UPA claims resounding victory; BJP concedes defeat

India's ruling Congress-led alliance was set to return to power after taking a commanding lead on Saturday in vote counting for the marathon 15th Lok Sabha elections.
The Election Commission website showed the Congress UPA alliance with a lead of around 80 seats over the main opposition bloc headed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With counting underway in 502 of the Parliament's 543 directly elected seats, the UPA was leading in 229, while the BJP alliance had the edge in just 155. While projections showed the Congress grouping still falling short of the 272 seats required for an absolute majority, the margin of its lead gave it an insurmountable claim to form the next government.
"It is a decisive vote for the Congress," said party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, as wild celebrations broke out at the Congress Party headquarters in New Delhi.
Cabinet is slated to meet on Monday, May 18. Party supporters banged drums and danced in the street, holding portraits of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh."Manmohan Singh will be the Prime Minister once more," announced delighted cabinet minister Oscar Fernandes. The mood at the BJP headquarters was, by contrast, subdued as the counting results rolled in. "It has to be analysed, but it is disappointing I agree," said senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu. The apparent margin of victory was much higher than that predicted by exit polls, which had suggested only a handful of seats would separate the two main political groups. Congress was also clearly emerging as the single largest party in parliament, leading in 180 seats, against 90 for the BJP."The trends are very positive," said Congress leader Ambika Soni. "We want to thank the people of India who have shown faith in the Congress party."
This election has come at a pivotal time for India and its 714-million strong electorate.
After five successive years of near-double digit growth that lent the country the international clout it has long sought, the economy has been badly hit by the global downturn.
And there are major security concerns over growing instability in South Asia, particularly in arch-rival Pakistan, with whom relations plunged to a new low following last year's bloody militant attack on Mumbai. The unexpectedly strong vote for the ruling alliance will go some way to allaying the concerns off those who expected a tighter race that would have thrown up a shaky patchwork coalition. The Congress will still need more allies to command a parliamentary majority, but a strong lead over the BJP alliance will make its task far easier.
Congress has spent much off the past week making overtures to the party's former communist allies, who quit the coalition last year in protest at a nuclear deal with the United States.
Ambika Soni said Congress leaders and their allies would meet later in the day to discuss how they would go about building the support they need to govern India's 1.1 billion people.
According to the constitution, a new government must be formed by June 2.

BJP concedes defeat
Virtually conceding defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP today said the trends were "disappointing" and not on expected lines. "Trends are not on expected lines. It is little disappointing....We concede UPA is ahead," BJP spokesperson Balbir Punj said as trends indicated that the UPA was racing ahead. He said the party's parliamentary board will meet to analyse what went wrong. Punj said the trends were also not expected lines in the states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala for Third Front. Admitting that Congress "seems to have the upper hand", another BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said "as of now UPA is leading. We are lagging behind." Asked what went wrong, Naidu said "that has to be analysed. It is disappointing, I do agree". (Congratulations to UPA, people still have faith in you and they have given a great victory by defeating the Hindutva BJP. So, be thankful to Indians and lead a good government.-Editor)

Projecting Modi as next PM was a mistake: BJP

BJP leader Chandan Mitra on Saturday said that projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's next prime ministerial candidate was a mistake, indicating that it could be a factor in the party's poor show in elections. "Bringing up Narendra Modi's name in the middle of the campaign was a serious error of judgement," BJP leader Chandan Mitra said analysing the election results on CNN-IBN. The comments in connection with Modi were personal opinion of a senior leader and were seen as the feeling of the party. "It was a mistake, though every attempt was made to cover it up," Mitra said. BJP leader Arun Shourie had put forward Modi's name as a possible prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 elections, a view which was supported by several party leaders.

US alarmed at Eritrea 'arms link'

The US says it is seriously concerned by reports Eritrea is supplying arms to foreign fighters and Islamic hardliners fighting government forces in Somalia.

"This as a disturbing development," President Barack Obama's top official on Africa, Jonnie Carson, told the BBC. Eritrea denies any involvement in arming or financing Islamist militants trying to overthrow the government. Following a week of violence, 100 people are dead and 30,000 more have fled Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. There have been a number of reports of foreign fighters, with possible links to al-Qaeda, fighting alongside hardline Islamists of al-Shabaab and Hisbul-Islam, said the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has appealed to Islamist insurgents to negotiate as intermittent fighting continued for an eighth day in the capital, Mogadishu.
But his former ally and Islamist spiritual leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has rejected his overture. He told the BBC talks were not possible while African Union troops were in the city where they are guarding key sites. On Friday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a statement calling for opposition groups to end their offensive, renounce violence and join reconciliation efforts.
"There is no doubt, from sources overt and covert, that in the attempted coup of last weekend there was significant involvement of foreigners, some from this continent and others from outside this continent," the UN's envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdalla said.
In recent days there have been suggestions that the Somali government might collapse, but Mr Carson ruled out deploying the American troops currently stationed in neighbouring Djibouti into Somalia. There would be no case for US forces to engage on the ground, Mr Carson said.
The Somali authorities control only one major road in Mogadishu, with the assistance of about 4,350 African Union troops.

Hostage killed' in Nigeria Delta

A hostage being held by Nigerian oil militants has been killed during a military attack, they have claimed.

The hostage was a Filipino sailor seized from the boat the MV Spirit on Thursday morning, militants said. An army spokesman has said a militant camp was "torched" in an operation, but denied claims it had bombed a village. The militants have now declared an "all-out war" on the military as gun battles continued for a third day this week in the southern swamps.
"One hostage has been killed by stray bullets from the Nigerian army who attacked an area they were being held in Delta State," a spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said in a statement. The group took at least 15 people hostage from two ships in the early hours of Thursday. In response, Mend says military planes bombarded a village in Delta State, killing women and children. But the military says it "torched a militant camp" and only killed fighters. On Friday Mend also claimed to have boarded a warship, captured the crew and set the ship on fire, but navy spokesman Commodore David Nabaiba said the claim was "lies". It was not possible to verify either side's claims immediately, as travel to the region is restricted.

Deadline

"Mend is declaring an all-out war in the region and call upon all men of fighting age to enlist for our freedom," spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an e-mail to journalists. "Casualties are mostly women, children and the elderly who could not get away quickly into the bush or high sea," he said of the alleged aerial bombardment. But army spokesman Lt Col Rabe Abubakar denied the claim. "The only operation today has been a cordon and search operation, which revealed a militant camp, which we torched," he said. He said he could not give any figures on casualties.
Mend issued a Sunday deadline for oil companies to pull out of the Niger Delta. The renewed violence between militants and the military's Joint Task Force was expected by analysts after Mend rejected an amnesty offered by the government. The government has still not officially said the offer is off the table. Mend is still holding British hostage Matthew Maguire who was seized from an oil services boat in September last year. His colleague Robin Hughes was freed in April. Militant groups in the Niger Delta have flourished amid a lack of governance and rule of law. They claim to be fighting to help local people benefit from the region's oil wealth but fund their activities with oil theft, extortion and kidnapping. The Joint Task Force, charged with bringing security to the Delta, is accused of brutality and corruption.

Anger at Obama Guantanamo ruling

Civil liberties groups have reacted angrily to US President Barack Obama's decision to revive military trials for some Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Mr Obama has previously denounced the Bush-era judicial system, but in a statement said new safeguards would ensure suspects got a fairer hearing. New rules include rejecting statements obtained from harsh interrogations and limitations on using hearsay evidence. There are still 240 detainees at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mr Obama halted the controversial military commissions as one of his first acts on taking office in January, saying the US was entering a new era of respecting human rights. "It's disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment," said Jonathan Hafetz, a national security attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. "There is no detainee at Guantanamo who cannot be tried and shouldn't be tried in the regular federal courts system. This is perpetuating the Bush administration's misguided detention policy." Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, said: "By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea, President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform agenda."

Campaign statement
On the campaign trail last year, Mr Obama had branded the military commissions "an enormous failure". But in the statement issued on Friday, he said he had supported their use as one avenue to try detainees, and in 2006 had voted in favour of them. He said he had opposed the tribunals used by George W Bush's administration because they had failed to establish a legitimate legal framework and undermined swift and certain justice. The extra safeguards for detainees include a ban on evidence obtained by harsh interrogation; restrictions on hearsay evidence; giving detainees more leeway to choose their own lawyers and protecting detainees who refuse to testify, the statement said. Mr Obama said he was seeking more time so that the new procedures could be implemented. "These reforms will begin to restore the commissions as a legitimate forum for prosecution, while bringing them in line with the rule of law," he said.
"This is the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values."
But Geneve Mantri, of Amnesty International, said Mr Obama's message was confusing.
"It was clear from his announcements soon after he reached the White House what he was going to do," he said. "Now it is somewhat confusing what the administration's standard is or what their policies are." Zachary Katznelson of Reprieve, which represents a number of Guantanamo Bay detainees, told the BBC that the president was making a "fundamental mistake".
"He is taking a gravely, truly flawed system, tinkering at the edges and hoping that the world is somehow going to see this as legitimate, as open, as fair - it's not going to happen," he said.
In contrast, Mr Obama found support for his decision among his opponents.
"I am pleased that President Obama has now adopted this view," said Republican Senator John McCain, who lost the presidential election to Mr Obama. Ari Fleischer, who was George W Bush's first press secretary, said President Obama "should acknowledge his campaign criticisms were wrong". "With some minor changes, he really is following the same path President Bush pursued," he said.

Pragmatic style

The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says that although some are disappointed, for others it is further evidence of Mr Obama's pragmatic style of leadership, one that recognises the need to balance the change he has promised with the reality he has inherited. Mr Obama has said he wants the Guantanamo Bay camp closed by 2010. Shortly before his announcement, US officials said that Algerian detainee Lakhdar Boumediene had left Guantanamo Bay for France.
Mr Boumediene was arrested in Bosnia in 2001 and was held for seven years. He was cleared of any wrongdoing in November.

Japan opposition leader selected

Japan's opposition Democratic Party has chosen Yukio Hatoyama, the grandson of a former prime minister, as leader ahead of elections later this year.

Mr Hatoyama succeeds Ichiro Ozawa, who stepped down amid a fundraising scandal on 11 May.
The new opposition leader has pledged to cut wasteful spending. Opinion polls suggest the Democrats are ahead of PM Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled for some 50 years, with one short break. Mr Hatoyama, 62, won a swiftly organised election among Democratic Party members of Japan's Diet, or parliament. Mr Ozawa had been under pressure to resign after a close aide was charged in a fundraising scandal in March. Tokyo prosecutors alleged Mr Ozawa's political funding organisation received 21 million yen ($216,000; £142,000) in illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction between 2003-07. Before the scandal broke, Mr Ozawa had been thought likely to unseat the beleaguered prime minister, Taro Aso, in parliamentary elections. But opinion polls have suggested his popularity had waned as a result of the scandal. Mr Hatoyama's party has promised to loosen the bureaucracy's grip on policy making and pursue more assertive diplomacy towards Japan's security ally the United States.
But the BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says Mr Hatoyama may struggle to bring change to Japanese politics, which is dominated by wealthy political dynasties.

Pope ends trip with Mid-East plea

Pope Benedict XVI has finished his eight-day pilgrimage to the Middle East, calling for an end to fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.

At a farewell ceremony, attended by Israeli leaders, he called for "no more bloodshed, no more fighting".
He said the Holocaust "must never be forgotten or denied".
Israeli President Shimon Peres thanked him for his visit, calling it a "profound demonstration of the enduring dialogue" between Christians and Jews.
He particularly highlighted the Pope's statement about the Holocaust never being denied, saying it carried "substantive and special weight".

"It touched our hearts and minds."
The Pope, in reply, described the "powerful impressions" he had gathered during his visit.
Meeting Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem was "one of the most solemn moments" for him.
"Those deeply moving encounters brought back memories of my visit three years ago to the death camp at Auschwitz, where so many Jews - mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends - were brutally exterminated under a godless regime."

The "appalling chapter of history must never be forgotten or denied", he said.
During his visit, the Pope was criticised by commentators and politicians for failing to express sufficient remorse for the Holocaust and over his membership of the Hitler Youth as a teenager.

Palestinian homeland

Addressing the Middle East conflict, the Pope pleaded for an end to violence: "No more bloodshed, no more fighting, no more terrorism, no more war."
He reiterated the call for a two-state solution, as Israel had the right to exist, and the Palestinians "have a right to a sovereign independent homeland".
He also spoke about the wall built by Israeli authorities to separate Israel from Palestinian territories.
"As I passed alongside it, I prayed for a future in which the peoples of the Holy Land can live together in peace and harmony without the need for such instruments of security and separation." On his final day in Jerusalem the Pope visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to stand upon the site where Jesus was crucified.
He told pilgrims that the "bitter fruits of recrimination and hostility can be overcome".
The Pope was greeted at the church, one of the holiest shrines in Christendom, by representatives of the Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian and Ethiopian churches, which jointly administer the site.
He knelt in front of the Stone of the Anointing, where Jesus' body is said to have been prepared for burial after the crucifixion, and prayed in the tomb where Christians believe his body was interred for the three days before the resurrection.
He then led prayers in the church, which he said would conclude his pilgrimage, telling the congregation not to lose hope.
The Pope's busy tour has included visits to sites sacred to all three monotheistic religions.

Views on Pope's Holy Land Visit

Israel's Katsav rape trial opens

The trial of former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, accused of rape and a series of sexual offences, has been adjourned until September.

Mr Katsav vowed to prove his innocence as he arrived at the court in Tel Aviv for the trial's opening. The charges relate to accusations by several female employees who worked for Mr Katsav while he was tourism minister and, later, president. If convicted of rape charges he could face up to 16 years in jail. Mr Katsav, who resigned from the presidency in 2007, would become Israel's first head of state to be convicted of sex offences.

Postponed
The court agreed to a defence team request to postpone for 30 days the submission of its detailed written response to all the charges facing Mr Katsav. The judge also ruled that the trial should re-open on 1 September. Mr Katsav arrived at the court on Thursday in a defiant mood.
"We are starting today a tough and long struggle to clear my name and I promise once again that I will emerge innocent," he told reporters. Mr Katsav called off a plea bargain in 2008 that would have seen him plead guilty to sexual misconduct but avoid more serious charges, saying that he would stand trial in order to clear his name.

Violence erupts in Brazil slum

Police in Brazil have increased patrols in one of the nation's biggest slums in the cityof Sao Paulo after violence erupted on Wednesday night following the arrest of three alleged drug dealers.
At least 11 people were reported injured, including a baby, after local residents burned vehicles, threw rocks and blocked key roads in the Penha slum in protest against the arrests, local media said on Thursday.
Images from Bandeirantes TV, a local television station, showed heavily armed riot officers at the scene on Wednesday and firefighters hosing down burnt out vehicles and the tire barricades.
Two of the three drug dealers arrested managed to escape during the riot, a spokesman for Sao Paulo's public safety department told AP news agency. Luiz Felipe Muffo said on Thursday authorities are investigating whether the city's infamous First Capital Command gang was involved. The First Capital Command gang reportedly controls most of the drug trade in Sao Paulo's slums. It was blamed by authorities for a month of violence in 2006 that left 200 people dead, including police, prison guards, suspected criminals, jail inmates and bystanders.
Raids in slums of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro are common but violence in Sao Paulo's slums is relatively rare.

US jobless claims rise again

The number of US workers filing new claims for jobless benefits has surged again, after the bankrupt auto-giant Chrysler began to shut down its 30 plants.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose by 32,000 to 637,000 for the week ending May 9, as the US continues to struggle with a recession.
Weekly claims figures had dropped over the past two weeks, spurring hopes that the US economy may be beginning to recover from its 17-month slowdown. A US Labour Department official said on Thursday "a good part of the increase is due to automotive states and claims". Chrysler began shutting its 30 manufacturing plants on May 1, a day after filing for bankruptcy. Economists estimate that Chrysler has laid off 27,000 workers since then. The firm is to be revamped after it agreed a deal with the Italian vehicle manufacturer, Fiat. The number of people staying on the benefit rolls after collecting an initial week of aid jumped 202,000 to a record 6.56 million in the week ended May 2, the Labor Department said. That was the largest weekly increase since late November and the 15th straight week that "continued" claims reached a record high.

Moscow warns of future energy wars

Russia has warned that military conflicts over energy resources could erupt along its borders in the near future, as the race to secure oil and gas reserves gains momentum.
A Kremlin policy paper, which maps out Russia's main challenges to national security for the next decade, said "problems that involve the use of military force cannot be excluded" in competition for resources. The National Security Strategy's release coincides with a deadline for countries around the world to submit sea bed ownership claims to a United Nations commission, including for the resource-rich Arctic. The paper, signed off by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, says international relations in the next 10 years will be shaped by battles over energy reserves. "The attention of international politics in the long-term perspective will be concentrated on the acquisition of energy resources," it said.

"Amid competitive struggle for resources, attempts to use military force to solve emerging problems can't be excluded.
"The existing balance of forces near the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies can be violated," it added.
The document said regions including the Middle East, the Barents Sea, the Arctic, the Caspian Sea and Central Asia could all be at the centre of competing claims for resources.
Russia, the world's biggest natural gas producer, has already accused the United States, with which it shares a small sea border, of coveting its mineral wealth.
But Moscow is also finding its control over natural gas exports under threat, as the European Union seeks alternative supply routes that would bypass Russia and the Ukraine.
The country is also embroiled in a territorial dispute with Norway over claims to the Arctic sea bed, where around 25 per cent of the world's untapped reserves are believed to lie underneath the ice.

Global security threats

The National Security Strategy also pointed to the US and Nato as major threats to global security. It criticised a US plan to deploy a global missile shield in Eastern Europe, which has already infuriated Russia. "The opportunity to uphold global and regional security will substantially narrow if elements of the US worldwide missile defence system are deployed in Europe," the document said. But it added Russia would pursue a "rational and pragmatic" foreign policy and avoid a new arms race. The document said Moscow would seek an "equal and full-fledged strategic partnership" with Washington "on the basis on coinciding interests".

Gazans remember 1948 exodus

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered in the Gaza Strip to mark the 61st anniversary of the "Nakba", or "catastrophe", which describes the dispersal of hundreds of thousands of refugees following the creation of Israel. In the Jabaliya refugee camp, thousands of people waved Palestinian flags and Hamas banners, while others held placards with the names of villages destroyed by Israeli forces during the 1948 war. "We will return to Jaffa and to all our lands," some of the crowd shouted, while others proclaimed: "We will not recognise Israel".
Supporters gathered after Friday prayers, with several hundred people later walking to within 2km of the the Israeli border. Ahmad Bahar, a senior Hamas official, told the crowd that the Palestinian people "will never give up the right of return" to their homes and land in Israel.
The Gaza demonstrations on Friday came a day after similar ceremonies were held in cities across the West Bank, a sign of the continuing divisions between the two main Palestinian factions.

Palestinian split

Hamas, which seized power in Gaza more than two years ago, reportedly prevented the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from holding Nakba events in the territory on Thursday. The two factions have been in dispute since June 2007, when Hamas forced PLO supporters out of Gaza. On Thursday, demonstrators marched through cities across the West Bank, holding Palestinian flags and images of Arab villages razed by Israeli forces. In Ramallah, demonstrators waved banners reading, "The right of return is sacred," and "Return, Jerusalem And Self-Determination: Our Struggle Will Continue" as they gathered at the tomb of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader. About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes during the creation of the Israeli state six decades ago. Palestinians demand the right for the 4.6 million descendants of those who fled in 1948 to return to their lands that are now inside Israel.

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Muslims and Indian democracyAijaz Zaka Syed | Arab News

Traveling inside India over the past couple of weeks has been a sobering experience. With temperatures shooting above 40 degrees, perhaps this isn’t the best of the times to visit the subcontinent, especially for couch potatoes like me hopelessly habituated to an air-conditioned existence. But the discomfort of an Indian summer is nothing given the promised joy of watching the world’s greatest democratic spectacle up close and personal. It is democracy at its finest, wildest and weirdest.
A general election in India is like a huge, noisy carnival. The whole country is transformed into a Roman theater of fun and games with the ever-inventive politicians coming up with a myriad ways of wooing the crowd and getting their message across. Trust me, no other democracy anywhere on the planet is as colorful and eclectic as ours. Not even the great land of the free can come close. This is why visiting India at the height of the 15th general election has been like going on a pilgrimage to a place where you have been a million times before yet want to return again and again.
With 714 million voters and an election split into five phases, it is hard not to be awed and fascinated by this electoral exercise of unprecedented proportions. Election after election, India has ensured a smooth, almost effortless democratic transition for more than six decades. This is not a small feat considering the country’s breathtaking political, religious and cultural diversity and the geopolitical chaos all around it. So even born cynics like me are moved by ordinary Indians’ faith in democracy and their own ability to shape their destiny.
From the young, first-time voters to the elderly and the infirm, Indians turn up to vote as if it was their religious duty. Their optimism about the future is most infectious.
My journey from the western India to the north and then to the south over the past week or two was supposed to give me a new perspective. And it did. It helped me look at my country and people with fresh eyes. The trip also reinforced an old conviction: That India’s strength lies in its unshakable faith in democracy and pluralism. Of course, it is not without its share of flaws and frailties. But despite its numerous problems and issues, the country has not allowed itself to be derailed from the path chosen by its early leaders and architects. No wonder many around the world believe the future belongs to the Asian giant.
So returning home after nearly a decade of living and working in the Middle East has been a curiously uplifting experience. The phenomenal growth India has registered over the past few years on all fronts has to be seen to believe. It fills you with a strange pride, warming the cockles of your heart.
At the same time, I cannot help but note with a touch of sadness that India ’s Muslims have largely remained on the sidelines of this political and economic revolution. While India has moved on, its Muslims remain where they had been years and decades ago.
If India is the world’s largest democracy, its Muslims happen to be the world’s largest religious minority. Even conservative estimates put their numbers at upwards of 200 million or 20 percent of the population. But thanks to their own economic and educational backwardness and decades of exploitation at the hands of politicians and their own self-serving leaders, they have largely been reduced to a fringe player.
Militant Hindu organizations and parties like RSS, BJP and VHP have long used the Muslim bogey to sell their own worldview and multiply their ranks. On the other hand, secular political parties have played on Muslim fears and insecurities about the Hindutva forces and their agenda to turn India into a Hindu state.
The Congress, the party that was once led by Mahatma Gandhi, played this game rather well after the Partition turning it into almost an art. When the party couldn’t fool all the Muslims all the time, other “secular” parties took over.
During these elections, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP’s new face, has been going around attacking the Congress and other “pseudo secular” parties, accusing them of exploiting the Muslims as a “vote bank” all these years without doing anything for them. I know there is no love lost between Modi and Muslims. But there is truth in what the Gujarat leader says. If the Muslims have remained imprisoned in their ghettoes and ghetto mindsets all these years, the credit should be shared by Muslim leaders as well as political parties. Having ruled the country for nearly five decades, the Congress especially cannot shrug off its responsibility for the despicable condition in which Muslims find themselves today. While all other communities have successfully used the blessings and opportunities of democracy to change their lot, Muslims are eternally grateful for being allowed to live in the country in peace.
While others proudly demand their share of the pie, we are happy with crumbs thrown our way and occasional lip service and meaningless gestures. No wonder the community continues to languish on the sidelines of mainstream and in every sphere of national life. In the highly complex Indian society, often dictated by caste, class and religious equations, Muslims do not fit in and are like a fifth wheel. Which is why they are routinely neglected or taken for a ride by politicians. According to their numbers, there should be at least a hundred Muslims in Indian Parliament. But they seldom cross the mark of 30 or so. This has been the general state of affairs in most state assemblies and virtually every sphere of political life.
For all this talk of the Muslims playing a kingmaker, their “strategic” voting and the fiction of their “appeasement” by all sides, the community remains singularly dispossessed and marginalized — a minority in every sense of the term!
Naturally, there is great frustration over this state of affairs in the community. And there have been many suggestions and proposals as well to address the issue.
Having tried virtually every political party, some Muslim leaders have been lately pushing for a separate party of the Muslims that represents and protects their interests. However, there are few takers for the idea that is seen as unrealistic and isolationist in nature. Besides, similar experiments in the past have proved disastrous.
Some believe quota for Muslims in Parliament and state assemblies or reserving certain constituencies for the community is the answer. Whatever the solution, India ’s leaders and political parties cannot afford to ignore the sense of deprivation and disgruntlement in the community. Forget social justice and equality; if a community as large as this remains marginalized, it is not good for the overall growth and future of a country that looks to be the next world leader. Muslims should be part of the great Indian democratic narrative. They mustn’t end up as a footnote of history.
— Aijaz Zaka Syed can be reached at aijaz.syed@hotmail. com

உலகை உலுக்க ஆரம்பித்துள்ள பன்றிக்காய்ச்சல்

பன்றிக்காய்ச்சலானது முன்னைய பறவைக் காய்ச்சலைவிட மோசமானதாகும். மனிதரில் இருந்து மனிதருக்கு பரவும் தன்மை கொண்டதாக இருப்பதால் வைத்தியத்துறை நிபுணர்களும், அரசுகளும் இது குறித்து பெரும் கவலை கொண்டுள்ளனர். அமெரிக்கா, ஐரோப்பா, ஆஸ்திரேலியா , நியூசிலாந்து உள்ளிட உலகின் சகல பகுதிகளுக்கும் இதன் தாக்கம் பரவ ஆரம்பித்துவிட்டது. இதுவரை சுமார் 103 பேர் மரணித்துள்ளனர். அமெரிக்காவில் இருபது பேரும், நியூசிலாந்தில் பத்துப்பேரும் இதனால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

நோயின் அறிகுறிகள்

கடும் காய்ச்சல், இருமல், கடுமையான சத்தி, தலைச்சுற்று போன்ற இன்புளுயன்சியா குறியீடுகள் தெரிந்தால் மருத்துவமனைக்கு செல்ல வேண்டும் என அறிவுறுத்தப் பட்டுள்ளது

தவிர்க்க வேண்டியது

நோய்த்தாக்கம் உள்ளவர்களின் கண்கள், வாய்ப்பகுதியில் கைகள் பட்டால் உடனடியாக கைகளை உரிய முறையில் கழுவ வேண்டும். முகத்தினை மறைத்து துணியால் சுற்றிக்கொள்ள வேண்டும். இந்த நோயின் தாக்கமுள்ளவர் இருக்குமிடத்திற்கு போகக் கூடாது. நன்றாக தண்ணீர் குடிக்க வேண்டும், தேகப்பயிற்சி செய்ய வேண்டும், ஸ்ரெஸ் மன அழுத்தம் அடைதல் கூடாது என்று சகலருக்கும் முன்னெச்சரிக்கை வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.மேலும் பன்றிக் காய்ச்சல் தொற்றியுள்ள நாடுகளில் இருந்து வரும் விமான பயணிகள் விசேடமாக சோதிக்கப்படுகிறார்கள். அத்தோடு பன்றிக்காய்ச்சல் அறிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள நாடுகளுக்கு பயணிப்பதை கூடுதல்பட்சம் தவிர்க்கும்படியும் பொதுமக்கள் அறிவுறுத்தப் படுகிறார்கள்.

Thanks: Alaikal

Gujarat Muslims the 'living dead'

Meraz Ahmad Jalaluddin Ansari lost everything in the riots. Pics: Soutik Biswas

Muslims in India's Gujarat state who bore the burnt of religious riots in 2002 say they have been abandoned by the political parties. The BBC's Soutik Biswas met some riot victims ahead of the general election in the state.

The acrid smell of burning oil singes your nose and eyes as you walk into Bombay Hotel, a sprawling ghetto of Muslim-owned homes on the eastern flank of Ahmedabad, the main city in western Gujarat state.

A pall of black factory smoke hangs over this untidy patchwork of squat, ugly houses. Residents pay 150 rupees ($3) a month to a private contractor who supplies yellow-coloured drinking water through dirty garden pipes. Sewage flows out into the street.

Bombay Hotel, which takes it name after a local roadside eatery, is one of the places where many Muslims displaced by the 2002 Gujarat riots moved to. Over the past seven years, it has transformed from a remote industrial colony to become a busy refugee settlement.

The anti-Muslim riots, sparked off by the death of Hindu pilgrims in the firebombing of a train, led to the death of 1,392 people in five districts, according to official records. NGOs say the toll is closer to 2,000.

Shambolic

The riots also left some 140,000 people homeless. They were put up in camps and given 2,500 rupees by the government - the majority of the displaced were in Ahmedabad city.

Thirty-six-year- old Meraz Ahmad Jalaluddin Ansari is one of them.

Bombay Hotel is a Muslim ghetto which lacks basic amenities

He was lucky that he did not lose any relatives in the riots. He and his family fled their home in the Chamanpura area after Hindu neighbours warned them that the rioters were closing in.

But he did lose his home and livelihood.

He had hired a dozen workers and owned 15 sewing machines. He would make, he says, 15,000 to 20,000 rupees a month from embroidery work.

After fleeing the riots and panic-selling his house to a local Hindu neighbour for 275,000 rupees, Mr Ansari moved into Bombay Hotel.

His living standards are shambolic, the markets where he can sell his wares are now 10-12km away, and his children are soon going to lose their neighbourhood municipal school. It will be scrapped to make way for a bus lane.

Mr Ansari has picked up the pieces again, built a new home and managed to buy about five sewing machines to start work.

He can no longer afford to employ people. The government, he says, gave him compensation of 300 rupees for the damage to his house in Chamanpura.

"Once I was fairly well to do. Now I work a lot more and just manage," he says. "Life can't come to a halt. But sometimes I feel we are the living dead."

Noor Banu and her husband are still trying to pay back a loan

The riots do not find any echo in the general elections in Gujarat.

Seven years after the incident, both the ruling BJP and Congress party remain silent on the shoddy rehabilitation of the victims or the delay in bringing the culprits to justice.

"We cannot vote for the BJP and the Congress almost has a fixed deposit on our votes. So it's a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea," says Mr Ansari.

There is little talk of the impending polls at Bombay Hotel. When you raise the subject, the residents turn their faces away in disgust.

"Before the 2002 riots, there were just a few houses here. Now there are 15,000 houses and 80,000 people. Muslims have moved in from all over. They feel relatively safe here," says Shabit Ali Ansari, 32, who owns a sweets shop.

"But no party does anything for Muslims. The authorities do nothing for people here unless we raise a storm," he says.

Cynical

Barber shops, groceries, sweets shops and even a photo studio that have sprung up in the grubby lanes do brisk business. But residents work on pitifully low wages.

Riot victims like Noor Banu, 45, and her husband, Ashik Ali Badar Ali, 50, who moved here after their house was attacked in the Saraspur area, are struggling to make ends meet.

The neighbourhood school is being demolished

Mr Ali used to drive an auto rickshaw and bring home up to 150 rupees a day. Now he earns barely 1,800 rupees a month working as a security guard.

Their three daughters chip in making lacquered bangles to help pay back a loan of 70,000 rupees the family borrowed for the two-room hovel in which they live.

Next door, Asiyana Ahmed Sheikh, 12, makes kites. And Zarin Aslambhai Ghanchi gets less than one US cent for cutting and stitching together a campaign banner for a political party.

"Even the political parties exploit us when giving us jobs. This is the state of affairs here," says Zarin.

Ashik Ali Badar Ali says he is going to vote for the Hindu nationalist BJP, which was blamed for inaction during the rioting.

"The BJP is an open enemy of the Muslims, and the Congress is a hidden enemy. I'd rather vote for the open enemy, so I can go to them for protection."

Muslims comprise barely 10% of the population in Gujarat.

"Despite the riots and the headlines, the political parties here feel that they can ignore them, because they don't comprise a decisive vote bank," says analyst Achyut Yagnik.

Scholarship பற்றிய தகவல்களை அறிந்துகொள்வதற்காக

இணையதள முகவரி: http://www.educationsupport.nic.in/

மத்திய அரசின் மனிதவள அமைச்சகம் உண்டாக்கியுள்ள தளமிது. இந்தியாவில் உள்ள மாணவர்கள் உதவித்தொகை (Scholarship) பற்றிய தகவல்களை அறிந்துகொள்வதற்காக இந்த இணையதளம் உருவாக்கப் பட்டுள்ளது. அரசு மட்டுமின்றி தனியார் துறை வழங்குகின்ற உதவித்தொகை பற்றிய தகவல்களும் இதற்குள் அடங்கும். பள்ளிபடிப்பு முதல் பி.எச்.டி. படிப்பு வரை பல்வேறு உதவித்தொகைகள் கிடைக்கின்றன. கலைக்கல்லூரி படிப்புகள், மருத்துவம், பொருளாதாரம், புள்ளியியல் படிப்புகள் என எல்லா துறை படிப்புகளுக்கும் உதவித்தொகை கிடைக்கிறது. இந்தியாவில் மட்டுமின்றி ஐரோப்பா, அமெரிக்கா என உலகின் பல்வேறு நாடுகளிலும் படிக்க கிடைக்கும் உதவித்தொகை பற்றிய தகவல்களையும் அறியலாம். உதவித்தொகைக்கு எப்படி விண்ணப்பிப்பது, என்னென்ன சான்றிதழ்களை வைக்கவேண்டும், கடைசித் தேதி போன்ற தகவல்களும் இந்த இணைய தளத்தில் உண்டு. கல்விகடன் கொடுக்கும் வங்கிகள், கடனை பெறும் முறை போன்ற தகவல்களையும் கொடுத்துள்ளனர். கல்வி சம்பந்தமான முக்கிய தகவல்கள், வெளியீடுகளும் இங்கு பார்க்கலாம். கல்வி கற்கும் அனைத்து பிரிவினரும் தெரிந்து கொண்டு, பயன்பெற வேண்டிய இணையதளம்.

இணையதள முகவரி: http://www.educationsupport.nic.in/

நன்றி : சாதிக்.

ே காபம் என்றால் என்ன?

கோபம்' என்பது மனிதர்களுக்கிடையே தோன்றும் கடுமையான உணர்ச்சியாகும். இது சிறிய எரிச்சல் அளவில் இருந்து கடுமையான வெறிகொண்டதாக இருக்கலாம்.

கோபம் ஏற்படும்போது உடலளவில் அதிக இரத்த அழுத்தம் வேகமான இதயத்துடிப்பு, அட்ரீனாலின்(adrenaline)நோராட்ரீனலின்(noradrenaline)அதிகம் சுரக்கலாம்.

வேண்டாமே கோபம் !

கோபம் எதனால் வருகிறது? கோபம் கொள்வதால் ஏற்படும் நன்மைகள் என்ன? தீமைகள் என்ன? நாம் கோபப்படுவதைப்போல் பிறர் நம்மிடம் கோபம் கொண்டால் விளைவுகள் என்ன? ஒரு மனிதன் சிறிதளவு கால அவகாசம் ஒதுக்கி தனிமையில் மேற்கண்ட கோபம் குறித்த கேள்விகளுக்கு விடைகளை சிந்தித் துப் பார்த்தால், தான் கோபம் கொள்ளநேரிடும் அனேக சூழ்நிலை களைத் தவிர்க்கலாம். தனக்குத் தானே கட்டளையிடும் `ஆட்டோ சஜசன்’ என்ற முறையில் ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் காலை மற்றும் மாலையில்“நான் ஒருபோதும் எவரிடத்தும் கோபம் கொள்ளமாட்டேன்.மனமே எதை நினைத்தும் கோபம் கொள்ளாதே” என்று சங்கல்பத்தை குறைந்தது 10 தடவை தன் மனதிற்குள் சொல்ல வேண்டும்.ஓரிரு மாதங்கள் கழித்து தனது கோபப் படும் குணத்தை ஆராய்ந்து பார்த்தால் கண்டிப்பாக கோபம் கொள்ளும் தன்மை குறைந்து வரும். கணவன் மனைவியிடையே ஒருபோதும் எந்த ஒரு செயல் நிமித்தமும் கோபம் ஏற்படாமல் பார்த்துக் கொள்வதோடு, கனிவான முறையில் பேசிப்பழகிட வேண்டும். கோபம் கொள்ளும் செயல் என்று ஒருசெயலை அல்லது ஒரு நிகழ்வினைக் கூட சுட்டிக் காட்டுதல் கூடாது.கோபம் கொள்ளும் தன்மை எவர் ஒருவரி டம் அறவே இல்லையோ, அவரை குடும்ப மும், சுற்றத்தாரும் ஏன்? இந்த சமுதாயமே இனிய மனிதராக ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளும். அதன் மூலமே நாம் பல்வகையான பயன் களை அடைந்து வாழ்வில் ஏற்றம் பல பெறலாம்.

Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu

AP – An Egyptian Health worker sprays chemicals to disinfect a local pigs farm in Cairo, Egypt Monday, April …

By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer Maamoun Youssef, Associated Press Writer – 32 mins ago

CAIRO – Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who resisted the move and demanded compensation.

The measure was a stark expression of the panic the outbreak is spreading around the world, especially in poor countries with weak public health systems. Egypt responded similarly in recent years to an outbreak of bird flu, which is endemic to the country and has killed two dozen people.

At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, farmers refused to cooperate with Health Ministry workers who came to slaughter the animals and the workers left without carrying out the government order.

"We remind Hosni Mubarak that we are all Egyptians. Where does he want us to go?" said Gergis Faris, a 46-year-old pig farmer in another part of Cairo who collects garbage to feed his animals. "We are uneducated people, just living day by day and trying to make a living, and now if our pigs are taken from us without compensation, how are we supposed to live?"

Most in the Muslim world consider pigs unclean animals and do not eat pork because of religious restrictions. They are banned entirely in some Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Libya.

However in other parts of the Muslim world, pigs are often raised by religious minorities who can eat pork.

In Jordan, the government decided Wednesday to shut down the country's five pig farms, involving 800 animals, for violating public health safety regulations. Half the pigs will be killed and the rest will be relocated to areas away from the population, officials said.

In Egypt, pigs are raised and consumed mainly by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population. Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen estimated there are between 300,000-350, 000 pigs in Egypt.

"It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses, " Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt was among the countries hardest hit by bird flu. According to the World Health Organization, it has the world's fourth highest death toll — after Indonesia, Vietnam and China — and the largest outside of Asia. WHO has confirmed 23 deaths in Egypt and Egyptian authorities have reported three more deaths in recent weeks.

Bird flu started sweeping through poultry populations across Asia in 2003 and then jumped to humans, killing more than 250 worldwide.

Chickens used to roam every dusty street in every village across Egypt, and many of its city alleys too. But when the disease first appeared here in February 2006, 25 million birds were killed within weeks, devastating the poultry sector and particularly the family farmers. Chickens nearly all vanished from sight, slaughtered, abandoned or locked away by a population increasingly aware of, and frightened by, the disease's stubborn grip.

The latest measure appeared designed to avert a similar panic.

In the northern suburbs of Cairo Wednesday, health authorities killed 250 pigs and buried them. Angry farmers demanded compensation and provincial governors paid them around 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about $180) per head. The farmers asked for an official government decision to set a price for each pig slaughtered.

Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told reporters that farmers would be allowed to sell the pork meat so there would be no need for compensation.

Muslim students at JNU being targeted by ABVP activists

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi,

New Delhi: In a setback to the secular culture and history of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, the right wing Hindutva groups, it seems, have strengthened themselves in the campus, and they are announcing it by their actions: in the last six months ABVP activists have carried out three attacks on Muslim students in the campus. The administration did take action but in a way that only emboldened the attackers.

The recent attack was on April 17 on a Ph.D. student. “I was outside the Lohit Hostel. Five students came up on bikes and started beating me without any provocation,” says Idrees Kanth. They were from the same group of people who had beaten up some other students in the past also, says he who lives at Lohit Hostel.

On March 17 this year another student Masihullah, from the same hostel, was brutally beaten in full public view by the Hindutva activists. “Five students from the same hostel beat up Masihullah in the mess room. The warden remained mute spectator as he was threatened by the attackers,” says Abhilash, a Ph.D. student living at the hostel for four years.

“They are not misguided youths, they are guided RSS activists,” says Abhilash adding that one of the attackers is son of a Rajasthan Congress leader.

In Ramazan last year, another student Iqbal Zia was also beaten by the same group. Apparently there is no such reason like personal enmity or student politics. Behind the attacks there is simply a communal agenda of the extremist group. In all incidents they have singled out Muslim students. By attacking and frightening Muslim students they may be seeking communal polarization in the campus.

Stanlee, a Ph.D. student who is living at Lohit Hostel for four years, says the attackers are hardcore ABVP activists. “Tension has prevailed Lohit since the beginning. Since it was opened for students four years ago, there have been a number of incidents, and in most cases ABVP activists have been involved,” says Stanlee. “There is no student politics behind the incidents. There is simply communal thinking behind the attacks,” he says. All victims so far are Muslims. There are about 300 students in the Lohit Hostel, of them Muslims are between 20-25.

In Masihullah’s case action was taken against seven attackers. Three were declared out of bounds and four were transferred to different hostel. A fine of Rs 3000 was also slapped on them. But notice about the action was not pasted on notice board anywhere in the campus. And some time later the punishment was revoked.

The administration has taken the cases as a normal law and order issue. They have not acted against them seriously, says Abhilash.

"In my case they have not taken any action. They say the accused are last year students. We cannot take hard action against them. This will affect their career," says Idrees. “The problem is not just these incidents. Problem is rather deeper. The administration is fast turning anti-minority,” says he.

CIA’s secret operations worldwide and drug money

In Afghanistan US/NATO put blame on Taliban for the poppy cultivation in Afghanistan for financing their resistance to allied forces. Ironically, it was only in Taliban era when the world had seen a sharp decline in opium crop in Afghanistan. Taliban banned opium cultivation nationwide. A more important question is how and when this business of drug production and trafficking started in region? CIA has been using drug money since long to generate money to support its operations all over the world. It did not start in Afghanistan it was brought here after experimenting somewhere else.

This is something which is not a lead story in international media for obvious reasons despite the fact it is harming millions of lives around the globe.

1. CIA’s secret Operations

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on of the most active and dynamic intelligence setups in the world needs massive amount of money to carry on its clandestine operations all over the world. It has happened when CIA used local sources to conduct a coups, assassinations, regime change, etc. As US has a long history to support democracy by hook and crook measures, until and unless a dictator is ready to serve US interests to prolong its rule.

Operations like the one completed in Iran in 1953 to remove Prime Minister Mussadaq and backing Shah’s regime by using assets in civil society, or in Iraq in 1975 to arm Iraqi Kurds to destabilize Pre-Saddam in Iraq or more recently using its assets in Pakistan to pave the way of direct US intervention in Pakistan under pretext of hunting Al-Qaeda.

These kinds of operations need a lot of financial input. Usually CIA arranges revenue from its own means for this kind of operations where expenses can’t be predicted by any measure. Funds from Whitehouse always need a complete audit and detailed reports about usage of these funds. There are numerous occasions when CIA never shared details of operations with its own analytical wing nor with any other public office in Washington. Most of the time it is drug money that compensates these expenses.

CIA operations are not only single expenditure fulfilled by drugs there are also other deficiencies which are compensated with this money like financial institutes and banks in current financial crisis. UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa based in Vienna revealed that drug money often became the only available capital when the crisis spiraled out of control last year.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had found evidence that "inter bank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities," Costa was quoted as saying. There were "signs that some banks were rescued in that way."

It is not only CIA anymore in trade for using it as gold mine to finance its illegal operations all over the world but US economy also need some liquidity in its banks, it doesn’t matter if it is coming by drug trade.

2. Drug Production & Consumption

Afghanistan is the largest producer of heroin’s main ingredient; opium and opium is nothing new in this part of the world. In Afghanistan and FATA, Pakistan it is being produced since centuries; used as remedy for various diseases. Commercial production of opium began just during the Russian invasion in Afghanistan where it is estimated to produce some 8250 metric tons (Source: AmericanFreePress. net, November 24, 2008) of opium per year which makes 85% to 90% of the world's supply of opium. This also contributes towards Afghan warlords’ wealth directly. This is what CIA brought to the region: Opium production without a brand name obviously. Today’s world opium production map is as under;

Left: Demand and trafficking of drugs globally. US is one of very high concentration drug trafficking territory thanks to Regan’s National Security Council who turned a blind eye towards South American cocaine socking into US in 1980 when CIA was backing all the drug traffickers of Contra movements in Nicaragua.

Markets for these drugs stretched world over from Western Europe to Far East, From Canada to Latin America and From China to Morocco, Africa. Profits related to this business also vary along with market’s location.

This business enriches not only the United States-friendly Afghan warlords but also elements of the Northern Alliance, the US key ally in the country. More disturbing is fact that this money also contributes in CIA’s operations against Pakistan as well.

3. Contra Movements (1980)

In Asia demand for heroin is more than any other drug but it is not the case world over. Cocaine is favorite drug which is consumed the most. Cocaine was nothing new in South American countries but it was only during Nicaraguan contra movements against the then dictator it got shoot up. It was again CIA’s regime change operation to bring "democracy" in Nicaragua. It was during this period when the whole region saw an unprecedented surge in cocaine trafficking in 1980. This has been investigated none other than but by CIA’s inspector general in later years.

Was CIA a part of this?

Answer is not only CIA was aiding these cocaine traffickers and money-launderers but Ronald Reagon’s National Security Council also turned a blind eye towards these drug trades despite the fact that later these very drug traffickers brought cocaine to mainland US. According to CIA’s inspector general report, published in online magazine The Consortium magazine, Oct. 15, 1998, it was Reagan’s National Security Council which cleared proven drug traffickers and CIA inspector general Frederick Hitz confirmed long standing.

Above: Armed men of Nicaragua insurgency during 1980, armed with CIA’s sport and financed by drug money.

Allegations of cocaine traffickers.

The NSC’s covert airline was the main transportation mean to do this trade in safest possible way.Most stunning part of all this contra movements and CIA involvement is methods these movements used to dismantle the then Nicaraguan government including bombing and killing of civilians and CIA withheld all evidence of contra crimes from Justice Department, the Congress and even its own analytical division just to conceal its connection with drug traffickers.

4.Afghanistan

As it is mentioned earlier that Afghanistan was not a hub of drug supply to world before Russian invasion in 1979. It was CIA once again to implement what it successfully implemented in Nicaragua in 1980. Now, Afghanistan is biggest contributor in drug production with its massive opium production.

Russian Afghan War (1979-1989)

CIA was not fully done with contra movements when Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1979 threatening the region with her expansionist design to gain control over Afghanistan and Baluchistan province of Pakistan to reach Arabian Sea. Pakistan decided to confront Russia inside Afghanistan to thwart communist designs. CIA found an opportunity in Afghanistan to settle its long standing duel with Russian for global dominion, after initial successes by Afghan fighters. CIA once again brought tested formula of drug to finance this war which it used in South America with only difference in prescription where cocaine was replaced with heroin. Poppy cultivation was nothing new to Afghan but it was level of production and demand created by international traffickers in the world which shocked many in vicinity of these poppy fields.

Profit gained by these drugs was main driving force behind all this trade and with heroin it was much more than what it was with cocaine. Ironically US and Europe became biggest markets of heroin prepared produced in Afghanistan.

Regan’s administration is also a common factor in both Afghan heroin trade and contra cocaine traffickers. Role of CIA in first Afghan war was not overt as it could provoke Russians in more direct retaliation albeit Cuban missile crisis of 1960s. To avoid that kind of hostility it was more suitable for CIA to have silent links with Afghan warlords and providing sources to grow poppy. “By the end of Russian invasion in 1989 Afghanistan was second largest opium production spot with 1350 Metric ton after notorious Golden Triangle including countries like Laos, Thailand, Burma and Vietnam which was producing 2645 Metric ton at that time leaving Latin America way behind with just 112 Metric ton”, as per US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Pre and Post Taliban Era (1994-2001)

In 1994 unrest and lawlessness in Afghanistan gave rise to Taliban. Motivated with their strict religious background and education they put ban on all kinds of drugs in territory under their control but this was not the cure for chronically infected Afghan economy and society. Non availability of any job market and strong hold of Northern Alliance of Northern part of country remained biggest challenge to these efforts to cut down poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. But despite all the challenges Talibans were able to put a serious cut on opium.

Above: A price comparison between Cocaine and Heroin. Despite low price of Afghan opium street price in end market in US is many times more than cocaine’s price in same market.

production in Afghanistan by start of 2001 when they were about to capture Northern Alliance’s strong hold Mazar-e-Sharif but post 9/11 scenario not only changed the geopolitical dynamics of the whole world but also destroyed the efforts of Taliban to control opium production.

Left: In year 2001, just before US/NATO invasion into Afghanistan, Taliban were able to cut down opium production by a decisive margin. This was also one of core reasons against Taliban along with other excuses. After year 2002, when Taliban were removed from power there is a historical increase in opium production in Afghanistan, money is going to pentagon to carry on Afghan and Iraq war despite a historical recession in US.

Recent Afghan Conflict (2002 – To date)

Afghanistan is leading opium production in world today but after the invasion of US in 2002 Afghanistan is also attributed to have largest heroin production in the world as well.

Without active support of Pentagon and CIA it is not possible to export drug prepared with more than 8000 metric tons of opium. US relations with Northern Alliance in Afghanistan after Taliban have given a free license to drug producers, traffickers. CIA and Pentagon both have their links to all these criminals in order to get supplies of the drugs and export it in US Army planes. It has been reported that CIA used US Army planes leaving Afghanistan carrying coffins which were filled with drugs instead of bodies.

To make sure undisturbed trade US appointed all Northern Alliance drug lords at key posts in Afghanistan and most prominent appointment was none other than President Hamid Karzai. Karzai’s brother, head of Kandahar's provincial council is proven drug trafficker facilitating the transportation of heroin from Kandahar eastward through Helmand and out across the Iranian border.
There is no reason to believe that CIA is not aware of this but as it is all one big enterprise where Karzai is also a partner so no danger to his brother.

Bush administration pushed the level of poppy cultivation to next level in Afghanistan just to keep Wall Streets alive in crisis. Many top Bush administration’s officials were worried about growing influence of countries in Golden Triangle (Loas, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma) in Russian and Chinese drug markets. Like Oil in Iraq this was just another opportunity for the Bush administration to have some quick bucks.

Blames for using drugs to fight with NATO and US forces is always put on Taliban. But looking at areas of Taliban’s active zones one can easily understand where all this poppy cultivation is taking place. Taliban put ban on poppy when they were incharge of majority of Afghan territories and Kabul, the capital. Afghanistan was suffering worst economic crisis at that time but Taliban never went to build their economy with heroin trade. Now it is just ridiculous to blame Taliban to have vast fields of poppy and having enough peace and time to grow and process it into heroin and then trade it in Pakistan and Iran to dens it to destinations in Eastern Europe. Below is map of Afghanistan indicating high poppy cultivation provinces and it is quite evident that Taliban dominant.

Left: Ahmed Wali Karzai, appointed by his brother, President Hamid Karzai, to represent Kandahar province in Kabul.

According to media reports he is main player in exporting heroin and opium to European countries through Turkmenistan. Provinces like Kunar, Pektika,Paktya has low poppy cultivation and other provinces where all US/CIA supported warlords are holding key positions are growing most of opium crop. It was only after US invasion there was a 4400% increase in opium production.

US role in Afghan social debacle will go in history as described The Huffington Post on October 15, 2008 “When the history of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is written, Washington's sordid involvement in the heroin trade and its alliance with drug lords and war criminals of the Afghan Communist Party will be one of the most shameful chapters.”

5. Pakistan: Indirect Victim of the CIA’s Drug business

Almost the whole world is affected by this drug trade but countries which lie in routes of drug traffickers are worst effected after the original drug markets. Countries like Pakistan are paying a very high price for US/CIA drug trade as there is a constant increase in drug addiction in Pakistan. Iran is another country which happens to be in route of international drug traffickers so it is also facing problem of smuggling of heroin and morphine from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Turkey and Europe. After US invasion of Afghanistan this route has become active manifold then it was previously.

Effects of this trade are not limited to drug usage only but it destroys the social fabric in a society and gives rise to street crimes in order to get some cash to buy drugs from street market. A more horrible outcome is spread of HIV virus among addicted persons when they share the injection syringes. This threat is increasing with each passing day as number of HIV positive is increasing.

Another disastrous effect it brought to Pakistan and Afghanistan other neighbours is serious law and order situation in bordering area of each country with Afghanistan. Combating this evil trade is not possible until a holistic effort is made by international community in this regards but its chances are bleak as this trade is needed by global imperialism (Israel, US, UK) more than ever before to give some support to their dying economies.

Above: Pakistan has become main artery in heroin trafficking route and it has a lot of implication on Pakistani security. Level of drug addicted also increased over the year due to high availability of drugs in street market. Afghanistan is main producer but Pakistan us where most of drugs are seized.

6. Conclusion

Under current situation it is very important for countries like Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Russia to think about how to put jinni of drug back to the bottle before international drug mafia takes over these countries by destroying their social norms and values.

CIA not only has a long history of having links with traffickers but also encouraging the drug trade to get its own interests served. CIA always encourages this trade even if it affected its own citizens like in Contra movements of 1980.

Afghanistan became leader in opium production and main hub for providing heroin and its main ingredient to whole world. All this happened under the control of champion of human rights US and its intelligence setup mainly CIA.

Situation is becoming more and bleaker unless Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and Afghanistan governments start thinking about this trade and its far reaching affects on US economy and CIA’s funding. It is time when the whole region should become equivocal against this trade and ask US to leave the region for greater good of the billions of people in region.