11-04-2006, 10:27 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Partners in terror </b>
Pioneer.com
Utpal Kumar
It is bewildering to see human rights organisations queuing up to get Afzal's death sentence commuted. But they turn a blind eye to the fact that many of Delhi blast victims are yet to get compensation even a year after the dastardly act
When it was reported a few years ago that more than <b>800 NGOs in the North-East, excluding Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, were having links with insurgent outfits operating in the region, it sent shockwaves across the country</b>. After all, the organisations that were expected to apply the "healing touch" to the victims of insurgency were themselves co-partners in the acts of terror. Several incidents since then have reaffirmed the perception that a clear nexus exists between terrorists and the organisations masquerading as service-providers in the social sectors. The extent to which the NGO culture has permeated the region is evident from a fact that there is an NGO for every 263 people in Meghalaya. <b>Indeed, 'social service' is turning out to be a thriving business in the North-East!</b>
Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising when one witnesses a strong movement in favour of Mohammed Afzal Guru, the mastermind of the terrorist attack on Parliament House - <b>and not a single one to hold a candle to the memory of the victims of last year's Delhi blast. Many of the next of kin of those killed, and several of the injured are yet to get Government compensation</b>. For Medha Patkar, a death sentence for Afzal is a reflection of "terrorism by the establishment". While agitating in New Delhi recently, she bemoaned: "Those who killed hundreds in Gujarat are roaming free and innocents are being punished." She continued, "Had Ms (Arundhati) Roy and others not stood up in support of Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani, he too would have been wrongly convicted in the Parliament attack case -the entire judicial system needs overhauling." As if all this was not enough, she said that Afzal's execution would "widen the rift between communities".
Two points emanate from <b>Ms Patkar's assertion. First, Afzal has been falsely implicated by the state in collusion with the judiciary. Second, death for Afzal will endanger the delicate balance of Hindu-Muslim unity.</b> Can there be anything more sinister than questioning the very legal system of the country? Why did this "liberal" brigade not raise a single voice when Geelani was acquitted by the court on the basis of lack of evidence? Incidentally, when <b>Ms Patkar was giving this high-pitched tirade against the state machinery, she was accompanied by no other than the Delhi University professor, who too was earlier accused of masterminding attack on the heart of Indian democracy.</b>
The Patkar-Roy phenomenon is not alone in taking on the anti-establishment mettle. <b>Noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, too, was present at the gathering to oppose Afzal's death penalty.</b> It is ironical to find a Gandhian sitting comfortably with the NBA leader who has claimed the other day that she is "left-of-the-centre" and wants to make a "third front" of grassroots NGOs, students, slum-dwellers, workers and farmers, Maoists and even "the mainstream Left". <b>After all, it were the Marxists who often derided Mahatma Gandhi as the "lackey of imperialism" before Independence. It shows how much Gandhism has slipped into the fold of Marxism.</b>
This transformation in Gandhism is not a recent phenomenon.<b> In 2003, Ms Deshpande went on a visit to the US with the single-point agenda of lodging a protest against the US for not taking punitive measures against India for showing "complicity" with Hindu rioters in Gujarat. Not quite satisfied with this, she went ahead to say that Pakistan's Parliament is much better than its Indian counterpart, as 24 per cent women are given representation there!
Without going into the debate of the Gujarat Government's role in the post-Godhra killings, can Ms Deshpande's activities outside the Indian shores be justified? Doesn't her adventurism - or misadventurism - belong to a realm which even hardcore nihilists don't dare to tread? In a way, she showed the same distrust towards her country and its democratic institutions that has often been displayed by the brigade of "global citizens".</b>
A well-known sociologist, James Petras, writes in his article, NGOs in the service of imperialism: "Throughout history ruling classes, representing small minorities, have always depended on the coercive state apparatus and social institutions to defend their power, profits and privileges.<b> In the past, particularly in the Third World, imperial ruling classes financed and supported overseas and domestic religious institutions to control exploited people and deflect their discontent into religious communal rivalries and conflicts. While these practices continue today; in more recent decades, a new social institution emerged that provide the same function of control and ideological mystification the self-described non-governmental organisation (NGOs)." He further adds that by the end of 1999, there were 50,000 NGOs in the Third World, receiving over $10 billion in funding from international financial institutions, European-US-Japanese Government agencies and local Governments</b>.
A Home Ministry report suggests that Delhi (Rs 857 crore) receives the most of financial assistance, followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 800 crore) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs 684 crore) and Karnataka (Rs 529 crore). The US leads in the list of donor countries (Rs 1584 crore), followed by Germany (Rs 757 crore) and the UK (Rs 676 crore). <span style='color:red'>Interestingly, among the top 25 recipients, about 18 are in some way linked with Christian organisations.</span>
There is no doubt that there are several NGOs in the country that are doing good job for the uplift of the poor and downtroddens. This, however, does not obfuscate the fact that many are hand-in-glove with anti-social elements. The country needs a Russia-like Bill that enables the Government to shut down NGOs found threatening the country's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, national unity and originality, cultural heritage and national interests. The powers-that-be must closely look into the financial transactions of NGOs in the country.
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Pioneer.com
Utpal Kumar
It is bewildering to see human rights organisations queuing up to get Afzal's death sentence commuted. But they turn a blind eye to the fact that many of Delhi blast victims are yet to get compensation even a year after the dastardly act
When it was reported a few years ago that more than <b>800 NGOs in the North-East, excluding Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, were having links with insurgent outfits operating in the region, it sent shockwaves across the country</b>. After all, the organisations that were expected to apply the "healing touch" to the victims of insurgency were themselves co-partners in the acts of terror. Several incidents since then have reaffirmed the perception that a clear nexus exists between terrorists and the organisations masquerading as service-providers in the social sectors. The extent to which the NGO culture has permeated the region is evident from a fact that there is an NGO for every 263 people in Meghalaya. <b>Indeed, 'social service' is turning out to be a thriving business in the North-East!</b>
Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising when one witnesses a strong movement in favour of Mohammed Afzal Guru, the mastermind of the terrorist attack on Parliament House - <b>and not a single one to hold a candle to the memory of the victims of last year's Delhi blast. Many of the next of kin of those killed, and several of the injured are yet to get Government compensation</b>. For Medha Patkar, a death sentence for Afzal is a reflection of "terrorism by the establishment". While agitating in New Delhi recently, she bemoaned: "Those who killed hundreds in Gujarat are roaming free and innocents are being punished." She continued, "Had Ms (Arundhati) Roy and others not stood up in support of Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani, he too would have been wrongly convicted in the Parliament attack case -the entire judicial system needs overhauling." As if all this was not enough, she said that Afzal's execution would "widen the rift between communities".
Two points emanate from <b>Ms Patkar's assertion. First, Afzal has been falsely implicated by the state in collusion with the judiciary. Second, death for Afzal will endanger the delicate balance of Hindu-Muslim unity.</b> Can there be anything more sinister than questioning the very legal system of the country? Why did this "liberal" brigade not raise a single voice when Geelani was acquitted by the court on the basis of lack of evidence? Incidentally, when <b>Ms Patkar was giving this high-pitched tirade against the state machinery, she was accompanied by no other than the Delhi University professor, who too was earlier accused of masterminding attack on the heart of Indian democracy.</b>
The Patkar-Roy phenomenon is not alone in taking on the anti-establishment mettle. <b>Noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, too, was present at the gathering to oppose Afzal's death penalty.</b> It is ironical to find a Gandhian sitting comfortably with the NBA leader who has claimed the other day that she is "left-of-the-centre" and wants to make a "third front" of grassroots NGOs, students, slum-dwellers, workers and farmers, Maoists and even "the mainstream Left". <b>After all, it were the Marxists who often derided Mahatma Gandhi as the "lackey of imperialism" before Independence. It shows how much Gandhism has slipped into the fold of Marxism.</b>
This transformation in Gandhism is not a recent phenomenon.<b> In 2003, Ms Deshpande went on a visit to the US with the single-point agenda of lodging a protest against the US for not taking punitive measures against India for showing "complicity" with Hindu rioters in Gujarat. Not quite satisfied with this, she went ahead to say that Pakistan's Parliament is much better than its Indian counterpart, as 24 per cent women are given representation there!
Without going into the debate of the Gujarat Government's role in the post-Godhra killings, can Ms Deshpande's activities outside the Indian shores be justified? Doesn't her adventurism - or misadventurism - belong to a realm which even hardcore nihilists don't dare to tread? In a way, she showed the same distrust towards her country and its democratic institutions that has often been displayed by the brigade of "global citizens".</b>
A well-known sociologist, James Petras, writes in his article, NGOs in the service of imperialism: "Throughout history ruling classes, representing small minorities, have always depended on the coercive state apparatus and social institutions to defend their power, profits and privileges.<b> In the past, particularly in the Third World, imperial ruling classes financed and supported overseas and domestic religious institutions to control exploited people and deflect their discontent into religious communal rivalries and conflicts. While these practices continue today; in more recent decades, a new social institution emerged that provide the same function of control and ideological mystification the self-described non-governmental organisation (NGOs)." He further adds that by the end of 1999, there were 50,000 NGOs in the Third World, receiving over $10 billion in funding from international financial institutions, European-US-Japanese Government agencies and local Governments</b>.
A Home Ministry report suggests that Delhi (Rs 857 crore) receives the most of financial assistance, followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 800 crore) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs 684 crore) and Karnataka (Rs 529 crore). The US leads in the list of donor countries (Rs 1584 crore), followed by Germany (Rs 757 crore) and the UK (Rs 676 crore). <span style='color:red'>Interestingly, among the top 25 recipients, about 18 are in some way linked with Christian organisations.</span>
There is no doubt that there are several NGOs in the country that are doing good job for the uplift of the poor and downtroddens. This, however, does not obfuscate the fact that many are hand-in-glove with anti-social elements. The country needs a Russia-like Bill that enables the Government to shut down NGOs found threatening the country's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, national unity and originality, cultural heritage and national interests. The powers-that-be must closely look into the financial transactions of NGOs in the country.
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