“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent towards them, that’s the essence of inhumanity.”.
—George Bernard Shaw

The struggle for self determination in the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) has accumulated a collection of blood soaked benchmarks which are sure to torment the Indian conscience for times to come. Among this macabre collection, Chattisinghpura stands out as an example of bloody stage managed encounters which are periodically enacted by Indian agencies and the Armed Forces for serving political ends. The incident occurred on 19 March 2000, whereby 35 Sikh inmates of this sleepy village, 70 KM from Srinagar, were dragged out of their homes, lined along the wall of the local Gurduwara and shot dead. The carnage of innocent Sikhs was timed to synchronize with President Clinton’s visit to Sub-Continent. There is reason enough to believe that the spate of Indian propaganda based on Chattisinghpura Massacre and briefings by his Indian hosts duly pepped up by the gory details of the incident, apparently convinced him of Pakistan’s involvement in the episode. This was despite the fact that the bloodshed was unequivocally condemned by Pakistan as well as all Mujahedeen groups active in the IHK. APHC and the Human Rights Organizations clamored for an inquiry into the incident, but for reasons best known to the Indian Government no probe was ordered nor any proof of Pakistan’s complicity provided.
Apparently the plot had not run its course and more surprises lay in the offing. Just hours before the then Home Minister L.K.Advani’s visit to the site of the killings on 20 March, the Indian Army claimed that it had killed five ‘terrorists’ responsible for the Chattisinghpura Killings. The bodies of slain ‘Pakistani militants’ appeared in officially issued photographs and the encounter received vide multi-media coverage. Locals of the Panchaltan village, where the ‘encounter’ had taken place, however blew the cover of the Indian chicanery through forceful protestations that the ‘terrorists’ killed in the encounter were not militants but the local village boys who had earlier been picked up from their homes by the Security Forces. The protests failed to raise any response from the authorities until nine villagers, asking for a probe into the incident and punishment for the perpetrators of the fake encounter, lost their lives in confrontation with the security forces. Forced by the public outrage, Farooq Abdullah, the then Chief Minister, ordered an exhumation of the persons killed during the encounter. The DNA tests of the alleged ‘’Pakistani Terrorists’ were conducted which conclusively established that the bodies belonged to innocent local villagers. Despite this conclusive evidence no enquiry was instituted to punish the guilty of this proven fake encounter. While India continued its mantra of cross border terrorism the incident was ignored and brushed aside without causing a stir in international conscience or attracting any worthwhile attention.
However, much to the Indian chagrin and frustration, the ghosts of the Chattisinghpura bloodbath have refused to fade into oblivion. They have just been brought back to attention by a statement by Farooq Abdullah, who has alleged that BJP led NDA Government had not allowed him to hold an inquiry into the Chattisinghpura Killings. Talking to newsmen on 6th August 2005, he disclosed that he wanted to institute an inquiry for exposing the real culprits of the massacre but the NDA Government scuttled his plans. The statement has brought out shrieks of protests by the Sikh community for this outrageous cover-up. The Kashmir chapter of the Shiromani Akali Dal has called for a CBI inquiry of the innocent Sikh Killings during the 6 years’ rule of the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Mohan Singh , President of Shiromani Akali Dal told the media men,” We have taken a serious note of the allegations leveled against the NDA Government by Dr. Abdullah and we want the BJP, National Conference and the Akali Dal (Badal) - which was a constituent if the NDA to clear their position vis-à-vis the scuttling of the inquiry plan.” Mohan Singh also berated Dr. Abdullah for being a part of the conspiracy since he had “never disclosed anything about the NDA game plan when a deputation of Sikh leaders had called on him following the massacre”. The Shiromani Akali Dal leaders appealed to Dr. Manmohan Singh and the puppet Chief Minister of IHK, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to order a CBI inquiry into the killing of Sikhs during the BJP led NDA Government and National Conference rule to unravel the truth.
The reluctance by successive Indian Governments to hold impartial inquiries into serious cases of ‘terrorism’ in the IHK, the Indian North East and the Indian hinterland has served to strongly substantiate allegations that agencies and the Indian Army are deep into the business of planning fake encounters to make political statements, particularly promoting charges of “cross-border-terrorism” against Pakistan. It is instructive to note that the timings of these high profile encounters, particularly in the IHK has tended to strangely coincide with the visits of prominent visitors to the sub-continent. (President Clinton for the Chattisinghpura Massacre.)
The propensity of the successive Indian Governments, across the political divide, to treat the spillage of human blood lightly has engendered a culture of insensitivity within the Indian Armed Forces. A major contributory factor is the sweeping powers conferred on the Indian Armed Forces by draconian legislatures like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) which provide the security forces with their major stimulus for human rights violations in the insurgency struck regions of Jammu and Kashmir as well as in the Indian North East. It empowers the Indian Forces to arrest or even kill civilians on mere suspicion. The immunity provided by the Act emboldens the armed forces personnel to commit human rights violations against civil population without fear of accountability. The insensitivity to human sufferings and loss of respect for life has pervaded the rank and file of the Indian army so deeply that they feel justified in killing innocents in fake encounters just to enhance their reputation as ruthless killers, claim gallantry awards and advance careers. It is not only the Indian Armed Forces which has lost its touch for humanity. In fact, forced to live with repeated sacrilege of human life, killings of the innocents, so openly and repeatedly projected on the entire media has desensitized the entire Indian Nation to an extent whereby killings of the innocents has ceased to move their conscience and spirits.
There is a strange phenomenon to the spillage of innocent human blood; it continues to torment the individual as well as the collective conscience of a Nation till the recourse to justice is taken in one form or the other. Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa is one ingenious manner of letting out the demons of bloodshed incarcerated through years of the apartheid rule. Likewise the Serb leaders, who conducted genocide of Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are being produced before the courts and those absconding, hounded by the international community so that the hatchet can be finally buried and the fractured and tormented Region finds ultimate peace. An India, which has become insensitive to the sufferings of the Kashmiri as well as North Eastern population, can’t find peace as a nation till it makes amends to its uncivilized and inhuman behavior towards those asking for their legitimate political rights.

Remembering: Lt. Col. Tufail Muhammad
Maj Gen Farrukh Seir

LIEUTENANT Colonel Tufail Muhammad died on September 9, 2005. I felt mixed feeling of grief and pain when I received the message of his death. Another great man, brave soldier had gone. It is hard to put sorrow and grief in words because words cannot describe the images which were constantly being flashed in my thoughts. Lieutenant Colonel Tufail Muhammad was my first Commanding Officer in Sutlej Rangers where I joined as medical officer in 1977. In fact it was his last posting; he retired from Pakistan Rangers in January 1979. After his retirement, we remained in constant association. Lieutenant Colonel Tufail Muhammad was commissioned in 6 Lancers in 1953. He was the Commanding Officer of 20 Lancers during the 1971 war and fought the war with distinction. He was a visionary commander, under his exceptional command Sawar Mohammad Hussain was awarded Nishan-i-Haider and the citation of this brave soldier was written by Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Tufail. It was a treat and honour to be with him and listen to the first hand information of 1971 war. The mission he was assigned against the enemy who had superiority of 30:1 stretching over an area of 17 miles with World War-II vintage tanks, handed over to the unit just a few weeks before the war, with minimum artillery cover and no infantry support.
He carried out the mission successfully delayed the enemy for six days, instead of the assigned three days, destroyed a considerable strength of the enemy’s infantry along with sizable armour and occupied main defensive position between Zafarwal and Shakargarh over a stretch of 7 miles, beaten back all enemy attacks that were to pass through the centre of the main defence, in order to attack Zafarwal and Shakargarh from the rear. He witnessed and was part of many heart warming stories of bravery and dedication of our heroes like Mir Alam Shaheed. He would get at times very emotional with a peculiar style of conversation. I was just fortunate to be his medical officer in his last leg of service. I got inspiration from his personality in the early stage of my career. The officer of his Arms, specially the 6 Lancers, 20 Lancers and 33 Cavalry, where he served, must have benefited a lot from his guidance, characters, and conduct. He was a selfless soldier; no greed or self focused ambition, always thinking of the glory of the motherland and prestige of the Armed Forces. He kept on living in a small flat on Zafar Road Lahore Cantt, which he bought before his retirement.
Few months ago while hospitalised, he underwent surgery for his prostrate problem. I used to stay with him for long hours and listen to him. He narrated the emotional story of Sawar Mir Alam Shaheed. I would like to share this story as told by him. “During October 1972, after having commanded 20 Lancers, I was posted to the School of Armour. One morning, while I was sitting in my office, a middle aged man entered my office and said; `I am the father of Sarwar Mir Alam, who was martyred during 1971 war and his body has not been recovered. He was my only son and my wife is not alive. The last time when Sawar Mir Alam Shaheed came on leave, he had promised his sister that he would come on leave again very soon and that he would bring her sweets and toys. She is now waiting for him to come on leave and often asks me when her brother would be coming home.’ I knew Sarwar Mir Alam very well, who was resident of a village near Peshawar situated on the western side the of the Peshawar - Kohat road, his feats of valour performed during the war and had recommended him for Sitra-e-Jurat. The father of Mir Alam kept coming to me often and kept enquiring from me as to how should he answer his 5 year old daughter’s question, “When is my brother coming on leave”? Every time he came, to me, his question would shake me up from top to bottom. Being the ex Commanding Officer of 20 Lancers, his question fell heavy on me. My imaginations, while he was sitting in front of me in my office, would take me back to the days when the Regiment was being prepared for war. While I talked to the officers and soldiers, I used to see a gleam of assurance and determination in their eyes. I always thought `Sawar Mir Alam destroyed an age old enemy and sacrificed his life willingly to save the country’s future’. A few days before I left Nowshera in 1973, the father of War Mir Alam visited me for the last time and after the visit was over, I took him in my car to drop him at his village. I bought him a packet of sweets for his little daughter. I stopped my car on the Kohat Road opposite his village. He requested me to go down to his house and meet his little daughter and also try and give some answer to her often repeated question, “When is my bother coming on leave” This put me into a state of turmoil and I started staring at his face without saying a word. After some time I collected myself. I send good-bye to him and drove off. After having travelled some distance I pulled the car to one side and started weeping.” Col Tufail was weeping when he reached to this part of the story and went in silence. I had to leave him reluctantly.
Lieutenant Colonel Tufail was my mentor, hero and every day language in which I can write, seems inadequate to describe his loss. For his family it must be very difficult to exclude his central dominant image from the routine day to day life. My message to his children is to known how much better off you are to have him as a father, loved and lost him than to have lived without his love, guidance in your lives. May Allah bless his soul.

Narco leadership
Sobia Nisar

Till now Afghanistan was projected in international media as the world’s undisputed narco leader. Being Afghanistan’s next-door neighbour, Pakistan was portrayed as the conduit for the worldwide narco traffic. The US and Canadian enforcement authorities have now realised that they are mistaken. The Indians have long ago surreptitiously dethroned Afghanistan. India is now the conduit for international drug traffic. On September 15, 2005, Indian customs authorities seized 17.62 kgs of heroin and cocaine (worth Rs 20 crore) which they had ingeniously packed into shoes and ladies purses, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The contraband was recovered from three Nigerian nationals who had brought it from Afghanistan (Rs 20-cr heroin seized at IGI airport, Times of India, September 16, 2005).
An Indian Francis Devandra Raj, aged 30, has been ‘held in US for building tunnel to smuggle marijuana’ (Hindustan Times, July 27, 2005, Indian caught inside US-Canada drug tunnel). He along with his companions Timothy Woo, aged 34, and Jonathan Valenzuela, aged 27, all residents of British Columbia (Canada) have been ‘arrested and charged in a US court in Seattle with conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana. The Indian mastermind ‘teaming up with two other immigrants, built an elaborate $1-million tunnel to smuggle marijuana from Canada to the US...The 360-foot-long tunnel of reinforced concrete and lumber passes from under a shed on Raj’s property to the living room of an unoccupied house on the American side, owned by an Indian couple’. The report adds, ‘The sophisticated tunnel, complete with lights and ventilation, had been in the making for about eight months...The house on the American side at Lynden, Washington state, is owned by Raman and Kusum Patel’. The trio, made ‘multiple trips through the tunnel with their ‘garbage bags’.
India’s Narcotics Control Board has confirmed to the Union government that the drugs traffic in India has assumed alarming proportions. Heroin, which starts from Afghanistan, at Rs one lakh a kilogram, becomes five times costlier on landing in Indian Punjab. When it ultimately reaches its destination in affluent Europe or North America, it is worth Rs one crore a kilogram. The traffickers’ network has developed influence not only in India’s enforcement agencies but also among the politicians and higher echelons of bureaucracy. Drug traders have created large money laundering networks to bypass conventional financial institutions. Financial transactions are either done through conduits of the major players of the trade in Mumbai or in the Middle- East, especially Dubai. The aggregate value of the seized opium, charas, ganja, drugs and psychotropic substances is about one billion rupees.
Drug addiction in India is increasing because of easy availability of narcotics. Tribune dated August 29, 2005 editorially lamented (‘Drug menace’) ‘... drug menace in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh’ (a high-literacy state) ‘has reached alarming levels ... Amritsar’s notorious Maqboolpura is now dubbed the locality of widows...Yet, very limited and half-hearted efforts have been made to control the situation. That is largely because drug-peddlers and smugglers operate with the blessings of unscrupulous politicians and police officers’ (as well as chemists). ‘The media has often exposed the nexus, but to little avail’.