India no angel in dangerous neighbourhood
By Annie Banerji
Perhaps the finger-pointing at neighbouring Pakistan and the talk of Afghan militancy destabilising the region that New Delhi so often rolls out should be reconsidered. The neighbourhood may well be dangerous, but India is no model pupil.
According to the 2011 Global Peace Index, an initiative of the Institute of Economics and Peace, which evaluates 153 countries based on the level of ongoing conflict, safety and security and militarisation, India is the world’s 135th most peaceful country, falling seven positions from last year.
This year’s rankings, which indicated a decline in the levels of peace for the third consecutive year overall, placed Iceland in the top spot as the most peaceful country and Somalia as the world’s least.
India’s performance is high on some of the indicators, for instance, level of organised internal conflict, political instability, and relations with neighbouring countries, for which reason India is a part of the 20 least peaceful countries in the world along with Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
India’s unfortunate state of safety and security not only emerges largely from religious conflict with active groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, but also Naxalism, an ideology of militant Communist groups. Terror activity is not concentrated in a particular region in India, but it has poisonously seeped into almost all areas of the country.
Starting from the north, with the perennial conflict of Jammu and Kashmir due to political and religious imbalances to the north-east, where there are tensions between state governments, the central government and the tribal people. Central India is infested with Naxalist insurgency, which in the past week caused the death of nine police officers.
from FaithWorld:
Mumbai gunmen denied Muslim burial secretly interred in January
Remember the issue of what to do with the corpses of the nine attackers killed during the November 2008 siege of the Taj Mahal Hotel and other targets in Mumbai that killed 166 people? The dead attackers were all presumed to be Pakistani Muslims, like the sole survivor, but local Indian Muslim leaders refused to let them be buried in their cemeteries. Islamabad ignored calls to take the bodies back. So they were left in morgue refrigerators in Mumbai, presumably until the issue was finally settled.
Sole surviving attacker, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, in police custody in this undated video grab shown by CNN IBN Television channel on February 3, 2009/CNN IBN
FaithWorld was deluged with comments after we asked if the bodies should be cremated and the ashes spread at sea. A surprising number of them suggested the bodies should be desecrated, thrown to the dogs or dumped at the Pakistani-Indian border. The discussion tapered off and the issue seemed to have been forgotten.
The only problem remaining was that those bodies had to be kept refrigerated ad infinitum. Something had to give. Well, the Maharashtra state government finally put an end to this stalemate. As Rina Chandran in our Mumbai bureau wrote: "The badly decomposed bodies had been lying in the mortuary of a hospital in Mumbai after Muslim clerics in the city refused to let them be buried on their grounds. Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil told the state assembly on Tuesday the bodies were buried secretly in January."
The trial of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving suspect, ended last week in Mumbai with a verdict scheduled to be announced on May 3.
There were lots of hot button issues in this one -- Indian-Pakistani relations, how to treat the dead attackers, giving the dead a proper Muslim funeral, just to name a few -- but the angle the local media seemed to highlight most was something nobody thought of at the time. Most of them -- see the Times of India, the Indian Express or the Hindustan Times -- seemed surprised that the government and police could keep the burial secret for so long!
Afghan endgame and fears of rise in Kashmir violence
The Indian army says rebel violence will escalate in Kashmir in summer as hundreds of militants are waiting in the Pakistani part of Kashmir to infiltrate into the Indian side and step up attacks.
Even an internal assessment of the Home Ministry says the summer of 2010 will be as bloodier as or even worse than the mid-nineties.
In Kashmir, violence involving Muslim rebels and Indian troops was on the decline since India and Pakistan, who dispute the region, began a peace process in 2004.
Then why does New Delhi fear escalation of militant violence in Kashmir?
Analysts say after the failure of high-level talks between New Delhi and Islamabad, both are now locked in an escalating proxy war in Afghanistan, a war-torn region where both neighbours vie for influence.
“If no solution is found to reconcile Pakistani and Indian interests in Afghanistan, the coming months might see stepped up terrorist attacks against Indians in Kabul and the return of militants infiltrating Indian Kashmir from Pakistan,” says Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist.
Though the high Himalayan passes are still covered with a thick layer of snow, Pakistan-based militants have started pushing in their members into the Valley.
I my self come from kashmir part belonging to pakistan so called azad kashmir on a recent visit what i saw completly surprised me majority of the people in my region were from afganistan or they had come from the region bodering india, I asked a few people as to what they were doing in the valley leaving their homes and land in the mountains the reply i got was that they were scared of the constant shelling, I assume it will be both side shelling one another. There is no industry in azad kashmir the pakistani govt. has not invested in any sort of infrastructure if kashmir was ruled by one honest govt. it can be self suffient and look after if self the tourist industry in that place would be huge. India and pakistan should sit down work something out for them people and in return they would not have to spend huge amount of money on defence which could go towards their own people, everyone would be better off but India cannot let kashmir go because it would lead to its destruction because other regions will want self rule which India cannot afford and it is same with pakistan so the people of kashmir will have to suffer no matter what. They can thank the British, Lord Mountbatten and the U.N for their fate. Both India and Pakistan are there for self interest only, the good thing is our part is not as bad as the other side, this boder should come down like the berlin wall but unfortunatly their is no country out their to help the people of kashmir.
Much ado in Kashmir over Padma Shri for Mir
It has come as a surprise to many that Ghulam Mohammad Mir, often described as Kashmir’s first counter-insurgent, has been honoured with the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian awards.
Mir alias Momma Kana, 60, who was awarded for public service, has been accused of involvement in cases of extortion and attempted murder.
A police official told ‘The Telegraph’ that Mir’s name sent shivers down the spine of people across Kashmir — he is said to have run a private militia and helped Indian troops combat insurgency.
“A lot of stories about how he would commit atrocities on people began being circulated in Kashmir those days,” the newspaper quoted a police officer as saying.
In the nineties, over a dozen militant groups were fighting Indian troops and at least three pro-government militia groups were helping security forces in combating the rebellion.
New Delhi has denied the allegations against Mir and said the counter-insurgent is a nationalist who fought separatist militants challenging Indian rule in Kashmir.
But officials in Kashmir say the award to Mir had come as a big embarrassment for the state government.
Every body should now one think, GOI cant be a ruler in any of the state in india, because India is a union of states that mean its like a united states,all the states are form together is called united india, because of the state CM and other kashmir officer are fully responsible to declare the name Padma Shri. one think remember you dear people of kashmir we are free nationalist , find the truth behind and prove it to the GOI through any kind of media
from Pakistan: Now or Never?:
Shunning Pakistani players is not cricket
(The Pakistani cricket team)
Pakistani cricketers, the press and ordinary people are livid about their players' exclusion from India's Premier League , the game's most lucrative tournament played out before a vast television audience. Eight Indian teams that take part in the tournament bid for players from around the world, doling out large sums of money. But nobody bid for the 11 Pakistani players on the list, includng some who were part of the Pakistani squad that won last year's World Cup Twenty20 tournament, the three-hour version of the game that the IPL is also played in.
It's not that they were not good enough. They are some of the best the game has to offer. It's that the people who own the teams fear the Pakistani players may face dificulties getting visas or that tensions between the two countries, already rising, could make things dificult for them So why put money on them ?
But then, as former Pakistani skipper Ramiz Raja writes in The Indian Express why were the Pakistani players invited to play in India in the first place,and indeed put on the list of players to be auctioned. They had even been given cricket visas, he says , adding these men are much like their counterparts in India, heroes of the nation. And so it's not just the players who have been snubbed, a whole nation feels insulted.
"The Sports Ministry and Parliament have got the knives out, terming this selection as a snub, and as a great Indian conspiracy to insult the nation and belittle the status of its cricketers," Raja writes.
One of the players ,Shahid Afridi, who is widely seen as a game-changer the day he gets going, said he felt snubbed. "The IPL and India have made fun of us and our country," he is quoted as saying in this Times report.
I have to agree. The manner in which this was done is disgusting. I think it could have been handled much better and there was no need to go through all the charade of getting the players involved at all.The bitterness is political in nature, why demean the players? Petty.
The last IPL went off without them and everyone took it in their stride, that is how things stand at the moment between India and Pakistan. The BCCI goofed and goofed badly. Now lets watch them pass the buck as the blame game begins in earnest.
I do not blame the franchisees. For them it has to be their money and ensuring returns. I think they had the most to lose and they did what was in their best interests.
Is Gaddafi’s U.N. speech winning him a fan base in Kashmir?
A street vendor in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital, sold hundreds of framed portraits of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the last one week.
Kashmiri separatists and many residents are all praise for Gaddafi after his maiden address to the U.N. General Assembly last week in which he said Kashmir should be an “independent state.”
It was a diplomatic embarrassment for India but has Gaddafi’s U.N. speech actually won him an enthusiastic fan base in strife-weary Kashmir where Muslim militants are fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989.
The Libyan leader told the U.N. General Assembly last week that Kashmir should be an independent state, not Indian, not Pakistani.
Last week, dozens of Kashmiris carried placards reading “Gaddafi The Lion of Desert II” referring to the 1981 Hollywood movie “Lion of the Desert”, which is about Omar Mukhtar, who led the rebellion against Italian rule in Libya and was captured and hanged in 1931.
The movie on Omar Mukhtar encouraged rebellion in Kashmir in 1985. This is for the first time in recent times a Muslim leader outside the Indian sub-continent has advocated Kashmir’s complete independence both from India and Pakistan.
The two countries claim the region in full but rule in parts.
Keith,
the impact on other muslims is not going to be a factor; 2 nations were formed (now 3) keeping muslim ‘safety’ as the primary reason in the dichotomy in 1947. The partition was based on religion at least as for as east and west Pakistan were concerned at that time (India chose to remain secular), so the rationality of ‘what about us’ loses credibility.
Are displaced Kashmiri Hindus returning to their homeland?
Tens of thousands of Kashmiri Hindus, locally known as Pandits, fled their ancestral homes in droves 20 years ago after a bloody rebellion broke out against New Delhi’s rule in India’s only Muslim-majority state.
Now encouraged by the sharp decline in rebel violence across the Himalayan region, authorities have formally launched plans to help Pandits return home.
Will Pandits, who say they “live in exile in different parts of their own country” return to their homeland in Kashmir where two decades of violence has left nothing untouched and brought misery to the scenic region, its people and its once easy-going society?
Earlier this month, the government constituted a high level committee led by Kashmir’s Revenue Minister, Raman Bhalla, which will monitor the return of displaced Hindus and effective implementation of New Delhi’s rehabilitation package which includes financial assistance of 750,000 rupees for house construction.
The initiative is driven by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s package of 16,000 million rupees last year for the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Hindus living as migrants in several parts of the country, mostly in Jammu, the Hindu-dominated winter capital of the state.
Many Hindus who fled Kashmir have sold their homes or lost their kin in the violence that has also killed more than 47, 000 people including Muslim militants and civilians.
Some Pandit groups who have opposed the initiative are demanding a separate, guarded homeland within the Kashmir Valley while others complained that authorities are not meeting their security concerns.
The last comment went half over my head – I did not understand what the author was trying to express. And there is nothing happening in Hyderabad? What is happening? More Hindus get killed in the violence here than the muslims, Hindu’s properties are taken over for road widening but on the same road the muslim guy’s property is not touched – why cause he is minority and needs to be treated with kid gloves. Because they are minority, they cannot be treated equally as others in the same nation – they need special privileges.
In Hyderabad, if you bang into a muslim guy’s vehicle by mistake, hope you are a muslim too, otherwise pray for your safety.
Is India failing to win hearts and minds in Kashmir?
Is India pushing the ordinary Kashmiri people further away by enforcing regular curfews, putting most of their separatist leaders under house arrest and denying them religious freedom by banning Friday prayers in Kashmir’s Jamia Masjid (grand mosque) on a regular basis to avoid violence?
I travelled to Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir this week, and saw how people were tired of violence and wanted peace and dignity in the region.
Many told me how they felt unhappy each time an incident of violence in a remote corner of the city would scare authorities into shutting down the city and forced them to stay indoors, many without any provisions.
The majority of people in Kashmir appear tired of the 20-year-old violence, involving militants and Indian troops, which has declined significantly — with almost no major attacks in the main city of Srinagar for more than a year now.
Having tasted peace for a while now, people in Srinagar want to spend time near the Dal Lake or travel to a picturesque location with their families, instead of being locked up in their homes.
Industry heads and businessmen I spoke to recollect their endless meetings with Indian ministers, requesting them to do more to restore confidence of potential investors to boost the handicraft, horticulture and tourism sectors.
Many bookshop owners, fruit sellers and students I talked to want the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, the main separatist alliance in the disputed region, to hold talks with the government.
We Indians need to face the issue than prolonging the agony of Kashmir. For the same purpose the so called separatists need to come to the table. This may be a tough thing as they just want to prolong the whole process. The political games get even more muskier as in the so called pro independence faction has an under the table alliance with the terrorist community , who by the way want total chaos to prevail.
Heaven rains down tears on Mumbai
The Heavens rained down tears of sorrow on Mumbai on Saturday morning as the death toll from the attacks on the proud city climbed steadily.
The unseasonal rain marked the third day of the siege of the city’s landmark Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
I have spent the past three days covering the story day-and-night and sitting here in the rain on Saturday morning watching the flames pour from the 105-year old Heritage Building and listening to gunshots, I have to wonder why this has gone on for so long.
I’m sitting well back from the lobby area by the famous Gateway of India and even here occasional bullets are hitting TV trucks and whistling overhead.
When I arrived here on foot at around 1030 on Wednesday evening I certainly did not imagine I would still be here nearly 60 hours later.
During the long vigil the gunfire and grenade explosions have been intermittent with fierce gun-battles for a few minutes then long periods of silence.
As far as I have been able to tell the battles have been widely spread around the Heritage section of the hotel and the outbreak of fire have been similarly widespread.
the original blog is a poignant writeup and brings the situation at ground ZERO LIVE BEFORE OUR EYES
The young face of militancy
When the first pictures of the Mumbai attackers were shown on national television, they sent a shiver down my spine.
Staring back at me from the television screen was a guy about my age, dressed in a dark T-shirt with ‘Versace’ written across it, clad in jeans, hair falling across his forehead and a blue backpack slung over one shoulder.
The first thought that struck me was “this guy should be in college right now.”
He had the look typical of any college student or young professional.
He definitely did not look capable of pumping bullets indiscriminately at innocent passers-by from an automatic weapon or hold so many people hostage at one of Mumbai’s posh hubs.
For the first time since a string of bombings over the past few months, militancy now has a definite clean-shaven, young face that does not seem to care if it is seen or heard as it appears fleetingly at the windows of a luxury hotel between encounters with commandos.
No more of the crude bomb chucking from motorbikes or the nameless and faceless shadows leaving vehicles loaded with explosives to blow up in crowded markets.
we the indian r all 2gather and we never allow any one 2 disturb u r royalty and culture, we r very devoted 2 all people who dide in tererist attack…..
I do not know how authentic these studies are. There is no clear information on how the information was obtained, the sources of the information and whether any verification was done at all. Most of these surveys are done by Western countries where they inject their perceived bias and apprehension into these surveys, thereby projecting a demoniacal image of countries that do not entirely agree with their vision of the world. I’d say, based on this survey, Antarctica is the most peaceful place on earth.
If one takes a country like the USA, gun culture is legally permitted. People can own automatic and semi-automatic weapons, grenade launchers and what not. Once in a while people get shot in shopping malls and work places by frustrated or mentally deranged individuals. Safety is a big concern there. People get shot when getting mugged by school kids. Drug gangs have proliferated across big metros. Cops can shoot and kill anyone. They just have to make up the evidence. In places like Australia, racial attacks have increased. Indians are targeted and attacked. If the world is gauged from an Indian standpoint or that of an African, the rest of the world does not appear that safe.
I do not deny India’s own problems. Things were much worse before compared to now. Every country has its criminals. Therefore I am not so worried about these surveys which are amateurish at best.