Najib will have more talks with us, says Hindraf

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will have more discussions with the leaders of Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) over the next few days, the NGO said today.

Hindraf national adviser N Ganesan (right) said an hour-long meeting with Najib in Putrajaya today was "useful", but he refused to disclose the details of the discussion.

"What's important is that we have established a line of communication," Ganesan said after coming out from the meeting in Putrajaya.

He said more discussions would follow as the issues are "far too complex" to be trashed out in an hour-long meeting.

"What we have agreed on is to have more discussions over the next few days," Ganesan said though he did not specify on when the next meeting would be held.

Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy, who was also present, is currently on a hunger strike at a temple in Rawang, pressing for the Hindraf blueprint to be endorsed by either BN or Pakatan Rakyat.

Ganesan admitted that the final goal for Hindraf would be to get its blueprint endorsed by the government.

"Obviously, the endorsement is the final outcome we are looking at," he said.

Today's meeting was the first between Hindraf and any member of the government since Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz said the government was now ready to listen to Hindraf.

Talks with Pakatan stalled

Hindraf was previously outlawed during Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's tenure as the Prime Minister.

Talks between Pakatan and Hindraf, which had started earlier this year on the possibility of Hindraf lending support to Pakatan in the coming general election, have stalled.

This, according to Hindraf, was because of Pakatan's refusal to endorse the Hindraf blueprint.

With negotiations apparently in a deadlock, Waythamoorthy (left) a fortnight ago started his hunger strike, demanding that either BN or Pakatan endorse the Hindraf blueprint.

The movement fighting for the rights of Indian Malaysians who have been oppressed and discriminated against for decades, says its blueprint will help to end the sufferings of Indians in the country.

What is the role of the state?

Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy pens his political thoughts while on his 16th day of hunger strike.

COMMENT

By P Waythamoorthy

This is the 16th day of my hunger viratham (hunger strike). The past 16 days have given me a great opportunity to grow. Thinking, writing, listening and observing during this period of the fast has allowed me to push my thoughts further and deeper into issues that otherwise I would have passed over summarily.

This hunger viratham has become a significant opportunity for me not only to demonstrate my commitment to the cause of the marginalised in the country but also to deepen my understanding of how things work or should work in our universe.

This brings up the opportunity for me to write today about the role of government in human affairs in a multicultural and multiethnic environment.

Tarmar Raj is a young 29-year-old man living in Kuala Ketil in Kedah. His recently deceased father, late Maniyan was an active social worker in that area for most part of his life. He was a well known spokesperson for the displaced estate workers in that area.

Their lives had revolved around that area since their forefathers had been sent there by the British Colonial Administrators.

In Tarmar Raj’s own words, “We have resided in or around Ladang Batu Pekaka for over 50 years. My paternal grandfather who passed away in 1965 is buried here at the Ladang Batu Pekaka Hindu burial ground. My uncle, brother of my father passed away in 1987 and my grand aunt who passed away in 1984 are also buried there. My father when he was alive had told me on several occasions that he would like to be buried at the same burial ground when he died. He wanted to be buried by his father and he wanted his mother, his wife and the rest of the family to be buried alongside him. But by the time he passed away in May 2011 the Ladang Batu Pekaka Hindu burial ground had been demolished by the Kedah State Development Authorities. We therefore could not fulfill his desire. His wishes will never be met.”

The burial ground that Tarmar Raj speaks about has been a burial ground for the former and current estate workers of Barlow Boustead Co and its subsidiary Selangor Coconuts Sdn Bhd for more than 60 years.

The burial ground which has about 300 graves is situated on a one acre piece of land within the former estate premise. The burial ground has been administered by the local temple and assisted by the association of Hindus in the area.

There used to be annual functions held to upkeep the burial ground and this was a lively social event of the community in Kuala Ketil. In addition families gathered and held prayers on death anniversaries, Deepavali and Aadi Ammavasai for their ancestors in fulfillment of their filial duties.

In 2005 the land was acquired by the Kedah State Development Corporations and talks were begun for the relocation of the burial ground. Then in 2008 with the change in the government, things took a different turn.

The process of removing the burial ground acquired greater urgency. The tactics used to convince and to coax the people out, were the usual divide and rule, manipulation, threats and using mandores to intervene.

In this respect the PAS-led government did not behave any differently than the BN government before them.

State government in a hurry

The PAS state government effectively paid a small sum of RM3,000 to each next of kin and gave them a date by which to relocate the graves without any offer of an alternative location for the burial ground.

They then went ahead with the demolition of the burial ground in December of 2009, in what appeared to be great haste.

The late Maniyan who stood in the forefront of the representation for a just and fair resolution was ultimately defeated by these machinations of the PAS state government.

In Tarmar Raj’s own words, “We watched helplessly as the graves of our ancestors were demolished never to be visible to us anymore.”

This was a great disappointment for the late Maniyan and he really did not recover from this episode and eventually passed away of a heart attack in May 2011 at the age of 61.

The point of this story is simply this: social amenities such as burial grounds are a necessary part of the social system of any community. These rural Indian communities transplanted from deep south of India a long time ago were provided with such amenity as long as the rubber estates functioned.

When the estates gave way for development and these displaced workers were laid off, they found themselves in a terrible lurch.

Many parts of their social system just vanished. They were, to start with, an impoverished community. How could they afford to rebuild their social system all on their own?

In our country, these displaced estate worker communities are spread all over from north to south. They all are faced with the same or similar problems – the demolition of the various structures that are part of their social system – temples, shrines, burial grounds and schools.

This problem is unique to this community but because of its scale we consider it a national social problem. The Hindraf Blueprint clearly proposes a robust solution to address this situation.

To call initiatives such as in the blueprint to address these problems as narrow and racist is extremely anti national in my opinion.

Does the state have any role in the provision of these amenities to the citizens of the country? Does Tarmar Raj have a natural right to such amenities? Do the communities such as those that Tarmar Raj comes from have a natural right to amenities like the burial ground?

Or are these situations not to be considered natural rights and are to be handled by the community themselves with no aid or assistance from the state? Even if the community is an impoverished and small community?

Operating in denial

My opinion about all this is that the role of the state is not just to disburse the resources of the nation and to formulate and administer the process of the creation of wealth.

Their role also includes quite clearly, getting into the details of the human affairs of all the ethnic groups in our country and to establish robust solutions for the social needs of each community.

There is much that needs to be done to come up with solutions, to systematise and streamline, to adjust according to changing national situations so that all these needs are well satisfied and are sustainable.

This is a critical role of government in a multi racial, multicultural society. They must provide the necessary support, resources, procedures, laws, enforcements and education to play this role out effectively.

The government needs to recognise this and needs not to lose important perspectives because of the politics.

There is great need in our country to reform these procedures of administration of social services.

We have such a mix of socio-cultural practices that makes the situation more complex. The government cannot take a simplistic approach or operate in denial.

We all have our genes running through in Malaysia, till eternity. There is no other location for our genes.

P Waythamoorthy is the Hindraf chairperson. He has been on his hunger strike since March 10.

Bukit Aman urged to re-open Altantuya death probe

PKR Youth yesterday filed a request with the police for the authorities to re-open the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case, following the revelations of lawyer Americk Sidhu at last week' Bar Council annual general meeting on private eye P Balasubramaniam's second statutory declaration.

Its chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (right), who filed it at the Dang Wangi police station, also urged the police to call on prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, Americk and carpet businessman Deepak Jaikishian and senior lawyer Cecil Abraham to give their evidence.

"I will sent a memorandum to Cecil seeking an explanation from him on what were Najib's directives to him.
"I urge the police to re-open the police investigation papers. They can re-open investigations based on Americk's revelation during the 66th Bar AGM.

Americk had revealed that Cecil acted on Najib's orders to prepare the second SD for the late Balasubramaniam.

In a related development, a NGO submitted a memorandum to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) also urging the latter to re-open the Mongolian translator's murder investigations in 2006, because of  the latest revelations.

Jihad for Justice, led by its chairperson Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim, handed over the memorandum to DSP Anuwal Ab Wahab at the Bukit Aman police headquarters yesterday evening.

No follow-up by IGP

Thasleem (second from left in photo) said that the memorandum was a follow up to a letter to the IGP on Feb 21 on the same matter, which he claimed did not receive any response.

He said that he had met Balasubramaniam at a forum in Kuala Lumpur shortly after the latter's return from self-imposed exile in India, and was convinced that the detective was telling the truth about his first statutory declaration on Altantuya's death which implicated Najib.

"Bala's untimely death was a shock to the whole nation and I was quite badly shaken by it," Thasleem said.
He said that he had hoped that Najib would take court action against either Balasubramaniam or Deepak who had made similar allegations implicating him in the murder case.

"When that was not forthcoming, I was even more convinced that the files must be reopened," Thasleem said.

There must be a final closure on this matter and all those including police officers who covered up (on this issue) must be identified, he added.

PKR vice-president R Sivarasa and PKR's Human Rights and Legal bureau deputy chairperson S Jayathas were also present when the memorandum was submitted.

Altantuya was killed on the night of October 18, 2006.

Iconoclast Jihad in Bangladesh: Most of the Hindu Temples are about to destroy by Jamaat-e-Islami.

Thousand of Hindu Temples vandalized Islamically. Most of the Hindu Temples are about to destroy in rural & urban Bangladesh by Jamaat-e-Islami under an Iconoclast Jihad.

Upananda Brahmachari | Dhaka | 23 March 2013:: The post Shahbag experiences for Bangladeshi Hindus are dreadful than ever. Death sentence to BD Liberation War Criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee by International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh has put the last nail to the coffin of the Hindu future in Bangladesh.

With the land grabbing from Hindus, looting Hindu property and wealth, raping – molesting Hindu women and minor girls, torching Hindu houses, instilling terror to the hearts of minority Hindus of Bangladesh, a new Jihad of Iconoclasts is seen obviously to uproot the Hindu culture and tradition from Bangladesh through rampant destruction of Hindu Temples, Ashrams and Mutths in rural and urban Bangladesh.

In everyday news papers in Bangladesh, the news of torching Hindu Temples, desecration of Hindu holy places, breaking of Hindu deities, looting temple wealth are being published as a common feature, but the news of arresting the Muslim perpetrators are absent anyway. The Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh are conducting this type of nasty Jihad of Iconoclasts only to end up the Hindu rituals and faith from the soil of Bangladesh. The Islamists in Bangladesh have taken a vow to ‘Kaffir free- Hinduless Bangladesh’ before Sayedee is hanged unto death.

As per report published in The Daily Star, Religious bigots vandalised five more Hindu temples and torched idols in Bogra and Bagerhat just on 19th March.

‘In Bogra, they damaged at least eight idols in four temples at Sonaray and Rameshwarpur unions of Gabtoli upazila.

In the morning, locals found the idols in the temples vandalised.

Shishir Karmakar of Rameshwarpur said local Hindus were worried about the attacks.

The Hindus did not disclose the names of the attackers for lack of security, AH Azam Khan, president of Gabtoli upazila unit Awami League, told The Daily Star.

Bogra deputy commissioner, police super, local AL leaders and minority community leaders visited the affected temples.

Two cases were filed with Gabtoli Police Station in this connection.

Incensed at the attacks on temples, locals in Sonaray and Rameshwarpur unions brought out protest processions.

Contacted, Gabtoli Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Monira Sultana said financial support would be provided to the authorities of the affected temples to repair the damaged temples.

A correspondent from Bagerhat adds : Religious fanatics damaged and torched several idols of Dakkhin Para Sarbojonin Durga Mandir in Uttar Gopalpur village under Kachua upazila early yesterday.

Quoting witnesses, president of the temple committee Pulin Bihari Paik said a gang of fanatics entered the temple around 4:00am; damaged several idols and set the temple afire.

Seeing the flames at the temple, locals rushed to the scene and doused the fire.

Neither the temple committee nor police could identify the attackers.

Kachua UNO Md Ashraful Islam visited the temple in the morning.

Meanwhile, around 120 people were sued in Khulna city on Tuesday night on charges of vandalising and torching temples, shops and houses of Hindus in Banikpara Pabla area under Daulatpur Police Station, reports our Khulna correspondent.

Police also picked up five people in this connection from different parts of the city around midnight Tuesday.

The detainees are Shahidul, 23, Limon, 18, Halim, 22, Shahabuddin, 40, and Shamim, 25.

Tilok Goswami, general secretary of Banikpara Pabla Sarbojonin Kalibari Mandir committee, filed the case, said Daulatpur police.

Earlier, police had arrested Humayun Kabir, 26, and Arman, 28, in connection with the arson attacks. The two were sent to jail through a local court.

On Monday night (18 March 2013), religious bigots ransacked and torched Banikpara Pabla Sarbojonin Kalibari Mandir, Gachtala Temple and over 50 houses and shops of Hindus in the city.

Over 31 temples, hundreds of houses and shops of Hindu minorities have been ransacked, torched and looted across the country since the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on February 28 sentenced Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to death for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971′.

As illustrated by the correspondent in The Daily Star about the fresh attack upon Hindus and Hindu Temples, it goes further.

Yet again religious fanatics have attacked temples, houses and shops of Hindus in four districts as reported in The Daily Star on 22 March 2013.

‘Since Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee was handed down a death sentence in a war crimes case on February 28, more than 26 temples, 175 houses and dozens of shops of the minorities across the country have been vandalised, torched and looted.

Basudev Dhar, president of Greater Dhaka Puja Committee, yesterday aid these communal attacks were demoralising many Hindu families.

“The worst pain for the victims comes when they are left alone after such attacks,” he said. “The leaders and members of parliament have not stood by the Hindus the way they should have.”

“In the past,” he added, “we have resisted such attacks together.”

In Khulna, over 150 people equipped with iron rods and other lethal weapons attacked Banikpara Pabla Sarbojonin Kalibari Mandir around 9:00pm Monday.

When the rioters stormed the temple, some devotees already had gathered there for prayers. The assault left a person named Khokon injured.

The rioters also attacked Gachtala temple. Over 50 Hindu homes and shops adjacent to the two temples were vandalised and torched.

According to locals, law enforcers did not come on time to prevent the attacks.

Khulna Puja Udjapon Parishad held a protest rally in front of Banikpara Pabla Temple yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, police have arrested two people, Humayun Kabir, 26, and Arman, 18, in this connection, said ASI Anwar Hossain of Daulatpur Police Station. The identities of the arrestees could not be known immediately.

In Netrakona, rioters vandalised Hari Mandir in Bobahala village under sadar upazila, damaging seven idols.

Temple priest Mithun Chand, said, “I returned home around 11:00pm [Monday] keeping the Mandir under lock and key.
“The next morning, I found the temple vandalised.”

Also on Monday night, vandals damaged four idols of Hindu goddesses at Kripamoyee Kali Mandir under Sripur upazila in Gazipur.

Amir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sripur Police Station, said, “The temple, situated on the premises of the house of schoolteacher Shupendru Chandra Das, was vandalised sometime at night. The attackers took away the heads of the deities.”

In Rangpur, the house of Nilkanta Roy in Itakumary union of Pirgachha upazila was torched around 2:00am yesterday. Nilkanta said the estimated loss could be around Tk 2 lakh.

Jashidul Haque, Chairman of Itakumary Union Parishad, said, “Miscreants set fire to the house with a view to destroying communal harmony in the area.”

As per latest news at latest At least 15 Hindus were injured in a hate attack on their neighbourhood in Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat on Thursday night on 22 March 2013.

The victims, including a freedom fighter and three women, were admitted to Hatibandha upazila

health complex.

Police said a gang of 10 went to the house of freedom fighter Amulya Chandra Roy, 62, around 9:00pm and started beating him indiscriminately, reported our Chapainawabganj correspondent.

As family members and neighbours went to his rescue, they too were beaten up. The attackers fled the scene quickly. None of the victims or community leaders would say anything about the attackers.

Speaking in return for anonymity, some locals said the neighbourhood is surrounded by Jamaat strongholds and that Jamaat-Shibir men might have a hand in the attack.

Abu Bakkar Siddique Shyamol, an aide to State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Motahar Hossain, who is also the local lawmaker, said the anti-Liberation forces might have been behind the attack to create panic among the Hindus.

The local unit of the Awami League would bear the medical expenses of those injured, he added.

Tapos Kumar Sarker, officer-in-charge of Hatibandha Police Station, told The Daily Star that the police had already started probing the incident.

Meanwhile in Gazipur, religious fanatics set fire to a temple in Keshurita Maddhyapara yesterday, damaging four idols, reported a correspondent from the district.

The attackers set Keshurita Maddhyapara Shree Shree Laxmimata temple on fire around 3:00am. Seeing the flames, locals rushed to the scene and doused the blaze.

Gazipur Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fouzia Rahman has visited the spot.

SM Kamruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Joydevpur Police Station, said they were looking into the matter’.

The reports are never-ending in nature, but the Secular intellectuals in Bharat (India) and specially in West Bengal do not care for the plight of Bangladeshi Hindus anyway, but they are so vocal to exercise the Minority Rights (Read Muslim Rights) in everywhere in West Bengal and throughout India.

Whenever, such intellectual maroons see these reports, they claim these as concocted. For their kind information, it is authenticated that the above materials are taken from pure Bangladeshi source of reputed news papers and very few incidents actually got chance to be reported in the broad day light.

Buddhist people and Buddhist shrines and Temples are not scared from this Islamic Attack on minorities in Bangladesh in recent times.

So far thousand small, medium and big temples in Bangladesh has been desecrated, torched, looted and vandalized including the pleasurable and pious Islamic game of destroying Hindu Gods and Goddesses in temples and Hindu homes. This is also a part of Jihad. You can call it a ‘Jihad of Iconoclasts’.

Courtesy: The Daily Star | HJS | Prathom Alo | BD News 24.Com | Agencies.