Reflections on India
by
Sean Paul Kelley
Sean Paul Kelley is a travel writer, former radio host, and before that, an asset manager for a Wall Street investment bank that is still (barely) alive. He recently left a fantastic job in Singapore working for Solar Winds, a software company based out of Austin, to travel around the world for a year or two. He founded The Agonist, in 2002, which is still considered the top international affairs, culture and news destination for progressives. He is also the Global Correspondent for The Young Turks, on satellite radio and Air America.
If you are Indian, or of Indian descent, I must preface this post with a clear warning: you are not going to like what I have to say. My criticisms may be very hard to stomach. But consider them as the hard words and loving advice of a good friend. Someone who is being honest with you and wants nothing from you.
These criticisms apply to all of India except Kerala and the places I did not visit, except that I have a feeling it applies to all of India.
Lastly, before anyone accuses me of Western Cultural Imperialism, let me say this: if this is what India and Indians want, then, who am I to tell them differently. Take what you like and leave the rest. In the end it doesn’t really matter, as I get the sense that Indians, at least many upper class Indians, don’t seem to care and the lower classes just don’t know any better, what with Indian culture being so intense and pervasive on the sub-continent. But, here goes, nonetheless.
India is a mess.
It’s that simple, but it’s also quite complicated. I’ll start with what I think are Indias’ four major problems – the four most preventing India from becoming a developing nation – and then move to some of the ancillary ones.
First: Pollution. In my opinion the filth, squalor and all around pollution, indicates a marked lack of respect for India by Indians. I don’t know how cultural the filth is, but it’s really beyond anything I have ever encountered. At times the smells, trash, refuse and excrement are like a garbage dump.
Right next door to the Taj Mahal was a pile of trash that smelled so bad, was so foul as to almost ruin the entire Taj experience. Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai to a lesser degree, were so very polluted as to make me physically ill. Sinus infections, ear infection, bowels churning was an all too common experience in India. Dung, be it goat, cow or human fecal matter, was common on the streets. In major tourist areas filth was everywhere, littering the sidewalks, the roadways, you name it. Toilets in the middle of the road, men urinating and defecating anywhere, in broad daylight.
Whole villages are plastic bag wastelands. Roadsides are choked by it. Air quality that can hardly be called quality. Far too much coal and far to few unleaded vehicles on the road. The measure should be how dangerous the air is for ones’ health, not how good it is. People casually throw trash in the streets, on the roads.
The only two cities that could be considered sanitary, in my journey, were Trivandrum – the capital of Kerala – and Calicut. I don’t know why this is, but I can assure you that, at some point, this pollution will cut into Indias’ productivity, if it already hasn’t. The pollution will hobble Indies’ growth path, if that indeed is what the country wants. (Which I personally doubt, as India is far too conservative a country, in the small ‘c’ sense.)
The second issue, infrastructure, can be divided into four subcategories: Roads, Rails, Ports and the Electric Grid. The Electric Grid is a joke. Load shedding is all too common, everywhere in India. Wide swathes of the country spend much of the day without the electricity they actually pay for. Without regular electricity, productivity, again, falls.
The Ports are a joke. Antiquated, out of date, hardly even appropriate for the mechanized world of container ports, more in line with the days of long shore men and the like.
Roads are an equal disaster. I only saw one elevated highway that would be considered decent in Thailand, much less Western Europe or America and I covered fully two-thirds of the country during my visit. There are so few dual carriage-way roads as to be laughable. There are no traffic laws to speak of and, if there are, they are rarely obeyed, much less enforced (another sideline is police corruption). A drive that should take an hour takes three. A drive that should take three takes nine. The buses are at least thirty years old, if not older and, generally, in poor mechanical repair, belching clouds of poisonous smoke and fumes.
Everyone in India, or who travels in India, raves about the railway system. Rubbish! It’s awful! When I was there in 2003 and then late 2004 it was decent. But, in the last five years, the traffic on the rails has grown so quickly that once again, it is threatening productivity. Waiting in line just to ask a question now takes thirty minutes. Routes are routinely sold out three and four days in advance now, leaving travellers stranded with little option except to take the decrepit and dangerous buses.
At least fifty million people use the trains a day in India. 50 million people! Not surprising that wait lists of 500 or more people are common now. The rails are affordable and comprehensive, but, they are overcrowded and what with budget airlines popping up in India like sadhus in an ashram in the middle and lowers classes are left to deal with the over utilized rails and quality suffers. No one seems to give a shit.
Seriously, I just never have the impression that the Indian government really cares. Too interested in buying weapons from Russia, Israel and the US, I guess.
The last major problem in India is an old problem and can be divided into two parts: that have been two sides of the same coin since government was invented: bureaucracy and corruption.
It take triplicates to register into a hotel. To get a SIM card for ones’ phone is like wading into a jungle of red-tape and photocopies one is not likely to emerge from in a good mood, much less satisfied with customer service.
Getting train tickets is a terrible ordeal, first you have to find the train number, which takes 30 minutes, then you have to fill in the form, which is far from easy, then you have to wait in line to try and make a reservation, which takes 30 minutes at least and if you made a single mistake on the form, back you go to the end of the queue, or what passes for a queue in India.
government is notoriously uninterested in the problems of the commoners. Too busy fleecing the rich, or trying to get rich themselves in some way, shape or form. Take the trash, for example, civil rubbish collection authorities are too busy taking kickbacks from the wealthy to keep their areas clean that they don’t have the time, manpower, money or interest in doing their job.
Rural hospitals are perennially understaffed as doctors pocket the fees the government pays them, never show up at the rural hospitals and practice in the cities instead.
I could go on for quite some time about my perception of India and its problems, but in all seriousness, I don’t think anyone in India really cares. And that, to me, is the biggest problem. India is too conservative a society to want to change in any way.
Mumbai, India’s’ financial capital, is about as filthy, polluted and poor as the worst city imaginable in Vietnam, or Indonesia – and being more polluted than Medan, in Sumatra, is no easy task. The biggest rats I have ever seen were in Medan !
One would expect a certain amount of, yes, I am going to use this word, “backwardness,” in a country that hasn’t produced so many Nobel Laureates, nuclear physicists, imminent economists and entrepreneurs. But, India has all these things and what have they brought back to India with them? Nothing.
The rich still have their servants, the lower castes are still there to do the dirty work and so the country remains in stasis. It’s a shame. Indians and India have many wonderful things to offer the world, but I’m far from sanguine that India will amount to much in my lifetime.
Now, you have it, call me a cultural imperialist, a spoiled child of the West and all that. But remember, I have been there. I have done it and I have seen 50 other countries on this planet and none, not even Ethiopia, have as long and gargantuan a laundry list of problems as India does.
And, the bottom line is, I don’t think India really cares. Too complacent and too conservative.
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Terrorists are not Martyrs
Posted by admin in BREAKING INTERNATIONAL LAW - DRONE ATTACKS, BREAKING INTERNATIONAL LAW:DRONE ATTACKS, BREAKING INTERNATIONAL LAW:DRONE WAR, Commentary, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, India's Missile Technology Proliferation, India's Nuclear Proliferation, Makaar Dushman on November 18th, 2013
Terrorists are not Martyrs
Sajjad Shaukat
People from different walks of life including politicians, religious scholars (Ulemas) and media persons have expressed their feelings of grief on the recent comments of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and especially of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan who evolved new theory on Shahadat (Martyrdom).
Maulana Fazlur Rehman in an interview with senior journalist Saleem Safi on November 5, this year on a renowned TV channel program Jirga said, “Even a dog killed by the US is a martyr.”
In a separate interview conducted by Safi on November 7, JI Ameer, Munawar Hassan stated, “If American soldiers being killed by the Taliban were not martyrs, how could Pakistani soldiers killed by Taliban be declared martyrs.” In an earlier statement made on November 3, Hassan had already triggered controversy when he declared Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud a martyr following his death in a US drone strike.
In this regard, a spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on November 10, strongly condemned the irresponsible and misleading remarks of the JI Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan, saying that he declared dead terrorists as Shuhada (Martyred), while insulting the Shahadat of thousands of innocent Pakistanis and soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces. The spokesman explained, “Sacrifices of our Shuhada and their families need no endorsement from Syed Munawar Hassan and such misguided and self-serving statements deserve no comments,” demanding an unconditional apology from him.
Instead of apologizing for his derogatory and illogical remarks, Syed Munawar Hassan said on November 10 that he was stuck to his opinion of considering Hakimullah Mehsud as martyr and not viewing soldiers as such. General Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami, Liaquat Baloch announced on November 11 that its Ameer’s statement was correct and according to Sharia (Islamic Jurisprudence).
While denouncing the ill-conceived thoughts of Syed Munawar Hassan, various leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party, Awami National Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement including law-makers and prominent figures pointed out, “We should salute to those mothers, widows and orphans whose dear ones sacrificed their lives for the cause of the motherland. Besides, all those personnel of the security forces who lost their lives for the integrity of the nation and all those innocent people who were killed in bomb blasts, suicide attacks and other terror-incidents are martyrs.” They reminded, “Every child in Pakistan knows that 7,000 security officials and more than 40,000 innocent citizens including religious scholars have been killed by the TTP led by Hakimullah Mehsud…the JI Ameer’s statement means to scorn the sacrifices of our great martyrs who lost their priceless lives to save the lives of millions of Pakistani citizens in the ruthless terrorist attacks carried out by these Taliban.”
Some leaders suggested that If JI Ameer did not beg forgiveness over his controversial statement; the government should institute a case of treason.
In this respect, the members of Sindh Assembly in one voice also demanded from Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Munawar Hassan to apologize over his irresponsible statement which questioned the martyrdom of Pak Army and law-enforcing agencies.
Meanwhile, in order to clarify the controversy over martyrdom, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif of the ruling party (PML-N) visited the General Headquarters (GHQ) of Pakistan Army on November 12 and pad homage to the martyrs of the country. Afterwards, a statement released from the Prime Minister House quoted the PM as saying, “Those who have fought for Pakistan, Ghazis (living) and Shuhada (Martyred), have sacrificed their today for ensuring a better tomorrow for our future generations and all of them are our benefactors.”
However, on the issue of martyrs and terrorists, the opinion of Ulemas has great importance. In this context, on November 10, Chairman Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Hamid Raza Rizvi from a fatwa issued by 30 scholars and religious clerics, and terming statements by Munawar Hasan and Maulana Fazlur Rahman as “rubbing salt on the wounds of heirs of over 50,000 people killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan,” announced, “Hakimullah was involved in killing of thousands of innocent people and army men. The fact that he was killed by a US drone could not purge him of his sins and he was not a martyr.” On November 12, accepting the challenge of TTP spokesman Shahhidullah Shahid on Shahadat-controversy, Hamid Raza replied that he was ready for debate with the Taliban on any channel.
It is mentionable that in the past few years, the militants of the TTP and its affiliated outfits killed thousands of persons across Pakistan through suicide attacks, bomb blasts, targeted killings, beheadings, assaults on military troops, police stations, sectarian violence etc. Besides blowing children schools and attacking the female teachers in order to deny education to girls, they also targeted mosques, Imambargahs, mausoleums, and disgraced dead bodies. Their nefarious acts resulted into deaths of several people in Pakistan. They continued their anti-social and un-Islamic practices to impose their self-created ideology of Islam.
In the Khyber agency, they also indulged in murdering and torturing Shias in their majority areas, forcing them to flee. Particularly, in some tribal areas and Swat these insurgents have been involved in a number of crimes such as drug-smuggling, forced marriages, hostage-takings for ransom and even car-snatching. They justify that they collect money through these unfair means to wage their holy war and in eliminating the moderate dissidents.
When Pakistan’s armed forces successfully ejected the TTP militants out of these areas by sacrificing their own lives, the new leader of the TTP Maulvi Fazlullah who had close connections with Pakistan-based TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, had run to Afghanistan. Based in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan—with the support of Indian secret agency RAW, Afghan spy service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) which also have tactical backing of the US, his insurgents intensified subversive activities in Pakistan by sending suicide bombers and heavily-equipped militants.
Notably, the capture of a senior TTP leader Latifullah Mehsud by US Special Forces (USF) from Afghan custody, confessed that Afghanistan and India were involved in promoting terrorist activities inside Pakistan. He also revealed that while waging proxy wars in Pakistan, terrorist attacks on Gen. Sanaullah Khan Niazi in Upper Dir, at Peshawar Church, in Qissa Khawani Bazar and elsewhere had been planned by Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies. Especially, regarding terror-attack at Peshawar church, TTP did not claim responsibility, but it proved when the outfit misinterpreted Islam by indicating that it was in accordance with Sharia.
However, the militant groups also recruit very young boys, and after their brainwashing through indoctrination, they train them for suicide bombings. The planners misguide these Muslims by convincing that they will have a noble place in the Heavens in exchange of suicide attacks.
Nevertheless, Islam considers killing one innocent person equal to murdering the entire humanity, while jihad is a sacred obligation, but its real spirit needs to be understood clearly, as targeting innocent women and children is not jihad. These Taliban and their banned affiliated outfits are defaming Islam which is the religion of peace, democracy, moderation and human rights.
In this connection, in the recent past, more than 50 Islamic scholars declared “killing of innocent people, target killings and suicide bombings in Karachi, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa along with sectarianism…is not Jehad” and “is against the spirit of Islam.” They explained, “The terrorists’ self-adopted interpretation of Islam is nothing, but ignorance and digression from the actual teachings of the religion…the suicide attacks and related violence smeared the name of Islam and weakened Pakistan.”
Everyone knows that besides responding to Indian military’s unprovoked firings at the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, which killed a number of soldiers of Pak Army and innocent civilians, thousands of personnel of the armed forces and law-enforcing agencies lost their lives in Khyber Paktoonkhwa, Karachi, Balochistan and tribal areas in coping with terrorists so as to maintain the integrity and security of the country. So, they are the true martyrs.
Another notable contradiction is that when the JI workers were fighting the forces of the former Soviet Union in the first Afghan war, sponsored by the US-led west, they were calling their killed Mujadeen as Shaheed. But, now this party has forgotten the term of martyrdom.
Nonetheless, the JI Ameer’s self-created definition of Shaheed means that there is a state within a state where Taliban could be allowed to slash the throats of security forces and to shed the blood of innocent persons.
No doubt, Munawar Hassan’s statement has exposed the extremist thinking of JI and its vilification propaganda campaign to harm, defame and denigrate the prodigious sacrifices of Pakistan’s soldiers, with criminal object to glorify the enemies of the state, while terrorists are not martyrs.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email: [email protected]
Foot in the Mouth, Jamaat-i-Islami, Liaquat Baloch, Syed Munawar Hassan, Terrorists Are Not Martyrs. Ghadaar Terrorists
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