Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Cricket: From money making to a new kind of slavery
Cricket: From money making to a new kind of slavery: "This article attempts to analyze various phenomena connected with cricket and attempt to explore their future implications in different ways on the society and future of the youths."
Islamist Malaysia faces Hindu intifada - Haindava Keralam
Islamist Malaysia faces Hindu intifada
Hindraf the Hindu Human Rights activist movement made headlines when their gathering in Kula Lumpur was dispersed with police brutality years ago.
With the ongoing Civil Unrest all over Middle East and North Africa in Islamic countries, Malaysia might turn out to be the next stage setting for the serial drama of suppression of human rights.
Hindu ethnic minorities have been long denied educational and employment opportunities and the Islamization under Mahathir reached sinister proportions when thousands of Hindu temples were razed down by the regime.
That was a turning point in Malaysian politics when Indians irrespective of even religious differences, with even Christians joining under the umbrella of HINDRAF- the Malaysian Hindu Rights action forum.
The disenchantment with Malaysia’s Islamistaion and discrimination was so wide spread among Indian origin Malaysians that the Hindraf even upset the last election results unseating long entrenched Community leaders who were branded as traitors to their cause and interests.
With popular unrest in all the Muslim nations-
None of the regimes have been able to suppress without losing credibility
Unlike the Arab street protesters who have no dearth for torch bearers and cheer leaders among the media and opinion makers, the plight and news of Hindu minorities reeling under the oppression of Islamisation in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Malaysia are selectively blacked out and under reported, if not distorted as communalists.
The anti-Hinduism has thus assumed the same connotation as anti Semitism
WATCH LIVE VIDEO FEEDS FROM KL
Godhra Verdict a blow to bogus activism - Haindava Keralam
Godhra Verdict a blow to bogus activism
Sandeep B - Daily Pioneer
For nine years jholawallahs have been running a malicious campaign of calumny to distort the truth about the carnage in Godhra and overstating the facts of the violence that followed. The special court’s judgement has exposed the lot
To slightly modify an adage, delayed justice is better than no justice at all. This rings really true, loud and clear in light of the February 22, 2011 verdict by the special court on the Godhra train-burning episode of February 27, 2002. Almost exactly nine years after those 59 innocent kar sevaks were roasted alive in coach S6 of Sabarmati Express. It is hard to say whether they have gotten justice not only because they aren’t alive today but because of what has transpired since: The toxic climate of public discourse has been progressively poisoned by defacing even the memory of these innocent pilgrims.
It is, therefore, important to recap and trace the progression of the events of 2002 until now — given how fast we forget even the worst of horrors — both in the interest of decency and to guard ourselves against similar perversions recurring in future.
In retrospect, ‘defacing’ does not adequately capture the impact of what has occurred post-Godhra. The 59 murdered kar sevaks have been used as edifices to play out a twisted political game first on the national and then the international stage. The actors include the usual suspects of self-proclaimed secularists and their fellow-travellers in the media. At the time the bogie was burnt, most media houses more or less were faithful in reporting the tragedy. In its immediate aftermath — the violence that followed — the media mostly presented an accurate assessment: That they were a spontaneous reprisal for the unprovoked killing.
But what many missed is the fact that the discourse was perverted ab initio. The coach-burning was blamed on the dead kar sevaks because they ‘invited’ their deaths by chanting “Jai Sri Ram,” which Muslims found “provocative”. It is unsurprising then that the subsequent pontification, statements of outrage and calls for justice have been extensions of the same theme, and spawned what has come to be known as the ‘Gujarat Cottage Industry’. It is not entirely incorrect to say that no other human tragedy in recent times has been scavenged upon on a scale as the Gujarat violence of 2002. Whether justice has been done or not is a question that pales before the kind of cynical careerism and wealth that it has generated for those who chose to exploit it.
This context is important because every instance of brazen activism by self-styled vigilantes of societal well-being has relied on two things: Obscuring the Godhra train-burning incident without which the riots would’ve never occurred, and concealing the fact that even Hindus died in the riots that followed. In parallel, these selfsame worthies have carried reports of violent clashes between the two communities but for some reason, only one of them has been shown as deserving justice.
Then there was the Banerjee Report, the brainchild of a desperate-for-electoral-victory Lalu Prasad Yadav was stitched together in a hurry and provided the perfect arsenal to the proponents of lopsided justice. They claimed they had “official proof” that the fire was accidental. This report was cited widely and repeated a la Goebbels even after the courts struck down the very formation of the Banerjee Committee as unconstitutional to begin with. Yet, it continues to be peddled as “authentic”.
The vigilantes, undeterred in their quest for justice went on a case-filing spree. They called upon the law to take its course but did everything in their power to exert pressure on the judicial process: Either the courts weren’t doing enough or were delaying things. Trial by media became — and remains — the order of the day. These pressure tactics have ensured that the focus remains on the post-Gujarat violence and keeps the jholawallahs in clover. As subsequent events have revealed, we know how, for instance, Teesta Setalvad has consistently tried to manipulate the judicial proces and now stands accused of forgery and perjury.
It is nobody’s claim that the perpetrators of violence in Gujarat must go unpunished but what has been done by a certain section of do-gooders in the name of securing justice for the victims of the post-Godhra violence requires critical and thorough scrutiny. The question that is rarely asked is what apart from lip service have these do-gooders done to secure justice for the kar sevaks charred to death in coach S6.
The special court’s judgement on February 22 thus deserves credit for convicting the guilty, a rare occurrence in cases of mob violence. The fact that it upheld the Godhra train carnage as a premeditated conspiracy also confirms what Mr Narendra Modi and K Jana Krishnamurthy — the then BJP president — had stated back in 2002 on the basis of intelligence reports.
The judgement is also the latest blow to the ‘Gujarat Cottage Industry’, which has suffered yet another setback after the Zahira Sheikh affair and damaging revelations by Raees Khan, Teesta Setalvad’s former aide. It is also laudable on the part of Mr Modi to let the law take its course —unlike the proponents of trial-by-media.
For nine years jholawallahs have been running a malicious campaign of calumny to distort the truth about the carnage in Godhra and overstating the facts of the violence that followed. The special court’s judgement has exposed the lot
To slightly modify an adage, delayed justice is better than no justice at all. This rings really true, loud and clear in light of the February 22, 2011 verdict by the special court on the Godhra train-burning episode of February 27, 2002. Almost exactly nine years after those 59 innocent kar sevaks were roasted alive in coach S6 of Sabarmati Express. It is hard to say whether they have gotten justice not only because they aren’t alive today but because of what has transpired since: The toxic climate of public discourse has been progressively poisoned by defacing even the memory of these innocent pilgrims.
It is, therefore, important to recap and trace the progression of the events of 2002 until now — given how fast we forget even the worst of horrors — both in the interest of decency and to guard ourselves against similar perversions recurring in future.
In retrospect, ‘defacing’ does not adequately capture the impact of what has occurred post-Godhra. The 59 murdered kar sevaks have been used as edifices to play out a twisted political game first on the national and then the international stage. The actors include the usual suspects of self-proclaimed secularists and their fellow-travellers in the media. At the time the bogie was burnt, most media houses more or less were faithful in reporting the tragedy. In its immediate aftermath — the violence that followed — the media mostly presented an accurate assessment: That they were a spontaneous reprisal for the unprovoked killing.
But what many missed is the fact that the discourse was perverted ab initio. The coach-burning was blamed on the dead kar sevaks because they ‘invited’ their deaths by chanting “Jai Sri Ram,” which Muslims found “provocative”. It is unsurprising then that the subsequent pontification, statements of outrage and calls for justice have been extensions of the same theme, and spawned what has come to be known as the ‘Gujarat Cottage Industry’. It is not entirely incorrect to say that no other human tragedy in recent times has been scavenged upon on a scale as the Gujarat violence of 2002. Whether justice has been done or not is a question that pales before the kind of cynical careerism and wealth that it has generated for those who chose to exploit it.
This context is important because every instance of brazen activism by self-styled vigilantes of societal well-being has relied on two things: Obscuring the Godhra train-burning incident without which the riots would’ve never occurred, and concealing the fact that even Hindus died in the riots that followed. In parallel, these selfsame worthies have carried reports of violent clashes between the two communities but for some reason, only one of them has been shown as deserving justice.
Then there was the Banerjee Report, the brainchild of a desperate-for-electoral-victory Lalu Prasad Yadav was stitched together in a hurry and provided the perfect arsenal to the proponents of lopsided justice. They claimed they had “official proof” that the fire was accidental. This report was cited widely and repeated a la Goebbels even after the courts struck down the very formation of the Banerjee Committee as unconstitutional to begin with. Yet, it continues to be peddled as “authentic”.
The vigilantes, undeterred in their quest for justice went on a case-filing spree. They called upon the law to take its course but did everything in their power to exert pressure on the judicial process: Either the courts weren’t doing enough or were delaying things. Trial by media became — and remains — the order of the day. These pressure tactics have ensured that the focus remains on the post-Gujarat violence and keeps the jholawallahs in clover. As subsequent events have revealed, we know how, for instance, Teesta Setalvad has consistently tried to manipulate the judicial proces and now stands accused of forgery and perjury.
It is nobody’s claim that the perpetrators of violence in Gujarat must go unpunished but what has been done by a certain section of do-gooders in the name of securing justice for the victims of the post-Godhra violence requires critical and thorough scrutiny. The question that is rarely asked is what apart from lip service have these do-gooders done to secure justice for the kar sevaks charred to death in coach S6.
The special court’s judgement on February 22 thus deserves credit for convicting the guilty, a rare occurrence in cases of mob violence. The fact that it upheld the Godhra train carnage as a premeditated conspiracy also confirms what Mr Narendra Modi and K Jana Krishnamurthy — the then BJP president — had stated back in 2002 on the basis of intelligence reports.
The judgement is also the latest blow to the ‘Gujarat Cottage Industry’, which has suffered yet another setback after the Zahira Sheikh affair and damaging revelations by Raees Khan, Teesta Setalvad’s former aide. It is also laudable on the part of Mr Modi to let the law take its course —unlike the proponents of trial-by-media.
'Kill Hindus, long live Pakistan!". "I want to address Allah - Haindava Keralam
'Kill Hindus, long live Pakistan!". "I want to address Allah's darbar'"
"I went to see the S-6 compartment and the exact place where it was halted before it was burnt down. "
"The first thing I noticed was that the compartment's steps were intact. How is it possible if a crowd had burnt it from outside? The steps would be burnt first if people were torching it from outside."
"I started staying in Godhra. I started moving around in Signal Falia and other Muslim ghettos. Slowly, I collected information. I got the information from local people that this incident was a pre-planned conspiracy."
"February 26, 2002, they called a meeting at the Aman guesthouse near the railway station. They were told that large numbers of karsevaks were coming back from Ayodhya."
"Haji Bilal and Farooq Bhana said at the meeting that they had just returned after meeting Maulvi Hussain Omerjee, who had instructed to torch the Sabarmati Express's S-6 coach."
"The train was halted by one of the accused by pulling the (emergency stop) chain. Razaak Kurkur and Paanwala had given some boys the duty to board the train. As per their instructions, these boys boarded the train by cutting the vestibule and entered the compartment to pour the petrol and set it on fire."
"A lot of people are arguing that the burning of coach S-6 was just an accident; that the crowd had gathered just like that. At 7 am in the morning, a crowd doesn't assemble just like that. It was pre-planned. Around 7.43 am, when the train came, people were instructed through a microphone to reach the station. There were provocative slogans: 'Kill Hindus, long live Pakistan!"
"I want to ask a few questions to people who debunk our theory. If it was an accident, even then you need inflammable material to burn a train, right? If it was a stove with kerosene that triggered the fire, please tell me how much kerosene can one stove carry? It can store just about a litre of liquid."
"Behra, whose confession proved important, is almost uneducated. He was arrested for petty crimes before. He had looted Sabarmati passengers. We have confiscated a few passengers' items from him. We showed him an album of the victims of Godhra. We told him to look at a child's dead body. I was totally shattered to see the body. Imagine what pain that child must have gone through when petrol was poured on his body and he was burnt alive?
I told Behra: 'You have children too.' He thought for some time. He stared at me for a long time. Then he said, 'Don't say such things to me. My children should not be touched. I wish them well.'
After that, he started opening up. He kept saying, 'I want to address Allah's darbar.'"
"Godhra has a communal history. People here are still talking about historical events. Once upon a time Champaner near Godhra was the capital of Gujarat. It was looted by (then king of Gujarat) Mohammad Begda. His army was kept in Godhra, who harassed local Hindus and looted them. In the jungles of this area, they converted tribals and spread Islam amongst them. Those converts dominate Signal Falia."
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Above are the Excerpts from the Exclusive Interview given to rediff.com’s Sheela Bhatt by Noel ParmarNoel Parmar was the investigating officer in the Godhra case. He retired in 2009 after 43 years of service in the Gujarat police. He was known to be a tough officer throughout his career. He has been constantly targeted by the civil society groups fighting for the accused in the Godhra case. Parmar, 64, was given an extension in service even after retirement because nobody knows the case as well as him
We Recommend Each and Every HK Reader to read the full report at
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