CBI Pressurising IPS Officer

In the latest twist in Sohrabbudin fake encounter case, Senior Gujarat Police officer Geeta Johri has accused the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of pressurising her to implicate some political leaders in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.

Geeta Johri is the current Police Commissioner of Rajkot and had earlier led the investigation of the Sohrabbudin case on behalf of Gujarat CID. Geetha Johri has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court saying the central agency is exerting pressure on Gujarat Police officers, including her, to implicate political personalities, including Amit Shah in the case. In curative plea, she says third person picked up along with Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi was not Tulsi Prajapati but is one Kalimuddin, who she says is a member of banned People’s War Group. Kalimuddin is probably now under the protection of the Andhra Pradesh Police since he is their informer and a key intelligence asset. CBI has claimed that Tulsi Prajapti was also picked up from the same bus. She also sought the removal of Balwinder Singh, CBI’s Special Director, who is supervising the investigation into the case.

Question is, If all powerful CBI is trying to pressurize someone as senior as Police Commissioner of Rajkot to depose in a particular way then what would they do to common people like Patel builders and other police officers trapped in the case? CBI is hell bent on proving something which does not exist and they have got full support from the central government to do it and that is to implicate Amit Shah and in general Narendra Modi government.

Its good that someone like Geeta Johri is fighting back. May the truth win.

Color coding Terrorism ?

Indian Home minister P. Chidambaram urged Indians to beware of “Saffron terror” on August 25, 2010 . But what is saffron terror? If there is a bomb blast by anyone in any remote town and if the suspect turns out to be Hindu, is that saffron terror? Does Chidambaram know that India has about 80% Hindu population and if anyone of them turns out to be rogue, is that fair to judge every Hindu suspect a part of the ‘saffron brigade’ out to destroy all muslims ?

By that count if a muslim is found to be suspect for any terrorism related activity ( and there are many including Kasab, Afzal Guru etc.) do we call them just terrorists or ‘GREEN terror‘ or ‘Islamic Terrorists’ ? A terrorist is a bloody terrorist.

And by that calculation if the suspect is Christian like it was in Bosnia , is that ‘ WHITE Terror’ ?

And what about Maoists and Naxals? RED Terror?

Do you realize that saffron, green and white are the 3 colors of our national flag and they DO NOT represent any religion. Then why add religious fervor to terrorism. An act of terrorism is terrorism, please do not color code it.

Here is an example of what the government says and what the fact in reality turned out to be, especially on the issue of’ ‘Saffron Terror’.

Saffron terror is a controversial phrase used to describe acts of terrorism committed to promote Hindu nationalism. This term was coined after blasts occurred in predominantly muslim town of  Malegaon, Maharashtra  in Sept 2008. Before that blasts had occurred in Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad in May 2007 and even they were allegedly carried out by people supporting Hindu Nationalism. All this was cleverly put in media by Central Bureau of Investigations –   CBI , Intelligence Bureau  and leading media mouthpieces, of course at the behest of the central government who wanted to target the Hindu Nationalists by appeasing the Muslim minority. Saffron terror has been used synonymously with “Anti-Muslim terrorism”. So according to the central government, whenever a Muslim is targeted in a terrorism attack it qualifies as ‘Saffron Terror’.

But here is the truth.

Three men accused of the 2006 Malegaon bombings, including Lt Col Shrikant Purohit of the India army and Pragya Singh Thakur, have been described as representing Saffron terror. Purohit was also accused of being involved in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings until the role of Pakistani terrorist Asif Zamani was unearthed. A United States Department of the Treasury report links these bombings to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al-Qaeda.

While the Congress led central government claimed that Abhinav Bharat was behind the Mecca Masjid bombing, the South Asia Terrorism Portal, theInstitute for Defence Studies and Analyses, the United States and the United Nations have asserted that the Islamic outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami was actually behind the attacks.

Thus clearly proving that what Central government had said was utterly rubbish and partisan. They just wanted to malign Hindu groups and appease Muslim votebank.

According to me terrorism has no color, no religion. Every act of terrorism be it blasts in Malegaon or Samjhauta Express or blasts in Mumbai,  Bangalore or Pune is an act of cowardly terrorism and should be condemned. All terrorists should be punished and punished severely. Is the government listening? Is the government interested?

Rahul ‘Saviour’ Baba – Tribal Soldier

“Rahul Baba ki Jai !!” ,  ‘Rahulji Amar Rahe’. These were the slogans heard in Lanjigarh, Orissa yesterday when ‘crown prince’ Rahul tried to woo the tribals in Niyamgiri hills, saying the rejection of Vedanta’s $1.7 billion mining project was their victory.

Just a day back Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had rejected withdrew environmental clearance to bauxite mining and the alumina refinery project of Vedanta in Orissa. Rahul Gandhi of course didn’t waste a moment and landed up at the site to address the tribals and thus taking credit for something which the government of India did on behest of his mother and their puppet prime minister. Of course Rahul Gandhi reminded everyone that he had promised the same action to those tribals way back in 2008.

Ironically, the issue of Vedanta’s mining was first raised by BJP tribal leader Jual Oram, but during that period BJP was a partner in state government along with BJD led by Naveen Patnaik. Naveen Patnaik who had given the permission to Vedanta for mining of course did not like any such protests. Thus to appease Patnaik, the issue was silenced by the state unit. Later BJP parted ways with BJD and thus should have taken this issue and seized the moment, but they did not.

Rahul Gandhi came much later. But of course he was there at the right place at the right time. Rahul scored a point and delighted the crowd, as he spoke in Oriya. “Apan Mananku, Samastnku Juhar (Namaste to All of You)”, he said at the beginning of his speech.  Rahul Gandhi congratulated the tribals for their victory telling them he was their soldier in New Delhi and their victory was victory of ‘common man’.   Rahul Gandhi’s visit irked the BJD government in the state, BJP and others. There were accusations made that Rahul Gandhi shared the stage with noted naxal leader Lado Sikoka.

However, Rahul Gandhi has managed to do one thing clearly, he has distanced himself from all the wrongdoings of the central government, all the failures and have taken full credit of the only positive thing the government did. Thus clearly establishing the fact that when the next elections come, people should view Rahul Gandhi not as a part of the government but as a ‘messiah’ who would finally take the power to protect the downtrodden. This is clearly the Congress-Nehru-Gandhi family politics at work.

Partisan Media channels like CNN IBN and NDTV went gung-ho about it. They promoted the event as some mega rally, even calling it India’s Avatar !!! When BJP leader Rajnath Singh was asked about Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Orissa, all he said was “What other political parties are doing on farmers’ related issue I will not comment on it. But people know who is the son of a farmer and who is the supporters of poor people”. Of course the media interpreted it totally differently and presented with headlines like “Rajnath attacks Rahul for his support to Farmers agitation” and “BJP leaders irked by Rahul Gandhi’s Orissa visit”.

Now when and where did Rajnath ATTACK Rahulbaba is anyone’s guess !!

Bigger question is, where was Rahul Gandhi when the government was napping in matters of Kashmir, Pakistan, Bhopal and Commonwealth Games ? Whenever central government does something wrong ,which it does often, Rahul Gandhi is not to be blamed and Sonia Gandhi is ‘unaware’ of such things but when the government does little positive work , there comes Rahul Gandhi the savious of poor people to claim all the credit.

Way to go Congress !!

Do we Care about Manipur?

Kashmir is Burning !! Violent protests in the Kashmir Valley. Separatists demand ‘Azaadi’. Manmohan Singh talks about autonomy to Kashmir. Sikhs threatened in Kashmir. All of these are headlines in various media avenues. ‘Kashmir’ is ‘in’. Everybody wants to talk about Kashmir, find a solution for Kashmir problem, care about Kashmiri Muslims. TV shows highlight terrible conditions in Kashmir. Likes of Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose hold debates about Kashmir, to engage Kashmir youth. Our entire media is obsessed about Kashmir and nothing else ( lets for get Commonwealth Games for a while).

All of us Indians can confidently point out where Kashmir is in India’s map, right at the top. But I am sure not all Indians can correctly pinpoint where Manipur is !!!

As far as most of India goes, Manipur is a tiny state right on the eastern edge of our country, somewhere beyond Assam. Manipur is as Indian and perhaps more than say Kashmir but most people dont care about it, including the mainstream media channels and newspapers. It is hardly even mentioned anywhere, after all is just sends 1 Member of Parliament in Loksabha ,why would even the government care !!

Naga groups  led by United Naga Council are demanding a ‘Greater Nagaland’ state which include chunks from three neighbouring states, on Tuesday said they were extending for another 25 days their blockade of the two highways linking landlocked Manipur to the rest of the country. This follows almost consecutive 20 days and 69 days of similar blockades, leaving the northeast state surviving on army-escorted supplies for the past three months. The state faces acute shortage of every essential commodities like life-saving drugs. Petrol is priced at 200 rupees a liter in black market, LPG cylinders at 1,500 rupees and a kilogram of rice at 60-70 rupees. There is general anarchy in the city of Imphal with both the state and central government helpless against the Naga groups. The only difference between them and the Kashmiri separatists is that the Manipuri people are not throwing ‘stones’ at the Indian government.

Though the Centre deployed the CRPF to escort vehicles carrying essentials, the government is unable to restore normal supplies. The blockade of the 2 highways connecting Manipur to rest of India continue and the government is waiting and watching. Our own Indian brothers and sisters living in India are facing such humongous issues and nobody seems bothered, of course its not Srinagar but Imphal. I dare Barkha Dutt to do a ‘We the People’ sitting in Imphal valley instead of ‘Kashmir Valley’ for a change. Does the mainstream media even care about Manipur and in general North East. When will they find North East part of India ‘glamorous’ enough to be covered?

An entire state held to ransom for the past three months. And a central government that seems helpless to stop it and hardly interested in solving the issue. Media channels not bothered even to send one of their senior journalist there. Manipur is India, North East is integral to India

Wake up India !!!

Why is Pakistan refusing help?

The name Pakistan evokes different emotion in different people in India.  Many hate the name and several people are indifferent to it.  Some moderate people understand or try to understand the country and there are quite a few sympathizers as well.

What we do not know much sitting here in India is that Pakistan has suffered one of the worst humanitarian crisis in last few weeks. The flood waters of the mighty Indus has ravaged Pakistan. There are estimates that more than 4 million people have been left homeless by the devastating floods. Three weeks of unusually heavy monsoon rains triggered flash floods in Khyber-Paktunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan, affecting 20 million people. Thousands have died but millions have lost their home, their land, their crops and everything they ever had in their life. The calamity is bigger than any earthquake or the tsunami, it might have killed far less people in numbers but in the long run it will have a far fetched effect on more people than any other calamity the region has seen in past years.

This calamity might have lesser death count but it is the biggest tragedy world has seen in terms of no. of people that would be affected by it. Bigger than Haiti Earthquake few months back and bigger than Tsunami of 2004.

Surprisingly, not many nations are coming forward to help Pakistan. Some have contributed meager sum of money and offered food and medicine but the people of Pakistan needs more. Countries like Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and United States have offered monetary and other help. World bank has promised millions to rebuild the houses, roads, bridges, granaries and to repair the dams. Asian Development Bank has promised even more than the World bank. However Its still not enough.  Any kind of help in this hour of need is welcome. All the help and aid would trickle down slowly and whether it would reach the actual victims of the flood who have lost their life’s savings is another question. Government of Pakistan of course is not doing enough and people do not have much faith in the government to provide them short term emergency help or even any long term solution to their massive problems.

However, for Pakistani Politicians the bigger issue is whether to accept help from India or not. India has offered 5Million $ as aid money, which might not be much but as a gesture says lot. Especially in todays times when there is general mistrust amongst the 2 countries, politicians are not talking and there are larger issues like Kashmir and Terrorism show no sign of abetting. Pakistani politicians are worried that taking aid from India would amount to severe backlash at their home front, what they have not realized that a hungry man does not ask from where the food has come. Right now people of Pakistan who have suffered in the floods, lost their houses, lands, cattle and any source of livelihood and are living in temporary makeshift camps and tents with no sign of any improvement and only rotten food to eat are least bothered if the food grain parcels have Indian stamp on them. Playing politics at this hour is the worst form of crime one can do.

There are organizations like LeT and JuD which are militant outfits are collecting money for the people and providing them help in whatever way they can. If it is acceptable to take help from such rogue parties then why not legitimate aid and supply from India? By allowing such rogue organizations to collect money for people  they are in fact creating sympathy in the minds of people for such organizations, which in long term can be more harmful than one can ever think. Empty stomachs have no loyalties. Militant outfits are waiting for such crisis to first help and then convert, out of work no hoper’s in their vicious plots. Would Pakistani government like this?

Pakistan had sent aid at the time of Gujarat Earthquake and there was an Indo-Pak joint team during earthquake in Kashmir. India has accepted help without any hue and cry and with zero politics, why cant Pakistan do that? Just take the money and use it wisely for the people who are desperate for any kind of help.

Narendra Modi gets clean chit from CBI

CBI today has scotched all speculations about Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. CBI officials said it had no evidence against Modi, who has been in the line of fire after ex-MoS home Amit Shah was arrested.

Post Amit Shah’s arrest there were rumors that Narendra Modi would be question next and perhaps even charge sheeted against in the Sohrabbudin case as he was not only the chief minister but Home minister as well.

CBI officials claimed that Modi’s decision to transfer police officials during the probe could not be contested and it was well within his jurisdiction to transfer police officials in the state. Going by the same arguments I would also add that minister in charge of Home affairs is also within his rights to talk to his senior police officers, a charge that has been wrongly framed against Amit Shah. Thus if CBI has no ground to question Modi then by similar arguments what gives them the right to charge and arrest Amit Shah ? Unless they were instructed to do so by Central Government.

Amit Shah is in judicial custody since the beginning of the month and hearing for his bail plea has now been postponed to August 30th. The above clean chit strengthens the case of Amit Shah getting the bail first and then being releived of all charges.

In another development,  a key witness to the fake encounter Noor Mohammad Ghogari has retracted his statements given to CBI and come out with the truth that he was ‘forced’ by CBI to give certain statements in exchange of getting relief in another case against him. CBI all this time was claiming that Ghogari had given statements saying that Abhay Chudasama, another accused in case running an extortion racket on behalf of Amit Shah. Now Ghogari has confirmed through his lawyers that he has not given any such statements and CBI was blatantly lying to strengthen the case against Amit Shah.

The truth is finally coming out slowly. CBI is getting exposed and the false cases files by them are dying for lack of evidence.

MPs want more Money

Member of Parliaments in India get a monthly salary of Rs. 16,000/- per month.  Considering that average fresher in a big IT firm gets that much amount these days, the money is less. The MPs of all parties have United to introduce a bill so as to increase their salary from current to Rs. 50,000/- per month. A government secretary gets Rs. 80,000/- per month. This is of course the ONLY issue where all MPS from all parties have united, but natural as well.

Of course the MPs additionally gets lots of perks such as constituency fund of Rs. 20,000/- , Office Expenses of Rs. 20,000/- free phone calls and free house to stay, free travel and lots of other things in their day to day life. This is all official and what they get ‘unofficially’ is anybody’s guess.

However a committee was formed and they decided to raise the salary to Rs. 50,000/ per month. The MPS wanted more but have now settled for that amount. Although the Cabinet discussed the issue and have kept in ‘on hold’ as they did not like the idea of  increasing their salaries at the time when farmers are committing suicide, people are dying of hunger, there are allegations of corruption in CWG games and generally the nation is burning with high inflation.

Lets see how long do they hold onto this “Important Decision.”

What about Kashmiri Pandits?

Recently there have been violence in the Kashmir Valley. People are protesting against excessive Police Raj and intrusion by Indian army on regular basis. There have been curfews since several days and protest marches have been held. People have come to street including women and childeren and have protested against Police brutalities. Police in their defense have responded with tear gas shells and even guns at times. Innocents have been unfortunately killed and there have been more protests.

The state government of Jammu and Kashmir led by Omar Abdullah is being found helpless. The other party PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti is trying to gain advantage out of this situation, however people are in no mood to listen to any of the political leaders including some hardline separatists like Sajjad Lone and Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Of course the Central UPA government led by Congress party was silent and doing nothing, of course thats more or less expected as they do not have a clue on what is to be done.

Finall, on pressure from media and opposition parties,  prime minister Manmohan Singh made an appeal to the people of Kashmir to maintain peace and promised them that their needs would be met and went as far as promising limited autonomy to the region. Thus the government has bowed down to the stone throwing Kashmiri people.

So the Kashmiris have got what they wanted, atleast they have been promised and things are back to being semi normal at least for the time being. But a problem that no one has addressed and no one is willing to even utter is the problem of the Kashmiri Pandits !!

Kashmir once had more than 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits residing in it. Since 1989, more than 99% of them have been driven out of Kashmir by unleashing a systematic campaign of terror, murder, loot and arson. They have been forced to leave their ancestral home and properties and have  fled to temporary makeshift camps and tents. Terrorists sponsored by the neighboring Pakistan had one main mission and that was to target Kashmiri Pandits and hence drive them out of Kashmir for the fear of their lives.  In other words its called Ethnic Cleansing. Pandits have not only lost their land, houses, shops, temples, properties and other valuable assets but have lost their right to their 5000 year old motherland. They have been tortured and forced to go and live in camps. The plight of the Kashmiri Pandits today is worse than any other community in our country.

Surprisingly the Indian state has failed to do anything about it. They have not even addressed a single issue of the community. Neither the leading human rights organizations have bothered about them. The world hardly knows about this gruesome murder of a community.

BUT in spite of all this Kashmiri Pandits have been tolerant to say the least. They have not given up faith in the system, they are fighting their battle in a peaceful way and have never resorted to violence of any kind, not even stone throwing. In a world threatened with ethnic and religious strifes where various parties have invariably resorted to violence and force, to further their claims, Kashmiri Pandit is the only example who has totally rejected the violence as a means to fulfill socio-political aspirations.

One day, justice will be done to them, hopefully.

Please also read a wonderful article by @Greatbong at http://is.gd/edUhP Of Azaadi and Kashmiri and other false words

Bhopal Gas Tragedy – Arjun Singh Confesses

Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the world’s worst industrial catastrophe. It occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal. A leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of several thousands of people. Thousands died, thousands were affected and injured by it and several thousands more are still reeling under its affect.

Chairman of UIC , Warren Anderson was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh government. Arjun Singh was he then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Then the great ‘Indian rope trick’ happened, Warren Anderson was allowed to escape from the prison in the private jet of the State government to Delhi and then subsequently to USA. Since then, that mas has never returned to India. It has been 26 years now and no charges have been proved against him as the Indian court requires the person to be present physically in the court to prove any charges against him. The Indian government has not tried to extradite him either.

Allegations were made on Arjun Singh about him allowing Anderson to escape. Even half of the Congress party beleived and blamed Arjun Singh for the mess. The opposition blamed not only Arjun Singh but then Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi. Congress party made all kinds of statements to protect Rajev Gandhi, even saying that the prime minister was not even aware of the arrest of Anderson. However the truth is out today.

Arjun Singh in a rare appearance in Rajya Sabha today confessed that he was the person to arrest Anderson and he informed the prime minister about the arrest, thus proving the opposition right that Rajeev Gandhi was fully aware of the arrest of Anderson. Arjun Singh went on to add that he received phone calls from Central Home Ministry and was thus pressurized in releasing Anderson and allowed him to escape. Thus he passed the buck fully to the Home Minister  P V Narsimha Rao for creating the mess. He of course gave clean chit to Rajeev Gandhi, saying he wasn’t even aware of the details of the case. It is very easy to blame Rao. Since Rao has died and nobody is trying to protect him, thus very easy to blame a dead guy as dead guys do not talk and Rao is not Nehru-Gandhi family.

Bigger qustion is that is it possible for the Home Minister of a country to ‘order’ such a big move without the knowledge of Prime Minister ?? Especially, Rao who would not even sign a simple letter without consultation from big boss Rajeev Gandhi. Is Arjun Singh shielding Rajeev Gandhi and blaming Rao ??

One thing is sure that Congress Politicians grow old and die but they do not stop worshiping the Gandhi family.

Common Wealth Games – Corrupt Worthless Government

Enough has been said in press and media about the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi between 3rd to 14th October 2010. About 8000 athletes from 72 nations will take part in 17 different sports.

A sports event is suppose to bind the country together, unite the nation behind its sporting heroes in their quest to achieve excellence in their events. Hosting a world event means glory for the host nation, national pride in hosting the games, apart from the fact that several hundred thousands of people visiting the country to enjoy the event. Boost for Tourism, boost for infrastructure and general boost to sports and sporting culture of the nation.

However what we are seeing in Delhi is contrary to all of the above. The facilities are incomplete, the games village where athletes would stay half made,  the roads and pavements in Delhi have been dug up badly for the reconstruction. There are massive traffic jams everyday. This is a complete case of utter failure of the state government, central government, various development agencies of Delhi along with organization committee of the Commonwealth Games.

On top of this the corruption scandals are hitting the headlines everyday. Half of the organization committee have been made to resign, questions have been asked, documents have been leaked and all kinds of allegations are made on the man mostly responsible for all of the chaos and corruption, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, who as a head of Indian Olympic Association was the head of the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee.

Some say the corruption scandals are worth thousands of crores, some say the figure is as high as 1 Lakh crore. The Congress party has gone in hiding on the issue and when the questions were raised in the Parliament, the Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari have come with such ridiculous answers that even a layman would know that the government is hiding more than just Suresh Kalmadi. Mr. Kalmadi however refuses to resign and says that everything is hunky-dory and the games would be held perfectly well. He also adds that he would resign if his bosses, the prime minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, tells him to resign. There are people who say that these games should not have been held only in India, as it is fruitless spending so much money for a 12 day event when the same amount of money could have been better utilized in a poor country like ours.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said in the parliament that all charges are baseless, Kalmadi is innocent, the total costs of the games are just Rs. 2,800 Crore and amount of corruption is barely few crores which is like 0.07% of the costs. By saying this he has firstly admitted that corruption exists in hosting the game,  secondly all reports suggests and we can see with our eyes that games have cost lot more than the money mentioned by Mr. Tewari, thirdly this exposes the double standards of the Congress Party, who refutes all charges of corruption in CWG games and asks media not to ‘tarnish images of the games and Mr. Kalmadi without any proof”. The media has more than enough proof of the wrong deeds of the organization committee, members of the committee have been made to resign on basis of that.

Mr. Manish ‘loudmouth’ Tewari was effectively found wanting for words when defending Mr. Kalmadi on the newschannels as even he knows that Mr. Kalmadi, his organizing committee, Delhi state government and Central UPA government have FAILED miserably and have dirtied their hands in organizing Commonwealth Games. Manish Tewari who is a Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, which is a bastion of Sports Goods Manufacturing in India, should have known a little more about sports than argue pointlessly with Kirti Azaad, a BJP MP, on matters of sports, hosting of games, advantage of being a host the athletes and basic  facilities what an athlete needs in an event like this.

The next day Sports Minister  M S Gill crossed all limits when he refused to answer any allegations in the Parliament. When he was asked questions about the cost of stadiums being made, he answered ‘Go File an RTI, if you need the information’, thus by suggesting that he would only answer if made to answer through RTI ( Right to Information Act) and would not be answerable to even the Parliament of the country !!!

Here’s a good article on what needs to be done before the Games begin in about 50 days.

In conclusion, the games are still 50 days away. Hopefully the government would wake up now and appoint someone with better credentials in organizing and supervising the games and host the games successfully, else it would be a real matter of shame in front of the whole world.