Sunday, October 31, 2010

Responsible for....Terrorism in the world


Imperialist....Zionist Obama Go Back.....from India







The Headley Saga: What Are They Hiding?

By Feroze Mithiborwala


“The speculation gaining respectability in Delhi is that Washington knew in advance about the Mumbai attack & deliberately chose not to pass the details to Delhi .” That would he said, “Reveal the links between the CIA-ISI & LeT”. - MK Bhadrakumar (ex-Ambassador, GOI).

“Headley was a deep penetration agent of US Intelligence” - Bahukutumbi Raman (Former Counter-Terrorism Chief (RAW).

It has been apparent ever since the time that the Headley story began to appear in the Indian & global media that David Coleman Headley was basically a CIA-FBI agent. The recent revelations that have been brought forth by Sebastian Rotella in the ProPublica ( Oct 15, 2010 ), have reaffirmed our position ( http://www.countercurrents.org/mithiborwala181010.htm ).

Despite all the daily brouhaha by our Intelligence services over Headley's role in the 26/11 terror attacks, not even a FIR, leave alone a charge-sheet has been filed against the known central figure in planning & executing the dastardly terror attack on our country & all of South Asia.

Though Mr. Pillai (Home Secretary, Government of India) has now chosen to speak out & said that the “US has let us down” & that “we were disappointed that the na me of Headley was not provided, if not pre-26/11, at least post-26/11” . ( Hindustan Ti mes, 28/10/10 ).

It all see ms a bit like a well orchestrated charade on the part of the leadership.

Thus on a daily basis we hear of Headley's latest revelations, which target the ISI & LeT. Then on the very next day, we read of further US funding to the tune of billions of dollars for that very ISI.

Do the Indian ruling elite really believe that the people are astoundingly stupid? We certainly are not!

Clearly there is a quid-pro-quo between the Indian Intel & their counterparts in the US & subsequently in Pakistan & this is how it operates.

Headley is being used to protect & mislead the investigations into the Ishrat Jehan encounter killing to protect Modi & his ilk. Similarly the investigations into the Samjhauta Express as laid out by the charge-sheet filed by Hemant Karkare which clearly implicate Col. Purohit , are also being targeted by the NIA & the IB, to protect the Abhinav Bharat. And recently the investigation into the ghastly Chittisinghpora massacre , which was the handiwork of the undercover black-op cells within the Indian army, is again being misled under the guise of Headley's statements.

We are also aware that the US funds more than a third of the Pakistan military & ISI-intelligence budget. The Lashkar-i-Tayyaba is the sword arm of the ISI. The US has never attacked any Lashkar bases in Pakistan & the LeT does not attack US troops. The CIA has worked together with the LeT in Kosovo , Chechnya & Bosnia . Thus the US uses the ISI-LeT for furthering its strategic objectives in the region. ( http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/ramps-cia-infiltration-pakistan-report/ )

The US Intelligence is also deeply involved in supporting & funding narco-terror & weapons smuggling across the world. These are the connections that we will have to study, if we are to comprehend & unravel the complex world of intelligence agencies & terror networks that operate together. ( http://www.ciadrugs.com/ )

The US a mbassador Timothy Roemer ( http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=10875 ) maintains that they did warn ' India ' about the coming 26/11 attack.

So the questions that arise are the following:

1) The central & simple question is that, why did the CIA & FBI not warn their counterparts in Pakistan , within the government, the Military or the ISI. As we can discern from above, they have a very deep operational & material relationship, stretching across 6 decades.

It was always clear that an attack of the magnitude of 26/11 could even lead to a nuclear war in the region. Yet they refrained from informing & warning any of their counterparts in Pakistan .

Why? And moreover, why isn't anyone asking this obvious question?

2) Who did they inform in India ? We still do not have the specific name or names.

It surely could not have been the Indian security guard standing outside the gates of the US fortress of an embassy in New Delhi .

Did they inform MK Narayanan (the then NSA Chief) or the Mr. Shivraj Patil (ex-Home Minister) ? Who was complicit in the cover up? Why no names of the key people who were supposedly provided information by mid-September of the coming terror attack by Sea, where the Taj, Marriott & the Trident were mentioned as potential targets. ( http://www.countercurrents.org/mithiborwala140510.htm ).

Who will stand up & take the responsibility? None, only an eerie silence . . . a cover up .

The 26/11 attack could have been averted if the necessary information would have been provided on time & precautions taken.

Thus we now come back to Headley & his wives.

It was way back in 2005 when one of Headley's wives in New York , warned the FBI of Headley's links with terrorists. Due to a domestic squabble, Headley was even arrested by the police. The wife stated that Headley "was an active militant in the LeT terrorist group & had trained extensively in Pakistani camps, shopped for night-vision goggles & other equipment". She also said that “Headley used to brag about his working as a paid informant of the US , while he trained with terrorists in Pakistan ”.

Significantly, after 9/11, Headley told his associates “that he planned to train with Lashkar as part of a secret mission for the US government”.

He also stated that “the FBI & DEA have joined forces & I am going to work with them. I want to do something for my country”.

The point is which country, the USA or Israel ??

In 2008 April , Headley went to Chicago & told his accomplice of an evolving plan for a seaborne terror attack by gunmen who would land in front of the Ta j M ahal Hotel which he had scouted extensively.

These are the official statements as recorded by the FBI officials.

Though Headley was jailed for domestic violence, he was not prosecuted & the matter of his terror links not investigated.

Later again in 2007, only a year prior to the attack, his wife in Pakistan went to the US embassy in Islamabad & gave specific information of his terrorist links but she was driven away both the times & basically told to “Get Lost”, by the FBI-CIA officials.

The wives gave information & a detailed account of training with the LeT, provided audio tapes of conversations & emails as well as records of calls from Pakistan

And yet the CIA & FBI claim that the information provided by the wives "was not specific".

Thus let us assess this bizarre claim as well:

1) Firstly Headley was already known to the DEA-FBI & CIA since 1998, due to his drug smuggling activities, for which he was prosecuted & jailed & he later became an agent of the DEA to infiltrate drug rings in the US & Pakistan. After 9/11 he was taken in by the CIA & FBI as an asset & became their agent.

2) They should have taken the precautions after his wives gave specific information about his terror links & should have put him under surveillance. But then they did. All of Headley's & Rana's mobile conversations were being tapped & their whereabouts monitored. They had to further monitor his Bank transactions, credit cards & have him followed. These are all standard procedures & nothing beyond their scope of operations either in Pakistan or India , where we have an ever increasing presence of the US & Israeli Intel.

3) They should have again immediately checked with their counterparts in the ISI & their handlers in the LeT. But the CIA-FBI undertook none of these basic precautions, si mply because Headley was pursuing the mission of terror in exactly the way they had planned it.

4) Though he was on probation till 2004, he was discharged in 2001 & was allowed to go to Pakistan . Within 2 months he was training with the LeT, with the full knowledge of the US authorities.

Thus the intentions were very clear.

In our assessment, the CIA & FBI were clearly aware of the detailed plans for the attack on Mumbai.

HEADLEY A STRATEGIC & INVALUABLE ASSET: Undoubtedly the CIA-FBI have gone to preposterous levels to protect Headley & have repeatedly refused his extradition to India . Thus his limited & controlled access by Indian Intel is clearly a farce & of no consequence whatsoever, apart fro m the fact that is now being used to cover-up the crimes of the Intelligence Bureau, as well as that of the Police that indulge in encounter killings & the cover-up of the terror attack by the Brahmanical terrorists, within the Abhinav Bharat & the Sanatan Sanstha.

But then Headley is a unique asset. He is White, yet of a mixed Muslim-Jewish parentage. He knew English, Urdu, Farsi, Pashto & a smattering of Arabic.

And then he had very deep connections with the drug-underworld & the narco-terror networks.

Headley's father & his religion are often discussed, but when it co mes to his mother, there is a studied silence & it is only fair that this angle be delved into as well. In fact the Wikipedia insists that he acquired a “Christian sounding na me ”, even though his mother was Jewish.

David Coleman Headley was a child of a broken family & around the age of sixteen Serrill Headley (Jewish by faith), took him to away to the US . It was after 9/11, when Headley began to work for the CIA, that he changed his name from Daoud Gilani, to David Coleman Headley, which the Wikipedia wrongly refers to a Christian name. Clearly the Wikipedia is trying to mislead for a purpose.

The point is that clearly Gilani wanted a new identity after 9/11 & since he was now working for the CIA-FBI as an undercover agent, he could have taken on any identity, but yet he chose to take his mother's Jewish identity & the Coleman surname.

All the reports state that Headley traveled with a Jewish prayer book with him. Was it because he had abandoned the faith of his father & had taken the faith of his mother which is normally the case of children of divorced families? I believe that was precisely the case.

Again, Headley operated out of the key Zionist strongholds in the US , namely Chicago & New York & in India from Goa , Mumbai, Pushkar (Rajasthan) & Himachal Pradesh.

In Goa he was in regular touch with an American agent who was living there for nine years but has disappeared after 26/11 & our police could not locate him. Though, when it comes to arresting innocent Muslim youth they have proved to be efficient & ruthless as well.

In Pushkar, whilst Headley was staking out the targets, he stayed in a hotel where two other Israeli's were also present at that very time. So the role of Mossad agents in the 26/11 attack needs to be investigated as well. ( http://criminalstate.com/2009/08/how-israel-wages-game-theory-warfare/ )

Also another question is as to whether Headley was a Chabad Lubavitcher by sect. The Chabad Lubavitch is one of the most powerful of the Jewish sects & has interests across the world ( http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2010/07/chabad-at-hubs-of-power-around-world.html ) . The Chabad Houses are known to be used by Mossad operatives as safe houses to conduct their nefarious activities, ranging from drug & weapon smuggling, to espionage, fomenting terror & assassinations.

Despite certain limited warnings in May, September & November 2008, that did emanate from the sections of the US & provided to Indians authorities, the identity of whom is yet not known.

Yet, Headley was left untouched as no information was provided. Headley had been provided a visa from the Indian consulate in Chicago with all waivers despite his record of drugs smuggling & his Pakistani origin. Thus Headley enjoyed patronage at the highest levels, even within sections of the Indian security & Intelligence. ( http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Headleys-visa-papers-vanish-from-consulate/articleshow/5345798.cms )

And after 26/11, the government & the corporate Media, barring a few exceptions, are satisfied with the Kasab story. The Plea bargain deal in the words of MK Bhadrakumar (ex-ambassador) “was a deal that enables the US government to hold back from formally producing any evidence against Headley in a Court of Law that might have included details of his links with US intelligence ”, which will now remain classified. He also said that the Obama administration was “behaving very strangely” & had something “explosive to hide”.

The former counter-terrorism chief (RAW) & security analyst, Bahukutumbi Raman was of the opinion that, “the mishandling by the US is due to it's anxiety to prevent public admission of the links of the US Intelligence community with Headley & protect Pakistan from the legal consequences of its role in the 26/11 terror attack. He further stated that “the FBI wants to avoid a formal trial & that “the feeling in India is that the US has not been transparent as it is almost certain that the CIA was aware of Headley & his movements across the sub-continent”.

The simple point is that all terrorists & suspects are listed on the main database of the US National Counter-Terrorism Centre , which is a facility used by the CIA & the myriad other agencies to track terror suspects as a matter of standard procedure.

When even the likes of Sharukh Khan (Bollywood Star), Praful Patel (Aviation minister) are not safe, surely David Headley's name would have cropped up at every computer monitor across every airport in the world.

Thus there are far too many questions & far too many facts that challenge the official version of the reality of the 26/11 terror attacks.

There is clearly an attempt even within our very own security agencies to collude & cover up the truth & thus we demand that a National Commission of Inquiry be created to investigate the truth about the 26/11 Terror attack.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Zionism And Peace Are Incompatible”

Zionism And Peace Are Incompatible”

By Alan Hart

Alanhart.net

At last somebody has said it in the most explicit way possible. The somebody also said: “The problem is Zionism and the solution is dismantling the Zionist framework and instituting a secular democracy that does not discriminate between Israelis and Palestinians.”

The somebody was Miko Peled, a Jewish peace activist who was born in Israel and lives in America.

He is the son of an Israeli war hero, Matti Peled, who was a young officer in the war of 1948 and a general in the war of 1967. After that war, General Peled signalled his own commitment to truth by rubbishing Zionism’s version of events. He did so with the statement that there was not a threat to Israel’s existence and that it was a war of Israeli choice (i.e. aggression not self-defense). General Peled was also one of a number of prominent Jews who called soon after the 1967 war for the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In his latest article from which my headline for this piece was extracted, Miko says that the two-state solution was clearly viable 40 years ago, but today…? He writes (my emphasis added):

“Now the West Bank is riddled with towns and malls and highways built on Palestinian land for Jews only and Israeli cabinet members openly discuss population transfers, or rather transfer of its non-Jewish population. The level of oppression and the intensity of the violence against Palestinians has reached new heights… Discussing the two-state solution now under these conditions shows an acute inability to accept reality… There is an illusion that a liberal, forward thinking government can rise in Israel and then everything will be just as liberal Zionists wish it to be. They will pick up where Rabin and Arafat left off and we will have the pie in sky Jewish democracy liberal Jews want so much to see in Israel. This illusion is shared by American Jews, liberal Zionists in Israel and around the world and in the West where guilt of two millennia of persecuting Jews still haunts the conscience of many. If only there were better leaders and if only this and if only that… But alas, reality continues to slap everyone in the face: Zionism and peace are incompatible. I will say it again, Zionism and peace are incompatible.”

Miko adds that serious study of the history of modern Israel shows that “the emergence of Netanyahu and Lieberman was perfectly predictable.”

I agree and offer this summary explanation of why.

Zionism is not only Jewish nationalism which created a state in the Arab heartland mainly by terrorism and ethnic cleansing. It is also a pathological mindset. In the deluded Zionist mind the world was always anti-Jew and always will be. It follows that Holocaust II (shorthand for another great turning against Jews) is inevitable. It follows that there can be no limits to what Zionism will do in order to preserve nuclear-armed Greater Israel as a refuge of last resort for all Jews everywhere when the world turns against them.

When I was reflecting on Miko’s main point, that Zionism and peace are incompatible, I found myself wondering why really it is that American presidents will not use the leverage they have to try to call the Zionist state to account for its crimes when doing so would clearly be in America’s own best interests.

I’m beginning to think that the awesome influence of the Zionist lobby and its stooges in Congress is not the complete answer. And the question I am asking myself is this: Could it be that all American presidents know there is nothing nuclear-armed Israeli leaders would not do if they were seriously pressed to make peace on terms which they believed in their own deluded minds would put Israel’s security at risk? Always in my own mind is what Prime Minister Golda Meir said to me in a BBC Panorama interview and from which I quote in my book – in a doomsday situation Israel “would be prepared to take the region and the whole world down with it.”

If it is the case that American presidents are frightened of provoking Israel, the conclusion would have to be that the Zionist state is a monster beyond control and that all efforts for peace are doomed to failure.

Is the situation really as bad as that?

My own answer is yes. But there are some observers who think that after the mid-term elections in America there might be one more opportunity for President Obama to bring enough Israelis to their senses in order to give peace its very last chance.

This new hope has been inspired, apparently, by reports of a forthcoming Palestinian (and presumably wider Arab) initiative to have the Security Council recognize Palestinian independence within the 1967 borders.

In Ha’aretz on 20 October, Aluf Benn wrote this:

“Israel’s diplomacy has reached a turning point. Instead of dealing with the failed direct talks, from this point Israel will be orchestrating a diplomatic holding action against the Palestinian initiative to have the UN Security Council recognize Palestinian independence within the 1967 borders. Such a decision would deem Israel an invader and occupier, paving the way for measures against Israel. Obama could scuttle the process by casting an American veto. Would he do it? And at what price?

“Barak is warning Netanyahu that Obama is determined to establish a Palestinian state, even if it requires political risks. The president doesn’t have to come out publicly against Israel, but can simply stand on the sidelines when the Security Council recognizes Palestine. The international movement to boycott Israel will gain massive encouragement when Europe, China and India turn their backs on Israel and erode the last remnants of its legitimacy. Gradually the Israeli public will also feel the diplomatic and economic stranglehold.

“It’s not certain that this will happen.”

We shall see.

Alan Hart is a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent. He is author of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. He blogs at http://www.alanhart.net and tweets via http://twitter.com/alanauthor

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Public Meeting: AYODHYA HIGH COURT VERDICT & ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR INDIAN DEMOCRACY & SECULARISM

BHARAT BACHAO ANDOLAN


PUBLIC MEETING


THE AYODHYA HIGH COURT VERDICT & THE CONSEQUENCES FOR INDIAN DEMOCRACY & SECULARISM


SPEAKER: PANDIT JUGAL KISHORE SHASTRI


HE IS THE PRIEST OF THE RAM-JANKI MANDIR IN AYODHYA & THE FOUNDER PRESIDENT OF "AYODHYA KI AWAAZ", OR THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE OF AYODHYA.


HE IS CURRENTLY TRAVELLING ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR THE CAUSE OF RELIGIOUS HARMONY.


THEY PLAN TO CONSTRUCT A "SARVA DHARMIYA STHAL" OR A "PLACE OF WORSHIP FOR PEOPLE OF ALL FAITHS", WHEREIN THE SITE WILL INCLUDE A HINDU TEMPLE, MUSLIM MASJID, SIKH GURUDWARA, CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BUDDHIST VIHARA, JAIN TEMPLE, PARSEE AGIARY & A JEWISH SYNAGOGUE . . . & MAYBE MORE . . .


IT WILL EPITOMISE THE UNIQUENESS OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION & ITS CULTURE OF RESPECT & THE CO-EXISTENCE OF ALL FAITHS.
IT IS FERVENT & REVERENT CALL TO UNITE HUMANITY, AS OPPOSED TO THE POWERS & POLITICS THAT SEEK TO DIVIDE US ON THE BASIS OF RELIGION BY SPREADING HATRED, FEAR & INTOLERANCE OF THE OTHER.


VENUE: MARATHI PATRAKAR, AZAD MAIDAN, CST, MUMBAI.


DATE: 20 Oct, 2010. // Time: 5pm.


Brigadier Sudhir Sawant, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap, Jagdish Nagarkar, Jyoti Badekar, Sayeed Khan, Zubair Azmi, Farid Khan, Mulniwasi Mala, Shyam Sonar, Sudhir Dhawale, Yawar Ali Qazi, Avinash Kamble, Arif Kapadia, Munawar Khan, Shadab Sheikh, Ghazala Azad, Munawar Azad, Winnie Thomas, Reshma Jagtap & Chetna Birje

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

PRESS CONFERENCE: 26/11 TRUTH: HEADLEY LINKS TO CIA-FBI CONFIRMED & EXPOSED.

BHARAT BACHAO ANDOLAN


PRESS CONFERENCE


26/11 TRUTH: HEADLEY'S CONNECTIONS TO CIA-FBI EXPOSED


VENUE: BOMBAY UNION OF JOURNALISTS, 2ND FL, ROOM NO. 23-25, PROSPECT CHAMBERS, ANNEXE, OPP. THOMAS COOK, DN RD., FORT.


DATE: 19 Oct, 2010. // Time: 3pm.

Speakers: Brigadier Sudhir Sawant, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap & Jagdish Nagarkar


Yawar Ali Qazi, Avinash Kamble, Arif Kapadia, Winnie Thomas, Reshma Jagtap, Chetna Birje

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Colemann Headley Is A CIA-FBI Agent

By Feroze Mithiborwala

18 October, 2010

Countercurrents.org

http://www.countercurrents.org/mithiborwala181010.htm

The Government should be ashamed at the treatment being meted out to India by the US. It is clear that Headley is a mass murderer & is being protected & shielded by the Obama Administration. Leave alone being extradited, now Attorney-General Eric Holder tells us that that our security agencies will have no direct access to Headley at all. This is very clear from the statements of Timothy J. Roemer (US Ambassador) who stated that “no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made.” Though now due to the anger of the Indian people, certain statements of granting access to Headley are being made. Not that interrogating Headley, while he remains ion US custody will help our cause.
Recent revelations confirm the fact that David Coleman Headley is a CIA-FBI operative whose task was to organize & expedite the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks. Thus the role of the CIA, FBI & Mossad in fomenting & planning the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks are proved beyond doubt & need to be investigated by the patriotic elements within the security apparatus & the media. Only the naive & corrupt can continue to deny this fact, more so to the detriment of our national sovereignty & security.
David Headley is a CIA asset & they have invested a lot of their precious resources in training him & therefore they are going to atrocious levels to protect him. The CIA always does. Thus under the cover of the American Judicial system, Headley will disappear into the prisons, soon acquire a new identity, new papers & documents, passports & Visas, Credit Cards & Bank Accounts . . . a new identity & will resurface, doing what he is best at, a terrorist-drug dealer-mercenary.
Undoubtedly, the CIA-FBI, which are the world’s leading mercenary agencies, whose forte is too engineer assassinations, terror & wars, has infiltrated sections of the Indian political leadership & our internal security, as it has the Pakistani ISI, Military & Political establishment.

Thus now the US intervention & occupation of the South Asian region is deepening by the day, as it keeps on increasing the tensions between India & Pakistan as well as China. It is an old imperial ploy of divide & rule along religious & sectarian lines as well as between nations.
The terror attack Mumbai 26/11, was directed at all of South Asia & this point must be understood by all those who are committed to the cause of South Asia.
The 26/11 terror attack has only aided the US/Israeli effort to create an atmosphere conducive to increasing its pervasive & corrupting influence in determining both our National & International policies. Very true indeed!!
Now the newspapers are clearly raising the issue of Headley being a CIA-FBI operative, a fact that we had stated initially as soon as the story appeared. The reports also state that the CIA was aware about the Headley-Rana linkage! Indian authorities had suspected that Headley was a CIA agent. There are taped conversations between Headley & Rana.
Moreover, the simple fact of the matter is that Headley is involved in the terror attack & should be immediately extradited to the Indian authorities for interrogation & should be tried & sentenced like Kasab (who is a mere foot-soldier & his trial is a contrived circus, despite all the media attention)

In the news report that appeared in the Indian Express (pg 5, 10/12/09), the hotel owner is openly blaming the police for having 'misplaced' Headley's 'C-form' & has filed a complaint on the matter. The hotel owner in his complaint to the Ajmer Superintendent of Police, has stated that he had also submitted the C-forms of two other Israelis along with that of Headley.
So why was Headley arrested by the FBI? The answer to that is that Indian Intel was hard on the heels of Headley & were about to arrest him. It was then that the FBI whisked away Headley to protect him. Now that he has been subjected to the laws of the US judicial system, he is beyond our reach. Leave alone a trial for Headley's central role in the 26/11 attacks, we do not even have the right to interrogate him.
In fact it is suspected that, it was Headley who was the CIA mole in the LeT, who was passing out information on the coming 26/11 terror attack. This was partly shared by the CIA with the Indian authorities & had specifically mentioned the Taj & that the attack would come by sea.
There are two significant points to note:
1) How much information did the CIA actually divulge to India - very very meagre it is clear.
2) More intriguingly with the Pakistani authorities & it's friends in the ISI & the Military with which the CIA has a very deep & intimate relationship, stretching over 6 decades - it supposedly shared none !!!
Any moron is full aware that a 26/11 style attack could lead to a war, in fact a nuclear war between India & Pakistan, then why did not the CIA warn it's friends on either side & thus prevent the attack ??
For the simple reason that it is in the strategic interests of the US & Israel to create a warlike situation across South Asia. The larger objective is for India to mobilise & deploy it's military into the war theatre in Afghanistan if required & later in the coming war on Iran, which is imminent. The tensions & warmongering has now fuelled an arms race & both the countries are amongst the top buyers of weapons, required to protect their half-starving masses.
Also do note that during the phase of the worst series of terror attacks between 2006-08, Headley was present in that period & was flying into India mainly from Pakistan. Yet our authorities did not once suspect or interrogate him?? Unfortunately the Indian People are not that naive. This clearly means that there are certain forces within the country that are allied to the US & Israel & working in tandem to foment terror attacks.
Do especially note the period between August 2007 & September 2008 as this was during which we passed through the worst national crisis over the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. The attacks coincide with Headleys' presence in India (Josy Joseph, 17/11/09, DNA ). The terror attacks in Hyderabad II (25/8/07), Bangalore (25/7/08), Ahmedabad & Surat (26/7/08) & Delhi (13/9/08). All these blasts made it easier for the pro-US elements to take the country into the American-Israeli strategic orbit in the name of fighting the global war on terror.
Again even the blasts that Shri Hemant Karkare has traced to the Abhinav Bharat, find a relation to Headley's footprints. Thus he is present during Malegaon (8/9/06), Samjhauta Express (19/2/07), Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad I (18/5/07).
Thus clearly Headley was also co-ordinating his attacks with the Abhinav Bharat & Sanatan Sanstha as well as with the Indian Mujahedeen (which is a creation of Intel services comprising criminals & informers from within the Muslim community).
We thus can infer the following from the latest revelation:
1) David Headley's trail as he traveled across the country to & identify the sites for terror attacks was & is being covered up by the police on the instructions of the pro-CIA/Mossad sections of the Intelligence Bureau.
2) This was the similar case in the city of Mumbai, where Headley's membership form at the 'Moksh Gymnasium' had both his photograph & signature 'missing'. The flat which he rented on Bridge Candy has no agreement papers & so is the case with his office in Tardeo.
3) The fact that the hotel owner also submitted two forms of Israeli's on that day, also could mean that Headley was also being guided by Mossad agents to identify Jewish targets, which they finally did & thus Nariman House.

4) Headley's very entry into the country has been managed with the connivance of the authorities at the highest levels. And thus even though Headley was a drug dealer having faced a jail sentence, Pakistani born, could still manage to get a clearance. Also do note that he was travelling directly via Pakistan into India. The clearance of his Visa from the Indian Consulate in Chicago actually requires criminal proceedings against the Indian Consul general, the Indian Ambassador & the Minister & the concerned officers in the Home Ministry in Delhi. That was the reason that the authorities panicked & said that Headley's papers at the Chicago Consulate had gone missing. They later found them. With changed signatures, we guess!

5) It is clear that after working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Headley was later was recruited & trained by the CIA-FBI.

6) The CIA-FBI then used Headley in their plan to execute the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. Headley's task was to travel across the country, identify the targets & provide information to his CIA-FBI handlers. It was the CIA-FBI who then passed the information onto their ISI / LeT contacts in Pakistan.
7) Headley's role was also to draw in his LeT contacts to plan the 26/11 terror attacks.
8) The IB, that has been colluding with the CIA-FBI, instructed it's plants within the police force to cover Headley's trail, which they dutifully performed as is the case both in Mumbai & in Pushkar.

Thus as our inference on the Headley matter is the following:

a) It proves the fact that David Headley was a CIA-FBI agent sent to India to assist in the preparation & implementation of the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks.
b) The US intelligence, led by the CIA-FBI & the Israeli MOSSAD played a central role in co-ordinating the attack & America is complicit in the planning, financing & execution of the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks.

c) The CIA-FBI used their LeT / ISI agents in Pakistan to implement the same

d) Similarly the CIA-FBI along with certain elements within the Intelligence-Security apparatus & organizations within India were instrumental in fomenting the terror attack.
Undoubtedly the larger strategic objectives of the Imperial gameplan are being achieved, out of which one was to establish the CIA-FBI & Mossad as our allies & thus penetrate & undermine our external & internal security structures.
Just imagine, the CIA-FBI & Mossad are the sword arms of the Imperial project & not a whimper of protest from the secular-liberals or from the anti-Imperialist Left. Even the Obama Af-Pak surge has been barely opposed even though it deepens the US occupation of the South Asian region.
This only goes to prove as to how successful the Imperial strategy has been in creating an atmosphere for US meddling & intervention across South Asia & in neutralising the Left, Bahujans & the Muslim community by systematically promoting Islamophobia by deploying the weapon of terror.
But the Indian masses are far smarter & both the issues of the planned assassination of Shaheed Hemant Karakare & the Headley episode, have helped the People arrive at their own independent conclusions despite the disinformation campaigns unleashed by the pro-US/israeli elements within the Indian Government & the Corporate Media.





Monday, October 18, 2010

'अभिनव भारत के ख़िलाफ़ जाँच में सुस्ती'

मुंबई में 26/11 के हमलों में आतंकवाद विरोधी शाखा(एटीएस) प्रमुख हेमंत करकरे की मौत के बाद क्या अभिनव भारत और हिंदू चरमपंथियों के बारे में जाँच एजेंसियों की कार्रवाई में सुस्ती आई है?

to read full report click below: source BBC Hindi

http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/india/2010/10/101018_abhinavbharat_ia.shtml

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Ayodhya Verdict: Beyond The Liberal Brahmanic Framework

By Feroze Mithiborwala



The Ayodhya Verdict was a judicial demolition and justification of the destruction of the Babri Masjid. The verdict is basically a mockery and stands in utter contempt of the Indian constitution, as was the demolition. The verdict is an affront to the very vision of an India that is rooted in it's secular and plural values.

The judgment has set an unprecedented precedent by giving precedence to belief or aastha over law. A civil title suit was reduced to a theological verdict.

This is the process whereby the Brahmanic Manusmriti increasingly gains precedence over the Ambedkarite Constitution.

The verdict, far from ensuring a respectful closure, has opened up a Pandoras box, whereby every place of religious worship will be under threat from the RSS & it's myriad militant affiliates, who are proved their prowess at conducting pogroms & destruction of Masjid's in Gujarat.

Thus this verdict has actually created new grave problems, instead of solving the old.

Clearly the verdict is a political settlement sought by the Congress, RSS & the BJP & less of a legal pronouncement & this has only compounded the imbroglio.

What is also missing from the entire discourse is the fact that the mobilization & demolition of the Babri Masjid on the 6th of December, was the Brahmanical counter to the Punyatithi or Death anniversary celebration of Dr. Ambedkar, wherein lakhs of Dalits, OBC's & other oppressed masses go to the Chaitya Bhoomi to pay their respects.

This was the revenge of the RSS, as Dr. Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism with lakhs of his followers on the last day of Dussehra in 1956.

Also the fact is that Advani's Rath yatra was a counter to the announcement of the Mandal commission by VP Singh. Thus the focal point of the entire Ram Mandir movement has been to target the Muslim community & the co-option of the Dalit, OBC masses into the Brahmanic fold. Thus at the core lies the ideological struggle between the emancipatory, egalitarian & humanitarian principles as enunciated by Mahata Phule & Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar & Brahmanism on the other.

Thus the design is to build a grand or Bhavya Ram Temple as a counter to the Chaitya Bhoomi. Thus on the 6th of December, they hope that the Dalit's OBC's & other victims of Brahmanic oppression will be mobilised in Ayodhya & not in Bombay.

It is also a religio-cultural counter-revolution against the fast spreading Buddhism across all of North India, especially amongst certain sections of the empowered Dalits.

The most dangerous & offensive part of this judgment is the fact that it has justified the ravings & rantings of L. K. Advani, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Kalyan Singh & their entire ilk. For the judgment to mention that Bhagwan Ram was born under the central dome of the Babri Masjid, is an incredible leap of aastha. Even the findings of the ASI report that could not be determined even by the best of historians & archeologists, was used as conclusive evidence.

Most incredible of this all is that one of the parties to the dispute is Ram Lalla Virajman himself. This is again unprecedented. A deity is a participant in a legal dispute, who is then granted a judicial status with a birth certificate.

Do we need the courts to go into this terrain of beliefs, where tomorrow the very status of God or Eshwar or Allah or Ahura Mazda will be decided?? Ridiculous & preposterous!!

Even though the Court agrees that the idols were placed there in 1949, it still does not find it a criminal act, even though an FIR had been lodged. So the entire criminal act, leading to the very demolition is then justified & the precedent thus set, that can be replicated with little cause for worry for the RSS & it’s fanatic hordes.

Though the Congress is shouting from the rooftops, that the Civil suite will have no bearings on the criminal case, the glaring delays over the Liberhans commission (extended 49 times!!) report is proof of the collusion between the Congress & the RSS-BJP. LK Advani has taken all precautions to differentiate between the leadership that stood at the frontline directing the crazed mobs & those of the thousands who were indulging in the violence & destruction.

Actually the matter could have been resolved in a different & far more sensible manner that would have given a respectful closure to all of Indian society.

All that the judges required to say was the following. That none of the disputants to the title suit can prove their possession. Since all the parties have been present, sharing & praying at the said site since 1855, the property has to be shared equitably.

That was all that was required, but instead the judgment has opened vistas in which the possibilities for stirring the communal cauldron are immense.

We are amongst the world's most ancient civilizations & if we start digging up, every little plot of land will throw up a religious dispute.

And even though there is no evidence that a Temple was destroyed to build a mosque, yet judge Sharma behaved like he was writing a pamphlet for the RSS. The very Ramcharitramanas of Tulsidas never mentioned even the possibility of this dispute, even though he was around 30 years old when the Babri mosque was built in 1528 & was functioning till 1949.

The Nirmohi Akhada were staking their claim to the property, but never raised the issue of Bhagwan Ram's birthplace.

The ASI report also mentions Buddhist & Jain remains, but very little public debate on this aspect, as clearly Ayodhya was & is an important centre for these two religions as well. The Buddhists called this town Saket & the fourth Tirthankara of the Jains was born here.

Thus a number of legal luminaries have been astonished at the judgement & have debunked it as a mere panchayati faisla.

This judgement actually proves that the judges had no aastha or faith in the Indian constitution & thus the Brahmanical sham.

Statement on the Judgement of the Allahabad High Court on the Ayodhya Dispute

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Statement on the Judgement of the Allahabad High Court on the Ayodhya Dispute

Released at the National Meeting called by Anhad

Ayodhya Verdict: Repercussions and Civil Society's Response

15 Oct 2010


A meeting of concerned citizens, academics, writers, lawyers, social workers and activists took place on 15 Oct 2010 in Delhi to discuss the issues arising out of the judgment on Ayodhya.
They were unanimous in their dismay over the judgement of the three judges of the Special Full Bench of the Allahabad High Court, who recently passed their final verdict in the 60 year old title suits over the bitterly contested property in Ayodhya. They were distressed with the grave implications of this judgement for Indian public life, and the principles of justice, secularism, democracy and rationality.
The judgments of Justice DV Sharma and Justice Sudhir Aggarwal are based on language and arguments which effectively and dramatically invert the principle of a secular state, which subordinate faith to law, by making the law subordinate to faith. The non-secular, nay, anti-secular idiom of the judgments of the two Judges is deeply disturbing.
The meeting was of the opinion that verdict constitutes a dangerous precedent, which can be used against other vulnerable groups in future, like dalits, tribals and women. For almost 500 years, Muslims had worshipped routinely in the Babri Mosque, while Hindus worshipped at the Ram Chabutra in the open area adjacent to the mosque, in a spirit of mutual communal goodwill. The disputed claim of Hindus to the land on which the mosque stood is based on naked aggression from 1949 to 1992. With this judgement, the movement which challenged India’s secular Constitution and took hundreds of lives, and fostered fear and hate has triumphed.
This movement demanding that a grand Ram Temple should be built on the site in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid stood, is often understood to be a clash between Hindus and Muslims. The meeting affirmed that there is indeed no such clash, and there never has been. It has always been a dispute between two alternate visions of India; between Hindutva and secularism; between a minority of persons unreconciled to the secular democratic idea of India, and the majority of Indians of every faith who believe in and live this idea.
The judgement reopens again the question about the terms on which people of minority faiths would have to relate to cultural domination of the religious Hindu majority. In effect, it interrogates the guarantees of the Indian Constitution, which pledged equal rights and equal protection of all persons, regardless of their religious persuasion. Both in courts of law, but more importantly in the arenas of society and the polity, the meeting resolved to battle for the restoration of the values of the freedom struggle, and the Constitution which the people of India gave themselves.

Aban Raza, student
Amit Sengupta, journalist
Amrita, SANGAT
Anil Chaudhary, peace
Anupam Gupta, advocate, Chandigarh
Anuradha Marwah, AAEA,
Apoorvanand, Departemnt of Hindi,Delhi University.
Arjun Dev, educationist
Asad Zaidi, poet, writer
Avinash Kumar, Oxfam India
Bhasha Singh, journalist
Bibin Kuakose,J.N.U.
Dominic Emmanual, Information Bureau of Catholic Archdiocese.
Dr.Suresh Khairnar, All India Secular Forum, Nagpur, Maharashtra
Farah Naqvi, Independent Writer and Activist
Gauhar Raza, poet, doumentary filmmaker
Hakeem Irfan, journalist
Harsh Dobhal, Executive Director, Human Rights Law Network
Harsh Maneder, Aman Biradari
Humra Quraishi, Journalist.
Jeetendra, journalist
K.M.Shrimali, Department of History, Delhi University.
Karen Gabriel, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University
Kartini
M.Hilal, FFCL
Madan Lal Arora
Manoj Mitta, journalist
Mansi Sharma, social activist, Anhad
Mohan Kumawat, Anhad Media.
Mr. Ravindra
Mukul Manglik, academician
Nandini Sundar, academician
Naseeruddin.journalist
Navaid Hamid
Neelabh Mishra, journalist
P.K. Vijayan, Hindu College, Delhi University.
Padmini Mongia.
Priyanka Gautam, Anhad Media.
Prof. K.N. Panikkar.
R.K. Gupta.
Rajendran Prabhakar, PUCL- Karnataka.
Rakesh Bhardwaj, PEACE.
Ram Puniyani, All India Secular Forum.
Roop Rekha Verma, former Vice Chancellor, Lucknow University
Ruchira Gupta.
S.Irfan Habib, NUEPA
S.Venkateshan, Danchurch Aid.
S.M.A. Kazmi, Sr. Advocate.
Sania Hashmi, Anhad Media.
Vineet Tiwari,Sandarbh Kendra.
Satya Sivaraman.
Shabnam Hashmi.
Sheetla Singh, Editor Jan Morcha, Faizabad
Shesh Narain Singh.
Sukumar Murlidharan.
Sundaran.
Sunita Dhar.
Syeeda Hamid.
Tanveer Alam.
Uma Chakravaorty.
Usha Ramantnan.
Uttam Bhai Parmar.
Vrinda Grover.
Zafar A. Haqsav, FFCL
Zafar Agha.
Zoya Hasan.

--

ANHAD
A-2/1205, Hillpark Towers,
Nr. Aggarwal Estate, Jogeshwari (W), Mumbai-400102
e-mail: anhad.mumbai1@gmail.com
Tel- (022) 26792833

think........

“Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” -William James


Smothered by Settlements

Dear All,

This is an extremely important article by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti on the ongoing sham of a peace process.

Read it & circulate the same as widely as possible.

Regards,

Awami Bharat
Team


Smothered by Settlements

By MUSTAFA BARGHOUTHI

Negotiations between two unequal parties cannot succeed. Success in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations requires a reasonable balance of power, clear terms of reference and abstention of both sides from imposing unilateral facts on the ground. None of that existed in the talks that were re-initiated in September.

Much like previous rounds of talks, these negotiations were dominated on one side by an Israeli government that controls the land, roads, airspace, borders, water and electricity, as well as the trade and economy of the Palestinian side, while possessing a powerful military establishment (now the third military exporter in the world) and a robust gross domestic product, which has tripled in the last decade.

This same Israeli “partner” now also boasts a general public that has shifted dramatically to the right, and to which an apartheid system for Palestinians has become an acceptable norm.
On the other side is the Palestinian Authority — one that paradoxically holds little real authority, and exists as a sort of fiefdom within the Israeli matrix of control. Further debilitating the P.A. is a protracted internal Palestinian division, total dependence on foreign aid and a decline of democracy and human rights. Finally, the Palestinian Authority is constantly pressured to provide security for its occupier while failing to provide any protection whatsoever to its own people from that same occupier.

How did we get here? The answer, in large part, has to do with the continued and unabated construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 17 years since the Oslo agreement.
In this time, the number of settlers has increased by 300 percent and the number of settlements doubled. The settlements are only the front line of a complex and profitable system that includes checkpoints, road segregation, security zones, the “apartheid wall” and “natural reserves.”
This matrix has for years eaten up the land, water resources and the economic space of the independent Palestinian state supposedly being negotiated in this same period. About 60 percent of the West Bank and 80 percent of water resources have been consumed this way.
We have reached, and probably surpassed, that critical point at which any more settlements mean the death of the two-state solution.
The Israeli establishment knows this better than anybody. They also know that their hard-line positions on issues like Jerusalem and borders mean transforming the idea of Palestinian statehood into something much less: isolated clusters of land in a system of segregation.
The International Court of Justice and endless United Nations resolutions have ruled that settlements are illegal and should be removed. Even the Road Map issued by the so-called Quartet (the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia) in 2003 said that all settlement activities must stop. Yet neither the United States nor the Quartet as a whole has had the guts to exert serious pressure on Israel to stop settlements.
So what is left?

The only way to save the two-state solution is for the Palestinians to declare the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem, and to demand that the world community recognize it and its borders — as it did in the case of Kosovo.

That would also mean supporting the right of Palestinians to struggle nonviolently to end the occupation of their state. Any future negotiations, therefore, would not be about the right of the Palestinians to have their own sovereign independent state, but rather about how to apply and implement that right.

This would be the true test of the state-building strategy of the United States and the donor community. It would be the real instrument to finally demarcate the difference between support for free Palestinian institutions in a sovereign and viable state, or footing the bill of occupation and using E.U. and U.S. tax dollars to maintain under various guises what will never amount to anything but an apartheid system denying Palestinians their human and national rights.
If the world community turns its back on such a declaration of independence by using the well-worn and insulting argument that every step should first be verified with the Israeli government, then the message will be clear: Peace based on two states is no longer an option.

Mustafa Barghouthi is the founder of the Palestinian National Initiative and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Tehelka’s Populist Turn (PPI)? - The magazine joins the Great Kerala Terrorist Hunt

The magazine joins the Great Kerala Terrorist Hunt

Kerala’s Radical Turn – cries the cover of the last issue of Tehelka (dated 9th October, 2010). The cover story by V K Shashikumar, that plays the familiar tunes of Islamophobia, hints at Tehelka‘s Populist Turn. It will be interesting to see whereTehelka goes from here, and what happens to its current reader base that distinguished the magazine from the likes of The Indian Express and The Times of India and India Today.
In the article titled “Here Come the Pious”, Shashikumar lists some facts and his personal fears, on the eve of the Allahabad High Court judgment on the Babri Masjid land dispute. What is missing in the entire article is reason. The byline says that “A new Islamist body, the Popular Front of India, is causing alarm with its religious overdrive in the south.” After one goes through the article, however, what one gets is a glorified picture of the outfit. Whether the author likes it or not.
The piece opens with the Rayana episode, where a young engineering graduate got threats for wearing jeans in the Kasargod district of Kerala. “They said they were from the Popular Front of India. Initially it was teasing and harassment. But harassment is worse than a threat to life. The comments and staring each time I ventured out, as if I was a criminal, was intolerable. They wrote to me saying they want me to wear purdah. They said what I did was blasphemy. But I don’t think it is a problem of Islam. This is an issue of the right over one’s body. It is sad that everybody is making it out as a religious problem, even those who support me,” says Rayana. (quote from the article). And without any guilt whatsoever, the author does the same: makes it out as a religious problem.
Many Muslim women in Kerala wear jeans and other modern outfits. So if one Rayana is getting targetted for what she wears, we as a mature society should extend our support to her and find out why she gets targetted. Sadly, all that the author sees is “Them” — the imaginative enemy. It seems the author has not even bothered to cross verify with women’s groups and feminist activists who have been involved in extending support to Rayana – nor has he done any homework or checked with other journalists in Kerala.
The article says: “They hated her jeans. They called her at odd times, men she didn’t know, and told her what they would do with her if she didn’t dump the jeans and put on purdah. Each time Rayana stepped out, they stared and said horrible things.. Then, four months later, she wrote to the Women’s Commission asking that she be allowed to wear what she likes. The state posted constables to protect Rayana so she could sport denim. Now, they stalked her. One day Rayana was returning after meeting her lawyer in Ernakulam, a town near the middle of Kerala. The constable got off midway. A group tried to block the car Rayana was in. She drove off. They chased the car and attacked her with stones. She had to drive to a town nearby, where the locals lent a touch of security. All this, because they didn’t like what she wore.” Who are “They”? Has the author cared to find out before flaring up this fear for “Them”? Are we forgetting the fact that in Kerala most women face these stares and hear horrible things if she chooses to wear what she likes or chooses to live the life she wants?
The article then cuts to : “The Popular Front of India (PFI), with its headquarters in Kozhikode, Kerala, is throwing up a curious test for India’s secularism.” Why? Here’s the answer: “In classified central government reports, the PFI is accused of introducing an extremist pan-Islamist movement to India. In submissions to the High Court, the Kerala police claim it is linked to the Al Qaeda. Achuthanandan suggested the PFI has a 20-year plan to Islamicise Kerala. And then, Keralites were jolted out of their secular somnambulism on the first Sunday of July when a bunch of PFI cadres chopped the right palm of a college teacher, TJ Joseph, for setting a question paper that allegedly insulted Prophet Mohammad.” The accusations of the central government reports and the apparent police claims of Al Qaueda links have not been proved, and the CM’s statement was arguably the most irresponsible statement a chief minister could come up with. So the author finds himself in need of some supportive data.
“Evidences” follow — in the form of opinions from some of the author’s caste Hindu and caste Christian friends who feel threatened that their supremacy is getting questioned. To quote the author himself; “Hindus and Christians are beginning to feel uncomfortable with this brand of assertive, militant religion-centred politics.” As if Muslims are not part of the Kerala society. Sample this: “They are the Indian Taliban, but they cannot overcome the syncretic culture of Kerala,” says Raveendran, a building contractor in Thrissur. According to him, the PFI is a temporary fad funded by petrodollars from Saudi Arabia. Mathew Nethumpara, a lawyer in Ernakulam, says he is not surprised because “intolerance has been brewing for several years”.
That these comments override Kerala’s Director General of Police Jacob Punnose who says “I realise the danger but I don’t want to exaggerate it” tells us where the author’s fears are founded.
Moreover, in an SMS message to the authors of this piece – B Unnikrishnan, the filmmaker and critic quoted by the author asserts that he has been either misunderstood or misconstrued.
Now comes some “historic” revelations. “Confidential missives of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Kerala Police accessed by TEHELKA suggest the PFI is the fastest-growing cadre-based Muslim organisation in India.” Enough reason for fear. Though one wonders what these confidential missives are. What adds to the fear is PFI’s Kozhikode Declaration (2009) that the article quotes:
“..The Muslims are the victims of the war on terror. The Indian government supports the WOT and makes available the county’s machinery for implementing the plan hatched by the US-Israel axis. It’s in the wake of this alliance that we witness the increase in bomb blasts in the country.
The Muslims, on the other hand, have been pushed down by inferiority complex created by peculiar historic developments. They are under the wrong impression that any political move of their own is wrong. While the national secular parties are anxious to use the Muslim votes, they have been reluctant to take them in as equal partners. They have failed to secure the rights of the Muslims as citizens and refused to give even legal protection to them during communal riots which are a byword for collective anti-Muslim attacks. When the administration joined hands with anti-Muslim forces it created fear in Muslim minds. There is strong suspicion that plans are being hatched and implemented deliberately to break the Muslims economically and socially.
The denial of basic needs and willful negligence of their just demands have imposed social slavery. No political party can shrug off responsibility for creating this situation. So it is imperative that Muslim organisations come to the forefront for the advancement of the community and to create awareness about their rights.”
Blasphemy! Are we supposed to speak this out? Will it not get the Muslims to think on these lines, and question the targetting of Muslims? Will they not react to the picking up of Muslim men in connection with any blast that happens anywhere in the world? Will they forget the Mecca Masjid blast where hundreds of Muslim youth were picked up and harassed? Yes, there is reason to fear. More so when PFI’s Kerala head says his organisation is expanding because there is a feeling among Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis that they have been cheated.
Then another friend of Shashikumar shares his concerns : “In the past few years I have seen more women, and more educated women, for instance my neighbour who has a Phd, take to the hijab.” Too sad. It is evident that here we are not talking about women who are forced to wear hijab. As the author quotes: “It is fashionable to wear hijab,” says Salima, a student of BSc, Applied Statistics, in Kozhikode’s Ferook College. This fear for any religious symbols that do not belong to one’s own religion needs treatment.
Another reason for fear is “their” faith in letters. “We see the media as a vehicle for political empowerment,” the article quotes NP Chekkutty, Executive Editor of Thejas. Then we see a letter classified as secret issued by the union home ministry on 25 November 2009 that states: “Thejas is part of a pan-Islamic publication network catering to the communal agenda of certain organisations. The publication invariably takes anti-establishment views on issues like plight of Muslims, Kashmir, and India’s relations with the US and Israel. Occasionally, it describes the government’s counter-militancy effort as state-sponsored terrorism, thereby endorsing the stance of militant elements. More importantly, contemporary developments and issues are invariably projected with a communal slant.” Incidentally, this particular letter has been a subject of speculation and debate in the Kerala media circles and its existence has been denied by the Government, and it is rather interesting that Shashikumar is blissfully ignorant of this fact.
Hasn’t Tehelka taken anti-establishment views and spoken up on instances where there was denial of justice? Isn’t the government’s counter-militancy and counter-Maoist efforts widely criticized by many people publicly? And what is a “communal slant”? As far as the Malayalam newspapers go, Thejas is one of the very few newspapers where one hardly gets to see reports attempting to malign any particular community. This is in a time when Mathrubhumi and Kerala Kaumudi and the likes have been rolling out Islamophobia in the form of headlines, reports and even cartoons day by day. Isn’t that communal?
As if to add insult to injury – another piece by Rajesh Ahuja screaming that Gulf Malayalis are falling prey to LeT compliments Shashikumar’s thesis. We are left clueless as to the relevance of this story that has been much written about by veterans like Praveen Swami in today’s context except to buttress Shashikumar’s fears of Muslims getting richer and funding their own publications. We really do not know and do not want to comment on the guilt or non-guilt of Nawaz or others mentioned in the story – but to calumny a whole community because of a few alleged miscreants is unfortunate – given that the Gulf boom has been in many ways responsible for the upward social mobility of the Muslim community in Kerala.
One has to keep in mind that Kerala has one of the most vibrant, diverse and political Muslim communities in India – one of the very few places in India where the community has a strong political presence. If anything, these kind of baseless reportage fuels insecurity amongst the community that they are being targeted and Shahsikumar, himself claims that is one of the tools that PFI is using in its mobilization!!
With all this and more, both the articles look like a fine example of the proverbial “seeing yellow”, going by the facts we are presented with. These facts are supposed to substantiate the fears expressed by the authors, but it instead tells us there is something terribly wrong with the way that people like Shashikumar and Rajesh Ahuja (and the Tehelka editors) think.
Both the articles say they are based on inputs from Shahina K K in Thiruvananthapuram. Shahina is someone we all know as a journalist of reason. We wonder if Shahina also shares Shashikumar and Rajesh Ahuja’s extrapolations and exaggerations.
(This was sent as a rebuttal to Tehelka – which Tehelka has not published)

http://kafila.org/2010/10/09/tehelkas-populist-turn-bobby-kunhu-and-sudeep-ks/

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Dalit-OBC NYAY-YATRA to Counter Ayodhya judgement

NYAY YATRA

(The journey for justice)

[NEW DELHI-7th OCTOBER'2010]
Press Release
The way the law of the land has been throttled in the name of Hindu-faith
and almost swallowed the land of ‘Babri Mosque’, we are afraid of their
devil designs that the day is not far away they will declare the
‘Constitution of India’ as void and proclaim this country of ours a
‘Hindu-Rashtra”. It is nothing but the satanic conspiracy of the
Caste-Hindus to debase, degrade, demean and divest the Muslims of their
rights to this land of theirs. Under the situation and circumstances, it
will not be prudent on the part of dalits to lament and let pass time by
idling away but go to the People’s Court to tell them the menace of the
devil designs of Hindu Micro Minority (Caste Hindus) against their Muslim
brethren in India.

This is not the first time in the annals of Indian jurisprudence
that the Caste-Hindu judges have gone beyond the law of the land. On many
occasions they have passed such orders detrimental to the bare interests of
the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Castes, Muslims, Christians,
and Buddhists of India. In the name of the merit they have tried to deprive
the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Castes of their due share
in the higher technical and management services. In the mane of the ‘Mondal
Judgment’ they have tried to curtail the constitutional employment
opportunities of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and finally
imposed the principle of ‘Creamy layer’ to deprive the rightful employment
opportunities meant for the Backward Castes.

Time and again it has been observed that if the matter pertains
to the interests of dalit and Muslims, they used to keep the case linger on
for years. In order to protect their own interests, they do not wait for the
night and the Court used to be opened in the night or the house of the
respective Judge turns into a Court-room to deliver the judgment of their
favor on the very night itself.

One may not have forgotten the* defection case of BSP MLAs in the year 1997
in which 12+6+1=19 out of 67 BSP MLAs have defected in piecemeal which by no
standard becomes 1/3 rd of 67 the requisite number of defected MLAs, as such
the Anti defection law should have been applied and the membership of these
defected BSP MLAs should have been terminated out rightly. *But right from
the then Brahmin Speaker of the house (Kesri Nath Tripathi), Governor of
U.P., lower court, High Court and Supreme Court of India which has further
referred it to the Constitution Bench. It is not understandable as to what
sort of Constitutional implications have arisen as the case was referred to
the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court of India! *The matter pertains to
common sense and simple arithmetical calculations as to whether 18 or 19
could be the 1/3 rd of 67 which a student of 1st or 2nd standard could have
solved it!
So far as the birth of Rama the lord of the Caste Hindus is concerned, the
Hindu religious scriptures and legends are evident enough to prove that Rama
was never born on the soil of India. If the concocted fairytales and legends
of the Hindus are to be believed, Rama their lord is said to have born in
Tretayug and the present one is Kaliyug. The timeframe of Dwapuryug which
comes in between is 8, 64,000 years. If it is believed that Rama was born at
the end of Tretayug the time of his birth should have taken place about nine
lakh years ago.
The ‘Rama’ the lord or the deity of the Caste-Hindus is described as
“Arya-putra” in their so called religious texts and legends and the Aryans
have descended to this land of ours about 4500 years back from Central Asia
or the arctic region as enunciated by none other than the Great Brahmin Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India in his book “**Discovery
of India**” and this fact is also authenticated by another great Brahmin
leader and philosopher Lokmanya Pt. Bal Gangadhar Tilak in his Book “**The
Arctic home in the Vedas**”. Thus it is proved beyond doubt that if Rama the
lord of the Hindus had ever taken births it never on the Indian soil. It may
be somewhere else either in Central Asia or in the Arctic region.
Therefore awarding 2/3rd land of Babri Mosques to the Hindus cannot be
justified under any circumstances or the law of the land. The Hindu faith
i.e. their evil & devil design has clearly surfaced in the Allahabad High
Court Judgment depriving our Muslim brethren of their 2/3rd right over their
ancestral land of Babri Mosque.
It is also an open secret that the people of the Scheduled Caste, the
Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Castes are the victims of Caste inflictions.
They oppressed, suppressed and victimized almost daily at the hands of the
Caste Hindus. Our houses and huts are burnt. Our innocent people are kicked
and killed almost daily. The modesty of our women folks is not spared but no
justice is still meted out from the judges of Hindu-mindset.

Here are a few cases of prejudiced judicial pronouncements delivered by the
judges of Hindu-mindset against the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes,
Backward Castes, Muslim, Buddhists, Sikh and Christians:

1- The Supreme Court in India had delivered a judgment checkmating
the promotion prospects of SC/ST whereas the question of Creamy Layer of
OBC’s was before the consideration!

2- 1997’s defection case of BSP MLAs in which 12+6+1=19 out of 67 have
been defected which by no standard becomes 1/3 rd of 67 the requisite number
of defection, as such the Anti defection law should have applied and
membership of these defected BSP MLAs should have been terminated out
rightly. But the case is still pending with the Constitution Bench of
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India! It is beyond understandable as to what sort
of Constitutional implications are there? The matter pertains to simple
arithmetic as to whether 18 or 19 could be the 1/3 rd of 67 which a student
of 1st or 2nd standard could solve it.*

3- The another defection case of 40 BSP MLAs is still pending.

4-"Boot out Boota Singh" is the language reserved by Supreme Court
Judge for Honorable Governor of Bihar Mr. Boota Singh ji in a recent
case/judgment on the vacation of otherwise unauthorized occupation of
Government accommodation.

5- The Supreme Court Judgment abolishing the minority character of
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

6- Not a single culprit of mass killing, rape and murder of innocent
dalits/Tribal have been convicted/prosecuted or awarded death sentence for
the heinous crimes so far by any court of law in India? It may not be out
place to mention that thousands of the innocent dalits had been killed by
way of the mass killings at Belchhi, Pipara, Parasbigha, Deoli, Sadupur,
Panwari, Kumher, Fatehpur, Jahrana, etc.

7- Why not even a single culprit of Communal riots on Muslims has been
pros ecuted by awarding death sentence?

8- Not a single culprit of 1984 riots/carnage against Sikh fraternity
have been prosecuted or awarded death sentence except it made a few dalit
officers of Delhi police as scapegoat.

9- Why the Supreme Court had delivered verdict on the quota of
Scheduled Caste/ Tribe/OBC in the professional private institutions
recently.

10- Why Kanshi Ram’s 97 year old mother is being subjected to run from this
Court to that Court up to Supreme Court seeking release of her unmarried son
from the clutched and captivity of a lady who otherwise has no legal or
moral author ity over ailing Kanshi Ram?

Apart from the above, so many other such obnoxious judgments have been
passed by the brahminical judges against our people. There are thousands of
such cases pending with the judiciary in which the fate of our educated
employees is locked up unnecessary. The brahminical administrative officers
or the head of the departments are habitual of denying the legitimate and
Constitutional rights of the SC/ST & OBC employees.

It is really a matter of shame and grave concern that nobody dares to raise
an eye brow against these calculated moves by the brahminical knaves. Not
even our political Gods & Goddesses have ever felt concerned and dare to say
anything against these obnoxious judgments! Our political representatives
have virtually become the three monkeys of Gandhi as such become blind, deaf
and dumb towards abominable thralldom, inhuman injustice and perpetual
oppression, suppression, exploitation and butchery of our people. They do
not even bother for our people being kicked and killed or our daughters,
sisters; mothers are being raped and murdered almost daily!

Now the question arises as to who is to bell the cat? Obviously, it is the
sole responsibility of our political Gods & Goddesses who has no dearth of
the resources and people’s support. They can make the much sought-after "The
Crises" to settle the score with our enemies but when they miserably failed
to protect their own interest and certainly have nothing to do with the
welfare/problems of our people even when they were in power then nothing
good could be expected from them. It becomes an uphill task for them when
they would have embraced Brahminical knaves! We have seen our political Gods
& Goddesses (Leaders) virtually licking the feet of their political bosses
just for their own welfare and sustenance!
In the name of their so called Hindu-faith, the Caste Hindus have
swallowed the 2/3rd land of Babri Mosque. We perceive that the day is not
far away; these very Caste Hindu Judges will pass an order to declare the
“Constitution of India” as prepared by Baba Saheb Dr. Ambedkar as ‘void’ and
proclaim this country a “Hindu-Rashtra”!
We are, therefore, constrained to launch a countrywide “**NYAY YATRA**” so
as to educate, agitate & organize the people of the Scheduled Caste, the
Scheduled Tribes and Backward Castes and also make them aware of the evil &
devil designs of the Caste-Hindus; a potential threat and impending danger
to their respectful existence. This is also once again a time for us to take
side of our Muslim brethren in their hour of sorrow. This “**NYAY YATRA**”
is proposed to begin with Delhi and culminate at Lucknow after passing
through the lanes of the various districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Hope, the affluent and intellectuals people from amongst the Scheduled
Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Castes, Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists
of India shall give a deep thought to it and extend their *helping hand *for
this pious ‘Mission’.

From:- Ambedkar Samaj Party (ASP),

Rashtriya Joota Brigade (RJB),

Veerangna Phoolan Devi Mahila Morcha (VPMM),

Ambedkar Student Front (ASF),

Jyotiba Phule Kishan Morcha (JKM),


*304 Mandakini Enclave,
Alaknanda, New Delhi-110019 (India)*
Our website: http://www.missioncaravan.com*

**’No man can be grateful at the cost of his honor; no woman can be grateful
at the cost of her chastity; and no nation can be grateful at the cost of
its liberty.*”

Press Conference: The Ayodhya verdict, beyond the liberal Brahmanic framework

AWAMI BHARAT


PRESS CONFERENCE


THE AYODHYA VERDICT, BEYOND THE LIBERAL BRAHMANIC FRAMEWORK


VENUE: Marathi Patrakar Sangh, CST.


DATE: 9 Oct, 2010. // Time: 3pm.


Speakers: Brigadier Sudhir Sawant, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap, Jyoti Badekar & Shyam Sonar


Yawar Ali Qazi, Avinash Kamble, Arif Kapadia, Winnie Thomas, Reshma Jagtap, Chetna Birje


The Ayodhya Verdict was a judicial demolition & justification of the destruction of the Babri Masjid. The verdict is basically a mockery of the Indian constitution, as was the demolition. The verdict is an affront to the vision of an India that is rooted in it's secular & plural values.


The verdict has set an unprecedented precedent by giving precedence to belief or aastha over law. A civil title suit was reduced to a theological verdict. This is the process whereby the Brahmanic Manusmriti increasingly gains precedence over the Ambedkarite Constitution.


The verdict, far from ensuring a respectful closure, has opened up a Pandoras box, whereby every place of religious worship will be under threat from the RSS & it's myriad militant affiliates, who are proved their prowess at conducting pogroms & destruction of
Masjid's in Gujarat.


Thus this verdict has actually created new problems, instead of solving the old.


Clearly the verdict is a political settlement sought by the Congress, RSS & the BJP & less of a legal pronouncement & this has only compounded the problem.


What is also missing from the entire discourse is the fact that the mobilization & demolition of the Babri Masjid on the 6th of December, was the Brahmanical counter to the Punyatithi or Death anniversary celebration of Dr. Ambedkar, wherein lakhs of Dalits, OBC's & other oppressed masses go to the Chaitya Bhoomi to pay their respects.


This was the revenge of the RSS, as Dr. Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism with lakhs of his followers on the last day of Dussehra in 1956.


Also the fact is that Advani's Rath yatra was a counter to the announcement of the Mandal commission by VP Singh. Thus the focal point of the entire Ram Mandir movement has been to target the Muslim community & the co-option of the Dalit, OBC masses into the Brahmanic fold. Thus at the core lies the ideological struggle between the emancipatory, egalitarian & humanitarian principles as enunciated by Mahata Phule & Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar & Brahmanism on the other.


Thus the design is to build a grand or Bhavya Ram Temple as a counter to the Chaitya Bhoomi. Thus on the 6th of December, they hope that the Dalit's OBC's & other victims of Brahmanic oppression will be mobilised in Ayodhya & not in Bombay.


It is also a religio-cultural counter-revolution against the fast spreading Buddhism across all of North India, especially amongst certain sections of the empowered Dalits.


The most dangerous & offensive part of this judgement is the fact that it has justified the ravings & rantings of L. K. Advani, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Kalyan Singh & their entire ilk. For the judgement to mention that Bhagwan Ram was born under the central dome of the Babri Masjid, is an incredible leap of aastha. Even the findings of the ASI report that could not be determined, even by the best of historians & archeologists was used as conclusive evidence.


Most incredible of this all is that one of the parties to the dispute is Ram Lalla Virajman himself. This is again unprecedented, a deity is a participant in a legal dispute, who is then granted a judicial status with a birth certificate.


Do we need the courts to go into this terrain of beliefs, where tomorrow the very status of God or Eshwar or Allah or Ahura Mazda will be decided?? Ridiculous & preposterous!!


Even though the Court agrees that the idols were placed there in 1949, it still does not find it a criminal act, even though an FIR had been lodged. So the entire criminal act, leading to the very demolition is then justified & the precedent thus set, that can be replicated with little cause for worry.


Though the Congress is shouting from the rooftops, that the Civil suite will have no bearings on the criminal case, the glaring delays over the Liberhans commission (extended 49 times!!) report is proof of the collusion between the Congress & the RSS-BJP.


Actually the matter could have been resolved in a different & far more sensible manner that would have given a respectful closure to all of Indian society.


All that the judges required to say was the following. That none of the disputants to the title suit can prove their possession. Since all the parties have been present, sharing & praying at the said site since 1855, the property has to be shared equitably.


That was all that was required, but instead the judgement has opened vistas in which the possibilities for stirring the communal cauldron are immense.


We are amongst the world's most ancient civilizations & if we start digging up, every little plot of land will throw up a religious dispute.


And even though there is no evidence that a Temple was destroyed to build a mosque, yet judge Sharma behaved like he was writing a pamphlet for the RSS. The very Ramcharitramanas of Tulsidas never mentioned even the possibility of this dispute, even though he was around 30 years old when the Babri mosque was built in 1528 & was functioning till 1949.


The Nirmohi Akhada were staking their claim to the property, but never rasied the issue of Bhagwan Ram's birthplace.


The ASI report also mentions Buddhist & Jain remains, but very little public debate on this aspect, as clearly Ayodhya was & is an important centre for these two religions as well. The Buddhists called this town Saket & the fourth Tirthankara of the Jains was born here.


Thus a number of legal luminaries have been astonished at the judgement & have debunked it as a panchayati faisla.


This judgement proves that the judges had no aastha or faith in the Indian constitution.
==================================================================

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

State government refuses to build affordable shelters for homeless workers, calls them beggars

Press Release

State government refuses to build affordable shelters for homeless workers, calls them beggars

Date- 4th October 2010
Time- 3:00 to 4:00 pm.
Venue - Press Club Mumbai

Today, the 4th of October is World Habitat day. The United Nations has designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day. The idea is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities and the basic right of all, to adequate shelter. This year, the focus issues are health and housing.
The state of Maharashtra is one of the better of states with high per capita incomes and has been a very progressive state in its socio-economic policies. It is often said with pride that no one goes to sleep hungry in this city- a sign of its inclusive character. However it does not seem to be any more beginning with the government itself as reflected by the government’s non-compliance in its affidavit on implementing the Supreme Court directive about homeless.

On this world habitat day it is time to reflect on what the state government is doing about shelters for its citizens. The affidavit filed by the state in the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter says a lot about the intent of the government. The court had asked all the state governments to state what they are doing for the homeless and had given some directives to be followed as well. It had asked governments to create one shelter for every one lac population in cities having population of more than 5 lacs with basic facilities, which the State of Maharashtra has refused to follow.

In its affidavit while the state has acknowledged that homeless are the poorest of the poor of the city and cannot even afford informal housing. Still the state government has mixed slum dwellers with homeless and sighted schemes of slum dwellers as meant for homeless. This, in a way appears to be an attempt to mislead the court and in effect refusal to build shelters for homeless as directed by the hon’ble court.

The majority of homeless constitute working people of the city, working as daily wage workers in catering industry, pushing carts, construction, putting up banners and posters, rag pickers etc. But due to extremely low incomes cannot afford the housing meant for slum dwellers and those meant for rehabilitation of slum dwellers. They need amenities customized according to their situation which obviously the government is unaware else they would not have been clubbed with beggars.

Most often it is incorrectly being presumed that these shelters will be free. Since majority of the homeless work these would be paid for but on a “daily pay and use” basis something akin to dormitories. Delhi’s shelters are a good example of such shelters. At the same time there a lot of old, destitute, disabled, and mentally ill and children who need free shelters plus additional care as part of social security scheme for them. Since this group amongst the homeless is not in a position to take care of themselves in the absence of social security from the state. Thus, the government will be able to provide much needed social security to the group.

The affidavit is an insult and an affront to the dignity of the hardworking homeless citizens and of the poor to be clubbed as beggars. It goes against the fundamental right of right to life with dignity and liberty and freedom of movement and resides anywhere in the country. Beggars’ homes are not open shelters but custodial institutions where you can go only after being arrested by the police. It denies all freedoms and opportunity to go out and work. The homeless cannot access these homes neither should they be put in the beggars homes.

The homeless people of the State and NGOs in solidarity condemn the affidavit of the Maharashtra government.

We will protest against it tomorrow 5th October in Azad Maidan and demand from the state to:

v Immediately start implementing the directives of the Supreme Court dated 5th May 2010.
v Build a Shelter for every 1 lakh population in cities with population above 5 lakhs.
v State wide assessment of the homeless population
v Adequate accommodation / housing should be created on daily rental, affordable by the homeless. Delhi’s shelters are a good example of such shelters.
v Age, sex and ability (for instance disabled, mentally challenged, destitute women, children) should be taken into consideration while sanctioning and designing shelters

Participants Organizations-

Saathi, Committee for the right to housing(CRH), CYDA (Pune), Disha Foundation ( Nashik), Beghar Yuva Sanghatan,Yuva, Aajeevika bureau (Udaipur), Alternative realities, Anmol,Don Bosco Rehabilitation and research Centre,Jyot Bahu Uddeshiy samajik sanstha,Koshish,Prayas,Rks (Ration Kruti samiti),Tarai Foundation,Vidharthi Bharati, Build,Nirman, JJM,Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan, ICHRL. Nagri Hakka Samiti, Awami Bharat,Bharat Bachav Andolan,Democratic Vidharti Kranti Dal, Marathi Bharati,INSAF,Nagpur Muncipal Co-orporation Employes Union.


Organized by-
Maharashtra State Committee for National City Maker Caravan and
Collective for homeless citizens Mumbai.

Contact Person :
Shwetank Mishra- 9819264009 Arif Kapadia- 9224412022

Address -SAATHI, Agripada Muncipal School ,Farukh umerbhoy path, Opp. YMCA Swimming Pool,Mumbai - 400011. Office No- 23009117. Email – info@saathi.org

THE ASIA TO GAZA SOLIDARITY CARAVAN

Press Release: 5 October 2010, New Delhi
Asian People’s Solidarity for Palestine
announces

THE ASIA TO GAZA SOLIDARITY CARAVAN


500 civil resisters from 17 Asian countries will join the caravan from India and march through 18 Asian cities of Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey to break the siege of Gaza through the sea route in December 2010

The Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan is being organised by the Asian People’s Solidarity for Palestine, an alliance of peoples’ organisations, social movements, trade unions, and civil society institutions of Asia. This struggle is broad-based, varied and multi-dimensional. It is humanitarian and for peace, freedom and human dignity. It is against occupation, imperialism, apartheid, Zionism and all forms of discrimination including religious discrimination. Simultaneous press conferences are being held in 5 countries today – India, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia and Lebanon – to announce the launch of the Asia to Gaza Caravan. Similar press conferences will be held next week in Syria, Palestine, Malysia, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The Asian People’s Solidarity for Palestine extends solidarity to the courageous people of Palestine in their struggle, resistance, and intifada against the Zionist Israeli occupation and affirms its commitment to Palestinian Self-Determination; Ending the Occupation; Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine; the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees; and the Establishment of a Sovereign, Independent and Democratic state of Palestine with Jerusalem as the capital.

The Asian People’s Solidarity for Palestine commits to build the solidarity of Asian people for the freedom of Palestine, provide materials, resources, and volunteers to support the struggle of the people of Palestine and oppose our own governments’ decisions and actions that give economic, financial, military and diplomatic support to Israel and allow it to behave with impunity.

India Lifeline to Gaza, which is a constituent of the Asian People’s Solidarity for Palestine will have a conference and a large flag off programme in New Delhi on 2nd December 2010. The Caravan will carry relief material for the people of Gaza. The Asia to Gaza Caravan will cross into Pakistan via the Wagah border where members of the Pakistan Solidarity for Gaza will join the Caravan onwards to Iran. In every country and city that the caravan travels through, public meetings will be organised as more activists and participants join the caravan. We also support the United Palestinian call of July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel Israel to comply with international law; the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI); and all other initiatives to end the occupation of Palestine.
TENTATIVE CARAVAN SCHEDULE
01 Dec Participants from East and South East Asia reach New Delhi, India 15-17 Dec Tabriz, Iran to Eskandarun, Turkey
2-3 Dec Flag off from New Delhi
and travel to Wagah border, India-Pakistan Border 18-19 Dec Eskandarun, Turkey to Damascus, Syria
04 Dec Reach Lahore, Pakistan 20-21 Dec Damascus, Syria to Amman Jordan
5-7 Dec Lahore to Karachi/Quetta, Pakistan 22-23 Dec Amman, Jordan to Beirut Lebanon
08 Dec Karachi/Quetta, Pakistan to Zahedan, Iran 24-26 Dec Beirut back to Turkey
9-14 Dec Zahedan, Iran to Tabriz, Iran 26 Dec We Sail for Gaza (Palestine)


Peaceful Resistance
The civil resisters have resolved to resist the Israeli sea siege in a peaceful manner and following the example of civil resisters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela as well as the long tradition of peaceful resistance from all ethical and religious traditions. The civil resisters are willing to be convicted for their peaceful resistance.

India Lifeline to Gaza
This process has been initiated by Indian people’s movements, social movements, trade unions, civil society organisations and multi-faith and ecumenical organisations. In the two months prior to departure of the Asia to Gaza caravan there will be multi-city programmes in solidarity of the people of Gaza and Palestine. Film festivals of Palestinian films and films of resistance, music concerts, photo exhibits, and theatre productions are being organised by the supporters of the people of Gaza and Palestine.

Palestinian Film Festival: Celebrating Cultures of Resistance
A week-long film festival screening Palestinian films and documentaries is being planned across several cities of India in the last week of October (tentatively 23-30 October). Several other initiatives such as solidarity concerts, theatrical performances, photo exhibits, panel discussions and seminars will also be planned in the days leading up to the flag-off of the Caravan.

End the Siege of Gaza • Freedom to Palestine • Boycott Israel

Endorsed by:
[


Organisations
All India Students Association
Aman Bharat
Asha Parivar
Awami Bharat
Ayodhya Ki Awaaz
Bahujan Sewak Sangh
Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha
Bharat Bachao Andolan
Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha
Campaign for Peace & Democracy (Manipur)
Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (Mazdoor Karyakarta Committee)
CPI(ML)
CPI-ML (New Democracy)
Forum against Oppression of Women
Free Gaza - India
Global Gandhi Forum
Hard News
Indian Isladhi Movement
India Palestine People’s Solidarity Forum
Indian Fed of Trade Unions
Insaaniyat
Intercultural Resources
Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Hind
Jamat-e-Islami-Hind
Le Monde Diplomatique
Loknaad
Mahatma Phule-Dr Ambedkar Vichar Manch
Mazdoor Ekta Manch
Muslim Intellectual Forum
Muslim Political Council of India
National Association of Peoples Movements
National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers
New Socialist Initiative
New Trade Union Initiative
Palestine Solidarity Movement
People’s Union for Civil Liberties
Phule-Ambedkar Vichar Manch
Programme against Custodial Torture and Impunity
Progressive Students Union
Republican Panther
Saheli Women’s Resource Centre
Sarva Seva Sangh
Solidarity Youth Movement
South Asia Peace Alliance
South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers
Students Islamic Organisation of India
Trade Union Centre of India
Teesra Swadheenta Andolan
Vidyarthi Bharti
Yuva Koshish
All India Majlis-i-Mushawarrat
Individuals:
Achin Vanaik
Agdish Nagarkar
Ambarish Rai
Amol Madame
Amit Sengupta
Anand Grover
Anand Patwardhan
Anand Swaroop Verma
Anil Chaudhary
Arif Kapadia
Ashish Kothari
Asif Khan
Aslam Ghazi
Bajrang Sonawane
Brig. Sudhir Sawant
Chetna Birje
Dr Sunilam
Ghazala Azad
Gopal Rai
Ihtishaam Ansari
Jai Sen
Javed Naqvi
Kabir Arora
Kalyani Menon-Sen, New Delhi
Khalid Riaz
Medha Patkar
Mehmood Madni
Mukta Srivastava
Mukul Sinha
Mulniwasi Mala
Munawwar Azad
Munawwar Khan
Pandit Jugal Kishore Shastri
Qurratulain Sundus
Reshma Jagtap
Ritu Menon
Rohini Hensman
Salman Usmani
Sandeep Pandey
Sanjay Shinde
Savyasaachi
Sayeed Khan
Sayeeda Hameed
Shabnam Hashmi
Shahid Siddiqui
Sheikh Muhammad Hussain
Shyam Sonar
Sudhir Dhawale
Sumi Saikia
Syed Iftikhar Ahed
Thomas Matthew
Tusha Mittal
Varsha V V
Vasanthi Raman
Vilas Gaikwad
Winnie Thomas
Yawar Ali Qazi

--
India Lifeline to Gaza
c/o ICR
33-D, 3rd Floor
Vijay Mandal Enclave
DDA SFS FLATS
New Delhi, 110016
Email: asiatogaza.india@gmail.com
Website: http://www.asiatogaza.net/
Phone: 09711178868; 09911599955; 09820897517


1
Fact Sheet on Siege on Gaza

Israel’s blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European
Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative
Council elections in January 2006. Israeli forces have controlled what is allowed in and out
of Gaza since June 2007. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in
and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of
sanitation, health, water supply and transportation. The blockade has subjected many to
unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment of a
civilian population for exercising its democratic rights. Lifting the blockade, along with a
cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and
Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May
and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli
government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and
ground attacks in early November. Israel has continued and even intensified its occupation
of the West Bank. In 2008, settlement expansion increased by a factor of 38, a further
4,950 Palestinians were arrested – mostly from the West Bank, and checkpoints rose from
521 to 699. Furthermore, since the onset of the peace talks, Israel has killed 546
Palestinians, among them 76 children.
Most of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza
Strip are refugees from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba.
Over half of them still reside in the eight refugee camps in Gaza. They were driven to Gaza
by the Israeli Army in 1948. The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-
Day War in 1967. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the
movement of people. Israel has control over Gaza’s air space and sea coast, and its forces
enter the area at will. Israel intensively polices its long, fenced land border with Gaza, and
uses its navy to prevent access from the sea. Egypt has imposed its own blockade on its
short border with the strip, as it does not recognise Hamas's control over Gaza.
The Blockade
The blockade comprises measures such as restrictions on the goods that can be imported
into Gaza and the closure of border crossings for people, goods and services, sometimes for
days, including cuts in the provision of fuel and electricity. Gaza’s economy is further
severely affected by the reduction of the fishing zone open to Palestinian fishermen and the
establishment of a buffer zone along the border between Gaza and Israel, which reduces the
land available for agriculture and industry. In addition to creating an emergency situation,
the blockade has significantly weakened the capacities of the population and of the health,
water and other public sectors to respond to the emergency created by the military
operations.
The blockade prevents Gaza from exporting any goods, putting a crippling squeeze on the
local economy, and restricts imports to a limited amount of basic humanitarian aid. But
there are no specified details of what is and is not banned, except a list of "dual use" items,
such as fertilizers which could be used to make weapons and is therefore prohibited.
Imports are said to be less than a quarter of the level they were December 2005, and the
UN estimates that 60 per cent of people are short of food, with seven out of ten living on
less than $1 a day a nd six in ten having no daily supply of water.
2
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) list of household
items that have been refused entry at various times includes light bulbs, candles, matches,
books, musical instruments, crayons, clothing, shoes, mattresses, sheets, blankets, pasta,
tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, shampoo and conditioner. Many other items - ranging from
cars to fridges to computers - are generally refused entry. Building materials such as
cement, concrete and wood were nearly always refused entry until early 2010, when some
glass, wood, cement and aluminium were allowed in.
Operation Cast Lead
Israel deployed its navy, air force and army in the operation it codenamed “Operation Cast
Lead”. The military operations in the Gaza Strip included two main phases, the air phase
and the air-land phase, and lasted from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009. The Israeli
offensive began with a week-long air attack, from 27 December until 3 January 2009. The
air force continued to play an important role in assisting and covering the ground forces
from 3 January to 18 January 2009. The army was responsible for the ground invasion,
which began on 3 January 2009, when ground troops entered Gaza from the north and the
east. The navy was used in part to shell the Gaza coast during the operations. Statistics
about Palestinians who lost their lives during the military operations vary.
Based on extensive field research, non-governmental organizations place the overall
number of persons killed between 1,387 and 1,417. The Gaza authorities report 1,444
fatalities. The Government of Israel provides a figure of 1,166. According to the
Government of Israel, during the military operations there were 4 Israeli fatalities in
southern Israel. In addition, 9 Israeli soldiers were killed inside the Gaza strip.
The Israeli armed forces launched numerous attacks against buildings of the Gaza
authorities. Israeli strikes on the Palestinian Legislative Council building and the Gaza
main prison completely destroyed the two buildings and can no longer be used. The se
attacks constitute deliberate attacks on civilian objects in violation of the rule of customary
international humanitarian law whereby attacks must be strictly limited to military
objectives. On 15 January 2009, the field office of the UNRWA in Gaza City, that offered
shelter to about 600 to 700 civilians and contained a huge fuel depot, came under shelling
with high explosive and white phosphorous munitions. On the same day, the Israeli armed
forces attacked the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City and the adjacent ambulance depot with
white phosphorous shells.
The Humanitarian Crisis
According to UN agencies the blockade has caused the economy "irreversible damage".
Unemployment has soared from 30% in 2007 to 40% in 2008, according to the World
Bank. With aid discounted, 70% of Gazan families live on less than a dollar a day per
person.
The closures have devastated the private sector. Before 2007, up to about 750 trucks of
furniture, food products, textiles and agricultural produce left Gaza each month, worth half
a million US dollars a day. Under the blockade, the only exports allowed have been a small
number of trucks of strawberries and flowers. Even production for local needs has come to
a virtual standstill because raw materials are usually refused entry. Agricultural exports at
almost zero, thousands of tonnes of flowers, fruit and vegetables have been destroyed or
3
sold at a loss on the local market. Other food production has also been affected. According
to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) $180m of trees, fields, livestock,
greenhouses and nurseries were destroyed during operation Cast Lead. The Palestinian
Authority estimates 15% of agricultural land was destroyed. The closed borders have been
a major obstacle to reconstruction, with fertilizer, livestock, seedlings and agricultural
equipment in short supply.
Before the blockade, 3,900 industrial premises were operating, employing 35,000 people -
by June 2008, only 90 were still functioning, employing only 860, according to the
Palestinian Trade Centre. Even before operation Cast Lead, all factories making
construction materials had shut down (13 making tiles, 30 concrete, 145 marble and 250
making bricks), and the building of roads, water and sanitation infrastructure, medical
facilities, schools and housing was on hold. During the truce, some trucks of cement and
gravel began to enter Gaza, but the volume was well below the need, and the flow stopped
as the truce fell apart.
Restrictions on construction materials, particularly cement, and spare parts for machinery,
have had a big impact on projects ranging from water treatment to grave digging.
Reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure destroyed in the 2009 Israeli operations in
Gaza has been virtually impossible. According to the UN, restrictions on cement have
made the reconstruction of 12,000 Palestinian homes damaged or destroyed in Israeli
military operations "impossible". It has not been able to build schools for 15,000 new
students.
Banks, suffering from Israeli restrictions on the transfer of banknotes into the territory were
forced to close on 4 December 2008 due to unavailability of cash money. The World Bank
has warned that Gaza’s banking system could collapse if these restrictions continue. All
cash for work programmes were stopped and on 19 November 2008 UNRWA had to
suspend its cash assistance programme to the most needy.
UNRWA also ceased production of textbooks because there is no paper, ink or glue in
Gaza. This will affect 200,000 students returning to school in 2009.
Food: The two main food providers in Gaza are the UNRWA and the World Food
Programme (WFP). According to the UNRWA, 80% of Gazan households rely on some
kind of food aid. It provides food aid for 7.5 lakh people. Its food distribution has been
suspended several times since June 2007 as a result of border closures or fuel shortages.
UNRWA rations provide about two-thirds of dietary needs, and so need to be
supplemented by dairy products, meat, fish and fresh fruit and vegetables. But with the
Palestinian Bureau of Statistics estimating unemployment at 38.6% in early 2010, most
Gazans cannot afford the basics, even if they are physically available. According to a FAO
report 61% of Gazans are "food insecure". A UN survey in 2008 found more than half
Gaza's households had sold their disposable assets and were relying on credit to buy food,
three-quarters of Gazans were buying less food than in the past, and almost all were eating
less fresh fruit, vegetables and animal protein to save money. The Israeli military operation
in December and January 2009 disrupted food aid transfer and distribution significantly.
According to the World Health Organization, one third of children under five and
women of childbearing age are anaemic.
4
Fuel and Electricity: In September 2007, the Israeli government declared the Strip a
"hostile entity" and began cutting fuel imports. Vehicle fuel enters from Egypt through the
tunnels. According to information complied by O xfam, no petrol or diesel for vehicles has
been allowed in from Israel since November 2008, except for fuel for UN cars and five
other shipments in three years. The amount of cooking gas allowed in has generally
fluctuated between about a third and a half of requirements.
Gaza's electricity supply is made up of 144MW from Israel, 17MW from Egypt and the rest
from an EU-run power plant in Gaza which can generate up to 80MW. The power plant's
fuel is usually brought in through the main fuel entry point, the Nahal Oz crossing. The
plant has shut down completely several times after running out of fuel because the crossing
was closed. It was out of fuel for most of the Israeli operation in January 2009, leaving
two-thirds of Gazans without power at the height of the crisis. Since early 2008, the power
plant has received enough fuel to operate at only about two-thirds of its capacity - in line
with an Israeli Supreme Court ruling which set a minimum amount of fuel that Israel must
allow into Gaza.
Figures monit ored by international agencies show fuel deliveries dropped even below these
minimums at several points in the first half of 2008. In late 2009, the responsibility for
funding the fuel was transferred from the EU to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority -
since then the amount of fuel supplied has declined. In April and May 2010, fuel supply
fluctuated, with the plant able to operate at between 20 and 50% of its capacity. Power cuts
remain frequent. According to Oxfam Report, in April 2010 houses across Gaza went
without power for 35-60 hours a week.
Water and Sewage : The blockade has taken its toll on Gaza's water and sewage network.
Intermittent power supplies have made pumps reliant on generators, which in turn have
lacked spare parts and fuel. According to the WHO, Operation Cast Lead worsened an
already bad situation. Before the operation, Gazans had only half the water they needed
according to international standards, and 80% of water supplied did not meet WHO
drinking standards. At the height of the January fighting, half of Gaza's population had
no access to piped water. Gaza's sewage treatment body estimates that at least 50m litres of
raw or poorly-treated sewage is released into the sea daily. Some of Gaza's sewage is stored
in huge lagoons, one of which burst in 2007 causing at least five deaths.
Medical Aid: The blockade has resulted in "dire state" of much of Gaza's medical
equipment, with delays in approval of machines and spare parts, and engineers denied
access to fit them. The medical system has also struggled with lack of spare parts and, at
times, fuel for back-up generators, and lack of building work because of the shortage of
materials. According to the WHO 15 -30% of essential drugs were out of stock in 2009.
Before Operation Cast Lead, Gaza had only 133 hospital beds per lakh of people,
compared to 583 in Israel. Six hospitals suffered severe damages. Gaza is simply not
equipped to treat most severe cases. According to Israeli government figures, 10,544
patients and their companions le ft the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israel in 2009.
But according to the WHO, permission for 21% of patients were denied or delayed during
2009 while waiting for referrals to Israel. The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been closed
since June 2007, although special medical cases are sporadically allowed to pass through it.

Compiled by the Secretariat of New Trade Union Initiative
B-137, Dayanand Colony, Lajpat Nagar – IV, New Delhi – 110024
Phone: 011 26214538/ 26486931 Fax: 011 26486931
Email: secretariat@ntui.org.in Website: ntui.org.in