It is a trophy the Americans were waiting for long. When they got it ultimately, they did not carry it home. They preferred to dump it in the seas. The head of Osama bin Laden, on which the U.S. had announced 30-million dollar reward, did not come on a platter. It took many years to reach the Wanted Number One in the world. The U.S. had to suffer much at his hands. Starting from the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 to the attacks on Twin Towers in 2001 and the subsequent attacks on various U.S. establishments around the world, bin Laden had inflicted heavy casualties on his bitterest enemy. But, it is not vast number of supporters that made Osama the most dreaded jihadist. It is said that he had only a motley crowd of 30 men when he was expelled from Sudan under world pressure in the 90s. Even when he was tossed to the top of the wanted list, he had a core group only around 200 men. What made him a ‘successful terrorist’ was his ability to strike at selected American installations, a common target of many jihadist organisations.
However, when bin Laden was projected as the saviour of Muslims from infidels like the U.S., the Muslim world was not too eager to embrace him. This is made out from the fact that he was not a welcome guest in many Muslim countries like Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan and so on. He was smoked out from all these countries at some time or other. The fact that there weren’t many to shed tears for him in his most gruesome death speaks volumes about his unacceptability among the Muslim masses. Even the protests and prayers at Karachi and Kashmir could be more due to some local leaders of least consequence. Rather than the venom-spewing, hypocrite bin Laden, the Muslim world was looking for leaders who could liberate them from the despots ruling their countries. The uprising in many Muslim countries, starting from Tunisia and spreading to Egypt, Libya, Syria and many more, goes to prove that the U.S. is not the Enemy No. 1 of the Muslim world. They are up against their own rulers who have turned despots with little concern for the ordinary masses and their problems.
The daring raid at the hide-out of bin Laden also helped to unmask the most wanted terrorist and his ‘protector’ equally. The image of bin Laden as a jihadist living in most strenuous and arduous conditions in caves with dilapidated surroundings was blown to pieces when the U.S. commandos located him in a three-storied mansion close to a highly secured Pakistan Military Academy. It was a cosy life in the company of women and security men. Another mask that came off was the one worn by Pakistan which had been feigning ignorance about his whereabouts even as he was comfortably living under their very nose. No amount of explanation will help Pakistan wash its sins of commission and omission on Osama saga.
.However, when bin Laden was projected as the saviour of Muslims from infidels like the U.S., the Muslim world was not too eager to embrace him. This is made out from the fact that he was not a welcome guest in many Muslim countries like Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan and so on. He was smoked out from all these countries at some time or other. The fact that there weren’t many to shed tears for him in his most gruesome death speaks volumes about his unacceptability among the Muslim masses. Even the protests and prayers at Karachi and Kashmir could be more due to some local leaders of least consequence. Rather than the venom-spewing, hypocrite bin Laden, the Muslim world was looking for leaders who could liberate them from the despots ruling their countries. The uprising in many Muslim countries, starting from Tunisia and spreading to Egypt, Libya, Syria and many more, goes to prove that the U.S. is not the Enemy No. 1 of the Muslim world. They are up against their own rulers who have turned despots with little concern for the ordinary masses and their problems.
The daring raid at the hide-out of bin Laden also helped to unmask the most wanted terrorist and his ‘protector’ equally. The image of bin Laden as a jihadist living in most strenuous and arduous conditions in caves with dilapidated surroundings was blown to pieces when the U.S. commandos located him in a three-storied mansion close to a highly secured Pakistan Military Academy. It was a cosy life in the company of women and security men. Another mask that came off was the one worn by Pakistan which had been feigning ignorance about his whereabouts even as he was comfortably living under their very nose. No amount of explanation will help Pakistan wash its sins of commission and omission on Osama saga.
DR. Jacob Kani
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Profile
The Journey of Binayak Sen
From being a medical practitioner, activist and public health specialist, to a convict on charges of sedition, Dr. Sen is apparently a victim of false accusations and trumped up charges.
By Rajani.V.Aithal
The granting of bail to Dr. Binayak Sen by the Supreme Court gives hope that he might get justice in the end. He was arrested in May 2007 on the suspicion that he had served as a courier for Narayan Sanyal, an alleged Maoist leader, who is in Raipur jail. Prison records indicate that Dr. Sen had visited Mr. Sanyal several times in the jail. But he maintained that he had made the visits in his capacity as a doctor and secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties in Chhattisgarh. Last year, on December 24, the Raipur district and session’s court sentenced Dr. Sen, Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha and Narayan Sanyal to life imprisonment on the charges of conspiring to commit sedition and aiding the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Profile of Binayak Sen
Binayak Sen is a medical practitioner (pediatrician), public health specialist and activist and national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties. He started working as a pediatrician extending health care to poor people in the rural-tribal areas of Chhattisgarh. While Sen has worked with the state government on health sector reforms he has also strongly criticized the government on human rights violations during the anti-Naxalite operations, while advocating non-violent political engagement.
In May 2007, he was detained for allegedly supporting the outlawed Naxalites, thereby violating the provisions of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 (CSPSA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. He and his wife played key roles in the foundation of Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha's Shaheed Hospital which is owned and operated by a workers' organization and a community-based Non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Rupantar. He is also an advisor to Jan Swasthya Sahyog, a health care organization. Apart from this he has also written in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet (in its edition of 12 February 2011) where he talked about lack of basic amenities in the health care to the poor in India.
PUCL activist
As an activist he helped to organize numerous investigations into alleged human rights violations carried out during anti-Naxalite operations. These alleged violations included the murder of unarmed and innocent civilians by the anti-Naxalite movement Salwa Judum.
In an interview, Dr. Sen stated that he does not blame the naxalites but at the same time he does not approve of their violent methods and has several times spoken strongly about it. He has also expressed his opposition to the violent activities carried out by Salwa Judum, which he believes, would have created a split in the tribal community. According to him peaceful methods should be advocated such as negotiations to solve the problem.
He was the recipient in 2004 of the Paul Harrison award for a lifetime of service to the rural poor. This award is given annually by the Christian Medical College in Vellore to its alumni. He was also awarded the R.R. Keithan Gold Medal by The Indian Academy of Social Sciences (ISSA) on December 31, 2007 which described him as "one of the most eminent scientists" of India. "The award was given for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of science of Nature-Man-Society and his honest and sincere application for the improvement of quality of life of the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed people of Chhattisgarh." His "suffering and personal risk" would inspire scientists as well as the general public for a very long time, according to the citation.
He was also selected for the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights in 2008. The Global Health Council in its public statement said that Dr. Sen’s accomplishments is a proof about what can be achieved in very poor areas when health practitioners are also committed community leaders.
His trial times
On May 14, 2007, Dr. Sen was arrested in Bilaspur on the charges of acting as a courier between jailed Naxalite leader Narayan Sanyal and businessman Piyush Guha, also accused of having links with Naxalites. Sen had met the 70-year-old Sanyal 33 times in Raipur jail, though all the visits were with prior police permission. The Chhattisgarh police also reportedly relied on certain electronic documents to establish a link between Sen and Naxalites. The evidence presented against Sen included:
- A post card dated June 3, 2006, written by Narayan Sanyal to Dr. Sen from Raipur Central Jail, regarding his health and legal case, duly signed by the Jail authorities.
- A yellow coloured book "On the Unity between CPI and Maoist Communist Centre".
- A letter written by Madanlal Banjare of CPI (Maoist) to Dr. Sen.
- An article titled Krantikari Janwadi Morcha (Revolutionary People's Front) Vaishvikaran evam Bharatiya Seva Kshetra (Globalization and the Service Sector in India).
- Two articles titled "Naxal Movement, Tribals and Women's Movement" and "How to build an Anti-US Imperialist Front."
On May 15, 2007, Dr. Sen was presented before a local court where he was denied bail and was remanded to judicial custody. On May 18, he was produced in the Sessions Court, Raipur where in the Court ordered a search of Dr. Sen's house at Katora Talab in Raipur in presence of independent witnesses and his wife, Ilina Sen. The search was conducted lawfully the next day. His bail plea was again rejected on May 25, as the Chhattisgarh Police claimed that he was a threat to the security of the State. But the arrest led to the supporters of Dr. Sen organizing a series of rallies, in several cities including Raipur, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, London, Boston and New York. Various delegations of physicians and human rights activists met the Chief Secretary and the Law Secretary to appeal for Dr. Sen's release.
But there were people who did not want Dr. Sen to get the bail and they said that protestors were not well versed with the workings of Binayak Sen or the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad was given orders by the session court to analyze the content of Dr. Sen’s computer. On June 7, 2007, Dr. Sen's wife Ilina Sen wrote a letter to the National Human Rights Commission, stating that the couple's work "has always been in the public sphere and completely overboard [above board] for the last 20 years and more." According to her, the Chhattisgarh State has its own vested interests in identifying the victims and then building up false cases against them.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International sees the arrest of Dr. Sen as harassment of a human rights activist. It issued a call to the Government of Chhattisgarh to immediately release Dr. Sen, unless he could be charged with a cognizable offence. On June 7, 2007, the British House of Commons published an Early Day Motion entitled "Arrest of Dr. Binayak Sen" supported by several Members of Parliament across party lines, including Diane Abbott (Labour), Peter Bottomley (Conservative), John Hemming (Liberal Democrat), Dai Davies (Independent, Wales), Mike Weir (Scottish NP), among others.
Various views about Sen’s arrest
On June 9, 2007, the British Medical Journal published an article about Dr. Sen's arrest. Ramesh Gopalkrishnan of Amnesty International stated that the arrest of Dr. Sen was of criminal intent. According to him, in India activists are arrested all the time on such charges giving wide arbitrary powers to police. The report also stated that Dr Sen is a champion of peace and fair play and an internationally respected medical doctor who has devoted his whole life to peaceful service of the poor people and should be released immediately. Noam Chomsky and several other prominent figures issued a press statement dated June 16, 2007 alleging that “Dr Sen's arrest is clearly an attempt to intimidate People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and other democratic voices that have been speaking out against human rights violations in the state."
On June 20, 2007, a delegation from the PUCL met the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and objected to Dr. Sen being accused of supporting the Naxalites. The delegation insisted that Dr. Sen's visits to Narayan Sanyal were for the latter's "medical treatment" and these visits took place in Raipur jail, following procedures laid down in the jail manual.
The PUCL delegation also raised objections about the analysis of Dr. Sen's computer in the absence of his advocate and the independent court-appointed witness that they said could have offered the chance to tamper with evidence. The court had ordered on May 22, 2007 that both these observers should be present during the examination of Dr. Sen's computer. Nobel laureate economist and thinker Amartya Sen also criticized the verdict convicting Dr. Sen. He stated that instead of getting his due honor for his service, Dr. Sen had met with an unfortunate verdict.
Dr. Sen first applied for bail before the Raipur Sessions Court and then the Chhattisgarh High Court in July 2007, soon after his arrest. On August 31, 2007, the Supreme Court of India issued notice to the Chhattisgarh government on a petition seeking Dr. Sen's release from alleged illegal detention. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhan and V. S. Sirpurkar sought a response from the Chhattisgarh government after senior counsel Soli Sorabjee claimed that Dr. Sen was illegally detained since May 14 on fabricated charges of supporting Naxalites. But it was refused. On December 10, 2007, Supreme Court dismissed his bail petition. A Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhan and D K Jain refused to accept Dr. Sen's plea that he was only an activist of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and was in no way connected with the banned outfit CPI-ML. On the point that there was no evidence to suggest that he was involved in naxal activities, the Bench said: “You are emphasizing too much on PUCL. This does not mean that you are immune. This also does not mean you are not associated with banned activities."
Dr. Sen was kept in solitary confinement during the period from March 15 to April 11, 2008. The prison authorities stated that this was for his security. Dr. Sen's wife Ilina stated that he has been isolated from the world during his imprisonment, with access to only pro-government newspaper. On April 29, 2008, Human Rights Watch in New York issued a public statement regarding the trial of Dr. Sen due to begin in Raipur on April 30, 2008: “The district court’s limit of one supporter of the defendant at the trial is unnecessarily restrictive and raises broader concerns about the fairness of the trial."
The Global Health Council, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and several other prominent global health organizations issued a joint statement of support for Dr. Sen, requesting that Indian authorities allow the doctor to receive the Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights in person in Washington, D.C. on May 29, 2008, at the 35th Annual International Conference on Global Health.
The declaration stated: "We would also like to convey our concern and dismay that Dr. Sen remains imprisoned, after nearly one year without trial, on allegations that he passed notes from a rebel leader whom he treated in jail to a person outside the prison. Dr. Sen has denied all wrong doings and nothing in his character or history, as a dedicated community leader who has urged a peaceful settlement to this conflict for years, would support the accusations made against him. These allegations have not been substantiated or proven and have prevented Dr. Sen from providing his much-needed health services to the poor in his area, as well as his community leadership activities as an officer of the People's Union for Civil Liberties.”
Twenty-two Nobel laureates from around the world wrote to the President, the Prime Minister and the Chhattisgarh State authorities. They said Dr. Sen should be allowed to travel to the US to receive the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. “We also wish to express grave concern that Dr Sen appears to be incarcerated solely for peacefully exercising his fundamental human rights," the letter said. This is "in contravention of Articles 19 (freedom of opinion and expression) and 22 (freedom of association) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- to which India is a state party -- and that he is charged under two internal security laws that do not comport with international human rights standards," it added.
The trial against Dr. Sen began in the trial court in Raipur on May 30, 2008. On May 4, 2008, Supreme Court issued notice to Chhattisgarh government on his bail plea. It asked the state government to provide "best medical aid" to Dr. Sen, who is suffering from a heart ailment. On August 11, 2008, a second bail petition was filed in the Chhattisgarh High Court in Bilaspur. On 21st October, Dr. Sen made a public appeal and proposal for peace in South Bastar. He was granted bail on May 25, 2009 by a vacation bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Deepak Verma as his health conditions were deteriorating.
On December 24, 2010, the Additional Sessions and District Court Judge in Raipur, B.P. Varma, found Dr. Sen, Sanyal and Guha guilty of sedition for helping the Maoists in their fight against the state. They were sentenced to life imprisonment. Immediately after the sentencing, Dr. Sen's bail was revoked and he was taken back into custody.
He applied for bail on January 6, 2011 in Chhattisgarh High Court. His lawyer Ram Jethmalani argued for over two hours on January 24, and described the trial court verdict as one based only on police versions. An eight-member delegation of the European Union was present at the court during the hearing. The hearing continued on the next day and on February 9. However, the court denied bail to him. Dr. Sen then moved the apex court on February 10.
The Supreme Court, on March 11, issued notice to the Chhattisgarh government on his bail petition. A bench of justices H.S. Bedi and C.K. Prasad asked the State government to file its response within four weeks. On April 15, the Supreme Court granted bail to Dr. Sen after rejecting the sedition charge against him.
The final verdict is still pending and the case, including charges of sedition, will now come up in Chhattisgarh High Court. Dr. Sen reflected on the “hundreds of prisoners fighting charges of sedition in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere in the country.” Pointing to a recent statement in which Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily spoke of re-examining the sedition law, Dr. Sen said: “I hope we can break out of this colonial framework and work towards a free citizenry in a free country.”
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Analysis
Royal Wedding
A Media Overdrive
The more our media continue to concentrate on the privileged few, affluent and glamorous, the more it will rob the poor and dispossessed of their voice and image and fail to mirror the real stories that truly matter.
By George Plathottam sdb
A major media event of the past week was the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. There is hardly any newspaper, radio, television or social network across the world that did not cover the event prominently. The wedding and the frenzied build up towards it caused international media sensation, similar to the royal wedding of William’s parents three decades ago. But back then the public relied largely on television, radio and newspapers. Now, with the internet, social media and smart phones, things have ramped up several notches. Social media like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs did not exist at that time. Today they are part of our everyday lexicon. The wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 was watched on television by an estimated 750 million people, but the wedding of William and Kate is estimated to have had some two billion viewers. This was a major media event -- the first royal wedding of the internet era.
The media built up a systematic campaign preceding the royal wedding through all the possible means of communication. There was heightened activity particularly in the social networks, blogs, discussion boards and video image sharing sites. The romantic engagement, preparation and the wedding were like a classical fairy tale culminating in the marriage of a commoner with the Prince Charming -- a story with a happy ending. It had everything that would attract attention: romance, royalty, religion.
According to social media analysts, the topic of Wiilam-Kate wedding was featured across different social media venues. Social media reported a total of 21.5 million web hits globally on the wedding over the past six months up to the beginning of April. On April 27, there were more than 200,000 mentions of ‘Royal Wedding’, up 1,215% from the first of the month, as the approaching event fueled a flurry of discussion. As with most weddings, the bride captured more attention than her groom, with social media mentions of ‘Kate Middleton’ outpacing mentions of ‘Prince William’ by a big margin. On April 27, there were more than 64,000 global social media citations for ‘Kate Middleton’ compared to nearly 47,000 for ‘Prince William’. Sysomos data confirmed that the wedding is a global phenomenon since people participating in the network communication were not only from the UK but from the USA, Australia and many other parts of the world.
Surveys showed that the royal wedding was a big deal that created a lot of social media buzz. Audiences were much more engaged; the media was faster and more pervasive; and, companies were more aggressive, clever and informed as to how to market to a captive audience. Experian Hitwise, a media analysis group, reported that the term “royal wedding” has become the fifth most common version of “wedding” within search-engine rankings. Considering that “wedding” received almost 55 million global monthly searches, fifth place takes on new meaning. It is also interesting to analyze the conversations surrounding “royal wedding” to know better the public sentiment and, more importantly, find out who and what are being discussed.
Interest was particularly keen in the United States and Commonwealth countries, although Germany no way behind with screening the wedding live in 16 cinema theatres across the country. The wedding was viewed live in India, Pakistan as well as Malaysia and the Philippines, and there has been huge interest from China, Mexico and Brazil. Media analysis found an interesting comparison of how many folks are discussing “royal wedding”. According to Sysomos data, the US was far more intrigued with Kate Middleton than the UK (31% versus 12%, respectively.) In fact, the UK was more interested in their union and details of the royal wedding than anything else.
In 1923 the airing on radio of Prince Albert’s wedding was vetoed for fears that men in pubs would still be wearing their hats. There has been great change since then as the wedding of William and Kate would not only be televised to billions, but also streamed live on the internet to an even wider audience. There was wall-to-wall, immediate social media coverage of the wedding provided officially. Showing how it is internet-savvy, from the tweet which officially announced the engagement, the royal wedding fully accepted the fact that it is the first of its kind in the digital age. The British Monarchy took to the digital and social media realm enthusiastically. With a popular Flickr account, over 300,000 “likes” on Facebook (41, 000 on it’s first day), over 100, 000 followers on the Twitter account @bristishmonarchy, and 37, 000 subscribers to an official YouTube channel, the royals showed how well covered they are when it comes to social media.
The official royal wedding site had links to constantly updated videos on YouTube and photos on Flickr, in addition to frequent posts on Facebook and tweets on Twitter. The list of technological innovations the wedding ratcheted up was amazing. Within hours of the wedding, the soundtrack of the wedding was available on iTunes for download, yet another first.
The huge media presence and involvement to cover the event could itself be news. Hundreds of broadcasters from around the world set up cameras, studios and offices in London. More than 36 broadcast studios, including the BBC, Sky News, ABC, NBC, CBS and al-Jazeera, were there with their outdoor broadcast vans and other equipment, taking up so much space that part of Green Park had to be closed to the public. The BBC deployed at least 550 staff and about 100 cameras in Westminster Abbey and along the procession route to cover the wedding.
About 140 broadcast trucks set up in Green Park near Buckingham Palace and 48 television studios were purpose-built nearby in what is thought to be the largest outdoor broadcast ever seen. Teams of journalists came from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. CNN sent 50 of its staff to cover the event. The BBC, whose round-the-clock coverage was anchored by Huw Edwards at Canada Gate, had the biggest broadcast presence at a cost of £2m. Ed Stourton was the only journalist broadcasting live from within Westminster Abbey, providing commentary for BBC Radios 4 and 5 Live. Eurovision television made a live feed available to 62 broadcasters in Europe on the day, with a potential audience of 260 million.
Inside Westminster Abbey, seated beside the 1,900 guests, were 40 broadcast cameras, 12 still photographers and 28 reporters from national, international and regional media. There were an estimated 8,500 journalists, 6,500 of whom were officially accredited by the palace, for the wedding. There were more than 100 overseas broadcasting organisations, most of them from the US. Following special requests from a string of US networks, Buckingham Palace stayed lit up until 12.30 am, an hour and a half later than usual, so that the palace facade was illuminated as millions of Americans sat down for prime-time evening bulletins presented live from London. The US Networks began their coverage at 5 am on the east coast or 3 am on the west.
According to Nielsen, the global media measurement company, online media coverage of the wedding was "considerably higher" in America than in Britain. In addition, blogs, Twitter and Facebook generated a "greater volume of buzz" online in the US than on the other side of the Atlantic. "By any definition, this is a news story," says Mark Lukasiewicz, vice president of NBC News. "It is an unusual event, because events of this size don't happen that often. "We feel that, collectively, people are eager for a bit of a break from the tough news cycle we've been living in for the past few months, and the royal wedding will be a chance to focus on something that has a little bit of fun and pageantry, in the grand British style."
The royal wedding was marked by a grand mix of tradition and modernity. Horse driven carriages, Rolls Royce, Jaguar and Bentley cars, priceless heritage jewelry, custom-made shoes, made-to-measure suits, impressive British designer hats and wedding dress, the Westminster Abbey and the Buckingham Palace...it was the moment that people wanted not to miss, to be ever remembered as a historic event. For the millions of young people who followed the event, it was a first time experience as they did not witness the similar celebrity wedding of Prince Charles and Diana more than three decades ago. With unprecedented international real time coverage, especially through the internet and television, millions of viewers felt they were in reality participating in the events of the wedding as they unfolded.
Since the mid-19th century with the beginning of daily mass media, royal weddings have been public spectacles, and have been accompanied by a slew of merchandise, official and not. And to us who live in a digital age, it is a fact that however keenly we want to run away from it, like Francis Thompson’s ‘Hound of Heaven’, the royal wedding would follow us online. As one media critic pointed out, perhaps the most fitting image of the royal wedding, instead of being the traditional kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony, should have been of Kate and Will, clutching their mobiles, updating their relationship statuses on Facebook to ‘now married.’
The royal wedding has made people feel that the monarchy is back. In many ways it has managed a spectacular come back, re-connecting with subjects as well as admirers all over the world. Queen Elizabeth is not only one of the most respected figures in the world but is also the catalyst between generations. The huge number of youngsters cheering the Royal family on their route between the palaces and Westminster Abbey was probably the most impressive moment. It was a unique showcase of what true British heritage lifestyle is all about.
However, not everyone was impressed with the ubiquitous media coverage of the royal wedding. Among them was veteran newsman Dan Rather, who called the hoopla a "week of silliness in April." In an essay written for The Huffington Post, Rather argued that there are much more pressing matters that deserve the news media's attention. He wrote: “The next time you hear about another round of layoffs at a TV news division, the closing of a bureau, the decision not to cover a foreign story with full force, remember this week of silliness in April. ... The networks couldn't ignore the devastating storms that killed hundreds in the South, but you had the odd juxtaposition of that news being delivered by anchors sitting in front of Buckingham Palace. ...I have nothing against the royals or their wedding. It is a legitimate news story ... and if you are someone who finds this diversion interesting and exciting, then I think that's great. What bothers me is the hypocrisy. The idea that we can't afford to throw resources at an important foreign story, but can afford to spend this kind of money on a story like the royal wedding is just plain wrong.”
Media can hog the limelight on the celebrities and mega events at the cost of ignoring the grim stories of the poor and marginalized, those who have been stripped of their land, basic human rights and dignity. The more our media continue to concentrate on the privileged few, the powerful, affluent and glamorous, the more it will rob the poor and dispossessed, of their voice and image and fail to mirror the real stories and images that truly matter.
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Under the learning tree
University Syndicate Over-rules Judiciary
The refusal of the Syndicate of the Mahatma Gandhi University to approve the appointment of the new Principal of St. Dominic’s College, Kanjirappilly, in Kerala is a threat to Minority Institutions.
By Dr. Mani Jacob
It is well-known that the right to appoint a Principal of a school or a college is a central part of Minority Rights and it has been protected by numerous judgments of the High Courts and the Supreme Court. However, various State Governments and universities, in their own wisdom and discretion, continue to flout the right of the Minority institutions and reject such appointments.
A recent such case is the appointment of Dr. Sunnykutty Thomas, Principal of St. Dominic’s College, Kanjirapally, Kerala managed by the local Catholic Diocese. The Syndicate of the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam refused to approve this appointment at its meeting held on February 9 on the ground that St. Dominic’s College is not a Minority Institution.
According to the Syndicate, “Till the judgment in TMA Pai Foundation Vs. State of Karnataka (2002), the unit for the determination of minorities was the country as a whole. Accordingly the Central Government had designated Christians, Muslims etc as National Minorities. After the verdict in the eleven judges’ Bench in TMA Pai Foundation case, the legal position stands clarified that henceforth the unit for determining status of both linguistic and religious minorities would be the ‘State’. It follows that minorities will have to be identified afresh State-wise.
“Further the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its judgment in Bal Patil & another Vs Union of India & others (2005) has laid down the following criteria for State-wise identification of minorities.
“Minority as understood from constitutional scheme signifies an identifiable group of people or community who were seen as deserving protection from likely deprivation of their religious, cultural and education rights by other communities who happen to be in majority and likely to gain political power in a democratic form of Government based on election.
“As per the above, a minority community which qualifies for special protection under Article 30(1) is one which satisfies the following criteria:
1. It should be numerically less than the majority;
2. It should be identifiable as a community with distinctive features;
3. It should be seen as deserving protection from likely deprivation of its religious, cultural and educational rights;
4. Such deprivation should be traceable to the likely intervention of those communities who happen to be in a majority and likely to gain political power in a democratic form of Government based on election.”
The syndicate which is largely dominated by groups politically hostile to the Christian community went on to promulgate its new version of Minority Rights, which needs to be noted, more to understand the devious thinking behind it and the pervasion of the Fundamental Right inherent in Article 30 of the Constitution.
The Syndicate continues: “The Hon’ble Supreme Court has made it clear that affluent communities are not entitled to protection under Article 30 of the Constitution, even if they are numerically in a minority. Minority Rights are a part of the right to equality. Article 30 is only a protective umbrella against possible deprivations of fundamental rights and religious freedom of religious and linguistic minorities. Special protection may be conferred on communities which are numerically less than the majority in order to offset the numerical disadvantage vis-Ã -vis majority community to give practical applicability to the concept of equality. In other words, special protection is required for the achievement of equality between majority and minority communities. Positive discrimination is permissible. But there can be no reverse discrimination, as held by the majority judgment in TMA Pai Case. It follows that minority rights cannot be conferred mechanically on numerical considerations alone. Other relevant considerations like the socio-economic status of the communities in question have to be considered before special privileges are conferred on any particular community.
“The petitioner belongs to Christian denomination. In Kerala, Christians constitute about 20 per cent of the population and therefore numerically speaking Christians are in a minority. The community may also have a distinct cultural identity which distinguishes it from the majority community. But the claim to minority status would fail on the application of the test of deprivation of educational rights. As a percentage of population, Christian community has proportionately more educational rights. As a percentage of population, it is more educationally advanced than the majority community in the State. It is clear that numerical disadvantage has not resulted in any educational deprivation of the community. Educationally, Christian community in the state is not a deprived minority, but a dominant minority. The community therefore does not qualify for special protection in establishing and administering educational institutions. By the same token, institutions run by Christian sects in Kerala cannot be regarded as minority educational institutions deserving special protection under Article 30(1) of the Constitution.”
For the reasons cited above, the Syndicate did not approve the appointment of Dr. Sunnykutty Thomas selected by St. Dominic’s College for Principalship.
This specious arguments contained in the above paragraphs render the education achievements of the Christian community, a penalty for its hard work during the last hundred years or so, to set up schools and colleges by donating land and raising internal contributions. If at all a section of the community has attained a certain level of affluence the majority still remains poor and deprived. Many of the children are unable to go for higher studies.
Nowhere in Article 30 of the Constitution it is mentioned that the minority community should remain a deprived group to be eligible for the Constitutional right. By that standard the Parsis who are economically at the highest level cannot deserve the minority rights. Another fact to be noted is that the Christian schools and colleges in Kerala are educating not only the children of their community but of all communities irrespective of caste and creed.
When St. Dominic’s College approached the High Court, it ordered that the new Principal can carry on with his functions until the final verdict in the case is delivered. This may usually take at least five years and meanwhile the uncertainty and confusion will prevail in the college and university relationships.
Minority ScholarshipsThe Ministry of Minority Affairs has been subjected to taunting and tail-twisting for its insignificant contributions to Minority welfare. It has also come under heavy fire for the positions taken on the minority status of the Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia at various stages. But during the last two years under the leadership of the Union Minister Salman Khurshid, the Ministry has applied itself to vigorously implementing the Prime Minister’s New 15-Point Programme for the welfare of Minorities, an important component of which is the scholarships for Minority students -- pre-metric and post-metric.
In the beginning of the academic year, many students may not know about minority scholarships and it is the duty of the heads and teachers of minority institutions to advertise the scholarships and encourage them to apply for them. At the risk of being repetitious we are reproducing below some important information which can be conveyed to our student and parents, so that the maximum number benefits from this substantial support for learning. The Principals and Managers are advised to take note of the following and entrust a few diligent teachers with the duty to implement the programme. Kindly note:
· Application process is on since April 15, 2011;
· Applications for new scholarships may be submitted online till September 10, 2011;
· For renewal of scholarship, application submission deadline is December 31, 2011;
· After forwarding online application, its printout with enclosures to be submitted to respective institution;
· Reply to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) available on the homepage of scholarship website;
· Students are advised to go through the FAQs before filling up & submitting applications on line;
· In case of any difficulty, contact respective nodal officer of State/UT whose address/Tel. No./e-mail address is available on website. Please click ‘list’ button on homepage for this.
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A different look
Spineless Defenders of God
God is all powerful and doesn’t need any one to defend Him and His teachings; particularly by spineless hypocrites!
By Varghese Alengaden
Every religion has a section of fundamentalists who act as self-appointed defenders of God. They not only condemn progressive efforts to renew age-old religious practices but attack, tooth and nail, those who promote new ideas and experiment with innovative ways to make religion more humane and relevant to the context. History is replete with the murder of prophets and sages accused of blasphemy and disregard of tradition.
Jesus was accused of blasphemy and treason. Why? He launched a spiritual movement and called people, including priests and chief priests, to convert themselves to a new set of values. He simplified religion and made God available to everybody without need for expensive rituals. He exposed the hypocrisy of the ‘priestocracy’ and immorality of those who preached morality. He asked his followers to worship God in truth and spirit instead of in traditional temples and synagogues. The very existence of the priestly class was threatened by his new spiritual movement. They succeeded in murdering him by hanging on a cross.
The spiritual Movement which Jesus launched, influenced hundreds of lives. The ambitious Roman emperors who suppressed the new spiritual Movement and murdered those who promoted it, later posed as its defenders. They did this to protect their political interests. The prophets who stood against such politicization and commercialization of the spiritual movement were murdered. Marriage between the Church and the State provided power to the church leaders as well to punish those who criticized them and disobeyed their orders. Over the years hundreds of prophets were condemned as heretics and burnt alive.
In modern times, punishment like burning alive is not possible. Excommunication is also rarely used. However, humiliating transfers, deprivation of the necessary facilities of life, prohibiting creative activities and above all condoning character assassination through false allegations and gossip, are the means used by the modern day ‘priestocracy’ to silence and kill the prophets.
Fundamentalist groups in every religion are blind to any reason and disrespectful of any logic. They are actually ignorant of the basic principles of religion which they pretend to protect; how do the ‘defenders’ of God and religion justify the violence and destruction of both human and material wealth? Does God permit burning places of worship? Raping helpless women and murdering innocent children? The tragedy is that these self - appointed defenders of God and moralists commit these crimes after offering worship to their gods in their holy sanctuaries!
Making false allegations against genuine persons who sincerely practice and promote the values of the Kingdom, is a heinous crime and a sin. These allegations are made by gossip mongers without any basis and through anonymous letters, quoting scripture and dogmas! Writing anonymous letters to tarnish the image of genuine persons is a cowardly and heinous act. Prophetic persons who defend God and his kingdom are fearless to fight the battle face to face, owning responsibility for every word they say. It is tragic that anonymous letters and gossip are taken seriously by those who are in authority and often action is taken against innocent persons without verifying facts.
The self-appointed defenders of God and morality among priests and religious are not burdened by their conscience when they pay twenty to thirty lakh rupees as bribe in cash, to get a seat for their members in a private medical college. Where and how do they account for such large sums of money? In their eagerness to get recognition for their schools and colleges, priests and nuns see no sin in paying large sums of money as bribe. How do they apply the provisions of moral theology and spirituality in such situations? Why do the moralists and defenders of God use various ways of evading tax to the government and bribe the auditors to hide the manipulations? These defenders of God ignore these serious crimes while they level allegations against others of neglecting meaningless rituals and pious devotions. Some of the high priests zealously declare fatwa against saints who have proved their authenticity by their words and deeds. Yet they carry out their numerous rituals with a self righteous attitude to worship God while betraying His essential teachings.
Anonymous letters and gossip are signs of cowardice and hypocrisy. When these are loaded with unchristian allegations, far from truth, they become crimes which will not be forgiven because they are committed by self-appointed defenders of God. To top it all, how can such spineless moralists who do not have the courage and honesty to acknowledge what they say or write, defend God and his kingdom? Perhaps they forget the truth that God is all powerful and doesn’t need any one to defend Him and His teachings; particularly by spineless hypocrites!
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Spring time
Life can be eternal Spring
We should not expect that life will not have its shadows and rain. But, the underlying theme in our lives will be one of spring
By Janina Gomes
The trees turn green and are heavy with blossom. The grass turns into a lush green turf. Birds twitter and chirp in the trees. The fragrance of Jasmine and other flowers fill the air with a heady odour. Spring time is here. We are into another cycle of the seasons.
Life renews itself. Life is ever new. The different moods of other seasons are transformed. Can we then say that Life is eternal spring? Yes, we can. Because, the summer heat, the autumn shedding of the old and the dark pall of winter are all subsumed into one underlying season, that of spring.
Translated into human experience, this means that we refuse to be scorched, when the heat of circumstances tend to burn us. We do not give up when the time has come to shed our past, our bad experiences and our past baggage. And when we are covered by a pall of gloom, we know that lurking behind the darkness are the seeds of new life.
Life can be eternal spring, because we can get the upper hand of life. That often means that we have to start looking around us with a new vision and new eyes. We live and proclaim hope, the kind of hope that triumphs over all circumstances.
When we are hit on the chin, we continue with grit and determination. We gather up our forces and we face life with courage and determination.
Spring has also a lot to do with peace and quiet. We experience a deep peace that does not get shaken by the way the outside world may treat us. Just as the birds sing jumping from branch to branch, we make our life a song -- a song of wonder, gratitude and love. We do need others to sing this song. That is why we connect with nature and human beings. We sing in harmony and in melodies which are ever new.
We make life eternal spring when we let go of negativity and memories of unhelpful encounters and acrimonious relationships. Yes, life is all these things and more. But, again and again we will find, that finally we touch base with spring.
There was a time in my life, when I awaited the first blooms of the Easter Lily to appear. In the fresh blooms, I saw a reflection of my own life. Now I look for the blossom in all stages and seasons of my life.
The contrast between winter and spring, when there is a thawing of all old forms of life, and the hidden seed that has hibernated below the ground appears as the first tiny green shoots, is similarly a part of our lives. We let go off all the experiences we have been scarred by and open our hearts and our hands to receive the gift of new life.
A painting I have of Flora heralding the spring is one that speaks to me. Spring has a feminine side to it. It is associated with flowers and beauty. It announces the start of a new season of hope.
It does not matter how old and incapacitated we are. Life can yet be eternal spring. We can make our lives fulfilling and happy. We can spread the joy of living to others. We can try always to instill positive emotions and energy into our lives and that of others.
And so, we awaken to each new day with fresh hope and fresh courage. Listen to nature. Learn from the trees in blossom and the flowers in bloom. Let the birds in your life become messengers of hope. And spread your sunshine wherever you go.
Take each day into the palm of your hand. Fill it with positive energy and love. You will find that every day life itself is a lesson. We are meant to surmount obstacles and live victoriously. No one has said that life will be easy. We should not expect that life will not have its shadows and rain. But, the underlying theme in our lives will be one of spring. Wake up and look all around. Everywhere you will find that spring is omnipresent and eternal.
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Reality check
A Heart with Compassion
It’s the story about a woman who gives educational help to 450 poor and hapless children in a nondescript village in Uttar Pradesh, bordering Delhi.
By Sudhansu Digal
A moderate accommodation with three rooms and a parlour near Nithari village in Noida of Uttar Pradesh, bordering Delhi. It is here about 450 students from Classes 1 to 10 get help in their studies for no payment of fees. The students are all from poor families for whom getting tuition on payment is inconceivable.
It is the commitment and dedication of Mrs. Nadira Rajak that made such a venture possible. Mrs. Rajak started her career as a government employee in the Railways. Soon she got disenchanted with her work. She wanted to do something better. She wanted to do something more meaningful which would help the hapless in the society. Hence she resigned from her service.
She started teaching destitute children from nearby areas who could only dream of a school. They did not have the financial support to go to any educational institution. She was not running a school in its true sense, but she was imparting education to those who could not get it. Neither was she running a coaching centre for she was not charging any fee. But she was helping children to learn without getting any remuneration. It was in the year 2000 that she had taken this small step.
In 2003, along with some likeminded people she got a Trust registered under the name Saksham. Now it is this Trust which runs the centre with the help of some people who pitch in with money and manpower though in a small way.
Seeing her dedicated work, more parents from nearby areas started to send their children. Presently, the number of students attending various classes is around 450.
Among the students, those studying from Classes 3 to 10 are regular school-goers. They come to the centre after returning from their respective schools. They spend rest of their time in Saksham with Mrs. Rajak and other teachers.
Since the space available cannot accommodate so many children at a stretch, Mrs. Rajak divides the students into different groups as per their standard. For each group she appoints a teacher.
The teachers too do not come here only for money. They get less payment compared to those working in professional tuition centres. But they too share the vision and values of Mrs. Rajak. They get the satisfaction of doing something for the poor.
Elucidating her vision, Mrs. Rajak says: “Even though I get nothing in comparison to my labour, yet I’m satisfied. Because I’m doing something for the needy. This is my satisfaction. There is nothing more than this”.
It is this zero expectation that makes her run the centre well. She does not get any major help from any corner. Even though she gets no financial benefit from the government or any major donor organisation, yet her passion for humanity and willingness to serve the needy doesn’t fade. How wonderful is her spirit. It’s rare to see such people.
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Cover story
Death of Osama
End of Bin Ladenism
Muslims world over were never on Osama bin Laden’s side. In fact, he caused only harm to his community. If terrorism got an “Islamic” suffix, Bin Laden was mainly responsible for it.
By A.J. Philip
The scene from atop the World Trade Centre in New York was simply breath-taking. The colossal sculpture on Liberty Island appeared tiny from that height. It was the high point of our visit to the US. The previous day, my wife and I were introduced to a lady who worked at the WTC when we attended the Sunday service at the Epiphany Mar Thoma Church in New York.
Her marriage had broken down with her husband shifting to his girlfriend’s home for good, leaving her and her children to fend for themselves. He wanted a quick divorce so that he could marry again, but she won’t allow that. Let him stew in his own juice, she vindictively thought. Legally, they were still wedded.
A few weeks later, on September 11, 2001, when the twin WTC towers were brought down by terrorists, she was one of the nearly 3000 people killed. All the relatives of the victims got huge compensations from the state. One such beneficiary was her estranged husband. Nothing could be more tragic than what befell the poor lady, who struggled hard to bring up her children without any support from her husband.
I was shocked when I heard about her tragedy a few days after 9/11. I wondered what she and others who perished had done to merit this gruesome end. Justice finally caught up with Osama bin Laden, who had masterminded the attack which would have been catastrophic if the two other planes involved in the attack had hit their targets – the Pentagon and the White House. Again, had the towers been hit an hour or so later when they would have been swarming with people, the casualty figure would have been much more.
Providence was definitely not on Bin Laden’s side that day, though it was done in His name. Among the victims were Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Jews, agnostics and atheists. Providence was, again, not on his side when on May 2, four US helicopters flew from Afghanistan to Abbottabad in Pakistan, less than 80 kms from Islamabad, with information that he was hiding in a fortified $1-million mansion.
It took the raiders all of 40 minutes to ferret out Bin Laden, shoot him at close range and carry away his body to be “buried” in the sea. Of course, it would have been a better option to catch him alive, try him at the International Court of Justice and give him just deserts.
The image of Osama I had in my mind was that of a bearded, fiery leader fighting the US army in the mountains of Afghanistan. Why this image got stuck in my mind was because of the video tapes that the Al-Qaeda used to release now and then showing Bin Laden clutching at his AK-47 or aiming at his target.
Far from fighting shoulder to shoulder with his cadres, Bin Laden had been leading a comfortable life with his fifth wife and children in a three-storied building so close to a military academy that it is difficult to believe that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI had no clue about his stay there. Here was a leader who encouraged suicide missions enjoying creature comforts! And from the accounts available so far, he did not even fight when the US forces surrounded him that night.
Was Bin Laden any different from Saddam Hussein, who instead of fighting the “invaders”, hid in a rat-hole to save his skin, until he was smoked out, arrested, tried and punished? Is it any wonder that the Arab streets remained peaceful after his killing? Of course, there were some prayers for Bin Laden at Karachi in Pakistan and Kashmir in India. However, conspiracy theorists continue to harp on the lack of photographic evidence of his killing but they, too, know that he will never again walk on this earth.
Pray, what did he give the Muslim world? He preached violence. He had a warped understanding of religion. That is why, following 9/11, he declared that "this war is fundamentally religious. Under no circumstances should we forget this enmity between us and the infidels. For, the enmity is based on creed”. Of course, he had a list of grievances against the Western world.
However, the starting point is not the creation of Israel or the invasion of Afghanistan by the erstwhile Soviet Union, as many would seem to believe. In his own words: "Following World War 1, which ended more than 83 years ago, the whole Islamic world fell under the Crusader banner". So, his fight was to restore the Ottoman Empire to its pristine glory. How? Let’s look at a recent development.
When the Hamas won the 2006 elections in Palestine, one of its first acts was to replace the PLO flag flying over the Palestinian Parliament with its emerald-green banner heralding: "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet". Had Bin Laden been a choice, he would have replicated this model on a global scale.
Alas, Muslims were not on his side. In fact, he caused only harm to his community. If terrorism got an “Islamic” suffix, Bin Laden was mainly responsible for it. In all the terrorist killings attributed to Al-Qaeda, an overwhelming majority of the victims were Muslims. And what did he promise them? He promised them that he would liberate Muslim countries from the clutches of invaders and dictators.
But then, it was primarily because of him that Afghanistan was invaded by the US. Bin Laden had no problem cavorting with the US when he was fighting against the erstwhile USSR which had occupied the land-locked nation. If the US dared to breach Pakistan’s sovereignty to catch him dead or alive, it was, again, because of his presence at Abbottabad. In other words, he was a (the) problem for the Muslims.
If a Saudi newspaper report is to be believed, Bin Laden was betrayed by his Egyptian deputy, who has been trying to control Al-Qaeda. If anything, this means that his writ did not even run in the organisation he founded. There are many who believe that Al-Qaeda is not a monolithic organisation and it has several units which are independent in many respects. What they do not realise is that for any outfit to succeed, it should have a leader who can unite.
Bin Laden had certain qualities which united his cadres under his leadership. An Egyptian or a Pakistani or an Indonesian would not be able to instil confidence the way this Arab from Saudi Arabia could do. His death is, therefore, a body blow to Al-Qaeda.
As mentioned, only a small minority of Muslims were influenced by his thinking and preaching. Had the US offered Bin Laden’s body to any country which was prepared to accept it, none would have come forward. One only has to recall what happened to the bodies of the Pakistani terrorists killed in Mumbai in 2008. The Muslims of Mumbai refused to bury their bodies in their graveyard. No Muslim priest was even willing to offer prayers for them. Finally, the police had to persuade the Muslims to bury them in one corner of a graveyard.
Surely, he would have known what awaited him after his death. Even during his lifetime, the Muslims realised the irrelevance of his ideology. He fought a war against the US, which remains a favourite destination for the educated young in Muslim countries. The visa-seekers at US embassies the world over include a fair sprinkling of Muslims.
What’s more, the US today has a President whose middle name is “Hussein”. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States, not just among the blacks. Unlike in India where the Sikhs were killed in large numbers because Indira Gandhi’s assassins were Sikhs and Christians were persecuted in Kandhamal in Orissa because of rumours spread by vested interests that Swami Lakshmananda’s killers were “Christians” when, actually, they were Maoists, not one Muslim in the US was attacked in the wake of 9/11.
Bin Laden’s theory that the US was “Satan” did not have many takers. Despite Al-Qaeda’s best efforts, it could not replicate anything of the order of 9/11. Probably, its time had come and gone. No one knew this better than the Muslims themselves. Now, let’s recall what happened during the last few months.
Bin Laden wanted Sharia to rule the world. In his perception, the modern secular state is based on the negation of the sovereignty of God. Consequently, the state and not God has become the source of ethical law. Nor did he want democracy because it is the will of the people, not God that prevails when votes are taken and counted. Besides, it is a Western invention. “Its emphasis on freedom and tolerance produces social decay and licentiousness” (The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria).
He also did not approve of dynastic and dictatorial rule that many Muslim countries were subjected to. In Egypt, Islamic fundamentalists had been struggling to liberate the country from the clutches of Hosni Mubarak. Every such attempt evoked repressive action from the ruler. Bin Ladenism did not work. Then what happened?
Tunisia, a small Muslim nation in Africa showed the way. A self-immolation on December 17 last year sparked a chain of events that led to the ouster of long-time President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, 28 days later on January 14. Taking a cue from Tunisia, the people of Egypt came out on the streets forcing Mubarak to quit office and hand over power to the army as a stop-gap arrangement till elections are held.
The revolution has spread to Syria, Yemen and Libya with varying degrees of success. But the point to be noted is that in none of these revolutions was Osama bin Laden’s name mentioned or his poster shown. He was no longer a rallying force.
In Delhi a Muslim MLA who captured headlines in the Press by pasting walls with posters of Bin Laden in his constituency a few years ago preferred to remain silent in the wake of his killing. Eyebrows were raised when the Imam of Jama Masjid virtually justified 9/11 on the ground that it was the US attitude that evoked such a response. He, too, did not have anything to say about Bin Laden’s death. The only exception was Kashmiri leader Syed Geelani, who tried to organise a prayer meeting.
When the video tape showing Bin Laden gloating over the “success” of 9/11 was shown, the Saudi Monarchy’s most articulate spokesman Prince Bandar Bin Sultan had this to say: “The tape displays the cruel and inhuman face of a murderous criminal who has no respect for the sanctity of human life or the principles of his faith”.
I began this article with a reference to my visit to the World Trade Centre. And it would be appropriate to conclude this column with an anecdote. When the news of 9/11 reached me, I was about to leave the Indian Express office, having prepared the edit page and sent it to all the centres. When the first aircraft hit one of the towers, I thought it was an accident. But when it was followed by another, I was certain that it was the handiwork of a terrorist outfit.
But it took some time to piece together all the reports and form a definite opinion. The phone started ringing from centres as far away as Kochi and Ahmedabad asking for the edit page, as I had alerted them that a fresh page with an edit on 9/11 would soon reach them. But by the time I finished the editorial, all my colleagues had gone home. I asked P. Jain, a “secretary” who treated the edit page as his second home, to go through the piece and look for any typos.
It was a matter of great satisfaction that the IE was one of the few newspapers which had an edit on the subject the next day. And my happiness was doubled when the same edit was published again on the first anniversary of 9/11 by when I was no longer with the IE.
(The writer can be reached at ajphilip@gmail.com)
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Cover story
Beginning of a New Age?
More often than sometime, what appears as a mere coincidence proves to be a watershed.
History seems to readjust and what we
thought was impossible begins to unfold before our very eyes.
BY Rajendra Prabhu
| T |
he best comment I have read about the killing of Bin Laden is what Robert Cohen wrote in the New York Times. “Osama bin Laden is dead -- and so is an old Middle East. That they died together is fortuitous and apt.” Cohen is an author of such provocative reportage like Soldiers and Slaves and Hearts Grown Brutal and one of the most experienced foreign correspondents and columnists for International Herald Tribune and New York Times who has traveled extensively in the Middle East and in many hot spots like Bosnia and Iraq.
“Bin Laden propelled history backward to the re-establishment of a Muslim caliphate. He died a marginal figure to the transformation fast-forwarding the Arab world toward pluralism and self-expression,” he pointed out.
More often than sometime, what appears as a mere coincidence proves to be a watershed. History seems to readjust and what we thought was impossible begins to unfold before our very eyes. Some generations are lucky to see both facets of change.
Go back to the 80s. Marx seemed destined to rule the world. Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba and entire Eastern Europe were painted red. Then in Communist Poland where atheism was the ruling doctrine, the workers in the shipyard of Gdansk struck work kneeling and praying. That little spark was smothered. In 1980s those who visited Berlin and saw the massive concrete and steel wall dividing a historic city never believed that the wall will come down. But at the end of the decade the little spark from Poland had spread across Eastern Europe. And one by one in the so called proletariat dictatorship, the workers themselves unarmed toppled the communist applecart and the wall came down despite its steel wires and landmines.
In the Soviet Union, the Church suppressed for 75 years under the atheist doctrine of Marx came back and the Soviet Union melted away and Leningrad became St. Petersburg once again. In China, the Marxian economics was replaced by the market economy. In 1984 in Moscow, in 1988 in Berlin I never thought the system will change so early and the Wall will crumble. In 1992 in Berlin as I wandered over what once was the Wall, I was told even the last pieces of that wall had all been sold off as a souvenir to American tourists.
We thought Cuba will not give in and in the 90s when Pope John Paul II visited Havana and held a huge mass in the open ground, he called for political freedom for the people. Fidel Castro smiled but did not give in. The other day we read the report from Havana where Fidel is ill and his brother Raul has taken over and has announced that a million people in the public sector will be sacked, people will be allowed to have mobile phones and own small shops and private sector would be reintroduced at least as a token. As in other communist countries, there is a little hole in the iron curtain and then inexorably the political structure comes down.
Bin Laden opposed the Middle East despots as much as any democrat would do. He had used religion as an ideology to inspire the decade long struggle of Afghan people against the Soviet occupation. The Americans were to regret supporting him when later he realized the potential of religion to achieve many political aims. Out of that he developed the vision of a pan-Islamic world that would be capable of driving America out of Middle East and elsewhere, throw the Israelis into the sea and enable his people to return to pure Islam as envisaged in the Muslim Holy Books. He was opposed to the Middle East despots from his country’s Saudi royals to Egypt’s Mubarak and others. They would go once the people were firmly convinced that back to “pure” Islam would end all their agony but America was the real devil that stood behind the Ibn Sauds, King Abdulla and Hosni Mubarak and others.
The Caliphate Bin Laden envisaged was not a democracy. It would be some sort of a Philosopher King who is there only to enforce the Islamic tenets and all sort of compulsion was justified in enforcing it. The Taliban regime in Kabul in the 90s was the example to be followed: no schooling for girls, women would be obedient wives and mothers, any deviation would be met with all the barbaric punishments prescribed in the Holy Texts. It would be a return to the seventh century environment with the clerics holding the choice between life and execution. No TV and other sources of entertainment -- in any case most Madrasas would not allow TV within their precincts.
Bin Laden knew he could ride on the wave of orthodoxy that was sweeping the Islamic world including Islamic communities in secular countries like India. He had only to demonstrate that America was not invincible and then there would be a swing in his favour with Muslim masses rising in revolt against entrenched order and governments and non-Muslim populations would tremble. The US failure in countries like Lebanon and Somalia strengthened his vision and convinced him that America could be brought to its knees.
In a very rare interview he gave to American reporter, John Miller in 1998 in Afghanistan where he was protected by the Taliban regime, Bin Laden said: “Our battle with the Americans is larger than our battle with the Russians… We predict a black day for America and the end of the United States as United States and that they will retreat from our land and collect the bodies of their sons back to North America….
“We are sure of our victory against Americans and the Jews as promised by the Prophet…..That day shall not come until the Muslim fights the Jew, when the Jew will hide behind trees and stones, and the trees and stones will speak and say: “Muslim, behind me is a Jew, come and kill him…..”
Justifying terrorism, Bin Laden told Miller in the interview that Americans were the real terrorists and therefore it was right to use terror against them. “We do not worry about American opinion and the fact that they places on our heads. We as Muslims believe our fate is set”. The text of the interview is available in Miller’s book “The Cell” co-authored with two other investigative journalists. Many of us have wondered how the terrorists trained and sent to place bombs in airliners and crowded places ignore the consequences of their action on innocent civilians. In bin Laden’s warped mind “what we consider to be terrorism is simply the amount of violence required to get the attention of American people….. We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians, they are all targets in this fatwa.”
All that the al-Qaeda chief needed to achieve his grand vision was to demonstrate how the United States could be brought to its heel by his men. That was achieved with the 9/11 event when the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and parts of the Pentagon were destroyed by a handful of his followers. IT certainly convinced a good part of the Islamic world that if the most powerful “Christian” nation was vulnerable to trained and motivated Islamic terrorists, the entire non-Islamic world could be brought to its heel and the triumph of Islam would be within reach. This at a time when much of that Islamic world was being brain washed to harbour a sense of hurt that the advance of Islam in the eighth to 14th century was overturned by the Christian nations from Europe.
As a result al-Qaeda and its sister organizations were targeting Europe as much as they did America. So far as other nations were concerned particularly India al-Qaeda provided training, funds and ideology to off shoots like LeT. That some of the targets like Malaysia and Indonesia were majority Muslim countries did not exclude them. They too were part of the global Islamic vision as articulated by leaders like bin Laden throwing up local leadership. Again, the failure of America to get at bin Laden despite ten years of search for him further advanced his stature among the impoverished and embittered Muslim masses.
What happened then that the revolt against the entrenched despots in the “moderate” Islamic nations took a different line than what bin Laden envisaged? It started as we all know in the “Jasmine” revolution in Tunisia, spread to Egypt and then onwards to Libya, Syria, and Yemen etc. The civilian protests were largely unarmed except in Libya where the army was used to mow down the protesters. They did not ask for purist form of Islam but demanded democracy, the vote, a constitution that establishes rule of law – rules that people create through their representatives. This development completely throws out the al-Qaeda doctrine where Islamic laws are already set in the Holy Books and governments are needed only to enforce the laws already set thus.
We must here differentiate between the Christian inspiration in the struggle in Eastern Europe and Russia against communism and the orthodox Islamic inspiration behind the vision of bin Laden and his ilk. Dr. Fareed Zakaria, savant and now columnist with Time magazine, writes in his book “The Future of Freedom -- Illiberal Democracy at home and abroad”: “The Catholic Church was the first major institution in history that was independent of temporal authority and willing to challenge it. By doing this, it cracked the edifice of state power, and in the nooks and crannies individual liberty began to grow….The rise of the Christian Church is in my view, the first important source of liberty in the West -- and hence the world.” Pope John Paul II who inspired the overthrow of communism through the rise like a wave of unarmed civilian power insisted on religious freedom as one of the pillars of this first civilian led revolution in post war history. From Moscow to Berlin the little candle that was lit in Gdansk in Poland blew up into a wild fire and constitutional democracy was reestablished. I was witness to the scenes of enthusiasm in Bonn when Chancellor Kohl was re-elected on the plank of German reunification.
What happened in Eastern Europe may be – still only may be -- happening in the Islamic world in North Africa and in some Gulf countries. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak is under arrest. In East Berlin the communist dictator Honaker was arrested and sent to prison after the re-unification. There are other parallels, Rumanian, Albanian, communist despots faced the same fate that now seems to threaten the despots in North Africa. In all these countries there is -- as yet at least -- no call for return to an ultra-puritan Islam.
Is it a mere coincidence that in the cusp of this unarmed jasmine revolution asking for constitutional democracy (recall how civilian activists have forced the army in charge of temporary government in Egypt to draw up a constitution and arrange an election with Indian election specialists being called to organize the poll) in so many Muslim countries, the Americans were also able to capture and eliminate bin Laden? America also has learnt its lesson -- from supporting despots like Hosni Mubarak it has shifted to supporting the civilian unarmed revolutionaries demanding constitutional democracy.
In the immediate post war years the Marxian ideology spread out a global El-Dorado that captured the imagination of a global generation coming out of the trauma of a terrible world war. Then that ideology sank like the Titanic hitting the ice-berg of satellite television that exposed the lies that the regimes in Moscow and Warsaw and East Berlin were seeking to wrap their people and keep free information out of their reach. North Africa, so near the southern rim of Europe where every man has the right to believe what he could think out, naturally must have felt the impact of greater access to free information through the Internet, the unstoppable social networks that connect people across oceans and skies. What this information access has done is to internalize the anger of the people for long denied any free thinking under various pretexts and were manipulated to vent their anger and humiliation against outward targets, especially modernity, and America as a source of all evil. There is no surprise in this.
We may wonder whether the outburst of the jasmine revolution is a repudiation of Bin Ladenism as Thomas Friedman of the NYT has done in his column last Thursday. If it proves to be, the end of Bin Laden could be no mere coincidence. Stretching it a little bit, the beatification of Pope John Paul II this Easter only a fortnight back, is also no coincidence. Nor is the set of reforms announced in Cuba after 50 years of Communism. At different places across the world it could be thumbs up for liberty and freedom.
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Cover story
Operation “Geromino” and After
Osama Bin Laden was a grand goose that laid golden eggs. For fighting Al Qaeda and getting its leader dead or alive, the United States has given around 20 billion dollars to Pakistan in the last 10 years.
By S.P.TALUKDAR
Perfect ‘10’ for America at Abbottabad – decades ago a small Romanian girl Nadia Comaneci had scored perfect ‘10’ in the Gymnastics item in the Olympics, the first totally flawless gymnastics show in the history of the Olympics – an absolutely flawless counter-terror operation that has been really startling in professional terms. In living memory, it can be rivalled only by the Entebbe operations by Israel. In technology use, co-ordination, stealth, precision and finesse, the Abbottabad operation will be the aspiration and despair as well of all the armies and intelligence outfits of the world. At one stroke the US seems to have recaptured its pre-eminence as the ultimate military and technological power.
Elimination of the world’s most wanted and hunted man in the heartland of Pakistan was certain to raise some issues of serious concern to the world community: what exactly is the role of Pakistan in sustaining religious terrorism? Was Osama bin Laden State guest of Pakistan at Abbottabad? Also, the impact on the US-Pak, Indo-Pak, Global counter–terror movement and operations etc. consequent to the American operations inside Pakistan with or without the knowledge of Pakistan will be of much interest and significance.
Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad in a sprawling mansion within 800 yards of the Pakistan Military Academy and may be for a period since 2005 proved beyond any doubt that the state of Pakistan was his protector and preserver. The mansion locally called “Wazinistan Haveli” stood out most dominantly and distinctly against a backdrop of low hills with high perimeter walls topped by barbed wire. Nothing could be known about the residents in it, only two individuals will venture out of it in cars to buy provisions and food and if a cricket ball fell into the closed premises the children will be given money to buy a new ball because the old one was never to be handed back.
The environment within the compound and the mansion were mysterious and still there was no official scrutiny of it, maybe for years. Quite compellingly, the situation proves the ultimate role of the Pakistani state in using terror outfits as military assets and also as financial assets. Bin Laden was a grand goose that laid golden eggs. For fighting Al Qaeda and getting its leader dead or alive, the United States has given around 20 billion dollars to Pakistan in the last 10 years. Unavoidably, Pakistan had to confront terror from their home-grown extremist outfits but no serious long term decisive anti-jihad operations could be expected from the Pakistani system where the Army is crucial in the policy framework of the state.
Ever a suspect as the cradle, nursery and sponsor of Islamist terrorism, Pakistan has now been irrevocably confirmed as such after the location and killing of Bin Laden at Abbottabad. In the absence of any established tradition of predictable and enduring governance mechanism, Pakistan, swinging between military despotism and weak theocratic democracy, has in the course of time lapsed into an unreliable entity. The unreliability of Pakistan as a friend, an ally, a partner in anti-terror coalition has blazed forth in the Osama bin Laden-in-Abbottabad episode.
All Pakistani leaders, Army men and bureaucrats have been telling lies about the location of Bin Laden. In the recent days, misinformation about him were aired by Pervez Musharruf, Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Asif Ali Zardari, Yousaf Raza Gilani, Farhatullah Babar (Zardari Spokesman), Rehman Malik (Pak Interior Minister), Husain Haqqani (Pak envoy to US) and so on. Exposure of duplicitous Pakistan has been total and to that extent India’s diagnosis of the nature of the Pakistani state has been confirmed. Salman Rushdie has, therefore, appealed to categorise Pakistan as a Terrorist Sponsoring State.
Operation Osama is certainly a humiliating experience for Pakistan. Its so called political executive, armed forces and intelligence machinery have suffered severe erosion in profile and there is the risk of diversionary foul rhetoric. Fulminations from self-exiled Musharraf, the Pakistan Foreign Secretary and General Kayani have been loud and tendentiously directed at India. This is the real irony of the Osama killing that India and not really the terror outfits are brought into focus as the punching bag.
Despite serious grievances over unilateral military action at Abbottabad disregarding sensitivities relating to state sovereignty, Pakistan cannot afford to even symbolically disengage itself from the US because, after all, it has all to fear as an epicenter of terrorism and also because it is a bottomless basket case substantially dependent upon American aid. But it will be a miscalculation to expect a larger India-Pak cooperation in combating terrorism. Pakistan will not change easily and the criminals linked to 26/11 will continue to roam free in Pakistan.
Incalculable damage to Pakistan’s credibility over Osama is an occasion to have a fresh look particularly at the Indo-US partnership in anti-terror operations and at the AfPak theatre. Pakistani agenda in Afghanistan will not bring peace in the region. Hamid Karzai had once correctly asked the US to fight the terror war in Pakistan instead of Afghanistan. After the Abbottabad affair, America will do well to jettison the very narrow view of Islamist terror that the Al Queda was the real and the only enemy of the West.
America had so far failed to acknowledge the depredations by the India-centric terrorist groups operating from the Pakistani soil. Outfits like the Hijbul Mjahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohd and Jamat-Ul-Dawa have strong linkages with each other and with the Al Queda and the Taliban in a collective way as also bilaterally. These terror groups are a syndicate of murder and each is a force multiplier and protection for the rest.
Hunting down Osama was necessary to show that the terrorists will be pursued to the hilt and will be punished. It has a big symbolic value in welding together the anti-terror forces including those in Pakistan. Elimination of Osama has, generally speaking, given a universal sense of relief but jubilation over it has been restricted to the West. This shows the persistence of a divided psyche over the role and prospects of religions. In an ideal situation a mass murderer like Osama should have been universally condemned and his death celebrated. The civilisational chasms are still sharp and deep and nothing should be allowed to exacerbate it.
Aspects and issues related to religious terrorism are highly inflammable and toxic. Exploitation of such toxicity can be heinous and lethal. Terror groups in Pakistan making a public show of funeral prayers for Osama, Islamic Lawyer’s Movement meeting at the Peshwar High Court raising pro-Osama slogans, Palestinian Hamas organizing public grieving over Osama and here at home in India Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Hurriyat Conference calling Osama a “martyr” are not good signs.
Violent Islamist ideology will not disappear as easily as Osama’s corpse sank into the dark depths of the seas. No support can be given to excessive jubilation over Osama’s fate. To seek to make petty gains of any kind at this stage will also be criminal. Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s publicly aired concerns about the entitlement of Osama to a traditional religious burial are thoroughly redundant, misplaced and hypocritical. Digvijay Singh indulged in the rotten practice of minority manipulation and this time over an issue that is very highly sensitive.
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Cover story 4
Poetic Justice back and forth
Justice is a relativistic concept. What one society condemns, another celebrates. Even in the case of Osama bin Laden, when the world celebrates his killing, there remains his huge following eager to backlash
By Tisy Jose, UMI
Osama bin Laden is done with. After a decade-long manhunt, the illusive terrorist mastermind has finally been caught and eliminated by America. In their overwhelming joy, the Americans acclaim of an out of body experience! “Justice is done”, asserts President Barack Obama who currently sits on the top of the world flying the star-spangled flag. Joyful outbursts like “The world will be a better place”, “The reign of terrorism is over” are indeed music to our ears. However, we know that one swallow doesn't make a summer. We also know that in any fierce war of vengeance justice seldom stands unqualified: It’s always a poetic justice.
The problem with poetic justice is that it goes sour for the one at the receiving end. All too often, the one who needs to understand that it is poetic justice is the only one who fails to see it as such. Consequently the receiver and the giver change places in a series of action where some poetic justice is being done in best of intention to each other. Ultimately in the fight against injustice, justice is the casualty. The death of Bin Laden undoubtedly is a historic victory in our fight against terrorism. Indeed it’s a matter of relief to all of us who love life and respect human dignity. However, amidst the euphoria, pride, joy, ecstasy and hope, a fear psychosis is not altogether absent from people across the globe.
Justice is an entirely relativistic concept. What one society condemns, another celebrates. Even in cases where almost unanimous agreement has been reached like that of eliminating Osama bin Laden the worst criminal of our times, there remains his huge following eager to backlash in doing some poetic justice to those who killed him. Their historic memory of injustice done by America on the people of Vietnam, Iraq, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Rwanda to mention a few in the total uprooting of their cultural heritage all in the name of democracy and ‘civilizing mission’ are too irreconcilable to remain idle from doing some poetic justice in retaliation.
Although the United States takes pride in keeping its commitment to see that justice is done and Obama claims the elimination of Osama as his personal victory, he mercifully has sounded a wake up call alerting the U.S. to remain vigilant at home and abroad of the possible backlash from Al-Qaida. For, as Steve Clemons, a Middle East analyst at the New America Foundation said, "There are a lot of al Qaeda look-alike cells, Bin Laden was an animating force but there are other ways these groups get oxygen and can remain a threat”. Neither the CIA Director Leon Panetta was different in his opinion that Al- Qaeda would "almost certainly" try to avenge bin Laden's death.
Islamist militant forums were quick in their vows to avenge bin Laden's death. Against some of them spewing such venom of revenge as, “"God's revenge on you, you Roman dog, God's revenge on you crusaders”, the safe ‘better world’ statement sounds but a whispering hope.
True, ‘it took Obama to get Osama’. But to make this world a better place for all to live in, the very same Obama as a world leader has to go miles and keep promises rather than resting on his laurels. The huge economic injustice, gender injustice, the ever widening rich-poor, developed-developing divide among the nations has to be filled up. Or else Osama bin Laden's death will do little to ease global economic and political risks in the present globalized world.
As human persons and individual citizens, making the world a better place for all is a mandate entrusted to us by our Great Creator Himself. A better world can emerge only when people actually care about other people and treat others the way in which they themselves would like to be treated. Yes, the ‘golden rule Christ Himself has taught the world: "Do Unto Others". The world will be a better place when everyone begins to walk their talk, leads by examples rather than words and avoid hurting the sensibilities of others.
The world will be a better place when the helpless will be helped, when people all across the globe will become more spiritual and less materialistic, when people replace suspicion with trust, hatred with love. In sum the world will be a better and safer place when the people of the world cease to serve Mammon of wealth and inaugurate the Reign of God where righteousness, justice and peace shall be established. When the nations strive to create the Biblical imagery of a world order blessed with peace and prosperity. In such a world order peace will reign and the need for fighting war will be eliminated, nations will be able to focus on human resource development, economic growth and a human-friendly development.
“He will rule over the nations and settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not raise sword against nation; neither will they train for war any more. But each one will sit in peace and freedom under a fig tree or a vine of his own, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken” (Micah 4: 3-4).
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Cover story
Conspiracy Theories Galore
The killing of Osama bin Laden has given rise to many theories, some even questioning the veracity of the whole episode.
By Kay Abey
“Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it,” St Thomas told the other disciples, when they informed him that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. But these days, ordinary mortals have a problem in even believing that a terrorist is dead.
No sooner had Osama bin Laden met a gruesome end in Pakistan’s garrison town of Abbottabad, conspiracy theorists the world over have started questioning whether it really happened. According to some, Osama was killed earlier, some others say he died long ago of renal failure, some others think he is still alive and there are a few Arabs who have said that they did not even believe that a man called Osama even existed!
You can’t get queerer than that. But while it is natural for the world to doubt and question anything, it looks strange that the news media and social media should give prominence to such claims and doubts. YouTube has already quite a few uploads that ‘prove’ that the news on Osama’s killing was ‘fake’.
At the heart of it could be a sour Republican campaign, now that the party knows that Obama has almost won the 2012 Presidential elections. But it also manifests a strange human nature of doubting the genuine, while clinging to the weirdest falsehood, although those who questions the truth have less than sufficient material to prove that they are right.
In this case, those who cast their doubts are relying on unverified hunches of the past that he may have been killed or trying to prove a point by merely asking questions as weird as, why was his body not put up in public display or why have they not released the photos or why was he buried at sea.
The US government has given satisfactory replies to all these questions. But it doesn’t occur to the innocents who would go along with these conspiracy theorists – most of whom have a vested reason for raising doubts – that an American President would not be stupid enough to risk cooking up a story as this one, even if that meant ensuring a re-election.
Apart from sour Republicans, other groups who are at the forefront of such campaigns are Communist supporters, anti-Americans and jihadis. While a clueless Sarah Palin would go to the extent of casting doubts (stranger than BJP’s foreign-origin campaign on Sonia Gandhi), on Obama’s place of birth, or photos to confirm Osama’s death, she is joined in by mostly anti-Americans who propagate strange theories.
But Obama can take comfort in the fact that this is no new phenomenon. There are several people in the United States and elsewhere who refuse to believe that Elvis Presley is dead, even several decades after the pop star died of drug overdose. Presley is not an exception. Michael Jackson too is not dead for several fans.
While the attempt of fans to live in denial can be easily understood, conspiracy theorists came up with questions such as, ‘was Jackson murdered?’ and ‘did Jackson commit suicide?’ The more private a person dies, more the chance of conspiracy theories making the rounds.
Celebrity status is another criterion that conspiracy theorists exploit to spin a yarn. Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in a Paris tunnel. But we still have theories doing the rounds that it was British intelligence agents who killed her, despite the fact a hound of paparazzi who were chasing her were witness to the whole incident.
There were questions asked about a smaller car found in the tunnel around the time of the crash. The conspiracy theory went that this car squeezed the space for Diana’s Benz, forcing it to hit the concrete pillars of the tunnel! I wonder what kind of a driver would prefer to hit a concrete pillar if the other choice was hitting a smaller car. The driver who was tested positive for a heavy dose of alcohol was not spared either. He became part of the ‘spy network’ that killed Diana!
It is natural to suspect foul play during the death of people who have powerful enemies. But, again, this is not the only reason why conspiracy theorists are able to breach the commonsense of some people. Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was killed in a plane crash in Japan. But to this day, there are reports even in Government files that cast doubt whether he lived several years after the crash was reported. The Government of Deve Gowda even set up an inquiry commission, more than fifty years after his death, to ‘find the truth’. Needless to say some people had a gala time ‘investigating the truth’ at the tax payers’ expense.
In India, the fountain head of conspiracy theories is the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. This organisation, which is otherwise known for its divisive agenda, spends a considerable time in spinning yarns for its political purpose. It has a very unique way of spreading rumours. Once a mischievous story is concocted, RSS uses its pracharaks to disseminate the rumour. With shakas spread all over the country, the pracharaks spread the rumour from mouth to mouth, until it becomes a reliable theory discussed among ill-informed people.
RSS rumours include political propaganda like blaming Jawaharlal Nehru for the Partition of India – despite the documented fact that it was RSS ideologue V.D. Savarkar who propounded the two-nation theory, later endorsed by Mohammed Ali Jinnha – to the troubles in Jammu and Kashmir, to personal scandals. Some of them are so laughable that it boomerangs on the organisation when analysts dismiss them as nut cases.
But rumour-mongering is serious business for the organisation and it was not senility that made its former chief K Sudarshan to make obnoxious claims about Congress President Sonia Gandhi as recently as November 10, 2010. Most newspapers did not report Sudarshan’s speech because it was not only libellous but the height of banality. However certain sections of the press did report and his speech is available on YouTube, accompanied by several comments from perverts. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90y6mzd8OaI)
Hence I would like to repeat them here with the sole intention of giving you an idea into the rotten minds of an organisation which was aptly nicknamed the Rumour Spreading Society by the late V.N. Gadgil. According to Sudarshan, Sonia Gandhi plotted the assassinations of her husband Rajiv Gandhi and mother-in-law Indira; Sonia Gandhi is a CIA agent; she prevented an attempt to remove Satwant Singh as Indira’s bodyguard; Sonia insisted on taking severely bleeding Indira Gandhi to AIIMS instead of ‘nearby’ Ganga Ram Hospital... If these were not enough, he even called her an illicit child.
Sexual perversion is one thing that has been at the centre of many a rumour that the RSS has spread against Congress and its leaders for a long time, since the days of Nehru. But Sudarshan’s recent remarks were just another of the several rounds that several RSS leaders make, mostly in private. Some years ago, Sudarshan even claimed that the Babri Masjid was destroyed by a bomb planted inside the building by the Narasimha Rao Government to discredit the RSS.
While common sense dictates most people to ignore and ridicule such arguments, the disturbing trend is that the RSS has started tapping the social media to disseminate its rumours. Thankfully, they have not attempted to spin yarns on Osama. No prizes for guessing the reason though.
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Surviving in a Society
The best prescription for a happy life is to move from a Money Dominated Society to a supportive, innovative, green Non-Money Environment
BY Francis Lobo
| C |
o-operative societies are the human illusion that like-minded persons, with similar interests, common cultural and educational backgrounds and with more or less equal financial status come together to live harmoniously “till death do us part”. But the sociological movements of the 20th and 21st Centuries are ensuring the speedy destruction of this myth. There is the Internet with its webs in contrast with the old and traditional tied up in cobwebs.
The myth is that societies are created by communities. They are not -- they are created by builders. With zero investment, the builder makes a killing from gullible customers badly in need of accommodation. They get the development rights from the owners of property with the offer of handsome rewards and a vision of a luxurious apartment in place of the dilapidated house they are currently living in. They take advances from the early buyers to start the construction and then delay completion so that they can make a killing as the prices rise with time.
The sociological upheaval started as opportunities emerged in other parts of the world for all classes and sections of society from domestic help to hi-tech professionals. As they accumulated wealth they no longer found attractive the old surroundings that they were brought up. They demanded change. It came as a shock to the old residents to find the old, vintage, heritage constructions being demolished and being replaced by new, modern, multi-storied structures. With the inflow of money the real estate market started to see a further upward movement.
With modern buildings the general cost of living also moved up. It was no longer possible to get domestic help at affordable rates. Adding to the misery of the earlier residents they saw the children of their domestic help through education doing as well, if not better, than their own children. The agony is multi-dimensional with rise in the cost of medical care both as a result of aging and escalation in the costs of medical services. The economists use the euphemistic term “inflation” for the hidden hand that takes your wealth away in the form of rising prices for education, food, safety and insurance, transport and other needs when in reality it is nothing but the base instinct in human nature called “greed”.
It has been discovered that there is a group of people who determine Global Strategies which are aimed at keeping the masses living in illusion that they are free and secure when in fact they are controlled and exploited and their wealth is siphoned off and put into the pockets of a few. The working class is encouraged to put at least 30 % of their earnings in savings to cater for old age and unexpected catastrophes. However, under the garb of financial reforms the bogey of the “Ageing Society” with heavy interest being paid out which will bring the economy to a grinding halt. Interest rates must be reduced to provide cheap money for development, business and industry. The senior citizens who are being robbed are placated with a half per cent higher interest rate while hiding the fact that several percentages have been knocked off from the rates they had been promised when first they started saving. It has been found by economists, who have even been awarded Noble Prizes that the volatility of the markets has nothing to do with business performance -- they stem from the base human drive to gamble and make a fast buck. Market melt downs and business cycles are not inevitable but a result of human “greed”.
Those who owned property in the centre of cities have found it advantageous to sell this off at astronomical prices and move to the outskirts in affordable accommodation with a hefty bank balance. However, the greed of modern man doesn’t leave them alone and soon they find their wealth has evaporated as many who took early voluntary retirement with golden handshakes have discovered.
Those who have paid astronomical sums to live in modern societies demand excellence in service which those who are on the managing committees of such societies are incapable of giving. The lives of the managing committee members are made miserable and, hence, nobody wants to be on such committees unless they see some pecuniary advantage. This makes other members continuously suspicious of those who hold office even though they may be honest, sincere and straight forward -- Why is she working so hard? What is in it for her?
What is the solution to these sociological issues? I say that the answer lies within you. Go through the hard task of thinking and introspecting, seeing the blind spots you are trying to hide and the shadows of your inner self which you are trying to throw onto others. Be innovative and make the effort to move from a Money Dominated Society to a happy, supportive, innovative, green Non-Money Environment.
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Environment
Use, Not Misuse, Earth
The treasures of the earth are to be used frugally and prudently. Or else catastrophe would be the result
By Anto Poruthur, SVD.
The cry from Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan is reverberating all over the world, through air, water and soil. Is there anyone to hear the lamentation of Mother Earth from there? She is remonstrating that she is not getting due respect from the homo sapiens. Her indignation is beginning to be seen more frequently than before. Tsunamis, earthquakes etc. are just the signs of her righteous anger. No question is being asked whether such disasters are man-made or not. As usual after a bit of fire-fighting and also shedding some crocodile tears by people all over the world it is business as usual.
With the advent of the power of technology, it is a pity that the Earth is being treated as a whore. There is a limit to its gross exploitation. So no wonder, reaction begins to be shown. Our planet cannot be considered mere junk matter. It is truly a living system. The story of the elephant and tailor is quite educative at this juncture. When he gave a pin prick to the animal it reacted by bringing water from the river in its trunk and showering it on the face of one who hurt the pachyderm. Furthermore, that great scientist Newton had said almost three centuries ago that every action has its equal and opposite reaction. Occurrence of many a catastrophe in recent times suggest that Earth is following this law of nature.
The globe holds together inanimate objects, vegetation, animal life and also human life. Unfortunately humans have very short memory though they claim to be the most intelligent species on earth. They tend to forget that one is related to the other. If one damages a river by polluting it, it is like hurting one’s own blood relation. Humans cannot play with the delicate balance that is supposed to be maintained in nature. What an amazing thing it is to recall that though two-thirds of the planet contains water all of it is attracted to its centre and not a drop is leaking. The tectonic plates are the bone-structure holding the human body together. Can we deny that we do not harm the ‘orthopaedic’ constitution of the planet? How millions of barrel of oil is taken out every day from the Earth? Does it not create huge cavities below? How many nuclear explosions have been conducted in the past? Is there any count?
Here comes the need for the humans to develop ‘Geo-Quotient’ (GQ). With all the knowledge humans have gathered in the field of studies in intelligence they began to proclaim that they have IQ. In the recent past they identified another dimension called EQ. But the time has come to go beyond these two quotients. GQ is the capacity to be aware that everything on the planet is operating on a bonding system and everything is related to life. Isn’t it true that a dead body is processed by the Earth and converted into various elements? If the soil did not cooperate with us on fulfilling this basic function what chaos would occur; the whole place would be filled with stench. Genesis has not simply said ‘remember human, you are dust’. Hence though quite unpleasant to think of, the mud which we often tend to consider dirty is the ‘relative’ of one’s own dead body.
Developing GQ can only redeem humanity from the self-destructive course humans have taken with the advent of post-modern times. They have been thinking that they are invincible bosses of the Earth and whatever they deem fit to do, no one can question. The arrogance with which humans are acting is bound to lead them to inevitable doom. This wrong perception indeed calls for correction. It is with the backing of this kind of philosophy, presumably interpreting the command given to the first humans to subdue the earth that life here on earth has reached such a sad state.
GQ in real terms would be the faculty to understand the Earth from its own respectable and dignified point of view. It excludes looking at her from the rapacious, exploitative perspective of humans. So it is evident that humans should begin to apply their intelligence to give a thought to the working of this paradise that is created as their beloved habitat. Moreover, it is the capacity to grasp the complex web of relationship that exists among all the inanimate and animate objects/creatures of the earth. It is like the understanding the tribal people have of a clan. The other members of their community are considered an extension of one’s own good self.
It has become imperative that any concept of development in future has to take into account the question ‘What would be the reaction of the Planet Earth?’ Raising this vital issue implies that not only the humans but all other creatures including all the resources placed therein are treasures. Everything has to be used frugally and prudently.
It is true that humans are taking great strides in exploring the frontiers of the whole universe. This genius has to be matched with the use of the same intelligence to know how fragile the home where the humans are inhabiting and how many dangers are in store, most of them human-made. Quite much of it is avoidable indeed provided we are willing to develop Geo-Quotient!
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