Muslim Persecution of Hindus In India -- The Story You Won't See In the Western Mainstream Media

They are crossing the border illegally and violently displacing the indigenous population whose homes and possessions they either destroy or occupy. They are attacking the young, the elderly, and especially the girls and women, whom they kidnap, forcibly convert, or traffic into brothels. The locals are terrified of them. The police rarely come to their aid, nor do the politically correct media or government. Both are terrified by the criminals and terrorists who are riding these immigrant waves.

I am not talking about illegal immigrants to Europe or North America. I am describing Muslims who are penetrating India’s West Bengal region. These Bangladeshi immigrants are becoming conduits for criminal activities (arms, drugs, and sexual slavery) which also fund global jihad.

You won’t read about this in the Western mainstream media—or even in the Indian media, which has turned a blind eye to this ongoing tragedy because they are afraid to be labeled “politically incorrect” or “Islamophobic.” They are also afraid of reprisals. When Islamic zealots ransacked the office of the renowned newspaper, ‘The Statesman’ in Kolkata, in retaliation for a mere reproduction of an article condemning Islamic extremism, the Indian press remained silent. The editor and publisher of the newspaper were arrested for offending Muslim sentiments and no action was taken against the rioters.

Fortunately, there are a few very brave Hindus who are taking a stand against the Muslim terror campaign in India. One of them is Tapan Ghosh, whom I had the privilege of meeting recently when he came to New York City to talk about anti-Hindu persecution in his homeland. In 2008, Ghosh founded “Hindu Samhati” (Hindu Solidarity Movement), which serves persecuted Hindu communities in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.

As Ghosh emphasized in our interview, the Muslim persecution of Hindus in India is nothing new. Over a period of 800 years, millions of Hindus were slaughtered by Muslims as infidels or converted by the sword. In 1946-1947, when British India was divided into India and Pakistan, Muslims massacred many thousands of Hindus in Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, and all along the fault line which separated India and Pakistan. Anti-Hindu riots and massacres continued during the 1950s and 1960s, but it was in 1971, when East Pakistan broke away to form the country of Bangladesh, that things worsened for Hindus in the area.

As Ghosh explained to me, “The liberation movement for Bangladesh was characterized by an escalation of atrocities against the Hindus and pro-liberation Muslims. Hindus were specifically singled out because they were considered a hindrance to the Islamisation of East Pakistan. In March 1971, the government of Pakistan and its supporters in Bangladesh launched a violent operation, codenamed “Operation Searchlight,” to crush all pro-liberation activities. Bangladeshi government figures put the death toll at 300,000, though nearly 3 million Hindus were never accounted for and are presumed dead.” U.S. officials in both India and Washington used the word “genocide” to describe what took place.

According to Ghosh, there has recently been a sharp increase in incidents of “Muslim rioting during Hindu festivals, destruction of Temples, desecration of Deities, and large-scale, provocative cow slaughter.” Worse: “Hundreds, thousands, of Hindu girls have been kidnapped, trafficked into sexual slavery, or taken as second or third wives for wealthy Muslim men. In recent years, Ghosh’s organization has rescued nearly 100 such girls, and one of his main missions has been to help reintegrate those survivors into their families and societies.

Ghosh wants the Indian government to stop the illegal immigration from Bangladesh and to force the return of undocumented Muslims; to ban madrassas and polygamy; to enforce a single standard of law and education; and to arrest and prosecute known Muslim mafia kingpins and terrorists. He challenges the media to report on the anti-Hindu atrocities and to address the issue of religious apartheid.

Ghosh is not optimistic. “The establishment of massive Saudi-funded Madrasas across rural Bengal is only contributing to the growing religious extremism among Muslims, [and] implementation of Sharia laws by [Islamic] courts is quite prevalent in many villages.” His greatest fear, he tells me, is that one day shouts of “Allahu Akbar” will ring out across the land and that Muslim zealots will demand that Hindus either convert or leave West Bangal—or die.

Ghosh came to America not just to appeal to Indian-Americans with family and historical ties in West Bengal and Bangladesh but to appeal to all Americans for their support. As he sees it, the battle against Muslim persecution in India is just one front in a much larger battle against Islamic expansionism and terror throughout the world.

All Americans must realize, he told me, “that the war on Islamic terrorism cannot be won without curbing religious extremism amongst the Muslim masses, be it in the suburbs of Detroit or Delhi or villages in rural Bengal. And this will require the active support and cooperation with each other, ranging from cooperation at the highest level to those who work at the grassroots level. We hope that Americans and Westerners will come out and support the Hindus in Bengal in raising resources and creating awareness about our on-the-ground realities.”

Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D. is professor emerita of psychology and the author of thirteen books including "Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman" and "The New Anti-Semitism." She has written extensively about Islamic gender apartheid and about honor killings. She once lived in Kabul, Afghanistan. She may be reached through her website: www.phyllis-chesler.com.

Source:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/09/09/phyllis-chesler-hindu-human-rights-muslim-islamic-terrorism/

Muslim Reservation = Jihad

Introduction 

Objectively, fairly and humanely how much reservation Indian Muslims should get? Answer: ZERO! In fact, Indian Muslims already have a 25% reservation.  

Indian Muslims already grabbed 25% of the land for themselves in South Asia and drove out almost all non-Muslims. Hence this constitutes a 25% Muslim reservation!  Along with this reservation Muslims are now free (due to their presence in India) to compete for the 75% of the opportunities available to South Asian non-Muslims. 

Hindus or other non-Muslims have unfairly lost 25% of the opportunities to Muslims. Additional reservations for Muslims will further reduce opportunities for non-Muslims. In fact, going by the logic of Partition and the subsequent non-Muslim ethnic cleansing from Muslim majority areas to India, all opportunities (100% reservation) in India must be reserved for non-Muslims.  

In addition, the jihadi-infested and friendly UPA regime in Delhi has called for 20% reservation for Indian Muslims in paramilitary forces. 

All of this is being carried out without any study – just to please the jihadis.  

License, arms and training to kill Hindus 

The ongoing jihad in India’s only Muslim majority state of Kashmir is no coincidence. All the available evidence points to extremization of most Indian Muslims. The following poll was published in a Muslim-owned newspaper Mid-Day: 

“A recent poll revealed that just under 90 per cent of Mumbai’s Muslims, presumably the most progressive in the country, rejected a secular civil code preferring instead Shariah law, favoring polygamy, triple talaq and Islam’s unequal inheritance laws which allow women half as much property as they allow men. The views of most younger and educated Muslims and of women were also the same, in almost the same proportion.”  

This shows that most Indian Muslims are outside of the civilized norms of behavior and outlook. Many Muslim security personal are known to engage in jihad and also shield jihdists. This has been the case not just in Kashmir but also in places such as Marad, Kerala.

Under these circumstances to hire Indian Muslims as part of the paramilitary forces to provide “security” to Hindu population is nothing less than giving license to kill Hindus. The jihadi undermining of these forces is also highly likely. 

Muslim reservation is indeed jihad 

With the goal of jihadis is to destroy the economic viability of India and increase Muslim population through high birth-rates and massive infiltration from Bangladesh, it makes sense to reserve jobs for Indian Muslims. These reservations serve two purposes: 1) Deserving Hindus are kept away from jobs and become poor 2) undeserving Indian Muslims (who have shown strong leanings to extremism) get jobs and become more wealthy. 

This unfair wealth transfer from Hindus to Indian Muslims through reservation is a must to destroy India. Hence we see the equation: Muslim reservation = jihad! 

This on top of subsidies and other modes of wealth transfer are already making Hindus poor. The cannibalistic characteristics of Indian Muslims are beginning to get noticed (How were Srilankan Hindus United?). 

UPA Hindus must now decide which side they are on 

The policies pursued by the UPA regime have now created apprehension among Hindus and particularly so, among security agencies. With the regimes in power already proven in their inability to protect Hindus – as it happened in Kashmir and other places – now the UPA regime can be arguably seen to promote the interests of jihadists. 

With Hindus and others no where else to live other than India, non-Muslim communities will find the need to wage a war to defend themselves. The politicians of the UPA regime who allow unfair transfer of wealth to Muslims at the expense of non-Muslims and who hire potential jihadists as paramilitary police -- will likely find themselves and their families at the cross hairs of disgruntled Indian security forces who might view them as the traitors.  

Most non-Muslims have been driven out or were killed in Islamic Pakistan or Bangladesh. It didn’t matter whether they were secular or Marxists. Hence these Hindu politicians must understand that appeasing Islam is a no-win situation. Don’t these politicians have any gratitude toward their Hindu security guards and their families who protect them Islamic terrorists? Is Ms. Sonia Gandhi heartless too? 

Appeasing Muslim vote bank has gone far enough. The so-called “secular” Hindu politicians must now decide if they want to be on the side of jihad or with civilization. 

Just because the UPA politicians don’t know how to defeat militant Islam doesn’t mean there is no solution. I have come up with a detailed vision of permanently defeating militant Islam within about a year (How can India Defeat Militant Islam?, Islam’s Weakness). 

Hindu nationalists must act 

Hindu nationalists must fight tooth and nail on the issue of Muslim reservation in jobs, education and in security forces along the lines I have articulated here. If properly articulated I am confident that Hindus can be mobilized. 

These issues are not just bread-and-butter issues; they are in fact life-death-issues for non-Muslims and in particular, Hindus of India. 

Time has come to tell Indian Muslims that if they insist on reservation they should leave for Pakistan or Bangladesh – the lands reserved just for them and almost devoid of non-Muslims. Their quota of 25% couldn’t be increased any further -- in fact, the logic of 1947 Partition requires 100% reservation for non-Muslim Indians. To say so is not communal -- but a fair, humane and objective thing to do! 

Is the RSS/VHP/BJP leadership capable of articulating these thoughts boldly and come to the aid of Hindus?

Source: http://www.ivarta.com/columns/OL_041220.htm

Time for Bangladeshi Hindus to be animate or dumped for eternity

Can India call the shots?

The wretched lot of Hindus in Bangladesh (going on and on ever since 1947) does not shock anyone any longer; it has become a daily affair (almost ) depicting Hindus, if they opt for to inhabit Bangladesh, would have to endure such Islamic atrocities. At this juncture, when an atmosphere of gloominess do prevail all the way, efforts of a few Indians, however minuscule those are, to call this grave violation of human rights a halt draw our admiration.    

And indeed as part of a spectacular development, CPIM, known for its every harangue against Hindus (for decades), has come forward and asked the current ruling clique at New Delhi to amend the Citizenship Act to render citizenship to masses of refugees from Bangladesh, both prior to and following its formation. Prakash Karat, general secretary of CPIM, in the letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been learnt to refer to "the citizenship problems of the large number of refugees from erstwhile East Bengal and then even after the formation of Bangladesh who had to flee their country in particular historic circumstances over which they had no control". It has also been learnt that the consensus in Parliament in this regard during NDA regime has also been mentioned in the letter.

Karat, in his letter, has quoted Singh's speech in Parliament, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha then, when NDA government had brought the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2003. 

"With regard to the treatment of refugees after the Partition of our country, the minorities in countries like Bangladesh, have faced persecution and it is our moral obligation that, if circumstances force people, these unfortunate people, to seek refuge in our country, approach to granting citizenship to these unfortunate persons should be more liberal", Singh was quoted as saying by Karat. He has also made it in public through quoting then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani as saying "what the Leader of Opposition has said, I am fully in agreement with the views expressed." 

Without a doubt, the vigorous campaign for Aadhar ID cards has been admonishing Bangladeshi Hindu refugees living in various parts of Bengal. They are being "excluded and considered illegal migrants facing the constant threat of deportation". 

It’s good to see all these. But will this approach have an untimely death or undergo a governmental ignorance citing strenuous India-Bangladesh relations or disagreement over Teesta? None knows twists of Indian government!

Nonetheless, CPIM is not a paragon in any way; it is indicted to invite illegal Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants in Bengal for decades to strengthen its own command and as per painstaking studies, such allegations are not unfounded. And finding its base among proletariats wearing away steadily, perhaps it is moving to form an ethnic basis

Whatever may be CPIM’s maneuver, what we want to know is India’s standpoint at the moment. As in its absence Hindus in Bangladesh (as found from the following report) are becoming worst casualties.

Amendment of Citizenship Act and providing citizenship to Bangladeshi Hindus in India is no solution; any such act would make Bangladesh free of Hindus before long. And Bengal has been a traditional mainstay of Hinduism; to reject apart of it or end it will be the greatest crime against Hinduism.

India has to make Bangladesh agree to compensate losses of Bengali Hindu refugees, accept their free and legitimate access to Bangladesh and stamp down any approach towards Hindu persecution by Islamists.

Hindus in India have to make Indian government call a spade a spade and not to waffle or retain its namby-pamby stances while talking with Bangladesh. A failed country (in every capacity – ever since its formation in 1971) can’t be allowed to go on dictating its own terms only.

Incidents of Hindu persecution in Bangladesh (only in last two months) are in the following lines.

§  On February 11, 2012, in the morning, at village: Sanka, Sub-district: Birgunj, District: Dinajpur, police recovered the dead body of Mantu Soren (Hindu Adivasi) while hanging in a eucalyptus tree. A few Islamist ruffians did kidnap and strangulate him; later the corpse was fasten to the tree.

§  On February 16, 2012, Salim, infamous Islamist felon, and his wife Ferdousi Begum, inhabitants of village: Uttar Kakchira, Sub-district: Bamna, Distirct: Barguna, were witnessed to devise heinous conspiracies to uproot Pulin Das, Hindu native of the same village, from his own land. Local Hindus and Muslims staged demonstrations against this incident.

§  110 families of Hindu Tripuri Adviasi community, inhabiting Choto Kumira area, Sub-district: Sitakunda, District: Chittagong by inheritance, are living in abject fear of getting evicted from their own lands soon.  And in this regard, The Chittagong Agricultural of Zahir Mian Chowdhury has been playing the leading role; it has closed both the road and religious rituals of Hindus. What is more, 25, 000 taka is being collected from each family as Jiziya tax. If anyone fails to do the same, he/she is tortured grievously in specially-made torture chambers. Hindu families have been instructed to vacate their own lands within the coming three months.

§  On February 12, 2012, at 10 pm, Hindu inhabitants of 98, KB Das Lane, Dacca, P.S. Sutrapur, Mrs. Gauri Ghosh (age 32) and her brother-in-law Mr. Suman Ghosh (age 30), were shot (severely) by a few Islamist outlaws. It has been learnt (from secret sources), the Ghosh family has been withstanding immense pressure (for more than a decade) to sell off their lands and move to India.  

§  On February 12, 2012, at dead night, a Hindu youth named Ujjwal Kumar Dey (age 35) was strangulated by Islamist criminals at Ajampur, Dacca.

§  On February 12, 2012, Mrs. Laxmi Rani Das (age 22), residing at Daspara, Kuliachar Corporation City, District: Kishoregunj, was raped by Islamist criminals, taking advantage of her husband’s absence. The Hindu housewife committed suicide later on.  

§  On February 13, 2012, at dead night, Mrs. Laxmi Rani Chandra (age 55), Hindu women living in Nayabari area of Kaligunj Corporation, District: Gazipur (Joydevpur), was butchered by Islamic felons.

§  On February 13, at 1.30 am, Hindu college student Ms. Pallabi rani Biswas (age 18), niece of Mr. Dilip Kumar Biswas, resident of village: Patiabera, Sub-district: Ullahpara, District: Sirajgunj, was brutally murdered. Mohammed Al Amin (age 19) and Mohammed Ashique (age 30), notorious Islamist criminals in the vicinity, kidnapped, raped and killed innocent Pallavi. A case (No. 19/14/02/2012)has been lodged under Sections – 364, 302, 201 and 34 in this regard. (Source: Bangladesh Minority Watch).

§  On December 20, 2011, at 8 pm, Ms. Lucky Mohanta (age 14), student of Class VIII and daughter of Mr. Ajit Mohanta, resident of village: Bedgram, Sub-district: Headquarters of District: Gopalgunj, was kidnapped by Islamist criminals. Even if a report has been lodged against Mohammed Rana Mullah, Mohammed Rajiv Mullah, Mohammed Tareq Mullah and Fatu Begum in the local police station, police has failed to recover the girl yet. (Source: Bangladesh Minority Watch)

§   On February 22, 2012, an innocent Hindu housewife was seized from the road by a police officer of the local police station and owing to his heinous tortures, the housewife (pregnant for the last 8 months) delivered a child. The incident created uproar in the local area; police officer, Abdul Kuddus, had to flee to avoid public lynching.  The Hindu lady happens to be the wife of Mr. Palash Haoladar, member of Army of Bangladesh, residing in village: Betmore, Sub-division: Mathbaria, District: Pirozepur.

§  District Police of Khulna, devoid of any plan for rehabilitation, has started to strive to wipe out the sweeper colony (of 150 years old) of Khulna metropolis. By now, 20 houses of Hindu sweepers (through using bulldozer) have been stamped out by police and they are ;living in the road at the moment (Source: Bangladesh Minority Watch)

§  On January 13, 2012, in the evening, Mr. Jagannath Das (age 35), elected Hindu UP member and also resident of village: Harishyama, Sub-district: Madhabpur, district: Habigunj, was brutally murdered by a few local Islamists. Police, in this regard,, has arrested Mohammed Sattar Mian, Dhanu Mian, Abdul Aowal Mian, Shahin Mian and Samchu Mian.

§  On January 24, 2012, in the dead night, a few armed Islamic malefactors assailed residence of Sri Ajit Kumar Ghosh, Hindu individual residing at village: Dakshminpada, Sub-district: Rupgunj, District: Narayangunj. Attackers plundered the entire residence and went away with 30 Bhari (a unit of weight equal to 180 grains) gold jewelries, 30, 000 taka (basic unit of money in Bangladesh) and 3 cell phones. Sri Ajit Kumar Ghosh, his wife Laxmi Rani Ghosh and his aged mother Rekha Rani Ghosh are in critical conditions at the moment.

§  On January 12, 2012, in the morning, Sri Anil Chandra Mandal, Buddhist and also Adivasi leader, was abducted by Islamists from Bagchara area, District: Rangamati. Adivasi people (aborigines) did put on strong protests against this throughout the district.   

§  On March 01, 2012, at 11 am, teachers and students of a Madrasa attacked the vehicle of a Christian Missionary at Teghuria Kamarpara area, Sub-district: Madargunj, District: Jamalpur. The attack led to serious injuries of three citizens of the United States of America. They are Mr. Rit Thrichjon, Benjamin Franks and Mrs. Enran Thrichjon. Police, with regard to this incident, has arrested Islamic hardliners like Abdul Bari (Principal, Madrasa), Mohammed Zakaria (teacher) and Antar Mian (student).

§  Highly revered Kali Temple of Hindus, established 125 years ago in 14 shatak land of SA 636, 637, 638 Dag (of JL 99 Bagdha Mouza), situated at Sub-district: Agailjhora, District: Barisal, has been forcibly occupied of late by Khaleq Khan, notorious Muslim criminal. As a result no Hindu ritual is being performed in the Temple. Moreover, no cremation of Hindus is taking place in the crematorium adjoining the Temple. Sri Rabindranath Majumdar, present of Temple committee, has made several complaints to the local administration in this regard but there has not been any redress yet.       

§  On February 02, 2012, 13% land (attained by inheritance) of Sunila Bala Saha, Swarup Kumar Saha and Subhash Kumar Saha at Golaramdia Mouza, Sub-district: Bailakandi, District: Rajbari, was forcibly occupied by a few local Islamists. They are Mohammed Faruk Mian, Zarina Bibi, Najmul Hasan and Rafiqul Alam.

§  On February 20, 2012, at 9 am, 60/70 Islamists led by Sohail Khan made a deadly attack on the residence of Sri Gautam Mridha, Hindu resident of village: Hoglapala, Sub-district: Morelgunj, District: Bagerhat. Wife of Gautam suffered terrible injuries as a result and even his son (age 3 years) was also badly beaten. The entire residence was plundered and burnt down. Two plans of betel-leaves were also pillaged and betel worth 3 lakh taka was seized. It has been learnt that Sohail Khan enjoys tutelage of a MP of Awami League (for years) and carries on Hindu persecution in the area. On February 28, 3, 000 Hindus staged demonstrations against this nefarious activity.

§  Sri Gautam Das, Hindu journalist, was murdered a month ago cold-bloodedly (he was thrown beneath a bus that killed him eventually). On February 23, 2012, 4% land of his ancestral residence, located at No. 4 Ward of Bhanga Corporation, District: Faridpur, was occupied at dead night leading to the construction of Awami League’s office and Bangabandhu Club.   

§  On February 13, 2012, at 8 pm, armed Islamic goons attacked home of Sri Gobinda Chandra Adhikary, Hindu teacher, located at Sakipur Bazar, Sub-district: Kaliakair, District: Gazipur (Joydevpur). Attackers looted 50, 000 taka, belongings worth 5 lakh taka (including gold jewelries of 5 Bhari - Bhari (a unit of weight equal to 180 grains). 

§  On February 20, 2012, at night, Sanjoli Soren (age 50), Christian by religion, inhabiting Adivasi area of village: Kamarpada, Sub-district: Badargunj, District: Rangpur, was killed. Her throat was slit, in particular and this was done by local Islamists taking advantage of absence of her husband and son. This has given rise to terror among the aborigines in the same area. Touhidul Islam, SI of local police station, while speaking to media, said sharp weapons were used in the murder.

§  On February 20, 2012, at dead night, some unidentified Islamic criminals attacked residence of Sri Chittaranjan Karmakar, Hindu businessman, living in Karmakar pada (close to local police station), Sub-district: Daulatpur, District: Manikgunj. Apart from thrashing members of Karmakar family inhumanly, culprits looted 10, 000 taka along with 71 Bhari gold jewelries and 100 Bhari silver jewelries (Bhari – a unit of weight equal to 180 grains).

§  On January 18, 2012, a Christian Adivasi girl was raped by an Islamic youth that led to severe protests from a number of organizations. These included Adivasi Council, National Adivasi Council, Adivasi Youth Council, Adivasi Students Council and 3 others.  

§  On January 12, 2012, Muslim felons (with lethal firearms) attacked “Rita Jewelers” of Sri Tapan Dhar, Hindu businessman. The shop is positioned at Nayapur market, Sub-district: Sonargaon, District: Narayangunj. Attackers killed Mohammed Chan Mian (age 65), night guard of the shop, brutally and looted 80, 000 taka along with 60 Bhari gold jewelries.

§  On January 21, 2012, at 6 am, Islamists foiled religious program (Harinam Sankirtan) of Hindu cobblers at village: Paril, Sub-district: Singair, District: Manikgunj. The attackers, under leadership of Abdul Kader and Ali Hussain, along with lethal weapons slashed Hindus and desecrated deities of Kunja and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. 9 people were hurt and some of them were Bhakta Kamal Rajbanshi, Dilip Rajbanshi, Taraman Das.

§  January 20, 2012 happens to be the day when Sri Joydev Pal, Hindu resident of village: Kachipara, Sub-district: Baufal, District: Patuakhali, fled for life leaving behind his own property and his fate remains unchanged yet. Notably, Sri Kamal Pal (brother-in-law of Joydev Pal) owns 1 acre land in Dopasha Mouja and the same land is supervised by  Joydev.  Mohammed Nasim, local Muslim criminal, has been exerting strong pressures on both of them to handover the land to him (for free) or else they would be murdered – this happens to be the latest threat.

§  On February 07, 2012, Sri Malay Basu (age 45), Hindu individual and also elected chairman of Atghar Union Council, Sub-district: Saltha, District: Faridpur, was killed at bright daylight (12 pm) by Islamic criminals. While Malay Babu was going to his office, he was stopped by armed felons at a place called Rankail and after that, he was brutally murdered.   

§  On February 09, 2012, people advocating the Two-Nation theory did contrive and attack 10 temples, 15 shops, 5 houses at Hathajari and Nandirhat regions of Chittagong district. Apart from this, they looted and physically tortured women and children. On March 29, 2012, religious minorities of Fatehpur village of Kaligunj sub-district of Satkhira district were brutally attacked. The attack on 500 religious minorities was led by Zulfiqar Sapui. With the help of police, they looted, tortured children, molested Hindu women and burnt down 24 Hindu houses in the end. On March 28, 2012, local Islamist ruffian Mohammed Karim Rauful, along with 50-60 people, attacked the residence of Naresh Chandra and Ganesh Chandra (both Hindus) at Dakshin Mistri area of Jaldhaka sub-district, Nilfamari district. On March 06, 2012, local leader Mohammed Maidul Islam attacked and destroyed Kali temple at Ranibirbala village of Sherpur sub-district, Bagura district. Maidul has been arrested. 

Pak to pay terror price

$50 M aid cut for each us life lost 

A far-reaching piece of legislation has been introduced in the US Congress that would deduct $ 50 million from American aid to Islamabad for every US citizen killed by terrorists operating from safe havens in Pakistan with the “support” of Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

“Pakistan has for decades leveraged radical terrorist groups to carry out attacks in India and Afghanistan,” Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said while introducing the 'Pakistan Terrorism Accountability Act of 2012'. The legislation would require the department of defence to list all Americans killed by terrorist groups operating with impunity inside Pakistan and Afghanistan and supported by elements of Pakistani government.

For each person killed, $ 50 million would be subtracted from US foreign assistance to Pakistan ~ a requested $ 2.2 billion ~ and given to the victim's family. “For too long America has funded the Pakistani government, giving it free money, while elements of the ISI and Pakistan's military operate radical Islamic groups that are actively murdering Americans. Americans will not accept this,” Mr Rohrabacher, chairman of the House foreign affairs oversight and investigations subcommittee, said.

“Pakistan helped to create the Taliban and Pakistan's intelligence service hid Osama bin Laden from the USA for years. Today, one of the most dangerous and sophisticated groups killing American troops in Afghanistan is the Haqqani Network, which is closely operated by the Pakistani government,” Mr Rohrabacher said. The legislation says Pakistan, through the ISI, maintains control and influence in Afghanistan through militant groups like Haqqani network, to secure its strategic position and expand its sphere of influence, not only in Afghanistan, but also in Kashmir and against India.  

Asserting that the ISI has strong links with the Haqqani network, the legislation said that it shall be the policy of the USA to limit American foreign assistance to Islamabad if Pakistan's military or intelligence services continue to support or provide assistance to organisations that target American citizens.

“Of the amounts made available for assistance to Pakistan for fiscal year 2013 or any subsequent fiscal year, the President shall withhold $ 50 million for each US citizen who is killed as a result of actions of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) or support provided by the ISI to other organisations or individuals, including the Haqqani Network,” it said.

The former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, had previously said the ISI directed the Haqqani network to plan and conduct “the assault on our embassy (in Kabul in September 2011) ... We also have credible evidence that they were behind the 28 June attack against the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul”. 

Separately, a bipartisan group of powerful US lawmakers has asked secretary of state Hillary Clinton to “immediately designate” the Pakistan-based dreaded Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organisation. 

The lawmakers who have written to Mrs Clinton in this regard include Senate intelligence committee chairman Dianne Feinstein, vice chairman Saxby Chambliss, House intelligence committee chairman Mike Rogers and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger. The letter said it was clear that the Haqqani network continues to launch sensational and indiscriminate attacks against US interests in Afghanistan, and poses a continuing threat “to innocent men, women, and children in the region”. 

“Last week, our travel to Afghanistan for meetings with President (Hamid) Karzai, Ambassador (Ryan) Crocker, General (John) Allen, and many military, intelligence, and State Department officers serving in Afghanistan reaffirmed concerns substantiated by intelligence and our oversight work,” the lawmakers wrote. The letter said there is little question that the Haqqani network meets the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organisation ~ it engages in terrorist activity that threatens the security of US citizens or the national security of the USA.  On 1 November, 2011, they said, the state department wrote that it was engaged in the “final formal review” on whether to designate the group as an FTO. “Six months have passed, and the Haqqanis have continued to attack US troops and the US embassy in Kabul during that period.” 

Source:

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=409703&catid=35

What Is the Chinese Dream?

When I first arrived in China, I wrote the one and only "I've just arrived, and here is what I'm wondering" article that journalistic convention permits each writer on first immersion in a country. Among the questions I said I wanted to answer was, What is the Chinese dream?

Nearly six years later, I realize that it's a silly or meaningless question, since for the foreseeable future the country's ambitions will be fully satisfied by allowing hundreds of millions of people to realize their individual and family dreams. Grandparents who can live in reasonable health and security to an old age? Great. Students whose education makes the most of their abilities and who have the chance to do their best around the world? Better still. After China's centuries of seeming to move backward as a society and its more recent decades of tragedy and turmoil, the simple bourgeois comforts are much of what the modern Chinese miracle could and should provide.

But there is a way in which the question does make sense, as an expression of concern about what the rise of a "non-universal" nation will mean for the rest of the world.

Through the centuries of Western military, technological, and economic dominance, "universalism" of some sort has been so basic a part of international relations that it barely needed to be discussed. The leaders of the French Revolution issued their Declaration of the Rights of Man -- not the rights of Frenchmen. The Declaration of Independence began, "When, in the course of human events," not "events in the colonies of North America." With varying degrees of sincerity, Western colonialists tried to create replica British, French, or American citizens in their colonies. Long before the colonial era, Christian missionaries wanted to bring people worldwide to their view of the one true universal faith.

The idea that anyone could -- and should -- "aspire" to Western standards is simultaneously the most and least admirable part of the Western tradition. Most admirable in advancing the principle that people of different origins, races, and religions should be judged and valued by the same standards. Least admirable in the gap between that principle and a discriminatory reality, and in the condescension it implied for the unfortunate non-Westerners of the world.

The best and worst parts of the American model are intensified versions of this Western universalism. In theory, anyone can become an American. Most Americans innocently, or pridefully, assume that in fact most people around the world want to become Americans, and would if they only had the chance. (And many do want exactly that.) The self-satisfaction of this view can make non-Americans roll their eyes, but it is connected to the factor that is the enduring secret of American national strength.

Modern America's power is often calculated in material terms, from the size and strength of its military to the scale of its corporate assets. But everything I have learned convinces me that these are finally reflections of the country's success in attracting and enabling human talent. That success, in turn, has depended on the fortunate interaction of many different circumstances, rules, and decisions.

For the United States these have included immigration policies that made it attractive for ambitious people to migrate and realize their ambitions within American institutions and companies. Persecuted Jews, Hungarians, Cubans, Vietnamese, Iranians, Ethiopians, Chinese, in periods of turmoil in their respective countries; highly motivated Indians, Mexicans, Dominicans, Russians, Nigerians, Irish, Poles, Pakistanis, and many others through the decades. At their best, the levels of America's public-education system, from grade school through Ph.D. programs, created opportunities for the ambitious. A research establishment leveraged their work for public and private benefit; an American pop culture kept renewing itself with outside stimulus until it became for better and worse the pop culture of the world.

In its pluses and its minuses, everything about this approach -- the approach that has created the world's reigning power of the moment -- is fundamentally different from the principles behind the rise of the aspirant great power, China. America's challenge is strangely conservative: Somehow it has to avoid destroying the cultural conditions that have been so important to its growth.

China's challenge is more complicated -- which, of course, doesn't mean that it is insurmountable. The country's successes over the past three decades arise mainly from allowing more and more of its people to apply ideas, ambitions, and energies in ways that benefit themselves and their families, and that build the national economy at the same time. To take the next step in its development, it will have to alter that equation in subtle but significant ways, by granting broader scope to individual ambition than has been possible through the Communist Party's decades in control. The institutions at the heart of such "soft" success have until now been areas of signal weakness for China.

At an individual level, and as an accumulation of daily interactions over the years, my experience is of the great permeability of Chinese culture. People are easy to meet, to get to know, to laugh or argue with. And in its vastness, today's China contains people who belong to a variety of universalist faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Baha'i, and Buddhism. But in its international dealings as well as in most of its domestic operations, today's China gives more weight to duties and ethics based on personal relations than on abstract principles of how people in general should be treated. It is too pat to put the ethical system the way one Chinese friend did: "Everything for my family and friends; nothing for anyone else." But a variant of these sentiments goes through many aspects of Chinese life.

Early in my stay in Shanghai I was amused to see that the first occupant of an elevator would instantly push the "close door" button. Then, for a while, I was annoyed; ultimately I acclimated. When my wife and I had been away from China for several months and returned for a stay, my wife saw a charming young boy walking with his mother on a street in a little enclosed neighborhood. He was eating a bag of potato chips. This was itself a sign of a different trend: the obesity epidemic now affecting China. The country is already dealing with one actuarial consequence of its one-child policy of the past generation -- that its population will soon become on average so old. It is just beginning to cope with another, the long-term public-health problems, especially diabetes, coming from the rising rate of obesity in people under twenty, especially the often-favored "little emperor" boys.

As the boy finished the last chip, he simply let the bag drop from his hand, onto the sidewalk in his neighborhood. His mother briefly glanced over to see the bag's fall and kept on walking and talking with her son about something else. The instant seemed not to register, since the sidewalk where their bag sat was in no sense "theirs." Of course, moments like this happen all around the world. At that moment in China it struck me as an illustration of the reality that the consciousness of a "general" public interest is underdeveloped, compared with interest that affects individual families in the here and now -- and the country relative to other parts of the world.

The still-limited awareness of interests outside China's immediate ambitions will, I think, affect China's ability to project soft power and improve its standing. China is steadily gaining the hard power that comes from factories and finance. Its military hard power is increasing, though from an extremely low base. But lasting influence in the world has come more from soft than hard power: ideas for living, models of individual, commercial, and social life that people emulate because they are attracted rather than because they are compelled.

Soft power becomes powerful when people imagine themselves transformed, improved, by adopting a new style. Koreans and Armenians imagine they will be freer or more successful if they become Americans -- or Australians or Canadians. Young men and women from the provinces imagine they will be more glamorous if they look and act like people in Paris, London, or New York. If a society thinks it is unique because of its system, or its style, or its standards, it can easily exert soft power, because outsiders can imagine themselves taking part in that same system and adopting those same styles. But if it thinks it is unique because of its identity -- "China is successful because we are Chinese" -- the appeal to anyone else is self-limiting.

From the Chinese government's point of view, soft power has so far boiled down to using money to win other people's goodwill or acquiescence. Chinese-built roads in Africa and Latin America; Chinese investment and interaction in Europe and the United States. The public-opinion elements of the soft-power campaign have often backfired, since they have been crudely propagandistic in the fashion of the government's internal news management.

Even before the bad publicity China suffered with the jailing of Liu Xiaobo and the Jasmine crackdowns, a scholar from the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Johan Lagerkvist, argued that China would likely lose more and more international support unless the government fundamentally reconceived its connections with the rest of the world. "China's internal stability/security and survival of the Communist Party will always be more important to China's leaders than the image it projects for outside consumption," he contended. A choice between maintaining domestic order and pleasing outside critics was no choice at all. "Pouring money into Chinese equivalents to CNN and Al-Jazeera won't help [without] reform initiatives," he said.

In every country, internal interests come first. With more time on the world stage, China's leaders may learn to do what their American, British, French, and other counterparts also had to learn: at least feigning awareness of the interest of mankind. China's predicament is more difficult because its emergence is so rapid, and so much is unclear about other ways in which it will change.

I am sitting in Washington, D.C., as I write these words, and I realize how different the world feels to me than when I was sitting in Beijing, or Yinchuan, or Chengdu, or Linyi, with the chaos and achievement of Chinese efforts just outside my window. From a distance, it can seem strange to think that there are limits or challenges to China's progress. The action, the sense of can-do, is so different from the political and economic paralysis of America's age of constraint.

But I know how much is in flux, and how much is at stake. It is not an evasion of analysis but a recognition of China's complexity, and the world's, to say that a wide range of outcomes is possible, and that it is worth watching very carefully signals like those I have mentioned to recalibrate our estimates. Nearly every day of these past five years -- when watching the earth being scraped away for airports or highways, when seeing apartments put up within a week and the families who used to live in the knocked-down tenements sent scrambling to other parts of town, when seeing the beggars next to the Bentleys and the security agents watching students in the Internet cafés -- I have thought to myself, How long can this go on?

And nearly every day, when seeing those same sights, I have asked myself, What is this system not capable of ? Anyone who says China is destined to succeed or fail, to open up or close down, either knows much more than I do, or much less. Anyone so sure is not willing to acknowledge the great unknowability of life in general and life in this quarter of mankind.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/what-is-the-chinese-dream/256929/

The Hindu Genocide that Hindus and the World Forgot

By Vivek Gumaste 

When we can rase our voice for 2,000 Muslims killed in Gujarat, we must cry from the rooftops for 2.4 million Hindus killed in 1971 or the 250,000 Kashmiri Pandits forced out of their homes in Kashmir. Why do we not? Why were the guilty not brought to book? A crime like genocide usually involves established institutions like governments or nations. For the criminals to be brought to book, one needs a dedicated champion like the legendary Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, or a driven community, who share a commonality with the victims and will not let the perpetrators to rest. The Hindu community has neither.

When we can raise our voice for 2,000 Muslims killed in Gujarat, we must cry from the rooftops for 2.4 million Hindus killed in 1971 or the 250,000 Kashmiri Pandits forced out of their homes in Kashmir. Why do we not?

Public memory is short and fleeting. Events register momentarily like a blip on a radar and are then consigned to some dark corner of our cerebral galaxy. The brain needs to be bombarded with repetitive stimuli or jolted by a single moral turpitude of seismic proportions to evoke a strong and sustained re-sponse. In the absence of such reinforcement, a thought fades away from ones mind and that is the unfortunate tragedy of the Bangladesh genocide.

To ascertain the etiology of this amnesia or selective attention deficit we need to delve deeper into the details of this gory chapter of South Asia. In a massive military operation, code named Operation Searchlight aimed at crushing Bengali aspirations of autonomy, the Pakistan army in March of 1971 unleashed a deadly reign of terror that killed about 3 million Bangladeshis and forced another 10 million to seek refuge across the border in India.

Estimates of the actual numbers vary from a ridiculous low 26,000 put out by the Pakistan government (Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission) to a high of 3 million circulating in the international media. In a preface to this massacre, Yahya Khan, the military dictator of Pakistan at that time is supposed to have remarked: “Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands.” (Pierre, Stephen and Robert Payne (1973), Massacre, New York: Macmillan, p 50).  The official position from Bangla-desh concurs with the figure of 3 million.

R.J. Rummel in his book, Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 (ch.8) concludes: “Consoli-dating both ranges, I give a final estimate of Pakistan’s democide to be 300,000 to 3,000,000, or a prudent 1,500,000.” Even this figure of 1.5 million places this massacre high up in the list of notable world genocides. While the number killed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (in excess of 2 million) may top the Bangladesh genocide, it was carried out over a period of four years in comparison to the nine-month deadly rampage of the Pakistan army: a chilling testimony to the awesome brutality of this massacre.

Who bore the brunt of this genocide? Was it the Bengali Muslims? Were the Bengali Hindus selectively targeted? Or did both communities suffer equally? It is important to know the actual distribution of the casualties for therein may lay the clue to the big unanswered question: Why were the guilty not brought to book?

The killings were not random acts of response to a mass uprising but a meticulously crafted strategy of selective victimization as Rummel indicates in his book: “In East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) (General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan and his top generals) also planned to murder its Bengali intellectual, cultural, and political elite. They also planned to indiscriminately murder hundreds of thousands of its Hindus and drive the rest into India. And they planned to destroy its economic base to insure that it would be subordinate to West Pakistan for at least a generation to come. This despicable and cutthroat plan was outright genocide.”

A report in the Sunday Times, London (June 13, 1971) corroborates the existence of such a diabolical blueprint: “The government’s policy for East Bengal was spelled out to me in the Eastern Command headquarters at Dacca. It has three elements: 1. The Bengalis have proved themselves unreliable and must be ruled by West Pakistanis; 2. The Bengalis will have to be re-educated along proper Islamic lines. The — Islamization of the masses — this is the official jargon — is intended to eliminate secessionist tendencies and provide a strong religious bond with West Pakistan; 3. When the Hindus have been eliminated by death and fight, their property will be used as a golden carrot to win over the under -privileged Muslim middle-class. This will provide the base for erecting administrative and political structures in the future.”

In a report submitted to the US Senate Judiciary Commit-tee (November 1, 1971) Senator Edward Kennedy further confirms this persecution of Hindus: “Field reports to the US government, countless eye-witness journalistic ac-counts, reports of international agencies such as World Bank and additional information available to the subcommittee document the reign of terror which grips East Bengal (East Pakistan). Hardest hit have been members of the Hindu community, who have been robbed of their lands and shops, systematically slaughtered, and in some places, painted with yellow patches marked ‘H.’ All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered and implemented under martial law from Islamabad.”

An article in Time magazine dated August 2, 1971 titled Pakistan: The Ravaging of Golden Bengal (external link) categorically concluded: “The Hindus, who account for three-fourths of the refugees and a majority of the dead, have borne the brunt of the Muslim military hatred.”

All this evidence clearly indicates that the Hindu community of Bangladesh was the specially culled out by the Pakistan army for this inhuman treatment. Coming to specifics, let us see whether we can ascertain with a fair degree of accuracy, the ball park figures for the Hindus killed or driven from their homes.

In the senate judiciary committee report, Kennedy indicates that 80 percent of the refugees were Hindu that is 8 of the 10 million; a figure in line with the Time magazine report that suggests that three-fourths of the refugees were Hindu.

The percentage figures follow the same pattern when we look at the people killed. Shrinandan Vyas in an article in The Hindu titled Hindu Genocide in East Pakistan uses population statistics from the Bangladesh Ministry of Planning, Bureau of Statistics to extrapolate the number of Hindus killed by the Pakistan army: a mind-numbing figure of 2.4 million equivalents to 80 percent of the overall total of 3 million emerges.

While this is not an attempt to underplay or trivialize the sacrifices of Bangladeshis as a whole (Muslim intellectuals were also killed in large numbers), it cannot be denied that the Hindu community of Bangladesh accounted for an astronomically disproportionate share of the dead and paid a price that was more than its due.

A crime like genocide usually involves established institutions like governments or nations. For the criminals to be brought to book one needs a dedicated champion like the legendary Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, or a driven community who share a commonality with the victims and will not let the perpetrators to rest. The Hindu community has neither.

Logically it would fall upon the Bangladesh government to relentlessly pursue the executors of this horrific massacre. After some half-hearted attempts in the immediate post — 1971 periods, the Bangladesh government has relegated this issue to a back burner. Why they have done so is intriguing? Does it have to do something with Islamic brotherhood and the fact that the victims happened to be predominantly Hindu?

What about the Hindus themselves? The Hindus, wherever they maybe, are afflicted with a strange psychic malady that inhibits them from standing up for their rights or highlighting  atrocities committed against them. Moreover those Hindus, who do so are shouted down by their own brethren. However, in defense of Bangladeshi Hindus, I must say that the continued oppressive religious environment in that country makes any such protest impossible, especially with their limited numbers.

The only other lobby with a special interest in this matter was predominantly Hindu India. I have always felt that India owes a moral responsibility to the Hindus left behind in Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1947. While the Muslim minority of India became a part of a secular republic with equal rights, the Hindu minority of Pakistan (and later Bangladesh) were relegated to second class status through no fault of theirs.

Could India with its famed free and secular media have played a key role? Yes, it certainly could have. And should have. But did not.

To side with Hindus even if they are right is akin to blasphemy in the vaunted circles of the free Indian media. How else can you explain the relentless crusade against the Gujarat riots that persists even to this day in comparison with the near total silence on the monumental genocide that obliterated 2.4 million Hindus from the face of the earth or the shoddy treatment meted out to the continued ethnic cleansing of a quarter million Hindus from Kashmir?

All atrocities regardless of the color, caste, creed or religion of the victims must be condemned fair and square and the perpetrators relentlessly pursued till eternity if need be and brought to book. When we can raise your voice for 2,000 Muslims, (the official figures are much less) killed in Gujarat and we should, we must cry from the roof tops for 2.4 million Hindus killed in 1971 or the 250,000 Kashmiri Pandits forced out of their homes in Kashmir. Why do we not?

Source: 

http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2105&Itemid=524