Friday, July 31, 2009

Re: FW: Hindu Economics and Charity - instigated by Paul Beckett's WSJ article

jul 31st, 2009

good one, sarvesh.

i am delighted that sarvesh has been goaded into action by the WSJ's writing and rejoinder, which, when i last looked, hadn't been responded to. (m. patel, i did post a slightly enhanced -- and alas, typo-filled -- version of what was posted here to the comments section of the article.)

good stuff regarding traditional hindu charity.

i have no particular opinion on hindu charitableness, other than to note that what we donate to temples is siphoned off in the billions by the government and given to the christists and the mohammedans. i simply used the occasion to flog one of my hobbyhorses, the crude and offensive term 'hindu rate of growth'. i should actually have flogged 'nehruvian penalty' too. why, if raj krishna (prize ass) is a 'famous economist' for dreaming up the former, i should be a 'famous economist' for dreaming up the latter. [no snide comments about me being a prize ass, too, ok? i wield the moderator's baton -- 'off with his head' :-)]

On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 8:28 PM, Sarvesh Tiwari

Hindu Economics and Charity

 

Sarvesh K Tiwari on जुलाई 31, 2009

 
http://bharatendu.com/
 
In a recent article on Wall Street Journal, its bureau chief in New Delhi Paul Beckett has wondered why India's rich were not generous enough towards charity, has exhorted them to 'open their wallets', and implicitly made reference to the Hindu roots of the phenomenon.
His misguided opinion is a typical example of how the western journalists posted in India develop their views and spread the typical stereotypes about India, whose spirit they have never tried to, or succeeded in, grasping. His usage of the derogatory term "Hindu Rate of Growth" reminds us of a similarly stale and offending commentary on the growth of Indian Industry by another western journalist stationed in India, Edward Luce, in his 'In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India'. Unfortunately for them, these western commentators on the economics of India are prisoners of their cognitive cocoon, and while physically being here, they fail to understand the experience of Hindu Civilization and keep ignorantly applying the norms and standards of their own culture when commenting about India.
 
Rajeev Srinivasan has masterfully responded with his incisive reply to the ignorant premise taken by Beckett on the "Hindu Rate of Growth", and Dr. Koenraad Elst has dissected at length Luce's outlook in a recent article. Here we shall share some random thoughts from the historical perspectives on Hindu outlook to economy and charity, and try showing how, there is continuity even today, although latent, of the same outlook prevailing among the more traditional Hindu shreShThins of our age.
The very reason why industry is needed to flourish, according to kauTilya, is to spread dharma in society which alone can beget lasting and all-round happiness. artha, the economy, he says, is the most important function of society, as it is solely from this basis that both the fulfillment of dharma and pursuit of desires can be accomplished ("arthaiva pradhAnaiiti kauTilyaH arthamUlau hi dharmakAmau iti: AS 1.7.6-7). Economy is like a tree, further says kauTilya, if whose roots are rooted in dharma, it produces the fruits of happiness. Achievement of such dhArmika wealth further promotes dharma and produces more wealth and gives more pleasure. This is the achievement of all the gains. (dharma-mUlatvAt kAma-phalatvAchArthasya dharma-artha-kAma anubandhA yA^arthasya siddhiH sA sarva.artha.siddhiH AS9.7.81)
 
Creation of wealth for the welfare of society was considered so important that bR^ihadAraNyaka upaniShada relates that bramhA was compelled to create the vaishya-s skilled in industrial enterprise and organizing business, since the first two varNa-s proved incapable or disinclined in doing so. ("…sa naiva vyabhavat, sa viShamasR^ijat, yAnyetAni devajAtAni, gaNASha AkhyAyante…").
 
So, continuous creation of wealth is of absolute importance for the stability of society, which is required for the growth of dharma. kauTilya holds that if happiness is the objective and strength is the power, then wealth is one of the three types of those strengths to achieve it. ("shaktiH siddhishca | balaM shaktiH | sukhaM siddhiH | shaktistrividhA … kosha-daNDa-balaM…" AS6.2.31-34), and it is one of the reasons, why a government is needed, that is for prospering the society and spreading the dharma. A government is required for security of wealth, and once peace and industry is ensured (through a 6-fold policy that he enumerates), all-round wealth is automatically created. ("shamavyAyAmau yogakSemayoryoniH | shamavyAyAmayoryoniH ShADguNyam…" AS6.2.1&4).
 
However not only ensuring the right environ for society to generate and secure the wealth, but also the guarantee that the wealth really reaches the people, is counted by kauTilya as a basic prerequisite. ("…loka-priyatvam artha-saMyogena vR^ittiM… AS1.7.1). Therefore, the wealth of society is to not only be protected but also distributed. It is the people who are, for him, the center of good governance, and without attention to them a society, he says, is like a barren cow, useless and yielding no milk. ("puruShavad hi rAjyam; apuruShA gaurvandhyeva kiM duhIta… AS7.11.24-25")
 
Hoarding of wealth, without either consuming it or distributing it, is throughout denounced by all the Hindu thinkers and dharma-shAstrakAra-s. Traditional wisdom tells us that charity, enjoyment, and destruction, wealth is only destined to go in one of these three ways. One who neither spends in charity, nor enjoys it, his is sure to go by the way of the third, i.e. destroyed. ("dAnaM bhogo nAshastistrI gatayo bhavanti vittasya; yo na dadAti na bhu~Nkte cha tasya tR^itIyA gatirnAshaH — vikrama charita, Andhra, 3.86).
A more aesthetically presented view of the same thought, from another source: 'the wealth of those who simply hoard theirs, is eventually enjoyed not by them but by the others, like the honey collected through the industriousness of someone else is eventually consumed by someone else!' ("ati-saMchaya-kartR^iNAM vittamansya kAraNaM; anyaiH saMchIyate yatnAdanyaishcha madhu pIyate": vallabhadeva.474).
 
Another author intuitively compares unconsumed and hoarded wealth with daughters, who are lovingly brought up with care and affection by parents, only to eventually go off to someone else's household! (upabhogakAtarANAm puruShANAm arthasaMchayaparANAm; kanyAratnamiva gR^ihe tiShThantyarthAH parasyArthe: v.482)
 
One must also notice that while wealthy are appealed to spend towards their social responsibility throughout the wide array of shAstra-s, quoting which at length would amount to compiling several volumes, it is not the charity alone for which the wealthy are being exhorted for the welfare of society, but also simply for consumption and enjoyment of their wealth, thereby keeping money in circulation to ensure a wider and broader distribution of wealth. The circulation of money ensures the chain reaction of wealth-creation in society, as kauTilya says, wealth creates more wealth, like the roaming elephants procreate and gather more elephants ("arthair arthA prabadhyante gajAH pratigajairiva…AS9.4.27").
 
chANakya does recognize that the wealthy could easily grow a tendency of hoarding their riches and not share it with the commonwealth of the society, therefore not only does he warn the King to be cautious of such hoarding capitalists and keep them under watch, but in the spirit for which kauTilya is known, also suggests some innovative ways of how the King could justly rid such ones of some of their wealth when needed. One nice contrive he suggests is not devoid of some humour, although kauTilya must have been serious prescribing it. The King might employ a spy who takes the garb of a rich merchant, or even employ a real trustworthy merchant, who shall then go to the intended business and borrow the desired sum in gold or silver or some other costly or imported merchandise, and then having procured this loan, this spy can suitably "allow himself to be robbed", maybe at the same night!
 
So no wonder, another text informs the accumulators, that their wealth, unless they spend it more generously or conduct charities, will invite only the attention of crime and decay. 'One who neither enjoys his wealth nor donates it to those worthy of it, must rest assured that his accumulation would find its way either to the houses of the thieves or eventually rot in the belly of the earth'. (saMchitaM kratuShu nopayujyate yAchitaM guNavate na dIyate; tat-kadarya-pariraKShitaM dhanaM chaurapArthiva gR^iheShu gachcHati)
One well-known snippet of wisdom differentiates between the charitable rich and the shameless accumulators, by employing the simile of clouds and ocean, and says that 'the glory of donors always thunders from the sky like the clouds that generously give us water, while those who keep on accumulating wealth without returning, always rot at the lowest strata of rasAtala like the ocean which only knows to receive and store'. (gauravaM prApyate dAnAt na tu vittasya sa~nchayAt; sthitiH uchchaiH payodAnAM payodhInAM adhaH sthitiH)
 
Some of the popular aphorisms attributed to chANakya advise us likewise, that 'while a man must learn to be content with his wife, his wealth, and his food, he should never tire in zealously conducting these other three things: learning, recitations, and more charity'. (santoShas triShu kartavyaH sva-dAre bhojane dhane, triShu chaiva na kartavyo-dhyayane-japa-dAnayo : chANakya-nIti-darpaNa 7.4)
 
Another one points to the right and wrong ways of picking up fields for conducting charity: 'Feeding a man who is not hungry is as useless as clouds raining over the ocean, and donating to someone who is not needy is as useless as lighting a lamp in the daylight'. (yathA vR^iShTiH samudreShu tR^iptasya bhojanam; vR^ithA dAnam samarthasya vR^ithA dIpo divApi cha: CND5.16)
 
This reminds us of that famous benchmark of charity established in the bhArata, narrated by a mongoose towards the end of the ashwamedha yaj~na of the pANDava-s. The mysterious mongoose who had half of his body as golden, announced to an astonished yudhiShThira that all the donations and charities made by pANDava-s during the yaj~na for which they were proud, were useless and not equal to even one fistful of crushed barley (saktU) donated by the family of a certain brAhmaNa. He then went on to narrate a tale of how one side of his body turned golden by just witnessing the sacrifice of that family which had nothing to eat and was starving, and having found this little crushed barley after tedious effort, as they were about to eat it, a guest appeared and begged them for it, and this starving family happily decided to offer it to him. That is charity, says mongoose in the fourteenth book of bhArata, adding since then he is roaming around to see another charity of that magnitude to turn the rest of his body golden too, but not succeeding.
 
We are also reminded of that prayer of kabIra, a householder saint, 'sA.I itanA dIjiye jAme kuTuma samAya, maiM bhI bhUkhA nA rahUM sAdhu a bhUkhA jAya': (Lord grant us just enough so that my family may survive; just that much, in which we don't sleep hungry nor a sAdhu returns hungry from our doors.)
 
What about the charity with black money accumulated by the corrupt businessmen? Not acceptable, says this medieval jaina text that deals solely with the regulation of donations. 'Donating such ill-earned money is of as much benefit', it says, 'as the medicine to that patient who refuses to follow the restrictions of pathyApathya prescribed by his doctor!' (yo vahyAshArjitArthassann kurvansa bahudhA vR^iShaM; doShI vA~ncHAnniva svAsthyaM bhuktvaivApathyamauShadhaM : dAnopashAsanam.179). It sternly says that like an infertile woman can not conceive, even if she goes to bed with a thousand men, auspiciousness does never arise in someone with evil methods and ill-gotten money, no matter how much charity done. (sahastra-jana-bhogepi vandhyAyAM najuto yathA…101). The same work also says that, in contrast, only the charity from the honest money earned by the noble businessmen flourishes in the aid of dharma; it never exhausts, never meets loss, nor is ever stolen, since if charity of honestly-earned money serves dharma, dharma too protects such earning and such charity. (satpuruSho-rjayati dhanaM yat sakalajaneShTa-sAdhu-vR^iddhashchaiva syAt; tasya dhanasya cha hAnirnAnupahata-dharma-bala-suguptasyaiva. 180)
 
The prospective receivers of charity had a right to reject the donation too, and they did reject such donations on many occasions. Comes to our mind that instance related in the ancient drama mR^ichcHakaTikA where a brAhmaNa stoutly declines the invitation to partake of a lunch and receive donation from a householder. The jaina text referred above probably explains why. That, by receiving the ill-gotten money, earned through various sins, the receiver (dvija) of such charity has to also share with the donor those sins, and is verily destroyed. (nija-pApArjitam dravyam dvijebhyo dadate nR^ipAH; tairnaShTA rAjabhirviprA dAnam doShadamuchyate. 9)
 
Another very important aspect which might be hard for the secularized variety to fathom is that it is the temples and the maTha-s, vihAra-s and the jinAlaya-s which were and are the trustees of the charitable commonwealth of society, and giving to them meant returning to the Lord who can then multiply it and return it back. While it is a well known knowledge and demands citing no special evidence, what is interesting is to notice that business in ancient India did more than simply financial contribution to the religious institutions – they also regulated as well as facilitated such charities, and behaved as the responsible trustees also for the small private donations as a very organized activity. We can do no better than quote Prof. R C Majumdar at some length:
 
"…furnished by an inscription of huvishka at mathurA, dated in the year 28 (c. 106 AD), (the prashasti) refers to an akShaya-nIvI (perpetual endowment) of 550 purANa-s each to two guilds, one of which was that of flour-makers (comment: so that this guild will now use the interest from this money for the intended charitable purpose on behalf of the donor). An inscription in a cave at nAsik, dated in the year 42 (120 AD), records the donation of 3000 kArShApaNa-s by UShavadatta, son-in-law of the shaka chief nahapAna. The gift was intended for the benefit of the Buddhist monks dwelling in the cave, and the entire sum was invested in the guilds dwelling at govardhana in the following manner: 2000 in a weavers' guild, the rate of interest being one per cent per month, and 1000 in another weavers' guild at the rate of 0.75 per cent per month. It is clearly stated that these kArShApaNa-s are not to be repaid, their interest only to be enjoyed."
 
"An inscription at Junnar records the investment of the income of two fields with the guild at koNAchika for planting kara~nja trees and banyan trees. Another inscription at junnAr records investment of money with the guild of bamboo-workers and the guild of braziers. A third inscription at junnAr record the gift of a cave and a cistern by the guild of corn-dealers. An inscription at nagarajonikonDA, dated 333 AD refers to a permanent endowment created by a person for the maintenance of the religious establishments made by him. The endowment consisted of a deposit of 70 dInAra-s in one guild and 10 each in three other guilds, out of the interest of which specific acts had to be done. Only names of two guilds are legible, namely those of pAnika (probably sellers or growers of betel leaves) and pUvaka (confectioners)." "The Indore Copper-plate Inscription of Skanda Gupta dated in the year 146, i.e. 465 AD, records the gift of an endowment, the interest of which is to be applied to the maintenance of a lamp which has been established in a temple for the service of the Sun-God."
 
"We learn from an inscription of vaillabhaTTasvAmin Temple at Gwalior, dated 933 VS, that while the merchant savviyAka, the trader ichcHuvAku and the other members of the Board of the SavviyakAs were administering the city, the whole town gave to the temple of the Nine durgA-s, a piece of land, which was its (viz., the town's) property. Similarly it gave another piece of land, belonging to the property of the town, to the viShNu temple, and also made perpetual endowments with the guilds of oil-millers and gardeners for ensuring the daily supply of oil and garlands to the temple. This long inscription preserves an authentic testimony of a city corporation with an organised machinery to conduct its affairs. The corporation possessed landed properties of its own and could make gifts and endowments in the name of the whole town."
 
"Mention is made, by name, of four chiefs of the oil-millers of shrI-sarveshwara-pura, of four chiefs of the oil-millers of shrI-vatsasvAmI-pura, and four chiefs of the oil-millers of two other places, and we are told that these together with the other (members) of the whole guild of oil-millers should give one palika of oil per oil-mill every month (to the temple). Similarly, the other endowment was to the effect that the seven chiefs, mentioned by name, and the other (members) of the whole guild of gardeners should give fifty garlands every day."
 
Such was the public charity and maintenance of social wealth, through cooperative and democratic organization. Prof. Majumdar notes that, "the objects with which these endowments were made are manifold, and due performance of them must have required extra-professional skill. Thus one guild is required to plant particular trees, while several others, none of which had anything to do with medicine, were to provide it for the sick."
Several other inscriptions, particularly and more clearly from, although not limited to, the draviDa country reinforce this view. Prof. Majumdar notes how a combination of a village pa~nchAyata, democratically elected, organized the charity in draviDa country, and used to form the very basis of the economic functioning of the villages and to the spread the benefit of the commonwealth: "An inscription of rAjArAja choLa records the gift of a sum of money by a merchant, from the interest of which the Assembly and the residents of tiruviDavandai had to supply oil to feed a perpetual lamp. Sometimes these endowments involved two-fold banking transactions. We learn from a choLa inscription that a merchant made over a sum of money to the residents of taiyUr on condition that they should pay interest in oil and paddy to the Assembly of tiruviDavandai for burning a lamp in the temple and feeding 35 Brahmanas. There are other examples, too numerous to be recorded in detail, where the South Indian records represent the Village Assemblies as public trustees or local banks."
 
Temples likewise served as the repository of public wealth, and lent their money for public works in the time of its need like famine, floods or epidemic. "An inscription at ala~NguDI dated in the 6th year of rAjArAja refers to a terrible famine in the locality. The villagers had no funds to purchase paddy for their own consumption, seed grains and other necessaries for cultivation. For some reasons, the famine-stricken inhabitants could expect no help in their distress from the royal treasury. Accordingly the Assembly obtained on loan a quantity of gold and silver consisting of temple jewels and vessels from the local temple treasury. In exchange for this the members of the Village Assembly alienated 8314 velI of land in favour of the God. From the produce of this land the interest on the gold and silver received from the temple was to be paid. A Chola inscription also records that the Assembly borrowed money from temple treasury on account of "bad time" and scarcity of grains." Yet another one informs how "the Assembly received an endowment of 100 kAsu from an individual for providing offerings in a temple and for expounding shiva-dharma in the Assembly-hall built in the temple by the same person. They utilized the sum for repairing damages caused by floods to irrigation channels." [above quotes from R C Majumdar are from his masterpiece "Corporate Life in Ancient India"]
 
When the above was happening in the choLa country, a little while from now, rAjendra choLa's friend and ally in North India, bhojadeva the paramAra would be establishing new standards of charity for merchants in his own country. The collective Hindu subconscious remembers the times of Bhoja as much for his charity, as for his valour and scholarship. It is this impression which is reflected when the jaina AchArya merutu~Nga states that two commodities were always precious and in demand in the kingdom of bhoja: Iron and Copper. Iron because of the excessive consumption by his military, and copper for the prashasti plates for donations! We might probably add the construction of temples and schools to the list. It was not the royal charity alone, but also the works performed by the merchants of his kingdom, such as in the famous bhojashAlA university, its central figure the vAgdevI of dhArAvatI was commissioned not by bhoja, but by a jaina lady named soShA hailing from a merchant family of his capital from her own money.
 
We can still happily notice the continuity of the same thought, to a large extent, prevailing even today among the more traditional wealthy Hindus. It comes as no surprise to learn that the donations to temples far exceed the amount spent on "charity" as claimed on the Income Tax returns. According to the Finance Ministry, the businesses filing corporate income taxes had recorded a total expenditure of about USD 2 billion during the year 2007. On the other hand the annual budget of Tirupati shrine alone, for the same year, exceeded USD 500 million: almost all of which goes to the charitable activities managed by the temple trust, besides a portion for the maintenance of the shrines. Now add to this amount the donations received by the other important Hindu shrines all over India!
 
For Hindu society, charity is not the only outlet of financial contribution to the society. We also hear the stories of complete financial sacrifice in the cause of the nation, such as that by the great jaina shreShThin of mewADa, whose name is permanently etched in golden letters on the rocky walls of the fort of Udaipur: Seth Bhamashah Oswal. In a few years after the battle of haldIghATI, mahArANA pratApa siMha was not left with any resources to carry on his resistance against the moghal tyrant. Disheartened, he is said to have decided to give up, just when, apparently inspired by ekali~Nga mahAdeva in a dream, patriotic ShreShThin met mahArANA and laid down at his feet all his wealth. Seth Bhamashah, the guild leader of the merchants of mewADa and mArawADa, was no small man, nor his donation a small sum. With this financial sacrifice of patriotic businessman, mahArANA reorganize his senA and proceed to launch a renewed and rejuvenated tumultuous struggle. ShreShThin went further than just donating his money, and also advised mahArANA to attack and regain first the trade routes and stifle the supply chains of the moghals in west. It is by following this advise that in less than a decade, mahArANA quickly brought the imperial control to its feet and reclaimed almost entire mewADa. Seth also led from the front, leading a regiment of mahArANA's army, and fighting on battlefields along with an equally valiant brother of his, seTha tArAchanda oswAl.
 
Likewise, how can we forget the contribution of another great vaishya warrior, who a little before this time, rose to reclaim the Hindu independence in dillI by spending all his wealth on raising a senA to crush the foreigners and picking up a sword himself: himU, the son of a powerful merchant from mithilA. Moslem chroniclers use for himU the abusive epithet of 'bakkAla', a derogatory term for 'shopkeeper', alluding to his business background.
An important aspect which one notices is that the underlying principle, stressed by the traditions in the enterprise of charity, is humility. Charity was not a matter of show for the Hindu, as it is generally in the west and as the westernized Hindu corporate is now learning these days as it seems, but something which was to be done silently. shAstra-s teach one to conduct charity in such a way that while one's right hand donates, the left does not even get the wind of it. It is these who are called the real udAra-s and dAtA-s, and it is their charity which is considered the real charity. 'Among the hundred men born', says this well known piece of wisdom, 'only one is found to be brave and among thousands born only one could become a paNDita, among ten thousands born only one grows to become a good orator but truly rare and precious is the birth of such real donors, when they happen or don't happen, knows who!' (shateShu jAyate shUraH… dAtA bhavati vA na vA)
 
This reminds us of the well-known kiMvadanti about a friendly exchange between tulasIdAsa and abdur-rahIm. We know that tulasIdAsa was well-known within the circle of Akbar, with at least one copper prashasti discovered at kAshI in context of an endowment made by Todarmal which relates to his considering tulasIdAsa as his master. According to this well-known narrative, once an acquaintance of tulasIdAsa needed some money for arranging the wedding of his daughter, and asked tulasIdAsa for financial help. Todarmal who used to govern kAshI was away those days for some military campaign in North West, so tulasI sent this man, with a letter of recommendation to rahIma, the adopted son of Akbar and the symbolic head of the moghal clan, khanekhAnA, who was known to be wealthy and charitable. rahIma received the man with humility, returned him with more money than requisitioned for, and also sent a humble letter of thanks for tulasIdAsa. Hearing of rahIm's humility, and reading the letter, tulasI replied back with a dohA, saying: "sIkhe kahAM nawAbajU denI aisI dena, jyauM jyauM kara Upara uThata tyauM tyauM nIche naina" ('Wherefrom did our dear nawAb learn this mode of giving / Higher rise his arms in charity, lower turns his gaze in humility'). To this rahIma is said to have replied, "denahAra koi aura hai deta rahata dina-raina, loga bharama hama para dharahi tA te nIche naina" ('The giver is someone else, who keeps giving day and night / people confuse us to be the donor, causing us the embarrassment'). At one place, rahIma himself says that, 'we consider those not alive, who only live on alms, but we consider those even deader, from whom charity does not come'. ("rahimana te jana to muye je jana maMgahi jAya; unate pahile te muye jinate nikasata nAhi")
 
We are reminded of another great mArawADI ShreShThin from va~Nga, the father of bhAratendu harishchandra, seTha harSha chandra, whose name is still taken with respect in the city of kAshI due to massive investments he made in the service of sarasvatI. bhAratendu, his son, or shall we say sarasvatI's son, went further and practically spent all his wealth in reviving Hindu culture, especially its languages, at a time when it was most needed: setting up schools and printing presses, establishing journals and granting scholarships all over the North India, and leading the intellectual assault from the front himself.
 
We remember Lala Lajpat Rai, the scion of a well known wealthy family from panjAb, who decided to dedicate all his wealth in the cause of the freedom struggle. At one place we read in the memoir by the elder son of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the grateful reminiscence of the services that the legendary lAlAji silently did from his wealth for the freedom struggle. Shastriji's son recounted here that lAlAji used to send money orders every month to those countless families whose bread winners were either languishing in British prisons or had been martyred. He also contributed in a major way towards founding of the Hindu University at kAshI.
 
Talking of the Hindu University of kAshI, let this be reminded that it started and continued to operate its massive infrastructure, solely on the private contribution from the wealthy Hindu businessmen and royals from across bhArata. It is only later, post-independence, that the government began contributing to it.
Yet another important institution comes to mind that was started at kAshI for the Hindu revival even before this, the kAshI nAgarI prachAriNI sabhA, which made no small contribution in inflaming that flame of Hindu revival which now seems to have been all but extinguished. Even the functioning of that sabhA was the effort of the private Hindu charity effort.
 
Many years back, our father used to be in the employ of the shreShThin-kulabhUShaNa GD Birla's family for some years, and we are in intimate knowledge of how this family was and is committed to spending on public welfare, and especially for the spread and growth of dharma, much of which may not be known in public. We need not enumerate how this house is even today on the frontlines of charity, and doing so silently. We also remember the naidU shreShThI-s who founded the shAlA where we studied for a few years when living in the draviDa country. The wealthy founder of the institute had four sons, and the philosophy of this gentleman used to be to treat society as a fifth one and share the wealth among five, not four. Their attitude to philanthropy was also typical and somewhat peculiar. They used to impart Industrial Training to the needy and then finance the machine tools for them to become self-employed and be responsible for themselves.
 
Coming back to Beckett, we think he might be right when he said that charity was practically a competitive sport in US business. He probably had in mind the native Indians charitably pushed into the business of gambling and gaming? Or he probably meant the proposal of the State of California to make gambling legal in the state for charity purposes? Or maybe he had in mind the recent case of the State of Connecticut suing the charity founded by the NBA star Charles D. Smith, Jr. for spending away the funds collected for charity on cruise vacations, cars and beauty services!
 


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Thursday, July 30, 2009

kashmiri mohammedans kill each other and blame the hindus

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/24/stories/2009072455111000.htm

Asra Ahmad Dar ---> skull crushed by his friend Imran Aslam Baba over an orkut friend!
Kupwara resident ---> happily bonking with Ashiq Hussain and likely killed by own brothers
Zahoor Ahmed Mir ---> overdosed on drugs
Shopian women ---> one likely happily bonking with someone not liked by family, likely killed by the other's husband and his family

Common thread – all alleged murder on Indian security forces

It is as I have said – never mind what the facts are, Kashmir’s India colony is to blame

rip: maharani gayatri devi of jaipur

http://www.dailypioneer.com/192438/They-still-call-me-Ma.html

A truly beautiful lady – and gutsy too. loved the way she stood up to that ogre indira and the rest of the kkkangress goon brigade. I also love the way she showed up jawaharlal stalin for the idiot that he was

The only thing wrong I can think of is the tiger hunting – but I guess you have to put it down to royal privilege.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Gates arrest a delicate matter to hash out over beer

jul 28th, 2009

yet another way obama is revealing his true self: thuggish south-side-chicago racial/victim politics.

i think the cop was justified in arresting gates (i dont agree with shahyrar on that part). gates apparently berated the cop and despite warnings didn't stop. then the cop arrested him.

the cop, crowley, apparently teaches racial sensitivity classes at police academy. i suspect he went by the book, and gates, offended by the history of 'driving while black' etc. over-reacted.

and so did obama. he had no business dissing the police.

how like india's bleeding-heart liberals. as soon as any mohammedan has a problem (eg. shopian, where it turns out the girls were raped and murdered by mohammedan relatives) they immediately assume -- and propagandize -- that hindus were out to kill mohammedans.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar


 
 
WTF?
 
The POTUS has no other pressing work to do?
 
Fire the stupid moronic cop who does not know how to exercise the power he is given when he is allowed to invade people's homes with a firearm!
 
What use is the mf if he cannot use discretion in using his powers to arrest people on trumped up charges?
 
 


Pak ready to work with India with full commitment and sincerity: PM Gilani

jul 28th, 2009

i wonder if gilani's nose has been having a pinocchio-moment.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar


This report is redolent with comedy potential! Who knew Pakistanis were so funny!
 
 
Pak ready to work with India with full commitment and sincerity: PM Gilani

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan is ready to work with India with full commitment and sincerity towards opening of a new chapter in improving relations between the two countries.
 
"The results of meeting with my Indian counterpart in Sharm El Sheikh, was a major breakthrough. I hold Dr. Manmohan Sign in high esteem and respect and consider him a statesman with the vision of peace and prosperity", he said while chairing a Cabinet meeting specially convened to discuss Strategic Trade Policy Frame Work 2009-12 and Trade Policy 2009-10 as well as Electricity crises in the country at the PM's secretariat here on Monday.
 
Prime Minister in his opening statement briefed the Cabinet about his visit to Sharm El Sheikh and his meeting with the world leaders including the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the NAM Summit. He also apprised the Cabinet members of the status of IDPs.
 
The Cabinet applauded the efforts of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Ministry to promote good neighbourly relations with India on the basis of equality, mutual respect and for resolving all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir.
 
The Cabinet appreciated the wisdom and statesmanship demonstrated by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to chart the way forward through dialogue.
 
The Cabinet approved Strategic Trade Policy Frame Work 2009-12 and Trade Policy 2009-10.
 
The Cabinet reviewed the demand and supply situation of electricity in the country. The meeting discussed ways and means to overcome power shortage by increasing electricity supply and adopting measures for energy conservations.
 
The meeting congratulated the Ministry of Environment for setting up a world record by planting over 500,000 trees in a single day which has been duly recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
 
The Cabinet formed a committee to consider the resolution passed by the Senate regarding restoration of the Haj quota for the Senators. The committee headed by the Minister for Religious Affairs comprises Leader of House in Senate, Chief Whip in the National Assembly and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
 
Speaking on the issue of IDPs, The Prime Minister said that nothing is more important than the safe return and rehabilitation of IDPs. It is a matter of great satisfaction that military operation in Swat and FATA is successfully meeting its desired objectives and peace is gradually returning to these areas.
 
Prime Minister said that financial assistance to IDPs is being made in a transparent manner and phased return of IDPs has gradually picked up the momentum. He hoped that full return of IDPs will be completed in about a month痴 time in an orderly and peaceful manner. He extended his appreciation to all political parties, Federal and Provincial agencies and non-government organizations including the UN agencies for their support and extraordinary work for the IDPs.
 
He further added that once the return of IDPs is completed, the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction will be undertaken as a national cause and the government will extend all necessary financial support for this phase.
 
The Prime Minister reiterated that fight against terrorism would continue till complete elimination of the militants and return of peace and stability in the affected areas. He complimented the Defence Forces for the sacrifices they have made for the sake of national security.
 
Talking on his visit to Sharm El Sheikh, the Prime Minister said that before proceeding to Sharm El Sheikh, he had extensive consultations with the political leadership of the country and took them on board. He expressed gratitude to them for reposing confidence and extending support in building a consensus view on the matter. This greatly helped in making exchange of views with the Indian Prime Minister on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, productive and substantive, on July 16th, he added.
 
The Prime Minister said that during talks, he affirmed the importance that Pakistan attaches to working towards friendly and cordial relationship with India, based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual interest.
 
"I underlined the importance of early resumption of composite Dialogue process and Pakistan believed in the imperative of moving forward this process for confidence building which was the pre-requisite for resolution of all outstanding issues.
We had a detailed discussion on the issue of terrorism and I apprised him of the efforts we had already undertaken to investigate the case of Mumbai attacks, he informed the Cabinet"
 
Dilating on the Joint Statement issued after a cordial and constructive meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister said that it underlines the shared commitment of both the countries to chart a way forward for Pakistan- India relations.
 
Besides meetings with the Indian Prime Minister, the Prime Minister added that Pakistan's main focus of bilateral interaction was on South Asia, manifested in the fact that he met five South Asian leaders i.e. Presidents of Sir Lanka and Afghanistan and Prime Ministers of India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
 
On the issue of current electricity crises, the Prime Minister said that the country is in the grip of a severe electricity crisis. People across the country are braving long hours of load shedding in this hot and humid weather, men and women, children and elderly are suffering. Industry and Agriculture have been hit hard, economic output is down and jobs are being lost.
 
"I understand when common people, traders and industrial workers come on roads to protest against load shedding. I share their concern and my sympathies are with them. However, I wish they understand that the crisis is not of our making. We inherited this crisis and it can not be simply wished away," he said.
 
Addressing electricity crisis was our number one priority. It was part of the first 100 days programme of my government. Progress has been made. Implementation of new IPPs and Rental Power Plants is on track, he said.
 
A committee of Ministers has been constituted to monitor the situation on daily basis. With improvements in oil and gas supplies and coming into system of power from Mangla this week, the situation has started improving, he added.
 
He directed the relevant Ministries to do whatever is necessary to keep the existing power generation capacity running. He directed the Ministry of Water & Power to ensure commissioning of new IPPs and Rental Power Projects as per schedule.
 
In the meanwhile, the Prime Minister appealed to the nation to bear with the situation of the present. He assured the nation that his government will stay focused, people will see visible improvements in the power supply situation and the deficit will be bridged.
 
On Trade Policy, the Prime Minister said that it aimed at poverty alleviation, employment generation, and export-led growth to bring in greater benefits to common man in this country besides focusing on development of agriculture, Textile, SMEs and domestic raw materials.
 
The Prime Minister further said, "we live in challenging times, economically and otherwise. We have no option but to succeed. And succeed we will, with the support of the Pakistani nation that is united like never before and firm in its resolve to make Pakistan counted in the comity of nations."
 
End.
 



manchurian candidate sings for his supper?

jul 28th, 2009

the sino-mohammedan candidate is paying back the hans for favors received?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/27/clinton-china-building-stronger-relationship-brick-brick/

Convicted mohammedans to not hang as suzanne arundhati will write about our blood lust

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/2003-mumbai-blasts-all-accused-convicted-under-pota/494619/0

mammon-mohan to soon lose sleep over the poor souls. And Suzanne arundhati will be writing another opinion piece telling the world about the average Indians blood-lust in wanting them hanged. the assorted “civil society and ngo” types will demand immediate release.

an interesting list of names. No? I can almost hear the gentle Page 3 folk tell us that “Ladoowala” and “Batterwala” are not mohammedan. They are in fact Parsi. that’s right folks – we now have parsi terrorists just like we had that hindu terrorist lady some time back

the parsi’s did it. they were upset about being marginalized and stereotyped in india!

xena mufti: warrior princess


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/PDP-chief-Mehbooba-Mufti-throws-microphone-at-JK-Speaker/articleshow/4824560.cms

Kashmir’s theater of the absurd never ceases to amuse. Now that it is apparent that some of the murdered victims’ families may have been involved – elaborate role playing will replace debate. Remember xena had first said that the victims had “sindoor” applied on their forehead – a not too subtle way of alleging rape by hindus, for the express purpose of hinduising the women, which shows you what these valley types actually think of their girls!
It is a trusted formula with these agit-prop mohammedan kashmiri leaders. First say the hindus did it. when proved wrong – protest loudly. When proved wrong again – claim that the prophet has been maligned and …well, never mind you get the picture!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Delhi shuts out Uighur matriarch

jul 26th, 2009

cojone deficit acts up again.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Girish

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090726/jsp/frontpage/story_11283909.jsp

New Delhi, July 25: India has denied a visa to Rebiya Kadeer, the
Uighur matriarch exiled by China, on the advice of Beijing which
accuses the 62-year-old of inciting the recent violence in Xinjiang.

A former business tycoon whom China once toasted as a symbol of the
success of its multi-ethnic culture, Kadeer is now trying to mobilise
world opinion against Chinese oppression of Uighurs.

The mother of 11, who is backed by the US, had applied to the Indian
mission in Germany for a visa sometime early this year, before the
July riots. She apparently wanted to meet Indians sympathetic to her
movement.

Government sources said Beijing was worried that she might meet the
Dalai Lama in India. "We have an understanding with the Chinese
government that we will not allow Indian soil to be used for political
activities against China," a senior official said.

The Uighur diaspora call Kadeer their "mother". The tiny and fiery
matriarch, two of whose sons are in prison in China, recently told a
Washington rally: "I consider myself the voice of millions of Uighur
people. I consider myself as their tears."

kanchan gupta on going gentle into that good night

KanchanGupta
I pray, Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the
dying of the light.

@kanchangupta
dylan thomas would agree that you are doing your bit of raging. But is
anyone listening? Fading of the light? Dubious elections, disregard
for nationall interest, dhritarashtra embrace of fading power,
appeasement.
India is surely going into that good night. The first large state in
history to voluntarily dismantle itself. To satisfy private greed.
Why have a figleaf of parliament and lots of little tin god MPs? Let's
admit this is an autocratic monarchy: the only socialist one

Sunday, July 26, 2009

MJ Akbar on Hillary's trip to India

Some light reading on Hillary's recent trip.

"hindu rate of growth" is racist

jul 25th, 2009

to

paul beckett
bureau chief
wsj, delhi

dear sir:

i read your well-written article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124840931940378415.html on the sad lack of charitable giving in india.

i believe there are a couple of reasons for this shortfall, in addition to the fact that tax codes do not encourage philanthropy in india (it is likely that americans would also be less generous if there were no tax benefits -- note that as a nation, the US is far more stingy in its charitable funding abroad than most other rich countries).

one is the continuing legacy of a stalinist state: wherein a "shortage economy" is the norm. this also explains corruption, of course, as well as the senseless mayhem on indian roads -- people are, as it were, worrying the road will disappear, so they attempt to grab as much of it as possible. this is a rational reaction to a shortage economy, as is the great difficulty people have in queuing up at railway booking counters -- they are afraid things will run out before they get to the head of the queue.

since these are all remnants of the nehruvian mindset, you should be talking about the "nehruvian rate of growth", the much-loved 2-3% growth that nehru let us all 'enjoy' till recently. after all, nehru is gone and his rate of growth is also gone. this is additional reason for you to use this accurate term. after all, the hindus are still around, aren't they? so how could it be the "hindu rate of growth"? this was a racist and insulting term coined by a communist, raj krishna, for whom this is his 15-min -- and sole -- claim to fame.

as a paper that does not believe in equal-opportunity denigration of religions, you should stop using this horrible term forthwith. after all, i have read your paper for decades, and i have never seen you refer to pakistan's or somalia's growth rate as the "islamic rate of growth", or rwanda's or haiti's as "the christian rate of growth".

and we have good reason to believe (see angus maddison) that the historical and actual "hindu rate of growth" was the highest in the world -- after all, india was the richest country in the world till around 1700. in addition, let me point out that hindus (and buddhists) were highly philanthropic. the temples at tanjavur or sanchi, the remaining sculptures at hampi, the shelters for travelers constructed by asoka, the great universities at nalanda and taxila, the gau-shalas or shelters for cows -- all these bear inscriptions pointing to a tradition of giving not only by kings but also by rich citizens. the colonial loot of india by the british impoverished the society (the loot was of the order of $10 trillion in today's money), and the dirigiste stalinist state after independence actively prevented people from making money. after all, the state provides no social security, and it is up to individuals to hoard enough so that their children will be provided for.

therefore, it is unfair of you to ridicule the citizenry. the fault remains with the government and with the erstwhile thieves. india believed in butter, not guns. elementary mistake, because thugs with guns took all the butter away.

once again, let me request you to abjure the offensive phrase "hindu rate of growth" in your writing. it is demeaning, it is not historically accurate, and it is racist.

thank you

rajeev srinivasan
management consultant and op-ed writer (rediff.com, new indian express, the pioneer, mint)


kargil. never forget kargil

jul 25th, 2009

just like we must never forget jallianwallah bagh.

or the late victorian holocausts of 30 million starved to death in el nino-related famines.

or the battle of colachel.

or the burning of library at nalanda, an unparallel crime against humanity.

or the folly of chivalrous prithviraj chouhan.

Letter to Dr. Michael Witzel from Sri Jay Battacharjee.

jul 25th, 2009

appropriate language for witzel.

glad someone else called farmer a sancho panza. i did this earlier in my 5-part series on witzel and farmer's lies (posted on this blog some years ago).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: HARAN BR
Date: Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 10:53 PM
Subject: Letter to Dr. Michael Witzel from Sri Jay Battacharjee.
To:


JAY BHATTACHARJEE
                                                                     M.A. (CANTAB), FCS
                                                       ADVISOR (CORPORATE LAWS & FINANCE)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Herr Professor (?) Michael Witzel
Harvard University
Cambridge (Mass)
USA


Witzel :                                                                       22 July 2009

Sandhya Jain was kind  enough to forward to me her recent exchange of  messages (E-Mails)  with you.

Normally, I do not wade into debates and dialogues between third parties. However, your scurrilous and intemperate letter to SJ has prompted me to write to you, although I find it most distasteful to write to persons of your level and mental make-up.

Sandhya is quite capable of engaging in a debate with you, but what upsets me is the offensive and gutter language you have used. You have the chutzpah to cast aspersions on other scholars who do not share your warped, distorted, perverted and concocted vision of Indian history and culture.

The problem, my boy, is that you are a contemporary version of an
SS Schütze (broadly the equivalent of our Sepoy / Aircraftsman).

These chaps were the lowest echelons of that horrendous band of murderers and goons - their speciality was mass murder and mayhem. They are the ones who actually carried out the massacres and then pleaded "Ein Befehl ist ein Befehl"  ("A command  is a command") or some such piffle. I am sure your level and your intrinsic capabilities would not have enabled you to rise higher than this bottom-rung.. 

If you want to know more about  the principal contribution  of your fellow - Germans to world civilisation in the recent past, kindly read your Harvard colleague Daniel Goldhagen's seminal book "Hitler's Willing Executioners".  Professor Goldhagen has an infinitely better justification for being a Harvard professor than a crypto - Nazi like you. However, I will let that pass.

Why don't you crawl back underneath the woodwork from where you emerged and leave Indian civilisation and its roots to deserving scholars and researchers ?  While you are about to do your Stalingrad surrender act, why not take your desi henchmen and henchwomen with you ?  You are truly d
égoûtant - there is no English equivalent that conveys the distaste that civilised people feel for characters like you. 

I am dismayed that a university founded by an ex-Cambridge man should allow poseurs and frauds like you to flourish and spread your venom from its portals.  You have recently had your derri
ère whipped in the California text-book case - why don't you take some rest and lick your wounds ?  Only a complete yahoo like you will claim that the CAPEEM judgement was in your favour. This is because your basic English comprehension and grasp are poor  - a German translation for you, perhaps ? That can be arranged.

I would strongly recommend some serious introspection on your part. The same goes for your desi acolytes.  A propos Smt. (Kumari)  Thapar, I had asked Malcolm Bowie, Professor of French Literary History and the former Master of my college (Christ's)  in 2003, whether it was possible for a person who knew no Greek and Latin to become a Professor of Ancient European History in any normal educational system in Europe and North America.

You can guess what his answer was. He wanted to know the context - when he was given the details, he was sad. The man was a genuine Indophile, unlike some others.

Just spare us your garbage and vinegar - I can suggest many areas of research in Germanic history that will occupy you and your Sancho Panza, Steve Farmer, for years. ( A caveat - the clown may not know your native tongue, but that should not be a problem for you lot).

Jay Bhattacharjee


pchidambaram: "we have no interest in baloch"

jul 25th, 2009

just like jawaharlal signed away legitimate indian interests and rights in tibet, mammon-mohan is doing the same with baloch.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/we-have-no-interest-in-balochistan-india/97857-3.html

if we have no interest, just shut up and keep quiet. let the paks think we do have an interest.

Pak war hero honoured at India's recommendation

jul 25th, 2009

kkkangress eager to recommend pak guy for heroism. ("sher khan"? so we have mowgli recommending sher kan for bravery?)

meanwhile, saurabh kalia, tortured to death by pak, is not recommended for heroism by kkkangress. he ain't no folk hero, either. thank you, burqa dutt et al.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Naresh


It is the height of stupidity & ignorance on the part of Indian forces & the evil congi leadership which operates by remote control from abroad. No wonder our people have continuously been used as cannon fodder by the cunning firengees using our simplemindedness & immaturity as weapons against us. We need complete overhaul & re-education in our nation, particularly the armed forces. Enough of all that nonsense about being "same people".  An enemy is an enemy, no matter what & that creature must be destroyed at all costs so our nation can survive. It is not a childish game but a matter of "Survival" for our culture, dharma, race and nation. These morons at the helm can play these shenanigans somewhere else but not in my country.  No wonder we have been losing our territory piecemeal since time immerorial because of these kinds of misguided beliefs & practices, Otherwise how can one explain & justify that only four provinces of the "greater unpartitioned Hindusthan" can hold the rest of the nation hostage for so long at such an exhorbitant cost in resorces -human & otherwise. Our mantra must be to "HATE & DESTROY OUR ENEMY" mercilessly at all costs who that may be in any shape or form. Finally, It is going to be either US or THEM. That is the final deciding factor. We all must work together to destroy evil congis & that nonsense known as gandhiism which given our people nothing but "Bhookh, Nang & divisiveness"

Naresh Khanna



Pak war hero honoured at India's recommendation

Vishal Thapar

CNN-IBN

WAR HEROES: Colonel K S Khan's native village has been named after him.

New Delhi: Pakistan army's Colonel Karnal Sher Khan, who died during the Kargil war, is remembered with great pride.

The man who fought on Tiger Hill from Pakistan's side was given the Nishan e Haidar, Pakistan's highest gallantry award on the recommendation of the Indian Army.

Captain K Sher Khan's brother Sikandar Sheikh says, "Allah ka shukar hai ki humara dushman bhi koi busdil dushman nahi hai. Agar log kahen ki India busdil hai to main kahunga nahi kyuki usne aelania keh diya ki karnel sher hero hai (No enemy is a coward. I won't call India coward because it proclaimed Sher Khan as a hero)."

Captain Khan had led an assault to re-capture Tiger Hill soon after Indian troops had taken it and had lost his life in the process.

Ten years after Kargil, Karnal Sher Khan is a folk hero. His images visible everywhere, his native village has even been renamed after him.

Sikandar Sheikh says, "Ek game hai yeh. circikete ek game hai, Chakka mara..mara. Ye ek game hai. Cup milna hai bahadur ko. Cup Kernel Sher ko mila.aur wo bhi dushman ke kehe par (War's a cricket game, but the winner has got the cup awarded by the opponent)."

On the other side too, valour was prized but the culture was different.

Instances of the Indian soldiers tortured as prisoners of war (PoW) by the Pakistani army can't be forgotten easily.

However, captain Khan's family, unaware of the torture of Indian troops at Kargil, agree there must be a code of honour among warriors.

(With inputs from Vishal Thapar and Zahir Shah)

 http://ibnlive.in.com/printpage.php?id=97858&section_id=3

 



Christian Pastor convicted of child sex abuse says He's One of the Prophets

jul 25th, 2009

more on the good prophet/pastor.

excerpts:

U.S. Assistant Attorney Kyra Jenner said Alamo's conviction would end
his cycle of abuse, as he told his followers God instructed him to
marry younger and younger girls.

After Susan Alamo's death in 1982, Alamo began focusing his tracts on
bashing Catholicism and the Vatican. His ministry, built on the backs
of followers who worked in various businesses to support the church,
designed and sold elaborate denim jackets for celebrities.

comment: ah, yes, following in the footsteps of ayesha, i see. good "holy land" [sic] guy, the prophet was, equal opportunity for christist and mohammedan practices.

and i am glad to see the 'unity' that christists claim they are about.

bottom line: christist priest == pedophile, money-worshipping monster.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sri


Convicted pastor says he's 'one of the prophets'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_re_us/us_evangelist_child_abuse

TEXARKANA, Ark. – Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who built a
multimillion-dollar ministry and became an outfitter of the stars, was
convicted Friday of taking girls as young as 9 across state lines for
sex. Alamo stood silently as the verdict was read, a contrast to his
occasional mutterings during testimony. His five victims sat looking
forward in the gallery. One, a woman he "married" at age 8, wiped away
a tear.

... deleted

Jurors convict Arkansas evangelist Tony Alamo on 10 counts of sex abuse

jul 25th, 2009

standard operating practice for christist hustlers: invent a cult, prosper, rape lots of underage girls.

why is this such a pattern in christism? that was a rhetorical question. a crazy imperialist death-cult worshiping mammon and built on nothing but lies -- naturally this is the kind of person it produces.

i particularly liked this prophet blaming godman ratzy for his troubles.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
Jurors convict Arkansas evangelist Tony Alamo on 10 counts of sex abuse

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

Friday, July 24th 2009, 2:32 PM

 
Spendley/AP

 

Evangelist Tony Alamo is led from the federal courthouse in Texarkana, Ark., on July 17 following a day of testimony in his trial. Alamo was convicted on 10 sex counts Friday.

 
Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who built a multimillion-dollar ministry and became an outfitter of the stars, was convicted Friday of taking girls as young as 9 across state lines for sex.
 
Alamo stood silently as the verdict was read, a contrast to his occasional mutterings during testimony. His five victims sat looking forward in the gallery. One, a woman he "married" at age 8, wiped away a tear.
 
"I'm just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel," Alamo called to reporters afterward as he was escorted to a waiting U.S. marshal's vehicle.
 
Shouts of  "Bye, bye, Bernie!" — Alamo was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman —came from a crowd gathered on the Arkansas side of the courthouse, which is on the Texas-Arkansas border.
 
Jurors were convinced Alamo had had sex with the girls when they were underage, but deliberated for more than a day to ensure that they considered everything, jury foreman Frank Oller of Texarkana said.
 
"That was the evidence. That was proven," Oller said. "We came up with a full decision that we are quite satisfied with."
 
Defense lawyer Don Ervin said the evidence against the 74-year-old preacher was insufficient, and said the preacher would appeal. He also said Alamo's criminal history — he served four years in prison on tax charges in the 1990s — "will hurt him" at sentencing in six to eight weeks.
 
"We believe he will face the rest of his natural life in prison," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner. The penalties on the 10 charges total 175 years in prison, she said, and violations of the century-old Mann Act also carry fines of as much as  $250,000 each.
 
The five women, who are now 17 to 33, told jurors that Alamo "married" them in private ceremonies while they were minors, sometimes giving them wedding rings. Each detailed trips beyond Arkansas' borders for Alamo's sexual gratification.
 
Alamo never testified. Though he announced to reporters that he wanted to, his lawyers told him he should not directly challenge their testimony. The attorneys argued to jurors that the girls traveled for legitimate church business.
 
State and federal agents raided Alamo's compound last Sept. 20 after repeated reports of abuse. Defense lawyers said the government targeted Alamo because it doesn't like his apocalyptic brand of Christianity.
 
Alamo has blamed the Vatican for his legal troubles, which include a four-year prison term for tax evasion in the 1990s.
 
With little physical evidence, prosecutors relied on the women's stories to paint an emotional portrait of a charismatic religious leader who controlled every aspect of his subjects' lives. No one obtained food, clothing or transportation without him knowing about it.
 
At times, men were ordered away from the compound, and their wives kept as another Alamo bride. Minor offenses from either gender drew beatings or starvation fasts.
 
In the end, prosecutors convinced jurors in Arkansas' conservative Christian climate that Alamo's ministry offered him the opportunity to prey on the young girls of loyal followers who believed him to be a prophet who spoke directly to God.
They described a ministry that ran on the fear of drawing the anger of "Papa Tony."
 
"You really appreciate the courage that they showed stepping up to face their demons," said Thomas Browne, the special agent in charge of the FBI office at Little Rock.
 
Alamo remained defiant during the trial. He referred to the Branch Davidian raid at Waco, Texas, muttered expletives during testimony and fell asleep at times — while alleged victims spoke from the witness stand and again as prosecutors urged his conviction.
 
He had built his multistate ministry on the backs of followers who worked in various businesses to support the church. In the 1980s, he designed and sold elaborately decorated denim jackets, hobnobbed with celebrities and owned a compound in western Arkansas that featured a heart-shaped swimming pool.
 
Federal agents seized a large portion of his assets in the 1990s to settle tax claims after courts declared his operations a business, not a church. Among items offered for auction were the plans for the studded jacket Michael Jackson wore on his "Bad" album.
 
The Southern Poverty Law Center considers his ministry a cult.
 
The woman considered to be Alamo's common-law wife, Sharon Alamo, and several other of his 100 to 200 followers missed the verdict, hustling up the courthouse stairs and entering an empty courtroom five minutes after court adjourned.
 


what an eventful july this has been! remember kargil

jul 25th, 2009

sunday is kargil day. 10th anniversary.

see kanchan gupta's blog for some stories that have been forgotten already, but deserve not to be. see http://kanchangupta.blogspot.com/

and then we have mammon-mohan singh (hat-tip agworld) of "swiss-account" fame, burqa dutt and other jaichands of "we-have-piss-in-our-time-with-pak" fame, and the kkkangress of "evm fraud" fame.

what is a mere lt. kalia compared to all this?

what is the worth of bhagat singh and rajguru and kartar singh sarabha and vishnu ganesh pingale?

nothing. they will be dismissed by shekar gupta and vir sanghvi with the tired cliche "patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel". are swiss bank accounts the first resort? is subverting the democratic process the second resort? is spin-doctoring the third?

i also liked kanchan's writeup on sharm-el-sheikh http://www.dailypioneer.com/191566/Sharm-debacle-scripted-in-US.html

Saturday, July 25, 2009

India's 1st SSBN to be launched on Sunday


Courtesy-- India Today

INS Arihant(Destroyer of Enemies), India's first SSBN to be launched on Sunday July 26th 2009.

Here is another article from Business Standard on the same.

With this launch, we are really one of the Big Boys out there. We better learn to act like one.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Honor attack with acid on 'Asian' man in UK

jul 24th, 2009

i wonder what religion this 'asian' man belongs to. perhaps not mohammedanism, i conjecture, because neither of these articles specify it. i wish they would stop using 'asian' and specify 'indian' or 'pakistani'. (yes, virginia, we are not the same. the former are normal human beings, the latter are violent, bigoted thugs.)

but then mohdan-on-mohdan violence is pretty spectacular, although their worst is reserved for infidels. remember the 13 year-old hindu boy in india whose face was smashed in and skull bashed in with stones by two 15-year-old mohdan boys because he was "talking to a mohdan girl". she was not related to the killers, but they considered her a "sister" -- in the broader sense of the ummah.

of course, the media just buried this story. imagine if two hindu boys had murdered a mohammedan boy! imagine the breast-beating, even if that mohdan had raped and murdered a hindu girl!

obvious moral: it is mohdans' job to kill, it is hindus' job to be killed without demur. why, even the mahatma would agree.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/23/sulphuric-acid-honour-attack

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Swami



what's with you Malayalis? :-)

jul 23rd, 2009

fair question from telugu friend :-(

well, we have been talking about the ominous precedent of malayali preponderance at the center for some time. previous era, 1962 happened, and tibet was lost. in UPA I, nepal was lost. fully expect that arunachal and sikkim will be lost in UPA II.

it's like the eclipses and suchlike appearing. portents. bad.

my conjecture: malayalis have been so deracinated by christist indoctrination that they worship the usual christist god: mammon. and only mammon.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: K.V.


Sashi Tharoor quote read on Bharat-rakshak:

"It's all very well for the people to say that somehow India's
interest compromised by few words on a piece of paper that is not a
legal document. It is a diplomatic paper that is released to the press
- different from the legal papers," said Tharoor.

Has Tharor no shame, spouting such incoherent rubbish? What does the
above even mean?

And then you've got Shivashankar Menon & his "bad drafting",
gawdhelpus, isn't he the grandson of Krishna Menon or something?

Last time someone looked out for India was when a golti (PVNR) was in charge.

:-)

India's only hope is Pakistani stupidity.

Shrine vs Swine

Swine Flu seems tailor-made to trigger the phobias of those with a centuries-old aversion for pigs and an equally old mania for group worship:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8153047

You have to wonder what they'd do if there was a serious Swine Flu outbreak over there.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Agriculture: Secret of Modi’s success

jul 22nd, 2009

agriculture domine!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 8:17 PM
Subject: Agriculture: Secret of Modi's success
To:


AGRICULTURE : Secret of Modi's success
22 Jul 2009, The Economic Times
When Narendra Modi won the 2007 state election in Gujarat, the media focused on Hindu-Muslim issues. Some journalists highlighted rapid industrial development that had made Gujarat India's fastest-growing state. I mentioned Gujarat's successful port-led development.

However, an excellent new study suggests that the secret of Modi's success lay in agriculture, an area completely neglected by political analysts. Ashok Gulati, Tushaar Shah and Ganga Sreedhar have written an IFPRI paper, 'agricultural Performance in Gujarat Since 2000', which highlights something few people know — that Gujarat's agricultural performance is by far the best in India. Between 2000-01 and 2007-08 agricultural value added grew at a phenomenal 9.6% per year (despite a major drought in 2002). This is more than double India's agricultural growth rate, and much faster than Punjab's farm growth in the green revolution heyday. Indeed, 9.6% agricultural growth is among the fastest rates recorded anywhere in the world. That drives home the magnitude of Gujarat's performance.

Since the bulk of Gujarat's population is still rural, this mega-boom in agriculture must have created millions of satisfied voters. Hence it must have played a major role in Modi's victory. Yet I did not see a single media analyst mention it.

Gujarat is drought prone, with 70% of its area classified as semi-arid and arid. Although journalists focus on the Sardar Sarovar Project, its canal network is hopelessly incomplete, and currently irrigates only 0.1 million hectares. No less than 82% of irrigation in the state comes from tubewells, which have depleted groundwater. By the mid-1990s, groundwater extraction exceeded natural recharge in 31 talukas, and 90% of the safe extraction yield in another 12 talukas.

In the 1990s, the state along with grass-roots organisations embarked on decentralised water harvesting. This included the building of check dams, village tanks, and bori-bunds (built with gunny sacks stuffed with mud). During the 2007 election campaign, the Congress slogan was 'chak de, chak de Gujarat'. I heard Modi say at a rally that his reply was "check dam, check dam Gujarat." I did not realise at the time how significant this really was.

The IFPRI study says that 10,700 check dams were built up to 2000, and helped drought-proof 32,000 hectares. That sounds a lot. But subsequently, under Modi, Gujarat has built ten times as many check dams! He could well say 'chak de, check dam'.
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It's A Sellout

Yup, that pretty much sums it up -- it's a sellout. We're screwed.

Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard

jul 22nd, 2009

wasn't it mostly harvard business school types who created the bubbles? poetic justice.

although i don't see much about the bschool in the following.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
I.V. League
 

Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard

Only a year ago, Harvard had a $36.9 billion endowment, the largest in academia. Now that endowment has imploded, and the university faces the worst financial crisis in its 373-year history. Could the same lethal mix of uncurbed expansion, colossal debt, arrogance, and mismanagement that ravaged Wall Street bring down America's most famous university? And how much of the turmoil is the fault of former Harvard president Larry Summers, now a top economic adviser to President Obama? As students demonstrate, administrators impose Draconian cuts, and construction is halted on an over-ambitious $1.2 billion science complex, the author follows the finger-pointing.

... deleted

Sordid reality behind Dubai's gilded facade

jul 22nd, 2009

what, arabs mucking with limeys fornicators and deadbeats? no, that has to stop! quick, let's send a gunboat... er, what gunboat?

the slaves from the subcontinent, and the sexual slaves from the ex-soviet union are the ones left holding the bag.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <shahryar


 
From The Sunday Times
July 12, 2009

Sordid reality behind Dubai's gilded facade

Construction halted, westerners jailed for adultery - but prostitutes do well

 
Rod Liddle
 
 
Andrew Blair says he will pick me up from outside my sleaze-bucket of a hotel, give it 20 minutes or so, got some work to finish off. He has a job again, contracts apparently "coming out of his ears", which is good, because until recently he had earned a certain notoriety for not having a job and, more to the point, for the manner in which he went about finding a new one.
He drove around Dubai, back in January this year, from the plug-ugly creek to the plug-ugly marina, in his white Porsche, with a sign in the back window saying he wanted a job; vroom vroom he went, gizza job. Scratch scratch scratch went the keys and coins along the side of his car whenever it was parked up.
 
... deleted
 
where the money comes from
 
GDP in 2007: £23 billion
 
Trading: 31%
 
Construction/ Real estate: 22.6%
 
Financial Services: 11%
 
Oil/Petrol/Gas: 5.8%
 
Dubai's foreign debt is well over 100% of its GDP
 
 
Annual incomes
 
Project manager, Construction: £57,576
 
Project manager, IT: £38,438
 
IT manager: £33,891
 
Construction worker: ± £993
 
 
Politics and human rights
 
1 No suffrage
 
2 Political parties illegal
 
3 Freedom of association and expression curtailed
 
 
The UAE refuses to sign the following treaties:
 
4 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
 
5 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
 
6 Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
 
7 Convention against Torture
 
 
Crime and punishment
 
8 Death penalty by firing squad for several offences
 
9 Death penalty by stoning for adultery
 
 
The people
 
Population (Inc Migrants)
 
Male 75.5%
 
Female 24.5%



India De-links Terror from Talks

So basically, the Indian govt are saying that terror attacks don't matter in our relations with Pakistan. And the Pakistanis are taking it further, now pretentiously asserting that they are victims of our terror, including the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team, which was obviously originally intended to target the Indian team which bowed out at the last moment.

Let's face it, the Kaangress has sold out our national interests, in the hope of earning enough US patronage to keep itself in power for perpetuity, like Japan's now faltering LDP. Kaangress are the new big stooges in Asia for the Americans to dote upon. And worst of all - not enough Indians even care or know enough to do anything about it.

Kaangress is easily the weakest link by far, in the national security setup.

Why should we have pretensions to being a "shooparpawar" when we are clearly no better than any African country, with our politicians stooping to selling out so easily and so shamelessly? The Americans clearly see the ugly truth that we ourselves are unwilling to recognize or admit -- that we are just an African-style country whose leaders can be bribed at a moment's notice.

There's the story about a man who spends much time, effort and money barricading his front door, to secure his home, only to fall prey to thieves who enter by the unsecured backdoor and rob him blind.

We all spend so much time debating the finer points of national security, policy and strategy, and meanwhile the Americans have effortlessly bypassed any and all considerations by cutting right to the chase: they're dangling in front of Kangress the prospect of it being able to stay in power for perpetuity in a secure setup, like Japan's LDP, and of course the greedy blighters in the Kaangress are hungrily leaping across the table, making a beeline for that which they crave most.

"Joint statement with Pak? No problem!"
"De-link terror from talks? Willingness to suffer more terrorist attacks! No problem! We politicians get Category Z security anyhow! No skin off our noses!"

This is what I call a nation of beggars. No decent people would accept this, or remain silent to this. But we will - because we're not decent. And as indecent people, we deserve the fate that befalls all indecent people. We deserve the terror attacks we get. This is the comeuppance we have earned through our collective apathy.

For all our talk of national security and public policy, the reality is that India is nothing but an African-style country, run by corrupt crooks who can be bribed into anything at a moment's notice. We are constantly proving Macaulay right.

Kashmir: the Indian colony to pay for Islamic ‘education’

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/23/stories/2009072355700800.htm



Given the recent softening of oil prices, looks like the Saudis found a useful way to pay these fanatics their keep – get Kashmir’s Colony of India to fund madrassa education. That’s right – we will soon pay for their secession.

This Omar Abdullah is one up on his father. At least that man had the pretence of duplicity.

Where are the thapar, sardesai, dutt and vir sanghvi’s of the world? Remember the paroxysms of delight after that ‘passionate’ speech defending manmohan’s deal? I could hear the cash till ringing.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Another Manmohan capitulation

The Times and other mouthpieces have not even reported this on the front page.
US inspectors would be given access to Indian military bases to inspect American military systems in service with the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, under the text of the end-use monitoring agreement agreed upon by the two sides on Monday during US secretary of state Hillary Clinton's visit to India.

India does not have such an agreement with any other country
Other write ups in this newspaper have the "redoubtable" SM Krishna saying that there's nothing wrong in opening ones kimono WIDE (as in REALLY WIDE) to intrusive american inspections.

If this is how totally Manmohan and Co are selling us down the drain in a deal so simple, imagine how total the sell-out in the nuke deal, once the technical gobbledegook is removed, must be.

"america abounds in myths and superstitions based on christist mythology, like the cannibalistic eating and drinking of some guy's flesh and blood".

jul 21st, 2009

appropriate response to the crap this gent on AP is putting out:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iX8d-T09U9BY--80N9QWImFwW2ewD99JA6180

"americans celebrate a weird festival named easter based on a superstition about some fellow who died, was buried, and then was brought back to life in a cave".

"american abounds in myths and superstitions based on christist mythology. they actually believe that some guy was born to a virgin mother, who was impregnated directly by a god. skeptics claim she was actually impregnated by a roman soldier, and cooked up the virgin birth story to delude her husband."

Editor of Leading Pakistani Paper: 'If, in Order to Resolve Our Water Problems, We Have to Wage Nuclear War with India, We Will'

jul 21st, 2009

pretty clear, isn't it? pak will use nuclear weapons.

they keep saber rattling at all times. they keep saying they don't mind if their country is turned into radio-active rubble so long as they take out delhi and mumbai.

but i have found that the only thing that shuts them up is:

"if, in order to silence pakistan, we have to wage nuclear war against a certain cube-like building in a third country, we will. this is the reason we are developing nuclear weapons and missiles".

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gautam
Date: Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Subject: Editor of Leading Pakistani Paper: 'If, in Order to Resolve Our Water Problems, We Have to Wage Nuclear War with India, We Will' – Water Disputes Between India and Pakistan – A Potential Casus Belli
To:


But will the composite dialogue continue in the aftermath of a nuclear strike against Delhi? It is all very confusing for lesser breeds like us, but people with doctorates in languages from Cambridge or a PhD in economics from Oxford might care to explain!!
 
GS

Paper:
 
'If, in Order to Resolve Our Water Problems, We Have to Wage Nuclear War with India, We Will' – Water Disputes Between India and Pakistan – A Potential Casus Belli
To: tufailelif@yahoo.co.uk


Pakistan-India water dispute
 
India, We Will' – Water Disputes Between India and Pakistan – A Potential Casus Belli

If you are having trouble viewing this page click here.
MEMRI Email Newsletter

Editor of Leading Pakistani Paper: 'If, in Order to Resolve Our Water Problems, We Have to Wage Nuclear War with India, We Will' – Water Disputes Between India and Pakistan – A Potential Casus Belli

By: Tufail Ahmad *

Urdu-Pashtu Media Project|#536| July 20, 2009

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Introduction

Concern is growing in Pakistan that India is pursuing policies in an attempt to strangulate Pakistan by exercising control over the water flow of Pakistan's rivers. The concern is most related to Pakistan's agricultural sector, which would be greatly affected by the building of dams and by the external control of the waters of several rivers that flow into Pakistan.(1) The issue has a layered complexity, as three of the rivers flow into Pakistan through the Indian portion of Jammu & Kashmir, the territory over which the two countries have waged multiple wars.(2)
  
Pakistani columnists, religious leaders, and policymakers are increasingly articulating their concern over the water dispute in terms of a traditional rivalry against India and in terms of anti-Israel sentiment that has been fostered by the country's establishment over the years. In one such recent case, Ayaz Amir, a renowned Pakistani columnist, warned: "Insisting on our water rights with regard to India must be one of the cornerstones of our foreign policy. The disputes of the future will be about water."(3) Hamid Gul, former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), charged: "India has stopped our water."(4) Pakistan's Indus Basin Water Council (IBWC), a pressure group that appears deceivingly authoritative as an organization whose central purpose is to address Pakistani water concerns, currently maintains near hegemony over the pubic debate of the issue. IBWC Chairman Zahoorul Hassan Dahir claimed that "India, working in conjunction with the Jewish lobby" is using most of the river waters, causing a shortage of food, water and electricity in Pakistan.(5)
  
The Pakistani concern involves six rivers that flow into Pakistan through northern India, including the disputed state of Jammu & Kashmir and the state of Punjab, both of which have been ideologically divided between India and Pakistan since 1947. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, disagreements began to arise over sharing of river waters, leading to the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, an attempt at a resolution brokered by the World Bank.(6) Though the treaty is perhaps the most enduring pact between the two nuclear powers, it is coming under increasing strain.


Understanding the Indus River System

The Indus Water Treaty sets out the legal framework for the sharing of the waters of six rivers: the Indus River and its five tributaries. All six rivers – Indus, Chenab, Jhelum, Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi – flow through northern India into Pakistan. Under the pact, the waters of three rivers – the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum, which pass through Jammu & Kashmir – are to be used by Pakistan, while India has rights to the waters of the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi before these three enter Pakistani territory. The Chenab is the key tributary, as it carries the waters of the rest four rivers into the Indus.
  
The complicated origins of the Indus river system plays a key role in the water debates, as the rivers originate in and pass through a number of countries. According to the Indus Water Treaty, the following three rivers are for use by Pakistan:

* The Indus River: originates in Chinese-controlled Tibet and flows through Jammu & Kashmir..

* The Chenab: originates in India's Himachal Pradesh state, travels through Jammu & Kashmir.

* The Jhelum: rises in Jammu & Kashmir and flows into Pakistan, finally joining Chenab.

The Treaty affords India use of the following three rivers:

* The Sutlej: originates in Tibet, flows through Himachal Pradesh and Punjab before joining the Chenab.

* The Beas and the Ravi: originate in Himachal Pradesh state and flow into Pakistan, emptying into the Chenab.

Taking into account the flow of the rivers, the importance of the Chenab and the Indus becomes clear. The Chenab combines the waters of four rivers, the Jhelum, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, to form a single water system which then joins the Indus in Pakistan. The Indus River is considered to be the lifeline of Pakistani economy and livestock.


Pakistani Concern and Baglihar Dam

Pakistani concern regarding the water from the rivers started in the 1990s after India began constructing a hydroelectric power project on the Chenab River in the Doda district of Jammu & Kashmir. Since the Chenab is the key tributary of the Indus, Pakistani policymakers, religious and political parties, and political commentators feared that India could exert control over the waters. Such control could be used to injure the Pakistani economy and livestock, or could be used to cause floods in Pakistan by the release of water during times of war. Discussions of Pakistan's concerns are most often centralized around the Baglihar dam, though it is only one of the several water projects being developed by India in its part of Jammu & Kashmir.(7)
  
The first phase of the Baglihar dam, a 450-MW hydroelectric power project initiated in the 1990s, was completed on October 10, 2008. Inaugurating the project, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted: "It is a matter of satisfaction that the reconstruction program... [entailing] 67 projects is well under way with 19 projects completed, one of which is the Baglihar project that I inaugurated today."(8) The fact that the Baglihar dam is one of 67 development projects underway in Jammu & Kashmir raises further concerns among many Pakistanis who believe that Kashmir, having a Muslim majority, rightfully belongs to the Islamic state of Pakistan. The extensive building of infrastructure by India is therefore a cause of further Pakistani displeasure and contention.
  
The discussion of water easily ignites popular passion because Pakistan is increasingly confronted by an impending water crisis. In early 2009, it was estimated that Pakistan is on the brink of a water disaster, as the availability of water in Pakistan has been declining over the past few decades, from 5,000 cubic meters per capita 60 years ago to 1,200 cubic meters per capita in 2009. By 2020, the availability of water is estimated to fall to about 800 cubic meters per capita.(9) M. Yusuf Sarwar, a member of the Indus Basin Water Council, has warned that the lessening flow of water in rivers and shortage of water generally could cause Pakistan to be declared a disaster-affected nation by 2013.(10) Dr. Muhammad Yar Khawar, a scientist at the University of Sindh, released research last year based on sample surveys that warns that less than 20 percent of below-surface water in the Sindh province, previously thought to be a viable water source, is acceptable for drinking.(11)
  
Amidst this shortage of water, Pakistan is also confronted with a number of internal factors that amount to further strain. One columnist warned that with Pakistan's population set to jump to 250 million in just a few years' time, a shortage of water, along with that of oil, sugar, and wheat, will become a major problem.(12) Pakistan is also estimated to be losing 13 million cusecs [approximately 368,119 cubic meters/second] of water every year from its rivers into the sea, as it does not have enough reservoirs or dams to store water.(13) Further tensions arise from allegations of inequitable distribution of water between various Pakistani provinces. The Indus River System Authority (IRSA), which allocates water to provinces, averted a major political controversy between provinces in June 2009 by declaring that there would be not cut in their water supply.(14)
  
While a number of Pakistan's internal behaviors are responsible for the depleting water table, the construction of Baglihar dam by India has multiplied Pakistani concern. Pakistani writers warn that the dam will deprive Pakistan of 321,000 acre feet of water during agricultural season, greatly affecting wheat production in the Punjab province and leading to crop failures.(15) There are some warnings that the dam will adversely affect 13 million acres of irrigated land around the Chenab and Ravi rivers, forcing Pakistani farmers to change crops, and in the face of starvation, deepening Pakistan's dependence on food imports and burdening the country's national exchequer.(16) In an editorial published in June 2009, Pakistan's mass-circulation Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang said India "is nursing an unpious dream of turning the entirety of Pakistan into a desert."(17)


Pakistan-Indian Talks

Under the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, India is not permitted to build dams for the purpose of water storage on the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum rivers, but it is allowed to make limited use of their waters, including developing run-of-the-river hydroelectric power projects.(18) India is required to provide Pakistan with the technical details of any water project it wants to develop on these rivers before building begins.(19) Pakistan has formally raised objections on the technical specifications of the Baglihar dam, including design, size, gated spillways, and water capacity.(20) Over the past decade, India and Pakistan held a series of talks on the issue of the Baglihar dam but could not resolve the matter within the framework of the 1960 treaty.
  
In 2003, Pakistan formally served a final notice to the Indian government, urging it to resolve the Baglihar issue by December 31, 2003, a process that failed to yield results.(21) In 2005, Pakistan approached the World Bank for mediation. The World Bank noted that it was "not a guarantor of the treaty," but had the authority to appoint a neutral expert.(22) In 2007, the appointed neutral expert Professor Raymond Lafitte of Switzerland delivered a verdict rejecting most of the Pakistani objections.(23) However, Professor Lafitte did require India to make some minor changes, including reducing the dam's height by 1.5m.(24) Significantly, Professor Lafitte's judgment classified Pakistani objections as "differences" and not a serious "dispute," which could have paved the way for the issue to be taken to a Court of Arbitration as envisaged in the treaty.(25)
  
To this day, Pakistan remains dissatisfied over the Lafitte verdict. Though India has facilitated visits by Pakistani officials to the dam site and Indian delegations have visited Pakistan to examine Pakistani claims of a water shortage in the Chenab river, the countries remain at an impasse.(26) Bilateral talks between the two countries are now increasingly focused on water disputes. Pakistan has accused India several times of completely stopping Pakistan's water from the Chenab River. In March 2008, Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan Dahir, the IBWC chairman, charged that India "completely shut down the Chenab river from the 1st to the 26th of January 2008, with not even a drop of water moving."(27) India was also accused of curtailing the water supply from the Chenab River during September-October, 2008. Due to a precedent set in the 1978 case of the Salal dam construction by India in Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan is requesting to be paid a compensation for any water shortfall.(28) In June 2009, the Pakistani government declared that India rejected its demand for monetary compensation for the loss of water from the Chenab River. Pakistan alleged that the waters of the Chenab had been stopped by India during August 2008; however India refuted these claims, citing unreliable Pakistani statistics regarding water stoppage and loss.(29) In an editorial, the Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper Roznama Express noted: "If India continues to build dams on our rivers and stop our water, then the day is not far when our lands will become barren and this nation, that has a spectacular history of agricultural production, will be forced to import food."(30) The daily observed that during a meeting with President Asif Zardari, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the President that he was looking into the matter, but no action was taken. In October 2008, President Zardari took "serious notice" of the issue and warned of "damage to bilateral relations" if Pakistani concerns were not addressed.(31) A few days before President Zardari's statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Baglihar dam project, stating that "Pakistan's concerns about the project had been addressed."(32)
  
On June 6, 2009, two years after the Lafitte verdict, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accused India of violating the Indus Water Treaty.(33) Qureshi further warned that any failure to resolve the water disputes "could lead to conflict in the region."(34) A sentiment is now emerging in Pakistan that the 1960 Indus Water Treaty has proven to function to the sole advantage of India. Ayub Mayo, the president of the farmers' lobby group Pakistan Muttahida Kisan Mahaz, declared that the 1960 pact is simply "a conspiracy to deprive Pakistan of its due share of water."(35) While the talks between the two nations regarding water-related issues are continuing into the second half of 2009, public debate in Pakistan on the subject continues to be vigorous and sentimental, raising complicated concerns of national security, traditional rivalry with India, as well as historical anti-Semitism.


The Perceived Threat

During the past two years, the debate in Pakistan about the Indian water projects in Jammu & Kashmir has gained a bitter momentum, as Pakistani leaders have begun to describe India as their eternal enemy and accuse India of trying to suffocate the Pakistani economy. Speeches by the leaders often carry an element of anti-Semitism, blaming India for acting under an international conspiracy led by Israel, the U.S. and India against the Islamic state of Pakistan.
  
In early 2008, an editorial in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Ausaf accused India of planning a "Water Bomb" strategy to economically strangulate Pakistan. The article quoted the officials of the IBWC pressure group as saying that India wants to achieve through a "water bomb" what it could not achieve through the three wars waged over the past six decades.(36) Noting that India is planning "50 dams to raid the waters of the rivers" flowing into Pakistan, the IBWC warned: "If this is not foiled, Pakistan will face the worst famine and economic disaster."(37)
  
In April 2008, IBWC Chairman Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan Dahir stated that India plans to construct 10 more dams on rivers streaming into Pakistan in addition to the ongoing construction of 52 new dams. "We believe that if India succeeded in constructing the proposed dams," Dahir disclosed, "Pakistan would join the list of the countries facing a severe water crisis. If we are to save Pakistan, we have to protect our waters and review our policies in Kashmir."(38)
  
One month later, Dahir accused India of using 80 percent of the water of the Chenab and Jhelum rivers and 60 percent of the water of the Indus, stating: "We can do nothing about what India is doing but we are concerned about the role of our government. If continued, this distribution of water would not only affect our energy but also agricultural production. We wonder as to why we are leading toward collective suicide."(39) In May 2009, Dahir described "India's water terrorism as a bigger threat than Talibani terrorism," and then added: "The day is not far when circumstances like those in Somalia, Ethiopia and Chad will emerge inside Pakistan... Between India and Pakistan, there is an extremely dreadful dispute. In an aggressive manner, India has readied a weapon for use against Pakistan that is more dangerous and destructive than an atomic bomb."(40) Dahir warned that by 2012, India will acquire the capability to completely stop the waters of the Jhelum and the Chenab.(41)
  
One month after the inauguration of first phase of the Baglihar project by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jamaat Ali Shah, Pakistan's Indus Water Commissioner and liaison between the countries within the framework of the 1960 treaty, warned that India plans to make Pakistan barren by 2014 by stopping its water. At a seminar in Lahore, Shah contented that India is permitted to generate electricity from the waters of the rivers but not to stop Pakistan's water as it has on several occasions, most notably from August 19 to September 5, 2008, a suspension presumably necessary to fill up the Baglihar dam.(42) Pakistani leaders estimate that during the 36 day hiatus from September-October 2008, India deprived Pakistan of more than 1.2 million cusecs water.(43)


Defense Security Concerns

Within a week of the dam's October 2008 inauguration, Major General Athar Abbas, a spokesman for the Pakistan Army, expressed concern over the Baglihar dam, describing it as a "defense security concern."(44) Abbas stated that a number of canals, drains and artificial distributaries used for irrigation purposes are crucial during times of war.(45) The strategic importance of the Indian water projects in Kashmir is so significant that officials from the Pakistani Army headquarters attended a government meeting on the issue in February 2009 "to discuss the impact of the said dams on Pakistan's water and defense interests... The armed forces became alarmed when they learned the projects could wreak havoc... if the said dams were to collapse or malfunction."(46)
  
Retired General Zulfiqar Ali, former chairman of Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority expressed that by building dams on rivers in Kashmir, India has achieved military, economic and political supremacy vis-a-vis Pakistan.(47) In an editorial, the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Khabrain accused India of using water as a weapon, proclaiming: "In order to establish its hegemony over the region [of South Asia], India is even using water as a weapon.."(48) Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, a senior Pakistani politician and former Minister of Railways, has warned that Pakistan and India may go to war on the issue of water, adding: "India wants to make Pakistan a Somalia by stopping its water."(49) Addressing a seminar in late-2008, Javed Iqbal, an eminent retired justice in Pakistan, said, "the government of Pakistan should pressure the Indian government to resolve this issue; and if it does not agree, then a threat be issued that we are ready for a war."(50)
  
A number of Pakistani commentators warned that the water issues may incite nuclear war between the two countries. At the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a convener of the Pakistani chapter of the Kashmiri secessionist organizations' alliance, Syed Yousaf Naseem stated that Pakistan is facing a water crisis and that the Indian efforts to effect cuts in its water share from the rivers flowing into Pakistan could compel Pakistan to use unconventional weapons against India. Naseem added that: "The Kashmir issue is cardinal to Pakistan-India relations. Unless this issue is resolved, the Damocles' sword of a nuclear clash will remain hanging over the region. Kashmir is very important for Pakistan and a delay in the resolution of this issue will jeopardize the peace of the region."(51)
  
The warning of nuclear war between the two neighbors has been reiterated by multiple sources, including veteran Pakistani editor Majeed Nizami.(52) Even former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a center-right politician who was responsible for conducting the 1998 nuclear tests, warned in May 2009 that "the issues of water and Kashmir must be resolved as early as possible so that the clouds of war between Pakistan and India can be eliminated forever."(53) A similar linking between water issues and Kashmiri emancipation has been articulated by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of jihadist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. In an address to a group of farmers in Lahore last year, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed warned that the "water problem cannot be resolved without liberating Kashmir from India."(54) Syed Salahuddin, the chairman of the Muttahida Jihad Council, a network bringing together nearly two dozen Pakistan-based militant organizations, warned in October 2008 that jihad against India in Jammu & Kashmir will continue until the territory is liberated.(55)


Blaming the Jews

Though a few Kashmiri secessionist organizations maintain their own opinions on the water matters, Pakistan's water rows with India are essentially bilateral in nature.(56) However, religious and political commentators in Pakistan often frame the issue in terms of an international conspiracy involving the Jews and Israel.
  
Majeed Nizami, editor-in-chief of Pakistan's influential Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, inserted anti-Israel sentiments in an article that primarily described India as the "eternal enemy of Pakistan.."(57) Nizami aaccused India of blocking water from the Chenab River and further proclaimed that India wants to destroy Pakistan, saying: "Our crops are not getting water. If this situation continues, Pakistan will become Sudan and Somalia."(58) Nizami elaborated on the international threats faced by Pakistan, proclaiming that Pakistan's fight is with the "Three Satans": India, the U.S. and Israel. Nizami accused these satanic nations of being united against Pakistan because Pakistan is the only Islamic power with nuclear capability. He added: "If, in order to resolve our problems, we have to wage a nuclear war with India, we will."(59)
  
At a seminar organized by Nazaria-e-Pakistan Foundation in April 2008 entitled "Water Crisis – Challenges Faced by the Nation and Their Solutions," Majeed Nizami went to the extent of declaring that "the Hindus [of India] had decided to make Pakistan barren even before 1947," i.e. before Pakistan was created.(60) Presiding over the seminar was Gen. (ret) Hamid Gul, former ISI chief, who addressed the Indian dams on rivers from Jammu & Kashmir by warning: "The nation needs to be determined. If necessary, India's dams will be blown up."(61) Though the subject of the seminar was water crisis in Pakistan, Gul went on to add: "Two states came into existence in 1947 and 1948: one, Pakistan; two, Israel. The two are threats to each other. Ultimately, only one of them will survive…. Pakistan can be saved by making a role model of the Prophet [Muhammad]."(62) Alluding to Samuel P. Huntington's Clash-of-Civilizations thesis, Gul went on to note: "At this point, the matter is not of a war between civilizations, but that of a clash between systems. Islam is a humanity-loving religion. The West is fighting the last battle for its survival."(63)
  
Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan Dahir too has repeatedly accused India of working "in cooperation with the Jewish lobby" on its power projects on the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers in order to stifle the Pakistani economy.(64) In an article, Dahir accused India of working on a "mega plan of water aggression against Pakistan," observing that, "the practical objective of this plan is to ensure that Pakistan is reduced to being a colony of India….. A consortium has been set up in cooperation with the Jewish lobby, three other nations, two multinational firms, one trans-national NGO, secret agencies of three countries, including the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) of India, are involved."(65) In another public statement, Dahir said that "with the cooperation of the Jewish lobby, India has opened a battlefront of water war aimed at making Pakistan's fertile lands barren."(66)
  
In an editorial concerning the water issues, the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Ausaf also attacked Israel. Accusing the Pakistani government of not developing a counter-strategy to confront India's "dangerous ambitions," the article alluded to external supporters of India's anti-Pakistani policy, claiming that, "India was given easy rides which helped it complete most work on Baglihar dam."(67) The Roznama Ausaf editorial added that "with the aid of Israel, India also managed to build a fence on the working boundary and on the Line of Control [in Kashmir]. It was with Israeli help that India installed sensitive equipment on the working boundary and Line of Control to monitor the movement of Kashmiri freedom fighters."(68)


The International Conspiracy

In April 2009, former member of Pakistani parliament and Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami in the Sindh province Maulana Asadullah Bhutto said: "India is Pakistan's eternal enemy and from day one until now has been engaged in destroying Pakistan. It first occupied Kashmir through a conspiracy, thereafter cut off our eastern arm [creating Bangladesh] and for the past several years now has been stealing Pakistan's share of water.... India is using Pakistan's water and is engaged in efforts to make our lands barren."(69)
   The Pakistan-India water dispute was discussed by the Majlis-e-Shura (executive council) of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in May 2009. In a resolution adopted at the end of the meeting, the Jamaat-e-Islami condemned "water aggression" by India and described it as "a dreadful international conspiracy to make Pakistan face a situation like [the drought-stuck] Ethiopia by making Pakistan's fertile lands barren."(70)
  
At another meeting organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami in Lahore, Syed Salahuddin, a jihadist commander based in Pakistani Kashmir, explained: "An attempt is being made to change the character of the population of Kashmir by inhabiting it with Hindus [from other parts of India] depriving Pakistan of water. Until now, India has not accepted the existence of Pakistan. The 160 million people of Pakistan support the Kashmiri mujahideen [militants fighting against India in Kashmir], making this fight the essence of Pakistan's national interest. The Israeli and Brahman [elite Hindu caste] imperialism can only be defeated by jihad and the use of force. Jihad will continue to liberate every corner of Kashmir from the Indian occupation."(71)


Conclusion

Although bitter feelings and heated public debates are likely to persist in the years ahead, the people and leadership of Pakistan generally accept that there is nothing that Pakistan can do, especially in light of the judgment delivered in February 2007 by the World Bank-appointed neutral expert Professor Raymond Lafitte. In an editorial, the Pakistani daily The News observed: "The only way to avoid problems arising is for the 1960 accord to be respected. India has, on more than one occasion, attempted to violate its spirit if not its letter, by seeking loopholes and technical flaws that can be used to its advantage. But in all this, there is also another message. The interests of the two countries are so closely linked, that they can be protected only by establishing closer ties. A failure to do so will bring only more episodes of discord, over river water, over dams, over toxic dumping in drains and over illegal border crossings...."(72)
  
In late June 2009, Pakistani Water and Power Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf observed that India does have a right to build dams, but that it cannot stop the flow of water into Pakistan in order to fill the dams.(73) In fact, Jamaat Ali Shah, Pakistan's Indus Water Commissioner, gave a rare candid interview in April 2008, stating that the Indian water projects currently undertaken do not contravene the provisions of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty. Noting that India can construct dams within the technical specifications outlined in the treaty, Shah acknowledged: "In compliance with the Indus Water Treaty, India has so far not constructed any storage dam on the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum rivers. The hydroelectric projects India is developing are on the run-of-the-river waters of these rivers, projects which India is permitted to pursue according to the treaty."(74)


  
*Tufail Ahmad is Director of Urdu-Pashtu Media Project at The Middle East Media Research Institute (www.memri.org ).


Endnotes:

(1) The author would like mention a note of thanks to senior Pakistani journalists Rifatullah Orakzai and Zulfiqar Ali for clarifying some aspects of the issue.
(2) The two nations have gone to war over Kashmir in 1947-48, 1965, and 1999. Pakistan has also backed militant organizations in Kashmir since 1989.
(3) The News, Pakistan, May 1, 2009.
(4) Roznama Jang, May 25, 2009.
(5) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, May 6, 2008. Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan Dahir emerges as the most vocal Pakistani personality on Indian water projects on Kashmir. However, his organization Indus Basin Water council, though sounding like a government authority, is a pressure group.
(6) For the text of the Indus Water Treaty, see http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSOUTHASIA/Resources/223497-1105737253588/IndusWatersTreaty1960.pdf
(7) According to Roznama Express newspaper of June 3, 2008, Pakistan is also worried that another hydroelectric power project being built by India on Kishan Ganga river, a tributary of Jhelum, will curtail water supply to Pakistan. The Roznama Express noted that Pakistan has also threatened to take the matter to the World Bank. According to The Times of India newspaper of July 29, 2004, India's Tulbul Navigation Project on Jhelum river (known as Wullar Barrage in Pakistan) worries Pakistan that it will affect water supply to Pakistan. The barrage is built at the mouth of fresh water Wullar Lake in Kashmir valley. According to the Lahore-based Daily Times of June 4, 2009, Pakistan has also raised the issue of India's Nimo Bazgo hydroelectric power project on Indus river in Laddakh region of Jammu and Kashmir state.
(8) Press Information Bureau, Government of India, New Delhi; See link http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43550
(9) The News, Pakistan, February 9, 2009.
(10) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, April 24, 2009.
(11) Roznama Express, Pakistan, April 16, 2008.
(12) Roznama Jang, Pakistan, April 1, 2008.
(13) Roznama Express, Pakistan, April 5, 2008.
(14) Daily Times, Pakistan, June 28, 2009. Sindh, low riparian province, accuses Punjab of diverting its share of water because the government officials who are charged with allocating water to provinces are predominantly from Punjab. In fact, all provinces in Pakistan accuse Punjabi bureaucrats of working against their interests.
(15) Dawn, Pakistan, February 14, 2005.
(16) Dawn, Pakistan, February 14, 2005.
(17) Roznama Jang, Pakistan, June 27, 2009.
(18) Run-of-the river hydroelectric generation utilizes the natural elevation drop of a steadily flowing river to generate electricity.
(19) The Hindu, India, June 9, 2005.
(20) Newsline, Pakistan, February 2005.
(21) Dawn, Pakistan, December 10, 2003.
(22) Dawn, Pakistan, January 20, 2005.
(23) The Hindu, India, March 1, 2007.
(24) The Hindu, India, March 1, 2007. In his verdict, Professor Raymond Lafitte a) rejected Pakistani objection that gated spillways are not necessary; b) neither accepted Indian justification of a free board of 4.5m nor the Pakistani proposal of 1.5m, but recommended to India a reduction in dam's height by 1.5m; c) did not accept Pakistani calculation of a pondage of 6.22mcm but found Indian design of 37.7mcm excessive, suggesting a reduction to 32.5mcm; d) accepted India's figure of 16500 cumec on probable maximum flood (PMF); e) did not accept Pakistan's contention that bottom of spillways are not at the highest level possible, instead found sluice spillways prudent for sediment control; f) partially accepted Pakistani objection that water intake for the power plant is not as high as possible, suggesting that it be raised by 3m.
(25) Dawn, Pakistan, January 20, 2005. Under the treaty, any "questions" between India and Pakistan are resolved bilaterally, while "differences" are resolved through mediation of a neutral expert and "disputes" by a Court of Arbitration, to be appointed specially for the purpose.
(26) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, December 1, 2008.
(27) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqta, Pakistan, March 27, 2008.
(28) Dawn, Pakistan, December 8, 2008.. In 1978, India had stopped water flow to fill the Salal Dam but later released a similar amount of water as compensation from Sutlej River to Pakistan.
(29) Roznama Jang, Pakistan, June 25, 2009.
(30) Roznama Express, Pakistan, June 26, 2009.
(31) The News, Pakistan, October 14, 2008.
(32) The News, Pakistan, October 11, 2008. While inaugurating the Baglihar project, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also noted: "While we cannot change borders, we can make them irrelevant. When I met President Zardari in New York recently, I invited Pakistan to work with us to usher in a new era of sub-continental cooperation."
(33) Roznama Jang, Pakistan, June 7, 2009.
(34) The News, Pakistan, June 7, 2009.
(35) The News, Pakistan, June 29, 2009.
(36) Roznama Ausaf, Pakistan, March 15, 2008.
(37) Roznama Ausaf, Pakistan, March 15, 2008.
(38) Roznama Ausaf, Pakistan, April 4, 2008.
(39) Roznama Ausaf, Pakistan, May 7, 2008.
(40) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, May 5, 2009.
(41) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, May 26, 2009.
(42) Daily Times, Pakistan, November 24, 2008.
(43) Roznama Jang, Pakistan, October 7, 2008.
(44) The News, Pakistan, October 14, 2008.
(45) The News, Pakistan, October 14, 2008.
(46) The News, Pakistan, February 22, 2009.
(47) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, March 30, 2008.
(48) Roznama Khabrain, Pakistan, June 2, 2008.
(49) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, November 15, 2008.
(50) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, November 5, 2008.
(51) The Post, Pakistan, October 9, 2008.
(52) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, October 27, 2008.
(53) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, May 29, 2009.
(54) Roznama Express, Pakistan, April 23, 2008.
(55) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, October 27, 2008.
(56) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, November 5, 2008. While the issue is essentially bilateral in nature between two sovereign nations, secessionist Kashmiri organizations have their own viewpoint. Abdul Ghani Bhatt, a leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, noted in November 2008 that Kashmiris should be paid royalty by India.
(57) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, October 27, 2008.
(58) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, October 27, 2008.
(59) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, October 27, 2008.
(60) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, April 25, 2008.
(61) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, April 25, 2008.
(62) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, April 25, 2008.
(63) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, April 25, 2008.
(64) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, May 6, 2008.
(65) Roznama Khabrain, Pakistan, June 17, 2008. Dahir did not identify the NGO or the multinational firms, but his references to two other nations mean U.S. and Israel.
(66) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, May 26, 2009.
(67) Roznama Ausaf, Pakistan, March 15, 2008.
(68) Roznama Ausaf, Pakistan, March 15, 2008. The "Line of Control" divides Kashmir valley between Pakistan and India, while the rest of the boundary between the two nations is known as "international border."
(69) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, April 28, 2009.
(70) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, May 13, 2009.
(71) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, October 27, 2008. Brahmans are upper caste Hindus who form the ruling elite in Indian society.
(72) The News, Pakistan, October 15, 2008.
(73) Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, June 23, 2009.
(74) Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, Pakistan, April 6, 2008.



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