Our crooked politicians will use our soldiers as cannon fodder

The recent attacks on our security forces in Kulgam, Handwara, Pampore, Shopian, etc. is corroborating what I had said in some of my earlier posts, e.g. ' The War Drums are sounding ' , ' A full blown guerilla war is developing in Kashmir ', etc

What we are witnessing in Kashmir is a guerilla war in its infancy, which is bound to grow and grow, ultimately creating a Vietnam type situation.

As I have said in an earlier post, I have many relatives who have been in the army ( one had even fought in the British army against Rommel in North Africa in the Second World War ), and I have discussed warfare at length with them. I have also studied the works of Sherman, Mao-tse-tung, Che Guevara, Genera Giap, Marshal Zhukov, etc.

A guerilla war to succeed must have popular support. Unfortunately due to the stupidity of successive Indian governments, almost the entire Kashmiri population ( I am referring to the people living in the Kashmir valley, not Jammu or Ladakh ) has been alienated from India and have become hostile to us..Of course only a small percentage of this population are militants, but even the non militants are overwhelmingly hostile to us, and are sympathizers of the militants, to whom they provide intelligence, sanctuary, food, etc..Sophisticated arms and supplies are coming to the militants on a large scale from China via Pakistan.

The guerillas have the advantage of surprise. They decide when to strike, where to strike, etc. Their traditional tactics is ' hit and run ', and ' attack the soft, avoid the hard '.

All local elements suspected by them to be traitors to their cause will be eliminated, as was done by the Vietcong.The J&K police consisting of largely local Kashmiris, has been already effectively neutralized by instilling fear of reprisals against their family members. That leaves the non Kashmiri Indian army and para military forces as the effective opponents of the militants.

The militants will use classic guerilla tactics to fight them, e,g. avoiding attacking heavily fortified army encampments, and attacking when our forces are on the move, as it happened in Shopian, where the sympathizers must have secretly informed the Kashmiri militants about the movement of the convoy of our para military column..

There will be pinpricks here and there but cumulatively these will have a deadly effect, just as being bitten by one bee may not cause much harm, but being bitten by a swarm can be mortal.

Guerilla war is psychological war too. Our security forces will constantly be kept on the tenterhooks. A soldier has to sleep and rest, but the guerillas will not allow him that, by attacking often at night, or at unexpected hours, as it happened in the American War of Independence ( 1775-1781 ), during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in !812, in the Chinese Revolutionary war, and in Vietnam.

In retaliation our soldiers are bound to commit atrocities on civilians, but this will only turn more civilians into militants, as these civilians will be filled with hatred and seek revenge for the death of their near and dear ones. This will increase the ranks of the militants. And of course there will be no shortage of arms for them, as these will be supplied by China and Pakistan.

As I had written in an earlier post, an army can fight another army, it cannot fight the armed masses. A tiger can attack a prey, it cannot attack a swarm of mosquitoes.

In a conventional war, one usually knows where the enemy is. In a guerilla war, the enemy is everywhere, he is nowhere. It is often a war in the shadows, and a war of attrition. Our army will even find it difficult to distinguish the guerilla from the civilian, for the former is often wearing no uniform, as the American soldiers learnt in Vietnam. Consequently, anyone even remotely suspected of being a militant will be shot by our soldiers. These may be innocent civilians, but their deaths will increase the hatred against our security forces, and convert civilians into overt or covert militants, seeking revenge. This cycle will be repeated over and over again, increasing the number of militants fighting our forces.

And in the meanwhile our crooked politicians will carry on with their dirty game of trying to get political mileage for the coming elections by ' surgical strikes ', etc ( which to my mind was nothing but a pinprick ), and treating our brave soldiers as cannon fodder for their political advantage.

Much has been said about the ' surgical strike ' by our army, as if it was a Stalingrad Victory. But leaving aside all the jingoism what did it achieve ? Our soldiers went in 3 km. beyond the LOC, smashed some militant camps and killed some terrorists, and came back ( we need not go into the question whether those killed were in fact terrorists or not ). But in this we caught the Pakistani army unprepared and off guard ( just as the Uri attackers caught our soldiers offguard ).

But now the element of surprise is spent, and the Pakistani army will be on guard against any further such incursion, and will meet it, if at all attempted, with stiff opposition. Also, the militant camps near the LOC would by now have been shifted to places far from the LOC. If our army tries another ' surgical strike ' it may only end up not with clapping and cheering by a hysterical public instigated by a TRP driven media, but with a bloody nose..

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Crush these jaahils in Pakistan

In Pakistan Ahmadis and Shias are often being attacked or killed, dargahs bombed. human rights activists and journalists, etc brutally murdered.

Ahmadis believe that after Prophet Mohammed there was a Prophet Ghulam Ahmad in the 19th Century. Are they breaking anyone's head or cutting off anyone's limbs by saying this ? Those who believe that Mohammed was the last prophet are entitled to do so, and they may also say that Ahmadis are not Musli...ms ( just as Ahmadis may say the same about them). But what right have they to kill Ahmadis, burn their mosques, and beat up their children ? This is just hooliganism, goondagardi, and jahaalat.

Similarly, when the Shias do not accept the first three Khalifas (Abu Bakr, Omar and Usman) as genuine, and regard them as usurpers, are they breaking anyone's head or cutting off anyone's limbs ? They are not preventing Sunnis from holding that belief. Then what right has anyone to kill them or burn their mosques or beat up their children ? This is simply hooliganism and jahaalat.

Many Muslims of Wahabi thinking believe that going to dargahs is butparasti ( worship of idols), since dargahs have graves of Sufi saints, and such persons believe that going to dargahs is worship of graves, which is idol worship prohibited by Islam. 

Such people need not go to dargahs if they do not wish to, but why should they prevent others from doing so, and why should dargahs be bombed ? This is just hooliganism and jahaalat. In fact 80% Muslims not only in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh go to dargahs, and Hindus also go there.

We need tolerance if our country is to survive and prosper, otherwise it will become another Jurassic Park like parts of Pakistan, where 1000 girls are stoned to death every year for alleged adultery, blasphemy laws,abduction, forcible conversion, etc are used to persecute non-Muslims, health workers who give polio drops to children and vaccinate them are killed, human rights activists, 

journalists, etc are brutally murdered.

In a subcontinent of such diversity as ours only tolerance and secularism can keep us together and take our country forward towards prosperity. But as for fanatics and bigots, no mercy should be shown to them. They must be eradicated like mad dogs

The situation in South Asia

The most dangerous place in the world today is not the Middle East, but South Asia.

Here, the established super power of the world, USA, and the rising super power, China, are on a collision course, as is evident from their disputes over the South China Sea, etc. The question is : who will control South Asia, with its markets, raw materials and cheap labour ?

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-south-china-sea-set-boil-us-china-showdown-the-works-16502

http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/conflict/territorial-disputes-in-the-south-china-sea

http://www.cfr.org/asia-and-pacific/conflict-south-china-sea/p36377

Politics is concentrated economics, and so to understand politics, we must go behind it and see the real economic forces at work.

For quite some time, a global economic recession has been going on. Europe, in particular, has been badly hit. What is the condition of the economies of USA and China ?.

U.S. industrial production shrank by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2016. Sales of durable goods, e.g. cars, and retail sales, etc are declining. Corporate profits were flat in 2016. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell 9% in March, 2016.

 As regards China, it has gone down from being the world's chief growth engine to becoming its biggest risk factor. While the Chinese still claim a growth rate of 6% in their GDP, more reliable sources say that the real growth rate is about 3%---a far cry from the double digit figures of growth of the Chinese economy for over a decade.

 So to relieve their distress, both USA and China desparately need more markets for their goods, and cheap raw materials to lower their cost of production.

 Of these two super powers, China is more dangerous to world peace. A rising super power is always more aggressive and expansionist, than an established one. For example, Hitler Germany, being a rising super power in the 1930s and 1940s, was more dangerous than the Western powers.

 Today, China has a huge foreign exchange reserve, estimated at 3.23 trillion dollars in January 2016. This is a huge amount of hot money, hungrily looking for investment opportunities, markets to infiltrate and capture, and cheap raw materials, and indeed it has grabbed many in Asia and Africa, including some in India. So the victim of imperialism upto 1949 has itself become an imperialist now.

 The dispute between USA, which is facing a recession, and China, whose economy has slowed down considerably, for control over South Asia is now spilling over into India and Pakistan.

Modi has taken India firmly into the American camp. His present visit to USA is only a culmination of the process started earlier.

So China is making its own counter moves. It is dominating Nepal, has come closer to Pakistan, and is arming the anti-Indian insurgency in Kashmir and the North East, in an attempt to carve out of India an area of its own influence and control.

 Earlier, Pakistan was under the grip of Americans. But now that Modi has taken India firmly into the American camp, the Chinese have decided to take a grip over Pakistan.

 The Chinese-Pakistani trade, which was only of a few hundred million dollars a year upto the year 2000, has gone upto 16 billion dollars last year ( though heavily tilted in China's favour ).This was no doubt facilitated by the Free Trade Agreement between China and Pakistan which came into effect in January 2007.  Also, today 47% of all Chinese international arms sales are to Pakistan.

In April 20, 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan in what the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif self-flatteringly called a “historic occasion”. During this visit, Xi announced the Chinese plans to invest 46 billion US dollars in Pakistan’s transport and energy infrastructure, including the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that will connect Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang region with Gwadar Port in Balochistan over the next 15 years. Since that announcement, several high-level Chinese government officials and top executives of several Chinese companies, have visited Pakistan, and have shown keen interest in setting up Chinese industries in Pakistan.

The militants who keep committing terrorist acts in Kashmir, are obviously getting arms from some power. The only logical inference is that they are getting them from China, via Pakistan. Similarly, the militants in the North East appear to be getting arms from China. It is evident that China is on an expansionist path, as Japan was in the 1930s and 40s. But America too has its economic interests in South Asia to safeguard. So a collision is inevitable.

 Of course,the Americans and Chinese will not fight each other themselves. They are both nuclear powers, and have too much invested in each other's economies for that. But there is nothing to stop them fighting proxy wars, which they will. And India ( and Pakistan ) are directly in the frontline.

It seems we are sitting on a gunpowder keg which may explode anytime.

99% Muslims, and 99% Pakistanis are good people

 In the comments on my post ' Massacre of Ismailis in Pakistan ' many views which were very unfair to Muslims in general, and Sunnis and Pakistanis in particular were expressed. Has all my teaching to you Indians gone waste ?

 I have repeatedly told you that 99% people of all communities, sects, lingual and ethnic groups are good people, though they may sometimes be misguided by a few wicked people. This is what my teacher, the great French thinker Rousseau taught me when I was still a young man, a lesson which is deeply embedded in me even now when I am 69 years old, and is a core principle in my philosophy ( see Will Durant's ' The Story of Civilization : Rousseau and Revolution ' ).. I have repeatedly tried to pass on this truthful knowledge to you all, but sometimes I feel I am hitting my head against a wall, and that most of you are absolute blockheads and incorrigible. For the fault of 1% mischievous persons you blame the entire community. Have you no brains ?

 As I explained to you in several articles, e.g. ' What is India ' ( see my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in and on the website kgfindia.com ), India is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America, and this is why it has so much diversity--so many religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, etc. So the only policy which will work in our sub continent is secularism and giving equal respect to all communities, etc. , the policy of the great Emperor Akbar.

 To demonize Muslims, or Sunnis or Pakistanis is playing into the hands of our enemies who wish Indians ( in whom I include Pakistanis and Bangladeshis ) to hate each other and fight with each other, and thereby keep India backward and poor. When will you people wake up and realize the truth ?.

Why I will never be able to go to Pakistan

I have never been to Pakistan. I would very much like to visit it, but I know I will be never be able to go there in my lifetime.

 I read today ( 6.12.2014 ) in a centre spread article in the Hindi newspaper " Hindustan ' by a young Punjabi lady, Nikita Singla, an International Affairs Consultant, about her visit to Lahore. She was apprehensive about going there for security considerations ( being an Indian ),and was sought to be dissuaded by many friends and relatives.

 However when she reached Lahore, she, and the others who accompanied her from India to attend a conference of the South Asia Peoples' Union, were simply overwhelmed by the hospitality they got there.

  This is the usual experience of Indians who visit Pakistan. The Pakistani people are warm and very hospitable, particularly to Indians. Indians are warmly greeted wherever they go in Pakistan, as if a long lost brother or sister has come back. Shopkeepers give Indians special discounts, once they know that these are Indians. Indians are invited for dinners, etc everywhere.

  I am a humble disciple of the great French thinker Rousseau, who believed that basically people are good by nature. So I believe that 99% Pakistanis,like 99% Indians, are good by nature, though some people try to paint them as devils.

  In foreign countries it seems that the Partition of 1947 never occurred, and Indians and Pakistanis mix socially regularly.

  About 30 years ago my wife and I were in Paris. We had to go somewhere by the metro, but did not know how. A young Pakistani who met us said he will help us. Although he had to travel in the opposite direction, he left his train, and accompanied us right upto our destination. On Champs Elysee, one of the main roads in Paris, two young Pakistani boys, who were selling balloons, offered us tea and coffee, and spoke to us in Hindustani. They felt as if someone from their homeland has come to them. One was from Lahore, and the other from Faisalabad. We had similar experiences in Europe and North America.

   I would very much like to go to Lahore, where my grandfather, Dr. K.N. Katju went in 1900, and would like to see the Forman Christian  College where he was a student. I would like to see Anarkali's tomb  the Badshahi mosque, and other places of which I have only heard. At Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and other places I would lie to meet Judges and lawyers, because they belong to my legal fraternity. I would like to go the hill station Murree, about whose beauty I have heard so much. I would like to meet many eminent journalists, who have been fighting for freedom of the media, and have made great sacrifices for this.

 At Karachi I would like to see Dr. Khalil Chishty, for whose freedom I fought. I would like to meet many other people whom I have met in India or heard about.

 But I know this is only a dream, and will never materialize for me. This is because I have been regularly saying that Pakistan is a fake, artificial entity, and is really a part of India, to which it will be definitely be reunited one day, but i guess that day will come in about 15-20 years when I will not be in this world ( see my article ' The Truth about Pakistan ' on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in ).

 What is Pakistan ? It is Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and NWFP. These were all part of India at least since Mughal times.

 When I meet Pakistanis, I feel no different from them.We look like each other, speak the same language ( Hindustani ), have the same culture ( love for Hindustani music, Urdu literature, etc ), the same dress, food habits, etc

 We were befooled by our British rulers on the basis of the bogus two nation theory, strongly and persistently advocated by their agent Jinnah, into thinking that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations, but how much longer must we remain befooled ? How much longer must blood flow between us ?

 Unless we reunite two things will continue

 (1) We will keep fighting each other, and thus India ( of which Pakistan is really a part ) will never be able to emerge as a modern highly industrialized giant, like China. for which we have all the potential, with our huge pool of highly competent engineers, technicians, scientists, managers, and with our immense natural resources. Unless we become a highly industrialized country, we will never be able to abolish poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of healthcare, and the other socio-economic evils plaguing our country.

 (2) We will have to keep spending a huge amount of our scant resources on arms purchases from foreign countries. At present India purchases arms worth over 40 billion dollars annually from foreign countries, and Pakistan also spends a lot of money on such purchases. If we reunite, much of this money could be spent instead on the welfare of our people.

   Now the problem is that if I visit Pakistan, I will definitely say all this openly. I believe that the time has come when the truth must be said openly. We have been taken for a ride long enough.

  But if I say all this openly, I guess my life in Pakistan will be pretty short, probably no longer than a week after I arrive there.

 Although I believe that 99% Pakistanis are good people ( as I have said earlier ), there are also 1% or less fanatic miscreants, and the truth is that these miscreants have guns, while the 99% good people do not. A small armed minority will usually dominate over an unarmed crowd. The good people, although in the immense majority, are scared before the armed fanatics, and therefore choose to remain silent.

  A senior Supreme Court lawyer once told me that if I am brave I should go on a lecture tour of Pakistan, and explain all these ideas to Pakistanis. i replied that though I am brave, I am not a fool. Large parts of Pakistan has become a Jurassic Park, and i have no desire to be eaten up by dinosaurs

 And through the social media I can take a tour of Pakistan and give lectures there, as indeed I have been doing, without physically going there.

Rich people are leaving Pakistan

I am informed by some immigration lawyers of Pakistani origin who are settled in  Washington D.C. and London that a lot of Pakistanis who have money are frantically trying to immigrate to  U.S.A. Canada or England because of the security situation in Pakistan, and also because of the drying up of economic opportunities in Pakistan. The immigration business of these London and Washington D.C. based lawyers has increased manifold due to the developments in Pakistan over the last few years.

Some Pakistani businessmen have sold their assets in Pakistan, and remitted the money abroad.

As I said in my earlier posts, this is the inevitable result of creating a theocratic state in this sub continent of such diversity. Pakistan has become a Jurassic park

Read my article: The truth about Pakistan

Musharraf and Kashmir

17.10.2014

General Musharraf said yesterday that Pakistan should ' incite ' those fighting in Kashmir. He also said " In Kashmir we can fight the Indian army from both front and back. "

Musharraf is a well known mischief maker. He started the Kargil war, and is a well known hater of India. Kashmiris should not be misguided by him. The only solution to the Kashmir problem, as I have repeatedly said, is the reunification of India and Pakistan ( and Bangladesh ) under a strong, secular, modern minded government which does not tolerate religious extremism of any kind, and crushes it with an iron hand.

Kashmir was part of India ever since it was incorporated into the Mughal Empire by the great Emperor Akbar in 1586. Not only is Kashmir part of India, even Pakistan is part of India.

 Pakistan is no country. It is a fake, artificial entity created by the British on theological basis to keep Hindus and Muslims fighting each other, so that India does not emerge as a modern, powerful, and prosperous industrial state, like China ( for which it has now all the potential ).

What is Pakistan ? It is Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and NWFP. These were always part of India since the time of the great Emperor Ashoka ( some of his edicts have been found in these places ). They were part of India in Mughal and British times. They were separated from India by the wicked British who created ( through their agents, Jinnah, etc ) the bogus two nation theory, that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations. They will surely be reunited one day with India, but that will take a long time, maybe 15-20 years, because those who divided us will not let us easily reunite.

The J&K Assembly Resolution for talks with Pakistan

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has passed a resolution urging the Indian Government to resume talks with Pakistan.

With respect to the Assembly, what it has totally overlooked is the fact that Pakistan is no country at all, it is a fake, artificial entity created by the British to keep Hindus and Muslims fighting each other, so that India ( of which Pakistan is really a part ) does not emerge as a powerful, highly industrialized nation ( for which it has all the potential now with its huge pool of engineers and scientists and huge natural resources and man power), and thus become another China.

  

What is Pakistan ? It is Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and NWFP, which were all part of India in the time of the great Emperors Ashoka and Akbar, and even in British times.

When I meet Pakistanis I feel no different from them. We speak the same language, Hindustani ( called Hindi by us and Urdu by them), we look like each other, share a common culture, e.g. love for Urdu poetry and classical Indian music, the same dress and food, etc

Pakistan was created on the basis of the bogus two nation theory, that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations. If religion is the basis of a nation, then hardly any nation in the world could survive. Britain will have to be partitioned into about 10 'nations', Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic,Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, etc. So also U.S.A. Russia, France, Germany, etc. Almost all countries have people of different religions.

So what will talks achieve ? If there really are good relations between India and Pakistan, then the very purpose of creating Pakistan will cease to exist. The solution is reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh under a strong, secular government which does not tolerate religious extremism of any kind and crushes it with an iron hand. but this reunification, though bound to happen, will probably take 15-20 years, because those who have divided us will not let us easily reunite, and we have to wage a long, arduous struggle to attain this objective

Dargahs and Sufis

I am strongly opposed to religious extremism. That is why I highly respect the Sufis, and I do not approve of the religious extremism and intolerance of the Wahabis.

Sufis were the liberals among the Muslims. They spread the message of love of God and love of all humanity ( not merely Muslims). While they were Muslims, they were of the view that there are other ways of approaching god, and not merely Islam.

As the great sufi saint, Nizamuddin Aulia said ( in Persian) on observing Hindu worshippers bathing in the Jamuna :
"Har qaum raast raahe, din-e-wa Qibla gaahe"

which means that every qaum or community has its own path for reaching god.

Sufis were often persecuted by the extremist Muslims for their belief in tasawwuf or mysticism, and were opposed by the Wahabis, who are fundamentalists among the Muslims.

The great Emperor Akbar, whom I regard, along with Ashoka, as the greatest ruler the world ( and not just India) has ever seen, had great respect for sufi saints e.g. Sheikh Salim Chishti, Moinuddin Chishti, etc. For about 12 years he used to annually visit the shrine of Sheikh Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.
Dargahs are shrines having the graves of sufi saints. HIndus do not go to mosques, Muslims do not go to temples, but both go to dargahs. Thus dargahs unite all communities, and I love whatever unites.

The Wahabi type Muslims regard dargahs as places of butparasti, or idol worship, which is forbidden by Islam. They believe that going to a dargah is worshipping the grave of the sufi saint, whereas Islam permits worship of only Allah. 

This only shows the foolishness and religious extremism of such people. By going to a dargah one only shows respect to the sufi saint, and it does not amount to worshipping his grave.

In Saudi Arabia dargahs will be immediately destroyed if built. In Pakistan many dargahs have been bombed, and many people going there killed. This shows the intolerance of such fanatics, and that is why Pakistan has become a Jurassic Park.

In a subcontinent of such diversity such as ours, religious tolerance is essential if we want our country to remain united and progress.

The need for tolerance

In Pakistan Ahmadis and Shias are often being killed,dargahs bombed. human rights activists and journalists, etc brutally murdered. 

Ahmadis believe that after Prophet Mohammed there was a Prophet Ghulam Ahmad in the 19th Century. Are they breaking anyone's head or cutting off anyone's limbs by saying this ? Those who believe that Mohammed was the last prophet are entitled to do so, and they may also say that Ahmadis are not Muslims ( just as Ahmadis may the same about them). But what right have they to kill Ahmadis, burn their mosques, and beat up their children ? This is just hooliganism.

Similarly, when the Shias do not accept the first three Khalifas (Abu Bakr, Omar and Usman) as genuine, and regard them as usurpers, are they breaking anyone's head or cutting off anyone's limbs ? Then what right has anyone to kill them or burn their mosques or beat up their children ? This is simply hooliganism. Many Muslims of Wahabi thinking believe that going to dargahs is butparasti ( worship of idols), since dargahs have graves of Sufi saints, and such persons believe that going to dargahs is worship of graves, which is idol worship prohibited by Islam.

Such people need not go to dargahs if they do not wish to, but why should they prevent others from doing so, and why should dargahs be bombed ? This is just hooliganism. In fact 80% Muslims not only in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh go to dargahs, and Hindus also go there.

We need tolerance if our country is to survive and prosper, otherwise it will become another Jurassic Park like Pakistan, where 1000 girls are stoned to death every year for alleged adultery, blasphemy laws,abduction, forcible conversion, etc are used to persecute non-Muslims, health workers who give polio drops to children and vaccinate them are killed, human rights activists, journalists, etc are brutally murdered.

In a subcontinent of such diversity as ours only tolerance and secularism can keep us together and take our country forward towards prosperity

'Qaid-e-Azam' Jinnah

Jinnah is called 'Qaid-e-Azam', ( leader of the People) by Pakistanis, who regard him as a hero.
But what is the reality ?

It was Jinnah who relentlessly advocated the bogus two nation theory (that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations) and the mischievous British policy of divide and rule which resulted in Partition of India in 1947 with all its horrors. (Please read Saadat Hasan Manto's stories about Partition in this connection).

It is estimated that as a result of Partition 5 lac Hindus and Muslims were killed and millions uprooted and driven out of their native places. Was he ever distressed by the terrible unhappiness which was caused as a direct result of his actions ? Not at all. All that he wanted was to satisfy his ambition to become Qaid-e-Azam and head of the fake, artificial country called Pakistan, which was the goal of the British whose loyal stooge he was, and the sole aim of creating which was to keep Hindus and Muslims fighting with each other.

Gandhiji was deeply distressed by the Partition riots, and he went to Noakhali and other places where Hindus and Muslims had been killed and tried to bring about peace. But did Jinnah ever do that ? Not at all. He remained comfortably throughout this holocaust in his home. Should such a man who caused such misery and grief to millions be respected ?

Pakistan- A Failed State

Pakistan was created on the basis of the bogus two nation theory of evil men like Jinnah. This subcontinent has so much diversity that a theocratic state is simply not viable, and only secularism can work here.

Many Muslims (not all) in India before 1947 wanted a separate Islamic state. They got it, and now they are reaping what they have sown. Pakistan has become a madhouse, a Jurassic Park. Shias, Ahmedis, etc are being slaughtered regularly, and many have fled the country. About 1000 women are stoned to death every year,the latest case being of Farzana who was recently stoned to death near the Lahore High Court by her father, brothers, etc because she married a man whom her father disapproved of. Human rights activists, journalists, etc are being killed regularly. Children are not being permitted to be vaccinated against polio, etc.

When a country is declared an Islamic state, many problems immediately arise. Firstly, non-Muslims immediately become second rate or third rate citizens, and so the country becomes a house divided within itself, which,as Abraham Lincoln said, cannot stand. In Pakistan, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, etc are persecuted and live in fear from fanatic elements, of which there are many in Pakistan.

Secondly, the problem arises, which Islam is the correct Islam, Sunni or Shia, Deobandi or Barelvi ? Are Ahmadis Muslims ?

The orthodox Muslims believe that Muhammed was the last Prophet, while the Ahmadis believe in a nabi called Ghulam Ahmad who lived the 19th Century. It is, of course, open to the orthodox Muslims to say that Ahmadis are not Muslims, but did they have the right to kill Ahmadis, burn their homes and mosques, and beat up their children.

If Ahmadis say that there was a prophet after Muhammed, are they breaking anyone's head or chopping of anyone's limbs? They are not doing any harm to anyone. So why should they not be allowed to believe in whatever they want to believe ?

Muslims believe that there is only one god called Allah, and they are against idol worship. Hindus believe in several gods, and do idol worship. So should the two communities fight with each other for this reason ? This would be stupid.

The reasonable approach is that everyone should be allowed to believe whatever he/she wants to believe in. Otherwise in a subcontinent of such diversity there will be fights all the time.

Sunnis believe in four khalifas after Prophet Muhammed's death---Abu Bakr, Omar, Usman, and Ali (the Prophet's son-in-law). Shias believe that the first three were usurpers. Shias also believe in 12 Imams, which the Sunnis do not believe in. Now should Sunnis and Shias fight for this reason ? It is stupid to do so. Let everyone believe whatever he/she want to believe in. That is the only sensible way, particularly in a country of such diversity as ours. But in Pakistan Shias are regularly being killed just because they are Shias.

Sunnis are broadly divided between Barelvis and Deobandis.

Barelvis (who comprise of the majority of Sunnis) go to dargahs which have graves of Sufi saints, while Deobandis regard this as idol worship. 

The basic difference between Deobandis and Barelvis is this : Deobandis believe that if one has to make a request ( minnat) to Allah he should make it directly to Allah, and not through some human agency, whereas Barelvis believe that the request can also be made through a human agency, e.g. a sufi saint whose grave is in a dargah, e.g. the Ajmer dargah (which Emperor Akbar used to regularly visit), the Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia dargah in Delhi, etc Deobandis usually do not go to dargahs, regarding them to be places of idol worship. They are like the Wahabis of Saudi Arabia, who regard dargahs as places of idol worship (Saudis destroy dargahs if built by anyone).

The interesting thing is that the vast majority of Muslims not only in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh go to dargahs. Even Hindus go to dargahs, and in many dargahs there are more Hindu devotes than Muslims (though the management is always of some Muslims, e.g. the Chishti family in Ajmer).

I myself like dargahs, and regularly visit them. This is because Hindus do not go to mosques, and Muslims do not go to temples, but both go to dargahs. So dargahs unite all communities, and I love whatever unites all communities.

Now if a deobandi does not wish to go to dargahs he need not go there. But the matter does not end there. In Pakistan, dargahs are being bombed by fanatic elements. Should such bigotry be tolerated?

All this is the inevitable consequence of declaring an Islamic state. In a subcontinent of such diversity. Only a secular state is viable here.

Secularism does not mean that one cannot practice one's religion. Secularism means that religion is a private affair unconnected with the state, which will have no religion

A Failed State

Mahwash Badar, a Pakistani woman, in an article published on 12.5.2014, writes : " Jinnah made a mistake and I am ashamed of being a Pakistani. I am ashamed that I belong to a country that kills human rights lawyers and sitting Governors, and issues death threats to University Professors. I am ashamed that we cannot protect our women and children, and we cannot protect our men from the evil that is extremism and fundamentalism.

Last year a polio worker was killed in Peshawar, and another shot dead in Khyber agency. Several were kidnapped in Bara. In January this year gunmen killed 5 health workers taking part in a polio vaccination drive in Karachi. The highest refusal rates for polio vaccination were recorded in Karachi, because the people there have 'little faith in public healthcare'. In North Waziristan, the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan ( TTP) has forbidden vaccination since several years.

Everything that is reported about Pakistan is about death, destruction, squabbling politicians, ailing children, extremists blowing up things, and a struggling economy.

I raise my eyes to our neighbouring country, India. What would have happened if we were united? Maybe we would be polio free too. We share with our Indian brothers not only our DNA. Our food, language, clothes, lifestyles, etc are more like them than the Arabs we so badly want to mimic and ape. 
Pakistan is a fledgling and failed state ".

As regards my own views about Pakistan, see my article "The truth about Pakistan", which is available online. I have mentioned there that Pakistan is a fake, artificial country mischievously created by the British to keep Hindus and Muslims fighting with each other so that India (in which I include Pakistan) may not emerge as a modern, powerful industrial state (like China), which alone can abolish poverty, unemployment, lack of healthcare and good education, and other social and economic evils widespread in our sub continent today.

Apart from the fact that the two nation theory (that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations) was bogus and mischievously created by the British and their agents ( Jinnah, etc), another important problem arises when an Islamic state is created in our subcontinent : Which Islam is the true Islam, Sunni or Shia, Bareilvi or Deobandi, etc, etc.

I submit that in view of the tremendous diversity in our sub continent only a secular state is feasible here. Secularism does not mean that one cannot practise his religion. Secularism means that religion is a private affair, unconnected with the state which will have no religion.

A Welcome Move: Invitation to Nawaz Sharif

The invitation by Mr. Modi to the Pakistan Prime Minister to attend the oath taking ceremony should be welcomed.

All well meaning people should want good relations between India and Pakistan. We are both poor countries. About 75% people in both countries suffer from poverty, hunger, unemployment, and lack of health care and good education for the masses.

We both presently spend huge amounts on our armed forces. If we have good relations this huge amount of money can be spent on eliminating the abovementioned socio-economic evils and on welfare programmes. If, however, we fight with each other we will continue  to spend huge amounts on armaments ( presently both India and Pakistan are among the 5 top purchasers of arms in the world). India's 2013-14 defence budget was Rs. 2 lakh crores (over $40 billion) of which over 41% was for buying new weapons. 

The test of every system is whether it is raising the standard of living of the masses. Poverty, hunger, unemployment, disease, etc have no religion or caste. Therefore India and Pakistan should collaborate in eliminating our massive socio-economic evils, rather than fighting with each other.

  -Justice Katju

The truth about Pakistan

“Dekho mujhe jo deeda-e-ibrat nigah ho,
 Meri suno jo gosh-e-naseehat niyosh hai.”

– Mirza Ghalib

According to reports, Pakistani cities - Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, etc - are rapidly becoming killing fields, with bomb blasts and gun firing a regular occurrence, and ethnic violence between Sunnis and Shias, and persecution of minorities escalating. Nobody knows that when he steps out into the streets of these cities whether or not he will return alive. A beautiful metropolitan city like Karachi is becoming, if it has not already become, a Jurassic Park.

Mr Shamshad Ahmed, in his article, entitled “May You Live Long, Katju!”, published in TheNation on February 26, 2013, has said that the present situation in Pakistan is due to “a failure of governance, not of the nationhood.” I respectfully beg to differ.

In my opinion, the present violent strifes and disturbances in Pakistan are the logical and inevitable result of creating a theocratic state in this subcontinent and, hence, the only solution is the reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh under a strong, secular, modern minded government, which does not tolerate religious extremism and bigotry, whether Hindu or Muslim, and crushes it with an iron hand.

To explain my point, I have to delve into history. As explained in my article, “What is India”, in my blog: justicekatju.blogspot.in (as well as in the video on the website: kgfindia.com), India (in which I include Pakistan) is broadly a country of immigrants like North America. The ancestors of 92 to 93 percent people living today in our subcontinent were not the original inhabitants here, but came from outside, mainly from the northwest (the original inhabitants being the pre-Dravidian tribals). People migrate from uncomfortable areas to comfortable areas, and India was a paradise for agriculture, with level land, fertile soil, plenty of water for irrigation, etc. Why should anyone living in India migrate to say, Afghanistan, which is cold, mountainous  covered with snow for several months in a year , and very uncomfortable? Hence for thousands of years people have been pouring into India, mainly from North West. It is for this reason that India has so much diversity - so many religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, etc because each group of immigrants brought their own language, religion and customs.

Hence, the only policy that can work in our subcontinent is secularism and equal respect to all communities and sects. This was the policy of the great Emperor Akbar, whom I regard (along with Ashoka) as the greatest ruler the world has ever seen. At a time when the Europeans were massacring each other in the name of religion (Catholics massacring Protestants and vice versa), Akbar, who was far ahead of his times, declared his policy of Suleh-e-Kul, i.e. universal toleration of all religions, and it is because of this policy that the Mughal Empire lasted so long. It was Emperor Akbar who laid the foundation on which the Indian nation is still standing, his policy being continued by Jawaharlal Nehru and his colleagues who gave India a secular constitution.

Up to 1857, there were no communal problems in India; all communal riots and animosity began after 1857. No doubt even before 1857, there were differences between Hindus and Muslims, the Hindus going to temples and the Muslims going to mosques, but there was no animosity. In fact, the Hindus and Muslims used to help each other; Hindus used to participate in Eid celebrations, and Muslims in Holi and Diwali. The Muslim rulers like the Mughals, Nawab of Awadh and Murshidabad, Tipu Sultan, etc were totally secular; they organised Ramlilas, participated in Holi, Diwali, etc. Ghalib’s affectionate letters to his Hindu friends like Munshi Shiv Naraln Aram, Har Gopal Tofta, etc attest to the affection between Hindus and Muslims at that time

In 1857, the ‘Great Mutiny’ broke out in which the Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. This shocked the British government so much that after suppressing the Mutiny, they decided to start the policy of divide and rule (see online “History in the Service of Imperialism” by B.N. Pande). All communal riots began after 1857, artificially engineered by the British authorities. The British collector would secretly call the Hindu Pandit, pay him money, and tell him to speak against Muslims, and similarly he would secretly call the Maulvi, pay him money, and tell him to speak against Hindus. This communal poison was injected into our body politic year after year and decade after decade.

In 1909, the ‘Minto-Morley Reforms’ introduced separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims. The idea was propagated that Hindi is the language of Hindus, while Urdu of Muslims (although Urdu was the common language of all educated people, whether Hindu, Muslim or Sikh up to 1947). All this vicious propaganda resulted in the partition of 1947, which created a fake, artificial theocratic nation called Pakistan.

Nation states arose in Europe around the 15th century because of the rise of modern industry. Modern industry, unlike feudal handicraft industry, requires a big market for its goods and a large area from where it can get raw materials.

The creation of a state based on religion destroys the very basis of a nation, because it cuts off industries from markets and raw materials. British imperialism created India as a big administrative unit. The British policy was to prohibit the growth of heavy industry in India; otherwise, the Indian industry, with its cheap labour, would have become a powerful rival to British industry.

When the British left India, they divided us so that we may remain backward and weak, and not emerge as a modern powerful industrial state (for which we have all the potential). This was the real reason for creating Pakistan.

I submit that Pakistan was doomed from its very inception; firstly, because there is such tremendous diversity in our subcontinent that only secularism can work here and secondly, because a modern nation cannot be based on religion (because this will cut it off from its markets and raw materials).

Mr Shamshad Ahmed has written in an email to me that I should try to bring the two countries closer, instead of challenging the very raison d’etre of Pakistan. I replied that I do not believe that there are two nations, there is only one nation, that is India, and Pakistan is part of India. Pakistan was created in pursuance of the wicked British policy of divide and rule and the bogus Two Nation Theory, whose whole aim was to make Hindus and Muslims fight with each other. I am confident that with time people, both in India and Pakistan, will realise the truth in what I am saying, and India and Pakistan will reunite under a strong, secular government that deals with religious extremism, whether Hindu or Muslim, with an iron hand.

Secularism does not mean that one cannot practice his religion. It means that religion is a private affair, unconnected with the state that will have no religion.

When I meet my Pakistani friends (and I have lots of them), we speak in Hindustani, we look like each other, and feel no difference between ourselves. We were befooled by the Britishers into thinking that we are enemies, but how much longer must we remain befooled? How much longer must blood flow in religious violence in Quetta, Karachi, Gujarat, Kashmir etc.

Mr Shamshad Ahmed wrote in his email to me that he doubted whether any Pakistani newspaper would publish my article challenging the very existence of Pakistan. I replied that I did not care whether it would be published or not, but I will not deviate from what I believe is the truth. In Sanskrit, there is a saying, “Satyamev Jayate”, which means “truth ultimately triumphs”. And as Nietzsche said in “Thus Spake Zarathustra”: “What matter about thyself, Zarathustra! Say thy word and break into pieces!”

( Published in The Nation on March 02, 2013 )

Correspondence with Mr. Shamshad Ahmed and Editor of 'The Nation':

1. Email to Editor of The Nation

Dear Sir,

 I am a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and, presently, am the Chairman of the Press Council of India. I understand that you are the publisher/editor of the newspaper TheNation. I read online an article in your esteemed newspaper entitled “May You Live Long, Katju!” by Mr Shamshad Ahmed, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, criticising my views expressed in a speech given by me some time back in a function in New Delhi. In that speech, I said that Pakistan is a fake and artificial country created by the British and their agents in pursuance of the wicked British policy of divide and rule and the bogus Two Nation Theory (i.e. Hindus and Muslims are two nations). In reality, there is no such thing as Pakistan; there is Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North West Frontier Province, all of which are really part of India. The purpose of partitioning the country and creating Pakistan was to make Hindus and Muslims keep fighting with each other even after the British withdraw from the subcontinent so that India (of which I regard Pakistan as a part) may remain weak. When I meet my Pakistani friends, we talk in Hindustani and we feel no different from each other. In my opinion, India and Pakistan will reunite in the next 20 years or so under a strong secular modern minded government, which will not tolerate religious extremism, whether Hindu or Muslim, and crush it with an iron hand. I would like to send you my rejoinder to Mr Shamshad Ahmed's article, if you are willing to publish it. I know it may require courage to publish my article, but the time has come when the truth must be told to people. 

Regards, 

Justice Katju

 2. Email to Mr. Shamshad Ahmed (former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan) :

Dear Mr Shamshad Ahmed, 

I read your article in TheNation (February 26th issue) on my views about Pakistan being a fake and artificial nation created by the British on the basis of the bogus Two Nation Theory in pursuance of their wicked policy of divide and rule. I would like to write and get published my rejoinder. In my opinion, India and Pakistan are really one nation temporarily divided, but which is bound to reunite in the next 20 years or so under a strong, secular modern minded government, which does not tolerate religious extremism and bigotry, whether Hindu or Muslim, and crushes it with an iron hand. Unfortunately, I do not have the email ID of TheNation to whom I would like to send my article. Could you please send it to me? Could you also ask the editor and let me know whether the newspaper would be willing to publish my rejoinder? I would be obliged. 

Regards, Justice Katju 

3. Mr. Shamshad Ahmed's Reply:

 Dear Justice Katju,

 I just saw your message. Let me tell you, difference of outlook on nationhood aside, I am one of your admirers. I was telling this to Shahid Malik, who is a good friend of mine. In my view, you will serve your 'cause' well by focusing more on bringing the two countries closer on their outstanding issues. On my part, like several of my Indian counterparts, I remain engaged with them on Track Two for reducing India-Pakistan tensions and helping them resolve their outstanding problems. I am proud of co-authoring the 'Composite Dialogue' with my Indian counterpart Salman Haider in June 1997, a process that in my view must continue purposefully to bring the two estranged countries together.  I am not sure if TheNation will publish your article. The media freedom is only a farce, not only in our countries, but also in West's champions of free press. I have been sending articles critical of American global policies and overbearing power-based agenda to Western newspapers. None was accepted. Even The New York Times and Washington Post are allergic to anyone else writing against American policies. More than anyone else, you know better the reality of 'free media' today. With more and more corporate conglomerates owning the news outlets, the media is becoming a commercial enterprise. They print what sells. This is the story all around. I am not sure any newspaper in Pakistan will print anything questioning Pakistan's raison d'etre. But you may try. Here is their email address. Do let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. My best regards and good wishes to you.  

 Shamshad

4. Email to Mr.Shamshad Ahmed :

 Dear Shamshad Sahib, 

Thank you for your email. There is no question of bringing two countries together when there is, in fact, a single country, India. Pakistan is a fake country, artificially created by the British in pursuance of their nefarious policy of divide and rule and the bogus Two Nation Theory. Pakistan is, in fact, a part of India, and we will be reunited, maybe in 20 years or so, under a strong, secular, modern minded government, which does not tolerate religious extremism, whether Hindu or Muslim, and crushes it with an iron hand. Your 'Quaid' was just a British agent, who was shamelessly furthering the wicked British divide and rule policy. The whole game of the British was that even after they withdraw from India (and Pakistan is part of India), our country should remain weak, for which it was necessary to divide us on religious lines and make us keep fighting with each other. It is time someone spoke the truth and, perhaps, it is for me to bell the cat. When I meet my Pakistani friends, we speak in Hindustani, we look like each other and feel no difference between ourselves. We were befooled by the Britishers into thinking that we are each others’ enemies, but how much longer must we remain befooled? I do not care whether my article (which I am working on) is published or not, but I will not deviate from what I believe is the truth. In Sanskrit, there is a saying: “Satyamev Jayate”, which means “ultimately truth wins”. 

Regards, 

Justice Katju

India and Pakistan : The Case for Reunification

In a function held recently in Delhi I said that the only solution to the Kashmir issue was reunification of India and Pakistan under a strong, secular, modern minded government which does not tolerate religious fanaticism or bigotry and suppresses it with an iron hand.

In response 'The Pakistan Observer' said that I had gone mad and become a lunatic. Well, everyone is entitled to his opinions, but is my view really so bizarre ?

When I meet Pakistanis (and I have many Pakistani friends ) I feel no different from them. We talk in Hindustani and feel one. Recently I had a long meeting at my residence with Dr. Khalil Chishty and his wife and son soon after the Supreme Court judgment in his case.In foreign countries Indians and Pakistanis mix up as if Partition has not taken place. And what is the basis of Partition ? It is the bogus two nation theory, that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations. I submit that this theory was only a product of the British policy of divide and rule to make Hindus and Muslims fight with each other. 

If this theory, that religion is the basis of a nation, is accepted then logically England should be partitioned into at least 6 states. The majority in England are Anglican Protestant Christians, but there are many Scottish Presbyterians, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, etc. Similarly, France has a sizeable Muslim population (descendants of North African Arabs belonging to the former French colonies in North Africa). The French Muslims too should be given a separate state (if the two nation theory is accepted as valid ). 

Anyone can see that this will create chaos. Hardly any country can survive if this theory is accepted because in almost every country there are people of different religions. And in the Indian subcontinent secularism is all the more vital in view of the tremendous diversity here (because the Indian subcontinent is broadly a country of immigrants, as I have pointed out in my article 'What is India' on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in and in the video on the website kgfindia.com ). 

We can see the result of creating a theocratic state (Pakistan) in which chaos and religious extremism is prevailing so that people cannot lead normal lives. Apart from the minorities (Hindus, Christians, Sikhs,etc), Ahmadis, Shias, etc are also persecuted, and intolerance and terrorism is the order of the day. So secularism is the only policy which is suitable to our subcontinent. 

Secularism does not mean that one cannot practice his religion. Secularism means that religion is a private affair unconnected with the state, which will have no religion. 

Some people asked me whether my idea of a united India and Pakistan is feasible. I replied that I know this unity will not be achieved in a short time. However, I am planting a seed. No doubt it will take 10 or 15 years for the seed to become a tree, but if the seed is not planted today there will be no fruit bearing tree in 10 or 15 years. I am confident that a united, secular, modern minded, India will come into existence one day, but whether I will live to see that day is doubtful (I am 67 years old, though mentally still young )

Ecrasez L’ infame - II

When I was a Judge in Allahabad High Court a criminal appeal came before me in which some Muslim boys had been convicted by the trial Court for gang raping a young Dalit Hindu girl.

                In Uttar Pradesh (which is the largest State in India of about 200 million people) Muslims are about 18% of the total population, but in that particular village in U.P. where this incident happened 90% people were Muslims, and only about 10% Hindus, most of them being dalits (or low caste Hindus).

                I upheld the conviction, and observed that a hallmark of a civilized society is the protection it gives to minorities. It is the solemn duty of every person belonging to the majority community in a particular area to see to it that the minorities in that area live with dignity and respect. In that particular case it was the duty of the Muslims of that village (who were 90% in that village) to ensure that the Hindus could live with respect, but instead of doing so the accused had gang raped a dalit girl. Hence they deserved harsh punishment.

               I also observed in the same judgment that had the Hindus been the majority in the village it would have been their duty to see that Muslims or Christian (or any other minority in the village) could live with dignity, and if in such a village some Hindus committed a similar crime they would also be given harsh punishment.

The judgment assumes importance in view of the growing intolerance in many parts of the Indian subcontinent. The treatment to North East people in many parts of India, to Muslims in Gujarat, the terror created in the tiny Hindu and other minorities in Pakistan, are a disgrace to all of us. It shows that we are not really civilized.

  Thomas Jefferson in his book ‘Notes on Virginia’ writes “It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg”.

The spirit of tolerance is particularly important in our sub continent which has such tremendous diversity----- so many religions (and so many sects in these religions), so many castes, languages, ethnic groups etc.

                In my earlier article ‘Ecrasez L’infame’ I said that the ill treatment by many of us of the North East Indians is a disgrace. The atrocities on Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and on Sikhs in 1984 are a disgrace.  Similarly, the ill treatment of minorities in Pakistan (whether Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadis, Shias or any other minority) is a disgrace, and invites Voltaire’s famous comment: Ecrasez L’ infame (Crush the Infamy).

                In my article ‘What is India’  I said that India is a country of immigrants (like North America) whose 92-93% population today are not the original inhabitants but descendants of immigrants who migrated into India because people migrate from uncomfortable places to comfortable places. India was a paradise for agricultural societies because it has level land, fertile soil, plenty of water for irrigation, etc unlike countries like Afghanistan which are rocky, cold, covered with snow for several months in a year, and hence very uncomfortable. Hence for thousands of year people kept coming into India, mainly from the North West. This comment is also true of Pakistan, and it explains the tremendous diversity in our sub continent, because each group of immigrants brought in their own language, religion, customs, etc. 

As the great Urdu poet Firaq Gorakhpuri wrote:

                “Sar Zameen-e-Hind par aqwaam-e-Alam ke Firaq

                   Qafile guzarte gaye, Hindustan banta gaya”

               The only policy therefore which can work in our sub continent is secularism, and giving equal respect to all communities, religious, lingual, regional or racial. This was the policy of the great Emperor Akbar who gave equal respect to all communities.

                Secularism does not mean that one cannot practice one’s religion. It means that religion is a private affair, unconnected with the State (which will have no religion) and everyone has the freedom to practice one’s   own religion without harassment or coercion from anyone. But in my opinion secularism means something more than merely accepting the rights of others to practice their own religion. It also means that minorities will be entitled to lead a life of dignity and respect, and it is the duty of the majority to ensure this. Hence every incident of ill treatment of minorities in India or Pakistan is a disgrace to the majority people there who have failed in their solemn duty of protecting minorities.

Published in The Express Tribune On August 23,2012