Sunday, 24 January 2016

Tyrant Regimes Of Middle East

                                        As the reports emerged that Saudi Arabia executed more than 47 people on a single day for alleged terrorist crimes causing outrage across the Middle East, there's some murmurs doing the rounds in western capitals about blatant human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. There has already been a glaring spike in capital punishment in Saudi Arabia last year, with at least 151 executions in 2015,compared with 90 for all of 2014.
                                      After donning the cloak of protector of prestigious human rights body namely Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Saudi Arabia recently preached to the international community about the need to confront “intolerance, extremism and human rights violations.” The funny thing is Saudi Arabia wants Western cartoonists, comedians, and others—people who represent only their individual selves—to stop mocking the religious beliefs and symbols of Islam, even as the Arabian kingdom’s own institutionalized policy is to vilify and discriminate against the religious beliefs and symbols of all other faiths(non muslims). 
                                       In Saudi Arabia almost ten percent of its population is deprived of equal rights because of their race. Any other religious texts or symbols apart from Islam are confiscated and congregation of other religious disciples(non muslims) is forbidden yet Saudi Arabia has the audacity to ask the world to cease “discrimination based on religion.” Truth is Saudi Arabia is notorious for worst kind of human rights violations,repressive theocracy by discussing the open discrimination against women, public execution for petty crimes and harsh sentencing for government critics, yet its candidacy and selection to UNHRC high table is baffling.
                                      The scourge of Islamic terrorism plaguing world today has its roots in toxic radical ideology of Wahhabbism. This ideology was glorified and bankrolled by petro dollars of Saudi Arabia to spread its sphere of influence in Muslim world and to legitimize Saudi role as head of Arab world . This perverted ideology breeds terrorism as it propagates subjugation of women ,non Muslims , extreme hatred towards transgender ,gays, coercion ,intolerance towards freedom of speech or free thinking. There are cases in Saudi Arabia of young bloggers incarcerated for asking educational reforms or veracity of religious diktats when confronted through the prism of science. This toxic ideology has widened and refreshed the sectarian historical fault lines earlier diminished with passage of time. 
                                      The onus of sectarian war engulfing newer countries with each passing day in Middle Eastern region lies on Iran and Saudi Arabia. While Iran is spearheading Shiite onslaught on Sunni monarchies, Saudi Arabia is at the forefront on decimating Shia regimes. The end result being the unending waves of refugees storming shores of west seeking asylum from middle east war zone countries. Take for example the airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has not only butchered innocent civilians (3000 so far) but more then million other people in Yemen have been displaced and the country is now at serious risk of famine. The credentials of Saudi Arabia as the warden of human rights thus lies in tatters and so does the duplicity of Western powers is exposed who support and sell arms to tyrant regimes world wide while preaching tolerance to victims.
                                     The sectarian struggle between Saudi Arab and Iran of one-upmanship has now taken a turn for worse where fundamental human rights of citizens have gone for toss. The recent execution of 47 convicts in Saudi Arabia on flimsy grounds and among them was one prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has once again startled human rights organizations .The execution of political prisoner is not only condemned by world community but also infuriated Iran and Shia block. Though track record of Iran is equally appalling and condemnatory with reports indicating that Iranian authorities put to death more than 753 people in the first half of 2015 – an average of four executions a day, many among them are Sunni preachers and intellectuals. The deplorable policy of government initiated intolerance towards any opposition needs immediate restitution.
                                       It is high time the world at large should take cognizance of mind numbing mass murders carried out by Middle eastern regimes and through all effective diplomatic tools at hand try to persuade them to honor basic human rights of individuals and minorities by seizing the practice of premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale.


Thursday, 14 January 2016

"Secular" Riots Of India

“We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone is arguing over where they're going to sit”
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ― David Suzuki 
                                      Things are getting murkier and scary for a section of society in the states of WB, Assam & Kerala . In this article i m going to elaborate on the explosive prevalent conditions and the deteriorating law and order in some border states of India with sizeable muslim population . Already parallels are being drawn between orchestrated violence in Malda and few other Muslim dominated districts of West Bengal and ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir during 90's. The deafening silence of media which otherwise becomes hyperactive to question intent of central govt on stray criminal incidents whenever Muslim is a victim is questionable. Any individual or organization raising finger to the ongoing tragedy is promptly labeled as "Communal" or “Islamophobic" without debate. 
                                  The difference between secularism & pseudo secularism in India has long being deliberately forgotten by politicians,left leaning intellectuals and media. It's ironic, a section of society is allowed to perpetrate crimes and secular jamaat condone barbarism in the name of safeguarding "Secularism" or propagating conspiracy theories .  In India, perception speaks louder than reality and silence is sometimes taken as an acceptance of guilt. A section of society is mischievous and yet vote bank politics allows it to play victim while squarely blaming other community for any unrest. Gutter politics and paid media are equally responsible for shielding and abating such ignominious acts of violence by one particular community to the chagrin of rest of society 
                                   India isn't immune to riots but a new worrying trend has emerged lately, in some districts where Hindus & other religious groups becomes minority while Muslims are in majority social and violent riots on trivial issues are frequent. Religious diktats (Fatwas) which doesn't have any legal authority are the order of the day and religious customs are increasingly forcibly enforced mocking and ridiculing civil administration and police authorities. Disrespecting National Flag,National Song or National Anthem isn't taboo anymore in the name of freedom to practice religion in parts of Assam,West Bengal and Kerala .
                                   In recent case of violent riots perpetrated in Kaliachak area of Malda district, a Muslim mob of around 100,000 people went on rampage against the alleged hate speech of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari. In a fit of rage,the agitators torched houses and businesses of Hindus, buses and police vehicles, ransacked government properties and set the Kaliachak police station on fire.  Kaliachak riot is not a riot as some would like you to believe rather its a single sided attack on Hindus, police and public property, a complete mayhem breakdown of administrative machinery . Kaliachak violence is a result of shameless appeasement politics of "Secular" political parties where religious bigots had a field day terrorizing people and civil administration was in shambles.

                                  Hindus and other religious groups of Malda have lost their livelihoods, forced to leave their homes became refugees in there own nation yet State government is tolerant about large scale violence.  Malda riots reminds me of Azad Maidan riots ( pretext there was Rohingya Muslim of Burma) where everyone knew what was happening but politicians and media remained tight lipped while miscreants vandalized public property even modesty of policewomen wasn't spared .Pakistani style protests are now getting frequent as "Secular" politicians and media are complicity supporting thugs to appease and cater to respective vote banks.

                                   During Dadri lynching incident, the same media and politicians went in overdrive to blame and disrepute a whole community but the same torchbearers of pluralism seems dumbstruck on Malda or Purnia violence with no word condemning such radical forces. The word "Intolerance" was coined when Ghulam Ali Concert was canceled in Mumbai yet no one seems to have noticed CM of Bengal was enthralled by him while Bengal was burning. Its also ironic that Ghulam Ali gets CM as audience while Taslima Nasreen found little support for herself from female CM.

                                 Destructive and polluted ideology are root causes of disharmony in society and should be sternly dealt with. Fiddling with appeasement based politics is only going to bolster radical forces inimical to idea of India and its inherent policy of pluralism, tolerance,freedom of expression and speech. 



Tuesday, 12 January 2016

Pakistan -A Terrorist State

                                      Much has been said and done about the recent terror attack in Pathankot browbeating about Indian superior firepower or political chest thumping by politicians.This article isn't about strategizing or defeating our enemy but being pragmatic about available options to deal with our potent and cruel adversary. No matter what peaceniks make us believe Pakistan is a nuisance to world in general and India & Afghanistan in particular. Pakistan is an increasingly intolerant, radicalized society and even saner counseling by US,China fell on deaf ears and couldn't dissuade Pakistan from supporting terrorism despite being diplomatic and financial savior of Pakistan .
                                     Truth of the matter is there's absolutely no dearth of fresh arrival of maniacs from umpteen madrasas sprung inside Pakistan who under the influence of drugs and mullahs can unleash havoc in India. These hate filled Islamic zoombies find it enticing to blow themselves up and claim a lottery ticket of banging 72 virgins then leading a miserable life in a beggar nation . With monstrous news reports of sodomizing and killing young boys becoming a standard accepted reality in Pakistan one wonders if the clamor to get lottery ticket of sleeping with virgins is only going to get shriller.
                                   Peacenik vocal lobby in India exonerate Pakistan establishment and people of any wrongdoing while blaming imaginary non-state actors of vitiating environment by squarely blaming on such outlaws for terror attacks. The impediment to normal ties and resuming cordial dialogue process is the direct complicity of Pakistani establishment and terror organizations groomed by Pak army. Unfortunate truth is terror attack as orchestrated in Pathankot were committed by well trained maniacs and there are intelligence reports of training conducted at airforce base in Pakistan that cannot be possible without ISI patronage thus defuncting theory propagated by peaceniks some of whom are themselves on ISI payrolls(remember Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai network in USA).
                                   In our country a perception is created by vested interests to continue dialogue with Pakistan in hope of bargaining peace and every government falls in this  entrapment of resuming dialogue with Pakistan.  The harsh reality is that such ghastly attacks have always happened irrespective of any thaw or dialogue between India-Pakistan engagement. History teaches us that Pakistan believes in its cowardly proxy war as a sustainable and cheapest method of bleeding India, as no retaliatory steps overt or otherwise envisaged by Indian government to inflict similar damage of same scale to Pakistan has ever been planned or executed thus increasing the cost of proxy war for Pakistan unbearable.
                                 There's a need to radically alter our strategy vis-a-visPakistan. Older methods of trusting Pakistani governments verbal assurances shouldn't be considered seriously and routine arguments of can't change our neighbors or sharing same cultures or improved economic engagement as deterrent should be consigned to dustbin .We have in past changed our neighbors by carving Bangladesh out of Pakistan and attained peace. Dialogue or breaking up of dialogue process has nothing to do with next terror attack, we should understand its foreign policy is directed to harass and divide India and no amount of dialogue can persuade Pakistan to abandon its policy of bleeding India with thousand cuts.
                                                           Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook
                                Lessons learnt from last terrorist attacks should be utilized to thwart next attack without relying much on other nations who couldn't pressurize Pakistan to accept negotiations and won't do more then lip service of  condemning terror acts. We need to stop sending dossiers as no diplomatic pressure can wilt Pakistan to shun its terror policy and live like civilized neighbor .We need to beat Pakistan in their own games through all possible means by increasing its cost of war . Improving our intelligence,defensive and offensive capabilities is necessity on urgent basis before Pakistan unleashes its next deadly phase of terror attack. 



Wednesday, 23 December 2015

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015

                                With the Rajya Sabha passing the new Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2015 , our parliamentarians have demonstrated a paradigm shift in there approach towards tackling crime in a pragmatic manner where the recognition of the rights of the victims is considered equally important as the rights of juveniles. The amended Juvenile Justice Bill became a necessity as 1.2% of most heinous crimes in country are committed by juveniles and over 50% are sex offences.
                                 With passage of new Bill Juvenile Board now has discretion to try juveniles committing horrendous crimes as adults between age group of 16 to 18. If the nature of the crime is critical, why stop at age 18 and not 16?  The Bill permits juveniles above the age of 16 years to be tried as adults for heinous offences if the Juvenile Justice Board finds the juvenile fit to be tried as an adult based on a preliminary assessment with regard to his mental and physical capacity to commit such an offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence.
                               There's alarming rise in criminal offences involving juveniles, thus Juvenile Justice Bill was the need of the hour and it might act as deterrent discouraging juveniles while helping law enforcement agencies too.Equally important is the classification of crimes by juveniles, the young age and pitiable crime shouldn't come under the purview of the law and should be dealt leniently considering young age and scope for improvement (rehabilitation) with societal support.

                              Nation also needs to seriously debate why their is increase in number of juvenile crimes. Isn't there a wrought in society that's growing unabated and criminal offences by adolescents a true and worrying reflection to society ? Serious debate involving child psychologists & sociologists is necessary to get to the bottom and stem the rot through corrective measures .The ultimate goal of society should be the care, protection, maintenance, welfare, training, education and rehabilitation of neglected or delinquent children along with safety and wellbeing of vulnerable.