Battle for Benghazi By Ghulam Muhammed

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Battle for Benghazi

The situation appears very grim for the citizens of the ‘rebel’–held Benghazi.

The pack of hyenas appear to descend on another Arab/Muslim oil country to continue their serial crimes against people, who do not see eye to eye with them and are not prepared to accept their dictates.

While Obama/Cameron/Sarkozy had done their best to instigate people’s revolution in Tunisia and Egypt without violence and bloodshed seeping in. The strong Western media blitz against any bloody reprisal by Ben Ali and Mubarak, could not however, be repeated in Qaddafi’s Libya. They have misjudged Qaddafi, the composition of his support in his country, his resolve to take on the West, fully realizing the real nature of their objectives of regime change in the Arab World. Qaddafi has correctly judged that people and rulers of US/EU/Israel were so war-weary to make a major war risk by invading Libya. The swiftness with which Qaddafi moved against the rebels and took back control of major centers across from Tripoli to the very gates of Benghazi, caught the Western warmongers by surprise. Obama and his defense secretary Robert Gates openly and publicly declared their unwillingness to once again get involved in any misadventure that will reaffirm image of America, as a permanent enemy of Arab/Muslim world. They, however, under pressure from Jewish lobby that is after Qaddafi’s blood for a long time were willing to permit the two Jewish leaders of UK and France, to try their luck. The danger of human tragedy confronting Benghazi’s rebels was all too real, as Qaddafi had declared he will hunt them down house to house, room to room --- possibly carried away in his Arab poetic harangue. Saving the defeated rebels from human massacre at the hand of Qaddafi’s forces, was a natural reaction of the world this time, including major countries other than the usual ‘international community’ (a permanent misnomer pushed all the time by CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera). A big wrangle at UN Security Council found 5 out of 15 members absenting from the ‘no-fly zone’ resolution with an array of conditionalities which may or may not hamper France and UK in crippling Qaddafi onslaught on Benghazi. Their perfidious actions in war and use of their armed power in vaguely defined general terms allowed by UN, would leave nobody in doubt that they will try to take every advantage to frustrate Qaddafi getting a clear victory over his country.

For Qaddafi, this is his first war and till now he has been a very astute strategist. He has personal equation with all US/UK/France leaders and knows their weak points. If the stalemate drags on, he may find other ways to damage the western leaders through revolt by their own people.  The more pronounced actions by UK and France, the more the entire episode will turn out to be a West against Arab/Muslim and Third World scenario. Even in the battle field scenario, the rebels were no match to him and his forces. If Western forces land their troops on Libyan soil, they may not necessarily find the terrain very friendly.

The shameful action that Arab Union, under strong pressure from the West, has taken in supporting the Western neo-colonizers will haunt and discredit them for a long time. The Arab people have no soft spot for US/UK/France/Israel axis and the disruptions by the recent serialized people’s revolutions in country after country in the Middle East, will expose the role of the enemy West, which is relentlessly trying to sow divisions and inflicts conspiracies to increase its leverages in their victim countries.

It is now for the neutralists from the 5 nations that abstained from the UN resolution --- Russia, China, India, Brazil --- to formulate policies to defang the scourge of notorious mafia of Western nations, that had made it their business to interfere in the internal affairs of UN member nations, with declared objective of illegal “Regime Change’, to carry out their hegemonic agenda against weak and indefensible. It can now be clear to rest of the world, why Qaddafi was trying to acquire nuclear arms.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

http://ghulammuhammed.blogspot.com  

Sharia in need is Sharia indeed

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\03\18\story_18-3-2011_pg3_3

COMMENT: A national sellout —Dr Mahjabeen Islam

As a supposedly democratic nation, the people have the right to transparency in every governmental and judicial proceeding. Despite all past disillusionments, there seemed hope in the judicial system. And now that too lies in tatters

It is like being newly orphaned. Or, as though in one clean sweep, our self-respect as a nation has been decapitated. Columns, rantings and protests now serve only as eulogies to our national grief, for the deed is done.

Raymond Davis himself probably sits disbelievingly somewhere in the US that he actually got out of cold-blooded murder, none the worse for the wear of Kot Lakhpat jail.

For a nation famous for its foot-dragging and the aap kal aa jaiye (please come tomorrow) mantra, changing the lawyers for Faheem and Faizan’s families at the last moment, completing the blood money transaction in court with 18 survivors individually and whisking Davis to a waiting US jet at the Lahore Airport, all within two hours, is indeed nothing less than a miracle. This shows the amazing efficiency that is buried deep within our Pakistani bones. And how it can be genie-released with just the right stimulus.

The self-flagellation in columns such as this can continue ad infinitum but these stimuli and the actors are important to examine.

The US steadfastly held on to the idea of diplomatic immunity and the Vienna Convention but, along the way, it appeared that this defence might not hold water or the situation would derail quickly if heard in the Lahore High Court. Shah Mehmood Qureshi was also fired as foreign minister for not toeing the line and the situation got even more uncomfortable when he took his tell-all tale to television.

A hint of behind the scenes machinations appeared in public in a Washington Post article by David Ignatius three weeks ago about using the Islamic ritual of blood money. And Foreign Policy magazine now reports that the deal of invoking the law of diyat was orchestrated by Pakistan Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani, Senator John Kerry, President Asif Ali Zardari, CIA Director Leon Panetta and ISI Director-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha. Many conflicting reports are surfacing about the families and it is heartless to add insult to their injury by examining their motives.

As a supposedly democratic nation, the people have the right to transparency in every governmental and judicial proceeding. The PPP and the PML-N play musical chairs and the nation is used to this tacit understanding. But, despite all past disillusionments, there seemed hope in the judicial system. And now that too lies in tatters. Feeling orphaned is right.

Speaking of adding insult to injury, the US claims that it did not pay the blood money of 20 crores or $ 2.34 million to the survivors of the murders committed by Davis. “The understanding is the Pakistani government settled with the family and the US will compensate the Pakistanis one way or the other,” a senior Pakistani official told Foreign Policy magazine.

Our sellout is so wholesale that we are even keeping American niceties and protocols of not creating the precedent of paying blood money in mind and paying the blood money ourselves! After all, what is $ 2.34 million in contrast to the billions we get in charity? And, of course, the Lord and Master US said, did they not, that they would pay it one way or another? They also said that they are initiating criminal proceedings against Raymond Davis. Really?

In an archaic calculation, blood money for the murder or grievous injury of a person is the equivalent of 30,000 grams of silver. The heart-breaking photo of Faizan’s widow on her deathbed asking for justice and “blood for blood” makes this so much more difficult to accept for it appears that she too was the recipient of compensation. How torturous for her soul! Faizan and Faheem’s family members have disappeared en masse and rumours as to their location now are rife. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah spoke of the whole diyat proceedings as though they were as natural as one’s morning walk. For a nation jaded by the incredible, he expects belief, hook, line and sinker. Are blinders a prerequisite to serving in any governmental position in Pakistan? It is this disconnect and blasé statements that send the country reeling and (Imran Khan is right) dramatically increase public humiliation and anger, and increase extremism.

And oh the sad and mad people that we are, we will kill our own people, the innocent ones that just went to school, pray or shop. All the while the Raymond Davises of the world will be sipping margaritas in the anonymity of some Arizona backyard.

Pakistan is the recipient of a large amount of American aid and has not always accounted for it honestly. But its sacrifices in the war against terror have been above and beyond any aid that has and can be given. Its leaders had an incredible chance at greatly improving Pakistan’s diplomatic and strategic stature if they had handled the Davis affair appropriately. Corrupt to the marrow and recognising greed alone, they bargained with money and left the nation’s self-respect in smithereens.

The writer is an addictionist, family physician and columnist. She can be reached at mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com

US EMBASSY CABLE ON INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS'S BUYING OF MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT VOTES FOR CASH: Wikileaks - THE HINDU

http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/article1544916.ece

THE HINDU

News » The India Cables

March 17, 2011

162458: Cash-for-votes ahead of confidence motion

Political horse-trading continued in anticipation of the special session of parliament to consider the confidence vote on July 21 followed by the vote itself on July 22.

162458 7/17/2008 13:23 08 NEWDELHI 1972 Embassy New Delhi SECRET 08 KOLKATA 209 "VZCZCXRO9793OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPWDE RUEHNE #1972/01 1991323ZNY SSSSS ZZHO 171323Z JUL 08FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHITO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2668INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVERUCNNSG/NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP COLLECTIVERUEAIIA/CIA WASHDCRHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DCRUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDCRHEHNSC/NSC WASHDCRUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDCRUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 1566RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 6661" "S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 NEW DELHI 001972
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018 TAGS: PREL, PARM, TSPL, KNNP, ETTC, ENRG, TRGY, IN SUBJECT: POLITICAL BARGAINING CONTINUES PRIOR TO KEY VOTE IN PARLIAMENT

REF: KOLKATA 209


Classified By: Charge D'Affaires Steven White for Reasons 1.4 (B and D)


1. (C) SUMMARY. Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and his delegation departed for Vienna on July 17 to brief the 35 Board members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and another 19 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative. In Delhi, government officials responded positively to suggestions about how to address concerns emerging from Vienna, particularly the need to begin negotiating an IAEA Additional Protocol and for the IAEA to circulate India's (INFCIRC) already-public separation plan as an official IAEA document. Political horse-trading continued in anticipation of the special session of parliament to consider the confidence vote on July 21 followed by the vote itself on July 22. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani each plan to host a dinner for supporters on July 20; the parties will presumably have to chose one or the other. An estranged Congress Party MP and three Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs publicly stated their intention to vote against the UPA, leaving the government still clinging to a slim majority. Small parties representing collectively about 20 votes find themselves with generous suitors; one party chief has reportedly succeeded in having the Lucknow airport renamed after his father. The unrequited Left continued its anti-government rant, but showed signs of internal strain. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee refused to resign despite pressure from within the Communist party to do so and has made it clear that he was not in favor of the Left voting with the opposition BJP against the government, a position that seems to have resonance among comrades disinclined to face early elections.
END SUMMARY.


GOI to Address IAEA Member Concerns, Fumbles on Scheduling
- - -



2. (SBU) Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon departed for Vienna on July 17 for his briefing on July 18 to IAEA Board members and NSG members on the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative. Local media had reported statements by an IAEA spokesman on July 16 that the briefing by the visiting Indian delegation had been canceled. In fact, the briefing was scaled down from all 140 IAEA members to just the 35 Board members, in addition to the 19 others that comprise the 45-member NSG that do not also sit on the IAEA Board. Menon is traveling with Department of Atomic Energy director for strategic plans Dr. R.B. Grover, Department Of Atomic Energy's (DAE) Gitish Sharma, and Chief of Staff Naveen Srivastava. They will be joined in Vienna by Geneva-based Ministry of External Affairs Counselor Venkatesh Varma, a veteran of nuclear deal negotiations.


3. (C) Pursuant to recommendations from the U.S. Mission to the IAEA, PolCouns raised two issues of concern to IAEA Board members on July 16 with Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary for the Americas Gaitri Kumar and Virender Paul in the National Security Adviser's office. PolCouns stressed the importance of starting negotiations on an Additional Protocol as soon as possible, relaying that such agreements usually take about a year to conclude but that IAEA Legal could have a model text ready quickly if the Indians ask to begin negotiations. PolCouns also reported, following messages from UNVIE, that some IAEA delegations did not understand the connection between the safeguards agreement (with its blank safeguarded facilities list) and the separation plan listing the civil nuclear facilities that would fall under safeguards (already a public document). PolCouns shared that the IAEA is prepared to circulate the separation plan as an official IAEA document if the Indians request it. Both Kumar and Paul promised to get on these two tasks ""right away"" to set things up for a productive trip to Vienna for Menon. On the Additional Protocol, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy will have to push the Department of Atomic Energy, which will have the lead. On the facilities list, an instruction could go to India's mission in Vienna fairly quickly.


UPA Maintains Precarious Lead In Vote Count
- - -

NEW DELHI 00001972 002 OF 004


4. (SBU) The special session of parliament to consider the confidence vote will begin on July 21 and conclude with a vote on July 22. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Vayalar Ravi claimed on July 15 that the government would prevail in the July 22 confidence vote with over 280 votes cast in its favor. Kuldip Bishnoi, an estranged Congress Party MP who had been suspended for floating the idea of forming his own party in December 2007, confirmed his intention to defect in the confidence vote. (This development was apparently expected by party insiders and not a leading indicator of further fragmentation within the party.) Consulate Chennai reported on July 17 that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has publicly stated it will vote against the UPA. One of its three members of parliament has broken from the party, but is unlikely to support the government because the TRS has positioned the trust vote as a statehood issue, so voting for the UPA would mean voting against Telangana interests.


5. (SBU) Our best guess at this time show the government maintaining its slim majority with the anticipated vote count at about 273 in favor, 251 opposed, and 19 abstentions. A similar analysis from the British High Commission tracks closely with our numbers.
Dueling Dinners Force Parties to Declare Loyalties - - -


6. (SBU) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani each plan to host a dinner for supporters on July 20, the evening before the special parliamentary session begins on July 21. Media reported that Advani will use the dinner as a strategy session to field MPs to speak against the confidence motion. Advani will also reportedly meet the BJP's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) supporters on July 17, including Chief Ministers of the states where NDA constituents are in power. Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje reportedly plans to skip the meeting, raising the ire of the BJP leadership.


7. (SBU) Prime Minister Singh's dinner on July 20 will include the Congress Party's new allies in the Samajwadi Party as well as other recent converts and fence-sitters from smaller parties. The Telegraph quoted a senior government source who said that PM Singh was ""neither crunching numbers nor seeking daily briefings on the political sensex. His bottom line is clear."" It also claimed that PM Singh was upset with the BJP for allegedly recanting on an ""understanding"" that it would support the deal. The article concludes that if the government survives the July 22 vote, PM Singh's priority would be to implement flagship social programs to thank his party for rallying behind him.


Votes For Sale
- - -

8. (SBU) Behind the scenes, the Congress Party machine is working overtime. Sonia Gandhi reportedly plans to meet Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren and Janata Dal Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda. Retaining the support of JMM's five seats and the JD-S's three seats is reportedly vital to the UPA government's strategy. In exchange for retaining the support of the three votes of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), the Congress Party has reportedly pledged its support to rename Lucknow's Amausi airport after Chaudhary Charan Singh, father of RLD leader Ajit Charan Singh, who may also get a cabinet seat.


9. (C) On July 16, PolCouns met with Captain Satish Sharma, a Congress Party MP in the Rajya Sabha, a former Indian Airlines Pilot, and a close associate of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi considered to be a very close family friend of Sonia Gandhi. Sharma mentioned that he, as well as others in the party, was working hard to ensure that the UPA government wins the confidence vote on July 22. He said that the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi were committed to the nuclear initiative and had conveyed this message clearly to the party. Sharma said that PM Singh and others were trying to work on the Akali Dal (8 votes) through financier Sant Chatwal and others, but unfortunately it did not work out. He mentioned that efforts to encourage Shiv Sena (12 votes) to abstain were on-going. While different Congress operatives were working on different groups of MPs, Sharma said that Rahul Gandhi was personally working Omar


NEW DELHI 00001972 003 OF 004


Abdullah's Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (J&KNC), whose two MPs are inclined to vote in favor of the UPA. Sharma mentioned that he was also exploring the possibility of trying to get former Prime Minister Vajpayee's son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya to speak to BJP representatives to try to divide the BJP ranks. He mentioned that if the party wins the trust vote, they would then prefer to go for national elections in February or March 2009, which would give the UPA time to control prices and bring down inflation.


10. (S) Sharma's political aide Nachiketa Kapur mentioned to an Embassy staff member in an aside on July 16 that Ajit Singh's RLD had been paid Rupees 10 crore (about $2.5 million) for each of their four MPs to support the government. Kapur mentioned that money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the government. Kapur showed the Embassy employee two chests containing cash and said that around Rupees 50-60 crore (about $25 million) was lying around the house for use as pay-offs.


11. (S) Another Congress Party insider told PolCouns that Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath is also helping to spread largesse. ""Formerly he could only offer small planes as bribes,"" according to this interlocutor, now he can pay for votes with jets.""

""What If""s: No Vote or a UPA Defeat
- - -


12. (SBU) PM Singh appears to have opened the door to the Left to call off the vote, telling media on July 16 that the government had the numbers to prevail in the confidence vote and that it was ""unfortunate"" that the special session had to be foisted upon parliament and distract the government from addressing urgent issues like inflation. PM Singh publicly acknowledged trying to get the BJP to support the nuclear initiative by reaching out to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but Vajpayee reportedly deferred to opposition leader L.K. Advani to make the call.


13. (SBU) There are some signs that the GOI may decide to go ahead with the nuclear initiative even if it loses the confidence vote on July 22. Media quoted Rahul Gandhi on July 16 as saying, ""I support the PM 100 percent on the nuke deal. We are going to win the trust vote, but even if the government falls, so be it."" He also claimed the BJP was divided over the nuclear initiative, saying, ""There are people in the BJP who support the deal and do not know why their party is opposing it."" Rahul Gandhi also recalled how Left parties in the mid-1980s had stonewalled his father Rajiv Gandhi's efforts to introduce computers in government offices and vision of a computerized India. Congress Party Chief Sonia Gandhi said in Andra Pradesh on July 17 that the government ""will not compromise on the nuclear deal because it is in the national interest.""


Disagreements Among Comrades: Left Shows Signs of Strain
- - -

14. (SBU) The Left continued its rant against the government. The Community Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Polit Bureau groused that the Prime Minister's Office set a ""dangerous precedent"" by meeting industrialist Mukesh Ambani on July 14, during which Ambani reportedly offered help in securing Shiv Sena support for the UPA government. The CPI-M said the government's rejection of the use of force against Iran by Israel was ""timely,"" but that it would only be credible if the government were to cut military ties with Israel.


15. (SBU) The Left has also begun to show signs of internal strain. CPI-M Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told media on July 15 that the party erred in listing Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee among its members who withdrew support from the UPA government on July 8. 

Chatterjee said he does not want to step down as Speaker despite pressure from within the party to do so. He also wrote a letter to Prakash Karat making it clear that he was not in favor of the Left voting with the opposition BJP against the government. (Chatterjee has looked to the UPA government to help him keep his position as Speaker and appears to be rallying moderate CPI-M members disinclined to join their comrades in voting with their rival BJP against a government that they supported for


NEW DELHI 00001972 004 OF 004


several years.) Also on July 15, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and two other SP leaders called for Chatterjee not to quit his post.


16. (SBU) Consulate Kolkata reported on the growing split within the CPI-M (reftel). Many CPI-M members, particularly Muslims, cannot fathom voving with the ""communalist"" BJP. A large group of West Bengal MPs do not want to bring down the government and are angry at Karat for his failed strategy. If the government falls, they fear the CPI-M could lose 10-15 seats in new elections based on unfavorable recent local election results. If the government survives, the Left will be embarrassed for having achieved nothing on the issues that are important to their constituents, few of whom care about the nuclear initiative. Though defection is a possibility, Communist Party discipline remains strong and members are unlikely to vote with the government.


Communists Find Muslims To Be More Anti-BJP Than Anti-American
- - -

17. (SBU) A Times of India report on July 17 claimed that Muslim MPs do not view the nuclear initiative confidence vote as a communal issue, but rather one of differences in perception of national interest based on party positions. Of the 37 Muslim members of parliament, 26 are in parties that have declared their support to the government for the confidence vote, while 11 are with anti-deal parties. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has tried to turn the confidence vote into into a communal issue by reaching out to Muslim councils (""bhaichara"" committees) and Islamic scholars in Uttar Pradesh and claiming that the Congress Party has compromised their interests. This strategy appears to be failing, partly because Muslims view the BJP as a more immediate threat than closer relations with the U.S. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP and central committee member Hannan Mollah reportedly told media, ""Let's see what strategy can be worked out to convince the Muslim electorate that we are not working in tandem with the BJP."" Media reported a Forward Bloc local assembly member in West Bengal, Mehboob Mondal, saying, ""It's becoming difficult to explain that we are not with the BJP. It's clear that Muslims are not happy with us and their feelings may well reflect on Lok Sabha results."" 


WHITE 

Keywords: cable162458, The India cables, cash-for-votes, confidence motion, UPA, Parliament

Gaddafi son tells Sarkozy to return money - HERALD SUN - AFP

The treacherous Cameron and Sarkozy, both Jewish, have no shame in first courting Qaddafi and bilking private money from him to come to power in their 'democratic nations' and now ready to dump him to invade Libya for its oil wealth. Britain and France, the old die-hard colonists can never be trusted by developing world. They are the scourge of the earth.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

---------------

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/gaddafi-son-tells-sarkozy-to-return-money/story-e6frf7jx-1226022932520

Gaddafi son tells Sarkozy to return money

• From correspondents in Paris
• From: AFP
• March 17, 2011 5:04AM

LIBYAN leader Muammar Gaddafi's son overnight told "this clown" French President Nicolas Sarkozy to "give us back our money" allegedly used to finance his 2007 election victory.
Saif al-Islam told Euronews that "we have all the details and are ready to reveal everything" as Mr Gaddafi's forces closed in on rebels in the eastern city of Benghazi who France recognised as Libya's legitimate representatives.

"Sarkozy must first give back the money he took from Libya to finance his electoral campaign," Mr Gaddafi's son said when asked about France, which has along with Britain been leading calls for military intervention in Libya.

"We funded it and we have all the details and are ready to reveal everything. The first thing we want this clown to do is to give the money back to the Libyan people.

"He was given assistance so that he could help them. But he's disappointed us: give us back our money. We have all the bank details and documents for the transfer operations and we will make everything public soon."

 

The French presidency denied the allegation.
Libya's state-run news agency Jana reported recently that it would soon publish a "grave secret" that would lead to Mr Sarkozy's downfall.

Mr Gaddafi himself said yesterday that his "good friend" Mr Sarkozy had "gone mad".

"He is my friend but I think he has gone mad. He is suffering from a psychological illness," Mr Gaddafi told German television. "That is what people say who are close to him. His aides say that he is suffering from a psychological illness."

Asked about the rebellion, Saif al-Islam dismissed looming UN Security Council action saying that "within 48 hours everything will be finished" and telling rebels they would have safe passage to leave the country.

"We don't want to kill, we don't want revenge, but you, traitors, mercenaries, you have committed crimes against the Libyan people: leave, go in peace to Egypt."

"Military operations are over. Within 48 hours everything will be finished. Our forces are almost in Benghazi. Whatever the decision, it will be too late."

A Welcome Challenge - By Najeeb Jung - The Times of India + Comments by Ghulam Muhammed

Both support and the opposition of Jamia's reconfirmation of its Minority Status, is politically motivated. In politics, nothing is permanent. Sixty Four years' Brahmin rule had a field day by demonizing Indian Muslims. The flux in the electoral game plans, threatens the citadels of oligarchic rule. Muslim should beware of the sleight of hand trickery that will help the oligarchy consolidate its stranglehold, without any cost to them in having to give any empowerment to Muslims. Muslims are still the beggars and have not cultivated the leverages to demand their legitimate share in the governance of their country. This step by step approach to appease Muslims in frivolous ways, without giving their rightful dues, is another fraud by the ruling oligarchy and must be seen by Muslims as such.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai




------------------------------
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/A-Welcome-Challenge/articleshow/7719560.cms

THE TIMES OF INDIA

TOP ARTICLE

A Welcome Challenge

Najeeb Jung | Mar 17, 2011, 12.00am IST

Comments

Tags:minority institution|Jamia

The order of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions declaring the Jamia Millia Islamia a 'minority' institution has generated considerable comment. Since different viewpoints have been stated, the issue needs to be objectively evaluated, inclusive of the ideological arguments.

The Jamia Millia Islamia was formed in 1920, at the behest of Gandhi, as a counter to the increasing sense of alienation among a section of Muslims. A group of nationalist Muslim leaders including Maulana Mahmudul Hasan, Maulana Mohamed Ali, M A Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Abdul Majeed Khwaja brought in all their resources to form Jamia. Others like Zakir Hussain, Prof Mujeeb and Prof Abid Hussain were to follow and devote their lives to the cause of education, in particular of Muslims, who were way behind other communities.

Registered initially as a society, Jamia became a deemed university in 1962. All these years it retained its status as a minority institution. In 1988, it became a central university by which time it had established its major faculties and departments including engineering, education, history, social work, fine arts, natural sciences, and its famous mass communication school. At that time it had roughly 50% Muslim students. Today, 23 years after becoming a central university, it still has roughly the same number of Muslim students.

Therefore, it is firstly important to grasp that the ruling does not change anything: it formalises the status quo. In an educational context where Muslims are worryingly under-represented, Jamia has historically provided a path to secular higher education to thousands of young, underprivileged provincial Muslims who receive their school education in the traditional style, in maktabs and madrassas. It has also made singular contribution to the education of Muslim girls in whose case parents would be reluctant to send them elsewhere. Today, one of the glorious achievements of the university is that within its campus one frequently sees groups where girls in hijab mix easily with all others.

But then since Jamia is indeed having 50% or more Muslims, why declare it a minority institution? Two things stand out here. First, over the last 90 years Muslims have had a sense of ownership and a fierce attachment with Jamia. They believe it is an institution of higher learning set up by their forefathers, to further in essence the cause of Muslim education, and declaring it a minority institution

However, despite this, there are reasonable arguments, focussing on the bad consequences that might follow from minority status. The most significant is that the minimum 50% reservation that minority status permits will be exceeded and this will lead to Jamia becoming a Muslim ghetto. It is further argued that once Jamia becomes a minority institution, its students will be shunned in the job market because their degrees, and diplomas, fairly or unfairly, will have been devalued by its reputation as a 'Muslim' institution.

Two points need to be made here. All minority institutions, including the Vellore Medical College and St Stephen's College, are governed by the same rules of admission. These institutions continue to be beacons of excellence despite the fact that they can theoretically take more than 50% of their students from the Christian community. Every educational institution regardless of whether it is a minority institution or not faces a choice: does it want to recruit the best students under the rules that govern it or will it misuse the rules for the sake of patronage, nepotism or communalism?

Jamia, being an older institution than most in north India, has faced this choice for nearly a hundred years, in good times and bad, and has consistently made the right decision. The fact that at all times in its history it retained Muslim student numbers to around 50% is indicative of this maturity. There is no reason to believe this will change now.

It is also important to understand that Jamia is a recipient of public money, it has a duty to demonstrate that this money is scrupulously spent and that with the changed circumstance comes far greater responsibility. It will, therefore, have to commit itself to unprecedented levels of transparency, submitting its admission processes to national testing. Open competition with published merit lists for minority and non-minority students will shine daylight on the processes by which students are admitted.

At the same time, it will demonstrate that a commitment to the welfare of an underprivileged community can be combined with a commitment to openness, fairness and excellence. Better still, if Jamia could frame rules that part of that 50% reserved for Muslims becomes available to Muslim women and the backward Muslim community, it would manage a trifecta: pluralism, social justice and gender equality.

While this is a huge affirmative action on the part of the government that the Muslim community must accept with grace and gratitude, i believe the government has put an onus on the Muslims to prove that they can look beyond common perceptions of ghettoisation, fundamentalism and so on and understand that imbedded in this initiative is the challenge to be tested at the altar of competence, professionalism and, above all, commitment to fierce nationalism and secularism that has been the bedrock of Jamia for the past 90 years.
 The writer, a former civil servant, is the vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia.

Copyright © 2011 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service

Wikileak confirmation --- WHY INDIA’S PETROLEUM MINISTER MANI SHANKAR AIYER IS STRIPPED OF HIS PETROLEUM PORTFOLIO? - By Ghulam Muhammed

WIKILEAK CONFIRMATION ----

THIS IS WHAT I WROTE AND CIRCULATED BACK IN 2006: (Please Mark the date --- same as US Embassy cable to State Department.):

Monday, January 30, 2006

WHY INDIA’S PETROLEUM MINISTER MANI SHANKAR AIYER IS STRIPPED OF HIS PETROLEUM PORTFOLIO?

           

Unless Manmohan Singh Government can come out with some outlandish explanations to suit the occasion, people in India and abroad, will be forced to believe that the stripping of Petroleum portfolio from his petroleum minister was the handiwork of US administration manipulators, out to thwart India’s attempts to diversify its energy sources and bring in Iran as one of its major suppliers of gas.

It is no secret that Bush and his neo-con Jewish supporters, have been ganging on Iran and are out to isolate Iran as one of the ‘axis of evil’ in the Middle East, with a view to cripple Iran’s Islamic government and bring it down to impose its own puppet government as it has managed to impose the Shah as King of Iran in years past. It cannot stomach an independent and democratically governed Iran which challenges American dictats right, center and left.

India’s now erstwhile Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, had not reckoned with the clout of US Administration on his own government and had gone on a limb to finalize the IRAN-PAKISTAN-INDIA gas pipeline, with some vigor that was treated as open defiance by the Bush Administration’s policy handlers. A very hardworking, intelligent and incidentally a man of some old communist/Marxist background, had burnt midnight oil to see that he could manage long term energy security for India’s burgeoning economy from independent and diverse sources, without succumbing to US over-lordship or paying overriding commission or cut to US oil corporates, who want to monopolize on India’s oil supplies and reap unearned profits in decades to come.

At every step of the way, Mani Shankar Aiyar was hampered in his efforts to put final touches to Iran gas supplies. US took the matter so seriously, that it sent its States Department Secretary Condoleezza Rice at a crucial point of time, to warn India, not to go through with its deal with Iran.

Manmohan Singh Government had no spine to assert that Iran gas pipeline arrangement was in the ‘best interest of the nation’. As TOI reports, Aiyar has apparently displeased the PM ---- by his “foreign trips”. Those trips were to Tehran and Islamabad in full pursuit of his mission in the best interest of his nation. Apparently that displeased the Prime Minister, who is honour bound to make things smoother for US administration to sew up India into its own tapestry.

On the another hand, appointment of old Congress hand from Mumbai, Murli Deora, as the new Petroleum minister, shows up, how his ‘frequent foreign trips’ to the US to court Jewish community leaders and Jewish lobby organisations, corporate heads and Congress bigwig, was the crucial difference that tilted the balance in his favour.

It will appear that from now on, all clearances for high offices in New Delhi will have to be first vetted in Washington and New York. The far-sighted Murli Deora has fully understood which way the wind is blowing and had fully covered his flanks by courting key Jewish political and financial figures in the US, to lobby for a choice cabinet post, that will now on be at the beck and call of the Americans in making all moves over India’s energy needs and investments, without any references to ‘the best interest of India’, as long as it abides by the dictats of American Jewish lobby.

Both people and media have to be ever vigilant and articulate about the moves made by the US to subjugate India as its puppet in this part of the world. And its moves in the country’s internal affairs will be the test of its apparent success or failure in buying up India for its own national interest --- regardless of how Indian people are impacted by the exploitative inroads made by a hegemonical super power.

GHULAM MUHAMMED, MUMBAI

<ghulam_muhammed2@yahoo.co.in>

http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/article1538397.ece

CHENNAI, March 15, 2011

Pro-U.S. tilt in Cabinet shuffle

By Suresh Nambath

Cabinet reshuffles in India clearly have foreign policy implications, serving external objectives. This at any rate is the reading provided by a U.S. Embassy cable sent on January 30, 2006 (51088: confidential), sent by Ambassador David C. Mulford to Washington.

 The January 2006 Cabinet reshuffle, which saw the removal of “contentious and outspoken Iran pipeline advocate” Mani Shankar Aiyar and the appointment of “pro-US” Murli Deora as Petroleum Minister was described by the American Embassy as signifying a “determination to ensure that US/India relations continue to move ahead rapidly.”

The changes also strengthened the cadre of “modernizing reformers” at the top in the Government of India, the Ambassador reported. The net effect of the reshuffle, he said, was a Cabinet that is “likely to be excellent for US goals in India (and Iran).”

These Cabinet changes, in January 2006, mark a steady shift to the Right, a pro-U.S. direction within the first tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), more than two years before the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal came to fruition. The American Embassy clearly tracked India's tilt to the Right from early 2006 well ahead of UPA-I's rupture with the Left parties in July 2008. Although the nuclear deal was the tipping point that led to the Left's withdrawal of support to UPA-I, the cable shows that the foreign policy gap had begun to widen long before that.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Mulford could sense the Left's uneasiness more than any UPA leader could at that time. “The undeniable pro-American tilt of the Cabinet shuffle,” Mr. Mulford added, “has infuriated the Left, which will view it as a throwing down of the gauntlet and an invitation to open warfare.”

Mr. Mulford noted that Murli Deora was one of several figures inducted with longstanding ties to the Indo/U.S. Parliamentary Forum (IUPF) and the Embassy. “The UPA inducted a large number of serving MPs, including seven from the IUPF who have publicly associated themselves with our strategic partnership,” he added. “To ensure that there are no foreign policy ripples before the President's visit, PM Singh retained the critical MEA portfolio and is likely to hold on to it until after the next session of Parliament concludes and Congress has weathered crucial Assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal in May.”

The Embassy's Foreign Ministry contacts welcomed Mr. Aiyar's departure, and commented that his energy diplomacy had “encroached on MEA turf too many times,” leading to MEA appeals to the Prime Minister's Office to intercede. “Despite the PMO warning to back off, Aiyar's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas continued to interfere with MEA attempts to craft policy, our contacts said, citing Pakistan, China, Burma, Bangladesh, Iran and Sudan as areas of inter-governmental conflict.”

Mr. Aiyar's unwillingness to step back reportedly led to the Prime Minister's decision to remove him from this high-profile portfolio, and “cements MEA's position as the lead bureaucracy on strategic policy making.”

Mr. Mulford pointed out that unlike Mr. Aiyar, who cultivated a reputation for anti-Americanism, Mr. Deora has been associated with the U.S.-India relationship for years. Mr. Aiyar's “self-promoting maverick diplomacy” was too much for the Prime Minister to accommodate.

Mr. Deora's “long-standing connection” to the Reliance industrial group, which includes significant energy equities, was described by the cable as his “only vulnerability.” Besides Mr. Deora, the new entrants with strong pro-U.S. credentials, according to the cable, included Mr. Saifuddin Soz, Mr. Anand Sharma, Mr. Ashwani Kumar, and Mr. Kapil Sibal.


Keywords: cable51088, The India Cables, WikiLeaks, Cablegate, David C. Mulford, Murli Deora, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Iran pipeline, Cabinet reshuffle

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