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Jammu and Kashmir, Adivasi belt and North East; why are India's conflict areas ignored by the middle class

Written By Unknown on July 17, 2016 | 7/17/2016

India has three large and long running conflict areas. First, Jammu and Kashmir. Second, the Adivasi belt of central India that touches states like Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Third, the tribal belt of North East India.
In the first, the problem is that the Muslims of the Kashmir valley feel they had no say during Partition. A promise made to them by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru over a plebiscite, meaning a referendum on what they wanted to do, was withdrawn. Later the state was integrated into the Indian Union through a series of steps that many Kashmiris did not accept as legitimate.
The United Nations was pulled into the matter early on, but the Cold War and a divided Security Council left matters opaque. Not being able to accept the reality, Kashmiris rebelled violently just under three decades ago. Two generations of Kashmiris have grown up with a powerful military presence. And the Hindus of the Valley were sent packing.
The Kashmiri separatist violence did not leave the state. No bombings and no attacks by Kashmiris happened in Mumbai or Delhi all these decades. Those Kashmiris who took up arms did so in their state and against the Indian armed forces. These men are not seen by most Kashmiris as terrorists though that is how they are seen in the rest of India.
India says the problem there has been external. If there were no mischief from Pakistan, there would not be an issue. However, we seem to be unable to treat Kashmiris as Indians as the extreme violence against them shows.
The second conflict area is about the taking of resources in traditional Adivasi areas. These are rich in minerals and coal and the Indian state wants to exploit these resources as 'national wealth'. Unfortunately, we have been unable to treat the Adivasis whose lands we have taken and are taking, with fairness. To some extent this is not deliberate. India is not an efficient place and not a rich one. The government cannot competently deliver education and health to the majority of Indians, especially the poor. But in the case of the Adivasis, who are 8% of India's population, there is the added insistence that they make a sacrifice. It is from their lands that the coal powering air conditioners and washing machines in urban Indian cities is taken. It is their forests that are cut down and polluted. If seams of coal were to be discovered under south Mumbai and south Delhi, we can be assured that there would be much more talk of human rights, exploitation and the environment than we have. But the Adivasi does not have many allies in his fight for his rights.
The violence against this exploitation is called Maoism or Left Wing Extremism. Such neat phrases make it easier for urban Indians to ignore underlying causes and to accept these people as 'terrorists'. Words like extremist, terrorist, Maoist and Jihadist are drilled into us for this reason alone.
Like the Kashmiri violence, the Maoist violence has not reached Chennai or Calcutta, it is contained in the Adivasi belt. There are no landmines that go off in our cities and there are no sieges of corporate offices.
The third area of conflict is the North East. This is a part of India that was not under Mughal rule. The British made the tribes submit and these areas were brought into India fairly recently. Some of these tribes resisted the integration even before 1947. They have continued their violence. And for decades this resistance has been pacified by the Indian Army which has a strong presence there. But the rebels of the North East do not fight their war in Bangalore and Hyderabad. No attacks are made against our airports and no hostages are taken in our schools.
Lakhs of Kashmiris and North Easterners live in urban Indian centres where they work. They come into the news every now and then when they are refused a house on rent or when they are attacked because of their race. They have left the conflict of their land behind them. It is as if all that killing and exploitation is happening in someone else's country.
This central fact has enabled the Indian middle class to ignore our three conflicts. The violence does not touch us at all and so we are able to easily look away from the underlying reasons and grievances.
From our drawing rooms and our television studios we call all of this terrorism. We can distance ourselves from it and we are fortunate to be able to do this. It allows the government to be as firm as it wants, and as hard as it wants, with these people because its actions do not affect or interest the rest of us.

Cops will struggle to build a case against Zakir Naik, say experts


As investigating agencies struggle to collect clinching evidence against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, 51, experts are sceptical if sleuths can rustle up a watertight case against him for his alleged hate speeches.
The Mumbai police have not had much success proving the televangelist’s criminality and legal experts say that the state will have to analyse his speeches thoroughly to make a case that will stand in court.
“Such speeches are given by members of every religion. There is a thin line between freedom of speech and criminality. He [Naik] will say that he is defending his religion, and it will be difficult to prove it [alleged incitement] in court. Court will see whether his intentions are to create enmity between religions, while he will defend himself saying if anyone attacks his religion he will reply,” YP Singh, IPS officer-turned-lawyer, said.
To file a charge sheet in cases under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code, the state’s prior approval is necessary, Sigh said, adding that states usually do not give a go-ahead in such cases.
As Mumbai police commissioner, D. Sivanandan had also probed Naik’s speeches at the Somaiya ground in central Mumbai.
“The state has to be very careful in prosecuting him. Prima-facie, I don’t’ see direct evidence available from his speeches that he is inciting terrorism or communal disharmony. So the prosecutor has to prove it [culpability] beyond a shadow of doubt. Even if the state sanctions action against Naik, evidence won’t hold in the court,” Sivanandan said.
To avoid such judicial embarrassment, Sivanandan said the police have to scrupulously study Naik’s papers and speeches and seek legal opinion on the next course of action.
“One has to tread cautiously, very cautiously, or else it will have a boomerang effect,” he added.
On the other hand, some experts have pointed out that a case can be made if agencies can prove that his speeches were inflammatory.
“Firstly, the police have to make a prima facie case under relevant sections of the IPC. If they can point out that his speeches or preaching have caused unrest or they have enough material that youths have been instigated to adopt the path of terrorism, it is only then they would be justified in registering a crime against him. Even after registering crime, the police have to give him an opportunity to explain why penal offences should not be slapped against him for omission and commission,” said Majeed Memon, senior advocate.
Naik has been in the spotlight ever since two of the six terrorists who attacked the Holey Artisan Café in Dhaka, Bangladesh, two weeks ago claimed they had been influenced by his sermons.
He had been on the police’s radar well before that and was questioned by the state’s anti-terrorism squad in 2006, after the police found that a suspect in the July 11 train bombings that year was an employee at his Dongri office.

Turkish coup attempt not over for families of 265 who died

ISTANBUL: Funeral ceremonies and prayers for those killed in Turkey's failed military coup were held Sunday in Ankara and Istanbul, where the grief-stricken relatives mourned the price their loved ones paid to protect Turkey's democracy.
"God bless the society who resisted," said Lutfi Pala, a relative of one of the victims. "Our wish is that such coups never happen in Turkey, but it happens. They are martyrs. May God rest their soul."
Prayers were read simultaneously from Turkey's 85,000 mosques at noon to honor those who died in an attempted military coup. Sela prayers are traditionally recited from mosques during funerals, though they are also sometimes performed to rally the people, as they were all night Friday during tense coup hours.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 161 pro-government forces and civilians were killed in the coup attempt, and a general said 104 coup plotters died. A government official said autopsies have been completed on 165 people, including 115 reclaimed by their families. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulation.
Forty policemen, including twin brothers, were killed when the renegade soldiers attacked a special forces station in Ankara.
The victims also included the campaign manager for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Erol Olcak, and his 16-year old son Abdullah, killed when renegade soldiers opened fire on protesters Friday night at one of the Bosporus bridges in Istanbul.
Photojournalist Mustafa Cambaz also died following calls by Erdogan for supporters to oppose the coup attempt, killed by gunfire in the streets of Istanbul.
The elder brother of one of Erdogan's chief advisers was also killed by gunfire while protesting the coup in front of Istanbul's Municipality building. Ilhan Varank died during clashes that lasted five hours.
Erdogan attended the funeral of Varank and five others at a mosque in Istanbul's Fatih neighborhood, accompanied by former president Abdullah Gul and a large security detail.
Addressing mourners, Erdogan vowed to purge all state institutions of supporters of a U.S.-based Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who his government blames for the botched coup. He said Turkey would request the extradition of the cleric, who has denied any involvement in the coup.
Crowds chanted "Fethullah will come and pay!" ''Allah is great!" and "We want the death penalty!"
AP photographer Hussein Malla contributed from Ankara. AP journalists Bram Janssen, Berza Simsek and Dominique Soguel in Istanbul also contributed.

Norwegian Terrorist hailed RSS, VHP in 2011. Will the government start an investigation against them too?

Anders Behring Breivik is a Norwegian far-right terrorist who committed the 2011 Norway attacks. On 22 July 2011, he killed eight people by detonating a van bomb in Oslo, then shot dead 69 participants of a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp on the island of Utøya.In August 2012, he was convicted of mass murder, causing a fatal explosion, and terrorism. He was sentenced to 21 years of Jail Penalty.
Now, I am going to make a comparison of this guy with the terrorists who were involved in Dhaka Restaurant attack and who were allegedly inspired by Zakir Naik, the famous preacher of the value of Islam.
On the day of the attacks, Breivik electronically distributed a compendium of texts entitled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, describing his militant ideology. In them, he laid out a worldview encompassing opposition to Islam. India figures in a remarkable 102 pages of the sprawling 1,518-page manifesto. In his manifesto, Breivik was critical of UPA Government of that time and Christians in India for allowing Muslims to flourish and running a Muslim-appeasement campaign. He believed that the Hindu-Nationalists in India along with people involved in Sanatan Dharm movement can help in his global fight against Islam. He applauded Hindu groups who “do not tolerate the current injustice and often riot and attack Muslims when things get out of control,” 
Breivik listed the websites of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the National Volunteers' Organisation, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as resources for further information.
What was the case against Zakir Naik?
Zakir Naik started trending after reports surfaced that at least two of the Dhaka attackers were "inspired by his preaching about Islam." After this news, a media trial of Zakir Naik began and our imposed-on-the-nation nationalist Arnab Goswami led this trial against him. Just like it happened in the past, the government was quick to jump in and launched investigations against his speeches on the basis of a news that some terrorist got inspired from his speeches.
Well, in 2011, the Norwegian terrorist was not only inspired by the likes of RSS and VHP but, also wanted them as allies in his Islamophobic fight.
When can we expect the-best-government-in-Indian-History to start an investigation against the hate material available on the websites of these organisations ?
Source: http://thepoliticalfunda.com/Politics/Detail/Norwegian_Terrorist_hailed_RSS_VHP_in_2011_Will_the_government_start_an_investigation_against_them_too_10373

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