BENGALURU ARRESTS OF TERRORISM SUSPECTS - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR: PAPER NO.761 - BY B. RAMAN

http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspot.in/

Sunday, September 2, 2012

BENGALURU ARRESTS OF TERRORISM SUSPECTS

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR: PAPER NO. 761

B.RAMAN

According to media reports, the Bengaluru Police are presently interrogating 13 persons who have been taken into custody on suspicion of their involvement in a conspiracy to carry out assassinations of some targeted individuals in Karnataka and Hyderabad. The media reports have stated that the suspects under interrogation, all of them Indian nationals, are alleged to have had links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), a Pakistani terrorist organisation, and the Bangladesh branch of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), which is generally referred to as HUJI (B). Both these organisations had operated in Hyderabad and Bengaluru in the past.

2. Eleven of the arrests were made on August 29,2012----six in Bengaluru and five in Hubli in Karnataka. The 12^th arrest was made in Hyderabad on August 31 and the 13^th in Bengaluru on September 1,2012. The 11 suspects arrested on August 29 included a journalist, a doctor and a Junior Research Fellow with the  Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

3.Shri Jyoti Prakash Mirji, the Police Commissioner of Bengaluru City, was reported to have told the media on September  1 that the suspects were self- motivated and had no direct links with any other group. Their  plan was to kill high profile personalities and cause communal tension in the country.

4.It is not clear what the Commissioner of Police meant when he said that the suspects had no link with any other group, since other reports quoting the police had said that the suspects had links with the LET and the HUJI (B). Did he mean that the suspects had no links with any other indigenous organisation such as the Indian Mujahideen, which had in the past operated in Bengaluru or the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) or Al Umma of Tamil Nadu, which had also in the past operated in Bengaluru?

5.On March 30,2006, the Karnataka Police had arrested at Jelenabad in Gulbarga District one Shamim Ahmed, a suspected activist of the LET, who was reportedly residing in Goa. An AK-47, two hand-grenades, a mobile phone, maps of dams and some power grids of Andhra Pradesh, some audio-visual cassettes and Urdu literature were allegedly found in his possession. It was not known what happened to him subsequently, whether he was prosecuted, on what charges and what was the outcome.

6. In January 2008, the Karnataka Police arrested Riazuddin Nasir alias Mohammad Ghouse of Hyderabad and Asadullah Abubaker of Hospet. Nasir was a drop-out from an engineering college and Asadullah was a student of the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences in Hubli. Subsequently, the Police also arrested one Mohammad Asif of the same Institute. During interrogation, Nasir was reported to have admitted that he had undergone training in an LET camp in Pakistan in 2006.

7. These three persons were reported to have told the police that they were planning to  carry out terrorist strikes against foreign tourists in Goa and against foreign IT companies in Bengaluru.

8. This is the first time many suspects have been arrested, who were reportedly planning to assassinate individual personalities with hand-held weapons. No explosive material appears to have been recovered from them. It is not clear why they chose the targeted persons for assassination.

9. Some media reports, quoting police sources, have claimed that the suspects were self-motivated by visiting Internet sites of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Whereas Al Qaeda based in North Waziristan of Pakistan has its web sites and propaganda material in the Arabic language, the AQAP has them in English, including its online motivational journal called “Inspire”. Anwar al-Awlaki, the Amir of the AQAP who was  a US citizen of Yemeni origin, and Samir Khan, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, who was an associate, were killed in a US Drone strike in Yemen on September 30,2011.

10.The investigation is likely to be difficult because the police have not been able to seize any evidence of forensic significance such as explosive material. The police may have to depend to a large extent on interrogation for ascertaining details. Cases based on interrogation and confessions do not often indulge in successful prosecutions, leading to allegations of mala fide from the Muslim community.

11. The police should keep an open mind in view of the inadequate forensic evidence and should resist any sensationalisation of the case, which could cause unnecessary tensions.

12. Since the arrests have been made in Karnataka as well as in AP and since the conspiracy for targeted assassinations reportedly involved targets in Karnataka as well as Hyderabad, it might be useful to have the case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).  (2-9-12)

(The  writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com  Twitter @SORBONNE75)

Assam: The very Idea of India is under threat - By Amaresh Misra - Part II

"In keeping with precedents set by Begum Hazrat Mahal—representing Nawabs of Awadh in the 1857 war—at Lucknow—and Peshwa Nana Sahib—at Kanpur—Kandarpeswar Singha agreed to rule Assam after expelling the British as a vassal of Bahadur Shah Zafar! Mughals were never able to capture upper Assam from Ahoms. But in a revolutionary, political moment of Indian history, Ahom and Mughal houses united in struggle against British rule! "  

        http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/the-mainstream-maverick/entry/assam-the-very-idea-of-india-is-under-threat-part-ii   

 

Assam: The very Idea of India is under threat

                                                          By Amaresh Misra

                                       

Part II

British Rule

As a political-military force, the British entered Assam during the first Anglo-Burmese war—prior to that the Maomoria rebellion (see `Last Days of Ahom Monarchy’, written by SL Baruah, 1993, New Delhi, `A History of Assam’, written by Edward A Gait, 1906, Calcutta and `Medieval and Early Colonial Assam’, written by Amalendu Guha, 1991, Calcutta)—a fight between Ahom rulers and the Vaishnava sattras—in which the latter got the support of another Ahom Court faction—severally weakened the Ahom polity. Taking advantage of the unsettled conditions, the Burmese invaded Assam committing numerous atrocities on the people.

   Due to the mayhem caused by the Burmese, people and leaders of Assam, the Ahom Raja, and some North Eastern tribes, welcomed the British initially. But the real, imperial nature of the British became apparent soon after the treaty of Yandabo (1826) between the British and the Burmese.  For several years, British officials kept avoiding a settlement with Ahom rulers. After much delay and dithering, the British signed a treaty with Purandar Singha, the Ahom King, in 1833.

Maniram Dewan

Belonging to an old elite family of Kayastha administrators of North Indian (Kannauj) origin, Maniram Dewan (originally Maniram Barua), was a vital link between the British and the Ahom Kings. Working as part of the British bureaucracy in the 1820s, Maniram was also given the additional charge of borbhandar (Prime Minister), at Purandar Singha’s court in 1833.   

     Maniram discovered the potential of tea plantation in Assam. He surprised Bessa Gam—a local Singpo chief—by turning up at his village one fine morning, in the 1820s—with Robert and Charles Alexander Bruce—of the legendary Bruce Brothers fame—credited with identifying tea in Assam—in tow. But BEIC Calcutta officials refused to acknowledge the genuineness of Maniram’s discovery. However, after 1833, when the BEIC lost its tea trade monopoly with China, BEIC officials were forced to eat their own words.    

 On 1^st February, 1834, Governor General William Bentinck established the Tea Committee.  Maniram met Dr. Wallich, the same man who had rejected his samples earlier, as a representative of Purandar Singha.   

Besides monopolising tea plantations and trade, the British had other evil designs in mind. A 26^th February, 2009 Assam Tribune article, written by Dr. HK Goswami, observes that soon after Maniram’s meeting with Dr. Wallich, “Jenkins, the North-East Agent of the Governor General, visited Purandar Singha’s territory on a fact-finding mission...one man who strongly defended the Raja was Maniram Dewan, Chief Counsellor of the Raja.  Purandar Singha was deposed in 1838 on the plea of bad governance and default in payment of the tribute and the British annexed his territories (http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb2609/edit3)”. 

All through the 1840s and 50s, the BEIC administration annexed several states in India on the trumped up charge of bad governance. But, despite Jenkins’ adverse comments, Maniram outflanked the Governor General’s Agent, becoming in 1839, the Dewan of the Assam Tea Company at Nazira, drawing a salary of 200 rupees per month.

But Maniram felt suffocated working under the British. A surprisingly well researched Wikipedia entry on Maniram Dewan notes that “in the mid-1840s, Maniram quit his job due to differences of opinion with company officers...he established his own tea garden at Chenimora in Jorhat, thus becoming the first Indian to grow tea commercially in Assam...Maniram established another tea plant in Sibsagar. Apart from the tea industry, Maniram also ventured into iron smelting, gold procuring and salt production. He was also involved in the manufacturing of goods like matchlocks, hoes and cutlery. His other business activities included handloom, boat making, brick making, bell-metal, dyeing, ivory work, ceramic, coal supply, elephant trade, construction of buildings for military headquarters and agricultural products. Some of the markets established by him include the Garohat in Kamrup, Nagahat near Sibasagar, Borhat in Dibrugarh, Sissihat in Dhemaji and Darangia Haat in Darrang” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniram_Dewan)”.   

          Here we have—in the person of Maniram—much before Tatas and Birlas appeared on India’s business stage—the first example of a modern, Indian entrepreneur. Imagine an Indian in the 1840s and 50s, establishing not only tea plantations but extending activities to a whole range of goods and products, staggering by even today’s standards. In fact, Tatas began as British middlemen in the China opium trade in the 1850s and 60s. Birlas also started their businesses as middlemen in about the same period.  

          But rather than becoming a comprador (intermediary) bourgeoisie subservient to Imperialism, Maniram chose Independence and the path of a nationalist bourgeoisie. Like Americans today—the British—then the foremost Imperialist world power—tolerated even encouraged, compradors. But they regarded Independent, nationalist entrepreneurs as an anathema. The Wikipedia entry further notes that, “Maniram faced numerous administrative obstacles in establishing private tea plantations, due to opposition from competing European tea planters. In 1851, an officer seized all the facilities provided to him due to a tea garden dispute. Maniram, whose family consisted of 185 people, had to face economic hardship.”

          Another Assam Tribune article notes that “As a matter of fact, Maniram wanted to build up a self-dependent economy. Incidentally, former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in his Republic Day speech of 2005 stressed on making entrepreneurial course ‘compulsory’...it may be surmised that what Assam thought 143 years ago...the credit for this goes to the father of modern Assamese nationality—Maniram Dewan (http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb2608/edit2)”.

  Soon, Maniram’s “property was auctioned at a very nominal price to George Williamson”.

Misery of Assam and the North-East

Maniram’s disenchantment with the British occurred against the backdrop of widespread discontent in Assam and the North-East. After 1826, the BEIC had gone on to acquire territory after territory including Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur. Despite treaties and agreements with various tribes, the essential British policies of rack ranting the tribes and peasantry produced revolts.

The Singhpos and the Nagas were the first to rebel, the Anglo-Naga war extending from 1835 to 1852 AD.

Under British rule, peasants of Assam in particular had to pay three times the land revenue they delivered under the Ahoms. Minor delays in payments—overlooked in the Ahom-paik system of decentralized revenue—which favoured local factors and leniency—saw properties both of small peasants and distinguished upper/Eastern Assamese service-military gentry—being attached. Erstwhile lords and labourers alike were reduced to penury. Plus, the British began importing Santhals from Bengal to work as indentured labour in the tea gardens, being set up by the British in both upper (eastern) and lower (western) Assam.  By the 1850s, economic hardship became so severe, that apart from Ahoms, several erstwhile Koch and Bodo men of influence were working as labourers in tea gardens.

British Impact on Local Culture

But the worst part of British rule was the interference in local culture. It was the British who began identity politics in Assam. Large sections of specific tribes—the Kukis and some Naga sub tribes to begin with—were converted to  Christianity. British administrators also began insisting on `pure bloodlines’; chieftains with mixed religious or tribal heritage were shunned.

Simultaneously, the impact of the Bengal renaissance and the Brahmo Samaj movement was felt in Assam.  Even though Assam lacked a Bengal style, pro-British, colonial middle class, Anandram Dhekial Phukan( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anandaram_Dhekial_Phukan)  began his pioneering work to revive Assamese literature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Assamese_literature)  and initiate social reforms.

However, Maniram refused to go over to the reformist-collaborationist, pro-British, Bengal-renaissance side, which distorted and confused reformist-modernist figures like Debendra Nath Tagore, the father of Rabnindra Nath Tagore. Instead, Maniram Dewan, the indigenous modernist, took the revolutionary path. 

In a famous petition/manifesto (http://books.google.co.in/books?id=JCnLlpHhtUgC&pg=PA95&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false) presented before Moffat Mills, the British Sudder Judge, in 1853, Maniram clearly stated Assam’s main problem: the loss of political-social and economic power by indigenous forces of all classes under British rule. He denounced the setting up of unfamiliar, phirang Courts with alien laws, the emergence of the dalaal, the high British revenue, the desecration of royal tombs and temples (like Kamakhya), the loss of occupation, the introduction of opium, and the system of collecting rents through mouzdars (rent collectors—mostly Bengalis and Marwaris from outside Assam). In an almost stunning bid to achieve a pan-Assam-North East unity, Maniram further wrote that the "objectionable treatment" of Hill Tribes (such as the Nagas) was resulting in constant warfare leading to mutual loss of life and money.          

Freedom Movement in Assam

In 1857, Maniram Dewan formed an underground network of revolutionaries. His main hope lay in the Jorhat-Sibsagar based 1^st Assam Light Infantry (ALI) and the Gauwahati based 2^nd ALI. The Assam regiments were a mixed cauldron with Poorabias from western Bihar (Arrah)  rubbing shoulders with mainstream Assamese Muslim warriors, Nepalis, Manipuris, Jarrowas and Doaneas (the last two born out of mixed Assamese-Singhpo union).     

Especially after the revolt of Bengal Army Regiments at Danapur (near Patna), Bihar on 25^th July 1857,  Poorabia elements of the Assam Infantry began talking about British overthrow and the installation of Bahadur Shah Zafar as India’s Emperor.  (http://books.google.co.in/books?id=MzjyHi4LEQAC&pg=PA142&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false).    

Dewan’s circle’s inimitability rested in its diverse nature: it included Mayaram and Krishna Chandra Mazumdar—two Golaghat based Assamese of Bengali origin—Madhu Malik—a Dibrugarh Bengali—Ganesh Chaudhary, Umakant and Khageshwar—of mixed Bengali-Assamese heritage—Piyali Barua, Ditiram Barua and Marangikhowa Gohain—three major Ahom figures—and Ramdas and Visnhudev Mahanta—two sattra Vaishnavite spiritual leaders.

Thus 1857 bridged also, the fault-lines and political lacunae left by the Ahom-sattra struggle that was instrumental both, in the Burmese invasion and the military march of the British into Assam.   

The pan-Assam unity achieved by Maniram included Urbidhar Barua, Mayaram Barbora, Chitrasen Barbora, Kamala Charingia Barua, Mahidhar Sarma Muktear, Luki Senchowa Barua, and Deoram Dihingia Barua.  

Bahadur Gaonburha and Sheikh Formud Ali—two leading Muslim personalities of Assam—helped Maniram—who was in Calcutta in May, 1857—establish direct linkages to Shiekh Bhikun and Noor Muhammad—two Muslim Subedars of Assamese origin—posted in the Nogore detachment—of the Sibsagar based 1^st ALI unit.

Acting on Maniram’s advice—Kandarpeswar Singha—the grandson of Purandar Singha—the last Ahom King—met Sheikh Fomud Ali and Bahadur Gaonburha. Soon, Subedars Sheikh Bhikun and Noor Muhammad were corresponding with Kandarpeswar Singha (also called Charing Raja) secretly.

Promising to double the salaries of all ALI Sepoys, the Charing Raja gave his consent to lead the Assam revolution. In keeping with precedents set by Begum Hazrat Mahal—representing Nawabs of Awadh in the 1857 war—at Lucknow—and Peshwa Nana Sahib—at Kanpur—Kandarpeswar Singha agreed to rule Assam after expelling the British as a vassal of Bahadur Shah Zafar! Mughals were never able to capture upper Assam from Ahoms. But in a revolutionary, political moment of Indian history, Ahom and Mughal houses united in struggle against British rule!    

The Role of Bodos and Kochs in 1857

Maniram had also enrolled in the freedom movement personalities like Madhuram Koch—a Koch Rajbongshi figure who owned a tea plantation but was relegated by the British to the status of labourer; Rupahi and Lumbai Aideo—two Assamese women pensioners; and Usubar, Laochiklang and Maalu Sikhla—three Bodo warriors  

The inclusion of Bodo warriors in the anti-British, 1857 plot was a masterstroke. Imagine the Indian history in which Bodos fought for India’s freedom struggle under the leadership of Bahadur Shah Zafar, a Mughal King! Revealed in an obscure book written by a descendant of one of the Poorabia survivor of 1857 in Assam (San Sattavan ki Ankahee Kahani, written by Prem Dutt Pandey, 1957, Prayaga Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad), this aspect  presents a great challenge before Indian and Bodo historians. Even Bodos in general seem unaware of their heroes who fought against the British in 1857. This is just the beginning; more work—especially with regard to Bodo sources—needs to be done in this field.       

After losing completely, their Barak valley based kingdom to the British in 1832, Bodo-Kacharis had spread—by 1857—to nearly all parts of present-day Assam. Members of the Bodo-Kachari nobility migrated as far as Kashi (see Benaras ka Anootha Itihaas, written by Shiv Kumar Dwivedi, Hindi, 1962, Prayag Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad).

However, a large section of Bodos, settled in the Darrang area on the Bhutan border, were never part of the Barak valley kingdom. Darrang-Kokrajhar Bodos either survived as roving, Independent tribes—practicing jhum cultivation not bowing to any authority—or as nominal subjects of the western Assam, Koch kingdom.

Usubar, Laochiklang and Maalu Sikhla were all Darrang-Kokrajhar Bodos. They followed the martial traditions, codes of fierce Independence, and the religion—revolving around the worship of Bathou—of the roving tribes.

Folk songs—celebrating the struggle between Bodos and Bhutias of present-day Bhutan—survive to this day (http://www.aygrt.net/PublishArticles/529.aspx).  Famous Bodo warriors—men and women—of yore include Bachiram, Daoharam, Cheobar, Gambari Sikhla, and Birgahri Sikhla. The song recalling the heroism of Bachiram is legendary:

         

Goraya dabradw Bachiram Jwhwlao

       Gonggar chubaya phwilaygou

     

(Ride on horse Bachiram

       Bhutiyas are coming in a body)  

Interestingly, in the `The Oral Poetry of the Bodos: Ethnic Voices and Discourses’, written by Anil Kumar Boro, Department of Folklore Research, Guwahati University, Assam, the author mentions the depiction of Lord Bathou as Lord Siva (or Sibrai).  The Anil Boro article goes on to mention Gibi Bithai, a traditional Bodo scripture that provides an astounding Bodo world view (http://wiki.indianfolklore.org/images/4/4c/Ifl_27.pdf).

In this, Lord Siva is opposed to Lord Brahma, God of the white skinned people, and Lord Vishnu, God of the dark skinned people. It seems that Bodos carried their own interpretation of history that spoke of the coming of white skinned Aryans and dark skinned (Dravidians?) from the western parts of the Indian sub-continent to their lands. Of Tibeto-Burman stock, Bodos not only resembled the American Red Indians. Their religion, warrior folklore, and sense of peripatetic sovereignty, recalled the North American warrior tribes who put up a heroic fight against European settlers during the early history of the USA.

                 

                   (To be Continued...)

The Justice League + The Defenders - By Deepal Trivedie and Jyoti Punwani - SUNDAY MUMBAI MIRROR - The Times of India publication

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Press Release from Teesta Satelvad - Citizens for Justice and Peace

PRESS RELEASE ---

With tears of happiness choking them Women Victim Eye witnesses (Jannatchachi, Shakilabano, Faraznabano, Ishrat Jahan, Zuleikha appa and Fatima appa offer Shukrana namaz in Ahmedabad. They wil address a press conference with team of lawyers of Citizens for Justice and Peace and its Secretary Teesta Setalvad at Prashant at 3 pm today August 29, 2012 Press Release Hailing the historic verdict in the Naroda Patiya mass murder case delivered by Judge Jyotsnanbehn Yagnik. Special Sessions Judge in Ahmedabad today by which one senior politician and several conspirators and ring leaders have been convicted, Victim Survivors and CJP welcomed the verdict. In all 32 persons have been convicted including former BJP MLA and minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, Smt Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi, Bipin Panchal, Ashok Sindhi and Kishan Korani (sitting corporator, accused No 20) have  been convicted. Twenty-nine of the accused were acquitted. Most of the accused have been charged with Sections 143, 144, 147, 148 with 149, 295, 427, 435, 436, 440, 153, 153a, 153a(ii), 323-326,302, 307 (attempt to murder) read with 149 read with 120(b) and BP Act 135(1). Accused No 22 Suresh Langda Chara has also been convicted under Sections 354 and 376 (sections that deal with rape and gender violence). Quantum of sentence will be pronounced on August 31. Smt Kodnani had been convicted under Sections 295, 427, 435, 436, 440, 153, 153a, 153a(ii), 323, 324, 325, 326, 302, 307, 120-B of the IPC. Babu Bajrangi has been convicted under sections 143, 144, 147, 148 with 149, 295, 427, 435, 436, 440, 153, 153a, 153a(ii), 323,324,325,326, 302, 307 read with 149 read with 120-B. The raw courage of the victim witnesses, especially women witnesses who deposed fearlessly while still residing in Naroda Patiya is a reflection of the confidence generated after the Supreme Court monitoring and the protection from Central Paramilitary forces provided by the Supreme Court. CJP had applied to the apex court for protection of eye witnesses. CJP through its legal team advocates Altaf Jidran and Raju Shaikh supervised by senior Adv Yusuf Shaikh provided legal aid to about 70 eyewitnesses since 2009. CJP would like to publicly acknowledge their contribution, also the seniors advocate MM Tirmizi (Gujarat High Court), Mihir Desai (Mumbai) and advocates Kamini Jaiswal (Supreme Court), Sanjay Parikh (Supreme Court), Aparna Bhat (Supreme Court) and Ramesh Pukhrambam (Supreme Court). Eleven eyewitnesses have deposed in eye witnesses testimonies assigning in detail the role played by Smt Maya Kodnani, in inciting the mob to murder, fifteen witnesses deposed through eye witness testimonies against Babu Bajrangi, 48 witnesses testified to the crimes committed by Suresh @ Langda Chara including the offences of gender violence and rape. (Annexed are the list of witnesses with a brief of their testimonies). The CJP would like to state that it was the evidence through eye witness testimonies that enabled convictions. Corroborative evidence was provided through the phone call records provided by police officer Rahul Sharma and Tehelka’s Operation Kalank. Without eye witness testimonies whoever convictions could not have taken place. Victim witnesses supported by CJP had also filed separate applications under Section 319 praying for police officer and then first PI KK Mysorewala to be arraigned as accused along with former Commissioner of Police PC Pandey and SRP official Dhantaniya. While the Judge rejected these applications, she has observed in the victim application for compensation for rape and gender violence that the application would be considered in the final judgement. Names of accused who have been convicted. Naresh Agarsinh Chara (accused 1); Murlibhai Naranbhai Sindhi (accused 2); Ganpat Chanaji Deedawala (accused 4); Vikrambhai Maneklal Rathod (accused 5); Haresh @ Hariyo S/o Jivanlal @ Agarsinh Rathod (accused 10); Babubhai @ Babu Bajrangi Rajabhai Patel (accused 18), Kishan Khubchand Korani (accused 20); Prakashbhai Sureshbhai Rathod (Chara) (accused  21); Suresh @ Richard @ Langdi Kantibhai Dedawala (Chara) (accused 22); Premchand @ Tiwari Conductor (accused 25); Suresh @ Sehjad Dalubhai (Marathi, Charo) (absconding) (accused 26); Nawab @ Kalu Bhaiyo Harisinh Rathod (accused 27); Manubhai Keshavbhai Maruda (Bhangi) (accused 28); Shashikant @ Tiniyo Marathi Yuvraj Patil (accused 30); Babubhai Jethabhai Salat (accused 33); Lakshmanbhai @ Lakho Budhaji Thakor (accused 34); Dr. Mayaben Surendrabhai Kodnani  (accused 37);  Ashok Hundaldas Sindhi (accused 38); Harshad @ Mungda Govind Chara (Parmar) (accused 39); Mukesh @ Vakil Ratilal Rathod (accused 40); Manojbhai @ Manoj Sinhi Renumal Kukrani (accused 41); Hiraji @ Hero Marwadi @ Sonaji Danaji Medhwan (Marwadi) (accused 42); Bipinbhai @ Bipin autowala Umedray Panchal (accused 44); Ashokbhai Uttamchand Korani (Sindhi) (accused 45); Vijaykumar Takhubhai Parmar (accused 46); Ramesh Keshavlal Dedawala (Chara) (accused 47); Sachin Nagindas Modi (accused 52); Vilas @ Viliyo Prakashbhai Sonar (accused 53); Dinesh @ Tiniyo Govindbhai Barange (Marathi) (accused 55); Santoshkumar Kodumal Mulchandani  (accused 58); Pintu Dalpatbhai Jadeja (Chara) (accused 60); Kirpalsinh Jagbahadursinh Chabda (accused 62).  Eight charge sheets were filed in this historic case that lasted several months. It was one of the nine cases being supervised by the Supreme Court and was investigated by the SIT. Teesta Setalvad, Secretary & Trustee Other Trustees:  IM Kadri (President), Nandan Maluste (Vice President), Arvind Krishnaswamy (Treasurer), Alyque Padamsee, Cyrus Guzder, Javed Anand, Anil Dharker, Javed Akhtar, Ghulam Pesh Imam, Rahul Bose, Cedric Prakash __________________________________________________________________________ Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai – 400 049. Ph: 2660 2288 email: cjp02in@yahoo.com, teesteesta@gmail.com 4 attachments — Download all attachments   View all images   Share all images   Raje-Mohammad-A-Shaikh.jpg 13K   View   Share   Download   Adv Yusuf Shaikh photo.jpg 20K   View   Share   Download   Altaf-Khan-I-Jidran.jpg 13K   View   Share   Download   120829 annexures to press release.doc 183K   View   Download

When cops behaved worse than rioters - By Zeeshan Shaikh - Free Press Journal, Mumbai

http://fpj.co.in/news/81772-When-cops-behaved-worse-than-rioters.html



When cops behaved worse than rioters

26- year- old Abbas Ujjainwala was picked up by cops for no rhyme or reason and seven of his teeth knocked out. Later, CCTV footage established he was in Kurla at the times riots erupted at Azad Maidan.

ZEESHAN SHAIKH Mumbai

 

On August 11, it was not just the rioters who behaved like hooligans but the law enforcers too behaved like rioters, going on mindless rampage of their own and breaking seven teeth of a young boy who wasn't even part of the riots.

The Rapid Action Force allegedly beat up 26- year- old Abbas Ujjainwala on the night of August 11 when he went to Azad Maidan looking for a friend. Abbas, who was at home when the riots took place early in the evening, had gone to Azad Maidan at 9: 30 PM after the riots stopped, to look for his friend who hadn't returned from the protest meet.

On seeing him, the RAF men thrashed him with batons, knocking out seven of his teeth. He was arrested and, incidentally, acquitted by the court on Tuesday. A CCTV installed in Taxi Mens Colony, Kurla, where he resides, came to his rescue. The footage showed Ujjainwala shopping near his house at the time vandals were wreaking havoc at Azad Maidan.

'I was in the colony when the riots erupted. At 9.30 PM, I was at Azad Maidan searching for a friend when the police apprehended me. They thrashed me, broke my teeth and hit me hard on the head.

I was arrested even though I told them I was not part of the protest,'Ujjainwala said, who is hardly able to speak.

'How can the police first beat up a person and later pronounce him innocent?'exclaimed Hussain Ujjainwala, father of Abbas.

 

Apart from Abbas, three more acquitted youth were allegedly beaten black and blue by the RAF and the Arthur Road Jail authorities before being set free nearly 14 days later.

All the 23 accused, who were acquitted owing to lack of evidence, were to be sent for an immediate medical check up after Advocate Khalid Azmi filed an application on Saturday on behalf of their family members stating that they d were beaten up in Arthur Road Jail.

However, the police have still not sent the acquitted and the accused for medical check up.

Further, Abbas claimed he was verbally abused and threatened by the Arthur Road Jail authorities. 'I was beaten up in such a manner that they left no visible injuries on my body. 

They mostly assaulted us with punches and kicks,'Abbas added.

FPJ had first reported Abbass torturous ordeal on Monday. However, when Deputy Police Commissioner, Nisar Tamboli, was called for the police version, he said he was unaware of the incident and asked us to contact crime branch officials. Additional Police Commissioner Niket Kaushik was unavailable for comment.

Another acquitted youth, Anees Dawaray ( 23), a garage mechanic, also claims the police at Arthur road jail beat him up. Aslam Ali Shaikh ( 19), a FYBcom student at MD College in Dadar, who was also wrongly picked up by the police on the eve of the riots, has a harrowing account to narrate.

'Immediately after releasing me from Taloja jail on Tuesday, I had to be rushed to a private nursing home for dressing of wounds. I can barely walk. They beat me on my legs with a stick at Arthur Jail road,'said a visibly shaken Shaikh.

------------
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai adds: The torture of the innocents arrested by Mumbai police was widely reported by Mumbai's Urdu Press, without Police, Government or English media taking any note. A court plea was filed and all the victimised prisioners were asked to be presented in court. Mumbai police caught on wrong foot, tried to save their faces, shifted them to far off Taloja and delayed presenting them in court for 3 days, till the judge came heavily agianst them. They then had no choice, but to free some who had suffered the most and could have resulted in court hauling the police to prosecute the torturers.

US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East? - By Franklin Lamb - Foreign Policy Journal

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/08/28/us-preparing-for-a-post-israel-middle-east/

US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East?

by Franklin Lamb

August 28, 2012

BEIRUT — Congresswoman Illena Ros-Lehtinen will have her hands full as she makes the political and social rounds at this month’s Republican National Convention.  Illena is the only female committee chair in the House of Representatives and arguably Israel’s most ardent agent.  She is a constant thorn in the Obama administration’s side, regularly castigating the president for playing “political games with U.S. foreign policy” and being “soft on Iran” and undermining the legitimacy of Israel.  Ros-Lehtinen is a congressional cheer leader also for her Jewish voters in Florida—a key battleground in the rapidly approaching US presidential election. Most recently, Ros-Lehtinen helped shepherd through Congress yet another bill tightening sanctions against Iran while calling for US military action against the Assad regime in Syria.

The Congresswomen’s focus will likely not be on pushing the republican’s talking points regarding her party’s nominee, Mitt Romney, the former “moderate Massachusetts governor” who she is aware is unlikely to win the White House. Nor, according to a source at the Democratic National Committee, frantically putting together final touches on their own Convention, to be held the week of September 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina, will Ileana spend much time with or promoting Mitt’ running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. Ryan, an Ayn Rand (author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged as well as founder of the Objectivism movement) follower, regularly tells audiences that “Ayn Rand’s teachings have been one of the most profound philosophical influences of my life”—well, except for religion and abortion, as Ayn who passed away in 1982 was an avowed atheist and strongly pro-abortion,  the opposite of  what Ryan tells audiences he is.

Rather, Ros-Lehtinen will be meeting with local, national, and international Jewish leaders in this must win state where she has been assigned the task of reassuring them that the Republican Party is Israel’s best friend and that a recent US government draft report urging a US re-think of its relationship to Israel is the responsibility of none other than Barack Obama, and it reveals his true disdain for Israel.

Helping her smear the White House with the findings in the draft  analysis will be  William Kristol, publisher of the neoconservative Weekly Standard and Director of the New American Century, an “Israel first” Washington-based lobby “promoting joint Israeli and American political and military leadership across the globe, while bringing democracy to the Middle East”.

So what is all the fuss about?

It’s a paper entitled “Preparing For A Post Israel Middle East”, an 82-page analysis that concludes that the American national interest in fundamentally at odds with that of Zionist Israel. The authors conclude that Israel is currently the greatest threat to US national interests because its nature and actions prevent normal US relations  with  Arab and  Muslim countries and, to a growing degree, the wider international community.

The study was commissioned by the US Intelligence Community comprising 16 American intelligence agencies with an annual budget in excess of $ 70 billion. The IC includes the Departments of the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Defense Intelligence Agency, Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, State, Treasure, Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency commissioned the study.

Among the many findings that Ros-Lehtenin and Kristol and other unregistered agents of Israel will likely try to exploit politically between now and November 6, by using them to attack the Obama Administration are the following:

• Israel, given its current brutal occupation and belligerence cannot  be salvaged any more than apartheid south Africa could be when as late as 1987 Israel was the only “Western” nation that upheld diplomatic ties with South Africa and was the last country to join the international boycott campaign before the regime collapsed;
• The Israel leadership, with its increasing support of the 700,000 settlers in illegal colonies in the occupied West Bank is increasing out of touch with the political, military and economic realities of the Middle East;
• The post Labor government Likud coalition is deeply complicit with and influenced by the settlers’ political and financial power and will increasingly face domestic civil strife which the US government should not associate itself with or become involved with;
• The Arab Spring and Islamic Awakening has to a major degree freed a large majority of the 1.2 billion Arab and Muslims to pursue what an overwhelming majority believe is the illegitimate, immoral and unsustainable European occupation of Palestine of the indigenous population;
• Simultaneous with, but predating, rapidly expanding Arab and Muslim power in the region as evidenced by the Arab spring, Islamic Awakening and the ascendancy of Iran, as American power and influence recedes,  the US commitment to belligerent oppressive Israel is becoming impossible to defend or execute consistent given paramount US national interests which include normalizing relations with the 57 Islamic countries;
• Gross Israeli interference in the internal affairs of the United States through spying and illegal US arms transfers. This includes supporting more than 60 ‘front organizations’ and  approximately 7,500 US officials who do Israel’s bidding and seek to dominate and intimidate the media and agencies of  the US government which should no longer be condoned;
• That the United States government no longer has the financial resources, or public support to continue funding Israel. The billions of dollars in direct and indirect aid from US taxpayers to Israel since 1967 is not affordable and is increasingly being objected to by US taxpayers who oppose continuing American military involvement in the Middle East. US public opinion no longer supports funding and executing widely perceived illegal US wars on Israel’s behalf. This view is increasingly being shared by Europe, Asia and the International public;
• Israel’s segregationist occupation infrastructure evidenced by  legalized discrimination and increasingly separate and unequal justice systems must no longer be directly or indirectly funded by the US taxpayers or  ignored by the US government;
• Israel has failed as a claimed democratic state and continued American financial and political cover will not change its continuing devolution as international pariah state;
• Increasingly,  rampant and violent racism exhibited among Jewish settlors in the West Bank is being condoned by the Israeli government to a degree  that the Israel government has become its protector and partner;
• The expanding chasm  among American Jews objecting to Zionism and Israeli practices, including the killing and brutalizing of Palestinians under Israeli occupation,  are gross violations of American and International law and raise questions within the US Jewish community regarding the American responsibility to protect (R2P) innocent civilians under occupation;
• The international opposition to the increasingly  apartheid regime can no longer be synchronized with American claimed  humanitarian values or US expectations in its bi-lateral relations with the 193 member United Nations;
• The Draft ends with language about the need to avoid entangling alliances that alienate much of the World and condemn American citizens to endure the consequences.

Interestingly, it notes Iran as an example of a country and people that have much in common and whose citizens have a real interest in enjoy bilateral associations (here an apparent reference to Israel and its US lobby) not determined by the wishes of other countries and their agents. It also highlights the need for the US to undertake the repairing of relations with Arab and Muslim countries, including the drastically curtained use of drone aircraft.

The coming days will clarity the success of Israel’s in making an issue of the finding in the soon to be published daft report and the degree to which the Republican Party will gain for its findings in the race for the White House.

How Osmania University’s Journalism Dept. came into being

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article3815176.ece




 

News » Cities » Hyderabad

Hyderabad, August 24, 2012

How OU’s Journalism Dept. came into being

By Dasu Kesava Rao

It was an American, DeForest O’Dell, who founded the department about 60 years ago

It was the summer of 1954. Looking out of my living room window, opening on Barkatpura chaman, I found a rundown bus stop north of the chaman and offload a foreigner into a heavy downpour. At once I ran to him with an umbrella and brought him in.

“I am O’Dell. DeForest O’Dell from America. I am here to set up a department of journalism at Osmania University,” quaffing an inviting cup of coffee our guest told my father. “What, a department to turn out journalists?” It sounded strange at that time. 

We thought journalists are born, not made. We learnt that journalists like Kotamraju Rama Rao, M. Chalapati Rau, Khasa Subba Rao, C. Y. Chintamani, Kunduri Iswara Dutt did not go to a journalism school.

Journalism was then considered a mission and not a profession. Independent India felt the need to train young men and women in the craft and practice of journalism and also introduce them to its principles and values to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding newspaper readership and industry. P. P. Singh founded the School of Journalism in Lahore in 1941 and shifted it to Chandigarh after India became free. Then followed the Hislop College of Nagpur, a private institution, which introduced a course in journalism in 1952.

The credit for laying a strong foundation for journalism education in the country went to Osmania University. It got in touch with American Universities and academicians for help in setting up a separate department of journalism. O’Dell, a veteran newsman and journalism educator from the US was entrusted with the task.

Man of many parts

Born in Atlanta on January 1, 1898, he was actively involved with the campus newspaper and yearbook at Butler University from where he graduated in 1921. He went on to head its journalism department. He earned a Master’s degree and Ph. D. from Columbia University in New York City. During his college years, O’Dell worked for various newspapers in Indiana and New York. He had worked as a copy boy and reporter on The Indianapolis News and The Indianapolis Times. He later became city editor of The Crawfordsville Review.

Besides writing for various New York newspapers, he served as a copy editor at Associated Press in New York City for a long time. He also taught and headed journalism departments at six colleges and universities in the US.

Dr. O’Dell came to India in 1954 as the founder-head of the department. He started with the introduction of diploma and certificate courses mainly benefitting reporters and sub-editors working in various English and language newspapers in Hyderabad. Osmania was the first University in the country to introduce such a course.

From the very first year the department ran a journal The Osmania Courier founded and edited by my brother Krishnamoorty who enrolled for the first batch of 1954-55. The Courier served as a laboratory newspaper serving the campus community. A month-long internship in a major newspaper in New Delhi, Bombay or Madras was integral to the course and gave the students a lot of exposure as well as avenues for employment.

The Journalism department was the envy of others in the University as it boasted of a rich collection of copies of foreign newspapers like The Daily Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, (Manchester), Guardian, etc, thousands of books gifted mostly by the World Literacy Inc. and a good number of brand new portable typewriters (dream possession of any reporter of the times) and cameras.

Dr O’Dell stayed on as head of the department until 1956 to ensure that the department stood on a strong foundation and returned to Butler University. He died in Indianapolis on June 19, 1958. The OU Department of Journalism grew from strength to strength over the past 60 years adding courses at post-graduate and master’s level (BCJ and MCJ), M. Phil and Ph. D.

(The writer belongs to the 1970-71 batch of BJ and

1980-81 batch of MCJ)

Keywords: Journalism Dept, OU

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