NLFT

BBC has reported that NLFT is now making pornographic films by abducting tribal women for generating revenue for their activities. Way to go guys, Achieving your organization's objective ("Independent Christian Fundamentalist State of Tripura") isn't too far!

I wish i could remain impassive as our media and get back to my inane life!.

Our Savior: Jessica Simpson!

Sify reported that:

Dukes of Hazzard star Jessica Simpson says she wants to do missionary work in a bid to save the world.

"We'd still like to do some mission work, visit Third World countries - I have this whole plan to save the world," Fox News quoted Jessica as telling OK! magazine in an interview.

I hail our new savior Jessica Simpson!, She wants to save people like me(a pagan) in the third world countries from burning their soul in hell for eternity. I wish her good luck in harvesting souls in this third world, which is already crowded with evangelists and sincerely wish that she could manage to save enough souls(if not the entire world) for herself to secure a place in heaven!.

Section 377 of IPC

There was a protest in Mumbai by human rights activists calling for a ban on section 377 of IPC. According to News source we have inherited this law from British in 1860 and we continue it even after British themselves had discarded it. As per the news item, this law terms:

homosexuality as an unnatural act and is punishable with life imprisonment. It implies that people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender are criminals.

They also say that what is considered 'against the order of nature' is actually just how some people express their love or sexuality.

I completely agree with the above statement. I believe sexual preference is one's personal choice and state has no business in interfering in it. This law may have been passed due to religious compulsions of british in those days and this explains such harsh punishment but this kind of primitive laws have no place in present society. There are few irrational laws in IPC as this, which have been inherited from the British, they need to be revised or scrapped.

Neglect of North eastern affairs

Few days back, All Naga Students Association, Manipur(ANSAM) has ended its 50 days economic blockade of Manipur. As a result of this blockade, there was severe shortage of most commodities and it was reported that in the black market, single refilled LPG cylinder costs more than Rs 1600, this emphasizes the gravity of the situation. I'm shocked at the laxity of the central government in dealing expeditiously with the situation and it took them 45 days to order army to clear Highways No 39 and 53 from blockaders and also in taking decision on sending Union Home Secretary V K Duggal to assist state government & air lifting supplies to Manipur. Finally, blockade was called off temporarily after ANSAM leaders spoke to Prime Minister.

This economic blockade started with the Manipuri State government declaring June 18th as state holiday for celebrating "State Integrity Day". In the year 2001 Manipuri's had agitated on perceived agreement between Center and NSCN(IM) to create Greater Nagaland(merger of naga inhabited regions of Manipur into Nagaland) and to commemorate this event they have announced this holiday, which inflamed naga student groups in manipur. If Center has taken Manipur government & its people into confidence over talks with NSCN(IM) in 2001 then this situation wouldn't had arised in the first place.

Instead of getting involved in dealing with the complex ethnical-communal situation, Center has advised state government to take appropriate action through consultations with the naga students groups. At times, Indecisiveness of the center could jeopardize situation and reduces probability to find the amicable solution. Center should participate more actively than leaving things to follow their own course.

Political parties may not have much interest in this region due to few assembly and parliamentary seats but It should also be noted that this issue is not raised by national news media, in a way it should had and all this shows lack of sensitiveness towards issues concerning north eastern states.

New anti hijack policy

Finally, cabinet committee on security(CCS) has approved anti-hijack policy which rules out negotiations with hijackers on their demands and stipulates that talks with hijackers can only be held with regards to preventing loss of life or ending the incident. CCS also gave approval to proposals, which include, death penalty to hijackers, reducing in bureaucratic hassles for getting permission for armed intervention to shorten reaction time, and also allowing shooting down of an hijacked plane in case there is conclusive evidence that it is being used as a missile like in the 9/11 terror attack.

Formulating a policy and implementing a policy are quite different things. It needs to be seen how government would react in a situation, where traumatic family members of a hijacked plane exert their influence for release of their loved ones. If we cave in to their pressure and accept hijackers demands then its implications will be worst than not having this kind of policy itself, but it will also confirm that we are a soft nation and we could be intimidated using terror tactics from implementing our policy and encouragess more such terror acts!.

Mangal Pandey The Rising

I had watched "Mangal Pandey The Rising" and i must say that i am disappointed, its too boring and poorly directed. It was said that the director had done lot of research on the subject, in spite of having only 2 pages of information on sepoy mangal pandey & worked hard for years to make this movie but the movie doesn't reflect on any established facts or does justice to claimed research or effort, they just used names of historic figures to create & narrate their own story. When it comes to depicting British East India company it seems they had their own agenda to follow. British East Indian Company weren't so naive as portrayed, if they were, then they wouldn't had ruled for 100 years. I'm almost tempted to write about fallacies in this movie but i wouldn't because there are so many, starting from the date of afghan campaign to the end decision of hanging mangal publicly. May be i'm too nitpicky on this incident, but i couldn't stop laughing out loud at the wisdom of a british captain, who orders sepoys carrying musket(with flintlocks) to charge against sword carrying hordes of men on horseback. It would had been nice, if the movie was at least tolerable, my unhappiness with twisting of facts is only secondary when compare to enjoying the movie. so much fuss about this damn movie, complete waste of my time!.

The Inevitable!

Today, Pakistan had tested its first ever cruise missile called Hatf VII Babur with range about 500Kms and it can carry nuclear warheads. Many believe(are optimistic) that there never will be a nuclear war between India & Pakistan, and sheer destructive force of this weapon would act as deterrent for both nations to use them. Well, when we look at India it has "no first use" policy and we have nuclear command & control under civilian authority(PM), who is the elected representative of the nation, therefore we don't have any cause for concern, unless we change our policy or if there is accidental launch but our nuclear warheads are kept detached from delivery vehicles, so no danger there.

When we look at Pakistan, They have command and control of their nuclear weapons in the hands of their military. More over, current president of Pakistan, once ordered to mount nuclear warheads onto their delivery vehicles in effort to nuke India during kargil crisis and now he gives lecture on"how dangerous these weapons are!?" but the fact is, a man can not become a saint over night and the reason for his change in his attitude is that his hands are tied down due to circumstances for the moment. We need to understand psyche of Pakistani ruling class to know about impending nuclear danger, here is the excerpt from the article by Peter landesman in The Atlantic Journal (You need to subscribe in order to read entire article, or you can find entire article here on private site or excerpt from Times of India)

Writer Peter Landesman relates a hair-raising conversation he has with a retired Pakistani brigadier who was serving as an aide to Benazir Bhutto. On a visit to Brigadier Amanullah’s house in Islamabad, Landesman sees a landscape painting showing the Bhuttos with what he (Landesman) thinks is a rocket heading to the moon. He asks the Brigadier about it, and is told the painting is actually "A nuclear warhead heading to India". The rest of the narrative in Landesman's own words:

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We both looked up at the painting in silence. "A rocket ship heading to the moon?" I asked.

Aman tipped his head to the side. A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. "No," he said. "A nuclear warhead heading to India."

I thought he was making a joke. Then I saw he wasn't. I thought of the shrines to Pakistan's nuclear-weapons site, prominently displayed in every city. I told Aman that I was disturbed by the ease with which Pakistanis talk of nuclear war with India.

Aman shook his head. "No," he said matter-of-factly. "This should happen. We should use the bomb."

"For what purpose?" He didn't seem to understand my question. "In retaliation?" I asked.

"Why not?"

"Or first strike?"

"Why not?"

I looked for a sign of irony. None was visible. Rocking his head side to side, his expression becoming more and more withdrawn, Aman launched into a monologue that neither of us, I am sure, knew was coming:

"We should fire at them and take out a few of their citiesâ€"Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta," he said. "They should fire back and take Karachi and Lahore. Kill off a hundred or two hundred million people. They should fire at us and it would all be over. They have acted so badly toward us; they have been so mean. We should teach them a lesson. It would teach all of us a lesson. There is no future here, and we need to start over. So many people think this. Have you been to the villages of Pakistan, the interior? There is nothing but dire poverty and pain. The children have no education; there is nothing to look forward to. Go into the villages, see the poverty. There is no drinking water. Small children without shoes walk miles for a drink of water. I go to the villages and I want to cry. My children have no future. None of the children of Pakistan have a future. We are surrounded by nothing but war and suffering. Millions should die away."

"Pakistan should fire pre-emptively?" I asked.

Aman nodded.

"And you are willing to see your children die?"

"Tens of thousands of people are dying in Kashmir, and the only superpower says nothing," Aman said. "America has sided with India because it has interests there." He told me he was willing to see his children be killed. He repeated that they didn't have any futureâ€"his children or any other children.

I asked him if he thought he was alone in his thoughts, and Aman made it clear to me that he was not.

"Believe me," he went on, "If I were in charge, I would have already done it."

Aman stopped, as though he'd stunned even himself. Then he added, with quiet forcefulness, "Before I die, I hope I should see it."

---

Because of all these factors, i feel nuclear war is imminent and its not matter of "whether" but "when"!. Even if there is attack or no attack, it is always good, if we acquaint ourselves to deal with the situation, Specially considering our nuclear neighbors. Indian Administration has given preference to protect its country's top political leadership but has made no effort to protect its civilian population, such as building large bunkers to take refuge during nuclear war, though practically it is not possible to save everyone but government should make comprehensive arrangements to protect eminent persons in all professions and should advise civilians on gravity of the situation. Most of the people in India are ignorant of looming nuclear war over sub-continent, people in general know that nuclear war is bad but has very less information to deal with its dangerous aftermath. We have to start educating people and government departments to conduct drills relating to relief efforts during/after nuclear attack. We can learn many things from experience of japan on this issue.

I'm not a supporter of "no first use" policy because its entire premises is based on righteousness & that we could survive first strike and it doesn't cause too much damage to us. Being righteous against a enemy who sponsors terrorism is not wise but suicidal. Policy formers fail to consider synchronized multiple nuclear strikes(with hundreds of nuclear missiles), which could destroy entire country, when Pakistan knows that there is no tomorrow, they would certainly use their entire arsenal at once than few at a time. It is not the matter of retaliation, we could use nuclear submarines which are difficult to detect but my point is what is the use of a policy which doesn't serve the purpose to protect a nation and its people but incur total annihilation?

Our nuclear policy reminds me a incident which happened few decades back, Our PM was briefed by intelligence agency about progress made by Pakistan in making nukes and how close they are in achieving it. Our security forces requested permission to bomb their reactor facility and what our PM does?. Well, no surprise here, he calls his counterpart and tells him that he knows what they are up to, in a hope that they would behave!. Surprisingly they do, by installing surface to air missiles and increasing their defenses of the facility!.

Why i read blogs?

I was participating in a survey conducted by blogger.com and had this question and here are my thoughts. Well, I like to read blogs because i find people's opinions & thoughts quite fascinating & stimulating. I spend lot of time in search of blogs, which captivates my thoughts. No, I don't live in cave and i do have social life but the thing is, people are much more open in expressing about themselves in their blogs and most importantly i can see their world through their eyes. This way, i could know about different perspectives of the people and learn about their culture and it's influence on their thinking. Only thing which disappoints me is, when a blogger tends to act obsequiously towards their blog readers in their writings, than giving importance to blogging honestly.

I need to find a way to organize these blogs and way to subscribe to them, Its too bad that too many bloggers don't provide xml or rss feeds :(. I'm bit lazy to update those blogs here to my list, may be i would do it in the future.

Our collective responsibility!

Few years back, i watched a program on discovery channel, regarding aborigines of Australia and it was a documentary film on their great heritage and how it is dying due to neglect of the new generation. There are around 500 tribals, each with their own territory, language or dialect with population of around 200,000. Though their appearance might look savage but their views on life and their religious philosophy are not at all primitive, they have many things to offer to our modern world, specially their knowledge of nature and how man can live with nature without causing ecological damage.

Sadly, new generation of aborigines despised life of their ancestors in the forest and have no or little interest in learning their ancestors customs & practices. As a result of this, situation is so serious, that in this particular tribe they are not having enough people to perform their rituals & festivals and for this reason, some people from another tribe had to come to assist them for the ceremony, when this being explained to producer of the show by tribal elder, we can see tears coming from his eyes. Honestly, at that moment, i wanted to volunteer myself for learning their ways but unfortunately, i'm thousands of kilometers away(kinda easy to get emotional, when we see 70 year old person crying profusely). Well, I can understand new generation's desire to have luxurious life but i fail to understand, why they aren't interested in their ancestors ways? and at least they can participate in occasional ceremonies, so they can keep their heritage alive. I think they aren't induced about the merits & importance of their own culture & heritage and therefore they look it as something inferior to ones which they hold in esteem, this isn't limited to aborigines, we see this tendency of inferiority complex in one form or other in societies around the world.

Even it is not our culture we should make sure that it doesn't die, just like that. After all, we all are one family and aborigines wisdom should pass on.