Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

http://www.observerbd.com/2015/09/28/112404.php

Observer Bangladesh September 28, 2015

A Man of Many Hues

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's 195th birth anniversary

Culture Desk

Published :Monday, 28 September, 2015,  Time : 12:00 AM  View Count : 1

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891) scholar, writer, educationist, humanist pundit, social reformer and philanthropist, was born on September 26 in 1820 in a poor brahman family in a village in Medinipur. His father Thakur Das Bandhyay was a clerk at a shop in Kolkata.
September 26 marked the 195th birth anniversary of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
Ishwar was sent to a village pathshala (primary) at the age of five, but three years later, in December 1828, he was brought to Kolkata, where he briefly attended a pathshala, and later was admitted to Sanskrit college in June 1829. An exceptionally brilliant student, he earned the title of Vidyasagar (an ocean of learning) by 1839, but continued studying there for two more years until December 1841. At the end of his studies, which included grammar, literature, rhetoric, Vedanta, jurisprudence, logic, astronomy, Hindu law and English, he was awarded a certificate of proficiency in these subjects.'
Soon after leaving Sanskrit College in December 1841, Vidyasagar started his teaching career as the head pundit in Bangla at Fort William College. As a Sanskrit pundit, was looking for a job at Sanskrit College, which he eventually got in April 1846 - the post of Assistant Secretary. He took his job seriously and wanted to improve the syllabus of the College, but faced obstacles from the conservative secretary, Rasamay Datta. Frustrated, he resigned his post in July 1847. In December 1850, he again joined Sanskrit College, this time, as its professor of Sanskrit literature, and, in the following month, became its Principal.
As Principal, he brought about a range of significant changes in affairs of the college. Previously only Brahman and Vaidya students were qualified to enrol in the college, but he opened its doors to all Hindus; introduced nominal tuition fees; changed weekly holiday from each 1st and 8th days of the moon (which varied according to the lunar calendar) to Sundays; and persuaded the government to accept the degree given by the College to be sufficient for competing for the post of deputy magistrate of the time. Ishwar Chandra revised the syllabus radically, and instead of teaching grammar and mathematics (including algebra) through Sanskrit alone, he began teaching these subjects through Bangla and English as well; and strengthened the English Department. He also made English a compulsory subject in view of the contemporary reality. While he also emphasised mare efficient teaching of Bangla, the teaching of philosophy received even a wider attention. He considered Sankhya and vedanta philosophy to be unacceptable, and, also, refused to include Berkeleyan or similar Western philosophy in the syllabus; in its place he suggested teaching Bacon's philosophy and JS Mill's logic.
Following the implementation of the Education Charter of Charles Wood (1854), which recommended expansion of education to rural areas, Vidyasagar was given, in addition to his work as the Principal of the College, the responsibility of the assistant inspector of schools in May 1855. He almost immediately started opening Bangla schools in four districts of Nadia, Bardhaman, Hugli and Medinipur; and, within a couple of years, set up altogether twenty schools. He also established a 'normal school' for the training of teachers for these schools and founded a school in his own village, almost entirely with his own money.'
Alongside opening these Bangla model schools, the government also decided to establish some girls' schools, even though it was uncertain as to whether it would be possible to do so in the face of strong opposition from conservative society which considered female education a taboo. Vidyasagar, an ardent supporter of female education, was given the responsibility of launching these schools; and he persuaded local people to establish such a school in Bardhaman in May 1857; and later, between November 1857 and May 1858, he opened the doors of thirty-four more girls' schools. However, he was unable to continue his work, as differences emerged between him and the director of public instructions. Vidyasagar resigned his post both from Sanskrit College.
One of his important contributions to education was the establishment of the Calcutta Metropolitan Institution. It was first started in 1859 as an English training school for students from the rich Hindu families, but lost its vigour by 1861. He took over the responsibility of running it and named it Hindu Metropolitan Institution in 1864. With the approval of Calcutta University, it started preparing candidates for Entrance Examination and showed instant success. In early 1872, it was recognised by the University as an intermediate college, and in 1879 as a degree college.
Vidyasagar died a lonely man on 29 July 1891. 

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Journey through Rivers of Barisal, Coastal Bangladesh

Journey through Rivers of Barisal, Coastal Bangladesh

Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar

Here are a few pictures of a journey from SriRamKathi village to Doihari village of Swarupkathi (island) to Malikanda village of Uzirpur through Sandhya Nodi (river) all in Barisal District.

The journey took almost eight hours through the picturesque countryside, while Bengali kirtan music played through the help of solar-powered battery, and hot lunch served by monk Sunil Sadhu.

One of the Rivers

From SriRamKathi

SriRamKathi

On the Boat

On the Deck

On the Canal

Landing at Sahid Smriti Madhyamik Balika Bidyaloi (Martyrs Memorial Girls' High School), Doihari

River port scene

 A Vendor

Commuting by Boat

Landing at Malikanda

Welcome at Malikanda Surya Sen Orphanage with Dhunuchi Nach (Incense Dance)

Evening on Sandhya Nodi (river)





Raja Ram Mohon Roy and Arnos Vale Cemetery of Bristol, England

Raja Ram Mohon Roy and Arnos Vale Cemetery of Bristol, England

Sachi G. Dastidar

For a long time we wanted to visit the Samadhi of Ram Mohon Roy (also Raja Ram Mohan Roy or Rajah Rammohun Roy; 1772-1833) and pay homage to the great man. While living in Dublin, Ireland my wife Shefali and I decided to fly across the Irish Sea and visit the grave in Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol. Ram Mohon is considered by many as the Father of Indian Renaissance, the Father of Bengal Renaissance, the Father of the Idea of Modern India, Founder of the Brahmo Samaj reformed religion in Hinduism which espoused caste less, gender equal, monotheistic, services in vernacular languages that people can understand easily and formless religion many of which are now part and parcel of modern Hindu practices. He also fought against many taboos, social ills and orthodoxy of the time. Ram Mohon was influenced by the liberal thinking of the Unitarian Church.

Arnos Vale is quite close to the train station, actually within walking distance of less than a kilometer on your left as you exit the train station. Two bus routes connect the cemetery, or one can take a taxi which takes no more than three minutes at a huge cost. Ram Mohon’s cemetery is barely 100 yards from the entrance as you turn right towards the Speilman Centre.

Among all the cemetery architecture with crosses and headstones Ram Mohon’s stands out distinctively as a Hindu shrine. Arnos Vale Cemetery Guidebook writes, “An extremely influential religious and political thinker, he coined the word ‘Hinduism’ as a term for diversity of Indian religions and wrote extensively on religious and social matters. He stressed the importance of education for Indians, campaigned for women’s rights and worked to end the traditional practice of sati, the burning of widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands…..

“This rare and beautiful tomb is now a listed monument and has long been a place of pilgrimage for Bengalis and Indians. It was repaired and conserved in 2008 using money donated to the Arnos Vale Trust by businessman Aditya Poddar.” (p 35)

The Cemetery has a nice park-like setting with flowering trees and paths for walking and biking. There are chapels and lodges among the beautiful monuments in the Cemetery. Now in the Speilman Centre there are exhibition, information as well as a nice restaurant. At the East Lodge there is a souvenir center selling cards and publications dedicated to Arnos Vale and more.

As it is expensive to maintain such a large property in the middle of the city, the owner of the property proposed to sell it to developers. To keep the property as a national heritage area citizens have formed Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust and Friends of Arnos Vale to raise funds and protect the property. They have to raise one million British pounds to achieve their goal. CEO of the organization is Juliette Randall. Anyone wishing to donate money, buy their publication or receive their newsletter may contact YourArnosVale@arnosvale.org.uk, or call (44) 0117-971-9117 or check the web at www.arnosvale.org.uk. Mrs. Contractor, widow of an Indian Parsee, is a Member of the Board of Arnos Vale (2013.)

Raja Ram Mohon Roy Tomb

 

Inscription on the tomb for Rajah Rammohun Roy Bahadoor

 

 

Paying Homage

 

Back Inscription

 

 

Paying Homage

 

A Section of the Cemetery

 

Tributes left by Admirers

 

 

Paying Tribute

 

View from the Path

 

Bikers pause for a Look

 

 

A Section of the Cemetery

 

Part of the Cemetery

 

The Store run by Volunteers

 

 

 



The Saudi-isation of Pakistan

The Saudi-isation of Pakistan:

A stern, unyielding version of Islam is replacing the kinder, gentler Islam of the Sufis in Pakistan.

By Pervez Hoodbhoy

http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsJan2009/cover2jan2009.htm

The common belief in Pakistan is that Islamic radicalism is a problem only in FATA, and that madrassas are the only institutions serving as jihad factories. This is a serious misconception. Extremism is breeding at a ferocious rate in public and private schools within Pakistan’s towns and cities. Left unchallenged, this education will produce a generation incapable of co-existing with anyone except strictly their own kind. The mindset it creates may eventually lead to Pakistan’s demise as a nation state.

For 20 years or more, a few of us have been desperately sending out SOS messages, warning of terrible times to come. In fact, I am surprised at how rapidly these dire predictions have come true.

A full-scale war is being fought in FATA, Swat and other “wild” areas of Pakistan, resulting in thousands of deaths. It is only a matter of time before this fighting shifts to Peshawar and Islamabad (which has already been a witness to the Lal Masjid episode) and engulfs Lahore and Karachi as well. The suicide bomber and the masked abductor have crippled Pakistan’s urban life and shattered its national economy.

Soldiers, policemen, factory and hospital workers, mourners at funerals and ordinary people praying in mosques have all been reduced to globs of flesh and fragments of bones. But, perhaps paradoxically, in spite of the fact that the dead bodies and shattered lives are almost all Muslim ones, few Pakistanis speak out against these atrocities. Nor do they approve of the army operation against the cruel perpetrators of these acts because they believe that they are Islamic warriors fighting for Islam and against American occupation. Political leaders like Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have no words of solace for those who have suffered at the hands of Islamic extremists. Their tears are reserved exclusively for the victims of Predator drones, even if they are those who committed grave crimes against their own people. Terrorism, by definition, is an act only the Americans can commit.

What explains Pakistan’s collective masochism? To understand this, one needs to study the drastic social and cultural transformations that have rendered this country so completely different from what it was in earlier times.

For three decades, deep tectonic forces have been silently tearing Pakistan away from the Indian subcontinent and driving it towards the Arabian peninsula. This continental drift is not physical but cultural, driven by a belief that Pakistan must exchange its South Asian identity for an Arab-Muslim one. Grain by grain, the desert sands of Saudi Arabia are replacing the rich soil that had nurtured a magnificent Muslim culture in India for a thousand years. This culture produced Mughul architecture, the Taj Mahal, the poetry of Asadullah Khan Ghalib, and much more. Now a stern, unyielding version of Islam (Wahhabism) is replacing the kinder, gentler Islam of the Sufis and saints who had walked on this land for hundreds of years.

This change is by design. Twenty-five years ago, the Pakistani state used Islam as an instrument of state policy. Prayers in government departments were deemed compulsory, floggings were carried out publicly, punishments were meted out to those who did not fast in Ramadan, selection for academic posts in universities required that the candidate demonstrate a knowledge of Islamic teachings and jihad was declared essential for every Muslim. Today, government intervention is no longer needed because of a spontaneous groundswell of Islamic zeal. The notion of an Islamic state – still in an amorphous and diffused form – is more popular now than ever before as people look desperately for miracles to rescue a failing state.

Villages have changed drastically; this transformation has been driven, in part, by Pakistani workers returning from Arab countries. Many village mosques are now giant madrassas that propagate hard-line Salafi and Deobandi beliefs through oversized loudspeakers. They are bitterly opposed to Barelvis, Shias and other sects, who they do not regard as Muslims. The Punjabis, who were far more liberal towards women than the Pukhtuns, are now beginning to take a line resembling that of the Taliban. Hanafi law has begun to prevail over tradition and civil law, as is evident from the recent decisions of the Lahore High Court.

In Pakistan’s lower-middle and middle classes lurks a grim and humourless Saudi-inspired revivalist movement that frowns on any and every expression of joy and pleasure. Lacking any positive connection to culture and knowledge, it seeks to eliminate “corruption” by regulating cultural life and seizing control of the education system.

“Classical music is on its last legs in Pakistan; the sarangi and vichitraveena are completely dead,” laments Mohammad Shehzad, a music aficionado. Indeed, teaching music in public universities is violently opposed by students of the Islami Jamaat-e-Talaba at Punjab University. So the university has been forced to hold its music classes elsewhere. Religious fundamentalists consider music haram or un-Islamic. Kathak dancing, once popular with the Muslim elite of India, has few teachers left. Pakistan produces no feature films of any consequence. Nevertheless, the Pakistani elite, disconnected from the rest of the population, live their lives in comfort through their vicarious proximity to the West. Alcoholism is a chronic problem of the super rich of Lahore – a curious irony for this deeply religious country.

Islamisation of the state and the polity was supposed to have been in the interest of the ruling class – a classic strategy for preserving it from the wrath of the working class. But the amazing success of the state is turning out to be its own undoing. Today, it is under attack from religious militants, and rival Islamic groups battle each other with heavy weapons. Ironically, the same army – whose men were recruited under the banner of jihad, and which saw itself as the fighting arm of Islam – today stands accused of betrayal and is almost daily targeted by Islamist suicide bombers.

Pakistan’s self-inflicted suffering comes from an education system that, like Saudi Arabia’s system, provides an ideological foundation for violence and future jihadists. It demands that Islam be understood as a complete code of life, and creates in the mind of a school-going child a sense of siege and embattlement by stressing that Islam is under threat everywhere.

On the previous page, the reader can view the government-approved curriculum. This is the basic road map for transmitting values and knowledge to the young. By an act of parliament passed in 1976, all government and private schools (except for O-level schools) are required to follow this curriculum. It was prepared by the curriculum wing of the federal ministry of education, government of Pakistan. It sounds like a blueprint for a religious fascist state.
Alongside are scanned pictures from an illustrated primer for the Urdu alphabet. The masthead states that it has been prepared by Iqra Publishers, Rawalpindi, along “Islamic lines.” Although not an officially approved textbook, it is being used currently by some regular schools, as well as madrassas associated with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), an Islamic political party that had allied itself with General Musharraf. These picture scans have been taken from a child’s book, hence the scribbles.

The world of the Pakistani schoolchild remained largely unchanged, even after September 11, 2001, the event that led to Pakistan’s timely desertion of the Taliban and the slackening of the Kashmir jihad. Indeed, for all his hypocritical talk of “enlightened moderation,” General Musharraf’s educational curriculum was far from enlightening. It was a slightly toned down version of the curriculum that existed under Nawaz Sharif which, in turn, was identical to that under Benazir Bhutto who had inherited it from General Zia-ul-Haq. Fearful of taking on the powerful religious forces, every incumbent government has refused to take a position on the curriculum and thus quietly allowed young minds to be moulded by fanatics. What may happen a generation later has always been a secondary issue for a government challenged on so many fronts.

The promotion of militarism in Pakistan’s so-called “secular” public schools, colleges and universities had a profound effect upon young minds. Militant jihad became part of the culture on college and university campuses. Armed groups flourished, they invited students for jihad in Kashmir and Afghanistan, set up offices throughout the country, collected funds at Friday prayers and declared a war which knew no borders. Pre-9/11, my university was ablaze with posters inviting students to participate in the Kashmir jihad. Post-2001, this ceased to be done openly.

Still, the primary vehicle for Saudi-ising Pakistan’s education has been the madrassa. In earlier times, these had turned out the occasional Islamic scholar, using a curriculum that essentially dates back to the 11th century, with only minor subsequent revisions. But their principal function had been to produce imams and muezzins for mosques, and those who eked out an existence as ‘maulvi sahibs’ teaching children to read the Quran.

The Afghan jihad changed everything. During the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, madrassas provided the US-Saudi-Pakistani alliance the cannon fodder they needed to fight a holy war. The Americans and Saudis, helped by a more-than-willing General Zia, funded new madrassas across the length and breadth of Pakistan. A detailed picture of the current situation is not available. But according to the national education census, which the ministry of education released in 2006, Punjab has 5,459 madrassas followed by the NWFP with 2,843; Sindh has 1,935; the Federally Administrated Northern Areas (FANA), 1,193; Balochistan, 769; Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), 586; the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), 135; and the Islamabad capital territory, 77. The ministry estimates that 1.5 million students are acquiring religious education in the 13,000 madrassas.

These figures appear to be way off the mark. Commonly quoted figures range between 18,000 and 22,000 madrassas. The number of students could be correspondingly larger. The free boarding and lodging plus provision of books to the students, is a key part of their appeal. Additionally, parents across the country desire that their children be “disciplined” and given a thorough Islamic education. The madrassas serve this purpose, too, exceedingly well.

Madrassas have deeply impacted the urban environment. Until a few years ago, Islamabad was a quiet, orderly, modern city different from the rest of Pakistan. Also, it had largely been the abode of Pakistan’s elite and foreign diplomats. But the rapid transformation of its demography brought with it hundreds of mosques with multi-barrelled audio-cannons mounted on minarets, as well as scores of madrassas illegally constructed in what used to be public parks and green areas. Now, tens of thousands of their students, sporting little prayer caps, dutifully chant the Quran all day. In the evenings they swarm the city, making women minus the hijab increasingly nervous.

Total segregation of the sexes is a central goal of the Islamists, the consequences of which have been catastrophic. For example, on April 9, 2006, 21 women and eight children were crushed to death and scores injured in a stampede inside a three-storey madrassa in Karachi, where a large number of women were attending a weekly congregation. Male rescuers, who arrived in ambulances, were prevented from moving the injured women to hospitals.

One cannot dismiss this incident as being just one of a kind. In fact, soon after the October 2005 earthquake, as I walked through the destroyed city of Balakot, a student of the Frontier Medical College described to me how he and his male colleagues were stopped by religious elders from digging out injured girl students from under the rubble of their school building. This action was similar to that of Saudi Arabia’s ubiquitous religious ‘mutaween’ (police) who, in March 2002, had stopped school girls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing their abayas – a long robe worn in Saudi Arabia. In a rare departure from the norm, Saudi newspapers had blamed and criticised the mutaween for letting 15 girls burn to death.

The Saudi-isation of a once-vibrant Pakistani culture continues at a relentless pace. The drive to segregate is now also being found among educated women. Vigorous proselytisers carrying this message, such as Mrs Farhat Hashmi, have been catapulted to the heights of fame and fortune. Their success is evident. Two decades back, the fully veiled student was a rarity on Pakistani university and college campuses. The abaya was an unknown word in Urdu. Today, some shops across the country specialise in abayas. At colleges and universities across Pakistan, the female student is seeking the anonymity of the burqa. And in some parts of the country she seems to outnumber her sisters who still “dare” to show their faces.

I have observed the veil profoundly affect habits and attitudes. Many of my veiled female students have largely become silent note-takers, are increasingly timid and seem less inclined to ask questions or take part in discussions. They lack the confidence of a young university student.

While social conservatism does not necessarily lead to violent extremism, it does shorten the distance. The socially conservative are more easily convinced that Muslims are being demonised by the rest of the world. The real problem, they say, is the plight of the Palestinians, the decadent and discriminatory West, the Jews, the Christians, the Hindus, the Kashmir issue, the Bush doctrine – the list runs on. They vehemently deny that those committing terrorist acts are Muslims, and if presented with incontrovertible evidence, say it is a mere reaction to oppression.

The immediate future does not appear hopeful: increasing numbers of mullahs are creating cults around themselves and seizing control of the minds of worshippers. In the tribal areas, a string of new Islamist leaders have suddenly emerged: Baitullah Mehsud, Maulana Fazlullah and Mangal Bagh. Poverty, deprivation, lack of justice and extreme differences of wealth provide the perfect environment for these demagogues to recruit people to their cause. Their gruesome acts of terror are still being perceived by large numbers of Pakistanis merely as a war against imperialist America. This could not be further from the truth.

In the long term, we will have to see how the larger political battle works out between those Pakistanis who want an Islamic theocratic state and those who want a modern Islamic republic. It may yet be possible to roll back those Islamist laws and institutions that have corroded Pakistani society for over 30 years and to defeat its hate-driven holy warriors. There is no chance of instant success; perhaps things may have to get worse before they get better. But, in the long term, I am convinced that the forces of irrationality will cancel themselves out because they act at random whereas reason pulls only in one direction. History leads us to believe that reason will triumph over unreason, and the evolution of the humans into a higher and better species will continue. Using ways that we cannot currently anticipate, they will somehow overcome their primal impulses of territoriality, tribalism, religiosity and nationalism. But, for now, this must be just a matter of faith.

The author teaches physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Bombay Massacre 2008 and India's Past

“Bombay Massacre”

In the aftermath of Bombay massacre many Indian think tanks are urging government of India to invade Pakistan. But in reality that’s not a sensible option. Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. At some stage of the war either of the country might consider using this deadly weapon system. It will not only bring total destruction in the region, but also encourage the West to denuclearize entire Indian Sub-continent. In the process, Indian and Pakistan might lose their sovereignty also. The biggest threat to Indian integrity and security does not come from Pakistan or Bangladesh; rather it comes from home-grown terrorism. In recent Bombay massacre only 10 Pakistani terrorists participated and at least 40 or more local sleeper cells supported them on the ground. The best possible remedy for India would be to integrate its Moslem population in the main stream development by enforcing western education system and closing down Muslim madrasas.
Does radical Islam Hate India?Many Islamic revivalists believe that India should be converted into a Muslim country. They argue that IN 712 A.D Mohammad Bin Qasim and his Muslim descendants ruled India until British takeover in 1757. Although Mohammad Bin Qasim had conquered India with only a couple of thousand soldiers, yet they successfully held this vast land for hundreds of years with fierce force and sheer terror. Lack of unity among Hindus and absence of a strong Central government gave Muslim invaders an upper hand over Hindus.
After the end of Second World War, Independence of India became inevitable. But, the British wanted a political control over the region even after independence. So, they planted a permanent trouble in the region by creating the first Islamic Republic state of this planet, Pakistan, before leaving India. To legitimize this misdeed, British organized a referendum in 1946. In that historical referendum 90% of Muslims in undivided India voted for Pakistan and other 10% who did not vote for Pakistan were Punjab and North East Frontier province of Pakistan. Almost one hundred percent Muslims of East Bengal now called Bangladesh voted for Pakistan. Hindus of East Bengal largely voted for a secular state in 1946 for which they were slaughtered by the fundamentalist Muslims after Partition. In other word 90% Muslims rejected the idea of a secular India. That still is the mindset of the descendants of those Muslims who voted for the creation of Pakistan.
The same mindset is seen in Bangladesh and Pakistan also. In spite of voting for the creation of Pakistan, ironically, only 8% of Indian Muslims migrated to Pakistan and the rest remained inIndia with their radical ideology. Indian political leaders exploited minority Muslims in their meanest vote politics. Muslims were never given an opportunity to integrate with the main stream culture; rather Muslim law board was created parallel to western law for a permanent division in the society. The most damage to Indian unity has been caused by Muslim madrasa education system.To turn the page of the history back to pre-British occupation, India militarily created Bangladesh in 1971 without a political and cultural orientation. Because of thousands of year’s Islamic mindset Bangladesh turned anti Indian soon after 1971 and ISI of Pakistan has used this situation in their interest. Because of the mindset, Indian Muslims didn’t support Bangladesh independence / war of cessation in 1971. Bangladesh will soon turn into a proxy battle ground between India and Pakistan. Radical Islam is gaining ground in Bangladesh every day and in a fine morning it will declare itself an Islamic Republic. The aim and objective of Bangladesh and Pakistan aboutIndia are the same, either make it an Islamic republic or disintegrate it. Many in Bangladesh believe that cessation in 1971 was a conspiracy of India to weaken Islam and Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The best way to resist Indian domination in the region is by helping cessations andterrors inside India; that’s what Bangladesh and Pakistan are doing today. Why India has become frequent target of Islamic terror: in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh women and downtrodden are the most vulnerable to physical and sexual torture. Because of religious, social and economical reasons women and poor are defenseless in these countries and forced to submit to the brutality of men. In the process of nonresistance from the victims, menof this region often go wild and take torture as pleasure. Due to passive reaction of people and government, Islamic terrorism in India is a wild fantasy today. Muslim terrorists can strike any target of their choice at any time without the fear of retaliation. After 9/11 America lunched a massive campaign against Islamic terrorism worldwide and kept its land safe from new terror attack.
During cold war Pakistan received military, diplomatic and financial support from the West and used its territory against India and USSR. At that time Pakistan was considered equal or superior to India, but at the end of cold war everything changed rapidly. Afghan mujahedeen onceconsidered an asset to Pakistan, soon turned into liability. After the fall of USSR Pakistan reorganized mujahedeen’s for liberating Indian occupied Kashmir. Srinagar of Indian occupied Kashmir was soon compared with Kandahar of Afghanistan. But everything changed on 9/11. America declared war on terror with zero tolerance and Pakistan soon became a terrorist country. Once Pakistan rupee was stronger than Indian rupee but present exchange rate against US Dollar is 99 Pakistani rupees compared to 49 Indian rupees. You may recall the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulficar Ali Bhutto’s call to his countrymen to acquire nuclear weapon even at the cost of starvation to match India. Today Indian is positioned among the top ten economic powers with a trillion dollar economy and on the other hand, Pakistan is considered a failed orfailing state with unmanageable debt. This contrast between India and Pakistan has caused a great deal of frustration among the people of Pakistan, and there will an outburst in the form of terrorism in the region. “If we cannot match India why not to destroy them, since they are incapable of defending themselves and it is very easy for us?” say Pakistanis.The same pattern of mindset is seen within Indian Muslims and that has made the situation worse for the Indian government. There are innumerable homegrown Islamic terrorist cells active in India today. Like Bombay, many more terrorist attacks will be carried out countrywide to demoralize Indian citizens and slow down India’s economic growth. In the process, India will be disintegrated like USSR or will succumb to Militant Islam. In past India never stood firm and united against any foreign aggression. Political parasites will act as fifth columnist in foreign interest like communists did during Chinese invasion in 1962.

Sachin Karmakar
Writer is an ex Defense officer and current affair analyst and comes from a Hindu-Muslim family background
December 03, 2008.
New York

Indus Valley Civilization: Harappa

Harappa: 2,700 - 3,000 BC Indus/Indian Civilization Site

Indus Valley Approximate Sites

HARAPPA –

Visit to the Ancient city of Indus Civilization

Dr. Sachi Ghosh Dastidar,

and

Dr. Shefali Sengupta Dastidar

            From our college days we wanted to visit Harappa and MohenjoDaro, prehistoric cities of Indian and Hindu civilizations and culture. Our first attempt to visit MohenjoDaro in late 1980s failed because of civil disorders in Pakistan. Then on a trip to Lahore in late 2000s, the cultural capital of Pakistani Punjab as well as all of Pakistan, we decided to visit our heritage site. Our Lahore host Professor Sindhu and her mother, whom we called Didi, older sister, found us a nice air-con sedan for us to make the trip. We invited the mother and daughter to join with us as they had never seen the place, leaving behind her other grown children Shahid, Shabnam, Rizwan and Nabila for our day trip. Soon we realized that not very many people in Lahore know about Harappa.

Harappa is a nice place for a day trip from Lahore which is about 175 kilometers away (some literature say it is 250 kilometers away,) and can be easily made in 3 hours. The journey was quite pleasant as we passed villages after villages in that flat, green farming countryside. There were no big signs to the site and the driver had to ask locals for direction. Our first surprise came when the driver passed the turn because of lack of signage. The road sign it was partly damaged and written in mid-sized Urdu letters, not easily visible from a passing car. At the ticket counter realizing entry fees to be 20 times higher for foreigners Didi wanted us to pass for locals to save money. The official at the counter was agreeable for Sachi to pass for a local with his Bengali “half-punjabi shirt,” but he would have none of it with Shefali wearing pants. As we were traveling for over 5,000 kilometers, mostly by road crossing many national boundaries, we were carrying two small carry-ons. We had limited supply of local outfit with Shefali carrying only one sari which she forgot to wear that day. “No Pakistani woman wears pants,” was his answer. Harappa can be reached by train or bus from Lahore via nearby Sahiwal town. One can easily have lunch, tea and dinner in roadside dhabas or eateries.

Walking down the brick paths was exhilarating, exciting and hallucinating for us. It was “a dream come true.” The entrance in English and Urdu introduction says, “MOUND ‘AB’ CENTRAL: The high level of Mound is the result of continuous rebuilding of the city. In this area the curved wall situated is actually what may have been a drain during the final phase of Harappa occupation around 2200 and 1900 B.C. In the lower levels there is a large well and a bathing platform that belongs to an earlier period. This may have been public well associated with a bathing and washing area. Unlike Mohenjodaro where there are discovered numerous wells in each neighborhood, as yet only eight wells have been discovered in Harappa. Some of them were private and some were public wells. Much of the top structures were robbed by the contractors who built the Lahore, Multan railway track during British rule. The lower structures were destroyed by the Harappan inhabitants to reconstruct their houses. The archeological excavations were conducted here by Raj Bahadur Daya Ram Shani and M. S. Vats during 1921 to 1924 A.D. and 1926 to 1934 A.D. (For more details visit the Web site: www.harappa.com)” As there were no other visitors, the security police doubled as a guide. This was good for us, but sad for Pakistan, India and for students of Indus and Indian Civilization. There was no rush of humanity – peasants and babus – as in Sarnath and Kashi Viswanath in Varanasi, Kutub Minar in Delhi, Jaliiwanwala Bagh in Amritsar, Victoria Memorial in Calcutta, Ajanta in Maharashtra, Konark in Orissa, Bagan in Burma, or Gaya in Bihar. To us this solitude also felt even more contrasting as we visited Xian in China a few days earlier on this trip. In terracotta warrior-famed Xian, discovered only in 1970s, the China has built a huge air-conditioned dome covering the entire site protecting it from the elements, and in that process had made Xian the second-most visited place in China bringing millions of tourists with billions of dollars of income and creating tens of thousands of jobs. To protect the structures from further erosion in Harappa many of them have been covered with plasters. The area is in further jeopardy because of a water buffalo farm on its unguarded boundary and a Muslim grave within the pre-historic city itself. Even at a leisurely pace the site can be visited in an hour or two. Now it is several kilometers away from the river on whose bank it was located.

There is a small museum and a gift shop at its entrance run by the Archeological Department. A number of booklets on the prehistoric city are available at the counter. All the workers were eager to show us their collection. As we were almost at the end of our long journey we bought one copy each of their collection because we won’t have to hand carry for too long. (Space on our small boxes could be made only by discarding some of our belongings.) As we were departing, the entire crew said, “Come again, our Hindu friends.”

 

Introduction of Harappa Site in Punjab, Pakistan

Ruins of Well

Parts of Harappa City

A Section of the City

A Housing Area

Site of Industrial Neighborhood

Granery Location

Top View of the Ancient City

Pictures: 2007