Ethnic violence in India: assam, Bodos, Bangladesh Muslims and thge Indian State

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books Ethnic violence on a large scale has broken out in the North Eastern state of Assam, India. This state has witnessed frequent outbreaks of violence between indigenous tribal groups, the Bodos on the one hand and migrants from Bangla desh, Bengali Muslims on the other. The stast government which is controlled by the Congress Party which also is the dominant faction in the UPA, the coalition in power, has abetted in the illegal settlement of Bangla Deshis in the bordering districts, particularly Khokrajar District, as the Muslims tend to vote for the Congress Party. By playing on the fears of the illegal migrants and by pandering to identity politics of the worst kind the Congress has been able to remain in power. Tarun Gogoi, the presnt Chief Minister, was recently reelected to power. The indigenous tribal population is under increasing pressure and tribal lands are falling into the hands of the migrant population and Bodos feel threatened and vulnerable. The State Government is usually intervenes on the side of the migrant population. The border between India and Bangla Desh is extremely porous and large scale illegal immigration is taking place. The Central Government which signed an Accord with the All Assam Students Union which led an agitation against the illegal immigrants, some 20 years back, committed itself to the detection, deletion, and detention of illegal; immigrants from Bangla Desh. However, given the fact that India is a soft state, the Accord was not ever implemented and the situation has further escalated. The more militant among the Muslim migrants from Bangla Desh who receive arms and training from Pakistan have begun a campaign of terror against the Bodos. This is not to say that the Bodos are a peaceable lot. However, the Bodos are being symptomatically attacked and driven from their land and consequently more than 250,000 Bodos have been displaced from their villages and are living in refugee camps. Over the past 3 to 4 weeks a silent tragedy has been unfo9lding in Assam. Bodos are being evicted from their settlements and the Central Government is both unable and unwilling to do anything about it. The State Government as I said earlier is alo9s under the Congress and the Party relies on the votes of the illegal migrants and hence the state government is also quiet. Ethnic cleansing over large swathes of Bodo land has been taking place over the past 40 to 50 years and now the Bodos living in the very heartland of Bodoland, Khokrajar District, are being terrorized. Post Colonial states as V S Naipaul keeps reminding us ever so often are half made societies and are tethering on the brink of chaos. I think the people of Assam are paying dearly for their foolishness in voting the Congress Party to power ans Assam now is awash in blood and only the Congress is responsible for the violence and bloodshed.

LYNDOH COMMISSION AND ELECTIONS TO STUDENT COUNCILS IN INDIA UNIVERSITIES

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The Supreme Court has asked Indian Univesities to conduct elections for student unions in all universities by the 31st of August. The Lyndoh Commission Report has been takern as the foundational text for the conduct of the elections. This move on the part of the Suprme Court is a retrogate step and needs to be contested. Politics in India is not only criminalised but depends to a large extent on money power. Though a limit of Rs 5,000 has been set for the election expenses, I am sure that each candidaste will spend a few hundred times thast amount. Political parties will now claw their way into the portals of Indian universities and that will affect the academic culture of the institution. Political parties bring with them decripit ideologies. I can imagine SFI goons behaving as if they own the Campus intimidating everryone who disagrees with them. I think it will be ablack day for Indian universities when elections are conducted. The Lyndoh Commission has also spelled out the modalities of holding the election: direct election or indirect election. Obviously indirect elections are better because to a certain extent it circumscribes the legitimacy of the student leaderrship. In the University where I teach the Vice Chancellor, an extremely able and talented administrator and a noted geophysicist, decided to have 50% reservation for women. Our University is therefore more propressive than even the Indian Parliament which has not passd the Women's Reservation Bill. Of course women will be easier to handle than men and will not take to the streets at the drop of the proverbial hat. Indirect election also provides ways and means to check the reclacitrant elements among the student community. The deadline set by the Supreme Court expires on the 31st of August and the elections are to be held before that date. The more political among the Faculty are pressing for Propotional representation on the ground that the Schools with more students should have more representatives on the student Council. Perhaps these worthies are unaware that in the US Constitution each state has only 2 members and the rationale for that is to avoid the tyranny of the brute majority. And like in the Mandal castes, the propotional representation cvan be easily manipulated. In spite of my fervent appeal not to admit propotional representation, the Vice Chancellor thought that it was "democratic". Since the ration between the number of elected representative vis a vis the total population of the electorate will fluctuate on the basis of student intake, propotional representation is inhertently undemocratic and like in the Indian case open to misuse. The invasion of the political parties in a most unwholsesome step and the Supreme Court has taken a giant step backward without quite understanding the ground realities. This will increas campus violence and the learning atmosphere will be affected.

INDIAN TECHIE TURNS GIRL KILLER IN THE US; THE PAWAN KUMAR EPISODE

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and booksThe Indian outsourcing Industry has already become a hot subject of debate in the American presidential elections. Obama keeps screaming that the Indians are taking away jobs from Americans and US comapnies are getting tax breaks for shipping "jobs" overseas. I do not know whether there is truth in this argument but I do know that the Indian "soft ware" industry is becoming too intense a space for some of the young people from backward social and economic classes to handle. Let me explain. Companies like the famous INFOSYS, Cognizant, TCS among others are all doing bit jobs for the US service sector; and ofcourse it earns India nearly 169 billion US dollars every year. Young Indians straight out of college, most of them first generation educated from small towns study courses tailor msde for this sector: in Indian Universities we offer courses like MCA (Masters in Computer Applications) MS in Information Technology and B Tech Electrical and Electronic Engeneering. All these courses are all body shop courses tailor made to qualify young Indians to work in the only growth sector in the indian economy viz. the service sector more specifically the soft ware sector. The young men and women who enter the job market find themselves in secure jobs and they earn by Indian standards lots of money:cars, fast track life, pubs, night life are all part and parcel of the social life of a young Indian. In conservative India where marriages are still "arranged" with parents consent, the soft ware professionals are pioneers in "living together" and recently ther Domestic Violence Bill was amended by the indian parliament to ensure a semblance of legality to such live in relationships should they fracture and end in domestic abuse and violence. I am saying all this to drive home the argument that the ready and steady cash together with the target oriented stressed filled lives has resulted in "soft ware' professionals both men and women taking drugs and alcholol as stress busters. Add to this is the attraction of foreigh travel and assignments. In my younger days we could dream of seeing the USA only if we went there for the Ph D program as I did. Nowadays "software" professionals travel quite easily to several locations during the course of the year. Stressed work atmosphere, fairly comfortable disposable income, limited education (by education I do not mean a degree from self financing institutions) and first generation up ward mobility particularly from ths SC segment of the Indian population and the Backward sections has resulted in creating a personality which is driven vy violence. Software professionals kill in the most brutal and calculaterd manner. An employee of INFOSYS killed his wife when she was expecting thieir first child, another killed his wife and hid her body in a freezer for nearly 7 months another drove his car to the outskrits of Mysore and tried to burn his wifes body in the car itself. Such examples can be multipled. Young semi-literate Indian men possessing MCA and such technical qualifications fill the high tech cubicles of the soft ware segment. From this benighted class we have one particular individual: Pawan Kumar Anjaiah an employee of Cognizant one of the several bodyshops of the Indian software industry. He was sent to New Jersey in March 2012 from Bangalore, Karnataka. Yes the very palce that gave a new verb to American English "banglored" meaning losing ther job because of out sourcing. This young man seems to have come from the typical lower middle class which is upwardly mobile has the right caste credentials to get Education loans, bank guarntees and socially engineered admission to Engeneering Colleges. This man men a young American woman Danielle Melhalm who was a teacher in a schooland thr mother of a 4 year old boy. Apparently he was either infactuated with her or caught the wrong signals from this man. Pawan Kumar took her to a motel in Delaware and killed her in the most brutal manner. Hert bbody bearing more than 30 stab injuries. This man bought s lsrge meat cleaver from the local department store in the morning which clearly proves his intention to kill. He took her to the motel killed her and fled. The CCTV both in the Motel and in the Deparment Store caught his picture and soon the US law enorcement was on his trail. In India he would have called up a politicallyn powerful MP from his OBC caste and thr police would just ignore the crime. Probably he was used to this tradition of law enorcemnet. In anycase when he heard from the local Television channel that the police had traked him down he killed himself by consuming sleeping pills. This is the real story. The Indian media, as usual tried to black out the fact that Pawn was a criminal who had killed a woman. The media tried to make it appear as if an innocent Indian who had met an unfortunate death in the USA was being hounded by the authorities even after death. I am writing this blog to educate all my readers about the truth. My suggestions: US Embassy must do the background check on soft ware professionals. This particular boy has had a reputation of violence even in his college days. Comapnies sending their employees overseas must teach them the fundamentals of US culture. Americans interact in a different manner and semi-literate Indians might get the wrong cues.

PAKISTAN'S SUPREME COURT SETE A VERY BAD PRECEDENT

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books Pakistan at best is a state trying to imitate the protocols of democracy with all the external trappings: it has a written constitution, a bi-cameral legislature, a senate, a cabinet and a supreme court. In the history of Pakistan the Judiciary has at best played a passive role and has not stood up to the Army which is breathing down the necks of people. During the 1970s we saw the ugly spectacle of Shri Zulfikar Ali Bhutto being sentenced to death and hanged on ther most flimsy of grounds. The Pakistani Judiciary was nand in glove with Zia-ul-Naq's regime and carried out a judicial assasination. Till this day there are doubts about the legality of the process and until the Supreme Court overturns the Bhutto judgement it cannot be called "supreme". President Asaf Ali Zardari, the beneficiary of his wife's brutal killing is known to be corrupt and like our criminal politicians has stashed away money in Swiss banks. There is no doubt about that. However as President of Pakistan he does enjoy immunity from procecution and this principle of immunity is a well known aspect of political and legal theory. In fact the history of this principle goes back to the English Civil War when Cromwell decided to have Charles I executed for treason, high crimes and misdemenours. "Cut off his head with the crown on it" Cromwell is said to have remarked when his attention was drawn to the "immunity" enjoyed by the Crown. Now thew Prime Minister of Pakistan is responsible to Parliament and not to the Supreme Court. The chief Justice of Pakistan, Iktihar Choudhary is no stranger to factional and institutional squabbles. The same PPP which today has fallen victim to the judicial coup of the chief Justice supported the agitation for ther reinstatement of this Judge when he was sacked by the former Presideny thr wise and sagacious Parvez Musharaf, the best Presideny Pakistan has ever had. Now the PPP must be rueing its own stupidity when it is hoist on its own petard. Of course, action must be taken to bring back the ill gotten wealth and Pakistan could learn a lesson or two from India. Here we have a Mahatma called Baba Ramdev who is inspiring the people to fight corruption. In Pakistan the mad mullahs who run the country will not let any civil society movement take root. So you will only have army coups, judicial coups and palace coups in Pakistan. The removal of the Prime Minister Yousaf Ali Gelani will certainly weaken the roots of an already withering Democracy. The USA is launching drone strikes by the dozens against targets in Pakistan killing a large number of militants and scores of civilians. This judicial coup will only make matters worse for the political class.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S PLAY STATION WAR

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books In most parts of the world children learn the alphabet by association letter A with "Apple" or something innocent. In parts of the world children learn the alphabet by reciting A is for AK-47 and D is for "Drone". USA has emerged as the world largest and most determined practitioner of "play station warfare" in which operators sitting in gaming consoles in Fairfax, Virginia, determine who should live and who should die in parts of the non-white world--particularly Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. While George W Bush started using drones to target al-Qaeda operatives, it was the present President Barack Obama who expanded the scope and intensity of drone attacks. Not a week passes without a drone attack and in each strike scores of civilians are killed and USA has no answer for the large scale destruction of human lives it is causing in parts of the non-White world. The rhetoric of Islamic Terrorism is sometimes deployed to obscure the fact that the victims of the drone attacks are non-white, non-combatants for the most part. Now there are people who argue that drone attacks are a variant of "targetted assasinations" and Israel is known to have used this method. In the case of Israel we can say that there are mitigating circumastances and even targetted assasinations are launched only after the identity of the chosen victim has been firmly identified. In the case of Israel there has been only one case of mistaken identity so far and Israel uses its field operatives to carry out the strikes. To the best of my knowledge Israel has not used drones though it drops bomb on Gaza whenever its airforce needs target practice. So I ma making out a distiction between targetted killings ordered by the State and massive, extensive and non discriminatory killing by drones. The US constitution does not empower its Commander-in-chief to order the killing of human beings on the presumption that they are "Islamic terrorists". In fact pre-emptive attack is explicitly outlawer by International law. So far nearly 3,000 persons have been killed by drone attacks and over 80% of the victims were civilain non combatants. USA has a term for such casualities" Collateral damage. USA has been less than honest in its public statements about the casualities of drone warfare. All males from 1 year to 100 years are counted as "terrorists" and by this ingenous calculation declares to the rest of the world that its drones have largely killed terrorists. In fact if USA kills terrorists by the truck load no one will complain, least of all this blogger. However, the vast majority of those killed happen to be combatnats. In fact, George W Bush was far more circumspect in his use of drones and he ordered during the course of 8 years less than a dozen strikes. Now Barack Obama has extended the definition of drone warfare to include suspicious pattern of activity. This expansion in the definition of the policy has resulted in several social gatherings being targetted. The mountain people of Waziristan and Afghanistan being a rumbustious lot often fire their weapons in the air as a sign ofsocial acceptance. This kind of exuberance has often led to the wedding celebrations being targetted. The result large scale death and a devastated society. And Barack Obama had critisised precisely the drone strikes of President Bush during his campaign and now it appears that Obama is Bush on steriods as David Miller observed. Drone warfare has extended the powers of the US president to each and every part of the world and no one is safe. The lack of accountability in the execution of drone warfare is another disturbing feature. A group of middle level NIA operatives prepare a list of potential targets and there is absolutely no Congressional or political scrutiny over the entire process. I request the US Congress to hold special hearings on Drone Warfare and let the Obama Administration explain to the American people the guidelines on the basis of which targets are delected and the political oversight, if any on the actual process of carrying out the attacks. The drone warfare has turned into a publicity bonanza for the al-qaeds and its affiliates because with each strike the number of potential recruits keeps rising.

KOCHI, THE QUEEN OF THE ARABIAN SEA; MY HEART IS IN KOCHI

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books As our plane descended over Kochi, my daughter said "look Papa. solar panels everywhere. The people of Kochi must be energy conscious". I looked down and saw shimmering in the sunlight bright sheets of steel. Later we learned that the roofs of houses in Koch had a sheltered space for drying clothes during the long monsoon season which lasts nearly 4 months. The drive from the airport to Palavivattom where we stayed was thrilling, the road clean and the traffic manageable. We stayed in Hotel Rennai Cochin, a well maintained hotel will all modern amenities. Of all the cities that I have visited, I think Kochi is by far the most interesting and though my stay was short, I loved every minute of it. Cochin has a long history and everywhere the past creeps up and confronts the visitor. The island on which the port of Cochin stands was the creation of a natural disaster in the fourteenth century which reshaped the coastline of Kerala. The Portuguese were the first to arrive here and in 1661 were driven out by the Dutch who controlled the valuable spice trade of the Travancore kingdom for nearly 132 years. On January 8th 1663 the Dutch seized Fort Kochi and the Queen of the Arabian Sea had to compete with other suitors for the attention of the Dutch Administration. Batavia and Cape Town were prefereed by the Gentleman XVII of the VOC. In 1741 the Dutch were defeated in the Battle of Calachel and the English became the dominant power in the Malabar region, though the power of the English was contested by the rising garrison states of Travancore and Mysore. The prosperity of the town is reflected in the many Dutch buildings that festoon Fort Cochin. The "pepper highway" brought huge profits to the European companies creating problems for the Mappillas, the Malabar Muslim community, who slowly faced economic stagnation as a direct consequence of the monopoly over the pepper trade established by the Dutch, the Portuguese and finally by the English. The history of Cochin's encounter with the resurgent Europe is found everywhere, particularly in Fort Cochin and Bolghotty Island. We started our tour of Cochin with a visit to the Sacred Heart College, Thevara, in which I had some official work. The College is well maintained.

Cochin is famous all over the world for the small community of Jews who migrated to this port town to escape persecution during the frequent outbreaks of violence against them in Europe. India can be proud of the fact that when Europenas were killing Jews as recently as the German Holocaust in the 1940s, India protected and patronised the jewish population. Unfortunately the silly policies of Nehru di8d not enable India to develop good ties with Israel. The Jewish quarter is replete with history.

The shops alongside the Jewish Synagogue are full of interesting alcoves where one probably can get genuine antiques if one's pocket is deep enough. The churches of Cochin are a marvel. One of the oldest churches in Southern India is located in Cocin. The Santa Cruz Basilica which was constructed by the Portuguese is an architectural marvel.

The seascape around Kochi has now become nerve center of oil terminals, container docks, ship building platforms, naval yard and a score of other unlovely things. Yet the Arabian Sea around Kochi retains a grandeur that is best witnessed when one takes the boat ride around the harbor. Kochi has some incredibly beautiful spots and the area around the High Court is one such.

The beauty of the buildings, the historical sites of memory, the grandeur of the sea around Kochi will linger long after one has left this beautiful city. My daughter, her friend Divya and Sandesh visited an elephnat training camp and here are the pictures:

Like all good things in life our trip to Kochi too came to an end. We a heavy heart my daughter and I packed our bags and returned to Pondicherry. But we took back from Kochi memories that will live in our hearts forever. KOCHI YOU ARE THE QUEEN OF THE ARABIAN SEA

Kerala, Violence, Piracy and the past

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The killing of two fishermen by Italian marines on the High Seas has led to a diplomatic row between India and Italy. In spite of the Congress dominated UPA Government giving contradictory evidence, the judicial process is still on track. The recent killing of T P Chandrasekaran has brought home to large sections of the Indian public that God's Own Country is rife with violence and Kerala with the highest rate o9f suicide and literacy must reflect on its own past to understand the reality it faces. The so called Communist faction dominated politics has given the state a thin veneer of sophistication which is wearing thin every passing day. Kerala historians eager to please their party bosses create a history which ignores the reality of Kerala's past. Thus the very questioning of the senseless acts of violence indulged by the Mappillas of Malabar during their frequent outrages will be branded by the so called progressive historians of Kerala as a reactionary/communal interpretation. Indian historiography is still stuck in the prehistory or Jurassic park of polemic and abuse rather than seasoned discourse. I think al_beruni was absolutely right when he said that Indians do not have a sense of history. The killing of the two fishermen ought to provide a moment of reflection: Is the Malabar Coast piracy prone and what reputation does the coast of Malabar enjoy in existing historical sources. The Malabar region and the seas adjoining Calicut have the reputation of being the most pirate infested through out history. K N Panikkar and other Pannikkars following him do not want to admit that piracy was an important aspect of the Malabar economy through out history. Since Kerala did not have a highly developed Governmental institutions we can say that piracy operated in tandem with landed and merchant groups especially during the late medieval period when the price of pepper rose in the international market. Some even glirify piracy as resistance to the Portuguese naval power. During the so-called "Sangam Age" which is only a literary culture, Kerala is said to have had extensive trade with the rst of the world, particularly the Roman world. The Roman Empire had extended upto Egypt and Alexandria became an entrepot for Indian exports. Pliny the Elder whose statement about the gold being drained by India because of Roman thirst for luxuries from mthe Orient is known to every school boy, also lamented that Malabar was full of pirates. The records from the Cairo Geniza, the Jewish depository for paper containing the name of Jaw eh, has a document that record the plight of a Jewish trader who was robbed twice on the way to India and back. Both times he blames the pirates of Malabar. Marco Polo very eloquently records the presence of pirates in Malabar and cautions people from going there. From Maghreb, we have the famous Ibn Battuta who said that Malbari pirates were rife in the coastal region of Calicult where he landed. Ibn Battuta was attacked by 12 warships and the envoy to Vijayanagara from Moscovy, Nikitin also compalined of pirates in the seas around Calicut and Kochi. From the Portuguese period onwards we get the chronicles of Barbossa and Tompires which speak of pirates harassing the Portuguese shipping. Of course by this time Portugal had acquired virtual stranglehold on the pepper trade and the Mappilla traders were reduced in economic status as a consequence. It is in this set of changed circumstances that the statecraft of Zainuddin al Malbari must be viewed. He wanted a grand alliance of all India kings against Portugal. Instead of fabricating progressive history it would be far better if historians of kerala start looking at Piracy as a factor that shaped the social and economic life of people of Malabar.