Twenty-first Century India

The vast majority of Indian Muslims are poor illiterate and uneducated. There is no denying that. But that is because they do not make any effort to develop themselves. It is not that Hindus Jains Sikhs Christians and Buddhists are conspiring to keep the Muslims backward. It it their own fault that they are poor, and it is their own responsibility to uplift themselves.

For a start, they might want to start going to school and trying to learn something, instead of rioting on the streets whenever someone draws a cartoon in Denmark, or marrying four wives and making twenty babies that they can't afford to feed and then joining criminal gangs, or whatever.

They breed like rabbits, do not send their children to schools, and are over-represented among the ranks of criminals. There is a reason why most Indian criminal gangs are run by Muslims, like Dawood Ibrahim, Memon brothers, etc.

The Muslim population of India as a percentage of the population of India as a whole has gone up from under 10% in 1947, to over 15% as of 2001. At this rate, Muslims will cross the 50% share within two or three more generations. And at that point, they will be in a position to repeat in India what they successfully completed in Pakistan already: where the population of Hindus has fallen from 18% in 1950 to 0.1% today (through Government-sanctioned religious persecution, kidnappings, rape, torture, and forced conversions, murder, evictions, etc that the entire world has ignored -- there are no Hindu vote banks that matter in any part of the world today).

Now the shameless Muslim-vote-banking Manmohan is asking the non-Muslims of India to give special privileges to the "underprivileged" Muslims so that they can continue breeding like rabbits. They do not need to go to school; there will be Reservations for them. They can focus on their harems, make more babies, and collect their paychecks, no problem. And those babies will have guaranteed Government jobs too, courtesy the tax-paying non-Muslims of India.

Manmohan is saying that this is necessary to address the "grievances" of the Muslims.

"Grievances of the Muslims". Now that really takes the cake. For a thousand years Radical Muslims ruled India with an iron hand, mistreating Hindus, destroying hundreds of thousands of Hindu temples, killing millions of Hindu men, kidnapping and forcibly converting millions of Hindu girls -- all exactly in accordance with the "teachings" of the Koran, believing they were doing the work of Allah, I grant you that -- and after all that, now they are the one who have grievances ? Am I the only person who finds this ridiculous ?

Well, as a Hindu, I have a lot of grievances too.

The land of my ancestors was invaded by Radical Muslims, and my Hindu ancestors were treated like slaves in their own land for over 1000 years. They had to pay additional taxes (zizya) just because they refused to be intimidated and convert to Islam. Millions of my people -- the prettiest girls, the healthiest men -- were sent to Persia and other parts of West and Central Asia in chains as slaves by the medieval and uncivilized Islamic regime. Millions were slaughtered. An entire mountain range (Hindu Kush -- meaning "Hindu Slaughter") commemorates this genocide. Husbands were killed and their pretty wives taken as slaves to serve Muslim men with power. Girls of marriageable age were kidnapped, raped, beaten and tortured in submission and conversion to Islam, and forced into abusive marriages with Muslim men with power.

For a thousand years, the agents of Satan ruled over India and established Hell on earth.

What does the bleeding-heart Manmohan have to say to address these grievances ? Hindu grievances do not matter, right ? Only Muslim "grievances" matter.

And what is the grievance of the Muslims ? They are breeding too fast and don't have time to go to school to learn stuff and earn money, so they want us to subsidise them -- that's their "grievance". And that matters, because they are the one with the vote bank that any party will need to win the next election. Population growth in a democracy has its advantages.

Well, Manmohan, how about being honest ? How about joining hands with Hindus and others loyal to civilized values to stop Muslim vote bank politics and the steady slide into uncivilized medievalism ?

How about practising real secularism for a change, and treating people of all religions equally ? How about stopping the 1000-year-old tradition of mistreating Hindus Jains and Buddhists ?

How about forcing the irresponsible backward Muslims to not marry women and have babies they can't afford to feed and educate ? How about forcing them to go to school, learn how to be productive members of society, learn how to earn money without stealing robbing or killing others, and uplift themselves ? How about forcing them to learn how to live with decency honour and dignity, without leeching off public money and living on favours like Reservations like parasites ?

How about forcing them to stop living like animals, and start learning about how to be civilized human beings ?

Hindustan Times reports:

India to redress inequities affecting Muslims, says PM
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, December 27, 2006

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday sections of minorities including Muslims had not shared the fruits of development in India and pledged to take measures to end "such inequities."

Addressing a Dalit-Minority International Conference in New Delhi, Manmohan Singh said some minorities, particularly the Jains and Sikhs, had fared relatively well in the process of social and economic development.

"However, other minorities, especially the Muslim community in certain parts of our country, have not had an equal share of the fruits of development," he said, reading out a prepared speech.

"It is incumbent upon any democratically elected government to redress such imbalances and eradicate such inequities. Our government is indeed committed to doing so."

And in an obvious reference to the opposition to the reservation of seats for the underprivileged in institutions of higher learning, he said it was incumbent upon the government to ensure that the growth process was not only equitable but also seen to be so.

"Even as absolute poverty may be reduced by growth, inequalities can get sharpened. This can be politically and socially destabilising. Hence, we have to take steps that reduce social and economic inequalities, without hurting the process of growth and without reducing the incentives for individual enterprise and creativity."

But he emphasised that administrative measures the government takes to develop the capabilities of such groups are not the end-all and be-all of positive action against social discrimination and disparities.

"We need a change in mindsets. This requires a wider, broad-based social, political and cultural movement against all forms of discrimination and injustice. The battle for social equality has to be waged and won in our minds.

"We have to recognise that even in a free society there are glass windows and glass ceilings. The first step in dealing with such problems is to recognise their existence.

"The second step is to come up with universally acceptable policies that are not viewed as a zero sum game, but as win-win solutions through which everyone is better off and no one is worse off."

Manmohan Singh also said that Dalits had faced "a unique discrimination" in Indian society that could be compared only with apartheid and that anti-Dalit attitudes had not gone away.

"Even after 60 years of constitutional and legal protection and support, there is still social discrimination against Dalits in many parts of our country. The political, social, cultural and intellectual battle against such discrimination must continue.

"Our government is deeply and sincerely committed to the equality of all sections of our society and will take all necessary steps to help in the social, educational and economic empowerment of Dalits."

Wednesday's meeting was organised by Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and attended among others by former prime ministers VP Singh and Inder Kumar Gujral.

Speaking about minorities, Manmohan Singh said that their specific problems should ideally be dealt with based on certain universal principles.

"These principles, I believe, are defined by the idea of equality before law, the universal application of the rule of law, commitment to basic human rights, and the right of minority groups to protect, preserve and promote the values cherished by such groups."

He urged the conference to "pay more attention to finding solutions to a problem rather than merely harp on the problem."

The prime minister made a pointed reference to Narendra Jadhav of the Reserve Bank of India, saying his book "Outcaste" had deeply moved him. "It was a soul stirring account of empowerment and liberation."

The problem with Pakistan is that it has a lot of people, mostly ignorant unschooled uneducated brainless and illiterate Radical Muslims with lots of wives, mistresses, concubines, and slaves in large harems breeding like rabbits, and these people have no useful jobs. So, as long as Saudi Arabian oil money flows in to keep their stomachs filled with beef, they have all the time and manpower in the world to create mischief. This time, these Pakistani Radicals are trying to create trouble in Punjab once again.

About a week ago I mentioned this Pakistani Radical Muslim thief in USA who was caught stealing money through credit card fraud and sending it to Pakistan to restart Khalistani Sikh terrorism in Punjab again.

Now there are fresh updates from the ground in Punjab.

Times of India reports:

Is ISI trying to target Punjab ?
Vishwa Mohan
[27 Dec, 2006 0046hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

NEW DELHI: Is there a move from across the border to revive militancy in Punjab? This is the question uppermost in the mind of the security agencies after the arrest of three terrorists affiliated to International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and recovery of RDX and ammunition from them in Jalandhar over the weekend.

Cops were ruffled when they caught three Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militants in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab in July last year in the wake of the twin blasts in cinema halls in Delhi. Then in August and September, they nabbed infiltrators carrying huge arms and ammunition along the otherwise peaceful stretch of the fenced borders in Punjab and Rajasthan.

The arrests and seizure in Jalandhar have now led the agencies to take a re-look at the interrogation details of BKI militant Jagtar Singh Hawara, who disclosed details about Pakistani intelligence agency ISI's efforts to revive militancy in Punjab. Hawara, who was arrested in the wake of twin Delhi blasts, had told his interrogators that ISI was not only trying to push in arms and ammunition through the border, but was also contacting sympathisers of the Khalistan movement outside India.

After arresting three ISYF-Rode group militants — Paramjit Singh Dhaddi (a United Kingdom citizen), Jaswinder Singh and Amolak Singh — from different places in Jalandhar district, Punjab police on Sunday claimed that the group was planning to disrupt next year's assembly elections. Although the arrested militants have so far not disclosed as to how they procured arms, ammunition and explosives, including 11 kg of RDX, security agencies suspect it is part of the consignment from across the border meant for different militant groups including BKI in Punjab.

Sources in the home ministry said the Centre was worried about such developments. The BKI's role in last year's twin blasts in cinema halls in Delhi was an eye-opener indicating presence of splinter groups of the pro-Khalistan militant wings. Since then, the security agencies were keeping a vigil. The arrests in Jalandhar could eventually give them a more clear picture of the attempt to revive militancy, if any, the sources added.

Ministry officials believe that by making a bid to revive militancy in Punjab, Pakistan might have been trying to divert global attention from the extent of Islamic terrorism in India. During the heydays of militancy in Punjab, there were close links between ISI and pro-Khalistan forces. Their close cooperation even outside India had been established with a number of Pakistanis being held for aiding terrorists directly and indirectly.

It is quite well-known that Pakistan was behind the horrifying spate of anti-Hindu and anti-India terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Sikhism that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Hindus and Sikhs loyal to India in Punjab in the 1980's. This Pakistan-sponsored terrorism was crushed by the brave sons and daughters of India, mostly Sikh, of the Punjab Police, under the able leadership of the brave Sikh son of India K. P. S. Gill.

It is also known that there are still some terrorist Radical Muslims and misguided Radical Sikhs in USA and Canada, still actively trying to restart the terrorist attacks in Punjab. The Babbar Khalsa International is the most prominent of these Khalistani organizations. These are Pakistan-trained terrorist cowards who escaped from Punjab and emigrated to the USA and Canada in the 1980's after the people of Punjab rejected their terrorist attacks on Hindus in the name of Sikhism.

These cowards then went to North America and claimed to be victims of Indian persecution. They got political asylum in North America under these false pretences.

These dirty terrorists and cowardly murderers now hide among the mainstream honest and law-abiding Indian Sikhs and Muslims in North America.

These are the same cowards who blew up the Kanishka airplane killing hundreds of innocent Indians and Canadians.

Now, one of these filthy low-lifes has been finally caught by the Americans. This useless Radical Islamic moron was stealing money from honest decent law-abiding Americans through credit card fraud, and sending it to Khalistani terrorists in Pakistan, trying to get terrorism started again in Punjab.

At least, he could have tried earning his terrorism-sponsoring money through honest hard work. No, these Paki terrorists are not only cowards, but also lazy.

Just a dirty little Paki thief.

Times of India reports:

Pakistani in NY convicted of aiding Sikh group
[21 Dec, 2006 0958hrs ISTAP]

NEW YORK: A federal jury convicted a Pakistani man of financially supporting a militant separatist group in India, federal prosecutors announced.

Khalid Awan was convicted after a two-week trial in Brooklyn of helping the Khalistan Commando Force, a Sikh secessionist group that operated in India's Punjab state.

The group, founded in 1986, is considered a terrorist organization in India and is said to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people through bombings, sabotage and assassinations.

He faces up to 45 years in prison, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Awan came to the attention of federal authorities in 2003, when he was serving prison time on credit card fraud charges, the US attorney's office said.

A fellow inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn reported that Awan had talked about his relationship with Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the leader of the KCF and one of India's most wanted fugitives, prosecutors said.

Evidence that prosecutors presented included recordings of Awan's prison phone calls to Panjwar in Pakistan, statements by Awan saying he sent the group hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Indian government cooperated in the investigation, prosecutors said.

"The war on terror is a global battle," said Roslynn Mauskopf, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

"We will not permit individuals in our jurisdiction to finance terrorist groups responsible for murder and violence in any part of the world."

A telephone message seeking comment from an attorney for Awan was not immediately returned on Wednesday.

Awan's sentencing is set for March 7.

The Communist Government of West Bengal is one of the last remaining bastions of the evil, inhuman, anti-democratic, criminal, and totalitarian ideology that had been the hallmark of evil tyrannies like those of Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot.

It is now engaged in a bloody struggle to confiscate land from poor farmers whose only crime had been to vote for the Opposition Trinamool Congress and BJP in past elections.

The Communist Government of West Bengal claims that this is part of a "development initiative" to set up a Tata automobile factory at that site. However, the Government is mysteriously refusing to pay the poor farmers (whose ancestors have farmed that land for thousands of years) a fair market price for their land, and instead trying to push them out through the use of brute force, violence, intimidation, and persecution.

The farmers are understandably not willing to give up their only possession on Earth for a pittance and fade away into a life of destitution, poverty, malnutrition, and oblivion. They are fighting for their livelihood, for the right to live with dignity and honour on their own ancestral land that the Communist Government wants to confiscate, not paying a fair market price for.

A Communist Government claiming to fight for the poor and the downtrodden is now clearly exposed as being just the opposite. The Communists have never fought for the poor, anywhere on earth -- be it in Russia, or China, or Cambodia, or Eastern Europe, or India. George Orwell hit the nail on the head in "Animal Farm".

As if prior incidents of state-sponsored terrorism, as recent as that in Kespur in 2001, were not enough, the Communist Government has launched a vicious attack on the poor and defence-less farmers of Singur. An 18-year-old innocent girl from a poor farmer family has been gang-raped and burnt alive by the Government of inhuman and evil Communist totalitarian thugs ruling West Bengal.

It is getting high time for the People of West Bengal in particular and India in general, to rise against the evil that has reigned over our Motherland for so long. The Communists of West Bengal have already committed way too many crimes, and must be crushed, wiped out, and annihilated before they can commit any more.

It is time to deliver Justice. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Any supporter of the evil and inhuman Stalinist totalitarian Government of West Bengal is an enemy of Mother India. These enemies must be crushed and utterly destroyed.

The People of India must stand and fight with our brothers and sisters of Singur and other parts of West Bengal living in daily terror of the inhuman rapists, torturers, and murderous Stalinist thugs who have ruled that state through brute force, intimidation, electoral malpractices, violence, murder and mayhem for 30 years.

Do not be fooled by the Communist Government's claims that this land-seizure is being done for the purpose of "economic development". Economic development does not require refusing to pay fair market price for land being extracted from poor and helpless farmers who work 18 hours a day and still don't make enough to eat two meals a day. Economic development does not require pushing people out by force from land they have farmed for thousands of years, from land they own. Economic development does not require destroying people's lives. Economic development does not require raping 18-year-old teenage girls and burning them alive, just because they refused to leave their ancestral homes, lose everything they ever had, and start new careers as prostitutes.

Today the Communists rob the farmers of West Bengal to give us a cheap car (and make money for themselves), tomorrow they will rob us to give the farmers free electricity or more Reservations (and they themselves will win elections and steal more money).

This is just another example of Divide and Rule. To stop this, we must feel for and identify with the farmers who are the victims today. Only then will they feel for and identify with us, when we will be the victims (of say Casteist Reservations) the next time.

If the Tatas participate in this evil and inhuman Stalinist conspiracy of daylight robbery by building their car factory on land being stolen from poor farmers being denied a fair market price for their ancestral property and only source of livelihood, they too will prove themselves an enemy of anyone who believes in Justice and the Brotherhood of the Children of Mother India.

In that case, we must fight back together by boycotting all goods produced by the Tata group of companies, especially the cheap cars they plan to build in their proposed plant to be built on land stolen from the helpless poor farmers of Singur in West Bengal.

Would you buy a car made by someone who raped your sister and burnt her alive to get the land on which to build the car factory ? You wouldn't.

Any daughter of Mother India is your sister. The 18-year-old girl from Singur was a daughter of India. Any car built by the Tatas on her ancestral home taken by force will be cursed with her blood and tears. Will your conscience allow buying it, just because it is cheap ?

The farmers of Singur work day and night and barely have enough to eat one meal a day. They earn less than fifty rupees per day on average. And yet, they work very very hard, back-breaking labour on the paddy fields day and night, to produce the basmati rice we love so much. Can we sell them out to save one lakh rupees on our next car ?

Will we sell our souls for one lakh rupees ? Two lakh ? Ten lakh ? Are we so cheap ?

If we do, there will be no place even in Hell for people like us. Hell, if we could be so heartless and so devoid of soul and humanity, we could probably even sell our own mothers, or little sisters, for a quick buck. There is no place even in Hell for people like that. We the people of India simply cannot be so bad, so immoral, so heartless, so unfeeling, so devoid of soul.

We are better people than this.

Compassion, brotherhood, empathy. These emotions are needed now. We have these emotions. We are human beings, not selfish bastards.

We must prove that to ourselves, to our "leaders", and to the world.

May Mother India rise soon from her thousand-year-old slumber and crush the dirty Communists of West Bengal, and may the Tatas be blessed with better sense before they join hands with the Communist rapists and murderers ruling West Bengal. If the Tatas choose to become accomplices of the murderous Communists in this latest infamous villainy, may they be speedily destroyed as well.

May good sense prevail over the people of India before any more inhuman acts can come to pass.

You, the son daughter and soldier of Mother India, must do your bit. The time has come to stand up, speak, and be heard. The time has come to destroy the enemies ruling over the Motherland and torturing our own brothers and sisters far worse than the British ever did. The time has come to unite, empathize, work together, feel for each other, be less selfish and self-centred, and fight for a better future of our coming generations -- a life of dignity and self-respect, not living in fear of thieves, robbers, rapists, murderers, and other filthy dirty and low criminals posing as our "leaders".

Before these filthy rapists and murderers irrevocably destroy our society.

Remember, United We Stand, Divided We Fall. If you do not want to Fall under the murderers' and rapists shoes tomorrow, Unite today. Talk to people. Build awareness of, and consensus against, the hideous crimes going on in the name of "development" in Stalinist totalitarian West Bengal. Help the Bengalis crush their Stalinist masters.

Help them be free.

So that tomorrow, we can all live with our heads held high, and our minds free of fear.

Vande Mataram. Jai Hind.

Times of India reports:

'Rape and killing' fuels tension in Singur
[18 Dec, 2006 1638hrs ISTIANS]

KOLKATA: The body of an 18-year-old woman was recovered on Monday in a farmland acquired for a Tata car plant at Singur in West Bengal, sparking fresh tension with villagers and Trinamool Congress activists alleging that the victim was raped and burnt by men guarding the controversial land.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, whose hunger strike entered the 15th day on Monday, called for a 48-hour shutdown across West Bengal on December 21-22. Her party claims the victim was an activist protesting the acquisition of farmland by Tata Motors.

Police sources said the burnt body of a girl, Tapasi Malik, was found from the field and sent for post-mortem. They did not give further details.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry into the incident.

According to villagers, the girl had gone to the field in the morning to answer nature's call.

She was said to be a member of the Singur Krishijami Raksha Committee (Save Singur Farmland Committee), which is spearheading the movement against the acquisition of farmlands by the Tatas.

Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said the truth behind the incident would be ascertained once the post mortem report came.

The Trinamool suspended all its protests Monday in memory of the deceased.

The alleged rape and killing is likely to lead to further intensification of the movement against the Tata Motors plant in Singur where the company needs 997 acres for its much touted people's car project.


BBC reports:

W Bengal anger over 'gang rape'

Protesters say that farmers have been forced to move

The opposition in the Indian state of West Bengal has condemned the alleged gang rape and murder of a woman at the site of a controversial car factory.

Villagers say that the woman was assaulted then set on fire by attackers who support the Tata car plant in Singur, in the east of the state.

They have accused members of West Bengal's ruling Marxist party of carrying out the crime.

The villagers say that they have been unfairly displaced by the factory.

They say they have not received adequate compensation for the government's acquisition of 1,000 acres of farmland for the Tata "small car" project.

But the state government says that the plant will bring much needed jobs and business investment to West Bengal.

'Forcible acquisition'

The opposition Trinamul Congress party is opposed to the plant and says it will hold a two-day strike on Thursday and Friday in protest over the alleged attack on the villager.

Police say they are investigating whether her death was a case of suicide given "a twist" by angry villagers upset with the government.

Clashes have taken place recently between police and protesters

The chief of Bengal's leading opposition party, Trinamul Congress, Mamata Banerji, has been on hunger strike for a fortnight to protest against "forcible acquisition" of the farmland.

Doctors say that her condition remains stable.

West Bengal's Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya has ordered an inquiry into the burning by state police.

"Pending a thorough inquiry, it will be improper to comment," he said.

But he said his government would oppose the two-day strike by the Trinamul Congress.

The government says it has already completed the acquisition of the land and Tata can now start work.

The company says it will manufacture cars costing just 100,000 Indian rupees ($2,000) at the Singur site.

Earlier this month, police accused Maoist rebels of attacking a car showroom in central Calcutta in protest over the factory.

If your father is a Congress leader, you can get away with Murder.

Or so Manu Sharma had thought. And so it would have been, if the People of India had not stood up as one and made themselves heard. And finally, after a long 7 years of valiant fighting against the high and mighty criminals ruling India, Justice had been served.

Earlier this year, corrupt Congress leader Vinod Sharma's murderer son Manu Sharma and his accomplices were acquitted and set free by additional sessions judge S. L. Bhayana.

Manu Sharma had been seen by numerous eye-witnesses in the act of killing a 30-year old model Jessica Lal, who had been working hard to support her middle class family and had simply wanted to earn some extra money working as a waitress at a high-society party at a fashionable restaurant in Delhi in 1999.

The useless good-for-nothing brat Manu Sharma -- who is not only of no use to society and passes his time drinking womanizing and gambling and generally pissing away the hard-earned money of the Indian common people stolen by his Congress-leader Dad Vinod Sharma -- but also so useless as to be unable to hold his bloody drink and behave better than a drunken chimpanzee on steroids, got raving drunk at the party, started a drunken argument with Jessica, and then when she refused to serve him even more drinks, shot her dead at point-blank range.

Over the next seven years, from 1999 to 2006, his father Vinod Sharma and his powerful and corrupt friends in the ruling Congress Party misused money, muscle power, and connections with the high and mighty to threaten and tempt the eye-witnesses to retract their statements against murderer Manu Sharma and his murder-accomplice friends. Only a few people, like witness Deepak Bhowani, refused to bow down to the threats, nor be swayed by promises of money.

These witnesses risked their lives to speak the Truth, uphold Justice, and send the stupid drunk murderous chimpanzee to jail where he belongs.

Then Justice S. L. Bhayana stepped in to the rescue. Justice Bhayana, for reasons best known to himself and his co-conspirators (no offence to the esteemed Judiciary of India is intended), decided to simply discard the testimony of the only remaining eye-witness Deepak Bhowani. As a result, the criminals went scot-free.

The message was clear: if your father is a Congress leader, you can get away with Murder.

This led to a massive public outcry all over India, and the case was re-opened by honest Judges. They lambasted Justice Bhayana's conduct as "strange", "totally wrong", "immature", "positively perverse", and said that it not only "reflects total lack of application of mind" but also "suggests a hasty approach towards securing a particular end, namely the acquittals."

Deepak Bhowani deserves an award for his bravery in upholding the cause of Justice.

The accomplices of Vinod Sharma who misused their power to try to subvert Justice deserve the most stringent punishment.

The first targets should be Vinod Sharma himself, and the good-for-nothing Judge S. L. Bhayana who almost got away with letting the murderers go scot-free (no insult or contempt or offence or any negative feeling or opinion or implication whatsoever is intended towards the highly esteemed Judiciary of India).

To uphold the trust and respect that the Judiciary of India deserves and gets from the People of India, exemplary punishment should be handed out to Justice S. L. Bhayana for his obvious participation in a deep criminal conspiracy to let the murderers go scot-free.

BBC reports:

Guilty verdict over model murder

Eyewitnesses said Ms Lal was shot for refusing to serve a drink

A court in India has found the son of a governing Congress party politician guilty of murdering a model in 1999.

Manu Sharma, son of former federal minister Venod Sharma, was convicted of shooting Jessica Lal dead at a fashionable restaurant in the capital.

The case was reopened after he and eight others were acquitted in February, prompting a public outcry.

Campaigners say media pressure mounted over the case has encouraged the courts to take on India's rich and powerful.

'Conspiracy'

Prosecutors said Manu Sharma fired at Jessica Lal after she refused to serve him a drink at the restaurant where she was working as a waitress.

We have no hesitation in holding Sidharth Vashisht, alias Manu Sharma, guilty of the offence of murder Delhi high court judges

Several eyewitnesses came forward to the police, but by the time the case came to trial seven years later key eyewitnesses had retracted their statements.

The trial finally collapsed in February 2006 when the lower court judge said the prosecution's case contained loopholes and there was insufficient evidence to convict.

The acquittals sparked public outrage, with protest rallies and a sustained media campaign launched to demand justice for Jessica Lal, who was 34 when she was killed.

Police appealed against the acquittals and opened an investigation into allegations that there had been a conspiracy to pervert justice.

Sharma has still to be sentenced

Several witnesses and police officials involved in the case were questioned.

Delivering their verdict on Monday, two high court judges in the capital said: "We have no hesitation in holding Sidharth Vashisht, alias Manu Sharma, guilty of the offence of murder."

Sharma will be sentenced later this week.

Jessica Lal's sister, Sabrina, told the BBC: "We feel vindicated. It's a big day for us.

"My basic aim in life was that Manu Sharma should be convicted, people should acknowledge the fact that he killed my sister and that's happened today."

Landmark campaign

Campaigners say this was the latest in a long line of cases where members of India's elite had been able to manipulate the law and get away with murder.

But the pressure mounted over the Jessica Lal case is seen as a turning point in efforts to bring the rich to justice.

After the February acquittals there was a huge outcry in the Indian media and students led candlelight vigils in Delhi to demand justice for the murdered model.

Observers say the case encouraged sustained media campaigns and public protests which have resulted in other cases being reopened and convictions secured.

In October, the son of a former senior policeman was convicted of raping and murdering Delhi student Priyardishini Mattoo in 1996.

Earlier this month, former Indian cricketer Navjot Sidhu was sentenced to three years in prison for manslaughter after beating a man in a dispute over a parking space.

His acquittal, too, was overturned on appeal.



Times of India reports:

At last, justice for Jessica
Rahul Chhabra & Abhinav Garg
[19 Dec, 2006 0122hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

Someone did kill Jessica Lall, after all. And it was, as all of us had suspected, Manu Sharma, the son of an influential politician, who almost got away by threatening or paying off witnesses, leaving the country in shocked outrage.

Exactly 300 days after Manu and his friends were allowed to walk free by the trial court of S L Bhayana, the Delhi High Court on Monday convicted Manu for murdering Jessica. He is back in Tihar Jail after a lapse of almost five years. Manu will receive his sentence on Wednesday - it'll either be death or a minimum of a life term.

Justice and truth have finally prevailed. Conviction of the killer in this sensational case - which brought out thousands of people on the streets to protest against Manu's acquittal, with candlelight vigils and silent marches - has restored the faith in the people about the rule of law. Even people with awesome clout have to pay for their crime.

"My father died waiting to hear this verdict," said Jessica's sister Sabrina Lall. "His soul will now be able to rest in peace." Sabrina also thanked the media: "I thank you guys who started the campaign for justice for Jessica."

'Justice for Jessica', as our readers will recall, was a TOI campaign. She also sought life sentence for Manu, not death. The outrage over Jessica also brought the spotlight on two other sensational murders - that of Priyadarshini Mattoo and Nitish Katara.

Coming to Monday's dramatic verdict, a bench comprising Justices R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin also convicted Vikas Yadav, son of "tainted" ex-MP D P Yadav, and former cola company executive Amardeep Singh Gill for conspiring with Manu to destroy evidence of his presence at the crime scene.

Yadav and Gill were found to have returned to the restaurant after Jessica's murder on the night of April 29, 1999 to take away Manu's Tata Safari. They are liable to get a maximum sentence of seven years.


Times of India reports:

HC lambasts judge Bhayana
Ananthakrishnan G
[19 Dec, 2006 0115hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

NEW DELHI: While reversing the acquittal of Manu Sharma, the Delhi High Court on Monday questioned the bona fides of the trial court verdict delivered by S L Bhayana, who is now himself a judge of the high court.

The high court held that Bhayana's decision to discard the testimony of prosecution witness Deepak Bhowani not only "reflects total lack of application of mind" but also "suggests a hasty approach towards securing a particular end, namely the acquittals."


And if that wasn't enough, there was a liberal sprinkling of adjectives like "strange", "totally wrong", "immature" and "positively perverse" in the high court order as it punched more holes in additional sessions judge S L Bhayana's verdict setting the accused free.



Times of India reports:

Will judge Bhayana be confirmed now ?
Manoj Mitta
[20 Dec, 2006 0152hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

NEW DELHI: The strictures passed on Justice S L Bhayana by the Delhi High Court in the Jessica Lall case have put the Prime Minister's Office in a bind. For, they have come just when PMO is processing a recommendation to confirm Justice Bhayana as a "permanent judge" of the high court.

He has been on probation ever since he was sworn in as an "additional judge" of the high court on February 28, a week after he had, as a trial court judge, acquitted Manu Sharma and the other eight accused in the Jessica Lall case.

The verdict caused an outrage, leading to a prosecution appeal. In the meantime, a high court collegium recommended his confirmation even as his judgment in the Jessica case was being unravelled before a bench of the same court, headed by Justice R S Sodhi, hearing the prosecution's appeal on a priority basis.

In November, the then acting chief of the high court, Justice Vijender Jain, forwarded the collegium's recommendation to the Supreme Court. Subsequently, the Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, endorsed the proposal of confirming Justice Bhayana along with other additional judges of the high court.

The file moved from the apex court to the law ministry and from there to the PMO. If the government decides to proceed with the matter now, the next step is for the President to sign a warrant of appointment confirming him as a permanent judge of the high court.

In his judgment, Justice Sodhi described Justice Bhayana's reasoning for acquitting Manu Sharma as "strange", "totally wrong", "immature" and "positively perverse". He also questioned the bona fides of his judgment saying it "suggests a hasty approach towards securing a particular end, namely, the acquittals".

The Times of India reports that hundreds of "upper caste" families are observing satyagraha and priests have left the temples in protest against Dalits being allowed to enter the sacred temple of Lord Jagannath in Orissa.

This conduct by these "upper caste" Hindus is in direct contravention of the basic tenets of Hinduism as laid out in the Vedas and Upanishads, and as articulated by the highest and most learned Hindu religious leaders such as the Adi Shankaracharya, Swami Vivekananda, Dayanand Saraswati, Veer Savarkar, and Ramkrishna Paramhamsa.

I sincerely urge the "upper caste" families concerned to invite the Dalits into the temple of Lord Jagannath and make them feel welcome. They are as much the beloved children of Lord Krishna as is anybody else on this universe. Anyone who prevents a child of Lord Krishna from entering Krishna's temple is a sinner. A thousand years of ignorance caused by the Dark Ages of Medieval Islamic rule over India and the active Casteist Divide and Rule policies adopted by the Muslim and British rulers has given rise to the evil of hereditary Casteism in Hindu society. It is now time to rise above it and become once again the one family that the Vedas say we are.

Discrimination by "upper castes" against "lower castes" such as this temple episode, and revenge by the lower castes in the form of Casteist discriminatory policies such as SC/ST/OBC Reservations constitute the fundamental enemies of Hinduism. Any Hindu who participates in such Casteist discrimination against his/her own Hindu brothers and sisters is an enemy of Hinduism and of all Hindus.

It is only ignorance that causes us to participate in these evils; ignorance caused by a thousand years of Islamic and British Casteism to keep us divided and to rule over us.

But now that we are free, we have no excuse to continue with hereditary Casteism and discrimination.

Remember that Dasyu Ratnakar became Rishi Valmiki. The father-less Satyakam, bastard son of unmarried Jabala, became a Brahmin. Casteism was nener meant to be hereditary.

Manu never intended us to discriminate against and mistreat each other based on Caste.

Lord Krishna does not care about the Caste of his children. Those "upper caste" families who are thinking they are doing Lord Krishna a service by keeping Dalits out and his temple clean and pure, are actually guilty of mistreating Lord Krishna's own children.

Can a father be happy when one of his sons prevents the other from entering his house to meet his father ?

"Upper caste" families mistreating Dalits our of ignorance are committing a terrible sin, and the punishment can be the destruction of Hinduism in India. Just like Hinduism was destroyed in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir.

Those who engage in Casteist discrimination and mistreatment strengthen the hands of the enemies of Hinduism. Those who prevent the children of Krishna from entering his temple offend Lord Krishna most terribly.

Sins are no less punishable if conducted through ignorance. Ignorance itself is a sin.

Coming soon after recent reports of Congress distributing arms to Dalits in Congress-ruled Maharashtra, and soon after, numerous co-ordinated desecrations of Ambedkar statues by unknown miscreants in various far-flung parts of India in the same week and many on the same night, and then the resulting Dalit Casteist violence in Congress-ruled Maharashta to protest the desecrations, this temple "satyagraha" might be yet another attempt by the Congress Party to create Casteist tensions among Hindus. The "upper caste" families on satyagraha against Dalits might be innocent pawns being encouraged from behind the scenes by the local Congress party cadre. That still would not reduce the culpability of the protesting "upper caste" families though. Lord Krishna will not forgive them for being so stupid as to play into the hands of a well-known evil-doer like Antonia Maino (who calls herself Sonia Gandhi; the Bofors scam and organizing the "accidents" that killed her rising rivals Rajesh Pilot and Madhav Rao Scindia being among her major achievements).

Is all this part of Antonia Maino's master plan to destroy Hinduism ?

The Times of India reports:

Upper castes on strike against Dalits in temple
[17 Dec, 2006 0030hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

BHUBANESWAR: Angry over Dalits being allowed into the 300-year-old Jagannath temple in Kendrapada district, upper caste residents of a hamlet of 1,400 families on Saturday resorted to 'satyagraha'.

The district administration has sought three more armed police platoons in the coastal village to prevent any violence, even as over 1,000 people, including women and children, sat on hungerstrike in front of the shrine, where no puja has been offered for the last three days.

Dalits had entered the temple with police protection on Thursday. In a letter to the Kendrapada DGP, district collector Kashinath Sahoo said the situation at the village remains "very tense" and violence may erupt anytime as the upper caste people have refused to accept the Dalits' entry into the temple. There are 400 Dalit families in the village.

District authorities have also urged the government to ask the endowment commission to intervene as no rituals have been performed in the shrine for the last three days. "Once rituals are conducted smoothly, normalcy will easily be restored in the locality," said a senior officer.

The situation in Keredagada village remained tense as housewives stopped cooking and children stopped attending classes even though schools were open. Instead, children gathered near the temple and raised anti-administration slogans with their parents.

The protestors blamed the administration and Dalit leaders for the situation. "So-called Dalit leaders from Bhubaneswar instigated Dalits here to break the century-old tradition," alleged Suren Swain, an upper caste resident of Keredagada village.

Almost all the priests have gone into hiding. "We will not go to the temple until it is purified through chanting of mantras," said Narahari Pani, a local Brahmin.

Meanwhile, Ambedkar Lohia Vichar Manch, which has been fighting for Dalits, on Saturday asked the state government to immediately open the temple gates. In a letter to home secretary T K Mishra, the group also demanded that members of Keredagada Jagannath Temple Trust Board be sacked.

They cautioned the state government that Dalit families in Raj Nagar area in Kendrapada district were no longer safe.

Evidence of Pakistani terrorism in India (and now, also in Afghanistan) has been piling up into mountains. The unprincipled and dishonest international community has been blithely ignoring it for a long time now, just like they completely ignored the complete destruction and genocide of the minority Hindu community in Pakistan (Hindu population in Pakistan fell from 18% in 1950 to 0.1% today, achieved through kidnappings, forced conversions, murders, evictions, etc, carried out by Muslim fanatics with the full support and encouragement of the Radical Islamic Terrorist State of Pakistan, and in full accordance with the "tenets" of the Radical Islamic Terrorism Handbook and Manual, the Koran). The process is now being repeated in Bangladesh, where the Hindu minority is being wiped out. Again, you guessed it: the international community is completely ignoring it. The Hindu minority of Kashmir has already been erased; they are now disappearing silently in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi.

Nobody cares about Hindu lives, not even the Government of Hindu-majority India (where only Muslim vote banks matter).

Things will not improve until the Hindus of India are able to overcome Casteist divisions that allow the enemies of Hinduism to rule over and exploit us. The responsibility is upon each one of us: we must take active steps every day to achieve Hindu Unity. For the survival of our children and grandchildren.

If we do not, our children and grandchildren will face the same future the Hindus of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kashmir, and Kazakhstan are facing today: genocide. Faster than we think. Populations grow exponentially. Muslim population explosion is speeding up with every decade; it will not take nearly as long to Islamize the rest of India as it took to destroy the Hindu and Buddhist cultures of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Central Asia.

The Hindustan Times reports:

July 11 blast accused says he attended ISI camp
Press Trust of India
Mumbai, December 15, 2006

Faisal Sheikh, a prime accused in the July 11 train bombings in Mumbai, has confessed to the police that he had gone to Pakistan in 2002 and attended a training camp near Muzaffarabad allegedly run by the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.

Sheikh, in his confession to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), said he attended a programme organised by the banned SIMI in May 2001 at Pune, where he was told about atrocities on Muslims during the 2002 sectarian violence in Gujarat and the Mumbai riots in 1992-93.

This influenced him to go to Pakistan, he said in the confession that was submitted on Friday to a MCOCA court in Mumbai.

Sheikh travelled to Lahore by the Samjhauta Express and met an Indian Lashker-e-Taiba operative from Hyderabad, Abdul Razzaq, who influenced him to undergo training in arms at a camp near Muzaffarabad.

During his stay in Pakistan, he met Lashkar-e-Taiba's commander for India, Azam Cheema, he said in the confession recorded by DCP (Zone I) Brijesh Singh on November 5.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly complained about Pakistani military support for the Radical Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda and their Taliban allies. The situation is getting increasingly desperate, and Karzai is running out of patience.

India has been complaining about Pakistani terrorism for close to three decades now. In spite of mountains of hard evidence of Pakistani terrorism provided by India to the international community -- such as terrorists captured alive, deadbodies with Pakistani identification documents, electronic communication intercepts showing instructions to terrorists in India coming from handlers in Pakistan, names addresses and phone numbers of well-known terrorists like Dawood Ibrahim and Maulana Masood Azhar living in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, satellite photos of terrorist training camps in Pakistan, evidence from satellite and ground-based sensors of movements of terrorists from Pakistan into India, etc etc -- no action has been taken.

When will the international community drop its towering hypocrisy and dishonesty and join hands to punish the decades of terrorism and Crimes Against Humanity that Pakistan has been carrying out all over South Asia with impunity ?

The Times of India reports:

'Pakistan hopes to make slaves out of us'
[14 Dec, 2006 1351hrs ISTAP]

KANDAHAR: In September, Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke of ``brotherly relations'' with Pakistan. But this week Karzai dumped diplomatic formalities for rhetorical fireballs, a possible cry for attention from the United States as more Afghans are killed in spiralling violence, analysts said.

Karzai's verbal barrage against Pakistan started in a tearful speech on Sunday, when he said terrorists from across the border are killing Afghan children. He ratcheted up his criticism on Tuesday, directly charging the Pakistan government with supporting the Taliban. On Wednesday he again took direct aim at Afghanistan's eastern neighbour.

“Pakistan hopes to make slaves out of us, but we will not surrender,'' Karzai said in a school courtyard, in a 90-minute speech punctuated by frequent applause from several hundred schoolboys.

Some analysts say Karzai is venting his frustration in the wake of a wave of suicide attacks and a surge in violence. Afghanistan has seen more than 100 suicide attacks this year, a record number, and close to 4,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence. Afghan and Western officials have long accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop terrorists from training on its soil and then crossing the border to attack Afghanistan. Several suspects recently arrested for allegedly planning suicide bomb attacks have come from Pakistan.

“The fact is, the ISI does not consider the Taliban as enemies, and US officials are simply bluffing themselves by failing to see that reality,'' said Husain Haqqani, a former adviser to three Pakistani prime ministers and author of “Pakistan from Mosque to Military.''

``Karzai has been trying to persuade the Americans to put more pressure on Pakistan, occasionally using polite language interspersed with stronger comments. But now he seems to be at the end of his rope,'' Haqqani said in an e-mail interview from Boston University, where he heads the Centre for International Relations.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the Taliban are operating well inside Afghanistan and reiterated that Islamabad is standing up to the problem.

“Pakistan is doing whatever is needed to counter extremism and terrorism and not to allow its territory to be used for militant activities in Afghanistan. We have deployed 80,000 troops. We are taking military action,'' she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said Karzai was misinformed and was merely looking for a scapegoat. ``To those who say this, I would like to say that it is a common human reaction when you have difficulties, you find somebody else to blame. I am not talking about President Karzai,'' Kasuri said on Wednesday in Islamabad.

A report released on Monday by the International Crisis Group think-tank said a controversial peace pact reached with Islamic militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan had created a virtual Taliban mini-state where mullahs dispense justice and fighters were launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.

This is an appeal to the Police, Paramilitary, and Armed Forces of India. To save innocent Indian men women and children from terrorism, please widely circulate this appeal in order to make sure it reaches every police officer, constable, jawan, and military officer serving the Motherland.

Dear Soldiers of the Motherland,

Kindly consider and reflect upon the following recent events. The UPA Governnment has come to power with the election pledge of removing the anti-terror POTA law. This has happened in the post-9/11 environment when vrtually every other civilized country has started strengthening their legal system to more effectively fight Radical Islamic terror. For example, the US has enacted the PATRIOT ACT which gives sweeping powers to its intelligence agencies. The entire US intelligence framework has been rebuilt and restructured (e.g. formation of the Department of Homeland Security, Directorate of National Intelligence, etc) in order to allow all the different US intelligence, counter-espionage, and law-enforcement, and security agencies (like CIA, FBI, NSA, etc) to function together in co-operation and synergy.

In contrast, India's UPA Government has weakened the legal system (by removing anti-terror laws like POTA) simply to indulge in Muslim vote-bank politics.

This has continued even after tens of devastating terror attacks have occurred in Mumbai, Srinagar, Ghatkopar, Nagpur, Ayodhya, Delhi, and so on, killing hundreds of innocent Indians and maiming thousands more, creating hundreds of thousands of widows, orphans, and helpless old parents. In spite of all this, the UPA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has explicitly rejected a public appeal from the Intelligence Bureau Chief for stronger laws to fight terror.

The UPA Government has taken Muslim vote-bank politics to the extreme by completing the destruction of the last vestiges of secularism and equality of religion by introducing Reservations for Muslims (in Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, the Supreme Court has stopped this till the UPA over-rules the Court like Rajiv Gandhi did over the Shah Bano Case, another Muslim vote-bank issue). In addition, it has taken steps like preparing the Sachar Committee Report that aims to introduce Muslim Reservations into the Indian Armed Forces as well. UPA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has gone so far as to openly declare that Muslims have first claim upon India's resources. Secularism is dead; all hail Vote Bank politics.

At the same time, the viciously dangerous UPA Government has taken active steps to keep Muslim vote-bank politics potent and useful by dividing the Hindu majority population with Casteist issues like the OBC Reservations. It has also been actively attempting to start a Caste War among the Hindus of India by distributing guns to (Dalit) Casteist groups (in Maharashtra, where this experiment is being done). Maharashtra Congress claims that guns are being distributed to uplift and empower those populations. This is ridiculous. Soon after the guns were distributed, suddenly a few statues of Dr B. R. Ambedkar were desecrated in various parts of India, and the Congress-sponsored Dalit groups broke out in violence. It is clear that this was a deliberately planned campaign to divide Hindus and get them to kill one another based on Caste.

The UPA's Muslim vote-bank politics is showing no signs of letting up and matters are steadily going from bad to worse. Now, the latest infamy cooked up by the UPA is the campaign to let the Parliament attack terrorist Muhammad Afzal go without punishment.

The notorious terrorist has been convicted by the Supreme Court of India. He carried out his crimes in 2001. Since then, 5 whole years have passed. He has had the full benefit of the Indian legal system. He has used every loophole in the laws and legal procedures to slow down the case, hoping that other Pakistani terrorists would hijack Indian airplanes, take passengers hostage, and bargain for his life and freedom (just like Maulana Masood Azhar and two other terrorists who had been captured by Indian soldiers, got their freedom in 1999). Finally, after 5 years, he has run out of legal options. Justice has been served. Now the UPA wants to let him go, out of Muslim vote-bank politics considerations.

The heartless, soul-less, conscience-less, corrupt, and evil UPA Government does not care about the lives of Indian citizens.

The only reason is because they know they are themselves safe.

Because YOU, the soldiers and policemen of India, are giving your lives to keep them safe.

Here is my appeal: Please stop protecting UPA politicians. Your oath of loyalty is to Bharat Maata; not to the rapists murderers thieves and robbers who rule India and call themselves politicians.

You, the soldiers and policemen of India, have no obligation to keep these rapists, murderers, thieves, and dacoits safe. Let Pakistani terrorists plot their death. Do nothing to prevent what they deserve. Let UPA politicians die. Please.

Bharat Maata will appreciate this service from you.

Do not do anything illegal yourself. Do not open yourself up to disciplinary action. Do not commit a crime (such as killing an UPA politician) yourself. Because Mother India needs you to remain clean and upright, honest and disciplined as you have always been.

Let the Pakistani terrorists do it.

Protect and serve the common people of India. Actively stop terrorist attacks directed against the common people of India, or politicians who have not supported clemency for Afzal or indulged in similar Muslim vote-banking activities.

But try to spend as little effort as possible to keep the UPA politicians and other Muslim vote-bankers safe. Let them die.

For example: if you are detailed to protect an UPA scumbag like Lallu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Antonia Maino (who calls herself Sonia Gandhi), Manmohan Singh, Arjun Singh, Ambubani Ramadoss, etc, just do the bare minimum to make sure nobody can blame you of having done anything wrong. But absolutely do not try too hard to keep these acumbags safe. If they get attacked by some Pakistani terrorist, let them die. You should live, to continue to serve Mother India. Absolutely DO NOT risk your life or health to save a scumbag like Lallu, Arjun, Antonia, Manmohan, Ambubani, Rabri, etc.

As long as you are not committing a crime (such as deliberately plotting to kill an UPA scumbag), your name and honour cannot be blackened and you cannot be punished. Make sure nobody can blame you in any way if the scumbag politician dies on your watch. And if you do get blamed for not having done more to save the scumbag, surely it is better to be blamed for incompetence rather than to die saving a scumbag rapist/thief/dacoit/murderer politician who harms India every day he/she is alive ?

So please, DO NOT try too hard to keep these UPA bastards alive. Let them die. It would be a great and noble service to Mother India and her children.

Vande Mataram. Jai Hind.

BBC reports:

Families give back bravery medals

By Jyotsna Singh BBC News, Delhi

The Supreme Court has upheld Afzal's conviction

Families of six policemen killed in an attack on the Indian Parliament five years ago have returned their bravery medals to President APJ Abdul Kalam.

They are demanding that Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri facing execution for helping militants in the attack, should be hanged.

The president is considering a clemency petition filed by Afzal and his family.

The attack on Parliament on 13 December 2001 left 14 people dead, including five militants and six policemen.

Meanwhile, Afzal Guru lawyers have filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to reopen the case.

"The government had decided to hang Afzal Guru on 20 October. Why has that been put off? Why are our martyrs being insulted?" asked the wife of Vijender Singh, one of the slain policemen.

"My husband died for the country. Now the children of a terrorist should also suffer the way my children have been suffering for the past five years. We want him hanged," said the wife of another policeman killed in the attack.

On the fifth anniversary of the attack, members of Parliament observed a two-minute silence and paid floral tributes to those who lost their lives in the attack.

Slogan shouting

But the occasion was also used by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to step up pressure on the government to carry out the death sentence handed down to Afzal Guru.

The House adjourned amidst uproar as BJP members began shouting slogans, demanding that Afzal Guru be hanged immediately.

Ever since the Supreme Court upheld Afzal's conviction and set a date for his execution in October, all those in favour of and against his hanging have begun active campaigns.

The Afzal family's mercy petition is yet to be decided. The President has forwarded it to the interior ministry and is waiting for its recommendations.

Afzal's wife has submitted a mercy plea to the president

Speaking to journalists outside Parliament, Junior Home Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal said every individual has the right to seek clemency.

The government's Left partners too are opposed to the death sentence.

Legal experts say no clear cut guidelines on deciding mercy petitions exist.

No real discretion

They say the factors generally taken into account while examining such petitions are - personality of the convict, his age, sex, mental condition or circumstances of the case.

Officials at the President's House say the President is bound by the advice of the council of ministers and has no real discretion in the matter.

During the past decade, the President has rejected seven mercy petitions and commuted the sentences of two.

More than 20 clemency petitions are reported to be pending with the government.

Lawyers say a convict facing death sentence cannot be hanged till his or her mercy petition is rejected.

The December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi was one of the most controversial incidents in recent Indian history.

Mohammed Afzal was one of two men sentenced to death. But the punishment for Shaukat Hussain was later reduced to 10 years in jail on appeal.

Two other two accused in the case, SAR Geelani and Afsan Guru, were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

India blamed the attack on the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, which it said was backed by Pakistan.

Pakistan denied involvement in the attack but relations between the two countries seriously deteriorated in the following months.

At its worse the two sides amassed some one million troops in confrontation along their border.



Times of India reports:

Parliament attack victims families return medals
[13 Dec, 2006 1406hrs ISTPTI]

NEW DELHI: Demanding Mohd Afzal's execution, families of the securitymen who died in the 2001 Parliament terror attack on Wednesday returned the gallantry medals they had received in honour of the slain personnel to the Rashtrapati Bhavan as a mark of protest over the delay in carrying out the sentence.

Accompanied by All India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) chief M S Bitta on the fifth anniversary of the attack, they also expressed shock over Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil's remarks that they were being provoked by the BJP over the Afzal row.

"We did not order execution of Afzal. It's the court that has ordered it. But this vile politics over his death sentence, which is being delayed, has led us to return these medals," Ganga Devi, widow of sub-inspector Nanak Chand, told reporters after emerging out of the presidential palace.

They met the media holding a placard that contained photographs of all the slain security personnel.

The families of the slain securitymen returned the medals to an official at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, saying they should be placed in the National Museum until Afzal, who has been convicted in the case, is executed.

"We will take back these medals after Afzal is hanged," Jayawati, widow of head-constable Vijender Singh, said after returning the medal to a Rashtrapati Bhavan director.

The families rejected Patil's remarks in Parliament about them, which they said have left them sad and shocked.



Hindustan Times reports:

Par attack victims' kin return medals, regret Patil's remarks
Press Trust of India
New Delhi, December 13, 2006

Demanding Mohd Afzal's execution, families of the securitymen who died in the 2001 Parliament terror attack on Wednesday returned the gallantry medals they had received in honour of the slain personnel to the Rashtrapati Bhavan as a mark of protest over the delay in carrying out the sentence.

Accompanied by All India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) chief MS Bitta on the fifth anniversary of the attack, they also expressed shock over Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil's remarks that they were being provoked by the BJP over the Afzal row.

"We did not order execution of Afzal. It's the court that has ordered it. But this vile politics over his death sentence, which is being delayed, has led us to return these medals," Ganga Devi, widow of sub-inspector Nanak Chand, told reporters after emerging out of the presidential palace.

They met the media holding a placard that contained photographs of all the slain security personnel.

The families of the slain securitymen returned the medals to an official at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, saying they should be placed in the National Museum until Afzal, who has been convicted in the case, is executed.

"We will take back these medals after Afzal is hanged," Jayawati, widow of head-constable Vijender Singh, said after returning the medal to a Rashtrapati Bhavan director.

The families rejected Patil's remarks in Parliament about them, which they said have left them sad and shocked.

"He (Patil) is wrong. His remarks are painful. Our only support is Bitta. We are not going to raise our voice from any political platform," Jagmal Singh, father-in-law of Vijender Singh, said.

The families also ruled out accepting honours from any political parties in the wake of the BJP's plans in this regard.

Nine securitymen were killed in the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.
In their joint memorandum to President APJ Abdul Kalam, with whom Afzal's mercy petition is pending, the families of the slain securitymen said they regard the gallantry medals a "humiliation" in the light of the delay in the execution of the death-row convict.

"A pardon means making a mockery of the brave soldiers and civilians who laid down their precious lives while performing their duty for the nation.

"Hence we have decided to return the medals to the government given to our near and dear ones, which now seem to us like humiliation piled on us," the memorandum said.

It was signed by ten people, including widows of two CPWD men and of a TV journalist who were killed in the attack.

The Casteist "Divide Hindus and Conquer" UPA Government claimed to have introduced Casteist Reservations for OBC's to uplift poor and uneducated sections of OBC's.

Now the Governemt's true colours have come out: the Government has refused to restrict the benefits of Reservations only to the poor sections of society who truly are underprivileged.

Instead, the Government has set up the rules in such a way that rich families of these OBC Castes (who are in no need of any benefits at all) will benefit the most from the Reservations. Thus, it is clear that the Government does not care at all about upliftment of the weak; all it cares about is Casteism, and winning elections with its Muslim vote bank by Dividing and Conquering Hindu society on Caste lines.

Casteism is a crime under the Indian Constitution. However the UPA Government is openly practising Casteism to win elections.

When will Justice be served ? When will the People of India stand up, speak up, be noticed ? When will the People of India deliver the terrible punishment that these enemies of our Mother India so richly deserve ?

Arjun Singh, Antonia Maino (who calls herself Sonia Gandhi), and Ambubani Ramadoss are the biggest villains of this Casteist Divide and Conquer Conspiracy against India. They each deserve the Death Penalty for committing Crimes Against Humanity (remember the hundreds of thousands of innocent India school and college students who were brutally suppressed all over India in May 2006 by the UPA Government's Police and Paramilitary Forces for protesting against the UPA Government's Casteist policies ? That was a Crime Against Humanity.)

When will Justice be done ? When will Arjun Singh, Antonia Maino and Ambubani Ramadoss pay for their terrible crimes ?

When will Mother India wake up and destroy the thieves, dacoits, criminals, murderers, rapists, liars, and tyrants who rule over her and persecute her children ?

The Times of India reports:

Cabinet rules out exclusion of creamy layer from quota
[7 Dec, 2006 2258hrs ISTPTI]

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday night rejected the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee to exclude creamy layer from the purview of the 27 per cent OBC quota in government-aided institutions of higher learning.

"After considering all aspects, it was decided to stick to the original Bill with the basic framework of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs," Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters after the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill 2006 would be reintroduced with some minor changes in the current session of Parliament, he said.

The Bill which was introduced on the last day of Monsoon session of Parliament on August 25 this year was referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD which gave its report on December 1.

The panel had recommended that the "first instance reservation should be given to the non-creamy layer of OBC candidates". After admitting such non-creamy layer candidates, if OBC vacancies remain unfilled, these may be filled up from the creamy layer in order of merit," the report had said.

Exclusion of creamy layer was an issue on which there was sharp division among the allies and supporting parties of the ruling UPA.

While Left parties favoured exclusion of creamy layer from the quota ambit in order to reach the reservation benefit to the really deserving, UPA allies like DMK and PMK strongly opposed exclusion.

The Cabinet also approved enactment of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rigths) Bill 2006 to "undo the historical injustice" to tribals residing in forests for generations, Dasmunsi said.

Noting that there was a controversy whether there should be two bills one for tribals and another forest dwellers, he said the Cabinet decided that there would be only one bill clubbing both with 2005 as cut-off year.

The Bill to be introduced in the current session of Parliament after necessary amendments are suggested by the Ministers of Tribal Affairs, Panchayati Raj, Forest and Law, he said. The Cabinet approved introduction of separate bills for setting up Sikkim University, Tripura University and Rajiv Gandhi University, Dasmunsi said.

He said that the meeting also approved tabling of the Action Taken Memorandum on the recommendations contained in the 11th Annual Report of the National Commission for Minorities for 2003/04 in both Houses of Parliament.

Another legislation which got Cabinet's nod was Administrative Tribunals (Second Amendment) Bill 2006 which seeks to attract more suitable persons from the administrative and judicial streams to the tribunals.

Its objective is to bring about improvement in the quality of justice delivery in the matter of administrative disputes, he said.

The Cabinet approved construction of government-owned Chancery, Cultural Centre, residences of officers and staff in Tokyo at a cost of Rs 192.8 crore, he said.

The project would be completed by July 2009, he said.

It is fashionable to talk about injustices, real or imagined and widely exaggerated, committed against Muslims or Christians. However, the genocide of the Hindu minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir, are not that fashionable to talk about.

The reason is simple. There are rich Muslim (Saudi Arabia) and Christian (USA, UK) nations that do not hesitate to spend money to promote their agendas. Hindus do not have a single country to fight for them; not even India where they form the majority of the population (but are electorally useless because the united Muslim vote bank trumps the Hindus divided into Castes).

The result is not surprising.

The Times of India reports:

'Kashmiri Pandits remain homeless'
Vasundhara Sanger
[10 Dec, 2006 0934hrs ISTINDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK]

MUMBAI: On the occasion of the World Human Rights Day today, it's utter embarrassment to India and human rights groups that the issue of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits of Jammu & Kashmir has not yet been resolved. It's unfortunate that the issue is not regarded as rights violation but rather, has been pushed to the realm of Hindu-Muslim subject, as pointed out by some rights watchers.

Interactions with intellectuals and activists reveal that in actual fact neither the government nor the social organisations are sincerely trying to restore the dignity of the Pandits who are living as refugees in their own country.

Mumbai-based- Kashmiri filmmaker Ashok Pandit, who made the film Sheen on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus rendered homeless by the insurgents, blames politicians and NGOs for turning a convenient blind eye to the problem.

"We do not constitute the vote bank, and so the political leaders will not bother about us. As for the activists, for them it's not 'fashionable' to talk about the Pandits. Such issues do not provide them tickets to the Rajya Sabha. But raising issues like Sikh and Gujarat riots is seen as a matter of mass interest."

Pandit is appalled when he hears the Members of Parliament debating on saving Md. Afzal (convicted for attack on Parliament) from the gallows and instead demanding a life-sentence for him.

On the impact of terrorism on human rights, Pandit who is actively involved with Panun Kashmir and Roots in Kashmir fighting for the legitimate rights of the displaced say, "I fear for Mumbai and Goa. I see a situation here, very similar to what I saw 20 years ago in Kashmir. These two cities will also experience an exodus the way it happened in the valley because of terrorism."

Drawing parallels between the plight of Kosovo refugees and the Kashmiri Pandits, Yogesh Kamdar, national vice president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) says, "In the 1999 Kosovo conflict, roughly a million ethnic Albanians were displaced from their homeland. In 1989, total number of Kashmiri Pandits displaced from the state was over 300,000. But the Kosovo conflict was readily taken up by the UN and today efforts are being made for a permanent solution to the problem. But, neither our government nor the international community has seriously done anything about the Pandits, who live as refugees in their own homelands."

"PUCL has not taken up the Pandits issue as forcefully as it should have," admits Kamdar. He agrees with Ashok that most organisations have not raised the Pandits issue aggressively and consistently because it's "politically incorrect."

According Kamdar, a terrorist has zero tolerance. In fact, intolerance is the beginning of the end of human rights. Hence, terrorism is the biggest threat to human rights in this age.

Dr Asgar Ali Engineer of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism denies not having raised the issue of the Kashmiri Pandit. "I have full sympathy with the Pandits and even raised their issue several times in my conversations with leaders in Kashmir. In fact, once I asked Syed Ali Shah Geelani (the separatist leader) that why did he never mention the Pandits in his talks, as they too were a part of 'Kashmiriyat' like any Kashmiri Muslim. Geelani had answered that the condition in the Valley was such that nobody was safe. He told me that he himself did not have the confidence whether his life would be spared. In this scenario how could he promise the safety of the Pandits whom militants had threatened with dire consequences."

Dr Engineer, instead, questions the Hindutva forces, "What did the BJP government that talks about Hindutva do for the Pandits?" Dr Engineer said that the present Congress-PDP government built a separate colony for the Kashmiri Hindus to return and start living there. "But no one can give a fool proof guarantee of saving lives," utters the elderly activist.

Another reason for the sorry state of the Pandits is that their own community failed to stand up for them. There are organisations like Panun Kashmir and Roots in Kashmir taking up the pandits issues. But observers feel that they lack the punch. And their success, like in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case, can only be termed as sporadic.

Moreover, Pandits have moved on in life and prospered. They have either migrated abroad or are working at top posts in multi-national organisations. According to Dr Engineer, the ones remaining in the refugee camps are around 5000. But sources say that the figure is far more than this.

About 200,000 Pandits and Hindus still live in the Valley, according to Dr Engineer. And there is an air of camaraderie with their Muslim neighbours. There is no malice among them. They live in peace and harmony. But terrorism is the blight. And the army and para military forces also indulge in human rights violations. "That's because they believe that they are there to control a bad situation. And when they try to do that, excesses are bound to happen. One can't forget the US soldiers torturing prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Kashmir problem can only be solved by political processes," opines Dr Engineer.

Ritu, the author of 'The Green Of The Valley Is Khaki' gives an emotive and vivid account of her experiences, recorded from her interactions with the ordinary citizens in the Valley. About the role of Army, she says, "Army is slightly more disciplined and so the Kashmiris, at certain points and on certain issues, are not anti-army."

She says that even today the Muslim friends of the Pandits go to the refugee camps on occasions like Rakhi, stay with them in the camps, celebrate and return to the valley quietly.

Gandhiji had once said that Kashmir was a shining example of Hindu-Muslim harmony because the state had not witnessed a single communal riot since 1947, barring the Chattisinghpura massacre in 2000 where 36 Sikhs were brutally murdered, in their own village, by terrorists..

In 2000, Ritu wrote a book called Demystifying Kashmir, which compiled a 25 years study, showing how tourism and horticulture had been adversely affected in the state.

In 1989 all Hindus were forced to flee from the state due to "ethnic cleansing" carried out by Muslim militant organisations. Experts say that it was not just the militants but even the government that wanted to see Hindus leave the valley. They wanted to keep the issue alive by plunging the valley in a state of perpetual turmoil. Since then the Pandits have lived in squalid camps with accelerated economic and health problems.

And it's not that the people living in the valley are safe either. Reportedly - according to a government assessment - in the year 2000, 31,000 civilians were killed due to insurgency. Human rights groups and NGOs put the total figure at more than 84,000 in 2005.

Sources say that though there is no immediate sign of providing succour to the Pandits, unofficial efforts are being made at local levels to broker peace in the Valley. The Pandits can take a leaf out of the Sikh community's book who did not leave the Valley despite the Chattisnghpura killings. It appears the Pandits will have to help themselves before others can garner enough resources and support to help them.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an intelligent man. He is well-educated; he holds a PhD in Economics. He is not an uneducated illiterate stupid fool; he has a sharp mind. He is not the kind of person to say something by mistake that can be misinterpreted as something drastically different from what he meant to say.

So, we must not fail to understand him when he says: "The component plans for SCs and STs will need to be revitalised. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources."

He is He says exactly what he means: The (pseudo-)"secular" UPA Government's policy is that the Muslim minority must have first claim on India's resources.

Why ? Because the Muslim vote bank is the only thing that matters in Indian politics.

Muslims who are intelligent enough to understand what is going on (and they are really few in number) should try to make the less intelligent members of their community that this Muslim appeasement will not help Muslims of India in the long run.

The UPA cares about neither Hindus nor Muslims. All they care about is being in power.

Today Muslims may get some short-term benefits from this Government. But they are steadily losing the goodwill of the majority Hindus of India.

And someday soon, there will be a price to pay for the continuing injustice against Hindus. The UPA will not be able to save them then. It will not even try. Because it does not care if Muslims live or die.

Indians must defeat the ongoing Divide and Rule politics of the UPA. Antonia Maino (a.k.a. Sonia Gandhi), Manmohan Singh, Arjun Singh, Lallu Prasad Yadav, and Ambubani Ramadoss must be made to pay the price of the dirty politics they have been playing for so long.

These five criminals look Muhammad Ali Jinnah look like a schoolboy. If they are not stopped, the people of India will have a high price to pay.

The Times of India reports:

PM remark on Muslims stirs row
[10 Dec, 2006 0119hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

NEW DELHI: It was supposed to be a meeting between the Centre and the states to step up growth rate during the next five-year plan. Instead, it turned into a slugfest with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s call for innovative planning for minorities, particularly Muslims, triggering angry reactions from BJP and RSS.

In his address to the National Development Council, the PM chose to take up the issue of devising "innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development". The PM’s remarks addressed all minority groups as he said, "These must have first claim on resources." BJP used references to Muslims to attack PM’s speech.

Though the PM also spoke about agriculture, health, education, infrastructure as well as upliftment of diverse categories of SC/STs, OBCs and women and children, BJP took strong exception to his stress on "particularly the Muslim minority". The main opposition party, already exercised over UPA ministers pitching for a Muslim quota, also read PM’s assertion, "These must have a first claim on resources" in the light of his concern for the minority community.

Muslim empowerment has become a hot-button issue in the national discourse following the Sachar Committee’s report recommending special measures for the largely impoverished community.

Though the PM’s media managers insisted that the speech should be read in its entirety and not be linked to the coming UP polls, BJP chief ministers decided to take on Singh’s assertion at the NDC venue itself, terming it a ploy to woo the Muslim vote.

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi argued that the government should not favour one caste or community. Taking issue with the PM, Modi retorted that every citizen had equal rights over the country’s resources. "Such a statement does not behove a senior leader like the PM. It is unfortunate," he said.

Modi’s colleagues — Chattisgarh CM Raman Singh and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan — reacted in the same vein. While Chauhan termed the statement as "dangerous", Singh wanted economic backwardness to be the sole criteria.

By the end of the day the statement had turned into a full scale row. Congress stood by the PM, justifying the need for a special dispensation for Muslims, saying the majority of them were poor.