Twenty Charges against Delwar Hossain Sayedee

1. On May 4, 1971, Delawar Hossain Sayedee as a member of Peace (Shanti) Committee carried secret information to the Pakistan army about a gathering of a group of people behind the Madhya Masimpur bus-stand under Pirojpur Sadar and took the army to the spot. The army killed 20 unnamed people by firing.

2. On May 4, 1971, Sayedee along with his accomplices accompanied by the Pakistan army looted belongings of members of the Hindu community living in Masimpur Hindu Para under Pirojpur Sadar. They also set the houses of Hindus alight and opened fire on the scared people, who started fleeing the scene, killing 13 people.

3. On May 4, 1971, Sayedee led a team of the Pakistan army to Masimpur Hindu Para, where the team looted goods from the houses of two members of the Hindu community -- Monindra Nath Mistri and Suresh Chandra Mondol -- and destroyed their houses by setting them on fire. Sayedee also directly took part in the large-scale destruction by setting fire to the roadside houses of villages Kalibari, Masimpur, Palpara, Sikarpur, Razarhat, Kukarpara, Dumur Tola, Kalamtola, Nawabpur, Alamkuthi, Dhukigathi, Parerha and Chinrakhali.

4. On May 4, 1971, Sayedee and his accomplices, accompanied by the Pakistani army looted the houses of members of the Hindu community and opened fire indiscriminately on them in front of Dhopa Bari and behind the LGED Building in Pirojpur, leaving four persons killed.

5. Sayedee declared publicly to arrest Saif Mizanur Rahman, then deputy magistrate of Pirojpur Sub-division, when the magistrate organised a Sarbo Dalio Sangram Parishad to inspire people to join the Liberation War. On May 5, 1971, Sayedee along with his associate Monnaf (now deceased), a member of Peace (Shanti) Committee, accompanied by the Pakistan army picked up Saif from the hospital where he was hiding and took him to the bank of the Baleshwar river. On the same date and time, Foyezur Rahman Ahmed, sub-divisional police officer, and Abdur Razzak (SDO in charge of Pirojpur), were also arrested from their workplaces and taken to the river bank. Sayedee as a member of the killer squad was present there and all three government officials were gunned down. Their bodies were thrown into the river Baleshwar. Sayedee directly participated and abetted in the acts of abduction and killing of those three officers.

6. On May 7, 1971, Sayedee identified the houses and shops of Bangalees belonging to the Awami League, Hindu community and supporters of the Liberation War at Parerhat Bazar under Pirojpur Sadar. Sayedee as one of the perpetrators raided those shops and houses and looted valuables, including 22 seers of gold and silver from the shop of one Makhanlal Saha.

7. On May 8, 1971, Sayedee led a team of the Pakistan army to the house of Nurul Islam Khan, where he identified Nurul Islam as an Awami League leader and his son Shahidul Islam Selim as a freedom-fighter to the army. Sayedee then detained Nurul Islam and handed him to the army, which tortured Nurul Islam. His house was then looted and finally set on fire.

8. On May 8, 1971, Sayedee and his accomplices accompanied by the Pakistan army raided the house of one Manik Posari at Chitholia under Pirojpur Sadar and caught his brother Mofizuddin and one Ibrahim. Sayedee's accomplices then burnt five houses there. On the way to the Pakistani army's camp, Sayedee instigated the members of the occupation force to kill Ibrahim by gunshot and dump his body near a bridge. On the other hand, Mofiz was taken to the army camp and tortured. Sayedee directly participated in the abduction, murder and persecution of the victims.

9. On June 2, 1971, armed associates of Sayedee under his leadership and accompanied by the Pakistani army raided the house of one Abdul Halim Babul at Nolbunia under Indurkani Police Station and looted valuables from Halim's house. The team then reduced the house to ashes.

10. On June 2, 1971, Sayedee's armed associates under his leadership and accompanied by the Pakistan army burnt 25 houses of a Hindu Para in Umedpur village under Indurkani Police Station. At one stage, a victim, Bisabali, was tied to a coconut tree andwas shot dead by Sayedee's accomplice.

11. On June 2, 1971, Sayedee led a team of Peace (Shanti) Committee members, accompanied by the Pakistani army, to raid the house of Mahbubul Alam Howlader (freedom-fighter) of Tengra Khali village under Indurkani Police Station. Sayedee and the team then detained Mahbubul's elder brother Abdul Mazid Howlader and tortured him, and looted cash money, jewellery and other valuables from the house.

12. One day a group comprising 15-20 armed accomplices of Sayedee under his leadership entered the Hindu Para of Parerhat Bazar under Pirojpur Sadar and captured 14 Hindus, who were all supporters of Bangladesh's independence. The fourteen were then tied with a single rope and dragged to Pirojpur and handed over to Pakistani soldiers, who killed them. Their bodies were thrown into the river.

13. One night, about 2 to 3 months after the war commenced, some members of Peace Committee under Sayedee's leadership accompanied by the Pakistan army raided the house of Azhar Ali of Nalbunia village under Pirojpur Sadar Police Station. They then caught and tortured Azahar Ali and his son Shaheb Ali. The team then abducted Shaheb Ali and ultimately he was taken to Pirojpur and killed.

14. During the final stages of the war, Sayedee one morning led a team of Razakar Bahini consisting of 50 to 60 Razakars, into attacking the Hindu Para of Hoglabunia under Pirojpur Sadar. Seeing the attackers, the Hindus managed to flee but one Shefali Gharami failed to do that. Some members of Razakar Bahini entered her room and raped her. Being the leader of the team, Sayedee did not prevent them from committing rape upon her. Sayedee and the members of his team also set fire to the dwelling houses of the Hindu Para.

15. During the last part of the war, Sayedee led 15 to 20 armed Razakars who entered the Hoglabunia village under Pirojpur Sadar Police Station and caught 10 members of the Hindu faith. The attackers then tied all the members of Hindu community with a single rope, dragged them to Pirojpur and handed them over to the Pakistani army. They were all killed and their bodies were dumped into the river.

16. In the course of the Liberation War, Sayedee led a group of 10-12 armed Razakars and Peace Committee members, which surrounded the house of Gouranga Saha of Parerhat Bandar under Pirojpur Sadar. Subsequently, Sayedee and the others abducted three women and handed them over to the Pakistan army at Pirojpur where they were confined and raped for three days before being released.

17. During the Liberation War, Sayedee along with other armed Razakars kept Bipod Saha's daughter Vanu Saha confined to Bipod Saha's house at Parerhat under Pirojpur Sadar Police Station and regularly used to go there to rape her.

18. During the Liberation War, one Bhagirothi used to work in the camp of the Pakistan army. One day, after a fight with the freedom fighters, and at the instance of Sayedee, Bhagirothi was charged with passing information to the freedom fighters and killed.

19. During the war, Sayedee, being a member of Razakar Bahini and exercising his influence over the Hindu community of Pirojpur, converted 100-150 Hindus of Parerhat and other villages and compelled them to go to the mosque to offer prayers.

20. On a day at the end of November 1971, Sayedee got information that thousands of people were fleeing to India in order to save their lives. A group of 10-12 armed members of the Razakar Bahini, under Sayedee's leadership, then attacked the houses of Talukdar Bari at Indurkani village and detained a total of 85 persons and looted goods from there. Of them, all but 10-12 persons were released in exchange for bribes negotiated by Fazlul Huq, a member of the Razakar Bahini. Male persons were tortured and female persons were raped by Pakistan soldiers deployed in the camp.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/suppliments/charges_sayedee.pdf

Puttur: Girl taken to Kerala for conversion – advocate, five others arrested

Puttur notary, advocate and Dakshina Kannada district Congress minority unit chief secretary Nooruddin Salmar has been remanded in judicial custody for allegedly assisting in the conversion of a Hindu girl from Ankatadka, Paltady and helping his friends take her to Kerala.

Nooruddin was caught when he was trying to help Mohammed Althaf, the second accused in the case, to reportedly escape in his car. The Kasargod police arrested them near Perla. The prime accused in the case is Aziz, a poultry trader from Ankatadka.

The girl, a resident of Paltady, had left from her home on February 19 and escaped to Bellary. Aziz is said to have given the girl Rs 10,000 and asked her to convert to Islam. She was then taken to Kasargod by accused Rahiman, Mansoor and auto driver Manoj, and from there to Ponnani by train.

The girl then called Puttur rural police and informed them that she was in Ponnani. The girl's father filed a complaint in Puttur rural police station on February 21. It is said that Aziz and the girl had an affair, and after the family's intervention, it was decided that Aziz and the girl would not meet or talk to each other anymore.

Meanwhile, based on the information obtained on tracking the phone number the girl had called from, the Puttur rural police led by SI Jagadish Reddy under the direction of DySP Sadananda Warnekar left for Ponnani and brought the girl back. On the basis of her statement, the police filed complaints against Aziz, Rahiman, Mohammed Althaf, Mansoor and Manoj.

Though Nooruddin was only accused of helping the accused escape, investigations later revealed that he was the mastermind behind the plan to convert the girl, said DySP Sadananda.

Accused Aziz, Althaf and Nooruddin were taken for medical examination and produced in Puttur court. Puttur lawyers' association filed a bail plea for Nooruddin's release. B Narasimha Prasad and Mahesh Kaje argued on his behalf and said that Nooruddin should be granted interim bail as he was an advocate of the Puttur court.

Assistant public prosecutor C Thammana expressed a strong objection to the bail plea. He said interim bail can be granted to old people, patients and women but in this case interim bail cannot be granted to the accused.

Justice Venkatesh Nayak who upheld the decision of the public prosecutor, denied the bail and remanded the accused in judicial custody for 14 days. Along with Nooruddin, the court also awarded judicial custody to Azeez and Mohammed Althaf.

A few people objected to the photographers who were clicking pictures of the accused. Meanwhile police officials intervened and dispersed the crowd. Strong security was deployed in the court premises under the guidance of M Sudarshan, Puttur town police inspector and K Suresh Kumar, rural police circle inspector.

Source: http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=166024

Hindus under attack in Bangladesh

Conspicuous by its absence on Indian news television, the current crisis in Bangladesh is nothing less than history catching up with the young nation after war and ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Pakistani army in 1971 gave it wounds that have remained unhealed for more than four decades.

After Islamists amended the young nation’s Constitution in 1977 and 1988 to make “absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah as the basis of all actions” its fundamental guiding principle, it was not until 2010 that a Tribunal was set up to provide justice to those who had been slaughtered by Rezakars in the aftermath of Bangladesh’s war of independence.

Awarding of life imprisonment to Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah and death sentences to war criminals Abul Kalam Azad and Delawar Hossain Sayedee followed have triggered a fresh wave of attacks on Hindus in the country.

Daily Star reports that on Saturday alone, members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir have attacked and destroyed six temples and set fire to several Hindu houses and business in Noakhali, Gaibandha, Chittagong, Rangpur, Sylhet, Chapainawabganj and Rajganj. These attacks of course, are in addition to the violence unleashed by Islamists in the last three days in which more than a dozen people have lost their lives.

The situation, perhaps not surprisingly, is reminiscent of the state of affairs that prevailed during the early days of the Bangladeshi Government’s tryst with Islamists when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared a general amnesty for Islamists against whom trials had not yet been initiated. Rahman was assassinated in 1975, paving the way for a series of military coups and a general chaos that still lasts.

The current Sheikh Hasina Government too, in its turn, seems unwilling to anger rioting Jamaatis and is in no mood to do anything about the riots that seem to be killing the country’s Hindus. Political motivations that kept Mujibur Rahman from coming down hard upon Islamists in the beginning of the nation’s history hold the Government hostage still.

The persecution of Bangladeshi Hindus in the wake of a setback to the Islamist cause is happening exactly as it did back in 1971. Back then, the reason was the Bangladeshi freedom movement. This time, the reason is justice catching up with the war criminals.

>> In Chittagong, Jamaati Islamists attacked Hindu majority localities at Jaldi union of Banshkhali upazila and set fire to a Buddhist temple.

>> Jamaat members also burned houses at Dhopapara and Mohajonpara and attacked people with sticks, iron rods and sharp weapons.

>> The rioters also burned three shops belonging to Hindus at Kaliash union of Satkania upazila.

>> Members of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir attacked a temple and business establishments belonging to Hindus at Bhelkobazar in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district.

>> Rioters also vandalised some houses in Shovaganj union.

>> Vandalism, arson and looting took place in temples, houses and business establishments of Hindus in Sylhet, Rangpur, Thakurgaon, Laxmipur and Chapainawabganj.

>> Attackers had vandalised the central Kali temple at Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur and another at Kansat in Chapainawabganj.

(Source: Daily star)

The situation wasn’t very different in 1971. Delivering the death sentence to Sayedee, the judges said they had established that he “…took active part in the attacks directed against civilian population at Parerhat area, causing murder, deportation, rape, looting of goods, setting fire to the houses and shops of civilians, forceful religious conversion, inhuman acts and torture which fall within the purview of crimes against humanity.”

Some of the charges against Sayedee, with regard to his crimes of 1971, are as follows.

>> On May 4, 1971, Sayedee and his accomplices, accompanied by the Pakistani army looted the houses of members of the Hindu community and opened fire indiscriminately on them in front of Dhopa Bari and behind the LGED Building in Pirojpur, leaving four persons killed.

>> On May 7, 1971, Sayedee identified the houses and shops of Bangalees belonging to the Awami League, Hindu community and supporters of the Liberati on War at Parerhat Bazar under Pirojpur Sadar. Sayedee as one of the perpetrators raided those shops and houses and looted valuables, including 22 seers of gold and silver from the shop of one Makhanlal Saha.

>> On May 8, 1971, Sayedee and his accomplices accompanied by the Pakistan army raided the house of one Manik Posari at Chitholia under Pirojpur Sadar and caught his brother Mofizuddin and one Ibrahim. Sayedee’s accomplices then burnt five houses there. On the way to the Pakistani army’s camp, Sayedee instigated the members of the occupation force to kill Ibrahim by gunshot and dump his body near a bridge. On the other hand, Mofiz was taken to the army camp and tortured. Sayedee directly participated in the abduction, murder and persecution of the victims.

>> On June 2, 1971, Sayedee’s armed associates under his leadership and accompanied by the Pakistan army burnt 25 houses of a Hindu Para in Umedpur village under Indurkani Police Station. At one stage, a victim, Bisabali, was tied to a coconut tree and was shot dead by Sayedee’s accomplice.

>> One day a group comprising 15-20 armed accomplices of Sayedee under his leadership entered the Hindu Para of Parerhat Bazar under Pirojpur Sadar and captured 14 Hindus, who were all supporters of Bangladesh’s independence. The fourteen were then tied with a single rope and dragged to Pirojpur and handed over to Pakistani soldiers, who killed them. Their bodies were thrown into the river.

Source: http://www.niticentral.com/2013/03/03/hindus-under-attack-in-bangladesh-51684.html 

Malaysia: Hindus count, Hindraf ban lifted

In a major overture to its Indian-origin citizens (mainly Hindus of Tamil stock), the Malaysian government lifted its four-year ban on the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), on the eve of the auspicious Tamil month of Thaipusam, on January 25, 2013. The Registrar of Societies informed Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy that Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had lifted the ban imposed on Oct 14, 2008, under Clause 5 of the Societies Act 1966, which gives authorities absolute discretion to ban any organization in the interests of national security and public order.

Hindraf is a voluntary organization of the descendants of the Tamil indentured labour brought to work on the plantations of British landowners in the colonial period. In the decades since independence, they have suffered much State-sponsored discrimination and oppression.

On Nov 25, 2007, Hindraf brought 30,000 Indian Malaysians out on the streets of Kuala Lumpur to protest against the growing marginalisation of the community; the rally succeeded despite a government ban and was one of the largest ever opposition rallies in the city. It resulted in a crackdown by the then Abdullah Ahmad Badawi led-government and the arrest of five key Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act. They remained in detention for two years. As Waythamoorthy was then abroad, he became an exile for five years before returning to Malaysia in August 2012 despite the ban on Hindraf.

In protest, the Indian community which had long supported the ruling Barisan Nasional, turned to the Pakatan Rakyat opposition combine in the March 2008 elections, as a result of which the ruling coalition lost its two thirds majority for the first time since 1973, along with five states. In October 2008, the then Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar banned Hindraf, on grounds that it was a threat to public order, security and sovereignty of the country and racial harmony.

Hindraf was caught unawares by the sudden upturn in its fortunes, which is certain to have political implications in an election year. The lifting of the ban has been linked to overtures made by chairman Waythamoorthy to both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. While the opposition met with Hindraf, the latter refused to meet with the BN till the ban was removed.

The lifting of the ban comes just prior to the March 5 hearing at the Federal Court where Hindraf is seeking registration as a legal body. Hindraf lawyer M Manoharan, a member of the Kota Alam Shah assembly, has advised it to seek an apology and damages from the government as the ban caused grave hardship to many activists. Lawyer P Uthayakumar feels that “in the spirit of the lifting of the ban,” the Attorney-General’s Chambers should drop the cases against the 54 activists charged for being members of an illegal body after they took part in Hindraf’s anti-Interlok rally of 2011, which protested against racial slurs against the Hindu community in Malaysian textbooks. His supporters demand that the sedition charges against Uthayakumar also be dropped immediately.

The question now is whether Hindraf will fall for the bait thrown by the Barisan Nasional, which clearly desires their votes, though the party once arrogantly stated that it did not need non-Malay (Muslim) votes. But now, the presence of a powerful opposition has convinced Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the BN to conciliate the Indian community. Some observers feel that by opening talks with Hindraf and conceding some major demands in terms of education and economic opportunities, the Barisan Nasional will secure the critical Indian vote in many federal and state constituencies.

Others feel it may not be easy to overcome the deep sense of injustice and anger felt by Malaysian Indians in the over four decades of BN-sanctioned institutionalized racism and discrimination. The Hindus also faced religious persecution, destruction of clan temples and icons, and forced conversions.

Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, director, Centre for Policy Initiatives, notes that Hindraf leaders have made tremendous personal sacrifices to fight for equal rights and opportunities for all Malaysians (i.e., including those of Chinese origin), particularly Indian Malaysians. Since the 2007 rally and the 2008 general election in which Hindraf caused a major upheaval in the polity, its leaders and supporters have suffered enormous persecution.

It seems likely that Hindraf will move cautiously as the Barisan Nasional is known to renege on election promises. Its five-decade rule has resulted in the sustained decline of the Indian community in terms of socio-economic indicators and political participation.

Hence, Hindraf’s central objective is a quest for reconciliation which will bring closure to some of the major grievances of Indian Malaysians, rather than settle for some economic crumbs at election time. This will mean bringing the poor and marginalised communities out of the “neo-slavery” conditions in which they have been living for over five decades and into the mainstream national economy. This is why Hindraf outlined an 18-point demand charter after the 2007 rally, and more recently, a Blueprint.

Together, the two documents call for a dismantling of the racist and discriminatory system and state; addressing the plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced plantation workers and stateless Indians; ensuring adequate and equal educational, employment and business opportunities for Indians and other minorities; eradicating the racism that is rampant within the police and other sectors of the civil service and which has especially targeted poor Indians; and raising the standards of human rights practices to ensure a free, just and fair nation. The now-legal movement specifically calls for scrapping Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which outlines the special privileges and positions of the Malays.

The Barisan Nasional and Pakatan parties are eager to woo Hindraf as both realise that Indian voters hold the key to power in the states of Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Negri Sembilan and can influence the outcome in Johor, Malacca and Pahang if the contest is close.

Much, however, will depend on how the Barisan Nasional takes its initiative further. In November 2012, Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali had indicated the government’s willingness to meet with Hindraf despite the prevailing ban, “as everyone was entitled to voice out concerns plaguing their community”. But he did not want the organisation to raise “sensitive issues such as the interests of the Malays, Bumiputeras and Islam as the official religion”. Rather, he said, Hindraf should focus on improving the lives of the Indian community amidst the escalating cost of living. But chairman Waythamoorthy insisted on the ban being lifted first.

So far, the public reaction to lifting the ban has been less than euphoric, and Hindraf will have to tread cautiously while responding to government overtures. The Indian community’s top demand is that the 450,000 Indians denied legal citizenship papers and thus rendered stateless be given their rights. Some want a Minority Ministry to implement Hindraf’s blueprint, and for BN to allot 48 seats for Hindraf in the next general elections, a commitment that should be given in writing.

The development is a big boost to Hindraf, which had split into several factions after the rally of 2007 and subsequent repression. An offshoot party, the Malaysian Makkal Sakhti Party, sided with the Barisan Nasional in the 2008 elections, while other groups went along with the Pakatan combine, mostly to DAP or PKR. But now, if it plays its cards well, Hindraf could emerge as a major political force in its own right.

Source: http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=2669

Pakistan’s long forgotten Hindu temples and Gurdwaras

The partition of India was based on the premise that a Bengali Muslim would be able to identify with the sorrows and issues of a Punjabi Muslim more than a Bengali Hindu.

Of course, that was a vicious and diabolic notion because I believe that culture and heritage stand above religion.

I recently visited the dilapidated temples and gurdwaras of Rawalpindi and realised that the city still sings of her secular past.

In the early 19th century, the British made Rawalpindi the central seat of military power as they aimed towards Afghanistan. This was in line with their strategic approach towards the Russian Empire in order to enjoy and retain complete control over central Asia.

Known as the Great Game, the conflict continues today in another form.

After the partition in 1947, Rawalpindi continued to be the general headquarters of the army. But Pindi has a lot more to tell than just it’s military tales. The city is known for its heritage and culture. Its multi-religious character changed when almost all of its Hindu and Sikh inhabitants left for India. Sixty five years after partition, I went looking for their temples and Gurudwaras.

Walking around the old city, in areas like Krishanpura, Akaal Garh, Mohanpura, Amarpura, Kartarpura, Bagh Sardaraan, Angatpura, you can see Pindi’s heritage.

There are about ten dilapidated temples and Gurdwaras which are no longer functional. One temple located at Kohati Bazaar is in good condition. Its premises are used as a government school for disabled children.

Another beautiful Gurdwara known as Bagh Sardaraan is used by the Punjab Police as their main office.

The temple located at Government Asghar Mall College is used as a scrap yard. A Shiva temple at Gunjmandi now houses storerooms or shops. There are a few more abandoned temples scattered around College Road, Bohar Bazaar, Purana Qilla, Bagh Sardaraan and then some on the outskirts of Rawalpindi which are about to collapse, or so it seems!

In the old area of Lunda Bazaar, there used to be three temples, a Gurdwara, a Khalsa School and many Havelis belonging to the Hindus and Sikhs of the time. Of the three temples, two have survived. The third, of goddess Kali in the main bazaar, no longer exists. It has been converted into living quarters and extensions have been made, thus changing the original structure entirely.

In Lunda bazaar, there is a tall structure of a temple known as Mohan Mandir. This temple is believed to have been built by two Hindu Hakims in 1930, Hakim Asa Anand and Hakim Moti Ram.

It is sad that even though there are so many abandoned temples in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, there is not a single place for the Hindus living in the twin cities to celebrate their festivals like diwali, shivratri or holi.

There are more than 25,000 Hindus living in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Some of them have migrated from other parts of Pakistan, mainly from Sindh.

Recently, following a request from Ramesh Lal, a Hindu parliamentarian of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, Prime Minister Raja Pervez issued a directive to the chairman of the Capital Development Authority to build a new temple for the Hindu community.

That is undoubtedly a good gesture, however, the government must also urgently restore and preserve the old heritage of the city- if not for the sake of the minorities still prevalent in our country then at least for the sake of history and heritage.

Source: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/15785/pakistans-long-forgotten-hindu-temples-and-gurdwaras/

(Takhpari-Temple Takhpari Mandir)

(The entrance to a Temple in Gunjmandi)

(Purana-Qilla-Temple)

Cow smuggling ... it's how Bangladesh gets its beef

Beef is a delicacy in Bangladesh, but Hindu-majority India refuses to sell their sacred cows. The demand is so high, however, that a dangerous $920 million cow smuggling trade has popped up.

In Muslim majority Bangladesh beef is in high demand.

More than 90 percent of the 160 million people who live there are Muslims and for them beef is a delicacy.

The country's meat producers estimate that slaughterhouses need up to 3 million cows every year to feed Bangladeshi appetites, and to help meet demand, Bangladesh is eyeing neighboring India. Cows are everywhere in India, but the cow is considered holy in the Hindu-majority country. In fact, slaughtering cows is banned in many Indian states, and New Delhi refuses to export them.

That refusal hasn't done much to deter the demand for beef in Bangladesh, however. In fact, say officials in Dhaka, beef has become so valuable it's spurred a dangerous cow smuggling trade across the India-Bangladesh border.

More than 2 million cows are smuggled from India to Bangladesh every year and most of the illegal trade takes place through the Indian border state of West Bengal, says Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Calcutta, India.

“Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,” says Mr. Pramanik, adding that 3 out of every 4 cows slaughtered in the country are from India.

“In this thriving trade, [herds of] cows worth 50 billion rupees [$920 million] are sent across to Bangladesh every year. It’s the sheer economics of the trade that drives the smuggling,” says Pramanik.

Cattle smugglers say they routinely bribe the police, customs, Border Security Force guards, and even some politicians in India to look the other way.

However, locals call this part of the border the “Wall of Death,” for the smuggling-related tensions that sometimes turn into violence. In 2012, security forces killed 48 Bangladeshis along the border, according to the Bangladeshi human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra.

But Bangladeshis say there is a simple way to end violence along the border.

"If India begins exporting cows to Bangladesh, such untoward incidents will stop," said the Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Golam Mohammad Quader. "We are really keen to import cows from India, and want all illegal activities involving cow trade across the border to end," he said.

The former head of India's Border Security Forces Utthan Kumar Bansal recently agreed: “The menace of smuggling might be best controlled if the trade across the border is made legal. The legalization of export of cows could also help curb tension on the volatile border,” Mr. Bansal said.

Although Bansal’s comment did not trigger any government reaction in India, some right wing Hindu groups said they would never let India export cows to any country.

Radhakanta Saha, who is a World Hindu Organization leader and heads a volunteer group that aims to prevent cow smuggling in West Bengal, said: “The cow is our mother. We shall begin country-wide agitation if India decides to export cows to a country where they are likely to be slaughtered for ... meat.”

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cow-smuggling-bangladesh-gets-beef-140005738.html  

Netaji, Hindutva and Nationalism

Kanchan Gupta

As the nation, or what passes for it in this wondrous land with an abysmally poor sense of history, observes the 116^th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, perhaps the time has come for one of India’s great leaders to be freed from the confines of political myth-making that has reduced him to calendar lithographs which adorn living rooms in provincial Bengal and the dimly lit offices of the Forward Bloc in Kolkata.

In a sense, that would mark the posthumous homecoming for a nationalist who believed that rashtrabhakti is a synthesis of religion and nationalism, of the spiritual and the political. In the early decades of this century, when others were looking up to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi for inspiration, Bose was looking elsewhere for guidance: His search for a religious philosophy that would spur political activism led him to explore the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and the writings of Aurobindo Ghosh. The latter made a lasting impression on his mind, providing his political activism with a religious side.

The profound Impact that Aurobindo Ghosh had on Subhas Chandra Bose is reflected in his autobiography: “In my undergraduate days, Aurobindo Ghosh was easily the most popular leader in Bengal… a mixture of spirituality and politics had given him a halo of mysticism and made his personality more fascinating to those who were religiously inclined… We felt convinced that spiritual enlightenment was necessary for effective national service…”

It is, therefore, not surprising that he should have also been influenced by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s construction of nationalism. And like Aurobindo Ghosh, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Indian nation for him extended beyond the geographical to the devotional plane. During his college days he discovered the wretchedness of not India but “impoverished Mother India.”

Curiously, his view of the other India, the one which appears so distant from the fashionable drawing rooms and glittering malls of our cities, is not different from those who believe that a divide separates ‘us’ and ‘them’. For, “the picture of real India”, which Subhas Chandra Bose described as “the India of the villages where poverty stalks the land, men die like flies, and illiteracy is the prevailing order”, is also the India which many believe should receive priority over that India which revels in rejecting anything that carries the label ‘Made in India’, including Hindu spirituality and religious philosophy.

In his book, Brothers Against The Raj, Leonard A Gordon writes about Bose’s quest for a religious philosophy to serve as the core of nationalism and sustain his political activism: “Inner religious explorations continued to be a part of his adult life. This set him apart from the slowly growing number of atheistic socialists and communists who dotted the Indian landscape.” And it was this “religious exploration” that set apart Subhas Chandra Bose from Jawaharlal Nehru for whom “this was a vain quest”. Although Bose scrupulously avoided publishing his faith or his quest, he remained firm in his belief that “Hinduism was an essential part of his Indianness”, his Bharatiyata. In other words, he subscribed to cultural nationalism or, call it If you must by its other name, Hindutva.

This did not, however, make him a bigoted Hindu, nor did it propel him towards Hindu orthodoxy. Commenting on the “definite Hindu streak in Bose’s dislike for Gandhi”, Nirad C Chaudhuri records in his memoirs, Thy Hand! Great Anarch, “He was in no sense a bigoted or even orthodox Hindu. But he had grown up in the first two decades of the twentieth century in Bengal, where, owing to the influence of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Swami Vivekananda, there was a fusion of religion and nationalism, so that the nationalist feeling had a pronounced Hindu complexion and Hinduism a pronounced political character.”

This “fusion of religion and nationalism” and Hinduism with a “pronounced political character” came into play in 1925 when during his incarceration at Mandalay prison, Subhas Chandra Bose, along with the other Bengali prisoners, organised Durga Puja on the jail premises and demanded that the expenses be borne by the authorities. When the latter refused, Bose converted his spiritual quest into a political campaign by launching a hunger strike. This practice of political Hinduism had an electrifying impact on public opinion and soon the Swarajists lent their voice to the popular demand for the release of all political prisoners who had not been charged with specific crimes.

Those who deride nationalism, more so cultural nationalism, as narrow, selfish and aggressive, a hindrance to the promotion of internationalism, would do well to go through Bose’s speech at Poona after being elected president of the Maharashtra Provincial Conference. “Indian nationalism,” Subhas Chandra Bose asserted, “is inspired by the highest ideals of the human race, Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. Nationalism in India has… roused the creative faculties which for centuries had been lying dormant in our people…”

Sadly, nationalism has now been rendered politically incorrect by our deracinated intelligentsia and abandoned by our corrupt political elite.

Source: http://www.niticentral.com/2013/01/netaji-hindutva-and-nationalism.html