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Six ‘Romantic Terrorists’ eliminated in Kashmir’s Pulwama

Vivek Sinha
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Six ‘Romantic Terrorists’ eliminated in Kashmir’s Pulwama

One of the dark secrets of Kashmir’s society is the regular sexual assaults on hapless Kashmiri girls by ‘Romantic Terrorists’. The Kashmiris seek their revenge by informing about terrorist hideouts to security forces. The peace-loving Kashmiri does not want international terror groups in the Valley.

The encounter killing of terrorist Soliha Akhoon along with his six other accomplices in South Kashmir’s Pulwama provides yet another evidence to the world that Kashmir’s terrorism is a subset of global Islamic terror module. The grand design of the likes of Soliha who have waged a war against India is not to fight injustice, rather they want to see the picturesque Kashmir Valley as part of the Islamic Caliphate.

A senior Army officer said that a large cache of arms have been recovered from these six slain terrorists. Remember, these six are no misguided youths. Soliha Akhoon alias Rehan Khan was the deputy chief of Zakir Musa-led terrorist group Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind. The other five terrorists who were killed in Pulwama were also active members of Musa’s Ansar that works under direct command from the global terror outfit Al-Qaeda.

That the “Kashmir struggle” has nothing to do with Kashmir and is a subset of global Islamic terrorism was always talked about and discussed, albeit in hushed tones, for lack of evidence. As the world gets to know about direct links between global terror outfits such as Al-Qaeda and Kashmir-based splinter groups this façade of “Kashmir struggle” is falling gradually.

In fact, Zakir Musa has himself openly advocated for Ghazwa-e-Hind and exhorted Indian Muslims to rise up in revolt against the Indian state. Musa had clearly stated that terrorism in Kashmir was actually a part of the ongoing global war to establish Islamic Caliphate and has nothing to do with Kashmir’s Azadi. Musa even threatened to behead Hurriyat leaders if they continued to demand Azadi for Kashmir and seek a political solution to the Kashmir issue.

Soon after this statement, Musa was ousted by Hizbul Mujahideen as chief of its Indian chapter. Musa, on his part, remained defiant. He stood by his comments and announced the set-up of a new Islamic outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind reiterating that “Mujahids” like him are fighting only for greater Islamic Caliphate and Kashmir struggle is a cog in this grandiose plan. Hizbul’s firing Musa as its India Chief is a mere eyewash. It was done with the intention to fool the local Kashmiri into supporting their rank and file. Hizbul Mujahideen, Al-Qaeda, IS (Islamic State) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) remain committed to establishing an Islamic Caliphate.

The concept of Islamic Caliphate dates back to sixth century wherein the newly formed Islamic kingdom in Middle East (West Asia) was ruled by a Caliph according to Sharia laws who enjoyed absolute power. This Caliphate persisted in various forms across the Middle East (West Asia) and frittered away by the 19th Century. Radical Muslims have always dreamt of re-establishing the Caliphate and bringing new lands under Caliphate rule and consider this as Jihad. The set of laws under Caliphate include severe restrictions on a woman’s freedom and dissent to the Caliph is almost always punishable by death.

Terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda, IS (Islamic State), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen, among several others recruit youth with an impressionable mind into their ranks for the Islamic holy war to fight for the Caliphate. However, politically they put up the mask of fighting for oppression and injustice and hence try to turn the international opinion in their favour.

Ditto in Kashmir.

Over the years, various factions of Hurriyat Conference have used mosques and madrasas for recruiting young Kashmiri boys into joining their fight for Islam. They are were subsequently indoctrinated into fighting the infidel Indian State. Thereafter these boys are segregated according to their commitment and inclination to be a terrorist and subsequently join ranks with LeT or Hizbul Mujahideen or the Al-Qaeda. The less virulent are asked to lead the mobs of stone pelters.

In public, Hurriyat leaders and other splinter groups of separatists talk about Kashmir’s Azadi thereby drumming up international support in favour of the right of Kashmiris to have self-determination. This double speak had continued for years. As the world knows more about these group’s active association with Islamic terror organisations the mist is slowly but steadily clearing off.

Apart from our security forces doing a commendable job in eliminating Kashmir’s terrorism there’s another dimension to this crackdown. And that’s the silent support of local Kashmiris who provide credible intelligence and pin-pointed locations of terrorist hide-outs to J&K Police, CRPF or to the Indian Army.

The local Kashmiris know that these gun-wielding boys are sexual predators who fulfil their carnal desires by forcing themselves upon hapless Kashmiri women at the point of their guns. Kashmiris loathe these ‘romantic terrorists’ and take their revenge by silently informing the security forces about the precise hide-outs of their assaulter. The security forces conduct the cordon and search operation (CASO) and then eliminate these ‘romantic terrorists’. It’s due to this reason that there has been a spike in elimination of terrorists in the Kashmir Valley over the last couple of years. In this year alone around 250 terrorists have been eliminated.

Even in this encounter it was a tip-off from a local Kashmiri that helped Army and the J&K Police to launch a search operation in Awantipora. The terrorists fired upon the police and in retaliatory cross-fire all six were killed.

The Battle of Chamkaur: An epic that changed the course of Indian history

Jaibans Singh
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The Battle of Chamkaur: An epic that changed the course of Indian history

In Western history, battles that have changed the course of history are well chronicled. They also form part of the folklore of the country. Two such examples are the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

If a similar chronicle of great battles which changed the course of Indian history were to be compiled, the Battle of Chamkaur would be given a position of great significance.

The battle was fought over three days from December 21 to 23, 1704 between the Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh and the coalition forces of the Mughals and Rajput hill chieftains.

In the Battle of Chamkaur, Guru Gobind Singh along with his two sons and forty followers withstood the might of a Muslim and Rajput coalition from a small Haveli (House) which providentially had high mud walls surrounding it. The enemy force comprising of Infantry, horse cavalry and artillery guns was about 1000 strong.

Background and After-effect

Guru Tegh Bahadur, the father of Guru Gobind Singh, embraced martyrdom on November 11, 1675 for the sake of the Kashmiri Pandit community that was being forcibly converted to Islam by Emperor Aurangzeb. Though of young age, Guru Gobind Singh, on becoming the spiritual leader of his sect, was determined to convert his community into a force that would fight against all forms of evil and oppression. It was in furtherance of this thought that he created the Khalsa on March 30, 1699.

The Khalsa was enjoined to maintain a brotherhood of arms and take decisions collectively to fight the oppressor for the sake of the helpless. Much after Guru Gobind Singh had attained martyrdom, his Khalsa carried on with their symbols which made them distinguishable to the enemy among the population; this made them stand and fight while being ever conscious of the legacy and responsibility that their Guru had bestowed upon them.

Once the Khalsa was formed, it started attracting people in vast numbers. The hill princes got nervous of the rising power and military strength of Guru Gobind Singh and they called upon the Mughals to quell the same.

Accordingly, the joint forces of the Mughals and the hill princes attacked the Sikh forces that were tactically dispersed in five forts. Guru Gobind Singh with a small force and the women and small children of his family was in the fortress of Anandpur Sahib.

The coalition forces could not gain the quick victory that they were looking for and were forced into laying siege on Anandpur Sahib to isolate the Guru from his forces. The Sikhs attacked the invading forces with artillery fire and subjected them to lightning raids in which supplies were seized and terrible casualty inflicted upon the invaders.  All attempts to storm the citadel were unsuccessful.

The situation went on for seven long months and the coalition forces started feeling the pressure of stretched logistics and massive losses.

It was at that stage that a proposal of safe passage to the Guru, his family and his followers along with negotiation for peace on honourable terms was sent in the name of Emperor Aurangzeb himself, the other chieftains likewise gave their sacred word.  In view of the suffering of women and children and pressure from his mother the Guru agreed to take the safe passage.

Guru Gobind Singh with his family came out of Anandpur Sahib Fort on a cold night in December. No sooner were they out in the open that they were attacked by enemy forces on the banks of the River Sarsa.

The Sikhs, about 400 strong, fought a rear guard action that has no parallels in the annals of military history and successfully made their Guru cross the River along with his two elder sons Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh and forty Khalsa. Unfortunately, his mother, Mata Gujri and two younger sons, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh got separated. They were later captured by the Governor of Sirhind and the young Sahibzadas (Princes) were interned alive in a brick wall. The Sikhs forming the rear guard perished in the battle.

It was then that the contingent took a stand at the Haveli in Chamkaur. The Sikhs rained arrows at the enemy forces from within and sallied forth in small batches in what would today be called suicide missions. They struck terror among the enemy and killed them in large numbers before falling to a hero’s death. The young sons of the Guru, Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh, also went out and fought to their last breath.

When the strength was totally depleted and only eleven Khalsa soldiers were left with Guru Gobind Singh, they invoked the oath of the Khalsa which makes it incumbent for the Guru to heed the advice of five of his disciples and leave the fortress. The Khalsa then fought to the last with one dressed as the Guru to deceive the enemy. The Guru was helped by many disciples, including Muslims, to escape and managed to reach the safety of a place called Dina.

The Battle of Chamkaur laid bare the moral degradation, cowardice and vulnerability of the Mughal imperial forces. The fact that they used deceit to defeat an adversary much weaker in strength indicated their unwillingness to fight with determination. Their inability to attack and overcome even forty Sikhs in a mud fortress pointed towards the inefficiency of the military leadership.

The proclivity of the Mughal rulers to terrorise its subjects into submission became apparent, it also became quite obvious that when faced with determined opposition they did not have the will to fight back.

The Khalsa, on the other hand, got converted into an ideologically driven and motivated fighting force of such fearlessness that they volunteered to follow the path of martyrdom shown to them by their Guru and this gave them the upper hand despite all odds of numerical inferiority.

The Battle of Chamkaur resulted in infusing a strong military ideology among peasants which led to the ultimate downfall of two of the strongest empires (Muslim and Afghan) seen in the history of the world and creation of a new one – the Sikh Empire.

While celebrating Christmas, it is also important for the Nation to remember this epic battle that changed the history of Indian Sub-continent, broke down a tyrannical regime and brought forth a force that has forever lived on the path of righteousness.

Evolve a new theology to defeat Islamism and Jihadism

Sultan Shahin
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Evolve a new theology to defeat Islamism and Jihadism

A War on Terror has been raging for 17 years now, but we are no closer to defeating Islamist terror. Jihadism continues to attract Muslim youth. This is because the world has not paid enough attention to the ideology of Islamism and Jihadism.

Mainstream Muslims have considered Islam a spiritual path to salvation, one of the many. Islam aims at reforming society for a peaceful, harmonious, pluralist existence. However, due to certain historical factors, the theology and jurisprudence of Islam that evolved in the 8th and 9th centuries (CE), present Islam as a political, totalitarian ideology of supremacism, xenophobia, intolerance and gender discrimination. It is this theology of violence, exclusivism and world-domination that is taught in madrasas and sustains Islamism. But despite the Islamist violence against peaceful Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the community is still not focussed on the need for evolving a counter-narrative of Islam.

It is imperative that Muslim countries that have signed the UN Charter look into the issue urgently and work towards developing a new theology of peace, pluralism and gender justice. While several countries like Morocco and now Saudi Arabia appear to be moving in this direction, the one country that has made a solid contribution is Turkey. In a decade-long exercise 100 Turkish scholars have managed to limit the number of authentic ahadith to just 1600, out of over 10,000, and provide each hadith with context and suitable interpretation. This book of authentic Hadith has been provided to all mosques in Turkey but I hope it is made available to the global Muslim community in their own languages as soon as possible.

The present theology is simply not compatible with the requirements of living in complex, plural societies of the 21st century. Allama Iqbal, a poet-philosopher of the South Asian sub-continent had called for the reconstruction of religious thought in Islam almost a hundred years ago. Let us at least start working on it now.

But first, it’s important for us to understand what has led to the present state of affairs. Why have the Muslims ulema (religious scholars) become so tolerant, if not actually supportive, of the militant Jihadis in our midst, despite the horrendous toll, in which tens of thousands of Muslims have themselves been killed, not to speak of events like 9/11, and repeated terrorist violence in a number of cities in Europe and North America.

The so-called Islamic state which is known for broadcasting its brutalities in chilling detail has been ousted from its control of territories in Iraq and Syria, but its ideology appears to be gaining ground in Africa and South Asia. Al-Qaeda may be down but is not out; it continues to exert ideological influence on sections of Muslim youth. The Taliban which harboured al-Qaeda in Afghanistan are resurgent and the world community appears to be gradually coming round to the view that they should be allowed to share power in the Kabul administration from which they were ousted soon after 9/11 in 2001.

Islamist terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan, Boko Haram and Al-Shabab in Africa and Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia, indeed all across the world, are continuing to gain strength.

While the world community may have gotten involved in issues related to Islamist extremism since 9/11, this is essentially a war of ideas within Islam which has been going on for centuries. Both God and His Prophet wanted Muslims to be a moderate, justly balanced community. An ummat-e-wasta, Holy Quran 2:143, said. Numerous verses in the Quran and narrations of Hadith,  exhorted Muslims never to take to extremes, not even in matters of fulfilling religious obligations like prayers and fasting. The Prophet actually expressed his anger specifically against a group of people who wanted to pray all day and night, fast continuously for weeks, abstain from marriage, give up eating meat in order to control their lust and to renounce sleeping in beds, etc.

And yet, not long after the demise of the Prophet in 632 (CE), extremists started emerging and taking it upon themselves to decide who is a Muslim and who a Murtad (apostate), Mushrik (polytheist) or kafir (infidel) and also taking it upon themselves to punish and kill people for perceived apostasy or blasphemy. The first group to do so were called the Khwarij (the excluded). They killed thousands of Muslims including Hazrat Ali (RA), the fourth rightly guided caliph. Today our religious books, belonging to all sects in Islam, give scores of grounds on which a Muslim can be declared an apostate (Murtad), Mushrik (polytheist), or infidel (Kafir) and punished with death.

These theological views empower even individual Muslims to start delivering justice to Muslims who, they think, have committed acts of apostasy or blasphemy. The divine justice that was to be delivered by God on the Day of Judgement is dispensed here by individuals who have been brainwashed with extreme ideas of the scope and authority of divine commands like Amr bil Maroof wa Nahi ‘anil Munkar (Enjoining good and forbidding wrong).

Quran, Hadith, and classical Fiqh (jurisprudence) all agree that while there is no concept of an Islamic state in Islam, only the rulers of a legitimate Muslim state can take decisions for perpetrating any kind of violence, either in a war against another state or against individuals in order to impart justice. In classical fiqh (jurisprudence) no individual or group is empowered to take any violent action on its own. But today, violence in various forms is tolerated by the community in the name of Islam. A terrorist has only to quote something from scriptures in justification, without even a reference to context, and his vile acts are forgiven. After all, Osama bin Laden never faced a fatwa of apostasy or blasphemy, while religious reformers like the famous educationist Sir Syed Ahmad (1817—1898) of India were issued scores of fatwas of apostasy by Indian Deobandi ulema as well as the Mutawalli of Khana Ka’aba in Makkah. Indeed, dissenters and reformers in various parts of the Muslim world continue to be killed by individuals and groups. So-called Islamic State chief Khalifa Baghdadi’s statement that “Islam was never a religion of peace, not even for a day,” was greeted with complete and resounding silence from Muslim ulema around the world.

This apathy to growing Islamist extremism is so great that even some highly educated Muslims ask: “What if 30,000 Muslims from 86 countries joined the Islamic State in just one year? What is their percentage in a community of 1.7 billion people? How can you cite this miniscule percentage as evidence of growing extremism?”  One doesn’t know how to respond to such “intellectuals.” The fact is that even if one Muslim thinks that going to a mosque in the form of a human bomb and blowing oneself up to kill fellow Muslims during prayers will bring one divine reward, the community should have been wondering what is it in our religion that lends itself to such dastardly crimes in the hope for reaching Heaven. Radicalisation has grown exponentially, but even after thousands of terrorist crimes having been perpetrated, one or two being reported practically everyday from some part of the world, we remain unconcerned.

Indeed, the man who killed Governor Salman Taseer of Pakistani state of Punjab for showing kindness to a Christian lady accused of blasphemy, is glorified as a saint. After his judicial execution, the Sufism-oriented Barailvis of Pakistan have built a shrine in his name and hundreds of thousands visit it, seeking this vile murderer’s intercession with God for ending their woes in this life and beyond.

What is the source of this glorification of crimes committed in the name of religion? What lies behind this indifference, this unthinking, unquestioning acceptance of any crime that is perpetrated in the name of Islam? It seems Muslims actually stopped thinking and questioning with the defeat of Mutazillah, the rationalists, in the middle of ninth century (CE), i.e., a little over two centuries after the demise of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). They were told by the ulema to close the doors of Ijtihad, the Islamic principle of creative rethinking and they did. Ijtihad had been used from the time of Hazrat Umar (RA) the second rightly guided caliph who assumed office merely two years after the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

(This is Part-1 of the two-part series by Sultan Shahin. This article was first published in New Age Islam and is being reproduced in News Intervention with due permission from the Author)

Click here to read Part-2 of this two part series

The Death Rattle of Liberal Values

Terri Murray
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The Death Rattle of Liberal Values

American Author and Philosophy Teacher Terri Murray explains in her new book, “Identity, Islam and the Twilight of Liberal Values” why liberalism is in a deep crisis

In 2017 I had begun blogging regularly for Conatus News, a website that was founded by philosophy graduate Benjamin David to provide a platform for progressive liberal politics as well as commentary on culture, religion, society, science and technology.  I was keen to engage some of the changes I saw occurring in Britain’s political discourse, because it reminded me of similar ‘culture wars’ I had seen played out in the United States in the eighties and nineties. 

The U.S. culture wars were in large part orchestrated by American religious conservatives who were discontent with the social revolution of the 1960’s and its aftermath, which included welfare, affirmative action, greater civil liberties afforded to women, homosexuals and atheists and a greater cultural currency given to liberal academics, intellectuals and media personalities.

A 1994 electoral sweep gave Republicans a majority in both Houses of Congress. The incoming Republican “freshmen” were so far to the right of the New Right that they were dubbed “new Republicans”.  The backlash against liberals and civil rights organizations like the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) was often fought openly, largely through the use of talk radio, cable television and church pulpits as well as through the Republican Party and public policy think tanks like The Heritage Foundation and the Free Congress Foundation.  Social conservatives also exploited the language of civil rights to roll back actual civil rights advancements, such as when a November 1996 California anti-affirmative action initiative, Proposition 209, was misleadingly titled the “California Civil Rights Initiative’ (CCRI). Many other far right organizations used similarly misleading language and labels and distorted statistics to sell their regressive politics to a liberal public. 

In 2016 and 2017 I began to notice that in the UK (where I live) a host of neologisms were being introduced into the political discourse or old terms were being resurrected with completely new referents. Lots of this Newspeak was suddenly going mainstream: “cis gender”, “Trans kids”, “intersectionality”, “TERFs”, “the AltRight”, “AntiFa”, “Islamophobia”, and “populism” all made their way into millennials’ everyday language.  And yet so many of these terms seemed to contain within them unstated assumptions or conclusions that had not been argued for, so that once you treated the words as meaningful, you had already conceded the point.

This peremptory use of words to beg important questions frightened me, because I saw how ill-prepared young liberals were to analyse the many rhetorical ploys and fallacies being flung at them. Because of my background as a teacher of critical reasoning I was able to recognise many of the fallacies being deployed and felt that I could offer the younger generation of liberals some useful analytical tools, but my attempts to cope with the onslaught of misleading language and political posturing left me feeling that I was playing a very intense game of intellectual whack-a-mole. The sheer scale of misleading political spin was truly epic and reminded me of the United States military strategy when invading Iraq, which they called “shock and awe”.  The aim is to paralyse the opponent by bombarding them with such a massive, sustained attack that they will have neither the time nor equanimity to respond. 

It seemed to me that so much of what was being peddled as liberal, left-wing policy was in fact eroding key aspects of liberal political philosophy while simultaneously giving inordinate cultural cache to religious conservatives and offering no challenge to neoliberal economics. Again, my background in teaching political ideologies allowed me to discern inconsistencies between the appealing ‘liberal’ labelling and the regressive contents of these new political ‘products’.  

The primacy of the individual and the protection of her civil rights was giving way to communitarianism and collectivist social arrangements, which give more importance to social hierarchies that constrain individuals to a subordinate status vis-à-vis cultural traditions and customs.  This agenda, however, sounded nice when described as “religious freedom” or “multiculturalism”. Where self-appointed community representatives speak on behalf of “the community” as a whole, however, the type of cultural imperialism of which ‘the West’ stands accused is not avoided but perpetuated and officially sanctioned by Western governments, while also being immunized from criticism. In Britain, many leadership roles from the so-called ‘Muslim community’ are assumed by ultra-conservative Salafi-Wahhabists who do not represent Britain’s large secular Muslim constituency but drown its voices. 

Tolerance for intellectual dissent and diversity of opinion on moral and social norms was replaced by a totalitarian state-sponsored demand for “diversity” that replaced the neutral state with a top-down demand to show deference and positive esteem for difference (from the West) with any refusal to do so punished as a thought crime.  The new meaning of ‘diversity’ was the obligatory divergence from Western liberalism and its secularism and a unilateral, rather than reciprocal, demand for tolerance, with each intolerant action against Western targets followed by apologetics explaining why all acts of terror were the inevitable consequence of legitimate grievances against the West and its imperialism.  

Moral relativists disseminated the view that moral beliefs that respect self-determination and authoritarian, theocratic or fundamentalist ideologies that do not, are equally legitimate value systems. They rejected ‘Western’ understandings of ethics and human rights, claiming that there can be no “master discourse” on such matters, while simultaneously assuming that their relativist view on the matter is correct, or at least morally superior to that of their “Eurocentric” opponents. Colonialism is itself treated as an objective moral evil to the extent that former colonial powers and their heirs should experience guilt and shame, irrespective of their cultural positioning or traditions. Yet this expectation of guilt implies the very kind of objective morality that relativists and pluralists reject and deem impossible.

LGBQI rights were extended to a new category of ‘transgender’ person who, contrary to all past progressive sexual liberation movements, claimed that gender is not a social construct after all but a real, intrinsic aspect of human psychological identity, so essential to his inner being that any refusal to acknowledge his inherent  psychological state of “masculinity” or “femininity” amounts to a hate crime. This despite decades of dismantling these stereotypical concepts (“masculinity” and “femininity”) as socially-circulated fictions designed to keep biological men and women bound to their traditional roles within a patriarchal heterosexist society. 

‘Trans’ became the moniker for any child who did not conform to the stereotypes expected of “masculine” boys or “feminine” girls and the style of play expected of a person if their biological sex, so that now non-conforming girls and boys could be diagnosed with a clinical label that could fast-track them to a chemical and/or surgical cure as well as giving them legal recognition as a member of the “correct” sex (the one corresponding to socially conservative, sexist stereotypes about preferences in play and/or manner of dress).       

What if a ship’s planks were replaced one at a time while the ship continued to sail? The Ancient Greek philosophers used this hypothetical assumption (they called it the ship of Theseus) to consider whether the new vessel, with an entirely new set of planks, would be the same ship? If the planks substituted for the originals were materially identical in size, shape and type of wood then it seems fair to say that the new ship, while not identical to its predecessor, would still be ‘the same make’ of ship.

If we use this metaphor to contemplate a political system that replaces all of its core values (“planks”) with entirely new ‘materials’ (principles), then we cannot be talking about the same political system, and this is what I believe is currently happening to political liberalism. While many well-meaning and ostensibly ‘left-wing’ activists fly the prestigious colours of the liberal flag at every port, their neoliberal Titanic is a ghost of the vessel that set sail in the second half of the 18th century.

The book is available on Amazon.com and on Amazon.co.uk
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Terri Murray has offered News Intervention readers a discounted price of £11.99 for her book “Identity, Islam and the Twilight of Liberal Values” . The price is valid till the stocks last. For your copy write to newsintervention@gmail.com with the words “News Intervention discount offer” in the subject line.

Shifting your company’s IT services on cloud requires a perspective change

Vibhuti Sinha
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Shifting your company’s IT services on cloud requires a perspective change

Strategizing and implementing cloud compliance with a traditional enterprise mindset is detrimental

As organizations continually move their workloads on cloud platforms, they need to ensure their data, workloads and processes meet compliance requirements. Traditional mindset to achieve compliance on cloud is the biggest hurdle organizations face and to overcome the same requires a perspective change.

Understanding challenges is the first step.

Challenge #1 – Demarcating responsibility in ‘shared responsibility model’ across cloud service models– IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service)
Despite significant effort from cloud providers in creating awareness of ‘shared responsibility model’, providing security controls and trainings, organizations still struggle to understand the same and make mistakes in defining and demarcating the responsibilities. Organizations end up with critical security gaps on their cloud assets assuming it’s the Cloud service provider’s responsibility leading to potential breaches.

Challenge #2 – Responsibility shift and varied realization of compliance mappings for different cloud service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
Compliance requirements or objective remains the same across cloud computing layers. However, the accountability to achieve a specific requirement on a SaaS versus an IaaS platform may be completely different with one requiring the Cloud Provider to implement the same whereas other requiring the customer. For example, data at rest encryption requirement to meet compliance objectives on a SaaS platform as compared to an IaaS service has different responsibility models and implementation sets.

Challenge #3 – Enterprise focused ‘risk signatures’ and ‘compliance mappings’ do not translate/fit into cloud specifications
Organizations try to retrofit their existing enterprise security controls for assessing and meeting their compliance needs on Cloud to save on costs and time. This leads to erroneous results and will cost more in terms of time and effort to fix the failed compliance objectives and security mis-configurations.

For example, PCI compliance mandates assigning a unique ID to each person with computer access which is a straight forward use case in a traditional enterprise. However, this specific requirement translates into several key use cases in the content of an IaaS service. A person can access IaaS resources via its management portal, APIs, Command Line or even from an end workloads via native IAM Roles.

Challenge #4 – Security and compliance checks done at the very end in the software production life cycle

Traditionally security and compliance policies are documented in large and difficult to comprehend paper documents. Post software production, security officers/personnel validate the software to ensure they meet the documented policies which often fall short due to time constraints on delivery, go to market pressure and incorrect understanding of software. Security and Development team’s relationship get affected in the due process which attributes to creation of non-resilient and insecure software most of the times.

Challenge #5 – High velocity of drift management

Cloud ecosystem is ephemeral in nature leading to an extremely fast environment and making it extremely difficult to manage and track the drift. Enforcing security controls to maintain the compliance standards in a rapid changing environment is complex, requires discipline, redesign of legacy applications and can be a costly affair if not done correctly. Always remember, meeting cloud compliance requirements is difficult, staying compliant is more.

Following are the salient ways to enable organizational changes which are instrumental in bringing a change in perspective, change in culture and eventually leading to achieving and staying compliant in a Cloud ecosystem.

Understanding of shared responsibility model across cloud service models is paramount to understand ‘responsibility shift’

Cloud providers have invested a lot in creating awareness and knowledge base articulating the responsibilities. Cloud adoption strategy should include investment in learning and training the teams about responsibility shift.

Delineating and defining responsibilities for IaaS, PaaS and SaaS service models as early as possible is the mantra to success. Moving to Cloud does not mean organizations are off the hook to secure their workloads or data on cloud.

Shifting security and compliance checks to left

The rise in devOps adoption have significantly impacted the ways in which organizations are producing software. With this change in methodology, security and compliance controls need to shift left and not be implemented closer to production. Conversion of paper based security and compliance policies to code templates is the fundamental change, organizations should be willing to adopt.

Starting early and converting security as code is the answer to achieve compliance at cloud scale.

Automation is key to managing drift and staying compliant

Managing drift in cloud is difficult due to its ephemeral and high velocity nature. Automation and real time enforcement of compliance policies is the mantra to stay compliant.

Automation allows organizations to enforce security policies and security controls homogenously in an ever-changing cloud ecosystem. This could further be augmented with real time enforcement of compliance policies, which is an absolute necessity to stay compliant. In-house automation as well as products like Chef, Puppet, etc., can be used to automate and manage drift and meet compliance objectives.

Third-party products for compliance framework mappings help in reducing complexity and expedite the process

Organizations in the regulated industries are spending significant time in defining security and compliance controls to meet the stringent and complex compliance mandates. Investments in external consultation or third party products not only expedites the process but also ensure the correctness of the mappings. Allgress RPM is a great tool with comprehensive compliance mappings in the IaaS space, which could help organizations to find the security products which would fit or meet their compliance needs.

Organizational change in culture and mindset are fundamental shift which needs to occur at the grassroots level to ensure a successful, secure and compliant cloud adoption.

Investment in real estate assets should be strategic, not emotional

Ramesh Menon
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Investment in real estate assets should be strategic, not emotional

Scores of people hold multiple real estate assets in their portfolio with no cash flow. Deeper analysis reveals these realty investments were led by emotions, rather by strategic analysis

Whatever be the product, marketers have always sold three things — Fear, Hope and Greed. Real estate has been no exception.

The two most worrying problems plaguing the stakeholder in the Indian real estate industry are — inventory pile up and devaluation of an asset or non performing investment.

I have been deliberating about the cause and remedy of this phenomenon over the past three years, and I have found out that investors haven’t exactly captured three essential factors in real estate, which are (a) Tax efficient monetization, (b) Capture value from the real estate assets (c) Impact of new policies on overall efficiency of investments.

Let us admit that this prolonged slowdown wasn’t exactly predicted by many investors, and that the emotion led investment strategy into a few low hanging segments like residential, retail, commercial and land weren’t exactly backed by a strategic entry and exit plan. Most times, multiple agencies have represented real estate projects or products to the investor community and the purchased assets haven’t formed a part of the ‘Managed assets & wealth’.

Policies make a big impact on real estate investment and conclusively put to rest the speculative element from investments, and also de-risks both the investor and investee. Said that, it also becomes the way forward for unlocking the value from non-performing real estate assets.

To exemplify the point, let us take the example of Delhi and critically re-look at three policies which have been notified, or are likely to be notified within the month of July’ 2018.

Notification titled “Regulations for enabling the planned development of Privately owned lands”
You would recall that there has been a lot of debate on the sealing and unauthorized developments within Delhi, with the highest policy making bodies and the Supreme Court involved in the same. There are private lands in Delhi, pre-1962 master plan, which hitherto were not eligible to be monetized or developed by the land owning entity/ individual. When these assets are read with the Master Plan Delhi-2021 and the building bye laws they can now be unlocked to their full value.

“Notification for allowing permitted changed land use in Industrial plots for non Industrial use”
With the change in policies, lack of investment into hard manufacturing projects, environmental norms and escalating costs and price of Land, many industrial houses and owners find it unviable to manufacture in Delhi. Said that, they still hold on to Real Estate Industrial assets which can be monetized for non industrial use. Why not re-look at the asset portfolio dispassionately and create a profitable manufacturing business.

Land-pooling & Farmhouses in MPD 2021
DDA recently concluded the public hearing against the 735 objections and suggestions towards Land Pooling in Delhi. This is also significant against the suggestions put forth by the Supreme Court in the matter of sealing as well as Urbanization of Delhi to accommodate the demand for more than a million housing units to be developed.

If you ask the wish list of any investor into real estate, it would be to monetize and own assets simultaneously; to derive tangible and intangible benefits.

If one scans through the business newspaper headlines, it is evident that the importance of “Monetization of Real estate assets” has dawned on Governments, Organizations and high net-worth individuals (HNIs) who are critically and scientifically (not emotionally) re-evaluating their real estate portfolio to convert them into performing assets, and also improve cash flows. Be it Air India, or Indian Railways or any PSU (public sector unit), traditional manufacturing organizations or neo-service entities, or even individuals who have an ‘inventory pile-up’ on their portfolio.

Culturally, Indians have been attuned to believe that monetizing real estate assets is akin to ‘selling family silver’, which, sadly is untrue. Agreed, to sell inherited assets is an emotional decision, but to re-arrange one’s assets following a more scientific methodology is a strategic call. After all, if you’re tracking the performance of your financial assets on a periodic basis, why not real estate? How often have we been emotional about re-arranging our financial portfolio for better cash flow management and enhanced business profits?

Mark Twain had famously remarked “Buy Land, they don’t make it anymore.” He said buy, possess; not hoard. Monetizing assets is about allowing your portfolio to perform at an optimum potential, rather than rest on a residual value.

We have always advocated that the best time to buy is during the ‘low tide’; said that, the best time to monetize is when newer opportunities emerge. And there are multiple new avenues which seek the smart investor who dares to look beyond the traditional avenues and products in real estate.

An interesting facet emanating out of an informal gathering of real estate investors is that “there are MNC brokers, there are domestic brokers, but hardly any ‘customer centric’ consulting organizations with deep rooted understanding of both finance and real estate, who work towards the success of the venture, rather than the transaction.”

Pulwama Encounter: Divisive, Disruptive & Propagandist activities exposed in Kashmir

Jaibans Singh
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Pulwama Encounter: Divisive, Disruptive & Propagandist activities exposed in Kashmir

The heavy loss of life in an encounter at Pulwama in South Kashmir on Saturday, December 15, has evoked multifarious responses. While there is a universal expression of grief over the lives lost, the situational dynamics have created differing perceptions. A cursory study of the responses indicates an attempt from some quarters to politicise the tragedy. The media, as usual, has not attempted to get to the bottom of the incident and has simply voiced opinions that suit the organisational policy. The end result is a lot of finger pointing and blame-game even as little effort is directed towards identifying the root cause of the tragedy with the intention of evolving a methodology to ensure that it is not repeated.

The incident relates to a joint operation launched by security forces on the basis of specific information regarding the presence of a group of terrorists. The contingent included teams from the army’s Rashtriya Rifles unit, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu Kashmir Police and CRPF. It launched a pre-dawn cordon and search operation at the encounter site which resulted in a fire fight after they were fired upon by terrorists.

The operation was in concert with the established policy of the Indian government to eliminate terrorism from the region. All security agencies were involved and the timing was such that it would have ensured minimum interference from civilians. It was, therefore, launched in accordance with the laid down standard operating procedure.

The operation took place in an open orchard which raised a problem of sanitisation due to the large spread of the encounter site. Technically, the problem faced has been described by a Police officer as “difficulty in creation of a satellite zone.”

The paid ring leaders instigated the civilians to get too close to the encounter site due to which the situation spiralled out of control, leading to the most unfortunate casualties in the cross fire. The foreign sponsored propaganda machinery got active immediately thereafter. Unmindful of the sensitivity of the situation, it went about generating an unseemly hype. Some newspapers that are openly aligned with separatist interests carried statements from the terrorist organisations, Hizbul Mujahedeen and Lashker-e-Toiba and also of Pakistan.

The long winding statements avowed continuation of the so-called “struggle”. An attempt was made to raise emotions by airing parents’ bytes about losing their sons and of children losing their fathers. The statements constitute a low-grade attempt to leverage the tragedy by spreading misinformation and half truths with the evil intention of instigating the people against their security forces and the government.
Not to be left behind, the Hurriyat leadership spoke of the Government of India being interested in “systematically eliminating the people (of Kashmir).” It also made public its intention to march towards the Army cantonment at Badami Bagh and challenged the Indian government to eliminate its leadership while it marched.

The march, as expected, turned out to be a damp squib since the necessary numbers could not be collected and the leaders were too afraid to go on their own. The falsity of their so-called spirit of sacrifice was totally exposed. The lack of public response is a clear indicator of their tenuous status in the eyes of the very people whom they profess to represent.

The paid newspapers and propagandists had no word to say about Sowar Kishan Chand Rajput, who also lost his life in the gun fight and joined the long list of soldiers who have sacrificed their lives to save the people of Kashmir from the scourge of terrorism. He has also left behind a grieving family. It is quite appalling to see the manner in which third-rate rabble rousers dehumanise the sacrifices of the soldiers by totally ignoring the same. One would like to ask these worthies as to why their conscience was not pricked just a few days earlier when four Jammu and Kashmir policemen were killed in a terrorist attack on a police picket in South Kashmir’s Shopian district and their weapons snatched. These weapons will be used to abduct, extort and murder common, innocent Kashmiris’.

The army, always sensitive to the needless loss of civilian lives, was quick to condole the death of the civilians even as it grieved the loss of one of its brave scion, Sowar Kishan Chand Rajput. “We condole the unfortunate loss of civilian lives during the Sirnoo (Pulwama) encounter, in which three terrorists were eliminated, a soldier was martyred and many other security personnel seriously injured,” a spokesperson said.

Governor Satya Pal Malik expressed grief over the loss of civilian lives during the operation and appealed to the people to not go near the areas during or immediately after such operations. It is notable here that Jammu and Kashmir Police has issued an advisory many times asking people living within two-kilometres from the site of a gun battle to stay indoors. Despite this, some people go near to the encounter sites which leads to such tragedies.

There can be no let down in the counter-terrorist operations till such time that the last terrorist is not killed. Security forces have in place all feasible procedures to ensure that no collateral damage takes place, but its total avoidance is possible only if people heed the police advisory and stay away from encounter sites. The problem would be completely obviated if local boys who have been misled on to the path of terrorism are weaned away from this self-destructive pursuit. And in this the families and civil society of Kashmir have a big role to play, of course, with the complete support of the government.

Those who use such tragedies to fructify the evil agenda that they pursue due to foreign influence and foreign money stand exposed. The government needs to take firm action against them and ensure that divisive disruptive, propagandist activities are curtailed in totality since they are now creating maximum trouble in the region. Normalcy has gained firm roots in the state and now the last leg for firming it up remains to be taken. It is up to the government to generate the will to do so and in this it has the complete support of the security forces and more importantly the people.

A trip to the Corbett

Narender Yadav
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A trip to the Corbett

Spotting tiger during a visit to the Jim Corbett National Park will be a memorable affair for life

It’s difficult to pinpoint any one particular reason to visit Jim Corbett National Park again and again. The picturesque surroundings of the park, good connectivity from Delhi and easy availability of accommodation might be some of the factors. But the biggest attraction that lures nature lovers to Corbett is definitely the desire to get a glimpse of the tiger in wild. This correspondent was lucky to have a close brush with the majestic animal during his second trip to Bijrani forest in Jim Corbett National Park recently.

Located in the Ramganga river valley in Uttrakhand, Jim Corbett is India’s first national park and tiger reserve. A comfortable overnight journey via Hapur, Moradabad and Ramnagar can take you in the lap of nature at the beautiful Corbett in Dhilkuli village in Ramnagar. However, due to the poor condition of road from Moradabad to Ramnagar the journey mighty take an hour extra and more in case your journey gets stalled due to a tyre puncture as it happened with us on our way to Corbett at 2:30 am in the morning. From Ramnagar to Bijrani forest the road is in perfect shape and if your able to reach there just before sunrise, you can have a never before experience of watching sun rising over the horizon behind the Kumaon hills.

Finding a suitable accommodation at Corbett is absolutely no problem, with a large number of sprawling resorts and cottages just outside the Bijrani zone of the forest. However, the large scale construction activity and the shrinking River Ramganga might come as a bit of disappointment to nature lovers, as it is fast changing the look and feel of this once tranquil village.

Jeep safari is the most popular mode of exploring the forest area. Elephant safari can also be tried, depending on the availability, as there are only two elephants with the forest department for a safari. 30 jeeps are allowed inside at a time, which needs to be reduced as it leads to excessive crowd inside the forest and diminishes the chance of spotting wild animals, particularly the tiger. Animals that can be easily spotted in Bijrani zone include chital, sambhar, hog deer, langur and jackal, among others. Tigers are a rare sight and there are chances you might have to satisfy your wild instincts with tiger pug marks only.

However, many a times tigers have been spotted in Bijrani zone. We were lucky as we could get a full view of this spectacular wild beast near a dried up river channel close to the watch tower while coming back from the safari in the evening. The guide informed that around ten tigers have been spotted in the Bijrani zone in the recent past.

For adventure sports lovers, River Ramganga provides some good options. Bridge falling, rappling and river crossing are some of the adventure sports that can be tried out on the river bank. Though they may not send your adrenaline rushing but definitely they provide a good break from the monotonous and lethargic urban lifestyle. A visit to the river can also be a soothing experience.

A weekend visit to Jim Corbett is truly a refreshing affair. No doubts Corbett National Park receives thousands of visitors every year, who come there to reconnect with the nature. The park remains closed during the monsoon season and is open to tourists from October-June every year.

New generation must derive motivation from historical narratives set by Indo-Pak War 1971

Jaibans Singh
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New generation must derive motivation from historical narratives set by Indo-Pak War 1971

As India celebrates its victory over Pakistan on 16 December, the youth need to understand post-independence historical perspective of the nation and also realise that the freedom they enjoy has come after countless sacrifices

“Oye shera, agar tere varge afsar saadi fauj vich hon tan assi dunia di kisse vee fauj nu kacha kha jaiye” (Hey Tiger, if officers like you were in our army we would eat up any army in this world). This remark was made by a Pakistan prisoner of war in East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) to an Indian officer, Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Colonel) Jasbir Sarai of 1st Battalion, The Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, on culmination of the Indo-Pakistan War, 1971, also known at the Bangladesh Liberation War. One wonders whether this Pakistani soldier was praising Indian Army officers or castigating his own leadership on their faces.

Bangladesh today is a proud, independent nation well on the path to development. Its rapidly improving economy and enduring democracy are its biggest assets. Its relationship with India is on the rise with positive vibes on the Land Boundary Agreement and water sharing. This freedom was won with great sacrifice. The role of the Indian army is providing to the people of Bangladesh the fruits of democracy and freedom is remarkable.

Late Field Marshal Sam Mankeshaw, the then Chief of Army Staff of Indian Army, went on to become a folklore for his firm and righteous stand in the planning and conduct of the war. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions and strategic requirements and thus gave to India a resounding victory. In the run up to 1971 war, when he visited different garrisons, he would tell his soldiers to respect women in his own inimitable style. “When you feel tempted, put your hands in your pockets and think of Sam Manekshaw,” he said. With this simple statement the COAS laid down the high moral threshold that he expected from his soldiers and they lived up to the standards set.

On the western front, the war of 1971 witnessed many battles where the Indian soldiers exhibited courage and fortitude in the face of great odds and came out victorious, albeit after great sacrifice. Primary among the battles fought in this sector is the Battle of Longewala. This was the first major engagement wherein the enemy launched a massive assault with Armoured and infantry, but was foiled due to the resilient defense by a small contingent of 23 Punjab led by Major (later Brigadier) Kuldip Singh Chandpuri. The enemy, despite overwhelming strength, could not break the defense of this small force and, on the next day, was handed a devastating attrition at the hands of Indian Air Force. The fate of the war in the western sector was decided then and there in favour of India.

The exploits of Brigadier Kuldip Singh Chandpuri and his men have been recorded in an epic Indian movie “Border” which does not fail to bring tears of pride in the eyes of every Indian. Brigadier Chandpuri breathed his last in November this year at the age of 78. He will always be remembered as a true son of India.

The conduct of this war was a true example of the synergized efforts of Government and the Armed Forces with complete support of the people of India. It was the support of the nation that served as an elixir for the soldiers to attain success which has no comparison in the annals of military history.

It was in the aftermath of this war and due to the ignominious defeat suffered by Pakistan that the evil policy of “bleeding India with a thousand cuts” was formulated by the Pakistani Dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, sometime in 1977. The basis of this policy lied in the conviction that Pakistan cannot beat India in a conventional war, so the best option is to resort to a Proxy War designed to weaken the fabric of Indian constitutional democracy from within.

Text of the Instrument of Surrender signed by Pakistan’s Lt Gen AA Khan Niazi, putting Pakistan’s Armed Forces in Bangladesh under command of India’s Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora

Jammu & Kashmir, particularly the Kashmir Valley, was chosen as the main battlefield for application of this policy. The porous borders were used to infiltrate brutal mercenaries who spread terrorism and inflict tremendous atrocities on poor and innocent civilians. The Kashmir Pandit community was forced to leave their home and hearth in Kashmir at the point of the gun.

This policy has caused terrible misery to the people of Jammu & Kashmir over four decades but it has not been able to break their will or their determination to remain with the democratic values of their country – India. They have, with complete support of the Indian Army and other security forces, defeated the evil intentions of the enemy. Though the enemy is relentless in pursuit of its evil agenda but the same has been contained. Democracy has taken firm root in the region as has become apparent by the recent successful conduct of the Panchayat elections.

It is hoped that Pakistan and its stooges will read the writing on the wall and understand that it cannot break the fabric of India by any means, fair or foul. No kind of warfare, be it conventional, proxy, asymmetric, kinetic, hybrid or anything else can fructify the evil, fundamentalist ambitions of some self-serving powers based in Pakistan.

India is as strong as it was in 1971 when it responded to Pakistani atrocities on its own land and its own people and won a just and virtuous war. With righteousness always on the side of the Indian Army there is nothing that Pakistan can do to break the sovereignty and integrity of the Indian nation. It would be best for the country to divert its energies inwards to tackle the many serious economic and humanitarian issues that it is facing.

As the Indian nation celebrates culmination of the victorious war on 16 December, the people of India, especially the youth, need to be understand the post-independence historical perspective and realise that the freedom they enjoy has come at a price. Sacrifices did not end with the freedom struggle; they extended way beyond to save the territorial integrity, dignity, democratic values and freedom of the great Indian nation. The new generation must derive motivation from the historic narratives and be prepared to make similar sacrifices in the future so that the nation emerges as strong and indomitable.

A peek into India’s colonial history

News Intervention Bureau
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A peek into India’s colonial history

With revamping of the Coronation Park in Delhi, one can get a glimpse about British era in India

The presence of beautifully planned North and South Block, majestic India Gate and hundreds of aesthetically designed bungalows in Lutyen’s Delhi give a great deal of insight into the life of British period. An interesting yet lesser known place in this category is the Coronation Park near North Campus of the University of Delhi. It was witness to some of the momentous historical events that had repercussions in Delhi and also across India.

Located on Bhai Parmanand Marg in North Delhi, not far from the North Campus of Delhi University, Coronation Park was the venue of Delhi Durbar of 1877 when Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India and was later used to celebrate the accession of Edward VII in 1903. On 11 December, 1911, the Delhi Durbar took place commemorating the coronation of King George V as the Emperor of India after his coronation in the United Kingdom in June 1911. On this occasion the King announced the transfer of the capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi. Interestingly, the park has the largest and tallest statue of King George V on a pedestal, which was earlier, located on the Chhatri at India Gate and was shifted here somewhere in mid 1960s. Probably there is no other place in the city where we find life size statues of British royal family.

For a very long time Coronation Park remained in an unattended condition to the extent that its unkempt surroundings belie its historical importance to first time visitors. Even Commonwealth Games failed to transform the prevailing scenario in the park. This is despite the fact that DDA included conservation of the Coronation Park in its Draft Zonal Development Plan for Civil Lines zone and also signed a contract with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for a holistic restoration project a couple of years back but nothing changed on the ground. Even MCD’s ambitious plan to develop a heritage corridor starting from Coronation Park in North Delhi to Qutub Minar in South Delhi that would include prominent heritage sites such as Ferozeshah Kotla, Khooni Darwaza and Delhi Gate failed to make any headway.

After years of civic apathy now it seems the park is all set to get a major face lift. If everything goes fine the Coronation Park would regain its lost glory by the end of this year. Though late but restoration work in the park has started. The sprawling park will be properly landscaped and information boards throwing light on the historical importance of the park will be put up. It would also include setting up of an interpretation centre, restaurant and relocation of statues in a systematic manner along with overall landscaping of the park. The revamping of Coronation Park would undoubtedly make it popular among tourists as well as the residents of Delhi.

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