India-Pakistan: Empathy, grief in Pakistan for Mumbai mayhem Pak accepts terrorists may be from its territory

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/USA/Pak_accepts_terrorists _may_be_from_its_territory_US/articleshow/3786207.cms

http://www.stratfor.com /memberships/128267/analysis/20081202_pakistan_choosing_civil_strife_over_war_in dia

Stratfor has learned that Islamabad privately has conveyed an official message to Washington and New Delhi that the people involved in the attack have been identified, and that the Pakistani government will take action against them. We also have learned that Pakistan’s civil-military leadership has decided that Lashkar-e-Taiba must be neutralized because it is jeopardizing Pakistani security. The Pakistanis thus are willing to make tough concessions and liquidate those responsible for the attack as long as India holds back.

Terror in Mumbai.....and also in \'Bannu or somewhere\' Pakistan TV Discussions

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/video-gallery/303424-must-watch-brass- tacks-more-mumbai-drama.html

Mumbai Attacks: Shocking Pakistani TV Discussions on Mumbai terrorism

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/video-gallery/303424-must-watch-brass-ta cks-more-mumbai-drama.html

India-Pakistan: Empathy, grief in Pakistan for Mumbai mayhem http://www.paklinks.com/gs/video-gallery/303424-must-watch-brass-tacks-more-mumb ai-drama.html

India-Pakistan: Empathy, grief in Pakistan for Mumbai mayhem Pakistan TV discussions on Mumbai terrorism

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/video-gallery/303424-must-watch-brass-ta cks-more-mumbai-drama.html#post6179499

Reviving the Pakistani cinema Regarding Marathi Cinema. There was a golden time for Marathi Cinema in 50-70 where great Marathi films were made. Then it was difficult for Marathi Cinema to compete with Bollywood.

One thing Marathi Cinema learnt is that it has to be different from Bollywood. They have good story line, most realistic and bold themes. After 'Shwaas' which was nomiated for Oscars there is no looking back for Marathi Cinema. Now Marathi films run to packed houses in multiplexes where there is a large non-Marathi audience.

Even Marathi soaps and serials have a better storyline and have issues that deal with common people. Hindi serials are more showoff.

I feel Pakistani cinema can learn a lot from the revival of Marathi Cinema. For readers I recommend the following Marathi films. Shwaas, Valu, Devrai, Tingya, Kadachit, Maati Maay, Dombivali Fast, Restaurant, Saavalee.

Nirmala Deshpande - A Truly Great Soul Eminent Pakistani social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi on Thursday condoled the death of Indian parliamentarian and veteran Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, saying she had played a key role in promoting Indo-Pak ties.

In a message, Edhi and his wife Bilquis Edhi expressed grief and sorrow at the death of 80-year-old Deshpande, who died in her sleep early Thursday in New Delhi.

Noting that Deshpande was a pioneer in the independence movement along with Mahatma Gandhi, the couple said she had "played a vital role in promoting India-Pakistan friendship".

Bilquis Edhi said Deshpande had been impressed by her husband's social work and had been translating his biography into Hindi.

Her death had created a void in India and Pakistan and she would miss a "humanity loving friend", Bilquis said in her message.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200805011269.htm

Nirmala Deshpande - A Truly Great Soul The Passing Of Nirmala Deshpande

By Mirza A. Beg

http://www.countercurrents.org/beg020508.htm

Nirmala Deshpande, 79, a veteran Gandhian, died in her sleep at her home in Delhi, Thursday morning. It is natural to mourn the passing of a dear friend. Though I did not know her personally, I mourn her passing as if she was a close friend. We knew of her great sacrifice and struggle to keep the flame of humanity and justice alive against powerful winds of hatred and strife around the world, particularly in her homeland, India, the land of Gandhi.

Her being was a source of strength to many who saw and felt her piety. Many took sustenance from her selfless work for the downtrodden and marginalized in a fast changing society, where sectarianism has become entrenched in the halls of power. In that respect she became a dear friend to all who cared. To them she was popularly known as "Didi" (respected elder sister in Hindi).

Her passing is particularly sad, because she was a great soul. She was seventy-nine years old and no one has defied the law of nature to live forever. Her life was a beacon and her death should be a time of reflection. People like her are a gift to humanity by the providence. Fortunately humanity continues to produce people like her in every generation to carry the torch of humane concerns. Democracies, though imperfect, provide secular saints such as Nirmala Deshpande a modicum of sustenance to nudge the conscience of many to uphold the values we often preach, but do not practice.

All freedom and justice-loving Indians loved and respected her. Muslims, Christians and untouchables in India are especially indebted to this frail woman born in a Brahmin family, for her tireless efforts against discrimination and marginalization. Her fearless stand rallied many Indians against the pogrom carried out by the fascistic provincial government of Gujarat against Muslims in 2002, in which about 2,000 Muslims were brutally burned and massacred.

She saw the tyranny of governments cloaked in crass nationalism, used as an excuse to foster hatred. She tried to bring the peoples of India and Pakistan, former brothers, now contentious neighbors, towards understanding and amity. She knew that constitutional safeguards work only when the majority community considers it a duty to protect the minority rights. Therefore she took up the cause of marginalized minorities in India.

In her memory, Muslims all over the world, especially in India and Pakistan, owe it to Islam and humanity to convince the Muslim majorities in all countries to protect the rights of minorities. Thoughtful Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh have found their voices in Nirmala's Gandhian tradition to speak up for Hindu and Christian minorities. Their rights have been violated by some out of visceral hatred or financial gains, especially resulting from seemingly good, though egregious blasphemy laws.

Protecting the minorities is a test of civilization. It protects the rights of all. Looking the other way or ignoring small violations of human rights leads to greater discrimination and injustice.

She adhered to the best of the creeds that humanity offers. Widely known as a Gandhian, she was able to carry the torch of Gandhi Ji's ideals at a time when Gandhi Ji's name is reviled by a large section of Indian polity or at best is used only for ceremonial purposes by those who profit from his name, but consider his ideology and humanity to be impractical or at best, quaint.

Of course the Gandhian path that Nirmala Deshpandey traveled is difficult to follow. Gandhi Ji did not live an easy or opulent life. It is certainly much more difficult than succumbing to self interest in the pursuit of wealth and political power to the detriment of the weaker sections of the society.

Humanity has innate potential to rise above its selfish baser instincts, but only a few harness it to help lead their people towards a better tomorrow. She lived in the tradition of the great conscience keepers of their nations.

Mirza A. Beg writings are available at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Nirmala Deshpande - A Truly Great Soul Nirmila Deshpande, a well known peace crusader of India, died on May 1, 2008, after a long period of illness. She was 79-years-old and left behind so many followers who like her, wanted peace.

http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=4462

From her early years she was a Gandhian and an enlightened person whose only aim in life was to work for the cause of humanity. Nirmila was the one by whose efforts the bus service between different cities of India and Pakistan particularly, between the Kashmiri people of both sides, were started.



She worked extensively all her life for peace among various religious and linguistic communities in India and to achieve this cause she undertook a 40,000-km padyatra (long march) across India to carry Mahatma Gandhi'''s message of Gram Swaraj. She firmly believed that although it was difficult to practice Gandhian principles, it was the only way towards a truly democratic society.

At the time of her death she was Chairperson of the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, an organization with chapters all over India and Pakistan that works for peace in the region.

For peace in South Asia, she worked hard, particularly for a people to people dialogue between India and Pakistan and also between different countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, (SAARC).



The Asian Human Rights Commission expressing condolence over her death said that the South Asia has lost a great crusader of peace.



She remained closely associated with a very large number of diverse, dedicated and committed social and cultural organizations, a few prominent ones being the Indo-Pak Soldiers' Initiative for Peace (I.P.S.I.), Harijan Sevak Sangh (H.S.S.) and Association of Peoples of Asia (A.P.A.). The Peoples' Integration Council was one such association that was very dear to her heart which she had personally nurtured to mobilize all sections of the society for national integration and communal harmony and which led a Satyagraha on the Indo-Tibet border.



This was done in 1997 along with organising and participating in conferences, seminars and marches for the cause of Tibet and Burma. Akhil Bharat Rachnatmak Samaj (A.B.R.S.) was another one of her very close groups which has thousands of dedicated social activists committed to peace and non-violence, working in all parts of India.

Nirmila Deshpande was known as Didi (elder sister) all over South Asia and other parts of Asia. She was member of the Rajia Sabha (Upper House) and she was elected twice for its membership. She got three honorary doctorate degrees from different universities.



Didi was the writer of several books including novels, dramas and travelogues. The books written by her include, her memoirs of the days she spent with Vinoba Bhave (published in four languages- Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Gujarati). Another book she wrote was about the life and times of Vinoba Bhave (titled Vinoba, again in four languages Marathi, Hindi, English and Gujarati) and one on Gandhi and his ideology named Sewagram te Sewagram in Marathi. In addition she also edited a Hindi fortnightly, Nityanutan and a journal Maitri on service and spirituality.

She was awarded on so many occasions by so many organizations that she had herself lost count of them. A few very prominent ones include the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award and the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest citizen's award.

Didi will be remembered for her time as a peace crusader in a region which is on the verge of self destruction by racing to acquire nuclear arms over the importance of feeding millions of poverty ridden people.

Nirmala Deshpande - A Truly Great Soul 'Didi' departs



Saturday, May 03, 2008
Scores of people across Pakistan have been mourning the death, in her New Delhi home, of peace activist Nirmala Deshpande. Known as 'Didi' to almost all who knew her, Deshpande, aged 79, had campaigned tirelessly for peace between Pakistan and India. She had travelled many times to Pakistan, always promoting her Gandhian ideal of peaceful co-existence. Her unflinching optimism, even at the worst of times, offered hope and a sense of direction on many occasions. It was this spirit which played a key role in establishing the vibrant peace movement that today exists on both sides of the border. It was as such fitting that a wreath from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was proudly displayed on her coffin, while condolence messages have poured in from Pakistan, as of course from within India, to her family. President Pervez Musharraf is among those expressing their condolences. Nirmala Didi departs at a time when there is still a great deal to be done in terms of building ties between Pakistan and India. The greater cooperation of the past few years has helped demolish some of the obstacles that prevent this. But many others remain in place. As Deshpande herself said on more than one occasion, the key to building peace is to enable and allow people to meet freely. Sadly, tight visa restrictions still prevent the people of India and Pakistan from moving closer to each other and in the process proving untrue the myths that have been constructed regarding the other country. People across the subcontinent must play a part in ensuring such hurdles are overcome and friendship is established, for in this lies the welfare of everyone in the region.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=110237

Nirmala Deshpande - A Truly Great Soul Nirmala Deshpande (1929-2008)

Pakistanis recall Nirmala Deshpande as a great humanist with a worldview which completely excluded partisanship in the Indo-Pakistan rivalry in the region. Her demise has saddened many because she championed the cause of the minorities neglected by states. Many Pakistanis will be individually bereaved because she went out of her way when they needed help in India.

Out of respect for her stature as a social worker, Deshpande was made a member of the Rajiya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament in India, in 1997, and she was also considered for the post of president of the republic, which ultimately went to another lady, Pratibha Patil. Unmarried under a vow of service, she was nominated for the 2005 Peace Prize on the basis of her services to India’s underprivileged and the minorities. Deshpande was also known to be the spirit behind the peace marches in Punjab and Kashmir when violence was at its peak in these regions. Her peace mission to Kashmir in 1994 and her initiative to organise an India-Pakistan meeting of citizens across the Lahore border in 1996 were some of her major achievements. We will miss her patronage of worthy causes and generosity of spirit.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C05%5C04%5Cstory_4-5-2 008_pg3_1

Targeted Taxi Drivers

Therefore, Raj Thackeray, whose Maharashtra Navanirman Sena has made impressive strides in a short time after breaking away from the Shiv Sena, has done no good either to Maharashtra’s proud reputation, or to himself, by making ill-advised remarks about North Indians in Mumbai or about a national icon like Amitabh Bachchan. He has a promising political future. He would, therefore, do well to win the support of the city’s considerable population of North Indians in his inclusive political strategy, without being apologetic about espousing legitimate Marathi pride.

While one must condemn anything that weakens our unifying Indian identity, it would be hypocritical to turn a blind eye to certain harsh social and political realities of Mumbai. With 1.9 crore residents in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, which includes Navi Mumbai and Thane, its population has rapidly grown to become greater than the combined population of nine Indian states. Its once-famed infrastructure is highly overstretched, lowering the quality of life for rich and poor alike. It once had the best municipal governance in India; not any more. Fifty-four per cent of its residents live in slums, most of which are so unbelievably congested and squalid that it is criminal on the part of any government to let people live in such inhuman conditions. It is well known to authorities that tens of thousands of Bangladeshis, many with voting rights, are living in Mumbai. Some 20,000 houses in the older part of the city are in a dangerously dilapidated state, the reason why every monsoon one reads about people dying in incidents of house collapse.

Mumbai is decaying. But few politicians in the city, state or country are taking a serious and comprehensive view of its chronic condition, and fewer still are willing to take the tough decisions to set things right. By tough decisions, one does not mean banning ‘outsiders’ — north Indians or Indians from any other part of India — from settling in Mumbai. That certainly is wrong. But is it wrong to hold that encroachments should be stopped, that people must not be allowed to occupy pavements and places earmarked for public utilities, or that the cut-off years for regularisation of slums must be strictly adhered to?

Indeed, some political parties have developed a vested interest in allowing unauthorised settlements to proliferate for vote-bank considerations. When illegal settlements along the lethally polluted Mithi river were sought to be cleared after the July 2005 deluge in Mumbai, which claimed nearly 500 lives, it was stoutly resisted by local politicians who felt threatened that their voter-base would shrink. Mumbaikars know of hundreds of such examples of duplicity and political muscle-flexing.

The question that Raj Thackeray and many people in Mumbai are asking is: How can slum redevelopment and rehabilitation ever succeed if there is political patronage for the creation of new slums? How can Mumbai ever see orderly urban development, with world-class infrastructure and civic amenities for all its residents, if there is deliberate and corruption-induced disorder in the use of its most scarce resource — land? Indeed, which Indian city can grow well if short-term and partisan political interests undermine a long-term and integral vision of urban renewal?

Hence, some of Raj Thackeray’s concerns are right, but he has voiced them wrongly.

http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/271207.html

Targeted Taxi Drivers http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Respect_local_culture_or_suffer_Raj/articlesh ow/2770188.cms

It is believed that your stand against the migrants is political desperation.

No. I said the same things when I was in Shiv Sena. I am saying the same things now. I will say it to Maharashtrians who work in other states too. Wherever you go, respect the local culture or you will suffer. Maharashtrians in America have a Maharashtra mandal every year. You know when they celebrate it? On July 4, the American Independence Day. That's respect for local culture.

What is the solution to the migrant problem?

The solution lies in the progress of UP and Bihar. Those states are so hopeless that thousands are flocking to Mumbai. But the city cannot take the burden anymore. Look at our roads, our trains and parks. On the pipes that bring water to Mumbai are 40,000 huts. It is a security hazard. The footpaths too have been taken over by migrants. The message has to go to UP and Bihar that there is no space left in Mumbai for you. After destroying the city, the migrants will go back to their villages. But where will we go then?

Targeted Taxi Drivers http://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=Ne160208camel.asp

Camel In The Tent

The Marathis embraced all Indians as their own. Now, they are cramped for space, writes ARUN SADHUK

AMID THE DIN of parochial rhetoric between Raj Thackeray and some north Indian leaders, it is necessary to expose historical prejudices that political India nurses against Maharashtra. Historical because these sentiments emanate from the 17th century Delhi Durbar, that seat of intrigues and conspiracies, when the great Maratha leader Shivaji turned his back on the powerful Mughal emperor. The Delhi Durbar syndrome which still dominates Indian politics today failed to understand that among the hundreds of contemporary sardars, rajas and nabobs in the subcontinent, Shivaji was the only one who dared to infuse the spark of political freedom against the world’s greatest power then.

Subsequent forays by the Maratha-Peshwa forces in the Jatland, Bengal and Orissa did not help change this image. The Delhi shenanigans of the modern Marathi political leaders (such as YB Chavan and Sharad Pawar) made matters worse. Maharashtrians — intellectuals (including Marxists), politicians and commoners, not just the Shiv Sena — are proud of Shivaji. They suspect others are sceptical.

An overwhelming majority of Marathi youth endorsed the Shiv Sena’s championship of the Marathi Manoos in 1966. It rejected the Sena politically as the latter utterly failed to live up to its word. Shiv Sena could never become a classical regional political party such as the DMK, Telugu Desam, the CPM in West Bengal or even the Gujarat BJP to capture power in Maharashtra on its own. It was only when it shed its Marathi syndrome that it could have a share in power in coalition with the BJP. Most Maharashtrians groan with pain and frustration when they see regional leaders from north and south India and superficial green-eared mediapersons paint entire Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena’s saffron.

Thus the image of the Maharashtrian caricatured by half-baked historians, the domineering durbari phenomenon of Delhi, the essentially sectarian leaders of regional parties and the media as a whole is like this: a parochial, sectarian, narrow-minded people; always quarrelsome and bereft of any talent or creativity and trying to impose their language and culture on others. To be sociologically objective, the reality is quite opposite.

The first thing that an outsider settling in Maharashtra learns is that the overwhelming mass of Marathis as a people are among the most tolerant and inclusive people in the world. Those who came to the Maratha land centuries ago lived here happily and prospered without being subjected to imposition of the local language as happens in Chennai, Kolkata or Ahmedabad. On the contrary, these migrants, proud of their native language and culture, find it strange that the Marathis often abandon their mother tongue and try to communicate with strangers in the smattering of any cosmopolitan tongue available.

Unlike in other parts of the world, it is not necessary to learn Marathi to live in Maharashtra. Uttar Bharatiyas, Telugus, Gujaratis, Rajasthanis have lived in deep rural areas of Maharashtra for generations without learning Marathi. They have created their empires of trade and enterprise. Local Marathis have cheerfully accepted these groups as their own. If they dominate the economic life of Maharashtra, so be it. The Marathis have long acknowledged their own lack of talent for trade or entrepreneurship. Shivaji or latter day Maratha rulers, whenever they established new towns or kasbahs, had always honourably invited nagarseths from Marwar and Gujarat to do trade and industry. That is one major shortcoming of the Maharashtrian society in the new world of competitive markets. Mumbai is a city built by migrants — Maharashtrians and “outsiders”. But it can no longer take any more migrants, Maharashtrian or not. Raj Thackeray’s outburst is the first symptom of the impending implosion. Other Indian metropolises only await their turn.

The writer is a novelist and journalist

What is Hinduism? A Personal View Who is a Hindu?

To understand the concept of ‘Hindu Rashtra’, we first need to understand the meaning of the two words contained in it, ‘Hindu’ and ‘Rashtra’. We begin by understanding the meaning of the word ‘Hindu’.

The origin of the word ‘Hindu’ is purely geographical. The name Sapta-Sindhu is found in the oldest records of the world itself - the Rig-Veda- as an epithet applied to Vedic India. It is well known that the syllable ‘S’ in Sanskrit is at times changed to ‘H’ in some of the Prakrit languages and even in European languages. The ancient Persians referred to the people inhabiting Vedic India as Hapta-Hindus and later on the word ‘Hindu’ was used for the same purpose by all nations flourishing at that time.

As we can see, the word Hindu has a geographical history and does not mean a religious faith like Islam or Christianity. There are some instances which illustrate the use of the word Hindu.

When the Shahi Imam of Jama of Delhi went to Mecca on a pilgrimage, a local resident asked him, “Are you a Hindu?” The Imam was startled by this question and replied, “No, I am a Muslim.” When Imam Saheb asked him the reason for calling him a Hindu, he replied that all Hindustanis were called Hindu there.
Late Sri Mohammed Carrim Chagla, the former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and Education Minister in the Central cabinet wrote that he is a Muslim only by religion but by culture and race he is a Hindu and all Muslims of this country are Hindus.
The word Hindusthan and Hindu are often used with a national connotation only. For example, the first nationalist daily from Chennai, started in the last century, was named ‘The Hindu’. Many public sector industrial units are named Hindusthan Aeronautics, Hindusthan Photo films, Hindusthan Machine Tools, etc. The sea to the south of our country is called Hind Mahasagar.
Mohammed Iqbal, the famous Urdu poet has sung Sare Jahan Se Achha, Hindostan Hamara — Note Hamara Hindusthan, i.e., Our Hindusthan.
The word Hindu thus connotes not a particular sect, a religion or a faith, but the people, the culture, the tradition, the way of life of the people inhabiting this part of the world from times immemorial. Before the advent of the British, Bharat was known as Hindusthan and all the nationals as Hindus. Only the British gave the new name India and the word Indian came to be used in place of Hindu.

http://www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog/2008/02/hindu-rashtra-explained/




http://mutiny.in/2008/02/02/what-about-the-indian-rashtra/

Very interesting points of discussion. I agree I’m a Hindu by culture, Hinduism to me is a way of life. I never considered it ‘Hindu’ but the way we live our lives. If this Hindu Rashtra concept really necessary to keep our country united? Isn’t our current constitution enough?

I don’t have a problem with that - but - I consider myself more an citizen of the Republic of India than the RSS’s definition of the Hindu Rashtra. Does that make me less Hindu or Indian? To me there was no India before 1947. I was a subject of the Royal Kingdom of Travancore. To me it’s the Indian constitution that keeps us together.

So why Shobhit, force an RSS idea on us? Especially from far away Seattle? Does ones Hindu-ness make you more or less an Indian?