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An Ode Called Amritsar

Ammara Ahmad July 14, 2008

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#141 Posted by articulating on July 22, 2008 10:08:36 am
Why do all these posts have nothing to do with the article?
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#140 Posted by satya100 on July 22, 2008 7:54:29 am
ignoramous babbler shh2/senna,

Dinesh and Dilip have only one thing in common their last name. Dilip an old friend, has become little nutcase in BS company but still a well intentioned good soul.

Seems this sight is owned by ahmed2 and hmdim. Good luck BSites. The world on the next bend with China, Russia and India knows that the munna BS & BD need to be destroyed for the world peace.
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#139 Posted by Shah2 on July 22, 2008 6:53:34 am
#127

Contd from your post in UP .




How can Hindu 1

Who eats meat /beef

Doesnt abort or have gender selection

Dosent burn bride

Doesnt take dowry

marries all castes

doesnt perform sati

Doesnt drink pee

does NOT drink beer (drinking som ras must for hindu)

Lets his widow sister marry

Divorces his wife

Does not beat nari dhol pashu sudr

Doesnt wear dhoti

does not know sanskrit like guru

reads only Rabindro nath Sawami & not ramayan Mahabharat

How can he be Hindu 2
AND IF YOU SAY THEY CAN

MUSLIM 1 is SUB SECT !


.We all can have that right ...Brahmosamaj Aryasamaj Anad Margi even Sardar are having dera Sacha Sauda .

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#138 Posted by Shah2 on July 22, 2008 6:40:41 am
Re: # 137



Seeds of peace has been running similar camp for Isarelis and Palestenians .







'Dilip D'souza (a journalist of a particularly left leaning)'

Desouza is using his christian card very well and is kattar neo con rt wing republican .Loved by Robertson to bad mouth hindu india
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#137 Posted by satya100 on July 21, 2008 10:44:27 pm
Re: # 129 interesting truth about rich kids visiting usa and meeting ape kids.

"Sridharsaar I would not read too much into the comments from the participants of such camps. They are nothing but rich kids out to spend their summer vacation in the good old US of A and this camp provides them an easy visa and travel opportunity. The number of kids coming to these camps in the scenic state of Maine are less than 20 kids per year. Also these kids are the Indian Rape equivalents who see this as a resume builder when they apply to Under Grad schools for some liberal arts program in the geoplitical space. This camp experience bodes well for them as it adds to their credentials where none exist.

Dilip D'souza (a journalist of a particularly left leaning) wrote about one such camp in 2002 (Rediff column from Aug-14-2002 ) followed by a slide show piece in Aug-28-2007 again on rediff ('The youth are the future, especially in South Asia'). I think this is just a mini-me chai-biskoot session for some underinformed and overprevileged kids."
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#136 Posted by Ras on July 21, 2008 10:34:10 pm



Joining hands for peace


By Rajmohan Gandhi


MANY in India have been troubled over the charge publicly levelled by a senior official that Pakistan’s agencies planned the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, and over suggestions that Indian agencies should consider retaliating in like fashion against locations in Pakistan where hits against Indian targets are allegedly planned.

If New Delhi had found evidence of the ISI’s role in the destructive act in Kabul, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee should have confronted their Pakistani counterparts with it. If the evidence was confirmed, the Indian premier should have solemnly presented it to the Pakistani and Indian peoples, and to the world.

Given the power and secrecy of the subcontinent’s intelligence agencies, anything, it is true, can occur. Yet if extremist pro-Taliban groups in Afghanistan and in Pakistan’s tribal areas have on numberless occasions targeted Pakistani leaders and its security forces for supporting the US-led war on terror, the Indian embassy in Kabul would also be a natural target for them.

Apart from the fact that Indian backing for the war against terror has been unambiguous and well known, India’s role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan’s infrastructure also invites the Taliban’s hostility. Therefore assertions in New Delhi (or Kabul) that a Pakistani agency rather than one of Afghanistan’s Taliban-related extremist groups attacked the embassy have to be backed by solid evidence.

And if the ISI or sections of it are indeed in cahoots with the Taliban, it is the people of Pakistan who should worry the most and devise steps necessary to break the unholy alliance. In the struggle against the threats of extremism and terrorism, the people of Pakistan are the Indian people’s natural partners, and a key constituency for Indian leaders perturbed by the threats.

In fact the Kabul incident should trigger a much-needed partnership between the people of Pakistan and the people of India. Pakistanis should demand from Islamabad the truth about the charge that an intelligence agency was involved, and Indians should likewise ask New Delhi how its agencies quickly reached the conclusion that not pro-Taliban extremists but the ISI was responsible.

People on both sides of the India-Pakistan border (and on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border) have the right to know the facts about the embassy bombing, for their security is at stake. And if security agencies are engaged in dirty work or in disinformation, then the peoples of Pakistan and India must jointly take up the daunting yet inescapable task of putting the agencies in their place.

To take our countries back from the agencies may well be the need of the hour. Ministers are our servants, and the agencies our servants’ mazdoors. Of course servants too are always entitled to respect, and to appreciation when they do their job well. I for one refuse to endorse the assessment of some of India’s Pakistan-watchers that elected leaders will prove worse than the military in dealing with extremism. The late Bhutto’s powerfully articulated rejection of extremism is a strong legacy that is shared, as far as I can see, across the spectrum of mainline Pakistani politics, by PML and ANP leaders as by the PPP. However, for figuring out effective ways of addressing grievances and defeating extremism and terrorism these politicians may need to consult more closely with one another across party, provincial and ethnic divides, and also with military and security experts.

Perhaps intellectuals on both sides of the Pak-India border should prepare an updated manifesto for the subcontinent. Some items on such a manifesto are obvious: mutual respect, including unreserved respect for the other nation’s independence; an equally unequivocal rejection of violence, whether direct or indirect, open or concealed, for solving internal, bilateral or international disputes; a clear rejection of the clash-of-civilisations theory; a solution for Kashmir acceptable to Kashmiris and to India and Pakistan; and a commitment to minority rights in both countries.

Also critical to such a manifesto, yet not so obvious in our dazzlingly globalised world, is a commitment to search for subcontinental and regional solutions instead of looking to global powers or a superpower for interventions. The US and China are formidable countries, and both India and Pakistan have tried to build relationships with them. Given the history of India-Pakistan mistrust, such relationships have seemed attractive.

Yet geography is stronger than history. Oceans and mountains remain large impediments even in the 21st century. For years India and Pakistan have tried to involve distant powers in their dealings with each other, with poor results. It is time to put the subcontinent first. Whether we like it or not, geography mandates coexistence. We can decide to enjoy what cannot be helped and seek to profit from it.

This does not mean that Pakistan should give up on its China links, or that India should turn its back on Afghanistan or on India-US relations. What it does mean is that India-Afghanistan or India-US links should not grow at Pakistan’s expense, or Pakistan-China links at India’s cost. It also means that our peoples should be vigilant against inviting external conflicts to the soil of the subcontinent.

We should acknowledge, in both India and Pakistan, not only the divisive roles of the agencies but also the hegemonic character of our societies. The arrogance of the high-born, the high-placed and the man with the stick is known to both countries. While Pakistan may not formally accept caste hierarchies the way India continues to do (despite progressive laws and the emerging political power of the so-called lower or ‘untouchable’ castes), Pakistani society seems to tolerate armed elites and private jails.

In India and Pakistan alike, muscle-power or gun-power is celebrated in posters and movies. In real-life interactions between the citizen and the policeman or the government functionary, the citizen usually comes off second best in both countries. Correcting this equation, and honouring the listening policeman or politician rather than the macho one, has to be part of our subcontinental manifesto. If despite disasters and misgovernance our economies have grown, the credit should above all go to the subcontinent’s hard-working and enterprising people. Our countries are on the move because of what our ‘common’ people grow, create, repair or remit, and the millions of vehicles they skilfully drive on hazardous roads.

Should we be betting on the subcontinent’s civil society, on the sanity and energy of our peoples? Though not permanent, hates and fears can after all continue for long, especially when politicians feed those fears and hates instead of working on education and healthcare. Still it may be a good idea to bet on our peoples and on their willingness to become partners. Better to bet thus and lose than concede that mutual destruction is the subcontinent’s destiny.

The writer is research professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.



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#135 Posted by mohar11 on July 21, 2008 10:50:21 am
Anyhoo Kaal - you are going overboard with this "once a muslim, always one" theme... I understand your angle here, but it may not be true...

For example - Living in Dar-ul-Islam is part of being a true muslim... yet million of muslims jump to kafir lands, live under kafir systems and willingly present themselves to slaves of abominable secular systems in the West and elsewhere... A muslim living in such conditions, that too willingly for money, is never a true muslim in theory - yet they do it all the time in droves...

So things are not always on such black and white... there are millions muslims who are true patriots of indian nation(which at best is secular or at worst is hanood), while there are millions of hanoods who are traitors to the core - commies, for example...

While keeping in mind the dangers of islamism spreading, let's not lose sight of this fact... read the article on a new bollywood on movie this theme....
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#134 Posted by mohar11 on July 21, 2008 10:38:36 am
Re: # 133 kaal

Are you saying that Ras Bhai is a bad muslims because he believes in muslim-kafir friendship?... or is he just peddling that idea to put kafirs at ease, even though he doesn't believe in such idea?
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#133 Posted by Eklavya on July 21, 2008 4:18:51 am
"can Muslims themselves ask for denying jobs, education in IITs, IIMs, engineering coleges and medical colleges and give up property rights to remain Muslims?"

Guru, Islam fully understands the capabilities of non-Muslims - what they are capable of doing, and what lies well outside their thoughts.

Hard to know which is sillier - this way of some Hindus fooling themselves or nonsense like Ras bhai's # 129.
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#132 Posted by Eklavya on July 21, 2008 4:18:51 am
"can Muslims themselves ask for denying jobs, education in IITs, IIMs, engineering coleges and medical colleges and give up property rights to remain Muslims?"

Guru, Islam fully understands the capabilities of non-Muslims - what they are capable of doing, and what lies well outside their thoughts.

Hard to know which is sillier - this way of some Hindus fooling themselves or nonsense like Ras bhai's # 129.
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#131 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 11:13:58 pm
Re: # 129 Ras,

These convent kids are Na Ghar Ke Na Ghat Ke! They should have gone to Bhendi Bazar to connect with poor Abduls and Salmas to know BS (BakiStan). How can they? They do not live in Mumbai, these kids live 2-D CNN Bombay.

Most of them get selected to go on phoran yatra because they are superficial bournvita cadburrey kids. Dont believe in them. New generation which competes for IITs, IIMs and IASs is different breed. mUch more confident in themselves and thinking along my lines. These are not Shiv Sena or BJP type. Name calling is not going to deter them.

We need to get rid of religions and let Dharma prevail. BTW I did not read any book and still does not. I rather interact from the lowest of the low in slums to the ones in Malbar Hill and Basking Rige/White Plains.

Probably I have done personally more for poor Indian Abduls and Salmas than ..

In despair I came to the conclusion that Islam is a dogma for dividing community/family/nation. It makes people rootless, self hating slaves of alien race.

Indian kids need to visit more times Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Moscow than any western city to prepare for the world which is on the next bend. By mixing with BS &BD kids what would you gain?
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#130 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 10:53:17 pm
Re: # 125:
"if you or anybody else thinks that Muslims will leave Islam for money, or for jobs, or for security, then they are going to be extremely disappointed. Muslims are not Hindus. Once a Muslim, always a Muslim - in thought, deed, and identity - no matter what."

can Muslims themselves ask for denying jobs, education in IITs, IIMs, engineering coleges and medical colleges and give up property rights to remain Muslims?

Is there one here from India and US to volunteer? Can we start from you Eklavya or Senna? I will personally come or send my representative to collect the keys of your house/flat and talk to your employer to get Dharmic equivalent or better replacement.

Oh! Muslims are ready for mit jane ko for the sake of Islam?

Look at Jinnah, the dracula, he played muslim card for political power.
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#129 Posted by Ras on July 20, 2008 10:18:25 pm
India-Pakistan ties: Seeds of Peace in a foreign land

By Our Correspondent

WASHINGTON, July 20: “Books are not a reliable source of information when it comes to India-Pakistan relations,� says Keshav Pasari, a Bombay teenager.

Keshav, who never used the new name Mumbai in the conversation, is part of a team of 14 high school students from India spending 21 days with a team of 14 Pakistani students in the US capital. All Indians are from Bombay or Mumbai and all Pakistanis are from Lahore, which has remained Lahore. All the students agreed that the history taught in their schools is not reliable.

“If you need information about each other, take it from whichever source you can but do not trust the books you are taught,� said Keshav. Usman Chaudhry, his new friend from Lahore, agreed. “We should read neutral authors, international experts,� he said.

“Don’t demolish this wall or they will learn not to hate each other,� says a poem recited at a similar India-Pakistan gathering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.“Brown skins, black eyes, black hair do not separate them, nor do their culture, food or dress; but their fears do, so let this wall remain.�

This group of 28 students decided to leave this wall behind and fly over to a strange land to know each other. And what they found? “I thought Pakistanis were rigid, unreasonable and they hated us,� said Keshav. “Now I know they do not.� He wanted to join the Indian army before he came to this “Seeds of Peace� camp. Now he does not.

“I will have to look for another profession because I do not want to fight Usman.� Saroj Merani, who teaches journalism at a Bombay college, comes from a Sindhi family whose parents were from Karachi and Rohri. Her students did a research project on Dawn, comparing it with Indian newspapers.

“Things are changing,� said Ms Merani who came with the group as a coordinator. “We are learning to know each other. We have to know each other.�

“See, we were together even when the rest of the world was drifting away, when continents were colliding with each other,� said Keshav.

He stopped there. No one in the group suggested that India and Pakistan should undo their borders and merge, as those of older generations often do. Pakistan’s Ambassador Hussain Haqqani, who also addressed the students, noted that it was a little too late to suggest merger. “It is like saying to a 60-year-old man that you had no right to be born because your parents should not have married each other.�

An Indian student got up after the ambassador’s speech and reminded him that three out of five items served at two separate receptions at the Indian and Pakistani embassies were the same: samosa, gulab jamun and chaat.

“Awesome,� said Isbah, a Lahore student, when asked to define her experience. “We need to know each other better.� The programme is organised by a group called Seeds of Peace, formed by a journalist, John Wallach, to promote peace between Arab and Israeli children.

In 2001, India and Pakistan were added to the list. Since then, seven groups have come to the camp from various Indian and Pakistani schools.

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#128 Posted by laddu on July 20, 2008 6:26:40 pm
What I see in the present crisis in Islam is the fight over munafiqoons ........ the mulahs fighting to 'convert' the munafiqoons to sunnah compliant momeens...... whereas the western influences ensure that the munafiqoons become murtids irreversibly........

that is why the mullahs hate west.........because the western civilization is ensuring that the present day munafiqoons do not become sunnah compliant momeens!!!
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#127 Posted by laddu on July 20, 2008 6:07:13 pm
Re: # 125

"Once a Muslim, always a Muslim - in thought, deed, and identity - no matter what."

That is false!! The moment a momeen child takes to western education and wears jeans and T Shirt (especially women folk) you have a munafiqoon getting created in the so called Islami country.

And more muslims are taking to western education than madarassa education.

More muslim munafiqoons are getting created than real Sunnat professing madarassa educated momeens.

The rate at which the munafiqoons are completely leaving Islam and becoming murtids is greater that those munafiqoons who ae becoming sunnat following momeens.!!

The murtids are increasing - despite propaganda of Islamists!! It is a silent and irreversible revolution in the momeen world that is soon going to be the biggest probelm for the Islamists!!
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#126 Posted by laddu on July 20, 2008 5:59:43 pm
Re: # 106

"Hakim Unani dawakhana"

What has Unan to do with Arabia?

Why is it not called "Islami dawa"??

The fact is that Islam was a bedoiun civilization where the cure for almost everything was in Camel's urine and milk.

No frking vegetable or medicine grew in that arabic desert and they had to get Vaidyas and Hakims from other lands!!
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#125 Posted by Eklavya on July 20, 2008 3:14:24 pm
guru ji, shah ji and I are not the same, but I am an admirer of shah ji.

Without getting into this debate, I would only say - if you or anybody else thinks that Muslims will leave Islam for money, or for jobs, or for security, then they are going to be extremely disappointed. Muslims are not Hindus. Once a Muslim, always a Muslim - in thought, deed, and identity - no matter what.

You probably will convince 2 people in the next 100 years to leave Islam. Muslims have no absolutely no reason to leave Islam at all.

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#124 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 3:02:30 pm
Senna,

Are you also eklavya?

"Muslims dont need anything from RSS VHP Jan Sanhgo BJP Bajrangi .They are one of the most honest working earning producing servicing like other such Indians on whose back India is running while you pontify on chowk"

It's a joke. Muslims are even below the lowest of the low mainly because of ghettoisation. Open a crime roaster in big or small city and disproportionately Arabic/Persian names are listed. Why? Because with arabic education there are almost no jobs. Only read esxperience of some on in distant lands, in alien culture and of very old time ie 7th century.

I want to end conversation with you. You can keep your circular arguments to yourself and enjoy your false statistics and history.

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#123 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 2:44:25 pm
Re: # 121

Its the poor Hindus who are neumericall in FAR LARGER numbers you should be giving incentive to to get technical english education and not remain bhaiya chole batore walla tempo drivers dhobis living below poverty level

Muslims dont need anything from RSS VHP Jan Sanhgo BJP Bajrangi .They are one of the most honest working earning producing servicing like other such Indians on whose back India is running while you pontify on chowk

we both have times to pass and kill but atleast i THINK about them and not about Sanatan Dharm Sanskrit .You dont own India nor Dharmic nor Maharashtra OR ANYTHING other than your family and property .
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#122 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 2:34:14 pm
Re: # 119"Brit Wrested power from THEM "

You are thoroughly Arabized. British got power mostly from Marathas and Sikhs. In Bengal they got from Muslims.

Senna, you have grown senile. You have internalized Arabization and then Anglofization. YOu are more Arab than Arabs and more Anglo than Anglo. BTW, how did you come to US? Family sponsored?
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#121 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 2:28:32 pm
Senna,

You are history! The new resurgent India will take over and is going to implement the solution I am proposing. To save humanity India needs to save itself by making it convenient the poor Abduls and Salmas to revert back to their ancestor's faith and culture. The people who revert can be given finacial incentive.

many people are talking this proposal and planning for it.
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#120 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 2:27:16 pm
"Come back when you start pronouncing Hindu/Indian names properly'

Its not compulsary in India NOT to go to Englis hMedium School There millions of Indians( Except for cow belt bimaru states ) not spaeke write understand pronounce correctly Hindi Hindu Hindustan And for that matter the north indians have the same challenge and handicap with Tamil Telugu Mallayalam Kannada .Why pick only on indian muslims ???
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#119 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 2:17:24 pm
Re: # 118

O.K.Talking about sacrifice and sacrificing LIFE who died in Sepoy Mutiny of 1857
Hate to remind you Sikhs And punjabis sided with the British in that attack

Who was with Netaji Shah nawaz How Netaji escaped if not by Muslim smuggling him with muslim clothes trough Afghanistan.

Muslims were the adversary of Muslims (b/c Brit Wrested power from THEM )Who do you think British targetted most ?

Plz dont make Indian MUslims monolithic .Punjabi muslims had there own interest Bengali had there suffering Some got to keep ..Nizam Hyderabad b/c British for some reason befriended him .British also were kind to SOME sikhs .

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#118 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 2:05:27 pm
"Nazrul Islam Nawab of Murshidabad Syed Aamir Ali Moulana Azad Himayun Kabir ???"

Who are those ayashi, randibaaz fags who sided british? Chain bidi smoker moulana and zakir husain were on the side chit-chating thru letters how Umma will grow after division of India. These fags did not spend a day inprison just like the dracula, the j boy.

By not having clean tranfer of Muslims from India we have a cancer growing within India.

"I read about shivaji I had only elementary education when history was before Shiv Sena"

Come back when you start pronouncing Hindu/Indian names properly.
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#117 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 1:55:16 pm
Re: # 116
O.K. imy bad stand corrected and my typo is terrible .But what wanted to convey Viveka Nanda was Never Defending but explainig He never said this came from India or Ayurveda is Mother .He was forward loking rather than back into the past.

I read about shivaji I had only elementary education when history was before Shiv Sena Chatrapati Victoria terminus etc etc .Do you know about netaji Tagore Raja Ram mohan roy Nazrul Islam Nawab of Murshidabad Syed Aamir Ali Moulana Azad Himayun Kabir ???
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#116 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 1:31:06 pm
"
As swami veveka nanda said where the head is held high"

Whom are you fooling?

There is no one with the name "swami veveka nanda"

Swamis are supposed to be Ananda incarnate.

The saying in the quotes is by Tagore. You would know geneology of alien Sienna butr would not know or care to know about Shivaji, the great, Tagor and Swami Vivekananda. That is why I say ther is no alternative for saving India as a community or civilization, but to reduce the Muslim population to zero. This can be elegantly, constitutionally and peacefully done by reserving 100% jobs, educational opportunities and property rights only to Dharmic people.

Let West, China and Russia handle BS and BD. India should make sure that there is no Arabized Muslim living in India.
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#115 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 1:20:07 pm
Re: # 113

No problem

U may or May not know i do have hindu Indian nicks too!
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#114 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 1:16:32 pm
Malika Sharmili Sharmila ..You advocate killing if there silly thing as name is Abdul Siddique and Not 'Aziz' Premji

Is death comminsurate punishment for regional varion of JI and Siddiqui in Another .Be fair .More over a baby does not give a name to himself .

So Western medicine Unani Hakimi Took ayurved .No body is denying contributions .I am of the proponent all humans are equal .Brain Intelligence is not Confined to any race .Only Racist believe that.White thaught blacks were less .

As swami veveka nanda said where the head is held high

and gandhi said let the wind of outside breathe in for ideas to flow in . Arabic French Greek
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#113 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 1:15:56 pm
Senna,

Have you changed your nick to Charak?
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#112 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 1:10:52 pm
Re: # 111 Your mumbi jumbo about synthesis and syncre...
needs little more explaination. Pl do so.

"Any truly ISI agent terrorist be punished fairly just like Naxals Maoist Bodoland Ranvers sena .Treat blast like Crime

not witch hunt of Indian muslims."

It's a fact that the base of ISI is IMs. For common folks it is Muslims who cause trouble whether in Godhra, Mumbai, Akshar dham, Sankat Mochan or Jaipur. India needs to first make its own house clean before tackling ISI/Pakistan. We are asking this small sacrifice of giving up Muslim/Islamic identity so that together we can handle Pakistan.

Start with you, Senna becoming Charak. Words are cheap and we have precedence of taqiya.
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#111 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 1:00:32 pm
Re: # 105
that if India becomes one community like China but allowing diversity of ideas

Ideology though can be named capitaism communism its actually anonymous.You can plagarise copy incorporate ideas and not even acknowledge or give credit to.Already Bengals BrahmoSamajaryaSamaj Widow marriage treatment of women castless ness was admiringly seen by bhadrolok bengali and atempted tp propogate endorse suport by raja ranm mohan rabindro nath and even Swami Veveka nanda .Its all been done .

Regarding China thank god we all dont look alike pale yellow momgoloid to be considered one community .Yes idea of india is synthesis syncriticism



"Re: # 101 1993 blasts Konkani Muslim Dawood with ISI/Pakistani provided RDXs and detonators"

As i said before your nemesis is Pakistan

Any truly ISI agent terrorist be punished fairly just like Naxals Maoist Bodoland Ranvers sena .Treat blast like Crime

not witch hunt of Indian muslims.

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#110 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:55:09 pm
Go to any Ayurveds dispensary in Mumbai and Pune you will see lot of Burkha ladies. Husband of one of such lady told me that Ayurveda is mother/father of Unani medicine.
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#109 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:49:40 pm
One can learn different language but not at the expense of local language. That is not globalization. Moreover I would rather prefer to travel and spend time with my Chinese friends and learn about their way of thinking without discarding my own.
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#108 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:46:55 pm
Unani is corrupted Ayurveda. Why not go to the original?

Why take foreign nick? Just because there are McDonalds all over China/Japan I have not met Chinese/Japanese McDonald.
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#107 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:43:18 pm
Mallika in Sanskrit means Queen.
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#106 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 12:39:52 pm
Re: # 102
"Senna,

When are you becoming Charak?'

OOhh its about Avi Cenna .known to western Medicine .Abu Senna .

Hakim Unani dawakhana is littered all over India

Many Hindus enjoy Rooh Afzaof of Hamdard Dawakhana & thee medicines spl. Sardars

Hakim is considered equivalent to MBBS and Ayurved for many rural area medical care b/c its less expensive doctors ready and available .

So Unani Hakimi Avicenna like everything has become INDIAN .

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#105 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:39:03 pm
Re: # 103:

"Instead of Globalising you are moving BACKWARD .Indian learning arabic Chinese ,American learning Indian ."

For call center jobs this might be true. But to be creative and come up with newer paradigms to be in the solution space one needs to be firmly rooted and have mental peace. We will be able to give that if India becomes one community like China but allowing diversity of ideas.
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#104 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:34:29 pm
Re: # 101 1993 blasts Konkani Muslim Dawood with ISI/Pakistani provided RDXs and detonators.

7/11/2006: All muslims few from Mumbai and Pune.

"I didnt even know there was Blast till much later "

I guess you were too busy in hitting head upon the green book and dreaming about some sharmillis in Jannat. When poor Hindus die you fein ignorance.

Malegaon and Hyderabd were also done by BD & BS Muslims on behalf of ISI to spread the violence. In Malegaon a day earlier they shredded 2 Marathi Hindu constables. It was horrendous. Senna if you are from Mumbai make aware of your folks to conect with neighbor and Indianize. The next big one by ISI with the help of few Indians and people will kill just because one is wearing a sarwar or muslim cap. That is why to protect the innocent Abduls and Salmas you yourself spread the idea I am proposing of 100% reservations in jobs, education and property rights. This will make Abduls and Salma revert back peacefully.

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#103 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 12:30:07 pm
Re: # 99
"Mallika also comes from Shiva ..but it means queen like mallik mallika nor jehan .."

These words are common among muslims .Is it alright to have these names among muslims ?

Instead of Globalising you are moving BACKWARD .Indian learning arabic Chinese ,American learning Indian .

Like Farzana are you having Identity problem .

In your case between being Hindu first Indian second or vice versa
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#102 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:22:38 pm
Senna,

When are you becoming Charak?

Dont you think the constitutional way for 100% reservation of land, jobs, education for Dharmic people will solve the problem of Arabic imperialism in one or two years.

We should do this peaceful experiment starting with maharashtra and Gujarath. What do you think?
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#101 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 12:18:46 pm
Re: # 97

It is indian muslims from Audh and Buddhel khand who will call Abdalis and other foreign Mslims to invade the locals

So you agree there is no UMMAH and there for no Chummah on Jummah !

They dont even pray in the same mosque I mean aside from Ahmedia controversy .
........................
I didnt even know there was Blast till much later .Do you know who was behind Hyderabad Blast ,Samjhauta Train Blast .Do you even know who mudered Aruvashi father Talwar (what a name)or some one else .ask CBI ,Police :)
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#100 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:17:10 pm
Sharmila is a lady's name that stems from the root word sharma in Sanskrit, which has the glorious meaning - bliss. Sharmila means the blissful one. On the spiritual path, bliss and happiness arises from within as we come closer to our true, inner nature. When we use our spiritual names, the vibration of the name is very important. That is why it is good to know the meaning of the name. Sharmila invokes the energy of delight, happiness and joy. As we lose our attachments to both the gross and subtle desires in this world, automatically a spontaneous and independent happiness arises within. So let one who is blessed with the name of Sharmila, become the Blissful One and also help others to attain that great state through spiritual service.

http://www.sripremananda.org/english/e7_more/e7b_names/e7b_sharmila.htm
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#99 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 12:14:05 pm
Mallika comes from Mallika Arjun ie Shiva

Sharmila not Sharmilli. In any case both are Indic.

10th Guru when fled Punjab took refuge in Nanded. Why? Answer nanded is Maratha country.

Many Sikhs intermarry with Hindus. My brother has married one.
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#98 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 12:07:56 pm
'Muslim can turn to Guru Granth Sahab and call 10th guru prophet '
But there are IQBAL singh ,MALLIKA shrewat ,MALLIKA Arora .Sharmili Tagore .KABIR bedi .

Hindus with persian influenced names

Muslim Kashmiris have non arabic names kashmiri Goni Trali Butt/Bhat .U r aleady Poluted che chee ram ram ram.

Most muslims wear salwar /Ahalwar Dupatta /Orni ,dont wear vermillion ,I dont think have Mangal Sutr ,Sikhs are closer to Muslims than Hindu.There was this Sikh who came to every friday prayer during lunch break .!Wahe Guru
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#97 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 11:57:13 am
"Come on who are you kidding Guruji "

It is indian muslims from Audh and Buddhel khand who will call Abdalis and other foreign Mslims to invade the locals. As far as non-Muslims are concerned Muslims will unite to fight against them for doing sweet chumma to Umma.

Who do you think were behind Mumbai blasts in 1993 and 2006?

Koran teaches taqia which is not simple kidding.
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#96 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 11:51:39 am
Re: # 95
"ust a joke would Dharmic ness let ne eat biryani Stay in DharamShala enter the Kitchen .Would Darmicness be embraced by all hindus including Brahmins and Achoot Choot Alike??"

It is already happening. Many veda Pathshalas and institutions such as Chinmaya Mission is creating monks/swamis from erstwhile Achoots. YOu probably are living in the anglo created history of 18th century.

Who is swami chinmayanda? who is Sawata Mali, Chokha Mela and even Tukaram?

This is what we call muslim ghetooisation, be it in Mumbai or in London. Mumbai Muslim is completely alien creature as far as Marathi culture is concerned though he lives in Maharashtra for generations.
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#95 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 11:44:19 am
Re: # 90

"Islam has tendancy to override all other identities. "

Come on who are you kidding Guruji

The afghans are fighting Punjabi NWFP the muslim army of Pakistan .Bengali muslim broke away from other kind muslim .A kashmiri speaking muslim is not Bangali speaking or Bihari Speaking or Tamil speaking or Malayalam Speaking etc etc.etc .

Muslim from India have to get VISA of Dubai Gulf kwait just as Hindu INDIAN .

so I.M. is Different not only from Pakistani b/c diferent foreign to them languages but Christian Parsi Pakistani

They are Bengali(hymaun Kabir) Tamil (abul Kalam )And

THE BIGGEST 'NOT' OVERIDING THE IDENTITY is that OF RICH & poor .Muslim like Aga Bohra dont even socialise with other kind muslims.

just a joke would Dharmic ness let ne eat biryani Stay in DharamShala enter the Kitchen .Would Darmicness be embraced by all hindus including Brahmins and Achoot Choot Alike??
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#94 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 11:26:29 am
Wani means Bania? How is it that not Indic? Islam needs to disappear from the subcoontinent. Belive me it will happen in next fifty years. It is the fight Indian civilization has to win.
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#93 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 11:20:02 am
"Do yu want allof them including Muslim to be assimilated into hindusm ??"

Muslim can turn to Guru Granth Sahab and call 10th guru prophet because he held talwar or establish new religion and call maha-Adwait. The whole point is they need to establish deep indian roots connect to Guru Govind Singhji, Shivaji, the great and Gandhi. They can make nearest IIT and IIM as their Mecca and Madina.
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#92 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 11:15:12 am
West esp USA will give the responsibility of cleaning the mess created by Arab imperialism aka as Islam to RICs of BRIC. Russia and China will do it violently. India needs to do it constitutionally by reservation of 100% seats in educational insitutions, jobs, ownership of lands and flats to Dharmic folks. Constitutionally India needs to ban Urdu and Arabic. Constitutionally ban building mosques in India and possess existing mosques and raze them for building Kabbadi fields or basket ball courts. What do you think Senna?
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#91 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 11:11:46 am
Re: # 89

If All (sikh Christian ,,etc ) are Same why are they named different .Many claimIndia withut hinduism ( its not bad )Do yu want allof them including Muslim to be assimilated into hindusm ??

muslim does not have compulsionto name arabic ( believe me ) Kidwai ,Sherrwani '''

And if you say Persian.. Feroz Gandhi Farook Engineer Aftab Shivdasani Ayesha Jhulka Aruna Irani BomanIrani Smiriti Irani perhabs all your Sindhi names are not really Indian Where Kakkar Jethmalani Advani Dadwani Haswani Gidwani Jasuja come from .And Christians have Arabic names .Tariq Aziz
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#90 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 11:01:56 am
Re: # 88 "Guru ji you are a minority in India your self .Very soon the nuclear deal might be derailed inIndia influenced by Communist BJP and Mr Siddique of Samaj Wadi choosing Iraq Afghanistan Plestine blaming USA.See who majority India supports (instead of I.M ) ARABS over USA

Instead of Islam & Indian muslim fight the real nemesis Pakistan.
.........................
Koran is the idol.....

If Koran is BAd b/c its 7 century OLD imagine how many more times Veda Geeta Upanishads Ramayanas are b/c they are much much OLDER ?"

Veda and Geeta wants you to experiment with the consciousness given to you. That is why even an atheist can be a Vedantist or Sanatani

This experiment of reserving will be tried a state at a time starting with Maharastra and Gujarath in first phase. Spreading to Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Orissa in second phase. This is a dire need to make India a community though diverse. Dharmicness of India already allows diversity, it does not need Arabic/Smetic one. Arabic/Semtic add nothing but creates problems. Islam has tendancy to override all other identities.
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#89 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 10:52:17 am
"What you want to do with Sikhs Jains /Or Millions of Christians Tribals in North East Jharkhand"

Sikh, Jain, Boudha are Dharmic/Indic and even Christianity of Rev. Arjun Krishnan is becoming dharmic. Do you remember DGP Rubero? Many Marathi Jews with indic even first names such as Dinkar and Diwakar.
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#88 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 10:45:59 am
Re: # 83 Senna,

Islam wlll be dharmic if it drops name Islam and calls it self Advait or such Indian name. It drops Arabic scriptures and Abdul becomes Amar and Salma becomes Seema. If Arabic identity is totally erased, then Indianness will take roots. It is like abducted kids are brought home they need to put effort erasing the memory of abduction and living away from their home. What do you think? Above proposal will bring Indian Muslim population to zero within an year or two without any riots, murders, plunder or rape. It's Gandhian. You might call it Jizziya in reverse. But you should note that no one is taxing them except for using road, water and civic amenities and protection for supporting Indian Armed forces and Police.
.................................
You want to treat the present muslim in future as having indian (hindu) name Advait.Personal names ...

What you want to do with Sikhs Jains /Or Millions of Christians Tribals in North East Jharkhand ...Give it up guru
Whats the sanskrit phrase the first thing you lose before death is your mind .

You are Right (except in reverse)All taxation including IRS that u file before 15 th april without any fight meekly is JIZYA of USA for fighting & protection for you.WE all already pay GOI tax

Guru ji you are a minority in India your self .Very soon the nuclear deal might be derailed inIndia influenced by Communist BJP and Mr Siddique of Samaj Wadi choosing Iraq Afghanistan Plestine blaming USA.See who majority India supports (instead of I.M ) ARABS over USA

Instead of Islam & Indian muslim fight the real nemesis Pakistan.
.........................
Koran is the idol.....

If Koran is BAd b/c its 7 century OLD imagine how many more times Veda Geeta Upanishads Ramayanas are b/c they are much much OLDER ?
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#87 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 10:14:39 am
Koran is the Idol which does not sit at one place but sits on faithfuls neck like a ghost and bringing him back to 7th century.
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#86 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 10:10:15 am
Re: # 83 Senna,

Islam wlll be dharmic if it drops name Islam and calls it self Advait or such Indian name. It drops Arabic scriptures and Abdul becomes Amar and Salma becomes Seema. If Arabic identity is totally erased, then Indianness will take roots. It is like abducted kids are brought home they need to put effort erasing the memory of abduction and living away from their home. What do you think? Above proposal will bring Indian Muslim population to zero within an year or two without any riots, murders, plunder or rape. It's Gandhian. You might call it Jizziya in reverse. But you should note that no one is taxing them except for using road, water and civic amenities and protection for supporting Indian Armed forces and Police.

BTW, there is a political party which is forming with this platform. De-Arabisation and De-Islamization is the dire need of Non-Arabic world.
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#85 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 9:55:40 am
Re: # 80
Satya ji

All that constitution is good on paper The other day i watched a video of Brahmin nbaba who says the casteism philosophy of Hinduism is Above Indian constitution and who cares what constitution says .How many hindu in india divide there property Applying the constitutional ban on dowry Dahej, Misogyny ,equal rights ,freedom of women to choose according , to Indian
constitution .?????

What ever the % difference between exchange of ppl migrating to the oposite side be .May be greater for the ppll coming INTO India % wise may be greater considering very low neumerically of them being THERE, but neumerically greater NUMBER of Muslim migrated away from India b/c of Insecurity .
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#84 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 9:51:09 am
satyam,

Thanks for the suggestons. I thought they were like us desis.

What do you think of saving Indian Abduls and Salmas by GOI making 100% reservation in education, jobs and land ownership to Dharmic/Indic people and all these god fearing poor Abduls and Salmas will revert back to Dharma, and thus saved.
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#83 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 9:43:02 am
Re: # 75
Guru

"GOI should make 100% reservation in education, jobs and owning land to Dharmic/Indic people and all these god fearing poor Abduls and Salmas wil revert back to Dharma, and thus saved.'

What is Dharmic ..is it not MUCH closer to Islam than polytheism idolatory And Icon worshipping.You want to be proudly Idollator .Nothing wrong with that for Muslim.

But listen to Swami Viveka Nanda what he says .He says idollatory is only INFANCY of hinduism untill he /she mature to pray IDOLLLESSLY . that is in mind and imaginatinof endless immeasureable all knowing supreme being .That again what muslim believes about god Just look up the 100 more or more than hundred names of Allah and ask there meaning .God is abstract but u got to be muslim to pray without assistence of image !
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#82 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 9:34:23 am

Typo
Listen yo Israr atleast and all the deductive logic used by both of themis the same.corrected

lISTEN TO ISRAR ATLEAST ALL THE DEDUCTIVE LOGIC BY BOTH OF THEM IS THE SAME ..
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#81 Posted by Senna on July 20, 2008 9:30:08 am
Re: # 75

Guru maha dev

I listened to the audio posted by you .By god i thaught i was listening to Moulana ISRAR if not Moudoodi .Listen yo Israr atleast and all the deductive logic used by both of themis the same ,In fact Dr Naiks reparte is also same For example If some one says darkness they all say dont say darkness say ABSENCE of light,So on,, you can go lecturing endlessly ...
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#80 Posted by satyamvada on July 20, 2008 9:09:55 am
#70 Mystic,

Sure, compare the record of India with Pakiland.
The number of victims of riots in India is nothing compared to the genocidal nature of the Pakistani government and establishment.

In this century, the achievements of India in building a decent society is superior to that of any other country. Considering the poverty, illiteracy, 500 kingdoms etc that challenged India in 1947, building a billion people democracy with diverse people is an achievement of the monumental proportions. Tip your turban to the people of the dharmic civilization.
Since the American constitution of the 18th century, The Indian Constitution is the most egalitarian of the world.

When it came to civil rights the Indian Constitution was better than America (only in 1965 did the US catch up).
When it comes to womens suffrage, India was ahead many european nations. Same with affirmative action etc etc..


wake up from your delusion about India and Pakistan being equal-equal.
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#79 Posted by satyamvada on July 20, 2008 8:54:36 am
Guru,

Just a suggestion: Long posts are beyond the comprehension of the average pakistani interactor on this site.

It makes sense to keep every post to less than 15-20 lines (max) and provide a link wherever necessary.

Keep focus on one topic at a time, else, you will be giving your detractors opportunity to change the topic.
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#78 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 6:46:25 am
I foresee years of conflict around the world as followers of exclusivist world views face the inexorable march of science. I foresee a triumph of those ideas that value experiential knowledge and universality. New religions will have to learn to respect the old and also respect the right of the individual to choose. Eventually there can be only one religion, that of truth and humanity.

It is fascinating how people justify their situation even if they must side with their oppressors. In India this has happened countless times. Some of the worst tyranny on the Hindus was imposed by new converts. In Kashmir, Sikandar's minister Suha Bhatta, a new Muslim, abetted his king in the forcible conversion of the Hindus. According to the historian Ferishta, Sikandar ordered that only Muslims be allowed to reside in Kashmir. Those who tried to flee the valley were cut down by armed soldiers at mountain passes.

Another interesting case of a different type is that of Muhammad Iqbal, the poet and originator of the idea of Pakistan. His grandfather Sahaj Ram Sapru, a revenue collector, embezzled funds and when discovered the Afghan governor, Azim Khan, gave him the choice of death or conversion to Islam. Sahaj Ram Sapru chose life and, assuming new names, he and his family moved to Sialkot in the Punjab. Later Iqbal never acknowledged his native Kashmiri and Indian tradition that his grandfather had been so cruelly forced to renounce.

Perhaps this reveals that terror wins. The victims wish to be like their tormentors. Which is why the descendents of the American Indians, who were treated with such monumental barbarity by the Spaniards, wish to forget their native heritage. But such amnesia leads to a weakening of the spirit, a loss of purpose, confusion about ends and means. To progress all are alike; it recognizes no religion, only a search for truth. Those who would not be true to their past will not be able to recognize the truth about the future.
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#77 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 6:29:02 am
Iqbal's family background is equally interesting as his grandfather Sahaj Ram Sapru was a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin who as a revenue collector in Kashmir was accused by the then Afghan governor Azim Khan of allegedly embezzeling state funds. The Afghan gave him the choice of death or conversion to Islam. Sahaj Ram Sapru chose life, and after assuming new names, he and his family moved to the Punjab
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#76 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 6:16:12 am
Demographic Change In December, 1947, Ram Manohar Lohia had indicated in his Confidential Note that during the period 1887 to 1947, the Kashmiri Pandit community had dwindled from one lac to 80,000 (a decrease of 20%) whereas Muslim population had risen from five lacs to twenty lacs (an increase of 400%). This needs to be probed into by the historians. Didn't the British, in connivance with the non-Kashmiri Muslim leaders residing outside J&K State, give a fillip to Muslim influx into Kashmir from territories contiguous to the boundries of J&K State?

20% decrease in the population of Kashmiri Pandits could be attributed to the silent exodus induced by the fear of the revival of fatal Muslim dominance as the tyrrany, loot, rape and slaughter by Afgans was fresh in their minds.
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#75 Posted by guru on July 20, 2008 5:58:04 am
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#74 Posted by articulating on July 20, 2008 2:08:18 am
Re: # 68its more like a vomit..
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#73 Posted by articulating on July 20, 2008 2:05:44 am
Re: # 67oh..now it makes sense...
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#72 Posted by guru on July 19, 2008 11:19:15 pm
IN 1320 Rencana, a Ladakhi prince, got king of Kashmir, Ramchandra, killed by a strategem and seized the throne of Kashmir. He requested prominent Kashmiri Brahmins for his conversion to Hinduism but his wish was impolitely turned down. This was the heinous and unpardonable mistake committed by the Kashmiri Brahmins. Renchana embraced Islam under the guidance of Bulbul Shah who had arrived in Kashmir with not more than 100 companions. He assumed the name Sultan Sadar-ud- din. He lived only for 3 years.

In 1339 Shah Mir, by treachery, succeeded in wresting the throne from Kota Rani and became king under the title Sultan Shamas-ud-din.

In 1389 Sultan Sikander sat on the throne of Kashmir. His reign heralded the darkest period for Kashmiri Hindus. Forcible conversions, killings, destruction of temples and exquisite monuments and mass migrations of Hindus were the distinguishing features of his rule. Once, when Hindus were fleeing through southern Kashmir his soldiers took positions at a gully leading to Kishtwar and whoever came to escape through the gully was done to death. It is during the reign of Sultan Sikandar that Hazrat Shah Hamdaan arrived in Kashmir with 700 Sayyads.

Kashmiri Pandits found persecution almost mitigated during the reign of Zain-ul-abidin (1420- 70) who left no stone unturned to rehabilitate them. This change was wrought in him by Shri Bhat, a learned Brahmin and physician, who cured the king of a deadly disease. The king desired the Brahmin to ask for something precious for the service rendered. Shri Bhat told the king that he had no need for anything except that his bretheren devastated, killed and scattered be rehabilitated and allowed to preach and practise their religion without any hitch or hinderance. The king granted his wish and was true to his word.

With the passing away of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin a most obnoxious period of intrigues and conspiracies prevailed in Kashmir which culminated in the ascendancy of the most intolerant Shia regimes. During Moosa Rana's terrorsome reign 40,000 Kashmiri Pandit families were converted to Shiaism. The rite of circumcision of converted Kashmiri Pandits was performed on a mass scale at Idgah ground in Srinagar. Almost every Shiatie Muslim in Kashmir is a descendant of a forcibly converted Kashmiri Pandit. During the rule of Chaks Kashmir came under the grip of a terrible famine in 1576-78 in which half of the population died.

Annexation of Kashmir to Mughal Empire

Akbar the Great annexed Kashmir to his empire in 1589 by a deceiptful military adventure. During 120 years of Mughal Rule Kashmiri Hindus, as usual, were suffering persecution but with lesser pain depending upon the disposition of the Mughal Governor. During 1671-75 persecution of Brahmins by Governor Iftikar Khan makes a woeful tale. However, during the Mughal rule Kashmiri Hindus had the opportunity to migrate to the planes of Hindostan and they did avail of such opportunities and attained to high positions at several places.

Afgan Occupation of Kashmir

Mughal Rule was followed by 67 years of Afgan occupation. This period was the most tormenting period for the Kashmiris. Governor Lal Khan Khattak and Faqir Ullah got hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits killed. During governor ship of Haji Karim Dad Khan and Assad Khan the sufferings of the Kashmiris reached climax. Assad Khan would rip the bellies of the people like a surgeon.

Assad Khan was followed by Atta Moh'd Khan whose lust for beautiful Kashmiri women knew no bounds. Kashmiri Pandits were the worst sufferers. They fled to jungles and passed their days in hiding to save their women folk from molestation.

Sirdar Azim Khan ruled Kashmir for 6 years with most crooked villainy and terror. It was during his reign that a nobleman Pt. Birbal Dhar accompanied by his son, Raj Kak Dhar, stealthily left Kashmir for Lahore to pray to Maharaja Ranjit Singh to send his army for taking over Kashmir so that the Kashmiris groaning under the Afgan yoke could find deliverance. When Sirdar Azim Khan came to know of it he ordered Birbal's wife and daughter-in-law, who were in hiding, to be produced before him. Birbal Dhar's son-in-law, Telak Chand Munshi, fearing death penalty, provided clue about the noble ladies and they were summoned before Sirdar. Birbal Dhar's wife commited suicide. His daughter-in-law was molested and put in the harem.

Sirdar Azim Khan was recalled to assist his brother Fateh Moh'd Khan at Qandhar. Before his departure he despatched his harem (alongwith Birbal Dhar's daughter-in-law) and properties worth two crores of Rupees to Kabul in charge of his Peshkar, Sahaj Ram Dhar. After some time Azim Khan left for Kabul. He handed over the authority of governance to his younger brother, Jabbar Khan. He took Pt. Suraj Ram Tikku son of Dewan Nand Ram with him. At Ganal he exhorted Pt. Suraj Ram Tikku to embrace Islam. Pt. Suraj Ram Tikku abused him for telling him so and was immediately done to death.

Annexation of Kashmir to Sikh Empire

Maharaja Ranjit Singh took time to veer around Birbal Dhar's reasoning for taking over Kashmir by armed intervention. Pt. Birbal Dhar then gave an undertaking that in case of failure he would pay for the loss incurred and left his son Raj Kak Dhar in the Lahore Darbar as a hostage in case the campaign petered out.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh then sent 30,000 troops in charge of Pt. Birbal Dhar commanded among others by Raja Gulab Singh. Two battles ensued one at the top of Pir Panjal and the other at Shopyan Plateu. Afgan Soldiery was completely routed. Jabbar Khan was wounded and he fled away. Thus Kashmir passed into the hands of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh bestowed honours and favours on Pt. Raj Kak Dhar and sent him back to Kashmir with dignity and honour. Sikh Rule abided in Kashmir from 1819 to 1846. The first Sikh Governor was Dewan Moti Ram. Maharaja Ranjit Singh through his genius, both as a ruler and as a general, had been able to carve out a viable sovereign Khalsa kingdom comprising provinces of Lahore, Kashmir, Multan and Peshawar.

Afganistan was part of India once upon a time but was torn apart from the mother country through cataclysms of historical compulsions. Had Maharaja Ranjit Singh not carved out a sovereign Khalsa kingdom Panjab and Kashmir would have become part of Afganistan.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh lacked some essential elements of a far-sighted statesman. It was because of this that immediately after his death confusion and anarchy gripped his descendants, nobility and army commanders. English seized this opportunity by the forelock.

Transfer of Kashmir to Maharaja Gulab Singh

Commanders of the Sikh Army smelled a rat in the strategic manoeuvres of the British in the region. Also, Khalsa Army was itching for a war. The outcome was First Sikh War in which Sikhs suffered a defeat because of the wile treachery of its own commanders. War was brought to an end by the Treaty of Lahore on March 9, 1846.

As per Article 2 of the Treaty of Lahore Sikhs had to pay war indemnity of one and a half crores of Rupees. But they had only Rupees fifty lacs. Therefore, as equivalent of Rupees one crore they transferred to the Honourable East India Company in perpetual sovereignty all the hill countries which are between River Beas and Indus, including the provinces of Kashmir and Hazara. Subsequently, the English by the treaty of Amritsar concluded on March 16, 1846, transferred and made over for ever in "independent possession" to Maharaja Gulab Singh and heirs male of his body, Kashmir and Hazara, including Chamb for 75 lakhs of Rupees. The transfer was legally and actually flawless.

Muslim writers paint Sikh Rule in Kashmir in darkest hues. Nevertheless, the period was better than 67 years of Afgan occupation and there were no conversions by sword which characterised most of Islamic regimes. Maharaja Gulab Singh was able to launch successiul military campaigns for annexing Ladakh and Zanskar. The hero of these campaigns was General Zoarawar Singh who even marched upto Lahsa.

Maharaja Gulab Singh also annexed Gilgat, Chillas, Dardistan and other tribal areas to his kingdom. In all these campaigns nearly 30,000 committed soldiers, flower of Dogra manhood, laid down their lives.

In 1858, Ranbir Singh son of Maharaja Gulab Singh ascended the throne of J&K State. On the death of Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1887 Maharaja Pratap Singh assumed the rulership of the State.

From 1860 Role of non-Kashmiri Muslims in Fomenting Trouble in J&K State

Archival documents reveal that non-Kashmiri Muslims living outside the State of Jammu and Kashmir were actively conniving to foment discontent among Muslims in Kashmir against the Hindu Maharaja. This outside interference became intensified during the time of Maharaja Pratap Singh. It was because of this that in 1889 British people hatched a conspiracy to dispossess Maharaja Pratap Singh of his throne and annex the J&K State to the British India. Charges of misgovernment were levelled against Maharaja Pratap Singh. He was removed and a Council of Regency was constituted to administer the State. However, accusations against Maharaja couldn't be substantiated. The State was therefore restored to Maharaja Pratap Singh after 16 years in 1905. This was a great achievement for Dogras.

Struggle Launched by Kashmiri Pandits for a Separate Home-land in Kashmir

During the administration of the Council of Regency Strange and mysterious things seemed to have happened. Kashmiri Pandits again felt suffocated when they saw virulent Muslim communalism reorganizing itself. They submitted a petition demanding separate Homeland for themselves in the south of Kashmir.

What happened during the administration of the Council of Regency needs a thorough probe by the historians. However, documents are likely to have been stolen from Kashmir Archives.

Demographic Change In December, 1947, Ram Manohar Lohia had indicated in his Confidential Note that during the period 1887 to 1947, the Kashmiri Pandit community had dwindled from one lac to 80,000 (a decrease of 20%) whereas Muslim population had risen from five lacs to twenty lacs (an increase of 400%). This needs to be probed into by the historians. Didn't the British, in connivance with the non-Kashmiri Muslim leaders residing outside J&K State, give a fillip to Muslim influx into Kashmir from territories contiguous to the boundries of J&K State?

20% decrease in the population of Kashmiri Pandits could be attributed to the silent exodus induced by the fear of the revival of fatal Muslim dominance as the tyrrany, loot, rape and slaughter by Afgans was fresh in their minds.

Maharaja Hari Singh

Maharaja Hari Singh ascended to the throne in 1927. He was a unique Maharaja who alone stood up at the Round Table Conference in London in 1933 and stoutly pleaded for a progressive approach to India's aspirations for political independence. In this manner he became an eye-sore to the British Administration in India.

Outside Muslims Foment Trouble in J&K State

Outside Muslims including Sir Mohammad Iqbal had been consistently derogating in public the Treaty of Amritsar (1846) by which Maharaja Gulab Singh acquired Kashmir and other parts. Therefore, non- Kashmiri Muslims considered it a religious duty to foment trouble in Kashmir for stirring up Muslim population against Dogra Rule.

On June 25,1931, a congregation was held in the compound of Khankah-i-Moula in Srinagar. A non- Kashmiri Muslim who had entered into the State was delivering a venomous attack on Dogra Maharaja and exhorting the congregation not to rest till the palace of the Maharaja was razed to the ground. The stranger was arrested by the police for preaching sedition. His trial was fixed in the premises of Central Jail, Srinagar, on July 13, 1931. A massive Muslim mob assembled outside the Central Jail. They were rending the air with slogans against Dogras, Kafirs and Hindus. At one stage they violently surged forward to crash open the gate. After firing in the air, the authorities were compelled to fire upon berserk mob. Over 20 people died. The mob now directed their ire towards Kashmiri Pandits. Some Kashmiri Pandits were killed in Chadoora Tehsil. However, effective police arrangements prevented large scale destruction. Chowdhury Ghulam Abba and Sheikh Mohamrnad Abdullah, Secretary Muslim Youngmen's Association, were arrested. Only after a few days they tendered unconditional apology with oath of loyalty to the Maharaja. As a gesture of goodwill Maharaja ordered their immediate release.

Fissure Develops between Sheikh Abdullah and Moulvi Yusuf

Shah Sheikh Abdullah's oath of loyalty to the throne was resented to by the masses. Mirwaize Moulvi Yousuf Shah tried to seize the opportunity for taking Ieadership into his own hands. He resorted to rabble- rousing with the cry to JEHAD. However, he was summoned in audience by the Maharaja. Moulvi Yousuf Shah was so much impressed by the magnanimity of Maharaja that he swore unstinted loyalty to the throne. Muslim leaders outside J&K State felt crest- fallen. They constituted a Kashmir Committee at Shimla and Khalifa Bashir Ahmad Qadyani was made its President. However, Mr. BashirAhmed was removed for being a Qadyani and Sir Mohammad Iqbal was elected as President of the Kashmir Committee.

Outside volunteers were sent for fomenting trouble in Kashmir but tussel for leadership between Shaikh Moh'd Abdullah and Mirwaiz Moulvi Yussuf Shah which had taken a serious turn engaged the attention of the masses. Therefore, outside instigation could not be fully etfective.

Viceroy's State Visit to Kashmir

In 1933 Viceroy of India was on a state visit to KashmirMuslim leaders submitted a memorandum to him alleging atrocities perpetrated by Dogra Rulers on Kashmiri Muslims. After the departure of Viceroy these leaders were temporarily banished from the State. There were riots and disturbances. Maharaj appointed a Commission of Enquiry presided over by Justice Dalal, Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Sheikh Abdullah and his followers refused to cooperate with this commission because they said that the Commission was composed of people who were in State service and could not, theretore, function impartially.

Sheikh Abdullah Abjures Communal Politics:

In 1939 Sheikh Moh'd Abdullah gave up exclusive communal politics and changed the nomenclature of his party from Muslim Conference (which was not a branch of Indian Muslim League) to National Conference (as dlstinct from lndian National Congress). Perhaps Sheikh Moh'd Abdullah felt that adopting the policy of All India Muslim League would not serve his interests which he identified with the interests of the Kashmiri People. Getting cue from Sir Mohammed Iqbal, Sheikh Abdullah never reconciled to the fact that Maharaja possessed Kashmir by virtue of the Treaty of Amritsar under which Maharaja Gulab Singh took possession of Kashmir by paying 15 lakhs of Rupees and saved the Sikh State from humiliation by the British. It was also lost sight of that Sikhs had delivered Kashmir out of the foreign yoke by a bravely fought battle. Also, Treaty of Amritsar continued to be an eye-sore for other top-ranking Muslim leaders. Sheikh Abdullah was feeling that by translating into actual practice the anti-Islamic Communist doctrine of transferring proprietorship of land to the tiller a milestone would be crossed towards mitigation of effects of the Treaty of Amritsar (1846). For this purpose he purchased the services of a communist ideologue Shri B.P.L. Bedi and his French wife Freda Bedi. New Kashmir document was framed and published under the guidance of Shri B.P.L. Bedi. New Kashmir programme became as important for the National Conference as Communist Manifesto was for international communism.

Quit Kashmir Movement (1946)

In 1946 Cabinet Mission had been sent to India by the British Government. Muslim League was employing all its tactics to woo Kashmiri Muslims. National Conference, however, continued propagating against Muslim Conference on the plea that its composition was of non-Kashmiri Muslims. Mr. Moh'd Ali Jinah had paid a visit to the Valley in 1945 but masses in general under the tutelage of National Conference cold-shouldered him. At some places there were anti-demonstrations. Events were fast moving on the Indian scene. Labour Party in England had affirmed granting of independence to India. Sheikh Moh'd Abdullah had smelt some rat in the visit of Mr. Mohammed Ali Jinah. He launched Quit Kashmir movement warning Dogras to abdicate Kashmir all at once. The slogan of the movement was: Bainama Amritsar tod do, Kashmir chod do (Abrogate Treaty of Amritsar and vacate Kashmir). This was a movement for the separation of Kashmir from the J&K State created by the sagacious genius of Maharaja Gulab Singh and nurtured by the blood of 30,000 Dogras during a span of 100 years. Treaty of Amritsar was the corner stone on which the edifice of J&K State was built and Quit Kashmir movement launched by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah wanted to dynamite that edifice. It was a naivete on the part of Mr. Nehru to lend unstinted personal support to Sheikh Moh'd Abdullah for launching the movement.

Sheikh Abdullah and other leaders of the National Conference were immediately arrested.Messers G.M. Bakhshi and G.M. Sadiq fled to Lahore. Mr. J.L. Nehru dashed to Srinagar for pleading Sheikh Abdullah's case. He was arrested at Kohala Bridge and he was compelled to go back.

J&K Government of Maharaja Hari Singh stoutly stood against the breaking of Jammu and Kashmir State but Maharaja Hari Singh earned the deep rooted enemity of Mr. Nehru and his coterie in the Indian National Congress. India at that time was moving towards a communal holocaust.

Partition of India

India was partitioned into dominions of India and Pakistan from 15th August, 1947, as per Indian Independence Act, 1947, which after having been passed by the British Parliament received assent of the British Monarch in August, 1947. As per provisions of the Indian Independence Act, with the lapsing of the British paramountcy all the native princely states became independent with sovereignty vesting in the ruling prince. Princes were free to accede to any dominion and Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, under whatever circumstances, aceeded to the Dominion of India. If this accession is challenged then the existence of Pakistant is also to be challenged.

Sheikh Abdullah Set Free

Sheikh Abdullah was in prison. Lord Mountbatten alsoo paid a visit to Kashmir in July, l947. Mr. Nehru's ill will towards Maharaja Hari Singh contracted at the time of Quit Kashmir movement was also a stumbling block. In July, 1947, Pandit Ramchander Kak, Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, went to Delhi to ascertain the modalities of accession. Sardar Patel told him that he did not want accession of Kashmir against peoples' will.

Maharaja Hari Singh had no evil intention. He sent emissaries to Sheikh Abdullah while he was in jail. Sheikh Abdullah again showed himself as a Machiavellian politician. He addressed a letter dated September 26,1947, to Maharaja Hari Singh begging pardon and in the last para stating: "Before I close this letter I beg to assure your Highness once again of my steadfast loyalty and pray that God under your Highness' aegis bring such an era of peace, prosperity and good government that it may be second to none and be an ideal for others to copy. This was the second time Sheikh Abdullah begged pardon of Maharaja Hari Singh. The first was in 1931.

Maharaja again showed his magnanimity. He got Sheikh Abdullah released only after two days i.e. on 29th of September, 1947.

Standstill Agreement and Pakistan Invasion

Right up from Quit Kashmir movement in April, 1946, Maharaja was feeling that he was spurned by Congress leaders. To enable himself to weigh in a judicious manner the pros and cons of any type of relationship with either India or Pakistan or with both he needed time. He, therefore, sent a telegram to Governors General of both the countries for a Standstill Agreement for 6 months. However, Pakistan Army had already planned seizure of Kashmir by force under the code name "Operation Gulmarg". 500,000 tribals and army personnel were moving towards the borders of Jammu and Kashmir. Along the Jammu border nearly 20,000 Hindus and Sikhs were slaughtered. 5000 women were taken away and a large number of them were raped and tortured. When 30,000 refugees conglomerated in Jammu Province there was a backlash from Hindus. At Muzaffarabad there was a small army contingent of the State under Major Narayan. It had Muslims and Dogras in equal numbers. Muslims mutinied and killed all the Dogras alongwith Major Narayan. By this time i.e. October 22, 1947, large mass of tribesmen, army men in plain clothes armed with sophisticated weapons were moving along Rawalpindi-Murree-Baramulla Road. Maharaja Hari Singh ordered Brigadier Rajender Singh with only 150 men to halt the enemy who were moving like ants towards Srinagar. The then Prime Minister of J&K State Mr. Meherchand Khanna wrote to Sardar Patel: "Practically the whole of our Muslim military and police has eighter deserted or has not behaved in the proper manner. The help which you promised has not arrived. We are surrounded on all sides."

Brigadier Rajender Singh counts among the greatest soldiers of the world. With only 150 men he delayed the advance of the enemy by 3 days. He died on October 25, 1947, and the truculent marauders, who had already left a trial of slaughter, arson, loot and rape, advanced on the dead body of Brigadier Rajender Singh.

In the first week of October '47 Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah had sent an emissary (Mr. G.M. Sadiq) to Pakistan to discuss with its leaders the future of J&K State. While Mr. G.M. Sadiq was on his return journey having discussed the matter with the Prime Minister of Pakistan he came to know of the clandestine agression of Pakistan whose rapacious tribal shooters and army personnel had already penetrated deep into the boundaries of the J&K State. The National Conference leaders considered it a breach of trust and a challenge to the self-respect of Kashmiris and since the organisation was deeply entrenched at the grass-root level amongst the masses the entire population was electrified with repulsion for Pakistan. There was resistance everywhere offered to the advancing enemy and the slogan was: Hamla-awar Khabardar, Ham Kashmiri hain tayar (Beware Aggressor, we Kashmiris are ready to defeat you).

By 2nd October Pakistani tribal marksmen and army regulars arrived at the outskirts of Srinagar. Was it advisable for Maharaja Hari Singh to stay in Srinagar? Supposing he was killed or captured who would sign the Instrument of Accession as per provisions of the Indian Independence Act. The Maharaja was advised by Lord Mountbatten to leave Srinagar. So he left Srinagar during night. The whole of Srinagar had been plunged into night darkness as the invaders had blasted power house at Mohra.

On 26th October, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. It was forwarded to the Government of India. In the covering letter Maharaja mentioned that notwithstanding that Pakistan had accepted the Standstill Agreement it cut off supplies like food, salt and petrol to the State and pushed into its boundaries afridis (tribals), soldiers in plain clothes and desperadoes armed with most modern weapons. It was indicated that the agressor had infiltrated at several points along the boundary. Maharaja further added that the Mohra Power House which supplied electricity to Srinagar had been blasted and the aggressor had indulged in wanton destruction of life and property and kidnapping and raping of women had been going on unchecked. Maharaja further stated that for saving his people he had no option but to accede to the Dominion of India. Maharaja concluded his letter by requesting immediate assistance for saving the State. Instrument of Accession was accepted by the Government of India on October 27,1947 and Indian troops set foot in Srinagar on the same day to drive away the Satanic invaders. Lord Mountbatten on being informed of the landing of Indian troops at Srinagar wrote to Sardar Patel: "there is no doubt that if we could have sent our forces a fortnight ago....the position could have been held with comparative ease."

Ouster of Maharaja Hari Singh

Prime Minister kept Kashmir Affairs within PMO which was resented to by Sardar Patel. Shri Nehru snubbed him by stating that as Prime Minister he had to bring co-ordination of various ministries.

Maharaja Hari Singh continued to be the constitutional Head of the State. He appointed Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah as the Nagion e-alia. However, Maharaja wanted his nominee Meher Chand Khanna to preside over cabinet meetings. Sheikh Abdullah flouted this idea. When the matter was brought to the notice of Shri J.L. Nehru he dubbed Maharaja Hari Singh as "terribly short-sighted" an obnoxious epithet. Such epithets Mr. Nehru often used against his opponents. Finally, Sardar Patel was used for the ouster of Maharaja Hari Singh.

Sardar bullied Maharaja by stating that in view of the peculiar situation obtaining at that time and because of reference to UNO and Plebscite issue he should absent himself from the State and make Yuvraj Karan Singh his Regent. Maharaja receded from the field never to return.

Lord Mountbatten's Advice

By December, 1947, Indian troops had cleared Kashmir Valley of Pakistani regulars and armed bandits who had left behind a trail of unprecedented death and devastation. On November 16, 1947, Sher-i-Kashmir Sheikh Moh'd Abdullah had said, "These raiders abducted women. They massacred children. They looted everything and every one. They converted mosques into brothels and today every Kashmiri loathes the invading tribesmen and their arch inspirers who have been responsible for such horrors in a land which is peopled with an overwhelming majority of Musalmans."

It was on the advice of Lord Mountbatten as admitted by him in his letter dated August 15,1948, that the aggression committed by Pakistan was referred to the UN Security Council. It was again Lord Mountbatten who advised Mr. Nehru not to risk war for retaking the territory of J&K State occupied by Pakistan. He frightened Mr. Nehru that such a step might force U.N.O. to outlaw India.

The issue of Pakistani armed intervention in Kashmir was referred to the UN Security Council on March 18, 1948. After a long debate in the Security Council, it was decided to send a Commission to India. The UN Commission arrived in Delhi in March 1948 and had talks with the governments of India and Pakistan. Pakistan admitted that its armies were fighting in Kashmir.

On August 13,1948, the Security Council adopted a resolution proposing cessation of hostilities and asking Pakistan to vacate the territory it occupied and restoring to the Government of India jurisdiction over the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir and thereafter arranging for a fair and impartial plebiscite. India was required to withdraw the bulk of its forces only after it was notified by the Commission that Pakistan had totally withdrawn its forces, personnel and nationals from the State. It was, therefore, the duty of the UN Commission to ensure that Pakistan did completely withdraw its forces and personnel and nationals from the State. The Commission subsequently assured India that the plebiscite proposal would not be binding upon India if the Pakistan did not withdraw its forces from the State.

Sher-e-Kashmir in Dilemma

From 1949 onwards, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, called Sher-e-Kashmir, who had launched a communal agitation in 1931 and the Quit Kashmir Movement in 1946 to wrench away Muslim-majority areas of Kashmir Province from the State, started to consolidate his grip over the entire State.

A ceasefire became effective in January 1949, but Abdullah was mentally succumbing to his former ideologies. The conflict was becoming irresistible. The sovereignty of the State after the departure of the British Raj vested in Maharaja Hari Singh. After getting himself appointed by the Maharaja as the Prime Minister, he succeeded in catapulting the Maharaja out of the field of influence through the grace of Pandit Nehru and the bullying tactics of Sardar Patel.

In an interview with Michael Davidson published in Scotsman of April 14, 1949, Abdullah said: "Accession to either side cannot bring peace. We want to live in peace with both the dominions; perhaps a middle path between them will be the only way of doing it. But an independent Kashmir must be guaranteed by Britain, the USA and other members of the U.N." So Abdullah (like the Maharaja who was initially for independence) was dreaming of an independent Kashmir.

Article 370 in Indian Constitution

The Constituent Assembly was framing the Constitution of India. Abdullah was nominated in it as the Member, with three others, to represent Kashmir. He wanted quite a distinct position for the State in the Constitution. He wanted the entire State to be a republic within a republic. Patel felt a bit baffled. On October 16, 1949, he wrote to Shri Gopalaswamy Ayyangar: "Whenever Sheikh Sahib wishes to back out, he always confronts us with his duty towards the people. Of course, he owes no duty to India or to the Indian Government or even on personal basis to you and the Prime Minister who have gone all out to accommodate him...."

Abdullah wrote a threatening letter to Ayyangar on October 17, 1949, which in conclusion stated: "In case I fail to hear from you within a reasonable time, I regret to say that no course is left open but to tender our resignation from the Constituent Assembly." Nehru succumbed to pressure and got Article 370 inserted in the Constitution as a temporary measure. Abdullah failed to have any regard for the people of Ladakh or the people of the Jammu region.

Article 370 sprouted as a hefty tree bearing poisonous seeds of secession and separatism and paranoid hatred which the winds of time have been scattering all over India. These poisonous seeds began to germinate in the soils of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Panjab, the North-East and at many other places. The political thinking of the constituents of the United Front, now in power in India, is the paranoid effect of the gases which these germinating trees are exhaling into the atmosphere.

Ladakh was and is a distinct entity. It is a region of barren crags and sand dust. The redoubtable valour of Gen. Zoarawar Singh was instrumental in annexing this region to the kingdom of Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1841. The Ladakh Buddhist Association had submitted a memorandam to the Indian Prime Minister in 1947 and later in 1949 seeking a separate set-up for Ladakh under the direct control of the Central Government.

Hindus Without Citizenship

Jammu being a predominantly Hindu area was in a trauma in 1948. Due to truculent Pakistani and tribal forays launched in October 1947, more than 30,000 Hindus had been killed, 5000 women had been raped and the same number of women had been kidnapped. About 30,000 Hindus and Sikhs had fled to Jammu and were accommodated in refugee camps. These uprooted persons are still refugees because the State Government dominated by Kashmiri Muslims are not willing to grant them citizenship. To cover up the atrocities committed by Pakistani aggressors and Muslims in border areas, Abdullah made thundering speeches about the massacre of Muslims in Jammu proper for which he was holding the Dogras and the RSS responsible. No commission was ever constituted to ascertain the facts. There might have been a moderate backlash in Jammu because of large killings of Hindus and Muslims in borders areas but Abdullah again and again spoke of a massacre of Muslims in Jammu. However, the massacre of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims started only when Pakistan pushed tribal desperadoes and armymen into the State with a view to annexing it by sheer force. Till that time the State was peaceful and the credit for that goes to Maharaja Hari Singh.

As Abdullah had committed himself for an impartial plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, he had no raison d'etre to push through the passage and implementation of the Big Landed Establishment Abolition Act Samvat 2007 (1950) under which land was transferred to the tenants but no compensation was paid to the proprietors. It allowed big landlords to retain 182 kanals with a right to one-fourth of the share of produce without grass. This deprived a good number of Kashmiri Pandits (residing mostly in cities and towns) and 30,000 Dogra Rajputs of their land holdings without compensation. Muslim landowners had no difficulty in showing themselve as self- cultivators.

Pandits, Dogras leave Kashmir

Many Kashmiri Pandits, who had no sustenance except small land holdings, began moving out of Kashmir. More than 30,000 Dogra Rajputs also left Kashmir. Today all politicians, MLAs, MPs, VIPs and IAS officers and judges, tehsildars and even patwaris have the ownership, either in their own name or in the name of their close relatives, of vast stretches of agricultural land out of which a sizable portion has been converted into orchards. In 1975, another agrarian reforms act couched in the language of Muslim personal law was passed which enabled the new-fangled Muslim elite to consolidate their hold on vast stretches of orchard land. In 1990, the income from this land amounted to Rs. 90 crore.

Before deciding the political status of the State, especially when the matter was under the consideration of the U.N., was Abdullah justified in passing the act. Just like Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Abdullah proved cleverer than all the combined leadership of India.

Abdullah did not give up the habit of making vituperative harangues against Maharaja Hari Singh and the Dogras. He often raised the bogey of Muslims ceasing to trust India and going away to Pakistan. Dr. Karan Singh, the sole scion of the dynasty of Maharaja Gulab Singh and a votary of Sri Aurobindo, swallowed everything. He is more concerned about his vast properties.

Regarding the phantom of Muslims ceasing to trust India, Shri Syama Prasad Mookerjee wrote to Abdullah on February 13, 1953, that ".. if 4 crore Muslims in India can be expected to live with safety and honour under the Constitution, why should 30 lakh Muslims in Kashmir, who will be the majority community in their State, be in a mood to go out of India, unless they honestly feel that their future lies with an Islamic country such as Pakistan. Secular democracy cannot develop by following the method of the marketplace."

Abdullah got a Constituent Assembly elected for the State in 1951. It had 75 members, all elected unopposed. Nomination papers of most of the candidates were rejected and the severest axe fell on the candidates sponsored by the Praja Parishad, a party founded by Pandit Prem Nath Dogra. The Constituent Assembly framed a separate Constitution for the State providing for a separate President (Sadr- e-Riyasat), a separate Prime Minister, a separate flag and separate electoral laws.

Weightage to Muslim Vote

The Sheikh was making all types of topsy-turvey moves which went counter to the avowed concepts of a secular democracy. In Kashmir, the number of voters in an assembly constituency was 73,000 whereas in Jarnmu it was 93,000, thus giving more weightage to the Muslim vote. The border districts in Jammu were redemarcated on communal lines which showed its results during the current terrorist insurgency. There was interference in the working of the Dharamarth Trust founded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh for the management of Hindu shrines and temples in the State. A special permit system was introduced for the Indians for entering the State. There was a separate customs duty. A paramilitary organisation called the National Militia had been raised from amongst diehard National Conference workers of the Valley. The force consisted of Muslim recruits only.

By the first half of 1952, much of the Sheikh's charisma had faded away because he employed ruthless methods to suppress dissent. The people were detained without trial and the police under SP Ghulam Qadir Ganderbali used third-degree methods. He thought that excessive repression was necessitated because Pakistan by commissioning so- called Azad Kashmir Radio was blaring out most heinous and villainous propaganda on atrociously communal lines to the people of the Valley. This was in contravention of Part II-A of the UN Resolution of August 13, 1948.

In June 1952, an Indian correspondent reported an utterance of Sheikh Abdullah which smacked of an independent state and not independent Kashmir. The people of Jammu region and the Buddhists of Ladakh got a bit shaking. In July 1952, he entered into an agreement with the Central Government which envisaged integration of the State not only in respect of defence, foreign relations and communications but also in respect of financial and some selected matters. He treated Indian leaders as footlings and took his own time for implementing the Delhi Agreement of July 1952 and adopted dilly- dallying tactics.

Settlement of Accession

The people of Jammu under the leadership of Prem Nath Dogra decided to launch a do-or-die struggle. They wanted that the question of accession should be treated as settled or decided once for all and not left to an uncertain future. The second question that took precedence was to recover one- third of the territory occupied by Pakistan through wanton aggression. The Jammu people were very much fed up with the UN. They felt that it was a forum for big power rivalry. It took the UN no time to brand North Korea as an aggressor when North Koreans made a foray into South Korea by crossing the 38th Parallel. President Trueman even went to the extent of using nuclear weapons to teach North Korea and China a lesson but, in the case ot Kashmir, they were giving more privileges to the aggressor Pakistan and treating India at par with the aggressor.

The people of Jammu were flabbergasted at the attitude of Sheikh Abdullah who was not only delaying the integration of the State in respect of such subjects as defence, foreign affairs and communications but also creating a unique type of sovereignty for Kashmir. They were eager to see the integration of the State in respect of such subjects as fundamental rights, rights of citizenship, jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the functions and constitution of high courts, the President's powers, national planning, financial integration and the conduct of elections. There was also mistrust owing to the non-implementation of the Delhi Agreement of 1952.

There were about 30,000 Hindu and Sikh refugees from border areas who had fled to Jammu at the time of Pakistani raids. They were being treated as foreigners. Lakhs of Sikh and Hindu refugees who had fled West Pakistan and flooded East Punjab and Delhi had been totally absorbed as Indian citizens by the Punjab and Central governments but those who had entered the state were being treated as foreigners and till date they are bereft of citizenship.

Inroads in Dharamarth Trust

Sheikh Abdullah's Government was also tending to make inroads into the working of Dharamarth Trust. This was unplatable and the leaders of the Praja Parishad under all dispensations wanted provincial autonomy for Jammu and Ladakh.

There was the question of Indian Tricolour - whether it would fly atop the seat of the government at Srinagar and Jammu. Abdullah had decided to make the National Conference's red flag with a white plough as the flag of the State Government. During the Praja Parishad agitation, Syama Prasad Mookerjee had rightly written to Abdullah on February 13, 1953, that "India has been torn into two by the two-nation theory. You are now developing a three-nation theory, the third being the Kashmiri nation."

On November 11, 1953, the State Legislative Assembly elected Dr. Karan Singh as Sadr-e-Riyasat. On November 22, 1953, he moved to Jammu from Srinagar and the Praja Parishad launched an agitation starting with a black flag demonstration against the Sadr-e-Riyasat.

The Praja Parishad movement spread like wild fire. The watchword of the struggle was Ek Bidhan, Ek Pradhan, Ek Nishan (One Constitution, One President, One Flag) for the entire country. As the agitation assumed torrential proportions, both the State and the Central Government were shaken. Pt. Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah termed the agitation as extremely harmful, communal and bigoted. The state machinery flung into action. The Indian police and the state police got full powers for using batons and bullets against the demonstrators.

Repression Let Loose

The agitation spread to all the districts of Jammu. There were widespread demonstrations. Pt. Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah had no qualms to use the maximum of force. As we have at present, there were no human rights activists. Hundreds of people fell before bullets. Nearly 20 people were killed. Abdullah seemed to avenge the deaths that occurred on July 13, 1931, at Srinagar. Repression, imprisonments, leathicharges and bullets became the order of the day. Sheikh Abdullah's National Militia ran berserk at places and did not hesitate to commit outrages on women. The properties of many persons were confiscated and the pensions of many people were withheld. All that the crowds demanded was the supremacy of the Indian President, the supremacy of the Indian Constitution and the supremacy of the Indian Flag. They wanted that the question or accession of the State to the Indian Union should not be left to the mercy of fluctuating winds. They wanted the maximum integration of the State with India and provincial autonomy for all the three regions of the State. Pt. Nehru employed the Preventive Detention Act for suppressing demonstrations in other states expressing sympathy with the people of Jammu. The whole of Jammu province became a boiling pot of tyranny and suppression.

Syama Prasad Mookerjee wrote several letters to Sheikh Abdullah and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru but mostly received bluff and invectives. In his letter dated February 4, 1953, Sheikh Abdullah admitted that conditions for impartial plebiscite had not been provided but added that Kashmiri Muslims would not falter from their ideals even if they are left alone in this great battle of secularism and human brotherhood. These were all hollow words only to obfuscate the mind of the opponent.

When the State offices moved to Srinagar in May 1953, Shri Mookerjee wanted to discuss the matter with Sheikh Abdullah at Srinagar. Encouraged by Nehru, he had made Jammu and Kashmir a state within a state. There was the entry permit system in vogue for allowing Indian citizens to enter the State. Shri Mookerjee, who was denied permission to enter the State, defied the ban and entered the State. He was arrested and kept at Chashma Shahi Guest House. How he was treated or served food God only knows. He developed a strange type of allergy and breathed his last in S.M.H.S. Hospital. How he was killed and by whom, nobody knows.

Mookerjee's Mysterious Death

Today we have commissions probing into the death of late Rajiv Gandhi but the death of Shri Mookerjee was treated as the death of a washout. Maybe, a probe would reveal a conspiracy to finish him up. Maybe, Nehru-Abdullah-Mookerjee correspondence exchanged during the agitation would throw up some conspiratorial angle. Everything was hushed up and the agitation on his mysterious death was ruthlessly suppressed. It was ensured that even a tiny spark was put out.

When Sheikh Abdullah launched the Quit Kashmir Movement in 1946 to wrench away Kashmir from the Dogra rule, Pt. Nehru rushed to his assistance but was arrested at Kohala Bridge by the security forces of Maharaja Hari Singh. He was requested to go back and he did go back. When after 7 years, Shri Mookerjee, defying the ban for the sake of integrity of India, went to meet Sheikh Abdullah he was done to death.

Shri Mookerjee gave his life for the integrity of India. Subsequently, his own people forgot him. The political party he had founded was relegated to the limbo of a unpleasant past. His disciples began to wag to new situations with a fresh gusto and crisp rhetoric.

The Praja Parishad Movement was the first movement after independence aimed at ensuring the unity and integrity of India. In its scope, it was more important than the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 which was triggered by a smarting hurt to deep-rooted religious sentiments of Hindus and Muslims.

One of the moving figures of the Praja Parishad Movement was Pandit Makhan Lal Harkara who passed away only this year - an irreparable loss to the Kashmiri Pandit community.

Praja Parishad's Vision

The Movement in thc depth of its vision was of greater import than the freedom struggle which culminated in the division of the country and loss and subversion of millions of lives. It aimed at ensuring the integral unity of India. But Pt. Nehru ensured to suppress it totally. Today we see what has been the result of nurturing and watering Article 370 and Sheikh Abdullah. Every State of importance, at one time or the other, has been tbreatening to secede from the Indian Union. During the 13 days of the BJP Government, when the vote of confidence was being discussed in Parliament, Shri Murasoli Maran of the DMK confronted the BJP and derisively scoffed at their talk of one country and one people. Whatever Shri Maran has to say, the Siva temple at Tanjore built by Raja the Great is a symbol of Indian unity. Regional parties are now acting centrifugally and what is now in store for India, only future can unfold. The politicians at the helm of affairs are pampering terrorists as their "own children" or misguided youth. All these utterances smack of cowardice. In fact the Hindu psyche was tempered into the masochist mould during the 1,000 years of the Muslim rule when at times persecution reached its zenith and Hindus were deprived of every vestige of citizenship rights.

It is surprising that Shri Jagmohan in his book "My Frozen Turbulence" has hardly given any account of the Praja Parishad Movement of 1953. In this way, he has tried to be irresponsible as a historian.

The BJP bosses at Jammu, Shri Chaman Lal Gupta, Vaidya Vishnu Dutt, Shri Bhagwat Swarup and others, have never strived to publish a properly documented book on the Movement with a special reference to Nehru-Mookerjee-Abdullah correspondence. The party has its of fice in the heart of the city donated by Pt. Prem Nath Dogra, founder of the Parishad. The whole property is worth more than Rs. 50 lakh. At least in deference to Pt. Dogra, they should have published such a book.

Arrest of Sheikh Abdullah

It was rumoured that the death of Shri Mookerjee under the State's custody made Sheikh Abdullah to pass many sleepless nights. After the event, he made the sharpest possible utterances at various places. He wanted to seize the earliest opportunity by the forelock to wrench away the State whether the people of Jammu and Ladakh liked it or not.

On August 8, 1953, Sheikh Abdullah went to Gulmarg and stayed in a posh hotel with his trusted lieutenants. Rumours were doing the rounds that CIA agents and British Intelligence detectives had infested the area. It was rumoured that, on August 9, 1953, he would make a declaration about the independent State and America and Britain would rush to guarantee that declaration.

As Sheikh Abdullah was coming down from Gulmarg towards Srinagar, he was arrested alongwith his lieutenants by the State Government. The arrest warrant was signed by the Sadr-e-Riyasat. Despite widespread violence, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed took over as the Prime Minister of the State.

Ten years of Bakshi's rule saw a spate of construction works. Dissent was suppressed with a iron hand. The people became prosperous. Indigenous industry flourished and tourism picked up. Many housing colonies sprouted. However, during his regime the forest cover of the State suffered maximum diminution.

On August 23, 1963, Pandit Nehru induced the Bakshi to resign under the Kamaraj Plan and Shri Shamas-ud-din took over.

Stop-Gap Prime Minister

Shri Shamas-ud-din had been working only for few months when during the night of 26th and 27th of December, 1963, the Holy Relic was found missing at Hazratbal Dargah. The entire Valley was plunged into a vioient commotion. However, there were no communal riots. Kashmiri Pandits sincerely joined Muslims in expressing shock and trauma at the loss of the Relic and fervently participated in demonstrations and marches for its recovery at the earliest. The Central and the State governments had traumatic experiences. However, the holy Relic was recovered and its genuineness established.

During the tenure of Shri Shamas-ud-din, the State Assembly passed an amendment to the State's Constitution whereby Article 356 of the Constitution of India became applicable to the State. During a span of 15 years from 1948, Pakistan prodded the Security Council to take up the Kashmir issue. Because of India's independent foreign policy and close bilateral relationship with the then Soviet Union, the Anglo-American bloc led by the USA had developed a chronic apathy for it. Resolutions were moved to activate the Security Council Resolution of 1948 but the USSR blocked the moves by exercising veto. The

Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh under the provisions of the British Independence Act of 1947 is final and irrevocable. If it is not final, then the existence of Pakistan is also temporary. Pakistan or Bangaldesh were part of British India before August 15,1947, and if India treats the British Independence Act as a scrap of paper and has sufficient striking power, it has every justification to annex Pakistan. When sovereignty is not under dispute, the UN has no jurisdiction to arbitrate upon the right of self-determination.

The State Assembly has no locus standi to affirm or deny the Instrument of Accession signed by the Maharaja and accepted by the Government of India. The Governor-General of India, while accepting it, has not appended any condition whatsoever to its acceptance.

Sadiq becomes Prime Minister

On February 8, 1964, Shri Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq became the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. He maintained a low profile and allowed the freedom of expression, and political activities of all sorts and was not averse to Jamaat-e-Islami trimming its activities. It was he who brought about closer ties between the State and the country by making various provisions of the Indian Constitution applicable to the State. He changed the nomenclature of the Sadr-e-Riyasat to the Governor and the Prime Minister of the State to the Chief Minister. He also established a branch of Indian National Congress in the State and Syed Mir Qasim was elected its President. Moreover, he got Sheikh Abdullah and his colleagues released from jail.

With the release of Sheikh Abdullah, the activities of the Plebiscite Front, established by Mirza Afzal Beg, the most trusted lieutenant of SheikhAbdullah, in 1958, intensified its activities. Shri Sadiq believed that opposite forces could be neutralized not by extreme suppression but by allowing them to play their role to a certain extent.

Sheikh Abdullah was allowed to visit Pakistan. During these days, the Congress session was in full swing at Bhubaneshwar and Pt. Nehru was attending it. Perhaps being upset by the Sheikh's bitter demogogic harangues in Pakistan, he suffered a stroke which kept him wrecked up to his death on May 27, 1964.

When Sheikh Abdullah was rearrested on April 29, 1958, objectionable papers endorsing Pakistani line of action were recovered from his residence. A case of conspiracy was filed against him in an appropriate court. During the hearings of the case, statements before the court were dangerously anti- India and stood in sharp contrast to his utterances in 1948.

In his book titled: "The Crisis Game by Sydney," F. Fiffin (1965) we find an account of two fictional crisis exercises codenamed Cuba and Kashmir 1966 conducted by Institute of Defence Analyses, Washington D.C. in February 1965, envisaging a war between India and Pakistan in September 1966. There was deliberate shifting of the calendar year by one year while hostilities between India and Pakistan broke out on September 1,1965. This shows that planning of a Pakistani attack on Kashmir was planned by the US Strategic Intelligence.When the hostilities actually broke out, China attacked India in Sikkim. The USA intervened to bring hostilities to an end.

In his book Spy For All Seasons; My Life In CIA, Mr. Duane R. Clarridge who operated in Madras and Delhi in 1964 gives an account of how aggression in 1965 on Kashmir by Pakistan was carried out with the prior approval of Sheikh Abdullah. After having been set free in 1964, he went to Saudi Arabia for performing Haj. Mr. Clarridge states that he went to contact Sheikh Abdullah at Jeddah where he gave him (Mr. Clarridge) the whole view of Pakistani warplan on Kashmir. As per Mr. Clarridge, Sheikh stated: "The Pakistanis were going to begin infiltrating small guerilla units out of Azad Kashmir into Kashmir proper. These units would then begin to stir things up. Once the insurrection got under way in Kashmir, regular Pakistani military forces would come to Kashmir's aid."

In April 1965, to bewilder Indian strategists, Pakistan struck in the Rann of Kutch with Patton tanks in violation of the assurance given by the US President and the Secretary of State that US military equipment would not be used against India. India brought the deployment and use of Patton tanks by Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch to the notice of US Government but it ignored the Indian protest.

Three months before the outbreak of hostilities on September I,1965, thousands of armed guerillas of Pakistan infiltrated into Kashmir on the western side. They followed their usual pattern of loot and human slaughter. However, timely information about it was supplied to the Government by some Gujjar leaders. The entire Gujjar population treated infiltrators with resentment. The rural population also did not cooperate with them and were loath to entertain them with chickens, eggs and rice. There were some skirmishes at Batmalloo and Bemina in Srinagar. Some policemen died in grenade attacks.

Infiltrators Take to Heels

However, in the tactical handling by Shri Sadiq and his colleagues and non-cooperation by the local population made the infiltrators take to their heels through forests of Gulmarg. The fleeing infiltrators also kindnapped one or two Kashmiri Pandits whose whereabouts remained untraced.

Gen. Ayub Khan was very much dismayed at the failure of his plan to create Vietnam-like conditions in Kashmir because he lent his full weightage to the participation of the Kashmiri populace for stirring up insurrection in the State. So he resorted to actual warfare and struck at various points along the Ceasefire Line (of 1949) on September 1, 1965. At Chamb-Jaurian, he made a great display of the Patton tanks. However, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's decision to counter-strike at Lahore and the exemplary skill and valour of ourArmoured Brigade brought the Pakistani aggression in Kashmir to an end. This was the second aggression. The first was in October 1947, when Pakistan was able to occupy by force, fraud and bloodshed one-third of the State's territory.

The non-cooperation by the Kashmiris with Pakistani infiltrators might have been rankling in the mind of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. Reacting to massive demonstrations in Kashmir when ZulfiqarAli Bhutto was hanged in Pakistan, he had remarked: "Kashmiri Muslims are Brahmins."

Gen. Ayub Khan was displeased with the USA and fell in the trap of Russian good offices which culminated in the Indo-Pak summit at Tashkent where the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India signed the Tashkent Declaration. In fact, the Tashkent agreement appears to project the Ceasefire Line (of 1949) as a permanent international border between India and Pakistan.

The agreement, however, proved doom for him and he was replaced by Gen. Yahya Khan.

Sheikh Starts Rethinking

Sheikh Abdullah appeared to have been disappointed by the defeat of Pakistan in the 1965 war and the signing of Tashkent Declaration. Probably, his thoughts began working backwards. The political frame of his mind appeared like a chameleon. So his reactions and utterances after 1966 lent one colour to the Government of India and of another to the people of Kashmir.

The UN Commission for India and Pakistan totally failed in its avowed obligation under Part II B of the Kashmir Resolution of August 13, 1948, to notify the Government of India that Pakistan had not only withdrawn its forces but also tribesmen and Pakistani nationals referred to in Part II A, 2 of the resolution. The UN rendered itself impotent because it failed in its moral and legal responsibility to persuade Pakistan to vacate the occupied territories. During the last 49 years, Pakistan rendered UN resolutions completely defunct by the following acts:

(a) It surrendered nearly 6000 square miles of the State's territory to China for building Karakoram Road to facilitate the Chinese to rush troops to the Indian borders as and when required.

(b) It seized the northern parts of Kashmir by force after decimating the torces of Maharaja Hari Singh and allowed the Americans to build the most advanced radar complex in Gilgit. This part of Kashmir has borders with Afghanistan, Russia and China.

(c) It increased its military strength in the occupied territories by leaps and bounds in violation of Part I, B of the Resolution of August 13, 1948.

(d) It violated Part I, E of the UN Resolution by continuously indulging in vicious propaganda against India.

(e) It failed to derecognize the so-called Azad Kashmir Government.

The voting rights for a plebiscite vested in the population which existed in and around 1948. During the last 49 years, lakhs of people who had the right to vote in 1948 have died and more than 25 lakh people who nurtured the fundamentalist ideology have been added to the population. It is, therefore against law and natural justice to talk of plebiscite after 49 years.

Pakistan itself rendered the UN Resolutions defunct by launching a full-scale attack on Jammu and Kashmir in 1965 and then signing the Tashkent agreement.

Mr Gunar Jarring of the UN Commission after visiting India and Pakistan in the late fifties reported that the UN Resolutions of 1948 and 1949 had been rendered irrelevant because of the changed logistical and strategical dispositions in the area.
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#71 Posted by guru on July 19, 2008 11:12:21 pm
1905 division of bengal was according to a plan. when dracula announced day of action, we should have planned complete transfer of hindus from BS of 1947. Then genocide of 71 would had not happened.

Now it seems unless Islam is destroyed, world cannot be saved. jihadi islam originally arab munna adopted by foolish angloes when wave of decolonization started. Destruction of Islam has to happen. Resurgent China, Russia and new generation India will have to do the job. In India first there needs to be no franchise to Muslims, 100% reservations to Dharmic people in education and`jobs. Within 5 years all our mamus and their kids will revert back to Dharma or being normal Indians. The time has come for this to happen. We need to give taste of their medicine! The medicine Saudis/bakis deliver!
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#70 Posted by Mystic on July 19, 2008 6:11:38 pm
Re: # 54
Satya?
Is there any Acknowlegement even of riots in Bihar U.P. Bengal & rest of India Hubli Gujjrat etcetc since 47 Not to speak of no one in india bothered to keep count.

I know people dying of starvation specially on the streets of Calcutta will be greater than the genocides u mention but purposely India govt bars the Forensic doctors to write malnutrition as cause of Death.Govt do not tell the truth when it does not suite them .bangla desh was funded and election campaign of Awami league was conducted from Calcutta .Which is fine But bangla desh sh WAS INDIAS creation So any blame for creating a monster lies with Indira Gandhi And ...India Ab Bhokto
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#69 Posted by Mystic on July 19, 2008 5:57:13 pm
#65
Guru ji You haver written more than 1000 posts recently .How many ppl believe you even non pakistani

Salam Azad Books do not make it factual real or un prejudiced
You can ghost write For any dissident .Its just one Disenchanted B deshi who wants rice & fish !
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#68 Posted by haideri on July 19, 2008 5:12:27 pm
=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts
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#67 Posted by Eklavya on July 19, 2008 3:22:27 pm
ammara, chowk is a terrible and a terrific place. There are issues and fights here going back to the moment chowk was started, and from much before. All those things are mentioned at every opportunity, whether they appear relevant to others or not.

That's fine in its own way. Good people like you just have to ignore it, and keep your faith alive. We need some people who have good faith (because most of the rest of us have very little of it).

Cheers.
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#66 Posted by articulating on July 19, 2008 2:24:39 pm
can u connect Salam Azad with this piece on Amritsar? seems like there is no one to hear sme people talk nd therefore they seeks Chowk's interact sections...nd write and long notes and possible...
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#65 Posted by guru on July 19, 2008 12:57:40 pm
Another author from Bangladesh, Salam Azad, invited the wrath of the Bangladesh government for similar reasons. Consequently, he has been living in exile in Delhi for the last four years.

Azad, whose book ‘Role of Indian People in Liberation War of Bangladesh’ was published in January this year in Delhi, points out that Indian sacrifices in the Bangladesh War of Liberation were never recognised by his country.

The Indian government spent Rs 7,000 crore during the war. While 3,630 Indian Army personnel lost their lives in the war against Pakistan, 9856 soldiers were injured and nearly 210 are still missing.

His book dwelt at length on the roles of states like West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya, where most of the Bangladeshi refugees took shelter. He also pointed at the role of the Indian political parties in securing the release of the legendary Bangladeshi leader, Shaikh Mujibur Rahman.

“The people of West Bengal made sacrifices during the war, when lakhs of Bangladeshies took refuge in India. No memorial was erected anywhere in Bangladesh in the memory of the Indian martyrs. History would not pardon us for this,� Azad told The Indian Express.

“Two things that can unite the two sides of Bengal are Rabindranath Tagore and the Bangladesh War of Independence. They are acceptable to both East and West Bengal,� said Azad.
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#64 Posted by guru on July 19, 2008 6:54:50 am
De-Islamization is same as De_Arabization and De-Westernization.

Islam was colonization by Arabs. Neo-colization means, Islamization of the countries like BS and BD, with Arabized (Arabized Pakistani Elite ie APE) and anglophine elites (Anglophile Pakistani Elite ie also APE) of the enslaved society, which sends poor Abduls to fight wars in Afghanistan, firmly licking Anglo rear.

Even the so called naxals are like Islamists. Their arms are funded by the western church. The Purulia arms drop among countless others was carried out by UK spooks for the naxals and the thugs of the north-east India. ISI is british creation. Bakistan (BS) and BD are laundas of the angloes.

BD genocide did not get a showing on massive Anglo media because BS was illegitimate child of Angloes.

But Allaha is just and he will send youu the right karma effects. India should seal PakJabi border so that these vemins do not escape the hell-fire.
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#63 Posted by satyamvada on July 19, 2008 6:52:08 am
articulating:

I am not talking of Bangladesh (even in Bangladesh, there is an outlflow of hindus slowly and the govt of Bangladesh with its Vested Properties Act - has refused to return Hindu property back to Hindus. ).

In West Pakistan - the outflow of Hindus into India was not just during partition!. But, a larger outflow of millions of Hindis India happened in the years between 1948 & 1960 !! . The Govt of Pakistan was highly instrumental in driving out Hindus by all means of intimidation.

Finally, The Dharmic Traditions do not have a 'God' as you see in islam/christianity or judaism.
All the Dharmic traditions are based on principles of yoga and gaining moksha/nirvana, not with whether there is a some moon good Lah or not.

Its interesting that in your responses you still try to equate India & Pakistan as being equally complicit - that shows that people like you and Ras are really only looking for peace of convenienc and, not acknowledging facts.
There is no honest introspection and contriteness in folks like you.
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#62 Posted by guru on July 19, 2008 6:27:08 am
articulating,

2007 BD population is 150,448,340. 10% of it is Hindu, ie 15 Million. I hope you can understand above Hindu numerals and decimal point system. More than 10 Million almost all Hindus came as refugee and majority never went back. Even two of my classmates in IIT were recent Hindu refugees from BD.

Recent history mostly repeats. With such kind of denials we pray Allaha let you do the same on Ahmedi, Shia, Barelwi, Agakhani etc. Then start over again do it on Zawahiridi and Ladendi. karma is coming over to you. India needs to save poor baluchi and sindhi from the coming genocide.

This 1000 unit course is absolutely necessary to educate you since you state very false facts. I guess the recent converts are more Arabs than Arabs. To relieve them from their pain India needs to drop 30 50K TNTs on west punjab.

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#61 Posted by articulating on July 19, 2008 1:45:49 am
in East Pakistan there were not millions of Hindus in 1971 and the best option fr the whole word and nt just the sub continent is to wipe out extremism..( consequetly and hopefully G*** will be wiped out too).
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#60 Posted by articulating on July 19, 2008 1:42:54 am
Re: # 58Agreed
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#59 Posted by guru on July 19, 2008 12:01:41 am
Pakistan and now Bangladesh are Munnas of the west and KSA. Pakistan, Bagladesh and KSA can enjoy have their Islamic orgies. The best thing at this moment is getting all hindus from bangladesh and Pakistan into India and transfering all Mulims from West Bangal, Assam, Tripura and Bihar into Bangladesh and Pakistan. This would be the most humanitarian way to pay back for the blood spilled by Indian army to liberate Bangladesh and the murder and rape of millions of Hindus in East pakistan in 1971.

Other option is De-Islamization of Indian subcontinent.
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#58 Posted by Ras on July 18, 2008 6:19:57 pm

RE: guru (various)

Guru ji, a zero by itself is nothing but attached to

another figure, or in this case figures, it can be

a great deal.

People in Bangladesh today are willing to drop that

zero. People in Pakistan are willing to add a zero

to their original low figure, so we can get some accuracy.

The rest is a history of butchery.....
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#57 Posted by anilsharma57 on July 18, 2008 10:55:34 am
dear ammara,

thanks for writing with such feeling. it brought back the memories of my first to lahore.
anil sharma bhopal india
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#56 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 10:31:09 pm
The man who keeps hundreds of poverty-stricken families in his personal jail, Rehman Marri, has avoided going to jail once again on “health grounds� in Hyderabad in Sindh. In the latest raid the police recovered over a hundred starving haris from his jails. The idea behind keeping the peasants captive is to extract free farm labour from them. Rehman Marri became notorious after making the family of a Hindu named Mannu Bheel disappear in 1998. He was on pre-arrest bail since 2004; now he is free and is threatening the freed haris once again.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) alone comes to the rescue of enslaved labour in Sindh and has been pressuring a reluctant administration to come to the help of Hindu victims of the Sindhi landlord. The instrumentality of captivity is compound interest on which the workers are encouraged to borrow from the landlord. Compound interest is criminal and Islam forbids it as riba but no religious leader acts against the practice of riba that is rampant in some parts of Sindh. Just because the slave workers are Hindus, no one really cares. Sindh produces big charismatic leaders but its hari is the most downtrodden human being in the country. The rights of Sindh are the rights of its hari and they must be restored first
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#55 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 8:50:13 pm
articulating,

save your articulation for the unit test. are you ready? we will be having 1000 such unit tests to cover 3 Million murders mostly of Hindus.

If you think Indians/Hindus should not give these guilt creating quizes and teststests and just go for the revenge, then you are right....30 50K TNT need to be dropped on west punjab. there is no need to touch your women and waste our semen. Is that what you prefer?
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#54 Posted by satyamvada on July 17, 2008 7:56:29 pm
#52 articulating,
You are truly displaying your k for kafir education.

Look up the definition of genocide at UN Convention on prevention of genocide.

The Govt of Pakistan has intentionally, in whole or part:
a) killed hundreds of thousandas Hindus of east pakistan in 71
b) expelled or converted millions of hindus in west pakistan significantly after the 47 partition !
c) actively encouraged the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of kashmiri hindus from the valley
c) killed tens of thousands the shias in northern areas
and turned them into a minority by settling panjabis.
d) has instituted bigoted laws discriminating against
small groups within the country and marginalized them.
e) supported, encouraged the illegal occupation,
,encroachment and destruction of hundreds of temples
since 1947.

What else - dude ?
The paki govt fits the definition of a genocidal govt perfectly. Every head of govt of Pakistan since 1947 fits requirements for being put on a Nuremberg type trial.

"articulating" - its people of your ilk, the disciples of TNT, who indulge in orwellian doublespeak and call others
hateful for pointing out the truth.

Pakistan can improve only after acknowledging the truth,
but then to the children of Jihnabhai, truth is of no consequence. You guys were pretty happy to support terrorism and kill Indian citizens, but now when things are turning against you, you squeal and become doves.


ps: JihNabhai changed his typical gujju name to sound more
arabic and thus became Jinnah.
Truth can be stranger than fiction indeed !
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#53 Posted by articulating on July 17, 2008 2:06:44 pm
Re: # 52 true...plus all these posts dont state how a government cn become genocidal...and all this hatred is in fact a proof of extremism... not of Indians...but of some of the Jugheads...present all over the World....
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#52 Posted by Eklavya on July 17, 2008 12:35:31 pm
guru, this seems like one of those 'friendly' pieces that chowk puts up regularly to keep hope alive in hearts that need hope to stay alive. What got you upset?
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#51 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 8:03:38 am
Younger men and adolescent boys, of whatever social class, were equally targets. According to Rounaq Jahan, "All through the liberation war, able-bodied young men were suspected of being actual or potential freedom fighters. Thousands were arrested, tortured, and killed. Eventually cities and towns became bereft of young males who either took refuge in India or joined the liberation war." Especially "during the first phase" of the genocide, he writes, "young able-bodied males were the victims of indiscriminate killings." ("Genocide in Bangladesh," in Totten et al., Century of Genocide, p. 298.) R.J. Rummel likewise writes that "the Pakistan army [sought] out those especially likely to join the resistance -- young boys. Sweeps were conducted of young men who were never seen again. Bodies of youths would be found in fields, floating down rivers, or near army camps. As can be imagined, this terrorized all young men and their families within reach of the army. Most between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five began to flee from one village to another and toward India. Many of those reluctant to leave their homes were forced to flee by mothers and sisters concerned for their safety." (Death By Government, p. 329.) Rummel describes (p. 323) a chilling gendercidal ritual, reminiscent of Nazi procedure towards Jewish males: "In what became province-wide acts of genocide, Hindus were sought out and killed on the spot. As a matter of course, soldiers would check males for the obligated circumcision among Moslems. If circumcised, they might live; if not, sure death.
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#50 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:35:05 am
Younger men and adolescent boys, of whatever social class, were equally targets. According to Rounaq Jahan, "All through the liberation war, able-bodied young men were suspected of being actual or potential freedom fighters. Thousands were arrested, tortured, and killed. Eventually cities and towns became bereft of young males who either took refuge in India or joined the liberation war." Especially "during the first phase" of the genocide, he writes, "young able-bodied males were the victims of indiscriminate killings." ("Genocide in Bangladesh," in Totten et al., Century of Genocide, p. 298.) R.J. Rummel likewise writes that "the Pakistan army [sought] out those especially likely to join the resistance -- young boys. Sweeps were conducted of young men who were never seen again. Bodies of youths would be found in fields, floating down rivers, or near army camps. As can be imagined, this terrorized all young men and their families within reach of the army. Most between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five began to flee from one village to another and toward India. Many of those reluctant to leave their homes were forced to flee by mothers and sisters concerned for their safety." (Death By Government, p. 329.) Rummel describes (p. 323) a chilling gendercidal ritual, reminiscent of Nazi procedure towards Jewish males: "In what became province-wide acts of genocide, Hindus were sought out and killed on the spot. As a matter of course, soldiers would check males for the obligated circumcision among Moslems. If circumcised, they might live; if not, sure death."
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#49 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:25:57 am
“…… we were told to kill the hindus and Kafirs (non-believer in God). One day in June, we cordoned a village and were ordered to kill the Kafirs in that area. We found all the village women reciting from the Holy Quran, and the men holding special congregational prayers seeking God’s mercy. But they were unlucky. Our commanding officer ordered us not to waste any time.�

Confession of a Pakistani Soldier
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#48 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:23:59 am
The Pakistan Army and the Razakars did not stop at simply massacring Bengalis. They also took to raping Bengali women. During nine months in 1971, over 200,000 Bengali women and girls were raped. Many were taken as sex slaves and raped multiple times by the Pakistani Army.

By December 1971 the genocide had decimated Bengali society. On December 3, 1971 the Indian Army formally joined the war. In 13 days the Indian Army delivered a humiliating defeat to the Pakistani Army in Bangladesh. The army that had committed mass murder against an unarmed civilian population was decisively routed in less then a fortnight.

The Pakistan army, on the verge of defeat, was determined to wipe out Bengali culture in one final act of barbarism. On December 14, 1971, the Pakistan army unleashed the paramilitary units al-Badr and al-Shams to exterminate Bengali intellectuals. The goal was to find and kill Bengali political thinkers, educators, scientists, poets, doctors, lawyers, journalists and other intellectuals. The al-Badr and al-Shams fanned out with lists of names to find and execute the core of the Bengali intellectuals. The intellectuals were arrested and taken to Rayerbazar, a marshy area in Dhaka city. There, they were gunned down with their eyes blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs.

On December 16, 1971 the Pakistani army in Bangladesh formally surrendered. At the cost of three million dead the nation of Bangladesh was born. It was the most concentrated act of genocide of the Twentieth Century. Thirty-five years after the birth of the nation, many have forgotten the sacrifices of those who are no longer with us. But for those of us who survived, for our parents who kept us safe through the months of terror, there is no erasing the horrors of 1971.

Bangladesh today has yet to exorcise the demons of 1971. Many of the Razakars who collaborated with the Pakistani Army and murdered countless Bengalis have today returned to Bangladesh. Some of the Razakar leaders from 1971 today lead the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Bangladesh. Still others are living freely in the United Kingdom and the United States. None of these Razakars have yet to face justice for the crimes they committed in 1971.
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#47 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:22:32 am
At the end of June 1971, Sydney Schanberg visited the town of Faridpur and reported on the persecution there:

The Pakistani Army has painted big yellow “H’s� on the Hindu shops still standing in this town to identify the property of the minority eighth of the population that it has made special targets.

…

The campaign against the Hindus was – and in some cases still is – systematic. Soldiers fanned through virtually every village asking where the Hindus lived. Hindu property has been confiscated and either sold or given to “loyal� citizens. Many of the beneficiaries have been Biharis, non-Bengali Moslem migrants from India, most of whom are working with the army now. The army has given weapons to large numbers of the Biharis, and it is they who have often continued the killing of Hindus in areas where the army has eased off.

…

However, army commanders in the field in East Pakistan privately admit to a policy of stamping out Bengali culture, both Moslem and Hindu – but particularly Hindu.

…

In Faridpur – and the situation was much the same throughout East Pakistan – there was no friction to speak of between Hindu and Moslem before the army came.

The army tried to drive a wedge between them. In April, as a public example, two Hindus were beheaded in a central square in Faridpur and their bodies were soaked in kerosene and burned.

…

Still, there is no sign of a hate-Hindu psychology among the Bengali Moslems. Many have taken grave risks to shelter and defend Hindus; others express shock and horror at what is happening to the Hindus but confess that they are too frightened to help.

For his part in exposing Pakistani atrocities in Bangladesh, Sydney Schanberg was promptly expelled from Bangladesh.
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#46 Posted by akcheema on July 17, 2008 7:21:46 am
Re: # 41

CORRECTION

that was "nostalgia" and not nostangia

apologies
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#45 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:21:20 am
Led by American-supplied M-24 World War II tanks, one column of troops sped to Dacca University shortly after midnight. Troops took over the British council library and used it as a fire base from which to shell nearby dormitory areas.

Caught completely by surprise, some 200 students were killed in Iqbal Hall, headquarters of the militantly antigovernment students’ union, I was told. Two days later, bodies were still smoldering in burnt-out rooms, others were scattered outside, more floated in a nearby lake, an art student lay sprawled across his easel.

…

Army patrols also razed nearby market area. Two days later, when it was possible to get out and see all this, some of the market’s stall-owners were still lying as though asleep, their blankets pulled up over their shoulders.
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#44 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:19:50 am
Led by American-supplied M-24 World War II tanks, one column of troops sped to Dacca University shortly after midnight. Troops took over the British council library and used it as a fire base from which to shell nearby dormitory areas.

Caught completely by surprise, some 200 students were killed in Iqbal Hall, headquarters of the militantly antigovernment students’ union, I was told. Two days later, bodies were still smoldering in burnt-out rooms, others were scattered outside, more floated in a nearby lake, an art student lay sprawled across his easel.

…

Army patrols also razed nearby market area. Two days later, when it was possible to get out and see all this, some of the market’s stall-owners were still lying as though asleep, their blankets pulled up over their shoulders.
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#43 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:17:37 am
ras,

More than 10 million people took refuge in India. They would not take refuge unless there was massive killing. Times of India is a Bennet Colman paper. They forgot to add one more zero at the end.
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#42 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 7:13:08 am
On February 22, 1971 the generals in West Pakistan took a decision to crush the Awami League and its supporters. It was recognized from the first that a campaign of genocide would be necessary to eradicate the threat: "Kill three million of them," said President Yahya Khan at the February conference, "and the rest will eat out of our hands." (Robert Payne, Massacre [1972], p. 50.) On March 25 the genocide was launched. The university in Dacca was attacked and students exterminated in their hundreds. Death squads roamed the streets of Dacca, killing some 7,000 people in a single night. It was only the beginning. "Within a week, half the population of Dacca had fled, and at least 30,000 people had been killed. Chittagong, too, had lost half its population. All over East Pakistan people were taking flight, and it was estimated that in April some thirty million people [!] were wandering helplessly across East Pakistan to escape the grasp of the military." (Payne, Massacre, p. 48.) Ten million refugees fled to , overwhelming that country’s resources and spurring the eventual Indian military intervention. (The population of Bangladesh/East Pakistan at the outbreak of the genocide was about 75 million.)
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#41 Posted by akcheema on July 17, 2008 7:09:23 am
In my humble view it is all part of a strange nostalgic emotion.....something that "appears to be true" with the hindsight of nostangia ..... Amritsar, Lahore, Delhi ..... they are all part of the same syndrome ....

a bit like the "dream-time" stories the aboriginals speak of in the land I call home at present
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#40 Posted by Ras on July 17, 2008 7:02:26 am

From the Times of India




269,000 people died in Bangladesh war, says new study

20 Jun 2008, 0909 hrs IST,PTI

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LONDON: As many as 269,000 people died during the war leading to the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, nearly five times more than the previously estimated figure, a new study says.

The study, titled 'Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme', published in the British Medical Journal said "war causes more deaths than previously estimated, and there is no evidence to support a recent decline in war deaths".

Earlier estimates of casualties during the Bangladesh war were in the region of 58,000, the study noted.

The objective of the survey was to provide an accurate estimate of deaths in wars. The study analysed estimated deaths from war injuries in 13 countries over 50 years, including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Between 1975 and 2002, the study says that the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka between the government and Tamil Tigers accounted for the death of 215,000 people, while earlier estimates put the figure at around 61,000.

"Accurate estimates of war mortality are crucial for planning on several different levels. Political, military, and public health leaders must have credible information on the number of deaths to plan properly before, during, and after wars.

"The public must also be aware of the human cost of wars. Information on war deaths is useful in the investigation of the scope of war crimes, as in the Nuremburg Trials after the second world war or the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia," the study says.
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#39 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 6:52:35 am
articulating,

Take a break from your daily schedule of Namaz and Koran reading for next 3-4 years till we finish the course. Are you ready for the unit test? Since Gujarath had 3K deaths of innocents, we should have one unit for 3K deaths. According to my Hindu math just on Bangla genocide we should have 1000 unit tests to cover 3 Million murders. Each unit should take one day.

Please do not hesitate to tell if you finish the reading early. This might help in finishing the course early.
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#38 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 2:05:45 am
Articulating,

We are going to have quiz on these posts. Please be prepared. No more reading. Go to the links if necessary. These are personal acounts not Masadi's and Hi.. Pa..'s fake anal-ysis.

Is 24 hours sufficient for digesting.

We can add more Bangla genocide. Once that is taken care of we will go to Baluchi genocide. Then we will visit Karachi Mohajir and finally we will arrive at Kashmir and start from 1948.
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#37 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 1:57:21 am
Articulating,

More articulation?
http://humanists.net/avijit/26th_march/nights_and_days.htm

On the eve of 25th March, 1971, I was staying at Shere-e- Bangla Hall of EPUET. Just a few days before that the political problems engulfed East Pakistan as General Yahya steadfastly refused to accept the mandate of the people of East Pakistan for full autonomy. The students were on strike. Actually, it was the exam time and I was preparing for my final year examination as I said it before. However, due to the political unrest, the examination was withheld and many students had left the residential halls and went back home. I was, though, actively involved in student politics. Therefore, I decided to stay put in the hall so that should a need arises I shall be available to join the movement. A few days before the 25th March there were persistent rumours in the air that the talk between Mujib and General Yahya was not progressing well and that there was that possibility of a military crackdown looming over the horizon. However, the government media cleverly played down this rumour by insisting that the talks were fruitful. Some newspapers even suggested that General Yahya was prepared to hand over the power to a civilian government where both Bhutto and Mujib will have major roles. With those types of misleading information many people thought that at last the Bangalees will have a chance to taste their freedom after a sojourn of about thirteen years. But that did not happen. On the fateful night of 25th March,1971, the Pakistan army came out from the cantonment with fury to teach the Bangalees a lesson of their lifetime that they will never forget. And surely they did.

This is my very personal recount of the nights and days on and immediately after March 25,1971.

I went to bed a bit early at around 9.00 at night. I was quite tired for the whole day and quickly I fell into my sleep. Suddenly at around 11.00 P.M, my deep slumber was disturbed by a the noise of a constant barrage of gunfire. At first, I thought that it must be the firecracker's by Bangalees to celebrate the victory. But soon I realised my mistake. I opened the window. It was very dark. Not even the dim streetlights were burning. But there I could barely see numerous military vehicles moving around with soldiers with theirs automatic rifles. Occasionally, I could see very bright searchlights mounted on some of the military trucks and jeeps. Many soldiers were running and shooting in the street. I saw a large convoy of military vehicles had surrounded the whole of the EPUET area. As far as my eyes could go, I could see military men all around the campus. I could even hear the army people talking loud in Urdu downstairs in our hall. I immediately knew what was going on. I thanked my lucky star that I switched off the room light before I went to bed. There was deafening noise from the machine gun and automatic rifles, which were not too far from where I stood. I just could not believe what was going on. I was alone in the room; there was nobody to comfort me on that fateful night. Being panic-struck, I started trembling and fell down on my bed.

Then, all on a sudden a hail of bullet shattered the nearby window. The bullets hit the ceiling and walls and then hit the floor. A thought passed through my mind. I knew I was going to die. Without thinking much I went under my bed as a protection against hitting by stray bullets. I lied on my chest and grabbed the floor as if that was my life. The firing continued incessantly for almost the whole night. Then suddenly there was a lull. No machine gun or rifle sound. I thought it was over. So I slowly came out from my hiding place and sat on my bed. I looked at my wristwatch. I could not see very well. It was 3.00 A.M or so, I guessed. Suddenly, there was an extremely loud noise and the whole area was brightly lit. I could not resist the curiosity. Through the shattered window pane what I saw was utterly unbelievable. I saw a military tank throwing fire on the slums (Bastee). The slum was just next to our halls and along the old railway track. I saw people running out of their hovels. As the slum dwellers came out to escape the fire, the Pakistani soldiers started to shoot them with a machine-gun that was mounted on a military truck. I could see only one truck with the machine gun near our hall. But I am sure there were many more on other sides as I could see the fires from these machine-guns dropping like August showers in the darkness of the spring night. It was a seen I have watched only in TV and movies on Vietnam wars. I could hear the desperate cry for help from those hapless victims. I closed the window as I thought that one of those bullets would be enough for me. I sat on the floor and suddenly realised that this is it. There was no escape for me.

Time passed and slowly the morning broke the silence of the eerie night. I could still see the military people from my window. I switched on my transistor radio on a very low volume to hear what was going on. The Dhaka Radio Station was dead. I switched to Calcutta . There was no mention of East Pakistan except that General Yahya Khan had left Dhaka after the final talks with Mujib. So I switched to Karachi. Now I got the news that I wanted to hear so desperately. There was a special announcement that General Yahya was going to speak to the nation. I heard him speaking. It was the voice of a heavily drunken person that one can tell. I cannot recall all that he said. But there were few words that I still remember to the letters. These words were "Mujib's act is an act of treason. He will not go unpunished." Yahya Khan ended by saying that Mujib will be tried by a special military tribunal. The news announced that Sheik Mujibur Rahman along with Dr. Kamal Hussain had been arrested and taken to West Pakistan for the trial. I also heard Bhutto saying that "Thank God. Pakistan was saved."

In the meanwhile the fire in the slum continued and I noticed a strange odor in the air. It took me sometime to figure out that it was indeed the smell of burning flesh. I did not hear any fire brigade siren or anything like that although there was a fire brigade office just next to our hall in Palashi. It was almost 8 o’clock in the morning and the fire slowly started to diminish after devouring the nearby shantytown. From my window I could see the tank moving out from our area. I again lied on my bed and started to search other radio stations for news. Suddenly, I heard mild knocking on my door. I froze. I felt that my blood circulation had suddenly stopped. In front of my eyes I saw nothing but white colour. I could not move from my bed. I just lay still. After a while there was another knock. Now it stroke my mind that if it was the army they will not wait for my response. They would simply burst open my door and start shooting. There must be some one else, I guessed. So, I went near the window close to the door and looked. I saw Monju, my next door neighbour crawling on his chest near my door. I gingerly opened a little of the door and asked him what was wrong. He whispered to me that something was wrong with his roommate, Ashraf. Monju asked me to follow him to his room. I opened the door silently and slowly crawled on my chest to Monju's room. I found Ashraf lying on the floor with eyes wide open but his mouth shut and he was vigorously shivering. There was water all over. I asked Monju why was there so much of water on the floor. Monju replied that it was not water. It was Ashraf's urine. He told me that Ashraf had urinated several times and now he (Ashraf) cannot talk. I called Ashraf very softly. He just stared at me but could not say anything. I knew what had happened. Ashraf had a nervous breakdown. I told Monju that we keep whispering to him that the military is gone and we are safe. Surprisingly, after whispering for about 15 to 20 minutes Ashraf started to murmur a few words. After a while he simply whispered, "Please, please, do not leave me." I told Ashraf that what ever happens the three of us will remain together. If we die we shall die together. This assurance from us made Ashraf slowly come back to normal. All of us were very hungry and thirsty. So we ate the stale bread and some water. Then we talked how each of us passed the dreaded night.

It was around midday and we found that all the military personnel had left our area. There was no sound of gunfire, no sound of military trucks or vehicles. In fact, there was an eerie unbearable silence all around the campus. No bus, no rickshaw, no car, hardly any people on the streets. We thought that it was our best opportunity to escape from the hall. We tuned to AIR and heard about the indefinite curfew in Dhaka. But we decided to escape no matter what happens even if that meant breaking the curfew and being shot at by the military. We decided that I shall go to Monju’s apartment at Azimpur Government quarters. Both Monju and Ashraf used to live at Azimpur quarters. I crawled back to my room, put on my shoes and grab my transistor radio. The three of us then slowly started to climb down the stairs hiding ourselves as much as we could.

We went to the ground floor. To our disappointment we found the entry/exit gate was locked. The guards had locked the gate and fled. Later on, we realised that that action by the hall guards actually had saved our lives. In frustration, we came back to our room on the second floor. Then we decided to go to 1st floor and jump from the balcony/verandah. At first, we thought of leaving the radios behind. Then we realised that the radio was the only means by which we could know what was going on in East Pakistan. The three of us then jumped in the garden. Luckily, the jump was a success. Then we quickly ran. While running across the hall compound we saw the gruesome scenes of killing by the Pakistani army. In Liaquat Hall (I suppose it is Titumeer Hall now, but I’m not sure) we saw plenty of blood and a dead body possibly the guard's. (Later, I learnt that four students were killed at Liaquat Hall.) We quickly ran to the Fire Brigade Centre in Palashi. The Centre was very close to our residential Hall. We thought of taking temporary refuge in Fire Brigade building before proceeding to Azimpur colony. There was a small mosque inside the Fire Brigade compound. I saw four dead bodies there. All were riddled with numerous bullet holes. The floor of the mosque was flooded with blood. I thought that some Fire Brigade people tried to take shelter in the mosque hoping that Pakistanis will not commit murder in a place of worship. But how wrong they were! We saw many other dead bodies on the compound of the Fire Brigade. Some dead bodies were inside the Fire Brigade trucks and ambulance. They took shelter inside these vehicles hoping to escape the onslaught. Most likely none of the Fire Brigade people survived. Then we arrived at the road that separates the Azimpur Colony from the Palashi. On the road we found many dead bodies scattered everywhere mainly of rickshaw pullers.

There was a high wall at the entry of the Azimpur Colony. We did not know what to do at that point. The curfew was on and if any army people saw us they surely will kill us. We had no choice but to jump over the wall. To our utter surprise we could jump over the wall and fell on the other side of the wall. I still do not know how I did that. May be our adrenaline was running high after all that happened to us. I am sure that if I have to jump that wall again, I shall surely fail.

After jumping inside the Azimpur colony we felt a little safer and we all heaved a great sigh of relief. Monju suggested that I go and stay with him. Ashraf was too nervous to say anything. So, firstly we escorted Ashraf to his quarter and then Monju and I headed towards Monju's quarter. When Monju’s father and mother saw us they simply hold us tight and started crying. We quickly went inside the bedroom and told our story. Monju’s father said that they were certain that Pakistani army had killed us as he had witnessed the army operation from the window. We realised how lucky we really were to be alive that fateful night. Monju’s mother prepared some food for us. We were extremely hungry. I finished all the food served to me. During this time we did not hear much gun shots in the local area of Azimpur. But we could hear the non-stop machine gun firing in the distance. We carefully opened a little bit of the window. All we saw was smoke and fire all around, a little away from Azimpur. We guessed that it was old Dhaka area possibly near the Buriganga river and Sadarghat. After the liberation, it was found that the killing and destruction done by the Pak military was one of the worst in the old Dhaka area. They have killed virtually each and every person in the Hindu dominated Shankari Patti in the Old Dhaka. The fire and smoke was so terrible that at night the whole sky was red. In the evening we ate some food and we tried to sleep. But none of us could hardly shut our eyelids. The whole night we searched the world on radio. At last we got the news from BBC of what was going on in East Pakistan. The Dhaka radio station was working again only playing mainly Urdu patriotic songs and Islamic verses. We were now sure that our dream of a free nation had suddenly vanished. The Pakistani army had captured us as slaves. The whole night we mostly talked about what would happen to the Bangalees since all our struggle was in vain. Finally, the morning came. At around 9 o’clock we heard in Dhaka radio that the curfew had been relaxed for six hours only. We found many people on the street. I suggested to Monju that I better go home and see if my family members were alive. As our house was in Nakhalpara (very close to cantonment and the airport), Monju, his father and mother were very reluctant that I should take the risk. However, after my constant insistence they let me go, but reminded me to return immediately to them if I had problem. Until today, I can never repay their debt. You can tell they were really so concerned about me.

So, I came open in the street. I found people and people all around me. No bus, no truck. Hardly any rickshaw plying the street. There were occasional cars and military vehicles with fierce looking soldiers and machine gun mounted trucks and jeeps. I asked some people where were they headed to. Most of them replied that they did not know. They simply wanted to leave the city and go to villages where they felt they would be safe. Many of them headed towards Sadarghat hoping that they could catch a steamer or a launch to go to villages. I also did not know what to do. Since there were no transport it would be very difficult for me to walk all the way to Nakhalpara. I thought of going back to Monju's place. Then I changed my mind when I found that thousands of people are walking, many of them bare footed and with nothing but their clothes on. So, I also started walking. Whatever happens to these people will also happen to me, I thought. The first place I came was Iqbal Hall (now Sergeant Zahurul Hall?). The scene I saw in Iqbal Hall was beyond any description, I swear! The whole area was like a battlefield. I knew that DUCSU VP Tofail Ahmed used to live there. There were holes on the walls created by mortar shells. Those holes were visible from afar. When I arrived at the playground of the Hall, I saw about 30 dead bodies all lined up for display to the public. Many of the dead bodies were beyond any recognition due to innumerable bullet holes on their faces. That was a gruesome sight. Many people started crying. My friend Jafar used to live in Iqbal hall. I did not see his dead body. Later, I learnt that his dead body was found in his bed. Needless to say, the displayed corpses were merely a small fraction of the students that Pak army had murdered in Iqbal Hall on that dreadful night. They simply displayed a few corpses to frighten and to break the morale of all Bangalees.

Anyway, I had to hurry along. I started to walk again and came to the central Shaheed Minar. I saw the entire Shaheed Minar was nothing but a heap of rubble. Many people could not believe what they saw. The army had totally destroyed the Shaheed Minar by using powerful explosives, I guessed. Amongst all the cruelties inflicted on the Bangalees that night, I think the destruction of the central Shaheed Minar was the cruelest of all. I noticed some blood on the smooth and shiny floor of Shaheed Minar. But I did not see any dead body. May be the Pak army decided to remove the corpses from the street area so that their movement won’t be affected. I really cried when I saw the Shaheed Minar. Even the displayed corpses at Iqbal Hall could not bring tears to my eyes and make me cry. But I could not hold my tears when I saw the corpse of the Shaheed Minar. The shock was much too much for me.

I started to walk again and came to Jagannath Hall. The entire Jagannath Hall compound was like another battlefield. I saw the footprints of tractor vehicles. There were huge holes on the walls of the Jagannath Hall. I guessed that the army had used tanks in Jagannath Hall. In front of the Jagannath Hall lawn I saw a huge mass grave. The grave was so fresh and shallow that we could see some half buried corpse. Some hands and feet protruding from under the soil due to the consolidation of soil, I guess. It was a grotesque scene, to put it mildly. I do not know how many people were buried there. Judging from the size of the grave, my guess was at least a few hundreds. After the liberation of Bangladesh many of us have seen the video footage of this brutality of the Pak army. The video was taken secretly by a brave EPUET (now BUET) professor from the window of his apartment

By the side of Jagannath hall there was a small narrow road. On the side of this road and on behind the back of Rokeya Hall there were a large number of washermen (dhopa) who used to live in small quarters with their families. Their number could be around 50 or more. I found that Pak army had burnt down the entire area. I could see the charred bodies of children and adults still in the burnt bed. On the side of the dhopa quarter and by the side of the road, I saw another freshly dug shallow mass grave. I could see the feet and hands of children and adults sticking out from the grave trying to tell the entire world what did happen to them. All people who passed by saw this terrible sight and shook their heads in utter disbelief.

After a long and tiring walk, I came to Shahbag Hotel (now IPGMR). The building (hotel) was intact. I looked at Dhaka Radio Station. No sign of devastation. Although, there was heavy military guards including tanks and armoured vehicles around the radio station. There was no damage to Inter-Continental Hotel (now Sheraton Dhaka). Then I came to the office of the daily newspaper 'The People.’ My friend Obaid was a sub-editor with the 'People.’ Naturally I went to find his whereabouts. What I saw was disbelieving. The entire office of the 'People' along with a few more shop houses was burnt to ashes. The place was still smoldering. When I went a little closer. I saw many dead bodies burnt like charcoal. They were absolutely unrecognisable. Only the shape says that they were human. The area was filled with the smell of burnt flesh (like barbecue smell). I do not know the fate of Obaid. But until today I never heard anything about him. So I assume that he was burnt alive in that inferno.

I came out from the ruins of the 'People.’ As I was walking past the fashionable Sakura Restaurant (I am not sure if the restaurant is still in business or not) a car suddenly stopped near me. I was astonished to see my father, mother, and sisters all inside the car. My mother and sisters were weeping. My father asked me to get inside the car. My mother simply hugged me and started to cry loudly. I asked my father what had happened. My father said they were simply fortunate to be alive. Then he told me that we were all going to Dhanmondi to stay with our grandfather. My mother told me that she never expected to see me again as they heard that the army had killed each and every student in the residential halls.

Soon we arrived at my grand father's house. My grandfather was simply happy to see us alive. We ate some food. Then my mother narrated their fateful night of the 25th March.

So this was how it happened at our home on March 25, 1971. The recount was based on what I did hear from my mother.

Round about midnight everyone in our house woke up with noises of heavy vehicles, people marching on boots, loud shouting, bright lights and some more gunfire. At first they erroneously believed that it must be a victory celebration. That was because just before every one went to sleep, there were rumours that Yahya Khan had agreed to transfer power to Mujib. However, when my folks opened the window they couldn’t believe what they saw. It was shocking to see that the entire Nakhalpara area had been cordoned off by armoured military trucks. The soldiers with rifles and machine guns were running all over the place. Also, there were very bright searchlights all around. My family also noticed jeeps mounted with machine guns very close to our house. Naturally everyone was frightened. Being nervous my mother started praying without loosing any time. A few minutes later they heard a loud banging in our front door. They were at loss not knowing what to do. My father picked up the courage and opened the entrance door. Four soldiers with pointed rifle immediately entered our lounge. They asked everyone to line up in the lounge. So, my father, my younger brother, my brother in-law, my four sisters, nephew and niece and my mother all obliged by lining up in the crammed space. All of them were shivering in hot March night. Then one of the soldiers separated the males from the females. The males were ordered to remain in the lounge. All the females including my mother were ordered in the bedroom nearby. At that stage my mother started crying and fell down on the knees of the soldiers for their mercy. The soldiers simply dragged her to the bedroom. One soldier guarded the males while the other guarded the female quarter. The two other soldiers then started ransacking each and every item in every room including the food in the kitchen. They even examined the newspapers and other documents even though they did not understand a single word of Bangla.

One of the soldiers then found the shotgun that my father had always had with him. I have seen that shot gun since my birth. It was licensed and completely legal. I have seen my father going for hunting with his favourite shotgun every once in a while when time permits. The soldier who found the shotgun came immediately to the male captives. He demanded to know whose shotgun was that. My father calmly replied in broken Urdu that he was the lawful owner of the gun. The soldier then pointed his automatic rifle at my father and ordered him to follow him downstairs. My father knew that he had only a few minutes to live. At that stage my younger brother stood between the rifle and my father and requested the soldier that he wants to accompany my father. The soldier became furious at the insolence shown by my brother. The soldier threw my brother on the floor and started pushing my father with his rifle towards the exit door. My father then requested the soldier to look at the license of the shotgun. But alas, the soldier could neither read nor understand the English language. So the soldier said that he had to call his officer. Another army man was called to guard while he went outside looking the for the officer.

After about fifteen minutes the soldier returned with the officer. My father was not sure what was the rank of the officer. Thank God! The officer was not as brute as the lower ranking jawan. The officer showed little bit of courtesy for my elderly father. He asked my father to take a seat so that he could examine the document. After a thorough examination the officer then asked my father why he had not surrendered his weapon to police station. My father replied that there was no directive to that effect. The officer then rebuked my father for being so stupid to keep the weapon in the house when there were so many miscreants in the area. My father agreed with him and asked for his forgiveness. The officer then said that my father's life will be spared but they will have to confiscate the shotgun. Then he started interrogating every one on various matters including our religion and political affiliation. My father became the spokesman. He answered what the army men wanted to hear. That we are all Muslims and we have no connection with the Awami League or any pro-freedom party etc., etc.

The officer then asked my father how many sons he had. My father replied two. He inquired about the whereabouts of his sons. My younger brother identified himself. He told the officer that he had finished his HSC and waiting to go to EPUET (now BUET). The officer then asked my father about me. My father replied that I was about to graduate from EPUET. The army officer then demanded to know why I was not at home. At that point my father could guess the real reason these army people are barging into our home. He carefully said that I was very studious and I preferred to study with my friends. So I did not come home for a few days. The army officer then started to note down all the details about me and told my father that as soon as I returned home he (my father) must contact him through telephone. I was simply lucky that my father did not disclose the University residential hall that I was staying. The officer then warned my father not to leave our house as they may come to investigate again. My father said no problem. Throughout this ordeal, my brother-in-law did not talk much because he was actively involved in NAP politics!

When the interrogation of the male members was complete the officer then entered the bedroom to view his female captives. Needless to say, my mother feared what might happen to her daughters. My eldest sister was a schoolteacher. My next two sisters were college going and only my youngest sister was still in her childhood. My mother was so hysterical that she kneeled down to the two soldiers and begged them that whatever they wanted to do let them take her daughters out of her sight. The soldiers were simply laughing and taunting my mother and sister with abusive language and accusing them of being pro Awami League. They told my sisters that very soon they would take them to cantonment. At that stage my eldest sister picked up some courage and told them in pidgin (in broken) Urdu that they cannot simply do that without a warrant of arrest.

The soldiers laughed heartily hearing the response from my sister and said that they were not police. They were army and they could do whatever they wanted. Luckily, at that point the army officer entered the bedroom. My sister asked the army officer why they were being harassed. The officer told my sister that he had information that there were many miscreants in our area. Their duty was to catch these miscreants and take them to cantonment for punishment. He then told my sister that he had found us very gentle, polite and cooperative and so he will let all of us go free this time. But he wanted to let everyone know that they will come again. At last he showed some respect to my mother by apologising to her and saying good bye to her in chost Urdu. But before the officer departed he whispered something to his recruits. The two soldiers then forced my elder sister to open the steel Almirah (Safety box) . They took all the money and the jewelry that were there for safekeeping. Thus, in a hurry we lost most of our valuables.

After almost 36 hours the curfew was lifted for 6 hours. My family members heard the wailing sound of bereavement all around the area. The Pakistan army had taken many people from Nakhalpara area to cantonment that night. Most of those taken were young students. It was a sheer miracle that my family members were spared. None were taken to the cantonment. It is not known how many of those unfortunate people lost their lives because until today their whereabouts are not known. Be that as it may, most of them never returned home. All the residents of Nakhalpara realised that the area was absolutely unsafe to stay. Therefore, most residents left Nakhalpara almost barefooted with only the clothes they were wearing. My family also followed the suit. They also left Nakhalpara immediately after the curfew was lifted. From grapevine we heard that Dhanmondi was a safe area. So we went to our grandpa's house over there in to seek refuge and secrecy. A few days later we heard the dreadful news from Chittagong. Two of my uncles were killed in Agrabad Railway colony in a military operation similar to the one the army did in Nakhalpara operation. The army call those "Mop Up Operation." To us, the Bangalees those operation was akin to serving the death notice or something similar to that.

After few weeks my younger brother secretly ventured to Nakhalpara to see in his own eyes the condition of our homestead. To his horror he found that everything including a bag of rice had been removed or stolen. So we became destitute right away. But that did hardly dampened our spirit. We knew we were not alone in this struggle. Life became Durbishoho (I can’t find an appropriate synonym in English). It was an struggle every day for the rest of the nine-month period.

For the last 29 years I have always wondered why the army had targeted our house and our family. It had always been a mystery to me. Now I have some clue to that question after such a long period of time. Ashrafuzzaman Khan (the then member of the central committee of the Islami Chatra Sangha ) used to live at Nakhalpara. This piece of information I got from the Internet.

As I write this re-count, I learnt that 100 new 'killing fields' have been discovered all around Bangladesh. Was I surprised? No, not at all! However, what surprised me the most was why did it take so long? Why did we have to wait almost 30 years to know that innocent folks were butchered just as cattle? Rest assured that many more killing fields will be found. The killing fields of Cambodia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, etc., will be nothing when compared to the killing fields in Bangladesh. Let us not forget these killing fields. Let us not forget the sacrifice of 3 million people who shed enough blood to change the verdure of monsoon drenched land of Bengal. They certainly gave their lives so that we can enjoy the fruits of freedom. Freedom from the tyranny of Punjabi masters and Pakistani Oligarchy. I would ask every Bangalees not to forget the butchers of those nights and days when we remember the fallen angels of our land. The crime should never go unpunished.
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#36 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 1:48:09 am
Articulating,

Want more articulation? Ulta Chor Kotwal ko Date!
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/04spec.htm

Yahya Khan and the Pakistan army planned their genocide well. Yahya Khan aimed to crush the Bengali spirit once and for all. Before the crackdown all foreign journalists were expelled from East Pakistan. Only a handful managed to evade the Pakistani army.

One of them was Simon Dring. On March 30, 1971 he filed a chilling report of the massacre that took place in Dhaka on the night of March 25. Dring reported that in 24 hours of killing, the Pakistan army slaughtered as many as 7,000 people in Dhaka and up to 15,000 people in all of Bangladesh.

The Pakistan army employed tanks, artillery, mortars, bazookas and machine guns against the unarmed population of Dhaka. Their targets were students, local police, intellectuals, political leaders, Awami League supporters, Hindus and ordinary citizens. They carried out their ruthless killing spree with military precision.

Dring described the attack on Dhaka University as follows:

'Led by American-supplied M-24 World War II tanks, one column of troops sped to Dacca University shortly after midnight. Troops took over the British Council library and used it as a fire base from which to shell nearby dormitory areas.

'Caught completely by surprise, some 200 students were killed in Iqbal Hall, headquarters of the militantly antigovernment students' union, I was told. Two days later, bodies were still smoldering in burnt-out rooms, others were scattered outside, more floated in a nearby lake, an art student lay sprawled across his easel.

'Army patrols also razed nearby market area. Two days later, when it was possible to get out and see all this, some of the market's stall-owners were still lying as though asleep, their blankets pulled up over their shoulders.'

The 'old town' quarter of Dhaka city was singled out for destruction by the Pakistanis because of strong Awami League support there and because there were many Hindu residents in the area. Here is how Simon Dring described the attacks on unarmed civilians:

'The lead unit was followed by soldiers carrying cans of gasoline. Those who tried to escape were shot. Those who stayed were burnt alive. About 700 men, women and children died there that day between noon and 2 pm, I was told.

'In the Hindu area of the old town, the soldiers reportedly made the people come out of their houses and shot them in groups. The area, too, was eventually razed.

'The troops stayed on in force in the old city until about 11 pm on the night of Friday, March 26, driving around with local Bengali informers. The soldiers would fire a flare and the informer would point out the houses of Awami League supporters. The house would then be destroyed -- either with direct fire from tanks or recoilless rifles or with a can of gasoline, witnesses said.'

After having massacred 15,000 unarmed civilians in a single day, the Pakistani soldiers bragged about their invincibility to Simon Dring:

'"These bugger men," said one Punjabi lieutenant, "could not kill us if they tried."

'"Things are much better now," said another officer. "Nobody can speak out or come out. If they do we will kill them -- they have spoken enough -- they are traitors, and we are not. We are fighting in the name of God and a united Pakistan."'

In the name of God and a united Pakistan, genocide had just begun.

The Pakistanis began their killing spree in the major cities of Dhaka, Chittagong and Comilla. However, as terrified Bengalis fled to the countryside, the Pakistani army followed. Pakistan began to fly in additional troops into Bangladesh to continue the genocidal campaign. The goal was the extermination of the Bengali nation.

Hindus in particular were targeted for extermination. Bengali Muslims, however, did not escape the Pakistani killing machine since Bengali Muslims were considered 'tainted' by their Bengali/Hindu culture. In the face of the ongoing massacres, a guerilla army formed under the leadership of rebel Bengali military officers and organised student activists.

This guerilla army, known as the Mukti Bahini in Bengali, fought a war of attrition with the Pakistani army until December 16, 1971. The Mukti Bahini received training and support from the Indian government as it resisted Pakistani occupation. The Pakistani army was constantly harassed by Bangladeshi resistance. In response the Pakistani army slaughtered more Bengalis.

The killing continued unabated throughout the summer of 1971. The army moved methodically from village to village, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. In June the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sydney Schanberg filed a number of eyewitness accounts from Bangladeshi towns for The New York Times. In response, the Pakistan army expelled him from the country on June 30, 1971.

Schanberg described the systematic subjugation and killing of Bengalis:

'Army trucks roll through the half-deserted streets of the capital of East Pakistan these days, carrying "antistate" prisoners to work-sites for hard labor. Their heads are shaved and they wear no shoes and no clothes except for shorts -- all making escape difficult.

'Street designations are being changed to remove all Hindu names as well as those of Bengali Moslem nationalists as part of a campaign to stamp out Bengali culture. Shankari Bazar Road in Dacca is now Tikka Khan Road, after the lieutenant general governor of East Pakistan and whom most Bengalis call "the Butcher."

'Since the offensive began the troops have killed countless thousands of Bengalis -- foreign diplomats estimate at least 200,000 to 250,000 -- many in massacres. Although the targets were Bengali Moslems and the 10 million Hindus at first, the army is now concentrating on Hindus in what foreign observers characterize as a holy war.

'Of the more than six million Bengalis who are believed to have fled to India to escape the army's terror, at least four million are Hindus. The troops are still killing Hindus and burning and looting their villages.'

When the burden of the killing became too much for the army, the Pakistanis enlisted and trained paramilitary units made up of non-Bengali Muslims and Bengali collaborators from right-wing religious parties. These paramilitary units, the al-Badr and al-Shams, worked as informers and assassins to augment the military's gruesome task of killing Bengalis. In June 1971 Sydney Schanberg reported on the formation of these units:

'Throughout East Pakistan the Army is training new paramilitary home guards or simply arming "loyal" civilians, some of whom are formed into peace committees. Besides Biharis and other non-Bengali, Urdu-speaking Moslems, the recruits include the small minority of Bengali Moslems who have long supported the army -- adherents of the right-wing religious parties such as the Moslem League and Jamaat-e-Islami.

'Collectively known as the Razakars, the paramilitary units spread terror throughout the Bengali population. With their local knowledge, the Razakars were an invaluable tool in the Pakistani Army's arsenal of genocide.'

At the end of June 1971, Schanberg visited the town of Faridpur and reported on the persecution there:

'The Pakistani Army has painted big yellow "H's" on the Hindu shops still standing in this town to identify the property of the minority eighth of the population that it has made special targets.

'The campaign against the Hindus was -- and in some cases still is -- systematic. Soldiers fanned through virtually every village asking where the Hindus lived. Hindu property has been confiscated and either sold or given to "loyal" citizens. Many of the beneficiaries have been Biharis, non-Bengali Muslim migrants from India, most of whom are working with the army now. The army has given weapons to large numbers of the Biharis, and it is they who have often continued the killing of Hindus in areas where the army has eased off.

'However, army commanders in the field in East Pakistan privately admit to a policy of stamping out Bengali culture, both Muslim and Hindu -- but particularly Hindu.

'In Faridpur -- and the situation was much the same throughout East Pakistan -- there was no friction to speak of between Hindu and Muslim before the army came.

'The army tried to drive a wedge between them. In April, as a public example, two Hindus were beheaded in a central square in Faridpur and their bodies were soaked in kerosene and burned.

'Still, there is no sign of a hate-Hindu psychology among the Bengali Muslims. Many have taken grave risks to shelter and defend Hindus; others express shock and horror at what is happening to the Hindus but confess that they are too frightened to help.'

For his part in exposing Pakistani atrocities in Bangladesh, Schanberg was promptly expelled from Bangladesh.

The Pakistan army and the Razakars did not stop at simply massacring Bengalis. They also took to raping Bengali women. During nine months in 1971, over 200,000 Bengali women and girls were raped. Many were taken as sex slaves and raped multiple times by the Pakistani army.

By December 1971 the genocide had decimated Bengali society. On December 3, 1971 the Indian Army formally joined the war. In 13 days the Indian Army delivered a humiliating defeat to the Pakistan army in Bangladesh. The army that had committed mass murder against an unarmed civilian population was decisively routed in less then a fortnight.

The Pakistan army, on the verge of defeat, was determined to wipe out Bengali culture in one final act of barbarism. On December 14, 1971, the Pakistan army unleashed the paramilitary units al-Badr and al-Shams to exterminate Bengali intellectuals. The goal was to find and kill Bengali political thinkers, educators, scientists, poets, doctors, lawyers, journalists and other intellectuals. The al-Badr and al-Shams fanned out with lists of names to find and execute the core of Bengali intellectuals. The intellectuals were arrested and taken to Rayerbazar, a marshy area in Dhaka city. There, they were gunned down with their eyes blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs.

On December 16, 1971 the Pakistan army in Bangladesh formally surrendered. At the cost of three million dead the nation of Bangladesh was born. It was the most concentrated act of genocide of the 20th century.

Thirty-five years after the birth of the nation, many have forgotten the sacrifices of those who are no longer with us. But for those of us who survived, for our parents who kept us safe through the months of terror, there is no erasing the horrors of 1971.

Bangladesh today has yet to exorcise the demons of 1971. Many of the Razakars who collaborated with the Pakistan army and murdered countless Bengalis have today returned to Bangladesh. Some of the Razakar leaders from 1971 today lead the Jamaat-e-Islami party. Still others live freely in the United Kingdom and the United States. None of these Razakars have yet to face justice for the crimes they committed in 1971.

Today the secular Bangladesh that was born from the ashes of 1971 is under threat. It is under threat from the same anti-liberation forces that helped perpetrate the genocide of 1971. The future of a secular Bangladesh hangs in the balance today. In 1971, Bangladeshis learned the evils of both racism and religious extremism. It is a lesson we forget at our own peril.

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#35 Posted by guru on July 17, 2008 1:42:04 am
Re: # 34 articulating ,

You are articulating a big lie. Remember 1971!
http://www.globalwebpost.com/genocide1971/

"Even though the extent and severity of genocides vary, the one in East Pakistan would be regarded as one of the worst, based on the sheer headcount and the short time frame during which it was carried out. I am particularly interested in this because it happened within a so-called Muslim country (more appropriately, Muslim-majority country), with some Muslims perpetrating it against their fellow Muslims and other non-Muslim citizens (the Bengalis, or Bengali-speaking segment) of the country. Worse, almost the entire Muslim world not only remained silent but also lent support to Pakistan as a country, which abetted an army to commit the genocide. Even today, many Muslims from around the world seem either unfamiliar with that genocide or quite insensitive to even learn about it."

http://www.newagebd.com/2005/dec/15/murdered/murdered01.html
No count of the nation’s
intellectual loss

Shahiduzzaman

The nation has observed Martyred Intellectuals Day on December 14 every year since 1972 to mark the selective killing of members of the Bengali intelligentsia by the Pakistani occupation forces and their local henchmen, armed gangs such as Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams, through the nine months of the war of the independence in 1971. The first prime minister of Bangladesh, the late Tajuddin Ahmed, declared December 14 Martyred Intellectuals’ Day as the largest number of abduction and subsequently murders of the intellectuals took place on December 14, two days before the surrender of the occupation forces. However, a comprehensive list of the martyred intellectuals is yet to be prepared, and so is an enquiry into the nature, dimension and extent of the selective killing.
A spokesman of the Mujibnagar government said, in a statement on December 20, 1971, that the Pakistani occupation forces and their collaborators had killed 360 intellectuals before they surrendered on December 16. ‘Shaheed Buddhijibi Koshgrantha’, an encyclopaedia of martyred intellectuals published by the Bangla Academy and reprinted in 1994, put the number at 232 but said the list was neither complete nor comprehensive. The encyclopaedia defined martyrs as people who had been either killed by the Pakistani army or their collaborators or had gone missing between March 25, 1971 and January 31, 1972. It also defined intellectuals as writers, scientists, artists, singers, teachers of any level, researchers, journalists, lawyers, physicians, engineers, architects, sculptures, government and non-government staff, persons involved with film and theatre, and social and cultural workers. ‘Bangladesh’, a documentary publication of the government in 1972, said the Pakistani occupation forces and their henchmen had killed 637 primary and 270 secondary schoolteachers, and 59 college teachers during the war of independence.
As it became clear that they were headed for a defeat, the occupation forces and their collaborators targeted the intelligentsia, dragging academics, journalists and professionals out of their homes, mostly on December 14, 1971, and killing them one after another. The objective was as definite as it was demonic: denude the nation intellectually. The daily newspapers carried reports on the missing intellectuals in the third and fourth week of December 1971. On the basis of information from secret sources, a group of journalists discovered a mass grave of rotting, decapitated bodies at Rayer Bazar, on the western fringe of Dhaka, on December 18. The tortured, decapitated bodies of the best of the Bengali minds lay in a huge ditch, dumped on upon the other, in grisly, inhuman heaps. The journalists also located a prison camp at the Physical Training Institute near Lalmatia, which used to be also a training centre for Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams.
The decomposed bodies of Dhaka University teachers Abul Kalam Azad and Kamaluddin, physicians Fazle Rabbi, Abdul Alim Chowdhury and Abul Khair, and journalist Muhammad Akhtar by their families the same day. The body of journalist Selina Parvin was identified the next day. The dead bodies of Dhaka University teachers Santosh Chandra Bhttacharya, Sirajul Haque and Faizul Mohi, and physicians Ghulam Murtaza, Azharul Haque, Humayun Kabir and Mansur Ali, were also identified later on. Some members of the martyred intellectuals’ family fainted as they tried to identify the dead bodies. More such mass graves were located at Mirpur and Rayer Bazar, and on the premises of the training institute of the Agriculture Extension Department at Tejgaon and the TB hospital at Mohakhali in the capital, and elsewhere in the country. Some of the bodies were decomposed beyond recognition when the mass graves were located. The newspapers, meanwhile, continued their coverage of the missing intellectuals, who had either been arrested or abducted between late-November and mid-December.
The list of the intellectuals abducted in November and December who had not been identified or found runs much longer and includes Dhaka University teachers ANM Munier Choudhury, Moffazzal Haidar Chowdhury, Anwar Pasha, MA Khair, Ghiasuddin Ahmed, SM Rashidul Hasan, Maniruzzaman, Begum Akhter Imam, Niyamuddin Ahmed, and Sadruddin, journalists Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidulla Kaiser, ANM Golam Mustofa, Abdur Rauf Sardar, Nizamuddin Ahmed, Syed Abdul Mannan and Syed Nazmul Haque, scientists Siddique Ahmed, Aminuddin and Shamsul Alam, scientist Abul Kalam Azad (Institute for Advanced Science and Technology Teaching), Abdur Rauf (National Institute of Public Administration) Meer Abdul Quaiyum (Rajshahi University), AKM Lutfar Rahman (Brahmanbaria College), Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan (Rangamati College), Khabiruddin Miah (schoolteaher, Rajbari), Chadrodeb, (schoolteacher, Mymensingh), Maqsud Ahmed (head assistant teacher, Chittagong Women’s College), litterateurs Giasuddin Ahmed, Mizanur Rahman Mizu (Ghorashal), engineers Shamsuzzaman, Noor Hossain and so on.
The Pakistani occupation army started killing the revered sons and daughters of the nation at the very onset of the genocide that began on March 25, 1971. Dhaka University became their first target and a number of professors were killed.
Intellectuals were also killed throughout the nine months of the war. The killing of intellectuals by the collaborators of the Pakistani occupation army continued even in January 1972.
Filmmaker Zahir Raihan was led up the garden path of hope as he tried to find his kidnapped brother Shahidullah Kaiser (supposedly killed) and went missing. He was last seen in a Mirpur ghetto of Biharis and deserters of the Pakistani army. He was heard of and seen no more.
Journalist Golam Rahman was killed on January 11 and Dr Mansur Ali on December 21.
The long list of the martyr intellectuals, killed during the war, includes Dhaka University teachers GC Dev, Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata, Abdul Muqtadir, Fazlur Rahman Khan, ANM Maniruzzaman, Shahadat Ali, AR Khan Kadim, Muhammad Sadeque, Sharafat Ali, Rajshahi University teachers Shamsuz Zoha, Abdul Qayyum, Habibur Rahman, Shree Sukha Ranjan Samadder, Agricultural University teacher Ashraful Islam Bhuiyan, Shamsul Haque Talukder, and Nazmul Ahsan, journalists Khondakar Abu Taleb. Shahid Saber, Abul Basar, Chisty Helalur Rahman and Shibsadan Chakravarty, litterateurs Rafiqul Haider Chowdhury, Purnendu Dastidar, Ferdous Dowla, Indu Saha and Meherunnessa, artists and professionals Altaf Mahmud, Ranada Prasad Saha, Jogesh Chandra Ghose, Dhirendra Nath Dutta, Shamsuzzaman, Mahbub Ahmed, Khurshid Alam, Nazrul Islam, Muzammel Haq Chowdhury, Mohsin Ali and Mujibul Haq, and lawyer Abdul Ahad and Mafizur Rahman.
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#34 Posted by articulating on July 17, 2008 12:02:59 am
Re: # 33 its is people like u who tag pakistan and increase the hatred therefore halting the peace process... wat proof is there .... which proves Pakistan as a genocidal state? Although there are events like Gujarat to back it up.. its still absurd to call a Government genocidal...
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#33 Posted by satyamvada on July 16, 2008 7:38:06 pm
Ras #26 writes:
"If only the governments of India and Pakistan would come
to their senses.. the peace dividend would be enormous."


Ras - I am amazed at your gall to equate the governments
of India and Pakistan.

For most Indians, Pakistan is a terrorist state that has conducted multiple wars against India, pushed in terrorists and killed Indian citizens for 60 years one way or another.
Pakistan is a genocidal state that has literally wiped out its hindu population. Pakistan is a unethical state that has institutionalized bigotry on its lawbooks.

Get out of your delusion.
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#32 Posted by laddu on July 16, 2008 3:18:49 pm
"........so lost our people, maybe only now we are beginning to find our way again!"

Momeens are welcome to take amrit and follow the way of the Gurus.

It is the best way to leave this cult of hate and terror.
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#31 Posted by Ally on July 16, 2008 11:50:43 am
Ammara Dear

I know how you feel being in India myself albeit a totally different part of modern India where religion and the past of the north have nothing much to do with anyone here.

But going to any Gurdwara is like going to a mosque for me personally, they are both constantly open to anyone and prayers are always sounding and soothing...

In Pakistan go to Gurdwara Janamsthan aka Nankana Sahib in of season (i.e. non yatri season) its quiet and soothing hardly anyone is there and one can meditate peacefully and feel the winter sun on your face, its a very peaceful place, the same i can say of the grand Gurdwara in Southall London its the one you see when yor plane lands in heathrow, it too is very peacefull and always open to all people like a mosque always Akhand PaTh is being read and there is an air of peace, calm and tranquility in hearing Guru Nanak's name...

To me true Sikhism is very calming and soothing like that of the Sufis, unlike the reputation it has of a warrior faith... the reality is far from that and the inner sanctum of every Gurdwara like the mosques reflects that...

so lost our people, maybe only now we are beginning to find our way again!!!
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#30 Posted by Sheru1849 on July 16, 2008 11:13:33 am
ammara, nice write up. looks like you enjoyed the trip although it was short.
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#29 Posted by guru on July 16, 2008 10:18:56 am
Wonder if there is any need for dividend from Pakistan?

Mumbai Mirror
Two treaties, same villain

India is being painted as the party spoiler in WTO and the nuclear deal. Maybe we should gloat Posted On Saturday, June 21, 2008

Ajit Ranade

The nuclear deal is stalled and India is being blamed by Western commentators
(Warning: If you are ultra gullible, who quickly accepts conspiracy theories, read no further. If you are easily aroused into xenophobia, stop here)

India's 2007 GDP measured in dollars, and adjusted with American prices instead of Indian prices, is about $ 4.5 trillion. Last December, the World Bank, which calculates these adjusted GDPs for 146 countries, abruptly lowered India and China's numbers substantially.
So instead of boasting that we were the third largest economy, we are now fifth (behind Japan and Germany).
Last month, while our official data was showing India's inflation to be eight percent, the Economist of London screeched that it was actually well above 10 per cent.
More recently the World Bank ranked India a low 117 out of 125 on its trade restrictiveness index. If you thought India has quite an open trade policy, you are wrong!
According to the WB, we are much worse than Russia, China and Brazil and in fact 116 other countries. Last year, a report of the National Bureau of Economic Research of the USA ranked the Reserve Bank of India as the least transparent among Asian central banks.
An IMF report of February also said that RBI lacked clarity of communication. So RBI's frequent communiqués, broadcasts, consultations, pro-active policy announcements, an up-to date website and database apparently don't add up to much, according to the IMF assessment. GDP downgrade, overstating our inflation prematurely, bottom rank on openness, severe criticism of RBI. Do you see a pattern here? It looks like a lot of foreigners are suddenly throwing stones at us.
We are in the midst of negotiating two important and far-reaching agreements. One is called the Doha round of the WTO and the other is the nuclear deal with the US.
On the former, more than 150 countries are trying to hammer out an agreement to lower trade barriers and increasing free trade in goods and services. But despite seven years of discussions and negotiations at the highest levels (of trade ministers), no agreement is in sight.
That's because we insist that there's no deal unless Western nations dismantle their farm subsidies which hurt our farmers. We can't afford any more farmer distress here, just because America wants to keep cotton prices low through subsidies.
The Doha deal is stuck. Who then is blocking this deal? Who is the stick-in-the-mud?
If you read the Western press, it is India who is the chief spoiler.
There is an attempt to isolate India as villain number one, who is stalling a deal that would benefit all developing countries. On the nuclear deal too, American commentary is sounding increasingly frustrated.
The gist of this commentary is that the deal is so damn good for India and its energy needs, and India is just shooting itself in the foot by being so adamant.
About meaningless things like the right to test weapons in the future.
Didn't the US make a huge concession by amending its own Atomic Energy Act to allow a civilian nuclear cooperation with India? Why then is India stuck on trivialities? Why are the "baddies" of domestic politics holding a historic deal to ransom?
The reality is that this ridicule and threats from the West means that it is "them" who stand to benefit much more from Doha or the nuclear deal.
At this stage, India has to merely do nothing, and wait for them to come around. Mahatma Gandhi in a different context had scaid, "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they threaten and fight you, and then you win."
With slowly but surely rising economic might, we seem to have transited from the "ignore" to "take seriously" stage. Once we get past being painted as villains, and if we don't capitulate, we may finally get to being treated as adults at the global geopolitical table.
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#28 Posted by guru on July 16, 2008 9:56:54 am
Re: # 26 ras
"to their senses.. the peace dividend would be enormous....
"
peace dividend might be for few who might be able to make money writing books or creating films.

But for the people on the streets, on local trains in Mumbai or temples in Jaipur or Varanasi it means dividing of their bodies in parts by IEDs and RDXs.

Unless Pakistanis leave Islam there is no Rs. dividends for them and peace for their neighbors. Wish Pakistan was located very close to the West. They would not have tolerated its existence beyond an year.
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#27 Posted by drlokraj on July 16, 2008 9:14:57 am
nice article!
Amritsar and Lahore were called twin cities before partition and in the early part of 20th century, were of roughly the same size.
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#26 Posted by Ras on July 16, 2008 7:37:28 am
This writing reminded me of my own visit to India in 2004.

It is a wonderful experience to search through the

childhood of one's parents.

If only the governments of India and Pakistan would come

to their senses.. the peace dividend would be enormous....


Ras
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#25 Posted by amansandhu on July 16, 2008 5:08:05 am
“ In Goindwal, which is on the river Biyãh (Beas), there was a Hindu named Arjan, in the garments of sainthood and sanctity, so much so that he had captured many of the simple-hearted of the Hindus, and even of the ignorant and foolish followers of Islam, by his ways and manners, and they had loudly sounded the drum of his holiness. They called him Guru, and from all sides stupid people crowded to worship and manifest complete faith in him. For three or four generations (of spiritual successors) they had kept this shop warm. Many times it occurred to me to put a stop to this vain affair or to bring him into the assembly of the people of Islam.

what a coincidence, my village and city mentioned in one go.
my ancestral house is about a kilometer away from goindwal sahib gurudwara.the open spaces and greenery around the gurudwara is very soothing, i can visit this holy place again and again.
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#24 Posted by amansandhu on July 16, 2008 4:38:43 am
i visited Amritsar recently after almost 10 years, was shocked to see how dirty it has become. the beautiful mall road is in a state of neglect, grand kothis along it have been demolished to make commercial complexes. population has increased manifold as has the traffic.
Ammara, I dont think the area around the railway station has changed much, your mum shud be able to locate the area where she had lived.
the golden temple is as beautiful and serene as ever. you feel and immense sense of peace as soon as you enter the place.
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#23 Posted by tahir on July 16, 2008 1:05:49 am
Re: # 13 Daddu
"Aank utha kar bhi mat dekhna......... nikal denge hum!!"

Too many eyes are on YOU, how many do you wish to surgically remove?

And avoid using the royal plural (hum); it doesn't suit you.
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#22 Posted by articulating on July 16, 2008 12:54:34 am
Re: # 8 Thanx dostmitter..will try that ...
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#21 Posted by articulating on July 16, 2008 12:52:52 am
Re: # 15 Anyone can copy paste history from the internet....why didnt u just paste the link here?
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#20 Posted by articulating on July 16, 2008 12:51:53 am
Re: # 13 Luddu...heard of the word tolerance?
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#19 Posted by articulating on July 16, 2008 12:50:39 am
Re: # 1 Thank u fr the encouragement BJP
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#18 Posted by articulating on July 16, 2008 12:49:24 am
Re: # 11 There is nothing in the article siding up with the Muslims or Sikhs... so take a chill pill...The Jallianwalla Bagh was in fact a offense by the Brits and was a crime against humanity...
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#17 Posted by tahir on July 16, 2008 12:11:15 am
Re: # 15 Oye Laddu

Now where is Jehangir, and where is Murtaza Khan? Thank Raam-Seeta that you're being spared and don't happen to live in their times!

You're alive and kickin', but don't kick unnecessarily...
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#16 Posted by tahir on July 16, 2008 12:06:17 am
Oye Laddu,

What do you want the Muslims to admit; responsibility for the Holocaust, seek forgiveness from the J-people?

Stop flogging a dead horse. All sinners (whether in their graves or alive) will surely stand accused in Allah's court of justice. THIS is what we believe as Muslims. No matter how much you roll on the floor like a toddler, nobody is going to say what you want them say.

Well, those who are sick of your accusations and Islam-bashing, just might metaphorically say, 'Baba, mu'aaf karo'.

And when you hear THAT, go away like a satisfied 'derwish' and never beg for more apologies.
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#15 Posted by laddu on July 15, 2008 11:12:07 pm
Originally built during 1574 AD, the site of the temple was surrounded by a small lake in a thin forest. The third of the six grand Mughals, emperor Akbar, who visited the third Sikh Guru, Guru Amar Das, at the neighbouring town of Goindval was so impressed by the way of life in the town that he gave a jagir (the land and the revenues of several villages in the vicinity) to the Guru's daughter Bhani as a gift on her marriage to Bhai Jetha, who later became the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das. Guru Ram Das enlarged the lake and built a small township around it. The town was named after Guru Ram Das as "Guru Ka Chak", "Chak Ram Das" or "Ram Das Pura".

During the leadership of the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev (1581-1606), the full-fledged Temple was built.


This is what Emperor Jahangir wrote in his diary called the Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, which translates to "Memoirs of Jahangir"


“ In Goindwal, which is on the river Biyãh (Beas), there was a Hindu named Arjan, in the garments of sainthood and sanctity, so much so that he had captured many of the simple-hearted of the Hindus, and even of the ignorant and foolish followers of Islam, by his ways and manners, and they had loudly sounded the drum of his holiness. They called him Guru, and from all sides stupid people crowded to worship and manifest complete faith in him. For three or four generations (of spiritual successors) they had kept this shop warm. Many times it occurred to me to put a stop to this vain affair or to bring him into the assembly of the people of Islam.

At last when Khusrau passed along this road this insignificant fellow proposed to wait upon him. Khusrau happened to halt at the place where he was, and he came out and did homage to him. He behaved to Khusrau in certain special ways, and made on his forehead a finger-mark in saffron, which the Indians (Hinduwän) call qashqa, (Tilak) and is considered propitious. When this came to my ears and I clearly understood his folly, I ordered them to produce him and handed over his houses, dwelling-places, and children to Murtaza Khan, and having confiscated his property commanded that he should be put to death."
„
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#14 Posted by laddu on July 15, 2008 11:05:01 pm
Sultana Begum, Great Granddaughter-in-Law of Bahadur Shah Zafar - the Last Moghul

She sought divine forgiveness for atrocities committed by Mughals on Hindus and Sikhs, at the Golden Temple.

Moved by the tales, and pictures, of Sikh gurus being brutally chastised by Muhgals, Sultana Begum, who runs a tea stall on a footpath of Howrah and receives a paltry pension of Rs 400, undertook a pilgrimage to Amritsar after she received a financial assistance of Rs 50,000 from Swami Chinmayanand, ex-union minister of state for home affairs.
Zafar in his last days The stone at Zafar's grave

"I have come to Amritsar to seek atonement for the sins of my husband's forefathers," Sultana told TNN.

"This morning I went to the Golden Temple and sought pardon from the Almighty for my ancestors' sins and atrocities," she said. She also visited Durgiana Temple here and the dargah of Hazrat Ali Shah at Najibabad in UP for the same purpose.

"Mughal emperors Aurangzeb and Jahangir unleashed terror not only on Sikhs and Hindus but also on Muslims. That's why I went to temples and mosques," Sultana said. She wept on seeing pictures of Sikh gurus undergoing punishment inflicted by Mughals at the Central Sikh Museum. "How can anyone forget that Guru Arjan Dev was burnt on a frying pan during Jahangir's time and the two sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh, last Sikh guru, were killed by Aurangzeb? Islam does not permit cruelty against anyone," she said.

"The sins of my husband's forefathers have brought misery upon me. I belong to a royal family, but see the pathetic condition I am in, barely able to manage two meals a day," she said.

Mother of five daughters and a son Muzaffar Kamal, who is a cook in Saudi Arabia, Sultana said political leaders like Chinmaynand, Mamata Banerji, Tapan Sikdar, Tathagata Roy had visited her dingy hut at Foreshore Road, Howrah, "but only Chinmayanandji gave me financial assistance".
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#13 Posted by laddu on July 15, 2008 10:37:07 pm
"...gold of the temple is alluring..."

do you mean to say it is alluring to momeens like you???

Aank utha kar bhi mat dekhna......... nikal denge hum!!
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#12 Posted by Studebaker07 on July 15, 2008 10:33:09 am
"feeling that compelled the Emperor Akbar to gift land and revenue to the Guru’s daughter on her marriage, which helped expand the town."

And what about Dhimmitude i her day in day out by Laddu
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#11 Posted by delhiwala on July 15, 2008 8:45:57 am
I can write same about Lahore and Kohalla and Quetta and the Mohalla named after my Grandfather and the Masjid that a Sikh Thekdar build in Kohalla Hills....
But you people only thnk of your side of the story.
Haah Jee Muslims never killed any Sikhs....
It was only Sikhs killing innocent Muslims....

Did you ever ask your grandfather about the loot from 5 milion Sikhs in Lahore Tehsil and the rape of Sikh woman as per the proper kosher Arabian rituals of the conquered people.
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#10 Posted by dost_mittar on July 15, 2008 8:34:06 am
zeemax:

No, but I know how it feels to visit a city of your childhood from which you were separated.
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#9 Posted by zeemax on July 15, 2008 8:05:48 am
#8 Posted by dost_mittar,

Are you from Amritsar?
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#8 Posted by dost_mittar on July 15, 2008 7:10:14 am
Hi ammara:

Glad you enjoyed Amritsar and found the Gurudwara soothing. Next time, take your Mom with you. She will enjoy it even if her child home is not there. I know!
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#7 Posted by Publius on July 15, 2008 6:39:59 am
Before the partition, people used to commute daily from Amritsar to Lahore and vice versa, so close were these two cities.

Did you try the famous eatries in Amritsar ?
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#6 Posted by akcheema on July 15, 2008 6:06:20 am
Re: # 5

now tahir mian, a lot of hindus have infiltrated this place I can tell you. Quite frankly, I am glad you are back from wherever you went to sort them out

see, even your asadite heresy is better than what they seem to be offering the public
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#5 Posted by akcheema on July 15, 2008 6:02:34 am
Re: # 4; asadite heretic sir

I see it has made you a happy man sir!

we aim to please
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#4 Posted by tahir on July 15, 2008 6:00:34 am
A godless Nietzschean from 'down-with-your-underwear' has identified himself correctly by replying to post #2!

See what I mean Miss Ahmad?
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#3 Posted by akcheema on July 15, 2008 5:52:54 am
Hello my asadite heretic friend!
By all accords, you are no less a minority sir
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#2 Posted by tahir on July 15, 2008 5:13:56 am
Miss Ahmad (a good girl according to the minorty's standard),

Mentioning Freud will bring dead psycholgists back to life in Toronto, and provide solace to the godless Nietzscheans of Down-Under.

Regards.
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#1 Posted by BJ2 on July 15, 2008 4:20:27 am
Ammara, a nice read!
Warm regards,
BJ2
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