GURU

Mohammad Afzal Guru, a Liberalist, a Separatist, a Rebel or ... Just a Terrorist. India is confused, some happy some sad but everyone unsure about their feelings after the hanging of Afzal Guru on the 9th of February, 2013.

Afzal Guru, born in 1969 in Sopore town of Jammu and Kashmir got India's attention when he was arrested for his involvement in a ghastly attack at the parliament of India in which seven security personnel were killed. A common man from the valleys of Kashmir pursuing medicine got waylaid and ended up in Delhi helping Pakistan based terrorists. But all he allegedly did was to help these terrorists wage a war against the Indian Government, hurting the sentiments of billions of Indians and installing fear among them about safety in their own country.

Afzal was given the death sentence by the Indian Judiciary way back in 2002 and his final appeal in the Supreme Court rejected in 2005, yet it took eight years for the government to hang him. Is this really done for the right reasons, I am not sure. Afzal, unlike Ajmal Kasab is a son of the land, he is not an intruder but a citizen of India who according to his constitutional rights deserved a fair trial in the courts of India but instead found himself tangled in populist politics. All the evidence against him was circumstantial and inconclusive, and yet the High Court justice held up his death penalty in order to satify the "collective conscience" of the people of India. Is justice based on conscience in this country or fact based. Questions and doubts galore over the manner in which the trial was conducted since Afzal was never able to find a lawyer good enough to defend him in court as no one was willing to stand for him fearing the anger among the public and his family had no money to get him a top criminal lawyer plus those lawyers appointed by the court incriminated him more than they defended him. In addition to that the way police handled a suspect of such enormity was questionable as he was made to confess before the media during an ongoing murder trial. In all these interviews Afzal was many times seen giving confessions which were later revealed to have been given under duress to his family. Although later he has been said to have given his confession in writing and to have said that he hasn’t given it under any threats, its quite doubtful if that was the case. Anyways, bygones are bygones and we cannot bring Afzal back anymore but we can face the government which made Afzal a political tool to win Hindu sympathy and votes and to seal the voices of the opposition party which have been demanding the execution since a long time now. The attack on the parliament was carried out by two militant organizations Lashkar-E-Toiba and Jaish-E-Mohammad, and it has nowhere been proved that Afzal was a member of either. He was only charged of aiding and abetting the crimes. So was Death Penalty justified for Afzal Guru?? Maybe Yes maybe No.

We live an era when Death Penalty is coming towards abolition. Most countries today are shunning the Death Penalty as that is something which goes against Human Rights. But still some monsters do deserve their share of punishment. The question is, was Afzal Guru one such monster or was he just a scapegoat for a political gimmick? Had he been granted clemency which many human rights group and former J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, there would have been a huge uproar with protests all over the country. Now that he wasnt given clemency or mercy, there are protests all over J&K.

The hanging of Afzal has brought a negative political repercussion, especially in the politics of the Kashmir Valley, the place Afzal belongs to. Afzal’s hanging has triggered a fresh episode of protests and unrest in the Valley. From the initial protests and demonstrations, it is gaining far-reaching impact. The separatist groups have used this opportunity with renewed energy to make quick inroads in Kashmir’s politics. Besides, Afzal’s hanging has inflicted another blow of injustice and ill-treatment on the brutalized history of the Kashmiri people. It would only increase the trust-deficit and shake the faith of Kashmiri people in democracy and the judiciary of India.

It must be remembered that Afzal himself was part of a militant group fighting for liberation of Kashmir. He returned disillusioned and relinquished violence. But today, even after shunning violence, he has been made a victim of circumstantial justice.. By hanging Afzal, the last chance to undo the injustice by not having a fair trial has been lost. Death has made Afzal Guru an unwilling martyr and his story a parable of injustice in Kashmir, a story which today is being compared to those of some of the most respected freedom fighters of India, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru.

What is embarrassing is the timing of this execution. After two decades of missed opportunities, half-beginnings, compromises, there was a chance to make Kashmir feel like a part of the mainland by treating Afzal's case fairly but what was done is a shame on our judicial system. I do not say that Afzal was innocent by any means .. NO. He indeed was involved in the Parliament attack. He was the one who received phone calls a couple of minutes before the attack by the attackers of Parliament. He was the one who identified them after the shootout was over. Then why was he denied a fair trial .. Was someone trying to save the masterminds?? He was just a small fish. Those who think that Afzal Guru was innocent are wrong. But equally wrong are those who project him as the master planner of the shootout at “Parliament House”. The truth is that he was involved but his role was not that of a mastermind. By making him the scapegoat what we did was end the investigation in the case and hence let the real culprits get away with nothing.

Afzal, for me should not have been hanged secretly without any information to the people of Kashmir as is normally supposed to be the case in the civilized human world. It should have an open case for all so that facts and figures about him could have been analyzed by one and all. The secret execution itself is a testimony that the Govt. of India had no moral courage to face the world by informing the family and Kashmiri people in advance. This because its already known how the investigation and the trial has gone. To think that a citizen of India, of Jammu and Kashmir is killed without informing his family and the entire state is put under curfew with the media and internet banned in the whole state is enough to figure out the highhandedness of the Government in India and puts a question about the democracy and secularism of India.

THE GIRL INFRONT OF ME

THE GIRL SITTING INFRONT OF ME LOOKS AT ME SOMETIMES
HER HAIR KEEPS FALLING RIGHT INFRONT OF HER EYES

I LIKE IT WHEN SHE PUSHES THE HAIR BACK HER EAR
JUST LIKE THE SUN SHINES BRIGHTLY WHEN THE CLOUDS CLEAR

HER SMILE IS SO WARM THAT I CAN FEEL IT IN MY HEART
I THINK ILL JUST FAINT THINKING OF THAT

I WOULD GIVE ANYTHING TO BE BY HER SIDE
TOO BAD SHE ALREADY HAS HER BOYFRIEND SITTING BESIDE

BAD TIMING & BAD LUCK THATS WHAT I GOT
SEEMS LIKE DESTINY DOESNT GIVE ME THIS LADY LUCK

HER LIPS ARE LIKE CHERRY & HER HANDS ARE LIKE CALM WATER
EVERYTIME I LOOK AT HER SHE JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER & BETTER

SO SWEET SO CUTE JUST LIKE AN INNOCENT CHILD
NEXT LIFE IM SURE SHE WILL BE MINE

IF NOT THEN ME & GOD ARE GOING TO HAVE A VERY BIG FIGHT
BUT ONE DAY SOME DAY SHE WILL BE MINE
UNTIL THAT DAY ILL JUST KEEP SEEING HER IN DREAMS OF MINE

STARVE

With more than a billion people and a growth rate of 6% in which the contribution of agriculture is almost 12-13%, India is considered one of the largest agrarian economies. However, over the past 15 years, the debate about food, under a rights-based perspective, has become increasingly complex. Concerns about famine, emergency relief and technology-driven green revolutions have given way to discussions on the state's failure to deliver public distribution programmes, the discrimination these programmes perpetuate, legal entitlements to land, climate change, price volatility and the role of NGOs. In other words, the debate has shifted from starvation and subsistence to dignity and justice.

With the specter of drought haunting the countryside, speculators, hoarders and black-marketeers are back in business. Prices of essential commodities like pulses, edible oil, sugar and salt are going through the roof. Vegetables are out of reach of the average family with the price of a kilo of potatoes increasing by over 100% in the last month. But the government, preoccupied with its internal squabbles, cares little for the insecurity rising prices and consequent food deprivation causes Indian families. For the government this is collateral damage in its mission to implement pro-corporate reform (PCR) and cut food subsidy.

This approach is now reflected in its policy regarding the surplus food grain stocks it holds. The buffer stock in the month of July, according to the quarterly buffer stock norms India has, should be 3.3 crore tonnes. Current stocks are as high as 8.2 crore tonnes. Instead of distributing these surplus stocks to the millions of families wrongly defined as non-poor, the government has chosen to permit exports "to liquidate the stocks". Most of the exported food grain will be ultimately used as feed for livestock converted to animal products in developed countries.

The government sees nothing unethical about subsidizing grains for foreign cattle but not for its own people. The decision to export is influenced by agribusiness lobbies, which want to take advantage of rising wheat prices in the international market driven upwards by reported crop damage in major wheat growing areas across the globe.

The future will belong to nations with grains and not guns. We have enough grains for all – we need to open and expand our thinking on what can be done, and how to build a future where everyone on the planet always has enough to eat.

Yet, the Indian elite shrieks at the prospect of formalizing a universal right to food. Notwithstanding the collective moral deficit this reveals, it also shows that the millions of Indians whose food rights are so flagrantly violated are completely voiceless in the policy space. India's problem is not only to secure food, but to secure food justice.

What can food justice practically mean? First, to prevent situations where grains rot while people die — a very basic principle of distributive justice. But it has to mean a lot more: people must have the right to produce food with dignity, have control over the parameters of production, get just value for their labour and their produce. Mainstream notions of food security ignore this dimension. Food justice must entail both production and distribution. Its fundamental premise must be that governments have a non-negotiable obligation to address food insecurity. They must also address the structural factors that engender that insecurity. Most governments, however, appear neither willing nor able to deliver food justice. It needs therefore the devolution of power and resources to the local level, where millions of protagonists, with their knowledge of local needs and situations, can create a just food economy.

 What is required is a proper mechanism at the national and state level for co-ordinated policy making. Storage capacities should be built in food deficit regions while developing cold storage chains and food processing to prevent wastage. A plan must be made to improve agri-infrastructure with backward and forward linkages to help boost production, cut wastage and develop agri markets.

EYE SEE YOU

Eyes, they say a lot of things

Even if its closed or might be open

No one knows the truth behind those lids

So many emotions & so many feelings

Tears roll down when it hurts inside these

So many colours, many many beings

What lies behind these eyes i think

I keep my smile even when im sad

But my eyes say everything about that part

My love always kept looking in my eyes

She could see her face through my eyes

My heart just saw her mesmerizing face

Maybe thats why i couldnt see the deception in her gaze

From that day i keep my eyes closed

Afraid of the next pair of eyes ill see next time

 

What horror & lies it might hold inside

My eyes will soon lose their colour cause its a very dark world outside

CONFUSION

I dont know what to do

My heart & mind are not working together

Which one should i listen

Do i want my past or my future

Afraid i might lose myself to her again

Pain, pain & more pain

Why did she come back

Is it your doing God

Or is it just my destiny

How much more can she hurt me

My heart has forgotten how to live..... how to love

Ill just keep walking the path infront of me

Lets see where life takes me

改变

India has always been a democratic and china has always been the authoritarian. Long back during Mao, the ideologies of the fledging communist state and the stomachs of its people clashed, and the stomachs lost. Decades after Mao and YI ZI ER SHI and the TIANANMEN MASSACRE, a lot has changed. China has grown and so have its leaders and the rampant corruption. But at least corruption is efficient in china. It can amount to 20-30 % of the project’s cost; but a onetime payment can fast track local government approvals that pave the way for profits to come in future.
As America saw a powerful and nail biting election, the gaze of the world’s media was focused squarely on Washington. But on the other side of the world, a leadership change of potentially greater significance was also getting under way. For the first time in a decade – and only the second time in history – the men at the top of the Chinese Communist Party will step down, voluntarily, and hand over power to a new generation.
But while American voters had a pretty good idea by now of who their candidates are and what they represent, the Chinese public remains utterly cut off from the political process. Not only do politicians here all sport identical dyed-black haircuts, but they all make identical, impenetrable and interminable speeches. The communist party is assiduous in removing all information about the leaders making it inaccessible for the common public. In modern Beijing, the Soviet art of Kremlinology, which involved scholars searching for hidden messages in reams of official jargon, or counting the use of certain phrases in the party newspaper, remains alive and well.
Indeed, while we knew that the leadership change will happen at the 18th Party Congress, which opened on Thursday, we did not know exactly when the new leaders will be unveiled or when the congress will end. Those in China cannot even search for the phrase “18th party congress” on the internet: it has been removed by the censors.
All we can be sure of is that, at some point in the near future, a group of men – and they are all likely to be men – will walk on to a dais in the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square. These will be the seven members of the politburo standing committee, the Chinese equivalent of the Cabinet, selected (by an essentially mysterious process) from among the 25 politburo members originally elected by the party’s 300-strong central committee. Those who think the U.S. electoral college is a complicated system for choosing a leader should take a look at China right now.
The 18th National Congress will have 2270 delegates selected from 40 constituencies. This represents an increase of 57 delegates and two constituencies from the 17th Congress. 31 of these constituencies represent China's province-level Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities. Six other delegations represent: Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army, The Central Party Organization, The Central Government Ministries and Commissions, Central State Owned Enterprises, and Central Banks and Financial Institutions. The remaining three delegations are the subject of conflicting accounts. Hong Kong and Macau may represent two delegations or one delegation or they may be treated as part of the Guangdong delegation. Other delegations that have been identified by various sources include the Peoples Armed Police, units involved in “social management”, the public service sector, workers in private enterprises, and workers in foreign and joint enterprises. No more than 68% of the delegates may hold leadership positions within the party. The remaining 32% will be "grassroots" party members who hold jobs outside of the party apparatus. The number of female delegates will be required to increase. Each delegation will be selected (by the province level congresses) in an election in which there are at least 15% more candidates than there are delegates to be selected. The candidates in these elections are heavily vetted by multiple party organs. In addition to these 2270 delegates, an uncertain number of additional delegates, primarily retired veteran Communist leaders, will be selected. It is designed to assess the country's progress, and set new directions. Every 10 years it selects the new leadership.
The delegates will pick the roughly 200 members of the party's Central Committee, about three-quarters of whom are expected to be replaced, mostly because of their age.
The Central Committee chooses the members of the Politburo, from which the powerful Politburo Standing Committee is selected. The handful of leaders who make up the Standing Committee are China's top decision makers.

There will be no frenzy of exit polls and ballot counting. The major outcomes of the ruling Communist Party's 18th National Congress, as the event is known, have been determined in advance after months of secretive maneuvering and deal-making among senior party figures.
But the result matters for China's 1.3 billion citizens and for countries around the globe like the United States that are trying to decipher what the Asian giant's growing international clout means for them.
The only problem is, nobody's sure exactly what China's new top brass will do once they have assumed power.
During the race for the White House in the United States, President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney eagerly brandished their credentials for getting tough on China, with Obama citing trade suits he'd filed and Romney promising to label Beijing a currency manipulator.China is now the world's second-biggest economy and closing fast on the United States.
There have been disappointments and discontent along the way, and Hu's much vaunted "harmonious society" is showing signs of cracking.Chinese leaders have endured a tumultuous year. The veil of secrecy around the party has been lifted, with reports of rifts and infighting. And the fall of Bo brought about China's biggest political scandal in decades.
Bo, once party chief of the massive metropolis of Chongqing, is now in disgrace awaiting trial. His wife, Gu Kailai, is in prison, convicted of murdering a British business associate.
Senior party leaders and their leaders have had to deal with unusual scrutiny of their affairs, with Western news organizations publishing investigations into the wealth accumulated by the families of Xi and Wen.
Chinese authorities responded to the reports by blocking the websites of the news organizations involved: Bloomberg News and The New York Times.
But China's army of censors is having to grapple with the rapid rise of social media platforms on which information moves and mutates at a dizzying pace.
China is treading many fault lines: a widening gap between rich and poor, rising unrest about issues like pollution and land seizures, and a slowing economy that some say is in need of serious reform.
Hu mentioned some of those tensions Thursday along with several other contentious issues like food safety, health care and the criminal justice system -- acknowledging that "there are a lot of difficulties and problems on our road ahead." Another issue Hu's government has struggled to tackle during its decade in power is the discontent and unrest among Tibetans living under Chinese rule.
Authorities were given a grim reminder on Wednesday of the disillusionment and desperation of many Tibetans in western areas of China after four people set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule.
One teenage Tibetan monk died and two were injured after self-immolating in a majority Tibetan region of Sichuan Province, said Penpa Tsering, a spokesman for the Tibetan parliament in exile in Dharamsala, India. And a 23-year-old Tibetan woman died a separate incident in Qinghai Province, Tsering said, citing unidentified people in Tibetan areas.
Dozens of Tibetans are reported to have set themselves ablaze in the past 18 months to express their unhappiness with Chinese rule. And the central government in Beijing is also dealing with other restive ethnic groups, like the Uyghurs in the western province of Xinjiang.
As the whole world waits eagerly for one of the biggest economy to announce its set of leaders, we expect more liberal leaders to come to the forefront. This would decide the relations of china with others.

The Girl Next Door

Ive always had a thing for the girl next door

Like it or leave it but she never was a bore.

So sweet, so cute but thats not new
Still then everyday i feel shes renewed.

10 years it has been since she moved in
Another 10 it will take for my words to begin.

Call it my love or it also might be my liking
In my dreams she is my queen but im never her king.

No matter how i look, no matter how i dress
Im just not able to make her impress.

Maybe she doesnt notice me, she thinks im not there
Oh God let her know how much i care.

Heaven on earth she is for me
But without her from my Hell i shall never be free.

What if she has a bad temper or a bad mood???
Oh!....... a Slap, that will be very rude.

But no need for all this because it the end of my love, thats right
Because i saw her going out with someone last night.

Heart broken or heart shattered whatever it might be
I can feel something hurt deep inside me.

If he makes you happy then im happy for you
Though tonight i shall cry for you......only you.

I never knew her name, it was not on the door
Forget it, leave it because its time to........TRY THE NEXT DOOR.