1. religion and spirituality
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C M Y K
KashmiR
Kashmir
Expert
US Diplomat
Under
Investigation
14 Muharram | 1436 Hijri | Vol: 17 | Issue: 231 | Pages : 08 | Price: `3
3
w w w. k a s h m i r o b s e r v e r. n e t
satuRDaY 08 NOvemBeR 2014
The only real
mistake is the one
from which we
learn nothing.
...........John Powell
Sgr-Leh Road Closed
for Traffic
SRINAGAR: The 434 kilometer
Srinagar-Leh highway connecting
Ladakh with Kashmir Valley was
closed for traffic on Friday due to
fresh rains and snowfall at Zojilla.
Reports said that hundreds of passenger and commercial vehicles
were stranded near tourist resort
Sonamarag.
“The Border Roads Organisation
pressed in service its men and machines and launched clearance operation to reopen the road for traffic,”
a police official told CNS.
Meanwhile, MeT has said that weather will improve from November 9 onwards. A MeT official said that moderate rain or snow is likely to occur at
many places in Kashmir on November
7 and 8. “Some place like Gulmarg,
Sonmarg may receive heavy snowfall
while plains including Srinagar will
receive light to heavy rainfall till Saturday evening. (CNS)
Doctors Hold Token
Protest
SRINAGAR: Doctors and paramedics of
various Kashmir hospitals Friday wore
black bands to protest against the innocent killing of two Nowgam students in firing by Army at Chattergam
in Budgam district earlier this week.
Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK)
had urged doctors and paramedics to observe black Friday against
these killings.
Reports said that Doctors and paramedics in different hospitals all across
Mirwaiz Barred From
Jumma Prayers
SRINAGAR: Authorities on Friday
placed Hurriyat (M) Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest at his Nigeen residence and did
not allow him to deliver his Friday
sermon and offer prayers at the historic Jamia masjid here.
Terming the continuous house detention, particularly again on this Friday,
/ Srinagar Today: MoSTly Cloudy
Army Takes Responsibility
for Killings, Calls It Mistake
Have learnt lessons to avoid such incidents in future: Lt Gen Hooda
Observer News service
SRINAGAR: Accepting responsibility for the killing of two Kashmiri
teenagers in Chattergam village of
Central Kashmir, Indian Army Friday
said that it will provide ex-gratia of
Rs 10 lakh each for families of the
deceased and Rs 5 lakh for those
injured.
Addressing a press conference
in Srinagar, Lt Gen D S Hooda of the
Northern Army Command said that
the killing of two teenagers was a
case of ‘mistaken identity’. However,
he added that the inquiry will be
completed within ten days and stringent punishment will be awarded to
the soldiers who violated the rules.
"There was some information
about a white car with militants. Obviously, the identity was mistaken in
this case. We take responsibility for
the deaths," Lt General D S Hooda
said adding that the Army promises a
transparent and time bound inquiry.
Pertinently, two students Faisal
Yusuf Bhat, 14, a class 7 student,
and Me’rajuddin Dar 21, were killed
while two others - Shaker Bhat and
Zahid Naqash were injured on Monday evening when soldiers of 53
Rashtriya Rifles opened fire on their
car at Chattergam village in Budgam
district.
Soon after the incident, the Army
had claimed that the youths, who
were travelling in a car, did not stop
at two vehicle checking points and
even tried to break through the third
barrier when asked to stop.
Earlier an Army official had even
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informed some reporters that it was
a militant attack and Army was able
to neutralize two militants.
As the facts surfaced following
public outcry, Army expressed regret
and ordered an inquiry into the killing of these two civilians.
Army Commander said that the
troops had information that suspected terrorists were travelling in a
white car in that direction. "But this
has proved to be a horrible case of
mistaken identity," he said.
Jolt To PDP
Lt Gen Hooda further said that
guilty soldiers will be punished so
that it will become a precedence and
in future such incidents don’t occur.
“The probe that we have ordered is
going on fast track basis. Let me tell
you that the probe is going on in
transparent manner and we are trying to ascertain what prompted the
soldiers to fire upon the Maruti car,”
he said.
Responding to a question, Hooda
said that Army is ready to cooperate
with police or government if they
want to initiate a separate inquiry
into the incident. “We are ready to
cooperate with anyone, be it police
or civil administration, public or any
civil society group,” he said.
The Northern Army commander also said that the involved military unit of the 53 Rashtriya Rifles
had been relocated and troops from
25 Rashtriya Rifles have replaced
them. The general however steered
clear from the "larger debate of AFSPA" when asked by reporters and
said it was not the right platform to
discuss that.
Families Reject Army Compensation
Teen's kin tell army: ‘Handover culprits and get Rs 20 lakh’
SRINAGAR: Rejecting Army’s compensation offer of Rs 10 lakh, the
parents of the slain youth Friday said they would not accept any relief
from the government.
“The blood of my 14 year old son is not so cheap that I could barter
it. I reject this compensation. I will pay Rs 20 lakh to army in return if it
hands over us the killers,” said Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, father of Faisal.
He said that Faisal was studying in class 7th and was also under
the course of Hafiz-e-Quran. “He had memorized thirteen chapters of
the Quran and was much zealous to recite the whole Quran by heart.
His killing has left us shattered and no one on earth is going to heal
these wounds,” he added.
He also accused that the army and police personnel, deployed
outside their residence at Nowgham, were not allowing any person to
visit the family for condolences. “They disallow the mourners and the
people who come here to express condolence,” Bhat said.
Ghulam Mohammad Dar whose son Meraj (21) also died in army
firing seconded Bhat, saying the compensation would not give him
his son back. “I will give army whatever it wants, the earnings of my
life, all my possession, all I want is that they must declare the names
along with the pictures of the involved army personnel,” he said. KNS
The blood of my 14 year old son is not so cheap
that I could barter it. I reject this compensation. I will pay Rs 20
lakh to army in return if it hands over us the killers,”
CJ To Hear ANC Petition
Dilawar Mir Sentenced To Jail, Council Pleads For Poll
Postponement
Can’t Contest Polls
SRINAGAR: Senior PDP leader Mohammad Dilawar Mir has been sentenced to three years imprisonment
by a Delhi court in a case related to
wrongful release of Rs 30 lakh and
contract for sale of urea to his firm
by public sector National Fertilizers
Limited in 1993-1996.
While Mir, who was a former
Minister in Mufti Sayeed's cabinet,
was awarded three years imprisonment and a whopping fine of Rs 3.21
crore, a special CBI court sentenced
77-year- old Dilbagh Singh Kanwar,
the then General Manager of National fertilizers Ltd (NFL), to two-and-a
half-year jail term.
67-year-old Mir, who is general
secretary of PDP, was named by his
party as a candidate for the upcoming polls from Rafiabad seat of North
Kashmir. Though Mir got bail and
his sentence has been suspended till
January two, 2015, he will not be able
to contest the forthcoming elections.
Mir was then the proprietor of
M/s Good Friends Agencies which
was wrongly awarded the contract
for sale of urea, the court said. Special CBI Judge L K Gaur also imposed
a fine of Rs 3.21 crore and Rs two lakh
on Mir and Kanwar respectively. Out
of Mir's fine amount, Rs 3.19 crore
would be given National fertilizers
Ltd (NFL) as compensation.
"In the light of the fact that the
NFL suffered a loss in 1994 of Rs 30
lakhs at the hands of the convict
Mohd. Dilawar Mir, in my opinion,
it would be in the interest of justice that a suitable compensation
be awarded to NFL for the said loss
under the provision of the Code of
Criminal Procedure.
"In my view awarding the compensation to the NFL of Rs 3.19 crore,
which is roughly the same as principal
plus 12 per cent compoundable interest per annum with quarterly rests for
twenty years. This amount would be
recoverable from the fine imposed by
this order," the judge said.
The court, in its 267-page judgment, said the prosecution has suc-
Congress Fields
‘Tainted’ Candidate
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SRINAGAR: The list of 69 candidates for the Jammu and
Kashmir Assembly Elections that Congress party released on
Friday included the name of a tainted politician who was allegedly involved in infamous sex racket that hit the headlines
in 2005.
The name of former Industries and Commerce Minister
also figured in the list of accused and he was subsequently
arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation from his official
Gupkat residence in Srinagar.
Congress party has field tainted politician for the Habba
Kadal seat in Srinagar district, against Moti Kaul of the BJP,
who is also a Kashmiri Pandit.
Shamima Firdous of National Conference and Sanjay Saraf
of Lok Jana Shakti Party are also contesting from the same
constituency that has nearly 20,000 Pandit migrant voters.
CBI had subjected tainted minister along with other Congress candidate for Dooru Constituency to a Test Identification Parade (TIP) before a minor who had alleged the two
of raping her. The CBI Special Court in Chandigarh later on
acquitted both of them.
A Congress insider said that candidate was preferred by
party for being a Kashmiri Pandit. (CNS)
cessfully proved that convict Kanwar
in conspiracy with Mir, had abused
his position as a public servant while
working as NFL's General Manager
(Marketing), by awarding the contract to Mir's firm Good Friends Agencies, without having the powers to do
so and flouting existing practices.
It said there was no necessity of
awarding the contract and Kanwar
also released Rs 30 lakhs as an advance
payment despite it being clear that no
services had been rendered under the
contract by Mir. Kanwar and Mir were
convicted for the offences of criminal
conspiracy under the IPC and criminal conduct and abuse of position by
public servant under the Prevention
of Corruption Act.
The court, however, allowed their
bail plea and suspended their sentence till January two to enable them
to file an appeal against their conviction and sentence. Both the convicts
were released on bail till then on furnishing of a bond and surety.
As per CBI case registered in 1998,
Kanwar had abused his position as
public servant to favour Mir and as a
result of a criminal conspiracy between
the two, they had defrauded NFL, a
Government owned Company, of Rs
30 lakhs and attempted to cheat NFL of
over Rs 6.78 crore during 1993-96.
The agency said
SRINAGAR: The writ petition filed by
Awami National Conference (ANC)
challenging the schedule of elections
in Jammu and Kashmir was listed
before the two judge bench Friday.
Rajiv Dawan senior counsel appearing on behalf of ANC pleaded
before Supreme court Justices
Chelameswar and Viond Bobde that
almost six lakh people are displaced
in Srinagar city alone.
He said 390 villages were completely submerged in flood waters
and thousands of villages were seriously affected, with more than 3.5
lakh structures damaged and more
than six thousand schools having
been declared unsafe.
He also contended that the
month of Muharram was being observed with the Chehlum (40th) of
Muharram following on 14th December 2014 when 17 assembly
constituencies are scheduled to go
to polls .
More so the harsh winter has
already set in and thousands of
families have shifted to Jammu
along with annual Darbar, Dawan
informed the court.
In this backdrop, council pleaded
that the situation was not at all conducive for free and fair elections and
right to vote of lakhs of voters will be
denied.”
Kashmiri Leaders
Not Separatists: Pak
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has rejected a recent Indian statement
calling on Islamabad to make a “conscious choice” on deciding
whether it wanted to negotiate with New Delhi or with separatist leaders.
Reacting to remarks by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said that
Pakistan would not accept preconditions for the resumption of
the stalled bilateral dialogue.
Jaitley, who is also India’s finance minister, had said that a
new “red line” has to be drawn in Pakistan to reconsider who
they want to speak to. “Do they want to speak to the Government of India or do they want to speak to those who want to
break India? Unless Pakistan makes a conscious choice, a dialogue with Pakistan will not be possible.”
Reiterating the internationally recognised status of Kashmir as a disputed territory, the foreign office spokesperson emphasised that Kashmiri leaders are not separatists, but instead
representatives of an occupied people who were fighting for
their right to self-determination.
“We do not accept any conditionality. Kashmiris are not Indian separatists. They are people in occupied territory
EC To SC: Polls Won’t
Hamper Flood Relief
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission Friday told the Supreme
Court that it has already issued
a communication to the central
government and the Jammu and
Kashmir government that the
election code of conduct will
not come in the way in the relief
and rehabilitation of the flooddevastated people of the state.
The Election Commission
said this to an apex court bench
headed by Chief Justice H.L.
Dattu which had asked it to state
whether the enforcement of code
of conduct came in the way of the
relief and rehabilitation work.
After hearing the counsel, the
bench remarked that in view of the
sensitiveness and seriousness of
the issue they have decided to place
the matter before the Chief Justice
to pass orders for posting the case
on urgent bases before an appropriate bench in view of the fact that
another writ petition challenging
the rehabilitation measures in the
state is heard by bench headed by
the CJ himself.
Kashmir A Human
Issue: OIC
JEDDAH - The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
has reaffirmed full support and solidarity with the people of
Jammu and Kashmir and vowed to use all available resources
to promote the cause of the Kashmiri people, the Arab News
reported on Friday.
Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Madani addressed a gathering on the occasion
of inauguration of a photo exhibition highlighting the human
rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir at the OIC premises
in Jeddah on Thursday.
“The OIC has consistently shown its firm support to the
Kashmiris in their legitimate struggle for their fundamental human rights, including their inalienable right to self-determination. The present occasion also seeks to keep alive the memory
and efforts of those Kashmiris who sacrificed their lives for the
sake of their homeland,” he said.
He said the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is one of the longest unresolved international issues. The continuation of this
conflict is not in the interest of India or Pakistan or the people
of Kashmir, “It has so far claimed so many precious lives of
innocent people and has posed real threats to peace and security for the region and beyond,” he said.
day 4: shutdown,
Clashes in nowgam
SRINAGAR: For the fourth consecutive
day, the Nowgam area of city outskirts
continued to remain shut against the
killing of two teenage boys in army firing this week.
Two teenage boys –Faisal and Me’raj
– were killed when army men opened
fire on their car on Monday evening.
The slain youth hail from Nowgam
area and were friends. Two of their
friends who were also with them sustained grave injuries and are currently
admitted in Army’s 92 Base Hospital
here while the fifth person managed
to escape from the spot.
Top Jem militant
arrested in sopore
Srinagar: A top Jaish-e-Mohammad
militant was arrested by army and
Special Operations Group of police
from Sopore town Friday evening.
Official sources said that acting on
specific information, the joint team of
SOG and army’s 27 RR had laid an ambush at village Marble near Yembarzalwari forests this evening.
Around 6:45 pm, the joint team of
forces managed to apprehend the JeM
commander from the area.
“An Ak-47 was recovered from his
possession”, they said, adding
notification for 2nd
phase Issued
SRINAGAR: In pursuance to the notification for conducting Elections for the
Legislative Assembly for Jammu and
Kashmir issued by the Election Commission of India, the notification for
2nd phase of Assembly Elections was
issued here today.
According to the notification, the
last date for filing nomination papers
by the candidates has been fixed as
November 14, 2014, while nomination
papers would be scrutinized on November 15, 2014. The
soldier Injured in
Pak firing
JAMMU: An Indian soldier was injured Friday in firing by the Pakistan
Army on the Line of Control (LoC) in
Jammu district.
A senior police officer said here
that the Pakistanis violated the ceasefire in Akhnoor sector using small arms
and automatics.
"A soldier, Havaldar Suresh Kumar
of 3 Naga regiment, was injured in
the Pakistan firing," the officer said.
He was moved to the army hospital at
Akhnoor town.
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DUBAI: A Kuwaiti man
who stole a luxury car
every month to please
his unsuspecting girlfriend has been arrested.
The arrest was made
after the traffic police
apprehended the man’s
girlfriend driving a
fancy car that had been
reported stolen in Al
Ahmadi.
When questioned,
the woman said the car
was a gift from her boyfriend, adding that he
offered her a different
car at the beginning of
the month as a token of
friendship and according to her whims.
However, she was
shocked when the
police told her that she
was driving a stolen car.
She gave the police details about her boyfriend who was arrested. He admitted during
the investigation that he had let his girlfriend believe he was a millionaire and that he was
stealing the cars to meet her demand for luxury vehicles, Al Watan daily reported.
He added that his strategy was to steal the car keys from the special boxes that owners
had in their homes and drive away with the vehicles to offer to his girlfriend.
Plane Hits Stray
Buffalo During Take-Off
NEW DELHI: An Indian airliner crashed into
a stray buffalo during take-off from the
western city of Surat although no passengers or crew were hurt, the plane’s operator,
SpiceJet Ltd, said on Friday.
The airline was forced to ground the
Boeing 737 which suffered “substantial
damages”, it said.
SpiceJet said the buffalo, which was
killed in the accident on Thursday evening,
was “essentially invisible” against a dark
background. Passengers on the Delhi-bound
aircraft were transferred on to another
plane, SpiceJet said.
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Airtel To Woo Data Users
Through Free Internet
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the country's biggest telecom operator, is set to offer free internet to subscribers for trial as the company
looks to convert more users into 'internet
users' to push up revenues and profits.
Data is gradually turning out to be the
cash-cow of mobile companies, which have
long been battling stiff competition in voice
business, where prices are among the lowest
in the world and margins are not big.
Airtel has sensed an opportunity here
as despite having 210 million customers in
its kitty, the company has only 40 million
users on the internet. As per its estimates, 60
million additional users could join the data
bandwagon as they have internet-capable
phones but do not go on the web.
This is where it wants to step in — offer
limited-period free trails for popular services
like Facebook, Youtube, Snapdeal, Makemytrip and Twitter, along with tutorials. Once
the user likes a service and wants more, the
company will offer you dirt-free solutions —
for example, pay Re 1 for using Facebook or
Twitter for a day. This will be done as part of
a new initiative — One Touch Internet.
"The launch of One Touch Internet is a
simplification of how to use the internet.
Pricing is intuitive, applications are free for
trial and scores of applications have been curated in an easy to use interface. We believe
every customer can be on the internet," Airtel India CEO and MD Gopal Vittal told TOI.
The company has been trying to push
up data usage through such initiatives and
these include the 'Re 1 Entertainment Store',
'myPlan' and 'Vernacular Airtel Live' Portal.
Srinivasan Gopalan, director (consumer
business), said he expects internet users and
usage to go up through the initiative. "This
will pull in subscribers, who currently do not
access the net as they feel it is wasteful and
of not much value or are worried about the
cost."
"
The launch of One Touch
Internet is a simplification
of how to use the internet.
Pricing is intuitive,
applications are free for trial
and scores of applications have been
curated in an easy to use interface.
We believe every customer can be on
the internet"
.........Airtel India CEo and MD Gopal
vittal told ToI.
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08 11 2014 Kashmir Observer

NEWS

Black Money Shock: half of
Bank accounts have no Money!
NEW DELHI — The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on blackmoney has found that less than half
of the HSBC bank list of over 600
accounts did not have any money
while more than hundred names
were a repeat, hampering the
possibility of any action against
them, a PTI report said.
The Income Tax department is
now mulling prosecution against
300 entities figuring in the list of
628 entries in the HSBC Geneva
list given to the Supreme Court
recently, official sources said.
The SIT found and reported
that there was no amount shown
in almost 289 HSBC Geneva entries, while 122 of them were repeated twice in the same list.
“The SIT found that the biggest impediment in taking action
against the people listed in this
particular lot was that there were
no details about the operations
of these accounts. It was not re-
flected in the list as to when these
accounts were opened and what
was their transaction history,” the
sources said.
The report of the SIT, headed
by retired Supreme Court Judge
M B Shah with Justice (retd) Arijit
Pasayat as its Vice-Chairman, said
the I-T department had undertaken 150 search or survey operations against those named in the
list but prosecution proceedings
were yet not final against them.
“Now that this list has been
handed over to the apex Court
and the cases are nearing time
barring stage by the end of this
fiscal, the department is mulling
to launch prosecution in close to
300 cases,” they said.
The SIT has also sought “renegotiation” of various tax information exchange treaties which
India has with various countries
and tax haven nations in order to
effectively curb the menace of illegal funds stashed abroad.
In the report submitted to the
government early this year, the
SIT has cited the areas of concern
for the investigating and enforcement agencies which are tasked
to keep a check on these ‘black’
funds and illegal economy.
“The SIT has asked the government to take up renegotiation
of the existing Double Taxation
Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs)
and the Tax Information Exchange Treaties (TIEAs) in context
of some specific countries.
“This is a time-consuming affair but an early start would help
the country in accomplishing its
desire to crack down on illegal
funds kept overseas by Indians,”
official sources said quoting the
SIT report.
As a consequence of this specific request, the government told
the SIT that the Finance Ministry
has already begun the exercise in
this direction.
“The government informed the
SIT that out of the 78 DTAAs India
had, renegotiation has been taken
up with 75 countries for providing banking information under
this legal mode of exchange of
tax information. The other three
countries– Tajikistan, Iceland and
Myanmar– already have this arrangement,” sources said.
The government also told
the SIT, sources said, that it has
completed renegotiations in approximately 31 cases, has sought
the approval of the Cabinet for
the same in about 30 cases while
India is wanting to have new
DTAAs, which will include banking related clauses, with over 50
countries.
In the same report, the SIT also
noted an “innovative” method
undertaken by the CBDT against
these people by allowing them
to seek details from Swiss banks
themselves in lieu of which they
will be allowed waiver in imposition of strict punishment under
tax laws.
“The consent waiver was given
to over 100 account holders so
that they themselves seek information on their Swiss bank ac-
counts and hand it over to the tax
department following which they
will be prosecuted under lighter
degrees of law,” they said.
The SIT has also desired that
it would want the Enforcement
Directorate (ED) to act as the
nodal agency for its operations as
it enforces the stringent criminal
law of Prevention of Money Laundering Act against black money
hoarders.
“It is being mulled that some
bright officers will soon be deputed in the ED against existing
vacancies who would exclusively
handle cases entrusted by the
SIT,” they said.
The SIT has recently also announced that it would seek information against black money
hoarders from the public and it
will soon announce the communication channel to be used by
the general public in this regard.–
AGENCIES
The governmenT informed The SiT that out of the 78 DTAAs India had, renegotiation has been taken up with 75 countries for providing banking
information under this legal mode of exchange of tax information. The other three countries– Tajikistan, Iceland and Myanmar– already have this arrangement”
Kashmir Expert
US Diplomat Under
Investigation
WASHINGTON:
Ambassador
Robin Raphel, a veteran American diplomat and long-time
Pakistan expert, is under federal investigation as part of
a counter-intelligence probe,
The Washington Post reported
Thursday evening.
Robin is the former wife of
US ambassador Arnold Raphel
who was killed aboard a plane
carrying Ziaul Haq in 1988.
The Washington Post reported earlier that Raphel is under
investigation on counter-intelligence allegations, which typically involves spying for foreign
governments. She has been
placed on administration leave.
Her contract with the State
Department also expired this
week. But she has not been
charged yet.
The FBI searched Raphel’s
Washington home last month,
and her State Department office was also examined and
sealed, officials told the Post.
The US administration has
also withdrawn her security
clearances.
“We are aware of this law
enforcement matter,” State
Department spokeswoman Jen
Psaki told reporters after the
Post released a short version of
its story on Thursday evening.
“The State Department has
been cooperating with our law
enforcement colleagues,” Psaki
said.
Robin Lynn Raphel, 67, was
serving as coordinator for nonmilitary assistance to Pakistan
before the FBI raid.
The investigation began late
last month when she was also
placed on administrative leave.
Two US officials told the Post
the investigation was “a counterintelligence matter, involves
allegations of spying on behalf
of foreign governments”.
The exact nature of the investigation was not disclosed.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Raphel the first
US Assistant Secretary of State
for South and Central Asian Affairs, a position created to assist
the US government in managing the region, which had two
nuclear-weapon states.
Raphel later served as US
Ambassador to Tunisia and in
the 2000s was appointed to or
held a number of official positions related to her expertise on
South Asia. She retired from the
State Department in 2005 after
30 years of service.
In 2009, she rejoined late US
diplomat Richard Holbrooke’s
Af-Pak team as a Pakistan expert.
Raphel began her career in
the US government as an analyst at the CIA and then moved
to the diplomatic corps and assisted USAID in Islamabad as an
economics analyst.
In 1978, Raphel returned to
the United States and joined
the State Department.
She also was a strong advocate for engaging the Taliban,
which earned her both praise
and scorn in Washington.
Raphel is widely respected
in Pakistan for helping improve
US relations with the country
during difficult periods.
Her emphasis on maintaining good ties with Pakistan and
on resolving the Kashmir dispute made her unpopular in India, although she was stationed
in New Delhi in her early career.
obama Sends
letter To ayatollah
Reassures Iran that US will not target Damascus
Dubai: In a rare outreach to Iran’s
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Syed
Ali Khamenei, President Barack
Obama wrote a letter to him in
the middle of last month reassuring him that US does not intend
to invade Syria, according to the
news reports.
The October letter marked at
least the fourth time Obama has
written Iran’s leader since taking
office in 2009.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ),
which first reported that Obama
had sent the letter, noted that
“the correspondence underscores
that Obama views Iran as important—whether in a potentially
constructive or negative role—to
his emerging military and diplomatic campaign to push [Daesh]
from the territories it has gained
over the past six months.”
The letter was also meant
to reassure Iran that it’s operations in Syria were not targeted
at Iran’s embattled ally Bashar Al
Assad, a person briefed on the letter told the WSJ. “It states that the
US’s military operations inside
Syria aren’t targeted at Al Assad
or his security forces,” it reported.
The US and Iran are each engaged in military efforts to degrade the Daesh group, essentially putting the longtime foes
on the same side in the campaign
against the extremists. However,
the Obama administration has
repeatedly insisted that it is not
coordinating and will not coordinate its military actions with Iran,
though officials from both countries have discussed the matter
more broadly.
Obama’s letter to Iran’s Supreme leader comes against the
backdrop of the looming November 24 deadline in nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran, as
well as five other world powers.
Diplomatic sources confirmed
the existence of the letter to The
Associated Press. They did so only
on the condition of anonymity
to publicly discuss Obama’s outreach.
Obama authorised a US-led air
campaign against Daesh fighters
in Iraq in August and expanded
the mission the following month
to neighboring Syria. The US is
taking action alongside several
other nations, including a handful of regional partners.
Iran is not part of the US coalition, but it has also been fighting
Daesh on the ground. However,
Iran’s interests in pursuing Daesh’s defeat differ from those of
the Obama administration. Iran
is a staunch supporter of Syrian
government, which is a target of
the militants and opposed by the
US
Two chief critics of Obama’s
foreign policy, Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, called it “outrageous” that
Obama would seek to enlist Iran
in its fight against Daesh given
Iran’s support for President Assad
and Hezbollah.
“The consequences of this illconceived bargain would destroy
the Syrians’ last, best chance to
live in freedom from the brutal Al
Assad regime,” the two ultra conservative senators said in a joint
statement.
US officials have not ruled out
the possibility that a nuclear accord with Iran could open the
door to discussions on other issues, but they have sought to
keep the delicate negotiations focused solely on Tehran’s disputed
nuclear program.
Boko Haram Renames
Captured Nigerian Towns
KANO: Boko Haram has renamed
two towns it captured in northeast
Nigeria as part of campaign to establish a caliphate in the region, residents who have fled in recent days
said on Thursday.
The Islamists seized the town of
Mubi in Adamawa state last week
and now insist it be called Madinatul
Islam, or “City of Islam” in Arabic.
Gwoza in neighbouring Borno
state which was captured in July is
now being called Darul Hikma or
“House of Wisdom”, multiple residents said.
Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar
Shekau, in a video released in August
declared that he had made Gwoza
part of a caliphate — an announce-
ment that recalled a similar move
by the Islamic State militant group
which has taken over parts of Iraq
and Syria.
The extremists are believed to
control more than two dozen towns
and villages in Nigeria’s far northeast
and there are signs that they are trying to advance south towards Ad-
amawa’s capital Yola.
“They have given new
names to Gwoza and Mubi,
which they say are now part
of their Islamic state,” said
Ahmad Maishanu, who fled
Mubi with his mother on
Wednesday to Yola.
Tijjani Kalifa, who left
Mubi on Monday and has
contacts in Gwoza, also reported
that Boko Haram was forcing people
in both towns to use the new names.
Both witnesses said all the
churches in Mubi had been burnt
down and that Islamists were patrolling the streets regularly, with no
sign of resistance from the security
services.
Bangladesh's besieged Jamaat-e-Islami fights for life
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami faces an existential crisis after a
series of body blows, including the
sentencing to death of its leaders
and abandonment by its main secular ally, say analysts.
With its spiritual leader having
recently died in prison, top officials
languishing on death row and a
muted response to protest calls, observers say Jamaat itself could be on
its last legs.
“Jamaat has no future unless it
transforms itself into a new party
and finds a new leadership that
can effectively mobilise people
and shake off its war-time legacy,”
Dhaka-based analyst Ataur Rahman
told AFP. “The sooner it comes to realise this, the better for the party,”
added Rahman, a former professor
at the State University of New York.
Although Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina’s Awami League and the
main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have dominated politics since independence,
Jamaat has been a kingmaker and
served as a junior coalition partner
as recently as 2006.
But its growing marginalisation
was sealed last year when it was
banned from a general election
after judges ruled its charter conflicted with the country’s secular
constitution. That ruling further
inflamed supporters already fuming over the trials of around a dozen
leaders accused of war crimes in
the 1971 conflict.
Around 500 people were killed
in political violence last year, both
in the aftermath of war crimes verdicts and the build-up to January’s
election which the BNP boycotted.
But although Jamaat’s mobilisations last year were a show of
strength, the subsequent violence
alienated the public.
The first verdicts last year saw
hundreds of thousands take to the
streets. But there was a tepid response to calls for protests and a
strike last week issued after Jamaat
assistant secretary general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman’s appeal
against his death sentence was rejected.
The International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic court, also sentenced Jamaat’s supreme leader
Motiur Rahman Nizami and a key
financier to death in October.
While the verdicts triggered
sporadic violence, it was nothing on
the scale of last year.
To compound Jamaat’s woes,
there are now signs the BNP – led
by Hasina’s arch rival and former
premier Khaleda Zia – is turning
its back on its one-time partner in
government.
The BNP refrained from condemning the recent verdicts, even
though one of its own leading lights
has been sentenced to hang.
Its failure to offer condolences
after the death of Ghulam Azam, Jamaat’s 92-year-old spiritual leader
who died last month after being
convicted of war crimes, underlined
the cooling in relations.
The BNP has “realised that it will
alienate a big part of the electorate
if it continues to support tainted Jamaat leaders,” Rahman said.
Headed by Azam during the war,
Jamaat branded the struggle for
independence as a conspiracy by
India.
Riyadh axes
minister after TV
channel shut down
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah removed Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja from
his post, hours after the minister
announced the shutting down of
a controversial Islamist television
channel. However, no link between
the two developments has been confirmed officially. Khoja announced
on Twitter that he has ordered the
closing of the anti-Shia Wesal channel that is accused of inciting sectarian hatred, two days after an attack
on a Shia gathering killed five people
on the eve of Ashura.
The subsequent manhunt for the
killers led to the arrest of 15 people
and the death of at least two in
sects. One of its hosts, Khalid Al
Gamdi, provoked controversy in Yemen recently after posting an image
of dead civilian Al Houthi protesters
on Twitter and expressing joy at the
sight. Al Houthis belong to the Shia
Islam. Wesal’s Twitter account has
also in the past called on followers to
“bomb Sha villages in Lebanon”.
The channel’s closure led to the
launch of an Arabic hashtag on Twitter. Prominent Saudi journalist and
head of Bahrain-based Al Arab television channel tweeted one word
with the hashtag: “Finally”.
Some Saudis however were not
pleased with the decision, saying
“liberals” were responsible for it.
W
i
d
e
A
n
Abdul Aziz KhojA
clashes, including one security personnel.
“I gave orders to shut
down the office of Wesal
in Riyadh and to ban any
broadcasting of the channel
from Saudi Arabia,” Khoja
posted on his Twitter account early on Wednesday.
“The channel is not Saudi in
the first place,” he said, local
daily Al Eqtisadiya reported
on Wednesday. Khoja did
not specify the reasons for banning
Wesal, but he said that the information ministry would not hesitate to
take action against any media that
attempts to undermine the nation’s
unity, security and stability.“The
ministry, in collaboration with the
security men and brave citizens, will
confront, with strong determination,
anyone who incites strife,” he said.
“Terrorism has no religion or sect
and terrorists are the enemies of all
religions and sects and humanity,”
he said. Khoja’s duties will be taken
over by the Haj Minister Bandar
Bin Mohammad Hamza who also
keeps his current post, Saudi Press
Agency (SPA) reported. The order
by King Abdullah said that Khoja
was removed upon his request.After
the announcement about Khoja’s
replacement, Wesal posted on its
Twitter account: “Latest news... Wesal channel continues... and minister
[Khoja] has been relieved of his position”. The tweet appeared to have
been deleted later. The channel also
tweeted that it will air on Thursday
at 5.30pm a segment dealing with
the Eastern Province attacks. Before
making the announcement about
the closure, Khoja sent a number of
passionate tweets condemning the
Al Ahsa attacks. “I have said it before
and I will repeat it always: national
unity is a red line” and “A salute to
the people of Al Ahsa and its martyrs,
and the martyrs of national duty, the
heroes... terrorism has no sect”.
Controversy
Wesal has often waded into
controversy for broadcasting programmes and talk shows that highlighted differences between Islamic
g
l
e
Some changed their display pictures
to Wesal’s logo. Another Twitter user
said: “And what about music channels?”
Highly critical times
Saudi Arabia has recently intensified its relentless fight against
terrorists and ideologies that supported or excused acts of terrorism,
particularly after King Abdullah Bin
Abdul Aziz in July urged all Muslim
scholars to assume their duties and
responsibilities towards God and
foil attempts to malign Islam and
present it as a religion of extremism, hatred and terrorism. In an address to the Arab and Islamic nations
and international community, King
Abdullah said that scholars should
be truthful in their statements and
should not fear anyone in their drive
to uphold the truth.
“Our nation is going through
highly critical times, and history will
be the witness against those who
were the instruments and tools used
by the enemy to disperse and tear
up the nation and to distort the pure
image of Islam,” King Abdullah said
in his address.
The Saudi monarch, who has
been ruling the kingdom since August 2005, said that fitnah — attempts to create schisms or exacerbate schisms within the community
— had found a fertile ground in the
Arab and Muslim worlds.
“Fitnah was facilitated by those
who resent or hate our nation,” he
said. “They believed that their attempts have been successful and
they started to fill the world with
terrorism and corruption. They kept
on sliding further into wrongdoings.
It is a real shame and a terrible disgrace that these terrorists are doing
all these negative things in the name
of Islam. They kill people whereas
Islam has prohibited killing and they
mutilate bodies. They proudly show
off and diffuse their [horrible] actions in the name of Islam whereas
Islam, the religion of purity, decency
and humanity, has nothing whatsoever to do with that. Their actions,
insolence and crimes have smeared
Islam’s reputation,” he said.
C M Y K
C M Y K
saturday
saturday
08 11 2014 Kashmir Observer

WEEKEND observer

The hindusTan
of Modi’s dreaMs
F
Aijaz Zaka Syed
aiz had said this in a different age
and for a different country but it
still rings as true to our circumstances as all great poetry is:
Nisaar main teri galiyon pe ai
watan ke jahan
Chali hai rasm ke koi na sar utha ke chale
Jo koi chahane wala tawaaf ko nikale
Nazar chura ke chale; jismo-jan bacha ke
chale
(My salutations to thy sacred streets, O
beloved nation!/Where a tradition has been
invented
That none shall walk with his head held
high/If at all one takes a walk, a pilgrimage/One must walk, eyes lowered, the body
crouched in fear)
So the new order now dictates that none
shall walk with head held high. In the times
we live in now, even the innocuous Ashura
procession now grates on nationalist nerves
and is a ‘nuisance,’ as a BJP leader put it.
Although Muslims may be divided over
the Muharram mourning and rites marking
a watershed tragedy in Islamic history when
the Prophet’s (pbuh) beloved grandson and
nearly his entire household was martyred 14
centuries ago, in India it has been an occasion to bring Hindus and Muslims together.
Muharram has for centuries been one of
All that, as with everything else, may be
history soon as the saffron brigade goes about
painting India in its own, overpowering hue.
This year several neighbourhoods in Delhi
decided to ban Muharram processions. Addressing a maha panchayat (grand council) in
Bawana, local BJP MLA ruled Muslims were
free to “celebrate” Muharram in their homes
and ghettoes but would face consequences if
they dared to come out on the streets.
In full view of massive police presence,
speaker after speaker ranted against a terrified minority, accusing it of all the familiar crimes and some more. “In Bawana’s JJ
colony, home to the majority of Muslims in
the area, residents said they were going to
lock themselves inside their homes to avoid
any confrontation. ‘We have decided to stay
home for our children’s safety’, said Mohammad Muzir, a resident”, reported the Times
of India.
A similar ‘maha panchayat’ in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, not far from Delhi,
last year had sparked unprecedented riots,
killing scores of Muslims and driving thousands of families from their homes who are
still languishing in make-shift camps.
What is going on in Delhi, right under
the nose of Narendra Modi, who promised
‘sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’ (participation
and progress of all) in the costliest electoral
campaign in history, is not happening in iso-
Television networks are out to make a killing as they
endlessly report ‘love jihad’ cases from across the country
followed by furious nightly debates. That each one of these
has turned out to be a hoax, or worse, seems to make no
difference. This has coincided with the usual suspects being
caught ‘red handed’ plotting against the nation with bomb
trails leading to Pakistan or Bangladesh.
the most secular events in the Subcontinent.
Some of the finest lines hailing the sacrifice of Sayyidna Hussain have been penned
by Hindu poets. Back home in Hyderabad,
Hindu families turn up in large numbers to
watch and take part in the procession, with
many of them offering water and sherbet to
Shia mourners.
lation though. There is an emerging national
pattern.
Even as the prime minister remains all
reason and sweetness personified, devoting
himself to singing paeans to noble profundities like hygiene, cleanliness, yoga and rediscovering India’s lost glory, there have been
low-intensity communal conflagrations all
across the country including a full-scale riot
last month right in Delhi’s Trilokpuri.
What began as a ridiculous canard suggesting a grand Muslim conspiracy of targeting innocent Hindu maidens to transform
the demographic profile of a Hindu-majority
nation has turned into a rising crescendo of
hate campaign and witch hunt.
Television networks are out to make a
killing as they endlessly report ‘love jihad’
cases from across the country followed by furious nightly debates. That each one of these
has turned out to be a hoax, or worse, seems to
make no difference. This has coincided with
the usual suspects being caught ‘red handed’
plotting against the nation with bomb trails
leading to Pakistan or Bangladesh.
All this may not exactly be designed to
drive out the country’s 200 million Muslims
but the message is clear and unequivocal:
‘Lie low and keep your head down in your
ghettoes. This is a Hindu country!’
This is reiterated ad infinitum in love letters to yours truly and others of his ilk.
In his annual Dussehra speech, telecast
for the first time by the public broadcaster
Doordarshan, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat
called for declaring India a Hindu nation and
all Indians Hindus. There is new-found hubris in Hindutva-speak as the Parivar revels
in the rise of the BJP and saffron surge across
the country with one Congress-ruled state after another falling into Modi’s lap. A Times
of India report this week talks of the swelling
RSS ranks in the length and breadth of India.
The organisation once identified with Gandhi’s assassins is suddenly seen as cool.
Not surprisingly, it is not just a tiny, lunatic fringe that views the nation’s largest
minority with unrestrained hostility and hatred; the sentiment appears to be fast gaining
currency and legitimacy in media narrative
and public perception.
The communal polarisation that began
long before the 2014 elections is at its most
fearsome today. Social and intellectual space
for minorities and minority opinion is fast
shrinking. In a recent Indian Express piece,
Rajmohan Gandhi, Mahatma’s grandson,
noted that 2014 reminded him of 1947.
Project Saffron has taken off with a bang
in all seriousness with Modi leading the
charge to dump the Gandhian-Nehruvian
idea of a secular and inclusive India and
instead raise the Hindustan of Hindutva’s
dreams.
Modi is on a mission – and on a roll. In his
deliberate actions, speeches and approach, he
reminds you of the early years of the Fuhrer,
out to fashion the Third Reich. Every word he
speaks and single step he takes has a careful,
well-thought-out purpose and message. Like
those clever works by Leonardo da Vinci,
even regulation photo opportunities have
their own hidden clues and messages. Those
who do not pay attention do so at their peril.
As my friend Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal
argues, from appropriating national icons
like Gandhi, dumbing him down to a cleanliness drive and the humble broom, and projecting Patel as the new national icon above
Gandhi and Nehru, the Parivar is pushing its
agenda: “The icons are strategically picked
up, suitably distorted and recreated in a manner that is gradually and subtly bringing the
Hindutva agenda to the fore through historical falsehoods and propagandist tactics that
have begun squeezing space for any dissent
and challenge.”
In his latest New York Times piece, Pankaj Mishra warns that the kind of retrograde
1920s-style nationalist dogma that appeared
in Europe, Russia and Japan is making a big
comeback in India as Modi “stokes old Hindu
rage-and-shame over what he calls more than
a thousand years of slavery under Muslim
and British rule.”
Mishra writes: “In Madison Square Garden, in New York, last month, more than
19,000 people cheered Mr Modi’s speech about
ending India’s millennium-long slavery. But
hundreds of millions of uprooted Indians
are also now fully exposed to demagoguery.
Interestingly, it is not the RSS’ khaki-shortswearing volunteers but rather quasi-westernized Indians in the corporate-owned media
and mysteriously well-funded think tanks,
magazines and websites who have provided
the ambient chorus for Mr Modi’s ascent to
respectability.”
It seems by the time Modi is done with
India – or India is done with Modi, which
looks like a distant possibility given the total
decimation of the opposition and the messianic role he imagines himself – it would not
be the same country and nation again. It has
already changed in the past few months in
ways one never thought possible. And the
ride has just about begun.
Muharram has
for centuries
been one of the
most secular
events in the
Subcontinent.
Some of the
finest lines
hailing the
sacrifice of
Sayyidna
Hussain have
been penned by
Hindu poets.
Back home in
Hyderabad,
Hindu families
turn up in
large numbers
to watch and
take part in the
procession, with
many of them
offering water
and sherbet to
Shia mourners.
The writer is a Middle East based columnist and editor of 'Caravan', an online news
magazine.
Email: aijaz.syed@hotmail.com
In A Hurry To KIll
Here is a simple question that the nationalists must ask of themselves: When they say Kashmir is an integral
part of India, do they mean Kashmiri people or the territory of Kashmir?
BADRI RAINA
A last personal thought: In the last few
years I have often been at the University of
Kashmir at Hazratbal among students and
scholars of various grades, all uniformly
bright, perspicacious, and agonized, and willing to analyse and discuss to the wee hours,
to the exclusion of the sort of baubles that
distract metropolitan young ones from any
serious-minded immersions into the zeitgeist.
It tears my heart to imagine that the two boys
who have been wasted may well have been in
one of those discussion groups with me, with
dreams in their radiant eyes.
Dr Badri Raina is a distinguished commentator on politics, culture and society. A
Fulbright Scholar and PhD from Madison,
Wisconsin, Prof Raina taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is the author of the much acclaimed
"Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth." He has
several collections of poems, essays and translations to his credit.
As Flies to Wanton Boys Are We to the
forces,
They Kill Us For Their Sport.
I
S that an excessive thought? I wonder.
How do you explain a blast being let loose
at a car that wasn’t firing? Or the blast
not being directed at the tyres if the idea
was to stop the vehicle and check for miscreants? Or not to send a message forward to
the next check post to stop the car there?
There is only one way this can be explained: when you have guns and you have a
law that says you can fire them to kill without
asking questions or fearing a murder charge,
you fire. Imagining that you are fulfilling a
childhood fancy to fire toy guns as though
they were real ones, or playing kill kill video
games with virtual human beings of some
other variety than your own. Result: two
budding, pristine, innocent lives wasted, two
families devastated irretrievably, a valley of
woes sent back to fume and mourn.
We are told how the army did a yeoman’s
job during the flood. Although this was something they have done many times over in other parts of Bharat, Kashmiris were to think
what a favor had been done to them. Remarkably, Kashmiri after Kashmiri spoke to TV
cameras with noble acknowledgement. Just
as at other times Kashmiris have acknowledged the good work the army has done with
other forms of community need in the valley.
But, alas, in human relations you are as
good or as bad only as your last thought and
last deed. In murdering the boys as they have
done, they have yet again let the cat out of
the bag, namely, that all their good work is
patronage rather than caring, and of a calculated sort, since they think nothing of killing
in a jiffy the very ones they do good work for.
W
H
The British used to do so as well.
Nor will it help to say, however rational
an argument this may be, that it would be
wrong here to speak of the whole army rather
than the culprits involved in the killing. The
very people who make that argument do not
much use it when it comes to politicians or
public servants of diverse kind: then they interpret the misdeeds of one politician, one bureaucrat, one doctor, and so on to malign the
whole fraternity of politicians, bureaucrats,
doctors, what have you, don’t they? When
a new killing of this sort happens, it brings
back to wounded memories other heinous
killings that still await justice, be it Pathribal, or Macchil, and the good things in public
memory yield to the unforgivable atrocities.
Here is, therefore, a simple question that
the “nationalists” must ask of themselves and
share the answer with Kashmiris: when they
e are told how the army did a yeoman’s job during the flood. Although this
was something they have done many times over in other parts of Bharat,
Kashmiris were to think what a favor had been done to them. Remarkably,
Kashmiri after Kashmiri spoke to TV cameras with noble acknowledgement.
Just as at other times Kashmiris have acknowledged the good work the army has done
with other forms of community need in the valley.
say Kashmir is an integral part of India, do
they mean Kashmiri people or the territory
of Kashmir? Were it the former, everything
would be different, including the relations
between army who do the legitimate job of
defending the borders with another nationstate, and the people of Kashmir. Because it is,
for all we can see and infer, the latter, nothing
seems as it ought to be.
This, incidentally, is a question that
many others in other parts of India are also
asking of the “nationalists”-be they the Adivasis, or the Dalits, or marginalized ethnicities
in Manipur, Chattisgarh and so on, or women
who work not only in the fields, factories,
households but indeed in far posher locations
as well: who does India belong to? Even as
we rather gloat at the follies of other nationstates, especially the one next to us, we might
consider the thought that there are many
chickens coming home to roost here where
we smile the smile of well-being.
ere is, therefore,
a simple
question that the
“nationalists”
must ask of themselves
and share the answer with
Kashmiris: when they say
Kashmir is an integral part
of India, do they mean
Kashmiri people or the
territory of Kashmir? Were
it the former, everything
would be different,
including the relations
between army who do the
legitimate job of defending
the borders with another
nation-state, and the
people of Kashmir. Because
it is, for all we can see and
infer, the latter, nothing
seems as it ought to be.
saturday
08 11 2014 Kashmir Observer

PANORAMA

Lines of controL
Gita Viswanath
B
ORDERS and boundaries, hitherto confined as categories of
analysis to the study of political
geography, are now objects of interest within several academic
disciplines, including anthropology, history,
political science, social psychology and sociology. While borders activate notions of difference between peoples and places, every
year millions of people worldwide breach
these borders, both officially and unofficially, in contexts of peace, conflict and violence.
In Meenakshi Bharat and Nirmal Kumar’s
edited volume Filming the Line of Control:
the Indo-Pak relationship through the cinematic lens, political cartography and its psychological impact is the central category of
filmic analysis. As the title suggests, the book
studies the ways in which the Line of Control
(LoC) is constructed and represented in films
– the first time this theme has been examined
by those studying popular cinema. For this
groundbreaking focus, the editors and contributors to this volume deserve praise.
• DiviDe anD rule
Borders and boundaries have been a
source of contention for countries and communities across the world since the rise of the
nation state. Borders define a country’s territory, and in so doing, also define an ‘Other’.
More often than not, borders are drawn and
redrawn arbitrarily, and while they are intended to be sacrosanct, they are invariably
transgressed. To maintain the sanctity of its
borders, nation states spend huge amounts
on the forces that guard them. Julian Minghi, one of the first theorists of borders and
boundaries, calls them the most political
of all geographical phenomena. Though in
the 1960s, academic studies restricted themselves to examining the demarcation of territory between countries, contemporary
approaches emphasise the importance of
borders and boundaries in the study of ethnicities, cultures and societies.
Bharat and Kumar’s edited volume is a
collection of essays – ranging from simplistic
textual analysis to insightful, in-depth readings – by scholars of repute in their respective fields that seeks to build on this broader
academic trajectory. It is divided thematically into four sections, namely, ‘Negotiating
the Border’, ‘Drawn Lines’, ‘Rapprochement’,
and ‘Interviews’, and closes with a filmography and bibliography. The book traces the
trajectory of Indo-Pak relations through
readings of popular films (most of those studied are from Hindi cinema, but more on that
later), operating under the assumption that
these reflect Indo-Pak relations, and may
be used as epistemological tools to understand political geography and the concept
of nationhood. Apart from one essay by Kamayani Kaushiva on the creative output of
Ritwik Ghatak, and one by Aparna Sharma
on ‘Crossing the Line of Control through the
Documentary lens’, the book neither deals
with regional language nor non-fiction films.
True to this general trajectory, the first
section of the book, with essays by Kishore
Budha, Adrian Athique and Rajinder Dudrah, looks at post-1990 popular Hindi cinema. Budha’s essay traces the development
of the genre of the war film and reads films
such as J P Dutta’s Border as being cotermi-
What cinematic representations of the Line of Control say about Indo-Pak
relations and the collective unconscious.
nous with the rise of rightwing politics in India. He identifies a number of factors – such
as an uncritical media, censorship and the
proximity of filmmakers to political elites –
as the reasons why the war film in India is
a statist vehicle. Athique, meanwhile, demonstrates the “visualisation and narrative
construction of the India-Pakistan border” in
two films, once again by J P Dutta. Through
a detailed analysis of Border and Refugee,
Athique concludes that the border in these
two films becomes a psychological condition in the minds of people who live in border towns, thereby transcending its physical
existence. According to Athique, the films,
which “naturalise the abstract barrier created by the Radcliffe line in the west”, must
necessarily end not by the disavowal of the
border, but rather by highlighting its inviolability through showing the ramifications
of transgression both for the individual and
the nation. According to the films, Athique
says, peace may be achieved only by respecting the border, which in turn necessitates the
constant policing of the loyalties of those who
occupy the liminal spaces in frontier territories. In essence, the films only reaffirm the
proverb that good fences make good neighbours.
FounDations
Ever since Partition of the Subcontinent
in 1947, which coincided with Independence
from British rule, India and Pakistan have
shared a relationship that goes beyond conventional geopolitical and neighbourly understandings. The oft-repeated trope of siblings separated at birth – persistent within
Hindi cinema of the 1960s and 70s – resonates
with the historical event of Partition which
Suvir Kaul, professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, describes as the
“foundational occurrence in the history of
the subcontinent”. According to Kaul, Partition has shaped familial, social, private
and public lives as well as state policy. The
second section of the book, ‘Drawn Lines’, is
entirely devoted to films based on this event.
According to the films, peace may be
achieved only by respecting the border,
which in turn necessitates the constant policing of the loyalties of those who occupy the
liminal spaces in frontier territories.
Meenakshi Bharat, in her essay on the
film adaptations of literary texts, provides
an analysis of films and novels on the basis
of the correspondence principle – that is to
say, the fidelity of the cinematic text to the
literary text. It is, however, difficult to see
past the many typos that riddle the essay: the
child in Earth is at once called Lenny Sethi
and Lenny Sethna in the same paragraph.
Poor editing aside, problems with the essay
go deeper. Bharat wonders how the Bollywood song-and-dance formula could have
been applied to a serious subject such as Partition in Pinjar, and goes on to suggest that
the sequence produces a larger-than-life effect on the original novel by Amrita Pritam.
The rather simplistic reason Bharat provides
for the use of the song-and-dance formula is
that of the filmmaker’s eye on the box office.
Though commercial interests are important,
it must be understood that popular cinema in
India, irrespective of the gravity of the subject, draws on traditions found in Parsi theatre and various other folk genres. In addition, melodrama has become the most stable
genre in Hindi cinema. This would explain
the ‘larger-than-life’ character of the films
far more effectively than reference to the
filmmaker’s pecuniary interest.
• The same films (Earth and Pinjar) are
taken up for analysis in an essay by Claudia Preckel, who attempts a feminist reading rather than looking at the films as mere
adaptations. She concludes that patriarchy
rather than religion is the cause of war and
violence. Preckel stretches the literal meanings of borders to embrace a more metaphorical understanding of how they impact
the lives of women. According to Preckel, the
violence unleashed during Partition on both
sides of the physical borders also involved
the drawing of metaphoric borders by men
for women, as well as for men subordinate to
those in decision-making positions. Preckel
argues that it is therefore imperative to have
a strong feminist perspective to guide us in
understanding all forms of violence, and to
go beyond mere geographical interpretations
to include an anthropological study of borders as boundaries that are constructed in a
cultural and socio-spatial sense.
There is an inherent curiosity and urge
to transgress borders – an urge that may be
realised through filmic narratives.
Border crossings in cinema take on a
new meaning when we observe cinema in the
post-globalisation period. From the late 20th
century onwards it has become difficult to
pin films to one particular nationality. They
seamlessly cross borders and become products emanating from multiple locations, often with crews that comprise several nationalities. Savi Munjal misses this point when
she conflates Khamosh Pani and Indian cinema. The film is directed by a Pakistani filmmaker (Sabiha Sumar), scripted by an Indian
filmmaker (Paromita Vohra), has Indian actors (Kirron Kher and Shilpa Shukla) and is
produced collaboratively by French and German film companies. As is clear, the film itself, with its multiple national belongings, is
an exemplar of border transgression.
Throughout this second section of the
volume, the discussion of borders and boundaries is undertaken within the rubric of Partition violence only, limiting the possibilities
for a deeper understanding. What are the repercussions of these borderlines on contemporary geopolitical situations? How has film
defined and redefined notions of the nation
by its depictions of these very borders? How
do these boundaries impinge upon the idea of
the nation in popular cinema? These larger
questions fail to be addressed.
Commonalities anD
DiFFerenCes
Similarities in language, culture and
ethnicity between India and Pakistan have
been used to form what is commonly known
as Track II diplomacy. Adherents to the political possibilities of cultural exchange – for
example through the transnational engagement of artists, poets and filmmakers – have
laboured hard to make up for the failures of
traditional political encounters. For the most
part, Track II diplomacy has been dismissed
by more hawkish elements as romantic and
unrealistic. In his essay in the section titled
‘Rapprochement’, Nirmal Kumar posits the
possibility of Track III diplomacy via heterosexual love – a common theme in Hindi cinema. In his deconstruction of Henna and Veer
Zaara, he says the films “can be said to have
started a wave of Pakistan-positive films”.
But to what extent are audiences affected
by these sentiments? Shakuntala Banaji’s
essay discusses audience responses from
data collected through extensive interviews.
While filmmakers stir up raw emotions by
creating a monstrous ‘other’, Banaji asks, ‘do
the audiences really receive the narratives in
this manner?’ Banaji’s research affirms the
centrality of borders and boundaries in the
collective unconscious of people, concluding
that linguistic, religious, ethnic and national
borders provide stable identities. However,
there is an inherent curiosity and urge to
transgress borders – an urge that may be realised through filmic narratives.
An interview with Aijaz Gul in the final
section of the book, although interesting, is
restricted to the Pakistan film industry and
the crisis within. There is no discussion on
the representation of Subcontinental history
or the LoC, which is the purported focus of
the book. In contrast, the interviews of Indian filmmakers, such as M S Sathyu, Mahesh
Bhatt and Javed Akhtar, engage actively in
debates on Indo-Pak ties in Hindi cinema. According to them, the process of ‘othering’ that
is fundamental to the establishment of political borders employs religion as a distinguishing marker of difference.
As mentioned, most of the films taken
up for scrutiny in the book are Hindi films
from the 1990s onward. Certain films like
Veer Zaara, Main Hoon Na, Pinjar feature
to the point of repetition, while other films
that deal with the border question and Partition, such as Dharmputra, Garam Hawa and
Haqeeqat, do not come up for robust analysis
in the book, and are little more than namechecked. Although the introduction notes
that the study of films from Pakistan was
one of the aims of the book, it fails to fulfill
its promise. Except for the above-mentioned
interview of Aijaz Gul, there are no studies of
films from Pakistan. Pakistani cinema has,
however, engaged with the subject of Partition extensively: films such as Kartar Singh
(Saiffudin Saif, 1959), Lakhon Mein Ek (Raza
Mir, 1967), Khaak aur Khoon (Masud Pervaiz,
1979) and others have served this purpose.
Also, the essays in the book fail to grapple
with the compulsions of popular cinema and
why sensitive themes such as Indo-Pak relations are necessarily sanitised. On a more
positive note, the filmography at the back of
the book is particularly well done as it provides short summaries of the films under investigation that are useful to the lay reader.
And now for some nitpicking: ‘quite’
for ‘quiet’, ‘identify’ for ‘identity’ and ‘papprochement’ for ‘rapprochement’ are examples of poor editing that could easily have
been corrected. Despite these misgivings, on
the whole, the book makes for pleasant reading for specialists as well as general readers.
---Himal South Asian
~ Gita Viswanath is the author of The
“Nation” in War: A Study of Military Literature and Hindi War Cinema. She has also
made three short films and one documentary.
Filming the Line of Control: The
Indo-Pak Relationship Through The
Cinematic Lens by Meenakshi Bharat
and Nirmal Kumar (Eds). Routledge
India, 2008.
I’m SunnI and I went to the
10th muharram proceSSIon!
sabeer Lodhi
P
akistan, home to 180
million people, saw
another deadly Muharram this year
when 57 people were
killed in a suicide bombing in
Lahore. Each time, short term
administrative solutions are followed to bandage the plague of
ideological intolerance that has
infected us for years.
Cities are put under curfew,
statements of condemnation
floated, promises of fool-proof
security made and cellular services blocked for as long the
government deems fit. Nothing
much has changed since last
year, when Raja Bazar in Rawalpindi was gripped by sectarian
violence.
This religious intolerance
and administrative failure is
in stark contrast to what I recently experienced in a foreign
land. I come from a Sunni background, but this year, I took part
in a 10th Muharram procession
organised in Melbourne. This
was to show solidarity with my
brothers in faith back home.
Australia is known for its
racism. Hence, I expected at
least a few condescending glances as thousands of people from
the world over wore black and
walked the city’s street as a uni-
fied force.
Nohas were played on
loudspeakers and participants
thumped their chests in grief.
Information leaflets were also
distributed which explained the
reasons behind this procession
and who Imam Hussain (RA) is.
People from all nationalities
and races transcended their na-
rality and tolerance of divergent
views. We walked further on towards Carlton Gardens where a
wedding was taking places only
a few minutes earlier.
Following
that,
Zuhr
prayers were offered and the
participants dispersed to peacefully go home.
How unfortunate that this
vices.
Will we ever be able to
fight the ideological extremism
prevalent in Pakistan and allow
space for such peaceful coexistence of different beliefs and
values?
Will we ever see a day when
the government doesn’t have to
enforce shallow administrative
tionalistic differences and came
together for a single cause – the
cause of Imam Hussain’s martyrdom.
The procession was taken
out right before the Melbourne
Cup was to take place a few
blocks away. It is a popular
horse race that allows people to
bet on their favourite horse and
drink in celebration. Just that
fact was enough proof of the plu-
proof of coexistence was blatant
in a ‘gora land’ and not in my
own country that boasts of 98%
Muslim population and was
founded on secular, pluralistic
principles. There was no threat
of violence or fear of being attacked. There was no hint of
racism in a country known for
it. The government didn’t have
to put security on high alert
neither did it jam cell phone ser-
actions to fight the larger battle
against extremist mindsets and
a lack of plural values?
Let’s hope so.
--The Express Tribune
6 Saturday 08112014 Kashmir Observer
British Airways-owner IAG signals maiden dividend
LONDON, November 7: British Airwaysowner IAG laid out plans to pay a maiden
dividend on Friday, coming of age three
years after the merger between BA and
Spain's Iberia in 2011 that created the
group.
IAG said it was confident of growing
earnings by over 10 percent a year between 2016 and 2020, on top of significant
profit growth this year and next, and as
such, it anticipated declaring next year it
would start paying shareholders.
"We remain confident in meeting our 2015
financial targets which we see as the trigger to introducing a dividend," the company said in a statement ahead of an investor day on Friday.
BA and Iberia sealed an $8 billion merger
in 2011, a move which helped both stem
huge losses following the worst industry
downturn in decades. Years of tough restructuring followed - with thousands of
job cuts and salary and capacity reductions.
Before the 2011 tie-up, neither BA nor Iberia had paid a dividend since 2008.
The dividend due to be introduced next
year would be based on a payout ratio of
25 per cent of the company's underlying
profit after tax, IAG said.
Looking to the 2016 to 2020 period, IAG
said it would target average earnings per
share growth of over 10 percent a year
and an operating profit margin of 10 to 14
per cent.
It already expects to grow operating profit of as much as 78 per cent in 2014, and by
a further 31 per cent to 1.8 billion euros
in 2015.
The restructuring carried out since IAG
was formed plus the introduction of new,
more fuel efficient planes has put the airline on a strong footing, leaving its European rivals fighting to keep up in an increasingly competitive market.
IAG powered ahead in the third quarter,
in contrast to Air France-KLM which
warned on 2014 profit after a two-week pilot strike, and Lufthansa, which lowered
its guidance for next year's profit.
While Lufthansa and Air France try to
expand their low-cost operations and reduce costs to compete with low-cost carriers like Ryanair and easyJet, IAG has
already been benefiting from its acquisition of Spanish budget airline Vueling in
2013.
Telecom Commission sends back FTIL to hive off
spectrum proposals to TRAI
flagship product
into new firm
NEW DELHI, November
7 : Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission
has decided to send back
TRAI’s
recommendations on spectrum valuation and pricing for a review, saying that some of
them can’t be implemented in the present form.
“Telecom Commission
today decided to send
back reference to TRAI
as some clarification is
required on some of the
recommendations. Some
recommendations also
cannot be implemented
and hence TC wants
TRAI
to
reconsider
them,” a DoT official said
on Friday.
The Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India had
last month given its recommendations on valuation and pricing of 1800
Mhz and 900 Mhz spectrum bands, being used
for 2G services, for the
next round of auction.
The regulator had suggested about 10 per cent
higher price for spectrum in 1800 Mhz over
the final bid price that
was received in the February auction.
TC has also has send back
recommendation
given
for 800 Mhz (CDMA) spectrum band by TRAI in
February for reconsidering some points. The
regulator had suggested
CDMA spectrum reserve
price of Rs 2,685 crore per
megahertz for auction,
which is around 50 per
cent higher than the previous pan-India base price.
The regulator has also
recommended
selling
radio waves in the 2100
Mhz band along with the
proposed auction. Part
of spectrum in 2100 Mhz
band is held by Defence
and DoT is in discussions
to get some frequencies
vacated for 3G mobile
services in this band.
“Discussion is on with
Defence. TC has decided
to focus on spectrum for
auction that is coming up
for renewal,” the official
said.
Most of the spectrum
which is proposed to be
put up for sale is being
used by Airtel, Vodafone,
Idea Cellular and Reli-
Corporation Bank posts
Rs. 160.51 cr profit in Q2
MANGALURU, November 7: Reduction in operational expenses and on
securities among several
reasons for increased
profit: Bansal
The Corporation Bank on
Friday declared having
posted Rs. 160.51 crore
net profit for the quarter
ending September 2014
as against Rs. 15.48 crore
posted during the corresponding quarter of the
previous fiscal thereby
registering 936.89 per
cent growth.
Bank Chairman S.R.
Bansal told presspersons in Mangaluru that
the net profit for the half
year ending September
2014 was Rs. 391.98 crore
as against Rs. 393.46
crore in the previous fiscal, a reduction of 0.38
per cent. It had posted
Rs. 231.47 crore net profit
during the quarter ended
June 2014.
The
total
business
touched Rs. 3,27,294 crore
as against Rs. 2,94,477
crore during the previous fiscal registering a
growth of 11.14 per cent
even as the total income
witnessed an increase by
Rs. 455.42 crore, from Rs.
4,773.64 crore in September 2013 to Rs. 5,229.06
crore in September 2014,
Mr. Bansal said.
Multipronged approach
Mr. Bansal said the Bank
adopted
multipronged
approach to increase
the income and reduce
costs. They included reduced focus on market
investments (from Rs.
66,741 crore in September 2013 to Rs. 63,356
crore
in
September
2014); greater focus on
priority sector lending
(36 per cent growth) and
retail lending [where
the bank gets higher
interest]; reducing the
operational cost which
had grown by 19.99 per
cent during the previous
fiscal to 13.6 per cent;
rationalising space utilization and building rent
negotiation
(projected
savings of Rs. 32 crore
a year) and redeploying
the human resources for
the best utilisation.
The gross non performing assets increased
from 3.17 per cent to 4.45
per cent and the reason
being the Bank not selling the securities to asset
recovery companies [at
throwaway prices]. “We
are trying to recover the
NPA through negotiations and persuasions,”
Mr. Bansal said.
Executive Director B.S.
Srivatsava and General
Manager C.G. Pinto were
present.
ance
Communications
across various parts of
the country.
These companies will
need to buy back radio
waves to continue their
operations
in
areas
where their licences are
expiring in 2015-16.
The next round of spectrum auction is proposed
to be held in February
2015 from which government is estimated to
garner at least Rs 9,355
crore.
TRAI has also recom-
mended
taking
back
900 Mhz spectrum from
state-run
BSNL
and
most of CDMA spectrum
from MTNL and BSNL.
The suggestion has been
turned down by DoT’s internal committee saying
DoT has no jurisdiction to
take back spectrum from
these companies under
the licence conditions.
Although MTNL has offered to surrender one
slot of CDMA spectrum,
it has sought compensation for it.
“DoT is in discussions
with MTNL on the possibility of spectrum vacation but it has no jurisdiction to take back the radio
waves,” the official said.
As per the practice in place,
TRAI sends back its final
comments in about 15 days
which are again placed before the Telecom Commission for its final call.
“Telecom Commission
will give its view to
higher authorities for
their final decision. In
some cases, decision can
be taken at the Telecom
Ministry’s level and in
other cases it may need
the Cabinet approval,”
the official said.
MUMBAI, November 7: Facing a government-ordered merger of crisis hit
National Spot Exchange Ltd. (NSEL)
with itself, Financial Technologies India Ltd. (FTIL) on Friday announced spinning off a key revenuegenerating trading software product
into a separate subsidiary as part of
a major restructuring exercise.
FTIL, the holding company of Jignesh
Shah-led group, said its flagship software product ODIN is being spun out
into a “separate subsidiary to attract
majority strategic partner/investor.’’
It also announced the appointment
of two new non-executive directors
— Berjis Desai and Anil Singhvi —
and one executive director Prashant
Desai to strengthen the company’s
board for further growth.
Besides, the company said it would
appoint an ‘Industry Advisory
Board’ and a consulting firm to help
it plan and execute the next level
of growth ‘Vision of Digital India
at 2025’ to “build and power India’s
own equivalent of Amazon, Google,
ALIBABA and Baidu et al over next
10 years.’’
ODIN is a trading and risk management software used in the marketplace, including by brokers, and the
company will soon appoint invest-
ment bankers to look for potential
investors.
FTIL said that it would continue to
engage with the government and
authorities concerned to resolve the
Rs.5,600-crore payment crisis at its
subsidiary NSEL.
The development comes in the backdrop of the Corporate Affairs Ministry’s draft order to merge NSEL
with FTIL to help investors, hit by a
Rs.5,600-crore ‘fraud’ at the bourse,
get back their money using resources of entire group.
Pursuant to such a merger, a final
call on which would be taken after
looking into submissions made by
creditors and investors among other
stakeholders till December 20, the
FTIL group would need to absorb
NSEL along with all its liabilities
including pending dues, estimated at
over Rs.5,200 crore, that needs to be
paid to investors, creditors, brokers
and others.
Besides the merger, the government
is mulling recasting the FTIL board
to expedite payment settlement process.
Shares of FTIL, which have fallen
over 15 per cent in a month, on Friday, rose by 1.70 per cent to end at
Rs.182.65 on the BSE.
BMW develops street lights with
electric car-charging sockets
FRANKFURT, November 7: BMW has developed street lights
equipped with sockets
to charge electric cars, it
said on Friday, and will
run a pilot project in Munich next year that uses
existing local authority
lighting networks.
BMW said it has made
two prototype "Light
and Charge" street lights
which combine efficient
Light Emitting Diodes
(LED) with the company's
ChargeNow recharging
stations for electric cars.
"Seamless charging infrastructure is essential if we
want to see more electric
vehicles on the road in our
cities in the future," Peter
Schwarzenbauer, Member
of the Board of Management of BMW AG, said.
The Munich pilot will
install the first charg-
ing lights, which can be
grafted straight onto the
existing local authority street lighting infrastructure, BMW said.
These additional charging stations can be used
by as many drivers as
possible, regardless of vehicle model and electric-
ity provider, BMW said.
Two street lights are already installed in front of
the BMW headquarters.
Drivers will be able to pay
to charge their cars via A
MOBILE PHONE app.
BMW has developed
some of the most advanced electric cars,
including the i3 city vehicle and i8 hybrid. But
electric cars as a product category have struggled to gain widespread
popularity due to their
limited operating range,
the scarcity of charging
stations and the time it
takes to recharge them.
BMW and other car makers are increasingly expanding their know-how
of electric cars and related technology that could
broaden their appeal.
In addition to developing
street lighting, BMW has already invested into software
and applications that help
drivers of electric cars find a
parking space and charging
stations, including investments into Justpark.com and
the SLAM charging network.
BMW executives recently
met with rival Tesla Motors to discuss the availability of electric vehicle
charging stations.
In September, Daimler
said it had bought mytaxi and RideScout, two
smartphone applications
that will help the maker of
Mercedes-Benz limousines
provide services to people
who do not own cars.
From Front Page
Dilawar Mir...
Kanwar had awarded a handling and general
services contract to Mir's firm for sale of urea at exorbitant rate in Haryana and Punjab without inviting tenders. Kanwar in conspiracy with NFL officials
Anil Kumar Sharma and M A Sarma had paid Rs 30
lakhs to Mir even though the firm had not fulfilled
any contractual obligation. The accused knew that
the firm had submitted false bills at the Zonal office,
Chandigarh for claiming payments, it said.
Mir pleaded for leniency saying he has been a
member of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and was
also a minister in J&K government, having an impeccable public life. The court said this is what is
expected from the persons in public life and holding high positions.
"Clean antecedents can become a reason for an
ordinary person to be granted a lesser punishment,
but in my opinion, the same standard, however,
cannot be applied for the persons who have been
ministers or being in public life. Therefore, the fact
that the convict has a clean record by itself will not
become an extenuating factor in his case," the judge
said.
Seeking leniency in the sentence, Kanwar said
he was an ex-army person and had retired from NFL
in 1996 and it was his first conviction. He sought a
lenient view submitting that the case was not registered on the basis of any complaint filed by NFL and
it was lodged on some source information.
The judge, however said it does not matter how
the case was ultimately registered.
Kashmiri Leaders...
struggling for their right to self-determination
that has been recognised by United Nations resolutions. Pakistan is a party to the dispute. So this contention is not acceptable,” she contended.
Aslam added, “As we have been stating, the dialogue between Pakistan and India is not a favour that
one country does to the other. Dialogue between Pakistan and India is a necessity for peace in this region
so that South Asia focuses on economic development
and welfare of its people.”
India had called off foreign secretary level talks
in August citing the Pakistani High Commissioner’s
meeting with Kashmiri leaders as reason for the
cancellation.
Since then, relations between the two nuclear-
armed neighbours hit a new low as a result of ongoing tensions along the Line of Control and Working
Boundary.
At least 21 people, mostly civilians, have been
killed in the cross fire since the skirmishes started
in early October.
Kashmir A...
He also said that OIC has always called for a
peaceful resolution of this conflict through a negotiated process and in a sincere manner between
Pakistan and India.
“The OIC encourages both sides to engage in
substantial bilateral talks to find a just and durable
solution in accordance with the aspirations of the
Kashmiri people. I think recent incidents along the
Line of Control further prove the necessity to work
hard to reach a solid basis for peace and security in
the region, and the OIC will pay closer attention to
the plight of Kashmiris because this is indeed a humanitarian issue,” he added.
The unresolved territorial dispute over Kashmir
in the Himalayan region has for decades been a major source of tension between India and Pakistan,
who have fought three wars since partition in 1947.
Kashmir is divided between Indian and Pakistan
by a de-facto border known as the Line of Control
(LoC).
Day 4: Shutdown...
Eyewitnesses said all the shops and commercial establishments were closed in the area while
contingents of police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed to curb
protests.
A resident said that the area witnessed clashes
between forces and youths in the day. “Police fired
teargas and chased away stone-throwing youth,” he
said. (GNS)
Top JeM militant....
that the militant commander was immediately
taken to SOG camp Sopore for further interrogation.
Sources identified the commander as Mohammad Sadiq of Khyber Pakhtoon Khwah province in
Pakistan.
He, according to sources was, one among a
group of militants hiding in the forests and had actually come out from the forest to get food for himself and other of his contemporaries.
Following the arrest, they said, entire forest area
has been sealed off by the joint team of police and
army and have launched searches to track down the
group. (GNS)
Notification...
candidates can withdraw their nominations
upto November 17, 2014.
In 2nd phase, the 18 Assembly Constituencies
including Gulabgarh, Reasi, Gool Arnas, Udhampur, Chenani (Sc), Ramnagar, Surankote, Mendhar,
Poonch Haveli, Karnah, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara,
Langate, Noorabad, Kulgam, Home-Shalibugh and
Devsar would go to polls on December 02, 2014
from 8 a.m to 4 p.m.
The counting shall be held on December 23,
2014. The election process for the 2nd phase would
be completed on December 29, 2014.
Soldier Injured...
The Pakistani firing started at 4 p.m. The Chakla
border outpost on the Indian side was targeted.
Friday's firing took place after the LoC and the
international border in Jammu and Kashmir remained calm for more than a fortnight.
saturday
08 11 2014 Kashmir Observer

NEWS

Mufti made career out of murdering democracy in JK: NC
‘Where is PDP’s much touted Self Rule slogan today?’
Srinagar: National Conference
Friday said that PDP Patron
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s role
in J&K’s history will be forever
remembered as that of “opportunism, repression and subversion of democracy.”
In a press statement NC General Secretary Ali Mohammad
Sagar said that not only has
Mufti Sayeed changed numerous political parties in his career but he has also ended up
betraying everyone who gave
him a platform and patronage
right from Rajiv Gandhi to V. P.
Singh.
Addressing senior party
workers at NC Headquarters
at Nawa-e-Subha Complex in
Srinagar, Sagar said that nothing could be more ironic and
shameless than Mufti accusing
anyone else of damaging democracy. “He started his politi-
cal career with P. L. Handoo then
went to Sadiq’s DNC and soon
hopped over to Mir Qasim and
sooner still ended up in Bakshi
Ghulam Mohammad’s lap at
a time when Sher-e-Kashmir
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah
was languishing in jail because
he stood up for the aspirations
and dignity of our people. When
Sher-e-Kashmir was in jail for
safeguarding Article 370, Mufti
Sayeed was busy following everyone who eroded the Article”,
the NC General Secretary said.
Sagar said that Mufti lost
two consecutive elections from
Bijbehara with humiliating
margins after National Conference came back and contested
elections. “Then Mufti had to
run away to R. S. Pura and eventually get politically rehabilitated in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar
Pradesh and became the Home
Minister of India in the Jan Morcha Government at a time when
couldn’t even imagine being a
simple MLA in Kashmir,” Sagar
said.
The NC General Secretary
claimed that Mufti had played
an instrumental part in all constitutional erosions and democratic subversions in J&K. “Mufti
Sayeed has toppled more democratically elected governments
in J&K than he has been a part of.
This is a fact of history and not
a mere accusation. Right from
Mufti’s days in DNC to his servitude of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad – Mufti was a part of ever
motley crew of opportunists
that eroded Article 370, compromised on the State’s Internal
Autonomy and disempowered
the people of this State”, the NC
General Secretary said.
“Then when Mufti became
the Home Minister of India, he
became the architect of State
terror and unleashed hell on
his own people. He lorded
over heinous massacres like
the GawKadal Massacre, the
Mashali Mohalla massacre, the
Handwara massacre and the
Bijbehara massacre and also allowed the assassination of Shaheed Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq to
happen so that he could derive
political benefits from this tragic loss. As if the assassination of
Mirwaiz wasn’t enough – Mufti
even ordered troops to shoot on
his funeral resulting in the loss
of more than 70 innocent lives.
Mufti’s partnership with the
dreaded Governor Jagmohan
will go down in history as one
of the most brutal phases of repression and bloodshed in J&K”,
Sagar alleged.
He said that Mufti’s sole aim
in politics is hijacking the pain
and misery of the people and
exploiting it for the welfare of
his family and relatives – most
of whom constitute what PDP
is today and other relatives yet
who Mufti has given enormous
political favors while in power
in the State. “Mufti is not a recent occurrence as PDP wants
the hapless people of J&K to believe. Mufti is there in J&K politics since 1957 and has played
havoc with the State in various
shapes and forms. He could not
be loyal to anyone in politics
– be it Sadiq, Qasim, Bakshi,
Rajiv Gandhi, or V. P. Singh. He
can never be a well-wisher for
the State and harbors a longcherished dream to weaken the
State internally and seek political dividends for such a persistent sabotage”, the NC General
Secretary further stated.
Mufti is Not a reCeNt occurrence as PDP wants the hapless people of J&K to believe. Mufti is there in J&K
politics since 1957 and has played havoc with the State in various shapes and forms. He could not be loyal to anyone
in politics – be it Sadiq, Qasim, Bakshi, Rajiv Gandhi, or V. P. Singh.
NC Cozying Up to BJP
for Survival: Karra
Srinagar: Senior PDP leader
and Member Parliament, Tariq
Hameed Karra Friday accused
National Conference of cozying
up to BJP for political survival.
He said NC leaders have reportedly approached RSS and BJP top
brass offering them support for
not only forming the next government in J&K but also for abrogation of Article 370.
“Seeing the tide turning fast
against the party due to their
anti-people policies, NC leaders, in their last ditch effort, are
now desperately attempting to
cobble-up an alliance with the
BJP in the State,” Mr Karra said
while addressing a series of public meetings in Sonwar and Batamaloo assembly segments today.
Karra said there are reports
that in their secret meetings
with the RSS and BJP leaders,
NC emissaries have even offered
support to the Saffron brigade
for abrogation of Article 370.
“NC has already started acting
like the B-team of BJP and Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah seems
to be more concerned about BJP
winning 44+ seats in the State,
than his own party touching the
double-digit figure,” he said and
urged the people to hand-over a
decisive mandate to PDP to not
only counter this opportunistic
alliance, but safeguard the larger
political and economic interests
of the State as well.
Karra said having ‘deceived’
the people of Ganderbal and
presiding over decimation of
NC there, Chief Minister Omar
Abdullah has now changed his
turf to try his luck in Sonwar and
Beerwa simultaneously. “But
the moot question is that if at
all Omar Abdullah wins, he will
have to vacate one of the seats,
and he is ethically bound to tell
his voters which seat he is going to vacate and leave that constituency in lurch,” he said and
added that by contesting from
two seats simultaneously, Omar
Abdullah is deceiving the voters
of both Sonwar and Beerwa.
pdp Believes in
justice to all: mufti
JAMMU: Reiterating resolve
of his party to address aspirations of all regions and
sub-regions of the State, patron of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said
that PDP would empower
every sections of the society
to ensure equal opportunity
of growth and upliftment to
every citizen of Jammu and
Kashmir.
He said that PDP believes
in the policy of inclusive
growth and balanced development so as to ensure that
every region would get equal
opportunity of development.
Addressing
impressive
public meetings at Arnas and
Dharmari to kick-start election campaign in Reasi district
in support of party candidates
Imtiyaz Shan and Shafiq- urRehman, Mufti said that backwardness of this belt reflects
that elected representatives
have ‘miserably failed’ to perform their duties.
Imtiyaz Shah is PDP candidate for Gool-Arnas seat
and Shafiq-ur-Rehman for
Gulabgarh segment.
During the rally at Arnas,
senior BJP leader Kabla Singh
also joined PDP along with
hundreds of his supporters
in presence of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Welcoming Kabla Singh
into the party fold, PDP patron said that joining of BJP
Accusing the present NC-Congress dispensation as the ‘worstever’ government in the history
of J&K, Karra said the government headed by Omar Abdullah
has become synonymous with
death and destruction. “While
sale of flood hit commodities
Markets to witness
Random inspections
Srinagar: In view of the
reports that flood hit commodities are being offered
for sale to gullible consumers, the government has
constituted a special squad
to carry out raids in various areas of the Srinagar.
District
Development
commissioner Srinagar Farooq Ahmad Shah told KNS
that special squads have
been constituted to check
the shops in the city to
prevent the flood affected
items.
He made an appeal to
the general public to observe packaging conditions at the time of purchasing and ensure that
the impressions of flood
are not borne by such food
articles.
“Administration
which is already active
in markets will intensify
the inspections by regular market checkings. The
checking squads will inspect the markets every
day. Our teams have been
active and we don’t spare
anyone caught resorting
to any malpractice. And
for the sake of transparency, we have been ensuring that names and other
details of the offenders are
made public,” he said.
Meanwhile, the consumers have alleged that
products available in the
markets feared to be contaminated.
Abid Ahmad a resident
of Qamarwari told KNS
that he bought a mineral water bottle from the
market but was shocked
to see that apart from lid,
silt was visible even inside
the bottle. He also complained that the concerned
authorities have failed to
keep check on the sale of
contaminated products.
leader in the party was a
clear indication that PDP
was emerging as trusted
and credible voice of people
of J&K, irrespective of their
caste, creed, colour or religion. “Reasi district is the
most backward and neglected area of J&K so it is
high time for the residents
of this belt to launch a joint
fight for basic amenities like
health, education, road network etc”, he exhorted the
people, adding, “members of
both majority and minority
communities should have to
join hands to launch a joint
struggle to create employment opportunities for the
unemployed youth of this
neglected belt”.
“During our tenure of
just three years from 2002 to
2005, we had proved how to
treat all people equally”, he
said and assured that wishes
and aspirations of all sections of the society would
be incorporated in the Election Manifesto of PDP which
would be released very soon.
“Unlike other political
parties PDP does not believe
in double speak. Whether
we are power or in opposition, we never compromised
with our agenda”, Mufti
said and added that biggest
achievement of PDP was that
it has earned credibility of
the people of whole Jammu
and Kashmir.
the people were still struggling
to cope up with the miseries of
the devastating floods, the coldblooded murder of two innocent
youth by the Army at Chattergam has rubbed salt into the
wounds of Kashmiris,” he said.
Sikh Group Backs PDP
in Assembly Elections
Srinagar: Prominent Sikh organization, All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) Friday urged upon its community
to boycott both National Conference and the Congress party
in the Assembly elections and
asked them to vote for Peoples
Democratic Party.
Talking to Srinagar based
news agency CNS, Chairman APSCC, Jagmohan Singh Raina said
that coming Assembly elections
in Jammu and Kashmir is a decisive one for the Sikh community
and it will decide their fate. “National Conference has cheated
the Sikh Community and the
front-runner in this is the Congress. We voted for National
Conference in 2008 Assembly
elections as this party promised
us that Sikhs will be granted minority status, but from last six
years this party (NC) did nothing in this direction,” Raina said
that APSCC will soon convene
a meeting and will appeal the
Sikh community not to vote for
National Conference and Congress.
“Sikhs in Jammu and
Kashmir have been facing numerous problems but both National Conference and Congress
party showed cold response and
failed to address these problems. “Leave aside the granting
of minority status, NC even did
not add Punjabi language in curriculum as it had promised to
us during 2008 Assembly elections,” he said.
Jagmohan Singh Raina
told CNS that during a meeting at Chief Ministers office, the
government had made many
promises to APSCC but all those
promises proved hollow. “There
are 2500 Sikh votes in Beerwah Constituency where Omar
Abdullah is contesting for the
first time and I am telling you
with authority that they are not
going to vote for him. Similarly,
there are large number of Sikh
voters in constituencies like
Amirakadal, Tral, Baramulla and
Rafiabad which will play a decisive role in deciding the fate of
the candidates,” he said.
Responding to question,
Raina said that APSCC will not
change it decision. “How can we
believe in National Conference
now. What this party will do for
us in future when it did not do
anything from last six years,” he
said and added that Sikhs will
support and cast votes in favour
of Peoples Democratic Party.
He further added that in
Jammu provinces, there are Sikh
voters in large numbers in 8 Assembly Constituencies and APSCC will also appeal to them not
to support National Conference
and Congress party. (CNS)
FJEDP terms poll
process a futile exercise
Srinagar: Forum for Justice to
Enforced Disappeared Persons
of Jammu and Kashmir (FJEDP)
Friday while condemning the
poll process said that it is a military operation against unarmed
and peaceful people of Kashmir.
FJEDP Chairman Zahoor
Ahmed Mir said that election is
a futile exercise in Kashmir till
this issue is not resolved as per
the aspirations of the people.
He condemned the approach of
United States that has started a
new friendship with the government of India despite the fact
the same country had a stand
against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Gujrat riots.
Mir while condemning the
innocent killings in Chattergam
appealed International organizations to impress upon GoI to
stop human rights violations in
Kashmir and get this issue resolved without any delay.
Hurriyat (G) Decries Arrest Sprees
Srinagar: Strongly decrying police atrocities and arrest spree
Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani Friday
expressed serious concern and
while lashing at state authorities for their ‘highhandedness
and act of subjugation, declared this as state hooliganism’ and highly deplorable.
In a statement he said, “Such
policies won’t deter us from
perusing the right cause. The
arrests and night raids are unjustified and people of Kashmir
will resent, resist and won’t
succumb to state might. We
will fight till our rights are respected and restored as per
aspirations of people and as
assured by international community.”
While lashing at state authorities Geelani said that arrests and killing in no case will
“suppress movement and we
will take mission to its logical
conclusion.” “Our youth are
“
committed with right cause
and they are witness to massacres, bloodshed and destruction of their properties. Their
near and dear ones have been
brutally killed and a large number are still untraced,” he said
Syed and added that youth are
neither afraid of torture, arrests and atrocities nor they are
afraid of bullying.
“We can easily identify those
wearing masks. They are simply stooges for repressive forces and Indian authorities. These
forces have no regard for moral
values and we distinguish
them as an agents of destruction because they ever since
favor suppressive measures,”
the Hurriyat (G) chairman said
and added that police arrested
Mohammad Amin Sheikh and
Ghulam Nabi in Baramulla and
Tawheed Gunj.
“Police during night raids,
resorted to bullying and used
pepper gun and when fam-
ily resisted against police highhandedness, Irshad Ahmad and
a young student Sanober received serious injuries,” he said
while challenging police action
asked how a person with no allegations can be arrested and
how it is legitimate to arrest
father of an accused instead of
son.
“Police unleashed a reign of
terror and it is state terrorism.
They in order to stage mange
so called elections have created
a grave yard silence in state,”
Geelani said.
In his compassionate appeal
to people of Jammu and Kashmir, Geelani stressed for poll
boycott and asked that they in
no case should forget suppressive policy of India against people of Kashmir. “There is only
one way to do away this slavery and state of terror that we
should resist every such move
that suppresses our ambitions
and aspirations,” he said.
PoliCe uNleashed a reigN of terror and it is state
terrorism. They in order to stage mange so called elections
have created a grave yard silence in state,” Geelani said.
Bukhari exposed pdp
stand: kamal
‘Sheikh Ghulam Rasool liability for any party’
Srinagar: National Conference Additional General Secretary Dr. Sheikh
Mustafa Kamal Friday lashed out at PDP for perpetrating a “politics of
contrarianism, hypocrisy and insensitivity towards the youth of the State
by promoting those individuals who have been involved in wreaking havoc with the future of our youth through wanton corruption and systemic
harassment and torture.”
“Today PDP has become a safe haven not only for those caught redhanded involved in scams and wanton corruption but also those individuals like former SSP Ashiq Bukhari who is a figure sworn with conviction
to the repression and harassment of the youth of J&K. Young children in
the State have numerous tales of torture and extra-judicial torment to relate when it comes to Ashiq Bukhari. Mufti Sayeed was dreaded for the
massacres of GawKadal, Bijbehara and Handwara and AshiqBukkhari is a
figure of notoriety when it comes to his brutal and ruthless track-record
as a police officer – so this association while very natural is a prime example of what PDP represents as a political party. Mufti Sayeed stands
completely exposed,” Kamal said in a statement to KNS.
“Speaking of change while empowering notorious, dreaded figures like
Ashiq Bukhari – whose very mention brings tears to the eyes of hundreds
of mothers who have lost their young sons and who has a questionable
track-record when it comes to extortion from the youth – is as despicable
as PDP’s politics can get. Today PDP has lost a right to utter a single word on
Human Rights violations in J&K by promoting arguably the most dreaded
and ruthless police officer in their party after his retirement,” he said.
Paswan to seParatists
Shun Violence,
Join Poll Fray
Srinagar: Suggesting separatists
to shun violence and participate
in elections, Union Food minister Ram Vilas Pasawan said that
instead of giving boycott calls,
separatist leaders should prove
their representative character in
a democratic way.
“Violence has never benefited anybody. I suggest all the
masses of Jammu and Kashmir
including separatists who are on
the path of violence to give up
the violence and join the elections for better Kashmir” Paswan said in an interview to KNS.
He expressed hope that a better sense will prevail among the
Hurriyat leaders and they will
participate in election process to
choose their preferred government. “The elected government
will be in their interest and the
interest of the people,” he said.
Paswan said that nothing has
so for either been achieved or
will be achieved in future by the
violence. “I hope that they will
understand it in a better sense,”
he said and added that the elections are the only means to address the problems and solve
issues in conducive atmosphere.
Commenting on Hurriyat
(G) Syed Ali Geelani’s poll boycott call, he said “Geelani has
himself fought elections so he
should know the importance
of the elected government. See
Geelani has fought a dozen
elections, even parliamentary
elections. So he should not stop
people to cast their vote and I
suggest him to cast his vote also
in the coming Assembly elections,” he said.
Commenting on distribution
of ration in Jammu and Kashmir the Union Minister said that
once the state government implements Food Security Act the
government of India will take
all the necessary measures to
ensure the transparency in the
system.
“We have given six months to
the state government to implement the Act so that people
can get subsidized food grains
in a good system. So far, eleven
states have implemented the
law, the Jammu and Kashmir
have to prepare the list of beneficiaries, issue cards to them and
set up infrastructure to carry
out the programme,” the Union
minister said.
He said that it is necessary
to make public distribution
systems totally transparent
through end-to-end computerization so that the benefits of
the National Food Security Act
reach deserving people.
Police crackdown
on JKLF continues
Srinagar: Police crackdown against
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
(JKLF) is continuing as police
raided the residence of JKLF zonal
president Noor Mohammad Kalwal’s residence.
In a statement a spokesman
of the JKLF said police also raided
many activists across valley. “Police have shifted JKLF vice chairman Sheikh Mohammad Afzal to
Kupwara Jail while as JKLF zonal
office bearer Mohammad Ashraf
Dar has been shifted to Islamabad jail. Despite arrests, raids
and searches, JKLF activist today
visited many places in valley and
asked people to boycott upcoming
assembly elections,” he said.
The places that were visited
by JKLF leaders and activists included Kanspora Baramullah,
Srigufwara Bejbihatra, Draigam
,Bidder Kokernagh, Paimus Budgam, Naghraadkhah Budgam,
Wahilpora
Pulwama,Challdren
Pulwama,Chamgind
Kulgam,
Saidanaar Hajin,. JKLF leaders addressed people at these places and
also distributed a written message
of JKLF incarcerated chairman
Mohammad Yasin Malik asking
people to boycott elections.
“Besides protesting against the
arrest of Malik and others JKLF
leaders and activists, JKLF speakers apprised people about the importance of election boycott. On
the occasions JKLF leaders asked
people to keep vigil and understand the ill consequences of the
elections held under Indian constitution. Leaders told people that
these elections are harmful for
Jammu Kashmir and against their
interests,” the spokesman added.
While speaking to the people
JKLF leaders said that the spree of
arrests, intimidations, restrictions
are actually an announcement of
the defeat that has been conceded
by India and its Kashmiri ‘stooges’
long before the battle.
Meanwhile, JKLF has expressed
its grief and sorrow over the sad
demise of JKLF well wisher Bilal Ahmad Teeli of Hajin Sonawari. JKLF
delegation comprising of Manzoor
Ahmad Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Darzi etc visited the bereaved
family and expressed condolences
to the bereaved family.
ddc to officers
Don’t leave station
without permission
Anantnag: District Development Commissioner Anantnag Mr. Tasaduq
Jeelani today ordered that no District Officer should leave the district
headquarters. He further instructed the officers to be sensitive to the
problems of general public for ensuring quick delivery of services.
An order to this effect has been issued by District Development Commissioner today impressing upon the officers to remain
stationed at the District Headquarters and not to leave the same
without prior permission from the District Development Commissioner, falling which appropriate disciplinary action shall be initiated against the defaulters the order further reveals.
C M Y K
C M Y K
SPORTS
NEWS
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news
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C M Y K
C M Y K
8 sATURdAy 08 11 2014 Kashmir Observer
Parveez
shines as Kashmir beats Delhi
off pacer Samiullah Beigh (3/35) to
wicketkeeper Obaid Haroon. Unmukt
Chand (1) also edged one to Haroon off
Beigh. Gambhir and top scorer Milind
Kumar (61) batted for some time
before the former India opener was
bowled by Beigh.
Another veteran Mithun Manhas (8)
was adjudged leg before off seamer
Adil Rishi’s bowling.
With four down for less than 100,
Delhi required consolidation which
was done by Milind and all-rounder
Rajat Bhatia (50, 52 balls). While Milind
was a bit slow taking 90 balls with four
boundaries and a six, Bhatia played a
brisk knock hitting seven fours.
During chase, it was Rasool, who
played a pivotal role with some clean
hitting as Hardeep Singh (21), Bandeep
Singh (25) and Waseem Raza (27) gave
him support.
In the end, it was Beigh (20 no) and
Ram Dayal 97 no), who saw their team
through.
For Delhi, Parvinder Awana (3/40)
was the most successful bowler while
Ashish Nehra (2/48 in 10 overs) also
did a decent job.
TOKYO: Invisibility may still be the stuff of fictional works
like Harry Potter, but researchers in Japan have developed
a way to make mice almost totally transparent.
Using a method that almost completely removes
colour from tissue — and kills the mouse in the process —
researchers say they can now examine individual organs
or even whole bodies without slicing into them, offering
a “bigger picture” view of the problems they are working
on.
The techniques will give scientists a “new understanding
of the 3D structure of organs and how certain genes are
expressed in various tissues”, said Kazuki Tainaka, the
lead author of a research paper published in the US-based
Cell magazine.
“We were very surprised that the entire body of infant
and adult mice could be made nearly transparent,” he
said in a statement issued by Japanese research institute
RIKEN and its collaborators
The work, which also involved the University of Tokyo
and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, focuses
on a compound called haem, the constituent that gives
blood its red colour and is found in most tissues of the
body.
The process involves pumping a saline solution through
the mouse’s heart, pushing the blood out of its circulatory
system and killing the creature.
A reagent is then introduced, which works to divorce
the haem from the haemoglobin that remains in the
animal’s organs. The dead mouse is skinned and soaked in
the reagent for up to two weeks to complete the process.
A sheet of laser light, which can be set to penetrate to
a specific level, builds up a complete image of the body,
much as a 3D printer creates physical objects in layers.
We Were very SurPriSeD
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that the entire body of infant and adult
mice could be made nearly transparent
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Delhi 212/8 in 50 overs
(Virender Sehwag 11,
Gautam Gambhir 36,
Milind Kumar 61,
Rajat Bhatia 50,
Samiuallah Beigh 3/35,
Ram Dayal 2/47)
Jammu and Kashmir
216/8 in 49.2 overs
(Parveez rasool 74,
Ashish Nehra 2/48).
colon cancer could
to be Affordable Within 10 Years surge among young
‘Driverless Cars’
SYDNEY - Driverless cars could be within
the price range of the most people in just ten
years, Australian researchers said Thursday.
This will be made possible by a new
‘eyes and ears’ technology developed by
researchers from Curtin University in Perth.
The technology comprises a dozen
different sensors installed in an average car,
paired with an algorithm that processes the
large amount of data received.
“Our goal was to use affordable sensors,
radars, lasers and computer technology that
is already available on the market, so the car is
more likely to be accessible for people, unlike
the small number of driverless cars that
currently exist costing hundreds of thousands
of dollars each,” said Associate Professor Dr Ba
Tuong Vo, from the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering.
“The next step is to give it a ‘brain’ or the
computer systems which can tell how to
react to what is around it and what to do
when an object comes in its path,” Vo told
the Australian Financial Review.
“This will be difficult, as it is giving the car
total control of all functions, unlike current
driver assist technology that focuses on one
purpose, such as alerting the driver when
the car drifts out of a lane, or cruise control
to keep at a certain speed,” said Vo.
Although this step means an affordable
autonomous car is certainly on its way, Vo
believes the car will probably take another
decade to develop, with legislation around
car insurance being one of the hardest
obstacles to overcome. — AB/IINA
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Washington (AFP) - Colon cancer
among people under 34 may
nearly double over the next 15
years, raising new concerns about
how to fight one of the most
common and deadly cancers,
researchers said Wednesday.
The rise in incidence in the younger population -- blamed on lifestyle
choices -- goes against a long-running decline in colon cancer among
people over 50.
The decline was largely due to
tougher screening and regular colonoscopies.
The projected rise in the young is
based on unhealthy eating and other
lifestyle factors, said the findings in
the Journal of the American Medical
Association Surgery.
By 2030, more than one in 10 colon cancers and nearly one in four
rectal cancers will be diagnosed in
patients younger than 50, said the
study conducted by researchers at
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The projected increase was based
on factors including obesity, lack of
physical activity and a Western diet,
which could "exponentially" increase
risk, it said.
"We're observing the potential real
impact of colorectal cancer among
young people if no changes are made
in public education and prevention
efforts," said principal investigator
George Chang.
Nearly 137,000 people will be
diagnosed with colon cancer in the
United States this year, and more
than 50,000 will die of the disease,
according to statistics in the article.
Colon cancer is the third most
common cancer among men and
women, and the third leading cause
of cancer death.
The study was based on a registry
that included more than 393,000 patients with confirmed colon cancers
between 1975 and 2010.
Researchers found that the annual
incidence rate for these cancers in
patients under age 34 was "increasing across all stages of disease."
The study stopped short of recommending a change to screening
guidelines, but said doctors should be
aware of symptoms that might otherwise be dismissed in younger people.
"Identifying these patterns is a
crucial first step toward initiating important shifts in cancer prevention,"
Chang said.
An accompanying commentary
in the journal by Kiran Turaga of
the Medical College of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee, described the report as
"unsettling."
"Assuming that this increasing incidence of colorectal cancer in young
adults is a real phenomenon, it begs
the question of why this is occurring
and what one should do about it,"
Turaga wrote.
While more colonoscopies could
lead to higher costs without much
benefit, "this report should stimulate
opportunities for development of better risk-prediction tools," Turaga said.
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Scientists create
See-Through Mice
Brief ScoreS:
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NEW DELHI: Veterans Virender Sehwag
and Gautam Gambhir failed yet again
as Jammu and Kashmir powered by
their skipper Parveez Rasool shocked
Delhi by two wickets in the opening
match of the North Zone leg of the
National One Day Championship for
the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
On a slow Bilaspur track, Delhi
managed to score a below-par 212 for
eight in 50 overs as skipper Gambhir
scored a painstaking 36 off 75 balls
while Sehwag, who is opening again,
managed only 11 off 37 balls.
In reply, Jammu and Kashmir won
in 49.2 overs as skipper Rasool scored
74 off 90 balls with the help of 12
boundaries.
It was pacer Ram Dayal, who hit the
winning boundary off left-arm spinner
Pawan Negi to finish off the match in
style.
Batting first, both Sehwag and
Gambhir found it difficult to get going
on a slowish track. A strike-rate of
29.73 is not what one associates with
Sehwag if he has faced more than 30
balls.
Sehwag was gone edging one