I Think Therefore I BLOG!

Rules of Engagement

2010-02-09T01:11:00.004+05:30

To shoot at more than 300 civilians, many of whom armed and actively firing at you, or to go on the defensive, get mobbed, and die a un-soldierly death along with your fellow marines whom you command is the predicament Colonel Childers, the main protagonist of the movie, faces when he orders his men to “waste those Mother F***ers (referring to the armed Yemeni civilians)”atop the US embassy building in Yemen. Although a fictitious typical military courtroom drama on the lines of J.A.G and not too that well received by the critic brethren, more because of the racist portrayal of the Arabs, I have always liked this movie. I feel a lot of soldiers; especially in the current theatre of urban warfare often go through this catch 22 situation. Be it the US marines in Iraq, empathizing only with the soldier on the ground and not with his bosses who made the Iraq decision or the Indian Army in Kashmir, this dangerous predicament has always dogged them!

Either of the options is bound to spell doom for the platoon leader who is making the choice, akin to what Col. Childers played by Samuel L. Jackson goes through. Charged with the culpable homicide of 83 innocent civilians, conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and breach of peace, accusations that could reward him punishments varying from a court martial, life imprisonment to death penalty, Childers chooses Colonel Hays Hodges, a former colleague to be his defense attorney at the J.A.G. Hodges played by Tommy Lee Jones is initially reluctant and sights his dubious stint at the JAG to cool his heels off, but finally agrees to defend him upon Childers’s adamant insistence. Childer’s reason: only a soldier can understand a fellow soldier

The rest of the movie is revolves around the courtroom drama of how Hodges successfully exonerates Childers against insurmountable odds and evidence. Albeit not of the same class, Rules of Engagement is a good one time watch for all those of us bred on the likes of A Few Good Men, Michael Clayton and JFK.

I will go with a 3/5 rating for this.

Understand the ratings :)

1/5 – “Learn from others mistakes”. I have seen it, you don’t repeat it. .

2/5 – Lend the DVD from some idiot like me who has bought it. If you don’t find an idiot buy it on the pavement in front of forum, MG road or Jayanagar or wherever you are. See it at your own risk.

3/5 – Buy the DVD from Landmark if it’s cheap. Good one time watch

4/5 – Very impressive, just buy.

5/5 – Masterpiece, treasure it.

*Originally published at: http://ofbooksmoviesandsitcoms.blogspot.com/

Slumdog Millionaire goes the White tiger way!

2009-01-16T09:25:00.002+05:30

“Slumdog millionaire”, well I saw this movie yesterday. The premise of the movie forced me to compare it with a recent literary success, the booker prize winning book “White Tiger” by Arvind Adiga. Both have been done extremely well and I personally loved their unique story-telling capabilities. But as a self-respecting Indian I have my own reservations against either of them.

The protagonists of both works, Balram of White Tiger and Jamal of Slumdog represent the shadowy underbelly of India. Both of them swim through the shit that they are born into to better pastures. Both of them suffer at the hands of the hostile system that encircles them. I more than agree to either of the assertions. Poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, corruption, religious hatred, I agree the list that constitutes India’s underbelly goes on.

But is it all what my country stands for? My country is not just about a bunch of con men gouging kid’s eyes to make them better beggars, neither is it a country of only slum-dwellers nor its all about corrupt feudalism. Of course there is religious fundamentalism, but we aren’t a country that advocates religious intolerance as a state policy like some of our neighbors. I want to quote a line from famous Akshay Kumar flick here. “India is a country that with 80% Hindus is happy with a Sikh PM ‘guided’ by his party’s Catholic chief and a Moslem President”. I am not jingoistic here, but can any other country imagine this? Can a Lord Swaraj Paul ever become the PM of England? On the contrary we never had had apartheid; we never had a holocaust or a Sarajevo of the 90s either.

Slumdog also focuses on forced prostitution. Ya there is forced prostitution, ya there is child prostitution. But is that totally non-existent in the western world? What about the innumerable cases of child-pornography that’s rampant in the US and Europe. Oh no I am sorry; I am not supposed to talk about the whiteman’s ugly side. Why? Oh that’s because no one buys that in UK or the US. If no one buys it, how on earth do I get my booker? How the hell will I get a Golden globe or probably an Oscar? That seems to be our author’s attitude.

The truth is our authors “prudently” write to savor the palates of western sensibilities and these so-called stories of hope, which also happen to real good literary works, always sell; to the extent of a booker, golden globe or even an Oscar. From 1947 till 1990 we were a bunch of snake charmers. Then came the economic surge of the 90s and the subsequent success story, but that didn’t seem to leave any mark in the western literary world. Now these new generation literary works pointing out the imperfect tumors of a surging country seems to have drawn the attention of the western world back again.

I am no naysayer of western sensibilities. Having said all that I have till now, I would also say that I wouldn’t have known Arvind Adiga without his Booker; I wouldn’t have watched Slumdog if not for the Golden Globe. This quest for western recognition amongst the audience as well as our artists is infact the dilemma our literary world is facing. This dilemma perhaps masquerades as Slumdog or White Tiger.

I don’t have answers for this predicament which you, me and our authors are facing of course to different extents . But I would sign-off with these questions.

1) Vikas Swaroop wrote Q & A, but it took a Danny Boyle to make a movie out of it and its subsequent successes. If a Rakeysh Om Mehra, or a Ashutosh Gowarikar had made the same movie in Bollywood retaining the same originality and vigor, would it have been as big a success as Danny Boyle’s?

2) What was wrong with Lagaan? Taare Zameen Par? Swades? Rang de Basanti?

Siachen !

2006-06-11T17:21:00.000+05:30

It is called the 3rd pole of the earth. At 21000 ft , it is a frozen river of ice with temperatures from -35º Celsius in summer to -60º Celsius in winter. Added to this the concealed crevasses, avalanches, spine chilling cold winds all make the place thence north to the glaciers an inhospitable and an uninhabitable piece of realty..

That’s exactly what Major-General S.M. Shrinagesh and his Pakistani counterparts thought when they signed the Instrument of Cease Fire Line (CFL) in1949 at Karachi. Little did they know that in just four more years a key sentinel of Mother Nature’s harshness and hostility, the Mt Everest (29,028 ft) would be conquered.

But... a battlefield at 21000 feet? Well that had to wait for three more decades.

A little geography:

Siachen Glacier is what I am talking about. The word “Siachen” literally/ironically means “Place of Wild Roses” in Ladakhi maybe owing to the wild orchids that grow in the Himalayas. Cartographically Siachen is almost trianglular in shape with NJ9842, Indira-Col and Karakoram Pass as its three corners. The 72 km long glacier, one of the longest in the Himalayas lies between the Saltoro Ridge in the West and the Karakoram ranges in the west. It has number of peaks, side valleys and at its head lies the Indira Col, the divide between South and Central Asia. The glacier feeds the Nubra and the Shyok rivers which ultimately turns into the Indus.

Co-ordinates to view Siachen on Google Earth: 35.5° N 77.0° E (Zoom-out slightly to have a complete view of the glacier) . This is how it looks like :

Roots of the conflict:

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir. In 1949 after the First Kashmir war an agreement which primarily aimed at demarcating the Cease Fire Line (CFL, which subsequently became the LoC after the Shimla Agreement of 1972) between India and Pak was signed by both the countries. As stated earlier in the prelude the demarcation of the CFL unfortunately stopped at a point now known on the maps as NJ9842. Beyond this there was no demarcation. The instrument of CFL just read that the Ceasefire Line would continue thenceforth north to the glaciers.

While India continues the LoC from NJ9842 North-west along the Saltoro Ridge line, the Paki version draws a straight line from NJ9842 to the Karakoram pass. Nevertheless NJ9842 was just another co-ordinate on the map till the late 1970s.

Build-up to Operation Meghdoot:

The whole equation changed in 1977, when Indian Col Narender ‘Bull’ Kumar while leafing through a mountaineering magazine found an article on international expeditions venturing onto the glacier from the Pakistani side. Its like you get up in the morning and there you find a newspaper ad that has put up your house on sale! Now that’s not good.

By late 1970s and early 80s Pakistan had started issuing permits to foreign expeditions; Pak also started showing the whole glacier as a part of its map by drawing a straight line from NJ9842 to the Karakoram pass.

This is very much in contradiction of the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) that India draws from NJ9842 North-West along the Saltoro ridge to Indira–Col.

This alarmed India and it sent an affirmative mountaineering expedition led by Col Narender Kumar in 1978. The Indian mission scaled almost all the important peaks of the glacier including the Saltoro-Kangri and also skied down through most of the strategic passes like Bila-Fondla, Saltoro Pass and the Indira-Col. During this mission Indian forces gathered vital geographic intelligence of the glacier which proved to be of great use in the future.

Operation Meghdoot:

The final blow came when Pakistan gave permission to a Japanese expedition to attempt Rimo peak in 1984. This peak is located in the side valley, east of Siachen. It overlooks the eastern areas of the Aksai Chin. Such an expedition would have firmly linked the western routes with the eastern routes, -- the trade route leading to Karakoram Pass and China.

In the summer of 1984, On April 14th to be precise India launched pre-emptive offensives and the armed forces went to the glacier under an operation codenamed Operation MegDoot . Pakistan soon retaliated and marched its forces into Siachen which was followed by a bloody battle to occupy the Saltoro ridge. Within a week India chased the Pakis away and occupied the Saltoro Ridge and the two passes BilaFond-La and Sia-La. Since then Pak launched repeated retaliatory attacks to occupy the heights, but all such attempts were mowed by India.

Quaid post becomes Bana Top:

One such attacks was a ‘celebrity’ attack that came in September1987. A group of elite Pakistani SSG commandos led by Pervez Mushraff ( yes the same one who is currently the Prez of Pak), tried to lay seize on BilaFond-La pass. Mush enjoyed limited initial success. But he and his men were badly beaten back in a daring day-time attack by 8th J and K Light Infantry led by Subhedar Bana Singh.Not only did he re-occupy our posts, he also succeeded in grabbing a Paki post called Quaid. To honor Bana’s exceptional bravery, Quaid post was renamed as Bana-Top!

The last major artillery shelling/gun battle was in Sept 1999. By and large the guns have fallen totally silent since the Nov 2003 cease fire between the two countries. However both the contries have deployed more than 5000 troops on either sides to keep a constant vigil on any mis-adventure that either of the countries may perpetuate.

India can neither come down; nor can Pakistan come up !

Being at a height, India definitely has the tactical advantage over Pak in Siachen. At 21000 ft India can have a close watch on the strategic Karakoram Highway that’s connects Pakistan and China, this according to many defence analysts is definitely a big advantage for India at the time of an eventuality.

All this is fine. But..

Manning your posts at 22000 feet is not a cake-walk.

- It costs India nearly INR 4 crore (approx $1 Mil) per day to maintain . At aprox $ 400 Mil per year it may account to the annual GDP of some of the poorest economies of the world. Pakistan at the same time spends around $0.3 Mil everyday. The difference is mainly because of the heights we control.

- Being at a height is a tactical advantage, but logistically it’s a catastrophe. While Pakistan being in the Siachen valley (at a lower height 10,000ft) can manage to get most of its supplies via road on mules , India has to heavily rely on transport aircraft and Choppers for its supplies. In Siachen an Indian Chapatti costs INR 700 while the same costs Pakistan INR 300 i.e., roughly half of what we spend. In an ironic sense I call that the extra tax we pay to hold a better piece of real estate! This is a real pain for the country’s exchequer.

- Siachen is a battlefield where 80% of the soldiers on either side die of natural calamities like avalanches, frostbites and extreme cold. It’s estimated that one Paki soldier dies every four days and one Indian jawan succumbs to death every second day. Considering the and soldier morale and the high cost that goes into the training/acclimatization of a Jawan, such casualties are definitely unsought for.

But what can be done?

Since 1999 India & Pakistan have had 9 rounds of defence secretary-level talks on the Siachen issue. All failures, Pakistan doesnt recognise the Actual Ground Position Line, we dont recognize their version of LoC extension and so neither of us will pull out. Last June our PM Manmohan Singh visited the glacier , then when he talked about the Siachen Peace park

Siachen Peace Park / Demilitarization: ‘For the Peace Park to happen the region has to be demilitarised first and thats Not so easy’, opines the army. Pakistan cannot be trusted and that too after the 1999 Kargil ‘mis’adventure the mutual trust between the two countries has reached a new low. There has be several small Confidence Building Measures like decreasing the head-count, replacing soldiers with electronic surveillance etc., after which the final demilitarization is possible.

It wouldn’t be so easy for India to walk away from an advantageous position, that too after so much of bloodshed. India fears that Pak may march into the Saltoro Ridge the moment we leave. Electronic/satellite surveillance can just keep a check on who is coming into the Glacier, but again its our jawans who have to shed their blood to drive them back . Mistrust is one motivating factor that keeps the Indians and the Pakistanis in the Glacier.

Conclusion ?

From my current level of reasoning, I am really unable to conclude how exactly this crisis can be ended. But I feel that this conflict cannot be let to go like this forever for these primary reasons.
- It is killing fine young men of our country for no obvious reason ,
- It is boring a hole into our economy and also
- It is ruining the ecosystem of the glacier.

Confounded by the complexity of the situation , for a closing note I chose to leave you with some words that our PM has rightfully said “In the pursuit of peace we cannot accept any changes in the established boundaries, these boundaries are important not only for our security but it relates to the country’s prestige also.”

Working late takes a toll on me ;-)

2006-06-01T18:17:00.000+05:30

Back again! this time with some light 'n' poetic stuff..

Off late, for a change I have been working late.. I happened to pen down a few lines of what I can call as my first effort to scribble a poem.. It infact started out as a Draft Message in my cell-phone ..

It goes something like this..

On the way, in the cab
Goin home , Clock'O'Nine..

There we go on the streets
Filled with bikes and the cars
Right and Left, curve and Straight,
Is the route to my home

On the way, in the cab
Goin home , Clock'O'Nine..

Here we go with the wind,
For a moment then its RED,
Another moment,Its now green,
The cabbie started honking ON.
Here we go, take a turn,
There we go , take another.

On the way, in the cab
Goin home , Clock'O'Nine..
As we crawl through the roads,
Dinner thoughts cling on me :-),
LinkinPark in my Pod,
And It goes On'n'On,
As we go On'n'On..

Naagu , Sisya, Jaybee n Me *,
We are the jombies back to home..

As the cab halts to stop,
Time to say bye to Sisya,

Another detour, its now Jaybee,
Bye to her as we Zooom on.

And the cab stopped again..
Its time to say byebye to Naagu

Then the cab took a turn,
Hopped the way to my home

On the way, in the cab
there you go, its my home..
In my home, off the cab,
there you go, its end of Day
AFter Dinner , here I sleep,
tata bye bye , see you, good bye..

* Sisya, Naagu and Jaybee are my cabmates !

---Signing off : Giri

India and Israel

2006-05-07T18:07:00.000+05:30

" Updated: 1:22 p.m. ET May 1, 2006

JAMMU, India - Suspected Islamic militants raided a village in Indian-controlled Kashmir and killed 22 Hindus, lining them outside their homes and shooting them execution-style, police said Monday.
The attack in the village of Thava was the single bloodiest attack by Islamic rebels in Kashmir since a 2003 cease-fire between India and Pakistan, and it came days ahead of a planned meeting between the divided region’s political separatists and India’s prime minister.............
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. "

The Indian govt's response for this incident has been cold.. The central govt just termed this incident as yet another attempt to derail the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process. Its time that we deal with such brutal incidents like how this other country infested with terrorism does. ISRAEL is what this country is called.

04th- 05th September 1972.

Munich is the latest movie from Steven Spielberg. Munich was the venue for 1972 Olympics. In the wee hours of 05th September 1972, eight men from a Palestine fidayeen group now notoriously known as the Black September Organization [BSO] clad in sweats hiding deadly Kalashnikovs and hand grenades in their back-packs managed to sneak into the Olympic village. These men barged into the apartment where the Israeli athletes were housed. There motive was to take them hostage and make Israel succumb to their demands of releasing Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Three Israeli athletes were brutally murdered for protesting. Finally BSO men managed to take 9 Israelis hostage and put forth their demands which included releasing more than 200 Palestians prisoners from Israeli jails, Israel's response was immediate and absolute: there would be no negotiation. When negotiation seemed to be out of reach, the terrorists decided to fly to Cairo and demanded for an aircraft to fly them from Munich to Cairo. Incidents that happened in the airport left the remaining 9 athletes and five of the eight BSO men dead. The so-called rescue operation by the German police was an utter failure. This is actually the prelude to Spielberg’s movie MUNICH. What happened after this is what Munich-the movie depicts. The then Israeli PM Golda Meir gave complete power to Mossad to eliminate all those who were directly or indirectly involved the Munich Massacre. Israel indeed dealt with all those involved with an iron hand under a prolonged operation codenamed Operation Wrath of God. The movie is mainly about this. Check out the movie. Its must be good.

Even today Israel never spares any person or organization that plays around with its people.

31st December 1999.

India was brought down to its knees when it succumbed to the demands of the five Pakistani terrorists who had hijacked Indian Airlines IC-814 a week ago and had then taken it to Kandhahar. Mind you, Afghanistan was then controlled by Taliban who happened to be puppets in the hands of Paki intelligence group ISI . India had to finally release Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and one more terrorist in lieu for the 176 passengers who were held hostage. Freed Maulana went back to Pakistan ,only to constitute a new terrorist group called the Jais-e-Mohammed. This group along with Lashkar-e-Toiba went on to carry out planned attacks on the Indian Parliament on Dec 13th 2001.

IC-814 is just one incident. I can site many more like this, one of the most high-profiled ones being that of Rubaiyya Syed’s Kidnapping. Unlike Israel which teaches unforgettable lessons to its adversaries, India just seem to have taken the route of Forgive and Forget. This was evident in the way India dealt with incidents like Ashardam and Parliament Attacks. Though India boasts of one of world’s most daring crack commando unit, the NSG (popularly known as Black cat commandos) it has rarely used it efficiently.

A single bomb blast in Jerusalem is enough for the Israeli marines to venture into Arafat’s presidential compound. What about us? As I have quoted in the starting, 24 Hindus were massacred in Jammu. We just passed it as just one more attempt to derail the Indo-Pak peace talks. Its high time we stop behaving like eunuchs begging for peace, though we are much more potent than our puny adversary. When will be pounce upon those killers in a la’ Israel manner?

I am not mooting for India to ape Israeli actions. Its just a comparison of how two countries which have a very similar history of suffering are dealing with their enemies.
The genocide of over six million Jews by the Nazis during World War II is considered the biggest holocaust that mankind has ever witnessed. Noted French (now Indian) journalist Francois Gautier draws a parallel between the Jewish holocaust and the much forgotten Hindu genocide (wherein millions of Hindus were massacred) that happened during the time of Moslem rule over India. More than genocide, I say it was ethnic cleansing that continues even today in Pak and Bangladesh.

Israel seems to have learnt its lesson, but India...

Successive pseudo-secular pacifist politicians of our country are responsible for this sorry SOFT NATION status of our country. When Israel was formed in 1948, India (say Nehru) instead of embracing a natural ally criticized it of oppressing the Palestinians. India sympathised the Palestinian cause and also became one of the first non-Arab states to recognize Palestinian independence and also one of the first to allow an embassy of the PLO in Delhi. Repeated Congress govt’s anti-Israel stance was also part of the larger Indian diplomatic strategy of trying to counter Pakistan's influence in the Arab world and of safeguarding its oil supplies from Arab countries. Israel’s firm affinity towards US during the cold war added fuel to this.

But India’s aversion towards Israel increased more during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war when the Arabs were totally annihilated by Israel in just 6 days. Since then Israel’s geographical shape at times referred to as the dagger in Arab heart has found a wholesome meaning.

However not everything went wrong .Despite all these reversals respective intelligence agencies Mossad and RAW have shared a sound relationship, this relationship is said to have been of great use during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The cold war ended with the break-up of Soviet Union in the 90s. There after, owing to changing foreign interest , military needs and economy India threw its doors open to the first ever visit of an Israeli premier to India. President Ezer Weizman visited India in December 1996 (during the NDA govt’s tenure).This started a new era of Indo-Israeli co-operation. Successive Indian and Israeli govts have forged this relationship to a firm bond.

Both of us can learn a lot from each. For India and Israel, the common potential enemy is Pakistan, the mother of all terrorism in the world. Training camps in PoK train mercenaries to create terror and kill people, and they really don’t mind their place of action. Whether it is Jerusalem or Srinagar, these religiously motivated fidayeen just create havoc in the lives of innocent people. With strong political will India can actually deal with terrorism with an iron hand. In the name of budding Indo-Pak relationship, India cannot afford to ignore terrorist attacks.

Only time can tell us what will happen. Till then for people like me its just wait ‘n’ watch

Soul-touching song on martyrs in Kashmir

2006-03-29T14:21:00.000+05:30

click on the photo for "'Whose line is it anyway?'," from SHOESTRING

Layman's guide to Kashmir crisis :-)

2006-03-15T23:56:00.000+05:30

Last time I wrote about some probable solutions to the Kashmir problem. I think its time to roll the tape backwards by about 60 years. I call it the layman’s guide to Kashmir problem!

Circa 1947

India was given independence by Britain under an act called the INDIA INDEPENDENCE Act of 1947. Some of the salient elements of this act were that:

1) The subcontinent of India would be given independence on August 15th 1947.
Independence would mean that the British Raj will be terminated on the midnight of August 15th 1947.
2) The sub-continent would be divided primarily into two dominions INDIA and Pakistan
3) The princely states ( which were governed by the Maharajas viz Wodeyars) would have the option to either join India or Pakistan or remain free without joining any of the dominions.

After Independence the Dogra ruler of JnK, Maharaja Hari Singh exercising the third clause of the Independence Act decided to remain independent without joining either of the new dominions.

But Pak didn’t seem to agree to this decision of Hari singh. It claimed JnK to be an integral part of Pakistan based on the fact that majority of the Kashmiri population was Muslim and if given an option Kashmiris would any day vote to go with Pakistan. Pak implementing on this reckoning started infiltrating tribal irregulars also known as Razakkars into the valley. Its interesting to know that Pakistan till today maintains that it had no hand in this infiltration (much like its stand in the recent Kargil incident).
Hari Singh got to know the real threat when the Razakkars reached the outskirts of Srinagar. He swiftly ceded J and K to India to get military support to thwart the Paki irregulars. It is believed that Sheik Abdullah was by and large the biggest motivation behind this decision.

First Kashmir war: 1947-48.

Once the Document of accession was signed the first Indian troops started landing in Srinagar. The Indians reached Srinagar just at the exact time, one more day we would have lost Srinagar. Indian Army along a petite support from the Airforce successfully chased away the ‘so-called’ tribals from Srinagar. Valiant efforts from the likes of Major Somnath Sharma (1st PVC) recaptured Rajouri, Zoji-la, Uri and other parts Kashmir that were under Paki occupation. By December 1948 when India had just started gaining the upper hand, our ‘great’ pacifist PM who never trusted his army’s capability moved the case to UN. UN(pronounce ‘US’) arranged for a bilateral ceasefire that came into effect on Dec 31st 1948. The statement of ceasefire unanimously called for withdrawal of troops from either sides and also called for a plebiscite to decide the future of Kashmir. For obvious reasons India didn’t adhere to the plebiscite and Pak didn’t pull back its troops.
So from that day onwards the state of Kashmir was divided into PoK (Pak occupied Kashmir approx 1/3rd of the whole area; Pakis call it Azad Kashmir; capital: Muzzaffarabad ) and Jammu and Kashmir (pakis call it Indian occupied Kashmir; Capital: Srinagar) by the Ceasefire Line (called the LoC after the 1971 war).

So this is all about how the two Kashmirs were formed in 1948.

Click here for detailed political map of Jammu n Kashmir
Sept 1965: Operation Gibralter!
Operation Gibraltar (brain child of Ayub Khan) was the name given to the failed plan by Pakistan to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir, India and start a rebellion. Launched in August 1965, Pakistan Army soldiers and guerrillas disguised as locals entered Indian held Kashmir from Pakistan with the intention of fomenting an insurgency among Kashmiri Muslims. However, the strategy went awry from the very outset, as the locals did not respond as expected and the infiltrators were soon found. The counter-offensive for this resulted in the 1965 war which ended in a stalemate. The result of this saw the 1966 Tashkent agreement between Lal Bahadur and Ayub Khan (brokered by Russian premier Kosygin) which was similar to the one that the UN talked about in.

65 war didn’t do any good to better the condition of crisis. By adhering to UN India again lost an opportunity to subjugate Pakistan militarily 

Dec 1971: Bangladesh war.
Although the primary result of this war saw the formation of Bangladesh war, the Shimla agreement it also witnessed redrawing of the cease-fire line to form the LoC. The treaty is often viewed by many as having cemented the Line of Control as a permanent border between the two nations, although Pakistanis consider it temporary, pending a final solution.

71 war was some respite for the Indians and also for the Kashmir crisis as it saw the emergence of the LoC which more or less became a de-facto International border. The focus of the international community started to slowly sway away from the Kashmir crisis which according to them had reached a decisive stage after the war.

The 1984 Siachen crisis , terrorism in JnK and the most recent Kargil war of 1999 can all be viewed as futile efforts of a discontented Pakistan to regain international attention on this issue.

PS: This is an pic where I am trying to depict Paki terrorism in JnK during the 90s which US delibrately didnt notice. The reason was the re-found friendship with Pak during the Soviet occupation of Afganistan.

The crisis is still a national issue for both Pak and India. The ultimate is still not in sight. So till then, its all wait and watch for us. Hope it not all waitiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Secularism and Kashmir

2006-01-28T16:08:00.000+05:30

Secularism and Kashmir

26th Jan 2006: Republic Day in India.

11 AM in the morning. The meaty part of the parade was over. I guess this is the 8th consecutive year I have been watching the republic day parade with such fervor. Unlike last time the parade was headed by the home made Arjun tanks, last time it was T-90 Bhishma. Bhisma or Arjun, the sight of those massive 60 odd tonne tanks marching across the Rajpath was an absolute visual delicacy. Security forces in New Delhi must have sighed a relief after the entire proceedings got over. But the real respite was for the security forces of a city that lies about 850 km north of Delhi. Bakshi stadium, the main venue for Republic Day celebrations in Srinagar , well can almost be called Bakshi Fort. Republic day is an occasion when an ordinary Indian takes the pride of being an Indian. The situation in Kashmir is totally different. I would say that hardly any Kashmiri feels this pride. I am not blaming the people of Kashmir for this. Of course no one would like to be a part of a setup wherein you are suspiciously looked all the time and your actions are restricted by a strong iron hand. Neither am I blaming the Indian army for doing what they are doing in J and K. They have handled the proxy war situation in JnK in the best possible manner. Infact they are one among the most trigger-unfriendly security forces in the world, yet are very potent. These qualities make our Army one of the most desired peace keeping forces in the world, even US wanted us to be in IRAQ. Now let’s focus back on Kashmir. Off late there has been a drastic decrease in the amount of foreign terrorism that has been flowing into the valley, but this hasn’t changed the common Kasmiri’s attitude towards India. With all due respect, I would say that successive Indian govts have alienated the people of Kashmir, in a way they have started feeling that they being ruled by a colonialist power. This according to me is the main problem of Kashmir.
I agree that the fire was lit by Pakistan but we never wanted to look through the fire and see what is that which is actually blazing underneath. Looking closely at the Kashmir problem, Jammu and Kashmir has three diverse components - Hindu majority Jammu, Buddhist dominated Ladakh in the North and predominantly Muslim populated Valley, besides what is under Pakistan occupation. Pakistan's eyes are set on Kashmir on the pernicious two-nation theory. Never mind the fact that despite partition of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan in 1947 by the British, India still has the world's second largest Muslim population, around 120 million, next only to that of Indonesia.

After the 1st Kashmir War of 1948, the ceasefire line (which later became the Line of control) was drawn to divide Kashmir into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Jammu-Kashmir. But Pak was never satisfied with what it got. Playing the two nation theory card, it wanted the complete of JnK. To make its claim stronger Pak sponsored terrorism gave in to ethnic cleansing of Kasmiri Pundits from the valley. And yes Pak was successful in doing this. The Pundits for whom Kashmir was their home abode were made refugees in their own homes. Pundits leaving Kashmir has bolstered pak’s claim based on the two-nation theory. Now Kashmir problem is headed for a stalemate for India.

For how long will you continue like this?
How many more lives will be sacrificed?
For how many more years will you waste taxpayer’s money like this?

There has to be an end, a solution which will put an end to all this.

A final Decisive war ?

But I don’t think that would be easy. Seeing the current political scenario, I would say that the probability of another full scale Indo-Pak war is very bleak mainly because of the nuclear status both nations have achieved. This was very much proven during the Kargil war when Atalji didn’t do a ‘la Lal Bahadur Shastri by not crossing the LoC. The situation during Kargil war was very similar to the situation during 1965 when Lal Bahadur decided to cross IB and teach Pak a lesson. But Atalji never did that because the initial odds against India were two heavy. The 99 kargil war never became a full scale war ,it remained a small conflict restricted to a particular region. India might have won the last big war the 1971 war against Pak. But the scenario now is totally different. Although Pak govt is totally anarchic the army still remains well disciplined. What I would like to implicate from this is a decisive war may be an ultimate victory for us, but the initial losses that we have to take is too much.

Plebiscite ?
Coming to the prob of JnK; I don wanna say this, but If a Plebiscite is held in JnK do u think the people of JnK will vote to stay with us? No…No chance That’s why India repeatedly has denied Pak's suggestion of a UN plebiscite. Showing love n affection to the people of Pak won’t help, but showing love and affection to the people of JnK will definitely help. Holy Jesus always told "Love your neighbor" But how will you do it if you are not allowed to stay in front of that Kashmiri whom you want to be friendly with. I am saying this coz no Non-JnK resident is allowed to buy land or any kind of property in JnK. There r many other special provisions other than this which come very much under our constitution. So the problem is in Delhi not in Srinagar. The main prob of JnK is its demography n geography. JnK as I have quoted earlier is a state where people of a particular community have accrued. I don’t say this is off beam. But this has become a problem coz of Jnk's geographical closeness to Pakistan. People on both sides of the border or Loc look alike, speak the same language and largely are from the same religion. So I don’t blame the ordinary Kashmiri's proclivity towards Pakistan. The solution for this is within us. We must follow the Chinese model to make JnK more Indian...

The Chinese after occupying Tibet in 1959 did a wily job of getting native Chinese to Tibet. In the due course of time this action bore the fruits. With time the mainland Chinese mingled very well with the local Tibetans…and now people in Tibet no longer feel that they are different. This is coz they r demographically n politically closer to mainland China when compared to the situation of an common Kashmiri’s relation with India.
Although India never forcibly occupied JnK, the way we are governing it very much demonstrates that the situation here is very similar to the situation of Tibet n China in the 60s...
We have to rewrite our laws to do what Chinese did to get Tibet into their folds. One way is to throw open the real estate market of JnK to all Indians. Non Kasmiris must be allowed to do biz in JnK. This will help the people of JnK too. These tricks worked for us in the case of Northeast…The NE people are demographically not similar to the majority of India. Even then NE hasn’t been such a big issue to us coz u can see many Bengalis, Biharis, Punjabis n off late some Tamilans in Kohima ,Imphal or Shillong…or any other city of NE for that matter.. The same thing has to be enacted in JnK too...India is secular. So Secularism must flow to JnK too..This is the only Solution for this problem...
The problem of JnK didn’t take one day to achieve this monestrous proportion. So the solution too won’t be an instant one. We don’t have an immediate solution for this .Till now Pakistan has played with us, its now our turn to rule the roost. There is common saying that “When you have a fire in your own backyard, you won’t go out to see what’s happening in your neighbor’s backyard”. So keep if Pakistan wags its ugly tail too much put its backyard on fire. Candidly speaking there is already a veiled fire that Pak is desperately trying to douse. We just have to rekindle this fire which is geographically called Baluchistan”.

Pakistan as such is dominated by the Punjabis in all respects. In the last 57 yrs Pakistan has literally done nothing to improve the life of the Baluchis .The Baluchis who are very much a part of Pakistan (the stan in Pakistan’s name is derived from Baluchistan) don’t enjoy the same life as that of the Punjabi. The Punjabis (Paki pres Musharraf is a Punjabi) been successfull in recreating the civil war situtation of 1971(involving East Pakistan) in Baluchistan today. Baluchistan infact the largest province of Pakistan is worst than Somalia. Even though Baluchistan is used for all nuclear aspirations of Pakistan (Chagai hills is a part of Baluchistan), Ordinary Baluchi leads a atrocious impoverished life with literally no basic amenities and infrastructure. Any Baluchi voice against this Punjabi oppression is dealt with a heavy hand. Off late there have been incidents of Pakistan trying to use Helicopter-Gunships and Tanks to suppress Baluchi separatists. Pak has resorted to genocide of Baluchis to solve the Baluchi deadlock. More info on <http://www.balochvoice.com/> .Baluchistan is all sent to become the next Bangladesh...So Follow Indira Gandhi’s footsteps.

I think I have made myself clear in what I wanted to say. If we go out on a full scale war, I agree eventually v will win. But Pakistan doesn’t have the "No first Use" policy regarding its nukes. If we go out on a full scale war Pakistan without any doubt will be the first to use nukes in order to make up for the heavily imbalanced conventional might of India against it. So there will be heavy losses on both sides...N finally what will happen?? Everything will normalize when a pacifist PM (like Nehru) will come to power n back to square one...So war wont help...

Kindly air your views on the same