May Month Articles
At least 15 terrorists were killed
on Thursday in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district in
south Kashmir, defence sources said. .....
More army troops have been moved
to Jammu and Kashmir to maintain the heat on militants after the Operation
'Sarp Vinash' and in fresh big strikes on militant hideouts, 45 militants,
mostly Pakistani mercenaries, have been killed and ten captured during
the last three days. .....
Hailing Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee as a "statesman" for his latest initiative for peace with Pakistan,
Germany today strongly backed India in its fight against cross-border terrorism
and asked Islamabad to put an end to this menace. .....
Despite peace moves by India towards
Pakistan, there is no let-up in infiltration efforts from across the border,
Chief of Army General N C Vij said today. .....
Strongly supporting India's move
to extend a hand of friendship to Pakistan, the US on Wednesday categorically
ruled out any mediation on the Kashmir issue, report Agencies. .....
As a sequel to Operation 'Sarp
Vinash', Army's large-scale anti-military operation in upper reaches of
Poonch district, the security forces are poised to launch sustained operations
in other inaccessible areas of Jammu and Kashmir where it is suspected
militants might have set up fortifications reports PTI. .....
A day after suicide bombers killed
29 people in Morocco in mid-May, that country's interior minister noted
that the five nearly simultaneous attacks "bear the hallmarks of international
terrorism." More strongly, the Moroccan justice minister asserted a "connection
to international terrorism" and the prime minister spoke of a "foreign
hand" behind the violence. .....
Over and above the invisible fifth
column, there is a known fourth column in India. There is a Pakistan inside
the borders which needs to be defeated first. President Musharraf's country
is beyond the borders and is comparatively a lesser menace. An inimical
neighbour is more dangerous than a transborder enemy. Asghar Ali and his
several accomplices, recently apprehended in Hyderabad for the murder of
Haren Pandya, are a good example of Pakistanis who flourish in India. .....
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani
may take up with Washington the issue of Pakistan handing over 20 terrorists
and criminals sought by India during his visit to the US beginning June
8. Mr Ad-vani had told US deputy secretary of stale Richard Armitage, when
he was here recently, that he was unable to understand why Islamabad was
hesitant in returning those 20 terrorists and criminals, sources said.
.....
US President George W. Bush
on Saturday said the recent suicide bombings in the Saudi capi-tal
of Riyadh that killed 34 people, including eight Americans, provide a "stark
reminder" that war on terror continues even as he vowed to hunt down Al
Qaida "killers" from Pakistan to the Philippines until they are all brought
to justice. .....
I'm proud to be a liberal. I've
been a liberal all my life, espousing civil rights, environmental protection,
fiscal prudence, energy independence, gun control, educational uplift,
stands against military dictatorships, etc. I believe firmly in individuals
thinking of causes greater than their own and translating such impulses
into public policies to change society for the better. .....
Liberals now seem to cover for
the most illiberal force on the planet, Islamic fundamentalists who destroy
free speech and enslave blacks and heap blame on U.S. policy, but do not
ask the Muslim world to take a hard, long look in the mirror. .....
In the days after Sept. 11, 2001,
Sami Omar al-Hussayen led fellow Muslims as they joined an emotion-charged
candlelight march remembering the dead. The Saudi graduate student in computer
science at the University of Idaho helped organize a blood drive for victims.
.....
The world is paying more attention
than ever before to Muslim countries. However, the treatment of women in
some of these countries has been cause for outright shock. In many ways,
the present treatment of women in those countries reflects tribal — rather
than Islamic — values. In this Globalist Interview, Professor Akbar Ahmed
— Chair of Islamic Studies at American University — offers new perspectives.
.....
A professor of Cambridge University
is deeply, engrossed in his studies in his calm chamber: An agitated English
soldier enters the study room and accuses the professor in not sharing
the trauma of war which he and many others like him are facing while fighting
Germans. The professor calmly asks the young soldier for whom he is fighting
for. .....
Two persons were killed and three
others kidnapped by NLFT insurgents in separate incidents in West Tripura
district, police on Thursday said. Two collaborators of the banned outfit
were kidnapped at gun point by the armed ultras from Jangalia village in
the district last night and one of them was later shot dead. .....
In 1996, during a six-month employment
in Bhubaneshwar, fascinated by the beauty and antiquity of the area, I
travelled with friends to Konarak and to Puri. Here, I was interested in
seeing the temple of Lord Jagannath, considered to be the symbol of Orissa.
.....
In her article `Hindutva and ethnicity'
(The Hindu, February 25), Ms. Gail Omvedt has made several statements which
call for comments. The solicitude and greed of the Pandas, which are sarcastically
mentioned by the author, are not a peculiarity of a temple or found only
in India. .....
A Muslim woman is going to court
against the state this week in her fight to wear a veil that covers most
of her face for her driver's license photo. .....
Totalitarian regimes in the Middle
East have targeted the United States with a well-financed influence campaign
that is being rooted in American politics. .....
It is unnecessary to recall the
horrors of the panchayat polls in West Bengal to come to the conclusion
that something is very rotten in the state of Denmark. Signs are unmistakable;
the Marxists are losing their grip and it is no one's fault but their own.
.....
On a recent Saturday in a church
fellowship hall here, evangelical Christians from several states gathered
for an all-day seminar on how to woo Muslims away from Islam. .....
The recent times have witnessed
a flurry of activities in the academic circles regarding our culture, heritage
and traditions. The emergence of right wing writers and an increasing undeniable
movement of the hoi polloi towards the far right has brought the conflict
between the so-called 'secular progressives' and the others (Whom the media
loves to call 'fascists') into sharp focus. .....
Asserting that the disputed site
in Ayodhya was the birthplace of Lord Ram, the Centre today told the Liberhan
Commission that continued effort by Hindus to liberate it either by way
of struggle or negotiations and litigations have been on even during the
existence of the mosque there. .....
Choosing yet another soft target,
militants killed five members of a Gujjar family, including three children
and one woman, and set their house on fire late last night in Rajouri district
in Jammu and Kashmir, Police sources said here today. .....
For the hypothetical choice between
Narendra Modi of Gujarat and General Musharraf, it’s no contest really
— the truly disturbing sign of the direction India’s democracy has taken
is that the ‘Paki in khaki’would get my vote any day over the saffron-draped
Hindu nationalist peddling the politics of hate. .....
India, which has the second largest
Muslim population country in the world after Indonesia, was almost set
to join the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). .....
Wing Commander (retd) R V Parasnis,
who so chivalrously defended me in the message board, points out that "The
Pakistani invasion began on the 22nd of October 1947 and not in 1948 as
you have quoted." .....
The cell, comprising at least six
individuals and based in London and Luton, is part of the 'al-Tauhid group'.
The group is independent of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation, but
follow a similar hardline agenda and has been blamed for a series of attacks
and plots over the last three years. .....
Three days after a tribal woman
was raped allegedly for not voting for the CPM in the panchayat polls,
a complaint was lodged with the police today. But it was only after the
victim approached the additional district magistrate and submitted a memorandum
to him that an FIR was lodged. .....
When he was a teenager issuing
his own fatwas, Mansour al-Nogaidan ordered his followers to blow up a
video store in downtown Riyadh because it was spreading Western corruption.
Now, years later, a completely changed man has dropped a philosophical
bombshell in the fervent national discussion swirling around the suicide
attacks this month against residential compounds here. .....
Saudi security agents thwarted
a Sept. 11-style plot, arresting three Moroccan extremists who had planned
to hijack a jetliner and crash it into the national bank in Jeddah, it
was revealed yesterday. .....
In what may be the largest single
counter-insurgency operation in India in the past decade or so, security
forces have in the last three weeks killed an estimated 60 hard,-core militants
in the Surankote area close to the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
.....
Defying orders ban-ning his entry
into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Jaish-e- Mohammad leader Maulana Masood
Azhar to-day reached Kotii town in PoK, a private television channel, Geo
TV reported. .....
It is now more than a week since
Pakistan- backed Islamic terrorists shot up the Indian Parliament in New
Delhi, killing 12 people and leaving the Parliament building pocked with
bullet holes -- yet India has so far received zero support from the nation
supposedly leading an international coalition against terrorism. .....
Nisha Sharma's is a case of accidental
awakening. This petite 21-year-old, middle-class girl who called the police
to her wedding mandap and sent her would-be groom behind bars had never
even dreamt of female empowerment. She grew up following a conventional
script: be good, do good, accept customs, follow traditions, respect elders.
.....
When Koodiyattam scholar G. Venu
was appointed director of the Sweden-based World Theatre Project, he believed
it was a life-time opportunity that would provide him with the much-touted
global exposure. To his utter surprise, however, what was revealed to him
were some home truths. .....
The attack by suicide bombers in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the night of May 12 was a reminder America-or
for that matter the entire world-cannot ignore: Al-Qaida is alive and is
capable of repeating 9/11 on varying scales of horror. The imprints were
a giveaway. .....
She called off her wedding, only
to be married to a cause forever. And from now on, when stories of Indian
women's struggle against dowry are recounted, 21-year-old Nisha Sharma
is sure to be an inspiration. .....
The devotional music of Marathi
saints is hitting the high notes in Birmingham, UK, of all places, finds
Renuka Suryanarayan. Next up: Abhang rap (no kidding!) .....
He is an activist of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a group not too popular with the minorities. But
this school teacher has turned out to be a good samaritan for a hapless
Muslim girl. .....
Pune, a quiet city off Mumbai,
is fast changing into a base of Islamic militants as the security agencies
claimed that they had substantial inputs and interrogation reports suggesting
that groups of Lashker-e-Tayiba militants and underworld gangs were receiving
arms training in the area. .....
Using new scanning techniques,
neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain light up
constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates
positive emotions and good mood. .....
In an operation code named Sarp
Vinash, the Army has destroyed a huge terrorist training and support base
at Hill Kaka, south of the Pir Panjal range in Jammu. .....
Bangladesh is one of the top countries
which caters to the need of world of manual labourers. The work which an
Indian or Pakistani worker will not do for Rs.100/-, is done by a Bangladeshi
worker for Rs. 30 or 40/-. Hence, from the Gulf to the Western countries,
Bangladeshi worker is the cheapest. .....
India said Friday it had destroyed
a large mountain base of Muslim guerrillas inside Kashmir but noted there
was no sign yet that Pakistan had stopped supporting the rebels. .....
Was it just a fortnight ago that
President Bush flew to the USS Abraham Lincoln, to proclaim the beginning
of the end of the war on terrorism? Days later, Al-Qaeda struck back with
a synchronised onslaught in Riyadh, followed by suicide attacks in Casablanca.
.....
The former chairman of the All-Party
Hurriyat Conference and Jamat-e-Islami ideologue, Syed Ali Geelani, today
hit back at Pakistan for its decision to ban the Hizb-ul Mujahideen. He
termed it shocking and painful. .....
Norwegians, proud of their role
as a global peacemaker, were puzzled and concerned yesterday that a leading
al Qaeda member singled out their country in a terrorist threat. .....
In his letter, 'Urdu school of
thought' (March 9), Syed Shahabuddin demands the Urdu teaching and adequate
number of Urdu-medium primary schools as a constitutional and human right.
He says the Government strategy of converting madrasas into schools will
not work. It will only destroy madrasa education which has and still produces
great Islamic scholars. These must stay religious seminaries, in his view.
.....
While infiltration may be looking
down, acts of terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir have not subsided. This
will only happen once the swamps and pits of terrorist infrastructure have
been dried and destroyed, permanently and irreversibly. This is easier
said than done. .....
Britain continues to play a significant
role as a support base for Al Qaeda, the UK government conceded on Monday.
But while it was once a haven for Islamic fundamentalists, it is now a
prime target, a court heard. .....
The kingdom's three major cities
— Riyadh, Dammam and Jidda — have been turned into near-garrison towns
in recent days as the royal family confronts the biggest threat to its
authority in more than 20 years. .....
It is a very emotive issue, but
the British government appears set to ban slaughter of animals without
stunning them. This would affect the supply of halal meat. The move has
come as a surprise. .....
What type of illnesses are you
prone to? What will be the nature of the disease and its duration? How
does one go about diagnosing a particular disease — do we take into account
physical symptoms only? Some of these questions that have perturbed mankind
for ages find ready answers in the science of astrology, says Dr Dinesh
Sharma. .....
A recent action of the Supreme
Court has put the spotlight on the vexatious issue of the accountability
of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) . On May 2, 2003 the apex court
admitted a public interest litigation seeking the evolution of a mechanism
to monitor the functioning of NGOs working for the welfare of AIDS patients.
.....
Faced with an acute resource crunch,
the Rajasthan Government has approached the sadhus of the state to raise
Rs 14 crore for a new university. .....
We have to overcome a misunderstanding
asserted by Italian scholars that one has to be born in India to be a Hindu.
Our Sangha also hopes to spread the authentic Hindu culture among Italians
who take yoga as just a sweet gymnastic," stated Swami Yoganandagiri. .....
It was the 2 nd of May , sundown
under a crescent moon at the Marad beach. The Hindu fishermen, most of
whom had just hauled their daily catch and were resting on the beach, never
knew what hit them. Three teams of about a hundred armed men climbed out
of their fiberglass boats on to the shore. .....
The first clear evidence of a nexus
between the now- outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) and
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) emerged in December 1991 at
the All India Simi Conference held at the Bandra Reclamation grounds, say
ex- Simi members. .....
Soon after smashing the transit
camp of militants at Hill Kaka and the surrounding ridges near Surankote,
the army were in for a few surprises as they started sifting through the
documents and telephone numbers found in the INMARSAT (Satellite phone).
Out came telephone numbers that stretched from the Aligarh Muslim University
in the North to Malappuram in Kerala. .....
A police constable was burnt alive
by an irate mob in a remote village of Baric district in eastern Uttar
Pradesh around midnight of Wednesday and Thursday. .....
In what could end the dilemma of
the Congress on its stand on cow slaughter, the AICC’s minority department
has informed Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that the Muslim community would
support such a ban. The party had found itself in a quandary, as it felt
that supporting the ban would hurt the sentiments of minority community
and opposing it would hurt the feelings of majority community. .....
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is
sniffing the Christian Missionary hand in the recent flare ups in North
Cachar Hills and Cachar districts in Assam. .....
It is technically wrong to term
those who kill themselves in the process of killing others as suicide bombers.
It is not suicide. It will be suicide if someone blew himself off without
killing others. When a person goes to war, he is taking risk to get killed
too -- in some ways it also could be called "suicide" but it is not. For
obvious reasons. .....
The starting point is at Florida
Atlantic University (FAU). It was there that the Muslim Student Organization
(MSO) decided to establish two Islamic centers, each appropriately within
arms length of the school. .....
Pakistan's ISI and al-Qaeda agents
are aiding militant outfit Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Asom active
in the state from various places in Bangladesh, intelligence sources said.
.....
The recent bomb blasts at Riyadh
(May 12) in Saudi Arabia and Casablanca in Morocco (May 16) have proved,
if proof was needed, that despite the successes scored by the international
coalition led by the US in the war against terrorism, the motivation of
the various jihadi terrorist groups inspired by Osama bin Laden remains
strong and that they suffer from no dearth of volunteers for suicide missions.
.....
A nun from West Bengal was killed
today when militants attacked a Christian school in Anantnag in the first
such incident in Kashmir. .....
Tension has been prevailing in
Arunachal Pradesh's Changlang district after the torching of two temples
of the 'Rangfraa' deity, considered by the local tribals as the creator
of the universe, earlier this month, according to reports reaching here.
.....
Some Muslim groups in the U.S.
have launched a campaign to block the appointment of Daniel Pipes to the
board of the United States Institute of Peace. The USIP is a taxpayer-funded
institution with a mandate to promote "peaceful resolutions of international
conflicts." Mr. Pipes, a Bush administration nominee, is a scholar of Islam
and the Middle East and an outspoken critic of militant Islamists. .....
I have observed for some time that
there is a certain class of people who might best be called 'Resident Non-Indians',
or RNIs, for they apparently reside in India, manage to look and act astonishingly
like real Indians, even hold Indian passports, but are decidedly anti-Indian
in mindset. I wrote an open letter to them years ago, but given their hyperactivity
recently I thought I might bestir myself once again. .....
If Gen Pervez Musharraf is indispensable
for the US' war on terrorism, it is because he has gone a long way in accommodating
American military requirements for Afghan operations. He has also provided
facilities for the FBI and the CIA that no self-respecting democratic government
would. New Delhi should not get too excited about this. .....
Government officials warn that
America remains in danger from Al Qaeda and other terrorist operatives
who wish to destroy us. This is not a one-front war, because we also face
dangers from within our democratic institutions. .....
Taken out of context, it looks
like Naresh Trehan is playing a video game. He stares intently into a console
at a three-dimensional image, his feet pressing on pedals, his hands maneuvering
levers. .....
Why has it become so cool to hate
India? An excellent question that has a simple answer: It pays to hate
India. Most India haters are actually on the direct or indirect payroll
of Western-Christian-Marxist-Muslim masters. Although the axis of these
four masters may seem to be an unlikely one, but from the viewpoint of
Chanakya, it is a very likely one indeed. .....
At least 40 people were killed
and about 100 wounded in suicide bomb attacks in Morocco's biggest city
Casablanca on Friday night, diplomatic sources in the capital Rabat said
on Saturday. .....
I would like to congratulate Mr.
Arindam Banerji for his thoughtful article and stating the real facts of
what's happening in West Bengal right now. I am from West Bengal and last
year I went back home for a visit. One night several Muslims (live in nearby
slums) kids were passing by our house and using fowl languages very loudly.
.....
Last week, when American Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage visited Pakistan and met President
Musharraf, he was given an 'absolute assurance' that there is no infiltration
across the Line of Control. Musharraf even added, "If there are any militant
camps in Azad Kashmir they will be gone tomorrow." .....
In a rare case of predator-prey
friendship, a leopard coming to 'visit' a cow at night has literally become
the talk of the town. .....
Arindam Banerji, the author of
this article, took the usual route of going from the IITs, through a Ph.D
in the US, to finally working in sundry research labs. Currently, he is
a scientist of some repute, you know the kind whose ideas actually get
used by people, and an entrepreneur, with, he says, not much success. Some
day, he says, he’ll go back to India, but for now, as time permits, he
is a writer and political thinker on South Asian geo-political issues.
.....
The Kerala Government today took
over the Juma Masjid of Marad from where a huge cache of arms was
recovered and most of the accused, allegedly involved in the May
two massacre of fishermen, were arrested. .....
India at present may be a moral
maze of colliding barbarisms but British media corridors have converged
on the single source of Hindu Indian guilt. If BBC led the charge, the
lower circulation broadsheets, such as the Independent and Guardian, have
shown no lack of enthusiasm in operating the batteries. .....
But I thought Delhi was more a
city of middlemen?" "No, Sir. Delhi is a city of conspirators, rumour mongers
and kothi politicians!" .....
Indians beamed with pride last
year when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced it had selected
the subcontinent as the home for its first Media Lab in Asia. Launching
this high-profile pilot project was a vote for India's brainpower over
other Asian nations. America's best technology brains from academia would
work with local talent to bridge the digital divide between the rich and
the poor. .....
In 3000 years of our history, people
from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered
our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the
Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted
us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation.
.....
On night of 7 December 2002, police
arrested me at 2 am from my residence (Ga-16, Mohakhali, Dhaka-1212). When
I was arrested they were in plainclothes and failed to produce any arrest
warrant. When I told them to wait until it was dawn - they decline. Without
seeking my permission and any search warrant they forcibly entered my house
and searched different rooms. During the search, they barged into rooms
without knocking where women were sleeping. .....
Myself together with freedom fighter
Tareq Ali and Social leader Pankaj Bhattacharya day before yesterday (14th
May) went to the remote and inaccessible village Aruya, in Aruya union
under the police station Shivalay to collect first hand information about
the alleged sexual violence on a girl, daughter of a priest. .....
It was a pretty public enunciation,
made in front of 1,200 dinner guests of the American Jewish Committee (AJC),
never mind the euphemisms from National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra
and subsequent caveats from nervous Indian diplomats. Last week, India
spoke out, leaving little ambiguity in positioning itself besides Israel
and the US in terms of shared interests and common dangers. .....
Even if it is not immediately apparent,
the May 12 car-bomb attacks in Riyadh are no ordinary episode in the jihad
currently menacing the world. Though foreigners were the physical victims
of the well-planned horror, its political targets were the ruling house
of Saud. .....
In a gruesome act of reprisal against
the family of a security services personnel, militants belonging to the
Jaish-e-Mohammad beheaded six members, four women and two infants, in Chowikan
Kotedara village of Rajouri district last night. .....
Justice G T Nanavati, heading the
two-member commission to probe the Godhra train carnage and the riots that
followed last year, said on Sunday that the evidence recorded so far did
not indicate any serious lapse on the part of the police or administration
in controlling the communal clashes that followed the Godhra mayhem. .....
If Islamic society is to become
prosperous, free and democratic, a true reformation must take place within
the Arab nations. The Arab governments of the Middle East must remove theocratic
Islam as the most dynamic, element within their borders. Gradually secular
education, respect for other faiths and the reflective gift of self-criticism
must blossom to produce a harvest of individual liberty. .....
BJP national president Venkaiah
Naidu today his party favoured enacting a legislation to pave the way for
construction of a "grand" Ram temple at Ayodhya, but made it clear that
it would not force its alliance partners to accept its line. .....
It's not true as if India is totally
friendless in the supreme law-making body of USA. And she has earned kudos
from a Congressman for border restraint on the west. On the other hand,
Pakistan, despite being a US ally on war against terror, has not passed
tests in crucial areas, as is evident in a US measure that calls for officially
certified declarations of "no" from Islamabad to sensitive questions. .....
Anwar Ali, who taught Urdu on an
ad hoc basis at the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla. and was arrested
by the police on Sunday in connection with the March 13 Mulund blast, had
set up a pistol firing range at his residence at Kondwa in Pune, police
sources said. .....
There has been a lot of attention
in the last month to the reporters, columnists, and TV generals who mis-predicted
the outcome of the Iraq war — all that talk of "quagmire" and an army "bogged
down" against "stiff resistance." Media heavies have either admitted their
mistakes (Chris Matthews), defended their record (William Raspberry), or
done a bit of both (Nicholas Kristof). .....
Former BJP president Bangaru Laxman,
joining issue with UP Chief Minister Mayawati for her threat to convert
to Buddhism, today said that conversion was no panacea for the problems
of Dalits. .....
This means that while I recognise
that India made the wrong economic choices, I believe that this country
has held together because of the values propounded by our founding fathers:
secularism rather than religious chauvinism, a scientific approach to the
world, freedom of speech, tolerance, equality of opportunity and the like.
.....
I first went to Iran during the
Shah?s time. Several years later, there was another opportunity to do so.
By then the Shah had been gone nearly ten years and the Mullahs were in
control. Of course, a great deal had changed ? none for the better ? but
that is another story better left for another day. .....
A violent mob from the Indian border
ransacked a Bangladesh village following the kidnap of a Tripura farmer
in Dharmanagar of North Tripura on Monday. It is the first such incident
of cross border attack on Indian parts in Tripura. .....
Every gesture towards normalcy
brings a little more sunshine to the dark and murky world of Indo-Pak relations.
We still dare not say a little more light at the end of the tunnel. One
does not know how long is the tunnel. In any case,as this Journal has been
pointing out, it is better to proceed with caution,if this country has
learnt anything from the last two encounters at Prime Minister Vajpayee's
initiative. .....
Prime Minister's principal secretary
and part time national security adviser, Brajesh Mishra during his discussions
in Washington, DC with his counterpart, Condoleeza Rice had the occasion
to address American Jewish Community's annual dinner meeting. Mishra, at
this meeting, publicly advocated a trilateral effort-by India, US and Israel
to fight the scourge of international terrorism. .....
As a controversy raged over his
remarks on the probe into the Gujarat violence, Justice G T Nanavati, heading
the inquiry commission, today said there was very limited evidence against
any individual VHP or Bajrang Dal leader based on the evidence before it
so far. .....
In the final part of the series
based on mission papers prepared by the US embassy in Islamabad, we examine
the gains, military and otherwise, for Pakistan provided it continues to
toe the American line. .....
We've been told about the existence
of at least two such road maps -- one made by Delhi and the other by Islamabad.
And nobody but nobody knows whether the twain shall ever meet -- excepting
perhaps our poet PM named Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the new Empire of the
US which probably has its own road map for a South Asia compatible with
its Pax Americana concept of the world. .....
Hours after capturing four suspected
al Qaeda members in last week's bombings at three housing complexes, Saudi
Arabian officials admitted that members of their country's National Guard
are being investigated for selling arms to the terror group. .....
This all-girls' summer camp at
Juhu is, well, different. The afternoon sun catches the glint on the swords.
The air whooshes as three girls bring their lathis down. In a formation,
a batch of 20 stands to attention-each holding up a wicked-looking dagger.
.....
Peace may not dawn every time the
New Delhi-Islamabad hotline crackles, but each overture does bring in its
own dividends. Twenty Indians who were languishing in Pakistan jails for
the past two-three years took their steps to freedom here today after they
were released by Pakistan Rangers. .....
Ladnun is a small town one of the
most backward districts of Rajasthan. A serpentine road from Ratangarh
railway station through parched land takes you there. If you are lucky
you would have passed a truck or two, for on this road you travel for miles
without seeing a human or an animal. The drought for the fifth year running
has left the ground cracked. .....
The bulk of the militants to be
sent across the Line of Control (LoC) will be drawn from the renamed Lashkar-e-Tayebba,
say both Indian and Pakistani sources. Senior Pakistani officials are saying
they are preparing the ground for waves of suicide bombers and fidayeen
attacks in the Valley. .....
The series of car-bomb attacks
that devastated Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week is a horrific reminder
that victories in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to have only a limited
impact on the war against terrorism. More troubling is the likelihood of
attacks intensifying in the weeks ahead. Although no one has taken credit
for the savagery, al-Qaeda is the prime suspect. .....
When Neelum Aziz visited Kashmir
for the first time last year, the young British girl couldn't wait to explore
her family's home village. But her parents had something else in mind.
Two weeks after arriving in Kotli - in the Pakistan-administered part of
the disputed territory - Ms. Aziz was told she had to marry her cousin.
.....
After ripping open the plot and
logistics behind the series of explosions across the city, the Mumbai police
have now entered their second and more crucial phase of investigation.
i.e. closing in on the financial base of the local terrorist group that
sustained, fuelled and materialised the subversive plans for over two years.
.....
India-Pakistan peace moves will
top the agenda during Indian external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha's
meeting with US secretary of state Colin Powell here, according to well-placed
diplomatic sources. .....
The Mumbai police claim to have
neutralised three "modules" of the banned Students Islamic Movement of
India (Simi) that reportedly were assigned by the Lashkar-e-Toi-ba (LeT)
to carry out a series of explosions in Mumbai. .....
It is an honour to be invited to
this distinguished gathering at the AJC Annual Dinner. The people of India
admire the pioneering work of AJC, particularly in promoting human rights
and combating religious discrimination. We also value your contribution
to promoting US-India relations and India-Israel relations. .....
Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee is
a man of peace and goodwill and it is no secret that making peace with
Pakistan has been his life's mission. There was a touch of grandeur and
nobility to his ''final and decisive'' offer of peace and friendship to
Pakistan, from Srinagar and from Parliament. .....
President George W. Bush has sent
a powerful message which will galvanise his entire administration, American
business and even the US military into new vistas of Indo-US cooperation.
.....
Observing that tridents cannot
be considered weapons, a local court has granted anticipatory bail to five
VHP activists accused of displaying trishuls, banned in Rajasthan under
the Arms Act. .....
India's image in the West has never
been so bad. We foreign correspondents have been propagating in the last
few weeks a picture of an intolerant Hindu majority, ruthlessly hunting
down the Muslim minority. .....
This opinion article appeared in
Jane's Intelligence Review on September 1, 2001 and is reproduced with
permission from Jane's Information Group. .....
Prem Sagar Reddy, a prominent cardiologist
and a successful health care entrepreneur based in California, last week
donated a million dollars to a local community college to bolster its health
programs. .....
The MP High Court Wednesday turned
down a writ petition filed by filmmaker Pardeep Krishen, husband of booker
prize winner Arundhati Roy challenging the decision of Hoshangabad district
administration to cancel their mutation of land in Bariam village in Pachmari.
The district administration has cancelled the mutation of the land as it
came under the reserve forest area. .....
The Mumbai Crime Branch has recovered
huge cache of arms from an alleged Students Islamic Movement of India cell
near Mumbai. .....
Police said on Wednesday they found
more than 250 crude bombs and a big store of arms belonging to an offshoot
of an outlawed Pakistan-based militant group who planned to use them to
attack targets in Bombay. .....
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattachar-jee has described the blood- splattered three-tier Panchayat
polls that took place in the State on May 11 as "more or less peaceful".
If this statement strains credulity, his justification for it is even more
incredible. Of the 17 poll-bound districts, he said, only three were affected
by violence-Nadia, Murshidabad and 24 Parganas. And among the official
death toll of 20, he claimed six were CPI(M) workers. .....
The four bombings in Saudi Arabia
Monday, which killed dozens, including 10 Americans, are symptomatic of
a deep fissure in that country. The argument is over religion, politics
and foreigners—and it goes back a long way. The West must react by helping
the Saudi family win this dispute, while putting pressure on it to reform.
.....
Last Saturday, few of us were conferred
the Nachiketa prize of journalism by the Prime Minister Vajpayee along
with Deputy Prime Minister Advani. Because of time pressure, there was
no space for individual speeches by the awardees. However, this is what
I would have liked to say. .....
Israeli police have arrested 14
Israeli Arab Islamic activists accused of running a money laundering operation
to support the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, officials say.
.....
A Dramatic demonstration of the
rapidly growing U.S.- India defence relationship recently took place in
the dense jungles of Mizoram. There, American Special Operations Forces
engaged their Indian counterparts in joint combined training called Exercise
Balance Iroquois 03-1/Vajra Prahar. .....
The peace-with-Pakistan initiative
suddenly floated by poet Prime Minister Vajpayee at Srinagar on April 18
has created so much excitement all round that Karl Inderfurth, an American,
got his two articles on the subject published in The Hindu and The Indian
Express within three days of each other. .....
South Asian Institutes in America
are “literally in the hands of Indians and indirectly under the influence
of Hindutva and Sangh Parivar,” warns Prof Aslam Syed of the University
of Pennsylvania. And sure enough, the Director and Associate Director at
Columbia’s South Asian Institute happen to be Indians. And you know what
mischief that can be. .....
Brigitte Bardot, French former
film goddess turned animal rights activist, was quoted on Saturday as criticizing
the "Islamization of France" in her latest book. .....
Prosecutors suffered crucial setbacks
Monday on the opening day of the trial of 12 terror suspects accused of
supporting the Netherlands' enemies in a time of conflict, a charge that
has not been filed since World War II. .....
Every year, hundreds of Union County
students take a field trip for the soul. Children are excused from class,
loaded onto school buses with teachers and sent to Christian revival meetings
for three days. .....
Envy is eating the hearts out of
Indians in the US. Why, they cringe, is Pakistan and Musharraf still chums
with Bush and company, while Vajpayee and his abusers of Pakistan are frozen
out by Washington. Salaam India. Yes, that's what yoga studios on the West
Coast boasting a hip clientele will soon be doing. .....
Thereis hardly any conceivable
excess and atrocity which the Kashmiri Pandits as a characteristic religious
group have not been subjected to by the Muslim marauders. Apart from the
pogrom having no semblance of a human face that was perpetrated on them
the devastating catastrophe that could befall them was the forcible conversion
to an alien religion of Islam. .....
Four separate overnight bombing
attacks struck Western targets including residential compounds in Riyadh,
the Saudi capital, causing an undetermined number of deaths and dozens
of injured, Saudi officials and diplomats said today. .....
Delhi Police on Monday slapped
POTA on arrested Kashmir Press Service editor Ghulam Mohiudin Bhat following
seizure of some documents and computer floppies indicating his alleged
links with Pakistan Intelligence agency ISI, police sources said. .....
Something changed Omar Khan Sharif,
sent him in a new direction, and Derby's older Pakistani population cannot
begin to fathom what it was. .....
What would China prefer to see
-- a Japan armed with nuclear weapons, or Japan's alliance with the
United States strengthened by its participation in missile defense?
In Beijing, neither option has much appeal. .....
The list of demands is never ending.
Barring the Dalits, every other community in Rajasthan is hankering for
a slice of the reservation pie. The Brahmins want it and so do the Rajputs,
Vaishs and Kayasths. The Gujjars want to be shifted from the scheduled
caste to the scheduled tribe category. And Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s
Mali community, which now enjoys an OBC status, does not want to share
its privileges with the Jats. .....
Giving a cautious response to Pakistan's
confidence-building measures, India today said that it could consider these
steps "in due course" and on seeing evidence of Islamabad taking "firm
and credible" action to stop cross-border terrorism and dismantle terrorist
infrastructure. .....
The goings on regarding the Ram
Janmabhoomi illustrate the paradox of the Indian minority. The proponents
of the Babri Masjid have consistently claimed that the land upon which
the structure stood was a property dispute which only the law courts were
qualified to decide. Now when the Government of India has requested the
Supreme Court to deal with the Ayodhya dispute expeditiously, the proponents
have opposed the action of the GOI. This contradiction of wanting justice,
and wanting to delay it, demonstrates a deeper paradox. .....
India's prime minister recently
announced the restoration of diplomatic ties and air links with Pakistan,
part of an ambitious effort to end the dangerous state of enmity between
the nuclear-armed neighbors. A month ago relations had sunk so low that
India's foreign minister called Pakistan "a fitter case" than Iraq for
pre-emptive action. .....
India has handed Bangladesh a list
of 155 terrorist training camps operating there, many with the help of
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and al Qaida, and asked it to shut
them down. .....
The Centre on Monday claimed before
the Liberhan Commission that the disputed site in Ayodhya was the birthplace
of Lord Ram and maintained that the only dispute was whether a temple existed
there before the construction of mosque. .....
Anwar Ali, a professor at the prestigious
National Defence Academy in Pune, was on Monday booked under the Prevention
of Terrorism Act in connection with the March 13 blast in a local train
in Mulund in Mumbai. .....
The Centre today claimed before
the Liberhan Commission that the disputed site in Ayodhya was the birthplace
of Lord Rama and maintained that the only dispute was whether a temple
existed there before the construction of mosque. .....
In January 2003 tension prevailed
near Deva Raja market in Mysore when a religious congregation led by Christian
missionaries made derogatory references against Hindu gods and made attempts
to convert people from the economically weaker sections and the local MIA
went to the police station and lodged a complaint and the police are investigating
the case. .....
When the Britishers ruled India
there was no anti-conversion law. The reason being that they were followers
of Christianity and understandably they did not enact a law detrimental
to their own interest by prohibiting conversion from one religion to another
religion. During the British regime many Hindus willingly and voluntarily
embraced Christianity to secure pecuniary gains and other advantages from
the British rulers. .....
HRD Minister M.M. Joshi on Saturday
pledged to include the teachings of Shree Narayana Guru - Kerala's backward
class icon - in the NCERT and CBSE syllabus and set up a national university
in his name. .....
Islamabad’s response to Prime
Minister’s peace offensive is dubious. It took Pakistani Prime Minister
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali 11 days to call up Atal Behari Vajpayee to appreciate
latter’s speech at Srinagar and in both Houses of the Parliament. The two
leaders talked about several issues of common interest in a general way
in briefly over telephone. .....
“Some of the facts are staggering.
The findings published in this book should be taken seriously by all of
us, especially by those who are in applied politics,” said Shri Vasant
Sathe, veteran Congress leader and former I&B minister while speaking
at a function to mark the release of the book Religious Demography of India
in New Delhi. The book, jointly authored by A. P. Joshi, M. D. Srinivas
and J. K. Bajaj and published by Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), Chennai,
was released by Dy. Prime Minister Shri L.K.Advani. .....
CIA operative, weightlifter, US
Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage must clearly be a man of many
parts. He probably realised he needed to say something different to Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today, exactly 11 months after he’d promised
on behalf of Pakistan that cross-border infiltration into India would ‘‘permanently’’
cease. .....
Suggesing a shift in the American
position, US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage on Saturday indicated
that the US could not give a full assurance to New Delhi that Pakistan
would put an end to infiltration from across the border. .....
Just a few months ago the armed
forces of India and Pakistan were deployed on the borders ready to strike
at each other. The international community kept its fingers crossed, hoping
that the tensions would not escalate into a nuclear conflict. .....
Coming to the rescue of thousands
of people working in Bihar government corporations without salaries for
years, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the state to deposit Rs 50
crore within two months before the Patna High Court for its disbursal to
the employees. .....
Replying to a two-hour discussion
on Indo-Pak ties in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee
made it clear that he would not let the fear of failure stymie the latest
peace initiative. .....
Faced with an increased opposition
to its trishul deeksha campaign, the VHP chose to blow hot and cold in
the same breath today. On one hand, VHP leaders vowed to persist with the
drive, and on the other, they assured the National Commission for Minorities
(NCM) that they would eschew anti-minority rhetoric at their functions.
.....
Speaking on Technology Day to the
country's leading defence scientists today, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari
Vajpayee, hit out at the West's three- decade-long endeavour to impair
India's quest to become self-reliant in hi-tech defence technologies while
turning a blind eye to covert attempts in this by its neighbours. India's
self-abnegation in turning down lucrative export offers to maintain the
regional security balance and comply with international treaties also went
unacknowledged, he said. .....
Officials and ministers are putting
on a brave face, but the government feels let down by US deputy secretary
of state Richard Armitage's visit last week. .....
Many in India have been suspicious
of the United States right from the beginning of its so-called war against
terrorism. The "terrorism" that the US claims to be fighting in the
company of Pakistan is not the same scourge that India has been combating
for nearly two decades which has resulted in the death of about 70,000
people, innocent civilians as well as security personnel. .....
The Hindu Aikyavedi has demanded
a CBI inquiry into the Marad incidents after keeping the Industries Minister,
P. K. Kunhalikutty, and the Kozhikode District Collector, T. O. Sooraj,
out of office. .....
The Cabinet decision to repeal
the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act (IMDT),
1983 in Assam has already raised political temperatures. Minority organisations
have called for a statewide bandh opposing this decision. .....
A Saudi consular official was held
for two days and expelled from the United States this week because he was
suspected of having links with terrorist organizations, the Los Angeles
Times reported on Saturday. .....
Four persons including two Pakistani
militants, a Village Defence Committee (VDC) member and a civilian were
killed and a militant was arrested in separate incidents across Rajouri
and Udhampur districts today. .....
A group of Hindu fishermen sitting
on the beach near a temple is attacked suddenly, without provocation or
warning, by a mob of Muslims armed with swords. After a chaotic ten minutes,
nine people are dead or bleeding to death on the beach. Many are seriously
wounded. The attackers vanish into the night. .....
A chilling videotape surfaced yesterday
showing Sept. 11 hijackers attending a wedding of one of their co-conspirators
- and using the occasion to spout religious rhetoric justifying the murders
to come. .....
In three months, nearly 100 special
police Officers have deserted their posts in Doda, taking their weapons
with them. .....
The inside story of the search
for the Mulund bombers - and the daunting task that lies ahead. .....
With an eye on the 18 lakh Muslim
voters in the state, Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has come out with a posse
of sops for the minority community, soon after raising the decibel level
over a ban on cow slaughter. .....
Pakistan's top spymaster Ehsanul
Haq, Director of the Inter-Services Intelligence, better known by the acronym
ISI, has begun a weeklong visit to Washington. There are expectations that
he will be asked to clean up the wanton ways the agency is notorious for
and back the peace process with India. .....
The CPI (M) today admitted that
a number of its supporters were involved in the attack on Union Minister
and senior BJP leader Tapan Sikdar as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
expressed regret over the incident .....
The RSS strongly condemns the naked
dance of death unleashed on the Hindu fishermen community by the Islamic
terrorist elements in Marad beach near Kozhikode last week in which 8 members
of the Sangh were brutally murdered while many others, including women,
were seriously injured. This incident confirms our worst fears that Kerala
coast has of late become asafe haven for the anti-national Islamic terrorist
outfits sponsored and supported by the ISI. .....
The visit of the Pakistani parliamentary
delegation to India will not be complete till it meets Kashmiri Pandits,
Dr Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, told rediff.com
on Friday. .....
The educated urban population of
India has grossly underrated Laloo Prasad Yadav as the potential leader
of the nation. They regard him as a rustic joker and buffoon. There is
lot more to him than meets the eye. He is probably the greatest orator
in Hindi we have in the country. His Bihari dialect has an earthy ring.
He is blunt and drives his points home leaving no one in doubt about what
he means. .....
The Supreme Court on Friday set
aside the Delhi High Court's order on the Parliament attack case, where
it had held that intercepted telephonic conversation between the accused
was not admissible as evidence under POTA (because the 'evidence' was collected
before the case was registered under POTA). .....
Vajpayee’s hand of peace has been
welcomed in Islamabad. Pakistan has announced several follow-up steps.
Restoration of diplomatic relations (India has already proposed the name
of its high commissioner for Pak agreement), air, train and road links
are on the way. These are all essential first steps to maintain the momentum
of the peace process. Pakistan has said that it is willing to discuss all
issues including Kashmir. .....
India's National Security Adviser
Brajesh Mishra has proposed an alliance between the United States, India
and Israel, among other democratic countries, to meet the threat of terrorism.
.....
Declaring that India would move
with "utmost caution" on the peace initiatives with Pakistan, Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee today ruled out the possibility of de-nuclearisation
of South Asia and commended a no-proxy-war pact with Islamabad. .....
Soon after the arrest of Saquib
Nachan, main accused in the Mulund bomb blast case, Deputy Chief Minister
Chhagan Bhujbal revealed that militant training camps were being run on
the outskirts of the city. .....
Panun Kashmir wants US Deputy Secretary
of State Richard Armitage to take up the issue of 'ethnic cleansing' in
Jammu and Kashmir during his visit to the subcontinent, the outfit's national
general secretary, Ramesh Manavati, said on Thursday. .....
Police in London charged two women
and a man with terrorism offenses Thursday in connection with a suicide
bombing carried out by a British Muslim in Tel Aviv last month. .....
What are the chances for Indo-Pak
peace? Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee did the right thing when he
clarified his call for peace with Pakistan made in Srinagar with a subsequent
statement made in the Lok Sabha, that clearly said talks could only be
held when crossborder terrorism ceases for good. .....
In a 9 pm raid in West Tripura's
Moharchhora market in the Peliamura police station area of Khowai sub-division,
militants massacred 10 people. Eight were killed on the spot and two died
while being taken to hospital. The identity of the militants could not
be ascertained. .....
The French interior minister, Nicolas
Sarkozy, was booed and whistled at when he said at the annual conference
of one of this country's most important Muslim groups last month that Muslim
women would have to go bareheaded when posing for pictures for their identity
cards. .....
Here is a conundrum for the legal
eagles amongst you. Assume that a cat burglar enters your house and gets
away with some piece of jewellery. The next day he gets careless, and is
shot by an angry householder. Are the thief's children then entitled to
claim that necklace which their father had stolen as part of the property
that they have inherited? .....
At the urging of the US India Political
Action Committee, the International Relations Committee of the US House
of Representatives unanimously passed an amendment today requiring the
Administration to disclose to Congress and to the American people the extent
to which Pakistan is fulfilling its promise to clamp down on cross-border
terrorism, shutting down terrorist camps in Pakistan-held Kashmir, and
halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology to rogue states
and terrorists. .....
Democrats wedded to liberal ideas
may be shocked by the almost 20,000 uncontested wins in the West Bengal
panchayat elections – voting for which is scheduled for 11 May. But one
must visit Garbeta in West Midnapore district for an interesting micro-study
of CPI-M’s one- party democracy at the grassroots level. .....
The United States has given an
ultimatum to Pakistan to terminate cross-border terrorism in Jammu and
Kashmir within a month or forty-five days or be ready for drastic action.
The visiting ISI chief, Lieutenant-General Ehsan ul-Haq, was told by the
CIA top brass and officials of the State Department and National Security
Council that they were unhappy with his steps to curb the terrorist activities
of the Inter-Services Intelligence. .....
Even the most diehard Opposition
supporter in West Bengal cannot deny that the Left Front, with the CPI-M
in the lead, is poised to sweep the panchayat polls scheduled for 11 May.
But even if the Left Front wins, it won't necessarily indicate the 30-million
electorate's faith in the ruling coalition. .....
It was Friday afternoon and the
women in the Nimo Beauty Salon were talking politics. While thousands of
people flocked to mosques for prayer services, the women here debated the
difficulties of democracy while getting cuts and colors. .....
One given in the war against terrorism
seems to be that suicide attackers are evil, deluded or homicidal misfits
who thrive in poverty, ignorance and anarchy. .....
They were model sons, according
to friends and family, who turned into men capable of inflicting murder
and carnage. Yesterday, as the wounded from the Tel Aviv bar attack recovered
in hospital, families in Derby and west London were coming to terms with
the men's journey from anonymity to notoriety. .....
India is a plural country with
rich diversity.Muslims have been living since centuries, in this great
country.But still the attitude of the few Muslims gives Islam the bad name
and projects it as an intolerant religion. Recently the behaviour of a
Muslim teacher in Mumbai forced Bombay high court to pass strictures against
her behaviour. .....
Lucknow museum authorities sought
to unravel the mystery of the 'missing' Ayodhya inscription as reported
in a section of the media when they produced the contentious piece before
mediapersons on Wednesday and claimed that the piece never left the museum.
The inscription (number 53.4) which was brought to the state from the Nagar
Palika Sanghralaya of Faizabad in January 1953, is safe and intact, claimed
museum director Jitendra Kumar. .....