The Right To Bigotry
Aakar Patel July 31, 2002
#57 Posted by hobbes on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
Chowkies
PBS DOCUMENTARY EXAMINES HINDU FUNDAMENTALISM
Soul of a Nation
Thurs., Sept. 19 at 9pm ET
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/about/film10.html
The bloody conflict between Hindus and Muslims in North Western India is at the forefront of a struggle for India`s identity, led by an increasingly powerful Hindu fundamentalist movement whose goal is to turn India into a
Hindu nation. Over the last three months, some 2,000 Muslims have been killed in the Province of Gujarat, and more than 100,000 Muslims have been
forced to flee to refugee camps. Meanwhile extremist Hindu private schools are spreading rapidly across India. Will India, home to more than a billion people, continue to be the multi-ethnic, religiously diverse, secular, and
tolerant society that Gujarat`s Mahatma Gandhi attempted to create? Or will the nation be split -- by a Hindu fundamentalist movement hoping to rise to power by fanning the winds of religious extremism?``
INDIAN CHIEF JUSTICE TO SPEAK IN MASS.
WHAT: JUSTICE A.M. AHMADI, FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF INDIA TO
SPEAK ON GUJARAT
WHEN: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
WHERE: WAYLAND MOSQUE (MASS.)
reply to this interact
write a new interact
add to favorites
flag objectionable content
#56 Posted by harimau on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
Ref Glen #: 47
[Wisden treated me shabbily, says Azhar] Yaaaaawn!
Didn`t this guy claim some two years back that he was named in the cricket match-fixing scandal because he is a Muslim? I really feel sorry for the other Indian Muslims who have to put up with REAL sh!t.
Screw this guy!
[Wisden treated me shabbily, says Azhar] Yaaaaawn!
Didn`t this guy claim some two years back that he was named in the cricket match-fixing scandal because he is a Muslim? I really feel sorry for the other Indian Muslims who have to put up with REAL sh!t.
Screw this guy!
#55 Posted by arjun_m on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts
view this users filtered interacts
#54 Posted by arjun_m on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts
view this users filtered interacts
#53 Posted by hobbes on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
India for the Indians - welcome to Pakistan or yet more homelands? For Indians to decide peacefully
From ``Daily Times`` - dtd today
``Indian Muslims should go to Pakistan or Qabristan: Hindu leader
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The leading Hindu leader of the Ram Janam Bhoomi Temple in Ayodhya says there are only two places for Indian Muslims to go: Pakistan or Qabristan (graveyard).
Indian writer Pankaj Mishra, writing in the 15 August issue of the ?New York Review of Books,? one of the leading intellectual journals in the United States, attributes this remark to 90-year old Ramchandra Paramahans, who heads a rich and militant sect of Hindu sadhus, intent on building the mythical Ram temple at the site of the demolished Babri Mosque.
In a lengthy piece entitled ?Murder in India,? Mishra confirms that in the wake of Gujarat riots, 230 mosques and shrines, one of which was 400 years old, have been razed to the ground. Some have been replaced with Hindu temples. Close to 100,000 Muslims are still in relief camps.
He points out that Hindu police officers charged by the English-language press or human rights groups with committing atrocities against Muslims often become heroes among upper-caste Hindus. Going back into history, he highlights the fact that though many of the Muslims who invaded or ruled India then were zealots, but the majority of Indians did not convert to Islam, ?a significant fact not much discussed by the self-serving if influential early British historians of India.? Five centuries of Islam in India, he adds, made it lose its Arabian and Persian identity, as it mingled with folk traditions and became another Indian faith. ?The influences from Persia and Central Asia now coexist with indigenous traditions of distinctive languages, styles of dress, music and cuisines of South Asia.?
Mishra is of the view that the Hindu nationalists of today follow 19th century British historians in describing Muslim rulers as alien violators of national honour. He recalls that in Ayodhya, many of the temples and sects devoted to Rama were originally sponsored by the Muslim rulers of Owadh. ?To speak as BJP ideologues do of a glorious Hindu nation defiled by Muslims is to retrospectively create a nation and an awareness of nationality at a time when there were, and could have been, no such things.
The writer maintains that in today?s India, politically speaking, the Muslims are significant only during elections when they form a vote bank for Hindu politicians promising to protect them against discrimination and violence. They lack effective leadership because of their token ? and now diminishing ? presence at the highest levels of government. ?Their position is unlikely to be improved much by A.P. Abdul Kalam, the vegetarian Muslim missile scientist who fervently supports India?s nuclear buildup.? Urdu, the points out, has been relegated to a secondary place and Muslim representation in government jobs in now less than two percent. He quotes the late Indian author Nirad C. Chaudhry who wrote that the irrational fear of Muslims felt by Hindus had become much less pronounced once riots in North India showed ?the ease with which the Muslims can be slaughtered.?
Mishra writes that what is disturbing about the Gujarat riots is not so much the complicity of the Indian state in violence against the minorities as the involvement of large numbers of educated, affluent Hindus. Hindu nationalists of today, he states, find it ?safer? to channel their anti-Muslim passions into anti-Pakistan rhetoric.
?By accusing Pakistan of being the prime sponsor of terrorists in Kashmir, the government hoped to expose the contradictions in General Musharraf?s current standing as America?s trusted ally in the ?war on terrorism?. Hindu nationalists, frustrated by their inability to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya are hoping that ?posturing against Pakistan would help the BJP overcome its losses in state elections earlier this year.?
Mishra believes that Gen Musharraf?s efforts to stop the infiltration into Indian-held Kashmir could be good news not only for Hindu nationalists but also for Kashmiri Muslims, most of whom have traditionally followed a heterodox Sufi version of Islam and have grown to dislike the fanatical Pakistan-based militant groups that have targeted civilians, tried to impose restrictions of dress and movement on women, and often assassinated Kashmiris fighting for independence from both India and Pakistan.
However, even if militants from Pakistan are reined in, it would not necessarily bring peace to Kashmir, he adds.``
From ``Daily Times`` - dtd today
``Indian Muslims should go to Pakistan or Qabristan: Hindu leader
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The leading Hindu leader of the Ram Janam Bhoomi Temple in Ayodhya says there are only two places for Indian Muslims to go: Pakistan or Qabristan (graveyard).
Indian writer Pankaj Mishra, writing in the 15 August issue of the ?New York Review of Books,? one of the leading intellectual journals in the United States, attributes this remark to 90-year old Ramchandra Paramahans, who heads a rich and militant sect of Hindu sadhus, intent on building the mythical Ram temple at the site of the demolished Babri Mosque.
In a lengthy piece entitled ?Murder in India,? Mishra confirms that in the wake of Gujarat riots, 230 mosques and shrines, one of which was 400 years old, have been razed to the ground. Some have been replaced with Hindu temples. Close to 100,000 Muslims are still in relief camps.
He points out that Hindu police officers charged by the English-language press or human rights groups with committing atrocities against Muslims often become heroes among upper-caste Hindus. Going back into history, he highlights the fact that though many of the Muslims who invaded or ruled India then were zealots, but the majority of Indians did not convert to Islam, ?a significant fact not much discussed by the self-serving if influential early British historians of India.? Five centuries of Islam in India, he adds, made it lose its Arabian and Persian identity, as it mingled with folk traditions and became another Indian faith. ?The influences from Persia and Central Asia now coexist with indigenous traditions of distinctive languages, styles of dress, music and cuisines of South Asia.?
Mishra is of the view that the Hindu nationalists of today follow 19th century British historians in describing Muslim rulers as alien violators of national honour. He recalls that in Ayodhya, many of the temples and sects devoted to Rama were originally sponsored by the Muslim rulers of Owadh. ?To speak as BJP ideologues do of a glorious Hindu nation defiled by Muslims is to retrospectively create a nation and an awareness of nationality at a time when there were, and could have been, no such things.
The writer maintains that in today?s India, politically speaking, the Muslims are significant only during elections when they form a vote bank for Hindu politicians promising to protect them against discrimination and violence. They lack effective leadership because of their token ? and now diminishing ? presence at the highest levels of government. ?Their position is unlikely to be improved much by A.P. Abdul Kalam, the vegetarian Muslim missile scientist who fervently supports India?s nuclear buildup.? Urdu, the points out, has been relegated to a secondary place and Muslim representation in government jobs in now less than two percent. He quotes the late Indian author Nirad C. Chaudhry who wrote that the irrational fear of Muslims felt by Hindus had become much less pronounced once riots in North India showed ?the ease with which the Muslims can be slaughtered.?
Mishra writes that what is disturbing about the Gujarat riots is not so much the complicity of the Indian state in violence against the minorities as the involvement of large numbers of educated, affluent Hindus. Hindu nationalists of today, he states, find it ?safer? to channel their anti-Muslim passions into anti-Pakistan rhetoric.
?By accusing Pakistan of being the prime sponsor of terrorists in Kashmir, the government hoped to expose the contradictions in General Musharraf?s current standing as America?s trusted ally in the ?war on terrorism?. Hindu nationalists, frustrated by their inability to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya are hoping that ?posturing against Pakistan would help the BJP overcome its losses in state elections earlier this year.?
Mishra believes that Gen Musharraf?s efforts to stop the infiltration into Indian-held Kashmir could be good news not only for Hindu nationalists but also for Kashmiri Muslims, most of whom have traditionally followed a heterodox Sufi version of Islam and have grown to dislike the fanatical Pakistan-based militant groups that have targeted civilians, tried to impose restrictions of dress and movement on women, and often assassinated Kashmiris fighting for independence from both India and Pakistan.
However, even if militants from Pakistan are reined in, it would not necessarily bring peace to Kashmir, he adds.``
#52 Posted by jay on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
YLH,
You say that you are not obscessed about India, then why did you write about sher sha suris tomb in india. Tilak and gokhele have nothing to do with the pakistan of today, why did you write about about them. The entire focus of your sher sha suri article was to show his greatness as a muslim and contrast it to the condition of his tomb. Now here is a topic you should worry about, especially that you are now in that god forsaken country. For once accept that the actual condition of your people have declined in past few years, this is the time the ilks of you were sending jihadists to kashmir, and write an article linking the two. That could be of some use to some one, you could even be a honest pakistani, unlike M.tahmed. from dawn, opinion section.
``The literacy rate is down from 45 per cent in the last report to 43.2 per cent (youth literacy sliding from 62.7 to 57 per cent). Poverty has increased and now it stands at 34 per cent and Pakistan ranks 68th out of 88 developing countries (compared to 65 out of 90 in the previous report).
Which section of the people has suffered the most? Children and women. The percentage of underweight children (under five years) has jumped from 26 to 38. The use of ORT has registered a shocking fall from 48 to 19 per cent and not surprisingly the infant mortality rate has increased from 84 to 85 per 1000 live births. In the last report 1,600 children were reported as having AIDS. Their number has gone up to 2,200. Cigarette consumption, which is a pretty clear indicator of the mental, emotional and physical health of the people, has increased from 562 per adult to 620.``
You say that you are not obscessed about India, then why did you write about sher sha suris tomb in india. Tilak and gokhele have nothing to do with the pakistan of today, why did you write about about them. The entire focus of your sher sha suri article was to show his greatness as a muslim and contrast it to the condition of his tomb. Now here is a topic you should worry about, especially that you are now in that god forsaken country. For once accept that the actual condition of your people have declined in past few years, this is the time the ilks of you were sending jihadists to kashmir, and write an article linking the two. That could be of some use to some one, you could even be a honest pakistani, unlike M.tahmed. from dawn, opinion section.
``The literacy rate is down from 45 per cent in the last report to 43.2 per cent (youth literacy sliding from 62.7 to 57 per cent). Poverty has increased and now it stands at 34 per cent and Pakistan ranks 68th out of 88 developing countries (compared to 65 out of 90 in the previous report).
Which section of the people has suffered the most? Children and women. The percentage of underweight children (under five years) has jumped from 26 to 38. The use of ORT has registered a shocking fall from 48 to 19 per cent and not surprisingly the infant mortality rate has increased from 84 to 85 per 1000 live births. In the last report 1,600 children were reported as having AIDS. Their number has gone up to 2,200. Cigarette consumption, which is a pretty clear indicator of the mental, emotional and physical health of the people, has increased from 562 per adult to 620.``
#51 Posted by jay on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
MEN AND MILITARY
It always puzzled me why the ilks of romair are always praising the education system. Here is the proof, the vice chancellors are also generals, the military men have permeated all aspects of the pak society, no wonder the ilks of romair are so peeved about hoodhboy. he should have been general ahmed bin abdullah of faisalabad to have some credibility.
VC required
In the July 29 issue, Dawn carried two separate advertisements for the post of vice chancellors, one for the Government College University and the other for the University of Education. The qualification desired was Ph.D.
One may ask that when the internationally recognized University of the Punjab and the University of Engineering and Technology can have graduate generals of the army as VCs, then why have these posts been advertised?
MUHAMMAD HAFEEZ BUTT
Lahore
It always puzzled me why the ilks of romair are always praising the education system. Here is the proof, the vice chancellors are also generals, the military men have permeated all aspects of the pak society, no wonder the ilks of romair are so peeved about hoodhboy. he should have been general ahmed bin abdullah of faisalabad to have some credibility.
VC required
In the July 29 issue, Dawn carried two separate advertisements for the post of vice chancellors, one for the Government College University and the other for the University of Education. The qualification desired was Ph.D.
One may ask that when the internationally recognized University of the Punjab and the University of Engineering and Technology can have graduate generals of the army as VCs, then why have these posts been advertised?
MUHAMMAD HAFEEZ BUTT
Lahore
#50 Posted by jay on August 5, 2002 2:32:34 pm
Paki Hater
According to tahmed my posts are hateful, yes my dear M.Tahmed. I did point out to you that the mass petition that you posted about gang rape is a dishonest propagenda by you all, the pak law requires male witnesses. What you should petition against is hodood ordinance, which the highest court of pakistan, the sheria coourt has declared as legal. The threat of fatwa, ask shankar the shrink about fatwafobia, and pure dishonesty is the driving force of the educated pakistanis.
Now go through the link in post 37, read for yourself and declare my post as hateful. Yes, I am only showing a mirror to the pak dishonesty and attempts to whitewash the social values and the foundations from which it springs, the basis of the system that legitimises the hodood ordinance. M. it is not a hateful post, it is true and hurtful to accept the fundamental social value of pakistan.
According to tahmed my posts are hateful, yes my dear M.Tahmed. I did point out to you that the mass petition that you posted about gang rape is a dishonest propagenda by you all, the pak law requires male witnesses. What you should petition against is hodood ordinance, which the highest court of pakistan, the sheria coourt has declared as legal. The threat of fatwa, ask shankar the shrink about fatwafobia, and pure dishonesty is the driving force of the educated pakistanis.
Now go through the link in post 37, read for yourself and declare my post as hateful. Yes, I am only showing a mirror to the pak dishonesty and attempts to whitewash the social values and the foundations from which it springs, the basis of the system that legitimises the hodood ordinance. M. it is not a hateful post, it is true and hurtful to accept the fundamental social value of pakistan.
#49 Posted by sadna on August 5, 2002 2:14:39 pm
This Pankaj Mishra guy is too dismissive of `Hinduism` and also the govt. policy`s toward jihadi violence. He is outright wrong in his facts in some instances and he certainly reveals an agenda of his own. But overall he has presented a fair picture which is worth reading.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/15636
Murder in India
By Pankaj Mishra
(A review of the HRWatch report on Gujarat violence)
``..That same morning, Paramhans told me, he had scolded L.K. Advani, the present home minister and one of the senior leaders of the ruling party, the BJP, who had witnessed the demolition in 1992. When I mentioned the constraints on Advani—the Supreme Court`s ban on construction, Muslim opposition Paramhans became angry. ``There are only two places Muslims can go to,`` he shouted, echoing a popular Hindu nationalist slogan of the Eighties and early Nineties, ``Pakistan or Kabristan [graveyard]...``
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/15636
Murder in India
By Pankaj Mishra
(A review of the HRWatch report on Gujarat violence)
``..That same morning, Paramhans told me, he had scolded L.K. Advani, the present home minister and one of the senior leaders of the ruling party, the BJP, who had witnessed the demolition in 1992. When I mentioned the constraints on Advani—the Supreme Court`s ban on construction, Muslim opposition Paramhans became angry. ``There are only two places Muslims can go to,`` he shouted, echoing a popular Hindu nationalist slogan of the Eighties and early Nineties, ``Pakistan or Kabristan [graveyard]...``
#48 Posted by ylh on August 5, 2002 3:20:53 am
Dear Saxena Bhaijaan,
1) I am not changing my story. I am simply saying that a young and healthy gentleman like yourself who agrees with Mr.Jay`s claim that `Pakistan geographically too thin a country to have DST` should eat more iodized salt.
2) It is amazing how even though I seldom write and when I write it is seldom about India, I am accused of being obsessed with India, a proposterous idea... but the likes of Sadna, the sorry-a$$ losers who make it to some how blame Pakistan for all the ills in the world are not at all Pakistan obsessed are they?
Perhaps its time we realized who is obsessed with what... On the other board your illustrious countrywoman kept whining about how Pakistan was a sick country ... but when I countered her with an insult on similar lines about her country ... she claimed that I was `compulsively abusive`.
What is this hypocrisy?
-YLH
PS: Like I have said in the past... and many of your saner countrymen agree that I am not the one who initiates insults. If you can`t handle the insults in response ... don`t insult the other person in the first place.
#47 Posted by Glen on August 5, 2002 3:20:53 am
The religion caste race state connections political affiliatiobns you name it & IT MATTERS IN THIS HOLY LAND OF RAM RAJYE
http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory_v2.jsp?article_oid=11788302&page_no=1
Wisden treated me shabbily, says Azhar
New Delhi, Aug 2
Former captain Mohammed Azharuddin has said that he has been humilated by Wisden magazine and alleged that some among the 16-shortlisted players for Indian Cricketer of the Century award worked against him.
In an interview to Outlook magazine, he said the Wisden first called him to sign a contract shortlisting him among the 16 other nominees for the award.
Azharuddin said at the last minute, he was told that his presence was not required in London and that the invitation sent to him stand cancelled.
``They called me up to say that they had made a mistake and they would not be sending me the airtickets.There was no explanation for this decision,`` he said.
According to the former captain, the contract he had signed stipulated that he would be invited to the function in London and would have to give some media interviews. After withdrawing the invitation, Wisden did not even apologise.
``You can`t treat a person so shabbily. Why did Wisden start the process in the first place? If they had any problem, then why go through the motions at all. This is humilating, to say the least.
``And finally, Wisden did not have the courtsey to inform me or write to me as why they decided not to invite me``, Azhar said and hinted that some among the 16 shortlisted players had worked against him.
Azhar who is contemplating possible legal action against Wisden said that he is ``very hurt by the unsavoury episode. It is disgusting that is all I will say. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth.``
UNI
More Headlines
Rate this story function mf() { var url=``news_mail.jsp?article_oid=``+11788302; window.open(url,`win1`,`width=450,height=250,menubar=no,toolbar=no,status=no,resizable=no,scrollbars=no,top=100,left=150`); } Send to a friend
Related Stories
Trial by fire made me stronger: Kapil 1
#46 Posted by harimau on August 5, 2002 3:20:53 am
Further to may last post on elections in Kashmir, here is what J. M. Lyngdoh, the Chief Election Commissioner of India, had to say about Colin Powell`s suggestion that there should be foreign observers during the Kashmir poll:
``In this day and age, there is no question of the white man coming to observe what the native is doing. The white man does not determine what the coloured man doesand whether he is doing it right or wrong. They are not superior to us.``
I am reminded of Pramod Mahajan`s talk in Florida last year. He said, ``People ask what the use of IT and other technology is for a backward and poor country like India. Well, we conducted an election in which 600 million people participated and we announced the results in three days through the use of electronic voting machines. I believe the US had a problem in its presidential elections last November.``
Way to go, guys! Sock it to them!
``In this day and age, there is no question of the white man coming to observe what the native is doing. The white man does not determine what the coloured man doesand whether he is doing it right or wrong. They are not superior to us.``
I am reminded of Pramod Mahajan`s talk in Florida last year. He said, ``People ask what the use of IT and other technology is for a backward and poor country like India. Well, we conducted an election in which 600 million people participated and we announced the results in three days through the use of electronic voting machines. I believe the US had a problem in its presidential elections last November.``
Way to go, guys! Sock it to them!
#45 Posted by shankar on August 5, 2002 3:20:53 am
arjun_m,
The next time you breathlessly post on Chowk how much of a shitpot Pakistan is, compared to India (metaphorically speaking, ofcourse)....please dont lose sight of the bigger picture....India is a shitpot too.
If a country acts like a shitpot & smells like a shitpot...it IS a shitpot. Doesnt matter if the shitpot next door smells better or worse.. (that, ultimately, depends upon who is taking a whiff).
Perhaps the moral of this fact is Indians better start cleaning their own shitpot first...before feeling ``good`` about the fact that the stink emanating from their neighboring shitpot is bad..
The next time you breathlessly post on Chowk how much of a shitpot Pakistan is, compared to India (metaphorically speaking, ofcourse)....please dont lose sight of the bigger picture....India is a shitpot too.
If a country acts like a shitpot & smells like a shitpot...it IS a shitpot. Doesnt matter if the shitpot next door smells better or worse.. (that, ultimately, depends upon who is taking a whiff).
Perhaps the moral of this fact is Indians better start cleaning their own shitpot first...before feeling ``good`` about the fact that the stink emanating from their neighboring shitpot is bad..
#44 Posted by harimau on August 5, 2002 3:20:53 am
From The Sydney Morning Herald.
Preachings of an oil-hungry US
August 1 2002
Colin Powell`s credibility is damaged by his silence on Pakistan`s elections, writes Swapna Majumdar.
Colin Powell wants independent persons of international repute to monitor elections in Jammu and Kashmir in India to ensure fair and free elections in the state. The US Secretary of State`s concern for the people of Kashmir would probably have greater credibility if he had advocated the same freedom of franchise in Pakistan. General elections in Pakistan are expected in early October, around the same time Kashmir goes to the polls.
Powell was quick to voice his concern over Kashmir during last week`s visit to the Indian Prime Minister, A. B. Vajpayee, the Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and at a well-attended press conference. However, he did not deem it necessary to advise Pakistan`s President, Pervez Musharraf, during his visit to Pakistan the following day to ensure impartial elections in his country. Evidently, Powell doesn`t believe in the adage that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
It is not known whether there were any private discussions on this issue. But certainly no public statements were made by Powell about how elections should be conducted or on allowing the former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan to contest the polls. Musharraf has declared that he intends to have Bhutto arrested on corruption charges if she returns to Pakistan. Even if Bhutto decided to contest elections from behind bars, she may never become prime minister again thanks to a constitutional amendment planned by Musharraf to block persons having held office twice. Bhutto has been prime minister for two terms already.
Powell`s visit to India was prompted more by US interests than an overriding concern for the people of Kashmir. In fact, his visit to India was preceded by agreements to sell it military equipment - less than a month after the US helped calm tensions over Kashmir. But lest Pakistan sulked over this Indo-US bonhomie, military agreements were signed with it too. Clearly, the US finds it difficult to take a definitive stance against Pakistan.
Pakistan is obviously more important to the US than India in the war against terrorism . Military strategy demands a US presence in the region and it needs Pakistan`s help to punish the Taliban. Obviously, the US does not want to jeopardise its position by ruffling Musharraf`s feathers over matters like democracy.
America`s reluctance to undermine Musharraf`s position is also due to its economic interests in oil and natural gas pipelines in central Asia - which are piped down to Pakistan through central Afghanistan.
So the US is prepared to preach impartiality to India but not to Pakistan. It tells India to give Musharraf more time to come good on his promise to end cross-border terrorism but turns a blind eye when he releases most of the militant leaders in Pakistan. America wants India to understand the precariousness of Musharraf`s condition and fear the consequences of his being overthrown. However, in the present climate of strained relations between the two countries, India would probably prefer him to be overthrown.
Swapna Majumdar, an Indian journalist based in New Delhi, is working at the Herald.
Preachings of an oil-hungry US
August 1 2002
Colin Powell`s credibility is damaged by his silence on Pakistan`s elections, writes Swapna Majumdar.
Colin Powell wants independent persons of international repute to monitor elections in Jammu and Kashmir in India to ensure fair and free elections in the state. The US Secretary of State`s concern for the people of Kashmir would probably have greater credibility if he had advocated the same freedom of franchise in Pakistan. General elections in Pakistan are expected in early October, around the same time Kashmir goes to the polls.
Powell was quick to voice his concern over Kashmir during last week`s visit to the Indian Prime Minister, A. B. Vajpayee, the Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and at a well-attended press conference. However, he did not deem it necessary to advise Pakistan`s President, Pervez Musharraf, during his visit to Pakistan the following day to ensure impartial elections in his country. Evidently, Powell doesn`t believe in the adage that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
It is not known whether there were any private discussions on this issue. But certainly no public statements were made by Powell about how elections should be conducted or on allowing the former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan to contest the polls. Musharraf has declared that he intends to have Bhutto arrested on corruption charges if she returns to Pakistan. Even if Bhutto decided to contest elections from behind bars, she may never become prime minister again thanks to a constitutional amendment planned by Musharraf to block persons having held office twice. Bhutto has been prime minister for two terms already.
Powell`s visit to India was prompted more by US interests than an overriding concern for the people of Kashmir. In fact, his visit to India was preceded by agreements to sell it military equipment - less than a month after the US helped calm tensions over Kashmir. But lest Pakistan sulked over this Indo-US bonhomie, military agreements were signed with it too. Clearly, the US finds it difficult to take a definitive stance against Pakistan.
Pakistan is obviously more important to the US than India in the war against terrorism . Military strategy demands a US presence in the region and it needs Pakistan`s help to punish the Taliban. Obviously, the US does not want to jeopardise its position by ruffling Musharraf`s feathers over matters like democracy.
America`s reluctance to undermine Musharraf`s position is also due to its economic interests in oil and natural gas pipelines in central Asia - which are piped down to Pakistan through central Afghanistan.
So the US is prepared to preach impartiality to India but not to Pakistan. It tells India to give Musharraf more time to come good on his promise to end cross-border terrorism but turns a blind eye when he releases most of the militant leaders in Pakistan. America wants India to understand the precariousness of Musharraf`s condition and fear the consequences of his being overthrown. However, in the present climate of strained relations between the two countries, India would probably prefer him to be overthrown.
Swapna Majumdar, an Indian journalist based in New Delhi, is working at the Herald.
#43 Posted by tvarad on August 5, 2002 3:20:53 am
I find it amusing that so many Pakistanis should find what the BJP/Hindutva brigade are doing as reprehensible.
But how exactly is their behavior that much different than what Jinnah and the Muslim league preached? Events like Direct Action Day were the Gujarat pogroms of the day and Jinnah`s rhetoric of a Muslim homeland is very similar to the Hindutva brigade of a Hindu homeland.
As they say, physician heal thyself.
But how exactly is their behavior that much different than what Jinnah and the Muslim league preached? Events like Direct Action Day were the Gujarat pogroms of the day and Jinnah`s rhetoric of a Muslim homeland is very similar to the Hindutva brigade of a Hindu homeland.
As they say, physician heal thyself.
#42 Posted by shankar on August 5, 2002 3:20:53 am
Romair,
#18
Yow! its been a long time since I agreed with you! Hold the presses!..Whats absolutely amazing is that you did it without quoting any ``experts``:)
#18
Yow! its been a long time since I agreed with you! Hold the presses!..Whats absolutely amazing is that you did it without quoting any ``experts``:)
Interact Index
Latest Interacts
- anil: Masadi sahib: If you want... Historian Amaresh Misra on
- ajeya: #24 Posted by dost_mittar [But... ‘Dustbin of history’ or
- masadi: Anil sahib, nice try... Historian Amaresh Misra on
- pakiturk: My friends, ML, MQM, PPP,... MQM - History and
- anil: Masadi sahib: Your brain is... Historian Amaresh Misra on
- masadi: Thinking sahib, Please pardon the... Fathers and Daughters
- masadi: Anil writes "You show... Historian Amaresh Misra on
- pakiturk: #86 Posted by hamidm2... MQM - History and
