace continues to expand, except where it has been confronted by coherent use of force – as is presently and substantially the case in Andhra Pradesh, where area domination exercise under the leadership of the local Police, backed by the armed reserve forces and the Grey Hounds, and a well-developed intelligence network, have succeeded in beating back the Naxalites to a large extent, and have forced their leadership into flight. The Andhra Pradesh Police has long prepared for this confrontation and has consistently developed its capacities to engage with the Maoists in their ‘strongholds’, though it has been repeatedly inhibited by political constraints from effective action. These constraints appear, for the moment, to have been lifted.
Other States, however, remain far from prepared. Indeed, a consistent feature across all the major Maoist-affected States is that they have extraordinarily poor policing capacities. As against a national average of 122 police personnel per 100,000 population, and some peaceful States with ratios as high as 854/100,000 (Mizoram) and 609/100,000 (Sikkim), Bihar has just 57, Jharkhand – 85, Chhattisgarh – 103 and Orissa – 90, and even Andhra Pradesh, just 98 per 100,000 population. Worse, there is ample evidence that large proportions of the Central allocation for police modernisation and up-gradation remain unspent or are being diverted or mis-spent. Utilization of funds has been particularly poor over the years in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
Islamist Terrorism outside J&K and the Northeast
At least 270 people died in Islamist terrorist violence in locations outside J&K and the Northeast during 2006. The significant incidents included:
March 7: At least 21 civilians were killed and 62 others injured in three serial bomb explosions at a temple and railway station in Varanasi. Seven bombs were later defused, including four that had been planted on the Gowdolia-Dasashwamedh Ghat Road near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Hours after the blasts, a suspected LeT terrorist was shot dead during an encounter with the police in the Gosaiganj area on the outskirts of Lucknow city.
April 14: Two bombs exploded inside the Jama Masjid at Delhi injuring approximately 14 persons, including a woman and a girl.
June 1: Three suspected LeT terrorists were shot dead during an abortive attempt to storm the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization, at Nagpur in Maharashtra.
July 11: At least 200 persons were killed and over 700 others injured in seven bomb blasts targeting the railway network in the city of Mumbai. First class compartments of local trains at Mira-Bayandhar, Jogeshwari, Mahim, Santacruz, Khar, Matunga and Borivli stations on the Western Railway were targeted.
September 8: Forty people killed and 65 sustain injuries in three bomb explosions at Malegaon town in the Nashik District of Maharashtra.
According to the MHA’s Status Paper, the current strategy of Pakistan-based terrorist groups is to:
· Maintain a continuous flow of finances to sustain the terrorist networks in India
· Target vital installations and economic infrastructure in India
· Recruit and train local modules
· Attack soft targets like market places, public transport system, places of worship and congregation, etc.
· Provoke communal tensions to create a wedge between communities
· Supply hardware through land and sea routes
The Status Paper discloses that the LeT and JeM also use territory and elements in Bangladesh and Nepal for movement of terrorists and finances. Army chief J. J. Singh, on December 27, 2006, stated that "As terrorists are finding it hard to penetrate the fence and new anti-infiltration systems placed all along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and in Punjab… The areas bordering Nepal and Bangladesh are still porous and intelligence reports suggest that terrorists are trying to use them to infiltrate into India."
According to data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management, at least 81 Inter-Services Intelligence-Jihadi modules have been disrupted just over the years 2004-2006, leading to hundreds of arrests across India – outside Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast – in locations that extend from Uttaranchal in the North, to Andhra Pradesh in the South, and from Gujarat in the West to West Bengal in the East. These modules had been tasked to target security and vital installations, communication links, and commercial and industrial centres, as well as to provoke instability and disorder by circulating large quantities of counterfeit currency and by drug trafficking. The National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan had stated, on July 28, 2006, that Indian security and nuclear installations are under "very serious threat" from the LeT, which may be planning a "major assault".
Worse, terrorist attacks by Pakistan-backed groups have occurred in places as far as Delhi, Mumbai, Malegaon, and Varanasi in 2006. Terrorist attacks in places like Mumbai and Varanasi in 2006 and earlier at Bangalore (December 28, 2005) and New Delhi (October 29, 2005) are only the more visible evidence of a long-term war of attrition by Pakistani state agencies and their jihadi surrogates, intended to undermine India’s political stability, by increasingly attacking its economic, scientific and technological strengths. The frequency, spread and, in some cases, intensity of these operations in other parts of the country has seen some escalation in the past years, as international pressure on Pakistan to end terrorism in J&K has diminished levels of ‘deniable’ engagement in that theatre, and as violence in J&K demonstrates a continuous secular decline since the events of September 11, 2001 in the US.
It is important to note, however, that despite occasional and inevitable terrorist ‘successes’, this relentless strategy – which has targeted virtually every concentration of Muslim populations in India for decades – has overwhelmingly failed to secure a base within the community, beyond a minuscule radical fringe. Further, the record of intelligence and security agency successes against such subversion and terror, although lacking the visibility and drama of a terrorist strike, is immensely greater than the record of the successes of this strategy.

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/index.html

Latest on satp: http://satp.org/satporgtp/latest/index.html

Related links
All links are from: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/Archives/5_25.htm
To:
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/publication/faultlines/volume2/Fault2-JafaF.htm
· Darkness and Light - - Kanchan Lakshman, SAIR
· Ends and Beginnings -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Populist Follies, Confounded State -- Saji Cherian, SAIR
· Terror, Migrants and Politics -- Bibhu Prasad routray, SAIR
· No Surprises in Bangalore -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Reframing 'Strategic Depth' -- Kanchan Lakshman, SAIR
· Shadow Over the festival of Light -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Belated Adventures -- Bibhu Prasad Routray,SAIR
· Another 'Module' Implodes -- K.P.S. Gill, SAIR
· A Prime Minister Speaks: Finally, a Clear Voice on Terror -- K. P. S. Gill, SAIR
· Maoist Insurgencies: The Eclipse of Governance -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Naxalites: While We Were Sleeping -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· "Food for Thought" -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Salvaging a Relationship -- E.N. Rammohan, SAIR
· Bad Medicine for a Red Epidemic -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· The Chasm between Rhetoric and Reality -- G. Parthasarathy, SAIR
· Terror and Democratic Resilience -- Kanchan Lakshman, SAIR
· Left Wing Rampage -- Saji Cherian, SAIR
· Terrorism & Legal Policy in India - Saji Cherian, Faultlines
· Pakistan Explores a Political End-Game -- Praveen Swami, SAIR
· Stumbling out of the Bind -- K.P.S. Gill, SAIR
· Mounting Tensions over Illegal Migrants and Terror Bases -- Sanjay K. Jha, SAIR
· Strategic Realignment -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Rare Justice -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Leftist Carnage -- Sanjay K Jha, SAIR
· The Delhi Declaration: Convergence on Terror -- Ajai Sahni, SAIR
· Bihar: Expanding Left-Wing Violence -- Sanjay K. Jha, SAIR
· Running Guns in India's Northeast -- Bibhu Prasad Routray, SAIR
· The Maoist Maze -- Sanjay K. Jha, SAIR
· Anti-terror Law Agitates an Indian Frontier -- Wasbir Hussain, SAIR
· New Theatre of Islamist Terror -- K P S Gill, SAIR
· The Privatisation of Terror -- Sanjay K. Jha, SAIR
· Diplomatic Tourism: Powell in South Asia... Again -- K.P.S. Gill, SAIR
· Combating Organised Crime: A Case Study of Mumbai City - Sumita Sarkar & Arvind Tiwari, Faultlines
· Survey of Conflicts & Resolution in India's Northeast -- Ajai Sahni, Faultlines
· 'Networking' the Northeast: Partners in Terror -- P. V. Ramana, Faultlines
· The Siliguri Corrider: Question Mark on Security-- Pinaki Bhattacharya, Faultlines
· Three Matryoshkas: Ethnicity, Autonomy and Governance -- Sushil K. Pillai, Faultlines
· Violence & Hope in India's Northeast -- S.K. Sinha, Faultlines
· The Terrorist Economy in India's Northeast: Preliminary Explorations -- Ajai Sahni, Faultlines
· Cross-Border Human Traffic in South Asia: Demographic Invasion, Anxiety and Anger in India's Northeast -- Wasbir Hussain, Faultlines
· India and Pakistan in a Quagmire: Superpower Games & Human Tragedies -- Vijendra Singh Jafa, Faultlines
· India's Northeast: Rejuvenating a Conflict-riven Economy -- Gulshan Sachdeva, Faultlines
· The ISI Reaches East: Anatomy of a Conspiracy -- Jaideep Saikia, Faultlines
· An Indian assessment: Low Intensity Conflict & High Intensity Crime -- Prakash Singh, Faultlines
· India: Towards a Political Economy of Intra-State Conflict -- Rakesh Gupta, Faultlines
· 'Naxalism': The Retreat of Civil Governance -- Ajai Sahni, Faultlines
· The Myth of Tranquility -- Mamang Dai, Faultlines
· Ten O'clock to bed: Insouciance in the face of Terror -- Vijendra Singh Jafa, Faultlines
· Contours of Non-military Intervention -- Vijendra Singh Jafa, Faultlines
· Security & Development in India's Northeast: An Alternative Perspective -- Ajai Sahni & J. George, Faultlines
· Terrorism, Institutional Collapse & Emergency Response Protocols -- K.P.S. Gill, Faultlines
· On Justice Delayed -- M.L. Sharma, Faultlines
· Caste, Politics & the Cycle of Strife -- Mammen Matthew, Faultlines
· Counterinsurgency Warfare: The Use & Abuse of Military Force-- Virendra Singh Jafa, Faultlines
· Administrative Policies & Ethnic Disintegration: Engineering Conflict in India's North East -- Vijendra Singh Jafa, Faultline

Video: terror in Kashmir, 1990

2008-08-10T01:50:00.001-07:00

Video: terror in Kashmir, 1990
http://rameshnaidoo.blogspot.com/2008/08/terror-on-kashmiri-minorities-yahoo.html

Fasadi, not jihadi

2008-08-10T01:36:00.001-07:00

Fasadi, not Jihadi
10 Aug 2008, 0043 hrs IST,TNN

It is safe to assume that the Indian Mujahideen, which prides itself on being a terrorist organization, killed innocents in Gujarat, uses a logo displaying guns on either side of the Holy Book, sends threatening email signed by a split personality (both "Al Arbi" and "Al Hindi"), would like to be judged by Quranic law.

I presume they would not suggest the application of Sharia to non-Muslims. We Indians are unique in many ways: include among them the depressing fact that we have had terrorists from four major faiths - Muslims in Kashmir, Christians in Nagaland, Sikhs in Punjab and Hindus in Assam’s ULFA. Terror has been a constant weapon of Maoists and Naxalites, none of them waving a green banner.

The Quran makes a very clear distinction between legitimate war, a jihad, and illegitimate violence that spreads havoc among the innocent, a fasad. A fasadi is one who "spreads mischief through the land". The Quranic word entered our language and is used commonly for a communal riot. The Urdu-English dictionary in my office lists some of its meanings as "disturbance, trouble, outbreak of rebellion, dissension, mischief...."

It appears in the Quran, in Verse 32 of Surah 5, in the context of the first murder, when Cain killed Abel, his brother, who had done no harm. The verse is a powerful indictment of anyone who kills innocents: "That if anyone slew a person (through fasad) it would be as if he slew the whole people. And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people." An innocent’s death kills something in the whole community; protecting an innocent individual is akin to saving the whole. The worst mischief is, in the words of Abdullah Yusuf Ali, "treason against the state, combined with treason against Allah, as shown by overt crimes." For this crime, "four alternative punishments are mentioned, any one of which is to be applied according to circumstances, viz., execution, crucifixion, maiming or exile". I have used Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation and notes because they are accepted internationally. The message is supplemented by other verses (as for instance Surah 30:41).

It is instructive to note how the two most Islamic states, Saudi Arabia and Iran, one Sunni and the other Shia, punish Muslim terrorists. Saudi toughness is now exemplary to those who believe in tough methods. On Tuesday, August 5, Iran executed Yaghoob Mirnehad in the city of Zahedan because he was found guilty of involvement in Jundallah, an armed group operating along the Iran-Pakistan border along Baluchistan. Afzal Guru would not stand much of a chance in either Saudi Arabia or Iran.

When a fasadi calls himself a jihadi, it is an attempt to gain legitimacy among Muslims. The intermittent use of Quranic verses by the Indian Mujahideen is designed to reinforce the impression of Quranic sanction. Even a cursory examination shows how this terrorist group has snatched text out of context. Take the deliberately provocative quotation in one of their emails: "We are guiltless of you and whatever you worship besides Allah: we have rejected you and there has arisen between us and you enmity and hatred forever - unless you believe in Allah and Him alone." The idea clearly is to establish a Quranic sanction for hatred and enmity between Hindus and Muslims. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to reach this conclusion.

They have arbitrarily plucked out lines from a much longer verse about the great patriarch Abraham, who left home after his father began to worship many gods instead of the One Allah. But the "hatred" is for apostasy, not the person. Where the Indian Mujahideen have put a full stop, there is only a colon in the original. Abraham also says that he will pray for his father. He does not threaten to murder his father in the name of Allah, which the Indian Mujahideen seem to believe is their wanton right.

The Quran insists that that while there are differences among faiths, it is up to Allah, and not man, to be the judge. For man, there is a clear principle (Surah 2:256): "La iqra fi al deen (Let there be no compulsion in religion)." (This instruction, incidentally, comes just after Ayat ul Kursi, a magnificent evocation to the power of Allah and his protection of man.) A second principle is equally unambiguous: "Lakum deen-e kum wal ya deen (Your religion for you and my religion for me)." It was not an accident that Ottoman Sultans gave shelter to Spanish Jews after they were driven out by the Catholic Inquisition.

Every jihad is a war fought by a Muslim, but every war fought by a Muslim is not a jihad. Yusuf Ali explains in his note on Surah 9:20: "It may require fighting in Allah’s cause, as a form of self-sacrifice. But its (jihad’s) essence consists in a true and sincere Faith, which so fixes its gaze on Allah, that all selfish or worldly motives seem paltry and fade away...Mere brutal fighting is opposed to the whole spirit of jihad, while the sincere scholar’s pen or preacher’s voice or wealthy man’s contributions may be the most valuable forms of jihad." The Jihad-e-Akbar, or the greater jihad is a struggle to cleanse oneself; war is only the Jihad-e-Asghar, or the lesser jihad.

However, if jihad were only an internal struggle for purification, we would not be discussing it. Islam sanctions war, but with very strict rules. The call for a jihad cannot be given by a maverick. The killing of innocents, women and children is strictly forbidden. The first Caliph, Abu Bakr, laid down the rules when he sent the first armies out to battle:

a jihadi could not betray a trust, misappropriate booty, mutilate a body, kill the old, women or children; he could not even destroy trees or slaughter an animal except for food. Terrorism has no place in jihad.

There is one justification, in Islamic law, for jihad: when a nation becomes a Dar ul Harb (House of War) rather than a Dar ul Islam (House of Islam). Can India be declared a Dar ul Harb?

A Big 19th Century Question has seeped into the 21st.

The collapse of the Mughals from around 1720 witnessed the rise of regional powers, and substantial Muslim populations began living under the rule of Marathas and Rajputs. In 1803, the British broke through Maratha resistance and reached Delhi, where the wobbly Mughals became a protected species. That year, Shah Abdul Aziz, heir of Shah Waliullah and the most respected theologian of his time, declared India a Dar ul Harb because British law would prevail over the law of Islam. This inspired a jihad by his disciples (principally Ahmad Saeed Barelvi and his successors) that lasted till the last quarter of the century; 1857 was only one episode in a long war.

The interesting point is that there had never been a similar fatwa against any Hindu ruler of India, and the Barelvis sought and received help from the Marathas. Muslims never considered living under Hindu rulers a cause for jihad because Hindu rulers respected their right to practise their faith as they wished.

As late as in 1871, Sir William Hunter, the famous ICS officer, was attempting to answer the question, "Are the Indian Mussalmans bound by their Religion to rebel against the Queen?" He recorded the considered views of a number of alim. The answer, in essence, was that if a Muslim was permitted to live by his own law, the Raj could be considered a House of Islam. Muslim personal law was incorporated into the Raj code. Free India, through Constitutional statute and practice, permits Indian Muslims full rights to the exercise of their faith. You may not be able to hear the amplified azaan in London or Washington, but you can in Delhi.

Aberrations like riots do not change this fundamental reality. If that were so, Pakistani Shias would be entitled to declare a jihad against Pakistan since they have repeatedly suffered from communal violence.

Justice and equality are the heart and soul of the Quran, and the Holy Book knows what justice would do to a fasadi.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Fasadi_not_Jihadi/articleshow/3346781.cms

In chamcha country, peanut republic, anything goes including jihadi terror to stay in satta

2008-07-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

In chamcha country, peanut republic, anything goes including jihadi terror to stay in satta

I suppose Sushma Swaraj’s allegation are meant to shock the nation that conspiring empress’ chamchas can go to any extent, including the use of suitcase votes to stay in sattaa. I wish every success to Sushma’s endeavors to prove the charges and send the chamchas to Luciana together with the empress. Innocent lives to complement suitcase votes? Shocking, beyond compare.

When there is death of outrage in the state, how to shock a nation? Sushma has tried. I hope she will succeed. The state is in total disarray with no rule of law in operation. Constitution and rules of procedures in the houses of Parliament have become laughing stocks, exemplified by the laughter of Somnath Chatterjee as he admonishes the shouting MPs. What to say of Somnath clining to power as MP when he has been expelled from his party? I suppose he is not beyond the law. But then, he may think he makes the law having studied for barrister-at-law and being a bhadralok Somnathda.

The problem is that these politico-s have lost all sense of shame and are immune to anything but suitcases seem to make them salivate.

kalyanaraman

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2462911/Muslim-students-back-killing-in-the-name-of-Islam.html

Muslim students back killing in the name of Islam
By Duncan Gardham,Telegraph.uk
July 27, 2008

A third of Muslim university students believe killing in the name of religion can be justified, a survey has revealed.

A study on the attitudes of students has found that 28 per cent said killing could be justified if the religion was under attack and another four per cent supported killing in order to "promote and preserve" the religion.

Over half of Muslims, 53 per cent, said killing in the name of religion was never justifiable but among non-Muslim students that figure was 94 per cent.

While most students showed a typical generation gap where their parents were more religious than they were – 72 per cent – a significant 18 per cent said they were more strict in their religious observance than their parents.

The importance of sharia law to most Muslim was underlined by the 40 per cent who said they supported its introduction into law for Muslims in Britain, although 37 per cent opposed it.

A third of those surveyed supported the creation of a worldwide Muslim caliphate but 25 per cent opposed it and 42 per cent said they were not sure.

Half of the students said they would not be supportive of a friend who wanted to leave Islam.

Hannah Stuart, from the Centre for Social Cohesion, co-author of the report, said: "These findings are deeply alarming. Students in higher education are the future leaders of their communities yet significant numbers of them appear to hold beliefs which contravene liberal, democratic values.

"In addition there are signs of growing religious segregation on campus. These results are deeply embarrassing for those who have said that there is no extremism in British universities."

There are 90,000 Muslims among Britain's 2.3 million students in high education and the online survey asked 600 Muslims and 800 non-Muslims for their views on the religion.

Radicalisation among students has been a problem since the 1990s, with three of the July 7 bombers having attended university, along with most of the gang which planned a fertilizer bomb attack on the Bluewater shopping centre and the Ministry of Sound night club.

Ahmed Omar Sheikh, convicted of the kidnap and murder of the journalist Daniel Pearl, was a former student at LSE and Waseem Mughal, convicted of running a website for al-Qaeda in Iraq, was a former biochemistry student at Leicester University.

Mughal was a member of the university Islamic society, and the fertilizer bomber Jawad Akbar attended Islamic society meetings at Brunel University, while Yassin Nassari, convicted of smuggling plans for a Qassam rocket into Britain, was president of the University of Westminster's Islamic society at its Harrow campus in Northwest London.

The Government has attempted to encourage lecturers to report students they suspect of radical behaviour but the University and College Union has refused to do so.

A quarter of those surveyed were members of their Islamic society – compared with six per cent for other faiths - but only a third said the societies promoted interfaith activities.

Over a third of students said they used the campus prayer room regularly and 42 per cent said they regularly attended Friday prayers, although only a small proportion attending prayers were female.

None of the students admitted to being gay or lesbian and 25 per cent said they had little or no respect for others who were.

When it came to wearing the hijab or headscarf, 59 per cent said it was important, with more women than men agreeing, but 31 per cent said it was not and 10 per cent said they were not sure, with more men than women being uncertain.

A quarter of students said men and women were not equal in the eyes of Allah and seven per cent were not sure, with more women than men feeling unequal.

By contrast 76 per cent of non-muslim believed that men and women were not equal in Islam.

Nearly half of women and 36 per cent of men believe that the "free mixing" of sexes is not acceptable, while nine per cent of women and 17 per cent of men are unsure.

Despite their adherence to religion it did not stop most Muslim from mixing with other religions – 37 per cent said they had friends at university from all sorts of different backgrounds and 38 per cent said religion was not an issue when choosing friends and only eight per cent said most of their friends at university were Muslim.
More than two thirds of the students said Islam was compatible with the Western notion of democracy, and only 13 per cent said it was not, although 19 per cent were not sure. Half of non-Muslim students thought the two were incompatible.

Three quarters of the students also said that it is possible to be both Muslim and British equally, although only three per cent said being British came first. Nearly half said they were not bothered whether they married a British partner or not.

On the other hand 57 per cent of the students said Muslims serving in the armed forces should have the right to opt out of the army if they are required to fight in Muslim countries and 25 per cent said they were not sure.

The National Union of Students said: "We know there is concern about the serious issue of violent extremism on campus, but there is a wealth of evidence to show that this is not widespread. This report actually undermines cohesion and the joint efforts of students, institutions and government in tackling violent extremism."

Related story:

Vow to raise Holy War Kids @ http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/vow-to-raise-kids-for-holy-war/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/28/turkey2/print

Istanbul rocked by bomb attacks

Robert Tait in Ankara

guardian.co.uk,

Monday July 28 2008

An injured man is taken to hospital following the explosions in Istanbul. Photograph: AFP/Getty images

Turkey's political landscape was plunged further into turmoil last night when two bombs exploded in a packed pedestrian square in Istanbul, killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 150, in what officials called a terrorist attack.

In the deadliest bomb attacks in the country for almost five years, the two explosions, a few metres apart, were detonated within minutes of each other.

They were set off by devices left in rubbish bins in a busy shopping street in Gungoren, a working-class neighbourhood in the west of the city.

The prime minister, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, today cancelled his weekly cabinet meeting in Ankara and travelled to the area hit by the bombs.

The blasts underscored the divisions cutting through the country as a power struggle between secularists and the Islamist-leaning government comes to a head.

The ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) faces possible closure by the constitutional court for alleged anti-secularism in a hearing that begins today. Separately, 86 militant secularists were indicted last week for allegedly plotting to unseat the AKP in a violent coup.

The first bomb went off at about 10pm local time. It exploded near a telephone booth, throwing flying glass and debris into crowds that left several people dead or wounded.

As people gathered to help the injured or to see what had happened, a second device went off near a car, killing and maiming more people.

"We know it is a terrorist attack, but which organisation is responsible - we don't yet have that information," said Hayati Yazici, the deputy prime minister.

Early suspicion fell on Kurdish rebels, who have been responsible for countless bomb attacks over the past 25 years.

Islamist radicals have also bombed targets in Turkey; less than three weeks ago they attacked the US consulate in Istanbul.
TV footage last night showed several people lying in pools of blood around the blast site. "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads and arms were flying in the air," Reuters quoted one witness as saying.

Police said the casualties from the second explosion were increased by the numbers drawn to the scene of the earlier blast.

Huseyin Senturk, who owns a shoe shop near the scene, said: "The first explosion was not very strong. Several people came to see what was going on. That's when the second explosion occurred and it injured many onlookers."

There was early speculation that the explosions may have been caused by a gas leak but Istanbul's governor, Muammer Guler, labelled them a terror attack. He said the explosions had occurred within 12 minutes of each other and that CCTV cameras had filmed the devices being planted.

"This was a heinous attack aimed against innocent citizens and the security of our people," Guler said.

"It did not discriminate between young and old, men or women. There is no doubt this is a terror attack. The fact that there was a crowd in the area has increased the number of casualties."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Turkish TV quoted police sources as saying they had received intelligence of planned attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been blamed for previous incidents.

The PKK today denied any involvement in the bombing. "The Kurdish freedom movement has nothing to do with this event. This cannot be linked to the PKK," Zubeyir Aydar, a rebel leader, said.

The Turkish army last week stepped up attacks on PKK bases in northern Iraq. More than 40,000 people have died in clashes between the army and the PKK since 1984.

Yesterday's bombings were Turkey's second attack this month and the worst since November 2003, when 60 people were killed in Istanbul in four blasts, blamed on al-Qaida. Gunmen killed three police officers outside the US consulate in Istanbul three weeks ago before they were shot dead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/28/turkey

Analysis
Tension between secular state and religious faith
Robert Tait

The Guardian,

Monday July 28 2008

Bomb attacks, blamed principally on Kurdish guerrillas but also perpetrated by Islamist extremists, have killed hundreds and brought carnage to Turkish cities, resorts and military targets for a generation.

But the tension between moderate Islam and the state goes back further, to the foundation of the modern secular Turkish state by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk more than 80 years ago.

Islam may have been removed from the offices of state, but it has remained the majority culture, and moderate Islamist parties have proven popular. The AKP's forerunner, the Islamic Welfare party, won power in 1996, only to be driven out a year later on similar charges to those now facing the AKP.

The attempt to close the AKP was triggered in February by a constitutional amendment - since annulled - lifting the universities' ban on the female headscarf, long suspected by the secular establishment as a symbol of political Islam.

But a 161-page indictment compiled by the chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, alleges numerous other anti-secular moves, including attempts to clamp down on alcohol by local authorities.

Proposals to bring in halal food standards were never enacted but have led to many firms feeling obliged to apply them, prosecutors say.

Some teachers point to a surge in religious education. Health professionals have also reported a rise in cases of religious female doctors declining to treat male patients, and husbands refusing to allow their wives to be treated by male doctors.

Alevis, a heterodox sect that shuns many traditional Islamic practices, complain of being subjected to "neighbourhood pressure" - with devout locals checking to see if they are fasting during Ramadan and inviting women to Qur'an-reading sessions at which they must wear headscarves.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/28/turkey.islam

Islam: Secularists raise tension as Turkish court prepares landmark judgment on ruling AKP
· Leading prosecutor wants Islamist party shut down
· EU officials condemn move as anti-democratic

Robert Tait in Ankara

The Guardian,

Monday July 28 2008

A senior Turkish prosecutor has raised tensions on the eve of a landmark court case that could leave Turkey without a government and deeply divided by warning that it is in danger of an "intolerant" Islamic takeover.

In an interview with the Guardian, Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, chairman of the association of judges and prosecutors (Yarsav) and deputy to Turkey's chief prosecutor, said the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) was seeking a system of sharia law that would destroy the country's secular system and transform it into an Islamic state.

He claimed the government had exposed its true agenda in a series of measures, including attempts to establish halal standards in food production, signing bilateral agreements underwritten by "Islamic laws" with fellow Muslim countries, increasing religious education at state schools and trying to allow female students to wear headscarves at university.

The moves were aimed at reviving an Islamic consciousness dormant since the end of the Ottoman Empire, Eminagaoglu warned, leading to a religious society where secular lifestyles were discouraged and women denied equal status.

"The basis of the case against the AKP is intolerance," he said.

"A sharia system is, by its nature, intolerant of other thoughts, beliefs and practices. Just like fascism in Italy or nazism in Germany, sharia is a sensitive issue in Turkey. With a small spark it can turn into a social movement. We had a sharia-based system during Ottoman times and our society still has traces of it. We don't want to go back to that."

The comments came as the constitutional court prepares to open hearings today that could result in the AKP's dissolution. The court's 11 judges will consider an application by the chief prosecutor, Aburrahman Yalcinkaya - Eminagaoglu's immediate boss at the supreme court of appeals - to close the party and ban 71 senior members, including the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the president Abdullah Gul, from party politics for anti-secularism.

A decision is expected this week. If the party is closed and its leaders banned, it could lead to early elections, with the AKP competing under a different banner and figures such as Erdogan running as independents.

Eminagaoglu's remarks appeared timed to counter fears among Turkey's secular establishment that the AKP is winning a PR battle at home and abroad to depict itself as innocent. The party, which has held power since 2002 and was re-elected last July with 47% of the vote, denies the accusations against it and claims it is the victim of a "judicial coup". It has won the backing of senior European officials, who have condemned the attempted closure as anti-democratic and warned that it could damage Turkey's EU membership bid.

However, Eminagaoglu insisted the case heeded EU regulations and said European critics understood neither Turkey nor Islam. "Islam is not like Christianity. It doesn't just aim to be practised in the realm of belief but also to regulate and rule the state," he said.

"If you look at Islamic countries, the headscarf isn't an expression of religious belief but the symbol of an Islamic regime. Turkey isn't an Islamic country, it's a democratic country. For Europe to be correctly informed, its officials should talk not just to the governing party, which is engaged in anti-secular activity, but to other institutions in Turkey."

The blunt remarks contrasted with the conciliatory tone struck by Erdogan, who called at the weekend for national unity. He told the pro-secularist newspaper, Hurriyet, that the impasse had been created by an "elitist group" who wanted to govern in their own interests.

However, senior AKP figures privately admit that the party needlessly alarmed opponents by reforming the law banning headscarves at universities and by pushing Gul's presidential candidacy last year, despite the military's opposition because of his Islamist past.

"There are ordinary men and women on the street who do not want to change their lifestyles and are opposed to our party," said Yasar Yakis, an AKP MP and former foreign minister. "We should have done something to dissipate the worries of those who believe we will bring in sharia law."

Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, July 28, 2008
First Published: 18:49 IST(28/7/2008)
Last Updated: 20:28 IST(28/7/2008)
Blasts in B'lore, Ahmedabad a conspiracy: BJP
BJP on Monday made a surprise allegation that the weekend blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were a conspiracy to divert attention from the 'cash-for-votes' scandal.
The party also claimed that the blasts in two states ruled by it also made it believe that there was something more than meets the eye.
"The blasts are a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal," party leader Sushma Swaraj said in a press conference in New Delhi claiming that the incidents took place just a few days after the government won the trust vote.
"These are not off-the-cuff remarks. I mean what I say," she added.
When asked if she was pointing towards the Centre and alleging that the Congress-led UPA government had a role in the blasts, she said, "I have said what I wanted, it is for you all to interpret the rest."
The senior BJP leader also alleged that the blasts were an "attempt to win-over the Muslim votes which got divided after the pro-American deal pursued by the government."
Swaraj claimed that the blasts and its locations had enough "circumstantial evidence" to support her charge.
"Attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA government winning the confidence vote has some meaning and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence," she said.
She said absence of an anti-terror law like that of the POTA was the prime reason for the increased terrorist activity in the country.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=cc5386c6-fb16-46c8-aeba-c12f5e8cf68d

BJP points finger at government for terror blasts
July 28th, 2008 - 9:36 pm ICT by IANS - Email This Post
New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) The terror blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad are a “conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj alleged Monday and claimed the party has “enough circumstantial evidence” to prove it. “The blasts are a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal. It is not a off-the-cuff remark. I mean what I say,” Swaraj told reporters here.
“Attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government winning the trust vote has some meaning, and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence,” Swaraj said.
In the serial bombings in Bangalore Friday, eight bomb blasts ripped through the city, killing one person and injuring seven others. In the Ahmedabad bombings Saturday, 21 blasts tore through the city, killing 50 people and injuring over 200 people. Both Karnataka and Gujarat are BJP-ruled states.
When asked if she was pointing fingers at the Manmohan Singh government as being behind the blasts, she said: “I have said what I wanted, it is for you all to interpret the rest.”
Three BJP MPs - Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora - alleged on the day of the trust vote July 22 that Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel had bribed them to abstain from the crucial floor test.
The three waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha and alleged they had been offered Rs.90 million each to abstain during the trust vote and been paid an advance of Rs.10 million each.
While both Amar Singh and Patel have denied the charges, a seven-member committee has been formed to probe the matter.
Swaraj said the blasts were an “attempt to win-over the Muslim votes after the pro-American deal pursued by the government” - referring to the India-US civil nuclear deal.
She said the absence of an anti-terror law like POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act) was the prime reason for the increased terrorist activity in the country.
“Let them replace the name and not call it POTA, but the country today badly needs an anti-terror law. There is this misconception that POTA is against the Muslims, it is in fact against the mujrims (culprits),” she said.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/bjp-points-finger-at-government-for-terror-blasts_10076988.html

BJP, Congress disunited in war against terror

CNN-IBN (July 28, 2008 20;23)

SCATHING ATTACK: Sushma hints at a conspiracy to the fact that two BJP ruled states were attacked within 24 hours.

New Delhi: The war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over the serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad has intensified.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has raised an accusing finger at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government for the blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

"The blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad reek of a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash for vote allegations and also to bring back the Muslim vote which the Government has lost due to the nuclear deal," Sushma alleged.

Sushma also hinting at a conspiracy to the fact that two BJP ruled states came under attack in 24 hours.

"The attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA Government winning the confidence vote has some meaning and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence," she said.

The Congress reacted strongly to Sushma's charge.

Congress Spokesperson Manish Tiwari said the party would be responding legally to BJP's charge.

"How can she make such an irresponsible statement? We will take legal recourse," Tiwari said.

Congress media cell chief M Veerappa Moily, too, reacted angrily to BJP's accusations.

"Sushma Swaraj's words are outrageous and full of venom against the Congress. The BJP has forgotten the tenets of dharma after losing the trust vote. They are linking the terror attacks with the loss in the trust vote. This matter is above politics and above religion. We will take d matter to the court if required," Moily said.

Meanwhile, the UPA is reported to be considering postponing the Monsoon Session of Parliament from August to November.

The ruling alliance is believed to be worried about being hit by criticism from the Opposition over the terror strikes in Bangalore and Ahmedabad and the cash for votes allegations.

The National Democratic Alliance met on Monday and is reportedly planning about bringing a No Confidence Motion against the Central Government. It is upset with reports about a possible postponement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

http://www.ibnlive.com/printpage.php?id=69782§ion_id=3

Jihadi terror and the farce of war on terror in Hindusthan

2008-07-28T03:08:00.000-07:00

Jihadi terror and the farce of war on terror in Hindusthan

We get sporadic reports of the type listed below and then life goes back to poverty as usual. Smas’aana vairaagyam. There is no concerted and sincere effort to realize that this is a war on jihadism and this has to be fought relentlessly as a war on jihadism and fought to win.

Empress’ chamchas provide periodic sound bytes and go back to their corruption chores. Empress is secure in 10 Janpath and this seems to be the be-all and end-all of ensuring national security, ensuring security for the helpless child in a marketplace who is targeted by the jihadi terrorists. Columnists and security analysts keep guessing what the message of jihadi terrorists is. It is simple, straightforward: it is ok to kill non-believers to achieve jihad. Read the texts which the jihadis believe in to realize this truth.

Kalyanaraman

Two suspected terrorists held in Chennai
28 Jul 2008, 1311 hrs IST,IANS

CHENNAI: The Chennai police on Monday arrested two suspected terrorists believed to be involved in serial bombings in Bangalore and Ahmedabad during the weekend.

The suspects, Qazi Rahim, 31, and K Abdul Kader, 27, were named by Sheikh Abdul Ghaffoor, who was arrested on Sunday in Tirunelveli, 600 km from Chennai.

Ghafoor was planning blasts in Tamil Nadu and other parts of India on Independence Day, police officials said.

According to the officials, on initial interrogation Ghafoor revealed that he was an operative of a terrorist ring that calls itself "believers in one god", whose kingpin is said to be Pakistan-trained P Ali Abdullah, arrested in 2003 and lodged in high security Puzhal prison, 20 km from here.

Police officials reckon this ring had worked out logistics of the serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The back-to-back synchronised bomb blasts hit the cities Friday and Saturday. The attacks claimed the lives of 46 people and left over 150 injured.

While Rahim is from Tirunelveli, Kader is from Chennai. The two were being taken to Tirunelveli for further questioning, the officials added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/2_suspected_terrorists_held_in_TN/articleshow/3295751.cms

7 kg of explosives recovered in Channapatna
Karnataka Bureau (The Hindu, July 28, 2008)
Several persons detained for questioning in connection with blasts in Bangalore

Samples collected at blast sites sent for tests
Bangalore police alert their Kerala counterparts
BANGALORE: Even as the Bangalore police have detained several persons for questioning in connection with the explosions that rocked the city on Friday, the Channapatna police have recovered 7 kg. of explosive material from a blast site.
Though the explosion took place at Channapatna in Ramanagaram district on Thursday, no alert was sounded in Ramanagaram district or other parts of the State.
Director general and Inspector general of Police R. Sri Kumar, who visited the blast sites in the city on Sunday, said that the police were examining the explosive material recovered in Channapatna.
“Many persons are being questioned and we are in the process of gathering information from them. The investigations are progressing satisfactorily,” Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari told presspersons here on Sunday. Mr. Bidari said samples collected at the blast sites had been sent to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory.
The police have found that the explosives used in Bangalore and Channapatna were similar.
The Bangalore police have alerted their Kerala counterparts after a reporter of a local TV channel received a call from a person speaking Hindi who warned that Kerala was the next target and bombs were likely to explode across the State after 7 p.m. on Sunday.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/28/stories/2008072855460100.htm

Sleeper cells make all the difference to terror strikes

Vicky Nanjappa in Bengaluru | July 28, 2008 | 07:00 IST

Friday's serial blasts in Bengaluru and a day later in Ahmedabad are an indication that terror outfits are able to strike at will. And providing this capability, is a network of sleeper cells, say agencies involved with the probe.
The Intelligence Bureau says all terror strikes are executed through sleeper cells, with the latter either directly involved in the attacks or, two, by providing logistical support to those who carry out the attacks.
The IB provides the example of Afsar Pasha, a terror suspect arrested in Karnataka who disclosed a plan to blast the Vidhan Soudha and other key installations in Karnataka, to explain how the network operates.
Pasha was the member of a sleeper cell in Karwar, coastal Karnataka, and worked as a mechanic. The IB says most sleeper cell operatives hold a regular job for most part of the year. Arrests across the country show that most of the youth who are part of sleeper cells work as mechanics, STD booth operators and, in some cases, insurance agents.
The IB points out that these jobs involve meeting a lot of people which in turn helps them gather data. Of late, there is also an increasing trend to recruit educated youth. However, their role is largely restricted to data collection and improvising techniques during terror strikes, says IB.
Mechanic Afsar Pasha revealed during his interrogation that his initial job was largely confined to gathering data and providing logistical support. However, as he gained more experience, he was directed to take part in field activities, meaning he had to actively take part in terror strikes.
The IB says based on the interrogation of several terrorists they have gathered considerable information regarding the working of sleeper cells. For the most part they remain inactive, apart from collecting data, training cadres and doing recruitments. The data is passed on to their supervisors through e-mail and/or on the telephone.
Once the decision is taken to strike, a couple of members from the sleeper cells are chosen to carry out the attack. The persons undertaking the attack are known as foot soldiers, the IB says.
A set pattern is that members of local sleeper cells are usually not the ones who carry out an attack in their jurisdiction. A person from another sleeper cell is sent in for this, with the local member only providing logistical support.
The IB also says members of sleeper cells work as a close-knit group. Normally, in a serial terror strike, nearly 10 people are involved. While a team of five would plant the bombs, two work as a back-up and the rest would provide data.
The IB says there is a general belief that the sleeper cells are housed away from the main city or town area, and in busy market areas so that the members can blend in with the crowds. An IB document states, 'It is not necessary for visiting terrorists to make a beeline to the... (local rendezvous points). The handlers from their intelligence agencies provide them with a blueprint of hubs or cells.'
The IB further states that the sleeper cells which are patronised by Pakistan are mainly involved in collection of geographical and geo-strategic information. Until a few years back these cells only undertook intelligence-related work, but with the Indianisation of jihad gaining ground, sleeper cells have been directed to carry out the attacks.
The IB says the functioning of sleeper cells could be summed up as:
 Evaluation of intelligence input
 Selection of target
 Selection of volunteers
 Preparation of bomb squads, usually three of them
 Identification of targets in India
 In case outsiders are doing the strike, their transportation
 Providing safe houses
 Putting together the explosives
 Identifying talent within the cell to plant the device
 Dispersal and evacuation
http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/jul/28vicky.htm

'Terrorists have sent a message that the claim of security is hollow'

Sheela Bhatt in Ahmedabad | July 28, 2008 | 11:23 IST

"We expected it earlier when other cities like Hyderabad and Jaipur were hit by terrorists," says poet Chinu Modi about the Ahmedabad blasts.
The surprise element was missing when Ahmedabad was rocked by 17 bomb explosions because at the back of people's mind many knew that the Gujarat riots of 2002 may lead to such a violent reaction.
Yet, the blasts of July 26 carry something more than the element of surprise. The act is shocking and incomprehensible because of the mastery of the strategic planning, the perfection of the execution and the bloody impact in terms of the political message it has left behind.
Since the blasts, Ahmedabadis are debating three issues:
1. Experts and common people are stumped to see the selection of the locations for planting the bombs.
2. The blasts were executed when a 'red alert' was declared in Ahmedabad after the blasts in Bangalore.
3. The extent of the involvement of local people and the secrecy maintained by the perpetrators of the act has shocked the residents of the city, which is still known as an 'overgrown village.'
"The blasts are part of the pan-Indian phenomenon and it is also aimed at the Bharatiya Janata Party government," believes Ghanshyam Shah, a former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and an authority on communal riots in Gujarat.
He argues that these blasts may not be exclusively connected to the riots of 2002 when more than 1,000 Muslims died in widespread communal riots after the Sabarmati Express was set on fire burning 59 Hindu passengers at the Godhra railway station.
Professor Shah says there was a surprise when after the violence of the majority, the minority community did not show their anger "in natural process."
He attributes it to the fact that the Muslims of Gujarat are diffident. "I see more and more diffidence in them. Muslims in Gujarat have realised that there is no solution of the issue (communal politics)."
However, he is not denying the involvement of Gujarati Muslims in the serial blasts. "The large terrorist group must have taken the support of local people. But I don't see the widespread support of Gujarati Muslims to such violence at all," he says.
To further support his argument that Gujarati Muslims by and large do not support the blasts to avenge the riots of 2002, he says, "In 1992, Surat witnessed communal riots (some Muslims were then burnt alive). Soon after, the plague spread in the city. At that time, Surti Muslims in the city were heard saying, 'Khuda e sajha kari' (God has punished them). But after the 2002 riots, I see an unusually high level of diffidence in them and we don't hear such remarks."
Professor Shah argues that when the Muslim community lives in isolation and in ghettos, it is easier for outsiders to get a handful of people to support their activity.
One of the surprises of Saturday's blasts was that except one blast in Sarkhej, all the blasts were executed in East Ahmedabad, which includes the highly communally sensitive walled city area. The accuracy of the planning suggests that a person with a complete grip on the social-political mindset of the city and its communal geography must be behind the blasts.
No one in this shaken city doubts that these blasts were planned by someone who has a thorough knowledge of the past 25 years history of communally sensitive areas and the Sangh Parivar's role in it.
The terrorists have targeted the constituencies of four veteran leaders belonging to the saffron brigade. Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Ashok Bhatt, one of the oldest faces of the communal friction in the city, and Dr Pravin Togadia, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader.
Four blasts occurred in Modi's constituency -- Maninagar. Sarkhej is in Shah's constituency while the Dhanvantri hospital in Bapunagar has been run by Dr Togadia for many decades. The blast in Raipur was right at the spot where Bhatt has held daily meetings with his supporters for the last 40 years.
"The planners knew where the victims would go for emergency treatment and they hit those hospitals. L G hospital was targeted because victims from the Maninagar blasts would obviously go there because it is close by. They knew the social geography very well," says Achyut Yagnik, the Ahmedabad-based socio-political thinker.
Yagnik is writing a book on Ahmedabad -- which will complete 600 years in 2011 -- along with fellow writer Suchitra Sheth. He points out that blasts were carried out in BJP-dominated areas of the working class and not in posh or middle class areas.
Secondly, the bombs were planted in places where Dalit and Muslims live side by side. Those well-versed with the communal history of Ahmedabad know how the Dalits and Muslims have been at loggerheads in these areas.
Bapunagar, Raipur, Sarangpur are areas that have seen communal tension in 1985, 1990-1992 and also during the 2002 riots.
"There is no doubt that Hindu-Muslim neighbourhoods have been targeted in these serial blasts," says Yagnik.
In Ahmedabad, the political movement to capture Hindu and Muslim minds is carried on by political parties inside these areas where Dalits and Muslims co-exist side by side. It is not difficult to decipher why these areas and hospitals have been hit by the terrorists.
"The terrorists have served twin goals. By hitting BJP-dominated areas, they have sent the message to the chief minister that his claim of security is hollow. In spite of a red alert in the city, they have shown their capacity to strike at places they want. Second, by hitting hospitals in a cruel and dastardly manner they have caused the maximum damage."
http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/jul/28ahd4.htm

Terror's scary face

The Pioneer Edit Desk

India pays for Congress's folly

Saturday's serial bombings in Ahmedabad, within 24 hours of the terrorist attack on Bangalore, serve to highlight the fact that our internal security situation is rapidly deteriorating even as the Union Government, under the Congress's tutelage and headed by a Prime Minister seemingly indifferent to national concerns, refuses to be distracted from the India-US nuclear deal which has become the symptom of the regime's obsessive compulsive disorder. It is obvious that the bombings -- both in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, and before that in Jaipur -- are aimed at creating panic and spreading fear; those behind the blasts have demonstrated that they can strike anywhere at any time. It is equally obvious that those who planned and carried out these acts of terrorism expect a blowback in the form of communal violence. A third factor which merits mention is that BJP-ruled States are being targeted for murder and mayhem; this perception naturally leads to the conclusion that a larger game is being played whose purpose does not require elaboration. Was the effort to instigate communal riots in Indore during the protest against the Sri Amarnath land issue a part of this conspiracy? In retrospect, it would seem so. Seen against this backdrop, the BJP Governments must rise to the occasion and meet the challenge with unwavering determination: Agent provocateurs will no doubt seek to exploit the situation; they must be spotted, exposed and firmly dealt with. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has rightly described the perpetrators of Saturday's outrage as "enemies of humanity". They must be neutralised and their network of evil should be destroyed.

Strangely, the Union Government has shown little or no interest in last weekend's terrorist strikes, apart from issuing proforma statements condeming the violence and appealing for peace. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who has contributed the most to dismantling the anti-terrorism mechanism put together by the NDA Government, partly on account of the fact that he is unequal to his job and largely to implement the Congress's perverse agenda of appeasing Muslims by pandering to Islamic fanatics who define terrorism as jihad and are at ease with innocent people being slaughtered, has tried to pass the buck to the Governments of Karnataka and Gujarat. According to him, the terrible loss of lives and the resultant disquiet bear testimony to the 'abilities' of local authorities and the police; had he said anything different, there would have been occasion for surprise. The truth is that the chickens of the UPA Government's chicanery are coming home to roost. The Prime Minister and his aides -- among them Mr Patil and a National Security Adviser who, along with intelligence agencies, is busy helping the Congress achieve its political objectives -- have allowed the situation to come to such a sorry pass. They must be held accountable for the consequences; their pious declarations should not distract us from their monumental folly in allowing terrorists to spread their tentacles across the country. Having got rid of POTA and instituted a system that takes a libertine view of terrorism, the UPA Government is now bent upon hobbling the Governments of BJP-ruled States with the intent of preventing them from waging war on terror. Had this not been the case, the UPA Government would not have sat on the laws enacted by the State Assemblies of Rajasthan and Gujarat to combat terrorism and organised crime. Such cynical abuse of power is both a shame and a pity.
http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit1.txt&counter_img=1
Time to question
The Indian Express
Posted online: Monday, July 28, 2008 at 0048 hrs IST

Terror is pathology. But so it seems, in India, is the government’s response to terror. The one score and some serial bombs in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were met with cringe-inducing official harrumphs from Delhi that warnings had been given. It is time to ask what the Union government means when it says warnings were available. Is it the case that the Centre’s, or specifically the home ministry’s, radars are always buzzing efficiently with actionable information that is not acted upon by inefficient state governments? If so, why doesn’t the Centre say it straight? They have a duty to the nation to say it. And if that is not the case, as one strongly suspects is not the case, why take this, to put it bluntly, awful way to pass the parcel? It has to be said, in the context of this trait, that the UPA’s whole approach to terror has been scarily confusing.
The present home minister will demit office as having made a spectacular non-impression as far as his leadership of national security efforts go. It took the prime minister, that too after more than half of the UPA’s term in office was over, to say Naxalites were a high-priority threat to the idea of India. Can you recall the home minister taking political leadership of this national security issue? Can you recall him owning up to his remit as home minister vis-a-vis terror? And let’s remember that while strong and clear political positions are no guarantees against stopping terror, their absence severely weakens the government’s fight against it.
More than four years after the UPA took over, not a single terror attack has been brought to closure in terms of catching the perpetrators and putting them through the mills of justice. There’s investigative failure of a scale that would have in normal circumstances consumed the career of several ministers — but in the UPA the home ministry seems to have acquired immunity from even the most obvious of questions. It’s long been known that security agencies are in part handicapped by a certain absurd notion of political correctness — a notion that implicates the very people it professes to protect. The convenient political assumption in India is that voters don’t punish governments who appear to be ineffective against terror. This government really has pushed that assumption to its limit.
http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/341208.html

Jihadi terrorist? No. Call him hirabist (barbaric pirate).

2008-06-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

Jihadi terrorist? No. Call him hirabist (barbaric pirate).

June 2, 2008 Op-Ed Contributors (New York Times)
What Do You Call a Terror(Jihad)ist?
By P. W. SINGER and ELINA NOOR

IMAGINE if Franklin D. Roosevelt had taken to calling Adolf Hitler the “leader of the National Socialist Aryan patriots” or dubbed Japanese soldiers fighting in World War II as the “defenders of Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.”

To describe the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese Army in terms that incorporated their own propaganda would have been self-defeating. Unfortunately, that is what many American policymakers have been doing by calling terrorists “jihadists” or “jihadis.”
While the State Department recently circulated an internal memo advising foreign service officers to avoid such terms, President Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and members of the news media continue to use them.

The word “jihad” means to “strive” or “struggle,” and in the Muslim world it has traditionally been used in tandem with “fi sabilillah” (“in the path of God”). The term has long been taken to mean either a quest to find one’s faith or an external fight for justice. It makes sense, then, for terrorists to associate themselves with a term that has positive connotations. For the United States to support them in that effort, however, is a fundamental strategic mistake.

First, to call a terrorist a “jihadist” or “jihadi” effectively puts any campaign against terrorism into the framework of an existential battle between the West and Islam. This feeds into the worldview propagated by Al Qaeda. It also serves to isolate the tens of millions of Muslims who condemn the violence that has been perpetrated in the name of Islam.

Second, these words locate the ideological battle exactly where the extremists want it to be. The terms of discussion are no longer about the murder of innocents in terrorist acts; they are about theology.

Third, when American leaders use this language it sends a confusing message to the Muslim world, showing ignorance on basic issues and possibly even raising doubts about American motives. Why, after all, would we call our enemy a “holy warrior”?
If we want to say what we mean, what terms better describe Qaeda members and other violent extremists? “Muharib” or the more colloquial “hirabi” or “hirabist” would be good places to start. “Hirabah,” the base word, is a term for barbarism or piracy. Unlike “jihad,” which grants honor, “hirabah” brings condemnation; it involves unlawful violence and disorder.

Of course, it’s probably best not to engage in these nuances at all. Which is why American leaders would do best to call terrorists by their rightful name: “terrorists.” The label may seem passé, but terrorism is an internationally recognized word for an internationally recognized crime. If we want to win a war of words, we would do well to choose the ones we use with greater care.

P. W. Singer is a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Elina Noor is an analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/opinion/02singer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Buying peace with Jihadis -- B. Raman

2008-05-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

Buying peace with jihadis

B Raman (Pioneer, 27 May 2008)

Rather than fight terrorists, the Pakistan Government is back to striking deals with them

Disturbing signals from Pakistan relating to the various deals being made with different jihadi outfits by the coalition Government headed by Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani should be a matter of great concern not only to India and the US, but also the international community. Among these signals are the indefinite adjournment of the hearing in the case relating to the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist of the Wall Street Journal at Karachi in January-February 2002.

In this case, the appeals filed by Omar Sheikh, the principal accused, against the death sentence awarded to him and by the state against the lenient sentences awarded to some other accused were being heard for the last more than five years. Even though the Anti-Terrorism Act of Pakistan lays down that all such appeals should be heard by the court on a day-to-day basis without any adjournment and disposed of in seven days, the case has been dragging on for over five years with frequent adjournments granted by the court under some pretext or the other. The state had not objected to these adjournments. Previously, the adjournments used to be for short periods at a time. Now, the hearing has been adjourned indefinitely without any objection being raised by the state prosecutor.

Reliable police sources in Sindh say that Omar Sheikh, at the request of the Gilani Government, is trying to persuade Jaish-e-Mohammad, headed by Maulana Masood Azhar, to agree to a ceasefire in the Swat Valley of the North-West Frontier Province. The JeM and the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), headed by Maulana Fazlullah, popularly known as FM radio mullah because of the FM radio station run by him, were operating jointly in the Valley against the Pakistani Army.

While the TNSM, which is a constituent of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), headed by Baitullah Mehsud, its Amir, has agreed to a ceasefire and reached a so-called peace agreement with the authorities of the NWFP, the JeM has refused to adhere to this agreement so far. The JeM is a member of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF) and not of the TTP. The JeM and dissident elements from the TNSM, which are opposed to the peace agreement, blew up two girls schools and a gas pipeline, set fire to a house and attacked a police post at Nengolai near Mingora in the Swat Valley on May 21, 2008, killing a policeman. They also attacked Matta Police Station. These police sources say that Omar Sheikh has been taken to the Swat Valley to contact the JeM and the TNSM dissident elements and persuade them to accept the peace agreement.

One of the demands made by Baitullah and Fazlullah as a price for the peace agreement is that all those arrested during the commando raid in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad in July last year should be released and the criminal cases filed against them withdrawn. While the Gilani Government has not withdrawn the cases, it is no longer insisting on the quick disposal of the cases and has not been opposing bail applications moved on behalf of the accused. It is only a question of some weeks before all the accused, including Maulana Abdul Aziz, the principal accused, come out on bail and re-join the Masjid in their original positions. The Government has reportedly accepted the demand of Baitullah that the two madarsas -- one for boys and the other for girls -- attached to the Masjid should be allowed to function again without any hindrance.

As part of the peace agreement with the TNSM, the Government has not only agreed to enforce shari'ah in the entire Malakand Division of the NWFP, including the Swat Valley, but also to regularise the FM radio station operated by Fazlullah by granting formal permission. It has also agreed to grant similar permission to all other FM radio stations being run by mullahs and madarsas in the tribal belt, which are being used by the neo-Taliban for carrying on a vicious propaganda against the US and other NATO forces and against the Hamid Karzai Government in Kabul. Many of these radio stations have been repeatedly calling for the overthrow or assassination of Mr Karzai.

The Government has quietly withdrawn the orders issued by Gen Musharraf in the past for the registration of all madarsas as a condition for financial assistance to them by the Government. Similarly, all restrictions regarding the admission of foreign students have been withdrawn. The madarsas are once again being given financial assistance irrespective of whether they are registered or not. As part of the peace agreement with Fazlullah, the NWFP Government has agreed to give financial assistance for the establishment of an Islamic University in Imamdheri, the headquarters of the TNSM, to be run jointly by the Government and the TNSM.

The Government has agreed to return to the TNSM all its buildings and other real estate which had been occupied by the Army during the military operations against the TNSM.

Mr Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan, who was kidnapped by suspected neo-Taliban elements on February 11, was released on May 17. While the Gilani Government has been claiming that he was got released by the security forces during an operation and has denied any deal with the neo-Taliban, spokesmen of the TTP have asserted that in return for the release of the Ambassador, the Gilani Government has released Maulvi Obaidullah, former Defence Minister of the neo-Taliban and a close associate of Mulla Mohammed Omar, the Amir of the neo-Taliban, and 54 other members of the neo-Taliban, who were in different jails in the NWFP and Baluchistan. Local police sources say that in return for the release of the Ambassador, the Gilani Government has assured Mulla Omar that no further action would be taken against the neo-Taliban.

Mr Asif Ali Zardari, the co-chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), who used to demand a UN-sponsored investigation into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, has toned down his demand. The police have also reportedly been told to go slow in the investigation into the case in which the principal accused is Baitullah Mehsud. Baitullah has been demanding the release of all his men arrested during the commando action in the Lal Masjid and subsequently. The Government has already conceded his demand, though a formal peace agreement is yet to be signed.

The Pakistani media has claimed that as part of the peace deals with Fazlullah and Baitullah, the Government has agreed to withdraw the Army from the Swat Valley and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and restore to the Frontier Corps the responsibility for the maintenance of law and order in the tribal belt. However, this has been strongly denied by the Government, which has been saying that there will be a re-location of the Army in the tribal belt, but not a withdrawal.

The restrictions on AQ Khan, the nuclear scientist, too, have been eased. While he continues to be under ostensible house arrest, he is allowed to visit friends and relatives, accompanied by security personnel.

http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=oped&file_name=opd2%2Etxt&counter_img=2

Hindutva raises the issue of terror: muslim cleric arrested for Jaipur terror blasts.

2008-05-25T23:28:00.000-07:00

Hindutva raises the issue of terror: muslim cleric arrested for Jaipur terror blasts.

Hon'ble Min. of State, Prithviraj Chavan to note: Hindutva directly raises the issue of terror: how come a muslim cleric has been arrested by for Jaipur terror blasts? Modern Prithviraj, will you answer? Will you now call those who arrested the cleric as anti-terror Hindutva cops?

Being in PMO, have you ever read http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/index.html

It talks of islamist terror outside J&K and Northeast. What is Hindutva about this, Prithviraj? (See excerpt appended).

kalyan

Jaipur blasts: Cops arrest Muslim cleric
26 May 2008, 0848 hrs IST,TIMESOFINDIA.COM

NEW DELHI: A top Muslim cleric has been arrested from Bharatpur in connection with the Jaipur blasts, a private news channel reported on Monday.

Mohammad Ilias was arrested by police two days ago and has been brought to Jaipur for interrogation. Ilias is the Shahar Qazi of Bharatpur.

Cops raided the Shehar Qazi's premises and seized the madrassa computer. The mobile phone of Illias' wife was also seized.

Serial blasts had rocked Jaipur on May 13, claiming 66 lives. A little known terror outfit - Indian Mujahideen - has claimed responsibility of the attack through an email.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Jaipur_blasts_Cops_arrest_Muslim_cleric/articleshow/3072229.cms

Jaipur blasts suspect held in Delhi
22 May 2008, 0003 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: A man suspected to be involved in the Jaipur serial blasts, which killed over 60 people and injured more than 200, was arrested here late Wednesday, police said.

The militant, whose identity was not revealed, was nabbed from Chelmsford Road, the stretch leading to New Delhi Railway Station from Connaught Place, at around 8:30 pm.

The arrest by Delhi Police's Special Cell came following a tip off from intelligence agencies.

"There was an intelligence input that a militant is coming to Delhi," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar told reporters.

Kumar refused to provide the identity of the militant or where he came from.

"We have just started interrogating him. We cannot reveal everything now," he added.

The militant's arrest here comes in the backdrop of serial blasts in the Pink City last week.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/File_Jaipur_blasts_suspect_held_in_Delhi/articleshow/3060811.cms

Islamist Terrorism outside J&K and the Northeast

At least 270 people died in Islamist terrorist violence in locations outside J&K and the Northeast during 2006. The significant incidents included:

March 7: At least 21 civilians were killed and 62 others injured in three serial bomb explosions at a temple and railway station in Varanasi. Seven bombs were later defused, including four that had been planted on the Gowdolia-Dasashwamedh Ghat Road near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Hours after the blasts, a suspected LeT terrorist was shot dead during an encounter with the police in the Gosaiganj area on the outskirts of Lucknow city.

April 14: Two bombs exploded inside the Jama Masjid at Delhi injuring approximately 14 persons, including a woman and a girl.

June 1: Three suspected LeT terrorists were shot dead during an abortive attempt to storm the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization, at Nagpur in Maharashtra.

July 11: At least 200 persons were killed and over 700 others injured in seven bomb blasts targeting the railway network in the city of Mumbai. First class compartments of local trains at Mira-Bayandhar, Jogeshwari, Mahim, Santacruz, Khar, Matunga and Borivli stations on the Western Railway were targeted.

September 8: Forty people killed and 65 sustain injuries in three bomb explosions at Malegaon town in the Nashik District of Maharashtra.

According to the MHA's Status Paper, the current strategy of Pakistan-based terrorist groups is to:

* Maintain a continuous flow of finances to sustain the terrorist networks in India

* Target vital installations and economic infrastructure in India

* Recruit and train local modules

* Attack soft targets like market places, public transport system, places of worship and congregation, etc.

* Provoke communal tensions to create a wedge between communities

* Supply hardware through land and sea routes

The Status Paper discloses that the LeT and JeM also use territory and elements in Bangladesh and Nepal for movement of terrorists and finances. Army chief J. J. Singh, on December 27, 2006, stated that "As terrorists are finding it hard to penetrate the fence and new anti-infiltration systems placed all along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and in Punjab… The areas bordering Nepal and Bangladesh are still porous and intelligence reports suggest that terrorists are trying to use them to infiltrate into India."

According to data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management, at least 81 Inter-Services Intelligence-Jihadi modules have been disrupted just over the years 2004-2006, leading to hundreds of arrests across India – outside Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast – in locations that extend from Uttaranchal in the North, to Andhra Pradesh in the South, and from Gujarat in the West to West Bengal in the East. These modules had been tasked to target security and vital installations, communication links, and commercial and industrial centres, as well as to provoke instability and disorder by circulating large quantities of counterfeit currency and by drug trafficking. The National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan had stated, on July 28, 2006, that Indian security and nuclear installations are under "very serious threat" from the LeT, which may be planning a "major assault".

Worse, terrorist attacks by Pakistan-backed groups have occurred in places as far as Delhi, Mumbai, Malegaon, and Varanasi in 2006. Terrorist attacks in places like Mumbai and Varanasi in 2006 and earlier at Bangalore (December 28, 2005) and New Delhi (October 29, 2005) are only the more visible evidence of a long-term war of attrition by Pakistani state agencies and their jihadi surrogates, intended to undermine India's political stability, by increasingly attacking its economic, scientific and technological strengths. The frequency, spread and, in some cases, intensity of these operations in other parts of the country has seen some escalation in the past years, as international pressure on Pakistan to end terrorism in J&K has diminished levels of 'deniable' engagement in that theatre, and as violence in J&K demonstrates a continuous secular decline since the events of September 11, 2001 in the US.

It is important to note, however, that despite occasional and inevitable terrorist 'successes', this relentless strategy – which has targeted virtually every concentration of Muslim populations in India for decades – has overwhelmingly failed to secure a base within the community, beyond a minuscule radical fringe. Further, the record of intelligence and security agency successes against such subversion and terror, although lacking the visibility and drama of a terrorist strike, is immensely greater than the record of the successes of this strategy.

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/index.html

Have you ever before seen this new definition of Hindutva? According to Prithvijar Chavan, Hindutva means raising the matter of terrorism.

Here is the evidence:

Question by Sheela Bhatt: In this election the BJP didn't raise Hindutva. Right?

Answer by Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan who was in charge of the Karnataka elections: They indirectly raised the Hindutva issue by raising the matter of terrorism! They tried to target a particular community alleging that they are responsible for terrorism. If you compare the record of the BJP and NDA government they have a pathetic record of tackling terrorism, still they kept on talking about the recent incidents. They had no other issue to talk about because their performance in the Karnataka government was pathetic so they kept talking about national issues in the assembly elections.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/may/25inter.htm

I think this comment by the 'Congress leader' Prithviraj Chavan takes the cake among all the intellectual gymnastics indulged in by columnists and political pundits. I was sick and tired of watching many TV channels and TV talk-show pundits, throughout the forenoon of 25 May 2008 as the election results started pouring in from 8 AM.

It is time for Sonia Gandhi to wind up her 10 Janpath residence and go into meditation in Orbassano to understand the nature of terror or even sending emissaries to meet LTTE operatives in Vellore jail and stop advising the politico-s about the communal politics which has become the UPA trademark.

It is a pity that the madam has such Congress pundits like Prithviraj Chavan, Hon'ble Minister of State (PMO) in PMO advising Hon'ble Manmohan. With such advisors, it ain't no wonder that UPA is leading a soft state, without any clue on methods of fighting terror. On the day the Foreign Minister visits Pakistan, a soldier gets killed in Jammu LOC and there was not even a whisper of a diplomatic note verbale to the Pakistan High Commissioner.

People like Prithviraj Chavan are to be complimented for recognizing the fact that it takes Hindutva to raise the issue of terrorism in the nation. Hurray, Hindutva.

kalyan

Joint Command to fight terror. But Manmohan (aka Sonia substitute) can't be trusted.

2008-05-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Joint Command to fight terror. But Manmohan (aka Sonia substitute) can't be trusted.

The next terror attack could be from the sea
By Arun Kumar Singh (Deccan Chronicle, 19 May 2008)

Tuesday evening’s serial bomb blasts in Jaipur, in which over 60 people were killed, has demonstrated yet again how ill-equipped India is to handle the new complexities of terror warfare. A new command must be created to protect the nation.
Jaipur was the eleventh major terrorist strike on ‘soft’ targets in the past three years. The political leadership has stuttered out its usual statements about ‘resilience’ and ‘foreign hand’ ad nauseam, while the bureaucracy has predictably kept mum on what is a colossal failure of leadership and intelligence at both the Central and state levels. The Intelligence Bureau, in the meantime, has suggested that terrorists are planning seaborne attacks against the dozens of oil rigs, including production and support platforms, along both the coasts of India. This appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

An oil rig, like the proverbial iceberg, has a small portion visible above the surface — leaving the vulnerable parts beyond visibility. What cannot be seen are the supporting legs of the rigs, the labyrinth of pipelines with interconnecting control valves that ensure flow of crude oil from the rigs to the mainland or to single buoy moorings (SBMs), which, in turn, permit oil tankers to embark the same crude for transportation ashore. In some places, like the Gulf of Kutch, these SBMs are also used to enable incoming oil tankers to pump out their imported crude to refineries ashore. Supporting this gigantic effort is a large number of logistic ships (OSVs, or offshore support vessels), which provide food, handle personnel transfers (sometimes also done by helicopters), pollution control response, fire tender duties, etc.
The extreme vulnerability of the oil rigs was vividly displayed by the massive fire and total destruction of an oil production platform in Bombay High in July 2005 when an OSV accidentally collided with the rigs’ underwater pipeline. This resulted in a massive search and rescue operation by the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard and by civilian ships, followed by counter-pollution operations by the Coast Guard to prevent pollution along the Mumbai coastline. In addition to the financial loss, the nation had to face a massive drop in crude oil outflow from this offshore oilfield, located some 40 nautical miles off Mumbai port. This event will not have been missed by the new breed of maritime terrorists, who would also know that India has invested over Rs 1,60,000 crore in these rigs. There is an organisation to deal with offshore security threats to oil rigs, coastal refineries, coastal nuclear power plants and ports. The Coast Guard looks after peacetime security and is in regular touch with all stakeholders — the Navy, the port authorities, shipping, ONGC, Oil India and the intelligence agencies. Wartime threats are handled by the Navy.

In this era of ‘no-war, no-peace’, there is an ever-present threat to offshore and coastal installations. The threat from the sea can take various forms — trained ‘sea terrorists’ can attack by approaching the target in dhows or even submersibles, making the last mile in collapsible rubber boats, lay explosives in the most vulnerable parts and depart or carry out suicide attacks. Another alternative would be to bring an explosives-laden ship and collide it against the target, or sink it in the harbour approach to block the port. And, of course, terrorists can enter coastal targets by land and cover the last stretch, as in Israel, in microlite aircraft to get in.
In any such terror attack, the repercussions would be severe — economic, environmental and in sheer terms of shock. India’s economic prosperity lies in being completely secure at sea — 90 per cent of our trade, 70 per cent of our oil imports and 70 per cent of our indigenous oil and gas production comes from the sea.

The issue of modifying India’s national security-cum-intelligence apparatus to address new forms of warfare has been hammered to near-death. Little may have moved but the need for a completely new machinery to fight terrorism is becoming all the more relevant in everyday incidents as in Jaipur’s. We are simply not equipped to address terrorism.

There have been reports that the government is considering handing over the 2010 Commonwealth Games project to the Army keeping in view the failure of the bureaucracy and civil administration to deliver. The United States, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, has been far more ruthless and successful in protecting its citizens. With Jaipur’s incident in focus, does it not look like it is time to hand over all anti-terrorist activities to three separate ‘empowered’ joint commands, which will include all elements of the military, paramilitary, police, intelligence, railways, ports, airports and any other agency that needs to be a part of the apparatus? These three commands can be headed by the Army, for land threats, the Navy for seaborne-coastal threats, and the Air Force to address aerial threats. There is also an urgent need to augment the force levels of the Navy and the Coast Guard. Each of these seagoing services should reach a strength of 200 ships, and each should double their aviation assets.

Laws to permit the Navy and Coast Guard to board and search suspicious ships need to be introduced at the earliest. The existing force levels — 75 ships and 45 aircraft for the Coast Guard; and 130 ships and about 200 aircraft for the Navy — are inadequate. Getting our counter-terror mechanism in place should take priority over time-worn intellectual debates. Also, at some point in the future, these joint commands could also be pressed into action to combat the Naxalite threat, which today spans 11 states. The protection of its citizens is the Centre’s primary duty. The buck stops there.

How seriously other nations take this threat is best exemplified by what I saw in the United States in 2005. All armed forces units were flying an additional flag — of a serpent with the inscription ‘Don’t Tread On Me’. This flag has been used by presidential proclamation only four times in 234 years. It was brought out during the wars that threatened the American nation — the War of Independence (1776-1781), the Civil War (1860-1865), the attack on Pearl Harbour (1942) and post 9/11 (2001).
India too faces this new form of warfare and its government cannot take the rather philosophical view that was once articulated by a television commentator, to my considerable amazement: ‘As everyone knows, there is no reality, but only points of view.’

Global terrorism is a hard reality, and it is here to stay, irrespective of individual perceptions and views. Dealing with this new form of asymmetric war will require the combined might and wisdom of all of India. We need not emulate the Americans by hoisting a second flag to remind our citizens (and leaders) that the nation is in a state of war. But we do need to get our act together, and quickly. The present form of asymmetric war being waged by international terrorists who serve no nation is, after all, too serious an issue to be left only to the politicians, bureaucrats and the overstretched intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces. Remember the old saying: ‘Steel fist in a velvet glove’? That is what we need.

Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam, in April 2007

http://deccan.com/Columnists/Columnists.asp?#The next terror attack could be from the sea

BJP questions Manmohan's bona fide in fighting terror

PTI | New Delhi (Pioneer, 19 May 2008)

A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pitched for a federal crime agency, the BJP on Sunday questioned his commitment to fight terror and said a new agency would be of no use unless it is armed with a POTA-type stringent anti-terror law.

"Manmohan Singh's bonafides in the war against terror are suspect," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, while asking whether a federal agency under him to deal with terror crimes can really be trusted given his "track record" in the last four years.

"It is ironical that after being in prime ministerial office for four years the Prime Minister has finally woken up to the harsh and cruel reality that prevention and investigation of terrorism in India is on the verge of collapse," Jaitley said.

He said the repeal of POTA, not giving assent to similar anti-terror laws in BJP-ruled States, non-execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and "helping the accused being prosecuted under POTA for burning Sabarmati Express" raises a legitimate question whether a federal agency under Singh can really be trusted.

Jaitely asked, "does the Prime Minister's track record inspire confidence that he will implement his proposal for a federal agency against terror."

He also sought to know whether Singh will have the political courage to strengthen the content of India's anti-terrorist laws to make them more "terrorist-unfriendly".

Claiming that the Prime Minister and Congress had been opposing strong anti-terror law, he sought to know "will not the federal agency be helpless in investigating terrorist crimes if confessions of terrorists are inadmissible evidence and an easy bail is available to the terrorists under normal law".

Jaitley also sought to know what purpose would be achieved in merely changing the investigating agency, particularly when investigation and prevention of terrorism is to take place "under a law which is not terrorist-unfriendly".

He also accused the UPA Government of having a "scandalous record of having misled the CBI, an investigative agency of the Central Government for political purposes in the last four years."

"Systematically, cases against UPA leaders have been closed and the political opponents have been harassed by the CBI."

Jaitley accused the UPA Government of "deliberately" not giving Presidential assent to three BJP-ruled States - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat - to operationalise the laws against organised crimes, while such laws are operational in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh (both ruled by Congress) and Karnataka.

"The effect of this is going to be that cases relating to the Mumbai train blasts and the Malegaon blasts will be investigated under the MCOCA but when accused are arrested in relation to the Jaipur serial blasts, they will be investigated under the ordinary law where easy bails will be available and confessions of the terrorists will not be admissible evidence," he said.

"The crippling of the investigation in the Jaipur blasts is directly attributable to the political motivated withholding of Presidential assent by the UPA Government," Jaitley said.

The senior BJP leader also accused Manmohan Singh of using his "softness on terror for vote bank politics rather than for security considerations."

The BJP was willing to discuss the issue provided it involves not merely a change of the investigative agency but also the content of the law, he said.

"Our anti-terror laws will have to be made more effective and POTA will have to be re-introduced," he said.

Jaitley said the jurisdiction to legislate against terrorism is already with the Central Government and the constitutional validity of TADA was challenged before the Supreme Court on the ground that the law and order and public order are state subjects and the Centre cannot legislate with regard to the same.

"The Supreme Court has categorically held that the war against terrorism includes the war against sovereignty and defence of India and therefore the legislation against terror falls in the domain of the Central Government," he said.

Jaitley also said what prevented the Prime Minister in the last four years from acting in the matter remains an "obvious mystery" and that his government is not "serious in fighting terrorism".

"The Central Govern-ment has the legislative and Executive powers to introduce and to enact laws in this matter," he said.

http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=NATION&file_name=nt3%2Etxt&counter_img=3

Jihadi terror victims: 3674 Indians (as of May 14, 2008 since Jan. 2004). Rulers are busy making money.

2008-05-17T21:17:00.001-07:00

Jihadi terror victims: 3674 Indians (as of May 14, 2008 since Jan. 2004). Rulers are busy making money.

The UPA regime led by Sonia Gandhi and jaalra-ed by the Substitute Hon’ble PM Manmohan Singh consists of cuddlers of the merchants of death.

Media cries foul when there is a security breach for Sonia’s Karnataka election propaganda. Media keeps reckoning the count of victims of Jihadi terror, providing no comment on the role played by the cuddlers of the merchants of death.

Swapan is right. Of course, there is death of outrage. He adds: “India is confronted by home-grown, ideologically-driven terror. The Government doesn't want to admit it. Nor does it plan to act against it for fear of unsettling people who vote en bloc. It persists with its hypocrisy and double-speak on the cynical belief that the Kuffar-e-Hind is incapable of responding in a united way. ”

Swapan, the only unity of UPA is unity in staying in power and continuing to loot the nation’s treasury. Vote-bank? Aha, roll on to the Swiss bank. The list of account holders in Luxembourg LTG Group banks is yet to be called for by the Government; that list will be a revelation. The German Government has announced that it would share information on accounts held in the tax haven with any Government that wanted it. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/03/28/stories/2008032850180800.htm

This unity in skullduggery is a blot on Bharatam – that the people of Bharatam have allowed such a rogues’ gallery of chamcha-s to be in sattaa who do not care about securing the life and limb of citizens of the nation who have given to themselves a Constitution which has been reduced to a scrap of paper by the Belgian-honored lady who has contributed to making Belgium the third largest trading party of the country – after USA and UK. No wonder the Order of Leopold is perceived to be a glorious honour for the Italian-born prima donna.

kalyan

Blast bags were made in China
16 May 2008, 0625 hrs IST , TNN

JAIPUR: Investigations have revealed that the bags used for the blasts carried brand name Boneno, and are of Chinese make. They are not available in local markets, and may have been brought from outside.

IG Pankaj Singh told TOI that the explosives were strapped to handle-bars. Meanwhile, the police released sketches of three more suspects late on Thursday based on descriptions given by owners and attendants of the cycle shops from where the bombers had bought the vehicles of death.

On Thursday, they managed to identify at least four other shops, and the sketches were prepared on the basis of descriptions from the shop employees who sold off the bikes.

That the bikes were bought from separate shops was confirmed by the fact that all of them carried locks of different make.

Singh said that the sketches were credible because the buyer in all the cases remained in the shop for almost an hour to get the lock installed giving the shop staff ample time to have a good look at his face.

In all five sketches released till now, the man shown is about 20-25 years old. The cops said that, going by the way they spoke, none of them seemed to be a native of Rajasthan. They all bought the bike without haggling.

Police sources also said that at least 5-6 bikes were sold on May 13, the day of the blast. While 3 of the cycles were of Avon make, 2 were Atlas. The remaining for bikes were all of separate make Hercules, Penny, Surya and Apollo. In the Boneno bags, the bomb parcel was hidden under newly bought underwears of a very popular brand. In one of the bicycles, it was wrapped in the April 4 edition of local newspaper Daily News.

The cops said that the ball bearings were of a "particularly damaging variety" and were placed in a "curve" in such a way that when the bomb exploded the shrapnel burst out ahead, and not up, causing maximum damage till close to 100 feet. That they were planted in congested bazars only added to their lethality.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3045563.cms

Chronology of major bomb attacks in India
13 May 2008, 2353 hrs IST , AFP

NEW DELHI: The following is a list of recent major bomb blasts in India that police suspect were linked to sectarian groups:

May 13, 2008: At least 60 people killed and 150 wounded in what police said was a terror attack in the popular tourist city of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

November 23, 2007: At least 13 people were killed from serial blasts outside courts in three cities in Uttar Pradesh.

August 25, 2007: At least 43 people killed and more than 70 others injured as two bombs rock a crowded outdoor auditorium and a popular eatery in Hyderabad.

May 18, 2007: At least 10 killed and more than a dozen injured in blast at 17th century Mecca mosque in Hyderabad.

February 19, 2007: Sixty-eight people killed and dozens more injured after four explosions on board the Lahore-bound Samjhauta Express.

September 8, 2006: Thirty-eight people killed and more than 100 injured in three nearly simultaneous blasts, including one in a mosque, in the town of Malegaon in Maharashtra.

July 11, 2006: Seven bomb blasts in a period of 11 minutes on Mumbai's suburban trains. A total of 186 people were killed and more than 800 injured.

April 14, 2006: Fourteen people, including a woman and a girl, injured in two explosions at New Delhi's Jama Masjid, after Friday evening prayers.

March 7, 2006: Twenty-eight killed and 62 injured after three bombs rip through the holy city of Varanasi.

October 29, 2005: More than 60 people killed and nearly 200 injured when three bombs explode ahead of Diwali in New Delhi.

August 25, 2004: Six people die in two car bomb blasts in Mumbai.

March 13, 2003: Eleven people killed in a bomb attack aboard a commuter train in Mumbai.

September 24, 2002 : At least 31 people killed in a militant attack on a temple in Gujarat.

December 13, 2001: Fourteen people die, including five gunmen, in an attack on Parliament.

October 1, 2001: Forty people killed in a suicide attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3037370.cms

Only zero tolerance can end terror

Swapan Dasgupta (Pioneer May 18, 2008)

The serial blasts in Jaipur on May 14 were apparently the 21st successful operation (outside Jammu & Kashmir) by radical Islamists against the people of India. The 70 or so people who died horrible deaths last Tuesday joined the 3,674 Indians who are known to have been killed by a galaxy of terrorists in the 50-month period from January 2004. The statistics, diligently collated by The Times of India, suggest that India is second only to Iraq in the number of people killed by terrorists. The "merchants of death" have never had it so good.

The story of Incredible India is truly remarkable. It would be difficult discovering too many societies where a Government tries to cover up its pathetic helplessness by projecting the organised killings of the aam aadmi --commuters on suburban trains, scientists attending seminars, housewives shopping for Diwali and devotees worshipping at temples -- as karma and cruel fate. In normal democratic societies, the existence of well-organised terror networks would have prompted outrage. In India, it has prompted a curious response: A blend of capitulation and denial.

The capitulation has been shamefully brazen. In trying to dispel the assertion that terrorists don't deserve human rights, the UPA Government has gone out of its way to assert that terror suspects shouldn't suffer any discrimination. The architect of the Coimbatore bomb blasts, for example, turned his prison cell into a massage parlour before the authorities engineered his acquittal. The convicted perpetrator of the attack on Parliament idles away his time in prison with the full knowledge that the Government lacks the anatomical wherewithal to carry out the punishment awarded to him by courts.

For liberal India -- UPA represents its most disfigured face -- the important thing about terror is to deny its existence as far as possible. It has become almost a ritual for the Centre to greet every jihadi orgy with the assertion that we must not be provoked into enacting strong anti-terrorist legislation. For the English-language TV channels, the so-called "spirit of Mumbai" or the tale of Jaipur's "resilience", is invariably contrasted with the savage response of Gujarat to the carnage in Godhra.

It's one thing to invoke the gritty, stiff upper-lip approach as a byword for quiet determination. It's another thing to believe, like the infamous Mohammed Shah, that Delhi is still a fair distance away, and declare an unending happy hour for terrorist marauders. To mindlessly repeat after every outrage that terrorists are "cowards" is to miss the point. The issue is not about the lack of personal integrity of the bombers. It's about why the Centre has been emasculated by the terrorists.

It can hardly be the case that even someone as vacuously inept as Home Minister Shivraj Patil approves these attacks on what the Indian Mujahedeen email called the Kuffar-e-Hind (infidels of India). Like the inflation monster which threatens to eat up the Congress electorally in Karnataka, terrorists have alienated the UPA Government from large chunks of urban India. Yet, why is the Congress hellbent on courting unpopularity by persisting with its appeasement of terror?

After every terrorist atrocity, every religious head worth his name has invariably denounced the terrorists and prayed earnestly for peace. A massive conference was organised in Deoband some months ago to inform the terrorists that killing innocent civilians is theologically unsound. Therefore, if electoral support is what the UPA is after -- a legitimate preoccupation in a democracy -- why isn't the Manmohan Singh Government hitting the terrorists hard, and where it hurts? Logically speaking, by adopting a robust anti-terror policy the Government could have clawed its way back on popularity charts.

Unfortunately, there is a striking mismatch between reality as projected by breathless TV anchors and the truth in real life. There has been mounting evidence to show that the bombers are not foreign disruptionists who merely "sneak" into India, carry out an operation and then disappear into their cubby holes in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The post-mortem of every terrorist outrage points to local networks of radical extremism that act as facilitators. The leadership of the Student's Islamic Movement (they have dispensed with the "India" suffix) isn't foreigners; they are people who can quite legitimately claim Indian passports.

India is confronted by home-grown, ideologically-driven terror. The Government doesn't want to admit it. Nor does it plan to act against it for fear of unsettling people who vote en bloc. It persists with its hypocrisy and double-speak on the cynical belief that the Kuffar-e-Hind is incapable of responding in a united way.

No wonder there is growing liberal indignation at Rajasthan Government's decision to deport illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. If people have entered India without valid papers, they deserve to be expelled -- whether Bangladesh likes it or not. The compulsion is greater if it is established that Bangladeshi ghettos have served as sanctuaries for HUJI and other terror groups. Yet, just days after the outrage there is liberal clamour to keep many corners of Rajasthan forever Bangladeshi.

An effective anti-terror policy can be built on a combination of effective policing and social deterrence. That India needs a dedicated federal counter-terrorism body is undeniable. It is heartening that even the Congress has come around to this position. However, efficient policing and accurate Intelligence have to be complemented by all-round vigilance. A zero tolerance policy on terrorism implies creating an environment that discourages local support to bombers. All deterrence is based on fear of recrimination. Anti-terror strategies in India are hamstrung because support networks of terror enjoy political patronage. Our cities will become safer once the bombers and facilitators realise that every crime will be met by active intolerance.
http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story1%2Etxt&counter_img=1

"We love death, they love life" -- islamism (Kanchan Gupta)

2008-03-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

OIC's sinister message

by Kanchan Gupta (Pioneer, 15 March 2008)

The Organisation of Islamic Conference, whose membership is understandably restricted to 57 Islamic countries, at its meeting in Dakar, Senegal, over Thursday and Friday, has released a report that stands out for its remarkable casuistry. The 'Observatory Report on Islamophobia', a bulky document that lists a variety of imaginary grievances to make the point that Islam is being defamed and Muslims are being discriminated against, is of a piece with the OIC's untiring efforts to promote imagined victimhood as a convenient cover to justify Islamist terror.

In the past, the OIC has lashed out at India for 'suppressing' Muslim aspirations in Jammu & Kashmir; it has now lashed out at the entire world (barring, of course, those countries where Islam rules) for "defamation of Islam and racial intolerance of Muslims". The bulk of the OIC's anger is directed at "Western societies", but that is essentially because it wishes to play to the gallery and reflect the "concerns of the Islamic ummah". The report, however, should cause concern across the world, not least because it seeks a "binding legal instrument" that will delegitimise "negative political and media discourse" on issues with which Islam and Muslims are intimately associated, severely restrict freedom of expression, and force universal acceptance of, if not compliance with, all that is claimed in the name of Islam.

A fortnight before the official unveiling of this compendium of rant against the free world and denunciation of open and plural societies, the OIC Ambassadorial Group at the United Nations issued a statement on Islamophobia in New York on February 29. The statement is a summary of the obnoxious contents of the OIC report; its tone is belligerent and dismissive of dissenting opinion. "The Group is particularly and deeply alarmed by the intensification of the campaign against Islam, as it impairs Muslims' enjoyment of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and impedes their ability to observe, practice and manifest their religion freely and without fear of coercion, violence or reprisal," the statement says.

The statement and the report, however, are deliberately silent on non-Muslims being denied the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion - for instance, as has been denied to the Pandits of Kashmir Valley and is now being denied to Hindus in Islamic countries like Malaysia - and thus impeding their ability to observe, practice and manifest their religion freely and without fear of coercion. This is not surprising as the OIC is known for speaking with a forked tongue. Nor is it surprising that it should seek to bring into popular usage a neologism like 'Islamophobia' that serves its sinister agenda, while insisting that others like 'Islamofascism', along with 'radical Islam' and 'Islamic terrorism', must be banned from public discourse. Those who persist with using these terms shall be seen as, and held guilty of, Islamophobia. Terror has a new identity.

Ironically, what Europe is now being accused of owes its origin to entirely misplaced European, more specifically British, faith in 'multiculturalism' which has become the magic password to escape censure for indulging in Islamofascism, the ideology of those who subscribe to radical Islamism. The world first heard of Islamophobia when the Runnymede Trust set up the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia in 1996, much before New York's Twin Towers and the London Underground were bombed. It is no less ironical that the commission's report, 'Islamophobia: A challenge for us all', was released in 1997 in the House of Commons by then Home Secretary Jack Straw. In October 2006, Mr Straw was pitilessly denounced by those who claim to be victims of Islamophobia in Britain and abroad for daring to describe the Islamic veil as a "visible statement of separation and of difference".

By 2004, it was felt necessary to denounce Islamophobia to keep Islamofascists in good humour. In May that year the Council of Europe summit formally "condemned Islamophobia". Seven months later, Mr Kofi Annan, who brought shame and disgrace to his office as UN Secretary-General, gave it the stamp of international recognition by presiding over a conference on 'Confronting Islamophobia'. Between then and now, it has become fashionable to condemn any criticism of radical Islamism and fanaticism of the variety practiced and exported by Saudi Arabia, as Islamophobia, much the same way it is considered politically correct to describe the terrorism of Hamas and Hizbullah as "resistance against Zionism".

The truth is that Islamophobia is not about 'undue fear of Islam'. Well-known scholar Daniel Pipes, who is known to berate those who use Islam to justify their perversions, but not Islam (that has not prevented the OIC from naming him, along with Samuel P Huntington, author of The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, and eminent historian Bernard Lewis, as an Islamophobe) says, "While prejudice against Islam certainly exists, Islamophobia deceptively conflates two distinct phenomena: Fear of Islam and fear of radical Islam." So, those who feel repelled by the ideology of radical Islamism and fear the terrible consequences of not putting down its practitioners, are also accused of Islamophobia. Similarly, it has become a convenient tool to silence critics of Islam and reformists within the ummah. It equates freedom to question with racism.

Worse, it gives fanatics the right to abuse others and vilify their faith, secure in the knowledge that anybody who dares protest will be branded an Islamophobe. When Britain toyed with the idea of adopting a law against hate speech, this point was made eloquently by Mr Azzam Tamimi, a senior member of the Muslim Association of Britain, who insisted that while the law should gag critics of Islam, it should not prevent Muslims from berating other religions since it is their 'duty' to do so, or from glorifying Palestinian suicide bombers because, as he put it, "We love death, they love life." Mr Tamimi, curiously, is a leading light of the 'Stop the War Coalition'.

Similarly, criticism of textbooks used in a London school funded by Saudi Arabia, describing Jews as "repugnant" and Christians as "pigs", would be considered Islamophobia, as would any attempt to rein in Islamist terrorist outfits anywhere in the world. When the British Government tried to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, it struck back by launching a 'Stop Islamophobia' campaign on British campuses. Apart from referring to the 9/11 terrorists as the "magnificent 19", as was done by its prominent leader Omar Bakri Mohammed, who later floated Al-Mohajiroun and now sends out e-mail 'advising' Muslim youth from his hideout in Lebanon, Hizb ut-Tahrir is guilty of practising anti-Semitism, abusing Hindus and Hinduism, and preaching that "suicide bombers go straight to heaven". To stand up to Hizb ut-Tahrir, therefore, amounts to Islamophobia.

Closer home, the Students Islamic Movement of India, which has been banned for being a terrorist organisation, insists that it is being targeted because its members are scrupulous adherents of Islam. Hence, if the OIC report is to be taken seriously and its definition of Islamophobia accepted, the order banning SIMI is a manifestation of Islamophobia. The Government of India is equally guilty of Islamophobia for providing dissident Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen with a resident permit. And, those in media who refuse to endorse the humiliation of Gudiyas and the persecution of Imranas by the ulema, and believe there is a connection between radical Islamism and Islamist terrorism, stand accused of "targeting Muslims and Islam".

We can afford to ignore the ringing message from Dakar only at the expense of the values that set us apart from those who decree that a woman who has been raped should be publicly flogged, if not stoned to death.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=kanchan%2Fkanchan163.txt&writer=kanchan

The naked truth of Emperor Aurangzeb's virtual clothes

2008-03-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

We should thank the Prince Nawab of Arcot for reminding us about Aurangzeb 1) by opposing the Chennai exhibit and 2) by calling upon state terror to harass the exhibitors.

Here is a vivid account by V. Sundaram summarising what Aurangzeb did. Nawab saab, these are undeniable facts of history so superbly documented by Prafull Goradia, facts which will not go away and come back to haunt for a long, long time, despite the unleashing of state terror.

History may be bunk, but ain’t no bunker for sharp-shooters or jihadis to hide. Not even for Emperor Aurangzeb in his jihadi nakedness.

kalyan

Aurangazed and Islamic compassion-III

V SUNDARAM | Tue, 11 Mar, 2008 , 02:54 PM (News Today)

Unfortunately, we the citizens of Hindustan have had to suffer a continuous history of conquests and foreign rule for over seven centuries. It will take long time for the Hindu mindset to be raised from servitude to mastery.

Gobind Dev temple whose top half was beheaded by urangzeb and the rest converted into a mosque. (Photo graph: March, 2001)
http://newstodaynet.com/images/stories/columns/sharpshot/2008-images/1103-sun3.gif
Hindus can move faster if they have an understanding of their history. It would then be feasible to diagnose the slavery complex of the helpless Hindus of India and more particularly that haunts the upper fringes of Hindu society. Among the intelligentsia, there are many anti-Hindu Hindus. That is why Shri. Prafull Goradia in his great work HINDU MASJIDS asks this sharp question: ‘If the upper echelon of society is embarrassed about its collective identity, namely Hindu, how can the society regain its pride and self-confidence?’

Islamic iconoclasm has been the major misfortune of Hindustan from 800 AD to 1800 AD. Hindu Temples, by the hundred, if not by the thousand, were desecrated and then converted into Mosques and dargahs. Or, they were destroyed and their rubble was used to build Mosques. In all cases, the Hindu Deities were buried under Mosque entrances so that they could easily be trampled upon by those who came to offer prayers. How the Islamic iconoclasts deliberately wounded Hindu sentiments for centuries and how much they traumatized the indigenous Hindu Civilization can only be a matter of conjecture. But the large scale destruction of Hindu Temples by Muslim Rulers as a matter of high State Policy is a solid fact. According to our Islam-embracing, Christianity-coveting and Hindu-hating, pseudo-secular anti-National Politicians and disgraceful Members of Parliament belonging to the Congress, Communist, RJD, DMK and other Political Parties, this act of temple destruction indeed brought out Islamic culture and human compassion at its noblest.

Aurangaze bofficers destroying the Keshavarai Temple at Mathura in 1669-1970. In its place a lofty Mosque erected.
http://newstodaynet.com/images/stories/columns/sharpshot/2008-images/1103-sun1.gif

Prafull Goradia gives this interesting account of how The Gobind Dev Temple in Mathura was beheaded in order to assuage the ego of that most compassionate of Mughal Rulers called Aurangazeb. The temple today is 55 feet tall. Before its upper part was destroyed on Aurangazeb’s orders in anticipation of his visit to Vrindavan in 1670 AD, the Mandir (temple) was reputed to be twice that height. On its roof, after the destruction, a Mehrab or Prayer Hall was erected and the iconoclastic Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb offered namazz. About two centuries later, FS Growse, who belonged to the Bengal Civil Service and was Collector and District Magistrate of Mathura District, had the Mehrab removed.

Prafull Goradia describes this act of FS Growse as ‘SHUDDHI BY British’. Growse had two reasons for ordering the removal of Mehrab. First, because it was an eyesore, and second, it was a public-spirited endeavour to redeem whatever original character was left of the temple two centuries after Aurangazeb’s savage act of its destruction. Although the original idol remained at Jaipur, another set of deities was installed by the pujaris or priests. Since then, the temple has had a flat roof. Probably, no other desecrated temple had been the subject of so much repair and refurbishment by British Rulers. Of supreme importance was the fact of the temple (Mandir) being resituated to Hindu devotees by FS Growse. As Prafull Goradia puts it: ‘It was the greatest act of Shuddhi or purification performed much before Swamy Dayananda Saraswathi re-introduced Vedic procedures. Growse therefore deserves a place in the Hall of Hindutva’.

The Gobind Dev Temple at Vrindavan, Mathura, is indeed massive. Its plinth is 105 feet by 117 feet. It is estimated that the original height was about 110 feet without which it would not have been possible to see the mashaal or torch either from Agra or from Delhi. This temple was built in 1590 AD by Maharaja Maan Singh of Jaipur. Fortunately, the idol of Sri Krishna or Gobind had been removed to Jaipur by the Pujarist in anticipation of Aurangazeb’s proposed visit for destroying that temple in 1670 AD. The roof of this magnificent temple was destroyed by Aurangazeb and in its place a Mehrab (Prayer Hall) was constructed as illustrated in the photograph in History of Indian and Eastern Architechture by James Fergusson. Aurangazeb himself inaugurated this Mehrab by offering Prayers.

Let me now describe in some detail how this great temple was destroyed by Aurangazeb and his Officers. All except two statuettes were defaced, including the one at the door of what is now the temple, after crossing the foyer hall. The destruction was not confined to the upper floors. It extended to the hundreds of defaced statuettes that even today adorn the temple walls outside as well as inside, the ceilings or doors. The iconoclasts (Aurangazeb and his henchmen) overlooked two small statuettes, one of Lord Sri Krishna and the other of Radha, on the outside of the left wall as one faces the temple.

An American Historian of Indian Architecture, George Mitchell, has concluded that the original sanctum sanctorum was destroyed. To quote his exact words: ‘Once the garbhagriha has been turned down, there was little point in further wreckage....It seems to me that only those with some understanding of the ritual significance of the garbhagriha would have been capable of desecrating a temple in this careful manner.’

The beheaded Gobind Dev Temple in Mathura turned Mosque with a Mehrab (Prayer Hall) on top built for humanist Aurangazeb to pray. Reproduced from History of Indian and Eastern Architecture by James Fergusson, John Murray, London, 1899. The above Mehrab was removed by F.S. Growse, District Collector and Magistrate, Mathura District after 1870.
http://newstodaynet.com/images/stories/columns/sharpshot/2008-images/1103-sun2.gif

Prof R Nath in his History of Mughal Architecture (1985) introduces the subject of the Gobind Dev Temple by quoting Aurangazeb’s Decree of April 1669 which said “Eager to establish Islam (Aurangazeb) issued orders to the Governors of all the Provinces to demolish the Schools and Temples of the Hindu infidels and with the utmost urgency put down the teaching and the public practice of these disbelievers. The great Temple of GOBIND DEV FELL A VICTIM TO ICONOCLASTIC VANDILSM WITHIN A YEAR OF THE DECREE. ITS INNER SANCTUM AND ITS SUPERSTRUCTURE WERE ALMOST ENTIRELY DESTROYED. THE MAIN HALL WAS ALSO DAMAGED. SCULPTED FIGURES ON THE DVARASAKHA WERE LITERALLY DEFACED’.
What made Aurangazeb and his Islamic marauders destroy this beautiful Temple in Vrindavan in Mathura? FS Growse gave an answer in his article in Calcutta Review in 1882: ‘Aurangazeb had often remarked about a very bright light shining in the far distant south east horizon and in reply to his enquiries regarding it, was told that it was a light burning in a temple of great wealth and magnificence at Vrindavan. He accordingly resolved that it should be put out and soon after some troops were sent to the place who plundered and threw down as much of the temple as they could and then erected on the top of the ruins a Mosque wall where, in order to complete the desecration, the Emperor is said to have offered up his Prayers.’

Aurangazeb’s Islamic ego was thus gratified. According to James Fergusson, very unfortunately for the Hindus of India and the artistic heritage of al civilized mankind, this act of wanton destruction of Gobind Dev Temple at Mathura took along with it one of the most elegant Temples in India. What did Growse have to say about this? He said ‘I should myself have thought that solemn are imposing was a more appropriate term than elegance for so massive a building and that the suggestions that might be derived from its study were many rather than few.’

According to Prafull Goradia a number of motives have been attributed to the Islamic Invaders who desecrated or destroyed Hindu Temples, looting its treasures, subduing the populace by arousing dread, informing the area that an Islamic Sultan had replaced the Hindu Raja. There is, however, no other instance of a temple being desecrated because it defied the ego of an Emperor.

http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=33

Aurangzebs of the state attacking hard-won freedoms

2008-03-10T07:53:00.001-07:00

Aurangzebs of the state attacking hard-won freedoms

Here are two accounts. One is by V. Sundaram presenting the facts on Aurangzeb’s destruction of Hindu temples. The other is by Francois Gautier presenting the facts of culture (read communal) policing in Chennai which should attract appropriate legal and administrative sanctions, assuming that the rule of law is in vogue in the state.

When the fence eats away the field, who is to safeguard the crop?

The organizers of the exhibit should be complimented for awakening the nation to the faces of terror which have stalked the nation for several centuries.

A nation which forgets its past and does not draw lessons from the eveil deeds of the past rulers, the nation is likely to repeat its history.

Dhanyavaadah for the extraordinary courage and fortitude displayed by the organizers standing up to state terror mimicking the jihadi terrors -- of the past and ongoing.

kalyan

Aurangazeb and Islamic compassion-II

V SUNDARAM | Mon, 10 Mar, 2008 , 02:50 PM
.
‘Aurangazeb as he was’ exhibition organized by FACT in Chennai showed two paintings about the destruction of Keshavarai Temple at Mathura carried out by Aurangazeb in Jan-Feb 1670 (See Exhibit 12 below) and how in its place a lofty Mosque was erected.
The idols, the author of Maasir-i-Alamgiri informs us, were carried to Agra and buried under the steps of the mosque built by Begum Sahiba in order to be continually trodden upon, and the name of Mathura was changed to Islamabad. The painting (See Exhibit 13 below) is thus no fancy imagination of the artist but depicts what actually took place.
Exhibits 12 and 13 http://newstodaynet.com/images/stories/columns/sharpshot/2008-images/pg4-sundaram-photo-2.gif
The Muslim Invaders and Rulers of India belonged to different ages, races and parts of the globe. They spoke in different languages. But their behaviour-pattern remained and still remains consistently uniform. The very reason for such remarkable uniformity of behaviour lies in the Quran, the Hadis and the Sunnah which they quote and follow with pride. There are two aspects of the creed of Islam. One is the Doctrinal aspect as embodied in the Islamic Scriptures viz, the Holy Quran (The Revelation of Allah), the Hadis (The Revelation of the Prophet) and the Sunnah (The Way of Life as shown by the Prophet). The other is “Jihad” i.e. Islam in action. Both -these aspects are intertwined with one another and it is the Holy Quran that inspires, ordins and guides Jihad, the Islamic ‘struggle’ in the way of Allah.

The Islamic Jihad in every nook and corner of the world stands for the same – intolerance to and slaughter of non-Muslims, loot and arson of the ‘kafirs’ property and rape of their women. From the Mujaheeds of the battle of Badr to toda’s Osaama bin Laden, the spirit remains unchanged. And from the mutilation of Lt. Saurav Khalia to the Church-bomb-blast at Djakarta (25.12.2000) and New York World Trade Centre (11.9.2001) the pattern remains the same. Allah has said in the Quran “Slay the idolaters whenever you find them, and take them, confine them, and lie in weight for them in every place of ambush” (Surah 9: Ayat 5). Likewise we have in Surah 8: Ayat 39 this message: “Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion reigns supreme”. Apart from the religious Ordinances, Carnal gratification is another strong impetus that inspires a Mujaheed to participate in Jihad. There is assurance in Surah 78: Ayat 30 to the effect that if a Mujaheed gets killed, 72 Hauries (women of tender age with large round breasts) and 28 young boys weight to satiate his libido in Jannat (Paradise). The Holy Qural promises that “Surely for the God – fearing awaits a place of security, garden and vineyards and maidens with swelling bossoms.”

Will Durant, in his internationally acclaimed book “The Story of Civilization”, has stated: The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale for its evident moral is that Civilization is a precious good whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from outside are multiplying within.”

Swami Vivekananda presented the following picture of Islamic havoc in India as follows: “When the Muslims first came to India, there were according to their historical records, 60 crores of Hindus in India. This calculation suffers from under estimation than exaggeration; for lots of people perished through the persecution of the Muslims. But today the same Hindus have dwindled into 20 crores” (Complete Works, Volume V, PP 233).

Muslim Regimes, throughout the world have an unparallel record of terrorism and torture, murder and mayhem described in gory details by contemporary Muslim chroniclers themselves. Subjecting all non-Muslims to horrendous atrocities, plundering their wealth, abducting their women and destroying their places for worship—these munificent deeds have been considered sacred duties of every Muslim in Islamic theology and practice. Such acts of violence, inhuman torture and barbarism, have been inspired by the Quran itself which says” “Allah revealed His Will to the Angels saying ‘I shall be with you, give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, main them in every limb. “(Surah 8: Ayat 12)

Aurangazeb drew his inspiration for the destruction of Hindu Temples from the Quran. Sita Ram Goel in his authoritative work ‘Hindu Temples, What Happened to Them’ has given detailed epigraphic evidence regarding the destruction of Keshavarai Temple by Aurangazeb in Mathura. He cites from the Persian inscription reproduced and translated into English by F.S. Growse in his Mathura: A District Memoir (3rd Edition of 1883). Growse was District Collector of Mathura in 1883. Here is the epigraphic evidence:

“In the reign of Shah Alamgir Muhuddin Walmillah, the King of the World, Aurangazeb, who is adorned with justice, the lustre of Islam shone forth to the glory of God: for Abd-un-Nabi Khan built this beautiful Mosque. The second Holy Temple caused the idols to go down in worship. Truth came and error vanished.” This is how they described how a Mosque was erected at the same site where Keshavari Temple stood and which was demolished on Aurangazeb’s orders in Jan-Feb 1670.

In his path-breaking book HINDU MASJIDS’, Shri Prafull Goradia, a profound scholar and Former BJP Member of Parliament has fully documented the destruction of Hindu Temples by Muslim Rulers from 700 AD to the end of the 18th century. Aurangazeb comes out as a cruel, wicked and barbarous destroyer of Hindu Temples. I will be giving details from this book in these articles in serial form:

To quote the words of Prafull Goradia from his introduction: “Hindu Masjids personify the deep chasm, or the sharp conflict between the Hindu Ethos and Muslim Zoolatry. The conflict must be resolved. Why are we anxious? For the simple reason that without resolution, India cannot acquire the spirit of collective honour. And without national pride, the country cannot leap forward. Individual citizens may flourish or shine, as they do even now, whether at home or overseas. But the collective performance of the country disappoints.”
It is the bounden duty of all responsible citizens and historians to let the people of India know about the brutal and actual facts about their collective past. If an endeavour directed towards this nobel end can be viewed as a criminal act which tends to disturb or derange communal peace and harmony, then all that I can say is that such an attitude only smacks of a black-mailing form of terrorism. All true scholars and patriotic Indians should derive their inspiration from these words: “Without courage there can be no truth and without truth, there can be no other virtue”.
http://newstodaynet.com/printer.php?id=5738

(An article by Francois Gautier which was published in the centre page of New Indian Express, 10-3-08)

Freedom gagged
by francois gautier

ON the March 7,2008, in Lalit Kala Academi, Chennai, Assistant Commissioner of Police K N Murali, took off the wall an exquisite miniature painting, which showed the destruction of the Somnath temple (which has been razed six times) and threw it on the ground, shattering it. Then his men started removing all the paintings from the wall, further damaging many of them. On that day, the morale and the reputation of the Tamil Nadu police must have sunk to a new low: of bowing down to their master's wishes and those of a few fanatics, of forsaking moral decency and all the qualities that a police officer should embody.

The previous day the Nawab of Arcot visited the exhibition and lashed out at FACT volunteers accusing them of "misrepresenting facts." He was particularly enraged by two miniatures — the first depicted Aurangzeb's army destroying the Somnath temple and the second showed the destruction of the Kesava Rai temple in Mathura. We are told that he has direct access to the CM's office and that orders to the police to clamp down on exhibition came down from there. Otherwise, Mr Murali would not have dared to go so far, so brazenly.

Soon, the nawab sent a group of goons, allegedly from TMMK (Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam) and MNP (Manitha Neethi Paasarai) to pick up arguments with the volunteers, most of them elderly women from decent family backgrounds.
They came back again on 7th afternoon when I was there, screaming on, top of their voices in Tamil and in English that this exhibition was absolutely false and that unless it was closed immediately they would come back in force the next day (Friday) to break it down. I tried to reason with them, that these were all documents from Government archives, that I could explain everything to them, that we could even debate on TV, but they shouted even louder and got more threatening. When all these arguments were going on the police did not bother to come up. (The hall is on the first floor.)

Then the goons closeted themselves with Mr Murali, two other officers and Mr Palaniappan, the secretary of the LKA, in his office and when I barged in, Mr Murali told me he was closing down the exhibition. I decided to rush to the Commissioner's office in Egmore to plead for a stay order. But meanwhile Mr Murali swung into action: he terrorised the harmless ladies calling them "stooges of a white dog," threw two paintings on the ground and ordered his policemen to remove the rest. Then he arrested four volunteers (Mrs. Saraswathi, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi, Mrs. Malathi and Mr. B.R. Haran) and took them to the Thousand Lights police station. There ACP termed Mr. Francois as a "Foreign Terrorist" and threatened to book the volunteers "for helping and assisting him to incite communal violence in the otherwise peaceful Tamil Nadu."

What was all the noise about? Lalit Kala Academi was showing an exhibition: "Aurangzeb as he was according to his own records." This is an artistic exhibition on Aurangzeb, the great Mughal emperor using his own records and firmans (edicts), many of which are still preserved in Indian museums, such as the Bikaner archives.
Aurangzeb was truly a pious Muslim, copying the Koran himself, stitching Muslim skullcaps and enforcing strict laws, according to his own documents, which we were careful to show. How come Aurangzeb is such a hero with the Nawab of Arcot and his henchmen? Forget what he did to Hindus: re-imposing the humiliating jiziya tax, forbidding them from riding horses, elephants or palanquins and ordering all temples destroyed (Among them the Krishna's birth temple in Mathura, the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujarat, the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares and the Treta-ka-Thakur temple in Ayodhya), he was also a monster to his own family, having his father poisoned, his two brothers killed, and imprisoning his own son.
This exhibition was sponsored by FACT, which I created in 2003, when I received at the hands of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha the Natchiketa Award of Excellence in Journalism. With the Prize money, my Indian wife Namrita and myself mounted an exhibition on the plight of the Kashmir! Pandits, four hundred thousand of them having become refugees in their own country.

This exhibition travelled around India and then in the world and was shown in Capitol Hill, Washington, in July 2005, leading to a bipartisan resolution on the Human Rights of the Kashmir! Pandits in the US Congress. Another exhibition on the persecution of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists in Bangladesh was inaugurated in Mumbai on November 18, 2006. We have also a huge show on Shivaji 'a Hero for Modern, India' in Mumbai on March 12 in Ravindra Natya Mandir.

A lot of historical research and artistic efforts have gone into the making of this exhibition. It is also an effort to help a dying craft, of the painters of Rajasthan, that of miniature painting. Each original painting, which portrays a historically documented incident in the times of Aurangzeb, has been done in the original Mughal style and is signed and dated. Professor V. S. Bhatnagar of the Rajasthan University, Jaipur, has contributed the historical research part.

We are hiring a lawyer to file a case on FACT's behalf on five counts:

1) Assistant Commissioner of Police K N Murali, took two of the paintings, which showed the destruction of the Somnath temple and threw them on the ground. I hear six more paintings have been damaged and we have no news of the exhibition as it has been sealed. It costs 8 lakhs to do (all original miniature paintings not counting my time).

2) We paid LalitKalaAcademi a lot of money and they cancelled the show.

3) The police took in a police van three innocent ladies to the police station after 6 p.m. which is illegal.

4) The police totally sided with the goons, closeting themselves in the manager's office for one hour.

5) Mr Murali threatened the ladies repeatedly that they were 'terrorists.'

6} Lastly, we will file a case against Lalit Kala Academi for damage to our paintings, infringement upon our freedom of expression and we will demand that they reopen the exhibition in their premises so that the people of Chennai may have the opportunity to make their own judgment about it.

This exhibition is not about raking up the past or "creating communal disharmony," it is about Indian children, Hindus and Muslims alike knowing their own past and making sure it does not happen again. For Aurangzeb's shadow and legacy is still very much present in India.

It was there in Kashmir when all the Hindus were forced by terror to leave their homeland; it is there when Indian Muslims help plant bombs in Mumbai trains, Varanasi, or Delhi; it was there in Chennai when a few Muslim rowdies hold at ransom an entire state and its political apparatus. This is why we had that exhibition.

Francois Gautier is political correspondent in South Asia for “LaFigaro” for eight years. He is now the editor in chief of Paris-based Le revue de l’Inde (lesbelleslettre.com)
http://newindpress.com/newspages.asp?page=m&Title=Main+Article&

Jail for 'osma bin london'

2008-03-09T16:57:00.001-07:00

Sunday, March 09, 2008
Indefinite Jail For Indian-Origin 'Osama Bin London'
Indian-origin Briton, Mohammed Hamid, who was recently convicted in the UK as a major recruiter for Islamist extremism, has been sentenced to indefinite imprisonment for public protection.

Hamid, 50, of east London, allegedly organised secret training camps, one of which was attended by the four failed suicide bombers of 21 July 2005.

Hamid on Friday was jailed for seven-and-a-half years - but told he would not be released until he had reformed.

Hamid was born to Indian parents in Tanzania, and later moved to England. He grew up in Batley, Yorkshire.

The trial judge at the Woolwich Crown Court Justice Pitchers also jailed Hamid's accomplice Atilla Ahmet, who made hate speeches alongside Hamid, for six years and 11 months.

The Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence against Hamid was the first use of the powers in a terrorist case.

The police say that Hamid, who once described himself as "Osama bin London", played a crucial role in grooming young men for terrorism and possible training overseas.

Justice Pitchers told him: "Mohammed Hamid, you are, in my judgement, dangerous. You can be quite genuinely amusing and charming. You also have real knowledge of the Koran and Islamic teaching. However, that is only one side of you.

"You used your charm and knowledge of the Koran to influence others to terrorism. I believe you have sent trainees to Afghanistan. You continue to be a danger, not directly from your own actions, but from your ability to persuade others by criminal actions to commit terrorism offences themselves."

Hamid was found guilty of three counts of soliciting to murder and three counts of providing terrorism training.

http://the-malaysian.blogspot.com/2008/03/indefinite-jail-for-indian-origin-osama.html

Prince of Arcot's 'bunkum' about Jihadi Aurangzeb

2008-03-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

Mar 9, 2008

Prince of Arcot's 'bunkum'

From: hbalakrishnan@....com
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 5:12 PM
Subject: Aurangzeb's crimes against Hindus are too enormous to even be comprehended by any human being
Letter to 'the new Indian Express', titled: "Islamic iconoclasm"
This has reference to the report "Culture cops end Aurangzeb exhibition" -- (TNIE-07 MAR).
The report states that the Prince of Arcot had called the exhibition 'bunkum' and, 'cooked up history'. He is reported to have stated that he could challenge the authenticity of the documents on display. The report further goes on to state that two 'potentially controversial' paintings--one on the demolition of the Somnath temple in Gujarat (1699) and the other on the destruction of the Keshava Rai temple at Mathura (1699).
Islamic literary sources provide extensive evidence of temple destruction by Muslim invaders of India in medieval times. Hundreds of medieval Muslim historians who flourished in India and elsewhere in the world of Islam, have written detailed accounts of these temple destructions, which were in keeping with Islamic tenets.
With respect to the Prince of Arcot's 'bunkum' and 'cooked-up' theory, here is an account with respect to Mathura . Saqi Must'ad Khan was the author of "Masir-i-Alamgiri". The materials used by the author for the compilation of this history came from the State archives, which were thrown open to him. This work was translated into English by the world famous historian -- Sir Judanath Sarkar -- with the same title, in 1947.
With respect to 'Mathura', Sir Judanath Sarkar wrote: " … During this month of Ramzan abounding in miracles, the Emperor as the promoter of justice and over thrower of mischief, as a knower of truth and destroyer of oppression, as the zephyr of the garden of victory and the reviver of the faith of the prophet, issued orders for the demolition of the temple situated in Mathura, famous as the Dehra of Kesho Rai. In a short time by the great exertions of his officers the destruction of this strong foundation of infidelity was accomplished, and on its site a lofty was built at the expenditure of a large sum. The idols, large and small, set with costly jewels which had been set up in the temple were brought to Agra, and buried under the steps of the mosque of the Begam Sahib, in order to be continually trod upon. The name of Mathura was changed to Islamabad”. (Ref: "Masir-i-Alamgiri"-Sir Judanath Sarkar,Calcutta,1947 -pp 51-52).
Similar 'exploits' of iconoclasm can be obtained in their hundreds from the monumental work of Sita Ram Goel's “Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them Vol. 1”. It has been compiled from the Islamic historians' records of the medieval era as the author was fluent in Arabic and Persian i.e. primary sources.
One wonders whether these Muslim historians wrote 'bunkum' and 'cooked-up' history?

Jamiat head loses crown

2008-03-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Jamiat head loses crown

RASHEED KIDWAI (Kolkata, Telegraph)

March 8: The head of Dar-ul-Uloom’s parent organisation finds himself out of a job barely two weeks after the influential Deoband seminary issued a fatwa against terrorism and suicide bombing.

The exit of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind chief, Maulana Arshad Madni, is a setback to the Congress at a time general elections are inching closer and several Assembly polls are coming up later this year.

Unlike other apolitical religious orders, the Jamiat has been a declared Congress ally since its inception in 1919. It participated in the Khilafat movement and opposed the two-nation theory.

Arshad, a moderate, was often seen in the company of senior AICC functionaries. In his absence, his nephew Mahmood Madni has emerged an all-powerful leader.

Mahmood, now a Rashtriya Lok Dal MP in the Rajya Sabha, told The Telegraph the Jamiat would review its political stance.

“We are for the protection of Muslims in India and bringing them into the national mainstream. We will extend our support to political outfit(s) after closely examining their credentials,” he said.

“Our pledge against terrorism will continue.”

The Jamiat has been in the throes of a power struggle since the death last year of Maulana Asad Madni, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP for decades. A section of the Jamiat leaders wanted his son Mahmood to succeed him. But organisation elders favoured Asad Madni’s brother Arshad.

Mahmood has, however, declined to wear the crown directly. After Arshad was removed at an extraordinary working committee meet in New Delhi on Thursday, the Jamiat “elected” Qari Mohammad Usman, the vice-rector of the Deoband school, as its interim president.

Arshad was present when 24 of the 32 working committee members adopted the resolution. He stormed out, vowing to seek legal intervention against his “illegal exit”.

In accordance with the Jamiat constitution, a general council has been convened on March 26 to ratify the verdict.

Muslim scholars familiar with the Jamiat said Arshad might float a breakaway group. But Assam Jamiat chief Badurddin Ajmal hoped the Arshad and Mahmood groups would come together.

“I am neither with this group nor that group. I am for a united Jamiat… (we) are trying our best to avert a split. Let us pray to God for the best,” Ajmal said.

On Thursday, the Mahmood group had claimed Ajmal’s support. Ajmal’s nascent Assam United Democratic Front had won 10 seats in the 2006 Assembly polls after he fell out with the Congress, but he continued his link with the Jamiat.

In Delhi, Congress leaders said the real fear was that under the new leadership the Jamiat might embark upon the “Ajmal model” across the country.

http://telegraphindia.com/1080309/jsp/frontpage/story_8998365.jsp

Protest letter to Police Commissioner on illegal arrests

2008-03-08T06:49:00.000-08:00

Following letter of protest was handed over by Smt Radha Rajan ji, VIGIL pulic opinion forum. She was accompanied by Capt H Balakrishnan Retd INS, a war veteran, Sri Swaminathan, Advocate, Madras High Court and S V Badri of Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samiti.

To:
The Commissioner of Police
Shri Nanchil Kumaran
Greater Chennai Police.

Sub: Flagrant violation of procedural guidelines when arresting women

Sir,

On the 7th April 2008, AC Murali of the Thousand Lights police station arrested three women, and one man, Srimathi Saraswati, Dr. Vijayalakshmi. Srimathi Malathi and Shri BR Haran at 7.30 p.m. The following for your attention –

1. Women are not supposed to be arrested after 6 p.m
2. No arrest memo was given to the persons arrested
3. No lady police officer or lady constable was present at the time of arrest
4. On orders from the Joint Commissioner of Police Shri Balasubramaniam, AC Murali was compelled to release the women but he did so only after forcing them to write and sign a statement that they came to the police station only for inquiry and that they were being 'let off' after inquiry

Vigil has the greatest respect for our men in uniform in the armed forces and the police services. We therefore feel compelled to approach you to seek redress. AC Murali besides using the foulest language against Francois Gautier (vellakara naai, porukki, terrorist, associates of terrorist) was also guilty of removing and causing damage to the paintings.

Needless to say, a police officer cannot interpret the law nor take the law into his own hands. He must only enforce the law. In the best interest of retaining our confidence in your department for upholding the highest norms of policing, we seek that you deal with the errant officer in question internally.

Violating procedural guidelines with regard to arrest of persons, particularly elderly women, and the use of abusive and foul language, is in our view a very gross offence and merits the strictest disciplinary action by the department against the police officer concerned. We are determined that the officer concerned must tender an unqualified apology to all the three women either in writing separately to them or through us. The women will not come to your police station again not even to accept the apology.

We are sure you will heed our legitimate demand and act in best interest of the reputation of the Tamil Nadu police and in the interest of rule of law which is the defining feature of mature democracies.
Yours' sincerely,

Radha Rajan,
Joint Secretary, Vigil Public Opinion Forum,
Swaminathan, Advocate, Madras High Court
Capt H Balakrishnan INS (Retd), War veteran
S V Badri, Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samiti
08-03- '08

For a slideshow of the police atrocities at the Lalith Kala Academy on 06th March, Pls click:

http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/svbadri/?action=view¤t=21ac2193.pbw

Aurangzebs of 2008 try denying jihadi Aurangzeb of 17th cent.

2008-03-08T05:18:00.001-08:00

Aurangzebs of 2008 try denying jihadi Aurangzeb of 17th cent.

Pictures of culture police destroying Aurangzeb exhibits at Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai, on 6 March 2008.

AURANGZEBS OF TODAY (8 March 2008)
B.RAMAN http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers27/paper2611.html

In a statement made after the July,2005, blasts in London organised by suicide terrorists of Pakistani origin, Mr.Tony Blair, the then British Prime Minister, spoke of the need to counter jihadi terrorism not only operationally through better intelligence, better physical security, better counter-terrorism operations etc, but also ideologically in order to draw the attention of the public to the pernicious ideas being spread by Al Qaeda and pro-Al Qaeda jihadi organisations and counter them energetically.

2. Amognst such pernicious ideas are that there was no civilisation in the world before the advent of Islam, that the Muslims have a right to re-capture all lands which historically belonged to them, that the Muslims do not recognise national frontiers and ,therefore, have a right to wage a jihad anywhere in the world where Islam is in danger and that the Muslims have the religious right and obligation to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and use them to protect their religion, if necessary.

3. The Pakistani jihadi organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ), which are members of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF), project Aurangzeb as the greatest ruler in the history of the Indian sub-continent and describe their aim as the "liberation" of the Muslims of India and restoration of what they view as the golden era of Aurangzeb in the sub-continent.

4. This glorification of Aurangzeb was actually started by the Pakistan Government after the birth of Pakistan in 1947. The text-books got written and prescribed in schools by different Pakistan Governments depicted that there was no civilisation or culture in India before the Muslims came to the sub-continent and glorified Aurangzeb. In September 1996, Murtaza Ali Bhutto, the younger brother of Benazir Bhutto, was allegedly killed by the police of Karachi after he had returned from Islamabad, where he allegedly had a fierce quarrel with Benazir and her husband Mr.Asif Ali Zardari over his demand that he should be appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Pakistan People's Party. In a piece on the rule of Benazir, the "Economist" of London compared her to Aurangzeb.

5. This created a lot of interest among analysts over the influence of the Aurangzeb model on the minds of Pakistani rulers----political and military--- who grew up after its independence and studied the text-books, which glorified him. It is now recognised by imany that one of the reasons for the spreading prairie fire of jihadi terrorism in Pakistan is the pernicious influence of the Aurangzeb model on the mind-set of the Pakistani youth. Many of them, who are spreading havoc across Pakistan, see themselves as the Aurangzebs of today. Aurangzeb as well as bin Laden are their role models.

6. The overwhelming majority of the Indian Muslim youth, who remain intensely patriotic, have not let themselves be influenced by this pernicious veneration of bin Laden and Aurangzeb and their ideas, but recent events such as the involvement of one or two Indian Muslims in the UK with Al Qaeda, the role of two Indian Muslim youth in the attempted terrorist strikes in London and Glasgow in June last and the recent arrests of some Muslim youth of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in Karnataka indicate that some of these pernious ideas might have started winning adherents in the India Muslim community too---- in India as well as in the diaspora in the Gulf and the West.

7. Before this spreads further, it is important to counter this phenomenon ideologically. This is what some respected Muslim clerics and scholars, who had met recently at Deoband, had done. One must welcome their initiative in condemning terrorism. That is also what some activists against terrorism under Mr.Francois Gautier, a well-known French journalist living in India for many years, have been doing. Whereas the appeal of the Deobandi congregation was addressed to the Muslim community specifically, the anti-terrorism campaign of Gautier and his small, but devoted band of associates is addressed to all people----whatever be their nationality, religion, ethnicity etc. It seeks to educate them not only on the evils of terrorism, but also on the mental origin of it.

8. To understand the mental origin of the jihadi terrorism emanating from Pakistan, it is important to identify not only their present-day mentors such as bin Laden, the Pakistani jihadi leaders and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), but also their historical idols. Aurangzeb is one of their topmost historical idols. It is important to educate the people of India on the real nature of Aurangzeb, his policies and actions so that they do not get easily carried away by the way Aurangzeb's rule is depicted by the jihadi terrorists.

9. An exhibition organised by Gautier and his associates as part of this education process had a successful run in New Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. In Pune, over 100,000 people visited it. In none of these places, did the members of the local Muslim community view the exhibition as anti-Muslim or anti-Islam. Unfortunately, some members of the community in Chennai viewed it as anti-Muslim and demanded that the exhibition be discontinued. This has reportedly been done on the advice of the Police.

10. I had attended the inauguration of the exhibition on the opening day (March 3,2008) and spoke on the importance of understanding the pernicious ideas about Aurangzeb being spread by Pakistani jihadi organisations. I had seen all the exhibits before the inauguration and did not find any of them of a provocative nature. More than the paintings, what was so eloquent in the exhibition was the collection of scanned copies of the various orders issued by Aurangzeb during his rule. These documents were authentic and the scanned copies were made over a period of three years from a Mughul Archive in Rajasthan which, I was told, contain a wealth of documents relating to the Mughul period.

11. One of the contentions of those, who protested against the exhibition, was that raking up the past would create a communal divide in Tamil Nadu, which has been relatively free of it.One of the lessons of history has been that remaining silent on unpleasant periods in history leads to a repetition of such unpleasant experiences. That is why Western school children are taught about the evils of rulers like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin etc. That is why the Jewish people keep reminding themselves and the rest of the world about the holocaust. That was why some years ago Jean-Marie Le Pen, the French rightist leader, was severely criticised for denying the reality of the holocaust.

12. When we deny harsh truths of history, we are only playing into the hands of jihadi terrorists, who see themselves as the Aurangzebs of today.

13. The Annexure gives extracts from what foreign scholars, including scholars in Pakistan itself, have been saying on this subject of what a Pakistani scholar described as a creation of myths regarding the real nature of Muslim rule.When Pakistanis have themselves started realising the damage done to their society and country by this myth-making, leaders of our Muslim community should refrain from starting a similar myth-making exercise in India about the past.(8-3-08)

(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 )

ANNEXURE
From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2007

"Aurangzeb or Aurangzib , 1618-1707, Mughal emperor of India (1658-1707), son and successor of Shah Jahan . He served (1636-44, 1653-58) as viceroy of the Deccan but was constantly at odds with his father and his eldest brother, Dara Shikoh, the heir apparent. When Shah Jahan fell ill in 1658, Aurangzeb seized the opportunity to fight and defeat Dara and two other brothers in a battle for succession. He imprisoned his father for life and ascended the throne at Agra with the reign title Alamgir [world-shaker]. A scholarly, austere man, devoted to Islam, he persecuted the Hindus, destroying their temples and monuments. He executed the guru of the Sikhs (see Sikhism ) when he refused to embrace Islam. Although the Mughal empire reached its greatest extent under Aurangzeb, it was also fatally weakened by revolts of the Sikhs, Rajputs, and Jats in the north and the rebellion of the Marathas in the Deccan. From 1682, Aurangzeb concentrated all his energies on crushing the Marathas, but his costly campaigns were only temporarily successful and further weakened his authority in the north. The Mughal empire fell apart soon after his death."

2.FROM THE WIKIPEDIA
"Pakistan Studies departments and curricula have been criticized by academics and scholars in Pakistan and the West, for propagating jingoist and irredentist beliefs about Pakistan's history and culture. While no scholar denies Pakistan's rich historical and cultural diversity, the Pakistan Studies groups are criticized for being insufficiently objective in its portrayal, particularly with regards to political Islam and the treatment of minorities such as Hindus and Christians in the country. Irredentism is manifested through claims of "eternal Pakistan" (despite the country being created from British India only in 1947), narrow and sectarian interpretation of Islam, downplaying the tolerant aspects of the religion and focusing on Islamic Fundamentalist interpretations (such as all banking being un-Islamic), and making accusations of dual loyalty on minority Hindus and Christians in Pakistan.[1] One survey even found out that Pakistan Studies textbooks include derogatory remarks against minority religious groups, and the generalized teaching of religious intolerance as acceptable.The Pakistan Studies textbooks have been used as locations to articulate the hatred that Pakistani policy makers have attempted to inculcate towards their Hindu citizens as well as Hindus in India.

"A study by Nayyar & Salim concluded in 2003 that there is an increasing trend where children are taught Pakistan Studies as a replacement for the teaching of history and geography as full fledged disciplines. Previously, children were taught the very early pre-Islamic history of South Asia and its contribution to rich cultural diversity of modern-day Pakistan.This long historical perspective of Pakistan is absent these Pakistan Studies textbooks. Instead, children are now taught that the history of Pakistan starts from the day the first Muslim set foot in India. The study reported that the textbooks also had a lot of gender-biased stereotypes and other perspectives that "encourage prejudice, bigotry and discrimination towards fellow Pakistanis and other nations, especially against religious minorities, as well as the omission of concepts ... that could encourage critical self awareness among students".

"According to Ayesha Jalal, "Pakistan's history textbooks amongst the best available sources for assessing the nexus between power and bigotry in creative imaginings of a national past." She points out authors whose "expansive pan- Islamic imaginings" detect the beginnings of Pakistan in the birth of Islam on the Arabian pensinsula. M.Ikram Rabbani and Monawwar Ali Sayyid's An Introduction to Pakistan Studies, a compulsory reading for first and second year college students studying for an F.A degree in history, begins with a chapter on the establishment of Pakistan based on a concept of Islamic sovereignty. "Allah alone is sovereign and the 'ruler of the Islamic State does not possess any authority of his own'. The coming of Islam to the Indian subcontinent was a 'blessing' since Hinduism was based on an 'unethical caste system'." M.D.Zafar's A Text Book of Pakistan Studies claims that Pakistan "came to be established for the first time when the Arabs under Mohammad bin Qasim occupied Sind and Multan'; by the thirteenth century 'Pakistan had spread to include the whole of Northern India and Bengal' and then under the Khiljis, Pakistan moved further south-ward to include a greater part of Central India and the Deccan'. [...] The spirit of Pakistan asserted itself', and under Aurangzeb the 'Pakistan spirit gathered in strength'; his death 'weakened the Pakistan spirit'."

"Jalal points out that even an acclaimed scholar like Jamil Jalibi questions the validity of a national history that seeks to "claim Pakistan's pre-Islamic past" in an attempt to compete with India's historic antiquity. K.Ali's two volume history designed for B.A students traces the pre-history of the 'Indo-Pakistan' subcontinent to the paleolithic age and consistently refers to the post-1947 frontiers of Pakistan while discussing the Dravidians and the Aryans.

"According to some author like Amar Jaleel "What is being taught to our children in the name of history and Pakistan Studies in schools is far from the truth" .

"Jalal points out the consistent religious bias in Pakistan Studies textbooks. "While 'the houses of the Muslims were more spacious, airy and open to light' that of the Hindus had 'small rooms, verandahs and less space open to sky [sic]' which 'shows the secret and exclusive attitude of Hindu mind [sic]'. For students who have had no contact with Hindus both statements, differences in style notwithstanding, can easily fuel a form of inverted bigotry. The more so since they are given abundant 'evidence' to underline the invidiousness of Hindu majoritarianism."

"used to articulate the hatred that Pakistani policy-makers have attempted to inculcate towards the Hindus. Government-issued textbooks teach students that Hindus are backward and superstitious, and given a chance, they would assert their power over the weak, especially, Muslims, depriving them of education by pouring molten lead in their ears. The report adds that in these textbooks, students are taught that "Islam brought peace, equality, and justice to the subcontinent, to check the sinister ways of Hindus." The report adds that "In Pakistani textbooks "Hindus" rarely appears in a sentence without adjective such as politically astute, sly, or manipulative."

"A new curriculum for Pakistan Studies is proposed to be implemented from the academic year 2007. According to reports [5], the government has made "drastic changes" in the new Pakistan Studies curriculum, including new chapters on the Musharraf government's economic and privatisation policies and "enlightened moderation", and less biased explanations of the Two-Nation Theory and Partition. According to the report, the new National Curriculum for Pakistan Studies for grades IX and X explains the Two-Nation Theory and Pakistan's ideology "with specific reference to the economic and social deprivation of Muslims in India". According to an education ministry official quoted in the report, "An effort has been made to exclude all such material that promotes prejudice against the non-Muslims of pre-partition India."

"An earlier attempt to reform the curriculum failed in 2003, because of resistance by religious parties. The 2003 protests ultimately resulted in the removal of the education minister Zubeda Jalal. Pakistan's current education minister, ex-ISI director general Lt Gen (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi has called the anti-Hindu parts of the curriculum silly, and that "it was time to acknowledge realities instead of inciting hatred."

3.Pakistan's missile symbolism ( A commentary broadcast the BBC by Zaffar Abbas,its correspondent in Islamabad)

Pakistani officials say the successful test-firing of three of its surface-to-surface missiles in the last few days has confirmed the country's capability to strike deep inside enemy territory in the event of a war.

Interestingly, these tests have not only demonstrated the effectiveness of Pakistan's missile technology; the names given to these missiles are full of symbolism.
They suggest that Pakistan relates the present conflict in South Asia to the conflicts of the mediaeval period when Muslim warriors from Afghanistan frequently invaded India.

Ghauri, Ghaznavi, Abdali - these are the three ballistic missiles Pakistan test-fired in the last week.

But these are also names of three prominent Muslim warlords, or conquerors, who invaded India from Afghanistan between the 11th and 18th centuries in an attempt to expand their empires.

Historical histrionics

The medium-range Ghauri missile is Pakistan's answer to India's Prithvi missile, and here the symbolism is perhaps most interesting.

Muhammad Ghauri was a powerful Afghan warlord who in the 12th century had two fierce battles with the Hindu ruler of northern India, Prithviraj Chouhan.

Ghauri was defeated in the first battle and later on, he returned with a bigger army to achieve a convincing victory.

Although India insists that the name Prithvi given to its missile means "earth" and has nothing to do with any Hindu ruler of the past, Pakistan wants the world to believe otherwise.

Battle fetish
The other two missiles Pakistan tested during the week are also named after 11th and 18th-century Afghan conquerors, Mehmood Ghaznavi and Ahmed Shah Abdali.

Ghaznavi is described in history books as a temple-destroyer who attacked India 17 times.

Pakistan has never given any specific reason for naming these missiles after such historical figures.

But the symbolism is a clear reflection of the official mindset in the country.
It shows that for Islamabad, the present conflict with India is a continuation of the battles of the past between people described in Pakistani history books as just Muslim invaders and several of India's cruel Hindu emperors.
4.An article carried by the "Dawn" of Karachi on March 27,2005
The myth of history

By Prof Shahida Kazi

History is a discipline that has never been taken seriously by anyone in Pakistan. As a result, the subject has been distorted in such a way that many a fabricated tale has become part of our collective consciousness

DOES mythology have anything to do with history? Is mythology synonymous with history? Or is history mythology?

Admittedly, the line between the two is a very fine one. From time immemorial, man has always been in search of his roots. He has also been trying to find a real and tangible basis for the legends of ancient days ? legends that have become a part of our collective consciousness. As a result, we witness the quest for proving the existence of King Arthur, the search for whereabouts of the city of Troy, and many expeditions organized to locate the exact site of the landing of Noah?s Ark.
During the 60s and the 70s, there was a worldwide movement to prove that the gods of ancient mythologies did actually exist; they came from distant galaxies; and that mankind owed all its progress to such alien superheroes. Several books were written on the subject.

We, in Pakistan, are a breed apart. Lacking a proper mythology like most other races, we have created our own, populated by a whole pantheon of superheroes who have a wide range of heroic exploits to their credit.

But the difference is that these superheroes, instead of being a part of a remote and prehistoric period, belong very much to our own times. A seemingly veritable mythology has been created around these heroes, their persona and their achievements, which is drummed into the heads of our children from the time they start going to school. So deep is this indoctrination that any attempt to uncover the facts or reveal the truth is considered nothing less than blasphemous.

Here are some of the most common myths:

Myth 1
Our history begins from 712AD, when Mohammad bin Qasim arrived in the subcontinent and conquered the port of Debal.

Take any social studies or Pakistan studies book, it starts with Mohammad bin Qasim. What was there before his arrival? Yes, cruel and despotic Hindu kings like Raja Dahir and the oppressed and uncivilized populace anxiously waiting for a "liberator" to free them from the clutches of such cruel kings. And when the liberator came, he was welcomed with open arms and the grateful people converted to Islam en mass.
Did it really happen? This version of our history conveniently forgets that the area where our country is situated has had a long and glorious history of 6,000 years. Forget Moenjo Daro. We do not know enough about it. But recorded history tells us that before Mohammad Bin Qasim, this area, roughly encompassing Sindh, Punjab and some parts of the NWFP, was ruled by no less than 12 different dynasties from different parts of the world, including the Persians (during the Achamaenian period), the Greeks comprising the Bactrians, Scthians and Parthians, the Kushanas from China, and the Huns (of Attila fame) who also came from China, besides a number of Hindu dynasties including great rulers like Chandragupta Maurya and Asoka.

During the Gandhara period, this region had the distinction of being home to one of the biggest and most important universities of the world at our very own Taxila. We used to be highly civilized, well-educated, prosperous, creative and economically productive people, and many countries benefited a lot from us, intellectually as well as economically. This is something we better not forget. But do we tell this to our children? No. And so the myth continues from generation to generation.

Myth 2
Mohammad Bin Qasim came to India to help oppressed widows and orphan girls.
Because of our blissful ignorance of history, we don't know, or don't bother to know, that this period was the age of expansion of the Islamic empire. The Arabs had conquered a large portion of the world, comprising the entire Middle East, Persia, North Africa and Spain. Therefore, it defies logic that they would not seek to conquer India, the land of legendary treasures.

In fact, the Arabs had sent their first expedition to India during Hazrat Umar Farooq's tenure. A subsequent expedition had come to Makran during Hazrat Usman's rule. But they had been unsuccessful in making any in-roads into the region. Later on, following the refusal of the king to give compensation for the ships captured by pirates (which incidentally included eight ships full of treasures from Sri Lanka, and not just women and girls), two expeditions had already been sent to India, but they proved unsuccessful. It was the third expedition brought by Mohammad Bin Qasim which succeeded in capturing Sindh, from Mansura to Multan. However, because of the Arabs' internal dissension and political infighting, Sindh remained a neglected outpost of the Arab empire, and soon reverted to local kings.

Myth 3
The myth of the idol-breaker.
Mahmood Ghaznavi, the great son of Islam and idol-breaker par excellence, took upon himself to destroy idols all over India and spread Islam in the subcontinent.
Mahmud, who came from neighbouring Ghazni, Central Asia, invaded India no less than 17 times. But except Punjab, he made no attempt to conquer any other part of the country or to try and consolidate his rule over the rest of India. In fact, the only thing that attracted him was the treasures of India, gold and precious stones, of which he took care and carried back home a considerable amount every time he raided the country. Temples in India were a repository of large amounts of treasure at the time, as were the churches in Europe, hence his special interest in temples and idols.

Contrary to popular belief, it was not the kings, the Central Asian sultans who ruled for over 300 years and the Mughals who ruled for another 300 years, who brought Islam to the subcontinent. That work was accomplished by the Sufi Sheikhs who came to India mainly to escape persecution from the fundamentalists back home, and who, through their high-mindedness, love for humanity, compassion, tolerance and simple living won the hearts of the people of all religions.

Myth 4
The myth of the cap-stitcher.

Of all the kings who have ruled the subcontinent, the one singled out for greatest praise in our text books is Aurangzeb, the last of the great Mughals. Baber built the empire; Humayun lost it and got it back; Akbar expanded and consolidated it; Jahangir was known for his sense of justice; Shahjehan for his magnificent buildings. But it is Aurangzeb, known as a pious man, who grabs the most attention. The prevalent myth is that he did not spend money from the treasury for his personal needs, but fulfilled them by stitching caps and copying out the Holy Quran. Is there any real need for discussing this assertion? Anyone who's least bit familiar with the Mughal lifestyle would know how expensive it was to maintain their dozens of palaces. The Mughals used to have many wives, children, courtiers, concubines and slaves who would be present in each palace, whose needs had to be met. Could such expenses be met by stitching caps? And even if the king was stitching caps, would people buy them and use them as ordinary caps? Would they not pay exorbitant prices for them and keep them as heirlooms? Would a king, whose focus had to be on military threats surrounding him from all sides and on the need to save and consolidate a huge empire, have the time and leisure to sit and stitch caps? Let's not forget that the person we are referring to as a pious Muslim was the same who became king after he imprisoned his own father in a cell in his palace and killed all his brothers to prevent them from taking over the throne.

Myth 5
It was the Muslims who were responsible for the war of 1857; and it was the Muslims who bore the brunt of persecution in the aftermath of the war, while the Hindus were natural collaborators of the British.

It is true that more Muslim regiments than Hindu rose up against the British in 1857. But the Hindus also played a major role in the battle (the courageous Rani of Jhansi is a prime example); and if Muslim soldiers were inflamed by the rumour that the cartridges were laced with pig fat, in the case of Hindus, the rumour was that it was cow fat. And a large number of Muslims remained loyal to the British to the very end. (The most illustrious of them being Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.)

Furthermore, the Muslims did not lose their empire after 1857. The British had already become masters of most of India before that time, having grasped vast territories from both Hindu and Muslim rulers through guile and subterfuge.
The Mughal emperor at the time was a ruler in name only; his jurisdiction did not extend beyond Delhi. After 1857, the Hindus prospered, because they were clever enough to acquire modern education, learn the English language, and take to trade and commerce. The Muslims were only land owners, wedded to the dreams of the past pomp and glory, and when their lands were taken away, they were left with nothing; their madressah education and proficiency in Persian proved to be of no help. As a matter of fact, it was a hindrance in such changing times.

Myth 6
The Muslims were in the forefront of the struggle against the British and were singled out for unfair treatment by the latter.

Not at all. In fact, the first gift given to the Muslims by the British was in 1905 in the form of partition of Bengal (later revoked in 1911). The Shimla delegation of 1906 has rightly been called a command performance; the Muslims were assured by the viceroy of separate electorates and weightage as soon as their leaders asked for them. After that, the Muslim League came into being, established by pro-British stalwarts like the Aga Khan, Justice Amir Ali, some other nawabs and feudal lords. And the first objective of the Muslim League manifesto read: "To promote feelings of loyalty to the British government."

The Muslim League never carried out any agitation against the British. The only time the Muslims agitated was during the Khilafat Movement in the early 20s, led by the Ali brothers and other radical leaders. Not a single Muslim League leader, including the Quaid-i-Azam, ever went to jail. It was the Congress which continued the anti-British non-violent and non-cooperation movement in the 30s and 40s, including the famous "Quit India" movement, while Muslim League leaders continued to denounce such movements and exhorted their followers not to take part in them.

Myth 7
The Muslim League was the only representative body of the Muslims.

It is an incontrovertible fact that it was only after 1940 that the Muslim League established itself as a popular party among the Muslims. Prior to that, as evident in the 1937 elections, the Muslim League did not succeed in forming the government in any of the Muslim majority provinces. In those elections, out of the total of 482 Muslim seats, the Muslim League won only 103 (less than one-fourth of the total). Other seats went either to Congress Muslims or to nationalist parties such as the Punjab Unionist Party, the Sind Unionist Party and the Krishak Proja Party of Bengal.

Myth 8
Allama Iqbal was the first person to come up with the idea of a separate Muslim state.

This is one of the most deeply embedded myths in our country and the one which has been propagated by all governments. In fact, the idea that Muslim majority provinces of the north-west formed a natural group and should be considered a single bloc had been mooted by the British as far back as 1858 and freely discussed in various newspaper articles and on political platforms. Several variations of the idea had come from important public personalities, including British, Muslims and some Hindus. By the time Allama Iqbal gave his famous speech in 1930, the idea had been put forward at least 64 times. So, Iqbal voiced something which was already there, and was not an original dream. After his speech at Allahbad was reported, Allama Iqbal published a retraction in a British newspaper that he had not been talking of a separate Muslim sate, but only of a Muslim bloc within the Indian federation.

Myth 9
The Pakistan Resolution envisaged a single Muslim state.

The fact is that none of the proposals regarding the Muslim bloc mooted by different individuals or parties had included East Bengal in it. The emphasis had always been on north-western provinces, which shared common frontiers, while other Muslim majority states, such as Bengal and Hyderabad, were envisaged as separate blocs. So, it was in the Pakistan Resolution. The resolution reads: ?The areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the north-western and eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states, in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.

Leaving aside the poor and ambiguous drafting of the entire resolution, the part about states (in plural) is very clear. It was only in 1946, at a convention of the Muslim League legislators in Delhi, that the original resolution was amended, which was adopted at a general Muslim League session and the objective became a single state.

Myth 10
March 23, 1940 is celebrated because the Pakistan Resolution was adopted on that day. The fact of the matter is that the Pakistan Resolution was only introduced on March 23 and was finally adopted on March 24 (the second and final day of the session).

As to why we celebrate March 23 is another story altogether. The day was never celebrated before 1956. It was first celebrated that year as the Republic Day to mark the passage of the first constitution and Pakistan?s emergence as a truly independent republic. It had the same importance for us as January 26 for India. But when Gen Ayub abrogated the constitution and established martial law in 1958, he was faced with a dilemma. He could not let the country celebrate a day commemorating the constitution that he had himself torn apart, nor could he cancel the celebration altogether. A way-out was found by keeping the celebration, but giving it another name: the Pakistan Resolution Day.

Myth 11
It was Ghulam Muhammad who created imbalance of power between the prime minister and head of state, and it was he who sought to establish the supremacy of the governor-general over the prime minister and parliament.

When Pakistan came into being, the British government?s India Act of 1935 was adopted as the working constitution. And it was the Quaid-i-Azam himself who introduced certain amendments to the act to make the governor-general the supreme authority. It was under these powers that the Quaid-i-Azam dismissed the government of Dr Khan Sahib in the NWFP in August 1947 and that of Mr Ayub Khuhro in Sindh in 1948.
Besides being governor-general, the Quaid-i-Azam also continued as president of the Muslim League and president of the Constituent Assembly.

It was these same powers under which Mr Daultana?s government was dismissed in Punjab in 1949 by Khawaja Nazimuddin, who himself was dismissed as prime minister in 1953 by Ghulam Mohammad.

However, in 1954, a move was started by members of the then Constituent Assembly to table an amendment to the act, taking away excessive powers of the governor-general. It was this move which provoked the governor-general, Ghulam Mohammad, to dismiss the Constituent Assembly in 1954, and thereby change the course of Pakistan?s history.
These are some of the myths that have been drummed into our heads from childhood and have become part of our consciousness. There are scores more, pervading our everyday life. And there are many unanswered questions such as:

? What is Pakistan?s ideology and when was the term first coined? (It was never heard of before 1907.)
? Why was Gandhi murdered? (He was supposedly guarding Pakistan?s interest.)
? What is the truth about the so-called traitors, Shaikh Mujeeb, Wali Khan, and G.M. Syed?
? What caused the break-away of East Pakistan?
? Why was Bhutto put to death?
? Are all our politicians corrupt and self-serving?
? Why does our history repeat itself after every 10 years?
The answers to all these questions require a thorough study of history, not mythology. But history unfortunately is a discipline that has never been taken seriously by anyone in our country. It?s time things changed.

The myth of history -DAWN Magazine; March 27, 2005

Why did Aurangzeb destroy Hindu temples?
Vinod Kumar

Many historians today contend that "Aurangzeb did not indiscriminately destroy Hindu temples, as he is commonly believed to have done, and that he directed the destruction of temples only when faced with insurgency. This was almost certainly the case with the Keshava Rai temple in the Mathura region, where the Jats rose in rebellion; and yet even this policy of reprisal may have been modified, as Hindu temples in the Deccan were seldom destroyed. The image of Aurangzeb as an idol-breaker may not withstand scrutiny, since there is evidence to show that, like his predecessors, he continued to confer land grants (jagirs) upon Hindu temples, such as the Someshwar Nath Mahadev temple in Allahabad, Jangum Badi Shiva temple in Banaras, Umanand temple in Gauhati, and numerous others."

In the contemporary history there is no evidence that Hindu temples were demolished because of the rebellion by the Hindus. And secondly if the places of worship were destroyed solely due to rebellion, many Muslims including Aurangzeb's own brothers and sons also rose in rebellion against him, how many mosques did he destroy to seek revenge or put down rebellion?

Why were the orders issued to destroy the temples and schools of the Hindus?

A contemporary historian, Saki Mustai'dd Khan in his Ma'asir-i Alamgiri writes:
(The History of India as told by its own historians, vol. VII, pp. 183)

"On the 17th Zi-l kada 1079 (18th April 1669), it reached the ear of His majesty, the protector of the faith, that in the provinces of Thatta, Multan and Benaras, but specially in the latter, foolish Brahmins were in the habit of expounding frivolous books in their schools, and the students and learners, Mussulmans as well as Hindus, went there, even from long distances, led by desire to become acquainted with the wicked sciences they taught. (Emphasis added to show cause)

"The "Director of the faith" consequently issued orders to all the governors of provinces to destroy with a willing hand the schools and temples of the infidels; and they were strictly enjoined to put an entire stop to the teaching
and practicing of idolatrous forms of worship. On the 15th Rabi-ul Akhir it was reported to his religious Majesty, the leader of the unitarians, that, in obedience to the order, the Government officers had destroyed the temple of Bishnath at Benaras."

There is more about destruction of other temples. But at this time let us review the above.

Firstly, there is no mention of rebellion by the Jats or anyone else. The reason was simple -- the Brahmins were teaching "wicked sciences".

Secondly, if the Jats were in rebellion, how would the order to destroy the temples and schools of the infidels help contain the rebellion if the purpose was purely political? Any such act further inflame not only the Jats who allegedly were in rebellion but also other infidels; even those who were not part of the rebellion.

Thirdly, the Jats were not everywhere and they were not in rebellion all over, the order was a general order, not only to demolish the temples but also the schools, of not only of the Jats but all infidels.

The great shrines that commanded the veneration of the Hindus from all over India were specially the targets of his religious bigotry. Among others, these included the second temple at Somnath, the Vishwanath temple of Benaras, and the Keshava Rai temple of Mathura, the "wonder of the age" on which a Bundela rajah had lavished 33 lakhs of Rupees. The temple at Mathura was of such "a height that its gilded pinnacles could be seen from Agra." (History of Aurangzeb, Vol. 3. Jadunath Sarkar, pp. 175)

It is the common practice of "eminent historians" to label those historians who portray real picture of Muslim rule in India as "communal" historians. Will the "eminent historians" also call contemporary Muslim historians like
the one I have quoted above as "communal historian"?

According to this definition, all Muslim historians and chroniclers from Utbi on including Alberuni and Timurlang himself will be classified as "communal".

Aurangzeb was a "good and pious" Muslim. To give another example of devotion to Islam, let me cite another example which has nothing to do with the infidel Hindus.

I quote from Muntakhabu-l Lubab by Khafi Khan:

1. "In the former reigns one side of the coins had been adorned with the words of the creed and the names of the first four Caliphs; but as the coins pass into many unworthy places, and fall under feet of infidels, it was ordered
that this superscription should be changed."

2. "Since the reign of Emperor Akbar the official year of account and the years of the reign had been reckoned from the Ist Farwadi, when the sun enters Aries, to the end of Isfandiyar, and the year and the months were called Ilahi;
but resembled the system of the fire worshippers, the Emperor in his zeal for upholding the Muhameddan rule, (emphasis added) directed that the year of the reign should be reckoned by the Arab lunar year and months, and that the revenue accounts also the lunar year should be preferred to the solar. The festival of the solar new year was completely abolished."

Historians claim Aurangzeb was an Indian and should not regarded as a foreign ruler. True, Aurangzeb was born in India and this makes him an Indian. Then, what had Aurangzeb born in India, an Indian, descended from Mongol Turks had to do with Arabic Lunar Calendar other than that it was Islamic?

"Mathematicians, astronomers and men who have studied history, know that **** the recurrence of the four seasons, summer, winter, the rainy season of Hindustan, the autumn and spring harvests, the ripening of the corn and fruit of each season, the tankhwah of jagirs, and the money of the mansabdars, are all dependent upon the solar reckoning, and cannot be regulated by the lunar; still his religious majesty was unwilling that the Nauroz and the year and months of the magi should give their names to the anniversary of his succession."

Contemporary history leaves no doubt that Aurangzeb conducted the affairs of the State in accordance with the dictates of Islam. And for that matter Aurangzeb was not unique in destroying the temples of the infidels and neither was it limited to India. A practice of demolishing or breaking idols started by Prophet Abraham has continued to this day. Its latest manifestation being destruction of Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan. (http://vinod11220.tripod.com/buddhastatues.htm)

Some historians might say what they wish but it is not going to change the truth as the fruits and seasons are not going to change their system just because Islam follows the lunar calendar.

Aurangzeb was a pious and good Muslim. He is called a living pir. Rebellion by the Jats was not the reason for his order to demolish Hindus' temples. The reason was that these were the temples of the infidels.

End of matter
http://vinod11220.tripod.com/Aurangzebhindutemples.htm

Aurangzeb, A Zealot?

Vinod Kumar

Many historians have called Aurangzeb a fanatic and a zealot because he issued decree to demolish Hindu temples and forbade the practice of any religion other than his own. He imposed Jiziya tax on his Hindu subjects.

Poor Aurangzeb!

Historian have completely misunderstood Aurangzeb. He was one of the most pious Muslim rulers in Islamic history. He is reported to have memorized the entire Koran. Even though he was the Emperor of a vast Empire, he is reported to have lived by the income derived from sewing Muslim Prayer caps. He is also reported to have made copies of the Koran to supplant his income. While Muslim rulers were known for keeping harem of hundreds of women, he did not marry more than what Allah had ordained.

It is not without reason that he is called by the Muslim scholars as "Living Pir". There was not a "zealot" bone in his body and not a "zealot" thought in his mind. It is not without reason that in the Year Book of the Muslim World, in the biography section, Living pir and pious Alamgir Aurangzeb gets 29 lines and apostate Akbar just 5. (Nadir Shah 35, Babar 30, Mahmud of Ghazni 31)

It is true that too much is made of his imposing jiziya on his non-Muslim subjects -- people of the book included. Now, can a sensible and objective historian really blame him for this? If one is a Muslim and doesn't even follow the basic tenets of Islam, what kind of Muslim would one be called? When, on the day of Judgement, one goes in front of Allah, what answers would he give for his transgression of the Allah's laws? Aurangzeb was a good Muslim, he did not want to go to Hell. Why would he exempt the people of the book? Islamic Sharia lays no such exemption. Jiziya was initially imposed on the people of the book, anyway. Aurangzeb cannot change the laws of Allah. No human being ever had such authority and does not now.

And what is wrong with Jiziya, anyway? It is a Holy Tax.

It is simply ridiculous to call Aurangzeb a "Zealot" just because he imposed jiziya. If Hindus shastras called for imposing jiziya on Muslims, would not a good and pious Hindu do the same? Hindus are sore losers. They had lost the wars to the Muslims, why should they have any objections if the Muslim rulers follow Islamic rules and laws. And specially when such laws were made by God Himself.

Aurangzeb is called a Zealot because he ordered demolition of Hindu and Jain temples? It is all because of Hindus ignorance of Islam. They blame poor Aurangzeb for their own ignorance.

Those Hindu temples were abode of idolatry -- an abominable practice which Allah has condemned in harshest terms. Demolition of idols was started by Prophet Abraham and continued by Prophet Muhammad who on the occasion of his victory over Mecca demolished all the idols of the idolaters.

In Islam, "idolatry is worse than carnage". How can a good and pious Muslim ruler let such violation of Allah's dictates prevail in his rule? How can he let this practice prevail and then face Allah on the final day of judgement?

Aurangzeb tried his best to bring "The Only True Faith" to land of infidelity but these infidels do not understand "what is good for them" and instead of thanking Aurangzeb called him a "zealot". What perfidy?

One should be admiring him for following his religion.

Will Durant wrote:
"Aurangzeb cared for nothing for art, destroyed its 'heathen' monuments with coarse bigotry, and fought, through a reign of half a century, to eradicate from India almost all religions but his own. He issued orders to the principal governors, and to his other subordinates, to raze to the ground all the temples of either Hindus or Christians, to smash every idol, and to close every Hindu school. In one year (1679 - 80) sixty-six temples were broken to pieces in Amber alone, sixty-three at Chitor, one hundred and twenty-three at Udaipur; and over the site of a Benares temple especially sacred to the Hindus he built, in deliberate insult, a Mohammedan mosque. He forbade all public worship of the Hindu faith, and laid upon every unconverted Hindu a heavy capitation tax. As a result of his fanaticism, thousands of temples which had represented the art of India through a millennium were laid in ruins. We can never know, from looking at India today, what grandeur and beauty she once possessed."

What was this culture and what was this art and monuments that Aurangzeb is accused of destroying? Why is he called a bigot and a fanatic?

Poor and ignorant Durant does not know that this art and culture represented the pre-Islamic period of jahiliyat of India. How can a "pious and living pir" Muslim let such jahiliyat continue in his rule? Is calling Aurangzeb a bigot and zealot and a fanatic really justifiable?

Many Hindus like to compare Aurangzeb with Akbar. Contrary to Aurangzeb, Akbar did not follow Islam and is regarded by most Islamic scholars as an apostate. He had even removed the Holy Jiziya tax on the non-Muslims. Is it any wonder that when he died his death was celebrated by orthodox Muslim ulema.

Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi in his Maktubat (folios 52-53b) wrote (about Akbar):
"In the previous generation, in the very sight of men, unbelievers turned to the way of domination, the rites of unbelief prevailed in the abode of Islam, and the Muslims were too weak to show forth the mandates of the faith. If they did, they were killed......

"Today, when the good tidings of the downfall of what was prohibiting Islam (i.e. the death of Akbar) and the accession of the king of Islam (i.e. Jahangir) is reaching every corner, the community of the faithful have made it their duty to be the helpers and assistants of the ruler and to take as their guide the spreading of the Sharia and strengthening of the community."

In short, it is wrong to call Aurangzeb a bigot or a Zealot. He was just a good and pious Muslim. A real Living pir. He did his best to impose THE ONLY TRUE FAITH TO THE LAND OF INFIDELITY.
http://vinod11220.tripod.com/Aurangzebnotazealot.htm

The Blackest Incident in the History of Bharat
Vinod Kumar

Maulana Qureshi, who is also Secretary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, is reported to have said that the demolition of the structure at Ayodhya "is the blackest incident in the history of the country" and that "it will not be forgotten till justice is done and the rule of law is established". In response, A Surya Prakash in his article "Wounds on the Hindu Psyche" (Daily Pioneer, December 7, 2004) has given incidents that are far more horrendous than the demolition of Babri structure.
Surya Prakash gives the examples of how the temples at Somnath, Mathura and Varanasi -- among countless others -- were demolished and what reverence they held for the Hindus. Has Maulana Qureshi or any other Muslim ever contemplated how the Hindus might have felt -- or continue to feel -- when the icons of their religion were ruthlessly plundered and razed to the ground?
Let me cite just one more example of "the blackest incidents in the history of the country". The temple at Mathura demolished by Aurangzeb was not the first time it was demolished. A more "spectacular" and the first demolition was recorded by Utbi -- secretary to Mahmud Ghaznavi.
Utbi in his Tarikh-e-Yamini describes the siege of Mathura in these words:
"The Sultan next directed his attacks against the sacred city of Mathura. The city was surrounded by a massive stone wall, in which were two lofty gates opening on to the river. There were magnificent temples all over the city and the largest of them all stood in the center of it. The Sultan was very much struck by its grandeur. In his estimate it cost not less than 100,000,000 red dinars, and even the most skillful of masons must have taken 200 years to complete it. Among the large number of idols in the temples, five were made of pure gold, the eyes of one of them were laid with two rubies worth 100,000 dinars, and another had a sapphire of a very heavy weight. All these five idols yielded gold weighing 98,300 mishkals. The idols made of silver numbered 200……. He seized all the gold and silver idols and ordered his soldiers to burn all the temples to the ground. The idols in them were deliberately broken into pieces. The city was pillaged for 20 days, and a large number of buildings were reduced to ashes."
But Nehru calls Mahmud an admirer of art and architecture because before he plundered and burnt the temple at Mathura down he admired its beauty, and not only that he goes on to call Mahmud "was far more a warrior than a man of faith and like many others conquerors used and exploited the name of religion for his conquests."
But Mahmud not interested just in wealth, he had a more important duty to perform. All contemporary evidence shows that Mahmud was more a man of faith than anything else. It is not without reason that he is regarded as a champion of Islam and the Caliph Qadir Billah conferred on him the titles of "Yamin-ud-Daulah" and "Amin-ul-Millah".
Surya Prakash wrote how Mahmud turned down offer of large sums of wealth to spare the Somnath temple -- let me not repeat it here. Ferishta gives another similar example of Mahmud's religious convictions. Before his demolition of the temple at Thanesar -- another principal place of worship of the Hindus -- Raja Anundpal offered him "the amount of the revenues of that country shall be annually paid to Mahmood and a sum shall also be paid to reimburse him for the expense of the expedition, besides which on his own he will present him with fifty elephants and jewels to a considerable amount." As in the case of the offer at Somnath, Mahmud turned the offer down saying, as Ferishta writes: "The religion of the faithful inculcates the following tenet: 'That in proportion as the tenets of the Prophet are diffused, and his followers exert themselves in subversion of idolatry, so shall be their reward in heaven;' that, therefore, it behoved him, with the assistance of God, to root out the worship of idols from the face of all India. How then should he spare Thanesar?"
In contrast, the Hindus offered to relocate the Babri masjid to another location at their expense. They were not interested in demolition of the structure just in the site it stood upon.
But I have yet to hear any Muslim calling any of the destruction of thousands of Hindu temples -- even the ones at Somnath, Mathura, Varanasi, Thanesar -- by Muslim invaders and rulers from Kasim to Aurangzeb "the blackest incident in the history of the country".
Secular historians contend that the Muslims destroyed the Hindu temples for the wealth that the Hindus had accumulated in them.
This does not stand even the basic test of logic. While we can understand human greed but we fail to understand why one interested only in plunder would go to disfigure the stone idols and break them in pieces -- how does this enrich the one interested in wealth alone?
We can, for the sake of argument, accept than in fury of war one destroyed the stone idols but again why would one just interested in plunder of wealth ship the broken pieces of idols all the way to Ghazna to be kept in front of the main mosque so that the faithful can tread upon them as they enter. This only one who is interested in destroying the idolatry would do.
The true nature of Muslim rule in India was captured by Will Durant in his History of Civilization. Describing the rule of Aurangzeb, he wrote:
"Aurangzeb cared for nothing for art, destroyed its ‘heathen’ monuments with coarse bigotry, and fought, through a reign of half a century, to eradicate from India almost all religions but his own. He issued orders to the principal governors, and to his other subordinates, to raze to the ground all the temples of either Hindus or Christians, to smash every idol, and to close every Hindu school. In one year (1679 – 80) sixty-six temples were broken to pieces in Amber alone, sixty-three at Chitor, one hundred and twenty-three at Udaipur; and over the site of a Benares temple especially sacred to the Hindus he built, in deliberate insult, a Mohammedan mosque. He forbade all public worship of the Hindu faith, and laid upon every unconverted Hindu a heavy capitation tax. As a result of his fanaticism, thousands of temples which had represented the art of India through a millennium were laid in ruins. We can never know, from looking at India today, what grandeur and beauty she once possessed."
Aurangzeb, like Mahmud, is an "important" figure in Indian History. He was, again like Mahmud, one of the most devout Muslims to rule India. He is reported to have memorized the entire Koran and regarded by the Muslims as Alamgir and "Living pir".
The Muslim invasions and rule of India is full of so many "blackest incidents in the history of the country" that is difficult to recount. Sadly, our Muslim brothers can see only the Babri structure.
Another anniversary of "the blackest day in the history of the land" has come and gone.
Given the grim history of the Muslim invasions and rule of India and the events leading to the demolition of the Babri structure, is it not about time to give up the rhetoric and come to the terms with reality? Muslims should read the history of Muslim invasions and rule as written by the contemporary Muslim invaders and historians and ask if what the Muslims did to the Hindus was done to them by the Hindus, how would they have felt?
End of matter
http://vinod11220.tripod.com/blackestday.htm

Facts re Aurangzeb: culture policing in Chennai

2008-03-08T02:31:00.000-08:00

Artists protect culture policing

By VP Raghu, Chennai (Deccan Chronicle, 8 March 2008)

Artists in the city who are up in arms against the policeexhibiton organisers showdown at the Lalit Kala Academy on Thursday night, have said nobody had the right to interfere in artistic freedom.
Though the police team, led by assistant commissioner K.N. Murali, took away all the paintings from the exhibi tion hall on Thursday night, no case had been registered against the artist or organisers at the Thousand Light police station till Friday evening.
Reacting to the incident, noted artist Achuthan Kudalur, said artists' freedom of expression was fast disappearing in India. "We are all concerned about it," he said.
According to Prof. G. Chandrasekharan, principal, Government college of fine arts, Chennai, the incident showed that artist freedom had been curtailed. "What is wrong in expressing certain things through paintings?" he asked.
Another artist P. Gopinath pointed out that it was a clear case of dragging art into politics. "Every artist should have the freedom to express his views. Art should be seen as art only," said Mr. Gopinath Yet another artist from Chennai, Mr Manoharan, noted that nobody has the right to interfere in artistic freedom. "Police should not yield to groups trying for cheap publicity," he added.
On Thursday night, the police had taken Saraswathi (65), D .Vijayalakshmi (62) and Malathi (47), belonging to Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, to the Thousand Lights station for 'enquiry' after they assisted the conduct of an exhibition by French journalist Francois Gautier at Lalit Kala Academy's regional centre on Greams Road.
The police initially suggested the removal of two pictures depicting demolition of Keshava Rai temple in Mathura and that of Somnath temple by the armies of Aurangzeb.
However, the organisers of the exhibition told police that they would not remove the pictures as it violated their artistic freedom.
While Nawab Mohamed Abdul Ali, the prince of Arcot, had condemned the motive behind the painting exhibition, Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan said the exhibition must go on as it merely reflected history.

Culture cop: Assistant Commissioner of Police KN Murali takes away a painting from the Lalit Kala Academy hall on Thursday despite objection from the organizers. A photograph by A.R. Anser
http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle/Web/DCChennai/Photographs/2008/03/08/002/08_03_2008_002_004_001.jpg
http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle/ArticleText.aspx?article=08_03_2008_001_018
Chennai online editorial (March 8, 2008)
Learn To Respect Facts!
Chennai is witnessing several unprecedented happenings. Something-not-so-good happened on Thursday.
For the first time in living memory, an art exhibitionm in Chennai had to be closed down, just because a few self-styled secularists of Chennai objected to what they called the 'communal' trait of a couple of paintings.
Francois Gautier, a Delhi based French journalist's art exhibition on Aurangazeb was opened on Monday and it was scheduled to last till Sunday. On Thursday, a handful of visitors including the Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali wanted the exhibition to be closed.
The police intervened and forced the organisers to close down the show. They also took three women to the Police Station for having ' assisted organising the Exhibition”.
The police had initially suggested removal of two paintings depicting demolition of Keshava Rai Temple in Mathura and that of Somnath temple. The organisers of the exhibition are believed to have insisted that either it would be a complete show or no show at all. They believed in the freedom of expression.
Now, the question is, are we not matured enough to see art as art and facts as facts? Can we wish history away? And why should we? Should not the present generation know about our history? After all what the pictures depicted was facts drawn from the records of historians. We have read it a thousand times.
It was organised by a well known French journalist and he had no personal axe to grind. He wanted to present History as it is. He has conducted the same exhibition earlier in Delhi, Pune and Bangalore.
We should learn to respect history. After all facts do not cease to exist just because they are hidden.
http://www.chennaionline.com/Editorial/Mar08/02edt26.asp

Aurangazeb and Islamic compassion-I

V SUNDARAM | Sat, 08 Mar, 2008 , 03:45 PM (Newstoday)

FACT (Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism) had organized an Exhibition of Paintings under the theme ‘AURANGAZEB’ as he was’ according to Mughal Records’ in Chennai from 3 to 9 March, 2008.

The venue of the Exhibition was ‘Lalit Kala Academi’ (National Academy of Art), Greams Road, Chennai. The exhibition was inaugurated by Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, B Raman, former Additional Secretary to the Government of India and S Gurumurthy, columnist, on 3 March at 5 pm. The inauguration was attended by about 100 people. Prior to the inauguration, a press meet was also conducted. From the next morning onwards, visitors started coming and the numbers gradually increased towards the evening. On Wednesday ( 5 March), a group of Muslims (around 15 people) belonging to the TMMK (Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam), MNP (Manitha Neethi Paasarai) and other Muslim outfits, visited the exhibition hall and spoke in an intimidating manner to the volunteers of the exhibition about the authenticity of the paintings and the historical information that was being exhibited. This newspaper had carried a report about the inauguration of the exhibition.

A few police officers from the local area police station (Thousand Lights-F4) were posted at the venue, because of the ruckus created by the Muslims at the venue of the exhibition the previous day. The Lalit Kala Academi in-charge R M Palaniappan asked the organisers to vacate, in anticipation of problems. The Assistant Commissioner of Police Murali visited the venue, went around the exhibits, questioned the organisers and volunteers, allegedly made some barbarously arrogant remarks and went out. Then, Hindu Munnani president Ramagopalan and VHP office bearer Gopalji made a visit to the exhibition. Gopalji had arranged for the visit of press persons and TV anchors, who all came and covered the exhibition. Tamizhisai Sounderarajan, State deputy general secretary of BJP and her colleagues also visited in the afternoon. Chandralekha, president, Janata Party, Tamilnadu, too had visited the exhibition.

Then around 3 pm on 6 March, Prince of Arcot Mohammed Ali visited and went around the exhibits. He hotly debated and argued with the volunteers present there about the truth and authenticity of the paintings and the information they carried. He expressed the view that all the paintings on display about the atrocities of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (Persian: ???????? (full title: Al-Sultan al-Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram Abdul Muzaffar Muhiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I, Padshah Ghazi) against the Hindus of India constituted a form of fabricated and distorted history. He questioned the necessity of conducting such an exhibition in Chennai. He also blamed the organisers for having a hidden agenda of inciting communal hatred. Finally he concluded that the exhibition must be closed with immediate effect. Before leaving, he said that he would issue statements through a press meet about the exhibition and that he would also take up the issue with the appropriate authority. The Prince of Arcot in a press release has said, ‘the exhibition seemed to dwell only on Aurangazeb’s alleged misdeeds and not a word about his munificent contributions. The exhibition would only promote enmity between various groups.’ In this context, I wounder weather the Prince of Arcot and other Muslim outfits were promoting communal harmony at all in the real sense at the venue of the exbition?

The Assistant Commissioner of Police who later visited the venue used most unparliamentary words against the organisers including against Francois Gautier who was the main architect behind the exhibition. I have it on the authority of Chandralekha, president, Tamilnadu Janata Party and many other respectable citizens who were present at the venue that the police functioned in a reprehensibly partial manner expressing themselves in open support of the Muslim outfits. After forcing the volunteers to close down the exhibition, the police took four organisers / volunteers ( Saraswati, Vijayalakshmi, Malathi and B R Haran) and one senior citizen (S Raman-a visitor from RSS) into custody and took them to Thousand Lights Police Station after 7 PM. This was in gross violation of the instructions of the Supreme Court of India regarding the procedure to be followed by the police before arresting any person. Moreover the Police had no business to arrest highly educated and cultured women from decent families after 7 PM. Sadagopan, editor, Vijayabaratham, who was there on the spot rushed outside for arranging lawyers for helping the organisers / volunteers illegally apprehended by the police.

The four volunteers, who were detained without any cause in the station, have very decent family backgrounds, are well educated and they have never gone inside a police station even once in their lives so far. The Muslim who had barged in to the hall, created trouble and threatened the volunteers and organisers, were let free by the police. The police had let the trouble shooters free and took only the organisers to the station! A thing like this can happen only in Tamilnadu, where a ‘Minority Government’ runs for the welfare of only ‘Minorities’.

FACT, Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, was started in 2003 by Francois Gautier, a French journalist and writer who has been covering for 25 years India and South Asia as a political correspondent for numerous newspapers such as Journal de GenËve, Le Figaro, or Ouest-France. All throughout his reporting years, he noticed that most western correspondents were projecting the problems, warts and all, the shortcomings of India, but never its positive points. He also felt that the problems of the Hindus, the majority community of India, are never highlighted, but that rather, they are despised or made fun off. On top of that, their history has been written in such a biased and unscientific manner, that very little of its unparalleled greatness and unique spirituality comes through. Hence when Francois Gautier got a Journalism Prize (Natchiketa Award of Excellence in Journalism) from the Prime Minister of India, he used the prize money to mount a series of exhibitions highlighting the plight of Hindus today and throughout the ages. The first one dealt with the ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri Hindus, four hundred thousand of them having become refuges in their own country. This exhibition was shown successfully in Delhi, Bangalore, Poland, Germany, Israel, England, and Holland and in the US Congress last July. Another exhibition on the Hindus in Bangladesh is ready, path-breaking project on Aurangzeb’s times has started and one more on the Inquisition in Goa is on the cards. The exhibition that has been illegally closed by the police belongs to this series. What is legal in Delhi, Bangalore, Poland, Germany, Israel, England, Holland and USA, becomes illegal in Tamilnadu, thanks to our enlightened police force.

I will now endeavour to present in a series of well documented articles based on original Islamic sources about the large scale destruction of Hindu Temples in India by Muslim invaders and Rulers from 8th century AD to the end of the 18th century AD. Aurangazeb, the Mughal Emperor, belonged to this anti-Hindu tradition. Sita Ram Goel in his classic volumes Hindu Temples, What happened to them? has furnished irrefutable historical, photographic, epigraphic, literary documentary evidence regarding the large scale destruction of Hindu Temples in India from 700 AD to 1800 AD. To quote his words in this context: ‘The evidence presented in these volumes, from purely Islamic sources, shows that the destruction of Hindu Temples at the hands of Islamized invaders continued for more than eleven hundred (1100) years, from the middle of the seventh century to the end of the eighteenth century. It took place all over the vast cradle of Hindu Culture, from Sinkiang in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South, and from Seistan in the West to Assam in the East. All along, the iconoclasts remained convinced that they were putting into practice the highest tenets of their Islamic Religion. They also saw to it that a record was kept of what they prized as a pious performance. The language of the record speaks for itself. It leaves no doubt that they took considerable pride in doing what they did. It is inconceivable that a constant and consistent behaviour pattern, witnessed for a long time and over a vast area, can be explained except in terms of a settled system of belief which leaves no scope for second thoughts. Looking at the very large number of temples, big and small, destroyed or desecrated or plundered or converted into Muslim monuments, economic or political explanations can be only a futile, if not fraudulent, exercise. The explanations are not even plausible. In fact, it is not at all difficult to locate the system of belief which inspired the behaviour pattern for eleven hundred years. We have only to turn to the Scriptures of Islam - the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet, and we run straight into what we are looking for. The principles and the pious precedents which were practiced and followed by the subsequent swordsmen of Islam are, all of them, there. The Scriptures of Islam do not merely record what happened in the past; they also prescribed that what is recorded should be imitated by the faithful in the future, till the end of time. That is why the swordsmen of Islam who functioned in times much later than that of the Quran and the Sunnah, did what they did. It is a very nature of Islamic Scriptures that they make permanent what can otherwise be dated and dismissed as temporary aberrations.”

The scriptures containing the above message are still being taught even today in hundreds of maktab-s and madrasa-s over the length and breadth of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Missionaries of Islam that are turned out by these Institutions, year after year, are never told by their teachers that the prescriptions regarding other people’s places of worship stand abrogated or are out of date. At the same time, the swordsmen who destroyed innumerable temples and monasteries all over the vast cradle of Hindu culture during the last fourteen hundred years, retain their halos as the heroes of Islam. This alone can explain why Hindu Temples become the first targets of attack whenever Muslim mobs are incited against the Hindus by the Mullahs and Politicians in India, Kashmir and Bangladesh.

This story is not the end; not even the beginning of the end but only the end of the beginning.

http://newstodaynet.com/printer.php?id=5688

Aurangzeb exhibit: jihadi opposition and human rights

2008-03-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

தீவிரவாத எதிர்ப்பும் மக்கள் உரிமையும்

நான் கடந்த மார்ச் 5ம் தேதி பதிவில், FACT என்கிற தீவிர வாத எதிர்ப்பு அமைப்பு நடத்திய ஒரு கண்காட்சி பற்றி கூறியிருந்தேன். 9ம் தேதி வரை நடை பெறவிருந்த அந்த கண்காட்சியை நேற்று (6ம் தேதி) மூடுவதற்கு அரசு உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளது. அந்த செய்தி இன்றைய (7ம் தேதி) செய்திதாள்களில் வந்துள்ளது.

விஷயம் இதுதான். இரண்டு அல்லது மூன்று இஸ்லாமியர் சென்னை போலீஸ் கமிஷனரை நேற்று சந்தித்து, இந்த கண்காட்சி நீடித்தால் மதக்கலவரம் ஏற்படும் என்றும் கண்காட்சி மனித உரிமைகளள மீறிவிட்டததகவும் புகார் கொடுத்துள்ளனர். உடனே, போலீஸ் அதிகாரிகளூம் களத்தில் இறங்கி, சில ஓவியங்களை சேதப்படுத்தியும், அதன் அமைப்பாளர்களை (பெண்கள் உட்பட) கைது செய்தும் ஒரு பெரிய பரபரப்பை ஏற்படுத்தி உள்ளனர்.

அதன் அமைப்பாளர்கள் நிகழ்ச்சி துவ்ங்கிய 3ம் தேதி, பத்திரிகையாளர்களை சந்திப்பதற்கும், கண்காட்சி துவக்க விழாவிற்கும் அழைத்திருந்தார்கள். (பத்திரிகையாளன் என்கிற முறையில் எனக்கும் அழைப்பு வந்தது). அன்றைய தினம் எந்த பத்திரிகையாளர்களுமே, நான் உட்பட, போகவில்லை. மறுநாளும் அந்த நிகழ்ச்சி செய்தியாகவில்லை. நானும் ஒரு பத்திரிகையாளன் என்கிற வகையில், இரண்டு நாட்கள் கழித்து, அந்த சாலையில் செல்லும்போது, கண்காட்சியில் நுழைந்தேன். அதனால் தான் நான் 5ம் தேதி, என்னுடைய பிளாகில் பதிவு செய்தேன். இந்த போலீஸ் தலையீட்டிற்கு பிறகு, இந்த கண்காட்சி உலக அளவில் செய்தி ஆக்கப்பட்டுவிட்டது.

அவுரங்கசீப்பின் அண்ணன் தாரா சுகோ பற்றி மிகவும் உயர்வாக குறிப்பிட்டு இருந்தார்கள். அவர் மற்ற மதத்தினரை மரியாதையுடன் நடத்தினார் என்பதையும் குறிப்பிட்டு இருந்தார்கள். (படம்). மற்றொரு இடத்தில், அவுரங்கசீப் திருகுரான் மீது பற்று வைத்திருந்த்தார் என்றும் தன்னுடைய குல்லாவை அவரே தைத்துகொண்டதையும் விவரித்து இருந்தார்கள்.

நல்ல குடும்பத்தில் பிறந்த பலர், வெறியர்களாக இருந்த வரலாறு நிறைய உண்டு. அந்த அமைப்பாளர்களிடம் பேசும் போது அவர்கள், " அவுரங்கசீப்பிற்கு பதிலாக அவரது அண்ணன் தாரா சுகோவே மன்னராக ஆகியிருந்தால், இந்திய நாட்டின் சரித்திரமே மாறியிருக்கும்' என்றார்கள்.

ஒரு சிலரது போலீஸ் கம்ப்ளெயிண்ட்டினால், இதுவரை பேசப்ப்டாத அவுரங்கசீப்பின் அராஜகம் பற்றிய கண்காட்சி இப்போது பெரிய அளவில் உலக அளவில் விவாதிக்கப்படுகிறது. (இந்த கண்காட்சி அமைப்பாளர்கள், கம்ப்ளெயிண்ட் கொடுததவர்களுக்கு நன்றி செலுத்தவேண்டும்)

"பிரபல ஒவியர், எம். எஃப். ஹுசேன் இந்து கடவுள்களை நிர்வாணமாக ஒவியம் வரைந்து காட்சியில் வைத்திருந்தபோது, மனித உரிமை அமைப்பினர் அது 'ஒவியனின் கலை உரிமை' என்று வாதிட்டனர். அப்போது, அவர்கள் மனதில், கோடிககண்க்கான ஆன்மீகத்தில் நம்பிக்கை உடையவர்களின் மனம் புண்படுவ்தைப் பற்றி கவலைப்படவில்லை. ஆனால், இந்த அவுரங்கசீப் கண்காட்சியில், மனித உரிமை பறிபோகிவிட்டதாக அவர்கள் வாதிடுவது வியப்பாக இருக்கிறது" என்று இந்து அமைப்பினர் குறை கூறுகின்றனர்.

உலக அளவில் எல்லா மதத்திலும் நல்லவர்களும் உண்டு, தீயவர்களூம் உண்டு. 99.9999999 சதவிகிதத்தினர் நல்லவர்களே. அமைதியானவர்கள். ஒரு சில தீயவர்கள் செய்யும் கொடுமையான செய்கையால், அந்த மதத்தினர் அனனவரையும் குறை கூற முடியாது. அதே சமயம், அனைத்து மதத்தினரும், நல்லவர்களுக்காக வாதாட வேண்டும். தீயவர்களுக்காக வாதாடக்கூடாது.

என்னுடைய நெருங்கிய இஸ்லாமீய நண்பர்கள், (தங்கள் பெயரை வெளியிட விரும்பாமல்), மனம் வருந்தி, ஒரு சிலர், தங்கள் பப்ளிசிடிக்காக, அவுரங்கசீப் போன்ற கொடியவர்களை ஆதரித்து, போலீஸ் கம்ப்ளெயிண்ட் கொடுத்து, எவருமே அறியாத ஒரு கண்காட்சியை உலக அளவில் செய்தியாக்கி, தங்கள் சமூகத்தை சார்ந்த மற்ற நல்லவர்களூம் வன்முறையை ஆதரிப்பது போன்ற மாயத்தோற்றத்தை உருவாக்கி விட்டார்களே என்று ஆதங்கப்படுகிறார்கள்.

Posted by K. Srinivasan at 4:33 PM

http://vetripadigal.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-post_07.html

Philistines brush aside paint of history: Aurangzeb as terrorist

2008-03-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

Philistines brush aside paint of history

NT Bureau | Fri, 07 Mar, 2008 , 02:41 PM

History, in normal course, is the stuff of academic tomes. But these days, history, and the depiction of it through an artistic medium, is newspaper headlines.
All through last week, the national media and the self-appointed custodians of free speech were aghast at the protest from a large section of people over the portrayal of Rajputs in Jodha Akbar, a highly opinionated and patently fictionalised celluloid offering on the Mughal king Akbar and one of his numerous wives, Jodha.
The usual catchphrases of 'freedom of expression', 'creative licence' were bandied about with gay indignation.

But when faced with an obvious communal protest to a realistic exploration (all based on facts as recorded in official documents) through some miniature paintings on the life and time of another Mughal ruler, Aurangazeb, the same bleeding-heart, tub-thumping liberals are conspicuous by their shameless absence.

Ergo, with nary a protest from the civil society, the miniature painting exhibition on Aurangazeb's reign in India, was brought to an unceremonious close through a mix of minority communalism and police highhandedness.

The exhibition of miniature paintings, at the Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai, was held by the well-known and highly respected Indologist Francois Gautier.

He had, under the aegis of Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT), showcased paintings on the Mughal king Aurangazeb.The exhibition had kicked off on 3 March and was to be on till 9 March.

But after yesterday’s pregnant-with-violence fracas, which hits at the roots of every kind of freedom that a democracy is supposed to be based on, the expo has died a premature death.

And what more, four persons, including a volunteer for the organisers of the exhibition, were detained for interrogation.

The objection of the Muslim groups was specifically to two paintings: Demolition of Keshava Rai temple in Mathura and that of Somnath temple by the armies of Aurangazeb.
Their specious claim was that it was communally sensitive and would 'disturb peace'.The Muslim groups, which arrived at the exhibition spot armed with dangerous intent, would not allow the exhibition to continue.

They even threatened to throw out the paintings, some eyewitnesses said. The Muslim groups had also lodged complaints with the police against the exhibition.

The police, who arrived in the scene amidst mounting tension, straightaway towed the line of the Muslim protestors and asked the FACT members to call off the show, leaving a sense of chagrin among the lay public and the connoisseurs of art.

The so-called 'offending' miniature painting was, as a matter of fact, based on the records available at the Bikaner Museum in Rajasthan.

Further, the same paintings had been featured in places like New Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. There nothing was found amiss or objectionable.

So what happened?

Janata Party State president Chandralekha, who visited the exhibition venue yesterday, is in no doubt.

'This is minority communalism,' she says, seething with indignation at the injustice of it all. 'Anti-Hindu forces won the day. History was not the issue there' she adds.
Hindu Munnani chief Rama Gopalan, who along with his cadre tried to argue and work sense into the police on Friday, is even more categorical.

'Those who cannot stand the moral force of truth have created havoc'.

But he was equally scathing on the police. ‘They had assured to provide adequate security for the exhibition.

But not only did they fail to provide any security cover, but also attacked Hindu Munnani volunteers and vandalised some paintings.'

'The reign of Aurangazeb was one of terror to Hindus and all their places of worship. This was something that even elementary history books have recorded. So what could be the objection of the Muslim groups,' asks V Rajesh, a chartered accountant and a witness to the unseemly shenanigans on Thursday morning.

Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, who visited the exhibition and against whom much of the anger is directed, in a press release said: 'The exhibition seemed to dwell only on Aurangazeb's alleged misdeeds, and said not a word about his munificent contributions'.

He was of the view that the exhibition would promote enmity between various groups.
The painter in question, Gautier, himself is generally seen as a man of reason.
A French by birth, he has dedicated himself to the study of Indian history and its symbols of faith. Referring to the culture of Aurangazeb as an 'intolerant one' he presents the picture of Aurangazeb's brother as a study in contrast.

The brother, Dara, was a cosmopolitan spirit, and had taken keen interest in Upanishads and Hindu culture.

But going by the despicable incidents, the philistine protestors neither knew their Aurangazeb. And alas, Dara too.

http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?section=16&id=5645

Here follows a complete report on the "FACT Exhibition on Aurangazeb", which got aborted due to the interference of Arcot Nawab, Jihadi organistaions such as TMMK & MNP and other Muslim fundamentalists, who had put pressure on the City Police and the Secretary of the Venue Lalit Kala Academy:

NO ROOM FOR “FACTS” IN DRAVIDIAN LAND!

FACTS ABOUT THE FACT – Exhibition on Aurangazeb!

FACT (Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism) had organized an Exhibition of Paintings under the theme "Aurangazeb 'as he was' According to Moghol Records" in Chennai from the 3rd of March to 9th of March, 2008. The venue of the Exhibition was "Lalit Kala Academy" (National Academy of Art), Greams Road, Chennai.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Mr.Vittal, Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Mr.B.Raman Former Additional Secretary of UOI & RAW Official and Mr.S.Gurumurthy, Columnist, on the 3rd of March at 5 pm. The inauguration was attended by about 100 people. Prior to the inauguration, a Press Meet was also conducted.

From the next morning onwards, visitors started coming and the numbers gradually increased towards the evening. On Wednesday the 5th, a group of Muslims (around 15 people) visited and argued with the volunteers of the exhibition about the authenticity of the paintings and the historical information. The evening news paper "News Today" carried a report about the inauguration of the exhibition.

A Thursday of Torment!

At the venue:-

On Thursday the 6th morning, City Express (City edition of The New Indian Express) carried a report about the Exhibition. A few Police officers from the local area police station (Thousand Lights-F4) were posted at the venue, because of the ruckus caused by the Muslims the previous day. The academy in-charge Mr.R.M.Palaniappan asked the organizers to vacate, in anticipation of problems. The Asst.Commissioner of Police Mr.Murali visited the venue, went around the exhibits, questioned the organizer & volunteers, allegedly made some arrogant remarks and went out. Then, Hindu Munnani President Shri.Ramagopalan and VHP office bearer Shri.Gopal ji had visited. Shri.Gopal ji had arranged for the visit of press persons and TV anchors, who all came and covered the exhibition. Smt.Tamizhisai Sounderarajan, State Deputy General Secretary of BJP and her colleagues had also visited in the afternoon. Smt.Chandralekha, IAS (Retd) & President of Janatha Party, Tamil Nadu, too had visited.

Then around 3 pm, Prince of Arcot Mr.Mohammed Ali had visited and gone around the exhibits. He had debated and argued with the volunteers present there about the truth & authenticity of the paintings and the information they carried. He had even contested that all are fabricated and distorted history and had questioned the necessity of conducting such an exhibition in Chennai. He had also blamed the organizers that, they have a hidden agenda of inciting communal hatred. He had opined that the exhibition must be closed with immediate effect. He had departed saying that he would issue statements through press meet about the exhibition and that he would also take the issue to the appropriate authority.

Then in the evening some TV crews and press reporters had visited to cover the exhibition. They had a mini interview with Mr.Francois Gautier, the Founder Trustee of FACT. At that time a group of Muslims, allegedly from TMMK (Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam) and MNP (Manitha Neethi Paasarai) had come to the venue, took photographs of a few exhibits with their mobile phone cameras and picked up arguments with the volunteers, most of them elderly women from decent family backgrounds. Later on, the Muslims had threatened Mr.Francois and the volunteers to close the show immediately or face the consequences the next day. When all these arguments were going on between the organizers and the Muslims, the police had not bothered to come up (The hall was in the first floor) from basement. All the exchange of arguments and the Muslims' threats had been captured on camera by the TV crews and they had flashed the news all over during the 7 pm bulletin and thereafter.

The group of Muslims, then, had gone out and protested to the police officers who were posted there. Then they had started mobilizing their cadres through phone calls and slowly their numbers have started swelling. In the meantime, as the Ass.Commissioner Mr.Murali was adamant on the closing of the show, Mr.Francois had left the venue for meeting the Comissioner of Police after having failed to convince the ACP Mr.Murali. The man in-charge of the venue Mr.Palaniappan had given a letter of termination of the show to the organizers / volunteers and asked them to accept and sign. But, the volunteers were believed to have requested him to wait till the arrival of Mr.Francois.

In the meantime, as the crowd of Muslims had started swelling, the ACP Mr.Murali got tensed up and shouted at the volunteers. He had rushed up to the hall with his full team of around dozen officers and started pulling down the exhibits with force despite the repeated plea of the volunteers to wait till the arrival of Mr.Francois from the City Police commissioner's office. Even when the volunteers had pleaded that they would remove the paintings themselves, he had not bothered to listen to them and abused them in unparliamentarily language. He had used worse & unprintable words against Mr.Francois and had termed him as 'terrorist'. Then he had forced the volunteers to close & lock the hall and arrested four organizers / volunteers (Mrs.Srarswathi, Mrs.Vijayalakshmi, Mrs.Malathi and Mr.B.R.Haran) and one senior citizen (Mr.S.Raman-a visitor from RSS) and took them to the local station (Thousand Lights-F4). Mr.Sadagopan, Editor, Vijayabaratham, who was there on the spot had rushed for arranging lawyers for helping the organizers / volunteers.

At the Police Station:-

When the poor volunteers were taken by a police van, a big group of Muslims were seen standing outside the gates enjoying the show. The five people had been detained in the station for about 45 minutes and enquired. The enquiry had been conducted by the ACP Mr.Murali inside his cabin and the volunteers had been offered seats in front of him. They had been questioned about their profession and their connection to Mr.Francois. The ACP had even talked of confiscating the Passport of Mrs.Saraswathi’s daughter Ms.Anupama. He had again termed Mr.Francois as a "Foreign Terrorist" and had blamed that the volunteers were helping & assisting him to incite communal violence in the otherwise peaceful Tamil Nadu. He had asked the venue in-charge Mr. Palaniappan, in front of the volunteers, to give a written complaint on the organizer / volunteers. He had not bothered to listen to the explanations given by the volunteers and started taking notes of their details. Before that, he had asked the senior citizen Mr.Raman (72) to go saying that someone had phoned up for him.

In the meantime, as the news of the arrest of organizers / volunteers had spread, Mr.V.sundaram, IAS had phoned up the Home Secretary & DGP thrice, Mrs.Chandralekha IAS & Dr.Subramania Swamy (from Delhi) had phoned up the Commissioner of Police, Chennai City and Smt.Radha Rajan Secretary, VIGIL Public Forum, had spoken to the Joint commissioner Mr.Bala Subramaniam condemning the highhandedness of the police and demanding the immediate release of the detainees. While the ACP Mr.Murali had been vehemently blaming the volunteers during the course of the enquiry, he had got a call from the Joint Commissioner and immediately after that, he had calmed down and asked Mr.Palaniappan to stop writing his complaint and had ordered the Inspector to allow the volunteers to go after taking a written statement from them. They had been asked to give a statement saying, "We were brought to the station from Lalit Kala Academy, the venue of the exhibition for enquiry and were allowed to go home after completion of the enquiry".

The four volunteers, who had been detained in the station, have very decent family backgrounds, are well educated and they have never gone inside a police station even once in their lives so far. It was the Muslims thugs, who had barged in to the hall, created trouble and threatened the volunteers and organizers, while the volunteers had been calm and composed and trying to explain things to them. The police had let the trouble shooters free and took the organizers to the station! A thing like this can happen only in Tamil Nadu, where a "Minority Government" runs for the welfare of only "Minorities" and the TN Police, as usual, are stooges for the party / alliance in power. The four volunteers had lost their peace on Shivrathri and finally they could neither go to the Temple nor do poojas at home!

- Anjanasudhan.

PS: - The Effect:-

The TOP leaders of Hindu organizations like, Shri.Surya Narayana Rao & Shri.Kuppuram of RSS, Shri.Ramagopalan ji of Hindu Munnani, Shri.Gopal ji of VHP and Shri.Sukumaran Nambiar of BJP, with the help of Shri.Sadagopan are working on the issue and they are likely to take serious measures.

Dr.Subramanyam Swamy, Mrs.Chandralekha IAS and Mr.V.Sundaram, IAS are also focusing on the issue and are likely to take it to Senior Government authorities.

Smt.Radha Rajan and Shri.S.V.Badri will be meeting Senior Police Officials on Saturday the 8th of March on this issue.

Mr.Francois Gautier, who had left for Mumbai today (07-03-08) for another exhibition on Shivaji, is likely to get back tomorrow or the day after.

All are determined to conduct the exhibition again successfully!

MEDIA REPORTS:-

Aurangazeb Expo abruptly closed – The New Indian Express dated 7th March 2008.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE920080306222128&Page=9&Title=Chennai&Topic=0&

Art Exhibition on Aurangazeb cancelled – The Hindu dated 7th March 2008.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/07/stories/2008030759280300.htm

Aurangazeb Exhibition creates flutter – Deccan Chronicle dated 7th March 2008.

http://www.deccan.com/chennaichronicle/home/homedetails.asp#Aurangazeb

Aurangzeb -- terrorist

2008-03-06T23:26:00.000-08:00

This blog is written in Tamil unicode. If you are not able to see the fonts properly, please change the 'character encoding' in your browser to Unicode UTF 8

Wednesday, 5 March, 2008

PathivuToolbar ©2005thamizmanam.com

தீவிரவாதத்தின் கொடுமைகளை விளக்கும் ஒரு கண்காட்சி

FACT என்கிற ஒரு அறக்கட்டளை தீவிரவாதத்தை எதிர்த்து விழிப்புணர்வை உறுவாக்கும் ஒரு அமைப்பு. சென்னையில் கடந்த மார்ச் 3ம் தேதி முதல் ஒரு கண்காட்சியை சென்னை லலித்கலா அகடமியில் நடத்தி வருகிறார்கள். 9ம் தேதி வரை நடைபெறும் இந்த கண்காட்சியில் அவுரங்கசீப் காலத்தில் நடந்த வன்முறைகளை, அவர் காலத்தில் எழுதப்பட்ட ஆவணங்கள் மூலமாகவே விவரித்திருக்கிறார்கள். அந்த ஆவணங்கள் பிகானீரில், அரசு கட்டுப்பாட்டில் இருக்கின்றன.

அவுரங்கசீப்பின் தந்தையார் ஷாஜஹான் மற்றும், மூத்த சகோதரர் தாரா சுகோ, மற்ற மதத்தினரிடம் எவ்வாறு அன்புடன் இருந்தார்கள் என்பதை விவரிக்கும் ஆவணங்களூம், படங்களும் காட்சியில் வைத்துள்ளார்கள்.

அதே சமயம், அவுரங்கசீப் எவ்வளவு கொடுமைக்காரனாக இருந்தார் என்பதை விளக்கும் ஆவணங்களும், படங்களும் காட்சியில் உள்ளன.

ஒருமுறை ம்ராத்திய மன்னர் சிவாஜி, அவுரங்கசீப்பின் ஐம்ப்தாவது பிறந்த்நாள் விழாவிற்கு சென்று இருந்த சமயம், சிவாஜியை எவ்வர்று அவுரங்கசீப் அவமானப்படுத்தினார் என்பதையும் அதனால், சிவாஜி, அரசபையிலிருந்து வெளியேறியதையும் ஆவணங்கள் மற்றும் படம் மூலம் விவரித்துள்ளார்கள்.

சீக்கிய மதத்தின் ஒன்பதாவது குரு தேஜ் பகதூர் சிங், அவுரங்கசீப்பால் மக்கள் முன்னிலையில் தலை துண்டிக்கப்பட்டு கொல்லப்பட்டதும் படம் மற்றும் ஆவணங்கள் மூலம் விவரித்துள்ளனர். அதனால்தான், தேஜ் பகதூ சிங் அவர்களின் மகன் குரு கோவிந்த சிங் ' கல்சா' என்கிற அமைப்பை 1699ம் ஆண்டு, தீவிரவாததிற்கு எதிராக துவங்கியதாக வரலாறு.

நல்ல குடும்பத்திலிருந்து வ்ந்தாலும், ஒரு சிலரது, அதிகார வெறியில், கொடூரமான தீவிரவாதத்தில் ஈடுபடும்போது, மக்கள் எவ்வாறு அவதிப்படுகிறார்கள் என்பதை இந்த கண்காட்சி அமைதியாக வெளிப்படுத்துகிறது.

Posted by K. Srinivasan at 10:41 PM

http://vetripadigal.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-post.html

The truth about Aurangzeb as he arrives in Chennai

2008-03-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

AURANGAZEB comes to Chennai
AURANGAZEB: ACCORDING TO HIS MOGHUL COURT DOCUMENTS is an exclusive exhibition brought to you by FACT India a not for profit agency working for harmony and against terrorism.
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IND, 2008-03-04 19:35:46 (IndiaPRwire.com)
FACT India is showing for the first time in Chennai a path breaking exhibit on Aurangzeb "as he was", according to Moghul court’s original documents all of them researched from the archives of the Museums department Govt of India.
Aurangzeb Exhibition is in
Chennai from 3rd - 9th March
Venue: at Lalit Kala Academy
Inaugurated: Sri N Vittal (Former CVC) and Sri B Raman (Former Director RAW)
Exhibition timings: 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
The exhibition was commissioned with totally 40 original paintings and sketches from miniature painters in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Each original oil painting, representing one scene of Aurangzeb's reign is masterly painted based on research of the court documents. The Exhibition is an effort of FACT and while all documents are photocopies of originals the paintings are signed and dated.
This is an exhibition on the reign of the Moghul Emperor, Aurangzeb, which shows Hinduism as a timeless cultural manifestation, capable of maintaining its unique character and spirit of tolerance amidst sustained onslaught.
There are an incredible number of Akhbarats, farhans, original edicts of Aurangzeb hand-written in Persian, in India's museums, particularly in Rajasthan, such as the Bikaner archives. For the exhibition Aurangzeb’s own Akhbarat, records and edicts, are the basis. Many of these Akhbarat are still available in their original forms in Government’s archives. Every exhibit is thus based on sound textual tradition, supported by recorded history.
- End -
For queries contact
Anupama Ranganathan: 9841057563

http://www.indiaprwire.com/print/?type=pressrelease&id=200803027767

http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/other/200803027767.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP79NW-OzFA&feature=related (Video)

Thursday, January 24, 2008
Looking back at history: Aurangazeb Exhibition
Looking back at history
RANA SIDDIQUI
New Delhi gets a peep into history through Francois Gautier's exhibition.
Photo: V.V. KRISHNAN

PROJECTING HISTORY Francois Gautier against the backdrop of his exhibits.
Not often does an exhibition of Indian paintings serve a historical purpose. Hardly a painting exhibition in Delhi now has any recall value either. The only recent venture that comes to mind is Mahakranti, an insightful exhibition of 120 historical cartoons covering the period from 1855 to 1860. Mounted by Professor Pramila Sharma, it aimed at showing the conspiracy that triggered the 1857 Uprising. This exhibition, Pramila claims, was the first of its kind in the world. Also, in the last year, the city saw artist Veer Munshi's much forgotten exhibition of paintings and installations depicting the pain of the uprooted Kashmiri Pandits and extremist activities in the Valley.
But of late, there has been an interesting turn of artistic events in the Capital. Some exhibitions are not only likely to raise a debate, but also have nostalgia value. One of them is Sabia's works on the romantic side of Ghalib's life. It just concluded at India Habitat Centre. And the next is an exhibition of watercolour works and drawings on "Aurangzeb, as he was, according to Moghul Records". This exhibition now mounted at Open Palm Court from this Friday till coming Tuesday, is brought by famous French journalist and historian François Gautier. It highlights the cruel side of Aurangzeb, Emperor Shah Jahan's sixth son.
If in one exhibit you see Shah Jahan being imprisoned by Aurangzeb, the other shows his son, Aurangzeb's brother, prince Dara Shikoh being taken a prisoner while fleeing to Persia. Dara, said to be Shah Jahan's favourite son, was imprisoned by Aurangzeb because he opposed his atrocities on the Hindus. The disgraceful burial of Shah Jahan on Aurangzeb's command, the demolition of Hindu temples and so on are portrayed in other canvases. Banning of established Hindu schools and public worship, re-employment of Jaziya tax on the Hindus, Shivaji's son Shambhaji's execution, and his acceptance of "hard labour" that he put in to capture Shivaji, and much more form the other exhibits. All these works are accompanied with dates as sourced from various historic documents including Persian Maasir-i-Alamgiri.
Unknown painters
These works are made by some known and some unknown miniature artists from Jaipur including well-known artist Sumeendhra. Professor V.S. Bhatnagar of Jaipur University along with Gautier gave details of the events to the painters to bring alive the barbaric events.
The exhibition is the part of a two-year project under Gautier's Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism - FACT, formed in Delhi in 2003. Through this exhibition, the works will travel across the globe. Gautier aims at "portraying Aurangzeb as a terrorist".
Says Gautier, an Indophile living in India for 35 years and an expert in Indian history, "I don't understand why Indians treat Aurangzeb as a noble man. Why do Indians refuse to accept history as it is?"
But at the same time, many agree that he has conveniently forgotten the good deeds of the emperor in the form of huge donations for temple building at Banaras and Allahabad. "Its authentic documents are in Banaras math. Also Pandit Vishwanath Pandey, former Governor of Orissa, saw authentic documents procured by Municipal Chairman of Allahabad," says Bhatnagar. At the same time, he seems to care little about the religious frenzy India is known for.
Counters Gautier, "I had certain exhibits showing his good side too. But because of paucity of space I am not exhibiting them. People ask me why I am bringing alive the buried ghosts. Sometimes I fail to understand why I have done that. I am a Westerner and a non-Hindu. I just wish that it raises a healthy debate among the right thinking people."

http://factusa.blogspot.com/2008/01/looking-back-at-history-aurangazeb.html

The truth about Aurangzeb

Francois Gautier
February 16, 2007

FACT, the Trust which I head, is holding an exhibition on 'Aurangzeb as he was according to Mughal documents', from February 16 to 20 at New Delhi's Habitat Center, the Palm Court Gallery, from 10 am to 9 pm.
Why an exhibition on Aurangzeb, some may ask. Firstly, I have been a close student of Indian history, and one of its most controversial figures has been Aurangzeb (1658-1707). It is true that under him the Mughal empire reached its zenith, but Aurangzeb was also a very cruel ruler � some might even say monstrous.
What are the facts? Aurangzeb did not just build an isolated mosque on a destroyed temple, he ordered all temples destroyed, among them the Kashi Vishwanath temple, one of the most sacred places of Hinduism, and had mosques built on a number of cleared temple sites. Other Hindu sacred places within his reach equally suffered destruction, with mosques built on them. A few examples: Krishna's birth temple in Mathura; the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujarat; the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares; and the Treta-ka-Thakur temple in Ayodhya. The number of temples destroyed by Aurangzeb is counted in four, if not five figures. Aurangzeb did not stop at destroying temples, their users were also wiped out; even his own brother Dara Shikoh was executed for taking an interest in Hindu religion; Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded because he objected to Aurangzeb's forced conversions.
Yet, Percival Spear, co-author with Romila Thapar of the prestigious A History of India (Penguin), writes: 'Aurangzeb's supposed intolerance is little more than a hostile legend based on isolated acts such as the erection of a mosque on a temple site in Benares.' L'histoire de l'Inde moderne (Fayard), the French equivalent of Percival Spear's history of India, praises Aurangzeb and says, 'He has been maligned by Hindu fundamentalists'. Even Indian politicians are ignorant of Aurangzeb's evil deeds. Nehru might have known about them, but for his own reasons he chose to keep quiet and instructed his historians to downplay Aurangzeb's destructive drive and instead praise him as a benefactor of arts.
Since then six generations of Marxist historians have done the same and betrayed their allegiance to truth. Very few people know for instance that Aurangzeb banned any kind of music and that painters had to flee his wrath and take refuge with some of Rajasthan's friendly maharajahs.
Thus, we thought we should get at the root of the matter. History (like journalism) is about documentation and first-hand experience. We decided to show Aurangzeb according to his own documents. There are an incredible number of farhans, original edicts of Aurangzeb hand-written in Persian, in India's museums, particularly in Rajasthan, such as the Bikaner archives. It was not always easy to scan them, we encountered resistance, sometimes downright hostility and we had to go once to the chief minister to get permission. Indeed, the director of Bikaner archives told us that in 50 years we were the first ones asking for the farhans dealing with Aurangzeb's destructive deeds. Then we asked painters from Rajasthan to reproduce in the ancient Mughal style some of the edicts: the destruction of Somnath temple; the trampling of Hindus protesting jaziya tax by Aurangzeb's elephants; or the order from Aurangzeb prohibiting Hindus to ride horses and palanquins; or the beheading of Teg Bahadur and Dara Shikoh.
People might say: 'OK, this is all true, Aurangzeb was indeed a monster, but why rake up the past, when we have tensions between Muslims and Hindus today?' There are two reasons for this exhibition. The first is that no nation can move forward unless its children are taught to look squarely at their own history, the good and the bad, the evil and the pure. The French, for instance, have many dark periods in their history, more recently some of the deeds they did during colonisation in North Africa or how they collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War and handed over French Jews who died in concentration camps (the French are only now coming to terms with it).
The argument that looking at one's history will pit a community against the other does not hold either: French Catholics and Protestants, who share a very similar religion, fought each other bitterly. Catholics brutally murdered thousands of Protestants in the 18th century; yet today they live peacefully next to each other. France fought three wars with Germany in the last 150 years, yet they are great friends today.
Let Hindus and Muslims then come to terms with what happened under Aurangzeb, because Muslims suffered as much as Hindus. It was not only Shah Jahan or Dara Shikoh who were murdered, but also the forefathers of today's Indian Muslims who have been converted at 90 per cent. Aurangzeb was the Hitler, the asura of medieval India. No street is named after Hitler in the West, yet in New Delhi we have Aurangzeb Road, a constant reminder of the horrors Aurangzeb perpetrated against Indians, including his own people.
Finally, Aurangzeb is very relevant today because he thought that Sunni Islam was the purest form of his religion and he sought to impose it with ruthless efficiency -- even against those of his own faith, such as his brother. Aurangzeb clamped down on the more syncretic, more tolerant Islam, of the Sufi kind, which then existed in India. But he did not fully succeed. Four centuries later, is he going to have the last word? I remember, when I started covering Kashmir in the late '70s, that Islam had a much more open face. The Kashmir Muslim, who is also a descendant of converted Hindus, might have thought that Allah was the only true God, but he accepted his Kashmiri Pandit neighbour, went to his or her marriage, ate in his or her house and the Hindu in turn went to the mosque. Women used to walk with open faces, watch TV, films.
Then the shadow of Aurangzeb fell on Kashmir and the hardline Sunnis came from Pakistan and Afghanistan: cinemas were banned, the burqa imposed, 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits were chased out of Kashmir through violence and became refugees in their own land and the last Sufi shrine of Sharar-e-Sharif was burnt to the ground (I was there). Today the Shariat has been voted in Kashmir, a state of democratic, secular India, UP's Muslims have applauded, and the entire Indian media which went up in flames when the government wanted Vande Mataram to be sung, kept quiet. The spirit of Aurangzeb seems to triumph.
But what we need today in India -- and indeed in the world -- is a Dara Shikoh, who reintroduces an Islam which, while believing in the supremacy of its Prophet, not only accepts other faiths, but is also able to see the good in each religion, study them, maybe create a synthesis. Islam needs to adapt its scriptures which were created nearly 15 centuries ago for the people and customs of these times, but which are not necessarily relevant in some of their injunctions today. Kabir, Dara Shikoh and some of the Sufi saints attempted this task, but failed. Aurangzeb knew what he was doing when he had his own brother beheaded. And we know what we are saying when we say that this exhibition is very relevant to today's India.
May the Spirit of Dara Shikoh come back to India and bring back Islam to a more tolerant human face.
http://www.indiaprwire.com/downloads/200803027767-1.doc