IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – May 31st, 2010

by Publisher on May 31, 2010

In this issue

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

Book Review

News Headlines

1 dead, 4 stabbed as riots return to Ahmedabad (May

27, 2010, DNA India)

The communal violence which began on Monday in the Nagorivaad area of

Ahmedabad’s Shahpur locality has spread to several other

communally-sensitive parts of the city. On Wednesday, four more people

were stabbed, two motorbikes were burnt and an AMTS bus and a private

car were vandalised by rioters. The violence-torn areas are very tense.

Police have intensified patrolling in the affected areas but their

presence seems to be having no impact on the rioters.

The violence

on Wednesday began immediately after the funeral of Vijay Datania who

was assaulted and seriously injured by unidentified assailants in

Nagorivaad area on Tuesday afternoon. “My father was stabbed and his

chest was crushed with big stones,” Jay Datania, son of the deceased,

Vijay Datania, told DNA. “Acid was also poured on his body.” The rioters

on Tuesday had dropped 52-year-old Vijay Datania at his residence after

beating him up. He was then admitted to the VS Hospital where he

succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday morning. He is survived by his

wife and three children.

Violence erupted once again after Vijay

Datania’s funeral at around 1 in the afternoon. Two stabbing incidents

were reported immediately after the funeral. A senior citizen, Mohammad

Shaikh, and another person, were stabbed near RC High School in Delhi

Darwaja area. In another incident, Rajnibhai and a part-time employee of

the CBI court in the city were stabbed near St Xavier’s school in

Mirzapur. A press photographer, who had taken photographs of the

incident, was assaulted and his camera broken by an angry mob.

Soon

after the violence, shops, offices and other commercial establishments

in Shahpur, Mirzapur, Relief Road and Delhi Darwaja downed their

shutters. All these areas wore a deserted look as people rushed to their

homes for safety. Extra police personnel have been deployed in the

affected areas to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

Eyewitnesses of Wednesday’s stabbing incident near St Xavier’s school in

Mirzapur said the two people who were stabbed were going home on a

two-wheeler when they were assaulted by some people with a sharp weapon.

But the two miraculously managed to free themselves from their

assailants and rushed to the court compound some 500 metres away. Some

onlookers, meanwhile, had called the emergency services who arrived

shifted them to a nearby hospital. The eyewitnesses said the two people

worked at the special CBI court. The first of the recent series of

communal clashes started in Shahpur on Monday when there was sporadic

violence in the area after a scuffle during a marriage procession. The

violence continued on Tuesday when Vijay Datania was assaulted, and

members of two communities pelted stones, glass bottles and burning rags

at each other.

http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1388371

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After SIT, will FIR be filed against Modi? (May 28,

2010, The Times of India)

The much-awaited interrogation of Narendra Modi for his alleged

complicity in Gujarat riots has opened up several legal possibilities,

including the prospect of an FIR being registered against him and 61

other persons who held powerful posts in 2002. For, whatever questioning

the Special Investigation Team did on Saturday, was part of a

preliminary enquiry to determine whether the allegations made by Zakia

Jafri, widow of riot casualty and former Congress MP Eshan Jafri,

constituted a prima facie case and warranted initiation of formal

investigations under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) against Modi and

the other accused.

If Modi has not been able to rebut any of the

allegations in the course of his examination, SIT could recommend the

FIR in its report. It is unlikely that it would straightaway register

one as the Supreme Court had not expressly given it such a power. An FIR

opens up the possibility of Modi being questioned afresh to record his

statement under Section 161 CrPC. More significantly, there is also the

possibility of the accused being arrested, as the allegations pertain to

conspiracy by the Modi administration and its errors of omission and

commission leading to mass killings. But then, even when the FIR is

booked against politicians, bureaucrats and police officers, it may or

may not name Modi among the accused, depending on the outcome of SIT’s

preliminary enquiry. Regardless of whether he is named in the FIR or

not, the prospect of Modi facing the ignominy of a criminal trial in

turn depends on whether he is chargesheeted at the end of the formal

investigation that will be done under CrPC.

In the event of an

FIR against Modi, SIT will not have to take any sanction to register it.

But if it decides to chargesheet him, a governor’s sanction is needed.

Independent of whatever happens on Jafri’s complaint, there is a

possibility of the Supreme Court accepting the application filed by

activist Teesta Setalvad for a reconstitution of SIT because of the

conflict of interest faced by the three Gujarat police officers who are

part of it. One of them, Shivanand Jha, is among the 62 accused persons

named by Jafri. Besides, the special prosecutor in the Gulbarg case, R K

Shah, quit his post last month accusing another SIT member, Ashish

Bhatia, of trying to sabotage the case by forcing victim-eyewitnesses to

change their testimony. Shah’s disclosures have already prompted the

apex court to stay the trial proceedings in the Gulbarg case.

Given

the backdrop of such allegations of partisanship against SIT, Modi told

the media emphatically on Saturday that he had been questioned only by

its non-Gujarat officers. He was referring to an internal arrangement

under which Jafri’s complaint has been entrusted exclusively to former

CBI officer, A K Malhotra, ostensibly keeping away Gujarat officers.

Such internal safeguards have proved ineffective as SIT’s credibility

has come under question in all the nine cases for which it was

originally set up. In the latest example, a witness cited by SIT in the

Godhra train burning case alleged before the Supreme Court that he had

been detained and tortured by its Gujarat officials last month to

prevent him from deposing during the trial, as his testimony was

contrary to the prosecution story.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5733451.cms

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Right-wing outfit, aided by engineering student,

used Google to plan Goa bombings (May 26, 2010, Hindustan Times)

Members of the Hindu right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha (SS), accused

of carrying out the 2009 Diwali eve blast in Goa, ‘Googled’ circuit

diagrams from the Internet and later used them to build improvised

explosive devices (IED), officials of the National Investigation Agency

(NIA) said.

“In furtherance of the said conspiracy, accused

Dhananjay Ashtekar downloaded circuit diagrams using the internet

(Google search),” NIA officials mentioned in their chargesheet that was

submitted to a local court last week.

The chargesheet accuses 11

people (all members of the SS) of carrying out the Oct 16 (2009) blast,

in which two SS members were killed when the detonator-rigged gelatin

sticks, which they were ferrying by scooter to Margao (located 35 km

from Panaji), accidentally exploded.

Ashtekar, who was studying

in an engineering college in Maharashtra, was in charge of the technical

aspects of the bomb-blast conspiracy and assembled the IEDs, one of

which accidentally exploded, NIA officials added.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/548841.aspx

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Court okays judicial grilling of Sohrab accused

(May 25, 2010, DNA India)

Based on an application of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),

special CBI judge VB Barot has allowed the central agency to conduct

judicial interrogation of all the accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake

encounter case, including IPS officials DG Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian,

Abhay Chudasama, Rajasthan cadre superintendent of police (SP) Dinesh MN

and others – all of whom are lodged in the Sabarmati central jail.

The

CBI application states that the agency was handed over the

investigation by the apex court in February this year, and that they are

still to unravel many mysteries in the case. Earlier investigation had

stated apart from Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi, there was also a third

person travelling with them, and the central agency has to probe this

third person’s role. It also states that they have to probe the nexus

between the police forces of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh in

the Sohrab case and the mysterious disappearance of Kausar Bi, followed

by her killing.

The application adds that after the Supreme Court

handed over the investigation to the central agency, they have sped up

the probe and IPS officer Abhay Chudasama’s arrest has come exactly

three years after three IPS officers were arrested on April 24, 2007, in

connection with the same case. Chudasama’s was the 15th arrest in this

controversial case. The CBI asked for judicial interrogation of two

DYSPs ML Parmar and NH Dabhi, as well as DySP NK Amin.

http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1387454

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Trial in Batla House encounter case to begin (May

26, 2010, Hindustan Times)

The trial in the sensational Batla House encounter case is set to

begin as a Delhi court Wednesday sent the matter to a Sessions Judge for

hearing arguments on charge and subsequent proceedings against Shahzad,

an alleged member of Indian Mujahideen (IM). “The matter is marked to

the court of Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) A K Kuhar for conducting

trial,” District and Sessions Judge Gurdeep Kumar said.

ASJ Kuhar,

on receiving the judicial file from his superior court, has fixed the

date to June 4 for further proceedings and hearing arguments on framing

of charges against Shahzad, the only accused who was arrested in the

encounter where Delhi Police Inspector M C Sharma was killed. Earlier, a

magistrate had provided a copy of the chargesheet and other documents

to Shahzad who had absconded after the encounter in Batla House in Jamia

Nagar area, South Delhi on September 19, 2008.

Besides Sharma,

two IM suspects Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid, who were holed up in a flat

in the area, were also killed in the gun battle. Fourth accused Ariz

Khan is absconding. The case is registered with Jamia Nagar police

station. Police had on April 28 filed the chargesheet against Shahzad,

Ariz Khan (absconding), Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid, accusing them of

killing Inspector Sharma on September 19, 2008, six days after the

serial blasts in New Delhi. A team of anti-terror cell of Delhi Police

raided a flat in Batla House following a tip-off that suspected IM

terrorists, allegedly involved in the serial blasts, were hiding there.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/548882.aspx

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India sex crime ex-police chief jails term

increased (May 25, 2010, BBC)

A court in India has increased the jail term of a former senior

police officer convicted of molesting a 14-year-old girl who later

committed suicide. Dismissing his appeal, the judge in Chandigarh

ordered SPS Rathore to serve 18 months in prison rather than six.

Rathore,

former police chief of Haryana state, was found guilty last December of

molesting Ruchika Girhotra in 1990. She killed herself three years

later. There was public outrage at what was seen as a lenient first

sentence.

Correspondents say the case is viewed as a classic

example of a police officer abusing his influence and contacts to escape

punishment for nearly two decades.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8702849.stm

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Howrah-Kurla express toll rises to 110 (May 29,

2010, IBN)

The toll in the Mumbai-bound express train derailment by Maoists rose

to 110 as more bodies are being pulled out from the wreckage of the

mangled coaches with rescuers working throughout the night. South

Eastern Railway officials put the number of injured at 250. Five of the

seriously injured have been taken to Kolkata for treatment.

“Ninety-eight

bodies have so far been taken out from the mangled coaches. 96 bodies

have been kept at the Midnapore Hospital and two at the Kharagpur

Railway Hospital,” SP, West Midnapore, Manoj Kumar Verma said. Only 25

bodies have been identified so far and postmortem of 60 bodies has been

done. Railway officials said the toll could rise as the worst-affected

S-5 and S-6 coaches were yet to be cut open. Bodies could be inside the

two mangled coaches as also under the engine of four wagons of the goods

train, the officials said.

Maoists derailed the Howrah-Kurla

Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express on Friday when the train

was running between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations. Verma said the

bodies are being preserved in such a manner that a DNA test can be

conducted on them in case of need.

“Two temporary camps have been

set up at the Midnapore Hospital where relatives of the dead and injured

can get information. Besides displaying the photographs of the dead at

the hospital, officials have uploaded them on government websites for

the convenience of the affected families,” Verma said.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/howrahkurla-express-toll-rises-to-98/116519-3.html

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Adivasis held for a month before arrest was

announced (May 28, 2010, The Hindu)

Two days after the Chhattisgarh police announced the arrest of six

Adivasis in a breakthrough in the April 6 Tarmetla case, in which 76

security force personnel were killed by Maoists, the parents of five of

the six men alleged that the police captured them more than a month ago.

Villagers said Oyam Hidma, Kowasi Budra, Oyam Ganga, Dura Joga and

Podiyam Hidma of Minapa village were innocent and had no links with

Maoists.

The parents made these claims when this correspondent

visited this village on May 25, a day after Dantewada Superintendent of

Police Amresh Mishra announced the capture of the six Maoists in two

separate incidents on Sunday. While alleged Maoist commander Barsa Lakma

was arrested in Morpalli village, a PTI report quoted Mr. Mishra as

saying the remaining five were arrested from Minapa. “The [claims of

the] villagers are totally incorrect,” said Mr. Mishra, when contacted

by The Hindu, standing by his account.

“My son has no connection

with Maoists,” said Podiyam Muye, father of Podiyam Hidma. “The police

picked him up last month at the Wednesday market in Chintagufa.”

According to Podiyam Nanda, sarpanch of Minapa, Oyam Ganga, Kowasi

Budra, Dura Joga and Podiyam Hidma left the village on April 10, four

days after the Tarmetla attack. “They went to pick turmeric in

Gunjaiguda near Malkangiri [Orissa],” said Nanda. “They were returning

to the village the following Wednesday [April 14], when they were

arrested and held in the CRPF camp in Chintagufa.”

Villagers

allege that Oyam Ganga’s brother, Oyam Hidma, was picked up from Sukma

town, where he is enrolled as a student in the high school. As schools

are now shut, TheHindu was unable to confirm his enrolment. Oyam Ayti,

mother of Oyam Hidma and Oyam Ganga, said she visited Chintagufa three

times in an attempt to free her sons, “But the CRPF people refused to

talk to me.” When she went 10 days later, villagers at Chintagufa told

her that the men were bundled into a helicopter and flown away.

“The

sarpanch and villagers of Minapa came to me around April 20, a month

before the police announced the arrests,” confirmed Manish Kunjam, a

former CPI MLA of Konta and national president of the Adivasi Mahasabha.

“They said that these five men were arrested in early April.” In a

telephone conversation with this correspondent, the secretary of the

South Bastar Regional Committee of the CPI(Maoist), Ravula Srinivas

alias Ramanna, said all six Adivasis had no connection with his party.

“They were arrested in Chintagufa, not Minapa,” he said. “They were

forced to confess under pressure.” But the police are sticking to their

story. “There is no truth in any of these claims,” said Mr. Mishra. “No

one was put into a helicopter; no one was picked up from Sukma.” Mr.

Mishra said those arrested had tangible links with Maoists.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/28/stories/2010052863201300.htm

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Viewing Muslims with suspicion wrong: Amar (May

23, 2010, The Hindu)

Expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Saturday said viewing

Muslims with suspicion was not fair as they have made sacrifices for the

country.

“Looking on Muslims with a suspicious eye is not fair.

They have played a pivotal role and sacrificed their lives for the

freedom and security of the country,” he said, addressing a meeting of

the newly formed Lok Manch.

He alleged that while Muslims were

being blamed, some Hindu organisations were also indulging in terrorist

activities in the country.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/23/stories/2010052359920100.htm

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Harassed by cops, sisters attempt suicide; 1 dead

(May 27, 2010, Times of India)

A 13-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh died while her elder sister was

battling for life on Thursday after the duo attempted suicide following

harassment by two constables, who had allegedly clicked obscene

photographs of one of them. The incident took place in Madhya Pradesh’s

Chhatarpur district, about 350 km from here. While the younger sibling

died on Wednesday, the elder one is being treated at a hospital in

Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday.

Two police

constables, Kanhaiyalal and Arvind Patel, had allegedly caught the elder

sister with her boyfriend May 21 in a deserted area. The cops snatched

the mobile phone of the boyfriend and forced him to leave the place, an

official said. They then allegedly molested the girl and clicked some

obscene photographs of hers from the mobile phone.

Next day, the

girl filed a written complaint with Chhatarpur Additional Superintendent

of Police Sushil Tiwari stating that the constables had clicked obscene

photographs of hers and were harassing her. “On receipt of the

complaint, I checked the cell phones of the constables but there was

nothing objectionable,” Tiwari said.

“However, the constables

were suspended with immediate effect and a departmental enquiry was

ordered against them,” he added. The sisters had told their neighbours

that the constables had come to their house on Wednesday and were

harassing them, police said. Superintendent of Police Prem Singh Bist

said one of the constables accused of harassing the sisters suffered a

heart attack on hearing that the girls attempted suicide.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5980251.cms

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Opinions and Editorials

The Clumsy Teeth Of Hindutva Terrorism – By KK

Abdul Raoof (May 24, 2010, Countercurrents)

In Germany, five days before the election of 1933 at the night of

February 27, the parliament building, Reichstag, was set ablaze by

Nazis. With out investigating the incident Adolf Hitler blamed it on

communists. A terrible hunt for ‘culprit’ was followed under the

official patronage in connivance with the higher class which comprises

bossiness men and media. Thousands of communists were arrested, tortured

and executed for the crime they didn’t commit. Thus the Reichstag fire

marked the symbolic death of German democracy. Sidelining Jews and

Communists with suppressive measures Hitler became the suzerain of

Germany. The history witnessed what happened there since then. The

ingloriouse Nazi strategy carried out to wipe out democracy and replace

it with fascism does have a less-discussed affinity with the Hindutva

strategy chalked out to convert India into a ‘Hindu Nation’. From

Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, to Abhinav Bharath-RSS

members arrested in connection with Ajmer Darga blast early this month,

have chosen the way shown by Hitler and Mussolini to accomplish their

goals. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s closest aide and the Minister of

Propaganda, has inspired Brahmin-dominated media which shamelessly

lip-synch the police rant against Muslims.

More than 15 prominent

bomb blasts carried out by ultra right wing Hindutva outfits across the

country from the 2003 blast in Muhammadiya Masjid, Marathwada, Mharastra

to the 2009 blast in Margao, Goa acknowledge the threat of Hindutva

terrorism pose to the nation . The media and investigative agencies have

long hushed up the truth and accused Muslim terrorists for the various

blasts taken place across the country at different times. However, the

arrest of Malegaon blast perpetrators, Col. Purohit and Pragya sadhvi,

paved the way for a turnaround. Now, the latest developments in Ajmer

blast investigation expose the knotty web of Hindu terror organizations

which have spread across the country and are alleged to have connections

with some naxal groups. On a Friday after noon, at the historic Mecca

Masjid in Hyderabad, while about 10000 people were offering prayer, a

deadly bomb went off claiming 16 lives and leaving 60 others injured.

The state government pointed fingers at foreign elements with the then

chief minister Y. S Rajasekhara Reddy saying “The available indications

point out to the terrorist organizations of Pakistan and Bangladesh”.

More than hundred Muslim youths were picked up and 26 of them detained

for seven moths, yet, not a single FIR or charge sheet was filed against

them. Even though it was apparent that police had no evidence against

the accused, it seemed that they were acting according to some

preconceived design.

Soon after the Ajmer blast took place at

Ahat-e-Noor of the Darga on October 11, 2007, as usual, the ‘culprits’

turned out to be Muslim terrorist groups with the prime suspect being

the Bangladesh out fit HUJI. About a dozen Muslims- Imams, Maulanas, and

Madrasa teachers – were detained and grilled. Though the place was

crowded with Muslims who were busy breaking Ramzan fast, no one from

investigators had a slight doubt of the involvement of an extremist

Hindutva outfits. The stat’s haste to put the blame on Muslims and

apprehend innocent youths seemed to be a part of a preplanned agenda.

In both cases, all the governments need to do was to come up with a

theory that would justify the arrests of innocent Muslims.

Unsurprisingly, the media came to its help with an incredible

enthusiasm. Blatant lies and cooked theories, especially those by the

Hindu’s ‘in house terror pundit’ Praveen Swami, were dished out, to suit

the government’s claims. Swami wrote fabulous fables dotted with his

own cliches ‘revealing’ that this is the war against popular Islam and

tolerant Sufi traditions. In his article turned up in the Hindu on Oct

12, 2007, he says “But the bombings also reflect less-understood

project: the war of Islamist neoconservatives against the syncretic

traditions and beliefs that characterise popular Islam in India,

Pakistan and Bangladesh”. The new break through made by the ATS and CBI

in both cases with the arrest of RSS-Abinav Bharath members has broken

the back born of this theory and, now, Praveen swami is dodging by

doling out some idiotic justifications.

The arrests of Devendra

Gupta, an RSS pracharak, from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and Chandrasekhar, a

key member of Abhinav Bharath, from Shajupur, Madhya Pradesh,

underscores the truth that the Hindu terrorists operate in the country

with lethal plans and sophisticated weapons. And they are so powerful

that they managed to elude from glare of media and law-enforcement

agencies so far. The Rajasthan ATS, now, suspects the brain behind three

blasts- Ajmer, Malegaon and Hyderabad- is same. The ATS’ discovery of

the connection between recently arrested Ajmer blast suspects and Col.

Purohit, who allegedly masterminded the Malegaon blast, reveals the

complex terror network prevalent in the country. One of the alarming

factors ATS investigates now is their alleged link with some of the

Maoist outfits working in the country. One cannot help asking some

serious questions regarding the credibility of the system which

blatantly did what it did so far. Do the state and investigative

agencies deliberately attempt to frame Muslim community for the crime

they didn’t commit? How did these Hindu terror out fits managed to evade

from the watchful eyes of law so far, and with whose help? Another

stark truth came out later is that the arrested Muslim youths for Mecca

Masjid blast were really rounded up before the blast and the cases were

slapped on them later. Many of them were kept in jail for seven months

and allegedly tortured, even, without filing any charge sheet. Later on

one senior police officer revealed that the list of suspects was given

by Central Intelligence Bureau.

The big question that has been

cleverly edged out of the ongoing debates is that why do Intelligence

Bureau and other agencies come up with a ‘Muslims-behind-Blast’ theory

whenever any bomb explodes in the country? The allegation of former

Maharshtra senior police officer, SM Mushrif, who was instrumental in

exposing the multi crore stamp paper scam, that ‘Brahminisist lobby’ has

overpowered all the establishments in Intelligence Bureau seems true.

That the infiltration of Hindutva power into these agencies undermines

the very nature and the foundation of them is quite unequivocal now.

Both the Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts have striking similarities in the

modus of operandi, nature of explosion and the kind of bomb used. It was

the seizure of these SIM cards that de mystified both the blasts and

established the complicity of saffron forces in them. However, at that

time neither IB nor the state police could came out with clues which

could have solved the mystery. On the contrary, their stories were,

served as the evidence against Muslim, played up by the media. The

questions about the extent of Hindutva influence in media and

bureaucracy are to be raised and need to be addressed with due

importance. With several terror strikes being planned and carried out by

extremist Hindu groups having allegiance to their parent organization

RSS, how long can the government turn a deaf ear to this ‘harmless’

cultural organization? No doubt, it is futile to expect a nation to

remain immune from the malice of terrorism if the government and

investigative agencies fix their attention at one particular community

letting the real perpetrators get away. At any cost, RSS and other hard

core Hindutva organizations should be banned; otherwise gravest security

threats to our nation may persist.

http://www.countercurrents.org/raoof240510.htm

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Maoist cult of death – Editorial (May 29, 2010, The

Hindu)

“We are sorry,” said a Communist Party of India (Maoist) spokesperson

after a bomb went off under a crowded bus in Chhattisgarh earlier this

month, killing 24 civilians, “but it could not be helped.” Friday’s

tragedy in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district, which has claimed

at least 75 lives, suggests Maoist groups see the death of ever-larger

numbers of civilians as an acceptable part of the macabre war they have

inflicted on large swathes of central and eastern India. West Bengal

authorities have announced the Maoist-linked People’s Committee for

Police Atrocities left posters at the site where the Mumbai-bound

Gyaneshwar Express derailed, saying the attack was carried out to

protest unspecified Communist Party of India (Marxist) “atrocities.”

In

recent months, there have been other attacks of this kind. Last week,

two people were injured when extremists in Paschim Medinipur opened fire

on a Tatanagar-bound express train. Two days earlier, a bomb went off

under a train carrying oil through Bihar; 14 freight cars caught fire.

On May 19, Maoists bombed a freight train near Jhargram, injuring two

engine drivers. Last year, two people were killed and 38 injured in an

attack on another train in Jharkhand’s Simdega district. During the

three-day bandh called by Maoists between February 7 and 9, 2010,

railway lines, which by their nature are difficult to protect, were

targeted 11 times. Each of these incidents could easily have had

outcomes just as horrific as the latest.

A movement that used to

claim it targeted only ‘combatants’ is increasingly resorting to

excitative terrorism against ‘non-combatants.’ Eight years ago, when

Maoists blew up a bus near Chintagudem, in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal

district and 14 adivasis were killed, CPI(Maoist) leader Muppala Laxman

Rao, alias Ganapathy, issued a public apology – although it bears

mention that he did little to punish the perpetrators, choosing only to

demote squad commander Akula Indraiah.

In general, Maoist groups

in Andhra Pradesh offered apologies, and sometimes even compensation,

for civilian deaths. In recent months, dozens of local-level opponents

of Maoists – many of them poor peasants – have been tortured and

executed; CPI(Marxist) cadre in West Bengal have been among the

principal victims. Maoist leaders have been unrepentant, claiming, for

example, that they had issued circulars and warnings that civilians

“should keep away from buses and lorries ferrying government forces” but

“they did not listen and paid a heavy price.” Language like this

advertises the fact that a movement carried out in the name of India’s

poor has, for all practical purposes, degenerated into an inhuman cult

of death.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/29/stories/2010052963641400.htm

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Probe Makka Masjid Bomb Blast Case Afresh – By

Syed Ali Mujtaba (May 23, 2010, Countercurrents)

With arrest of some persons belonging to Hindu extremist organization

for their involvement in Malegoan Muslim graveyard bomb blast, the

Samjutha express train bomb blast and the Ajmer Dargah blast, the ugly

face of Hindutva terrorism has been unmasked. The probe into these

blasts making some headway clearly points a pan India Hindu terror

structure operating in the country, a fact so far the government and we

the people has refused to accept. In the series of these blasts

targeting Muslims, there is also the case of bomb blast that took place

in Hyderabad at Makkah Masjid on 18th May 2007, but the investigation of

this case has hardly made any breakthrough. The kin of the deceased are

observing the third anniversary of the dead in the hope that the long

arm of the state may one day reach the real conspirators and bring them

to justice. It was on 18th May 2007, a bomb blast took place the

historic Makka Masjid located in the old city of Hyderabad that killed

five Muslims praying in the mosque. The blast had left scores of others

injured. Subsequently, those Muslims who were helping the blast victims

to shift in the hospitals were fired upon by the police that killed nine

of them. The probe of these two incidents is gathering dust and its no

one is sure when the truth will come out in this case and when the

guilty may be punished.

The Makkah Masjid blast is a unique case

among all the blast cases in India. This is because the victim and

suspect in this case both happen to be the Muslims. First the blast

killed the innocent Muslims who were praying, this followed the police

firing that killed those Muslims who were helping the blast victims to

shift in the hospitals. There were more Muslims killed in police firing

than in the bomb blast. Subsequently, in the name of investigation,

police targeted innocent Muslim youths arresting hundreds of them,

harassing and torturing them. A fact finding committee of civil

liberties group comprising of some eminent citizens of Hyderabad

investigated the two incidents and has come out with a report that is

worth considering for long term national security purposes. The

committee clearly stated that the blast was the handiwork of the

extremist Hindutva forces and the firing was ordered by the some

anti-Muslim police officers within the rank and file of the state

police. The civil liberties committee particularly mentions the name of

the then additional commissioner of police, Rajiv Trivedi and inspector

Ramchandran who played an important role in feeding the name of one

Shahed Bilal, a Bangladeshi responsible for the blast. The fact finding

report further says that some police officer were misguiding the

investigation by registering two cases for a single offence, one for

bombs that got exploded and other those unexploded. They handed over the

case of exploded bombs to the CBI and kept unexploded bomb case with

themselves. The fact finding committee also lampooned the print and

electronic media especially the regional press the Telugu media that has

played a negative role, publishing and telecasting false stories by

depicting Muslim youths as terrorists in this case. The electronic media

within five minutes of the blast drummed up the name of Shahed Bilal,

citing reference of the officers. The television media reported that

Shahed Bilal triggered the bomb from Bangladesh through his cell phone.

The print media published the story that Shahed Bilal celebrated the

blast by distributing sweets while sitting in Bangladesh.

Now

since three years have elapsed to the incident, there is absolutely no

clue to the investigators who has committed the crime of bomb blast at

Makkah Masjid. Initial suspicion fell on the Muslims and they were

arrested and harassed. Subsequently, the court exonerated them from all

the charges as no evidence was found against. Here, it needs to be

recalled that last year when Home Minister, P.C Chidambaram visited

Hyderabad and asked about the investigation of the Makkah Masjid blast

case, he commented saying that the main accused of blast, Shahed Bilal

has died and the case has turned cold! The statement reflects the

commitment towards the issues of national security. Anyway, now when

it’s established that the Hindutva terrorist are active in the country,

and had an explicit role in Malegoan Muslim graveyard bomb blast, the

Samjutha express train bomb blast, and the Ajmer Dargah blast, its high

time the probe of the Makkah Masjid bomb blast, has to be ordered afresh

with new leads emerging from other such cases.

There is a

feeling among a section of the society that it’s due to the lethargic

attitude of the investigators and their non-committal attitude to crack

this case, innocent persons are being targeted where as the culprits are

roaming freely. It’s also being felt that the biggest conspiracy of the

Hindutva terrorists is to make use of their sympathizers among the

police personnel to serve their nefarious ends. The Hindutva terrorists

are posing a greatest threat to the national security and if their

activities are not checked now, like the Maoist, they may become

uncontrollable. As far as the police firing that took place immediately

after the blast, the Andhra Pradesh government had constituted the

Bhaskar Rao commission to investigate the incident. Even after three

years, the commission has failed to submit its report. This shows the

non-seriousness of the commission to lead an unbiased probe of the

police firing and its negligent attitude is shielding the guilty

officers from being indicted.

Now when the Hindutva terrorism has

been exposed, there is an urgent need for handing over these two cases

to the CBI for investigation. The CBI shuld expose the real face of the

Hindutva terror operatives and arrest the real culprits of terror acts.

The CBI should also investigate the nexus of Hindutva terrorists and

some anti-Muslim police officers who ordered firing on the armless

people. The investigation should expose that there are many Hindutva

sleeper cells in the country and suggest how to confront with such kind

indoctrinated people who are n prowl to kill and create mayhem in the

country. Now when the courts are exonerating Muslim youth arrested for

the Makkah Masjid bomb blast, the government should take stringent

action against the police officers responsible for the illegal detention

harassment, torture and arrest of innocent Muslim youth. The government

should direct the police to stop labeling the Muslim community as

terrorist, harassing, torturing and terrorizing its youth. It should

also direct to stop terrorizing people in the name of red alert,

checking on the roads, and all unnecessary actions in the Muslim

populated areas. Its felt that the government and police personnel

should change their attitude towards the RSS and its allied outfits and

their activities should be checked appropriately. The Bhaskar Rao

Commission should be activated immediately and asked to submit its

report in a particular time frame. At a time when the inland national

security is under threat from different actors, this new facet of

Hindutva terrorism that is creeping into the body and soul of India is

posing grave danger to the country. An ostrich like attitude towards

this fact, may likely to bleed India for times to come.

http://www.countercurrents.org/mujtaba220510.htm

SEE

ALSO:

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Top]

Taming the Khap – Editorial (May 24, 2010, Nav

Hind Times)

From enforcing honour killings to forcing the Union government to

amend the Hindu Marriage Act, the Khap Mahapanchayat of Haryana has been

literally trying to force its Taliban-type justice. Khap panchayats

have meted out cruel judgements on young couples marrying within their

‘gotra’ or lineage. Though their rulings have no legal validity,

politicians have been too scared to join issue with them. The Khap

panchayats may be socially powerful, but that does not mean that they

should be allowed to challenge the basic preamble of the Indian

constitution and dictate terms to the federal government. Their demand

to amend the Hindu Marriage Act for banning marriages within the same

‘gotra’ or face direct action smacks of a deep design.

There is a

clear sign that the Khap leaders have been running a parallel

government which is opposed to the basic concept of the Indian Union.

The Khap panchayats’ call for changes to the law of the land came after a

Karnal court recently sentenced five people to death and awarded life

sentences to two others, including a Khap leader, in connection with the

‘honour killing’ of a couple who belonged to the same lineage. Their

style of functioning makes it abundantly clear that the Khap leaders

still survive in the medieval period and are untouched by the social

changes taking place around. Else, there was no reason why they should

continue to beat the bush. If the Khap leaders are so concerned over the

welfare of their caste men why are they not opposing female foeticide

which has been quite rampant?

It is pathetic to watch young

Congress leaders like Mr Naveen Jindal, a part of the Congress youth

brigade, succumbing to the Khap threat. Mr Jindal should realise that

India is no more in Medieval or Stone Age times. We are in the 21st

century. The identity and image of India has changed along with its

transformation. We cannot think of India going back to the days when

tribal and clannish beliefs were the norm. The government of India

should take a tough stand and see that the Taliban-type kangaroo courts

in the name of Khap panchayats do not inflict damage to our reforming

society on the plea of preserving society’s traditions, customs, beliefs

and culture.

http://www.navhindtimes.in/opinion/taming-khap

SEE ALSO:

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Murder of dissent – Editorial (May 24, 2010, The

Tribune)

It was no ordinary murder that was committed in Darjeeling last

Friday. It was a murder most foul, a political murder aimed to stifle

dissent. When miscreants grabbed Madan Tamang from behind and stabbed

him in the neck, they did so under the gaze of 40 policemen, 10 of them

armed. The 62-year-old President of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League

was getting ready to address a small gathering of about 50 supporters in

the heart of Darjeeling when the mob set upon him. Tamang had been a

vocal critic of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung and had

accused the latter of corrupt practices and to have held the Hills to

ransom. The GJM in turn had issued threats that Tamang would be banished

from the Darjeeling Hills.

The well-educated and articulate ABGL

leader spoke out against the mob and opposed the violence, blockades

and strong-arm tactics unleashed by the Morcha. Although Tamang also

favoured a separate state of Gorkhaland, his was a voice calling for

sanity and sobriety. Ironically, though he may not have been of major

consequence while alive, he will be missed badly after his death. The

insensitivity of the West Bengal government and political leaders

following the brutal murder is a sad reflection on the current political

culture. State government officials have glibly blamed the clash

between two political groups for the killing while glossing over the

role of the 40 policemen deployed to maintain law and order at Tamang’s

small rally.

No explanation has been forthcoming for their

strange reluctance to arrest the two members of the mob injured when

Tamang’s bodyguard, an armed policeman, opened fire. They have been

busy, on the contrary, advocating caution and the necessity to refrain

from taking ‘hasty action’. The major concern of Union Finance Minister

Pranab Mukherjee has been to keep the highway connecting Sikkim and

Bhutan and passing through Darjeeling open. It is to the credit of West

Bengal Governor M K Narayanan that he saw the crime for what it is and

lost no time in deploring the assault on democratic forces

Madan

Tamang may not have been politically very important. And his death may

or may not cast a shadow on the tripartite talks over Gorkhaland. But

political parties and the state government would commit a grave error if

they underestimate or gloss over the brazen attack on the citizens’

right to dissent.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100524/edit.htm#3

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Rathore in jail, at last! – Editorial (May 26,

2010, The Tribune)

The dismissal of Haryana’s tainted former DGP S.P.S. Rathore’s appeal

against his conviction in the Ruchika molestation case and acceptance

of the CBI’s plea for enhancing his sentence from six months to

one-and-a-half years by a sessions court on Tuesday is a boost for the

rule of law. More important, it sets right the miscarriage of justice in

the December ruling. Here was a senior IPS officer who misused his high

position to molest young Ruchika and torment her family which evidently

might have contributed to her commiting suicide. Such was his clout

that even the FIR in the case was filed nine years after the incident

and Rathore himself was charge-sheeted after a decade.

Rathore

unleashed a reign of terror on witnesses and circumvented the law to

escape from his crime. After 19 years of agonising wait for justice, the

December ruling shook the nation. Following an outcry against the grave

injustice, Ruchika’s parents, friends and media launched a relentless

campaign against the mockery of justice. Meanwhile, Rathore has been

stripped of his medals. The Centre is now considering freezing his

monthly pension of Rs 30,000. He has now been charged with abetment of

Ruchika’s suicide. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has also decided to

frame guidelines to check increasing cases of child molestation. All

this points to the need to punish those like Rathore appropriately and

swiftly. Only that can act as a deterrent against misuse of their

position.

As Rathore’s is a test case to restore the people’s

confidence in the system, there is an imperative need for putting cases

involving bigwigs on the fast track and enacting tighter laws to check

molestation. Unfortunately, the Centre’s Draft Bill does not inspire

much confidence. According to the Bill, while the maximum sentence for

eve-teasing under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (insulting the

modesty of a woman) is sought to be enhanced from one year to seven

years, the corresponding punishment for molestation under Section 354 of

IPC (outraging the modesty of a woman) remains two years. This needs to

be enhanced suitably in the backdrop of the Ruchika molestation case.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100526/edit.htm#1

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Book Review

Decoding Intolerance

Author: Prateep K. Lahiri

Reviewed by: M.R. Narayan

Swamy

Available at: Roli Books Pvt. Ltd., M-75 Greater Kailash

2 Market, New Delhi 110048, India ; Pages: 276, Price: Rs.395. http://www.rolibooks.com/

Review:

A

serious look at communal intolerance in India (May 28, 2010, Yahoo)

Why

do communal riots keep occurring in India? Are they spontaneous? Or do

they expose a deeper malaise in society? To what extent are the

authorities culpable for the mindless violence? Is the state even-handed

vis-a-vis Hindus and Muslims? Which community suffers more in riots?

How badly have secular values been eroded because of communalism? Have

they sowed the seeds of terrorism in India? Is there a link between

religious nationalism and Hindutva? Is Muslim-Hindu violence a clash of

civilisations?

Retired IAS officer Prateep K. Lahiri, who has had a

distinguished career spanning 36 long years, plunged into the minefield

of Hindu-Muslim tensions and has come out with a scholarly book. That

he had to personally deal with communal riots in the early years of his

service helped him gain the perspective that many lack. But this is not a

memoir; nor is it academic. It is a serious and eminently successful

attempt to unravel the complexities of a problem the British Raj sowed

with a view to dividing the freedom movement and which has become the

biggest black spot on constitutionally secular India.

Although

some 10,000 lives have been lost and 30,000 injured in Hindu-Muslim

clashes in India since 1951, communal violence is not as widespread in

the country as is generally believed. ‘Most of rural India remains

unaffected to this day by the malaise.’ Even in urban India, this is not

a universal phenomenon. The riot prone cities and towns are only 28,

accounting for the bulk of the unrest. Even the anti-Muslim bias of

police personnel is confined mainly to northern and western India.

Secular

to the core, Lahiri rips apart Hindutva propaganda about Muslims. He

brandishes statistics to show that it is Muslims who suffer the worst in

riots, at the hands of both police and Hindu mobs. He also points out

that traditionally orthodox Muslims in India are seriously attempting to

distance themselves from jehadi elements. He urges readers to

distinguish between syncretic and exclusivist Islam. Similarly, he draws

a line between the capacious view of Hindu religion and its narrow and

sectarian variety.

Lahiri answers, convincingly, every question he

poses. Like most scholars, he believes that the Ayodhya movement that

pushed the Bharatiya Janata Party to the centre-stage of Indian politics

damaged the Hindu-Muslim fabric like nothing else before. It gave birth

to an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and hostility between the two

communities that will take a long time to heal. His prophecy is

frightening: ‘Till a societal consensus emerges, re-establishment of

harmonious relations between Hindus and Muslims will remain a distant

dream.’

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20100528/812/tnl-a-serious-look-at-communal-intoleran.html

Related posts:

  1. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – August 31st, 2009
  2. IAMC Weekly News Digest – January 31st, 2011
  3. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – February 8th, 2010
  4. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – May 3rd, 2010
  5. IAMC Weekly News Roundup – October 31st, 2011

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