Smt. Indira Gandhi not only brought violence but also corruption. Twenty-five years after her death, we are still trying to cope with both. The Naxalites are a direct end-product of the Emergency. If it is not wrong to use violence to put down your political enemies-which is what the Emergency was all about-why is it wrong to use violence against those who have stolen your lands and your livelihood and are now busy stealing your homes in the name of progress? "Had she lived on, she would have been 92 years old this year," wrote an old colleague of Indira Gandhi on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of her violent death. He was wrong. Had she not been killed by her bodyguards, she would have been killed by someone else. She was destined for violent death, like Charles I of Britain and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan. url: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=318&page=6 |
Saturday, November 21, 2009
** Unpardonable mistakes
The unpardonable mistakes of Indira Gandhi
By Dr Jay Dubashi
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
** Sikhs remember 1984
Sikhs take stock of 1984
Sudha Ramachandran
Asia Times
BANGALORE - The 25th anniversaries of two events, both defining moments in India's recent history, have been observed over the past few days. One is the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards on October 31, 1984. The other is the violence targeting Sikhs that began within hours of that assassination and engulfed Delhi and other cities for at least three days.
The two events are closely connected. The assassination led to the massacres. What sets them apart is the way the Indian state responded to them.
It was swift in delivering justice in the case of Indira's assassination. Satwant Singh, the lone surviving assassin (Beant Singh, the other assassin, was shot dead soon after the assassination while he was allegedly trying to escape) and Kehar Singh, a conspirator, were tried and hanged within four years.
But those who orchestrated the killing of around 2,733 Sikhs in Delhi - the Citizens Justice Committee submitted 3,870 names to an enquiry commission - still roam free. A quarter of a century later, justice is yet to be done.
The year 1984 is one that few Indians will forget. It was the year when a gas leak in a factory owned by Union Carbide in Bhopal killed over 2,000 people and maimed several others for life. It was also the year India's secular foundations were shaken like never before.
In June 1984, the Indian army stormed the Sikhs' holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, to flush out Sikh militants holed in there. They had turned it into a fortress and were waging war against the Indian state. "Operation Bluestar" was a military success in that it eliminated hundreds of militants including the dreaded Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. But at a very heavy cost. It was a political disaster. The Akal Takht was reduced to rubble and hundreds of Sikh pilgrims were killed in the course of the operations. Bluestar wounded the Sikh psyche, deeply alienating the community from the Indian state. It fueled the Sikh militancy and kept it alive for another decade at least.
Revenge came swiftly. Barely five months later, Indira was assassinated. Her assassins were Sikhs.
The response to her killing came even more swiftly. Within hours of her death, stray incidents of violence targeting Sikhs began trickling in from various parts of Delhi.
The violence peaked on November 1. Mobs carrying iron rods, knives and kerosene went on a rampage, killing Sikhs, looting and setting alight their homes, business establishments and places of worship. Sikh cab drivers were lynched or burned alive in their cabs. Those fleeing Delhi were dragged out of trains and buses and slaughtered.
The orgy of violence unleashed on Sikhs following Indira's assassination is often referred to as a riot as though it was a spontaneous outpouring of anger. It was not. It was an organized massacre, a pogrom.
There is a mountain of evidence to prove that politicians belonging to the ruling Congress Party incited and directed the pogrom in collusion with the police. Even as mobs led by Congressmen burned, looted, raped and murdered the government did nothing to quell the violence.
Police made some arrests during the violence; ironically most of the arrests were of Sikhs defending their families against the killers.
Days after the pogrom, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira's son and successor, indirectly justified the violence. "When a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little," he said.
As shocking as the state's involvement in the violence was its failure to ensure justice thereafter.
Ten commissions and committees have probed the pogrom so far with little impact on bringing the guilty to book. One commission of inquiry headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge, Ranganath Mishra, found no lapses on the part of the government and assigned no culpability to the ruling establishment. For his whitewashing of the Congress' role, Mishra was rewarded. He went on to head the National Human Rights Commission and also became a member of India's upper house of parliament.
During and after the massacres, police refused to register complaints. Of those which were registered, only a few made it to the courts. “Of the ones that reached the courts, the majority resulted in acquittal of the accused as the police never made an attempt to find evidence against them. As a result, the conviction rate has been extremely poor," says Harvinder Singh Phoolka, a senior advocate in the Supreme Court who has been fighting for justice on behalf of the victims.
"Out of 2,733 officially admitted murders, only nine cases led to convictions. Just over 20 accused have been convicted in 25 years - a conviction rate of less than 1%,” he says.
The massacre of the Sikhs took place in front of thousands of witnesses. The identity of those who carried out the violence was evident from the start. A report brought out by civil rights groups in November 1984 carried an annexure listing the names of people alleged to have carried out the violence. It included 198 local Congress activists and others, 15 Congress leaders and 143 police officials.
Of the top Congress politicians who were known to have orchestrated the violence, Sikh militants assassinated two within months of the massacres.
Others like Jagdish Tytler and H K L Bhagat went on to have successful political careers, even holding cabinet posts.
In 2005, the Nanavati Commission said it found “credible evidence” against Tytler, Bhagat and another Congress leader Sajjan Kumar saying they "very probably" had a hand in organizing the attacks. While Bhagat died in 2005, the Central Bureau of Investigation gave Tytler a clean chit earlier this year and the court is yet to decide whether or not to initiate a fresh probe.
Sikh alienation from the Indian state and their anger with the Congress has subsided significantly over the years. The movement for a separate Sikh state is dead. And Punjab has voted the Congress to power twice since the 1984 riots.
Some have suggested that the Congress' efforts to reach out to the Sikhs has helped in building bridges. In 1998 Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed her "anguish" over the 1984 riots. "I feel your pain," she said. That she is a victim of terrorist violence herself and the daughter-in-law of Indira and widow of Rajiv Gandhi, who was prime minister when the riots took place helped to heal wounds to some extent. That was taken further by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India's first Sikh prime minister who apologized to the Sikhs in parliament.
That and the fact that the Congress made a Sikh a premier, say Congress leaders, has won the party the hearts of Sikhs.
But not all Sikhs have been appeased by the conciliatory words. They want justice.
While admitting that the Congress' conciliatory gestures have "been like a balm on the community", Phoolka says, "The Congress wants us to forget it; view it as an aberration. When they made Manmohan Singh prime minister, they stepped up this rhetoric; saying, 'forget it now, at least we have apologized and now made your man the prime minister. Our answer has been that the apology came 21 years late and under the Indian legal system an apology is not a substitute for punishment for murder. We want justice." More at > Asia Times
Related story Below:
Besieged Sikhs @ http://ultracurrents.blogspot.com/2009/04/congress-and-besieged-sikhs.html
Sudha Ramachandran
Asia Times
BANGALORE - The 25th anniversaries of two events, both defining moments in India's recent history, have been observed over the past few days. One is the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards on October 31, 1984. The other is the violence targeting Sikhs that began within hours of that assassination and engulfed Delhi and other cities for at least three days.
The two events are closely connected. The assassination led to the massacres. What sets them apart is the way the Indian state responded to them.
It was swift in delivering justice in the case of Indira's assassination. Satwant Singh, the lone surviving assassin (Beant Singh, the other assassin, was shot dead soon after the assassination while he was allegedly trying to escape) and Kehar Singh, a conspirator, were tried and hanged within four years.
But those who orchestrated the killing of around 2,733 Sikhs in Delhi - the Citizens Justice Committee submitted 3,870 names to an enquiry commission - still roam free. A quarter of a century later, justice is yet to be done.
The year 1984 is one that few Indians will forget. It was the year when a gas leak in a factory owned by Union Carbide in Bhopal killed over 2,000 people and maimed several others for life. It was also the year India's secular foundations were shaken like never before.
In June 1984, the Indian army stormed the Sikhs' holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, to flush out Sikh militants holed in there. They had turned it into a fortress and were waging war against the Indian state. "Operation Bluestar" was a military success in that it eliminated hundreds of militants including the dreaded Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. But at a very heavy cost. It was a political disaster. The Akal Takht was reduced to rubble and hundreds of Sikh pilgrims were killed in the course of the operations. Bluestar wounded the Sikh psyche, deeply alienating the community from the Indian state. It fueled the Sikh militancy and kept it alive for another decade at least.
Revenge came swiftly. Barely five months later, Indira was assassinated. Her assassins were Sikhs.
The response to her killing came even more swiftly. Within hours of her death, stray incidents of violence targeting Sikhs began trickling in from various parts of Delhi.
The violence peaked on November 1. Mobs carrying iron rods, knives and kerosene went on a rampage, killing Sikhs, looting and setting alight their homes, business establishments and places of worship. Sikh cab drivers were lynched or burned alive in their cabs. Those fleeing Delhi were dragged out of trains and buses and slaughtered.
The orgy of violence unleashed on Sikhs following Indira's assassination is often referred to as a riot as though it was a spontaneous outpouring of anger. It was not. It was an organized massacre, a pogrom.
There is a mountain of evidence to prove that politicians belonging to the ruling Congress Party incited and directed the pogrom in collusion with the police. Even as mobs led by Congressmen burned, looted, raped and murdered the government did nothing to quell the violence.
Police made some arrests during the violence; ironically most of the arrests were of Sikhs defending their families against the killers.
Days after the pogrom, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira's son and successor, indirectly justified the violence. "When a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little," he said.
As shocking as the state's involvement in the violence was its failure to ensure justice thereafter.
Ten commissions and committees have probed the pogrom so far with little impact on bringing the guilty to book. One commission of inquiry headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge, Ranganath Mishra, found no lapses on the part of the government and assigned no culpability to the ruling establishment. For his whitewashing of the Congress' role, Mishra was rewarded. He went on to head the National Human Rights Commission and also became a member of India's upper house of parliament.
During and after the massacres, police refused to register complaints. Of those which were registered, only a few made it to the courts. “Of the ones that reached the courts, the majority resulted in acquittal of the accused as the police never made an attempt to find evidence against them. As a result, the conviction rate has been extremely poor," says Harvinder Singh Phoolka, a senior advocate in the Supreme Court who has been fighting for justice on behalf of the victims.
"Out of 2,733 officially admitted murders, only nine cases led to convictions. Just over 20 accused have been convicted in 25 years - a conviction rate of less than 1%,” he says.
The massacre of the Sikhs took place in front of thousands of witnesses. The identity of those who carried out the violence was evident from the start. A report brought out by civil rights groups in November 1984 carried an annexure listing the names of people alleged to have carried out the violence. It included 198 local Congress activists and others, 15 Congress leaders and 143 police officials.
Of the top Congress politicians who were known to have orchestrated the violence, Sikh militants assassinated two within months of the massacres.
Others like Jagdish Tytler and H K L Bhagat went on to have successful political careers, even holding cabinet posts.
In 2005, the Nanavati Commission said it found “credible evidence” against Tytler, Bhagat and another Congress leader Sajjan Kumar saying they "very probably" had a hand in organizing the attacks. While Bhagat died in 2005, the Central Bureau of Investigation gave Tytler a clean chit earlier this year and the court is yet to decide whether or not to initiate a fresh probe.
Sikh alienation from the Indian state and their anger with the Congress has subsided significantly over the years. The movement for a separate Sikh state is dead. And Punjab has voted the Congress to power twice since the 1984 riots.
Some have suggested that the Congress' efforts to reach out to the Sikhs has helped in building bridges. In 1998 Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed her "anguish" over the 1984 riots. "I feel your pain," she said. That she is a victim of terrorist violence herself and the daughter-in-law of Indira and widow of Rajiv Gandhi, who was prime minister when the riots took place helped to heal wounds to some extent. That was taken further by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India's first Sikh prime minister who apologized to the Sikhs in parliament.
That and the fact that the Congress made a Sikh a premier, say Congress leaders, has won the party the hearts of Sikhs.
But not all Sikhs have been appeased by the conciliatory words. They want justice.
While admitting that the Congress' conciliatory gestures have "been like a balm on the community", Phoolka says, "The Congress wants us to forget it; view it as an aberration. When they made Manmohan Singh prime minister, they stepped up this rhetoric; saying, 'forget it now, at least we have apologized and now made your man the prime minister. Our answer has been that the apology came 21 years late and under the Indian legal system an apology is not a substitute for punishment for murder. We want justice." More at > Asia Times
Related story Below:
Besieged Sikhs @ http://ultracurrents.blogspot.com/2009/04/congress-and-besieged-sikhs.html
** Love Jihad in India?
India lost in 'love jihad'
Sudha Ramachandran
Oct.28, 2009
AsiaTimes
BANGALORE - As part of an organized campaign, young Muslim men are deliberately luring women from different faiths into marriage so they will convert to Islam, say radical Indian Hindu and Christian groups in south India.
The alleged plot has been dubbed "love jihad".
It first surfaced in September, when two Muslim men from Pathanamthitta town in the southwestern state of Kerala reportedly enticed two women - a Hindu and a Christian - into marriage and forced them to convert to Islam.
The women first claimed to have became Muslims voluntarily, but after being allowed back to their parents' houses said they had been abducted and coerced to convert. The men were reportedly members of Campus Front, a student wing of radical Muslim group the Popular Front of India (PFI).
The Pathanamthitta incident was followed by an avalanche of media reports on "love jihad". Some described it as a movement, others claimed that forced conversions through marriage were actually being run by an organization called Love Jihad, or Romeo Jihad.
Hindu and Christian groups have weighed in with their own "facts" on the "love jihad".
The Sri Ram Sene, a fundamentalist Hindu group, now claims thousands of girls were forcibly converted to Islam in the past few years after marrying Muslim men. It says that after conversion the women were "trained in anti-national activities". India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has said "love jihadis" have receiving foreign aid - from the Middle East - for the campaign.
Senior Christian leaders are now campaigning against the alleged threat.
"Around 4,000 girls have been subjected to religious conversion since 2005 after they fell in love," Father Johny Kochuparambil, secretary of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council's Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, wrote in an article in the church council's newsletter.
The article lists 2,868 girls who fell into the "love jihad" net between 2006 to 2009. Kochuparambil has not clarified where the statistics came from, citing only "highly reliable sources".
The phenomenon has spread to Kerala's neighboring state, Karnataka. This month, the father of a woman who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim filed a habeas corpus petition in a Karnataka court, alleging his daughter was a victim of "love jihad". The woman told the court that her conversion was voluntary.
The court, however, said it has "serious suspicions" regarding the statement of the petitioner's daughter and that the case "has ramifications for national security". "It has raised questions of unlawful trafficking of girls and women in the state. So it has to be investigated by the police," the court said.
On the orders of the court, police in Kerala and Karnataka launched an investigation into whether an organization called Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad actually exists. They concluded that it doesn't.
Kerala's director general of police said no such organization had been identified in the state, but there were reasons to suspect there had been "concentrated attempts" by Muslim boys to persuade non-Muslim girls to convert to Islam after they fell in love.
The PFI, meanwhile, has denied it is waging a "love jihad".
"Religious conversion is not a crime; conversion takes place to Hinduism and Christianity also ... One cannot paint all love affairs as cases of forced conversions meant for extremist activity," said PFI spokesman Naseerudheen Elamaram.
In India, religious conversion is not a crime - article 25 of the constitution recognizes the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. However, the issue of conversion is extremely sensitive. In recent years, Hindu groups have opposed, sometimes violently, the conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity.
For centuries, Hindus converted to Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity, some out of conviction, others to escape the tyranny of the Hindu caste system or to benefit from professing the religion of the ruling class. However, Hindu groups maintain that it was through the use of the sword that Islam spread in India. They also accuse Christians of using economic incentives to attract Hindus to the faith.
Ironically, "love jihad" is now the bringing the sworn enemies together. Christian and Hindu groups that had been at each other's throat over religious conversions have now vowed to join forces to combat the alleged campaign.
"Both Hindu and Christian girls are falling prey to this. So we are cooperating with the VHP [Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a fundamentalist Hindu group] on this," K S Samson, from the Kochi-based Christian Association for Social Action (CASA), told the Times of India.
When CASA got to know of a Hindu schoolgirl who had become a victim of "love jihad", it "immediately referred the case to the VHP", he said.
The "love jihad" phenomenon - which may just be linked to a few religious-minded Romeos - could have been comical had it not deepened domestic hostility towards India's Muslim minority. There are fears that the use of the word "jihad", often interpreted as meaning holy war, may give extremist Hindu and Christian groups an excuse to justify attacks on Muslims.
"Certain fundamentalist groups that have been carrying out vigilante attacks against inter-community couples for several years have now started using the 'love jihad' theory to justify their attacks," a police official told The Hindu newspaper. He did not name the groups, but was probably referring to the Sri Ram Sene and the Bajrang Dal, which target women and religious minorities.
Sri Ram Sene is now preparing for a nationwide campaign on the issue. Its leader, Pramod Mutalik, has said 150 party activists have been deployed in public places to keep an eye on "suspicious activities". When a "love jihad" activity is identified, "it will be stopped then and there", he said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council has issued "love jihad" guidelines, calling on parents and schools to monitor children's activities and discourage them from using mobile phones or spend long hours on the Internet. "Bringing up children the spiritual way is the best means to fight the love jihad," said the Christian group. http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ28Df05.html
Sudha Ramachandran
Oct.28, 2009
AsiaTimes
BANGALORE - As part of an organized campaign, young Muslim men are deliberately luring women from different faiths into marriage so they will convert to Islam, say radical Indian Hindu and Christian groups in south India.
The alleged plot has been dubbed "love jihad".
It first surfaced in September, when two Muslim men from Pathanamthitta town in the southwestern state of Kerala reportedly enticed two women - a Hindu and a Christian - into marriage and forced them to convert to Islam.
The women first claimed to have became Muslims voluntarily, but after being allowed back to their parents' houses said they had been abducted and coerced to convert. The men were reportedly members of Campus Front, a student wing of radical Muslim group the Popular Front of India (PFI).
The Pathanamthitta incident was followed by an avalanche of media reports on "love jihad". Some described it as a movement, others claimed that forced conversions through marriage were actually being run by an organization called Love Jihad, or Romeo Jihad.
Hindu and Christian groups have weighed in with their own "facts" on the "love jihad".
The Sri Ram Sene, a fundamentalist Hindu group, now claims thousands of girls were forcibly converted to Islam in the past few years after marrying Muslim men. It says that after conversion the women were "trained in anti-national activities". India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has said "love jihadis" have receiving foreign aid - from the Middle East - for the campaign.
Senior Christian leaders are now campaigning against the alleged threat.
"Around 4,000 girls have been subjected to religious conversion since 2005 after they fell in love," Father Johny Kochuparambil, secretary of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council's Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, wrote in an article in the church council's newsletter.
The article lists 2,868 girls who fell into the "love jihad" net between 2006 to 2009. Kochuparambil has not clarified where the statistics came from, citing only "highly reliable sources".
The phenomenon has spread to Kerala's neighboring state, Karnataka. This month, the father of a woman who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim filed a habeas corpus petition in a Karnataka court, alleging his daughter was a victim of "love jihad". The woman told the court that her conversion was voluntary.
The court, however, said it has "serious suspicions" regarding the statement of the petitioner's daughter and that the case "has ramifications for national security". "It has raised questions of unlawful trafficking of girls and women in the state. So it has to be investigated by the police," the court said.
On the orders of the court, police in Kerala and Karnataka launched an investigation into whether an organization called Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad actually exists. They concluded that it doesn't.
Kerala's director general of police said no such organization had been identified in the state, but there were reasons to suspect there had been "concentrated attempts" by Muslim boys to persuade non-Muslim girls to convert to Islam after they fell in love.
The PFI, meanwhile, has denied it is waging a "love jihad".
"Religious conversion is not a crime; conversion takes place to Hinduism and Christianity also ... One cannot paint all love affairs as cases of forced conversions meant for extremist activity," said PFI spokesman Naseerudheen Elamaram.
In India, religious conversion is not a crime - article 25 of the constitution recognizes the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. However, the issue of conversion is extremely sensitive. In recent years, Hindu groups have opposed, sometimes violently, the conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity.
For centuries, Hindus converted to Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity, some out of conviction, others to escape the tyranny of the Hindu caste system or to benefit from professing the religion of the ruling class. However, Hindu groups maintain that it was through the use of the sword that Islam spread in India. They also accuse Christians of using economic incentives to attract Hindus to the faith.
Ironically, "love jihad" is now the bringing the sworn enemies together. Christian and Hindu groups that had been at each other's throat over religious conversions have now vowed to join forces to combat the alleged campaign.
"Both Hindu and Christian girls are falling prey to this. So we are cooperating with the VHP [Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a fundamentalist Hindu group] on this," K S Samson, from the Kochi-based Christian Association for Social Action (CASA), told the Times of India.
When CASA got to know of a Hindu schoolgirl who had become a victim of "love jihad", it "immediately referred the case to the VHP", he said.
The "love jihad" phenomenon - which may just be linked to a few religious-minded Romeos - could have been comical had it not deepened domestic hostility towards India's Muslim minority. There are fears that the use of the word "jihad", often interpreted as meaning holy war, may give extremist Hindu and Christian groups an excuse to justify attacks on Muslims.
"Certain fundamentalist groups that have been carrying out vigilante attacks against inter-community couples for several years have now started using the 'love jihad' theory to justify their attacks," a police official told The Hindu newspaper. He did not name the groups, but was probably referring to the Sri Ram Sene and the Bajrang Dal, which target women and religious minorities.
Sri Ram Sene is now preparing for a nationwide campaign on the issue. Its leader, Pramod Mutalik, has said 150 party activists have been deployed in public places to keep an eye on "suspicious activities". When a "love jihad" activity is identified, "it will be stopped then and there", he said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council has issued "love jihad" guidelines, calling on parents and schools to monitor children's activities and discourage them from using mobile phones or spend long hours on the Internet. "Bringing up children the spiritual way is the best means to fight the love jihad," said the Christian group. http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ28Df05.html
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
** Love Jihad in India
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ28Df05.html
India lost in 'love jihad'
Sudha Ramachandran
Oct.28, 2009
BANGALORE - As part of an organized campaign, young Muslim men are deliberately luring women from different faiths into marriage so they will convert to Islam, say radical Indian Hindu and Christian groups in south India.
The alleged plot has been dubbed "love jihad".
It first surfaced in September, when two Muslim men from Pathanamthitta town in the southwestern state of Kerala reportedly enticed two women - a Hindu and a Christian - into marriage and forced them to convert to Islam.
The women first claimed to have became Muslims voluntarily, but after being allowed back to their parents' houses said they had been abducted and coerced to convert. The men were reportedly members of Campus Front, a student wing of radical Muslim group the Popular Front of India (PFI).
The Pathanamthitta incident was followed by an avalanche of media reports on "love jihad". Some described it as a movement, others claimed that forced conversions through marriage were actually being run by an organization called Love Jihad, or Romeo Jihad.
Hindu and Christian groups have weighed in with their own "facts" on the "love jihad".
The Sri Ram Sene, a fundamentalist Hindu group, now claims thousands of girls were forcibly converted to Islam in the past few years after marrying Muslim men. It says that after conversion the women were "trained in anti-national activities". India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has said "love jihadis" have receiving foreign aid - from the Middle East - for the campaign.
Senior Christian leaders are now campaigning against the alleged threat.
"Around 4,000 girls have been subjected to religious conversion since 2005 after they fell in love," Father Johny Kochuparambil, secretary of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council's Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, wrote in an article in the church council's newsletter.
The article lists 2,868 girls who fell into the "love jihad" net between 2006 to 2009. Kochuparambil has not clarified where the statistics came from, citing only "highly reliable sources".
The phenomenon has spread to Kerala's neighboring state, Karnataka. This month, the father of a woman who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim filed a habeas corpus petition in a Karnataka court, alleging his daughter was a victim of "love jihad". The woman told the court that her conversion was voluntary.
The court, however, said it has "serious suspicions" regarding the statement of the petitioner's daughter and that the case "has ramifications for national security". "It has raised questions of unlawful trafficking of girls and women in the state. So it has to be investigated by the police," the court said.
On the orders of the court, police in Kerala and Karnataka launched an investigation into whether an organization called Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad actually exists. They concluded that it doesn't.
Kerala's director general of police said no such organization had been identified in the state, but there were reasons to suspect there had been "concentrated attempts" by Muslim boys to persuade non-Muslim girls to convert to Islam after they fell in love.
The PFI, meanwhile, has denied it is waging a "love jihad".
"Religious conversion is not a crime; conversion takes place to Hinduism and Christianity also ... One cannot paint all love affairs as cases of forced conversions meant for extremist activity," said PFI spokesman Naseerudheen Elamaram.
In India, religious conversion is not a crime - article 25 of the constitution recognizes the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. However, the issue of conversion is extremely sensitive. In recent years, Hindu groups have opposed, sometimes violently, the conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity.
For centuries, Hindus converted to Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity, some out of conviction, others to escape the tyranny of the Hindu caste system or to benefit from professing the religion of the ruling class. However, Hindu groups maintain that it was through the use of the sword that Islam spread in India. They also accuse Christians of using economic incentives to attract Hindus to the faith.
Ironically, "love jihad" is now the bringing the sworn enemies together. Christian and Hindu groups that had been at each other's throat over religious conversions have now vowed to join forces to combat the alleged campaign.
"Both Hindu and Christian girls are falling prey to this. So we are cooperating with the VHP [Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a fundamentalist Hindu group] on this," K S Samson, from the Kochi-based Christian Association for Social Action (CASA), told the Times of India.
When CASA got to know of a Hindu schoolgirl who had become a victim of "love jihad", it "immediately referred the case to the VHP", he said.
The "love jihad" phenomenon - which may just be linked to a few religious-minded Romeos - could have been comical had it not deepened domestic hostility towards India's Muslim minority. There are fears that the use of the word "jihad", often interpreted as meaning holy war, may give extremist Hindu and Christian groups an excuse to justify attacks on Muslims.
"Certain fundamentalist groups that have been carrying out vigilante attacks against inter-community couples for several years have now started using the 'love jihad' theory to justify their attacks," a police official told The Hindu newspaper. He did not name the groups, but was probably referring to the Sri Ram Sene and the Bajrang Dal, which target women and religious minorities.
Sri Ram Sene is now preparing for a nationwide campaign on the issue. Its leader, Pramod Mutalik, has said 150 party activists have been deployed in public places to keep an eye on "suspicious activities". When a "love jihad" activity is identified, "it will be stopped then and there", he said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council has issued "love jihad" guidelines, calling on parents and schools to monitor children's activities and discourage them from using mobile phones or spend long hours on the Internet. "Bringing up children the spiritual way is the best means to fight the love jihad," said the Christian group.
India lost in 'love jihad'
Sudha Ramachandran
Oct.28, 2009
BANGALORE - As part of an organized campaign, young Muslim men are deliberately luring women from different faiths into marriage so they will convert to Islam, say radical Indian Hindu and Christian groups in south India.
The alleged plot has been dubbed "love jihad".
It first surfaced in September, when two Muslim men from Pathanamthitta town in the southwestern state of Kerala reportedly enticed two women - a Hindu and a Christian - into marriage and forced them to convert to Islam.
The women first claimed to have became Muslims voluntarily, but after being allowed back to their parents' houses said they had been abducted and coerced to convert. The men were reportedly members of Campus Front, a student wing of radical Muslim group the Popular Front of India (PFI).
The Pathanamthitta incident was followed by an avalanche of media reports on "love jihad". Some described it as a movement, others claimed that forced conversions through marriage were actually being run by an organization called Love Jihad, or Romeo Jihad.
Hindu and Christian groups have weighed in with their own "facts" on the "love jihad".
The Sri Ram Sene, a fundamentalist Hindu group, now claims thousands of girls were forcibly converted to Islam in the past few years after marrying Muslim men. It says that after conversion the women were "trained in anti-national activities". India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has said "love jihadis" have receiving foreign aid - from the Middle East - for the campaign.
Senior Christian leaders are now campaigning against the alleged threat.
"Around 4,000 girls have been subjected to religious conversion since 2005 after they fell in love," Father Johny Kochuparambil, secretary of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council's Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, wrote in an article in the church council's newsletter.
The article lists 2,868 girls who fell into the "love jihad" net between 2006 to 2009. Kochuparambil has not clarified where the statistics came from, citing only "highly reliable sources".
The phenomenon has spread to Kerala's neighboring state, Karnataka. This month, the father of a woman who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim filed a habeas corpus petition in a Karnataka court, alleging his daughter was a victim of "love jihad". The woman told the court that her conversion was voluntary.
The court, however, said it has "serious suspicions" regarding the statement of the petitioner's daughter and that the case "has ramifications for national security". "It has raised questions of unlawful trafficking of girls and women in the state. So it has to be investigated by the police," the court said.
On the orders of the court, police in Kerala and Karnataka launched an investigation into whether an organization called Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad actually exists. They concluded that it doesn't.
Kerala's director general of police said no such organization had been identified in the state, but there were reasons to suspect there had been "concentrated attempts" by Muslim boys to persuade non-Muslim girls to convert to Islam after they fell in love.
The PFI, meanwhile, has denied it is waging a "love jihad".
"Religious conversion is not a crime; conversion takes place to Hinduism and Christianity also ... One cannot paint all love affairs as cases of forced conversions meant for extremist activity," said PFI spokesman Naseerudheen Elamaram.
In India, religious conversion is not a crime - article 25 of the constitution recognizes the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. However, the issue of conversion is extremely sensitive. In recent years, Hindu groups have opposed, sometimes violently, the conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity.
For centuries, Hindus converted to Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity, some out of conviction, others to escape the tyranny of the Hindu caste system or to benefit from professing the religion of the ruling class. However, Hindu groups maintain that it was through the use of the sword that Islam spread in India. They also accuse Christians of using economic incentives to attract Hindus to the faith.
Ironically, "love jihad" is now the bringing the sworn enemies together. Christian and Hindu groups that had been at each other's throat over religious conversions have now vowed to join forces to combat the alleged campaign.
"Both Hindu and Christian girls are falling prey to this. So we are cooperating with the VHP [Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a fundamentalist Hindu group] on this," K S Samson, from the Kochi-based Christian Association for Social Action (CASA), told the Times of India.
When CASA got to know of a Hindu schoolgirl who had become a victim of "love jihad", it "immediately referred the case to the VHP", he said.
The "love jihad" phenomenon - which may just be linked to a few religious-minded Romeos - could have been comical had it not deepened domestic hostility towards India's Muslim minority. There are fears that the use of the word "jihad", often interpreted as meaning holy war, may give extremist Hindu and Christian groups an excuse to justify attacks on Muslims.
"Certain fundamentalist groups that have been carrying out vigilante attacks against inter-community couples for several years have now started using the 'love jihad' theory to justify their attacks," a police official told The Hindu newspaper. He did not name the groups, but was probably referring to the Sri Ram Sene and the Bajrang Dal, which target women and religious minorities.
Sri Ram Sene is now preparing for a nationwide campaign on the issue. Its leader, Pramod Mutalik, has said 150 party activists have been deployed in public places to keep an eye on "suspicious activities". When a "love jihad" activity is identified, "it will be stopped then and there", he said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council has issued "love jihad" guidelines, calling on parents and schools to monitor children's activities and discourage them from using mobile phones or spend long hours on the Internet. "Bringing up children the spiritual way is the best means to fight the love jihad," said the Christian group.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
** Racial Profiling: Good & Bad
http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/The-Good-Bad-Racial-Profiling/blog-315.htm
The Good and Bad of Racial Profiling
Dr. Gopal Alankar
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a black Harvard University professor, went to Southern China to film a documentary. When he returned home in Cambridge, Mass, on July 16, 2009, he found his front door lock inoperable. Unable to open the front door, he took the help of his driver to force open the back door to enter the house. A good intentioned lady, Ms. Lucia Whalen, while passing by saw the forced entry. She dialed 911 to report the incident. When asked by the 911 operator about the ethnicity of the intruders, she indicated that one of the two men looked Hispanic and she was not sure of the other.
Cambridge Police officer, Sgt. James Crowley was sent to investigate the burglary. There were exchanges between the professor and the cop, and the professor was arrested for disorderly conduct. The incident aroused a national debate on racial profiling.
Against the above backdrop, in a Presidential press conference on Health Care Reform held on July 22, 2009, a journalist from the audience asked President Obama as to what he thought of the arrest of Henry. Henry is a good friend of President Obama, and the question unquestionably was very appropriate.
Obama"s uncanny answer that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting Henry was seized by media to liken it to an instance of presidential naiveté and a case of erred statesmanship. Intellectuals alike would have viewed it no differently. Men of diplomatic prowess would have preferred that the President took a noncommittal stance or waited until the law took its full course.
Rules of good diplomacy call for a President to refrain from taking sides especially in matters that instigate religious or racial divide. A good president needs to be a good diplomat. A good diplomat will have all the skills necessary to turn an unfriendly encounter into a pleasant outcome. In Crowley"s case it is highly unlikely that racial profiling played any part at all because he was unaware of the ethnicity of Prof. Gates before he arrived at the site of the incident. Therefore, it seems that the President was way off the mark in what he said.
Nevertheless, President Obama is a sharp intellect and a sincere crusader for the welfare of the downtrodden. However, he suffers from one glaring weakness in that he tends to stick his foot in his mouth and say the most undiplomatic thing. Leaving aside the diplomacy, what he said perhaps would be emotionally correct. But emotions must rest outside the periphery of good diplomacy and as a President he should have been a thought more careful in what he said.
Tellingly, the Beer Summit turned out to be a brilliant stroke of President"s corrective diplomacy and it undid the damage done to him in the aftermath of the Press Conference. The plentiful chilled beer did have the cooling effect on the cop and the professor. The two seemed to have cooled a lot faster than the hot tempers radiated in the professor"s Cambridge house. Of course, the presence of the President and the Vice-President at the table certainly contributed to the desired result. But did the Summit really succeed in easing the debate on racial profiling? I think not.
Racial profiling has two sides to it - bright and dark. Peoples" outcry that Prof. Gates" arrest smacked of the dark side of racial profiling is difficult to substantiate in the context of what happened. Would we call it dark, if the professor were white?
What is exactly racial profiling? Wikipedia defines it as a method that uses racial or ethnic characteristics of a person to determine whether he or she is likely to commit a crime or an illegal act. It is in a way an extension of statistical inference, which, by the way, is as good as the data collected. Granting that the data are good and the statistical analysis of the data indicates that within a confidence level a terrorist is likely to be an Islamic fundamentalist, then it pays to use an adequate sample size to thoroughly security check the travelers from Islamic nations to identify probable terrorists. Bear in mind that a 100% check on all passengers is costly and time consuming and if enforced the planes would never leave or arrive on time.
Much of what we hear, read and see in the media on racial profiling is of the dark side. In some parts of the world bias and prejudices are willfully built into racial profiling to influence the outcome. This, I say, is manipulative profiling. Notorious are the European and Islamic countries against other races. Racial profiling, if misapplied, can bring humiliation and suffering to the countless hapless minority communities residing in unscrupulous countries. This is the crux of our current problem.
This is not to say that racial profiling is nonexistent in America. It is deeply entrenched as is in other countries in the world. Virginity tests on Indian brides at the airports in England were despicable acts and they sure had racial undertones. US Government in WW-II rounded up the US citizens of Japanese descent and put them in internment camps. The lengthy security checks on Khans of Bollywood at Newark airport did smell of racial profiling. Profiling of Chinese and Indians by Air France is a well known practice of mala fide intention. A news item published on June 29, 2009 in New York Times reveals that French police stop Blacks and Arabs for identity checks more than they stop others. Racial profiling in Germany goes back to the days of Adolf Hitler. Arab countries profile foreign workers on a regular basis in order to perpetrate false accusations in the name of undocumented labor.
Therefore, racial profiling does not specifically target Blacks. It includes all ethnicity. White profiling is also common. Profiling of Indians is widespread across the globe. In these days plagued with terrorism and suicide bombers, the brighter side of racial profiling can play a pivotal role in apprehending likely criminals. My experience with a foreign travel in the winter that followed 9/11 tragedy made me a believer in racial profiling out of a recalcitrant nonbeliever. Here is my story.
My family patiently waited in the security line at the Newark Airport, NJ to begin our meticulously planned vacation to Aruba. We were five and were all excited to see the journey begin, more so my children. When our turn came we were surprised to find that none of our pilot suite cases passed the security screening. For each one of us the walk-through scanner was a bad news. The officer checked us from toe to head. The suitcases were opened and screened thoroughly. Although nothing incriminating was found, it was a nightmarish episode. It took a long time for us to repack and put the things back in order in the suitcases. Make no mistake few others also went through the same trauma.
Finally we made a dash to the gate and waited for the boarding call. When the announcement was made, we made a beeline for the line. We paced slowly to the airline rep who politely signaled us to step aside for a fresh security check. At a minimum our pride was hurt; our children"s feelings were mortified; we could not stomach the fact that we became the objects of curiosity to all the passengers walking by. When it was all done, we were in no mood for any good words for the airline. We were the last to board.
As we entered the plane all eyes were turned to us. The atmosphere was somber. My children were puffing with fury. I pleaded with them to remain calm until we reached our destination for the fear of unwanted evidence that might get planted into our suitcases. Every two hours I would nervously ask the air-hostess if I could walk up and down the isle to stretch my sagging old legs.
Calm prevailed as the plane prepared for landing. As soon as it touched the runway there was a thunder of clapping and applause. Shouts of "Bravo pilot!" rent the air. Some thanked God for terror-free flight. We also joined the applause and cheers with a gusto of enthusiasm. It was a rare moment of ecstasy and joy for all passengers who were in a state of anxiety and fear all along the flight. When all said and done, the journey turned out to be one of our most memorable incidents of all time.
I realized then and there the importance of racial profiling. I would rather go through the tedious screening than let the plane take off without it. Mental peace of passengers outweighs the bitter inconvenience that a few of us suffer as a result of profiling.
The experience taught me a valuable lesson "The good of all must prevail over the comfort of a few."
The Good and Bad of Racial Profiling
Dr. Gopal Alankar
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a black Harvard University professor, went to Southern China to film a documentary. When he returned home in Cambridge, Mass, on July 16, 2009, he found his front door lock inoperable. Unable to open the front door, he took the help of his driver to force open the back door to enter the house. A good intentioned lady, Ms. Lucia Whalen, while passing by saw the forced entry. She dialed 911 to report the incident. When asked by the 911 operator about the ethnicity of the intruders, she indicated that one of the two men looked Hispanic and she was not sure of the other.
Cambridge Police officer, Sgt. James Crowley was sent to investigate the burglary. There were exchanges between the professor and the cop, and the professor was arrested for disorderly conduct. The incident aroused a national debate on racial profiling.
Against the above backdrop, in a Presidential press conference on Health Care Reform held on July 22, 2009, a journalist from the audience asked President Obama as to what he thought of the arrest of Henry. Henry is a good friend of President Obama, and the question unquestionably was very appropriate.
Obama"s uncanny answer that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting Henry was seized by media to liken it to an instance of presidential naiveté and a case of erred statesmanship. Intellectuals alike would have viewed it no differently. Men of diplomatic prowess would have preferred that the President took a noncommittal stance or waited until the law took its full course.
Rules of good diplomacy call for a President to refrain from taking sides especially in matters that instigate religious or racial divide. A good president needs to be a good diplomat. A good diplomat will have all the skills necessary to turn an unfriendly encounter into a pleasant outcome. In Crowley"s case it is highly unlikely that racial profiling played any part at all because he was unaware of the ethnicity of Prof. Gates before he arrived at the site of the incident. Therefore, it seems that the President was way off the mark in what he said.
Nevertheless, President Obama is a sharp intellect and a sincere crusader for the welfare of the downtrodden. However, he suffers from one glaring weakness in that he tends to stick his foot in his mouth and say the most undiplomatic thing. Leaving aside the diplomacy, what he said perhaps would be emotionally correct. But emotions must rest outside the periphery of good diplomacy and as a President he should have been a thought more careful in what he said.
Tellingly, the Beer Summit turned out to be a brilliant stroke of President"s corrective diplomacy and it undid the damage done to him in the aftermath of the Press Conference. The plentiful chilled beer did have the cooling effect on the cop and the professor. The two seemed to have cooled a lot faster than the hot tempers radiated in the professor"s Cambridge house. Of course, the presence of the President and the Vice-President at the table certainly contributed to the desired result. But did the Summit really succeed in easing the debate on racial profiling? I think not.
Racial profiling has two sides to it - bright and dark. Peoples" outcry that Prof. Gates" arrest smacked of the dark side of racial profiling is difficult to substantiate in the context of what happened. Would we call it dark, if the professor were white?
What is exactly racial profiling? Wikipedia defines it as a method that uses racial or ethnic characteristics of a person to determine whether he or she is likely to commit a crime or an illegal act. It is in a way an extension of statistical inference, which, by the way, is as good as the data collected. Granting that the data are good and the statistical analysis of the data indicates that within a confidence level a terrorist is likely to be an Islamic fundamentalist, then it pays to use an adequate sample size to thoroughly security check the travelers from Islamic nations to identify probable terrorists. Bear in mind that a 100% check on all passengers is costly and time consuming and if enforced the planes would never leave or arrive on time.
Much of what we hear, read and see in the media on racial profiling is of the dark side. In some parts of the world bias and prejudices are willfully built into racial profiling to influence the outcome. This, I say, is manipulative profiling. Notorious are the European and Islamic countries against other races. Racial profiling, if misapplied, can bring humiliation and suffering to the countless hapless minority communities residing in unscrupulous countries. This is the crux of our current problem.
This is not to say that racial profiling is nonexistent in America. It is deeply entrenched as is in other countries in the world. Virginity tests on Indian brides at the airports in England were despicable acts and they sure had racial undertones. US Government in WW-II rounded up the US citizens of Japanese descent and put them in internment camps. The lengthy security checks on Khans of Bollywood at Newark airport did smell of racial profiling. Profiling of Chinese and Indians by Air France is a well known practice of mala fide intention. A news item published on June 29, 2009 in New York Times reveals that French police stop Blacks and Arabs for identity checks more than they stop others. Racial profiling in Germany goes back to the days of Adolf Hitler. Arab countries profile foreign workers on a regular basis in order to perpetrate false accusations in the name of undocumented labor.
Therefore, racial profiling does not specifically target Blacks. It includes all ethnicity. White profiling is also common. Profiling of Indians is widespread across the globe. In these days plagued with terrorism and suicide bombers, the brighter side of racial profiling can play a pivotal role in apprehending likely criminals. My experience with a foreign travel in the winter that followed 9/11 tragedy made me a believer in racial profiling out of a recalcitrant nonbeliever. Here is my story.
My family patiently waited in the security line at the Newark Airport, NJ to begin our meticulously planned vacation to Aruba. We were five and were all excited to see the journey begin, more so my children. When our turn came we were surprised to find that none of our pilot suite cases passed the security screening. For each one of us the walk-through scanner was a bad news. The officer checked us from toe to head. The suitcases were opened and screened thoroughly. Although nothing incriminating was found, it was a nightmarish episode. It took a long time for us to repack and put the things back in order in the suitcases. Make no mistake few others also went through the same trauma.
Finally we made a dash to the gate and waited for the boarding call. When the announcement was made, we made a beeline for the line. We paced slowly to the airline rep who politely signaled us to step aside for a fresh security check. At a minimum our pride was hurt; our children"s feelings were mortified; we could not stomach the fact that we became the objects of curiosity to all the passengers walking by. When it was all done, we were in no mood for any good words for the airline. We were the last to board.
As we entered the plane all eyes were turned to us. The atmosphere was somber. My children were puffing with fury. I pleaded with them to remain calm until we reached our destination for the fear of unwanted evidence that might get planted into our suitcases. Every two hours I would nervously ask the air-hostess if I could walk up and down the isle to stretch my sagging old legs.
Calm prevailed as the plane prepared for landing. As soon as it touched the runway there was a thunder of clapping and applause. Shouts of "Bravo pilot!" rent the air. Some thanked God for terror-free flight. We also joined the applause and cheers with a gusto of enthusiasm. It was a rare moment of ecstasy and joy for all passengers who were in a state of anxiety and fear all along the flight. When all said and done, the journey turned out to be one of our most memorable incidents of all time.
I realized then and there the importance of racial profiling. I would rather go through the tedious screening than let the plane take off without it. Mental peace of passengers outweighs the bitter inconvenience that a few of us suffer as a result of profiling.
The experience taught me a valuable lesson "The good of all must prevail over the comfort of a few."
Sunday, September 27, 2009
** Temple water 'miracle cure'
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090923/812/tnl-hindus-muslims-line-up-for-miracle-c.html
Hindus, Muslims line up for 'miracle cure' temple water
Asit Srivastava
Hindus, Muslims line up for 'miracle cure' temple water
Asit Srivastava
Lucknow, Sep 23 (IANS) A hand pump located inside the premises of an ancient Hanuman temple in Uttar Pradesh is visited by hundreds of people irrespective of their religion every day. Reason: its water is said to have miraculous healing powers.
Hindus, Muslims and people from other religions have been lining up before the hand pump, installed within the gate of the Hanuman temple in Jagnewa village of Jalaun district, for the past seven days. Jalaun is located 200 km from here.
People first take a 'parikrama' (round) of the hand pump and offer prayers before partaking of the water.
'Around 1,000 people from different parts of Jalaun and nearby villagers are visiting the temple every day to drink the water, which can cure chronic ailments,' Chhoti Dulaiya, head of Jagnewa village, told IANS over telephone.
'You can sight Muslim women clad in burqas lining up before the hand pump, waiting for their turn to offer prayers and conduct parikrama,' said Dulaiya. He added that one of his relatives who was suffering from eczema all over his body got cured after drinking the water.
According to locals, the hand pump's water recently turned miraculous after a saint from Madhya Pradesh 'infused it with therapeutic properties'.
'An elderly saint named Geeta Nandji Maharaj, who visited the temple around 10 days ago and took shelter in the temple, has made all this happen,' said Sanjeev Gurjar, a resident of the area.
'Initially, after the saint's arrival, some villagers whose relatives or family members were suffering from chronic diseases went to seek his blessings. To their surprise, they found that soon after the blessings, their relatives and family members became healthy,' he added.
According to locals, when people started arriving in large numbers to meet the saint, he told them that he would provide a permanent solution to their problems.
'After this, the saint performed some puja in front of the hand pump, and told the villagers that its water would henceforth treat all their health problems,' said another local Devesh Kashyap.
Raees Ahmed, a native of the adjacent Kathaunda village, told IANS that his 10-year-old daughter, who was anaemic and was not able to walk and eat properly, was cured with the hand pump water.
'After partaking of the hand pump water in just two days she was able to stand on her feet and do all her normal work,' Ahmed said with relief.
Subdivisional Magistrate of Jalaun, Indra Pal Uttam told IANS: 'Yes, it's true that people irrespective of their religion are lining up before the hand pump to drink its water that, according to them, will treat their health disorders.'
'The therapeutic properties of the hand pump's water are still to be confirmed. However, if people continue to pour in such huge numbers it will become a challenge for the district administration to control them,'' he added.
(Asit Srivastava can be contacted at asit.s@ians.in)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
** India: Insecure & Unsafe
Emerging India: Insecure & Unsafe
Colonel Anil Athale
Rediff.Com
A student of military history would be justified in feeling a sense of deja vu at recent happenings. Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf [ Images ] disclosed that he used American aid not against terrorists but to bolster Pakistani capabilities against India. Our leaders then go ballistic and beseech the Americans!
Colonel Anil Athale
Rediff.Com
A student of military history would be justified in feeling a sense of deja vu at recent happenings. Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf [ Images ] disclosed that he used American aid not against terrorists but to bolster Pakistani capabilities against India. Our leaders then go ballistic and beseech the Americans!
Cut to April/May 1965 -- Pakistan used the Patton tanks against India in the Rann of Kutch -- we spend time and energy in taking photographs and again go to the Americans.
As in 1962, we seem to downplay Chinese intrusions -- not unlike the famous Nehruvian jibe about Aksai Chin that not a blade of grass grows there!
To cap it all is the recent disclosure by nuclear scientist Dr K Santhanam, that the May 1998 thermonuclear test was less than 100 percent successful has fuelled a much needed debate on our security and defence preparedness. Dr Santhanam is a scientist connected with India's nuclear programme and his views have to be taken seriously. Since 1998, India has openly shifted from 'defence' to 'deterrence' as cornerstone of its security policies.
India did not have much choice in the matter. In the decade of 1980s a reckless US supplied weapon systems to Pakistan (the F-16s) which in turn for the first time gave that country reach and bomb weight to pose a direct threat to Indian cities. Our nuclear reactors came under threat. Thus should Pakistan have so chosen it could target these and virtually 'nuke' India?
The critics of 1998 Pokhran II and an overt Indian nuclear posture to 'deter' this attack, ignore this reality. All that the 'Shakti' tests did was to go for overt in place of 'covert deterrence', itself a contradiction in terms. Ten years have passed and during this time these theories were severely tested and a comprehensive debate ought to be welcome.
While the attention of Indians and the world is focussed on the economic progress of our country, the age-old weakness of our civilisation -- the neglect of the security dimension, casts a long dark shadow on our future.
India is unique in several ways -- unlike other countries, in India ardent and idealist 'peace lobbies' are part of mainstream politics and not on the fringes as in all other countries of the world. In its 5,000-year-old history, India has produced treatises on virtually every subject on the earth, from astronomy, medicine to even sex, but we do not have a single major work on warfare or the art of war.
Time and again our use of war elephants was shown to be ineffective, yet we persisted in it.
We were the first to use war rockets in the 18th century, but never developed them to make them bigger, longer or more effective. Intellectuals stayed away from the war strategy and weapons.
We refused to change with the times.
In the nuclear age as well we seem to be repeating our dismal history. The new 'mantra' is minimum deterrence and second strike capability as panacea solution to face all threats. India went wrong in Kargil [ Images ] in 1999 when we realised that the proxy aggression 'used 'the nuclear umbrella while we lulled ourselves.
The 2002 Operation Parakaram in the wake of the attack on Parliament as well as our inability to react to the Mumbai [ Images ] attacks on 26/11 showed the limits of our retaliatory capability.
Through successful use of rhetoric and threats, Pakistan neutralised our conventional response.
Now over the last 10 years it has become an established pattern of behaviour on our part. Our strategy of retaliation with surgical strikes or the new strategy of 'cold start' remains moribund and ineffective for the enemy believes and rightly so, that we lack the will and wherewithal to implement it.
Our conventional retaliation strategy lacks 'credibility' and therefore is no deterrent. The issue is not of mere 'will' either. India lacks the overwhelming technological/numerical superiority to implement this. For instance, Israel has been successfully employing 'threat of retaliation' as a deterrent to proxy or terrorist threats. Israeli technical prowess makes it a credible threat and its past behaviour has established its will to act.
In 1773, the small kingdom of Thanjavur was threatened by the combined forces of the Karnataka nawab and the British. As enemy troops massed outside the city, the high priests of the famed Thanjavur temple assured the king that their 'mantra' was powerful enough to defeat the invaders, and went on to sprinkle the water sanctified by the 'mantra' to stop the invasion! Of course the 'mantra' failed and the kingdom was annexed by the British.
Today we have the high priests of nuclear strategy in Delhi [ Images ] similarly chanting the 'mantra' of no first use and minimum deterrence! Will the result be any different than at Thanjavur in the 18th century?
An analysis of why 'we are like that only' is necessary so that we can rectify this fatal flaw in our national psyche.
The Diagnosis: What ails Indian thinking on defence?
We are a peculiar nation that is obsessed with the 'eternal truth' while we ignore the 'practical' or the realistic world. Carl Jung, the Swedish psychologist visiting India about a century ago, had remarked about this and felt (as a Westerner) as if the whole country lived in a trance or maya or illusion.
Let me illustrate. It is a fundamental belief of Indians that there are no evil beings only evil deeds and fundamentally the atman or the soul is universal and part of the divine in all of us.
While this is so, yet there are evil individuals, for instance the terrorists who mercilessly killed hundreds in Mumbai or have been planting bombs in busy trains and markets. We have to deal with this evil ruthlessly. But what do the Indians do? We question every action of the police/armed forces, we have karuna or pity for the Mumbai terrorists.
The list of our foundational weaknesses is a long one. Here I would just mention it and leave the rest to the reader's imagination.
- We tend to think that security is the sole prerogative of the armed forces and police.
- Divorce between theorists and practitioners -- it is politically incorrect to think of national security in academia -- the British implanted a colonial mindset whereby Indians were kept out of this vital area. Even 62 years after independence this persists.
- The lack of strategic culture -- in case of nuclear strategy we have scientists as strategists -- like asking chemist to prescribe medicines (as many Indians do).
- Segmented approach to security -- armed forces kept away from decision making on the nuclear issue.
- Treating low intensity, conventional and nuclear conflicts in isolation and denying the linkages between them.
- Isolating defence industry/research from mainstream and colossal inefficiency of the bureaucratic structure of the Defence Research and Development Organisation empire.
- Source : Rediff
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