சிங்கள விவசாயிகள் மீது பக்ச பாசிஸ்டுக்களின் தாக்குதல்!

கோப்புப் படம்:எருமை அபிவிருத்தி

விருந்தினர்  விடுதிக்கும், படகோட்டத்துக்கும், 15000 ஏக்கர்  நெற்பயிர்ச்செய்கைக்கு பாசனம் வளங்கும் குளத்தை, திட்டமிட்டு வற்றவைத்த கொடுமை!

இதுதான் பக்ச பாசிஸ்டுக்களின் தேசபக்தி! அபிவிருத்தி!!

* Paddy farmers in the Kurunegala district, who lost their cultivation due to the prolonged dry weather conditions, blame irrigation officers for not managing water carefully.

* This is a known secret as to how the irrigation officers released water on the request of those who are connected to ruling political parties.

* Piyathilake also levelled accusations against every government that came into power for not developing the Bathalagoda tank which was built 118 years ago by a British Engineer Mr. Parker.

* Since the entire tank has gone dry, this is the best time for them to mine sand and earn money. In the guise of dredging the tank, not only politicians but also their henchmen are busy mining sand illegally.

 * Thilakaratne, another paddy farmer, who too had lost his entire crop said that he had to spend nearly Rs.20,000 for one acre before it was destroyed completely.

 * “Now we have to buy rice from the boutique. I am in debt to the bank and there is no way to settle the loan and the loan interest is accumulating. No sooner the house in which I live will be auctioned by the bank,” he said.

* The sluice gates were opened to dry the tank to help Buddhima mudalali – enabling him to lay the foundation to his hotel by the tank!

=========================

Hotel, Seaplanes Land Kurunegala Paddy Farmers In Dire Straits!
By Nirmala Kannangara in Bathalagoda & Nikaweratiya

The Buddhima mudalali’s hotel, according to the Irrigation Dept. officials,is an illegal construction

Paddy farmers in the Kurunegala district, who lost their cultivation due to the prolonged dry weather conditions, blame irrigation officers for not managing water carefully.

 Farmers in Bathalagoda and Nikaweratiya – two badly affected areas in the district – accused their respective Irrigation Engineers and their staff for wasting water in the tanks to please political stooges.

 “If not for this wastage, at least we could have saved 10% of the crop,” they said.

 Chairman, Thambagalle Farmers’ Organization, Piyathilake says there are many farmer organizations in Bathalagoda that received ample stocks of water through their canals although his organization and few others did not get water for three weeks after ploughing their fields.

 “More than 15,000 acres of paddy is cultivated from the water we get from Bathalagoda. There was a time when we had to meet the irrigation officers to ask for water. Although we were told that water level has gone down considerably and water could not be distributed, there were instances, the ruling party supporters were given enough of water,” said Piyathilake.

 Not wanting to name these officials and the politicians who pressurize these irrigation officers to carry out their instructions, in fear of his life, Piyathilake said farmers will have to support the ruling party in future to get enough of water to grow paddy during the dry season.

“This is a known secret as to how the irrigation officers released water on the request of those who are connected to ruling political parties. These are paddy farming colonies and we all depend on the water we get from the Bathalagoda tank. All these years there was no issue in water management, but little by little Bathalagoda irrigation office too became politicized and during a crisis situation like now, water was released only to the farmer organizations affiliated to the government and the rest of the organizations that do not back the government could not get enough water for their cultivation,” said Piyathilake .

 Piyathilake also levelled accusations against every government that came into power for not developing the Bathalagoda tank which was built 118 years ago by a British Engineer Mr. Parker.
 “After the first construction, although this tank was not rehabilitated by any government that came into power, they did not forget to erect a plaque, but nothing beyond that. The same happened under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well,” he added.

 Piyathilaka meanwhile queried as to why the government hurriedly wanted to begin dredging in the tank.  “Since the entire tank has gone dry, this is the best time for them to mine sand and earn money. In the guise of dredging the tank, not only politicians but also their henchmen are busy mining sand illegally. We have seen as to how this happened in some other small tanks around Bathalagoda earlier. It was said that the tanks would be dredged to hold more water but instead after sand mining, the soil that were dredged was not taken out but made into heaps within the tank. They now form small islands within the tank. We are scared whether the same would happen to Bathalagoda tank as well,” said Piyathilake.

 Thilakaratne, another paddy farmer, who too had lost his entire crop said that he had to spend nearly Rs.20,000 for one acre before it was destroyed completely.

 “Now we have to buy rice from the boutique. I am in debt to the bank and there is no way to settle the loan and the loan interest is accumulating. No sooner the house in which I live will be auctioned by the bank,” he said.

 He further accused the government for the dredging project claiming that the farmers would not benefit by that exercise.  “This is being done to land seaplanes to promote inland tourism. Up to now till the water level decreased up to the tank bed, we were still able to fight and get even a little water for our cultivations but in future when this sea plane project is implemented, and once the water level goes down by a few feet, water distribution for paddy lands would be stopped to maintain the water level for the sea plane landing,” said Thilakaratne.

 In Nikaweratiya the farmers accused the Irrigation Engineer for not filling the Magalle tank from Deduru Oya when the water level was going down.  “In addition, being well aware that the water level is very low, the Irrigation Engineer opened all sluice gates to send out the remaining water. When we inquired as to why this was done as a lot of water was wasted, we were told that on a request from some farmers, they had to open the gates. This was not true. The sluice gates were opened to dry the tank to help Buddhima mudalali – enabling him to lay the foundation to his hotel by the tank,” said E. M. Jayathilake, a JVP member of the Nikaweratiya Pradeshiya Sabha.
 According to him, had the Irrigation Engineer maintained the water level, the mudalali wouldn’t have been able to lay the foundation to his hotel.

 “Although it is said that the hotel is owned by Buddhima mudalali, we know who the real owner of this project is. It is none other than Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade and Kurunegala District parliamentarian Johnston Fernando. Since the foundation cannot be laid when the tank is full, they started work during the dry season as it was easy for them to dry the tank by opening the sluice gates,” alleged the JVP Pradeshiya Sabha member.

 Meanwhile, Ranjith Bandara, another farmer said that Minister Johnston Fernando foiled all protests against the hotel by farmer organizations.  “When we opposed to this construction we got the support of our Divisional Secretary and he used his powers to stop that. At the end this Divisional Secretary was transferred to Puttalam and now they are carrying out the work to their whims and fancies,” said Bandara.  According to Bandara, the government recently called for tenders for a boat service in the Magalle tank, and published a paper advertisement.  “The owner of this hotel would have now got the tender and once the hotel is opened he will start the boat service as well to boost tourism. Although Buddhima mudalali claims that he owns the hotel, we know for certain that this is owned by Johnston Fernando,” said Bandara.  Thilakawathi too is a paddy farmer who has lost her entire crop and blamed the irrigation engineer for wasting the water unnecessarily which could have helped the people to get at least 25% of the crop.  “When the water was released from morning till evening we knew that there would be a reason behind that move. Now we know as to why the sluice gates were opened as if the Magalle Tank was overflowing. We are the losers and have to suffer now. I have spent over Rs. 20,000 but how can I recover the money. How can I settle my debts,” said Thilakawathi.
 
When this reporter and the photographer visited Magalle tank in Nikaweratiya on Wednesday to get a clear idea about the allegations, a group of over 40 people including the said owner of the hotel J. M. Jayathilake alias Buddhima mudalali who is also a Director at the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), surrounded the vehicle and insisted the reporter’s official identity card.

 Shouting at us for taking photographs of his hotel, which is under construction between the Magalle tank and its bund, Jayathilake wanted his group of thugs to be vigilant where the photographer was as he was not in the vehicle at that time but had gone to the middle of the tank to capture photographs of the dry tank bed.

 However, in a threatening voice Jayathilake shouted at the reporter to be careful claiming that no one has the authority to photograph his hotel, which is under construction on the request of politicians.

 “This is being constructed on the request of our politicians. I am not sacred of anyone as I am working hand in glove with a powerful politician in the district. Where is the man that took photographs of my hotel from the main road side and also from the tank side,” Jayathilake shouted.

 This reporter meanwhile overheard Jayathilake calling OIC Nikaweratiya over the phone asking to send a police team to the scene.

 Meanwhile Thusitha  – our staff photographer who was far away in the middle of the tank, seeing a crowd near our vehicle called and asked what it was all about and whether his presence was needed. Since there was a possibility to grab his camera and the thugs could delete the pictures taken, I pretended that there was no issue but asked him to be where he was until I called him.

 Realizing that the vehicle could come under attack, this reporter immediately telephoned Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade and Kurunegala District parliamentarian Johnston Fernando to keep him informed of the thuggery that was taking place at his electorate.

 Although Minister Fernando wanted the reporter to give the phone to Jayathilake, not realizing that it was Minister Fernando who was on line, Jayathilake once again shouted claiming that he was not scared of any one and that he did not want to answer calls.

 “I am not scared of anyone and I don’t want to answer any calls of your contacts. I know how to tackle this,” he said.  Realizing that the situation was getting worse, Fernando after getting the description of the trouble maker said that he knew who the man was and promised to call him on his mobile.

 No sooner Minister Fernando called, Jayathilake began pleading with the journalist.

 “Thousand apologies madam for shouting at you all the time, please forgive me for my misbehavior in such a manner. Had I known that you are known to our minister I wouldn’t have acted like this,” he said.

 Jayathilake then wanted his group of thugs to move away from the vehicle. It was then that two police constables rushed to the scene in support of Jayathilake.

 Their expressions too changed immediately when Jayathilake said that there was no issue with the reporter, as the Minister knew her.
 

Sri Lanka, India hold first talks on nuclear cooperation

Sri Lanka, India hold first talks on nuclear cooperation
English.news.cn   2012-10-16 07:12:42

COLOMBO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka and India have agreed to work on a comprehensive agreement on nuclear cooperation, the Indian High Commission said here on Monday.

The first round of talks between India and Sri Lanka on comprehensive civil nuclear cooperation was held last Friday in New Delhi, the statement said.

"Discussions were held in a warm, friendly and cordial manner. Both sides exchanged views on all aspects of civil nuclear cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes to mutual benefit of the people of the two countries," the statement added.

During the meeting it was agreed that the two sides would work towards a comprehensive agreement on bilateral civil nuclear cooperation.

Discussions included, inter alia, training of officials, nuclear safety and response to nuclear accidents.

It was also decided that the next meeting would be held in Sri Lanka in the first half of 2013.

The talks were held after local environmentalists raised concerns over India's Kundankulam nuclear plant, which is being constructed in southern India.

During the latest talks India has offered Sri Lanka an early warning system as part of safety measures in the event of a leak at the Kudankulam nuclear plant but safety concerns persist among locals.

Editor: Yamei Wang

Geithner welcomes India's market-opening reforms

Geithner welcomes India's market-opening reforms
09 October 2012 - 13H43  

 

Geithner has welcomed a string of economic reforms in India that open up large sectors of the economy to foreign companies.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed Tuesday a string of economic

reforms in India that open up large sectors of the economy to foreign companies.

 

'' Washington, which is keen to forge a closer diplomatic and commercial relationship with India as an ally in Asia, has been pushing for better access for its companies in the vast and largely untapped South Asian market'' .
-  US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

 The reforms are "obviously very promising. They will be welcomed around the world", Geithner
told a news conference in New Delhi following talks with his Indian counterpart, P. Chidambaram.

இந்தியாவை ஏலம்போடும் மன்மோகன் சிதம்பரம் கும்பல்.

The measures "will help provide stronger economic growth and stronger growth in private
sector", he added.

Geithner, who is accompanied by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, said his visit to India
was to demonstrate his commitment to a "very promising economic relationship."

Since mid-September, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress-led government has opened
the retail, broadcasting and aviation sectors to foreign companies and proposed overseas
investment in the insurance and pension industries.

US supermarket giant Walmart intends to be one of the first companies to benefit, saying it will
open its first store for consumers in the next 18-24 months. It already operates as a wholesaler in
India.

In April, Geithner criticised proposed legislation to chase overseas firms for taxes on mergers
involving Indian assets, saying the move had "dampened enthusiasm about India's investment
climate".

Chidambaram, who took over in July, has since said the proposed law will be reviewed.

Washington is still pushing for business in the fast-growing Indian atomic energy sector after
being disappointed that a landmark 2008 nuclear deal failed to yield contracts for its reactor
manufacturers such as Westinghouse Electric.
---------------------------

Geithner's kudos for India's reforms
Says United States may issue more visas to Indians

BS Reporter / New Delhi Oct 10, 2012, 00:43 IST

Visiting US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday called the recent reform measures
initiated by India very promising and said it would push up investors’ confidence.

He sought to allay the impression that the US had lobbied for these steps. “The reforms outlined
by the government of India offer a very promising path to improving growth outcomes for the
Indian economy,” he said at a joint news conference with Finance Minister P Chidambaram. At a
function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) later, Geithner said it was
entirely India’s choice to choose the reforms it wants to pursue.

When asked what reform he would like to see next, the US treasury secretary said, “Really, not
my place. We have our hands full in the United States. (It is ) not for us to know where India’s
interests lie.” Geithner was accompanied by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, to
participate in the third Cabinet-level meeting of the Indo-US Economic and Financial Partnership.
The meeting was also attended by Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao.

Geithner and Bernanke are scheduled to visit Mumbai tomorrow and then leave for Tokyo to
attend the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. Chidambaram left for Tokyo
tonight. Geithner said he expected an increase in the number of visas granted to Indians. He did
not give the details but said this might provide relief to Indian information technology companies
demanding more H-1B work visas.

Chidambaram told the visiting treasury secretary that supply of excess liquidity by the US Fed
through the third quantitative easing could increase commodity prices.

The US side, however, pointed out that prices might rise in dollars terms, but not in rupee terms
if the Indian currency continued to appreciate.

The rupee had depreciated 9.36 per cent to Rs 55.64 against the dollar at the end of the quarter
ending June from Rs 50.88 at the end of March quarter. It appreciated by 4.99 per cent to 52.86
against the dollar at the end of the July-September quarter.

When asked if India-US relations are facing any problems, Geithner said, “Sometimes the absence
of drama is considered as signs of strain. We don’t have any major issues or problems in bilateral
relations.”

Top of the Agenda: State Department Reveals New Details of Benghazi Attack

Top of the Agenda: State Department Reveals New Details of Benghazi Attack
U.S. State Department officials will testify before a congressional panel today on the events in Benghazi that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Department officials on Tuesday offered their most detailed description yet of the events in the Libyan city last month, backing away from earlier assertions (AP) that the violence was triggered by protests against an anti-Islam video that insulted the prophet Mohammed. Republicans have accused the State Department of ignoring pleas from diplomats in Libya to increase security in the months before the attack in Benghazi.

Analysis

"If the Benghazi tragedy traces the same journey we made from the rubble in Nairobi, heartfelt pronouncements will be made; the dead will be given due homage and then they will be buried. The press will alight on other stories. A Congressionally mandated accountability review board will determine what happened and what needs to be done to avoid such tragedies in the future. Easy fixes—changes to emergency action plans, minor security upgrades—will be made; expensive and hard ones will not," writes Prudence Bushnell for the New York Times.

"Ambassador Stevens died a hero. Whether or not he took an unnecessary risk, he knew he couldn't do his job while isolating himself from Libyans. The same holds true for American spies. If the contagion in the Middle East continues to spread, the one thing Americans can count on is going blind — and it won't be the fault of U.S. intelligence or anyone in Washington but just another sign of Americans' declining position in the region," writes Robert Baer for TIME.

"The Obama administration may want to wait until after the election to respond, but each day of inaction makes him look weaker to the American public and our allies and enemies abroad. Thursday, the day Vice President Biden debates Paul Ryan, will mark one month since the consulate attack. Obama won't be able to put off a response—or at least an explanation for the delay—for much longer," writes Alana Goodman for Commentary Magazine.

Council on Foreign Affairs Daily News Brief October 10, 2012
 

சுரங்கத் தொழிலாளர்களைச் சுட்டுப் பொசுக்கும் மண்டேலாவின் ``சுதந்திரம்``!

 

 

சுரங்கத் தொழிலாளர்களைச் சுட்டுப் பொசுக்கும் மண்டேலாவின் ``சுதந்திரம்``

* தம் நாட்டு மூலவளம் மீது தன்னுரிமையற்ற தென்னாபிரிக்க மக்கள்.

* அந்நிய ஏகபோக கம்பெனிகளுக்கு கட்டற்ற அதிகாரம்.

* தொழிலாளர் மீது பாயும் `நிற வெறி` ஆதிக்க கறுப்புச் சட்டங்கள்.

* வேலை நிறுத்தம் சட்டவிரோதம் எனப் பிரகடனம்.

* போராடிய பல்லாயிரக்கணக்கான தொழிலாளர்கள் வேலை நீக்கம்.

* தொழிற்சங்கத் தலைவர் படுகொலை.

* அந்நிய ஏகாதிபத்திய நலன்காக்க, சொந்த நாட்டு தொழிலாளர் மீது அடக்குமுறையை ஏவும், `கறுப்பின அரசு`, `கறுப்பதிகார பொலிஸ்`.

 

Massacre at Marikana: the fight continues in South Africa

 

Mineworkers of the Marikana diamond mine in South Africa are continuing their strike. Their perseverence comes after violent police efforts to suppress the strike, efforts culminating in a horrendous bloodbath on 16 August, when police machinegunned protesting miners, killing 34 and arresting at least 250 of them.

 

[Note: this is the article I wrote for the September issue of Freedom; of course, it's best to buy the issue itself. Here, I publish the version I sent in, with footnotes that did not make it into the printed version. ofcourse, the article is dated because so much has happened since.Author]

 

On 10 August, 3.000 of the 28.000 Marikana miners went on strike to support a wage demand. The strikers belonged to a category of very low-paid miners doing arduous, risky work deep down below. The National Union of Miners (NUM), belonging tot the mainstream union federation COSATU, neglected these workers and their needs. Another union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) took a more militant pose and tried to make itself into the voice of the angry miners. Soon the strike was accompanied by violence between strikers on the one hand, police, security, and NUM supporters being attacked by strikers on the other.

 

But it would be very wrong to blame it all on 'inter-union rivalry'. AMCU sounds more militant and is more in touch. But the battle line is not AMCU versus NUM; the frontline is angry workers pressing a wage demand against management that refuses. A violent impasse followed. Then, police – encouraged by NUM and COSATU – moved into action.

 

They attacked the strikers who had assembled on a nearby hill , some of them armed with nives and the likes, encircled them, tied to disperse them by teargas. A group of strikers refused to disperse and, according to the police version, attack their attackers. Police opened fire with machine guns and shot 34 miners dead in the most ferocious repression against protesting workers in post-Apartheid South Africa. It reminded people of the violence the apartheid regime meted out against protests, for instance in Sharpeville, 1961 and Soweto, 1976. The skin colour of the state-funded murderers had changed, but no much more.

Since the massacre, government-linked progressives like the South African Communist Party (SACP) have supported the police repression, calling the event “not a massacre”, but “a battle”, and the police operation “admirable” (1). Defending capital, the state and the police is more important to these so-called leftists than defending workers in struggle. Different reactions are coming from opoor people in struggle against the authorities, as a solidarity declaration of a slum dwellers organisation shows (2). Meanwhile, Lomnin, the mine owning company, tried to force the miners back to work with an ultimatum that they later softened. However, at the moment of writing – 28 August - the strike is still continuing, while reports of arrested workers having been mistreated by police are now surfacing (3). The angry miners have not been defeated by the massacre. There is more resistance to come.

(1): “The Marikana Massacre: a premeditated killing?”, Benjamin Fogel,, on Libcom.org, 24 August
 (3): “Solidarity with mine workers at Marikana Platinum”,on Libcom.org, 17 August.
 (3): “Tensions as S. African miners continue strikes”, Aljazeera, 27 August.
---------------

 

South African union leader shot dead near Lonmin mine - NUM

Striking platinum miners wait behind a police cordon at the site where violent clashes overnight left one person dead near the Anglo American Platinum (AMPLATS) mine in Rustenburg in South Africa's North West Province, October 5, 2012.

 

Credit: Reuters/Mike Hutchings

JOHANNESBURG | Fri Oct 5, 2012 9:29pm BST

 

 

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A branch leader of South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was shot dead on Friday near a mine run by platinum producer Lonmin as labour unrest sweeps the mining sector.

 

NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told Reuters the union leader had been killed "execution style" in the evening hours but gave no further details.

 

Earlier on Friday Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) fired 12,000 wildcat strikers, a high-stakes attempt by the world's biggest platinum producer to push back at the illegal stoppages in Africa's biggest economy.
-----------
S.Africa's Amplats fires 12,000 strikers, union leader shot

 

* Amplats fires 12,000 wildcat strikers

* Local NUM leader shot dead near Lonmin

* "Platinum belt" death toll nears 50

* Rand falls as labour unrest spreads

* Shell declares "force majeure"

 

By Agnieszka Flak

 

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 5 (Reuters) - South Africa's Amplats fired 12,000 wildcat strikers on Friday, a high-stakes attempt by the world's biggest platinum producer to push back at a wave of illegal stoppages sweeping through the country's mining sector and beyond.

 

Later on, a trade union leader was shot dead near a mine run by platinum producer Lonmin in a potentially explosive escalation of the two-month-old violent labour unrest that took the death toll to 49.

 

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said the NUM branch leader had been killed "execution style" in the evening but gave no further details.

 

A six-week stoppage at Lonmin in August and September erupted out of a turf war between the NUM and the more militant Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which accuses the NUM of acting for its government allies rather than its members.

 

The hefty hikes won by workers from that saga has been a red rag to others while anger has been stoked by the killing of 34 miners in a hail of police bullets outside Lonmin's Marikana mine in an incident that evoked apartheid-era shootings.

 

 

The sackings at Amplats (Anglo American Platinum) on Friday triggered a sharp fall in South Africa's rand as investors dumped the country's assets.

 

The rand fell as much as 4 percent to 3-1/2 year lows after Johannesburg markets closed, adding to the mounting toll inflicted on Africa's biggest economy.

 

Strikes have spread beyond the mining sector, with Shell saying on Friday it would not be able to honour contracts to deliver fuel near Johannesburg because of a trucking strike.

 

The unrest is causing political trouble for President Jacob Zuma and his ruling African National Congress (ANC), the veteran liberation movement with long-standing ties to labour unions.

 

"You fire 12,000 people, and it's like 'Oh my god, what happens now?'" one Johannesburg-based currency strategist said.

 

When rival Impala Platinum fired 17,000 workers on an illegal strike rooted in the NUM/AMCU struggle, it led to a violent six week stoppage in which the company lost 80,000 ounces in output and platinum prices jumped 21 percent.

 

The wage deal that followed the killings at the Marikana mine in August triggered copycat demands in gold and iron ore.

 

"Amplats had been giving signals that it was going to hold the line after Lonmin had folded - but it's a huge gamble," said Nic Borain, an independent political analyst.

 

"Someone had to take it on the chin or this would have kept on unravelling and spread through the economy. It's difficult to know whether this causes the unrest to spread or whether it takes some of the sting out of it. It could go either way."

 

Speaking to South Africa's e-News television channel, one dismissed worker said Amplats was "starting a war".

ZUMA UNDER PRESSURE

The ANC Youth League, a fierce critic of Zuma, lashed out at Amplats, which it said "has made astronomical profits on the blood, sweat and tears of the very same workers that today the company can just fire with impunity".

 

"Amplats is a disgrace and a disappointment to the country at large, a representation of white monopoly capital out of touch and uncaring of the plight of the poor," it said.

 

Zuma tried to put a positive spin on the situation in a speech to business leaders late on Thursday, stressing that since the end of white-minority rule South Africans have shown "the capacity to overcome difficulties when we work together".

 

"We should not seek to portray ourselves as a nation that is perpetually fighting," he said.

However, with an ANC leadership run-off looming in December, Nelson Mandela's 100-year-old liberation movement is preoccupied with its own divisions. Zuma is seen as unlikely to take any action that could upset his political allies in the unions.

 

"In the build-up to the election, the government is unlikely to come out with any clear policy directives," said Simon Freemantle, an analyst at Standard Bank in Johannesburg.

 

Reflecting such concerns, Moody's cut South Africa's credit rating last week. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has already said he will have to cut his 2.7 percent growth forecast for 2012 when he delivers an interim budget on Oct. 24.

 

MINER SHOT

 

More than 75,000 miners, or 15 percent of the workforce in a sector that accounts for 6 percent of output, have been out on unofficial strikes, and tensions with security forces and mining bosses were running high even before the mass Amplats sackings.

 

Near the "platinum belt" city of Rustenburg, 120 km (70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, workers said a miner was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police on Thursday night.

 

Police would not confirm the cause of the death, although the ground nearby was strewn with spent rubber-bullet shell casings and teargas canisters after clashes the previous night.

 

On Friday, protesters in a shanty town near the Amplats mine barricaded streets with rocks and burning tyres as more than 30 riot police backed by armoured vehicles stood nearby.

 

AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa's biggest bullion producer, has lost virtually all local production due to wildcat strikes, while rivals Gold Fields and Harmony Gold have also taken a hit. Around 300 strikers at Kumba Iron Ore have also blockaded the company's giant Sishen mine in the remote Northern Cape province.

 

Apart from the mining sector, a strike with more potential to damage the wider economy is brewing in transport, with 20,000 truckers on a two-week authorised stoppage to demand higher pay.

 

Shell said on Friday it could not honour fuel delivery contracts around Johannesburg, declaring "force majeure" to free itself and customers from existing obligations.

 

"There is fuel available across the country, so the issue is not fuel supply, but the challenge is delivering it safely to our retail sites," the oil major said. Other petrol companies are holding their breath, especially around the commercial hub Johannesburg, but have not yet followed Shell's move.

Raising the stakes, transport union SATAWU said it wanted workers at railways and ports to strike next week, a development that would affect coal and other mineral shipments.

Solidarity ship launches to Gaza with calls for freedom for Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners

Solidarity ship launches to Gaza with calls for freedom for Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners

Posted: 08 Oct 2012 09:51 AM PDT

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine congratulated solidarity activists in Naples, Italy and around the world on the launch of the “Estelle,” the Ship to Gaza organized by Swedish solidarity activists, from Naples to Gaza after a tour of several months through European ports building for its journey to break the siege. The Estelle launched on October 6, 2012 from Naples.

Three days of events took place in Naples leading to the launch of the ship, including marches in solidarity with Palestine and its people, including Palestinian prisoners and in particular Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned Palestinian national leader and General Secretary of the PFLP.

Solidarity activists held a concert in Naples to support the Palestinian cause, in which they raised the images of Palestinian prisoners, including Comrade Sa’adat. Mayor Luigi de Magistres came to the ship’s berthing to show support for the ship and its mission, and evening screenings and discussions brought many people to see the ship before its departure.

On Saturday morning, over 2000 rallied in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in support of the ship’s mission to break the siege on Gaza, as the ship prepared to depart in the evening. 17 activists from Sweden, Norway, Canada and the US are traveling on the ship; it will take approximately one to two weeks to reach Gaza. This is the first attempt to break the blockade by sea since the Tahrir’s sailing in November of last year, and the occupation military is once again threatening to storm the ship and detain its crew and passengers as it has with previous solidarity ships to Gaza. In August and October 2008, two ships successfully broke the blockade; since that time, solidarity ships have been attacked by the Israeli army including the attack on the Mavi Marmara in May 2010, when occupation forces killed nine solidarity activists as they sailed to challenge the blockade of Gaza.

On the Day of the Heroic Guerilla, we remember Che Guevara - PFLP

On the Day of the Heroic Guerilla, we remember Che Guevara
Posted: 09 Oct 2012 01:03 AM PDT

On October 8, 2012, the Day of the Heroic Guerilla, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) remembers Comandante Ernesto “Che” Guevara, revolutionary leader, fierce fighter, and principled struggler whose true commitment to internationalism and liberation lives on in the struggles of peoples around the world for freedom, justice and socialism.

Following the revolutionary victory in Cuba in 1959, Che’s commitment to international revolution did not diminish, and he joined Bolivian revolutionaries in 1966. On October 8, 1967, Che and his comrades were captured and surrounded by the US-backed Bolivian military, and executed.
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“Let us sum up our hopes for victory: total destruction of imperialism by eliminating its firmest bulwark: the oppression exercised by the United States of America…And if we were all capable of uniting to make our blows stronger and infallible and so increase the effectiveness of all kinds of support given to the struggling people – how great and close would that future be!… Wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome, provided that this, our battle cry, may have reached some receptive ear and another hand may be extended to wield our weapons and other men be ready to intone the funeral dirge with the staccato singing of the machine-guns and new battle cries of war and victory.”
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Nine days later, Fidel Castro spoke, memorializing Che and commemorating October 8 as the Day of the Heroic Guerilla, saying “Che died defending no other interest, no other cause than the cause of the exploited and oppressed of this continent. Che died defending no other cause than the cause of the poor and humble of this earth … Before history, people who act as he did, people who do and give everything for the cause of the poor, grow in stature with each passing day and find a deeper place in the heart of the people with each passing day.”

In Palestine, Che’s spirit, his commitment to liberation, rises in the streets of our occupied homeland. We mourn and honor our Guevara Gaza, Mohammad al-Aswad, and the thousands of Palestinian Guevaras, the eternal martyrs, who have struggled, fought, sacrificed and died for the liberation of Palestine, and the thousands of Palestinian Guevaras still to come, to hold high the banner of the resistance until the day of victory is ours.

On the 45th anniversary of Che’s death, we remember him as one of the martyrs of Palestine, a great martyr for the freedom of the oppressed of the world. And we continue to live his words: “Let us sum up our hopes for victory: total destruction of imperialism by eliminating its firmest bulwark: the oppression exercised by the United States of America…And if we were all capable of uniting to make our blows stronger and infallible and so increase the effectiveness of all kinds of support given to the struggling people – how great and close would that future be!… Wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome, provided that this, our battle cry, may have reached some receptive ear and another hand may be extended to wield our weapons and other men be ready to intone the funeral dirge with the staccato singing of the machine-guns and new battle cries of war and victory.”

Che Guevara Presente! Viva viva Palestina!

Murder by drone: the U.S. terror war in Pakistan

''Obama is just as criminal as the terrorists he claims to fight!''

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Murder by drone: the U.S. terror war in Pakistan

8 October 2012. A World to Win News Service. As American drones occupy the skies across Pakistan's North Waziristan, the U.S. is continuing to lie about the many hundreds of ordinary people blasted to pieces or incinerated and the terrorizing of the entire population.

Most recently, an American embassy official in Pakistan insisted that protests against the drone strikes were unjustified in light of "the extreme process that is undertaken to avoid what is very sadly called 'collateral damage.'" Although not allowed to reveal classified information, he said, the number of civilian casualties is "quite low" – "in the two figures." (Guardian, 7 October) This statement was meant to counter international news coverage of a convoy of  hundreds of people from all over Pakistan and dozens of Western antiwar activists (including women from the U.S. group Code Pink) heading for a town in South Waziristan to demonstrate against the drone attacks and the Pakistani government's complicity.

The report Living Under Drones issued by two U.S. academic research groups in September paints a very different picture.

"[F]rom June 2004 through mid- September 2012, available data indicate that drone strikes killed 2,562-3,325 people in Pakistan, of whom 474-881 were civilians, including 176 children... These strikes also injured an additional 1,228-1,362 individuals" (According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent non-profit news reporting agency based at City University in London whose data and methodology the report reviewed and found valid.)

The discrepancy is partially explained by the fact that "for the purpose of tracking civilian casualties, the [U.S.] government presumes that all military-age males killed in drone strikes are combatants." The report demonstrates that this is not true. Yet even the most narrow interpretation of Washington's claim, that it has recorded a "quite low" number of civilian casualties, may be a lie within a lie, since the exact figures, the identities of the human beings they represent and the circumstances of their death are all cloaked in secrecy.

Who was killed and how they died was the aim of an investigation project by law clinics at the Stanford Law School in California and the New York University Law School. Their report (available at livingunderdrones.org) was based on "nine months of intensive research – including two investigations in Pakistan, more than 130 interviews with victims, witnesses, and experts, and  review of thousands of pages of documentation and media reporting".

Their conclusions are moderate to a fault. Instead of calling for an end to the drone war, "this report recommends that the U.S. conduct a fundamental re-evaluation of current targeted killing practices, taking into account all available evidence, the concerns of various stakeholders, and the short and long-term costs and benefits." 

"Costs and benefits" for who and for what goals? By arguing on this basis, the report ignores the question of the purpose and legitimacy of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the drone war in neighbouring North Waziristan that is a consequence and adjunct to that occupation. It also avoids the broader question of the ensemble of open and covert wars that the U.S. ruling classes are waging or threatening to wage throughout the "Greater Middle East" to protect and extend their global empire, no matter which party is in office.

By way of analogy, if someone were to reason that strikes on civilians in the West go against Al-Qaeda's overall (also reactionary) aims, this would be considered a cynical calculation and few people would be impressed by its moral stance.

But whether those involved in this report really believe in this "costs and benefits" approach or just feel that this is the only way their arguments will have impact, their careful review of the facts and first-hand accounts provide not only a damning account of the cruelty of U.S. conduct, but also evidence that this cruelty has a political purpose – that these deaths are not just "collateral damage" but rather part of a war-fighting strategy based on terrorizing the people of an entire region with no distinctions among them.

Living under drones describes a 2006 drone attack on a religious school in Bajaur that killed more than 80 people, 69 of them children. In another section, it reveals what really happened in what authorities described as a strike against a militant "house" where "a group of some three dozen alleged Taliban fighters were meeting".

"According to those we interviewed, on March 17 [2011], some 40 individuals gathered [in an open-air bus depot] in Datta Khel town centre. They included important community figures and local elders, all of whom were there to attend a jirga – the principal social institution for decision-making and dispute resolution in [the region]... convened to settle a dispute over a nearby chromite mine. All of the relevant stakeholders and local leaders were in attendance, including 35 government-appointed tribal leaders known as maliks, as well as government officials, and a number of khassadars (government employees administered at the local level by maliks who serve as a locally recruited auxiliary police force). Four men from a local Taliban group were also reportedly present, as their involvement was necessary to resolve the dispute effectively. Malik Daud Khan, a respected leader and decorated public servant, chaired the meeting...

"Though drones were hovering daily over North Waziristan, those at this meeting said they felt 'secure and insulated' from the threat of drones, because in their assessment at the time, 'drones target terrorists or those working against the government.' ...the maliks had even taken care to alert the local military post of the planned jirga ten days beforehand.

"At approximately 10:45 am, as the two groups were engaged in discussion, a missile fired from a U.S. drone hovering above struck one of the circles of seated men. Ahmed Jan, who was sitting in one of two circles of roughly 20 men each, told our researchers that he remembered hearing the hissing sound the missiles made just seconds before they slammed into the centre of his group. The force of the impact threw Jan's body a significant distance, knocking him unconscious, and killing everyone else sitting in his circle. Several additional missiles were fired, at least one of which hit the second circle. In all, the missiles killed a total of at least 42 people. One of the survivors from the other circle, Mohammad Nazir Khan, told us that many of the dead appeared to have been killed by flying pieces of shattered rocks.

"Another witness, Idris Farid, recalled that 'everything was devastated. There were pieces – body pieces – lying around. There was lots of flesh and blood.'...'None of the elders who had attended had survived.''' All their family members "could do was 'to collect pieces of flesh and put them in a coffin.'"

Other incidents described involve drones firing at cars and taxis, killing people so often for reasons unknown to local people that any travel is considered dangerous.

People in North Waziristan, a tribal area where most people work in subsistence agriculture or trading, have come to avoid all public gatherings, such as mosques and even funerals, which seem to be a particular target. People are afraid to sit together outside; even children cannot play together and few people venture out at night. Many parents no longer let their children attend school for fear of drone strikes.

A humanitarian aid worker in Waziristan told the investigators, "Do you remember 9/11? Do you remember what it felt like right after? I was in New York on 9/11. I remember people crying in the streets. People were afraid about what might happen next. People didn't know if there would be another attack. There was tension in the air. This is what it is like. It is a continuous tension, a feeling of continuous uneasiness. We are scared. You wake up with a start to every noise."

Not only are people terrorized by what seems like random killings, they cannot forget the danger for a second because of the constant presence of drones, sometimes three or four visible at once. They circle in the sky, buzzing, all day, except when it rains. No one knows when they will fire, nor at whom.

One reason for the relatively low number of casualties in relation to deaths seems to be that the Hellfire missiles these drones shoot are thermobaric, far more destructive than ordinary explosives. The pressure wave produced by the blast alone may blow people apart in a circle as much as 20 metres in every direction, but the spray of burning aluminium and metal fragments can kill at an even greater distance. Often there is little left of the victims.

The nature of these missiles alone discredits the U.S. government's claim that these are "surgical" strikes. But the whole way targeting works also needs to be more widely understood. There are supposedly two types, "personality" and "signature".

"Personality" targets are when the U.S. puts particular individuals on a death list based on all sorts of "intelligence", including paid local informers who may have their own agenda. This was the main focus of drone strikes in Pakistan under the Bush administration.

Since Barack Obama took office, there has been a radical increase in the number of drone strikes (45-52 under Bush in 2001-09, 292 in just three and a half years under Obama). He has taken personal charge of approving who is on the kill list and all decisions to go ahead whenever the CIA does not have "a 'near certainty' that there will be zero civilian deaths."

At the same time, under Obama's leadership there has been what Living Under Drones calls "a reported expansion in the use of 'signature' strikes," which it also calls "profiling" and "guilt by association." Under the "pattern of life analysis", groups of men whose identities are not known but who meet certain "defining characteristics" can be killed on sight. These "signature characteristics" are secret, but seem to involve being "in an area of known terrorist activity", being in the vicinity of someone considered a "top Al-Qaeda operative" (which, as the strike on  the jirga at Datta Khel demonstrates, can include the many, many thousands of people who might find themselves, at one time or another, at a gathering, a market or a street where someone linked to the many armed Islamist groups might also be found), or even, according to knowing jokes repeated in the report, "three guys doing jumping jacks" or "young men with stubble."

There is another element in this picture indicating that civilian deaths are not just accidental "collateral damage" but the deliberate result of U.S. policy: what American authorities cynically call "double tapping", the practice of following up on one missile strike with another one or more, minutes or even hours later, with the clear intent of killing relatives and neighbours frantically searching through the rubble for survivors and loved ones, "looking for the children in the beds", and trained rescue workers.

The report says, "According to a health professional familiar with North Waziristan, one
humanitarian organization had a 'policy to not go immediately [to a reported drone
strike] because of follow up strikes. There is a six hour mandatory delay.' According
to the same source, therefore, it is 'only the locals, the poor, [who] will pick up the
bodies of loved ones.'"

The authors emphasize that "attacks on first responders may constitute war crimes." But their report also provides factual ammunition for the argument that not only this particularly repulsive aspect but the U.S.'s whole drone war in Pakistan in general (along with the use of drones in Yemen and Somalia) is a war crime.

First of all, many careful readers of the report will conclude that killing non-combatants is not just an accidental result of policy but an American policy in itself. Secondly, even if certain known individuals are in some way tied to armed groups, the fact that their names can remain on a "kill list" for a long time means that targeting them runs counter to the international law that apologists for the U.S. government cite to justify these killings. Article 2(4) of the UN Charter considers the use of force in or against another country to be justifiable self-defence only when it is a response to an ongoing armed attack or an imminent threat, which is described as "instant, overwhelming and leaving no choice of means, and no moment of deliberation."

There is no moral justification for the U.S. drone war in Pakistan, and no apparent legal justification for it either. (The Obama government claims that it has a written legal opinion authorizing its actions, but its contents are secret!)  The U.S. is not legally at war with Pakistan. This is why the drone war is being waged by the CIA and not the regular armed forces, and why the American government has to treat it as secret, even though everyone in Pakistan knows, as does everyone in the U.S. and elsewhere who wants to know.

In fact, the U.S. is still mainly allied with the Pakistani government (and especially the Pakistani military), despite serious contradictions. For the first three years of the drone war in Pakistan, then President Pervez Musharraf publicly pretended that the strikes were "either Pakistani military operations, car bombs, or accidental explosions." Since then it has found itself caught between outraged public opinion demanding an end to the strikes and an unyielding U.S. government.

One of the most damning, though little noticed, parts of this report is a timeline that correlates the intensity of U.S. drone activity with friction between the two governments, especially around Pakistan's arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis for gunning down two men in the street. At first the U.S. halted the drones "to avoid angering a population already riveted by Davis' arrest"; then, when negotiations between the Musharraf and Obama governments stalled, it launched 11 strikes in succession until the Pakistani government finally released Davis. Relying on the U.S. Congressional Research Service, the report cites this as one of three incidents in which "[m]essaging to Pakistan appears to continue to be part of the [drone] programme's intent."

In other words, at least part of the reason why the U.S. is killing people in Pakistan has little to with even perceived military necessity but is in fact aimed at pressuring Pakistani "deciders", not because the Pakistani ruling classes and armed forces care about the lives of ordinary Pakistanis or anyone else, but because when the U.S. kills civilians in their country it makes their government look bad and provokes popular anger.

If terrorism is defined as the deliberate killing of civilians for political ends, this is an unmistakable  "signature" of a terrorist operation.

The "cost" and "downside" of the drone strikes, the report warns, is that they "have facilitated recruitment to violent non-state armed groups, and motivate attacks against both U.S. military and civilian targets." This is undoubtedly true. It is also undeniably true, as the report says, that these armed Islamic fundamentalists are doing great harm as they seek to impose their rule over the people.

This report should help us understand that what the U.S. is doing in Pakistan and around the world is actually helping propel the jihadi movement. At the same time, however, although it exposes the harm caused by the U.S. with its drone war, the report does not take into account the even greater harm done by the American occupation of Afghanistan and decades-long domination of Pakistan, including its support for Pakistan's military and ruling classes and the Islamization of the country that was initially meant to make U.S. domination palatable. For both of these reasons, we should be very clear that the U.S. is the biggest terrorist of all.
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பாதுகாப்பு உத்தரவாதத்துடன் கூடங்குளம் அணு உலையைத் திற!

பாதுகாப்பு உத்தரவாதத்துடன் கூடங்குளம் அணு உலையைத் திற!
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``அமெரிக்காவின் உலக மேலாதிக்கத்திற்குச் சேவைசெய்யும் ஒரு எடுபிடி நாடாக இந்தியாவை மாற்றும் இராணுவ ஒப்பந்தத்தை இந்தியா ஏற்ற பிறகுதான், இந்தியாவுடன் அணுசக்தி ஒப்பந்தத்தை அமெரிக்கா செய்துகொண்டது. அணுசக்தி ஒப்பந்தமும்கூட ஈரானுக்கு எதிராக அமெரிக்கா எடுக்கும் நடவடிக்களை ஆதரிக்க வேண்டும் என்ற அமெரிக்காவின் ஹைடு சட்ட நிபந்தனக்கு உட்பட்டே போடப்பட்டது. ஈரானிலிருந்து இந்தியா எண்ணெய் இறக்குமதி செய்வதைத் தடுப்பது; இந்தியாவின் தற்காப்புக்கான அணு ஆயுதத் திட்டத்தைச் சிதைப்பது; இந்தியாவின் சுயேச்சையான அணுமின் திட்டத்தை ஒழிப்பது; இந்திய அணு ஆற்றல் சந்தையில் தமக்குப் போட்டியாக விளங்கும் ரசியா மற்றும் பிரான்ஸ் போன்ற ஏகாதிபத்திய நாடுகளை விரட்டுவது என்பதே அமெரிக்காவின் திட்டமாக உள்ளது.

 ஒபாமா ஜனாதிபதியாகப் பதவியேற்றபிறகு, 2010ஆம் ஆண்டு அமெரிக்கா தனது தேசிய பாதுகாப்புத் திட்டத்தை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது. ஜனநாயகத்தை மீட்பது, மனித உரிமையைக் காப்பது, ஊழலை ஒழிப்பது என்ற பேரில் உலகின் எந்த ஒரு நாட்டிலும் அமெரிக்கா தலையிடும் என்றும்; அதற்கு அரசுசாரா தொண்டு நிறுவனங்களை ஈடுபடுத்தும் என்றும் அது கூறுகிறது.

ஏமன், எகிப்து, லிபியா போன்ற நாடுகளில் அமெரிக்காவின் எடுபிடியாக இருந்த சர்வாதிகார ஆட்சிகளை எதிர்த்து மக்கள் போராடியபோது அந்தப் போராட்டங்களைப் பயன்படுத்தி அமெரிக்கா “ஆட்சி மாற்றத்தின்- Regime Change” மூலம் தமது பொம்மை ஆட்சிகளை நிறுவிக்கொண்டது. அதற்கு அரசுசாரா தொண்டு நிறுவனங்கள் துணைநின்றன.

அதற்கும் முன்னர் சோவியத் ரசியாவிலிருந்து பிரிந்து வந்த நாடுகளில் பல வர்ணப் புரட்சிகள் எனும் பேரில் தொண்டு நிறுவனங்களைப் பயன்படுத்தி
“ஆட்சிமாற்றத்தை” அமெரிக்கா செய்தது. இந்தியாவிலும் அன்னா அசாரே தலைமையிலான ஊழல் எதிர்ப்பு இயக்கத்தினரும், உதயகுமார்
தலைமையிலான அணு உலைக்கு எதிரான இயக்கங்களும் இன்னும் பலவகையான தொண்டு நிறுவனங்களும் “அமெரிக்காவிடம் நிதியுதவிபெற்று அதன் கைப்பாவைகளாகச் செயல்படுகின்றன”.

அமெரிக்காவின் தீவிர விசுவாசியான மன்மோகன் கும்பல் அமெரிக்காவின்
கோரிக்கையை முழுமையாகச் செயல்படுத்தும் முறையில் அதற்கு நிர்ப்பந்தம் கொடுப்பது தற்போதைய போராட்டங்களின் நோக்கமாகும். அமெரிக்க ஏகாதிபத்தியத்தையும், அதன் தாசனான மன்மோகன் கும்பலையும் எதிர்த்து இந்திய மக்கள், புரட்சிகரப் போராட்டத்திற்குத் தயாராகிவிட்டால் அப்போது “அமெரிக்காவின் நேரடிப் பொம்மை ஆட்சியை நிறுவ இந்தத்
தொண்டு நிறுவனங்கள் துணை நிற்கும்”. அதற்காகப் பல்வேறு கோரிக்கைகளை வைத்து அவைகள் போராடுகின்றன. அந்த நோக்கத்தை அடைவதற்கு அரசியல் திரட்டலுக்கான போராட்டங்களில் ஒன்றுதான் கூடங்குளம் அணு உலைக்கு எதிரான போராட்டமும்.``
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கழகப் பிரசுரத்தில் இருந்து: http://samaran1917.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/blog-post.html
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முழு விரிவான கூடங்குளம் குறுநூலைப் படிக்க இணைப்பில் அழுத்தவும். 
http://samaveli.tripod.com/
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YouTube,Facebook blocked on mobile in Kashmir

YouTube,Facebook blocked on mobile
GK NEWS NETWORK

Srinagar, Sep 30: The internet-service-providing companies have blocked social networking sites including Facebook and YouTube in Kashmir without any official directive the state government.
 The cellular companies have also blocked GPRS facilities on the mobile telephones causing immense inconvenience to the subscribers.

 Greater Kashmir received over a dozen telephone calls from different areas of the Valley, complaining that the internet service has been blocked by companies including BSNL, Reliance, Aircel, Airtel and Vodafone.

 “The service is completely down. Apart from jamming the social networking sites, the companies have started to put restrictions on general use like e-mails and on search engines as well,” the callers said.

 They said their internet devices and GPRS service on mobile is not functioning in the wake of jamming of the service by the concerned cellular companies.

 A delegation of businessmen Sunday said the BSNL service on Blackberry was also jammed. “Never has it happened in the past. We are facing huge problems in the communication due to the slow functioning of the service. We had also enquired from the officials of the BSNL but they are not taking our word seriously,” the delegation said.

 General Manager Reliance (J&K) Ataullah Haque told Greater Kashmir that every company has jammed Facebook and YouTube but the rest of the services were functioning.

 “Basically government has issued a directive to block the Facebook but other services are functioning,” he said.

 Asked was the company in possession of the “official directive,” the GM said the document would be with the regulatory department of the company.

 When contracted, a top BSNL official said the services have been disrupted on the directions of the State Government.

 “We have blocked all the websites and services according to the government directive. Blackberry services have also been stopped,” he said.

 However, Minister for Information Technology, Aga Ruhullah has said there is no ban on Facebook and Youtube.

 “There is not any ban on these websites. I don’t have proper information of it. I can’t confirm whether there is any technical snag in it,” Ruhullah said.