By Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Mar 22, 2012 (IPS) – As the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted in, Thursday, a resolution asking Colombo to act on recommendations made by its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), Buddhist prayers reverberated through the Sri Lankan capital.

“It is a resolution that encourages Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of its own LLRC and to make concerted efforts at achieving the kind of meaningful accountability upon which lasting reconciliation efforts can be built,” United States ambassador to the Council, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, said in Geneva.

As expected, Sri Lankan leaders rejected the resolution. Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, head of the Sri Lankan delegation in Geneva, termed it as misconceived, unwarranted and ill timed. “Shouldn’t we be given more time and space?”

But, two years and 10 months have elapsed since the Sri Lankan military decisively ended this island’s three-decade-old civil war, and the majority of UNHRC members thought it was time Colombo acted to safeguard the rights of the Tamil minority on the island.

Thousands of civilians died as the war ended in 2009 with a bloody offensive into the northern areas of the country where the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was then entrenched.

The U.S. – led resolution was passed with 24 voting in favour, 15 against and eight abstaining in the 47-member U.N. body.

“It is a matter of great satisfaction to us that 15 countries voted with Sri Lanka, despite the intensity of pressure, in a variety of forms, exerted on them all,” said G.L. Peiris, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, in a statement.

“As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, our policy in respect of all matters will continue to be guided by the vital interests and wellbeing of the people of our country. It hardly requires emphasis that this cannot yield place to any other consideration,” Peiris’ statement said.

Significantly, Sri Lanka’s ally and influential neighbour, India, voted in favour of the resolution. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had indicated to Indian parliament, on Mar. 19, a shift in stance by a country that had stood with Colombo against U.S. and European moves to bring the war before the UNHRC in 2009.

An Indian official statement said the Sri Lankan government had committed at the UNHRC in 2009, to “forge a consensual way forward towards reconciliation through a political settlement respecting all the ethnic and religious groups inhabiting the nation.”

India urged Sri Lanka to “take measures for accountability and to promote human rights that it has committed to. It is these steps, more than anything we declare in this Council, which would bring about genuine reconciliation between all the communities of Sri Lanka, including the minority Tamil community.”

“As a neighbour with thousands of years of cordial relations with Lanka, with deep-rooted spiritual and cultural ties, we cannot remain untouched by developments in that country,” the Indian statement said

Rights activists in Sri Lanka told IPS that the UNHRC resolution’s impact on the country would be symbolic.

“The symbolism is that many countries have expressed their assessment that the country has not lived up to their expectations in terms of international human rights obligations,” Ruki Fernando, head of the human rights in conflict programme at the national advocacy and research body, the Law and Society Trust, told IPS.

Fernando said much now depends on “whether the government is willing to move ahead with the LLRC recommendations and work with the Council as suggested in the third recommendation in the resolution.”

Established in September 2010 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to look into the conduct of the war from 2002 till May 2009, when it ended, the LLRC handed over its final report with the recommendations last November.

Indications, in the build up to the vote in Geneva, suggest that the government is unlikely to cooperate. Sri Lankan delegation leader Mahinda Samarasinghe told UNHRC that his country would inform it periodically on progress, voluntarily, as it had done even before the war.

Barely 24 hours before the vote, President Rajapaksa told a public meeting in the northwestern town of Puttalam that he would not allow any form of foreign intervention.

“This is the second battle we are facing, after the war (against the LTTE),” Wimal Weeravansha, minister for housing, told another packed rally in Colombo on Mar. 13.

Weeravansha who has been leading public protests against what he terms as attempts by West to interfere – he launched a fast-unto-death in mid-2010 before the U.N. offices in Colombo that only ended when the president intervened – called on Sri Lankans to boycott U.S. products, including Coca-Cola and Google.

The overwhelming sense at public rallies is that Sri Lanka and the Rajapaksa government are being targeted by Western powers for independent policies and alignment with powers like China, Russia and India.

Tamil political leaders have a completely different view and support the U.N. resolution.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest party representing minority Tamils in parliament, said that it was pushed to support the resolution because of the government’s lethargy in acting on power devolution and feels that only international prodding will help.

“The government has not done anything towards finding a solution (to power devolution) but has been going on according its own agenda. We have no option but to ask for international support,” TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran told IPS.

“The LLRC is the government’s own baby. But, it has not even implemented the interim recommendations of the LLRC. We strongly feel that these issues cannot be solved without international participation,” he added.

The resolution, however, avoids reference to war crimes or an international investigation, as called for by international rights groups like Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group.

The final draft said assistance from the UNHRC will be obtained “in consultation with, and with the concurrence of, the government of Sri Lanka” – reportedly through Indian influence.

These nuances are, however, no reason for a change of heart from the supporters of the government on the streets.

“This is a veiled attempt to influence our country, to make sure that they (West) can set up a proxy administration here,” said Waragoda Premarathana, a Buddhist monk who had taken part in the Mar.19 rally.

Related posts:

1. Sri Lanka rattled by planned UN rights resolution By Amantha Perera COLOMBO, Feb 29, 2012 (IPS) – Strung...
2. Sri Lanka human rights abuse probe ‘set to fail’ A presidential commission in Sri Lanka investigating human rights abuses...
3. Sri Lanka: India urges Rajapaksa devolution package Sharad Pawar, Indian Minister for Agriculture and political veteran, has...

By Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Feb 29, 2012 (IPS) – Strung across the main road leading away from the international airport is a banner that has an intriguing message: ‘USA, Pls Do Not Support Terrorism’.

Most of the other large billboards and banners on the same stretch are also directed at visiting tourists, but these are less political and exhort them to visit beach locations or buy jewellery.

The banner is part of a government campaign to thwart or at least discredit a United States-led resolution to be tabled at the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) that began in Geneva on Monday.

The resolution calls on the Sri Lankan government to detail how it plans to act on the recommendations made by its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), according to U.S. assistant secretary of state for south and central Asia Robert Blake.

The LLRC was set up in May 2010 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to inquire into the civil war and related events between 2002 and May 2009, when the conflict finally ended. It presented its final report in November 2011.

The Sri Lankan government has steadfastly rejected international intervention into the conduct of the final phase of the war, despite mounting allegations of rights abuses. So far, it has successfully resisted all attempts to bring on international scrutiny.

In May 2009, as the war was ending and government troops were mopping up the remnants of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Sri Lankan diplomats in Geneva were able to quash a resolution at the UNHRC calling for an international inquiry.

The South Asian nation, backed by India, China and Russia, was then able to get passed a counter-resolution hailing the victory of government forces.

Since then, however, the diplomatic atmosphere in Geneva has changed. Colombo appears shaken by the impending resolution, with high-ranking government officials publicly dubbing the move by the U.S. as intrusive intimidation.

“President Rajapaksa had challenged the conflict management theory introduced by some Western countries. They have named Sri Lanka a country engaged in human rights violations,” youth affairs minister Dullas Alahapperuma told media a day before the Geneva sessions were to start.

“At a moment when they should be supporting Sri Lanka’s revival, they are trying to impose their will on us,” Alahapperuma complained.

Mahinda Samarasinghe, minister and leader of the Sri Lankan delegation at Geneva, said as the sessions began: “We are of the view that this (resolution) could be perceived as undue interference with internal processes of recovery and reconciliation containing strong elements of prejudgement and the application of double standards.”

The government, Samarasinghe said, had in fact begun to implement some of the LLRC recommendations. He was referring to the army and the navy setting up internal inquiries to ascertain whether there were any rights abuses.

Separately, the attorney-general’s department too has begun interviewing some of those who gave evidence at the LLRC.

However, rights activists say that the government needs to show a consistent intent that it is serious about carrying through the LLRC recommendations, rather than reacting when calls for international scrutiny are heard.

“It has to set up an apex body, with possibly the president at the head, to carry out the recommendations. Then it would be clear that the intent is there,” Jehan Perera, executive director of the Colombo-based advocacy body, the National Peace Council, told IPS.

Perera believes that despite the criticism, the final report of the LLRC does give the government a vital entry point into national reconciliation after three decades of civil war. “It is a very important document, one that gives a lot of opportunities.”

Other activists say that widespread protests – some 150 were held in various parts of the country on Feb. 27, mostly organised by ruling party legislators – were unlikely to create any kind of pressure in Geneva.

“I don’t think protests here will change anything in Geneva. Any resolution in Geneva is usually negotiated for several months and weeks,” Ruki Fernando, head of the human rights in conflict programme at the advocacy body, Law and Society Trust, told IPS.

Fernando felt that the government was trying to drum up support by harping on charges of a foreign conspiracy against an independent leadership.

“I think it’s misleading to call this a resolution against Sri Lanka,” said Fernando. “How can a resolution that calls for the implementation of our own LLRC’s recommendations, dealing with accountability issues that the LLRC couldn’t address and having an action plan and road map with specific timelines be against Sri Lanka?”

No official version of the resolution has been made available, but leaked drafts indicate that it will call for the implementation of the LLRC recommendations.

In August 2011, the government acknowledged for the first time, in a report, that there were civilian casualties in the final phase of the war, but did not give any numbers.

The report was released soon after a U.N. experts panel spoke of tens of thousands of people having been killed in the last months of the war and deliberate shelling of civilians.

Related posts:

1. Sri Lanka human rights abuse probe ‘set to fail’ A presidential commission in Sri Lanka investigating human rights abuses...
2. Sri Lanka: India urges Rajapaksa devolution package Sharad Pawar, Indian Minister for Agriculture and political veteran, has...
3. Abducted Sri Lanka Red Cross staff shot dead Colombo: Two Sri Lankan Red Cross volunteers who had been...

  WASHINGTON, Jan 31, 2012 (IPS) – Home to over 44 million small retailers, many of them family- owned, neighbourhood stores no bigger than 200 square feet, India is a land renowned for its various “wallas” – small traders who produce, hawk, repair or deliver just about anything you could want at any hour of the day or night.

But a recent push by some of the world’s biggest multinational corporations (MNCs) like the U.S.’s Walmart, Britain’s Tesco and France’s Carrefour to enter India’s 450-billion-dollar consumer market could signal the swan song of the country’s traditional and beloved small business sector.

Earlier this year, intense public opposition halted the Indian government’s decision to open the sluice gates to increased foreign direct investment (FDI) from single- and multi-brand retailers, prompting a spate of heated debate about the possible impacts of such a move on the economy.

Though the final decision to allow unchecked investment in a hitherto protected sector has been tabled, the battle for small retailers is far from over.

Formerly lucrative markets in Western Europe and North America are drying up, the spending capacity of their middle classes exhausted by years of consumption from the very businesses that are now banging at the gates of fresh marketplaces in the global South.

As one financial crisis after another crashes over the developed world, MNCs are looking elsewhere: in the townships of South Africa, along the banks of the Amazon, in the favelas of Brazil and now in India’s urban centres, which are teeming with over 169 million potential customers in just 53 cities.

History repeats itself?

When Walmart initially began its campaign to penetrate the Indian market, its website promised to provide the country’s “underserved” market with a wider range of goods at lower prices, while increasing efficiency, reducing waste and creating jobs.

But a closer look at the “Walmart effect” in the birthplace of the world’s largest private employer pulls back the veil on a less rosy reality.

“The proliferation of Walmart across the U.S. has led to the lowering of income of over a million workers,” Deidre Griswold, a former U.S. presidential candidate and editor of the Workers World newspaper, told IPS.

“It has the world’s biggest computer (system) and the largest fleet of trucks, both of which it touts as examples of its productivity. But what is the use of increased productivity if it’s not coupled with more leisure time and better salaries for workers?”

The average “sales associate” at Walmart earned less than 250 dollars a week, an annual income that lies well below the U.S.’s official poverty line for even small families.

“Walmart reflects the central problem with capitalism, where ‘productivity’ only means bigger profits for capitalists and further exploitation of workers. Most Walmart employees are only hired on a part-time basis, making it impossible for them to claim unemployment benefits even though they barely earn enough to survive,” Griswold added.

Furthermore, the lack of formal employment contracts for a majority of employees “effectively crushes workers’ collective bargaining power and destroys what is left of the unions”.

Walmart has also been proven to decimate local economies.

According to some estimates, for every Walmart that opens, 100 stores in the area are forced out of business.

Ten years after Walmart arrived in Iowa in 1990, “the state lost 555 grocery stores, 298 hardware stores, 293 building supply stores, 161 variety stores, 158 women’s apparel stores, 153 shoe stores, 116 drugstores, and 111 men’s and boys’ apparel stores.”

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that Walmart was responsible for 27 billion of the U.S.’s 235-billion-dollar trade deficit with China in 2006. The total deficit accounted for 1.8 million lost jobs, of which Walmart was singlehandedly responsible for about 200,000 as a result of its imports from China.

Roughly 133,000 of these were manufacturing jobs, one of the few sectors that provides benefits and offers decent pay to U.S. workers with less than a college education.

Each of the 4,022 stores Wal-Mart operated in the U.S. resulted in 77 workers losing their jobs, mainly because of the company’s huge deficit with China.

Its ability to impact so heavily on international trade has effectively made Walmart a nation unto itself – already its yearly profits exceed the annual GDP of Norway, the 25th largest economy in the world.

Critics contrast Walmart’s success with the overall deterioration of the standard of living in the average U.S. household, 17 million of which were food insecure in 2010, the highest number ever recorded in the U.S. according to the World Hunger Organisation’s annual report.

India – even more vulnerable?

If a single corporation has the power to render hundreds of thousands of workers jobless in the one of the world’s wealthiest countries, it is not too difficult to imagine MNCs’ impact on India, already home to well over 400 million poor people by the most conservative estimates.

According to Jayati Ghosh, an economist at the premier Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, every job Walmart offers in India will come at the expense of 17 or 18 small traders and their staff.

With joblessness already on the rise (total employment growth dropped from 2.7 percent between 2000-2005 to just 0.8 percent between 2005- 2010, according to the latest National Sample Survey), many argue that India can ill afford to open its doors to mammoth corporations.

A quick assessment of employment patterns among three leading MNCs debunks the Indian ministry of commerce’s promise to create four million jobs through its relaxation on FDI in three years.

Tesco boasts upwards of 490,000 employees in 5,380 stores worldwide; Carrefour has just over 471,000 workers spread over 15,937 stores; Metro, with just 2131 stores, hires 283,000 people annually; and Walmart operates 9,826 stores staffed by roughly two million people.

“If four million jobs are to be created in India, Walmart (which averages 219 employees per store) will need to open over 18,600 supermarkets in India,” Ghosh said. “If the average of the four retailers (above) are considered, i.e.: 117 employees per store, over 34,180 supermarkets have to open in three years, or 644 supermarkets in each of the 53 cities.”

In an apparent attempt to “protect” small retailers, the Indian government stipulated that companies entering the market should invest a minimum of 100 million dollars, thereby supposedly ensuring that foreign businesses would not compete with small local stores.

But given that Walmart’s annual revenue is almost 400 billion dollars, it could easily set up a network of small- and medium-sized stores to meet the needs of a diverse clientele and thus nudge domestic retailers out of the picture.

Ghosh also stressed the risk of Walmart buying out local private sector retailers in order to secure the necessary monopoly with which to completely dictate terms in a newly acquired market.

“This is how the global retailers have expanded their operations in many developing countries in Latin America and Asia,” Ghosh said.

For example, “Walmart entered Mexico in 1991-92 with a 50-50 joint venture with the local firm CIFRA. By 1997 it had acquired majority stake in the venture and increased its stake to 60 percent in 2000. By 2004, Walmart alone accounted for over 25 percent of all retail sales in Mexico and 43 percent of all sales by the big box retailers.”

If, like the average Indian consumer, the government wants to protect the diversity and history of its smaller traders, it will have to sacrifice Walmart in order to safeguard its ‘wallas’.

Related posts:

1. Indian workers face hell in US: Big protests against exploitation US dream lost in packed dorms, stink of stale food...

India's Central Power Minister, Mr. Sushilkumar Shinde speaking at the 1st Australia-India Energy and Minerals Forum, in Perth, Australia on June 07, 2010. PHOTO: PIB

By Rajeev Sharma

New Delhi & Melbourne: The electricity sector in India supplies the world’s 5th largest energy consumer, accounting for about four per cent of global energy consumption by more than 17 per cent of global population. The energy sector India is mainly controlled by the Indian government’s, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and Ministry of New Renewable Energy and administered locally by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).
Rapid economic growth has created a growing need for dependable and reliable supplies of electricity, gas and petroleum products. Due to the fast-paced growth of India’s economy, the country’s energy demand has grown an average of 3.6 per cent per annum over the past 30 years. In August 2011, the installed power generation capacity of India stood at 181.558 GW and per capita energy consumption stood at 704 kWh in 2008-09. The country’s annual energy production increased from about 190 billion kWh in 1986 to more than 837 billion kWh in 2010.
According to a research report published by Citigroup Global Markets, India is expected to add up to 113 GW of installed capacity by 2017. Further, renewable capacity might increase from 15.5 GW to 36.0 GW. In the private sector, major capacity additions are planned in Reliance Power (35 GW) and CESC (7 GW).
Mr. Sushil Kumar Sambhajirao Shinde, is the current Power Minister and has been leading India’s surge towards rapid development in the Power sector. This Sonia Gandhi loyalist took charge of the ministry in 2006 and showed interest in encouraging private sector participation.
His brief: UPA’s CMP aimed to increase the role of private companies in power generation and distribution, modernise and electrify rural India. The Congress manifesto promised each household full access to reliable power in 3-5 years and adding 6,000-8,000 MW of capacity annually using India’s forex resources.
According to the Indian Express he “Facilitated launch of four Ultra Mega Power Projects of 4,000 MW each, showed enthusiasm in letting the private sector into the power sector, launched a new policy for hydro power and pushed for adoption of Compact Fluorescent Lamps and oversaw the electrification of 45,000 villages under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana offering electricity to 40 lakh BPL households.”
In June last year Mr. Shinde visited Australia to attend the India Australia energy and Mineral forum at Perth. Sharing with the audience in Perth a paranomic view of the Indian economy in general and of the power sector in particular, Mr. Shinde observed that “India during the global downturn managed to achieve one of the highest growth rates in the world. He said that in spite of all odds the Indian economy exhibited significant resilience in 2009-10 and closed the year with a respectable growth rate of 7.4 per cent. India’s capacity to withstand the global shock better than many other emerging market economies was assisted largely by the sound macro-economic and financial sector policy environment that had been put in place in the post reform period by careful assessment of the opportunities and risks associated with reforms. “
Mr. Shinde indicated cooperation with Australia in developing Gas based power plants especially in western India since Australia has huge reserves of Gas.

Addressing a distinguished gathering of policy makers, business leaders and other stakeholders in the energy and mineral sector, the Minister observed that Indian companies are interested in procurement of coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia. In the area of exploration, he said, companies are beginning to invest in each other’s country and expressed hope that these investments would grow further.
The Minister observed that Investor confidence has returned to the sector which is amply borne out by the fact that all projects of the 11the Five Year Plan have achieved financial closure. He said that success of Ultra Mega Power Projects, which are of 4000 MW each and involve investments to the tune of US$ 4 billion, has renewed the faith of the private investors in Indian power sector. 4 projects have already been completed bidding for, fifth is under process and sixth is ready for bidding. Eight more projects are being planned, Shri Shinde added.
The Minister also highlighted a low carbon growth strategy for the Indian Power Sector which includes elements such as Super Critical Technology in Thermal Plants, the rapid induction of Clean Coal Technologies and a sharper focus on renewables. He observed that international majors like Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Alstom and Ansaldo have already started the process of partnering with Indian manufacturers to set up Super Critical Manufacturing facilities in India. Mentioning the recently launched Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission for the creation of a capacity of over 20 thousand MW based on Solar Energy by the year 2020, Shri Shinde said that steps are being taken to provide incentives for the rapid deployment of Wind Energy throughout the country.
- With inputs from Melbourne News Bureau.

No related posts.

By Andrea Lunt

United Nations, March 11, 2011 (IPS) – Afghanistan’s historic Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban 10 years ago, will not be reconstructed despite claims the 1,500-year-old statues could be repaired, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has said.
The decision follows a two-day meeting of scientists, Afghan officials and donors in Paris recently.
While the expert panel was split on the possibility of reconstruction, UNESCO has told the Afghan government it does not support a rebuild project, citing concerns over funding priorities and authenticity.
Replicating the colossal monuments, which once stood 55 and 38 metres tall, could cost between eight and 12 million dollars. However, less than half of the original stone used to build the statues remains.
“We think any reconstruction will essentially be a fake because of lack of original material,” UNESCO’s assistant director-general for culture, Francesco Bandarin, told reporters at a special conference in New York.
“We have to think of the public, and they don’t need to see a fake, they need to see the reality. And these statues have been destroyed. As much as we mourn that they have been destroyed it’s an historical fact,” he added.
The Bamiyan Buddhas, dating from the sixth century, were bombed in 2001 as part of the Taliban’s campaign to rid Afghanistan of pre-Islamic structures.
While much of the statues was reduced to dust, a group of German scientists, led by Professor Erwin Emmerling of the University of Munich, has said the smaller of the two could be restored.
The scientists have spent years studying the Buddhas, by analysing the hundreds of exploded fragments currently stacked in warehouses in the Bamiyan Valley.
According to Emmerling, a reconstruction project could be feasible using the original stone, but there would be practical considerations. Either a small factory would have to be built in the valley, or the 1,400 rocks weighing up to two tonnes each would need to be transported to Germany.
The scientists’ proposals, however, have not been accepted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government, which has indicated it, will not go ahead with restoration.
The decision has drawn strong criticism from Afghanistan’s Hazara community, a minority ethnic group that claims a long association with the Bamiyan Valley and views the Buddha statues as a source of pride.

The international advocacy organisation Hazara People said the consensus to not rebuild was “shameful”.
The group believes the decision is politically influenced and reflects the continued discrimination aganst Hazara peoples in Afghanistan.
“We are not surprised the Afghan government does not want to rebuild the Bamiyan Buddhas,” a spokesperson, who did not want to be named, told IPS. “Bamiyan Buddhas are great proof that say Hazara people have been living in that area for thousands of years.”
Hazaras have long faced violence in Afghanistan, suffering genocide, slavery, and forced displacement under a series of governments including the Taliban.
And while the ethnic group is predominately Muslim, their East Asian appearance bears a resemblance to monuments such as the Bamiyan Buddhas.
“Afghan regimes have had this policy to destroy all historic symbols of Hazaras,” the spokesperson continued. “The (19th century) Afghan/Pashtun king Abdurrahman has destroyed the face of Buddha in Bamiyan. It was very simple, he didn’t want Buddha’s face like Hazara’s face.”
The group rejected the argument that there was a lack of funding for restoration, pointing to the Karzai government’s recent willingness to financially support the reconstruction of Pashtun poet Rahman Baba’s bombed shrine in Pakistan.
“But the same government didn’t pay one dollar for the Bamiyan Buddhas,” the spokesperson told IPS.
“The expenses of a few projects in Bamiyan have been covered by some international donors. Furthermore, eight to 12 million dollars is nothing compared to billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan…eight to 12 million dollars is nothing compared to a million dollars corruption by Afghan senior officials.”
While acknowledging there was desire to see the Buddhas rebuilt, UNESCO believes priority should now be placed on preserving the wider Bamiyan Valley, a World Heritage-listed site containing treasured Buddhist art and monastic caves dating to the first century.
The organisation, which has already conducted extensive consolidation of the ancient niches where the statues once stood, has called for construction of a central museum in Bamiyan, in addition to smaller site museums within the area.
“The priority now is creating the capacity to conserve what is there and ensuring the security of the site, in order to have it open for tourism,” Bandarin said.
Source: SAT, March 2011

Related posts:

1. 62 ft Buddha statue discovered in Afghanistan A giant statue of a Buddha has been discovered in...
2. Suspected Taliban attack giant Pakistan Buddha Buddha at Sawat Suspected pro-Taleban militants have tried to blow...

By Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Mar 14 (IPS) – The graves at a cemetery in Moach Goth have no epitaphs, no verses from the
Koran, not even the names of the deceased. The only inscription on the small
wooden signs that serve as headstones is a number and the date of burial. The
latest one is Number 72,315.

This is a burial ground of unclaimed dead, overseen by the Karachi-based
Edhi Foundation. It is also the gravesite of newborns abandoned by unwed
mothers who face death for bearing the fruit of ‘illicit’ relationships.

Established by Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, the foundation is South Asia’s
largest private social service network. For the past six decades, it has been
providing burials for dead and abandoned newborns.

“Last year the number of abandoned newborns we buried across Pakistan was
1,210,” foundation spokesperson Anwar Kazmi told IPS.

The number is up from 999 in 2009, and 890 in 2008 – most of them baby
girls. In Karachi alone in 2011, the foundation buried 30 infants retrieved
from garbage dumps and drains, or brought to them by the police.

These figures come only from a few urban centres. “The number could be
much higher, but we will never find out,” said Kazmi, who has been with the
foundation for 40 years.

In this conservative Muslim nation, having a baby out of wedlock is considered
a sin, and adultery is punishable by death under strict interpretations of
Islamic law.

“Young people are having babies out of wedlock and even when they want to
get married of their own free will, they are denied this right bestowed by
Islam by parents,” Kazmi says.

He narrates a tragic episode illustrating the mindset prevailing in society. The
story occurred 25 years ago in Khamosh Colony, one of Karachi’s squatter
settlements.

“A woman left a newborn on the steps of a mosque just before sunrise. When
the men came out after offering their morning prayers and found the baby,
they informed the cleric, who proclaimed it to be an illicit baby which should
be stoned to death. And it was,” Kazmi said.

The mindset prevails, and extends even to government hospitals where some
doctors turn away desperate women, who then seek the help of “unskilled
persons”.

Shershah Syed, an eminent obstetrician and gynaecologist, told IPS that while
abortion is legal, it is still not carried out in government hospitals. If it were,
there would be a “marked decrease” in infanticide.

“There needs to be a sea change in the attitude of the doctors who refuse to
address the needs of a pregnant woman, or a woman who comes for
termination and desires privacy and confidentiality,” Syed told IPS.

At the Moach Goth cemetery near Naval Colony some 14 kilometres from the
city centre, the smaller graves are just mounds of earth and don’t even get a
number. The only sign is an inconspicuous yellow stone marking the head of
each grave.

Khair Mohammad, the graveyard’s 65-year old caretaker, has been the
gravedigger for almost 29 years, an occupation his four sons took up as well.
Pointing to the 10-acre piece of land, Mohammad says it is the third one the
foundation acquired just three years back, and is fast filling up. The other two
just across the road are in decrepit condition.

But for sometime now, Mohammad said, he has been getting requests for
more and more graves for babies.

“Last year, we must have dug between 200 to 250 graves for the young ones,”
he recounted. Mohammad’s middle son also performs the last prayer before
the dead are finally laid to rest.

Twenty-five year old Haq Nawaz has been giving these babies the rite of the
last bath, putting them in a plastic bag, and then shrouding them in white
cloth, in keeping with the Muslim ritual.

“I was very scared in the beginning and a decomposed body smells awful,” he
told IPS.

Nawaz, who has been at his job for four years, said he has seen babies
infested with insects, “creatures coming out from their nose and eyes” or
having skin so “frayed” that it comes off at the slightest touch.

It takes a lot of courage, he said, to bathe the dead. “I feel privileged to be
doing this deed as in Islam, we believe, performing this last ritual earns you
points for the hereafter,” Nawaz said. To him, only the act of conceiving, and
not the baby, is illegitimate, and he said he fails to understand how anyone
could snuff the life out of such tiny beings.

Since the early 1970s, Kazmi said, the foundation has installed cradles
outside some of its centres where parents could leave unwanted children.
Today all of the foundation’s 335 centres have one and scores of babies are
left in the foundation’s care.

Every day, at their centre in Mithadar, 70-year old Bilquis Edhi, the wife of
founder Maulana, interviews at least four or five childless couples desperate
to adopt – making certain the babies go to the right people. “The ones
leftover with us are always the girls and the sick,” she says.

But the possibility of giving up babies for adoption has not stopped
infanticide. “We advertise our cradles every third day, but have not succeeded
in stopping the murder of these innocent lives,” Kazmi said.

Babies are born out of wedlock in all societies, Syed pointed out. But, he said
the trend of unwanted pregnancies is likely to increase “in urban centres,
where poor families are living in one-room homes and where there is no
privacy even for married couples, where there is little or no education, where
the sole entertainment and exposure to the outside world is through films and
the idiot box.” One solution, he proposed, is age-appropriate all-
encompassing reproductive health education to be incorporated in school
curricula for the young.

No related posts.

By Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Jan 16 (IPS) – Winter in the Indian capital is a season of mists, minus the mellow fruitfulness.
The air becomes charged with toxic emissions and particles that cannot disperse
due to a meteorological phenomenon called “atmospheric inversion”.

According to B.P. Yadav, scientist with the meteorological department,
atmospheric inversion is caused by a warming of the upper layers of the
atmosphere, trapping colder air on the surface and, with it, vehicular and
industrial emissions.

“The immediate result of the phenomenon is severely reduced visibility that
throws flight schedules out of gear, as also the movement of trains and road
vehicles,” Yadav said. “The phenomenon should not be mistaken for plain fog
which forms with plain moisture and high humidity.”

Atmospheric inversion also causes severe health problems. “There is a marked
rise in respiratory ailments in the winter months due to smog and it can also
aggravate heart problems,” says K.K. Aggarwal, a leading cardiologist in this
city of 15 million people.

“Delhi’s air in winter is a toxic cocktail but the worst ingredient, from the
point of view of health, is respirable suspended particulate matter which can
enter the bloodstream through the lungs after inhalation, in much the same
way as cigarette smoke,” Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal, a noted champion of public health issues, said people have
forgotten the killer “London Fog” which claimed some 5,000 lives in 1952.

“Many industrial countries had since that tragedy adopted ambient air quality
standards to protect the public from such pollutants as sulphur and nitrogen
oxides, suspended particulate matter and carbon monoxide released by
burning fossil fuels. India, sadly, does not enforce these norms,” Aggarwal
said.

Studies conducted last year by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi,
showed that pollutants from the transport and industry sectors react with
moisture under low temperature conditions to produce the thick fog that
shrouds the city between November and January.

“The problem is worsening each year and threatens to overtake gains from a
Supreme Court order ten years ago which ordered all diesel-run buses and
taxis off the streets of Delhi and replaced them with fleets running on
compressed natural gas (CNG),” says Anumita Roy Choudhury, a director at
the Centre for Science and Environment, a leading non-government
organisation.

“Second-generation reforms will need to seriously scale up public transport
and reduce traffic volumes,” Choudhury said.

Citing official disease statistics, Choudhury said acute respiratory diseases
reported in the city went up by 28 percent between 2005 and 2008. “The
government will need to take really strong measures to address air pollution.”

‘Role of Meteorology on Urban Air Pollution Dispersion’, a scientific analysis
for a 20-year period up to 2008 found that concentrations of pollutants were
40 – 80 percent higher during the winter months when compared to the
annual average for the period.

Sarath Guttikunda who led the study said that while interventions like
changing the entire bus fleet and introduction of a metro rail system were
helpful, more industries needed to be shut down or relocated to meet
acceptable clean air standards.

However, such drastic steps may be hard to carry out given the various
industrial lobbies at play. For example, diesel engine manufacturers have not
given up trying to re-enter Delhi’s vast automobile market by discrediting
CNG.

A study released last month by the Central Pollution Control Board entitled
‘Study of the Exhaust Gases from different fuel based vehicles for Carbonyls
and Methane Emissions’ describes CNG as the “worst” fuel and openly
supports the use of diesel.

“The design, scope and conclusion of the study have raised many doubts
about the objective of the study,” said Choudhury. “The study has become a
pawn in the hands of diesel business that is out to use it to discredit CNG. No
study in the world has ever said that CNG is dirtier than diesel.”

As for relocating industries, the Delhi state government has embarked upon a
controversial programme of building “waste-to-energy” plants, through
private public partnerships, on the plea that they will produce electricity from
rubbish-derived fuels.

CPCB member secretary B. Sen Gupta said the plants were, in fact, being set
up in violation of Supreme Court orders that require all such incinerators to
be located far away from residential areas.

“What we need is scientific management of waste, starting with proper
collection and segregation, rather than indiscriminate incineration,” Sen Gupta
said. “Incineration plants have been a failure in India and plant owners get
funds and subsides form the government which are misused.”

“These so-called waste-to-energy plants use discredited technology that will
only contribute to the load of RSPM and other toxic emissions in Delhi’s air,”
said Gopal Krishna, convenor of Toxic Watch, a major NGO. “Anyone can see
that these plants can only worsen Delhi’s dangerous winter smog.”

No related posts.

RESTORATION OF DIGNITY-- A Local Fruit vendor, whose right leg was amputeed on an accident is provided with a tricycle at the camp site.

There is a foundational connection between the information and social
obligation, need to pay attention to the weaker and marginalized depends
greatly on our knowledge and information about them. More information
awareness in itself goes a long way to breaking that chain of apathy and
indifference.

Envisioning a larger societal purpose with an aim of connecting rehabilitation
professional with those in need a free assistive devices camp under a mission Ability
Beyond Disability is being organized under the aegis of National Institute of Visually
Handicapped,(NIVH) under Ministry Of Social Justice & Empowerment GOI, in
collaboration with Heritage Foundation, IFP-INDIA, District Admin, and local social
welfare organizations etc. at the JALPAIGURI (North Bengal) on 30th September to 01st
October 2010.
The camp was inaugurated by Mrs Vandana Yadav IAS, District Magistrate Jalpaiguri,
in presense of Mr J.P. Lakhera, Rehabilitation Officer, NIVH, Dr R. Banik, CMO,
Mrs Reena Roy, MD, IFP- India, Mr Anujit Mukherjee, Deputy MD,IFP-India, Dr
Roopa Vohra, Secretary General, Heritage Foundation, Mr P.K. Mukherjee, , Advisor
BCCI, and Mr Tapash Kr Chatterjee First Nodal Officer of the said mission, who has
conceptualize and operationalise this mission.

A total of 2800 beneficiaries of varied handicapped were benefitted from the camp.
Tricycles, wheel chairs, hearing aid, spectacles, brail sets, auxiliary crutches, elbow
crutches, etc were made available to the beneficiaries on the spot after the hassel
free assessment of rehabilitation professional at the camp site accompanied with the
camp team. The camp rekindled hope to the differently abled persons and their care
givers, on witnessing the adoption of transparent modality in displaying the provisioning
of about 350 tricycles, 300 wheel chairs, over 1400 spectacles, 1500 hearing aids,
1000 varied types of crutches etc at the camp site apart from uplifting the spirit of the
community which was evident from the attendance and common public volunteering
their services for this camp as time progress.

The adjacent areas tea garden welfare bodies participation and the provisioning of
transport for the beneficiaries, attendants, caregivers and overwhelming participations
of the college going young girls, boys and their untiring efforts aimed towards the poor-
marginalized- senior citizens in obtaining varied assistive devices on the spot was an
epitome of people’s participations in making a big differences to the life of many apart
from demonstrating the brilliant lessons as such PERSONS ARE PART OF US THAN
APART.

The provisioning of lunch as well as evening refreshments by the IFP-India for the
entire duration of the camp for all the beneficiaries, caregivers, attendants, rehabilitation
professionals, visitors, volunteers and social organizations, further enhance the local
level participations as large number of beneficiaries of tribal communities employed
in adjacent tea gardens of this regions took the benefit of such mega camp which
was primarily facilitated by the staff and members of IFP-India. Such CSR initiative of
IFP-an Indian multinational established at Jalpaiguri in 1984 and their commitment to
encourage the youths especially underscoring the importance local level participation in

the process of sustainable inclusive growth to create better tomorrow is making this two
day camp a roaring success.

Mission Ability Beyond Disability was launched in 2005 under the aegis of Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment, GOI in collaboration with national institutes of
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GOI, the Armed Forces and Heritage
Foundation. The Mission was successfully launched by Mrs. Anupama Singh, an
accomplished artist of international repute and a socialite with deep concern for the
Persons with Disabilities; she is the wife of General (Retd) J.J. Singh, currently the
Hon’ble Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. Enchanted with endless spirit this mission
traversed in North to North East covering Kargil to border villages of Jammu & Kashmir,
at North East held camps at Twang, Seppa, Zero, of Arunachal Pradesh. Further
drawing strength from the people’s participations misson also operationalise camp at
the remotely located, underserved Little Andaman island, benefitting ten thousand of
beneficiaries and their caregivers, most importantly demonstrating the brilliant lessons
of unity-discipline and cooperation an very essential and vital aspect for making an
inclusive growth a reality.

Mission Objective
If we remove the barriers that have relegated disabled people and
provide them with supportive assistive devices conducive to their
impairment it would enable them to hone their ability to beat disability
and be valuable citizens of the country.

The Challenges
Reach the Unreached.
Establish a Link between rehabilitation and those in need.
Strengthen the field based initiatives for better tomorrow.
Complement the Government endeavours.

Disabled people are among the poorest; most stigmatized and most marginalized of all
worlds’ citizens. As per 2001 first India’s disabled census there are 2.19 crore persons
with disabilities in India constituting 2.13 % of the total population. Summarily it can
be safely concluded that 3 Indians are disabled out of every 100 Indian citizens. The
census has also indicates that 75 % of such persons live in rural India and only 49% of
the disabled populations are literate and only 34 % are employed. Disability and poverty
from a vicious circle. Conditions of poverty such as poor nutrition and lack of access to
health services or safe living and working conditions create disabilities that can occur
from birth to old age. After the onset of disability, barriers to health and rehabilitations
services, education, employment, and other aspects of economic and social life can trap
people in a cycle of poverty.

One person in ten –as many as 600 million people worldwide live with a physical,
sensory (deafness, blindness), intellectual, or mental health impairment significant
enough to make a difference in their daily lives (UN-1993) 80% of these lives in the
developing world. Disability also significantly impacts the lives of disabled people’s
family members and communities. In India disability had traversed long journey from
the aspects of welfare-charity to equal opportunities. The Persons with Disability Act

1995 is the landmark legislation in the sphere of social justice in India which guaranteed
the equal opportunity, full participations and equal right. Social transformation is
possible when all sections of the society join hand with a commitment of synergizing
each other strength linking resources to people and people to the resources, speaking
on the occasion Mr Prantik Sanyal District Disability Rehabilitation Officer Jalpaiguri
stressed that due to the multidisciplinary of the problems of differently abled persons
mainstreaming demands greater awareness, community level women empowerment on
early interventions and restoration of the dignity of such persons in this context the this
camp bestowed the faith on the heart and minds of the people of North Bengal due to
transparent approach and hassel free provisioning of the assistive devices on the spot
to the beneficiaries and proving that the compensation of disability is possible this has
brought about a change in the attitude of people towards such persons more importantly
the involvement of Govt-Non Govt organizations and Corporate establishments
apart from inculcate a sense of confidence on to the public and society at large that –
Together We Can Make It Happen.

Heritage Foundation with
input from Tapash Kumar Chatterjee.
drroopavohra@gmail.com

No related posts.

By Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Pakistan, Nov 18 (IPS) – They are young, educated, urban women who frequent cafes, shop
at ritzy fashion outlets, and go to yoga classes whenever they have time off work.But they also wear the ‘hijab’ or Muslim headdress, which even in this mainly Muslim South Asian country makes them a target for derision in far too many instances.

Indeed, while more conservative clothing like the ‘burqa’
– which leaves only a woman’s face (though at times even the
eyes and hands) uncovered – have been worn here for
centuries and accepted as South Asian garb, modernists
consider the ‘hijab’ as a dress more in keeping with Arab
culture. Both however are for the same purpose of purdah, or
the shielding of women from public observation by means of
concealing clothing and separate physical spaces.

Unfortunately, too, what some Muslim women wear as
reminders of their choice to be modest and humble have been
associated instead with extremism, even though they feel
that covering themselves and being modern are not
necessarily in conflict with each other.

As a result, Pakistani women who don the veil and also
the ‘abaya’ (a black outer garment that also covers a woman
from neck down), have been called derogatively as “ninjas”,
“fundos”, “Taliban”, or “mullani” (female version of
mullah).

Many seem uncomfortable around them. One hijab-wearing
journalist says that when she applied for a job at a media
company, her interviewer looked at her from head to toe
while asking if she would be able to fit in the firm’s
“liberal” environment.

Ansa Khan, 40, says that a bank refused to let her open
an account there because she had her face covered. According
to Khan, the manager said the bank policy demanded that the
person opening the account must reveal his or her face, and
there were no female staff at the branch at the time.

Farahnaz Moazzam, who covers her head and wears the
abaya, observes, “People are more conscious and cautious
when I am around. They laugh less and whisper more.” And
unless she smiles first, she says, she is bound to be
surrounded by serious faces.

Says Moazzam, who gives Koranic lessons to women: “It’s
interesting how, over the years, people have asked me
questions like, ‘Do you crack jokes?’, ‘Do you make
mistakes?’, ‘What do you and your family talk about?’, ‘Do
you ever get angry?’, ‘Do you watch TV?’”

For sure, these women find such an attitude ironic in a
country where females are expected to dress modestly in the
first place. But some like Khan concede that their choice of
clothing may remind people of unpleasant events.

Among these is a 2007 incident in Islamabad in which
about 6,500 hijab- and abaya- wearing women of Jamia Hafsa,
a seminary attached to the Lal Masjid, had challenged the
government’s authority. A bloody army operation ensued,
resulting in the death of many students.

At the same time, the incessant images in media of women
clad in abayas and burqas in more conservative societies
like Saudi Arabia and Taliban-era Afghanistan seem to have
led many people here to associate such clothing with ultra-
conservative views.

The mildest expectation of women like her, says the
hijab-wearing journalist, is that they are “as perfect as
(angels)”. Moazzam agrees, saying, “They think too highly of
me because I am trying to follow one command of my religion
that is outward.”

Touba Naeem, who has been wearing a hijab for the last
eight years, says that people take one look at her attire
and assume that she is “not fun”. Single at 27, she adds,
“Hijab can be a potential detriment (to) good marriage
proposals.”

Interestingly, most of these women say their worst
critics are not strangers, but members of their family. One
woman says that her father and older brother “opposed
initially” her decision to don a hijab. Another says that
when she started wearing a veil, “my older brother would
pull it off my head in gatherings”.

One young socialite who began wearing a hijab after her
marriage says that her husband at first was hesitant in
accepting her veil. But all hell broke loose when she
started to wear the abaya, she says. “He refused to
introduce me to his friends or sit with me at social
gatherings, as if he was ashamed,” she recalls. Over the
years, she says, her husband has accepted both her hijab and
abaya.

Yet for all their hardships that have come their way
because of what they want to wear, these women remain
adamant about their dress of choice. Aside from considering
it as an offering to Allah, the women say dressing the way
they do liberates them from worries about their looks and
allows them – and other people – to concentrate on more
important things.

Comments Moazzam: “I don’t feel like a product or an
object anymore. Now people notice my smile, my conversation,
and take me more seriously.”

The socialite, for her part, says that she did weigh the
pros and cons of wearing a hijab and concludes: “The
discomfort of not wearing it outweighed the joys of showing
off. I am happier doing it.”

Moazzam does say, however, that women who cover
themselves up should not treat life as “a prolonged bad hair
day”.

“You should look your best and maintain yourself,” she
says, “for your family and most importantly, for yourself.”

“Fashion, why not?” says Moazzam. “I am as normal as any
other woman. I have, however, come to a point where I am
covering up my fashion statement, jewellery, haircut, in
front of the crowd. But I still do it and enjoy it.”

No related posts.

Response of Dr John Dayal, Secretary General, ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN
COUNCIL, to the Judgement on Ayodhaya by the Lucknow bench of the
Allahabad High Court:

New Delhi, Sept 30, 2010

The judgment of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High court today
[30th September 2010] on the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute is
patently based on populist and political sensitivities, rather than on
points of law. Its implications, not just for the Muslims who were a
party in the dispute, but all other religious minorities is yet to be
fully assessed, but here is little doubt that there is an ominous aura
to a verdict being touted by some as the only way to inter community
peace in India. Judges SU Khan, Aggarwal and D V Sharma – the last of
the 18 justices who have heard the case since its inception — have
given a legal cloak to popular Hindu mythology and faith that the Lord
Rama was born at the very spot where the mosque was built over the
ruins of a Hindu temple sometime in 1528 AD during the reign of
Emperor Babar.

The fractured judgement — Justice Sharma took an absolute and
unabashed pro-Hindu line while the other two appeared to give somewhat
more consideration to the arguments of both Hindus and Muslims — does
not bring a closure to the dispute as an appeal in the Supreme Court
is inevitable. But Hindu groups, who see the demolition of the mosque
on 6 December 1992 as the natural outburst of an injured majority
sentiment, have hailed this as a glorious victory. RSS chief Bhagwat
has called upon all Hindus and others to join in a national campaign
to build a “magnificent” Ram temple at the spot. Political leaders
such as Mr Lal Krishan Advani have supported this move, and others
have asked the Muslims to be magnanimous in defeat. The more virulent
right wing of the Sangh Parivar, unmoved by calls of restraint, has
demanded absolute control of the Mosque land, and everything else
around it.

All sides have three months to move the Supreme Court. The time, some
feel, may be used for out of court negotiations and dialogues which
will make it easy for the Supreme court to make the High Court
decision absolute and pave the way at some time in the future for the
Ram Temple to take shape. The more secular elements, among them
academics, hope the Supreme Court will take a long enough time for a
new generation of Indians to accept the situation with the baggage of
emotions and religious fervour.

That is as maybe. But jurists, law scholars and thinkers among the
minority communities have been left numb at the Lucknow bench’s effort
to play “village mediator”, accept mythology and theology as legal
facts, and then proceed to divide the disputed land in a three way
distribution – one part to the Muslims and two parts to two different
Hindu groups. This surprised most because it is not even a prayer by
any one of the many litigants. This also treads a very thin edge of
the legal wedge in
India where land disputes between religious groups is legion, and
documentation, written and archaeological very scarce. Even in the
Hindu Muslim relationship, there are at least three other major Temple-
mosque disputes and the Sangh Parivar lay claims to as many as 3,000
mosques built at various times over former temples. Forgotten in this
claim is the history of Buddhist stupas and shrines all over the
country which were demolished to make way for temples during the first
Hindu resurgence a thousand years ago. There are, however, no
Buddhists of Indian origins in any numbers to make a claim. Also
apparently blown away by the wind is the law of the land that the
religious character of a building, church, mosque, temple or
gurudwara, has been “fixed” for all times from the moment of India’s
Independence on 15th August 1947 and no one can usurp each other’s
religious places.

It is not for nothing that historians and archaeologists, as well as
jurists of the stature of Rajeev Dhawan and PP Rao, have commented on
the court’s temerity in framing issues of faith and devotion, and then
giving a ruling on them, banking on specious evidence if available or
on folk lore when even the shred of academic proof was not
forthcoming. This is the caution bell for other minority communities.
The major disturbing signal from the judgement is that the courts in
India are not ruling anymore on points of law, but on the feelings and
faith of people, which gives the majority community an extraordinary
power in a multi cultural nation such as India. It can, I fear, have
serious implications in inter community disputes of this nature in the
future.

The supporters of the judgement and these include the diverse ruling
parties in New Delhi and the states are gloating on “a window of
opportunity for peace and reconciliation”. It is to be examined how
the judgement, even if it buys time, provides the way to future peace
with possibly a temple and a mosque coming up, this time lawfully, in
the future. There is no doubt that a jubilant Hindu majority will sue
for peace and this could see their right wing religious groups
ensuring that there is no trouble. But at this time in history, I do
not see Hindu groups agreeing to have a Ram Temple rub shoulders with
a revived Babri Mosque across a barbed wire fence. With the issue back
in the courts, onus is also on the Muslim community to ensure that
its extreme elements do not turn violent but wait for the next
judgement, even if at least one major Muslim leader as said “We will
not surrender”, quite reflecting the rather depressed mood of the
community at large.

What has been salutary in the existence of the past few days has been
the preparedness of the Union government and the state governments to
take the strictest precautions so there was no flare up violence
between the communities. The Indian army, the Air Force and hundreds
of thousands of state militia and police forces were mobilised across
the country, extraordinary precautions including a modicum of
censorship of SMS and mass mailings were taken, and thousands of
people taken into protective custody on the eve of the judgement.
This decisiveness is welcomed by the minorities who, unfortunately
still have more faith in central armed forces than the local police
for their security.

The disputed land is currently in the custody of the Union government,
as is the final responsibility of maintaining peace in a land that
seen so much bloodshed over the last 19 years since the former deputy
prime minister, Lal Krishan Advani, led a religious crusade across the
nation, his land march leaving thousands dead in Hindu Muslim riots
which reached their culmination in the demolition of the Babri mosque
in the afternoon of 6th December 1992.

Related posts:

1. Stop Press: Mixed verdict in Babri case, land to be divided into three parts From Rajeev Sharma in New Delhi The three-judge special Lucknow...
2. Left intellectuals call Babri verdict `blow to secular fabric’ & ‘repute of our judiciary’ QUESTIONING the verdict of the Allahabad High Court on the...