AP Samachr - 29 January2011

The Pioneer

BJP should focus on Kashmiris’ real problems 

January 29, 2011   8:47:08 PM

Iftikhar Gilani (Columnist)

More national flags are hoisted in the Kashmir valley than elsewhere in India. Instead of dull symbolism, the BJP would do well to launch programmes to highlight the corruption and nepotism of the Omar Government

The country’s principal Opposition party’s Ekta Yatra to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar resembled a march to conquer enemy territory, giving all the impression that Tricolour is normally not allowed to be unfurled in Jammu and Kashmir even on occasions like Republic Day. The fact is that the Kashmir valley hosts the highest number of the national flag ceremonies on Republic and Independence Days each year than any other district in India.

People in Delhi and elsewhere would be surprised to know that no less than 450 such flag hoisting ceremonies are organised in the 10 districts that fall within the Valley region. Besides the famous Lal Chowk of Srinagar, where the BJP’s Yuva Morcha activists were heading in climax to their torturous expedition, there are more than 10 spots in the city alone where the national flags ceremoniously hoisted on the two national days. As for Lal Chowk, flag raising was done every year by the paramilitary forces, BSF and CRPF, until 2007 when their commandant-headed bunker moved out.

Other places in Srinagar that regularly have the Tricolour hoisted on R-Day and Independence Day include Palladium Cinema Chowk, Needous Hotel, Radio Kashmir, TV Station, Telephone Exchange and almost near all the bunkers and posts of the paramilitary forces. In every district, tehsil and block headquarters, the state ministers, district magistrates or tehsildars hoist flags in addition to Army organising their own functions separately at brigade and section headquarters.

So ordinary Kashmiris find it hard to understand why the BJP was up to so much fuss. People wondered if the saffronites were not up to their old rhetoric-oriented politics. The party had vowed to address the issue of Kashmir within the framework of “humanity,” when Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Srinagar in 2000. It was an imaginative and bold promise which paved the way for a peace process with the separatists. Later, on April 18, 2003, he also announced a “fresh hand of friendship with Pakistan” from Srinagar.

It is high time the national Opposition party stops looking at the Kashmir issue though a telescope erected on the soil of Hindu majority Jammu and Kathaua where it has considerable support. A solution to the Kashmir issue is necessary for regional peace as well as progress of the country. While on the one hand, BJP leaders vow to ensure the unity of the State, on the other they stoke the flames of division along communal lines by raising the issue of “discrimination” against Jammu and Ladakh. In the 2008 elections, as a fallout of the Amarnath land row, the BJP won 11 seats in the State Assembly, mostly in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts; up from just one seat it got in the 2002 election.

The party’s discrimination theory was punctured by the State Finance Commission (SFC)’s latest findings, which has concluded that Jammu, Kathua and Samba were among the most developed districts of the State. Actually they are more developed than the average Indian district. Even Leh was far more prosperous than nearby Kargil which, because of its Muslim majority, doesn’t exist in the BJP’s scheme of things. So, instead of trying to simulate phony patriotism by raising issues like “denial of democratic space”, the BJP would have done better had it capitalised on the State’s governance deficit.

What Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley faced in Jammu, from where they were bundled out to across the Punjab border, is daily recurrence for Kashmiri activists and politicians who dare to raise their voice against the misrule of the National Conference-Congress combine. The party hardly raised the issue of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s repeated absence from Srinagar when the State was on flames.

On September 13, 2010, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), at its meeting in New Delhi, had acknowledged “trust deficit” and “governance deficit” as the two biggest problems afflicting the approach towards J&K. Ironically, the eight confidence building measures announced a fortnight later did not announce any step to bridge the “governance deficit”.

Even in the two years since Omar Abdullah assumed office, the backbone of the state administration which comprises important commissions, the State Accountability Commission and Vigilance Commission are yet to be constituted. The Information Commission saw its first chief just a few days ago after much squabbling.

Surely, the BJP can turn over a new leaf if it supports democratic voices within J&K and lends support to the political and emotional empowerment of Kashmiri population. That is the only way to show a humane face of India to a people who have so far just seen either a mal-administered, unresponsive Government or a gun-totting soldier representing India’s face.

• Moscow blast and after
• Feigning ignorance is bliss
• Historic campaign, but much work left 
• Placation of secessionism 
• BJP should focus on Kashmiris’ real problems

AP Samachar - 28 January 2011

Yahoo News

Karnataka church attacks: BJP, Sangh Parivar get clean chit

PTI – Fri, Jan 28 3:17 PM IST

Bangalore: The Justice Somasekhara Commission of Inquiry into a series of attacks on churches in parts of Karnataka in 2008 has given a "clean chit" to the ruling BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits.

"There is no basis to the apprehension of Christian petitioners that politicians, BJP, mainstream Sangh Parivar and state government directly or indirectly are involved in the attacks", the one-man commission said in its final report submitted to the Government today.

According to the report submitted to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, circulation of derogatory literature with "insulting attitude" against Hindus and issues of conversion were the main reasons behind the attacks.

The churches were attacked in the districts of Mangalore, Udupi, Chikamagalur, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Bellary and Davangere during September 2008.

The commission found fault with the authority's act of locking the places of worship and preventing devotees from offering prayers as "unprecedented in the history of administrative process and constitutional governance".

Home Minister R Ashok and Law Minister S Suresh Kumar were also present when the report was submitted.

Deccan Chronicle

Pakistan’s ‘Kashmir’ blindfold

January 28th, 2011

Indranil Banerjie

The message from Islamabad is gaining in decibel: the generals want New Delhi to initiate talks with them on Kashmir. The latest in a string of couriers bearing similar tidings was the former Pakistan foreign minister, Mr Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, who urged the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to travel to Islamabad for talks on Kashmir. It is impossible not to detect a touch of urgency in Islamabad’s texting. For, they have reason to be concerned.

When the Kashmir Valley erupted in revolt in 1989, the popular slogan was azadi, or independence. The most prominent militant organisation at that time was the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Within a few years, however, a great change occurred in the armed struggle with the Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist organisation that unabashedly advocated the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan, emerging as the pre-eminent militant organisation in the state.

How this remarkable transformation occurred within the space of a few years has never been a secret in Kashmir. The sidelining of the JKLF and other pro-independence groups was carefully orchestrated by the Pakistan Army. Just as General Zia-ul-Haq had favoured pro-Pakistan Islamist groups in the Afghan jihad, his predecessors realised that the key to controlling the armed struggle in Kashmir was to pack it with men swearing allegiance to Muslim Pakistan. Accordingly, the Hizbul Mujahideen was created in 1989 and began operating in the Valley in parallel with the JKLF.

The pro-Pakistan camp used the age-old methods of coercion and assassination to purge the movement of the independent minded. Arif Jamal, a prominent US-based Pakistani journalist, in his book Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir, has painstakingly described how the Hizbul took control of the movement: “Hizbul Mujahideen operatives harassed, beat and murdered potential rivals, and the scale of the violence was enormous.

According to a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, the organisation eliminated some 7,000 political rivals. From the beginning of their campaign, Hizbul Mujahideen focused on disarming and kidnapping JKLF members, and many were brutalised in custody and beaten to death. According to Amanullah Khan, Hizbul Mujahideen eliminated more JKLF officials than Indian military agents had”.

According to Mr Jamal, “Hizbul Mujahideen militants also murdered some of the leading political leaders in Kashmir. They killed Dr Ahad Guru and Professor Abdul Ahad Wailoo (chief commander of Al-Barq, Al-Jihad and JKLF). Mirwaiz Farooq, a leading political personality in Srinagar, was also killed; Syed Ali Shah Geelani ordered his elimination”.

Recent admissions by key separatist leaders has once again exposed the role of pro-Pakistan forces in political assassinations, including that of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq, Abdul Ghani Lone and others. “No police was involved (in the killings)... It was our own people who killed them”, the former Hurriyat Conference chairman, Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat disclosed while speaking at a seminar in Srinagar in early January this year. He said that even his own brother, Mohammad Sultan Bhat, was murdered by his own people, by which he meant Kashmiri separatists.

Mr Bhat’s outburst rippled through the Kashmir Valley, prompting another separatist leader, Mr Sajjad Lone, to declare that “Truth, however bitter, must prevail”. Mr Lone’s father, Mr Abdul Ghani Lone, was among those assassinated. Although neither Mr Bhat nor Mr Lone specified who had ordered the killings, Mr Bhat maintained that everyone in Kashmir was aware who the killers were. Their fingers pointed squarely at the Hizbul Mujahideen, its Kashmiri leadership and their Pakistani handlers.

The timing of these disclosures is significant, for they suggest a change in Kashmiri perception. While the overall sentiment in the Valley remains anti-Indian, the pro-Pakistan slogans too have lost their resonance. A section of the separatist leadership is now signalling that it wants to be free of Islamabad’s dictations. By raising their voice against the assassinations and implicitly identifying the forces responsible, these Kashmiri leaders are attempting to distance themselves from pro-Pakistani forces that have held Kashmiri politics in complete thrall for more than two decades.

While India may not accrue any direct benefit from this development, it could help in creating an atmosphere for genuine talks with the separatists. For this to happen, New Delhi needs to ensure that the constant threat of political assassinations in the Valley is removed. Sadly though, New Delhi has consistently failed to protect those who favoured a settlement that even hinted at a possible diminution of Islamabad’s perceived interests.

Today, Kashmir politics is undergoing a significant transformation. Pakistan is no longer the role model or a mentor. During last year’s summer unrest, no pro-Pakistan slogans were raised. When Mr Syed Ali Shah Geelani tried again to champion Pakistan, he was heckled and his house attacked. The generals in Islamabad realise that to remain relevant in Kashmir politics, they must compel New Delhi to initiate talks on Kashmir. It is clear, however, that bringing Pakistan back into the Kashmir picture at this juncture would amount to giving away something for nothing. With a number of Kashmiri leaders, including some separatists, are challenging Pakistan’s frightening hegemony, it would be the supreme irony if New Delhi was to reintroduce Islamabad’s generals into the Valley’s political scenario.

* Indranil Banerjie is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi

AP Samachar - 25 January 2011

It’s back to the Emergency!
January 25, 2011   6:57:46 PM

A SURYA PRAKASH

From Swaran Singh to Manmohan Singh: Congress has learned no lessons and hence continues its assault on the Constitution and institutions of state

The Union Telecom Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, informs us that the methodology adopted by the Comptroller and Auditor-General to calculate the loss to the exchequer on the sale of 2G Spectrum (Rs 1.76 lakh crore) is “fraught with serious errors” because there was “no loss at all”. He has also insinuated that the CAG’s findings had actually helped the Opposition spread “utter falsehoods” about the manner in which the Government sold this scarce resource.

Spokespersons of the Congress have followed suit with threats to move a privilege motion in Parliament against the country’s supreme audit institution, simply because the latter declared that it would not just sit back and watch Union Ministers run down the institution.

Meanwhile, the Government and the ruling party have targeted two other institutions — the Supreme Court and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. After having appointed Mr PJ Thomas, an accused in the palmolein import scandal, as the Central Vigilance Commissioner, the Government had the cheek to tell the apex court recently that the latter has no authority to examine his ‘suitability’ for the job. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has come under attack because it spoke the truth on the commissions pocketed by Ottavio Quattrocchi and others in the Bofors field gun deal.

What does all this indicate? The first inference is that the Congress has hit the panic button. Unable to accept the fact that the stock of the Government headed by Mr Manmohan Singh has come crashing down in recent times, some of those in the top echelons of power and the party are going berserk and abusing all and sundry for their own follies.

The second inference is that the Congress, which thrust a dictatorship on this country during Mrs Indira Gandhi’s Emergency 35 years ago, has learnt no lessons despite its shrinking electoral base. It still longs for the ‘good old days’ when bureaucrats, policemen, judges, jailors and journalists could be intimidated and made to do the party’s bidding.

Since the Congress still manages to subvert the Constitution and various institutions of the state by installing nincompoops, toadies and persons with doubtful integrity and qualifications in key offices, it wonders why a CAG, a judge or a person heading an appellate tribunal should display probity and independence and live up to the great ideals of our founding fathers.

Someone needs to give the party a wake-up call. India has come a long way since those dark days 37 years ago when it wanted an obedient Supreme Court packed with “committed” judges and an even more obedient media. In those days there was just one Justice HR Khanna who stood up to Mrs Indira Gandhi’s tyranny and wrote the lone dissenting judgement in the famous habeas corpus case.

Today, there are several dozen such judges. The media too has blossomed and diversified and it is both impractical and foolhardy to try and ‘manage’ it. The shift on the political front is even more dramatic. The Congress’s electoral base has shrunk by about 15 to 20 per cent. The days of single-party rule are long past us and India’s political map is now painted in myriad hues.

Yet, it appears, old habits die hard. Recent events show that the Congress’s maladjustment to core constitutional values, which began in the 1970s, continues. In the mid-1970s, the Congress set up a committee headed by Swaran Singh to suggest amendments to the Constitution.

The committee proposed measures to weaken the judiciary and to alter the federal structure. It said the constituent power of Parliament to amend the Constitution should not be open to question or challenge and Article 368 should be amended to categorically prohibit judicial review. Also, High Courts must be barred from entertaining writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of a Central law.

This report resulted in the obnoxious 42nd Amendment that virtually converted our democracy into a dictatorship. What had annoyed the Congress the most was the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Keshavananda Bharati case in which it declared that Parliament had no power to alter the basic structure of the Constitution.

Anxious to please their party boss and Prime Minister, several leaders of the Congress launched a tirade against the Supreme Court during the debate on the 42nd Amendment and even threatened the judges. Here is a sample:

CM Stephen: “Now the power of this Parliament (through the 42nd Amendment) is declared to be out of bounds for any court. It is left to the courts whether they should defy it. I do not know whether they will have the temerity to do that but if they do ... that will be a bad day for the judiciary. The committee of the House is sitting with regard to the inquiry into the conduct of judges and all that. We have got our methods, our machinery.”

The Congress also mocked at the Supreme Court for propounding the doctrine of basic structure. Swaran Singh accused the courts of having “transgressed the limits” prescribed for them.

Swaran Singh: “The word ‘basic’ and the word ‘structure’ do not occur in the Constitution. They say: You cannot add to the Preamble; it will alter the rhythm of the Preamble ... First the basic structure, now the rhythm. Is it that we are sitting here as poets in order to look to the rhythm?”

Mrs Indira Gandhi: “We do not accept the dogma of the basic structure.” Swaran Singh: “Some judges have imported the phrase ‘basic structure’. I would not say they have imported it. Since it does not exist in any other Constitution, they have invented it.”

NKP Salve: “In the life of every nation ... there comes a time when the Constitution has to be saved from the court and the court from itself.”

The threats that the Congress is now holding out to constitutional authorities like the CAG and the Government’s view on the powers of the Supreme Court remind us once again of those dreadful days. With due apologies to Mr Salve, it would be appropriate to say that in the life of our nation, the time has come when the country’s Constitution has once again to be saved from the Congress and the party from itself.

Why? Because from the days of Swaran Singh to the days of Mr Manmohan Singh, little has changed in the Congress! 

The Pioneer

• It’s back to the Emergency!
• Democracy under attack

Deccan Chronicle

• A republic needs rules

Times of India

• Swami Vivekananda’s vision

Swatantra Vaartha

• कमजोर कार्यसंस्कृति सबसे ब़डी समस्या

AP Samachar - 20 January 2011

The Pioneer

• Oil, Islam and diplomacy
• Paving the path for radical Islamist regimes
• India sitting atop population bomb

Deccan Chronicle

• Nuclear morality

The New Indian Express

• Standard is the question
• On the road to become a saint

AP Samachar - 18 January 2011

Deccan Chronicle

Colours of abuse

January 15th, 2011

Farrukh Dhondy
 

“If the world is The Word
Then metaphor is a midwife”.

From The Vah Vah Chronicles of Bachchoo

Now Jack has ventured where the political angels of Britain fear to tread. I speak of Jack Straw, former home secretary in the Labour government and member of Parliament for the northern industrial (or ex-industrial and substantially unemployed) constituency of Blackburn which contains a large population of Muslim voters. Jack appeared on TV and, uniquely for a national politician, spoke out about gangs of men of Pakistani origin who have for years now preyed upon vulnerable young white girls, raping them, controlling them and subjecting them to prostitution in the cities in which their immigrant communities live.

He chose his words carefully, beginning with a clear statement that most sex offenders in British jails were indeed white or not ethnically Asian but that statistic ought not to induce a delicacy about investigating and preventing the abuse of very vulnerable white women, some as young as 12, who are subjected by British men of Pakistani descent to sexual degradation. 

He was speaking in the wake of a trial in which Abid Saddique and Mohammed Liaqat were jailed by Nottingham Crown Court for the rape, sexual abuse and abduction of girls aged between 12 and 18. 

The story behind these convictions is ugly. These men and their associates cruised the streets of Derby in BMWs and a Range Rover (which apparently Saddique referred to as the “Rape Rover”), picking up young white girls with the lure of inviting them to a wild party. They targeted poor and vulnerable girls who lived in the care of the state, teenagers without the protection of families who may have at some point in their lives been involved in petty crime. 

They would pick them up with offers of a good time, take them to hotel rooms, parks or one or other safe house, ply them with alcohol and cocaine and then, typically, gang rape them and rent them out to other men.

The Derby case is, regretfully, not an isolated incident. The police and researchers who have access to crime statistics have not spoken about it before, but Jack’s blatant statement has forced the debate. Since 1997 there have been 17 prosecutions, 14 of them in the last three years involving the on-street grooming of girls aged 11 to 16 by men of Pakistani origin.

On this evidence, Jack’s conclusions are unavoidable. The cases involved victims from 13 northern cities; 56 men were convicted of rape, child abduction, indecent assault and sex with a child. Three of the 56 were white, 50 were Muslim and of Pakistani origin. A great number of them, as were Saddique and Liaqat, are married by arrangement to women brought from Pakistan for the marriage. 

The police issued an official statement saying that their continuing investigations indicated that these 56 convictions were a very small proportion of a “tidal wave” of such gang activity in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands.

Jack’s outspokenness brought the expected accusations of “racism”, “stereotyping” and of being unhelpful to community relations. Jack himself, dependent to a large degree on the ethnic vote in his constituency, has not been this candid before. He told the BBC that his reason for speaking out now was that he was aware that it was a specific problem in the Pakistani community whose restrictive sexual traditions were imposed on young men who were “fizzing and popping with testosterone”.

He went on to say, “They want some outlet for that, but Pakistani-heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically. So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, who they think are easy meat”. His remarks have caused a national investigation to be launched by the Home Office’s oddly named Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) into this particular criminal phenomenon.

There has been, since the ’70s and the birth of a general awareness that the immigrant populations of Britain have to be assimilated into British life and progress, a sensitivity about exposing or debating the issue of “ethnic crime”. 

In the late ’70s and ’80s the crime of street “mugging” was seen by the newspapers as an epidemic. Only the very determined Right-wing papers, in the face of silence from any official police source, were willing to characterise this crime as exclusively carried out by young black men of Caribbean origin. The ethnicity of “mugging” was a blatant fact and a public secret, kept in the interest of race relations. 

Similarly, there is now a sensitivity about Jack’s intervention. He was careful not to fudge the issue by calling it an “Asian” phenomenon. He pointedly excluded Sikhs, Hindus and Chinese from his characterisation and narrowed it down to Muslim men of Pakistani origin. His observation of young men “fizzing” with testosterone is probably applicable to most males of that age anywhere and everywhere. What makes the gangs who perpetrate this crime different is that they are reared in a strict tradition and in very self-enclosed communities in which the idea of “impurity” and “immorality” of the ways of the host civilisation and its young women is rife. 

In an extreme case, the young Islamicist men who were plotting to plant bombs in the centre of London and were caught and convicted of the conspiracy were about to target — not military installations, the British Parliament, the American embassy or other accomplices and shelters of the Great Satan — but nightclubs in Haymarket. This was, they said when apprehended, because white women who were “slags” and “slappers” went dancing and drinking there and deserved the fate their bombs would mete out.

The Muslim community is not blind to this poisonous brew of bigotry. Muhammad Saddiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, an influential Muslim youth organisation, says, “These people think that white girls have fewer morals and are less valuable than our girls”.

It is also true that the same communities are extremely protective of their own women. If a Muslim girl were regarded and treated in this way, there would be bloodshed in the community. 

Jack has been nimble and quick and has opened up a necessary debate. The debate will, under these circumstances and with the national enquiry being launched by Ceop, go further than the predictable objections from the spokespeople of “race” whose attempts to caution or silence the Jacks can only serve to protect outrageous abuse.

उदारवाद की पीठ पर कट्‌टरवाद का क़ोडा

Swatantra Vaartha  Tue, 18 Jan 2011, IST

तालिबान अब किसी वर्ग का नाम नहीं रहा है। उनकी बंदूक केवल सत्ता प्राप्ति के लिये नहीं चलती है, बल्कि हर उस आदमी और आंदोलन पर चलती है, जिसका नाम उदारवाद है । पाकिस्तान अब समाप्त भी हो जाए तो यह वृत्ति नहीं बदल सकती है, क्योंकि जिसकी जबान पर एक बार खून लग जाता है, वह नरभक्षी बनकर अपनी पेट की भूख और सीने की जलन को शांत करने का अभ्यस्त हो जाता है। पिछले दिनों पंजाब के राज्यपाल सलमान तासीर की हत्या जिस प्रकार मुस्लिम उन्मादियों ने की उससे ब़ढकर कोई मिसाल नहीं मिल सकती है। पाकिस्तान के सबसे अधिक प़ढे जाने वाले अंग्रेजी अखबार दैनिक डेली टाइम्स ने लिखा है कि यह बेनजीर भुट्‌टो के बाद पाकिस्तान के पीपुल्स पार्टी के एक और हाई प्रोफाइल राजनीतिक व्यक्ति की हत्या का मामला है। उनकी हत्या उनके ही एक गार्ड ने इसलिये कर दी, क्योंकि सलमान विवादित ईशनिंदा कानून का खुलकर विरोध करते थे। वह इस कानून में संशोधन की वकालत करते थे। उनकी मांग थी कि तानाशाह शासक जियाउल हक ने इस रूप में जो गलत परंपरा शुरू की थी, उसे बंद किया जाए। यद्यपि इस समय कुछ भी कहना कठिन होगा। क्योंकि अतीत की कई घटनाआें में यह बात सामने आई है कि इन तुच्छ हरकतों के पीछे कोई ब़डा हाथ होता है। इसलिये अब यह तो समय ही बतलाएगा कि इस घटना के पीछे केवल एक व्यक्ति का हाथ था या इसके द्वारा देश में राजनीतिक अस्थिरता पैदा करने की कोशिश की गई है। यदि स्वयं को पैगम्बर साहब के आदरसम्मान का रक्षक बतलाने वाला कोई धार्मिक अतिवादी इस तरह उन लोगों की हत्या करने पर उतारु हो जाएगा जो इंसान के बनाए हुए कानूनों का विरोध करते हैं, तो कहना होगा कि हमारा समाज घोर अराजकता और बर्बरता की दिशा में ब़ढ रहा है। इसका एक मतलब यह भी है कि यहां किसी तार्किक बातचीत की कोई गुंजाइश नहीं है। यहां राज्यपाल जैसे उच्च पद पर बैठे हुए व्यक्ति को भी अपनी बात कहने का अधिकार नहीं है। दूसरी ओर यह घटना स्पष्ट तौर पर पंजाब सरकार में सुरक्षा की गंभीर लापरवाही की ओर भी इशारा करती है। पंजाब सरकार अपने प्रांत में सभी महत्वपूर्ण व्यक्तियों की सुरक्षा प्रदान करने के लिये उत्तरदायी है। यह अचरज की बात है कि सरकार ने सुरक्षा प्रबंधों की जिम्मेदारी मलिक मुमताज हुसैन जैसे उस व्यक्ति को सौंप रखी है, जिस पर अतिवादियों से संबंध होने का संदेह है।
पाकिस्तान का जन्म ही मुस्लिम लीग के आतंक में हुआ, जिसका सबसे बुरा परिणाम यह आया कि उसके प्रथम प्रधानमंत्री लियाकत अली खान की हत्या कर दी गई। उनकी हत्या करने वाला कौन था, इसका पता नहीं चल सका, क्योंकि उनके हत्यारे की हत्या भी उसी क्षण कर दी गई ताकि हत्या के रहस्य पर हमेशा के लिये पर्दा प़ड जाए। इतना ही नहीं, पाकिस्तान का संविधान भी इन आतंकी तत्वों ने नहीं बनने दिया। पाकिस्तान के प्रथम राष्ट्रपति का तख्ता पलट कर जनरल अय्यूब खान ने १९५८ में सत्ता पर कब्जा कर लिया। इसके बाद तो इस्लामाबाद में एक के बाद एक मार्शल लॉ प्रशासक अवतरित होते रहे। अय्यूब खान के पश्चात याहया खान आए, जिनके कार्यकाल में पाकिस्तान टूट गया और पूर्वी पाकिस्तान बंगलादेश के रूप में परिणित हो गया। इसके पश्चात जनरल जिया आए तो उन्होंने पाकिस्तान को इस्लामी देश और वहां के कानूनों को शरीयत के कानूनों में बदल दिया। पाकिस्तान में आज जो कुछ हो रहा है, वह सब उसके इस्लामीकरण के पश्चात ही होने लगा। जिया ने जुल्फिकार अली भुट्‌टो को फांसी पर च़ढा दिया और सम्पूर्ण पाकिस्तान को इस्लामी आतंकवादियों का दुर्ग बना दिया। परवेज मुशर्रफ ने भी पहले तो इस्लाम का ही गाना गाया, लेकिन जब लाल मस्जिद कांड हुआ तो मौलानाआें से निपटने के लिये मजबूर होना प़डा। पाकिस्तान में जब परमाणु शक्ति का विस्तार हुआ और एटम बम बनाने की बात चली तो उसका नामकरण ही इस्लामी बम कर दिया गया। जिया से पूर्व जुल्फिकार अली भुट्‌टो भले ही स्वयं को प्रगतिशील बतलाएं, लेकिन उनके ही कार्यकाल में इस्लामी प्रसारवाद को हवा मिली। इस्लामी सेना, इस्लामी ब्लॉक, इस्लामी शेयर बाजार के साथसाथ इस्लामी बम बनाने की हलचल प्रारंभ हुई। इसी इस्लामी कट्‌टरता में से आगे चलकर इस्लामी आतंकवाद का जन्म हुआ, जिसमें स्वयं जुल्फिकार अली भुट्‌टो की ही जान नहीं गई, बल्कि मुशर्रफ के बाद अमेरिका ने जब वहां लोकतंत्र की स्थापना की मुहिम चलाई तो उनकी पुत्री बेनजीर की भी निर्मम हत्या कर दी गई। जिसकी जांच अब तक चल रही है। उसके दोषी तो पक़डे नहीं गए, लेकिन इसी श्रृंखला में पीपुल्स पार्टी के सदस्य और वर्तमान में राज्यपाल पद पर आसीन सलमान तासीर की हत्या भी दिन दह़ाडे उनके सुरक्षाकर्मी ने कर दी। यानी इस्लाम के नाम पर बना पाकिस्तान आज इस्लामी आतंकवाद का ग़ढ बन गया और एक के पश्चात एक आतंकवादी घटनाआें का साक्षी बन गया।
सलमान तासीर के हत्यारे को जिस तरह से इस्लामी हीरो बनाकर पेश किया जा रहा है, उससे तो यही लगता है कि यह आंदोलन थमने वाला नहीं है। आज नहीं तो पाकिस्तान पर कल तालिबानों का एकछत्र राज कायम हो जाएगा, जिसका परिणाम स्पष्ट है। पिछले समय से महिलाआें पर जो अत्याचार हो रहे हैं और ईशनिंदा के नाम पर प्रगतिशील तत्वों और अल्पसंख्यकों को जिस तरह से मौत के घाट उतारा जा रहा है, उससे लगता है तालिबानी आंदोलन दिन दूना और रात चौगुना ब़ढता ही चला जाएगा।
पाकिस्तान के शासकों का मानस इससे जाना जा सकता है कि फ्रंटियर प्रदेश की किसी महिला के साथ दिन दह़ाडे बलात्कार होता है, तो परवेज मुशर्रफ यह कहते हैं कि अमेरिका जाने के लिये बलात्कार एक अच्छा हथियार है। इससे ब़ढकर महिला समाज की क्या तौहीन हो सकती है ? सीमांत प्रदेश की एक महिला के साथ सामूहिक बलात्कार हुआ उसने सम्पूर्ण पाकिस्तान में सहायता की झोली फैलाई, लेकिन मुशर्रफ सहित कोई भी सामाजिक संगठन उसके पक्ष में ख़डा नहीं हुआ। अमेरिका के एक संगठन ने उसकी फरियाद को सुना और उस महिला को अपने खर्च से अमेरिका बुलवाया।

पाकिस्तान में ईशानिंदा यानी हजरत पैगम्बर मोहम्मद साहब के विपरीत एक भी शब्द नहीं बोला जाए। इस्लाम के विरुद्ध जो बोलेगा वह भी ईशनिंदा होगा। इसलिये पाकिस्तान के अल्पसंख्यक आज तक इस कानून के शिकार होते रहे हैं। सर्वाधिक ईसाईयों को इस मामले में दंडित किया गया है। पाकिस्तान का सबसे ब़डा अल्पसंख्यक वर्ग अहमदिया जिन्हें पाक ने गैर मुस्लिम घोषित कर दिया है, उनके विरुद्ध भी ईशनिंदा के कानून में कार्यवाही की जाती है। जबकि अहमदिया सम्प्रदाय किसी देश में गैर मुस्लिम नहीं माना जाता। वे कलमा प़ढते हैं और इस्लाम के सिद्धांतों पर चलते हैं, इसके बावजूद उन पर ईशनिंदा कानून के तहत कार्यवाही होती है । ईशनिंदा का कानून जनरल जिया ने लागू किया था। तब से यह ज्यों का त्यों बना हुआ है। किसी को भी यदि फांसी पर लटकाना है, तो इसका उपयोग किया जाता है। हर सरकार और हर जनरल ने ऐसा किया है। केवल इस्लाम के नाम पर लोगों को ब्लैकमेल किया जाता है और उनको रास्ते से हटा दिया जाता है। हुदूद आर्डिनेंस कानून भी जिया के समय में ही बना, जिसने बलात्कार और जोर जबर्दस्ती से निकाह किये जाने संबंधी महिलाआें के अधिकार कम कर दिये। हलाला नहीं करने वाली महिलाआें को सरेआम कोडे मारे गए और उन्हें मौत के घाट उतार दिया गया। एक समय मुशर्रफ ने पाकिस्तान के धार्मिक प्रतिष्ठानों और इस्लामी परंपराआें के आधुनिकीकरण का प्रयास किया था, लेकिन अंततः मुशर्रफ भी इन जुनूनी ताकतों के सम्मुख बेबस साबित हुए। पाकिस्तान में आज भी वहां के वुडेरे (जमींदार) अपनी ल़डकियों का विवाह कुरान के साथ करके अपनी सम्पत्ति को किसी अन्य के हाथों में जाने से बचा लेते हैं। कारो कारी जैसा शापित रिवाज आज भी जारी है, जिसमें महिला को पत्थरों से कुचल दिया जाता है। पाकिस्तान में मानव अधिकार जैसी कोई वस्तु नहीं है। विश्व में पाक तीसरे नम्बर पर है, जहां सबसे अधिक लोगों को त्रास दिया जाता है। न्यूयार्क टाइम्स के अनुसार ब्लूचिस्तान के असंख्य लोग लापता हैं। अब तक ४० ब्लूच नेता कत्ल किये जा चुके हैं। यहां इंसानी जीवन का कोई मूल्य नहीं है। इसलिये सलमान तासीर के साथ जो कुछ हुआ वह वहां की जनता और नेता के लिये कोई नई बात नहीं है। राष्ट्रसंघ का मानव अधिकार आयोग भी लाचार और बेबस है। सलमान तासीर ईसाई महिला आशिया बीबी को दी गई सजा कम करवाना चाहते थे। इसलिये उनको अपनी जान से हाथ धोना प़डा। सोशल वर्किंग वेबसाइट फेसबुक पर सलमान के हत्यारे को गाजी कहा जा रहा है। उन्मादियों ने पाक जनता को सतर्क कर दिया है कि वे चुप बैठें वरना उनका हाल भी सलमान तासीर जैसा ही होगा। बेनजीर के हत्यारों को नहीं पक़डा जा सका है, तो सलमान उनके सामने किस मर्ज की दवा है।

AP Samachar - 11 January 2011

Swatantra Vaartha

असीमानंद जैसे लोगों से संघ का किनारा !

Swatantra Vaartha  Tue, 11 Jan 2011, IST

असीमानंद जैसे लोगों से संघ का किनारा !

राष्ट्रीय स्वयं सेवक संघ के प्रमुख मोहन भागवत ने अपने एक वक्तव्य में यह साफ कर दिया है कि तथाकथित हिन्दू आतंकवाद का उनके संगठन से कोई संबंध नहीं है। उनका कहना है कि उन्होंने बहुत पहले यह कह दिया है कि संघ में अतिवादी विचार वालों के लिए कोई स्थान नहीं है। उन्होंने कांग्रेस पार्टी पर प्रहार करते हुए कहा कि चारों तरफ से भ्रष्टाचारों के आरोपों से घिरी कांग्रेस लोगों का ध्यान बंटाने के लिए हिन्दू आतंकवाद का शोर मचा रही है और उसे संघ के साथ ज़ोडने का प्रयास कर रही है। यह रोचक है कि एक तरफ कांग्रेस के नेता कह रहे हैं कि भाजपा के लोग आतंकवादी घटनाआें के साथ संघ परिवार की संलिप्तता से लोगों का ध्यान हटाने के लिए भ्रष्टाचार के मिथ्या आरोपों को अनावश्यक तूल दे रहे हैं, तो संघ के प्रमुख कांग्रेस के नेताआें पर आरोप लगा रहे हैं कि वे भ्रष्टाचार के आरोपों से ध्यान हटाने के लिए आतंकवाद के गलत आरोपों का सहारा ले रहे हैं। भागवत तथा संघ परिवार के नेताआें का यह भी आरोप है कि सबरीमलय वनवासी आश्रम के संचालक असीमानंद को गिरफ्तार करके उनसे जबर्दस्ती इस तरह का बयान दिलवाया जा रहा है और उसे ब़ढाच़ढाकर प्रसारित कराया जा रहा है कि समझौता एक्सप्रेस व मालेगांव तथा हैदराबाद के मक्का मस्जिद विस्फोटों में उनका तथा संघ से ज़ुडे लोगों का हाथ था।

इन आरोपोंप्रत्यारोपों में कितना क्या सच है, यह बहुत कुछ इस देश के प्रबुद्ध लोगों को मालूम है। लेकिन यहां अहम सवाल यह है कि क्या असीमानंद वास्तव में हिन्दू आतंकवाद के प्रतीक हैं और संघ से उनका ज़ुडाव क्या संघ को भी आतंकवादी बना देता है ? इसमें दो राय नहीं कि हिन्दू महासभा और उसके बाद राष्ट्रीय स्वयं सेवक संघ का गठन इस देश में मुस्लिम लीग के गठन के बाद इस्लामी कट्‌टरपन और उसकी हिंसा से बचाव के लिए हिन्दुआें को संगठित करने के लिए हुआ, लेकिन इन संगठनों ने सैद्धांतिक तौर पर कभी भी हिंसा या प्रतिहिंसा को अपना हथियार नहीं बनाया, इनका चरित्र प्रतिरक्षात्मक ही बना रहा। फिर भी इनमें यदि हिंसा का जवाब हिंसा से देने का विचार रखने वाले कुछ लोग आ गये, तो इसमें कोई आश्चर्य नहीं, यह अस्वाभाविक भी नहीं। देश के स्वतंत्र होने के बाद ऐसी चुनौतियां क्रमश: कम होती गयी थीं, लेकिन इधर के एक दो दशकों में अंतर्राष्ट्रीय जिहादी आतंकवाद ने फिर देश के सामने एक हिंसक चुनौती ला ख़डी की, जिसका मुकाबला करने में इस देश की राजसत्ता भी नाकाम सिद्ध हो रही है। ऐसे में इन संगठनों में शामिल कुछ लोगों ने यदि हिंसा का जवाब हिंसा से देने की ठान ली हो, तो इसे भी अस्वाभाविक नहीं कहा जा सकता। लेकिन इस देश में अफसोस की बात यह है कि जो ऐसा करते हैं या सोचते हैं, वे सार्वजनिक तौर पर उसे स्वीकार करने का साहस नहीं रखते।

आश्चर्य है कि मोहन भागवत में भी यह कहने का साहस नहीं है कि यदि हिन्दुआें के खिलाफ आतंकवादी हमले ब़ढेंगे, तो उसकी प्रतिक्रिया में हिन्दुआें के बीच भी उग्रवाद पैदा हो सकता है। असीमानंद जैसे लोग ऐसी प्रतिक्रिया की ही देन हैं। वे सिद्धांतत: हिंसा के अनुयायी नहीं हैं, लेकिन प्रतिक्रिया के क्षोभ में हिंसा का अस्त्र अपना लेना किसी साधु संत के लिए भी अस्वाभाविक नहीं। सिख तो शांतिप्रिय भक्तों का संगठन था, लेकिन धर्म व जाति रक्षा के लिए वह शस्त्रबद्ध संगठन बन गया। उत्तर भारत के तमाम तपस्वी साधुआें ने अपने चिमटे को ही हथियार बना लिया था और तपस्या छ़ोडकर अपने शिष्यों को ल़डनेभ़िडने का प्रशिक्षण देना शुरू कर दिया था। अयोध्या में बाबरी मस्जिद गिरा दी गयी, तमाम लोगों ने हर्ष मनाया, लेकिन कोई यह कहने के लिए सामने नहीं आया कि हमने इसे गिराया या हमने इसे क्यों गिराया।

असीमानंद आदि पर जो आरोप लग रहे हैं या जिस कृत्य को वे स्वयं स्वीकार कर रहे हैं, वह निश्चय ही गलत और निंदनीय है, यदि जिहादी आतंकवाद के विरुद्ध उनके मन में वास्तविक गुस्सा है, तो उन्हें खुलकर सामने आना चाहिए और सीधी ल़डाई ल़डनी चाहिए। चोरी छिपे बम रखकर तो वे भी वही कायराना हरकत कर रहे हैं, जो जिहादी आतंकवादी करते आ रहे हैं। संघ को भी इन मामलाेें में सत्य और साहस का परिचय देना चाहिए। प्रतिरक्षात्मक बयानों से उसकी रक्षा नहीं हो सकेगी।

पाक में कट्‌टरपंथी व उदारपंथी में कोई खास भेद नहीं

पाकिस्तान के शहर कराची में कठोर ईशनिंदा कानून को बनाए रखने के लिए इस रविवार को एक विशाल रैली हुई, जिसमें करीब ५० हजार से अधिक लोग शामिल हुए। ये सब नारे लगा रहे थे और हाथ में बैनर व तख्तियां लिए हुए थे, जिन पर लिखा था ‘मुमताज कादरी हत्यारा नहीं हीरो है’, ‘हम उसके साहस को सलाम करते हैं’, आदि आदि। इस रैली में पाकिस्तान के सभी प्रमुख धार्मिक पार्टियों व संगठनों ने भाग लिया था, जिनमें उदारपंथी और कट्‌टरपंथी दोनों शामिल थे। दोनों एक स्वर में ईशनिंदा कानून को नरम बनाने के खिलाफ आवाज उठा रहे थे। इस कानून में संशोधन की मांग करने वाले पीपीपी के नेता व पंजाब प्रांत के राज्यपाल सलमान तासीर की हत्या के कुछ दिन बाद ही हुई इस तरह की रैली से पाकिस्तान सरकार घब़डा गयी है। प्रधानमंत्री यूसुफ रज़ा गिलानी ने फौरन बयान जारी करके स्पष्ट किया है कि सरकार का ईशनिंदा कानून में संशोधन का कोई इरादा नहीं है।

इसके साथ ही यह खबरें भी आ रही हैं कि पाकिस्तानी हिन्दुआें में धर्मपरिवर्तन कि क्रिया तेज हो गयी है। पाकिस्तान में सुरक्षापूर्वक जीवन जीने के लिए आवश्यक हो गया है कि लोग इस्लाम कबूल कर लें। अभी जिस ईसाई महिला आशिया बीबी को ईशनिंदा के आरोप में मौत की सजा दी गयी है, उसके परिवार पर भी धर्म बदल लेने का भारी दबाव है। स्वयं आशिया बीबी की हत्या के लिए भारी इनाम दिये जाने की घोषणा की गयी है। आशिया बीबी का परिवार अपने गांव में अकेला ईसाई परिवार है, इसलिए उस पर और अधिक खतरा है।

इमामों के संगठन के एक नेता करीम मोहम्मद सलीम ने कहा है कि यदि ईशनिंदा (ब्लैसफीम लॉ) कानून के अंतर्गत किसी को पहले सजा दी जाती है और फिर यदि उसे माफ कर दिया जाता है, तो हम भी कानून हाथ में लेंगे, जो मन चाहे करेंगे। किसी कानून का अर्थ क्या यदि उसके तहत हुए फैसले को कोई सत्ता प्रमुख किसी दबाव में आकर बदल दे। अब इस तरह की देशव्यापी प्रतिक्रिया को देखते हुए आशिया बीबी के लिए माफी मिलना तो बहुत मुश्किल हो गया है। राष्ट्रपति आसिफ अली ज़रदारी के निकटवर्ती सूत्रों के अनुसार पहले वह आशिया को माफी दे देने के पक्ष में थे, लेकिन अब वह शायद ही ऐसा साहस कर सकें। पाकिस्तान सरकार के धार्मिक मामलों के मंत्री ने भी यह स्पष्ट कर दिया है कि सरकार ईशनिंदा कानून के संदर्भ में किसी के साथ किसी तरह की नरमी बरतने के लिए तैयार नहीं है। अब इस स्थिति में सहज ही कल्पना की जा सकती है कि पाकिस्तान इस २१वीं शताब्दी के दूसरे दशक में किस दिशा में ब़ढ रहा है। आश्चर्य है कि अब वहां के नरमपंथी अपनी पहचान खो रहे हैं और कट्‌टरपंथियों के स्वर में अपना स्वर मिलाने लगे हैं।

'Not just White girls, Pak Muslim men sexually target Hindu and Sikh girls as well

Yudhvir Rana, TNN, Jan 10, 2011

AMRITSAR: A day after UKs' former home secretary Jack Straw blamed some Pakistani Muslim men for targeting "vulnerable" White girls sexually, UK's Hindu and Sikh organizations also publicly accused Muslim groups of the same offence. 

AP Samachar - 7 January 2011

Times of India

Tread with caution 

Jan 7, 2011, 12.00am IST

• The Srikrishna committee report on Telangana, made public at an all-party meeting yesterday, needs to be welcomed for its measured approach. The report explores the pros and cons of six options with respect to Andhra Pradesh, following a pro-Telangana agitation which turned violent last year. A division of Andhra Pradesh warrants careful deliberation. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 had redrawn the boundaries of states along linguistic lines. The sensitivity of the issue was not lost on the legislators of the time and they struck a delicate balance. It was only in 2000, almost half a century later, that consent was given for the creation of three new states - Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.
  
  The basis for this was as much development as it was identity. But in Telangana's case, it is identity alone that dominates. According to the Srikrishna report, an extensive analysis of the socio-economic parameters of all regions of Andhra Pradesh did not reveal any material evidence to treat the Telangana region as particularly backward. This in itself should be reason enough for the Centre to move slowly on any division plans. Besides, a result that clearly favours either the pro- or the anti-Telangana camp would lead to a backlash from the aggrieved party. There is also the delicate issue of Hyderabad. Over the last two decades, the Andhra capital has emerged as an IT hub, attracting significant venture capital. Pro-Telangana lobbyists can't see a separate state without the city, while those from coastal Andhra and the Rayalaseema regions are similarly unwilling to relinquish their stakes.
  
  In addition, having smaller states does not necessarily guarantee better governance. Though it was carved out of Bihar, Jharkhand still languishes on development indices. The Srikrishna committee has pitched for a unitary Andhra Pradesh with statutory guarantees such as the establishment of a Telangana regional council as the most favourable option. This could be used as a springboard for greater devolution of political power in the Telangana region.
  
  But as things stand, the creation of a separate Telangana will increase the clamour for new states, from Gorkhaland to Vidarbha and Haritpradesh. A wider consultative mechanism that looks at various aspects of states reorganisation is the need of the hour. If the popular yearning is for governance they can access rather than government by remote and impersonal entities, this can also be addressed through greater devolution of powers and finances to local bodies. Making Indian cities self-governing to a greater degree, for example, may be just the solution we need for urban blight.

AP Samachar - 6 January 2011

Sadhvi Pragya's brother attempts suicide, alleges harassment

Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, January 05, 2011

First Published: 20:17 IST(5/1/2011)
Last Updated: 20:18 IST(5/1/2011)

The brother of Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur attempted suicide in south-east Delhi on Wednesday alleging that he was "harassed" by investigating agencies. Ananth Brahmachari consumed poison and was found unconscious in Jangpura locality on Wednesday afternoon, police sources said. 

He was rushed to AIIMS where he is undergoing treatment, they said.

Sources said a note was recovered from him in which he alleged that he was "depressed" due to questioning by the investigating agencies in connection with his sister's alleged association in terrorist acts.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh is accused of orchestrating the Malegaon blast of 2008 and is currently awaiting trial along with others. She is one of the prime accused in the case.

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