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International conspiracy to harm top Indian leaders

Prof. K.N. Pandita
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International conspiracy to harm top Indian leaders

Providing foolproof security to the VVIPs like the Heads of a State, cabinet ministers, top echelons of judiciary, administration and security organizations, etc., has been a recognized practice since antiquity. Chingiz Khan and Timur’s bodyguards were almost replicas of today’s suicide bombers.  However, despite the foolproof security bandobast, many outstanding personalities were slain by their assassins. The reason for eliminating a distinguished personality or a top government functionary could be political, factional or personal. But there are other reasons also like religious fanaticism, ideological obsession and pure jealousy.

ISIS is the most powerful and dreadful terrorist organization in contemporary times responsible for the killing of important personalities. Many regional and local terrorist organizations are its close affiliates. It is a ruthless group of Islamic Theo-fascists intending to establish the Islamic Caliphate all over the West Asian countries, the Indian sub-continent eastwards right up to the Strait of Malacca or what they often call the region between the Dardanelles and the Strait of Malacca in the Indian Ocean.

India, with nearly 20 crores of Muslims, the next largest Muslim inhabited country after Indonesia, is now on the radar of ISIS. It’s anti-India programme, known as Ghazvatu’l Hind (Indian campaign for Islamization) is strongly assisted by many radical Islamic organizations spread over the entire region.  A Theo-fascist Entente has thus come into being. On the level of political philosophy, they are the sworn enemies of both democracy and secularism.

Raising suicide bombers called Fidayeen in their terminology, to eliminate the strong advocates of democracy and secularism in an Asiatic country where idol-worshippers (kafir and zindiq in their terminology) are to be found in numerical strength is their ordained mission. It has to be undertaken through muscle as well as brain power.

Our political ideologues including PM Narendra Modi are not off their radar. Ever since Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 at least two aborted attempts were made to eliminate him. The latest was only recently in Punjab when he was left stranded for 24 minutes on a bridge by crowds with nefarious designs.

A great responsibility devolves on the security paraphernalia of the Home Ministry to ensure foolproof security for the Prime Minister. Our super cops of the intelligence organization must remember that no laxity is acceptable. The stubbornness of Indira Gandhi proved fatal.

Shocking news has come from Russia disclosing the arrest of a suicide bomber (fidayeen) in Moscow planning a suicide attack on the top leadership of India. Fuller details of the case are awaited. But whatever little has been made public, is too alarming and India has to take serious notice of the event.

A national of one of the Central Asian Republics (Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan) was recruited by ISIS and brought to Istanbul in Turkey to an ISIS camp. He was indoctrinated for several months and then assigned the task of blowing up some top Indian ruling personalities through suicide trappings. He was directed to go to Moscow and obtain his travel visa to India. But the alert Russian security personnel grabbed him and he let the story out when interrogated. The selection of Moscow route is significant.

Now, this incident has so many dimensions and many questions need to be answered. There is a reference to the so-called use of derogatory language against the Prophet of Islam by some Indian to which the Muslim world rose in protest. It means that the Islamic Theo-fascists have the programme of destabilizing India and in this process, they have registered the support of radicals in and outside India.

Secondly, Turkey has become the hub of training and brainwashing of the fidayeen and seems to have determined to export the products of these training camps to countries which it thinks are oppressing the Muslim population. President Erdogan is openly against India and has spoken against India in the UN and other assemblies. Very few people know that for quite some time Turkey has established direct contact with the militants and anti-India elements in Kashmir. It has opened the doors of its universities and colleges to the aspirant Kashmiri Muslim students who are simultaneously brainwashed and indoctrinated in the teachings of ISIS. Turkey is reported to be providing anti-India printed literature to the vulnerable segments in the valley. The students are promised scholarships and hospitality. The daughter of the late Ali Shah Geelani is reported to have established a digital centre in Turkey and is operating a website catering to the separatists in Kashmir. Bollywood celebrity Amir Khan was the special guest of Madam Erdogan of Turkey and he was given special hospitality in Ankara.

Turkey has established close relations with Pakistan for quite some time. They have secret military cooperation as well and Turkey with very effective drone technology has supplied dozens of Turkish Bayraktar drones to Pakistan which are deployed along LoC and IB in J&K to drop arms, ammunition and cash on the Indian side of the border. That case is under investigation at the police headquarters in Kashmir.

Turkey is strengthening the Pakistan navy by building various types of vessels for her. Recently the Turkey-built warship of Pakistan was seen somewhere in the waters of Sri Lanka. Turkey is also building submarines for Pakistan at its shipyard building centres.

It will be recalled that Turkey is ambitious to revive the lost glory of the Ottoman Empire. That is President Erdogan’s dream. For achieving that objective, he thinks he must wrest the leadership of the Islamic world from the hands of the Saudi monarch. Nearly three years ago Erdogan formed an alliance of four Islamic countries, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Malaysia whose heads were to meet in Kuala Lampur and declare that the Saudi monarch was not the permanent Guardian of the Twin Shrines of Mecca and Medina (Haramain Sharief) nor was he the leader of the Islamic world. In short, the four countries, all non-Semitic, wanted the leadership to be shifted to Ankara enabling Erdogan to boost his claim for the revival of the Ottoman Empire. But a strong action by Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia tore the Entente to shreds. Pakistan had to pay back the loan of one billion dollars to the Saudis.

In the context of the arrest of the ISIS-trained suicide bomber by the security forces in Moscow, an important question needs to be answered. The suicide terrorist was trained in a training centre of ISIS in Turkey. Such a centre as is banned by the UN cannot function in Turkey without the consent and knowledge of the Turkish government. The existence of this training centre indicates that Turkey has no intention of playing her role in the anti-terrorism policy. It is a country that promotes terrorism.

Moreover, Turkey is a member of NATO and this organization has declared publicly that it will do all possible to counter terrorism. Therefore, it is the responsibility of NATO authorities to question Turkey (a member of NATO) on her relations with the banned ISIS.

India should also bring the episode to the notice of the UN Security Council and she must state that one cannot say how many before the one arrested in Moscow will have succeeded in entering India. On this basis, India should demand that Turkey is censured by the SC and warned that if there is any further evidence of her involvement in terrorism, she would be expelled from NATO and all other organs of the UN. India should not take it lying low.

At home, India has to upgrade its security bandobast and increase round-the-clock vigil so that miscreants are apprehended before they succeed in striking vulnerable spots.

Indian Army’s unmatched resilience

Nilesh Kunwar
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Indian Army’s unmatched resilience

While the nation was celebrating ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ [grand celebration of Freedom’s Nectar] to commemorate India’s 75th Independence Day, on the icy heights of Siachen Glacier, an Indian army patrol recovered the mortal remains of Lance Naik Chandrashekhar Harbola. This brave soldier was a member of a 20 men team which was patrolling the treacherous snow-covered landscape of the highest battlefield in the world to prevent any ingress by the Pakistan army when this patrolling party was hit by a massive avalanche on 29 May 1984.

Despite extensive search, the bodies of five soldiers couldn’t be located, and Harbola was one of them. So, while this recovery must have opened up many nearly four-decade old wounds, but discovery of Harbola’s mortal remains with his rifle still clenched in his lifeless and frozen hands, serves as a solemn but apt indicator of the unparalleled grit and consummate devotion to duty for which the Indian army is respected all over the world.

In the last 76 years, the Indian army has more than lived up to the high expectations of the people. It has dealt firmly with those who tried to violate the country’s national integrity, and repeatedly defeated Rawalpindi’s evil design to annex J&K. It has also frustrated Pakistan army’s attempt to create anarchy in Kashmir Valley by sponsoring terrorism and thwarted Gen Pervez Musharraf’s attempt in 1999 to alter the Line of Control [LoC] alignment through well planned intrusions.

Though the Indian army did suffer a reverse in 1962, it’s no secret that this was primarily due to lack of requisite military hardware and certainly not because of any inadequacy in fighting capabilities or the courage of its rank and file. Infact, it was the heroic last stand of a 120 strong Company of 13 Kumaon Regiment at Rezang La in Eastern Ladakh during this conflict [in which 114 bravehearts including their company commander Major Shaitan Singh made the supreme sacrifice] that has made this hitherto fore unknown mountain pass, the epitome of Indian army’s unmatched valour and spirit of sacrifice!

There’s no dearth of accounts detailing the valour of the Indian army. In 1947, when outstripped by hordes of Pakistani army men and tribals, Maj Somnath Sharma’s last message to the brigade headquarters was, “The enemy are only 50 yards from us. We are heavily outnumbered. We are under devastating fire. I shall not withdraw an inch, but will fight to the last man and the last round.’ Maj Sharma was posthumously awarded Param Vir Chakra [PVC], India’s highest gallantry award.

During the Indo-Pak Conflict of 1965, despite being seriously wounded in action, Lt Col A B Tarapore, the commanding an armoured regiment [17 Horse], refused evacuation saying, “If my troops are here, my regiment is here, I will die fighting here. I will not go back.” Unconcerned by his injuries, he bravely fought on for six days before making the supreme sacrifice on the battlefield. Lt Col Tarapore was posthumously awarded PVC.

Six years later, during a fierce tank battle during the 1971 Indo-Pak War, the tank commanded by 2nd Lt Arun Khetarpal of 17 Horse caught fire after receiving a direct hit. On being ordered to abandon his burning tank, the 21-year-old subaltern refused, saying that “No Sir, I will not abandon my tank. My main gun is still working …,” and for his conspicuous act of valour, 2Lt Khetrapal was posthumously awarded PVC.

Such was his daring that even his adversary Maj [later Brig] Khwaja Mohammed Naser, of Pakistan army’s 13 Lancers to this day remembers how 2Lt Khetrapal “stood like an insurmountable rock between the victory and failure of the counter attack by the SPEARHEADS – 13 LANCERS on 16 Dec 1971.” Maj AH Amin, a retired Pakistan army armoured corps officer, columnist and military historian too admits that “The only occasion when a breakthrough [by Pakistan army] could have occurred was when two squadrons of 13 Lancers attacked together in the afternoon, but a gallant last ditch lone stand by 2/Lt Arun Khetarpal of Poona Horse averted the danger.”

Indian army’s unparalleled grit and resilience once again came to the fore during 1999 Kargil War.  Capt Manoj Pandey, PVC [Posthumous] famous pledge that “If death strikes before I prove my blood, I promise I will kill death,” and the promise made by Capt Vikram Batra, PVC [Posthumous] that “I will either come back after raising the Indian flag in victory, or return wrapped in it,” reflects the unmatched motivation of Indian army’s rank and file.

Can there be any better testament than these as regards the Indian army’s consummate dedication?

In more recent times, the Galwan face-off on May 5,2020 has again proved beyond any doubt that the Indian army’s phenomenal resilience continues to flourish. Similarly, the Indian army’s bold pre-emptive action of occupying strategically important heights of the Kailash Range on the intervening night of August 29/30, 2020, to counter PLA build up in Pangong Tso area proves that for our daring men in olive greens, nothing is impossible! To thwart any nefarious designs of People’s Liberation Army [PLA] in Ladakh, the Indian army has dug-in and braving the harsh arctic-like winter conditions, is maintaining 24X7 vigil in this area.

Besides the impressive professional acumen and ‘never-say-die’ approach displayed by the Indian Army while dealing with external threats, its rank and file has always walked the extra mile during natural calamities and other disasters to save their countrymen and ameliorate their suffering. One such example is of the massive 2010 flash floods in Ladakh in which more than 71 settlements were inundated and almost 1,500 homes damaged. The Indian army immediately swung into action and undeterred by the raging torrents, rescued marooned civilians, including about 3,000 tourists.

Ladakh Scouts whose troops hail from this region and are located here were amongst the first responders and carried out their rescue mission with utmost dedication. A lady tourist from Delhi recounted an interesting incident regarding her interaction with a Junior Commissioned Officer [JCO] from Ladakh Scouts who was supervising rescue operations. While sipping a hot cup of tea after her harrowing ordeal, she, out of sheer curiosity, asked him where his native village was and if had also been hit by the floods. She also enquired whether his family members and friends were safe.

The JCO replied that his village was not very far away and being located in an equally low-lying area, would have certainly been submerged. However, since the mobile network had been disrupted, he was unaware of the current status of his family members. Taken aback by his calm composure, the surprised lady asked him if he and his team were worried about the safety and wellbeing of their family members?

The JCO calmly replied that though anxious, they had put their minds and heart into the rescue tasks assigned to them and had not allowed emotions to impede their physical and mental abilities. Another reason why they weren’t particularly perturbed was that just like this team was assigned the task of rescuing people here, they knew for sure that some other such army team would be carrying out rescue and relief operations in their native villages. So, there was no need to unduly fret because the army would ensure that each and every affected person would be safely evacuated and well taken care of!

Just four years later, when massive floods in Kashmir paralysed the civil administration, it was the army, which despite itself being a victim of this humungous calamity, once again measured up upto public expectations by undertaking massive and well-coordinated rescue and relief operations. Despite limited resources at its disposal and efforts by pro-Pakistan elements led by separatists to undermine rescue/relief work, the army gave an extremely impressive account of itself, and the credit for this goes to the professional ethos of ‘service before self’ that abounds within theIndian army.

Terrorism is a political tool for China

Prof. K.N. Pandita
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Terrorism is a political tool for China

China does not look at terrorism from either ethical or humanistic parameters.  She cares only for political considerations while condoning or condemning terrorism. Generally speaking, where Beijing finds terrorism hurting its interests or obstructing its global strategy, she will not wait to disapprove it but when terrorism hurts anybody on the other side, she will not only overlook it but will unhesitatingly try to protect the terrorist.  

The case in point is a proposal before the Security Council purporting to designate a Pakistani as an international terrorist. China blocked it.  Let us debate the issue.

On 1 June, India and the US  submitted a joint proposal to the Security Council demanding to list Abdur Rahman Makki, the brother-in-law of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and his close aid,    under the UN Security Council’s Al-Qaeda and ISIL Sanctions Committee which is also known as the UNSC 1267 Committee. The proposal was submitted under a “no-objection procedure” valid till June 16. Its copies had been circulated among all members of the SC in advance.

Who is Makki and what are the charges against him? This question is the base on which the entire proposal has been built. The 74-year-old Makki has been performing the LeT leadership role for a long time. The US has already designated the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba (LeT) a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) because of its involvement in the 9/11 attack. Makki occupied various leadership roles in LeT, and both India and the US have already listed Makki as a terrorist under their domestic laws after convincing evidence was collected.

The Hindustan Times of 18 June wrote that Makki is the deputy chief of LeT and head of the group’s political affairs department. Both LeT and its front organisation, Jama’at-ud-Dawah (JuD) have been proscribed as terrorist entities by the UN.

Under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that Pakistan cracks down on terror financing, a case of terror financing was framed against him and a Lahore court gave him an 18-month prison term. Makki has been involved in recruiting and radicalising youth to plan attacks in India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani terrorist organizations like LeT and JuD were involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack, the Red Fort attack on December 2000, the Rampur CRPF Camp attack in January 2008, Karan Nagar (Srinagar) attack on February 2018, Khanpur, Baramulla attack in May 2018 and the Gurez-Bandipur attack in August 2018. In November 2010, the US Department of the Treasury designated Makki as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. “The US government had also put a bounty of $2 million on his whereabouts”, wrote the Wire.

Both India and the US strengthened their demand for a listing of Abdur Raman Makki based on the evidence available to them. We have said that as per practice and procedure, the joint proposal of the two countries was circulated among all members of the SC in advance.

On 16 June, China, a close ally of Pakistan, placed a “technical hold” on the proposal to list Makki and this measure can last for up to six months at a time. China’s action of placing a technical hold did not come as a surprise because earlier China had followed the same policy when a three – a member proposal of designating Masu’d Azhar as a global terrorist was blocked by China under the same strategy.  Defending its obstruction move the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said, “China will continue to conduct its work constructively and responsibly”.  He said in updated comments posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website. China thinks that obstructing the designating of terrorists like Masu’d Azhar and Makki is “constructive and responsible”.

Asked to elaborate on his comments, especially on procedures and rules, Chinese foreign office spokesman Wang declined to go into the details. “I have made China’s position clear. I’m not going to repeat myself”, he said. Responding to another question about whether China’s stand to put a hold on the designation of the wanted terrorist will add to the growing list of issues causing discord between India and China, he said: “On the listing of the person you mentioned, I just stated China’s position”. He did not have any convincing answer.

As is evident, the Chinese foreign office spokesman failed to convince the reporters that there was weight in his argument that China was ‘conforming to rules and procedures or there was any other ‘technical hold’ of cognizable importance. It was a political decision to placate a particular country and cater to her interests. The spokesman declined to elucidate where the proposal did not conform to the rules and procedures. He was on the slippery wicket.

This exposes the double-speak of China in its commitment to join the fight against terrorism. It will be reminded that how Beijing has been treating the Sunni Muslim-dominated areas of the eastern province of Xinjiang and forcing the nationalist forces of these Muslims to flee the country or suffer incarceration in labour camps, has been condemned by the entire world except its vassal Pakistan. Rather Pakistan has appreciated the state persecution of and the terrorising of its Uighur subjects. It has to be noted that China is not opposing the listing of Pakistan-based terrorist organizations and leaders (Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi, Makki et al) only to placate friendly Pakistan but more importantly she wants that the committed fundamentalist-terrorist organizations in Pakistan do not attempt to export their Theo-fascist ideology to the Uighur. It will be reminded that previously Beijing issued a harsh warning to Pakistan not to allow the dissident Uighurs to join the terrorist camps in Pakistan for receiving training in guerrilla warfare. Even a few such provocateurs arrested by the Chinese security forces were summarily executed in Xinjiang.

Again, China got infuriated by the visit of House Speaker Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan. China did not only fire missiles and moved its warships into the Chinese waters but also imposed a ban on Pelosi and her family members’ visit to Taiwan defining her visit as a threat to China’s integrity. In simpler language, Pelosi’s mere visit to Taiwan is considered a threat but Makki as a component of LeT that has openly declared jihad against India in Kashmir and is fighting a proxy war for three decades is not considered a threat to the integrity of India. This is double-speak.

Reacting to the policy of double-speak, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has rightly concluded that it is going to damage and ultimately sink the credibility of China in the eyes of the international community. China has not respected its commitment to joining the global community in the fight against terrorism.  China conceitedly does not even take into account that in May 2019, the global body designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed chief Masu’d Azhar as a “global terrorist”, almost a decade after New Delhi had first approached the world body on the issue.

This analysis strongly supports the idea that drastic fundamental reforms in the UN structure are inevitable. A big chunk of humanity can no more be sidelined;  it has to be taken on board, particularly when crucial matters about the perpetuation of the humans and animals on this globe are to be debated.

Why nobody wants to lead the Congress?

Prof. K.N. Pandita
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Why nobody wants to lead the Congress?

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi has told Ashok Gehlot, the Congress Chief Minister of Rajasthan, to be the next Congress President.

Sonia Gandhi is unwell; Rahul has declined to be the Congress president saying that he was accepting his failure to win for his party in two consecutive parliamentary elections.  Priyanka Vadra is too inexperienced to hold the truant flock of Congressites together.

Is this the end of dynastic rule that has been vehemently opposed by the BJP-led government? Yes and NO, both. Yes because at least till the 2024 general elections are over and the status of Congress is known, Rahul Gandhi has to cool his heels. If Congress can regain its foothold in Indian politics, Rahul Gandhi will have a convincing claim to ask for the President’s position in the party.  But if Congress repeats its dismal performance, the end of dynastic rule in Congress is certain.

Why Sonia Gandhi chose Ashok Gehlot needs to be understood. Sonia Gandhi is strictly following the policy of Congress dynastic stalwarts of controlling by proxy. Pratibha Patil and Manmohan Singh are two glaring examples. Ashok Gehlot will be joining them soon. Knowing that Ashok Gehlot is a man of straw, Rahul Gandhi will have no problem replacing him in case the parliamentary election of 2024 throws him up. Even if that does not happen, still Rahul Gandhi as General Secretary will be all the more powerful and make Manmohan Singh of Ashok Gehlot.

The acquiescent and unquestioning Ghelot has responded to Sonia’s call by saying that he is not worth the distinguished position and that there is a consensus among Congressites that Rahul Gandhi should be crowned as President of the party.

The question is that the dynastic rule had come to a pass where power and authority got concentrated in Sonia Gandhi and her son. The stand taken by the G-22 was a clarion call for the Congress High Command to read the writing on the wall. When Sonia Gandhi failed to show the subtle qualities of diplomatic skill, the seniors among the G-22 gradually began looking the other way. But some opportunists among them tried to hunt with the hound and run with the hare. They even tried to meddle in their Congress formations in their respective states. Azad is an example. But these silent or active rabble rouse failed in their designs just because they had no standing of their own in their so-called constituencies. They were walking the podium with Congress crutches.

The big fuss in the Congress was the outcome of a well-conceived but ill-executed mega reform in the party in which Rahul tried to induct the youth into the organization from the ground zero level to the highest rungs. He did not take the seniors into confidence, nor consulted them on the important aspects of the scheme and the modus operandi. They felt sidelined, disrespected and neglected. The Congress Working Committee that continued to function even after showing out the seniors and stalwarts was described in the paper by Observer Research Foundation: “A large number of CWC members unprincipled, opportunists and self-serving individuals for whom self-interest is paramount.” 

Torn by internal dissensions, taken in by a coterie of sycophants, blinded by lust for power and disillusioned by meaningless slogans like “India is Indira and Indira is India”, the Congress High Command gradually became a prisoner of its illusions. The High Command trio did not understand that it was distancing not only from the senior and experienced bunch of leaders but from the masses of the people as well.  This could be discerned from Rahul Gandhi losing from Amethi and finding a narrow escape in the Muslim-dominated constituency in Kerala. The real task of Congress shifted from the progress and development of the country to a raging battle of up-man-ship at its top echelon level. Considering India the private property of dynastic entities, the so-called Congress High Command lost the vision of its founding fathers and great thinkers, patriots and parliamentarians. Gradually but it began with a downward graph. Those who stuck to the High Command like leech were mostly sycophants or opportunists.

Congress miserably failed to understand the message that Modi’s first term (2014-2019) sent across the length and breadth of India. On the day when Modi assumed charge in 2014, the Washington Post wrote that for the first time India had chosen a national government after her independence. The Indian leadership and bureaucracy that inherited the British legacy of divide and rule did irreparable harm to the Indian nation. The majority population was disillusioned by the policies of the Congress government that challenged the millennia-old ethos of Indian cultural and social structure. Marxist-Leninist brand of socialism would not make a deep impression on the Hindu mind that had born the worst type of persecution during the past five or six centuries of foreign rule.

Nehru contributed to the creation of a wedge between the Hindu way of life deeply steeped in tradition but open to modernization at the same time and those influenced by the Marxist ideology without taking into consideration the quintessential social order of ancient India running into modern times.

The Indian nation has rejected Congress in two general elections and has opted for India-centric liberal nationalism. The Indian cake has Hindu icing like it or not. Against it, Congress’ secularism is vicious and blatantly communal.

Sonia Gandhi is quitting the post owing to her deteriorating health. But nominating Ashok Gehlot as her successor in no way solves the woes with which Congress is beset. Nominating the successor or manipulating his election is a clear signal that she has tried to keep the way clear for her son if it so happens. We don’t think that will drag Congress out of woods. It will be the subversion of democratically elected leadership. The Congress stalwarts (if left any of them in the party) will fiercely oppose the strategy. Congress will continue to run along the suicidal path. That is no guarantee for the rejuvenation of the party.

Sonia Gandhi will be leaving for a medical check-up. Rahul and Priyanka both will be accompanying her.  Some observers call it the prelude to the ultimate departure of the High Command from its post. How will the headless party manage its affairs is a moot point. Give the assurance that the High Command chapter has been closed; the lower rungs of the party do have the capability of reviving the strength and influence of Congress in due course of time. For the High Command, this is the decisive moment. If it can shun the lust for power, Congress will survive; otherwise the prophetic words of PM Modi viz. “Congress mukt Bharat” will come true.

Pakistan: A hapless victim of terrorism or Rawalpindi’s machinations?

Nilesh Kunwar
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Pakistan: A hapless victim of terrorism or Rawalpindi’s machinations?

Islamabad is constantly complaining about being a ‘victim’ of terrorism and available data on terrorist acts in Pakistan and resultant loss of life and property due to the same indisputably validates this lament. However, despite its repeated allegations that terrorist violence in Pakistan is being orchestrated by India and even churning out countless dossiers, which according to Islamabad contain “irrefutable evidence” to buttress its claim, these haven’t evoked any meaningful response from the international community, and the reason is simple. Contrary to Islamabad’s allegation of global apathy and vested interests of the international community, the fact is that despite being high on rhetoric, its claims aren’t supported by any credible evidence.

A classic example of Islamabad’s wild insinuations concerns the anti-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] terrorist group operating from Afghan soil. Prior to fall of the Hamid Karzai government, Islamabad consistently accused India’s spy agency Research and Analysis Wing [RAW] and its Afghan counterpart National Directorate of Security [NDS] of sponsoring and TTP and using it as a proxy to orchestrate terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Soon after Pakistan’s protégé Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the then Information Minister of Pakistan Fawad Chaudhry proudly told the media during a press conference that “We should be satisfied to know with regards to the TTP, that for the first time the process of Indian funding [to them]-which had been going on for a long time, has ended and at this time they [TTP] are in disarray.”

A confident Chaudhry even went on say that “These internal challenges are not a problem for us. Our [belief] is that once they [TTP] stop having a funding stream from abroad, then it will be a big blow for them and the rest we will handle ourselves.” However, rather than suffering a “big blow”, as the interior minister had prognosed, attacks on security forces by TTP escalated to unprecedented levels and “the rest we will handle ourselves” assurance turned out to be a damp squib as just two months after the fall of Kabul the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan announced that Islamabad was negotiating a peace deal with this terrorist group.

Considering the fact that this terrorist group is besides being responsible for killing and injuring hundreds of army men and para military force personnel, also has the blood of 134 innocent students and 14 staff members of Army School Peshawar on its hands, this is indeed an iniquitous compromise.

Another typical example of blaming others for its internal woes can be seen Islamabad’s insistence that Washington is responsible for the problem of terrorism bedevilling Pakistan. In his tedious 2019 United Nations General Assembly [UNGA] speech, the then Prime Minister Imran Khan said, “We joined the war against the Soviets in the 1980’s. Pakistan trained the then “mujahedeen” at the behest of the Americans. The Soviets called them terrorists; the Americans called them freedom fighters. Then, Soviets left, US packed up. Come 9/11, now that we had to join the US and tell the same indoctrinated people this is now not a “freedom struggle” but “terrorism”. They suddenly saw us as collaborators; it became a nightmare & they turned against us”.

However, while Khan’s heart-breaking narration was a statement of facts, albeit craftily worded and that it failed to evoke any sympathy was obvious for several reasons. Firstly, America’s proxy war against the erstwhile Soviets in Afghanistan by using radicalised Islamists was both immoral and meant only to serve its own vested interests, but yet, Pakistan’s dictator cum President Gen Zia ul Haq still allied with Washington. Isn’t it a fact that Gen Zia did so just for the sake of making a fast buck through lavish US aid packages- remember the famous 1981 “peanuts” barb that he used to express displeasure over a $250 US million aid package”?

Secondly, it’s inconceivable that an experienced military man like Gen Zia was unaware that by serving as Washington’s minion and taking on the responsibility of radicalising and training ‘mujahideen’ at behest of the Americans, he was actually turning the country into a veritable breeding ground for religious indoctrination. To say that locals were insulated from the consequences of this dangerous indoctrination initiative that spawned religious extremism is, to say the least, denying the obvious.

Former Pakistan President and ex-army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf’s revelation endorses this inference. In an interview given to Der Spiegel in 2010, he proudly admitted that “We poisoned [the minds of] Pakistani civil society for 10 years when we fought the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It was jihad and we brought in militants from all over the world, with the West and Pakistan together in the lead role.” [ Emphasis added]. Now with a man who’s served both as President and army chief himself admitting that under Gen Zia’s dictatorship, even ordinary Pakistanis were radicalised, would it still be appropriate to apportion full blame on Uncle Sam for the country’s woes?

Gen Musharraf also admitted that “In 1979, we had introduced religious militancy in Afghanistan to benefit Pakistan, and to push the Soviets out of the country. We brought Mujahideen from all over the world, we trained them and supplied weapons to them. We trained the Taliban, sent them in.” Not only this, Musharraf also went on to concede that “They were our heroes. Haqqani was our hero. Osama bin Laden was our hero. Ayman al-Zawahiri was our hero [Emphasis Added].” With such radicalised entities admittedly being hailed as heroes in Pakistan, it’s not at all surprising that religious fundamentalism took root and spread like wild fire there.

In saying that after 9/11, “we had to join the US [in the war against terror” [Emphasis added], Khan deliberately misled the international community. Thefact of the matter is that the US didn’t elbow-twist Islamabad into doing so – au contraire, it was the then Pakistani President Gen Musharraf, who in return for generous doles from the US, himself decided to jump onto America’s bandwagon! Most importantly, what Khan didn’t disclose in his impassioned UNGA speech was that how did terrorists, who were merely ‘hired guns’ and had no independent means of sustenance, not only survive but even flourish after the US left Afghanistan till 9/11. The answer to this puzzle isn’t too hard to find as Khan himself did so during his 2019 US visit by admitting that “we still have about 30,000-40,000-armed people who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir”! [Emphasis added].

Furthermore, by contending that after joining the US led war on terror, Pakistan had to “… tell the same indoctrinated people [terrorists] this is now not a freedom struggle but terrorism”, Khan has willy-nilly confessed that the terrorists who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan in the garb of ‘mujahideen’ were being patronised and sustained by none other than the Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence! He left no doubts whatsoever on this issue when he admitted that “They [terrorists] suddenly saw us as collaborators; it became a nightmare and they turned against us.” [Emphasis added].  

While Rawalpindi nurtured terrorist groups as ‘strategic assets’ for waging proxy wars against its neighbours and encouraged radicalisation and sectarianism, the people of Pakistan were the ones who had to face the blow-back of this perverse strategy in the form of terrorist attacks. So, in retrospect, it’s abundantly clear that Pakistan army’s ‘strategic asset’ policy of romancing terrorist groups has expectedly backfired. Surprisingly, it didn’t learn a lesson and brazenly disregarding Washington’s requests, continued to host Afghan Taliban for a decade with high hopes that after coming to power, Kabul would serve as an obedient and pliable vassal of Pakistan.

To doubly ensure this, Director General of ISI Lt Faiz Hameed air dashed to Kabul and secured influential government positions for members of Rawalpindi’s favourite and most trusted protégé- the Haqqani network. However, after coming to power, Afghan Taliban refused to play ball, and one of the first things it did was to disregard Islamabad’s request and unconditionally release more than 2,300 TTP fighters imprisoned in Afghanistan jails, including the terrorist group’s former deputy chief Maulvi Faqir Mohammad.

However, this was not all. To indicate its disagreement regarding the alignment of Pak-Afghan border as delineated by the Durand Line, the Taliban uprooted portions of the border fencing erected by Pakistan army and even used physical force to stop the fencing work. After Pakistan army carried trans-border strikes against TTP terrorist facilities inside Afghanistan, Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid hit back and warned its erstwhile benefactor by saying “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [IEA] calls on the Pakistani side not to test the patience of Afghans on such issues and not repeat the same mistake again, otherwise it will have bad consequences.”

 While feeling sorry for the people of Pakistan who are facing the consequences of Rawalpindi’s self-debilitating ‘strategic asset’ strategy, one is reminded of Hillary Clinton, who as US Secretary of State had way back in 2011 during her Pakistan visit, cautioned the Pakistani establishment by saying, “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours”, and predicting that “You know, eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard”.

So, rather than blaming foreign forces for acts of terrorism inside Pakistan, it would do Islamabad a lot of good to look inwards and rein-in Rawalpindi. However, since Pakistan “is not a country with an army, but an army with a country”, this could indeed be a tall order!

Dr Allah Nazar warns phony Baloch ‘nationalists’ against joining hands with China

News Intervention Bureau
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Dr Allah Nazar warns phony Baloch ‘nationalists’ against joining hands with China

Balochistan’s pro-independence leader and head of Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch castigated the self-proclaimed Baloch ‘nationalists’ Dr Abdul Malik and Sanaullah for meeting the Chinese ambassador with a request for early completion of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor).

“The meeting of so-called ‘nationalists’ Dr. Abdul Malik, Sanaullah along with parliamentary parties’ representatives with the Chinese ambassador and request for completion of CPEC is clear evidence that these parliamentary parties are prepared to collaborate and be utilized by China along with Pakistan in plundering Balochistan’s national resources and genocide of Baloch. After receiving their prices these parties can cross any extent and pawn the Baloch national destiny,” said Dr Allah Nazar Baloch angrily.

Dr Allah Nazar further explained that the said “success of CPEC and its related projects” has only brought death for the Baloch. “Baloch opposed these projects and have paid a huge price. Thousands of Baloch families and inhabitants near the CPEC route have been forced to migrate, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands are in the dungeons of the state. Yet the parliamentary parties are shamelessly not only advocating the project but offering services to China and Pakistan for further bloodshed,” Dr Allah Nazar seethed with anger.

He urged the phony nationalists to remember that all CPEC’s projects are incomplete or half complete due the Balochistan’s resistance of Pakistan and China. It is only due to this Baloch resistance that these forces want to complete CPEC no matter what it costs the Baloch nation.

Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch added that these parliamentary parties have not learnt from history. “They will face the heavy cost of this omission because the Baloch nation never forgets or forgives the traitors of motherland. It is written on the wall and the so-called “nationalists” must take note of it.”

Kashmir fights back on targeted killings

Nilesh Kunwar
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Kashmir fights back on targeted killings

Wednesday’s killing of three Pakistan backed Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] terrorists [including self-styled LeT commander Lateef Rather] in the Waterhail area of Budgam district in Central Kashmir is indeed a major success for the security forces and J&K police. What makes this operation all the more special is that despite being undertaken in a populated area, security forces neutralised these terrorists without suffering any casualties or causing collateral damage

Extinction of Rather is undoubtedly a remarkable achievement-not only because of his active involvement and direct complicity several heinous acts of terrorism, but also because he was able to successfully evade arrest/extermination for nearly a decade. At a time when the average ‘active life expectancy of a terrorist’ in J&K is barely one year, Rather’s ‘longevity’ was  obviously a matter of great concern for the security forces.

So, while Rather’s name was high on the J&K police wanted list of terrorists, it shot up several notches after he was conclusively identified as the one personally responsible for murdering innocent civilians at the behest of his Pakistani masters. Amongst his hapless victims was a Kashmiri Pandit named Rahul Bhat and a female Kashmiri Muslim artiste Amreen Bhat. Both the deceased were in their mid-thirties.

To the uninitiated these may appear to be random killings. However, those closely following Pakistan army’s ongoing proxy war in Kashmir would unanimously agree that selection of these seemingly un-associated ‘targets’ has the typical hallmark of Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] sinister strategy of trying to create mayhem and destroy Kashmir’s pluralistic and tolerant culture by its two-pronged of inciting communal disharmony and promoting fundamentalist ideology in Kashmir Valley. 

On May 12, Rahul Bhat, employed in the revenue department at Chadoora in Budgam district was at his desk, engrossed in official work when Lateef Rather, accompanied by an associate entered the office premises and walking up directly to Bhat, shot him dead at point blank range. The tragedy is that a young life was extinguished merely to terrorise Kashmir’s indigenous Pandit community and convey the message to them that they weren’t welcome back!

The irony is that even though his family was compelled to leave their ancestral home in in Budgam district’s Beerwah village due to the forced exodus of Kashmiri pandits orchestrated by fundamentalist Islamic terrorists in 1990 and take refuge in Jammu, when selected for a job in the same district, Bhat chose to return. He perhaps may have felt that since Budgam district happened to be home ground where his family had co-existed harmoniously with their Muslim brethren for centuries, he would be safe in Chadoora.

But this was not to be!  

Amreen Bhat’s case is equally tragic and intriguing. Chadoora [Budgam district] resident Ms Bhat was a spinster, who besides being a local TV artiste, was quite active on social media and ever since 2007, had been regularly posting her music videos online. The content of her videos were sober and they never violated religious edicts or any cultural/social norms. Since, Amreen took due care to ensure that contentious issues never featured in her videos or social media posts, no one had ever expected that she would end up being murdered by a fellow Kashmiri who had sold his conscience to his mentors across the Line of Control [LoC].

Ms Bhat lived with her father and other family members in Budgam’s Hushroo village in the outskirts of Srinagar. On May 26, LeT commander Rather accompanied by his indispensable sidekick came looking for Amreen. He asked her 11-year-old nephew [who was just leaving the house on an errand] to call for Amreen.  When she came out, Rather briefly engaged her in conservation before whipping out a pistol and shooting her at point blank range. Despite her grievous injuries, Amreen managed to stagger back into her house, but the heartrending sight of a profusely bleeding lady gasping for dear life didn’t move the blood thirsty Rather. Following her inside, he shot her again and after ensuring that she was dead, fled the scene like a coward.

Even if one was to apply the most skewed fundamentalist standards, there still can’t be any justification whatsoever for Amreen’s cold-blooded murder by one who claims to be a ‘mujahideen’ [Islamic warrior]. So, why was she killed? As Amreen was no threat to the pro- Pakistan camp in Kashmir, her murder was most probably an attempt at giving an impetus to growing Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir being championed by the likes of of Dukhtaran-e-Millat [Daughters of the Nation] chief Asiya Andrabi.

The reassuring part is that those perpetrating targeted killings in Kashmir Valley are efficiently being hunted down by security forces and the local police. Take the case of Rather who had survived for so long but was finally corned and eliminated within three months after he had brutally murdered Bhat and Amreen. While security forces and intelligence agencies deserve due credit for neutralising this bloodthirsty fiend, there are all the reasons to believe that it was public anger against targeted killings of innocents that contributed immensely to this achievement.

The grapevine in Kashmir Valley is abuzz with rumours of how information regarding Rather’s whereabouts was being regularly passed on to security forces by irate locals. Furthermore, the fact that J&K police confidently announced that LeT commander Rather was trapped inside a house the moment the Waterhail encounter commenced, clearly indicates that the security forces had precise prior information about his presence.

There was a time when due to lack of actionable intelligence regarding locations of terrorists, security forces in J&K were compelled to conduct elaborate cordon and search operations. However, things have since changed and despite the threat of being killed by terrorists, the violence weary locals are now willingly cooperating with security forces. This is because senseless violence has effectively demolished the more than three-decade old façade of the so-called “armed struggle” in Kashmir.

People in J&K have started realising that terrorists who claim to engaged in an “armed struggle” for ‘azadi’ [freedom] are actually “fighting Pakistan’s war in Kashmir”– a fact that none other than United Jihad Council chief and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist group supremo Syed Salahuddin has himself admitted. Rejection of violence by Kashmiris is a positive development that will certainly go a long way in ridding the Valley of the scourge of terrorism, which in the words of Mirwaiz Umar Farook has “not achieved anything other than creating more graveyards”!

Yasin Malik: Kashmir’s most ‘artful’ opportunist

Nilesh Kunwar
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Yasin Malik: Kashmir’s most ‘artful’ opportunist

From an ordinary public event disruptor to waging Pakistan sponsored armed insurrection in J&K [in the course of which he was actively involved in killing security forces personnel and innocent civilians alike], Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front [JKLF] chief Yasin Malik has not only come a long way. What’s really intriguing is that despite being personally involved in serious crimes, which included masterminding the forced exodus of Kashmir’s pandit community and kidnapping the then Home Minister’s daughter to secure release of his imprisoned comrades, Malik still managed to create for himself an aura of respectability and emerged as an apostle of peace.

Malik’s fame and apparent ‘invincibility’ is the result of his self-serving opportunism coupled with an extraordinary ability to see which way the wind blows. He created the ‘Tala party’ in 1980, and after renaming it the ‘Islamic Students League [ISL], became its general secretary. As ISL contended that it didn’t recognise the Constitution of India, it didn’t directly participate in the 1987 Legislative assembly elections. However, the wily Malik wasn’t the one to forego this golden opportunity to expand his area of political influence just for the sake of principles, and so he ensured that ISL not only joined Muslim United Front [MUF], but also took responsibility for its election campaigning.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Line of Control [LoC] that divides J&K, Pakistani President Gen Zia ul Haq was immensely impressed by the success of the proxy war waged by US backed mujahideen against the Soviet army in Afghanistan. Accordingly, he ordered Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] to replicate this irregular warfare model in J&K and start a proxy war there. ISI went about executing this sinister mission with missionary zeal and in 1986, it roped in JKLF founding member Amanullah Khan, a resident of Pakistan occupied Kashmir [PoK] who had just returned from the UK to execute this devious plan.

Using its extensive network of well-paid local ‘over ground’ workers to lure Kashmiri youth of impressionable age into crossing the LoC for undergoing arms training in special camps set up in PoK for this purpose, the ISI was able to attract hundreds of young Kashmiris, impelled by romantic visions of a “war o liberation”. After the controversial 1987 J&K elections, several Kashmiri youths made their way to PoK and in 1988, Yasin Malik too crossed the LoC and underwent arms training being organised by ISI and imparted by Pakistan army instructors.

On returning to Kashmir Valley after having received arms training there, Yasin Malik alongwith three others [Hamid Sheikh, Ashfaq Wani and Javed Ahmad Mir] took charge of waging Pakistan’s proxy war in J&K. They called themselves the HAJY group [this name being derived from the first alphabet of their respective names] and assured locals that “azadi [independence] was just around the corner.” The gullible public blindly believed them and with fundamentalists whipping up communal frenzy, even overlooked or condoned JKLF’s orgy of senseless violence that resulted in the forced exodus of Kashmiri pandits.

However, the ISI was unhappy with JKLF’s stated aim of an ’independent’ Kashmir, and  cut off arms supply and stopped funding to this group. Not only this, to suit its own vested interests, ISI created a new pro-Pakistan armed group called Hizbul Mujahideen [HM]. On the directions of ISI, HM initiated a bloody turf war for control of armed insurrection in J&K and brutally decimated JKLF. In his widely acclaimed and authoritative book ‘Shadow Wars: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir’, Arif Jamal mentions that during an interview a high-ranking Rawalpindi based Hizb commander named Jamal admitted that during this period, HM had eliminated about 7,000 “political rivals” [a euphemism for JKLF cadres].On cross-checking this information with Masood Sarfraz, who was once very close to Salahuddin but had since parted ways, Jamal was told that that the actual number of “political rivals” killed by HM were “many times higher”. 

After his release on bail in May 1994, Malik declared an “indefinite” JKLF ceasefire and announced that he was renouncing violence and would instead carry out a non-violent struggle for ‘independence’.  This unilateral move was not appreciated by the JKLF [PoK chapter] and Amanullah Khan removed Malik as president of JKLF, causing this group to split in two factions.

However, despite the reality that violence in J&K was actually a proxy war being orchestrated by ISI and had nothing to do with ‘azadi’, staring them in the face, the over-optimistic media peddled Malik’s renunciation of violence as ‘the beginning of the end’ of the so-called ‘armed struggle’. He was thus perceived by many as the proverbial prodigal’s son and his decision to follow the Gandhian approach made him a hero of sorts. New Delhi too seems to have been taken-in by his proclamations and treated him with kid’s gloves and the criminal cases against him for inciting and participating in insurrection, premediated murder, kidnapping and forceful confinement appeared to have been consigned to the backburner. So, Malik became a hero of sorts!

While the grapevine was abuzz with news that Malik had been ‘cultivated’ by intelligence agencies while in prison and had made some ‘secret deal’ with the government, or that he genuinely had a change of heart during his internment, but all these speculations were far removed from the truth. The reality is that after he was released on bail in 1994, Malik realised that due to HM’s efficient predation, JKLF was just a pale shadow of its former self and being denied arms and funds by ISI it had no capability whatsoever to carry on the so-called ‘armed struggle’ for ‘azadi’. Faced with such overwhelming odds, any lesser mortal would have accepted defeat, but like a wily fox, Malik was made up of much sterner stuff!

By assuming a ‘peacenik avatar’, Malik cunningly turned an existential threat into a splendid opportunity and thus retained his political relevance and ‘immunity’ against persecution for very serious crimes that could well have invited capital punishment! And for over three decades this clever strategy has worked well. No wonder that during this period, the man who as a member of HAJY group had introduced the Kalashnikov into J&K, waged Pakistan’s proxy war by inciting an insurrection that left several thousand dead and many more wounded, was still able to enjoy an undeclared [but very visible] special status and rub shoulders with political bigwigs [including an Indian prime minister] and rights activists known for pursuing motivated agendas.

However, with National Investigation Agency [NIA] now successfully unearthing clinching evidence of his involvement in massive illegal terrorism related financial deals and Ms Rubaiya Sayeed positively identifying him as one of her abductors, Malik’s criminal past has finally caught-up with him. While he may deny any role in killings during the 90s, but the truth isn’t hidden from anyone. So much so that even a WikiLeaks cable of June 8, 2005, mentions that “While a leader of the armed struggle, he [Yasin Malik] has killed in the name of Kashmir, but has become an advocate of non-violence since coming in from the cold.” [Emphasis added].

Similarly, while he may refute money laundering charges, but once again, another Wikileaks cable mentions that in April 2006, a US political councillor had been told by Hurriyat constituent Peoples Conference chief Bilal Lone that “Yasin [Malik] should give up a month of his Pakistani salary to compensate the families of boys killed in Bilal’s [Lone] home area by the army, instead of urging the parents not to take Indian compensation and jobs.” [Emphasis added].

So, in 2006, when Yasin Malik told the then US ambassador to India David Mulford that “Kashmiri politics is no longer about ideology, it’s all a money game,” [Emphasis added], he wasn’t quite off the mark as this admission was straight from the horse’s mouth!

Hizb chief Salahuddin’s son and three others sacked by J&K admin

Nilesh Kunwar
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Hizb chief Salahuddin’s son and three others sacked by J&K admin

There may be many divergent views on the J&K government’s recent sacking of four employees by invoking Article 311 (2) (c) of the Indian Constitution that allows termination of service without holding an inquiry “in the interest of the security of the State”. However, while some legal eagles, members of civil society and rights activists may not be happy with this decision, the same has been very well received by the masses.

The four whose services have been terminated include Syed Abdul Mueed, the son of Pakistan based United Jihad Council [UJC] chief Syed Salahuddin and 2019 batch JKAS cadre officer Assabah Arzoom Khan, [wife of dreaded JKLF terrorist and self-confessed mass murderer Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitte Karate] posted in Kashmir Rural Development Department’s Publicity Wing. The other two are Dr Muheet Ahmad Bhat, and Majid Hussain Qadri who were working at Kashmir University’s Departments of Computer Science and Management Studies respectively.

On condition of anonymity, government officials have given the following reasons for J&K Governor Manoj Sinha’s assent to terminate their services under provisions of Article 311:

·        Mueed’s 2012 appointment as an IT consultant in Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute [JKEDI] has been marred in controversy, right from the initial selection on contractual basis by a panel that had three terrorist sympathisers, to his appointment being made permanent without mandatory CID verification. Besides evidence of him indoctrinating students in JKEDI, intelligence agencies have also discovered that he provided terrorists with information and logistical support to facilitate attacks against security forces in and around the JKEDI complex. [Interestingly, three such terrorist attacks have taken place between 2013 and 2019!]

·        Ms Khan secured a job in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology in 2003 through irregular means and was sacked in 2007 for prolonged absence due to her frequent foreign trips to funnel funds for terrorist activities in J&K. A 2019 batch JKAS officer, she till her termination, was working in Kashmir Rural Development Department’s Publicity Wing and is “a diehard secessionist having deep ties with terrorist outfits and ISI.”

·        The services of KU professors Dr Bhat and Qadri have been terminated as they were openly “propagating secessionist-terrorist agenda in the university by radicalising students for advancing the programme and agenda of Pakistan and its proxies.”

The pro Pakistan lobby in J&K headed by Hurriyat may try to portray these terminations as a sob-sob vendetta story of innocents being penalised for their beliefs or actions of their fathers/husbands. It’ll also contend that absence of any public outcry against irregular appointment of family members of terrorist leaders and separatists is proof that nothing of this sort has been happening. However, everyone knows that it’s primarily due to fear of retribution that Kashmiris choose not to air their seething anger on seeing the kith and kin those responsible for supporting Pakistan’s proxy war and turning Kashmir Valley into a veritable battle zone, securing plum posts in various government departments.

Nevertheless, whenever allegations of rules being disregarded in order to facilitate selection of family members of terrorists and separatists makes news, terrorist groups and separatist organisations invariably claim that these jobs were secured purely on merit. In his book ‘Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years’ released in 2015, former RAW chief AS Dulat has revealed that it was on Hizbul Mujahideen [HM] chief Syed Salahuddin’s discreet request that a seat in medical college was allotted to this terrorist leader’s son.

While both HM and Hurriyat have firmly rejected this claim and furthered the ‘merit’ explanation, two extremely pertinent questions arise. One, why would a highly respected former sleuth known for his integrity make a brazenly false accusation which could well erode his own credibility? Two, if Dulat’s assertion is true, then it’s obvious that such an irregular seat ‘allotment’ in a Jammu medical college couldn’t have been made without the ‘blessings’ of the then J&K Chief Minister, Farook Abdullah. So, if Dulat’s claim is false, then why didn’t Abdullah outrightly rubbish this accusation that portrays him as who pandered to the whims and fancy of terrorists?

It’s possible that family members of terrorists and separatists could have secured government jobs on merit. However, what makes things appear quite odd and raises genuine doubts is the astounding streak of brilliance that seems to “run uniformly in certain families of terrorists and separatists. An example- according to media reports, HM supremo Salahuddin has six sons, and while one is a doctor [with a controversial medical school admission that’s been discussed above] and is working in a government hospital, all the other five too have worked in various government jobs.

Whereas the service of his son Syed Abdul Mueed working as an IT manager in JKEDI has been terminated now, Salahuddin’s two other sons named Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf had earlier lost their jobs under Article 311. The media has quoted an unnamed source as revealing that this drastic action was necessary because all the three siblings were “inducted in the government system in the 2000s in brazen violation of norms and after circumventing the vetting process.” The remaining two sons of the HM supremo are reportedly still employed in J&K administration. Few fathers can boast of such a stupendous achievement!

Similarly, in 2016, Hurriyat heavyweight Late SAS Geelani’s grandson Anees-ul-Islam was appointed as a ‘research officer’ at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC). This happened when Mehbooba Mufti was J&K Chief Minister and considering her penchant for keeping terrorists and separatists in good humour, Islam’s direct selection to a gazetted grade equivalent position in the government was understandably highly suspicious. Many believe that coming in wake of the 2016 summer agitation, this was Mufti’s quid pro quo seeking Geelani’s indulgence for quick return of normalcy in the Valley.  However, the fact that he was leading a group that used to covertly fly drones and after recording scenes of clashes between law enforcement agencies and unruly mobs, shared such footage with Pakistan based ISI operatives for propaganda purposes.

So, when the then US Ambassador to India David Mulford in his 2006 cable to Washington wrote that “Kashmir politics is as filthy as Dal Lake”, and that “corruption cuts across party lines and most Kashmiris take it as an article of faith that politically-connected Kashmiris take money from both India and Pakistan”, he wasn’t exaggerating. Similarly, JKLF chief Yasin Malik too was absolutely truthful in telling a US official that “Kashmiri politics is no longer about ideology, it’s all a money game”.  This is precisely why the determined attempt of J&K’s present dispensation to stem this rot through hard decisions that puts the pro-Pakistan lobby in its place is praiseworthy and merits due appreciation! 

Narcissism: The Future Religion

Scott Douglas Jacobsen
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Narcissism: The Future Religion

By Sam Vaknin

Prof. Shmuel “Sam” Vaknin (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, Google Scholar) is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited (Amazon) and After the Rain: How the West Lost the East (Amazon) as well as many other books and ebooks about topics in psychology, relationships, philosophy, economics, international affairs, and award-winning short fiction. He was Senior Business Correspondent for United Press International (February, 2001 – April, 2003), CEO of Narcissus Publications (April, 1997 – April 2013), Editor-in-Chief of Global Politician (January, 2011 -), a columnist for PopMatters, eBookWeb, Bellaonline, and Central Europe Review, an editor for The Open Directory and Suite101 (Categories: Mental Health and Central East Europe), and a contributor to Middle East Times, a contributing writer to The American Chronicle Media Group, Columnist and Analyst for Nova Makedonija, Fokus, and Kapital, Founding Analyst of The Analyst Network, former president of the Israeli chapter of the Unification Church‘s Professors for World Peace Academy, and served in the Israeli Defense Forces (1979-1982). He has been awarded Israel’s Council of Culture and Art Prize for Maiden Prose (1997), The Rotary Club Award for Social Studies (1976), and the Bilateral Relations Studies Award of the American Embassy in Israel (1978), among other awards. He is Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia (September, 2017 to present), Professor of Finance and Psychology in SIAS-CIAPS (Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies) (April, 2012 to present), a Senior Correspondent for New York Daily Sun (January, 2015 – Present), and Columnist for Allied Newspapers Group (January, 2015 – Present). He lives in Skopje, North Macedonia with his wife, Lidija Rangelovska. Here, he writes about the future of religion as narcissism.

Pathological narcissism develops as a set of complex psychological defenses against childhood abuse and trauma in all its forms, including not only “classical” maltreatment, but also idolizing the child, smothering it, parentifying it, or instrumentalizing it.

Whenever the child is not allowed to separate from the parental figures, form boundaries, and individuate (become an individual), a disorder of some kind ensues, secondary (pathological) narcissism being among the most prevalent. 

In the narcissistic pathology, the child forms a paracosm ruled over by an imaginary friend who is everything the child is not: omniscient, omnipotent, perfect, brilliant, and omnipresent. In short: a godhead or divinity. The child worships the newfound ally and makes a human sacrifice to this Moloch: he offers to it his true self. 

The child strikes a Faustian deal: he is endowed with a grandiose albeit fragile self-image and a fantastic self-perception, but, in return, he ceases to exist.

The narcissist outsources his ego boundary functions to the False Self and regulates his internal environment (for example: his sense of self-worth) via constant feedback from a multitude of interchangeable sources of narcissistic supply. His is a veritable hive mind. 

Narcissism is the celebration, elevation, and glorification of a superior absence, a howling emptiness, the all-devouring void of a black hole with a galaxy of internal objects (introjects) swirling around it.

Narcissism is, therefore, a private religion which resembles very much primitive faiths and rites. It is a fantasy defense writ large and gone awry, having metamorphesized into a delusion. Reality testing is severely impaired and the narcissist mistakes inner representations of people with the external objects that gave rise to them.

As a growing number of people become increasingly more narcissistic and as our civilization rewards narcissism and veers towards it, the allure of the narcissism religion is growing exponentially.

It is beginning to be widely and counterfactually glamorized – even in academe – as a positive adaptation. Counterfactually because narcissism ineluctably and invariably devolves into self-defeat and self-destruction. 

Narcissism is the first distributed or networked faith: every believer and practitioner (i.e., every narcissist) is a worshipper but also the god that he worships (has a godlike False Self). Every node is equipotent and self-sustaining as it seeks to consume narcissistic supply (attention, good or bad).  

Like every religion before it, narcissism is fast becoming an organizing and hermeneutic (explanatory) principle. It imbues existence with meaning and direction. It is both prescriptive and proscriptive. Fueled by technologies like social media, it is spreading with more alacrity than any previous historical faith. 

Pathological narcissism is also missionary: the narcissist attempts to convert potential sources of narcissistic supply and intimate partners to participate in his shared fantasy and to worship his grandiose deity, the False Self. 

Everything abovesaid applies with equal rigor to narcissistic collectives. This is where the danger lurks: narcissism is aggressive and intolerant, dysempathic and exploitative. It is a death cult. It elevates objects above people. In a society of the spectacle, everyone is rendered a commodity. Materialism and consumerism are manifestations of narcissism as is malignant, ostentatious individualism.

Narcissism in collectives is indistinguishable from the individual sort: it is always adversarial and results in dismal self-defeat and self-destruction. Left unbridled and unconstrained and elevated ideologically, it can bring about Armageddon in more than one way.

The rise of narcissism is inexorable. It is comparable to climate change and to the shift in gender roles: there is no going back now. If I am right, it calls for major adaptations on multiple levels, individual, institutional, and collective: 

(1) To harness the considerable energy of narcissism and channel it in socially acceptable ways (sublimate it). Prosocial and communal narcissism could spell a workable compromise, for example; 

(2) To put in place checks, balances, and institutions to prevent the more destructive, insidious, and pernicious outcomes and aspects of narcissism; and 

(3) To prepare the general populace to accept narcissism as a part of the landscape and Zeitgeist. This latter goal is best accomplished via technologies that would provide outlets to conforming, positive healthy narcissism and at the same time isolate users from an increasingly more narcissistic reality as much as possible. Social media and the metaverse as harbingers of these twin tasks. Atomization and self-sufficiency as well as the disintegration of social institutions are mere symptoms of this tectonic shift in what it means to be human.

Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash

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