Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
DILEMMAS OF DEFEAT: WHITHER BJP?
Ram Puniyani
The poor performance of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 15th Parliamentary elections in India held in May 2009 has triggered a lot of internal skirmishes in the party not the least important of which is the expulsion of its important leaders like Jaswant Singh, Arun Shouri, Yashwant Sinha and Sudheendra Kulkarni. Obviously this cleanup operation is being conducted on the orders of BJP’s ideological boss, the Hindu fascist outfit Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS). If so, should we expect a decline of BJP in the Indian political spectrum in the absence of a major crack in RSS?
MAULANA AZAD AND PARTITION
Asghar Ali Engineer
In the current debate on partition started by Jaswant Singh’s book every one is talking about the role of Jinnah, Nehru and Sardar Patel in partitioning of India but hardly anyone has mentioned what Maulana Azad, an important leader of Indian National Congress and an eminent scholar of Islam who held post of President of the Congress for six long years before partition, had done to avert partition.
JASWANT SINGH’S BOOK – AN EPIPHENOMENAL WORK
C.M. Naim
Any one who can write, can also write a book in history- what you write is a different matter. The aspiring Indian political leaders Jaswant Singh ventured to write a book on the dynamics of India’s partition in 1947; not knowing the complexity he resorted to plagiarism – not a little but a lot… as revealed in the article by Professor Naim.
INDIA’S NUCLEAR FIZZLE – WHAT SHOULD PAKISTAN DO?
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Prime Minister Vajpayee proudly smiled after India’s Pokhram nuclear explosion in 1998. But the exercise was no where close to success it claimed. India’s nuclear hawks want to improve upon it. Why?
CNDP WELCOMES OBAMA STANCE ON MISSILE DEFENSE PROGRAM
The US president announced to scrap that he Ballistic Missile Defense deployment in Eastern Europe. It has been welcomed by Russia and peace activists in India.
ISHRAT JAHAN: MURDER IN COLD BLOOD
Ram Puniyani
Ishrat Jahan’s murder in Gujarat is yet another instance of death during fake encounters of Muslim youth by Narendra Modi’s government.
MARGINALISATION AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE MINORITIES: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR CHARLES AMJAD-ALI
Muhammad Badar Alam
The persecution of minority communities in Pakistan is increasing in intensity and vulgarity. It has become a matter of serious concern for the democratic forces in Pakistan. INSAF Bulletin had in the past highlighted this issue. Here we present an analysis of this unfortunate development by Professor Amjad-Ali.
THE SENTENCING J.S TISSAINAYAGAM: NOT IN MY NAME!
Sandun Ratnaweera
The war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in which the Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka emerged victorious, was coupled with most arbitrary suppression of the freedom of press. Here is an example of how base are the actions of the government.
SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS: NEED TO DO MORE TO GET THE MONEY BACK
Arun Kumar
Switzerland banks are the most secretive and hence safest for the scoundrels of the world including from the USA and India. The US used its long arm to force Swiss banks to reveal the secret bank holdings of a number of Americans but refuses the same privilege to the government of India.
THE STORY OF MY SHOE
Mutadhar al-Zaidi
Mutadhar al-Zaidi is the person who introduced the culture of throwing shoes at filthy political leaders by his daring action when President Bush last visited Iraq. Al-Zaidi was arrested for this patriotic act of throwing his shoes at the US President . He has now been released and here is what he has to say about why he did what he did.
SANDWICHED BETWEEN EXTREME RIGHT AND LEFT, CAN OBAMA SURVIVE?
Daya Varma
Is President Obama being attacked from all sides only because of racism, as Ex-President Carter says, or, also because of his attempt to reverse Bush’s policies?
REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL: THE SERIOUS OBAMA
Of all the left political figures, Fidel Castro, perhaps the most important of them all presents a realistic and somewhat positive assessment of President Obama.
OBITUARY: DORIS BRIN WALKER (1919-2009)
Marjorie Cohn
Doris “Dobby” Brin Walker, the first woman president of the National Lawyers Guild, died on August 13 at the age of 90. Doris was a brilliant lawyer and a tenacious defender of human rights. The only woman in her University of California Berkeley law school class, Doris defied the odds throughout her life, achieving significant victories for labor and political activists.
OBITUARY: FRANS MASANGO (1958-2009)
“We dip our revolutionary banner in honour of this distinguished cadre and a selfless combatant who sacrificed immensely to the democratic order we live in today..” The African National Congress (ANC) statement.