Tag Archive | "Government of India"

Indian atrocities in Kashmir

Examples of Indian atrocities in Kashmir

“As the conflict in Kashmir enters its fourth year, central and state authorities have done little to stop the widespread practice of rape by Indian security forces in Kashmir. Indeed, when confronted with the evidence of rape, time and again the authorities have attempted to impugn the integrity of the witnesses, discredit the testimony of physicians or simply deny the charges everything except order a full inquiry and prosecute those responsible for rape”.
(Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, May 09, 1993)

“Since January 1990, rape by Indian occupation forces has become more frequent. Rape most often occurs during crackdowns, cordon and search operations during which men are held for identification in parks or schoolyards while security forces search their homes. In raping them, the security forces are attempting to punish and humiliate the entire community.”
(‘Pain in Kashmir: A Crime of War’ issued jointly by Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, May 09, 1993)

“By beginning TV cameras and prohibiting the presence in Kashmir of the International Red Cross and of human rights organization, the Indian authorities have tried to keep Kashmir out of the news.”
(`Kashmiri crisis at the flash point’, The Washington Times, by columnist Cord Meyer, April 23, 1993)

“(On February 23, 1991), at least 23 women were reportedly raped in their homes at gunpoint (at Kunan Poshpora in Kashmir). Some are said to have been gang-raped, others to have been raped in front of their children … The youngest victim was a girl of 13 named Misra, the oldest victim, name Jana, was aged 80?.
(Amnesty International, March 1992)

“The most common torture methods are severe beatings, sometimes while the victim is hung upside down, and electric shocks. People have also been crushed with heavy rollers, burned, stabbed with sharp instruments, and had objects such as chilies or thick sticks forced into their rectums. Sexual mutilation has been reported”.
(Amnesty International, March 1992)

“The worst outrages by the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) have been frequent gang rapes of all women in Muslim villages, followed by the execution of the men”.
(Eric Margolis, The Ottawa Citizen, December 8, 1991)

“While army troops dragged men from their homes for questioning in the border town of Kunan Pushpura, scores of women say they were raped by soldiers….a pregnant Kashmiri woman, who was raped and kicked, gave birth to a son with a broken arm.”
(Melinda Liuin, Newsweek, June 24, 1991)
[Anthony Wood and Ron MaCullagh of the Sundav Observer (June 02, 1992) estimated that over 500 Indian army men were involved in this orgy of rape and plunder in Kunan Pushpura.]

“The security forces have entered hospitals, beaten patients, hit doctors, entered operating theaters, smashed instruments. Ambulances have been attacked, curfew passes are confiscated.”
(Asia Watch, May 1991)

“Subjugated, humiliated, tortured and killed by the 650,000-strong Indian army, the people of Kashmir have been living through sheer hell for more than a year, the result of an increasingly brutal campaign of state repression. India hides behind its carefully-crafted image of “non-violence” and presents itself in international forums as a model of democracy and Pluralism. Yet, it is unable to stand up the scrutiny of even its admirers. All journalists, especially television crews, were expelled from the Valley. With no intrusive cameras to record the brutalities of the Indian forces, the world has been kept largely in the dark.” (The Toronto Star, January 25, 1991)

“Young girls were now being raped systematically by entire (Indian) army units rather than by a single soldier as before. Girls are taken to soldier’s camps and held naked in their tents for days on end. Many never return home….Women are strung up naked from trees and their breast lacerated with knives, as the (Indian) soldiers tell them that their breast will never give milk again to a newborn militant. Women are raped in front of their husbands and children, or paraded naked through villages and beaten on the breasts.”
(The Independent, September 18, 1990)

“The [Indian] government’s disregard for human rights in Jammu and Kashmir means in practice that some 200 people reportedly died in custody in Jammu and Kashmir last year and that the whereabouts of some 500 to 600 “disappeared ” persons continue to be unknown. The arbitrary arrests of people suspected to sympathize with armed opposition groups also continues to be reported.”

From an Amnesty International press release, August 14, 1998.

“Government forces continue to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. Between 350,000 and 400,000 army and paramilitary forces are deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Muslim majority population in the Kashmir Valley suffers from the repressive tactics of the security forces.

Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, both passed in July 1990, security forces personnel have extraordinary powers, including authority to shoot suspected lawbreakers and those disturbing the peace, and to destroy structures suspected of harboring militants or arms.”

From the U.S. Department of State’s, India Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998

“Rape is used by the Indian security forces to attack Kashmiri women suspected of sympathizing with “militants.” Through rape, the security forces are aiming to punish and humiliate the entire community.”

From Human Rights Watch.

“In Singhpur village, occupation forces barged into the house of Abdul Ahad and forcibly took his wife and daughter to a military camp where they were gang-raped.”

From Kashmir Quarterly, November 8, 1997.

“Since 1990, some 700 to 800 people have “disappeared” after being arrested by police or armed or paramilitary forces. The victims have included boys and men of all ages and all professions, including businessmen, lawyers, laborers and many teachers. Almost all of them appear to be ordinary citizens picked up at random, without any connection to the armed struggle.”

From the Amnesty International report, “If they are dead, tell us – Disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir,” February 1999.

“It is virtually impossible for relatives of the ‘disappeared’ in India’s troubled northern state to trace their relatives or find redress from the institutions supposed to protect and promote human rights, including police, security forces, the courts and statutory human rights bodies,” the report argues.

From an Amnesty International press release, February 22, 1999.

“In the month of Ramadan, besides being physically tortured, Kashmiris are prevented from taking their early morning meal before starting their day of fast. They were also prevented from participating in the late evening prayers. A reign of terror was let loose in Srinagar where people were ordered out of their homes at morning mealtime.”

From the Kashmir Quarterly, January 14, 1997.

Indian Forces killed six citizens, torched two mosques, 15 shops and seven houses in various parts of the valley. As a result, there were protest demonstrations in many cities. Troops desecrated the central Srinagar mosque and tortured worshippers whom they found inside.”

From the Kashmir Quarterly, October 12, 1997.

An excerpt from the Amnesty International report: “India: the impunity must end in Jammu and Kashmir,” 23/04/2001:

On 27 March 1996, the dead body of human rights lawyer Jalil Andrabi was found in the river Jhelum, 19 days after he had been seen taken away by military personnel. (1) His killers remain free.
On 30 March 1996, 23 members of the faction of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front led by Amanullah Khan were killed when police fired mortar shells at their office in Srinagar.(2) Their killers remain free.
On 18 September 1997, 11 people, including women and children, were killed by mortar shelling at Arin Bandipora. The killers remain free.
In January 1998, nine people, including a woman and child, were killed in Kadrana village, Doda district, when army soldiers opened fire on people protesting an earlier arrest. The killers are free.
In July 1998, 40 people, including women and children were killed in and near Surankote. The killers remain free.
On 28 June 1999, fifteen members of two Muslim families, including women and children, were shot dead at Surankote, Poonch district, by unidentified gunmen wearing army uniforms who shot two more women as they fled. The killers remain free.
On 20 March 2000, 36 Sikhs were shot dead in Chittisinghpora; on 25 March 2000, five men were unlawfully killed who were implicated in the earlier killings. On 3 April 2000, seven people demonstrating against the earlier two incidents were shot dead by police. The killers of these 48 people remain free.
On the night of 1 August 2000, at least 105 people were shot dead in several different incidents. The killers remain free.
On 15 February 2001, six people were shot dead in Haigam during protests at an earlier death in custody when security forces and/or police opened fire on them. The killers remain free.

Monday, September 13, 2010
Seventeen civilians shot dead by Indian armed forces on a single day
LIST OF 17 CIVILIANS SHOT DEAD ON SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2010 BY INDIAN SECURITY FORCES
1.Tariq Ahmad Ganai Tangmarg
2.Muddasir Ahmad Parry Tangmarg
3.Abddul Majid Kuzar of Tangmarg
4.Iqbal Ahmad Malik (Mohammed Iqbal Malla) Tangmarg
5.Ab. Qayoom Wani of Tangmarg
6.Afaq Ahmad Khan of Iqbal colony Tangmarg
7.Danish Ahmad Class 7 student of Cherar-i-shareef at Chrari Shareef
8.Ghulam Ahmad (Rasool) Tantary 50 of Humhama
9.Javed Ahmad Teli 24 at Humhama
10.Sheraz Ahmad (Nisar Ahmad) of Ajas Bandipora
11.Ajaz Ahmed Wagay 28, Kadalbal Pampore
12.Riyaz Ahmed Sheikh, Tengan, Pampore
13.Muzaffar Ahmed Mir, Pampore.
14.Policeman Davinder Singh Budgam (Reportedly run over by a vehicle)
15.Rafiqa at Ompora Budgam
16.Showkat Ahmad Mir of JKLF at Budgam
17. Aqib Ahmed 17, Sarnal Islamabad.

http://kashmircrisis.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20

Because of twisted ignorant people in India will one day dissolve the legacy of British India – Nehru’s India to it’s original form – a Sub Continent of a plethora of nations equal or larger than the nations in Europe.

Kashmir will never be forgotten, Kashmiris will never be silenced. Kashmiris will rise and stand upto your Brahman, Dravidian force.

You wish you were “us”, you wish you lokoed like us, you wish you had our history, you wish you belong with us. You dravidians and Brahmin Hindus were given some real ego boost under the British Imperial rule. Your inferiority complex will help bring you down and drive you to your own self destruction, your own implosion.

From Kashmir, Himanchal and Arunchal Pardesh down the red corridor, Assam and Seven Sister states into Andhra Pardesh and Tamil Telangu lands..a revolution will implode India from within.

Where will you Brahmans hide? Stop deluding yourselves and stop your lying and accept the situation in kashmir. resolve Kashmir and resolve India, leaving Kashmir unresolved and risk “everything”.

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Seal of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (...

India ignores American MIAs

Seal of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (...
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As a nephew of USAAF 1st Lt. Irwin Zaetz of the US Army Air Force, lost in Arunachal Pradesh, India, along with his entire 8-man crew in 1944, I have received from the US Defense Department’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command a number of communications over a period of several months, all of which clearly accuse the Government of India of responsibility for the unacceptable delays in the completion of this recovery operation. That the Indian Government failed to deny these accusations (after I brought them to the attention of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs) can only lead me to believe that these accusations must be true.

It should be clear to anyone familiar with the provisions of international humanitarian law that the Indian Government’s actions and inactions – putting up huge obstacles to the repatriation of my uncle’s remains and the remains of over 400 other American airmen lost in northeast India during the Second World War – amounts to a flagrant violation of obligations imposed on the Indian Government by the Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocol I to cooperate fully with US and families’ requests for the recovery and repatriation of these remains. These obligations have been reinforced in more recent years by resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and the World Congresses of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

I am in the process of filing a complaint against the Government of India with the International Committee of the Red Cross. The intent of this complaint is to force the Government of India to remove all impediments to an expeditious recovery of all American World War II airmen missing in India. While many private Indian citizens have expressed a wonderful degree of support for the return of the bodies of American soldiers, along with many leaders of the Indian opposition parties, I have received very little in the way of assistance from the ruling United Progressive Alliance.

I am grateful to the US JPAC agency for bringing India’s breaches of basic standards of international humanitarian conduct to the attention of my family, the other families of my uncle’s crew, and the families of all American airmen lost in India in World War II….Gary Zaetz, Cary, North Carolina, United States.

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Inside hall 18

Pakistan's pavilion at the Delhi Fair does well

Inside hall 18
Image via Wikipedia

New Delhi, Nov 16: The India International Trade Fair 2010 in New Delhi recorded the maximum presence from Pakistani traders, who set up the biggest pavilion at the fair.

The India International Trade Fair (IITF) commenced here on Sunday at the Pragati Maidan.

This year’s IITF has specific focus on Energy-Technology and Eco-Technology as twin themes of the fortnight long fair that wil last till Nov.28, 2010.The trade fair, on the first day, showcased hues of green and giant posters highlighting the significance of saving energy.

Every year India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), the nodal agency of the Central Government of India hosts this annual trade exposition. This year, the partner States are Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.

The inaugural day witnessed presence of various political leaders at State pavillions. In the morning, the Union Commerce and Trade Minister, Anand Sharma, inaugurated the IITF 2010 today.

New Delhi, Buyers are thronging the Pakistan pavilion at the 30th India International Trade Fair which has over 15 stalls ranging from fabrics to chandeliers to jade and marble products.

Currently open for business visitors only, the trade fair kickstarted Sunday and will open for the public Friday. Hall 18, which houses the international stalls, sees the maximum people at the Pakistan pavilion.

‘Buyers are showing keen interest for painted glass chandeliers and lamps with bronze finish, wall hangings and decorative pieces in painted glass. The prices range from Rs.600-10,000. Some more expensive pieces are also there,’ Hussain, one of the stall owners, told IANS.

This time, the stalls selling fabrics have overpowered the famous jade and marble stalls. ‘The jade and marble products are less in number,’ Hussain said.

Pakistani products selling like hot cakes at trade fair

Most of Pakistan’s fabric stalls offer the traditional handmade kurta called ‘Kanchidi’, with thread and mirror work all over it. The stall owners hope that it will be bought by a lot of buyers in the general public as well.

‘A number of designers have bought the Kanchidis from us – stitched and unstitched. The kurtas start from Rs.1,200. The hand embroidered shawls and bedcovers are also selling like hotcakes,’ said the owner of Paras stall.

He added that maximum sales take place during the business days.

‘Once it opens for the public, it gets very crowded. We hardly get time to show anything properly. And with people thronging every stall in huge numbers, there’s hardly any time and place for anybody to give a proper look to the materials on display,’ he added.

The fabric stalls like Laila art, Couture collection and Indus art has chiffon saris and salwar kameez in pastel colours – mostly with heavy silver embroidery.

‘The saris from these stalls are often bought by Meena Bazaar sari store,’ Nazia, one of the stall owner, told IANS.

Also, a range of dress materials with Phulkari work got all the attention from the ladies.

‘I bought three Phulkari saris and two dupattas for myself. Though it cost a bomb, I have no regrets. They are worth it,’ said Kamini Malhotra who owns a boutique in Hauz Khas.

But the footwear stall which has the traditional ‘jooti’ has a weary look with its owners hoping for a few customers.

In no mood to address any queries, one of the stall owners, Firoze said: ‘We have better business when it is open for all. The public is more keen on buying jootis than the business visitors. We are more accessible to public as the prices are affordable – starting from Rs.300.’

The jade and marble products, which had been a favourite among Delhiites in the earlier fairs, do not have separate stalls this year.

‘This year, I don’t see much of jade products, though I have bought a lot of jade stone show pieces. It’s exquisite and I was hoping to buy more. The fabrics and coloured glass paintings are in majority,’ said Ramesh Dutt, a collector of jade marble memorabilia.

Tags: collector, collector of jade marble memorabilia, jade products, Kamini Malhotra, Kanchidis, marble products, Meena Bazaar, New Delhi, pakistan, Pakistan pavilion, Paras stall, Ramesh Dutt, Rs

In his address, the Union Minister highlighted the twin themes of Energy-Tech and Eco-Tech for the fortnight long fair.”It is clean technology, green technology have assumed a special place in the planning, in policy formulation, in investments

in innovation, in research worldwide. India has also embraced it, it is country conscience of the changes that are taking

place I the environment around us in the climate. India has the fifth largest installed capacity of renewable energies in the

world,” said Anand Sharma.Rajashtan Chief Minsiter Ashok Gehlot and the newly appointed Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, visited the State

pavilions along with Union Minister Anand Sharma.Delhi Chief Minsiter Sheila Dikshit inaugurated the Delhi pavilion and visited each stall.”All (are) eco friendly. Whether it is the use of power, whether it is the use of water or products made out of eco friendly

materials all that is being done (at the pavilion). So I think it is a very cheerful and a happy pavilion,” said Sheila

Dikshit. Taking a cue from the recently held Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, authorities of Indian Trade Promotion Organisation

(ITPO) have decided to use latest state-of-the-art security gadgets during the ensuing India International Trade Fair.The Fair will be thrown open to the general public from November 19, as first four days have been solely reserved for

exclusive interactions between the manufacturers, traders and exhibitors and the buyers.The estimated budget of this grand trade expo is expected to be in the range of one billion dollars towards varied

arrangements.Twent three countries will showcase their wide range of products and services and special arrangements are being made at

their stalls and pavilions for security. (ANI)

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Kashmir Azadi Conference

The slogans for Azadi

Geelani Part 1

Geelani Part 2

Aurandhati Roy exceprts

Repeat of Roy–different sections 4 mins only

 

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Boeing C-17 Globemaster III - Paris Air Show 2009

Boeings, Bharat's bullying vs. Kashmiri boiled eggs: Arundhati Roy

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III - Paris Air Show 2009

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Boeing has blood on its hands. The lure of a few billion Dollars lets President Obama to ignore the suffering of millions of Kashmiris. This criminal negligence will not be forgotten by the world. All that talk about “Change that we can believe in” and his campaign promises have been dumped, ostensibly for business contracts. Actually that too is not true. The Saudis recently signed a $60 billion contact to buy US planes. The Gulf states are purchasing $120 billion of American arms. But Obama ignores them and hundreds of thousands of jobs the Arabs create for America.  He does remind the world that the $10 billion will create this that and the other. It is pedagogical to note that the US spend $10 billion in a few days in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pakistan would save the US $1 Trillion by allowing it a face saving exit from Afghanistan. However that would be eulogizing the wrong country. By Obama’s calculations, that would create millions of US jobs.

The Kerry Lugar Bill forces the US government to spend half of the $7.5 billion on US contractors. That we suppose would create about 25,000 jobs. 25% of the 7.5 billion is spent on US Administrative expenses. How many jobs does that create? All that is hidden under the cloak of US Aid, very little of which actually reaches the victims of the drone bombings–30,000 Pakistanis dead. What is the price on their heads?

There are few in today’s Bharat that can remind Obama that his disastrous blunders in Delhi will have long term repercussions on millions of incarcerated Kashmiris–100,000 of whom have given their lives for freedom–freedom to get away from Bharat—and freedom to live in Pakistan. More than a million troops hold the Kashmiris hostage to the concepts of Greater Bharat (Akhand Bharat).

A few confused Kashmiris want to convert Kashmir into another Sikkim to be taken over by Delhi at a later date. Most Kashmiris want freedom.

Arundhati Roy is Bharat‘s (aka India’s ) conscience. She is a good human being and a fantastic human rights activists. The Bajrang Dal and the BJP are after her blood. She has written another brilliant article about Bharat’s illegal occupation of Kashmir, which was published in the New York Times today. It is poignant, sharp and prodigious in its insight and its descriptions. We are scared for the life of Arundhati Roy. The Hinduists extremists are after here. Those who ignore her advice and those who contemplate violence against her are the worst of the worst. May God give us a long and prosperous life.

A WEEK before he was elected in 2008, President Obama said that solving the dispute over Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination — which has led to three wars between India and Pakistan since 1947 — would be among his “critical tasks.” His remarks were greeted with consternation in India, and he has said almost nothing about Kashmir since then.

But on Monday, during his visit here, he pleased his hosts immensely by saying the United States would not intervene in Kashmir and announcing his support for India’s seat on the United Nations Security Council. While he spoke eloquently about threats of terrorism, he kept quiet about human rights abuses in Kashmir.

Whether Mr. Obama decides to change his position on Kashmir again depends on several factors: how the war in Afghanistan is going, how much help the United States needs from Pakistan and whether the government of India goes aircraft shopping this winter. (An order for 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, worth $5.8 billion, among other huge business deals in the pipeline, may ensure the president’s silence.) But neither Mr. Obama’s silence nor his intervention is likely to make the people in Kashmir drop the stones in their hands.

I was in Kashmir 10 days ago, in that beautiful valley on the Pakistani border, home to three great civilizations — Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist. It’s a valley of myth and history. Some believe that Jesus died there; others that Moses went there to find the lost tribe. Millions worship at the Hazratbal shrine, where a few days a year a hair of the Prophet Muhammad is displayed to believers.

Now Kashmir, caught between the influence of militant Islam from Pakistan and Afghanistan, America’s interests in the region and Indian nationalism (which is becoming increasingly aggressive and “Hinduized”), is considered a nuclear flash point. It is patrolled by more than half a million soldiers and has become the most highly militarized zone in the world.

The atmosphere on the highway between Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar, and my destination, the little apple town of Shopian in the south, was tense. Groups of soldiers were deployed along the highway, in the orchards, in the fields, on the rooftops and outside shops in the little market squares. Despite months of curfew, the “stone pelters” calling for “azadi” (freedom), inspired by the Palestinian intifada, were out again. Some stretches of the highway were covered with so many of these stones that you needed an S.U.V. to drive over them.

Fortunately the friends I was with knew alternative routes down the back lanes and village roads. The “longcut” gave me the time to listen to their stories of this year’s uprising. The youngest, still a boy, told us that when three of his friends were arrested for throwing stones, the police pulled out their fingernails — every nail, on both hands.

For three years in a row now, Kashmiris have been in the streets, protesting what they see as India’s violent occupation. But the militant uprising against the Indian government that began with the support of Pakistan 20 years ago is in retreat. The Indian Army estimates that there are fewer than 500 militants operating in the Kashmir Valley today. The war has left 70,000 dead and tens of thousands debilitated by torture. Many, many thousands have “disappeared.” More than 200,000 Kashmiri Hindus have fled the valley. Though the number of militants has come down, the number of Indian soldiers deployed remains undiminished.

But India’s military domination ought not to be confused with a political victory. Ordinary people armed with nothing but their fury have risen up against the Indian security forces. A whole generation of young people who have grown up in a grid of checkpoints, bunkers, army camps and interrogation centers, whose childhood was spent witnessing “catch and kill” operations, whose imaginations are imbued with spies, informers, “unidentified gunmen,” intelligence operatives and rigged elections, has lost its patience as well as its fear. With an almost mad courage, Kashmir’s young have faced down armed soldiers and taken back their streets.

Since April, when the army killed three civilians and then passed them off as “terrorists,” masked stone throwers, most of them students, have brought life in Kashmir to a grinding halt. The Indian government has retaliated with bullets, curfew and censorship. Just in the last few months, 111 people have been killed, most of them teenagers; more than 3,000 have been wounded and 1,000 arrested.

But still they come out, the young, and throw stones. They don’t seem to have leaders or belong to a political party. They represent themselves. And suddenly the second-largest standing army in the world doesn’t quite know what to do. The Indian government doesn’t know whom to negotiate with. And many Indians are slowly realizing they have been lied to for decades. The once solid consensus on Kashmir suddenly seems a little fragile.

I WAS in a bit of trouble the morning we drove to Shopian. A few days earlier, at a public meeting in Delhi, I said that Kashmir was disputed territory and, contrary to the Indian government’s claims, it couldn’t be called an “integral” part of India. Outraged politicians and news anchors demanded that I be arrested for sedition. The government, terrified of being seen as “soft,” issued threatening statements, and the situation escalated. Day after day, on prime-time news, I was being called a traitor, a white-collar terrorist and several other names reserved for insubordinate women. But sitting in that car on the road to Shopian, listening to my friends, I could not bring myself to regret what I had said in Delhi.

We were on our way to visit a man called Shakeel Ahmed Ahangar. The previous day he had come all the way to Srinagar, where I had been staying, to press me, with an urgency that was hard to ignore, to visit Shopian.

I first met Shakeel in June 2009, only a few weeks after the bodies of Nilofar, his 22-year-old wife, and Asiya, his 17-year-old sister, were found lying a thousand yards apart in a shallow stream in a high-security zone — a floodlit area between army and state police camps. The first postmortem report confirmed rape and murder. But then the system kicked in. New autopsy reports overturned the initial findings and, after the ugly business of exhuming the bodies, rape was ruled out. It was declared that in both cases the cause of death was drowning. Protests shut Shopian down for 47 days, and the valley was convulsed with anger for months. Eventually it looked as though the Indian government had managed to defuse the crisis. But the anger over the killings has magnified the intensity of this year’s uprising.

Shakeel wanted us to visit him in Shopian because he was being threatened by the police for speaking out, and hoped our visit would demonstrate that people even outside of Kashmir were looking out for him, that he was not alone.

It was apple season in Kashmir and as we approached Shopian we could see families in their orchards, busily packing apples into wooden crates in the slanting afternoon light. I worried that a couple of the little red-cheeked children who looked so much like apples themselves might be crated by mistake. The news of our visit had preceded us, and a small knot of people were waiting on the road.

Shakeel’s house is on the edge of the graveyard where his wife and sister are buried. It was dark by the time we arrived, and there was a power failure. We sat in a semicircle around a lantern and listened to him tell the story we all knew so well. Other people entered the room. Other terrible stories poured out, ones that are not in human rights reports, stories about what happens to women who live in remote villages where there are more soldiers than civilians. Shakeel’s young son tumbled around in the darkness, moving from lap to lap. “Soon he’ll be old enough to understand what happened to his mother,” Shakeel said more than once.

Just when we rose to leave, a messenger arrived to say that Shakeel’s father-in-law — Nilofar’s father — was expecting us at his home. We sent our regrets; it was late and if we stayed longer it would be unsafe for us to drive back.

Minutes after we said goodbye and crammed ourselves into the car, a friend’s phone rang. It was a journalist colleague of his with news for me: “The police are typing up the warrant. She’s going to be arrested tonight.” We drove in silence for a while, past truck after truck being loaded with apples. “It’s unlikely,” my friend said finally. “It’s just psy-ops.”

But then, as we picked up speed on the highway, we were overtaken by a car full of men waving us down. Two men on a motorcycle asked our driver to pull over. I steeled myself for what was coming. A man appeared at the car window. He had slanting emerald eyes and a salt-and-pepper beard that went halfway down his chest. He introduced himself as Abdul Hai, father of the murdered Nilofar.

“How could I let you go without your apples?” he said. The bikers started loading two crates of apples into the back of our car. Then Abdul Hai reached into the pockets of his worn brown cloak, and brought out an egg. He placed it in my palm and folded my fingers over it. And then he placed another in my other hand. The eggs were still warm. “God bless and keep you,” he said, and walked away into the dark. What greater reward could a writer want?

I wasn’t arrested that night. Instead, in what is becoming a common political strategy, officials outsourced their displeasure to the mob. A few days after I returned home, the women’s wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (the right-wing Hindu nationalist opposition) staged a demonstration outside my house, calling for my arrest. Television vans arrived in advance to broadcast the event live. The murderous Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu group that, in 2002, spearheaded attacks against Muslims in Gujarat in which more than a thousand people were killed, have announced that they are going to “fix” me with all the means at their disposal, including by filing criminal charges against me in different courts across the country.

Indian nationalists and the government seem to believe that they can fortify their idea of a resurgent India with a combination of bullying and Boeing airplanes. But they don’t understand the subversive strength of warm, boiled eggs. Kashmir’s Fruits of Discord By ARUNDHATI ROY New Delhi

Arundhati Roy is the author of the novel “The God of Small Things” and, most recently, the essay collection “Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers.”

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Cover of "Outsourcing America: What

Halt the export of 1 million US jobs to India

The center of gravity has shifted, with steel first, then automobile parts and then electronics moving to Japan, then large scale manufacturing moving to China and now the call-centers flowing to India.

While President Obama brags about the $10 Billion deal with India which will bring back 50,000 jobs to the US, he ignores the $60 billion deal with Saudi Arabia and $160 billion deal with the Gulf States. How many jobs are the Arabs creating for the US and why are they not mentioned?

Some Indian IT leaders estimate that 1 million American jobs have moved to India over the past decade, but American outsourcing experts say that number may be much higher.

Outsourcing lobbyists and advocates for American politicians say that while outsourcing helps corporate America, American engineers and computer programmers see few benefits.

The Call Center industry has been a driving force in India’s economy ploughing in more than $50 billion in revenues.

“They have successfully built a business model where not only do they offshore large numbers of jobs, but the fraction that remain in the U.S. are filled by lower-paid foreign guest workers,” said Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and author of the book “Outsourcing America.” “They are often also forced to train their foreign replacements.”

Many Fortune 500 companies in recent years have outsourced tech and back office operations to India through service providers like Wipro, TCS, and Infosys. But the practice has become increasingly controversial of late as unemployment in the U.S. remains high and the economic recovery stutters. In September, Ohio officials banned the outsourcing of state contracts to offshore vendors.

I am usually critical of anything coming from Ohio, based on the behavior of its inhabitants, but in this case, I agree wholeheartedly.

So, let’s see, the Indian government sending immigrants here to take IT jobs, among others, is a good reason why we should cut out the trip, the taxes collected, the possible citizenship ritual, and simply send the jobs there? This has to be some of the most convoluted logic I’ve ever seen put forth. (It just might appeal to those newly elected, clear thinkers in Congress!)

The idea of the growth of India’s and other third world economies at the cost of our own is what is at stake here.

Buying planes from us which are then outsourced for production does not grow the American economy it grows another country’s economy and the bottom line of what we laughingly call “American Based” corporations.

So, India buys a plane from XYZ American Based Company in America, They then outsource the work to their workforce, 90 percent of whom are located overseas, the 54000 jobs you are supporting are now down to 5400 with the rest being sent to China, Germany, Brasil, Egypt, Poland, etc…and the profits for these American based companies are soaring. Thus creating what we have now, a stock market that’s never been higher and a workforce that hasn’t seen this much unemployment since the great depression.

I’m sorry if India doesn’t see the harsh reality of the actions of these corporations, but the reality is it’s the Job of the Corporation to make a profit, it’s the job of the American Government to protect their tax base.

Free trade means, we get to trade into a country at the same rate they trade with our country. The idea being supply and demand will raise the profits of all employees and housing and monetary costs would be about equal, in the case of an inequality, taxes and tariffs are put in place to ensure that there is an equal playing field.

I’m sorry if India doesn’t like these restrictions, but since they have repeatedly pointed out that they provide a better IT product and service, the demand for a better product at an equal price should mean they will win contracts regardless. They just won’t have their current price advantage.

We’ve had 10 years to see the theoretical economists version of 2 jobs for every 1 created. We’ve lost over 18,000,000 jobs to outsourcing in those 10 years, there should be 36,000,000 new jobs here in the US. There obviously isn’t with an adjusted unemployment rate of over 21%.

It’s not often that such intelligent commenting is seen, in any publication, and I must say I agree with everything this person has said. I especially like the paragraph about India’s boasting about the quality of its workforce – if they are that good, they’ll do fine without intervention of any kind.

http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2010/11/06/india-thinks-u-s-not-conversant-in-english/

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A soldier guards the roadside checkpoint outsi...

Amnesty Int asks Obama to raise Kashmir in India

A soldier guards the roadside checkpoint outsi...

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WASHINGTON: Amnesty International has asked US President Barack Obama to help reduce the Indian military’s excesses in Indian Occupied Kashmir.

Raising the red flag on human rights violation in Kashmir, he said: “AI urges you to raise this issue during your talks with the Government of India to ensure that those responsible for the excessive use of force in dealing with protestors be brought to justice.”

More than 100 people were killed from June-September 2010, when violent protests broke out after the killings of three young men, reportedly by the security forces in March of this year while dealing with the protestors, he said.

“An inquiry ordered by the state authorities covers only 17 deaths, and AI has repeatedly urged them to initiate an independent, impartial and thorough investigation as per international human rights standards into all the killings,” the letter said.

I has also asked the support for survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster who are demanding accountability, justice and an end to 25 years of human rights violations.

“It is essential that your administration and Government of India cooperate to ensure that those accused of causing Bhopal disaster, including UCC, are made to face trial and that Bhopal survivors are able to obtain redress,” Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA said in a letter to the President.

“On June 7, seven Indian former-executives of UCC and the Indian subsidiary of UCC, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) were convicted of criminal offences for their role in the disaster. However, the US-based UCC and its former Chairman Warren Anderson have refused to face trial for the charges that were also brought against them in 1987,” he said.

Cox said that both UCC and Warren Anderson have been identified as absconders in June 7 judgement.

Though US-based Dow Chemical Company (Dow) have been owning UCC since 2001 but it has ignored calls by survivors and human rights groups to address the ongoing impacts of the disaster, including contamination of water by chemical waste, he said.

The company has consistently denied any responsibility for the liabilities of UCC in Bhopal, but in stark contrast, accepted asbestos-related liabilities of UCC in the US that were incurred as early as 1972.

“Amnesty International works in partnership with several organizations to help support the survivors of the Bhopal disaster to demand justice, accountability and an end to 25 years of human rights violations.

“The organization understands that the survivors and five activist organizations representing them have recently written to you about the need to bring UCC/Dow to justice. Amnesty International shares their concerns and urges you to discuss these issues with the Government of India,” Cox said.

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Kathmandu.

Maoists want distance with India, closeness with China

Kathmandu.
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The Unified Maoists’ Party has challenged India to withdraw its investment in 300 MW Upper Karnali Hydro Power Project in the district of Dailekh and other small projects wherein Indian companies are currently involved.

Lila Mani Pokharel, the Unified Maoists’ Party Water Resources Bureau Chief, while addressing a program jointly organized by Federation of Water and Energy Consumers and Economic Journalists’ Forum in Kathmandu said that the fresh Indian threat to withdraw construction of Upper Karnali Hydro Electric Power Project was a welcome move.

The Indian government had recently expressed serious concerns over the move of Unified Maoists’ Party to halt the construction works of the project and threatened to withdraw construction works permanently if the Maoists’ cadres continue to intimidate the project workers.

“The Indian threat is meaningless as it will have no impact on Nepal,” said a beaming Pokharel.

“Our party has adopted the policy to halt the construction of the project under any circumstances”, he informed the participants at the interaction program.

“The Indian company will be allowed to continue construction only after State restructuring accomplished and with the drafting of Federal Policy on Exploitation of Natural Resources…the Central and the local governments will have to accept the project primarily,” he continued.

“We cannot continue to be the Indian salves…better they withdraw their investment from the said project”, added Pokharel.

“Even if India threatens to impose economic blockade we will not cry foul”, he said adding, “we have the knowledge that Nepal’s misery is India linked”.

“We are also in favor of establishing Visa regime between the two countries, our border with India must be regulated properly”.

“We ask India to withdraw all its investments-in all sectors in Nepal because that will allow all the Nepali citizens to become self reliant in due course of time”, Lila Mani also said.

Speaking at the interaction a Maoists’ Constitute Assembly member Mr. Gopal Kirati said that his party was also not in favor of allowing the construction works of Arun-III, Seti and Upper Karnali Projects.

“The then Girija Prasad Koirala government, December 30, 2007, kept our swearing in ceremony on hold for a day—the conspiracy was to sell Arun-III and Upper Karnali to India at a dirt cheap price”, revealed Kirati.

“It was only after Girija sold the projects to India, the swearing in ceremony took place the next day”, he also informed.

The Dristi vernacular Weekly had reported then that the Koirala cabinet had made a hasty decision to award this contract to the Indian company as pressurized by the then visiting India’s Intelligence agency (RAW) Chief, Ashok Chaturvedi.

Dharmendra Bastola, another Maoists’ leader informed that the party has already asked GMR-Energy Consortium to halt the construction works.

Other speakers, foreign relations expert Hiranya Lal Shresth and Border Expert Chetendra Jung Himali were of the opinion that the Indian threat to withdraw construction exhibited the weakness of Indian diplomacy. Nepal Maoist against Upper Karnali, Seti & Arun, demand VISA regime with India. TGW

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The FBI Seal where the circle of stars represe...

FBI-CIA recruited Headley

The FBI Seal where the circle of stars represe...

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The Government should be ashamed at the treatment being meted out to India by the US. It is clear that Headley is a mass murderer & is being protected & shielded by the Obama Administration. Leave alone being extradited, now Attorney-General Eric Holder tells us that that our security agencies will have no direct access to Headley at all. This is very clear from the statements of Timothy J. Roemer (US Ambassador) who stated that “no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made.” Though now due to the anger of the Indian people, certain statements of granting access to Headley are being made. Not that interrogating Headley, while he remains ion US custody will help our cause.

Recent revelations confirm the fact that David Coleman Headley is a CIA-FBI operative whose task was to organize & expedite the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks. Thus the role of the CIA, FBI & Mossad in fomenting & planning the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks are proved beyond doubt & need to be investigated by the patriotic elements within the security apparatus & the media. Only the naive & corrupt can continue to deny this fact, more so to the detriment of our national sovereignty & security.

David Headley is a CIA asset & they have invested a lot of their precious resources in training him & therefore they are going to atrocious levels to protect him. The CIA always does. Thus under the cover of the American Judicial system, Headley will disappear into the prisons, soon acquire a new identity, new papers & documents, passports & Visas, Credit Cards & Bank Accounts . . . a new identity & will resurface, doing what he is best at, a terrorist-drug dealer-mercenary.

Undoubtedly, the CIA-FBI, which are the world’s leading mercenary agencies, whose forte is too engineer assassinations, terror & wars, has infiltrated sections of the Indian political leadership & our internal security, as it has the Pakistani ISI, Military & Political establishment.

Thus now the US intervention & occupation of the South Asian region is deepening by the day, as it keeps on increasing the tensions between India & Pakistan as well as China. It is an old imperial ploy of divide & rule along religious & sectarian lines as well as between nations.

The terror attack Mumbai 26/11, was directed at all of South Asia & this point must be understood by all those who are committed to the cause of South Asia.

The 26/11 terror attack has only aided the US/Israeli effort to create an atmosphere conducive to increasing its pervasive & corrupting influence in determining both our National & International policies. Very true indeed!!

Now the newspapers are clearly raising the issue of Headley being a CIA-FBI operative, a fact that we had stated initially as soon as the story appeared. The reports also state that the CIA was aware about the Headley-Rana linkage! Indian authorities had suspected that Headley was a CIA agent. There are taped conversations between Headley & Rana.

Moreover, the simple fact of the matter is that Headley is involved in the terror attack & should be immediately extradited to the Indian authorities for interrogation & should be tried & sentenced like Kasab (who is a mere foot-soldier & his trial is a contrived circus, despite all the media attention)

In the news report that appeared in the Indian Express (pg 5, 10/12/09), the hotel owner is openly blaming the police for having ‘misplaced’ Headley’s ‘C-form’ & has filed a complaint on the matter. The hotel owner in his complaint to the Ajmer Superintendent of Police, has stated that he had also submitted the C-forms of two other Israelis along with that of Headley.

So why was Headley arrested by the FBI? The answer to that is that Indian Intel was hard on the heels of Headley & were about to arrest him. It was then that the FBI whisked away Headley to protect him. Now that he has been subjected to the laws of the US judicial system, he is beyond our reach. Leave alone a trial for Headley’s central role in the 26/11 attacks, we do not even have the right to interrogate him.

In fact it is suspected that, it was Headley who was the CIA mole in the LeT, who was passing out information on the coming 26/11 terror attack. This was partly shared by the CIA with the Indian authorities & had specifically mentioned the Taj & that the attack would come by sea.

There are two significant points to note:

1) How much information did the CIA actually divulge to India – very very meagre it is clear.

2) More intriguingly with the Pakistani authorities & it’s friends in the ISI & the Military with which the CIA has a very deep & intimate relationship, stretching over 6 decades – it supposedly shared none !!!

Any moron is full aware that a 26/11 style attack could lead to a war, in fact a nuclear war between India & Pakistan, then why did not the CIA warn it’s friends on either side & thus prevent the attack ??

For the simple reason that it is in the strategic interests of the US & Israel to create a warlike situation across South Asia. The larger objective is for India to mobilise & deploy it’s military into the war theatre in Afghanistan if required & later in the coming war on Iran, which is imminent. The tensions & warmongering has now fuelled an arms race & both the countries are amongst the top buyers of weapons, required to protect their half-starving masses.

Also do note that during the phase of the worst series of terror attacks between 2006-08, Headley was present in that period & was flying into India mainly from Pakistan. Yet our authorities did not once suspect or interrogate him?? Unfortunately the Indian People are not that naive. This clearly means that there are certain forces within the country that are allied to the US & Israel & working in tandem to foment terror attacks.

Do especially note the period between August 2007 & September 2008 as this was during which we passed through the worst national crisis over the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. The attacks coincide with Headleys’ presence in India (Josy Joseph, 17/11/09, DNA ). The terror attacks in Hyderabad II (25/8/07), Bangalore (25/7/08), Ahmedabad & Surat (26/7/08) & Delhi (13/9/08). All these blasts made it easier for the pro-US elements to take the country into the American-Israeli strategic orbit in the name of fighting the global war on terror.

Again even the blasts that Shri Hemant Karkare has traced to the Abhinav Bharat, find a relation to Headley’s footprints. Thus he is present during Malegaon (8/9/06), Samjhauta Express (19/2/07), Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad I (18/5/07).

Thus clearly Headley was also co-ordinating his attacks with the Abhinav Bharat & Sanatan Sanstha as well as with the Indian Mujahedeen (which is a creation of Intel services comprising criminals & informers from within the Muslim community).

We thus can infer the following from the latest revelation:

1) David Headley’s trail as he traveled across the country to & identify the sites for terror attacks was & is being covered up by the police on the instructions of the pro-CIA/Mossad sections of the Intelligence Bureau.

2) This was the similar case in the city of Mumbai, where Headley’s membership form at the ‘Moksh Gymnasium’ had both his photograph & signature ‘missing’. The flat which he rented on Bridge Candy has no agreement papers & so is the case with his office in Tardeo.

3) The fact that the hotel owner also submitted two forms of Israeli’s on that day, also could mean that Headley was also being guided by Mossad agents to identify Jewish targets, which they finally did & thus Nariman House.

4) Headley’s very entry into the country has been managed with the connivance of the authorities at the highest levels. And thus even though Headley was a drug dealer having faced a jail sentence, Pakistani born, could still manage to get a clearance. Also do note that he was travelling directly via Pakistan into India. The clearance of his Visa from the Indian Consulate in Chicago actually requires criminal proceedings against the Indian Consul general, the Indian Ambassador & the Minister & the concerned officers in the Home Ministry in Delhi. That was the reason that the authorities panicked & said that Headley’s papers at the Chicago Consulate had gone missing. They later found them. With changed signatures, we guess!

5) It is clear that after working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Headley was later was recruited & trained by the CIA-FBI.

6) The CIA-FBI then used Headley in their plan to execute the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. Headley’s task was to travel across the country, identify the targets & provide information to his CIA-FBI handlers. It was the CIA-FBI who then passed the information onto their ISI / LeT contacts in Pakistan.

7) Headley’s role was also to draw in his LeT contacts to plan the 26/11 terror attacks.

8) The IB, that has been colluding with the CIA-FBI, instructed it’s plants within the police force to cover Headley’s trail, which they dutifully performed as is the case both in Mumbai & in Pushkar.

Thus as our inference on the Headley matter is the following:

a) It proves the fact that David Headley was a CIA-FBI agent sent to India to assist in the preparation & implementation of the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks.

b) The US intelligence, led by the CIA-FBI & the Israeli MOSSAD played a central role in co-ordinating the attack & America is complicit in the planning, financing & execution of the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks.

c) The CIA-FBI used their LeT / ISI agents in Pakistan to implement the same

d) Similarly the CIA-FBI along with certain elements within the Intelligence-Security apparatus & organizations within India were instrumental in fomenting the terror attack.

Undoubtedly the larger strategic objectives of the Imperial gameplan are being achieved, out of which one was to establish the CIA-FBI & Mossad as our allies & thus penetrate & undermine our external & internal security structures.

Just imagine, the CIA-FBI & Mossad are the sword arms of the Imperial project & not a whimper of protest from the secular-liberals or from the anti-Imperialist Left. Even the Obama Af-Pak surge has been barely opposed even though it deepens the US occupation of the South Asian region.

This only goes to prove as to how successful the Imperial strategy has been in creating an atmosphere for US meddling & intervention across South Asia & in neutralising the Left, Bahujans & the Muslim community by systematically promoting Islamophobia by deploying the weapon of terror.

But the Indian masses are far smarter & both the issues of the planned assassination of Shaheed Hemant Karakare & the Headley episode, have helped the People arrive at their own independent conclusions despite the disinformation campaigns unleashed by the pro-US/israeli elements within the Indian Government & the Corporate Media. David Colemann Headley Is A CIA-FBI Agent By Feroze Mithiborwala, 18 October, 2010, Countercurrents.org

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