BALUCHISTAN – STRAIGHT TALK
(K. Hussan Zia)
Hardly a day goes by when newspapers do not carry one or two articles about the situation in Baluchistan. Invariably the theme centres on perceived injustices done to the province by the so-called ‘Establishment’. The implication is that somehow it is the work of Punjabis. The latter are neither monolithic nor do they have an organisation or purpose in doing harm to anyone. What injustice the Punjabis have done specifically to the Baluchis or Baluchistan is never spelt out.
There appears to be a conscious effort to create hatred and division. In the words of Professor Paul Joseph Goebbels, ‘If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it people will eventually come to believe it’. It is like playing with fire in Baluchistan . There have been cases of burning of the national flag, not allowing the national anthem to be played in schools and violence against non-Baluchis. There is a pressing need to address the situation and correct some of the misconceptions in the minds of unsuspecting and gullible people.
It is claimed that the Khan of Kalat wanted the state to become independent but was needlessly and forcibly made to accede to Pakistan in 1947. There may be a difference of opinion but the action was not intended to harm the Baluchis as a whole. It is not possible to turn back the clock. Since then duly elected representatives of Baluchis have on three separate occasions participated in the formulation and signed on the Constitution of Pakistan. This has to be weighed against the desire and ambition of an un-elected and autocratic hereditary ruler.
The Constitution is binding on all the federating provinces. It confers the same rights on Baluchis as everyone else. These are not open to unilateral interpretation. Any differences have to be resolved through mutual consultation and, if necessary, by referring to the courts. Going to war against the State is not an option. Any resort to violence has serious consequences, as every Sikh in India knows. More than two hundred and forty thousand of them were executed in extra-judicial killings by the police in East Punjab in the struggle for Khalistan (see papers 13th June 2000). God forbid it should ever come to that in Pakistan .
There are elements in Baluchistan that have been carrying out acts of sabotage and violence for a long time which is terrorism by any definition, even if George Bush did not agree with it. He had his own plans that are not exactly sanguine for Pakistan, as he explained in conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair on 30th January 2003 (see Lawless World, by Philippe Sands). Insurgents in Baluchistan have joined hands with the enemies of Pakistan . The claim that that they were obliged to do so because their demands were not met is untenable. Nonetheless, it would be wrong to tar all of the Baluch people with the same brush. By and large they are among the most honourable in Pakistan .
The State of Pakistan is duty bound to protect the lives and property of innocent citizens. The on-going action is not against Baluchistan but to save it from anarchy and chaos. If the army has used inappropriate or excessive force it must be properly investigated and dealt with accordingly. The situation is not of the army’s making for which the miscreants must bear full responsibility. Blowing up gas and power lines, trains, buses and murdering innocent people are very serious crimes that cannot be ignored, much less condoned. As long as there is a threat of violence the security forces have to act to protect the people.
There are accusations that Baluchistan has not received its fair share of the country’s resources. This is quantifiable on per capita basis. If a discrepancy exists it can be easily rectified. The lagging state of development in the province is a different issue. Apart from allocation of resources it has to do with the starting base, inhospitable conditions to support concentrations of population, absence of skilled labour and managerial talent, lack of institutions, inadequate infrastructure, insecurity, etc. Much of it is the work of nature itself or falls squarely within the purview of the provincial administration. It cannot all be blamed on Pakistan much less so on the Punjabis.
There are many limitations and no short-cuts to development. As a stark reminder, two textile mills were set up in Quetta in the early seventies that never worked due to lack of skilled labour and difficulties in transportation of raw materials and finished products. Most of Baluchistan 's shortfalls can be traced to lack of widespread quality education. This is also a provincial responsibility. Reportedly many, if not most, tribal sardars have resisted the establishment of educational institutions for reasons of their own.
Other elements hindering development in Baluchistan are internal and of a social and political nature. The tribes are administered by the sardars whose decisions are binding and final. They dispense arbitrary justice based on the ancient brutal custom of trial by ordeal. Ordinary people play no part in governance. There are serious allegations of mismanagement of resources and misuse of development funds against the sardars. The anachronistic institution needs to be brought in line with changed circumstances.
The demand for handing over control of Baluchistan ’s mineral resources to the province needs to be considered with due care and caution. This can only happen within the confines of the Constitution. Going beyond these will open up the proverbial Pandora’s Box with other provinces calling for similar treatment in respect of their resources. Carrying it too far will amount to making a mockery of the federation.
Increasingly, ill-considered threats of independence have been bandied about. Baluchistan needs Pakistan to meet her needs for food and water, apart from other things. It is also ethnically diverse with substantial concentrations of Pashtoons and others. Baluchis themselves have more than eighty different tribes with a history of deep and often hostile divisions. There are more Baluchis living in Punjab and Sind than there are in Baluchistan . This makes the claim for a separate ethnic state, based on arbitrary boundaries drawn by the British, dubious at best.
The demand for the withdrawal of security forces and release of detained insurgents is premature. This can only happen after writ of the State has been firmly established and there is assurance of peace. Given the stated aims and objectives of the insurgents and the alliances forged by them with hostile foreign powers any such move has to be deferred for an indefinite period. The people of Baluchistan would do well to remember the fate of Shias in the south and Kurds in the north of Iraq at the end of the first Gulf War and how badly things can go wrong in such situations.
There is an urgent need to re-evaluate the role of the army in domestic situations. The propensity to throw in the troops at the first sign of trouble must be resisted at all costs. The armed forces are not designed or equipped for prolonged operations in civil environment. They should only be inducted as a last resort in aid to civil power and not used to replace it. Many of the current woes in Baluchistan and elsewhere can be traced to the degradation and enfeeblement of the civil service which is the primary instrument for maintenance of peace and security.
Any problem in Baluchistan affects all of Pakistan and must be addressed in this light. Peace will return only when level heads prevail and the ruinous path of violence and involvement with Pakistan’s adversaries is abandoned. All responsible people need to disown the terrorists and their acts. Unless this is done, mistrust and suspicion will prevail and any hope for peace and reconciliation will be rendered unrealistic. There is too much at stake and much work to be done, with no time to spare.
(The writer is author of ‘Muslims and the West: A Muslim Perspective’ and ‘Pakistan: Roots, Perspective and Genesis’).
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
India's generation of children crippled by uranium waste
India's generation of children crippled by uranium waste
Observer investigation uncovers link between dramatic rise in birth defects in Punjab and pollution from coal-fired power stations
* Gethin Chamberlain, Bathinda
* The Observer, Sunday 30 August 2009
Gurpreet Sigh being treated at the Baba Farid centre for Special Children in Bathinda
Gurpreet Sigh, 7, who has cerebral palsy and microcephaly, and is from Sirsar, 50km from the Punjabi town of Bathinda. He is being treated at the Baba Farid centre for Special Children in Bathinda Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain
Their heads are too large or too small, their limbs too short or too bent. For some, their brains never grew, speech never came and their lives are likely to be cut short: these are the children it appears that India would rather the world did not see, the victims of a scandal with potential implications far beyond the country's borders.
Some sit mutely, staring into space, lost in a world of their own; others cry out, rocking backwards and forwards. Few have any real control over their own bodies. Their anxious parents fret over them, murmuring soft words of encouragement, hoping for some sort of miracle that will free them from a nightmare.
Health workers in the Punjabi cities of Bathinda and Faridkot knew something was terribly wrong when they saw a sharp increase in the number of birth defects, physical and mental abnormalities, and cancers. They suspected that children were being slowly poisoned.
But it was only when a visiting scientist arranged for tests to be carried out at a German laboratory that the true nature of their plight became clear. The results were unequivocal. The children had massive levels of uranium in their bodies, in one case more than 60 times the maximum safe limit.
The results were both momentous and mysterious. Uranium occurs naturally throughout the world, but is normally only present in low background levels which pose no threat to human health. There was no obvious source in the Punjab that could account for such high levels of contamination.
And if a few hundred children – spread over a large area – were contaminated, how many thousands more might also be affected? Those are questions the Indian authorities appear determined not to answer. Staff at the clinics say they were visited and threatened with closure if they spoke out. The South African scientist whose curiosity exposed the scandal says she has been warned by the authorities that she may not be allowed back into the country.
But an Observer investigation has now uncovered disturbing evidence to suggest a link between the contamination and the region's coal-fired power stations. It is already known that the fine fly ash produced when coal is burned contains concentrated levels of uranium and a new report published by Russia's leading nuclear research institution warns of an increased radiation hazard to people living near coal-fired thermal power stations.
The test results for children born and living in areas around the state's power stations show high levels of uranium in their bodies. Tests on ground water show that levels of uranium around the plants are up to 15 times the World Health Organisation's maximum safe limits. Tests also show that it extends across large parts of the state, which is home to 24 million people.
The findings have implications not only for the rest of India – Punjab produces two-thirds of the wheat in the country's central reserves and 40% of its rice – but for many other countries planning to build new power plants, including China, Russia, India, Germany and the US. In Britain, there are plans for a coal-fired station at the Kingsnorth facility in Kent.
The victims are being treated at the Baba Farid centres for special children in Bathinda – where there are two coal-fired thermal plants – and in nearby Faridkot. It was staff at those clinics who first voiced concerns about the increasing numbers of admissions involving severely handicapped children. They were being born with hydrocephaly, microcephaly, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and other complications. Several have already died.
Dr Pritpal Singh, who runs the Faridkot clinic, said the numbers of children affected by the pollution had risen dramatically in the past six or seven years. But he added that the Indian authorities appeared determined to bury the scandal. "They can't just detoxify these kids, they have to detoxify the whole Punjab. That is the reason for their reluctance," he said. "They threatened us and said if we didn't stop commenting on what's happening, they would close our clinic.
"But I decided that if I kept silent it would go on for years and no one would do anything about it. If I keep silent then the next day it will be my child. The children are dying in front of me."
Dr Carin Smit, the South African clinical metal toxicologist who arranged for the tests to be carried out in Germany, said that the situation could no longer be ignored. "There is evidence of harm for these children in my care and... it is an imperative that their bodies be cleaned up and their metabolisms be supported to deal with such a devastating presence of radioactive material," she said.
"If the contamination is as widespread as it would appear to be – as far west as Muktsar on the Pakistani border, and as far east as the foothills of Himachal Pradesh – then millions are at high risk and every new baby born to a contaminated mother is at risk."
In the Faridkot centre last week, Harmanbir Kaur, 15, was rocking gently backwards and forwards. When her test results came back, they showed she had 10 times the safe limit of uranium in her body. Her brother, Naunihal Singh, six, has double the safe level.
Harmanbir was born in Muktsar, 25 miles from Faridkot. Her mother, Kulbir Kaur, 37, watched her slowly degenerate from a healthy baby into the girl she is today, dribbling constantly, unable to feed herself, lost in a world of her own. "God knows what sin I have committed. When we go to our village people say there is a curse of God on you, but I don't believe so," she said. "Every part of this area is affected. We never imagined that there would be uranium in our kids."
A few miles down the road in Bathinda, Sukhminder Singh, 48, a farmer, watched his son Kulwinder, 13, staring into space while curling his hands up under his chin. Tests showed Kulwinder has 19 times the maximum safe level of uranium in his body. He has cerebral palsy and has already had seven operations to unbend his arms and legs.
"The government should investigate it because if our child is affected it will also affect future generations," he said. "What are they waiting for? How many children do they want to be affected? Another generation? I can leave the house for work, but my wife is always with him. Sometimes she cries and asks why God is playing with our luck. Every morning he sends a new trouble."
Doni Choudhary, aged 15 months, is waiting to be tested, though staff say he shows similar symptoms to those who have tested positive and are treating him for suspected uranium poisoning. His mother, Neelum, 22, from the state capital, Chandigarh, says he was born with hydrocephaly. His legs are useless.
"He is dependent on others. After me, who can care for him?" Neelum asks. "He tries to speak but he can't express himself and my heart cries. When will he understand that his legs don't work? What will he feel?"
India's reluctance to acknowledge the problem is hardly unexpected: the country is heavily committed to an expansion of thermal plants in Punjab and other states. Neither was it any surprise when a team of scientists from the Department of Atomic Energy visited the area and concluded that while the concentration of uranium in drinking water was "slightly high", there was "nothing to worry" about. Yet some tests recorded levels of uranium in the ground water as high as 224mcg/l (micrograms per litre) – 15 times higher than the safe level of 15mcg/l recommended by the WHO. (The US Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum safe level of 20mcg/l.)
Some scientists have proposed that the ground water may have been contaminated by contact with granite rocks that rise above the ground about 150 miles away to the south in the Tosham hills, in Haryana state. A continuation of these rocks is believed to run deep below the thick alluvial deposits that form the plains of Punjab.
Increasing demands for water, in particular to irrigate the rice crop, have led to greater dependence on tube wells. That in turn is depleting the water table in the state at an alarming rate – by at least 30cm a year, according to one study – with the result that water is being drawn from ever deeper levels. However, this theory seems to be in conflict with evidence from parents of many of the children, who say they use the mains supply, which comes from other sources.
There have also been claims that the contamination may have been exacerbated by depleted uranium carried on the wind from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At a seminar in Amritsar in April, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, a former chief of the naval staff, suggested that areas within a 1,000-mile radius of Kabul – including Punjab – may be affected by depleted uranium. Although the prevailing monsoon winds blow either from the north-east or the south-west, there are times when a depression originating in the Mediterranean can result in rainfall in Punjab.
Meanwhile, smoke continues to pour from the power station chimneys and lorries shuttle backwards and forwards, taking away the fly ash to be mixed into cement at the neighbouring Ambuja factory. Inside the plant last week, there was ash everywhere, forming drifts, clinging to the skin, getting into the throat.
Ravindra Singh, the plant's security officer, said that most of the ash went to the cement works, while the rest was dumped in ash ponds. It would be more efficient to burn better quality coal that left less ash, he said. Every day the plant burned 6,000 tons of coal. He had no idea how much ash that generated, but the stream of lorries to take it away was continuous.
The first coal-fired power station in Punjab was commissioned in Bathinda in 1974, followed by another in nearby Lehra Mohabat in 1998. There is a third to the east, at Rupnagar.
Tests on ground water in villages in Bathinda district found the highest average concentration of uranium – 56.95mcg/l – in the town of Bucho Mandi, a short distance from the Lehra Mohabat ash pond. Such a concentration of uranium means the lifetime cancer risk in the village was more than 153 times higher than in the normal population. Tests on ground water in the village of Jai Singh Wala, close to the Bathinda ash pond, showed an average level of 52.79mcg/l. People living there said they used the ash to spread on the roads and even on the floors of their homes.
Scientists in Punjab who have studied the presence of uranium in the state have dismissed the government denials as a whitewash. "If the government says there is a high level of uranium in an area that would create havoc – they don't want to openly say something like that," said Dr Chander Parkash, a wetland ecologist working at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
Both he and Dr Surinder Singh, who works at the same university and has also carried out tests on the state's ground water, said it was clear that uranium was present in large quantities and should be investigated further.
Another scientist, Dr GS Dhillon, a former chief engineer with the irrigation department, is convinced that the uranium has come from the power stations and accuses the authorities of failing to control the ash ponds, which he believes have contaminated the ground water.
Their concerns are bolstered by a report from the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, Russia's leading state organisation for nuclear research, published last month in the Russian Academy of Sciences' Thermal Engineering journal. The report's author, DA Krylov, raised serious doubts about the safety of coal-fired thermal power stations (TPSs), concluding that radiation from ash residues and from chimney emissions built up around coal-fired power plants and posed an additional risk to those living and working in the area.
"Natural radionuclides contained in coals concentrate in ash-and-slag wastes and gas-aerosol emissions as these coals are fired at TPSs, with the result that an elevated man-made radiation background builds up around TPSs," the report stated. The situation became worse, the report said, if ash was used as a construction material or as a filling material for roads.
A previous report in the magazine Scientific American, citing various sources, claimed that fly ash emitted by power plants "carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy", adding: "When coal is burned into fly ash, uranium and thorium are concentrated at up to 10 times their original levels."
Observer investigation uncovers link between dramatic rise in birth defects in Punjab and pollution from coal-fired power stations
* Gethin Chamberlain, Bathinda
* The Observer, Sunday 30 August 2009
Gurpreet Sigh being treated at the Baba Farid centre for Special Children in Bathinda
Gurpreet Sigh, 7, who has cerebral palsy and microcephaly, and is from Sirsar, 50km from the Punjabi town of Bathinda. He is being treated at the Baba Farid centre for Special Children in Bathinda Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain
Their heads are too large or too small, their limbs too short or too bent. For some, their brains never grew, speech never came and their lives are likely to be cut short: these are the children it appears that India would rather the world did not see, the victims of a scandal with potential implications far beyond the country's borders.
Some sit mutely, staring into space, lost in a world of their own; others cry out, rocking backwards and forwards. Few have any real control over their own bodies. Their anxious parents fret over them, murmuring soft words of encouragement, hoping for some sort of miracle that will free them from a nightmare.
Health workers in the Punjabi cities of Bathinda and Faridkot knew something was terribly wrong when they saw a sharp increase in the number of birth defects, physical and mental abnormalities, and cancers. They suspected that children were being slowly poisoned.
But it was only when a visiting scientist arranged for tests to be carried out at a German laboratory that the true nature of their plight became clear. The results were unequivocal. The children had massive levels of uranium in their bodies, in one case more than 60 times the maximum safe limit.
The results were both momentous and mysterious. Uranium occurs naturally throughout the world, but is normally only present in low background levels which pose no threat to human health. There was no obvious source in the Punjab that could account for such high levels of contamination.
And if a few hundred children – spread over a large area – were contaminated, how many thousands more might also be affected? Those are questions the Indian authorities appear determined not to answer. Staff at the clinics say they were visited and threatened with closure if they spoke out. The South African scientist whose curiosity exposed the scandal says she has been warned by the authorities that she may not be allowed back into the country.
But an Observer investigation has now uncovered disturbing evidence to suggest a link between the contamination and the region's coal-fired power stations. It is already known that the fine fly ash produced when coal is burned contains concentrated levels of uranium and a new report published by Russia's leading nuclear research institution warns of an increased radiation hazard to people living near coal-fired thermal power stations.
The test results for children born and living in areas around the state's power stations show high levels of uranium in their bodies. Tests on ground water show that levels of uranium around the plants are up to 15 times the World Health Organisation's maximum safe limits. Tests also show that it extends across large parts of the state, which is home to 24 million people.
The findings have implications not only for the rest of India – Punjab produces two-thirds of the wheat in the country's central reserves and 40% of its rice – but for many other countries planning to build new power plants, including China, Russia, India, Germany and the US. In Britain, there are plans for a coal-fired station at the Kingsnorth facility in Kent.
The victims are being treated at the Baba Farid centres for special children in Bathinda – where there are two coal-fired thermal plants – and in nearby Faridkot. It was staff at those clinics who first voiced concerns about the increasing numbers of admissions involving severely handicapped children. They were being born with hydrocephaly, microcephaly, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and other complications. Several have already died.
Dr Pritpal Singh, who runs the Faridkot clinic, said the numbers of children affected by the pollution had risen dramatically in the past six or seven years. But he added that the Indian authorities appeared determined to bury the scandal. "They can't just detoxify these kids, they have to detoxify the whole Punjab. That is the reason for their reluctance," he said. "They threatened us and said if we didn't stop commenting on what's happening, they would close our clinic.
"But I decided that if I kept silent it would go on for years and no one would do anything about it. If I keep silent then the next day it will be my child. The children are dying in front of me."
Dr Carin Smit, the South African clinical metal toxicologist who arranged for the tests to be carried out in Germany, said that the situation could no longer be ignored. "There is evidence of harm for these children in my care and... it is an imperative that their bodies be cleaned up and their metabolisms be supported to deal with such a devastating presence of radioactive material," she said.
"If the contamination is as widespread as it would appear to be – as far west as Muktsar on the Pakistani border, and as far east as the foothills of Himachal Pradesh – then millions are at high risk and every new baby born to a contaminated mother is at risk."
In the Faridkot centre last week, Harmanbir Kaur, 15, was rocking gently backwards and forwards. When her test results came back, they showed she had 10 times the safe limit of uranium in her body. Her brother, Naunihal Singh, six, has double the safe level.
Harmanbir was born in Muktsar, 25 miles from Faridkot. Her mother, Kulbir Kaur, 37, watched her slowly degenerate from a healthy baby into the girl she is today, dribbling constantly, unable to feed herself, lost in a world of her own. "God knows what sin I have committed. When we go to our village people say there is a curse of God on you, but I don't believe so," she said. "Every part of this area is affected. We never imagined that there would be uranium in our kids."
A few miles down the road in Bathinda, Sukhminder Singh, 48, a farmer, watched his son Kulwinder, 13, staring into space while curling his hands up under his chin. Tests showed Kulwinder has 19 times the maximum safe level of uranium in his body. He has cerebral palsy and has already had seven operations to unbend his arms and legs.
"The government should investigate it because if our child is affected it will also affect future generations," he said. "What are they waiting for? How many children do they want to be affected? Another generation? I can leave the house for work, but my wife is always with him. Sometimes she cries and asks why God is playing with our luck. Every morning he sends a new trouble."
Doni Choudhary, aged 15 months, is waiting to be tested, though staff say he shows similar symptoms to those who have tested positive and are treating him for suspected uranium poisoning. His mother, Neelum, 22, from the state capital, Chandigarh, says he was born with hydrocephaly. His legs are useless.
"He is dependent on others. After me, who can care for him?" Neelum asks. "He tries to speak but he can't express himself and my heart cries. When will he understand that his legs don't work? What will he feel?"
India's reluctance to acknowledge the problem is hardly unexpected: the country is heavily committed to an expansion of thermal plants in Punjab and other states. Neither was it any surprise when a team of scientists from the Department of Atomic Energy visited the area and concluded that while the concentration of uranium in drinking water was "slightly high", there was "nothing to worry" about. Yet some tests recorded levels of uranium in the ground water as high as 224mcg/l (micrograms per litre) – 15 times higher than the safe level of 15mcg/l recommended by the WHO. (The US Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum safe level of 20mcg/l.)
Some scientists have proposed that the ground water may have been contaminated by contact with granite rocks that rise above the ground about 150 miles away to the south in the Tosham hills, in Haryana state. A continuation of these rocks is believed to run deep below the thick alluvial deposits that form the plains of Punjab.
Increasing demands for water, in particular to irrigate the rice crop, have led to greater dependence on tube wells. That in turn is depleting the water table in the state at an alarming rate – by at least 30cm a year, according to one study – with the result that water is being drawn from ever deeper levels. However, this theory seems to be in conflict with evidence from parents of many of the children, who say they use the mains supply, which comes from other sources.
There have also been claims that the contamination may have been exacerbated by depleted uranium carried on the wind from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At a seminar in Amritsar in April, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, a former chief of the naval staff, suggested that areas within a 1,000-mile radius of Kabul – including Punjab – may be affected by depleted uranium. Although the prevailing monsoon winds blow either from the north-east or the south-west, there are times when a depression originating in the Mediterranean can result in rainfall in Punjab.
Meanwhile, smoke continues to pour from the power station chimneys and lorries shuttle backwards and forwards, taking away the fly ash to be mixed into cement at the neighbouring Ambuja factory. Inside the plant last week, there was ash everywhere, forming drifts, clinging to the skin, getting into the throat.
Ravindra Singh, the plant's security officer, said that most of the ash went to the cement works, while the rest was dumped in ash ponds. It would be more efficient to burn better quality coal that left less ash, he said. Every day the plant burned 6,000 tons of coal. He had no idea how much ash that generated, but the stream of lorries to take it away was continuous.
The first coal-fired power station in Punjab was commissioned in Bathinda in 1974, followed by another in nearby Lehra Mohabat in 1998. There is a third to the east, at Rupnagar.
Tests on ground water in villages in Bathinda district found the highest average concentration of uranium – 56.95mcg/l – in the town of Bucho Mandi, a short distance from the Lehra Mohabat ash pond. Such a concentration of uranium means the lifetime cancer risk in the village was more than 153 times higher than in the normal population. Tests on ground water in the village of Jai Singh Wala, close to the Bathinda ash pond, showed an average level of 52.79mcg/l. People living there said they used the ash to spread on the roads and even on the floors of their homes.
Scientists in Punjab who have studied the presence of uranium in the state have dismissed the government denials as a whitewash. "If the government says there is a high level of uranium in an area that would create havoc – they don't want to openly say something like that," said Dr Chander Parkash, a wetland ecologist working at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
Both he and Dr Surinder Singh, who works at the same university and has also carried out tests on the state's ground water, said it was clear that uranium was present in large quantities and should be investigated further.
Another scientist, Dr GS Dhillon, a former chief engineer with the irrigation department, is convinced that the uranium has come from the power stations and accuses the authorities of failing to control the ash ponds, which he believes have contaminated the ground water.
Their concerns are bolstered by a report from the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, Russia's leading state organisation for nuclear research, published last month in the Russian Academy of Sciences' Thermal Engineering journal. The report's author, DA Krylov, raised serious doubts about the safety of coal-fired thermal power stations (TPSs), concluding that radiation from ash residues and from chimney emissions built up around coal-fired power plants and posed an additional risk to those living and working in the area.
"Natural radionuclides contained in coals concentrate in ash-and-slag wastes and gas-aerosol emissions as these coals are fired at TPSs, with the result that an elevated man-made radiation background builds up around TPSs," the report stated. The situation became worse, the report said, if ash was used as a construction material or as a filling material for roads.
A previous report in the magazine Scientific American, citing various sources, claimed that fly ash emitted by power plants "carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy", adding: "When coal is burned into fly ash, uranium and thorium are concentrated at up to 10 times their original levels."
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Indian Lust for Power
Dr. M Anwar
While explaining the importance of human interaction and its impact on social relations to students of Cross Cultural Psychology in a public university at Islamabad, I was to elucidate the pattern of behavior of Indian community living in Liberia (Western Africa). Recalling my short stay in Liberia I was able to satisfy the general inquisitiveness of the students but deeper questions about Indian behavior spun my mind for a while. As I explained that Indians in Liberia represented a polite social group with good sense of compassion, the students a,sked as to why India can't be our friend. Why do Indians hate Pakistan? Why do they consider us as the enemy number one? Does Pakistan pose a real threat to India? Do Indians behave scornfully with Pakistanis when living abroad? Why Indians do not learn to demonstrate compassion for neighbohng country Pakistan? Why India is building military munitions to intimidate h~r smalll neighbors? Are Indians power hungry and over ambitious people? What constitutes the basis of their underlined tendency to avert / ward off Pakistan? I was simply reminded of the informal discussions held with the Indians in Liberia during hassle-free moments.
Indians in Liberia run hotels, restaurants, cloth shops, warehouses and own trading companies. They show respect and demonstrate pleasant manners while dealing with customers and handling business deals. Market associations, common interests in sports and security needs enhanced our mutual cooperation and interaction. We exchanged ideas, enjoyed the courtesy of neighbors and shared jovial feelings as well as some painful emotions. The stereo typed impressions and perceptions .changed due to simple exchange of pleasantries and mutual 'respect. With the passage of time relations became encouraging and th~ stage conducive to ask Indians as to why do they dislike and hate Pakistan? They express~d their' frank preference for Pakistanis while in foreign land but a politico-social compulsion forced every Indian to hate Pakistan while at home in India. It forced me to probe further the reasons for maintaining the double face and behaving elusively.
Heaving a moaning sigh and concealing signs of frustration, they explained that political tone in India was so synthesized that "hate Pakistan" slogan had rrecome a symbol of survival for every community in India. Hence people are forced to show acrimony for Pakistan to adore India. Defaulters are branded as traitors and physically eliminated, murdered, raped and burnt alive. The coercive politics, social arrogance and religious extremism compel people to hate Pakistar} and this explained the fundamental characteristics of Indian social order, culture and political traditions. Political activism is so strong that no one can afford to express dis!ent onl issues related to Pakistan. Thus Pakistan specific public opinion is directly controlled by the
state authority in India. Powerfully structured extremist elements force the government to follow their agenda. Indian Prime Minister's denial to have agreed with Pakistani Premier to de-link terrorism from peace process due to BJP's pressure at home is point in case. Political reaction by BJP to expel Jaswant Singh by canceling his party members-hip, for praising Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah and questioning the deionization of Jinnah whom Hindu nationalists blame for the partition of India in 1947 and Congress leaders prejudicial act of burning the copies of the said book, clearly reflect the insular mind set of Indian leaders towards Pakistal). Indian political leadership embodies classical example of extremism andjn their approach to hate Pakistan, they cannot stand the truth written by a Hindu leader (Jaswantl Singh) disregarding his claims to have undertaken the rigors of over six years' research work to write the said book.
In fact Indian politicians have coined "hate Pakistan" slogan to hide their inefficiency, mismanagement and corruption. Once in power they fail to address people's problems and blame Pakistan for every wrong that happens in India. They regard Pakistan as India's top enemy and are equipping the armed forces with sophisticated weapons. The effort may afford them personal advantages for striking defence deals with the foreign firms but it will be at the cost of poor living conditions of common Indians besides disturbing peace in the region.
dverwhelmed with their power motives India has developed the ambition to d1minate, South Asia and control major resources of the world. Recent launching of nuclear submarine in the Indian Ocean speaks volumes about Indian military designs. Symbolic arms twisting of her small neighbors in South Asia and explicit strategic cooperation with USA and western powers clearly reflect Indian political ambitions. Indian intellectuals contend that being a bigger country in the region India has diversified interests and hence, the justifications for her military build up. May we suggest to Indian politicians to rationalize her political ambitions and show respect regional realities. Insular approach with'traditional signs of animosity for neighbors would further tarnish the image of Indian state.
Dr. M Anwar
Dr. M Anwar
While explaining the importance of human interaction and its impact on social relations to students of Cross Cultural Psychology in a public university at Islamabad, I was to elucidate the pattern of behavior of Indian community living in Liberia (Western Africa). Recalling my short stay in Liberia I was able to satisfy the general inquisitiveness of the students but deeper questions about Indian behavior spun my mind for a while. As I explained that Indians in Liberia represented a polite social group with good sense of compassion, the students a,sked as to why India can't be our friend. Why do Indians hate Pakistan? Why do they consider us as the enemy number one? Does Pakistan pose a real threat to India? Do Indians behave scornfully with Pakistanis when living abroad? Why Indians do not learn to demonstrate compassion for neighbohng country Pakistan? Why India is building military munitions to intimidate h~r smalll neighbors? Are Indians power hungry and over ambitious people? What constitutes the basis of their underlined tendency to avert / ward off Pakistan? I was simply reminded of the informal discussions held with the Indians in Liberia during hassle-free moments.
Indians in Liberia run hotels, restaurants, cloth shops, warehouses and own trading companies. They show respect and demonstrate pleasant manners while dealing with customers and handling business deals. Market associations, common interests in sports and security needs enhanced our mutual cooperation and interaction. We exchanged ideas, enjoyed the courtesy of neighbors and shared jovial feelings as well as some painful emotions. The stereo typed impressions and perceptions .changed due to simple exchange of pleasantries and mutual 'respect. With the passage of time relations became encouraging and th~ stage conducive to ask Indians as to why do they dislike and hate Pakistan? They express~d their' frank preference for Pakistanis while in foreign land but a politico-social compulsion forced every Indian to hate Pakistan while at home in India. It forced me to probe further the reasons for maintaining the double face and behaving elusively.
Heaving a moaning sigh and concealing signs of frustration, they explained that political tone in India was so synthesized that "hate Pakistan" slogan had rrecome a symbol of survival for every community in India. Hence people are forced to show acrimony for Pakistan to adore India. Defaulters are branded as traitors and physically eliminated, murdered, raped and burnt alive. The coercive politics, social arrogance and religious extremism compel people to hate Pakistar} and this explained the fundamental characteristics of Indian social order, culture and political traditions. Political activism is so strong that no one can afford to express dis!ent onl issues related to Pakistan. Thus Pakistan specific public opinion is directly controlled by the
state authority in India. Powerfully structured extremist elements force the government to follow their agenda. Indian Prime Minister's denial to have agreed with Pakistani Premier to de-link terrorism from peace process due to BJP's pressure at home is point in case. Political reaction by BJP to expel Jaswant Singh by canceling his party members-hip, for praising Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah and questioning the deionization of Jinnah whom Hindu nationalists blame for the partition of India in 1947 and Congress leaders prejudicial act of burning the copies of the said book, clearly reflect the insular mind set of Indian leaders towards Pakistal). Indian political leadership embodies classical example of extremism andjn their approach to hate Pakistan, they cannot stand the truth written by a Hindu leader (Jaswantl Singh) disregarding his claims to have undertaken the rigors of over six years' research work to write the said book.
In fact Indian politicians have coined "hate Pakistan" slogan to hide their inefficiency, mismanagement and corruption. Once in power they fail to address people's problems and blame Pakistan for every wrong that happens in India. They regard Pakistan as India's top enemy and are equipping the armed forces with sophisticated weapons. The effort may afford them personal advantages for striking defence deals with the foreign firms but it will be at the cost of poor living conditions of common Indians besides disturbing peace in the region.
dverwhelmed with their power motives India has developed the ambition to d1minate, South Asia and control major resources of the world. Recent launching of nuclear submarine in the Indian Ocean speaks volumes about Indian military designs. Symbolic arms twisting of her small neighbors in South Asia and explicit strategic cooperation with USA and western powers clearly reflect Indian political ambitions. Indian intellectuals contend that being a bigger country in the region India has diversified interests and hence, the justifications for her military build up. May we suggest to Indian politicians to rationalize her political ambitions and show respect regional realities. Insular approach with'traditional signs of animosity for neighbors would further tarnish the image of Indian state.
Dr. M Anwar
HRCP tarnishing Pak Army’s role in Swat
HRCP tarnishing Pak Army’s role in Swat
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is established with a noble aim: to protect human rights (Pakistanis in our case) and its chairperson Asma Jehangir is a dedicated lady who has recently been awarded one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards, Hilal-e-Imtiaz for her meritorious services in the struggle for human rights. Nonetheless, the hi-fi claims of the HRCP to protect the rights of the downtrodden by highlighting their plight, build public opinion and move the government agencies remains ineffective because the Commission remains in inertia when a mass human catastrophe is simmering.
The inhuman treatment of the people of Malakand Division by the brute forces of the militants continued for the past two years but no vigorous campaign was launched by any of the human rights organisation to bring pressure nationally or internationally to stop the human inferno. In fact these organisations could not utter a single word of condemnation of the militants’ demeanour even within the air-conditioned premises of their offices much less taking out street demonstrations in far flung areas from the conflict area, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, for fear of deadly reprisal from the militants.
The entire country has been suffering the heat of terrorism particularly in the past two years. The year 2008 saw 971 blasts that caused 5937 casualties at the hands of terrorists. Compared to this figure the 17-day Indo-Pak 1965 War made 3389 Pakistani casualties. The Lahore High Court was bombed and an imambargah attacked in January. February witnessed the killing of a highly pious human being, the Surgeon General of Pakistan Army in the peaceful city of Rawalpindi. Pakistan’s Naval War College and FIA’s HQ in Lahore were targeted. In March the entire lot of tribal jirga trying to negotiate peace in Darra Adam Khel was killed by the militants. Many madressahs (religious seminaries) of the rival factions have been destroyed. In Jamrud, Khyber Agency a Friday congregation was bombed that killed more than 50 nimazis.
The degree to which the fear of the militants had permeated the country can be gauged from the way the National Assembly members behaved when the Nizam-i-Adl Regulation bill was presented for soliciting their views and ultimate passage or rejection. The entire House gave approval without going into any debate because the Taliban in Swat had threatened that any Assembly member opposing the bill would face dire consequences.
Turning to the state of human rights in Swat valley there was nothing but barbarism that had become an effective tool in the hands of heartless militants. Pakistan’s law enforcing agencies had almost disappeared. More than three-fourth of the Division’s 4000 police force had deserted: the remaining men refused to man check-posts or perform traffic duties for fear of being kidnapped and tortured. Many employees of the Levies (local militia police) advertised their resignations in newspapers to avoid militants’ wrath. The female student population of 88,000 was denied formal education when their school buildings were regularly dynamited.
Disclosure by a terrorist commander Haider Ali recently apprehended in military action, Raah-e-Raast should open the eyes of the HRCP and a senior journalist of an Islamabad-based newspaper who are pleading the case of killing of some militants as extra-judicial killings and trying to malign the very army that has brought succour not only to Malakand Division but to the rest of Pakistan by breaking the back of the dreaded militants at the peril of their own lives.
In an interview to a private TV Haider Ali revealed that he lived in Qambar village of Swat where he was forcibly recruited by Taliban commander Shah Dauran. It was a common practice for Taliban to recruit at least one young man or a boy between 10 and 18 from each family. These young men were trained to fight law enforcement forces and create havoc in civilian population. Haider Ali has confessed to have slaughtered eight men, his colleague Hayat Khan beheaded 17 and another Hazrat Ali chopped of heads of five: all were innocent captives. They also attacked army convoys thrice and bombed numerous police check-posts and schools.
The most hair-raising crime the militants committed as narrated by Haider Ali in his TV interview was the method adopted to discourage female education. On the instructions of Shah Dauran they would kidnap young school-going girls from their houses, bring them to their centre, administer injunctions to make them unconscious and then subject them to rape. Thereafter the unfortunate girls would be thrown at the doorsteps of their homes. It may be recalled that Shah Dauran, a key Taliban commander, was killed in action during the Raah-e-Raast operation.
Haider Ali’s revelation is just the tip of what went on in Swat. It was the valiant armed forces of the country that that turned the impossible into possible by bringing a semblance of sanity to the valley. For this the soldiers had to sacrifice 1300 lives, still larger number maimed while the number of their widows and orphans left behind by the shaheeds cannot be counted. Therefore the accolade emitting from national and international circles for the performance of men of the armed forces as a messiah for the terribly devastated population of Swat was a natural reaction. The soldiers get ample opportunity to kill as many militants as they can when the operation is on then why would they capture militants and kill them in cold blood?
Probably the chairperson HRCP and the senior journalist are not in the same frame of mind as the returning IDPs to Swat. The Swatis have experienced inhuman treatment at the hands of militants therefore now their blood boils at the first site of militants. The locals do not miss the opportunity to kill militants but to avoid reprisal from other militants the killers make sure their victim is strewn at different deserted localities. Sometimes even the fleeing militants kill their injured colleagues so that they don’t fall into the hands of government.
Those terming the recently found dead bodies of 21 militants and discovery of mass graves as a handiwork of the armed forces and demanding inquiries are not only tarnishing the image of the army but putting a spanner in the wheel of operation Raah-e-Raast. Is HRCP not aware that Swat is experiencing a situation of insurgency i.e. rebellion against the state?
It is unfair when Asma Jehangir in a statement on August 17 declares, “The Commission reiterates that it has come across credible accounts of extra-judicial killings and complaints of reprisal attacks by the security forces during the operation in Swat.” She asked the government to conduct enquiry. Her demands pave way for three objectives: justify to the donor agencies to continue giving her setup fat funds, secondly to tarnish the armed forces popularly lauded achievements in the valley and thirdly to divert the attention of the soldiers from concentration in their ongoing action against the militants.
It was not expected from the guardians of human rights to keep mum when Taliban were playing havoc with the people of Swat but when the messiah in the form of armed forces brought peace and tranquility to the district it has been maligned with extra-judicial killings. Where the writ of the government had become ineffective and lawlessness prevailed how can extra-judicial killings take place?
Sayed G.B Shah Bokhari
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is established with a noble aim: to protect human rights (Pakistanis in our case) and its chairperson Asma Jehangir is a dedicated lady who has recently been awarded one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards, Hilal-e-Imtiaz for her meritorious services in the struggle for human rights. Nonetheless, the hi-fi claims of the HRCP to protect the rights of the downtrodden by highlighting their plight, build public opinion and move the government agencies remains ineffective because the Commission remains in inertia when a mass human catastrophe is simmering.
The inhuman treatment of the people of Malakand Division by the brute forces of the militants continued for the past two years but no vigorous campaign was launched by any of the human rights organisation to bring pressure nationally or internationally to stop the human inferno. In fact these organisations could not utter a single word of condemnation of the militants’ demeanour even within the air-conditioned premises of their offices much less taking out street demonstrations in far flung areas from the conflict area, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, for fear of deadly reprisal from the militants.
The entire country has been suffering the heat of terrorism particularly in the past two years. The year 2008 saw 971 blasts that caused 5937 casualties at the hands of terrorists. Compared to this figure the 17-day Indo-Pak 1965 War made 3389 Pakistani casualties. The Lahore High Court was bombed and an imambargah attacked in January. February witnessed the killing of a highly pious human being, the Surgeon General of Pakistan Army in the peaceful city of Rawalpindi. Pakistan’s Naval War College and FIA’s HQ in Lahore were targeted. In March the entire lot of tribal jirga trying to negotiate peace in Darra Adam Khel was killed by the militants. Many madressahs (religious seminaries) of the rival factions have been destroyed. In Jamrud, Khyber Agency a Friday congregation was bombed that killed more than 50 nimazis.
The degree to which the fear of the militants had permeated the country can be gauged from the way the National Assembly members behaved when the Nizam-i-Adl Regulation bill was presented for soliciting their views and ultimate passage or rejection. The entire House gave approval without going into any debate because the Taliban in Swat had threatened that any Assembly member opposing the bill would face dire consequences.
Turning to the state of human rights in Swat valley there was nothing but barbarism that had become an effective tool in the hands of heartless militants. Pakistan’s law enforcing agencies had almost disappeared. More than three-fourth of the Division’s 4000 police force had deserted: the remaining men refused to man check-posts or perform traffic duties for fear of being kidnapped and tortured. Many employees of the Levies (local militia police) advertised their resignations in newspapers to avoid militants’ wrath. The female student population of 88,000 was denied formal education when their school buildings were regularly dynamited.
Disclosure by a terrorist commander Haider Ali recently apprehended in military action, Raah-e-Raast should open the eyes of the HRCP and a senior journalist of an Islamabad-based newspaper who are pleading the case of killing of some militants as extra-judicial killings and trying to malign the very army that has brought succour not only to Malakand Division but to the rest of Pakistan by breaking the back of the dreaded militants at the peril of their own lives.
In an interview to a private TV Haider Ali revealed that he lived in Qambar village of Swat where he was forcibly recruited by Taliban commander Shah Dauran. It was a common practice for Taliban to recruit at least one young man or a boy between 10 and 18 from each family. These young men were trained to fight law enforcement forces and create havoc in civilian population. Haider Ali has confessed to have slaughtered eight men, his colleague Hayat Khan beheaded 17 and another Hazrat Ali chopped of heads of five: all were innocent captives. They also attacked army convoys thrice and bombed numerous police check-posts and schools.
The most hair-raising crime the militants committed as narrated by Haider Ali in his TV interview was the method adopted to discourage female education. On the instructions of Shah Dauran they would kidnap young school-going girls from their houses, bring them to their centre, administer injunctions to make them unconscious and then subject them to rape. Thereafter the unfortunate girls would be thrown at the doorsteps of their homes. It may be recalled that Shah Dauran, a key Taliban commander, was killed in action during the Raah-e-Raast operation.
Haider Ali’s revelation is just the tip of what went on in Swat. It was the valiant armed forces of the country that that turned the impossible into possible by bringing a semblance of sanity to the valley. For this the soldiers had to sacrifice 1300 lives, still larger number maimed while the number of their widows and orphans left behind by the shaheeds cannot be counted. Therefore the accolade emitting from national and international circles for the performance of men of the armed forces as a messiah for the terribly devastated population of Swat was a natural reaction. The soldiers get ample opportunity to kill as many militants as they can when the operation is on then why would they capture militants and kill them in cold blood?
Probably the chairperson HRCP and the senior journalist are not in the same frame of mind as the returning IDPs to Swat. The Swatis have experienced inhuman treatment at the hands of militants therefore now their blood boils at the first site of militants. The locals do not miss the opportunity to kill militants but to avoid reprisal from other militants the killers make sure their victim is strewn at different deserted localities. Sometimes even the fleeing militants kill their injured colleagues so that they don’t fall into the hands of government.
Those terming the recently found dead bodies of 21 militants and discovery of mass graves as a handiwork of the armed forces and demanding inquiries are not only tarnishing the image of the army but putting a spanner in the wheel of operation Raah-e-Raast. Is HRCP not aware that Swat is experiencing a situation of insurgency i.e. rebellion against the state?
It is unfair when Asma Jehangir in a statement on August 17 declares, “The Commission reiterates that it has come across credible accounts of extra-judicial killings and complaints of reprisal attacks by the security forces during the operation in Swat.” She asked the government to conduct enquiry. Her demands pave way for three objectives: justify to the donor agencies to continue giving her setup fat funds, secondly to tarnish the armed forces popularly lauded achievements in the valley and thirdly to divert the attention of the soldiers from concentration in their ongoing action against the militants.
It was not expected from the guardians of human rights to keep mum when Taliban were playing havoc with the people of Swat but when the messiah in the form of armed forces brought peace and tranquility to the district it has been maligned with extra-judicial killings. Where the writ of the government had become ineffective and lawlessness prevailed how can extra-judicial killings take place?
Sayed G.B Shah Bokhari
Friday, December 25, 2009
Rainy days for India
Rainy days for India
Ali Sukhanver
In the second week of August, an article was published in China, with the title ‘’If China takes a little action, the so-called Great Indian Federation can be broken up’. This article also propagated the same thought as presented by the official think-tanks of China. The said article was originally in Chinese language and was later reproduced in several other strategic and military websites of the country and by all means, targets the domestic audience. According to the media reports most of the websites which published this article belong to China. One of these sites is ‘www.chinaiiss.org ‘which is the new edition of the China International Institute for Strategic Studies, a website which is purely considered to be the mouth-piece of the government of China.
The writer of the article, Zhan Lue has suggested to the Chinese authorities that to split India, China can bring into its fold countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, support ULFA in attaining its goal for Assam’s independence, back aspirations of Indian nationalities like the Tamils and Nagas, encourage Bangladesh to give a push to the independence of West Bengal and lastly recover the 90,000 sq km territory in southern Tibet. The article says; If India today relies on any thing for unity, it is the Hindu religion. The partition of the country was based on religion. Today nation states are the main current in the world. India could only be termed now as a ‘Hindu religious state. Hinduism is a decadent religion as it allows caste exploitation and is unhelpful to the country’s modernisation. The Indian government is in a dilemma with regard to eradication of the caste system as it realises that the process to do away with castes may shake the foundation of the consciousness of the Indian nation. Zhan Lue is of the view that there exist so many ‘local centres’ in several provinces of India and in the presence of such local characteristics, the ‘so-called’ Indian nation cannot be considered as one having existed in history.
One of the official think-tanks of China has also advised the Chinese high-ups to settle old scores with India by breaking up the world’s ‘Biggest Democracy’ into 26 parts. Beijing should encourage Bangladesh to invite ethnic Indian Bengalis to abandon Indian nationality and work towards a united Bengali state. It has also been advised to use India’s hostile neighbours as well as the restive elements among the Assamese, Kashmiris and Tamils. These elements should be encouraged to fight hard for independent statehood.
In the light of the above cited article and the recommendations of the official think-tanks, the Chinese government might be thinking of joining hands with different nationalities in India like the Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris and support them in establishing independent nation-states of their own, out of India. In particular, the United Liberation Front of Asom in Assam ULFA can be helped by China so that Assam, a territory neighbouring China, realises its national independence.
India and China have been in a state of cold war since long. The two countries share a long border, sectioned into three stretches by Nepal and Bhutan which follows the Himalayan Mountains between Burma and Bangladesh. A number of disputed regions lie along this border. The conflict between the countries reached its climax in 1953 when India encroached northward and pushed its borderline to the McMahon Line and occupied 90,000 square kms of Chinese territories. At western sector, in 1959, India voiced its claim to the Aksai Chin areas, counted 33,000 kms of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. In April 1960, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai went to New Delhi to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Nehru; no agreements were reached due to India’s insistence on its unreasonable stand. The ensuing meetings between the officials of the two countries also produced no results. As a result of it the Sino-Indian war started in June, 1962. This war is also known as the Sino-Indian border conflict. China had two major claims on what India deems its own territory. One claim, in the western sector, is on Aksai Chin in the northeastern section of Ladakh District in Jammu and Kashmir. The other claim is in the eastern sector over a region included in the British-designated North-East Frontier Agency, the disputed part of which India renamed Arunachal Pradesh. These two major claims were the actual factors behind the war. In the fight over these areas, the well-trained and well-armed troops of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army overpowered the ill-equipped Indian troops, who had not been properly acclimatised to fighting at high altitudes.
In May last, the Indo-China relations reached a point of no-return when India blamed that China is interfering in Nepal’s internal affairs and causing political upheaval there. The Times of India reported on May 9, 2009, “While India was inviting popular opprobrium in Nepal trying to prevent Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda from sacking the army chief, China at the same time sent messages to Prachanda pledging support for doing just the opposite.” Condemning the report Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said, “The report is sheer unfounded rumour. The Chinese government always adheres to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. China, as a friendly neighbour of Nepal, sincerely hoped all parties in Nepal would work together for peace, political stability and economic development.”
The recently published article in China and the recommendations of the official think-tank of China have given birth to strange frightful feelings not only among the Indian public and politicians but also among the Indian Armed Forces. Commenting on the reports that China has been advised to break-up India, the Navy chief of India, Admiral Sureesh Mehta has said, “India does not have the power to match China’s resources in terms of military. China is likely to be more assertive on its claims”. Less than a month ago, Headlines Today had highlighted a disturbing prophesy by a noted Indian analyst Bharat Verma that China would mount a blistering attack on India before 2012. The point to be pondered over is the credibility of the said article and the authenticity of the suggestion given to the Chinese government. This article and the advice; both must not be taken lightly. Ignoring them will prove to be costly for India. If China succeeds in awakening the consciousness of nationalities in India, the world’s Biggest Democracy is sure to meet an end like that of USSR. It is the right time that India must strengthen its grip on different segments of its society which are striving for independent identity.
Ali Sukhanver
In the second week of August, an article was published in China, with the title ‘’If China takes a little action, the so-called Great Indian Federation can be broken up’. This article also propagated the same thought as presented by the official think-tanks of China. The said article was originally in Chinese language and was later reproduced in several other strategic and military websites of the country and by all means, targets the domestic audience. According to the media reports most of the websites which published this article belong to China. One of these sites is ‘www.chinaiiss.org ‘which is the new edition of the China International Institute for Strategic Studies, a website which is purely considered to be the mouth-piece of the government of China.
The writer of the article, Zhan Lue has suggested to the Chinese authorities that to split India, China can bring into its fold countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, support ULFA in attaining its goal for Assam’s independence, back aspirations of Indian nationalities like the Tamils and Nagas, encourage Bangladesh to give a push to the independence of West Bengal and lastly recover the 90,000 sq km territory in southern Tibet. The article says; If India today relies on any thing for unity, it is the Hindu religion. The partition of the country was based on religion. Today nation states are the main current in the world. India could only be termed now as a ‘Hindu religious state. Hinduism is a decadent religion as it allows caste exploitation and is unhelpful to the country’s modernisation. The Indian government is in a dilemma with regard to eradication of the caste system as it realises that the process to do away with castes may shake the foundation of the consciousness of the Indian nation. Zhan Lue is of the view that there exist so many ‘local centres’ in several provinces of India and in the presence of such local characteristics, the ‘so-called’ Indian nation cannot be considered as one having existed in history.
One of the official think-tanks of China has also advised the Chinese high-ups to settle old scores with India by breaking up the world’s ‘Biggest Democracy’ into 26 parts. Beijing should encourage Bangladesh to invite ethnic Indian Bengalis to abandon Indian nationality and work towards a united Bengali state. It has also been advised to use India’s hostile neighbours as well as the restive elements among the Assamese, Kashmiris and Tamils. These elements should be encouraged to fight hard for independent statehood.
In the light of the above cited article and the recommendations of the official think-tanks, the Chinese government might be thinking of joining hands with different nationalities in India like the Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris and support them in establishing independent nation-states of their own, out of India. In particular, the United Liberation Front of Asom in Assam ULFA can be helped by China so that Assam, a territory neighbouring China, realises its national independence.
India and China have been in a state of cold war since long. The two countries share a long border, sectioned into three stretches by Nepal and Bhutan which follows the Himalayan Mountains between Burma and Bangladesh. A number of disputed regions lie along this border. The conflict between the countries reached its climax in 1953 when India encroached northward and pushed its borderline to the McMahon Line and occupied 90,000 square kms of Chinese territories. At western sector, in 1959, India voiced its claim to the Aksai Chin areas, counted 33,000 kms of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. In April 1960, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai went to New Delhi to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Nehru; no agreements were reached due to India’s insistence on its unreasonable stand. The ensuing meetings between the officials of the two countries also produced no results. As a result of it the Sino-Indian war started in June, 1962. This war is also known as the Sino-Indian border conflict. China had two major claims on what India deems its own territory. One claim, in the western sector, is on Aksai Chin in the northeastern section of Ladakh District in Jammu and Kashmir. The other claim is in the eastern sector over a region included in the British-designated North-East Frontier Agency, the disputed part of which India renamed Arunachal Pradesh. These two major claims were the actual factors behind the war. In the fight over these areas, the well-trained and well-armed troops of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army overpowered the ill-equipped Indian troops, who had not been properly acclimatised to fighting at high altitudes.
In May last, the Indo-China relations reached a point of no-return when India blamed that China is interfering in Nepal’s internal affairs and causing political upheaval there. The Times of India reported on May 9, 2009, “While India was inviting popular opprobrium in Nepal trying to prevent Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda from sacking the army chief, China at the same time sent messages to Prachanda pledging support for doing just the opposite.” Condemning the report Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said, “The report is sheer unfounded rumour. The Chinese government always adheres to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. China, as a friendly neighbour of Nepal, sincerely hoped all parties in Nepal would work together for peace, political stability and economic development.”
The recently published article in China and the recommendations of the official think-tank of China have given birth to strange frightful feelings not only among the Indian public and politicians but also among the Indian Armed Forces. Commenting on the reports that China has been advised to break-up India, the Navy chief of India, Admiral Sureesh Mehta has said, “India does not have the power to match China’s resources in terms of military. China is likely to be more assertive on its claims”. Less than a month ago, Headlines Today had highlighted a disturbing prophesy by a noted Indian analyst Bharat Verma that China would mount a blistering attack on India before 2012. The point to be pondered over is the credibility of the said article and the authenticity of the suggestion given to the Chinese government. This article and the advice; both must not be taken lightly. Ignoring them will prove to be costly for India. If China succeeds in awakening the consciousness of nationalities in India, the world’s Biggest Democracy is sure to meet an end like that of USSR. It is the right time that India must strengthen its grip on different segments of its society which are striving for independent identity.
Ticking Time Bomb, India's poor nuclear safety
Ticking Time Bomb, India's poor nuclear safety
By launching its first submarine India has become the sixth member of the nuclear powered submarine owners. According to vice admiral (retd) D S P Verma, the project director, Arihant is a 6,000 tone submarine with a length of 110 meters and a breadth of 11 meters. It has the ability to carry 12 K 15 submarine launched ballistic missiles that have a range of over 700 km.
It is a modified version of the Russian Charlie 2 class submarine. It is powered by light water reactors which use ordinary water as both coolant and moderator. After a series of exhaustive trials the submarine is handed over to Indian navy. Its a big day for Indians as they are happy with the achievement but beside all the achievements India’s nuclear program is suffering from security lapses, theft and smuggling of NBC related materials. India’s nuclear program has a long history of accidents. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal in IPRI edition of April 2002 observed “there have been reported cases of theft of fissile material from the Indian nuclear facilities. These are vulnerable to a high probability of accidents. According to an Indian parliamentary report, 147 mishaps or safety related unusual occurrences were reported between 1995 and 1998 in Indian atomic energy installations.
Now take a closer look at some of these accidents:
TARAPUR Atomic Power Plants are the oldest nuclear reactors in India. Built with US assistance, these plants are suffering from radiation problems. On March 14 1980, 26 workers were seriously affected by the leakage of cooling water at TAPPS_1. In 1995 the radioactive waste from the plant contaminated the water supply of nearly 3,000 villagers living nearby. Again in 1996 a leak was developed in the waste processing plant TARAPUR and locals used contaminated water for many days .RAJASTHAN ATOMIC POWER STATION 1 faced number of shut downs from 1980 to 1994 due to cracks in its pressure tubes or coolant channels. RAPP 1 was shut down in 1994 due to leakage of heavy water. RAPP 2 has technical problems which have led to frequent shut downs. MADRAS ATOMIC POWER PLANTS, KALPAKKAM, are also suffering from design and safety problems. MAPP has two units each of 220 MW but due to design problems they were downgraded to 170 MW each. Soon after the construction, the moderation/distribution systems collapsed inside the reactor. The reactors suffered from acute design problems and caused high scale radiations having adverse effects on workers and marine life. Rods of metal from broken manifolds have been lying at the bottom of the chambers of MAPP since early 1990’ s.Efforts to remove these rods was failed. According to analysts, the constant flow of uranium fuel inside the tubes and the pressurized heavy water around them had caused the detachment of the manifolds cutting them into several pieces, which could lead to a major accident. On June 1st 2003, a radiation leakage occurred at MAPP which caused serious injuries to technicians. In March 1999, the leakage of six tons of heavy water was reported during inspection of coolant channels. Temperature of sea water around Kalpakkam rose from 85 to 140 degree Fahrenheit when these plants started to work. NARORA ATOMIC POWER PLANTS in UTTER PRADESH are also suffering from accidents. In March 1993, a fire broke out in NAPP when a turbine generator’s two blades snapped from fatigue causing more blades to break and the whole machine became grinding halt. During annual shutdown, NAPP 2 released heavy water during inspection of reactor’s coolant channels. An inspection tool caused this leakage and radiation released affected the environment. Now come to KAKRAPAR ATOMIC POWER PLANTS in Surat, Gujrat. The radiation leakages from KAPP are usual practice and population around the plant is effected with radiation. In a report issued by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, workers at KAPP receive collective radiation dose which is three times higher than the internationally permitted level. KAPP reactors faced a disastrous fire in 1991.In 1994, extensive damage was also done to the reactor by floods. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India shut down KAPP 1 of 220 MW on 23 April 2004 following an incident of reactor power rise. The incident reflects certain weaknesses in safety systems. According to engineers and workers, the design flaws were repeatedly pointed out to the authorities during construction of KAPP but no notice or action was taken. Now population around the plant is suffering from skin, eye diseases and vomiting.
KAIGAATOMIC POWER PLANTS, KARNATKA are suffering from serious design problems. The containment dome of unit 1 collapsed in 1994, only in 24 hrs prior to the plant becoming active. All units and equipments were destroyed under the platform.
Some other major known incidents include major leaks in a waste tank at BARC of capacity 200000 liters which contaminated water and soil in mid 1990’s. Mumbai Port is also becoming radioactive because of the nuclear effluents discharged by the research Plutonium Reprocessing Plants at BARC. On Nov 17, 2002 a blast occurred in a new chemical unit of the nuclear fuel plant near the southern city of Hyderabad. A liquid containing Uranium was evaporated. On 21st June 2003 in Kalpakkam, six workers were seriously affected with radiation. Three of them were engineers. Uranium Corporation of India Limited is under constent pressure from local environmental groups due to radiation leaks and health hazards. Radioactivity has resulted in genetic mutations and other disorders due to construction of unshielded and unfenced tailing pounds, which is a gross violation of international safety norms. The workers of UCIL have complained that maximum workers are not given medical reports and even when they are handed these reports, the true facts are not highlighted. The workers are badly exposed at the time of packing Yellow Cake and while loading these at the railway station. The workers load the packets in the train wagons with bare feet and bare hands and are exposed to health hazards. Some workers who raised there voice against these hazardous practices are accused as enemy agents and are humiliated by the local authorities.
People living in mining areas are seriously suffering from radiation. Recently, the institute of Research and Social Action examined 712 people and found that 31 people are severely affected by radiation. These areas also have alarming numbers of physically and mentally handicapped child births. Jharkhandies Organization against Radiation examined 250 handicapped children living in uranium mining area and found that all of them were suffering from radiation. It has been estimated that more than 30,000 people are affected by radiation in the mining areas. An organization of local Women Against Radiation also proved that women are giving defected births because of radiation. The environment committee of the Bihar Legislative Council has raised its voice against unsafe uranium mining practices and stated that work at mines is not as per the guidelines of Atomic Energy Act. According to another report of the Bihar Legislative Council, tribes living in the uranium mining belt are at immediate expose to diseases caused by radiation like cancer, impotency, leukemia and contortion of limbs. Apart from radiation problems Indian Nuclear Program is also a threat for the entire world because of theft and smuggling of high grade radioactive materials. It was officially confirmed in 1989 that Yellow Cakes were being smuggled from Jaduguda Uranium mines in the singhbhum region of South Bihar to Nepal. In the Uranium market of Katmandu, one kg of Jaduguda Uranium costs Rs 1 crore. In 1994, four containers of Phosphorous Penta Sulphide were detained by Sri Lankan authorities at Colombo port, en-rout from Mumbai to Israel which is used in making nerve gas. Also in 1994, a shipment of Beryllium was caught in Vilnius, worth 24 million US $. The buyers were from India and North Korea. During January 1999, 750 kg Uranium was stolen during transportation from Jaduguda Uranium Mines, Bihar to Hyderabad. On 5th November 2000, CBI recovered 25 kg radioactive uranium from a person. After two days Indian police arrested two persons and 57 lbs of uranium was recovered. On 13th November 2000, IAEA reported that Indian police seized three uranium rods and arrested eight people on charges of illicit trafficking of radioactive material. On August 15, 2003, three out of nine highly radioactive isotopes from Tata Steel factory in Jamshedpur were stolen. The thieves dug a hole in the back wall of the building where isotopes were stored. These isotopes were made of radioactive Cobalt-60 which can be used in manufacturing explosives. During September 1998 and February 2001, a Delhi based trading company M/S NEC Engineers Private Limited shipped out ten consignments of sensitive and prohibited material worth 791,343$ to Iraq. United States imposed sanctions on NEC Engineers and Protech Consultant Private Limited of India for selling NBC related material to Iran and Iraq.
Aforementioned realities are only few but they clear the picture of India’s nuclear program safety. India’s nuclear program is not only a threat for neighboring countries but also a great danger for the regional environment.
On the other hand India along with United States and Israel is propagating about Pakistan’s safe and peaceful nuclear program and trying to make any effort to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear installations but this is the dream which will never come true. History of Pakistan’s nuclear program is free from mishandling the radioactive material; smuggling of NBC related materials and absolutely no radiation leakages. It is the time of great concern for India to take control over its expanding nuclear program which can result in to the great destruction not only for the region but to India itself.
Wajiha Kiran Butt
The author of this article is joint secretary at Bedari_e_Fikar Forum, a think tank based in Islamabad
By launching its first submarine India has become the sixth member of the nuclear powered submarine owners. According to vice admiral (retd) D S P Verma, the project director, Arihant is a 6,000 tone submarine with a length of 110 meters and a breadth of 11 meters. It has the ability to carry 12 K 15 submarine launched ballistic missiles that have a range of over 700 km.
It is a modified version of the Russian Charlie 2 class submarine. It is powered by light water reactors which use ordinary water as both coolant and moderator. After a series of exhaustive trials the submarine is handed over to Indian navy. Its a big day for Indians as they are happy with the achievement but beside all the achievements India’s nuclear program is suffering from security lapses, theft and smuggling of NBC related materials. India’s nuclear program has a long history of accidents. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal in IPRI edition of April 2002 observed “there have been reported cases of theft of fissile material from the Indian nuclear facilities. These are vulnerable to a high probability of accidents. According to an Indian parliamentary report, 147 mishaps or safety related unusual occurrences were reported between 1995 and 1998 in Indian atomic energy installations.
Now take a closer look at some of these accidents:
TARAPUR Atomic Power Plants are the oldest nuclear reactors in India. Built with US assistance, these plants are suffering from radiation problems. On March 14 1980, 26 workers were seriously affected by the leakage of cooling water at TAPPS_1. In 1995 the radioactive waste from the plant contaminated the water supply of nearly 3,000 villagers living nearby. Again in 1996 a leak was developed in the waste processing plant TARAPUR and locals used contaminated water for many days .RAJASTHAN ATOMIC POWER STATION 1 faced number of shut downs from 1980 to 1994 due to cracks in its pressure tubes or coolant channels. RAPP 1 was shut down in 1994 due to leakage of heavy water. RAPP 2 has technical problems which have led to frequent shut downs. MADRAS ATOMIC POWER PLANTS, KALPAKKAM, are also suffering from design and safety problems. MAPP has two units each of 220 MW but due to design problems they were downgraded to 170 MW each. Soon after the construction, the moderation/distribution systems collapsed inside the reactor. The reactors suffered from acute design problems and caused high scale radiations having adverse effects on workers and marine life. Rods of metal from broken manifolds have been lying at the bottom of the chambers of MAPP since early 1990’ s.Efforts to remove these rods was failed. According to analysts, the constant flow of uranium fuel inside the tubes and the pressurized heavy water around them had caused the detachment of the manifolds cutting them into several pieces, which could lead to a major accident. On June 1st 2003, a radiation leakage occurred at MAPP which caused serious injuries to technicians. In March 1999, the leakage of six tons of heavy water was reported during inspection of coolant channels. Temperature of sea water around Kalpakkam rose from 85 to 140 degree Fahrenheit when these plants started to work. NARORA ATOMIC POWER PLANTS in UTTER PRADESH are also suffering from accidents. In March 1993, a fire broke out in NAPP when a turbine generator’s two blades snapped from fatigue causing more blades to break and the whole machine became grinding halt. During annual shutdown, NAPP 2 released heavy water during inspection of reactor’s coolant channels. An inspection tool caused this leakage and radiation released affected the environment. Now come to KAKRAPAR ATOMIC POWER PLANTS in Surat, Gujrat. The radiation leakages from KAPP are usual practice and population around the plant is effected with radiation. In a report issued by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, workers at KAPP receive collective radiation dose which is three times higher than the internationally permitted level. KAPP reactors faced a disastrous fire in 1991.In 1994, extensive damage was also done to the reactor by floods. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India shut down KAPP 1 of 220 MW on 23 April 2004 following an incident of reactor power rise. The incident reflects certain weaknesses in safety systems. According to engineers and workers, the design flaws were repeatedly pointed out to the authorities during construction of KAPP but no notice or action was taken. Now population around the plant is suffering from skin, eye diseases and vomiting.
KAIGAATOMIC POWER PLANTS, KARNATKA are suffering from serious design problems. The containment dome of unit 1 collapsed in 1994, only in 24 hrs prior to the plant becoming active. All units and equipments were destroyed under the platform.
Some other major known incidents include major leaks in a waste tank at BARC of capacity 200000 liters which contaminated water and soil in mid 1990’s. Mumbai Port is also becoming radioactive because of the nuclear effluents discharged by the research Plutonium Reprocessing Plants at BARC. On Nov 17, 2002 a blast occurred in a new chemical unit of the nuclear fuel plant near the southern city of Hyderabad. A liquid containing Uranium was evaporated. On 21st June 2003 in Kalpakkam, six workers were seriously affected with radiation. Three of them were engineers. Uranium Corporation of India Limited is under constent pressure from local environmental groups due to radiation leaks and health hazards. Radioactivity has resulted in genetic mutations and other disorders due to construction of unshielded and unfenced tailing pounds, which is a gross violation of international safety norms. The workers of UCIL have complained that maximum workers are not given medical reports and even when they are handed these reports, the true facts are not highlighted. The workers are badly exposed at the time of packing Yellow Cake and while loading these at the railway station. The workers load the packets in the train wagons with bare feet and bare hands and are exposed to health hazards. Some workers who raised there voice against these hazardous practices are accused as enemy agents and are humiliated by the local authorities.
People living in mining areas are seriously suffering from radiation. Recently, the institute of Research and Social Action examined 712 people and found that 31 people are severely affected by radiation. These areas also have alarming numbers of physically and mentally handicapped child births. Jharkhandies Organization against Radiation examined 250 handicapped children living in uranium mining area and found that all of them were suffering from radiation. It has been estimated that more than 30,000 people are affected by radiation in the mining areas. An organization of local Women Against Radiation also proved that women are giving defected births because of radiation. The environment committee of the Bihar Legislative Council has raised its voice against unsafe uranium mining practices and stated that work at mines is not as per the guidelines of Atomic Energy Act. According to another report of the Bihar Legislative Council, tribes living in the uranium mining belt are at immediate expose to diseases caused by radiation like cancer, impotency, leukemia and contortion of limbs. Apart from radiation problems Indian Nuclear Program is also a threat for the entire world because of theft and smuggling of high grade radioactive materials. It was officially confirmed in 1989 that Yellow Cakes were being smuggled from Jaduguda Uranium mines in the singhbhum region of South Bihar to Nepal. In the Uranium market of Katmandu, one kg of Jaduguda Uranium costs Rs 1 crore. In 1994, four containers of Phosphorous Penta Sulphide were detained by Sri Lankan authorities at Colombo port, en-rout from Mumbai to Israel which is used in making nerve gas. Also in 1994, a shipment of Beryllium was caught in Vilnius, worth 24 million US $. The buyers were from India and North Korea. During January 1999, 750 kg Uranium was stolen during transportation from Jaduguda Uranium Mines, Bihar to Hyderabad. On 5th November 2000, CBI recovered 25 kg radioactive uranium from a person. After two days Indian police arrested two persons and 57 lbs of uranium was recovered. On 13th November 2000, IAEA reported that Indian police seized three uranium rods and arrested eight people on charges of illicit trafficking of radioactive material. On August 15, 2003, three out of nine highly radioactive isotopes from Tata Steel factory in Jamshedpur were stolen. The thieves dug a hole in the back wall of the building where isotopes were stored. These isotopes were made of radioactive Cobalt-60 which can be used in manufacturing explosives. During September 1998 and February 2001, a Delhi based trading company M/S NEC Engineers Private Limited shipped out ten consignments of sensitive and prohibited material worth 791,343$ to Iraq. United States imposed sanctions on NEC Engineers and Protech Consultant Private Limited of India for selling NBC related material to Iran and Iraq.
Aforementioned realities are only few but they clear the picture of India’s nuclear program safety. India’s nuclear program is not only a threat for neighboring countries but also a great danger for the regional environment.
On the other hand India along with United States and Israel is propagating about Pakistan’s safe and peaceful nuclear program and trying to make any effort to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear installations but this is the dream which will never come true. History of Pakistan’s nuclear program is free from mishandling the radioactive material; smuggling of NBC related materials and absolutely no radiation leakages. It is the time of great concern for India to take control over its expanding nuclear program which can result in to the great destruction not only for the region but to India itself.
Wajiha Kiran Butt
The author of this article is joint secretary at Bedari_e_Fikar Forum, a think tank based in Islamabad
Jaswant — from Hanuman to Rawan
Jaswant Singh, senior BJP leader and former Minister for Finance and Foreign Affairs was expelled from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday for praising Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his recently launched book on Jinnah and partition of India. Jaswant Singh, who is a member of Lok Sabha, has been under attack from BJP and Sangh Parivar since writing his book “Jinnah — India, Partition, Independence”. The BJP Party Parliamentary Board took the decision of his expulsion during the opening session of the three-day session of its top leaders. The party President Rajnath Singh while briefing the media on Wednesday said he had issued a statement on Tuesday that the party fully dissociates itself from the contents of the book and announced his expulsion from the party. Earlier, the BJP top brass and other leaders had boycotted the launching ceremony of the book on Monday.
Jaswant Singh, who had served with the Indian Army, was elected to Lok Sabha from Darjeeling in West Bengal with the support of Gorkhaland outfit. Earlier, BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani also faced the same situation when he was made to step down as president of BJP on his observations about Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah he made during his visit to Pakistan in 2005. Jaswant Singh’s “crime” is that he described the personality of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as possessing a “great character and determination”. He created something out of nothing and single handedly stood against the might of the Congress Party and against the British who didn’t really like him.” Adding that “Gandhi himself called Jinnah a great Indian. Why don’t we recognize that? Why don’t we see (and try to understand) why he called him that?”
Last week, defending his comments in a two-part interview to the CNN-IBN program “Devil’s Advocate” with Karan Thapar, Jaswant Singh stated that he was “attracted by (and) drawn to” Jinnah’s personality. He was a great Indian who India has demonized”. He also admitted that Indian Muslims were treated “as aliens”. When asked if he subscribed to the ‘demonization’ of Mohammed Ali Jinnah he said, “Of course I don’t. To that I don’t subscribe. I was attracted by the personality which has resulted in a book. If I was not drawn to the personality I wouldn’t have written the book. It’s an intricate, complex personality, of great character, determination.” When asked whether he (the Quaid) was a nationalist, Jaswant Singh said, “Oh yes. He fought the British for an independent India but also fought resolutely and relentlessly for the interest of the Muslims of India - the acme of his nationalistic achievement was the 1916 Lucknow Pact of Hindu-Muslim unity.”
Jaswant Singh said there was a lot in Jinnah’s character that he personally admired, stressing, “I admire certain aspects of his personality. His determination and the will to rise. He was a self-made man. Mahatma Gandhi was the son of a Diwan. All these (people) ‘Nehru and others’ were born to wealth and position. Jinnah created for himself a position. He carved in Bombay, a metropolitan city, a position for himself. He was so poor he had to walk to work, he told one of his biographers there was always room at the top but there’s no lift. And he never sought a lift,” Jaswant Singh said. Asked if he agree with the view held by many in India that Jinnah hated Hindus, Jaswant Singh said “Wrong. Totally wrong. That certainly he was not - his principal disagreement was with the Congress Party. He had no problems whatsoever with Hindus.” Jaswant Singh said that India had not only misunderstood Jinnah but made a demon out of him and this was a direct result of partition. “I think we have misunderstood him because we needed to create a demon - we needed a demon because in the 20th century the most telling event in the subcontinent was the partition of the country,” he said.
When asked on Partition of India in 1947, Jaswant Singh said that if Congress could have accepted a decentralized federal country then, in that event, a united India ‘was ours to attain’. The problem, he added, was Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘highly centralized polity’. “Nehru believed in a high centralized policy. That’s what he wanted India to be. Jinnah wanted a federal polity. That even Gandhi accepted. Nehru didn’t. Consistently he stood in the way of a federal India until 1947 when it became a partitioned India.” Jaswant Singh strongly contested the Indian view that Quaid-e-Azam was the villain of partition or the man principally responsible for it. Asked if he thought this view was wrong, he said, “It is not borne out of the facts, we need to correct it.”
Speaking about Quaid-e-Azam’s call for Pakistan, Jaswant Singh said from his five-year long research into the subject he believed that this was “a negotiating tactic” to obtain ‘space’ for Muslims ‘in a reassuring system’ where they wouldn’t be dominated by the Hindu majority.
When asked about the relationship between Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi, he said, “Jinnah was essentially a logician. He believed in the strength of logic. He was a parliamentarian. He believed in the efficacy of parliamentary politics. Gandhi, after testing the water, took to the trails of India and he took politics into the dusty villages of India.” Describing his book and its contents “a shake-up call”, he said, “We should learn from what we did wrong or didn’t do right so that we do not repeat the mistakes.”
Unfortunately, India, which calls itself the biggest democracy, has once again exposed its own bigotry by sacking Jaswant Singh from the BJP in a shoddy manner. Praise for Quaid-e-Azam by an Indian politician is considered the greatest crime in “secular” India where “freedom of speech” is professed and “respected” by the West. In his post sacking interview to the media, Jaswant said that in a cartoon published in the Indian magazine “Outlook”, he had been depicted as “Hanuman”, the monkey god but now he had been tainted to become “Rawan” the villain of the Hindu epic “Ramayana”.
Sultan M Hali
Jaswant Singh, who had served with the Indian Army, was elected to Lok Sabha from Darjeeling in West Bengal with the support of Gorkhaland outfit. Earlier, BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani also faced the same situation when he was made to step down as president of BJP on his observations about Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah he made during his visit to Pakistan in 2005. Jaswant Singh’s “crime” is that he described the personality of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as possessing a “great character and determination”. He created something out of nothing and single handedly stood against the might of the Congress Party and against the British who didn’t really like him.” Adding that “Gandhi himself called Jinnah a great Indian. Why don’t we recognize that? Why don’t we see (and try to understand) why he called him that?”
Last week, defending his comments in a two-part interview to the CNN-IBN program “Devil’s Advocate” with Karan Thapar, Jaswant Singh stated that he was “attracted by (and) drawn to” Jinnah’s personality. He was a great Indian who India has demonized”. He also admitted that Indian Muslims were treated “as aliens”. When asked if he subscribed to the ‘demonization’ of Mohammed Ali Jinnah he said, “Of course I don’t. To that I don’t subscribe. I was attracted by the personality which has resulted in a book. If I was not drawn to the personality I wouldn’t have written the book. It’s an intricate, complex personality, of great character, determination.” When asked whether he (the Quaid) was a nationalist, Jaswant Singh said, “Oh yes. He fought the British for an independent India but also fought resolutely and relentlessly for the interest of the Muslims of India - the acme of his nationalistic achievement was the 1916 Lucknow Pact of Hindu-Muslim unity.”
Jaswant Singh said there was a lot in Jinnah’s character that he personally admired, stressing, “I admire certain aspects of his personality. His determination and the will to rise. He was a self-made man. Mahatma Gandhi was the son of a Diwan. All these (people) ‘Nehru and others’ were born to wealth and position. Jinnah created for himself a position. He carved in Bombay, a metropolitan city, a position for himself. He was so poor he had to walk to work, he told one of his biographers there was always room at the top but there’s no lift. And he never sought a lift,” Jaswant Singh said. Asked if he agree with the view held by many in India that Jinnah hated Hindus, Jaswant Singh said “Wrong. Totally wrong. That certainly he was not - his principal disagreement was with the Congress Party. He had no problems whatsoever with Hindus.” Jaswant Singh said that India had not only misunderstood Jinnah but made a demon out of him and this was a direct result of partition. “I think we have misunderstood him because we needed to create a demon - we needed a demon because in the 20th century the most telling event in the subcontinent was the partition of the country,” he said.
When asked on Partition of India in 1947, Jaswant Singh said that if Congress could have accepted a decentralized federal country then, in that event, a united India ‘was ours to attain’. The problem, he added, was Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘highly centralized polity’. “Nehru believed in a high centralized policy. That’s what he wanted India to be. Jinnah wanted a federal polity. That even Gandhi accepted. Nehru didn’t. Consistently he stood in the way of a federal India until 1947 when it became a partitioned India.” Jaswant Singh strongly contested the Indian view that Quaid-e-Azam was the villain of partition or the man principally responsible for it. Asked if he thought this view was wrong, he said, “It is not borne out of the facts, we need to correct it.”
Speaking about Quaid-e-Azam’s call for Pakistan, Jaswant Singh said from his five-year long research into the subject he believed that this was “a negotiating tactic” to obtain ‘space’ for Muslims ‘in a reassuring system’ where they wouldn’t be dominated by the Hindu majority.
When asked about the relationship between Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi, he said, “Jinnah was essentially a logician. He believed in the strength of logic. He was a parliamentarian. He believed in the efficacy of parliamentary politics. Gandhi, after testing the water, took to the trails of India and he took politics into the dusty villages of India.” Describing his book and its contents “a shake-up call”, he said, “We should learn from what we did wrong or didn’t do right so that we do not repeat the mistakes.”
Unfortunately, India, which calls itself the biggest democracy, has once again exposed its own bigotry by sacking Jaswant Singh from the BJP in a shoddy manner. Praise for Quaid-e-Azam by an Indian politician is considered the greatest crime in “secular” India where “freedom of speech” is professed and “respected” by the West. In his post sacking interview to the media, Jaswant said that in a cartoon published in the Indian magazine “Outlook”, he had been depicted as “Hanuman”, the monkey god but now he had been tainted to become “Rawan” the villain of the Hindu epic “Ramayana”.
Sultan M Hali
India’s KASSAB Debacle
India’s KASSAB Debacle
Indian Govt. Faces Pressure From RAW & Hindu Extremists On Ajmal Kassab
—The Ajmal Kasab episode of Mumbai attack
By Makhdoom Babar
(Additional reporting by Christina Palmer & Ajay Mehta in New Delhi and Pryanka Joshi in Mumbai)
THE DAILY MAIL, Islamabad.
The so-called lone survivor accused of last years deadly attacks in India’s financial capital, Mumbai Ajmal Kasab( or Kassaab) is set to get a court verdict today, Thursday. The Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Mr. Shashi Tharoor has already announced that Indian government was in no hurry to punish the accused as to the Indian government, the accused was a fountain of information regard Pakistan related matters. Tharoor also took this opportunity to reaffirm New Delhi’s stubborn stand that it would not resume the dialogue process with Islamabad until Pakistan does not take action against those, responsible for Mumbai attacks. The Indian government has also handed over a dossier to Pakistan government, claiming that the dossier was an ocean of evidences and knowledge about those who were responsible for Mumbai terror attacks. The main source of information in the Indian dossier however remained the alleged arrested accused Ajmal Kasab who has already retracted from his earlier statements, saying that he was forced and tortured to make those statements by his captors.
It is surprising that the Indian government is constantly insisting that Pakistan must act upon the information that is more than 90 % based upon the statement of the accused that he made under the custody on February 21,2009 before lady Magistrate R V Sawant Waghule. Interestingly Kasab, later, just after a few days and upon his maiden formal appearance in a court retracted his confession and gave a completely different version of events before judge M L Tahaliyani. This development, according to Indian law as well international judicial norms, made his earlier statement null and void and made that inadmissible in any court of law as it was a statement in custody and not in a court. However, the Indian government, without keeping in view the new development, continued and still continues upon the Pakistan government to act in line with accused Ajmal’s custodial statement that has already become invalid.
The Daily Mail’s investigations into the matter reveal that that there were enormous lacunas in the Indian dossier, based on Kasab’s custodial statement. The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that the Indian dossier was nothing more than just a wish list of Indian Intelligence agency RAW. These investigations reveal that the 900 plus pages dossier including accused Ajmal’s statement, that was handed over to Pakistan government was ironically written in a regional Indian language Marathi and there was no English version of the same provided to Pakistan. The Daily mail’s findings indicate that New Delhi was bound under UN Model Convention Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) to provide Pakistan with officially authenticated English version of each and every paper that it gave to Pakistan as the UN laws clearly restrict the for the same. However, upon repeated requests of Islamabad New Delhi finally acted but to everyone’s dismay, Pakistan was given only a 2-page English translation out of the 900-page floppy dossier and these 2pages were those of accused Ajmal’s custodial statement while English translation of no other documents has even so far been given to Pakistan as if rest of the documents of the dossier were either irrelevant or of no importance at all for India. This is not the end of the non-serious attitude of New Delhi as in yet another blunder; New Delhi sent DNA samples of same person with 2 different names to Islamabad and upon Islamabad’s pointing out, the Indian government termed it merely a typographical mistake, irrespective of the highly sensitive nature of the issue.
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that whatever the Indian government’s Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affair have been doing and saying has been scripted by RAW with very faulty, sandy and easily challengeable evidences, based upon accused Ajmal’s custodial statement. These investigations indicate that RAW, with the connivance of Mumbai Police and Crimes Branch acted in some acute haste to frame a Pakistani who has now emerged as a pre-arrested accused.
The Daily Mail’s investigations further reveal that in the trial of Ajmal Kasab case, the prosecution has far earned nothing but just complete embarrassment and shame. These investigations reveal that in the beginning of the trail, just ten days after a witness testified regarding the participation of India’s “National Security Guard Captain R.K. Sharma” in the operation against terrorists at Hotel Oberoi Trident during the 26/11 terror attack, the director of the elite commando force intimated the Mumbai police that the NSG does not have any officer by that name. On September 24, 2009, Rajesh Kadam, an assistant chief security officer at Hotel Oberoi Trident, testified that Captain R.K. Sharma had participated in the operation against the terrorists at the hotel and played a key role in arrest of accused Ajmal Kasab. He testified before the court that the captain had also participated in an encounter in the morning of November 28.
The special court had sought the NSG captain’s address to summon him to court. However, special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam informed the court that he had received a fax from the NSG director saying no such officer has ever worked with the elite commando group. The development came as huge shock and brought massive embarrassment for the prosecution and it forced the prosecution to express before the court that it had no further unwillingness to examine NSG personnel as witnesses in the case. Many similar flaws kept emerging as the trail went on but the drama took a new turn earlier this month when, in another case, an Indian Lawyer exposed the tactics of RAW and Police to frame innocent people as terrorists from Pakistan and proved it in the court. According to The Daily Mail’s research, a Delhi based criminal lawyer M. S. Khan, earlier this month succeeded in proving the innocence of two persons who were alleged to be associates of a Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba divisional commander. Advocate Khan successfully proved it in the Delhi court that both the persons who were arrested by Delhi Police in September 2006 on the charges of being terrorists with Pakistan links were actually framed by Delhi Police and Intelligence officials of RAW. On the basis of concrete evidences that the lawyer presented to prove that it was just a case of framing innocent people into terror cases by Police and RAW, the Delhi Court dismissed the case and declared both the accused innocent and ordered Police to set them free. Now, this case has emerged as a very big legal reference for the defense in Ajmal Kasab case as Ajmal also pleads that he is innocent and is just the victim of framing tactics of Police and intelligence officials.
In his recent statement before the court the accused Ajmal Kasab has stated that he was already in Mumbai Police’s custody without any charge when the terror drama took place
Giving his statement in the court, he said that he was not a “Jihadi” and had not undergone any training at the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) camp in Pakistan.
Kasab told the court, which was recording his final statement on the prosecution’s evidence; he was a cook with a catering company in “Saarayee-Alamghir” near Jhelum in Pakistan. “I heard the names of Lash-e-Taliban and JUD from the police here. Crime Branch officials had shown the photograph of Lakhvi,” Kasab said.
Asked by the court if he was introduced to one Major General Saab at the training camp, Kasab said, “This is absolutely wrong.”
The judge, M L Tahaliyani, was putting questions to Kasab on the basis of his confession before magistrate in February; however Kasab disowned the confession, saying it was given under duress.
When special Judge M L Tahaliyani referred to his statement in the confession that Hafeez Sayed had told 30 boys at the LeT training camp that they would have to lay down their lives for liberating Kashmir, Kasab said: “This is absolutely wrong”.
Alleging that the police had threatened to administer electric shocks to him if he did not give a statement to the magistrate, Kasab said the police had prepared the confession and forced him to recite it.
Asked by the court, if he was told in the training that they would go to heaven if they attacked India, Kasab replied in the negative saying he did not attend the training.
Kasab also denied having told the police anything about Kuber boat and a dead body found on the boat. According to the prosecution, the group of ten terrorists had highjacked Kuber on their way to Mumbai from Karachi in Pakistan.
“I have never seen the boat; crime branch and FBI had showed me pictures of Kuber and my clothes and articles seized from the boat. These articles must belong to either fishermen or smugglers. The AK 47 rifle may belong to the police and it is not mine.” The accused earlier told the court that he had come to India in search of some place in film industry and was looking for a place to live in Chupathi area of Mumbai. He was walking with some local friends in Juhu when Police picked him up without any reason, a day before the Mumbai terror attacks took place and later forced him to narrate what he was told by police and plane-clothed (RAW) officials. He also told that he was shot in the hand by police during his custody.
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that the Indian government is constantly dancing foolishly to the tuned of RAW and the extremists of Hindu radical influential groups of Hindutva Brotherhood. These investigations clearly indicate that the basic purpose of Mumbai terror attacks was to get rid of Hemant Karkare who had exposed the nexus of Hindu extremists with their like-minded officials in Indian Army and RAW and who was going further to expose this nexus completely. The Mumbai terror drama was created to eliminate Karkare and to divert global focus from the outcomes of Karkare’s investigation that led to the arrest of a serving Indian Army Colonel for multiple terror attacks including that of blazing of Pakistan bound passenger train Samjhota Express, for which RAW made Delhi believed to have done by Pakistanis.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that there is no truth in the Kasab episode of RAW’s 26/11 drama as the actual purpose of the same was eliminating Karkare and changing the wind towards Pakistan. These investigations prove that Saffron terrorist groups belonging to Sangh Parivar were behind the recent Mumbai Carnage and several suicidal attacks and assassinations in Pakistan and India. According to these findings Indian terrorist setup Atma Ghataki Pathak (Hindu Suicide Squad), established by General ® Premnath Hoon founder of Shiv Sena’s Military Wing and his disciple Colonel ® Jayant Chitale, was responsible for planning and execution of the operation. AGP, because of its close linkages with the Indian military has succeeded in forming an unholy nexus between the serving Indian military personnel and the Hindu extremist-terrorist groups. Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, alias ‘Mithun Chakraborty’ who was arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast and 2007 Samjhauta Express blaze ( killing 69 Pakistani passengers returning from India) was also working for General ® Hoon and Colonel ® Chitale’s Atma Ghataki Pathak (AGP). AGP was also responsible for Godhra train fire leading to Gujarat carnage against Muslims in 2002 and attack on Akshardham temple in Gujarat also in 2002. Colonel ® Jayant Chitale and his associate Sanjeev Atre, were arrested in November 2002 for running a suicide training camp on the outskirts of Mumbai but were later released at the intervention of RAW. It is no coincidence that Col ® Chitale is now the next door neighbour of Col Purohit, the main accused in Samjhauta Express blaze and Malegaon blasts.
The Daily Mail’s investigations into the encounter leading to the cold blooded assassination of Karakare and his team investigating the terrorism perpetrated by Indian home grown terrorists reveals that the terrorist were staking out for Karkare and that Karkare also had revealed threats to his life to his wife Kavita, because of which, she refused to accept compensation from Indian government and later filed a case that the bulletproof vest given to her slain husband was faulty and was part of conspiracy to kill him. The Indian police have now, after more than a year, created a sweeper who claims that he had thrown Karkare’s bulletproof vest, mistakenly in a dustbin.
The Daily Mail’s finding say that according to Constable Arun Jadhav, who was with the officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte when they were assassinated, the three officers and four constables had received information that their collegue Sadanand Dutt had been injured in the gunfire at the Cama and Albless Hospital for women and children. They took a Toyota Qualis which was being driven by Salaskar while Kamte was in the passenger seat, Karkare in the second row, and the four Constables, including Jadhav, were in the back row of seating. According to Jadhav, five minutes later two terrorists stepped out from behind a tree and opened fire with automatic rifles. The six policemen, other than Jadhav, were all killed quickly in the gunfire. The two terrorists approached the vehicle, dumped the bodies of the three officers on the road and, leaving the constables for dead. They proceeded to Metro Junction where they aimed three bursts of automatic fire at police and journalist vehicles drawn up at that location, then drove off towards the government offices (Vidhan Bhawan) in South Mumbai. Here again they fired several times. While attempting to leave the area, one of the tires of the vehicle burst, so the terrorists departed to obtain another vehicle. At this point, Jadhav emerged from the heap of dead bodies of his collegue constables and was able to contact headquarters.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that there is a long-standing internal feud amongst Hindutva groups vying for ascendancy with each other. Although Bal Thackeray is probably the most popular icon with cultist following amongst the Hindu fanatics yet at times he has shown signs of frustration that this popularity has not translated in electoral successes outside his home state of Maharashtra. Much to Thackeray’s annoyance when it comes to votes, BJP through a broader and more organized supporting network of RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal managed to steel electoral success at the cost of Sena. Although his Shiv Sena (Hindu God Shiv’s Army) was in coalition with BJP in the Union Government and in the state of Maharashtra, Thakeray was not happy with the portfolios allotted to his party.
Thakeray who has always maintained big political ambitions now wants to assume the image of militant Hindutva’s sole champion in a bid to woo many elements in the ranks and file RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal that are disillusioned with the BJP. These disgruntled elements regard top leadership of BJP, all of whom incidentally are concurrent members of RSS and VHP, to be “soft paddling” on converting India into a Hindu Rashstra (Hindu State) denouncing secular character of its constitution. A former Minister belonging to Shiv Sena in Indian Cabinet reflected these sentiments in 2003 stating that “everyone living in India must either be a Hindu or subservient to Hindus”. Nonetheless, the core supporters of militant Hindutva feel that time is ripe to make this declaration and the doctrine of Hindu Rashstra to become a state policy by formally ending the secular constitutional status of India. Sensing the infuriation of these elements Thackeray finally let the cat out the bag in a further recruitment drive of Hindu fanatics to his camp by giving an open call for Hindu suicide squads.
The Daily Mail’s research reveals that two names that surfaced in press in November 2002, in connection with Hindu Atma Ghataki Pathak (Hindu Suicide Squad), General ® Premnath Hoon former Chief of Western Command and who after retirement became Chief of Shiv Sena’s Military Wing and Colonel ® Jayant Chitale, had served on deputation with RAW imparting training on the Sri Lankan Tamil militants. Col ® Jayant Chitale also headed the Army Services Selection Board Centre in Pune for several years, where he was able to select Hindutva militant sympathizers for regular commission in the army. Col ® Chitale kept a contact with these recruits who through normal and sponsored progression in their careers went on to assume many responsible and important posts in the Indian army.
According to The Daily Mail’s findings the fanaticism of these Hindu suicide squads took a spine shuddering concept of ‘target reverse’ suicide attacks in early 2000s as witnessed in the reverse suicidal attacks against Hindu temples and government installations to blame Pakistan and Muslims. The attacks on Indian parliament in 2001, Godhra train fire in Gujarat and attack on Akshardham temple in Gujarat.
It may be recalled that the official findings of Forensic Science Laboratory of Ahmedabad, revealed that the fire in the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, in 2002 which became Casus belli for Muslim mayhem in Gujrat, was set from within the train compartment all filled with Hindu passengers and not from any outside pouring of gasoline by Muslim vendors on the train station, as alleged by Hindu fanatics. According to, Forensic Science Laboratory’s Assistant Director M J Dahiya about 60 litres of highly inflammable material inside the train, probably petrol, was responsible for the fire in the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express. Giving evidence before the Justice G T Nanavati and Justice Shah Commission of Inquiry, Dahiya had ruled out the possibility of the coach catching fire from outside as that would have left its effect on the outside of the coach. Besides, the quantity of fuel required to set it on fire could not have been poured from outside. He said that a large number or quantity of burning objects or liquids could not have been thrown inside and neither would burning rags alone result in such a big fire that burnt the entire coach in just 40 minutes. It is pertinent that all the passengers inside the compartment comprised Hindu Kersevaks, as it was a train especially reserved for them and the group members knew each other. There was no chance for an outsider to get in to set fire as he or she would have immediately spotted. Thus it was a clear act of a Hindu suicide volunteer carrying large quality of inflammable liquid, who self immolated to create raison d’ etre for carrying out Gujarat carnage.
In light of these facts that speak loudly, the analysts believe that Mumbai carnage was another act of India’s home spun and nurtured saffron terrorists with the main objective of eliminating Mumbai anti-terrorist squad Chief Hemant Karkare and his colleagues to sabotage the on going investigations into the unholy nexus between Indian military and terrorist networks with gratuitous benefit of maligning Pakistan by framing people like Ajmal Kasab. Ironically the Indian government finds itself helpless in front of this RAW-Hindutva nexus and keep dancing foolishly to their tunes.
Mr. Babar can be reached at macbabur@hotmail.com
Indian Govt. Faces Pressure From RAW & Hindu Extremists On Ajmal Kassab
—The Ajmal Kasab episode of Mumbai attack
By Makhdoom Babar
(Additional reporting by Christina Palmer & Ajay Mehta in New Delhi and Pryanka Joshi in Mumbai)
THE DAILY MAIL, Islamabad.
The so-called lone survivor accused of last years deadly attacks in India’s financial capital, Mumbai Ajmal Kasab( or Kassaab) is set to get a court verdict today, Thursday. The Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Mr. Shashi Tharoor has already announced that Indian government was in no hurry to punish the accused as to the Indian government, the accused was a fountain of information regard Pakistan related matters. Tharoor also took this opportunity to reaffirm New Delhi’s stubborn stand that it would not resume the dialogue process with Islamabad until Pakistan does not take action against those, responsible for Mumbai attacks. The Indian government has also handed over a dossier to Pakistan government, claiming that the dossier was an ocean of evidences and knowledge about those who were responsible for Mumbai terror attacks. The main source of information in the Indian dossier however remained the alleged arrested accused Ajmal Kasab who has already retracted from his earlier statements, saying that he was forced and tortured to make those statements by his captors.
It is surprising that the Indian government is constantly insisting that Pakistan must act upon the information that is more than 90 % based upon the statement of the accused that he made under the custody on February 21,2009 before lady Magistrate R V Sawant Waghule. Interestingly Kasab, later, just after a few days and upon his maiden formal appearance in a court retracted his confession and gave a completely different version of events before judge M L Tahaliyani. This development, according to Indian law as well international judicial norms, made his earlier statement null and void and made that inadmissible in any court of law as it was a statement in custody and not in a court. However, the Indian government, without keeping in view the new development, continued and still continues upon the Pakistan government to act in line with accused Ajmal’s custodial statement that has already become invalid.
The Daily Mail’s investigations into the matter reveal that that there were enormous lacunas in the Indian dossier, based on Kasab’s custodial statement. The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that the Indian dossier was nothing more than just a wish list of Indian Intelligence agency RAW. These investigations reveal that the 900 plus pages dossier including accused Ajmal’s statement, that was handed over to Pakistan government was ironically written in a regional Indian language Marathi and there was no English version of the same provided to Pakistan. The Daily mail’s findings indicate that New Delhi was bound under UN Model Convention Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) to provide Pakistan with officially authenticated English version of each and every paper that it gave to Pakistan as the UN laws clearly restrict the for the same. However, upon repeated requests of Islamabad New Delhi finally acted but to everyone’s dismay, Pakistan was given only a 2-page English translation out of the 900-page floppy dossier and these 2pages were those of accused Ajmal’s custodial statement while English translation of no other documents has even so far been given to Pakistan as if rest of the documents of the dossier were either irrelevant or of no importance at all for India. This is not the end of the non-serious attitude of New Delhi as in yet another blunder; New Delhi sent DNA samples of same person with 2 different names to Islamabad and upon Islamabad’s pointing out, the Indian government termed it merely a typographical mistake, irrespective of the highly sensitive nature of the issue.
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that whatever the Indian government’s Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affair have been doing and saying has been scripted by RAW with very faulty, sandy and easily challengeable evidences, based upon accused Ajmal’s custodial statement. These investigations indicate that RAW, with the connivance of Mumbai Police and Crimes Branch acted in some acute haste to frame a Pakistani who has now emerged as a pre-arrested accused.
The Daily Mail’s investigations further reveal that in the trial of Ajmal Kasab case, the prosecution has far earned nothing but just complete embarrassment and shame. These investigations reveal that in the beginning of the trail, just ten days after a witness testified regarding the participation of India’s “National Security Guard Captain R.K. Sharma” in the operation against terrorists at Hotel Oberoi Trident during the 26/11 terror attack, the director of the elite commando force intimated the Mumbai police that the NSG does not have any officer by that name. On September 24, 2009, Rajesh Kadam, an assistant chief security officer at Hotel Oberoi Trident, testified that Captain R.K. Sharma had participated in the operation against the terrorists at the hotel and played a key role in arrest of accused Ajmal Kasab. He testified before the court that the captain had also participated in an encounter in the morning of November 28.
The special court had sought the NSG captain’s address to summon him to court. However, special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam informed the court that he had received a fax from the NSG director saying no such officer has ever worked with the elite commando group. The development came as huge shock and brought massive embarrassment for the prosecution and it forced the prosecution to express before the court that it had no further unwillingness to examine NSG personnel as witnesses in the case. Many similar flaws kept emerging as the trail went on but the drama took a new turn earlier this month when, in another case, an Indian Lawyer exposed the tactics of RAW and Police to frame innocent people as terrorists from Pakistan and proved it in the court. According to The Daily Mail’s research, a Delhi based criminal lawyer M. S. Khan, earlier this month succeeded in proving the innocence of two persons who were alleged to be associates of a Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba divisional commander. Advocate Khan successfully proved it in the Delhi court that both the persons who were arrested by Delhi Police in September 2006 on the charges of being terrorists with Pakistan links were actually framed by Delhi Police and Intelligence officials of RAW. On the basis of concrete evidences that the lawyer presented to prove that it was just a case of framing innocent people into terror cases by Police and RAW, the Delhi Court dismissed the case and declared both the accused innocent and ordered Police to set them free. Now, this case has emerged as a very big legal reference for the defense in Ajmal Kasab case as Ajmal also pleads that he is innocent and is just the victim of framing tactics of Police and intelligence officials.
In his recent statement before the court the accused Ajmal Kasab has stated that he was already in Mumbai Police’s custody without any charge when the terror drama took place
Giving his statement in the court, he said that he was not a “Jihadi” and had not undergone any training at the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) camp in Pakistan.
Kasab told the court, which was recording his final statement on the prosecution’s evidence; he was a cook with a catering company in “Saarayee-Alamghir” near Jhelum in Pakistan. “I heard the names of Lash-e-Taliban and JUD from the police here. Crime Branch officials had shown the photograph of Lakhvi,” Kasab said.
Asked by the court if he was introduced to one Major General Saab at the training camp, Kasab said, “This is absolutely wrong.”
The judge, M L Tahaliyani, was putting questions to Kasab on the basis of his confession before magistrate in February; however Kasab disowned the confession, saying it was given under duress.
When special Judge M L Tahaliyani referred to his statement in the confession that Hafeez Sayed had told 30 boys at the LeT training camp that they would have to lay down their lives for liberating Kashmir, Kasab said: “This is absolutely wrong”.
Alleging that the police had threatened to administer electric shocks to him if he did not give a statement to the magistrate, Kasab said the police had prepared the confession and forced him to recite it.
Asked by the court, if he was told in the training that they would go to heaven if they attacked India, Kasab replied in the negative saying he did not attend the training.
Kasab also denied having told the police anything about Kuber boat and a dead body found on the boat. According to the prosecution, the group of ten terrorists had highjacked Kuber on their way to Mumbai from Karachi in Pakistan.
“I have never seen the boat; crime branch and FBI had showed me pictures of Kuber and my clothes and articles seized from the boat. These articles must belong to either fishermen or smugglers. The AK 47 rifle may belong to the police and it is not mine.” The accused earlier told the court that he had come to India in search of some place in film industry and was looking for a place to live in Chupathi area of Mumbai. He was walking with some local friends in Juhu when Police picked him up without any reason, a day before the Mumbai terror attacks took place and later forced him to narrate what he was told by police and plane-clothed (RAW) officials. He also told that he was shot in the hand by police during his custody.
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that the Indian government is constantly dancing foolishly to the tuned of RAW and the extremists of Hindu radical influential groups of Hindutva Brotherhood. These investigations clearly indicate that the basic purpose of Mumbai terror attacks was to get rid of Hemant Karkare who had exposed the nexus of Hindu extremists with their like-minded officials in Indian Army and RAW and who was going further to expose this nexus completely. The Mumbai terror drama was created to eliminate Karkare and to divert global focus from the outcomes of Karkare’s investigation that led to the arrest of a serving Indian Army Colonel for multiple terror attacks including that of blazing of Pakistan bound passenger train Samjhota Express, for which RAW made Delhi believed to have done by Pakistanis.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that there is no truth in the Kasab episode of RAW’s 26/11 drama as the actual purpose of the same was eliminating Karkare and changing the wind towards Pakistan. These investigations prove that Saffron terrorist groups belonging to Sangh Parivar were behind the recent Mumbai Carnage and several suicidal attacks and assassinations in Pakistan and India. According to these findings Indian terrorist setup Atma Ghataki Pathak (Hindu Suicide Squad), established by General ® Premnath Hoon founder of Shiv Sena’s Military Wing and his disciple Colonel ® Jayant Chitale, was responsible for planning and execution of the operation. AGP, because of its close linkages with the Indian military has succeeded in forming an unholy nexus between the serving Indian military personnel and the Hindu extremist-terrorist groups. Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, alias ‘Mithun Chakraborty’ who was arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast and 2007 Samjhauta Express blaze ( killing 69 Pakistani passengers returning from India) was also working for General ® Hoon and Colonel ® Chitale’s Atma Ghataki Pathak (AGP). AGP was also responsible for Godhra train fire leading to Gujarat carnage against Muslims in 2002 and attack on Akshardham temple in Gujarat also in 2002. Colonel ® Jayant Chitale and his associate Sanjeev Atre, were arrested in November 2002 for running a suicide training camp on the outskirts of Mumbai but were later released at the intervention of RAW. It is no coincidence that Col ® Chitale is now the next door neighbour of Col Purohit, the main accused in Samjhauta Express blaze and Malegaon blasts.
The Daily Mail’s investigations into the encounter leading to the cold blooded assassination of Karakare and his team investigating the terrorism perpetrated by Indian home grown terrorists reveals that the terrorist were staking out for Karkare and that Karkare also had revealed threats to his life to his wife Kavita, because of which, she refused to accept compensation from Indian government and later filed a case that the bulletproof vest given to her slain husband was faulty and was part of conspiracy to kill him. The Indian police have now, after more than a year, created a sweeper who claims that he had thrown Karkare’s bulletproof vest, mistakenly in a dustbin.
The Daily Mail’s finding say that according to Constable Arun Jadhav, who was with the officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte when they were assassinated, the three officers and four constables had received information that their collegue Sadanand Dutt had been injured in the gunfire at the Cama and Albless Hospital for women and children. They took a Toyota Qualis which was being driven by Salaskar while Kamte was in the passenger seat, Karkare in the second row, and the four Constables, including Jadhav, were in the back row of seating. According to Jadhav, five minutes later two terrorists stepped out from behind a tree and opened fire with automatic rifles. The six policemen, other than Jadhav, were all killed quickly in the gunfire. The two terrorists approached the vehicle, dumped the bodies of the three officers on the road and, leaving the constables for dead. They proceeded to Metro Junction where they aimed three bursts of automatic fire at police and journalist vehicles drawn up at that location, then drove off towards the government offices (Vidhan Bhawan) in South Mumbai. Here again they fired several times. While attempting to leave the area, one of the tires of the vehicle burst, so the terrorists departed to obtain another vehicle. At this point, Jadhav emerged from the heap of dead bodies of his collegue constables and was able to contact headquarters.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that there is a long-standing internal feud amongst Hindutva groups vying for ascendancy with each other. Although Bal Thackeray is probably the most popular icon with cultist following amongst the Hindu fanatics yet at times he has shown signs of frustration that this popularity has not translated in electoral successes outside his home state of Maharashtra. Much to Thackeray’s annoyance when it comes to votes, BJP through a broader and more organized supporting network of RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal managed to steel electoral success at the cost of Sena. Although his Shiv Sena (Hindu God Shiv’s Army) was in coalition with BJP in the Union Government and in the state of Maharashtra, Thakeray was not happy with the portfolios allotted to his party.
Thakeray who has always maintained big political ambitions now wants to assume the image of militant Hindutva’s sole champion in a bid to woo many elements in the ranks and file RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal that are disillusioned with the BJP. These disgruntled elements regard top leadership of BJP, all of whom incidentally are concurrent members of RSS and VHP, to be “soft paddling” on converting India into a Hindu Rashstra (Hindu State) denouncing secular character of its constitution. A former Minister belonging to Shiv Sena in Indian Cabinet reflected these sentiments in 2003 stating that “everyone living in India must either be a Hindu or subservient to Hindus”. Nonetheless, the core supporters of militant Hindutva feel that time is ripe to make this declaration and the doctrine of Hindu Rashstra to become a state policy by formally ending the secular constitutional status of India. Sensing the infuriation of these elements Thackeray finally let the cat out the bag in a further recruitment drive of Hindu fanatics to his camp by giving an open call for Hindu suicide squads.
The Daily Mail’s research reveals that two names that surfaced in press in November 2002, in connection with Hindu Atma Ghataki Pathak (Hindu Suicide Squad), General ® Premnath Hoon former Chief of Western Command and who after retirement became Chief of Shiv Sena’s Military Wing and Colonel ® Jayant Chitale, had served on deputation with RAW imparting training on the Sri Lankan Tamil militants. Col ® Jayant Chitale also headed the Army Services Selection Board Centre in Pune for several years, where he was able to select Hindutva militant sympathizers for regular commission in the army. Col ® Chitale kept a contact with these recruits who through normal and sponsored progression in their careers went on to assume many responsible and important posts in the Indian army.
According to The Daily Mail’s findings the fanaticism of these Hindu suicide squads took a spine shuddering concept of ‘target reverse’ suicide attacks in early 2000s as witnessed in the reverse suicidal attacks against Hindu temples and government installations to blame Pakistan and Muslims. The attacks on Indian parliament in 2001, Godhra train fire in Gujarat and attack on Akshardham temple in Gujarat.
It may be recalled that the official findings of Forensic Science Laboratory of Ahmedabad, revealed that the fire in the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, in 2002 which became Casus belli for Muslim mayhem in Gujrat, was set from within the train compartment all filled with Hindu passengers and not from any outside pouring of gasoline by Muslim vendors on the train station, as alleged by Hindu fanatics. According to, Forensic Science Laboratory’s Assistant Director M J Dahiya about 60 litres of highly inflammable material inside the train, probably petrol, was responsible for the fire in the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express. Giving evidence before the Justice G T Nanavati and Justice Shah Commission of Inquiry, Dahiya had ruled out the possibility of the coach catching fire from outside as that would have left its effect on the outside of the coach. Besides, the quantity of fuel required to set it on fire could not have been poured from outside. He said that a large number or quantity of burning objects or liquids could not have been thrown inside and neither would burning rags alone result in such a big fire that burnt the entire coach in just 40 minutes. It is pertinent that all the passengers inside the compartment comprised Hindu Kersevaks, as it was a train especially reserved for them and the group members knew each other. There was no chance for an outsider to get in to set fire as he or she would have immediately spotted. Thus it was a clear act of a Hindu suicide volunteer carrying large quality of inflammable liquid, who self immolated to create raison d’ etre for carrying out Gujarat carnage.
In light of these facts that speak loudly, the analysts believe that Mumbai carnage was another act of India’s home spun and nurtured saffron terrorists with the main objective of eliminating Mumbai anti-terrorist squad Chief Hemant Karkare and his colleagues to sabotage the on going investigations into the unholy nexus between Indian military and terrorist networks with gratuitous benefit of maligning Pakistan by framing people like Ajmal Kasab. Ironically the Indian government finds itself helpless in front of this RAW-Hindutva nexus and keep dancing foolishly to their tunes.
Mr. Babar can be reached at macbabur@hotmail.com
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Kashmiris Call For International Probe After India Rape Cover-Up
Video: Indian Army Raped Two More Kashmiri Women
http://www.theprovince.com/news/india+phase+army+presence+kashmir+towns+minister/1689122/1689121.bin?size=620x400
The report of the pro-Indian government of Kashmir claimed that the two women – a 17-year-old and her 22-year-old sister-in-law – died by drowning, and not rape and murder at the hands of Indian occupation soldiers. The events of Dec. 15, 2009, mark another Kashmiri uprising against oppressive Indian rule. This is embarrassing for New Delhi and its allies in Washington and London, especially Pakistan cannot be blamed for this and after the move by China to stop treating Kashmiris as Indian citizens and World Bank’s decision to decline treating Kashmir as Indian territory.
Thousands of angry Kashmiris took to the streets on Dec. 15, a day after federal police investigating the deaths of two women said they "drowned" and were not raped and killed, triggering claims of a cover-up.
The deaths of Neelofar Jan, 22, and her sister-in-law, 17-year-old Asiya Jan, in May had sparked protests in the disputed Himalayan region. Locals said they had been sexually abused and killed by the security forces.
Four police officers were later arrested on charges of suppressing and destroying evidence in the case. The officers were freed in September, a move that further angered residents.
Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former envoy to Washington and a potential replacement for the incumbent ambassador there, wrote in her column in today’s The News:
“In the month that marked 20 years of the uprising against Indian rule, occupied Kashmir once again erupted in anger. The shutters came down and life was paralyzed by a strike across the Valley on Dec 15. This time the protest was ignited by the findings of a federal police investigation into the rape and murder in May of two women in Shopian, a town 35 kilometers from Srinagar.”
Even more interesting is the reaction of pro-Indian Kashmiris who are part of the Indian puppet government in the occupied region. This is how Dr. Lodhi referred to one of those Kashmiri ‘leaders’, Mehbooba Mufti:
“Mehbooba Mufti, the opposition leader in the state assembly, had this to say: "The whole charade of investigations by multiple agencies was aimed at shielding the culprits rather than bringing them to book." She was referring to the bizarre sequence of events since May when local officials initially claimed that the girls had drowned, then retracted this in the face of mass protests and agreed they might have been murdered.”
In September after weeks of protests, India's Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI took over the case.
In a report for India's high court Monday, the federal agency concluded that the two had "drowned", ruling out rape and murder.
"International probe"
On Tuesday, thousands of people gathered in the main square in Shopian chanting, "We want freedom" and "Sisters, we are ashamed that your killers are still free."
In both Shopian and Srinagar, shops and businesses stayed shut and public transport remained off the streets in response to a strike called by the Majlis-e-Mashawarat, a local group demanding justice for the two women.
The strike is also supported by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, head of the All Parties' Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of pro-independence groups in the region.
On Tuesday, Farooq called the CBI report politically motivated and said that he supported the Majlis-e-Mashawarat's call for an independent international probe into the deaths.
Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani also strongly condemned the CBI report, terming it as "an attempt to shield the men in uniform".
Tens of thousands of Muslims have been killed since simmering discontent against Indian rule turned into a full opposition in 1989.
In 1948, the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for a referendum for Kashmir to determine whether the Himalayan region should be part of India and Pakistan. But India has rejected to hold referendum in Kashmiri territory. Kashmiris see India as an "occupier state".
http://www.worldbulletin.net/ , printed on 15.12.2009.
Video: Indian Army Raped Two More Kashmiri Women
http://www.theprovince.com/news/india+phase+army+presence+kashmir+towns+minister/1689122/1689121.bin?size=620x400
The report of the pro-Indian government of Kashmir claimed that the two women – a 17-year-old and her 22-year-old sister-in-law – died by drowning, and not rape and murder at the hands of Indian occupation soldiers. The events of Dec. 15, 2009, mark another Kashmiri uprising against oppressive Indian rule. This is embarrassing for New Delhi and its allies in Washington and London, especially Pakistan cannot be blamed for this and after the move by China to stop treating Kashmiris as Indian citizens and World Bank’s decision to decline treating Kashmir as Indian territory.
Thousands of angry Kashmiris took to the streets on Dec. 15, a day after federal police investigating the deaths of two women said they "drowned" and were not raped and killed, triggering claims of a cover-up.
The deaths of Neelofar Jan, 22, and her sister-in-law, 17-year-old Asiya Jan, in May had sparked protests in the disputed Himalayan region. Locals said they had been sexually abused and killed by the security forces.
Four police officers were later arrested on charges of suppressing and destroying evidence in the case. The officers were freed in September, a move that further angered residents.
Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former envoy to Washington and a potential replacement for the incumbent ambassador there, wrote in her column in today’s The News:
“In the month that marked 20 years of the uprising against Indian rule, occupied Kashmir once again erupted in anger. The shutters came down and life was paralyzed by a strike across the Valley on Dec 15. This time the protest was ignited by the findings of a federal police investigation into the rape and murder in May of two women in Shopian, a town 35 kilometers from Srinagar.”
Even more interesting is the reaction of pro-Indian Kashmiris who are part of the Indian puppet government in the occupied region. This is how Dr. Lodhi referred to one of those Kashmiri ‘leaders’, Mehbooba Mufti:
“Mehbooba Mufti, the opposition leader in the state assembly, had this to say: "The whole charade of investigations by multiple agencies was aimed at shielding the culprits rather than bringing them to book." She was referring to the bizarre sequence of events since May when local officials initially claimed that the girls had drowned, then retracted this in the face of mass protests and agreed they might have been murdered.”
In September after weeks of protests, India's Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI took over the case.
In a report for India's high court Monday, the federal agency concluded that the two had "drowned", ruling out rape and murder.
"International probe"
On Tuesday, thousands of people gathered in the main square in Shopian chanting, "We want freedom" and "Sisters, we are ashamed that your killers are still free."
In both Shopian and Srinagar, shops and businesses stayed shut and public transport remained off the streets in response to a strike called by the Majlis-e-Mashawarat, a local group demanding justice for the two women.
The strike is also supported by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, head of the All Parties' Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of pro-independence groups in the region.
On Tuesday, Farooq called the CBI report politically motivated and said that he supported the Majlis-e-Mashawarat's call for an independent international probe into the deaths.
Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani also strongly condemned the CBI report, terming it as "an attempt to shield the men in uniform".
Tens of thousands of Muslims have been killed since simmering discontent against Indian rule turned into a full opposition in 1989.
In 1948, the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for a referendum for Kashmir to determine whether the Himalayan region should be part of India and Pakistan. But India has rejected to hold referendum in Kashmiri territory. Kashmiris see India as an "occupier state".
http://www.worldbulletin.net/ , printed on 15.12.2009.
World Bank refuses to accept Kashmir as Indian Territory
—Says ‘NO’ to release funds to India for project in disputed region
DM Monitoring
WNew Delhi—The World Bank has refused to accept Indian Occupied Kashmir as an integral part of India and has rather insisted upon a disclaimer from the Jammu and Kashmir government that funding for a project will not be seen as recognition of India’s territorial claim on the state.
The agency has put a ‘disclaimer clause’ for bankrolling a key project in the disputed state which indicates that funding of projects in disputed areas should not be used to endorse territorial claims.
“If you have a query on World Bank’s decision on J&K, Ask Prabhu now”. This has been communicated to New Delhi by the occupying state government which wants the World Bank-funded Rs 740 crore ‘Participatory Watershed Management Project’ to be completed.
Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s Forest Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad, along with MPs from the state met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently in New Delhi to discuss the issue.
Jammu and Kashmir’s occupying government wants the New Delhi to settle issue with the World Bank, which has refused to fund more projects in the state, treating it as disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Ahmad said the World Bank had raised the disclaimer issue last year after assessment of the project which was then at the funding stage.
He said if the Centre pursued the matter; the bank could be convinced to give up the disclaimer condition. Despite Ahmad’s views to the contrary, this is a shocking development. The World Bank was instrumental in committing India to allow the waters of the state’s three principal rivers - the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab - to flow unimpeded under the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.
Article XI of the treaty is quite emphatic in that it will deal with only the water-sharing issue and its implementation will not acknowledge or waive any other rights other than those specified in the treaty. In other words, it will have nothing to do with the territorial dispute between the two parties.
In the troubled history of India-Pakistan relations, the Indus Water Treaty stands out as a major success for which the World Bank, the third signatory to the treaty, deserves great credit. As party to the treaty, the bank created an $895 million Indus Basin Development Fund to which India contributed some $174 million.
This is the second time this year that India has had friction with a multilateral development agency over project funding in a state that has a border dispute. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) country loan to India had run into trouble because it included funding for a watershed development project in Arunachal Pradesh - a point that was objected to by the Chinese at the ADB meeting. The World Bank had funded two projects in Jammu and Kashmir under the integrated Watershed Development Programme with Rs 90 crore from 1990 to 1999 and Rs 198 crore from 1999 to 2005 without bringing up the disclaimer issue.
A team of the World Bank headed by Norman Piccioni had visited the occupied state from May 5 to May 12 last year to assess the feasibility of the Participatory Watershed Management Project.
The project is likely to cover 3,14,705 hectares for adopting integrated watershed management to reverse the degradation of the natural resource base and improve the livelihood of poor rural households in the project area.
The World Bank will finance 80 per cent of the project and the state government 17 per cent. Participatory communities will contribute 3 per cent.
If implemented 1,74,250 households will be covered while 50,675 households will directly benefit from the project. Overall, it is expected to benefit over 10 lakh people and generate 45 lakh person-days of wage employment besides providing jobs to 2,000 people regularly for seven years.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah first raised the issue in a June 24 letter to the Union finance minister.
He said the project was appraised by the World Bank for international development assistance credit of US$ 120 million equivalent in May 2008. After the appraisal, the director of the World Bank sent a letter on May 21, 2008 announcing the tentative dates of negotiation for the project in June last year. But no final date was conveyed by the bank.
The Chief Minister said the state government also did not get any communication from the department of economic affairs of the government of India in the matter. “I therefore request you to have a special consideration for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and ask the department of economic affairs to immediately take up the issue with the World Bank so that the project can be negotiated and taken up for implementation during the current financial year itself.” Efforts to contact World Bank officials in Delhi on Sunday failed.
DM Monitoring
WNew Delhi—The World Bank has refused to accept Indian Occupied Kashmir as an integral part of India and has rather insisted upon a disclaimer from the Jammu and Kashmir government that funding for a project will not be seen as recognition of India’s territorial claim on the state.
The agency has put a ‘disclaimer clause’ for bankrolling a key project in the disputed state which indicates that funding of projects in disputed areas should not be used to endorse territorial claims.
“If you have a query on World Bank’s decision on J&K, Ask Prabhu now”. This has been communicated to New Delhi by the occupying state government which wants the World Bank-funded Rs 740 crore ‘Participatory Watershed Management Project’ to be completed.
Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s Forest Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad, along with MPs from the state met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently in New Delhi to discuss the issue.
Jammu and Kashmir’s occupying government wants the New Delhi to settle issue with the World Bank, which has refused to fund more projects in the state, treating it as disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Ahmad said the World Bank had raised the disclaimer issue last year after assessment of the project which was then at the funding stage.
He said if the Centre pursued the matter; the bank could be convinced to give up the disclaimer condition. Despite Ahmad’s views to the contrary, this is a shocking development. The World Bank was instrumental in committing India to allow the waters of the state’s three principal rivers - the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab - to flow unimpeded under the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.
Article XI of the treaty is quite emphatic in that it will deal with only the water-sharing issue and its implementation will not acknowledge or waive any other rights other than those specified in the treaty. In other words, it will have nothing to do with the territorial dispute between the two parties.
In the troubled history of India-Pakistan relations, the Indus Water Treaty stands out as a major success for which the World Bank, the third signatory to the treaty, deserves great credit. As party to the treaty, the bank created an $895 million Indus Basin Development Fund to which India contributed some $174 million.
This is the second time this year that India has had friction with a multilateral development agency over project funding in a state that has a border dispute. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) country loan to India had run into trouble because it included funding for a watershed development project in Arunachal Pradesh - a point that was objected to by the Chinese at the ADB meeting. The World Bank had funded two projects in Jammu and Kashmir under the integrated Watershed Development Programme with Rs 90 crore from 1990 to 1999 and Rs 198 crore from 1999 to 2005 without bringing up the disclaimer issue.
A team of the World Bank headed by Norman Piccioni had visited the occupied state from May 5 to May 12 last year to assess the feasibility of the Participatory Watershed Management Project.
The project is likely to cover 3,14,705 hectares for adopting integrated watershed management to reverse the degradation of the natural resource base and improve the livelihood of poor rural households in the project area.
The World Bank will finance 80 per cent of the project and the state government 17 per cent. Participatory communities will contribute 3 per cent.
If implemented 1,74,250 households will be covered while 50,675 households will directly benefit from the project. Overall, it is expected to benefit over 10 lakh people and generate 45 lakh person-days of wage employment besides providing jobs to 2,000 people regularly for seven years.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah first raised the issue in a June 24 letter to the Union finance minister.
He said the project was appraised by the World Bank for international development assistance credit of US$ 120 million equivalent in May 2008. After the appraisal, the director of the World Bank sent a letter on May 21, 2008 announcing the tentative dates of negotiation for the project in June last year. But no final date was conveyed by the bank.
The Chief Minister said the state government also did not get any communication from the department of economic affairs of the government of India in the matter. “I therefore request you to have a special consideration for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and ask the department of economic affairs to immediately take up the issue with the World Bank so that the project can be negotiated and taken up for implementation during the current financial year itself.” Efforts to contact World Bank officials in Delhi on Sunday failed.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hypocritical hand of friendship
A few days back, two days before the Independence Day of Pakistan the Khan of Kalat Suleiman Dawood announced the formation of a council for Balochistan’s independence in London. Dawood said reconciliation with Pakistan was impossible without the interference of the United Nations and the European Union. “Independent Balochistan is our aim and objective. Therefore, we have formed a Council for Independent Balochistan,” he said. He assured that the Baloch of Iran would also be given representation in the council. Another Baloch leader Hyrbiyar Marri urged the Baloch people to observe 11th August as their Independence Day every year. The Baloch leaders said that contrary to the decision of both houses of Kalat State, Pakistani forces forcefully annexed Balochistan with Pakistan.
Let us turn to another page of the story; The 63rd Independence Day of Pakistan was celebrated on Friday with enthusiasm, national zeal and fervor in the provincial capital and rest of the province. The day dawned with special prayers in mosques for the country’s stability and prosperity and well-being of Ummah. The main event of the day was the befitting flag hoisting ceremony at the lawn of the provincial assembly where Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani unfurled the national flag followed by the playing of the national anthem. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister Balochistan highlighted the importance of the independence and said the nation is committed to safeguard its independence, integrity and sovereignty at all cost. Meanwhile, the Speaker Balochistan Assembly launched Independence Day Bicycle Rally by handing over the national flag to the cyclists participating in the rally. In Harani, Balochistan Minister for Prisons Malik Sultan.
Tareen kicked off the Day celebrations by hoisting of national flag at the DCO office. A large number of citizens attended the ceremony. In Dalbandin, the main function was held at the office of District Nazim where District Nazim Hashim Notezai along with the DCO hoisted the national flag. Similar ceremonies were held at headquarters of Kalat, Noshki, Zhob, Pishin, Killa Saifullah, Shirani and other districts.
The announcement by the Khan of Kalat and Hyrbiyar Mari in London and the statement of Nawab Raisani and other Baloch leaders on Pakistan Day celebration in Quetta and adjacent areas present two different pictures; all these leaders are Balochis by caste and by birth but have a different approach and different feelings for Pakistan. Some of them are praying for the prosperity and long life of Pakistan while others are abusing the state of Pakistan for depriving Balochistan of its basic rights. Now we have two pictures of the Baloch leaders; one of those who are among their own people on their own land and the other of those who are taking shelter in the land which does not belong to them. Do the leaders sitting away from their people have any right to represent their nation? Are they really the spokesmen of their own people or someone else? In the past few months people like Hyrbiyar Mari and Brahamdagh Bugti had been exposing their strong relations with India in their statements. And sorry to say that very respected people like Nawab of Kalat have forgotten that the decision of joining Pakistan was the decision of their respected and honourable elders. It is true even at that time some of the Baloch leaders were not in favour of joining Pakistan but it was the Holy Prophet (PBUH) who directed them through their dreams to be a part of Pakistan and being true Muslims they could never even think of ignoring the direction of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
No doubt the people of Balochistan have always been neglected. Though the previous governments of Pakistan are also responsible for this injustice but we cannot put aside the Baloch sardars. They are also accountable for the situation. They had always been taking care of their own personal interests. We have so many examples of the so-called Sardars who are keeping an army of their own and many fleets of luxurious automobiles and kingly palaces but on the other hand a common Balochi is unable even to have a glass of clear water. There are no medical and educational facilities but the Sardars never pay any attention to the sorry plight of these innocent people. If they had thought, strived and planed for the common people of Balochistan, the situation could have been much different. The common man of Balochistan is very well ware of the role of so-called Sardars in keeping him away from any type of development resulting in prosperity. Unluckily now the same sardars are making that common man realize of his deprivations.Taking full advantage of the situation created by the Sardars and the increasing poor economic conditions in Balochistan Indian Raw is aiding jobless youngsters of Balochistan with arms and using them as a conduit to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan. International think tanks and opinion makers agree that Indians are trying to brainwash the ever-crushed, ever-ignored Balochis against Pakistan. The government of Pakistan and the intelligence agencies must not overlook the heinous role played by the Raw in Balochistan.
The Balochistan issue is not an incurable disease. The people of Balochistan are very sincere, dedicated and devoted Pakistanis. They should be taken into confidence. The government should take revolutionary measures for the betterment of the people of Balochistan. It should always be kept in mind that Pakistan is surely a land of miracles. It can turn impossibilities into possibilities, abstracts into concretes and dreams into realities. Nothing is beyond the access of Pakistanis. Be it the field of science or technology, politics or economics, the nuclear research, or the war against terrorism, Pakistan always comes up with a high head.
The astonishing fact is that the whole world is busy in creating hurdles and obstructions in Pakistan’s way to its progress but the people of Pakistan are so determined and strong-minded that they never give any importance to the wind blowing against them. They are always ready to tame the wild forces. The situation in Balochistan can be very easily improved by giving autonomy to all federating units including Balochistan; in accordance with 1940 Pakistan Resolution.
This act would give birth to a new season of national progress, prosperity and stability. All time new challenges new threats, new fronts and new battles; but salute to the brave people of Balochistan for never giving up the courage and determination even in the most critical moments when their veiled enemies are offering them a hypocritical hand of friendship.
Let us turn to another page of the story; The 63rd Independence Day of Pakistan was celebrated on Friday with enthusiasm, national zeal and fervor in the provincial capital and rest of the province. The day dawned with special prayers in mosques for the country’s stability and prosperity and well-being of Ummah. The main event of the day was the befitting flag hoisting ceremony at the lawn of the provincial assembly where Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani unfurled the national flag followed by the playing of the national anthem. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister Balochistan highlighted the importance of the independence and said the nation is committed to safeguard its independence, integrity and sovereignty at all cost. Meanwhile, the Speaker Balochistan Assembly launched Independence Day Bicycle Rally by handing over the national flag to the cyclists participating in the rally. In Harani, Balochistan Minister for Prisons Malik Sultan.
Tareen kicked off the Day celebrations by hoisting of national flag at the DCO office. A large number of citizens attended the ceremony. In Dalbandin, the main function was held at the office of District Nazim where District Nazim Hashim Notezai along with the DCO hoisted the national flag. Similar ceremonies were held at headquarters of Kalat, Noshki, Zhob, Pishin, Killa Saifullah, Shirani and other districts.
The announcement by the Khan of Kalat and Hyrbiyar Mari in London and the statement of Nawab Raisani and other Baloch leaders on Pakistan Day celebration in Quetta and adjacent areas present two different pictures; all these leaders are Balochis by caste and by birth but have a different approach and different feelings for Pakistan. Some of them are praying for the prosperity and long life of Pakistan while others are abusing the state of Pakistan for depriving Balochistan of its basic rights. Now we have two pictures of the Baloch leaders; one of those who are among their own people on their own land and the other of those who are taking shelter in the land which does not belong to them. Do the leaders sitting away from their people have any right to represent their nation? Are they really the spokesmen of their own people or someone else? In the past few months people like Hyrbiyar Mari and Brahamdagh Bugti had been exposing their strong relations with India in their statements. And sorry to say that very respected people like Nawab of Kalat have forgotten that the decision of joining Pakistan was the decision of their respected and honourable elders. It is true even at that time some of the Baloch leaders were not in favour of joining Pakistan but it was the Holy Prophet (PBUH) who directed them through their dreams to be a part of Pakistan and being true Muslims they could never even think of ignoring the direction of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
No doubt the people of Balochistan have always been neglected. Though the previous governments of Pakistan are also responsible for this injustice but we cannot put aside the Baloch sardars. They are also accountable for the situation. They had always been taking care of their own personal interests. We have so many examples of the so-called Sardars who are keeping an army of their own and many fleets of luxurious automobiles and kingly palaces but on the other hand a common Balochi is unable even to have a glass of clear water. There are no medical and educational facilities but the Sardars never pay any attention to the sorry plight of these innocent people. If they had thought, strived and planed for the common people of Balochistan, the situation could have been much different. The common man of Balochistan is very well ware of the role of so-called Sardars in keeping him away from any type of development resulting in prosperity. Unluckily now the same sardars are making that common man realize of his deprivations.Taking full advantage of the situation created by the Sardars and the increasing poor economic conditions in Balochistan Indian Raw is aiding jobless youngsters of Balochistan with arms and using them as a conduit to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan. International think tanks and opinion makers agree that Indians are trying to brainwash the ever-crushed, ever-ignored Balochis against Pakistan. The government of Pakistan and the intelligence agencies must not overlook the heinous role played by the Raw in Balochistan.
The Balochistan issue is not an incurable disease. The people of Balochistan are very sincere, dedicated and devoted Pakistanis. They should be taken into confidence. The government should take revolutionary measures for the betterment of the people of Balochistan. It should always be kept in mind that Pakistan is surely a land of miracles. It can turn impossibilities into possibilities, abstracts into concretes and dreams into realities. Nothing is beyond the access of Pakistanis. Be it the field of science or technology, politics or economics, the nuclear research, or the war against terrorism, Pakistan always comes up with a high head.
The astonishing fact is that the whole world is busy in creating hurdles and obstructions in Pakistan’s way to its progress but the people of Pakistan are so determined and strong-minded that they never give any importance to the wind blowing against them. They are always ready to tame the wild forces. The situation in Balochistan can be very easily improved by giving autonomy to all federating units including Balochistan; in accordance with 1940 Pakistan Resolution.
This act would give birth to a new season of national progress, prosperity and stability. All time new challenges new threats, new fronts and new battles; but salute to the brave people of Balochistan for never giving up the courage and determination even in the most critical moments when their veiled enemies are offering them a hypocritical hand of friendship.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Plot against Balochistan intensifies
While Pakistan’s security forces have been fully concentrating on the pocket-resistance in Swat, Waziristan, and the adjoining areas after breaking the backbone of the Taliban militants, foreign plot against Balochistan has intensified. In this regard, subversive events like targeted killings, attack on government buildings, oil pipelines etc. have increased in the province. On August 14 this year, one person was killed and more than 10 injured in Balochistan through bomb blasts. The blasts which also destroyed a power transmission line coincided with the celebrations of the Independence Day. In the last few weeks, militants of Baloch Republican Army (BRA) kidnapped and killed 12 police officials including a deputy superintendent of police and an inspector.
While people of Balochistan have already been following the path of violence since April 8 when deadbodies of three Baloch nationalist leaders Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Lala Muneer Baloch and Sher Mohammad Baloch were found in Turbat, on August 6, Excise and Taxation Minister Sardar Rustam Jamali was fatally shot during an attempted incident of car-snatching in Karachi. As regards the deteriorating situation of the province, on August 14, Financial Times (online) reported that situation in Balochistan “is a grim reminder that Swat is by no means the only security threat the government faces…low-intensity militancy has gone on for decades. But the violence now appears to be at its most intense.” The paper further explained, “Settlers from other parts of Pakistan, especially Punjab, have been given deadlines to leave.” In fact, this is what the external plotters wanted by inciting the general masses of the province to openly speak against the federation of Pakistan and the Punjabis for all the injustices, created by the Baloh feudal lords (Sardars) who have been fighting for their own so-called status, prestige and influence—most of them have been working on the agenda of foreign countries. It is notable that last year, Pakistan’s government had launched a successful approach of reconciliation particularly with the Baloch lords. The level of violence had fallen to the minimum. It was in these circumstances that the Corps Commander, Lt-Gen Khalid Shamim Wyne claimed on November 9, 2008, “We have moved from the insurgency phase to the reconciliation phase, however, if foreign elements continue to infiltrate in Balochistan, they could stir trouble and undermine our efforts to restore peace.” His observation proved quite true as covert support to the militants by the secret agencies like Indian RAW, Israeli Mossad and Afghanistan’s Khad with the tactical aid of American CIA succeeded in sabotaging the peace process in Balochistan. It is of particular attention that after meeting the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani remarked on July 18 that during the talks, he also raised the issue of Indian interference in Balochistan.
In the recent past, Pakistan’s civil and military high officials have openly been disclosing that Indian secret agency, RAW, Israeli Mossad and other foreign agencies are involved in supporting separatism in Balochistan. Reports suggest that on June 22, the military officials and national security institutions presented their report to the government with concrete proofs of involvement of secret agencies of India, Israel and another anti-Pakistan agency (Especially CIA) in helping not only militants led by Maulana Fazlullah but also those headed by other militant commanders in Balochistan.
During the ongoing military operations, ISPR spokesman, Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas intermittently pointed out that larger quantity of arms and ammunition had been captured—revealing foreign hands in helping the insurgents of the Frontier Province and Balochistan.
In this context, on July 4, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit without naming CIA revealed, “The evidence of foreign powers’ involvement in the destabilisation of Pakistan will be shared with relevant countries.”
On June 28, NWFP Governor Awais Ghani openly remarked that some world powers were trying to divide Pakistan, adding that if he were not a governor, he would have exposed them. The matter is not confined to the statements of Pakistan’s high officials, in the recent past, by citing her visits, Christine Fair, a leading US journalist, while unveiling India’s clandestine operations in Pakistan from Indian consulates, located in Afghanistan and Zahidan stated, “The Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan.”
These statements coupled with the perennial acts of sabotage in Balochistan clearly show that US, India and Israel have intensified their plot to disintegrate Pakistan by snatching away its largest province. Nevertheless, external plot against Balochistan is part of the conspiracy against Pakistan which is the only Islamic nuclear state—not tolerated by the US, India and Israel which have been trying to virtually besiege our country as noted through a perennial wave of suicide attacks and bomb blasts. In this respect, by covertly backing the Baloch nationalist leaders, foreign elements have been fulfilling a number of covert designs. In Balochistan, people, openly, accuse Pakistan’s intelligence agencies for the abduction and killing of their leaders. This is what these external plotters intended to achieve.
Another purpose is to gain the sympathies of Baloch general masses for Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) which has been fighting for secession of the province. In this regard, on July 23, 2008, Akber Bugti’s grandson, Brahmdagh Bugti told the BBC that they had the right to accept foreign aid and arms from anywhere including India. There is another CIA and Indian-supported separatist group, Jundollah (God’s soldiers) which is also working against the cordial relationship of Pakistan with China and Iran. In the past few years, its militants with the cooperation of foreign agents kidnapped and killed many Chinese and Iranian nationals in Pakistan. In that context, on April 18, 2008, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi vocally pointed out, “Some external forces are trying to weaken China-Pakistan strategic ties” by “creating misunderstandings”.
It is mentionable that Balochistan is replete with mineral resources. Its ideal geo-strategic location with Gwadar seaport could prove to be Pakistan’s key junction, connecting rest of the world with Central Asia. It is due to multiple strategic benefits that the US which signed a nuclear deal with India last year, intends to control Balochistan as an independent state in counterbalancing China and containing Iran. Owing to these reasons, America and India are creating instability in Pakistan by backing Baloch separatists to complete their hidden agenda.
While taking notice of the foreign conspiracy, during the first visit of Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari to Beijing, Pakistan and China on October 15, 2008 signed eleven agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse sectors. China also agreed to supply nuclear reactors to Islamabad. Since then, this cooperation has been enhancing rapidly. Moreover, plot by foreign elements against Balochistan could also be judged from the “Indian Defence Review,” of Jan-Mar 2009.
At this critical juncture, Pakistan’s elected governments at centre and province must resolve this sensitive issue and redress the grievances of the Balochi people through political means; otherwise external powers which have intensified the implementation of their plot will keep on exploiting various issues of Balochistan, causing irreparable damage to the integrity of the country. In this context, media must also play its positive role in guiding the people of Balochistan in right direction.
Sajjad Shaukat
While people of Balochistan have already been following the path of violence since April 8 when deadbodies of three Baloch nationalist leaders Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Lala Muneer Baloch and Sher Mohammad Baloch were found in Turbat, on August 6, Excise and Taxation Minister Sardar Rustam Jamali was fatally shot during an attempted incident of car-snatching in Karachi. As regards the deteriorating situation of the province, on August 14, Financial Times (online) reported that situation in Balochistan “is a grim reminder that Swat is by no means the only security threat the government faces…low-intensity militancy has gone on for decades. But the violence now appears to be at its most intense.” The paper further explained, “Settlers from other parts of Pakistan, especially Punjab, have been given deadlines to leave.” In fact, this is what the external plotters wanted by inciting the general masses of the province to openly speak against the federation of Pakistan and the Punjabis for all the injustices, created by the Baloh feudal lords (Sardars) who have been fighting for their own so-called status, prestige and influence—most of them have been working on the agenda of foreign countries. It is notable that last year, Pakistan’s government had launched a successful approach of reconciliation particularly with the Baloch lords. The level of violence had fallen to the minimum. It was in these circumstances that the Corps Commander, Lt-Gen Khalid Shamim Wyne claimed on November 9, 2008, “We have moved from the insurgency phase to the reconciliation phase, however, if foreign elements continue to infiltrate in Balochistan, they could stir trouble and undermine our efforts to restore peace.” His observation proved quite true as covert support to the militants by the secret agencies like Indian RAW, Israeli Mossad and Afghanistan’s Khad with the tactical aid of American CIA succeeded in sabotaging the peace process in Balochistan. It is of particular attention that after meeting the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani remarked on July 18 that during the talks, he also raised the issue of Indian interference in Balochistan.
In the recent past, Pakistan’s civil and military high officials have openly been disclosing that Indian secret agency, RAW, Israeli Mossad and other foreign agencies are involved in supporting separatism in Balochistan. Reports suggest that on June 22, the military officials and national security institutions presented their report to the government with concrete proofs of involvement of secret agencies of India, Israel and another anti-Pakistan agency (Especially CIA) in helping not only militants led by Maulana Fazlullah but also those headed by other militant commanders in Balochistan.
During the ongoing military operations, ISPR spokesman, Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas intermittently pointed out that larger quantity of arms and ammunition had been captured—revealing foreign hands in helping the insurgents of the Frontier Province and Balochistan.
In this context, on July 4, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit without naming CIA revealed, “The evidence of foreign powers’ involvement in the destabilisation of Pakistan will be shared with relevant countries.”
On June 28, NWFP Governor Awais Ghani openly remarked that some world powers were trying to divide Pakistan, adding that if he were not a governor, he would have exposed them. The matter is not confined to the statements of Pakistan’s high officials, in the recent past, by citing her visits, Christine Fair, a leading US journalist, while unveiling India’s clandestine operations in Pakistan from Indian consulates, located in Afghanistan and Zahidan stated, “The Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan.”
These statements coupled with the perennial acts of sabotage in Balochistan clearly show that US, India and Israel have intensified their plot to disintegrate Pakistan by snatching away its largest province. Nevertheless, external plot against Balochistan is part of the conspiracy against Pakistan which is the only Islamic nuclear state—not tolerated by the US, India and Israel which have been trying to virtually besiege our country as noted through a perennial wave of suicide attacks and bomb blasts. In this respect, by covertly backing the Baloch nationalist leaders, foreign elements have been fulfilling a number of covert designs. In Balochistan, people, openly, accuse Pakistan’s intelligence agencies for the abduction and killing of their leaders. This is what these external plotters intended to achieve.
Another purpose is to gain the sympathies of Baloch general masses for Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) which has been fighting for secession of the province. In this regard, on July 23, 2008, Akber Bugti’s grandson, Brahmdagh Bugti told the BBC that they had the right to accept foreign aid and arms from anywhere including India. There is another CIA and Indian-supported separatist group, Jundollah (God’s soldiers) which is also working against the cordial relationship of Pakistan with China and Iran. In the past few years, its militants with the cooperation of foreign agents kidnapped and killed many Chinese and Iranian nationals in Pakistan. In that context, on April 18, 2008, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi vocally pointed out, “Some external forces are trying to weaken China-Pakistan strategic ties” by “creating misunderstandings”.
It is mentionable that Balochistan is replete with mineral resources. Its ideal geo-strategic location with Gwadar seaport could prove to be Pakistan’s key junction, connecting rest of the world with Central Asia. It is due to multiple strategic benefits that the US which signed a nuclear deal with India last year, intends to control Balochistan as an independent state in counterbalancing China and containing Iran. Owing to these reasons, America and India are creating instability in Pakistan by backing Baloch separatists to complete their hidden agenda.
While taking notice of the foreign conspiracy, during the first visit of Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari to Beijing, Pakistan and China on October 15, 2008 signed eleven agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse sectors. China also agreed to supply nuclear reactors to Islamabad. Since then, this cooperation has been enhancing rapidly. Moreover, plot by foreign elements against Balochistan could also be judged from the “Indian Defence Review,” of Jan-Mar 2009.
At this critical juncture, Pakistan’s elected governments at centre and province must resolve this sensitive issue and redress the grievances of the Balochi people through political means; otherwise external powers which have intensified the implementation of their plot will keep on exploiting various issues of Balochistan, causing irreparable damage to the integrity of the country. In this context, media must also play its positive role in guiding the people of Balochistan in right direction.
Sajjad Shaukat
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