Nov

30

National Public Radio (NPR) had an interesting piece yesterday about India’s secret bone trade, an underground network of illegal traders which supplies human bones to the rest of the planet for the medical education industry.

One of the underground organizations in Kolkata, Young Brothers, has practically monopolized the bone trade with its aggressive ‘business’ practices by stealing human bodies from rivers, graveyards and hospitals. It is said that they have streamlined the logistical opertaions and the entiure supply chain in the human bone industry by dominating the whole spectrum from killing a human being to finally producing a packaged supply of one anatomically complete set of human bones.

Bone trade has always been a lucrative export business in India. It used to be a legal business in India until 1986, but was banned, when it was discovered that people were being killed for their bones. Even today, a complete bleached and clean set of human bones can fetch thousands of dollars from suppliers in the United States. A complete skeleton joined at the hinges can fetch more than $3000 (upto 1.5 lakh rupees) where half a skeleton can fetch about $2600 (upto 1 lakh rupees). Hand and leg bones can fetch about 5000 rupees each, and a full skull with teeth can fetch more than 50,000 rupees.

There is yet another aspect to India’s bone trade. It has been theorized that the infamous Mad Cow Disease (also known as BSE - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), a cattle-brain disorder that kills meat-eating humans, originated due to the mixing of cattle feed with ground bone material - animal as well as human bones. Was India’s bone trade ever a part of the cattle feed industry? Somebody will solve that mystery someday.

For now, however, we do know that many of the graveyards and cemeteries in India’s eastern cities like Kolkata, have been emptied out by a highly organized bone trade rings. But one mustn’t forget that there is a demand side of that supply chain, the buyers who bankroll the bone mafia - the foreign medical schools and universities that pay huge money to knowingly desecrate India’s dead!

Nov

29

Can democracy and Islam coexist?

November 29, 2007 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

Democratic hopes got a little bit of a boost in the neighboring state of Pakistan yesterday, with General Musharraf quitting as the army chief, and handing over the reigns of Pakistan’s military to his trusted successor Kayani. Many believe that Musharraf’s move has set up a new equation of competing power centers in Pakistan - something that looks like a preparation for a democratic recipe.

One needs to look at events in Pakistan in light of two happenings in two other Islamic countries during last few days. Earlier this month, an Islamic court in Saudi Arabia sentenced a 19-year old rape-victim there to 200 lashes and 6-months in prison for being a victim of a double gang-rape and kidnapping by seven Saudi Arabaian men. Just this week, a British primary teacher faced 40 lashes in Sudan’s Islamic republic, when she allowed the children in her class to name their teddy bears ‘Muhammad’. 54-year old Ms. Gibbons, a primary school teacher, is currently in a Khartoum prison, after a felow teacher lodged a complaint against her. Apparently, the teddy bears were named by children and none of the parents had objected.

That raises a question whether countries running by the laws of the Shariya can host or coexist with a model of public governance that the rest of the planet calls ‘democracy’? Turkish courts have previously ruled that pluralism of parties and ideas in a democracy cannot coexist with Islam laws. Some Islamic countries have, in the past, shown their distaste for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which clamor for an ‘equality in dignity and rights’ for all human beings.

The friction between democratic ideas and Islamic ideals is debated by some, though, who contend that modern civilization can and should be able to create harmonious ways to make Islamic laws coexist with modern democracies. That process has been played out to some extent in Turkey and to a much lesser extent for a passing phase in Pakistan’s past.

But is today’s Pakistan, in the shadows of a radical religious movement for years, truly capable of harboring and cultivating a modern democracy? Forget Musharraf for a moment. Is Pakistan, as a country, capable of hosting a pluralistic platform of harmony and coexistence? And that leads to an even bigger question. Is it possible to have democratic ideas flourish in an Islamic republic? Or is the proposition just too outlandish?

Nov

28

Indian social worker is a CNN hero finalist

November 28, 2007 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

Over the last two months, CNN has been searching the globe for unheralded unlooked-for heroes who have turned ordinary lives into astonishing tales of courage, honor and service.

The final list of 18 heroes is now out, 3 heroes in each of the six categories (championing children, community crusader, defending the planet, fighting for injustice, medical marvel, & young wonder). An Indian has been named as one of the 3 finalists in the ‘medical marvel’ category. S.Ramakrishnan, the founder of the Amar Seva Sangam, an organization that cares for the needs of the disabled.

In 1975, S. Ramakrishnan was 21, in the prime of his life and a final year engineering student in Coimbatore. Tragedy struck while he was attending a Staff Selection Commission examination for direct recruitment of engineers in the Indian Navy. A freak accident at the obstacle course paralyzed him from neck down ever since. But his doctor, Dr. Amar Singh Chahal, inspired him to come out of the despair and depression of a quadriplegic’s life. In 1981, Ramakrishnan founded Amar Seva Sangam, named after his favorite doctor. That small group hatched under a thatched roof in 1981 is one of the most active organizations working for the disabled, the para and quadriplegics, giving them home and hope.

But S. Ramakrishnan isn’t the only Indian who has turned an ordinary life into an extraordinary showcase of heroism. India has many such extraordinary individuals, men and women from different backgrounds who have dedicated their lives to the betterment of needier amongst us.

India is rich not because India has 36 billionaires. India is rich not because India is home to two of the five richest individuals in the world. India is rich not for its fast expanding economy nor for its explosive stock markets. India’s real wealth is not its Ambanis or its Tatas or its Birlas or its Mittals. India, you see, is rich because there are Indians of real flesh and blood, who have not given a damn about their personal wealth or fortunes but have toiled hard to make this land a better and a more livable, a more humane place.

Nov

27

Mumbai’s commercial real estate hits a record high

November 27, 2007 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

Three commercial properties in the Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai, have received bids totalling an incredible Rs 2800 Crores! The properties cover an almost 6-acre lot in the middle of Mumbai, an area which only a few decades ago, was covered with swamps. The 3 companies that are said to have won the bidding war are the Wadhwa group, Hiranandani-TCG conglomerate, and the Reliance group.

Though these are the highest prices (about $25K per square foot) being paid yet for any commercial property in India, these still pale in comparison to what Tokyo’s Ginza business district boasted ($139K per square foot) about 20 years ago at the height of Japan’s real estate bubble. But Mumbai’s real estate is not even remotely close to being considered a bubble, partly because of the population density, partly because of Mumbai’s unique place in the Indian market, and mostly due to the timeframe for which the real estate prices have continued to expand. So, though the commercial real estate in Mumbai looks prohibitely expensive by any means, chances are these prices will keep rising for the next 10-20 years.

But that doesn’t mean the residential or the commercial real estate in Mumbai are not vulnerable to external factors. One of the major risk factors for Mumbai is the continually increasing strain on its shared natural resources by the ever increasing population of that city. Mumbai, like many big metros, has so far been quite lucky. The heavy rains that hit the city a couple years ago, exposed the terribly paper-thin margin Mumbaikars enjoy in their daily lives. The tragedy of New Orleans has told us that big cities that thrive next to large water bodies must comprehend the double-edged nature of large water reservoirs. In spite of the local government’s claims, Mumbai came very, very close to disaster a few times during the last 2 years, barely escaping a repeat of a similar tragedy.

For Mumbai, so long as the already uneven balance between natural resources and the population demand hangs lucky, the real estate boom will go on. But like California and Tokyo and New Orleans, anyone speculating or gambling on long-term price mircales for Mumbai may end up leaving peanuts to their future generations. For Mumbai it is not a question of if or when the bubble will burst. It is if and when the city and nature itself will come part at its seams.

Nov

26

In a surprise announcement, a Maharashtra minister representing the Chief Minister of that state in a meeting with ‘Sambhaji Brigade’ , a self-proclaimed pulpit organization for the Maratha caste, told the press that Maharashtra Chief Minister Deshmukh has approved an 85% reservation quota bump by adding 35% sepecifically for members of the Maratha caste.

The maratha caste doesn’t yet get any advantages of quotas or reservations by virtue of being one of the ‘upper castes’ in India’s traditional caste cader. But there is an ongoing movement among that caste to get substantial reservations in education and workplace, a movement fueled by ambitious politicians who have seen an opportunity and a connection between the election votes and the reservation policies.

If what Mr. Thorat, the minister in question, told the agitators and the press is true, then it would leave a scant 15% seats for open merit category in the state of Maharashtra, said to be the foremost industrial state in the nation. Those 15% would probably eventually be reserved for the remaining upper castes, thus nullifying the entire reservation quota system.

A lot of people are looking forward to the day when words like reservation and quota will become meaningless banter. I hope Maharashtra chief minister doesn’t waste any more time in hurrying towards that goal. Of course you never know these politicians. Once the reserved quota hits a full 100%, they would probably order opening up more universities and more colleges.

Still, I love the idea of everyone being assured a reserved seat in a college and in a workplace. We all do belong to some caste or religion, and no matter where we come from, we will all have seats reserved for us, in colleges, workplaces, military, movie houses, restaurants, flights, state transport buses, parking lots, everywhere. Wow! Thank you Sambhaji Brigade. Thank you so much.

Nov

25

India doesn’t need sports. We have Bollywood!

November 25, 2007 posted by indiatime | 2 Comments

A recent study has found that mothers who are active in pregnancy produce active kids. It also meant mothers who aren’t as active in pregnancy have children who aren’t as active. Perhaps that explains why many Indian kids nowaday are more interested in television’s singing reality shows than in sports.

Indian television is replete with reality shows, especially of the singing variety. Almost every other show is some kind of singing or dancing contest. Half the content on India’s news channels (the rest being the sport of Cricket) is news about singing and dancing reality shows. Yes, I do remember one reality show with any sport-like activity, but that was about big obese adults working hard to shed hundreds of extra pounds gained by watching hours of television while gobbling junk food.

How is it that there aren’t contests that test how fast our kids can run, how high they can jump or how far they can throw. How come there aren’t more contests that lure kids into taking up sports, into running, jumping, exercising, swimming? Is it just me or have you also noticed that everyone in India wants to be a Bollywood singer, nowadays?

Within less than a year, the world will be watching the greatest sports spectacle at our neighbor’s. India will practically be an Olympic no-show with its pathetically inadequate contingent of losers. As the world celebrates the fastest, the highest and the strongest, India will yet again prove to be a slow, low, and a weak sporting nation. As the world competes the in greatest show on earth in Beijing in the summer of 2008, India will continue to sing and dance silly and sissy with Bollywood’s idiots. We don’t need Lance Armstrongs. We don’t need Roger Federers. We have Shahrukh Khan playing Hockey and we have John Abraham playing Soccer. But we can sing ‘Chak De’ and ‘Beedi Jalai Le’ better than anyone else.

Nov

24

Communists sell out to Muslim terrorists for a change

November 24, 2007 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

The government of West Bengal, which has already proved to be a joke and a mockery of governance, has dropped the ball on freedom once again, this time bowing to muslim fundamentalists and throwing Muslim writer Taslima Nasreen out of West Bengal. For now, Nasreen is somewhere in hiding in the state of Rajasthan, away from her temporary home in Kolkata. Her Indian visa is still valid for a few more months, and the West Bengal government has been falsely denying that it has bowed to pressure from fundamentalist muslims, and is placing the blame on New Delhi.

Nasreen has once again exposed the fundamentalists’ fear of the truth and freedom, showing the world that these radicals are scared of woman who uses her pen. They are afraid to argue with her, they are scared of being on the same platform with her, and they are aware of their inadequacies when the debate is civil, free and open.

It may surprise some that Nasreen has still chosen to fight it out in India, when she has a lot of choices to stay in several other countries. She can easily get political asylum in most western countries, especially in the Unites States where she could easily fight her battles from. Nasreen’s case is somewhat similar to Dalai Lama’s who also chose to live in India even though several other countries have welcomed him with open arms. Both Nasreen and Dalai Lama feel close to home staying in India - with Tibet and Bangladesh next door. In both the cases, India originally showed a great sense of liberty and justice. And in both cases, India it seems is having second thoughts with political pressure overcoming any fairness. In Dalai lama’s case, it is political pressure from China. With Nasreen it is political pressure from radical muslim groups.

The problem with India’s new political correctness is the dilution of our attitude towards those who fight evil with courage and candor. Both the cases have one common denominator and it is the involvement of the communists. It goes to show how the communists in India have subverted this nation’s sense of freedom and how little the communists themselves value any of the freedom which is what enables them to govern a state in a free and fair democratic society.

India needs to make some firm choices towards the communist roaches who, it seems will stop at nothing to weaken the foundations of our democracy. India needs to ban the communist party and stop this pest who are nothing but agents of Chinese government and have their loyalties in Beijing instead of New Delhi.

In Nasreen’s case, the communists have, for a change, bowed to muslim terrorists instead of the Chinese. No matter who they’ve bowed to this time, they have, as usual, made India look bad. And true to their ideology, they have once again shamed our democracy.

Nov

23

The National Institute for Science Communication and Information (Niscair) has completed translating India’s ancient Ayurvedic knowledge into a vast database in 5 languages (Japanese, English, German, French and Spanish).

Considering that several outsiders have unfairly been granted patents on traditional Indian knowledge (Bikram Yoga, Basmati rice, turmeric etc), Niscair’s achievement is not just noteworthy, it is a long-awaited news and the people who have worked hard to make this a reality must be recognised and rewarded for their effort.

A lot more still needs to happen if Ayurveda is to gain its proper place in the annals of medicine. First and foremost, India’s eminent educational institutes, especially the big names, must give Ayurveda its proper place in their curriculums. There is tremendous wealth of knowledge and information in our ancient texts, but it needs to b emined with a scientific mindset, not with the traditional quack mindset that has hindered a wider embrace of Ayurveda thus far. Real Ayurveda is much more than just a hodgepodge of empirical observations, but with the mainstream scientific community shunning it, it hasn’t had many takers for last few decades.

Allopathic medicine, with all its glory and all its backdrop of thorough scientific research, is sometimes held hostage by the big money of the pharmaceutical industry who really control what products make it to the market, which chemicals go into those products, and what your family doctors prescribes to you. The medical community is consistently bribed, rewarded, goodiebagged and incentizised for prescribing certain medicines or brands over others or prescribing things that otherwise would never be prescribed in the first place. So those who believe that Allopathy is all science and no quackery may be in for a surprise, there.

As for Ayurveda, it will never replace modern medicine as a treatment of choice. For now, the least that India can do is to make others aware that a lot of inventions and discoveries in the medical field have their roots in the herbs and plants of India’s ancient texts. Good work, Niscair people.

Nov

22

Dow’s New pals eager to forget Bhopal

November 22, 2007 posted by indiatime | 2 Comments

Pamela Timms and Prabal Das write in The Scotsman about Indian government’s betrayal of the victims of the world’s largest chemical disaster - the December 1984 Bhopal tragedy. The death toll related to that disaster is now almost 20,000 and over half a million Indian citizens have by far been exposed to the toxic chemicals. There is at least one death every day in Bhopal that has its roots in the chemical leak of 1983. It’s been 23 years almost to the date, but the victims of the tragedy or their families haven’t seen more than a few hundred dollars compensation - each victim getting somewhere between 10-20 thousand rupees.

Dow Chemicals, the company that now owns Union Carbide, the original perpetrator of the chemical disaster, is making attempts to come back into India with full might, and for that purpose, has sought help from some of the India’s best, including Ratan Tata himself. Tata is campaigning on behalf of Dow Chemicals, asking the Indian government to allow the company back in India by finding a forgiveness route and a little bit of mediation money. That money may be meant for some greater good on paper, but in reality, has all the appearances of hush money, considering it is the politicians (like the minister for Commerce and Industries) in India who seem to have the ultimate authority to make the decision in the matter.

There is already a critical debate underway whether companies like Dow should be allowed to conduct business as usual in India without first having made reparations and compensations that are due of the victims.

Assuming for a moment that Dow does get the benefit of the governmental favors, it is still Dow Chemicals that may be making a big mistake by trying to enter India without first cleaning its own act up. Just a few months ago, India’s investigative agencies found that Dow Agrosciences had bribed officials in the agriculture ministry to expedite registration of 3 pesticides which had previously been banned in the USA, but were allowed to be sold in India, reaping huge profits for the company. With all its politicking and maneuvering, Dow Chemicals may be able to win the nods of India’s politicians. But sooner or later, Dow will find itself dealing with the same issues that haunted Union Carbide years ago. Another couple of scandals or chemical disasters and Dow will have totally spent any goodwill it might have created by spending briefcasefuls of bribes to Indian government officials or India’s business doyens.

Nov

21

Afazuddin Ali, a man from the Jalpaigury town in the state of West Bengal has created a stir by marrying his own 15-year old daughter. The marriage was attended by his wife Sakina who is also the bride’s mother.

That, actually, isn’t the latest news about this case. Ali married his daughter more than 6 months ago. But the whole town knows about now, because Ali’s daughter is now carrying his baby and is 6 months pregnant. Fearing a community backlash, the police arrested the family temporarily, but the court released them all, ruling that it didn’t have any jurisdiction on the issue. The court also contended that there wasn’t any complaint, and so it had to release Mr. Ali, the 36-year old rapist who has consistently raped his own daughter for at least 6 months, if not longer.

Ali pulled the marriage off, by convincing his dimwit wife Sakina, that Allah had instructed him to marry his own daughter. Sakina later told the court that she believed her husband as he would never take Allah’s name in vain.

Beyond the IT capitals of the south, far away from the glittering lights of Bollywood, and hidden from all the gloriously progressive India that the world has come to know about, there is an India of sickness and perversion and unspeakable moral degradation. You might argue that every nation has a dark side. But I am not concerned about other nations, and I don’t live in any other nation. I am concerned about the stuff that happens here, now, today. Only couple of days ago, I wrote about India’s death penalty. Let me take a moment to add to that list those utterly despicable rotten scoundrels who marry their own daughters. People like Afazuddin Ali have no place in any society, civil or otherwise. They should face the fullest wrath of our judicial system, no matter who has what jurisdiction. And if the courts cannot do their job, there is such a thing as citizen’s arrest. The citizens of Jalpaiguri need to rescue the 15-year old victim from her stupid father.

Nov

20

Though discussions about Pakistan’s elections abound in Indian media, there is not much talk about the real mess Pakistan is in. Pakistan is the only politically unstable country in the world where about 50-100 nucelar warheads are within hours of being assembled and put on top of delivery vehicles. Pakistan is also the only Islamic country in the world which carries 50-100 nuclear warheads. Those two situations qualify Pakistan as the most dangerous place to be not just for humans, let alone for nuclear weapons.

For last 10 years, as India carried itself into the next century with its streangths in human resources and economic initiatives, Pakistan amassed an array of nuclear warheads, all pointed towards the world’s largest democracy, all meant to vaporize India’s mega metros, all designed to enable the vengeful ambitions of its military seniors, who for all their inflated egos, ended up eating dust several times when they faced the much superior Indian military. It is that vengeance born out of frustration, despair and multiple defeats that has engulfed and literally paralyzed Pakistan since the day it became independent.

For India, though, the real risk is not those generals or the Pakistani military. India has easily defeated Pakistan in air, on land, and in water. The risk for India, is those nuclear weapons that can get into the hands of any of Pakistan’s rebel generals, some northeastern commander sympathetic to Al-Qaida, some former intelligence chief harboring bigger ambitions.

As Musharraf plans the last details of his sham elections, as his cronies prepare their election-day speeches, and as democracy prepares to permanently say goodbye to this mockery of a country next to ours, Indians need to keep a watchful vigil on those generals and those ISI operatives and those ISI-funded terrorist mafias. Under the guise of an English speaking president, Pervez Musharraf is very much a maniacal dictator who will not hesitate to seek the help of his nuclear missiles if that can help him stay in power a little longer. India needs a plan for the nuclear contingency. Indians need to learn and train for the eventuality that may be brought upon us by the worst gathering of terrorists in human history. India needs a plan. Soon.

Nov

19

India votes to keep death penalty

November 19, 2007 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

old style death penaltyAmnesty International is celebrating the latest UN resolution on global moratorium on death penalty is getting increasing support, though there still are several nations opposing the moratorium. Overall, almost a hundred nations supported the call to ban death penalty, about 50 wanted to continue with the death penalty and about 30 didn’t vote.

India voted against the abolition of the death penalty and was one of the 52 nations that voted so. The UN resolution, in spite of having passed the general assembly, really doesn’t mean much in a legal sense, but is more of a moral point being made worldwide. Several prominent Indian jurists and citizens have written to the prime minister, asking that abolishing the death penalty would be a great step towards the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Gautam Buddha.

Though it is legal in India, death penalty in India is reserved only for the ‘rarest of rare cases’, and is truly an uncommon occurence. During the last almost 25 years, less than 50 criminals have been executed by India, and less than 20 are on death row, awaiting either their execution or its commutation by the president.

Of all the methods used worldwide for capital punishment, India currently uses hanging alone (Indian history has many anecdotes of death penalties where criminals were crushed by the king’s elephant, though).

Personally, I totally agree with India’s current position where the death penalty needs to stay for some of the ghastly crimes that still occur in our society. There is a need for such deterrents in the legal system that will strike at least some semblance of fear in the dark hearts of those who have no place in the civilized world. For those criminals, ironically, the death penalty is actually a relief instead of a slow and painful punishment. But it is still the right thing as it eliminates the tiniest of possibilities that the worst of the worst amongst us, can one day enter back into the society and claim any more innocent victims.

Currently India reserves the death penalty for crimes that belong to one of the following categories:

- murder
- gang robbery with murder
- abetting the suicide of a child or a mentally disabled person
- war against government
- mutiny (or abetting of ) by an armed forces person
- terrorism

I think we need to add a few more to that list

- poaching
- female foeticide after determination of baby’s gender
- dowry cases with certainty convictions
- politicians or members of parliament convicted of murder
- hate murders in the name of religion or caste
- godmen or godwomen convicted of murder
- medical doctors in the business of selling organs
- drug dealers who target minors
- people who throw acid on women

Please feel free to add to the list.

Nov

18

An Anganwadi (community pre-school) teacher in India’s southern state of Kerala, was recently found to have forced a 3-year old student to drink her own urine to cure her bedwetting habit. This happened in the town of Varandarappalli, about 65 km from the city of Kochi.

Mary Dominic, an anganwadi worker gave a spoonful of urine to a 3-year old thinking that the ‘therapy’ would cure the 3-year old of bedwetting. The 3-year old child was smart enough to understand the medicine didn’t taste right, and complained to her parents who eventually complained to Kerala state’s department of social welfare. The anganwadi teacher was immediately suspended, but she pleaded with the child’s parents not to file any charges. The anganwadi program officers disclosed that the teacher in question was a little short-tempered and that might explain her behavior.

Personally it is a little unclear to me what the connection is between being short tempered and making others drink or eat things that are not edible. But Mary Dominic’s behavior is giving a new meaning to the word ‘temper tant-rum‘. Hold your tan-rums everyone. Mary teacher’s coming.

Nov

17

Only a few days ago, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the chief minister of West Bengal, defended his government’s violent takeover of the village of Nandigram, saying that it was justified, and that the communist activists were paying the land-grab protesters ‘in their own coin’.

Now, a ghastly incidence of gang-rape of a local Nandigram woman and her two daughters (from the village of Satengabari), at the hands of known Communist party cader-workers, has come to light - an incidence the likes of which the West Bengal chief minister called ‘paying the protesters back in their own coin’.

This is unbelievable stuff. Local communist party cader trespasses into a village woman’s house, holds her and her daughters hostage, and then rapes them all. Her 14 and 16-year old daughters are missing. The woman is continually being threatened by West Bengal’s ruling party activists. West Bengal, my friend, can now truly be called a state that has deteriorated beneath the likes of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in terms of lawlessness, state-spnsored terror, and corruption of the highest order the roots of which can be traced all the way to the top of that state’s administration.

We’ve all been reading about the Rizwanur Rahman case - a local graphics designer, whose pre-arranged murder and the consequent protection and support from the government and the police to everyone implicated in that crime. The rape of the Nandigram is not a metaphor any more. We now know that Nandigram’s women and their underage daughters have been literally raped by the Communists.

I cannot comprehend how, year after year, the people of West Bengal still go back to voting booths to vote for the corrupt and murderous Communists. The entire planet has now smartened up about their stupid ideology. But there are people in our country, who will still revere the Communist idiots, no matter how useless and obsolete the ideology or how many murders and rapes the Communist party workers pull off.

West Bengal may have won us a few Nobels. West Bangal may have gotten us an Oscar. West Bengal can still claim past glory for Vivekananda and Tagore and Subhashchandra and Satyajit Ray. But West Bengalis, who otherwise could have bragged about their smarts, have consistently served themselves poorly in choosing their local leaders. Any of those famous Indians would be on the side of the poor villlagers of Nandigram and not on the side of the mindless tyrant running that state - Nirbudhha Deb!

Nov

16

The United States is going through its quadrennial exercise of electing its new CEO, and the candidates vying for the democratic party’s ticket are engaged in a bitter debate in Las Vegas, this very minute. A few moments ago, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked all the candidates about the US position towards Pakistan and especially General Musharraf. Within minutes, the issue turned into a yes or no question about whether the US national security was more important than human rights as a general policy towards dictatorial regimes.

That kind of propagandist talk and the reactions it fetched from almost all the contenders from the democratic party hopefuls, doesn’t bode well for India and its well-wishers. Here’s why. Most of these presidential candidates seem to buy into the idea that supporting Musharraf and the Pakistani military is in the best interest of the United States. Assuming it is a matter of national security for the US, the American politicians have been blindly supportive of a ruthless dictator who has not only not delivered on the anti-terrosim front, but is in fact, misusing the American funds to strengthen the Pakistani military against India’s interests.

So what the American politicians need to ask themselves is can the national securities of the world’s two greatest democracies be at odds? What they need to ask themselves is how a matter of the American national security can become a security threat to India’s national security? It is not surprising that the American lawmakers are a bit ignorant about issues in the Indian subcontinent, and nobody expects them to understand the intricacies of the Asian riligeopolitical issues. What amazes me is their absolute lack of interest and their not making an attempt to understand those issues.

During the entire session in the democratic debate about the US support to Pakistan, India was not mentioned even once. The subject of the Pakistani nuclear weapons came up several times, but not one democratic party candidate spoke about the largest democratic gathering on the planet those nuclear warheads are aimed at.

It’s not just the American politicians who are at fault. India has always been less vocal, less assertive, more awkward and meeker in Washington, DC. India can get all the economic rewards it needs from the US, but it should not shy away from stating the obvious when the discussion turns to Pakistan and its pampered military brats.

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