Skip to main content

As we rush through life!

In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. About 3 minutes: The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.  After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He played one of the most intricate pieces eve

Irom Sharmila's fast to un-fasten noose of AFSPA ...Part - II

(Continued from part ….........I)

To start with; let me correct some points in my first chapter,Irom Sharmila witnessed the killings that prompted her to fast unto death till the AFSPA repealed; the victims were not all ladies there were male members too. This has been corrected by one of my friends who has been closely watching the developments since long. Now let us see what AFSPA is all about. This law was passed by Indian Parliament on 11th September 1958 conferring the special powers on Armed Forces to act on Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Trupura as they all were declared disturbed areas. Later this law was extended to Jammu & Kashmir on July 1990.

Now what are the special powers! The Constitution of India empowers a state government to declare it disturbed or a state of emergency is called upon. The reasons could be failure of stated administration and police to tackle the situation as the scale of unrest is too large. As a consequence; the Central send the Armed Forces to control the situation under Armed Forces Special Power Act. This empowers the officers of Armed Forces “ to fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law'/ against 'assembly of five or more persons' or on anyone found in possession of deadly weapons. They can arrest with the use of 'necessary' force anyone who commits certain offense or is suspected to have committed without any warrant and can enter any premise to search and make such arrests.

Just imagine if such law is imposed in your surroundings; how the life would be! Further if it continues for decades; obviously the most peace loving amongst you would turn violent and condemn it. In a free country, as India is, other than those states, no where else human rights are so nakedly violated. Unfortunately the very reason of indifference attitude in the majority of states that they are neither affected nor can visualize an iota of torture and persecutions. Sitting in our drawing room; reading morning news papers; somewhere in 6th or 7th page's bottom some news of north-east's turmoils mostly escape our notice. Our evening telecast news rarely cast any light on the plight of our fellow country men in North-east! Even after six decades of independence; we remain mostly ignorant about them and their ravaged human rights. Our ignorance is bliss for us but for them it's curse!
(to be continued..................)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A "Bullet proof" of our trueself !

The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai has raised another question. It is not from the public in general;in India public,s voice is not suppressed but simply ignored. Our great politicians with their hide that could put Rhinos ashamed have learnt the best art of governing in a way that can match a dictator but unfortunately with democracy! This time it is no lesser than a cabinet minister Anatuley; who raised the question about those bullet proof jackets , what mocked its name presenting us the bullet ridden bodies of it's wearers. That too, a man like Karkare, a man of principal and unearthed the skeletons of Malegaon massacre masterminds, digging the moral grave of our politicians. The other question is who the man was to order all the three of them together, who were shoveling the Malegaon episode! That too, they were sent to a comparatively far less hazardous terror spot. Who killed them? It reminds me inscriptions on the back of highway trucks "My India is great"

DARJEELING - THE HISTORY

“DARJEELING”, the very name of this hill station in India reminds you the colonial days and tea. Because it was the British colonizers; who were constantly on look out for cooler places, obviously in India it uses to be in hills what would remind them their home. The temperature in tropical countries, particularly in summer months use to be unbearable for them for mercury touching anywhere between 35 to 44 degree Celsius! In India Shimla and Darjeeling earned their reputation for hosting the colonial administrators with their staffs with families during summer months for running colonial administration for years. Though with English rulers, gone are the colonial days and prestige of Darjeeling, but it still holds name in world for its tea. It still the producer of world number one flavored tea and sold at a price, unthinkable for we ordinary mortals! Off late, a new hue for Gorkhaland is raised time and again. It stared in the decades of 90s, lot of agitations, number of strikes call

MAHA NEPAL OR GREATER NEPAL -- The Latest Craze in Nepal; PART - I

Parvez Iqbal Siddique; a correspondent in north India, wrote back in 2005 an article citing the boiling Nepalese’s sentiment for ‘Maha Nepal’. The new Maoist government in Nepal is all the way supporting the demand for ‘Maha Nepal’ that should chunk out a good portion of Indian territory covering the area between Nepal’s border and the Tista valley in east and up to Kangra ( Sutlej river) in west. However, this news grossly escaped the notice of Indian politicians and policy makers keep afar the Indian citizens. No furor rose anywhere in this issue.  Many articles are published since past two decades in various Nepalese newspapers and magazines in this issue. In support of this claim, the promulgators of ‘Maha Nepal’ are citing history.  They claim the ancient Nepal was far bigger than what it is now, though that goes without any historical evidence. During the regime of King Prithvi Narayan Shah, in 1744 Nepalese army went on war for re-integration of its lost territory. The war bro