image : the BBC

President (non General ) Musharraf takes charge……again

Tags: , Musharraf, Pakistan

In the aftermath of the Mumbai Blasts there has been extensive coverage across all media. Most of it contradictory. Some of it ironical and reflecting the state of politics in India, where votes matter more than people

A day after the Uttar Pradesh police chief said raids were being conducted at hideouts of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) on suspicion of its links with the Mumbai blasts, the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party on Thursday virtually gave the outlawed group a clean chit, saying it was not a "terrorist organisation".

I wish that politicians of all hues and colours don’t have this terrrible need to open their mouth all the time. This is one of the things that we can learn from countries like the US and UK. In times of disaster or national calamity - their leaders present a unified front. Ours, gather like vultures near the dead. Today, while scanning through the news headlines my eye glanced this story:

Pakistan indicated that it was open to postponement of the Foreign Secretary-level talks, tentatively scheduled on July 20, in view of the ‘monstrous tragedy’ in Mumbai.

Well, I am not a hawk. I believe in peace and in dialogue and in negotiation, but I draw the line at this level of appeasement. And, for now - at a time like this - talks with a state like Pakistan is nothing short of appeasing terrorists and their masters. This time around India needs to put not just all talks on hold with Pakistan - atleast until that country is seen to do something tangible about the terror attacks in India, but also take some stringent action. Hit them where it hurts - not through arms but through economics and politics. I would really like to see the Government take some hard action. Stop all people to people contacts. Stop all trade. Stop all cultural exchanges. Stop all transportation to and from Pakistan. Stop all communication lines. Stop all sporting exchanges. Call on the extensive NRI population to do the same. Request friendly nations to do the same. Pakistan today needs to be treated the same way as South Africa was over 15 years ago. The world community is doing the people of Pakistan a disservice by continuing to talk to their Government. By behaving as though all is hunky dory with the way they behave. Economically, Politically, Culturally, and Socially isolate them, until the people of the country turn on their own state policies to change for the better. Every major urban terrorist attack that has emenated in India 15 years has clear Pakistani connections. So do 9/11 and 7/11. Yet, why is it that successive Governments across the world have problems taking a hard stance on Pakistan. Accept the fact that Pakistan is a terrorist state and deal with it accordingly. Hit them where it hurts. Sabre rattling in Kargil or Siachin is not the solution. A complete blockade might be. Finally, a little firm chat with Bangladesh to get its act in place may not be such a bad idea. I think that India needs to accept the fact that her neighbours are not really going to like her no matter what she does. They are going to envy us, they are going to be resentful of us. And nothing we say or do is going to change that. Our foreign policy should not be aimed at being liked but at being considered business like and no nonsense. Unfortunately successive Indian governments have looked at more how India is perceived by outsiders rather than what is good for country.

Technorati Tags: Mumbai Blasts, Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party, Pakistan, Pakistan is a terrorist state, Bangladesh

Tags: India, Mumbai, Pakistan, terrorism

…. is part of the syllabus for 11th standard students in Pakistan. It is truly quite …well, I am at a loss for words.
The poem:

Patient and Steady with all he must bear,
Ready to meet every challenge with care,
Easy in manner, yet solid as steel,
Strong in his faith, refreshingly real.
Isn’t afraid to propose what is bold,
Doesn’t confrorm to the usual mold,
Eyes that have foresight, for hindsight wont do,
Never back down when he sees what is true,
Tell it all straight, and means it all too.

Going forward and knowing he’s right,
Even when doubted for why he would fight,
Over and over he makes his case clear
Reaching to touch the ones who won’t hear.
Growing in strength, he won’t be unnerved
Ever assuring he’ll stand by his word.

Wanting the world to join his firm stand,

Bracing for war, but praying for peace,
Using his power so evil cease,
So much a leader and worthy of trust,
Here stands a man who will do what he must.

ROTFL, over and over again.
Truly funny. The worst minister in charge of education in India, Joshi, never put this kind of crap in the syllabus. Imagine an ode to Savarkar or Godse - in this vein. On the other hand, don’t.

Tags: Pakistan

yesterday’s earth quake in Kashmir once again proved how puny our advances our in comparison to nature’s fury. All that a couple of plates under did was adjust themselves and boom…. 18.000 peoople dead and still counting.

An neither the quake nor the Tsunami recognised human imposed borders and boundaries. Nor did they ask about religion or ethnicity. They just swept past leaving devestation in their wake.

I hope that we and our neighbours understand and appreciate the fragility of life and the ecosystem and come to terms with it and move on. And coexist in relative peace.

If you need any news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts after the Earthquake of October 8th, 2005 - go over to the South Asia Quake Help blog site.

Tags: Pakistan

… what ever that is supposed to mean, is gaining popularity world wide. In amchi Mumbai, the standard response to any calamity is ‘we need to deport all those Bihari’s and Bhaiyas from here. When crime goes up - the response is the same … get rid of the Northerners‘.

When terrorism strikes - the response is automatic - those damn Muslim Terrorists, they must all be sent off to Pakistan - little forgetting that 15 years ago it was Sikh Terrorists, and Tamil Terrorists. And till date it is also Telegu terrorists (just because we call them Naxalites doesn’t mean that they are less Telegu), and Assamese terrorists and Naga terrorsists and Gujarati Terrorists (what happened in Gujarat - post Godhra - was just as much terrorism as the mumbai bomb blasts, and just because they are Hindu doesn’t make them any less terrorists) . Infact every state & ethnic group has thrown up its set of terrorists at different points of time in our short history as a Nation State.

Getting rid of them is obviously a good idea - afterall, we all want to live in a peaceful world. But, how do we get rid of them. One option is ’shoot to kill’ but that is slightly dangerous given that you may end up shooting a Brazillian thinking that he is from the sub continent. or in our case shoot a white tourist thinking he is a fair Arab terrorist. Shoot the wrong person and you are in trouble. After all, in today’s day and age all nations are friends and how much ever you may find it irritating, as a government you have to take up the cause of one of your citizens shot dead by colour blind cops from another country, whose Pavlovian response to anyone different is to shoot them. ! Deporting them is obviously the other option. But, first you have to find them, then identify them accurately, and then deport them. You will be in deep trouble if you catch hold of a potential source of FDI and deport them by mistake.

But, who is them. And, who all do we deport, and where do we deport them to? Doesn’t nationality override ethnicity and religiousity. If it doesn’t, why do we call ourselves a Nation state?

I guess that these weren’t some of the questions considered by the UK home minister Charles Clarke- before he published his list of who can be deported. The UN has already called the expulsions illegal. So here we have one of the Defenders of Democracy acting as a rogue state - by committing illegal acts.

In an article in the Media Monitors Network, Yamin Zakaria comments on the new expulsion policy of the British Government:

“…deport the Muslims from UK, and in return Christian Anglo-Saxons should be expelled from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, America, Caribbean, South Africa, Zimbabwe .etc where they have not integrated, they have refused to learn the language despite living there for years, refused to accept the desirability of the indigenous peoples culture and practises, and have instead used violence and extremism, preached hate for their neighbour, totally destroyed “their way of life,” and abused their hosts’ hospitality.”

There is a lot of Yamin Zakaria’s work i don’t agree with - esepcially his position vis-a-vis women and equaility in the eyes of religion. And his seeming ability to defend terrorism. He is about as nice and enchanting as Pravin Togadia. But, if Togadia wrote something that was as witty and true as this, i would probably quote him too

I find it so hypocritical when the the Americans or the Australians talk about ‘foreigners’. With the Americans and the Australians - how can they even talk about ‘foreigners’ given that they committed genocide on indigenous people and took over their lands. Who isn’t a foreigner in those lands except for the indegenous people.

With the British, it is a different situation. Forget for a moment about colonisation - because to bring that up would take this post into another dimension. Just look at their approach regarding terrorism. Many moons ago, when i was living in London - someone came up to me in college and asked me to contribute money to kill an Indian soldier in jaffna. I was offended and complained. I was told that it is freedom of speech. If freedom of speech incites murder in someone else’s land it is ok. But, if the same freedom of speech incites murder in your own land it is obviously terrorism. I remember as a school student reading about the kidnapping and murder of Indian Diplomat Ravindra Mahtre in Birmingham by the JKLF. The British Government made noises about terrorism. But, JKLF practised its ideology in London without any issues. I remember Khalistani’s calling for war on India being allowed to spread their hate and send monies to India to unleash terror.

Today, when the groups that have been practising terror outside Great Britain are turning their attention inwards - it hurts. They talk about deportation. And where will they deport them - After nurturing their hate and allowing it to grow for so long, they will deport those who murder, and those who incite to murder back to us. And then impose sanctions on us - if our countries don’t allow them to practise hate.

It is a funny old world!

Tags: Middle East, Pakistan, US, World

President Musharraf, yesterday said that he ordered:

a travel ban on Mukhtar Mai to protect Pakistan’s image abroad. Gen Musharraf said Mukhtar Mai, the victim of a punchayat-ordered gang rape, was being taken to the United States by foreign non-government organisations “to bad-mouth Pakistan” over the “terrible state” of the nation’s women. He said NGOs are “Westernised fringe elements” which “are as bad as the Islamic extremists”.Musharraf said atrocities are perpetrated daily against women in developing nations round the world - “in Kashmir and many other places”.

“I don’t want to project the bad image of Pakistan,” he told the journalists’ club.

“I am a realist. Public relations is the most important thing in the world,” he said, adding that media misperceptions would discourage tourists from travelling to Pakistan.

Words fail me. They truly do.
What is it, about the nature of leaders in the sub continent that allows them to exhibit such callousness, display complete spinelessness, spout such gems and still keep their jobs (and heads)?

Tags: Pakistan, Society

Travelling around the Indian blogosphere over the last week or so, found a number of posts that were saying “No to Musharraf”. The banner goes - “you are not welcome evil dictator.” and ends with “you may find yourself in India, but it is not in my name”

Funnily this is the same set of bloggers who declared a semi constitutional crisis when Narendra Modi - the butcher of Gujarat - was denied a visa to the United States.

Peace with Pakistan, means dealing with whoever they have at the top. And President Musharraf is in control for now. And he seems a better bet than half the wahabized leaders that are sprinkled across the country. Atleast, Musharaf is predictable, and plays more or less by the rules.

I think that the Governments of India and Pakistan are playing out their own version of Realpolitik. Which seems to be a more sensible and development orientated strategy than all the mindless, patriotic posturing that both sides have indulged in over the last 50 odd years.

When President Musharraf comes to watch Pakistan lose to India on Sunday, he will find himself in India, in my name. And hopefully, the names of a lot of Indians who want peace and progress.
But, i still hope that India beats Pakistan on Sunday:)

Tags: Pakistan

In A Plea for Enlightened Moderation, President Musharaff - no less makes an impassioned plea - for, well, enlightened moderation. He says:

The world has become an extremely dangerous place. The devastating power of plastic explosives, combined with high-tech remote-controlled devices, as well as a proliferation of suicide bombers, has created a lethal force that is all but impossible to counter.

All of us in Mumbai remember the Mumbai blasts - where ordinary citizens of all faiths perished. Its’ perpetrators are sitting comfortable in Karachi and other Pakistani cities - maybe handing them over for trial would be an extension of his philosophy of enlightened moderation.

General Musharaf reveals

My idea for untangling this knot is Enlightened Moderation, which I think is a win for all — for both the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds. It is a two-pronged strategy. The first part is for the Muslim world to shun militancy and extremism and adopt the path of socioeconomic uplift. The second is for the West, and the United States in particular, to seek to resolve all political disputes with justice and to aid in the socioeconomic betterment of the deprived Muslim world.

Societies will shun militancy if Governments no longer make it convinient for violence to flourish in the state. One can no longer call for a Jihad in Kashmir or a Karachi against people who aren’t like you. Be those Hindu Pandits orMuslim Mohajirs. Pontificating on the ideal state and practising it, are really two different things.

For socio economic upliftment all sections of the society - especially women - have to have equal opportunities for education. Once they have acquired education, then employment has to be generated. for that industry has to exist. For industry, economics and society to flourish there needs to be a guarantee of basic rights and freedoms. Power is something that rulers of Islamic States have to devlolve back to the people - How many of you have the moral courage and the love of your nation to give up power.

Most of what General Musharaf says makes sense - and i hope for a change - it is the statesman looking to leave an enduring mark in history talking, not a conniving politician out playing to the gallery. The world can do with Good News, and if General Musharaf is even partly serious about what he has written about - he deserves full support.

Tags: International Occurings, Pakistan

There is a new book written by the French Author Bernard Levy called “Who Killed Daniel Pearl”.

His theory is that the ISI (Pakistani Secret Service) murdered him because he discovered the links between them and “Islamic” terrorists. (the reason why the term Islamic is in quotes is because i don’t believe that anyone who believes in any religon will go out and kill and murder)

He says that the ISI lured him into Pakistan, had him kidnapped and then murdered.

I am not fond of the ISI - it has created its share of misery in the subcontinent.

But, for all their faults they are not stupid. why would they have him murdered in their own back yard. easier to get him bumped off in Mumbai - where he lived and worked.

These kind of conspiracy theories scare the hell out of me. i can almost hear the tom tom drums - rogue state, murders, fundamentalists, threat to international peace and security, international oil pipeline……

almost as though the stage is set for another western intervention in another eastern state.

Tags: International Occurings, Pakistan