Militants behead two jawans in J&K - Indian Press supresses story

India Today
Ajmer Singh  New Delhi, August 6, 2011


In a barbaric incident, which has shocked army officials, Pakistan-trained militants beheaded two soldiers and dumped their bodies during an encounter to check infiltration attempt near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of Kashmir late last month.

It is suspected that the militants killed the jawans from the 20 Kumaon regiment, beheaded the duo and reportedly retained their heads as war trophies.

But, the army officials are not willing to accept the tragic story, as it might have an impact on the morale of the armed forces waging anti- terror operations in J& K. A jawan of 19 Rajput, who was part of the patrol party, also died in the cross- fire.

A senior Army official, requesting anonymity, disclosed that the two men of Kumaon regiment were killed and their heads were chopped off. Their bodies were also mutilated, he said.

The incident happened around Pak foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar's visit to the country, in the last week of July, disclosed the officer.

The martyred soldiers were identified as Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh.

The details of the third jawan, from 19 Rajput, couldn't be ascertained.

The soldiers were cremated on Wednesday at their native places in Pithoragarh and Haldwani districts of Uttrakhand.

A state police officer, who was present at the cremation of Devender Singh, confirmed that the bodies were badly mutilated and not shown to relatives. The Army authorities informed that the heads were blown away during the fierce encounter, he said.

Lance Naik Devender Singh's uncle also admitted that the bodies weren't shown to the family members, and so did a 20 Kumaon regiment official. Militants fired rocket propelled grenades at the jawans, killing them on spot and blowing off their heads, the official said.

He, however, refused to share details of the encounter. Lt Col J. S. Brar, the official spokesperson, HQ 15 Corps wasn't available for comments.

Rajesh Kalia, the official spokesman of Udhampur based Northernern Command, said there was an infiltration bid near Farkian Gali, which is close to the Line of Control (LOC), and that they had lost three men.

When asked if militants beheaded Indian soldiers, Kalia avoided a direct reply by merely commenting that " details weren't available". But, the actual incident is quietly being discussed among the army circles in the valley.

A commanding officer of a Rashtriya Rifles ( RR) unit, deployed in the Kupwara sector, also privately confirmed that militants had beheaded two soldiers of the Kumaon unit.

Officers said that the trend of beheading armymenby the militants has resurfaced after four yeras.

A major rank officer of Kumaon Scouts, however, claimed that soldiers were martyred in a fierce encounter, which took place at 16.40 hrs on July 30, near Kupwara.

The ambush party had come under attack from three sides.

The barbaric incident is despicable and has outraged top army officers, stated one colonel posted in Kupwara sector.

In 1999 also, there was a national outcry, when Kargil hero Lt Saurabh Kalia and five Jawans were captured by Pakistani troops.

They were brutally tortured and then shot dead.

According to Lt Kalia's father's online petition, Pakistan had dared to humiliate India by flouting all international norms.
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The Birkin effect: Our jawans are beheaded

Pioneer 24 August 2011 15:26
Kanchan Gupta


Pakistan’s businesswoman-turned-Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar may feign to be miffed that the media chose to focus attention on her Birkin handbag, Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, Jimmy Choo shoes and South Sea pearls during her recent visit to India rather than her intellectual contribution towards peace-making between a terrorist state and its victim neighbour, but that does not in any manner diminish the fact that a calculated gamble by the decrepit civilian Government in Islamabad and the criminal military-jihadi complex in Rawalpindi has served its purpose and paid rich dividends.

The feckless political class in India has elected to be reduced to a bowl of quivering jelly in the face of Pakistan’s charm offensive, much as it was when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto brought along his daughter Benazir and managed to extract huge concessions at Simla in 1972 without raising any hackles. As for the media of this unfortunate country, led as it is by television channels desperate to grab eyeballs whatever it takes and ever-so-mindful of sensitivities across the Radcliffe Line, it has neither the time nor the inclination to look beyond the obvious. Given as we are to self-flagellation, self-doubt and self-denigration, it is only natural that our media, which frankly reflects our society without any distortion, should have seized upon Ms Khar’s visit to paint Pakistanis as the sub-continent’s beautiful people and Indians as the beasts. Nothing could have exemplified this better than the running commentary by the editor of a news channel comparing fuddy-duddies in the Government of India with the swish visiting Minister, and how we as a nation are straggling while Pakistan is boldly marching forward. It’s a pity that our media houses continue to enjoy the untold and never-to-be disclosed benefits of stationing their studios in Delhi and its suburbs; their hearts and minds belong elsewhere.

And so it is that ever since Ms Khar came to Delhi, showed off her sartorial preference for hand-made exclusive Hermes bags which she wouldn’t dare flaunt in the lanes of Karachi and conquered our Left-liberal commentariat which controls media content, rare has been the story or article critical of Pakistan or fair in its assessment of that country’s continued hate India, harm India policy that is implemented with the ruthless fanaticism of jihadis who have dedicated their lives to the mass slaughter of innocent men, women and children. Hence, it stands to reason that our media should have purposefully glossed over the barbaric beheading of two Indian soldiers by Pakistanis — it is unclear whether the perpetrators were Pakistani soldiers or Pakistani terrorists being provided cover by the former while trying to sneak into India — near the Line of Control in Kupwara district of Jammu & Kashmir. The ghastly incident, it now transpires, occurred late last month, around the time of Ms Khar’s visit. Sketchy details that are available suggest the Indian soldiers’ bodies were “dumped” on our side of the LoC, which would mean they were kidnapped, tortured and then beheaded, a ritual without which jihadis believe their faith-ordained task is incomplete.

India Today’s web edition, which has a story on the brutality, says “It is suspected that militants killed the jawans from the 20 Kumaon Regiment, beheaded the duo and reportedly retained their heads as war trophies.” The journal says, “A senior Army official, requesting anonymity, disclosed that the two men of Kumaon Regiment were killed and their heads were chopped off. Their bodies were also mutilated.” Such was the mutilation that the families of the soldiers were requested not to lift the shrouds covering their bodies. Quoting Army officials, the report identifies the two martyrs as Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh. A third jawan, from 19 Rajput Regiment, was shot dead. His name has not been disclosed. The fallen soldiers were cremated on Wednesday at their native villages in Pithoragarh and Haldwani districts of Uttarakhand. But for the report in India Today, India would have remained ignorant of this horror story.

Unfortunately, the Army has chosen to maintain a strange silence. According to officials who spoke to India Today, this is because confirmation of the slaughter would ‘demoralise’ the soldiers on duty. But that’s balderdash: Jawans are not known to take the killing of their fellow jawans lightly, nor do they suffer loss of morale. If anything, it hardens their resolve and strengthens their belief that the enemy must be fought tooth and nail, till the last man standing. The capture and subsequent horrific torture of Lt Saurabh Kalia and five jawans whose mutilated, unrecognisable bodies were returned by the Pakistani Army did not weaken the resolve of our men in uniform during the Kargil war. While media is to be blamed for not sniffing out the story and splashing it (although it spared no effort to sniff out that Ms Khar was indeed carrying a Birkin handbag and that it could cost up to Rs 17 lakh and then went on to inform us why those who carry this bag are to be taken seriously) we must not overlook the role of our effete political leadership in keeping such details of Pakistani perfidy under wraps. It would not be unfair to presume that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, desperate to go down in history as the friend of a country that torments India, took personal interest in ensuring the story did not surface in the public domain; it would have remained a secret had an intrepid reporter of India Today not put it out.

Soon after I resumed writing for this newspaper in 2004 after returning to India from Cairo where I was posted on a Government assignment, I had penned a piece on a similar incident that had missed the attention of media and fetched no protest from the Government of India, headed then as it is now by Mr Manmohan Singh. Late in the evening on Saturday, April 16, 2005, an Assistant Commandant and a constable of the Border Security Force, on duty at Lankamura outpost on the India-Bangladesh border, a mere eight km from Tripura’s capital, Agartala, were dragged into Bangladeshi territory. By the time the BSF got them back, Assistant Commandant Jeevan Kumar was dead. He had been shot at point blank range. Injuries on his body indicated he was brutally knifed before being killed. Constable KK Surendran, seriously injured, was battling for his life. I must confess I do not know whether he survived that attack. On that occasion, in the absence of any official statement, I had sought to reconstruct events on the basis of what local residents had to say: The two men were rushed by a group of Bangladesh Rifles personnel in civilian clothes, dragged across the border and then set upon by their colleagues. All the while, the BDR’s men kept firing on the Lankamura outpost. The firing stopped around midnight, followed by a hastily arranged flag meeting during which Kumar’s lifeless body and a barely alive Surendran were handed over to the BSF. There was not even a word of condemnation.

PS: On Kargil Diwas I tweeted about Saurabh Kalia. There were numerous tweets in response, asking me who was Saurabh Kalia. Those asking this question were young Indians, well-educated and from middle-class families. A nation forgets its martyrs when it is led by those who hold martyrs in contempt and are elected to office by those who are bowled over by Birkin handbags, Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, Jimmy Choo shoes and South Sea pearls — namely, our selfish, self-serving middle-classes.

In Kashmir Christians get to taste the ethnic cleansing Hindus once faced

Pioneer
January 23, 2012

The manner in which Muslim zealots in Jammu & Kashmir have been harassing the State’s Christian minority community over a religious conversion row that erupted last week demonstrates yet again the unbridled and absolutely illegal manner in which mullahs are enforcing their writ. 

They have now begun to ‘ban’ priests, ‘banish’ foreign NGOs and demand that missionary-run schools should include Islamic prayers. Given this kind of bullying, it is little wonder that the Valley’s Christians are living in fear. They have become the victims of a vicious slander campaign that includes the kind of story that one of the State’s English dailies ran last Thursday.

A full-page spread titled, ‘Apostasy Unveiled’, the report is a first person account of a love-lorn young Muslim boy who has been lured with money, alcohol and drugs and ultimately beguiled into converting to Christianity — just the kind of thing that the Muslim-majority State’s religious guardians can be trusted to raise a ruckus about.

Ever since the conversion dispute surfaced, the situation has progressively worsened for the Christians, as the Valley’s mullahs have stepped up their efforts to make the entire community in Jammu & Kashmir — which has only a few hundred members — and even foreigners who practice Christianity, their target of hate and violence.

The most telling example of this mindless harassment is perhaps the story of Juan Marcos Troia — an Argentine football coach who had been promoting his sport in the Valley but is now being hounded by the fanatics. His house has been vandalised, funding for his clubs are under the scanner and he has received calls in the middle of the night asking how many copies of the Bible he keeps at home.

At the centre of this controversy is a certain Protestant Pastor, CM Khanna. The mullahs have released a video of his baptising Muslim boys and a shari’ah ‘court’ has expelled him from the State in blatant violation of the law of the land that does not recognise such illegitimate directives.
While the fundamentalists have behaved in the way they would be expected to — and as they have always done — it is for the State Government to end the persecution of the Christian minority which follows the cleansing of the Kashmir Valley of its Hindu minority. Unfortunately, no protection has been given to Pastor Khanna (instead, he has been arrested for disturbing communal peace) nor to the likes of Mr Troia — all of whom have been left to fend for themselves.

Similarly, the country’s Left-liberals, who are quick to denounce Hindus, have, once again, remained stunningly silent in the face of Islamist bullying. Just like they once glossed over the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, today there is barely a murmur of protest in support of the Christians living in the Valley.

Pakistan, forced conversions of Hindu girls to Islam. Often unreported out of fear

Asianews.it

Lahore (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Young Hindu girls forced to become Muslim and forced to marry their captors, denounce Pakistani Hindus members of the Rights Movement for "scheduled castes" recently formed in Pakistan. They also call for greater respect for their rights. Hindus belonging to "scheduled castes", ie the protected Hindu minorities, form 6% of the total population of Pakistan, and 10% in the region of Sindh, but are under-represented in both public service and in the elected assemblies. In addition, the movement calls for the creation of a law for the registration of marriages of "scheduled castes" that used the term "Hindu" rather than "scheduled castes" in the column that specifies the religion in the registrar, and that the National Parliament promote a law against religious hatred against them.

The movement brings together various ethnic Hindu groups such as the Kolhi, Bhel, Bagri, Meghwar and Rawar. They have no permanent homes, living in temporary camps at the mercy of local land lords. Since the creation of Pakistan the number of seats in Parliament reserved for minorities has never gone beyond 10. This is why the Movement for Rights calls for granted lands, where they can establish their residence, that they be allowed to celebrate religious festivals and the application of the 6% quota reserved for them in public services. The leaders of the movement point out that the situation is such that the groups are kept in a state prison by landowners, and that instances of forced conversions of Hindu girls are extremely common, and not reported. They ask that measures are taken against those responsible.

The Christian minority suffers for similar reasons. A positive development should, however, be noted: a court in Rawalpindi has acquitted three Christians of blasphemy, even though fears that the three may become the target of an act of violence by Islamic radicals. On June 12 court judge Akhter Sarfraz ordered the release of Hector Haleem, Basharat Masih and Robin Masih because the prosecution was not able to provide evidence supporting the charges presented against them last year by a Muslim, Ghufran Sialvi. The accusation was that they had sent blasphemous messages. The court has opened an investigation to prosecute both the Police Commissioner for failure to provide evidence of the charges for the prosecution. Haleem, 55, runs an Pakistani NGO called "Peace Worldwide”.

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Forceful conversion is an attribute of Islam ?

Dalit girl forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan: Report

|Sep 11th, 2010 |PTI|Courtsey : The AA|

A 13-year-old Dalit girl was kidnapped and apparently forced to convert to Islam in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, according to a media report on Saturday. Poonam was kidnapped from her house in Lyari Town in Karachi on Wednesday, her uncle Bhanwroo told the Daily Times newspaper.

When neighbours informed her family of Poonam’s presence at a madrassa in Lyari, they went there. “She was very scared and under the influence of maulvis. She told us they will not let her go, so she will stay with them as a Muslim,” said Bhanwroo. The family contacted police in Chakiwara to lodge an FIR on the kidnapping but they refused to do so, he said.


Lyari’s Superintendent of Police Khadim Hussain Rind told the newspaper that lodging an FIR would not make any difference as it will be cancelled during court proceedings.

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The world's most dangerous countries for women

India Seen as Highly Dangerous for Women

India Real Time (WSJ)

By Tripti Lahiri

India is viewed as the fourth most dangerous country in the world for women because of its poor record on human trafficking and the widespread practice of female feticide, according to a poll of 213 people who work in the field of gender rights.

India fared slightly better than its neighbor, Pakistan, which was viewed as the world’s third most dangerous nation for women, while nearby Afghanistan was voted the most dangerous. The Democratic Republic of Congo was in second place, while Somalia was fifth on the list.

The poll, which was conducted by TrustLaw Women, a women’s rights information service from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, asked people in academia, journalism, development and other fields about their perceptions.

The countries that topped the list got the highest scores based on responses to two sets of questions. They were named most often in responses to a question about which were the five most dangerous countries in the world for women—that formed a quarter of the total score. The number of times a country was named in response to specific queries about where women were most likely to die from poor healthcare, suffer sexual violence or be discriminated against due to traditional factors, among other questions, made up the rest of the score.

Although only 12% of the respondents—or about 25 people—picked India as one of the top five most dangerous countries in the world, it kept cropping up in responses to danger on specific fronts.

India was regarded by 13% as one of the most dangerous countries for women on cultural and religious grounds, while 12% picked it as the most dangerous due to human trafficking and 7% of the people polled said India was the most dangerous nation for women on health. About 8% picked India as the country where women were most likely to face nonsexual violence and 4% said it was the most dangerous nation for sexual violence.

Pakistan fared better than India on health—only 2% chose it as the most dangerous on those grounds and on trafficking. But 25% of respondents chose it as the country where women were more likely to face violence for religious, tribal or cultural reasons, more than for any other country, including Afghanistan (20%).

The most worrying factors for India were human trafficking, discrimination and cultural issues, such as the preference for a son, which has led to the use of female feticide, and early marriage. Information accompanying the poll, citing India’s former home secretary, said as many as 100 million people, mostly women and girls, could be linked in some way to trafficking in India.

Some of the data in the poll were a bit puzzling. On human trafficking, 12% selected India as the worst country, while 3% chose the Democratic Republic of Congo, another 3% Afghanistan and 1% Pakistan. The report said 82% of respondents (yes, that does total 101%) had named other countries as their top concern, but didn’t elaborate. It’s not clear whether other countries weren’t named because they each scored under 1% or for some other reason—the poll results report doesn’t say and the foundation couldn’t immediately be reached for further explanation.
More In Women

While the poll is interesting, and highlights genuine concerns, the list seems a little arbitrary. There are many countries around the world that should appear up high on a list of places where it’s difficult and dangerous to be a woman and India is certainly among them. But one does wonder why other candidates around the world with similar credentials, for lack of a better word, didn’t feature higher on the experts’ radar.

China also practices widespread sex selection and is ranked on the State Department’s Tier 2 Watch List on human trafficking, same as India, while South Africa has a reputation for a high level of sexual violence. Two years ago, Amnesty International declared maternal mortality a “human rights emergency” in Sierra Leone, but the country didn’t appear among those the experts polled were most worried about on this front. Perhaps the situation there has improved dramatically since then.

Readers what do you think of this ranking? Are there other countries you might have also expected to see in the top five most dangerous countries for women? And which countries, in your opinion, are hard places to be a woman?

Sindh's Stolen Brides

On the other side of the Thar, Hindus, especially girls, are forced into Islam

Mariana Baabar
Outlook

January 23, 2006



Pakistan's minorities record is truly appalling. Sadly, Musharraf is doing nothing to right it.
Amir Mir

Hindus In Pakistan

• Hindus constitute about 2.5 per cent, or 26 lakh, of Pakistan's population.
• Though sprinkled all over Pakistan, 95 per cent of Hindus are in Sindh.
• Only Tharparkar district in Sindh has Hindus in majority: 51 per cent.
• Other districts with sizeable population: Mirpur Khas (41 per cent), Sanghar (35 per cent), Umerkot (43 per cent)
• Nearly 82 per cent of Pakistani Hindus are lower caste, most of them farm labourers
• Cities with some Hindu population: Karachi, Hyderabad, Jacobabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.
• In Tharparkar, Hindus own land. Krishen Bheel, Gyan Chand and Ramesh Lal are the Hindus in the Pakistan National Assembly.

Let me confess at the outset: I'm travelling in interior Sindh to verify specifically the reported widespread menace of abduction of Hindu girls, their forcible conversion to Islam and betrothal to Muslim men. My first port of call is the district court of Mirpur Khas. I promptly mingle among the crowd waiting for the court's decision on a kidnap-and-conversion case. Different voices narrate contradictory stories. I am befuddled for the moment.

Soon, a frisson of excitement sweeps through the throng, as a police van drives through the gate. Inside it is Mariam. She's 13 years old—and married! Mariam was Mashu, and Hindu, till the night of December 22, 2005. I pick my way through the jostling crowd. Mariam is in a red burqa, her gold nose ring sparkles. She tells me, "I'm happy. I don't want to return to my parents or brother." What's the fuss about, I wonder.

It's quite another story under the pipal tree of the court compound. Huddled under it are the villagers of Jhaluree, 20 km from Mirpur Khas. Among them is Mashu's father, Malo Sanafravo. He says that at 11 pm, December 22, four armed men barged into their room. One of them was Malo's neighbour, Akbar. They picked up Mashu, bundled her into the waiting car. "She was taken to Pir Ayub Jan Sarhandi's village in Somarho tehsil." There Mashu became Mariam and was married to Akbar.

Not true, insists husband Akbar. "Mariam has been always in my heart," he gushes, saying, at 11 pm, December 22, it was she who had come over to his house. But it's true that the Pir converted her and married them—it was his idea that they issue statements in the court. "Mariam was sent to Darul Aman in Hyderabad, in judicial custody," Akbar declares.

A 13-year-old choosing to convert and marry? A 13-year-old testifying in the court, without her family by her side? Suspicious, I walk over to the SHO, caught in the middle of a heated exchange between two groups. Someone suggests he should allow the girl to meet her relatives. Before the conversion yes, not now. She has now become Muslim, says the SHO. He argues, "There's a huge crowd here. If Mariam breaks down after seeing her father, there will be a communal riot here in the compound."

A little later, there are celebrations as the word spreads: the court has allowed the couple to live together. Standing next to me is Kanjee Rano Bheel. He works for an NGO in the education sector; volunteers for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) as well.

"In just two hours Mashu was converted and married," Kanjee says incredulously. Disappointment and helpless rage fleet across his face. "In Darul Aman the girls are kept away from parents and pressured into issuing statements favourable to the abductors. They tame stubborn girls through death threats."

So, was Mashu abducted and forcibly converted?

In Mirpur Khas, truth resembles the mirage of the surrounding Thar desert, teasing and tormenting me as I drive from Karachi into interior Sindh. It tests your credulity, it challenges your journalistic skills. Wherever I go, and whoever I meet, in disconsolate voices the Hindus talk about 'missing girls'; their stories resemble Mashu's—the theme of abduction, conversion, often followed by marriage, is common to most narrations. The girls then appear in courts to issue statements declaring their conversion was voluntary. All links to the natal family and the community are severed; they are lost to the family forever. On January 4, 2005, Marvi, 18, and Hemi, 16, were kidnapped from Kunri village in Umerkot district; three months later, on March 3, 14-year-old Raji was abducted from Aslam Town Jhuddo, Mirpur Khas. The script in their cases was similar to Mashu's. "Only 10 per cent of all conversions involving girls are voluntary; because of romance," says Kanjee.

Ten per cent of what? No official figures are available. The DIG in Mirpur Khas, Saleemullah, says, "If there's need I'll collect these figures. Minorities are the safest in Pakistan."

Members of the Hindu Bheel community show photos of girls who they say have been kidnapped and converted

Saleemullah, perhaps, should tap the HRCP for statistics. Its director in Lahore, I.A. Rehman, is an honourable man. Rehman told Outlook that the HRCP has, between Jan 2000 to Dec 2005, documented 50 cases involving conversion of Hindu girls to Islam. Its investigations too endorse what I had found in interior Sindh. In many cases where it was claimed the girls had eloped with their Muslim partners, the HRCP found that most were, in fact, abducted, forcibly married to Muslim men or sold to them. There have been cases of Hindu girls, usually from economically better off families, eloping with their Muslim boyfriends. Rehman says in most cases such marriages didn't last long. With links to their families cut off, the girls were subsequently forced to marry another Muslim or sucked into marriage rackets.

Nuzzhat Shirin, who works for the Lahore-based ngp Aurat Foundation, understands why the girls don't reveal their plight at the time they are presented in court. "When a Hindu is forced to become Muslim, such a ruckus is made that if the young kidnapped girl appears in court, the fanatics yell, scream, throw rose petals in the air and follow the youth into the building so that she's intimidated and can't speak," Shirin explains.

Social stigma arising from the loss of virginity, and the consequent difficulty of finding a groom, prompt these women to accept their misfortune—and hope for the best.

Fifty incidents in five years represents just a percentage of the total number of cases, says Kanjee, pointing out that a majority of such crimes go unreported. "There have been 50 such incidents last year," insists Krishen Bheel, who is a Hindu member of the National Assembly (MNA), the Pakistani equivalent of the Lok Sabha. He begins to rattle out the cases he remembers: two months back Sapna was kidnapped and converted in upper Sindh; seven months earlier it was 17-year-old Lakshmi in Nawkot, and then.... "The trend is increasing," he says. "If these conversions are voluntary, then how come boys rarely ever convert?"


Hindu women in Somarho who have been converted to Islam by Pir Ayub Jan Sirhandi

Only once did the popular resentment against abduction spill out in the streets of Mirpur Khas. It was in the '80s: a girl named Sita had been kidnapped. Some 70,000 Hindus turned up to protest the kidnapping. The police opened fire, killing several. "Sita was never returned," Krishen laments. "She had even told Justice Dhorab Patel, who later joined the HRCP, that she had been forcibly converted. We have now stopped agitating."

Instead, the Hindus take the support of civil rights groups and the media to publicise abduction cases, hoping public scrutiny would goad the state into action.

On Dec 30, the day after the Mariam case was disposed, the Supreme Court took cognisance of the complaint Qosheela's parents from Ghotki, Sindh, had filed. They claimed their 13-year-old girl had been kidnapped, converted, given the name of Hajra and married to a Muslim man. The girl, as in most other cases, had said she had converted of her own free will. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftiqar Muhammad Chaudhry, ordered the medical examination of the girl to determine whether she had attained puberty (Islam permits marriage at that age). Should it be proved otherwise, the husband could be tried for rape.

Even cities are not immune to the menace. Last year, Sammo Amra and Champa in Karachi received a letter from their three missing daughters—Reena (21), Reema (17) and Usha (19)—informing that they had converted to Islam and were ordained under the dictates of their new religion not to live with infidels, including their Hindu parents. The letter bore the address of Madrassa Taleemul Islam, Karachi. It prompted Supreme Court Bar Association president Malik Mohammad Qayyum to petition the Supreme Court in the first week of December. He accused the religious seminary's administrator of using coercive methods to convert the three girls. On December 16, the court ordered the police to shift the girls to the Edhi Welfare Centre and provide protection to them until the time it was ascertained they had been indeed compelled to convert to Islam.

Sensitive Muslim citizens feel the way to counter the menace is to reinterpret and widen the scope of law.

Major (retd) Kamran Shafi, an absentee landlord from Sindh, cites the case of 17-year-old Kochlia, who was kidnapped and gangraped in Jacobabad, Sindh, in Sept 2005. Four men were arrested for the crime. They were subsequently released because Kochlia stated in the court she had converted and was married to one of them. Shafi asks, "Isn't something very, very wrong here? Suppose the poor girl was forced into changing her religion and marrying one of the assailants so that they get off the hook? Can't the state prosecute the four on its own, for their original crime of rape?"

The three Hindu MNAs—Krishen Bheel, Gyan Chand and Ramesh Lal—raised the Kochlia case in the National Assembly. They claimed Kochlia's statement was not tenable as under the local Hindu custom and law a girl can't marry of her own will until the age of 20. Since Kochlia is a minor, her abductors should be tried for rape. Such an interpretation of existing laws could provide ample relief to Hindus.

Till then, though, the fear of kidnap stalks the Hindus of Pakistan. Krishen Bheel says Hindu girls are scared to go out; he has enrolled his own children into a Christian school. He points to Mirpur Khas' strange predicament: there's freedom to worship, there are 10 temples which bustle through the day with devotees; and yet Hindu girls here are kidnapped and converted—and the community humiliated.

Perhaps these abductions are part of the general scenario of crime against women in rural Pakistan (see box). Perhaps they are converted and married to criminals to enable the latter to escape the dragnet of the law. Yet, such arguments don't comfort the Hindus. Sat Ram, of Shadi Bali village near Mirpur Khas, says Hindu girls are deprived of education because their parents are apprehensive of sending them to schools located at a distance. "They receive education only till the primary level. It isn't safe to send them to school after that."

But the plight of Hindu women can't be seen just through the prism of gender discrimination rampant in rural Sindh. Reena Gul, of Sattar Nagar village, Mirpur Khas, says the boys too are converted but their numbers are very few. The community here feels it is the Islamist's agenda to drive out non-Muslims from Pakistan. In fact, Krishen told the National Assembly that even Hindu businessmen are being kidnapped in Sindh for ransom. He said on the floor of the House, "Several religious parties are reportedly behind the move to convince the people that it is their responsibility to get rid of infidels from Pakistan, (that) taking ransom from non-Muslims is not a sin."

I now set out to meet Pir Ayub Jan Sarhandi, whose name surfaces repeatedly in conversion stories. The drive from Mirpur Khas to Sarhandi village, Somarho tehsil, is through a picturesque landscape. Peacocks dance in the field and gypsies pitch their tents for the night. Even the Pir appears tranquil, his white flowing beard and winsome disposition camouflaging his mission.

Yet, when he begins to talk, he conceals nothing. Yes, the Pir declares, he has been converting the Hindus for the last 30 years. Perhaps his claims of converting a 1,000 families a year is a boast. "There's a surah in the Quran which speaks specifically about conversion, especially about conversion of women," he says to justify his mission. "Recently, three Hindu girls were brought to me. I named them Benazir, Sanam and Nusrat," he reveals, with the righteous air of someone who had bestowed a favour. "These Hindu women are mistreated by their husbands who do nothing but watch TV."

The Pir rubbishes the allegation that he converts abducted Hindu girls. The unwilling are sent back. Yet, he adds in the same breath, "In many cases Hindu girls are kidnapped and kept as keeps. But these keeps are not converted. But believe me, they are very happy."

I express the desire to meet the women whom he had converted and found sanctuary with him. The Pir agrees, even allows us to photograph them, contrary to the local tradition. Into the room, the women walk. Rehana, 50, was earlier Nabee; she converted three years ago, after the death of her husband. "I had no one to turn to. If we do not convert we would not be helped by this family." It was the same reason for 35-year-old Mariam, who came here seven years back. "Under the Pir's protection, I earn at least Rs 200 a month." Ruksana was earlier Chotee, and hails from Umerkot. Extreme poverty and a drug-addict husband persuaded her to take the extreme step. "I brought my four kids as well," she declares.

As I talk to these women, I realise most of them are widows or wallowing in poverty. I mention this to the Pir. He says, "The government is responsible for all Hindus and non-Hindus. When the government doesn't help them, they come to us."

Forced or economically enticed, the Hindu converts do not symbolise Islam's appeal. Rather they represent the state's failure to provide succour to the poor and protect their religious rights. Perhaps it's also symptomatic of the sickness afflicting the Pakistani state. As they say, the condition of the minorities is an indicator of a nation's health.

By Mariana Baabar in interior Sindh with Amir Mir in Lahore

Remembering Vimal Patak

This Bangladeshi Hindu was caught in the street. He was brought to the mosque and was beaten to death. His pleads for mercy had no effect on the stone-hard hearts of the Muslim Satan worshippers. They chanted, "kill the kafir, kill the kafir" and shouted Allah u Akbar while Vimal Patak met his agonizing death.

Some comments to Ashis Nandy's poor article supporting Arundthati

The Great Indian Love Affair With Censorship

Mr Ashis Nandi was invited here to deliver the prestigious Nelson Mandela lecture some weeks ago. I received an invitation and sat in the hall listening to what he presented. The auditorium was fully booked out and jam-packed with many luminaries of the town.

He lectured to the audience that the greatest geonocide in the history of mankind, as I understood his lecture, happened at the time of Indian indepenence during the partition of British India into the present Indian Republic and erstwhile Pakistan when the Hindus went on a killing spree of Muslims. He justified that division of original India by his inuendo that the Hindus hated their Muslim neighbours that led to the partition. That was all his lecture about as I recollect. There was no word on Jinnah's direct action day in Calcutta that triggered bloodbath of Hindu Bengalis in the hands of Muslims.

In normal course of events, there is always a question and answer session at the end of a presentation. But that did not happen in this instance. Mr Nandi simply walked out of the hall with his entourage who organised the event.

Had there been a Q&A time-slot, and were I given the opportunity to raise my voice, I would have asked him there and then, what did he think about the West Pakistani killing of East Pakistanis in 1968-70 - whether or not that was a geonocide of Muslims by Muslims. And, furthermore, what his view is on the plights of Kashmiri Pandits who are refugees in their land of birth being driven out by the Muslims of Kashmir ?

Oh Mr Ashish Nandi, if you are reading my post, could you please spell out your position on these issues here in this forum? I look forward to your views.

Pinaki S Ray

Adelaide, Australia

Mr Ashish Nandy,
A very thought provoking article indeed, in a way that it leaves people like me flabbergasted as to how pseudointellectuals like you present contorted logic to justify seditious statements of people like arundathi roy.
Agreed that gross atrocities have been comitted by Indian security forces and India needs to deliver a healing touch to our Kashmiri bretheren,but that can happen only within the realms of the indian union.Kindly spare a thought for the kashmiris for you ll be pushing them into becoming another theocratic Islamic state or merge into a Failed state like Pakistan with hotheads like Geelani at the forefront.Besides since when did the Indian middle class,which you have so vehemently derided in your article"wanted to give a meaning to their hollow life through a violent,nineteenth centuryversion of european style nationalism"?.
You will do well to reflect upon the Multitude of diversity with the undercurrent of commonality which defines the "concept of India", not some besotted version of uniculturalism that europe of yore and today stand to represent.
Its quite sensational how India is safer with Bomb wielding Terrorists for they may kill a few of my fellow Indians rather than Pen wielding terrorists like Roy and her ilk who threaten to kill the very Idea of India. Shame!

Dr Shyam sarvodey

Mysore, India

The apologists of islamofascism in this forum are behaving as if the islamist agenda was in the past and has no relevance today. These apologist either do not know the extent of islamofascism in muslim countries or pretend to ignore it.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq are all strong examples of countries that are fascists where minorities have not been given equal rights. Catamaran who is talking about Ram, Kalinga etc etc does not comment on the terror that has gripped this world through islamofascism.

The discussion is completely wrong. The danger of islamofascism was not in history that can be studied but something that is present and growing. Islamofascism has to be stopped now and immediately. Islamists have killed, raped and miamed hindus in pakistan and bangladesh and continue to do so in kashmir.

So whatever these liberal nuts are discussing has no value. There is no Kalinga war going on in India. There is no internecine hindu fights in India. There is no desecration of hindu temples by another hindu, but the desecration of temples by muslims continue, the killing of hindus by muslims continue, the persecution of hindus continue and the basic rights of hindus have been taken away by muslims in muslim majority region.

So these nutty liberals have nothing to stand on. They are just pontificating

Abhishek Drolia

Raipur, India

I think arundhati should leave delhi and start living among kashmiris or tribals in naxal dominated bastar or narmada oustees to bring crediblity to her words. She should immediately avoid upper caste india because middle class india is giving left liberals and jehadis the taste of real india.

Identity lost

vanuatu, Vanuatu

>> The democratic process has created a new middle class, a large section of which is not adequately socialised to democratic norms in sectors not vital to the survival of democratic politics but vital to creativity and innovativeness in an open society. The thoughtless, non-self-critical ultra-nationalism, intolerant of anyone opposed to the mainstream public opinion, is shared neither by the poor nor the more settled middle class. Ordinary Indians, accustomed as they are to living with mind-boggling diversity, social and cultural, have no problem with political diversity. Neither does the settled middle class.

It is not about the publicity-stunt Roy or Kashmir. This article is about the arrogance of people such as Mr. Nandy. This man who is criticizing people for criticizing/disagreeing ARoy or calling her name comes up obnoxious and despicable logic that shows the arrogance "I-am-better-than-every one" syndrome that is prevalent in these left-wing loonies.

The man thinks that people don't deserve it to make money or don't deserve to move higher up in the chain or don't deserve to speak up. They are some sort of uncivilized humans or cave men and have no right to speak their minds because they differ with these people who support terrorist of any sort whether it is Islamic or Maoist or anti-national or foreign Paki funded or Chinese funded or any foreign funded. He questions their intelligence, social status, labels them as some lower class because they grew into middle unlike this scoundrel or the loose canon ARoy who are born into it. In essence, the man questions the legitimacy of people working hard, making money and better their lives and hope for some order in the nation. Classic Marxist, Stalinist butcher philosophy from scums. What is the difference between this man and 17th century feudal crook? Nada. Nothing. Zilch.

He calls them unsettled middle class because they are not born into privilege but they love their country and have a right to express as any else. But NO, according this so called settled middle class man who is born into and has some extra-ordinary intelligence and socializing skills. The fact that these coming up Indians don't want naxalites blowing up trains or murder policemen or want Paki-funded/sponsored/trained Islamic terrorists from Pukestan come and kill innocent Indians in the streets/railway stations/hotels supported by these loonies is considered as a big crime by this man. We have all seen Ms.Roy going on like a raging nut on TV/radio/magazine supporting Puke terrorists on 11/26 or IM terrorists in Batla House. The Indians (whatever this man may think their class is) have a right to condemn that kind of heinous lady using freedom provided by the democracy to support every terrorist force (domestic or foreign) to undermine and destroy the same freedom and create a anarchy/terrorist state where mayhem and violence rule the roost.

The most dangerous thing is how these so-called fake artists like this have become mainstream writers calling people names because they don't agree with this guy or Roy and we have all the jokers on this forum beating their drum.

VIvek

Hyderabad, India

Specifically on the issue of nature of warfare, historians (like David Stannard and Ward Churchill, to name just two) are certain that war among the native North American Indians was altogether different than the incoming Europeans. One contemporary settler even contemptuously remarked about Indian internecine 'wars', that it is considered a big tragedy if 7 men die in 7 years! Such miniscule loss of life probably did not in most cases characterise our ancient Indian battles. But the nature of that warfare was still quite different than the invading Moslems and Europeans. Permanent conquest, permanent settlement, conversion, imposition of religion and language, and sheer, utter ruthlessness and cruelty in wars was rarely, if ever, a feature of Indic warfare. The Greeks, Chinese and Arabs all noted this in their observations of ancient India. Of serious modern historians, A.L Basham( "The wonder that was India") among many others, has come to this conclusion as well, about ancient India.

Varun Shekhar

Toronto, CANADA

A. Nandy,
Sorry and all, but please stop band wagoning. This leftist sob group is getting a little tiresome now.
You have been charged by the police? Aaaah! The injustice!!!

Abhishek Agrawal

Mumbai, India

But what is exactly is this 'truth' as far as Kashmir goes? That India is an alien interloper, that has nothing to do with Kashmir, either now or through history; that all the Kashmiris- Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, atheists and agnostics, are passionately against India and for Azadi?; that the movement is progressive, secular, democratic, inclusive and non-violent?; that Kashmir under India is exactly like India under Britain, or Algeria under France, or Angola under Portugal? A super-exploited, impoverished colony governed by a racist ideology akin to the white Euro-supremacy inherent in colonialism? Or perhaps a systematically colonised settler state a la the Han Chinese ruled Tibet, whites in South Africa, illegal settlers on the West Bank/Gaza strip, or the early British settlers in Australia?

If this is indeed the 'truth', count me in as a supporter of Kashmiri aspirations.
==

Thats sounds familiar - Arnab Goswami?

Varun Garde

Bengaluru, India

Arundhati joining hands with Jihadi elements like Geelani is pointer for the coming together of Evangelists and Jihadis to balkanise and finish India as a country.Arundhati,the Catholic will never write on the sufferings of Hindus in Christian majority states of north-east,nor will she write on the dirty means adopted by the missionaries to convert poor and gullible Hindus.

S.S.Nagaraj

Bangalore, India

>>This new middle class wants to give meaning to their hollow life through a violent, nineteenth-century version of European-style ‘nationalism’.

Sure boss!! Ashis Nandy is the Tolstoy of literature, the Einstein of science, the Voltaire of liberals, Neruda of poets, Picasso of painters!! He leads a divine meaningful life hiding in some caves when Salman Rudshdie, Naipaul are vilified, when Taslima Nasreen is hounded out of this cointry, when barbaric slaves of Arabian camel chops of somebody's hands....

Nandy with his infinite wisdom knows very well the fact, that writing a single line about the real victims of Kashmir, the Kashmiri Hindu pandits who are driven out of the valley, whose women were raped by the barbaric supporters of Geelani, would cost him dearly. He is well aware of the fact a college lecturer from Kerala had to lose his hands for something slightly and remotely disrespectful to the Al Qaida faith. So, Wisdom Nandy cleverly remain silent when Taslima Nasreen is hounded out of India, when she is attacked in Hyderabad while making a simple speech. So, Ashis Nandy is full of Wisdom, he leads a meaningful life. And the hollow middle class doesn't dance to the tunes of Wisdom Nandy, the hollow middle class do care about what happens to Nasreen, Rushdie and they refuse to forget the mass murders of Kashmiri Pandits and the rape of thousands of their women.

Stupid middle class, bow down to Wisdom Nandy, the prophet of our time and touch his feet.

jaleel

luknow, India

13

I am from the same much hated "middle class". Not sure though if I am in "virtue of having money" or "value" category. My great grandfather was considered rich man in that area, but grandfather became poor fighting court case against British. My father and mother somehow pulled us back to the middle class.
I wonder, isn't middle class an economical term? I suppose if anyone is in middle class, he/she must be by "virtue of having money". "Value", etc follows.

I don't care a bit of what Ms Roy says, or if she is in jail or outside. She is provocative and she provokes many people.
I am all in favor of everyone's right to say anything.
But I do care what Mr Nandy says. I am appalled.

How bad is this writing:
"We know ....should be alert to these issues in the intelligentsia, media, artistic community had done their job", read "we (Mr Nandy, etc) failed"
"Here I think the changing nature of the Indian middle class has not been a help", read "you (Santosh, etc) were not helpful".
Still, "We, the intelligentsia" (Mr Nandy, etc) are good and shouldn't be questioned. But "You, the middle class" (Santosh, etc), are the bad boys.

It says, "We are proud of our democracy".
I wonder if Mr Nandy is merciful enough to grand this savage middle class like me to be included in that exclusive club of his "we"?

It refers to psychotherapist Shobhna Sonpar’s work. Rather than questioning platform like Outlook for not promoting that genuine discussion on this, but backing the hocks; it vents all anger on defenseless middle-class and it defends the out-shouters.

This argument is gaining ground in our intelligentsia that if you do not like someone’s book; write another book to answer that. It is like saying; sing like Lata to prove your point against her. Where can I get that skill? I just have a vote, and I will vote to counter that. But ah, then I am a bad-bad middle-class.
What they say democracy survives on middle-class. India is still a democracy anyways. The bad-guy middle class is not that bad after-all.
It is so nationalistic view to see this problem of freedom, etc. in such a way. This global phenomenon should not be analyzed in such a narrow way.

Santosh Gairola

Hsinchu, Taiwan

"Sensationalism is the first resort for pseudo-intellectuals" I wish there was some one speaking about hurting sentiments of millions of Indians. If someone was to state a disturbing historic fact about Islamic invasion of India, for example the simple fact that thousands of Hindu women burned themselves before being violated by Muslim conquerers, he would be universally condemned for hurting minority feelings but when the people being hurt are just "Indians" there is no condemnation coming from any quarters. It is a shame that government is ratifying such anti-national statements made from a government sponsored platform.

A failed actress who wrote a piece of "shock value" literature to become famous does not have the credential to be even on any platform discussing something so close to the heart of millions. She is an opportunist who saw an opportunity to get back into limelight and her attitude towards general Indian sentiments closely resembles the attitude of Rhytt Butler at the end of "Gone with the wind".

Anupam K. Sinha

Faridabad, India