|
|
Faultline
Kashmir— I From B L Kak
Vajpayee most admired NEW DELHI, Sept 2: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is the most admired eminent Indian, the.....more
No fresh demand by BANGALORE, Sept 2: Forest brigand Veerappan had not raised any "fresh issues" in the latest video ....more |
|
India, US to intensify WASHINGTON, Sept 2: The US has pledged full support of G-8 nations to an Indian proposal for a .....more Kargil widow murder case NEW DELHI, Sept 2: Taking suo-motu cognizance of the ......more NEW DELHI, Sept 2: The 53rd session of the Regional Committee for WHO......more Three arrested for JAIPUR, Sept 2: Three persons have been arrested for killing an ....more 284 teachers selected NEW DELHI, Sept 2: As many as 284 teachers from across the country...more |
Faultline
Kashmir— I From B L Kak The big homes the displaced Kashmiri Hindus left behind, in the Valley, have mostly been occupied by Muslim neighbours, taken over by the security forces or simply burnt down. Some are intact and could be sold, but the price is low because they are dilapidated from neglect. These sentences-of course, many more words on the displaced community of Kashmiri Pandits-have been highlighted by Christopher Thomas in his 299-page book, titled Faultline Kashmir. Chtistopher, now a full-time author, was a correspondent for the prestigious publication, The Times. Christopher Thomas was a foreign correspondent, based in Ireland, New York, Washington and for 10 years in India. His confession: "India was my finest assignment". Writing on Kashmir "is a risky enterprise", as he discovered in his 10 years as South Asia correspondent of The Times. Christopher visited Kashmir, Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) several times before marketing his book. And the book says that Hindus and Muslims of the Valley lost the cornerstone of their culture when they lost their sense of togetherness. Their respective refugee camps on each side of the Line of Control (LoC) "are the ultimate testimony to the destruction of something special", he writes. The book has regretted that thousands of Hindu refugees from the Valley live in 12ft. by 13ft. huts in several sprawling camps in Jammu, the predominantly Hindu city, somehow surviving on a monthly dole of Rs 2,400 per family plus a food ration and free health care. "These are educated people who were teachers and bureaucrats, who had large houses and high social standing. From relative privilege and plenty they have been reduced to near-slum beggary in dreadful holding centres where the stench of open drains is a constant reminder of unfamiliar degradations", Christopher Thomas noted. The book has recorded that all the Hindu houses (in the Valley) have been looted, with the consequent loss of much of the Kashmiri Pandits’ heritage. A shopkeeper in one of the Jammu camps has been quoted as saying that the Hindus of Kashmir were dying and soon they would all be dead, and the world "would not care". The shopkeeper was talking of the death of culture, which has been uprooted and has no place to go. "As we spoke, young girls danced around the foul drains of this dreadful place, which bears the elegant name of Muthhi, their prettiness at odds with their surroundings. Most remember no other home. They are Brahmins, the elite caste, living hardly better than the lowest Untouchable outcaste in his hovel", Christopher has stated. Stating that he first visited the Hindu Pandits’ camps in Jammu in 1990, when they consisted mostly of tents, Christopher Thomas recalled that even then the people were complaining that the world had forgotten them. They were resented by the local Dogra Hindus, who feared their livelihoods would be threatened by so many desperate people willing to work for small wages. The book, while pointing out that Hindus had been steadily leaving Kashmir since Sheikh Abdullah took over in 1947, says that the Sheikh had his Muslim support base to consider and "injected an Islamic flavour into local politics". There was a sizeable exodus following the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, which created Hindu-Muslim tension. Christopher spoke the truth once again with his statement: "Another wave left after an explosion of religious conflict in 1086, when Muslim separatist sentiment was strong. By 1989 only 250,000 were left out of a population of 700,000 half a century later. Then the final exodus began". Quoting official figures, the book has confirmed that by the middle of 1990 as many as 62,800 families had moved to Jammu, Delhi and Chandigarh from the Valley over a period of little more than six months. And the author of the book has reckoned the fact that there could be no question of staying when notices were pinned on doors and in the streets warning: "Kashmir Mein Rehna Hoga, Allah Akbar Kahna Hoga" (You must recite Allah Akbar if you want to live in Kashmir). Prominent Hindus, the book said, were murdered to "force the exodus" of Pandits from the Valley. Stating that the clamour to get out began towards the end of 1989, Christopher Thomas says: "Mosques were by now being routinely used as centres of secessionist activity. The biggest single wave of Hindus out of the Valley came in the first two months of 1990, when they clambered into any vehicle taking the road to Jammu". "There can be no example in the modern history", Christopher has argued, "when 250,000 people were herded out of their homes with hardly a squeak of international reaction". He lamented: "It went unseen by most of the world’s television cameras and unaccompanied by the international headlines that would have followed its progress had it happened almost anywhere else. Kashmir is far away and the story is complex, and the world missed the exodus". Stating that successive Kashmir State Governments have promised to provide the conditions for the Pandits to return to the Valley, the book says that none has been able to honour the pledge. And the prediction: "The longer they are away the less likely is their return". In desperation, many seek a homeland called Panun Kashmir (Our own Kashmir), which is what they used to call the Valley. (To be continued) |
 |
Vajpayee most admired eminent Indian: Poll NEW DELHI, Sept 2: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is the most admired eminent Indian, the only other politician in the lot being Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, according to a nationwide opinion poll on the "ten most admired Indians". Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar is the only artiste from the music world to figure in the list while superstar Amitabh Bachchan and former Miss World-turned-actress Aishwarya Rai are the others from the entertainment industry for their good looks and acting ability, according to the survey by "The Week" magazine recently. Vajpayee tops the list for being a good administrator, politician, leader, person and not corrupt and Naidu for improving his role in promoting information technology and working for women’s progress besides being a good administrator and politician, the poll says. The others figuring among the most admired personalities are Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly for being good cricketeers and uncorrupt and first woman ips officer Kiran Bedi who was seen as a good cop, courageous and uncorrupt. A P J Abdul Kalam is admired for his excellence in science and nobel prize laureate Amartya Sen for being a great economist and working for society’s welfare. Leading actor from the South Kamal Hasan missed figuring in the list of ten most admired Indians by a hair’s breadth and close on his heels were music exponent A R Rahman, athlete P T Usha, bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, singer Asha Bhonsle, veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu and chess player Viswanathan Anand. The poll was conducted by giving a list of 100 eminent Indians collated jointly by the the week and market research and opinion polling agency tns mode. The list was given to 1047 persons in six cities, asking them to sort the names into four categories: People they admired a lot, admired somewhat, did not admire and did not know and then rank the top ten. (PTI) |
|
No fresh demand by Veerappan: Krishna BANGALORE, Sept 2: Forest brigand Veerappan had not raised any "fresh issues" in the latest video cassettee sent by him regarding the Rajkumar abduction issue, Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna said today. He told reporters here after viewing the tape along with Home Minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge that the cassette showed that journalist-emissary, R R Gopal was engaged in negotiations with Veerappan to secure early release of Rajkumar and three other hostages. Krishna said the state had already communicated its responses through the emissary to the demands made by Veerappan, who in the latest cassette, had only reiterated his earlier demands. Reacting to yesterday’s Supreme Court order, which indefinitely stayed the release of 30 TADA detenus, who are suspected aides of Veerappan, from Mysore jails, he said, "we cannot be insensitive to what the Supreme Court says." "We have to honour the court verdict. The state has asked its counsels to continue efforts towards early disposal of the Special Leave Petition (SLP)," Krishna said. The Supreme Court had yesterday passed the order on an SLP filed by Abdul Karim, father of Police Sub-Inspector Shakeel Ahmed, who was killed by the Veerappan gang in 1992. Krishna defended the state’s reliance on Nakheeran editor Gopal to negotiate with Veerappan, indicating that there was no other alternative. Asked why the Government could not "directly negotiate with Veerappan," he replied "where is the means of doing so. How are we to establish the contact?" He said since the (kidnap) incident occurred in Tamil Nadu, "We are doing everything through the Tamil Nadu Government. If it was in Karnataka, we could have chosen some other means." The state had to depend upon the persons who could do the job, he said, apparently referring to Gopal. Asked if the Government would change its strategy, Krishna said it was reviewing the situation every day, but would not like to adopt a fresh strategy on the hostage crisis. Krishna said he had a telephonic conversation with his Tamil Nadu counterpart, M Karunanidhi last night and added he had no plans to visit Chennai now. He said Tamil superstar Rajnikanth had called on him last night and discussed developments concerning the Rajkumar issue. Asked if Rajnikant had offered to play any new role, Krishna quipped, "he will continue to play the same role he has played in the past." Rajnikanth also met family members of Rajkumar. (PTI) |
|
India, US to intensify anti-terrorism cooperation WASHINGTON, Sept 2: The US has pledged full support of G-8 nations to an Indian proposal for a UN convention on terrorism and agreed with New Delhi to take their cooperation against it to a higher plane. At a meeting between foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh and US undersecretary of state Thomas Pickering at the State Department yesterday, the us also shared India’s concerns about the growth of narcotics traffic "in our neighbourhood, especially in Afghanistan," Mansingh said. The talks, which combined a third round of regular Indo-US consultations at the foreign secretary level with the agenda for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Washington, also included discussions on the possibilities of renewing the fulbright agreement. Referring to Vajpayee’s visit, Mansingh said his schedule will be expanded in Washington to enable those he was to have met on the West coast to interact with him but, in New York, "we will have to provide some period of rest after the hectic programme" before his visit to Washington. The Foreign Secretary also ruled out any meeting between Vajpayee and Pakistan’s military ruler general Pervez Musharraf in New York, adding there was also no role for Islamabad in the discussions on Kashmir between "our authorities and our people in Kashmir. We have given our assessment to the Americans of the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir." On the issue Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, he said that India’s stance that a consensus has to evolve on the issue remains the same, adding on both CTBT and the fissile material cutoff treaty the gap between the the countries’ positions had been narrowed but not yet bridged. The subject of US sanctions against India was however not brought up in the two-day talks, Mansingh said, pointing out that the Americans "very well know our opposition to sanctions. We consider them to be counterproductive and ineffective but we have not appealed to them to remove them." Despite sanctions, he said, there was extensive cooperation between India and the us especially in the field of science and technology. "We want a resumption of the dialogue between the scientists" of the two countries, he said, adding "I don’t think the sanctions will inhibit cooperation between scientists on projects concerning science and technology." On the issue of Security Council permanent membership for India, he said that he could not say what the Prime Minister will discuss during his talks in Washington but "we have declared our candidature and we expect all our friends to support us." Mansingh reviewed the progress made in implementing the vision statement and other agreements signed in New Delhi. He expected there will be a joint statement at the end of Vajpayee’s meetings with Clinton. He also expected a separate statement on cooperation in information and biotechnology. Among other issues, it was agreed to hold a meeting between the Indian Commerce Minister and the US commerce secretary during the Vajpayee’s visit. "We also expect a number of power projects in the private sector will be discussed. We expect some of these projects will be ripe for closure in the near future," he added. (PTI) |
|
|
|
|
284 teachers selected for national awards NEW DELHI, Sept 2: As many as 284 teachers from across the country have been selected for the national awards for 1999 which would be presented by President K R Narayanan on the occasion of ‘Teachers Day’ on Tuesday. They include 32 teachers from Uttar Pradesh, 26 from Maharashtra, 22 from Tamil Nadu, 21 from West Bengal and 16 from Andhra Pradesh, an official release said today. Among the teachers to be honoured are 13 each from Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and 12 each from Bihar and Rajasthan. Each award consists of a certificate of merit, silver medal and a cash prize of Rs 10,000. There is no state-wise allocation for the awards for teachers of Sanskrit Pathshalas and Arabic/Persian teachers of Madrasas run on traditional lines due to the limited number of such awards, the release said adding seven Sanskrit teachers and three teachers of Arabic/Persian have been selected for the award for 1999. The national award scheme for teachers was introduced in 1958 with the object of raising the prestige of teachers and giving public recognition to teachers of outstanding merit. Under the scheme, school teachers are selected for the award on the basis of their academic efficiency, desire for improvement in education, genuine interest in and love for children, involvement in social life and reputation enjoyed in the local community. (PTI) |
|
||
|
| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports | |
