From the latest salvo from Veera Vaishnava..
http://www.india-forum.com/Columns/Veera_V...lible_Deeds/26/
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"There are three rules for creating good leaders. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."- W. Somerset Maugham<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Followers of charisma alone, often admire their leader to such an extent that they would blindly follow his or her direction without question. This loyalty is representative of followers' complete confidence in the leader's vision. They, much like donors, also have an extreme desire for desperately helping the needy and victims. This noble sentiment can be, (and always is) exploited under corrupt leadership. Because followers crave action, help, and noble deeds so badly, they will be less likely to heed to uncomfortable revelations about their exalted leadership. Far from it, even if such information is easily available, they are less likely to see the leadership as corrupt. Such are the doers who are obfuscating all the issues, have thrown truth and facts out the window, and are misleading their followers and donors.
Further, a charismatic leader who is exalted by followers may actually convince them that any such questionable behavior is not wrong, essentially altering the ethical norms of their followers to be dependent upon the guidance of this seemingly illustrious leader.
Financial scrutiny is not always what it could be, and the trust-based nature of charitable work means that it is possible to hide funding for terror inside financial flows used for entirely genuine aid and assistance. Charity is supposed to be a vehicle for samaritanism, without an agenda, without politics, only for the purpose of truly helping those who need it and without expecting anything in return. The followers should police their leadership, and donors be wary of such charities run by corrupt and politically motivated and involved leaders.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ravi & Sandeep have taken the "next step" in returning to India to work full-time <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Collected enough funds for retirement. Now organisation is all over US with regular commited comrades to support. Good retirement plan.
Just praise lord and rest will fall in place. Now he had stopped hammering core center Houston, forced to follow Lord Sandep and Ravi by Desai. <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Guys read what follows, AID is funding Sandeep Pandey's bullshit to protect women from being bashed. AID is digging its grave and we should encourage it to do so.
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Thank you AID-TAMU for voicing their reservations about AID's participation in this event. I respect those questions and without duly considering them it will be difficult to achieve a balanced perspective and an optimal response and action to our work. I beg everyone's indulgence in reading the entire email and posting responses on the forum at http://forum.aidindia.org
Let us get down to analyzing the questions posed. Most of the questions are inter-related and there are no clear-cut (black and white type) answers to individual question but we shall try our best to get across (as much as possible) our point of view to these questions through this mail.
Question (1) peace march is NOT a "developmental" activity. is it as important to building a school or a health center or looking at human rights or women's rights issues or dalit rights issues?
Sanat gave the bottom-line answer vis-a-vis the war-budgets of both nations and the sacrifice of social programs. In my discussions with Dr. Rohila, Jatin Desai and host of others this week, I have a better perspective on the issues involved.
Plainly, India and Pakistan are two of the 15 major military spenders in the world. About 15% of India's budget, and 20% of Pakistan's budget is dedicated to Military expenditure, at a time when the two countries rank at the bottom of all nations in terms of literacy, poverty, infant mortality, and malnutrition among children. Money that could be used for development is being siphoned off to expand the war machinery. Also, war and conflict drives away foreign investments.
We had talked to Nafisa Barot of NGO Utthan on Friday and she quoted studies correlating "peace" to gender violence in the society; meaning when the Indian nation and society perceives an outside threat, there is an increased violence against women. Women's empowerment is a major THEME in any development work and certainly in AID's work. In the ensuing weeks, I will circulate these studies.
Question (2) What will be the tangible results from this Indo - Pak peace march?
The peace march is just one component of our many approach to achieving tangible results. Other efforts, besides peace initiatives, economic co-operation, cultural exchanges, re-uniting families separated during partition will help us understand each other better. Many other parallel diplomatic strategies have been outlined by Jatin Desai and others.
Also peace helps in creating an atmosphere conducive for "development". Goodwill and friendship between the two "warring" countries will in the long term drastically reduce militarization and defense budget and the monies saved from there will naturally go towards developmental activities and we will see increased allocation for primary education, health and rural development.
Question (3) Many expressed their reluctance of dealing with Pakistan citizens when most of us know that the core issue is the fate of Kashmir. How will it help in resolving the issue of Kashmir?
Reluctance to deal with Pakistan citizens (of for that matter citizens of any country, or any group) smacks of bigotry and prejudice. There are many citizens of Pakistan, as well as that of India, who want "peace not war", and "friendship not enmity".
Further, the area, population, and GDP of the contested region of J&K (i.e., Kashmir Valley) constitute 0.25 percent of the total area, population and GDP of India and Pakistan. It is unwise on any one's part to allow this issue to block the development of good neighborly relationship between the countries.
We in AID-Houston have a completely different view on Indo-Pak relations and Kashmir. We think Kashmir is not the core issue as is made out to be. It is definitely an issue and an important one but not on the top of our list. I think the core issue should be in resolving and understanding what people on either side of the border feel about each other. Both sides (people and not just the politicians and heads of state) should explore the commonalities that bind us and respect the differences that seperate us.
We are very keen to understand what Pakistanis think of us, what makes them insecure, the cause of their hatred (not always), things that bind us (tangibles such as Food, Dress and fashion, Dance, Music and Cricket and the intangibles such as religion (Sikhism is a natural amalgamation of Hinduism and Islam), shared history of being under the Bristish occupation for over two centuries), common problems (for example, sharing the waters from the rivers) and things they like about us. We believe the solution to any problem can only be achieved if we understand each others perspective on different and varied issues and not solely on one or the other like Kashmir. Even if Kashmir gets solved in a pointed diplomatic effort and pressure from US and EU, the larger problem of mistrust and hostility may persist.
Question ( 4) How will the march convince Pakistani Army - the primary decision maker in Pakistan to be more accommodative towards India?
Well, I can make a stronger argument against doing any development project in India when the government and the business-minded NRI community seek to dismantle protections in place in the Constitution for the commom man. This is a point P. Sainath repeatedly made in his talk recently in Houston and elsewhere amongst AID chapters. We are doing lip service when we should be drawing the line in the political arena demanding political accountability from your own government. What right do we have to demand from another? Anyways, let's take a step back : surely, the common Pakistani man thinking peace is probably a bigger challenge for the Pakstani military in its efforts to hold political power than any threat India held over it.
The Pakistanis who are in India to see cricket matches are receiving royal treatments from the people of Punjab and it is jokingly said that something like a "punjabiyat" is emerging. The results from this necessity of friendship is clearly visible in the warm reception. And we believe this is where people to people contacts are critical to a long term solution that goes beyond resolving conflicts and focuses on building relationships. The march is one such step that would enable us to bring the people of both countries much closer( physically and emotionally).
The outward bravado and posturing between the nations during the time of nuclear tests was just plain ludicrous. I go so far to say that there would be no need for AID to exist were there peace in the region and barring, human greed and corruption, the governments would be focused on the welfare of its people.
Even though the Pakistani army is a major player but people do clamor for democracy and for increased people's participation in their own governance. A certain semblance of democracy is definitely important for peace and such a people-to-people exchange will definitely bolster the morale of the common man's hopes for peace and prosperity. We have to maintain the momentum so that any decisions by the Pakistani army which disrupt the peace process become extremely unpopular in Pakistan.
We hope it will help build momentum for the movement among some sections of India and Pakistan to impress upon the two governments that peace, not war, is the need of the hour, in the subcontinent. Towards this end, President Musharraf had a meeting on Friday with both Sandeep Pandey and Karamat Ali to discuss the peace march. I sure hope the Indian Parliament or the Prime Minister will duly
reciprocate.
Question (5) I personally had problems with some of the names that are leading the march and what they are going to say during the march. The media publicity that will follow regarding the controversial comments will further damage AID when we are trying to counter the ongoing slander campaign.
Personally, I think this must be some obtuse way of saying "Sandeep Pandey". Sandeep, a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay award - has done amazing work on lot of issues. Just because of a few baseless comments, we should not stop supporting him or people we believe in. I have looked thru the internet postings sullying his work and found them to be mere innuendos. He has even been tried for treason but the Allahabad court found those charges utterly baseless and threw them out. So, we should respect our own Courts decisions and findings. ( yes? ) I will make available a personal statement from Sandeep regarding these allegations on http://forum.aidindia.org
Seriously, one can have problem with some names but it is issues that are more important and not individuals. This problem of identifying a few people (such as their spokesperson)as opposed to large number of people in the NGO is definitely impacting the NGOs work. I am so glad that within AID we share amongst everybody the important work as well as the chores as was evident in the Tsunami relief work.
All the above should point to the longest ceasefire in history between India and Pakistan - that should be an indication that people need to come together. Solving a huge problem requires several small initiatives from different directions. This is one of them. And from Aninda email and TAMU's response, clearly indicates to me that Houston and other chapters did not make a convincing case, rather implicitly assumed the merits of the project to be obvious to others as well.
In summary, I, along with members of AID-Houston and AID-Saathi Jatin Desai strongly feel that we should not continue thinking in a traditional way and need a different and fresh way to approach this issue of global peace and peace in South Asia. Thank you for your patience in hearing us out. Please do circulate this among the core-volunteers of your chapter and email houston@a... directly.
Satya meva Jayate. Jai Hind.
Sincerely,
Sherry, Ishaan, Chakri, Sriram, Karthik and all AID-Houston volunteers.
PS : Introduction to some names in the email :
Jatin Desai is one of the new AID-Saathis supported by AID-Houston. Jatin is a veteran journalist from Mumbai and has organized dialogues and forums in India and Pakistan. His views have received due respect from politicians in Pakistan such as Sherry Rehman.
Dr. Pritham Rohila is the Executive Director of Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org
AID is worse than M-Way. Lots of people are opposing Peace March with AID fund but Lord Sandeep's word is final.
Daytime robbery.
The above letter deserves another "factual" response - is anybody writing one...
Link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I am a former AID volunteer. The reason I quit is because of AID's political affiliations, specifically its links with communist parties. AID volunteer Manoj above is either not being truthful or is ignorant of the ideologies that drive the leaders of his organization (people like Balaji Sampath).
I found that most AID volunteers work primarily at the chapter level and don't get involved beyond local fund-raising. As such they never find out about the ideological underpinnings of most of the work done by AID in India. The lower level volunteers unwittingly become foot-soldiers in the service of the communists at the helm.
A closer look at all AID projects in the past few years will reveal that most of them are with communist affiliated NGOs. A glance at the speaker list and/or the agenda for any AID conference or event in the US will confirm the communist links.
Posted by: Former AID volunteer at January 9, 2005 10:44 PM<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Recent reply from Kalavai Venkat to Sandeep Pandey..
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianCivili...n/message/73092
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The likes of Mr. Pandey can't hide behind the name of Gandhi forever. Nor can they evoke the Hindutva bogey every time and deflect attention. Perhaps, Mr. Pandey or somebody from ASHA can answer the following:
In Kashmir, 7, 00,000 Hindus have been ethnic cleansed by Islamic terrorists. Of these, 4, 00,000 are still languishing in refugee camps. The Kashmiri Pandits were ordered to get out and newspaper advertisements were carried to that effect. The mosques across the Valley ominously threatened the Pandits to evict the Valley. The Muslim majority and the government in Kashmir continue to patronize the same newspapers by subscribing to them and releasing government advertising. They continue to patronize the same mosques from where calls were made for the cleansing of the Pandits. I would like to know how often Mr. Pandey and ASHA protested these state sponsored, religiously inspired Islamic atrocities committed on the defenseless Hindu minority of Kashmir. Have they ever condemned the Kashmir government, Pakistani abettors and the Muslim majority of Kashmir for the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits?
A few samples of the hardened Islamic slogans deployed to chase the Pandits out - http://www.ikashmir.org/Miscellaneous/Slogans.html:
⢠Kashmir main rahna hai, Allah-ho-Akbar Kahna hoga. (If you choose to live in Kashmir, you will have to say Allah-o- Akbar).
⢠Asi gachi Pakistan, Bata ros ta batanev san.
(We want Pakistan, with Kashmiri Hindu women and without their men-folk).
⢠Allah-o-Akbar, Musalmano jago Kafiro bhago, jehad aa raha hai.
(Allah-o-Akbar, arise and awake Muslims, buzz off infidels, jehad is approaching.)
⢠Kashmir kya banega - Pakistan
(What will Kashmir be - Pakistan)
⢠Zalimo O, Kafiro, Kashmir hamara chhod do
(Ye cruel Kafirs (infidels) vacate our Kashmir)
⢠Yahan kya chalega, Nizam - e - Mustafa
(What will have sway here - Prophet's governance)
⢠Arise ye, fearless Momins,
For Russia has lost the race,
Now the sword hangs on India's neck
Now it is Kashmir's turn.
⢠Islam hamara maksad hai
Kuran hamara dastur hai
Jehad hamara rasta hai.
(Islam is our destination Koran is our constitution Jehad is our way.)
⢠Hamein kya chahye, Nizame Mustafa
Kashmere main kya chalaiga, Nizame Mustafa
Hindustan mein kya chalaiga, Nizame Mustafa
(What do we need - Prophet's governance. What will
have sway in Kashmir - Prophet's governance.
What will have sway in India - Prophet's governance.
⢠Ganga-Jamuna mein aag lagayenge
(We will destroy Ganga and Yamuna)
And this - http://www.ikashmir.org/PastPresent/chapter18.html:
"At exact 11 O'clock in the night of 19th January, 1990, all the mosques equipped with mikes suddenly started yelling out war cries against India and the Kashmirian Hindus. The Kafirs were issued an ultimatum to quit as the star of Islam was up in the sky of Kashmir. The war waged through cassettes exhorted every Muslim man, woman, and child to take to streets to shatter off the bonds of socalled servitude for a social and political order sanctioned under Islamic tenets. The shrill yelling issuing out from mosques simultaneously through the length and breadth of Kashmir was so sudden that the Hindus got panicked and threatened waiting to get massacred at the hands of Muslim hordes who got collected in thousands in the streets braving the chill-cold of the winter night. Muslims in unprecedented numbers formed processions yelling at the 'Indian dogs' to quit and the 'enemies of Islam' to vacate only to pave way for an Islamic enclave."
ASHA sponsored several seminars, film screening, often in collaboration with Islamist organizations in the USA following the Gujarat reactionary violence in which 900 civilians, mostly Muslims, were killed. I would like ASHA to list the programs they sponsored in the USA to highlight the plight of the Kashmiri Hindu victims of Islamic terrorism. I hope that the brand of justice that ASHA and Mr. Pandey follow doesn't get activated only if the victims are Muslims.
If Mr. Pandey wants anyone to believe that he is not a manipulative politician but a genuine peacenik and a person that is moved by human suffering, all he has to do is to provide data for his support for the Kashmiri Hindus. If the quantum of such support, assuming that he or ASHA ever extended one, is proportionate to the number of victims vis-Ã -vis the support he and ASHA extended the Muslim victims of Gujarat, Mr. Pandey will stand vindicated.
Now, ASHA and Mr. Pandey know what exactly they need to do: present in a tabular format every event they sponsored in support of the Muslim victims of Gujarat and contrast that with the events they sponsored in support of the Kashmiri Pandits. Tabulate every US $ they spent on the Gujarat Muslim victims and contrast that with the US $ they spent on the Kashmiri Hindu victims. Mr. Pandey and ASHA can also tabulate the number of events they sponsored in collaboration with Islamist fronts like IMC-USA and contrast that with the number of events they sponsored in collaboration with Panun Kashmir organizations.
Since it is no secret that Mr. Musharraf and ISI are abetting terrorism in Kashmir, Nepal, NE and even pockets of the South, Mr. Pandey could cite the instances when he has condemned the Pakistani dictator Mr. Musharraf.
Presenting the data I have asked for would get Mr. Pandey's message across more effectively than invoking Gandhi's name as if it were a mantra. May be all these gimmicks will get Mr. Pandey a Nobel Peace Prize. After all, if Mr. Arafat, the terror mastermind behind the Black September, could be awarded the Nobel Prize, why not a mere manipulative peacenik from India? But, Mr. Pandey might do well to
remember that he needs a large contingent of fans to carry him to Oslo someday. A smart way to ensure that is by answering my questions with solid data.
If Mr. Pandey and ASHA have no data to answer, they can take the easy way out: call me a Hindutva and write lengthy paragraphs without providing the data asked for.
Thanks.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What happened to so-called Peace march?
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Mar 29 2005, 01:38 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Mar 29 2005, 01:38 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> What happened to so-called Peace march? <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It' P-I-E-C-E march as in piece of India
<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Apr 22 2005, 05:47 PM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Apr 22 2005, 05:47 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> http://www.charitymonitor.org <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:rocker--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:guitar--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/guitar.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='guitar.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:rock--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rock.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rock.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://www.charitymonitor.org <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Finally <!--emo&:music--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/stereo.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='stereo.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Mush denies visa to Sandeep Pandey citing security risk <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetai...=78714&cat=Asia
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mush denies visa to Sandeep Pandey citing security risk <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, AID money for poor Indians are in <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Also posted in "Traitors and Anti-nationals in India" thread.
This gets as anti-national as can be.
Sandeep Pandey makes the following points very clear:
1. J&K is <b>*not*</b> an integral part of India.
2. That those who believe J&K <b>*is*</b> an integral part of India are feudals or have feudal mindset. We are to assume millions of our soldiers are nothing but feudals, millions of our farmers are feudals. Millions of Indians are fuedals. Why majority of Indians are feudals.
3. That Pakistan also shares his opinion that Kashmir <b>*is not*</b> an integral part of India is quite immaterial.
4. Concept of Nationhood is dead. That a clay-potter in WB cares less about an India-Pak cricket match automatically means clay-potter does not care about territorial integrity of India or does not care about the a nation called "India".
x-posting from Sulekha:
http://www.sulekha.com/news/nhc.aspx?cid=422487
<b>
View from the ground
Sandeep Pandey
</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->As part of the ongoing Pakitan-India Peace March we came across the first resistance to our position on Kashmir when we reached Phillaur from Ludhiana. <b>Our host here was Mr Johal, president of the committee which runs the Gurdwara where we were to stay. He registered his protest as soon as we arrived, rejecting our position on the Kashmir issue as according to him, it favoured Pakistan. He believed that Kashmir was an integral part of India and only Indians had a right to decide about the future of Kashmir. It was obviously a narrow nationalist position, shared by some other Indians too.</b>
We were gathered at a Hanuman temple, and Mr Johal snatched our signature campaign sheet and started striking out the statement on Kashmir. He managed to damage two sheets by the time he was made to understand the people who had signed the sheets agreed with the position of the Peace March and did not share his opinion on Kashmir. The peace marchers tried to avoid getting into an unpleasant situation with their host for the rest of the evening. They tried to reason with him but he was not in a mood to listen to any other point of view.
At night after dinner at the Gurudwara he and his associates joined a meeting we were holding to discuss how to tackle such a situation in future. There was another round of discussions on Kashmir and we tried to reason with them that any possible humane solution to the problem must involve the people of J&K. <b>We explained to him that the narrow nationalist view held by Indians from outside Kashmir, or for that matter Pakistanis outside Kashmir, was born out of a feudal mindset and in a world in which people were more sensitive to human rights violations and also a democratic way of thinking, the conventional nationalist Indian and Pakistani views could not be imposed on the people of Kashmir.</b>
<b>Also, in a world where economic policy of globalization is taking over, the concept of a nation state is weakening</b> and even the two governments probably realize that staying ahead in economic development is more important than in an arms race; this will take away pressure from the governments to make a prestige issue out of Kashmir.
<b>We also pointed out that a major section of our societies, including dalits, tribals, women, and other marginalized sections, do not share the traditional concept of nationalism</b> as they are busy with more basic struggles for life and livelihood. For example, they are not likely to feel the same enthusiasm if India beat Pakistan in a game of cricket compared to people who were close to the ruling class. We don't know whether this discussion had any affect on the associates of Mr. Johal but he did come to see us off in the morning and seemed to be calmer than the previous evening. He may have reconciled to the differences in our points of view.
Our march in Ludhiana was shown on the national TV in Doordarshan news. As we were walking from Phillaur to Phagwara we were stopped by a buffalo-trader who recognized us and crossed the road to stop us. His name is Paramjit and he expressed his happiness that such a march was taking place; he confidently told us that we were sure to get visas to cross over into Pakistan.
By then, we had learnt that the Pakistani government was refusing to allow the marchers from Pakistan to cross over into India. But Paramjit's resolve reflected the opinion of the common people that people should be allowed to cross the border freely. Little did we know that two days later Pakistan's Interior Ministry would actually grant permission to some Pakistani marchers to join the march. This also opened the possibility of us going to Pakistan and realizing our dream of a joint march through the territories of India and Pakistan, and then together crossing the Wagha border.
As we walked out of Phagwara towards Jalandhar, a bicyclist crossed us, and got down after stopping next to me. Surjit Singh earns his living as a Tadi Kirtan singer; his wife is also in the same vocation. He congratulated us on the march and said that he had signed our signature campaign which my colleague Chandralekha from Hardoi District of U.P. was carrying walking behind me.
He then offered a suggestion that pleasantly surprised me, saying that the third point in the signature campaign, about allowing people from two countries to meet freely and, if possible, doing away with the passport-visa system, should have a higher priority than the first two points.
The first point states that both sides should resolve their disputes peacefully through dialogue, including the issue of Kashmir according to the wishes of the people of J&K. The second point is about doing away with nuclear weapons, land mines and reducing the defence budgets so that resources could be spent on development of poor people on both sides of the border. Surjit argued that the third point is closest to the hearts of the common people from India and Pakistan and is also probably the easiest for the two governments to agree to. It would also create an atmosphere in which the governments would find it easier to make progress on the first two points.
Surjit Singh is a representative of the common people. Only somebody like him could have thought like this because we intellectuals often cannot free ourselves from our preferences and biases. I'm glad I met him, and thank him for educating me about the priorities of the issues as common people see them.
I kept cursing myself on not seeing this simple logic while drafting the signature campaign text. Anyway, we're glad that we've collected over 5000 signatures on this statement and so far except for Mr. Johal, nobody seems to have any problems with the point of view that we're putting forward during the India Pakistan Peace March.
The writer is a prominent social worker based in Lucknow. <b>He is among the Indian peace marchers currently camped at Wagah border waiting for permission to enter Pakistan</b><!--emo&:thumbsup--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbup.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbup.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Columnists based at IF and other outlets, please note and use this effectively to educate AIDers and ASHAvadis. All 5000 of them who have signed the petition of this imbecilic ignoramus.
<!--QuoteBegin-utepian+Apr 22 2005, 09:48 AM-->QUOTE(utepian @ Apr 22 2005, 09:48 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> Cure: Double dosage (donation) to Ekal Vidyalaya.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
utepian,
Ekal Vidyalaya is advertising on ZeeTV <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo--> they have a full 30 second shot with Hema Malini pitching for Ekal. They need to rope in Gavaskar too.
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Apr 25 2005, 10:29 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Apr 25 2005, 10:29 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mush denies visa to Sandeep Pandey citing security risk <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, AID money for poor Indians are in <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
came via email:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->this debate by sugrutha ramaswami and Rajeev Srinivasan
see
www.indiacurrents.com
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/
https://secure.news4sites.com/headlines.php?id=2332
http://ngos.thenewsplace.com/
Rajeev says:
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
apropos of dubious NGOs, i am entertained to see that the sandeep pandey 'peace-march' has been stopped at the pak border by pakistanis. will the AID guys now ask for their money back or what?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ekal Vidyalaya is advertising on ZeeTV specool.gif they have a full 30 second shot with Hema Malini pitching for Ekal. They need to rope in Gavaskar too.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Viren, Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra is a frontline soldier for EV. This is the link to promos for EV on Zee TV.
http://ess.ekalvidya.org/ekal/showhighligh...ade3890bf0abe2c
aruni,May 9 2005, 09:40 PM Wrote:[quote=k.ram,Apr 23 2005, 12:47 AM] http://www.charitymonitor.org Posted on Sulekha at http://www.sulekha.com/news/newsitem.aspx?cid=423288
Quote:
Was emailed to India-Forum:
Quote:Dear Aniruddha Vaidya and Sudarshan Suresh,
I was forwarded an email/press release from AID, about an internet article discussing AID's nature. As donor to various charities (including AID in past), and an Indian American, I followed your advice and read that article at CharityMonitor.com . Thank you for directing me there - I learned many things, though they may not have been expressed in the smooth sugarcoated language that AID's friends the Communist Forum Of Inqulabi Leftists (FOIL) use in their writings. Having understood the issues, I would like to take a shot at putting things in the right perspective so that it's clear to you why people like me <b>DO NOT donate to AID any more. </b>
For starters, Mr/Ms. Vaidya, you claim that AID stands for Gandhian values but you don't clarify was to which 'Gandhi' you are referring to. Based on the faint image on AID's pluralism poster and the logo (which may equally be of a hammer and sickle), I can only imagine that you are referring to Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi aka Mahatma Gandhi. But, that Mahatma had brought our very freedom struggle to a standstill when a couple of policemen were burnt alive by a mob at Chari Chaura. In contrast, the advocates (and members?) of AID find time to attend entire Conferences set up to honor the naxal extremists who specialize in killing policemen in India.
So Mr/Ms. Vaidya, does AID really represent Gandhian values or terrorist values?
Secondly, you are trying to dissassociate from a highly vocal member of the IMC, but you support the resolution he put out!
Is the Indian "MUSLIM" Council a "secular" organization? Is it a charitable organization, and has AID, which claims 501c3 tax exemption, any business participating as conference attendees at the Annual Convention of the IMC - as you have been doing? Hasn't that member of IMC published an article begging for some tears for the fallen Taliban? Haven't the extereme fundamentalist positions of that IMC member been shunned by most liberal muslims including the likes of former MP Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar etc?
I can understand your outrage on being tagged as "communist", "jehadi", "anti-India" but then I'm sure you can understand the disgust felt by the likes of me when any other pro-Indian organization is labelled as 'facists' or 'nazis' or supporters of whatever "tatva" by AID leaders and their associates?
Granted that there is a difference between your organization attending and felicitating this member of IMC and any other AID individual doing so in their individual capacity. But if AID and IMC clearly pat each other in public using your organizational credentials, I think it's only fair for you to accept the fact about AID's links to IMC or vice versa.
Which brings up a question about another email floating around the internet for past 3 months by some vocal members of AID such as Sriram Ananthanaryanan? Didn't he use AID mailing lists and perhaps other resources in this blatant political hate campaign against the Government of India? The letter dealt with trying to get the visa of elected chief minister of Gujarat revoked during the recent trip to US. Which raises the question:
(a) Did AID endorse that letter and stand by it?
(b) If not why is this individual still the Co-ordinator at AID and using AID as a tool of petty partisan politics?
© Are you aware as a charitable organization you do have restrictions on political activities?
(d) Shouldn't I as a donor be concerned that the Internal Revenue Service will disallow all deductions for donations made to AID, since you have clearly been violating the conditions for organizations to which such donations can be made?
(e) Shouldn't AID leaders be held personally liable for tax fraud, and for cheating innocent donors like me, as well as their own young volunteers?
I can understand your stand on behalf of the affected Muslims in one state of India, but I fail to understand why AID is raising funds for politician Mr. Sandeep Pandey's boondongle across the Wagah border! Is AID deaf, dumb and blind like the three proverbial Gandhian monkeys that it can't see the fact that this same Pakistani military junta currently ruling in Pakistan has for past 20 years killed over 50,000 Indians and for past 6 years have held those very citizens of Pakistan hostage in their own nation? Can't you read Sandeep Pandey's statements which blatantly conduct propaganda for this terrorist military regime? Doesn't this association make you terrorist fundraisers?
You state that "While AID regularly attends gatherings at Hindu temples, "; I don't know as to how an secular charitable organization can attend a temple, you might be referring to it's members attending temples. So you can see how easy it is to mistake the actions of an individual for that of the organization or vice versa - done especially under the organizational credentials.
I really don't differentiate between members of any Indian organizations attending gatherings at temple or church or mosques or synagoues. But why is it that ASHA and AID, which claim to be secular charitable organizations, spend donor resources on consistently screen movies showing Hindus as oppressors? Let me ask you Mr/Ms. Vaidya, if you really claim to be 'secular' and 'plural', I'd be more than happy to recommend names of movies to show how oppressive other religions too can be, seems only logical to give other religions a fair share of the screen time.
Anyway, it appears that AID's leadership is more interested in such activities than in genuine charitable activities.
It's heartening to I see that you are familiar with the quotes by Joseph Gobbels. But what did you or your organization do when the slanderers hit another Indian charity/NGO? Didn't those slanderers and the false propaganda peddlers endorse AID and ASHA? Didn't AID leaders participate in the attack, sneakily? If my memory serves me correctly, one Kamayani Swami of AID Milwaukee was infact belligerent in that attack!
Now I'd say this would raise a question for any fair and balanced observer as to why did your organization associate with such people and choose to benefit from their endorsements? Could it be that deafening silence from AID and lack of rebuttals to support a fellow Indian charity, aid (pardon the pun) AID directly in it's fund raising efforts? I don't know about others, but to some, AID's involvement in this affair is certainly questionable. Which brings to another point raised by your latest rebuttal where you state that "Prof. Vinay Lal of UCLA, who is well known for his studies on South Asia and Gandhi." Might I add this 'well known' professor is one of the mud-slingers-in-chief in the past against another charitable organization and is currently more famous for
(a) his support of Taliban blowing off the Bamiyan Buddhas
(b) his pompus false claims that a Christian hospital based in Meeraj was an "RSS" (translation Hindu) "hate-mongering institution" - in trying to cover up the research fraud perpetrated by his associates.
© his claim in teaching American undergraduates at the University of California in Los Angeles, that the President of the United States is a worse terrorist than Osama Bin Laden
His ignorance about South Asia is evident and I'm pretty positive, Gandhiji too wouldn't have approved of any Buddhist statues being blown to smithereens. Mr. Vaidya, you are most welcome to support such individuals, I'll chip in a couple of pennies for AID so that you too can buy a dunce cap one for every AID individual who supports "Prof." Vinay Lal, including Mr Sudarshan.
It's time AID comes clean and stops hiding behind tags such as 'Gandhian' or 'secular' because your actions are exactly the opposite of what you claim to be. Till then you can keep parroting the standard party line a la Baghdad Bob and I'll keep sending my hard earned charity $ elsewhere and will encourage every friend and family member to do the same.
Yours very truly,
xxxx
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