As reported in the ANI, a Delhi high court (HC) bench comprising of Chief Justice RajendraMenon and Justice JairamAnoopBhambhani, on Tuesday, quashed a single judge bench order dated February 28, wherein the Judge had upheld the Centre’s ‘leave India notice’ to the Pakistani woman (37), who got married to an Indian man in 2005 and has two sons aged eleven and five.

The couple had first approached the Delhi HC after the centre issued a notice to her on February 7 directing her to leave India within two weeks. The notice had further warned the woman that if she fails to leave India within the stipulated time then legal action will be taken against her and she will be barred from entering the country in the future. The couple had even submitted her long-term visa which was valid from June 2015 to June 2020. However, the centre, represented by counselAnuragAhluwalia, had argued that there were adverse security reports against the woman and in such a scenario the visa stands cancelled. Upholding the notice, Justice VibhuBakru had said, “You have not done anything to naturalize your citizenship for India. You have not established any right to stay in India.”

Consequently, the husband challenged the February 28 order before the division bench headed by the chief justice. Setting aside the contentious order, the division bench pulled up the centre for not following the “due procedure” while issuing the deportation notice to the woman. It even rejected the centre’s claim that there were adverse security reports against her stating that the evidences, including intelligence inputs, placed before it aren’t sufficient enough to take such a step against the woman. It even upheld the woman’s validity of the visa till 2020. The bench further went on to direct the central government to consider the woman’s application for citizenship.

According to section 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, “a person who is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration” shall be provided an Indian citizenship by the Central government on the basis of the application received.

Thus, under the above mentioned provision, the woman’s application for citizenship stands valid as she has been a resident of Delhi since 2005 and is married to an Indian man which doesn’t make her an illegal immigrant (an exception to the rule).

Denial of citizenship to her is not only a violation of this rule but also infringes the woman’s right. As the centre’s argument of security concern has been rejected by the Delhi HC, it will be interesting to see whether the centre changes its decision, considering that she is a Pakistani. Another sigh of relief for the woman can be the recent lapse of the contentious Citizenship Amendment bill, 2019.

In times like these, an independent judiciary indeed plays a crucial role in ensuring substantive as well as procedural justice.

Related Articles:

1. Citizenship Amendment and Triple Talaq bills lapse as LokSabha dissolves
2. Why India’s new citizenship law is so controversial – and why some regions are angrier than others

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October 31 will be remembered as a red-letter day when it comes to the judgements delivered by Pakistan Supreme Court and Delhi High court.
 
It may be mentioned here that Pakistan Supreme Court has acquitted a 47-year-old Christian woman from the punishment given to her under the blasphemy law of Pakistan. She was in prison for almost a decade. Pronouncing the judgement, the Pakistan Supreme Court said that Islam is the most tolerant religion.
 
On 31 October itself, Delhi High Court sentenced 16 UP Policemen to life imprisonment holding them guilty for the massacre of 38 Muslims who were shot dead on May 22, 1987, and their bodies were thrown in a canal. The most interesting aspect of this case was that V. N. Rai, then SP of the district himself filed an FIR against the guilty Policemen. Rai is also a famous writer who later became the DG of UP Police.    
 
Justice Fazanuddin, former Supreme Court Judge, Dr. Ram Puniyani, Retired professor, IIT Mumbai, L S Herdenia, Convener, All India Secular Forum, Rajendra Kothari, Chandrakant Naidu, Journalist and Dr. Ranjeet, Bangalore based human rights activist and well-known writer have hailed the judgments pronounced by Pakistan’s Supreme Court and Delhi High Court.
 
In a statement issued here they have stated that October 31, 2018, will be remembered as a red letter day in the history of Indo-Pak judiciary.

In Hindi-

दिनांक 31 अक्टूबर 2018 भारत एवं पाकिस्तान की न्यायपालिका के इतिहास में  स्वर्णाक्षरों से लिखा जाएगा। 31 अक्टूबर को दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय एवं पाकिस्तान के सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने जो फैसले दिए हैं, उनकी जितनी प्रशंसा की जाए उतनी कम है।

भोपाल में जारी एक वक्तव्य में उच्चतम न्यायालय के पूर्व न्यायाधीश न्यायमूर्ति फैजानुद्दीन, राष्ट्रीय सेक्युलर मंच के संयोजक एलएस हरदेनिया, प्रोफेसर डॉ. राम पुनियानी,राजेन्द्र कोठारी, पत्रकार चन्द्रकांत नायडू एवं बंगलौर के मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ता व साहित्यकार डॉ. रंजीत ने आशा प्रकट की है कि इन दोनों निर्णयों का मुस्तैदी से पालन किया जाएगा।

यहां उल्लेखनीय है कि पाकिस्तान के उच्चतम न्यायालय ने एक ऐसी ईसाई महिला को दोषमुक्त घोषित किया है जो पिछले अनेक वर्षों से जेल में थी और ईशनिंदा कानून के अंतर्गत सजा भुगत रही थी। इसी तरह दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय ने उन 16 पुलिकर्मियों को दोषी करार देकर आजीवन कारावास की सजा सुनाई है जिन्होंने 40 से अधिक निर्दोष मुस्लिम युवकों की निर्मम हत्या की थी और उनकी लाशों को एक नहर में फेंक दिया था। इस जघन्य अपराध में शामिल पीएसी के पुलिसकर्मियों को सजा दिलाने में 31 वर्ष लगे।

इस संबंध में सबसे दिलचस्प बात यह है कि दोषी पुलिसकर्मियों के विरूद्ध तत्कालीन पुलिस अधीक्षक विभूति नारायण राय ने ही एफआईआर दर्ज करवाई थी। इसी एफआईआर के अंतर्गत की गई जांच एवं हत्याकांड में जीवित बचे एक युवक के साक्ष्य के आधार पर सजा हुई है। विभूतिनारायण राय बाद में उत्तरप्रदेश पुलिस के महानिदेशक भी रहे। राय ने साम्प्रदायिकता और पुलिस की भूमिका पर अनेक पुस्तकें लिखी हैं।

Report by L S Herdenia, Convener, All India Secular Forum.
 

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Dear Modiji,
Jai Sri Ram!

Since this letter is for your eyes only, I can greet you in the name of Lord Ram. This is called blasphemy in Pakistan.

I am very grateful to you for cancelling the talks between our foreign ministers. You saved me from being called a stooge of India and from political death.

I understand fully well that the cancellation of the bilateral talk will ensure your victory in the coming elections. Had the talks been held, the Congress would have sent you bangles to wear. Your party had done that to the Congress Prime Minister! A photo of the bangles going viral would have subverted your election campaign. 

The photo of the two foreign ministers shaking hands would have sullied your masculine image. In every Indian city and village, you would have been called spineless. Moreover, some of your party men would have attacked your woman minister for shaking a man’s hand!
I am glad you kept your diplomats out of drafting that cancellation statement. Their polite words would not have served our common purpose. By insulting me in that official statement, you raised my political stock. I am now seen as a strong leader and you are seen as a hero for calling me names.

You will recall that your sudden visit to a corrupt Pakistani Prime Minister’s home gave me a big boost. My party won the election by calling Nawaz Shariff a stooge of India. You are a true friend! Hindutva helps me as much it helps you. 

My Spiritual Guide-cum-wife understands politics in our countries. She has asked me to help you just as you helped me. So, I will launch an anti-India tirade before your elections next year. That will bring you victory. The rabid communalists in our two countries can keep both of us going for years.

Your continuation is in Pakistan’s interest. The rabid communalists in our two countries can keep both of us going for years. These two rival formations need each other. Ours cannot increase its base without its counterpart across the border. The rival communal groups clash in public but depend on each other for survival. If Hindutva retreats in India, Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan will find it tough here. They have never won elections here but now they are encouraged by developments in India and I had to co-opt them.

You understand the importance of religious confrontation even better than your TV channels that pit a saffron-robed Hindu against a skull-capped Mulla to shout at each other in every talk show. The viewers may criticise it but they all enjoy the human version of the cock-fight. 

You wisely adopted the Pakistan Model by altering its colour. We share a long experience. The Islamic fundamentalists running the terrorists have been key players on our political pitch. Now fiery Hindu leaders have cropped up in India. Imitation is the best compliment. 

Both of us are blessed by Allah whom Gandhi also named Ishwar. The Pakistani voters were not turned on by my second wife who wrote a disgusting book about me. Indian voters were not turned off by your conduct during the Gujarat riots.

I have a lot to learn from you. Because in my country the capitalists had supported my rival, I had to talk about the poor Pakistanis. But now that the elections are over I need to win over the capitalists. And I am going to offer them cheap land and other facilities to make them see in me a new hope as the Indian capitalists saw in you. We in Pakistan face some nuisance created by the liberals and progressives who survived decades of military dictatorship. I want to establish a democracy of fear. 
 

Hating secularism

We are one in our shared hatred of Nehru and his secularism. He defeated Pakistan in an ideological battle which forced our military to attack India. Allah inspired India to ditch secularism and inch closer to Pakistan which has ended Pakistan’s isolation. You have convinced our people that Pakistan chose the right path after independence since India is following Pakistan’s footsteps and aspires to be a theocratic state. You have enabled Pakistan to shed its inferiority complex. We feel proud when India is called a Hindu Pakistan.

While living in Britain, I saw the world applauding India for not being Pakistan and condemning Pakistan for not being India. My country always lost on the invisible ideological battlefield. Once I too wanted Pakistan to be secular and democratic like India. On returning to Pakistan and plunging into politics, I corrected my error. I realised the importance of religion in politics. I married my Spiritual Guide and developed a fellow-feeling for you. Now I understand why our Gen. Zia unsheathed the sword of Islam.

Now I understand why our Gen. Zia unsheathed the sword of Islam. In order to confront the secular India, he had to push Pakistan closer to the Arabic Islamic kingdoms. That was the only way of discarding the inclusive Indian heritage and composite culture. Our military sharpened Pakistan’s identity by entering into a strange pact with the Islamic fundamentalists! 

My theocratic nation distanced itself from a secular India. But thanks to your political revolution, Islamic fundamentalism and Hindutva have emerged as comrades-in-arms. You learnt a lesson from Pakistan. Your party came to power attacking Pakistan in election speeches but then presided over India’s defeat in the battle of ideas. India’s surrender has vindicated Pakistan, making us your ideological Guru! 

This growing ideological convergence between Pakistan and the new India was first observed by our poetess Fahmida Riaz who recited in India her famous poem beginning:Tum bilkul hum jaise nikle…(You turned out to be just like us.)

I have noted with great satisfaction that since the last parliamentary elections, India continues its path-breaking journey, politically marginalising a minority and letting small mobs do what the law-bound public servants cannot do. Some policemen and law enforcement officers, by becoming accomplices of the ruling party, ward off punishment postings. Some are ideologically fired to promote a sectarian agenda. Just like us, I must say.

Pakistan flaunts an alliance between the army and Islam; India has linked democracy to an authoritarian Hindutva. I notice that democratic India still holds seminars on pluralistic traditions and multi-layered identity. These pose no political thereat to you and you carry on threatening your opponents. You claim you have information on everyone. I am told your minions track the sleeping habits of the dissident academics and income-tax returns of the media houses that refuse to fall in line.

In all this I see India extending a hidden hand of friendship. My nation now understands India better. For years Pakistan suspected India of trying to undo the Partition, the gift of the departing British. Mahatma Gandhi opposed the Partition and even offered the Prime Ministership of an undivided India to Jinnah in order to abort the birth of Pakistan. That would have killed any chance of your becoming the Prime Minister. We fully understand and appreciate your party’s antipathy towards the Father of your nation.

After the Partition, your political party kept fantasising about Akhand Bharat(Greater India). Now I realise that Pakistan’s fear of Akhand Bharatwas unfounded. This empty slogan (jumla) was not worth taking seriously. India led by you would never think of undoing the Partition. Your party depends on Pakistan for its existence. It secretly thanks Jinnah for securing a separate nation for Indian Muslims. He fulfilled the dream that was first dreamt by the ancestors of your Hindu political family. Of course, praising Jinnah openly is not permitted in your party.

I am convinced that you would rather have a pure Hindu Bharat than an Akhand Bharatpopulated by the others posing a demographic danger. So, I would campaign to free my Pakistan from the false fear of a foreign conspiracy to merge Pakistan into India. 

As we both know, Pak-bashing gets votes in India as India-bashing helps us in Pakistan. A dissident Indian poet sings that if there is tension on the Indo-Pak border, it must be election time in India! We must enter into a mutually beneficial agreement to fool our stupid voters.
 

Stupid voters

Please help me win a coming provincial election just as our President Parvez Musharraf enabled you to win the Gujarat elections when you ran the poll campaign attacking “Mian Musharraf”. So, do not mind if I go after you in my poll campaign. 

In order to strategize together to perpetuate our political power, my Garib Nawaz Centre has opened a secret communication channel with your Mahabharat Foundation in New Delhi and a joint plan is being formulated. 

At the beginning of 2019, I would start threatening India on a daily basis. You will naturally shoot down every Pakistani brick with a stone! Bilateral tensions will peak. In that emotionally surcharged political atmosphere, you will rally the nationalists. You will call the Opposition leaders traitors for having doubted the surgical strikes inside Pakistan. In every public meeting, you will call them MiaorBegum! 

If you desperately need one more surgical strike, you have my permission to do it. We will mark a forest area by covering some small trees with military uniforms. The resultant dust will fill the Indian airwaves every night during your poll campaign.

Once your elections are over and I have crushed the residual Opposition in Pakistan, we will begin the next phase in our bilateral relations. Birds of a feather must flock together! Washington fraternised with Moscow when communism collapsed in the former Soviet Union. After returning to power on the strength of a tirade against me, you will start talking about a “changed Imran”. I will stop lobbing bricks and start praising India for something or the other. I will ask my Talibanic friends not to attack India. You will issue an appropriate fiat to your party men.

I will invite Baba Ramdev to hold a mass yoga session in Lahore. Your slave TV anchors will praise you for popularising Hindutva even in Pakistan! I will allot Baba Ramdev a plot in Pakistan and offer a huge industrial project to any Gujarati capitalist named by you. 

The video clip of Baba Ramdev offering a copy of the Gita to me will encourage your minister to renew her demand to declare the Gita the Sacred Book of India! 

You will exempt our Multani Mitti (soil from Multan) from import duty and announce a special visa system for Pakistani Muslims married to Indian Muslims. I will ensure that it causes a wave of jubilation in Pakistan. I will get seven Indian fishermen released from our jails and invite you for a cricket match in Lahore. You will invite me to a Gujarati Garbadance in Ahmedabad. I will get seven Indian fishermen released from our jails and invite you for a cricket match in Lahore.

You come from a state that produced your Father of Nation as well as our Father of Nation. You aspire to be named the Father of New India and I wish to go down in history as the Father of New Pakistan. Those two leaders were weak and wiry. We both are impressively well-built and muscular. You have publicised your chest size and I plan to get my chest measured.

By executing our joint plan, we will emerge as two statesmen. The two of us will then hold a joint video press conference to announce a historic first-ever breakthrough in the Indo-Pak relations! You have adopted the Punjabi custom of hugging, so a virtual image will be projected showing the two of us engaged in a jhappi!

That image will arouse global interest. Both of us will be praised by the world for making peace. The Nobel Peace Prize will come to us unasked. We rewrote history, so now we must go down in history as great souls!

Gratefully yours,
Imran Khan

L K Sharma has followed no profession other than journalism for more than four decades, covering criminals and prime ministers. Was the European Correspondent of The Times of India based in London for a decade. Reported for five years from Washington as the Foreign Editor of the Deccan Herald. Edited three volumes on innovations in India. He has completed a work of creative nonfiction on V. S. Naipaul  His two e-books The Twain and A Parliamentary Affair form part of The Englandia Quartet.

Courtesy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/
 

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Singh had earlier participated in the shastra puja with BSF last year in Joshimath, Uttarakhand.

This year, however, he will not only attend the festival, but also perform the shastra puja or the worship of weapons himself. The report says this is the first time that a minister will perform the puja.

However, this is not the first time that Singh has performed such pujas in places where security tensions have been on the boil.  In 2017, Singh celebrated New Year with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops, another paramilitary force, in the Nelong valley of Uttarakhand. The valley is also along the Indo-China border and this was just after India and China had managed to end the Doklam standoff on August 28. The standoff had begun on June 16 2016 when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China began constructing a road in an area claimed by Bhutan. The standoff ended after the Indian army withdrew its soldiers and China stopped the construction. Celebrating New Year with the ITBP troops only meant escalating tensions between the two nations instead of fostering peace in the region.

Similarly, relations between India and Pakistan have not been at their best lately. Last month in September, talks between the external ministries of India and Pakistan could not materialise after India decided to pull out. The newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, and former cricketer, Imran Khan tweeted,

 
In such a situation, should the occasion of festivities be used to increase tensions? And, of all the people, should a union minister perform a puja? The central government is known for using Hindu religious practices in matters of government policy.

The Indian and Pakistan armed forces, however, have shown greater wisdom in the past. In 2015, the Indian and Pakistani armies exchanged sweets on Diwali. More recently, in 2018, the two armies exchanged sweets on Id-ul-Azha along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The central government’s attempts to use the army for political gains have not always gone down well with the latter. The Ministry of Defence has given permission to the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to hold its convention from October 23 to October 28 at the Bison Polo Ground in the Secunderabad Cantonment, Hyderabad.

Major D P Singh took to Twitter to condemn this and called it a “degradation of the Indian army”:

 
On another note, the clear choice of a Brahmanical ritual over others by a union minister shows the bias towards Brahmanical Hinduism in a state that is “secular” according to the Preamble of the Indian constitution.

Within the diverse practices of the Hindu religion, the eating customs of Bengali Hindus, Jains and other Hindus in Gujarat came to a collision when Bengalis were disallowed to cook non-vegetarian food in Ahmedabad. The central government has a history of covertly supporting violence against meat  eaters in India. Since 2014, this has given rise to cow protection units across Northern India, members of which have killed many people — the majority of them Muslims— they’ve suspected of killing and eating cows.

The opposition to certain ritualistic practices of the Hindu festival has also come from organisations which see themselves as being outside of Hinduism. The latest manifestation of this opposition has come from the Bhim Army. The Pune unit of the Bhim Army, according to a report published in The Indian Express, has submitted a letter to the Pune City Police, Special Branch, saying that burning Ravan’s effigy, or “Ravan Dahan” as it is more commonly known, hurts the sentiments of those from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of India, who comprise 25.2 percent of the Indian population, according to the 2011 census. They have demanded that the police lodge complaints against those who perform this ritual under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

In such a situation, Singh’s decision to perform a Brahmanical ritual in praise of weapons of war shows that the Home minister in particular, and the government of India in general, do not care for building peace in the subcontinent.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

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The March was taken out to demand from the Governments of India and Pakistan to reach an agreement to stop killing each other’s soldiers on border. Recently on 21 June, 2018, the occasion of international yoga day, Indian and Chinese soldiers have practiced yoga together at Daulat Beg Oldie in eastern Ladakh. Why can’t similar atmosphere of bonhomie be created on the India Pakistan border? The two countries need to grant easy permission for visas to each other’s citizens to allow them to travel across the border. If possible, they should waive the visa requirement for old, children, journalists, academics, social activists, religious leaders and labourers. One route on Gujarat border with Sind should be opened to facilitate travel and trade between two countries either at Khavda or Nada Bet. The bus service between Suigam and Nagarparkar which was there till 1972 could be restored. Opening of Khavda route will be a great help for those fisherfolk whose family members get caught by the coastal guards of the other country and then have to spend years in jail without any information reaching back home. Sometimes family members may not even know that their kin have landed in jail on the other side of border. Recently, a Gujarat fisherman Deva Ram Baraiya died in a Karachi jail and his family has yet to receive any official communication from any of the two governments or his body after three months have elapsed. Another two fishermen, also from Gujarat, Dana Arjun Chauhan and Rama Mansi Gohil, suffering from various ailments, were released at the Wagha border. One can imagine the travails of their arduous journey back home covering thousands of kilometers on both sides of border. The two countries must make public such list of each other’s prisoners and ensure their early release preferably through a shorter route. For people who may find it difficult to get a passport made or obtain a visa if the daily evening military ceremony at Wagha-Attari border is replaced by a Peace Park and people from across the border are allowed to meet freely for a couple of hours every day merely by depositing one of their identity cards and under a suitable security apparatus, the event would serve a great purpose. Such peace parks could be created on all openings along the border. Finally, drawing inspiration from North Korea it is important that China, India and Pakistan should give up their nuclear weapons to make Asia a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and safe for all people of region and the world.
About 500 signatures were collected during the march on the abovementioned issues addressed to Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan.

The peace march received a major boost when PM Narendra Modi’s wife Jashodaben decided to join the march on 23 June for about half an hour in the morning to express her solidarity. She whole heartedly supported the idea of peace and friendship with Pakistan and thought that the killing of soldiers was avoidable. Jashodaben’s endorsement also had a soothing effect on the people subscribing to jingoistic variety of nationalism who were raising questions about the goals of the march. Jashodaben and her borther Ashok Modi also signed the statement of the march.
A demand was raised during the march at Balisana, where about hundred families have relatives in Karachi, to open a Pakistani Consulate at Ahmedabad so that they would be saved the trouble of long distance travel and going to Delhi to obtain their visas.

Baldev Nath Bapu, head priest of temple in Devdarbar, belonging to Lohana (Thakkar) community hosted the peace march during day time on 26 June, 2018, described his experience of travel to Pakistan in October 2017 for about a month. He is building a hospital in Salemkot from the donations he received from his followers in Pakistan. He refuted the allegations that Hindus are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan and temples are destroyed there. He said on record that not once during his month long stay there he received any complaints like these. He said that in Pakistan people are talking about the possibility of Suigam-Nagarparkar route to be opened by 2020 or 2022.

Earlier in Totana the march paid its respect to Sadaram Bapu, aged over hundred years, who has played an important part in preserving communal harmony in the area. It appears that spiritual gurus have a role in maintaining peace and harmony along the Gujarat-Sind border.
At a closing event of the march in Ahmedabad peace activists from Pakistan Karamat Ali and Saeeda Diep joined over internet and interacted with the marchers and their supporters. Entrepreneur Piyush Desai of Wagh Bakri tea company was so overwhelmed with the idea of march that he has decided to hold weekly meetings at Gandhi Ashram to promote the philosophy of peace and communal harmony.

A letter has been written to Narendra Modi on behalf of the India Pakistan Friendship and Peace March to start a bus service between Ahmedabad and Karachi similar to the one started by former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee between Delhi and Lahore.

India and Pakistan have been overtaken by Bangladesh in social indices like literacy, malnourishment, sanitation, fertility rate, health status of children and women, women empowerment primarily because the former two countries have invested heavily in defence, including the development of dangerous nuclear weapons, whereas Bangladesh has judiciously concentrated on improving the general condition of its women and children. The security for common people comes from fulfillment of their basis needs. Nuclear weapons at best protect the vested interested of the ruling elite. How is our nuclear weapon providing security to a child dying of hunger or a farmer committing suicide? If we don’t take care of the basic needs of people of what use are the pompous weapons for common people?

India and Pakistan must bury their differences and resolve all their outstanding disputes amicably through dialogue and give peace a chance.

Sandeep Pandey Visiting Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, e-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/
 

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In all the chest beating and muscle flexing over Pakistan and its transgressions at the Line of Control, one object has made its way back into Indian politics: the bangle. On Tuesday, veteran Congress leader Kapil Sibal invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to remove your bangles and show what you can do”. He also referred to a speech made by Smriti Irani, now textile minister, at a rally in Indore in 2013, after another incident where an Indian soldier at the Line of Control had been killed and mutilated. Irani had offered to send Manmohan Singh, who was prime minister then, a gift bangles for failing to take appropriate action. The tables had turned now, was Sibal’s triumphant point.

The gift of bangles suggests the old Hindi phrase “chudiyan pehen lo”, which means that those not cut out for a job should stay at home. Like women do, naturally. Bangles have long been a favoured ornament in Indian politics. In 2014, after Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti conducted an impromptu raid on Ugandan women living in Delhi’s Khirki Extension, BJP legislator RP Singh saw fit to hurl bangles and lipstick at him. The BJP had then defended the act by saying it was not meant to be “derogatory”. It wouldn’t be, of course, in a political culture where leadership is measured by the size of one’s chest (56 inches is ideal) and voters are told to choose the “vikas purush” over the “videshi bahu”, the Man of Progress over the Foreign Daughter-in-Law.

Femininity, the wearing of bangles, the exercise of restraint and moderation, is associated with weakness or incompetence. The BJP has frequently, but not exclusively, been guilty of peddling a gendered politics that boils down to this: masculinity good, femininity bad, unless sterilised into certain acceptable forms. And when it comes to Pakistan, all the toxic masculinity stored up in our politics roars to life. Even female politicians have learnt to speak its language. Around the time Irani was offering bangles to Manmohan Singh, Sushma Swaraj, who was then the leader of the Opposition, was demanding 10 Pakistani heads for the head of one Indian soldier. Peace at the LoC looked like a remote prospect then, as it does now.

This article was first published on Scroll.in.

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The 52 poems in “Suspected Poems” are written by Gulzar in his inimitable style and reflect and comment, sometimes elliptically through a visual image and sometimes with breathtaking immediacy and directness, on the political reality in the country today.
The poems, originally written in Hindi, have been translated into English by Pavan K Varma.

In the poem “There’s Nothing New in New Delhi”, Gulzar says, “There is nothing really new in New Delhi/ Except that every five years a new government comes in/ And converts old issues to new schemes./ Opening scabbards anew /They unsheathe again all the rusted laws/ That can cut neither grass, nor necks!”

“Gulzar Sahib writes poetry of an order that has few parallels today. His poems are, therefore, hardly ‘suspect’! So when he told me that the next volume of his poems would be called ‘Suspected Poems’, I was both amused and intrigued,” says Varma, who has translated three other volumes of Gulzar’s poems.

“But, this is the first time I have worked on a collection that is ‘suspected’! As always, there is a method to Gulzar’s occasionally elliptical genius. To my mind, these poems are all part of a specific genre. That genre relates both to larger public issues and to politics.

“It is not as though Gulzar has not poetically commented on developments in this area in the past. But, for the first time perhaps, all the poems in a volume by him are organically animated by this theme. It would be devaluing Gulzar’s poetic sophistication to believe that he might pen a polemical or partisan lyric on issues of national concern,” he says.

The poem on Kalburgi reads: “He did not die… The person who died and lies on the threshold Is someone else…”

Another one on news titles “The Same News” goes: “Every day the same newspaper column/ Gulps of the same brackish news/ Every day the same mouthful of promises/ Sentences dissected/ Each word chewed again and again.”

There are two poems on Babri and Ayodhya in the book, published by Penguin Random House.

The one on Babri reads: “From the smoke that rises daily/ A part of the sky/ Now remains black the whole day/ Only pariah kites hover above./ Families of vultures sit/ On some half-charred trees below/ Their stomachs bloated;/ Amidst the heaps of garbage lying around/ Heads on ice-cold corpses smoulder/ As the animals of dusk/ Fight for every bone of rotting limbs/ Whoever can sink their teeth in first/ Has the right over that piece of flesh./ Who was the one who struck the first blow of the axe?/ Yes, this indeed is that piece of land/ Which till yesterday was also a home to some god!”

In “Ayodhya”, Gulzar writes: “Where he once lived Is a very small town now;/ Now he is spread across the sky/ Like the light of the sun;/ I came to Ayodhya to see his ‘janmabhoomi’./ Surrounded by iron bars/ He sits behind strong barricades/ Listening to people now…/ Hordes of people come to see him;/ If you go too close/ The sentry on duty/ Pushes the crowd back with his gun./ He was an avatar once – / But looks completely like a minister today/ Not moving an inch without security!”

The topics of the other poems range from Indo-Pak relations, border posts, neighbours and Karachi to traffic jam, procession, Ramzan and newspapers, to high heels, kabaddi, blood test and tattoo.

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

The post Gulzar’s new book of poems: From Kalburgi to Ayodhya appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Today’s report in the Dawn said that during a weekly press briefing in Islamabad, Zakaria was responding to the queries about the victory of Trump in the presidential elections, when he accepted the offer by the president-elect.
 
The FO reportedly said Pakistan desires a close relationship with the US, and wishes to strengthen ties in areas like economy, defence, science and technology, education, strategic issues and counter-terrorism.
 
Pakistan will continue to promote and strengthen existing ties in areas of common interest, the FO said, according to Dawn. 
 
Before his election victory, on October 17, Trump had said that in an interview with Hindustan Times, that he’d be “honoured” to achieve peace between the two countries. 
 
“If it (mediation) was necessary I would do that. If we could get India and Pakistan getting along, I would be honoured to do that. That would be a tremendous achievement… I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator,” said Trump.
 
He had also called the cross-border tension between India and Pakistan a “very, very hot tinderbox”.
 
However, because of his statements during a charity event hosted by Hindu Republic Coalition, Pakistan was reportedly wary that he may favour India, if he meddled. During the event he had said that India and the US would be “best friends” if he became the president, and the two countries would have a “phenomenal future” together.  
 
“There isn’t going to be any relationship more important to us,” he had said.
 
Following his election as the president of the US, Pakistani political experts have expressed their concern over Trump’s possible favoritism towards India. His anti-Muslim rhetoric is expected to play an important role in US’ relationship with Islamic countries. 
 
"America will not abandon Pakistan, but definitely, Trump will be a tougher president than Hillary Clinton for Pakistan," Dawn quoted Hasan Askari Rizvi, Lahore-based foreign policy analyst. "I think India will have a better and smoother interaction compared to Pakistan."
 
However, a US diplomat assured that there will be no drastic change in US’ foreign policy. “Our foreign policy is based on national interest and they don't change when the government changes,” Grace Shelton, U.S. Consul General in Karachi, told Geo News television.

Against this backdrop, the ‘welcoming’ of Trump’s offer to settle issues between India and Pakistan by the Pakistan’s FO might not go down well with the Pakistanis.

Also read: Will India Turn Off the Indus Tap?
 

The post Pakistan Official welcomes Trump’s offer to mediate between India and Pakistan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Interview with D. Raghunandan

The 1960 Indus water treaty between India and Pakistan is among the most liberal water-sharing pacts in the world. Under the treaty, India has exclusive rights over the eastern rivers and their tributaries while Pakistan, over the western ones. After the recent Uri attack, there is now a clamour to use the pact to teach Pakistan a lesson. Despite three wars between the neighbours, the treaty has remained intact. Chances of repealing the agreement remain slim. India could cut water supply to Pakistan, but it does not have enough storage capacity, therefore the risk of flooding its own territory. Also, repealing the treaty will further exacerbate the situation in Kashmir. Will India take this risk?

Image: Dawn

The post Will India Turn Off the Indus Tap? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

कश्‍मीर और पाकिस्‍तान भारतीय समाचार चैनलों का प्रिय शगल है। नफ़रत और जंग भारतीय टीवी पत्रकारों का प्रिय विषय। इसीलिए जब कभी मौका मिलता है, भारतीय टीवी चैनलों के पत्रकार अपनी रचनात्‍मकता दिखाने से नहीं चूकते।

कश्‍मीर के उरी में सेना के कैंप पर हुए हमले में मारे गए भारतीय फौजियों के जवाब में क्‍या किया जाना है, यह दिल्‍ली के साउथ ब्‍लॉक के दिमाग में भले अब तक साफ़ न हो लेकिन भारत का टीवी पत्रकार इस बारे में कोई दो राय नहीं रखता। उसका दिमाग एकदम साफ़ है- बदला!

मंगलवार को समाचार चैनलों का प्राइम टाइम भारत और पाकिस्‍तान के बीच युद्ध अभ्‍यास के नज़ारे से कम नहीं था। एक से एक वादे और एक से एक दावे। एक से एक नुस्‍खे और एक से एक कविताई।

कोई पाकिस्‍तान के सैनिकों को कूड़े में जलाने की बात कर रहा है। कोई उसके एटम बम को फुस्‍सी बता रहा है। कोई कह रहा है कि प्रधानमंत्री ने हमले की मंजूरी दे दी है। कोई सीधे हमला करने का आह्वान कर रहा है। कोई कह रहा है कि पाकिस्‍तान का एक चक्‍कर लगा लेने से इंसान आतंकवादी बन जाता है। कोई भारत का सुरक्षा कवच गिनवा रहा है तो कोई भारत की बदला मशीन के बारे में बता रहा है।

कुल मिलाकर बात यह समझ में आ रही है कि ज़मीन पर जंग हो न हो, समाचार चैनल अपने दर्शकों को जंग का आनंद ज़रूर दिलवा कर रहेंगे।

आज तक पर अब तक 18 के बदले 14 का हिसाब बराबर किया जा चुका है। केवल चार जानें और चाहिए खून के प्‍यासे इस मीडिया की प्‍यास मिटाने को। जब तक उसकी प्‍यास बुझे, आइए तस्‍वीरों में देखते हैं कि किस चैनल ने दुनिया के दो अहम देशों को जंग की आग में झोंकने के लिए कैसी रचनात्‍मकता दिखाई, क्‍या नुस्‍खे सुझाए, क्‍या दावे किए और कल्‍पना की कितनी ऊंची उड़ान भरी।
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SONY DSC

This article was first published on Media Vigil
 

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