The Karachi Project

In the 1977 cold war thriller Telefon, a rogue KGB agent creates mayhem in the US simply by picking up a phone and reading a Robert Frost poem 'the woods are lovely, dark and deep...' to hypnotise sleeper agents who then go on to plant explosives across the continent.

The scenario could well echo a nefarious plan that India's security agencies are now grappling with: The Karachi Project set up by the Pakistan Army's ISI and groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and HUJI which utilise Pakistani-trained Indian-operatives to plant explosives in selected cities in the Indian heartland.

For at least three years now, Indian security agencies have known of the outlines of this scheme, which Home Secretary G.K. Pillai held responsible for the German Bakery blast in Pune.

"The link between the LeT and Indian Mujahideen (IM), as part of the project, has been established. The LeT pushed David Headley into India to recce potential targets. IM operatives went to Pakistan and viewed videos shot by him, so that they could be sent to India to carry out attacks," he said.

Named after the Pakistani port city and crime hotbed which has turned into a sanctuary for fugitive Indian underworld dons like Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, the joint-venture project was conceived some time after 2003. It is part of an overall strategy which, Admiral Dennis Blair the director of National Intelligence told a US Senate committee on February 3, was for Pakistan to "use militant groups as an important part of its strategic arsenal to counter India's military and economic advantages".

The Karachi Project has been directly responsible for the deaths of over 500 Indians in 10 bomb blasts since 2005.

Details of the project were first revealed by Pakistan-born American jihadi David Coleman Headley to the FBI in December last year. According to him, the fugitive Bhatkal brothers Riaz and Iqbal who founded the IM, Mufti Sufiyan and underworld don Yaqoob Khan aka Rasool 'Party' were being sheltered in Karachi by the LeT and ISI.

Headley, who checked out Chabad House close to German Bakery, also told the FBI interrogators about serving and retired Pakistan Army officers being part of the project. Headley confirmed that the ISI had put together a team of Indian jihadis in the port city, calling it the Karachi Project. They were waiting to launch them into India for attacks.

Over 500 people have been killed in 10 terror attacks carried out by the Karachi Project since 2005.

Headley recceed targets for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks while shuttling between Mumbai and Karachi thrice in 2006 and 2008. Pune also figured prominently in his terror reconnaissance missions. He visited Pune twice, in 2008 and 2009, and stayed at the Surya Villa Hotel near the Osho Ashram and the local Jewish synagogue during his latter visit. This was part of his March 2008 survey of Israeli targets--Chabad Houses across Delhi, Pushkar, Goa, Pune and Mumbai--for future terror attacks.

More details of the plot emerged after the arrest of Abdul Khwaja, second-in-command of Shahid Bilal, who headed the Bangladesh HUJI unit. Khwaja was picked up by the R&AW in a clandestine 'rendition' operation in Bangladesh in December last year.

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Good use of plastic. Kudos!!

A Swedish entrepreneur is planning to mass produce Peepoo, a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet, which may help millions of urban slum dwellers in developing countries like India

The bag, which is currently undergoing field trials in India and Kenya, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm. Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertiliser, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces.

"Not only is it sanitary, they can reuse this to grow crops," Wilhelmson was quoted as saying by The New York Times. According to Wilhelmson, he has drawn inspiration to design the biodegradable toilet from Kenyan slum dwellers, who collect their excrement in a plastic bag and dispose of it by flinging it, calling it a "flyaway toilet" or a "helicopter toilet".

"People will say, it's valuable to me, but well priced," said the Swedish entrepreneur who has patented the bag and is confident that the bag will turn a profit. He plans to sell the bag for about 2 or 3 cents -- comparable to the cost of an ordinary plastic bag. According to United Nations figures, an estimated 2.6 billion people in the developing world, or about 40 percent of the earth's population, do not have access to a toilet.

It also estimated that 1.5 million children worldwide die from diarrhea every year due to of poor sanitation and hygiene, which is largely because of open defecation of waste that contaminates drinking water.            

One of the UN Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000, is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation, but so far progress has been minimal. With that in mind, Swedish Peepoople created the Peepoo bag to serve as a personal, portable and low-cost latrine for all the many people who don’t have one. Designed for use sitting, squatting or standing, the single-use, biodegradable plastic bag measures 14 by 38 cm and is lined with a urea-coated gauze layer that disinfects all waste. Used bags are odour-free for at least 24 hours and are safe for burial underground. Within two to four weeks after use, however, their contents get converted to high-quality fertiliser—something that’s also rare in many areas and so could become a source of income and further enrichment for an individual or village. Following field tests last year in Kenya and India, the Peepoo bag is scheduled to begin production this summer.

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Day of Shiva

Hindustan Times, 12th February, 2010

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Shivaratri is the day of Lord Shiva. Shiva is the lord of meditation and, therefore, the lord of awakening.

Shiva is called Mahakala - grand time. Shivam also means innocent. Shiva is a very simple Lord, but in this simplicity there is a deep message.

Shiva, in His Nataraja form, symbolises the union of nature and the Divine. Natraja holds fire in one hand, representing the fire element. A damru (conical musical instrument) in the other hand depicts the space element. Shiva's hair is open and flying, representing the air element.

One foot on the ground symbolises prithvi (earth element), another in the air. One hand is the symbolic abhaya hasta offering protection and the other points to his feet symbolising surrender. With one foot already in the air, he has already taken a step towards the devotee. He says, "You are dear to me" even before beginning.

Shiva is dancing. Life should be like this. If both feet are stuck in the ground, then you cannot dance. Even to walk, you need to take one foot up.

Underneath his feet, there is Apasmaar (demon representing ignorance.) He is standing with his foot on top of desires. Only when we rise above desires, then it is a dance of joy and bliss. The Divine energy pervading the entire creation is eternally dancing.

Shiva represents Ananda Tattva (bliss) that the whole world longs for. We can only know the secret of Shiv tattva by going within. Feeling His presence all the time is the essence of Shivaratri. It is an occasion to awaken one's self from slumber. It signifies being aware of everything you have and - being grateful about it.

Be grateful for the happiness which leads to growth, and also for sadness which gives depth to life. You have to surrender the positives and negatives of your life to Shiva and become carefree! The greatest offering is your self and the greatest power is in surrendering to the divine. This is the right way of observing Shivaratri.

Criticising GM crops may land you in jail

BANGALORE: Criticising Genetically Modified (GM) products could land you in jail — if the draconian draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAB) of 2009, which will be tabled in the current session of the parliament by the UPA government, is passed.

In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.” The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

“What they are doing is much worse than what Hitler or Mussolini did. Through this bill, they want to take absolute authority. They are behaving like a vendor instead of a regulator,” Pushpa M Bhargava, a member of the Supreme Court appointed Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) said.

There are also other provisions in this bill which are disconcerting.

Article 27 (1) of the bill seeks to keep the information related to the research, approval and science of the GM Products out of the purview of the Right to Information ( RTI) Act.

In other words, farmers, NGO’s and Environmental groups that have been on the forefront of the campaign against BT Brinjal and other genetically modified crops, can no longer obtain information about it.

Not only that, the three member experts of the Department of Biotechnology will override any existing legislation about GM technology in the states.

The draft bill also states that the BRAI will set up its own appellate tribunal which will have the jurisdiction to hear arguments on the issues concerning biotechnology. In case of any disputes, petitioners can only approach the Supreme Court of India.

“The BRAI bill is more draconian than what the nation faced during the Emergency ‘’ says Devinder Sharma, writer and Food Policy Analyst. “If the Bill was already in force, I would have been in jail.

Jairam Ramesh too would have been in jail for challenging the health and environmental claims of the company developing Bt Brinjal,” he said. The bill demonstrates the extraordinary hold the multinational companies have over the UPA government, he added. Kavitha Kurugunti of Kheti Virasat Mission said that this bill is just a way to silence the voices who are opposed to GM technology.

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Tamil Nadu rediscovers Hindi

Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray answers criticism against his party’s often violent agitations in Mumbai by citing the long history of anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu. He points to the state’s official policy that has led to insignificant use of Hindi in Tamil Nadu. Thackeray’s sense of history is impeccable because Tamil Nadu established the supremacy of Tamil through blood, in much greater intensity than the Sainiks do on the streets of Mumbai.

But Thackeray may have missed a finer point. Life has come full circle for Tamils. Today, Hindi is the most popular third language for the younger generation to learn across the state. “Everybody who once opposed Hindi is praising it now and sending their children to learn the language,” says C N V Annamalai, general secretary of the Chennai-based Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha.

Bollywood news is devoured, migrant labourers from Bihar have begun coming in, and politicians are learning Hindi to be able to make an impact in Delhi.

Tamils began protesting against Hindi as early as 1938. The Congress Party, which had come to power in the then Madras Presidency under C. Rajagopalachari, had made Hindi compulsory in schools. Tamils saw this as a cultural invasion that could render their mother tongue a secondary language on their own territory. There was a burst of protests, forcing the government to withdraw its order. Over the next decade, the Congress would try to impose Hindi several times, each time facing a bigger groundswell of protests.

The campaign against compulsory Hindi quickly became a political issue. The protests were led by E V Ramaswamy Naicker (known as Periyar) who had ironically given out his house just 16 years earlier to start a Hindi teacher training college. But by 1938, he had become a separatist, convinced that the South Indian “Dravidians” should form their own nation and get Purna Swaraj from “Aryan” conspirators.

The agitation was mainly sustained by students. One such man was Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who at the age of 14 showed a genius for organisation. As the protests raged year after year, the political careers of Karunanidhi and his mentor C N Annadurai blossomed. Soon after independence, they started a party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, promoting Tamil nationalism. Their propaganda made the Congress Party look like a Brahmins’ party seeking to impose Hindi, Hindu supremacy and caste hierarchies on the secular Tamil national identity.

The flashpoint came on January 26, 1965. The day marked the completion of 15 years of the Constitution, which provided for removing the use of English and making Hindi the sole official language of the Union. Central government offices across the state had their boards blackened by tar. Protests brought life to a standstill. Scores of young people set themselves ablaze and died in the cause of Tamil. The police couldn’t control the agitation. The army came in but failed too.

It was then the Centre made the historic decision to continue with English as an official language. Tamil Nadu, till today, follows the two-language system with Tamil and English. If we are an English-speaking nation today, thank the Tamil protesters for it.

The Congress lost power in Tamil Nadu in 1967. Annadurai and later Karunanidhi became chief ministers. The protests entrenched the Dravidian parties so deeply that Congress hasn’t been able to come back to power till today. This is a story of great inspiration for any regional politician seeking to consolidate his constituency and drive out national parties.

Meanwhile, the Hindi Prachar Sabha is quite busy. As many as 600,000 students appear for its exams in Tamil Nadu each year, a number that is growing at 20 percent. In 1965, at the height of anti-Hindi protests, the number was less than 20,000. “The anti-Hindi agitation basically did our job. It raised curiosity among the people and brought them to us,” says Annamalai.

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Indian Missile Claims

Beijing's dismissal of the DRDO's claims that its missile technology is superior to that of China might provoke knee-jerk patriotism in Delhi. But no one in the world disputes that China is way ahead of India in missilery and military uses of space.

By transferring missiles and their production technology, China has also put Pakistan ahead of India. Instead of acknowledging the reality and redoubling the effort to catch up, the DRDO is making extravagant claims. Take, for example, its head V.K. Saraswat's claim that the Agni-III, with its 3000 km range, is ready for "induction" by the services.

A weapons system inducted after just four tests including one failure? This is the kind of sanctimonious self-congratulation that the DRDO has doled out for decades. Because they wrap themselves in the flag, we are not supposed to ask questions, only clap. Saraswat has claimed that "there is no need to produce and store missiles in today's world". Really? China has more than 1000 missiles pointed at Taiwan; and is producing and deploying missiles in scores every year.

This could be ignored but for the fact that it has begun to create diplomatic problems for India. Take the claim that India is developing anti-satellite weapons. Here he is talking about a weapon system that does not exist; and the Chinese have conducted ASAT weapon tests in 2007 and 2010 without making any claims in advance. Did he have the political clearance to say this?

Did he consult the foreign office which is campaigning in Geneva against an "arms race" in outer space? Even bolder is talk of targets for Agni-III in China and Pakistan. Since when has it become the DRDO's responsibility to decide on nuclear targeting? One had assumed that was the job of the nuclear command authority under the prime minister.

Meanwhile, the ministry of defence appears to have no oversight of the DRDO and the minister, A.K. Antony, seems out of the loop. Speaking at a conference in Delhi last week, Antony thundered against the "militarisation of space". Has anyone informed the poor minister that space has been "militarised" for decades? The international debate today is about deploying weapons in space.

While the minister of defence makes banal statements, his scientific adviser is boasting about space weapons. Why Delhi, which claims to be a responsible nuclear power, allows this dangerous drift at the MOD and DRDO is one of those known unknowns in Delhi.

Source: The Indian Express