What I liked was his way of stating the perspectives of both sides in a factual manner, and pointing out some facts about Indian Muslims that often get overlooked as India becomes global and starts adopting a global opinion of Muslims.

I have always thought of the Hindutva fanatics as an extreme danger to society. It isn’t really all that different from the Taliban formula – we have been wronged, our religion is in danger, we will be extinct if we don’t do something about it. I guess when it comes to any radicalization, there aren’t very many choices for original thinking. Fact is, to get people to strike out, they need to feel cornered. That kind of writes the script regardless of religion.

I have written on many forums that we only need to look at the current condition of Pakistan to see the very real damage religious radicalization does. Intolerance isn’t logical. Its an attitude. Once established, it colors everything. The other religion, minority sub-sects of the religion, country, ideologies, perceived injustices….. everything becomes threatening and everything needs to be attacked. It simply is not worth it to get into all this. What is the use of creating a victory for our religion if it means that the people will be touchy, discontented and volatile? If the very moral fabric of the society gets hardened and learns to ignore the plight of others?

What is the use of being so superior, if we end up standing all alone?

It should be a lesson to anyone considering religious fundamentalism to see the plight of Pakistan and the reluctance to provide aid in the world. As thousands languish, the righteous kill more, because they have an agenda that will not spare anyone for the ‘real truth’.

It may anger Hindu radicals to be compared with the Taliban, but if you think carefully, isn’t tit-for-tat all about aping wrong actions to punish another?

Another thing from that article I found important was when he says,

The psychological aspect relates to prompt and effective action to identify and address causes for anger in any community.

I hadn’t thought of attentiveness and prompt addressing of grievances as an anti-terrorism initiative. Yet, it so clearly is.

A lot of food for thought today.

This first one is a comical incident. Two guys were escorted to the court by three cops. For some reason, the trial didn’t happen. The police parked the two murder suspects and absconded. Later, the suspects return back to the police station after having rescued and brought back two of the cops safely – drunk!!! We must start a series on real life jokes.

The second is about a brave Superintendent of Police, who investigated a tip off and caught three constables extorting money red handed. When they tried to make a getaway, she caught the drivers collar through the window of their car and refused to let go. She got dragged by the vehicle for 1-2 kilometers (sources vary) and got injured. The constables got away, but are suspended and there are people looking for them. This incident caught my eye for the bravery of the SP and the stand against corruption, which I admit, is really on my mind these days. The article itself is a really sad piece of journalism.

• I don’t know if the really needy people will get my aid. Everyone right from the government to people not harmed by the floods is interested in a piece of the bounty flowing in, while fake camps pretend to be running aid, but actually aren’t.
• Early reports of people getting food, but the other essentials like blankets and all being hoarded made me hope that the little I sent was spent on water purification tablets or medicine rather than blankets. At least I don’t think those are being hoarded.
• Discrimination. In a time like this, victims, who have experienced the suffering first hand still don’t have the compassion in them to understand what other victims go through. Reports of non-Muslims not getting aid!!!
• And other nasty stuff like mob justice and all happening extra curricular.
• There is increased infiltration at the LoC – obviously some things don’t damage easy.
• In a nation with cricket in its blood, their team threw away a match for money – not proven, but its a matter of time. Actually, they got caught pretty much red handed spot-fixing no-balls, but the possible deliberate losing is what boiled my blood. Don’t they know that as their nation drowns, the cricket in their blood could make them feel better if there was a win? What little is shared sounds pretty conclusive.
• They blamed India for the flood!!! Sorry folks, it was Allah. Go bomb heaven.
• India offered $5million initially and was kept hanging as they deliberated if it should be accepted. Which is fine. I guess the Pakistanis find India’s help insulting or something. They wanted us to send it through UN. Okay. We even upped the aid to $25million. Still not accepted. Worse, the media called for not accepting Indian aid unless the human rights violations in Kashmir were stopped, etc. Blah blah. Apparently Pakistan has a monopoly on human rights violations and in this fragile time, when everyone is tired, they are worried that someone else may be on the horizon? It is particularly insulting, because they have been systematically exporting terror into Kashmir and India as a part of their policy on India. Apparently these terrorists wipe the tears of the distraught Kashmiris and India is lying when they talk about bomb blasts. Talk of the pot calling the kettle black and that too about accepting aid, while they are moaning day and night about needing more money. We must really be awful people.
• What is more, these people have outright lied when they said that there are no terrorist camps in Pakistan. Their much touted ‘talks’ are total bull shit. Then they lied when they said that LeT is not supported by the government. Then they lied that the ISI is not meddling in India. Not to mention the outright lie about the role of ISI in the Mumbai attacks. Then the lie about taking action against the butchers…. Okay, this mysterious common man is different from the army, government, ISI, radical Islamist organization supporter, etc and is somehow a pure specimen of innocence amid a sea of corrupt India hating society which of course he doesn’t comprise of, since he’s innocent. Uh…. if many people are dying around the world, I would like to choose whom to save with my very small contribution.

This pretty much put paid to my brief surge of humanitarian ideals. As a human rights violator, its best I don’t indulge in such impulses. And I have been thinking. Media has been talking about how we shouldn’t let negative associations of Pakistan’s image blind us to the very real needs of the common people. It makes sense. Yet, I don’t imagine the common person being very enchanted with me as an Indian. Those innocent kids are growing on this venom. More than half of Pakistanis (53%) surveyed in a Pew poll say India is the biggest threat to Pakistan. Why should I be nurturing these little future India haters? The massive scale of the crisis is evident. They need help. To my mind, no matter how many people are dying around me, one person dies once. I don’t see a hungry child on the streets of Mumbai as less deserving of my charity than a hungry child in a country that doesn’t want money from me anyway. Just because the people around him are not dying enough? Unlike the west, there is not image influence potential for India here. Pakistan is rabidly anti-India and are capable of taking offense simply because we breathe. Recent offenses are creating the floods of course, human rights violations in kashmir, offering them money and killing their innocent terrorists just because they happened to cross the border. The fact is, Pakistan is so obsessed with hate that its forgotten how to live. The list is endless and impossible to empty and thus impossible to end that hate – India, US, Israel, Hindus, West, Ahmediyas, government, Some or the other political party, balochs, random strangers….. No amount of saving is going to fix that. And I’m not the only person to arrive at this thinking. Actually, I arrived late, after donating. Forums and comments are filled with this kind of talk. The stones they threw out at the world are bouncing back. Many people are too polite to say this, but no matter what the economy or donor fatigue, people just aren’t interested in supporting terrorists or the pool that harbours them. People may not be comfortable saying it outright, but the donations speak for themselves. The country is happy to starve as long as they have weapons. The earthquake aid went to the government pockets. US military aid goes straight into LeT camps and the army for use against India. Donations to victims evaporate before they reach intended recipients…… and so on. Fact is, no matter how much money people put in, it is not going to reach the common man in the donations drive because the Pakistanis think nothing of his rights and think its fine to steal from the suffering. The common man on the poster the bait. He’s going to stop getting anything as soon as it is possible. See the ‘rehabilitation’ that happened in Kashmir after the earthquake. Nothing. It was used for private fortunes and terrorist funding. And nothing is going to happen here.

We are concerned over the obtaining situation in the valley for the past nearly three months. We are lodging our protest against the oppressive measures against the innocent people.

My heart has been breaking for the Kashmiris for so many days as I waited for someone to get into being humane. The media reports the plight, but takes no stand. The government is busy pointing fingers. The PM is urging the use of non-lethal weapons. The cops are going right ahead with their brutal agenda. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear this line. Someone telling the government to stop screwing around saving face and get on with fixing what we all know is wrong.

I have never felt more impotent. Everyone knows its utterly wrong, but all kinds of stupid ploys are being made. I can only imagine the anguish of being Kashmiri. So much for being India’s paradise. The only thing I imagine might be worse is being a Kashmiri policeman because you need the job.

Swami Agnivesh’s recommendation is an incredible service he has done to this country by telling the government directly. The biggest thing was that for once the Kashmiris had someone genuinely listening to them and willing to bat for them with the government. Omar Abdullah, are you reading this? You may want to consider donating your salary according to his recommendation. Not only did he do your job, he saved your skin.

It is crucial that the government not trivialize this by opposing them. For example, J&K being disputed is evident to everyone. Denying it for so many years in itself was stupid. Kashmir is horrifyingly militarized. Even if demilitarization is not entirely possible, surely we can do with far fewer soldiers there. Omar was happy to release the youth before Eid anyway. Political prisoners, I don’t know about, but I guess unless they are criminal, illegal or dangerous to India, perhaps its time to accept that Kashmiris have their own objectives in politics, like all other politicians. Of course, if any are militant and have engaged in terrorism, its a different matter.

Revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act is something that will make fighting terrorists more difficult, but unfortunately, our police have demonstrated amply that they cannot be trusted with such autonomy. Killing or arrests of unarmed civilians shouldn’t be done anyway unless they are breaking the law in some way. Punishing those responsible for killing people for protesting shouldn’t even have been needed to be demanded. Its sad that it takes demanding. I have great hopes that this will actually lead such reforms for the entire country.

I would have begun with asking every responsible person in the government publicly apologizing to their ‘claimed’ citizens for their criminal negligence before I even began listening to what they wanted to say.

The Army has set up a helpline for assistance with human rights violations which indicates a possibility that they may be serious about changing:

Army has established human rights cells and launched a helpline at battalion and unit levels in Doda district district where people can call regarding human rights violations,” a defence spokesman said today. A unit of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in Gundna belt of Doda has established a SAATHI helpline, where people can call regarding violations of human rights, RTI related issues, guidance regarding education and scholarship schemes, pensionary and old age related government schemes, medical benefits to people, career counselling for youth and guidance for recruitment in armed forces, para-military and police. At the battalion level, a “Khuda Ke Bande Human Rights cell” was setup at Armora camp in Doda, he said. The Army also organised a camp on human rights related issues at Gunda village, which received a tremendous response both from people and civil administration, the spokesman said, adding the army was committed to zero tolerance to any rights violations.

India is finally shining. Will the politicians catch up?

I admit a lot of my good feeling about them died when I heard that they have threatened the aid workers. It was a group of Christian Missionaries that got attacked. My blood boiled at this intolerance for someone helping save lives. I have been following this aspect – the safety of the rescue workers out of concern. And then I found Disaster reveals God’s truth to Muslims and there is no mention of what these people are suffering through, what their needs are:

Pakistan (MNN) ― While floodwaters may be covering a large portion of Pakistan, the response of ministries reveals the truth in the hearts of Christ’s followers.

Voice of the Martyrs USA has redirected all of their in-country efforts to distribute Action Packs: vacuumed-sealed containers holding much-needed items such as food, clothes and Bibles to encourage and strengthen affected Christians.

However, they are not limiting their relief efforts to Christians. Muslims are more than willing to accept the packages, even when they discover the packs contain Bibles.

The actions of Christians after the rains–and as they continue to pummel the country–are shining through this record-breaking tragedy. One Muslim said, “You Christians are better than Muslims. You came all the way from Faisalabad to help us.”

Many are not only willing to accept the Bibles, but they have told VOM teams they will read them.

As VOM rejoices over this positive turn of events, pray for the teams as they continue to distribute Action Packs. Also pray for even more victims to be open to the truth of Christ’s message.

The Voice of the Martyrs USA site says:

In one community, several Muslims asked for Action Packs. The team told them the backpacks contained Bibles, but the Muslims still wanted them.

They weren’t offering them to Muslim survivors unless they asked? Or do they think that the Muslims wanted the Bibles? D’uh. Guess what? They were hungry. The Bibles aren’t a hot item in Pakistan. The people didn’t have a change of clothes, and there were action packs being distributed to Christians. They asked for survival necessities. They would suffer the book to feed their stomachs. This is what missionaries are reducing the Bible to – something to be accepted in order to get Christian aid. If they could come from half way across the world to give them food, they weren’t exactly incapable of quietly and gracefully taking out the Bible from those “packs for Christians” to make them suitable for any religion if this were really about service as opposed to a recruitment drive among vulnerable people. How would these missionaries feel if they were stranded without food or water and in grave danger and swallowed their pride to ask for desperately needed help from Muslims? What if they were told that they would get it, but it came with a Quran? Would they refuse to accept food? Or would they tell the people helping them that what they could do with their Quran? No. They would quietly take the food knowing that they had no choice.

These peddlers are in essence telling a people surviving for weeks without hope “We aren’t really here to help you. But since you ask, we will, but you also have to take a Bible.” For people who deal with faith, its incredible that they don’t ‘get it’ that in desperate times, all a religious person has is his faith to carry him through. And this is an intensely religious part of the world. A proud people have to let humble their beliefs to accept the aid. No wonder there are some who would rather wait for the banned organizations.

Not that refusing aid to non-Muslims in a time like this is any better.

The survivors have to accept crucial necessities at the cost of dignity – whether it is scrabbling in the mud for packs thrown from a truck or helicopter, or it is thanking someone politely and saying please give us that bag with food, even if it has a Bible in it. Someone needs to look into this. The Pakistanis don’t need to go through the humiliation of being forced to accept a Bible if they want to eat.

If I as someone who doesn’t consider violence a useful option feel so outraged on behalf of a people I have little in common with, I imagine that the Taliban accustomed to violence, rabidly Muslim and enjoying great freedom in current circumstances is actually acting under unusual restraint to have killed only three people and have donated two million on top of that. I see it as a testimony to how shaken they themselves are with the state of their land. Sure, they are wrong in killing those people, but if we understand the fierce religious pride of this land, we can understand that it seems like an unforgivable insult for a Muslim to have to accept the religious book of another religion to get access to life-essential assistance.

And no, I am not a Muslim. I am Indian, atheist, Hindu by birth and have a healthy contempt for what I call the perpetual victim mentality of Muslims that keeps them blaming the world and violently retaliating against assumptions of evil and further demolishing their own moral fabric, reputation and well being. But this is not about how I see a religion. It is about how people see their own beliefs. Its not impossible to separate religious strings from humanitarian relief. It is happening.

Much as I detest the Hindu religious structure (though I live in it), what I really appreciate about Hindu aid in Pakistan is its absence. ‘Hindus’ have donated and assisted without religious tags knowing that the average Pakistani would see accepting Hindu aid (particularly) as a monument to their utter defeat in saving themselves. India as a country (as different from Hindus) accepts that it must donate through the UN to protect the dignity of a proud people who are left with precious little else. I admire the stand the Pakistani government took in asking India to do this, even though it could be interpreted as a snub, even though they needed the money desperately (not that India offered a fortune in the greater scheme of things). It is one of the few moments the government showed sensitivity to the tattered dignity of their people and protected it. US is pouring in tremendous amounts of money, resources and people, as are many other countries. The UN probably has Jews in it too right along with all kinds of religions, and they are making a monumental change without emphasizing differences core to the dignity of the survivors.

I think its high time the religious aid focused on the tragedy at hand and stopped playing chess with real live people. I also invite the world to see this as an opportunity to engage ideological differences and create bridges of spiritual generosity. Perhaps the rebirth of Pakistan can include greater peace for all.