HARYANA GOVT MUTE SPECTATOR TO ORCHESTRATED VIOLENCE

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Everything went according to the script. There was no element of surprise. Hundreds and thousands of armed followers were allowed to congregate at Panchkula days before the special CBI court was to announce verdict on the self-claimed godman. These followers knew very well that their Baba was a rapist and the court verdict would go against their “Bhagwan”. Otherwise, what is the raison d'être of his “bhakts” arming themselves with sticks and weapons?

And as was to happen, happened! Minutes after the court found him guilty in a 2002 rape case, Baba’s followers went into a rampage. They were uncontrollable. Police was helpless. And the administration bewildered. It was an abject surrender by all those supposedly responsible to maintain law and order. It was a free run. The goons in the garb of followers of the rapist went about their job clinically, targeting innocents, media and the establishment.

The toll, over two dozen, could have been much higher had the army not come to the rescue of a hapless administration which was simply clueless.

The role of the administration is highly questionable. The violence was anticipated. There were intelligence reports warning of violence. And still the administration chose to sleep over the issue. Why did it allow Dera followers to congregate in large numbers when Section 144 was imposed? Why no attempt was made to disperse the rowdies then? And that too when they were openly flashing the sticks they were carrying? How can the administration allow such a large number of people occupy every nook and corner of Panchkula, be it parks, pavements and roads? 

Was the administration lulled into believing that the armed followers will respect the court order and leave peacefully? Its height of administrative as well as political incompetence!

Or the reason is something else? Was Manohar Lal Khattar government hesitant to take action against the followers of the rockstar “Baba” who played a crucial role in the formation of the first BJP government in the state in 2014? The “Dera”, which has a large following among the dalits, has often been courted by politicians from neighbouring Punjab. But it was in 2014 that the “Dera” decided to put its might behind the BJP, which resulted in its humungous victory.

Whatever may be the reason, the fact is that so many innocent people have been killed and several hundreds injured. And property worth millions of dollars has been destroyed. Who will take the responsibility? Somebody has to be made accountable.

An embattled Khattar promised compensation to the families of those lost their dear ones in the mindless violence. Will a few lakh of rupees heal their loss? Sorry, Mr Khattar, you have no moral right to continue. You have proved your ineptness not once but twice. Six people died in 2014 when another self-styled guru Rampal Maharaj had turned his ashram into a garrison town by storing stones, petrol bombs and weapons to ward off an arrest warrant. It is high time you accept your failure and resign.

WHY DONALD AS PRESIDENT IS ANTITHESIS TO TRUMP?

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In one of the most blatant reversals, President Donald Trump has promised increased troop numbers in Afghanistan, where the US is far from winning the war. While the decision, no doubt, is a welcome step, it also exposes his penchant to flip-flops.  His gaffes, by now notorious, seem to be part of his split personality. And he is unabashedly unruffled!  

If one pores over his earlier tweets, Donald Trump comes across as a person who was dead against committing troops in the war-torn country and pooh-poohed the then President Barrack Obama for his administration’s decision to keep at least 9,800 troops in the Central Asian nation through most of 2016, with at least 5,500 of them till the end of 2017. Throughout his campaign rhetoric, Trump committed to withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which went down well with the US citizens.

And eight months into his presidency, Trump has chosen to eat crow.

“We have wasted an enormous amount of blood and treasure in Afghanistan. Their government has zero appreciation. Let's get out!” said Trump in a series of tweets on November 21, 2013. And he followed it up with another tweet. “Do not allow our very stupid leaders to sign a deal that keeps us in Afghanistan through 2024-with all costs by U.S.A. MAKE AMERICA GREAT!”

Ten months ago (September 12, 2012), Trump had tweeted: “84% of US troops wounded & 70% of our brave men & women killed in Afghanistan have all come under Obama. Time to get out of there.”

But in a televised address on Monday, he announced a new “fight-to-win” strategy for Afghanistan. There are also reports that he is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan.

"The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable," President Trump said. "A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill."

It was unbecoming of a presidential candidate to use derogatory language against the then President of the country of his origin also. Has Trump not bloodied his nose today by committing more money and forces in Afghanistan?

“Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home!” tweeted Trump exactly five years ago (August 21, 2012) drawing a howl of protests from Afghani leaders and people.

So, will President Trump tell his nation the reason behind his change of heart when he said:  "The stronger the Afghan security forces become, the less we will have to do. Afghans will secure and build their own nation and define their own future. We want them to succeed."

The list is endless. Now his positions on China, Syria, NATO, to name a few, are in stark contrast to what he thundered before the people of the US elected him as their president.

Therefore, it is not surprising then that Trump’s approval ratings are slipping every time he opens his mouth. He will perhaps be the only US president who is not approved by the majority of the people within one year of his office.

WHY US CURBS AGAINST HIZBUL NOT A BIG DEAL?

Does India have any reason to rejoice after the United States added Hizbul Mujahideen to its blacklist of nearly 60 terrorist organizations and designated it as a foreign terrorist organization? Will it any way help India in its fight against terrorism in Kashmir where Hizbul, one of the largest and oldest militant groups, is fighting against Indian security forces?

How does it make any difference if the US freezes any assets of Hizbul Mujahideen it may be holding there, and barring US citizens from engaging in any transactions with the group? The US move is nothing but to please the Indian leadership while doing little to put pressure on Pakistan to rein in militants operating from its soil.

Moreover, how does the US’ latest action help India in its fight against terrorism? Do terrorist organizations maintain bank accounts in their names? It’s a known fact that most of the terror activities are financed through cash and that too through illegal hawala transactions.

Also there is a widespread practice among Muslims of donating money to charities which have over the years played a major role in financing terrorist groups. Charities based in Saudi Arabia for long were involved in sponsor and financing of terrorist organizations before the government launched a crackdown against them under pressure from the US. There is no denying the fact that several charity organizations in the Muslim world diverted “zakat” to finance “jihad” (the so-called holy war).” “Zakat, considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam, was meant to giving alms to the poor and needy and spread the message of Islam. But the money was grossly misused by charities in the Middle East.

Then there is drug money. Reams of reports are available to link the billions-dollar opiate trade to terror groups. Al-Qaeda’s rapid growth in Afghanistan was directly linked to the illegal opium trade.  According to a report by the United Nations, Afghanistan’s poppy crops were the major source of terror funding and Al-Qaeda was the main beneficiary from the illegal drug trade in the late nineties before the collapse of the illegitimate Taliban government in 2001.

Of late, the Islamic State has emerged as the wealthiest terror group by engaging in illicit trade in oil after it occupied vast tract of territories in Iraq and Syria. According to conservative estimates, the group makes as much as $ 3 million a day, a huge amount compared to a paltry amount needed to carry out acts of terror.

Therefore, it is amply clear that the US move claiming “such designations are aimed at denying individuals and entities access to the US financial system” will have any impact as far as the insurgency in Kashmir is concerned.

Had President Donald Trump lived up to promises which he made during electioneering, the war against terrorism could have taken a paradigm shift? "We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism when I’m president. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with India in sharing intelligence and keeping our people safe mutually," Trump had said during electioneering. But all those promises seem hollow now.

Pakistan made a mockery of the US by allowing Syed Salahuddin, the head of Hizbul Mujahideen, to address a press conference at Muzaffarabad’s Centre Press Club soon after he was named as a specially designated global terrorist by the US department of state on June 26 this year.

Both Salahuddin as well as India’s most wanted terrorist, Hafiz Saeed, who also carries a $10 million bounty on his head by the US, have been openly holding rallies spewing venom against India and the US. Had the US been serious in its fight against terrorism, it could have easily put pressure on Pakistan to take action against them. If the US could enter Pakistani territory and smoke out al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011, mastermind of the deadly September 11 attacks, could not it do the same with Salahuddin and Saeed? It is not that the US can’t, but it won’t do it. For, Laden was a direct threat to the US as his jihadis were fighting against the US military forces in Afghanistan. As far as Salahuddin and Saeed are concerned, they don’t pose any threat to the US as both have been carrying out terrorist operations in Kashmir.

The US is more concerned about Afghanistan than Kashmir where its forces are in direct line of fire. And it knows it very well that it cannot ensure a decisive victory in Afghanistan without the help of Pakistan. Otherwise what explains the US decision to continue patting Pakistan occasionally in spite of Laden being provided a safe sanctuary by Pakistan?

Therefore, India should do well not to rejoice at such theatrics and sharpen its own strategy to meet with the challenge. Militancy in Kashmir is India’s own headache and it has to win this war without anybody’s help.

INDIA DRUB LANKA 3-0: A TALE OF TWO CONTRASTING TEAMS

photo courtesy : Oneindia

The sorry saga of Sri Lanka’s shambolic performance continued in the third test as well as it crashed to an innings defeat and 171 runs against India exposing major chinks in its batting as well as bowling arsenal. Since the retirement of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga from Test cricket, the Sri Lankan team has been down in the dumps.  One expected that it will put up at least a symbolic resistance to India on its home soil. Alas, it was not to be.

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

“The Lions”, ironically, walked like lambs to the slaughter the day Virat Kohli-led Indian team set its foot on the Lankan soil.  What was so pathetic about the Lankan performance during the entire three-test match series was that the team did not even resist subjugation by the rampaging India. After losing the first two test matches inside four days, the Lankans allowed themselves to be annihilated by India inside the third day of the final match making the humiliation complete. The 3-0 whitewash on its own soil tells the tale of two contrasting teams.

LANKANS NO MATCH

If the Indian performance was of the highest quality, the Sri Lankans were plain mediocre.

Had Kohli enforced the follow-on in the first test match at Galle, the Lankans would have recorded their worst series defeat by losing all the matches with innings defeat. Sri Lanka totaled 536 runs in its two innings in the first test against India’s first innings total of 600 runs. That match also could have folded in third day itself, had Kohli not opted to bat again in the second innings.

ABJECT SURRENDER

One expected that the Lankans would rise from the ashes after suffering a bloody defeat in the first test match. But not only did they lose the plot, they surrendered with their tails between their legs. This was something unexpected of them.

Given the all-round failure in all departments of the game, the home team gave a sense that it was not at all in the competition. Except for the second innings of the second test match at Colombo, where it showed some character by playing more than 100 overs (116.5 overs to be precise), there was no serious attempt to stay put in the wicket.

 While Indians played 133.1 overs in the first match to score 600 runs, the Sri Lankans played a combined 129.5 overs in the two innings of the match to score 536 runs (291 in the first innings and 245 in the second). The home team gave its best performance of the series in the second innings of the second test by playing 116.5 overs and scoring 386 runs. In the first innings of the match, it could not even last 50 overs as it was bundled out for 183 runs in 49.4 overs.

Refusing to learn from its mistakes, the Sri Lankan batting slumped once again in the first innings of the final match as it was dismissed for paltry 135 runs in 37.4 overs in reply to India’s first innings total of 487 runs. In its second essay, the team did try to stretch a bit longer (74.3 overs), but collapsed to 181 runs all out handing India a convincing victory of an inning and 171 runs.

HUMILIATING DEFEAT

This is the second time Lanka has faced a humiliating 3-0 whitewash on its soil. Shane Warne-led Australia was the first team to record a 3-0 clean sweep in 2003-04.

Sri Lankans were also done in by injuries to wicket takers Nuwan Pradeep and Rangana Herath, and the weak bench strength further compounded their problems. On the contrary, India faced a problem of plenty as bowlers Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and batter Rohit Sharma could not make it to the playing eleven in any of the match. Interestingly, opener Shikhar Dhawan, not an original choice and a replacement for Murali Vijay, emerged as the top scorer with 358 runs with two scintillating centuries under his belt.

As captain Chandimal rightly said after the loss of the match and the series, “Our batting and bowling was below-par through the series,” one hopes his team will put up some semblance of fight in the five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 beginning Sunday.