Introspection in East and West

Challenging chessboard of Asia

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020208-7593024.htm

William R. Hawkins

President George W. Bush will soon embark on a diplomatic swing through Asia, which will include a summit in China with President Jiang Zemin.

Beijing`s support for the U.S. campaign against al Qaeda, tepid as it has been, has led some observers, particularly former members of the Clinton administration, to argue that China should again be considered a ``strategic partner.`` But a realist look at Beijing`s behavior demolishes this line of thought.

China has recently held naval maneuvers in the East China Sea with the apparent intent to pressure Taiwan. And Chinese interceptors have again been harassing American patrol aircraft flying over the South China Sea, recalling the crisis of last April 1 when a Chinese jet collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane and forced it down on Hainan Island.

The state-run Chinese media have been critical of the United States and its president. The official journal Beijing Liaowang concluded in a year-end review, ``U.S. foreign policy under Bush is overbearing and extremely supercilious; it smacks of unilateralism, and obviously betrays the desire for exclusive domination.`` The Beijing Review, China`s leading English-language journal, opened the new year with an article claiming ``The September 11 tragedy, however, has not weakened America`s superior role in world dynamics; the United States has not given up its demand for world hegemony.``

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said on Feb. 4 that China disapproves of the use of such words as the ``axis of evil`` in international relations. Mr. Kong also claimed that American public opinion does not support President Bush`s characterization of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as terrorist states. ``China always holds that anti-terrorism campaigns should be based on irrefutable evidence, and anti-terrorism attacks should not be expanded arbitrarily,`` said Mr. Kong.

Beijing has itself attempted to use ``anti-terrorism`` to justify suppression of the Muslim independence movement in Xinjiang Province, but this conflict has nothing to do with Sept. 11. Beijing well knows that Osama bin Laden`s focus was the United States. Bin Laden also trained fighters for war in Chechnya against Russia and in Kashmir against India, but he did not make the same effort to train fighters for Xinjiang. This was because the al Qaeda/ Taliban network was created and backed by China`s ally, Pakistan.

The Taliban even sent parts of U.S. cruise missiles fired in 1998 at al Qaeda camps to China for study. Chinese firms also set up the Taliban`s telecommunications system and shipped in weapons through Pakistan.

China`s ambitions remain what they were before September 11, and Beijing continues to see the United States as the main obstacle to fulfilling those ambitions. While seeking a ``multipolar`` world to weaken American influence, China has wanted a unipolar Asia with Beijing as its center. It has worked to isolate India, bully Taiwan, contain Japan, and divide the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

China has been working hard to encircle India. In Tibet, Beijing has built all-weather military roads linking a chain of army bases, major airfields and ballistic missile sites. China is fast increasing its ability to launch deep strikes — by both aircraft and medium-range missiles, against major Indian targets in the hinterland. China still holds the disputed territory in the Aksai Chin, over which the 1962 war with India was fought and through which runs a vital logistical route supporting Beijing`s occupation of Tibet.

In Myanmar (Burma), long recognized as ``the back door to India`` China has strongly supported the military dictatorship by providing arms, and upgrading strategic infrastructure and port facilities. Beijing has built naval bases along Burma`s coastline in the Bay of Bengal, better designed to service Chinese warships than the nonexistent Myanmar fleet.

China is also sending arms and money to support the ``Maoist`` guerrillas in Nepal, and is the main supplier of arms to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Beijing`s strategic calculations have been thrown into turmoil, however, by the vigorous U.S. response to September 11. China sees the United States acquiring a new foothold in Central Asia and improving relations with Russia.

Chinese has long supported Pakistan`s jihad in Kashmir. Pakistan`s top military commanders met with their opposite numbers in Beijing at the height of the India-Pakistan crisis triggered by a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament. This Chinese gambit against India has been damaged by American pressure on Islamabad to curtail the infiltration of guerrillas into Kashmir, and by the elimination of the Taliban.

Beijing views a potential U.S.-Indian military alignment with horror. Paired with the U.S.-Japan alliance, it would bracket China and bring into concert with Washington Asia`s other two major powers. Furthermore, the new Changi Naval Station in Singapore, the provision of new weapons to Taiwan, the reintroduction of American troops into the Philippines and U.S. discussions of collaborative work with regional allies on missile defense presents Beijing with the specter of having its encirclement strategy turned against it.

A prominent circle of Chinese military thinkers and hardline academics believe that Beijing needs to demonstrate its strength, rather than look meek, in the wake of the American demonstration of power in Afghanistan. They are urging President Jiang to more forcefully confront President Bush over issues like Taiwan, missile defense and any expansion of the war on terrorism.

Whatever the atmosphere of the summit turns out to be, President Bush needs to remember one thing; he had Beijing pegged right the first time.

China is a ``strategic competitor.``

William R. Hawkins is senior fellow for National Security Studies at the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-020802kidnap.story

February 8, 2002
RESPONSE TO TERROR
Worlds of Extremism and Crime Collide in Indian Jail
By PAUL WATSON and SIDHARTHA BARUA, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

NEW DELHI -- A dingy, overcrowded cellblock in the bowels of New Delhi`s Tihar jail was the perfect spot for a merger between militant Islam and the Indian mafia.

Ahmad Omar Sayed Sheikh, a chess-playing Islamic radical, made common cause with Aftab Ansari, an ambitious Calcutta gangster, when they did time together behind Tihar`s high walls in the late 1990s, according to Indian police investigators.

Their partnership provided groups linked to Osama bin Laden`s Al Qaeda terrorist network with a new source of recruits and safe houses, along with money from kidnapping, drug trafficking, prostitution and other crime, the investigators say.

Sheikh, a British citizen born to Pakistani parents, studied math and statistics at the prestigious London School of Economics and then turned to radical Islam. Ansari studied law and journalism in the Hindu holy city of Benares and then decided to pursue a career in organized crime.

They were young men from different worlds, but they shared a taste for kidnapping.

Sheikh, who confessed to kidnapping Californian tourist Bela Josef Nuss and three British backpackers in 1994, now has been named as the chief suspect in the abduction of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in neighboring Pakistan.

The loose alliance between Islamic warriors waging jihad and organized criminals looking for wealth, weapons and power received direct support from Pakistan`s military intelligence agency, Indian police and intelligence sources charge. They cite seized caches of smuggled military weapons and phony Pakistani passports as some of the evidence.

With their expertise in money laundering, forgery, abduction and killing, the criminal gangs` support for Islamic extremists complicates the war against terrorism, but it also offers weaknesses for skilled investigators to exploit.

``Those with criminal backgrounds very readily share information with us in custody,`` said a senior police investigator in Calcutta, who has spent years trying to unravel the complex ties between gangsters and Islamic militants, known here as jihadis.

``But those with jihadi connections, it`s very, very difficult to get anything out of them. They`re very well trained to handle interrogation. They give just as much as necessary and buy time,`` he said. ``They play with us, and we play with them.``

The senior investigator was one of five police and intelligence sources who agreed to discuss details of sealed court files and ongoing investigations on the condition they not be identified.

Tihar jail is the largest lockup in South Asia, with more than 11,000 prisoners in cells built to hold fewer than one-third that number. The cells are 10 feet by 8, and in some, four men have to share the bare concrete slab that is the only bed, jailers said.

There are six jails behind the institution`s creaking steel gates, which lead to a 400-acre complex holding alleged terrorists along with petty criminals, and, in a separate wing, female prisoners with their children.

One of Tihar`s most notorious inmates was Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, one of the most vicious groups fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region. Azhar was transferred to Tihar`s Jail No. 3 on terrorism charges in 1996.

Another prisoner who was in the same block from November 1994 until July 1999 was Asif Reza Khan. One investigator called Khan the ``chief executive of Ansari`s India operations`` until police shot Khan dead Dec. 7. They said he was trying to escape custody while being moved in Rajkot, in the western state of Gujarat.

A police interrogation report sealed under court order claims that Khan admitted receiving training in a camp run by the Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Numerous Ways for Prisoners to Meet

Under interrogation, three other members of Ansari`s gang who are being held in Tihar jail said the merger between mafia and jihad was clinched when Sheikh took up residence in Jail No. 1 in November 1998, according to police.

Although Tihar`s primitive registry doesn`t place Ansari in any of the same cellblocks as Azhar or Sheikh, prisoners are routinely shifted from one building to another without record and have numerous other ways of meeting, jailers and police investigators said.

``During trials, these prisoners were taken in vans to court, and there is one police lockup there,`` the senior investigator said. ``And there are mealtimes and lots of other opportunities to communicate with each other.``

Although terrorists in Tihar are imprisoned in high-security areas, they can mingle with common criminals because cell doors are open for most of the day to relieve crowding, prison officials and police said.

``We can`t keep a single person totally blocked from other prisoners,`` said a jailer who has worked at Tihar for 21 years. ``Total isolation is not permissible.``

Jailers open most of the cells each day for at least 10 hours, from 6 a.m. to noon and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. High-security prisoners such as terrorists are released from their cells for at least four hours a day, leaving ample time to mingle.

Mohammed Aslam, one of the kidnapping gang`s members still in Tihar, allegedly told police that he had trained at a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Khowst, Afghanistan, where U.S. Special Forces troops are still trying to root out Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.

Indian police say Aslam is a Pakistani citizen who was arrested with Khan in New Delhi in October. They were charged with the abduction of Calcutta shoe tycoon Partha Roy Burman.

After eight days in captivity, Burman was released Aug. 2 for about $830,000 in ransom. Indian police suspect that $100,000 of the ransom may have been sent to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where Sheikh transferred it to Mohamed Atta, the alleged ringleader of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Acknowledging that the suspicion is only ``an inference`` drawn from the timing and Sheikh`s known Al Qaeda links, a senior Indian police official said it was based on a series of intercepted e-mails in Hindi, which have grown ``to almost a booklet now.``

E-Mails Shared With Interpol

In an Aug. 8 e-mail, Ansari asked Khan ``whether he agrees to part with $100,000 for a `noble cause` as requested by [Sheikh],`` the investigator said. The next day, Khan responded by e-mail ``that he is agreeable and has no objections,`` according to the police official.

``On Aug. 11, Aftab Ansari communicated with Asif Reza Khan, and in that e-mail he said, with reference to their previous correspondence, the amount mentioned has been sent to [Sheikh],`` the investigator added.

Eight days later, Sheikh sent Ansari an e-mail that said: ``The money that was sent has been passed on,`` the police official said.

The e-mails have been shared with Interpol, where foreign law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have access to them. In New Delhi, senior officers in the Central Bureau of Investigation, India`s equivalent of the FBI, say the links between organized crime and Islamic extremists were also mentioned when FBI Director Robert Mueller visited the Indian capital last month.

The biggest inspiration for the gangsters, who are Muslims, to take up jihad, or holy war, came from Azhar in Tihar jail, Indian police claim.

``While in prison, they became virtual disciples of Masood Azhar,`` according to the senior police official.

Pakistan`s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, banned Azhar`s organization last month. Two weeks later, President Bush named it as one of the world`s most dangerous terrorist forces during his State of the Union address.

India`s government wants Pakistan to hand over Azhar for trial, along with 19 other terrorist and gangster suspects. India says Musharraf`s refusal to do so belies his commitment to the war against terrorism.

Although Indian police and FBI agents are now cooperating, Western investigators may have missed a prime opportunity to probe the connections between Al Qaeda and the Indian mafia by interrogating Sheikh in jail. India has long complained that its warnings of a growing terrorist network in South Asia were ignored--until the wake-up call of Sept. 11.

No Questions About Terror, Jailer Says

The large ledger where the names of Tihar jail visitors are registered lists nine meetings between Sheikh, his lawyer and a British diplomat identified as ``Mr. Greenhall,`` the jail official said.

They were all visits to check on Sheikh`s ``living conditions and general welfare,`` not to question him for leads on terrorist groups or their plots, said the jailer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears retribution.

FBI agents came to Tihar jail in 1996 to meet Azhar, but they were escorting the wives and other relatives of tourists, including an American, who were abducted in Kashmir. The agents wanted to make a direct appeal to Azhar for the captives` release, the jailer said.

On July 4, 1995, militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir kidnapped Donald Hutchings, a neuropsychologist from Spokane, Wash., along with two Britons, a German and another American, John Childs, who managed to escape.

Days later, a Norwegian was kidnapped and his severed head was left on a mountain path to warn that the kidnappers were serious. The body of one of the Britons was found two years ago. The other hostages were never found. Indian authorities blamed a group called Al Faran, a breakaway faction of the radical Kashmir separatist group Harkat Ansar. Its leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, co-signed Bin Laden`s February 1998 fatwa calling for attacks on Americans and Western interests.

Azhar was a leader of Harkat Ansar until he formed his own terrorist army, Jaish-e-Mohammed, after India released him from jail to free passengers on an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in December 1999.

Sheikh also belonged to Harkat Ansar and demanded the release of Azhar and several other alleged terrorists when he helped kidnap Nuss, the American tourist, in 1994. Indian investigators believe that Sheikh is now Azhar`s deputy.

Both men were freed in the hijacking swap. Indian intelligence sources say the men crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan, where they were sheltered by the military`s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Sheikh`s second base is in Dubai, where his Tihar jail contact Ansari is believed to be living--and running his organized-crime racket in India by remote control.

This easy cross-pollination of terrorist groups with strong popular support in Pakistan is another reason Indian leaders remain skeptical about Musharraf`s promise to stop terrorists from using Pakistan, and the area it controls in Kashmir, to launch attacks.

Seized Weapons Cited as Evidence

Just as they have for years, Pakistan-based terrorist groups are again changing their names and continue to infiltrate from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, the Indian government charges.

The Central Bureau of Investigation says it seized two caches of military weapons being smuggled to Ansari`s Calcutta gang and calls them evidence of support from Pakistan`s military intelligence agency.

On Dec. 12, Indian police uncovered a weapons dump buried in a village near India`s western border with Pakistan. They say the arms included more than 11 pounds of RDX plastic explosives, electronic timers and detonators, two antipersonnel land mines and various types of grenades.

The Central Bureau of Investigation says there was ``a printed letter pad`` of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in the cache, and the hand grenades and detonator caps were wrapped in Urdu-language Pakistani newspapers.

Although Ansari is an Indian citizen, he has passports from several countries, including Pakistan, to go along with various aliases, Indian investigators say. He changes his name so easily that the Tihar jail didn`t know his real name was Aftab Ansari until long after he was released on bail May 23, 1999, and fled the country, the senior police official said.

``To me, he looks like a part-time jihadi and a part-time criminal,`` the senior officer said. ``If his criminal activities are backed by jihadi connections, it all becomes easier for him.

``As a jihadi, he gets access to certain people and places. As an ordinary criminal, he wouldn`t find his way.``

Watson is a Times staff writer and Barua is a special correspondent.

Babar,

``On the issue of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir, Kristof simply panders to the extremist Indian point of view that totally ignores the thousands of documented deaths of Indian Muslim civilians in Kashmir at the hands of India’s security forces, while focusing on Pakistani support for Kashmiri militants.``

For all those Pakistanis who are outraged at Indian `atrocities` in J&K, find out how many such `atrocities` happened before 1989 and how many after. Find out which country`s support to jihadis is prolonging the conflict, then you will know who is responsible.

Babar,

``If Kashmiris want to be a part of India, then why not simply hold a plebiscite and call Pakistan’s bluff?``

Yawn. This question has been raised and answered so many times, but I will try one more time.

With PoK under Pak rule, the only question is that of the Valley, where everyone knows the people do not want to be part of India. IT DOES NOT MATTER! India has to hold on to its part of J&K for bigger reasons than the wishes of the Valley-ites who are less than one percent of India`s population. Access to water resources that feed its granary of Punjab and other northern states is one. India cannot afford it to be controlled by Pakistan or an independent Kashmir (possibly under the influence of a Western power or China). Another is that this will have a domino effect on other states wishing to secede. Last but not the least, it will lead to a Hindu backlash against Indian Muslims whose consequences would be worse than the Holocaust and screw India for ever.

I am not even putting up the usual (and valid) arguments like the Instrument of Accession, out-dated UN Resolutions not respected by Pakistan, commitment to secularism etc.

For the above reasons, India will continue to risk world opprobium (if it comes to that), nuclear war, proxy wars etc etc. It is simply in India`s interests that we hold on to J&K. The best thing for the Valley-ites to do is to accept reality and live as full fledged Indian citizens and partake in India`s growing economy (and hopefully prosperity).

Comments like:

[quote]

Numerous articles by humanists, such as Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, Asma Jehangir and others reassure me that Pakistan will move towards a more humanist society if the hands of the liberals within it are strengthened.

[end quote]

illustrate your naivete and ignorance of how democracies actually function. Are you under the impression that writing a few articles is going to change Pakistan? Pakistan will only change when internal social structures and processes are changed to reflect new social goals.

Do you think the fact that the Pakistani army is the only effective and well-funded institution in Pakistan is some kind of astonishing coincidence? Why will this change?

The high-level of involvement of ex-generals, high officials and other ``educated`` folks with the taliban is another illustration of a certain ``internal`` self-image. Just because this has been temporarily abandoned under an extreme threat (destruction of the nation at the hands of USA!) means very little.

It is easy to excoriate democratic societies like india, to scorn our second and third rate politicians. People like Bal Thackeray are the indian equivalent of Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, to reference another democracy. We are stuck with them but we have some processes of law and constitutional support to deal with them.

BUT all of this is far in the future for Pakistan! My guess is that you imagine it as some kind of miraculous state that will arrive through the writing of more liberal articles. Presumably this is the secular equivalent of replicating the religous state of 7th century arabia, and just about as effective.

Other religions have evolved from a straight jacket theory to a more progressive idea based religion. Islam needs to the same. There is no point in trying to re-live what Muhammad did some 1400 years ago and trying to evolve into some kind of utopian medival system. There is a big difference between culture and behavior. It is ok to accept and understand past culture but it is important to put energy and focus into making Islam a progressive religion sans medieval practises.

What is point of ``forcing`` women to wear burqa. I put ``forcing`` in quotes because on the one hand, theorists will tell that islam treats women equally but at the same in practice, mostly in islamic countries, women are forced to wear something. If islam started the practise of allowing divorce for women, then be proud of it and allow women more freedom to do what they want.

The manner in which women are treated speaks volume of a country`s growth and maturity. I am not excluding India in this equation.

In the Indian religious ethos, there are women goddesses which women can relate to. So, atleast there is an escape valve.

Thanks

More opportunities for introspection for Bhoora-goraa slaves.

The slogan of Indo-Pakis:``We pay to be enslaved--only in Inglish``

_________________________________________________

Friday February 1 5:38 PM ET

U.S. Terror Arrest Tactics Detailed

By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer

PHLADELPHIA (AP) - People the government suspects of terrorist involvement will be arrested on the most minor of crimes - spitting on the sidewalk or petty credit card swindles - just to get them off the street, a senior Bush administration lawyer said Friday.

``If we suspect you of terrorism you better be squeaky clean,`` Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh told an audience of lawyers and human rights advocates, some of whom shook their heads in disagreement.

``If we suspect you of terrorism we will arrest you, no matter how minor the violation, so that you are removed from the street and from the people that you wish to harm,`` Dinh told an American Bar Association session.

Citing the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy`s campaign to bust organized crime, Dinh said terrorist suspects will be arrested if they ``so much as spit on the sidewalk.``

``By the time we wait to investigate, prosecute and then incarcerate the persons, the damage is already done,`` Dinh said. ``The consequence is too great, and we simply cannot risk that threat to the American people. The 19 primary suspects in this case are all dead, and with them are approximately 3,000 innocent people.``

Each of the hundreds of potential terror suspects detained since Sept. 11 faces legitimate criminal charges, Dinh said. ``These are individualized arrests. It is not a roundup,`` he said.

Dinh`s boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, generally uses less colorful language to make the same points. A range of critics have called the administration`s arrest and detention policies heavy-handed, and the ABA opposes government monitoring of the suspects` meetings with lawyers.

Georgetown University law professor David Cole took issue with nearly everything Dinh said, and went on to criticize Congress for passing new immigration rules that Cole said recall the McCarthy era.

``It`s guilt by association,`` Cole said. Immigrants can be deported for supporting a range of potentially innocent causes, and can be refused entry to the United States based on their views, Cole said.

``What we have done is trade off the rights of immigrants ... for our purported security,`` he said.

The ABA is holding panel discussions on several terrorism and national security issues arising from the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks during its half-yearly meeting here. The nation`s largest lawyers` group may vote next week to give limited support to military tribunals proposed by President Bush.

babar: You raise an important issue - the need for introspection. However, your article then lets go of this issue when it moves away from introspection and becomes concerned with what the west is, or is not, doing. The key point you miss is that IT IS IN ONE`S OWN INTEREST TO DO SOME INTROSPECTION PERIODICALLY: it is like stopping for a while to re-examine the map, take stock of where we are heading if we continue on the path we have been taking, examine alternatives, and if necessary have the courage to get off the beaten path and chart a new course that is consistent with our objectives. We dont have to be concerned with whether or not Mr. xyz (the West, India, or whatever) is doing the same thing on the path he is taking.

The first thing to do for Pakistanis therefore is: is the two chappa land in the palestine worth the cost to the palesinians? is the injustice there really that much worse than the injustice we have on the streets of pakistani cities where millions spend their lives without even an inch of land they can call home? are kashmiris better off as a result of this civil war? if not, in whose interest is it to keep violence going in Kashmir?

If we ask the right questions, and answer them honestly and intelligently, we will not have to give a damn about what other people are or are not doing to help us. We will be helping ourselves. So, in raising the issue of introspection, I hope the discussion it generates will lead to some such introspection - at least among the handful of us on chowk.

A review of recent history suggests that the US, indeed the West, allows introspection - only when it incurs a serious cost - Gulf War cost maximum a couple of thousand American lives and less than 200 to actual Iraqi fire - whereas they inflicted more than 100,000 casualties on the Iraqi - In Afghanistan the US victory cost even less, not even 10 ten, to win an entire country - Cortez and Pizarro have been outdone - unbelievable!

Who cares if the Arab or Muslim feels this or that way about anything? I mean really now, since when does anyone give a rats behind about peoples who do not succeed? or are a worthless enemy? or an enemy that has not even the confidence of the peoples in whose name it purports to struggle? Since when does an incompetent adversary present itself with humanity in the eyes of the other?

The US did and does engage in introspection about its war in Vietnam - because the Vietnamese were worthy adversaries - They were united and persisted in their conviction, regardless of sacrifice - That is to say, they believed that they had a moral position.

The US spent more than $50 Billion on this effort in Afghanistan - all this to ensure the safety of their soldiers - is that not moral? Pakistan would have delivered pretty much the same results for $5 Billion or less and incurred and inflicted greater casualties, for the money - but clearly the US values the lives of its armed forces personnel, more than it does money - is that not ethical?

Ethics and morality and the achievement of its strategic and tactical objectives - and the willingness to confront and win the PR war and shape the opinions of hundreds of millions, successfully!!

So what`s the incentive for the West to engage in introspection? nothing succeeds like success. More insiduous is the fact that the majority of Muslims no longer believe that they have morality on their side - how could they, theirs is a record of failure to articulate from a moral high ground, have not built or secured a moral consensus and instead employ rigid dogmatism and have delivered only defeat and humiliation. I hope the West will not be introspective any time soon - only Muslims can save themselves, no one else can do it for them.

Mr. Khan,

``I agree with Kristof that Pakistan should stop its support for all armed groups, simply because violence will not solve anything and both India and Pakistan are better off addressing the pressing issues of social reform, education and health. At the same time, India must take some tangible steps to address the issue of self-determination for Kashmiri muslims. Unfortunately, just when conditions are ripe for Pakistan to move back towards liberal and progressive policies, Vajpayee needs to cater to his Hindu Taliban led by Bal Thackeray and company. I hope that progressive people in both India and Pakistan, who find violence of any kind abhorrent and want to work towards a free and fair South Asia, join forces to find a peaceful solution to this conflict.``

Well said. Would you address to what extent should Pakistan`s govt. address the institutionalised support and mainstream justifications for violent religious insurrection groups in Kashmir?

regards

``However, I agree with Kristof that Pakistan should stop its support for all armed groups, simply because violence will not solve anything and both India and Pakistan are better off addressing the pressing issues of social reform, education and health.”

Amen!

“This selective sense of outrage can perhaps explain the sentiments expressed by the Nation, that muslim deaths don’t count.”

In last 100 years, Muslims have killed their fellow Muslims in far greater numbers than any Infidels have killed Muslims. Killing of Kashmirs is the results of Pakistan’s failed policy of supporting proxy war; and they do serve political agenda of Pakistani Army and religious fanatics.

(What`s a banana republic? A state without a spine of its own, dependent on foreign capital, subject to foreign influence and politically unstable. A state where, typically, the predominant influence is that of the United States-- By Ayaz Amir)

Pakistani president can save Pakistan by following Atta Turk. You have a choice to make — 7th Century or Current Century.

Kashmir Observer
http://www.kashmirobserver.com/more14.htm

Hartal at Custodial Disappearance
SRINAGAR, FEB 01: Disappearance of a young chemist allegedly from the custody of security forces sparked off complete shutdown and protest demonstrations at Rawalpora today. Residents threatened an indefinite strike till the youth was released. According to reports, Manzoor Ahmad Dar s/o Ali Muhammad Dar r/o Rawalpora was arrested by troops of Rashtriya Rifles from his home 16 days ago. He was picked up during night. Dar is a chemist running a medical shop in the locality.
Reports said the security forces pleaded ignorance of any such arrest when the family members approached them to know the whereabouts of Dar. This shocked the family who have been going from pillar to post in search of the youth.

Hundreds of people from the locality poured into the streets this morning and staged a demonstration in protest against the youth`s arrest. The raised slogans against the government and the security forces. The protesters threatened an indefinite strike in case the youth was not set free immediately.


Kashmir Observer
http://www.kashmirobserver.com/more15.htm
5 Kids Die in Udhampur Blasts
SRINAGAR, FEB 01: Five children and a labourer were killed and six others, including a child, were injured in two separate incidents in Udhampur district yesterday. Elsewhere, a PDP leaders and his PSO were among eight people killed in various militancy-related incidents across the state since yesterday. Police also claimed arrest of five Hizbul Mujahideen militants from various parts of the city.
In a gruesome tragedy, three children were killed while another was injured when an explosive device went off in a house at Batal village under Udhampur police station yesterday. Police said the children, while grazing their cattle in a nearby jungle, picked up `grenade-type object` and brought it to their home where it exploded causing their death.
The deceased children were identified as Muhammad Qayoom (10 years) s/o Noor Muhammad, Shawkat Ali (10 years) s/o Wazir Muhammad and Suhail Muhammad (2 years) s/o Muhammad Sadiq, all residents of Batal village. A girl, Shamima d/o Noor Muhammad was injured in the incident.
Unidentified gunmen lobbed a grenade at the general bus stand at Reasi around 6 p.m. yesterday. Three persons, including two children, died on the spot while five others were injured. Those killed were identified as Suraj Kumar (4/5 years), Harinder Raj (9 years) and Jyoti Lal. The injured included Begi Dutt, Ali Bhatti, Babloo and Chitha Lal. They were reported to be labourers belonging to Bhampa in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh.

Reports said unidentified gunmen shot dead the block president of the People`s Democratic Party (PDP) identified as Sheikh Sadiq Husain of Dodabugh near Wagoora in Pattan area of Baramulla district alongwith his PSO, Manzoor Ahmad (belt No 1185/SPO) in his village this afternoon.

A militant was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Chimar near Kulgam in Islamabad district today. Another militant was killed in a gunbattle with the security forces and special operations group (SOG) personnel at Gufabal Nagri in Kupwara district yesterday. Identity of both was not known.

Unidentified gunmen barged into the house of Hakim Din at village Sarotisur under Gursai police station in Poonch district last night and fired indiscriminately killing Mst Zarina Bi w/o Muhammad Kabir and wounding Muhammad Kabir s/o Hakim Din. Two civilians identified as Malik Shah alias Dhilla s/o Muhammad Shah r/o Neeram Top and Ghulam Hasan s/o Abdul Ghani r/o Bathoi in Mahore tehsil were gunned down by some unidentified gunmen at Weewan Top Hariwala jungle. They were tending their cattle in the forest.

An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter at Simmer, Damhal Hanjipora in Kulgam police district of Islamabad today, a zonal police headquarters handout said. Police claimed having apprehended five suspects of Hizbul Mujahideen yesterday. They were identified as Ashfaq Ahmad Bhat, battalion commander alias engineer, of Chinkral mohalla, Habbakadal; Imtiaz Ahmad Sofi alias Zahid of Rainawari; Farooq Ahmad Rather, company commander, alias Showkat of Dadamohalla Shalimar; Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Rauf of Daulatabad, Nowpora and Ashiq Ahmad Sofi alias Majid Section commander of Pantha chowk byepass.


Kashmir Times
http://www.kashmirtimes.com/first1.htm
LeT ultra killed, Reasi, blast toll 4
2 VDC members, woman shot dead by ultras in Rajouri, Udhampur
KT NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, Feb 2: One Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant was killed in an encounter with the security forces in Thanamandi area of district Rajouri, this morning, while ultras killed two members of Village Defence Committee (VDC) in Dharamshal area of the same district. Elsewhere, one women was killed by the suspected ultras in Gool area of Udhampur district. As per the sources the security forces launched a search operation in Thanamandi area after receiving the specific information about a group of ultras hiding in the area.
When the search party was moving ahead they came under fire from the ultras, a defence spokesman said here. The fire was returned and in the ensuing encounter one ultra was shot dead. The slain militant has been identified as Abu Zaran, belonging to LeT outfit.

However, his associate managed to escape. A police spokesman said that another ultra was injured but managed to escape in injured condition. The search operation was in progress, to trace the injured ultra, when the last report came in. The identity of the slain ultra was being ascertained. One AK rifle along with some ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter. In a separate incident a group of unidentified gunmen, suspected to be the ultras, appeared at Narlla village under the jurisdiction of police station Dharamshal and forced their entry in the house of a VDC member, Shah Mohammad son of Saif Din. The ultras dragged him out of his house and shot him from a point blank range. He died on the spot. The ultras later entered in the house of another VDC member, identified as Mohammad Bashir son of Ali Mohammad, and shot him dead. The militants managed to escape from the village taking cover of darkness. Reports reaching here from Udhampur said that ultras killed a women at village Kot Budha under the jurisdiction of police station Gool, late last night. The deceased has been identified as Kasmi wife of Mohammad Shafi. Meanwhile, one more person, who was injured in Reasi blast on January 31, succumbed to his injuries in Government Medical College Jammu, today. He has been identified as Girdhari Lal son of Ayodhya Prashad resident of Chattisgarh, MP. With one more death the total toll in the blast has risen to four, including two children.

Babar Sahib,
as I worked my way down the list of new writings on CHOWK today, yours was at the bottom and yet to be acknowledged. I guess there is too much truth here for it to be popular.
WRITE ON!

You wrote:

``Yet, Kristof recoils at the stench emanating from the bloody hands of the militants while his sense of smell deserts him when it comes to the murder, rape, encounter killings and colonial repression of the Kashmiri muslims by the Indian military apparatus``

This is very true. But then our Indian friends who currently have CASH, (i.e. sex appeal) would
be offended. On the other hand there is Pakistan,
doing what it is told but with NO CASH (i.e Burqa), small software industry (so far), and the likes of Mullah as a recent hero?

Ras