Prof. G.C.Asnani News and Views 3rd January 2009
Date: January 3rd 2009 1:05:52 a.m.
Prof. G. C. ASNANI, MSc., Ph.D. (United Nations Service, Retd.)
822, Sindh Colony, Aundh, Pune – 411 007 (HINDUSTAN, INDIA)
Tel: 91-20-2588-0347
E-mail: i)asnanigc@yahoo.com, ii) gcasnani@vsnl.com
News and Views 3rd January 2009
1. Hamas warns against ground attack (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
2. Russia looks to re-route EU gas leaving Ukraine route (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
3. Teen trained to be suicide bomber feels tricked (cnn.com)
4. Iraq suicide bombing kills at least 30 and wounds 110 on Friday afternoon, 2nd January 2009 (cnn.com)
5. And now, the genocidal t-shirt, which with its "clean" language conjures up images of ethnic cleansing and the Qur'anic designation of unbelievers as "unclean" (9:28) and the "most vile of created beings" (98:6) (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
6. British Muslims ally with Taliban against British troops in Afghanistan (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
7. A novel non-Governmental successful effort in rural education (organiser.org)
8. ISI-Lashkar operations with CPM help in Kerala- Tamilnadu coastal region (organiser.org)
9. Two army personnel, six ultras killed in two encounters in Jammu-Kashmir on Friday, 2nd January 2009(http://dailypioneer.com/)
10. Assam continues to bleed; Chief Minister sleeps as terrorists run amok (http://dailypioneer.com/)
11. Election in Bangladesh. Perhaps for the first time the freest. fairest and the most transparent election was held and, despite BNP’s allegations of irregularities in 72 constituencies, no law and order incident was reported. The two hundred thousand election observers, including foreign observers, described the election as having been free, fair and transparent. (southasiaanalysis.org)
12. SRI LANKA: Fall of Paranthan, Defence of Kilinochchi and the War in Wanni – Update No. 160-Col R Hariharan (southasiaanalysis.org)
13. Vedic Verses for 1/2/09: Then his wife said to him: This brahmachirin, practising austerities, has intelligently tended your fires. Give him instruction lest the fires should blame you. The teacher, however, went away on a journey without teaching him. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
14 Tirukural - Chapter 6: The Good Wife: She is the helpful wife who possesses the fullness of domestic virtues and spends within her husband's means. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
15. Gospel of Jesus: Did Jesus advise to Divide, to Kill, and to Rule? Was he a Terrorist? Who can believe this?
i) Holy Bible - New Testament, Luke 12; 51-53: Jesus said:
"Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the World? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."
ii) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 20; 27: Jesus said: “for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence.”
iii) Holy Bible New Testament, MATHEW 16; 18-19: Jesus said, "Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock I will build my Church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; what you prohibit on Earth will be prohibited in Heaven, and what you permit on Earth will be permitted in Heaven."
16. The Master Course - Lesson 265. What Does the Pujari Do During Puja? During the puja, through mantras, mudras and mystical ritual, the priest invokes the Deity. All observances are precisely detailed in the Agamas; every act, every intoned syllable is rich in esoteric meaning. Aum Namah Sivaya. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
17. Union home minister P Chidambaram talks tough on Assam rebels (http://epaper.timesofindia.com)
18. Taliban’s latest: Marry our militants or else. On the heels of their crusade against girls going to schools, the Taliban has now issued new dictum in the areas under their sway, asking parents of grown up daughters to marry them to militants or “face dire consequences”. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com)
19. Some Forecasters See a Fast Economic Recovery in USA. For this rosy picture to play out, they are counting on the Obama administration and Congress to come through with a substantial stimulus package, at least $675 billion over two years. (http://www.nytimes.com)
20. Sri Lankan President hails victory as army seizes Tamil Tiger capital (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)
1. Hamas warns against ground attack (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
Date: - 3 -1-09
Khaled Meshaal issued his warning to Israel from his base in Syria
The Hamas leader-in-exile, Khaled Meshaal, has warned Israel that it would face a "black destiny" if it launched a ground offensive on Gaza.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Israeli air strikes started a week ago, he said Hamas resistance and infrastructure were intact.
His remarks came as the UN warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The UN said it believed 25% of more than 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli action so far were civilians.
Meanwhile President George W. Bush has blamed the Hamas movement for the violence, describing rocket attacks on Israel as an act of terror.
He added that no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to what he called Palestinian terrorist groups.
Israeli has threatened to launch a ground offensive. It has called up army reservists, and tanks and troops are massed on the Gaza frontier.
BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen says a week of bombardment has not been able stop militant rocket attacks, and Israel now has to decide whether to send in ground troops.
'Foolish'
In a pre-recorded statement broadcast on al-Jazeera TV, Damascus-based Khaled Meshaal, said Israel would be making a "foolish mistake" if it sent tanks into Gaza.
"We will not break, we will not surrender or give in to your conditions," Mr Meshaal said in a speech aimed at the Israelis, the Palestinians and the wider Muslim world.
Al-Jazeera reaches millions of people across the Arabic-speaking world in the Middle East and beyond.
To them, Mr Meshaal said this was not a battle against Hamas alone, but against the entire umma, or nation - analysts say an apparent reference to a populist Islamist idea that the Palestinians are defending the Muslim world against a modern form of Crusades.
The UN said the Israeli military escalated its offensive against the Hamas leadership in Gaza on Friday, targeting the homes of more than 20 Hamas officials in its latest air strikes.
In response, Palestinian militants fired on Israel, launching more than 60 missiles in 24 hours, injuring four people in the southern city of Ashkelon.
Four Israelis have been killed so far by militant rocket fire.
Humanitarian crisis
Earlier on Friday, five Palestinian civilians - including three children - were killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza.
The UN says up to 421 Palestinians may have been killed by Israeli action so far and more than 2,000 injured - though it says it cannot confirm those figures.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening, UN officials say
Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a Supreme Court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.
The UN says the week-long assault has worsened the crisis in Gaza, despite an increase in humanitarian shipments.
Israel tightened its control of what gets in and out of the crowded coastal Strip after Hamas, the elected power, seized control of the area from rival Fatah forces 18 months ago.
Since then, the UN says there has been a significant deterioration in infrastructure and basic services, with 80% of the 1.4m population unable to support themselves.
In a statement, the Israeli foreign ministry said it was working with international organisations in Gaza as well as various governments "in order to assess the humanitarian needs... and make the necessary response".
All reports indicate that there is sufficient medicine and food in Gaza, the statement read.
'Pressure Hamas'
In his weekly radio address President Bush said Hamas was responsible for the latest violence and rejected a unilateral ceasefire that he said would allow Hamas to continue to fire on Israel.
And he called for tougher action to prevent Hamas and other groups from receiving weapons.
"There must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure the smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end," he said.
2. Russia looks to re-route EU gas leaving Ukraine route (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
Date: - 3 -1-09
The deputy chairman of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, speaks to the BBC
Russian gas giant Gazprom says it can no longer depend on Ukraine as a transit route to the EU and is looking to develop alternatives.
In a BBC interview, the deputy chairman of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, said he hoped EU countries would back the move.
Gazprom cut off Ukraine's gas supply on Thursday in a row over payment.
The firm has since accused Ukraine of stealing gas, however Ukraine's state energy firm said Russia was not sending enough gas to ensure the EU supplies.
Ukraine's state gas company, Naftogaz, denied illegally siphoning Russian gas, saying it was ensuring the export supply.
We believe it's necessary to develop, as soon as possible, alternative transit routes
Gazprom's Alexander Medvedev
Ukraine has insisted it will not interfere with gas transported from Russia to other states via its pipelines, as it has enough gas in its reserves to look after its own needs for some time.
Hungary and Poland said pressure on their pipelines had dropped.
Naftogaz said earlier it was diverting some gas to maintain pressure in the pipeline network.
Negotiations
In his first foreign interview since the gas was cut off to Ukraine, Gazprom's Alexander Medvedev dismissed the suggestion his company was deliberately picking a fight with Kiev.
Instead he said Gazprom was ready to end the dispute immediately - but there was no-one to negotiate with.
Europe's gas pipeline network
"We are ready to enter negotiations day and night, but they probably have other tasks than to solve this problem because they are not in Moscow," he said.
Mr Medvedev said Gazprom has gone out of its way to ensure supplies of gas to Europe are maintained.
He said the problem was not with Russia, but Ukraine, adding "that's why we believe it's necessary to develop, as soon as possible, alternative transit routes".
The alternatives he talks of are two new pipelines Russia is planning to build that will by-pass Ukraine on their way to Western Europe.
The Nord Stream gas pipeline would run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, and the South Stream link would pass under the Black Sea.
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says this latest dispute is expected to give those Russian plans a significant boost.
The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said it would call a crisis meeting of envoys in Brussels on Monday to discuss the row.
Pipes across Ukraine carry about a fifth of the EU's gas needs. A similar row between Gazprom and Ukraine at the beginning of 2006 led to gas shortages in several EU countries.
3. Teen trained to be suicide bomber feels tricked (cnn.com)
Date: - 3 -1-09
Teen is serving at least 5 years for plot to carry out suicide bombing
He says Muslim radicals at school duped him into becoming a would-be bomber
The thing he misses most about home is his mom and dad: "I miss my parents"
Detention facility is teaching jailed children a moderate interpretation of Islam
By Atia Abawi
CNN
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A 14-year-old who was trained to kill by radicals in the tribal regions of Pakistan now sits in a crowded classroom at a detention facility in Kabul. His only wish is to see his parents again.
Shakirullah, 14, is convicted of planning to carry out a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Shakirullah is already a convicted terrorist for planning to carry out a suicide bombing. He says Muslim radicals lied and tricked him into becoming a would-be bomber. "I have been detained for trying to commit a suicide attack," he says.
He says his recruiters told him it was his mission as a Muslim to kill British and American soldiers because they were killing Muslims. Watch teen say recruiters "cheated me" »
They told him that once he blew himself up he wouldn't die because God would save him for being a true Muslim.
Asked what he now thinks of Americans and Westerners, Shakirullah is calm, but quick in his response.
Shakirullah now passes his hours in a cell block at a juvenile detention facility in Kabul. He is serving at least five years in detention. He is to be transferred to an adult prison in a couple of years, authorities say.
He hasn't heard from his family in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. He tried to send them a letter through the International Committee of the Red Cross but is not sure it reached them.
On this day, Shakirullah attends a rehabilitation class, easily lost in the crowd of boys with shaved heads. All of the children are convicted for various crimes, including theft, fighting and even murder.
Three boys like Shakirullah are here, all guilty of planning to kill themselves and others after being recruited by terrorist groups.
With the increased violence in Afghanistan, international observers say they have seen more and more children being recruited by armed groups and national forces. The Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan with its strict Islamic rule from 1996 to 2001, has regrouped and launched a fierce insurgency.
Inside the detention center, Shakirullah walks up to his cell, his sandals sliding across the tile floor.
The cell block is empty and has metal bunk beds lined across the wall and a television set, ready for the times they have electricity. Shakirullah shares this space with 10 other boys. He sits in the center of the room with a blanket draped around him.
He barely makes eye contact and looks away as soon as he does. He is shy, but forthright in his words. "I didn't want to do it but he forced me to go," he says of his recruiter.
Rubbing his face with his hand, he says he now spends his time dreaming of his life back home in rural Pakistan. His eyes begin to water and his voice becomes softer when he talks about missing his mother.
Asked what he misses most about her, he says simply, "A mother is a mother."
His was a life of farming and tranquility in Pakistan, he says. It was also a life that took a drastic turn when his father decided to send Shakirullah for studies at a madrassa.
He says his dad wanted him to learn more about Islam and the Quran, something he could not do himself. He says his father didn't know radicals ran the school.
In the madrassa, Shakirullah learned to recite the Quran in Arabic, not his native language. He relied solely on the fanatical interpretations the mullahs were giving him.
The teenager wasn't given the chance to say goodbye to his parents or siblings when he was driven to the Pakistan-Afghan border and handed over to strangers.
He says he was taken to the southeastern province of Khost, a hotbed for terrorist activity in Afghanistan. Suicide attacks have risen in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban began in late 2001, after the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Shakirullah says that before the police arrested him, he was learning how to drive a car but that he was not sure how he was supposed to carry out his attack.
Khost is the province where a suicide car bomb went off near a voter registration site this past Sunday, killing 16 people, 14 of whom were children.
At the juvenile detention facility, Shakirullah and the others are now being taught a different interpretation of Islam.
4. Iraq suicide bombing kills at least 30 and wounds 110 on Friday afternoon, 2nd January 2009 (cnn.com)
Date: - 3 -1-09
NEW: At least 30 people were killed and 110 wounded Friday in suicide attack
Bombing in Yusifiya, a city about 25 kilometers southwest of Baghdad
Bombing happened during a Sunni tribal gathering
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 30 people were killed and 110 wounded Friday afternoon in a suicide bombing in Yusifiya, a city about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) southwest of Baghdad, an official with the Ministry of Interior has CNN.
The U.S. military said it has initial reports from its Iraqi partners that 21 people were killed and 44 were wounded.
The bombing happened during a Sunni tribal gathering, the official said. Tribal sheikhs, members of support councils and citizens were attending a luncheon at a home. The gathering was part of reconciliation efforts among area tribes, the ministry official said.
In another incident, two members of the Sons of Iraq were killed and four others were wounded when gunmen attacked their checkpoint Friday morning in the Jurf Al-Sakhar area about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Baghdad, the official said.
Jurf Al-Sakhar is a mainly Sunni area that used to be an al Qaeda stronghold until the Sons of Iraq -- formerly known as an "awakening council" -- retook control of the area.
5. And now, the genocidal t-shirt, which with its "clean" language conjures up images of ethnic cleansing and the Qur'anic designation of unbelievers as "unclean" (9:28) and the "most vile of created beings" (98:6) (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
Date: - 3 -1-09
A Palestinian Muslim sent out an announcement selling this genocidal t-shirt, which with its "clean" language conjures up images of ethnic cleansing and the Qur'anic designation of unbelievers as "unclean" (9:28) and the "most vile of created beings" (98:6):
As you all know that there have been alot (mashallah) of rallies all over the world ALHAMDULILLAH for Gaza. Many people also have been doing whatever they can to help those who are in Gaza suffering from hunger, the cold, and other basic things. I hope to do my part with this inshallah!!!!! As some of you know I design shirts and thing and sell them for personal use but the following are shrits are for sale for Gaza. Meaning that alllllllll the money collected from these sales will be donated to Islamic Relief so that they can buy what is need to help those in Gaza (i.e. medical supplies, food, clothes etc.). I know some of the prices may be a little high due to the fact that getting them printed and sent to you will cost a little more just because of the timing but inshallah kair! Short sleeve $20 Long sleeve $30 All shrits are available in both black and white (other colors available upon request inshallah)
6. British Muslims ally with Taliban against British troops in Afghanistan (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
Date: - 3 -1-09
Allah save the queen -- I mean Osama!
For you see, in Islam, Muslim solidarity takes precedence over modern-day concepts such as "nationality" or "citizenship," thanks to Koranic verses such as "Let not the believers take for friends or allies infidels instead of believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah" (3:28). Islam's prophet Muhammad also said "In the compassion and mercy the believers possess for one another, they are like one body: Should one of its members be struck ill, the rest of the body suffers from fever and insomnia" (The Al Qaeda Reader, 99). Any surprise, then, that "British" Muslims -- that is, Muslims residing in (i.e., benefiting from) Britain -- are allying themselves with fellow Muslims against their dhimmi hosts?
UK soldiers in Afghanistan have killed British Muslims fighting alongside the Taliban, commanders claim.
Military intelligence reports suggest that a small number of UK nationals are among the range of foreign fighters who regularly clash with British troops in Afghanistan.
British military sources have told The Daily Telegraph that they believe that some of those Britons have been killed fighting against their own country's forces.
The revelation comes amid growing concern among British military and intelligence officials about militants based in Pakistan launching attacks on British interests in Afghanistan and at home.
Foreign fighters enter Afghanistan from Pakistan's lawless border areas, home to the reconstituted al-Qaeda leadership.
British commanders in Helmand say that they have intelligence suggesting that British Muslims are among the enemies they face, albeit in small numbers.
Some of those British Muslims may have been killed in battle with British troops, military sources said.
Confirmation is near-impossible, but British troop commanders believe that UK nationals are among the enemy dead.
One officer said: "We can't say for sure. If they don't carry passports, who can you say what nationality a corpse is? But it's a reasonable assumption that we've killed some of them."[...]
Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the House of Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism, said it was "to be expected" that British Muslims were among the enemy dead in Afghanistan.
He said: "The terrorist operations undertaken by British citizens at home and abroad shows the scale of British Muslims' involvement in extremism around the world...
7. A novel non-Governmental successful effort in rural education (organiser.org)
Date: - 3 -1-09
By Achyut Railkar
Our country has many villages without adequate school infrastructure facilities and hence the Lokmanya Tilak Vidya Mandir became the model to be followed by many others for the uplift of the rural sector.
Chikhalgaon a village of Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra and the birth place of Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak observed a propitious occasion twenty five years ago. The Lokmanya Public Charitable Trust (LPCT) founded by Dr Rajaram and Renu Dandekar inaugurated Lokmanya Tilak Vidya Mandir (school) in Chikhalgaon with moderate local help. Chikhalgaon was an ordinary small village with no schooling facility and no healthy surroundings. The nearest ST bus transport spot on Dapoli-Dabhol Road is far away from the village.
LPCT an eminent multidimensional non-governmental organisation has been working tirelessly since 1982 for the development of the village and its vicinity. This whole region in Konkan (western Maharashtra) consists of rocky terrain which is quite inaccessible. But still LPCT has done significant work in the field of education, health, agriculture, and rural development. The organisation has been honoured by the ‘United Nations’ for the special experimental school education in Chikhalgaon.
Dr Rajaram Dandekar—a lineage of renowned writer late GN Dandekar—was a practicing physician in Pune and Renu was a professor in Nanded College. She has been the author of several books in the field of education and has earned awards from the State Government as a model teacher. After their marriage, the Dandekars have determined to settle in Chikhalgaon and moved away from their urban life only for philanthropic work in the backward rural areas. Rajaram became President of LPCT while Renu was appointed as Principal of the new school. The creative and talented couple has transformed the school and today it has become a large vocational centre.
The Dandekars had to struggle hard initially for gathering the students for the school. Both had to take the children and parents into confidence for the benefits of education through their sweet tongue and other inspiring measures. Dr Rajaram pledged to improve the health standard of the surroundings and implemented remedial measures especially for the health of the young students. He found that the substandard in health was due to their ignorance and blind faiths. One physically handicapped girl named Kunda Baikar of the school has completed her SSC with good marks; now she is a rector of the hostel and runs tailoring class in the school.
The government-aided school has the present coaching up to SSC standard and a provision for a hostel for distant living students. Last year it has the first pillar of the unit for diploma courses in basic rural technology and its entire management is being dealt by its past student Kisan Pande. Today’s SSC results are 100 per cent. Most of the basic arts and servicing skills are taught in the school. The vocational education is the main central concept in this planned model. Occasionally it conducts elocution, story-telling and essay competitions like those held in urban schools. The school teaching staff is very energetic, dedicated and hardworking. They like to spend 10 to 12 hours a day without any extra remuneration.
One may be astonished to know the activities that are undertaken by the school. The students of the middle school section have learnt many arts viz: manufacturing of electric bulb, pocket torch, soap and washing powder; installation and repair of electrical and many house-hold services; assembly and repairs of computers; carpentry works; food processing work; tailoring and embroidery work; the students volunteered for the testing and registering the blood groups of all villagers and unearthed the anaemia cases; power generation through solar and wind energy for the self-usage of school and hostel buildings; self-maintained agricultural and gardening centre on five acre land of the school trust for growing crops and fruits.
Many students developed their personality and became the social inspirers and ideals in the area. Some opted for higher education, some for business; some became school teachers or contractors. Our country has many villages without adequate school infrastructure facilities and hence the Chikhalgaon School became the model to be followed by many others for the uplift of the rural sector. With the inspiration from Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and others the Dandekars believe that a downtrodden nation like ours will only prosper through such basic educational means. Their meritorious work in the educational field is being felicitated with the award at Chikhalgaon during December 2008.
Courtesy: Loksatta (6/9/08)
(The writer is a former ‘Project Management Consultant’ for local and abroad civil construction activities. He can be contacted at 11 Sameepan, Bamanwada, Sahar, Vile Parle (E), Mumbai 400 099; his E-mail id: a_railkar@rediffmail.com)
8. ISI-Lashkar operations with CPM help in Kerala- Tamilnadu coastal region (organiser.org)
Date: - 3 -1-09
With Kerala yet to recover from the shock of Terror Export of 300-odd Malayali Muslim youth to Kashmir and PoK and their training at Lashkar and Hizbul camps, comes the chilling report of ISI-LeT links with LTTE and their possible next targets—Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The entire coastal areas of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are under the control of Muslims, as Hindu fishermen have been systematically eliminated. The Marad Carnage in Kozhikode in 2003 in which eight Hindu fishermen were killed is the nearest glowing example. While in the seventies and eighties, they were the hub of gold and electronics smuggling, it has now shifted to drugs and arms. The Kerala-Tamil Nadu coast and Sri Lankan route is used by the Drug-Mafia for shifting drug raw material (poppy) from largest producer Afghanistan to the processing factories in Central Asia. There are also Russian intelligence reports suggesting that Dawood Ibrahim is behind this and he has become the emperor of the vast drug-trafficking empire.
The LTTE and its Supreme Prabhakaran have been surviving for the past 25 years on drug money. They get arms in exchange of transfer and safe passage of drug laden ships and boats. Although there were reports of LeT’s link with LTTE in early nineties, there are now FBI confirmations for visit of LTTE top brass to Kabul. A cornered LTTE, which is fighting a losing battle with the Sri Lankan Army, is looking to the ISI-Al-Queda-LeT for weapons.
There is an active smuggling link in the Kerala-TN Coast and Sri Lankan waters. Out of the two lakh odd fishing boats which venture into sea daily, more than 60 per cent cross the Indian waters and supply food, medicines, diesel, kerosene, batteries, etc. to the LTTE. The LTTE is now surving on supplies from Kerala-Tamil Nadu coast.
Just little the Gujarat–Pak sea route, which was used by jehadis in Mumbai, there are intelligence inputs that the Kerala–Tamil Nadu coastal route with Sri Lanka may be used by ISI-LeT to launch attacks in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Just like Dawood’s men, who guided the Pak jehadis with vehicles, inputs on locations to be targeted, there are sleeper cells of LeT like NDF, PDP, ex-SIMI to extend whole-hearted welcome.
Unmindful of the grave threat, which the LeT stooges like NDF, PDP etc. pose, the CPM regime is doing nothing to rein in them, obviously, for vote-bank politics. Despite clear evidence of hand of NDF and PDP in the terror export to Kashmir, it has refused to ban them. Most of the Muslims arrested in the case have been out on bail, since they have been booked on minor offences. Despite proven evidence of NDF’s and Madham’s link with Nazeer-Sainudeen-Abdul Jabbar gang (kingpins in terror export), they have not been arrested. Sainudeen, a top jehadi of Indian Mujahideen (IM), was the electronics expert who simulated the mirco chips and integrated circuits used in the Gujarat, Delhi and Jaipur blasts. Also training manuals of the LeT used in PoK camps, have been found in several houses of PDP and NDF cadres. There are also reports that just like in Wagamon, where IM trained terrorists, before Gujarat
blasts, training is going on in several Kerala mosques and the Noorisha Traiqa centre in Hyderabad.
The Muslim League, which is in alliance with the Congress, has patched up with the NDF, thanks to its secretary Kunhalikutty. Kunhalikutty had opposed CBI probe into Marad carnage owing to the unholy ML-NDF nexus.
The BJP has demanded ban on NDF and PDP in the wake of clinching evidences mounting against them every day. But unmindful of the grave threat, both the CPM and Congress are playing Muslim vote bank cards for victory in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
9. Two army personnel, six ultras killed in two encounters in Jammu-Kashmir on Friday, 2nd January 2009(http://dailypioneer.com/)
Date: - 3 -1-09
PTI | Srinagar/Jammu
Two army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), and six militants of whom two were of Jaish-e-Mohammad, were killed in two separate gunbattles in Poonch and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir, a police spokesman said on Friday.
JCO Rakesh Kumar and Naik P K Singh besides four militants were killed in a fierce gunbattle between security forces and militants in the forest area of Bhatidhar in Mendhar sector of Poonch, the spokesman said.
The encounter started last evening after Army troops and a special operation group of the state police jointly launched a search operation in the forest area following inputs of militants presence in a hideout there, the spokesman said.
The spokesman said reinforcements have been rushed to the area and the operation against holed up militants, believed to be about six in number, continues.
In another encounter, he said two JEM militants including a Pakistani national were killed in a three-hour long gunbattle at Bontingoo village of Sopore in North Kashmir's Baramulla district.
The gunfight took place around 6 pm when militants, hiding in a house of Rouf Ahmad Lone, opened fire on a joint search party of police and Army, the spokesman said, adding during the gunfight the house was completely razed.
Bodies of two hiding militants, identified as Bilal Ahmad Malla, a local militant, and his Pakistani associate Abu Bakhti, were recovered from the debris of the house today morning. Two ak assault rifles, six magazines and 105 rounds of ammunition were recovered from them, the spokesman said.
He said security forces also recovered two pistols, three magazines and 30 rounds during search operations at Nigil sahib forest in Poonch district on Thursday.
10. Assam continues to bleed; Chief Minister sleeps as terrorists run amok (http://dailypioneer.com/)
Date: - 3 -1-09
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Chief MinisterGogoi sleeps as terrorists run amok
The ghastly serial bombings in Guwahati on Thursday, which have claimed at least five lives and left 50 civilians injured, have served to highlight the precarious situation that prevails in Assam where extremists, separatists and terrorists of various hues, ranging from the United Liberation Front of Asom to the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh, continue to strike at will without any let or hindrance. That the bombings should have occurred on the day Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was visiting the State to take stock of the security situation there and a day before the Prime Minister’s scheduled visit reflects both the audacity of the terrorists as well as the fact that the security apparatus in Assam lies in a shambles, thanks to the incompetence and worse of the Congress Government headed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. It is under Mr Gogoi’s watch that Assam has descended into unabated se
paratist violence and jihadi terror —— it would be charitable to suggest that he and his colleagues in Government have proved to be unequal to the challenge posed by mass murderers; they have wilfully allowed the situation to drift from one crisis to another, unmindful of the deadly consequences. Indeed, Mr Gogoi’s critics would suggest that his inaction is really indulgence of malcontents on whom he depends for votes during elections. Hence, there is no effort to either neutralise those who kill innocent people in cold blood or stem the tide of illegal immigration from Bangladesh, which is responsible in large measure for the alarming rise in organised and terrorist crimes in Assam as also elsewhere in the country. On various occasions the efforts of the Army to crack down on ULFA and other terrorist organisations have been stymied by the UPA Government at the behest of Mr Gogoi; hence, he and his patrons in Delhi are clearly accountable for the terrible loss of life and limb. On Friday, Mr Chidambaram disclosed to mediapersons that specific, actionable intelligence had been provided to the State Government about the bombings and that he had himself spoken to Mr Gogoi on Wednesday. Yet, the criminals escaped detection by Assam Police. This raises two questions: Were the bombers alerted by someone in the administration? And, did Assam Police make an honest effort to pre-empt the crime? Mr Gogoi should be asked to answer both questions.
There is no percentage in allowing Mr Gogoi to escape scrutiny. For, once too often he has been caught napping while killers have run amok, laying to waste human lives and property. That he should continue to remain indifferent to the rapidly collapsing internal security situation even after the devastating bombings of October 30 in which 84 people were killed and more than 400 suffered grievous injuries speaks volumes about his intentions: They are definitely not aimed at curbing terrorism. Mr Chidambaram has now promised determined and tough action against banned organisations; he has also declared that the task of going after the separatists and terrorists will be given to the security forces, suggesting that the State Government will not be allowed to meddle in operations conducted by the unified command headed by the Army. Towards this end, he has held a meeting with officials of the unified command and
given them the green signal to respond with a heavy hand. It remains to be seen how far his instructions are followed in practice. If the past is any indication, Mr Gogoi will find ways and means of undoing Mr Chidambaram’s effort.
11. Election in Bangladesh. Perhaps for the first time the freest. fairest and the most transparent election was held and, despite BNP’s allegations of irregularities in 72 constituencies, no law and order incident was reported. The two hundred thousand election observers, including foreign observers, described the election as having been free, fair and transparent. (southasiaanalysis.org)
Date: - 3 -1-09
Guest Column by Kazi Anwarul Masud
(The views expressed by the author are his own)
Awami League led Mahajot’s stunning victory in the general election held on 29th December 2008 reflects several changes from the past elections held in Bangladesh. For the first time female voters outnumbered male voters and number of female candidates who contested the polls and won was higher then ever before. This is a profound change in a society that is believed to be patrimonial and a woman’s position is predetermined as a daughter under the father before marriage, a wife controlled by husband after marriage and a mother dependant on son in old age. This notion has been changing in South Asia during the last several decades as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka has had female heads of State /government and empowerment of women is a war continuously waged by the women in the sub-continent and broadly supported in several regional countries. Unfortunately Afghanistan and Pakistan are yet to move out of traditiona
l conservative view on women’s position and participation in different sectors of the society. Twisted interpretation of Islam- the predominant religion in these countries is held as an explanation for the arrest of women’s emancipation from societal bondage.
For the first time in the history of Bangladesh more than one third of the number of voters was first time voters of the young generation. Many of them are students, vexed with the unbridled corruption of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government (2001-2006), voted for a change. Besides Awami League’s inclusion of 2021 vision for Bangladesh held out a promise for a future for the young generation. Since Awami League was not tainted with corruption, barring a few, their candidates were free from corruption charges that shadowed the candidates fielded by BNP. For the last two years people of Bangladesh were inundated by striking stories of high level corruption and criminality that pervaded the BNP-Jamaat government. This had put off countless voters who voted for Awami League led Mahajot.
Perhaps for the first time the freest. fairest and the most transparent election was held and, despite BNP’s allegations of irregularities in 72 constituencies, no law and order incident was reported. The two hundred thousand election observers, including foreign observers, described the election as having been free, fair and transparent. European Union Election Observer Mission opined that apart from minor technical difficulties, professionalism, transparency and credibility were “the hall marks” of the ninth parliamentary election. Commonwealth Observers Team found no evidence of “election engineering” and that the election met many of the bench mark for democratic election. NDI felt the electoral process met international standard and advised all political parties to abandon the dysfunctional practices of the past. All foreign observers advised the defeated BNP-Jamaat alliance to accept the people
s’ verdict and to behave constructively as opposition parties. Political culture of Bangladesh of crying foul by the party defeated in the election has not only produced the caretaker government concept but unfortunately has given disproportionate weightage to foreign views in our domestic politics.
Mahajot leader and Prime Minister-designate Sheikh Hasina pledged that there will be no tyranny of the majority and her Mahajot will present a new political culture to the nation by abjuring politics of vengeance and confrontation. Her instructions to party leaders and workers not to bring out victory processions lest they lead to fracas between the victors and the vanquished was reflective of her good judgment and magnanimity. It was also a stark contrast to 2001 election victory of BNP that let loose unspeakable atrocities on the opposition supporters and the minority community who, BNP believed, had voted for Awami League.
According to preliminary findings Awami League’s vote went up by 25% while BNP’s vote went down by 20% compared to the votes the parties polled in 2001 election. Reasons are many. One of the reasons that stand out is BNP’s alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamist political party that till recently had not accepted the sovereignty of Bangladesh and does not accept Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Father of the Nation. The incessant advocacy by the Civil Society, the Freedom Fighters and the Sector Commanders’ Forum for the trial of those accused of collaboration with the Pakistan army in 1971 and of acts against humanity struck a cord with the voters who want these people to face trial for their misdeeds. Harvard University Professor Daniel Bell in his End of Ideology wrote: “The ideologist--Communist, existentialist, religionist-- wants to live at some extreme, and criticizes the ordin
ary man for failing to live at the level of grandeur. One can try to do so if there is the genuine possibility that the next moment could be actually, a "transforming moment" when salvation or revolution or genuine passion could be achieved. Max Weber in a poignant essay entitled "Politics as a Vocation," posed the problem as one of accepting the "ethics of responsibility" or the "ethics of ultimate ends." For the latter--the "true believer” all sacrifices, all means, are acceptable for the achievement of one's belief. But for those who take on responsibility, who forgo the sin of pride, of assuming they know how life should be ordered or how the blueprint of the new society should read, one's role can be only to reject all absolutes and accept pragmatic compromise.” For the collaborators application of transitional justice could bring about the rule of law denied to the victims and their families for decades. The concept has been defined as “ a field of activity and enquiry focused on how societies address legacies of past human rights abuses, mass atrocity, or other forms of severe social trauma including genocide or civil war, in order to build a more democratic, just and peaceful future”. Sheikh Hasina is pledge bound both in her manifesto and her press conference held on 31st December to try war criminals. It is unlikely that the demand for their trial, now transformed into a national demand, can be side stepped. One could also visualize a situation where religion based political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, can be banned because Bangladesh is a multi-religious country and religion based political parties are known to thrive on hatred of other religionists. If they can be put out of business for good then the curse of transnational Islamic extremism that assails South Asia, among others, can be tackled successfully. The fear of some that banning religion based parties will only drive them underground is not a sustainable argument as the recent election has given Jamaat won only two seats in place of seventeen in 2001. Bangladeshis also had not forgotten the attempt on the life of Sheikh Hasina made on 21st August that claimed the life of twenty people and injured many. The terrorist attack was presented to the people by then administration as an isolated incident and the real criminals were shielded by the leaders of BNP-Jamaat alliance government. Hikmatul Jihad is now being prosecuted for the attack on Awami League leadership on that fateful day. It can be argued that this outfit’s (a terrorist Islamic outfit) rage against Awami League is because of the party’s advocacy of secularism and its fight against repression of minority community. As suspected if Hikmatul Jihad has transnational connection then the attack of 21/8 dons a more sinister apparition. Besides the terrorism let loose by Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh under the patronage of some leaders of the erstwhile BNP-Jamaat government had almost branded Bangladesh as the next epicenter of Islamic extremism.
There are many other causes for BNP’s defeatmassive corruption and total malgovernancebeing among them. Bangladesh is counted among the least developed countries of the world where most of the people have insufficient income to provide for minimum standard of living there being no appreciable reduction in the number of people living in extreme poverty- a stage that Manuel Castells would describe as misery. Poverty of the people had been enormously compounded by unlimited kleptocracy practiced by then government from the highest level to the lowest that earned for the country the titled of being the most corrupt nation on earth for four successive time. In Marxian analysis poverty stricken great majority of people have nothing to sell but themselves as opposed to the wealth of the few that increases constantly. Inevitably the process of accumulation of wealth is corruption-ridden.
By any definition corruption is illegal and in the first instance results from collusion between political and money elitesthe first party abuses public position of trust for private gains of both parties. One of the former country director of World Bank in Bangladesh had concluded that Bangladesh was losing 2-3% GDP growth a year due to corruption. Speaking on fighting corruption in Bangladesh he added that countries with poor governance which includes corruption grow more slowly than countries with honest and accountable government. Besides corruption tends to favor the rich as they can pay bribe for facilitating work, sometimes known as “speed money” which the poor cannot afford to pay. It is well known that Transparency International, Business International, , Political Risk Services and the World Economic Forum have consistently labeled Bangladesh as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Aminur Rahman, Gregory Kishunko and Kapil Kapoor in a background paper for a World Bank report on corruption in Bangladesh agreed with Gunar Myrdal that “speed Money” not only distorts the mechanism of efficient allocation of resources through the establishment of perverse patron-client relationship between bureaucracy and the private sector but also encourages corrupt officials to delay the process of decision making in anticipation of more bribes thus effectively practicing blackmail. They argue that corruption also diverts foreign investment from sectors like health and education to infrastructure because the scope of corruption in the latter area is more. In any case as successive World Bank officials and donor representatives had pointed out time and again pervasive corruption in Bangladesh reduced the flow of foreign investment. World Bank also pointed out that governmental inadequacies were holding up growth rate of our economy.
Awami League’s massive mandate was also a result of maladministration by the BNP-Jamaat government. The question of morality is being raised in judging both the national and international behavior of states and the evaluation of the code of conduct, more or less uniform in character, prescribed to be followed by the civilized states have placed morality as the center piece in global theater. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of decolonization has been the imperceptible regression of presumptions relating to “racial superiority and civilized mode of behavior” of the metropolitan people vis-à-vis those living in the periphery. There is, however, no denying the fact that the world divided as it is into First, Second and the Third (or even Fourth) worlds does testify to the great existential divide among the people living in these well defined worlds where division is more vertical than horizontal and promotion
from one to another is well nigh impossible. As it is social stratification or societal division based on wealth, power and status has been a defining characteristic of civilizations. Social stratification took global shape with the advent of colonization and poverty began to be distributed among the people living in the periphery and the wealth of the periphery was shipped to the metropolis. However the entire colonial discourse should not be seen through the prism of manicheanism expressed in binary structure between good and evil because the colonizers were not totally exploitive in nature but were also donors of liberal values and compassion shown by the West through aid to tsunami victims and the expected financial pledge following publication of the report by the Africa Commission. But lot remains to be done for the developing countries to move forward at sprinter’s speed. ODA is yet to be given at 0.7% of the GDP pledged by the developed world decades ago.
Prime minister-designate Sheikh Hasina has already announced her government’s priorities. The first task of the government would be to rein in the price of essentials and to bring it within the reach of the people and alleviate poverty. World Bank estimated that 40 million Bangladeshis were added to the rank of the poor due to abnormal price rise by syndicates under government patronage. International cooperation would be necessary for the realization of 2021 vision. But increasingly the donors’ developmental aid and assistance policy these days include good governance in the recipient countries where the donors would like to see multi-party democracy, respect for human rights and rule of law, government with the consent of the governed, accountability, equity and poverty concerns are being addressed. Many of the demands made by the donors of the recipients may not be readily available in those countries yet
to make ‘developmental transition’ and excessive donor influence also raises the question of incursion into sovereignty of the recipient countries. In the tussle between the donors and the recipients particularly after the global meltdown the developing world is still struggling with the question as to whether capitalism is the right way to development. Sir William Ryrie suggests “market economy” for the Third World where market economy is defined as “properly regulated capitalism”, a system which seeks to maximize economic efficiency and growth while minimizing the social ills and injustices which unfettered capitalism can throw up. Though theoretically the market system to operate perfectly would demand withdrawal of the state intervention experience has shown, particularly in the Third World, the role state must play to ensure proper development of the market economy. In gist, the state must ensure that the system and services needed for a market economy to function efficiently exist. Importantly the legal system embodying the commercial and corporate law must exist. The state must also ensure an environment of competition which both Adam Smith and Karl Marx agreed that capitalists naturally do not want competition and try to avoid it. The basic infrastructure and social services must also be provided by the state. In the final analysis there is no unique constellation of conditions that would require the state to play its role which would vary according to the stage of development an economy is already in.
On foreign affairs Sheikh Hasina put emphasis on regional cooperation for development and for creation of a task force for combined action against terrorism. As a departure from past passive stance Sheikh has come out publicly in favor of the release of Burma’s interned leader Aung San Su Kyi but at the same time seeking Burmese cooperation for economic development of both countries. On easing Indo-Pak tension the new government could play a role if asked to do so. As trade, aid, remittance of expatriate Bangladeshis would continue to remain main sources of foreign exchange earning next government’s interaction with the international community is expected to increase. All said and done globalization would not permit any nation on the planet to remain an island.
(The author is a former Ambassador and Secretary of Bangladesh. He can be reached at kamasud@dhaka.net)
12. SRI LANKA: Fall of Paranthan, Defence of Kilinochchi and the War in Wanni – Update No. 160-Col R Hariharan (southasiaanalysis.org)
Date: - 3 -1-09
Sri Lanka security forces have started the year 2009 with the capture of Paranthan, the key road junction located on the A9 Jaffna-Kandy lifeline between Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass. The fall of Paranthan adds a new dimension to the war because it splits the mutually reinforcing Kilinochchi-Elephant Pass defence complex. It is a moot point now whether the LTTE was right in concentrating on strongly defending Kilinochchi when tactically Paranthan was more vital for this very reason.
As the fall of Paranthan has weakened the defenders of both Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass, the LTTE has to recapture Paranthan, or get eliminated piecemeal from Kilinochchi or Elephant Pass. Even in its present beleaguered condition this possibility cannot be ruled out as Paranthan is only 4.5 km from Kilinochchi.
To prevent any such LTTE initiative, the security forces have to enlarge their gains in Paranthan immediately and break up any move for counterattack. This task might be beyond the capability of Task Force I as it has to hold the ground with the LTTE forces concentrated both in the north and the south.Later in the day on January 1, 57 Division was reported to have captured Iranamadu Junction after inflicting casualties on the LTTE. Defence sources have claimed that after its capture the troops were advancing eastwards, presumably to consolidate the gains.The falll of Iranamadu also opens yet another approach to Kilinochchi from the southeast. This makes Kilinochchi more vulnerable than ever before. So we can expect the security forces to pump in more forces into Paranthan and follow it up with an all out offensive to capture Kilinochchi Thus operations in Kilinochchi-Pranthan area in the next two weeks are going to be crucial to b
oth sides.
Of course, the security forces have the option to resume the 53 Division's offensive in the Muhamalai sector to capture Elephant Pass, but without reinforcing Paranthan further it might be risky.
Undoubtedly the security forces had suffered heavy casualties last month in their bid to capture Kilinochchi and Paranthan. While the LTTE is defending Kilinochchi doggedly with its crack forces, the divisions attacking them are probably diluted with fresh recruits inducted as reinforcements. Army's expansion spree has resulted in large scale recruitment and training for a shorter period of about 12 weeks. Inevitably, shorter training duration would affect the overall fighting capabilities of troops. Probably this had resulted in the higher casualties of the security forces in the Kilinochchi operations. But unlike in the past, the security forces have shown that they can take the casualties in their stride to successfully carry forward the offensive as shown in the Task Force I's capture of Paranthan. This would indicate a high level of motivation among the fighting formations of the security forces.
Given this tight tactical situation, the LTTE's fierce defence of Kilinochchi has to be put in perspective; it is neither Stalingrad nor El Alamein. Such rhetoric might sound impressive, but the reality in Kilinochchi is totally different. This is an internal war between the State and insurgents fought in a very small area unlike the world war operations fought in urban setting or a battle of manoeuvres in desert. Such a comparison would also be ignoring the progress of war on other fronts while looking at the Kilinochchi battle. Even if one grants superhuman capabilities to the LTTE, it is so precariously perched in Kilinochchi as it has to survive the battle of the day, every day.
The fall of Paranthan also widens the option of the security forces operating on other fronts as well. Though the security forces were tied in knots in their offensives on Kilinochchi and Paranthan, they made good progress in the Welioya Sector according to the defence sources. They have claimed that 59 Division was eating into 20-km stretch of the A34 Mankulam-Mullaitivu road extending from Oddusuddan to Mulliyavalai- Tanniyuthu. The loss of this section would cut off the command and control of the LTTE forces operating south of the road exposing them to the threat from two task forces and elements of 59 Division from three directions.
The progress of 59 Division would further restrict the limited access the LTTE enjoys to the east coast in Mullaitivu district. This would also drastically reduce the capability of Sea Tigers. This is evident from the failure of repeated attempts of the Sea Tigers trying to take up both offensive and defensive tasks off Alampil-Mullaitivu coast. This would further disrupt the already limping LTTE's overseas supply lines from the east.
The gains made by the security forces in the year 2008 probably spell the marginalisation of the LTTE's conventional military power. What will be the impact on Sri Lanka when the LTTE with its never ending quest for an elusive Tamil Eelam turns to guerrilla mode completely? In the last six months there have been fewer LTTE urban terrorist operations in Sri Lanka. Over four tonnes of C4 explosives are reported to have been recovered in Colombo and its suburbs during 2008. If this report is correct, it represents the sizeable failure of LTTE's effort to enlarge its terrorist activities in the metropolis.
Of course, the LTTE's failing fortunes of war might be the immediate reason for this. This is also due to Sri Lanka's tightened internal security measures despite police high handedness and greater public awareness of the nature of terrorist threat. Frequently the public have informed the police on finding suspected explosive devices. This shows that they are not prepared to accept terrorist activity in their midst, regardless of their political inclinations.
The year 2008 would go down as the one in which the LTTE lost the largest chunk of territory held under control, despite suffering a very high casualties. But given the LTTE's limitations of force level and fire power, it appears to have gone with the plan to defend Kilinochchi-Elephant Pass area with all its strength rather than stretching itself on a wide front. So in the trade off of territory for delaying the offensive on all fronts, the LTTE was making the best out of an operational situation where they are outnumbered, outgunned and probably strategically outwitted.
The high casualty among the partially trained LTTE "freshers" in the delaying actions was inevitable in the LTTE scheme of things. That might not be the way the kith and kin of the dead would look at the LTTE tactics because at the end of the day they have gained nothing except death and destruction and the privations of war.
The military successes are going to create a new set of political dilemmas for the President. If and when the A9 highway is opened and normalcy of sorts is restored, the President is likely to come under tremendous pressure for evolving a political package for solving the Tamil issue. Even if he goes for a national election, riding his military success to improve his hold on the parliament, the dilemma of Tamil issue is likely to continue. In the next six months there will be a new government in power in New Delhi. And its political equations might also be different which could see the Sri Lanka Tamil issue coming to the limelight once again. And that could mean India – Sri Lanka relations becoming a different ball game.
So the politically shrewd President Rajapaksa is probably getting ready to look at all his options. Of course, before any such move Kilinochchi will have to be captured first and the LTTE evicted from A9 road.
(Col. R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90.He is associated with the South Asia Analysis Group and the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail:colhari@yahoo.com)
13. Vedic Verses for 1/2/09: Then his wife said to him: This brahmachirin, practising austerities, has intelligently tended your fires. Give him instruction lest the fires should blame you. The teacher, however, went away on a journey without teaching him. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
Date: - 3 -1-09
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Vedic Verses
A daily collection of verses from the Vedas, Hinduism's revealed scripture
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Vedic Verses for 1/2/09
Then his wife said to him: This brahmachirin, practising austerities, has intelligently tended your fires. Give him instruction lest the fires should blame you. The teacher, however, went away on a journey without teaching him.
Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad IV, X - The Story of Upakosala, 2
The brahmachirin out of mental grief began to fast. Then the teacher's wife said to him: Brahmachirin, why do you not eat? He said: There are in a man like me many desires directed to various objects. I am full of sorrows. I will not eat.
Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad IV, X - The Story of Upakosala, 3
Thereupon the fires said among themselves: This brahmachirin, practising austerities, has intelligently tended us. Come, let us teach him. They said to him: The prana is Brahman, ka (joy) is Brahman, kha (the akaha) is Brahman.
Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad IV, X - The Story of Upakosala, 4
He said: I understand that the prana is Brahman, but I do not understand 'joy' (ka) and 'the akasa' (kha). They said: What is joy (ka) is the akasa (kha), what is the akasa (kha) is joy (ka). They taught him the prana (i.e. Brahman) and the akasa related to it.
Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad IV, X - The Story of Upakosala, 5
Next the Garhapatya Fire taught him: The earth, fire, food and the sun are my forms. The person that is seen in the sun-I am he, I am he indeed.
Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad IV, XI - Instruction by the Household Fire, 1
14 Tirukural - Chapter 6: The Good Wife: She is the helpful wife who possesses the fullness of domestic virtues and spends within her husband's means. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
Date: - 3 -1-09
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Tirukural
A daily chapter from South Indian saint Tiruvalluvar's Tirukural, "Holy Couplets."
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Chapter 6: The Good Wife
Kural 51
She is the helpful wife who possesses the fullness of
domestic virtues and spends within her husband's means.
Kural 52
Family life, however full, remains empty
if the wife lacks the lofty culture of the home.
Kural 53
What does a man lack if his wife is worthy?
And what does he possess if she is lacking worth?
Kural 54
What is more majestic than a woman
who preserves the prodigious strength of chastity?
Kural 55
Even the rains will fall at her command
who upon rising worships not God, but her husband.
Kural 56
A married woman is one who vigilantly guards herself,
cares for her husband and protects their unblemished reputation.
Kural 57
Why do guardians protect women by confinement
when her own resolute chastity is a woman's best protection?
Kural 58
A woman deeply devoted to the man who wed her
will be worthy of great rewards in the world where Gods delight.
Kural 59
Unless the wife pursues praiseworthy purity,
the husband cannot stride before critics like a proud lion.
Kural 60
It is said a worthy wife is the blessing of a home,
and good children are its precious ornaments.
15. Gospel of Jesus: Did Jesus advise to Divide, to Kill, and to Rule? Was he a Terrorist? Who can believe this?
i) Holy Bible - New Testament, Luke 12; 51-53: Jesus said:
"Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the World? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."
ii) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 20; 27: Jesus said: “for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence.”
iii) Holy Bible New Testament, MATHEW 16; 18-19: Jesus said, "Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock I will build my Church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; what you prohibit on Earth will be prohibited in Heaven, and what you permit on Earth will be permitted in Heaven."
16. The Master Course - Lesson 265. What Does the Pujari Do During Puja? During the puja, through mantras, mudras and mystical ritual, the priest invokes the Deity. All observances are precisely detailed in the Agamas; every act, every intoned syllable is rich in esoteric meaning. Aum Namah Sivaya. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
Date: - 3 -1-09
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The Master Course
The lesson of the day from Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's trilogy: Dancing with Siva, Living with Siva and Merging with Siva
Lesson 265
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Lesson 265
Sloka 110 from Dancing with Siva
What Does the Pujari Do During Puja?
During the puja, through mantras, mudras and mystical ritual, the priest invokes the Deity. All observances are precisely detailed in the Agamas; every act, every intoned syllable is rich in esoteric meaning. Aum Namah Sivaya.
Bhashya
The pujari performs strict ablutions and disciplines to prepare himself for his sacred duty. Before the puja, he ritually purifies the atmosphere. As the puja begins, he meditates on Lord Ganesha, praying that all obstacles may be removed. He then beseeches the God to indwell the image, to accept the prayers of the votaries, and to shower blessings and love on all. Calling the name of the Deity and chanting mantras and hymns from the Vedas and Agamas, the pujari makes offerings of unbroken rice, burning camphor, incense, holy ash, water, red turmeric powder, flowers and food. Sometimes offerings of milk, rosewater, sandalwood paste and yogurt are poured over the murti as an oblation, called abhisheka. Bells are loudly rung, conch shells sounded, and musicians may play the temple drums and woodwinds. The pujari treats the Deity with utmost care, attending to Him as the King of kings. When the puja has ended, the pujari passes the now sa
nctified offerings to those present. The Vedas state, "Daily the sacrifice is spread. Daily the sacrifice is completed. Daily it unites the worshiper to heaven. Daily by sacrifice to heaven he ascends." Aum Namah Sivaya.
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Lesson 265 from Living with Siva
Three Kinds Of Karma
Karma is threefold: sanchita, prarabdha and kriyamana. Sanchita karma means "accumulated actions." It is the sum of all karmas of this life and our past lives. Prarabdha karma means "actions begun; set in motion." It is that portion of sanchita karma that is bearing fruit and shaping the events and conditions of the current life, including the nature of our bodies, personal tendencies and associations. Kriyamana karma means "actions being made." It is the karma we create and add to sanchita in this life by our thoughts, words and actions, or in the inner worlds between lives. While some kriyamana karmas bear fruit in the current life, others are stored for future births. Each of these three types can be divided into two categories: arabdha ("begun, undertaken;" karma that is "sprouting"), and anarabdha ("not commenced; dormant"), or "seed karma."
In a famed analogy, karma is compared to rice in its various stages. Sanchita karma, the residue of one's total accumulated actions, is likened to rice that has been harvested and stored in a granary. From the stored rice, a small portion has been removed, husked and readied for cooking and eating. This is prarabdha karma, past actions that are shaping the events of the present. Meanwhile, new rice, mainly from the most recent harvest of prarabdha karma, is being planted that will yield a future crop and be added to the store of rice. This is kriyamana karma, the consequences of current actions.
Prarabdha karma determines the time of birth, which dictates one's astrology, which in turn delineates the individual life pattern by influencing the release of these karmas. Three factors are fundamental: the nature of one's birth, the length of life and the nature of experiential patterns. Dormant sanchita karma, while not directly being acted upon, is a weighty and compelling force of potential energy, be it benign or gross, good or bad, slothful or inspirational. It is this dormant karma that explains why two people born at the same moment, and who thus have the same astrology, differ in their talents and tendencies. It is this held-back force of sanchita karma that the yogi seeks to burn out with his kundalini flame, to disempower it within the karmic reservoir of anandamaya kosha, the soul body.
Astrologers who understand karma well emphasize that one can influence his or her dormant sanchita karma. Further, one does have power over karmas being made, kriyamana. But karmas set in motion, prarabdha, are binding. They form the gridwork of life and must be lived through. Facing them positively is the key to their resolution. Fighting them through resentment and the release of other negative emotions only creates more unseemly sanchita karma for the future. The law is: we must accept and bear our karma cheerfully.
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Sutra 265 of the Nandinatha Sutras
Edicts From The Seat Of Authority
My devotees never apply the principle of unanimous agreement to sovereign edicts issued from Kauai Aadheenam's seat of power. Such proclamations are the uncontestable law of the satguru. Aum Namah Sivaya.
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Lesson 265 from Merging with Siva
Kundalini, the Spiritual Force
Hatha yoga (ha-pingala and tha-ida) balances the two forces, the ida and the pingala. The straight, erect spine releases the actinodic flow of the sushumna current. The mind centered in the contemplative atmosphere, cognizing timelessness, causelessness, spacelessness while sitting in the lotus position, awakens the pineal and pituitary centers, and the door of Brahman at the top of the head.
The force of the actinodic causal body, the sheath of cognition, vijnanamaya kosha, a pure actinic force running through the sushumna current, is called the kundalini. As this kundalini force becomes activated, the sushumna power begins to grow, or the actinodic causal body begins to grow, and the higher chakras of cognition and universal love begin to spin faster. Once kundalini power has been activated, its force expands or contracts consciousness. As man's consciousness expands into actinic spheres, more kundalini power is used. This power is lessened as his consciousness emerges into the limited fields of the odic world.
Often known as the serpent power, the kundalini is coiled at the base of the spine in the instinctive man who resides mostly in the force fields of memory and fear. When this power becomes uncoiled, the serpent, or kundalini, luminously raises its head, and finally, after nirvikalpa samadhi, it lifts its power to the top of the head.
When nirvikalpa samadhi has been practiced daily for many, many years--according to the classical yoga teachings, for twelve years--and the golden body has been built, the kundalini force coils itself in the sahasrara chakra of the yogi, at the top of the head. This is known as the manas chakra, located about where the hairline begins at the forehead. This chakra eventually becomes the muladhara chakra, or the memory-pattern chakra, of the golden body. The manas chakra is fully activated when the golden body is fully unfolded. This is known in Hindu and Egyptian mystic schools as the golden body of light, for it registers in the minds of those who look upon it, to their soul body, as a golden ball of light or a golden body.
When the kundalini rises into the realms of pure actinicity, the pineal gland and pituitary center are activated. When these two centers are activated simultaneously, the forces of both of them merge, bringing man into nirvikalpa samadhi. Therefore, the aggressive odic force merges with the passive odic force, in perfect balance, and the actinodic power of the sushumna current comes into perfect balance, poised with the kundalini force. The yoga adept finds himself on the brink of the Absolute, cognizing That which he cannot explain, knowing there is something beyond which the mind does not know, conceiving That which cannot be conceived, because form, which is mind, cannot conceive formlessness. Then the yogi touches into the Self and becomes a knower of the Self, merges with Siva.
When the ida, pingala and sushumna forces merge and reside in perfect balance, the third eye awakens. When the pituitary, pineal glands and the sushumna source are in perfect balance, man is able to perceive consciously into other worlds of the mind. The golden body, as it begins to grow after the renunciate, or sannyasin, attains nirvikalpa samadhi, is built by man's service to his fellow man.
17. Union home minister P Chidambaram talks tough on Assam rebels (http://epaper.timesofindia.com)
Date: 3.1.09
Launch All-Out Operations Against Militants: Chidambaram
Naresh Mitra | TNN
Guwahati: A day after three blasts rocked Guwahati, Union home minister P Chidambaram on Friday asked security forces to launch an all-out campaign against militant outfits in Assam.
“Guidelines will be soon finalised to make counter-insurgency operations more decisive and sharply focused,” he told newspersons after attending a meeting with the Unified Command Structure here.
Terror struck on the first day of 2009 in Guwahati, where three serial explosions in as many hours triggered by suspected Ulfa militants left five people dead and 67 injured.
The first blast took place near Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi TB Hospital at Birubari injuring five persons, including a 10-year-old child, at 2.35 p m. This was followed by another explosion at the busy Bhutnath market near the famed Kamakhya Temple. Two persons died and about 37 others were injured. Three persons later died in hospital. The third blast was carried out at Bhangaghar at 5.45 p m. At least 25 people were injured in the blast.
On Friday, Chidambaram had a two-hour meeting with the Unified Command Structure headed by chief minister Tarun Gogoi and discussed counter-insurgency measures and the prevailing security situation in the north-eastern state.
The Unified Command Structure comprises top officials from the army, paramilitary forces, Assam Police and intelligence agencies. It was formed to carry out counterinsurgency operations in a coordinated way by different security agencies in the state.
During the meeting, the Union minister pledged to set up an NSG hub in the state, which has been a hotbed of militancy for two decades. On October 30, nine back-to-back explosions ripped through Guwahati, Barpeta Road, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon in lower Assam killing 89 people and leaving over 300 injured.
“We have prepared broad guidelines for the security forces, including Assam Police. The guidelines will soon be finalised. We will take a decisive and sharply focused approach in tackling insurgency in the state,” Chidambaram said after the meeting.
This is Chidambaram’s maiden visit to Assam since he took charge of the home ministry replacing Shivraj Patil last month. He met the blast victims at various hospitals in the city.
Police suspected the involvement of Ulfa militants in the New Year Day blast a couple of hours before Chidambaram reached Guwahati.
The home minister said Assam Police had prior intelligence inputs about the terror attack, though he did not name any militant outfit. He added, “I told the chief minister to focus on peace and development. Security forces will take care of tackling militancy decisively and firmly.
18. Taliban’s latest: Marry our militants or else. On the heels of their crusade against girls going to schools, the Taliban has now issued new dictum in the areas under their sway, asking parents of grown up daughters to marry them to militants or “face dire consequences”. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com)
Date: 3.1.09
Islamabad: On the heels of their crusade against girls going to schools, the Taliban has now issued new dictum in the areas under their sway, asking parents of grown up daughters to marry them to militants or “face dire consequences”.
This new force-marriage campaign is being run in most of the areas in the Pakistan’s troubled NWFP through regular announcements made in mosques to congregations. Such instances have come to light recently through some of the affected women daring to go to authorities for justice rather than meekly surrender to the militants’ dictates.
Salma, who teaches in a primary school in Peshawar, told the Dawn newspaper that Taliban have told families to declare in mosques if they have unmarried girls so that their hand could be given in marriage, most probably to militants.
If they did not do so, the girls would be forcibly married off, the newspaper quoted the 30-year-old widow as saying.
She also said the Taliban in the Swat valley of NWFP have threatened women with dire punishment, if they are found outside their homes without identity cards and a male relative accompanying them.
Couples should also carry ‘nikah nama’ or marriage certificates with them when they venture out of home or they will be in trouble, she said. “I have heard that Taliban has announced if a girl above the age of seven is found outside her house, she would be slaughtered,” Salma said. AGENCIES
19. Some Forecasters See a Fast Economic Recovery in USA. For this rosy picture to play out, they are counting on the Obama administration and Congress to come through with a substantial stimulus package, at least $675 billion over two years. (http://www.nytimes.com)
Date: 3.1.09
The unemploymentrate is expected to peak at 8 or 9 percent.
By LOUIS UCHITELLE
Published: January 2, 2009
In the midst of the deepest recession in the experience of most Americans, many professional forecasters are optimistically heading into the new year declaring that the worst may soon be over.
For this rosy picture to play out, they are counting on the Obama administration and Congress to come through with a substantial stimulus package, at least $675 billion over two years.
They say that will get the economy moving again in the face of persistently weak spending by consumers and businesses, not to mention banks that are reluctant to extend credit.
If the dominoes fall the right way, the economy should bottom out and start growing again in small steps by July, according to the December survey of 50 professional forecasters by Blue Chip Economic Indicators. Investors seemed to be in a similarly optimistic mood on Friday, bidding up stocks by about 3 percent.
But in the absence of that government stimulus, the grim economic headlines of 2008 will probably continue for some time, these forecasters acknowledge.
“Without this federal largess, the consensus forecast for 2009 is for the recession to continue through most of the year,” said Randell E. Moore, executive editor of Blue Chip Economic Indicators, which conducts the monthly survey of forecasters.
Many economists are more pessimistic, of course. Nouriel Roubini at New York University, who called the 2008 market disaster correctly, wrote in a recent commentary on Bloomberg News that he foresees “a deep and protracted contraction lasting at least through the end of 2009.”
Even in 2010, he added, the recovery may be so weak “that it will feel terrible even if the recession is technically over.”
But Mr. Roubini is not among the economists surveyed by Blue Chip Economic Indicators. These professional forecasters are typically employed by investment banks, trade associations and big corporations.
They base their forecasts on computer models that tend to see the American economy as basically sound, even in the worst of times. That makes these forecasters generally a more optimistic lot than the likes of Mr. Roubini.
Their credibility suffered for it last year. They did not see a recession until late summer. One reason they were blindsided: their computer models do not easily account for emotional factors like the shock from the credit crisis and falling housing prices that have so hindered borrowing and spending.
Those models also take as a given that the natural state of a market economy like America’s is a high level of economic activity, and that it will rebound almost reflexively to that high level from a recession.
But that assumes that banks and other lenders are not holding back on loans, as they are today, depriving the nation of the credit necessary for a vigorous economy.
“Most of our models are structured in a way that the economy is self-righting,” said Nigel Gault, chief domestic economist for IHS Global Insight, a consulting and forecasting firm in Lexington, Mass.
Even if the economy begins to right itself by this summer, the recession would still be the longest since the 1930s, which was the last time the government engaged in widespread public spending to overcome the persistent inertia in consumer and business spending.
“The consensus says we are in the deepest part of the recession now,” Mr. Moore said. “But the stimulus package and much lower gasoline prices are expected to somewhat restore consumer confidence and personal spending and that will put us on the road back.”
There is a psychological factor that Robert Shiller, a Yale economist, hopes will come into play.
“If we have massive infrastructure spending and people feel that it is working, it could create a sense that we are O.K. and people will go back to normal,” he said. “The real problem is that we are on hold. Everyone is.”
The expectation of most forecasters, several report, is that most of the Obama administration’s stimulus will go for public works projects and tax cuts.
With this sort of stimulus, the gross domestic product, the chief measure of the nation’s output, should begin to rise — if not in the third quarter, then certainly in the fourth, the forecasters say, and the unemployment rate will finally peak at 8 to 9 percent by early next year.
“The job insecurity is very serious; that is the worst aspect of all this,” said Albert Wojnilower, a consulting forecaster at Craig Drill Capital. “But most upturns in the economy have begun with upturns in consumption, when people who still have jobs stop worrying about losing them.”
20. Sri Lankan President hails victory as army seizes Tamil Tiger capital (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)
Date: 3.1.09
Government claims its army has captured separatist Tamil Tigers' capital
The Sri Lankan army today seized control of Kilinochchi, the low-lying northern town in which separatist Tamil Tiger rebels had put together the institutions of their long sought-after independent state.
The major symbolic victory for the government could also prove a decisive turning point in the country's 25-year civil war.
Soon after the announcement, a loud blast rocked the Sri Lankan air force headquarters, opposite a luxury hotel in the heart of the national capital, Colombo, as a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing three people and injuring 37.
Tamil Tiger suicide bombers have often previously targeted Colombo.
Military officials told Reuters that the dead and 12 of the wounded were air force personnel. Most of the civilians injured were said to be passengers on a passing bus.
Rajapakse called on the rebels to cease fighting, saying: "This is my last appeal. Surrender, put down your arms, and come to the table."
Kilinochchi served as the political, administrative and judicial headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - popularly known as the Tamil Tigers - and it was in the town that rebel leaders met foreign envoys and Norwegian peacemakers.
Until late last year, UN aid agencies were also located there before they were forced to leave by the army offensive. The town only fell after months of fierce fighting on the outskirts, in which scores of people died.
More than 70,000 people have been killed since the LTTE, led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, began an armed struggle for a separate state in 1983, pitting Tamil fighters against Sinhalese government forces.
Analysts warned that the fall of Kilinochchi does not mean an end to the civil war is near.
The Tigers are a resilient, battle-hardened force and still control other towns in the region. Although Kilinochchi is back in government hands, the LTTE's top leadership, heavy weaponry and military cadre remain intact.
The Sri Lankan army has enjoyed a series of successes since calling off a six-year ceasefire, brokered by Norway, a year ago after accusing the rebels of using it as cover to regroup and rearm.
The military's next major target is likely to be Mullaitivu port, the "naval headquarters" of the LTTE.
There was no immediate response from the Tamil Tigers to news of Kilinochchi's fall, but Perera ruled out the possibility of talks, saying: "Rajapakse's offer needs to be first backed by a political proposal [relating to Tamil demands]."
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