Is Al Qa’ida in pieces?

It continues to mount brutally effective operations around the world, but from Saudi Arabia to the streets of east London, hardline Islamists are turning against Al-Qa’ida in unprecedented numbers. Is the global terror network self-destructing? A special report by Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank in The Independent:

Within a few minutes of Noman Benotman’s arrival at the Kandahar guest house, Osama bin Laden came to welcome him. The journey from Kabul had been hard - 17 hours in a Toyota pick-up truck, bumping along what passed as the main highway to southern Afghanistan. It was the summer of 2000, and Benotman, then a leader of a group trying to overthrow the Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, had been invited by Bin Laden to a conference of jihadists from around the Arab world, the first of its kind since al-Qa’ida had moved to Afghanistan in 1996. Benotman, the scion of an aristocratic family marginalised by Qaddafi, had known Bin Laden from their days fighting the communist Afghan government in the early 1990s, a period when Benotman established himself as a leader of the militant Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

The night of Benotman’s arrival, Bin Laden threw a lavish banquet in the main hall of his compound, an unusual extravagance for the frugal al-Qa’ida leader. As Bin Laden circulated, making small talk, large dishes of rice and platters of whole roasted lamb were served to some 200 jihadists, many of whom had come from around the Middle East. “It was one big reunification,” Benotman recalls. “The leaders of most of the jihadist groups in the Arab world were there and almost everybody within al-Qa’ida.”

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‘Democracy is now psephocracy’

Famously trenchant political psychologist Ashis Nandy is charged with criminal offence by the Gujarat police for “inflaming” communal hatred. His crime: an article he wrote in January blaming Gujarat’s middle-class Hindus for destroying communal harmony in the state. In Outlook, Sheela Reddy interviews Nandy:

Is the middle class more culpable than Modi in drawing the battleline between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat?

Modi does represent the class. Development authoritarianism like in Singapore and China today is a hidden dream of the Indian middle class too. Modi personifies that dream. However, there is a larger issue involved here. Indian democracy is fast degenerating into a psephocracy-a system totally dominated by electoral victories and defeats.The moment you enter office, you begin to think of the next election.

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Previously in AW: The harassment of Ashish Nandy

The harassment of Ashish Nandy

India’s leading intellectual, political psychologist and sociologist Ashish Nandy wrote an article in The Times of India on communalism in Gujarat society and the culture of its politics after the 2002 riots. The article titled “Blame the middle class” said:

Is it possible to look beyond the 35 years of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima facie, the answer is “no”. We can only wait for a new generation that will, out of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each other. In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not passively to keep values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of remorse and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions will triumph over the culture of the state’s urban middle class.

Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. The class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- respect and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the way Bengali babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different times have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class has smelt blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, finance and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are the lowest of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls the media and education, which have become hate factories in recent times. And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians who, at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more nationalist, bloodthirsty, and irresponsible.

Read the article here:

The Gujarat police has filed a criminal case against Nandy for ‘promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language.’ The article, the complaint says, was highly intemperate, vituperative and showed Gujaratis in a low light.

Nearly 200 academics and activists have signed a protest against “this latest case of harassment of intellectuals, journalists, artists, and public figures by antidemocratic forces that claim to speak on behalf of Hindu values sometimes and patriotism at other times, especially in Gujarat, but who have little understanding of either.”

Read the statement here:

The year of the rat is eating our vitals

In Mail Today, Manoj Joshi argues that the travails of the Congress seem to be deepening as the darkness descends on the political landscape of the country

JUST eight months or so ago, everything seemed to be going well for the world. The global economy was ticking along; the US, was headed for an election whose winner felt she was predestined; following a spectacular 2007 when its economy did even better than before, Beijing was readying itself for its coming out party, the 2008 summer Olympic games. In New Delhi there was a government which was beginning to believe that given the disarray in the ranks of the principal Opposition party, and the country’s buoyant economy, the next election was a cakewalk.

Then came the Year of the Rat and everything seems to be in turmoil. Things are not looking too good, not for the world, not for India. Super-billionaire Warren Buffet has declared that the US is now in a recession, one that could last for several years. Having managed to beat down the pro-Tibet agitation, China has been struck by a natural calamity of enormous proportions. The May 12 earthquake has taken 100,000 lives and caused widespread destruction and has brought a pall of gloom over the country which the Olympic celebrations will not lighten. As for India, it is gripped by a different kind of a crisis, a madness, if you will, that is impelling our political class to wantonly undermine, squander, and even destroy, every opportunity and advantage the country has been blessed with.

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After the honeymoon

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is pulling his party out of the new government. The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad looks at why, and what happens next.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N decision to quit the cabinet has been on the cards for a while.

So when the party’s nine ministers handed in their resignations on Tuesday it did not come as a surprise. The biggest party in the cabinet is the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Its leader is Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto. Since the PPP and the PML-N trounced President Pervez Musharraf’s allies in February’s general elections, Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif have appeared to enjoy an excellent relationship.

And Tuesday’s cabinet split may not be as dramatic as it appears.

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The pilgrim prince

The Gandhi name can be both a burden and a gift. With the tours of rural India, is Rahul Gandhi starting to find his feet, asks Shoma Chaudhury in Tehelka:

IT’S 6 PM in Jagdalpur, 300-odd kilometres away from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. Four Scorpio-loads of journalists have travelled here from faraway Delhi, in search of an elusive moment with Rahul Gandhi. A surprising sense of order grips the air. Everyone seems to know what they have to do; things move with clockwork precision. Rahul Gandhi is due any moment for a small closed-door meeting with tribal representatives. A slow but efficient line of people are snaking their way through the door. A frisk, and a question: Are you a tribal? Where is your card? Several sundry enthusiasts want to get in, many have travelled long miles, but they are turned away: this is strictly a meeting for tribal representatives. The journalists are made to stand about a 100 metres away, resolutely cordoned off by a polite row of sten-gun carrying cops. Rahul does not want media intruding on his meeting.

A few minutes later, almost on the dot, Rahul’s BMW SUV pulls up in a convoy of heavy security. It’s hot outside. The mosquitoes are humming in maddening towers overhead. He does not wave at the media, but walks with single- minded focus into the room and squats on the floor with the waiting audience. Their discussions are impossible to overhear.

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City of dreadful knights

Sagarika Ghose in the Hindustan Times says regional chauvanism rather than urban infrastructure is the priority of politicians who control cities like Mumbai and Bangalore

Ah, the great Indian city! The lack of urban infrastructure destroying the infrastructure of the human soul. By 2020 Mumbai will have a population of 20 million. Bangalore, already with 6.5 million inhabitants has seen phenomenal growth. Three hundred million Indians live in urban areas; the figure will spurt by 40 per cent in the next 11 years. Whatever the rural romantics may say, India’s future is irreversibly urban. Mumbai and Bangalore are symbols of the urban Indian dream, the first, whose present chief minister claims will be a new Shanghai, the second, which a former CM wanted to make into another Singapore.

But forget Shanghai and Singapore, which instead are the voices that are speaking the loudest for the Indian city? The new voices that are yelling into the urban skyline are anything but urbane or metropolitan. In Mumbai, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has declared war on north Indians, mimicking what he calls their strange accents, noisy pujas, nasty civic manners and demanding preferential treatment in jobs for local Maharashtrians. Raj Thackeray wants north Indians out of Mumbai. In Bangalore, as the campaign for the forthcoming assembly elections gathers momentum, another ‘son of the soil’ is also demanding reservations for locals. H.D. Deve Gowda’s political manifesto demands 30 per cent reservation of jobs in the infotech and biotech sectors for local Kannadigas.

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Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani: A mandate against Musharraf

Pakistan’s newly-elected prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani talks about his plans for the country and his priorities. Ron Moreau in Newsweek:

The United States has said that if Pakistan cannot control the border then it will take unilateral actions. And there have been reports of U.S. Predator aircraft striking inside Pakistan without Islamabad ‘ s consent. Is this happening and, if so, will it continue?
We believe in democracy and the rule of law, and we want respect for the sovereignty of the country. Since I have been the chief executive, these [unilateral attacks] have never happened, and they will never happen again. We are capable ourselves.

Can you work with President Musharraf, whose regime threw you in jail for five years?
My having been in jail has nothing to do with my position today. The Pakistan Peoples Party believes in peace and reconciliation. We don’t want to fight for non-issues. I’m not bitter at all.

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Why India would like McCain as US President

Indians would prefer Obama or Clinton, but not the Indian government, says Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar in The Times of India:

Which of the three candidates for the US Presidency - Hilary Clinton, Barak Obama, and John McCain - will be best for India? Most Indians would opt for Obama or Clinton. But from a policy viewpoint, McCain would be best for India.

Indians have followed with fascination the Democratic struggle in primaries between Clinton and Obama. Through history, all presidential candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties have been white males. This time, all white males have been eliminated early in the Democratic primaries, and the race is now between a woman and a black.

Indian feminists would love to see Clinton win. The US constitution in 1787 had a noble vision of equality for all humans, yet women did not get the vote till 1920. For a woman to be elected this year would be a US landmark.

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Meanwhile, with the other Gandhi: Rahul as PM?

Congress president Sonia Gandhi snubs Human Resource Development minister Arjun Singh by saying the ‘prime minister’s post is not vacant’. Congress spokeswoman Jayanti Natarajan says there is no place for ’sycophancy’ in the Congress party. But is there more to Arjun Singh’s endorsement of Rahul Gandhi as prime minister than meets the eye? Alistair Scrutton in Reuters looks at the issue

Important voices are being raised in favour of Rahul Gandhi as India’s next prime minister, as the ruling party looks to its family dynasty to fill a leadership vacuum as a general election approaches.

“What is wrong in wanting a young person like Rahul Gandhi to be Congress’s prime ministerial candidate?” Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, one of the ruling Congress party’s elder statesmen, told Indian Express newspaper.

Similar comments from Singh were widely reported across India’s media. They were followed by another statement of support, this time from Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, one of the government’s key regional allies.

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To know what sister and private citizen Priyanka has been up to, go to AW’s earlier post here.

Bush aide thinks Nepal and Tibet are the same

From The Huffington Post:

President Bush’s National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos and repeatedly confused Nepal and Tibet.

Discussing how Bush has “no reason not to go” to this summer’s Olympic games in Beijing and how boycotting them would be wrong, Hadley discussed the outcry over Tibet and the US response, only he kept saying Nepal.

“If countries are really concerned about Nepal, we shouldn’t have this sort of non-issue of opening ceremonies or not. They should do the hard work of quiet diplomacy to urge the Chinese government — in their interest — to take advantage of this opportunity to do something,” Hadley said.

[via sajaforum.org]

More here… and also watch the video of the gaffe:

India takes cricket to China

From The Times, UK:

It is a game so complex - nay, fiendish - that one would think its popularity among the Chinese would be assured, but for decades it was banned under communism as a pursuit of imperialist lackeys. Now India is taking cricket to China as it attempts to turn its obsession with the game into a global money-spinner.

A first consignment of bats, balls and other paraphernalia will be sent to China in a month or two, according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The move follows a request from the Chinese authorities for help in cultivating a game now presented as good for socialist solidarity - a team sport that bonds players.

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Kosovo: Consequences for Asia

Kosovo’s independence  is a reminder of divisive issues best left alone, says  Philip Bowring on Asia Sentinel:

With its encouragement and then acceptance of Kosovo’s independence, the major western countries have opened a huge can of worms, setting themselves at odds not only with Russia and Serbia but much of the rest of the world, Asia in particular. With many countries in Asia having significant sectarian issues, most will either come out openly against recognizing Kosovo, or just quietly fail to do so.

The US and the major European powers, Germany, Britain and France, appear to have barely thought about the wider consequences of giving birth to a mini-state (population 2 million) with an aggrieved Serb minority supported by Serbia backed by Russia. In their myopia, the western nations seem to have believed that this was just an issue about the organization of European borders, forgetting about broader global implications. They also seem to have forgotten their history of this corner of the world where western Christendom meets both eastern Christendom and Islam.

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Can Kashmir be a Kosovo?

The principle on which Kosovo has been founded is antithetical to the concept of an inclusive democracy. Bharat Karnad, professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, writes in Mint.

It was said of the Balkans, by Winston Churchill, that the region makes more history than it can consume, much of it very convoluted and very bloody. This despite all the people in all the little states that made up the erstwhile Yugoslavia and, since the early 1990s, spinning off into several sovereign entities, being ethnically of the same “southern Slav” stock. The trouble is the Croats and the Slovenes are Catholic, the Serbs and the Montenegrins Russian Orthodox, and the Bosnian-Herzegovinians, like the Albanian Kosovars islanded in a Serb sea, Muslim. But who better to appreciate the pull of religion and the murderous friction it creates than us Indians?

Mint:

Mayawati: Untouchable and unstoppable

Mayawati overcame the prejudices of Indian society to become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Now she is talked of as a future prime minister. Andrew Buncombe reports from Lucknow in The Independent, UK.

The Indian sculptor Shraavan Prajapati says he is used to taking commissions from high-powered people who might be described as having a fondness for the limelight.

Last year, he received an order for half a dozen statues of herself by Mayawati Kumari, the all conquering Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP). And a decade or so ago, he says, he made a similar number of bronze statues for the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - including the one erected in Baghdad’s Firdos Square that was famously pulled down in a stunt organised by American troops.

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Modi, my maid and a few home truths

Posted by Daipayan Halder in his blog, Subaltern Studies

My maid is a Modi fan. She is a Maharashtrian, a Dalit (she told me so, I had no way of knowing) and an avid Muslim hater (I knew this morning). She had gone to hear Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi (the same man who had been variously called the ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ and a ‘mass murderer’ for his alleged support to post-Godhra Hindu rioters) rave about his third consecutive Gujarat victory and rant against Muslim anti-socials who need to be shown their place at Shivaji Park the Sunday before last Sunday. She came back convinced. “Them, Mollahs need a thrash or two from time to time,” she told me while mopping the floor, “and Modi will ensure that”.

“What have you got against Muslims?” I ask, hiding my shock behind a smile. “They are all wrong,” is all she offers.

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Confidence and pride beyond political class

Indian self-confidence is despite and in spite of its political class writes Namita Bhandare in Mint

 Politicians aren’t known to be thin-skinned. Yet, even the thickest of this amazing breed must have noticed a serious image problem that just got worse this past one week.

In no particular order: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Maya memsaab had a birthday party—her own symbolic “let them eat cake” moment, with diamonds and a helicopter as gifts. Even as a shocked nation watched senior bureaucrats feed behenji her favourite cream cake in a spectacle of sycophancy came the news that one of New Delhi’s most awaited, and needed, expressways (to Gurgaon) was ready to roll but that the aam aadmi (common man) would have to wait.

The reason? No VIP was available to inaugurate this “very important road”. Despite a “people’s inauguration”, the expressway remains shut—it is now to be inaugurated by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and other significant politicians later this week.

Then there was the absolutely unedifying hullabaloo over the Bharat Ratna.

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