Author: जयकृष्णः | ജയകൃഷ്ണൻ

No to Musharraf!


Even though Musharraf was the man behind Kargil and whose popular hobby is making India a hostage by holding a gun to his head, we are shamelessly giving him a red carpet welcome. On April 17th, Kargil mastermind and Pakistani “cross-border-terrorism-expert” dictator is arriving in India in the pretext of watching a cricket match between India and Pakistan.
Indian bloggers are uniting to protest this visit. Please join by displaying the above graphic in your blog. Details here.
Participating Bloggers: The Acorn, India Defence, Secular Right, Nerve Endings Firing Away, Rabble Rousing Random Ramblings, Seriously Sandeep, Dancing with Dogs, Rojnamcha, Niket Kaisare, Communism Watch, vichaar.org, Quizfan, Marwadi, Suren, Transport Phenomena, Akash Mahajan, Blog of Parag , Null Pointer, Rajagopal, Idhar Udhar, Rediff.com’s Rajeev Srinivasan, Sathish Kumar, Parag, Saket Vaidya, wgaf, sen’s spot, sudeep jain, Atanu Dey, Mahesh Ganapaty
Related Links: We are so flexible, Did Nawaz Sharif Know ?

What Musharraf wants

Now that we are on our one billionth peace process with an inflexible neighbor, what do you think will happen when the dictator and Kargil architect visits India ?
The Foreign Secretary of India issued a statement asking the public not to expect any fireworks. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the good cop. I don’t think he can offend anyone with words. So that job was delegated to Pranab Mukerjee who said “Pakistan has double standards on terrorism“. While Musharraf thinks that time is running out (for him?), Natwar Singh said that “it would not be prudent to set any time frame for resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue and asserted that there is no question of taking Islamabad off the hook on cross-border terrorism.” The Prime Minister just mentioned that he has a long-term plan for the solution of the Kashmir problem, but it is in a lock box and will not be revealed to public.
What does Musharraf want? He wants to convert LoC to a soft border. This means no more passports for crossing the border. A terrorist from Karachi who wants to get into India can now go to Muzzafarabad, write some information on a piece of paper and cross to the Indian side of Kashmir and drive to New Delhi. Musharraf also wants an out of box solution which essentially is the code word for “wrap Kashmir in a box and give it to us”.
NewsInsight reported that India had agreed to a territory swap with China whereby India would give up some peaks in Askai Chin and China in turn would give up on the Eastern Sector, mainly Arunachal Pradesh. South Asia tribune reported that India would have a similar deal with Pakistan in which there would be a territory swap. This territory swap also has the blessings of the Indian Communists.
But looks like the territory swap will not happen as it is a big no no for India, but there will be more confidence building measures.

Officials said the CBMs related to more bus services between the two countries, including from Kasur to Indian Punjab and from Jammu to Sialkot besides opening more routes between the two sides of Jammu and Kashmir. They also said that India might raise the security issue of passengers travelling by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus and also offer joint security for passengers.
The inclusion of Defence Secretary Lt Gen (r) Tariq Wasim Ghazi in the delegation fuelled speculation that the discussions could cover the Siachen issue on which a limited agreement was reached last year. For the last one month, Singh has extensively consulted security experts and former diplomats.
Sources claimed that an accord on Sir Creek was also possible, as the leaders believe it would send positive signals. [India ready to grant concessions to Pakistan]

While India is big on these CBMs, this is not what Musharraf wants.

“Confidence Building Measures is not final solution to the problem and this time I am quite confident regarding the resolution of Kashmir dispute,” he added. [Visit to India not to meet Agra like fate: Musharraf]

Musharraf is coming with the hope that he will get territory. Indians are hoping to entice him with more bus services and paper napkin passports. So you get a feel for which direction these talks are heading to.
Related Link: No to Musharraf

Natwar in Washington

Natwar Singh was in Washington DC today and met President Bush in the Oval Office. Rediff calls this historic, as Natwar is the first Indian Foreign Minister to enter the Oval Office. In International Diplomatic mating ritual, an invite to the Oval Office is considered as getting access to the second base. Till now, the President would drop-in while the Minister was meeting the Secretary of State or someone like that. (It is also possible that the President lost his way and reached the wrong room). So this is what is now considered progress and we have learned to become happy in symbolic gestures.
One of the major issues recently was that the United States is giving some F-16s to Pakistan. Apparently Natwar Singh did not raise the issue at all in his meeting with the President. The focus was on economic and energy coperation. The counterpoint is, even if you raise the issue, the answer will be standard canned one – vital ally in war on terror, need to strengthen him etc. Scott McClellan also mentioned that the United States believes that these F-16s do not affect the balance of power in the region.
While India seems to have accepted this decision, few folks are still fighting the F-16 sales. Gary Ackerman & Co. are going to introduce the Pakistan Proliferation Accountability Act of 2005 which demands access to AQ Khan as a condition for getting the F-16s.
One of the things the President told Natwar Singh was that he is interested in visiting India either this year or next year. It will be interesting to see the Indian Commies having to shake hands with the President. More interesting is the question – will the President visit Pakistan and if so, will he have to sneak in like Clinton?

The Elephant is flying

Jet airways has been given permission to fly to New York. Continental is going to start a non-stop flight between Newark, N.J and New Delhi. The Indian cabinet has approved replacing the 1956 Air Services Agreement with a new one between India and United States which will be signed by US Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.

With the new accord coming into operation, Air India and other carriers will have additional ports of call other than existing ones like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Newark (New Jersey).
“Now, we want to start services to Washington, Houston, San Francisco and other American cities,” Patel told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.[Cabinet clears new air services agreement with US]

Yaay! San Francisco is in the list. Also as part of the agreement, more airports in India will be opened for direct flights. My dream of flying from SFO to Cochin International Airport might not materialize immediately, but it is now a possiblity.
The number of flights between India and England is also being increased exponentially. As per a new MoU, the number of flights/week is being increased to 130 (from 40).
Now in the original article, the minister was asked if the Jurrasic Party was consulted on this:

Asked whether Left parties have been consulted before firming up this accord, Patel said this was especially meant to give more air connectivity and point-to-point easier travel for the people of the two countries.
“It is in the interest of our country to see that there are more air services which will enable a free flow of traffic and help our tourism, trade, commerce and industry and also generate employment,” he said. [Cabinet clears new air services agreement with US]

How is the answer related to the question in this case?

Tango Charlie banned in Assam

If there a Guiness record for things that were banned, literature, movies, books, then India would be a topper. The latest one is Mani Sankar’s movie Tango Charlie which is based on the terrorism in various parts of India, mainly the North-East. Director Mani Sankar talks about his motivation behind the film:

I actually traveled to various parts of the country and saw the violence first-hand. One had to take it in totality. There

A new Khan on the block

In India when you think of Khans, the people that come to mind are the leading actors in the film industry, Shahrukh, Salman and Aamir. From Pakistan, more famous than Imran Khan is AQ Khan, who even appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. Now here comes another Khan, following the trendsetting path set by AQ.

A Pakistani businessman illegally exported devices from the United States that could be used to test, develop and detonate nuclear weapons, the government alleged on Friday.
A federal indictment against Humayun A. Khan was unsealed along with a guilty plea by his alleged partner, who admitted routing high-speed electrical switches through South Africa to avoid raising authorities’ suspicions. The switches – which can be used in medical and military devices – were then shipped to Pakistan.
The United States prohibits the export of the switches, also known as “triggered spark gaps,” to Pakistan and a handful of other countries to prevent potential nuclear proliferation. [washingtonpost.com > Nation > Wires > Pakistani Accused of Exporting Devices]

I wonder if this Khan apologizes on national TV, the matter would be considered settled.

Habitational site at Adichanallur

Burrial urns which were 2800 years old were discovered in Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu last year. These urns contained human bones and were decorated with a series of motifs. A three-tier burrial system was also discovered in which earlier generations were burried in urns at 10 ft depth and recent ones above them. Besides the motifs, the urns also had inscriptions based on Tamil-Brahmi.
Now the Archaeological Survey of India has located the habitational site of these people who were burried in urns.

Two things are confirmed, he said. First, the settlement was inside a fortified town. “The fortification wall has been traced. There is a regular alignment wall.” Second, the potters’ quarters have been found inside the fortification wall. Discovery of three potter’s kilns with ash, charcoal and broken pots showed wet pots/urns were baked with fire. Artefacts, including an iron knife, carnelian beads, terracotta beads, couex beads, bone implements and potsherds with graffiti have also come to light.
According to Mr. Satyamurthy, the urn-burial site could be dated “to about 1,000 B.C,” that is 3,000 years ago. “Contemporary to that, we have got the habitational site.”
The discovery of a fortification wall, that is a rampart, and three potter’s kilns confirmed that it was a habitational site. The fortification wall is packed inside with mud.
On the outside, it is packed with stones in an irregular manner.
The kilns have revealed holes to hold posts, thick coating of ash from burnt timber, “a lot of charcoal” and broken pots.
A smith’s shop was located in another trench and there were touchstones to make beads. In one place, about 100 beads made of couex (an organic material) were discovered for the first time.
The floors found in trenches were made of hard reddish clay and coated with cow dung. Ms. Gayathri said the fortification wall separated the industrial area from the habitational site.
Mr. Satyamurthy said: “It looks like a crowded town, which was busy. On the one side is the burial site. Within 500 metres, you have the kilns, which means life was active. It might have been an urban centre.” [Iron Age habitational site found at Adichanallur]

The article in The Hindu has photos of site and some artifacts that were retrieved from there.

Who has more freedom ?

The most repeated story about Kashmir joining India is that, the Maharajah of Kashmir was a Hindu and he joined India without taking into cosideration the wishes of the Muslim majority population. Aravind Lavakare rebuts this with the following sequence of events that happened after the accession deed was signed

Even after its accession to the Indian Dominion, J&K’s internal administration was governed, not by a diktat of New Delhi, but by the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act, 1939. It was under this Act that Maharaja Hari Singh appointed his former adversary, Sheikh Abdullah, as the emergency administrator for the state. The appointment was a victory for the people who simply loved Abdullah. He began giving them a large share in the administration of the state’s affairs.

Soon enough, the people demanded that the ’emergency administration’ be changed into a ‘responsible government.’ Compelled by the public, Hari Singh issued a proclamation on March 5, 1948 announcing the formation of an interim government with Abdullah as the prime minister aided by such other ministers as he desired to constitute a cabinet. This arrangement, said the proclamation, was pending the framing of a fully democratic Constitution by a National Assembly based on adult suffrage.

In June 1949, Yuvraj Karan Singh, who had ascended the throne after his father’s abdication in that very month, nominated four representatives to the Indian Constituent Assembly for deliberating on the framing of the Constitution of India. These four were the choice, not of the Yuvraj, but of Abdullah’s council of ministers. These J&K representatives made it abundantly clear to the Indian Constituent Assembly that their state’s association with India would be based only on the terms of the Instrument of Association, that the state was not committed to the acceptance of the Indian Constitution and that it would like to have its own Constitution.

On May 1, 1951, Yuvraj Karan Singh issued a proclamation declaring the convening of a State Constituent Assembly, consisting of representatives of the people on the basis of adult franchise, for framing a Constitution for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. For the purpose of elections to the proposed Constituent Assembly, the state was to be divided into territorial constituencies each with a population of 40,000 or thereabouts.

Elections to the Constituent Assembly were completed by August that year with the idolised Abdullah’s National Conference Party simply sweeping the polls. Addressing its first meeting held on October 31 that year, Sheikh Abdullah declared that the assembly’s objectives and functions included, inter alia, a reasoned conclusion regarding accession and the future of the state. He enumerated three alternatives: accession to India, accession to Pakistan and complete independence.

The ‘Drafting Committee’ of the above assembly presented its report on February 12, 1954. Its report, adopted on February 15, 1954, embodied the ratification of the state’s accession to India, with 64 of the assembly’s strength of 75 voting unanimously while 11 members were absent.

The State Constituent Assembly enacted, on November 17, 1956, a Constitution that is, today, the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir. It has 158 Sections. Section 3 therein says, ‘The State of Jammu and Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India.’ Section 147 in it prohibits any bill to amend Section 3 from being introduced or moved in either House of the State Legislature. [Catch up on history, Mr Aziz]

Even as early as 1951 elections were held in Kashmir and it was the elected Govt. that ratified the state’s accession to India. Abullah was a popular figure and genuinely had the support of the people and it was the people’s decision that they join the Indian Union.
One of the often raised slogans by Pakistanis regarding Kashmir is that they are living under occupation. This gives you an impression that they are living like slaves with no freedom for anything. Indian Kashmiris have the freedom to participate in elections and Patrix has a post which points out that Indian Kashmiris have more freedom that the entire population of Pakistan.