Excelsior... Nation

SUNDAY SPECIAL
Good morning Huriyat chief
Message for you from
London’s ‘Kashmir Centre’

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: Yet another foreign organisation has begun directing Kashmir’s All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) the type of agenda it should pursue to intensify the "freedom struggle" in Kashmir.....more

Prof Hamburger
selected for Kalinga prize

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: Prof. Ernnst W. Hamburger of the University of Sao Paulo has been selected for the prestigious Kalinga Prize 2000 for popularising science in Brazil......more

Plan for restoration of
unprotected monuments

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: After a week-long inspection of more than 400 unprotected monuments in Gujarat, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) today outlined its recommendations for the restoration of invaluable heritage structures. Speaking at a workshop here on ‘disaster management of historical buildings in quake-devastated parts of Gujarat’, .....more

Justice Wadhwa
appointed NCDRC president

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: Mr Justice D P Wadhwa, retired judge of the Supreme Court, has been appointed president of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) for a period of five years or till he attains the age of 70, whichever is earlier.......more

K S Sudarshan

Sudarshan kicks
up fresh controversy

BHUBANESWAR, Feb 24: RSS chief K S Sudarshan has come out with a fresh controversial suggestion .....more

VHP leaders meet PM,
demand return of
acquired Ayodhya land

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: Senior Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders today met Prime Minister....more

2 NLFT ultras
killed in Tripura

AGARTALA, Feb 24: Two insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front......more

Jyoti Basu

West Bengal Assembly
bids farewell to Jyoti Basu

KOLKATA, Feb 24: The West Bengal Assembly today bade farewell to its oldest member....more

SUNDAY SPECIAL
Good morning Huriyat chief
Message for you from London’s ‘Kashmir Centre’

From B L Kak

The organisation is known as the World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM). It operates from ‘Kashmir Centre’, located at Brownlow Road, London, W13 0SQ.

With a view to facilitating the task of the APHC president, Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat and others in the conglomerate to be in touch with the London-based organisation, the president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement, Dr Ayyub Thakur, has widely circulated his contact numbers.

Postal address: World Kashmir Freedom Movement, ‘Kashmir Centre’, Brownlow Road, London, W13 0SQ. Telephone number: 020-8810 0104. Fax: 020-8810 0105.

Dr Ayyub Thakur is not unknown among the secessionist leaders in Kashmir. Indeed, his contribution to the fund-raising operations for the much-debated "freedom struggle of Kashmiris" has already been acknowledged by his contact-men in the Valley. Dr Ayyub Thakur has, of late, become disillusioned-indeed, he is angry-over divergent political plans being pursued by the various outfits that form the Hurriyat Conference.

Hence, all the more reason for him to issue a strongly-worded statement, warning the Hurriyat leaders of far-from-satisfactory results if they continued to pursue "differing political agendas".

A copy of the statement, signed by Dr Ayyub Thakur, was also sent by Kashmiri Scandinvanian Council (KSC) to the Delhi Bureau of Daily Excelsior. Heading of the statement runs thus: "Hurriyat Conference must reform itself into a single political organisation".

Dr Thakur has prefaced his statement with the argument that pluralism may be a better means of administering a free country, but its laurels should not blind one to see pluralism’s disadvantages where people are engaged in freedom struggle. Clearly, Kashmir, which Dr Thakur insists is not a free region, was in his mind when he counselled the Hurriyat leadership to disadvantages of pluralism in "Indian occupied Kashmir".

Stating that there are plenty of instances, some quite recent, where pluralism has "completely bewildered freedom", Dr Ayyub Thakur has opined: "The Hurriyat Conference of Indian occupied Kashmir has embarked on a course which may lead to such a perplexed outcome".

That the London-based World Kashmir Freedom Movement is upset by the lack of cohesion in the Hurriyat Conference has been voiced by Dr Thakur in his statement. The statement has regretted: "A conglomerate of nearly two dozen political, social, religious, professional and trade union and militant organisations has never been in a position to claim to speak with one voice on behalf of the Kashmiri people’s freedom struggle".

The statement has warned that the multiplicity of political objectives of the conglomerate’s organisations-from total independence to accession to Pakistan, to secular and to ideological State-would weaken the Hurriyat Conference and its performance as well.

Criticising the role of members of the Hurriyart’s executive committee, Dr Ayyub Thakur has also regretted that much time is lost in building consensus, in which "the voice of the individual organisations is often considered more important in order to keep it in the Hurriyat Conference fold". Dr Ayyub’s cryptic remark: "One can only imagine how difficult and often frustrating the effort to achieve consensus could be for the Hurriyat Conference".

Worse, indeed, is the description of the Hurriyat Conference by Dr Ayyub: "The Hurriyat Conference, confronted with India’s unilateral cease-fire in occupied Kashmir, instead of providing a unified reaction, has become a sorry spectacle with individual executive members issuing divergent reactions to it".

Dr Ayyub has let it be known that even as the World Kashmir Freedom Movement has been for quite some time urging the Hurriyat executive members, individually and collectively, to reform the conglomerate into one single political organisation, little attention has been paid by them-indeed, the efforts of the executive committee of the Hurriyat Conference have "so far proved fruitless".

Plan for restoration of unprotected monuments

Speaking at a workshop here on ‘disaster management of historical buildings in quake-devastated parts of Gujarat’, senior INTACH official S K Mishra said the regions covered under the survey were Kutch, Jamnagar, Junagarh, Mehsana and Sundarnagar.

Mr Mishra said in all, 56 places were visited in Kutch and 250 buildings inspected. 40 per cent of these buildings were either collapsed or extensively damaged, 30 per cent damaged, 20 per cent slightly damaged. Ten per cent structures were still intact, he added.

In Jamanagar and Junagarh, 128 buildings were studied at 32 places, of which ten per cent were extensively damaged, 20 per cent damaged, 50 per cent slightly damaged. 20 per cent of these buildings were, however, intact.

In Mehsana and Surendranagar, 24 places were visited and 110 buildings were inspected. Only five per cent of the structures had extensive damages, while 35 per cent of them were either damaged or slightly damaged. The rest were described intact.

After the survey and subsequent documentation of the extent of damage caused to each structure, the intach has come out with a three-pronged proposal: Recommendations to the Archaeological Survey of India and State Department of Arechaeology immediate do’s and don’ts (for local authorities and owners) strategies and conservation plans.

Members of the ten-member intach task force, which conducted the survey in parts of Gujarat, today gave a slide presentation on the state of ‘Laawaris’ structures in the aftermath of the quake.

The task force said there is an urgent need for salvaging important architectural fragments from the debris of collapsed historic buildings. Dismantling also needs to be done in parts of the buildings that are unstable. Besides, preservation work needs to be undertaken for buildings which have sustained slight damages but can be restored back, the team said.

The team said that among the extremely damaged structures, restoration work for which should be taken on a priority basis, were the Jain temple in Wankaner, Morvi’s Darbargarh and Mahindra drive, both privately-owned, the Darbargarh in Maliya, Chhatris, Jubilee Hospital, Kutch museum, Fateh Mohammad tomb, Alfred School and old settlements, Paragmal Palace in Bhuj and settlement of craftpersons in Dhamadka. (UNI)

Sudarshan kicks up fresh controversy

BHUBANESWAR, Feb 24: RSS chief K S Sudarshan has come out with a fresh controversial suggestion for "Indianisation of Islam" even while the controversy over his advocacy of Indian churches severing foreign links is still raging.

"The Muslims in India should realise that they belong to the same ancestry. They need to adopt to Indian culture," Sudarshan told a public gathering here last night.

"If Muslims in Indonesia can adopt Sanskrit names, why can’t there be a Mohammed Prasad or Mohammed Das in India," the RSS Sarsanghchalak asked while pointing out that Salabeg, a Muslim poet, had penned several songs in praise of Lord Jagannath in the 14th century.

Ninety per cent of Indonesian Muslims who had Hindu ancestors still studied the Ramayan and Mahabharat and had not abandoned their Hindu roots, he claimed, saying efforts like this alone could ensure India’s unity.

Reiterating his earlier call to Indian churches to sever their links with foreign churches and become "Swadeshi", Sudarshan claimed his views had been supported by many Christians.

"The marthoma church in Kerala, which is a completely Swadeshi church, is an example of how it can be done," he said.

Comparing the nation to a family where all members were knit together through blood relationship, Sudarshan said a country would thrive on the basis of the same land, same culture and same ancestors.

Stating that four theories — two religious and two economic, wanted to control the world, Sudarshan said these had split the world into two.

Elaborating, he said, "while Christianity, projecting Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation had divided the world into believers and heathens, Islam dubbed those not believing in Allah as Kafirs".

Similarly, communism split the world into haves and have nots, while capitalism propagated the theory of survival of the fittest, he said.

Criticising those who dubbed the RSS as anti-Christian, anti-Muslim and anti-Dalit, Sudarshan said despite their opposition the organisation continued to grow.

"We are growing because our basic tenets of thought and action are not based on negativism," he said.

He said those opposed to the Sangh Parivar did not want any change in the system so that they could continue to exploit the people.

"They don’t accept the theory that India was a Hindu Rashtra but still accept the British theory that it is a sub-continent," Sudarshan added. (PTI)

VHP leaders meet PM, demand return of acquired Ayodhya land

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: Senior Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders today met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and demanded immediate return of the land acquired by the Government in Ayodhya and removal of all legal obstacles to pave the way for the construction of the Ram Temple there.

During the hour-long meeting at Vajpayee’s residence, the 12-member delegation also demanded a constitutional amendment to ban cow slaughter and immediate stopping of the work on Tehri Dam.

"We demanded immediate return of the 67 acre land acquired by the Government around the disputed site to enable us to build the four `Gopur Dwar’ (gateways) and removal of all legal obstacles coming in the path of the temple’s construction by next Mahashivratri as decided by the `Dharam Sansad’ in Allahabad last month," Mahant Paramahans Ramchandra Das, president of Ram Janambhumi Nyas told reporters.

The delegation also urged Vajpayee to reactivate the defunct Ayodhya cell in the Prime Minister’s Office.

"Vajpayee assured us that he will do whatever was possible within the constitutional framework," he said.

The VHP leaders also demanded a constitutional amendment to make cow protection a fundamental right, a central legislation to ban cow slaughter and creation of a central police task force to check alleged smuggling of cows to Kerala and Bangladesh for slaughter.

"We told him that we do not want a violent confrontation" on the issue with the Government, former BJP MP G M Lodha said.

The delegation included VHP president Vishnu Hari Dalmia and international working president Ashok Singhal.

The VHP leaders also demanded creation of National Cow Protection Council.

Several Sadhus were killed in police firing in the capital during a violent anti-cow slaughter agitation by Hindu religious leaders in 1968.

Talking about the Ayodhya issue, the Mahant recalled that work on the ‘Garbha Griha’ (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple and its ‘Shilanyas’ (foundation) was done during the tenure of earlier Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao respectively.

"We asked Vajpayee that if the Ram Temple is not built during his tenure as Prime Minister, when will it be built," he said.

The VHP leaders demanded immediate stoppage of the construction work on the Tehri hydro electrical project on the grounds that it was located in a quake-prone zone.

"We told Vajpayee that the work on the project should be stopped till an indepth scientific study is done. There should not be any construction beyond whatever has been built so far," VHP leader and BJP MP Swami Chinmayanand said.

The Sangh Parivar outfit has been campaigning against the project on the ground that it would affect the river’s purity.

Interestingly, noted environmentalist and Magsaysay Award winner Sundar Lal Bahuguna was part of the VHP delegation, which also included two scientists. (PTI)