On the occassion of Martyr’s Day

Please take a moment to remember the ones who did not come back

And have a look at this series on National Heroes

|| Jai Hind, Jai Bharat ||

Start this weekend with a story on Hyderabad’s links to Islamic terrorism

Next, read Sandhya Jain on the apparent unravelling of Jammu & Kashmir

Then read a retelling of the story of Shantanu by Jai Joshi

and finally, a personal request from Sanjeev Sabhlok, founder-member, Freedom Team of India.

Excerpts from all the articles below, as always.

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*** Excerpts from How Indian-born Islamic militants are trained in Pakistan by Damien McElroy ***

…The Sunday Telegraph has learned that scores of young Muslim men have disappeared from the central Indian city of Hyderabad, suspected of leaving for Pakistan to be trained by the country’s Islamist terror groups.

As many as 40 potential recruits are reported to have left the city – which has a large Muslim minority – under extremist guidance, while many other young men cannot be traced.

Police efforts to track the youths have floundered in the wake of the Mumbai attacks last month. A wall of community silence has protected the activities of teachers and other shadowy figures working inside fundamentalist Islamic schools and mosques.

“We have tried to establish where the city’s youth has gone but we don’t know,” said Hyderabad’s police commissioner, Prasada Rao. “We know they have gone to other places, either Indian states or abroad. We are checking but the parents or the others will not let us into what’s going on.”

…Extensive surveillance operations and intelligence investigations have failed to penetrate the inner workings of Hyderabad’s radicals, officials admitted.

Officials at the DJS madrassahs – religious schools – in Hyderabad were not willing to discuss the disappearance of the city’s young men.

While there is no suggestion that the organisation orchestrates terrorist acts, the DJS carries a message on its website that is explicit about the right of Muslims to resort to violence.

“The DJS has trained and are training thousands of Muslim youths to defend themselves and to help, protect and defend the other Muslims,” it states, before adding that once trained in “self defence” members can leave to join any other Muslim group.

It continues that “the long term goal of the DJS remains to achieve the supremacy and prevalence of Islam in practice in its entirety”.

*** End of Excerpts ***

*** Excerpts from Unravelling J&K by Sandhya Jain ***

…A leading national daily on Saturday reported a ‘strong’ Indian reaction to Syed Mehdi Shah, newly elected ‘first chief minister’ of Gilgit-Baltistan, calling it the “fifth province” of Pakistan.

An embarrassed external affairs ministry rushed to declare: “the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession to India in 1947. Any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan has no legal basis, and is completely unacceptable.”

Doubts about New Delhi’s true intentions, however, arise because of the persistent mishandling of the State’s integration with India. First, Jawaharlal Nehru was manipulated by Louis Mountbatten into taking the Pakistan invasion to the United Nations and preventing the Indian Army from recovering the captured territories. The UN called for plebiscite and then sent Sir Owen Dixon to ‘suggest’ de facto partition of the State, with India keeping Hindu areas of Jammu and Buddhist Ladakh, while Pakistan kept the captured Northern Areas and Occupied Kashmir, and further received Muslim-dominant Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu! The proposed plebiscite was confined to Kashmir Valley, and north of Chenab declared the ‘new’ international border. As there was no way that Nehru could sell this proposal to his own cabinet, it died a natural death.

Yet Nehru, like the Bourbons, forgot nothing and learnt nothing. For reasons that defy cogent analysis, the Maharaja’s Accession was not treated as final, at par with the accession by other princes. The Hindu king of a critical state was treated like a pariah, and a dangerous concept of ‘Muslim precedence’ granted to this Muslim-majority region, laying the foundations for the erosion of India’s civilisational ethos in the critical Himalayan frontier, and subsequently across the land. Special status was granted to Sheikh Abdullah and his Muslim Conference, who drove the nascent Republic crazy with their shifting stands on every negotiated issue. Article 370 is the enduring legacy of that poor exercise in statesmanship.

…Since then (2001), a variety of ill-conceived unofficial and official dialogues, including ‘quiet talks’ with separatists in quest of a ‘unique solution’, have further compromised the Indian position on Kashmir, with myriad state politicians flexing their muscles and demanding autonomy, pre-1953 status, self-rule, even independence.

…Mehdi Shah’s statement suggests that Islamabad is moving to formalize the status quo and turn Gilgit-Baltistan into a province of Pakistan. New Delhi must realize this means Islamabad will no longer support the fiction of ‘self-determination’ for the people of J&K; all ‘diplomacy’ will involve de facto or de jure surrender of Indian territory.

…It is pertinent that only Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman, All Parties Hurriyat Conference, with whom Home Minister P Chidambaram is engaged in ‘quiet talks,’ supported Pakistan’s political-administrative package for Gilgit-Baltistan, saying it met long-standing local aspirations. Mirwaiz was in recent months allowed by the Centre to visit Washington, London, and the Organisation of Islamic Conference, and appears to be in the loop on the emerging Western-Pakistan synergy to dismember India from the north, formally augment Pakistan for the Afghanistan war, while furthering western strategic objectives in the region.

…It is pertinent that Indian intelligence and diplomatic sources would have known about the November elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, but Indian public opinion was kept carefully in the dark. Why, in six decades, has Indian intelligence failed to build ‘human resources’ in a region badly treated by Pakistan; to sponsor a party that could have come to power?

Were it not for Mehdi Shah’s political taunt, New Delhi would have continued to preside over moves to balkanize India via Jammu & Kashmir. Islamabad’s next step will be to grant official Pakistani citizenship to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. Is South Block ready for that?

*** End of Excerpts ***

*** Excerpt from Shantanu – The Ancestor by Jai Joshi ***

It has been argued that the devastation of the Mahabharat war has it’s roots in the deeper history of the Kuru family. It has been argued that the first seeds of that war were sown during the reign of King Shantanu.

This is his story:

King Shantanu was the emperor of Hastinapur, a descendent of King Bharat. He was a powerful monarch and ruled his people with truth, justice and love. In his realm none were sick or poor or without food. All were employed. All were safe.

One day, Shantanu was riding his chariot along the banks of the Ganga river when he chanced to see a stunningly beautiful maiden sitting on the riverbank. She was dressed in white silk robes and had lustrous black hair and creamy skin. Her eyes were dark and liquid and fathomless.

His heart stopped in his chest. He alighted from his chariot and approached the lady. “Who are you?” He breathed.

She looked at him, her gaze piercing through him and making him almost delirious with desire. “I am Ganga,” she said.

He realised she was the goddess of the river and daughter of the creator, Father Brahma. “I am King Shantanu of Hastinapur and I am in love with you. Will you marry me, Goddess Ganga, and be my queen?”

She blushed and looked away. “Yes,” she said and Shantanu was the happiest man on earth. “But on one condition.”

Shantanu rambled: “Anything, everything. Whatever you want.”

“Oh King, hear my condition first. I will marry you but only if you promise never to question me or stop my actions, ever.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“Think again, great King. You should not be so quick to make decisions.”

Shantanu brushed aside her warning. “I’ll do anything to have you as my wife. I agree to your condition.”

Read the rest of the story here.

*** End of Excerpts ***

*** Excerpts from Sanjeev’s Request for Assistance ***

Dear Readers of “Satyamave Jayate”

I’m grateful to Shantanu for this opportunity to reach out widely to his readers about the possibility of organizing outreach events for the Freedom Team of India.

I’m visiting India in a few weeks. During this visit I propose to speak in as many small or big events as I possibly can, about the need for good people to come together to contest elections to promote freedom and good governance in India.

While some events are already being organized separately, I would like to speak as extensively as possible during this visit. So I seek your support (and perhaps a little bit of help) in organising a small speaking engagement during the following dates:

- Late afternoon/evening on 14 February 2010 in Jorhat (or before 11:30 on 15 February)
- 16-18 Feb 2010 in Guwahati
- 24 Feb – 4 March 2010 in Delhi (I’m also happy to talk outside Delhi during this period, subject to my availability).

The hope is to keep this event very simple without any special preparation. Just an opportunity to talk to a few good people. Indeed, the event can be tailored to the needs, and shrunk somewhat if needed.

I’d appreciate if you write to me on this at sabhlok AT yahoo DOT com, and how this can be organized to make it convenient to get the relevant audience.

*** End of Excerpts ***

Thats it for this weekend. Have a restful, safe weekend.

Past weekend readings are here.