Desicritics Category: Politics: Sri Lanka

Book Review: Gorilla by Shobasakthi, Trans. by Anushiya Sivanarayanan

Vinod Joseph — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:12:34 EDT

There are various ways in which an author can tell his story. It can be in the first person, solely from the narrator’s point of view. It can be through an omnipresent third person who sees and knows everything. Anthony Thasan, a.k.a Shoba Sakthi, a.k.a Rocky Raj, uses a third method while narrating his own story. Most of the novel, a fictionalised autobiography described by the translator Anushiya Sivanarayanan as autofiction, is described in the third person, though the narrator is also the author and the main character. Events unfold just a few feet from the reader and you get the feeling of being trapped inside Shoba Sakthi’s head, with eyes glued to the empty sockets.

The main story is set in a dalit colony in an island near Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. Civil war is raging between various Tamil nationalist movements and the Sri Lankan army. The LTTE is fighting and decimating other Tamil movements. On top of all this, Rocky Raj’s father is a violent goon who has earned the sobriquet Gorilla. The narrator’s unsentimental and matter-of-fact language gives the reader no respite from the all pervading violence. As I read this novel in a single four hour sitting, my head was repeatedly dunked into a cauldron of war, poverty, prejudice and cruelty. Everybody is cruel to each other. Rocky Raj’s father is cruel to him and other family members. The LTTE is cruel to its recruits. The Sri Lankan army and its Tamil supporters are cruel to Tamils who are perceived to be LTTE sympathisers. The French police are cruel to illegal immigrants. There is no quarter asked for and in any event, none is given.

Rocky Raj runs off from home and joins the LTTE. He is stripped of his individuality and brutalised. In a telling scene, as the new recruits wind up their training, they are taught how to evade the Sri Lankan army and withstand their interrogation if they are captured. I wondered what sort of tips they would get that would teach them how to withstand torture. There are no tips. Rocky Raj and other recruits are brutally beaten up as a graduation present.

Rocky Raj gives the LTTE the total dedication it demands of all its followers. But the LTTE is not only brutal, it is also internally corrupt. Rocky Raj’s honesty results in him being tortured and forced out of the LTTE.

Later the scene shifts to France, where the narrator is shown applying for asylum even though he has being rejected many times. Ex-fighters cannot get asylum and so the applicant has to come up with a plausible story that will hold water. In the midst of asylum applications and story fabrications, one starts to hear voices of moderation, tolerance and peace. The virtues of Gandhi and Mandela are extolled. We hear Anthony Thasan being told by Lokka, ‘we need to combat opinions with opinions, not with fists.’

‘What kind of opinions, Lokka? If I looked you and said that I wished to ……... ’ here Anthony Thasan says something really vulgar, something no one would put up with. But Lokka looks Anthony in the eye and says, ‘yes, that’s an opinion too.’

Does Lokka live up to the noble ideals that he extols? Or will he succumb to a fate that is not much different from the fate of many Sri Lankan Tamils? Do read this remarkable novel which has many references to facts and actual incidents that took place in northern Sri Lanka in the 80s and 90s, and find out.

The author Shobasakthi (nee Anthony Jesuthasan) is based in France. Once a LTTE child soldier, he has lived in France for over ten years. Shobasakthi works as a dishwasher at fastfood places from time to time. He has written a second novel Mmm... (describing the way Sri Lankan Tamil nod their heads at everything the Tigers say), a third called One Way, three collections of short stories, and most recently, a collection of non-fiction pieces.

I understand from various interviews given by Shobasakthi that when he initially wrote Gorilla over seven years ago, he lived in fear of the LTTE and its supporters in France who tolerate no dissent. Shobasakthi is now part of a network of Tamil Diaspora writers who propose alternatives to the fascist LTTE. All the more reason to read and promote this book.

Using Refugees for Strategic Purposes

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 9 Mar 2008 11:55:00 EDT

I have already written about refugees before but this time I want to look at what do the Bangladeshi, Kashmiri, Tamil, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh Refugees in India, Kosovo Albanian Refugees, Palestinian Refugees in various Arab countries, Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran, Hutu refugees in Zaire, Cambodian refugees in Thailand, Cuban refugees in USA and all the other refugees all over the world have in common? Well, they have all been used by “other people” for their own needs and agendas. And these “other people” use these refugees as part of an explicit strategy, not for purely humanitarian objectives. I was quite surprised when I worked through the argument.

Using refugees for strategic purposes seems to have a very long history, especially in the post World War II period. And generally, if managed properly, it works. See the examples which we have? While the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war is considered by many as perhaps the best example of the “Just War” theory, the fact remains that India did use the Bangladeshi refugees as a reason to poke Pakistan in the eye. As a matter of fact, that entire episode of Partition with millions and millions of refugees is still being played out by strategic use of the refugees in Kashmir, Pakistan and India.

The Mohajirs in Pakistan are used as a strategic bloc by their own leaders, as well as so many other political and religious leaders in Pakistan. The ethnically cleansed Kashmiri Pundits are used in the greater strategic Hindutva discourse and are ignored strategically by the Indian government for the overall secular discourse. The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were used strategically by the Indian central and State governments, as well as political parties to push their varied agendas just like the Singhalese and Sri Lankan Muslim refugees were themselves used by Singhalese politicians to push for a nationalist objective.

Pakistan, USA and Saudi Arabia used the Afghan refugees to push for their various nationalistic, ideological, autocratic and religious strategic objectives. It is quite well known how the refugees were armed and pushed into Afghanistan to fight against the Communist Godless Russians. So Pakistan wanted to do it to get its strategic depth and play to USA; and USA wanted to contain USSR, while Saudi Arabia didn’t want the godless communists anywhere near them. Thailand used the Cambodian refugees as a buffer to the poxy gits in Cambodia, while the Hutu refugees (who were in turn responsible for the Tutsi genocide) were armed by Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko to fight an insurgency in Eastern Zaire! And all these cases generally worked for the strategy.

The entire Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Kosovo mess was and is heaving with refugees. The refugees have been pulled and pushed from and to all sides, and have been used disgracefully and hypocritically by almost all parties starting from the head honcho himself, Slobodan Milosevic. That was one spectacular example of ethnic cleansing and strategic use of refugees that went bad. The other two most hypocritical uses of refugees are the use of the Cuban refugees and second is the use of the Palestinian refugees. The Cuban refugees have been fleeing the totalitarian and authoritarian communist regime for the past few decades to the USA. And for purely ideological reasons, the USA has been using them to hit back at Fidel Castro and his regime.

Not that it worked. Fidel is fine and has retired with his Havana cigars. He is a happy man, and all those American presidents and other grand poo bah’s who used the refugees have also gone. So I am not very sure now about what was the result of using those refugees and sending them to their deaths. Similarly, the Palestinian refugees. I have spoken about them and the actual whine to pain ratio is perhaps the highest with them compared to all refugees. But that is not the point. The point is that almost every other government has used them for their strategic needs. Your own citizens being restive about jobs or cost of bread? Use the refugees as a reason to rattle your sabre's at the Jews / Israel? Do not give them citizenship, treat them as bargaining counters, keep them in camps, use their people as propaganda, use their situation in the United Nations, etc. etc. And it is just not the government, but also the common people ranging from Journalist Associations in the UK to the USSR wanting to tweak the noses of the Americans to Saudi Arabian Islamic Charities to Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Economic refugees and migrants also get it in the neck, whether you are talking about the BNP talking about the Asian refugees or the Conservative Party talking about the Eastern European migrants. How about that Raj Thakarey fellow, who was recently fulminating about internal economic migration inside India?, Or the huge debates around the East German migrants into Western Germany and using them for political purposes?

But this essay is more about the political refugees who cross borders. Unfortunately, our international security and political institutions do not have anything functional to fight these nasty hypocritical folks who use the refugees for their own ends. At some point in time, it is but natural that the legal and political framework will extend to cover the use or rather the abuse of these poor displaced refugees. And it is at that time that decisions taken today will come back to haunt them. If you do not believe me, just see Slobodan Milosevic or Saddam Hussein, who tried to use population transfers as a weapon of war and politics… So whenever you hear anybody fulminating about refugees, do not take them at face value, there is almost always an ulterior motive.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!

Sethusamudram, Moolah, and Sivaji

Blokesablogin — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:39:22 EDT

The only interest for the DMK politicos to support the Sethusamudram Shipping Project is the Moolah! According to the recent Tamil blockbuster, Sivaji, starring Rajinikant (an aging horror- that is for another blog!), the average "fee" anyone needs to pay for approval of projects in Tamil Nadu is 25% of the total cost (and yes, several administrative and personnel have acknowledged the truth about this number: it usually ranges from 10-25%). Therefore, if the Sethusamudram project gets approved, the Congress and the DMK will split the 25% of INR 2427.4 crores which is a whopping INR 606 crores. It is interesting to note, that it was estimated to be INR 53 crores in 1971 which doubled to 110 crores in 1980. In 1996, it was a mere INR 1200 crores and today it is INR 2400. (doubled in 10 years)

Given that Congress needs the DMK in the center to keep the UPA going, the DMK may actually be negotiating for a larger portion. After all, the Congress can make up for the rest in dredging contracts in the future even if Jayalalitha comes back to power. Jayalalitha is not too happy about this idea right now as she is not in on the deal. In 1996, when she was in, she was supportive of the idea. Now she is dragging her feet.

Anyone saying that this project is going to benefit the economic growth of India is talking bull. The depth and width to which this canal is planned cannot handle huge ships that are getting to be more popular in commercial shipping. The maximum size of the ships that pass through the Suez carry 120,000 MT (Metric Tonne) while the ones this canal can handle will be a mere 30,000 MT. The issues of dredging this canal for keeping this economically viable over a period of time is questionable. Given the buffetting and mingling of the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, the amount of sand to be dredged annually is colossal. and where will we dump all those millions of cubic meters of dredged sand?

The Indian voter needs to see how the money is going to be spent. Also, who all are in on the deal. Which companies will get the contract. What their relationship is with the politicos. If a mere Bofors deal of IRs 1400 crores netted IRs. 64 crores to the parties that were exposed, imagine the numbers today. We are talking twice that money. We are talking 5 times the kickbacks. We are not the dumb idiots of the 80s who had no idea that kickbacks were the nature of brokering large deals, paid for by taxpayers. The 21st century citizen has access to information that expose these greedy schemes. A reading of John Perkins' book Confessions of an Economic Hitman cannot but make things clearer.

With the next general elections just 2 years away, it is the right time to start a huge project, get the money in and pay for the next campaign. The goondas of the 80s are so passe. The nukkad collections are at an end for politicians. The corporations pay an "executive fee" that we call commissions to the politicos who broker the deal to give them work. No project, no moolah.

Of course, in the name of economic liberalization, we now have a second level of skimming money from the foolish public- stocks, public offering. We not only pay taxes that will be spent on the project, we now buy shares and double pay our way into digging a canal through some shallow strait waters that needs constant dredging. This is what we call ankhon mein dhool jhonkna (throwing sand in one's eyes)!

India's Geo-Strategic Policy - India Adrift?

Cynical Nerd — Mon, 9 Apr 2007 08:53:00 EDT

Sixty years ago, India won its independence after centuries of turmoil, fragmentation and foreign rule. Its independence was the outcome of a freedom struggle rooted in our civilizational ethos that involved ordinary men and women from different regions, castes and linguistic backgrounds united in a nationalist vision of a resurgent India. Today, one sees the reverse. The seeds of division sown by the colonial rulers and Christian missionaries have resurfaced. If left unchecked, we fear that India would suffer the fate of a Yugoslavia or Soviet Union given prevailing trends that have implicit and an unstated American hand.

There is much to be analyzed about the inept handling of terrorism, national security and geo-strategic issues by the current UPA administration led by Sonia Antonia Maino "Gandhi" - the de facto ruler today. The mainstream Indian media be it the Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu, CNN-IBN and NDTV sidestep pressing national issues and focus on non-issues. We would like to present a different perspective as food for thought. In the interests of brevity, we would limit ourselves to a few issues this time. However, there would be follow-up posts that would address the remainder.

The Maoist Belt:

The Prime Minister himself reported that the Naxalites/Maoists are the single most dangerous threat to India's internal security now spread over 180 districts across 16 states. It was the Marxist allies of the current administration that forced the UPA to support a firm Maoist hold in Kathmandu through a coalition arrangement. One can now anticipate a Maoist corridor that stretches from Nepal, to Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh - a pincer directed at the heart of the Indian Union! The NDA had clamped down heavily on the Maoists as witnessed in Andhra Pradesh. The current UPA however was soft on the Naxalites with sorry consequences.

Following the brutal assassination of Jharkand MP Sunil Mahato on March 4, the daring attack in Chattisgarh on March 15 killing more than fifty policemen indicates that the threat has worsened. Yet, very little has been done to counter the Maoists ideologically and militarily. The March 15th attack was well planned in the wee hours of morning and included the use of grenades and rocket launchers. The police under fire were caught unaware and sent SOS messages to nearby Central Reserve Police Force outfits. It failed to yield a quick response, indicating a lack of coordination between Center and the Naxal-hit states.

Even as the government's response is in disarray, the Maoists have increased their precision of their attacks and are rapidly evolving into a highly organized military force. Per Ajai Sahni of the Institute of Conflict Management, "Maoist ambitions in India now extend to the farthest reaches of the country, and this is not just a fantasy or an aspiration, but a strategy, a projection, a plan and a programme under implementation. A multiplicity of Maoist documents testify to the meticulous detail in which the contours of the current and protracted conflict have been envisaged, in order to "Intensify the peoples' war throughout the country". The Maoists have now vowed to attack every Special Export Zone (SEZ) and take the fight to urban areas.

The ideological sympathizers of the Maoists in the "civil society" such as the People's Union for Civil Liberties, while silent against the Maoist atrocities turn up with their human rights "excess" by the State only when the heat turns against the Naxalites. There is no critical analysis in the Indian media about the foreign-financed NGOs who serve as virtual fronts for the Naxalites.

Assam and the North-East:

Mizoram and Nagaland only became Christian majority regions under Jawaharlal Nehru who allowed unfettered missionary activity. Under the Congress, Assam is now poised to become a Muslim majority region due to a policy of drift with regards to the unfettered influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh since 1974!

There has been a resurgence of terrorism in the North East since the UPA came to power. The earlier NDA had the ULFP on the run. But no longer.

In Assam, the recent success of the ULFA-sponsored "bandh" which brought life to a standstill has yet again demonstrated the power of the secessionists under the current regime. It is now clear that they used the time during ceasefire to recoup and rejuvenate and hit back in the form of multiple terrorist attacks. The gruesome killing of more than 60 people on January 5th and the increased focus on soft targets including children reveals the ruthlessness of the organization.

Several NGOs such as the People's Consultative Group, People's Committee for Peace Initiatives in Asom, Manan Adhikar Surakha Samiti and 'intellectuals' of the like of Indira Goswami organize protests and condemn the security forces but never raise their voice against ULFA's violence. These organizations that often act as mediators with the terrorists oppose the migrant workers from Bihar and Nepal but never condemn illegal Bangladeshi migration. They pretty much follow the line of ULFA, which no longer considers the numerically more significant Bangladeshis as "illegal immigrant", for their wrath is selectively directed against Hindi-speaking peoples.

Succeeding Congress administrations had clearly turned a blind eye towards illegal immigration only to appease the Muslim vote bank and return to power. 32% of Assamese population is now Bengali Muslim. The state would soon be a Muslim-majority one. Pakistan, Bangladesh and China want a destabilized North-East. B. Raman retired RAW chief asserts that the ULFA had obtained help from ISI since 2004 sending their cadres for training in Pakistan via Dhaka.

Bangladesh, keen on a Muslim-majority state in India's north-east, shelters top ULFA leaders such as Paresh Barua. Several Islamist organizations like the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam and Muslim Liberation Army, have heightened their anti-India rhetoric with calls for the formation of an Islamist state that includes Assam, Bangladesh and parts of Bihar and West Bengal with the active support of ISI and DGFI (the Bangladeshi external intelligence organization).

Sri Lanka:

India under Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Vajpayee had Sri Lanka firmly within it's sphere of influence. But not so under Manmohan Singh!

Sri Lanka has slowly but steadily moved out of India's control under the UPA. Our hands off approach has created space for the United States to enter. The U.S. is keen to invest in Trincomalee as a strategic port to dominate the Bay of Bengal and contain India. It has signed a de facto ten-year defense treaty with the Sri Lankan government, a step that would never have happened under Indira Gandhi, Rajiv or Vajpayee. The American ambassador in Colombo is popularly known as the Viceroy! Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence is an American citizen. The head of the Sri Lankan army is an American resident. The President's other brother and influential policy wonk in Sri Lanka today is an American resident as well. Sri Lanka is now a client state of the United States and its recent successes in the battlefield against the LTTE owes much to American intelligence support. The UPA administration has no Sri Lanka policy leaving India's southern flank exposed to foreign domination.

The UPA furthermore has turned a blind eye towards the gross human violations by the Sri Lankan forces. This includes an unprecedented aerial bombardment of Tamil villages and farmland, not to mention the 300,000 Tamil displaced in recent months. The Sri Lankan navy continues to fire at Indian fishermen with gay abandon!

China competes with the United States to establish its influence in Sri Lanka. They would soon build a US$ 1 billion deep-water port in Humbantota and a US$ 500 million coal-fired power plant in Puttalam. They have obtained oil and gas exploration rights in the Gulf of Mannar - a mere 15 miles from the Indian coast.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has promised to fund the development of a Sri Lankan oil and gas regulatory mechanism. More Western petroleum companies are expected to bid for exploration rights in that strategic area off India's southern coast.

Such a marginalization of Indian interest in the island nation would have never happened under Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Vajpayee. But Sonia Maino represents different priorities i.e. the cynical use of caste and religion-based vote bank politics regardless of long-term national interest.

United States:

The NDA tested nuclear devices in 1998 and earned the belated recognition of the United States. The UPA government is now in the process of conceding on national interest through a flawed nuclear deal. It has put all of its strategic crown jewels into the American basket with no reciprocity in sight. The final version of the "123″ bilateral treaty delivered by the Americans flies in the face of the July 18th agreement. Despite the warnings given with the enactment of the Hyde Act, the Prime Minister had assured that the deal depends only the 123 agreement and not the Hyde Act. But as expected, the U.S. negotiator Nicholas Burns emphasized that any final agreement signed by the President cannot violate the provisions of the Hyde Act. The Americans are upping the pressure and are "impatient" at the pace of negotiations to paraphrase the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher. They are keen on signing an agreement in its present form by the end of this year before the campaign for '08 U.S. elections kicks in.

The recent arrest and indictment of four Indian-Americans for allegedly selling electronics components to Indian defense organizations in violation of "non-proliferation, export-control laws" clearly shows the signs of things to come. The United States apparently has no qualms over selling the same components to Chinese companies. It appears that an electronic component that can be sold to China cannot be transferred to India despite it being an alleged "strategic partner" and a "natural ally" of the United States!

All kinds of dishonest maneuvers are being used to put India on the defensive and surreptiously introduce clauses on future weapons testing and reprocessing of spent fuel. This nuclear deal, which was an offshoot of the "Next Steps in Strategic Partnership", that aimed at increased collaboration in high-tech, defense and space collaboration between the two countries has being used to browbeat India into submission.

Conclusion:

What we have covered in this post is just the tip of the iceberg. The legitimate issues we have raised here merits to be discussed and debated inside and outside the Parliament. This administration has to made accountable for its shortcomings and address them on a war footing before it becomes too late to undo the damage. And yet, the principal Opposition party has lost its chances in exploiting them. They have instead chosen to follow the beaten path concentrating on parochial issues. The media too shares the responsibility for not asking the tough questions expected of it in a functioning democracy. The public needs to be informed on the perils being faced by the nation, which will soon endanger everyone's livelihoods in a dramatic way.

Over to our readers hoping for a lively and enlightened debate!

A Dark Paradise - The Genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils

C R Sridhar — Sun, 1 Apr 2007 12:03:32 EDT

"The violence was vicious and bloody. In street after street in Colombo groups of rioters hit only at shops and factories, as well as homes owned by Tamils. Troops and police (almost exclusively Sinhalese) either joined the rioters or stood idly by. The events were so well organized no one doubts that there was a master list of targets." - Financial Times, 12 August 1983.

The Sri Lankan Airlines in its travel brochure enticingly invites tourists with the blurb 'Visit Sri Lanka: A Taste of Paradise.' The lavishly illustrated brochure is replete with seductive pictures of the brand new hotels with expanses of beach and ocean and tables overflowing with lobsters and tropical fruits. Beneath the idyllic picture of paradise there is an ethnic struggle between the dominant Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority locked in a deadly embrace of death and destruction. The recent daring air attack of the Sri Lankan military base north of the Colombo International Airport by the LTTE signifies a new escalation to the civil war waged between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE.

The deadly antagonism

'The antagonism between Tamils and Sinhalese,' says Professor Gananath Obeysekara, Head of the Department of Anthropology, Princeton University, 'is rooted in the country's history but has been exacerbated into interethnic violence only since 1956.' The old file photos of the particularly vicious anti-Tamil riots in 1983, recorded in stark images of gutted buildings and burnt Tamilian bodies, is a poignant reminder of man's inhumanity to man. 'The brutality was unbelievable,' adds Gananath Obeysekara, 'homes and shops were burnt, cars were doused with gasoline and lit, sometimes with the occupant inside; some people were hacked to death, others burnt alive.' Another gruesome eyewitness account of the anti-Tamil pogrom lays bare the brutality of riots: 'Mobs of Sinhala youth rampaged through the streets, ransacking homes, shops and offices, looting them and setting them ablaze, as they sought out members of the Tamil ethnic minority.' Some 'motorists were dragged from their cars to be stoned and beaten with sticks... Others were cut down with knives and axes.' Conservative estimate place the figure of about 3000 Tamils killed in the riots.

Roots of the Conflict

In order to fathom the roots of the conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils, one has to turn the historical clock back to 1948 when Sri Lanka gained independence from the British. The first act of the independent Sri Lankan government was to strip the Tamil plantation workers of the citizenship rights. These workers were descended from people brought to Sri Lanka from India by the British in the 19th century to work on coffee and tea plantations. As a result, at least a million Tamil workers were deprived of Sri Lankan citizenship. This hostile act did not completely disenfranchise the other Tamils living in the north and east of the island of Sri Lanka for thousands of years. But soon other laws were pressed into service, which adversely affected the prospects of all Tamils living Sri Lanka. The government made Sinhalese the sole official language rendering people speaking Tamil as second-class citizens. The Tamils were excluded from most government jobs and access to education was denied to them.

At first the Tamils began their peaceful protests against the repression by staging demonstrations, sit-ins and by fighting elections. These demonstrations were met with mob attacks of incited by Buddhist monks and politicians. As no progress could be made to roll back the anti-Tamil policies of the government, the youths increasingly took to violent means to make the government. 'The LTTE was formed in 1972,' notes Chris Lee, 'and carried out its first major armed action in 1978. After the 1983 pogrom, the LTTE gained increased support from the Tamil community and dramatically stepped up its war against the SLA.'

Birth of Tamil Tigers

The failure of moderate Tamil political parties to improve the plight of Tamils living in Sri Lanka saw the growth of LTTE as a fighting force. This fact should be borne in mind to understand that LTTE is a product of Tamil Nationalism. 'The Tamil Tigers (LTTE),' observes A. J. Wilson, a noted authority on Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, 'today appear to hold the key to their people's future. While they have suffered setbacks, including the loss of the Tamil capital, Jaffna, they remain a potent guerrilla force, able to strike with impunity at both military and civilian targets.' The Tigers' grip on the Tamil population seems secure, as does their overseas support and funding from Tamil exiles in Britain, Canada, and Australia.

Systematic repression and torture

The inability of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) to quell Tamil Nationalism led to large-scale repression against civilian Tamil population. This terrible fact could be gleaned from Human Rights reports on SLA atrocities committed on Tamils. A statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reports: 'in recent decades, Sri Lanka has had one of the worst records in the world concerning forced disappearances. In 1971, around 10,000 persons disappeared in the south of the country. Between 1987 and 1991, over 30,000 disappeared in the south, and since the early 1980s there have been constant disappearances in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The exact number of such disappearances remains unknown.' The Tamil militants also unleashed its brand of terror by killing service personnel and indulged in disfiguring the bodies and desecrating corpses.

Moreover, under the draconian Emergency Regulations and Laws, the security forces have resorted to pervasive torture. Some of the bizarre tortures inflicted include - insertion of chili powder in the nostrils, mouth and eyes and on the genitals of the suspect, covering the victim's head with a plastic bag soaked in petrol, prolonged beatings especially on the soles of the feet while victim lies stretched out on a bench or while hanging by the knees from a pole or hanging by feet. 'What we are emphasizing in this second report is that the gruesome torture still being practiced in police stations across Sri Lanka indicates the almost total breakdown in policing in the country,' remarks Basil Fernando, Executive Director of The Asian Legal Resource Center and 'to describe policing in Sri Lanka as being in crisis would be to understate the current situation; it is nearing collapse.'

Dubious legacy of Rajiv Gandhi

The controversial decision of Rajiv Gandhi to send Indian troops to Sri Lanka was a tragic event, which led to his untimely death at the hands of a LTTE woman suicide bomber. As A.P.Venkateshwaran, former Indian Foreign Secretary, recalled, 'the war against the Tamils was escalated. When the then Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayawardene met Rajiv Gandhi in 1986 during the SAARC conference in Bangalore, Jayawardene warned Rajiv that it would be dangerous for India if a separate state were to be established in Eelam and then extended by merging Tamil Nadu. Rajiv easily believed what Jayawardene said. I said that things would never develop the way Jayawardene's predicted. 'This was rubbish. Tamil Nadu will never be separated from India'. But he, Rajiv, believed what the head of a neighbouring state said than what I said. The Indian Peace Keeping Force was sent to Sri Lanka within a few months after I resigned my job. You all know what happened after this - thousands of Eelam Tamils were killed and more than 1500 Indian troops lost their lives. In the end, the Indian troops were asked to withdraw from Sri Lanka without any gratitude...' Ultimately, the Indian government withdrew its troops in 1990 but the damage done to its reputation was considerable as the troops were accused of widespread rape and indiscriminate killings.

The end game

The brief respite to the conflict in Sri Lanka came in 2001 after the intense fighting for nearly two decades made both the factions war weary. The United National Front led by Ranil Wickremasinghe won the elections and promised to bring peace to his war torn country. Both sides formalized MOU on February 22, 2002 and then signed the permanent ceasefire agreement. Norway was appointed to act as mediator. Wickremasinghe ended the ban on LTTE to pave way for negotiations.

The optimism for lasting peace proved illusory as hard-line Sinhala factions within President Kumaratunga's party distrusted Wickremasinghe's peace overtures. The talks broke down on April 21, 2003.

President Kumaratunga dismissed Wickremasinghe and declared a state of Emergency. In the fresh elections that followed, United People's Freedom Alliance opposed to LTTE won and Mahinda Rajapakse was elected Prime Minister. The peace did hold, though tenuously. The LTTE split and Colonel Karuna became the commander of its eastern wing. After a brief struggle Colonel Karuna retreated but still remains a presence in the East. Peace still held as no major clashes were reported between SLA and LTTE.

In the beginning of December 2005, fighting broke out between LTTE and SLA killing as many as 150 government troops. In December 2006, the Sri Lankan government launched an offensive to drive LTTE from the eastern sector and then to defeat the LTTE in the north. The monsoon intervened and the operation was aborted. On December 8, 2006, the army resumed hostilities and it took Vakarai - a principal stronghold of the LTTE in the East.

Though there were speculations that the LTTE was weakened there was a daring air attack in recent days on a Sri Lankan military base near the International airport. Hopes of finding lasting peace appear to be a remote possibility as the country again explodes in an orgy of violence.

The tragic civil war in Sri Lanka brings to mind the words of John Adams who aptly said: "That the desires of the majority of the people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the minority, is demonstrated by every page of the history of the whole world"

Indian First, Tamilians Second

Wondering Man — Sun, 1 Apr 2007 00:28:04 EDT

While reading reports of a recent round of four Indian fishermen being killed by the Sri Lankan forces (or at the hands of LTTE), I found that many of them state that those who lost their lives were 'Tamil fishermen'. Those reports that focused on the 'Tamil Fishermen' angle went on to explain how the ruling Tamil Nadu Government and DMK supremo, Muthavel Karunanidhi is putting necessary pressure on the Indian government to view the matter as seriously as it demands; or that the opposition is demanding similar actions citing failure of state government.

Politics has come to such a level in India that one is aghast to see that the number of MPs DMK provides to ruling Indian coalition government is the gauge of the amount of pressure that may be effective to stir our central government.

How sad! Irrespective of the number of MPs or the communities of the people concerned, the Indian government should always take up matters such as this with the utmost concern.

We Indians must see them as Indians first, Tamil or other identities next. And all of India demands that the Indian government do the needful because of such loss of Indian lives at others' hands can't be tolerated and must be stopped - whatever be the situation.

We in India don't learn. Take, for example a similar incident, though different in many aspects, of the British troops taken as hostages by the Iranian forces along the Shatt-al-Arab, where clarity on whose territory the incident happened is murkier due to historical reasons, claims and counter-claims. However, it must be noted that none of those captured were physically harmed and one can be reasonably certain that they would be freed without any physical harm sooner or later, once the egos of the two states get amply sated.

For India, this is not the first. A series of such reports hit us from Tamil Nadu alone in last couple of months. Before that there were reports of such killings of Indian nationals in the hands of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), or others.

We in India should not at all have a posture of threatening our neighbors; rather we should seek the status of healthy neighborhood status for mutual benefits and developments. However what can't be ignored is India seldom gets that respect from its neighboring states that India deserves. The failure of it needs to be squarely shared by our own government.

We demand an absolute stop of such incidents, and a thorough accountability for this mishap that killed another four in its latest round to be established and the guilty punished - be through diplomatic means or others. They are Indians after all, and today if we don't stand united, when would we? If need be, the matter needs to be raised in UN to embarrass the guilty. Truly, this extreme possibility needs to be reserved.

We fully understand and empathize with the government of Sri Lanka and its people and broadly with all peace loving people in their effort to take on terrorism. However poor Indian fishermen can not be used as pawns in their battles.

We also demand that the Indian government and the Sri Lankan government, after bringing the guilty to book, adequately compensate those fishermen who lost their near-and-dear and earning members. And if the situation remains that fluid in the territorial waters between India and Sri Lanka in that area in the near future, the government should immediately advise fishermen not to venture out into the sea. And as that means they would lose their livelihood for those few days, the cost of that should be borne by respective governments again by paying them upfront compensations for those many days or months.

We hope we act as a nation, and stop politicians' efforts to play politics over caste, state of origin or language or by the number of MPs they offer for the central government to stay in power. One billion Indians stand firm in their commitment to Tamil fishermen today. Hope our government also does that.

LTTE Launch Air Raid In Sri Lanka - The World's First Terrorist Air Force

Aaman Lamba — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:11:13 EDT

The LTTE might have changed the game, perhaps for the worse, with the use of two light aircraft to drop four bombs on a military base north of the Colombo International Airport today, killing at least three people and injuring sixteen. The aircraft at the airbase were unharmed, and the international airport was closed temporarily. This is the first time the LTTE have used air power in their war/struggle/rebellion against the Sri Lankan government, and will likely bring stronger reprisals as the government forces come to terms with the new threat on the landscape.

The Sri Lankan government had claimed earlier this year that the LTTE had constructed an airstrip, and this military action of the 'Tamil Eelam Air Force' might be the first such example of air action by The World's First Terrorist Air Force. The LTTE claimed responsibility for the attack, with their spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan. releasing a statement, saying, in part, "It is a measure to protect Tamil civilians from the genocidal aerial bombardments by Sri Lankan armed forces. More attacks of the same nature will follow."

The Sri Lankan Air Force has carried out numerous air attacks on LTTE areas in the past, and this will cause them to step up the air campaign. The LTTE may draw on it's existing Hezbollah alliance to support any government offensive.

This new capability of the LTTE will be doubtless of concern to India, separated by only a small distance from the Northern LTTE-controlled regions of Sri Lanka. It would not be out of the realm of possibility to see a joint Indo-Sri Lankan operation to neutralize the LTTE air capabilities. India may be also watching with interest the current support being provided by Pakistan's army to the Sri Lankan government in counter-insurgency operations. The Indian government has expressed serious concern on the air attacks, terming it a 'very, very serious development.'

In the global sense, the ability of non-state actors like the LTTE to procure and fund air operations puts in question the quality of anti-money laundering and monitoring activities of world governments. UN Security Council Resolution No 1373, passed after the 9/11 tragedies explicitly forbids the supplying of arms, ammunition and funds to identified terrorist organizations, such as the LTTE, which is on the U.S. State Department watch list since 1997. The peace talks being facilitated in Norway, and the on-paper ceasefire are both belied by the over 4000 deaths in Sri Lanka since 2005, when the current president Mahinda Rajapakse came to power.

The U.S. State Department notes in it's entry on the LTTE in their watch list,

The LTTE's overt organizations support Tamil separatism by lobbying foreign governments and the United Nations. The LTTE also uses its international contacts to procure weapons, communications, and any other equipment and supplies it needs. The LTTE exploits large Tamil communities in North America, Europe, and Asia to obtain funds and supplies for its fighters in Sri Lanka. Information obtained since the mid-1980s indicates that some Tamil communities in Europe are also involved in narcotics smuggling.

Policies of 'See No Evil' in world politics have been long since invalidated, perhaps it is time to apply realism in South Asian political affairs. Local problems are no longer purely local, and collective solutions must be found to them. The collective will is perhaps lacking, as in the past, however. The other deterrent to realpolitik might be the creeping 'culture of fear' that has gripped the world, and obscured holistic solutions to global terror, replacing them with expedient means instead.

Compromising India's Naval Security

Sandeep — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:29:06 EDT

A cursory reading of Kautilya's Arthashastra reveals an almost-paranoid concern about securing a kingdom. It is nothing short of astonishing that the principles he has enunciated there are universally valid.

Contrast that to the way modern India has completely botched up in this very crucial department. On all fronts.

Two news items are relevant:

Real significance of Gwadar port

China's decision to finance the construction of Gwadar port and coastal highway linking the port to Karachi will help its plans to develop western China [...] But this is only one side of the picture. China has no blue water navy and feels defenceless in the Persian Gulf against any hostile action to choke off its energy supplies. To cope with the new challenges, the Chinese leadership envisaged a new plan that was called by the US as "assembling a string of pearls."

This is also the other side of the Draconian embrace of Pakistan. For more information on the string of pearls, head here.

Frankly, this shouldn't shock India because it is the price of negligence.

Despite glaring and violent historical instances of the critical importance of the Indian Ocean, we have demonstrated no concern about what our neighbours are doing about what we have neglected. Several warning signals have been sounded in vain. We seem to always wake up only when the water level rises above the neck--we have a parallel in how we play our cricket matches.

The root lies in absolute short-sighted cluelessness, nay, an abject lack of seriousness about defending all our borders. In Defending India, Jaswant Singh attributes India's incoherent defence policy to the failure of establishing a strategic culture. In the immediate aftermath of independence, India should have, he says, established a sort of centre of excellence dedicated to strategic affairs. Not only did India do the exact opposite, but compounded the error by completely politicizing defence. Thus, Krishna Menon and V.K. Kaul were made scapegoats in the China war so Nehru could emerge unscathed. Jaswant Singh further says India never learnt to exercise power. This is how low India has sunk from the days of Kautilya who detailed how exactly the King had to exercise power, in what proportion and manner, against what other state, and so on.

On the contrary, China has quietly and rapidly modernized its Navy, and exercised the oldest trick of befriending an enemy. It betrayed signals about three years ago, yet:

[Despite mounting concerns about China in the Indian Ocean,] India is not ready to privilege its Navy, which remains the smallest and least funded service in this year's defence budget as in previous ones. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has taken the lion's share of the capital outlay for equipment purchase, which runs contrary to India's current threat profile, while the Navy, which must secure the Indian Ocean for India's growth, prosperity and security independence, has been shortchanged as before.

If one can forgive the development at Gwadar owing to it lying in enemy territory, nothing explains the slow rise of Sri Lanka, which now has powerful friends:

China moves into India's back yard

China is all set to drop anchor at India's southern doorstep. An agreement has been finalized between Sri Lanka and China under which the latter will participate in the development of a port project at Hambantota on the island's south coast. [...] China's role in the Hambantota project has stirred concern in some quarters in India. Some analysts here have argued that India has lost out to the Chinese. They say China won the project thanks to Indian lethargy and shortsightedness. According to this view, while India has been dragging its feet on this and other issues, the Chinese quickly moved in to clinch the deal. In the process, it has made inroads into Sri Lanka - a country that India regards as within its sphere of influence. [...] Even as the Sri Lankans were finalizing the deal with the Chinese, they clinched an agreement with the Americans. In Colombo, officials reached agreement on an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) with the US. The agreements come at a time when India is already watching with concern the growing Pakistani influence in Sri Lanka.

This is a truly unforgivable development. It points to a singluar failure on multiple fronts, the root of which lies in India's arrogant attitude towards its smaller, weaker neighbours. It is paying the price for the recent Nepal foul-up. That some members to the far Left have a hand in the Nepal Affair is not entirely false. It is rather unfortunate that despite a deep, shared heritage dating back to ancient times, India chose to bully these tiny states. It has rarely--if at all--shown the same "courage" in the face of stronger powers. Rajiv Gandhi's disastrous misadventure in Sri Lanka shows in these scathing words of J.N. Dixit:

India's credibility as a mediator and ... regional power capable of controlling critical developments and stabilising the situation suffered seriously ... in the world at large. The Central government's credibility with the people of Tamil Nadu has also been affected ... because of the failure of the [Indo-Sri Lankan] agreement.

Indira Gandhi set the tone for this failure by

... her policy [of] materially supporting Tamil militant separatists. India's interests and the Tamil cause which oriented her towards generating pressure on Jayawardene could have been pursued by...diplomatic means instead of extending material support to Tamil militants. (Defending India)

This should count as a bigger failure than the Chinese humiliation because India created a problem where none existed. Did our policymakers learn since then? The answer lies here:

However, there are others who have played down the implications of the Sino-Lankan cooperation at Hambantota. They dismiss allegations that India lost the port project to the Chinese and maintain that India was not interested in the Hambantota oil-tank farm and bunkering project in the first place, as it already has a sizable presence in Trincomalee on Sri Lanka's northeast coast.

"India feels that it is unnecessary to bid for it [Hambantota] given the fact that it is already refurbishing the World War II-vintage oil-tank farm at Trincomalee with 99 giant tanks. Out of these, only 35 can be put to use in the near future," a report in the Hindustan Times said in 2005. "There isn't enough business in Sri Lanka to make expansion worthwhile even in Trincomalee. India also does not consider the Hambantota project to be of a great strategic value, either. For India, a presence in Trincomalee makes much more strategic sense."

None of these arguments is supported by facts. When dealing with a proven backstabber like China, extreme cynicism becomes a virtue in shaping policy. The facts that support the opposite state that China's presence in Hambantota is

... about China's presence close to Indian shores, which has implications for India's security. Besides, with Hambantota, Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean has been further consolidated.

Which translates to gross dereliction of securing our shores. The US, China, and Pakistan to an extent, have already surrounded us. This again contrasts with the unassailable Naval fleet that Shivaji--fairly recent compared to Kautilya's times--had built:

At the time of his coronation, Shivaji had 57 major ships of war ... with a total fighting strength of 5000 men. Five years later, there were 66 major ships ... Shivaji's fleet was barely five years ... raised from scratch ... [the British] dug a ditch around the town in Bombay as a protection against him, and ... erected a wall behind the ditch. They even joined hands with their bitterest rivals, the Portugese ... the Dutch lost an implausible number of men the only time attacked one of his forts and then they called up a squadron of warships ... from Batavia ... no ship could pass the Konkan waters singly ...

(Defending India)

This account is about Shivaji's Navy general, Kanhoji Angrey.

Yet we refuse to wake up to these developments but are active in far more important things--like counting the number of Muslim heads in our armed forces.

Sri Lanka's New Phase of Fratricidal Conflict

Rahul Bhonsle — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:16:21 EST

The month of November saw hectic political and military activity with the LTTE celebrating, "Maveeran Varam" or Great Fighters week coinciding with the birthday of the supreme leader Prabhakaran. The feudal character of the organization with its total allegiance to the supreme commander is evident with the tribute to the martyrs coinciding with the birthday of the leader. The military activity has considerably shifted from IED and deep penetration attacks to artillery duels and sneak raids on posts. Both sides are increasingly using heavy guns, tanks and even multi barrel rockets to pound each other's positions. The Sri Lankan Air Force is also employing newly acquired Kfir fighter aircraft to strike at LTTE positions, most of which are camouflaged in school buildings and other public areas or deep in the jungles. The renewed escalation of conflict which started with the attacks of each side on the water works at Muttur near Trincomalee and then escalated to Jaffna have seen blockade of A9 Highway by the Sri Lankan forces thereby denying the beleaguered population in Jaffna crucial supplies. The Government aims to put pressure on the Tigers who had been depending on this life line for supplies as well as for extorting large sums in the form of toll taxes.

Pounding the positions causing heavy destruction to troops and equipment followed by blocking of supplies as well as funds to the Tigers appears to be the Sri Lankan government's strategy. Military attacks by Sri Lankan Jets continued on Tamil Tiger strongholds in the North and the East. Killinochchi town near the headquarters of Tigers was also attacked ostensibly on the sea base of the Sea Tigers, who reports indicate have suffered heavy losses in the recent months. There were also a large number of clashes with heavy casualties during the period. One of the principal ones saw the killing of 45 civilians in Vakarai, Batticaloa in clashes between the Army and the LTTE. An artillery duel formed the key feature of these strikes. This was followed by a naval encounter near Point Pedro between the Sea Tigers and Sri Lankan navy in which both sides claimed to have caused heavy losses on each other.

Exchange of fire between the LTTE and Sri Lankan troops led to abortion of the supply convoy which was dispatched to the beleaguered people in Vakarai on 29 November. The convoy which had been organized by the ICRC and the UNICEF as well as the World Food Program could not proceed because of the cross firing. 30,000 civilians are said to be in urgent need of food in Vakarai after intermittent clashes that have been on going in the area after 8 November. A suicide attack was also launched on the brother of the President, Mr. Rajpaksa at the end of the month though he escaped unhurt. The LTTE has had a consistent policy of elimination of key personalities including high level government officials, political leaders and military top brass.

Human rights activists on the other hand are incensed with large scale abductions and induction of child soldiers in Sri Lanka by all parties. The UN special advisor to the UN representative for children Ambassador Allan Rock indicated that there was extensive induction of children particularly by the Karuna group aided by the military. The military is said to be taking photographs of children in villages and the Karuna cadre follows up to recruit them. 60 to 70 children are reported to have been abducted in June and 135 in May in Batticaloa which is suspected to be only one third the actual numbers. The camps of the Karuna faction are located in government controlled areas thus providing some credibility to the allegation.

The state of LTTE casualties announced during the Martyrs Week Casualty Figures is revealing. The Tamil Tigers remembered 18,742 comrades killed which also included 299 suicide bombers and 4065 women combatants known as freedom birds. 818 were reported to be killed in 2006 though the government has recorded figures of 2018 dead. The killings during the year 2006 up to November are said to be 3400 in a total figure of 60,000 casualties overall since 1972. (Hindustan Times Report 22 November 2006).

Analysis of LTTE Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan's Statement on Heroes Day 27 November 2006

The Heroes Day speech by Mr. V Prabhakaran is an indication of the future course of operations by the group. The speech this year gives considerable space to a vituperative outburst on the inequities of the ethnic relationship in the Island which has resulted in the current impasse. The last portion of the speech is the most significant and outlines the road ahead. The main theme is abandonment of the path of peace to achieve Eelam as this has not resulted in reduction in Sri Lankan chauvinism.

Mr. Prabhakaran acknowledged the extra ordinary situation faced by the movement of simultaneously engaging in war as well as peace, though in modern times, this is not an unusual scenario. In his opening paragraphs he underlines the frustration due to lack of transformation faced by the Tamil people despite attempts at peace over the past six years and the silence of countries calling for peace. The closure of supply routes receives due mention as also splitting of Tamil homeland. The economic embargo and the war of arrests and disappearances alleged to be unleashed by the Sri Lankan government has been highlighted. The lack of determination of the government in the South for peace is a major consideration despite three changes in the regime, the manner in which these have been marginalizing the Tamil movement has been very lucidly portrayed by Prabhakaran. Other the key facets being exclusion of LTTE from donors meets, international isolation, Para military (Read Karuna) operations and the ultimate aim of Sinhalese government for a military solution thereby making the Cease Fire Agreement defunct. The ban by Canada and EU receives prominent mention and appears to have hurt the leader the most. The rejection of the call to rein in the para military forces and open the A 9 highway comes up for serious criticism by the leader.

The recent All Party Conference created by the Sri Lankan government to arrive at a consensus along with the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the principal parties in the country recently has also been critically castigated. The Heroes Day speech is thus ominous as it portends resumption of open hostilities in the days ahead. The most clear indication of the same is not a declaration of war but abandonment of the policy of peace and castigation of two timing policy of simultaneous war and peace. So far indications are that Prabhakaran has not given up negotiations with the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission. The monsoons may however be utilized by the LTTE for launching operations.

Hope for peace in Sri Lanka remains far fetched. Sri Lanka will see intensification of the conflict ahead after the speech by LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran rejecting truce. In all likelihood, Prabhakaran will ask his forces to go in for an all out offensive in the monsoons which are raging in the island at present. This gives advantage to the LTTE as its forces unlike the army are not heavily dependent on use of fire and air power. Depending on the success or otherwise, the LTTE will decide on it's further strategy in the island in February - March 2007.

Why the UPA Should Go

Sandeep — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 09:48:57 EST

For a straightforward reason: they have already compromised India's sovereignty.

The gentle Dr. Singh has been gently stripping off the mask of making a difference. With this, he has come out in the open.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh courted controversy in his address at the National Development Council on Saturday by saying that Muslims should have the first claim on the country's resources. [..] "We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources," Singh said.

Coming from Dr. Clean's mouth, this statement is designed to cast the dubious Sachar Committee Report in a respectable forge. The furious debate over the Sachar Report misses a fundamental question: was there a real need for collecting community-based statistics in the first place? Assuming there was, it should have logically been done in the initial years after India became independent. It should've then been periodically reviewed to see if it worked. Countless Sachar reports have been tabled, recommendations accepted, sops granted, newer schemes introduced... nothing has worked. For obvious reasons. But nothing beats the sheer devilry of Dr.Singh's statement that a particular community should have the "first claim over resources." In Hindi cinema parlance, he's making the country's resources the baap ki jaagir of a particular community. Sachar's findings, whatever its intentions are, won't help if the same Dr. Singh's government creates a parallel infrastructure that places Madrassas above scrutiny.

While Pakistan is made to windup its terror infrastructure, which is closely linked to a mushroom growth of madrassas, Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister R. R. Patil has designed a novel methodology of regularising several thousand madrassas, where students are being taught among other things to kill 'the qafir' (non-believer).

There is lot of anger in India against madrassas run by the fundamentalist Islamic organisations, which, according to intelligence agencies, form the hot-bed of 'sleeper cells' of jihadi terrorist outfits, with bases in Pakistan and Bangladesh... However, the association of clerics in Maharashtra has already slammed the door on government intervention. They say the financial help is fine, but no interference.

Across the border, surprising tidings beckon our attention.

In an attempt to help students get the cutting edge in their higher education and career, Pakistan government has decided to switch to English from Urdu as the medium of instruction and make the language compulsory right from the primary level.

English would be compulsory from class I countrywide from the beginning of next academic year commencing Sept 1, 2007, Federal Minister for Education General (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi said.

In a guise to "uplift" the backward Muslims, Dr.Singh announces a scheme that's certain to further Islamize India, while a "pure" Islamic country seems to be headed in sensible direction. The contrast can't be more painful.

As a precursor to the Sachar bomb, Dr. Singh's unruly colleague, Arjun "Slaughter" Singh has already implemented the same thing in a different sphere, although the Singh-duo's actions lead to the same consequences.

Neither is Dr. Clean's statement grounded in commonsense, repeated ad nauseam on this blog and elsewhere: not all "upper caste" people are millionaires, and not all Muslims/OBCs/SCs/STs live in penury. The sole criterion should be economic backwardness, not tabulation of caste/class/community data that will lead nowhere. But the UPA has tied itself into inextricable knots over the reservations issue, which will continue to lead to questions like this:

We already have a social justice policy for all backward classes don't we ? It is called the OBC quota for all social and educationally backward Indians. In many states, the entire Muslim population is covered under OBC. So, at best the Sachar report proves that (1) the OBC policy is not sufficient for Muslims or (2) the selection of castes for OBCs itself is wrong. In other words, the arbitrariness of the OBC grouping has resulted in Muslims getting the short end of the stick.

The report is actually pretty well written and I don't think anyone can really accept the OBC grouping and not accept the fact the Muslims are shortchanged. You cant have it both ways.

Well... anyone who can muster enough numbers can prove that his group is shortchanged one way or the other, rest assured the UPA will make room to foster another round of ~~loot~~ reservations. The bleeding heart crowd will only jump in gleefully to marshall figures, tables, and other stats to prove that the latest entrant terrible is indeed backward.

And further splinter an already-fragmented nation.

On that note, Pranab Mukherjee who roared courageously a few weeks ago seems to have forgotten what China still hasn't.

The controversy over China's claim over Arunachal Pradesh seems far from over.

Amid India's strong rejection of Chinese claim of sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh, Beijing had sought to downplay the issue, saying it was the "strategic goal" of the two countries to find an early, fair and rational solution to the vexed boundary issue.

But that was then. The story has progressed today with Beijing's envoy to India Sun Yaxi claiming that "some area" of the northeastern state was being negotiated between the two countries.

Interestingly, Pranab's own ally, the Left has maintained an outwardly saint-like silence over this episode, while its mouthpiece has spoken favourably about giving away Arunachal Pradesh to China. The Left's extended family has proved to be a perpetual pinprick to the UPA, forcing it to make the right noises when public outcry becomes intolerable at times.

But the same worthies have taken exception to the Nuclear deal with the US.

The CPI-M on Monday said the US legislation on the Indo-US nuclear deal was "not acceptable" as it would seriously undermine India's independent foreign policy.

This reason, coming from the Commies' mouth sounds hilarious, especially when seen in the light of its "independent" policy on China. The Left has never been serious about India's territorial integrity, right from Nehru's days when they argued for India-as-USSR-satellite to supporting the Chinese invasion to Jyoti Basu's threat of secession to now. The Nuclear deal is unfavourable to India for various other reasons than the Left's anti-US rhetoric, which is driven solely by ideology. Commonsense says that it is dangerous to expose your nation's nuclear activities to a country, whose policy is driven primarily by self-interest.

The UPA has proved thoroughly inept on all these, and other counts. The UPA clowns couldn't rectify a tiny, powerless Nepal; it sleeps on even as Sri Lanka is on the brink of a civil war, not to mention some hush-hush US-sponsored "exercises"; it cannot ensure the safety of its own citizens in the now-countless terror attacks on its own soil...

India's sovereignty stands threatened like never before.

Is there any sense in letting these guys complete their term?