Salman Taseer's Killing in Kasaabistan

think the holy land of Pakistan can be rechristened, at least by those living in India as Kasaabistan. After all the holy warrior who killed 186 people on 26/11/2008 came from there. I have decided to call Pakistan as Kasaabistan and I would urge all like mined people to rename Pakistan as Kasaabistan. They are obviously proud of his heroics in India that they are unable or unwilling to bring the perpetrators of that horrific crime to justice. In fact the gunning down of the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer has been hailed as an act of a Gazi by the Kasaabistan press and I would like to reflect on that killing.

The civil society in Kasaabistan has disintegrated under the twin pressures of religious militancy and political and ethnic tension. If you remember what I had written when Benazir Bhutto was killed, I had said then and I repeat now that civilian rule will only make things worse in the country. The politicians do not enjoy any credibility in Kasaabistan and hence the Army has to step in. Even now the country is run by the military with Mr 10% and his gang from the PPP acting as frontmen. It is in India's interest to help the country along the path of total civil and economic chaos. Unfortunately the Indian Government has no long term plan except provide some guns and training to Baluchi terrorist who have turned to India not out of love for India but out of hatred for the mohajirs and Punjabis who actually run Kasaabistan.

The country was founded on the premise of religious identity and so for the Indian media to go looking for secular liberals in Kasaabistan is an absurdity. Salman Taseer was the darling of the Indian media. He courted and abandoned an Indian woman who very bravely went on to bear his child. How did Salman Taseer treat the young man when he tried to meet up with him in Rawalpindi. Read Stranger to History and find out for yourself.

I do not think that a country like Kasaabistasn can call itself a civilised society with men armed with guns killing each other and women in burqas blowing themselves up as suicide bombers. As long as religion dominates their thinking they will remain barbarous and violent and we should help them achieve extinction. Sooner the better.

WikiLeaks and the Freedom of Expression

One of the fundamental values that USA and the West propounded in its sustained campaign against the erstwhile USSR was the fact that dissent and freedom of expression is regarded as sacrosant in Western society. Now the fact that the Chinese dissedent who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year is regarded as a hero by large sections of world public opinion is a tribute to the propaganda machinery that worked overtime to impress upon the world that dissent is not tolerated in the People's Republic of China and all totalitarian regimes stifle dissent using state power and the administrrative machinery.

Now compare the plight of Julian Assange the whistle blower who has exposed a large number of US diplomatic cables on his website. I do not think that the US foreign policy has been in any way undermined by the disclosures made by WiliLeaks. On the contrary, the world has only learnt to appreciate US statecraft in a difficult period in international, affairs. The fact that the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia are edginmg the USA to bomb the Iranians does not come as a surprise to anyone as the Saudis are known for their duplicity and perfidy. The fact that Saudis are finacing terror networks wedded to the Sunni cause is again no great revalationmmas the we were aware of this all through. Yes, the fact that the Yemenis are willing to lie to their Parliament about the USA bombing and taking "credit" for using the airforce against their own people, came as a nig surprise even by the street smart logic of the Middle East. So far it was Israel which aws held up as the sole reason for all the unrest in the region. WikiLeaks has abundantly exposed the fact that the Sunni rtegimes of the region are also contributing in no small measure to the destablisation in the Middle East. Cynicism is OK provided it is backed by realpolitik.

Julian Assange has exposed the cables from the field and no more. Like the Pentagon Papers he has put into public domain certain facts and those facts in no way compromise the safety or security of USA. The US right wing aided by some Democrats like Joe Libberman want to impose limits on whitle blowing using the outdated Espionage Act which does not cover the situation being discussed. The US Government has issued a diorective that federal staff cannot even see the wikileak site and some Universities have even blocked access to the site. When the Chinese do such uncivilised things the cry goes up that dissent is not tolerated. Why practice double standards in such fundamental matters as freedom of expression. The USA has mounted a world wide campaign to cut off funding for the site. In what matter is this different from what the Chinese Government did vis a vis Google. Sweden has even filed a case of sexual,assault on Julian Assange. It seems for the USA public enemy number UNO is not OSAMA but Assange

Lobby Girl Journalism of Burkha Dutt and NDTV: Professional Misconduct in evidence

I have always been extremely critical of the kind of phony journalism represented by Burkha Dutt and her ilk who are patronised by NDTV. I have already written about the manner in which Burka Dutt was awarded the Padma Shri by the UPA government and I am sure that the award was for favours rendered to powerful people in the UPA. The fashionably strident line taken against the BJP itself is a dead giveaway. The BJP is not given the same sort of kid glove treatment that the Congress and the Gandhi Dynasty receive. The BJP will have to be portrayed as a wayward party unfit to govern and all the crimes of the Congress including the 1984 massacre of the Sikhs in New Delhi pushed under the carpet. Such lop sided journalism is not what is expected in a country that claims to have a free press. The stranglehold of the corporate interests over NDTV is evident from the fact that its coverage of the Spectrum 2-g scandal was very muted and while politics takes a large share of the time of NDTV, it hardly cares to scrutinise the corporate houses who are probably funding NDTV. I always wonder how NDTV can pay its stable of beauties masquerading as Journalists when for the past 20 years of its existence the TV has been in the red. How does the channel manage its everyday expenses and maintain a staff of white elephants including its "Group Editor" who probably can have a successful career as a corporate lobbyist.

The context of the telephonic conversation between Niira Radia and Burkha Dutt is very clear. There is a stalemate over the choice of candidates for the cabinet especially since T R Baalu's name is unacceptable to the Prime Minister. Burkah Dutt offers to telk to them meaning the Congress and lobby the Congress to get A Raja the post of Telecom Minister. I do know that the vernacular media is deeply embedded in the power structures at the state level. Now it appears that even the so-called English Press which had always fancied itself to be above the "moffusil wallah" is also part and parcel of the embedded "free press". Burkah Dutt's defence that she tweeted is also riven with contradictions. She cannot now claim that she was going along in order to extract information from Niira Radia when in reality Niira is using Burkha Dutt as a conduit to pass on information to the Congress. Jounalists cannot use their previlged position in order to pedal influence. Instead of reporting the story, Burkaha Dutt and NDTV has become part of the story, "in a sense" to use the popular phrase that Burkah drops every now and then.
Such an act of professional misconduct would have resulted in the carreer of any journalist in the western world ending. Bur Burkah Dutts and the call girl journalism of NDYV will certainly survive this and other scandals. When that woman host the popular programme WE THE PEOPLE we must ask what supreme arrogance she has to speak for the people of India. She packages the Congress point of view ans manufactures a spurious consensus for the Congress. I hope the Buck DOES NOT stop at the table of Burkah Dutt but it stops at the table of a honest, decent and law abiding journalist who exposes corruption in high places without fear or favor

Had the Chilean Mining Disaster Happened in India

The Government of Chile,especially the President and the Mining Minister have won the admiration of the world for the dedication with which both of them carried on with the task of rescuing the 39 trapped miners. No histrionics,no loud self congratulations,no obscene back tracking and leg pulling. The two behaved with such grace and dignity that I think the crass, corrupt criminal tribe of Indian politicos can learn a lesson or two from what happened in Chile.

This set me thinking. What would have happened if the same had happened in India. The first thing which would have been set afloat are charges and counter charges of corruption. The mining equipment was secured on the basis of a bribe, the newspapers would scream.The CBI and CVC both would have entered the fray. Never mind the men trapped underground are not in anyway helped by such obscene newspaper and jounalistic hype.

Then we have the pretty face,perky Barha Dutt woh would land on the scene "in a sense" and thrust her perky tits and mike in front of the rescuers and ask them the most inane questions, forgetting that there are real human beings involved,she would launch on a calculated tirade against the "callousness of the Indian Establishment" and in the process of humouring this b***h precious time would be lost. I cannot forget or forgive her coverage of the Kargil lWar which was done in a lop sides manner. Or can we forget the manner in which NDTV covered the Mumbai Terror attacks of 26/11when the live, streaming images helped the terrorists holed up in the Taj.

Then will be the turn of the tele intellectuals from JNU to grab the eyeballs of nations.One nattily dressed sociologist will be trotted out and he will fill the air waves with "post colonial"nonsense. The Indian State does not care for the marginalised he will thunder and the rest of us zombies will nod in silent admiration at this great wisdom displayed by this Professor of Sociology of JNU and his elite tribe. If the mining disaster had happened in a tribal area then New Delhi's resident naxalite, Arunaditi Roy will be at her eloquent best.

In the medley of charges and counter charges, allegations and posturing the men will be forgotten and will die.

Thus India will sacrife precious human lives in order to pass the buck.

China outdid itself in the Olympic Games: The Congress Party Heaps Shame on India

It is often said that India and China are rivals both in terms of economic power and soft power. While India has shown impressive growth rate of 8.2 % per annum, its political class is under the delusion that it can rival China in organizational ability and projection of the image of an emerging world power. If China can host the Olympics and make a spectacular spectacle before the wholw world, India can host the Common Wealth Games and earn some brownie points for itself. Unlike China, India has a fractured political system that inibits the delivery of any large scale goals and objectives. The entire political system, particularly the dynastic fascist Congress Party is mired in crime and corruption and India unlike China is termed a "soft power" because of its inability to deliver any of its commitments both legal and constitutional. Vested interests have eroded the very edifice of Indian polity.



The Olympic games in China were so well handled that nearly 3 months before the games were to begin the venues were finished and all facilities were ready and the world was awe struck at the majesty and impressive display of soft power that China put on. Now contrast this with India.



The India way of doing things is to create a multiplicity of agencies and offices to do the same job

and the consequent dilution of both power and responsibility facilitates large scale kickbacks and corruption. Suresh Kalmadi, a low brow politician from the ruling Congress Party was put in change of the Common Wealth Games and the India Olympic Committee was also give line responsibilities, thus both agencies took an intense dislike for each other from day one and both completed with each other to undiermine the strengths and objectives of the other. More than 2 billion US dollars (35,000 thousand crores) have been spent and the manner in which public money was squandered would even put some African kltetocracies to shame. I am not surpirised as the COngress is a Party of crime, corruption and dynasty. Even though the whole copuntry was aware of the venality with which this Kalmadi fellow asdminstered the games, he was not pulled up because he enjoyed the support of the big-wigs in the party.



The games village and other venues have an unfisnished lokk about them and are not of the standard expected of a country hoping to claim the 21st century as its own. Apart from corruption, the absolute lack of tase on the party of the organisere was evident when one Bhanot who glories in the title Secretary General of the Common Wealth Games, gave a banal press conference where he justified the shoddy work in the most barzen style. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh cannot escape responsibility because he was aware of the deplorable state of affairs but showed no interest in rectifying the situation. His Sports Minister, a formed Chief Election Commissioned Dr M S Gill was busy strutting his hour on the stage instead of ensuring that the country's nose is not ground in the dust.



The Games village is in a shabby state and even a snke has been found in one of the buildings. Many teams are now pulling out and world class atheletes are pulling out of the games.

It is better that India puts its own house in order before taking on such grand projects. The people of India must relaise that if they elect the Congress they will reap humiliation and crime.

Is Tamil a Classical Language: The Politics of Caste and Identity

In a few days time the World Classical Tamil Conference will begin in Coimbatore and everyone particularly the people of Tamil Nadu seem to be very exited about the whole tamasha. So far no one has even dared to ask the question: Does Tail, the medai tamizh popularised by the two Dravidian parties has actually impoverished the Tamil language and has made the native speakers of Tamil adhere to a very a narrowly defined ethnic and linguistic identity. The politicised linguistic identity popularised by the Dravidian movement has led to a situation that even so-called pulavars of Tamil cannot read a book printed in the Tamil language before the advent of the pure-Tamil movement launched by Professor Sunadaram Pillai and others. If you pick up any book printed in the nineteenth century you will encounter a completely language and none of the scholars of Tamil who willfully valorise only the so-callled Samgam Tamil are even in a position to read it. How can one be called a scholar in Tamil language and literature if he/she is unable to read Nalaira Divya Prabandam and other works which include the Bhakti hymns and the compositions of the Alvars. My point is that politicians cannot define the language and use a politicised linguistic consciousness to propel themselves and their families to power. The present fixation with Sanga Kala Ilakkiyam is akin to the Englishmen saying that the only English they will speak is the English of Chaucer and that all French words will be excised from the language. It does not take too much imagination to sat that English as we know will just fade away. Tamil is now in the danger of becoming a language whose utility as a vehicle of communication is now under severe stress.
A classical language is essentially a historical construct. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD there was what Sheldon Pollock in his Language of the Gods in the World of Men has called the vernacularisation of Europe. Around the same time In India too the regional languages, grammars and literature came to be developed. As the vernaculars looked back from the stand point of the humanist Renaissance of the 14ht or 15th century they saw in Latin the roots of their own language, particularly the written form which the vernaculars took in the 8th or 9yth century precisely the time from when regional cultures developed in India. It make sense to speak of classical in the context of Europe as Latin was indeed the basis of the scripts and grammars of all the vernaculars particularly, French and German. Did such a situation exist in India. The answer is NO.
The antiquity of a language cannot determine its so called classical status. If the antiquity of a language should be allowed to determine the classical status then all the tribal languages of India and the world must be declared as classical languages. Even the criteria of written script is being politicised. The introduction of writing began with Ashoka when he inscribed his edicts all over India in order to propagator Buddhism. Literacy may have been introduced in pockets of NW India after the conquest of Alexander. In fact all the Tamil Brahmi inscriptions are dated after Ashoka and even Iravatham Mahadevan who of late has started singing a different tune has admitted as such in several of his earlier works. The Harappan script has not been deciphered and therefore any reading of the symbols as representing Tamil is sheer fraud. It is not [possible to Trace the antiquity of Tamil as a script before Asoka. The shadow boxing that high caste Tamil scholars who were fanatical saiva siddantists had with Sanskrit with its alleges Brahmani-cal bias is responsible for the constant refrain about the antiquity of Tamil. And even then Sanskrit words as George Hart himself has shown in his Poems of Ancient Tamil occupy more than 40% of the Tamil Texts collected in the sangam anthologies. I must say that the close similarity between the Bhakti poems belonging to the Palalva Age and the hymns of the alvars and nayanmars suggest close proximity in age, a point brought out by Herman Tieken. It appears that Tamil scholarship has degenerated into medai Tamil (Platform Tamil).
The construction of a Tamil identity based on language is part of the process of mobilisation of the backward non brahmin castes such as the mudaliars and the saiva pillais to achieve political power. I do not see why they continue to indulge in such gimmicks even now that they a re in power.

In a recent newspaper article Shri Iravatan Mahadevan published 4 pieces of evidence to show the antiquity of the Tamil language atleast in its written form. The signet ring bearing the name of a sangam chief is obviously suspect as it has not been found in an excavated context. Furtehr, the Amaravathi River basin near Karur has generated a small scale industry for the manafacture of "sangam" age coins which are duly authenticated by a set of "epigraphists" and "historians" whose ideological motive is to push back the antiquity of writing and literacy. There is also the impulse to give credence to the Sangam poetry whose date cannot be determined.

Israel and the tragedy in Gaza: Why humanitarian aid must be allowed

Israel enjoys a high degree of goodwill in many parts of the world and even professional critics of Israel have found much to admire in the manner in which the State of Israel conducts its no nonsense foreign policy. The world opinion be damned. As long of USA is not overly critical Israel does not seem to care. The latest outrage committed on the high sea seems to have taken even the Obama Administration by surprise and Hilary Clinton has joined the rest of the world in condemning Islaer's action in using military might against a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The world has come to recognise that the economic blockade imposed by Israel is causing untold misery to the people of the Palestenian territory. If by following this policy Israel hopes to undermine the support base of the HAMAS, the policy is clearly not succeeding. In fact the blockade has only increased the level of public acceptability of HAMAS. The economic blokade has failed in its expressly stated purpose but has succeeded in imposing collective punishment on the people of Gaza for electing the Hamas.
Israel has used unacceptable level of force in dealing with the flotilla carrying, after all humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The boat did not carry any military equipment or even machinery. It only carried tents, blankets, medicines, school text books, toys, food and relief material. Israel could have allowed the passage of the aid flotilla instead of brutally attacking and causing the death of 10 aid workers. Video footage shows the Israeli paratroopers rappelling on to the deck of the vessels and opening fire. Israel's claim that they were attracted first carries no conviction as the aid flotilla was on international waters when the incident happened. I do agree that Israel has a very difficult security environment and also recluctantly have to concede that the security wall, often called apartheid wall has given security to the civilians as there have been far fewer suicide bombings now than before. By saying this we should not be encouraging Israel with its hard statecraft, though it is enviably successful.
The War launched against the residents of Gaza in 2008-2009 resulted, for the first time in the 65 year history of Israel in a with drawl without achieving any major strategic objective. The rockets attacks have stopped but for how long remains open to question. The degradation of the Hamas and its military capability has clearly not been achieved. Under these circumstances Israel could have been more circumspect.
There is yet another issue causing international disquiet. This is to do with Israel's nuclear programme. The Barack Obama administration is obsessed over Iran's nuclear material even though Iran has complied will all its obligations under the NPT to which Iran is a signatory. The nuclear material exchange agreement signed with Turkey and other countries effectively puts Iran's spent fuel under international scrutiny. Israel on the other hand in not a signatory to the NPT and has been carrying out a covert nuclear arms program for the past 3 to 4 decades in a facility in the NEGEV desert.The revelations of Mordechai Vanunu the Israeli expert has proved to the whole world the existence of the nuclear program. US experts believe that Israel possesses around 100 warheads just a screw driver away from deployment. Under these circumstances peace in the Middle East will look a dismal prospect.
Israel must respond to the consistent US call for a return to the Road Map and the process agreed with the quartet.