SG OwnBlog

Burhan Wani – The man and his mission The death of a young ‘hero’? On the 8 th of July, Burhan Muzaffar Wani died in the Valley of Kashmir. Thousands poured out on the streets to commemorate his services to the movement that he had come to symbolize of late. The relative calm of the region was shattered with curfews, killings and allegations of human rights abuses. His father was proud for the services his son had offered in the name of their faith, convinced that he would go to Heaven. Amidst all this, the romantic ideals of a young boy, just off his teens began to shake up the youth of the entire country, both in and beyond India. There is a lot of unrest in the Kashmir Valley recently, especially in the aftermath of the death, nay execution of Burhan. All of this is not unexpected in any way. In fact, this was foreseen. Even his glorification, his elevation to the status of a martyr in the service of Islam does not come as a surprise to me. Threats to the Indians - In th...

Today is 6th September. In 1965 Indian tanks halted on the Ichogil Canal of Lahore, just short of the main city. The ceasefire came into effect in a couple of days. This 'brilliant feat' of defense by Pakistan Army is considered a matter of pride for them. It is for them and also for many Indians that I am posting some pictures. Pakistani Patton Tanks in Patton Nagar Sherman - Pakistan Army - Ichogil, Outskirts of Lahore Gorkha Regiment celebrating Sialkot Sector - Captured Pakistani Tanks Pakistan's 1st Armored Division in Indian hands Pakistan Patton Tank in ditch Pak Chafee Tanks in wheat field, Punjab Pak M24 Chafee Tank taken to cantonments as war trophee M24 Chafee stuck Indian PM Lal Bahadur Shastri posing over captured Pakistani Patton Tank Indian Officers pose in front of captured Pakistani Sherman - Chawinda Pak Tanks Captured - Chawinda Patton Tank loaded into ...

In India Defence Ministers engage in some of the biggest scams ever. Multi-billion dollar deals are hijacked and loot siphoned off clandestinely. The ill gotten wealth goes all the way to some top notch Swiss bank. After a couple of years some folks raise a hullabaloo about the whole matter to earn votes and topple the Government. So that they can do the same thing. And the process goes on and on. Our present minister Mr. A.K. Anthony is a decent man. He may have his failings, no doubt. But he is not corrupt. In a Government that has broken all records of corruption this should be a matter of pride. This gentleman has been instrumental in finalizing a number of defence deals and that too with a fair amount of transparency. He has always lead a simple and spartan life, quite like out previous Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee and so far at least has a very clean image. For this reason alone he has earned my respect. So it is very unfortunate the the events have taken an ugly tu...

Kashmir is a beautiful place. Just like the rest of the world, Kashmir is also home to many rockstar Islamists Secularists. Problem is that Kashmiris are a generally peaceful lot. Unlike their neighbors in the South, East and West they primarily have rice all day. Just like Bengalis. But out of this population sometimes some young guy gets highly inspired - helped by a few overly 'vigilant' CRPF guys. Also attach to this the romantic aspirations of freedom, secularism, Islamism etc etc. You end up confused. Getting a way out of this confusion and reaching a conclusion is more difficult than killing someone. Quite a few do so. No. This is not the guy! This guy is really dangerous. Haneef was a normal guy. Her mother fell down the road after an Army truck speed past her. The poor old woman could not take it. She slipped and fell. A few bones got dislocated. But due to ignorance or poverty she was neglected and after almost a year she died. Haneef convicted the Indian Army...