04-02-2006, 08:07 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->1. Enclosing below a 'disturbing' Editorial that appeared in the columns of THE PIONEER of 27 MAR '06.
2. Shri Arun Shourie, in his 'excellent' - WILL THE IRON FENCE SAVE THE TREE HOLLOWED BY TERMITES- analyses our SECURITY ENVIRONMENT- with particular emphasis on China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. His analysis includes extensive references to the report of the TASK FORCES set up in the immediate aftermath of Kargil.
3. Two of the TASK FORCES, were the 'TASK FORCE ON INTERNAL SECURITY' headed by the former Defence Secretary,Shri N.N. Vohra. The other was the 'TASK FORCE ON BORDER MANAGEMENT' headed by Shri Madhav Godbole, former Union Home Secretary. The other members of these Task Forces had extensive experience in the various facets of National Security. THE TASK FORCES SUBMITTED THEIR REPORTS TO THE GOVERNMENT IN AUGUST/OCTOBER 2000.
4. The TASK FORCES had urged the Government to make their findings PUBLIC and had stated : "---It has to be accepted that it is only through well-informed,alert and vigilant public opinion that National Security can be strengthed.EXCESSIVE AND UNDUE SECRECY IN SUCH MATTERS CAN BE COUNTER PRODUCTIVE." Yet our Government goes and stamps the reports 'SECRET'!!Here are some excerpts from the report of the TASK FORCE ON BORDER MANAGEMENT:
(A)Â "The Task Force has noted with concern the rapid rise of MADRASSAS and mosques in the border areas ON ALMOST ALL BORDERS.Most of these constructions have come up without any formal approval of the competent local authorities---".
(B) "In several cases, CONSIDERABLE FOREIGN FUNDS have become available to these institutions through non-banking institutions. Efforts at Arabization of Muslims and their education are a matter of concern which should not be dismissed light-heartedly.----."
© "There has been mushrooming and visible growth of Mosques and MADRASSAS ALL ALONG OUR INTERNATIONAL BORDERS. THE INTRIGUING THING IS THAT THESE HAVE COME UP WHERE THERE IS VERY SMALL OR NO POPULATION OF THE MINORITY COMMUNITY AND THAT MOSQUES AND MADRASSAS HAVE SPRUNG UP ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER AS IF IN UNISON.---."
(D) "On the Indo-Nepal border, MADRASSAS and Mosques have sprung ip on both sides of the TERAI region, ACCOMPANIED BY A FOUR FOLD INCREASE IN THE POPULATION OF THE MINORITY COMMUNITY IN THE REGION.There are 343 Mosques, 300 MADRASSAS and 17 MOSQUES-CUM-MADRASSAS within 10 KMS of the border on the Indian side. On the Nepal side, there are 282 Mosques, 181 MADRASSAS and 8 MOSQUES-CUM-MADRASSAS.These Mosques and MADRASSAS receive HUGE FUNDS from Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia,Iran,Kuwait,Pakistan and Bangladesh.-----"
(E) "In the Rajasthan sector of the Indo-Pakistan border, there are 129 MADRASSAS----- registered with the WAKF BOARD. There are a LARGE NUMBER OF UNREGISTERED MADRASSAS in the border belt.The growth of MADRASSAS in this belt has been higher than in other places in the State. MADRASSA ISLAMIA (POKHRAN), MADRASSA ANWARUL ULOOM (JAISALMER) and MADRASSA AHLE SUNNAT RIZVIA (JAISALMER) have become centres of FUNDAMENTALIST ACTIVITIES IN THIS AREA. TABLEEGH JAMAATS from Maharashtra and Gujarat have been creating pockets of influence in Barmer District where 14 DEEN-E-TALIM MADRASSAS have recently come up."
(F)Â "In the Gujarat Sector of the border, there are 34 MADRASSAS in Kachchccha District (1995) and 28 in Banakantha District where their number increase by 55% during 1991-1995. THEY RECEIVE LARGE SUMS OF MONEY FROM LOCALS AS WELL AS FROM OUTSIDE."
(G) The TASK FORCE then goes on to record: "THESE AREAS ARE ALSO EXPERIENCING HIGH GROWTH RATES OF MINORITY POPULATION."
(H) "The INDO-BANGLADESH border has seen the the MOST RAPID GROWTH OF MADRASSAS and Mosques. On the Indian side,close to the border,there are 905 Mosques and 439 MADRASSAS. And on the Bangladesh side there are 960 Mosques and 469 MADRASSAS."
5. The TASK FORCE ON BORDER MANAGEMENT then recorded some 'worrisome developments' with respect to these MADRASSAS. These are:
(A) "Talibanisation of MADRASSAS is taking place due to spread of FUNDAMENTALIST IDEOLOGIES in these institutions.In J&K, growth of MADRASSAS, fundamentalist teaching and consequent Talibanisation preceded growth of insurgency."
(B)"Imparting of religious instructions in Arabic in place of Urdu is alienating Muslim children from their Indian Muslim moorings and pushing them towards Arabisation.THIS IS HAPPENING EVEN IN MORE LIBERAL MUSLIM SOCIETY SUCH AS KERALA."
©. "MADRASSAS in some places are reported to be sheltering ISI agents and subversive elements."
(D) "With the increasing enrolment of children in MADRASSAS, MAULVIS are acquiring greater centrality in community life, INCREASING THEIR VOTE DELIVERING CAPACITY AND POLITICAL CLOUT."
(E)Â "Indoctrination of young children and planting of FUNDAMENTALIST STRAINS in their minds would pose SERIOUS PROBLEMS TO OUR POLITY IN FUTURE."
(F)Â "Presence of MADRASSAS and Mosques along the borders on both sides could facilitate trans-border movement of arms and agent provocateurs aided and abetted by the ISI."
(G)Â "Economic backwardness of the local Muslim community EASILY FALSIFIES THE CLAIM OF CONSTRUCTION OF THESE MADRASSAS and Mosques WITH LOCAL SUPPORT AND GIVES CREDENCE TO THE APPREHENSIONS OF OUTSIDE SUPPORT FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION." (AND YET DIE HARD SECULARISTS LIKE KULDIP NAYYAR WRITE THAT IT IS ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS THAT COMPEL THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM BANGLADESH AND ONCE THE ECONOMY OF BANGLADESH IMPROVES THESE ALIENS WILL GO BACK!! FOOLS PARADISE?!!)
6.  The Editorial makes greater sense in the light of ther foregoing. Also please note that between the submission of the TASK FORCE REPORTS and the present, the number of MADRASSAS has seen an exponential growth along the INDO-NEPAL BORDER!! In a matter of JUST 6 YEARS!! And yet, we have a Government at the Centre that brings in the quashed IMDT ACT through the backdoor. Talk of 'FIFTH-COLUMNISTS'!!!
Â
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http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives2/defa...ives2%5Cmar2706
<b>Madarsa too many </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
The Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) is understandably concerned over the mushrooming of 1,900 madarsas on both sides of the India-Nepal border in the recent past. Particularly significant is their proliferation - 800 in number - on Nepal's side of the border. Muslims constitute a minuscule part of that country's population and though they are concentrated along the India-Nepal border, the size of their population hardly warrants such a massive sprouting of these seminaries.
Clearly, there is more here than meets the eye given the seriousness of the problem of cross-border terrorism that India faces and the ISI's role in using Nepal as a base for promoting it. The organisation's imprimatur was starkly visible in the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 from Kathmandu to Delhi, to Kandahar in Afghanistan on December 14, 1999.
Besides, it has been closely involved in attempts to despatch into India fake Rs 500 denomination currency notes with a view to damaging this country's economy. The porous nature of the 1,868 km long India-Nepal border has helped it in not only this but also the infiltration of terrorists, arms and ammunition, and explosives.
<b>The intelligence agencies are doubtless keeping an eye on the 50 or 60 of madarsas considered sensitive among the 1,100 on the Indian side of the border. </b>This is hardly enough given the length and the porousness of the border which as many as five Indian States - Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim - have with Nepal and the serious situation created by growing links between Maoists, who now control 87 per cent of the mountain kingdom's territory, and the ISI which is eager to use any situation or group to hit at India.
While the plan to increase the SSB's strength by 20 battalions, modernising it, and creating two more sectors for its activities, will help when it is implemented - which is expected to be done by 2008 - the question remains as to what happens in the interim, particularly since madarsas have been used for mass producing fundamentalist Islamist terrorists in both Pakistan and Bangladesh, and are known to have harboured terrorists in India.
<b>The problem has a pan-Indian dimension. Madarsas have proliferated along India's borders with Bangladesh along West Bengal and Assam, and Pakistan along the Rajasthan border, as well. In fact they have sprouted all over the country</b>. According to an Intelligence Bureau report in April 2002, there were as many as 23,098 madarsas in 12 Indian States with the largest number being in Kerala with 9,975 of them. Madhya Pradesh followed with 6,000 and Maharashtra 2,435. The border States of West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan had 2,116, 2,002, 1,825 and 1,780 of them respectively.
The first requisite is to control their growth through compulsory registration and regulate their functioning and curricula to ensure that they do not breed Islamist terrorism. The States that have laws to this end should enforce them effectively; those that do not, should enact them. And for both to happen, there has to be a strong mass movement against the politics of minority appeasement that is severely threatening the country's security.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
2. Shri Arun Shourie, in his 'excellent' - WILL THE IRON FENCE SAVE THE TREE HOLLOWED BY TERMITES- analyses our SECURITY ENVIRONMENT- with particular emphasis on China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. His analysis includes extensive references to the report of the TASK FORCES set up in the immediate aftermath of Kargil.
3. Two of the TASK FORCES, were the 'TASK FORCE ON INTERNAL SECURITY' headed by the former Defence Secretary,Shri N.N. Vohra. The other was the 'TASK FORCE ON BORDER MANAGEMENT' headed by Shri Madhav Godbole, former Union Home Secretary. The other members of these Task Forces had extensive experience in the various facets of National Security. THE TASK FORCES SUBMITTED THEIR REPORTS TO THE GOVERNMENT IN AUGUST/OCTOBER 2000.
4. The TASK FORCES had urged the Government to make their findings PUBLIC and had stated : "---It has to be accepted that it is only through well-informed,alert and vigilant public opinion that National Security can be strengthed.EXCESSIVE AND UNDUE SECRECY IN SUCH MATTERS CAN BE COUNTER PRODUCTIVE." Yet our Government goes and stamps the reports 'SECRET'!!Here are some excerpts from the report of the TASK FORCE ON BORDER MANAGEMENT:
(A)Â "The Task Force has noted with concern the rapid rise of MADRASSAS and mosques in the border areas ON ALMOST ALL BORDERS.Most of these constructions have come up without any formal approval of the competent local authorities---".
(B) "In several cases, CONSIDERABLE FOREIGN FUNDS have become available to these institutions through non-banking institutions. Efforts at Arabization of Muslims and their education are a matter of concern which should not be dismissed light-heartedly.----."
© "There has been mushrooming and visible growth of Mosques and MADRASSAS ALL ALONG OUR INTERNATIONAL BORDERS. THE INTRIGUING THING IS THAT THESE HAVE COME UP WHERE THERE IS VERY SMALL OR NO POPULATION OF THE MINORITY COMMUNITY AND THAT MOSQUES AND MADRASSAS HAVE SPRUNG UP ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER AS IF IN UNISON.---."
(D) "On the Indo-Nepal border, MADRASSAS and Mosques have sprung ip on both sides of the TERAI region, ACCOMPANIED BY A FOUR FOLD INCREASE IN THE POPULATION OF THE MINORITY COMMUNITY IN THE REGION.There are 343 Mosques, 300 MADRASSAS and 17 MOSQUES-CUM-MADRASSAS within 10 KMS of the border on the Indian side. On the Nepal side, there are 282 Mosques, 181 MADRASSAS and 8 MOSQUES-CUM-MADRASSAS.These Mosques and MADRASSAS receive HUGE FUNDS from Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia,Iran,Kuwait,Pakistan and Bangladesh.-----"
(E) "In the Rajasthan sector of the Indo-Pakistan border, there are 129 MADRASSAS----- registered with the WAKF BOARD. There are a LARGE NUMBER OF UNREGISTERED MADRASSAS in the border belt.The growth of MADRASSAS in this belt has been higher than in other places in the State. MADRASSA ISLAMIA (POKHRAN), MADRASSA ANWARUL ULOOM (JAISALMER) and MADRASSA AHLE SUNNAT RIZVIA (JAISALMER) have become centres of FUNDAMENTALIST ACTIVITIES IN THIS AREA. TABLEEGH JAMAATS from Maharashtra and Gujarat have been creating pockets of influence in Barmer District where 14 DEEN-E-TALIM MADRASSAS have recently come up."
(F)Â "In the Gujarat Sector of the border, there are 34 MADRASSAS in Kachchccha District (1995) and 28 in Banakantha District where their number increase by 55% during 1991-1995. THEY RECEIVE LARGE SUMS OF MONEY FROM LOCALS AS WELL AS FROM OUTSIDE."
(G) The TASK FORCE then goes on to record: "THESE AREAS ARE ALSO EXPERIENCING HIGH GROWTH RATES OF MINORITY POPULATION."
(H) "The INDO-BANGLADESH border has seen the the MOST RAPID GROWTH OF MADRASSAS and Mosques. On the Indian side,close to the border,there are 905 Mosques and 439 MADRASSAS. And on the Bangladesh side there are 960 Mosques and 469 MADRASSAS."
5. The TASK FORCE ON BORDER MANAGEMENT then recorded some 'worrisome developments' with respect to these MADRASSAS. These are:
(A) "Talibanisation of MADRASSAS is taking place due to spread of FUNDAMENTALIST IDEOLOGIES in these institutions.In J&K, growth of MADRASSAS, fundamentalist teaching and consequent Talibanisation preceded growth of insurgency."
(B)"Imparting of religious instructions in Arabic in place of Urdu is alienating Muslim children from their Indian Muslim moorings and pushing them towards Arabisation.THIS IS HAPPENING EVEN IN MORE LIBERAL MUSLIM SOCIETY SUCH AS KERALA."
©. "MADRASSAS in some places are reported to be sheltering ISI agents and subversive elements."
(D) "With the increasing enrolment of children in MADRASSAS, MAULVIS are acquiring greater centrality in community life, INCREASING THEIR VOTE DELIVERING CAPACITY AND POLITICAL CLOUT."
(E)Â "Indoctrination of young children and planting of FUNDAMENTALIST STRAINS in their minds would pose SERIOUS PROBLEMS TO OUR POLITY IN FUTURE."
(F)Â "Presence of MADRASSAS and Mosques along the borders on both sides could facilitate trans-border movement of arms and agent provocateurs aided and abetted by the ISI."
(G)Â "Economic backwardness of the local Muslim community EASILY FALSIFIES THE CLAIM OF CONSTRUCTION OF THESE MADRASSAS and Mosques WITH LOCAL SUPPORT AND GIVES CREDENCE TO THE APPREHENSIONS OF OUTSIDE SUPPORT FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION." (AND YET DIE HARD SECULARISTS LIKE KULDIP NAYYAR WRITE THAT IT IS ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS THAT COMPEL THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM BANGLADESH AND ONCE THE ECONOMY OF BANGLADESH IMPROVES THESE ALIENS WILL GO BACK!! FOOLS PARADISE?!!)
6.  The Editorial makes greater sense in the light of ther foregoing. Also please note that between the submission of the TASK FORCE REPORTS and the present, the number of MADRASSAS has seen an exponential growth along the INDO-NEPAL BORDER!! In a matter of JUST 6 YEARS!! And yet, we have a Government at the Centre that brings in the quashed IMDT ACT through the backdoor. Talk of 'FIFTH-COLUMNISTS'!!!
Â
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives2/defa...ives2%5Cmar2706
<b>Madarsa too many </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
The Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) is understandably concerned over the mushrooming of 1,900 madarsas on both sides of the India-Nepal border in the recent past. Particularly significant is their proliferation - 800 in number - on Nepal's side of the border. Muslims constitute a minuscule part of that country's population and though they are concentrated along the India-Nepal border, the size of their population hardly warrants such a massive sprouting of these seminaries.
Clearly, there is more here than meets the eye given the seriousness of the problem of cross-border terrorism that India faces and the ISI's role in using Nepal as a base for promoting it. The organisation's imprimatur was starkly visible in the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 from Kathmandu to Delhi, to Kandahar in Afghanistan on December 14, 1999.
Besides, it has been closely involved in attempts to despatch into India fake Rs 500 denomination currency notes with a view to damaging this country's economy. The porous nature of the 1,868 km long India-Nepal border has helped it in not only this but also the infiltration of terrorists, arms and ammunition, and explosives.
<b>The intelligence agencies are doubtless keeping an eye on the 50 or 60 of madarsas considered sensitive among the 1,100 on the Indian side of the border. </b>This is hardly enough given the length and the porousness of the border which as many as five Indian States - Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim - have with Nepal and the serious situation created by growing links between Maoists, who now control 87 per cent of the mountain kingdom's territory, and the ISI which is eager to use any situation or group to hit at India.
While the plan to increase the SSB's strength by 20 battalions, modernising it, and creating two more sectors for its activities, will help when it is implemented - which is expected to be done by 2008 - the question remains as to what happens in the interim, particularly since madarsas have been used for mass producing fundamentalist Islamist terrorists in both Pakistan and Bangladesh, and are known to have harboured terrorists in India.
<b>The problem has a pan-Indian dimension. Madarsas have proliferated along India's borders with Bangladesh along West Bengal and Assam, and Pakistan along the Rajasthan border, as well. In fact they have sprouted all over the country</b>. According to an Intelligence Bureau report in April 2002, there were as many as 23,098 madarsas in 12 Indian States with the largest number being in Kerala with 9,975 of them. Madhya Pradesh followed with 6,000 and Maharashtra 2,435. The border States of West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan had 2,116, 2,002, 1,825 and 1,780 of them respectively.
The first requisite is to control their growth through compulsory registration and regulate their functioning and curricula to ensure that they do not breed Islamist terrorism. The States that have laws to this end should enforce them effectively; those that do not, should enact them. And for both to happen, there has to be a strong mass movement against the politics of minority appeasement that is severely threatening the country's security.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->