Did your Ma teach you to say that?

“… If you insult
the mothers and daughters of Trinamool workers. Then I won’t spare you. I
will let loose my boys in your homes and they will commit rape. I will
teach each of you a lesson”

….
Bengali men (super-caste Hindus, the so-called gentlefolk or the bhodrolok) have a self-image of being liberal. This is especially so when they stand up for their (bengali) muslim brothers against the (mostly north Indian origin, bihari/marwari) Hindu right. This is quite an admirable trait, given that millions of their own have suffered grievously at the hands of muslim thugs in uniform and without.

Bengali women (bhodro-mohila) have a self-image of being domineering. The lady Gods lead all the popularity contests. In Bengal, Shiva is a beggar awaiting favors from Annapurna, the mother who feeds the world. Bengali men are meek, mama’s boys (so says the poet Robi Thakur).

Here comes a Bengali who has little use for tradition. It also does not matter that his boss is a woman, who was tortured by marxist goons when she was a rising politician. He may be smiling white for  the cameras, but his heart is completely black. He is also a first rank liar and coward (tried to explain that he had said RAID not RAPE, next got his wife to apologize on his behalf).
……..
A day
after TMC MP Tapas Pal allegedly threatened to kill CPM workers and have
their women raped, his wife Nandini Pal on Tuesday apologized for her
husband’s controversial comment and said there was another part of the
story.



“I apologize for his comment. Of course there is no
question of supporting it. But yes I know there is another part of the
story, which provoked him to do that. The entire incident had happened
long back, what led to such a thing there is another part of the story,”
Nandini told reporters.

“On behalf of him I am saying sorry,”
said Nandini. The controversial comment had triggered an uproar and
sparked condemnation by opposition parties with CPM demanding that the
Lok Sabha Speaker take suo motu cognizance of Pal’s outburst and
disqualify him.

Trinamool Congress yesterday demanded an explanation in writing from the party’s actor-MP within 48 hours for his comment.

“The
statements made by Mr Tapas Pal are utterly insensitive. The party does
not in any way endorse what he said many weeks ago, which is being
played out on TV channels,” party spokesman Derek O Brien had said.

The MP’s comment also drew condemnation from the National Commission for Women.

Pal’s comment which went viral on a vernacular TV news channel
yesterday had quoted him saying,  “If any CPM man is present here. Listen
to me. If you ever touch any Trinamool Congress worker or their
families at Choumaha, you have to pay for this. Don’t try to act smart
with me. I am smarter than you…”

“…
Earlier, you guys have bullied me on various occasions. If you insult
the mothers and daughters of Trinamool workers. Then I won’t spare you. I
will let loose my boys in your homes and they will commit rape. I will
teach each of you a lesson,” the MP had warned.

Pal, however, denied that he spoke about rape. “What I said was I will tell my workers to ‘raid’.” 

…..

Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Trinamool-MPs-wife-apologizes-says-there-is-other-part-of-story/articleshow/37561412.cms

…..

regards

ECHR bans the burqa!!!

The European Court of Human Rights is so much attuned to the sensitivities of marginalized groups that this decision comes as a bolt from the blue.

The burqa is already banned in France and parts of Belgium, Denmark and Italy. Germany has been thinking about it. Now plenty more countries will be emboldened by this ruling (but not the UK). In the near future immigrants may be asked to declare that they will abide by Western cultural rules.

A corresponding “civil rights” bill targeting Hindus (if one has to use such a lens) would ban caste based discrimination (proposed in  the UK but held back presumably because it will disturb UK-India relations). So the UK is nothing but consistent on these matters.

Arguments for burqa (full face veil) ban: The court agreed that this will enhance integration and help foster social cohesion. We agree, but only two cheers (see below).

Arguments against: (1) This will harm conservative muslim women as they will not be permitted to step outside the house. Well in that case muslim men should be prosecuted for involuntary incarceration.

(2) There should be no compulsion in clothing in a free society. Not true, we are not free to wear KKK and Nazi uniforms. Every society has rules, even so-called free societies.

(3) It is ordained by the Koran. No it is not. The Koran merely advises all muslims to dress modestly (good advice for all of us). 
 
(4) Very few women chose to wear a burqa. This is a bogus argument. If you are anti death penalty it is because you are opposed in principle, not because of the numbers. Even one innocent death is too much.

(5) Many young women chose to wear a burqa voluntarily (it is a socio-political statement and hence protected by the first amendment).

This is a truly a tough one and in our opinion the only reason why the Court could (should) have overturned the ban. This is also the reason why a burqa ban will never pass in the USA.

There are two not-quite satisfactory arguments against.

– The consequence of defining burqa wearing as acceptable (and symbol of piety) has very bad consequences for women (muslim or otherwise) who chose NOT to wear a burqa. Women are harassed in public for their choice of dress by muslim men.

– The question of security in a public space (everywhere except your home). Recently one muslim lady in Australia escaped conviction because she was dressed in a burqa. Male robbers have taken advantage of the burqa. Today we are all suffering from security restrictions. Muslims must share this burden equally.
…… STRASBOURG,
France: The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France’s
controversial burqa ban, rejecting arguments that a 2010 law outlawing
full-face veils breaches religious freedom.

In a case brought
by a 24-year-old French woman with the support of a British legal team,
the court ruled that France was justified in introducing the ban in the
interests of social cohesion.

……

Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/European-rights-court-upholds-French-burqa-ban/articleshow/37573848.cms

…..

regards

The Hindu Mirjafar

Fascinating story on so many levels. Across muslim south asia the thinking is that but for Mir Jafar, the British would not have got a foot-hold in Bengal. Muslim rule would continue uninterrupted across the land. India would become another Indonesia with Hindu pockets (Bali) and a Sanskrit-named airline (Garuda).

In Sindh however there is a local villain who betrayed the kings (Mirs) and was rewarded in silver coins for his services to the British. He is Seth Naomal Hotchand. 

Right now there is a lot of controversy about a Big Boss speech- namely Indians (Hindus) were slaves for a thousand years. Secularists are (as usual) up in arms. We are allowed to say that British imperialists were bad but not the Turks-Mughals. Why is that?

It is a fair statement that in Hindu ruled India, the Dalits were the
slaves (and many remain to this day). They have been slaves for
thousands of years. Neo-Dalits like S Anand are happy to
denounce Hindu imperialism and they are perfectly justified in doing so.

Why
then the double standards? When denouncing imperialism and slavery do it
for all cases without reservations, it would be the right thing to do.

Seth Naomal betrayed Sindh perhaps because he felt no allegiance to the people who tortured his family and treated his people as second class citizens (horses were reserved for Muslims, Hindus could ride only donkeys). For whatever faults of the British, they treated both Hindus and Muslims equally badly (worse than horses AND donkeys). Progress!!!
………………….
Muhammad Usman Damohi writes about Hotchand in the 2013 edition of his book Karachi: Taareekh Kay Aaenay Main: “The
man’s lust for wealth and status robbed Sindhi nationalist Muslims and
Hindus of their freedom, forcing them to live under tyranny and endure
the pains of slavery… This man helped the British defeat the Mir
rulers of Sindh.”


About his family background, Damohi writes:
Naomal was born in
Kharadar — one of the oldest areas of Karachi — in 1804. He was the
great grandson of renowned Hindu trader Bhojomal, who laid the
foundation for the city of Karachi in 1729. Naomal’s father Hotchand was
also a very successful merchant, with a business reach extending all
across India, Afghanistan, Iran and Muscat. This was one of those
powerful families who loaned money to the Mirs of Sindh, and even had
contacts inside the royal court of Hyderabad.

All this information
begs the question, even more – what would such a rich and powerful man
be aiming for in helping the British conquer Sindh? 

We turn to “Memoirs of Seth Naomul Hotchand of Karachi”, where he writes on page 89 (third edition, printed by the Sindhi Literary Board in 1996 and translated into English in 1915):

“It
was somewhere between 1831 and ’32. In Nasarpur (near Mirpurkhas,
southern parts of Sindh), a young boy — the son of a Hindu peasant, and
upset at his teacher for, perhaps, giving him a beating — went up to the
gates of a local mosque and stood there.

When a group of Muslims
spotted him, they took the boy inside the mosque. This angered the
Hindu community and triggered reactions like Hindu shopkeepers refusing
to sell goods to Muslims, with Muslims retaliating by throwing litter
into the well in Lyari, where many Hindus got their drinking water from.

“The next day, a man named Nooral Shah, and a ‘Syed’ by lineage, came
to our neighbourhood, cursing Hindus. My younger brother, Pursuram,
who was standing at the outer gate of the neighbourhood, asked Nooral
Shah to refrain from it, but things heated up. In rage, Nooral Shah
began claiming that Pursuram had insulted the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),
and a huge Muslim crowd gathered to agitate.


“Later, Nooral Shah went to various cities of Sindh with a Quran held
up to his chest, inciting Muslims [to act against the Hindus]. Somehow,
my brother managed to slip out of city and go to Jaisalmer. Meanwhile,
the matter was taken to the court of the ruler of Sindh, Mir Murad Ali
Talpur. It was a sensitive matter, with a lot of pressure being
generated by Muslim groups. Mir sahib sent for my father to send
Pursuram to Hyderabad. Since Pursuram was not in Karachi, Mir sahib
ordered my father to appear at his court. “

“When my father
reached Hyderabad, Mir sahib referred him to the Qazi (religious judge)
of Nasarpur, which is a small city not far from Hyderabad. The Qazi
refused to hear the case. Then all of a sudden, Muslims attacked my
father and kidnapped him. He was taken hostage for 10-12 days.”

“At first, they wanted to turn him into a Muslim (meaning, circumcise
him). However, my father was over 50 years old, not to mention such
an act was against Islamic prescriptions as well. Along with that, the
Muslims feared that the act would cause too big a reaction, so they
changed their mind. Later, Mir Murad Ali regretted the incident and
ordered that my father be set free at once. That’s when he was finally
let go.”


Nevertheless, the more common understanding in Sindh remained that Hotchand had been circumcised. The incident has been described in detail in Seth Naomal’s memoirs.

Before Partition, the Hindu community of Sindh was among the
wealthiest in the region. Not just the landlords but the very rulers of
Sindh were often in debt toward the Hindus for large sums of money. 

Yet,
Hindus struggled to achieve the same social status that Muslims
enjoyed.

Sharing what he saw during his days in the region, James Burns notes:
“Hindus
in Sindh are banned from riding horses. That is why even the wealthiest
of Hindus are seen riding donkeys instead. It is also a custom for
Hindus to respectfully give way to any Muslim rider while on the road.”

Renowned intellectual and historian Dr Mubarak Ali writes in his book Sindh Khaamoshee Kee Awaz
that Seth Hotchand’s was one of the most respectable families of Sindh.
That is why the whole episode… left a huge impact on the Hindu
community of Sindh.

This surely acted as a catalyst for the sense of insecurity that Naomal and his likes felt in his times.

It must have been a huge blow to Naomal’s ego. It seems this was the
episode that became the prologue to the tale of his treason. However, it
is unjust to claim that only Naomal was responsible for the end of the
Mir dynasty’s rule over Sindh.

The rulers, who controlled the
three regions of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Khairpur, were always
indebted to Hindus for even basic state machinery, meaning they never
had enough resources. On top of that, the Mirs did not have a
well-trained army. This allowed the British to easily overcome the
once-mighty dynasty of rulers and their supporters in order to conquer
the Mehran Valley.

The British acknowledged Naomal’s services to
the crown by awarding him with a title. Khudadad Khan, a servant of the
British Raj, writes in his book Taareekh-e-Sindh (first published in
1900, reprinted in 2009 by the Sindhi Literary Board):

“The badge
for the CIE title was awarded to Seth Naomal Hotchand in a grand event
in his honour, held at Frere Hall. The Briton who had handed over the
badge spoke of how grateful the British government was for the immense
help Naomal’s information and recommendations provided in securing Sindh
in the 1843. He said the Great Queen (Victoria of Great Britain) was
proud to award him with the title of CIE (Companion of the Most Exalted
Order of Staff of Indian Empire). It was also announced that property
and pension both are awarded to Naomal henceforth.”

Dr Mubarak Ali writes in his essay titled ‘Kia Naomal Ghadaar Thaa?’ (Was Naomal a Traitor?):

“The role minorities play in a society is a highly sensitive one. The
more financially well-off the minority is, the more enemies it
creates. More often than not, members of the minority communities are
pronounced traitors or national enemies. In such cases, society falls
prey to schisms and minorities become disconnected from any kind of
national spirit. In the annexation of Sindh and India to the British,
the insecurity which the minorities lived in had a huge role to play.”


Naomal died aged 73 on September 16, 1878 in Karachi. His memoirs were published by the Oxford University Press in 1986. The translation begins with a note terming him a traitor.

…..

Link: http://www.dawn.com/news/1116294/traitor-of-sindh-seth-naomal-a-case-of-blasphemy-in-1832

….

regards

The good old days (Karachi 1986)

“The Pakistani doctors were
angels. One of them gave me his stethoscope so that I could walk about
freely looking for a handy phone”…. lady doctor escorted him to the radiology department…..collected as many addresses of patients from Bombay. “As I
gave my father the last contact, the line went dead.”

The “bite hue din” when minorities (Shia doctors) were safe and there was a sense of working for an unified public cause (as opposed to multiple sectarian causes). Ironically even the terrorists of old were secular with a goal to establish a multi-confessional Palestine. Pipedream? Perhaps. But in the eyes of most citizens of Karachi, a golden age as opposed to now when you have jihadis shooting up planes (and killing old ladies returning from Haj).

We always hear about how – just below the surface – South Asians have a real sense of bonding. And the article below makes a powerful case for this sentiment. The problem supposedly is that at the official level each side is on a warpath against everyone else.

For this theory to be credible we have to believe that the government and the army are divorced from the people at large. Then again perhaps the common man, fighting against inflation and a hundred other injustices, is only a passive bit player. What is the responsibility of the elites in all communities in helping to create and sustain this mess?

Take one example. Right now we have a 50:50 nation in Bangladesh, the P-I type (partition I) vs. P-II type people. To put things simply (simplistically) are you a Bangali first or a Muslim first?

It is really nothing less than an existential battle. Each community (elites) want total domination at the local level and parity at the nation-collective level.

The consequence is deadly (and predictable). Now that Hindus have been wiped out from Pakistan (and in the distant future from Bangladesh as well) all we will have is Muslims being targeted by other people…everywhere. From Chittagong to Peshawar, muslims will die because they are muslim, or because they are the wrong type of muslim.

Gandhi, for all his faults, consistently maintained that killing is wrong and the path forward lies through non-violence. Today, the elite thinkers consider the G-man to be wrong-headed and old-fashioned. The elite left in particular wants more guns and more blood-shed….the storm-troopers are supposedly Gandhian with guns. But unless we forswear violence and lay down the guns, there will be no progress. None.
………
…Mukul’s first row account of the terrifying incident…. It
left 20 people killed, including Pakistanis, Indians and Americans, and
several others shot, or injured while escaping the four well-armed but
nervously fidgety gunmen who took control of the 747 Jumbo at Karachi
airport’s tarmac.

During the three or four days he spent in the
city Mukul acquired deep affection for Karachi, its Edhi Foundation and
its caring, selfless doctors. However, a broad-brush view of the
political context in 1986 could help us locate the distance we have
traveled through the turbulent decades with their sharp ideological
bends and political U-turns culminating in the brazen terror attack on
the same airport a few weeks ago, albeit with a contrary purpose this
time.

The issue for the Arabic-speaking Pan Am hijackers was the liberation of Palestine from Israel’s occupation. 

Those who have watched the Middle East for the last three decades or
more would know how that objective has become a distant dream with
chances of an equitable and just fulfillment for the region’s Jews and
Arabs looking more remote than ever before.
By contrast the recent
attack on Karachi’s Jinnah Airport had pretty much an opposite purpose.
In fact, the outrage mirrored what could be a string of choreographed
events in Baghdad, Tripoli and Damascus whereby self-styled Muslim
puritans are targeting those who had assiduously supported the idea of a
free and multicultural Palestine.

At several levels, the
intra-Muslim bloodshed dominating the political firmament of the Middle
East and swathes of South Asia today, seems to have its genesis in the
disastrous 1981 Fez summit of the Arab League. Saudi Arabia’s Fahd Plan,
which effectively proposed to recognise Israel and promised it security
in return for what major Arab leaders saw as a moth-eaten Palestinian
state with municipal rights, was rejected by Iraq, Syria and Libya. 

Look closely, and you would find the three countries that steadfastly
opposed the Fahd Plan are the ones confronting an existential challenge,
their secular and tyrannical rulers being sought to be replaced by
rabid and tyrannical rulers who largely share Riyadh’s political
allergies, if not its worldview.

I didn’t ask Mukul Vaingankar if
he had a preference between Israel and Palestine
when he was seated on
the window seat right in the front row of the economy class cabin while
disaster prepared to strike the plane. Nor does he evidently have a view
now.
What was evident from his narrative though was that ordinary
Indians and Pakistanis have a subtle bonding that endures, albeit
undetected largely because it is their governments mostly that are
handling or mishandling each other.

When the Arab gunmen stormed
the plane dressed as airport security personnel, an alert member of the
cabin crew was able to transmit the message to the pilots. The pilots
fled through the cockpit windows perhaps as part of a drill to deny the
hijackers leverage to use the plane’s communications and to immobilise
its flying ability. A total of some 360 passengers were rounded up from
different cabins and herded into the area where Vaingankar unwittingly
found himself in the crosshairs of the Abu Nidal gang. His two
neighbours were Gujarati-speaking women from a dance troupe on its way
to perform in New York.

At some point at night after a nearly
10-hour terror vigil, the power grid on the plane collapsed and the
lights went off. The gunmen who were parked right near Vaingankar’s row
began shooting randomly in the dark, but they spared the seats to their
left and right possibly as it would have required them to turn and risk
losing their bearings in the invisible commotion.

A military
assault followed and a chute was lowered for the surviving passengers to
escape. Vaingankar could have walked off to the safety of the airport
terminal as several other passengers had done. He was, however,
persuaded by a Gujarati woman with a fractured foot to escort her in one
of the Edhi ambulances that were headed for the Jinnah Hospital. He
briefly became her interpreter.

“The Pakistani doctors were
angels. One of them gave me his stethoscope so that I could walk about
freely looking for a handy phone,” he recalled, explaining that security
was tightened after one of the suspected hijackers was brought wounded
to the hospital. The phone lines were jammed with anxious callers. A
helpful lady doctor escorted him to the radiology department where
Vaingankar found a phone that had been spared the melee. By then he had
collected as many addresses as he could of patients from Bombay. “As I
gave my father the last contact, the line went dead.”

Mukul
Vaingankar has nothing but unalloyed respect for the Pakistanis he
engaged with. He feels strongly that it is a particularly South Asian
syndrome — the instant warmth and readiness to help each other
unselfishly in a crisis.
He was pained by the turn of events in Pakistan
since his 1986 ordeal. He knows that the good doctors he met and the
caregivers of the Edhi Foundation he befriended are in trouble today at
the hands of those that attacked the Karachi airport recently. Mukul
Vaingankar wants to help, but like many others, he doesn’t know where to
begin.

………

Link: http://www.dawn.com/news/1116156/this-karachi-nightmare-and-that

……

regards

3 boys dead, Israel to vote for war?

The rockets and counter air-strikes have been relentless, and wise men have been suggesting that Israel re-occupy Gaza. Now comes the news, the bodies of the three missing teenagers have been found.

The Israeli cabinet will meet @ 230 PM (Eastern Standard Time) and probably take a decision one way or the other. There will be pressure from the USA to not escalate matters, then again one of the kids is an Israeli-American.

If yet another war breaks out then whatever is left of the mid-east will be consumed in flames. These are interesting times indeed.
……….


The bodies of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped in the West
Bank earlier this month have been found north-west of the city of
Hebron, the Israeli Defense Forces confirmed today.

“Following extensive searches in order to retrieve the three abducted
teens … three bodies were discovered in the area north-west to Hebron,
north of the community of Telem,” the IDF said in a statement. “The
bodies are currently going through forensic identification. The families
of the abducted teens have been notified.”

An emergency cabinet meeting has been called for 2:30 p.m. ET, and an
announcement could come during or after the meeting, a source told ABC
News.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group accused by Israel of taking the
boys, has denied kidnapping the teens, though senior Israeli and
Palestinian officials agree that the abductors were likely tied to — or
part of — Hamas but operating without orders from the organization’s
leadership.
One of the teens, 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel, had dual U.S.-Israeli
citizenship and his family is from Brooklyn, N.Y. The two others were
Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach.




Israeli forces have conducted raids in the West Bank in the search for
the teens and their kidnappers since they were abducted on June 12.
Since the search started, more than 240 Palestinians have been arrested
in the operation dubbed “Brother’s Keeper,” the army said. Knesset sessions for tonight have been cancelled, according to Israeli media reports.
There are reports that Israeli soldiers have already been deployed in
Hebron, and Israeli TV stations earlier showed pictures of soldiers
searching through rubble and military vehicles moving through the
village of Halhul, just north of Hebron.
At the end of a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest
was asked about the report of the deaths, news of which broke in the
middle of the briefing.
“We obviously condemn in the strongest possible term, violence that
takes the lives of innocent civilians,” he said. “But I don’t want to
react any further without having a chance to take a look at that report
myself.”

……

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/International/bodies-missing-israeli-teens-found-hebron-source/story?id=24367041

…..

regards

Maharajah Ranjit Singh

 Today (June 30) is the 175th death anniversary of the Sher-e-Punjab.

When the Sikh sun was at peak noon, the empire was bound by Peshawar (North-West), Srinagar (North-East), Amritsar (central), and Multan (south).

When the downfall came it was at the hands of the perfidious Albion. The Sikhs did not dwell much on this humiliation and became (along with the Gurkhas) a pillar of the British Indian Army. Then came Jalian Wala Bag, the hanging of Bhagat Singh, the brutalities of Partition,...… OTOH during the dark days of 1984, it was the BBC Foreign Service (and Mark Tully) which kept the Sikhs within India and outside informed about the true extent of crimes against God and men (and women).

As we understand the (mainly expat) Sikhs still dream of restoring the lost kingdom. The only problem is a corridor to the sea. During the peak revolution days of the 1980s there was a proposal to grab Karachi unbeknownst to patron-in-chief General Zia. Another proposal was to annex Gujarat and establish a corridor via Rajasthan.

The SGPC observed his anniversary at Dewan Manji Sahib hall in the
Golden Temple complex. A religious function was held and prayers were
offered in the memory of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, often described as the
greatest Sikh ruler, whose kingdom stretched from the Sutlej river in
the east to Kabul in Afghanistan.



Besides ‘bhog’ of the ‘Akhand Path’ , ‘hazoori ragis’ of the Golden
Temple performed ‘kirtan’. The religious function was well attended by
devotees and SGPC officials. Giani Balwinder Singh, a ‘granthi’ (priest) of Harminder Sahib
threw light on the mighty Sikh ruler. He recalled the Maharaja’s secular
vision and the respect he accorded to all religions during his reign.

He also recalled the Maharaja’s contributions to the Sikh community
and his role in gold plating and beautification of the Harmandir Sahib
and building several others historic Sikh shrines dedicated to the Sikh
gurus.

….
While Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Pakistan Sikh
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) will observe death anniversary of
Maharaja Ranjit Singh on Sunday, monuments related to him in Amritsar –
Burj Vaniake, where the ruler used to stay and even hold his durbar, and
Pul Kanjari…, largely
remain neglected by the government.
Pul Kanjari has been preserved with
private efforts, but Burj Vaniake’s little fort-like structure is in
dilapidated condition and could cave in any day.


Once a lively
township, Pul Kanjri, about 35km from Amritsar, was built by Maharaja
Ranjit Singh and has a “baradari”, a “baoli” (bathing pool), a temple, a
gurdwara and a mosque. It also houses a tomb called Shah Sikandar ka
Takia.

….

Legend has it that Moran….from Makhanpur,
would entertain Maharaja Ranjit Singh with her dances whenever the Sikh
ruler would stay at the “baradari”. Once on her way from Lahore, she
lost her shoe in the canal, which used to provide irrigation water to
the king’s orchards in Shalimar Bagh, Lahore. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh
came to know that his favourite….. was upset after losing her
footwear, he ordered construction of a bridge (pul) across the canal.
Since then, the place is known as Pul Kanjari.

…..

Link: http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/amritsar/prayers-mark-maharaja-ranjit-singh-s-death-anniversary/article1-1235039.aspx

….

regards

Iraqis screwed but Khilafah restored

The pious lot have done it again. After destroying Syria; a war is being waged on Iraq’s ancient heritage. Death, disease and food shortage is fast catching up with Iraq’s second biggest city-Mosul. Though as per Praveen Swami, nearby UNHRC run refugee camps in Kurd controlled regions are still better off than Delhi’s slums!    

Not satisfied with their grand territorial achievements, ISIS has taken the next step and renamed itself Islamic State (not confined to any country) and on first day of Ramadan, announced a Caliphate with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “the caliph”- leader for
Muslims everywhere. Some believe this may cause divisions in Jihadist circles as boys with higher personal ambitions may refuse to work under the new Caliph. Nevertheless, for the time being, there seems to be lots of excitement in Jihadi circles. 

Boys closer home also seem to be excited

PS: Going by social media feeds, ISIS boys seem to be way more hiphop than their boring desi cousins-Taliban. Lots of young ‘educated’ recruits from western/globetrotter circles running the show.

PSLV defies Gravity

“…Gravity. I
am told the cost of sending an Indian rocket to space is less than the
money invested in making the Hollywood movie,” ……
Experts say the secret is India’s ability to copy and
adapt existing space technology for its own needs….

As the West evolves it will produce more and more expensive science fiction movies which attempt to show us how civilization will end if we do not mend our high carbon-footprint ways.

OTOH, poor but technically proficient nations like India should be able to show us how low cost technology can improve human lives, even that of westerners. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C23) today helped launch French, German, Canadian and Singaporean satellites. Modi has also spoken about a South Asian (SAARC) satellite. This will be an excellent confidence building measure.

At the end of the day our goal should be to leave behind a world that treats the next generation more humanely than previous ones. Technology can solve many of the problems but in our opinion we have to find new ways of conflict management at the personal, society, national and global level. The human touch is often free of cost but the most valuable. While developing technology let us not ignore the human touch.
…………….

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed India’s low-cost space
technology on Monday, saying a rocket which launched four foreign
satellites into orbit had cost less to make than the Hollywood film
“Gravity.

“India’s domestically-produced Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off Monday morning from the southern
spaceport of Sriharikota, carrying satellites from France, Germany,
Canada and Singapore.

“India has the potential to be the launch
service provider of the world and must work towards this goal,” Modi
said from the site one month after coming to power at the head of a
right-wing government.

Satellite launch industry revenues totalled
$2.2 billion in 2012, according to the US Satellite Industry
Association, and India is keen to expand its modest share of this market
as a low-cost provider.

“I have heard about the film Gravity. I
am told the cost of sending an Indian rocket to space is less than the
money invested in making the Hollywood movie,” Modi added.

The
budget of the British-American 3D sci-fi thriller, starring Sandra
Bullock and George Clooney, was about $100 million, according to
industry website IMDb.

Last year, India launched a bid to become
the first Asian nation to reach Mars with a mission whose price tag was
the envy of space programmes world-wide.

The total cost at 4.5
billion rupees ($73 million) was less than a sixth of the $455 million
earmarked for a Mars probe launched shortly afterwards by US space
agency NASA.

Experts say the secret is India’s ability to copy and
adapt existing space technology for its own needs, and the abundance of
highly-skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign
counterparts’ wages.

Modi said the country must be proud of its space programme, developed in the face of “great international pressure and hurdles”.

Western
sanctions on India after the nation staged a nuclear weapons test in
1974 gave a major thrust to the space programme because New Delhi needed
to develop its own missile technology.

…….

Link: http://www.dawn.com/news/1116107/india-hails-rocket-cheaper-than-hollywood-film-gravity

……

regards

Dragon slayer

We think islamists (both dictators as well as non-state actors) are monsters for having killed a few million kaffirs. Those numbers pale in comparison to the 40-50 million Han Chinese who were murdered by Mao. There were sons who snitched on their mothers (who were never heard of again). The Chicoms are ever-ready to roll tanks over civilians. All of this happens without the benefit of a dot of remorse or awareness. If anything they are rather proud of their omlette making skills.

Frankly speaking, everything about China/Chinese scares the shit out of the rest of us. The way the Chicoms can lay down dictates (in the next decade birth rate shall be xxx) and the way the people manage to follow such dictates is scary. The way they declared the entire China sea as their property is scary. The way they performed 400 mil abortions by force (essentially eugenics in all but name) is scary.

Just the thought that someone can beat them is a fantasy. Because in order to do so you must stop feeling scared. You must persuade yourself to NOT drop your rifle (metaphorical or not) and run away at the mere sight of the “yellow peril.”

But if you beat them just one time, beat them at their own game, it is like a tiny blob of light that shines out through the fog. Suddenly the fear is gone (even if momentarily). Well done to Sania for having done the impossible.

There is a message in this for India as well. Both Sania and now Smriti Irani (the new education minister) have noted that their families were unhappy with them being born. Just think about that. Abort the world-beaters and you will remain a third-class country for ever. Treasure the girl child and there may yet be some hope to spare. 
……
India’s
Saina Nehwal became the first non-Chinese shuttler to win a women’s
singles Super Series title in 2014 after clinching the Australian
Badminton Open at the State Sports Centre on Sunday.






The
Olympic bronze medallist defeated Spain’s Carolina Marin 21-18, 21-11 in
43 minutes to win her first Super Series crown in 20 months, after
coming out on top in the Denmark Open in October 2012.

The
$750,000 tournament in Australia was the eighth Super Series tournament
this year. The previous seven have all been taken by the top Chinese
shuttlers.

World No. 3 Yihan Wang won in South Korea and
Singapore, World No. 2 Shixian Wang came out victorious at All England
and India while World No. 1 and reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui won
in Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia.

This was the Hyderabadi’s second title of the season after winning the India Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow in January.

The next Super Series on the circuit is the $500,000 Denmark Open to be held in Odense Oct 14-19.

…..
Ace
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal stands just a win away from clinching her
second title of the year after she stunned world number two and top seed
Chinese Shixian Wang in a gruelling three-game semifinal contest of the
$750,000 Star Australian Open Super Series here on Saturday.

Sixth-seeded Saina prevailed 21-19, 16-21, 21-15 in a marathon match, which lasted an hour and 16 minutes.

“Beat world number 2 Wang Shixian in a tough 3 game match. Through to
the final of the Australian Open super series!” tweeted the Indian after
recording her fifth overall win against the Chinese nemesis, which took
their head-to-head record to 5-3.

Saina, who had ended up on
the losing side in their previous two encounters — the most recent
being the All England Championships, showed tremendous grit to outsmart
the top-seeded Wang.

As expected, it was evenly-contested battle between the two players, who are pretty familiar with each others tactics.

In the opening game, it went neck and neck till 19-19 before Saina broke away to seal the issue in her favour.

Not the one to give up easily, Wang roared back in the second game. The
two players were even till the 16th point but Wang broke off from that
point to draw level with Saina.

However, Saina proved in the
final battle of attrition and won the deciding third game rather
comprehensively to enter the final.

Saina had earlier this year won the India Open Grand Prix Gold in Delhi.
 
……

Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/badminton/Saina-Nehwal-first-non-Chinese-to-win-Super-Series-in-2014/articleshow/37454532.cms

……

regards

Kashmir: End of Militancy but not of Militarisation

A decade back, More people were dying every month in militancy-countermilitancy associated violence in J&K than there are now in entire year! Total casualties have fallen to the level when militancy began (1988-89) and  unlike the bad old days, most casualties nowadays are of the militants (and not civilians).
Incidents
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
Terrorists
Total
1988
390
29
1
1
31
1989
2154
79
13
0
92
1990
3905
862
132
183
1177
1991
3122
594
185
614
1393
1992
4971
859
177
873
1909
1993
4457
1023
216
1328
2567
1994
4484
1012
236
1651
2899
1995
4479
1161
297
1338
2796
1996
4224
1333
376
1194
2903
1997
3004
840
355
1177
2372
1998
2993
877
339
1045
2261
1999
2938
799
555
1184
2538
2000
2835
842
638
1808
3288
2001
3278
1067
590
2850
4507
2002
NA
839
469
1714
3022
2003
NA
658
338
1546
2542
2004
NA
534
325
951
1810
2005
NA
521
218
1000
1739
2006
NA
349
168
599
1116
2007
NA
164
121
492
777
2008
NA
69
90
382
541
2009
NA

55

78

242

375

2010
NA
36
69
270
375
2011
NA
34
30
119
183
2012
NA
16
17
84
117
2013
NA
20
61
100
181
2014
NA
10
16
42
68
Total*

47234

14682

6110

22787

43579
*Data till June 22,
2014 (Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal) 

In an
ideal scenario, end of militant violence ought to be followed by
demilitarisation and a political settlement with the weakened militant
elements. The script has been played out in Bodoland, Nagaland and Mizoram with
decent results (though inter-ethnic/tribal violence is yet end in Nagaland and
Bodoland). There has indeed been less visible military presence in Valley’s cities. But, right now, prospects of complete demilitarisation or any significant ‘drawdown’ from Valley’s internal cities seem
dim for several reasons:
  1. Elections and a cautious
    Indian State:

    Kashmir Valley recorded the lowest regional turnout in Indian
    Parliamentary elections. Barring Kupwara district and a few Shia/Gujjar
    dominated pockets; Separatists largely succeeded in ensuring a boycott in
    Valley- at places (Srinagar’s Bemian, Sopore) through genuine sympathy for
    Hurriyat’s call; and at other places (rural South Kashmir) through
    assassination of Panches & creating a fear-psychosis. This has been a slap on the face for Indian State. Now, the State assembly elections are
    due later this year. Usually, State and Panchayat (unlike National)
    elections, record decent turnout in Valley. Given the ignominy faced in
    Parliamentary polls, Indian state would not like to do anything radical,
    that holds the potential to spoil the state elections (and discredit
    itself further).
  2. BJP in Centre: With BJP in Power, even Article 370, is no longer a holy cow. 
    Defence Minister Jaitley has already made trips to Srinagar,
    mainly to assess the Security preparedness against Terrorist
    threats. Modi will do the same in early July.  
  3. Kashmiri Pandit Repatriation:
    There have been some
    overtures by Central and State Government, for resettling Kashmiri Pandits
    in Valley. Whether these overtures materialise or not, talk for the same
    means there will have to be Central security forces in valley to reassure
    Pandit community.
  4. Af-Pak muddle next door and
    ISIL, Al-Shabab, Boko-Haram adventures in far off lands:
    Requires no further elaboration.
There is
little doubt that in past, Central Governments in Delhi have acted in a
autocratic manner (spark for insurgency itself was started by a rigged state
assembly election in 1987) and there exists a really huge and horrible laundry
list of rights violation by the security forces stationed there with virtually
no convictions. At times, Kashmiri students have also been attacked by their
hypernationalist college mates in North India.
Having
said that, It has to be recognised that (unlike her esteemed neighbors) as of
today; Kashmir is free of polio, and (unlike Syrians, Afghans, Sri Lanka’s
Tamilians and Pakistan’s Ahmedis/Shias) Kashmiris are not jumping onto
overcrowded boats in Indian ocean or crossing over to neighboring countries for
political or religious asylum (infact many
who did cross LoC, at peak of militancy, now wish to return home
).
Nor do Kashmiris go around blowing themselves in mainland Indian cities. Also
despite out-migration of Valley’s Pandits and multiple attacks by separatist
militants in Jammu’s temples and pilgrims in past, by and large, Jammu region’s
communal harmony has been retained (leaving aside 1947 killings). Things could have been a lot  worse. Credit (be it
to the local culture or the Security forces) must be given, where it is due.
Or is it a case of Confirmation Bias? I am
no longer in immediate demilitarisation camp
A year
back, I would have backed complete demilitarisation of Valley and handing law
and order entirely to Local Police. But events in Iraq, Nigeria and Pakistan
have turned me into an agnostic inclined towards holding one’s ground. Given the existing popular disenchantment amongst
the Sunni Kashmiri majority and presence of significant Islamist firepower in region; there
is a very realistic chance of many a cities
falling into the hands of Islamist militants as soon as Central
military/para-military forces withdraws- assuming here that J&K State
police is no better than State Police elsewhere in India and like Iraq- if push
comes to the shove, Police may very well switch sides or simply run away
This, in my view, will
not be followed by any dawn of Azadi. Instead like Waziristan, Northern Sri Lanka, and now Tikrit; Fighter Jets and heavy artillery may end up bombing the
entire place to retake cities, causing major civilian casualties and mass
migrations. Kashmiri separatists, even with Pakistani assistance, are too small a lot to defeat India by force. How all of this will impact with Jammu’s (if not rest of India’s)
multireligious settlements is anybody’s guess. What looks certain is that, end
result could very well be far far worse than the present ground situation and
would take decades to heal. For long-lasting peace and prosperity in Kashmir Valley, A popular
political reconciliation/settlement in a hate free environment has to be the
goal; but at the moment, priority, has to be not allowing Kashmir to descend into
a Syria/Afghan level hellhole.
Brown Pundits