A Reminder From History

For those who think kashmir is an integral part of india and proclaim India's legtimacy over kashmir,read this article from TIME magazine which was published on Monday, Feb, 1957 and the heading of the article rightly reads

KASHMIR : India Grabs It.

For the better part of two days last week. India's gaunt, silver-maned V. K. Krishna Menon waved his arms, flashed his eyes and showered the U.N. Security Council with words. When the torrent finally petered out, the exhausted Menon held the alltime U.N. record for a single speech—7 hours 48 minutes. It was a performance worthy of a Southern Senator, and had a purpose familiar to any Southern filibusterer hoping to frustrate the majority will. Menon was out to stall Security Council proceedings while India's moralizing Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru completed India's illegal annexation of most of the strategic state of Kashmir.

Kashmir, a mountainous never-never land that lies jammed in between China, Tibet and Afghanistan, was a prize which both India and Pakistan had been eying greedily ever since the British left India. As a princely state, it was entitled to choose which new nation it would join. Kashmir's Hindu maharaja, panicked by an invasion of tough Pathan Moslem tribesmen from northwest Pakistan, chose India—despite the fact that 77% of his subjects were Moslems.* There followed a 14-month war in which the Indian army badly mauled both the Pathans and the Pakistani regulars who had come in to give the tribesmen a hand. By the time the U.N. succeeded in arranging a cease-fire in January 1949, India held two-thirds of Kashmir.

Four times the U.N. Security Council, by overwhelming vote, demanded a plebiscite in Kashmir. Nehru (whose family originated in the beautiful Vale of Kashmir) was well aware that in a free election the Kashmiris would almost certainly vote for Pakistan.

Nehru paid lip service to the principle of self-determination, but, in fact, steadily tightened India's hold on Kashmir. At first India ruled the state through 6-ft. 4-in. Sheik Mohammed Abdullah, a Kash miri Moslem who had long been a friend of Nehru's. But in 1953. when Abdullah showed signs of objecting to Indian domination, he was thrown into jail, and remains there now without trial. So-called "peace brigades" of Indians rigidly suppressed advocates of Kashmiri independence or union with Pakistan. At Indian behest, a hand-picked Kashmiri Constituent Assembly began to draw up a state constitution whose third article read: "Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India."

Two weeks ago, as the target date for adoption of the "Kashmir Constitution" rapidly approached, Pakistani Foreign Minister Malik Firoz Khan Noon appealed to the U.N. to head off Indian annexation of Kashmir. Pakistan, Noon declared, was anxious to see a U.N.-organized plebiscite policed by U.N. troops, but India had repeatedly blocked plebiscite proposals "by insisting on some new condition or raising irrelevant issues." Since 1949, noted Noon, "eleven proposals for settling the differences [have been] put forward. Pakistan accepted each; India rejected every one."

For the better part of two days last week. India's gaunt, silver-maned V. K. Krishna Menon waved his arms, flashed his eyes and showered the U.N. Security Council with words. When the torrent finally petered out, the exhausted Menon held the alltime U.N. record for a single speech—7 hours 48 minutes. It was a performance worthy of a Southern Senator, and had a purpose familiar to any Southern filibusterer hoping to frustrate the majority will. Menon was out to stall Security Council proceedings while India's moralizing Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru completed India's illegal annexation of most of the strategic state of Kashmir.

Kashmir, a mountainous never-never land that lies jammed in between China, Tibet and Afghanistan, was a prize which both India and Pakistan had been eying greedily ever since the British left India. As a princely state, it was entitled to choose which new nation it would join. Kashmir's Hindu maharaja, panicked by an invasion of tough Pathan Moslem tribesmen from northwest Pakistan, chose India—despite the fact that 77% of his subjects were Moslems.* There followed a 14-month war in which the Indian army badly mauled both the Pathans and the Pakistani regulars who had come in to give the tribesmen a hand. By the time the U.N. succeeded in arranging a cease-fire in January 1949, India held two-thirds of Kashmir.

Four times the U.N. Security Council, by overwhelming vote, demanded a plebiscite in Kashmir. Nehru (whose family originated in the beautiful Vale of Kashmir) was well aware that in a free election the Kashmiris would almost certainly vote for Pakistan.

Nehru paid lip service to the principle of self-determination, but, in fact, steadily tightened India's hold on Kashmir. At first India ruled the state through 6-ft. 4-in. Sheik Mohammed Abdullah, a Kash miri Moslem who had long been a friend of Nehru's. But in 1953. when Abdullah showed signs of objecting to Indian domination, he was thrown into jail, and remains there now without trial. So-called "peace brigades" of Indians rigidly suppressed advocates of Kashmiri independence or union with Pakistan. At Indian behest, a hand-picked Kashmiri Constituent Assembly began to draw up a state constitution whose third article read: "Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India."

Two weeks ago, as the target date for adoption of the "Kashmir Constitution" rapidly approached, Pakistani Foreign Minister Malik Firoz Khan Noon appealed to the U.N. to head off Indian annexation of Kashmir. Pakistan, Noon declared, was anxious to see a U.N.-organized plebiscite policed by U.N. troops, but India had repeatedly blocked plebiscite proposals "by insisting on some new condition or raising irrelevant issues." Since 1949, noted Noon, "eleven proposals for settling the differences [have been] put forward. Pakistan accepted each; India rejected every one."

Look Into My Eyes

One of the greatest songs by Outlandish.I like this song and find the lyrics strong and relevent to kashmir.Although they composed this song for palestine but i have changed few words to make it more relevent to kashmir.The song is "Look into my Eyes" .Hope you would like it :
Look into my eyes
Tell me what ya see
U don't see a damn thing
Cuz u can't relate to me


U blinded by our differences
My life makes no sense to u
I'm the persecuted one
U the red, white and blue


Each day u wake in tranquility
No fears to cross your eyes
Each day I wake in gratitude
Thankin' God He let me rise


Ya worry 'bout your education
And the bills u have to pay
I worry 'bout my vulnerable life
And if I'll survive another day


Ya biggest fear is getting a ticket
As ya cruise your Cadillac
My fear is that the tank that's just left
Will turn around and come back


Yet do u know the truth of where ya money goes
Do u let the media deceive your mind
Is this a truth that nobody knows
Has our world gone all blind
Yet do u know the truth of where ya money goes
Do u let the media deceive your mind
Is this a truth that nobody knows
Some one tell me


Oh let's not cry tonight
I promise you one day it's through
Ohohoh my brothers
Ohohoh my sisters


Oh shine a light for every soul
That ain't with us no more
Ohohoh my brothers
Ohohoh my sisters


See I've known terror for quite some times
60 years so cruel
Terror breathes the air I breathe
It's the check point on my way to school


Terror is the robbery of my land
And the torture of my mother
The imprisonment of my innocent father
The bullet in my baby brother


The bulldozers and the tanks
The gasses and the guns
The Kids that fall outside my door
All due to your funds


You blame me for defending myself
Against the ways of my enemies
I'm terrorized in my own land
And I'm the terrorist


Yet do u know the truth of where ya money goes
Do u let the media deceive your mind
Is this a truth that nobody knows
Has our world gone all blind
Yet do u know the truth of where ya money goes
Do u let the media deceive your mind
Is this a truth that nobody knows
Some one tell me


Oh let's not cry tonight
I promise you one day it's through
Ohohoh my brothers
Ohohoh my sisters


Oh shine a light for every soul
That ain't with us no more
Ohohoh my brothers
Ohohoh my sisters


Indians do ya realize
That the taxes that u pay
Feed the forces that traumatize
My every living day


So if I won't be here tomorrow
It's written in my fate
May the future bring a brighter day
The end of our wait


Oh let's not cry tonight
I promise you one day it's through
Ohohoh my brothers
Ohohoh my sisters


Oh shine a light for every soul
That ain't with us no more
Ohohoh my brothers
Ohohoh my sisters

Kashmir in context with America, India and Pakistan.

Whether or not there is a sustainable policy of rapprochement before the Obama administration to address the woefulcondition of Muslims around the world, and not only promote its own imperial interests, but certainly an over whelming majority of Muslims is suspicious of how America plays with the sovereignty of Muslim states and ignores problem of Kashmir and Palestine. The future of energy and mineral resources of the Muslim world has also disturbed the Muslim world. Academicians in the Foreign Service and thinkers in Pakistan are of the view that a transformation from independence to dependence is taking place in the Muslim world, thought to be the aim of the United States. This is ominous for the political and economic doctrine of the fathers of modern Muslim states, especially Pakistan, which was from the beginning a thorn in the eyes of Hindu fanatics and Zionists. Pakistani political thinkers maintain that the US is the champion of the radical use of force in the present day world. The desire emanates from the Bush doctrine, meaning pre emptive use of force against any country not toeing America's line of political perception of the world.

In March 2004, I attended a briefing by Foreign Service experts in Islamabad, who analyzed the post 9/11 demoralizing affect on the concept of freedom and freedom movements. They were of the view that Americas' military strength was beyond challenge, as it had new offensive weapons. America's strength is uni-polarity and her military strength exceeds ten nations. US will build India counter to China. The only ideological challenge to America comes from Islam, though USA and Europe differ in their approach to view this challenge. In 2004, Pakistans' former President and retired army Chief Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf floated his ideas on the solution of Kashmir dispute that disillusioned the people of Kashmir and divided their leadership. This too was the fall out of the latest American policy on Pakistan

Kashmir and Palestine are two major problems and festering wounds which plague the body politic of the Islamic world. Both Kashmir and Palestine have a long history of promises by the World body and the people in these regions continuously suffer from the pangs of separation. Jammu and Kashmir got divided when the United Nations ordered cease-fire between India and Pakistan in 1948, to hold plebiscite in the whole region. The Palestine was divided by the allied victors of the 2nd world war to create a Zionist state against the wishes of the Palestinian people. Israel was given the right to live and also every opportunity and material support to annex more and more parts of Palestine by aggression and bloodshed. There was talk of the right of self determination for both Kashmir and Palestine in the United Nations, but, never materialized, resulting in wars and bloodshed every now and then in these regions. As per Jammu and Kashmir, the UN, India and Pakistan every time in the past asked the Kashmiris to be ready for a free, fair and impartial plebiscite under the united Nations auspices to decide once for all, their political destiny.

Bill Clinton called Kashmir a flash point to underscore the importance of its solution for peace but without any progress in the right direction. Obama also in the beginning re kindled hopes through his statements among the people of Pakistan and Kashmir, but it proved to be his rhetoric. Today, people think that they are being betrayed, as the focus is only on America's expanded military interests. Obama- roadmap in the Muslim world, as seen by the politicians and strategists of this country, does not augur well for the country's sovereignty. The rank and file looks scared all around, because of the inflation, alarming price-hike, energy crisis, hoarding and smuggling of essentials; illegal profiteering, corruption, increasing crime rate, despite the record security network in the history of the state.

Moreover, question is raised about the future of Pakistan and the impact of US policies on the sovereignty of the country; that how long Pakistan will remain a centre- stage for fulfilling the military and economic ambitions of America. Obama's election and post -election speeches and promises look like a story of bygone days. The environment in the White House shows a different picture—without any scope for a solution of Kashmir and Palestine in line with the Right of self determination. Every sane voice for the basic right of the Kashmiris is bracketed with terrorists. Although Pakistan continues to play her part in "the war on terror" but, there are some puzzling comments and statements; the US Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton said that US wronged Pakistan for 30 years. "It is fair to say that our policy towards Pakistan over the last 30 years has been incoherent. I do not know any other word", she remarked on 19 May, 2009, at the Foreign Press Centre White House. On US double standards Jay Jonson a famous musician and writer of New York wrote, "after Obama apologized for the strikes which the Afghan Government claimed killed well over a hundred ordinary country folk, came the report that the families of those killed and subsequent Afghani dead falling in harm's way of the US military, continuing as before, can apply to receive up to $2,000 compensation. This is the price the great United States of America puts on an Afghani or Pakistani human being, while awarding $100,000 to families of Americans who die while fighting and killing wherever. Shocking? Shame provoking?" Wall Street Journal comments on Obama's Cairo speech in these words, "one benefit of the Obama presidency is that it is validating much of George W. Bushes' security agenda and foreign policy merely by dint of autobiographical rebranding' clear enough in Cairo-where he offered artfully repacked versions of themes President Bush sounded with his freedom agenda."

From every angle of analysis it looks that despite Pakistans' deep involvement in the "war against terrorism" at the cost of her own economy and security, America is not cognizant of Pakistans' basic problems and core issue with India, while sole emphasis is to project India as the most important player in the administration’s new regional policy. "India is playing a very important role in Afghanistan", stressed Robert Blake US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in a recent statement. In the eyes of the majority of Pakistanis and neutral observers that role could only be to destabilize and weaken Pakistan and compel it to abandon the cause of Kashmir's peaceful political movement under the UNCIP resolutions. This is evident from the administration’s strong support to India over the question of the Mumbai Terror suspects. It also indicates that Kashmir has been kept hostage to Mumbai wrangling with Pakistan, and India has full support to ignore Pakistan's sincere call for talks on this issue. Besides, New Delhi wishfully thinks that the popular movement of freedom in Kashmir may dwindle any time under the pressure of inner conflicts. India believes that the current political, economic and social turmoil will not permit Pakistan to revive the late 1980s and 1990s situation and public enthusiasm in Kashmir or Pakistan. True, the armed struggle for freedom may be in doldrums today, because of the Alqaeda phenomenon and combined war of cross and crescent against anything which may look akin to Muslim national thinking of freedom and democracy in the world. Still the present Kashmiri generation is moving seriously towards a peaceful struggle that would be self reliant, confident, and independent of military means and material.

India knows very well that Kashmiris are made of a different metal and their valiant and peaceful resistance for a noble mission is time tested. They can be killed but can't be subdued by military might. No doubt, the Kashmiris offered tough fight against the occupation army during the last 19 years, but one should not forget that it is a dimensional struggle, needing a short term and long term strategy with sustenance and social security plan to help the victims of the state terrorism in all situations.

Pakistanis have a key role in Kashmir, but unfortunately today owing to post 9/11 state of emergency, it faces altogether a different environment of diverse interests of internal and external forces and state and non state actors. All these actors have clash of interests badly eclipsing the simple demand of the right to self determination for Kashmir. And on the whole, their actions and interests clash with the larger interests of the people of Pakistan. In this state of affairs the elite class and Influential political, economic and military writers and strategists and some power share holders advocate less-than-freedom status under India for Kashmir, starting from trans-LOC- controlled trade to political, cultural and business tours and conferences, guided by silent West backed back-channel or secret but low profile activities in different countries of the world.

Consensus upon these ideas originated between them during the regime of Nawaz Sharif and Atal Behari Vajpayee, when the then Prime Ministers of Pakistan and India made an agreement to address their differences on Kashmir and other disputes through composite dialogue. In the successive years beginning from 9/11, 2001, a useful weapon in the shape of “war on terror” came in many hands to ignore the cry for freedom in Kashmir. Certainly, war is no option between India and Pakistan; it could be disastrous for millions of people living in the sub continent, but the people of Kashmir can't be satisfied or silenced unless they get the answer to their slaughter, bloodshed, rape and forced disappearances. What is their fault? Why should they become scapegoats for the so called “war on terror”? Is it the answer that the aggressor and invader should be the master of their destiny? Guns are not silent; they continue their brutalities by all means over the unarmed and innocent Kashmiris. We simply want an opportunity to live in peace and freedom with all nations not excluding India and Pakistan. But mark these words that however louder the slogan of trans-LOC and Indo-Pak trade may be, river-water dispute between the two countries could trigger another bloody clash between them, possibly nuclear. Given the centrality of Kashmir, popularity of the Kashmir freedom struggle and thrust of American interests in this region, Americas support to a just and popular solution based on the will of the people is of paramount importance. Despite Americas' global might, its economy due to recession will not withstand the onslaught of ruthless boundary less wars by either Alqaeda or Black water. The multi faced economic or military aid to Governments or private agencies may not every time reach deserving peoples of the world. Undoubtedly, America, in spite of its unmatched might on earth is looked down on; but, unpopular and weak regimes support it to continue their rule. Therefore, to regain confidence of the oppressed nations, peoples and under privileged, which have been deprived of their right to self determination, America should abandon its military expenditures and expenses on overt and covert tasks, and not support Governments which break laws of the United Nations and violate Universal Declaration of Human Rights. America should realize her weaknesses and those of her allies without any loss of time, as the universal laws of rise and fall of nations and states are not static or subordinate to imperialism. However, powerful imperialists or their satellites may be, they will not be able to rescue each other in front of the power of God. Therefore, reconciliation should not be with the evil forces; submission before the highest good is the only alternative. America as the only big power on earth could do a lot for humanity and oppressed and enslaved nations, but unfortunately, it lacks ethical and rational approach to the problems of states and nations. America is always and everywhere in search of agents not selfless popular leaders to rule indirectly over different states. The people don't like viceroys over their heads. This is the pathos of Kashmir and Palestine also. Had America and west kept up their promises in UNO on Kashmir, the situation would have been different. Alas, the top dog on our planet America wants India to be a regional dog against china, and on the other hand Pakistan despite her sacrifices in the "war on terror", a sitting duck, in between the conspirators. in this difficult and awkward situation no bilateral pact, no triangular talk or controlled business activity through the LOC could end human rights abuses inside India's occupied Kashmir. How could that end, when every soldier and police man enjoyed liberty and impunity under the draconian laws? When the US wants to protect its own region; and under the pretext of fighting the Alqaeda and Taliban justified its invasion on Iraq and Afghanistan, why can't it help India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. America should not be a cold fish on Kashmir.

Lastly, I quote below a paragraph from an article written by late M P Bhanddara a renowned Parliamentarian of the National Assembly. He wrote in Dawn on 29 April, 2007:—

“Our faith in Indian 'assurances' is a little incredulous given the history of the past. We are the injured party and Indian civil society should appreciate this fact. But, if nothing happens notwithstanding the unrestrained optimism of Foreign Minister Kasuri, say within a year from-well after the elections in Pakistan-it will be legitimate for Pakistan to repudiate the 'bilateral' clauses of the Simla Agreement, which as stated earlier, is an unequal treaty. India, in retaliation, may decide to walk out of the Agreement altogether; so be it. This agreement has failed to provide peace or security in Kashmir. It has not avoided war, nuclear weaponisation has. So long as bilateralism' means an Indian monopoly in determination and interpretation being the bigger, the more powerful and in possession of the disputed area, India's own decision will be ruled by the safest option available. The Indian song is sweet and seductive but when it comes to ground realities in dealing with neighbors, it hardly moves a millimeter."

About Author:
Farooq Rahmani: The writer is Convener All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference AJK Chapter and Chairman J&K People’s Freedom League.

"STONE RAGE"

A stone is a stone, but when it flies midway between a young boy and a soldier in Kashmir, it becomes a political statement.

In a narrow lane in Srinagar, stones and bricks fly like flocks of birds, followed by gun shots and tear smoke canisters fired from automatic rifles, pitting medieval fighters against modern warfare. In this battleground, young boys ‘wage war against the State’.

Iqbal is 23—that’s not his real name though. He knows too well the dangers of giving out his name. A postgraduate student in Kashmir University, he studies politics. “I read and I understand. That’s why I pelt stones,” he says. “It’s not for fun. I would love to join peaceful protests. But they don’t let us gather together, not even for shouting slogans and expressing anger.”

Last month, 17-year-old student Tufail Ahmad Matoo was killed in a clash between protesters and security personnel in Srinagar, triggering protests all over Kashmir. Ten more protesters have died since in clashes between stone-pelting youth and police and CRPF in the last three weeks.

Stone pelting or ‘kani jung’ is not new to Kashmir. In the 1930s, when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah led a popular resistance against the Dogra rulers of the state, stone pelting was part of that protest.

In the years that followed, stone throwing remained limited to the lanes and bylanes around Srinagar’s Jamia mosque and Maisuma neighbourhood where young boys would throw stones at policemen for a few hours after namaz. In fact, the frequency with which people turned up in Maisuma near Lal Chowk to stone a police post earned it its new name—Kashmir’s Gaza strip.

But in recent years, stone throwing has strayed out of the confines of downtown Srinagar to spread to other towns of Kashmir. The profile of the stone-thrower has changed too. It’s no longer unemployed youth who are fighting this pitched battle. Educated young men are joining in as well. The battleground has expanded from the streets to the internet—Facebook now hosts an application called ‘kani jung’ where you can throw virtual stones to register your protest.

Iqbal is one such educated stone-pelter. He recalls the protest marches of 2008 over the Amarnath land transfer where young men formed human chains around security force pickets in Srinagar. “We were protesting. But they locked us up inside our homes. They imposed curfew and erected barricades.”
“There is no confusion in my mind. The government should shut the colleges and universities in Kashmir if they want us to grow up as conformists,” he says, adding that he does not support any particular separatist leader or ideology. Iqbal, who lives in a crowded neighbourhood in downtown city, says his parents don’t know he is a regular at stone-throwing protests—though they do have their suspicions. “Once I returned home in the evening and my eyes were watering because of the tear smoke. I had to come up with an excuse. My mother would freak out if she comes to know,” says Iqbal, whose father is a government employee.
He has made elaborate arrangements to ensure his mother never finds out. His wardrobe has a hidden drawer where he keeps his Halloween gear—a mask that has slits only for his eyes and mouth. He has shin pads and jogging shoes that he puts on whenever he goes out for the “match”.
Iqbal says he was “baptised” into stone throwing soon after the government restricted public protests in 2008. “Those protests were like carnivals of resistance. I had taken my parents’ permission to participate in them. Everyone joined in. But one evening, I watched a boy’s funeral on a local cable television channel. I seethed with anger,” he says. “That boy had thrown stones at the police near Jamia mosque and the police fired straight at his chest. Later, I joined a few funerals too.”
Often when he’s out on streets, Iqbal is overcome with fear. “But then you don’t go out alone. You are always part of a group and that gives you a sense of security,” he says. Has anybody paid ever paid him to throw stones?
“What do you think? I don’t need to rent myself out for money. I have enough,” he says.
Stone-pelting as a way of protest in the Valley may be old but it assumed serious proportions in 2008 when protests broke over the Amarnath land transfer. After 1990, these were the first such massive—and peaceful— protests in the Valley. Thousands of men and women came out on the streets shouting slogans, men formed human chains around police and security force posts. The government responded by putting restrictions and erecting barricades and the slogan-shouting congregations were soon replaced by groups of young men throwing stones.
The administration was divided on how to deal with the protesters. A section of senior police officers felt people should be allowed to protest. After all, pelting stones, they said, was better than taking to Kalashnikovs.
But the situation took an ugly turn on August 11, 2008, when a senior Hurriyat leader was killed in police firing at Chahal on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. Sixty people were killed in the government’s effort to quell the protests over the Amarnath issue and the subsequent economic blockade of the Valley. The government has never allowed public protest since.
In fact, it was during the Amarnath agitation that the J&K government first started booking stone-pelters under the Public Safety Act. Police claim stone-pelting sessions in the Valley have been funded by separatists. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah too has claimed on more than one occasion that young men were being given money to pelt stones. He even accused a major business house in the Valley of funding stone-throwers and added that intelligence agencies had intercepted calls from across the border and SMSes by separatist leaders that allegedly encouraged youth in the Valley to pelt security forces with stones.
As the stones vs state battle continues, so does the debate over it. Former chairman of the Hurriyat moderates, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, calls stone pelting un-Islamic. Chief of Jamiat-i-Ahlihadith, Moulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, created a stir by coming out with a fatwa that pelting stones on the armed security personnel was not sanctioned by Islam. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq backed him. Meanwhile, separatists, including the hardline Hurriyat leadership, argue that “stone throwing is the outcome of government’s systematic denial to allow protests against the occupation of Kashmir by India”. And so, the stone wars continue.
The politics of protest
The stone-pelting story has its share of twists. According to the police, stone-pelters are often aligned to various separatist parties. In fact, the police have booked several senior separatist leaders under the Public Safety Act, blaming them for orchestrating stone throwing.
There have been a number of cases where ruling party politicians have intervened to release leaders of stone-throwers in Srinagar and Baramulla. The police and other security agencies too have infiltrated groups of stone-throwers to keep tabs on their activities.
The stone-pelters are not a united group either. For instance, in Baramulla town, there is a clear divide between men who are motivated by money and those who are motivated by ideology. The divide surfaced recently when the J-K Police planned to send a group of stone pelters on an all-India tour as part of a rehabilitation package to divert them from “unlawful activities”.
The group was ‘police-friendly’ and had the blessing of a local ruling party leader. A day before the tour was to be flagged off, another group of stone-throwers started pelting the houses of those who had enrolled for the all-India tour.
Then there is the story of two leaders in Baramulla that exposes how stone-throwers enjoy the blessings of ruling party leaders and the police. Parvaiz Ahmad Kaloo has a Public Safety Act warrant and eight FIRs against him but the warrant has not been executed because, say sources, he is close to both the ruling party and the police.
The other case is of Zahoor Ahmad Mala who is booked under the Public Safety Act and has four FIRs registered against him. Sources say Mala was released after the intervention of a ruling party leader in Baramulla.
A bullet for a stone
It’s been a year since J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah declared his government would approach foreign governments for training a special police contingent in modern crowd-control techniques, but there’s been little progress on it.
After a number of protesters were killed last year, Abdullah had said his government was looking for a permanent solution to end the “bullet-for-stone” strategy of the police and security forces to curb unarmed protests in the Valley. The government had said it would seek guidance from UK whose police force had done substantial research in modern crowd-control policing. It had also planned to introduce ‘skunk’—a spray that drenches protesters with a foul-smelling liquid—and ‘scream’, a noise machine that makes protesters giddy, helping police to disperse crowds without injuring them.
“I am concerned about these killings,” Abdullah had told The Indian Express last February. “We are planning to approach foreign governments, including the United Kingdom, for help. We want a special contingent of our police force to get trained in crowd control, without loss of human life.”
Though the government has procured tear smoke canisters and rubber bullets to limit causalities, the toll in the confrontation between stone-pelters and security forces has only been rising

We Cannot Afford Another Generation Be Killed........

Kashmiris are getting killed. Why should they? Both India and Pakistan, and more importantly, the people of Kashmir should look into this tragic trail of death of fellow Kashmiris, some as young as nine and others who did not happen to see the 12th day of their life. The Indian and Pakistani sides should have a relook at what they are doing with Kashmir and, in Kashmir Pakistan is a factor in Kashmir. There are two different prisms of looking at Pakistan’s role in whatever happens in Kashmir: one , of course is the window of history that allowed Pakistan to step in on the terrain of Jammu and Kashmir. Second is its role in seeking resolution of Kashmir issue. In its bilateral dialogue with India by positioning itself as a friend of the people of Kashmir. There is no one on this planet, as of today, who doesn’t acknowledge how crucial role Pakistan can play in helping India or the people of Kashmir find a lasting solution.

Down from Jawahar Lal Nehru to Manmohan Singh, and, from Muhammad Ali Jinnah to Yousuf Raza Gilani, each one of them have expressed the similar theme, but when it comes to dealing with the issue, the middle-ground is lost in the quagmire of murky rhetoric by both India and Pakistan. There are cheer leaders propagating the hardline or putting across such unrealistic theories about the solution of Kashmir crisis that the whole context is lost.

Pakistan, despite its credentials as an Islamic Republic, is hardly a place what Kashmiris had viewed from 1940s to 80’s, or to some extent even in 1990s. The violence that sweeps across Pakistan is hardly a magnet for any of the peoples in any part of the subcontinent to live there. It is the fifth most dangerous place in the world.

As Pakistan is gripped with its own set of crisis, its role in the world affairs is getting diminished. If it is still allowing itself to be using its geo-strategic location to be used for fighting the American war against terror, it ignores long-term and disastrous consequences for its people and its own importance in the region.

Kashmir is on boil has become a cliché. It is not a 2010 phenomenon. Both India and Pakistan need to understand this. It had this tag all along, since the times of Dogra rule. Today TV channels are telling you so, earlier the media reach was limited, rather negligible. It serves neither Delhi nor Islamabad’s interests if this tag lingers on. There is a need to play a positive role, rather than indulge in blame game because that adds to the sufferings of the people and shifts focus from the real issue.

In 1990s, too, it was a Kashmiri getting killed on the Line of Control, in the interiors and suffering from day to day restrictions. The story is no different today, when stones are targeted at the men in khaki. It’s Kashmiri who is getting killed whether in police/CRPF firing or in the stone throwing. Tufail Mattoo was killed, so was Rafiq Bangroo and what about that nine year old child of Delina, Baramullah or three youth of South Kashmir. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that an 11-day infant and a government employee lost their lives in the stone pelting. All of them were Kashmiris.

All of them are victims. They, in no way, were the perpetrators, whatever fiction might be woven to twist the facts. The situation in Kashmir today sits in a picture frame of leaders versus commoners. The other side is a canon fodder.

Jessica Stern, an American expert on the conflict situations has analysed some thing like this about such situations:“The leaders tend to live in comfortable houses and enjoy the trappings of their power: large cars, acolytes and bodyguards. They talk in generalities about the justice of their cause and the Almighty's firm support. Those who serve as cannon fodder, on the other hand, are likely to be young, vulnerable, socially disadvantaged and poorly educated, and to have a sense of personal or collective humiliation. Violence for the cause gives them a feeling of purpose, dignity and the transcendent experience of serving, and perhaps dying for, ideals that they regard as pure.”

Stone throwing would stop some day; curfews would be lifted and the typical administrative description of normal life : shops open, traffic on roads, schools and colleges having attendance of students and the offices of their employees, would be there. It has happened in the past and it would happen again too.

For many, it would be a business as usual. Then there would be a halting progress on the Indo-dialogue front, and some offers of talks from Delhi, its rejection by separatists in Kashmir and the mainstream parties as confused as they ever are would first ask for facilitation of dialogue and all of a sudden would place them in driver’s seat. It doesn’t require the knowledge of a rocket science to tell that Pakistan, too, would be making certain noises, loud of course, further amplified by some elements in Kashmir and elsewhere asking India to withdraw troops, revoke Armed Forces Special Powers Act and check the human rights’ abuses.

All this needs to be done. There is absolutely no other option. But at the same time Pakistan would be doing a great service to itself and the people of Kashmir, if it uses pure diplomacy as a tool to highlight its concerns, rather than applying other methods , which not only bring it into direct confrontation with Delhi, but also besmirch its image at the international level, besides fueling trouble on its own soil.

India, too should acknowledge that the things cannot be wished away, nor Pakistan’s role. A negative attitude toward Pakistan pushes Islamabad to wall. It serves no purpose, whatsoever, in condemning Pakistan for the whole trouble in Kashmir. If looked other way round, it would be significant to note that if Pakistan is succeeding, India has some areas which it has not addressed. It should focus on that. Pakistan should be brought on board, and it should be done sooner than later.

Another important aspect is that the people in Kashmir need to grasp that it’s their problem , it will need an indigenous and realistic solution and they should not see India through one particular prism alone . There are sections in India who share their pain and grief and understand the rage and deep-seated frustration at what is happening and what ought to happened has not materialized .

It’s a good thing that leaders of all hues in Kashmir have told the fundamentalists in India that the street protests or stone-throwing, in any manner is meant to cause disruption to the annual Amarnath pilgrimage. The smooth yatra is evidence of what Kashmiris are saying that yatris are welcome. A similar gesture in telling India that it should not view them through the prism of stone throwers, but what’s behind it, would help in seeking a solution to the issue. Kashmiris cannot afford to have yet another generation consumed by violence and counter-violence. This, they should tell both Delhi and Islamabad, and the best way of doing so is to present its intelligent faces in the forefront and allow them to work together to get the results, instead of allowing themselves to be grounded by perpetuating a hostile environment.

India, A failed state ?

It is essential for the Chinese and the Pakistanis, Bhutanese, Bangladeshis, Nepalese, Lankans and Maldivians to understand the mentality that spawns waves of mercenaries that try to capture foreign countries.

Mr. Bharat Verma represents the thinking of the Indian establishment. He personifies the thoughts of not only the Saffron Brigade, he represents the mainstream Indian intellectuals and the public. His ideas of a more aggressive foreign policy have landed Delhi in the soup it is in—a belligerent Pakistan, an antagonized China, a miffed Lanka, an angry Nepal, a passively resistant Bhutan, an alarmed Maldives—even Bangladeshis consider India one of their biggest enemies.

The neighbors of Bharat are Hindu, Buddhist, communist, Muslim and secular. All of them hate the policies of Delhi and love the culture, the food and the music. Either every country in South Asia is wrong, or there is something fundamentally wrong with Indian thinking? The Naxals control 40% of Bharati territory do not agree with the coterie that rules Delhi. Only history can decide whether Delhi was right, and everyone else was wrong– however the fact remains that Bharat cannot achieve regional ascendency through hegemony, and it cannot achieve global status without the help of all her neighbors.

Mr. Verma’s egregious comment about Balochistan represents Bharati designs on Pakistan. Though Mr. Verma constantly continues his drum beat of obfuscation—the fact remains that he is totally ignorant of Pakistani geography. Pakistan is successor state to the British rule. According to the Indian Act of Independence Balouchistan, as a Muslim majority area went to Pakistan. Kalat represent only a small portion of Balochistan. The state of Kalat signed an article of accession with Pakistan. Unlike the article of accession of Kashmir (which Delhi claims is now lost—as if it ever existed), the Baloch article of accession is a living document in the archives of history and seen by the world. All Baloch parties signed the 1956 constitution, the 1963 constitution and the 1973 constitution renewing their 5000 year old relationship with the Sindhis, Baloch, Pakhtuns, Punjabis and Kashmiris to continue to live together.

Mr. Verma’s irredentist writings are an interested read—representing an encircled mentality that is helpless and unable to do anything—this sick mind then lashes out at anyone and everyone in sight.

India, argues Bharat Verma, needs to aggressively counter China’s imperial ambitions.

New Delhi cannot afford to sit around while others plot its destruction.

Surrounded with sullied strategic environment and the spreading fire that engulfs the region, New Delhi can either continue to live in fear as it has in the past, or fight back.

There are two distinct threats that endanger the existence of the Union.

First are China’s imperial ambitions that threaten to ultimately dismember India into 20 to 30 parts. To succeed in its aim, Beijing over a period of time unleashed the first phase of the strategy and intelligently encircled India. This initial phase resulted in shrinking New Delhi’s strategic frontiers in its vicinity.

The Indians unwittingly made the Chinese task a cakewalk as they were preoccupied with internal bickering for short-term personal gains, overlooking the vicious expansionist agenda designed jointly by Beijing and Islamabad to tear apart the country.

Even as it pretended to withdraw its covert support to the rebels in India’s northeast in the late seventies, China took advantage of Islamabad’s hatred for India, and deftly invested in Pakistan to carry out the task on its behalf.

The primary segment of the Chinese strategy moved with clockwork precision by investing in autocratic and Islamic fundamentalist elements in countries on India’s periphery — Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Maoists in Nepal.

In Sri Lanka , while Indians dithered, Beijing and its proxy Pakistan quickly moved in to help arm Colombo against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, develop the Hambantota port etc.

While the adversary invested in encircling India on its land and sea frontiers, the Indians merrily continued to indulge in their favorite past time — meaningless and endless debates.

Invited by Islamabad, the Chinese moved into Pakistan occupied Kashmir . With growing irrelevance of Pakistan as a nation State, this area in times to come will become Chinese occupied Kashmir. Similarly, China fabricated its territorial claim on Bhutan and is working to eclipse the prevailing Indian influence there.

Let us look at another version of historical events—if we can imagine for a second another possibility in South Asia. If Bharat had not conspired to illegally take over Muslim Kashmir, if it had not tried to bully Pakistan into subservience, if it had not sent Mukti Bahni mercenaries into East Pakistan (as it is today doing in Balochistan), she would have found an ally in Pakistan—this ally would have been invaluable in exterminating the external threats to South Asia. Bharat’s illegal occupation of Srinagar allowed Pakistan to liberate Aksai Chin—and its gift to China allowed China land access to Tibet. Without Aksai Chin, China would never have been able to move its forces into Tibet or run over India in the 1962 war. If Kashmir was part of a friendly Pakistan, Tibet would have been a friendly country for India and there would have been no Superpower China to contend with. Without Tibet, Xinjiang would have been very vulnerable and Manchuria would have been restless.

It has been century of missteps of the current leadership of Bharat. History would have been very different for Congress leadership had pursued sane policies before the Cabinet Mission Plan.

Bharat can again reverse the negative trends—by resolving Kashmir, Siachin, Sir Creek and abiding by the Indus Water Treaty. These simple steps would great goodwill among the Pakistanis and stop the hostility that Delhi faces. Each Mumbai creates losses of billions of Dollars for Bharat.

Is New Delhi prepared to defend its strategic frontiers in Bhutan unlike our timid response in Tibet ?

The second phase of the long-term strategy to unravel India based on smaller geographical regions is now underway. After successfully encircling India, the recent spurts in Chinese incursions on the border, objections to the prime minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, lobbying against India at the Asian Development Bank [ Get Quote ], the drama of apportioning official annual budgets for the development of the so-called Southern Tibet (Arunachal Pradesh), devising opinion polls against India, issuing visas on separate sheets to residents of India from Kashmir are clear pointers in that direction.

The concluding part of the plot of unraveling the Union, if successful, will remove the challenge to China’s unquestioned supremacy in Asia.

China’s initial thrust succeeded not only in effectively rolling back India’s influence in its external periphery, but also helped its proxies to extend their tentacles deep into India, threatening the Union’s internal stability.

Therefore, the second distinct aspect that endangers the existence of the Union is the rapidly increasing internal security threat.

While the external adversary devised strategy to shrink India’s influence in its ‘near abroad’, the individual states’s inability to govern ensured rollback of authority towards their respective capitals.

Mr. Verma lists various reasons for the weak Bharati state. The reasons for the withering of the Indian state is not because of lack of aggressiveness of lack of governance. The reason for the weak Indian Union is because “India” was never a monolithic state. A Subcontinent fractured by hundreds of languages, cultures, religions, millions of regional Gods, hundreds of ethnicities, and Sub religions was represented by more than 570 individual and independent states. The system survived in the alliances and rivalries that stemmed from the political wrangling of the various interests. Both Locke and Hobbs had something to do with the mergers and acquisitions. In a classic case study of Hobsonain civilization theory many people or states of South Asia banded together to save themselves from the aggression of other peoples or states. Simultaneously South Asia was and has always displayed John Locke’s civilizational theories—many people and states got together because they wanted to—in a blaring vocalization of their desire for “nationhood”/statehood.

Colonization lasted only about a century. 1757 to 1857 was really the East India Company rule which was more cunning, craftiness, and persuasion than massive use of force. the century of Company rule and one century of direct British Raj made drastic changes to the the society so that the resources of South Asia could be massively and efficiently harvested. However the two centuries of British and European presence did not fundamentally change the political landscape of South Asia.

When the British came South Asia had approximately 570 states. When the British left South Asia there were 570 states in South Asia plus two dominions India and Pakistan. The unraveling of India (which Mr. Verma calls lack of governance) began when Delhi began thinking of itself as a “nation state’. Nehru forcibly began incorporating all the 560 or so states into the federal structure of the Indian Union. He declared all states that did not conform to the Indian Constitution, would be considered “enemy states” . On the backs of guns and tanks he tried to do what no emperor had ever done. He used Patel to conduct a Police Action against Hyderabad, and forcibly incorporated Junagarh, Kashmir, Bhopal, Manvadar, Assam into the Union. None of them wanted to be part of this grand experiment called “India”. The signed the papers, or were coerced into signing the papers—but the people resisted.

If one looks at the map of Bharat today and colors in the 200 or more insurgent districts, one would actually get the states that were forcibly incorporated into the Indian Union. Most of Hyderabad, Kashmir, and Assam are in open rebellion.

The genesis of the Naxal rebellion was not in the 70s, it was in the 50s. the notion of a monolithic South Asia for several thousand years is a figment of the imagination of Pandits who fed a line to John Princep about the glories of Ashoka—no mention of Ashoka existed in any Greek or Bharati text before John Princep no the advice of Panddit Ratnakar published “the History of India”. that notion of Ram Raj today permeates the temples—and creates the aggressive foreign polciy of Bharat as personified in the writings of Mr. Bharat Verma.

The reduction of the Bharti state internally and externally is a result of the way the ‘country was formed. There never was a nation called India, and there is no country called India today. The future is bleak. Mr. Verma confirms the above in the next paragraph.

The Indian sway unwittingly stands reduced simultaneously, within its borders and in its immediate vicinity. The combined intensity of the external and the internal threat, where each feeds on the other, if not handled with ruthlessness, will unravel India in times to come.

Negligence in governance is primarily responsible and permits the hostile external actors to take advantage of the internal dissent to further their imperial ambitions.

To power itself out of the largely self-inflicted external-internal encirclement New Delhi should work out a comprehensive counter-strategy with an offensive orientation. For an enduring win against the heavy odds, the national goal should be to emerge as the single most dominant power in Asia by 2020.

This aim envisages an economically powerful India backed by extraordinary military capabilities and reach, and formation of potent international alliances that help defend multi-cultural democratic values under adverse conditions in Asia.

Instead of endlessly ceding strategic space as in the past 62 years, we must learn to fight at multiple levels, and secure and extend our influence in Asia through hard and soft power on land and sea.

Pursuit of this singular national goal will automatically force us to gear up the entire infrastructure, resources, policies and strategies towards the fulfillment of this endeavour.

At present, we are an inward looking, bickering, dithering and indecisive nation. New Delhi lacks the key aspiration and therefore the vision, that motivates and impels a nation to excel and achieve worthy living standards for its citizens. Centrality of such national core ambition will remove the prevailing confusion and the attendant aimlessness.

However, to be the pre-eminent Asian power, it is essential that New Delhi first set its own house in order by reclaiming the space lost within to the non-State actors.

Lack of skills and direction, self-serving gimmicks and dwindling integrity in the civil administration ended up in handing over the control of 40 percent area to the Maoists and ten percent on the borders to the insurgents.

It is vital that the State recaptures this space in the shortest possible time frame and establishes its authority up to the borders. Otherwise, India will be the next State after Pakistan to be consumed by civil war.

Bharat Verma is right, Bharati policies have dug the hole that Delhi finds itself in. The more it digs now, the deeper in the hole it gets. Bharat Verma is only partially right ni the solutions—he advocates more aggressiveness on the part of Delhi.

In a Nuclear age with serious cracks in the Indian Union surrounded by enemies, more aggressiveness on the part of Delhi will only exacerbate the siltation for Bharat.

Bharat now has a hostile Tibet, and a nuclear armed Pakistan. It may be facing a nuclear armed Myanmar in the East and a violently angry Bangladesh. With Nepal as part of the Maoist arc, Delhi faces total rebellion in the Northeast stats of Assam. Delhi had plans to incorporate Bhutan into the Union, like it did Sikkim. Those initial gains have now been reversed. The annexation of Sikkim is being disputed, and Bhutan has moved towards China. Beijing has vociferously claimed South Tibet (which Indian occupies and call Arunchal Pradesh)

Since the Maoists and the insurgents are armed and supported by external actors, it is appropriate that they be dealt by exercise of requisite military force, before development and effective policing can take roots. The nation is witness to the fact that the Indian police and civil administration just do not have what it takes to disarm those who wield weapons against the State.

To rapidly develop the sinews of the civil administration including the police to face the war like situation brewing inside, it is crucial to inject military thinking and muscle.

First, the State should infuse military talent by offering attractive terms and conditions to retired military personnel on fixed tenure and contract basis to take the battle effectively into the heartland of Maoists and the insurgents. They are fairly young, have military skills, are motivated, and understand combat in all its hues to take on the Maoists and the insurgents.

Second, from the pool of retired military personnel, create military advisory cells in the home ministries of the states and at the Centre with adequate resources. Inter-link them with each other on a national grid to develop military appreciation of the situation on the ground and offer clear and decisive options.

Third, since it is a long haul, the central and all state police forces should pay the Indian Army and Navy to select and train at least 100 constables each year in their various regimental training centres to augment the armed constabulary.

Fourth, the Indian Army can select and train a few officer cadets every year for the Indian Police Service at its Officer Training Academy in Chennai on the same tough pattern as the military officer cadets. This will rapidly induct precision of military thinking and sinews that the civil administration urgently requires to fulfill the task at hand.

Mr. Bharat Verma’s so called solutions are akin to rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. These cosmetic measures may look good on paper, but cannot solve centuries of discrimination against the Dalits. Most of Maoists and Naxals are lower caste Hindus, who hate the establishment and the Brahman state. The policemen will not come from Mars, they will be part and parcel of the local topography. Neither the 100 policemen in every district, nor the retired army officer can make the tetrahedron monster go away. The ne policy will only be to better assist the Naxalites. The US Army trained upwards of 500,000 Iraqis for the local Iraqi Army—only to find the same soldiers fight them at night.

Unless and Until the Bharat Verma’s of the world are able to get tot he root cause of the rebellion, penury, poverty, illiteracy and lack of basic services—Bharat will continue to face Naxal rebellion upon Maoist rebellion.

The success of expanding Chinese strategic reach in Asia is due to the singular fact that, unlike other Communist parties, the Communist Party of China from its inception has the advantage of precise military thinking in the party, as the People’s Liberation Army officers are integral to it. The above suggestions are particularly relevant to pacifist India, as military thinking in most of the other cultures is a natural component.

In addition, remove all man made barriers like inner line permits etc to allow inter-mingling of citizenry, and establishment of businesses and industry in the northeast and Kashmir and other states.

While the terrorist, jihadi and the infiltrator forcibly change the demography, citizens are not allowed to settle and buy land in many areas of the Union. Such contradictions besides being illogical defy national integration, consolidation and fusion of the nation into one entity. However, we should avoid forced settlements like the Han Chinese in Tibet or Pakistan in the Shia-majority Northern Areas.

But, of course, the writ of the State cannot be re-established within, unless it can deliver high quality governance and development programmes.

As long as Bharat continues to try to find stability in iron and steel symbols of power—trying to hoodwink the people into thinking that “superpower status is achieved by buying$3 Billion Dollars worth of “Gorshkov” steel—the Indian state will continue to wither away. Pakistan faces issues because of the war next door, Bharat faces issues because of fundamental problems of governance and thinking

If India had developed its military power on requisite scale and demonstrated the gumption to use it when and where necessary in the past 62 years, if the foreign office had injected military spine into its policy making, and if the enemy knew that New Delhi would respond ruthlessly if threatened, with a clear message, ‘Don’t mess with us!’ — I am convinced that multiple wars would not have been imposed on India.

Neither export of terrorism would have occurred on the scale it does nor China would have dared to be so nasty.

Adequate military preparedness and the ability to wield it tellingly act as deterrence, taking away the cost-benefit ratio of war from the adversary.

To emerge as the dominant force in Asia, it is therefore, essential that offensive orientation in thinking be injected across the spectrum from a young age. This entails confronting adverse geopolitical situations differently to achieve dominance.

Beijing has created an excellent infrastructure of roads and railway network in Tibet that allows them to bolster its hostile posture towards New Delhi. To create similar infrastructure on our side of the border is going to be time consuming. Therefore, if push comes to a shove, how can we innovate to neutralise the imminent threat posed by the adversary?

We should induct massive heavy lift capabilities for troops by introducing a fleet of helicopters and transport aircraft on a war footing. Initiation of superior means of mobility for the troops and extraordinary firepower will act as a robust deterrence.

We should create military capabilities to disrupt the enemy’s rail supply line to Tibet.

Indian thinkers are nervous at China’s declaration to further extend the railway line to Nepal and Myanmar. Brought up on pacifism, they forget that railway lines and roads can move traffic in two directions. Therefore, in case hostility breaks out, we must ensure military wherewithal to dominate these railway lines and use it to induct our troops in the reverse direction.

We must always plan to take war to the enemy using his vulnerabilities.


As sovereign nations, India and Tibet did not have any major boundary dispute. Therefore, illegal occupation of Tibet by China does not bestow on it any legitimacy to raise bogus boundary claims on India.

Wielding the weapon of psychological warfare, the Chinese recently prodded their friends in Pakistan to project via the Indian media that this is going to be the Chinese century and in Asia, the American influence is going to disappear leaving Beijing as the dominant power.

Therefore, India must decide whether it wants to side with the losing Western alliance led by America or the winning side led by China. These are symptoms of acute anxieties in Beijing and Islamabad. The presence of Americans in Afghanistan-Pakistan and the growing Indo-US strategic partnership unnerves China.

However, despite its technological superiority, the Americans cannot win the war in Afghanistan without India’s help. They just do not have adequate boots on the ground.

Similarly, India on its own cannot prevail in this region and requires the Western alliance’s assistance. There is a synergy of purpose. Equally true is the fact that the Americans are fighting India’s war too. If they withdraw from the Af-Pak area, the entire jihad factory will descend mercilessly upon India to create mayhem.

Hence, it is in India’s national interest to synergise with the West in Af-Pak to benefit from resource rich Central Asia and deny the centuries’s old route of invasion to the adversary.

New Delhi must contest and reclaim the strategic space lost within and in its vicinity. Otherwise, in times to come, the Union will slip into civil war and finally wither away. How India must face the Chinese threat. Rediff News.

 Author of this Article
Bharat Verma is the editor, Indian Defence Review.

Mr. Verma’s fire and brimstone about how Bharat should deal with China and Pakistan and Bangladesh—not to forget their internal Hindu enemies the Nazals and external Hindu enemies in Nepal is “a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury—signifying nothing”. The Bharati economy has achieved meager success in the past decade which is probably not a repeatable feat. As Paragh Khanna said in his book “The 2nd world”, Bharat has missed the boat on global status, and it is now stuck between the raised expectations of is relatively small Brahman led middle class and the reality of the rest of Slumdog India and the Naxals that control 40% of the territory of the Indian Union. Managing the expectations of 50% of the population of Delhi, Benares, Kolkota, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad who sleep on the sidewalk (paying rent to the city) is a Herculean task. Bharat thought that by purchainsg symbols of power (air craft carriers, planes and gadgets) it could dissuade the lower castes from revolting. It has been mistaken. The 3rd generation that sleeps on the sidewlaks, was born on it, lives on it and will die on it is up in arms. The Maoists are up in revolt and growing. Even Delhi cannot blame the biggest security threat to India on Pakistan or the Muslims. The biggest security threat to Bharat is from the Maosists—Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed Nepal, China, Bangladesh and Lanka for the Bharati Maoist problems. The problem resides in the minds of the Brahman mentality which wants to dominate millions of people inside Bharat and has revanchist claims on territory outside Bharat.

The temple education teaches the Bharatis that the IVC was Hindu—in actual fact no artifact has been unearthed that represents the Hindu Pantheon, Arjun, Agni, Kali Devi, Shiva etc etc (33 million Gods). The IVC distinctly is abent in Hindu symbology. However Bharati texts continue to spread the malicious and irredentist stories that Hindusim ruled Kabaul to Raj Kalhani and that land belongs to the Hindus. Hindusim is as much an import to South Asia as Christianity was. Agni and Mithra were Persian Gods—captured by the Vedas during their travels into the Ganges plains.

Unless and until this basic revanchist thinking is exterminated in Bharati minds, it will never be able to live in peace with her neighbors.

When a movie inspired a Rebellion

In Kashmir 1931 is remembered for the first rebellion against monarchy in recent history. The same year, in Libya, rebel leader Omar Mukhtar was hanged by Italian colonists. A half a century later, a Hollywood movie on Omar Mukhtar, stoked a fresh rebellion in Kashmir.

Muhammad Yasin Malik, the chairman of Kashmir’s pro-freedom separatist outfit Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), still remembers the day of 1985 when he, a student, entered the Regal Cinema in the region’s summer capital - Srinagar - to watch famous Syrian producer Moustapha Akkad’s 1981 Libyan Historical action film ‘Lion of the Desert’ and came out a rebel.

“I and many other Kashmiri youth were inspired by the protagonist of the movie Omar Mukthar for leading Libyan resistance movement against the Italian colonial rule under Mussolini,” said Malik, who was among the first few youth to take up arms against Indian rule in Kashmir.

Talking to Kashmir Newz, the JKLF chief said people in Kashmir have been fighting against the Indian occupation since 1947.

“From 1947 to 1987-88 it was a non-violent movement. In 1988-89, we started an armed movement. Omar Mukhtar was the inspiration for many of youth including me who were the first to start it all,” he said.

“When we came out after watching the movie, there were protests against Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah who was until then the undisputed political and spiritual leader of Kashmir. Those days his posters could be spotted on every other shop in Kashmir. After that it was not to be,” Malik said.

Abdullah, the former prime minister of Indian administered Kashmir and founder of regions’ largest mainstream political party - National Conference - had got a rousing welcome in Kashmir even after the infamous accord of 1975 he entered with the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi following which he became the chief minister of the region.

However, after screening of ‘Lion of the Desert’, youth in Kashmir began to draw parallels between Abdullah and Omar Mukhtar and were disappointed at Abdullah’s “collaboration”.

Malik said he later showed the movie on a video to Muhammad Yousuf Shah, now known more by his nom de guerre Syed Salahuddin, the chief of United Jehad Council – an amalgam of 15 militant outfits fighting Indian troops in the region.

Sajad Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar’s Dalgate area, who also watched the movie featuring Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar, the Bedouin leader who fought a brilliant, relentless guerrilla war against the Italian invaders of Libya from 1911 until his capture and execution by Mussolini's forces in 1931, said: “Kashmiri youth who watched the movie were suddenly different. I entered the movie hall a careless teenager, came out someone ready to sacrifice his life for the freedom of his nation.”

Ahmad’s is National Conference loyalist family but after watching the movie, Ahmad said, he started hating Abdullah and his family.

Abdullah’s grandson Omar Abdullah is the incumbent chief minister of Indian administered Kashmir while his son Farooq Abdullah, a three time chief minister of the region is now an Indian cabinet minister at New Delhi.

“I and many other youth who watched the movie purchased Sheikh’s larger than life size posters and set them ablaze.

Though Sheikh was a leader in Kashmir we didn’t want him to be chicken-hearted like he was. We wanted him to be a lion that Omar Mukhtar,” Ahmad said.

Following the screening of the movie, there were widespread protests across Kashmir against Abdullah and his corrupt dynastic rule.

Not surprisingly, the then government in Indian administered Kashmir forced the cinema to take down the movie in the first week - all houseful - of its screening.

The spark that ‘Lion of the Desert’ had set in 1985 turned into a volcano two years later when Abdullah’s National Conference whose president was now his errant son Farooq allegedly rigged the infamous elections for the region’s assembly in 1987.

Suddenly, every youth started crossing the Line of Control (LoC) from Indian administered Kashmir for getting arms training in Pakistan administered Kashmir to launch a rebellion against the Indian rule in the region.

Tariq Ahmad, a resident of Zakura area of Srinagar and a former militant commander said: “We wanted to get arms training to be like Omar Mukhtar. We wanted to live like Omar Mukhtar, die like Omar Mukhtar.”

Omar Mukhtar was born in 1862 in the Mnifa tribe in the small village of Janzour near Tobruk in eastern Barqa (Cyrenaica).

Omar Mukhtar’s struggle of nearly 20 years came to an end on 11 September 1931, when he was wounded in battle, then captured by the Italian army.

On 16 September 1931, on the orders of the Italian court and with Italian hopes that Libyan resistance would die with him, Mukhtar was hanged before his followers in the concentration camp of Solluqon.

Today, Mukhtar's face appears on the Libyan 10 Dinar bill.

On 10 June 2009, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi arrived in Rome on his first visit to Italy wearing the famous picture of Omar Mukhtar's arrest on his lapel when meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

A meeting inside jail with Afzal Guru

This is my first post to this blog and i would like you to read a story about just another Kashmir who was made a victim of Media trial and just shows another instance of great injustice done to common kashmiri by India, its judicial system, its media and above all the people of india who believe whatever is being presented to them without knowing the truth.

New Delhi based Journalist Vinod K. Jose meets Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru inside the high secuirty Tihar Jail in New Delhi. Read excerpts from this rare interview with Afzal.

New Delhi, Feb 19, 2006 :

A rusted table, and behind it stood a well built man in uniform holding a spoon in his hand. Visitors, all of them looked habituated, queued up to open their plastic bags containing food, allowing it to be smelt, sometimes even tasted. The security man’s spoon paved its way through the thick grease floating curries—Malai Kofta, Shahi Paneer, Aalu Bengan, and Mixed Vegetables. As the visitors opened tiny bags of curries the spoon separated each piece of vegetable from the other, quite mechanically. 'Frisking' the food of a middle aged woman the spoon took a dip at the water in the steel bowl nearby. It then moved to the plastic bags of the next in the queue, an early teenage boy. By now water in the steel bowl has all kinds of colours. The floating oil gave it a vibgyor effect when light hit at it on the winter afternoon. Around 4.30 my turn came. The man left the spoon on the table and frisked my body top to bottom, thrice thoroughly. And when the metal detector made noise I had to remove my belt, steel watch, and keys. The man on duty bearing the badge of Tamilnadu Special Police (TSP) looked satisfied. I am allowed to enter now. This is the fourth security drill I had to go through to get into the High Risk Ward of Prison No 3 in Tihar Central Prison. I am on my way to meet Mohammad Afzal, one of the most talked about man in the contemporary times.

A room with many tiny cubicles. The Visitors and inmate are separated by a thick glass, and iron grills. The two connected through a mike and a speaker fixed on the wall. Poorly audible, people at both sides of the glass strained their ears out touching the wall to listen other. Mohammad Afzal was already at the other side of the cubicle. His face gave me an impression of unfathomable dignity and calmness. A little short man in his mid thirties wearing white kurta paijama had a Reynolds pen in his pocket. Very clear voice welcomed me with the best of all mannerisms.

How are you sir?, he said.

I said, I'm fine. Am I to return the same question to a man on the deathrow, was apprehensive for a second, but I did. Very fine. Thank you sir, he answered with warmth. The conversation went on for close to an hour, and continued a fortnight later with a second Mulakat. Both of us were in a hurry to answer and ask whatever one could in the time. I went on scribbling him in my tiny pocket book. He seemed to be a person who wanted to tell a lot of things to the world. But repeated his helplessness to reach people from the current stature of ‘condemned for life’. Excerpts of the interview

There are so many contradicting images of Afzal. Which Afzal am I meeting?

Is it? But as far as I’m concerned there is only one Afzal. That is me.

Who is that Afzal?

A moments’ silence Afzal as a young, enthusiastic, intelligent, idealistic young man, Afzal a Kashmiri influenced like many thousands in the Kashmir Valley in the political climate of early 1990s, who was a JKLF member and crossed over to the other side of Kashmir, but in a matter of weeks got disillusioned and came back and tried to live a normal life, but was never allowed to do so by the security agencies who inordinate times picked me up, tortured the pulp out of me, electrified, frozen in cold water, dipped in petrol, smoked in chilies you name it, and falsely implicated in a case, with no lawyer, no fair trial, finally condemned to death. The lies the police told was propagated by you in media. And that perhaps created what the Supreme Court referred to as "collective conscience of the nation”. And to satisfy that "collective conscience” I’m condemned to death. That is the Mohammad Afzal you are meeting.

After a moments’ silence, he continued.

But I wonder whether the outside world knows anything about this Afzal. I ask you, did I get a chance to tell my story? Do you think justice is done? Would you like to hang a person without giving him a lawyer? Without a fair trial? Without listening to what he had to go through in life? Democracy doesn’t mean all this, does it?

Can we begin with your life? Your life before the case…

It was a turbulent political period in Kashmir when I was growing up. Maqbul Bhatt was hanged. The situation was volatile. The people of Kashmir decided to fight an electoral battle once again to resolve the Kashmir issue through peaceful means. Muslim United Front (MUF) was formed to represent the sentiments of Kashmiri Muslims for the final settlement of the Kashmir issue. Administration at Delhi was alarmed by the kind of support that MUF was gaining and in the consequence we saw rigging in the election on an unprecedented scale. And the leaders, who took part in the election and won with huge majority, were arrested, humiliated and put behind bars. It is only after this that the same leaders gave call for armed resistance. In response thousands of youth took to armed revolt. I dropped out from my MBBS studies in Jhelum Valley Medical College, Srinagar. I was also one of those who crossed to the other side of Kashmir as a JKLF member, but was disillusioned after seeing Pakistani Politicians acting the same as the Indian politicians in dealing with Kashmiris. I returned after few weeks. I surrendered to the security force, and you know, I was even given a BSF certificate as surrendered militant. I began to start the life new. I could not become a doctor but I became a dealer of medicines and surgical instruments on commission basis (laughs).

With the meager income I even bought a scooter and also got married. But not a day passed by without the scare of Rashtriya Rifles and STF men harassing me. If there was a militant attack somewhere in Kashmir they would round up civilians, torture them to pulp. The situation was even worse for a surrendered militant like me. They detained us for several weeks, and threatened to implicate in false cases and were let free only if we paid huge bribes. Many times I had to go through this. Major Ram Mohan Roy of 22 Rashtriya Rifles gave electric shock to my private parts. Many times I was made to clean their toilets and sweep their camps. Once I had to bribe the security men with all that I had to escape from the Humhama STF torture camp. D.S.P. Vinay Gupta and D.S.P. Davinder Singh supervised the torture. One of their torture experts, Inspector Shanty Singh, electrified me for three hours until I agreed to pay one lakh rupees as bribe. My wife sold her jewelry and for the remaining amount they sold my scooter. I left the camp broken both financially and mentally. For six months I could not go outside home because my body was in such a bad shape. I could not even share the bed with my wife as my penile organ had been electrified. I had to take medical treatment to regain potency….

Afzal narrated the torture details with a disturbing calmness on his face. He seemed to have lot of details to tell me about the torture he faced. But unable to hear the horror stories of security forces that operate with my tax money, I cut him short and asked:

If you could come to the Case…, what were the incidents that led to the Parliament attack Case?

After all the lessons I learned in STF camps, which is either you and your family members get harassed constantly for resisting or cooperate with the STF blindly, I had hardly any options left, when D.S.P Davinder Singh asked me to do a small job for him. That is what he told, “a small job”. He told me that I had to take one man to Delhi. I was supposed to find a rented house for him in Delhi. I was seeing the man first time, but since he did not speak Kashmiri I suspected he was an outsider. He told his name was Mohammad [Mohammad is identified by the police as the man who led the 5 gunmen who attacked the Parliament. All of them were killed by the security men in the attack].

When we were in Delhi Mohammad and me used to get phone calls from Davinder Singh. I had also noticed that Mohammad used to visit many people in Delhi. After he purchased a car he told me now I could go back and gave me 35,000 rupees saying it was a gift. And I left to Kashmir for Eid.

When I was about to leave to Sopore from Srinagar bus stand I was arrested and taken to Parimpora police station. They tortured me and took to STF headquarters and from there brought me to Delhi. In the torture chamber of Delhi Police Special Cell, I told them everything I knew about Mohammad. But they insisted that I should say that my cousin Showkat, his wife Navjot S.A.R. Geelani and I were the people behind the Parliament attack. They wanted me to say this convincingly in front of media. I resisted. But I had no option than to yield when they told me my family was in their custody and threatened to kill them. I was made to sign many blank pages and was forced to talk to the media and claim responsibility for the attack by repeating what the police told me to say. When a journalist asked me about the role of S.A.R. Geelani I told him Geelani was innocent. A.C.P. Rajbeer Singh shouted at me in the full media glare for talking beyond what they tutored. They were really upset when I deviated from their story and Rajbeer Singh requested the journalists not to broadcast that part where I spoke of Geelani’s innocence.

Rajbeer Singh allowed me to talk to my wife the next day. After the call he told me if I wanted to see them alive I had to cooperate. Accepting the charges was the only option in front of me if I wanted to see the family alive and the Special Cell officers promised they would make my case weak so I would be released after sometime. Then they took me to various places and showed me the markets where Mohammad had purchased different things. Thus they made the evidence for the case.

Police made me a scapegoat in order to mask their failure to find out the mastermind of Parliament attack. They have fooled the people. People still don’t know whose idea was to attack the Parliament. I was entrapped into the case by Special Task Force (STF) of Kashmir and implicated by Delhi Police Special Cell.

The media constantly played the tape. The police officers received awards. And I was condemned to death.

Why didn’t you find legal defence?

I had no one to turn to. I did not even see my family until six months into the trial. And when I saw them it was only for a short time in the Patiala House Court. There was no one to arrange a lawyer for me. As legal aid is a fundamental right in this country I named four lawyers whom I wished to have defended me. But the judge S.N. Dhingra, said all four refused to do the case. The lawyer whom the Court chose for me began by admitting some of the most crucial documents without even asking me what the truth of the matter was. She was not doing the job properly and finally she moved to defend another fellow accused. Then the Court appointed an amicus curie, not to defend me, but to assist court in the matter. He never met me. And he was very hostile and communal. That is my case, completely unrepresented at the crucial trial stage. The fact of the matter is that I did not have a lawyer and in a case like this, what does not having a lawyer mean everyone can understand. If you wanted to put me to death what was the need for such a long legal process which to me was totally meaningless?

Do you want to make any appeal to the world?

I have no specific appeals to make. I have said whatever I wanted to say in my petition to the President of India. My simple, appeal is that do not allow blind nationalism and mistaken perceptions to lead you to deny even the most fundamental rights of your fellow citizens. Let me repeat what S.A.R. Geelani said after he was awarded death sentence at the trial court, he said, peace comes with justice. If there is no justice, there is no peace. I think that is what I want to say now. If you want to hang me, go ahead with it but remember it would be a black spot on the judicial and political system of India.

What is the condition in jail?

I’m lodged in solitary confinement in the high risk cell. I’m taken out from my cell only for a short period during noon. No radio, no television. Even the newspaper I subscribe reaches me torn. If there is a news item about me, they tear that portion apart and give me the rest.

Apart from the uncertainty about your future, what else concerns you the most?

Yes, a lot of things concern me. There are hundreds of Kashmiris languishing in different jails, without lawyers, without trial, without any rights. The situation of civilians in the streets of Kashmir is not any different. The valley itself is an open prison. These days the news of fake encounters is coming out. But that is only the tip of a big iceberg. Kashmir has everything that you don’t want to see in a civilized nation. They breathe torture. Inhale injustice.

He paused for a moment.

Also, there are so many thoughts that come into my mind; farmers who get displaced, merchants whose shops are sealed in Delhi and so on. So many faces of injustice you can see and identify, can’t you? Have you thought how many thousands of people get affected by all this, their livelihood, family…? All these things too, worry me.

Again a longer pause

Also global developments. I took to the news of the execution of Saddham Hussain with at most sadness. Injustice so openly and shamelessly done. Iraq, the land of Mesopotamia, world’s richest civilization, that taught us mathematics, use a 60 minute clock, 24 hour day, 360 degree circle, is thrashed to dust by the Americans. Americans are destroying all other civilizations and value systems. Now the so called War against Terrorism is only good in spreading hatred and causing destruction. I can go on saying what worries me.

Which books are you reading now?

I finished reading Arundhati Roy. Now I’m reading Sartre’s work on existentialism. You see, it is a poor library in the jail. So I will have to request the visiting Society for the Protection of Detainees and Prisoners Rights (SPDPR) members for books.

There is a campaign in defence for you…

I am really moved and obliged by the thousands of people who came forward saying injustice is done to me. The lawyers, students, writers, intellectuals, and all those people are doing something great by speaking against injustice.

The situation at the beginning, was such in 2001 and initial days of the case that it was impossible for justice loving people to come forward. When the High Court acquitted SAR Geelani people started questioning the police theory. And when more and more people became aware of the case details and facts and started seeing things beyond the lies, they began speaking up. It is natural that justice loving people speak up and say, injustice is done to Afzal. Because that is the truth.

Members of your family have conflicting opinion on your case?

My wife has been consistently saying that I was wrongly framed. She has seen how the STF tortured me and did not allow me to live a normal life. She also knew how they implicated me in the case. She wants me to see our son Ghalib growing up. I have also an elder brother who apparently is speaking against me under duress from the STF. It is unfortunate what he does, that’s what I can say.

See, it is a reality in Kashmir now, what you call the counter insurgency operations take any dirty shape—that they field brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor. You are breaking a society with your dirty tricks.

As far as the campaign is concerned I had requested and authorized Society for the Protection of Detainees and Prisoners Society (SPDPR) run by Geelani and group of activists to do the campaign.

What comes to your mind when you think of your wife Tabassum and Son Ghalib?

This year is the tenth anniversary of our wedding. Over half that period I spent in jail. And prior to that, many a times I was detained and tortured by Indian security forces in Kashmir. Tabassum witnessed both my physical and mental wounds. Many times I returned from the torture camp, unable to stand, all kinds of torture including electric shock to my penis, she gave me hope to live…We did not have a day of peaceful living. It is the story of many Kashmiri couples. Constant fear is the dominant feeling in all Kashmiri households.

We were so happy when a child was born. We named our son after the legendary poet Mirza Ghalib. We had a dream to see our son Ghalib grow up. I could spend very little time with him. After his second birthday I was implicated in the case.

What do you want him to grow up as?

Professionally, if you are asking, a doctor. Because that is my incomplete dream.

But most importantly, I want him to grow without fear. I want him to speak against injustice. That I am sure he will be. Who else know the story of injustice better than my wife and son?

[While Afzal continued talking about his wife and son, I could not stop recollecting what Tabassum told me when I met her outside Supreme Court in 2005 during the case’s appeal stage. When Afzal’s family members remained in Kashmir Tabassum dared to come to Delhi with her son Ghalib to organize defence for Afzal. Outside the Supreme Court New Lawyers chamber, at the tiny tea stall on the roadside, she chatted in detail about Afzal. While sipping and complaining the tea for excess sugar she told me how Afzal enjoyed cooking. One picture she painted struck me deep—one of those dear private moments in their lives, he would not allow her to enter kitchen, make her seated on the chair nearby and Afzal would cook, holding one book in his band, a ladle in the other and read out stories for her.]

If I may ask you about Kashmir issue…how do you think it can be solved?

First let the government be sincere to the people of Kashmir. And let them initiate talk with the real representatives of Kashmir. Trust me, the real representatives of Kashmir can solve the problem. But if the government consider peace process as a tactics of counter insurgency, then the issue is not going to be solved. It is time some sincerity is shown.

Who are the real people?

Find out from the sentiments of the people of Kashmir. I am not going to name x, y or z.

And I have an appeal to Indian media; stop acting as a propaganda tool. Let them report the truth. With their smartly worded and politically loaded news reports, they distort facts, make incomplete reports, build hardliners, terrorists et al. They easily fall for the games of the intelligence agencies. By doing insincere journalism you are adding to the problem. Disinformation on Kashmir should stop first. Allow Indians to know the complete history of the conflict, let them know the ground realities. True democrats cannot turn down the facts. If Indian government is not taking into account the wishes of Kashmiri people, then they can’t solve the problem. It will continue to be a conflict zone.

Also you tell me how are you going to develop real trust among Kashmiris when you send out the message that India has a justice system that hang people without giving a lawyer, without a fair trial?

Tell me, when hundreds of Kashmiris are lodged in jails most of them with no lawyer, no hope for justice, are you not further escalating the distrust on Indian government among Kashmiris? Do you think if you don’t address the core issues and do a cosmetic effort, you can solve Kashmir conflict? No, you can’t. Let the democratic institutions of both India and Pakistan start showing some sincerity, their politicians, Parliament, justice system, media, intellectuals...

9 security men were killed in the Parliament attack. What is that you have to tell their relatives?

In fact I share the pain of the family members who lost their dear ones in the attack. But I feel sad that they are misled to believe that hanging an innocent person like me would satisfy them. They are used as pawns in a completely distorted cause of nationalism. I appeal them to come out of it and see through things.

What do you see is your achievement in life?

My biggest achievement perhaps is that through my case and the campaign on the injustice done to me, the horror of STF has been brought into light. I am happy that now people are discussing security forces’ atrocities on civilians, encounter killings, disappearances, torture camps, etc...These are the realities that a Kashmiri grows up with. People outside Kashmir have no clue what Indian security forces are up to in Kashmir.

Even if they kill me for no crime of mine, it would be because they cannot stand the truth. They cannot face the questions arise out of hanging a Kashmiri with no lawyer.


An ear-splitting electric bell rang. Could hear hurried up conversations from the neighbor cubicles. This was my last question to Afzal.

What do you want to be known as?

He thought for a minute, and answered:

As Afzal, as Mohmammad Afzal. I am Afzal for Kashmiris, and I am Afzal for Indians as well, but the two groups have an entirely conflicting perception of my being. I would naturally trust the judgment of Kashmiri people not only because I am one among them but also because they are well aware of the reality I have been through and they cannot be misled into believing any distorted version of either a history or an incident.

I was confused with this last statement of Mohammad Afzal, but on further reflection I began to understand what he meant. History of Kashmir and narration of an incident by a Kashmiri is always a big shock for an Indian whose sources of knowledge on Kashmir happen to be confined only to the text books and media reports. Afzal did just that to me. Two more bells. Time to end Mulakat. But people were still busy conversing. Mike put off. Speaker stopped. But if you strained your ear, and watched the lip movement, you could still hear him. The guards made rough round-ups, asking to leave. As they found visitors not leaving, they put the lights off, mulakat room turned dark. In the long stretch of walk out from the Jail No 3 of Tihar jail compound to the main road I found myself in the company of clusters of twos and threes, moving out silently—either a cluster of mother, wife and daughter; or brother, sister and wife; or friend and brother; or someone else. Every cluster had two things in common. They carried an empty cotton bag back with them. Those bags had stains of Malai Kofta, Shahi Paneer and Mixed Vegetables, often spilled over by the rash frisking of the TSP man’s spoon. The second, I observed, they all wore inexpensive winter clothes, torn shoes, and outside Gate No 3 they waited for Bus No 588, Tilak Nagar-Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium bus, that perhaps took them to Dhaulakuan main junction—they are the poor citizens of this country. Remembered President Abdul Kalam’s musing how poor people were the awardees of capital punishments. My interviewee is also one. When I asked him how much ‘tokens’ (the form of currency allowed in the jail) he had, he said “enough to survive”.

Vinod K. Jose is a foreign correspondent attached with Radio Pacifica Network, USA. He is based in New Delhi.