IN THIS ISSUE

COMMUNAL HARMONY

30 Hindu inmates keep fasts along with Muslim friends at Tihar

NEWS HEADLINES

OPINIONS & EDITORIALS

BOOK REVIEW

The Criminal Responsibility of Senior Political and Military Leaders as Principals to International Crimes – By Hector Olasolo

COMMUNAL HARMONY

30 HINDU INMATES KEEP FASTS ALONG WITH MUSLIM FRIENDS AT TIHAR (AUG 27, 2009, INDIAN EXPRESS)

Sushil Sharma, convicted in the Naina Sahni murder case, is eating khajurs and food twice a day. He and 30 other Hindu prisoners in Tihar Jail will fast for a month during Ramzan this year. These prisoners are joining Tihar’s 4,000 Muslim inmates during prayers, and iftaar and sehri. "They share the food brought by the relatives of Muslim inmates. We provide them fruits and other things required for the roza (fast). Some NGOs are also assisting us," Tihar spokesperson Sunil Gupta said. Jail authorities have made arrangements for namaaz (prayers) on Tihar premises and inmates are being provided food at 4 am and 6.30 pm every day.

The authorities have arranged for fruits for all those observing rozas. A senior official at the jail said: "It is good that other inmates are following this regime; it helps a person to stay disciplined and reforming him or herself. It is also a great example of inmates respecting each other’s religion. Jail superintendents are organising everything in all 10 jails and in Rohini as well. Some NGOs are also contributing with fruits and other articles for consumption after the roza."

The jail authorities are also giving lessons in the Quran and other pertinent rituals to the inmates, a source said. There are around 11,000 prisoners in Tihar Jail, of which around 30 per cent are Muslim; officials said almost all of them are fasting. Some rules have also been relaxed for those observing Ramzan. "Normally, prisoners are not allowed to move out of their cells between the ‘lock-in’ time in the evening and ‘lock-out’ time the next day. But those observing rozas are being allowed to move out of their cells so that they can offer prayers and have their meals," a jail official said.

Visitors are coming to Tihar in large numbers. And though the jail canteen is providing inmates with khajurs, fruits and other items, food from outside is being allowed both in the morning and evening. Officials say the prisoners understand each other’s festivals and celebrate them together. "Navratras are about to start and Muslim inmates fast during this Hindu festival," an officer said.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/507633/

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NEWS HEADLINES

NOT FORCING MODI TO QUIT WAS ONE OF MAJOR MISTAKES, ADMITTED ATALJI (AUG 27, 2009, INDIAN EXPRESS)

Former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta has agreed with the revelation made by BJP leader Arun Shourie in an interview with The Indian Express that how Narendra Modi had virtually defied Atal Behari Vajpayee by not resigning as the Gujarat CM in the wake of the 2002 riots. Reacting to the interview appearing in this paper on Wednesday, Mehta said although it was decided by senior leaders that Modi should resign (following the post-Godhra riots), he (Modi) virtually staged an orchestrated coup against Vajpayee at the party’s national executive meeting held in Goa at that time, and scuttled the decision that he should resign. "I still remember Atalji having conceded then that it (not forcing Modi to quit) was one of his two to three major mistakes that he had committed in his political life," said Mehta who has left the BJP, but continues to adore the former Prime Minister.

The former CM told Newsline this evening that he was against the notification issued by the Modi government banning Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah in the state. "The book was launched in Delhi on August 17, and the Modi regime issued the ban orders in the next 24 hours or so. Is it possible for Modi or any of his officials to go through the voluminous book in that short period and decide on the ban ?" Mehta asked. He said Modi must have decided to ban the book on the day it hit the stands "to extract political mileage out of it and salvage his dwindling popular image in the party".

Mehta said he agreed with the media reports that it was Modi along with other BJP leaders who had initiated a move to get Jaswant Singh expelled during the just-concluded national executive meet at Shimla. Mahagujarat Janata Party (MJP) general secretary Sunil Oza said Modi never liked Vajpayee and preferred to always remain with Advani in the BJP politics. It was Advani who had protected Modi after the post-Godhra riots, Oza said, adding that "Atalji had felt the pangs of the riots and wanted the Gujarat CM to step down." Though Oza, the BJP rebel leader, declined to comment on the ban on Jaswant’s book, he alleged it was "a gang of political thugs that was responsible for his expulsion". This gang appears to be out to finish politically the Vajpayee loyalists one after another.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/507680/

ADVANI KNEW OF KANDAHAR SWAP: BRAJESH MISHRA (AUG 27, 2009, IBN)

Former national security advisor (NSA) Brajesh Mishra said on Thursday that L K Advani was part of the decisions taken "unanimously" by the then Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) regarding the release of militants to save 160 hostages on the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999. "The decisions were taken by the CCS, which had (then) prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, home minister L K Advani, finance minister Yashwant Sinha, defence minister George Fernandes and external affairs minster Jaswant Singh as its members," Mishra told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN. The comment of Mishra, former prime minister Vajpayee’s closest aide, comes days after Jaswant Singh said he had "covered" up for Advani during the 2009 Lok Sabha campaign by concealing that the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate knew of the terrorist-hostage swap during the 1999 hijacking episode.

In a bitter attack on Advani after his sacking from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last week, Jaswant Singh had revealed that the former home minister’s claim that he was unaware of Jaswant Singh accompanying three freed terrorists for securing the release of 160 hostages was not true. Advani had all along claimed that he was not in the know that Jaswant Singh was on the plane with three terrorists to Kandahar. Rebutting Advani’s claims, Mishra said: "I am not going to get into anything that then home minister Advani said. I will only draw your attention to the fact that key members of the CCS – George Fernandes, Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha – have very clearly said he (Advani) was there." "A proposal was made in the CCS that Jaswant Singh should go and bring back the hostages and it was agreed by the CCS. Let’s put it more charitably as George Fernandes said, may be he has forgotten," the former NSA said.

Giving details of the IC-814 hijacking and demands of the militants, Mishra said: "They (hijackers) wanted the release of 36 terrorists and $200 million and also the interned remains of some terrorist buried in Kashmir. Each and every man (in the CCS) was opposed to the demand. Then there was a decision, a unanimous decision, that in order to save 160 hostages three terrorists will be released. No money, no interned remains (were given)." Mishra said the CCS was meeting every day during the hostage crisis and "the CCS took the decision that Jaswant Singh should accompany the terrorists to Kandahar". "Jaswant Singh proposed that he would go to Kandahar to bring back hostages. He explained that Indian representatives negotiating there had suggested that somebody senior should be there in case of some last minute problems. This he told the CCS. This was agreed to unanimously," he said, adding that Advani was part of the decision.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/advani-knew-of-kandahar-swap-brajesh-mishra/100088-3.html

CRISIS IN BJP DEEPENS AS SHOURIE ATTACKS RAJNATH (AUG 25, 2009, THE HINDU)

The turmoil and discontent in the Bharatiya Janata Party deepened further on Monday as senior leader and MP Arun Shourie made a televised all-out attack on party president Rajnath Singh, describing him as "Alice in Blunderland" and "Humpty Dumpty." Coming five days after the expulsion of party veteran Jaswant Singh, the "shock" delivered by Mr. Shourie – who complained that no action had been taken by Mr. Rajnath Singh on a letter he had written to him confidentially – is expected to lead to yet another high-profile exit from the party. Some party leaders said Mr. Shourie’s expulsion was imminent.

The reference to "Humpty Dumpty" was from Through the Looking-Glass, a sequel by Lewis Carroll to his Alice in Wonderland. Just as Alice expected Humpty Dumpty to fall at any time, in the BJP, almost at all levels, leaders are expecting the "fall" of not only Mr. Rajnath Singh, whose tenure comes to an end in early January 2010, but also the exit of L.K. Advani, after the observation by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat that a generational change in the party’s leadership was necessary. This added to the uncertainty, party leaders claimed.

There were reports that even as the infighting in the BJP intensified, Mr. Bhagwat was planning to hold a press conference later this week. Party leaders have been saying that the fighting "will not stop" until Mr. Rajnath Singh and Mr. Advani are replaced and that "things will get worse before they get better." While Mr. Jaswant Singh earlier described the RSS as a "shadowy organisation" and said no political party could afford to be dictated to by such an outfit, Mr. Shourie said it was time for the RSS to "take over" the BJP and described its current president as a kati patang, a kite that has been cut and is up for grabs. Party leaders went into a huddle as NDTV began publicising in the evening Mr. Shourie’s interview televised late in the night.

Mr. Shourie’s attack is a continuation of the loud complaints by senior leaders that some in the party – the reference was to Arun Jaitley – had been "rewarded" for mismanagement of the election campaign. The "reward" was the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Since then, there has been an all-out effort to ensure that he does not get the position of party president when Mr. Rajnath Singh’s tenure comes to an end in January 2010. Mr. Shourie publicly complained that his earlier confidential letter to Mr. Rajnath Singh had not been acted upon. His grouse was that when senior leaders like him are not heard by the party high command, they are forced to go to the media to air their grievances.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/25/stories/2009082556600100.htm