The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has, in successive incarnations, been determined to give Muslims and Christians extraordinary precedence and weightage, with a clear long-term objective of driving Hindus out of public spaces. The writer has always maintained that Secularism was imposed upon an unsuspecting nation solely to ensure
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Hari Om
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30 Jan 2010
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11 Comments
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It is now no more a secret that the so-called ultra nationalist BJP had made up its mind to give concessions to Pakistan and accord legitimacy to the politics of communalism and separatism in Kashmir by giving maximum possible autonomy to Kashmir and its adjoining areas. In fact, the BJP agreed to accept Pakistan’s anti-India suggestions in M
Ukraine’s presidential elections Sunday were remarkable in more ways than one. The winner of the first round and favourite to lead Ukraine at a crucial moment in its history is the one politician observers long ago dismissed as a has-been. Viktor Yanukovich is mocked by his opponents as an illiterate bumpkin, a puppet of Ukrainian business ma
Only days after the failed Copenhagen Global Warming Summit, yet a new scandal over the scientific accuracy of the UN IPCC 2007 climate report has emerged. Following the major data-manipulation scandals from the UN-tied research center at Britain’s East Anglia University late 2009, the picture emerges of one of the most massive scientific fra
The emergence of three major powers - Russia, China, and India - on the Eurasian landmass, agreeing to cooperate to seek economic growth and regional security while not allowing bilateral differences to come to the fore, has already begun to bear fruit. Both Japan and South Korea have begun to enhance investments in this vast area; and Russia, in p
The non-hoisting of the national tricolour at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk, the failure of the Security Forces to hold their own traditional celebrations there with the unfurling of the flag, singing of the anthem, followed by distribution of sweets, will surely be the enduring memory of Republic Day 2010. Leading the national celebrations down
On Jan. 21, I received a phone call fairly late at night, after 10 pm, from an inmate of the internally displaced camp at Nagrota, a town between Jammu and Udhampur. The caller, a Kashmiri Pandit, was worried, agitated, and extremely distressed. What he told me was both disturbing and significant in the light of so many other straws in the wind...
On Jan. 23, the Pakistan Election Commission cancelled the visit of a delegation to New Delhi in a sign that Islamabad intends to escalate the ‘Cricket Row’ in which all 11 Pakistani cricket players in the IPL-3 auction of Jan. 19 were quietly boycotted. Pakistan Chief Election Commissioner Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and his delegation wer
You cannot remain young for ever, it is said, but you can remain immature throughout your life. As the Indian republic turns 60, it looks like a tired old man suffering from self-forgetfulness, who has advanced in age but not grown in wisdom. Each passing day brings fresh evidence of the state’s inability to meet even basic expectations
Kerala – A ground breeding terrorIndians must give serious thought to the Chennai High Court observation on Jihad and Crusade. India is the only country which has borne the brunt of both to the maximum. While ‘Jihad’ is continuing unabated, ‘Crusade’ has taken the form of evangelization and conversion is another form o
General It is an indisputable fact that India is a major player in the comity of nations. The doubt is whether the screen is regional or further afield. Some questions come to mind in this regard:-- Where do we figure in the emerging global security paradigm? - Is o
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Hari Om
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24 Jan 2010
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8 Comments
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Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, father and founder of the National Conference and who usurped state power in 1947 with the full backing of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, much to chagrin of the people of Jammu province, was a known protagonist of Greater Kashmir comprising Kashmir province and the Muslim-majority areas of Jammu and Ladakh regio
The so-called Secularism and Human RightsShowcasing its secular mindset, the High Court said, “A great deal more can be achieved if the Yuddha, the Jihad, the Crusade is launched against injustice and evils like poverty and illiteracy”. ‘Holy War’ (Jihad, Crusade) has been the practice of Abrahamic religions and there
In the aftermath of terrorist Abdul Nazar Madhani’s wife Sufiya’s arrest by the Kerala police, both the Congress and Communist parties enacted a brazen drama blaming each other publicly for the growth of terror in Kerala. But people have not forgotten the ‘voluntary service’ rendered by both parties to Madhani, his family an
As we enter a new decade, we need to answer some serious questions we have encountered. One is what the future of Indian politics holds. For two decades we have witnessed ups and downs followed by major social churning and economic overhaul. These decades also saw the rise and fall of Hindu nationalism in politics and the decline of communism as an
Terrorism and the Islamic stranglehold go hand in hand, and the compliance of the so-called Fifth Estate in furthering their cause is even more dumbfounding. Even as the wave of Jihadi terror has finally spilled over to the rest of the country from Kashmir, a pseudo-liberal element concerned only about funds for its NGOs (much of their so-called el
It is not often that a commodity other than gold and oil remains in the news for days on end. Indian sugar has achieved that distinction of late. For a vast majority of Indians, the sweetener is turning increasingly bitter, with its prices rising sky-high on the back of supply shortage aggravated by deliberate mismanagement. Retail prices are knock
The December 25 incident, when the Nigerian-origin student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow himself up over the Detroit Airport inside a passenger jet ready to land, has brought back in full fury the fear of murderous al-Qaeda in the American people’s mind. While the mainstream media is busy trashing the nation’s securit
Russian confidence that US President Barack Obama might represent a fundamental change in the direction of US foreign policy is fast eroding. Even pro-Western analyst Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre reflects, “The people who see Russia as a problem are still at the Pentagon,” and he predicts that even if Obama last
Is New Delhi suffering Elite Fatigue Syndrome? This is a Designer Disease, which initially afflicted the Secular Brigade. Like all contagions, it is fast infecting the Hindutva Brigade, at least those sections that struggled to reinvent themselves as ‘secular under my saffron skin’ when the BJP-led NDA pulled the patronage purse-strings
[Below is the official report prepared by Madhu Kishwar on a seminar to promote the People’s Democratic Party document on Self-Rule. Its contents are self-explanatory, and are posted to inform citizens how public money is wasted in this country. It is time to ask for social and political accountability with regard to such anti-national activi
A fourth generation descendant of Tamil indentured labour, P. Uthayakumar, HINDRAF legal adviser and secretary general, Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP), has returned from New Delhi’s Pravasi Bharatiya Divas jamboree to face trial for ‘sedition,’ a charge made by the ruling United Malay National Organisation regime. Advocate
The 150-odd gathering in the India International Centre Auditorium was oblivious of the irony of the situation. While Yaseen Malik, self-proclaimed father of religious terrorism in Kashmir, was threatening the nation with a return to arms, a couple of highly agitated Kashmiri Pandits outside were inhumanly dragged into police custody. Their fault?
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Hari Om
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18 Jan 2010
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6 Comments
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The RSS-sponsored Jammu and Kashmir People’s Forum (JKPF) organized a meeting at the Jammu Club on January 10. Seven members of the Working Group on Centre-State Relations (WGCSR) participated; BJP leaders and Sangh Parivar activists were there in strength. Members of the Working Group present included BJP leader and Leader of Oppositio
The earthquake in tiny Haiti on Tuesday 12 Jan. was devastating, causing buildings to topple and leaving possibly 100,000 dead, according to early estimates, though it is too early to say what the final toll is likely to be. Millions more are grimly affected by this grim tragedy. Media coverage shows that even the Presidential Palace and the U
Introduction:Asian capitalism, notably China and South Korea are competing with the US for global power. Asian global power is driven by dynamic economic growth, while the US pursues a strategy of military-driven empire building. One day’s read of the Financial Times Even a cursory read of a single issue of the Financial Times
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Rustam
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16 Jan 2010
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According to a report in a section of the print media in Jammu, “Kashmiri traders were given marching orders at the Kumbh Mela that started at Prayag, Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh” on January 14, as they were considered a “security threat”. What actually transpired was that the Director of Exhibitions, Dinesh Chand Pasi
In the midst of the global financial collapse that began in 2007 and continues to throw hundreds of millions of families around the world into a state of despair, the strengthening of cooperative relations among Russia, India, and China shines through like a beacon of hope. These three large nations, encompassing the Eurasian landmass that constitu
Muslims of the Kashmir Valley have long been portraying themselves as the sole inhabitants not only of the Valley, but of the entire Jammu and Kashmir State, including Ladakh. It is almost as if the Hindus of the Kashmir Valley who were forcibly driven out of their homes two decades ago had never existed, and as if the Hindus of Jammu and Buddhists
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Hari Om
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14 Jan 2010
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9 Comments
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Defence Minister A K Antony does not make loose statements. He seldom air views which can be described as controversial and ambiguous. He says what he and his ministry actually believe in. But what he said the other day (January 12) in Jammu during the crucial meeting of the Unified Headquarters, which was attended by the top brass of the Army, civ
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Hari Om
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13 Jan 2010
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9 Comments
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Congress minister and former diplomat Mani Shanker Aiyar is a peacenik. Why? Because he believes that the “bureaucrats and political wrangling on both sides” (India and Pakistan) are creating hurdles so that the relations between the two countries continue to remain strained and the Kashmir problem remains unresolved. Aiyar is a p
Sri Lanka was a country that was an example to every post colonial small country with a small GDP, an example worthwhile for even Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore to take note of. What was unique about Sri Lanka was the fact that within 20 years of independence it had achieved a literacy rate around 90%. It had free education, a disciplined public service
The strange case of Umar Farouk Abdul MutallabDespite some $40 billion dollars spent by the American people on airline security since 2001, allegedly to thwart attacks on the Heimat, the botched attempt by Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day was foiled, not by a bloated counter-terror
Yemen will become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Saudi Arabia - whose state-to-state relations are among the strongest and most durable of the entire post-World War II era - on one hand and Iran on the other.It is perhaps impossible to determine the exact moment at which a US- supported self-professed holy warrior - tr
The dust has now settled, but the mass hysteria continues as the US and UK pull in their best media experts to blind us with political spin. It is time to reflect on this so-called failed attempt to blow up Northwest/Delta Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. Let’s revisit this false flag melodrama. First, remember that this potential b
Every now and then, a book, a play, or film, marks a watershed in the landscape of culture when it represents most eloquently a growing and world-changing (or “epoch making” as Marxists used to say) awareness. James Cameron’s Avatar may well be one of those symbolic milestones. As the hitherto most sophisticated result of the
Previously I wrote about the distinct possibility that the attempted plot to blow up a Northwest aircraft approaching Detroit could have been a false flag to justify US military activity in Yemen. We now see both Obama and Brown getting the media hyped up to justify this military intervention and even go a stage further by holding an urgent su
Prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased 50 percent with children in the US, and 73 percent among adults, from 1996 to 2006, according to a study in the May/June 2009 issue of the journal Health Affairs. Another study in the same issue of Health Affairs found spending for mental health care grew more than 30 percent over the same ten-year peri
As is well known, a Nigerian national named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to destroy a passenger aircraft travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009. Metal detectors cannot pinpoint the chemical in the device he sought to detonate, PETN. The PETN was strapped to his groin. Since a detonator could have been detected, the attacker ch
As we have seen so many times in the past, conspiracy theories bounce around the world whenever we hear such dramatically presented stories that emanate out of the US and UK media machine. Many times such stories appear to coincide with a political low in a President’s or Prime Minister’s career. It is at such times that frequently our
President Barack Obama’s speech in Oslo marking his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize was eloquent, as most of his speeches are. It was also enigmatic — both for its justification of war and for his speaking on behalf of the international community while making clear that as commander in chief, his overarching principle is to protect and
NATO’s Doctrine of Collective Security- Why are American and NATO troops in Afghanistan? - What is the justification for waging war on a country of 28 million people? - What justifie
A week after he was arrested in Chicago on Oct. 3, David Coleman Headley was charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiring to commit terrorist attacks outside the United States and providing material support to terrorist organizations. The charges alleged that Headley was involved in a plot to attack a newspaper in Denmark that had publis
The more we see of Obama, the more we realize that he’s exactly the same breed as the previous past Presidents as he flexes his muscle once again in Afghanistan and now on Gaza, We have known for some time that Egypt had succumbed to US bribery in receiving generous aid in return for supporting US foreign policy and becoming a friend of Israe
New Delhi must end the doublespeak on Jammu & Kashmir and inform the Indian people if there is a covert understanding, under American aegis, to unravel the northern state bit by bit and surreptitiously cede it to Pakistan. A leading national daily on Saturday reported a ‘strong’ Indian reaction to Syed Mehdi Shah, newly elected R
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was in Moscow [Dec. 16] seeking more help from Russia to meet the logistics requirements of the US and NATO-led war in Afghanistan. Speaking to reporters after talks with President Dmitri Medvedev, Rasmussen said he was asking Russia to supply helicopters, spare parts, fuel, and to train Afghan pilots. H
A truly global climate change agreement with some 200 countries signing a single document is always difficult. In that sense, the recent conference on climate change at Copenhagen was destined for failure, and even the successor conference in Mexico City in December 2010 may only yield incremental gains. The agreement which the world has been
In the last few days, the Mayon Volcano in The Philippines is getting extremely angry at President Obama and Prime Minister Brown’s relentless push to screw the “Third World” for their so called “Man Made Global Warming” – which we all know is nature’s own natural cycle. As part of such natural cycles
Recent newspaper reports on Islamic fundamentalists’ operations from Kerala under the camouflaged stewardship of Abdul Nasser Madhani, accused in the Coimbatore Bomb Blast case, and the ruling and opposition coalition’s hide and seek game in dealing with terrorists, reveals more obscurity than clarity. The question of Islamic terr
Upbeat reports in the financial media belie the effects of the ongoing credit contraction. Massive injections of central bank liquidity have prevented the collapse of financial markets, but have done little to ease the de-leveraging of households or stimulate activity in the broader economy. The crisis has stripped $13 trillion in equity from worki