varnam

Can globalization help eliminate poverty ? How can the markets intervene and nudge Governments into making investments for this ? The Asian Development Bank has come up with a plan

Many Asian governments are cash-strapped and shackled by debt, thus not enough is spent on education, health care and other social services people in developed nations take for granted. Making less than $2 a day may put some food on the table, but it won't go far to pay for school. In other words, large portions of Asia's future workforces aren't being adequately trained to compete in the age of globalization. Multinational companies are depending on rising Asian incomes to bolster consumer spending and spur demand for cars, electronics, travel and myriad other goods and services. At the moment, developing Asia's growth is even helping Japan's much larger economy shake a 14-year slumber.

The Manila-based ADB is working to put the risks of poverty squarely on investors' radar screens. It's an intriguing strategy to nudge governments to make sure economic growth reaches the poor. If investors and companies increasingly voice concerns about poverty, officials in Beijing, Jakarta, Manila, New Delhi and elsewhere will find it harder to ignore it.[Poverty Is a Growing Risk to Asian Markets]

B.Raman has yet another educational article about the show the Pakistanis are putting up for the Americans.

Act 14: August. Like a magician taking rabbits out of his hat, as the Republican presidential convention and his visit to New York during which he is to meet Bush for another pat in the back approached, Musharraf started finding al-Qaeda dregs all over Pakistan - Arabs, Uzbeks, South Africans and Pakistanis. A plot for simultaneous attacks on Musharraf's palace and the US Embassy in Islamabad, general headquarters in Rawalpindi and other places discovered and foiled. Many more dregs arrested. Al-Qaeda penetrated. The days of its dregs numbered. Claims galore from the interior and information ministers. Pakistani backers of al-Qaeda identified and under watch. Do you know who is the principal backer, according to these ministers? Musharraf? No. Lieutenant-General Ehsanul-Haq, director general of the ISI? No. He is none other than Javed Ibrahim Paracha , a close associate of Nawaz Sharif and a member of Nawaz's faction of the Pakistan Muslim League. Yes sir. You now know how al-Qaeda had remained undetected all these years in Pakistan. Because of the support from Nawaz's Muslim League.

Should one laugh or cry? Don't do either. Keep watching the show. There are more striptease acts to come as the US presidential elections and the deadline for Musharraf to resign as the chief of the army staff (COAS) approaches. Bush and Tricky Mush need each other. And they both need bin Laden. Bush for winning re-election. Mush for getting US support for his planned violation of the Pakistani constitution in order to be able to continue as the COAS after December 31. [Pakistan: The al-Qaeda striptease ]

Update: Senior Taliban leader trapped in Pakistan

The Jang has an editorial believing a statement by Balochistan's Chief Minister that Indian Intelligence Agency, RAW is behind all the terrorism in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

The unequivocal assertion about the involvement of foreign elements in terrorism and activities of saboteurs that the chief minister of Balochistan has spoken about cannot be totally refuted. Many intelligence agencies in their reports in the recent past have spoken of the involvement of some of those neighbouring countries including India who are afraid of the unpleasant impact on their maritime trade as a result of the construction of the harbour at Gwadar. Probably this suspicion and commercial jealousy are prompting them to patronise these terrorists in Balochistan. The Indian consulates being allowed by the present Afghan government which are working in Kandhar, Jalalabad, and other cities of Afghanistan have also been converted into training camps for RAW agents. Many agents of this Indian intelligence organisation involved in acts of terrorism were caught red handed with arms and maps of important defence installations on the Pak-Afghan border. [Causes of terrorism in Balochistan?]

But then you should come to the last paragraph in the editorial which tells Balochis that once the Gwadar port and three cantonments come up, there will be lot of jobs and prosperity. Employment situation can be improved if the Balochis are given jobs in the construction of the port, but in turn they have been kept away as their loyalty is suspect and Punjabis and Pashtuns have been bought in. If the Balochis decide to react against the exploitation of their land and treatment as second class citizens in Pakistans, it is their grievance which should be addressed first.

Also as The Acorn writes:

Then again, Pakistan should not complain if India were to provide �??moral, diplomatic and political support�?? to the Balochi �??freedom-fighters�?? in their struggle against �??state-sponsored terrorism�??. Musharraf himself has shown no inclination to dismantle the anti-India jihadi infrastructure in Pakistani territory or to stop cross-border infiltration. While the breakup of Pakistan into smaller, potentially more volatile fragments is not in India�??s interests, it may be useful for India to highlight Balochistan and Balawaristan to change the playing field of a propaganda war that has hitherto been dominated by Pakistan�??s holier-than-thou concerns about human-rights violations in Indian Kashmir.[Pakistan insinuates an Indian conspiracy in Balochistan]

Foreign Affairs has a review of Martin Wolf's new book Why Globalization Works

To those who complain that increased openness to trade during the 1980s and 1990s has failed to deliver faster growth, Wolf points to the contrary experiences of China and India. Both countries witnessed significant jumps in their growth rates as they opened up their economies to international trade and foreign investment. As Wolf points out, "Never before have so many people-or so large a proportion of the world's population-enjoyed such large rises in their standards of living."

The first charge, commonly made by NGOS and student organizations in the United States, is easiest to dismiss. If multinational jobs are so exploitative, why do workers in Bangalore, and even in predominantly Marxist Kolkata (Calcutta), line up to take them? The answer, as Wolf painstakingly documents, is that multinationals pay their workers more and treat them better than do local companies. Among other data, he cites a study of 20,000 plants in Indonesia showing that the average wage paid to workers in foreign-owned plants in 1996 was 50 percent higher than in private domestic plants. Even after controlling for education levels, plant size, and other relevant variables, wages paid by multinational companies were 12 percent higher for blue-collar workers and 27 percent higher for white-collar workers. According to surveys by the International Labor Organization, moreover, allegations that foreign-owned plants in "sweatshop industries" (such as footwear and apparel) pay lower wages and provide inferior working conditions also turn out to be false.[The Miracles of Globalization]

There are six bills coming up in California State Assembly limiting outsourcing. This includes bill which restrict state jobs from being outsourced to requiring companies in California to mention how many employees work outside the country.

The Public Policy Institute of California had study on the effect of offshore outsourcing on the Californian economy and found that outsourcing actually created jobs in California. Gov. Schwarzenegger proudly told the Republican National Convention that

There is another way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people ... and faith in the U.S. economy. To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: "Don't be economic girlie men!"[Text of Schwarzenegger's Speech at RNC]

In 1999, a McDonalds in France was dismantled by protestors just before it was to open. This was the idea of Jose Bove, a farmer, who found this was the ideal way to protest against globalization and became the poster child for the anti-globalization movement. He then turned his attention to genetically modified crops and one day in Brazil, he along with 1500 protestors tore the crops by their root. But then it seems farmers who have learned the benefits of these biotech crops have stopped listening to the anti-globalization crowd.

Despite the naysayers, perhaps the greatest testament to the Green Revolution's legacy is the growth of biotechnology in the Third World. From South America to Southeast Asia, farmers are discovering that biotech crops are so superior, they are willing to risk breaking existing laws to plant them. During the last year, Brazilian farmers more than doubled cultivation of genetically enhanced soybeans, with more than 150 million acres under production. And when local bureaucrats tried to over-regulate biotech cotton, Brazilian farmers smuggled in seeds from Argentina and Australia.

The same holds true in India, whose farmers have been planting biotech cotton despite overwrought bureaucratic regulations. But earlier this month, Indian Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said he would drastically cut the red tape. "The seed is the potential tool that can carry state-of-the-art technologies to every farmer," explained Sibal. "It can once again usher in a green revolution."

Biotechnology has even found grassroots support in France. When Bove recently showed up to destroy a field of biotech crops, he was met by a group of angry farmers who want an opportunity to plant these modern crops. As they know, unless Bove's movement meets some resistance, the scaremongers of the future (ironically, still stuck in the past) will continue their efforts to scare away impoverished countries from the very technology that can help feed their people. [Norman Borlaug's Legacy]

It is not just the oppressed Balochis who are fighting the Pakistani Government. Even the Pashtuns are. They do not want to break away from Pakistan, but thinks that there should be many "nations" under Pakistan, and each "nation" should be given more contol over their resources.

The nationalist leader from Balochistan strongly opposed the role of the army and intelligence agencies in the country�??s politics. �??Unless they (army and intelligence agencies) stay away from politics, Pakistan can never stop experiencing internal political crises and external threats,�?� said the PkMAP chief while speaking at a Peshawar Press Club programme. Mr Achakzai, whose party is part of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM), urged all religious and political parties to get together at one platform to struggle for a separate Pakhtun province with a name other than the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).[Separate province for Pakhtuns]

• Kautilya has an assesment of 100 days of the new Indian Govt, which is ruling with the support of the Communists and he thinks that the early signals have been encouraging and India may be in for good times.
• Rediff Columnist Rajeev Srinivasan has started a blog. It is mainly for replying to the mails he gets, so has Dilip D'Souza
• Robi and Nitin have put the subcontinent briefing which has news related to India and its neighbors.

Discovery Times Channel had a program on the rising anti-American feeling in the world. The program was Thomas L. Friedman reporting from the Arab world, asking students and intellectuals why 19 young people decided to take the lives of 3000 innocent civilians in United States.

Most people said it was because of the US support for Israel and other dictators in the Arab world. According to one student, everyone was shocked when Sept 11 happened in America but it happens everyday in the Arab world. According to Friedman, Arab countries are suffering from the poverty of dignity and humiliation is a very powerful force in international relations.

Another student mentioned that Americans tend to view Arabs and Middle East with terrorism, for which Friedman replies that it was not 19 Norwegians who attacked us on Sept 11th. Also it is not as if the terrorists are illiterate and poor people. Mohammed Atta was an educated Arab, who wanted to be a town planner. He was a normal person, till he moved to Europe where he got radicalized in a mosque in Hamburg.

This brings to the question of understanding the relations of immigrants in European countries. Friedman travels to Belgium which has been in the middle of a stormy relation between Muslim immigrants and natives. The natives complain that the immigrants fail to assimilate to the society and the immigrants complain that they are humiliated by their hosts. The radical mosques in these countries take advantage of the desparation of the immigrants turn them into terrorists. It was the same way Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was released by India in Khandahar became a terrorist according to Bernard Henri Levy in Who Killed Daniel Pearl?

After India's nuclear tests in May 1998, India's Jaswant Singh engaged in a series of dialogues with Strobe Talbott, the US Deputy Secretary of State. Now Mr. Talbott has written a memoir, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb based on his discussions with Mr. Singh.

Talbott�??s account of Sharif�??s desperate trip to Washington adds important brush strokes to a picture of astute crisis management by the White House. Talbott�??s portrayal of Sharif and the Pakistani government is far from flattering. During Clinton�??s first term, the administration tried hard to improve ties with Pakistan, without much success. Talbott notes the strong aversion within the administration to tackle the Kashmir issue and depicts Sharif as a pathetic figure. During the second term, the administration switched to an �??India first�?� approach to South Asia, hoping to end estrangement and reflecting profound frustration with Pakistan, which was viewed as deeply mired in damaging policies and dysfunctional governance.

Washington�??s �??tilt�?� toward India during the Kargil crisis came as a surprise to New Delhi and Islamabad and sealed the outcome that Indian troops had been fighting uphill to secure. The trust built by the administration�??s efforts to force the withdrawal of Pakistani troops and to endorse the �??sanctity�?� of the Kashmir divide was central to the transformation of U.S.-Indian ties.[Book Review:Engaging India]

While religion is something which you use to attain inner peace, Islamic terrorists have hijacked it to justify their barbaric activities. Mosques are used to preach hatred as seen in Tom Friedman's program on the Roots of 9/11. In one segment he sits through the Friday prayer at the Al-Azhar mosque in Egypt, where thousands of common people are involved in a personal communion with their God. But once the prayers are over, some people take over and start preaching hatred filled words against America and there is no one stopping them. But now with the barbaric masscre in Beslan, there has been some introspection in the Arab world.

"Most perpetrators of suicide operations in buses, schools and residential buildings around the world for the past 10 years have been Muslims," wrote Abdul Rahman Rashed, general manager of the popular Al Arabiya television channel. In a blunt column in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al Awsat, Rashed listed attacks carried out by Muslims in Iraq, Russia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. "Our terrorist sons are an end product of our corrupted culture," he wrote. "The picture is humiliating, painful and harsh for all of us."

The Saudi daily Arab News blasted Putin as "a servant of state dictatorship and control," a man who could not afford to lose his "tough-man image." But the editorial saved its harshest condemnation for the guerrillas, "who had put themselves in a position where no one would shed tears when the punishment came. They reached a new low when they chose toddlers as bargaining chips."

An editorial in Lebanon's Daily Star called for "better governance systems and socioeconomic opportunities in those countries and regions, including our Middle East, that seem to generate so many terrorists." "Terror emanates largely from despair, hopelessness and humiliation," the editorial said. "And these are sentiments whose causes can be identified, tracked, grasped and addressed."[Russian School Takeover Stirs Self-Criticism Among Arabs]

While Indians are so opposed to the liberation of Iraq by the Coalition forces as it is occupation, it was interesting to read this paragraph from Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq, which describes all the colonisation activities Indians were involved in.

The men and materials provided by the subcontinent were a crucial pillar of [Britain's] global colonial hegemony. Post-slavery, poor Indian peasants were encouraged to uproot themselves, across the ocean and work the plantations of Trinidad and Guyana; clerks were despatched to help administer East and South Africa; Sikhs and Gurkhas were used to crush the Boxer rebellion in China and turbulence elsewhere. Later, Indian troops were used to good effect in both world wars as well as in the colonisation of the Arab world during the inter-war period. The establishment of the imperial beach-heads in those days required gunboats(naval supremacy) plus Gurkhas. In 1917 the British, with the help of colonial soldiers from India took Jerusalem and Baghdad.[Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq]

The Pakistanis are masters of double speak. Whenever any issue arises, they issue two statements. One is for the outside world and one is for internal consumption. To the outside world, the image is that of peacemaker, an ally in the war on terror etc. The internal Jihadi crowd will call this a sellout, so they need to present a macho image and rally the various oppressed nations under the banner of the Pakistani Indentity, which is just based on breaking the Kashmir valley from India.

This doublespeak was evident during the Army operations against the Baluch nationalists. And now the same doublespeak is there in the discussions that Pakistan is having with India.

Doublespeak seems to be key stone of Pakistani diplomacy. Even as Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri played to the international gallery by declaring that Islamabad was so keen on peace that it was ready to put Kashmir on the backburner, President Pervez Musharraf was busy playing to the domestic audience going ballistic on Kashmir and dismissing CBMs as futile.

While Kasuri talked of confidence building measures and long drawn negotiations on Kashmir, Musharraf declared that the Kashmir issue should be resolved at the earliest, and that CBMs alone have no value unless both India and Pakistan move ahead on the longstanding dispute.

"Kashmir (issue) cannot be sidelined and to bring peace, stability and prosperity to South Asia. The problem needs to be resolved without delay", the Daily Times quoted the President as saying in an interview with the ARY TV channel. [Pak doublespeak stumps India's peace efforts ]

Recently one of our readers asked for more details on the co-operation between Israel and India. You can hear that from a former Jewish General in the Indian Army.

"Actually, there is a long history to what is now happening. As early as 1962, during the war between India and China, prime minister Nehru appealed to prime minister David Ben-Gurion, asking him for military aid. Already then, Israel sent military equipment, mainly 120 mm. mortar rounds. It happened again in the war against Pakistan in 1965 and in the war in 1971: Israel supplied India with mortar rounds, even 160 mm. rounds. And Israel once again proved its generosity in the military conflict with Pakistan in 1999; on that occasion, it also assisted in supplying ammunition, even bombs meant for the Mirage jets of the Indian air force."

A victory by the Congress Party under the leadership of Sonia Ghandi in the elections to be held in India in May will not lead to any change in India's policy toward Israel. The good relations will continue, and in certain area even grow deeper," assesses Lieutenant General J.F.R. Jacob, a former senior Indian army officer and a Jew, who yesterday completed a five-day visit to Israel. "If I had to rank the present-day level of relations between India and Israel," Jacob adds, "I would give them a 9 out of 10."[The Jewish general who beat Pakistan]

The other day Chanakya or Kautilya or Chandragupta Maurya, who runs vichaar.org asked if India has any military allies. Israel is one country who has come to India's help all the time and India should do everything to maintain that relation.

The Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Uttar Pradesh Government have decided to celebrate the 350th year of Taj Mahal. It has only one small problem --- the Taj is already 350 years old.

All contemporary accounts prove that Taj is older than the 350 it is officially to turn soon. For instance, Shah Jahan�?$(Bs (Bofficial chronicler Abdul Hamid Lahori writes in the �?$(APa(Bdshahnama�?$(B t(Bhat the Taj was completed in 12 years at the cost of Rs 50 lakh. The construction began six months after Mumtaz Mahal�?$(Bs (Bdeath in Burhanpur on June 17, 1631, he says. This would mean that Taj was ready by the end of 1643 or early 1644. In other words, the Taj turned 350 in 1994. An inscription at the main gate of the Taj says that the monument was completed in 1648 with the "help of the Almighty." Adding 350 to that figure yields 1998.

And then there is a letter written by Prince Aurangzeb to his father Shah Jahan deploring the fact that the monument is leaking and something needs to be done. Young Aurangzeb, who was deputed to look after Taj Mahal by his father, wrote the letter in 1652.[New controversy: Is Taj Mahal 350 or older?]

Thiyya is a caste under Hinduism in the South Indian state of Kerala. Now there is a new study which explains where they came from.

The predominant Thiyya community of Malabar migrated to Kerala in 7000 BC from Kyrgyzstan in the erstwhile Soviet Union, says a fresh study revealing their disputed origins. While the people on the coast of the Black Sea were migrating to different parts of the world in BC 7000, a section who had settled in the foothills of Tian Mountains came to India.

``Thiyyas of Malabar are the descendants of this group of Kyrgyz,'' asserts T. Damu in his latest Malayalam book `Lanka Parvam'. He says that the name Thiyya was derived from the name of the mountains, Tian, on the southern side of Kyrgyzstan. The Saikon community of Punjab and Saikover community of Rajasthan also have the same origin. [ Thiyyas migrated from Kyrgyzstan, says study]

So before the Indus Valley Civilization, and before all possible dates for Mahabharata, a bunch of people moved from Kyrgyzstan to Kerala. I have to read this book.

During the year of American declaration of Independence, China was the biggest economy of the world, followed by India. Now with both China and India opening up their economies, Economist Clyde Prestowitz thinks that 21st century could well turn out to be the Indian century.

But then it takes political will to sustain the current growth. For the current Indian Govt. this is all the more difficult because the Congress is supported by the Communists, who are anti everything. But the Trade Minister seems to realize what needs to be done.

India's main problem is the absence of world-class ports, cold-storage facilities and all-weather roads. "The biggest exporter complaint is the amount of time it takes to get your product from A to B," he said. One solution would be to open India's retail sector to foreign direct investment. Many multinational retail chains have beaten a path to Mr Nath's door since Congress took office in May. Economists argue that foreign investment would stimulate much greater investment in cold storage facilities and transport links.

But many lobby groups would fight tooth and nail to prevent a global chain store setting up in their city. "I would not rule out permitting foreign investment, especially if it were shown it was a net generator of employment," said Mr Nath. "My main concern would be to protect 'mom and pop' stores from closing."

"We know the direction we are heading - a freer and more dynamic trading environment," said Mr Nath. "It is just a question of filling in the details."[Infrastructure reform high on the list for India's new trade minister]

For a country the size of India, there is a limit to the employment that mom and pop stores can generate. Also the Govt. should not introduce artificial restrictions which will impede development. One such situation is coming up in 2005 when the Multi Fiber Agreement will end. When Indian planners began the five year plans in 1951, they were worried that the large scale expansion of cotton mills in Ahmedabad would put the small scale sector out of business. So they prevented the mills from expanding and modernizing and Indian exports could not even fill the quotas under the Multi-Fibre agreement. But in 2005, the Agreement will expire and there is fear in India that Chinese Mills will kill them in the global market. [from In Defense of Globalization]

One of the mysteries of ancient times has been solved. We now exactly when Lord Krishna died and how old he was when he died.

It was on February 18, 3102 BC that Krishna breathed his last on the banks of river Hiran in Prabhas Patan, after living 125 years seven months and six days. He died at 14:27:30 hours, according to a paper presented at a convention that began at Prabhas Patan, close to Somnath, on Tuesday as the country celebrated Krishna's birth.

"The finding is based on a number of hints in ancient scriptures. Certain dates related to his life taken from the scriptures were then fed into a software along with Krishna's characteristic traits for an astrological calculation to prepare his 'kundli,'" Swami Gyananand Saraswati, chairperson of the Varanasi-based Adi Jagatguru Shankaracharya Sodh Sansthan told TNN after presenting the paper at the gathering of scholars.[Lord Krishna lived for 125 years]

It is the 400th year of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. The daily times has an article about this book, which tells us about the Sikh Gurus and also why Sikhs have turbans.

It contains, besides the works of the Sikh Gurus, writings of several Hindu and Muslim sages and holy men. Altogether there are 3,384 hymns of which nearly 1,000 are attributed to non-Sikhs. Among the Muslim saints whose contribution to the Guru Granth Sahib stands out clearly is Shaikh Farid. This way Sikhism is an eclectic rather than an exclusive creed. This breadth of vision truly captures the essence of the spiritual and humanist traditions of South Asia.

The hymns included were originally composed in several languages including Punjabi, Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian but have been made accessible to the Punjabi readers in the Gurmukhi script in which the Guru Granth is written. Recently it has been rendered into the Persian or �??Shahmukhi�?? script which should make it easier for people in Pakistan to read it.

From a sociological point of view, we find Guru Gobind Singh to be one of the earliest leaders of peasant rebellions in South Asia. His followers began to be called sardars (chiefs) and wore a turban. Under the prevailing norms of society only the upper classes or castes could wear a turban or ride a horse. Ordinary people had to walk and go bareheaded.[400 years of Guru Granth Sahib]

I have some GMail invites. Leave your e-mail address if you need one.

Sudharshan Seneviratne a leading Sri Lankan expert says that the rise and fall of Buddhism in India was linked to trade and fortunes of the mercantile community. According to him, Buddhism was an urban phenomena and it owes its spread to the movement of the merchants all over the India. So for example Buddhist sites came up in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu due to the expansion of trade to the Mediterranean.

"The Buddhist temple was not merely a place of worship. It brought into contact foreign merchants and local groups. It funnelled resources and endowed wealth for investment by acting as a bank where merchants and guilds deposited money. The temples used to lend money for interest and the interest was used to maintain the temples," he said.[Buddhism linked with traders in South India: Lankan scholar]

But many scholars do not agree with this black and white distinction between Buddhism and Brahminism as enemies.

The notion of continious rebirths and the challenge of escaping from their endless cycle were common to both orthodox teachings derived from the Upanishads and to the Buddha's teaching. Buddhism was not a belief system, not a rival faith to the post-Vedic cults and practices which prevailed under brahminical direction, but more a complementary discipline[John Keay, India, a History]

Abraham Eraly in his book The Gem in the Lotus writes that the early disciples of the Buddha were people from the upper crust of the urban society such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas and wealthy merchants. Even though Buddhism did not recognize any status claimed by birth, he never challenged the caste system. Eraly says that Buddhism was not a movement against the established order, but instead its concerns were of a different plane altogether.

Buddha was against Brahminism in certain ways. For one the Buddha never could accept the fact that people could claim sanctity because of birth and because they could recite the Vedas. He also could not accept their blind belief in the Vedas while he advocated on experiencing the truth individually. Buddhisms insistence on non-ritualistic sect, definitely affected the livelihood of Brahmins, but it never resulted in any serious confrontation between them. Buddhism never considered Brahmins as their real opponents, but their rivalry was more with other sectarians like Jains and Ajivikas.

It seems there were four waves of migration of Indians to rest of the world. The first was after the earthquakes which caused the drying up the river Saraswati. The second wave 1500 years later when Indian soldiers battled in Persian armies. The third wave was when the Roma or Gypsies left India.

The third wave is remembered with greater clarity. This was the Roma, or Gypsies, who left India a thousand years ago as a result of the Arab and Turkish wars. According to the Chachnama, a contemporary account of Muhammad al-Qasim's campaigns in Sindh in 712-3, several thousand Jat warriors were captured as prisoners of war and deported to Iraq and elsewhere as slaves. A few hundred thousand women were likewise enslaved. The process of enslavement was accelerated during the campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazni. Abu Nasr Muhammad Utbi, the secretary and chronicler of Mahmud, informs us that 500,000 men and women were captured in Waihind alone in 1001-2. During his seventeen invasions, Mahmud Ghaznavi is estimated to have enslaved more than a million people. According to Utbi, "they were taken to Ghazna, and merchants came from different cities to purchase them, so that the countries of Mawarau-un-Nahr, Iraq and Khurasan were filled with them."[The Roma and the Persistence of Memory]

As well as looking at over 1100 samples of Romany from Europe, they studied six samples from India and found that the similarity in genetic markers supported the theory that the founder group, of perhaps under 1000 people, came from India. The idea that Romany people came from India was first proposed 200 years ago based on similarities between their language and the Indian language Sanskrit, said Kalaydjieva. But such studies were inconclusive.

"There are quite a few examples where a population adopts a language but this does not necessarily mean its biological roots belong to the same place as the larger population that speaks this language," she said. "So from the biological point of view we have provided we have provided the best evidence so far that this is indeed a population that derives from the Indian subcontinent." Kalaydjieva and team's analysis of disease genetic markers supported the scientists' previous research on male and female genetic markers. "It all points in the same direction," she said.[Romany Gypsies came out of India]

President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan has no external threat and its borders are 400 percent secured..[Religious extremism is a threat to Pakistan: Musharraf]

It is really a bad time to be Pakistan's President/CEO/Army Chief. Earlier the phone calls used to come from Washington only, but now the instructions come from the Kremlin also. As a result the Pakistanis had to bomb some "freedom fighters" in their own land.

The Inter-Services Public Relations also put the figure at 50. "There were confirmed reports of training activity being conducted by foreign elements, including Uzbeks, Chechens and a few Arabs," an ISPR statement said. He said among the 50 dead, at least 35 to 40 could be foreign militants, the rest could be their local comrades. The ISPR statement said the trained terrorists were indulging in sabotage and terrorist acts in the country. [Air raid on camp kills 50 foreign, local militants]

What is this ? Terrorists in Pakistan ? Civilian Casualties ? Can this be called state sponsored terrorism ?

The invasion of Iraq by the coalition forces has upset many people all over the world for various reasons. But for Tariq Ali, the Pakistani writer and playright, it is not just the invasion of Iraq that is wrong, but almost everything on this planet Earth. His book Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq is an expression of his anger.

He writes that this event is a turning point in World History and is a part of the two-hundred year old war waged by the North against the South. After that he fails to explain what is this North and South he is talking about. Also first of all he declares that he is not one of those guys who believe that every disaster that has fallen in the Arab world is the result of Western intervention. This is like Fox News saying it is Fair and Balanced because the cover of the book is a picture of a child urinating on an American solider.

But even if your forgive that image as the work of an over enthusiastic publisher, the contents of the book do not change your impression. He claims to be impartial and says that he gets regular mails from both Israel and Palestine, but they just turn out to be letters about acts of violence committed by Israelis. Apparently the innocent Israeli civilians killed by the Palestinian suicide bombers never wrote him a letter.

Then for some reason he gets obsessed with jackals. Everyone in the world is a jackal. He quotes some poets who wrote against the occupation. People who criticised the poets were cursed jackals. The Iraqi Governing Council is a bunch of jackals. The jackal obsession is carried throughout the book till the end and he makes predictions like "the jackals and their masters will fail".

No book on Iraq is complete without its history. So Tariq Ali writes a few chapters on which the world is composed of Communists, Communist Poets, British imperialists and Ba'athists. There were no Shias, Sunnis or Kurds in any major activities. He goes on touting the virtues of the Communist Party and how they were ruthlessly destroyed by Saddam Hussein. There are also many pictures of these martyred communists and Mr. Ali laments that this was not covered by a single American newspaper.

On Sept 10, in 2002 and 2003, Osama bin Laden came up with his lecture to the world and surprisingly this year there was no message. This has led B. Raman to wonder

The absence of an anniversary homage to the terrorists of the 9/11 operation by Osama is interpreted by some as an indicator that either he is already in the custody of the US or Pakistan and will be produced before the world just before the polling day in the US or that he is dead or that his health has deteriorated aggravating the speech disability reportedly suffered by him due to the sharpnel injury. There is, however, no evidence to corroborate any of these interpretations. He must be presumed to be alive and free till there is evidence to the contrary.[Osama�??s intriguing silence]

Here is where various people stand w.r.t the question, if Osama is alive or not

• Major General Eric Olson: Alive
  
• Colin Powell: Alive
  
• Sheikh Rashid Ahmed: No Idea, followed by Dead
  
• ProFindPages: Captured
  

One of the best Indian blogs, The Acorn is one year old. With his insightful commentary and analysis, Nitin has definitely enhanced my knowledge. While bloggers tends to write about everything under the planet, Nitin has stayed with just a few Categories (7), and hence there is more depth to his writing.

Congrats!

The largest number of tourists to Jammu and Kashmir are from Israel and Muslims in the Kashmir Valley even started writing boards in Hebrew to attract them. One of the reasons Israelis visit Jammu and Kashmir is to visit the graves to Jesus amd Moses (yes as in Jesus Christ and Moses from Egypt).

The main attractions in the Valley for the Israelis are two graves, believed by some to be those of Jesus Christ and Moses. A section of the local population believes Kashmiris are one of the lost tribes of Israel. Aziz Kashmiri, the author of the book Christ in Kashmir, insists that the Kashmiri people's ancestors were one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel and that Jesus died during a visit to the Valley.[Jesus' tomb in Kashmir?]

This is a clear indication that there was a Jewish female founder effect in the Kuki community. "It is scientifically impossible to have the same genetic sequence in two populations living so far apart if they did not originate from a common stock who historically inhabited a common space," says Maity. He also found a specific mutation in some Lusei and Kuki samples that is also present in Indian Jews.

There are also historical pointers to this claim. Zaithanchhungi, a scholar who has been studying the Mizo claim to Israeli ancestry for over 20 years, is convinced that all Mizos are descendants of the Menashe. "The Menashe were enslaved by the Assyrians and taken there [Assyria] when Jerusalem fell," she says. "From there they migrated to the Afghanistan region. During Alexander?s invasion they were driven further on to Mongolia through the Kashmir region and Tibet plateau, and they settled in the Chhinlung region of China. They entered Mizoram about 300 years ago from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Burma."[The new Jerusalem via Indian Archaeology]

The proposal for building a gas pipeline from Iran to Indian through Pakistan has been going on for sometime. There has also been another proposal to build a pipeline from Western India to Pakistan to carry diesel. The rationale behind these pipelines is that nations who do business with each other will refrain from going to war.

Finally, history shows that nations that do serious business with each other seldom go to war, even when they're ideologically far apart. The best example of this is the US and China, which share huge investment and trade ties, but have vastly different political ideologies. While India and Pakistan work on the energy pipes, they should also negotiate free trade between themselves, build expressways across the border and open up each other's sky and sea lanes to people and freight. Economic engagement pays a double dividend: We get lasting peace across our borders, and everybody gets richer.[Peace Pipes]

In the first centuries AD, there was both trade and missionary activity by Indians to South-East Asia which resulted in the spread of Indian culture to the Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Vietnam etc. The spread of Indians to Cambodia resulted in the Khemer kingdom, who built the magnificient Hindu temples of Angkor Wat. Now here is a story which connects Korean history to India, more specifically to Ayodhya.

The origin of the historical ties can be traced back to the middle of the first century AD. According to Sam Kuk Yusa, the ancient history of Korea, Queen Huh, wife of legendary King Suro, who founded the Karak Kingdom, was born in Ayodhya.

Queen Huh was a princess of the kingdom. Her father, the king of Ayodhya, on receiving a divine revelation, sent her on a long sea voyage to the Karak kingdom in southern Korea to marry King Suro, states the lines inscribed on the plaque at the monument in Ayodhya. The clan that descended from the Ayodhya princess Huh and South Korean King Suros, today known as Kim-Hae-Kim clan, has a little over six million Huh descendants in the Republic of South Korea.[South Korea's Ayodhya connection]

While Indian Prime Minister went to Pakistan, singing poems and preaching peace, the Pakistanis were crossing the Line of Control and occupying land in India. There have been many versions of the story as to if the Prime Minister of Pakistan (Official Motto: Jihadis go to heaven, ex-PMs go to exile) Nawaz Sharif even knew about the plan. But whatever said and done, he was the sacrificial lamb sent to Washington, to negotiate yet another Pakistani retreat. Strobe Talbott who was the US Deputy Secretary of State has a book, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb ,which has a chapter on the events of the day when Nawaz Sharif reached Washington, uninvited.

Clinton bore down harder. Having listened to Sharif�??s complaints against the United States, he had a list of his own, and it started with terrorism. Pakistan was the principal sponsor of the Taliban, which in turn allowed Osama bin Laden to run his worldwide network out of Afghanistan. Clinton had asked Sharif repeatedly to cooperate in bringing Osama to justice. Sharif had promised to do so but failed to deliver. The statement the United States would make to the press would mention Pakistan�??s role in supporting terrorism in Afghanistan�??and, through its backing of Kashmiri militants, in India as well. Was that what Sharif wanted?

Clinton had worked himself back into real anger�??his face flushed, eyes narrowed, lips pursed, cheek muscles pulsing, fists clenched. He said it was crazy enough for Sharif to have let his military violate the Line of Control, start a border war with India, and now prepare nuclear forces for action. On top of that, he had put Clinton in the middle of the mess and set him up for a diplomatic failure.

Sharif seemed beaten, physically and emotionally. He denied he had given any orders with regard to nuclear weaponry and said he was worried for his life. [The Day A Nuclear Conflict Was Averted]

India has decided to extend its support for the Palestinian cause and to make that clear the Minister of State for External Affairs is personally traveling to meet Yasser Arafat. Will he ask Arafat to reign in his suicide bombers ? No. Will the junior minister visit Israel in this trip ? No.

This trip is to convince the Arab world that India is not really cozying up to Israel. The Minister will convey to the Arabs that the previous Govt. made of "Hindu Fundamentalists" may have gone overboard, but No, Sir, we are here at your feet.

Considering the fact that it was Israel who helped many times when India was under attack, it is only fair that the Junior Minister's visit to Palestine be followed later by a visit by the Indian Prime Minister to Israel. As it was Congress which established formal relations with Israel in the first place, it would right for Manmohan Singh to be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel.

On August 15, 1947, when India became Independent, the Maharajah of Kashmir had signed a standstill agreement with the government of Pakistan, which is a precursor to accession. The Pakistanis also took over charge of Jammu and Kashmir's post and telegraph system, food supplies and essential commodities. In September armed groups from Pakistan came from west Punjab and started looting and raping the the Muslims in Kashmir valley, the same people whom they had come to liberate. It was the Indian army which came in and chased these people back into Pakistan.

One of the major grievances against the Hindu Maharajah was that he did not care much about his Muslim subjects. Reports from the early 1900s talk about Muslims living in medieval conditions of poverty and oppression. Muslims were forced to work for the Pandit elites who were also the landlords and also they were not permitted to become officers in the state's military. On 13 July, 1950, Sheikh Abdullah, the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir introduced sweeping land reforms 700,000 landless peasants, mostly Muslims became landowners in a sweeping land reform act. (Many Malayalis incorrectly claim that it was the communists in Kerala who did land reforms first in India).

After Independence all Governments have pampered the state with special powers and lavish financial assistance.

Habibullah's report laments that Kashmir's 'economy is growing more and more slowly' and that 'the state's infrastructure is crumbling.' Since he is, as always, referring here only to the J&K state of India, the reality must be pointed out that, in 2003, the reputed India Today magazine gave J&K the ninth overall rank among the then 17 big states of India, the classification being based on eight factors of macro-economic performance. Another reality is that, according to a report by G Venkatramani in The Hindu of October 8, 2004, India's J&K has only 3.48 percent of its population falling below the poverty line and its consumption of foodgrains is higher than the norm of 420 g per capita per day set by the Indian Council of Medical Research. What's more, the research foundation of the internationally renowned economist, M S Swaminathan, has drawn up a 15-point action plan that will achieve a poverty-free J&K by 2007. Clearly, the government of India's massive financial assistance for over a decade and the presence of a large number of security forces with families have helped create a large market and a generally benign economic ambience in the state -- without any foreign aid of significance. [Why should US have a role in J&K?]

If all these do not keep the people in the valley happy, then why are we putting so much effort ?

[References: Kashmir : Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Pakistan: Eye of the Storm]

Los Angeles Times has an editorial on how to test America's new ally. This would be by letting Americans question AQ Khan, the national hero who sold nuclear technology to the Axis of Evil.

The pardon might have been a reflection of Khan's status as national hero for being the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, giving the country parity with longtime foe and next-door neighbor India. Musharraf's pardon came soon after he survived the second of two assassination attempts. His foes are not leaders of major political parties $(O h(Be banned them from running for office $(O b(But Islamic radicals from the likes of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistan said it would share information it obtained from Khan with other nations, but sources in Washington said they had received nothing so far. So much for help from a supposed major ally.

North Korea claimed this week that its explosions were not nuclear weapons tests but demolition of a mountain for a hydroelectric project. Khan could help the U.S. and the IAEA understand how much of Pyongyang's explanations to believe. Musharraf should make him available for face-to-face interviews with nuclear inspectors, not dangle the ever-fainter promise of some day offering secondhand tales of what Khan knows about the state of nuclear proliferation.[Testing Our 'Ally,' Pakistan]

There was a proposal from the Indian side to convert the Line of Control to an international border as a solution to the Kashmir problem ? But this was turned down by Musharraf with the question, "Then why did we fight so many wars ?".

Let's look at each of these wars in detail. In 1948 even though the Maharajah of Kashmir had a standstill agreement with Pakistan, there was infiltration by several thousand Pashtun tribesmen from the Hazara district of NWFP. Since the NWFP were tribal areas were beyond the control of the Pakistani Government, the Pakistani Prime Minister claimed that they had nothing to do with it.

After the war with China which India lost in 1962, the Pakistanis started training Kashmiri youth in military camps to fight as guerillas. In 1965, several thousand armed men crossed the Line Of Control who were mainly professional Pakistani soldiers and non-Kashmiris. They expected support from the Muslims in the valley, but it did not happen and the war was stopped by United Nations.

In 1999 it was the Pakistanis who crossed the Line of Control again. The army did not even inform the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The Prime Minister had to go to Washington and agree to withdraw the troops after he started losing the war.

Each time it was the Pakistanis who violated the Line of Control and got humiliated by the Indian Army. So when Musharraf asks why did we fight so many wars, the answer is, we did not start the wars, you did, and we cannot be held hostage to your mistakes.

I have 6 more GMail invites. If you are dying to get one, leave your email in the comments or mail me at tiptronicus at gmail dot com

Alex Perry of Time breaks the story of the offer that the Indian Prime Minister is going to place before the Pakistani Dictator Musharraf for solving the Kashmir Problem.

There, a senior Indian official tells TIME, Singh will make an offer to help defuse South Asia's most dangerous flash point, Kashmir. India, says the official, will offer to "adjust" the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir, "by a matter of miles" eastward. Indian analysts confirm that the offer has been under discussion, in India and with Pakistan's leadership, for months�??even under the government that preceded Singh's. The official says its formal presentation in New York is a result of Singh's instruction that his foreign-affairs team think "out of the box" on Kashmir "to get a solution, and soon."

A senior Musharraf aide warns that in his experience "there is more sound than substance" to India's negotiations. But he confirms that a "territorial adjustment ... is one idea being broached" and that it is an idea in which "in the past, as in the present, we have shown interest."

A senior Pakistani foreign-affairs official likewise acknowledges that a "more productive agenda" is on the table for the New York meeting. "We want to make things happen there," he says. "We want implementable ideas. We have spoken to the Indians on this score, and hopefully the meeting will break new ground in Kashmiri diplomacy." [Alone at the Summit]

First of all the official Indian stand on Kashmir is that the entire territory of the pre-1948 Jammu and Kashmir belongs to India. This includes the land known as Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir because it was included as part of the deal signed by the Maharajah of Kashmir in 1947. This deal means, we are giving up our claim on all those lands officially.

Second, what do the Pakistanis gain from this deal of an adjustment of few miles (unless the miles are in few hundreds of miles). Will that give the self determination for the Kashmiris that Pakistan has been fighting for ?

Update: The Indian Govt. has denied this as completely and wholly inacurate

US Military:

KABUL, Afghanistan The U-S military says al-Qaida and Taliban leaders have met in Pakistan to discuss derailing Afghanistan's elections next month. Major Scott Nelson says intelligence shows the meetings were marked by growing alarm over efforts to root out their activities.[U-S military alleges plot against Afghan elections]

Pakistan Foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan:

Pakistan denied Monday that Al Qaeda and Taleban militants had met in its territory to plot ways to disrupt the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan. �??Al Qaeda operatives and remnants of the Taleban regime are on the run in Pakistan. They can�??t afford the luxury of holding a conference in Pakistan,�?� said foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan.[Islamabad denies militants met..]

Pakistani Army Chief/CEO/President:

The possibility is there. It's a mountainous region, inaccessible. They may be hiding somewhere.[Winning Battles, Losing the War]

This is similar to the lies that were told about the military operations in Baluchistan where various people offered various versions of what is happening. Kind of routine stuff.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir was divided into its present form after the 1948 war. Almost all the time you hear about terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley, which is in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. So what is happening in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (POK)? Why is there no freedom movement there?

It is not that everyone in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir want to be part of Pakistan. Pro-Independence sentiments are prevalent around Mirpur, a small town. POK does have elections and have their own president, prime minister, election commision etc. You are free to contest elections if you sign in writing that you favor accession to Pakistan (so much for self determination there). For example in 2001, JKLF, who believes in Independence for Kashmir, fielded candidates for 31 of the 36 seats in POK and all their applications were rejected.

This right of Kashmiris was further curtailed by Act 1974, as it has institutionalized the role of Pakistani governments who could dictate their terms and �??appoint�?? and dismiss�?? governments in Muzaffarabad as they please. Furthermore it deprives all those parties and individuals from taking part in the political process who disagree with the State�??s accession to Pakistan.

UNCIP Resolution of 5th January 1949 in which Kashmiri people�??s right to exercise full right of self-determination was limited, was applicable to the entire State, even those areas which Pakistani government partitioned into three, giving one part to China. Section 7 of that resolution provided full protection to social and political rights of the Kashmiri people, and it is unfortunate that people do not enjoy the fruits of those rights.[ Right of self-determination ]

Unlike Pakistan, India does not send terrorists to murder innocent civlians under the banner of "moral and diplomatic" support. Even the pro-Independence parties like JKLF are more interested in making noise about the Kashmir valley.

Compared to POK, India�??s Jammu and Kashmir state has all sorts of people, pro-Indians, pro-Pakistan and pro-Independence groups. The Hurriyat folks, who oppose democracy and are pro-Pakistani are allowed to plan their activities with the Pakistani foreign minister and we are paying the price for all this freedom.

[References: Kashmir : Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Pakistan: Eye of the Storm]

Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan:

Pakistan on Monday renewed its call for setting a "timeframe" to settle the dragging Kashmir dispute, describing cross-border terrorism as a non-issue. "We (Pakistan and India) should quicken the pace. Some reasonable timeframe has to be there to resolve the Kashmir issue," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters here. Khan said the ongoing dialogue with India should not be "open ended" and there must be a certain timetable and deadline to resolve the Kashmir issue that has bedevilled relations between the two neighbours.[Set timeframe for resolving Kashmir: Pakistan]

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said he has not asked India to give a specific timeframe for solution to the long-pending Kashmir tangle.[No Timeframe Set For Kashmir Solution: Musharraf]

Few days back, the Time Magazine broke the story that India was willing to move the border of Jammu and Kashmir few miles to the east as a solution to the Kashmir Problem. This was immediately denied by India. But now Asia Times has more information on the deal.

First Musharraf, say Western diplomatic sources, assured US Secretary of State Colin Powell that Pakistan was agreeable to a territorial adjustment along the LoC, to which India apparently agreed during earlier discussions with Powell before he left for Islamabad from New Delhi on a recent visit to the subcontinent.

A similar statement by Manmohan, though denied by the Indian High Commission, provides credence to the claim that a blueprint for a modified LoC as an anchor to a settlement in Kashmir already exists.

A just-retired general of the Indian army, who preferred not to be quoted by name, told Asia Times Online that a settlement blueprint that has been agreed in principle by both sides exists and is being kept under wraps to be disclosed at a juncture politically suitable for both countries.

The general added that adjustment of a few kilometers on either side of LoC is unlikely to alter the strategic advantage of either India or Pakistan. He claimed that political leaders at a very senior level in the previous administration and the present United Progressive Alliance government have been briefed on this. [On Kashmir, hot air and trial balloons]

The Indian Prime Minister is now in New York and is meeting world leaders. But he gave the most important speech to the CEOs of American Companies in New York Stock Exchange. (and the best the Charles deGaulle next door could come up with was Pakistanis speak better english than Indians)

Calling the Exchange, �??�??a magnificent institution,�??�?? Singh made it clear: India needed to integrate with the world economy, India needed US investors, India needed their wealth, �??�??large doses�??�?? of both FDI and FII, to fight its battle against poverty. And that his government would take �??�??hard�??�?? decisions to free the economy from bureaucratic controls and the compulsions of coalition politics would not derail reforms.

�??�??The US is an unparalleled source of investment, technology and skills,�??�?? he said, and India needed to tap this to raise $150 billion over the next �??�??four to five years�??�?? for a �??�??quantum leap�??�?? to make its infrastructure sector �??�??world class.�??�?? �??�??India needs America�??s support and active involvement in realising its dream (of faster economic growth and poverty eradication),�??�?? he said.

�??�??Our economy has grown at an average of 6.0 per cent in the early 1990s and it is our expectation that economy can grow at 7-8 per cent,�??�?? Singh said, adding that �??�??we will take all the hard decisions to realise this ambitious target.�??�?? [CEO Manmohan lists India stock in New York exchange]

Already the communists are worried about Montek Singh Ahluwalia, now they will be sleepless.

Few days back we had blogged saying