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October Month Articles

October Month Articles

  • Preposterous & Absurd
    • by G. Parthasarathy
      Since July 2005 there have been five major terrorist attacks outside Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) - in Ayodhya, Delhi, Varanasi, Bangalore and Mumbai. While investigations are still on to determine who was responsible for the Mumbai bomb blasts that killed nearly 200 people, there is substantial evidence to conclude that the terrorists who carried out the other four attacks were either Pakistani nationals or Bangladeshi and Indian nationals linked to the Bangladesh based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), or the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). .....
  • Ghanshyam's daughter saw him die on TV
    • by Neeraj Chauhan
      He wanted his five sons to join the Delhi Police or the Army and serve the nation. Two have made his dreams come true. In his 34 years of service from the tough Ladakh posting to security of parliamentarians, Head Constable Ghanshyam Patel (51) was awarded six medals. He didn't live to see the sixth medal, the Kirti Chakra. .....
  • Negi kept his promise, died for his country
    • by Neeraj Chauhan
      Patriotism was in the blood of Matbar Singh Negi, another martyr of the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament. He always told his family that he would do something for his country and he kept his promise on the fateful day. .....
  • Send a strong message
    • by Vivek Gumaste
      The clamour for clemency for Mohammed Afzal Guru, the terrorist convicted for masterminding the December 2001 attack on Parliament, brings to the fore a vital issue: Respect for the law of the land. Laws are meant to uphold the basic rights of upright citizens, protect the integrity of the nation and ensure a sense of order. Disregard for laws and clemency for law-breakers will result in anarchy and the nation's sovereignty will be difficult to sustain. .....
  • NATO Fights the Jihadis
    • by Daniel Pipes
      When he was secretary of state, Colin Powell once called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization "the greatest and most successful alliance in history." It's hard to argue with that description, for NATO so successfully waged and won the Cold War, it didn't even have to fight. .....
  • Afzal's friends
    • by The Pioneer
      As if the unofficial mercy petition filed by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and the specious arguments being bandied about by usual busybody lawyer-activists in Delhi were not bad enough, Mr Farooq Abdullah has joined the "let's save Mohammed Afzal Guru" bandwagon. With even the Mufti family, leaders of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), asking for clemency for the terrorist mastermind, convicted of being the brain behind the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, the entire Kashmiri political class has exposed its double standards and plain hypocrisy when it comes to violence against innocent civilians. .....
  • Pakistan's perfidy
    • by The Pioneer
      Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay and others of their ilk, who have been slyly suggesting that the 7/11 train bombings in Mumbai that killed 187 commuters were the handiwork of Hindus, will be loath to admit it, but they look utterly silly today. .....
  • Pak's Punjab perfidy continues
    • by Satinder Bains
      More than a decade after terrorism was wiped out in this border State, several of Punjab's most wanted terrorists continue to enjoy Islamabad's hospitality. The Punjab Police has specific information that at least nine of Punjab's 20 hardcore terrorists are hiding in Pakistan. .....
  • For Om Prakash, duty always came first
    • by Neeraj Chauhan
      For Om Prakash, duty always came first. On the day he met martyrdom, he refused to be at the bedside of his son, who was being operated upon in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital that day. Work always came first, he used to tell his family members. .....
  • Sign-off seal on death stick
    • by The Telegraph
      Outgoing Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti today said capital punishment should stay in the statute book, especially with terrorism emerging as a global phenomenon. .....
  • Petition Against Mohammad Afzal Guru's Death Penalty
    • by
      It is to bring to your kind notice that one Mohammad Afzal Guru, 35, a resident of Sopore, a town in north Kashmir, was arrested, to our knowledge, in December 2001 in connection with the armed assault on the Indian Parliament on Decmeber 13 2001. He is presently lodged in the Tihar Jail, New Delhi waiting to be hanged on 20th instant as per the verdict delivered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. .....
  • Trial by fire
    • by Salim Mansur
      "I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate have always smiled on me." ". unlike most leaders, I am also a soldier, Chief of the Army Staff and Supreme Commander of my country's Armed Forces. I am cut out to be in the midst of battle-trained, prepared and equipped. .....
  • Post-9/11 conflicts rooted in history
    • by Jonathan Last
      It's not just Afghanistan, Iraq and a "war on terror." It's the West vs. the Islamic world, a clash that has never abated. .....
  • Time to expose General's lies
    • by KPS Gill
      While the details of the many 'disclosures' in General Pervez Musharraf's book In the Line of Fire, will be discussed ad nauseam over the coming months (just as, at one time, Ayub Khan's fabrications in his autobiographical Friends not Masters were discussed, and then quickly forgotten), one thing is already and abundantly clear: Gen Musharraf has now been demonstrated to be an inveterate, compulsive and unashamed liar. .....
  • Mother of two, died unflinching
    • by Neeraj Chauhan
      In two more months, it will be five years since terrorists attacked the seat of Indian democracy - Parliament House. The final verdict in the case, as of now, is also out. Of the four arrested for conspiracy, one has been sentenced to death. Two have walked free and one has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. It's now season for a debate whether Mohammed Afzal deserves the death sentence. .....
  • "Scepticism about Indian companies declining"
    • by India Today
      Q. The acquisition of Corus takes you to a new level with a group size of over $40 billion. What next?
      A. We will continue to focus on enhancing the competitiveness of our Group companies in an increasingly globalising world. We want to expand markets for our existing products overseas. While in India, we are trying to break new ground in addressing the needs of the mass market. .....
  • Cross Connections
    • by India Today
      A series of contradictory statements embarrasses the UPA Government and weakens India's case on cross-border terrorism from Pakistan and the ISI's role in the Mumbai blasts. The knee-jerk reactions on issues of national security also give the Opposition enough ammunition. .....
  • Light in Heart of Darkness
    • by Swagata Sen
      To reach Chhoto Mollakhali in East Sunderbans, you have to sail miles through dense mangroves. Surrounded by thick forest on three sides, Chhoto Mollakhali is the most neglected part of the famous world heritage site of the Sunderbans. Its population of 18,000 (according to the 2001 census) has no electricity, no transport or even the basic medical facilities. .....
  • One of them is MSc in Chem from Karachi
    • by The Times of India
      The arrests of two Pakistani terrorists aligned with Al-Badr, Mohammed Fahad and Mohammed Ali Hussain, are considered significant by intelligence agencies here and have yielded valuable information about the sympathisers of this terrorist outfit in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and India. .....
  • Terror strikes in Karnataka foiled
    • by The Times of India
      An interception, chase and a dramatic shootout late on Thursday night when Mysore slept led to the arrest of two terrorist-one of them described by the police as a trained chemist from Pakistan who were allegedly planning to blow up two main seats of power in Bangalore, the Vidhan Soudha and the Vikas Soudha. .....
  • Is the quiet K'taka city turning into a terror haven?
    • by The Times of India
      When the city woke up to a foiled terror attack on Friday, it was a chilling reminder that Mysore is top priority for terrorists and their outfits to penetrate deep into South India. .....
  • 3 held for helping Al Badr suspects fake identity
    • by Johnson T A
      Three Mysore residents were arrested today for allegedly helping one of two militants of Pakistani origin, held on Friday, in obtaining Indian identities by forging birth and domicile certificates and a ration card. .....
  • Children of a Lesser God
    • by Rajeev Srinivasan
      The rantings of one T John, an erstwhile minister in the Karnataka government, are now well known: he claimed that "God was punishing Gujarat and Orissa for attacks on Christians." My first thought on hearing this was that John was logically challenged. .....
  • UN peacekeepers unlikely to disarm Hezbollah: Russia
    • by Khaleej Times
      UN peacekeepers deployed in Lebanon are unlikely to be able to disarm the militant group Hezbollah, as required under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Friday, RIA-Novosti reported. .....
  • Secularism lives due to Hindus: Bukhari
    • by Rediff.com
      The convenor of the United Democratic Front and Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Sayyed Ahmad Bukhari today said that if secularism was surviving in India, it was only because of Hindus and not the political parties. .....
  • Mapping the Epic Underpinnings of Indian Leadership
    • by Sugrutha Ramaswami
      "Your sons are so close to each other, I want mine to be like them too, like Rama and Lakshmana," said my neighbor, an Indian Muslim from Hyderabad, to me. It is testimony to the fact that Puranic and folklore figures have a powerfully embedded place in the collective Indian conscious and subconscious. .....
  • Communing With the Astral, Spiritual and Tuneful
    • by Ben Ratliff
      The pianist Alice Coltrane, the widow of John Coltrane, continued to play after making her run of jazz-related albums in the 1970's, but with different intentions. She played for religious purposes. In 1983 she established the Sai Anantam ashram in Agoura, Calif., where she is known as Swamini A. C. Turiyasangitananda. The Vedic scriptures of ancient India are studied there, as well as scriptures from the Bible, and Buddhist and Islamic texts. .....
  • Victim's mother wants man hanged
    • by BBC News
      The mother of a taxi driver in Pakistan said she will set herself on fire if a man from Leeds convicted of killing her son 18 years ago is not executed. .....
  • Terror & oxygen of publicity
    • by Swapan Dasgupta
      Two decades after Thatcher's characteristically robust intervention, the terrorist organisations throughout the world are not suffering from the want of any "oxygen of publicity." Inflammatory audio and video recordings of Osama bin Laden and his loyal Egyptian deputy are routinely transmitted by Al Jazeera. .....
  • The Wolf Pack
    • by Bruce Thornton
      Ambrose Bierce once quipped that war was God's way of teaching Americans geography. He could have said "teaching us history," for the enemy is emboldened by our ignorance not just of where he lives but of how he lives, his beliefs and values, and to understand these traditions we must understand their history. .....
  • Tunisia moves against headscarves
    • by Heba Saleh
      The Tunisian authorities have launched a campaign against the Islamic veil worn by some women to cover their hair. .....
  • Mysore: Two Pakistan militants nabbed
    • by Bellevision Global
      The militants who are suspected to be the key functionaries of Al-Badr, a Pakistan-based militant outfit, were on a 'specific mission' to create terror in Karnataka, especially in Bangalore. .....
  • China asserts grip on key western province
    • by Mark Magnier
      Mullah Masude, 63, removes his shoes and gingerly navigates an expanse of carpeting in the Jaman mosque's main worship area before climbing a set of rickety steps to the roof. .....
  • Imrana Fallout
    • by Arif Mohammed Khan
      Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, 'This is from Allah', to traffic with it for a miserable price! Woe to them for what their hands do write and for the gain they make thereby - Holy Quran 2.79. .....
  • Muslim cleric blames women for rape
    • by Expressindia.com
      A senior Muslim cleric compared women who go without a headscarf to 'uncovered meat' left out for scavengers, drawing widespread condemnation and calls on Thursday for his resignation. .....
  • Persecution in Bangladesh
    • by Washington Times
      Bangladesh receives roughly $60 million in U.S. aid every year. One would think that the Bush administration should expect something in return, such as a commitment to hold off the forces of radical Islam which currently threaten Bangladesh's stability. But if the case of a moderate Muslim on trial for sedition is any evidence, Bangladesh is swiftly slipping into Islamists' hands. .....
  • Muslim Dalits a downtrodden lot
    • by Nalin Verma
      Ali Anwar's book, 'Masawat ki Jung' has sent a sever down the spines of Muslim elites as it dwells at length on the plight of dalit Muslims derided and treated as pariahs by the upper caste brethren and ulemas. This goes against tenets of Islam which don't sanction inequality on the basis of caste and birth. .....
  • Kerala CM brazens it out, massages Madani again
    • by The Pioneer
      Undeterred by criticism for going soft on a suspected terrorist believed to have masterminded the February 14, 1998 serial bombings in Coimbatore that killed 58 persons and left 250 injured, Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan on Wednesday reiterated his resolve to help Abdul Nasser Madani, lodged in a Tamil Nadu jail, every which way. .....
  • Indian men make best husbands for Russian women
    • by Vinay Shukla
      Among the foreigners, Indians make the best husbands for Russian women as they are "more open" and share an emotional relationship with family, says Russia's leading feminist intellectual Maria Arbatova. .....
  • "We are unpatriotic, we are Communists"
    • by Shyam Khosla
      The CPM is unabashedly unpatriotic. Its actions, responses and mindset on almost all issues that have a bearing on supreme national interests and India's security prove this to the hilt. The party's interpretation of the Marxist ideology prevents it from taking a nationalist line on any major issue, though in order to confuse the masses, it names its publications with fancy names like Deshabhmani and Deshsevak. May be, the Communist don't talk about India when they mention Desh. .....
  • Vijayanagar-Venad Conflict and the Myth of Francis Xavier's Miracle
    • by M. P. Ajithkumar
      On July 8, 1497, four ships sailed from the harbour of Belem at the mouth of Tagus. Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of king's household, was in charge of the expedition. The flagship San Gabriel, carrying twenty guns, and its consort San Raphael, commanded by Paul da Gama, the younger brother of Vasco had been built six years previously by the greatest of all Portuguese navigators, Bartholomeu Diaz. .....
  • Spirituality is the new mantra for youths
    • by The Times of India
      At first glance they appeared to be regular college students with no care in the world. That is, till they spoke about religious texts and spirituality with the same ease and confidence as they would have discussed films, soccer and fashion trends. .....
  • AQ Khan dispatched centrifuges through Dubai: Pak official
    • by The Indian Express
      Disgraced Pakistan nuclear scientist A Q Khan smuggled several nuclear centrifuges to Dubai, some of which might have been transferred to Iran and North Korea, a senior Pakistani military official has said. .....
  • The Imrana malaise runs much deeper
    • by Arif Mohammed Khan
      Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, 'This is from Allah', to traffic with it for a miserable price! Woe to them for what their hands do write and for the gain they make thereby - Holy Quran 2.79. .....
  • Alert against enemy within
    • by Vishwa Mohan
      Whether it is the navy war-room leak case or the arrests of two army jawans for spying last week, the incidents have turned out to be lessons for paramilitary forces. The security agencies have decided to tone up the their counter-surveillance mechanism. .....
  • Forces in tizzy over Pakistani moles
    • by Rajat Pandit
      Despite counterintelligence measures, Pakistan's ISI continues to make deep inroads into the armed forces. The arrest of two Army jawans over the weekend for alleged ISI links is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, say top sources. .....
  • Andhra beggar woman donates temple Rs 3.5L
    • by The Times of India
      Charity, they say, begins at home. For homeless beggar Lakshmamma, charity begins at heart. The frail, septuagenarian woman ekes out a living by seeking alms. But she has redefined philanthropy in her own way. .....
  • China's grand Africa strategy
    • by Sanou Mbaye
      Ever since the Berlin conference of 1883, which Belgium's King Leopold II called "the sharing of Africa's cake," the west has assumed exclusive rights over sub-Saharan Africa. .....
  • Need to scrap Art. 370
    • by Sandhya Jain
      Dr. Farooq Abdullah's staggering assertion that the sessions judge who awarded the death penalty to Afzal Guru for his role in 2001 attack on Parliament could be murdered by Kashmiri terrorists carries the implicit threat that the High Court and Supreme Court judges who upheld the verdict could meet a similar fate. This follows fear scenarios raised by Dr. Abdullah and State politicians like chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik that the Valley will burn if Afzal is executed, particularly in the month of Ramzan. .....
  • 'Everything is so magical in India'
    • by Nimisha Tiwari
      Encapsulating the infectious energy, her water painting captures a group of young girls sitting at Crawford Market. At Dhobi Talau, launderers shyly request Florine to sit as she depicts the multiple rows of washed clothes. The smiling dabbawalas hurriedly brush past her with their billycans, as she gazes at their traditional topis at the Chatrapati Shivaii Terminus. .....
  • How's Rs 5 for drought relief?
    • by Akhilesh Kumar Singh
      Here's a case of state compassion trickling down-quite literally. Villagers in the drought-hit districts of UP are in a state of shock after receiving paltry sums of money as "relief"-like cheques of Rs 5. The luckier ones among them have received Rs 26 and some have been fortunate enough even to bag cheques of Rs 55. .....
  • LeT founder hurting our neighbours: Pak
    • by Expressindia.com
      Pakistani authorities on Monday accused the former leader of an anti-Indian militant group of conducting activities that put Pakistan's relations with 'neighboring countries' at risk. .....
  • Who's afraid of Hindu nationalism?
    • by Radha Rajan
      The White-West looking English media in India, and the humorist who authored this in Newsweek International (July 24, 2006) - "Last week's bombings targeted middle-class Mumbai. Most of the people who ride in "first-class" train compartments in the city come from traditional business communities. They are upper-caste Hindu-and also, largely, Gujarati. .....
  • Worshipping Hindu gods the cause of Chikunguniya!
    • by Haindava Keralam
      There is a group of vultures in the society named Pentecost Christians, seeking for an opportunity to tarnish Hinduism in the pretext of service. For them Natural calamities like Tsunami or Earth quake or Epidemics like Chikunguniya or Dengue fever is a golden opportunity to denigrate Hinduism and deceive the gullible people inorder to promote conversion. .....
  • A menacing Neo-Jinnah (Quaid-e-Azam) in U P
    • by V Sundaram
      'How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.' .....
  • A Clash of Civilizations in Europe
    • by Patrick Sabatier
      A year after the wave of violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world, protesting the publication of caricatures of Mohammad by a Danish newspaper, frictions between Europe and the Muslim world multiply, threatening to make the "clash of civilizations" a self-fulfilling prophecy .....
  • Condemned to repeat history
    • by The Pioneer
      Ever since the Mumbai Police Commissioner pinpointed Pakistan's role in the 7/11 bombings, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his colleagues have been reassuring a worried nation that India will "confront" Pakistan with the evidences gathered by Mumbai Police implicating the ISI. .....
  • India's World-Wide Cultural Diffusion
    • by Paras Ramoutar
      "The diffusion of India's cultural immensity over the vast expanses of Asia and other continents is a glorious epic of human achievement in the domain of thought and its expression in space and time." This summarized former UNC Senator Suren Capildeo's feature address at the 20th annual Divali Nagar on October 12, 2006, before a packed assembly. Theme of this year's Divali Nagar was "The Hindu Contribution to World Thought and Culture." The Nagar ends Friday, October 20. .....
  • Egypt: Christian Convert From Islam Jailed
    • by Compass Direct News
      A Muslim sheikh jailed in Egypt for 18 months has declared from his prison cell that he is under arrest for "insulting Islam" by becoming a Christian. .....
  • PM foreign to real issues
    • by Swapan Dasgupta
      We are in that phase of a Government's life when Prime Ministers, and the retinue around them, start experiencing the monotony of national existence. When that happens, convention demands that the gaze of the Prime Minister's Office is conveniently diverted to "pressing international concerns"- with pleasurable consequences. .....
  • Kolkata Korner
    • by Jaideep Mazumdar
      The worst nightmare of all fun-loving Bengalis came true last week: the skies opened up during the biggest festival of Durga Puja. It rained on almost all the four days of the Pujas and, as usually happens when it rains in Kolkata, the streets were flooded in no time. But for tens of thousands of revelers, the downpour and waterlogged streets proved to be no deterrent at all. .....
  • Al Qaeda 'building cells in Britain'
    • by Ian Bruce
      A resurgent al Qaeda has made the UK its priority target and is building active service units among disaffected young British Muslims, according to senior intelligence officials. .....
  • Lalan Fakir's statue demolished
    • by The Statesman
      A group of CPI-M supporters, headed by the local committee member, Mr Madhusudhan Saha, have objected to the putting up of a bust of the legendary baul poet Lalan Fakir at Maniktala in Chapra police station area here. .....
  • French police face 'permanent intifada'
    • by Jamey Keaten
      On a routine call, three unwitting police officers fell into a trap. A car darted out to block their path, and dozens of hooded youths surged out of the darkness to attack them with stones, bats and tear gas before fleeing. One officer was hospitalized. .....
  • Did Tipu massacre 700 Iyengar men, women & kids?
    • by PM Vijendra Rao
      Less than three weeks from now will occur Naraka Chaturdashi, the famous festival of lights, but Mandyam Iyengars don't celebrate it; they observe it as a Dark Day. It was on this day over 200 years ago that Tipu Sultan herded nearly 700 men and women belonging to this community and put them to a cruel death, according to two Mysore-based scholars who have more than academic interest in this particular aspect of history. .....
  • Give quota report after tabling: SC
    • by The Economic Times
      A day after BJP and Left criticised the Supreme Court for its direction that the parliamentary standing committee report on the OBC reservation bill be placed before it in a sealed cover, the apex court on Wednesday suo motu clarified that the report need be placed in the court only after it is tabled in Parliament. The court's clarification came in the backdrop of an attempt by a section of the political class to use an innocuous direction for attacking the judiciary. .....
  • 'Soniaism' is at work
    • by P Raman
      Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was rather blunt when he had cautioned his listeners in the UK about the 'constraints' imposed by his coalition allies on further liberalisation in India. Every one knew what and whom he had in mind. But what perhaps went unnoticed was that it applied equally to his own party establishment as much as the supporting Left. .....
  • Muslim On-Going Conflicts In The World
    • by Michael Savage
      Afghanistan: The war in Afghanistan is ongoing. Since Soviet troops withdrew, various Afghan groups have tried to eliminate their rivals. Although the Taliban strengthened their position in 1998 they have not achieved their final objective. Afghanistan harbours Osama bin Ladin, a wealthy Saudi Arabia dissident responsible for terrorist acts around the world. .....
  • Shrill NGOs minus simple logic
    • by Suhel Seth
      I am a bit alarmed at all the noise, the song and dance that is being made out over a hanging: that too of someone who was found guilty of a crime but is now, in some way, on his way to martyrdom even before he is dead. The logical fallacy is in the manner in which things are being handled. And like every time before this, we as a nation react only after the deed is done. .....
  • I want to unveil my views on an important issue
    • by Jack Straw
      It's really nice to meet you face-to-face, Mr Straw,' said this pleasant lady, in a broad Lancashire accent. She had come to my constituency advice bureau with a problem. I smiled back. 'The chance would be a fine thing,' I thought to myself but did not say out loud. .....
  • Osama 'probably' in Pakistan's Waziristan: Clinton
    • by Rediff.com
      Amid a spirited argument between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, former US president Bill Clinton on Thursday said the Al Qaeda leader is "probably" in the restive Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan. .....
  • Arab Intellectual: Why Has There Been No Fatwa Against Bin Laden?
    • by Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
      Introduction: "The fact that to date no fatwa has been issued [calling to kill bin Laden] is what strengthened bin Laden, his men, and Al-Qaeda, and it is what is encouraging them to expand the circle of murder and terrorism in the Arab world. Moreover, Al-Qaeda interpreted the Islamic legal scholars' silence as an endorsement of their crimes..." .....
  • Celebrating treason
    • by Chandan Mitra
      With no logic, no legal figment and no public support at their command, the NGO brigade has descended to wringing out every drop of emotion, with the help of a misguided section of the media. They have spun out a tear-jerker that could be a Bollywood scriptwriter's envy. The leading light of the India-baiting jholawala brigade, one Nandita Haksar, was in her element on the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan last Thursday. .....
  • Trust but verify
    • by Udayan Namboodiri
      Those who believe in making the naughtiest boy the class monitor forget that to make it work, you need a headmaster who is sincerely interested in maintaining order. It's all too plain to see that the "headmaster" in charge of the war on terror is just not interested whether or not Musharraf walks the talk on reining in terror directed against India .....
  • Nato's top brass accuse Pakistan over Taliban aid
    • by Ahmed Rashid
      Commanders from five Nato countries whose troops have just fought the bloodiest battle with the Taliban in five years, are demanding their governments get tough with Pakistan over the support and sanctuary its security services provide to the Taliban. .....
  • That sinking feeling
    • by Swapan Dasgupta
      No amount of ham-fisted spin-doctoring and the desperate resurrection of a 35-year-old slogan can take away from what is fast becoming an open secret: The floundering Government of Manmohan Singh. In the early days of the UPA Government, it made sense to contrast the sincerity of the Prime Minister with the blundering ways of his coalition colleagues. Today, there is not even that fig-leaf. .....
  • Quake didn't destroy militant networks
    • by Matthew Rosenberg and Munir Ahmad
      After the earthquake hit South Asia a year ago, Indian officials were hopeful that nature had done what their army could not: destroy safe houses, weapons caches and training camps used by Islamic militants fighting for control of Kashmir. .....
  • Many a slip between neck and noose
    • by T R Jawahar
      It is not often that the law takes its course in India. Even if it does, it is so painfully slow that justice delayed becomes justice denied. But today we have a case where the law has not just taken its due course but has acted in godspeed. .....
  • Campus radicals 'growing problem'
    • by Frank Gardner
      Radicalisation of students by Islamist groups is a growing problem at some UK universities, the BBC has been told. .....
  • This is no way to fight terror
    • by Maninderjit Singh Bitta
      It is very unfortunate that we have not learnt lessons from history. The decade-long festering wound in Punjab was cured with firm commitment, political will and non-interference under the leadership of then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, then Chief Minister Beant Singh and then Director-General of Police KPS Gill. Today we have a leadership which in bargain for a few accolades is ready to barter the sovereignty of the country. .....
  • In Islam, treason is capital offence
    • by Kanchan Gupta
      This conversation began in the sparsely furnished but cavernous office of Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar, in medieval, or Islamic, Cairo. It continued with other sheikhs of the world's oldest university and the highest seat of Sunni theology over cups of scalding oversweet coffee. In between, there was a detour by way of evenings spent with young, educated Arabs in Jeddah, the gateway to Mecca, symbol of global Islam. .....
  • Pak admits 'helping' JK militancy
    • by Expressindia.com
      Pakistan has admitted that it might have helped insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir at "some time" but claimed it is now "trying our best" to prevent infiltration of militants into India. .....
  • Govt signals backdoor reprieve
    • by Vijita singh
      Tihar Jail authorities have been asked by the Ministry of Home Affairs to put on hold preparations for the hanging of December 13, 2001 Parliament attack mastermind Mohammed Afzal Guru. .....
  • Our difficult and dangerous times
    • by Balbir K Punj
      With Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad brazenly extending support to the mobs agitating against the death sentence awarded to Mohammed Afzal Guru, the prime accused in the December 13, 2001, Parliament attack case, it is clear that the Congress under Ms Sonia Gandhi has walked a long way from the ethos of Mahatma Gandhi. .....
  • Evangelist miracle campaign drives many to Suicides
    • by K.Ramakrishnan
      The Kerala High Court on 10th March directed the Government to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Vinson M. Paul, Inspector General of Police to probe into various allegations, including sexual exploitation of women against the Catholic run Charismatic Divine Retreat Centre(CDRC), at Muringoor in Thrissur district of Kerala .....
  • 18th century romance in Chengalpattu district
    • by V Sundaram
      'Thirupporur and Vadakkupattu - Eighteenth Century Locality Accounts', jointly authored by M D Srinivas, T G Paramasivam and T Pushkala and published by Centre for Policy Studies Chennai is a very valuable contribution to the economic, social and cultural history of South India. .....
  • The London Markaz
    • by Daniel Pipe
      The Sunday Times (London) has an article today with an update on plans by Tablighi Jamaat to build a gigantic mosque complex, called the London Markaz, on a 10-acre site in Newham, a mere 500 yards from the site of the 2012 Olympic games. The Markaz' size and ambition are as noteworthy as Tablighi Jamaat's agenda is dubious. .....
  • Hurriyat chief speaks for Afzal clemency
    • by Aziz Haniffa
      Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference, has urged the Bush Administration to prevail on India to grant clemency to the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant Afzal Guru, who has been sentenced to death for his role in the attack on the Parliament. .....
  • An Open letter to the President of India
    • by B.R.Haran
      As a concerned citizen of this great democratic country, I am compelled to write this letter to you, after seeing the media reports that you are likely to consider the clemency petition submitted by the wife of the dreaded terrorist Mohammed Afzal Guru on his behalf. .....
  • It's upardonable, cry victims' families &other top stories
    • by The Pioneer
      Family members of the five Delhi Police personnel, who were killed in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack, on Tuesday met President APJ Abdul Kalam with a memorandum requesting that the mercy petition filed by the family of Mohammed Afzal should not be considered. .....
  • Al-Qaeda scare jolts Pakistan into action
    • by Syed Saleem Shahzad
      The level of tolerance between the government of President General Pervez Musharraf and Islamists elements, whether they are part of the establishment or outside it, has reached a point of no return, a development with vast implications for the US-led "war on terror". .....
  • The Godhra fake-believe
    • by Ashok Malik
      It is a sign of our times that faith in the judiciary is becoming increasingly susceptible one's political biases. As such, the Supreme Court is "just" when it acquits SAR Geelani in the Parliament attack case; "not infallible" - to use Mr Farooq Abdullah's words - when it convicts and sentences to death Mohammad Afzal Guru in the same case; and downright unfair when, in a stinging judgement, the Gujarat High Court calls the Justice (retired) UC Banerjee Committee, set up by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to reinterpret the Godhra carnage, "illegal, unconstitutional ... null and void". .....
  • The Centre cannot hold
    • by KPS Gill
      Take a look at the broad thrust of headlines in India's national dailies on any representative day, and you will find a litany on lawlessness, crime, terrorism, disease, corruption, core shortages, and the ambience of a headlong hurtling towards disorder. Even in the Capital there is the sense more of a municipality under siege, than of the throbbing and dynamic heart of a rising nation. .....
  • Secular Hypocrisy
    • by Shachi Rairikar
      Actress-turned-activist Shabana Azmi finds the opposition to the reservation for Muslim students in the Aligarh Muslim University from certain sections "unfortunate", saying the move was aimed at benefiting deserving students. .....
  • To win brownie points they damn their own forefathers
    • by M.V. Kamath
      Is the Indian media anti-Hindu? It is a disturbing question. In the first place a clear distinction must be made between the print and electronic (radio and television) media. I have not monitored the latter and, in any event, it takes a long time to come to a judgment. .....
  • The Terror B-team
    • by Shachi Rairikar
      The entire nation stands horrified as our so-called "intellectuals", human rights and social activists campaign vigourously to save Afzal Guru, who masterminded the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. The demand for clemency coming from the likes of Lone, Yasin Mallick, S. A. R. Geelani is not surprising as they all are self-admitted and declared separatists and anti-nationals. .....
  • Future Of Communal Relations In India
    • by Asghar Ali Engineer
      What is the future of communal relations in India? What will be the likely scenario in coming 30 years? This is an important question. Is India doomed as a secular democracy? Or does India's future lie in secular democracy? Will the Hindutva forces gain or loose? There are different answers to these questions, which is quite natural. In complex social and political problems there are no easy answers. To get some probable answers one has to get at the root of the problem. .....
  • What is the PM up to?
    • by R. C. Sharma
      It is unfortunate that we have a Prime Minister who refuses to listen to the voices of crores of Indians against the killing of innocent Indians by terrorists aided and abetted by Pakistan. In his zeal to appease Pakistan to secure minority votes, Mr Manmohan Singh, in total contradiction of Defence Minister's contention in the US that Pakistan is the 'nursery of global terrorism', tells the world that Pakistan, too, is a 'victim of terrorism' and thus puts that country in the same league that India, the real victim, belongs to. .....
  • "Clemency to Afzal means TERROR EMERGENCY slapped on India"
    • by Dr Pravin Togadiya
      Speaking against "even thinking" about clemency to Afzal, Dr Pravin Togadiya, international general secretary of Vishva Hindu Parishad, said, "In 1947 Jinnah and Co. broke India, in 1977 Indira Gandhi slapped cruel emergency on India and now in 2006 the UPA is trying to force 'TERROR EMERGENCY' on India by entertaining the clemency application of Afzal. .....
  • India Bachao
    • by The Indian Express
      Medha Patkar appears to be not just, as earlier, against callous treatment of project oustees. Patkar-led protests these days seem to question economic modernisation in as much as the latter involves industrialisation and therefore arrival of capital and technology in non-urban areas. .....
  • Mother, Daughter violated in Barisal
    • by The Independent
      A women of the Hindu community and her daughter were violated by some hoodlums in their shanty House at Alamdi village in Uzirpur Upazilla of Barisal district recently. .....
  • Uncritical celebration of minority interests with corresponding denigration of Hindus
    • by Swapan Dasgupta
      There are two subjects on which nearly every middle-class Indian has an opinion: cricket and the media. On cricket, a complex game that has as much to do with the mind and playing conditions as with physical skill, the views are generally pedestrian and centred on a simple reading of the score-card. Although cricket is now a mass spectator sport, its popular understanding is not grounded in the ethos of the game. .....
  • Populism gone overboard
    • by Anuradha Dutt
      In Malaysia, Islamic clerics and scholars have criticised joint celebrations of two impending festivals, one Hindu and the other Muslim. Diwali and Id-ul Fitr, which marks the end of fasting during Ramzan, fall within three days of each other. The Government has refrained from interfering in such observances so far though the outcry against them is getting shriller by the day. .....
  • Revival of the Taliban
    • by G Parthasarathy
      Ever since American forces entered Afghanistan and removed the Taliban from power, Indian foreign policy has been based on the premise that the Americans and their NATO allies would restore peace, stability and moderation in Afghanistan. The fundamental basis of our Afghanistan policy, which presumed that the Americans would not permit the Taliban to return to centrestage and allow Afghanistan to become a client state of Pakistan yet again, is now coming unstuck. .....
  • Open Letter to Sri Karunanidhi, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu
    • by Dr. Jagan Kaul and Krishan Bhatnagar
      This urgent representation is being submitted to seek your immediate action in the case of HH Swami Jayendra Shankaracharya's arrest on 11/11 (November 11, 2004) on concocted murder charges, on the holiest night of Diwali. The ultra-legal action by the state authorities as has been confirmed universally was the result of political vendetta, abuse of power and contempt for the Hindu India. .....
  • Creamy layer denied SC/ST benefits
    • by Lakshmi B. Ghosh
      The Supreme Court on Thurs-day upheld the constitutional validity of the amendment providing for reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for promotion in government jobs, but said that the so-called "creamy layer" had to be excluded from its benefits. The judgement was pronounced on a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 77th, 81st, 82nd and 85th Amendments. .....
  • An 'Ally' With His Own Agenda
    • by Tunku Varadarajan
      Toward the end of "In the Line of Fire"--in a chapter on the emancipation of women that has all the passion of a government circular--Pervez Musharraf writes that "rape, no matter where it happens in the world, is a tragedy and deeply traumatic for the victim. My heart, therefore, goes out to Mukhtaran Mai and any woman to whom such a fate befalls." .....
  • Re-emergence of Taliban
    • by G. Parthasarathy
      Ever since American forces entered Afghanistan and removed the Taliban from power, Indian foreign policy has been based on the premise that the US and its NATO allies would restore peace, stability and moderation in Afghanistan. The fundamental basis of our Afghanistan policy, which presumed that the Americans would not permit the Taliban to return to centre-stage and allow Afghanistan to become a client state of Pakistan yet again, is now coming unstuck. .....
  • Pak army rigs polls to perpetuate power: former ISI Chief
    • by NewKerala.com
      Admitting that Pakistan army has to rig polls to perpetuate its hold on power, a former ISI chief has said President Pervez Musharraf should quit as army chief after the next elections but continue as President for another term. .....
  • 'Bangladesh a launch pad for Pak terrorists into India'
    • by Rediff.com
      Bangladesh has emerged as a launch pad into India for Pakistan-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Dhaka is not cooperating with New Delhi in cracking down on them, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan said on Thursday. .....
  • 'Even other Muslims turn and look at me'
    • by Zaiba Malik
      'Idon't wear the niqab because I don't think it's necessary," says the woman behind the counter in the Islamic dress shop in east London. "We do sell quite a few of them, though." She shows me how to wear the full veil. I would have thought that one size fits all but it turns out I'm a size 54. I pay my £39 and leave with three pieces of black cloth folded inside a bag. .....
  • Truth about these temple visits
    • by Vivek Deshpande
      For many years now, I have witnessed the Dhammachakra Pravartan Din celebrations in Nagpur to commemorate B.R. Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism 50 years ago. I have also noted that the Dalits and the converts attending the celebration at the historic Deekshabhoomi, visit various temples and Durga pandals in the city during their stay in the city. .....
  • Don't give in to blackmail
    • by P.M. Kamath
      India is going through a major but silent crisis as a secular nation. I call it I 'silent' as there have been no major communal upheavals. My immediate concern arises from the current debate to seek to revoke the death penalty imposed on Mohammad Afzal Guru for masterminding the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on the Parliament House. .....
  • Need to scrap Art. 370
    • by Sandhya Jain
      Dr. Farooq Abdullah's staggering assertion that the sessions judge who awarded the death penalty to Afzal Guru for his role in 2001 attack on Parliament could be murdered by Kashmiri terrorists carries the implicit threat that the High Court and Supreme Court judges who upheld the verdict could meet a similar fate. .....
  • Video Disputes China's Claim Shooting Was in Self-Defense
    • by Joseph Kahn
      A Romanian videotape that appears to show Chinese security forces shooting two Tibetan refugees in the Himalayas contradicts Beijing's claim that the refugees were shot when soldiers acted in self-defense. .....
  • Poles upset with Pope's remarks on India
    • by DNA
      Many Polish Indophiles, most of them Catholics, are upset over Pope Benedict XVI's complaint to the Indian ambassador about the treatment of Christians in India. .....
  • Pakistan foils coup plot
    • by Syed Saleem Shahzad
      A plot to stage a coup against Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf soon after his recent return from the US has been uncovered, resulting in the arrest of more than 40 people. .....
  • Medical misconceptions
    • by Martin Desmarais
      Banaras Hindu University professor G.P. Dubey has one crucial goal with his professional work - to dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding Ayurvedic medicine and spread the positive aspects of this ancient practice. .....
  • CBI turns to yoga to beat stress
    • by Zee News
      India's top investigative agency, under pressure from its political masters and courts to show results of an ever-increasing number of cases, has turned to the country's ancient wisdom to de-stress its personnel. .....
  • Kerala church: Money outdoes mission
    • by Shantanu Dutta
      Money seems to be eroding the moral highground of the church. Missionaries in Kerala are more busy chasing money and funds than providing education and service to the poor. .....
  • Pakistan's Baluch insurgency
    • by Selig S Harrison
      Serious troubles have erupted in the Pakistan province of Baluchistan since the assassination of an opposition leader in August. Pressure for independence is growing in this region bordering Iran and Afghanistan, which challenges Pakistan's authority. .....
  • Girl held for refusing to study with Asian students
    • by Sify News
      A teenaged schoolgirl was arrested by British police for racism after she refused to sit with a group of Asian students as some of them did not speak English, but was later released without being charged. .....
  • A Congress convict versus the Indian Constitution
    • by V Sundaram
      Walter Scott said that an hour of crowded glory is worth an age without a name. Such a moment of crowded glory for the Supreme Court of India was achieved by two great judges Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia when they held on Wednesday that the power of pardon, clemency, reprieve or remission of sentence to a convict exercised by the President under Article 72 of the Constitution and by the Governor under Article 161 of the Constitution, is subject to judicial review. .....
  • Afzal Guru will never be hanged
    • by K. N. Pandita
      Delhi High Court has found Afzal Guru guilty of conspiring a murderous attack on the Indian Parliament and awarded him capital punishment. .....
  • Setback to Lalu, HC rules pet Banerjee probe illegal
    • by RK Misra
      The Union Railway Ministry initiated UC Banerjee committee which probed aspects of the Godhra train carnage has been declared as illegal and unconstitutional by the Gujarat High Court on Friday marking a stunning setback for the UPA Government in general and Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in particular. .....
  • Islamic Group Beheads Assyrian Priest, Crucifies 14 Year Old Boy in North Iraq
    • by AINA
      On Monday, October 9, a prominent Assyrian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) priest, Fr. Paulos Iskander (Paul Alexander), was kidnapped by an unknown Islamic group. His ransom was posted at either $250,000 or $350,000. This group had demanded that signs be posted once again on his church apologizing for the Pope's remarks as a condition for negotiations to begin. .....
  • One step forward, two back
    • by Pervez Hoodbhoy
      Some had feared - while others had hoped - that General Pervez Musharraf's coup of October 12, 1999, would bring the revolution of Kemal Ataturk to a Pakistan in the iron grip of mullahs. But years later, a definitive truth has emerged. Like the other insecure governments before it, both military and civilian, the present regime also has a single-point agenda - to stay in power at all costs. .....
  • Fitzgerald: 95 things that fuel Muslim extremism
    • by Jihad Watch
      Ninety-Five Other Things That Also Fuel Muslim Extremism: 1. Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses." 2. The British government's protection of Salman Rushdie. 3. The American coup against Mossadegh in 1953, cited by some Iranians as the direct cause of the takeover of Iran by the Ayatollah Khomeini more than 25 years later. 4. The remarks of Pim Fortuyn about Muslim attitudes toward liberal Dutch mores. .....
  • Fingering Danny Pearl's Killer
    • by Timothy J. Burger and Adam Zagorin
      Who murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl? Since his kidnapping and execution by Islamic militants in Pakistan in 2002, various suspects have been identified. Pakistani authorities initially put the blame on Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheik, a British-born Islamist who was convicted and sentenced to death for the crime in Pakistan in 2003. Three fellow conspirators received jail terms of 25 years. .....
  • After Musharraf, it's Mukhtaran Mai's book
    • by Rediff.com
      After having brought out President Pervez Musharraf's memoirs, his American publisher is all set to release book by a Pakistani tribal woman Mukhtaran Mai, who was paraded naked after being gang raped in 2003 as a punishment ordered by a local elders' council. .....
  • 'It's a conspiracy to export Hindu culture'
    • by Chidanad Rajghatta
      Unnamed British-Pakistani groups that depend heavily on clips and posters from Hindi films to produce their videos allege a conspiracy to allow Hindu culture through the backdoor, as "Bollywood movies are officially banned in Pakistan but are freely available on pirated videos and DVDs", they say. .....
  • Bugti buried as Balochistan shuts down
    • by The Times of India
      Pakistani authorities on Friday buried a locked coffin purportedly containing the body of a tribal chief whose killing in a military raid generated widespread protests, officials and witnesses said. The chief's family did not permit the burial and said they have not seen proof of the leader's death. .....
  • Musharraf among top 10 dictators
    • by Rashmee Roshan Lall
      Pakistan's General Musharraf has achieved the dubious distinction of being ranked one of 'the world's top 10 dictators', alongside Kim Jong-il and Equatorial Guinea's alleged cannibalistic ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema, despite his pivotal position as an ally in the West's war on terror. .....
  • Trouble ahead for Hindu-only marriage registration law
    • by Aasha Khosa
      The Union Law Ministry is expected to run into opposition from within the government and outside over its plan of introducing a marriage registration bill that applies only to Hindus, in disregard of longstanding demands from women's groups that such a law include all communities. .....
  • ASI plans fresh excavations to uncover Nalanda varsity's spread
    • by Maitreyee Handique
      In what could be its biggest excavation project in recent times, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is formulating a conceptual plan to uncover the extent of influence of Nalanda Mahavihara, one of the world's oldest seat of learning. .....
  • Narco test reveals clues to SIMI activist's blasts link
    • by Vivek Deshpande
      The narco analysis of Shakeel Warsi, one of the three Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists arrested by the Nagpur police on August 8, has brought to light new clues to the Mumbai blasts, Commissioner of Police S P S Yadav said here today. The trio was arrested in a raid on an Internet cafe here. .....
  • Marad-LDF cover-up bid to placate culprits
    • by S. Chandrasekhar
      Marad and May 2, 2003, will always remain an unerasable memory in the minds of Hindus in Kerala. It was on this day that eight Hindu fishermen were brutally butchered by Islamic extremists in the fishing hamlet of Marad near Kozhikode in North Kerala. In the past three decades, around 200 RSS cadres have died at the hands of Islamic extremists and Marxists, but the revulsion and resistance by Hindus to the Marad massacre is unprecedented in the near history of Kerala. .....
  • From courts, with conviction
    • by T. R. Andhyarujina
      The judgments of the Supreme Court delivered on October 11 on the scope of the president's, or the governor's, power of pardon or remission should dispel much of the ill-informed debate surrounding the use of the power by the president in the case of Mohammed Afzal, who was convicted and sentenced to death for his participation in the attack on Parliament in December 2001. .....
  • Mine, ammunition haul at Kolkata flat
    • by The Indian Express
      A joint team of the Army Intelligence unit and the West Bengal Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) today seized a huge cache of ammunition and 543 anti-personnel mines from a rented apartment in the Behala suburb of Kolkata. .....
  • Court slams UPA's Godhra panel for bias, calls it illegal
    • by The Indian Express
      The Gujarat High Court on Friday declared the Centre's setting up of the U C Banerjee Committee to probe the Godhra train carnage "illegal, unconstitutional" and "null and void." The court also said that the committee's report shall not be tabled in Parliament. .....
  • Afzal Guru will never be hanged
    • by K. N. Pandita
      Delhi High Court has found Afzal Guru guilty of conspiring a murderous attack on the Indian Parliament and awarded him capital punishment. .....
  • Chalice of blood (Letter to Editor)
    • by Surinder Kumar
      I refer to the report, 'Quoting shlokas, Pranab defines Hinduism, Hindutva for BJP' (IE, August 26). The report devotes a paragraph to how Pranab Mukherjee floored the House with his lesser known mastery of Hindu scriptures. But does he really know what the third chapter (adhyaya) of Shri Durga Saptashati means? He only mentioned how the Goddess "drank once, and then again and again, in the midst of battle, her eyes bloodshot..." but not what She drank. .....
  • A very Beig problem
    • by Muzamil Jaleel
      The Congress party's tryst with its alliance partner in J&K may have reached its end game. The recent stand off with the People's Democratic Party was ostensibly triggered after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad set aside the PDP's decision to seek a change in its legislative party leader and Deputy chief Minister Muzaffar Hussein Beig's portfolios in the ministry. .....
  • PDP and Cong rush in to paper J&K cracks, Azad has a headache
    • by Muzamil Jaleel / Varghese K George
      The J-K's ruling coalition government continued to be in unstable equilibrium as differences between the two major coalition partners Congress and People's Democratic Party grew deeper today on the PDP's demand that its leader Muzaffar Hussain Beig be dropped from the state Cabinet. The party's choice for Beig's replacement, senior leader Abdul Aziz Zargar, has hardly helped matters given his alleged links with militants. .....
  • Mother of two, died unflinching
    • by Neeraj Chauhan
      In two more months, it will be five years since terrorists attacked the seat of Indian democracy - Parliament House. The final verdict in the case, as of now, is also out. Of the four arrested for conspiracy, one has been sentenced to death. Two have walked free and one has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. It's now season for a debate whether Mohammed Afzal deserves the death sentence. .....
  • Pak's napak game
    • by T N Raghunatha
      After 10-week-long painstaking investigations into what they initially perceived as "blinder of a case", the Mumbai Police have ripped the lid off the sinister 7/11 serial blasts' plot masterminded by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and executed by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), with the help of outlawed SIMI and Jaish-e-Mohammed. .....
  • Israel 'lauds' Rajnath idea to quell terror
    • by The Asian Age
      Israel has "appreciated" Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh's idea to let India take a proactive role in dismantling terror camps in Pakistan and Bangladesh after taking the international community into confidence, the party said on Saturday. .....
  • Husband tortures wife for religion
    • by NewKerala.com
      A Christian husband allegedly tortured his Hindu wife for her refusal to embrace Christianity in Orissa's Kendrapada district, police said Thursday. .....
  • Hang Afzal - like hell!
    • by Mark Manuel
      I cannot understand why such a fuss is being made over Mohammed Afzal Guru. Taking for granted that the man is a terrorist, and that he has been proved conclusively guilty of the attack on Parliament in December 2001 that killed 14, why should he not be hanged to death? I believe very simply and honestly that nobody has the right to take somebody else's life unless he is willing to pay for it with his own. Especially criminal types. .....
  • Musharraf is Untouchable
    • by Ahmed Rashid
      It is a confirmed fact that in the days preceding 9/11, Lt Gen Mahmoud Ahmed, the then head of Pakistan's ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), transferred $100,000 to Mohammad Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers. This explosive fact has received only minimal coverage in the mainstream US media. Lt Gen Mahmoud Ahmed has had deep links with the US intelligence establishment, and was in fact in a meeting with Bush administration officials on the morning of 9/11. .....
  • Pakistan's Russian Roulette of Terrorism
    • by Subodh Atal
      Even as the Taliban regain strength in Afghanistan and wage an insurgency nearly as fierce as in Iraq, the hub of terrorism in the subcontinent has shifted to Pakistan. A series of international terrorism plots uncovered in the U.S., U.K. and Australia has been hatched in, or linked to Pakistan. In the most notorious such plot, British police arrested several suspects planning to use liquid explosives aboard commercial airliners flying from Britain to the United States. .....
  • Attacking Parliament is ok?
    • by Business Standard
      Going by the mercy pleas put forward to stop the carrying out of the death penalty handed out to Mohammed Afzal Guru, who masterminded the attack on Parliament five years ago, it would appear that the significance of the crime has been forgotten by even politicians in important office. Those who attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001, came very near to being able to eliminate most of India's top political leadership, and actually killed eight people. .....
  • Conversion bid at Guruvayur, murder in Potta
    • by Organiser
      Christian groups in Kerala are uping their conversion machinery. The target of the Christians and terrorists have always been the Sabarimala and Guruvayur temples of Kerala where crores of Hindus irrespective of caste, creed, gender or colour worship Lord Ayyappa and Krishna. The idol of Mahavishnu in Guruvayur is the one that was worshipped by Krishna and was placed in Guruvayur after Dwaraka was submerged. .....
  • 'Don't celebrate Diwali'
    • by Archana Pushpendra
      Students at St Joseph's High School in Kandivli have been asked not to celebrate Diwali this year. Instead, the government-aided school has instructed each of its 1,400 students to pay Rs 5,000 as donation to the school fund! .....
  • Secularism endangered
    • by A Surya Prakash
      Kashmiri politicians, bleeding heart liberals and a motley crowd of citizens who think defence of Muslim terrorists will refurbish their secular credentials have launched a shrill campaign for grant of clemency to Mohammed Afzal Guru, the mastermind behind the dastardly attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001. .....
  • 'When will you lump ISI with al-Qaida?'
    • by Rashmee Roshan Lall
      When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets his British counterpart Tony Blair next week, India will seek an upfront response on that key question in the five-year-old US-led, UK-backed so-called war on terror: How long will the West publicly refuse to lump the ISI along with al-Qaida, the Taliban, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashar-e Toiba into one big bag marked bloody trouble? .....
  • Mayday! Flights bound for Nepal under LeT threat
    • by The Economic Times
      With intelligence inputs warning of a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) plot to hijack Nepal-bound flights, security has been beefed up at Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi airports. Confirming this to ET, CISF director general SIS Ahmed said that though security at airports was already on a very high alert due to the perpetual terror threat faced by the aviation sector, "surveillance is further stepped up whenever additional inputs come in." .....
  • Lashkar has ISI connections: Narayanan
    • by Swati Maheshwari
      In an exclusive interview to NDTV in London, India's National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has categorically said that Lashkar-e-Toiba has the blessings of Pakistan's secret service, the ISI. .....
  • Scared of N-bomb? Read Mahabharata
    • by Swami Vijnanananda Saraswati
      Einstein could never pardon himself for having been one of the founding fathers and guiding light for the American atomic commission that created the first pair of atom bombs, that showed the world a trailer of the kind of devastation that can be created by the same science which brings about the best of the comforts for you and me. .....
  • Islamic Extremist Gets Death Sentence In Nigeria
    • by Dow Jones Newswires
      An Islamic extremist has been convicted of inciting religious riots that killed thousands in Nigerian two decades ago and sentenced to death, Nigerian media reported Wednesday. .....
  • Mercy plea should not drown victim kin's voice
    • by Abraham Thomas
      In a landmark verdict bound to change the rules governing grant of clemency to convicts, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held that the President or the Governor should not go by the pleas of the convict alone but also by its impact on the family of the victims and society. The court also held that such pardons, if granted on extraneous considerations, would be subject to judicial review. .....
  • Mumbai mockery
    • by The Pioneer
      Reports from Mumbai that relatives of those accused of carrying out the horrific train blasts on July 11, 2006, have petitioned the Prime Minister's Office and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of Maharashtra, alleging police atrocities, are extremely disquieting. The affidavits sworn by the relatives - and facilitated by Muslim organisations, community lawyers and the usual gaggle of human rights activists - charge the police with extracting forcible confessions, and using relatives of those under interrogation as hostages. .....
  • Kutch village sets tourism example
    • by The Times of India
      The state-sponsored Sharadotsav project in Kutch, which took place on October 6 and 7, has ended on a happy note. The Centre has asked different states to replicate a small rural tourism project, Sham-e-Sarhad, at Hodka, a border village 50 kilometres from Bhuj, as an example of how a remote local community can make tourism into a viable economic option. .....
  • The journalist and the jihadi
    • by Suzanne Fields
      Daniel Pearl never wanted to be the story. Like all authentic journalists, he wanted to observe, to analyze and to tell the story to others. Nevertheless, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and beheaded by Islamist terrorists in Karachi, and who would have celebrated his 43rd birthday this week, has become the symbol of what can happen when journalism meets jihad. HBO tells the story in a new documentary film, "The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl." .....
  • Musharraf and the deepening divide
    • by Vijay Dandapani
      Being a bull in a china shop and making things up along the way are traits that seem to come naturally to Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf. .....
  • Dhiren Barot pleads guilty to US, UK bomb plots
    • by H S Rao
      India-born Dhiren Barot on Thursday pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder people in terrorist attacks by targeting major financial institutions in the United States and setting off a 'dirty bomb' in the United Kingdom. .....
  • Musharraf and the line of untruth
    • by V Gangadhar
      Readers all over, more so in India, are now an enlightened lot. We now know the times and details of the first and second romances of Pak President, Pervez Musharraf. Our friends in the Left, helping the UPA government from outside, may now advocate a softer line towards our neighbour. Didn't the Pak President confess that his second love was a pretty Bengali lass whom he had met in Karachi when he was in his teens? .....
  • India to raise ISI issue with UK
    • by Rashmee Roshan Lall
      When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Tony Blair next week, India will seek an upfront response on that key question in the five-year-old 'war on terror': How long will the West publicly refuse to lump the ISI along with Al Qaida, the Taliban, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba into one big bag marked bloody trouble? .....
  • Nato commanders say Pak still backing terror
    • by Chidanad Rajghatta
      Pakistan is in the crosshairs of western military commanders as the source, supplier and instigator of terrorism, notwithstanding periodic certifications from the Bush administration that is a frontline ally in the war on terror. .....
  • Propagating Prejudices Hinduism Studies in Schools of America
    • by Jayant Kalawar
      Hinduism Studies programmes in the USA are a subset of the Area Studies programmes funded by the US Congress during the later years of the Cold War, beginning in the 70s. Even though the Cold War has extinguished itself, Area Studies programmes across US universities still show signs of life. Hinduism Studies are firmly entrenched in South Asian departments across US universities, as South Asia is a convenient spatial category in the global Cold War chessboard. .....
  • Afzal mercy as national discourse _ a national shame
    • by S Gurumurthy
      Mohammad Afzal is now the new symbol of the seculars. Grant of pardon to him is their goal. Afzal is not just anti-national. He attempted to defy not just the law of crimes. He did not endeavour to defile the constitution just. He attempted to destroy it. He was a main conspirator in the attack on Indian Parliament in the year 2001. With Pakistan providing the attackers, he conspired to kill or take as hostage, the Prime Minister and other ministers and Parliament members. .....
  • Salutations to a great revolutionary
    • by V Sundaram
      Mazzini (1805-1872), the great Italian revolutionary, stated 'Great revolutions are the work rather of principles than of bayonets, and are achieved first in the moral, and afterwards in the material sphere.' .....
  • Terrorist trainer Cheema lives in fortress across border: Roy
    • by Anil Singh
      One of the strongest links of the 7/11 blasts to Pakistan is Azam Cheema, who is in charge of training recruits for the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, say the Mumbai police and Indian intelligence agencies which took nearly three months to piece together the jigsaw. .....
  • No second thoughts on this punishment
    • by Prakash Singh
      We are a strange people. If there is an outrageous incident of rape, there are vocal demands that the rapist should be hanged. And now that a terrorist is to be hanged, there are demands for a grant of pardon to him. We seem to lack a balanced attitude and swing from one extreme to another. A rapist must get very stringent punishment but there could be no justification for hanging him. .....
  • Veil and prejudice
    • by Kanchan Gupta
      Trust the Guardian to jump to the defence of those who defend the abominable practice of forcing women to wear the hijab - head scarf - and the niqab, better known in this part of the world as burqa, and have taken grave offence at House of Commons leader Jack Straw's comment that the veil stands in the way of the immigrant Muslim community's racial, cultural and social integration with mainstream British society. .....
  • Interview with Rev. David A Hart [Anandakrishnadas]
    • by Haindava Keralam
      Can an Anglican Christian priest believe in Hindu way of worship? The debate is spreading the whole world. Many, particularly Christians, argue that a true Christian cannot believe in any other God other than Jesus Christ. Based on the age-old Hindu tradition, others argue that whatever be ones religion one has the right to choose ones mode of worship. The debate continues. .....
  • Not A Tap, A River
    • by Saikat Datta
      Neither the Border Security Force (BSF) nor the local police in Murshidabad district of West Bengal are known for actively patrolling this sensitive region along the Indo-Bangla border. This was highlighted by an Outlook team which managed to procure 250 grams of the dreaded explosive, RDX, last fortnight at Rs 80 a gram. The magazine's expose has triggered off a flurry of activity. State chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has ordered an inquiry by the home department. .....
  • India's mystifying rise
    • by Gurcharan Das
      There were many smiling Indian faces last week. Our economy again beat forecasts and grew 8.9% in the April-June quarter. India's economic rise bewilders Indians. No one quite understands why this noisy and chaotic democracy of a billion people has become one of the world's fastest growing economies. .....
  • Script for a PTV docudrama
    • by Wilson John
      There are several missing chapters in Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's memoir, In the Line of Fire. Although it will not be possible to list out the missing portions in toto, it is reasonable to believe that Gen Musharraf has revealed far less than he has chosen to hide. .....
  • Salman Rushdie feels sorry for the Pope
    • by Sify News
      Controversial NRI novelist Salman Rushdie has said he feels "sorry" for Pope Benedict XVI, whose comments about Islam recently angered the Muslim community across the world. .....
  • Two different forms of terrorism
    • by Samuel Baid
      Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf decided on September 16 in Havana to set up an anti-terrorism institutional mechanism "to identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations". The basis of this decision, apparently, was the recent acknowledgement by India that both countries are victims of terrorism. Both India and Pakistan are already signatories to the additional protocol to the SAARC convention against terrorism and terrorist financing. .....
  • Pakistan Surrenders
    • by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Bill Roggio
      Intelligence Analysts woke up on September 5 to unsettling news. The government of Pakistan, they learned, had entered into a peace agreement with the Taliban insurgency that essentially cedes authority in North Waziristan, the mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, to the Taliban and al Qaeda. .....
  • Public outcry forces church to keep Moor Slayer's statue
    • by Isambard Wilkinson
      St James the Moor Slayer, Spain's patron saint, has notched up another victory. Church officials have been forced to overturn a decision to remove a statue of the saint from the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. .....
  • Kerala wants CBI probe into '02 Marad riots
    • by The Times of India
      A report on the Marad riots in Kerala has prompted the state government to ask the Centre to initiate a CBI probe into the violence that claimed 14 lives in 2002 and 2003. .....
  • Srinagar standoff ends, 10 dead
    • by Yusuf Jameel
      Nearly 22-hour standoff between separatist militants, holed up in a hotel here, and the security forces ended with the killing of both the gunmen early on Thursday. .....
  • Before we tender clemency
    • by Soli J. Sorabjee
      Every civilised country in its Constitution or in its laws provides for a power to grant pardon or remission of sentence. Articles 72 and 161 of our Constitution confer this power on the president and the governor, respectively. It is settled law that this power is to be exercised in accordance with ministerial advice and not by exercise of the president's or the governor's individual discretion. .....
  • Kerala stunned by revelations on Marad massacre
    • by The Pioneer
      The contents of the judicial commission report on the 2003 Marad massacre which was tabled in the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday have come as a shock to sociologists, common people and right-thinking politicians in the State. .....
  • Hypocritical Silence On Darfur
    • by Arshad Alam
      Why is it that the Muslims only raise a hue and cry when the perpetrators of violence happen to be America or Israel but choose to look the other way when Muslim regimes do the same? .....
  • A temple is not a secular space
    • by Sandhya Jain
      Although the Kerala Police have not spelled out the larger conspiracy to defame the Sabarimala shrine, there can be little doubt that actress Jaimala acted at the behest of her Christian co-religionists to secure non-Hindu intervention in the affairs of one of the holiest Hindu pilgrimages. .....
  • Neville Chamberlain worsted even without a war
    • by V Sundaram
      Neville Chamberlain, the dethroned Prime Minister of England during Second World War which began on 3 September, 1939 had to wait for 68 years to find a rival who could put him to shame. Neville Chamberlain's fall from grace began on 1 October, 1938, when he returned to an ecstatic public reception in London following his meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich, brandishing his now infamous Peace for all time (!) scrap of paper, with Hitler's signature and his own, pledging that Britain and Germany would never again go to war. .....
  • The Musharraf Exception
    • by Robert L. Pollock
      Pervez Musharraf is America's favorite dictator. The Bush administration seems to consider the Pakistani general -- who took power in a 1999 military coup -- an indispensable ally, and has yet to publicly pressure him on the democracy front. Democrats and foreign policy thinkers of the "realist" school seem equally comfortable with the idea of Gen. Musharraf running Pakistan for the indefinite future. .....
  • Sharif's disclosures and rapprochement
    • by Kuldip Nayar
      A friend has brought me from Lahore the biography of Nawaz Sharif, the deposed Prime Minister of Pakistan. The book, in Urdu, is entitled Who is the Traitor? It is quite a frank account told to a Pakistani journalist, 430 pages, and records Sharif's version of the Kargil operation and the armed coup by President General Pervez Musharraf. .....
  • You can't be good to evil
    • by Swapan Dasgupta
      This is the time of the year when India celebrates the triumph of good over evil, of dharma over adharma. In the east, we commemorate the homecoming of the Goddess Durga, the personification of shakti and the divine force which was created to slay the demon Mahishasura. In other parts of India, the triumph of Ram over Ravana is observed with the ceremonial burning of effigies. .....
  • Radical teachings in Pakistan schools
    • by Charles M. Sennott
      In a bustling, prosperous corner of this capital city stands the gated campus of a religious school, or madrassa, where some 10,000 students study the teachings of the Koran every day. .....
  • Unclear and present danger
    • by Patrick Walters
      Britain's top counter-terrorist cop has no doubt the nature of the threat has changed dramatically. Peter Clarke, Scotland Yard's 51-year-old head of counter-terrorism, talks with quiet resolution about the challenge of Islamist terrorism and how it has turned British policing upside down. .....
  • Document: Pakistan agency backs al-Qaeda
    • by USA Today
      A leaked document accuses Pakistan's intelligence agency of indirectly supporting terrorist groups including al-Qaeda and calls on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to disband the agency. .....
  • Afghan leader slams Musharraf's policies
    • by Sharon Behn
      The political divide between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf became increasingly acerbic yesterday, with the Afghan leader accusing his counterpart of pursuing policies that foster terrorism. .....
  • Hiding Genocide: The National Museum Of The American Indian
    • by Carter Camp
      There is an enormous cultural rip-off being foisted upon our Nations by Washington D.C. I've warned of it before, but a small voice is easily drowned out when millions of dollars are being spent and the voice of the Great White Father anoints Indian leaders. .....
  • Ex-CM on Marad riots
    • by The Hindustan Times
      Strongly defending his government's decision not to order a CBI inquiry into Marad riots, former CM A. K. Antony said on Friday that all political parties, except the BJP, were against a CBI probe during the communal riots that rocked Marad in 2003 and claimed nine lives. .....
  • ISI spent Rs 20 lakh on 7/11 blasts: ATS
    • by Anil Singh
      After nearly three months of investigation, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of the Mumbai police has come to the conclusion that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spent nearly Rs 20 lakh on the serial blasts in Mumbai's local trains on July 11. .....
  • Why was the First Son made a Sikh
    • by Esamskriti.com
      In May 2004 Manmohan Singh became India's Prime Minister. When a person becomes PM it is natural for papers to show pictures of his immediate family. Mumbai's papers showed his brother, Surjit Singh Kohli and father K Kohli. I wondered! .....
  • We could bring you to your knees: Mush
    • by Rashmee Roshan Lall
      General Musharraf has mixed rank self-righteousness with a remarkably stark warning to the West that it could be 'brought to its knees' if Pakistan withdraws its cooperation in the so-called war on terror. .....
  • A Crash Course on the "Caste" System
    • by Devika Jina
      In response to A.M.A Pira's article in the previous issue of the Asian Voice, I would like to offer some corrections, as it appears that he is ignorant of Hindu teachings, especially those concerning what he calls the "caste" system. .....
  • 'Did PM turn a deaf ear to police briefings?': BJP
    • by The Indian Express
      The BJP stepped up its attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the Havana statement, saying it wondered how he could agree for a joint anti-terror mechanism with Pakistan with the probe into the Mumbai blasts pointing to the ISI's role. .....
  • Pakistan's ISI behind blasts: Police
    • by The Indian Express
      Claiming to have cracked the July 11 serial blasts in Mumbai trains, Mumbai Police said that Pakistan's ISI was the 'mastermind' behind the terror attacks carried out by Lashkar-e-Toiba with help from SIMI activists. .....
  • Kargil Army chief Malik to Govt: debunk Musharraf claims
    • by The Indian Express
      Describing Pakistan President Musharraf's new book In the Line of Fire as an exercise in "megalomanical self-promotion" that has partly "turned the Kargil war on its head", former Army chief General V P Malik, Musharraf's Indian counterpart during the 1999 conflict, today said it was imperative that New Delhi debunk the claims in the book. He said he had already taken up the matter with the Government, though still critical of how even the Congress-led Opposition of the time apparently politicised the war. .....
  • We should take tips from Israel
    • by Khushwant Singh
      The bomb blasts in Malegaon (Maharashtra) took a heavy toll of innocent lives, and shook me to the core. Who were these sons of Satan who carried out this diabolical operation? Why did they target a mosque and an adjoining graveyard on the Friday afternoon of Shabe-e-barat, a holy day for the Muslims? My immediate reaction was that it must be some fanatical Hindu group taking revenge for some imaginary grievance, or to teach our Muslim brethren that they were in India on sufferance. .....
  • Musharraf's two faces
    • by The Daily Telegraph
      General Pervez Musharraf has made the startling claim that, in 2001, America threatened to bomb Pakistan back into the Stone Age. His remark will not facilitate delicate diplomacy involving Washington, Islamabad and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. And it illustrates the general's ambivalent attitude to the West's fight against global terrorism. .....
  • 5 got arms training in Pak, found guilty
    • by The Indian Express
      The special TADA court trying the 1993 serial blasts case today held five aides of prime accused Tiger Memon guilty of going to Pakistan via Dubai to obtain training in handling arms and explosives, detonators and preparing car bombs in December 1992. .....
  • "Resist ploy to divide in the name of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist"
    • by Orgniser
      With the message that if 'will-power of saints' and 'executive-power of politicians' come together the face of the country will change, noted Jain saint Acharya Vijay Ratnasunder Surishwar Maharaj is observing chaturmas in Delhi. So far he has authored more than 200 books. Shri Surishwar Maharaj is against the attempts to divide Hindu society in the name of Jain and Buddhist. .....


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