Times of Pakistan

The war ceased, but hostilities did not end. Peace was no where near in sight. While Japan groaned under the fury of atom bombs, Germany was divided and humiliated, Spain and Italy licked their wounds completely subdued. The other European nations that had won too were not free from fear. They rallied round America while the Ease European Communist countries stood solidly behind Russia forming into another block. Thus the two great partners that had fought together against fascism parted company and set up camps on either side of the fence, each suspecting the other.

It is in these circumstances of the aftermath of the World War II, that India has emerged out as an independent nation, after centuries of servitude and suffering. Ironically enough, only during the final period of its servitude, the awakening came. Before that there had only been centuries of stupor, perplexity of mind and crisis of identity. The crisis was over; the stupor ended with the dawn of independence. So, to rediscover its identity in all its past glory, the effort needs to be there.

There is yet another problem. Hundreds of years of foreign rule have left the nation completely impoverished. The entire country cried for a square meal a day. The purpose of the caste system having become superficial, except for the segregation of the society into warring groups, highly skilled artisans like weavers, potters and sculptors, who had specialized in their crafts for generations together, have almost perished and the dying skills should have to be reinvigorated. The nation in short, has to be set again on the track to attain its ancient glory of spiritual splendor and material prosperity. That plethora of activity in every walk of life should again stage a come back.

This is a stupendous task. It needs every kind of resource available. It cannot afford to waste its energies in ventures that can be eliminated or avoided. At any rate, the first requisite for all this is peace, peace within and peace without. The country had already been groaning under the effects of partition. People who consciously watch the strides of history can never mistake who were to blame for all the unnecessary turmoil and bloodshed. It does not serve the cause if the blame is thrown on some one or other, nor can the past be completely wiped out, so as to make a fresh beginning. Wisdom lies in making the right choice. So, the choice has been made, out of historical compulsions, to join the British Common Wealth of Nations. It is done in the best of the traditions of the Christian forgiveness. Under no circumstance the country is to become the camp follower of Britain or toe the Americans.

Whatever its emotional affiliations with Russia be, India cannot think of conducting the Russian experiment. A country which sees God in every man cannot cherish the idea of extinguishing the divine glow in the heart of man. Nor can it think of material prosperity at the expense of individual freedom. It wants the progress of man in the material and spiritual spheres, neither one at the cost of the other. But journey is long and arduous. It takes years of hard work to root out the thick jungles of poverty and feed the millions of hungry mouths. But there is no other go. So the choice has been made. The path lies neither on the right nor on the left. It runs in the middle. The country cannot lean one way or the other towards one group or the other. It is pure non-alignment. The non-alignment which India wants to pursue does not mean the shutting of eyes and ears to what is happening around; nor is it camping beside a forest pond and leading the life of hermit or a recluse. It is not the nodding of the head passively indicating the acceptance of one thing or the rejection of the other. It is not the subdued silence, a camp follower is forced to adopt. It is a courageous policy refusing to join one group or the other. It is a solemn declaration to participate actively in the deliberations of the world community, voice its opinions without fear or favor and express judgments based purely on the merits of the issues.

Non-alignment means neutrality. But this neutrality is not a negative attitude. It is not running away from the scene of strife and watching it from a distance. It is a positive undertaking to pursue right actions at the right time in the right manner. Non-alignment is not pure idealism that transcends the interests of the land or the world. India has to guard her newly won independence and solve many problems that have accumulated in the past; it becomes inevitable that she should follow a policy that will help, as best as it can, to maintain the world peace and also avoid as far as possible entanglement in world conflicts. (Nehru, in one of his speeches in the Lok Sabha ) So the aim is peace with in and peace with out. And there cannot be lasting peace in the world unless there is an impartial force to draw a line between the two contesting parties and make them sit and talk. There can also be peace when, one of the two warring groups is completely vanquished. But it is the peace emanating from the elimination of the enemy but not from the elimination of the enmity. And in order to avoid this kind of peace a deterring force becomes essential. Even in a play field we need an umpire.

That is exactly what the UNO tries to do. But when the entire world is divided into two warring camps, the UNO too, which is but a shadow world, cannot but be divided and there can be no deliverance. So, in order to make the world body into a real and living force, there should always be a third power which should be strong and principled. And that is what India tries to do.

Pandit Jawaharla Nehru of India, Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and Abdul Nasser of Egypt were the architects of the Non-aligned movement which was born on 1st September 1951. From a very humble beginning, it gained both in strength and popularity, now with a membership that crossed the 100-mark. Be it in the case of Korean war, Anglo-French action in Suez, or the Soviet intervention in Hungary, in the case of the apartheid in South Africa, or in the Palestine issue or in the war between Iran and Iraq, in the insurgency in Afghanistan or be it in the upsurge in China, India was never afraid to voice its independent and unprejudiced reaction, and without fear or favor to uphold the values it stands for and the principles of NAM.

NAM has become synonymous with the aims and aspirations of the developing nations – their opposition to the exploitation of the underdeveloped by the developed, to the discrimination on the basis of race or religion, and their fight against poverty and disease and nuclear proliferation. It has marched far and long from the days of its first summit meeting held in 1961. it is now a force to reckon with. Its voice is no longer a cry in the wilderness, even the super powers pause to listen to its opinions.

It is true that NAM is not a well knit organization like a political party with a clearly defined manifesto. It is a body of differing ideologies of nations coming from differing back grounds, treading on different paths, pursuing different policies. But they all have something in common-an earnest desire to build a better tomorrow, without losing their own identity, without being swept by one ism or the other and to make the world a better and safer place to live in. Theirs is a body of equals where nobody is the leader nor a follower.

It is also true that none of the NAM members voiced their support to India either in its war with China or with Pakistan. Many might also say that India has no permanent friends to support it through thick and thin, while Pakistan has. Such people mistake one for the other and forget that Pakistan is also a member of the NAM. Any way a country has permanent policies, but not permanent friends.

There is also a criticism that the NAM has not done much. But such people too do not realize the real contribution the NAM has made by its very existence and presence. To prevent some one picking up a pocket, the presence of a policeman is not necessary. It is enough if the pickpocket realizes that someone who is not a fellow traveler is watching him. Now there are new alignments taking place. The cold war conditions have vanished. Russia is turning towards West and the Super Powers are shaking hands in a spirit of friendship. Does the new trend warrant the need of the NAM ask the critics and political pandits. But again these doubting Thomass forget that the aim of NAM is not limited to the cold war conditions. As long as there is exploitation of man by man, be it on the basis of race or religion, communism or colonialism, there is need for the NAM. Have I not reason to lament for what man has made of man? said the bard 200 years ago. As long as we have such a reason to lament, we have the need of the NAM.

Sam J Thomas is a freelance writer and has written content for several web & print media projects. He is currently preparing content for Kerala House Boat Package – based tourism website and http://www.solvedquestionpapers.com

From the 25th of February, disturbing news started coming in from Bangladesh. The Pilkhana headquarters of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in Dhaka was seized by a mutiny and at least sixty-four army officers along with seven non-army personals including women and children were massacred by the mutineers. The dead includes the BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed and other high ranking officers. The killings mainly happened in the Darbar Hall inside the BDR premise during the annual gathering of BDR commanders and according to the few survivors most of the killings were done between 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on the first day. After killing the senior officers, the mutineers stormed the residential officers quarters, attacked and dragged out the family members and set the quarters on fire. Gold ornaments, jewelries and money were looted. The dead bodies were disfigured with bayonets and later dumped into nearby sewers and mass graves inside the BDR compound. The full horror of the mutiny became evident when bodies of the slain officers including the wife of the Director General were recovered. The mutiny was also reported to have spread to twelve border districts of the country including Dinajpur, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Naugaon.

Intense rumors of an imminent army take-over soon spread out like wildfire all over Bangladesh. But according to media report, the army chief Moin Ahmed assured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by saying that “Rumors are swirling… but the army belongs to you.” His force remained loyal to the civilian government which took over power just in December last year after a landslide victory in the general elections. This assurance reinforced the government to deal with the situation with firm resolve. It was Hasinas insistence for a political solution of the crisis that the army kept itself away from any direct confrontation with the mutineers. Sheikh Hasina herself met fourteen representative leaders of the BDR rebels and after discussing their grievances initially announced to grant them amnesty. Various leaders and ministers including the Home Minister Sahara Khatun were busy throughout the night to keep dialogues between the government and rebel soldiers open. In a daring act, Ms. Khatun and State Minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak entered the BDR premise at midnight and rescued an injured officer and forty family members who were held hostage by the rebels. However, when all sorts of negotiation failed to make the mutineers to surrender, the government strategically started mobilizing the Army on the second day. Eleven tanks moved in to encircle the Pilkhana complex; people living near the BDR headquarters were evacuated. Hasina addressed the nation in a televised statement and appealed to the troops to surrender the arms. Finally, on 26th of February between 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. the unnerved rebels surrendered by laying down their arms. By then, many of the rebel soldiers had fled their posts. Two hundred mutineers were arrested while trying to escape in civilian outfits. The police started a massive manhunt Operation Rebel Hunt throughout the country to capture the fugitive masterminds of the revolt and soon arrested BDRs Deputy Assistant Director Touhidul Alam and four other suspects. According to an official estimate, about two thousand suspected mutineers are still absconding. The government later clarified that the general amnesty announced by Sheikh Hasina will not be applicable for the masterminds who was directly involved with the planning and killings.

Formerly known as East Pakistan Rifles, BDR is presently a 67,000-strong paramilitary force deployed to guard the 4,427 kilometer long Bangladesh boarders with India and Myanmar with additional anti-smuggling operational charge. The force revolted in 1971 against the West Pakistan army by joining the Bangladesh liberation war. After the emergence of Bangladesh the force was renamed as Bangladesh Rifles and emerged as the new countrys leading paramilitary force. BDR administration is mostly controlled by officers from the Bangladesh Army.

Rebel leaders speaking to private television channels affirmed that the mutiny was directed primarily against the corruption of their officers who came from the army. According to them, the other central reasons of the uprising were the disparity of pay, benefits, working conditions and promotional opportunities as compared to their army counterparts. Their 22-point demand includes withdrawal of army officers from the command structure of BDR. The mutineers were initially successful to represent the uprising as a class conflict between exploitive officers and exploited soldiers and accused the officers as abusive and utterly insensitive towards the woes of ordinary soldiers. They claimed that their long-standing grievances were repeatedly raised before the authorities but all fell on deaf ears. Unofficial reports suggested that BDR Director General had promised to discuss their grievances with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina but failed to keep his promise when Hasina visited the barracks on 24 February to inaugurate the BDR week events. The uprising might be partly impulsive though there are ample reasons to suggest that there could be a deep-rooted conspiracy behind it.

Since Bangladesh was born in 1971 there were several big and small coup attempts in the country. The countrys history of army coups started in 1975 when Sheikh Hasinas father, the countrys iconic founder president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally assassinated along with his wife and three sons by junior officers of Bangladesh army. Given its history of coups and counter coups, the first thing that obviously appeared in the mind from the uprising was that the country was heading for another coup. The present army leaderships credible pro-democracy stance has negated this proposition. The cross-border theory of a bigger conspiracy involving Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) which has strong pockets of influence in the BDR came next. It suggested that the violence was the handiwork of the ISI, aimed to spoil growing ties between Sheikh Hasinas government and India. The ISI also wanted to signal India about its capability to stall New Delhis growing influence in Bangladesh. Indian media came up with the story of Salauddin Qadeer Chowdhury, a senior Bangladeshi businessman and BNP politician. Involving Chowdhury with the conspiracy for having close links with the ISI, the media reports also stated that the original planning was hatched in Pakistan and then passed on to radical Islamist organizations operating in Bangladesh like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HUJI). Differing to the Indian side story, conspiracy theories were floated within Bangladesh which claimed that Indias external intelligence agency RAW was involved to revenge the death of nineteen of their Border Security Force (BSF) personals killed by the BDR at Padua of Sylhet and Boraibari of Roumary in 2001. The name of Britain based Islamist organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir also popped up which for the last couple of years is known to reckon Bangladesh as its area of interest.

Was it really a deliberate and well crafted attempt to incite the army to apply force, take over power and subsequently destabilize the new democratically elected government? Questions were asked why the mutineers had brutally killed the officers and their family members instead of following the usual method to accomplish their demands by holding the army officers as hostages. The modus operandi of the uprising and latest developments emerging from the investigation is supporting this speculation. Investigators have started gathering evidences which are contrary to the initial perception that the uprising stemmed out of grievances. The perpetrators might have exploited the deprived feelings of the common BDR men and motivated a section of them in the heinous act. Latest revelation from the investigation hints about the presence of uniformed outsiders during the massacre. BDR soldiers who had fled Pilkhana through the back doors and now reporting back are claiming that masked soldiers brandishing guns and firing blank shots forced them to join the revolt. Whatever might be the truth, one thing is certain. The evolving events do suggest that Hasinas government is fronting an extremely intricate problem to deal with. It has to move cautiously otherwise the ramification could turn disastrous.

Sheikh Hasinas well-known pro-India stand has caused enough displeasure to the pro-Pakistan elements of Bangladesh. Fingers of suspicion are been pointed towards the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, their extensive network of grassroot organizations and the former Razakar and Al-Badars – who has regrouped within the Jamaat fold. These are the atrocious elements that had collaborated with the Pakistan Army during the nine months long Bangladeshs Mukti Juddho (liberation war) and staged the mass genocide of millions of their own people and enforced million others to flee to neighboring India as refugees. After Mujibur Rahman was assassinated, Zia Ur Rahman helped to resettle these Islamist collaborators in Bangladesh politics. He legalized Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party, allowed them to carry on with their vicious socio-political activities and had also permitted Jamaat leader Golam Azam to return to Bangladesh from his exile. Azams citizenship was previously nullified by Mujibur Rahman for his resolute opposition to creation of Bangladesh. After the resettlement, Jamaat-e-Islami continued to flourish and strengthened their base at the time of General Hossain Mohammad Ershads regime in areas like Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi and steadily became politically important in Bangladesh. Jamaat allied with Zia Ur Rahmans wife Khaleda Zias Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), lead a four-party coalition government during 2001-2006 and held two Ministries in the government. There is little doubt that Jamaat-e-Islami has a sizeable presence in the countrys rural areas and their fanatic Mullahs has infested enough Pan-Islamic religious extremism and hatred among the illiterate and poor populace. The BDR rank and file is drawn mainly from these economically backward and poor rural belts.

These elements are infuriated and deeply worried about Hasinas plans to set up a war-crimes tribunal to put on trial the collaborators of West Pakistani army. In the second week of February, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had sent his special envoy to Dhaka and pressurized the Bangladesh government to retract from the trial which the government immediately turned down. By pulling the ear, the head comes along – besides a number of Jamaat leaders, some of the bigwigs of Khaleda Zias BNP could also be in genuine trouble if the government goes ahead with the trial. Hasina has also announced that she will not allow Bangladeshs soil to be used as a haven for terrorist activities. Her government has promised to eliminate terrorist camps in Bangladesh and to restrain ISI operations from Bangladesh territory. All these factors are enough to incite rage and enmity among co-religionist and Pan-Islamic elements against the present government and army leadership. From their extremist inspiration these elements apparently might have tried to send a warning to the government that it should restrain implementing their agenda.

Historically, Bangladeshs political style has always been marked by its confrontational nature. This style of politics was introduced during the liberation movement when the political class, bureaucrats, army, students, elites and intellectuals became divided either into pro-liberation or pro-Pakistan camps. This hate-inspired division has eventually created a gravely corrupt political system and weak institutions. This sense of hatred has been aggravated by centralization of power in the hands of the executive class. Taking advantage of the chaotic state of Bangladesh politics that prevailed following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the army directly got involved into the political sphere to play the role of the savior, fingered external relations and consequently demolished the democratic values. The subsistence of successive post-Mujib regimes heavily depended on the army support. The present army leadership appears to be committed for democratic values and is free from Islamist bias. This is a positive sign for Bangladeshs future in contrast to the lopsided role the army has opted so far.

Bangladesh is still one of the poorest countries in the world. Concentrating on the precarious economic situation is therefore the utmost job of the new government. Sanitizing a corrupt political system and standing firm against rampant corruption in the high offices is also another major objective to attain. It also needs to carefully address the menace of religious fundamentalist elements in its society. Whether in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan, the face of religious fundamentalism is common. It is always autocratic, brutal and driven primarily by hatred. In a society where most of the people are illiterate and miserably trapped in poverty and religious inducement, the incidence of the BRD mutiny will remain a matter of deep concern.

http://wordsfromsolitude.blogspot.com/

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country, located in the center of the Asian continent. Afghanistan is an ancient region that is full of historical prominence, sharing history with bordering countries like Iran, Pakistan, and China, and has historically linked with several outer countries like the Soviet Union, and the United States of America. Since the 1970s Afghanistan has been involved in several ongoing brutal wars and invasions, including the current invasion of the U.S. that began in the year 2001.

Geographically, the country is mountainous with wide-open plains to the North and the South. The highest point in Afghanistan is Nowshak, which is about twenty-five thousand feet in elevation. The climate is mostly dry, with a continental climate of hot summers and cold winters, and is known as the Endorheic Sistan Basin, which is the driest region in the world. The area is prone to earthquakes, and was affected most recently in 1998, when over four thousand people were killed, by a violent quake. Afghanistan is the forty-first largest country in the world, and has access to an abundance of highly important natural resources, such as Petroleum and natural gas. Other resources include uranium, coal, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, salt and lead.

The countrys capital and largest populated city, is Kabul, and the primary language of the people is Dari, formerly known as Persian. There are also an estimated thirty other minor languages spoken in the region, so bilingualism is very common to the country. Culturally, Afghans are a very proud people. They hold religion, family; ancestry and their independence with the utmost pride, sometimes even to extremes. There is much apprehension in the world for the people of Afghanistan, due to their extreme clan pride and willfulness to resort to the use of firearms and other weapons to resolve disputes.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest and most undeveloped countries in the world and its citizens live on an estimated two dollars per day. The unemployment rate is at forty percent, and is expected to continue to go up in the next decade as high as sixty percent. The education system is improving slowly in modern times, but with poor cultural conditions, and unsafe structures the literacy rate in this country is astounding. An estimated fifty percent of males in Afghanistan are illiterate and an even more mind numbing seventy percent of the countrys women are illiterate. The imbalance in education is mostly due to the fact that most families in the country will not allow their daughters to be taught by men, and there is a shortage of women teachers in the region. Since the fall of the Taliban government in the early 2000s, the University of Kabul has reopened, admitting new students, in attempts to improve Afghanistans academic statistics.

Afghanistan is generally not a very desirable country to visit, if you are a tourist. It can be dangerous in most parts, and with the ongoing wars and disputes with surrounding regions, can be a very unsafe vacation. However, for the history buff, this country is a plethora of ancient and modern history.

For more information on Afghanistan, visit http://afghanistanmicroblog.com and http://microblogafghanistan.com