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). .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by The Hindu
Six militants from Pakistan had smuggled RDX into India which was used
in the July 11 serial train blasts, Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) claimed
today. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
by Suman Guha Mozumder
A team of scientists has digitally restored a 700-year-old palm-leaf manuscript
containing key aspects of the Dvaita philosophy in Hinduism. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by The New Indian Express
Noted English writer of international acclaim, Salman Rushdie has wished
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf a "long and healthy life".
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Saibal Dasgupta
Shanghai now has a statue of Sanskrit poet Kalidas on one of its most
important streets, something that few Indian cities can boast about. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.' .....
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
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Shekhar Iyer
Top BJP leaders on Sunday handed a memorandum to President Abdul Kalam,
listing two reasons why he should not pardon Mohammed Afzal who has been
handed death sentence for the attack on Parliament House in 2001. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Jonathan Wynne-Jones
The Church of England has launched an astonishing attack on the Government's
drive to turn Britain into a multi-faith society. .....
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..." .....
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. .....
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 .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by MSN.co.in
Despite a recent display of flexibility by Islamabad, there is still no
evidence that Pakistan has renounced terrorism as a way of solving the
dispute over Kashmir, according to a leading American think tank. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Kate Clerk
Some UN relief money was channelled through charities associated with
extremist jihadi groups in the wake of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, a
BBC investigation has found. .....
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. .....
by WorldNetDaily.com
With suicide bombings spreading from Iraq to Afghanistan, the Pentagon
has tasked intelligence analysts to pinpoint what's driving Muslim after
Muslim to do the unthinkable. .....
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. .....
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 .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Keith Roshangar
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case from California parents
who complained after their children were required to simulate Muslim worship
and attire as part of a history class. .....
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". .....
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". .....
by Michael Luo
The blackened shells of five cars still sit in front of the Church of
the Virgin Mary here, stark reminders of a bomb blast that killed two
people after a recent Sunday Mass. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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."
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Expatica News
The continued radicalisation of especially young Muslims remains concerning,
the national anti-terrorism co-ordination office NCTb said on Monday.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Claudia Joseph
The 2012 London Olympics have been plunged into controversy by the discovery
that the Games will clash with Ramadan, the most holy month in the Islamic
calendar. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Haindava Keralam
Supporting the death sentence awarded to Mohammed Afzal Guru for his role
in the 2001 Parliament attack, a Muslim organisation on Thursday asked
ulemas to issue a fatwa favouring capital punishment for him. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Organiser
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by The Indian Express
Stuart Harrison, Chief Superintendent of London Metropolitan Police, today
met Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy and other senior officers, and
discussed the 7/11 serial blasts case breakthrough. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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!
.....
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. .....
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? .....
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." .....
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. .....
by Christina Lamb
The British general commanding Nato troops in Afghanistan is to confront
Pakistan's president over his country's support for the Taliban. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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." .....
by Amulya Ganguli
Tony Blair described America as a "difficult friend". That Pakistan's
experience is no different has been evident from the time Ayub Khan wanted
the US to be a friend and not master. .....
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.
.....
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.
.....
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? .....
by Ashish Khetan & Abhijit Sathe
For the first time since the July 11 train blasts, Anti-Terrorism Squad
(ATS) chief Krish pal Raghuvanshi speaks at length about the investigations.
.....
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? .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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.' .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by The Hindu
Opposing the death penalty awarded to Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Mohd Afzal
responsible for the attack on Parliament, a senior CPI(M) leader has sought
the intervention of the President in the matter. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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? .....
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.
.....
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. .....
by Duncan Gardham
One of the leaders of a group of British Muslims allegedly planning a
bomb attack on a shopping centre and nightclub has told a court he was
happy when he heard about the September 11 attacks. .....
by James Bone
George Bush used a UN address yesterday to appeal directly to the Iranian
people over the head of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, their firebrand leader, who
stayed away from the chamber. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
by Bronwen Maddox
Has President Musharraf signed away the chance of peace and democracy
in Afghanistan for the sake of saving his own skin at home? .....
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.
.....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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! .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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.
.....
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. .....
by Roger Boyes
The bloodstained King of Crete stumbles onstage and holds aloft the decapitated
heads of Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha and the Prophet Muhammad. "The gods
are dead!" he calls out to the audience. .....
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. .....
by Sagnik Chowdhury
With Friday's arrest of four men under MCOCA, the anti-terrorist squad
(ATS) seems surer about how the July 11 blasts on suburban trains were
plotted and executed. .....
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. .....
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. .....
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. .....
