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சமரன்: தர்மபுரி: செல்லாக்காசு மோடி எதிர்ப்பு கழக ஆர்ப்பாட...:          நன்றி மக்கள் ஜனநாயக இளைஞர் கழகம் - PDYA   Report / Pho...

''ஒரே நாட்டவராக வாழ'' மனோ கணேசனுக்கு இருக்கும் '` ஒரேயொரு வழி``!

இந்த நாட்டில் நிலவுகின்ற பன்மை தன்மையை புரிந்து ஏற்றுக் கொள்வதுதான், நாம் ஒரே நாட்டவராக வாழ எஞ்சியிருக்கும் ஒரேயொரு வழி

20 இனங்கள், 4 மதங்கள், 3 மொழிகளைக் கொண்டது இலங்கை; இதை மறந்தால் ஒரே இலங்கையை மறக்க வேண்டிவரும்:

தேசிய சகவாழ்வு கலந்துரையாடல்
மற்றும் அரசகரும மொழிகள் அமைச்சரும், தமிழ்
முற்போக்குக் கூட்டணி தலைவருமான மனோ கணேசன்
22 December 2016 

இருபது இனங்களையும், நான்கு மதங்களையும், மூன்று மொழிகளையும் கொண்டதுதான் இலங்கை. இதை நாம் மனதில் கொள்ள வேண்டும். இதை மறந்தால் ஒரே இலங்கை என்பதை மறந்துவிட வேண்டி வரும் என்று தேசிய சகவாழ்வு கலந்துரையாடல் மற்றும் அரசகரும மொழிகள் அமைச்சரும், தமிழ் முற்போக்குக் கூட்டணி தலைவருமான மனோ கணேசன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

தெற்கிலே ஒரே மொழி, ஒரே மதம், ஒரே இனம் என்று சொன்னால், அதற்கு பதிலடியாக வடக்கிலும் ஒரே மொழி, ஒரே மதம், ஒரே இனம் என்ற கோஷம் எழும். அதேபோல் வடக்கில் இந்த கோஷம் எழுந்தால், தெற்கிலும் இந்த கோஷம் எழும். எனவே இந்த நாட்டில் நிலவுகின்ற பன்மை தன்மையை புரிந்து ஏற்றுக்கொள்வதுதான், நாம் ஒரே நாட்டவராக வாழ எஞ்சியிருக்கும் ஒரேயொரு வழி என்றும் அவர் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

இரத்தினபுரி பிரதேச செயலகத்தில் நடைபெற்ற சிங்கள அரச ஊழியர்களுக்கான தமிழ் பேச்சு மொழி பயிற்சி வகுப்பு நிறைவு சான்றிதழ் வழங்கும் நிகழ்வில் பிரதம அதிதியாக கலந்து கொண்டு உரையாற்றிய போதே அமைச்சர் மனோ கணேசன் மேற்கண்டவாறு கூறியுள்ளார்.

அவர் மேலும் தெரிவித்துள்ளதாவது,

“சிங்களவர், ஈழத்தமிழர், முஸ்லிம்கள், மலையகத் தமிழர், மலாய், ஒல்லாந்து பறங்கியர், போர்த்துக்கல் பறங்கி, வேடர், பரதர், மலையாளிகள், கடல் வேடர், தெலுங்கர், இலங்கை சீனர், தாவூத் போரா, மேமன், கொழும்பு செட்டி, பார்சி, சிந்தி, ஆபிரிக்க வம்சாவளி கப்ரிஞா, கோஜா ஆகிய இருபது இனத்தவர்கள் இலங்கையில் வாழ்வதாக எனது அமைச்சில் பதிவாகியுள்ளது.

சிங்களம், தமிழ் ஆகிய இரண்டு மொழிகள் ஆட்சி மொழிகளாகவும், ஆங்கிலம் இணைப்பு மொழியாகவும், பெளத்தம், இந்து, இஸ்லாம், கத்தோலிக்கம் ஆகிய நான்கு மதங்களும் இலங்கையில் நிலவுகின்றன.

இதுதான் இலங்கை யதார்த்தம். இதை மாற்ற முடியாது.

உண்மையில் இந்த அடிப்படை உண்மைகள் இந்த நாட்டில் வாழும் நம்மில் பலருக்கே தெரியாது. அப்படியாயின் வெளிநாட்டவருக்கு இவை தெரியாமல் போனதில் ஆச்சரியம் இல்லை.
அடுத்த வருடம், ஒவ்வொரு இனத்தின் கலாச்சார வரலாற்று அடையாளங்களும் காட்சிப்படுத்தப்படுமுகமாக, எனது அமைச்சு நாடு முழுக்க நடத்த உள்ள இலங்கை பன்மை தன்மை ஊர்வல நிகழ்வில் இந்த உண்மைகளை நாம் வெளிப்படுத்துவோம். அதன்மூலம் இலங்கை என்றால் என்ன என்பதை முதலில் நம் நாட்டவரே தெரிந்துகொள்ள முடியும். பிறகு வெளிநாட்டவரும் அறிய முடியும்.

உலகத்துக்கு இலங்கையில் வாழும் தமிழர்கள் அனைவரும், இலங்கை தமிழர்கள். அதில் மாற்றுக்கருத்துக்கு இடமில்லை. ஆனால், உள்ளகரீதியாக, ஈழத்தமிழர், மலையக தமிழர் என்ற அடையாளங்கள் இருக்கின்றன.

உலகத்துக்கு தமிழ் பேசும் மக்கள் என்ற அடையாளம் இருக்கின்றது. ஆனால், உள்ளகரீதியாக தமிழர், முஸ்லிம் என்ற அடையாளங்கள் இருக்கின்றன. இந்த பரஸ்பர அடையாளங்களை அங்கீகரித்து
அறிவுப்பூர்வமாக ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளவேண்டும். அதேவேளை ஒட்டுமொத்தமாக நாம் அனைவரும் இலங்கையர்கள் என்ற அடையாளத்துக்குள் வருகிறோம் என்பதை மனதில் நிறுத்த வேண்டும்.
இலங்கையர் எம் அடையாளம், பல இனங்கள் எம் சக்தி என்பது எம் பார்வையாக இருக்க வேண்டும்.

 தமிழ் மொழி மட்டும் தெரிந்த ஒருவர் இலங்கையில் எந்த ஒரு பாகத்திலும் சென்று தனது தாய்மொழியில் கருமமாற்றிகொள்ளும் நிலைமை ஏற்பட வேண்டும். அதேபோல் சிங்கள மொழி மட்டும் தெரிந்த ஒருவர் தனது தாய்மொழியில் வடக்கு, கிழக்கு, மலையகம் உட்பட நாட்டின் எந்த ஒரு பாகத்துக்கும் சென்று தனது தாய்மொழியில் கருமமாற்றிகொள்ளும் நிலைமை ஏற்பட வேண்டும்.

இதைப்பற்றி எழுதுவது, பேசுவதை போன்று செய்துகாட்டுவது இலேசான காரியமல்ல என்பது எனக்கு தெரியும். ஆனால், கஷ்டமான காரியங்களை செய்து பழக்கப்பட்ட எனக்கு இதை செய்து காட்ட முடியும் என நம்புகிறேன்.

அடுத்த வருடம் எனது இந்த நோக்கத்துக்கு முக்கியமான வருடம். முதன்முதலாக இந்த மொழியுரிமையை உறுதிப்படுத்தும் பொறுப்பை, மூன்று மொழிகளையும் எழுத, படிக்க, வாசிக்க, புரிந்து கொள்ள கூடிய ஒரு அமைச்சர் பொறுப்பேற்றுள்ளார் என்பதை நீங்கள் புரிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டும்.

இந்த மொழிப்பிரச்சினையை தீர்க்க முடியாவிட்டால், அடுத்த கட்டத்துக்கு போக முடியாது.

ஒரே இரவில் அனைத்து மாற்றங்களையும் கொண்டு வந்துவிட முடியாது என்பது எனக்கு தெரியும். ஆகவே நான் கொஞ்சம் அவகாசம் கொடுத்துள்ளேன். அதனை புரிந்துகொண்டு அரசு ஊழியர்கள்
மொழிப்பயிற்சி பெற வேண்டும். இந்த விடயத்தில் என்னுடன் விளையாட நினைக்க கூடாது. நான் இங்கே விளையாட வரவில்லை. அரசாங்கத்தின் மொழிக்கொள்கையை அறிந்து அதன்படி நடந்துக்கொள்ள வேண்டும்.

இங்கே எனது அமைச்சின் தேசிய மொழிக்கல்வி பயிற்சி நிறுவனம் இரத்தினபுரி மாவட்ட அரசு நிறுவன சிங்கள ஊழியர்களுக்கு பேச்சு தமிழ் மொழியை மட்டுமல்ல, தமிழ் கலாச்சார அடையாளங்களையும் கற்றுக்கொடுத்துள்ளது.

மேடையில் தமிழ் மொழியில் பேசி ஆடிப்பாடிய அரசு ஊழியர்களான சிங்களப்பெண்கள் அனைவரும் தமிழ் பெண்களை போலவே எனக்கு தோன்றினார்கள். பெருந்தொகையான அரசு ஊழியர்களுக்கு தமிழ்
மொழிப்பயிற்சி சான்றிதழ்களை இங்கே வழங்கினேன். இவை தொடர்பில் நான் அமைச்சர் என்ற முறையில் மகிழ்ச்சியடைகிறேன்.” என்றுள்ளார்.

Now, Kashmir’s pellet victims slip into despair, hopelessness

Now, Kashmir’s pellet victims slip into despair, hopelessness

    
ZEHRU NISSA
Srinagar, Publish Date: Dec 23 2016 10:18PM | Updated Date: Dec 23 2016 10:18PM
In a waiting room outside an Operation Theatre at general specialty SMHS hospital here, Bashir Ahmad sits silent; his back leaning against the wall, waiting eagerly for his turn to be called in. The room is packed with boys, hit by pellets in their eyes—some of them as young as 12. All of them had reached the hospital on Thursday to undergo surgical procedures in their injured eye for ‘a chance’ to regain their vision.

“It will be my third surgery today. But I can’t see anything beyond a shadow in front of my injured eye,” sighs Ahmad.

Hailing from Krehshore area in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, Ahmad had completed his graduation and got admission in a diploma course in a government institute this year
when he was hit by deadly pellets in his left eye on August 28 following clashes between protestors and forces.

“After my second surgery I had regained some vision but then I lost it again,” says 23-year old Ahmad.

Confined to home for almost four months now, he says he often loses his calm.

“After the incident life has been such a tough struggle. I don’t know what will happen. This thought is more killing,” he says, and takes a deep breath.

This despair expressed by the Budgam boy is written on the face of every youth who has turned up for yet another surgery in their pellet hit eye (s) due to little or no improvement in
their vision.

A team of surgeons at Ophthalmology Department, joined by world renowned vitreo-retina surgeon Dr S Natrajan, have performed a number of vitrectomies since Thursday. But with
each passing day and after repeated surgical procedures “not yielding amazing visual outcomes”, these pellet-hit youth are slipping into despair and hopelessness.

One such case is Firdous Ahmad from Mazbugh Sopore who lost vision in both eyes after being hit by pellets on July 15. He has undergone two surgeries in his left eye and one
surgery in his right. “I regained some vision but it faded away then,” says Firdous, who was writhing in pain after the latest surgery in his left eye.

“I can only distinguish the colors of my clothes and that too with great struggle,” says Firdous who used to drive a passenger auto to earn for the family including aged parents and
three young siblings. Blinded, Firdous’s movement has now got confined to his home.

“At times he cries and says that he wants to run away,” says Asif Ahmad, cousin of Firdous, who was accompanying him. “Till few months back Firdous would not only take care of his
parents but earn for schooling and fulfilling other needs of his two brothers and a sister. The reality that he is now dependent on family for entire life depresses him beyond
imagination.”

But unlike Firdous, Fayaz Ahmad, a truck driver, seems to have resigned to the fate that he might not be able to see with his injured eye again. “Today was my fourth surgery but
there is hardly any improvement,” says Fayaz, lying on a bed in Ward No 7. That he can’t go back to resume his work worries Fayaz.

“A week ago I went along with some laborers to try and earn few bucks but I ended up with infection and high pressure in my eye and had to be hospitalized,” recalls Fayaz.

Commenting on the condition of the injured persons, Dr Natarajan said: “We are facing the challenge of post vitrectomy adhesions in which the tissues in the eye during the natural
process of healing get heaped up and form a lump over visual area which worsens situation after some progress in the eye.”

He said there was the problem of adhesion faced in at least 20 percent cases. “It is frustrating…there is a new challenge each time. A doctor might say operation is successful but it
doesn’t translate into vision each time,” said Dr Natarajan.

A senior doctor, who is part of the surgical team, said badly damaged eyes need multiple surgical procedures before they start responding to treatment. “These (persons) who we have
been examining/operating for past two days have all badly damaged eyes and need repeated vitrectomies,” said the doctor.

He said 11 such cases were operated upon yesterday and 25 others on Friday. “Except for one injured who has been operated upon since yesterday, all have positively responded and
have in fact gained vision which would improve over a period of time,” said the doctor.
 

x mas 2016

“Let it be an arms race,” Mr. Trump told MSNBC

Trump Makes Foray Onto Obama’s Turf

President-elect wades into foreign policy before taking office, setting up confrontation between outgoing and incoming administrations

By   Carol E. Lee and Peter NichoUpdated Dec. 23, 2016 7:20 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump is upending the modern convention that the U.S. speaks with one voice on foreign affairs, plunging into some of the most sensitive national-security matters before he takes office.

Mr. Trump has launched a series of challenges to President Barack Obama’s policies on nuclear weapons, China and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, setting up a rare and increasingly public confrontation between outgoing and incoming administrations.

Mr. Obama on Friday brushed back pressure from Mr. Trump to block a United Nations Security Council resolution harshly criticizing the expansion of Israeli settlements. Mr. Trump on Thursday called on the administration to veto the resolution. But Mr. Obama instead chose to break from longstanding U.S. policy and allow it to pass.

“There’s one president at a time,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national-security adviser. He said the president believes “it’s important that the world understands who is speaking on behalf of the United States until Jan. 20.”

Mr. Trump took to  Twitter after the vote, saying: “As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.”

While Mr. Obama’s move suggests it may be difficult to eclipse a sitting president who has said he intends to “run through the tape,” Mr. Trump’s policy pronouncements as president-elect could send mixed signals to America’s allies and partners overseas about who is in charge, experts and analysts said.

Mr. Trump signaled soon after the election that he planned to take a different posture during the transition, when he took a protocol-breaking phone call from the president of Taiwan.

The White House was caught off guard and fielded angry protests from Beijing.

Jon Alterman, a national-security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Mr. Trump appears to be using his transition to test the waters on some issues. “It feels to me partly like he’s just thinking out loud trying to imagine what a Trump foreign policy will be,” Mr. Alterman said.

Brian Katulis, a senior fellow focused on national-security issues at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said Mr. Trump is deviating from a longstanding tradition that ensures “continuity” in foreign policy even when the presidency changes parties.

“What he’s signaled on a number of different fronts since his election demonstrates that he has an unorthodox and unconventional way of dealing with the world,” Mr. Katulis said.

“It’s deeply unsettling to a number of our longstanding partners.”

Ken Duberstein, a chief of staff under Republican President Ronald Reagan, countered, saying Mr. Trump’s approach could pay dividends. The president-elect is “basically signaling to the world the way he will conduct things once he is in fact president,” he said. “It’s reassuring to many of our allies and it is setting the stage for an understanding from our adversaries that there will be a new sheriff in town.”

Mr. Trump has just this week waded into two of the most hot-button foreign-policy issues, both raising the prospect of expanding America’s nuclear arsenal and, at the behest of Israel, pressuring Mr. Obama to veto the U.N. resolution.

Mr. Trump said Friday that he wouldn’t shrink from a nuclear-arms race, doubling down on his tweet a day earlier saying the U.S. needs to expand its nuclear capabilities. “Let it be an arms race,” Mr. Trump told MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski. “We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.”

Mr. Trump’s top spokesman, Sean Spicer, later sought to play down the interview.

But Mr. Trump’s comments—which followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that Moscow needs to build up its military, including nuclear weapons—are reigniting concerns among critics that he lacks the temperament for the presidency.

“The words presidents speak or tweet or write can send armies marching and markets tumbling,” said David Axelrod, who was a longtime adviser to Mr. Obama and supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. “I think there was this hope or expectation that the weight of the presidency or the impending presidency would sober him and this is evidence that that’s not the case.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, expressed alarm at the casual tone Mr. Trump is using to discuss major changes to the nation’s defense posture and security policy.

“These opaque, oracular statements that are coming out of his Twitter account are the subject of multiple interpretations and they’re a dangerous thing to do as president-elect,” said
Mr. Schiff. “They could be a potentially catastrophic thing to do as president.”

Also on Friday, Mr. Trump released a letter he received from Mr. Putin, in which the Russian president says he hopes that “we will be able—by acting in a constructive and pragmatic
manner—to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level.”

Mr. Trump responded to what he called “a very nice letter from Vladimir Putin” with a statement saying, “His thoughts are so correct. I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path.”

—Ben Kesling and Byron Tau contributed to this article.
 

How Russia, Iran and Turkey see the future of post-war Syria

How Russia, Iran and Turkey see the future of post-war Syria
December 22, 2016 Nikolai Litovkin, RBTH 

Russian observers say that the three countries have grown tired of the Syrian conflict and are now preparing to address the problem without waiting for the West and other regional actors.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has announced that specialists from Russia, Turkey and Iran are working on drafting a joint action plan for Aleppo following a meeting of the three nations’ defense ministers in Moscow on Dec. 20.

The final document of the meeting, the so-called Moscow declaration, will lay out urgent steps to promote a settlement of the civil war in Syria following the recapture of the country’s second largest city by government troops.

Despite their desire to put an end to the Syrian hostilities, each of the three actors has its own vision of how the crisis should be resolved and how a post-conflict Syria should look. It also appears, if Russian analysts are to be believed, that Syria's post-war future will become reality fairly soon.

“The hostilities will continue for about another year, after which the first signs of Syria's future state system will become visible,” Vladimir Yevseyev, a military expert and deputy director of the Moscow-based CIS Institute, told RBTH.

Yevseyev believes there will be a redistribution of political power between the offices of president and prime minister in Syria, making the latter a more influential figure. In addition, some of Syria's regions will gain more rights and autonomy, but the country is more likely to remain a republic than turn into a federation.

Russia's position

Moscow wants the situation in the region to stabilize, and also wishes to limit its involvement in the Syrian conflict, according to Russian experts.

“Russia is calling for elections to be held after the end of the crisis, and for the drafting of a road map to restore Syria,” said Yevseyev. “We will continue to involve [Syrian] settlements into the peace process, and to create corridors for the withdrawal of militants.”

Russian experts say that Moscow's primary objective is not only to achieve security in Syria but also to restore the country economically. On the other hand, Russia does not want to go it alone on this: It expects other nations to share the burden.

However, according to Yevseyev, there is also a certain self-interest in Russia’s ambitions for Syria, with the boosting of Moscow’s military presence in the region another priority.

“We also want to establish a foothold in the eastern portion of the Mediterranean,” he said. “We already have Khmeimim air base in Syria; in the future we will turn our naval supply and maintenance base at Tartus into a full-fledged navy base.”

Turkey's position

During the Moscow talks, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik described the operation to take back eastern Aleppo from rebels opposed to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as having been “very successful”.

Nevertheless, a number of Russian experts are skeptical as to Turkey's contribution to the Aleppo offensive. Semyon Bagdasarov, director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia, said in an interview (in Russian) with the online news publication Vzglyad that pro-Turkish units had actually taken part in the defense of eastern Aleppo, and also that it was the Turkish military that had organized counter-strikes from the direction of Idlib and Homs, and had attempted to breach the government blockade around the city.

Bagdasarov enumerated Turkey's key objectives in the Syrian conflict: overthrowing Assad; setting up a Turkish-controlled quasi-state with its capital in eastern Aleppo; and also destroying the foothold established by the Syrian Kurds.

According to him, Moscow in principle is prepared for the emergence of a Kurdish quasi-state in Syria, but there are fears that such a state would be constantly at war with Damascus, “with all the associated problems that would entail”.

Not all Russian experts agree with this view. Prof. Sergei Druzhilovsky of the Department of Oriental Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations told RBTH that Ankara's position has changed significantly in the past six months, since the failed coup in Turkey, and that the Turkish authorities have even found common ground with Iran, whose views used to be diametrically opposite.

“Al-Assad represents Syria's Alawite ethnic minority, which accounts for about 10 percent of the population, and there are 12 to 15 million Alawites residing on Turkish territory,” said Druzhilovsky. “Domestic conflicts have prompted [Turkish President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan to revise his policy on Syria, as well as on some parts of his own country's Shia population.”

Iran's position

Druzhilovsky believes it is important for Iran that Al-Assad retain his presidency: “Any other president is likely to change Syria's policy on Tehran dramatically,” he said.

Syria's attitude towards Israel is a sensitive issue for Iran, Nikolai Surkov, assistant professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council, told RBTH.

“Iran would like Syria to fight Israel, and to provide its territory for supplying arms to Hezbollah,” said Surkov. “Tehran's position is that any figure to replace Al-Assad should be prepared for maximum cooperation with Iran.”

Vladimir Yevseyev, however, does not believe that Iran will have any direct influence on Syria's future policy: “For the time being Iran remains Syria's economic sponsor; it plays but a secondary role militarily,” he said.

‘Won’t allow change in JK’s demography’ Joint resistance leadership

DOMICILE CERTIFICATES ROW|

‘Won’t allow change in JK’s demography’
Joint resistance leadership calls for statewide protest on Friday; Says PDP working on anti-Kashmir, anti-Muslim agenda

GK NEWS NETWORK
Srinagar, Publish Date: Dec 21 2016 9:37PM | Updated Date: Dec 21 2016 9:37PM
DOMICILE CERTIFICATES ROW| ‘Won’t allow change in JK’s demography’
Stating that attempts to change demography of Jammu and Kashmir will be resisted tooth and nail, the joint resistance leadership on Wednesday hit out at ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accusing it of resuming work on “its anti-Kashmir and anti-Muslim agenda.”

“Issuing domicile certificates to West Pakistan Refugees, court verdict challenging the sovereignty of Jammu Kashmir and allowing outside banks to confiscate and hold properties in Jammu & Kashmir are the issues of life and death for Kashmiris. PDP has again started working on its anti-Kashmir and anti-Muslim agenda but people of Jammu & Kashmir will not hesitate to offer any sacrifice to oppose such actions tooth and nail,” the joint resistance leadership - Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik - said in a statement appealing people for statewide protests on Friday.
“These are maneuvers to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir. PDP has started showing its true colors by initiating the process of creeping slowly and deceitfully towards the Hindutva agenda of its coalition partner. We are not against the rehabilitation of these refugees and on humanitarian grounds we fully support their every demand and urge the government to facilitate them and provide them all the rights they are eligible to. India is a huge country with more than 30 states and if they are sincere, honest and feel the sufferings of these refugees they can settle them in any of their states, but settling them in a disputed land of Jammu and Kashmir will jeopardize and erode its historical and political contours, which is not acceptable to us at any cost,” they said.

“Yes-men of these imperialistic forces are mesmerized in their luxuries and have lost their wits as they are intoxicated under the influence of power and perks—but let us remind and caution these stooges not to put the valley to the flames of destruction and bloodshed, just to appease their coalition partners. By doing so they may be in good books of their masters but they can never stop themselves being consumed in these flames,” they said.

“We question these collaborators that how much blood they need to offer for remaining in power, how much pain and agony of the people will suffice there greedy mindset. History stands witness to the fact that traitors and tyrants had a very tragic and disgusting end and our present day stooges are no exemption,” they said. 

“We appeal the nation in general and visionary people in particular to nip these evils in the bud and if they are left unattended they grow to the monsters of cruelty and barbarism. Disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be brushed aside by any judicial gimmicks. We appeal all the sects of the society including Ulamma, Imams, religious scholars, intellectuals, civil society, youth, traders and transporters to remain vigilant against these killing and crushing tactics of India.”

The joint leadership appealed to hold peaceful protests on Friday, 23 December, “to convey a clear message to India, its stooges and the whole world that we as a nation will fight such designs unanimously, willfully and honestly.”

The incarcerated chairman of Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmad Shah termed the government move to issue domicile certificates to West Pakistan Refugees (WPR) as a “well-planned conspiracy against the Muslim majority status of Jammu Kashmir.”

“By playing a major role in this regard, the PDP’s anti-Kashmir stance stands exposed,” a spokesman of the DFP, in a statement today, quoted Shabir Shah as saying.

“The issuing of domicile certificates to West Pakistan Refugees (WPR) is unacceptable. The people of the State will resist such move tooth and nail. This is a well-planned conspiracy of Saffron brigade and PDP. The Mehbooba Mufti-led government is so obsessed with power that it doesn’t consider even its consequences,” Shabir Shah said.

Dukhtaran-e-Millat said that granting domicile certificates to West Pakistan Refugees is a “deliberate attempt to change the Muslim character of disputed Jammu & Kashmir.”

A spokesperson of DeM said that “such decisions neither are nor will ever be acceptable to the people of Kashmir and that such evil designs would be fought tooth and nail.”

“This is the recognition of the apprehensions that were already raised by a number of scholars. Incarcerated chairperson of Muslim DeeniMahaz, Dr Muhammad Qasim also has mentioned about the same in his book Baang,” the spokesperson said.

“This is the start of a well thought out process that would be stopped only after making the WPRs the permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir. These refugees should be settled in any part of India, not in Jammu & Kashmir.”

“In Jammu, under a well-planned strategy, more than six lakh Muslims were massacred and their properties were usurped by these refugees. We don’t consider the WPRs as permanent citizens of Jammu Kashmir, they should return their properties to their Muslim owners,” the statement said.
Hurriyat leader and Salvation Movement chairman, Zafar Akbar Bhat, also denounced the state’s move to issue domicile certificates to refugees from West Pakistan.

Hurriyat Conference Jammu Kashmir (HCJK) leaders Shabir Ahmad Dar, Muhammad Iqbal Mir, Muhammad AshaanUntoo, Imtiyaz Ahmad Reshi and GulamNabi War termed the process of issuing domicile certificates to West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) as a serious issue.

“This is aimed at changing the Muslim majority character of the state and diluting the Kashmir issue. This decision by the saffron forces is aimed at prolonging the Indian control in Jammu Kashmir. Those forces who are planning to facilitate the stay of Hindu migrants have some days back burned down the area where Rohangya Muslims  from Burma are residing causing the death of four innocents,” they said.
 
Tehreek-e-Mazahmat (TeM) chairman Bilal Sidiqee termed the issuance of domicile certificates to West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) “as a ploy to alter the Muslim identity of Jammu and Kashmir.”
Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (R) Chairman Farooq Ahmad Dar alias BitaKarete in a statement said issuance of state subject certificate is “direct violation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“We take a pledge to oppose such move. We appeal people to resist the sinister move and give befitting reply to those who are hatching conspiracies to alter demographic status of state,” he said.

Statement of the PFLP on the 49th anniversary of its founding

Statement of the PFLP on the 49th anniversary of its founding
Dec 11 2016

Today, we mark the 49th anniversary of the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation, founded on December 11, 1967 out of the impact of the defeat of June 5. The founding of the Front was an injection of a new hope out of the rubble of defeat, on an intellectual, political, and struggling level, to carry forward and raise the banner of the revolution, struggle, and national liberation movement against the Zionist project. On this path, tens of thousands of martyrs, prisoners, wounded, and strugglers, among the martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded and strugglers of the Palestinian people, the Arab nation, and the international movements, have come forward. We salute them today with the highest regard and pride in them and their legendary sacrifices and heroism that have formed a historic and distinguished legacy and history of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian national movement overall.

In light of the ongoing international, regional and Arab situation and the negative repercussions, and amid ongoing weakness and division in the Palestinian internal situation, the Palestinian cause is at risk of liquidation, perhaps more now than ever before. Therefore, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine emphasizes and calls for the following:

First, the need for a serious, comprehensive national dialogue to review the entire Palestinian experience and develop a unified strategy for our national liberation movement. This includes the rebuilding of representative institutions and popular unions, especially the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the creation of the environment and infrastructure of internal democracy that is necessary to build and promote the values of collective national struggle. It is critical to support the steadfastness of the people with viable material support and concrete action, to affirm their roots in their land and attachment to national identity, and unity inside and outside Palestine, in the homeland and in exile and diaspora.

Second, the critical urgency to completely abandon the Oslo agreement and its unfair obligations and catastrophic consequences for Palestinian rights, struggles, national goals, and the overall liberation project. This requires an end to reliance on the path of negotiations and rejection of the pressure to return to that path. Instead, we must affirm the need for full implementation of the rights of the Palestinian people recognized by the United Nations. We reject any political initiatives aimed at imposing an alternative international reference to detract from the rights of the Palestinian people.
Third, the need to end Palestinian internal division and restore national unity without delay or procrastination, and without continuing to rely on international or regional powers whose interests are not in favor of our cause, our people, or our rights.

Fourth, the need to hold a unified Palestinian National Council under preparation by the preliminary leadership commission agreed upon in Cairo, and to reject any monopolistic call to convene the PNC in Ramallah. That path is only the further development of the intellectual, organizational and political methodology that has caused so much damage to the Palestinian movement and led it to the current dangerous impasse.

Fifth, the need to use all forms and methods of struggle in the context of the existential battle with the Zionist enemy. No form of struggle is a replacement for another.

Sixth, the necessity to support all acts of struggle and the mass movements which have become known as the Jerusalem intifada, and for all forces to provide an organizational and political incubator for the development of the popular struggle.

Seventh, the development of a comprehensive national plan to support the prisoners and their struggles in official and popular efforts in order to seek their freedom and raise their struggle for liberation at an international level. The PFLP raises its highest salutes and appreciation to all of the heroic prisoners who fought the battle of empty stomachs, including our comrade, the leader Bilal Kayed, and the two imprisoned brothers currently on hunger strike, Anas Shadid and Ahmad Abu Fara.

Eighth, we call on the forces of Arab liberation to recapture the vision of their project and role, based on the seriousness of the current situation in the Arab region, to be free of internal conflicts, proxy wars, and sectarian divisions. This comes amid the accelerating normalization with the enemy by some Arab regimes as other Arab states disintegrate. The Palestinian struggle is at the heart of the Arab cause.

Ninth, we stand with our Arab peoples in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, and throughout the Arab world, to confront sectarianism and sectarian divisions and reactionary violence under the guise of religion, and we stand with the resistance to such forces.

Tenth, we urge the expansion of the international struggle alongside all forces for peace, justice, and liberation in the world, and all who stand with the struggle of the Arab and Palestinian peoples for freedom and liberation. In particular, we salute all of those involved in the campaigns for the boycott of the Zionist entity.

As it enters its fiftieth year, the PFLP will continue to struggle based on a clear vision and the premises upon which it was founded, on the Palestinian, Arab and international levels. We are marching toward victory on the path of revolution, in our national liberation struggle for justice and freedom.

Glory to the martyrs of the Palestinian people and the Front, and salutes to the founder George Habash and the leader Abu Ali Mustafa!

Freedom for the brave prisoners, for our imprisoned General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and all of the leaders of the prisoners’ movement!

Victory for the Palestinian People!

Political Bureau, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
 December 11, 2016

Was it possible to take the Russian ambassador’s killer alive?

 

Why wasn’t killer captured?

 

 

Was it possible to take the Russian ambassador’s killer alive?
December 21, 2016 Vladimir Vaschenko, Gazeta.ru 

It was possible not to kill the assassin of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, but take him alive, argue some Russian experts. This would have helped to shed light on the crime, including on who may have ordered the assassination. One Russian observer even believes that the killer was liquidated on purpose in order to complicate the investigation.

The assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov has been the top story for the Turkish press. Yet there is very little information on what the Turkish law-enforcement agents did to detain the killer.

It is known that at about 7:30 p.m. local time Karlov arrived at the Center of Modern Art in Ankara to participate in the opening of a photo exhibition. His speech had lasted for less than a minute when the killer, who was standing behind him, took a gun out of his pocket and crying "Allahu Akbar" shot Karlov in the back several times. In total the assassin fired 11 shots into the diplomat.

Afterwards, he cried out slogans about Aleppo and Syria for several minutes and shot at the ceiling and towards the scattered crowd.

Twenty-five minutes after the assassination, the killer was shot dead by members of Turkey's special units. The assassin was later named as 22-year-old Mevlut Mert Altintash, who for the last two years had served in a division of the local Interior Ministry special forces responsible for crowd control.
It was possible to take him alive

According to Boris Dolgov, senior scientific collaborator at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Middle East Institute, Karlov's assassination could have been either the act of a lone killer or a well-planned operation.

"I think it's strange that Altintas was killed. There was the possibility of taking him alive, then questioning him and getting him to tell the authorities who he was linked to," said Dolgov.

VIDEO

Why wasn’t killer captured?

Andrei Popov, a veteran of the Federal Security Service’s Alpha special unit and a reserve lieutenant colonel, analyzed the operation carried out on Altintas.

"It is always difficult to discuss an operation when you are not present on the site and far from the concrete circumstances surrounding it,” said Popov.

“However, it is obvious that by the time the Turkish special forces got involved, the ambassador's killer had already disclosed himself as the culprit. On the video that I saw it is also clear that the criminal did not prevent the people from leaving the building and did not try to take hostages. It was possible to take him alive."

Popov believes that this opportunity was not taken advantage of due to a disagreement among the Turkish law enforcement officers or to their unprofessionalism.

"In such cases the mechanism of detainment is already prepared: The object is shot in the right shoulder, which deprives him of the possibility to put up active resistance. Subsequently, he is detained,” he explained.

Popov added that he “did not rule out” that Altintas could have had accomplices in Turkey's special forces and security services who had “decided to eliminate him so that he wouldn't tell the investigators all the circumstances of the assassination.”

Meanwhile, on Dec. 20, 18 employees from Russia's Investigative Committee and Foreign Ministry arrived in Ankara. They will be investigating Karlov's assassination together with the Turkish law enforcement agents. According to the local press, the Russian ambassador's body was delivered to the Expert Forensic Institute in Ankara for examination and on Dec. 20 was flown to Moscow.

First published in Russian by Gazeta.ru