NEW DELHI: Three-wheeler autos in the capital have come under the
security scanner after the terror siege of Mumbai. According to highly
placed
government sources, there are intelligence inputs on the possible use
of autos for triggering a blast in a crowded area of Delhi.

The Intelligence Bureau has also sounded a fresh alert to Delhi Police
asking them to step up security at vital installations in the capital
after an email, which police sources said was signed by the "Deccan
Mujahideen", warned of a repeat of the Mumbai terror attack at Indira
Gandhi International Airport and the three major railway stations.

Acting on the three-wheeler threat, police are conducting random
checks on autos, particularly around the airport. During the last
serial blasts in Delhi, a bomb had gone off in an auto at Ghaffar
Market in Karol Bagh. At that time too there had been intelligence
alerts on the possibility of key installations in Delhi coming under
threat from autos.

Experts say, since three-wheelers run on CNG, an 'auto bomb' is likely
to cause more damage than an explosion in a petrol or diesel vehicle.

"The information said that explosives in an auto were likely to be
planted and set off in a crowded area. After that, the airport has
been checking on idle autos and those which enter the premises without
passengers. The threat still holds and checking has been intensified,"
said a government source.

Police sources do not rule out the possibility of the September 13
Ghaffar Market blast having been a "test case" for a bigger strike.

Meanwhile, DCP (IGI Airport) Sanjay Kumar said they had received a
communique from IB about stepping up vigil at the airport.

"We are already on high alert and security has been beefed up in the
area. We are coordinating with NSG. While CISF is also checking
vehicles, specially on the approach roads to the airport and has
increased surveillance at various points, the Delhi Police has
increased its deployment in the area as well. Airlines have also been
asked to beef up security wherever required."

The Indian Railways too has decided to increase security at all
stations in Mumbai and Delhi. "Keeping the CST shootout in mind, we
plan to increase security at all stations on our network. This will
include 17 Metro stations. Some of the new equipment, to be installed
soon, include electronic access control systems which will be set up
under the build, own, operate and transfer model (BOOT). In addition,
the dog squad will be strengthened and CCTVs with at least 30 days of
storage capacity will be installed," said a senior police officer.

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According to media reports, it is possible that the recent deadly assault on Mumbai was masterminded by the Lashkar-e Tayyeba, a Pakistan-based self-styled Islamist terrorist outfit.  Whether the attacks were indeed the handiwork of the Lashkar, as is being alleged, or of some other agency, such as the CIA and the Israseli Mossad, as others believe, remains to be fully investigated, but there can be no doubt that radical Islamism, like radical Hindutva, poses a major threat to peace and security in both India and Pakistan.

What makes such terror-driven self-styled Islamist groups thrive in Pakistan? It would appear that the very foundational myth of Pakistan, the so-called 'two nation theory' on which the country was founded, is itself conducive to militaristic interpretations of Islam. In a mirror image of the thesis propounded by the early ideologues of Hindutva—that the Hindus and Muslims of India were two entirely different nations and that the latter could live in India only if they agreed to turn Hindu or else be stripped of all civic rights—the ideologues of the Pakistan movement claimed that the Hindus and Muslims of pre-Partition India were two irreconcilable nations that could not live together. On the basis of this specious argument, they demanded a separate state for the Indian Muslims. This is how Pakistan came into being.

Thus, the very basis of the Pakistan movement was the myth of undying hatred and hostility between Hindus and Muslims. This so-called 'two-nation theory' remains the official ideology of the state of Pakistan, and is taught to every Pakistani child in school through carefully doctored textbooks. To question the theory, as many Pakistanis privately do, is considered a punishable crime and as akin to sedition. Accordingly, the Pakistani state has, since its inception, seen its survival as being crucially dependent on actively promoting as well as indirectly abetting anti-Indian and anti-Hindu sentiments. As movements for autonomy in provinces increasingly restive of Punjabi domination mounted, first in the erstwhile East Bengal, and then in Baluchistan and Sindh, the Pakistani state came to increasingly rely on an instrumental use and cynical manipulation of Islam and on the bogey of Hindu or Indian domination to ensure its survival and increasingly threatened legitimacy. Naturally, this expanded the space and scope for groups, not just the Lashkar, but scores of others as well, who claimed to speak in the name of Islam to whip up anti-Indian and anti-Hindu sentiments. For them hatred of India and the Hindus were considered as among the defining features of Pakistani nationalism.

The rise of the Lashkar and similar self-styled jihadist groups thus cannot be understood in isolation from these broader political processes. These groups received a major impetus under the American-backed and hugely unpopular military dictator, General Zia ul-Haq, who cynically backed radical Islamist groups to win public support as well as to pursue the CIA-funded war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. It was at around this time that self-styled Islamist groups began entering the political arena in a major way, setting up political parties and fighting elections. This led to all sorts of compromises, to widespread corruption and to rapidly escalating militancy by different Islamist groups competing with each other to prove to the electorate their purported claims of representing and speaking for Islam. The more obscurantist a group's approach was with regard to a whole host of issues—women's rights, the Kashmir question, relations with India and so on—the more ardently 'Islamic' it considered itself to be and it presented itself so to the public whose support it sought to win.

Under Zia, several dozen radical Islamist groups were liberally funded by the Saudis and the Americans in the war in Afghanistan, but soon these went out of control. They turned against their American patrons and started dreaming of exporting their self-styled jihad to the rest of the world. Some of them, including the Lashkar, even went to the extent of calling for the establishment of a global so-called Islamic Caliphate and for conquering the entire world under the 'Islamic flag'. Whether or not the leaders of these groups actually believed all this bombastic rhetoric no one can say, but it certainly appealed to vast numbers of youth, particularly from impoverished families, who were fed on a steady diet of fanciful tales about the luxuries they would wallow in if they died or were 'martyred' in the cause of what was presented to them as a divine mission.

These groups went on to serve what were seen as the strategic interests of the Pakistani state, as for instance in Kashmir, where they were sent to battle Indian forces as well as Kashmiri nationalist groups struggling for a sovereign Jammu and Kashmir, which would be independent of both India and Pakistan. Since Pakistan was a crucial ally of the West, America chose to remain mute in the face of these developments. Likewise, these groups were solidly backed by the Pakistani state in its desperate effort to install the pro-Pakistan Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and this also received American support. The Lashkar set up several training camps in Afghanistan and gave the Taliban considerable military and moral support.

It is thus the consistent assistance given by the Pakistani state to self-styled Islamist groups that has allowed them to flourish in the country, so much so that now, when the Pakistani state has itself begun to face an immense threat from these very groups, it finds itself helpless. It is an indicator of how powerful these groups have become in Pakistan that even though the present government might want to clamp down on them it cannot do so. Large parts of Pakistan are today characterized by extreme lawlessness where the writ of the state does not run. Decades of cynical manipulation of Islam by the Pakistani state for the narrowly construed ends of Pakistan's elites have now led to a situation where even if the state wants to curb these self-styled Islamist groups it finds itself helpless. Powerful sections within the Pakistani state apparatus, including in the ISI and the Army, are fiercely averse to taking any action against these groups, and are said to be consistently providing support to them.

But is the Pakistani state serious in its claims of being determined to take on Islamist terror groups that have mushroomed across the country? It appears not, just as the Indian state has not taken any serious steps against Hindutva terror groups in India. The Pakistani government claims to have banned the Lashkar, to have frozen all its assets and to have put its leaders under arrest. But ample indications exist to suggest that, in actual fact, the Lashkar is being permitted to operate freely after being conveniently allowed to change its name and re-christen itself as the Jamaat ud-Dawa. The Jamaat ud-Dawa's website is freely accessible on the Internet, relaying incendiary, hate-driven speeches of its senior leaders, who seem to be under no control whatsoever. The Markaz's magazines in English, Arabic and Urdu continue to be published, with a reported circulation of several hundred thousand. On a visit to Lahore three years ago I chanced upon a bookshop in the very heart of the sprawling Urdu Bazaar that specializes in Lashkar literature that spews venom and hatred against India and the Hindus, but also against a whole host of Muslim groups that the Lashkar does not consider genuinely Islamic—including the followers of the Sufis, the Barelvis, the quietistic Deobandi-related Tablighi Jamaat and the Shias, all of which it brands as 'enemies of Islam' or their 'agents'. And, I was told, despite the fact that the Lashkar was officially 'banned', it still operated from its headquarters in Muridke, not far from Lahore, and also managed several dozens of centres across the country under various names. Is one to imagine that the Pakistani government is so weak in the face of radical groups as to be unable to close all these institutions down?

In this context, the question arises as to why Pakistani civil society has been unable to effectively challenge the venomous (and what I, as someone who has studied Islam for the past two decades, regard as a wholly distorted) version of Islam that is propelled by self-styled Islamist groups such as the Lashkar. This issue is particularly intriguing given the fact that radical Islamist groups have consistently received only a relatively small share of the vote in successive elections, indicating that their hate-driven vision of Islam does not appeal to the majority of Pakistani people.

There are several reasons for this, among the most salient being the fact that the liberal, progressive middle class in Pakistan is very miniscule, the country still remaining largely feudal, tribalistic and extremely patriarchal in its set-up and ethos. Efforts by the few liberal Islamic scholars that exist in Pakistan to articulate progressive interpretations of Islam on a range of issues—including women's rights, relations with non-Muslims and relations between India and Pakistan—have generally met with stern opposition and even violence from Islamist outfits, with some of these scholars being forced to flee for safety to the West. The sheer fear of being killed for publicly opposing radicals and their perverted brand of Islam keeps numerous progressive thinkers in Pakistan silent, thus perpetuating a vicious circle in which the radicals are allowed to go unchallenged. Furthermore, the state has consistently denied space to progressive Islamic scholars, fearing their potential for dissent from the official view, seeing the radicals as more pliable and amenable to manipulation. This explains, for instance, the fact that despite its bombastic 'Islamic' credentials, Pakistan is yet to produce any well-known Islamic intellectual who has sought to deal creatively with the manifold demands and challenges that modernity poses. The status of Islamic, in addition to social science, research in Pakistan is woeful, and this can be explained, in part, by the fear on the part of the establishment of voices of dissenting scholars that might challenge ruling myths. The fact that Pakistan spends less than 2 per cent of its budget on education and that numerous Vice-Chancellors of Pakistani universities are retired army generals are indicators of this mind-set.

Terrorism—and this includes terror resorted to by non-state actors as well as by the state—today poses a grave threat to the peoples of both India and Pakistan. Islamist and Hindutva terrorism feed on each other, while posing to be each other's most inveterate foes. I recall reading some years ago—I cannot recall where, though—the perverse pleasure that a senior Lashkar expressed when the BJP-led NDA government came to power. Syed Maududi, the chief ideologue of the Jamaat-e Islami, who can be considered the major architect of modern-day Islamism, is on record as having declared that he would prefer India to be an officially Hindu country to being secular because that would further his case for the 'Islamic state' that he dreamed of establishing in Pakistan. Islamist outfits in Pakistan find ready fodder for whipping up anti-Indian and anti-Hindu passions by pouncing on acts of terror and anti-Muslim violence spearheaded by Hindutva groups in India, often abetted by the state. Likewise, gruesome acts of terror committed by Pakistan-based Islamist groups are quickly seized upon by Hindutva forces in India to further demonise Muslims and to build their Hindu vote-bank. Hindu and Islamist terror thus enjoy a symbiotic or mutually beneficial relationship while claiming to oppose each other. This obvious fact must be recognized when conceiving responses to the challenge of terrorism in our region.

There are no easy solutions to the predicament we find ourselves in today. But there is surely at least one thing that we must do, and this was suggested to me by the noted New Delhi-based Arya Samaj scholar, Swami Agnivesh, who has consistently been speaking out against all forms of terror, including in the name of Islam and Hinduism as well as state terrorism. The most effective way to challenge terrorism in the name of religion, Swami Agnivesh suggested, is for Muslims to denounce and stiffly oppose terror engaged in by self-styled Islamic groups who claim to speak in the name of Islam, and for Hindus to do likewise with regard to terror spread by militant Hindu groups.  Sadly, today, the approach of many of us to the phenomenon is selective and skewed, with many Hindus denouncing only the terror unleashed by self-styled Islamist groups, and many Muslims denouncing only acts of terror masterminded by Hindu groups. At the same time, many Hindus and Muslims continue to turn a blind eye to, or even support, forms of terror being perpetrated in the name of the very religion which they claim to follow.

And there is something else that we need to do as individuals, and I have found that this simple principle works wonders even at a very personal level.  It might sound 'unfashionable' or even 'purile' for those who do not find any place for God in their lives, but for millions of people in India and Pakistan who do believe in some higher force, no matter what they name it, it would strike an immediate chord.

This principle I owe to Rano Devi, a landless Dalit labourer from the Bhil tribe who had been released through the efforts of a human rights' group from slavery-like conditions in the estate of a powerful landlord. I Rano met while on a visit to Sindh in southern Pakistan three years ago. A powerful woman she was—dark and tall, and walking proud and erect. A courteous hostess, she welcomed me into her one-roomed hovel built on a scrawny patch of land that a social activist friend of mine had provided her and plied me with milk-less tea and a roti, which was all that she could afford.

Rano told me her story, of how she was enslaved by a landlord, who happened to be a Muslim, and who kept her for four years in shackles.  Then, after a protracted legal battle, she was released through the efforts of my friend and his comrades, all of who happened to be Muslims.

She went on to enunciate a simple but very compelling principle thus:

'Live for your religion, don't die or kill for it. Express your religion through love and service, like the brothers who rescued me did, not through oppression, murder and mayhem, for that is a heinous crime in God's eyes. After all, we are all accountable for all our actions to God. To Him we shall return after we die, when He will decide our fate till eternity based on our deeds in this world'.

'If we were to realize that this world is temporary and that real, eternal life starts after death,' Rano continued softly, tears welling up in her eyes, 'and if we were to constantly keep this in mind, perhaps people would dread to misuse God's name for un-Godly acts'.

And there was another thing that Rano said that inspires me as I write these lines:

'We call Him Ishwar, and Muslims call Him Allah, but He is one and the same', said Rano. 'There are good people in every community, just as there are bad people, too. Just as that landlord who enslaved me claimed to be a Muslim, the brothers who freed me were also Muslims. And there are both good and bad people among Hindus as well. Remember that, brother. It is only when good people in every community join hands that this Hindu-Muslim problem or the problems between India and Pakistan can ever be resolved'.

That sage advice from this impoverished Pakistani Dalit woman is, to my mind, a basic premise we need to start from in our joint struggle against terror in the name of religion and national chauvinism.

*Upper caste and Dalit Catholics clash, police shoot and kill
**by Nirmala Carvalho, 03/10/2008 13:53, INDIA

*http://www.asianews.it

In Tamil Nadu upper caste Catholics attack Dalits, destroying dozens of
their homes. They are "guilty" of demanding a separate parish. Police move
in and fire at attackers.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) – Two Christians died and many more were wounded shot
by police who intervened yesterday to stop clashes between Dalit Catholics
and upper caste Catholics in the diocese of Pondicherry-Cuddalore (Tamil
Nadu).

Troubles started on 7 March when a group of Dalit Christians from the
Villupuram district began a hunger strike to protest discrimination in a
local parish by the Vanniyar.

Three months ago Dalits from St Jabamalais Annai Church in Earyur built
another church dedicated to Saghaya Madha (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and
sought to have it erected as a separate parish with its own priest.

They were backed in their demands by two political groups, the Viduthalai
Chiruthaigal Katchi (Vck) and Ambedkar Makkal Iyakkam (AMI). The VCK even
put up posters calling for the closure of St Jabamalai and the recognition
of the new parish church.

In response some 500 upper caste Christians went on a rampage on Sunday,
attacking Dalits and torching over 30 huts.

Police said that when they moved in to stop the protest they were pelted
with stones and were thus "forced" to open fire on the aggressors. M Periy
Nayagam, 40, and A. Magimai, 24, were killed and 40 more people were
wounded.

Fr G Cosmon Arokiaraj, secretary to the Commission for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, told *AsiaNews
*that the "confrontation in the area between Dalit and Vanniyar Catholics
goes back quite some time, but the Church does not want to split a parish
along caste line," but is working towards "gradually removing discrimination
against the Dalits and uprooting all forms of discrimination."

These tragic incidents show that it is urgent to ban many forms of
discrimination against Dalit Christians both within the Christian community
and especially society at large. In fact "since the Christian community is
perceived as a single entity," he explained, "the government does not
recognise to Dalit Christians the same rights as other Dalits."

In the Indian caste system, states have granted specific benefits and quotas
in schools and public service for Dalits to compensate for their secular low
social standing.

"For years Dalits have been discriminated within the Church itself," he
said. "They cannot sit with upper caste members in the same church; they are
buried in separate cemeteries; they cannot use the same roads as upper caste
people. When the mother of a Dalit priest died in the 1990s the upper caste
did not allow the funeral procession to use the main road; even the bishop
failed to bring about a compromise."

"In India more than 65 per cent of all Christians are Dalit, but Christians
represent only 2.3 per cent of a population of 1.1 billion people."






.

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Dalits caught in the Cross-Nodia crossfire

By Sai Prasan

In the aftermath of Kandhamal violence, both Christian expansionists and Hindu fundamentalists have intensified their activities to tighten their grip on hapless Dalits.  

In a significant move, the two major Christian organizations have decided to   observe  Dalit Liberation Sunday 2008 in Churches across the country on December 7, 2008. This event is taking place just three days before the International Human Rights Day (December 10, 2008) to express solidarity with Pana Christians in Orissa.  

The National Co-ordination Committee for Dalit Christian Rights (NCCDC), a joint forum of the Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI) and the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), has decided to unite all the Christians to counter the threats of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) led Sangh Parivar who have called for a Orissa bandh on Christmas day (December 25, 2008).

Dalits are getting sandwitched in the show of strength between Cross and Nodia (coconut). A detailed analysis is required whether the conversion has really helped the Dalits to change their social and economic status or it has further deteriorated their conditions like leading to homelessness that has been witnessed in the latest communal violence in Kandhamal.

Dalits Christians themselves are divided whether the conversion has proved a boon or bane for them. One section led by Church is of the opinion that it has been at the fore-front of Dalit liberation. Whereas, the rebels among the Dalit Christians allege that Church have left them  in a lurch and it is not taking care of their needs.

In a more than hour-long interaction on the recent Kandhamal violence, Raphael Cheenath, archbishop of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack diocese, expressed his concern on the VHP led Sangh Parivar attack on Pana Christians.

According to him, Church has been at the fore-front of the Dalit-Tribal liberation who combindly constitute 39% of the population in Orissa. No agency, other than Church, has given a proper attention on the development of this deprived section. "The upliftment of Dalit-Tribal population is vital for the holistic development of Orissa", he asserted.

Church has more than three hundred big and small educational institutes in the State. And, Cheenath refuted the allegations that the Church run institutes are merely money spinning entities. "A majority of the students in these academic institutes are from the deprived section of the society", he said.

The Hindu fundamentalists supported by the established social order are not able to digest the Church initiative to bring Dalit-Tribals to the mainstream of society. And, they have attacked Christians – both Pana and Tribals – as they are going up in the social and economic ladder. It is not a conflict of caste-ethnic violence as it has been shown in Kandhamal. "If it is a caste-ethnic violence, then how the Hindu fundamentalists have attacked the tribal Christians in Kandhamal", he questioned showing his hand towards the victimized tribal Christians who have taken shelter in his Archbishop House Bunglow in Bhubaneswar.

Further, Cheenath got agitated to point out that more than 200 Churches have been destroyed in Kandhamal violence in which several Christians lost their life and thousands had become homeless. A nun and a Hindu girl were raped by the Hindu fundamentalists. The Hindu girl was raped and murdered because her grand-parents were converted Christians, he stated.  

It is a fact beyond denial that a large number of converted Dalit Christians have got the basic education in the Church run schools. But, at the same time, it is also true that the conversion has failed to change their social status.

The discontentment within the Dalit Christian community is simmering as the Church is not addressing the discriminatory trends prevalent in the Christian community. RL Francis, President, Poor Christians Liberation Movement (PCLM) alleges that the Church is shying away from its responsibility by putting all the responsibility on the government. The Dalits have converted into Christianity before Independence in search of self-respect. And, they have relieved all the privileges including reservation facility offered by the Government to them, he said.

He said that the caste discrimination is still rampant in Christian community. Both Dalits and Tribals population constitute nearly seventy five per cent of Christian population. But, they hold less than ten per cent of the positions in the Church hierarchy. "The Church should stop conversion activity and should set up a Rs 1,000 crore - Dalit Christian Development - fund to ensure an integrated social and economic development", he said.

This discriminatory trend prevalent in Christian community is against the teachings of Bible:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus

Galatians, 3:28

When the attention was drawn towards Francis's allegations, Cheenath  said that the discrimination is prevalent in the old churches  of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Church has vehemently denounced these trends. Neverthless, some disgruntled elements are always there to make allegations on some or other ground, he added. 

However, the views of John Dayal, member, National Integration Council (NIC) and a Dalit Christian leader, is similar to that of Francis as he said, "the fact remains that the act of untouchability was outlawed by the new constitution, but not the fact of it.  Untouchability is not just Varna and the Manusmriti, it is in the very soil of this country and its genetic stock, after three-thousand years; Indian upper caste Hindus export it with them when they become NRIs, and Indian Dalits export it with them when they become Sikhs, or Muslims or Christians, that is the reality, as bitter as the existence of the cheri, the Dalit sub-village downwind of the upper caste south Indian village".

It is interesting to note that the Pana Hindus have become Pana Christians after the conversions. This is an all India phenomena because Caste is a social reality in India. This phenomena is intense in South India specially in Andhra Pradesh. The dominant castes Kamma and Reddy have become Kamma Christians and Reddy Christians. Similarly, the Mala and Madigas (the two types of Dalits) have turned Mala Christians and Madiga Christians. There is a separate drinking water, sitting, and burial ground arrangements in Andhra Pradesh as well as in Tamil Nadu.  

The situation is not very different in the literate Kerala where Christianity  is more than 1,900 years old. The denominations itself have been formed on the caste lines. The Syrian Christians by and large consists of upper caste and they have a strong hold over business, education, bureaucracy, land and of course politics of the state.

Likewise, the Latin Catholic Christians are the converts from the backward classes and fishermen. And, Nadar Christians are the converts from the Nadar Hindus in Kerala.

John Dayal admits that the Christian community is particular on the caste and denominations when it comes to the marriages. "Inter caste (denomination) marriages are still a rarity, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They are becoming more common in metro and in north India among educated classes.  They are, however, still the exception.  It is also partly because of denominational issues. Syros Malabar  will marry Syros Malabar girl, so to say, and that takes care of both language and caste affinity", he said.

To conclude, the Dalits are at the receiving end both from the castist and communal forces. They have become fodder both for the Christian expansionists and Hindu fundamentalists. The former wants to take them into their fold to get more and more foreign funds and the later force them to re-convert for the political considerations.

The need of the hour is to intensify the social and political movement in Orissa also on the lines of Tamil Nadu, UP and other states. The social and economic development along with the political empowerment of both Dalits and  Tribals can only bring social and communal harmony and can change the face of Orissa.    

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Senthil Raja

Modi had shown his magnonimity in offering compensation..

karkare's family might have declined it for some obvious reasons..

But the way NDTV handled it is really outrageous..  as far as i know,
other channels did not sensationalise it..

But NDTV repeatedly displayed it as Breaking news, and in
sensationalised it..

I condemn the acts of NDTV for exploiting this situation..

Regards,
Senthil

anand mohan tiwari

Rather than saluting, it would have been appreciable had Mr. Ambarish Rai collected Rs. 1 crore to replace the amount which was declined!

Such empty praises look good on paper only.

A M Tiwari 

Manoj padhi