Date: 18 Aug 2012
In a message dated 18/08/2012 10:58:40 GMT Daylight Time, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcom writes: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/08/exodus-on-curb-on-texts.html ------------------------------------------- 18.8.12 Exodus on, curb on texts ---------------------------------------------- 17 August 2012 Last updated at 06:40 GMT ----------------------------------------------------- Thousands continue to flee Indian cities ----------------------------------------------------- The BBC's Yogita Limaye said Bangalore railway station was crowded for the third day running ----------------------------------------------------- The exodus of people from India's north-eastern states living in the southern city of Bangalore continues with more migrant workers fleeing. -------------------------------------------------- There are reports of people from the region fleeing the cities of Chennai (Madras) and Pune as well. ------------------------------------------------- PM Manmohan Singh has appealed for calm and said peace "must be maintained at any cost". -------------------------------------------------- Officials have blamed the exodus on "rumour mongering" linked to clashes in the north-eastern Assam state.---------------------------------------- More than 300,000 people fled after fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers in Assam. ----------------------------------------------------- Fresh violence between the two sides was reported on Thursday when a mob set fire to a bus and a road bridge, reports say. At least nine people were reported to be injured in clashes. ---------------------------------------------------- The main railway station in Bangalore was flooded with migrant workers from north-eastern states for a second successive day on Thursday to catch three special trains to the north-east. --------------------------------------------------- A senior Bangalore official told the BBC that nearly 15,000 people from the region had left the city since Wednesday, when the rumours broke out. ---------------------------------------------------- 'Nothing has happened' There are 250,000 people from the north-east living and working in Bangalore, which is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India. ---------------------------------------------------- Many of them are students, security guards and workers in the hospitality sector. ---------------------------------------------------------- A minister in the local government S Suresh Kumar told the Press Trust of India that the exodus was "not due to a threat factor, but due to the anxiety [of the people leaving] to be with their parents when Assam has been gripped by violence". -------------------------------- The rumours of attacks have spread to neighbouring Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, and Pune in Maharashtra to the north-west, reports say. ------------------------ Workers and students from the north-east - mostly from Assam - living in Chennai arrived at the railway station to board to special trains to take them home, one report said. ------------------------ "Nothing has happened till now, but we are very sure something really bad is going to happen. Our Bangalore friends have said we have to leave," Bishnu, a migrant worker from Assam, told The Hindu newspaper. ----------------------------- Reports of a similar exodus are being reported from western Pune city, where many north-east people working in the city are reported to have fled. --------------------------------- The rumours of attacks have been spread through text messages and the social media. There have been a few reports of people being threatened to leave. ------------------------------------- "We must work together to ensure that all people from other states do not feel threatened by rumour mongering and text messages," PM Manmohan Singh said. -------------------------------- Many young people from the restive north-east region have migrated to the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in search of better jobs and education. ------------------------------------------------- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19292570 ------------------------------------------------------ Exodus on, curb on texts ------------------------------ K.M. RAKESH-------------------------- Bangalore, Aug. 17: The exodus of northeastern citizens from Bangalore continued today despite paramilitary forces being deployed in the city to build confidence. ------------------------------------ The Centre banned bulk text and multi-media messages across the country for 15 days to check the spread of rumours and threats: no one will be able to send more than five text messages at one go. ------------------------------------ Delhi also moved to act on longstanding complaints of bias against Northeast students, directing the vice-chancellors of all central universities to ensure their safety on their campuses. Nearly 20,000 students from the region study in Delhi alone. --------------------------- Hopes of an easing of the exodus had risen in the afternoon with a special Bangalore-to-Guwahati train leaving with several empty seats. Scheduled for a 2pm departure, the train was made to wait till 3.30pm but still didn’t fill up, and railway sources said no more special trains would be operated today.---------------------------- However, with hundreds more arriving at the station in the evening, a second special train was run at 8pm and officials said a third could be plied later at night apart from the tri-weekly Bangalore-Guwahati Express.----------------------------------- Also, over 1,000 Northeast citizens took trains out of Chennai today and about 450 boarded the Falaknuma Express and East Coast Express from Secunderabad. ---------------------------------- Three CRPF and RAF companies each were deployed in sensitive parts of Bangalore, in addition to 24x7 police patrolling.------------------------------- Home minister R. Ashok said six rumour-mongers had been arrested late this evening for sending threat texts but did not reveal their identities. “The government is doing its best but the feedback I have received from the (Northeast) people is that they are returning as their families back home are worried,” he said.--------------------------------- He said most of the panicky migrants had had no first-hand experience of any harassment. “It’s always someone who saw a message, or ‘my friend’s friend’ who was harassed. Our probe will fix responsibility for this mess.” --------------------------Earlier, an attack on a Manipuri youth sent shockwaves through Bangalore till the police clarified it was an attempted robbery. Three youths tried to mug Lialiatiaphai, 22, and two friends at Wilson Garden. The police have arrested Abrar Ahmed, 22, Salman, 21, and Vinay, 22. ------------------------------ The first case of a bias attack on a northeasterner was booked after Thokchom Bikash, a Manipuri worker, alleged a threat from two motorbike riders on Wednesday night. The police also registered a case after a Manipuri youth was beaten up by a gang but said it could be a matter of personal enmity. -------------------------- Ashok met visiting Assam ministers Nilamani Sen Deka and Chandan Brahma and accompanied them to the railway station.-------------------------------- http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120818/jsp/frontpage/story_15868077.jsp#.UC9iraniZ6g -------------------------------------------------------- Rohingya Muslims: Facts & Fiction ---------------------------------- By Ankit Grover August 16, 2012 | Comments (3) ---------------------------------- Who are the Rohingyas?------------------------- The Rohingyas are a Burmese Muslim community with significant populations in South and South-East Asia. With a population of over 800,000 in Burma, they are one of 120 ethnicities, albeit unrecognised by the Burmese Government as citizens of the state. According to the United Nations, they are one of the ‘most persecuted’ minorities in the world. ----------------------------------- Why are they called the Rohingyas? ----------------------------- Various theories dispute the origins of the Rohingyas and their etymology. The closest theory relates the Rohingya name to a corrupted version of Rakhine, the present name of the Old Arakanese kingdom in Burma. Their language is different to Standard Burmese significantly and is remotely intelligible.------------------------ Where are they from? ------------------------------------- The Rohingya people have been inhabitants of the Arakan region since the time of Muslim rule and during the British rule in Burma. However, the Burmese Government says the Rohingyas are illegal settlers belonging to the Chittagong region in Bangladesh. For decades, their populations have been concentrated in present-day Rakhine State in Burma. ----------------------------------- Where does Bangladesh come in? ------------------------------------- Bangladesh is the largest refuge colony for the Rohingya people. Due to a largely unfenced border and cross-border trade, significant populations of over 25,000 are found in the districts of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazaar. Due to their similar features and culture, the Rohingyas are indistinguishable from the local people. ------------------------------- What’s the conflict in Burma about? ------------------------------------- Essentially, the conflict is one between the Buddhist Burmese majority and the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State – one of the many regions the Rohingyas have been relegated to in Burma. Rohingyas raped a Buddhist woman, that escalated into an explosive ethnic conflict between the two communities. ---------------------------- In continuing clashes, at least 78 people have died since June this year. --------------------------------- Why doesn’t Bangladesh want them? -------------------------- For the Bangladesh Government, providing shelter to Rohingya refugees affects them on many fronts. In major commercial districts of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazaar, both of which provide for almost a third of Bangladesh’s tourism, employment for local residents is affected. Moreover, it is difficult to enumerate the approximate population of Rohingya refugees, posing a hurdle to registration. Most importantly, Bangladeshis oppose the influx of Rohingya refugees whom they perceive as a threat to national unity and national security. -------------------------- Why doesn’t Burma grant citizenship to them? -------------------------------- Ever since Burma embraced socialism in 1962, the Rohingyas have been excluded from citizenship. The Citizenship Act 1982 sowed the seeds of the conflict, disqualifying Rohingyas from the three specified categories of Burmese citizens. Recently, the Immigration Minister of Burma Thein Htay opined of the Rohingyas, “They are not included among our more than 130 ethnic races.” -----------------------What is the stand of Burmese Government? --------------------------- The Government believes the state conflict between the Rohingya Muslims and the Arakan Buddhists is a non-sectarian conflict. Since taking office last year, President Thein Sein has rolled back many of the repressive decrees of the military regimes that preceded him. However, the Burmese Government has abetted the cleansing drive against the Rohingyas. In Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, Burmese troops have constantly targeted Rohingya Muslims. Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi too has been criticised for failing to question the Government on the Rohingya issue. --------------------------- What aid has been provided to the Rohingyas? --------------------------- The Burmese Government has allowed foreign aid to be provided to the Rohingyas. Within Burma, the Rohingyas depend heavily on foreign aid from Saudi-funded charities in Bangladesh and Thailand. Bangladesh, however, has ordered charities to stop providing aid across the border. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has urged members to provide necessary aid to the Rohingyas; Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia and the UAE have sent over $80 million in aid. ------------------------------------------- http://www.niticentral.com/2012/08/rohingya-muslims-facts-fiction.html ------------------------------------------------------------ How Pakistani site incited Muslims in India against northeasterners --------------------------------------------- By NitiCentral Staff August 16, 2012 | Comments (6) ------------------------------------------- The rumour-mongering and resultant panic among northeasterners living in Bangalore, Mysore and other cities of Karnataka and in other States began in mid-July after a Pakistani website, of which nobody seems to have had heard of till then, posted a picture of Buddhist monks supervising the burial of Tibetans killed in the devastating earthquake that hit Tibet in April 2010. The picture was luridly described as showing “Buddhist monks with the bodies of Rohingya Muslims killed by Buddhists in Burma”. ------------------------------------- Within days, the photograph with its provocative caption went viral, appearing on the front pages of Urdu newspapers in Pakistan and getting re-posted on several Islamic websites and blogs which claimed the picture was ‘evidence’ of Rohingyas being massacred by Buddhists in Burma. -------------------------------- It did not take long for the picture to surface on Indian websites and blogs; social media was used for propagating the patent falsehood; it was used for propaganda to rouse Muslim sentiments. A Bangalore-based Urdu newspaper reproduced the photograph and the provocative caption. It got away with this blatant violation of ethics and law. ---------------------------------- Yet, since that particular photograph had been widely used by media around the world in 2010, its misuse to incite Muslims was swiftly spotted. Tibetans living in India, when they came to know of the picture doing the rounds, lodged a formal protest. ----------------------------------“The Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamshala is deeply disturbed and concerned over the circulation of a misleading photograph in some sections of the media showing Tibetan monks in their reports on the recent violence in Burma involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims,” the CTA said in a statement issued on August 14, 2012. --------------------------------“A photograph of Tibetan monks standing in front of a pile of dead bodies appeared in many websites in the Muslim countries, especially Pakistan,” it said. The statement said that “this photo of Tibetan monks was actually taken during their relief work in Kyegudo (Yushul), eastern Tibet, after a devastating earthquake hit the region on April 14, 2010. The Tibetan monks extended remarkable service in the rescue and relief operations at the time.” ------------------------------------ “The relevant department of the Central Tibetan Administration wrote a letter to a website in Pakistan (ColumPk.com, Urdu Current Affairs Portal) on July 30 to remove the photo from its website, which it did so the next day,” it further added. ----------------------------“But the photo is still in circulation, as some Muslims carrying the photo during their recent protest in Mumbai on August 11, 2012, appeared in Zee News, a leading news channel in India,” the CTA said.------------------------------------------- http://www.niticentral.com/2012/08/how-pakistani-site-incited-muslims-in-india.html ----------------------------------------- http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/08/manufacturing-muslim-rage.html ------------------------------------------------- http://www.niticentral.com/2012/08/manufacturing-muslim-rage-generating-vile-hate.html ------------------------------------------------------ Fishing in troubled waters -------------------------------------- By Sandeep Balakrishna August 17, 2012 | ----------------------------------- So this is what it has finally turned out to be. As we watch Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on the floor of the Lok Sabha reassuring people from north-eastern States that there is no threat to their safety anywhere in India, the plot—or non-plot—becomes clear. --------------------------- If there’s anything that the 48-hour-long rumour-mongering regarding the safety of northeasterners in Bangalore has revealed, it is the fact that there’s confusion all around. -------------------------- The unfortunate and dangerous part of the entire episode is the way some people have quickly jumped in to add fuel to the fire of rumour-mongering. A case in point is the role of Christian organisations in Bangalore. ----------------------------- At a meeting on August 16 at St Joseph’s Arts and Science College, the principal, Fr Daniel Fernandes, offered shelter in the college premises to northeasterners. He promised them extra protection because he anticipated an attack from Sangh Parivar members! The sinister import and the intent of this slanderous statement would be missed by few.----------------------- It is undoubtedly an important task to apprehend the originator(s) of these wretched rumours. But it is also equally important not to miss the consequences.------------------------------ Notice how the focus of Parliament has suddenly shifted to discussing these rumours? Just a week ago, on the very opening day of the Monsoon Session, the UPA was badgered by the Opposition on the Bangladeshi infiltrator-instigated violence in Assam.----------------------------- In fact, the entire nation chased the Congress over the issue. Reams were written about the Congress’s complicity in encouraging illegal immigration by Bangladeshi Muslims for decades. As usual, the UPA Government was badly cornered.-------------------------------- There have been reports of fresh violence from Kamrup and Baksa districts, apart from Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts. This punctures the claims of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the Union Home Ministry that at the moment Assam is peaceful.---------------------------- The rumour-mongering in Bangalore has materialised at an opportune moment: It has provided the Congress with a nice cloak to further shield the appalling loss of life and property in Assam. ----------------------------------- But it is expected of a government whose incompetence is all-encompassing. When it allows one of its own, Kanda, to escape from being apprehended for a crime, when it loots the nation on a gargantuan scale, designs schemes aimed to impoverish the nation, and encourages a communally-violent MP like Asaduddin Owaisi, evading accountability for the rot in Assam is the least of its faults.------------------------------------------ http://www.niticentral.com/2012/08/fishing-in-troubled-waters.html --------------------------------------------------------------- August 17, 2012------------------------ Panic Seizes India as a Region’s Strife Radiates -------------------------------------- By JIM YARDLEY ------------------------------ People from northeastern India boarded a train bound for Guwahati, in Assam State, at a railway station in Bangalore on Thursday.------------------------------- By Thursday, thousands of northeastern migrants had fled Bangalore, Pune and Chennai amid unfounded rumors that Muslims were planning reprisals for the violence in Assam. Credit: Jagadeesh Nv/European Pressphoto Agency-------------------------- People from northeastern India boarded a train bound for Guwahati, in Assam State, at a railway station in Bangalore on Thursday.---------------------------- Credit: Jagadeesh Nv/European Pressphoto Agency---------------------------- By Thursday, thousands of northeastern migrants had fled Bangalore, Pune and Chennai amid unfounded rumors that Muslims were planning reprisals for the violence in Assam. Credit: Jagadeesh Nv/European Pressphoto Agency---------------------------- A Muslim youth suffered from chest pain during a scuffle with the Assam police. Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times---------------------- A burned house belonging to a Muslim. Its occupants are believed to have fled to relief camps. Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times--------------------- Asma Bibi feeds her daughter Rashida as her son Saidul eats his lunch at a Muslim relief camp in Shrirampur.-------------------------------- Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times--------------------- A boy fishes near a bridge with Bodoland People’s Front graffiti. Violence between Muslims and the indigenous northeastern Bodo tribe is spreading across the country in volatile, unpredictable ways. Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times----------------------- A Bodo tribeswoman cooks dinner at a relief camp.----------------------- Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times------------------ Bodo refugees mark their spaces inside a cramped hall in the relief camp.------------------ Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times---------------------- Muslims at the relief camp in Shrirampur. Assam, which has roughly 31 million people, has a long history of ethnic strife.-------------- Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times--------------------------- The current violence is focused on the westernmost region of Assam State, which is claimed by the Bodos as their homeland.-------------------------- Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times------------------- For years, Bodo insurgent groups fought for political autonomy, with some seeking statehood and others seeking to create an independent Bodo nation.------------------------- Credit: Anupam Nath/Associated Press--------------------- BRAJAKHAL, India — Like a fever, fear has spread across India this week, from big cities like Bangalore to smaller places like Mysore, a contagion fueling a message: Run. Head home. Flee. And that is what thousands of migrants from the country’s distant northeastern states are doing, jamming into train stations in an exodus challenging the Indian ideals of tolerance and diversity. ----------------------------- What began as an isolated communal conflict here in the remote state of Assam, a vicious if obscure fight over land and power between Muslims and the indigenous Bodo tribe, has unexpectedly set off widespread panic among northeastern migrants who had moved to more prosperous cities for a piece of India’s rising affluence.------------------------ A swirl of unfounded rumors, spread by text messages and social media, had warned of attacks by Muslims against northeastern migrants, prompting the panic and the exodus. Indian leaders, deeply alarmed, have pleaded for calm, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared in Parliament on Friday to denounce the rumor mongering and offer reassurance to northeastern migrants. ----------------------“What is at stake is the unity and integrity of our country,” Mr. Singh said. “What is at stake is communal harmony.” ---------------------------The hysteria in several of the country’s most advanced urban centers has underscored the deep roots of ethnic tensions in India, where communal conflict is usually simplified as Hindu versus Muslim, yet is often far more complex. For decades, Indian leaders have mostly managed to isolate and triangulate regional ethnic conflicts, if not always resolve them, but the public panic this week is a testament to how the old strategies may be less effective in an information age. ------------------------------- Last week, the central government started moving to stabilize Assam, where at least 78 people have been killed and more than 300,000 have fled their homes for refugee camps. Then Muslims staged a large, angry protest in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, on the western coast. A wave of fear began sweeping through the migrant communities after several people from the northeast were beaten up in Pune, a city not far from Mumbai.-------------------------------- By Wednesday and Thursday, the exodus had begun. So many people were pouring into train stations in Bangalore and Chennai that the Railways Ministry later added special services to certain northeastern cities. By Friday, even as some of the fears eased in the biggest cities, people were leaving smaller cities, including Mysore and Mangalore.------------------------------- To many northeastern migrants, the impulse to rush home — despite the trouble in Assam — is a reminder of how alienated many feel from mainstream India. The northeast, tethered to the rest of the country by a narrow finger of land, has always been neglected. Populated by a complex mosaic of ethnic groups, the seven states of the northeast have also been plagued by insurgencies and rivalries as different groups compete for power.----------------------------- Here in Assam, the underlying frictions are over the control of land, immigration pressures and the fight for political power. The savagery and starkness of the violence have been startling. Of the 78 people killed, some were butchered. More than 14,000 homes have been burned. That 300,000 people are in refugee camps is remarkable; had so many people fled across sub-Saharan Africa to escape ethnic persecution, a humanitarian crisis almost certainly would have been declared. ----------------------“If we go back and they attack us again, who will save us?” asked Subla Mushary, 35, who is now living with her two teenage daughters at a camp for Bodos. “I have visited my home. There is nothing left.” ----------------------------Assam, which has about 31 million people, has a long history of ethnic strife. The current violence is focused on the westernmost region of the state, which is claimed by the Bodos as their homeland. For years, Bodo insurgent groups fought for political autonomy, with some seeking statehood and others seeking an independent Bodo nation. --------------------- In 2003, India’s central government, then led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, brokered a deal in which Bodo insurgents agreed to cease their rebellions in exchange for the creation of a special autonomous region, now known as the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts. It was a formula long used by Indian leaders to subdue regional rebellions: persuade rebels to trade the power of the gun for the power of the ballot box. ---------------------------- Now the Bodos dominate the government overseeing the autonomous districts, even though they are not a majority, accounting for about 29 percent of a population otherwise splintered among Muslims, other indigenous tribal groups, Hindus and other native Assamese. Competition over landownership is a source of rivalry and resentment: the land rights of Muslims are tightly restricted inside the special districts, even though they constitute the region’s second-largest group, after the Bodos.--------------------------- “This whole fight is about land and capturing power,” said Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, a member of Parliament and a Muslim leader in a neighboring district. “It is not a religious fight.” -------------------------These resentments exploded in July and early August, after an escalating cycle of attacks between Muslims and Bodos. Soon entire villages were being looted and burned. The authorities have made few arrests, and each side has blamed the other. The Bodos say illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh are streaming into the autonomous districts and taking over vacant land; Muslims say such claims are a smokescreen intended to disguise a Bodo campaign to drive out rightful Muslim residents in a campaign similar to so-called ethnic cleansing. ----------------------- During the worst violence, the state government in Assam seemed paralyzed. One issue is that many former Bodo rebels never turned over their automatic weapons; some Muslims driven from their homes say Bodos scared them off by firing AK-47s into the air. -------------------------------- To visit some of the affected villages is to witness the eerie silence of lives brutally interrupted. In Brajakhal, the entire Muslim section was burned and looted, while the homes of non-Muslims were left untouched. In the nearby village of Chengdala, each side apparently attacked the other — both the Bodo and Muslim homes are destroyed, with a handful of others left standing. --------------------------- Sumitra Nazary, a Bodo woman, said her elderly father was bludgeoned to death with an ax. “He was paralyzed,” she said. “He couldn’t run away.” ----------------------It is uncertain when the people in the refugee camps will be able to return to their villages. Paramilitary units and Assam police officers have erected temporary guard posts outside many of the destroyed or looted villages, promising security. --------------------- Assam’s chief minister ordered refugees to begin returning to their homes this week, even as new violence was reported in some areas. ------------------------- At the camps, life is increasingly miserable. This week, two members of the National Commission for Minorities visited the region and documented problems with sanitation, malnutrition and living conditions at different camps, particularly those inhabited by Muslims. One camp had 10 makeshift toilets for 4,300 people. At another camp, they reported, more than 6,500 people were crammed into a converted high school, including 30 pregnant women.--------------------- The scene was little different at a Muslim refugee camp created at the Srirampur R.M.E. School. More than 5,200 people were living on the grounds, crowded under the shade of trees to hide from the broiling midday sun.---------------------------- Goi Mohammad Sheikh, 39, brought his wife and five children to the camp, but was returning to their village at night to protect their home. It had been looted but not burned, he said, and he and a group of other men were standing guard.-------------------------- “We want to protect our houses,” he said. “In some villages, it will not be possible to go back. It is too dangerous. But we will not leave our village. If they kill us, let them kill us. How do we leave our motherland?”---------------------- Hari Kumar contributed reporting.---------------------- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/world/asia/panic-radiates-from-indian-state-of-assam.html?_r=1&hp ------------------------------------------------- 26 July 2012 Last updated at 08:36 GMT ---------------------- What lies behind Assam violence?--------------------------- By Subir Bhaumik Calcutta---------------------- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-18993905 ----------------------------------------------- S. Kalyanaraman https://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/national-water-grid https://sites.google.com/site/indianoceancommunity1/ ====================================================================== nb: AT BOGUS PARTITION IN 1947 THE HINDUS WERE WIPED OUT IN PAKISTAN BUT BROKEN BHARAT REMAINED INFESTED WITH MUSLIMS DUE TO NEHRU'S HIGH TREASON. THERE WILL BE NO PEACE SO LONG AS THERE IS EVEN ONE KAFIR KILLER MOHAMMED IN PARTITIONED INDIAN SECULAR STATE (P.I.S.S) 000000000