Shoes Thrown at Bush in Iraq during News Conference!Fourth Indo-Pakistan War Started on?And KERRY Curry in India. Sachin scores 41st ton, India script memorable win and the Master Blaster dedicates it to the Mumbai Victims!Filmmakers make beeline to register titles based on attacks!World Bank to lend $14 bn to India banks!Britain faces humiliating Iraq withdrawal!Iraq rally for Bush shoe attacker! Obama to tackle foreign, domestic matters!Cash-for-votes scam: BJP, CPI(M) raise doubts over report !Cabinet clears bill to set up federal probe agency National Investigating Agency (NIA) to combat terror!Prolonged crisis may spread social unrest: IMF
The WAR Environment is more wanted to push the ECONOMY Global as ASSOCHAM has already demanded to waive CEILING in Defence FDI. Is any Defence Deal is possible in peacetime? How would Politics and POWER HEGEMONIES and ARMY Dominance would survive without DEFENCE Kickbacks and SWISS BANK Accounts! Rather MR Ahloowalia, the DE FACTO Finance Minister of India may think to invite SWISS BANKS to India in spite of pumping Public Money and National revenue into Killer Money machine! SWISS BANKS would definitely help India to get over Melt down as well as Recession!
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 126
Palash Biswas
William Shakespeare
"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue."
A.J. Toynbee, Civilization on Trial, New York, 1948, p. 205.
"The teachings of Islam can fail under no circumstances. With all our systems of culture and civilization, we cannot go beyond Islam and, as a matter of fact, no human mind can go beyond the Koran."
Johann Goethe, cited in Sir Henry Elliot's Letters of Johann Goethe, 1865
"Such was our argument,with which we supported Abraham against his people.We exalt whomever we will to higher ranks.Your Lord is Most Wise, Omniscient. And we granted him Isaac and Jacob,and we guided both of them.Similarly,we guided Noah before that, and from his descendants David, Solomon,Job,Joseph,Moses,and Aaron.We thus reward the righteous.Also,Zachariah,John, Jesus,and Elias;all were righteous.And Ismail,Elisha,Jonah,and Lot;each of these we distinguished over all the people"Quran(6:83-86 )
It was once again IRAQ, conquered by United Staes of America under MASS DESTRUCTION Agenda!
It was once again Iraq, which finally established the PHOENIX Order of Hindu Brahaminical Zionist White Post Modern galaxy Order of Manusmriti and Apartheid in US Corporate Imperialist lead!
The shoes missed their target about 15 feet (4.5 metres) away. One sailed over Bush's head as he stood next to Maliki and smacked into the wall behind him. Bush smiled uncomfortably and Maliki looked strained.
"It doesn't bother me," Bush said, urging everyone to calm down as a ruckus broke out in the conference room.
When asked about the incident shortly after, Bush made light of it. "I didn't feel the least threatened by it," he said.
The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush during his farewell visit to Baghdad was hailed a hero in the Arab world today as thousands marched to demand his release.Muntazer al-Zaidi tore off his shoes and flung them at Mr Bush as he stood beside Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, during a press conference in Baghdad's Green Zone yesterday
But we Indians as well as Pakistanis have surrendered our Freedom and Sovereignty to Imperialism and never may think to break the SICKLES of Enslavement under prevailing, prospering Hegemony of KILLERS! Indian Ruling Class succeeded to create Unprecedented WAR Psyche against Pakistan as well as Pakistani Hegemony including the Warmonger powerful Army have also succeeded to create an atmosphere of WAR against Pakistan ans ISLAM as INDO PAK Fourth WAR is declared unofficially! I am sure that the Floodgates of WEAPON RACE would be WIDE Open for which the Americans have AMERICANISED this Bleeding, divided geopolitics!International pressure on Pakistan to tighten the screws on terrorist groups mounted on Friday with key western countries--US, UK and Germany--demanding that Mumbai terror attacks are "thoroughly investigated" and the perpetrators "brought to account" besides asking Islamabad to do more to prevent further terror strikes.
We as a Nation INDULGE ourselves in CRICKET Patriotism which is further Used as the BEST TOOL for Blind nationalism as HINDUTVA fails to INVOKE WAR GODDESS! Riding on knocks from Sachin Tendulkar (103*), Virender Sehwag (83) and Yuvraj Singh (84*), India galloped from behind to beat England by 6 wickets in the first Test at Chennai and take a 1-0 lead.
Meanwhile,The Union Cabinet on Monday approved amendments to the law to provide for a tough legal framework and the setting up of a National Investigating Agency (NIA) to combat terror.
The Cabinet, which had an unscheduled meeting, gave its approval to the proposal to amend the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and the setting up of the NIA, an official spokesman said.
He said the bills would be introduced in Parliament in the current session.
Sources said a proposal for a law with POTA-like provisions was not favoured at the cabinet meeting with most of the ministers from both Congress and its allies, particularly, LJP and RJD were not inclined to it.
Union Law Minister H R Bharadwaj said such a law might not stand in court. Some felt that such a law would be misused by the states. Home Minister P Chidambaram said the Centre has its power in such matters, the sources said.
Ministers, including External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, said such a law was misused in the past.
Chidambaram said a signal should go that the government is serious. The ministers felt the message could well be conveyed by making a federal agency and bringing in the amendments.
Sources said Cabinet members did not favour the idea of inclusion of clauses like accused having to prove his innocence and confessions before the police as evidence in the court of law, which were there in the POTA.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal for amendment to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Act.
There were no details available on what the CISF amendment was but it comes amid demands that key private sector installations be given security cover by the paramilitary force that guards state-owned facilities, installations, and undertakings besides airports.
The Cabinet decision comes in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks after which the government has expressed its determination to put in place a tough legal framework to combat the menace.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram have told Parliament that the government would set up a National Investigating Agency that will probe terror cases at the federal level.
Since the law and order is a state subject, the proposed amendment may give the Centre overriding powers over the states in case of terrorist attacks like the Mumbai mayhem.
Opposition BJP has been demanding tough anti-terror POTA-like law, which Congress and the government had been rejecting.
But ever since the Mumbai attacks, the government has also talked of strengthening the legal framework to combat terror.
What is the INTEGRITY of Indian DEMOCRACY? The Nuclear SOAP Opera EXCLUSIVE is extended in yet another FARCE as The BJP and the CPI(M) on Monday questioned the clean chit given to Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh and Congress MP Ahmed Patel in the "cash for votes scam" by a Lok Sabha committee, saying it has raised doubts over the report.
The ruling Congress, on the other hand, said that it was for the House to take a decision on the report and the party had no comments to make.
Attacking the report, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Referring Sanjeev Saxena for special investigation and leaving Amar Singh free while the proximity of Saxena with Singh has been amply established raises doubts on the committee's probe."
Indicating that legal options are open, Prasad said, "All of us are deeply saddened by the report where a serious issue of political morality and integrity has been determined not by evidence but by majority."
CPI(M) MP Mohd Salim, who was a member of the committee, alleged that efforts were being made from the beginning to prevent the Committee from reaching any conclusion "to save the big fish".
"From the very beginning, efforts were on that the Committee fails to reach the bottom of the matter ... the way witnesses were examined, some crucial witnesses were not allowed to come to depose. No effort was made to bring them to depose," Salim told reporters here.
Congress, however, said that only the House can take a decision on the report.
India and Pakistan came face-to-face for the first time after 26/11 in Paris. Afghanistan and its neighbours were also invited by the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to discuss security issues and regional co-operation at an informal level.But the occassion goes ABEGGING as neither of the parties do believe in PEACE. The WAR Envrionment is more wanted to push the ECONOMY Global as ASSOCHAM has already demanded to waive CEILING in Defence FDI. Is any Defenc Deal is possible in peacetime? How would Politics and POWER HEGEMONIES and ARMY Dominance would survive without DEFENCE Kikbacks and SWISS BANK Accounts! Rather MR Ahloowalia, the DE FACTO Finance Minister of India may think to invite SWISS BANKS to India inspite of pumping Public Money and National revenue into Killer Money machine! SWISS BANKS would definitely help India to get over Melt down as well as Recession!
Pakistan does not want a war with India but was "prepared" to defend itself if aggression is imposed on the country in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Monday in Islamabad.
"We don't want to get involved in a war. I want to assure the House and the people that we do not want war, but if aggression is imposed on us, we will defend ourselves," Gilani told the National assembly or lower house of parliament.
Pakistan and India are both poor countries dealing with problems like poverty, disease and terrorism, Gilani said, adding that world leaders have focussed their efforts on defusing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
He said Pakistan has also made all efforts to defuse tensions as it is a "responsible nation" and a "nuclear power" that wanted to behave "gracefully".
The country's armed forces are "fully prepared and alert" and "understand their responsibilities", he said.
The people, military and political leadership are united to protect the country's interests though "no one can say we are on the defensive", he added.
"We are united on the issue of protecting Pakistan's security. We will defend Pakistan," he said.
The Mumbai terror attacks, which resulted in the death of over 180 people, were blamed by India on Pak-based elements sparking tensions between the two countries and triggering fears that New Delhi could carry out surgical strikes against terror camps in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Influential American Senator John Kerry met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday and discussed the Mumbai terror attacks and the situation arising out of it. During the meeting, Singh is understood to have apprised the Senator about the details of attack which were carried out by the Pakistan-based outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Kerry, a Democrat Senator considered close to President-elect Barack Obama, has said LeT was being nurtured by Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI, which had founded the terror organisation. He has also demanded reform of the ISI. Kerry's visit to India comes four days after the US Congress asked Pakistan to "root out" all extremist groups operating in the country and ensure that its territory is not used as a "safe haven and training ground" for terrorists. His visit follows a stream of visits from the United States, including that of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, influential senator John McCain and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen. The United States has already mounted pressure on Pakistan to act against terror groups responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
NDTV reports:
With barely a month left for US President-elect Barack Obama to officially enter the White House, influential Democrat Senator and likely next head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry, made it clear that the Obama Administration will ask the Pakistan government to bring the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) firmly under civilian control.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday Kerry discussed the Mumbai terror attacks and the situation arising out of it.
During the meeting, Singh is understood to have apprised the senator about the details of attack, which were carried out by the Pakistan-based outfit, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
Talking about finalising an aid package for Pakistan, Kerry said,"For one, we would like to see an ISI that is reforming and brought completely under civilian control."
Kerry did not dispute the fact that Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was indeed set up by the (ISI) with the blessings of the Pakistani establishment in the past. However, he felt that the new government is keen to sever those links, as it is a threat for them too.
"They formed it and they know they formed it. But they didn't know that the LeT would graduate into an enterprise of its own," he said.
Senator Kerry also met Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee after meeting the Prime Minister in Delhi. Speaking to reporters after the meetings, Kerry said it is imperative to ensure that the ISI does not make its own choices and that Pakistan shut down terror camps.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080076544&ch=12/15/2008%206:24:00%20PM
Intensifying international pressure on Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai carange, influential US Senator John Kerry, a close aide to US President-elect Barack Obama, on Monday said Islamabad should take on the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and bring the spy agency ISI under civilian control.
"It's imperative to comply and terrorist camps should be shut down," Kerry told reporters after holding talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Kerry also stressed that Islamabad should take on both the LeT and the Jaish-e-Muhammad, two Pakistan-based militant outfits that are suspected to have played key roles in the Nov 26 Mumbai terror attacks that killed more than 170 people, including 26 foreigners.
"The LeT had some contacts. There is no evidence that they operated in conjunction in the Mumbai attacks," Kerry replied when asked whether the US suspected a joint operation by the LeT and Al Qaeda in the Mumbai attacks.
"We know it was all planned in Pakistan and we are very very confident that evidence will be presented at the right time," Kerry said a day after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in New Delhi that Britain believed the LeT was responsible for the Mumbai mayhem.
Stressing that the attacks were "a turning point" in the world's attitude towards terrorism, Kerry laid stress on the need for Pakistan to bring the ISI under civilian control.
Kerry, who is set to be chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: "It is imperative that intelligence services of Pakistan not be able to make its own choices or operate outside the standard which we have the right to expect."
Kerry said this in response to a question whether the US will put pressure on Pakistan to bring the ISI under civilian control.
"In the United States, our intelligence agency is obviously held accountable, not just to the administration that runs it but also to the United States Congress and, through the Congress, to the people," Kerry, a close aide to Obama, said.
Kerry also stressed that the US' proposed military aid to Pakistan, said to be around $15 billion, will be tied to "appropriate behaviour" - a veiled reference to Pakistan's ability to act against terrorist outfits.
Kerry said he would make this clear to Pakistani leaders when he travelled to Islamabad later on Monday.
He also repudiated speculation about president-elect Barack Obma appointing a special envoy for resolving the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, saying Obama was interested in bringing peace and security to the entire region. "The president-elect does not intend to create special envoy just on Kashmir. He is talking about further cooperation," Kerry said.
Early in the day, Kerry met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and reaffirmed the US determination to work with India in bringing the Mumbai terror masterminds to book. He also met Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
He conveyed Obama's message about the US intention to keep pressuring Pakistan in order to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in that country, reliable sources told IANS.
Briefing journalists Sunday, Kerry sought to call Pakistan's bluff saying that groups like the LeT were formed by the ISI but the present civilian government is keen to sever those links.
"They formed it and they know they formed it. But they didn't know that the LeT would graduate into an enterprise of its own," he said. He, however, did not link the ISI with the Mumbai attacks.
Lauding India's "responsible approach" after the Mumbai attacks, Kerry said the US was "grateful" at the way New Delhi has handled a "sensitive situation".
Kerry's visit to India is aimed at easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours that could derail Obama's plan to focus on defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan by providing Pakistan an excuse to shift troops from the Afghan to the India border.
Bush for 'collaborative' strategy to deal with terror in Pak
Washington (PTI): US President George W Bush has underlined the need for a "collaborative" strategy and working in a "constructive" way to deal with the problem of terrorism in Pakistan.
"... extremists and terrorists and people who use car bombs and suicide bombers to achieve political objectives are a threat to all of us. There needs to be a comprehensive strategy in helping the Pakistan government deal with those who bring great harm on their citizens -- and bring harm on the citizens of Afghanistan," Bush said.
At an interaction with the media in Afghanistan along with President Hamid Karzai, the American President was asked what his message to President-elect Barack Obama would be on how to deal with the Pakistani government regarding the issue of terrorism.
Being careful in not wanting to give the impression of parting with some advice for the incoming Obama administration on how to deal with Pakistan on issues of terrorism and extremism, President Bush called for a "collaborative" strategy and working in a "constructive" way to make progress.
"... we need to have a collaborative strategy. We need to work together in a constructive way. And we are making progress along those lines," Bush stressed.
The US has been leaning hard on the Pakistani government to crackdown on all terror linked organisations, particularly after India blamed Pakistan-based LeT of carrying out the Mumbai carnage which killed nearly 200 people.
Following pressure from India and Western powers, Pakistani authorities have detained over 20 LeT activists, including operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, accused of masterminding the Mumbai carnage. It has also clamped down on the JuD and four LeT leaders, including its founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, after a UN Security Council panel declared them terrorist entities subject to sanctions.
Obama to tackle foreign, domestic matters
President-elect Barack Obama is tackling matters both domestic and foreign on the start of what is expected be a jam-packed final work week before he travels to his home state of Hawaii for the holidays.
Obama is to formally announce his environmental and natural resources team at a news conference late Monday.
It was disclosed last week that he has selected Steven Chu for energy secretary, Lisa Jackson for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Carol Browner as his energy and climate ``czar,'' and Nancy Sutley to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Other top positions in Obama's administration could come later this week.
Obama will begin the day meeting privately with his national security team, including Vice President-elect Joe Biden, incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Other attendees are to include: Eric Holder, Obama's chosen attorney general; Janet Napolitano, the next Homeland Security secretary; Susan Rice, incoming U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Obama national security adviser James Jones; and Mike McConnell, the current director of national intelligence.
Obama is planning to leave soon for a more than week-long trip to Hawaii to celebrate the holidays and relax before his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Inauguration organizers said Obama will kick off the celebration on Jan. 17 _ the weekend before his swearing in as the country's 44th president _ by traveling on a train to Washington.
He and his family will start their daylong journey with an event in Philadelphia before boarding the train and picking up Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family in Wilmington, Delaware. The president-elect and his group then will make a stop in Baltimore before making their way to Washington.
``We hope to include as many Americans as possible who wish to participate, but can't be in Washington,'' Emmett Beliveau, the executive director of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, said in a statement.
People will reject Left in Kerala, Bengal: Sonia
Hitting out at the Communist parties for their criticism of the Indo-US nuclear deal, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said Kerala will show the way for the defeat of comrades both in the state and West Bengal.
"The left parties withdrew support to the UPA Government and pointed fingers at us," Gandhi, on her first visit to Kerala after the withdrawal of support by Left parties, told a gathering of Congress workers here.
Gandhi said she was confident that when the time comes, people of the state and India will look at the Congress-led UPA and give a "positive verdict."
"We have just won three state elections. People will defeat the Left parties in Kerala and West Bengal."
The UPA Government does not want a "certificate" on patriotism from the Left parties. There is no question of the Congress party ever compromising on security issues and independence in foreign policy, she said.
Pointing out that Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had laid down their lives for the country, she said 'we do not want a certificate from the left parties on our patriotism'.
Defending the nuclear agreement, she said it will enhance the nation's progress in various spheres, help in generation of electricity.
The future generations will recognise the vision of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party in concluding the agreement, she said.
CBI readies GenNext investigators to crack cyber crimes
The country's premier detective agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is readying a batch of 'GenNext' officers to probe cases, especially pertaining to terrorism and cyber crimes.
A group of 39 sub-inspectors, directly recruited, has been undergoing training in all aspects of investigations at the agency's academy at Ghaziabad.
These investigating officers (IOs) are termed GenNext detectives among senior officers.
“Each sub-inspector will be armed with a laptop and a mobile phone. They will finish their training next year,” said CBI joint director K. Saleem Ali.
“A batch of 39 freshly recruited sub-inspectors would undertake training next year. We have been conducting refresher courses for the staff from time to time,” Ali told reporters at a media interaction here.
The CBI is also providing laptops and mobile phones to all its investigating officers. Ali said the process would be completed in next two years.
Ali said the agency has developed an online investigation software that will allow officers to keep track of the progress in any pending case. It would also help the senior officers to know contributions made by the individual officers in investigating the case.
“The software was prepared after consulting CBI officers and personnel. It is very user-friendly and presently on trial at one of the units in the agency. We are hopeful that by next year, it would come into place,” Ali said.
CBI Director Ashwini Kumar said the agency's new building is well equipped with all the required infrastructure and modern technology.
India does not want war: Karat
UNI
Monday, December 15th, 2008 AT 1:12 PM
Tags: prakash karat, mumbai terror
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There are too much talk of job cuts in the corporate sectors but the situation is too far big in the unorganised sector as well: Prakash Karat
GUWAHATI: CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat on Monday said India and Pakistan are not on the brink of war.
“There is no war hysteria in the country. This has been drummed up by a section of media only. Indian politics is not talking on the line as there is an unified voice of the Opposition and treasury bench in recent Parliament debate on tackling terror,” he said while addressing a press conference here.
Mr Karat said there was a systematic failure and the leader was in favour of the creation of National Investigative Agency for processing all inputs.
“Policing is a matter of the state but in light of the present experience in tackling terrorism, there is need of a federal force which can work fast and in broader perspective. We are in support of that agency which should, however, not bypass the state police machinery,” he said.
He strongly demanded the revamping of entire intelligence set up.
“The problem is that there is no central organisation as there are too much of duplication work. The proposed centralised agency could not be made an excuse for larger central role. Hence, we insist some role of the state governments in such a mechanism.”
Pointing out economic slowdown, the General Secretary said recession would last more than six month and hit hard industries involved with export and import.
“There are too much talk of job cuts in the corporate sectors but the situation is too far big and dangerous in the unorganised section where thousands are losing jobs and livelihood daily,” he said.
Mr Karat further said, “The Government should release itself from the self regulatory mode. This is not the time for fiscal deficit counting. This is the time to safeguard economy by taking more urgent measures. Whatever packages had been doled out are not enough.”
He took pride in the Left's role in checking the opening of financial sector to the world market. “For four years, we could stop UPA from doing so. Had we not saved the situation, just imagine what would have been happened today. Our public sector bans are reasonably safe so is our insurance sector.”
He also warned the UPA government not to take any decision of opening up the financial sector to the world market in future also.
“We all had seen the peril and now good sense should prevail on all,” he said.
On the political front, Mr Karat was optimistic that the third front would take shape. “We are going ahead with regional parties like the AIADMK and the Telegu Desam besides the Bahujan Samaj Party. We think we are in right direction for the Third Front and soon there will be a concrete shape to that.”
A $14 billion World Bank lending plan for India, the biggest ever by the global lender to Asia's third-largest economy, will help recapitalize state-run banks facing liquidity strains and target the country's poorest regions, a senior Bank official said.
Rachid Benmessaoud, the Bank's acting country director to India, said some $3 billion of the loan will focus on areas most affected by the global financial crisis, including state-owned and housing banks, small- and medium-sized enterprises and infrastructure.
"The capital market is drying up in India and we have seen that a number of commercial state banks are not able to access long-term financing," Benmessaoud said on Friday.
"Because of the financial distress, certain companies will not be able to repay these banks so their non-performing assets are likely to increase."
Times Online reports:
Mr Bush tried to laugh off the row - he told reporters aboard Air Force One last night that he had seen his assailant's "sole" and was collecting other shoe jokes. But al-Zaidi's friends and employers expressed concern for his fate given the embarrassment his action had caused the Government.
Al-Zaidi worked for the independent Iraqi television station al-Baghdadia, which is based in Cairo. Colleagues said that he "detested America" and had been planning such an attack for months.
The Iraqi government however branded al-Zaidi’s actions as “shameful” and demanded an apology from his Cairo-based employer, which in turn called for his immediate release from custody.
“Al-Baghdadia television demands that the Iraqi authorities immediately release their stringer Muntazer al-Zaidi, in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American authorities promised the Iraqi people,” it said in a statement. “Any measures against Muntazer will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime."
The journalist's exact whereabouts were unclear, although one Iraqi official said that he was being held for questioning at Mr al-Maliki's residence, his shoes having been kept as evidence.
Throwing shoes is particularly insulting in the Middle East, as was shown when crowds of Iraqis used their shoes to whack a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad after the 2003 invasion.
Al-Zaidi is a Shia Muslim in his late 20s who was kidnapped by an unknown insurgent group in November 2007 and held for more than two days. He said at the time that the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness, and used his necktie to blindfold him and his shoelaces to tie his hands together.
Among those leaping up to support al-Zaidi today was Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's former lawyer, who said he was forming a team to defend the journalist and that around 200 lawyers, including Americans, had offered their services for free. “It was the least thing for an Iraqi to do to Bush, the tyrant criminal who has killed two million people in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
There were demonstrations in support of al-Zaidi in Sadr City, the bastion of the radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, where protesters threw shoes at passing US military vehicles. The footwear was also flying In the holy Shia city of Najaf, where crowds chanted “Down with America".
“All US soldiers who have used their shoes to humiliate Iraqis should be brought to justice, along with their US superiors, including Bush,” said Ali Qeisi, head of a Jordan-based Iraqi rights group.
“The flying shoe speaks more for Arab public opinion than all the despots/puppets that Bush meets with during his travels in the Middle East,” said Asad Abu Khalil, a popular Lebanese-American blogger and professor at Stanislaus University in California on his website at angryarab.blogspot.com.
An Iraqi lawyer said that al-Zaidi risked a miminum of two years in prison if he is prosecuted for insulting a visiting head of state, but could face a 15-year term if he is charged with attempted murder.
In Cairo, Muzhir al-Khafaji, programming director for the television channel, described Zaidi as a“proud Arab and an open-minded man,” saying he had worked at Al-Baghdadia for three years. “We fear for his safety,” he said.
Sachin scores 41st ton, India script memorable win!And the Master Blaster dedicates it to the Mumbai Victims!Chennai An inspired India pulled off a sensational six-wicket victory over England in the first cricket Test, relying on the experienced Sachin Tendulkar's composed 41st century to overhaul the fourth highest target in Test history on Monday. Chasing a target of 387 for victory, Tendulkar held the innings together with a crafty unbeaten 103 while Yuvraj Singh marked his return to Test cricket with a rollicking unbeaten 85 as the hosts rattled up the required runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
It was a remarkable victory for India who fought their way back into the game after conceding a 75-run first innings lead on a M A Chidambaram track which did not show signs of any rapid deterioration even on the last day.
After four days of ding-dong battle, the hosts tilted the balance decisively in their favour with a professional batting display in the second innings to make amends for a shocking collapse in the first essay.
Tendulkar and Yuvraj put on an undefeated 163 runs for the fifth wicket to seal the fate of England who had their nose ahead for most part of the game but lost the plot on the last day. They will now rue the decision to declare their second innings at 311 for nine.
It was Virender's explosive knock of 83 off just 68 balls on Sunday which set up the Indian victory while Gautam Gambhir (66) was the other notable performer in the memorable run chase.
Tendulkar hit a boundary to not only notch up his 41st Test century but also bring about the winning runs, triggering off wild scenes of celebrations in the galleries.
The seizable crowd at the Chepauk had plenty to cheer about as the Indians went about chasing down the fourth highest target in the fourth innings in Test history.
Guiding India to victory with a four that also fetched him his 41st Test hundred, Sachin Tendulkar on Monday rated his knock in the first Test against England among his ‘very, very special’ centuries.
"If the team wins the 100 become very very special, so this is right among my special centuries," said Tendulkar, who scored an unbeaten 103 to guide India to a six-wicket victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The Mumbai batsman hoped his feat would give some happiness to the people after the recent terror attacks in his city.
"What happened in Mumbai was extremely unfortunate. Cricket cannot lessen whatever happened... I hope this 100 will give some amount of happiness to the people," he said.
"I thank those who stood up to the terrorists and who made sure that they were captured or shot dead as the terrorists were many.
"I salute the NSG commandos, Taj hotel staff, police, public and everyone," he said paying rich tributes to the victims of recent terror attacks in Mumbai and saluted those who salvaged the lives of others.
Tendulkar said it was a very difficult track to bat on and that made the win all the more significant.
Filmmakers make beeline to register titles based on attacks!
‘Taj Terror’, ‘Operation Five Star Mumbai’, ‘26/11- Mumbai under Terror’ and ‘Shootout at Oberoi’—if you are thinking that these are some of the headlines picked out of newspapers after the recent Mumbai attacks, you certainly need a reality check.
The titles mentioned above make part of the 20 titles waiting for approval for possible movies based on the last month’s events.
For many, this sprint to get the titles registered is in bad taste after so many funerals, and for others, the events make for true drama ideal to be showcased on the big screen.
"It always happens. People jump on every tragedy. It is like ambulance chasing," the ‘BBC’ quoted well-known documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan as saying.
He added: "A tiny percentage of these film-makers may be sincere. A film should be genuine and sensitive. If it tries to reduce violence and communal hatred - which is the underlying reason for such violence - then it should be made and is good for society. But the chances are that it is an attempt to exploit the misery of people."
Sushma Shiromanee, vice-president of the Indian Motion Pictures and Producers'' Association, a body that deals with title registration for Hindi films in Mumbai, confirmed that many producers had applied for titles related to the Mumbai attacks.
But experts have said that no matter how many films get registered, only a few of them actually see the light of the day.
"When an event like this happens, several producers and writers want to tell the story. Many have applied for titles pertaining to the attacks. These applications will be studied by our committee and if anything is inappropriate, we'll advise them to change it. These procedures take almost a month," said Shiromanee.
Many trade analysts have said that the unprecedented manner in which 10 gunmen entered the city and opened fire, held hostages for more than two days, and left more than 170 people dead is actually a valuable film material, and film-makers are vying to depict different aspects of that 60 hour ordeal.
Writer-producer B. Subhash, who has applied for a title called ‘Bird's point of view of the Taj Terror’, said that rather than being in bad taste, his film was aimed to bring out the impact of terror on innocent lives.
A large number of filmmakers have said that the human angle will be their focus when they make a film on the Mumbai terror attacks.
Jug Mundra, whose film ‘Shoot on Sight’ was based on the lives of people after the London bombings of 2005, said that a fresh perspective was required.
He said: "Filmmakers are always looking for drama which often comes from conflict situations such as this."
India-Pakistan tensions flare at Afghanistan talks
Paris (AP): Tensions between India and Pakistan over last month's terrorist attacks on Mumbai overshadowed a conference aimed at fostering cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Indian Junior Foreign Minister Anand Sharma sat side-by-side at a news conferenceon Sunday following the informal, closed-door talks, but they traded barely concealed barbs.
Sharma insisted India has acted "with remarkable restraint and maturity" in responding to the attacks, which began November 26, and suggested it was up to Pakistan to act to dismantle terrorist networks operating on its soil.
"We all know where these terror outfits are and where the perpetrators are," said Sharma. "The only way forward is to ensure that democracies flourish and the perpetrators of the dastardly attacks are brought to justice quickly."
Qureshi said Pakistan is eager to cooperate with its neighbours in the fight against terror and warned against assigning blame.
"We've offered cooperation and we mean well," he said. "It is so easy to get sucked into a blame game, so easy to point fingers, but we don't want to do that, because that would be counterproductive."
He added, "The question under consideration is: How do we join hands to overcome this menace, how can we cooperate to put an end to this menace?"
Asked whether he and Sharma had interacted during the conference, which was held in Paris suburb La Celle Saint Cloud, Qureshi said "Obviously, if you spend the day together you are bound to speak to each other.... It was in a very cordial atmosphere, a very friendly tone."
The historical rivals were among several Asian states taking place in the talks, which also brought together top Russian, US and European officials, including EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
Pakistan truckers refuse to haul NATO, US supplies
PESHAWAR (AP): An association of Pakistani transport firms says its members are refusing to haul supplies to NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan because of mounting attacks along the route.
Shakirullah Afridi said members have been using 3,500 vehicles to haul supplies through the Khyber Pass to the Afghan border. Afridi is the president of the Khyber Transport Union.
Afridi said on Monday that transporters have switched all those vehicles to other routes because of poor security and were not willing to resume hauling military supplies.
There has been a spate of attacks on routes through Pakistan that carry up to 75 percent of the military supplies to Afghanistan.
Western officials insist there has been no significant impact on their operations.
Iraq rally for Bush shoe attacker
Bush shoe-ing worst Arab insult
Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.
Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody.
Officials at the Iraqi-owned TV station, al-Baghdadiya, called for the release of their journalist, saying he was exercising freedom of expression.
Iraqi officials have described the incident as shameful.
A statement released by the government said Mr Zaidi's actions, which also included him shouting insults at President Bush, "harmed the reputation of Iraqi journalists and Iraqi journalism in general".
Correspondents say the protesters are supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr - a leading critic of the US presence in Iraq. Smaller protests were reported in Basra and Najaf.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7783608.stm
No special envoy on Kashmir: Kerry
New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) US President-elect Barack Obama is not considering appointing a special envoy on Kashmir, Democrat Senator John Kerry said here today putting at rest speculation over the issue.
"I know that the President-elect, who has had prior conversations with me, does not intend to create a special envoy just for Kashmir," Kerry told reporters here.
He said that Obama was mulling further international cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism.
Reports had it that the American President-elect was considering the appointment of former US President Bill Clinton as a special envoy on Kashmir.
"What he (Obama) is talking about is further cooperation by all of us with respect to counter-terrorism efforts and that is the full extent of any comment he has made," Kerry said. PTI
From The Times
December 15, 2008
Deborah Haynes in Baghdad
British Forces will leave Iraq by the end of next July under a humiliating proposal that lumps the once-valued deployment with five smaller contingents, including those of Romania, El Salvador and Estonia.
Even as President Bush paid a surprise farewell visit to Baghdad yesterday to celebrate the passage of a bilateral accord with Iraq, Britain faced being only a part of a shared military pact after negotiators ran out of time to seal country-specific deals.
Under the US-Iraq status of forces agreement, drawn up after nine months of heated negotiation, US forces will leave within three years. The deal for Britain and the others was described by Muwafaq al-Rubaie, Iraq’s National Security Adviser, as a “mini-agreement for the six entities”.
The proposed legislation states that all duties performed by the contingents, which include 42 Australian officers and 200 troops from 15 Nato countries, as well as the larger British presence, must stop by the end of May. “There will be two months’ grace for the forces to leave Iraq by July 31,” Fawzi Hariri, the Iraqi Industry Minister, said. “There was no way we could have done a security agreement to the same level of detail that we had with the Americans in such a short period.”
The Iraqi Government has the option to ask certain elements to remain beyond July to help with specific tasks, such as training the small Iraqi Navy. “We believe this is a workable document and we discussed it at the Cabinet level,” Mr Hariri told The Times.
Ministers vote on the deal tomorrow. If passed, it will go before the Iraqi parliament later in the week.
Grouping Britain with contingents such as Estonia, which has only 36 soldiers in Iraq, and El Salvador, with a mere 200, is a far cry from the start of the invasion when British Forces were second in importance only to those of the US.
However, the pact will provide much needed legal cover for 4,100 British troops, largely based in southern Iraq, beyond the end of the year when the UN mandate authorising the presence of all foreign forces expires.
A British government spokeswoman declined to comment on “leaked” information.
Yesterday Mr Bush ducked – twice – as an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at him as he shook hands with Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister. “It is the farewell kiss, you dog,” Muntazer al-Zaidi, from the Cairo-based al-Baghdadia channel, said, before security staff took him away.
Earlier, Mr Bush defended the invasion of Iraq and heralded the US-Iraqi accord as a “reminder of our friendship and a way forward to help the Iraqis to realise the blessings of a free society”. Speaking after meeting President Talabani, hesaid of the invasion and the aftermath: “The work hasn’t been easy, but it has been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article5342926.ece
Have your say
Why is this a humiliating withdraw? I for one as an American commend and thank the Brits for their support...and if this is there chance to get out, then who cares how they get out so long as they get to go home!
Paul, NE, USA
The Brits should not feel humiliated, they were right in there with the US and served well! I think everyone has to understand the whacko mentality of any arab/muslim nation, there never is any logic. Wait till Obama pulls our troops out and watch Iraq fall apart, even quicker with the UN in there.
Hoots, Michigan, USA
Why, why, is it that Britain will never learn its lessons from history?? this is the second humiliating withdrawal of britain from iraq - witness kut al amara in 1916. Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it .
JR, Bangalore, India
Editorial
Hindu hate-mongers in mourning over Obama victory : Will they tolerate Mayawati as Dalit PM ?
White racists and Jews in America might have made history by electing a Black President, Barack Obama, but will Hindu India’s Brahminical racists ever allow a Black Untouchable to be India’s Prime Minister? Never, ever. Just as they elevated a hen-pecked Muslim, Abdul Kalam, to the powerless Presidentship, they may promote Mayawati as a nam ke waste- Prime Minister with her hands and legs tied and all the wings clipped.
India being the world’s original home of racism, the biggest hurdle here is the caste. A Dalit PM candidate would not get even a fraction of support that Obama got.
Jagjivan Ram case: Long ago we had tested Hindu India’s double-distilled racism when Babu Jagjivan Ram was snubbed for aspiring to be the PM.
The Chamar from Bihar was then Hindu India’s ablest administrator, parliamentarian and yet a big chamcha of the Congress, the original Brahminical party of India. But when he died, the “holy” Brahmins of Delhi asked his body to be removed to his native Bihar village —saying that if it was cremated along with the “national heroes” the capital city would get polluted. That is the depth of hate created in Hindu India by our toxic Brahmins.
Mourning in Delhi: This hate-filled, caste-divided Hindu India is so much against Black color that you can imagine the horror that Obama produces among the holy Hindus because he is not only Black but on the top of that a Muslim. That is why Hindus hoped and prayed for the victory of the war-monger McCain, the candidate of the Jews and the “Jews of India”. So much was the disappointment that India’s Prime Minister did not even care to make a customary phone call to Obama. Finally poor Obama himself made the call.
The entire class of ruling Hindus are in mourning over the Obama victory. They are worried over the “Brahmin bomb” which their blue-eyed boy Bush had promised. They are worried that Obama may kick out the Jews controlling the White House. They are worried that he would undo all the great and good work that George Bush did for their jati people.
Sonal Shah to rescue: Brahminical rulers had forged a firm friendship with the American Jews assuring they indeed are the “Jews of India” and their cousins. They also voted and financed Obama’s rival McCain who got defeated. Delhi is in a doldrums and all sorts of plans are being hatched to jump into Obama bandwagon sitting on the shoulders of the Gujarati Bania, Sonal Shah.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/dec2008/editorial.htm
18 MiGs lost since 2005, says Antony
The Indian Air Force has lost 18 MiG aircraft from its fighter fleet in the last three years.
"A total 18 MiG series fighter aircraft have crashed in the past two years and the current financial year till December 5," Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha.
On the reasons behind the mishaps, he said "the major causes of these crashes are human error, technical defects and bird hits."
The IAF investigated every accident through a Court of Inquiry and remedial measures were taken to check their recurrence in the future, the Minister said in a written reply to a question.
"Besides, a continuous and multi-faceted effort is always underway in the IAF to enhance and upgrade flight safety," he added
Listing out the measures, the Minister said enhancing the quality of training to improve the skill levels, ability to exercise sound judgment and situational awareness of pilots was being pursued.
"Constant interaction with the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), both indigenous and foreign, is also maintained to overcome the technical defects of aircraft," he added.
Antony said the IAF was undertaking anti-bird measures to counter the threat posed to aircraft. Apart from the aircraft lost, the government had paid over Rs 12 lakh as compensation, he added.
'Plan was to take hostages, demand through media'
Mumbai The terrorists, who carried out the dastardly attack in Mumbai, had been instructed by their masters in Pakistan to take hostages and make demands through the media, according to the lone surviving suspect Mohammad Ajmal Amir. Ajmal's statement recorded by Mumbai police gives details of the intensive training given to 10 terrorists who killed 183 people when they struck this metropolis on the evening of November 26. Actually 32 young men were trained initially out of which five teams of two each were dispatched for Mumbai from Karachi three days earlier via sea. According to police sources, Ajmal has stated that originally they were instructed to carry out firing at rush hours in the morning between 7 and 11 am and the same hours in the evening.
The plan was to kidnap some persons and take them to the roof of some nearby building, the 21-year-old resident of Faridkot village in Pakistan's Punjab province has said. From there, the terrorists were to contact "chacha" (uncle), their trainer whose full name is Zaqi-Ur-Rahman 'chacha'.
The 'chacha' is obviously Zaki-Ur-Rahman Lakhvi, chief of operations of Lashkar-e Toiba (LeT), one of the four persons declared terrorists last week by the UN Security Council, which had also designated Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and two of its sister organisations, Al-Rashid Trust and Al-Akhtar Trust, as terrorist groups.
"After that chacha would give the telephone or mobile numbers of the electronic media. We were then to contact the media persons on the same phone," Ajmal said.
As per 'chacha's' instructions, the terrorists would then make demands for releasing the hostages. This was the general strategy by their trainers.
Police sources said the fact that the terrorist duo that opened fire in the CST station did not take any hostages or make any demands indicates either their plot went wrong or their masterminds might have misled them into believing that once they took hostages they can make demands for their own exit from India.
On that pretext they would have been coaxed into believing that even after they create the mayhem there are chances of their escaping from India.
The date fixed for the operation was September 27 this year. However, the operation was cancelled for some reason.
They stayed in Karachi where they made practice of traveling by speed boats on the sea. They stayed there up to November 23, three days before the launch of the attack in Mumbai.
On November 23 the five teams of two each, including Ajmal's, left from Azizabad, Karachi along with Zaki-Ur-Rehman and another person.
"We were taken to the nearby sea shore. At 0415 hours we reached the sea shore. At the sea shore we boarded a launch. After travelling for 22 to 25 nautical miles we met a bigger launch in the sea. We boarded the said launch and after journey of one hour we boarded a bigger ship by name Al-Huseini in the deep sea," says Ajmal.
While boarding the said ship each one of them was given a sack containing eight grenades, one A K 47 rifle, 200 cartridges, two magazines and one cell phone for communication. Then they started towards the Indian coast.
Ajmal, who had studied up to the 4th standard, intended to be a robber for which purpose he was looking for fire arms, the search that led to Lashkar-e-Toiba stalls at Raja Bazaar in Rawalpindi on Bakr-Id.
Following are the excerpts from Ajmal's statement to the police:
--After making enquiries we reached LeT office. In the LeT office we met a person. We told him that we wanted to join LeT. He made some enquiry with us, noted our names and address and told us to come on the next day.
--On the next day we went to LeT office and met the same man. One more person was present with him. He gave us Rs 200 and some receipt. Then he gave us the address of a place called Marqas Taiyyaba, Muridke, and told us to go to the said place where LeT is having their training camp.
--As directed we went to the said place. We showed the receipt given to us at the gate of the camp. We were allowed inside. At the entry gate our details were filled up on two forms. Then we were taken to the actual camp area.
--At the said place we were selected for 21 days training called Daura-Safa, from the next day, we started attending training.
--After completion of the above said training, we were selected for another training called Daura-Ama. The said training was also for 21 days. We were then taken in a vehicle to a place called Mansera, Bhuttal village. At the said place we were given training of all weapons for 21 days.
--After two months of training, I was allowed to go to meet my parents. I stayed with my parents for one month.
Thereafter, I went to LeT camp situated at Shaiwainala, Muzaffarbad, for further advanced training. At that place they took my photographs and filled up some forms. Then we were taken to Chelabandi pahadi area for training called Duara-khas. The said training was for three months.
--The training included P.T. (physical training), handling of all weapons and firing practice of the said weapons, training of handling of hand grenade, rocket launchers and mortars.
--At the said place 32 persons were present for training. Out of these 32 trainees, 16 were selected for some confidential operation by one Zaki-Ur-Rehman chacha. Out of these 16 trainees, three trainees ran away from the camp. The above said 'chacha' then sent the remaining 13 of us along with a person called Kafa to the above said earlier camp at Muridke.
--At Muridke we were taught swimming and getting acquainted with the environment experienced by a fisherman on a sea. We did some experimental tours by launches on the sea.
During the said training we were given lectures on working of Indian security agencies. We were shown the clippings highlighting the atrocities on Muslims in India.
--At the camp, again we underwent the training of swimming and getting acquainted with the environment and experience on sea. The training continued for one month.
During the training we were given lectures on India and its security agencies including RAW.
--We were also given the training on how to evade the chase by security personnel. We were strictly instructed not to make phone calls to Pakistan after reaching India.
--Victoria Terminus Team. My team included myself and Ismael. Our code name was VTS team. We were then shown the site 'goggle earth' on internet. We were shown the film on VT railway station and the film showing the commuters moving around at rush hours at VT railway station.
--After journey of about three days we reached near sea shore of Mumbai. While we were at some distance from the shore, Ismail and Afadulla killed the Indian seaman (Dandle) at the basement of the said Indian launch. Then we boarded inflatable Dinghi and reached Budwar Park Jetty as per the instructions received earlier.
--After getting down at Budwar Park, I went along with Ismail to VT railway station by taxi. After reaching the hall of VT railway station we, i.e. Ismail and myself went to the common toilet, took out the weapons from our sacks, loaded them, came out of the toilet and started firing indiscriminately towards the passengers.
--Suddenly one police officer in uniform came towards us and opened fire. In retaliation we threw hand grenades towards him and also opened fire.
--Then we went inside the railway station threatening the commuters and randomly firing at them. Then we came out of the railway station and started searching for a building with roof top. But we did not find a suitable building. Therefore we entered a lane.
--When we were coming out of a hospital premises, we suddenly saw one police vehicle passing in front of us. Therefore we took shelter behind a bush. Another vehicle passed in front of us and stopped at some distance.
--One police officer got down from the said vehicle and started firing at us. One bullet hit my hand and my AK 47 dropped down. I bent to pick it up when second bullet hit me on the same hand. I got injured. Ismail opened fire at the officers who were in the said vehicle. They got injured and firing from that side stopped.
--We waited for some time and then went towards the said vehicle. Three bodies lying there. Ismail removed the three bodies and drove the said vehicle. I sat next to him. Our vehicle got punctured near a big ground by the side of the road.
--Ismail got down from the driver seat, stopped a car at the gun point and removed the three lady occupants from the said car. Then Ismail carried me to the car and sat me inside as I was injured. Then he drove the said car.
--While we were moving in the car, we were stopped on the road near sea shore. Ismail fired towards them. Some policemen got injured. Police also opened fire towards us. Due to the police firing Ismail got injured. Then police moved us to some hospital. In the hospital I came to know that Ismail succumbed to the injuries he sustained.
Prolonged crisis may spread social unrest: IMF
15 Dec 2008, 2214 hrs IST, REUTERS
MADRID: The global economy could fall into prolonged crisis, spreading social unrest unless governments expand and implement promised stimulus Ghosts of 1929
2008: Year of financial crisis
Countries in recession
packages, the IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Monday.
Growth is plummeting in China as the global economy suffers an unprecedented fall in output and veers toward recession, raising risks of more civil unrest like that seen in Greece, Strauss Kahn said.
Without greater urgency on the part of governments, the beginning of a global recovery in late 2009 or early 2010 could be delayed, he said.
"A lot remains to be done and if this work is not done it will be difficult to avoid a long lasting crisis that everyone wants to avoid," he said during a conference on IMF-Spanish relations.
He saw violent protests spreading unless the financial system was reorganized to benefit everyone, and not just a small elite.
"If we are not able to do that, then social unrest may happen in many places, including advanced economies," he added.
The IMF will probably cut its current 2.2 percent forecast for global growth next month as governments prove unwilling or unable to budget sufficient public funds to restore economic confidence, Strauss Kahn said.
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He singled out the European Union's stimulus package, worth 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, as insufficient.
Strauss-Kahn said European leaders were using pre-crisis budget deficit limits to design the package instead of adopting new rules to fit the size of economic problems.
"We are facing an unprecedented decline in output and we have evidence of substantial uncertainty limiting the effectiveness of some fiscal policy measures, he said.
The IMF recommends global governments spend a combined 2 percent of global gross domestic product or $1.2 trillion to reduce the risk of a damaging global recession.
It backs hefty government recapitalization of banks to restore financial system confidence.
"A lot has been announced but I believe the follow up isn't going fast enough, and that is one of the components of the lack of confidence," Strauss-Kahn said.
A symptom of that is sagging growth in China, he said.
"We started with China at 11 pct growth then 8 then 7 then China will probably grow at 5 or 6 percent. The possibility of a global recession is real, we realize something must be done," said Strauss-Kahn.
Pakistan won't let foreigners investigate suspects
15 Dec 2008, 2105 hrs IST, REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not allow foreign investigators to interrogate Islamist militants detained over last month's attacks in the Indian city of
Mumbai, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Monday.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in Islamabad on Sunday he had asked India and Pakistan for permission for British police to question suspects arrested in both countries in connection with the Mumbai assault.
Gilani told parliament he had turned down Brown's request. "I want to assure you that when I met the British prime minister yesterday, he asked if ... we would allow them to investigate those people. I said 'we won't allow it'," he said.
"It is our country and our laws will be implemented. We'll follow our laws."
India, backed by the United States, has called on Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militant groups after the attacks, in which 179 people were killed during a three-day siege in India's financial heart.
A British national and two people with dual British-Indian nationality were killed in Mumbai.
New Delhi blames Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant group it says was set up by Pakistan to fight Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region, for the Mumbai attacks.
Islamabad has blamed "non-state actors" and vowed to cooperate with investigations, but has repeatedly said anyone caught in Pakistan would be tried in Pakistan.
Pakistan also says India has yet to share evidence from the attacks.
CRACKDOWN Pakistan has cracked down on suspected Islamists since the Mumbai attacks, detaining scores of people, many of them members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamist charity that India says is a front for the LeT.
A committee of the U.N. Security Council last week added the charity to a list of people and groups facing sanctions for ties to al Qaeda or the Taliban.
Gilani said the clampdown on the charity had been carried out because of the U.N. decision and authorities would take control of the group's projects to ensure they were continued for the benefit of the people.
Pakistan has frozen accounts of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and has detained some of its leaders.
Gilani said Pakistan was a responsible nuclear-armed country and would act to stop terrorism.
"I assure the world through this platform that we'll not allow Pakistani territory to be used for terrorism. We condemn terrorism wherever it is," he said.
Brown said he had asked Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh if he would allow British police, "if they chose to do so", to interview the lone surviving gunman held after the attacks, identified as Mohammad Ajmal Kasab.
He said he had asked Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari if British police could interview suspects held in Pakistan.
British government sources said British detectives were seeking more information on how Lashkar worked or information they could cross-reference with other intelligence, rather than any intention to launch a separate prosecution.
Sainiks attack lawyer house for willing to fight Ajmal's case
15 Dec 2008, 1826 hrs IST, PTI
AMRAVATI: About 100 Shiv Sainiks on Monday attacked the residence of a lawyer, who showed interest in fighting the case of the terrorist arrested in
the 26/11 Mumbai attack, Mohammed Ajmal Amin and ransacked his office.
Frezerpura Police said the activists, armed with canes, stormed the Vijay Colony-based residence of advocate Mahesh Deshmukh, who had shown willingness to fight the legal battle for Ajmal.
Police said the irate Shiv Sainiks stormed Deshmukh's office in his house and ransacked it. They damaged telephone and furniture and threw books and documents out of the house. They also damaged the two-wheelers of his tenants, which were parked in front of the house.
The Sainiks were against Deshmukh taking 'Vakilpatra' of Ajmal when the Bar Associations all over India had decided not to take up Ajmal's case. Deshmukh had sent his assistant to Mumbai District and Sessions Court today to request the court to allow him to meet Ajmal, who is in police custody, and express his (Deshmukh's) desire to take his Vakilpatra if he permitted.
The Shiv Sainiks also allegedly manhandled Deshmukh and a couple of cops present at the spot. The activists then went to the District and Sessions Court here, shouting slogans and waiving flags.
They met the office-bearers of Amravati Bar Association and requested them to take action against Deshmukh who was "acting" against the decision of the Association.
The office-bearers of bar association assured to take up the issue in the meeting to be held this evening.
Meanwhile, Deshmukh told PTI that Ajmal has a constitutional right to employ a lawyer for his defence and he was prepared to provide him legal service, if the latter acceded to his request.
Deshmukh lodged a complaint against the Shiv Sainiks at Frezerpura police station.
Shiv Sena district unit leaders-Someshwar Pusatkar and Sudhir Suryawanshi, Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena's Bala Talokar and nearly 100 activists were involved in the attack, police said.
Kolkata Inc 2010 fires a zillion thought dreams
15 Dec 2008, 0335 hrs IST, ET Bureau
KOLKATA: One of Kolkata Inc’s leading faces walked into the Regency Ballroom of the Hyatt on Friday, minutes before the high-powered ET event,
looked around and said: "I do not remember a room full of so many high-powered businessmen anywhere in Kolkata, since the days of GD Birla."
That virtually summed up the overwhelming response to the electrifying finale of ET's landmark initiative, 'Kolkata Inc 2010', which predictably fired a zillion thought dreams on ways to help chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee rev up West Bengal's economic engines and rekindle its glory days in the sun.
Kolkata’s power elite was out in full force to take in every nuance of an exclusive live interaction with the chief minister organised by The Economic Times. From bulge-bracket businessmen, seasoned bureaucrats and high-flier CEOs to economists, faculty, students and readers, they all came to savour the moment when ET presented its 'Business Blueprint' to the CM.
What did the ET Blueprint contain? We told them it contained a goldmine of information, culled from the various suggestions they had given, a classical anthology of some 225 golden ways to make West Bengal rock.
By the time the CM took his place on the dais at precisely 6 pm, the mood was already set, courtesy state industry minister Nirupam Sen’s rivetting speech exhorting "enlightened sections of society" and people of the state to participate in taking industrialisation forward in West Bengal.
But before launching into an hour-long interactive session, a visibly relaxed West Bengal chief minister warmly thanked "the ET editorial board and management for organising such a unique event".
The moderator for the evening, Prof Anup Sinha of IIM Calcutta, had structured the interaction to kick off with two pre-set questions on super-critical issues like 'land' and 'infrastructure' which the 'Business Blueprint' had brought to the fore. That was followed by an engaging open house Q&A. In all, the CM took 10 questions.
Asked whether the West Bengal government planned to set up a land bank to accommodate industry, the CM’s response was in the affirmative. Like they say, there’s seldom a dull moment at a high-voltage ET event, and last Friday at the Hyatt was a veritable motherlode of surprises.
At precisely 7.10 pm, when the CM was scheduled to check out of the venue, to everyone’s surprise, he broke protocol by stepping off the dais and heading straight for the audience to personally mingle with this truly select band of CEOs and business personalities.
Not only did he enquire about the global meltdown and its impact on India Inc, he even addressed several CEOs and businessmen by their first names and quizzed them on the nitty gritty of their ventures. The impact was total and the emotion, palpable.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Company/Kolkata_Inc_2010_fires_a_zillion_thought_dreams/articleshow/3837656.cms
Allow UK to question Kasab, Pak suspects: Brown
Shubhajit Roy
Posted: Dec 14, 2008 at 0901 hrs IST
New Delhi International pressure mounted on Islamabad after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, echoing the Indian position that the Lashkar-e-Toiba was involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, told Pakistan “time has come for action and not words” and that it has a “great deal to answer for”. He said he had requested India and Pakistan that the British police be allowed to quiz the lone surviving gunman as well as the suspects in Pakistani custody.
Making an unscheduled visit to New Delhi and Islamabad on Sunday, Brown, who held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, said: “I asked Prime Minister Singh this morning if you would allow the British police, if they chose to do so, to interview the person arrested (Ajmal Amir Kasab) as one of the suspects for organising and participating in the Mumbai outrage.”
“And I have similarly asked President Zardari if it were to be the case if the British police wanted to interview people who are suspected within his own country whether he would be prepared to allow that, whether his police authorities would be prepared to allow that and it is a matter I left with Prime Minister Singh and President Zardari,” Brown told reporters in Islamabad at a joint news conference with Zardari.
He turned the heat on Islamabad, saying “three-fourth of major terror plots investigated in the UK had links to al-Qaeda in Pakistan.”
This came hours after he said in New Delhi that the world community should come together so that there were “no safe havens for terrorists” and “no safe place for those who finance terrorist activities”.
“We also know that the group responsible is LeT and they (Pakistan) have a great deal to answer for,” he said after a breakfast meeting with Singh.
In Islamabad, Brown proposed $9 million in assistance, saying Britain aimed to break “the chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of the UK and other countries around the world.”
Zardari indicated he would prefer to wait till New Delhi shared the findings of its probe into the Mumbai attacks with Islamabad.
“I am hoping that once the Indian government completes the investigation and shares the information with us, we will have further leads to find if there are any culprits on this side of the border. We shall take action against them,” Zardari said.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Allow-UK-to-question-Kasab-Pak-suspects-Brown/398345/
PSU banks cut rates on home loans up to Rs 20 lakh
Public sector banks on Monday announced that home loans up to Rs five lakh would be given at a maximum interest rate of 8.5 per cent, while those between Rs 5-20 lakh would be offered at 9.25 per cent.
Besides, the banks would not charge any processing fees and pre-payment charges for loans up to Rs 20 lakh, and would also provide free insurance cover, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) said on Monday.
Outlining the new housing loan package in accordance with the stimulus package announced by the government on December 7, SBI chairman O P Bhatt said the interest rate under the two schemes could come down, but would not go up beyond the threshold limit of 8.5 and 9.25 per cent for a five year period.
The offering under the packages would be made till June 30, next year, Bhatt said, adding that after the lock-in period of five years the borrowers could look in for free or floating rates that could change in accordance with market conditions.
To make the package attractive, the public sector banks would give the loans at a margin of 10 per cent up to Rs 5 lakhs and 15 per cent for loans between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakhs, and in either case, banks would offer free insurance cover, Bhatt said.
Leading private lenders, including ICICI Bank and HDFC, appeared favourably inclined to cut their rates, with sources saying the two lenders would study the PSU banks' package before taking a call. The sources said any decision would be taken after ascertaining whether PSU banks are getting any government subsidy for implementing the package.
The banks have also decided to cut the lending rates for the micro and medium enterprises by 100 basis points.
CPM, Cong MPs join hands with Mamata in LS
In a rare show of unity in Lok Sabha, members of CPI-M and Congress on Monday supported Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee when she raised the issue of the plight of students of several teachers' training institutes in West Bengal which have been declared illegal by the High Court.
About 75,000 students were facing hardship after 138 institutes, which were affiliated to the state government but not to the National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE), were declared illegal by the Calcutta High Court, Banerjee said while raising the issue in the House during Zero Hour.
"The students are not responsible for this. Many of them are already working as primary teachers. There must have been a gap in coordination between the state government and the Centre in this regard," she said.
As she spoke, prompt came support from Speaker Somnath Chatterjee who said "I endorse your views." CPI(M) leader Hannan Mollah said "I associate with her in this matter," with his party colleagues also coming out in support.
Responding to Chatterjee's observation that the Centre should look into the matter, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee said it was true that a large number of students of these institutes have been affected.
"During the Prime Minister's recent visit to the state, his attention was drawn. The Prime Minister asked me to take it up with the concerned Ministries. I have already taken it up with the HRD Ministry," Mukherjee said, adding that the government was trying to work out ways to protect the future of these youths.
Pak trying to cover up Kasab links: Reports
Islamabad Pakistani authorities and residents of Ajmal Amir Iman's village have apparently launched efforts to cover up their links with the lone gunman arrested for the Mumbai terror attacks, days after his father admitted that the young man as shown by the media was his son.
Pakistani security and intelligence agencies have deployed a large number of personnel in plainclothes at Faridkot in Okara district of Punjab province, from where Ajmal hails, with journalists visiting the area having to face angry protests.
Footage of the intelligence operatives has been aired by 'Geo News' channel. 'The News' daily reported that journalists who visited Faridkot on December 6 were surrounded by over 100 people, some of them armed with lathis, who pressurised the reporters not to interview anybody or do any filming in the area.
Ghulam Mustafa Wattoo, the Mayor of the local council who has been at the forefront of efforts to deny Iman's links to the village, warned the journalists that they would be responsible for the "consequences" if they went against the wishes of the people.
One person tried to snatch the camera and wallet of a foreign journalist and a team from a TV channel was assaulted by persons who snatched their mobile phones and digital video (DV) tapes and tried to smash their cameras.
Asim Rana, who was in-charge of the team, said villagers could not take DV tapes from the camera "with such expertise" because they would not know how to extract the tapes. "It clearly shows that some people from the (security) agencies are among the villagers, who are running the whole show," Rana said. An unnamed top Pakistani politician and a senior Punjab police official had also confirmed to a foreign journalist that Iman belonged to Faridkot, 'The News' reported.
On Sunday, hundreds of people from Faridkot blocked the Dipalpur-Kasur road for about two hours to protest what they described as a media campaign "wrongly linking their village" to Iman. During the protest, Mayor Wattoo said Iman was not a resident of the village and was not related to anyone there.
Iman's father Amir Kasab admitted to the influential Dawn newspaper that the gunman shown in pictures of the attack on a train terminus in Mumbai was his son. After he spoke to the newspaper, AmirKasab and his wife Noor were moved from their home in Faridkot to an undisclosed location.
Geo News channel too has aired what it described as secretly filmed footage of Faridkot residents acknowledging that Iman belonged to the village. The residents said Iman had last visited Faridkot five to six months ago, when he told his mother he was going away for jihad.
The channel also reported that a man named Ghafoor is currently living in Amir Kasab's home in Faridkot. Ghafoor has also claimed to reporters that he has been living in the house for "several years".
Fourth Indo-Pakistan War Started on
13 December 2008
By Brig ® Usman Khalid
London, December 14. As I was preparing to go to bed last night, Geo TV was breaking news that Indian aircraft had violated the air space of Pakistan at two points – in Lahore sector and in Azad Kashmir. Clearly, India was following in the footsteps of its strategic partner – the USA – and expected no resistance from Pakistan as the target was the common enemy (the terrorists) as in FATA and the NWFP. India must have been peeved by the unfriendly scrambling of the aircraft by the Pakistan Air Force that led to the Indian mission having to be aborted. India would press upon President Zardari directly and through friends – the USA and UK - to give the same facilities to the Indian Air Force as given to the USA to strike ‘terrorists’ inside Pakistan….. Read
http://www.lisauk.com/Articles.asp?aid=554
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[bangla-vision] This is a farewell kiss, you dog!
BAGHDAD – On an Iraq trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the war that defines his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference.
"This is a farewell kiss, you dog!" shouted the protester in Arabic, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.
Bush ducked both shoes as they whizzed past his head and landed with a thud against the wall behind him.
"It was a size 10," Bush joked later.
The U.S. president visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.
"The war is not over," Bush said, adding that "it is decisively on it's way to being won."
In many ways, the unannounced trip was a victory lap without a clear victory. Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a war that is intensely disliked across the globe. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died in the conflict, which has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion since it began five years and nine months ago.
Polls show most Americans believe the U.S. erred in invading Iraq in 2003. Bush ordered the nation into war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq while citing intelligence claiming the Mideast nation harbored weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, the intelligence was discredited, Bush's credibility with U.S. voters plummeted and Saddam was captured and executed.
"There is still more work to be done," Bush said after his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
It was at that point the journalist stood up and threw a shoe from about 20 feet away. Bush ducked, and it narrowly missed his head. The second shoe came quickly, and Bush ducked again while several Iraqis grabbed the man and dragged him to the floor.
In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam with their shoes after U.S. marines toppled it to the ground following the 2003 invasion.
White House press secretary Dana Perino suffered an eye injury in the news conference melee. Bush brushed off the incident, comparing it to political protests at home.
"So what if I guy threw his shoe at me?" he said.
Al-Maliki, who spoke before the incident, praised postwar progress: "Today, Iraq is moving forward in every field."
After the news conference, the president took a 15-minute helicopter ride through dark skies over Baghdad to Camp Victory. Telling hundreds of troops he was "heading into retirement," Bush blamed Saddam for the 2003 invasion and said, "America is safer and more secure" than it was before the war.
For Bush, the war is the issue around which both he and the country defined his two terms in office. He saw the invasion and continuing fight as a necessary action to protect Americans and fight terrorism. Though his decision won support at first, the public now has largely decided that the U.S. needs to get out of Iraq.
Air Force One, the president's distinctive powder blue-and-white jetliner, landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon local time after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington. In a sign of security gains in this war zone, Bush received a formal arrival ceremony — a flourish absent in his three earlier trips.
Bush soon began a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders.
He met first with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the country's two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashemi and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, at the ornate, marble-floored Salam Palace along the shores of the Tigris River.
Later, Bush's motorcade pulled out the heavily fortified Green Zone and crossed over the Tigris so he could meet al-Maliki at the prime minister's palace. A huge orange moon hung low over the horizon as Bush's was ferried quickly through the city.
The two leaders signed ceremonial copy of the security agreement.
The Bush administration and even White House critics credit last year's military buildup with the security gains in Iraq. Last month, attacks fell to the lowest monthly level since the war began in 2003.
Still, it's unclear what will happen when the U.S. troops leave. While violence has slowed in Iraq, attacks continue, especially in the north. At least 55 people were killed Thursday in a suicide bombing in a restaurant near Kirkuk.
It was Bush's last trip to the war zone before Obama takes office Jan. 20. Obama won an election largely viewed as a referendum on Bush, who has endured low approval ratings because of the war and more recently, the U.S. recession.
Obama, a Democrat, has promised he will bring all U.S. combat troops back home from Iraq a little over a year into his term, as long as commanders agree a withdrawal would not endanger American personnel or Iraq's security. Obama has said the drawdown in Iraq would allow him to shift troops and bolster the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
The new U.S.-Iraqi security pact, calls for all American troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2011, in two stages. The first stage begins next year, when U.S. troops pull back from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by the end of June. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Saturday that even after that summer deadline, some U.S. troops will remain in Iraqi cities.
Journalists and staff who made the 10 1/2-hour trip to Iraq with the president agreed to tell almost no one about the plans, and the White House released false schedules detailing activities planned for Bush in Washington on Sunday.
____________
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Freelance Writer & Researcher
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
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Bush comes under shoe attack
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=35130
A man identified as an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at -- but missed -- President Bush during a news conference Sunday evening in Baghdad, where Bush was making a farewell visit. Bush ducked, and the shoes, flung one at a time, sailed past his head during the news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in his palace in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
The shoe-thrower -- identified as Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network -- could be heard yelling in Arabic: "This is a farewell ... you dog!"
While pinned on the ground by security personnel, he screamed: "You killed the Iraqis!"
Al-Zaidi was dragged away. While al-Zaidi was still screaming in another room, Bush said: "That was a size 10 shoe he threw at me, you may want to know."
Hurling shoes at someone, or sitting so that the bottom of a shoe faces another person, is considered an insult among Muslims.
Al-Baghdadia issued a statement Sunday demanding al-Zaidi's release.
Al-Zaidi drew international attention in November 2007 when he was kidnapped while on his way to work in central Baghdad. He was released three days later.
Bush had been lauding the conclusion of a security pact with Iraq as journalists looked on.
CNN
TRUTH HAS COME AND FALSEHOOD HAS VANISHED
"Invite (all) to the way of the Lord With wisdom and Beautiful preaching And argue with them in ways that are Best and most gracious"
Peace Be Upon All Of You
World condemns man for missing Bush's face
Just a few of the shoes that world leaders would like to throw at Bush
International leaders and commentators have called for the "harshest possible punishment" to be used against the man who failed to hit George W Bush in the face with his shoes.
At a press conference with Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki, an Iraqi journalist was wrestled to the floor by security guards after he called Mr Bush "a dog" and threw his footwear, just missing the president.
Politicians around the world have expressed shock and awe that he missed the president's grinning face, and insisted that if they had been there, there would have smashed the bastard's nose right in.
Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain broke off from talks with union leaders to speak of his regret that Bush wasn't twatted in the chops. His Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd released a statement condemning the journalist for missing Bush's eyes and called for him to be tried at the Hague for "pissing away a perfect set up. "
There has also been surprise that Bush managed to duck out of the way, given that he has trouble recognising his own Cabinet and often mistakes the door to the Oval Office for the White House soda machine. "This is a man who once almost choked to death on a pretzel," said UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, "how in the name of god was he able to avoid a dead cert from a few metres away?"
EDITED. The original is at http://thestupidtimes.blogspot.com/2008/12/world-condemns-man-for-missing-bushs.html
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President Usman Khalid
London Institute of South Asia
www.lisauk.com
&
Dr Shahid Qureshi
Senior Award Winning Journalist
C/-The London Post
Dear President(Director) Khalid ji,
&
Dr Qureshi,
Aslaam O Alaikum,
Please accept my congratulations for describing your subjects, “Fourth Indo-Pakistan War Started on 13th December, 2008,” when the (alleged) Indian democracy’s Indian Air Force Jets (see below, Pakistan Air Force Chases Away Indian Jets by Shahid at
Without and prejudice, I am writing to you both in particular and to the cyber readership in general, based on my own experiences gained until 1965, the time when India or the alleged Indian democracy alias the Brahmins autocracy/Zamhooriat/Zulamhooriat or the ‘Democracy of persecution, terrorism, killings in fake-encounters, rape (an international crime under the United Nations guidelines), humiliation, dehumanization, genocide of the people of the Internationally Disputed Areas of Jammu and Kashmir since 15th August, 1947; Muslims in general, the Sikhs of Punjab, Tamils, Assamese and 7-sisters of Assam, Rajasthan, Orrissa, Christians, Dalits, Adivaasis, Bengalis, etc., became the name of the game in the Brahmins autocracy. The international media and their administrations merely watched the ‘Brahmins games’ as the silent spectators; most likely their eyes have been closed and their ears were plugged likely. Perhaps, left with no option, the internationally reputed journal wrote “India is Ruled by Rascals (The Economist, 15th July, 1995 or the late 1990s).” International media and their administrations did not learn any lesson when their mostly publicized and liked India exploded a remote ‘nuclear device’ in 1974; although almost every newspaper in the west was full of criticism of India. Maybe, their memory became short and they forgot all about the nuclear explosion carried out by the deceitful India, employing the ‘nuclear know-how’ imported from Canada, with the assistance of the United States of America. Irrespective of agreeing with the writer’s assessment, India went into the orbit of a super power, which does not exist any more. So much so, the administrations and their news media ignored the ‘Genocide of Sikhs’ in an ‘undeclared’ war in the form of a brutal military “Operation Bluestar” of June, 1984. This ‘undeclared’ war of Indian administration used cleverly the Sikhs of Indian armed forces (army. Air force and navy), para military, intelligence personnel, especially the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), RAW’S then chief, Kao, Foreign missions and their personnel, including some Sikhs of the United States of America (Ganga Sinh Dhillon, Didar Sinh Bains, and their “joe boys”), pseudo-Sikh academics like Granthi Pishaura Sinh, later earned a degree of Doctor of Philosophy under Dr McLeod of New Zealand but happened to be at the University of Toronto, etc., had been used against their Sikh brothers. For example, the Sikhs of Punjab (under the occupation of the Brahmins autocracy, since 1984), the Sikh Diaspora, and Sikhs’ religious and political institutions in the Sikhs’ Holy and historic homeland, Punjab and outside Punjab.
Gentlemen, this has been the story of the Sikhs since 15th August, 1984 to this day of writing. I have to say and have no doubt in my mind that the honest, sincere and committed people like you can save the Islamic Republic of Pakistan from any unforeseen catastrophe. It is a blessing in disguise that the Indian Air Force gave the proof of the Brahmins autocracy’s dreams on Pakistan, Muslims of Pakistan and Muslims of the Internationally Disputed Areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The intentions of the Zardari and Gilani’s administration have become crystal clear, from the point of view that the Zardari-Gilani forces cannot and will not serve the interests of the great people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, armed forces of Pakistan whose super most duties are to guard the ‘Sovereignty and Independence of Pakistan’. Let me tell the Zardari and Gilani administration and their weakest supporters that there is no point to for the ‘bootlicking’ of the Brahmins and the Brahmins autocracy. Let me tell to them also what they preach at least 10-time in a day about ‘Shaheed’ Benazir Zardari; under what academic syllabus you have been using the word ‘Shaheed’ for Benazir Zardari. She was a failure in her profession. She was no match to her father, the Right Honourable Z A Bhutto. So, what is the criterion to call her a ‘Shaheed’ or martyr?
Zardari and Gilani must know that they can become chummy with the Brahmins autocracy, but the latter will never be their friend. According to the founder of the Sikh religion, the “Brahmin is the Butcher of the world.” It will remain so. If you keep your eyes closed and worship the Brahmin, then you are not the follower of the Islamic faith. I wonder how the great people of Pakistan and the followers of Janab MA Jinnah, the Father of Pakistan, tolerate you as the so-called Zamhooriat or democracy.
Gentlemen, one of you has said that the fourth war between Pakistan and India has begin. Indeed, you are right. It is the first step towards the war, however; learnt from the super power of our world. However, the Brahmins autocracy cannot dare to start a conventional war on the Easter border of Pakistan. The Sikhs are sandwiched between Punjab and Pakistan. The Brahmins autocracy dare not to initiate any border movement from Punjab. It is not 1965 or the war of the East Pakistan. Sikhs religious, political and Sikhs’ holy and historic Homeland is much different, regardless any joe boy of the BJP or congress is Punjab’s Chief Minister. The fact of the matter is that the Brahmins autocracy cannot deploy its army on the Punjab border. It hard to swallow, but the Brahmins and pro-Brahmins have to swallow. They have no alternative.
This is my perception, I might be wrong but not to that degree that the “Bombay Massacre or Terrorism was carried out by the Butchers of the our world,” according to the saying of the founder of the Sikh religion Guru Baba Nanak. If the Brahmins autocracy suspend all means of communications in Punjab in 1984, then what is wrong that LK Advani, Narender Modi, Hindutav and the safforanized Hindus cannot do their heinous act what they did with their Hindu commandos?
No one should forget the Air piracies committed by the RAW, the New Delhi administration in the pre and post-“Operation Bluestar of June 1984 by the ‘terrorist India and its Brahmins’, like the Pandey brothers, who carried out Brahmins autocracy’s first air piracy. Let us not forget the international crime India and company were going to commit in the early 1990s, ‘to brand the Sikhs terrorists’ (Kilgour D 1994. Betrayal: The Spy Canada Abandoned)
Well, let me hear from you. Before that, I wish peace, regards to you, the great people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and elsewhere. We all, except the Brahmins, have been working hard for the peace process. That is too, a ever lasting peace to restore the economy and stability in the world.
Your brother,
Awatar Singh Sekhon (Machaki), Ph D, FIBA, RM (CCM)
Associate Professor (Retired), Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Director (Former), National Centre for Mycotoic Diseases CANADA
Managing Editor and Acting Editor in Chief
International Journal of Sikh Affairs ISSN 1481-5435
*****
On 12/14/08 4:24 AM, "Usman Khalid"
Fourth Indo-Pakistan War Started on
13 December 2008
by Usman Khalid
London, December 14. As I was preparing to go to bed last night, Geo TV was breaking news that Indian aircraft had violated the air space of Pakistan at two points – in Lahore sector and in Azad Kashmir. Clearly, India was following in the footsteps of its strategic partner – the USA – and expected no resistance from Pakistan as the target was the common enemy (the terrorists) as in FATA and the NWFP. India must have been peeved by the unfriendly scrambling of the aircraft by the Pakistan Air Force that led to the Indian mission having to be aborted. India would press upon President Zardari directly and through friends – the USA and UK - to give the same facilities to the Indian Air Force as given to the USA to strike ‘terrorists’ inside Pakistan. Prime Minster Gordon Brown is visiting Pakistan today and would no doubt give assurances to President Asif Zardari that NATO led ISAF would not strike targets inside Pakistan. That helps. The safe passage to NATO supplies from Karachi Port to Afghanistan has already been disrupted. The British perhaps do remember what happened to the expeditions they sent into Afghanistan from India. No one made it back alive. India remembers that too but it thinks it is much cleverer than the British, the Soviet Union or the Americans and would emerge victorious.
The USA and UK are willing to let India try and are willing to provide India full diplomatic support at the UN and elsewhere. America is ready to provide more; it is understood to have promised air support from its bases in Afghanistan and its aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea. The diplomatic moves to demonise and isolate Pakistan are already underway. A British minister declared in the Parliament last year that HM Government supports the Indian stand on Jammu and Kashmir. Jang Daily published from London carried the news but there was no public outcry. With the military led Musharraf Government being willing to consider solution other than a ‘UN supervised plebiscite’, the public has come to expect its leaders not to safeguard the national interests and to be eager to get into bed with the enemy. Now the UN Sanctions Committee has passed a resolution to ban Jamaat ud Daawa as a terrorist organisation, a legal handle has been provided to India and the US to invade Pakistan. Remember the UNSC passed a resolution for Iraq to let the UN Inspectors in to complete their inspection to confirm there were no WMD in Iraq, and promised not invade Iraq if it did. Iraq did allow the UN Inspectors to complete their inspection but the USA still invaded. The spectacular briefing to the UN Security Council by Secretary of State Colin Powell, which has since been discredited as totally false, was used by the US as excuse insisting that Iraq was not co-operating with the UN Inspectors.
Just as the British declaration of support to Indian stand on Kashmir was ignored by Pakistan, Zardari administration is displaying breathtaking naivety (more probably treachery) in joining India to say that the UN Sanctions help Pakistan fight the scourge of terrorism. No, Sir! This resolution provides an excuse to invade Pakistan and mobilise international support for it. All that India needs to do is to keep saying that the action of Pakistan is an ‘eyewash’. Pakistan’s friends would be silenced. Many countries will join India to ask Pakistan to ‘do more’. I do not believe that India would carry out air strikes inside Pakistan until President Obama enters upon his office. But then it might, in order to force the hand of the new President. In either case, India would rely on the precedent set by the USA in North Pakistan and carry out air strikes to ‘help’ Zardari against ‘terrorists’ in Kashmir and the South. It is unlikely that Asif Zardari would survive dragging his feet that makes response to Indian strikes tardy. But his ouster would be no skin off the Indo-US nose. Without a ‘legitimate’ government in Pakistan, both would feel free to invade Pakistan.
The narrative for war on Pakistan written by Indo-US planners appears to have no holes. But the holes are really big if the military of Pakistan is able to act boldly and sometimes even pre-emptively. In the first Indo-Pakistan War of 1948-49, forty percent of Jammu and Kashmir was captured by the people aided by tribal lashkars and the Northern Scouts well before the Pakistan Army went into Kashmir. That area is still held by Pakistan. In 1965, Pakistan was so eager to keep the war confined to Jammu and Kashmir that it did not deploy its troops into battle positions on the rest of the border ostensibly and ridiculously to ‘avoid provoking’ an all out war. The same mistake was made in the Kargil War of 1991. We always said that the defence of East Pakistan lay in West Pakistan and yet we did not go into Kashmir in 1971 when India invaded East Pakistan. Pakistanis always fought well and would do even better in the next war but the mistakes of strategy cannot be overcome by good tactics or fighting spirit of the troops. The first principle is to prepare for all eventualities particularly the most dangerous one. We say that our nuclear doctrine is ‘first strike’ and that a ‘nuclear war’ is the most dangerous eventuality. We must therefore prepare for that worst eventuality – calmly and with sobriety. If we didn’t, the enemy would know. And the worst eventuality would catch us unprepared.
On the other end of the spectrum is the asymmetrical war in which Pakistan has been on the wrong side of the populace. Pakistan should return to the same side as the people of the country in that war. That war should not be fought in FATA or even Afghanistan; it should be fought in Kashmir. If the USA and India want to rebuild Afghanistan’s infrastructure as they say, Pakistan, China and Iran should welcome that and offer every assistance so that peace returns and ISAF troop levels can be scaled down. The Afghan people should be able to become friends with those who helped them fight the Soviet occupation. However, there are real and genuine doubts in Pakistan about the real intentions of India or America. But we should not forget that neither has a safe route into Afghanistan. Their presence in Afghanistan is a guarantee of their good behaviour. They are so vulnerable to being completely wiped out like the British during the Afghan Wars that it is hard to exaggerate the threat they face. But Pakistan is now engaged in a wrong war; they are fighting the Afghan resistance. Pakistan should make a strategic withdrawal from Afghanistan immediately. It should open the border with Afghanistan and let the people on both sides of the Durand Line figure things out. Pakistan needs tribal lashkars once again and not only in Kashmir.
Fortunately, the security situation is outside the control of President Asif Zardari. He can hurt Pakistan’s economy, which he is doing. Pakistan’s formal economy is close to a meltdown and it would be no bad thing if the ‘controls’ that provide opportunities to the political class to rob and steal disappear. India has started the fourth Indo-Pakistan war already. It is a war like no other before it. This is a war that Pakistan alone can win; all others can lose although in different ways. India is cautiously climbing the escalation ladder in the hope that it can avoid an all out nuclear war. It is India’s need to escalate with caution that guarantees freedom of action to those fighting asymmetrical war against India in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has to remain demonstrably prepared for the worst thus reinforcing the freedom of action to the resistance in Jammu and Kashmir. There will indeed be skirmishes between India and Pakistan; the sound of the weak knees of the rulers knocking would be loud for all to hear. There is no need to remove this pathetic lot. Let them die of fear – fear of India, fear of America, fear of the ‘militants’, fear of the people who elected them, fear of the armed forces, fear of the lawyers. Let them and their masters die a death by a thousands cuts.
The writer is the Director of London Institute of South Asia
*****
Pakistan Air Force Chases away Indian Jets*
December 14, 2008 | Dan Qayyum | Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz .com
*
*****
Players in Place to Break Pakistan? by Dr Shahid Qureshi
US must open the doors for dialogue with all the groups as British are doing for long lasting peace in the region
Prime Minister Gilani has ordered the security agencies and national institutions to 'get their act together'? Well it is his government that needs to get its acts together first. President Zardari has appointed the infamous Rehman Malik as head of law enforcement agencies, his old crony as the Chief Juice, his personal lawyer as the law minister, and a loyalist crony as information minister – none on the basis of merit but personal loyalties - what kind of performance does Mr Gilani expect from the departments and agencies under them? It looks like a 'government of foreign slaves' who have made this country 'Slavistan'? Prime Minister Gilani himself comes from a family of collaborators. His ancestors have blood of thousands of people on their hands killed in the name of 'war on terror' during and after 1857. "After conquering Multan in 1848, Major Herbert gave a certificate of 'co-operation' to his family. In 1859 British Government gave a certificate and Rs.300 to Syed Noor Shah for his cooperation and support in 1857 British 'war on terror' in India. In 1876 his ancestor Syed Waliat Shah was appointed as honorary magistrate in recognition of his 'loyalties and support'. In 1878 Makhdoom Sadarudin Gilani was appointed as royal courtier in Multan and in 1911 he was specially introduced to the King as 'British loyalist and supporter'. He was also awarded with a golden watch in recognition of his friendship to the crown. From 1922 - 1927, when British were faced with Indian political and armed uprising in India, like many others Makhdoom Sadaruddin Gilani played his role in bringing 'peace and order'.", wrote Wakel Anjum in his book 'Pharaohs of Politics - 'Siyasat kay Firaun'.
They had been spying and providing recruits to the colonialists and it seems they have not stopped even now? He and others like him should apologise to the nation? When BBC asked me to comment on his nomination and about his religious beliefs, my response was 'from a truly loyalist line'. It seems Pakistanis need to fight another war of independence against feudal mafia ruling the 160 million people of Pakistan?
President Zardari came on a private visit from Pakistan to drop his daughter off and travelled on a private jet from London to Edinburgh. Well, he is the richest man of Pakistan - a poor country. He could afford it. But he could not afford board and lodging. Pakistan’s envoy in London reportedly said, 'The President saved money by using High Commission's kitchen for meals'. Well he was on a private trip and could have easily stayed in one of his many flats or the 'Surrey Palace'! The envoy’s explanation was similar to that Jodha Bai, Hindu wife of Mogul Emperor Akbar. When asked, 'what was it like being the wife of Emperor Akbar? She whispered, 'I have my own cup for drinking water'.
In Pakistan, the Qadyani led policies of Musharraf era still continues. When Indians are 'water bombing' Pakistan by illegally blocking the flow of rivers into Pakistan, 'Zardari is excited about trade with India and across the Line of Control in Kashmir. At a time when the US is routinely violating Pakistan's sovereignty with attacks across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan, Zardari and Gilani make Performa protests while President Zardari tells the Wall Street Journal that the air attacks are carried out on the hapless citizens of his country with his permission.
According to reports in the press only 5% militancy in Afghanistan is linked with Pakistani tribal areas due to historical reasons. What are the US and its allies doing about the 95% indigenous insurgency in Afghanistan? US must open the doors for dialogue with all the groups as British are doing for long lasting peace in the region.
India has deployed about 700,000 troops in Kashmir; the rest of the India Army is also fighting 13 insurgencies within India. It would be disastrous for India to send 150,000 troops to Afghanistan, which could lead to break up of India. Is it a trap for the India or is it a ‘death wish’ to share the ‘joy’ of repeating British campaigns in Afghanistan. India has the worst record of repression of minorities in the world, be they Muslims, Christians, Sikhs or low caste Untouchables who are nominally Hindus.
India assets in Pakistan are doing their bit also. Altaf Hussain, the leader of the MQM who lives in exile in London under British protection, has urged that the LOC in Kashmir be made permanent border. He has discussed this with President Zardari during his visit to London in September 2008 causing great annoyance among a million or so British Kashmiris.
The Times of India reported on 16th June 2003 that Altaf Hussain has urged India and Pakistan to resolve bilateral issues, including Kashmir, by accepting the Line of Control as a permanent border. "India and Pakistan must now decide that they would never go to war and resolve all issues, including that of Kashmir, through meaningful dialogue and negotiations. It is in the interest of both the countries to think about accepting the Line of Control as the solution to the Kashmir issue," MQM chief Altaf Hussain said.
Pakistani English daily 'Dawn' also reported, "Altaf Hussain saying, 'European countries had fought two wars but had now learnt a lesson and decided to resolve all their differences through dialogue and negotiations. Today they stand united in the form of the European Union," Altaf Hussain either does not know or does not care about the atrocities committed by the Indians in Kashmir?
According to a report published recently, the scale of death and misery caused by the India occupation of Jammu and Kashmir is huge. From January 1989 to April 30, 2007, 91,865 Muslims have been killed in Indian Occupied Kashmir by the Indian security forces; among them 6,899 were custodial killings. The number of women gang raped or molested is 9,708. The number of civilians arrested who continue to be held in jail without trial under India’s many draconian laws is 11,3798. The number of homes destroyed usually by arson is 10,5353. The number of children orphaned is 10,6930 and the number of women widowed by the Indian Army is 22,530 women widowed.
Altaf Hussain is evidently toeing the Indo-US agenda of breaking up Pakistan? He and his party have harmed Pakistan economically and politically more than any one else. According to news reports millions of Dollars obtained by threats and extortion by MQM ‘workers’ are sent to London every year from Karachi to maintain the MQM Secretariat in style and comfort.
A senior analyst said, 'all the players to break Pakistan are in place one-way or the other. The problem is that the friends of Pakistan are not sure who to talk to or confide in for saving Pakistan from catastrophe?’ The game plan is: (a) to isolate Pakistan from its friends like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, (b) economically cripple Pakistan thus forcing it to surrender its nuclear weapons, (c) place minorities in power and impoverish the people so remorselessly that they are unable to complain let alone resist. (See Golden Circle around Zardari posted on this web site on 18th February 2008), (d) demonise the armed forces of Pakistan, (e) maintain India friendly government in Pakistan and anti Pakistan government in Afghanistan, (f) the US and India to generously provide funds to Pakistani Taliban led by Baitulla Mehsud and to other groups willing to attack Pakistan’s military and infrastructure, (g) increase support to BLA in Baluchistan.
Proof of the US success in securing support of sections of Pakistani Taliban came when the USA failed to send its drones to strike the Land Cruiser of Baitullah Mehsud even though instant video link provided the information. A video clip of the BLA chief's meeting with the Chief of RAW – India’s intelligence agency well known for its role in clandestine operation in many neighbouring countries – in a safe house in Delhi and his movements in an Indian 4x4 in Afghanistan was shown to the US Generals recently in Islamabad". It is clearly a case of the US stabbing Pakistan in the back'.
Pakistan's international debt is approximately $38-40 billion, which Pakistan's friends can clear with one cheque. But no one is going to do that as long as it is ruled by people so compromised that they respond to threats and blackmail by their foreign patrons. Pakistan is rich and strong. Its weakness is corrupt and compromised leadership. Alas! There is no homeopathic solution because the layers of the cancer of treachery are deep?
(Dr Shahid Qureshi is senior award wining investigative journalist and writer on security, foreign policy, and terrorism based in London)
We all know where 26/11 attackers came from: India
Agencies
Posted: Dec 15, 2008 at 1352 hrs IST
Paris In the first political face-off after the Mumbai attacks, India has bluntly told Pakistan that it needs to "deliver" on promises to act against LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other outfits in the terror syndicate operating from its soil in its own interest.
"It is in the interest of Pakistan itself that it delivers. They have to take action to fulfill the assurance that their territory will not be used by organised terror outfits to target India," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said.
New Delhi's tough message was conveyed by Sharma during a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Paris.
Asked about reports that Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD), front outfit of Lashkar-e-Taiba, still operating from Pakistan, the Minister told a television channel that it is for the UN Security Council to ensure that the decisions taken against the outfits which have been proscribed are firmly implemented by all the member states.
Also, the world body needs to ensure that those individuals named as terrorists were punished.
"When it comes to the various outfits, it is not a question of their names. The world knows who they are, whether it is Let, JeM, Taliban or al-Qaeda, they are part of the same terror syndicate and unfortunately, they are located, when we talk about their operation base, in our neighbourhood.
"And to be precise, in the territory of Pakistan. It is, therefore, important for Pakistan also to act," Sharma said.
Qureshi said Pakistan has made a number of suggestions including a joint investigation to get to the bottom of the terror strikes and to support India in bringing the perpetrators of the crime to justice.
"We have also offered a high-level delegation led by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan to India accompanied by security people, intelligence people to sit with our Indian friends, to work out modalities of cooperation," Qureshi said.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of a conference aimed at fostering cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours.
Qureshi and Sharma were seated next to each other at a news conference yesterday after the closed-door talks.
Sharma said India had acted with remarkable restraint and maturity in responding to the November 26 attacks and highlighted the urgency with which Pakistan needs to act to dismantle terrorist networks operating on its soil.
"We all know where these terror outfits are and where the perpetrators are," said Sharma. "The only way forward is to ensure that democracies flourish and the perpetrators of the dastardly attacks are brought to justice quickly."
Asked what was exactly said about the Mumbai attacks at the conference, Sharma said "there was a sense of outrage and everyone has condemned it without any reservation."
"India is outraged. India has been attacked. There is no question of expectations. No question of hollow promises of words. Assurances have to be fulfilled," Sharma said when asked what India expects from Pakistan to reassure it.
The Minister said India conveyed to the meeting that terrorism is a menace not only for our region, but for the entire world.
"What happened in Mumbai was an assault on the prestige of India and an affront to our people. And it is therefore imperative that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
Sexed-up internal assessment was quite the norm at Pivali PTC
Express News Service
Posted: Jul 09, 2008 at 2344 hrs IST
Gandhinagar, July 08 Even as the state government moved under panic to issue a resolution reducing the weightage of internal marks and making hostel stay voluntary among other things, in the wake of the Patan sex for marks scam, more damming reports came out on Tuesday.
During a visit to the Prantji camp, the state Women's Commission was told by some of the girl students from the Pilvai PTC that they were accosted for sexual favours and threatened with dire consequences if they did not acquiesce.
The students have been camping at the farmhouse after escaping from their campus on Sunday.
Of the 12 odd girls present at the meeting with Commission head Jayshree Patel, one from the first year and two from the second year alleged sexual harassment while the rest repeated their earlier accusations of poor management of hostel life at the campus.
The Commission is expected to submit its report to the government in a couple of days.
The PTC girl students of Pilvai and Padusma PTCs in Mehsana and Gandhinagar districts had alleged harassment after their escape from college last week.
Though not as blatant as the Patan gangrape case, the girls had hinted at sexual harassment in their representation before the government here on Monday. The report of the Women's Commission is likely to throw more light on the nature of harassment, said sources.
And government finally changes rules for the PTC
Under fire from all quarters, a panicky State Education Department issued a notification, that made hostel stay for PTC students voluntary; reduced internal marks to 100 per year; and limited internship to college time (during day only). The government decision also mandated setting up of sexual harassment vigilance committees in each PTC College, with two students each from the first and second years, and two women parents as its members. During internships, the visits would only be held during college time and only to those places that have good road and vehicle connectivity, the resolution says.
The internal marks system with a weightage of over 30 per cent was found to be the reason behind the emotional blackmail that the girl students were subjected to in the Patan episode. The weightage now has been reduced to less than 15 per cent. Of the total of 1,800 marks for which the students have to qualify during their two-year course, only 200 would be internal marks. These too would need to be evaluated by women professors in case of girls, according to the resolution.
These decisions were taken after the Patan gangrape incident came to light. A committee was set up to take a comprehensive look into the functioning of the Primary teachers training colleges across the state.
The Education Department came under fire yet again last week, when in two back-to-back incidents, over 100 girls from Pilvai and Padusma PTCs escaped from their campuses, alleging harassment by their respective managements.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Sexedup-internal-assessment-was-quite-the-norm-at-Pivali-PTC/333195/
Articles
DV hails honest Brahmins removing their secular mask
COM. AYYANKALI
Everyday Lt. Colonels, Vice-Chiefs of Air Staff etc. not only openly flaunt their Brahmin pride in official uniform at Brahmin caste conferences and yet they are fully protected and actually helped to get away with it. Now it has been consclusively proved that they even provide terrorist training and supply RDX explosives made in defence factories financed with our Dalit-Bahujan taxpayers to help Brahminical terrorists to murder Muslims and Dalits.Even the Brahminical Army and the Defence Minister himself have admitted these facts. We can imagine the number of serving officers in the defence forces who are hard-core terrorists at heart.
We welcome all this because these honest Brahmins are voluntarily removing their secular mask and coming into the open, unlike Brahmin fake Maoists like the Varavara Raos and Dipankar Bhattacharyas.
Caste apartheid in the Defence: Blatant caste apartheid exists within the defence forces and this is the time to demand caste-based reservations in the Defence. We must organise Dalit Bahujan ex-servicemen like Gujjar Col. Bhainsla to remind our grasseating Brahmin cowards. Muslims, Sikhs and Christians must join such marches along with ex-servicemen from their communities so that grasseating terrorists get the message.
While the vaidik terrorists in the Defence are actively helping civilian Brahmin terrorists, Dalit-Bahujans, who are the majority in this country, are not merely sleeping and snoring but are in a deep coma. Braindead?
Burning the Deccan Queen was a splendid job. Hindu god Rama murdered Shambuka in cold blood for daring to acquire knowledge. If we are silent now all of us will be butchered without any mercy.
Gaddar snoring: Brahminical fake Maoists send starving Dalit-Bahujans to get killed by the Brahminical police, but the braindead Brother Gaddar is snoring blissfully — sleeping on the lap of the Brahmin fake Maoists who have injected morphine into him. He is least bothered about defending the innocent lives of his people. Why not he form a genuinely revolutionary Dalit Bahujan-led Maoist Party to launch a caste war with caste identity?
Our Editor understands the power of “caste identity” which can ensure that the Brahminical Army gets divided on caste lines. That is why the Indian Army did not dare to shoot anybody when Gujjars held the national capital Delhi to ransom. But our Dalit Bahujans have not learnt anything.
Dalit-Bahujans are not only determined to enjoy their slavery, but they may even physically beat up our Editor for trying to wake them up from such a dangerous bliss.
Everyday, Dalit-Bahujans seem to be telling the Editor:
“Why are you simply disturbing us? We enjoy sleeping and we are used to this. We are already getting angry with you. Get away and allow us to sleep. We have a right to be stupid and we will attack anybody who disturbs our sleep”.
But our Editor refuses to run away. He is fighting all alone — even without a toothpick — against the powerful Aryan Brahminical attacks. So powerful is the Brahminical opium, known as “Hinduism”, that Dalit-Bahujans actually joined hands with the enemy to kill their own blood brothers like Gujarati Muslims.
Kadgadhari Budha: At this rate, even if the Khadgadhari Budha armed with the sword comes and orders Dalits to defend themselves, Dalit-Bahujans may even thrash him.That is why shakabuku (Budhist martial arts) have no takers among Dalit Bahujans. That is why even the most ferocious Dalit Bahujans get attracted only to cowardly gandhian fake ahimsa, Vipassana and such other narcotics which numb their minds, chills their anger and disarms them.
Beef eating: This is what happens when they give up their cheap and traditional diet like beef which is eaten even by Nobel Prize winning scientists and Olympics winning athletes. No wonder they become weak mentally and physically. The only food they get is the poisonous Hindu cultural morphine injection. How will such confirmed drug addicts wake up?
Naturally, either the Brahminical police will kill them or Brahminical fake Maoist Party will get them killed, or they will go to fight the enemies of Brahmins and get killed in the process.
The Editor may have to close down Dalit Voice since there are more Brahmins reading it on the Internet and indulging in heated discussions on on-line chat forums and email forums. Why run DV to enlighten our oppressors and make them even more intelligent as well as caste conscious. Better to close it down.
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COMMUNICATION:
Brahmins are a race, not a caste : Nor do they belong to any religion
NAME & ADDRESS WITHHELD
I want to thank you for sending me some books and I had great pleasure in reading those books. I feel that your book, Brahminism: Weapons to Fight Counter Revolution (DSA, 2001) is one of the best books I have ever read.
In it you mentioned various ways to fight Brahminism but I feel the best way to fight Brahminism is to create a political movement against Brahmins. The aim of such a movement must be to unite the people of India against their genuine enemy, and bring about a revolution to destroy the Saraswat Brahmin Democracy.
Race hatred: Such a party must not be a Dalit party or a Hindu party or Muslim party but it must be a “Hindustani party” and it must appeal to all the people of India, bring about revolution and destroy the existing Brahminical democracy. The revolution must be a revolution of the working classes against the Brahmin race. There is a huge difference between a political party and a political movement. A party exists to get votes but a movement seeks to destroy the existing order and create a new order.
Origin of common qualities: It must destroy this fake democracy and replace it with a true “Hindustani state” created by the blood of Hindustani people. The principles of the movement must be to eradicate the Brahminists because they are a race controlling India and exploiting us for thousands of years. The Brahminists are a race, not a caste and hatred for such a race must be based on principles of only race and not caste.
Brahminists are a race, and this is a fact. I am not saying that one race is superior or inferior but I do think that the characteristic qualities are given to a person by his blood. People with common blood are a race. It is the common blood of the Aryan Brahminists which gives them common qualities of cruelty, lying, exploitation, treachery, racial pride etc.
Why Hitler hated Jews: The tiger will remain a tiger, the snake a snake and our Aryan Vaidik Brahmin will remain a Brahmin because his blood and genes don’t change, they get transferred during mating.
The Brahminists are not Aryans because they don’t have the qualities of Aryans and those qualities have origin in racial blood.
Brahminists are Jews as they have Jewish qualities and all their physical characteristics.
The Kshatriyas of India may have been Aryans but not the Brahminists. And Brahminists are Jews. Hitler rightly hated the Jews because the Jews at that time were using marxism to rule the world.
Chosen people: Marx was a Jew. So also Lenin. All the communist leaders in Germany and Russia before the World War-II were Jews. Hitler believed the Jews were using Marxism to destroy Germany and rule the world. That is why he hated them. (Leon Poliakov: The Aryan Myth, 1974, New American Library, for photocopy write to DV office).
Jews believe they are a “chosen people” destined to rule the world. They are liars when they tell us “we are a religion”. Brahminists, therefore, are not Aryan. They are also Jews. Like Jews, they say they are “gods on earth” (Bhoodevatas).
A political movement must have a great leader and I feel I am destined for this task. I really feel that you are a great intellectual and I would like to meet you.
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DV’s “Jews of India” theory gets unanimous support
As the architect of a novel theory — the first of its kind in the world — that the Brahmins are the “Jews of India”, we are glad to announce that our theory has been widely welcomed by the Brahmins themselves. During the Chitpavan Brahmin conference at Pune (DV Jan.16, 2008, p.28), many Chitpavans who came from America and Europe discussed our theory while exchanging opinion on the scholarly book, Chitpavanism (Dr.Jay Dixit, 2003, Rs. 1,200, Ultrafit, 1482-Sadashiv Peth, White House, Tilak Road, Pune - 411 030). The book was reviewed in Dalit Voice. The world’s largest Internet-based encyclopedia called Wikipedia, has acknowledged our theory. The American-based Wikipedia has thousands of Brahmin readers and contributors who keep a close watch on it. The label “Jews of India” came as a boon to the Brahminical race to bind them to their soulmate in America.
They hugged our theory as it helped them get closer to the 2.5% Jews who rule America.
U.S. HELP TO MAKE “BRAHMIN BOMB”
By using our theory, the Brahmins and Jews have started working together in close co-operation in many fields in United States: banking, finance and specially the media on which Jews have a near monopoly in US and Europe.
The latest “Indo-US peaceful nuclear deal”, to supply nuclear fuel to manufacture bombs in India is the direct result of our theory which brought the two sister races so close.
Brahmins have a similar strangle-hold on India’s media, banking, finance, education, judiciary, bureaucracy and IT etc. And what not.
HATE MUSLIM
The nuclear deal is the result of a tremendous team work of the Jews and the “Jews of India” living in America. Such is their profound influence on India that the Jews, who control the American finance, its banks, financial institutions, even the World Bank and IMF, are now thinking of shifting their enormous capital from US to India. (V.T. Rajshekar, Jews of India Getting Closer to Jews, DSA-2008 & Brahminism in India & Zionism in West, DSA-2007).
What binds the two is their intense hatred of Muslims, besides the Blacks (20%) within America and the over 20% Black Untouchables (Dalits) of India. India has the world’s largest Muslim population (15%) who are mostly converts from Dalits.
They went over to Islam to protest against Brahminism.
But the “Jews of India”, according to history, are an alien race. They do not belong to India. Their behaviour since centuries confirm they are aliens. When they came into India they belonged to no religion. Religion as it is understood today came into existence only after the birth of Christianity.
The natives of India, today identified as SC/ST/BCs, had their own belief system. It is the Brahmins who made them “Hindu”, a new name given by the Muslim. In other words the first people to resort to conversion were the Brahmins — EDITOR.
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Brahmins rushing to temples
COM. AYYANKALI
After reading what George Soros said, shocked Brahmins are in total panic. For them Soros is simply god and now their god himself has declared that their world is facing doom. Already the media is full of stories about how Brahminical classes who love stock market, cricket, IT and eating are rushing to temples, astrologers, Art of Living and babas. The Hindustan Times has been running a “Mumbai meltdown special” for almost a month now. All GDPwallahs are crying. Many are undergoing counselling for mental shock. A very enjoyable sight. Some stupid Brahmins even think that evil Muslims are behind the stock market crash. An RSS reporter of the Times of India has written a story that Muslims helped Hindu terrorists plant Malegaon bomb. It is great fun to watch Brahmins praying to god to save them from Muslims and stock market meltdown.
The high priest,George Soros, Pitaamaha and Mahaguru of capitalism, is saying that another great economic depression is now very much a possibility. US dollar does not seem to have any hope. Even Euro may collapse. Fortunately, DV readership is kept quite well informed about this possibility. DV even wrote an Editorial welcoming the crisis. Even Obama is helpless because market forces are far far bigger than any politician.
Rand Corp has already made a presentation before the US Govt. to start a war with a big power to climb out of the crisis. We must welcome this crisis so that we can change history by bringing down all the Brahminical scaffolding. The govt. will not have money to pay salaries to the army. Army will not have money to buy even grease or petrol. The time for a caste war based on caste identity is fast approaching. History is on our side. Total defeat of Brahminism is possible.
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MEDITATION IS NOTHING BUT HYPNOTISM
RSS agent Goenka using Vipassana to hinduise Dalits & kill Ambedkarism
ANIL RANGARI, BHARATI APT., GURU NANAK NAGAR, DURG - 491 001
This refers to Brother Dr. Premjit Ray’s defence of Vipassana which helps vaidiks in their counter-revolution against Budhism (DV Oct.1, 2008, p.23).
1. He says Vipassana is not a miracle or wonder but a practical way to get wise. Wise men need not sit cross-legged but must work for the society to transform it into a sorrowless world. That is what Ashoka did and also Babasaheb.
IDLE MEDITATION
When Budha, Ashoka and Babasaheb became “wise” without vipassana and strived to transform the society into a sorrowless world why the cunning Goenka and his vipassanawadi followers did not become wise by practicing vipassana for so many years? Vipassana never helps to make us wise and intelligent. It helps to relax. the body and mind but kills the anger which is necessary for any revolution. Vipassana is a relaxation therapy and will not bring knowledge.
2. Dr. Premjit Ray must be true to himself when he says: “Dr. Babasaheb’s entire life is like meditation, all of his physical and psychological energy was used for the single cause, the upliftment of the downtrodden”.
But Babasaheb criticised the Bhikkhus for wasting their life in meditation and idleness and did nothing to uplift the suffering humanity. How can he say Babasaheb’s life was meditation? Babasaheb’s achievements through hard struggle is not meditation.
Babasaheb said:
The Bhikkhu Sangha in its present condition can therefore be of no use for the spread of Buddhism. In the first place there are too many Bhikkhus. Of these, a very large majority are merely sadhus and sanyasis spreading their time in meditation or idleness. When the idea of service to suffering humanity comes to one’s mind every one thinks of the Ramakrishna Mission. No one thinks of the Buddhist Sangha. Yet the sangha is a huge army of idlers. We want fewer Bhikkhus and we want Bhikkhus highly educated. (Buddha & the Future of His Religion).
3. S.N. Goenka is not a Budhist. He says Vipassana is a technique that leads to enlightenment.
BURMESE BUDHISM IS CORRUPT
When Budha attained enlightenment within few months and Ashoka and Babasaheb became enlightened without practicing Vipassana and brought revolution and transformed the society, why Goenka and his vipassanawadis could not become enlightened even after practicing Vipassana for so many years?
Vipassana is a Brahminic trap to destroy the revolutionary Budhist thinking.
Goenka says he brought Vipassana from Burma about which Babasaheb said:
In regard to the preparation of the Gospel we must be very cautious to see that we do not adopt wholesale the Buddhism that is prevalent either in Ceylon or Burma. It is very corrupt. (Babasaheb’s letter to Arbinda Barua, Calcutta, July 17, 1954).
Babasaheb even had warned the highest Budhist authority of Burma on the Sanasa Council of Burma on Dec.4, 1954. He said:
In regard to the preparation of Budha’s gospel care must be taken to emphasise the social and moral teachings of the Buddha. I have to emphasise this because what is emphasised is meditation, contemplation and Abhidhamma. This way of presenting Buddhism to Indians would be fatal to our cause.
BUDHA’S FAILURES
4. Dr. Ray said:
Vipassana is an insight through which we can understand the truth of the nature, whether it is our body or the universe. Through this method of reasoning Budha achieved enlightenment.
This is wrong and 100% untruth. Nobody can achieve perfect and true knowledge by Vipassana. No scientist uses Vipassana to invent about micro-structure of the body, disease, and universe. Only hard, deep and vast study helps scientist to think and research but not Vipassana. Why scientists developed and constructed vast and big instrument LHC (large hadron collidel) to discover the nature of universe how it is created. Why they invented microscope, endoscope, scanning machine, and many more instrument to find out the real truths? Why Vipassana never helped this?
India is a country of countless rishis-munis, sadhus who wasted their life in meditation. Some of them had sexual relationship even with queens and princesses by hypnotic miracle and ruined the country.Such meditationwadis, however, never invented anything from atom-particle to heavy machines nor they transformed the society. India always borrowed scientific knowledge from abroad.
Even Budha failed to annihilate the varna system. He could not foresee and forecast the untouchability, cancer which ruined the generations of his own followers. Vipassana, therefore, is a cancer that killed Budhism like the untouchability that is killing today’s so-called Hindu society. If Budhism has to be removed this cancer must be cut and cured.
GOENKA DID NOT UNDERSTAND BUDHISM
5. Ray, however, admits vipassana is not Budhism. But argues that through Vipassana we can understand Budhism. Never. Vipassana never helps to understand real Budhism.
Even Goenka did not understand Budhism till now. Goenka is not only cunning but also very superstitious. He believes in matterless living beings — atma. What nonsense. He says he talked with them (atma -dead ancestors) and preached Manu Smriti. All this he wrote in his books and Vipassana Patrika. When the biggest acharya of Vipassana could not understood Budhism how his slave can understand? He only confuses people and kills roots of revolution.
Vipassana is a crime on Budhism.
Budhism is not confined only to realise anicca, anatta and dukkha. Its more important mission is to watch and detect the enemies of humanity who spread dukkha, exploitation, oppression in the society. Punish them according to their crimes and eliminate them.
Welding Vipassana to Budhism is a crime and criminals must be punished.
6. A neuro-surgeon like Premjit Ray says:
Vipassana is a process of thinking with a single-pointed mind called insight meditation through which we can realise the three cardinal features of Budhism viz anicca, anatta and dukkha.
DANGERS OF HYPNOTISM
What is this single-pointed mind? Brahmin bhikkhus developed this single-pointed meditation from their vedas. Buddhaghosh and other techniques of meditation brings hypnotic trance. They developed ten types of kasin:
1) Prithvi, 2) Aap, (3) Tej, 4) Vayu, 5) Neel, 6) Pitta, 7) Lohit, 8) Avdat, 9) Alok and 10) Parichhinakash.
All these single-pointed Vipassana techniques are nothing but hypnotists which never gets knowledge of real Budhism and real problems of the society. Due to this single-pointed Vipassana some bhikkhus suffered from psychiatric problems and some can experience hallucinatory knowledge.
Babasaheb always wanted highly educated bhikkhus and social workers to involve in solving the problems of the suffering society. But our cunning vipassanawadis will never do this. It is true that our “educated” people cheated Babasaheb but it is also true that only our highly educated social workers can effectively fight and solve the problems of the suffering humanity.
VIPASSANA IS NOT BUDHISM
Please note that Vipassana is not Budha’s samma samadhi. Samma Samadhi means right thinking. But samma samadhi alone is not enough. It needs pradnya which means hard, deep and vast study of right knowledge. Without the right and vast knowledge mere samma samadhi alone will never find out the real truth, the Supreme Truth. Even a samma samadhi wala bhikkhu can never fight in high courts/Supreme Court without vast legal knowledge acquired by hard, deep and vast study. Single-pointed Vipassana is nonsense but Budhism is not nonsense.
If Vipassana gives knowledge of all realities and removes all the dukkha, I ask Brother Ray and all other slave vipassanawadis that they should never send their children to school and colleges but train them only in Vipassana. Will Vipassana help them in their life without education? Are they ready to do this for their own children?
BRAHMINICAL AGENDA
Here is a list of warnings to the Budhists on the Vipassana menace:
1. Bhikkhu Nirgunanand Mahathero said that Vipassana is an art of sleep by sitting.
2. Dr. Surendra Adnyaty said Vipassana is a Baudha edition of Hindu yoga. We must be cautious about it.
3. Goenka himself said at the Nagpur Deeksha Bhoomi on Oct.7, 2000 in his speech, that Vipassana technique belongs to the vedic time. Budha had not given any dhamma.
BID TO HINDUISE OUR PEOPLE
4. The one-point Brahminical secret agenda is to always keep Backward Classes engaged in religious karmkand like Gayatri Yaga, Brahmakumari Sanstha, Saibaba of Sirdi, and vipassana of Budhist (saptahik Mazi Janata, Nagpur, July 30, 2000).
5. Dr. Bhadant Medhankar, president of the All-India Bhikkhu Sangha, warned: Babasaheb gave dhamma but he could not get time to educate his people. Due to lack of proper leader and advise some became triloki and many vipassi and slowly-slowly they all turned antagonist to Babasaheb. After coming from Burma Goenka started a 10-day vipassana shibir at Deeksha Bhoomi (1972-73) and after that vipassana spread like a typhoon throughout India.
Today all the vipassana movement is under the RSS control. Vipassana is gradually hindusing our people. Budhist must note that if you sit silent its effects will be dangerous.
Ambedkarite Budhist Samaj is gradually going away from Ambedkarite thoughts because of Vipassana menace.
(Buddhaputra Ki Gatha Vainganga ke Kinare by Bhadant Medhankar, p.337-338).
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Dalits must keep off Vipassana
P.S. SADAR, 71 -KOTWALNAGAR, NAGPUR 440 022
DV of Oct.16, 2008 has prompted me to write on Vipassana which is a practice of the spiritual search by the soul of the soul i.e. self-realization. All human beings are not at the same state of spiritual need or development. There is nothing wrong with the Vipassana per se. But the problem arises when able-bodied, able-minded and those with resources withdraw from the active life and shut themselves in the delusion of spiritual practices like the Vipassana. As a rule the Brahminical practice of vanprastasan (retiring to the woods) should be followed at a ripe age of 60 when one is supposed to have discharged one’s responsibilities towards the family and the society. It is criminal to indulge in vipassana when the Dalits have so many problems on hand.
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Budha holding sword
SHER SINGH, IAS, CALCUTTA
I am shifting to my native place, Patiala. While clearing old papers/books, I discovered a picture of Budha with a double-edged sword found in the German museum. I will send it to you soon. My new address is: H.No. 1897, Urban Estate, Phase-II, Patiala - 147 002.
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India facing slow death for want of honest intellectuals
V.T. RAJSHEKAR
It is said the people get the govt. they deserve. Just like that, the people also get the media they deserve.
Having spent 25 years in the English national newspaper, Indian Express, and later 25 years as the Editor of Dalit Voice, I have to say with deep sorrow that our national media, both print and electronic, is not serving the cause of the society.
That doesn’t mean the other wings of the society are angels.
VIEW FROM BOTTOM
My remark is confined to the English media. The language media is also following the English media but it is closer to the wishes and aspirations of the people.
As a Dalit and Editor of Dalit Voice, India’s oldest and the largest circulated English journal, my view naturally is from the bottom of the society. Those of you from the upper castes, and getting the view from the top of the society, naturally, may differ.
But remember it is only those people who are crushed that cry in pain. Those on the top of the Malabar Hill in Bombay get a dazzling view of the city. They think the whole of Bombay is dazzling.
LARGEST COUNTRY OF ILLITERATES
But our people pushed into the slums of Bombay, steeped in filth, gasping for breath cry in pain. You cannot understand, much less appreciate our pain.
So you have to bear with my agonising pain as a victim of this caste-ridden society.
The principal cause for this topsy-turvey situation is the country’s poor literacy rate. You must be knowing that India is emerging as the world’s largest country of illiterates. The English literacy rate is shocking. There is a deliberate and conscious effort to deny English education to the “low castes” and to keep the language as the preserve of the upper caste elite. This has been verified and reported by surveying the type of students attending our elite public schools where the medium is English.
Some of my observations may not be true of Kerala, a state which is an exception. But you go to Bangalore, Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Pune etc. what I said is the rule.
So much so the English-knowing population in India may not be more than 10%.
But we are talking about the English media which needs the ability to read, and understand English. The percentage of those who can read, write, speak and understand English may not be more than 5%. This is evident from the English paper circulation. Some people say it is much less.
Be that as it may, what is the consequence of such a stranglehold on the English language?
English is naturally restricted to upper class. In India, “class” and “caste” go together.
With minor exceptions, all those who have a mastery over English are upper class, meaning upper caste.
ROLE OF TIMES OF INDIA
This has been verified by a survey report made in Bangalore, the IT capital of India, which said most of those in the highly paid IT sector are upper castes, mainly Brahmins. That is why IT is getting so much of importance.
And to cater to this emerging “big bourgeois” an English daily, Times of India, is spreading its net.
Permit me to read a report on the country’s highest circulated English daily and how it has reached that status by resorting to all sorts of dirty tactics.
I am quoting from the world famous London Economist (May 3, 2008):
One of India’s leading newspapers launched an unusual advertising drive last month, “Money cannot buy our integrity”, read a front-page slogan in Daily News & Analysis (DNA), a Mumbai daily. “Make the headlines tomorrow, By paying for it”, it added, in reference to some other papers’ supposed tendency to give favourable coverage to firms that place advertisements. That charge is hard to prove. But an increasingly popular practice is exposing Indian newspapers to growing conflicts of interest: accepting payments for ads in the form of shares in the advertiser’s firm.
The Times Group, the country’s biggest media firm, started the practice in 2004. According to its website, it now has 120 “private treaties” of this nature, which “make the power of the Times group available to our Treaty Partners”. The firm’s executives insist that neither its own shareholdings nor its advertisers influence its coverage. But articles in its publications do not always reveal its own interest. Sevanti Ninan, a media activist, reckons the practice will “grow and grow in a media which anyway has little notion of conflicts of interest”. Indeed, HT Media Ltd., the publisher of the Hindustan Times, recently started offering private treaties, as did one of the owners of DNA, the Dainik Bhaskar group, even though DNA itself does not offer ads-for-equity deals.
NO ETHICS BUT ONLY MONEY
India’s newspaper industry, bucking a worldwide trend, is flourishing. New titles hit the newsstands practically every month. More than 350 m literate Indians do not yet subscribe to a newspaper, which, coupled with rising literacy, promises a long-term boom. A recent report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers estimated that India’s print industry would grow from 149 billion rupees ($3.6 billion) in 2007 to 281 billion rupees in 2012.
But papers are absurdly cheap thanks to incessant price wars. The Times of India, for example, costs just 2.50 rupees. That leaves it and others heavily dependent upon advertisers No wonder, then, that DNA’s campaign is attracting so much attention.
The Times gives favourable coverage to firms that place advt. It accepts payments for advt. in the form of shares in the advertiser’s firm. According to the Times Website it has 120 “private treaties” of this nature.
The Hindustan Times started the same thing.
The Times of India offers the best example to prove that the media need have no ethics except to make money. And making money and getting rich by hook or crook is injected into the veins of all upper caste-class youth.
And that is how India has become a money-driven society.
Not a value-driven-society.
I have worked under giant editors like Pothan Joseph, Frank Moreas, Kuldip Nayar, who is presiding over this seminar.
They all taught us about the value-driven society. That society is dead.
But if you talk of such a society in a Rotary Club, Lions Club or in our Press club in Bangalore, Delhi, Bombay, they will laugh at you.
ANTI-RESERVATION CAMPAIGN
That is how the English-media was in the forefront of anti-reservation campaign, publishing all sorts of false reports.
A survey was conducted for the first time in Delhi to verify the social profile of 300 senior journalists in 37 Hindi and English newspapers and TV and found “Hindu upper caste men, who form 8% of the country’s population, hold 71% of the jobs in the national media”. I am reading from a clipping from the Hindu of June 5, 2007.
Our media is very fond of exposing corruption. All corruption stories hit the front-page with the picture of the “corrupt fellow”. But what about the corruption among the journalists?
I have with me an article from Rajdeep Sardesai, a very damaging indictment of the journalists. He says:
Publishers of books invite reviewers to wine and dine and the book and its author with picture get a three-column spread.
I am the author of over 100 books but to this day not a single paper in India reviewed my book.
BLACK LABEL WHISKY
We just don’t care. Our books are sold like a hot cake. We can’t afford to lubricate these journalists with Black Label whisky.
Some of my colleagues say corruption in journalism is a reflection of a general fall in journalistic norms and values. No. Even when I was a reporter in the Indian Express, in the 60s and 70, there used to be “gifted” reporters. They will attend only such press conferences where lavish gifts are given.
Corruption is part of our value system. Every section of the society has been corrupted including our High Court and Supreme Court judges..
MYSTERY OF AMBANIS
How do you get such favourable coverage to Ambanis?
When I was in the Indian Express, Bombay, I used to be friendly with some of the senior assistant editors and special correspondents who used to write on social and cultural issues.
As the money-driven society caught up, these journalists had no work. Sex, sports and crime combined with cricket have occupied the front-pages of all newspapers.
Where is the demand for intellectuals? They are dead and gone.
India cannot produce honest intellectuals because our very socio-cultural system has the tremendous capacity to corrupt anybody.
I have written a book long back, called India’s Intellectual Desert. This desert is not confined to journalists alone. It has spread to our academia, scientific research institutions, universities. And that is how we as a country are facing the current gloom.
The greatness and the forward march of a society or country depends upon the number of honest intellectuals it produces – men and women who cannot be purchased, who will not bow to caste, religion or any favour. Sorry, you may accuse me of placing a very pessimistic picture of Indian scene. But it is true.
ALL REVOLUTIONARIES WERE PESSIMISTS
We are facing a serious problem with our media praising “India Shining” walas. What I mean is those who give an optimistic, glorious picture of India. But I don’t belong to that category.
Remember, all revolutionaries like Budha, Karl Marx, Mao, Dr. Ambedkar, Sri Narayana Guru painted only a pessimistic picture of their respective society. Budha said the world is full of Dukha.
They were all pessimists. Pessimists only become revolutionaries. Optimists produce “India shining”walas, promise a glorious future and drag you to hell.
V.T. Rajshekar, India’s Intellectual Desert, pp.50, DSA-1999, Rs. 50.
[Speech delivered as the chief guest at the seminar on “Media & Accountability”,
Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, June 16, 2008.]
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INDIA SHINING
Ugly face of India’s capital city
Badarpur Khaadar, (Delhi): It is an hour’s drive from the heart of India’s govt. and it is represented in Parliament by the son of Delhi’s chief minister. Yet, there is no electricity. No toilets. No piped water. No schools. Welcome to Badarpur Khaadar, a Muslim-majority village of 1,120 whose inhabitants lack a list of amenities that many sub-Saharan villages have, a village so steeped in chronic poverty that a global report referred to it a case study of modern India’s extremes. “Despite India’s poverty indicator doing well, here is a village that looks unlikely to meet even a single millennium goal”, Salil Shetty, director of the United Nations’ Development Goals, had said while launching the World Chronic Poverty Report 2008 in UK last week. India’s capital tops an Ernst and Young list of 48 Indian cities as the best place to live in this country, but Badarpur Khaadar — on whose horizon you can see cranes tower above high rises — is worse off than even sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s most backward regions.
—(Hindustan Times, Oct.30, 2008)
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LETTER TO EDITOR
Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon, 8507 - 174th Street, NW, Edmonton, AB T5T 2B2, Canada: There are about 12,000 villages in Punjab with 9,000 Deras. Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, has urged the Sikhs not to get involved with Deras. The Indian Govt. is encouraging these Deras as part of its ongoing effort to destroy the Sikh religion. They are polluting the Sikh religion and leading us away from the Guru Granth. One such Dera is that of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, head of the Dera Sacha Sauda, who poses as Guru Gobind Singh and dressing like him, promising to do baptisms. There was quite an outcry to have the Punjab Govt. shut him down, but instead Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and his son went to Ram Rahim Singh seeking his political support. Badal and his Akalis are allied with the Hindu terrorist (BJP). This alliance stabs the Sikh nation in the back. India is determined to destroy the Sikh religion. The leadership of the Akali Dal has joined hands with the enemy. It is dangerous for the Sikh religion when the enemy is in our own camp. Ram Rahim Singh and his Dera have shown that they are enemies of the Sikhs. The Dera’s chief bodyguard even killed a Sikh protestor. No action has been taken against him. He travels in a fleet of Mercedes cars, protected by 25 bodyguards. The Nirankari and Radhaswami, and their like are other Deras that must be rejected by any true Sikh. Sikhs are not allowed to bow their heads to any living guru, but only to the Guru Granth.
Brother Aulakh lives in far away Washington as he is not permitted to enter India. That is how he does not know the correct situation inside Punjab. We are aware of the existence of many sincere, devoted Sikhs. But their number is dwindling. The Khatri Sikhs anyway have gone with their Hindu jatwalas. But even among the Jat Sikhs, the single largest segment among the Sikhs, we find their dedication to Guru Gobind Singh is waning. It is the duty of the Brahminical enemy to weaken the Sikhs. It has already won over the Akali Dal, the state’s only Sikh political party. Even when every Sikh knows how Brahminism killed Sant Bhindranwale after launching the Blue Star how did the Akali Dal embrace the enemy that killed thousands of Sikhs and destroyed the Akal Takht? This should have turned every Sikh into blood-enemy of Brahminism. Yet the Akali Dal surrendered to Brahminism. This is an unpardonable blunder and paved the way to hinduisation of affluent Jat Sikhs. When the Jat Sikhs got closer to Brahminism, the very same enemy worked on Dalit Sikhs and sharpened the contradictions between the two. Brahminism even financed the setting up of the Deras. Dera Sacha Saudha is one such creation. Today, Punjab is dotted with hundreds of such Deras which are encouraged to hinduise the non-Hindu Dalits and Dalit Sikhs. So many Dalit writers are financed to attack Sikhs and widen the gap between the Dalits and Jat Sikhs. Dalits and Dalit Sikhs are Punjab’s poorest. Sikhism was born to liberate them. There may be some mistakes on the part of Dalits and Dalit Sikhs but as the elder brothers and endowed with a revolutionary religion, the Jat Sikhs should excuse them if there are any mistakes on the part of the younger, weaker brothers and win them over. But this did not happen. As Brahminism worked on Dalits to fight Sikhs, it also rubbed salt on the Dalit-Sikh differences which today stands almost unresolvable. Amid this fast developing gloom, Dalit Voice is the only silver lining. But even then our close Jat Sikh friends failed to turn up at our recent DV family get-together at the Chandigarh Ambedkar Bhawan. There may be hundred and one mistakes on both sides but this is not the time to repeat it. We call upon the Jat Sikh honest intellectuals to call a meeting of intellectuals at Chandigarh and invite Dalit intellectuals for a frank discussion. We will be happy to attend it. This must get top priority — EDITOR.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/dec2008/articles.htm
The role played by “forces of history”
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: It is true that Dalit Voice was the first in India to predict the Obama victory. We have received many congratulatory messages including a call from a DV family member from Nigeria.
We had clarified that our “prediction” was not based on astrology but from the study of “forces of history”.
Obama was not elected by the American voters alone. He was crowned by the whole world. That is the hope raised in Obama, disgusted by the hate-Muslim violence generated by the mad monster, George W. Bush, who must be now tried by a people’s tribunal for war crimes, and also pushing the world to the current global financial crisis.
DV’s another first
That does not mean Barack Obama will be able to solve all the problems created by Bush and his Jewish advisers disguised as neocons.
It all began with the dramatic attack on the New York WTC twin towers (9/11) which launched the prolonged war and violence on Muslims. DV was the first in India to reveal that WTC attack was not done by Al-Queda as claimed by official America but by the Israeli Mossad to force America to launch a war on Muslims. The attack was launched with the connivance of the zionist agents inside the Bush Administration as part of the “clash of civilisations”.
None believed us then when we revealed the truth on the WTC attack in the year 2001. Similarly none believed us when we predicted (Jan. 2008) that a young 47-year-old Black man, with a Muslim name would crush the Clinton machine and later maul the mighty McCain of the GOP.
Our Brahminical rulers (15%) were the first to hail the US war on Muslims that resulted in millions of death with the sole single motive of protecting the zionist homeland, Israel, an illegally established encroachment which is not recognised by many countries.
Our doubts on Obama
Will Obama be able to rescue the hate-filled, violence-ridden, financial crisis-gripped US and the world? Forget the world, will he be able to re-assure the deeply worried innocent, poor Americans who voted for him? We have our own doubts.
Too much hope is raised on Obama. Expectations are great. We are aware of all this. “Forces of history” will bring pressure on Obama to “change” which he had promised before election. But will he be able to bring about that “change”? Our answer is he may not succeed fully.
DV will not spare Obama
We as editors and arm-chair critics are passing judgements on men and matters sitting inside our closed rooms. But political leaders governing the country, reconciling contradictory forces, will have to face many practical problems.
Philosophers and prophets are not responsible to anybody. They are seers. They write and speak what their conscience dictates. Political leaders selectively accept what is advantageous to them from philosophers and prophets.
Very rarely a ruler combines in him the qualities of a philosopher and prophet. Obama is not a philosopher or prophet. But a product of history. He is bound to compromise as proved from the appointment of 2-3 Jews and a Hindu terrorist candidate, Sonal Shah.
Brahmins in India and the Jews in US have within the last 50 years grabbed everything by creating so much of heart-burning and hatred. It is this heart-burning that swept Obama to power in US. That doesn’t mean he may not disappoint us. If he does, we will pound him. We will kick him.
Muslims defeat U.S.
Before the election, he was in left extreme but after the election the ruling class will naturally push him to middle from where it is easier to bring him to right extreme. Just as we are trying to keep him in left, the ruling class, which is not only ruling but has the media, will naturally use its magnetic power to draw him closer. This is no surprise. We have no such magnet to attract him. But we trust in “historical forces”.
Did not the rise of China, Iran, Japan shift the power to a great extent from the West to East? Did not the backward, poor, unarmed Muslims in the Middle East defeat the sole super power America with all its awful military might? Is not America losing the world’s sole super power status? Did the Jews in Israel get any peace after they illegally grabbed Palestine with the full blessings of the racist Whites and their military might? Are the toxic Brahmins of India able to rule India in peace and establish their Hindu Rashtra after they conspired to divide India (1947) and killed Gandhi? Did anybody dream that China’s economy could surpass America’s by 2030? America’s Director of Intelligence predicts that China will start to become a global military power by 2025. (Economist, Nov.8, 2008).
These are the couple of cases determined by the “forces of history”. Obama is a child of history. He was thrown up on the world stage by history which has its own way of shaping the world. Obama must be knowing it. And he must be certainly wanting to leave his mark on history. The oppressed majority of the world not only gave him the support but also the strength. We are sure he will use it though the destructive forces will do everything to undermine him.
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BCs kicked from both sides
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: The Union Home Ministry is packed with the choicest upper castes who have always done their best to preserve the country’s Brahminical Social Order (BSO). The Ministry is presided over by a Minister, Shivaraj Patil, who is a sincere votary of the BSO. In their love for BSO, these casteists do not know the damage they have inflicted on the socio-cultural fabric of the country which has become like a handicapped 61-year-old man. Only a less than 15% of the upper castes (Hindus) have surged forward, monopolising the scorce resources of the country. The SC/STs (30%) at least have a separate census even as they continue to be the poorest and the most neglected.
But what about over 35% of the country, forming the Backward Castes who too are Untouchable to the upper caste in varying degrees? It is these sections who are mostly falling prey to the Hindu terrorist forces and organisations — even as they continue to be economically and socially neglected. The killer Narendra Modi of Gujarat (an oil crushing jati fellow) belong to the OBC caste. Hence the need for a caste census to disclose where the BCs stand?
The BSO leaders say the BCs and SC/STs are Hindu and their brothers. Then why this discrimination against their own Hindu brothers? The denial of caste census is yet another proof that the BSO will never, ever accept them as part of them. Not only that. The BSO is investing so much of money and manpower to hinduise the SC/STs and instigate them against the BCs — saying it is not the Brahmins who are the enemy no.1 of Dalits but the BCs.
The BCs, therefore, are being kicked on one side by the Brahmins and on another side by Dalits. Despite this double trouble, the BCs are in eternal sleep in Hindu India.
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Caste-wise census demand
New Delhi: MPs from OBC outfits met home minister Shivraj Patil on Oct.24 to demand a caste-wise census in 2011. Castes outside SCs and STs are not recorded in the decennial exercise.
Home Ministry had refused to conduct such an exercise, arguing it was regressive and would undo the break from the past when caste census was last done before “independence”. The MPs said enumeration of the population on caste lines would be in accordance with the recent directions of Supreme Court in OBC quota in higher educational institutions.
“A caste-wide census data would help explain socio-economic status of various communities in the country, resolve the reservation questions satisfactorily, throw light on the concept of creamy layer, distribution of benefits under governmental programmes and schemes in proportion to population and also effective and equitable implementation of various policies of the government”, the MPs said in a memorandum.
(Times of India, Oct.26, 2008).
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Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil gets credit for cracking Mafia
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: The country’s principal Brahminical Mafia, RSS, which once killed even the “Father of the nation”, M.K. Gandhi, and distributed sweets to celebrate the event, is revealing itself as the most ferocious terrorist organisation surpassing all other declared terrorist outfits.
If reports in their own Brahminical “national” toilet papers are to be believed, RSS, the hydra-headed king cobra, is identified as the culprit behind the series of anti-Muslim terrorist violence in different parts of the country.
Home Ministry silence: What is more shocking is such India-wide terrorist activities resulting in the death of thousands and thousands of Muslims — so far suppressed by the their own Brahminical toilet papers, but put the blame on innocent Muslims — is now publicised by the same manuwadi media.
Already thousands of Muslims have been arrested and rotting in jails without trial for the crimes committed by the Brahminical police and suppressed by the Brahminical media.
But how did the whole conspiracy, which involved even top serving officers in the Indian Army, come to light?
Yes. The credit goes to the brave but unassuming R.R. Patil, the Home Minister of Maharashtra, a Maratha fighter against Brahminism.
Reports say Union Home Minister Shivaraj Patil had all the intelligence input about the terrorist activities of the Brahminical Mafia. Why did he not take any action against the Mafia? Reports say Patil’s Brahminical leanings made him blind to the reality. The credit, therefore, goes to R.R. Patil for unmasking the horrible face of the Mafia which killed Gandhi, demolished Babri Masjid, engineered the “Gujarat Genocide” —all resulting in thousands and thousands of deaths of Muslims.
Pune home of Mafia: A number of hard-core Brahmins, mainly Chitpavans from Pune, have been arrested. The list is too long. It is headed by Lt. Col. Purohit (37) from Pune, a young woman styling as sadhvi and many others. All of them got military training from military schools established by the RSS with the help of serving and retired military officers and IB officers.
The entire operation is now being bravely conducted by the Maharashtra Govt. under the leadership of R.R. Patil but the Union Home Ministry is still dodging. What is of prime importance is the interest of the country and not its ruling Brahminical people. The role played by the RSS ever since its establishment is too well known. The Maharasthra Govt. has just opened the lid. In the interest of bringing peace and protecting the life and property of its innocent citizens the culprits must be booked and put on trial.
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Secret of Brahminists undergoing military training
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: When the Brahminical people (15%) are the rulers of the land, hold most of the property, positions and power, why are they taking military training? And against whom? When the country’s defence services, police and paramilitary forces headed by them are there only to protect the rulers, why they are so much worried and established private military training colleges? The Brahminical Social Order (15%) is headed by its 2.5% Brahmins who call themselves the Bhoodevatas. They are literally worshipped and held in great reverence. Their 33-crore Hindu gods are at their beck and call to frighten all of us. Right from the Prime Minister down to the lowly panchayat every one is literally their servant. The executive, judiciary, bureaucracy, media, entire financial and education sectors are headed by their own chosen people. Their dictatorial control extends even over Muslim, Christian, Sikh and every shade of people. That means they are the monarch. But the Monarch is afraid of whom? In the DV of Nov.16, 2008 p.6, after raising this question, we said we have the answer:-
The so-called Hindus— comprising the Brahmin (2.5%), Kshatriya, Vaishya and shudra — form not even 15% of India’s population. The first three are the dwijas — the twice-born
The rest are SC- 20%), ST- 10%, BCs - 35% (who are the once born), Muslim -15%, Christian and Sikh-5%. Together they form 85%.
BLOOD ENEMIES OF BRAHMINS
This is the broad demographic picture of the country. Even the Brahminical Social Order (BSO) comprising the first category is not a homogenous whole. The Vaishyas and Kshatriyas intensely hate the Brahmins. The divide becomes more visible when it comes to SC/ST/BCs. Particularly the first one, Dalits, are the blood enemies of Brahmins.
That is why we very often say that India is not a nation but a country divided into hundreds of nations.
Of the lot, Brahmins (2.5%), being at the apex of the caste pyramid, are the most hated by the rest of humans. Of this the Dalits 20% are the angriest and the most uncompromising enemies of Brahmins.
DALITS USED TO KILL MUSLIMS
The BSO has been trying to use the Dalits by hinduising (enslaving) them. But this exercise is failing because of the existence of caste division. This is what we described as “caste killing the casteists” (BSO) in our book, Caste — A Nation Within the Nation, (Books for Change, Bangalore).
The hard-core Brahminists under the RSS Mafia have been training the Dalits to kill the Muslims — an exercise found effective to hinduise the Dalits. But the electoral compulsions of the Congress and other Backward Caste parties are coming in the way of ant-Muslim mayhem. BJP is the only party backing the anti-Muslim violence but even this party lost in the last parliament election.
DANGER FACING IN “HINDU” WORD
It could not “build” the temple to their god Ram after demolishing the Babri Masjid. Nor could it rename India as Hindu Rashtra.
That is why the Brahmins being a micro-minority are deeply worried that if the “caste identity” gets stronger, the society gets divided on caste and regional basis, and the Dalit-Muslim unity gets stronger all their “Hindu unity” business will collapse like a house of cards.
Brahmins are deeply worried about their serious numerical weakness, coupled with their physical weakness, compounded by the all-round hatred they generated by their commission and omission.
That is why the micro-minority Brahmins have decided to seek self-protection by setting up military training colleges. This is the secret.
But there is one big danger which the Bahujan leadership (85%) has not realised. Already the BJP chief Rajnath Singh has warned that the latest “reckless” arrests of “religious leaders” may anger the “Hindus” and the “Hindus” may retaliate. BSO will certainly use the current arrests to rouse the Hindus and “unite the Hindus”.
The BJP chief’s warning has already unnerved the Congress and other parties aligned with it because all of them also claim to be Hindu.
That is why we warn that the name “Hindu” will be counter- productive because “Hindu unity” will certainly lead to disunity of India.
The problem is our political leaders are also guided by the BSO. And that is how they clubbed the non-Hindu if not anti-Hindu Dalits (20%) also along with the Hindu.
The fact is only the Aryan Brahmins (2.5%) are Hindu. None else. Even the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are not ready to join them. The non-Aryan SC/ST/BCs anyway are not Hindu and never Hindu. This is the verdict of Dr. Ambedkar.
“HINDU” IS A TRAP
Backward and Dalit political parties, therefore, should not accept that SC/ST/BCs are Hindu. If they fall a prey to Brahminical machinations, what will they do when BJP accuses the Congress of infuriating Hindus by “recklessly arresting Hindu sadhus and sadhvis”?
The term Hindu is a trap and if Dalits are caught in this trap it is difficult to escape until “caste identity” is fully established.
GITA ADVOCATES VIOLENCE
Meanwhile, the RSS Mafia, has fully backed the Malegaon terrorists —rubbishing the theory that Hinduism stands for the nonsense of nonviolence. Who said Hinduism is the world’s only religion that stands for non-violence? Stupid. Did not the country’s topmost Brahmin authority, B.G. Tilak, in his book, Gita Rahasya, say that their god Krishna himself fully sanctioned violence in the Bhagawad Gita?
The Malegaon arrests have once for all proved that the Bhoodevatas are indeed India’s biggest terrorists.
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Caste clash in Madras college
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: Dalit-Thevar caste clash so far confined to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu has spread to the Madras capital city. The ferocious Nov.12, 2008 Thevar student attack on Dalits at Dr. Ambedkar Law College in Madras was perhaps the biggest clash involving students. The incident was so ferocious that the govt. immediately dismissed the city police commissioner for the police inaction even when the police knew that the Thevar students were attacking the Dalits. Law College principal Shridevi was suspended. The TN State Assembly held a debate and demanded serious action against the culprits.The Thevars belong to the OBC and a former “criminal tribe” which often get into bloody clashes with Dalits in Southern TN. Being a poor, uneducated and also a deprived people the Thevars have mostly fallen into the Brahminical terrorist RSS net. By injecting Hindu poison into the non-Hindu Thevar veins, the RSS may be encouraging caste clashes between the Thevars and Dalits.
But what the Hindu terrorists do not know is caste clashes help both the castes to strengthen their “caste identity”. Thevars have gained nothing by attacking Dalits. But it has helped the Dalits to emerge as a big force. Now that the caste clashes have spread into colleges, it will take an interesting turn. The Madras College violence has already spread to districts. The Thevar-dominated police are normally anti-Dalit and are expected to encourage the violence.
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DEBATE
Dr. Kancha Ilaiah on how Brahmins killed Budhism
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: The Budha was the first in India to create a perfect alternative institutional organisation to the oppressive Brahminism that was killing the original inhabitants of India.
Dr. Kancha Ilaiah in his book, God as a Political Philosopher , (Samya, 16-Southern Avenue, Calcutta - 700 026,. pp.250, Rs. 250, 2004), says it was Budha who virtually eradicated Brahminism and its oppressive caste system which assured the hegemony of the Brahmins:
Buddha deliberately turned the hegemonic code on its head by advocating the theory of ahimsa, of shaving the head and face, being prepared to soil one hands in productive work, mixing with all castes by sharing their cooked food given as alms. By that time Brahmins had stopped accepting cooked food from sudras and Chandalas; this barrier was merely intensified by the new Brahmin practice of vegetarianism.
Brahmins kill monks
Brahminism had to adopt underhand methods to defeat Buddhism and reclaim its hegemonic space in the state and civil society. After Buddha’s death pressures from within and without conspired to turn Buddhism into a religion. During the period of Ashoka around the third century CE it spread to other Asian countries and established itself as one of the leading religions of the world. But in India the Vedic Hindus retaliated. According to Ambedkar key Buddhist monks were killed so that further propagation of Buddhism should be weakened. All the Buddhist viharas were occupied by Brahminical forces and Hindu idols installed in them, a tactic of which the Babri Masjid incident is the newest manifestation. By then (the fifth and sixth centuries CE) Buddhist institutions had accumulated considerable wealth, which added temptation to the religious animosity that ruined them.
Caste system brought back
In the process of killing Buddhism, Brahminism brought the whole caste system back with a vengeance as this hierarchy alone could preserve their hegemony for centuries. In modern India, though political democracy was adopted as a system imposed by the British, the upper caste Hindu mentality remained exclusivist. Furthermore, they were all too ready during the nationalist period to present their own deities, icons, rituals, folklore and religious symbols as representative of mainstream modern India. Once, they had constructed their culture as the Indian culture, they implied that to lack adherence to that culture was to be unpatriotic. The gods and customs of sudras, Dalits and Adivasis were thus marginalized and the cultural integrity of these groups attacked by Brahminist nationalists. The traces of Buddhist tradition still to be found among these groups were pushed further into the background.
Vegetarianism glorified
For example, vegetarianism was projected as the practice of most Indians, thus undermining the sudra, Adivasi, Chandala and Buddhist traditions which were actually the composite food culture of India — meat, milk, vegetables and so on. Vedanta philosophy was projected as the foundation of Indian thought.
My study of Buddha’s political thought shows that the Buddhist political, social and spiritual philosophy have nothing to do with Vedanta. The Vedanta which was projected as Indian nationalist philosophy did not operate outside the bounds of varnadharma but only within the sphere of Brahminical metaphysics.
The author says Siddhartha came from an agrarian background which was closer to the Vaisya-sudra culture of his period. This is the reason why Buddha never prescribed pure vegetarianism to his followers. The Budhist Sangha people were eating meat, beef, pork, vegetables etc. In conformity with this tradition, in all countries where Buddhism is the main religion the composite food culture exists and continues. Budha never prohibited eating meat and fish.
Vegetarian Vedantism’s entry into our national discourse as the practice of mainstream India shows how false is Brahminical nationalism. In the face of the fact that 85 per cent of India’s population were and are mamasaharis (the correct translation of which is meatarian) the Brahmins in charge of the nationalist project did not feel that they were projecting the self-image of a small minority into nationhood itself.
Pejawara Swamy hates Budhism: Though Hindu terrorist parties like RSS-BJP say Budhism is nothing but Hinduism, Brahmin leaders like Udupi’s Pejawara Swamy even now insists that Budhism is anti-Hindu (Deccan Herald, Nov.3, 2008).
On one side top Brahmin leaders criticise Budhism, do everything to destroy it but at the same time Brahminical agents like S.N. Goenka brainwash Ambedkarite Budhists through Vipassana meditation and Calcutta’s Maha Bodhi Society in perverting everything that Dr. Ambedkar did.
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THE “MAHATMA” AS STOOGE OF THE BRITISH
One of the greatest wonders of Brahminsim is its double-face. The best and the most famous example in history to prove this is M.K. Gandhi.
An RSS Chitpavan Brahmin from Pune, the homeland of the Brahminical terrorist party, RSS, killed Gandhi and the RSS distributed sweets all over India to celebrate the event.
BUNCH OF CONTRADICTIONS
Even as the vaidiks rejoiced over elimination of the only obstacle to take over the leadership of “independent” India, they also quietly captured Gandhi Bhavans, became the greatest gandhians and thereby once again fooled us.
There is no point in blaming the Hindu terrorist party or the vaidik vampire for this except Gandhi himself who was a bundle of contradictions. The vaidiks found in him the best of traits to deceive the innocent people of India.
One of the greatest contradictions in Gandhi was his claim that he fought against the British rule.
Read our book to know the truth.
SERGEANT-MAJOR M.K. GANDHI
Which reveals him as a first-rate British stooge who worked in the British army as Sergeant-Major in British-ruled South Africa.
The book written by Dr. Velu Annamalai proves how Gandhi was a notorious anti-Black racist and how his claim for nonviolence was totally false.
Rather, he was a first class stooge of the White rulers.
The author even calls Gandhi a dictator and an Indian version of Hitler.
The book has excerpts from Michael Edward’s book, The Myth of the Mahatma.
ENEMY NO.1 OF DALITS
Dr. Ambedkar called Gandhi the Enemy No.1 of Untouchables.
V.T. Rajshekar in his book, Why Godse Killed Gandhi? congratulated Godse for liberating India from gandhian menace.
Only few copies are available.
1995 pp.60 Rs. 20
Write to Dalit Voice office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DALIT-MUSLIM UNITY
A number of our DV family members have been telling us to promote Dalit-Muslim unity to counter the mounting Brahminical terrorism in the country. We want to impress that we were the first in India to launch such a movement.
Our book on this subject was released in Bangalore by Moulana Hasan Ali Nadvi (Ali Miya) in 1995 itself — over 13 years back.
The Editor later went round the country with copies of the book written by Dr. Ram Nath, a noted Dalit intellectual of UP, translated to Hindi and Urdu.
Muslims purchased the books with great enthusiasm, delivered powerful speeches supporting the unity, treated us to good dinner parties and there it ended.
At the end of 13 years now we stand where we were. Dalits are ready but the Muslim hand of friendship is not forthcoming. Why?
We got the answer from a Bihari Backward Muslim who spoke at the DV silver jubilee meeting at Lucknow on Sept.28, 2008. The entire gathering was shocked to hear why we failed.
**********
Please order the last few remaining copies of the book
DALIT - MUSLIM UNITY
WHY? AND HOW?
Dr. Ram Nath
Agriculture Scientist, Kanpur
Foreword by V.T. Rajshekar
1995 pp. 74 Rs. 25
The book answers 35 questions on the subject with two annexures:
“Dr. Ambedkar on Islam” & “Doubts on Dalit-Muslim unity answered”.
Write to DV office.
Latest book by a Bangladeshi scholar examines how Budhism vanished
from its very land of birth
BUDDHISM IN SOUTH ASIA
A Study in History
Dr. M. Abdul Momin Chowdhury
Formerly of the University College of London
Says the credit for destroying Budhism and erasing even its memory from India goes to Brahmins who simply burnt down all monasteries and educational institutions including the world famous Nalanda University. They even rewrote “history” saying their god Vishnu re-incarnated as Budha. They destroyed all records so that no factual history is available. They wrote their cock and bull stories in Mahabharata and Ramayana to promote Brahminical values.
2008 pp.360 Rs. 300
London Institute of South Asia, London
Write to Dalit Voice for copies.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/dec2008/reports.htm
India Inc rediscovers FDs, asset mortgage
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Akash Joshi,Rishi Raj
Posted: Dec 15, 2008 at 0920 hrs IST
Mumbai, New Delhi The liquidity crisis has top Indian companies going back to the good old ways of raising fund—taking fixed deposits and pledging shares. Apparently, companies have realised that those who garner funds at the best rates are the ones with the best chance to survive.
With the equity market virtually shut for new issues and banks reluctant to lend to the corporate sector, companies have little option but to turn to debt placement. The rush to explore other means has been so sharp that by the end of this financial year, corporate India will have doubled its debt placement from the year before.
According to data sourced from Prime Database, in 2007-08, companies raised Rs 1,77,000 crore through 1,433 debt issues. Preliminary estimates show a similar amount had already been raised in the current fiscal to fund capacity expansion plans and even manage working capital.
Tata Motors, the country’s second largest vehicle maker, has announced a fixed deposit plan that offers 10% interest for one-year deposits, with senior citizens getting 0.5% more. The company’s board has approved raising up to Rs 1,931.5 crore from the public through this route.
Already around 150 issuances have been announced in this fiscal and more companies are expected to sign on. Company fixed deposits went out of favour in the early 1990s as the Indian stock markets boomed.
“The cost of funds for any decent company would be around 14 to 18% now while fixed deposits can be raised for around 12.5%. So they are attractive,” says Mandar Gupte, CFO with a multinational company.
For investors, too, the fixed deposit route makes sense as the returns are more than that what are available from banks, which offer at best around 10%. The reputation of the companies, of course, plays a big role. Manufacturing companies can raise up to 25% of their net worth while non-banking financial services companies can raise up to five times their net worth.
Taking a slightly different route, India’s largest private sector company, Reliance Industries Ltd, has recently placed 10-year bonds worth Rs 500 crore at 10.75% with mutual funds, say sources close to the deal. The company will also be issuing another tranche of bonds, albeit with a smaller tenure. Sources say that overall RIL has plans to mop up about Rs 12,000 crore through various bond issues.
ACC, the country’s largest cement manufacturer, has raised Rs 200 crore via a five-year bond issue. The instrument was non-convertible debentures to be used to finance the expansion plans of the company.
The coupon is set at 1.30% payable annually, a company spokesperson confirmed. The interesting aspect of the issue is ACC is cash-rich. It has Rs 1,000 crore as cash reserves. But as the spokesperson told FE, “We are raising this amount taking into consideration the current economic situation and to handle liquidity situations”.
Others who are queuing up with bond issuances include Grasim, Hindalco, Aditya Birla Nuovo, Sterlite Industries, Apollo Tyres, Adlabs, JK Cement, and JSW Steel.
The other option is to raise funds through equity sale. Tata Teleservices Ltd, the country’s sixth largest telecom player, recently offloaded 26% stake to Japan’s NTT DoCoMo for $2.7 billion. The money would obviously help the company for the upcoming 3G spectrum auctions, apart from rolling out its GSM services.
R-Adag is planning to divest up to 26% stake in its flagship, Reliance Communications Ltd through a secondary market route. This company is in the process of rolling out its GSM services across the country.
A variation of this plan is to pledge some shares with banks or non-banking finance companies. Sobha Developers has apparently pledged around 24.4% of the total equity with Bank Sarasin and Credit Suisse, but the company did not confirm the same. Great Offshore is also another company that has resorted to this measure. Earlier, Omaxe had also pledged its shares with Indiabulls Financial Services to fund its land acquisition plans.
Companies that have had poor financial numbers are also pawning their assets or even selling them off. This, for airlines, includes aircraft while for real estate companies, land banks. Jet Airways has recently leased two of its A-330s to Gulf Air and three B-777s to Turkish Airlines to strengthen their cash reserves. The airline in a press statement stated that these aircraft were rendered surplus consequent to route re-structuring and cost saving. According to Sandeep Shenoy, strategist, Pioneer Intermediaries, “Leasing aircraft will help the carrier generate revenues in the ensuing quarters. The airline has already posted losses of Rs 384.5 crore. It desperately needs to improve its financials”.
In the real estate sector, BSEL Infrastructure Realty has sold some of its land bank. Dharmendra Raichuria, managing director, BSEL Infrastructure Realty Ltd, told , “Due to the global economic turmoil and the financial crisis, we have no other option left but to sell our two land parcels each in Nagpur and Goa to raise Rs 200 crore. These funds will be allocated to our upcoming residential projects in the international market, including Malaysia where we want to create a strong presence in the residential property market. In the future, we may look at similar such strategies in India.”
Delhi-based Unitech has also stated that it plans to raise some Rs 2,500 crore by monetising its assets. The company plans to sell its hotel projects. The company has total debts of around Rs 8,000 crore.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/India-Inc-rediscovers-FDs-asset-mortgage/398658/
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SRINAGAR: The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Monday denied British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's charge that it was responsible for the Mumbai terror attack
and said the lone terrorist captured alive was not a member of its outfit.
"The LeT rejects accusations by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The LeT denied its involvement in Mumbai attacks but the British Prime Minister levelled an allegation against Lashkar which has no proof," said a press release issued by its spokesperson Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi.
"Instead of accepting the mistake of his country, Mr. Brown blamed a legitimate freedom fighting organisation. Lashkar-e-Taiba condemns this approach of the British Prime Minister and urges the media to stop the blame game."
In his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday, Brown backed India's charge about LeT's involvement in the Mumbai terror strikes in which more than 170 people were killed and said Pakistan had "a lot to answer for" for the attacks that had mobilised the whole world in support of India.
"We know the group responsible is LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), and they (Pakistan) have a great deal to answer for," Brown said when asked whether Pakistan was doing enough to crack down on anti-terror outfits working against India.
The LeT said it was concerned with threats by Indian forces to Pakistan and was observing the situation closely.
"We once again want to make it clear that Lashkar has no relations with the Mumbai attacks and the alleged attacker who is in Indian custody is not a member of LeT," said the statement.
The LeT's spokesperson further said that it was blamed for terror acts that it was never involved in.
"We were blamed for Chattisingh Pura massacre of Sikhs but later it was proved that this crime was done by Indian intelligence. We were also blamed for attack on Indian Parliament and despite our denial this blame is being continuously repeated in media but Indian government knows it very well that Lashkar-e-Taiba was not involved in the said attack," he said.
He was referring to the killing of 35 Sikhs in Chattisinghpora, 100 km from this Jammu and Kashmir summer capital, in March 2000 just before the arrival of then US president Bill Clinton.
"Mumbai attacks are new in the series," the statement said.
"We want to make it clear to the world community that what we do we openly claim responsibility and this practice will continue in future."
CM hints at changes in land acquisition policy
15 Dec 2008, 0302 hrs IST, Abhiram Ghadyalpatil, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: In a significant move, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has called for changes in the land acquisition policy for industrial and public purpose
projects.
Mr Chavan, who also holds the industry portfolio, told officials of the revenue and industry departments at a meeting recently that the land acquisition policy must be guided by the availability of land for industrial or public purpose in a particular district.
"The chief minister has insisted on a district-level land availability plan. He wants the land acquisition policy to take into account the demographic and socio-economic profile of the district in question. At the same time, the chief minister has underlined the importance of industrial investment in the state," a senior bureaucrat who attended the meeting told ET.
Sources said the chief minister is keen on declaring certain districts as "saturation zones" for industrial projects.
"There are districts in Maharashtra where there are no plots available for industrial projects. And there are industrial estates developed by state-owned MIDC where there is hardly any investment. This underlines regional imbalance," said an industry department official. He pointed out that the state had failed to bag the Nano project simply because it could not offer 1,000 acres of contiguous land to Tata Motors in districts where the company was interested in setting up the plant.
Another official, who did not wish to be named, maintained that amendments to the land acquisition policy would have to be carried out in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. "This act is so powerful that most petitions challenging land acquisition under it have been dismissed or rejected by the Supreme Court. The Act has overriding powers to acquire land for what the state defines as public project. The Act governs land acquisition across the country and changes in policy will have to be in keeping with the provisions of the Act," said the official. However, the bureaucrat acknowledged that the state government could make changes in the land revenue code to declare certain areas as green zone.
Interestingly, Mr Chavan, as industry minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh cabinet also, had called for amendments to the land acquisition policy. Mr Chavan had pointed out that even though Maharashtra was bagging an impressive share of FDI proposals, other investments, and the highest number of special economic zone (SEZ) projects in the country, the state needed to pay attention to the availability of land.
"Mr Chavan had specifically cited the cases of Raigad, Pune, Ratnagiri, and Thane districts to underscore his point that concentration of industrial investment in one district could lead to regional imbalance and social discontent," an official at the industry department said. Sources said the districts of Raigad, Thane, Mumbai, and Pune alone accounted for 75% of the total number of SEZ projects — 133 formally approved at the last count — in Maharashtra.
"There has to be some sort of ready reckoner or land protocol to determine what percentage of land in a particular district could be allotted for industry. This can be worked out at the policy level," said a revenue official.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/CM_hints_at_changes_in_land_acquisition_policy/articleshow/3837604.cms
US Fed may cut key rates to zero
15 Dec 2008, 1942 hrs IST, REUTERS
WASHINGTON: The US Federal Reserve is expected to drop interest rates close to zero on Tuesday, but anticipated remarks on unconventional methods Ghosts of 1929
Countries in recession
2008: Year of financial crisis
to dispel a year-old recession are what will really matter.
Economists forecast a clear statement that the U.S. central bank will aggressively deploy so-called quantitative easing measures to shelter the economy from a steepening downturn, but do not expect details of what steps it will actually take.
Those words would accompany a decision by the Fed to lower its target for overnight rates by at least a half-percentage point, economists believe.
A half-point cut would take the bellwether federal funds rate to just 0.5 percent, the lowest on records dating to July 1954, as the central bank battles a recession many think will stretch well into next year.
The announcement is expected around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday at the end of a two-day meeting. The gathering had initially been scheduled for a single day, but was extended so policy-makers could study options for unusual steps to spur the economy with little room left to lower borrowing costs.
"From here on out, monetary policy has to rely primarily on non-traditional tools, tools other than the funds rate, to try to stimulate the economy," said former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley, who expects the Fed to spell this out.
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"They are certainly going to have to acknowledge that non-traditional methods are going to be employed aggressively to try to provide assistance to the economy," he said.
A U.S. housing collapse panicked credit markets and has hammered the rest of the economy since the failure of investment bank Lehman Brothers in September. Many economists predict economic activity will shrink by an annualized 6 percent or more in the fourth quarter as unemployment climbs.
Quantitative easing, which the Bank of Japan used to end a decade of deflationary stagnation in the 1990s by pumping money into the banking system, was foreshadowed by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in a speech on December 1.
He emphasized the Fed would use all the weapons in its arsenal to protect the economy, and identified direct purchases of government and mortgage-related debt as possible options.
After credit crisis world rattled by Madoff scandal
15 Dec 2008, 2025 hrs IST, PTI
NEW YORK: European investors face billions of dollars losses in the wake of disclosure of "Ponzi" scheme run by Bernard Madoff, now being Bernard L Maddoff
investigated by the American authorities.
European banks, including Spain's Grupo Santander SA and France's BNP Paribas, were quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that their clients and shareholders face billions of euros of losses on investments, underscoring the global reach of the alleged Ponzi scheme run by the veteran New York money manager.
A ponzi scheme is a type of securities fraud where the promoter makes some sort of false or misleading statement about an investment (often including a guaranteed high rate of return) and pays off older investors with newer investors money.
Santander, the eurozone's largest bank by market value, said its clients had an exposure of 2.33 billion euros ($3.1 billion) to Madoff's investment funds, mainly through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund.
The company, which has been relatively unscathed from global financial crisis, said it had hired Madoff's firm to execute the Optimal fund's investments. Santander vowed to "undertake the legal actions which may be needed to defend the interests of investors."
The Journal reported that BNP, France's largest bank by market value, said it could lose as much as 350 million euros as a result of the alleged fraud.
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However, the bank said it has no investment of its own in the hedge funds managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Services. BNP Paribas, however, said it is exposed to these funds through its trading business and lending to hedge funds that had invested in Madoff's funds.
The losses, the Journal said, could prove particularly embarrassing for banks' private-banking businesses, which charge high fees to wealthy investors in return for what is supposed to be superior advice and due diligence.
More than two billion euros belongs to institutional investors and international clients of Santander's private-banking business, which provides services to wealthy individuals, it was quoted as saying. The remaining 320 million euros belongs to private-banking customers in Spain, where the bank is based.
Most of the European banks' exposures were on client investments they managed, rather than on the banks' own balance sheets, it said, adding that it's not yet clear how much, if anything, investors in Madoff's funds may be able to recover.
Exposures to Madoff's funds have also emerged among a growing number of smaller European private banks.
In a letter posted on its website, the Swiss private bank Reichmuth and Co said its clients had an exposure of some 385 million Swiss francs to Madoff funds.
The bank said Reichmuth Matterhorn, a fund that invests in other hedge funds, faced a potential loss of about 8.6 per cent on its exposure to Madoff. That amount represented about 3.5 per cent of the 11 billion Swiss francs Reichmuth & Co. has under management, the bank said, the Journal reported.
India asks US for more work visas
15 Dec 2008, 0143 hrs IST, Deepshikha Monga, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Indian government has asked the US to increase the number of work visas (H1-B and L1) and ensure that there be no legislation to
prevent companies from applying for such visas. India has also asked the US government to expedite action on a totalisation agreement to avoid double taxation on Indian workers in the US.
These issues were raised by the Indian representatives during a recent meeting of the US-India Information and Communication Technology Working Group.
Politicians in the US have raised the issue of H-1B visa abuse by foreign firms, including Indian firms. US senator Chuck Grassley introduced an H-1B visa reform bill last year to give priority to American workers and crack down on visa frauds.
He, along with senator Dick Durbin, had also written to nine Indian IT firms, seeking information about their wages and layoffs in the US. However, companies such as Microsoft want the cap on H1-B visas be raised to allow entry of more skilled workers into the US.
Earlier this year, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates asked the US Congress to increase visas, citing his own company’s inability to hire as many foreign workers as it wanted to. Over 1.3 lakh H1-B visa applications were received for fiscal 2008-09, far in excess of the limit.
The government has pointed out that Indian workers in the US contribute about $2 billion to its social security system every year without getting any benefits.
As there is no totalisation agreement between the two countries, Indian firms that send their employees to the US have to pay social security taxes in both countries. Talks for such an agreement to avoid double taxation have been on for some time. India has asked that action on this front be expedited.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/India_asks_US_for_more_work_visas/articleshow/3837505.cms
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