varnam

It seems there are some Sanskrit words in the Quran and those words are used while describing Paradise (aka, the place where suicide bombers go). No, this is not a theory advocated by any of the Hindutva fanatics.

Nadwi thinks that there are three Sanskrit words in the Quran and all three point to the Arabs’ realisation that India was the origin of perfumes and medicines. The first word is zanjbeel. It is referred to in verse 76:18 when Allah describes the plenty of Paradise.

The other Sanskrit word to be found in Holy Quran is kafur. In verse 76:5 it further explains the quality of the wine in Paradise: it will smell of kafur. We know the word camphor in English. Some etymologists derive it from the Arabic root ‘kfr’.

The third word in the Quran could again be disputed. Once again the account is of Paradise and once again the reference is to wine. This time it is the aroma of the wine that is described as misk, 83:26. Some etymologists take it from the root ‘msk’ and relate it to imsaak (niggardliness).[Daily Times]

Pakistan, the terrorist factory is real busy. Now they need to supply terrorists to both Afghanistan and India.

The prisoner, who gave his name as Muhammad Sohail, is a 17-year-old from the Pakistani port city of Karachi, held by the Afghan authorities in Kabul. In an interview in late July, in front of several prison guards, he said Pakistan was allowing militant groups to train and organize insurgents to fight in Afghanistan.

It is an open secret in Pakistan that groups supporting separatism in Kashmir have not stopped their activities, despite official declarations, and have continued to train men and infiltrate them into Indian Kashmir. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage said during a visit to the region last month that Pakistan had not dismantled all the camps used to train militants for Kashmir. And while he praised Pakistan for its efforts against Al Qaeda, he urged the country to do more to stop Taliban militants carrying out attacks from Pakistan.[New York Times]

Afghan troops backed by U.S. warplanes killed as many as 70 guerrillas in a day-long battle near the Pakistani border, military officials said Tuesday... Pilots reported seeing 40 to 50 bodies on the battlefield near the mountainous Pakistani border, Peat said, and several wrecked vehicles were spotted. Nawab put the rebel toll as high as 70, saying the guerrillas had dragged away many dead and wounded as they retreated into Pakistan. Afghan forces recovered only 10 bodies, he said. [Washington Post]

One of President Bush's characterization of his opponent Senator John Kerry is as a flip flopper. The Republicans have been repeating it like a mantra in all occasions. So in a world of sound bytes, all that matters is words like "fuzzy math", or "flip flopper". Richard Cohen has an article in the Washington Post asking who is the real flip flopper ?

Bush also declared himself a determined unilateralist, kissing off treaties and understandings and even spurning NATO's help in Afghanistan. Now, though, the unilateralist of old is sending Colin Powell around the world, seeking alms and arms for Iraq. Flip-flop.
Bush would not negotiate with North Korea. He did. Flip-flop.
Bush told the United Nations to butt out of Iraq. Now he wants it in. Flip-flop. [Washington Post]

Here is an interesting story of how technology and globalization are helping Afghanis learn about basic health. The technology is LeapPad, the point and talk books used by kids to learn to read.

The 42-page interactive books deliver health information through point-and-touch technology and are available in Afghanistan's two major languages, Dari and Pashto. Users point and touch pictures in the book and the book speaks, incorporating a literacy tool with the health information.

The books, based on Leapfrog's LeapPad interactive books, deliver information on 19 personal health subjects, including diet, childhood immunization, pregnancy, breast-feeding, sanitation and water-boiling, treatment of injuries and burns, and preventing disease.

Jim Marggraff, LeapFrog's executive vice president for worldwide content, said the LeapPad uses plain paper as an interface to a computer equipped with a proprietary chip developed by the company. Each book used in a LeapPad comes with a data cartridge, which synchronizes the paper book with the cartridge through a touch-sensitive screen the book is placed on. When a user touches text or pictures on the page, the book "reads" the text through a MIDI interface connected to the cartridge through the computer chip. [Computer World via Gizmodo]

Already due to this evil force known as globalization, many people in Afghanistan have been earning a living.

One of the pre-requisites for bringing in peace in Jammu and Kashmir would be to talk. One of the pre-requisites for talking is to have peace. This is a chicken and egg problem. So the terrorists found an easy way to break the deadlock.

Muslim militants killed nine Indian troopers in an attack on a paramilitary camp in divided Kashmir, just hours before India and Pakistan, which both claim the region, began a round of peace talks. Wednesday night's attack on the heavily guarded camp in an upscale residential district of Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, came just as the soldiers were sitting down to dinner, police said. One militant was killed inside the compound after exchanging sporadic fire with soldiers through the night. The whereabouts of the other rebels was not known. [Reuters]

In a rare reference to Kargil, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has disputed deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's account that more Pakistani soldiers were killed during the conflict than the previous two wars against India, claiming New Delhi suffered more casualties than Islamabad.[Indian Express]

During the partition of the subcontinent on religious lines, it would have been natural for Kashmir, a muslim majority province to go with Pakistan. The blame for that not happening should go to Pakistan according Owen Bennet Jones in his book Pakistan, which I am reading now.

According to Jones, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was established in the first half of the 19th century by a Jammu chieftain called Ghulab Singh. Starting from Jammu he added Ladakh, Baltistan, Kashmir Valley and Gilgit. The muslims lived in poverty and the later Maharajah Hari Singh never cared much about that.

When the subcontinent was to be partitioned, the princely states were faced with the option of joining India, Pakistan or staying Independent. While most states chose to join India or Pakistan, the Maharajah of Kashmir decided to remain Independent. In August, 1947 Jinnah had mentioned that "Kashmir would fall into our lap like a write fruit".

But Jinnah never did anything to win Hari Singh's support or as Jones puts it, "Throughout 1947 Jinnah's approach to Kashmir was inept and at every stage his Indian counterparts outmanoeuvred him". From 1934, Nehru had established a relation with Sheikh Abdullah and had addressed National Conference rallies in 1945. Once when Sheikh Abdullah was arrested, Nehru came to Kashmir, got himself arrested and met the Sheikh in prison. The Muslim League was totally inept at that time and remained totally passive with respect to Kashmir.

Once the British left, a revolt started in Poonch and spread in the state, which was backed by tribesmen from NWFP who came to support their Muslim brothers. The Poonchi and Pakhtoon tribesmen reached near Srinagar and cut of Srinagar's power supply. The tribesmen forgetting that they were freedom fighters started plundering and the local population turned against them.

Faced with this threat, the Maharajah had no other go other than to request help from India. But the India would not intervene unless the Maharajah joined the Indian union. So he signed the Instrument of Accession and the airlift of Indian troops began on 27th October. So instead of seeing the fruit falling into his lap, Jinnah saw it fall into India's lap.

While a diplomatic or political solution to Kashmir seems far away, an economic solution would be a good start from the Indian point of view. Already the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been getting massive funds from the Indian Union.

The Union government's aid to J&K has therefore far outstripped the growth in the GDP, which has averaged roughly 5% in this time frame. What does this mean? J&K gets a larger and larger share of central expenditure on states. In fact, it gets 10 percent of all central assistance and J&K has received more than any other state since 1995! Far out of proportion to its fair share, which by population should be about 1 percent: that is, J&K gets roughly ten times what it deserves.[Rajeev Srinivasan on Rediff]

FOUR leading leather companies from Chennai, including one that makes shoes for Florsheim brand, have committed to set up facilities in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) either on their own or through collaborations with local partners. Apart from the leather sector, Mr Sayeed and Mr Sahasranamam said, the K.K. Birla group has committed to set up another textile unit at a cost of Rs 560 crore, while others like the Oswal and Dhainik Bhaskar groups are also keen on setting up textile units. [Businessline]

The Macroeconomics team of PricewaterhouseCoopers is predicting that India will win 10 medals in the Athens Olympics.

The Indians managed only one bronze medal in the previous edition at Sydney, but the analysis, which takes into account factors like population, average income levels, whether the country is the host nation and whether it was previously a part of the Soviet Bloc, predicts an unprecedented haul for the country.[Rediff]

Crossing the Line of Control and taking over Kargil in India was a plan implemented by the Pakistani Superman Musharraf. There have been various versions of stories on if the Democratically elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was aware of these plans. Nawaz Sharif has always maintained that he neve knew about it and was shocked when the Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee called him to ask what was going on. Now the temporary Pakistani Prime Minister Shujjat Hussain has said that Nawaz Sharif was in the loop.

Debunking former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's claim that he was kept in the dark on the Kargil operations by army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani Premier Shujjat Hussain has said that Sharif had not only given the go ahead for the incursions but also wanted to wrest Srinagar.

"I was present there. It was Nawaz Sharif's desire to reach Srinagar. People should keep one face. Sharif has kept a dual face," Hussain, who was interior minister in the Sharif government, told Aaj Tak.[Rediff]

There are reasons to believe that Sharif did not know about it. For example in his trial after Gen. Musharraf took over, the ex-Prime Minister complained that the "ill-planned and ill-conceived operation was kept so secret that the Prime Minister, some Corps Commanders and the Chief of Navy and Air Force were kept in the dark".

On June 11, the Indian Govt. released two tapes of the conversation between Gen. Musharraf and Lt. General Mohammed Aziz in which it was evident that the Prime Minister was not involved.

But Pakistani Army officers maintain that the Kargil operation was first mentioned to Sharif in a meeting that took place in an ISI office in Lahore in February 1999 and the Prime Minister granted formal approval in the second week of March at a meeting held in the ISI headquarters in Islamabad. But according to eyewitness reports, there was only a mention of increasing militant activity and not an incursion across the border.

According to Owen Bennet Jones in his book, Pakistan, the Army probably told Sharif something, but not in detail. The Army thought that the operation would remain as a small border skirmish and not get into a full blown war. In this context, the new revelation by a puppet prime minister of Musharraf that Sharif wanted to wrest Srinagar seems unbelievable. [Information adapted from Pakistan]

Q: So what happens if you go to one of the schools where you are involved and a young Muslim kid comes up and says ‘I want to be Azim Hafiz Premji’?

Premji: I will say you have every chance to do that, being in our country [India], which you can say of very few countries in the world. I think that’s fundamental. Which country in the world has this combination of political leadership, in terms of people in power, of different religions, of different communities, of different parts of the country? [Indian Express]

Magnum Software Services, located on the outskirts of Srinagar, Kashmir's main city and the nerve center of a 15-year revolt against Indian rule, has become the first company in the region to bag an international back-office services contract. The firm has recruited 315 young Kashmiri men and women in recent weeks to format medical files and research data for a Singapore client. Soon it also plans to provide accounting and legal transcription services.[NY Times]

Besides this foreign investment, there are Indian companies investing in Jammu and Kashmir as well. Other than tourism and export of Kashmiri shawls, now new industries are popping up creating more employment, which alone can lead to a decrease in terrorism.

One of the solutions for the Kashmir problem is to grant more autonomy for the state. But Arvind Lavakare in this article writes that the state has all the freedom it wants by staying with the Indian Union.

J&K is the only state in India where a distinction has been permitted to be made between state citizens (designated as 'permanent residents') and other Indian citizens (who are not 'permanent residents') and where -- contrary to the principles of equality before the law (Article 14), prohibition of discrimination on the ground of place of birth (Article 15) and equality of opportunity in public employment (Article 16), -- laws are permissible to confer special rights and privileges on 'permanent residents' with respect to employment under the state government, acquisition of immovable property in the state, settlement in the state and right to scholarships as well as other state government aid

As though all of the above and more besides was not enough to honour the 'special status' of J&K, the nugget that insults the dignity of India is Section 64 of the J&K constitution. This section stipulates that the oath of affirmation to be made by i. a candidate for election to the state legislature ii. a member of the state legislature iii. a deputy minister and a minister (including the chief minister) of the state government and iv. a judge of the state high court should 'bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the State as by law established.' Note that the allegiance here is exclusively to the constitution of J&K state and not to the Constitution of India in addition.[Rediff]

So here you have a pampered state which does not owe allegience to the Indian Union and still get subsidised by the country and no political party in India has the guts to abrogate this.

As I pointed out earlier, if you are guilty of something, the best strategy is to accuse your accusers of the same crime. Then you have to repeat it as many times as possible so that the label sticks on the accuser. President Bush has used this trick successfully by labeling John Kerry as a flip-flopper, while taking focus away from the fact that he too has been a flip-flopper.

Now Pakistan, our major ally in the war in terror is using the same trick

Pakistan on Tuesday asked India to stop its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan from sponsoring terrorism inside Pakistan, as a step forward to settle issues related to terrorism.[The Nation]

Now the moderates in Hurriyat Conference have backed off talks from the Indian Govt saying that they don't like the pre-conditions. The pre-condition they are referring to is the statement that the dialogue would be held under the framework of the Indian Constitution.

Now any Indian Minister who has sworn allegience to the Indian Union cannot hold talks with anyone outside the framework of the constitution. This was how talks were held before and then there was no issue. But then the Hurriyat are no democracy lovers. They asked people to boycott the elections because "the election process is no solution to the Kashmir problem"

Praveen Swami chronicles the latest developments in the Hurriyat. The hardline Islamic fundamentalists of the Jamaat-e-Islami 'organisation', backed by Hizbul Mujahideen, its armed 'faction' are on the ascendency. This leaves the moderate elements of the Hurriyat, which was playing peek-a-boo over talks with the Indian government, in a state of disarray.

The moderates are suffering because of their own lack of conviction. And they lack conviction because they lack representative credentials. Once the Indian government began warming up to the Hurriyat, its Pakistani architects got worried and promptly pulled the plug, leaving the Hurriyat grasping for the correct end 'of a rotting bough'. The Islamic hardliners and their terrorist offspring had no such problems - their stand was consistently in favour of an Islamic turn towards Pakistan.[The Acorn]

Maybe this is just a strategy by the Hurriyat leaders to show that they too can be tough.

All Iran wants to do is pursue a "peaceful" nuclear program and the whole world is against them. The Europeans understand this vey well and so they agreed to block any security council resolutions against Iran. But now Iran's President Mohammad Khatami has said that the country is willing to pay any price for pursuing the "peaceful" program.

Khatami said Tehran was ready to give guarantees that its nuclear program, including enriching uranium, would not be diverted toward making weapons, as Washington suspects. He said atomic weapons go against the teachings of Islam.[Yahoo News via LGF]

A research team of the Kannada Research Institute of Karnatak University has discovered what could be a 2,000-year-old Buddhist site at Tunnur in Chitapur taluk of Gulbarga district. During the excavation, archaeologists recovered priceless artefacts and terracotta items revealing the influence of Buddhism in the region. According to Dr. Shadaksharaiah, the research team found artefacts dating back to many centuries and most of the sculptural panels found were scattered in a radius of about 1 km. Some of the panels recovered included one depicting Mandoka Jataka story, Dharmachakra, a piece of stupa fence, and two types of memorial stones. In the Mandoka Jataka story panel the figures of a queen, Amatya, pattada horse, and pattada elephant are clearly visible, and the panel is quite similar to the one recovered from Hampi in Bellary district. Research scholars during the course of their work found two distinct memorials. One of them belonged to the king and the royal members and another to the common people. In the former, there are figures of a horse, servants of the royal family, and king and queen seated and holding goblets. Some of the memorials bear labels with inscriptions in Brahmi script and Prakrit language. One of them reads: "Valavasa Papalana Kanhasa." Kanhasa means Krishna. [Sun Network via India India Archaeology]

In 1947 when the British were leaving the subcontinent, the Princely states were given three options: independence, accession to India or accession to Pakistan. One Princely state declared Independence and soon the army of one the nations marched into the state and forced the leader to sign the Instrument of Accession.

Later the central government dismissed the provincial government and when the people reacted violently, a massive deployment of army was done. The rebels were dismissd as miscreants and the army was given a free hand to crush the rebellion. 80,000 troops were deployed to bring into control 55,000 rebels. The rebellion was crushed, and the rebels moved into a neighboring country where they received support and money.

Does this all sound familiar ? It is not what you think. The Princely state was Balochistan, the invading country was Pakistan and the country which offered the rebels support was Afghanistan.

As Mary Anne Weaver wrote in her book, Pakistan, it is the tribal rule that runs here. Pakistan has exploited Balochistan for its gas supplies and oil, but still the province remains backward. There have been recent violence and even the Chief Minister was ambushed.

The clash in Balochistan is between aggressive modernisation (backed by military force) and the Baloch people’s demands for their rights. Force has not yielded good results in the past. It is unlikely to do so in future. The government therefore would be better advised to seek a consensual mode of implementation of the mega-projects the poor people of Balochistan desperately need to overcome decades of neglect and deprivation of rights by bringing the nationalists on board through a fair distribution of the benefits of development and modernisation.[Daily Times]

And while are celebrating this Independence Day, we realize that we may have our differences of opinion, but the spirit of India runs in all of us.

One has a parade with floats and an elaborate fashion show in a Fremont parking lot while the other is set in a beautiful park in downtown San Jose easily accessible by light rail. But the Bay Area's dueling festivals this weekend to honor India's independence appeared to have everything else in common -- great food, cute kids busting a move, and a chance to reunite with old friends.

After 12 years of luring the Bay Area's Indo-American community to Fremont to celebrate the annual Festival of India, a rift and power struggle among organizers this year forced a splinter group to carry out a threat to host a rival event, India's Independence Day Celebration, for the first time in San Jose. Both celebrations are this weekend, and both are drawing large crowds. By 5 p.m. Saturday, an estimated 10,000 tickets were sold in Fremont and 4,000 in San Jose, organizers said.[San Jose Mercury News]

So how was Independence Day celebrated in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir ? Both factions of the Hurriyat were united in one thing - Boycotting the Independence Day celebrations.

The healing touch of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed seems to be working fine as 17 people are injured in a bomb blast.

Nobody claimed responsibility for Sunday's rocket attack in Kashmir, but police blamed it on Islamic rebels fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. When the rocket hit, children had gathered to watch an Independence Day ceremony organized by the Indian army at a school in Dangiwachi village, some 45 miles north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state.[ABC News]

One of the areas where President Bush and Senator Kerry disagree entirely is on the funding for Stem Cell Reasearch. Like the ancient Church, which opposed new scientific discoveries because it did not go well with the religious laws, the President has been using his religious beliefs to stop Federal Funding for Stem Cell Research.

The problem with this is that other countries like Britain who are not tied by such rightwing thoughts are issuing licences to allow their researchers to use cloning techniques to produce stem cells.Soon other countries would be much ahead of United States in finding cures to diseases. The positions held by the President is not supported by members of the Republican Party. Few months back, former First Lady, Nancy Reagan had come out in support of Stem Cell Research

In an election year, it is no surprise that John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for the presidency, has sought to take advantage. He says he will end the Bush administration’s “battle against science”, including its ban on federal funding for stem cells, and claims support from 48 Nobel laureates. He also has some cross-party support. Some 58 of America’s 100 senators, including Mr Kerry and a number of prominent Republicans, signed a letter to Mr Bush urging him to reverse the funding ban. And at July’s Democratic convention Ron Reagan, son of the former president and Republican hero Ronald Reagan (who died in June after a long battle with Alzheimer’s), made a passionate speech in favour of stem-cell research: “How’d you like to have your own personal biological repair kit standing by at the hospital? Sound like magic? Welcome to the future of medicine.” His mother, Nancy Reagan, also supports stem-cell research.[Economist]

Mrs. Bush is surely right that some advocates of stem cell research leave the impression that cures may be just around the corner, whereas virtually all experts agree it will be a long, hard slog, with success by no means guaranteed. Yet there seems little doubt that the slog will be all the harder if the federal government, traditionally the main driving force in basic biomedical research, hangs back from the field. The president's policy limits federal funding to research on some 20 stem cell lines that existed three years ago. That makes it harder for scientists to do research on dozens of other stem cell lines that have since been created with private funds, including new lines that reflect genetic diseases not present in the Bush-approved lines. The Bush policy also rules out research on stem cells that are genetically matched to a patient, the avenue that will now be explored by the British while American researchers' hands are tied.[New York Times]

According to Balochistan's Chief Minister, there is no military operation going on there.

Prime Minister Ch Shujaat Hussein refuted the impression that a major military crackdown is going on in Balochistan. Talking to BBC, the premier said no operation was carried out in the province and action has been taken against individuals involved in subversive activity.[Pak Tribune]

Hayat said the Pakistani government also has launched a military operation in the country's southern Balochistan province, which borders the Afghan province of Kandahar. Taliban leader Mullah Omar is a native of Kandahar where the disbanded religious movement still enjoys some support.[Washington Times]

Daniel Drezner has a link to Guruchara Das's op-ed in the Financial Times about India's Crisis of Governance.

No single institution has disappointed us more than our bureaucracy. When we were young we bought the cruel myth of the "steel frame" - a stable system that would provide continuity. We were told that Britain was not as well-governed as India because it did not have the Indian Civil Service. Today our bureaucracy has become the single biggest obstacle to development. Indians think of their bureaucrats as self-serving, obstructive and corrupt. Instead of shepherding through economic reforms, they are blocking them.

In the 1950s, the idealistic Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, wanted a regulatory framework for his "mixed economy", but instead, in the holy names of socialism, the bureaucrats created a thousand controls and killed our industrial revolution at birth. In my 30 years in business I did not meet a single bureaucrat who really understood my business, yet each had the power to ruin it. Our failures have been due less to ideology and more to poor management.[Daniel Drezner]

While the Pakistan Govt. is bluffing about the operations going in Balochistan, there is more trouble brewing.

The situation in Balochistan might lead to disintegration of the country, declared former chief minister of Balochistan Sardar Attaullah Mengal here on Monday.

He said the nationalists were only demanding democracy and their right to govern themselves. He said Pakhtoons were their brothers and could join them (Baloch nationalists). But, he said, what would the Punjabis do who had nothing to sell to the outside world and had only Data Darbar.

He said Balochistan was being developed now because it suited the Punjabis and the military, as they want to make it a colony of the army and federation. About Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain’s offer to hold a dialogue with nationalist forces in Balochistan, he said the PM was a helpless man. He said he would ask the general to hand over power to the people otherwise he would be responsible for the break up of the country. [Hi Pakistan]

He was addressing a meeting of Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement which means that people are oppressed in the Land of Pure. The oppressed people are the Sindhi, Pashtuns, Baluchi and Seraiki who are fighting the Punjabi domination. This is one reason why the Pakistani Govt. needs to keep the Kashmir flame burning --- to channelize the anger outward.

When you blog about something, that entry stays on your main page for a few days and then it sinks down into your personal blog blackhole almost never to surface again. I found two plugins to bring some of those entries back to the surface again.

• OnThisDay brings up old entries blogged on the same day in previous years. (Example on the sidebar)
• RelatedEntries is a tag on the Individual Archive Page and displays 3 (configurable) entries in the same category.

Also speaking of MT, there is an excellent blog called Movalog by Aravind on customizing MT. (He is only 15 years old)

Dr. Sana Rajah has a wonderful solution to the Kashmir problem in an article written in The New Nation, Bangladesh's Independent News Source. First he starts by analyzing the problem and identifies that the UN Resolutions are impossible to implement now. He then describes the adamant stand taken by both nations and says that the plebiscite might be a bad idea as many parts of both nations might ask for the same. But then after that he loses his marbles and suggests

A viable solution to the issue would be to facilitate a plebiscite restricted to the Valley, where the demand for independence is the strongest and in its most violent manifestation. The populace of the rest of the Indian Kashmir and Pakistan's part of it have not displayed any potent desire for freedom, and seem content in their present situation.

This would allow Pakistan and India to maintain control of the Northern Areas and Ladakh respectively. However, an independent Valley would still be economically dependent on India and Pakistan, as it is a land-locked region. Let us hope that the issue can be settled, so that lasting peace becomes a reality.[The UN Resolutions on Kashmir]

So here you go, just have a plebiscite in the Kashmir valley because it is the most violent place. Just because India did not create trouble in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Pakistan gets to keep it. No self determination for them. What a brilliant idea.

An election year in US means a bad time for terrorists in Pakistan. Already there were reports coming out that the Bush Administration is putting lot of pressure on our greatest ally to capture some High Value Targets. Our ally is doing exactly that while denying everything in the local press.

The opposition in Pakistan says Islamabad is bending too far backward to obey the election-related fiats coming from the United States. They accuse President Pervez Musharraf of making war against his own people on the orders of George Bush. No one believes the government’s version of the Wana Operation and everyone tends to ignore the latest flurry of arrests of the so-called Al Qaeda agents in the country. The government says that the Jamaat-e-Islami, the party of the chief of the religious alliance MMA, has been found sheltering the terrorists, which hardly anyone believes because of the general impression that everything Islamabad says is usually dictated by the United States. What is the truth?

Equally, it may not just be American pressure that is compelling General Musharraf to take up arms against religious extremism in Pakistan. Surely, these moves fit in nicely with the medium-term objectives of President Musharraf himself. His own “uniform” issue deadline of December is in many ways tougher than George Bush’s November electoral deadline. There is a bipartisan consensus in the United States on the usefulness of Pakistan as an ally in the war on terrorism. Thus, whether President Bush is returned or not, President Musharraf has to be in power beyond 2004. That is what has been very clearly implied in some of the interviews he has recently given. How will he achieve that? What will become of the commitment given in the agreement he reached with the MMA over the Legal Framework Order (LFO) that he would take off his uniform before the year was out? There may be a clue concealed in the latest allegation (so far awaiting effective proof in a court of law) that the toughest of the MMA components has been harbouring the Al Qaeda terrorists. Does it mean that the “pressure” will finally persuade a not-too-harmonious MMA to agree to an extension in his tenure as army chief?

Those who say that the sincerity of his commitment against Islamic extremism should be assumed after the attempts on his life by the erstwhile jihadis should remember that he also repeated his commitment to jihad in Kashmir in a recent interview to a Pakistani English daily.[EDITORIAL: Pressure on Musharraf?]

CNN has a story on a innovative way used by IIT Kanpur to bring technology to the masses. They use a bicycle richshaw to carry a computer with high speed Internet access to give classes to people.

A few miles from Bithoor, another cycle rickshaw carries its high-tech load to Gorahah village, where men and women gather side-by-side for a class on electronic mail. The mix is nothing short of a revolution in tradition-bound rural India, where women are often kept indoors.

"We are now learning computers. There is no point if we can't use that new knowledge. We have to go out and do something worthwhile," said Snehalatha, 22, who also attends college. Clad in orange pants and a pink tunic, Snehalatha signs up for Yahoo mail, as an impatient queue lengthens behind her.

The classes teach the basics of computing, word processing, spreadsheets, Internet browsing and Web cameras. Once they learn to use a webcam the villagers can take part in online classes, something the info-cart organizers hope to implement later.[Wheels of hope bring Internet to villagers]

MT Design Thought: Entries like these belong to a sideblog since I have no commentary to offer. MT 3.1 will have support for Multi Blogs and after that I should also implement one.

Now that Shaukat Aziz as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, SA Tribune thinks that Musharraf is dispensible.

Musharraf has completed five years of his rule and at the end of that period he is today almost living under house arrest, confined to a bunker. He cannot come out into the public. If he has to go anywhere, the entire city has to come to a standstill. In the last few weeks he has not ventured out of the Presidency, not even for any Independence Day event.

He does not trust even his own top Generals. Within his Army he is seen as a COAS who has blocked the careers of those on top and has promoted and picked men of his choice causing a lot of heart burning elsewhere. He is hated by the terrorists, despised by politicians, of both the Opposition and the Treasury benches, though they may not have the courage to say so at his face.

The ordinary man on the street never trusted him before and distrusts him more now as life for him has gone from bad to worse, despite all the tall claims of macroeconomic successes and dollar reserves. Voters did not come out in his phony referendum and they never voted for any one because of Musharraf. Without the heavy hand of intelligence agencies and official machinery, even Shaukat Aziz would not have agreed to contest, let alone win, the Parliamentary seats he easily won today.[via oxTalk]

Niraj has a set of links to articles by B.Raman which will help in understanding why the Balochis hate the Pakistan Govt. From reading those articles it looks like another East Pakistan in the making. While major construction is going on for the Gwadar Port in Balochistan, the Balochis are kept away from the jobs and in their place Punjabis and Pashtuns whose loyalty were not suspect were moved in.

The Army is also building cantonments in Balochistan which the Balochis do not see favourably.

Under US pressure to restore law and order in Baluchistabn, Musharraf, with financial assistance from the US Central Command, has embarked upon a plan for the construction of three more cantonments in Baluchistan at Dera Bugti, Kohlu and Gwadar. Though these cantonments have been projected by the Pakistan Army as meant to enable the Army deal more effectively with the dregs of the IIF, the Baluch nationalists fear that Musharraf has been exploiting the US concerns to get money for strengthening the Army presence in the province to enable him to crush the nationalists at an opportune moment.[Unrest In Baluchistan]

Due to their treatment as second class citizens, the Balochis are revolting and the Army is moving in to supress the revolt. But then there are contradicting reports coming about the military action. Now there is a new report

A tribal leader in the restive Baluchistan has accused Pakistan army of using tanks and helicopter gunships to quell "agitation against outsiders." This contradicts official versions that no military operation was held in the province. Prominent Baluch tribal leader, Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti, who heads the Jamhoori Watan Party, told reporters in Pakistan's Hyderabad on Thursday that a number of areas in the province were devastated due to attacks by rockets, missiles and heavy bombing. Tanks, gunships, helicopters, army and para-military forces were being used right from Turbat to Gwadar in Baluchistan, Bugti was quoted as saying by the local media.[Tribal leader accuses Pak of using tanks, choppers]

While the World Social Forum was going in Mumbai, India, Madhu Kishwar had written an article exposing the hypocrites behind that movement. Now she has a book: Deepening Democracy: The Challenges of Globalisation and Governance and Sulekha is carrying an excerpt of it.

Unfortunately, the very same AGBs who pant and fume at India opening up to foreign investments have very little objection to India being aid-dependent. They are in fact, upset at the recent feeble attempts of the Indian government to lessen India's aid dependence. There is something comic about representatives of the AGBs warning us about the evils of globalisation despite their own politics being altogether reliant on international aid money. They have no problem in being tied to the apron strings of international donor agencies to finance their politics, but they do not trust Indians to benefit from partnership in world trade. Their policy of 'No to Free Trade, Yes to Tied Aid' explains their real worth.[The Rhetoric and Reality of the Anti-Globalisation Brigades]

While the name Madrassa may evoke images of a terrorist factory from what we have seen in Pakistan, it is not always so. In India, in a madrassa, Hindu and Muslim students learn together, all the subjects, not just Quran.

The morning prayers begin with an ode to Mahatma Gandhi followed by traditional Islamic teachings and a patriotic song. Needless to say, the resonance of children learning Urdu and Sanskrit together and singing patriotic songs is a heartwarming sight for a nation ridden by some dangerously deep religious divides.

"It is different from the way rest of the madrasas work. Here children from all the castes study, whether they are Muslims or Hindus alongwith Urdu language children are also taught English, Hindi and Sanskrit," Maulana Ansar Ahmed, the Madarsa head-master said. ocals said they remained unaffected by the communal undertones and were more interested in chalking out a better future for their children. "Children are taught everything in this madrasa and they are also taught Urdu so we send them here," Devi Prasad Gaud, a parent said.[Hindu students study at a Madrasa]

• India's foreign minister Natwar Singh in a party meeting made some hilarious observations. Priyendra Deshwal has a good rebuttal.
• For all the hatred she has shown for America, it seems Arundhati Roy admires Americans. This was mentioned in a lecture she gave at UC Berkeley

  When asked about the US, she said she admires Americans and thinks that because the people here are far more well off than the rest of the world, the Americans can mobilize and make a difference to humanity as a whole by influencing the role of Govt. and the military establishment than people any other part of the world.[Arundhati Roy's talk at UC Berkeley]

Ashok V. Desai has described India in 1865 when the first wave of globalization hit India creating a trade surplus.

Thus we see in the mid-19th century the first impact of globalization on India. Shipping technology changed; ships became larger and travelled further (steamers were just coming into use in 1865). With it, direction of trade changed; from trade within the Indian Ocean region, India began to trade more with Britain and China. Industrializing Britain and opium-eating China created new markets; as they expanded, India developed a massive export surplus. It did not know what to do with all that money, so it stashed away gold and silver. Was that deindustrialization? There may have been; but there was export-led growth too. For some of India’s people, this must have been a golden era.[INDIA IN 1865]

While Pakistan is trying various techniques to breakaway Kashmir Valley from India, many commentators have come up with various solutions to the Kashmir Problem. Some border on the insane, while some have got the basic idea.

Money can do wonders and wealth creation is a great way to find solutions to complex problems, or as Thomas Friedman would say, progress is made by societies who move away from Olive Trees to the Lexus. An example of people moving away from Olive Trees is this news from Jammu and Kashmir where Muslim traders are writing signboards in Hebrew to attract Israeli tourists who are flocking to the valley. Anywhere else in the Muslim world, this would be considered a sure path to hell, but not in India.

Gulzar Ahmad, owner of a handicraft shop near scenic Dal Lake in Srinagar, recently changed the language of his outlet’s signboard from English to Hebrew. It was another sign of the new acceptance of visitors from Israel. For the second successive year, Israelis top the list of foreign tourists visiting the region. “Seventy per cent of my customers are Israelis,” said 50-year-old Ahmad, a Muslim. “So I changed my signboard to attract more Israeli customers.”[Israeli tourists flock revolt-torn Kashmir]

An temple dating to 1500 BC has been found in Jordan which falls into the Late Bronze Age category.

Towering 3 meters above the heads of the excavators, the walls of the temple created four rooms. In the largest room, about 5 by 8 meters in size, was a whitewashed niche with a smooth, dome-shaped standing stone in the center flanked by four smaller stones, two on each side.

The major deity of the region at that time was a god named Il (or El). It is the same word as the Arabic word for God, Allah. To an ancient, Il was the father of the gods, but, stress the excavators, "we do not know for certain who the standing stones represent or the beliefs associated with them. Within the niche and above the stones to the right the excavators found several ceramic vessels, probably containing votive gifts for the gods. [3500-year-old Bronze Age temple discovered in Jordan]

In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh debt-ridden farmers were committing suicides. Then came the elections and the IT savy Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu was voted out of power. His defeat was attributed to the fact that he did not take care of the non-IT population of his state. While the Chief Minister spent lot of time and energy in globalizing Hyderabad, his fault was in not bringing the wealth creating benefits of globalization to rest of the population.

One of the first acts of the new Govt. was to make electricity available for free. This did not stop the suicides. Free electricity did not bring people out of debt. The plight of the farmers have been blamed on globalization because government investment into agriculture fell as a result of Washington Consensus.

But the truth is that the plight of these farmers had little to do with a government bent on sending signals to investors. Rather, the indebtedness that was prompting such misery was a product of several vicious cycles. Many farmers have to rely on informal networks and oppressive moneylenders for their financing needs. And the government itself partly produced the crisis it was responding to. Sops in the form of free electricity had led to indiscriminate use of water pumps, producing a grave water crisis. Most of the indebtedness came from the need for inordinate expenditures to drill further for water. And cooperative banks, set up to provide cheap credit, made themselves insolvent by lending indiscriminately.[India balances needs of poor and investors]

Could Chandra Babu Naidu have used technology to prevent the suicides in Andhra Pradesh?

Technology can unlock the potential of poor farmers by making agricultural production more efficient. The World Resources Institute's (WRI) Digital Dividends Project Clearinghouse includes several hundred examples of successful ICT-enabled development projects. One example currently attracting international attention is ITC, an Indian agricultural processor. ITC has initiated the e-Choupal ("choupal" means "gathering place" in Hindi) effort that places computers with Internet access in rural farming villages, creating an e-commerce hub that enables farmers to receive a fair price for their produce.

In Uganda and Kenya, farmers use short message system (SMS) technology to receive updates on commodity prices, which allows them to negotiate fair prices for their produce with traders and middlemen who have exploited them for generations. Bangladesh's Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, a non-profit organization, uses boats that are outfitted with computers, printers, and an Internet connection to deliver agricultural education modules to isolated farmers that are unreachable by roads.

Perhaps Andhra Pradesh's new government could take a page from the book of its neighboring state, Maharashtra. There, the government-funded Kisaan Call Center fields inquiries from rural farmers, who get advice from operators speaking their own language and whose directive is to treat every farmer as a customer, emphasizing respect.

In all of these cases, information technology is driving innovative solutions to the problems of poor farmers. "More Internet" is not what plagues these farmers; in fact, Internet technology is helping them climb out of poverty by connecting them with information, educational opportunities, and financial resources. "Connectivity for the sake of connectivity accomplishes very little," says Jonathan Lash, WRI president. "Connectivity that links marginalized citizens with needed services, however, can play a major role in economic development."[In the Aftermath of "India Shining"]

A set of people who were seriously affected by terrorism in Jammu and Kashir are the Kashmiri Pandits. They are Hindus who lived in the valley, but were forced to move out of the state by Islamic terrorists. These Hindus live in refugee camps in their own country, where Hindus are a majority. Over the years various political parties have milked them for votes, but they never got to get back to their homes. Now it takes Frank Pallone, a US Congressman to remind the Prime Minister of India to take care of these Hindus.

Democratic US Congressman Frank Pallone appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to include Kashmiri Pandits in "developing the future course of action in Jammu and Kashmir," and expressed disappointment over the government not mentioning the community in its policy statement on the issue. "Given the urgency of addressing the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, I was disappointed that the new government did not mention the Pandits as part of its policy on Kashmir," Pallone said in a letter to Singh, copies of which were released Wednesday.

"I urge you to include the Pandits in any negotiations with Kashmiri constituents and in developing the future course of action in Jammu and Kashmir," Pallone said, asserting, "Pandits have suffered more than any group as a result of the conflict in Kashmir." "It is more important now than ever for a public commitment from your administration to include the Pandits in future policy discussions," he added. By doing so, they will be ensured a much-needed voice in determining the future of their security and return to the valley, Pallone said.[via vichaar.org]

The new Indian Govt. as a policy has decided to support the Palestinian Issue without any condemnation of their terrorist policies. There is also no acknowledgement of the fact that it was Israeli help that was a decisive factor in the Kargil war. This Arab appeasement policy was followed by India during the cold war era and the new Govt. seems to be stuck there. The interesting fact is that we do not get any support for Arabs on any issue that matter to us and still we manage to crawl on our knees for them.

For example, the Arab appeasement did not win us any rebates on Oil. In terms of breaking away Kashmir valley from India, the OIC stand is to support the United Nations resolutions. In the 2003 OIC Meeting, the OIC even welcomed the restraint shown by Pakistan in face of Indian provocation.

After visiting India and not making any statement about Kashmir Valley, the Foreign Minister of Kuwait has done a "U" turn in Pakistan and now suggested that the United Nations resolutions be implemented. This is directly in opposition with the Indian viewpoint that, the whole thing is a bilateral issue.

• Yayaawar explains why he is ashamed to be a Hindu Indian. This is related to case of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharti, who had to resign her post as a non-bailable warrant was issued against her.
• Vivek Kumar has brief reviews of three books about India.

While India's Arab appeasement policy does not seem to be working, it has become important for the Indian Govt. to spell the policy on the state of Jammu and Kashmir very clearly.

Even as the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)decided to continue the on-going dialogue process with Pakistan, it asserted that New Delhi could neither accept Islamabad’s demand that Kashmir is a core issue nor it can give up its stance that Kashmir is an integral part of India.[Kashmir Integral Part Of India, Asserts Natwar ]

At the same time, Musharraf is reluctant to challenge extremist groups he still regards as potential levers in the conflict with India over control of Kashmir, even though the groups theoretically have been banned, analysts said. In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper this month, Musharraf said the groups would not "pack up" until India and Pakistan reached a settlement on Kashmir, which Pakistan regards as the key issue in peace negotiations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.[Pakistan Losing Grip on Extremists]

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Sikh Holy Book, Guru Granth Sahib, the Times of India has an article about the history of it.

The Adi Granth, written by Guru Arjan Dev, is the original scripture, also known as Kartarpuri Bir, and was installed at the Golden Temple on September 1, 1604. The genuineness of this master copy, scripted by Bhai Gurdas under the direct supervision of Guru Arjan Dev, had been vouched by top Sikh scholars, including Bhai Jodh Singh, after thorough scrutiny of the holy text, which bears the original signatures of Guru Arjan Dev. The master copy of the Adi Granth was initially kept by Guru Hargobind in his house. From there it was stolen by his grandson Dhir Mal who intended to use it to further his claims on succession. Some 30 years later, followers of the Guru Teg Bahadur forcibly recovered it, but were instructed by the guru to return it. The holy book emerged from obscurity only in 1849. [Descendants of Arjan Dev have original text]

Paul Blustein of the Washington Post has an article analysing the medal wins of various countries in the Athen Olympics with their GDP and how offers some lessons on how globalization distributes rewards among countries.

Driving that improvement, Warner and other experts agree, is China's transformation from a largely peasant-based economy to an industrial powerhouse. That has bestowed better health on millions of Chinese and given the government in Beijing the resources to fund a nationwide network of sports schools; as an extra incentive, the government provides cash bonuses for medalists, with a gold worth $24,000, and potentially much more in corporate donations.

But old-fashioned capitalist wealth offers ample compensation. The government bonuses given to Russians and Chinese can't compare with the multimillion-dollar contracts that top American athletes get from endorsing commercial products, as witnessed by the ubiquitous Visa ads featuring swimmer Michael Phelps.

Less famous members of the U.S. team can take advantage of deals offered by U.S. companies, such as Home Depot, which pays 49 U.S. Olympic team members a full-time salary with benefits for 20 hours of work a week, allowing plenty of time for training. U.S. Olympic training centers are equipped with laptops, video cameras and sensors designed to give athletes minutely detailed feedback on their technique. The Germans, meanwhile, have developed high-tech boats, bikes and bobsleds to give their athletes an edge.[Winners with wallets]

"Our micro economic indicators are stable and through economic reforms the country has achieved economic sovereignty. By the end of this year the country will say goodbye to IMF programme as we are in a position to raise resources on our own from the international market," Aziz told the National Assembly yesterday after winning the vote of confidence.[Shaukat Aziz promises to say goodbye to IMF loans]

The image of Pakistan for the outside world is not that of a region of stability. With assasination attempts on the current leaders and with terrorists using the land as staging areas for activities against India and Afghanistan, it may not look favourable for international investors. And it not just Pakistan's enemies who are telling this.

Here is our other dilemma. The world is moving towards integration — the European Union, ASEAN, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Mercosur. Pakistan is an aberration where centrifugal forces - or forces of disintegration - are gaining momentum. Our strategic-tactical contradiction needs to be resolved in order to strengthen the Federation. The dialogue with India is a healthy sign but what would be even better is an open dialogue within Pakistan.[Our world of dilemmas]

As an after effect to terrorism striking home, Saudi Arabia took a decision to allow women to get commercial licences. They also started the Saudization program where they would bar foreigners from working in gold and jewellery shops. Now to combat terrorism, the Saudi Arabia Govt. is subsidizing the employment of young Saudis hoping that better economic opportunities would counter terrorism.

Across the Middle East, millions of young Arabs are struggling to break into stagnant job markets. Political analysts say this mismatch is starting to generate destabilizing pressure that could bring governments down if they're unwilling to reform economies hobbled by cronyism, Byzantine regulation and rigid state control. The problem is particularly acute in this resource-rich country of more than 25 million people, where many have long viewed work as something done by others. The government is struggling to provide economic possibilities for the 60 percent of the population under 18 years old.

After bombings and shootouts this year that have killed about 50 people in the kingdom, the Saudi government has come to view putting more of its people to work as a matter of national security. With oil prices hovering near a two-decade peak, it is putting some of the new income into a languishing campaign to recast the labor market with a Saudi face. [