Mirwaiz calls for immediate demilitarization of Kashmir to resolve Indo-Pak dispute

Hurriyat Conference (M) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday said all confidence building measures (CBMs) taken by India and Pakistan had gone to waste and the only way to de-escalate the tension at the Line of Control (LoC) was that New Delhi should announce immediate demilitarisation of Kashmir.

Addressing a gathering on the Urs of Khwaja Naqshband Sahib (RA) at Khawaja Bazar, the Hurriyat (M) chairman said Kashmiris had never supported war between India and Pakistan.

“The current situation at the LoC is grave. Both nuclear powers are in a confrontation mode which is not good. War will only bring destruction,” Mirwaiz said.

“We believe CBMs taken by India and Pakistan over the past eight years have gone to waste. The situation has once again gone back to square one.”

He said India and Pakistan should change their mindset. “Hurriyat will never support war between the two nations. We believe the only way to douse the flames at the LoC is that New Delhi should announce immediate demilitarization of Kashmir. Once that happens, guns will automatically fall silent at LoC,” the Mirwaiz said.

Mirwaiz appealed to the United Nations and the international community to persuade India for troop withdrawal from Kashmir so that peace could prevail between India and Pakistan. “Once troops go back to the barracks, atmosphere would become conducive for talks. And once dialogue begins, Kashmir will move towards resolution,” he said. “The solution has to be acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are the real stakeholders.”

The Hurriyat (M) chief said if war took place between India and Pakistan, no power on earth could stop the destruction. “Imagine nuclear powers fighting a war. Everything including Kashmir would turn into rubble. We hope better sense prevails between the two countries,” he said.

He said the LoC firing was not because of Siachen, trade or China angle. “The Kashmir issue is the root cause of the problem,” the Mirwaiz said. He said the problem of Kashmir was serious in nature. “The entire India cried over the killing of two soldiers and its media hyped it up in every way possible. Indian media played a jingoistic role. I want to ask New Delhi, couldn’t they see 150,000 killings in Kashmir since 1990,” the Hurriyat (M) chairman questioned.

Mirwaiz said when Kashmiris got killed by forces, New Delhi maintained silence. “It was surprising to see even civil society members and intellectuals making venomous comments over the killing of two Indian soldiers. We want to ask them why they prefer to remain silent when Kashmiris are butchered.”

He advised New Delhi to “catch the bull by its horns” and to work towards settlement of the Kashmir issue instead of entering into confrontation with Pakistan. On the occasion, Mirwaiz prayed for an early resolution of the dispute.

Muslim based NGOs in Jammu & Kashmir face discrimination

Jammu and Kashmir has 158 NGOs authorised to collect foreign donations, 17 of them Christian religious organisations, besides 10 Buddhist, four Hindu and two Muslim organisations.
And in the last five years, two of the Christian NGOs, most of them working for the downtrodden sections of society and victims of violence, and one of the Buddhist organisations have received foreign donations over Rs 1 crore. The highest donations have gone to Catholic Social Service Society, which is not registered as a religious organisations.

None of the other Buddhist religious NGOs, nor any of the Hindu or Muslim organisations, received over that amount in that period, government figures show.

The top three received over Rs 36 crore between them. According to the Union Home Ministry, which maintains records of these NGOs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), Jammu-based Catholic Social Service Society got Rs. 15.26 crore from five foreign countries. According to its website, CSSS works in 172 villages of Jammu region.

Diocese of Jammu-Srinagar St Mary’s Church received Rs. 14.74 crore, the donations coming from nine countries. And Kashmir Evangelical Fellowship received Rs 6.06 crore from Canada, USA and UAE in last four years.

The list of Hindu organisations includes the Amarnath Shrine Board, Ramkrishna Mission and two trusts related to Mata Vaishno Devi. The two Muslim religious groups are Madarsa Taleemul Quran and Salfia Muslim Educational Research Trust. Among the 10 Buddhist NGOs, the one that got over Rs 1 crore is Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre.

The CSSS website lists its target groups as “youths, minority, victims of violence, differently abled people, drug users”.

The 17 NGOs got FCRA registration after they had declared themselves “religious, Christian” organisations. The CSSS is registered as a “social” organisation.

Some of these organisations are based in areas that were earlier heavily affected by terrorism, such as Anantnag, Baramula, Srinagar. But the bulk, 10 of the 17, are based in Jammu, which is a Hindu-majority area.

Says the website of Kashmir Evangelical Fellowship, while calling for donations for terror-affected families, “Our missionary families are called by God and resolute in their commitment to reach their world for Christ in the face of great obstacles and under threat of life from terrorist groups.”

The 17 Christian religious NGOs listed as such include Society of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary (Baramula), North India Pentecostal Fellowship (Jammu), St Paul’s Church (Jammu), Diocese of Jammu (Jammu), Jammu-Kashmir Presentation Society (Jammu), Krist Jyoti Social Welfare Society (Jammu), CMI Service Society (Jammu), J&K Darul Fazal Home for the Zoram Evangelical Fellowship (Srinagar), Perfecture Apostolic of J&K Catholic Church (Srinagar), Emmanueal Mission Hostel (Jammu), Indian Pentecostal Church of God (Udhampur) and Samjee Pappy Kallimes Church of Christ.

Kashmir drifting in cross-currents of regional politics

KashmirWatch

Kashmir is drifting in turbulent cross-currents of the regional politics in South Asia, a highly dreary situation, unfolding itself in a fast paced mode, making it imperative for anyone who indulges in journalistic pursuits of sorts, to speak out his mind and stated stand point, not with a view to pontificate, but to inform public opinion in performance of one’s conscionable public duty.

I venture to break the eleven month hiatus of silence self imposed of course for various reasons, and, draw public attention to the crises looming large on the horizon. I have never viewed the Kashmir problem as an unfinished agenda of the great divide of Indian Sub-continent in 1947. In my book [ KASHMIR ENIGMA ENTANGLE STRANDS ] I painstakingly expatiated that the provenance of the Kashmir Enigma were laid down by the British strategists in 1707 and not 1947 as is the popular perception. After taking a second hard look at the situation, I still find my adherence to this stand point.

1707 A.D was the period of revival of high caste Hindu Nationalism and British, were invited by the propertied class of High Caste Hindus to subvert Mughal Rule in India. It was agreed that when British depart from the Indian Sub-continent, the mantle of power will be passed on to the propertied High Caste Hindus, who would resurrect the Unified India of Ram Rajya era. Elimination of Pakistan as a State is compatible with the ideals of Hindu Nationalism.

The interim resolution of this conflict of ideals is the ideation of a federal SAARC on economic basis, with common market, common currency, common defense and common forums on regional basis for the resolution of interse territorial disputes. Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh’s strategic asseveration that Indian markets shall be opened to SAARC countries, translated into explicable parlance means that domination of the economies of the SAARC countries, by the pre-dominant and ascendant Indian economy that would gradually lead to the exclusion of rival China from South Asia and will corrode the pretentious sovereignty of the SAARC countries.

The only stumbling block in the pathway is Pakistan, that for its own existential reasons, willy nilly, has how to align with China. I am of the firm view, that U.S and China, shared common perception to dust U.S.S.R from Afghanistan since 1978, and, the Jihad against U.S.S.R was funded in a vast measure by China, through the conduit of Pakistan Army.

The second limb of my thesis is grounded upon the speculation that the Pakistan Army was never totally dependant on U.S military assistance. Mr. A.Q. Khan the Pakistani nuclear scientist should be in a position to corroborate my speculation that actualization of Pakistani nuclear ambitions and surrealistic dreams had the tacit financial approval of China. My own financial difficulties prevented me from visiting China and Pakistan to verify the actual facts. I honest to goodness, wanted to meet Late Mr. Z.A. Bhutto, then facing a murder trial to obtain his version of the scenario. I applied to Amnesty International Indian Chapter for permission to observe Bhuttoe’s trial. The request was disregarded and I tendered my public resignation from Amnesty International Kashmir Chapter as founder member. This explains why I can only characterize my view point as a speculation.

However, this speculation, leads, to still another illation that since 1978 itself U.S.A and India reached a tacit understanding that the radicalization of Talibans for fighting Jihad against Russians would inevitably lead to clericalisation of the Pakistan polity. That would in turn lead to distrust of U.S and Indian policies towards Af-Pak region.

The Indians had a nostrum to this menacing scenario. Down right at the birth of Pakistan in 1947 itself the Indian National Congress adopted a policy of supporting Baluchi and Pushtoon Nationalism. Khan Abdul Gauffar Khan and Dr Khan Sahib at the public request of Sardar Patel then voicing the sentiments of Indian National Congress boycotted 14th August 1947 Celebrations. Gous Bux Bizenjo and other ultra nationalist Baluchis, who had a personal rapport with Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru, [Patron All State Peoples Conference] were totally averse to the idea of a theological State of Pakistan. The ambiguities of the Durand Live made it possible for successive Nationalist Governments in Afghanistan to support the idea of Pukhtoonistan. Russian financial support ably fuelled the fires of Afghan Nationalism. The scenario is vividly characterized by Anthony Arnold in his book Afghanistan, the Soviet Invasion in perspective in these words:-

“…..In the spring of 1955, Afghan mobs were permitted if not encouraged by the authorities to tear down the flag from Pakistan Embassy in Kabul, and from its consulates in Jalallabad and Kandhar and to loot these establishments. Pakistan promptly withdrew its ambassador, suspended Afghanistan’s transit privileges, and unleashed its own mob-violence against Afghan businesses and officials in Pakistan. The border remained closed for five months, until the United States finally prevailed on Pakistani’s to allow transit of US aid materials and equipment to Helmund Valley. The United States turned down as impracticable, however, an Afghan request to build over a thousand miles of highway through Iran to give Afghanistan an alternative route to the sea.” Unquote In my view now a reversal of situation has morphed. The killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabd did not elicit any reaction from President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia. The million dollar question is why? What about Viladmir Putin? His studied silence is eloquent. It was Bin Laden who organized Jihad against U.S.S.R in 1980. The reason is obvious. First and foremost, Russia now has been able to persuade the Islamists in Russia that they should delink themselves from Al-Qaeda. Russia in fact is turning a blind eye to the Russian Islamists getting financial support from other sources.

Now Moscow realizes that there is a present a nexus between India and U.S.A to fuel Pushtoon Nationalism, and, fund the Taliban to raise a direct insurgency in North West Frontier Province of Pakistan.

This is the only plausible explanation why USA has overtly by passed Pakistan and continued negotiations with Talibans. If Talibans delink themselves from Al-Qaeda and form a government in Afghanistan the USA will support the idea of Pushtoonistan.

In the aftermath of such a situation, the U.S will be able to withdraw from Afghanistan by the year 2014. The upshot of this discussion is that Pushtoon Nationalism is now getting direct succour from India and U.S.A. The situation is to force Pakistan to federate with India at least for defense and foreign policy matters, in the name of bringing stabilization in Afghanistan. In such a dire situation, Russian and the China now have a joint interest to collaborate with Pakistan. Sergi Rogov, the Director of Moscow based institute for [U.S and Canada studies] has cautioned that avoiding this strategy will jeopardize Russian interests in Central Asia. There is reason to believe that both Russia and China would like to delink Indian – U.S.A policies in South Asia. The best way to achieve this objective is to open an Islamic insurgency in Kashmir. This theory has to some extent the support of Russian think tank led by Ruslan Ghereyer of [North Caucasus Centre of Islamic Studies]. His comment on the killing of Osama Bin Ladin was succinct in say:-

“…..The liquidation of Bin Laden will have no impact on terrorism in the world and still less in North Caucasus: on the country, it will open a Pandora box of extremism.” He in a mood of sub-audition has in fact cautioned that the Pandora Box of extremism is to be opened in Kashmir Valley. Revival of militancy in Kashmir will be fully supported by Pakistan Army. The Russians will encourage the Chinese to take the burden of Kashmiri Islamic insurgency so that the attention of USA is diverted and it is prevented from devising further strategies in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Water scarcity in Pakistan will force army to forestall any federating strategy with India even on the economic front, not to speak of defense and Foreign affairs. However, granting MNF status to India is a smoke screen.

It is my perception that water scarcity in west Punjab and the changing Russian stance towards Afghanistan and Central Asia will open up the way for Pak-China defense pact coinciding with the rise and revival of Islamic insurgency in Kashmir. The prospects of Kashmir future are bleak and dreary indeed! The downing of a NATO Helicopter with thirty eight U.S special operation group by Taliban using Rocket fire shows direct involvement of both Russia and China in arming Talibans. In the back drop of this intense hugger-mugger, India fully well knowing, the internal situation in Pakistan, that shows, that at present Pakistan is severely caught in the coils of a ferocious turbulence, the genesis of which stems from the demands for re-organization of States in Pakistan on ethnic and linguistic considerations. India is also aware that the overwidening hiatus between Pushtoons and Mahajirs in Karachi, has become unbridgeable, as three hundred people were killed in this blighted city in the deadliest month of July 2011 still invited Hina Rabbani Khar the young Foreign Minister of Pakistan for intense parleys. Such a meeting was inevitably bound to prove a non-sequitur.

Full credit goes to Hina Rabbani Khar, the brilliant, dashing smart and stylish youngster from the jetset sybaritic family of Khars, who with a broad smile, completely flummoxed the ageing old Geezer Mr. S.M. Krishna. He in his nervousness could cobble up together some incoherent, pretentious, high flown, high sounding words, more suitable to a fawner, assuring the Foreign Minister of Pakistan about India’s sincerity towards “Pakistan Integrity.”

The parleys were full of platitudes, and a lot of words were scattered higgledy piggledy about the resolution of Kashmir dispute. The two high powered executives agreed to obvious procrastination.

Hina was able to achieve her target, as procrastination should now enable Pakistan and China to announce formally about a defense pact. They are not announcing it, as they expect Iran to join them soon within a year.

A new regional situation is emerging in South Asia. It is in the interest of Pakistan and China to push the Kashmir issue to the back burner to divert attention from the construction of a huge dam in Gilgit by the Chinese P.L.A.

Indians have no answer to these questions of new emerging regional formations in South Asia. They vainly hope Pakistan would implode, but China has already shored up Pakistan. Indo-Pak parleys have shown that true politics is after all the end game of crass crackpots. This is the lesson which history teaches us.

India Cries as US Offers Dam Funding in Pakistan

By SAEED SHAH

ISLAMABAD — Even as U.S.-Pakistani cooperation on anti-terrorism programs is withering, the United States is considering backing the construction of a giant, $12 billion dam in Pakistan that would be the largest civilian aid project the U.S. has undertaken here in decades.

Supporters of a U.S. role in the project say American participation would mend the United States’ tattered image, going a long way toward quieting widespread anti-Americanism amid criticism that the U.S. lavishes money on Pakistan’s military while doing little for the country’s civilian population.

Approval of the project still faces many hurdles. India objects to the dam because it would be in Kashmir, an area that India also claims. The project also is likely to face opposition from Pakistan’s critics in the U.S. Congress, who’ve called for all aid to be cut off after Osama bin Laden was found hiding in northern Pakistan earlier this year. Recent Pakistani actions, including allegations this week that Pakistan had allowed Chinese military experts to inspect the wreckage of an American stealth helicopter that crashed in the bin Laden compound, are likely to inflame such criticism.

Still, proponents of U.S. aid for the project recall that the United States was popular in Pakistan in the 1960s and ’70s, when Washington backed the construction of two enormous dams, Tarbela and Mangla.

“Getting involved in a long-term project like this is very compelling for us,” said a senior U.S. official who asked not to be identified because no final decision on the project has been made. “This would be a huge demonstration of our commitment to Pakistan and our faith in the country’s future.”

The Diamer Basha dam would provide enough power to overcome Pakistan’s crippling electricity shortage. Proponents of the project also claim that its water storage capacity, in a 50-mile-long lake that would be created behind the dam, would be so great that it would have averted last’s years devastating floods, which deluged a fifth of the country, pushed 20 million people out of their homes and caused an estimated $10 billion in damage.

The U.S.-Pakistani alliance since 2001 has been plagued by accusations in Washington that Islamabad is playing a “double game” by secretly supporting Afghan insurgents, while Pakistan thinks it’s been bullied into acting against its own interests and that it’s been unfairly blamed for American failures in Afghanistan. The unilateral American raid that killed bin Laden in May humiliated Pakistan’s powerful military, causing anti-terrorism cooperation to be all but halted.

Diamer Basha also could bolster the credentials of the civilian side of Pakistan’s government, which traditionally is locked in a struggle with the military over who will dictate policy. The last two military-run governments didn’t manage to build a large dam, leaving the country with a shortage of electricity that forces daily blackouts, known as “load shedding,” that last for as long as 12 hours. The blackouts disrupt industry, throwing thousands out of work and creating misery in ordinary households.

Diamer Basha, to be located on the Indus River, would provide 4,500 megawatts of power, roughly the country’s current shortfall, though it would take some eight years to build.

Shakil Durrani, the chairman of Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority, said the dam had received Pakistani government approval and that he was confident of American support for the project, after talks with U.S. officials. The authority plans to develop a shortlist of contractors for the massive construction project at the end of this year.

“If we had a reservoir the size of Diamer Basha, the floods last summer would not have occurred,” Durrani said. “This would be the largest project ever undertaken in Pakistan. It is our top priority.”

The U.S. would provide only a fraction of the $12 billion needed to complete the project. However, the American money would be crucial in enabling other international finance sources to support the dam, especially the Asian Development Bank.

The U.S. official indicated that some $200 million would be provided initially, with the possibility of hundreds of millions more as the project develops.

“We want to see the Diamer Basha project launched. We believe that putting down some money at the beginning will act as a catalyst, accelerate the process,” the official said.

U.S. aid to Pakistan, ramped up to $1.5 billion a year under the Obama administration, has been widely dismissed in the country as going mostly to consultants and lacking direction. It remains unclear how much of the money has arrived in Pakistan since the new aid program began in 2009.

The U.S. official said Washington had spent $2 billion on civilian assistance in Pakistan since October 2009, including $550 million on flood relief last year, but Pakistani officials and analysts say the amount is much less.

“The vast majority of the U.S. aid has gone to the Pakistan military, not schools or social services,” said Mosharraf Zaidi, an analyst. “Diamer Basha would be tremendously good for Pakistan and would show that the U.S. is invested in a long-term relationship with Pakistan, no matter how bad things look today.”

Since 2001, Washington has provided $20.7 billion to Pakistan, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service. Of that, $6.5 billion was economic aid, including budget support, an assistance program for the extremism-plagued tribal area and help for internally displaced people. However, it’s included no landmark infrastructure projects.

“U.S. aid is neither visible nor tangible, as far as the people of Pakistan are concerned, unlike, say, aid from China or Saudi Arabia,” said Tariq Fatemi, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington. “Most Pakistanis want the U.S. to focus on sectors that really matter, namely energy and power.”

In contrast, Chinese economic aid in recent years has included nuclear power plants and the construction of a large deepwater port at Gwadar in the country’s southwest. The Saudis are constantly pumping money into mosques and religious seminaries in Pakistan and they periodically provide cut-price oil.

The Indian Embassy in Islamabad declined to comment directly but it pointed to a statement that the government of India issued in 2006, after the Diamer Basha project was first proposed. That statement said India had officially protested to Pakistan, as the dam would be “in territory that is part of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, which is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession to it in 1947.”

“Off The Net” Kashmir Freedom Movement

Hamid Rajput has a sharp eye to pick between the lines, he always has something interesting to say. Not only that he has a good way to explain and express himself. I find him very interesting and always like to discuss with him.

Dead body of a woman is paraded to establish the Indian ruthless rule

When discussing over many issues, Kashmir had us fixed for the barbaric, inhuman and humiliating atrocities being committed over the Kashmiris. Thus our discussion developed in to deeper groves of the issues related to human sufferings there. Be it children, young, old women or anyone that dares to stand before the Indian authorities is crushed in every conceivable manner so as to break the will of the people. Least that the Indians realise that everything can be destroyed but for the will of the people. Now Kashmir movement has entered into a phase of no return, the violence will increase so will the killings who will check and intervene is a million dollar question. To pin hopes on the powers in the West including the UNO would mean living in a fools’ paradise.

Here see how the Indian women have come out of their clothes and asking Indian army to rape them is slap on the face of the world conscience but who cares. Likewise is the Kashmir issue, who cares.

Indian women protesting against rape by Indian army – can someone answer

Kashmir is a burning issue not from the near past but since the freedom of the sub-continent. The British played their cards and India fell trap to that; India accepted what was not hers hence the British succeeded so they have a permanent buyer of their weapons. Wasn’t that what David Cameron had come to visit New Delhi for? He could not see any state terrorism in Kashmir or elsewhere within India where Maoists and many more are fighting for their political rights and freedom from the yolks of India. If he had not kept his eyes close to these problems, how could he have bagged contracts worth 1.5 billion dollars? After all what’s a human value, what does it mean to few rich and powerful, nothing more than an ant that gets trodden under the feet without even being noticed.

Going back a little, during month of April, he wrote a paper, “Who attacked Mumbai” quoting Indian writers and intellectuals, that Indian thinker now realize that the fault lines lie within. Here some visible factors could be mentioned to think who is behind uprisings on the Indian side of Kashmir. Kuldeep Nayar in his recent article jog Indian memory that Nehru made promise with Kashmiri nation that they would be given an opportunity to decide what they wanted to do with their territory and later he backed out his words. Arun Dhati Roy a well respected journalist from India portrays Kashmir uprising in these words: “Not surprisingly, the voice that the government of India has tried so hard to silence in Kashmir has massed into a deafening roar. Raised in a playground of army camps, checkpoints, and bunkers, with screams from torture chambers for a soundtrack, the young generation has suddenly discovered the power of mass protest, and above all, the dignity of being able to straighten their shoulders and speak for themselves, represent themselves.” She has a very loud and strong voice compared to her frail body and structure. May be if asked, she

Kashmiri Women raped abducted and never to be seen again

could also turn around like Mr. Jinnah who was questioned for his loud and firm voice said, “Do not forget that I am a Rajput from Sahiwal.” But admirably this lady has the courage to say it loud and clear without mincing her words. The tragedy is that Indian leadership has no wish to read or hear such words that may bring them closer to peace.

B. Raman, a former Indian bureaucrat views the recent Kashmir uprising in these words: “We are facing an Intifada of the Palestinian model in J & K for the first time. It is a spontaneous outburst of anger by sections of the youth over what they allege is the disproportionate use of force by the police and the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force).” I took these words as a confession of thousands of killings inside Indian Kashmir. Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the UNO also observed similar developments in Kashmir.

Amnesty international’s report on Indian atrocities on Kashmiris reminds the Indian authorities that they have an obligation to protect the right to life in accordance with international law and it includes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Law Enforcement Officials, can only use firearms when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life. I leave it to readers to decide that who could be behind Kashmir movement, the infiltrators or internal fault lines?Indian troops forcing the kashmiri youth to march naked To protect the right to life is a far cry for the Indian leadership in power at any given time but their killings, rapes and humiliations of the Kashmiris is a routine matter that has no parallel in history. Just to prove the point, here is a video clipping of the Indian security forces herding the unarmed Kashmiri youth stark naked and abusing them. It has some very derogatory language that has been used in it. It’s a complete shame to humanity who are in a position to influence the Indians and yet they look the other side. This a serious cause that develops vengeance amongst the aggrieved who later over a period of time resort to violence and other means that are then termed as terrorism.

What the Israelis are doing in Gaza is simply deplorable that must not only be condemned with words but must be resisted by force of the international community but when it is compared to Kashmir situation, Gaza is just a shadow. When Ban Ki Moon has also seen with his own eyes and realizes the potential threat to world peace why he does not mobilize the international agencies to stem the atrocities of the Indians in Occupied Kashmir makes one wonder about the intentions of such bodies. To conclude, I would like to appeal to the Indian sane mind that please read the writings on the walls that are visible even to blind and do grant the Kashmiris their legitimate rights for self determination. If for some reason this is not heeded to, the consequence can be disastrous not only for India but for the whole region and world peace.

From Calcutta to Kashmir

By Avirook Sen

For a march that kicked off so close to my home in Calcutta’s Shyambazar, this thing has gotten somewhat out of hand, and more than somewhat ridiculous.

On January 12, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) youth wing flagged off what they called the ‘ekta yatra’ – a march for unity.

The plan was to converge on Lal Chowk in Srinagar, the arson-prone heart of Kashmir, from all over the country, to hoist the Indian tricolour on Republic Day. Assert a fundamental right, remind the fellow in the firan where it’s at, and so on. Alas, the plan lacked idiot-proofing from conception to execution.

A bunch of merry right-wing youth from Karnataka in the south, boarded a train bound for Kashmir. But sometime after midnight, when the train had barely gotten a fifth of the way there, the poor boys fell asleep, dreaming dreams of national unity.

Alert security forces grabbed their chance. At a station in Maharashtra, they detached the bogeys containing the future flag-hoisters from the mother train. They then attached the bogeys to a train headed back to Bangalore, where the volunteers had breakfast.

While the rest of us laughed our heads off, spokesmen for the BJP objected in the strongest possible terms: “Our workers had valid tickets!”

There is a sense of deja vu about these events. In late 1991, a year before they demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the BJP undertook almost the exact same march. The then president of the party, Murli Manohar Joshi, led the marchers.

Landslides (and a not a little Kashmiri outrage) prevented Joshi’s followers from reaching the spot. Joshi himself had to be flown in, amid what witnesses called the tightest security they had seen. Sympathetic commentators put the number of people getting to Lal Chowk at 40, including journalists. Curfew had been imposed on the town and announcements made that Lal Chowk had been handed over to the army.

There are varying reports of how the actual hoisting took place on January 26, 1992.

It is clear that security personnel helped Joshi with the flag, but when he was raising it to the pedestal of the clock tower on which it was supposed to fly, the rod broke and knocked the old man on the head. It has been reported that the flag was finally hoisted on a lamppost. Having raised the flag, a slightly dizzy Joshi left the scene and went off to plot the razing of a mosque.

Leading the marchers this time is a fellow called Anurag Thakur, MP, and the son of the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh. An official website lists his professions as “cricketer” and “industrialist”. Though what he really does is run an export house and make sure, with a little help from papa, that he’s in control of all cricket administration in his home state.

His own webpage has a picture of a cricket team with a trophy in front, he sits in the middle with a blue jacket, the boys are in white. The header reads: “If he can do this in sports, he can do better in politics. There is a need to bring young talent to the forefronts (sic) of politics.”

By the standards of Indian politics, this chap should visit the pediatrician if he catches a cold during his march, but at 36, he’s been pushed to the forefront all right.

Now all he has to do is find a suitable lamppost, and not injure himself, or cause injury to others. In Shyambazar, where it all began, Republic Day represents a peaceful holiday. That I have from the horse’s mouth.

US contemplating raids in Pakistan

By: Sultan M Hali

A number of pieces of the puzzle fell into place when the media learnt that the senior military leadership in Afghanistan was propagating that the path to victory in Afghanistan lay through ground attacks in alleged miscreant hideouts in Pakistan. The US media has been continually hinting towards the so called frustrations of the US towards Pakistan, regarding Pakistan’s supposed reluctance to root out militants in its tribal areas. The “New York Times”, which some people consider as the mouthpiece of Capitol Hill discloses a plan to launch attacks in Pakistan’s tribal regions. The daily lets on that the proposed plan has not been approved yet but with the deadline of the commencement of the withdrawal of US forces approaching closer, a sense of urgency is being felt. Gung-ho US analysts are opining that despite the risks involved in military operations inside Pakistan, the use of American Special Operations troops in Pakistan’s tribal regions could bring an intelligence windfall, if militants were captured, brought back across the border into Afghanistan and interrogated. Perhaps these armchair analysts are oblivious of the history of the tribal region. It is fraught with perils for every invader; and history is replete with examples where ambitions of would be conquerors were buried forever in the hostile terrain. It is not that the US troops have not attempted forays across the border into Pakistan. Each has resulted in disaster. The latest on September 30 this year brought such a backlash from Pakistani forces as well as the people that the US had to beat a hasty retreat in any plans to continue with operations ingressing across the Durand Line. The episode infuriated Pakistan’s government, which temporarily shut down American military supply routes into Pakistan. Several fuel trucks sitting at the border were destroyed by insurgents, and American officials publicly apologized. Two years earlier, in September 2008, American commandos carried out a raid in Pakistan’s tribal areas and killed several people suspected of being insurgents. The episode led to outrage among Pakistan’s leaders – and warnings not to try again. It really is not understood how US defence planners have concluded that there is now a shift in policy and Pakistanis would welcome any adventurism in their sovereign territory.

If lessons have not been learnt from the disastrous results of the CIA-operated drone attacks in the region, then the US has only itself to blame. America’s clandestine war in Pakistan has for the most part been carried out by armed drones operated by the C.I.A. Additionally, in recent years; Afghan militias backed by the C.I.A. have carried out a number of secret missions into Pakistan’s tribal areas. These operations in Pakistan by Afghan operatives, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, have been previously reported as solely intelligence-gathering operations. The decision to expand American military activity in Pakistan, which would almost certainly have to be approved by President Obama himself, would amount to the opening of a new front in the war in Afghanistan, which enters its tenth year and has become highly unpopular with US citizens. It would run the risk of angering a Pakistani government that has been an uneasy ally in the war in Afghanistan, particularly if it leads to civilian casualties or highly public confrontations. The drone attacks have caused a different type of backlash, in which a resident of the tribal region, Karim Khan, also a journalist has filed a lawsuit against the CIA and named the head of the intelligence agency in Pakistan, blowing his cover. Resultantly, Jonathan Banks, the CIA operative, who was named in the lawsuit by the plaintiff, had to beat a hasty retreat to safer climes to escape from the wrath of an angered group of survivors of the drone attacks, who are baying for an end to the death from the skies.

It is not that Washington does not have sane elements who will weigh the option of launching forays into Pakistan very carefully. Ground operations in Pakistan remain controversial in Washington, and there may be a debate over the proposal. One senior administration official said he was not in favor of cross-border operations – which he said have been generally “counterproductive” – unless they were directed against top leaders of Al Qaeda. He expressed concern that political fallout in Pakistan could negate any tactical gains. Still, one senior American officer said, “We’ve never been as close as we are now to getting the go-ahead to go across.”

The best bet for the US is to understand the security imperatives for Pakistan, whose ground forces are already outstretched. They have been deployed in Swat and South Waziristan, areas, that have been cleared of miscreants but are fraught with danger until a civilian infrastructure of law and order is in place. Nearly 150,000 Pakistani troops have been deployed in the region. Additionally, the hostile attitude of Pakistan’s eastern neighbour precludes the necessity of placing sufficient troops along the Line of Control in Kashmir to thwart any adventurism by India. The US should contemplate capacity building of Pakistani troops to tackle the miscreants in the area suspected of harbouring miscreants, which would be more productive in the longer run rather than sending US troops. Even before finalizing any plans to increase raids across the border, the Obama administration has already stepped up its air assaults in the tribal areas with an unprecedented number of C.I.A. drone strikes this year. Since September, the spy agency has carried out more than 50 drone attacks in North Waziristan and elsewhere – compared with 60 strikes in the preceding eight months. Instead of challenging Pakistan’s sovereignty, the US is advised to work with its ally Pakistan to eliminate common enemies.

India third most powerful nation in the world?

Third most desperate is more like it…

By Ghalib Sultan

As US report, “Global Governance 2025″, released jointly by the US National Intelligence Council (NIC) and the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), ranks India closely after the US and China as the world’s third most powerful nation. Apparently, the report “illustrates what could happen over the next 25 years in terms of global governance”. In 2010, India accounts for less than 5% of global power – a questionable statistic and an invalid metric – but this percentage of global power is expected to rise in the next 15 years. This report also claims that the US will still be the world’s most powerful nation in 2025, but will have only 18% of global power (compared to 22% in 2010).

Interestingly enough, the report makes much of India’s economic prowess – funded primarily by the export of its skilled workers and by the sale of its natural resources and territory to foreign capitalists – while ignoring the political inequities and socioeconomic backwardness that pervade Indian society.

To these analysts, most of whom are employed by the CIA (which is still searching for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar as if grasping for a needle in a haystack), the current spate of violent uprising in Kashmir (in its third month now) does not figure into India’s percieved global dominance in 2025. These analysts are also oblivious to the rampant corruption in India’s bureaucratic and political institutions, especially in the Eastern part of the country where more than a million of “Indian citizens” are up in arms against Indian Oppression – and the Centre is happy to label them “Maoists” in order to discredit them; only to find out that a similar movement has taken the reins of democratic government in Nepal.

Crime, caste and corruption are the only things that define India in the 21st century; it brings together rural India and urban India, weaving them together in a net of bigotry, racism, hatred and gender segregation. Honor killings and murder of lower-caste Indians is an entrenched norm not only in the villages, but also in hustling bustling metropolises as well. One wonders who can label India among the most powerful nations on earth when it has more beggars and poor people than all of Africa combined. Maybe it is another ‘ego boost’ akin to the one Bollywood receives abroad; but it is a ploy, a facade to fool the First World that India really has no equals in the Third World. True, India and its filth have no equal in the Third World, as English and Australian Commonwealth Games Team members have just recently found out for themselves in Delhi, the capital of “Incredible India”.

India is just desperate to monopolize all attention and attraction towards Asia and Asians, while it fails to realize that it comes off as desperate and stereotypically overwhelming. None of these appearances are good, as the recent showing of the Commonwealth Games preparations have shown.

The report perhaps also overlooks the fact that the Indians thought existing international organizations are “grossly inadequate” and worried about an “absence of an internal equilibrium in Asia to ensure stability”. They felt that India is not well positioned to help develop regional institutions for Asia given China’s preponderant role in the region. No mention is made of the bulwark that is Pakistan, which is constantly harangued for sponsoring terrorist attacks in India – whether they are in Kashmir, in Mumbai, or even in terms of a falling bridge in Delhi! Seems like some other country is slowly and steadily gaining “global power” vis-a-vis security metrics.

More worrisome is the fact that this report, written by an intelligence agency, seems to have significant overtones of bias and incorrect analysis, which is definitely the handiwork of Indian interests in various global thinktanks around the world. Of course, one can’t paint oneself in too rosy a picture, right?

Steps Towards Peace: Putting Kashmiris First

Islamabad/Brussels, Even if India and Pakistan appear willing to allow more interaction across the Line of Control (LOC) that separates the parts of Kashmir they administer, any Kashmir-based dialogue will fail if they do not put its inhabitants first.

Steps Towards Peace: Putting Kashmiris First , the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, identifies the key political, social and economic needs of Kashmiris that should be addressed on both sides of the divided state.

“Since the Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-based militants in November 2008, tensions between the two neighbours have eclipsed Kashmiri hopes for political liberalisation and economic opportunity”, says Samina Ahmed, Crisis Group’s South Asia Project Director. “This atmosphere of hostility is undermining the progress that had been made in softening the borders that divide the Kashmiri people”.

Suspended by India after the Mumbai attacks, bilateral normalisation talks known as the “composite dialogue”, which began in 2004, led to a number of steps to normalise relations, including Kashmir-specific confidence-building measures (CBMs) to restore communications routes and promote cross-LOC trade and travel. But without Kashmiri ownership of the CBMs and control in implementing them, any gains will easily be reversed whenever India-Pakistan relations take a turn for the worse.

Despite the recent rise in militancy, clashes between separatists and security personnel and other violence, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is not the battlefield it was in the 1990s. India has pledged to reduce its military presence and has made some overtures to moderate factions of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). The roots of Kashmiri alienation, however, still run deep, and outbreaks of violence occur regularly. J&K remains heavily militarised, and laws that encourage human rights abuses by security forces remain, fuelling public resentment that the militants could once again exploit.

India should revive the “special status” guaranteed by the constitution and repeal all draconian laws. Replacing military-led counter-insurgency with accountable policing and reviving an economy devastated by violence and conflict would instil greater confidence among Kashmiris.

On the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) side of the LOC, Pakistan must prioritise reforms that open political debate to all shades of Kashmiri opinion, stimulate the local economy and end AJK’s over-dependence on the centre. While Pakistan’s elected civilian leadership has expressed a desire for improved bilateral relations and for resuming the composite dialogue, it must ensure that jihadis, still backed by the military, can no longer disrupt the regional peace. Another Mumbai-like attack would have a devastating impact on bilateral relations and could conceivably bring the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war.

“Even if India is persuaded to resume the composite dialogue, it is unrealistic to expect a solution to the Kashmir dispute in the near future”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director. “Both India and Pakistan should focus on creating a favourable environment for cooperation”.

India’s ‘Kyrgyz plan’ for Pakistan

by: pakalert

RAW was created in the late sixties with one purpose, to destabilize Pakistan. Its first target was East Pakistan. Its second target was Bangladesh. In 1971 RAW was successful in creating the Mukti Bahni, recruiting 80,000 Hindus and then sending them into Muslim Bengal disguised as Pakistani soldiers. They exacerbated a bad situation and created a Civil War. RAWs second target was Bangladesh. The Rakhi Bahni was imposed on Bangladesh with a sitting Bharati General in charge. The first success in East Pakistan was reversed on August 14th, 1975 when Bangladeshi patriots killed the Indian agent and left his body to rot in the streets for a week. Bangladesh tore up the “Treaty of Friendship” which would have allowed Delhi to first reduce Bangladesh into a Bhutan and then take it over like Sikkim. Though December 16th 1971 is taught to Bharati citizens as a huge achievement, August 14th, 1975 is ignored.

The Bangladeshi scenario is reported by Barrister M.B. Munshi in his seminal book titled “The Indian Doctrine”.

Indian intelligence: “‘the aim of RAW is to keep internal disturbances flaring up and the ISI preoccupied so that Pakistan can lend no worthwhile resistance to Indian designs in the region.”

RAW used the same model to take over Sikkim and then created the LTTE with an aim to bifurcare and eventually take of Sri Lanka. Similar palns were hatched to destabilize Nepal, and Maldinves. Bharti forces were sent to Lanka and Maldives-but had to withdraw. Bhutan today faces the same intrigues.

Then down through the years RAW continued its operations in all neighboring countries. India supported President Dawood’s grandiose extraterritorial ambitions in the 1970s. Using the Mukti Bahni model, Bharat tried to use sabotage in Pakistan during the USSRs occupation of Afghanistan. On the wrong side of history, Bharat did not condemn the invasion-instead it supported the Soviets and allied itself with the KGB,KHAD and blew up market places and civilian hospitals. One of RAWs greatest ignominious achievements were murdering 300 people in Bhori Bazaar Karachi with a bomb. While the world condemned the bombing, Delhi cheered.

India’s dark shadow on Afghanistan. After 9/11, Bharat re-established its presence in Kabul and used its Consulates and projects to send mercenaries across the border. It has been doing this for a decade. The purpose of these attacks is to break up Pakistan into pieces with docile friendly mini-states. This is the wet dream of most Bharatis-one taught to them in temples, and one that is reinforced in their worldview by the Hindu Mahasabah.

Christina Palmer describes the nefarious activities on both sides of the Khyber Pass. Today the RAW activities continue in Pakistan.
Listing of Indian RAWs bomb blasts in Pakistan
“India supporting the terrorists in tribal areas & Balochistan” FM Qureshi
Indian Commanders grill MI Chief over Intel failure in Azm-e-Nau
RAW Chief directed to create Kyrgyzstan like scenario in Pakistan
Agency asked to fund protestors in Pakistan over loadshedding, price hike issue
180 million dollars approved for smuggling Pakistani wheat to Afghanistan to create flour crisis across Pakistan
RAW also given an unspecified and un-auditable amount for organizing suicide bombing in Pakistan
MI Chief praised for Afghanistan performance but snubbed for failure on intel about Pakistan Army’s joint exercises with PAF
RAWs trail of terror: Indian Bomb blasts in Pakistan

RAW Page: Indian Intelligence Services

NEW DELHI-Some more details of the 2-day special conference of the commanders of the joint Forces of India that ended here yesterday have surfaced.

Highly credible defiance sources revealed that on the last day of the conference, the participants where appreciated the Military Intelligence Chief General Loomba there they showed their utmost resentment over his failure in pre-empting the Pakistan Army’s Joint execrates with Pakistan Air Force, code named Azm-e-Nau that are in full swing at the moment. Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee Air Chief Marshal P V Naik grilled the MI Chief general Loomba for not collecting the sufficient intelligence about the ongoing war exercises’ of Pakistan Army. The sources say that Loomba completely failed to give any reasonable intelligence output to the participants the war games that the Pakistanis were conducting in the southern part of the Punjab Province of their country.

The sources say that the Chief of top spy agency the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) K C Verma was the one who stole the show on the day-2 of the conference as he not only got immense commendation by the participants for his briefing on operations in Pakistan and China but also managed to grab the endorsement for the approval of a huge amount of funds for future operations in Pakistan and China.
India a secret player in Afghanistan: Bases-Lashkargarh, Qushila Jadid,Khahak,Hassan Killies
RAW facts on South Asia- India fails to occupy countries
The TTP is a RAW agency: The Indian LTTE against Pakistan

The sources say that the RAW Chief was directed by the commanders to create Kyrgyzstan like situation in Pakistan and must exploit Pakistan’s internal crisis like the energy crisis, the price hike etc. The RAW chief apprised the participants that his agency had already started work in this direction. He disclosed to the participants that his agency was already in touch with certain elements in Pakistan to fund the anti-government protests over the constant power outage and jobless youth was being engaged on daily wages basis for the purpose. He further briefed the participants that at least the three foreign Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were already paid handsome amount of money for producing less electricity while Pakistan Power Minister was already helping the agenda as he was himself engaged in prolonging to power crisis so that he can bring in rental power projects that could earn him highly lucrative kickbacks.
Anatomy of Indian Intelligence Services and Alliances
RAW facts on South Asia- India fails to occupy countries.
LTTE was created by India
Indian sponsored Tamil terror in Sri Lanka continues unabated
Lanka: Indian LTTE terrorists use youth as cannon fodder
Lanka Letter: RAW THE RASCAL by Prem Raj in Columbo
Pakistan Sri Lanka growing military alliance
Growing Pakistan Sri Lanka ties

The RAW boss also briefed the participants that an amount of 180 million US dollars had already been disbursed amongst certain drug leaders in Afghanistan to smuggle out Wheat from Pakistan to Afghanistan by the start of month of May so that the flour crisis could be generated at the same time to destabilize the State. He further sought the recommendation for an unspecified amount for organizing suicide bombings and sectarian clashes across Pakistan while a similar recommendation was sought for creating unrest in China’s Xinjiang province via Afghanistan by funding and patronizing East Turkistan Islamic Movement( ETIM). He assured the participants that his agency was fully capable of creating Kyrgyzstan like situation in Pakistan and it was just a matter of time and money upon which he got full endorsement of the commanders. More details of the last day’s proceedings are likely to follow shortly. Daily Mail Post. From Christina Palmer
BLA – A threat to international peace by Ahmad Shah Baloch: “The BLA is the creation of Indian intelligence agencies, which are trying to create instability in the areas bordering Iran and Afghanistan.”. Expose on RAW by Isha Khan of Dhaka Bangladesh
RAW facts on South Asia- India fails to occupy countries
India intelligence: “‘the aim of RAW is to keep internal disturbances flaring up and the ISI preoccupied so that Pakistan can lend no worthwhile resistance to Indian designs in the region.”
Dhaka Diary: RAW 2008: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism by Isha Khan Dhaka Bangladesh. In typical “baghal main churi, moun men ram ram” fashion, the Indian delegation first hides the fact that the RAW agents are funding and arming the BLA and supporting suicide bombings by anti-Pakistan elements in the USA. BLA – A threat to international peace by Ahmad Shah Baloch: “The BLA is the creation of Indian intelligence agencies, which are trying to create instability in the areas bordering Iran and Afghanistan.”. Expose on RAW by Isha Khan of Dhaka Bangladesh. The delegation then only discusses the bombing of the Indian “embassy” (which was a military base run by the notorious “Brigadier Mehta” and his band of merry men.