Jammu and Kashmir armed struggle expands

Shri VT. Rajsshekar
Bangalore: Look at the big changes.Muslims masses are gradually joining Dalit and OBC parties led by Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Parsad, Sharad Pawar etc. Muslim leadership is dying.

Remember, how Shahabuddin was once called the "Second Jinnah" by the Brahminical media as though Jinnah sahib, the greatest leader, was bad. Remember how some Hindu MPs had shouted "Jai Shri Ram" in Indian Parliament soon after the Babri Masjid demolition. Muslims of the whole country were shocked at this but the Muslim MPs of Kashmir shouted back saying Allaho Akbar.

This was the turning point. Muslims were being slowly driven to the wall. They had no further space to go. Since the Cashmiri Muslims lost all hopes and were forced to turn violent. The got the support of the Muslims from Azad kashmir, Pakistan itself and also from Afghanistan. Each organisation formed its own independent fighting front and launched armed resistance. The J&K Police, Ikhwan  Renegades,  and security forces, all muslims, were forced to fight their own brothers. Then the Indian security forces were sent from Delhi. They also met with fierce resistance. After killing many and getting killed in large numbers, they realised athat those whome they were killing were Dalits and shudra sepoys and jawans, whose brothers inside India were themselves vistims of continuous Hindu atrocities.

About the author: Shri V.T. Rajshekar, its Editor and founder, Dalit Voice, the English fortnightly, has become the country's most powerful "Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied Human Rights".

A veteran journalist, formerly of the Indian Express, powerful and fearless writer, V.T. Rajshekar, had to face the wrath of the ruling class, arrested many times, several jail sentences, passport impounded and subjected to total media boycott.

Published in several Indian languages including Hindi, Dalit Voice has become the sole spokesman for the entire deprived, dehumanised lot of India. Besides the Dalits, it looks after the interests of Backward Castes (35%) and the country's three persecuted religious minorities — Muslims 15%, Christians 2.5%, and Sikhs 2.5% — all victims of the Aryan Brahminical racism. Plus the women of all sections including the Hindu women.

In the course of the last 25 years, DV has become India's largest circulated journal of the oppressed, fighting against mainstream dailies and periodicals which have totally ignored the plight of the original inhabitants. Hence DV is rightly hailed as a new experiment in Indian journalism.

Only DV has diagnosed the disease of India which is an exception to all other countries in the world. If others have only "classes", India has not only the "class" but the world's most unique institution of caste system, which is the other word for racism. Here lies the success of DV. It goes to all world famous libraries, universities and invited many Afro-American delegations to India.

Its Editor is hailed as India's most original thinker, scholar and also philosopher. As India's most famous Dalit writer, he has authored over 60 world-famous books dealing with the problems of caste, ethnicity, Muslims, Christian, Sikhs, Marxism, Brahminism, Racism, Gandhism, Fascism etc.

Over 100 books have been published by the Dalit Sahitya Akademy, its sister organisation, also headed by the Editor.

His book, Dalit - The Black Untouchables of India, published from the USA (Clarity Press, Inc., Suite 469, 3277 - Roswell Rd NE, Atlanta, GA.30305, ISBN 0-932863-05-1 , 2003 - 2nd print), has gone into several reprints uniting for the first time the Blacks of the world with the Black Untouchables of India.

His most important book, Caste — A Nation Within the Nation, which has gone into second print, is a marvellous thesis offering an ingenious weapon of "caste identity" to defeat Brahminism, the destructive ideology of the ruling class. In the latest Parliament election, the oppressed castes of India used this weapon and defeated the country's Brahminical party (BJP).

DV becomes the future media of India where its dailies and periodicals are slowly dying. Because only DV offers a lasting solution as the authentic voice of the country's tallest titan, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Father of India.

Shri V.T. Rajshekar, 

Editor,

Dalit Voice
#101, Shiv Deep Residency, Shivbagh, Kadri, Mangalore- 575 002

Mobile No: 0-776 044 0596

e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

home: http://www.dalitvoice.org/
 

Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea as a “barbarous and evil act” Lashkar-e-Taiba

Srinagar, May 4: While Islamic scholars worldwide condemned the burial at sea given to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh seemed to be criticising the US over the action.

Muslim clerics on Tuesday said that Osama bin Laden's burial at sea was a violation of Islamic traditions that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets.

A wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Makkah. Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship.

 "The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don't think this is in the interest of the US administration," said Omar Bakri Muhammad, a radical cleric in Lebanon.

The Lebanese cleric called it a "strategic mistake" that was bound to stoke rage. In Washington, CIA Director Leon Panetta warned that "terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge" the killing of the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks.

"Bin Laden is dead," Panetta wrote in a memo to CIA staff. "Al-Qaeda is not." According to Islamic teachings, the highest honor to be bestowed on the dead is giving the deceased a swift burial, preferably before sunset. Those who die while travelling at sea can have their bodies committed to the bottom of the ocean if they are far off the coast, according to Islamic tradition.

"They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam," Muhammad al-Qubaisi, Dubai's grand mufti, said about bin Laden's burial. "If the family does not want him, it's really simple in Islam: You dig up a grave anywhere, even on a remote island, you say the prayers and that's it."

"Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances," he added. "This is not one of them."

Geelani Tuesday paid tributes to the slain Al-Qaeda founder for standing up against “oppression and injustice”.

“This cowardly act has no moral or legal justification. Burying the enemy according to his or her religion and with due respect is an accepted custom in every civilized society, but it (Osama’s burial at sea) has revealed the extent of moral degradation to which a person or State can stoop to under the intoxication of power,” said Geelani.

In an apparent reference to United States, he said the self-proclaimed champions of human rights and democracy have brought shame to the entire humanity through this “barbarous and evil act”.

“This contemptuous treatment of dead bodies is a reminder of Stone Age and a so-called superpower has put question mark over its civilization and moral traditions,” the veteran leader said.

Geelani described Mr. Sheikh Osama as a “brave man who didn’t act as mute spectator to oppression and injustice even though one could disagree with his methods”.

“When he was young, Osama saw how Muslims across the globe were being subjected to oppression and how Muslims from Palestine to Kashmir had been enslaved. The path Osama chose for himself needs to be understood in this context. He didn’t give up a life of wealth and comfort for the sake of some hobby. He saw Muslim women, children and men drenched in blood from Kashmir to Iraq and reacted to state-sponsored terrorism.”

Geelani said the resistance against foreign occupation was a natural reaction and if any powerful nation like America, Israel, Britain or India occupied other nations and killed innocent civilians, the reaction would be no different.

“As long as the foreign occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Kashmir continues, resistance would surface in different forms and manifestations, and until the foreign powers recall their forces back from these regions and adopt the policy of live and let live, we cannot realize the dream of making the world a peaceful place,” he said.

During prayers on Monday, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, paid tribute to bin Laden, stating that, "Osama bin Laden was a great person who awakened the Muslim world. Martyrdoms are not losses, but are a matter of pride for Muslims. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has rendered great sacrifices for Islam and Muslims, and these will always be remembered." Meanwhile, hundreds of citizens in Quetta protested in the streets on Monday against the killing of the al Qaeda leader. The demonstrations were led by members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and federal lawmaker Maulvi Asmatullah. Organizers estimated that between 1,000 and 1,200 people participated in the rally, however, witnesses projected that thousands  were in attendance. Dawn reports that a U.S. flag was set on fire and the participants chanted “death to America.

"Osama bin laden still alive"

NEW YORK | Wed May 4: Almost immediately after the United States said it had killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the conspiracy theories started.

Even some relatives of the Sept. 11 victims of the 2001 attacks on America say his death, announced by President Barack Obama in a speech at the White House, begs questions.

The U.S. government said Bin Laden was shot in the head when elite Navy SEALS stormed his compound on Monday after he had evaded a decade-long manhunt as the world's most wanted man.

But his swift burial at sea, in which he was slipped into the Arabian Sea in a weighted body bag, and authorities' reluctance to release pictures of his corpse have been fuel for the conspiracy theorists.

One hotly argued assertion is that bin Laden was in fact a CIA stooge who had been dead for years, a fanciful figure who was used to justify America's war in Afghanistan.

That is a position shared by U.S. anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and other doubters from Indiana to Kabul.

"If you believe the newest death of OBL, you're stupid," Sheehan wrote on her Facebook page.

Sheehan, who set up an anti-war camp at President George W. Bush's Texas ranch in 2005, disputes the facts given by the government, asking how the United States could get such fast DNA results, why the burial was hasty and why no video had been released.

And, she noted, the late Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto claimed in 2007 that bin Laden was already dead.

Sheehan is not alone in posing such questions.

Internet site Yahoo said searches for "osama bin laden not dead," "osama bin laden still alive" and "bin laden not dead" spiked off the charts on Monday.

Men were most likely to think he may be alive, Yahoo said, adding that searchers of "bin laden conspiracy" were mostly from Oregon, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Indiana and New Jersey.

In Iran, the semi-official Mehr news agency declared: "The death of Osama is a lie."

Iranian state television news said by disposing of the body at sea, "the mystery (of his death) has increased." Iranian media say the myth of bin Laden has been used to justify the U.S. occupation of its neighbor, Afghanistan.

Nearly 3,000 people died when planes hijacked by bin Laden's al Qaeda followers flew into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, setting off a hunt for the plot's architect.

Afghanistan's Taliban said in a statement posted on their website that talk of bin Laden's death was "premature" and that the United States had not provided "convincing evidence."

ELVIS AND ALIENS

Some Americans thrive on conspiracy theories. Who really shot President John F. Kennedy? Elvis Presley lives! Did aliens land in a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico? Was Sept. 11 orchestrated by U.S. interests to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?

At New York's "Ground Zero" where the twin towers once stood, some visitors pondered whether bin Laden's death might be too good to be true.

"I just hope we really did get him. They buried him at sea. Who knows what happened?" said project manager Sal Leto, 59.

Retired teacher Joani Ellingson, 62, who was visiting from Minnesota, said: "It is part of the death culture that we want to see proof positive. We have a curiosity."

Rosaleen Tallon, whose brother died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, said she was "dismayed" that bin Laden was buried so quickly.

"It has unfortunately opened this up to the possibility of conspiracy theories," she said.

At Pace University, political science professor David Caputo asked students if they doubted bin Laden was dead. Two thirds had at least a slim doubt, and 5 percent had a major doubt, he said.

(Additional reporting by Ramin Mostafavi in Tehran and Edith Honan in New York; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Beijing, Islamabad reject reports : Chinese Troops In PaK?

Beijing/Islamabad, Apr 7: China and Pakistan Thursday dismissed as “baseless” reports about the presence of Chinese troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APaK).

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told a media briefing in Beijing that “the reports are baseless and ridiculous.” In Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua told a weekly news briefing that there was no basis for the reports.

“This is the most absurd piece of information I have heard. It is totally baseless,” she said. Janjua was responding to a question about India’s External Affairs Ministry seeking a report from the Defense Ministry about the presence of Chinese soldiers along the LoC.

The media reports had quoted Northern Command chief Lt Gen K T Parnaik as saying that Chinese troops were present along the LoC and posed a military challenge to India. He had also expressed concern over the presence of Chinese military in the region as “too close for comfort”.

Parnaik had said: “Chinese presence in Gilgit-Baltistan and the Northern Areas is increasing steadily.
There are many people who are concerned about the fact that if there was to be hostility between us and Pakistan, what would be the complicity of Chinese.”

“Not only they are in the neighborhood but the fact that they are actually present and stationed along the LoC,” Parnaik said addressing a seminar in Jammu last week.

In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs has sought a report from Defense Ministry on the issue.
This is not the first time China has dismissed such reports.

Last year, China officially clarified to India that some of its personnel were present in Azad Jammy and Kashmir  to render flood relief assistance amid reports in the American media about the presence of large number of Chinese troops in Gilgit-Baltistan areas.

India has also time and again conveyed its concerns over the presence of Chinese personnel working in different projects in AJK as it was a disputed territory.

The issue reportedly figured during the last December visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to New Delhi. Fresh Indian concerns over the issue and the reported observations of the top Indian General comes ahead of the scheduled bi-lateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit at the Chinese resort of Sanya on April 13-14.

Chinese troops on Jammu and Kashmir : Gen Parnaik

Srinagar , Apr 6 : China’s presence in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)is “increasing steadily” and its troops are “actually present” along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, a top Army Commander said, adding the Chinese footprints are “too close for comfort” for India.

“Chinese presence in Gilgit-Baltistan and the Northern Areas is increasing steadily. There are many people who are concerned about the fact that if there was to be hostility between us and Pakistan, what would be the complicity of Chinese. Not only they are in the neighbourhood but the fact that they are actually present and stationed along the LoC,” Northern Army Commander Lt Gen K T Parnaik said here recently while addressing a seminar.

He said China’s links with Pakistan through Azad Jammu and Kashmir “lends strength” to the “nexus” between the two countries which is a cause of “great security concern” for India.

“As part of (China’s) ‘strings of pearls’ policy, Chinese footprints are too close for comfort,” Parnaik added.

The Army Commander said such a ‘nexus’ between the Chinese and Pakistani military “jeopardises our regional strategic interests in the long run and facilitates speedy and enhanced deployment of Pakistan armed forces to complement China’s military operations and thus outranks India.”

He said China has been found to be involved in the construction of numerous roads and several hydro-power projects inside Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Beijing is laying a web of roads that run across areas as distant from each other as Skardu in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Kunming in China near Myanmar border.

China has already constructed roads connecting all its highways to logistic centres and major defence installations that dot the border with India and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in south-eastern Jammu and Kashmir.