Indian CRPF troopers in IHK get new Israeli assault rifles

Srinagar, April 12 : In Jammu and Kashmir, the personnel of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are finally laced with Israeli assault rifles 'X95' and 'Tavor' to suppress Kashmiris’ just liberation struggle, reports Kashmir Media Service.

A local daily in a report said that one of these sophisticated rifles 'X95' had already been received by the CRPF while 'Tavor' was yet to be procured.

A top CRPF officer, wishing anonymity, told media men that both the weapons were costly and were first used in some areas in India by the CRPF personnel. "Since both the rifles are difficult to operate so the CRPF men will be made to undergo a special training to use them," the report said.

Confirming that the CRPF men in the valley will be laced with the two sophisticated weapons, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of CRPF, Prabhakar Tripathi said that they had already procured 'X95' and the 'Tavor' would be procured soon.

Indian Army plans Kashmir Premier League : Hasnain

Srinagar, April 4: Army is going to organize Kashmir Premier League this summer on the pattern of IPL, the popular Twenty20 cricket competition. This was stated by General Officer Commanding of Army's Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt Gen S A Hasnain while interacting with local people here on Sunday, reports Rissing Kashmir.

Stating that one or two teams would be selected from each district, the GOC said, “The main aim of the tournament would be to exploit the talent and the best cricketers will be provided training at top coaching academies of the country and the expenses would be provided by army.”

During the ‘Awami Mulaqat’ organized by army, Hasnain received volley of questions from the local residents.
Handwara traders’ association president, Ijaz Ahmad demanded opening of Rajwar road in Kupwara, saying that army’s love and affection needs to proven on ground.

“Sir, we have suffered a lot. Our houses were burnt and thousands were killed. Even if a single person committed a mistake the whole population of the area was punished,” Ahmad said.

“The ghastly tag of last twenty years attached with the army needs to be removed as fear prevails among people wherever they visit,” he added.

The residents raised many other issues related to their security and day-to-day problems with the GOC. Besides assuring people of taking action in all genuine concerns, Hasnain ordered opening of Rajouri road on spot to ease the sufferings of common people. On the occasion, the GOC also announced that 15 corps will adopt the orphanage home of the township.

A Kashmiri Teenager Moves UN Diplomats and Activists in Geneva

The tears of Aneesa Nabi, whose parents were killed by Indian soldiers, even shook the Indians, as activists rushed to console her; several embassies sent observers to witness her testimony, including US government’s permanent mission to Geneva.

GENEVA, Switzerland—Her parents would have never thought their little girl would go this far, but a Kashmiri teenager smuggled by an NGO across the ceasefire line in Kashmir landed in Geneva today to a grand start, shocking world diplomats and activists with the story of her father and mother long after their death.

Aneesa Nabi, 17, drew the attention of diplomats and human rights activists and NGOs that have descended on Geneva this month for the 16th session of Human Rights Council, which is UN’s highest rights body designed along the lines of the UN Security Council in New York, minus the powers.

Representatives of a Kashmiri NGO based in Pakistan, the Kashmir Institute of International Affairs, KIIA, were seen lobbying world diplomats and NGO representatives in the main hall of the Palais de Nations, or Palace of the Nations, which is the focal point of UN operations in Geneva.

“She really moved all of us,” said Altaf Hussain Wani, director programs at KIIA. “We’ve been with her for the past week but today she left us in tears.”

“You could see the interest in her,” said Shagufta Ashraf, a KIIA activist, as she distributed flyers and pamphlets in the main lobby of the Palais. “The diplomats and NGO types got really interested in this story.” African human rights activist Micheline Djouma arranged for Aneesa’s appearance at a seminar today on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council meetings. The council was busy dealing with issues as diverse as Iran’s human rights record and a proposal to outlaw denigration of religions. But this didn’t stop rights activists and some diplomats from attending Aneesa’s appearance.

What boosted Aneesa’s case was the fact that Kashmiri groups spread worldwide occupied a square in front of Palais de Nations, known as Broken Chair, where an exhibition of museum of Indian Army genocide against Kashmiri people was set up inside a tent, surrounded by banners and hoards depicting the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir. Before Aneesa started her speech, an Africa-based rights activist Mrs. Colette Samoya, president of Bangwe organization, delivered a speech in French, where she mentioned Kashmir five times as she gave examples of violations against women and children in conflict zones. Building anticipation, Samoya kept reminding the audience, saying “We have a girl from Kashmir here to tell her story.”

Aneesa began her speech in a normal way, but her voice began choking when she mentioned her father, who was arrested by Indian Army on 24 July 1996 when she was four. By the time she mentioned her mother, she was in tears, sobbing involuntarily as she recalled how the Indian occupation authorities warned her not to join NGOs lobbying for disappeared persons. In 2003, the Indians barged into her house and opened fire on Aneesa’s mother from automatic guns as she fell to the ground. Amazingly, she was carrying a toddler, Aneesa’s younger brother, in her arms and never let him ago despite receiving fatal injuries. The boy’s leg was shattered by bullets but he survived.

“She had been repressing her emotions,” recalled Ahmed Quraishi, a representative of OIC’s World Muslim Congress and a Kashmir activist. “In the past, she would only smile when asked if she remembered her parents or missed them. She would ignore it. But today, all the repressed memories, all the repressed pain, came out naturally. She really believed this was her last chance to do something to help free her father if he is still alive.”

Video Link: http://786insidekashmir.blogspot.com/2011/03/kashmiri-teenager-moves-un-diplomats.html

HIGHLIGHTS
When Aneesa began talking, the entire hall went silent, which is rare in United Nations Human Rights Council side events.
She couldn’t control herself when she mentioned her father, and was unable to continue after mentioning her mothers

A known Indian lobbyist linked to the Indian government, who is a Kashmiri Hindu, couldn’t control himself and hurriedly left the hall in tears

On the stage, an Indian academic, Dr. Krishna Ahoojapatel, tried to express grief, and an African panelist stood up from her chair, walked up to Aneesa and hugged her like a mother would hug a daughter. Someone else brought her a glass of water.

The moderator repeatedly interrupted a sobbing Aneesa to ask her if she wanted to take a break or continue telling her story. Aneesa tried to continue but couldn’t. She failed to read out the last portion of an appeal to the international community and to the United Nations to help force the Indian government and military to reveal the fate of her father.

A senior UN official, whose name is withheld, was so moved by Aneesa’s tragedy that he conveyed to her that he will do everything possible to hold the Indian government and military accountable for any harm done to her father and for serious human rights violations in Kashmir.

‘I saw them execute my mother, I was seven’
Tale of a Kashmiri girl from Srinagar who lost her parents, escaped  The Indian Army and found her way to Geneva to tell her story.

Meet Aneesa Nabi Khan, a bright 17-year-old studying at a school in the part of Kashmir liberated from India.  Her mild demeanor, big eyes and a warm smile set her apart from other students in her school. But very few of them know her real story. Someday soon she will graduate and do something to impact the lives of her people. Her parents will never know how their little girl, the eldest of three kids, has grown up to be a precocious young lady.

Today she is in Geneva to tell her story to politicians, activists and the media from all over the world. She came here to speak. She wants the world to know her story because she made it to this place. Others like her can’t. And she wants to represent them.

She has a story. It is a compelling tale of fear, courage, tragedy, and a people’s quest for freedom from the tyranny of one of the biggest armies in the world.

Where Does Aneesa Come From?
She comes from Kashmir, a paradise nestled in the grand Himalayas to the north of Pakistan, bordering China and India. One of the world’s most scenic lands is also home to the world’s biggest concentration of armed soldiers—more than half a million regular army from the world’s largest democracy: India.  Aneesa’s people want freedom from occupation. India does not want to grant it or heed United Nations resolutions calling for a settlement.

But for 63 years, Kashmiris did not take foreign occupation lying down. Aneesa’s father was one of them. That’s how her tragedy begins.

Where Is Aneesa’s Father?
Ghulam Nabi Khan was in his mid-thirties in 1996 when he was last seen by Dilshad, his wife, and daughter and her toddler brother

Raees.
Ghulam left his house in the morning. He was what his people call a freedom fighter, oppose to the forced Indian occupation of his homeland. The Indian military saw him as a ‘militant’.

The Indians laid a trap for him. One of his friends was recruited by Indian intelligence. Ghulam was lured into a meeting at his friend’s house. They swooped on him as soon as he entered the house.

By evening the news reached his wife. So many Kashmiri men have ‘disappeared’ in similar circumstances. Dilshad’s brother took her to the local police station, manned by Indian police. They refused to register a case of forced ‘disappearance’. Days and months passed without any record of what happened to Ghulam. Fearing a similar fate, Dilshad took her children to her village to live with her parents.  Somehow they managed to contact the mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Indian capital. Red Cross is the only international organization that is allowed limited access to a few jails in Indian-occupied Kashmir. Most of the jails and detention centers remain closed to the world. When a Red Cross delegation visits Kashmir, the Indian government and army only allows Indian citizens working for Red Cross to enter the occupied territory. The Red Cross searched for Aneesa’s father but to no avail. This is because Indian military is authorized by law to arrest and detain Kashmiris for long periods without charges or trial.

Indian army is desperate to eliminate Kashmiri men and women who actively participate in the independence movement. Once any Kashmiri, man or woman, is dubbed a ‘militant’ by the Indians, he or she is never seen again.

How Was Dilshad, Aneesa’s Mother, Executed?
After her husband’s ‘disappearance’, Dilshad moved with her three children to the village, where her own parents and her in-laws lived. She joined a group formed by Kashmiris called the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons [APDP]. The group is one of the largest civil society organizations formed by Kashmiris to peacefully resist Indian occupation. It organizes peaceful protests in Srinagar against excesses by Indian occupation forces and keeps the cause of the ‘disappeared’ persons alive. The exact number of the missing is not known.

Dilshad became an active member of the APDP, frequently seen in television news footage from Srinagar organizing peaceful protests in front of Indian and international media. These protests caught the attention of some foreign diplomats based in New Delhi, local and international media, and rights organizations. They turned into an embarrassment for the Indian military.  Indian occupation officials were remanded by the Indian government in New Delhi for failing to stop the activities of Kashmiri women like Dilshad.

One day in 2003, Indian soldiers entered the house of Aneesa’s mother. Some of them were in uniform and others were in plainclothes. The Indian soldiers asked everyone in the house to line up in the center of the front room. Dilshad, her brother, an unmarried younger sister, and her parents and some visiting relatives did what the soldiers told them to do. There was some shouting. Aneesa was nine. She too stood in the line. The soldiers were asking Dilshad about her activities with APDP when tempers flared and one of the Indian soldiers began firing indiscriminately. He took it out on Dilshad, which gave everyone else enough time to run toward the rooms behind them to hide. Nine-year-old Aneesa slipped under a bed. She could see an Indian soldier emptying his weapon into her mother.

The soldiers ran out of the house soon after.
Aneesa rushed to her mother. She remembers vividly how her mother was breathing her last. She says her mother wanted to say something but couldn’t. Blood started coming out of her mouth and she died in her nine-year-old daughter’s arms.  Amazingly, Dilshad was still carrying Aaqib, who then was a toddler. Bullets hit his left thigh and tore the flesh apart. He was unconscious and his uncle rushed him to hospital. He survived the injury.

Aneesa’s Journey To Pakistan?
With her mother killed and father kidnapped by the Indians, the male members of Aneesa’s family worried about her safety and her future. By 2008, five years after her mother was killed, Aneesa’s two younger brothers had adapted to a life without parents. Raees was 13 and was looked after by his maternal grandmother. But Aaqib was even younger. So her mother’s unmarried sister took his custody. That left Aneesa. She was the only one among them to have a passport, an Indian passport.  Apparently, her mother was planning to get her out of India anyway, most probably to travel to Dubai and then take a flight from there to Pakistan, where most of Kashmiris have taken refuge, escaping the harsh Indian occupation of their homes and fields. India is more than happy to issue Indian passports to Kashmiris because it sees that as Kashmiris accepting Indian citizenship. But over the years, most Kashmiris have preferred to reach Pakistan without passports—trekking the tough route through the mountains to Pakistan.

How Is Her New Life Like In Pakistan?
Aneesa is living with her mother’s cousin and her husband and three children. They all come from the same extended family so she feels at home and her family is very close to each other. She was in class 7 in Indian-occupied Kashmir. In Pakistan she was admitted to class 8. But she was weak in two subjects: Urdu, the Pakistani official language, and Islamic studies. The schools in occupied Kashmir have no choice but to follow the Indian educational system where the two subjects are not taught. But Urdu and Islamic studies were not alien to Aneesa and she quickly mastered them.  She stays in touch with her brothers back in Indian-occupied Kashmir through telephone. She doesn’t remember her father at all. She was two when the Indians kidnapped him. She was nine when they killed her mother. She hardly experienced their love. She says her family now gives her love and affection and the sense of security that her tormentors denied her.

Still Looking For My Father
Aneesa and her new family continue to stay in touch with the International Committee of the Red Cross in the hope that someday they might find him in one of the Indian jails. Her relatives back in Indian-occupied Kashmir keep their ears to the ground, collecting any information or rumors about anyone sighting Aneesa’s father in Indian detention centers. They pass on the information to her so she could forward it to Red Cross.

Why Is She In Geneva This Year?
Her answer is simple: “I hope it helps me find my father.” She wants the international community not to abandon people like her. She wants the powerful democracies to heed her call. And she intends to make her voice heard. She couldn’t do anything for her mother. She couldn’t save her mother. But in case her father is alive, she wants the satisfaction of knowing she did all she could to save his life. Her activism brought her message to the world, and now Aneesa wants to take the world to occupied Kashmir. Her mother and father would have been proud of the work done by their daughter today. 

More details: http://786insidekashmir.blogspot.com/2011/03/kashmiri-teenager-moves-un-diplomats.html

Kashmir is fighting for Right to Self Determination

Egypt and Kashmir

To draw a comparison between the two would be a fallacy

Burhan Majid

After Tunisia, Egypt is the buzzword. Indeed Egyptian people deserve applause. They have shown the world that how dedication and collective endeavour can bring a revolution. Even as the Egypt’s future remains to be precarious, a thirty year old dictatorship had fallen, reports Burhan Majid.

Though this major political development has its impact on the world politics, unfortunately, a section of people has surfaced, both within and outside, which drew parallels between Egypt and Kashmir, a Himalayan valley. Infact their argument is that Kashmiris should learn from the Egyptians.

To me it is a flawed argument, sufficient enough to add insult to the injury. The courage shown by Egyptian is worth inspiring, however, in no possible way can we draw a similarity between the recent protests in Egypt which toppled a regime and the struggle Kashmir is involved. If we do so, we delude our people.

At the first instance, Kashmir is fighting for Right to Self Determination; the Egyptian people want the change of regime that has been governing them for past thirty years. There is a world of difference between the two. In Egypt protests are related to governance and economy. In Kashmir the case is entirely different. Kashmir is a geopolitical issue. The world saw a sea of people at Tahrir Square (Egypt) for consecutive eighteen days. Can we think of same gathering for the same duration at Red Square (Lal Chowk) in Kashmir where at times people are not allowed to assemble for a peaceful demonstration? Where, last year alone, 112 youth fell to bullets while protesting against the atrocities committed by Indian forces and local police; where children as young as eight are killed mercilessly.

Another significant difference is that the protests in Egypt were given a widespread coverage by international media. Major media houses of the world ran the news about Egypt minute after minute. Live updates, videos photographs, debates, analysis and opinions were broadcasted. On the other hand, Kashmir is seldom talked or debated in the international media circles.

Though Indian media reported the events in Kashmir however the intention was only to malign the cause of Kashmiris and to label the genuine protestors as terrorists, paid agents and what have you. It was after so many killings that Kashmir was discussed and debated in Indian media circles.

The protests in Egypt were gaining momentum, the coverage by the media across the length and breadth of the world also intensified.  The BBC, CNN, New York Times, Guardian and many other international media outlet continuously reported about the situation unfolding in Egypt. Who voiced the voice of Kashmiris at the time of unrest?

Leave alone the question of international media as the agitation gained ground in Kashmir, the local electronic media was gagged and it continue to be till date.

Moreover, according to the media reports, Egyptian Army exercised maximum restraint while dealing with the protestors. Look at the way police and security agencies used power to crush the people and protestors.

Egyptians acknowledged that social networking websites played an important role in accomplishing the goal of ousting Hosni Mubarak. Though social media wasn’t the cause of revolution in Egypt, it hastened its pace and transferred the voice from one to millions.

In Kashmir, the youth tried to use the facebook in the similar fashion; tried to highlight the atrocities committed upon hapless people; but, they were arrested and few were charged under criminal offences.  SMS were banned. The service is yet to be restored for prepaid customers after ‘normalcy’ returned. The bottom-line is that the two are different and to draw comparison is fallacious.

Author is a researcher in Laws at University of Kashmir, and can be reached at burhan.mjd@gmail.com

US complicit in India’s systematic use of torture in Kashmir

http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

By Deepal Jayasekera
Washington,  3 Feb: US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks show that Washington has long had evidence of Indian authorities’ systematic use of torture against opponents of Indian rule over Jammu and Kashmir, but has chosen not to speak out against New Delhi’s gross human rights violations.

In a classified cable sent in April 2005, the then-US ambassador to New Delhi, David C. Mulford, reported to the US State Department on a “confidential briefing” embassy officials had received from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) “on widespread severe torture in Indian prisons in Kashmir between 2002 and 2004.”

“The continued ill-treatment of detainees,” reported Mulford, “despite longstanding ICRC-GOI (Government of India] dialogue, have led the ICRC to conclude” that New Delhi “condones torture.”

In their briefing, the ICRC officials emphasized that those subjected to torture by Indian authorities were generally not anti-Indian insurgents—since Indian security forces have a standard practice of summarily executing suspected insurgents. Rather they were noncombatants, those accused of providing the insurgents support or suspected of having useful information: the “detainees were rarely militants (they are routinely killed), but persons connected to or believed to have information about the insurgency.”

The ICRC officials said they had made more than 177 visits to detention centers and had interviewed 1,491 detainees. Of these, according to the US embassy’s summation of the ICRC findings, 852, or well over half, had suffered abuse. 171 were beaten and 681 were “subjected to one or more of six forms of torture.” 498 persons were subjected to electric shocks; 381 to suspension from a ceiling; 294 to crushing of leg muscles through use of a “roller”; 181 to 180-degree leg-splitting; 234 to various forms of water torture; and 302 to sexual abuse.

The “numbers add up to more than 681,” says the cable “as many detainees were subjected to more than one form of IT (ill-treatment.) ICRC stressed that all the branches of the security forces used these forms of IT and torture.”

Indian and international human rights organizations have presented numerous reports documenting Indian authorities’ horrific human right abuses in the two-decades-old counterinsurgency war in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.

Nevertheless, the evidence presented by the ICRC to the US diplomats was both damning—given the access the ICRC had had to Indian detention centers—and highly significant. As a rule, the ICRC does not make its findings known to anyone but the government having jurisdiction over the facilities it inspects. It argues that if it assumes a public advocacy role, its status as a neutral organization will be jeopardized and governments will deny access to prisoners, making it impossible for the ICRC to fulfill its humanitarian mission.

But in this case, ICRC officials had apparently become so frustrated and angered by the stance of the Indian government they chose to reveal their findings to US officials. The cable reports, “There is a regular and widespread use of IT and torture by the security forces during interrogation; -- This always takes place in the presence of officers; -- ICRC has raised these issues with the GOI for more than 10 years; -- Because practice continues, ICRC is forced to conclude that GOI condones torture.”

Horrific as were the ICRC’s findings, its officials reported that conditions had improved from the mid-1990s, when security forces invaded villages in the middle of the night and arbitrarily and indefinitely detained many of their residents.

Still, the ICRC had never been allowed right to speak with prisoners at the most “notorious” detention center, the “Cargo Building” in Srinagar. And increasingly the Indian government was seeking to curb the ICRC’s activities, even though, in keeping with its traditional mode of operation, it had not made any of its findings public. According to the April 2005 cable, the ICRC had told the US diplomats, “the MEA [Indian ministry of external affairs] also protested the ICRC’s presence in Srinagar [the capital of Jammu and Kashmir], asking it to ‘wind up’ its operations, advising that its ‘public activities must stop’ (believed to be a reference to a seminar ICRC staff held at Kashmir University on IHL in 2004), and warning against ‘unauthorized contacts with separatist elements’.”

In another cable from 2007, the US’s Indian embassy noted that a member of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature, Usman Abdul Majid, was the leader a pro-Indian government militia “notorious for its use of torture, extra-judicial killing, rape and extortion of Kashmiri civilians suspected of harbouring or facilitating terrorists.”

But while US officials in India have been keeping the State Department informed of the conduct of the Indian security forces and allied militia in Kashmir and of the support this enjoys from the highest levels of the Indian government, neither they nor their superiors in Washington have publicly condemned the Indian authorities. On the contrary, under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, India has been touted as the world’s most populous democracy and a “natural ally” of the US in promoting “democratic values” around the world. When Obama visited India last month, in deference to his hosts, he studiously avoided any mention of Kashmir.

The US’s silence on the Indian state’s repression in Kashmir is yet another example of the cynicism and hypocrisy of US foreign policy under Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Washington routinely issues ringing condemnations of the human rights violations of foreign governments whose interests and policies are cutting across those of the US corporate elite—condemnations that are then amplified by a pliant media. But India is being assiduously courted by Washington and Wall Street, because it is viewed as a counterweight to a rising China. Hence the US silence on the repression in Kashmir.

Declaring that the US wants to assist India in becoming a “world power,” the US, under George W. Bush, secured India special status in the world nuclear regulatory regime, giving it the right to purchase civilian nuclear technology and fuel, although New Delhi developed nuclear weapons in defiance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. And Obama, also touting the US’s support for India’s global aspirations, announced during his recent trip to India that Washington supports India becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The Indian elite’s reaction to the WikiLeaks cables about Kashmir has been telling. A spokesman for the India’s Congress Party-led coalition government brushed the ICRC findings aside, declaring “India is an open and democratic nation which adheres to the rule of law. If and when an aberration occurs, it is promptly and firmly dealt with under existing legal mechanisms in an effective and transparent manner.”

The reality is India’s security forces have and continue to enjoy impunity.

Not surprisingly, the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which led India’s government from 1998 to 2004 and presided over much of the repression in Kashmir, had nothing to say about the ICRC findings.

As for the Indian press, it gave the matter short shrift. In some of the major dailies, such as the Hindu and the Indian Express, there were perfunctory reports, but there were no editorials demanding that the government and security forces be held to account. The attitude of the press and the ruling class toward the Kashmir question is exemplified by the recent widespread calls for the writer Arundhati Roy to be charged with treason for suggesting that the people of Jammu and Kashmir should have the right to choose to leave the Indian Union.

In response to the WikiLeaks revelations, the head of the National Conference (NC)— which leads the current state government in Jammu and Kashmir in a coalition with the Congress Party and is also a partner of the Congress in India’s national government—tried to shift the blame on his political rivals.

“We don’t condone torture and will not turn a blind eye to reports of human rights violations,” declared Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “Not only the state government, but the Center too has a policy of zero tolerance to human rights abuses.”

Refusing to comment directly on the WikiLeaks’ exposure, Abdullah said, “I am not getting into it… It pertains to 2005 and you know who was in power that time.” Abdullah was referring to the fact that the state was then ruled by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also in a coalition with the Congress Party.

Abdullah’s claims to uphold democratic rights are belied by the actions of his government. Under its direction, security forces killed more than a hundred unarmed demonstrators this summer in a bid to quell a popular mobilization in the Kashmir Valley provoked by the police killing of a youth. (See Kashmir seethes: Indian elite resorts to repression and political maneuvers)

In answer to Abdullah, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said, “Omar Abdullah should be the last person talking about human rights abuse. The PDP’s tenure is for everybody to see and we don’t need any certificate from anybody but the people.” Turning the tables on the NC, she added: “We inherited from the National Conference (in 2002) a Kashmir in which human rights violations were at their peak.”

Both Kashmir regional parties have served as junior partners of the Indian state and the principal parties of the Indian bourgeoisie, the Congress Party and the BJP, in the systematic violation of democratic and human rights in Kashmir, including the torture of political prisoners as documented in the diplomatic cables exposed by WikiLeaks.

STF/Indian Army/Ikhwan/Counterinsurgency/RAW/RR/Papa Kishtwari/Javid Shah/Muma Kana/HM/Ali Shah Gilani

A small village that gave Kashmir’s counterinsurgency an alternative name wants to change its name now - hoping they would not be identified as Nawabadis. Ibrahim Wani and Farooq Ahmad report on the Nawabadi Mohalla and its haunting baggage. Nawabadi Mohalla may pass off as just another small village in the Sonwari belt of north Kashmir, but for its street lights that make it stand apart. Those familiar with the village, don’t dare to take it for any other village, anyways. Nawabadi has entered Kashmir’s lexicon as a word that strikes terror. There were many villages in Kashmir that became hotbeds of counterinsurgency in mid 1990’s but Nawabadi was one name that stuck. A village of some three hundred people, two and a half kilometres from Safapora, Nawabadi residents now want to change its name to Mirabad. They no longer want to identify with its past. A few kilomteres from father of counterinsurgency Kuka Parrey’s Hajin village, Nawabadi Mohalla gave Ikhwan some of its most dreaded men. Many remember the village as the birthplace of ruthless renegades, like Fayaz Mir alias Fayaz Nawabadi, notorious for extortion, rape, politically motivated killings. For the state security apparatus, that patronised them, these men were important to break the back of militancy in the Sonawari-Ganderbal belt and by extension whole of Kashmir. So they did. Hardly anyone was spared. Perhaps because many of the first renegades came from Nawabadi village, the name in local parlance became a synonym for all the counterinsurgents or police informers. An alternative name for Ikhwan, the largest renegade group. Nawbid was actually used in the area to refer to the residents of the Nawabadi Mohalla. So anyone from the area was a Nawbud. After the switching of Ikhwan to counter insurgency, apart from the ruthless renegades who emerged from Nawabadi Mohalla, the village provided a haven for all counter-insurgents. Even though only a few from the village carried out the dirty work, almost all residents were Ikhwan sympathisers. Nawabdis trace their shift of allegiance to the killing of a JKLF militant from the village by Hizbul Mujahideen in inter faction rivalry in 1993. Manzoor Ahmad was the first postgraduate from the village. He did his MA in Urdu from Kashmir University. Later he joined Jammu Kashmir Students Liberation Front and crossed the LoC for arms training. After this he joined Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front as Deputy District Commander. This was around the time when animosities between Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and JKLF were building up. While on his way back from Sopore Manzoor was picked up by Hizbul Mujahideen. “They accused him of being an Indian agent,” say the residents, “but at that time it was widely known that Manzoor was a man of character. It was actually that Ahsan Dar wanted him to join HM.” When news of Manzoor’s abduction spread in the area, desperate attempts started to secure his release. “The negotiations were carried out at the highest level; almost all the known militants and separatist leaders were involved. The residents were promised his release. “But he was not released. We kept on searching for him. We formed search parties and would search for him throughout the area,” says Kawaam Din. But the search yielded no result. At this time Fayaz, Manzoor’s cousin was in jail. “Even Syed Ali Shah Geelani searched for him in his car. He told us that he had spent 13000 rupees searching for him,” he says, “Moulvi Abbas Ansari and Saleem Geelani also mediated but to no avail.” Demands for Manzoor’s release were building up. People were protesting. The Hajin bazaar remained shut down for 25 days at a stretch. Then, residents say, a HM rebel Shams-u-Din informed the villagers that Manzoor had been killed on the second day of his abduction, and lay buried in Hari-Taar, on the banks of Jehlum near Sopore. “We rushed to the spot. Some militants from HM were guarding the spot, and they fired on the crowd. People from the surrounding areas like Shah-Gund joined in and we retrieved the body,” adds Kawaam. The eruption of emotions and sentiments was spontaneous. “It was an angry crowd, which sees nothing in rage. On the way from Hari-Taar to Nawabadi Mohalla, around 14 houses belonging to Jamat-e-Islami (JeI) members or sympathisers were burned,” adds Kamaal. “It was a day which this region can not forget. It was a day of pain.” After this the rift between JKLF and HM-JeI deepened. A civil war sort of situation ensued where people from both sides were being assassinated. The Nawabadis became fiercely anti-HM and anti-Jamaat. “In all this all the militant organisations united against HM, and opened a united front against them,” he says. Peer Ziya-ud-Din of Asham, a JKLF sympathiser and father of Nazir Ahmad Geelani of JKLF was also gunned down by HM. This added oil to the fire. Around 500-600 people would die in this infighting, many among them were civilians. It was around this time that 28 militants surrendered, and under the leadership of Kuka Parray formed the renegade Ikhwan. Fayaz, now released, joined the Ikwan, and with the wounds of Manzoor’s loss still fresh, many Nawabadis followed him into the fold. “When we had seen the body of Manzoor, we could see nothing else. He had come out for the cause. We had followed in his footsteps, but Jamaat and Hizbul mujahideen ruined it. They targeted everyone who was not their supporter. We could tolerate it no further,” says an ex-counter insurgent. Fayaz was merciless. He soon gained notoriety and was gifted the post of commander-in-chief of the Ikhwan. Kuka Parray reigned as the supremo. Thus started the reign of terror. After that it was “catch and kill,” accepts Kawaam. Though the actual gun wielding Nawabdis did not number more than 10, all the counter insurgents in Valley - estimated to be between 1,000-1,200- came to be known by the name. The shifting allegiances of Nawabadis created animosities with adjoining villages. Residents recall that after Manzoor’s death the adjoining villages in Safapora and Bandipora enforced a boycott of the village. “The shopkeepers won’t provide us amenities. We were not given medicines even for around six months,” says a Nawabadi resident. Mohammad Sidiq, father of Fayaz Nawabadi says the boycott forced them to loot any trucks that passed the village. “But we would pay them,” he said in the same breath. In coming years, the response from the Nawabadis was often brutal. Fayaz Nawabadi walked the streets like a king. “Even policemen had to look down while walking past him,” says a resident of Ganderbal. He was the most notorious export of Nawabadi Mohallah to the rest of Kashmir. The Commander-in-Chief of Kuka Parray’s Ikhwan, he is said to have killed hundreds of people. “If his eyes fell on something he liked, it had to be his,” the resident adds. One day his eyes fell on a new scooter parked in the Safapora market. The scooter belonged to Waseem, a 21 year old. “Waseem would not just let go of his new scooter when the Nawabadis asked him to give it to them,” says the resident. Fayaz then walked up to him, and held him by his throat. He then pumped bullets into him. Waseem fell to ground. When a shopkeeper raised his voice, he too met the same fate. One more onlooker also fell to the ground. “Three innocent people died that day,” adds the resident. With three dead bodies on the streets Fayaz issued his threat, “People of Safapora, whosever goes against us will meet a similar fate,” he says. Fayaz would be accompanied by his trusted lieutenants, Abdul Hamid Mir alias Nikka Bhai, Mohammad Afzal Mir alias Commander Adil, Ghulam Nabi Mir alias Kaka among others, all Nawabadis. They reign of terror engulfed Sonawari, Safapora, Ganderbal areas. Hardly anyone was spared, but the families of militants and Jamat-e-Islami supporters were especially targeted. It started a wave of migration from the area to the urban areas. Many people even left the state. “No one was safe,” says the resident. The killings continued. Saif-u-Din Bhat, a 60-years-old teacher from Safapora was killed because his brother was associated with HM. Another teacher Abdul Karim Bhat was killed because of links with Jamat-e-Islami. A bank employee, Mohammad Afzal of Yongoora Chak also fell to bullets, for unknown reasons. The number is estimated to be above 300. Some locals say the number of the people killed was much higher than 300. “Many deaths were never reported. Many of these will never be known,” the resident adds. Nawabadis once went to the house of a Jamaat-e-Islami sympathiser in Banyari village. The man was not there. “The routine would have been to harass the family and leave,” says Yasir, a resident of the area.  But on this day death was in the air. “One of the Nawabadi commanders caught hold of a six month old son of the man,” he says. Then hell broke loose. “He flung the child into the air, and the Nawabadi party started firing.” The infant came down in smithereens. “I can not forget that day,” says Yasir, “there are no words to express this cruelty.” Tales of the atrocities abound. “One more case still resonates in the minds and hearts of people. It always gives me pain,” says Yasir as he recalls. “There was a girl in Asham, a beautiful girl, Nazima, the daughter of one Ghulam Mohammad Lone. And then their eyes fell on her,” he says. Nazima was kidnapped and raped. “For days together no one knew of her,” he recalls. Then details related to her emerged. It was Fayaz actually who had sought her. When she had resisted she was raped, by many Nawabadis, says Yasir. They raped her for days. She became pregnant. After a few months she was let go. In the meantime, Ashraf Nawabidi, Fayaz’s brother started pursuing Nazima’s sister. She too was kidnapped. “The family would not have protested if they would have known what was to come next,” says Yasir. The Nawabadis converged on the Asham market. Nazima was dragged out on the street. Fayaz oversaw everything. “What transpired next is engraved in the psyche of the people there forever,” says Yasir. The eight month pregnant woman was held forcibly. Then her clothes were torn. After this she was paraded naked. “Fayaz pulled the trigger, and shot her in the abdomen first. He kept on shooting and shouting - see the result,” recalls Yasir. Nazima died on the spot. Her sister is still with Ashraf. Even after an incident of this sort, no one raised a voice. That was the peak of Nawabadi terror. “But nothing is permanent. Whatever goes up, has to come down,” says Yasir. Most of the Nawabadis met cruel deaths. Kaka was shot dead in 1994, Nikka Bhai was killed in 1995, Afzal in 1996. The kingpin, Fayaz after surviving 18 attempts on life finally met his fate on Feb 17, 2000. He was blown up in an IED blast in Sumbal, just a few kilometres away from where he had shot Nazima. According to locals the intensity of the blast was such that his body parts could be seen hanging from the power supply wires. Many people believe that he was killed by his own people - the Ikhwanis. Fayaz Nawabadi is considered a martyr and a hero in his village. So are the other Nawabadis killed in these years. Their graveyard reads Mazar-e-Shohada. Fayaz’s grave is decorated and fenced. It lies on way to the shrine of a saint in the mohalla, called Sayeed Sahib. A stone throw’s distance from the graveyard is a model school. His house has a 12 foot high wall topped by barbed wire. He is survived by two wives and four children. “Similar is the case for many others too,” says Afzal, a government employee who was assigned a task in the area. For him too the visit was painful. His best friend had been killed by Fayaz. “I tried to skip the area, but I had to do my job,” he says. While walking through the village he saw a man walking behind him. Initially he became suspicious. Then when he finally gathered the courage to ask the person as to why he was following him, he came to know that he had no job or work to do. The reply startled him. The man had identified himself as an ex-counter insurgent, some of the few who had survived. He did not venture out of the village, out the fear. “Even though almost all the notorious Nawabadis were killed, the people of the surrounding areas can not forget the mayhem inflicted by them,” says Afzal, who happened to meet a relative of Waseem on return from the mohalla. Their response was, “There is no question of forgiveness. Even if they repent it, nothing is going to change. There can be no forgiveness.” Ejaz from Safapora echoes similar sentiments. “We cannot forget what Nawabadis have done to us. They are traitors. There is no question of having any sort of relation with them. They are still like that only,” he says. However, the residents of the Nawabdi Mohallah insist they want to stay aloof of politics. “We want to be away from politics,” says Mohammad Kamaal Mir, a resident of Nawabadi Mohalla, “We have already suffered a lot. Now we want to be away from all this. We also have same aspirations like all other Kashmiris, and our children like others too also cheer for the Pakistani cricket team. But we are silent spectators. We will not repeat our mistakes again now.” The residents of the area are self confessed supporters of National Conference. “It is we who made Akbar Lone successful in Sumbal,” says Kawaam Din. He further adds, “Akbar Lone is the most honest politician in all of Kashmir, and he is an ideal for all the politicians.” They credit him for most of the development work in the village, including the street lights and the tube wells. “We were even approached by the opposition parties with an offer of 40,000 rupees to vote for them, which we out rightly rejected,” say Kawaam. According to him recently when they had gone to meet Akbar Lone, he gave their issues precedence over all the other works on hand. “He even sent prayers on Fayaz and recalled how he had saved him when once Kuka Parray had grabbed his collar to beat him.” “It is us who voted against Kuka Parray. We made him fall. He did no development work here,” says Sidiq Mir, father of Fayaz. He describes Kuka Parray as a fool who was made the king. “If he would have been in Srinagar he would have been taken to a mental hospital,” he remarks. Narrating an incident when he had rebuked Kuka Parray for letting his brother go on a looting spree all over the area, Sidiq says, “I told him that his brother was like a wild bull that was going wild throughout the area and causing damage and action should be taken against him.” Later Kuka Parray according to him called him privately and told him that he should not have said this in front of everyone. When Fayaz’s father, an employee of the cattle farm operated by SKAUST in the vicinity was about to retire, he was put under suspension. So his pension was automatically stopped. He attributes the development to Kuka Parray. At this time, Fayaz was among his main men. The issue was finally resolved when some politicians close to both the sides intervened. Mehraj, a resident of Ganderbal was a child when the Nawabadis were at the peak of their power. He remembers a day when Nawabadis converged on his village, and cut down all the willow and poplar trees on the government land. “They sold it to their own friends at the cheapest possible rates,” he says adding that the fear was such that no government official either resisted or complained of the incident. Such was the case with all of the area. “They even cut trees in the Jarokha Bagh,” says Yasin another resident of the area, “Loot was a common thing with Nawabadis those days.” Yasir says, “Any vehicle which plied from the area was looted. People would think twice before passing through the area dominated by renegades.” Sidiq accepts. “The people from the surrounding areas on the directives of militants had imposed a blockade on us. So we had no option left but to loot for survival.” But according to Gulzar from Sumbal, “Nawabadis have always had a bad image in the area. They were involved in thefts and robberies before they became associated with counter-insurgency. After that they would carry out their activities openly. Extortion became their main business.” With Fayaz’s death, Nawabadi mohalla’s power waned. The village elders approached other surrounding areas, with a message of reconciliation. But they have met little success. The scars ran deep. When the Northern Command chief visited the area, post counter-insurgency, Nawabadis too were invited. “I stood up and asked them that what had the Government of India done for us,” says Kawaam. “I asked them what had they paid the families of the soldiers who had been martyred in Kargil, and in relation to them we were paid nothing. I told them that India has not paid us a penny.” Despite fighting a bloody war for the state, Nawbadis say they were neglected. Many of them, say, all they got from their haunting past were dead bodies. “If I had been in some position then, and could think the way I do today, I would not have let these things to happen,” says Kamaal. However, Kamaal maintains they do not face any social ostracism today, and are well heard in corridors of power. “We have good relations with people of other village, even among from people of Jamaat. We are invited in their functions,” says Kamaal.  But still the villagers want to get rid of the baggage their village name carries. They expect Mirabad to conceal their identity, and bring them back into the fold of the society. Travelling around with a identity card bearing the name of the village may not be wise option always, they admit.   “Nawabadi has now become associated with us. It is a sort of stigma. Wherever we go, people see us in a particular image. With the name change we hope things may get better,” say the Nawabadis. The story of Nawabadi Mohalla is the story of a village which switched sides en-masse. It tasted power, and wealth, until the downfall started. Now it is trying hard to merge back with the society it stood against. But neither the society, nor the village seems to have made its mind fully. More details (http://www.kashmirlife.net)

Batla House fake encounter

Lessons from Batla House encounter: Truth will prevail

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net,

Mahatma Gandhi started his satyagraha from Champaran district of Bihar. This force of truth is what ultimately led to India’s independence. After independence, India adopted "Satyameva Jayate" [Truth Alone Triumphs] as its motto. A 23 year-old youth from Champaran is testing India’s commitment to its truth and in the process showing the mirror to the Indian republic and asking them the same questions that Gandhi’s followers asked the colonial rulers.

Afroz Alam was born in Champaran district of Bihar in 1987. He is acutely aware of the historical importance of Champaran in India’s freedom struggle. Through Right To Information (RTI) Act, he has started his own “satyagraha” for seeking out the truth. Since 2005, he has filed thousands of RTI applications seeking information on local and national issues but what has made him famous is his unprecedented successes in finding truth of Batla House killings of Sept 19, 2008 that was termed as encounter by Delhi Police and fake by the population living in that area.

RTI activist Afroz Alam Sahil

Two years ago today, in Batla House area of Jamia Nagar, Delhi two civilians Sajid and Atif, and a police officer Mohan Chand Sharma were dead after some gun-shots were heard in the morning. What had happened there in flat number L-18 that day that led to three deaths is not clear. Afroz Alam Sahil, then a student of Mass Communication in Jamia Millia Islamia and an RTI activist, filed around 40 applications seeking more information about this “encounter” but has met by deafening silence from all sides.

Getting information through RTI has never been easy but it has been a special challenge to find out anything about the Batla House encounter case. He has filed appeals after appeals with different departments but without much success. He has filed RTI applications with the Prime Minister’s Office, President of India, Union Home Ministry, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi Police, and Delhi Minority Commission with little or no response from most of these organizations.

But his dogged persistence has paid off when in March this year, NHRC finally released the post-mortem report of Atif Amin and Mohammad Sajid, two youth who were killed in Batla House encounter. The post-mortem report, which AIIMS and Delhi Police still refuses to give, revealed that both Atif and Sajid had injuries on their bodies which occurred before their death. Delhi Police’s version of event had it that no physical interaction happened with the youth and the police but then how would one explain these injuries that AIIMS doctor clearly marked as “ante-mortem” or before death.
http://www.twocircles.net/2010mar17/batla_house_post_mortem_report_confi

Just a few days ago, RTI officer at AIIMS again refused to give any information about post-mortem reports of Batla House victims, thought it has been already made public by the NHRC. The reason for refusal, cited by the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) is RTI act 8 (g) and 8 (h):

8. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen,

(g) information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; (h) information, which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

I would leave it to the readers to figure who will get hurt from the information that is being refused to be given by various government agencies and who benefits from this silence?

Though harassed along the way and humiliated by government officials, Afroz has refused to give in. It was big news when in July 2009, NHRC gave clean-chit to Delhi regarding their action in Batla House. "We are clearly of the opinion that having regard to the material placed before us, it cannot be said that there has been any violation of human rights by action of police," the commission wrote in a report submitted to the Delhi High Court. But a year later, in June 2010, NHRC finally admitted that it never paid a visit to Batla House flat, where the encounter took place, or talk to anyone involved in the case. In fact, India’s statutory human rights body conducted the enquiry only after they were ordered by the Delhi High Court and relied solely on Delhi Police version and evidence, and that too uncritically. One might ask what is the usefulness of NHRC if they will enquire only when ordered to do so and then believe what police had to say about the incident.

But what Afroz Alam has seen so far leaves no doubt in this mind that Batla House encounter was fake. And he finds it strange that though CBI is enquiring encounters in Gujarat, where BJP is the ruling party but not in Delhi, where Congress is in power.

Another unintended revelation from Afroz’s RTI activism was that Muslim organizations have been totally ineffective in India. Muslim youth in India were hunted down in the name of terrorism since 2001 and Muslim organizations except for issuing statements have not been able to do much in this regard. They were unable to convince the larger population that various encounters were fake or work with the government to get innocents released those that had been arrested and framed on terrorism charges. The story of Afroz Alam Sahil is a matter of inspiration and hope for Muslim youth and organizations- there are many legal means of getting justice in India, though it may be a long and frustrating journey but there is no other way to hard work and the truth will prevail.

Brahminists launch Hindu terrorism to establish Ram Rajya with zionist support

Bangalore: A Brahmin journalist in an article in the Deccan Herald, Bangalore (Nov.23, 2009), expressed serious “Hindu fears” that they have “begun to lose faith in the ability of the Indian state to secure rule of law”. He was criticising the Maharashtra police for arresting notorious Brahminical terrorists for a series of killings of Muslims.

The arrest was made by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief, Hemant Karkare, also a Maharashtrian Brahmin, since killed in the famous Bombay terrorist attack of Nov. 26, 2008 (read the book, Who Killed Karkare? by S.M. Mushrif, Retd. IG of police, Maharashtra, copies of the book can be had from Dalit Voice office, Rs. 300).

Chitpavan leadership: Both the Maharashtra Govt. and the Union Govt. have been so far mum on the large-scale “Hindu terrorism” because they know those involved in all such heinous crimes that killed hundreds of Muslims (list given below) were mostly Maharashtrian Brahmins, that too the Chitpavan Brahmins. It was a Chitpavan Brahmin Nathuram Godse who killed the “father of the Hindu nation”, M.K. Gandhi.

When we inquired with the Maharashtra political leadership, they said the govt. was afraid of the Brahminical backlash — with the media totally in their hands.

What? The mighty govt. itself afraid of the mere 2% Brahminical people when Muslims, the victims of their terrorism, were 15%?

The clout of this class of people can be gauged from the utter helpless of even the Govt. of India though it was fully convinced of the crimes of such Brahmins. Has the govt. got the courage to punish Kalmadi, the notorious thug heading the Commonwealth Games, looting hundreds of crores of rupees?

Abhinav Bharat: Even the Prime Minister defended the fraudster because Kalmadi belonged to Pune, the stronghold of the Chitpavan Brahmins. Who can touch the founders of the Hindu terrorist, RSS, and now the super-RSS called Abhinav Bharat?

It was only the upright police officer, Karkare, who arrested the whole lot of the Brahmin terrorist troupe and put them in the jail. And to get Karkare killed the Bombay Terrorist attack of (2008) was staged. This is the thesis of the upright police officer, S.M. Mushrif, in his book, Who Killed Karkare? (2010, Rs. 300, pp.330, copies available with Dalit Voice) But this book was totally blacked out by the media which often screams about “freedom of the press”.

It took several years for the Govt. of India to admit the existence of Brahminical terrorism — though its security arms go out of the way to reel out all sorts of heinous story of crimes against Muslims.

Home Minister’s cover-up: Finally the Tamil Chettiar, Home Minister Chidambaram (Aug.25, 2010) vaguely hinted about the existence of “saffron terror”. He dare not say it is “Hindu terrorism” — not to speak of Brahminist terrorism.

Why Chidambaram was window dressing the Brahminical terrorism? The fact is the Govt. of India itself is under the mercy of this micro-minority Bhoodevatas who are above the govt. India’s political leadership, bureaucrats, security set-up, media and all those who matter in India, stylishly called “opinion-makers”, are all Brahminical — representing less than 15% of the upper caste rulers.

This is the problem — and the problem of India. To cover up these facts, the rulers are shouting and screaming about “Islamic terrorism” to divert public opinion with the help of their Brahminical media.

DV has said this many, many times but who cares for our little voice — soon facing extinction leaving the road free for the free-booters.

The Times of India (Aug.26, 2010), India’s principal Brahminical daily, reported all the anti-Muslim terrorist cases: Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad, May 18, 2007), Ajmer, (Oct.1, 2007), Malegaon (Maharashtra-Sept.18, 2006); Madasa (Gujarat and the one in Goa.

Super RSS named: All these cases are with the police, but completely controlled by the Intelligence Bureau. In all these cases the police have named the culprit, the Brahminical super RSS, Abhinav Bharat.

There are many more cases but the Brahminist power controlling the police and the Govt. — nay the country itself — are trying to suppress everything. The Times earlier (June 23, 2010) listed the following 11 cases of Hindu terrorism and also said all these are linked to Abhinav Bharat.

Oct.16, 2009: A bomb went of in Margao, Goa, while it was being transported to target site killing two persons carrying the bomb. NIA charge-sheeted 11 people, members of the Hindu right wing group, Sanatan Sanstha.

April 4, 2009: A bomb planted in a Beed mosque went off. Ashok Lande (21), Mayur Lande (20) and Tulsidas (Lande 17), arrested for making and planting bomb.

Sept.29, 2008: RDX bomb blast in Malegaon. Six killed, 101 injured. Eleven members of Abhinav Bharat and Vande Mataram Jan Kalyan Samiti arrested.

Aug.24, 2008: Two Bajrang Dal members, Rajiv alias Piyush Mishra and Bhupinder Singh, killed inside a hostel room while making a bomb in Kanpur, UP.

March 2008: A bomb went off at a Panvel cinema. Six persons, two of then Sanatan Sanstha members, arrested.

June 4, 2008: Six persons, two of them Sanatan sanstha members, arrested for planting a bomb at Thane’s Gadkari Rangayatan.

Oct.11, 2007: Blast at Ajmer shrine. Three killed.

May 18, 2007: Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad. Nine killed, more than 58 injured. Two RSS members arrested.
2006: Dr. Hemant Chalke and Mangesh Nikam involved in Ratnagiri blast.

Aug.2004: Two Bajrang Dal members threw a bomb at Jalna’s Qadriya mosque during Friday prayers. Four Bajrang Dal members arrested.

Aug.27, 2004: Bomb blast at Porna’s Madrassa Meraj-ul-Uloom. Four Bajrang Dal members were arrested.

It is very difficult to get at the truth in India — that too when Brahminists are the perpetrators of the crime.

Lt. Col. Purohit as chief villain: Who are the top criminals involved in the series of killings of Muslims? The Times (Jan.23, 2009) gave their names and their detailed descriptions and background. Topping the list is the arch villain, the Pune Chitpavan Brahmin, Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit (37), who is a serving army officer — still not dismissed despite the tons of crimes he committed.

We are reproducing the above Times report because all other Brahminical “national” toilet papers suppressed all the facts as their favourite jatwalas are involved.

No courage to prosecute culprits: A dozen of the Brahminist “terrorists” are arrested. Earlier, they were in Bombay’s Arthur Rd. Jail but later transferred to Nasik. Startling facts of their crimes have been revealed but the govt. has no courage to punish them — though several years have passed.

Look at the strength and influence of this micro-minority 2% Brahminical people.

Reports say Col. Purohit secured RDX explosives from the Army itself. That means he has a large number of jatwala sympathisers at the top level in the Army. RDX is available only with the military. He travelled to the world’s sole arch- racist state of Israel which gladly gave him lavish response because he represented the “Jews of India”. Funds, arms and ammunitions were given in plenty.

Jews & “Jews of India”: How accurate is the DV theory that the Jews and the “Jews of India” are brothers. Can we get a better proof than this axis of two killer gangs? In the Malegaon case, the police disclosed the involvement of Himani Savarkar, niece of the notorious Chitpavan Brahmin, Nathuram Godse, who killed Gandhi, and daughter-in-law of Narayan Savarkar, the brother of the so-called Veer Savarkar. The “Brahminical terrorism” is so all-powerful that the police have no courage to disclose anything about Himani.

Who killed Karkare?: The entire credit for catching all these criminals parading as Hindu heroes, goes to Hemant Karkare, ATS chief. That is why he was mysteriously shot dead in the Bombay terrorist attack. Again everything was hushed up. Why? Mushrif has answered the question.

RSS surrender to AB: Reports said the widow of Karkare was offered Rs. 1 crore by the Brahminical criminals who plotted the Karkare murder so that she would keep her mouth shut. The Abhinav Bharat (AB) has become more powerful than the hydra-headed RSS serpent. It has now branches all over India. There were reports that it would finish off the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, also a Chitpavan Brahmin, if he were to go against the AB dictates. The RSS has simply surrendered to AB. The famous Ram Sene headed by Pramod Mutalik, which created havoc in Karnataka and made the ruling Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) so unpopular even among the upper castes, is part of the AB. RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) has been simply silenced and dwarfed.

Brahmins losing faith in Indian state: Coming back to the subject of Deccan Herald article that “Hindus are losing faith in the Indian state”, we are at a loss to understand how the very ruling class lording over India and its 1,300 million population for thousands of years is “losing faith in the Indian state”. Every Prime Minister, whoever he is or whichever party he belongs, is a puppet in their hands. They not only run the govt., control its finances but govern the country’s very value system.

Not one person in India, not even its PM, has the courage to criticise this ruling class. And yet the rulers are “losing faith in the Indian state”. What is the meaning of this?

Wanted: rule of Manu: We met some hard-core Brahmins and sought their reaction to the DH article. They frankly confessed that they would not be happy until they established the Brahminical dictatorship over the Aryavarta as envisaged in the Manu Dharma Sastra.

What they mean is they want the existing Indian constitution be scrapped, and replaced by the constitution propounded by their jatwala Manu. (photocopies of Manu’s law available with DV, RS. 450).

They want the existing legislature, judiciary and even the executive scrapped and all “religious minorities” made to live at their mercy. They want India to go back to the Vedic Age under the dictatorship of the Bhoodevatas. Such an ideal setup would pave the way to the Ram Rajya in which their favourite god Ram threw his loving wife, Sita, to the forest and allowed her to die. This is Ram Rajya.

Full support from Israel: They said they hated the SC/ST reservations, and the OBCs creating all the nuisance, the courts constantly coming in the way of Hindu temples amassing all the wealth. Their hatred is mainly directed against the Muslims and Christians who are already living under the Brahminical mercy. Even this “little freedom” given only on paper must be scrapped.

Full hope in Israel: We asked them how they would establish the Ram Rajya when their own favourite Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) was defeated. They said the Congress proved to be a better Brahminical party.

But their main hope today was in the zionist state of Israel — the world’s only exclusive racist state. Israel has offered them all-out support to establish their dream state of Ram Rajya in India. But the point is Israel has not succeeded in ousting the Muslim Palestinians from their dream state. Israel is already hated by a major portion of the world. With the defeat of US in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise of China as a super power and Iran becoming a nuclear power, where is the chance for Israel to rise?

Waiting for World War-III: The Brahminists reply is all this will be achieved once the World War-III begins paving the way for the establishment of Zionist state in Israel and the “Jews of India” establishing their racist Ram Rajya. Wonderful.

Look, where it is all leading to. Hate creating more hate and devouring its own creators: the Jews and the “Jews of India”. Those days are nearing.

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Key accused

(1). Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit (37): He is the brain behind the Sept.29, 2008 blasts and the man that held it all together. He was the founder and one of the chief fund-raisers of the Pune-based organisation, Abhinav Bharat. He is also accused of procuring the RDX that was used in the blast. (He was arrested on Nov.5, 2008).

(2). Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur (38): Her bike was used to plant the bomb in Malegaon, and she is accused of engineering the blast. She has a Masters in History, and became a sadhvi in Jan.2007. (She was arrested on Oct.23).

(3). Rakesh Dhawde (35): Dhawde, an arms expert, has been booked for four previous bomb blast cases. He provided the required weapon training and supplied arms to Purohit. (He was arrested on Nov.2, 2008).

(4). Swami Dayanand Pandey alias Shankar Acharya alias Sukhakar Dwuvedi (40): He can be seen as the key point man and is said to have been present at the meetings held in Bhopal, Pune and Faridabad before the Malegaon blasts. He is also accused of conducting meetings with the other accused. Prior to his arrest, he ran two ashrams in Kanpur and Jammu and Kashmir. (He was arrested on Nov.14, 2008).

(5). Retd. Maj. Ramesh Upadhyaya (64): A resident of Akurdi, Pune, he worked with the military’s intelligence unit, and is suspected to have provided the training required for procuring and assembling the bombs. (He was arrested on Oct.28, 2008).

(6). Ajay Rahrikar (39): He was the treasurer of the Abhinav Bharat, and a part of the fund-raisers group. He paid Rs. 2.5 lakh to Swami Dayanand Pandey prior to the blast. (He was arrested on Nov.2, 2008).

(7). Jagdish Mhatre (40): A habitual criminal and an accused in a murder and an extortion case in Kalyan and Thane, he is believed to have paid Dhawde for the weapons. (He was arrested on Nov.2, 2008).

(8). Sameer Kulkarni (32): A former member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), he was employed at a printing press. He is suspected to have supplied the chemicals used in the bomb. (He was arrested on Oct.28, 2008).

(9). Sudhakar Chaturvedi (37): Originally a resident of Mirzapur in UP, Chaturvedi was picked up from Deolali where he stayed in a rented room. He is accused of conspiracy; the bomb was assembled in his house. (He was arrested on Nov.4, 2008).

(10). Sham Bhanwarlal Sahu (42): He is suspected to be one of the bomb planters. A commerce graduate from Christian College in Indore, Sahu has a mobile phone shop and also acted as a realty broker. He is also accused of abetting the blasts and conspiracy. (He was arrested on Oct.23, 2008).

(11). Shivnarayan Kalsangra Singh (36): A BSc graduate, Singh is seen as a “mechanical and electrical” expert by the ATS. He is suspected to have assembled the timer device while making the bomb. (He was arrested on Oct.23, 2008).

For more details: http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/sep_a2010/editorial.htm

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Brahminisim in India & Zionisim in West

Racial supremacism of “Chosen People”

Brahminisim in India & Zionisim in West

Horror story of two world famous tyrants

Little known facts of mind control, lying deceit, treachery, treason, blood, sweat, terror, tears, death & destruction by the world’s two most rigidly segregated societies

New threat to Bahujans: Unity of Jews & “Jews of India”

Foreword: Two sides of same chain

A couple of members of  Dalit Voice Family (DVF) did write us on our coverage of Zionist atrocities. Their POINT WAS ZIONIST ISSUES WERE NOT RELEVANT TO India and the Dalits in particular. To such of them we want to assure that Brahminisim and Zionisim are two sides of the same coin and their close collaboration is of world-wide significance.

Dr. Babasahib Ambedkar, the Father of India and our intellectual guide, had identified the principal enemy of Dalits and also India: Brahminisim Both  Brahmins and the Jews originated from the same geographical area around Iran and both exhibited the same genetic characteristics. Both are mental per perverts, megalomaniacs and physically weak.

Today, both the Jews and “Jews of India” are fully linked and working in close cooperation causing turmoil world-wide. The Israeli Mossad is operating in India in full force and the Government of India is officially collaborating with Israeli defence and Intelligence forces to tackle Muslim and Dalits  in India. As India’s oldest and the largest circulated journal of its entire 85% persecuted nationalities denied human rights, we have a responsibility to alert our family members on the danger posed by the Jews even as we discuss the aggression on Indian culture by the “Jews of India”.

So, we cannot separate the two when the mind and the body of both are the same. We were the first in the world to describe  the Brahmins as the” Jews of India”, a description which they whole-heartedly accepted and also exploited.

When we are combating the” Jews of India” with our back against the wall, is it not our duty to learn from the experience of those who are fighting the Jews? Moreover. When the Jews and the “Jews of India”  are in close collaboration to impose their racist dictatorship, is it not our duty to do everything possible to avert such humanitarian disaster?

Mr. V.T. Rajshekar

Dalit Sahitya Akademy

No. 109-7^th Cross, Place Lower Orchards Bangalore- 560 003, India

e-mail: vtr@ndf.vsnl.net.in, dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

home: www.dalitvoice.org

Why the US and India Demonize Pakistan's ISI

By Sheikh Gulzaar

Org. Logo of ISI

Srinagar, August 5: Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency, or ISI as it is popularly known, is seen as their nemesis by those who have tried to undermine the security interests of the country one way or the other. It is no wonder then that in past few years the Americans unleashed a strong ISI-bashing campaign, with India following suit.

The Americans made no bones about their dislike for this agency, blaming it for working against their interests in Afghanistan. The Indians also see an ISI agent behind every rock in Kashmir and in Afghanistan where they are trying to dig their heels. They do not hesitate to pin on ISI the blame for the freedom struggle in Kashmir or for acts of terrorism by Indian extremists. Until recently the Karzai government dominated by the anti-Pakistan Northern Alliance also remained hostile to ISI. 

Not too long ago, under intense American pressure the weak Zardari government made an unsuccessful attempt at neutralizing and subduing this agency in disregard to the existing sensitive regional security environment, by moving it out of the army control and placing it under the controversial and embattled Zardari loyalist interior minister - Rehman Malik. This did not succeed for a simple reason. The role of ISI as the eyes and ears of the Pakistan’s military - the bedrock of country’s security, is critical particularly at a time when the country faces multiple threats to its security. 

Washington's darling in the Afghan-Soviet war

Ironically, this is the same ISI that was Washington’s darling during the 1980s when it was master minding the jihad against invading Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The role that ISI then played was congruent with American interests. The defeat of the Soviet Union would have meant realization of an American dream - avenging the humiliation of Vietnam. They held ISI in high esteem for its competence and professionalism and gladly funneled arms and funds to the Afghan mujahedeen through it. The ISI strategized the resistance and organized and trained the mujahedeen fighters, working in close collaboration with the CIA and the mujahedeen leaders, forcing the Soviets to retreat.

But as soon as the Americans had negotiated a quid pro quo - Russian withdrawal from South America in exchange for safe Soviet exit from Afghanistan, they disappeared in the middle of the night leaving Afghanistan in a quandary. The political turmoil that followed created chaos and instability owing to the failure of mujahedeen leadership, presenting as a result a security nightmare for Pakistan.

Taliban-US-Pakistan relations and the Indian Threat
In this chaos a group of young Afghan religious students, many of them former fighters from the resistance, calling themselves Taliban (in Pushto language Taliban means students), swept through the country with popular support to establish their rule. Interested to keep their presence alive, the Americans maintained contacts and supported them, ignoring their orthodox beliefs, their harsh rule and even the presence of Al Qaeda in their midst. This continued until it was time for the Americans to overthrow their government in order to serve the changing American interests.   

While the Taliban government was in control, Pakistan too maintained friendly relations with them in the interest of keeping its western border secure, extending whatever support it could. The ISI played a role through the contacts it had developed during war against the Soviets.

In the wake of 9/11 things began to change. Having invaded Afghanistan in the name of war on terror, branding Taliban as brutes and their resistance as terrorism, the Americans wanted the Pakistan army and the ISI to join the war.

This posed a serious security concern for Pakistan. It could destabilize the Pak-Afghan border and strain relations with the Pashtun tribes on both sides of the Durand Line, the British drawn boundary that cut through the Pashtun region to divide British India and Afghanistan and which Pakistan had inherited. The fact that Pakistan’s border region, called Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is autonomous where the writ of the Pakistan Government does not prevail made matters more complex.

Pakistan’s military doctrine is based primarily on meeting the main threat from India on its eastern border while maintaining a peaceful border with Afghanistan in the west. A direct conflict with the Taliban would have forced Pakistan to divert its military assets from eastern to the western front, thus thinning out its defenses against India. This was the last thing Pakistan wanted to do because of its unfavorable ratio of 1:4 against India in terms of conventional forces. Understandably, President Musharraf was unwilling to do the American bidding.

U.S. projection of its military failures onto Pakistan
There always is a problem with powers that begin to act in imperialistic fashion. Their vision of the world becomes colored. They tend to believe that pursuit of their imperialist designs takes precedence over the national interests of those who cannot stand up to them, even if that means compromising their own national and security interests. America had also been behaving as one such imperial power and treated its smaller allies more like colonies. President Musharraf was threatened that in case of noncompliance with America’s wishes, “Pakistan would be bombed into the stone-age”. Musharraf was coerced into conceding to American demands.

Despite the state-of-the-art surveillance equipment and military hardware, the US and NATO forces failed to stop the Taliban fighters from moving back and forth into the unmarked Pak-Afghan border that passes through a treacherous mountainous region to regroup and strike on the invading foreign troops. The American commanders reacted by demanding that the Pakistan army engage these fighters and seal the border. Those with even the slightest knowledge of the area would know that the Americans were asking for the moon. This was physically impossible.

Pakistan army’s operations failed. In the process it earned a severe backlash from the local tribes who resented army’s action against their kinsmen from across the border who sought refuge in their area, as it violated the old tribal custom of providing sanctuary to any one who asked for it, even it was an enemy. The Pakistan army paid a heavy price. More soldiers died in this action than the combined number of casualties that the US and NATO troops have suffered in Afghanistan so far.

President Musharraf under advice of his army commanders and the intelligence community called off the action and resorted to persuasion instead. Through jirgas (assembly of tribal elders) effort was made for the tribesmen to voluntarily stop the influx of Taliban fighters. It didn’t succeed either. This was not to the liking of the American commanders. They blamed the ISI for working against their interests.

Washington accuses the ISI of complicity with insurgents
Washington and the American media frequently alleged that elements within ISI were maintaining contacts with the Taliban and attributed the failure of American troops in combating the Taliban to these contacts. Such allegations were also found to be part of the raw, unverified and even fabricated field reports ‘leaked’ in Afghanistan recently and splashed in the western media. The Americans have in the past also described the ISI to be out of control and demanded of the Pakistan government to purge the agency of Taliban sympathizers.

This is ridiculous. Firstly, ISI is a military organization operating under strict organizational control and discipline where officers are rotated in the normal course. It functions according to a defined mandate, unlike armed forces in some other countries and unlike the CIA which is known to be an invisible government on its own. Above all, Pakistan and its military are committed to weeding out religious extremism as a matter of state policy.
Secondly, if the American troops are so incapable of overcoming a rag tag army of Taliban and if the complicity of ISI with the Taliban can be instrumental in changing the course of the American war, then it is a sad day for America as a super power and the strength of NATO forces becomes questionable.

Thirdly, in the world of intelligence, contacts are kept even with the enemy and at all times. CIA keeps contacts within Russia and other hostile countries. Israel, the great American ally, spies on America itself. It is common for all intelligence agencies to do this in the security interests of their countries. Why then should America expect an exception to be made in case of ISI? Why should contacts that ISI developed with the mujahedeen and the Taliban earlier, and which if it does still maintain, become a source of such great concern for the American administration?
 
Demanding that the ISI subordinate Pakistan security to U.S. interests.
It is strange that America expects ISI to serve the American agenda instead of Pakistan’s interests first. One cannot forget that the Americans have a long history of abandonment of friends and allies and when they repeat this in Afghanistan citing their own national interest, despite their promises to the contrary, why should Pakistan be expected to be caught with pants down? Why Pakistan’s military and the intelligence agency should be expected to abdicate their duty and not do what is necessary to ensure Pakistan’s security in the long term? 

It has often been argued that America expects Pakistan to be actively engaged in the Afghan war in return for the military assistance it provides. The answer is quite simple. The American establishment is doing all that needs to be done in support of its own war and not for the love of Pakistan. The war is theirs, not Pakistan’s. Pakistan should do and is doing what is necessary and feasible, without jeopardizing its own security.

As for the assistance, bulk of the $10 billion that America gave in the past and was branded as “aid” was in fact the reimbursement of expenses that Pakistan had already incurred in supporting the war effort. The rest was to meet Pakistan’s needs for operations in the border areas and for fighting terrorism that arose out of the war. The Americans still owe $35 billion to reimburse the losses Pakistan has incurred due to this war. As for the F16s that Pakistan is getting from the US, it pays for them, despite strict restrictions over their usage.

The Indian-Israeli attempt to destabilize Pakistan
While Americans had their issues with ISI, the Indians and Israelis began having their own. The agency exposed the growing Indian and Israeli confluence in Afghanistan to destabilize Pakistan. This happened right under the nose of the Americans and obviously not without their knowledge and consent. India having deployed its troops in the name of infra-structure development in league with Karzai government and with American funding and having established seven consulates along the sparsely populated Pak-Afghan border was engaged in heavily bribing the influential but ignorant and susceptible tribal leaders to spread disaffection among the local tribesmen against Pakistan.

Evidence was also unearthed by ISI about how the Indians bought the loyalties of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a grouping of Pakistani tribesmen from FATA and Uzbek fighters from previous wars who settled in the region. The TTP were influenced by the same orthodox religious beliefs as the Taliban in Afghanistan and were active in propagating them in their own areas. They were recruited to launch terror activities in the urban centers of Pakistan, including the capital Islamabad, and were funded, trained and equipped in Afghanistan jointly by the Indian, Israeli and Afghan intelligence agencies. A group from amongst them managed to gain control of Swat area adjoining FATA through coercion of the local population, which was later cleared by the Pakistan army after a major surgical intervention.

The ISI also laid bare strong physical evidence of Indian involvement in supporting insurgency in Balochistan by way of funding, training and equipping misguided and disgruntled Baloch elements grouped under various names including the Balochistan Liberation Army that was led by the fugitive grandson of the notable Bugti tribal chief – Akbar Bugti. His comings and goings in the Indian consulate at Kandahar and the Indian intelligence HQ in Delhi were photographed and his communications intercepted. Numerous training camps in the wilderness of Balochistan were detected where Indian trainers imparted training in guerilla warfare and the use of sophisticated weapons, which otherwise could not be available to the Baloch tribesmen. Flow of huge funds from Afghan border areas to the insurgents was detected that was traced back to the Indian consulates.

Summary and conclusion
The objective of the TTP, and behind the scene that of the Indians and the Israelis, was to make the world believe that Pakistan was under threat of capitulating to terrorist and insurgent elements who were about to take control of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. Their goal: to denuclearize Pakistan through foreign intervention.

These efforts have not succeeded. Undoubtedly, the army and the ISI played a crucial role in foiling the plots of subversion in Balochistan and the Pashtun region and exposing the foreign hands involved, including those of CIA, RAW, Mossad, RAMA, NATO and MI6. Terrorism may not yet be eliminated but Pakistan faces no existential threat.

It should be no surprise to the Americans, Indians and the Israelis if they find in ISI an adversary to reckon with. It is also not surprising that the ISI is in their perception, a rogue organization, for it has stood between them and Pakistan’s national security interests. Their frustration and ire, therefore, is understandable.(Writer-South Asia)