Sana Rajah's Kashmir Solution

Dr. Sana Rajah has a wonderful solution to the Kashmir problem in an article written in The New Nation, Bangladesh’s Independent News Source. First he starts by analyzing the problem and identifies that the UN Resolutions are impossible to implement now. He then describes the adamant stand taken by both nations and says that the plebiscite might be a bad idea as many parts of both nations might ask for the same. But then after that he loses his marbles and suggests

A viable solution to the issue would be to facilitate a plebiscite restricted to the Valley, where the demand for independence is the strongest and in its most violent manifestation. The populace of the rest of the Indian Kashmir and Pakistan’s part of it have not displayed any potent desire for freedom, and seem content in their present situation.

This would allow Pakistan and India to maintain control of the Northern Areas and Ladakh respectively. However, an independent Valley would still be economically dependent on India and Pakistan, as it is a land-locked region. Let us hope that the issue can be settled, so that lasting peace becomes a reality.[The UN Resolutions on Kashmir]

No mention of the fact that it was violence from Pakistan that caused them to lose Kashmir in the first place. No mention of the fact that the current violence is coming from Pakistani sponsored militants which has been proven again and again.
So here you go, just have a plebiscite in the Kashmir valley because it is the most violent place. Just because India did not create trouble in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Pakistan gets to keep it. No self determination for them. What a brilliant idea.

Some Changes

When you blog about something, that entry stays on your main page for a few days and then it sinks down into your personal blog blackhole almost never to surface again. I found two plugins to bring some of those entries back to the surface again.

OnThisDay brings up old entries blogged on the same day in previous years. (Example on the sidebar)
RelatedEntries is a tag on the Individual Archive Page and displays 3 (configurable) entries in the same category.

I still don’t like the look and feel of this blog, so I will be actively stealing your CSS files.
Also speaking of MT, there is an excellent blog called Movalog by Aravind on customizing MT. (He is only 15 years old)

Talks Of Disintegration

While the Pakistan Govt. is bluffing about the operations going in Balochistan, there is more trouble brewing.

The situation in Balochistan might lead to disintegration of the country, declared former chief minister of Balochistan Sardar Attaullah Mengal here on Monday.

He said the nationalists were only demanding democracy and their right to govern themselves. He said Pakhtoons were their brothers and could join them (Baloch nationalists). But, he said, what would the Punjabis do who had nothing to sell to the outside world and had only Data Darbar.

He said Balochistan was being developed now because it suited the Punjabis and the military, as they want to make it a colony of the army and federation. About Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain

On India's Governance

Daniel Drezner has a link to Guruchara Das’s op-ed in the Financial Times about India’s Crisis of Governance.

No single institution has disappointed us more than our bureaucracy. When we were young we bought the cruel myth of the “steel frame” – a stable system that would provide continuity. We were told that Britain was not as well-governed as India because it did not have the Indian Civil Service. Today our bureaucracy has become the single biggest obstacle to development. Indians think of their bureaucrats as self-serving, obstructive and corrupt. Instead of shepherding through economic reforms, they are blocking them.

In the 1950s, the idealistic Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, wanted a regulatory framework for his “mixed economy”, but instead, in the holy names of socialism, the bureaucrats created a thousand controls and killed our industrial revolution at birth. In my 30 years in business I did not meet a single bureaucrat who really understood my business, yet each had the power to ruin it. Our failures have been due less to ideology and more to poor management.[Daniel Drezner]

What's Happening in Balochistan ?

According to Balochistan’s Chief Minister, there is no military operation going on there.

Prime Minister Ch Shujaat Hussein refuted the impression that a major military crackdown is going on in Balochistan. Talking to BBC, the premier said no operation was carried out in the province and action has been taken against individuals involved in subversive activity.[Pak Tribune]

But according to Pakistan’s Interior Minister, there is a military operation going on

Hayat said the Pakistani government also has launched a military operation in the country’s southern Balochistan province, which borders the Afghan province of Kandahar. Taliban leader Mullah Omar is a native of Kandahar where the disbanded religious movement still enjoys some support.[Washington Times]

Stem Cell Battles

One of the areas where President Bush and Senator Kerry disagree entirely is on the funding for Stem Cell Reasearch. Like the ancient Church, which opposed new scientific discoveries because it did not go well with the religious laws, the President has been using his religious beliefs to stop Federal Funding for Stem Cell Research.
The problem with this is that other countries like Britain who are not tied by such rightwing thoughts are issuing licences to allow their researchers to use cloning techniques to produce stem cells.Soon other countries would be much ahead of United States in finding cures to diseases. The positions held by the President is not supported by members of the Republican Party. Few months back, former First Lady, Nancy Reagan had come out in support of Stem Cell Research

In an election year, it is no surprise that John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for the presidency, has sought to take advantage. He says he will end the Bush administration

Bloody Day In Jammu & Kashmir

So how was Independence Day celebrated in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir ? Both factions of the Hurriyat were united in one thing – Boycotting the Independence Day celebrations.
The healing touch of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed seems to be working fine as 17 people are injured in a bomb blast.

Nobody claimed responsibility for Sunday’s rocket attack in Kashmir, but police blamed it on Islamic rebels fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. When the rocket hit, children had gathered to watch an Independence Day ceremony organized by the Indian army at a school in Dangiwachi village, some 45 miles north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state.[ABC News]

Happy Independence Day To India

And while are celebrating this Independence Day, we realize that we may have our differences of opinion, but the spirit of India runs in all of us.

One has a parade with floats and an elaborate fashion show in a Fremont parking lot while the other is set in a beautiful park in downtown San Jose easily accessible by light rail. But the Bay Area’s dueling festivals this weekend to honor India’s independence appeared to have everything else in common — great food, cute kids busting a move, and a chance to reunite with old friends.

After 12 years of luring the Bay Area’s Indo-American community to Fremont to celebrate the annual Festival of India, a rift and power struggle among organizers this year forced a splinter group to carry out a threat to host a rival event, India’s Independence Day Celebration, for the first time in San Jose. Both celebrations are this weekend, and both are drawing large crowds. By 5 p.m. Saturday, an estimated 10,000 tickets were sold in Fremont and 4,000 in San Jose, organizers said.[San Jose Mercury News]

An Exploited Province

In 1947 when the British were leaving the subcontinent, the Princely states were given three options: independence, accession to India or accession to Pakistan. One Princely state declared Independence and soon the army of one the nations marched into the state and forced the leader to sign the Instrument of Accession.
Later the central government dismissed the provincial government and when the people reacted violently, a massive deployment of army was done. The rebels were dismissd as miscreants and the army was given a free hand to crush the rebellion. 80,000 troops were deployed to bring into control 55,000 rebels. The rebellion was crushed, and the rebels moved into a neighboring country where they received support and money.
Does this all sound familiar ? It is not what you think. The Princely state was Balochistan, the invading country was Pakistan and the country which offered the rebels support was Afghanistan.
As Mary Anne Weaver wrote in her book, Pakistan, it is the tribal rule that runs here. Pakistan has exploited Balochistan for its gas supplies and oil, but still the province remains backward. There have been recent violence and even the Chief Minister was ambushed.

The clash in Balochistan is between aggressive modernisation (backed by military force) and the Baloch people

Buddhist Site in Gulbarga

A research team of the Kannada Research Institute of Karnatak University has discovered what could be a 2,000-year-old Buddhist site at Tunnur in Chitapur taluk of Gulbarga district.
During the excavation, archaeologists recovered priceless artefacts and terracotta items revealing the influence of Buddhism in the region. According to Dr. Shadaksharaiah, the research team found artefacts dating back to many centuries and most of the sculptural panels found were scattered in a radius of about 1 km.
Some of the panels recovered included one depicting Mandoka Jataka story, Dharmachakra, a piece of stupa fence, and two types of memorial stones. In the Mandoka Jataka story panel the figures of a queen, Amatya, pattada horse, and pattada elephant are clearly visible, and the panel is quite similar to the one recovered from Hampi in Bellary district.
Research scholars during the course of their work found two distinct memorials. One of them belonged to the king and the royal members and another to the common people. In the former, there are figures of a horse, servants of the royal family, and king and queen seated and holding goblets.
Some of the memorials bear labels with inscriptions in Brahmi script and Prakrit language. One of them reads: “Valavasa Papalana Kanhasa.” Kanhasa means Krishna. [Sun Network via India India Archaeology]