Attacks on Indians in Australia

Around 90,000 Indian students study in Australia and they have contributed $2 billion to the Australian economy in last financial year. This is the third largest export earnings for them.

There has been reports of racial attacks on Indian students in Australia. I’ve been reading about such attacks since my 10+2 college days. During those days, due to severe racial abuse, one of my friend was forced to return to India leaving his graduation unfinished. Now, situation seems to have become very grave.

According to Mr. Gautam Gupta, Australia’s FEDERATION OF INDIAN STUDENT Adviser:

"We have seen over 60 to 70 violent attacks in the last one year and over 600 reported attacks. And that's too many"

Australia’s Graduate Student Association president Mr.Paul Coats has following to say:

I am opposed to calls for more police, as it appears that the police have been part of the problem... they blame Indian students for 'making themselves targets’

You might wonder how do they make themselves targets? Well, according to Victorian Police deputy commissioner Kieran Walshe, Indian students carry valuable items such as Ipods, laptops and phones during their commute. Shamelessly blaming victims doesn't hide Aussie police's ineptitude, Why is that these items which are commonly used by everyone else has become uncommon items for Indian students?. How can they explain attack on Sravan Kumar and his friends, which happened inside his house?. Even though eye witness & victims had reported accounts of racial slur at the time of some attacks, police still believes that these crimes are not racial at all, they just think that Indians students were at the wrong place at the wrong time!.

I’m completely disappointed with Indian government's response, When situation is so serious, Why don’t they issue travel advisory to Indian students who intend to study in Australia?. Let Australian government feel the financial pain. Specially, when they are not too willing to admit that these attacks are racially motivated and let alone address them.

How many terrorists were involved?

Mumbai police commissioner has revealed that additional 14 to 16 Indians & pakistanis (besides fahim ansari and sabahuddin) were involved in mumbai terrorist attacks on 26/11. One wonders why such late admission and as per congress, withholding this information is some kind of grand scheme to trick pakistan into accepting facts as claimed below:

A senior Congress leader and one of the key strategists of the party explained the rationale behind Gafoor's revelations. He said, "It was India's strategy to wait for Islamabad to first accept that the Mumbai attack was planned inside Pakistan. Before we revealed the involvement of Indians in the attack, it was necessary that they admit the involvement of Pakistan-based people. They would have ducked the issue if we had revealed all the facts. Since Pakistan has now admitted that Pakistani-based elements masterminded the attack and that Kasab (the lone terrorist arrested during the terror strike) and the other terrorists were Pakistanis, there is no harm in revealing facts that are already known to the Mumbai police and the government."

But when satellite phone records, intercepts and other evidences clearly establishes nationality of key perpetrators, why do we need to withhold information?. Is it because some of the terrorists had managed to escape during operations, as claimed in earlier news reports and also that it reflects poorly on congress government and security agencies?.

In fact, IB which had carried it’s own investigations, believed that they were around 24 terrorists and they suspected that few might have managed to escape from Taj:

Although the IB confirms that no terrorists managed to escape from the Trident and the Nariman House, the same cannot be said about the Taj. Despite a heavy deployment of security forces and firing, two terrorists managed to gain entry into the Taj and this is an indication of how familiar they were with the terrain. They suspect that two may have managed to get away from the Taj after the rest of their team had taken position inside.

Here is an eye witness account, which strengthens above assertion:

The question now is where are the four men who took over the Taj initially. The body count of terrorists recovered from the Taj shows that only four terrorists were found. It is believed that these men could have escaped from the Taj. It would also be interesting to point out here an eye witness account of a person by the name Apurva Parekh who said that he heard voices of three to four terrorists at the Trident which were different compared to the voices he heard at the same place earlier. This is a clear indication that the there were more than three men initially at the Trident and they could have escaped during the operation since the Mumbai police do not account for these additional men.

Further IB believes that:

Intelligence Bureau sources now confirm that the men who came into Mumbai earlier to set up base were completely different from the men who carried out the final assault.

Moreover there were some rumors of terrorist checking in as guests in Hotels.

These reports were not given credence before but in awake of current revelations they gain importance. Lack of clarity in the investigation over number of terrorists, that were involved in assaults and those who had provided logistics support only adds to confusion. All these reports certainly raises questions over motive behind congress government's grand scheme and perhaps their explanation seems to be an excuse to hide their failure in letting these terrorists escape and it appears to be revealed under compulsion of circumstances.

Finally, holding our premature jubilations over pakistan’s admission will serve us better.

Pakistan’s response to India's 26/11 dossier

If we remain immune to exuberance exhibited by our media, we will understand that pakistan’s response does not indicate positive shift in their policy. Under overwhelming evidence and international pressure, they just couldn’t deny facts, as they did in the past. They have only accepted certain things, which are palatable and gives them enough room to play their usual game.

They have only accepted that some part of the conspiracy was planned in pakistan, which leaves them with some room to shift the blame as their strategies & events unfold. This becomes important as Interior Ministry Chief, Rehman Malik has made connection between of the accused and the Samjhauta Express attack.

Now, that they have acted on certain leads provided by India and demonstrated their so-called sincerity of cooperation, onus will be on India to provide tangible evidence to prosecute those accused as claimed by the pakistan. But what would constitute as tangible evidence will remain subject of contention. Since pakistan would only want to engage New Delhi in legalities & evidence and elongate the issue as long as possible, therefore they will not accept even internationally validated evidence, that is provided by India. However, This exercise will ease international pressure on pakistan to some extent and also they will claim their so-called sincerity in their effort against terrorism.

Question here is, whether Indian people will be satisfied with these token trials of few terrorists, rather than considering dismantling of entire jihadi-military network?. Our premise of this exercise was that we will garner such great international support with our irrefutable evidence, that it will force pakistan to act on jihadi complex or at least on those involved jihadi organization. Which in retrospect, sounds quite naive.

Indian Taliban?

Mangalore pub attack on young men and women is indeed outrageous and barbaric. As free citizens, it is individual’s prerogative to choose on how one leads their life and it is not anyone's business (including the state) to prescribe things. Misguided puritans have no role in our democratic and secular country. Certainly those hooligans of Sri Ram Sena must be punished stringently and made to pay for using Sri Ram’s name. But why call them Taliban?. For our media, is it so hard to relay news and evoke people's emotions without using flammable,incongruous and debatable label, which has wider connotation than it is required?.

All those naive views on the internet that pronounce these hooligans as terrorists only distort actual meaning of a terrorist and provide future fodder to Hindu-Zionists conspiracy theories, which are rampant among our adversaries. Any use of terror laws against them as suggested by Ananthamurthy will only dilute our critical fight against actual terrorists (whichever religion they may belong). Why can’t we handle this issue by remaining immune to our prejudices & hatred, is it too hard to try?.

Those pseudo secularists and politicians, who pounce on anything which is related to Hindus, should ask themselves, why they weren’t so outraged, when muslim legislators and urdu press in Hyderabad, demanded head of an hapless lady? and don’t they care about sexual exploitation of women in the north east by the christian terrorists of NLFT?, Doesn’t these women and all other women in the country matter to them?. Their selective amnesia just exposes their intellectual dishonesty.

It would serve our cause better, if we just focus on the issue, rather than exhibit our prejudice & hatred in open, which only muddle things!.

Technorati Tags: Mangalore Pub Attack,India,Sri Ram Sena,Taliban,Indian Media

Mayawati's Arrogance

"NO ONE CAN STOP ME FROM BECOMING PM"...Really???

Mayawati and her supporters seem to think that it is her prerogative to be PM. One's caste should not be entitlement to ask for votes but rather it should be their honesty and competence to lead.

Picture was taken from a moving vehicle, so excuse me for the clarity.

Technorati Tags: Mayawati,India,Politics

MIM's Insolent Aggression

Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen(MIM) party MLAs disregarded their stature of being law makers, they shamelessly attacked & hurled disgusting abuses at Taslima Nasreen with the help from their party activists. When journalist and organisers intervened, even they were attacked and press club property was damaged. MIM floor leader of the state assembly, Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi declared that he is very proud of his MLAs & activists for attacking an unarmed lady for their perceived insult to islam. Being peoples representatives, They clearly demonstrated that they are no good to represent people of their constituency and have no respect for the constitution, which they took oath to protect and serve. Mr Akbaruddin Owaisi clearly states that his muslim identity is more important to him than being a legislator:

"We are not bothered about our MLA status. We are Muslims first. And its our responsibility to test those who have said anything against Islam in which ever way possible".

Even after that statement, MIM MLAs didn't resign as mark of respect to the chair, instead MIM President Sultan Salauddin Owaisi praised assailants and said that his party is ready for bigger sacrifices!. Akbaruddin Owaisi has said that anyone who commits blasphemy against islam deserved to be beheaded. MLA, Mr. Muqtada Afasr Khan has said that they would kill Taslima Nasreen, if she comes to city again!

Anyways, Such people should not hold office in our pluralistic and secular society. MIM always treated old city as its private domain and it hindered other political parties from serving people there with its intimidation & aggression. Presence of our own police force in the old city is considered as intrusion and recently, they were not even allowed to patrol the rioting areas. Such is the influence MIM sways in the old city. Below are the few images concerning MIM's MP Mr. Asaduddain Owaisi (s/o MIM Leader Mr. Sultan Salauddin Owaisi):

Owaisi argues with south zone Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCP) to leave the place. Later, DCP was transfered.

Owaisi and MIM party activists ban police entry.

Owaisi with the commander hasan hubullah of shiite terrorist organization, hezbollah.
The above photos are courtesy of Hyderabadonline

Legislators who doesn't respect law of the land and who associate with terrorist organization in the foreign land should not be allowed to serve the public but MIM being ally of ruling government and also being skilled in using minority tag, it would be wishful thinking to expect any substantial action. This is evident from the reluctance of police to file earnest charges against the MLAs despite the evidence and demands from the reporters to file attempt to murder charges. In spite of this, MLAs were given bail on the same day of their arrests. Defiance shown by the perpetrators and lack of indignation from the so-called secularist only reveals the true nature of secularism in this country!.

Update: Last few days, local urdu newspapers are fuming over MIM's missed opportunity to murder Taslima and none are finding such writings outrageous!. Even after MLAs blatantly threatened Taslima's life, Police are hesitant in registering cases against MIM MLAs under section 307 of IPC and the Chief Minister is conspicuously silent.

Samjhauta Express Bombing

It takes a gruesome bomb blast to expose the kind of security arrangements made for samjhauta express. In the past, samjhauta express was used for fake currency smuggling and also at times ISI sponsored terrorists used it as means to enter the country, in spite of this, on 19th no baggage checking was conducted and only 6 security personals were present for 14 coach train!. Question that needs to be asked is why is samjhauta express allowed to run without adequate security on our end after it was halted following the parliament attack?. In our anxiety to implement CBMs, how can we ignore our security needs!.

It is amazing to see people believe that this incident may effect so-called peace process but if they follow policies of Indian establishment then one can be sure that no amount of terrorism will hinder peace process, unless it is directed towards prominent politicians or their family members or when terrorists use nuclear weapon(s) on Indian soil.

My sincere condolence to those who had died!.

Let us remain steadfast in ignoring terrorism?

In a press conference Musharraf has said that:

"There will be obstacles and we have to be steadfast against all that they (militants) do," he said adding "that is why I say we should bold enough."

Since the beginning of terrorism in the valley it has been pakistan's government desire to absolve themselves from all actions of their state sponsored terrorists. Now that India has started this peace process without putting much emphasis on pakistan government's accountability for their support to the terrorists, therefore it will only exonerate their actions. And this is what musharraf states as if terrorists are distinct entities from the pakistan's government agencies like ISI. If Indian government choose to ignore pakistan's involvement without taking pragmatic stand for the sake of so-called peace dialog then the word PEACE doesn't signify anything.

He further says that:

"all shades of Kashmiris" should be taken on board except those who believe that militancy is the only option to resolve the issue.

I suppose all shades means those Hurriyat people who claim to be true representatives of people of J&K without any mandate. Anyways, his statement coincides or does it? with the statement of Mirwaiz, which he issued few days ago after returning from pakistan.

On other hand, BBC reports that musharraf has admitted that pakistan's border security forces have been letting the Taliban into Afghanistan!. American generals are frustrated enough with musharraf's brilliant game of duplicity of co-operation in the war against terror and perhaps the evidence from NATO, UK and afghan forces is too much to ignore, so much so that it made musharraf to acknowledge it publicly but with some spin.

After receiving millions of dollars in aid and military hardware from USA to fight Indian Army Taliban, Musharraf resigns over the situation and says:

it would be difficult for two border guards on a typical check post on the Afghan border when they are faced with a group of "20 well-armed, well-trained and well-motivated people challenging them".

and goes further to complain that:

His country was being made "a scapegoat" for the resurgence of Taleban-led militants.

There we go, therefore let us not blame pakistan's government and ignore ISI activities in Quetta!.

Same old story

Time to get euphoric over India's cricket tour to Pakistan and talk about their hospitality, people to people contact, generating goodwill through sports, how we all look alike and so on... thereby hoping for improved relationship and reduced terror attacks. Thus forgetting the fact, that the terrorism exists because of the State's desire to achieve its political goals by means of terror, which has affected many of our lives. Their people has little or no influence on the Pakistan government, therefore whatever goodwill generated through these events would not bring any change to the ground reality. Of course we can ignore all these terror acts to feel good about our general conscious by blaming everything on so-called minority persecution or on riots, as some bloggers try to persuade us. Let us keep sport a sport without attaching any connotation to it. By the way, Good Luck to India & Pakistan, may the best team win!...oops i almost forgot, Happy Retirement, Ganguly!.

Apathy towards baloch people!

No civilized & responsible nation will use jets, gunships and heavy artillery against their own people unless of-course if the government thinks otherwise and doesn't care about them. World remains impervious towards the atrocities and brutal crimes committed by the pakistani army on baloch people. Some persons & the media in our country are more concerned about jeopardizing our relationship with Pakistan than noticing the tragic suffering of fellow humans in Balochistan. Our Uncle Sam who champions freedom and democracy all over the world remains indifferent in raising the issue with his number one ally, Major Non-NATO ally and trusted friend "Pakistan".

Below is the picture of a little girl and more gruesome images can be seen here
(Courtesy: http://balochvoice.com)


No democratic country in this world is willing to come forward to listen to pleas of numerous pakistani politicians, irrespective to their political affiliation or to the pakistan based group called Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy(ARD):

"The ARD appeals to the Western democratic forces to support the oppressed people instead of dictators, endorse the views of the ARD and other democratic forces and stop the (Pakistan) government from using force to suppress the fundamental and human rights of the people of Balochistan."

Anyway, Why anyone should come forward? and what is in for them? Specially when we all forgot about humanity long time ago!.

Ps: My sincere apologies to those unsuspecting readers for exposing you to such a gruesome picture.

Operation Duryodhana

In Aaj Tak news channel 11 Members of Parliament belonging to different parties (BJP, Congress, RJD, BSP) were shown accepting bribes to ask specific questions in the parliament and this sting operation which was named as "Operation Duryodhana" was carried by Aaj Tak along with internet portal cobrapost.com. Repercussions of this revelation was swift, Lok Sabha secretariat has sent Show Cause notices to these MPs and in Rajya Sabha matter was referred to Ethics Committee. All parties had suspended their respective MPs without raising any questions on authenticity of those tapes or without indicating any conspiracy theory to defame them, which was not the case when Tehelka exposed way defense deals were done during NDA government or when Ajit jogi of Congress caught trying to induced MLAs with monetary benefits to form government. Since issue involves MPs from more than one party and none were prominent politicians at national or state level, therefore it was easy for political parties to take action against them.

At the end of the day, every politician is a gentleman & sincere towards serving people unless caught red-handed, err.. as long as he/she enjoys support of the public irrespective of his/her guilt!.

When will we realize our deceitful enemy?

I was expecting some kind of strong response from Indian government after Delhi serial blasts but it appears, that as usual our efforts will be limited to finding terrorists, who perpetrated these blasts and ignoring their affiliated organizations and the country, which gives them all support & free reign to operate in their territory. Every country in this world at least tries to protect their citizens and advises them on impending danger to their lifes but our leadership makes loud noises about their resoluteness in their fight against terrorists but when it comes to hard decision making they are always shallow and reactionary. How many of us know, that there are waging jihad against us? and how serious we are in dealing with this?.

Our peaceniks and Pakistani sympathizers argue that there should not be any hindrance to peace process!. First, i would like to know what is the objective of peace? since there is regular killings & tortures of civilians, attacks on security forces & their installations in J&K and in the rest of the country too, they are continuing their terrorist violence unabated, last major attempt was on Ayodhya. Most importantly Pakistani authority is not even willing to accept the existence of terrorist training camps in territory controlled by them, even after ample proof provided by their own Herald Magazine and also by international agencies and satellite images provided by Indian government, with such dishonest and deceitful enemy how can we expect them to keep their commitments?. Musharraf has done very little in controlling terrorism, after attack on parliament, he had arrested some terrorists and their organization chiefs were put under house arrest but only to be released later, when people's attention shifted from this issue. Now, terrorist organizations were put in the watch list for name sake and given free reign in Pakistan to operate & recruit, as we can see from earth quake relief operations conducted by them with full support from ISI & pakistani establishment.

"We are very disappointed with the government. The mujahideen saved us. I am going to join them next summer since winter has already arrived," he said.

The stench of rotting bodies and the lopsided approach of the Pakistan government has given a fresh lease of life to the jehadi movement. The population of Pakistan occupied Kashmir has developed a soft corner for the jehadis.

The quake has strengthened jehad.

We are generously donating 25 million to pakistan government for providing assistance to quake victims without any accountability, I guess this will be eventually used against us. If we can't choke their support base and counter their propaganda in Pakistan controlled areas then how can we succeed against terrorism?.

Sometimes, it appears to me that our politicians are only serious about terrorism, when there is a direct threat to their lives, such as attack on parliament. There never has been any change in attitude of pakistani government but the change is in our mindset to ignore daily killings of our own people, in hope to encourage peace process.

Appeasement or Honest Change of Heart?

Jammu and Kashmir Council for Rehabilitation of Militancy Victims(JKCRMV) has taken decision to widen their purview to accommodate terrorist dependents. Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary and legislator Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who had survived tuesday's terrorist attack has said that:

The destitute families of the killed militants could not live a condemned life. Militants do not take up guns after seeking permission from their families.

Well, Tarigami's association with this news and coincidence of this announcement with terrorist attack on him, wonders me whether they have taken this decision under compulsion to appease terrorists?. If purview of JKCRMV could be extended bit further, lets say to those people, who have lost their livelihood due to terrorism & their violence and struggling to survive, can we include them too?

I don't think following stringent policy as Israel's, which flattens terrorist's house with bulldozer will help us but clubbing families of these terrorist with terrorist victims perhaps causes resentment.

Pakistani propaganda

Pakistan's former chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Nur Khan's disclosure of 1965 war, that the Pakistan was the aggressor and not India as it was made to believe in pakistan by the pakistan's Army and following governments, which till date view 1965 war as their victory and celebrate September 6 as "Defense Day". This isn't shocking as it is to many who i know, Thing is pakistan's government has misled their own people and some gullible people in India & the world with their strong propaganda on various issues as related to India in general, J&K and spewing venom on minorities(specifically against Hindus) in its school text books as noted by UN. To start with, they accuse India for not implementing UN security council resolution of 1948, fact of the matter is that the resolution has precondition, which requires pakistani tribesman & regulars to vacate the J&K and subsequently allowing Indian forces to reduce their strength in the valley thereby creating conducive environment to enable plebiscite under UN supervision, as pakistan couldn't fulfill its obligation, India couldn't permit plebiscite in just its J&K territory, instead of entire J&K State(including POK). Here is excerpt from the article in Dawn(pakistani daily) by Irfan Husain, though bit old but quite relevant in todays time. In my opinion it is worth reading entire article, it gives insight into pakistani psyche.

"So far, Pakistanis have been brainwashed into believing that it was India who did not permit a plebiscite in Kashmir. But in actual fact, the resolutions clearly called for the withdrawal of Pakistani troops from Azad Kashmir followed by the 'thinning' of Indian troops as pre-conditions for a plebiscite. In the event, since Pakistani troops remained in place, the other steps could not follow."

List of UN resolutions on J&K can be found at here.

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.

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:

---

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!.

Self delusion

I always wonder, why as a nation we are easily flattered by smallest concession and self-bestow honor, in reality which was not even granted to us and why can't we see things in a way they are? Well, i'm referring to joint statement released by India and USA in which they declared that:

The U.S. says it is now in favour of "full civil nuclear energy cooperation" with India, which it describes as "a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology". In return, India has agreed to "separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities and programs in a phased manner" and place its "civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards."

And this significant declaration of understanding has been hailed by most Indian news media as virtual recognition of India as a nuclear power and officially it remains formality for us to join nuclear club. Well, i disagree to this interpretation because if this is the case, then why didn't USA allow India to ratify NPT(nuclear non proliferation treaty) as a nuclear state, in that way, it will not have hard time in persuading US congress to lift restrictions on India and the NSG to agree to adjust international regimes so that India can shop for civilian nuclear energy!. Instead, US government is still optimistic that, India would abandon nuclear weapons and ratify NPT as non-nuclear state. Mood in the white house is quite evident from US senior state department official's comment in the NY Times:

Excerpt:

A senior State Department official, giving a briefing under ground rules in which he could not be identified, said that the Bush administration still hoped India would eventually give up nuclear weapons, and that the administration rebuffed an Indian request to be recognized formally as a nuclear weapons state under the treaty.

"The discussions went through various permutations," he said. "We didn't feel we could somehow formally recognize India as a nuclear state. Ultimately, we hope they will elect to join the NPT."

Acquiring civilian nuclear energy is important to Indian economy, considering its growing energy needs. Agreement reached between both the nations is a climb-down from their respective positions and who benefited most from this agreement is subject of another discussion. This agreement should not be conferred additional importance than it require.

Update: Had interesting discussion with vatsan related to nuclear proliferation and other issues>

Petty politics of Madhya Pradesh

From rediff:

Claiming that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was included in a list of 38 terrorist outfits in an United States website, Madhya Pradesh Congress on Saturday demanded a high-level probe into it and said the party would raise the matter in the State assembly.

It is plain stupidity to give credence to foreign websites, so much that this issue needs to be raised in State legislative assembly. Well, coming to this news, it isn't new, Terrorism Research Center based in Northern Virginia, Washington, DC has listed RSS under terrorist organizations and the reason provided for this categorization has fallacy, which i'm sure RSS would exploit if at all this issue was raised in assembly. Moreover as per press release of Jitendra Kumar, Convenor of SIFI:

"I investigated the details of TRC; it is simply a paper organization with a website and no office. Neither this organization nor its directors are known to the U.S. State Department, institutions and think tanks involved with foreign affairs and issues related to terrorism."

Therefore i expect this issue to boomerang on to congress if they pursue seriously.

Congress Legislature Party spokesman Sajjan Singh Verma demanded the resignation of Gaur for his alleged links with the RSS.

Demand for resignation of a Chief Minister is uncalled for and it exposes their lack of respect for Indian judicial system. why should anyone resign, just because some site alleged that a organization is a terrorist organization and therefore he is guilty by association?. There are many propaganda sites on the net. We should take them with pinch of salt than making political issues of it, specially considering that setting up a site doesn't take much resources and even school going kid can afford to do it, if he has intention.

Devi and Verma accused the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and RSS of spreading communalism in the state for 'political gains'.

First, i think they should decide whether these organizations are terrorist or communal or both?

Peace process with Pakistan: Can peace and terrorism coexist?

I feel that we lost the purpose of continuing peace process with the Pakistan. I'm saying this because before this peace process commenced, we had unequivocal stand that we will not engage Pakistan until they stop cross border terrorism but due to American influence and Pakistan's assurance that they wouldn't allow any of their territory to be used for terrorist activities and won't provide any clandestine support to them, we engaged Pakistan in a dialog to resolve difference over Jammu & Kashmir issue and to improve relations between two countries. Initially it appeared that pakistan was some what honest with this peace process because number of infiltration attempts came down, perhaps this could be attributed to the winter season which made routes inaccessible to these infiltrators, nevertheless number of infiltration attempts were less when compared to the previous year but as time progressed slowly they returned to their old ways. They made their stand inflexible and demanded more concessions from India and offering very little from themselves. It should be noted that number of terrorist attacks against civilians gradually increased and recently in the Herald magazine, it was reported that they have set up new camps and opened old ones, there are 13,000 terrorist to cross over to India, This has been denied by Pakistani government, even after Indians told that they can provide photographs of these camps.

My displeasure is mainly due to in a manner which Indian government had exonerated Pakistani government from the responsibility of these terrorist attacks and irrespective of these daily murders, they desire to carry forward peace process without having any accountability on Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism. Even Musharraf in his Australian visit had stated on one such terrorist attack, that even after reaching any agreement with India, we can't expect these incidents to come down. First of all, Pakistan started this low intensity terrorism to achieve its objective: J&K and what is the use of having a settlement on J&K but still continuing this terrorism?

Sometimes, I wonder whether we are getting used to this low intensity cross border terrorism because we seem to care less about the people who die on regular basis as it won't affect us directly and our condemnation only depends on cruelty & magnitude of the incidents. Perhaps, victims of not so significant terrorist incidents remain mere statistics for us!.

Deal between Beijing-Moscow on the eve of China's 1962 invasion of India

A new book has just revealed details of a Beijing-Moscow dea on the eve of China's 1962 invasion of India.

Co-written by China-born author Jung Chang - best known for Wild Swan - and her husband, British historian Jon Halliday, Mao: The Unknown Story (Jonathan Cape) is rated the ''most authoritative'' biography of the late Communist leader. It is an indictment of his domestic and foreign policies, one of the victims of which, the book says, was India.

In the chapter ''Maoism Goes Global (1959-64)'', the authors outline Mao's war preparations in 1962. He ended up promising to back the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles at America's doorstep - the Cuban Missile Crisis, as it came to be called - if Moscow supported his adventure in India.

The book describes the build-up to war in ''May-June 1962'': ''Chou (Chou Enlai) later told the Americans that 'Nehru was getting very cocky...and we tried to keep down his cockiness.''

Contrary to the most of the world's opinion, ever since the war, china has maintained that the India was the aggressor, even against the mounting evidence which indicated otherwise. Time of chinese aggression wasn't mere coincidence with cuban missile crisis but well thought out plan. This biography just vindicates this viewpoint specially considering that it has been rated highly by critics for its decade-long research and its meticulous footnotes. Chinese aggression has viewed by general Indians as back stabbing, specially considering popular slogan which says "hindi chini bhai bhai"(Indians and Chinese are brothers) to signify their relationship.

We should learn from our past blunders and be more cautious when dealing with issues related to national interest than being emotional. Its my view that Indian government should make Henderson Brooks Report & all other transcripts non-classified to let public know about the reasons for the failure in 1962 war rather than using rhetoric to cover up the facts, and also this would highlight our politician's foreign utopian policy and their understanding of world geopolitics. There shouldn't be any report classified for more than specific amount of time, since they won't have any relevance after that time period and citizens have right to know about what had transpired.

Note: It should also be remembered that at the time of war, Indian communist were openly in favor of the chinese position.