Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) plants sale in India

Ginkgo biloba

Family: Ginkgoaceae

English : Maidenhair tree, Ginkgo, Kew tree, Fossil tree, Temple tree.

Urdu : Pankha Plant

Kashmiri : Aziz tree

(Plant dedicated to  Shaheed -e-Azemat 
(Martyr of  Determination) Sheikh Abdul Aziz )

Hindi : Balkuwari

Arabic: Mabad ag

Botanical Information : Ginkgo biloba L., commonly called ginkgo or maidenhair tree, is a long-lived, deciduous, shade tree from China  that can reach a mature height over one hundred feet and is the only genus and species of the Ginkgoaceae family existing today. Know for its three-inch wide, fan-shaped leaves that turn golden yellow in autumn, the ginkgo tree can be found also It is found in  Kashmir , Gilgat, IRAN, Afghanistan and North Americaand is one of oldest species of trees in existence today. Individual ginkgo trees have been known to live as long as 1,000 years. The trees, which are dioecious (bearing male flowers on one tree and female flowers on another), may not flower until they are twenty to thirty years old. The female trees produce a one to one-half-inch, plum-shaped, orange fruit. It is the leaves that are harvested for medicinal purposes.

The Jammu Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre has launched Ginkgo Project  for propagation of Ginkgo saplings and during current plantation season and 13373 saplings are available for distribution.

Director of this institution said that anybody who is interested in plantation of Ginkgo  tree can contact the concerned Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre and obtain Ginkgo plants.

Description of the plant :

Plant : Deciduous Tree

Height : 30 m (98 feet)

Flovering : April to May

Scent : Scented Tree

Bioactive Components : The main bioactive components of ginkgo leaves are flavonoids, biflavonoides, proanthocyanidins, and triactonic diterpenes, which include the ginkgolides A, B & C. Ginkgolide B has been shown to inhibit platelets in the blood from coagulating. The flavonoids in ginkgo have demonstrated very strong antioxidant effects.

Uses and Treatments : Ginkgo has been used for medicinal purposes for almost 5,000 years. In Chinese traditional medicine, it is used to treat asthma, bronchitis, and various brain disorders. In Asia, the seeds of the ginkgo tree are used to aid digestion and to reduce the intoxicating effects of alcohol. In Europe and North America, ginkgo extract is used for the treatment of circulatory problems, immune system dysfunction and cognitive disorders, including memory loss. There are currently no approved treatments involving the use of ginkgo extracts in North America. However, the FDA regards ginkgo extracts as "probably safe". Germany's

Commission E. has approved ginkgo extract for the treatment of intermittent claudication, vascular vertigo, and vascular tinnitus.  Some of the uses of ginkgo are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Modern and traditional uses of Ginkgo biloba.

Modern Uses Traditional/Folk Uses

- Loss of cognitive ability - Brain disorders
- Poor circulation - Asthma and bronchitis
- Vision and hearing problems - Increase life span and sexual potency

Cultivation Practices

Site Selection : Ginkgo grows best in deep, moist, sandy soil and prefers full to partial sun in zones four to eight. It will tolerate poor and compacted soils except permanently wet soils. Ginkgo will grow in a wide range of soil pH and can tolerate heat and drought once the trees get established. For a tree crop, preparation of the soil is just as important as a field crop.

Planting : Propagation can be done by seed, cuttings, or grafting. Cuttings are the preferred method of propagating ginkgo to assure planting of only male flowering trees. Seeds can be planted in the spring or fall. Tim Blakley, co-author of Medicinal Herbs in the Garden, Field, and Marketplace, recommends stratifying the seed for four to six weeks if planting in the spring. Blakley sows his ginkgo seeds in one to five gallon pots, then transplants seedlings to the field, spacing them ten to twenty feet apart. Mulching the plants will keep weeds down. Ginkgo can grow twelve to eighteen inches a year. Blakley states the trees should reach a height of six to eight feet before beginning to harvest.

Insects and Diseases : Ginkgo trees have developed an amazing resistance to disease and pests. The Index of Plant Diseases in the United States lists the following diseases for Ginkgo biloba: leaf spots, Glomerella cingulata (anthracnose) and Phyllosticta gingko; sapwood or wound rot, Fomes conatus, Oxyporus populinus, and Polyporus spp. (sometimes found on living trees following injuries); root knot nematodes, Heterodera marioni and Meloidogyne sp.; root rot, Phymatotrichum omnivorum; and a seed rot, Xylaria longeana.

Harvesting, Cleaning, and Drying : The leaves from a ginkgo tree are harvested in fall, as the leaves are turning yellow. Blakley’s method of harvesting is to cut the branches with pruning shears, and then pull the leaves off of the branches. He recommends placing the leaves on racks in a dryer designed for herbs, and turning the leaves several times during the drying process to avoid matting. Ed Fletcher, Strategic Sourcing, Inc, suggests setting the dryer temperature at 105o-110oF. Drying time averages from twelve to fourteen hours but may increase or decrease depending on the humidity in the air. When adequately dried, the leaves should have a crinkly andcrumbly feel. Fletcher states that there should be no flexibility in the leaf without breaking. When the midrib is dry, the leaf will also be dry. Package the dried leaves in woven poly bags that are light proof or in corrugated boxes, and store in a cool, dry, dark location.

Marketing and Economics

Annual Consumption and Dollar Value. In 2001, between 4.5 million pounds and 5.1 million pounds of dried ginkgo leaves were consumed. This was 34% higher than the amount in 1997 and about 5% higher than the amount in 2000. The dollar value in 2001 was about $25 million, which was 40% greater than the dollar value in 1997.

Supply and Demand : Historically, positive clinical support propels demand for this botanical. Clinical trials are being done on Ginkgo biloba as a treatment option for Alzheimer’s disease. An aging population base in North America and Europe has increased demand, due to ginkgo’s antiaging actions. European functional food manufacturers are also incorporating this material into more nutritional supplements and beverages.

Supply and demand for ginkgo has reached equilibrium with a very stable market. Supplies come almost exclusively from large-scale cultivation. Large-scale cultivation is occurring worldwide. A small number of growers produce over 95% of the world’s supply. Large commercial plantations exist in South Carolina (US), Japan, Korea, France and China. Sumter County, South Carolina, is home to the largest ginkgo plantation in North America. Since the supply of ginkgo comes exclusively from cultivated sources, little variation exists in bioactive components among individual harvests. Customers are primarily concerned with a lack of chemical residue on the material. Typical bioactive percentages are 24% ginkgo flavoglycosides and 6% terpene lactones.

Distribution Channels : Distribution channels for ginkgo are highly structured. The maturity of this market has resulted in all material flowing through large, vertically integrated companies. Most organizations are located in Europe and draw on imported raw material sources from all over the world.

Where available in :

Contact person : Sheikh Gulzaar (Head)

Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre

POB: 667 GPO Srinagar SGR JK 190001

Ph: 01933-223705

Mob: 09858986794

e-mail: jkmpic@gmail.com

home: http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

UN urged to implement its resolutions on Kashmir

Srinagar, January 5 : Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and the world over observed the Right to Self-determination Day, today, to remind the international community that the UN resolutions on Kashmir remained unimplemented even after the passage of more than six decades.

On this day in 1949, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution, acknowledging Kashmiris’ right of self-determination and giving them the right to decide their future by themselves.

Addressing a seminar in Srinagar, today, the speakers said that the people of Kashmir had been facing the worst form of state terrorism due to the non-implementation of the UN resolutions. The speakers including Syed Ali Gilani, Dr Javed Iqbal, Zaheeruddin, Professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain, Z G Muhammad and Riaz Masroor said that the Kashmiris had been rendering unparalleled sacrifices to secure their right to self-determination. They said that the World Body should recognise its responsibility and come forward to implement its resolutions on Kashmir.

APHC leader and the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement, Ghulam Ahmed Mir addressing a session of his party activists in Jammu said that the UN resolutions on Kashmir were still as much relevant as they were six decades back when they were adopted.

Meanwhile, the speakers at a seminar in Islamabad organised by the APHC-AJK deplored that the United Nations had not been able to give effect to its resolutions to hold plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. A resolution passed on the occasion asked the world community to impress upon India to settle the dispute in accordance with the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

In London, the Executive Director of Kashmir Centre, Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl in a statement pointed out that permanent peace was not possible in South Asia till the Kashmir dispute remained unresolved.

Abdul Gani Bhat’s Remark

Dear Mr Sheikh Gulzaar Sahib,

This is in response to the news, ‘Mirwaiz admits 3 yr stir lacked direction.  Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat has added to his stature by telling the truth about the people who killed  Moulvi Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone.

If he had uttered these words many years ago Kashmir valley would have been saved from a lot of death and destruction. The separatists should admit the mistakes and follies committed by them. Nothing can be won by falsehood and it is better to call a spade a spade, the sooner the better as Prof. Bhat has done. Honesty can lead to a solution to Kashmir.

Johan Simith

e-mail: johansimith@sify.com

Mumbai-India

Yaseen Malik dares BJP, says won’t allow flag-hoisting in Lal Chowk

Srinagar, Jan 05: Terming United Nations a ‘failed Institution’, Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Tuesday said his party cannot expect much from the UN resolutions on Kashmir. Meanwhile, JKLF chief, Muhammad Yasin Malik has dared BJP to hoist tri-colour at Lal Chowk on January 26. The senior separatist leaders were speaking at a seminar ‘United Nations Resolutions-

Don’t push Kashmiris to violence again : ‘UN Has Failed In Kashmir, Appointment Of Interlocutors Futile’

Srinagar, Jan 5: The Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Tuesday warned that Kashmiris will be again forced to take to violence if India continues with its “oppressive” policies to suppress the ongoing movement for right to self-determination and delays resolution of the Kashmir dispute, reports Greater Kashmir

Mirwaiz proposed a resolution at the seminar in which he castigated the United Nations for failing to implement its resolutions on Kashmir and declared Kashmiris as ‘masters of their destiny’ maintaining they will on their own decide the future of Kashmir. The resolution was unanimously adopted.

Addressing a seminar ‘UN resolutions—the legal foundation of disputed nature of Kashmir’ at Hurriyat office Rajbagh here, Mirwaiz said the delay in implementation of the resolutions was taking a heavy toll on the Kashmiris.

On January 5, 1948, the UN had passed a resolution noting that both India and Pakistan had accepted that the question of accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of free and impartial plebiscite.

“By virtue of UN resolutions, the Kashmir dispute has achieved international dimensions. The resolutions have made the case of Kashmiris strong. Ironically, the UN which projects itself as a credible institution has failed to implement its own resolutions. The UN as a failed institution should be disbanded,” Mirwaiz said.

Mirwaiz however maintained that whether India or Pakistan will accept or disapprove the UN resolutions, Kashmiris will remain committed to achieve the right to self-determination. “We won’t let the sacrifices rendered by Kashmir in past over six decades go waste. On the eve of January 5, when the UN passed the resolutions, we unanimously pass a resolution that Kashmiris are masters of their destiny who will on their own decide the future of Kashmir,” he said.

Terming the appointment of interlocutors and formation of working groups as a futile exercise, Mirwaiz said the writing on the wall is clear for India. “If India tries to suppress Kashmiris movement for right to self-determination, they will be forced to again take to violent recourse to achieve their goal. I want to maintain that there is no rule of law or accountability in Kashmir. The troopers and police are killing innocent at their will and whim. Kashmir has been turned into a military and police state. Ironically, the international community including the UN Human Rights Commission has maintained a criminal silence over the killing spree in the Valley.” he said.

Mirwaiz underscored the need for building consensus between pro-freedom parties to jointly take the movement to its logical conclusion.

Stating that India and Pakistan can’t thrust solution to the dispute, Mirwaiz said the conglomerate had been supporting the dialogue process but it failed to make any headway. “Despite being a primary party to the dispute Kashmiris have been kept away from the dialogue process. As a result the process has not yielded any result. Need of the hour is to streamline the dialogue process and make it time-bound on the pattern of dispute in middle-east and other countries,” he said.

Defending the conglomerate’s support to former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharaf’s  four-point formula on Kashmir, Mirwaiz said it was an internal arrangement and not a permanent solution. “Even Musharaf has maintained that the formula was a temporary arrangement for 5-6 years and ultimately the people of Kashmir had to themselves resolve it. We also believe that before the final settlement of the dispute, confidence building measures have to be taken,” he said.

However in the same breath, Mirwaiz accused India of taking Confidence Building Measures to hoodwink the international community. “The cross-LOC trade has been a glaring example of India’s non-seriousness. The CBM which was aimed at restoring trade links between Kashmirs, has turned out to be a mere public relation exercise. In absence of banking, communication and facilities how is the cross-LoC trade possible? India is trying to control everything in Kashmir, from governance to bus service from New Delhi,” he said.

Mirwaiz minced no words in accusing India of hatching a conspiracy to defame the ongoing movement. “Kashmiris have rendered over one lakh sacrifices for the indigenous movement. But India is leaving no stone unturned to defame our sacred movement by saying it is aided and funded. There are more Indian troopers in Kashmir than their NATO counterparts in Afghanistan. Still the alienation of Kashmiris has taken the shape of hatred.”

He said in the survey conducted by Times of India and Jang Group under their Aaman Ki Aasha campaign 70 percent of people of India and Pakistan have maintained that the two countries can’t improve their relations without resolving Kashmir.
“It is high time for India to come out of its denial mode and accept the ground reality in Kashmir,” he said.

‘Paradise lost’
The senior leader of Hurriyat (M), Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, in his typical style termed Kashmir as a paradise which has been turned into a hell.

“India became free on August 14, 1947 but it draped the paradise in its autocratic rule. Till August 15 and 16 Maharaja (Hari Singh) had not taken any decision to decide the future of Kashmir. He was neither with India or Pakistan but wanted to maintain status-quo. On October 26, Maharaja acceded to India and its troopers landed in Kashmir,” he said.

Referring to VP Menon, a senior official of India instrumental in accession of Kashmir, Prof Bhat said in his book ‘Freedom at Midnight’ he had written that “the bastard (Maharaja) has done it. We have it (Kashmir) and we will not let it go.” “This exposes the motives of India. The matter was taken by India to UN, which facilitated truce and passed resolutions giving right to self-determination to Kashmiris,” he said.

Prof Bhat said aim of the seminar is that Kashmiris are prime party to the dispute. “The UN resolution provided legal foundation to the dispute. But Kashmiris were never given the right to self-determination despite wars between India and Pakistan. We want to maintain that Kashmiris are the rulers of Kashmir and they will decide its future,” he said.

‘SHOW SERIOUSNESS’
The senior leader of Hurriyat (M) and chairman of National Front, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, underscored the need of showing seriousness as a nation to achieve right to self-determination.

“India has been trying to suppress the aspirations of Kashmiris by guns. Our movement has transcended from 20th to 21st century. Despite formation of graveyards across the Valley, Kashmiris are fighting with great resolve. The so-called democracy India is doing every undemocratic thing to quell the voice of Kashmiris,” Khan said.

Khan said many teenagers and youth in Pattan, Sopur and Varmul have lost their eye-sight after being hit by pellets by the CRPF during the summer unrest. “This is just a glimpse of so-called democracy. Kashmiris are being selectively killed. When eight people were killed in Humhama no action was taken against the accused cops and troopers, while following the killing of a youth in Mendhar Poonch the DGP and IGP rushed to the spot and suspended the accused cops including SHO,” he said.
Khan maintained that Kashmiris are the prime party to the dispute by virtue of their sacrifices. “Need of the hour is to show seriousness as a nation to achieve our goal. We need to accommodate every voice whether they are for independent Kashmir or merger with Pakistan,” Khan added.

‘FORM PARALLEL BODY’
Hurriyat leader Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam read the paper of Patron Mahaz-e-Azadi, M Azam Inquilabi, who could not make it to the seminar due to illness.

Before the speech, Shahid said he was feeling privileged to read Azam’s paper as he was his teacher when he started his political career in 1984.

In his paper, Azam castigated the UN for failing to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. “We have every right to grumble against the inaction, passivity and in fact dereliction of this world body in reference to its resolutions. Delhi did everything possible to obfuscate the Kashmir issue notwithstanding the promise and pledge of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to facilitate free and fair referendum in Kashmir to decide its political future,” Azam stated.

He said some pacifist and altruistic global leaders were thinking to launch a parallel world body to thwart the trend of UN collapse. “It will become indispensably paramount proposition for futuristic global politics to address all the longstanding disputes like Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

‘LANDING OF TROOPS ILLEGAL’
 Noted columnist Dr Javid Iqbal threw light on the controversies and legality of instrument of accession. “Some writers say that VP Menon who had to get the instrument of accession signed by Maharaja, did not reach Jammu on October 26. By virtue of this argument even if the instrument of accession was signed later, the landing of Indian troopers in Kashmir was totally illegal,” Iqbal said.

He said India manipulated the accession of some Muslim dominated areas of Gurdaspur to facilitate construction of a corridor to Kashmir. “The UN resolutions demanded demilitarization of the State to which India did not agree. At some places Pakistan also showed reluctance,” he said.

He termed the appointment of interlocutors as a futile process saying they can only recommended not take decisions. “When everything is clear and majority of people in Kashmir want right to self-determination, the job of interlocutors becomes redundant,” he said.

300cr fall likely in floriculture exports by 2010

New Delhi: India’s floriculture exports are likely to grow to Rs700 crore by end of 2010 against projected level of Rs1000 crore. The shortfall in target is because of bottlenecks like poor infrastructure and plant material, production technology and availability of basic inputs along with insufficient cold storage facilities, REPORTS (livemint.com)

According to Assocham, poor infrastructure facilities and inadequate push from government, has led to domestic floriculture exports not rising to expected standards. Like, the value of exports of floriculture products from India was Rs212,70 crore in 2004-05 which went up to Rs305 crore in 2005-06 and further escalated at Rs390 crore in previous fiscal.

In 2007-08, exports are likely to be around Rs500 crore which by 2010 can go up to Rs700 crore against targeted levels of Rs1000 crore.

Although five agri-export zones have been set up in Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Karnataka which contribute 75% of flori production, export quality floriculture is still missing. Resultantly, India’s contribution to world flower trade of about $12 billion (Rs480crore) remains way below its potential.

Besides, setting up of cold storage and cargo handling facilities at key airports like New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum and Coachin are still under active consideration of the Government and prove to be inadequate to take floriculture exports to the desired direction.

Recommendations :
* If India has to achieve the ambitious export target of Rs1000 crore by 2010 key issues need to be addressed: economies of scale, product range, incorporation of latest varieties and quality control and certification and creation of effective cold chain management.

* Bottlenecks like inadequate infrastructure, inappropriate plant material and good production technology and non-availability of basic inputs would have to be removed and promotion activities of flori products exports would have to be taken up.

* For boosting its floriculture export, India should go in for potential export items like cut flowers, dry flowers, seeds potted plants and micropropagated plantlets. Intensive mobilization of resources should be left on those that are engaged in such exports with financial institutions allowed to come forward for flori exporters.

*Efforts like setting up the export promotion council, establishing appropriate marketing and distribution channels, abolishing import duty on inputs and reducing existing airfreight tariff structures are needed to promote flori export particularly to countries like Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Japan.

Indian scenario

In India,floriculture industry comprises flower trade, production of nursery plants and potted plants, seed and bulb production, micro propagation and extraction of essential oils. Though the annual domestic demand for the flowers is growing at a rate of over 25% and international demand at around Rs90,000 crore, India’s share in the international market is negligible.

With enormous genetic diversity,a varied agro climatic condition and versatile human resources, India can tap its huge floriculture reserves.

As per estimates, the per capita consumption of flowers is the maximum in Norway ($146) followed by Switzerland ($126) and Germany ($88), though the maximum consumption of flowers is in the USA ($12,500 million), Japan ($5465 million) and Italy ($4270 million).

Though floriculture industry has been the monopoly of a few countries (mainly Netherlands), the largest trader of floricultural products, with a lion’s share of 70% followed by Columbia and Israel with 12% and 6% share of the global floriculture trade.

Opportunities :With production in traditionally strong markets (Netherlands and US) have reached threshold levels, developing countries like Columbia, Israel, South Africa and Kenya have emerged as new production centres. Most flowers are grown under protected conditions in covered structures like green houses and poly/glass houses in European and other countries. Due to intense cold, high energy cost, production in these countries is limited during winter months. Thus they have to depend largely on imports to meet their domestic demand as most of the festivals fall during this period when the demand of flowers is at its peak.

Against this backdrop India which currently has only 0.3% share of the world market with export of around $30 million, it has a strong chance of entering the market and creating a strong position for itself. 

The Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre (JKMPIC) set-up in January 1996 in Srinagar has the primary mandate of coordinating all matters relating to medicinal plants and support policies and programmes for growth of trade, export, conservation and cultivation and introduction of new plants  

For more details: jkmpic@gmail.com
home: http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

Ph: 09858986794

Contact person : Sheikh GULZAAR (Head)

Police arrested 5 ex-HM militants in Pampore

Pampore, January 3: Family members of Muhamad Maqbool Dar who were kidnapped by Hizbul militants in 1995 claimed that a human skeleton that police recovered from a house here on Sunday was of the missing youth. Police arrested 5 ex-militants of Hizbul in connection with killing of Mohd. Maqbool Dar.
After recovering it from a migrant Kashmiri Pandit’s house here, skeleton has been sent for forensic examination while police has initiated investigation into the family claims.

Police recovered it from a house in Ladoo village of Batpora area after a local, who had purchased the house, spotted it.

“The house was gutted in a fire incident in 1992 and it was purchased by a local who was now reconstructing it. During earth excavation, a human-skeleton was recovered from the debris of the house,” said a police official. The locals said that the skeleton was recovered from the storeroom of the house.

After the news spread, the family members of Muhamad Maqbool Dar alias Bulla, who was allegedly picked up by Hizbul Mujahideen militants in 1995, claimed that the skeleton was his.

Speaking to Writer-South Asia, Maqbool’s family members said, “Maqbool’s elder brother, Muhammad Yaseen Dar who was the one of the top commander of Al-Umar-Mujahideen was killed by the forces in a gun-battle in 1994. Later, in 1995, Maqbool was picked up by the  Hizbul Mujaheeden militants and went missing.”

They said Maqbool was putting on the same clothes and shoes which were recovered from the spot today.

“Even the amulet and the black head band he often used to wear, that were found from the spot belonged to Maqbool,” they said.

The family members demanded a thorough probe into the case. When contacted, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), South Kashmir Range, Shafqat Ahmad Watali, while confirming that police recovered the skeleton said, “Yes we have recovered a human-skeleton which was later identified by the family. We have sent it to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for scientific examination and are waiting for the report.”

He assured a probe into the issue. “A special investigating team headed by SDPO, Awantipora will be constituted and a transparent investigation would be carried out.  We will go by the version of the family and will also take the locals along,” Watali said.

Security in Sistan-Balouchestan to be handed over to locals: IRGC chief

http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

TEHRAN – Iran has taken necessary measures to establish and promote security in southeast Iran, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Saturday, reports Tehran Times.

“Security is important for the development of infrastructure in the region and we have taken measures in cooperation with people, specially tribes and ethnic groups in southeast of the country,” Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said during his trip to Zahedan, the capital city of Sistan-Balouchestan province.

According to the directives issued by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the security affairs of the region will be handed over to the people of the area, the top commander announced.

He went on to say that the enemy is trying to hinder the progress of the region through creating insecurity, sowing discord between the ethnic people, kidnapping, committing robbery and banditry.

The area has also experienced several terrorist acts during the past years. On December 15 a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device outside a mosque in the southeastern city of Chabahar during a Shia religious ceremony, killing 35 people and injuring more than 100 others.

The members of the terrorist group Jundullah use Pakistan’s soil as their safe haven for committing terrorist attacks in Sistan-Baluchestan (Writer-South Asia)

Inidan troops martyr 93,537 people in Kashmir

Islamabad, December 30 :Indian troops, in their unabated acts of state terrorism, from January 1, 1989 till today December 10, 2010, killed 93,537 innocent Kashmiris, including 6,981 in custody.

This has been revealed in a report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of the World Human Rights Day, on December 10.

The report said that Indian troops molested 9,984 women and damaged 105,900 structures. The killings during this period rendered 22,747 women widowed and 107,397 children orphaned.

In the current uprising, Indian paramilitary troopers killed 122 peaceful protesters since June 2010 and at least 1,500 civilians including Hurriyet leaders and activists are languishing in jails under draconian, Public Safety Act. 

Meanwhile, over ten thousand people have disappeared in the custody of Indian troops

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 Kashmir Media Service-KMS

 

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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)

Benazir Killed At the Behest of CIA: PPP Chief

Srinagar, Dec.27 : A high level meeting of Bhutto Memorial Trust (BMT) and People’s Political Party (PPP) was held to commemorate Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s 3rd death anniversary at party headquarters, Rajbagh, Srinagar, Kashmir (IOK).

PPP Chairman, Hilal Ahmad War said that Benazir Bhutto was killed at the behest of CIA. He further said that she and her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto vehemently opposed American Policy of making Pakistan a satellite State for its future plans. First America engineered the killing of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and late its agency, CIA got Benazir eliminated. Mr. War said that assassination of Benazir Bhutto was part of the ploy to create instability in Pakistan. This type of condition is created in Pakistan to justify the take over of Nuclear Weapons of Pakistan by United States, said War.

War said Z.A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto created thousands of Bhuttos after their assassination. They were such a strong inspiration that many Bhuttos were born as a result of their martyrdom, said War. War said Bhutto’s not only threw challenge to the anti-democratic forces in Pakistan but were a thorn in the flesh of the anti-Muslim forces worldwide. The anti-Muslim forces in the world never wanted to see Muslims united and as a result they saw Z.A. Bhutto as the biggest threat, and that is why they conspired   with various forces within the country to liquidate him, said Engineer Hilal War. PPP and BMT have demanded Z. A. Bhutto’s murder case be reopened and the culprits be punished. We demand the reopening of the Shaheed Z.A.  Bhutto murder case, so that the perpetrators are brought to book.

Mr.War said in his speech , “ it appears that due to vested interest and non concern for the integrity and stability of Pakistan, some prominent members of the present PPP Government are adamant to sell off Bhutto’s of their ‘dignity and honour’ that they earned globally for their struggle to make Pakistan a stronger and “ Greater Pakistan”. He further said, “Buzz is that fake Bhutto’s are thriving and acquiring benefits on the glorious sacrifices of Shaheed Z.A. Bhutto and his family”.

The speakers emphasised that the concept of Greater Pakistan floated by Shaheed Z.A. Bhutto and his Kashmir Policy for realisation of right of self-determination for struggling people of Jammu and Kashmir were and are the source of inspiration for the political and armed activists of Kashmir Liberation Movement. The participants of the meeting urged the Government of Pakistan to formulate a Kashmir Policy in accordance with the letter and spirit of Bhutto's Kashmir Policy.

The participants of the meeting also disfavoured and disapproved the proposed idea of showing any flexibility by government of Pakistan with regard to settlement of Kashmir Dispute as such a flexibility is bound to cause a irreparable damage to Kashmir Cause and shall affect Kashmir Liberation Movement which has so far taken heaviest toll of life, honour and property in entire J & K State.

The participants of the Trust unanimously appealed to the people of Pakistan that they should rise above regional, racial and ethnic prejudices and considerations and unite together in the direction of national and emotional integration because such a course could only save Pakistan from external conspiracies aimed at disintegrating the country once again like December 1971.

After conclusion of speeches delivered by various participants’ special prayers (Fatah Khawani) were offered for the eternal peace and comfort of the souls of Shaheed Z.A.Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.(Writer-South Asia)

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

By Deepal Jayasekera
New Delhi, Dec 24 : 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.

Writer-South Asia is updated every minute of every hour with the latest news, features,analysis: Medicinal plants cultivation and planting material

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U.S. cannot undermine Iran-Saudi ties: general

TEHRAN, 23 December: The United States cannot undermine the amicable relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Iranian Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on Monday, reports TT (23/12)

Jazayeri made the remarks in response to a U.S. strategic research center’s recent statement claiming that Saudi Arabia, which has purchased weapons from the U.S. worth over $60 billion, can now attack Iran.

Iran has friendly relations with all regional countries and such statements are meant to damage relations between the two important Islamic nations, Jazayeri, who is a senior Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander, told the Mehr News Agency.

These statements are part of a psychological warfare campaign being waged against Iran, but no country in the region is a threat to any of the others, he stated.

The United States is attempting to generate animosity among regional countries in order serve its own interests, he said.

Officials from Iran and regional Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, address each other as “brother”, but Washington, under various administrations, has always sought to demonize Iran in the eyes of Arabs, especially Saudi officials.

“Terrorism” will stop when Jews stop their war on Muslims

Bangalore, December 17:  President Obama and other Western leaders are repeatedly asking the Muslims to stop “terrorism” so that they can call off their “war on terrorism”, reports DV.

There is lot of hypocrisy on this newly popularised term “terrorism”. The Western war on terrorism is nothing but a war on Muslims — plain and simple.

This war is nothing but a zionist conspiracy carried out by the Western Christian leadership at the behest of Jews.

This is because all the Western Christian countries are controlled by the Jews with the help of their money power, media and Christian stooges.

Muslims refused to be fooled: It is the American Jews, who control that country and managed Obama election. It is they who managed to make him utter sweet words to Muslims at Cairo and elsewhere.

But the Muslims refused to be fooled. The Jewish engineered war on Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in disastrous defeat of US.

Obama later tried to fool the Muslims on Palestine. But here also he failed because the zionist Jews are not prepared to budge even an inch on Palestine.

Any amount of his pouring milk to the serpent is no use. Serpent will continue to bite Obama.

China on top of world: Western Christian leaders, led by the US which is controlled by its 2% Jews, are defeated in their war on terror. The Jews with their monopoly over the media, have launched a hurricane of Islamophobia. But nothing is working.

Rise of Iran: The disgusted Jews got Obama defeated in the recent Congressional elections. Nor are they giving any opportunity for him to succeed in Palestine.

China has already come on the top of the world and USA is getting weakened. With the defeat in Afghanistan, USA is preparing to pack up.

Iran is fast becoming a nuclear power and its political power has expanded with Iraq coming under its sway. Turkey turning against West is another big defeat for the West.

If the Western Christian rulers, who are still in the grip of Jews, are tired of their war on terror, the only way-out is to call halt to Islamophobia.

The zionists, repeatedly getting disappointed with the Western Christian rulers, are naturally furious. This is one of the causes for the economic decline of USA and also UK. And perhaps EU.

Our fear is zionists are determined to take revenge on the whole of West if it does not come out in full support of Israel — which means all-out war on Iran.

But the “Jews of India” are not reading the writings on the wall. It is still holding on to the tail of USA (and Jews) without realising that it is a sinking ship.

China has expanded his influence all over the world. Within an year it is going to be the world’s no.1 economic power.

Anti-zionist front takes shape: China, Iran, Russia together with all the Muslim and African countries — even Latin America — are fast coming together to become the world’s strongest bloc. The Blacks of Africa — the victims of White racism, will never go with the West. Already China has established full influence on all the African countries.

Germany, the worst victim of the zionists, is fast coming up. Already it is the richest in Europe.

What Bahujans can do: The Jews and the “Jews of India” are gradually getting totally isolated.

Bahujan leaders of India belonging to the SC/ST/BCs and Muslims must wake up and prepare themselves to confront the fast-moving global changes.

That is why we have been repeatedly telling that internally we have no hope but the fast-moving international developments are very much in our favour.

WikiLeaks cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir

New Delhi, December 17: US officials had evidence of widespread torture by Indian police and security forces and were secretly briefed by Red Cross staff about the systematic abuse of detainees in Kashmir, according to leaked diplomatic cables.

The dispatches, obtained by website WikiLeaks, reveal that US diplomats in Delhi were briefed in 2005 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about the use of electrocution, beatings and sexual humiliation against hundreds of detainees.

Other cables show that as recently as 2007 American diplomats were concerned about widespread human rights abuses by Indian security forces, who they said relied on torture for confessions.

The revelations will be intensely embarrassing for Delhi, which takes pride in its status as the world's biggest democracy, and come at a time of heightened sensitivity in Kashmir after renewed protests and violence this year.

Other cables reveal that:

• The Dalai Lama has told US officials that combating climate change is more urgent than finding a political solution in Tibet, which "can wait five to 10 years".

• Rahul Gandhi, the crown prince of Indian politics, believes Hindu extremists pose a greater threat to his country than Muslim militants, according to the American ambassador to India.

• Five doctors were coerced by the Sri Lankan government to recant on casualty figures they gave to journalists in the last months of island's brutal civil war.

The most highly charged dispatch is likely to be an April 2005 cable from the US embassy in Delhi which reports that the ICRC had become frustrated with the Indian government which, they said, had not acted to halt the "continued ill-treatment of detainees".

The embassy reported the ICRC concluded that India "condones torture" and that the torture victims were civilians as militants were routinely killed.

The ICRC has a long-standing policy of engaging directly with governments and avoiding the media, so the briefing remained secret.

An insurgency pitting separatist and Islamist militants – many supported by Pakistan – against security services raged in Kashmir throughout the 1990s and into the early years of this decade.

It claimed tens of thousands of lives, including large numbers of civilians who were targeted by both militants and security forces.

The ICRC staff told the US diplomats they had made 177 visits to detention centres in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India between 2002 and 2004, and had met 1,491 detainees. They had been able to interview 1,296 privately.

In 852 cases, the detainees reported ill-treatment, the ICRC said. A total of 171 described being beaten and 681 said they had been subjected to one or more of six forms of torture.

These included 498 on which electricity had been used, 381 who had been suspended from the ceiling, 294 who had muscles crushed in their legs by prison personnel sitting on a bar placed across their thighs, 181 whose legs had been stretched by being "split 180 degrees", 234 tortured with water and 302 "sexual" cases, the ICRC were reported to have told the Americans.

"Numbers add up to more than 681, as many detainees were subjected to more than one form of IT [ill-treatment]," the cable said.

The ICRC said all branches of the Indian security forces used these forms of ill-treatment and torture, adding: "The abuse always takes place in the presence of officers and ... detainees were rarely militants (they are routinely killed), but persons connected to or believed to have information about the insurgency".

The cable said the situation in Kashmir was "much better" as security forces no longer roused entire villages in the middle of the night and detained inhabitants indiscriminately, and there was "more openness from medical doctors and the police."

Ten years ago, the ICRC said there were some 300 detention centres, but there are now "a lot fewer". The organisation had never however gained access to the "Cargo Building", the most notorious detention centre, in Srinagar.

The abuse continued, they said, because "security forces need promotions," while for militants, "the insurgency has become a business".

In the same cable, American diplomats approvingly quoted media reports that India's army chief, Lieutenant-General Joginder Jaswant Singh, had "put human rights issues at the centre of an [recent] conference of army commanders".

The ICRC said a "bright spot" was that it had been able to conduct 300 sessions sensitising junior officers from the security forces to human rights.

The cables reveal a careful US policy of pressure in Kashmir, while maintaining a strictly neutral stance.

Two years after the cable on torture was sent, US diplomats in India argued strongly against granting a visa request from the government of India on behalf of a member of the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly who was invited to a conference organised by a think-tank in America.

Usman Abdul Majid, a cable marked secret said, "is a leader of the pro-GOI [government of India] Ikhwan-ul-Musilmeen paramilitary group, which ... is notorious for its use of torture, extra-judicial killing, rape, and extortion of Kashmiri civilians suspected of harbouring or facilitating terrorists."

The diplomats admitted that denying Majid's application might have some repercussions with Indian officials, "especially those from India's Intelligence Bureau who have been close to his case" but said it was essential to preserve a balanced approach to the Kashmir issue following the prior refusal of a visa to the leading separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The cable notes that officials are "unable to verify with evidence the claims against Majid".

US diplomats repeatedly refer to human rights abuses by security and law enforcement agencies within India. In a cable from February 2006, officials reported that "terrorism investigations and court cases tend to rely upon confessions, many of which are obtained under duress if not beatings, threats, or, in some cases, torture".

A year later a brief for the visiting acting coordinator for counter-terrorism, Frank Urbancic, described India's police and security forces as "overworked and hampered by bad ... practices, including the widespread use of torture in interrogations.".

‘UN indirectly supported terrorist attacks in Tehran’

TEHRAN, Dec 16:  - An Iranian official has said that the United Nations has become corrupt and the organization indirectly supported the recent terrorist attacks in Tehran, reports Tehran Times (16/12).

The UN structure has become corrupt, and the UN in some way approved of the recent terrorist attacks in Tehran, and of course, this ignominy will never be forgotten, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, told reporters in Tehran on Monday.

On November 29, two prominent physicists were targeted by terrorists in two separate bombings. Professor Majid Shahriari was killed and Professor Fereydoun Abbasi Davani was injured in the attacks. The two academics were both on their way to work at Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran when they were attacked. The police say that in both incidents, terrorists riding motorcycles attached magnetic bombs to the physicists’ cars.

Larijani said defending terrorists is the most ignoble corruption, but this corrupt practice has pervaded the international organizations that claim to be advocates of human rights.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he stated that some people have received international awards in the area of human rights, even though they have not contributed to the promotion of human rights at all.

For example, Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, while she had not made any efforts toward these ends, he noted.

Commenting on the post-election incidents in 2009, Larijani said some reformists tried to stage a coup d’etat in Iran, and the West, under the pretext of defending human rights, supported them.

In 2009, some protests were held in Iran and some of them turned into violent scenes in which 21 police officers and 13 civilians were killed, he stated.

At that time, many countries accused Iran of committing human rights violations, he said. However, over the past few weeks, the British police have harshly cracked down on students protesting against the government’s plans to increase university tuition fees, he pointed out.

Yet no country has criticized the British government for the clampdown, he stated.And the claims that the West has never violated human rights but Iran is a violator of human rights are totally untrue, he added

Indian troops subject processions to force in Srinagar India trampling Kashmiris’ political, religious rights

Srinagar, December 15: In disputed state of  Jammu and Kashmir, scores of mourners were injured, some of them critically, when Indian troops used brute force on Muharram processions in Srinagar, today.

The local authorities under the instructions of India , had imposed curfew and restrictions in the city to that the Muharram processions. Defying curfew, people took out processions in Jehangir Chowk, Regal Chowk and Habba Kadal areas. However, Indian troops and police personnel swung into action and resorted to heavy baton charge and excessive teargas shelling injuring dozens of people.

The All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Gilani, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Rais Ahamad, Sheikh Gulzaar, Nasir Khan, Mushtaq ahmad Lone, Hilal Ahmad War, Yaseen Malik, Javid ahmad Mir, and Nayeem Ahmed Khan in their separate statements strongly denounced the use of force against the mourners. They said that the international community should take cognisance of the fact that the Kashmiri people were not being allowed to perform their religious obligations.

Senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) and President of Anjuman-e-Sharie Shian, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi has strongly condemned the imposition of curfew and other restrictions in Srinagar by the occupation authorities to prevent Muharram processions.

Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi, while addressing the Muharram processions in Budgam and Magam, said that India, on one side, was claiming to be the largest democracy of the world, while, on the other, was massively violating human rights in the  territory.

He said that the occupation authorities besides committing the worst kind of state terrorism were trampling the religious rights of the people in the occupied territory and imposition of restrictions on Muharram processions was its ample proof.

The APHC leader said that through such tactics India could not suppress the voice of Kashmiri people struggling for securing their right to self-determination. He reiterated the Kashmiris’ resolve to continue the Kashmiris’ just struggle till its compete success.

He said that on Muharram 10, the Ashur procession would be brought out from Abiguzar in Srinagar at all costs.

Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre-JKMPIC

India has 15 Agroclimatic zones and 17000-18000 species of flowering plants of which 6000-7000 are estimated to have medicinal usage in folk and documented systems of medicine, like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy.  About 960 species of medicinal plants are estimated to be in trade of which 178 species have annual consumption levels in excess of 100 metric tones.

Medicinal plants are not only a major resource base for the traditional medicine & herbal industry but also provide livelihood and health security to a large segment of Indian population.  The domestic trade of the AYUSH industry is of the order of Rs. 80 to 90 billion (1US$ = Rs.50).  The Indian   medicinal plants and their products also account of exports in the range of Rs. 10 billion.

There is global resurgence in traditional and alternative health care systems resulting in world herbal trade which stands at US$ 120 billion and is expected to reach US$ 7 trillion by 2050. India  share in the world trade, at present, however, is quite low.

The Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre (JKMPIC) set-up in January 1996 in Srinagar has the primary mandate of coordinating all matters relating to medicinal plants and support policies and programmes for growth of trade, export, conservation and cultivation and introduction of new plants.

Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre-JKMPIC is  one of the premier registered Agriculture, Horticulture & Floriculture based institution involved in production, development, introduction, trading and manufacturing exporting of RAW HERBS, FRUITS, SPICES, Plant Leaves,  Fruit, Medicinal Plants, Vegetable seeds from  Kashmir.

Plants, seedlings are available: Oak-Quercus robur Colchicum Luteum,Saffron Bulbs (Crocus sativus Linn), Marijuana-Cannabis indica, Hawthorn berries/seeds(Crataegus  oxycantha), Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea), Celosia Linn, Pyrethrum, Malus communis, Prunus armeniaca, Prunus serotina, Cedrus deodar,  Aeaxulus indica Colebr, Capsicum annum, Ginkgo biloba Seeds,Wild Cherry, Sweet Cherry, Pomengranate , Sweet Appricort, Apple, Kewi, Plum,Lukat, Peach, Almond, Walnut Grapes, Sweet Chestnut, Ginkgo biloba plants, Althaea officinalis, cypress cashmiriana seeds,Ceratonia siliqua,Viola serpentine cashmiriana (Bunafsha),  Dioscorea  deltoidea, Saussurea costus cashmiriana, Gladiolus bulbs ,Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens), Beldona seeds, Kuth (Saussuria lappa) etc. etc.

For more details: jkmpic@gmail.com
home: http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

Writer-South Asia is updated every minute of every hour with the latest news, features,analysis: Sheikh GULZAAR

Writer-South Asia is updated every minute of every hour with the latest news, features,analysis: Sheikh GULZAAR

Sheikh GULZAAR